[Speaker 23] (9:31 - 9:31)
Ready?

[Speaker 3] (9:37 - 11:49)
Good Okay, welcome to the March 15th Select Board meeting before we get started If you're able to please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Okay Thanks Welcome everyone Before we get started with our meeting. We're going to open it up to public comment public comment is an opportunity for The public to speak to items that are on or not on our agenda We ask that people please provide their name address and if they know the their voting precinct Each speakers will be limited to three minutes of speaking time Residents may raise new issues identify community problems or comment on past present or future board agendas we encourage Comments be made in an orderly Manner and we encourage civility when people make their remarks though. We can't restrict Some Comments we we request that people refrain from using disparaging marks or criticisms towards individuals or groups or other committee members or especially Town personnel and if there are such matters that need to be addressed you can reach out to Either the town administrator or myself outside of public comment in our public meetings and with that I will open up the public comment.

There's public comment in the in the room if people have public comment on The teams they can raise their hand and they can also email me at n Duffy D U F F Y at swamp Scott ma gov So is there any public comment?

[Speaker 14] (11:59 - 12:28)
Can you step to the mic, sorry Is this the time for me to make comment on the new and old business or Make my comments now or wait to Presentation is your comment relevant to the public hearing for the dog side pub? That's correct. Okay.

[Speaker 3] (12:28 - 12:32)
Yeah, so well, sorry I should have mentioned that we're gonna open that up to a public hearing at that point.

[Speaker 14] (12:32 - 12:35)
We'll take your comment very well I'll wait. All right.

[Speaker 3] (12:35 - 12:35)
Thanks.

[Speaker 2] (12:35 - 12:53)
Thanks for the question You know, can I just ask but other things on new and old I never know the answer to this But for example, we're gonna hear a presentation from the traffic study committee if there are people here that want to speak about that But they haven't heard the presentation either Will they have a chance to speak? Yes, yeah, thanks

[Speaker 3] (12:55 - 13:16)
Okay, I think not seeing any other public comment online or in person I think we can move on It's Jared here Let's see if we can I don't think we have a

[Speaker 7] (13:19 - 13:25)
It's gonna be too what about the appointments, okay, just the appointments

[Speaker 3] (13:27 - 13:50)
Well, we have the we have the public hearing, okay Okay Let's move on to let's move on to the tree canopy study Which is the tree committee is here to present a tree canopy study I Think we have Tara Gallagher.

[Speaker 13] (13:50 - 15:04)
Thank you. So I'm Tara Gallagher I'm a member of the tree committee in Swampscot and we are thrilled that we were able to work with students from Salem State To look at tree canopy loss. I just want to provide one snippet of context for the study We have been concerned about tree canopy loss.

We wanted to see if we could quantify it we were thinking of things like, you know, the building of the high school the current elementary school project and Initially, we were a teeny bit disappointed to learn that the study period would not contain either of those two Projects. In fact, we were very very Surprised by the results and how much tree canopy loss there was so it's always good to have data That's why it's one of the reasons why we support additional funding for the DPW Budget for trees and why we support the municipal reforestation Bill which Jim Olivetti could answer questions about afterwards if you have any he's from the tree committee as well so without further ado I want to introduce Danny Schottfried and Becca Smalley from the Salem State University Master's program in geo information science Thank you very much

[Speaker 3] (15:04 - 15:06)
Thanks, sir

[Speaker 10] (15:14 - 20:34)
Just Waiting for the slides to come up Thank You Tara for that introduction Danny's going to be controlling the PowerPoint Just go to the next slide So since Tara already kind of went over the background we did this project for a class last semester I'm not going to go into super great detail about the background because Tara just went over and I want to be conscious of time but our main objective of the project is to use satellite imagery in ArcGIS Pro to observe and quantify the loss of trees over time in the town of small Scott We were able to use this by collecting imagery online from the National Agricultural Imagery program they collect data approximately every two years Our analysis really only covers every other year starting in 2010 and going on until 2016 and we do have a reasoning from or because of that After 2016 the National Agricultural Imagery program used a new sensor Which caused the imagery to have different pixel sizes. So for one we had to resample the images After 2016 which caused a little bit of differences in the images But also after 2016 all of the data was collected in late October, which was in the fall Obviously the trees lose their leaves then so that caused some issues with the results Therefore causing us not being able to use that data after 2016 I'm not going to go into super great detail with the methodology because again I want to be super conscious of time that we have here But basically we did this project by clay creating a land cover Classification Danny if you go to the next slide and that's what that looks like It just shows the different land covers land cover types in Swampscott over time between our time frame This includes tree cover Development any areas that are roads or planted cultivated areas grassland So that's what the land cover looks like From there. We did an accuracy assessment that shows us how accurate Accurate our results are for the land cover types, which overall is pretty good accuracy It's pretty much 90% and above which is really good and With the land cover classifications.

We were able to do a change detection analysis Which basically just shows us where any tree cover has changed over time to a different land cover type So like Tara said it could be developments If there an area was cleared out and now it's just grass it would show on this map and we're I know these maps are Hard to see but at the end of this presentation Danny is gonna show a Mapping tool that we use that we can actually zoom in and show you these specific areas So, can we actually skip to the Paradise Road one I might have to click a few times Yeah, so you play the one you can do both actually So this shows the video clips show two different images I know they're kind of both going at the same time. The first darker image is 2010.

The second is 2016 So if you look at the Littles Point Road on the left side, you could see Some tree loss right in the center right there where now it's just grass On the right. There's a development that got put so all the trees around that development with the white roof You could see all of those trees that were lost over time. So with our project We were able to really pinpoint these areas, which is awesome You can go to the results at the end.

You can skip these ones. So These are the results of our Final change detection analysis. So I want you to focus on that acreage at the end for each of those years This just shows the total acreage of tree cover over time So as you can see from 2010 to 2016 the town of Swampstown lost a hundred and ten acres of tree cover Which is quite significant for such a small town Go to the next slide and for those of you that like percentages this shows pretty much the same thing but it's just showing the percent change from tree cover to any other land cover type whether it be like planted cultivated area roads or A developed area. So from here, we're gonna click onto our mapping tool I'm just gonna pull that up And then I'm gonna have Danny talk a little bit about this dashboard So

[Speaker 19] (20:35 - 21:10)
What I did here I took the results from that change detection analysis that shows where the tree cover was lost and I made it accessible online so people could look at it and as you move the map around once it loads the numbers in the bottom Will adjust and give you an accurate calculation of how much tree cover was lost in that specific map frame so you can zoom in onto a specific address and Try and it you'll be able to see how many acres of trees were lost

[Speaker 3] (21:12 - 21:14)
From 2010 to 2016.

[Speaker 19] (21:14 - 22:41)
Yes So here like for example this shows in this frame right here it was about 1.3 acres of tree cover that was lost and then you can also Click on it and it has the exact statistics for the shapes Is the red where we lost Yes, and the green is so the green is where it changed from tree cover to planted or cultivated so grass or yards, but um There was some issues with some of the shadows So I I thought it was important to keep that in there, but not include that in the calculation. So right now it's only calculating the loss of acreage for from development and roads What is happening I For a smaller town like Swampscott that effects aren't going to be as drastic because you still Obviously compared to a city. There's a lot more tree cover, but over time Urban heat increases because it's no shadows.

[Speaker 1] (22:41 - 23:01)
Nothing holding those cool areas Those we deal with global warming temperatures get hotter and hotter Probably not great that we're losing Significant amount of acreage of tree canopy that's going to keep swamp cooler, right?

[Speaker 19] (23:02 - 23:09)
So that's important There were a couple of big areas of notice

[Speaker 10] (23:25 - 23:47)
A Lot of people that live in this living place might want to walk outside and enjoy those trees And now if you look at it, I mean, there's a lot of trees that you know aren't there anymore So they don't really have a nice, you know scenic place to walk through so could affect quality of life Especially for those folks who have to be at that assisted living facility

[Speaker 2] (24:04 - 24:05)
I

[Speaker 19] (24:14 - 24:18)
Wanted to put it in there just a little bar, you know, it's got cemetery

[Speaker 23] (24:21 - 24:23)
Yeah, you're getting there

[Speaker 18] (24:31 - 24:32)
I'll just say one thing

[Speaker 3] (24:41 - 25:24)
Right Is there any context for you know, like a hundred and I think it was a hundred and ten acres over that period I mean, I Just don't know what that means like not I think any tree loss obviously you want you don't want to lose any trees Maybe that's not obvious. But you know, but is that typical?

You know, is is that something that most? urban or suburban neighborhoods might see just because of natural you know development and projects and that sort of thing or is it seem like This is Surprisingly more than we would see

[Speaker 13] (25:24 - 26:31)
I think it's more than we are comfortable with if you think of that being compounded year over year over year decade over decade It's an untenable situation And a lot of it has to do with the age of our trees in town Not the big projects, but the fact that there's been so much loss elsewhere in town throughout town You know these these trees are I think of a lot of our town a lot of housing stocks about a hundred years old So there are a lot of trees that are quite old and big beautiful trees that come down during storms So a lot of loss is because of the age of the trees and we're not replacing those trees at the same rate So I don't think it's I don't think it's a normal situation I think it's exacerbated by the by swamps guts housing stock and and patterns of trees But then of course it is exacerbated also by larger development projects So it's something we really need to be aware of as a tree committee we plan to Educate people on the results of this of this study and really try to make people aware because a lot of it was on private Property we as a tree committee were focused on public trees

[Speaker 3] (26:31 - 26:52)
But other than other than like the large projects that you pointed out. There's no It doesn't it doesn't sound like there's any discernible like pattern or like there's more tree loss in a certain area of town For particular reasons other than it just looks like it's scattered Throughout right throughout town.

[Speaker 13] (26:52 - 27:14)
I think the big three are the Development behind Marshall's that assisted living place. There's the condo that we looked at at off of across from the cemetery and then the Condo development across from Whole Foods. Those are the big three that if you if you look at the whole If you look at the whole map those stand out However, it's the loss throughout the town.

[Speaker 7] (27:14 - 27:23)
That's the shocker And and Tara, how long would it take to replace? The hundred and ten acres of trees that we lost

[Speaker 13] (27:23 - 28:16)
Well, obviously if we plant tree for tree, it's gonna take hundred years for them to reach the same canopy So, I mean, I I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that we don't keep pace with it at all So we do need to change our perspective in light of what we understand about climate change in light of the heating of temperatures in the area We need to plant more trees both public trees and We need to educate citizens so that they're planting more trees on their properties and caring for trees and not taking trees down that don't need To be taken down which is another Issue, but anyway that this study did a fabulous job of showing That the loss is throughout Throughout the town which was actually a bit of a shocker to us on the tree committee And it was sad to see the results I don't know.

[Speaker 5] (28:16 - 28:50)
I'm sitting here with the tree committee if someone wants to add anything So this study was done It's a six-year study and was done seven years ago. No, it was just done last But the data comes from until up until 2016. Yeah, correct.

So So now we're seven year seven years forward and if we lost 110 acres then What are you thinking? What do you think the number is now? Is it is it double and how many trees did we take down when we just we just did the new school the elementary school?

[Speaker 9] (28:52 - 28:54)
Question we know the answer to that question I don't have it.

[Speaker 5] (28:55 - 28:56)
Yeah, okay

[Speaker 9] (29:01 - 29:05)
Brian says close to a hundred hundred trees that we took down and they were big, you know

[Speaker 13] (29:05 - 29:43)
Many of them were mature beautiful canopy trees I mean, I don't want to speculate what we hope is that some subsequent class of students will study this Take the study further for us And we'll have more data to go on because we would have been wrong if we had been asked to guess Without for those six years. We would have probably guessed a smaller loss So I think actual data is the best to go on but I think we can say based on this Unremarkable six years, you know, this wasn't the six years that we thought had the big projects It really showed I thought I think Something really concerning.

[Speaker 3] (29:44 - 30:02)
Yeah is the 2017 data Up through present time. Like is that does that is that consistent in the same way that you're Consistent such that somebody could study the more recent past I Think if another class had done this in the future.

[Speaker 10] (30:02 - 31:11)
They definitely couldn't use the National agricultural imagery program data just because like I said that data was taken in late October Yeah, so they would have to try to find a different data source, which I'm sure there's data out there Yeah, the key is to just find something some satellite imagery that has a high enough resolution that you'll be able to get these like I mean as you can see there's you could see specific neighborhoods where like they lost a tree and you know we're able to see that that one tree had been lost just because The data was just such high resolution So I think it's definitely possible for other students in the future to continue this project and look past 2016 But I mean you can clearly see that there was a downward trend For tree loss. It just kept decreasing over time and with the development of the school I think that's what you guys were talking about. You guys lost a hundred trees.

So that number is still going down And I'm assuming not a lot of trees have been planted since then so it's definitely a downward trend I'm curious to see if other students do this how much it has decreased since 2016

[Speaker 1] (31:14 - 33:56)
Yeah, it's it's really a critical need I think, you know as we look at at the town budget, you know, I go back and I look at 2017-18 You know three thousand dollars on shade trees now we budget ten thousand dollars, but that sounds like it's Dropped in the bucket in terms of really what we need We've talked about you know, the importance of really Engaging not just the public About the public properties, but really thinking about private properties as well. We do see a lot of trees coming down on private properties It would be interesting to think about where we could actually, you know plant more trees. We have Arbor Day coming up We have schools.

We have a lot of young Frankly older citizens that really truly do care about the environment and I do think you know these types of studies and this type of work is extraordinary and I'm grateful that you would Find some time to really come over here and help Swampskate think more critically about these investments We have to prioritize a budget every year and it's not a line that goes without Significant scrutiny, but if we can spend more money on trees, I truly Will find a way to do that. I love to have More community events though and really get the word out that trees help clean our air We suffer more and more congestion and more and more air quality issues Reducing that canopy makes our health More compromised. It's it's a serious issue that we have to think about it does clean the water It does make our planet a little cooler, but there are serious consequences to Cutting down these trees and we should have a plan Help address this These are serious issues.

They're Relate to our collective health and we've got to come up with some strategies that just plant more trees and and Support more efforts to keep more of these trees from being cut down I will tell you that I do get a lot of calls from residents that want to see trees cut down Our Department of Public Works director and assistant town administrator has gone off and become a certified Tree warden and he's much more aware of how important these trees are and much more Committed to ensuring that a lot of these older trees Do survive so with that really appreciate the presentation

[Speaker 2] (33:57 - 37:16)
information that you shared Can I just I just want to I really this is great really so a couple of quick question Is this going to be something that we can access off of our GIS going forward as a layer?

That we can add to our GIS. So residents can use our existing GIS system add a layer now for this which is really really cool I Think I want to encourage the tree committee or residents generally oftentimes when people come With data and then the question is what do you do with data? Like in one of the most confusing things about towns is then how do you bring this to life and I appreciate that you're Identifying the municipal reforestation program and the bill on the state level But what can we do locally and we did thanks to the advocacy of some you and now you're continuing involvement We did the street tree bylaw and it actually provoked I think a healthy debate at town meeting at the town meeting that we don't often debate Substantively too many things this actually had a pretty meaty discussion, which I thought was great Because if anything it raised the profile of the conversation, right?

so you've already raised the profile and you've kind of raised the social conscience of that and I would just encourage and Happy, I'm sure any of us would be happy to help you. We have town meeting coming up So if there are other things that you think we should be doing locally, you know Come back to us and suggest something for town meeting if you look at our zoning bylaw You'll see that trees. It's not a it's not a very often used word in our bylaw Now there is for site plan review, which are larger projects Encouragement to not to minimize tree loss of trees six-inch caliper or greater, but it doesn't It doesn't create as a standard for special permits you know did the project at the proponent attempt to minimize the Amount of tree loss of calipers six inches and more and again six inches being a somewhat critical number But it can be any number of number.

It's usually a certain caliber inch certain feet off the ground, right? Standardize the measurement but there are towns that do that. There are towns that Actually have a mitigation Payment, which is if you put storms aside storms happen Mother Nature has her own rules and she decides those things but if you're doing a project and you're removing a certain quantity that there is a Payment that either your your plan has to show them to the extent practical You're planting those caliper inches comparable back on site or you're doing a an opt-out.

You can do a mitigation payment And there's a price per caliper inch that you pay That then goes to the town to plant in more appropriate areas because not every area is going to be appropriate for replanting So sometimes having those mitigation funds are good to be able to say hey We're gonna work with the DPW and the Conservancy and the tree committee to identify these areas of really being This is where tree growth is gonna thrive.

This is where it's needed type of thing So there are there are tools in other communities and I just want to encourage you to If you guys want to take the next step in who knows what town meeting does But what it certainly will do is will cause a discussion which I think is really important because these type of things Just you all bringing that a year ago and just you being here tonight again Just raises that social consciousness and it gets us thinking about things that We otherwise yeah, we intuitively know it, but we don't actively think it and we don't actively live it. So As you think about it I think we have a month and a half left before we close the warrant or something close to that and Just an idea for you Thanks for doing the work

[Speaker 3] (37:25 - 37:40)
So speaking of what we can do Peter mentioned the letter that you're sending to Senator Crichton So, I don't know Jim if you want to speak to that and talk to us about what we can do to support that Yeah, you have it a mic there. You can stay there.

