[Speaker 13] (0:07 - 2:16)
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[Speaker 8] (2:21 - 8:47)
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[Speaker 7] (8:49 - 12:35)
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[Speaker 2] (12:35 - 13:00)
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. you everyone for coming and welcome to the select board meeting October 16th meeting first please accept our apologies for the lateness we had some traffic issues tonight is an important meeting for us so first we're going to start with public comment is there anyone here oh we are being recorded and

[Speaker 3] (13:00 - 13:24)
I forgot the pledge so please join me in the pledge I think starting late has

[Speaker 2] (13:24 - 14:09)
really has thrown thrown me a little okay so now we'll start with public comment do we have anybody in the room or online we do wonderful okay where are they who is online a oh who's that Amy O'Connor a oh Amy can you Andrea

[Speaker 12] (14:24 - 16:28)
you're not Andrea good evening everybody this is Andrea Moore precinct 3 I just wanted to make a public announcement and also thank some of the select board members who recently participated in our beach water quality transparency before local folks in land the haunt and swamp Scott about the recently discovered poor pollution conditions of Nahant Beach so now we have Nahant Beach which tested very poorly this year was closed for a majority of August obviously Kings Beach which is a known problem Fisherman's Beach which the town has really jumped into action to address but it's definitely you know highlighting the fact that this is to Katie's point a regional issue we need to do continued regional investigation of this issue because we're not just talking about one isolated beach or even two anymore we're talking about a huge stretch miles long that is intermittently polluted so we had a meeting this week and are interested in potentially being able to do some investigation of our own at our own cost and are hoping for the town of swamp Scott's participation in potentially allowing us to be able to utilize the IDEX machine which is to my knowledge not being currently utilized but we'd like to take some testing along the outfalls along the hot beach in order to expedite the investigation process and be able to put more pressure on DCR and the city of Lynn to fix their portion of what's wrong with Nahant Bay so I just wanted to make those comments and make you aware of what's going on in the community and thanks for everybody's continued support of this ongoing issue

[Speaker 2] (16:28 - 16:38)
thank you Andrea um okay so let's try Amy O'Connor again can you hear me we

[Speaker 15] (16:38 - 18:18)
can oh good thank you very much this is Amy O'Connor precinct one I just saw the ballot for the November election and I am curious about the Community Preservation Act question I was surprised to see it on the ballot but admit that I have not watched all the select board meetings since the town meeting approved this to go for a vote on the surface it seems like a relatively benign ask to save money for future projects and simultaneously be able to get state monies but I asked why are we looking to set up yet another tool for savings when we already have several million dollars in excess levy capacity little public discussion on what the ramifications are for that and during our last few town meetings we've established several savings vehicles so with so many savings vehicles and more than a healthy amount of free cash annually along with this growing excess levy capacity I just think we need a better or clearer understanding of the pros and cons for why this additional tax is being asked like who's going to decide how and when the money is accessed what are the hoops to jump through to access it is this our only chance to opt into the program what kind of money will we get from the state and what projects have been funded or would have been funded differently if we had already passed it if there's a place where I can find this that would be great but if not I ask that the select board spend some time educating the voters on the matter with a healthy public debate all voters get a pros and cons from the state for statewide initiatives and it would be really helpful to get the same thing from our town otherwise it's a no from me

[Speaker 4] (18:18 - 18:34)
I would like to ask the chair's prerogative to just give a very very simple response which is Amy asked a question swamp Scott CPA comm thank you

[Speaker 2] (18:36 - 19:30)
is there anyone else for public comment okay seeing none um would it be possible that we move the the town administrators report to the end of the so then we will go directly to new and old business and tonight we'd like to take a moment to have DPW director Gino Cresta introduce two new DPW folks and this is this is exciting for us because this is something new that we want to try to get into we generally see police and fire and other departments but that the real department that keeps us going you guys are major priority so we want to

[Speaker 10] (19:30 - 20:16)
make you the stars of the show tonight okay so Gino Joey came to the apartment highly recommended Joey I'm not sure if I've ever received as many phone calls for a prospective buyer and I did for Joey so the Bosman set pretty high my friend right Joey's been with us for a couple of weeks now he's already been involved with lining of the athletic fields emptying trash barrels and most recently repairing a water service leak on Bates Road so I think Joey's gonna be an asset to the department and I'm looking forward to many years to come great Joe you want to add anything I hate to put you on this wait Joey we

[Speaker 17] (20:16 - 20:53)
have to give you the microphone my name is Joe Ragusa just want to thank you guys for tonight for welcoming me to the community I'm from Nahant Mass I went to Swampscott middle school Swampscott high school and I'm very excited to do what I can now to help the community grow help become a place where hopefully I can raise a family of my own and let the big blue pride roll on so thank you guys

[Speaker 10] (20:59 - 22:08)
next up to Joey's right is Cabot Dow Cabot has only been with the department for a couple of days but he's fit right in I'd like to acknowledge that a Cabot was selected from a pool of six very qualified candidates so we're looking forward to many years with Cabot ironically enough both these gentlemen both live in Swampscott right now on the same street Cabot comes to the department with quite a bit of experience in the carpentry field so we're going to try to utilize that and looking forward to many years with Cabot I'd like to add with the addition of these two gentlemen I'm now responsible for hiring all 16 men in the department oh good for you Gino it means one of two things I've been around for too long or a long time but I'm very proud of our department you know we had 16 qualified individuals that all get along very well and this guy could probably attest to later on that wasn't always the case but it's you know I'm really proud of these guys Cabot

[Speaker 18] (22:11 - 22:40)
my name is Cabot Dow I grew up in Marblehead and Swampscott um so I've gotten both experiences I graduated from Swampscott though I still live in town and I've done countless construction jobs around town already working to better the look of the town and I'm excited to start with DPW and maintain everything sees this opportunity it seems like a great place and I'm excited

[Speaker 2] (22:40 - 23:03)
to work here this is great thank you for joining the team and let us know how okay so now out with the old we're going to we're gonna give Gino the floor for

[Speaker 10] (23:03 - 23:51)
the big highlight of our show tonight so Kyle Kyle's been with the department for 37 years predominantly in the water department he retired as the work informant of the department with those 37 years of experience comes a lot of institutional knowledge which we're gonna miss you know we joke about it right right right sometimes I thought you should be put in so but Kyle you know it's been a pleasure we've talked about this over the years there's been a few bumps in the roads but I consider you a friend Kyle I always consider you

[Speaker 11] (23:51 - 25:23)
a friend likewise yeah and it was my pleasure longevity gave me the opportunity to give what I knew about the town and the town was kind of like had a lot of little nuances like if you weren't there you don't know about it you know like all the old-timers retired and all the things that weren't written down you know like he said institutional knowledge and it made me feel good to be the guy that had the answer you know and through attrition and longevity I acquired that knowledge and he's right about a small group it's a good group that they these guys got now and it always was a good group and the thing is is even when they're not getting along they're the first ones to pitch in and do what's got to be done you know and it's sometimes it's a thankless job but I'm grateful to have a job for 37 years really and I grew up right here on the Greenway you know I'm trying to figure out where what I'd be in the park right now you know and a lot of memories a lot of changes you know and I'm very grateful and thank you so Carl we would we would like to

[Speaker 2] (25:23 - 25:32)
present you with the citation and my birthday gift this is a citation and

[Speaker 11] (25:32 - 26:04)
recognition for your 37 years all right so does anyone on the board anyone on the

[Speaker 2] (26:04 - 26:20)
board have any questions comments does you know know where to find you if we need any of that institutional knowledge right Carl do we know how to contact you