[Speaker 9] (37:40 - 41:52)
I think Okay Fundamentally, I think Verena provided the Select board with the letter that we're going to be sending to Senator Crichton asking him to co-sponsor this bill and also a fact sheet that was prepared to support the bill and it does include a number of the Answers to a number of the things that you were asking about, you know, what what are the impacts of losing these trees? So there's a good information for the select board to look at I Guess what I could add maybe is that The bill really Kind of dovetailed with what your tree committee identified as two issues in Swampscot one that we actually Addressed partially a couple of years ago where the town did put in forty thousand dollars for extra trees, which is terrific we're going to be giving away a hundred redbud trees at the Earth Day celebration that the Swampscot Conservancy is is paying for so that you know in general things are kind of coalescing around the other thing aside from Needing financing for trees is the technical expertise beyond Gino To care for the trees that we have, you know to to get the latest information on the pests that are attacking our our beech trees for instance Including some of the real historic beech trees that we have right on town town hall property That technical assistance is also part of what's in this Municipal reforestation bill. So here we are at the tree committee talking about these things and the state is looking at Providing through this reforestation bill some of the support that we identified as we need this here in Swampscot So it made us think well, this is really a no-brainer. We have we have Senator Creighton who's an enlightened sort of person and Who hasn't co-sponsored yet and we want to encourage him to do that Jenny Armini is is a co-sponsor if you read the letter on the house side and that It just seems like this is the time and the place to do something like that And I don't know how how common it is for town committees to write letters at the state level, but we we have Jen Hernig who actually does this for a living who prepared the letter for us a member of the tree committee and we're going to send it out and then hope to have any a Discussion with Senator Creighton about it at some level So if if there were any questions that I might be able to answer that Jen might be able to answer Just one technical detail I think Peter and Sean we're talking about possibly having the select board also prepare a letter and Jen pointed out that the That they're now not docket numbers, but actually just the other day now there are bill numbers that have been identified so if you are going to Prepare a letter you should refer to the bill numbers both on the Senate and the house side rather than the docket numbers I I have they're just two numbers.

I have them here. The Senate number is Senate 452 and the house number is Eight six nine So those would be the two the two docket numbers that we referred to in our letter That now if you were going to write a letter you want to use those bill You have any any questions that any and Brian is here from the tree committee to you You've got a you've got a majority practically Any questions at all about what we're trying to accomplish

[Speaker 7] (41:53 - 42:06)
Any questions on this on the letter Jim? It's a general question. How many how many trees are we planting excuse me in town?

How many you know, what what are we doing and how you know, and and where should we be?

[Speaker 9] (42:07 - 42:44)
if you know in a perfect world well, we We do keep a track keep the track of that And it's in our annual report. I'm sorry. I wasn't prepared.

No, no, no, no with this type of information We should certainly provide it for you You know Gino is our Staff liaison and he attends. I want to I want to Give give Gino ops here. He does attend every meeting I don't think he's missed any meetings of the of the tree committee since since we actually became a committee and He's he's doing a lot of the data.

[Speaker 1] (42:44 - 43:59)
It's been salting and sanding the roads of the last 24 hours, so he's been quite busy. I did meet with him this afternoon I think David to your question, you know, we we budget $10,000. We we buy $10,000 worth of shade trees a year I do buy more As I get to the end of the year and so you can go back and look at you know One year we spent 14,000.

So I've said to Gino look if we can plant more, please You know come back and and try to you know, find ways to get more trees out there We've talked about frankly having more Community events to talk about the importance of trees I've told Gino to suggest that maybe we should give you a beer or wine license for one of our summer concerts where we can actually create more of an earth fest or some type of Civic program that says hey, we've got to have a more Celebrated, you know Discussion about the environmental stewardship that we have it's not just trees. It's about really this habitat area and Really just in ensuring that we're making the right investments. We can raise money.

[Speaker 6] (43:59 - 44:24)
We can actually Use some of those funds for public education, but also for planting more trees Lots of things that we can do also the tree committee I believe you can purchase trees through like in memoriam or an honor Correct, and you guys will facilitate the planting of those trees So that's another thing you could do in town to support the trees individually as a citizen.

[Speaker 21] (44:24 - 45:16)
We just started that Yeah, so I'm Brian Drummond old-time small-field guy they Basically, we plant close to 50 trees a year But then maybe we lose 30 from storms or people asking them to cut down. So in that net, we're not Moving that not that much if you look at the old town reports, there's years where they planted, you know, 400 trees So we're way low compared to where we are. And also, you know that $10,000 budget a tree over certain size Swampskate doesn't have the equipment to take it down And so if that gets contracted out 4,000 comes out of the $10,000 budget to remove a large tree.

So I don't know if you know once equipment to take down bigger trees, but Might be a cost-saving

[Speaker 1] (45:16 - 45:50)
not sure last thing I just want to mention, you know, the city of Salem had hired Arborist and You know, there may be ways for Swampskate to reach out and work with Salem or other communities that are hiring Arborist so that we can get that technical support and And really use that Technical support to help maintain a healthier tree canopy We have some trees that frankly need some of that support and you really do need an Arborist to come in and evaluate you know some of the

[Speaker 2] (45:50 - 45:50)
trees that are

[Speaker 1] (45:50 - 45:51)
struggling

[Speaker 2] (45:53 - 47:12)
So I know that you said that we're working on a revised web site but these opportunities for what Katie was just talking about with Donations and things of that nature are and I'm grateful for all the benches our town has but we have more benches per capita Than I think anybody and and I just I think that's just because people recognize that as an opportunity because they walk by them and They see the opportunity. So that's why it's a self-promoting idea and trees aren't self-promoting and other things other ways Which you can give to the town in memoriam or otherwise or just not a self-promoting and so I wonder when we do that and I just clicked on to the tree committee then go into the You have to go into another tab You have to really know exactly what you're looking for to find it here Just if we can just find a way to again I think some communities actually call it the giving tree not having just to do with trees But in a community, what other ways that you can give right you can donate and it puts without priority What and I just creates a whole bunch of things that the town decides are Worthy of being there so that people from everything from pets to animals to benches Although I could support a moratorium on benches Are things that we can do and so if we can just keep that on the radar as well, I think that would just help You are definitely buried in there no pun intended

[Speaker 17] (47:13 - 47:34)
Here's the numbers for 2022 We plant from the annual we planted 86 trees and we lost 67 the total size of the removed tree caliber was one hundred one thousand two hundred eighty five inches and the Caliber of the new trees collectively was 172 inches

[Speaker 9] (47:38 - 48:13)
But we do have to think about how the trees that we're planting now are for future generations So we shouldn't be we shouldn't say well because we can't plant big trees. We shouldn't plant trees We do have to we do have to renew the tree stock, even though it'll take 50 years for them to provide it You know, you can't just throw up your hands But thank you very much for anything else that we do asking for Us to make a motion to authorize you to sign a letter consistent with the tree committee's letter Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth.

[Speaker 2] (48:13 - 48:33)
Yeah. Okay. I didn't know I'm just thought maybe so I would make a motion To authorize the town administrator and chair of the board on behalf to sign a similar Advocacy letter as the draft from the tree committee that's in our packet second Any further discussion All those in favor.

[Speaker 3] (48:33 - 48:35)
Aye Thank you doing this.

[Speaker 9] (48:35 - 48:45)
Thanks and you are gonna be sending a separate letter We're gonna we're gonna send our letter out to send your letter separately from yours We can probably have a draft tomorrow.

[Speaker 1] (48:45 - 48:57)
We can send them out tomorrow me. It just makes a whole lot of sense to have Volunteer group and town government Send that together and say these are our priorities

[Speaker 9] (49:00 - 49:09)
Understood so you would send it then maybe to Verena she she signed our letter You could send your letter to Verena then she'll send but owner Breena should send it her letter

[Speaker 1] (49:11 - 49:24)
Because not that I understand how it all works, but I do know that You know when when a governing body and a town ask for some support generally that gets

[Speaker 9] (49:24 - 49:27)
So Verena will send that letter to you

[Speaker 2] (49:28 - 50:03)
Thanks, someone just actually pinged me making a really good point who's the trick who's the biggest tree killer in town National grade. Oh, yeah national grids the biggest tree killer.

So I wonder again how communities have dealt with that and national National grids contribution and responsibility in this because frankly, they are our street trees Now admittedly these street trees wouldn't be street trees today we wouldn't plant those big species under wires, but the treatment and and the Butchery that goes on by national grid, so I just wonder as well It'd be interesting to hear back.

[Speaker 21] (50:03 - 50:34)
It'd be interesting to hear back what other communities or what the utilities do to support this as well As you say the other side of that is that Paradise Road from yes curb up to Clark school used to be all big Beautiful oak trees that I think they're all gone at this point, but we can't plant Street trees there without state permission And that's a long long process. So there any way that you know We can get some blanket approval

[Speaker 1] (50:35 - 51:22)
Absolutely, you know, it's probably worth mentioning that this summer with the reconstruction of Paradise Road and Binning Square the state had slated to cut down a number of trees and but for some advocacy from few members of the select board Those trees would have been cut down So there was a significant push put in place by the town to preserve those trees and that those weren't Very old trees, but it it seems like the path of least resistance is just cut it down and I I do just want to share we do care about these trees and we have placed on private property owners and The state a sense that we we want to keep these trees if at all possible

[Speaker 21] (51:22 - 51:36)
Right and the sidewalk goes behind those trees which saved them But that only happened because I think the property owner of the mall agreed that the sidewalk to go on their property That was a huge thing huge success

[Speaker 3] (51:39 - 52:05)
I Thank you, thank you All right, I think Why don't we move quickly to the appointment to the Board of Registrars of voters and then we'll Public hearing so Sean you taking this away for the appointment Or Jared, I'm sorry.

[Speaker 1] (52:05 - 52:21)
Yes, we have Jared Liberty here our town clerk and We are recommending that we appoint our Board of Registrars, there's statutory Standards to this so Jared.

[Speaker 12] (52:21 - 56:42)
Could you just provide it just an overview of the role of the Board of Registrars and Individuals that we're going to be appointing The Board of Registrars Oversees the voter rolls in town they oversee The the elections to a certain extent especially recounts. They're basically a check upon the clerk's office in case there needs to be a recount they run that they Also meet whenever there's for instance town meeting when we have a need to do drawings for town meeting cases a tie They but their main duty is the sense that under Massachusetts law is every year they are the ones through the clerk's office who does the census the annual street listing census the one that's done annually through the town not the One that's done every ten years of the federal government which helps Keep track of all the residents of town They also are required in the Massachusetts general law to publish a street listing every year one of those Old rules that are still on the book That along with maintaining the voter registrar the voter database through the state is their main priorities also if anyone questions whether or not someone should be a voter technically people have the legal right if they see someone in town who they believe moved Out of town they adjudicate any of those disputes if they say, you know Jared Liberty, you don't live in town I believe you've moved to Florida. You shouldn't be allowed to vote here.

They adjudicate those Disputes usually nowadays a lot of these functions are done by the clerk's office In consultation with them. They don't do them specifically biggest cities tend to have their own separate Board of Registrars that acts a little bit more independently, but in smaller towns now a lot of the kind of day-to-day functions of the Border Edge has is handled the administrative functions by the clerk's office But the Board of Registrars we have in town is very good. I've enjoyed thoroughly working with them the past year They're very passionate.

They're very dedicated individuals Paul the Bowl Mary Hobbins the chillow and Janet Fisher have been very Dedicated they're always there. They answer questions to help out when needed to do whatever they need to spend time in the office Helping out around election time and so Janet Fisher is stepping down after a number of years on the job When that happens, what happens is that? The Democrat and Republican committees in town Consulted based on who stepped out the basically as non-partisan Or tried to be fair and equal to everyone in town The board must be equally split with no more than two members per major party Except for the instance of the town clerk as long as they do not swing the makeup of the board They are allowed to be on it.

I am unenrolled and so that is Allowed under that we've currently have two Democrats one Republican on the board Yeah, and so with Janet stepping down who was one of the Democrats The Democratic Party was consulted and they put forth a name and then also just to have Another person on the board. My name was put up as well just in the short term Sorry to have another person on the board in case one of them can't sign something Most of the stuff you need three Board of Registrars members to sign if all of you tend in your nomination papers when you ran on the back they do the certification for Your resident and I'm sorry your registered voter in town and the fact that you They certify the signatures of these of the registered voters who signed your petitions.

[Speaker 3] (56:42 - 56:57)
So Okay, thanks any questions for Jared Is There a motion to appoint Paul the bowl reverend.

[Speaker 2] (56:57 - 57:13)
Dr. Anita Farber Robertson Jared La Liberté and married to chill out Our agenda says one thing and then the packet says nothing I just don't know who exactly we're appointing because some there's already staggered terms.

[Speaker 6] (57:14 - 57:28)
I'm just trying to understand Yes Paul's the only one you wouldn't need to appoint right?

[Speaker 12] (57:28 - 57:32)
I believe as I understood it Mary's time is up Janet's stepping down.

[Speaker 2] (57:32 - 58:24)
So you would appoint Anita and myself as new So just you and Anita Okay, so revise the motion Would be so to a point Mary reappoint Mary to chill over a three-year term expiring in 2026 point reverend, dr. Anita Farber Robertson for a three-year term But that one's gonna expect we're gonna have that one. So she's filling somebody else's seat expire in 2025 I've got you and then Jared La Liberté, but doesn't know expiration That's the motion Also say I've been told that it's married to chill his birthday.

[Speaker 3] (58:24 - 59:56)
So happy birthday Mary Sounds like a proclamation All right, any further discussion on this all those in favor aye. All right. Great.

Thanks. Thanks Jared. Thank you Thank you to those serving Mm-hmm All right moving on to our public hearing.

It's a reconsideration hearing for the dockside pub at our last meeting we had a public hearing for the transfer of a liquor license From zest friends to dockside pub who are the new owners It was brought to our attention from ABCC that There was some financial documentation that should have been submitted. It wasn't Any oversight on the part of the applicant? It was just something that Wasn't requested and then when it was requested They provided it but in terms of what we need to do procedurally we need to open up a reconsideration hearing For that same liquor license that we approved last week.

So there's a motion to open the hearing Okay, all those in favor Aye So, I don't know Angelica if you want to provide any more Information from what I just described as to why we're why we're here again talking about this

[Speaker 6] (59:57 - 1:00:47)
You've mostly covered everything the only so what the problem was is Dockside is buying the dwelling and the business so essentially When they submitted their initial application, they didn't submit the loan documentation. So this is just a hearing to Present this loan documentation to the boards that the board knows exactly where the monies are coming from And it should be in your packet all the new information if it's not I have it here But I think that's mostly it. We just want to make sure our role is to make sure that the money is coming from a Legitimate source and that they provide the documentation to back up exactly the amount of money.

They're Saying they're investing and also exactly where it's coming from And That has been confirmed by a town staff.

[Speaker 1] (1:00:47 - 1:01:16)
Yep, we you know packet includes loans and businesses and small business administration there's lots of due diligence in that our job is to make sure that it's Complete it does go on to the a BBC and they do some additional due diligence, but certainly We are comfortable that it is a complete packet Great I think I know there is some public comment.

[Speaker 3] (1:01:16 - 1:01:24)
It is a public hearing. So I invite members of the public To comment during the public hearing portion

[Speaker 14] (1:01:31 - 1:04:15)
Thank You Moira Farrell precinct 4 I live on Blaney Circle and I've lived there for over 25 26 years and I bought the house prior to the Humphrey Street overlay district being declared and I am here to voice again Using this opportunity to voice how close my property is to that restaurant at some points, it's three feet and Less than you know, it's like eighteen and a half feet By their trash bin and I object to this pub Being open till one o'clock the prior Restaurants were more of a fine dining Business I think there's a you know different type of flair and clientele that would be there and Having it open till so late. It directly impacts me a lot of noise Is generated in that parking lot already and late night, I have very interesting conversations while trying to get to sleep and I'm already listening to air conditioners and Ovens and compressors and Having a restaurant open that late with more activity Impacts the quality of my sleep and my life And I wanted to reiterate that and I'm also here.

I don't know if we're bundling this up with the entertainment license You know, we're already hearing mission on the bay We're already hearing, you know, a lot of activity from Humphrey Street that has been amplified with the new restaurants and I that I've been opened Again, I'd like to say that my my property was purchased prior to the Humphrey overlay district and where restaurants weren't allowed and It's really negatively impacted my property my property value and I have spent you know over a quarter of a million dollars in taxes here and The only part of you know, I use the roads, you know I don't have children that go to school happy to pay for schools happy to pay for trees but I'm a low impact low user taxpayer and You know, this is burdensome to me, so thank you

[Speaker 3] (1:04:16 - 1:05:05)
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for coming down and for your comments last week, and I know the applicant You know responded that he really wants to be a good neighbor and work with you I know that doesn't mean anything until it shows something I think that You know certainly We're here and the town administration's here should incidents occur if you feel like things are happening that are you know Unacceptable then I think you should Be coming to Town Hall or or otherwise and and work with Town Hall and try to help figure it out but my hope is that The applicants are sincere in their and their want to work with the neighbors But and thanks for coming here

[Speaker 5] (1:05:05 - 1:05:14)
You you hear mission on the bay where you are And have you contacted the town administrator or anybody about this because you should not be hearing mission on the bay where you are

[Speaker 14] (1:05:18 - 1:05:19)
Right

[Speaker 5] (1:05:21 - 1:05:52)
But they closed that in two years ago You still hear it, all right You have heard it.

So when you do hear it, do you reach out to anybody or because my concern is that you are going through a hardship and that These restaurants aren't supposed to be causing a hardship and I don't even think they want to cause a hardship But they don't know possibly don't know I'm just wondering if you're reaching out to the town administrator or it's the town to let them know that you do here

[Speaker 14] (1:06:22 - 1:07:21)
I It's amazing the amount of stress of Delivery, we have no space for delivery trucks to park so they block driveways they park illegally and I Wish someone would invent a compressor that does not make so much noise Or they bounces off the buildings and is magnified and bounces off that fence and is magnified You know, I can only you know complain so many times before you become, you know that person and you lose It Loses its punch because of there she is complaining again.

[Speaker 1] (1:07:21 - 1:08:42)
Sure. Mr. Farrow. I want you to know that You have not become that person and I take these concerns seriously And I would certainly be very much interested in meeting with this new proprietor if he is going to move forward and you and really talking about ways that we can Mitigate noise and we can ensure that they will be a good neighbor I do trust that many of the business owners on Humphrey Street understand the importance of being good neighbors. I've had several discussions with these Proprietors about making sure that they have music that is within certain decibels I know our police department has accessible readers and when we do get complaints We do get out of measure and we try to ensure that there's a reasonable Standard of care that each of the businesses keep with the neighbors, but not notwithstanding It's a busy commercial order and I do think there's you know a Reasonable balance that we have to strike.

You don't strike need to be Unreasonable and any of your concerns and certainly I will do my best to try to work with This business to ensure that if they can insulate if they can do things that really help ensure your quality of life It's not unfairly intruded upon that they take those steps.

[Speaker 3] (1:08:43 - 1:09:12)
Thank you Any other public comment online or in person All right with that is there a motion to close the public hearing so moved Second All right, all those in favor. Aye Okay Any further discussion or questions about the reconsideration of this liquor license?

[Speaker 5] (1:09:14 - 1:10:47)
So it does worry me one, you know I I hear a resident just a few feet from a business 1 a.m. In the morning You know, I do have a concern You know It does it does it does trouble me but this is we're talking about a liquor license right now There was a liquor license there before possessed friends, right, correct So it's a transfer of that so that's that's where it makes it a You know, there was a liquor license there they've purchased the building for a liquor license so That's where there's a problem.

And I think that You know part of me wants to change my vote But the other part of me feels that this is a business that was a liquor license and I have faith that Sean can Have conversations and really work it out to minimize any impact on your living. I Have different comments on entertainment. So I Am concerned here and I too live in an area where I have to listen to stuff however, I was that person that made enough complaints and Mission on the bay has they changed their ways.

I haven't had any any problems with it So I really do think that businesses want to have a good solid business and they want to be good neighbors And I I'd like to give this company a chance

[Speaker 3] (1:10:50 - 1:11:12)
Okay Any other comments Is there a motion to approve liquor license transfer so moved All right any further discussion All those in favor, all right Okay, thank you, thank you miss Ellen

[Speaker 5] (1:11:15 - 1:11:19)
We're talking about entertainment at the end of the I did close.

[Speaker 23] (1:11:19 - 1:11:20)
Yeah.

[Speaker 3] (1:11:21 - 1:12:42)
Yeah Sorry, we're talking about the entertainment license is actually I think that's part of our consent agenda, right? Yeah, but if you know when we get to that we'll get to that and if we're moving it out. Yeah, so So stay so the entertainment license is part of our consent agenda, which we typically Pick up at the end of our of our meeting So we will be talking about that then Right, I'm right on that, right?

Okay, so Next is a discussion in A possible vote but probably not on approving a policy on accepting statues on behalf of the town I think we have someone from Okay, well I am Richard Smith I'm a member of the Open Space and Recreation Committee.

[Speaker 11] (1:12:42 - 1:17:34)
I am actually also member of the Historic District Commission and There's been an issue that's been discussed in both committees over the last several years about Policy on The Gifts, monuments, memorials and so forth and There's been some concern that Monument Avenue is kind of filling up with monuments and That from the Star Commission's point of view it's Begins to impinge on the original intent of the Olmstead design and I think it also creates a situation in which We have a lot of monuments kind of crowded together on the median strip in a way that doesn't really make it very easy to Engage with these memorials in a way that You can really contemplate what they mean what the what the sacrifice meant What it means to the town that people went out and did what they did that they are memorialized and We I think from both committees, there's a sentiment that we'd like not to have the monuments just continuing to pile up there and Part of that is that there are other places in town that maybe Ought to ought to be considered as potential locations As we talked about it, we had a subcommittee Formed with Brian myself Brian Longan from open space and Jared Germa from Historic District Commission and We did some thinking about it. We looked at Map of the town and identified a number of potential sites that we also kind of broadened the discussion a little bit to thinking about questions of other kinds of donations to the town and I think we've talked about benches in the past, but there are other things that come up from time to time and There ought to be a thoughtful process for how to assess potential donations I think some folks I think Peter you may remember the the memorial the Chinese sculpture memorial that Some folks from out of town we're trying to give Swampstead a few years ago, but I think creates It's a little a little Problematic I guess would be the best word for it, but I think to have a process that can Thoughtfully consider these kinds of these kinds of gifts.

There is some artwork that's in storage right now We've discussed some amongst ourselves some potential locations for them, but I think if There's a process that engages some people both on the design side and on the town side who can help to make assessments of what these kinds of donations might be best suited for where they might best be located and what kind of Resources town resources the acceptance of these gifts might require to suggest a that there might be a process of Assessment that we could set up the Historical Commission has recently established a policy on gifts to the historic Commission's collections and that Inspired the idea that there ought to be some criteria we've done a draft, but there could be there could be other thoughts on that, but we can collectively be able to get thoughtful consideration to What happens when somebody is offering a gift and what could be done with it? I think if you have copies of the letter that came from the open space Commission the third page Has a draft checklist of potential items that could be considered So this is not an emergency It's not quite the urgency of the last couple of our topics you've had on the discussion But it's something that in the long run would really be worth having for the town

[Speaker 3] (1:17:37 - 1:19:32)
Yeah, no, thanks for Joining us tonight and for bringing us to our attention and to both of the committees that you work on. I think that For me I did Think about when we accepted the gift this past year that you know, I know there are our communities that Are more apt to receive donations like the one we accepted last year, you know on a more regular basis And that they do have Policies in place and I think it does make sense to have some policies and guidelines in place such that You know, we're being more proactive about it than trying to figure out and be unreactive when these things come up So I think it's a worthwhile Policy to pursue I'm not Just personally, I honestly I'm not sure What my position is currently on a moratorium on Monument Avenue.

I wonder about a policy About memorials and monuments as well in terms of their location And perhaps having a process in place for and I don't know if there is one But for how those decisions are made Could be a also a reasonable approach to that and again, I'm not I Just don't know What the demand is currently to do more there Like is there a is that is there sort of a threat of more? Monuments if you will, so I I'm not sure If a moratorium is the right answer, but this is just on my this is my first My initial thoughts about it I don't know if anyone else has any questions about this or thoughts

[Speaker 6] (1:19:32 - 1:20:16)
Yeah, I think it's a good conversation to have I know when we were discussing Sculptures we accepted We all asked a lot of questions about where they might go and and where they might be displayed how the community might enjoy them but we didn't have any of those answers at the time and to Neil's point maybe being proactive and having some sort of Checklist that would go through before we accept the gift to say these are the areas we're thinking about utilizing them This is how the community might benefit from them and then weighing that against the cost of it might Incur to the town it would probably be a Discussion then to accept it and then figure it out afterwards, right?

[Speaker 11] (1:20:16 - 1:20:24)
I think that makes a lot of sense Anyone else No, I just Richard.

[Speaker 7] (1:20:24 - 1:21:07)
I just want to thank you and For for really bringing this to our attention and and and not only bringing it to our attention, but actually, you know putting together a checklist and Your recommend your recommended You know list of sites where these you know, you know where these would be most appropriate in your mind. So I think this gives This board a lot of information and a lot of things to consider, you know as we're as we're moving forward So I certainly appreciate that So I do I am I'm happy you brought this forward and I do agree with this and Want to know what would the next steps be?

[Speaker 3] (1:21:08 - 1:22:13)
Yeah, I mean, that's a good question I was gonna I was going to suggest but I'm open to other ideas. Is that in terms of the Donation that we received Last year this past year, which were I think we're the hope is to install it soon is to have Certainly the open space Committee participate in Helping make a recommendation on those possible locations and maybe think about that process But also I think longer term in terms of a policy. I'd invite that committee And you know can work I think Katie or the liaison to that committee, but that committee to Come with more recommendations on how a long-term policy may work With examples from other communities and You know, and then we can start to actually draft something that would be adoptable over the year next year or two Does that sound good?

Yep

[Speaker 1] (1:22:14 - 1:23:03)
Yeah, I think It does help us kind of bring some structure around, you know Something that can get overwhelming at times I do think Having committees Set some of the memorials up in town, you know can be very helpful there are typically you know policies that outline a Reasonable due process for how monuments and memorials set up but ultimately You know the select board is the governing body of the town they ultimately, you know have the Prerogative to really define Where these monuments go

[Speaker 3] (1:23:08 - 1:23:57)
Any other Questions or comments about this Thank you.

Thanks Richard for coming. I appreciate it. I think we'll follow up Katie will follow up with the committee and We'll keep moving in this direction.

Very good. I appreciate it. Okay We're moving on to the traffic advisory committee, I believe we have officer Lloyd and chief Archer here with us To discuss Parking at Phillips Beach as well as Humphrey Street speed limits Good evening

[Speaker 8] (1:24:07 - 1:28:04)
We'll start off with Humphrey Street in the speed zones, I wrote like a little memo here With the approval of the select board Swampscott's TSAC meeting on March 2nd discussed the Humphrey Street speed zones in the area of Gibbs gas station It's where Humphrey meets the Atlantic Ave. So it's that huge Stretch actually, you know, I gotta give you guys a copy of this We weren't able to send you guys anything in terms of a map, but this is kind of a rough It's just something to look at So from the span of Humphrey Street from Gibbs gas station Atlantic Ave That so Resident area of Humphrey Street initially generated the concerns of speeding near the crosswalks at Cindy's Pizza and Pleasant Street In the meantime, we place a speed board in that area to collect data And advise drivers of their current speed as they pass through on Humphrey There will be ongoing and future discussions regarding the traffic home and options.

We will kind of come to Have there Since the topic has been discussed by the traffic committee the speed zones along this stretch of Humphrey We're also brought up the main issue brought up was the sporadic and lack of signage for the posted speed zones for motorists To follow in this area in this stretch of Humphrey. There are zones of 20 25 and 30 Specifically brought up. There's an area of Humphrey Street just after Cindy's outbound heading towards Atlantic Ave Marblehead bound that set at 20 It was kind of jokingly and just referred to as a speed trap in our last meeting, but Realistically in this area a long stretch of straight array what road in the setting?

It's very difficult to drive under or at 20 miles an hour. So It's from a patrol perspective With very little to zero compliance motorists for this speed advisory Just based on the natural flow of traffic in the stretch of road It doesn't make sense there and everybody kind of agreed with the same Sentiment there Another speed posting example on Humphrey Street is traveling in the opposite direction across the police station by millet Towards the downtown businesses and Fisher Fisherman's Beach in this area There's a posting of 30 miles an hour, but then it jumps down very shortly after the 25 miles an hour Just before the floor shop at 470 Humphrey It then becomes 25 from there all the way to the wind line At the 30 mile an hour sign motorists are soon traveling into a more congested area Humphrey Street Where there are parked vehicles and businesses by 503 Humphrey Street, Boston Sports Medicine among other businesses there This area was discussed to be an odd spot for this posted speed. It's an old sign Heading toward more congestion of the downtown area the remaining areas in the stretch of Humphrey They don't have a posted limit therefore assuming that the speed is set at 25, it's not posted according to the town one advisory It was voted on and recommended by the committee that in order to make a more reasonably flowing and uniform clear-cut speed zone To change all areas in this stretch of Humphrey to 25 miles an hour and to add updated signage in this area Where necessary to reflect this change for a proper motorist notification? With your approval this would then make Humphrey Street from the wind line all the way to Atlantic Ave in both directions set to the same suggested speed of 25 miles an hour It's not a major change as a whole as you can see it on the map. There's only a couple of areas but With more clear-cut posted signs and maintaining a proper speed limit throughout the whole stretch of Humphrey Without any significant fluctuations from 20 to 30 or 20 to 25 I just think it would be we think it would be more just uniform just having the whole street 25 That's our suggestion

[Speaker 5] (1:28:06 - 1:28:12)
So, let me ask you in the last five months Do you have any data there for how many warnings and tickets you've written month by month?

[Speaker 8] (1:28:13 - 1:29:08)
We yeah, I could go back and look at that for sure. Mm-hmm Yeah, I'd be interested in knowing So we put that speed board up 670 Humphrey The main concern was speeding by the crosswalks by Cindy's crosswalk and then the Pleasant Street crosswalk So we put a speed board there for the whole month of February. The average speed was 29 miles an hour And right there technically is 25.

That's an issue that we were considering in terms of traffic traffic calming Within that crosswalk area within that zone because it does get very congested with the pizza Shop and then the dog room that it just cuts down to a very narrow spot So in that area to be 29 miles an hour, it's fast and it needs to be addressed but That's on that's later on down the road.

[Speaker 4] (1:29:09 - 1:30:21)
Yeah, I mean the main the main point was there there are just too many varying speed limits Unposted areas which Are 25 by step by town ordinance? But they vary a lot some of them as sergeant like said are Old signs just happen to be there and some of them are just kind of a book Inexplicable with 20 mile an hour when this kind of pops up. I don't know where so The first step with the little hoping to gain is just a consistent go down and then we could It said what would initiated this was the resident concern about?

Specifically the area at Cindy's pizza Says get congested, you know around lunchtime people parked there. There's limited parking and it knows the street and there's a crosswalk there as well but as we looked at that that sort of opened up the conversation water and then we really just sort of examined what what are the circumstances going down that whole stretch from just before the ball field to the Atlantic Avenue fork and You know that so that was the first thing it just jumped out at us to just too many different Guidances and different speeds in different directions.

[Speaker 8] (1:30:21 - 1:30:30)
It's just kind of all over the place I think the lack of signage kind of goes with the well It's if there were more signs more updated things within the area.

[Speaker 6] (1:30:30 - 1:30:55)
I think that more compliance Is there any discussion about dropping the speed to 20 from the area surrounding the crosswalks like a little before and a little after just That area is congested you know in the spring in the fall, especially with people trying to come to the fields and you know kids crossing the street and I just wondered if there was any conversation about that.

[Speaker 8] (1:30:55 - 1:31:44)
I Think it would be a little tricky Because just it's such a long straightaway of wide open space the natural flights very difficult to drive under that within those conditions unless we somehow came up with a way of fixing the road and engineering it to a point where It makes us drive slower, but in a wide open straightaway space I think it would be really difficult to drive below that set speed, but I think more than anything 25 would be a reasonable place to start So I mean I running radar on there people are going up to 40 And it's I think with more signs with more enforcement There's There's going to be more

[Speaker 6] (1:31:44 - 1:32:03)
Maybe there's something we could do in the crosswalk itself to notify people driving even at 25 because 25 is unfortunately more like 30 when people are coming down that stretch of road and So maybe there's something we could do in the crosswalks to notify people to slow in those areas

[Speaker 23] (1:32:04 - 1:32:04)
I

[Speaker 7] (1:32:05 - 1:32:32)
Think just having the consistency Is certainly a great a great step and certainly increased signage is going to be most helpful It is I mean, it's confusing for me when I'm driving and I see I see different speeds and going different ways so I think I'm certainly supportive of the of the 25 throughout and you know Thank you to the Traffic Safety Advisory Committee for for bringing this to our attention

[Speaker 3] (1:32:34 - 1:32:43)
So This is just so I make sure I'm understanding it where you where you've written here is approximately where the signs are right?

[Speaker 8] (1:32:43 - 1:32:50)
Yeah, and the the highlighted blue that shows the 25 mile an hour zones. So the majority of right is 25

[Speaker 3] (1:32:50 - 1:33:01)
but the other areas And the idea would be to replace all these signs with 25 and then have additional ones as well

[Speaker 8] (1:33:01 - 1:33:11)
Right, just more well posted just to kind of remind motorists that let's keep it around that There's nothing in the area

[Speaker 5] (1:33:13 - 1:33:26)
So can the traffic committee also request from the DPW to have those crosswalks repainted and also the possibility of You know the speed boy, you know like the speed board the speed thing that you have over by st.

[Speaker 3] (1:33:26 - 1:33:27)
John's Yeah, what's the can we get?

[Speaker 5] (1:33:28 - 1:33:29)
A blinky thing.

[Speaker 8] (1:33:30 - 1:33:30)
Oh, yeah.

[Speaker 5] (1:33:31 - 1:33:32)
Yeah, can we get those?

[Speaker 4] (1:33:32 - 1:34:08)
I think something needs to definitely be Communities definitely I'm still gonna continue to work on on the area. This is just the first the first step It's just getting a uniform speed We can come back and revisit the next steps, but I think I mean I'm a big fan of flashing Are there any of those on along the field like anywhere actual push to cross where it actually changes to Yeah

[Speaker 2] (1:34:13 - 1:34:23)
Yeah, it's then creates problems because people right right on to Humphrey and they have to immediately it just right You should blame Olmstead for that.

[Speaker 4] (1:34:23 - 1:34:25)
I know they're none of those like flashing like trail crossing.

[Speaker 5] (1:34:26 - 1:34:53)
Yeah So while the traffic committee is here I just want to remind you that I get more calls per week about speeding in neighborhoods And my phone calls haven't slowed down. Yeah, so I do want to know what's going on with warnings and Tickets, I'm not a big ticket fan, but warnings warnings warnings, and I do want to see the data. Sure.

Yeah, we can send it Thank you

[Speaker 2] (1:34:53 - 1:39:41)
So first of all, congratulations sergeant white on your promotion well-deserved I Agree with Mary Ellen completely And this is really to the town administrator and then for you to figure out where to go with this But we talked about it actually when we had the budget meeting the other week Not that number should be the only way that you tell things but Fiscal year 22 Sorry Fiscal year 21 we had 51,000 in Fines and forfeits year before that 81 year before that 78 year before that 79 Last year we had 30 This year we projected 75. We then reforecasted down to 29 and year-to-date. We're at 13 And it's not about the money at all a guy could care less about the money It's more about it feels like when chief Casada was here and he mentioned that dollar amount I think he was we were talking about it Reality I think this is great.

I'm so glad you're focusing on this and I'm 100% with you on it, but we're not going to Solve this street by street in section by section like I mean that would you guys will have to be meeting 24 hours a day To do this. We're just not going to and and I think as though we despite good intentions we Our focus on pedestrian safe safety, you know goes up and down a bit here And I can we've done some good things and you and DPW and the police department have done some great things So I do appreciate it however There still lacks a Everyday focus on pedestrian safety and that so we can post the speed limit But you know to Mary Ellen's point if we're not enforcing it the best we can and again I get that we can't give tickets and you know again We went through a whole analysis a few years ago And I think you know back then 80% of the traffic stops resulted in a warning only less than 20% Resulted in a citation being issued again. I don't know what's good practice or not.

That's not my area, but we were still The numbers show that you know, that still is a lot of stops then so what's what's happened that's changed So significantly, I know some of it's gonna be post pandemic stuff great But we're now out of the pandemic and something something's changed And it just be interesting to know what that is Like why is that the case and I don't expect answers because I don't think we necessarily will have them tonight, but I'm just we we've sit and have these conversations periodically when when they come with ideas or We get phone calls and stuff and it doesn't I consistently leave feeling like we aren't we just haven't gotten It right yet.

We haven't gotten the focus yet I mean, we had a lot of conversation about Pine Street last year and we voted three things on Pine Street One had to do with restricting parking in an area and no signs have gone up restricting parking in that area yet The other one had to do with speed bumps Which were fine, but they went down the second the trees started changing colors they went down because of the winter I'm assuming but you know So they were up for six weeks and they've been down for three four or five months now And you know, we talked about come back to us and talk to us about other speed bumps permanent There are communities that have permanent speed bumps or speed humps. I'm gonna call them as well.

Just things that You know, we haven't had any conversations about that and then there was another stop sign and I don't know if the stop sign actually happened So I apologize. I don't want It just feels as though we have these conversations and we haven't flown and I just asked that we figure out a way and it's in Frankly, it's a staff. The committee does a lot of work, but I don't think it's reasonable to Have the committee be the I don't think it's reasonable for us to be looking to a volunteer committee to Be the ones.

Yeah, I think I think there's there's there's a staff person. There's there is staff people I don't know what it is, but somehow We are such a pedestrian community, but yet it's not You know the reticence for speed humps or traffic calming measures. It was remarkable to me I mean I just I go through other communities and I'm going over them and they can be plowed They can be a whole bunch of things and it just forces cars to it takes the pressure off of enforcement, right?

Can you I only need to bottom out once I guarantee you I'm gonna slow down on Pine Street, right? Or stop using it as a cutthroat or start using the right roads for the right reasons type of things and I just asked that we as We you know think about it as you you know advance this It just feels like we keep having some version of the same conversation and I really am so grateful that you guys are focusing on it But it's also not reasonable. I think to think this is how we're going to solve.

[Speaker 1] (1:39:41 - 1:42:15)
Yeah, I I do think It has to be a priority. I don't I don't want to Say Anything that doesn't take that sense of urgency away, you know, the most significant danger that we face in Swampskate is traffic Safety pedestrian safety, you know, we're a densely settled town every one of the intersections is in need of a major investment and and we thought critically about how to Not only apply for more grants, but really, you know wall some conversations I did very few days that don't involve some discussion about traffic or pedestrian safety in town and Last week. I had a meeting with the chief. We did talk about Enforcement we talked a little bit about you know, some of the You know pedestrian safety with our community development team as well and certainly, I will continue to follow up and and think about ways to Advance these discussions Those speed bumps on Pine Street did work.

I Have talked with our DPW director and assistant town administrator about trying to find a more permanent Application that does stay over The year I did get a few complaints, but frankly it's more important for for me to know that those streets are going to be safe and to Hear a few folks complain that it's difficult to drive over those bumps. I'm okay with those types of complaints again, I think our Police Department did do a Great job with enforcement on Pine Street when we had that targeted enforcement because it did seem to calm traffic But we need to keep up with some of these efforts to to match some of these infrastructure investments whether it's stop signs or speed bumps with enforcement So at some point too many warnings doesn't do the trick. I mean that that actually doesn't have as much of a Corrective measure as as tickets. I think we've talked about that previously You know, the thing that really does make it the difference is having a little bit more of that Harder Standard for enforcement.

[Speaker 5] (1:42:15 - 1:43:05)
So can we do this? Can we say? Either next month or the month after 60 days.

Let's say two months Can we have an actual on the agenda a plant a plan on how this is going to be addressed? And then can we have this on the agenda once a month? Going out so we really get an update on how the plan is getting dealt with because We do keep talking about it.

It does keep up and down but let's if can we just get it Consistently, so we see exactly where the plan is going and if we're getting to our goals Sure, so that's I say 30 days or 60 days. I'd rather say six days because we're in budget season 60 days from now Give or take we You present what the plan is on how these issues are going to be addressed and After that we go month by month and start seeing how your plans working

[Speaker 2] (1:43:06 - 1:43:34)
So I said so look at I mean, I think that and I appreciate Mary Ellen's suggestion there's this is this is tough because it's it's It's easy to say well, we'll just do this these three things Oh, we'll get the speed bumps back on Pine Street because we just talked about pine street, right? what the hard thing is the comprehensiveness of it all right and Respectfully, I don't think it's gonna take many more conversations for you to figure out. What's the permanent speed hump?

That can last all seasons. Yeah, we are not inventing anything new.

[Speaker 1] (1:43:34 - 1:43:44)
You're literally we are literally not inventing They're a mile and a half away. So I'm just Salem and they're next to the hospital and then I remember Folks over to see them.

[Speaker 2] (1:43:44 - 1:46:57)
I know so but but as the town administrator we you actually I think you know And us have the ability to do things and so we should let's let's do that And you know, I remember a few years ago. We had conversations about I can't remember which project was it that We were discussing that there was a lot of concern about the pass-through from Humphrey Street through Aspen and Sherwood and all and fuller and Greenwood to kind of cut through and avoid the backup that happens on Humphrey Street This is pre pandemic and I frankly we haven't had the backup sense of that magnitude. Thanks to the pandemic But I remember there was a lot of conversation about all that traffic coming through it and I think on arguably 90% of those roads weren't designed for that, right?

They are destination roads They are roads that lead people to their homes not to another road more or less. There are some streets I'm gonna say Greenwood without that we're designed a little differently or There are some streets that are designed for a slightly different volume, right? Instead of being tertiary, maybe they're secondary roads But all those streets in some form or another could have years ago benefited from some permanent traffic calming measures, right?

That would have deterred because us humans are wonderfully efficient We will not go over speed bumps if we can avoid speed bumps, right? And I know it's like water we'll go find another place, but we could have chased that a long time ago as an example of something and And I really do appreciate Pine Street being the place where we're focusing on right now And I you know again, I think those speed bumps were great, but those were harsh speed bumps, right? So when you went over them, you felt them, which is great But you also heard them if you're a neighborhood a neighbor, right?

And so that's where speed humps That's where these things evolve into which is what's what's a tool that doesn't rattle or doesn't rattle the car or something that still achieves the slowdown effect of doing these things and and I think that it's asphalt and man-hours and signage right and and So I say this because you're doing a budget you're doing a capital budget. You're doing a whole bunch of things so what I don't want to do is I Mary Ellen's great I just don't want to get to the conversation and then say next year's budget or or grants that we don't have You know and you've you've talked about it already. So I know I'm predicting I'm predicting My clairvoyance is that we're gonna see something about pedestrian safety projects in your budget but I just that that's important because I think it just It is not huge dollars and so many streets and so many of these ways and then we can create policies That's so that when people come and say we're not just addressing the problem of the squeaky wheel quite literally the person that comes and says My street is bad.

Well, we let's fix your street instead. We say hey, this is our policy on these types of streets, right? Traffic calming is these are the types of traffic coming that are appropriate to type of things and so we can be more proactive or at least have a set policy as opposed to just being responsive to a street because they came forward or That committee was was able to spend the time needed to study one area.

It just gives us More tools. I think that people These systems work, right? We just got a I get it we have limited resources person hours and dollars to do these things, but they Will impact people's lives more so than 80 90 percent of the other stuff that we talked about

[Speaker 1] (1:46:57 - 1:48:15)
Understood here, I will say, you know, it will be a priority in the capital plan it will be one of the most significant projects that I will be recommending and certainly, you know, I I do down to my toes believe it's the most present danger to the welfare of The safety of the citizens of Swampskate pedestrian safety has to be a priority and and I don't want to You Know fail to just highlight how important this is. I share the board's concern that We can't talk our way around this. We have to start investing in traffic calming Infrastructure that will make it more challenging for people to drive fast or dangerously through the town I think you know when we think about distracted driving think about all of the challenges with a Very densely settled community that is dealing with You know a lot of folks that have the love affair with the automobile.

We really have to be thinking about ways to make Every one of the intersections in the town every one of the crosswalks Thank you All right, so I Think we Do we vote on support for this measure?

[Speaker 3] (1:48:16 - 1:48:31)
I think we have Yeah, so is there a motion to support the recommendation to change the signage on Humphrey Street to consistently be posted as 25 miles per hours as well as additional signage posted Can I just have it be that?

[Speaker 2] (1:48:32 - 1:48:59)
sergeant Lloyd's statement that doing this will make it consistent from the Lynn line all the way to the Humphrey Atlantic split at 25 miles an Hour since we don't actually know any of that sure rises to find out there's another area that just you know Just the way we sign things just have it be that and so I just make the motion to have it be from the Lynn line to the Humphrey Atlantic have split posted at 25 miles an hour Both ways

[Speaker 3] (1:49:00 - 1:49:13)
Second any further discussion All those in favor aye All right, great Thanks for that moving on we have the Phillips Beach parking

[Speaker 4] (1:49:16 - 1:54:18)
Discussion Sure So this issue has been one of the longest recurring issues before the traffic committee it's been Subject of discussion regularly for the year. I've been on the board and such weights heard about it a lot also You know the long and you In summary in the area of Phillips Beach, which is you know, one of our most popular beaches It's a beautiful beach.

It's attractive. It draws people in here. There's only Recreation parking allowed on Shepherd app on one side of Shepherd Avenue We feel it's just basically an insufficient amount of parking Given the amount of a draw that that asset is The request the concern that's been brought to the committee Consistently for a few years now actually from my understanding is that we expand the recreation parking Last year the town issued Two thousand nine hundred and fifty seven recreation or slash beach parking stickers. How many two thousand nine hundred and fifty seven Obviously those stickers are recreation. They're not strictly beach parking stitches stickers But that's primarily what they what what they are.

They don't they're not only for people going to Phillips Beach and obviously everyone doesn't go at the same time, but You know sergeant Lincoln's probably speak more better than I can to the experience of when they do enforcement in the police department I know that's constant enforcement during the summertime In the area of those beach You know, it's pretty evident that people are filling the Filling the appropriate parking area and there's sort of just spillover into the neighborhoods You know, and there are a couple of different issues there are people who just don't have Recreation stickers at all. There is some confusion We're pretty confident between people who have resident parking because a lot of the area is Allows resident parking and then there was recreation parking Frankly the signs look a lot the same so there's some confusion about that, but you know, even amongst people that are Attempting to be compliant, you know On a warm summer day There's this the area just does not have enough, you know limiting it to Sheppard Avenue just doesn't provide We feel adequate parking So the request was made of the committee and after all, you know a few meetings and considering it and visiting the area The committee voted unanimously to expand the recreation parking In the area of basically the beach side of Atlantic Avenue from Ocean Avenue all the way to Blodgett Avenue the streets in that neighborhood So to expand recreation parking to Ocean Ave, Longley Ave, Brown Road, Bradley Avenue, Sheppard Ave, Cutting Road, Charles Road and Blodgett Avenue in addition to Sheppard on one on one side of the road And May and have any remain resident parking on the on the other side So that sounds like a lot of roads. It sounds like a lot of expanded recreation parking, you know Feeling is that those roads aren't immediately going to fill up with regular recreational parking It's just going to give people more options about where to park and rather than you know Randomly selecting this street or that street. You just thought we take it as an area and look at as a neighborhood and this is a neighborhood of Phillips Beach and You know, honestly my suspicion is that This the roads will not be Heavily impacted with with people coming with recreation parking suddenly and we feel that you know Limiting it to Sheppard Avenue is just a little bit Too restrictive given the you know, given the attractiveness of the beach and even the size of the beach you've got, you know X number of square feet of beach is going to accommodate so many people There's going to come in an average of two or three people per car and they're going to overload Sheppard Avenue So we're almost drawing people in to an area that they're going to get ticket ticketed because they're going to be in a car the additionally we've ordered To alternate the side of the road Annually so that not only one side of the road is impacted by recreation parking and So basically to align the side that allows recreational parking On odd numbered years to be on the other side of the sides of the street and so on even numbered years to them even numbered sides of the street

[Speaker 8] (1:54:19 - 1:54:28)
It creates a little fairness to say like one side of the road isn't better off than the other It's doable to alternate each year

[Speaker 6] (1:54:32 - 1:54:50)
So on the proposed Schematic that you provided the color coding if we could just the green is what already exists for beach parking Yes, the blue would be residential The red is no parking and the orange would be the proposed addition.

[Speaker 4] (1:54:50 - 1:55:17)
Yeah, and if I could just add that That was produced before this the scheme of alternating sides So I can't vouch that where you see the orange proposed is they're all either even or odd sides of the road So I do have to ask I have to so this was brought up to me by an individual on Middlesex Road and He did he asked why is it that as a taxpayer?

[Speaker 5] (1:55:18 - 1:55:37)
Who even Is even forced to buy a recreation sticker, which I think he was opposed to. Well, why is it? He just can't park where he wants over there if he's Paying for his fees paying taxes to have these roads taken care of

[Speaker 4] (1:55:38 - 1:55:41)
What on the committee we get requests all you know

[Speaker 5] (1:55:44 - 1:55:45)
I'm hoping

[Speaker 4] (1:55:48 - 1:57:40)
Most most months we get requests on the committee I should say that often we get requests on the committee to have resident only parking people for one reason or another Feel that they you know, they're impacted and they're not they're unable to park in front of the house We're able to have guests home help age Whoever park and come and see them We generally try to find a rationale why that is and The biggest rationale would be if you live someplace that has an unusual draw for other people to come there like like the train station or the beach most people, you know, there are a lot of there are most people live in an area that's just the neighborhood and you know, I'm you know, I understand why people might Want to reserve more parking in front of their home And just have it available for their guests or their needs but in most cases I Agree with the person who we tell to you from else except These are neighborhoods you should be able to visit them and move about freely there just are some places that have an Unusual draw that are going to bring in lots of people and it's going to make it almost impossible for the people that live there To do some of the normal things that the rest of us take for granted So that would be the answer that I would give to that person if you happen to live someplace And there's this amazing thing like Rose Beach right next to your house a little bit in the woods gonna try to park in front of your house and your friends can't come park there and you can't have You know the services that you need come park there. So there are Occasions there are areas that we feel deserve a little bit of a different treatment Yeah, I mean, I think that I think that question Is A different one.

[Speaker 3] (1:57:40 - 1:57:43)
I think the question is like why do you have to pay for a beach sticker?

[Speaker 5] (1:57:44 - 1:57:57)
what there's actually kind of two questions in there and I I'm gonna guess the reason you pay for beach ticker is because we have so much uses of our beach. So it helps helps with our Expenses it does.

[Speaker 1] (1:57:58 - 1:59:25)
I do think you know as the chief mentioned, you know, it's a really A Significant draw and so, you know having a Program where you have to pay for a sticker does help Ensure that you know, we're gonna manage, you know the number of People that you know are gonna have that pass to be able to park in that area it it does kind of put up a little bit of a Restriction on it in the sense that somebody has to pay for that. And so It helps to curb, you know, what would be just a Opportunity for anybody to go down there in part and so it's restricted But but you don't mean No, I was gonna say I have to believe that if somebody had a financial hardship who wanted to obtain a beach sticker There is a way for them to go about doing that though I'd have to look into that.

But certainly, you know, I would Certainly You know, there is not I would like to propose that we look into that immediately, please Neil before we continue the conversation do I think a couple people with their hands up if you're willing to take comments and then Sure.

[Speaker 3] (1:59:25 - 2:00:21)
Yeah, we can do that if everyone is okay with that. I think we have Cheryl Levinson Cheryl can you unmute your microphone on teams? So while we're trying to figure that out There's somebody in in in the room who would like to speak So maybe we'll just invite him down and then we'll try to pick Cheryl up in a minute My name is Peter plane, I live at 16 Blodgett and I guess that's precinct 6.

[Speaker 20] (2:00:21 - 2:02:07)
I've only been here about five years Thanks for the opportunity. I just want to express some concerns. I'm not sure exactly.

Well, I haven't seen any documentation but Hearing about it. I Think it's great that part of this conversation has been about Traffic and safety and climate earlier on and I think this proposal Kind of gets to all three of them in different ways. I my concerns are you know, there's I think there's 15 16 children on the street more parking creates blind spots There there are two rounded corners.

They're not going to yield any parking spaces There are multiple driveways. They're not going to yield parking spaces to two hydrants The the yield of parking spaces is just not going to be that much They're probably a hundred walkers every weekend on the street, it's great walkers bicyclists It's just going to turn a residential street into a thoroughfare As I said before it's not going to really I don't think you'll make parking spaces It seems when you when you see what's going on in the Area with other communities.

We're encouraging traffic here when a lot of things are just discouraging traffic The work that was done last week last year was great There are there are bike racks there people can find their way to the beach You know if they want to You know, there's been a lot of home renovations I've been one of those and with all the various workers People encroach on driveways. They park directly behind the driveway So now all of a sudden your depth of field when you're backing up has been cut in half It's just I don't think it's a conducive street to parking

[Speaker 5] (2:02:09 - 2:02:10)
Which street

[Speaker 20] (2:02:12 - 2:02:26)
And I'm sure many of the streets in the area they're not wide streets I'm glad to hear Parking on two sides isn't going to be Proposed because I don't think you can get trucks down the street if you ever had people on both sides of the street

[Speaker 3] (2:02:27 - 2:02:47)
Chief and before we Get your comment in a second, but just to the comment about like the yield of parking space Like how many parking spaces we may be?

Yielding on each of these streets. Do you have Estimates on that as the traffic study advisory committee talks about that at all Like how many spaces might be available on different streets?

[Speaker 4] (2:02:47 - 2:02:51)
We haven't we don't have a number way. We can we can totally put one together though.

[Speaker 7] (2:02:51 - 2:03:14)
Okay, you know Okay Is just a quite just a question For for sergeant Lloyd, is there a you know on in the in the train station neighborhood? When that's also resident parking, correct? That's yeah Recreation rec.

Well, it's rich. It's recreation parking right by the train station

[Speaker 23] (2:03:14 - 2:03:14)
I

[Speaker 7] (2:03:16 - 2:03:33)
Think it's resident which area we talk about right around the train station Oh Pines Pine Street Pine Street, Middlesex Hampton Are those are those streets is parking restricted on both on one side is one side resident and one side

[Speaker 8] (2:03:33 - 2:03:46)
I'm pretty sure it's resident parking I know Columbia on the train side that has both sides on Columbia has in certain areas has recreation I

[Speaker 4] (2:03:46 - 2:03:56)
Think that's I think I used to do is up all the way down except to the end where we would Get a discussion about adding that last section by the way, you talk about

[Speaker 8] (2:03:56 - 2:03:58)
Yeah, right

[Speaker 7] (2:04:00 - 2:04:19)
So what what's I'm sorry most of you know, my question is I just I just want I Just want to make sure that that we're applying this this resident or recreation parking fairly To the train station neighborhood as we are, you know as we are over here by Phillips Beach, right?

I just want to make sure what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

[Speaker 4] (2:04:20 - 2:04:44)
I agree with that I may have misspoken early when I mentioned the train station area. I might have said recreation But yeah, that's it's it's restricted parking and that it's resident parking in that in that area in the area the price of the train station, but When you say resident Do you mean just residents of that area or residents any resident of Swampscope can Obtain a sticker to park in that area.

[Speaker 8] (2:04:44 - 2:05:05)
So when we enforce resident parking within any area really if you have an address and A resident parking sticker on your vehicle and it's within that vicinity of where you're you were sad That's how we go back you can't have a resident parking on one side of the town and then go park on the other side of town and Say I have a resident.

[Speaker 2] (2:05:05 - 2:06:25)
Yeah, I have a residency just within that area wanted to clarify Are we maybe we should try Cheryl Levinson again Cheryl can you I think we can hear you if you speak Why don't you Is your volume down or anything Oh, does it show us are being unmuted Hey Cheryl you do we do us a favor Do you mind logging out of the meeting and logging back into the meeting it? The problem may be on your end, but maybe since I'm a tech whiz and I know control of the lead is any solution Yeah, if you just log off and then log back on let's see how that works I mean time.

[Speaker 3] (2:06:25 - 2:06:35)
I think we have another another comment in the room Hi, I'm a chair of couture.

[Speaker 4] (2:06:35 - 2:07:18)
I also live on lodged out of seven blodgett near Pete and Just wanted to reemphasize what Pete said I had myself have two young kids and I do think allowing beach parking in the neighborhood is going to completely disrupt To Pete's point. There's probably 10 to 15 kids who play in the street. They ride their bikes They play basketball and having beach parking is just gonna be really disruptive to that neighborhood Which is you know, slightly set back from the main street of Shepherd where the access to the beach Also to blotch it out is very narrow So if you have one side of the street That's all cars to Pete's point backing up having people come over to visit.

It's gonna be really disruptive to a neighborhood That's really quiet right now and really enjoyable for a lot of people Thank you.

[Speaker 22] (2:07:18 - 2:08:46)
Thank you Yes, sir I My name is Steve Puzo. I'm on 26 blodgett actually like Pete. I Just recently renovated.

I've lived there for about two years. I moved from Shepherd and One of the things we want we really liked about blodgett is really the residential feel my daughter Has cerebral palsy and she uses a wheelchair for mobility. So that street access and just the really, you know Family nature of the street is hugely important to us So when I think about what would change with beach parking it parking is tremendous And I I would really question if we're just using one side of the street The number of cars that you would get for one street and the benefit of that Relative to the cost to that street.

I think would be tremendous I mean, I think as Pete and Jared have said if you look at our street and the width If there is one family that has a family party on it you can see the impact and just the the narrowing of what happens on that street and the impact so I similarly echo Significant concerns and really question the value and the benefit that we would get for people on one side of the street relative to what it would really do to the to the Living condition in the nature of the street.

[Speaker 2] (2:08:47 - 2:09:33)
Thank you So We're gonna try plan B, okay, I do Hey Cheryl, will you just turn turn your zoom off log off stay on the phone with me though I'm waiting for you to disappear on the screen You're good, all right Can you hear me All right, you're speaking to the world.

[Speaker 18] (2:09:33 - 2:12:03)
All right. Hello world. I'm sorry about this First of all, I I have been going to the traffic study committees for the past nine years To try and get this situation Taken care of Sorry, Cheryl Levinson 63 Shepherd out precinct 6 Before the parking lot of the Beach Club and Consistently over the last nine years the street has become a parking lot and The residential permit parking and the recreation permit parking signs are so much alike that people don't see the difference And I've been trying to get this some sort of resolution for nine years Finally a couple of meetings ago. It was recommended to change the color of the signs of the Recreation which I did not hear in the presentation as one of the things that they were going to do so that people could differentiate between the two signs then all of a sudden it came out with additional parking in other streets and Alternating the parking on both sides, which is going to confuse everybody even more and I just I just feel that You know when people say they pay taxes, they should park anywhere. Well, we we pay taxes too and It's nice to be able to have some place for your guests to park especially in the summer months when they come and having it on one side of the street seemed to work and Actually on Shepherd It's on both sides up to my house. It's on both sides of Shepherd and up ocean So as I say, I would you know, I I hope that Chief Archer Also recommends the changing of the color of the signs, but I think that Alternating these signs back and forth It's really going to be very very confusing and I agree with the blotch it out of issue The the Beach Club has members most of them more than half of them are from Marblehead and they use Logic to get there.

[Speaker 3] (2:12:03 - 2:12:23)
It's a very congested Street in the summer I'm done Thank You Cheryl, okay, I think we have One more Jacqueline I Think it's I can't see the full name.

[Speaker 4] (2:12:24 - 2:13:06)
I'm guessing it's Well, you just heard from one who's who's raised the concern Charleston's told us that she's brought it to the committee for a while now.

[Speaker 17] (2:13:07 - 2:13:25)
I don't have a list of other names from other residents Is it local neighbors to the direct area? That's my understanding Okay, and you had mentioned as well 2957 stickers had been issued. Do you know if that's on par?

[Speaker 4] (2:13:27 - 2:13:33)
Or is that an increase I'm sorry I missed you first you're the middle bit is it on par with what

[Speaker 3] (2:13:34 - 2:13:35)
Historically

[Speaker 4] (2:13:36 - 2:13:38)
Yeah, I don't have a historic trend

[Speaker 2] (2:13:40 - 2:13:57)
Do you know that I do think that there are some we are north and we are north of 2,000 of a year Yeah, and have been I can't speak to 29 versus 25 or 24 or 26, but I know that we're north Okay

[Speaker 17] (2:14:10 - 2:14:11)
A

[Speaker 3] (2:14:25 - 2:14:31)
Conversation that you guys had about Atlantic or was it that was never really on the table

[Speaker 8] (2:14:32 - 2:14:35)
Pretty sure you can't park on Atlantic.

[Speaker 9] (2:14:35 - 2:14:39)
Nobody can park on Atlantic. Yeah Yeah

[Speaker 17] (2:14:43 - 2:14:51)
Available at Fisherman's Beach, for example compared to what's available Is there much of a difference between the two I

[Speaker 4] (2:14:55 - 2:15:10)
Mean we haven't analyzed it, but I can just anecdotally tell you there's a lot more parking along Humphrey Street than there is on Sheppard Avenue, I Don't have a comparison, you know, like the site the area of the beach and in the amount of the number of parking spaces

[Speaker 3] (2:15:12 - 2:15:16)
Are there restrictions are there restrictions on the side streets off of Humphrey

[Speaker 4] (2:15:19 - 2:15:25)
And I don't know the answer that Like if I want to go to Fisherman's Beach, and there's no parking on Humphrey.

[Speaker 3] (2:15:25 - 2:15:26)
Can I pull up on?

[Speaker 8] (2:15:29 - 2:15:33)
I'm sure on some of those side roads. There are resident parking signs.

[Speaker 21] (2:15:34 - 2:15:35)
I can double-check.

[Speaker 3] (2:15:35 - 2:15:37)
Yeah. Okay, Jacqueline.

[Speaker 17] (2:15:37 - 2:17:27)
Sorry On me the non motion side on my side of the street There is a curve of the sidewalk for the most part on the opposite side of the street. There aren't curves or sidewalks At least not completely down that full length of road. So Some of it is a lot of it is taken up by driveway for some muddle lines between what would be Considered the driving one And I'm sure is that you can attest there are multiple times where when they do come down and take a right off Atlanta You go down watch that Sometimes they're blocked people often park right on the corners there on the inside corner on the non beach side Which makes it impossible for large trucks to pass down especially if there's something on the other side of the street and that is more Summer than it is in the winter Because of the additional parking and people don't use their common sense and will park on both sides of the street Which makes the street impassable and I myself have three kids One of which is out there constantly and there's already Speeding as one of the neighbors have attested to from Marblehead straight down to Beach Club There's a lot of speeding on that road in the summertime There's a lot of So, I do think that in general will change the nature of my street in particular I can't speak to the other streets in general And I do oppose this suggestion Thank you

[Speaker 3] (2:17:28 - 2:17:34)
Thank you, I think there's one more Joel SAP and then I think we'll move on to a conversation

[Speaker 16] (2:17:48 - 2:20:45)
So I can speak for a couple of other streets there as well I heard Charles mention and and honestly, I Think it would be helpful if the town actually measured the width of some of these streets because I don't even think currently parking On that street.

Is that safe for one at night? There's not any lights At the top and the bottom of the street and when people do park even though they're not supposed to I guess During beach times, it's really easy to not see, you know cars that should be on this, you know that are parked on that street As well I think what Cheryl mentioned about people parking on both sides of the street already along Shepherd and not sure Who was speaking initially people are parking already on Shepherd and on Ocean all the way up past You know past Atlantic, I guess Already, but when people start parking on both sides of the street what's happens Already, it's it is very narrow And I don't think it is safe.

We do have two kids. I don't I think there's a lot of kids on the street And then the rest are really a lot of elderly folks as well at least cutting Cheryl's and on Blodgett, that's something that I see a lot a lot of walking If we're you know, it's kind of interesting. We started off talking about Planting more trees and being sort of sustainable there If we've already given that 1,900 parking passes for a town that's fairly small I don't know.

I feel like Maybe there should be more walking if we need to be a lot more people to park in all these areas but I oppose the This consideration at least at the moment. I think we need to make sure that streets some some of these smaller streets can actually handle The parking and then maybe if they can if it's three cars and it blocks All three cars can park on that street and then it blocks the rest. I'm not sure that's very helpful either.

So I definitely think there should be some consideration for Charles and You know, I'm in cutting I think to this fairly narrow, but There's a couple streets that don't really seem like to be making a lot of Great sense, I guess I Thank you, Joe No, I just I just have a I just have a quick comment.

[Speaker 7] (2:20:45 - 2:21:44)
Yeah, and a question for the chief so my comment is You know, I think there's been some great conversations and certainly some concerns from the Blodgett neighbors and those on Shepherd Ave You know, but Quite, you know just just to be blunt. Not everyone lives on not everyone lives in walking distance of Phillips Beach I don't you So I think to have this in as an as an open recreation area. I think there has to be Accommodations for those who cannot walk or cannot bike You know, so Mike my next question is to you chief Archer You know is is the parking that you know That is going to be created on one side of the street on you know in these in this neighborhood Can a fire truck still still get through are we are are we creating a public safety hazard by doing this or Is is this is this something that is it is indeed safe?

[Speaker 4] (2:21:45 - 2:25:03)
Sure, and I appreciate all of you that the neighbors Nobody knows the streets as well as as people that live there A really good sense, you know, they see Trucks they see UPS trucks. They see Amazon trucks. They've seen it with lots of cars parking.

They see it with you guys parking So I think it's really helpful to get feedback from all of them and You know, we can certainly drill down more on You know, how much do we need and which streets are most? You know appropriate to add There Certainly can be areas, you know, even as we contemplated it, you know, I guess, you know, we sort of summarized You know parking on this street. That's true.

That's true. Anywhere. We expanded parking there would the exceptions We're not suddenly saying you can park in front of driveways or you can park in front of fire hydrants or on corners So that would be and it certainly could be Some of these roads where the number of exceptions to the parking meant would make it such that It may be pointless to even explore that that road So to answer your question David I Don't have an answer. I can't go down this list street by street and tell you where there are you know there Obstructions to fire trucks aren't as common as people think they're not as big as people think they are The normal trucks they can go in they can go pretty much anywhere your UPS truck and go But there may be there can certainly be areas where a given set of circumstances Cause an obstruction there are streets in town where there are regularly issues Just the nature of the width of the street and the nature of who who's parking there and what's being parked there Where we you know, there are trouble spots that kind of that crop up all the time We certainly don't want to create any more of them So very much willing to take a look a closer look at that And you know and drill down on exactly How much additional park? I mean the one thing I feel is that It's it's kind of difficult to dispute is there isn't there is a need for additional parking to get to fill up each or else You're just gonna have to just keep ticketing people because they just there's not enough There's not enough parking giving given the size of that beach.

There's not enough places that we make it for people to park and To your point David. You're right. It's it's not a very walkable.

It's not a very walkable Amenity, it's there are some people that can walk there. But you know for the most part if we want people to be able to enjoy the beach We need to make we need to accommodate them and and I understand we need to also be respectful of the neighborhoods And try to minimize the impact on them So That's my long answer to your question it's street by street and in area by area of the street and We can certainly take a look and see if there are places where you know, it's just The cost-benefit analysis doesn't lend itself to adding parking

[Speaker 6] (2:25:07 - 2:25:41)
In that regard and I am a frequenter of Phillips Beach we go there all the time And I the amount of time that I attend I don't ever see the Beach Club parking full ever So have we had conversation at all with the Beach Club about utilizing some of their parking which is going not parked in To how some of our folks who have a right to be at the beach just as much as those guys have a right to get the Beach Club Have we had any conversation about accessing some of their parking we have not

[Speaker 7] (2:25:42 - 2:26:16)
You know, I will say historically there have there have been cleanup efforts typically around Earth Day And early in the and early in the season where if you go when you clean up you Will get a pass for that for that lot It's restricted on a number of days and if there are any extras then that is available for purchase as well. So there are Options there with some elbow grease and some and some people power certainly So I want to just start by saying I think it's great.

[Speaker 2] (2:26:16 - 2:32:15)
You guys are having this conversation This is Ben chief. You just said one person, but all of us have heard from Plenty more than one person about this Situation. I do think The fire the fire truck is an interesting conversation, but it's interesting conversation for every single Street and swamp Scott, right I think it's Jeff If parking is allowed on both sides already Then that shouldn't be an issue arguably, right?

But again a couple of us live in the Olmstead neighborhood and Parking is allowed in every side and if there was a third side, it would be allowed in the third side And and so the same fire engine concerns are there as well, right? So we trust that on all of our parking regulations if there's any Street and swamp Scott that currently allows parking on both sides one side no side that you can't get through that you're You have some contacts with the traffic committee probably get it changed Right, so I just want to make sure that we're not waiting on that. I do think Look at I I come from philosophy that I believe as though Not only should everybody in town be able to use our natural resources But I do not believe being a swamp Scott resident is a prerequisite to you using the natural Of our coast.

I think frankly and I appreciate our town administrators focus on this in the past. I I believe it's Needlessly exclusive and I don't think that's that's necessary and frankly I Think our restaurants would benefit from our businesses would benefit from and and I think frankly our community benefits from having visitors So I appreciate that we're looking at this and I want you to keep looking at it I would I think the comments about understanding what supply will be generated from these streets is a really good one, right taking consideration distance minimum distance from driveways and intersections what You know, what? What are you guys going to create as a standard that you want to make sure is kept? How are we going to delineate that right?

How do you really enforce that? I know on Shepherd for example where there is the resident only parking that was in part trying to do it because people were just Snuggling up to the two driveways right making it very difficult to back out and have view cores And the comments about blind spots are spot-on right blind spots. It's not about the beach parking.

It's about anywhere, right? We've talked about crosswalks in town. We've talked about intersections.

So let's go through that analysis and I think staff can help you and But and then graphically show it right. Thanks GIS We have so many mapping tools now that we can really use that and show out if we took 15 feet from every driveway I'm just making it numbers I don't know what the right number is going to be and we took 20 feet from every intersection and we took 20 feet from Every crosswalk and we kept a clear hydrant to the extent. I don't know what the distances are What is left?

I think it's just important just to know right so that we're not creating a losery parking It's a loser even though we're not solving anything We're just we're doing something without solving anything and I think so let's just figure out what it is that that actually creates And then the alternating alternating sides. I'll be honest with you. I actually think it's a great idea other communities Do it and they do it with snow parking for example more often than not you see it with snow parking, right?

Which is when they allow parking in the street on odd number of years during a snow emergency You have to park on the odd side and even number of years Even side just because they need one side clear for there's no removal So I think that's a really creative idea and worthy of continuing to explore so that people share the burden of that But I do think let's go through before the conversation goes too much further here. Let's go through the analysis just to understand what we would Be gaining through this just to be able to quantify that because if we can show That it's worth doing meaning that we're getting meaningful number of spaces or whatever Whatever the number is that's worth doing But we can also do it in a way that we are able to mark the streets now if the streets don't have curbs Maybe it's harder, right if they all have curbs, maybe it's easier because we can paint curbs. We can create non parking zones Just how you suggest we do that to make it so that Enforcement's only secondary to when they didn't follow the rules to begin with.

So let's how do we make it as Full proof as we can that they'll follow the rules understanding us humans like to not follow the rules But but let's come back with a kind of comprehensive vision on that to see what's what's possible I am open to the fact that there should be again on Humphrey Street on Fisherman's parking lot and train station. I mean I holistically feel The way I do about the fact that you know, I don't think this should be a swamp scout only, right? I think our beaches are not You know, they're for everyone and and I want everyone I do appreciate in past years during Kovat in particular We did a we made a yeoman's attempt at having public parking at fishermen's and allowing people to come and pay for a day Pass instead of having that be recreation parking.

I think even having fishermen's. I'm sorry Phillips Park it wasn't fishermen's. I apologize.

It was Phillips Park for Iceman's Beach I think even having that parking lot the recreation stickers only else also says to people that want to use the fields and whatnot You have to have a sticker. You got a swamp Scott and I just think that's the wrong message again I think that's I don't think that's the intended message, but that certainly is the implication of it happening So so I think this is a worthwhile and I really do you are taking on a tough topic and the neighbors have absolute Like their comments are spot-on It doesn't mean that there isn't a good way of doing it It just means that let's go down the path a little bit more do that homework Okay, and and then come back and have that conversation say can we deal with sight lines? Can we on some streets where there isn't curbing or some streets that don't have a width of some sort just to again?

Appreciate that you guys are working on this and just ask for that homework because I do think it's an important conversation And I would love for it to come back and I agree with David Grishman's feelings about this

[Speaker 6] (2:32:17 - 2:33:24)
I Would just like to say I agree with Peter's comment not all street not all streets are the same and like for for instance My street, I don't have a driveway So if you park in front of my house You're parking in my driveway and the neighborhood knows that but if I had a beach at the end of my street people going to Beach wouldn't necessarily know that and that would be aggravating for me every week to have to deal with so I can fully sympathize with what all of the Citizens have said with regards to these surrounding streets It has to be balanced with some Critical logical thinking about where the best increase in parking will be and and to get you know folks Not just from the other side of town, but from other towns to join us as well as Peter stated so I agree that We should be exploring this. I'm glad we are exploring this and this should just be the beginning of the discussion into exploring how we can expand parking in the area without Being detrimental to some of these streets which are more unique than others.

[Speaker 3] (2:33:26 - 2:33:56)
I Fully agree with Peter and Katie don't need to add anything. I think Well, no, I will add something. I think part of that homework part of that homework and extra work I think it's obvious But I think is is working with the folks that are here who commented from the neighborhood but also the other streets who aren't represented in getting those insights and Talking to them as well as just walking the neighborhood and figuring out, you know, how to be tactical about it.

[Speaker 1] (2:33:57 - 2:35:43)
I think that's Yeah, yeah, I think that's a really good recommendation. I you know, I do think even working with The Stanley School neighborhood meeting in the neighborhood talking to the neighbors Hearing the stories about the individual concerns about your children your safety Really I think is important look, it's it's a beautiful town and it's a wonderful neighborhood and It's our hope that we can always maintain safety and we can always work with You know neighborhoods to really help celebrate everything that everybody loves about Swampskate My concern really is, you know accessibility Safety, how many you know? Do we have how many should we have?

You know, we have a community that is getting older and older We're living longer and longer. It's not bad news but we need to have more accessibility and we need to work with neighborhoods to try to help ensure that we have handicap parking spaces Other places so let's study this let's work with These neighborhoods and and see where we can help Make adjustments that will keep everybody safe, but help make Swampskate that much more inclusive It's worth thinking about whether or not we actually need beach parking stickers That's a conversation that we should advance as well Maybe there's a better way for us to Address some of these responsibilities.

I Like the conversation about the Beach Club, too. We should reach out to them.

[Speaker 2] (2:35:43 - 2:36:18)
It's part of these efforts So the other thing I'm sorry, I Didn't write down so I didn't say bike racks. The new design at Phillips is great It has some bike racks and they're definitely better looking the bikes are because they're but our actual number of bike rack count is actually down from what used to be there and I'm not asking it's just a Let's do it consistent with the design and let's do it thoughtfully as opposed to just dropping bike racks there But if you want people to be biking Let's give them the means or place to lock their bikes and feel safe about that as well. So that's something Be thinking about All right.

[Speaker 7] (2:36:18 - 2:36:20)
So as for next steps here

[Speaker 1] (2:36:22 - 2:37:04)
What happens next I'd like the Traffic Safety Committee to Schedule a several Meetings perhaps one in person in the neighborhood one online take input feedback from the neighborhoods evaluate the select boards concerns and reach out to the Beach Club and See where we can actually quantify the number of spaces we're gonna have to go down and and evaluate each of these streets and really get a sense of The number of spaces that we're going to You know be able to enhance that the area by and then we can circle back around with the board

[Speaker 7] (2:37:06 - 2:37:13)
Okay, because it is beachy beach season is rapidly approaching two and a half months aware that looking forward to it

[Speaker 1] (2:37:16 - 2:37:39)
It's only plan Chief doctor. Yes.

Absolutely. Thank you for the feedback Really appreciate your work on this and certainly will follow up We get some feedback I want to thank the neighbors that showed up today and thank you for your awful comments Thank you

[Speaker 3] (2:37:41 - 2:38:18)
All right Moving on I think to discussion of fiscal year 24 operating budget I Know He's not here and not joining so Sean I wanted to get a sense from you of how Far you expect this discussion to go tonight or

[Speaker 2] (2:38:19 - 2:38:29)
Can I can I sorry? Can I just see for a second? You know that there's some residents here for an entertainment license that are to comment on Would you mind if we just want to jump to that?

[Speaker 3] (2:38:35 - 2:38:38)
So we're just going to talk about the entertainment license for

[Speaker 5] (2:38:39 - 2:38:44)
Dockside we need to vote to take it out of the consent and bring gender or we just pull it out

[Speaker 3] (2:38:46 - 2:39:06)
We can if you want to no, I I just want to okay So Mary Ellen, I think you had specific comments or concerns or questions about this that you wanted to talk talk about

[Speaker 5] (2:39:06 - 2:40:27)
Yes, so on the entertainment license This license is requesting To go until 1 a.m. The previous license Went from zest friends went to 10 Yep, it went to 10 So I did support the liquor license until 1 because zest friends Was until 1 and now?

I'm also Thinking of staying in line with that zest friends entertainment license went until 10 and this one is a request for 1 a.m and If you look at other entertainment licenses Diane was nice enough to bring us coffee You look at entertainment licenses on Humphrey Street. You have Cafe Avellino close to 11 and G and Liturgy aren't even listed as having an entertainment license And then the only other entertainment license well, I would say Lord Haven, but that's that's further down so that I Don't know if that would really Play into it, but that goes into 11.

[Speaker 7] (2:40:27 - 2:40:49)
So I'm more inclined of saying I really think that license should be closer to 10 or 11 and not 1 Are So Mary Ellen, are you are you stating that that there should be no TV monitors or Board games.

[Speaker 5] (2:40:50 - 2:40:55)
No. So the next question I have is on an entertainment license. Can you split can it be split out?

[Speaker 7] (2:40:56 - 2:41:17)
so that Yeah, yeah, I think No, no, no, no, it's it was it I looked at the application It doesn't show an area to split it out the live the live music I would the live music I think I would I would agree The light we should probably should not have live music running until 1 o'clock in the morning, right?

[Speaker 5] (2:41:23 - 2:41:48)
Well karaoke We just should we say a Disc jockey You know, that's not live music, but that's So yeah, so I of course board games I don't have an issue with yeah, but I don't know if we can split if we can split this out I just kidding.

[Speaker 2] (2:41:48 - 2:41:59)
So can you explain to us? Maybe I can't I've actually asked Previous Maryland's point like it's a power to delineate Like I mean, but is it is it in a bylaw? Is it in a charter?

[Speaker 1] (2:41:59 - 2:42:20)
Statute that somehow we're like, I think it's a past practice of just Delineating, you know all of the specific activities that you're going to allow it's part of your regulatory You're you know licensing I got that So is that does that mean in your view and I know you probably you'll probably confirms to make sure but that We can for example at some point.

[Speaker 2] (2:42:20 - 2:43:22)
I think we have to acknowledge that if someone has the ability to operate as a restaurant Certain things this day and age sadly go with a restaurant and that oftentimes is TV so I'm just using that as an example and some something such that we're not then putting another layer of Decision-making on something that a bylaw or a board already basically inherently inherently said Yes, can we agree that board games go without a use every use? You should be able to play board But but I think that things that we're talking about here are things that will emanate sounds Predictably beyond music. Yes right, so I think is oh, so I think just so we absolutely should do anything better because this is But you you've actually delineated instruments like you you know No in actual in actual in actual permits we have that's right.

Like don't I'm not saying that was good practice Except banning the tuba after 7 p.m. Was brilliant. I think so, but let's

[Speaker 1] (2:43:23 - 2:44:34)
It is a it's an interesting level of detail that you know you and prior boards have gotten into I think I can go back to town council and get a sense of what is the Regulatory parameters that you really have to operate within It's I'm sure it's based on some level of case law and and some exceedance you know, there's probably communities where you know, they didn't want to see any type of activity and certain establishments and they Encroached upon it and they decided to be a little bit more explicit about regulating, you know the specific activities and and TVs or you know television screens, you know, they were a draw maybe 50 years ago and they probably appeared in a lot of permits. They're not that interesting anymore and It may have just become You know a legacy type of I mean I do think it's tricky because It's you know, you think like Oh TVs, but I mean, this is a pub if there's a big game on Friday night It's on the West Coast.

[Speaker 3] (2:44:35 - 2:44:43)
A Lot of people are going there to watch the game that can be loud And it's all they're doing is they have TVs on no, I understand but then

[Speaker 2] (2:44:44 - 2:47:54)
No, I understand that but then we're whatever this it's such a great debate because I don't actually know the answer Yeah, but but I then I just struggled ignore this fact pattern because this fact patterns a you know License aside we're talking generically or I'm talking right which is this idea?

Which is to have a regulatory authority in our town that says this use is allowed to go through a liquor license If it's a liquor Establishment and have this is allowed and to go to the zoning board if you have to go to zoning board and say this is But then to be able to say but the last layer is the thing that will actually make you successful right Meaning if you're a sports bar everything in our zoning bylaws as you can do it and I'm not talking about time I'm talking about the function itself you know would we really allow a sports bar into zoning or he's going to the zoning board of the planning board or right now all These other licenses liquor license, but then turn around and say but we don't want to have TVs You know, we wouldn't say that right? But the point is it just at some point it's like doesn't make sense How many bites of the apples right do we need On this I agree with Mary Ellen about scaling back one 1 a.m So I mean I do have a time issue time issues a secondary and like a separate topic for me But I just get we should work on carving this up more because I have no problem with them having a TV on So one o'clock and when I think TV, I'm thinking normal TV and I don't begrudge them being successful Oh, but if it's a nationally ranked game, you can't play But I so I wanted to I want to differentiate those things because I don't want to handcuff the businesses from being successful Yeah, we've made policy decisions. We being the town the town meeting before us and yours passive make decisions and they're still on the books So do you want me to follow back up with Town Council and bring this up at the next meeting? Well, I think well, I think so just yes But I would ask you to differentiate the town council's answer because we can do something doesn't mean that we should do something, right?

So discern, what do we have to do? What do we have to regulate under state law which has to come before us and we can't waive that right versus what we don't Have to we can if we want to but we don't have I just want to know that difference because that's a big difference My I guess my concern is you know, if we don't specify it Is it allow is it allowed or does it have to be specified to be allowed? Like where's the no, but that's but that's No, I got it.

But if we're talking about the sale of all calls that we care about Bottled beer versus draft beer. I mean, I'm just I'm getting to the point of ridiculous Which is there's so many details about every business, right? If we're not regulating TVs, we're not regulating TVs So you don't actually need to say the zoning if it's the building by a letter that says a restaurant under 2,000 square feet is Allowed by right in this district and the only reason you go to the zoning board is because of your liquor license great You don't have no one's asking you questions about your TV there You go to the zoning board the zoning board when they're talking about whether or not you sell liquor want to talk about whether or not You have TVs. I guess they can and they can decide whether or not they want to condition their special permit on something like that All right, are they going to the zoning board for something?

[Speaker 5] (2:47:55 - 2:48:00)
I don't think they are I don't why did I think I read that that they had to go to the zoning board for something?

[Speaker 7] (2:48:01 - 2:48:05)
They're for their window for the for the takeout window, okay, that's it

[Speaker 3] (2:48:21 - 2:48:26)
Let's give you a microphone just so people can hear at home and using

[Speaker 14] (2:48:27 - 2:48:56)
They said that That's friends used this area of storage where they want to store their kegs next to this built-out refrigerator that's less than a few feet from my kitchen door and Yeah, so I think they're going again to the planning board which made the zoning Which may be recommended to the zoning if I understood the meeting notes from the other night Close to the planning board first

[Speaker 2] (2:48:57 - 2:50:17)
It's so if it goes to the zoning board, there's certain petitions and I can't I don't know what they're doing here So I can't because of this certain petitions that don't Years ago in oh nine when we rewrote the zoning by a lot We made it so you didn't have to go to two boards. I got a topic So what happens though is in certain instances you are going to the zoning board The planning board has a right to review the petition and make a recommendation to the zoning board But they don't actually take a formal vote Mm-hmm, so but this raise another thing, which is I just we just voted on a liquor license But if they're the liquor license and again, I don't remember even seeing a premises. They're changing where they're storing alcohol. That's different than Zest friends was storing alcohol and that's technically a different premises Yep.

I mean, so I just it feels like we're kind of getting this I I want them to be hugely successful and I want them to open as quickly as they can deal, right? But it feels like we're kind of doing this in parts and it feels like we're doing it So, I guess I would just ask That someone figure this out someone not me, please Okay, it just feels it feels like We don't even know what I don't think we heard about the outdoor refrigeration thing And stuff like that and again, not that it would have changed anything But what we do to me we should have premises we should have premises plants

[Speaker 5] (2:50:17 - 2:50:25)
Well, it might not change anything with their business either. I mean it might not right So they're going to my understanding is they're going to the zoning board for their takeout window.

[Speaker 1] (2:50:26 - 2:50:41)
I Yeah, I think the you're right the thought, you know, they're moving forward with this enterprise with or without the window but they they've identified the window as a Feature that they would like to have and so that's part of it

[Speaker 2] (2:50:41 - 2:51:12)
it sounds like they might also be going to zoning board because they're building a some type of thing that would be a structure and Have to get dimensional relief or something of that nature. I mean again, I'm speculating based on just I'll get more information I don't know enough about that.

Yeah, so I look into it. It's just helpful Knowing that stuff is gonna help us be able to relax on things that we don't need to worry about, right? You know, I mean like just generally speaking great better policies frankly and say you don't care about TVs agree care about board games But until you figure this out, I care about I will Figure this out all about board games.

[Speaker 5] (2:51:12 - 2:51:36)
Yes So, what is that what is it because because here's the I I Supported 1 a.m. On the liquor license because it was a business there 1 a.m On a liquor license that business also had 10 o'clock entertainment. So where does that leave us now because You know, we have neighbors who purchased the property prior to that zoning changing.

[Speaker 2] (2:51:36 - 2:52:39)
So that hardship I'm sorry that last part Yeah Restaurants have been allowed at this property Going back 20 some odd years I'm not in any debate. So in 2009 when I rewrote the zoning bylaw with the zoning bylaw rewrite committee Those restaurants had already been allowed there the overlay district Did some dimensional changes to make things that was in? 2015-16, I think made some dimensional changes and Depending on things but but use wise Restaurants going back even before oh nine Restaurants need the special permitting zoning board, you know nine restaurants under a certain size No longer needed a special permit unless they had a carryout window or they had the sale of alcohol So those just just so you know, it's actually the chronology there It doesn't negate the fact that a neighbor's still next to a commercial district and has concerns

[Speaker 5] (2:52:42 - 2:53:04)
Okay, so my issue and I think I'm probably share the same issue with everyone on this board is I want a business to be successful and I want neighbors to be Content so I just want to figure out how we get there

[Speaker 6] (2:53:05 - 2:53:36)
So I have a procedural question can we Amend their application or we just reject it and ask them to come back based on So then I Think we should Move our discussion towards if it's 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock. I would agree I think most of us are in agreement.

[Speaker 2] (2:53:36 - 2:54:26)
It's not till one o'clock Unless I'm misreading the rest I'm personally comfortable with 11 o'clock for everything but after 11 o'clock Games and TVs. Yeah board games and TV. The rest is not would it make more sense for me to go back take a look at the Regulatory parameters that the board has for entertainment and the specificity talk to town council and then Right, which is we want to help just move them forward or in the process and but but do it in a responsible way So I think right.

I appreciate Katie's suggestion. We can still take actions.

[Speaker 6] (2:54:26 - 2:55:21)
Yeah so I would say that what I would like to propose is All of the entertainment requested the cutoff be 11 at p.m. And for the For games and TV, they can keep it on to one And I I feel like I Understand the that sus friends only had it till 10. So there is a sense to keep the consistency however, if we're looking at Mission on the bay has its own midnight. You already has it till 11 You're looking on that Street.

Both of those are in residential areas all that not as close Yeah, I don't to neighbors But I think the sound travels regardless if you're in somebody's backyard or on that Street bounces in all sorts of directions. I Occasionally hear mission all the way on Banks Terrace. So I think 11 is a reasonable hour for the permit.

[Speaker 3] (2:55:21 - 2:56:45)
I'll second that Okay, yeah, I mean I Just in terms of further discussion, I don't recall sus friends when they applied for their entertainment license, but I They may have only wanted it until 10. So like I don't know that we Restricted it But I don't I don't know. I don't have a recall to know that's actually their application when they filled out their application It was 10 Right, so I think that you know, it's a hard comparison just to because There there's not necessarily precedent there that we restricted an application in the prior.

But so Just so I'm clear. The motion is 11 p.m For everything for everything other than TVs and board games which are allowed until 1 That's TV's and widescreen All right any further discussion all those in favor of Katie's motion, thank you I also by the way, this I think was great.

[Speaker 2] (2:56:45 - 2:56:45)
Thank you

[Speaker 3] (2:57:07 - 2:57:12)
Okay now budget All right

[Speaker 1] (2:57:15 - 3:08:43)
So, I think the most Significant development with the budget really has to do with I think a tentative agreement that I have been able to reach with the superintendent in the Swamps go public schools you know, we had a Variance with the level of funding that I had originally established for the swamps with public school system school committee had supported a budget that was Higher than what I had originally established we have been working hard over the last few years to constrain costs and I just want to be clear that you know with inflation with a lot of pressure and complexities with the pandemic certainly, you know, the swamps to public school system has felt the same type of constraints as every other department in town They have many more complexities in terms of their service Responsibilities, but certainly every household has faced those same challenges.

So When we built this budget, you know, we were intent on building a budget that Would increase no more than 2% plus new growth, which is essentially two point five nine percent This past Friday. I met with the superintendent and the school finance director Cheryl Eric Steller and Amy Sauer our director of finance administration and and went over a Agreement That really has Five parts the town will Agreed I agreed to add $130,000 in technology For the school department into the capital plan this consists of $100,000 for electronic boards, which have a useful life of ten years and $30,000 for a STEM lab, which has a useful life of seven years The school department did agree that they will pursue grants for these projects and help avoid the utilization of that $30,000 but certainly I think this keeps faith with our position that we did not want to include Laptops and technology that had a useful life of less than five years in the capital plan Our rating agencies had given us You know some warnings and our bond council gave us warning that that wouldn't be acceptable as we went out to market we also agreed that at the annual town meeting in May of This year we would establish a special education stabilization fund Over the last five years.

I've advocated that we establish a special education stabilization funds These costs do grow at a higher percentage at times and they are Oftentimes different one year to another they're based on census of the school department Students and and certainly we have a statutory obligation to address the educational needs of these it just can be very disruptive to stabilizing a Operating budget and certainly we want to have that stability because ultimately we want to have a stable tax levy so we agreed that We would establish a stabilization fund of at a level of three hundred and ten thousand dollars to reflect unforeseen increases in out-of-district tuition and over 14 percent increase in special education costs future funding will include Medicaid reimbursements the school department had Stopped applying for Medicaid over the last few years it has been a significant loss of revenue to the town's general fund and so I think this was a Significant concession by the school department to fill out, you know, some of the very arduous Medicaid reimbursement forms We Also Agreed that additional chapter 78 that would Appear in the fi-24 budget would be used to offset the actual increase in health insurance for the school employees as I had presented two weeks ago when we presented the budget we have budgeted Health insurance line item in the town budget that increases by two point six percent, but we're we're absolutely Facing increases in that health insurance line of upwards of five six, maybe eight percent And so we know that we're going to need to use some of the additional Local aid or chapter 78 to offset those proposed increases The Superintendent was clear that This agreement is for FY 24 only they we did talk about the millionaires tax and potential that they may be a windfall of additional revenue for Chapter 70 or educational assistance. I certainly am open to discussions about Additional revenue, but you know, what's most important is that we don't build one-time revenues into our operating budget And so what I had stressed with the superintendent the finance team was look if we do get one-time revenues Let's let's ensure that we're using them to offset Utilities that may rise higher than 2% Let's use them to offset fuel or other You know expenses that just may rise higher like unemployment expenses. Sometimes we have the opportunity to You know negotiate some things and and these can have significant impacts to the operating budget We want to we want to make sure that we have Non-general fund Stabilization funds because those stabilization funds are not just for the operating budget They're for a tax levy and as I mentioned a number of times, you know, that's ultimately what we're trying to stabilize We're trying to stabilize the impact that this budget has on on taxpayers and homeowners in Swampstead We Also agreed that we will get back to meeting weekly and we will refine The process for how we're gonna set up policies through this educational stabilization fund Clearly define the roles of the town administrator superintendent school committee select board and finance committee prior to the annual town meeting you know, these are best practice policies are in place in numerous municipalities across the Commonwealth and we want to come up with something that really Doesn't make it overly onerous to really address the educational Responsibilities that we have and we share to meet statutory responsibilities You want to thank?

Mary Ellen certainly want to thank Superintendent Angelakis and Cheryl Herrick Stuller and Amy sorrow look we we have to work through these issues It I do appreciate how complex and how difficult it is to budget for the educational needs of our students They are the larger department in a town budget, but we have many departments. They all are facing complexities You know these critical You know discussions ultimately I think will help us address Future needs we've got a middle school that needs millions of dollars worth of capital investments we have other school department priorities that need millions of dollars worth of capital investments and and having stability with an operating budget and having this discipline Will continue to allow slumps get to continue to balance the future needs, you know I've talked a few times about the importance of having you know, a Senior Center that has some assisted health care programs for Residents of swamps that have that have dementia. We're starting that program.

It's going to be expensive. There's no easy way to Provide those services, but we have to provide those services We have families that need those services and the only way we're going to be able to afford to do that is To tighten up budgets and and have difficult conversations with Any number of the priorities that we have that said I think this does reflect, you know Free decor, I think it reflects the same Partnership that we've had with the school department over the last five years that has allowed us to accomplish so much you know prior to about Six years ago, you know, it was not uncommon for the town to pass budgets that increased certain line items like five or six percent and You know, it put us in a position where you know, we were very close to our levy capacity under proposition two and a half and so I It's it shouldn't be lost on us how easy it would be to go back to that we have communities across the Commonwealth looking for proposition two and a half overrides and you know, It looks like that might be a path of you know Least resistance for a lot of folks, but you know Swanskip does have one of the higher average single-family tax bills in the Commonwealth and and You know folks do struggle. I've mentioned a number of times There's not a week that goes by that doesn't somebody somebody does not come into my office and say Do you have a more affordable place where I can you know? Move to do you have an affordable unit yet?

Have you built an affordable unit last week? I had a couple that came in and we were really You know eager to find a more affordable place to stay in a town that they love but they were having a hard time paying, you know The tax bill and and that's after years of trying to make this town more affordable. It's still expensive and We've got to try to continue to find a way to balance all these priorities With that, you know certainly want to get the board's thoughts about that.

The the Finance Committee is meeting on Monday and They have asked or the superintendent and The finance team has asked to see if we can coordinate a meeting a joint meeting with the Finance Committee in the school committee and really Outline a Shared conversation about how we move forward Certainly understand that, you know, I'm meeting schedule is Demanding but certainly wanted to throw it out to the board and get your thoughts

[Speaker 7] (3:08:45 - 3:09:22)
Sean No, I just I think just just on the surface here, I mean this looks like a great compromise in a way of of Resolving this issue and I think it goes to show You know, what can be accomplished when sides sit together and have conversations and and build that trust and work together Rather than you know, call each other out Publicly, so I think it's a I think this is this is great. So Mary Ellen. Thank you, Sean Cheryl school committee members as well superintendent One question was what are electronic boards?

[Speaker 5] (3:09:24 - 3:10:54)
They're like smart boards got it. Yeah, so the reason why Reason why we took them out of the capital plan is they didn't put them into technology They thought all technology should be removed. So there's just a communication issue right there because that's not a computer They were asked really take computers out of their budget and that was about a hundred and eighty thousand dollars prior to Kovac What they have here is a hundred thirty thousand in their budget that they're using That had shelf life of one was seven years one was ten years.

So that really qualifies in capital So we put it over into capital, but you know, that's that's really that's really thing But I really agree with you, you know when I I'm gonna be honest when I listen to the school committee Comments, it was disheartening to me Just to listen I think maybe it was the tone that kind of got to me and I did have a chance to sit down with the business manager Cheryl Stella and Pam Angelakis and because I've been on the Finance Committee I had a couple ideas that we could just all like work out and it was it was the easiest little conversation Between the four of us and we got it going.

So and I really believe that superintendent Angelakis and business managers Cheryl stellar wouldn't work very very hard to look at their budget and Good and and Sean just a follow-up question Is is there anyone on staff with you know within the within the school department?

[Speaker 7] (3:10:54 - 3:11:00)
Who's a grant writer? Who is seeking out these, you know, these grant? Yeah, these these grants.

They're there.

[Speaker 5] (3:11:00 - 3:11:24)
Yes, so the I Forget the name of the woman who runs the technology department Do you know Tanya? She's constantly looking for grants and getting grants and According to Cheryl Stella that she's going to be working on those grants right now She's looking for grants so that you know, we might not have to use that money Has a lot of grant writers.

[Speaker 1] (3:11:24 - 3:11:48)
They do get quite a few grants. So You know, I I do have confidence that you know, they'll be able to Put some grants in it's just hard to say who's gonna get awarded You know, no, no, no under understood I just I just want to make sure that that was that that was something that was being looked at you know, not only on the school side, but on this but on the some pretty Successful grant writers on the town side as well.

[Speaker 5] (3:11:49 - 3:12:04)
So and they're gonna apply for Medicaid reimbursement again And you know, the proposal is apply for the Medicaid reimbursement and then that money should flow directly into the special education reserve So the efforts go directly into that into that revolver, correct.

[Speaker 7] (3:12:04 - 3:12:05)
Got it.

[Speaker 6] (3:12:05 - 3:12:48)
Okay So I just have a couple of comments I echo the gratitude to all the partners for coming together and putting this together Of all the things on this sheet of paper that causes me pause it's number five only because Most of these things are very clearly defined and very specific in detail. So expectations Can be managed the only one that isn't would be To define the details in the process of the stabilization fund which is a future Task to be accomplished. So I just hope that That communication is as clearly defined as the rest of these bullet points.

[Speaker 1] (3:12:48 - 3:13:13)
So that's just clear again We there are a number of best practices. We're gonna look at language about if we put money in a stabilization account How does that how do we authorize expenditures? What do we need to see?

You know, what should we see, you know, this there's quite a bit of detail there And and so the question is what are we going to be comfortable with as a board as a finance committee as a school committee?

[Speaker 6] (3:13:14 - 3:13:35)
you know, I just wanted to be detailed so that that so that the Schools have a clear understanding of how they obtain the money what what they need to provide What they need to spend first all that kind of thing so that they don't They're clear and their expectations are managed on how they're going to be able to spend that funding in the future

[Speaker 2] (3:13:35 - 3:14:15)
So my my comment was exactly along the same lines as Katie I just want to make sure so this year We're going to fund 310 a free cash. We still need to have a big free cash and stabilization discussion because we're Going into not uncharted, but recently uncharted waters for us on free cash, but putting that aside Is I assume in fiscal year 24 then we aren't touching that stabilization that we are funding 310 and 310 will be there For us to deal with for future budgets or are we or are we tapping into the 310 immediately?

I each case in which case it's not stabilization

[Speaker 5] (3:14:15 - 3:14:40)
no, so by moving the three by moving the 310 from free cash into a Stabilization it still comes underneath our guidelines Or our bottom line guidelines as far as stabilization accounts and And and so then what they have to do is they have to work out the wording as far as how they're going to go About using their other accounts

[Speaker 2] (3:14:45 - 3:14:52)
Is my statement correct that none of the 310 is going to be used to balance the fiscal year 24 budget

[Speaker 1] (3:14:52 - 3:15:03)
It's not my expectation that He's gonna artificially plug the budget You know, they they have I would say they have You know some

[Speaker 2] (3:15:06 - 3:15:23)
Special education circuit breaker funding and you know However, they do it right that the point is however, they do it. That's fine I'm just my question literally was just about I wanted to make sure it was we were truly fully funding a stabilization account of 310 That would be there for future Correct.

[Speaker 5] (3:15:23 - 3:15:39)
I just want to reiterate why we came up with 310 310 was the 14% increase that the state had authorized That was really an unforeseen burden on them So to ask them to go back into your operating account and try to find 310 It was better to move the 310 out into a reserve fund.

[Speaker 3] (3:15:39 - 3:15:48)
That was the full 14% increase. Correct. What were they projecting?

I Mean, why don't we say why don't we fund it with 12%?

[Speaker 5] (3:15:49 - 3:15:56)
It was the state authorized a 14% increase on special education in different categories, right?

[Speaker 3] (3:15:56 - 3:16:31)
but I think the school was projecting some increase so If we're trying to make up the difference, I don't Because I just think that number is the full increase So if the schools were budgeting were they projecting zero increase in that cost? because they should have been projecting some increase and so Our our I don't disagree with setting up the stabilization fund But I think it should be funding the difference between the two not full Increase necessarily because I do think we have a free cash. I agree with Peter.

[Speaker 5] (3:16:31 - 3:17:03)
I think we have a larger free cash Conversation that needs to happen probably right so that Congress have that conversation that conversation You know have that with the Finance Committee and look at that, you know, just look at that the 310 Was the expected 14% increase and that was the recommendation also having free cash in that reason that special Education reserve. I mean we could have said 310. We could have said a half a million We do have to have a special education.

I don't just do that I mean it is I I agree. I agree having a more in-depth conversation candid.

[Speaker 1] (3:17:03 - 3:18:51)
I I had met with the superintendent You know about a month ago and I talked about a half a million dollars in a stabilization fund For special education and so I think you know this sense that we can start with 310 seated. I I do think it's important for this board to just appreciate the absolute Significant increase in the number of Students that that are requiring special education funding it it's changed dramatically since The pandemic but it was on a really Rapid Upswing we've been monitoring this over the last five years and it's just increased at a significant pace. And so I fully expect that, you know, we're gonna need to rely on that.

Hopefully it's not next year. I can't assure anybody that You know, they will not be coming back because I think these are all unknowns and Whatever those children need Statutorily for their education we're going to support I I just know that you know, we're gonna have to deal with those issues and We need to have some careful conversations to negotiate the parameters of those Policies but you know I think this gives us a good basis to move forward from most important thing for me and I hope you Appreciate this as well as that. We have the school department agreeing to Limit the increase in the general fund operating budget to our financial policy and Staying on that path over the next few years I think he's gonna pay huge dividends in terms of how we manage all the other Responsibilities that we have in that that's gonna force a lot of really difficult Budget conversations not just with the superintendent, but with other department heads.

[Speaker 6] (3:18:51 - 3:19:02)
I just have one more clarification question Is the school department committed to filing for the ream Medicaid reimbursement? Annually now or is this just for fiscal for this fiscal year?

[Speaker 5] (3:19:07 - 3:19:18)
You know, I guess when Sean sat down with Pam they talked about things annually my conversation with Cheryl Stiller was They were gonna apply for it.

[Speaker 15] (3:19:19 - 3:22:19)
I Do think that I think we're gonna need to you know sit down every Fiscal year and have this conversation So share up Cheryl I'd see your hand raised So I want to like give you a chance to speak or and clarify things or Reimbursement It is our intention to apply for it every year So while this is a one-year agreement With certain terms are we do anticipate applying for Medicaid every year. So that's absolutely something We actually just had a conversation about today and that would start In July, so we've been signed a contract and start that process in July for next year So I want to let everyone know about that And then I think there were some questions about the 310 and our usage of 310 And so, you know at this point in time, right we know that we're getting 14% Increases on all district tuitions except for one which is federally school for the deaf Let's give us a 12% increase And so by moving that 310,000 out of our operating budget Who might expect us to be drawing on that?

Yes, but to Sean's point we still have to come up with parameters as far as What we're going to keep a circuit breaker. What's what what is appropriate? What is not?

And things can change right off. You know, this is a point in time and then Going forward. I just want to remind everybody that Our circuit breaker claims will be based off this new increased amount so We have an issue this year that we're trying to solve and then next year our circuit breaker Claims and our circuit breaker amounts will be indicative of the increased cost So it helps that burden on the overall budget And then there is still some Legislation out there that they're trying to push that we received 90% of certain breaker versus 75% Again, this is just an FYI Potential And I'm happy to answer any questions now or later of the board is

[Speaker 2] (3:22:25 - 3:22:40)
I'm sorry, Cheryl. Can you just clarify? So did you did I hear you correctly and I'm gonna say it back But just make sure I heard you correct that you in in fiscal year 24 Do you believe you will need to today?

Do you believe you'll need to draw down on?

[Speaker 15] (3:22:40 - 3:23:12)
310,000 special ed stabilization fund That is my expectation But that's also contingent on when we create the policy how much Circuit breaker balance we're carrying forward each year All right, so that's just thank you I appreciate that so And I appreciate how careful you're being with your responses because that matters the details matter.

[Speaker 2] (3:23:12 - 3:24:08)
So that just reinforces why we need to Sounds great why we need to finalize that conversation Frankly in fairness the word circuit breakers thrown around here and I'm thinking about my fuses or whatever. It's in my basement So, you know at some point we also need a tutorial like a true. It's a complex thing Mm-hmm, I'm being tongue-in-cheek, but not I shouldn't be let's have a detailed conversation to understand That in conjunction with this policy so that we you know, I'll feel good knowing that in good faith we believe the 310 to be a true stabilization account as opposed to Another Current year resource which would not make it a stabilization fund.

That's all and so I just And I get that something in the future may change but I'm talking about the moment that we're making the policy decision I want it to be clear and then understanding if new information not available to us now comes up and I get that Then it is a stabilization

[Speaker 1] (3:24:10 - 3:24:32)
Understand I I do think it's important for us to just understand, you know the last you know a few years out of a pandemic there are enormous educational challenges facing the school district and And we've we've got to just recognize that there may be some additional costs that are Gonna be a short term But there may be some long-term issues here as well

[Speaker 3] (3:24:32 - 3:24:54)
So just to Katie's original point about this item five about the meetings and working out the policy, which I appreciate that point more now so Is the idea that this is gonna be worked out like over the next few weeks, okay prior to Closing the warrant

[Speaker 2] (3:25:01 - 3:25:23)
I personally don't think it's a committee of 22 people sitting in a public meeting sorting this out. I think I agree I don't care how it's done. Otherwise, yes We do and I don't you know, just but I do want to make sure I heard you say about getting together for meeting at Some point that's great.

We have so everybody has so many meetings to do I'm more concerned about having the working in a sessions that

[Speaker 6] (3:25:29 - 3:25:53)
Understood understood I just I Just want to be sure that everyone has the same expectations about what this document says that's all and that's why I think it's important because I Just think the details matter here and I don't want anybody to come back and say well we thought X we're promised Y and I want to make sure that the tone that we're setting now will continue for future years of I

[Speaker 1] (3:25:54 - 3:26:59)
Think it's important that I just share that having the school department, you know Present a budget support a budget and I mean the school committee and the superintendent Support a budget that increases at 2.6 percent forces a lot of difficult conversations on that school department So they're going to have some some difficult conversations and and frankly You know, you know, I think it it really says a lot that they're willing to kind of try to keep the general fund budget in check and And try to help balance a lot of these broader fiduciary responsibilities, I hear the board's concern though about coming up with the language and certainly that's a concern of mine and I have to go over that in detail with the superintendent and the Finance teams for both the town and school and we will do that over the next few weeks I'll keep the board informed about that we can work as Policy leaders to try to ensure we have the right belts and suspenders on These fiduciary responsibilities

[Speaker 3] (3:27:01 - 3:27:02)
Thanks

[Speaker 1] (3:27:04 - 3:27:47)
With that I'm happy to answer any additional questions about the FY 24 proposed budget we have Spreadsheet that has line item details that the board can Review I am happy to kind of leave this as an agenda item up until town meeting because the end of the day this is Not the town administrators budget.

This is the town budget once I present it to the Finance committee and into the select board. It becomes a really working document for the town Yeah, I mean I would say given the time.

[Speaker 3] (3:27:47 - 3:28:03)
I'm not sure how Deep people want to dive into this, but I am also want to be mindful of the time In A bigger picture, you know, we're getting down to it. So the only other have to close the warrant by What is it?

[Speaker 23] (3:28:04 - 3:28:05)
24 that's 24.

[Speaker 3] (3:28:05 - 3:28:51)
Yep of April School vacations the week of the 17th. So we are our next scheduled meeting is April 4th We haven't scheduled our second April we will have a second April meeting Likely the week before Maybe doing one during that week of the 17th. The following week is the election Which is the 24th is that Monday and then there's 20 25th is the election So that's a busy week.

So I just want everyone to keep that in mind I'm certainly not asking people to jump in and start asking real detailed questions And Amy's not here.

[Speaker 1] (3:28:51 - 3:30:01)
I just want us to keep in mind like we are Yeah, I'll try to yeah Yep The only other updates, you know, we did get the governor's budget The net variance of state aid was up by three hundred and twelve thousand seven and forty three Primarily in educational aid as we outlined in that agreement. This is going to really offset health care expenses. We also Saw a reduction in charges for Essex Tech in the budget of 151 thousand five twenty one again.

These are just going to help add cushion When we get the group insurance Commission Cost for health care. I think once that gets settled, you know, we still may even need Some additional funding so I don't want this to come across as somehow we're in the black We're gonna be You know make some

[Speaker 5] (3:30:03 - 3:30:09)
But that's the governor's budget doesn't it don't have to go to house ways and does so house ways and means tends to

[Speaker 21] (3:30:12 - 3:30:12)
I

[Speaker 1] (3:30:12 - 3:30:21)
Think it's important for us to you know Be conservative, but you know, I'm hopeful

[Speaker 5] (3:30:22 - 3:30:37)
You know I would like to see Jimmy Armini and Brendan Creighton come to our next meeting for ten minutes and we can just convey to them How much we would like?

Them to put some more pressure on getting additional funds for us.

[Speaker 1] (3:30:38 - 3:31:06)
I Met with representative Armini yesterday. We talked about some Fiduciary opportunities to the town Okay, everyone does everyone feel similarly would you like to invite our State delegation to our next meeting.

[Speaker 3] (3:31:06 - 3:31:08)
Let's have a conversation with them

[Speaker 23] (3:31:10 - 3:31:10)
Sure

[Speaker 6] (3:31:12 - 3:31:13)
Limited

[Speaker 3] (3:31:19 - 3:32:20)
Let's invite politicians to keep it short Yeah Okay, we'll see about their availability Okay Consent agenda we voted on The Entertainment license, so we're just voting on the past meeting minutes from March 1st Application for hawking and peddling For Sunrun Cafe Avellino has a one-day liquor license application And That's it is there a motion to approve the consent agenda second any further discussion Hall is in favor.

All right All right Sean town administrators report.

[Speaker 1] (3:32:20 - 3:34:01)
Yeah so If you covered a lot of it I just want to Recognize Jeff on he's working on some policies for body art Board of Health is looking at that We have a number of events planned this Friday. We have a st. Patrick's Day event at the Hawthorne You we also have plans under the way for our second annual Earth Day on April 22nd and Senior Center is gearing up for that social day program on Fridays from 10 to 2 we hope to begin on March 24th We can accommodate for individuals We've been busy conducting interviews for the assistant director of planning and community development.

I want to thank Diane for Moving forward with getting a town hall composting bin. So we are all saving the world one meal at a time Last week I did have an opportunity to tour the Hadley school with a new hotel firm And this is part of that Effort to really think about the reuse of that Lastly I just want to take a moment and recognize passing of Francis red Delano served for 43 years and our fire department was a special police officer and certainly think You know, we should just take a quick moment of silence and think about his service and the loss of somebody that has spent their life serving the town of Swanscape

[Speaker 3] (3:34:07 - 3:34:14)
That's my report Thanks, Sean Select board time.

Oh, I had it.

[Speaker 7] (3:34:14 - 3:34:54)
Okay, so I'll start No, I wanted to ask Sean a question It's fine Like for time, it's all good Sean we had a we were supposed to be meeting with Irma With the Swampscott Housing Authority to have a sit down to talk to talk to them About the potential creation of you know of new public housing units or revamped public housing units So I would like to make that a priority and see if we can get something on the calendar with her and That board.

I know it's it's it's much. It's much much.

[Speaker 1] (3:34:54 - 3:35:03)
I have attempted to schedule a few things things have you know Been a little tricky, but I will I know I see if we can make that happen.

[Speaker 7] (3:35:03 - 3:35:14)
No, I know so I I think I think we should bring in Irma We should probably have a member or two of the housing authority and I'm happy to join you As well, so great.

[Speaker 1] (3:35:14 - 3:35:17)
I'll circle it on with Margie and see if we can get that scheduled next week.

[Speaker 7] (3:35:17 - 3:35:51)
Okay, fantastic And then just as my you know as part of my select board time. I just really want to thank the volunteers We've we had a lot of we had a number of them today We had another number of them here we had the tree canopy study committee we had open space We had a member of the Historical Commission as well So I know and I want to thank my fellow volunteers that serve with us on serve with me on this board So thank you. I don't think Volunteers in town hear it enough and this town runs on volunteers.

[Speaker 1] (3:35:51 - 3:36:15)
So does perhaps a volunteer recognition Night or program, you know, maybe we should recognize some of those years of service and You know make sure that they they all feel a sense that you know, that time is is valued I have two things one.

[Speaker 6] (3:36:16 - 3:37:23)
I am trying to pull up but there's a fundraiser at the high school tomorrow night or But you Mary Ellen's gonna bring it up so I'll scratch that no, I'm not you better bring it I just forgot oh, I think that tickets are But This is terrible because I don't have all the information in front of me and I'm actively trying to look for it, but The other thing I wanted to bring up is Apropos to the conversation we were having regarding parking at Phillips Beach. I just want to It's a bit discussive at this board before talk about the boat trailers at Phillips Park and making sure that those are cleared in time for the parking for Eisman speech.

I know that there are quite a few Folks who feel like it takes up a good majority of what would be Handicap or more accessible parking spaces So if they need to be stored somewhere maybe just pushing them further back so that those spots are available For folks who I met with Gino

[Speaker 1] (3:37:24 - 3:37:47)
earlier this week about those trailers many of them have been there for years and We're going to you know employ some efforts to ensure that we remove those and Really just remind folks that that's town property not personal property And it's been a chronic issue that I've struggled with

[Speaker 6] (3:37:48 - 3:38:11)
It's my arrival and do they do they not have plates on updated You have a trailer come pick it up, please you may find it Moved

[Speaker 1] (3:38:13 - 3:38:17)
Well look we're just not in the business of storing trailers, that's not our

[Speaker 5] (3:38:18 - 3:38:50)
So Yeah, so for my select board time. I would like to welcome Poppy Hartman Into the world Poppy Hartman is the granddaughter of our health Chair Marion Hartman and our finance committee chair Eric Hartman, so I just It's pretty exciting.

These are people that grew up in Swampscott Went to Swampscott high school married now. They're chairs of big committees and now we have Poppy Hartman, so

[Speaker 23] (3:38:52 - 3:38:53)
Future select board

[Speaker 3] (3:38:56 - 3:40:39)
That's great Peter so I just wanted to Officially announce here even though it's already been known by most That I will not be seeking another term on the select board, I'm just gonna read a statement that I released last week I Recently began a new chapter in my professional career, which will require an immense amount of my focus and time After several weeks of internal debate contemplation or reflection I've decided I cannot reasonably balance these responsibilities with those that come with serving on the select board For the last three years I've been honored and humbled to have been entrusted by my fellow residents to participate in and influence so many important decisions and Impact their lives in the direction of our town for years to come I'd like to thank the entire Swampscott community for your support and contributions, especially My current and former colleagues on the select board Sorry And all the numerous other volunteers both official and unofficial who makes Swampscott such a phenomenal place to live I also want to thank the incredible people who work at Town Hall the Police Department Fire Department Department of Public Works Library Senior Center and the public schools Elected officials and volunteers play an incredibly important role in our town success But nothing gets accomplished without the work of these amazing public servants who are as dedicated committed and professional as they come For me this decision certainly means a step back, but it's not a step away I plan to continue participating as a town meeting member volunteer and engage citizen to help our community continue to move in a positive direction So, thanks

[Speaker 2] (3:40:45 - 3:40:59)
So I wasn't gonna say anything but I do think you are very humble and there'll be times to say things about your your time here, but I will say you're very humble the job that you took is Director of resiliency planning

[Speaker 3] (3:41:00 - 3:41:01)
Sustainability and resilient again

[Speaker 2] (3:41:02 - 3:41:47)
Sustainability and resilience sustainability and resiliency for the city of Salem, and that's not a small job Like I mean that is like you've worked on so many areas on sustainability for years and this is such a For those that know your passion for it a logical growth place for you, but that is not an insignificant job like that is That's a really to credit to your dedication and your knowledge and your relationships and your commitment to these things That's a it's just an awesome job and to be able to wake up with that responsibility and that opportunity It's really great and you're very humble about taking on a new job, but this is a big deal and I'm glad you didn't get it sooner so that we could have you for at least

[Speaker 3] (3:41:48 - 3:41:50)
Thanks, I appreciate it

[Speaker 1] (3:41:51 - 3:43:23)
You know, you've always been a gentleman and somebody that I Learned to Respect and admire I really appreciate the way that you've treated Swanscot citizens even during meetings where Things would be heated or difficult served during the entirety of the pandemic. I don't think there's an elected official that ever would have Willingly served during that period it was Next impossible meetings every day meetings You know that never seemed to end the zoom fatigue all this stuff that we have had to go through but you know It's interesting, you know, the the things that you have had a chance to Support have been among the more difficult things that any city or town could Try to accomplish but we have had a great deal of success the legacies Are gonna be hard to see but over the next 20 years you're gonna look at these things and you're gonna see a lot of those difficult Decisions and all those tough moments were worth it Certainly want to thank your family. Thank your children.

Thank your friends and Folks that really just supported you through it elected office is Difficult and you don't do it alone and every one of those people that you love that sacrificed To have you serve in this role deserves a huge. Thanks as well.

[Speaker 3] (3:43:23 - 3:43:48)
Thanks, John still Still have more than a month left But I appreciate it, thanks so much anything else I can't second all over. All right. Good night everyone.

[Speaker 18] (3:43:49 - 3:43:49)
Thanks.

[Speaker 23] (3:43:49 - 3:43:51)
I am nice Ethan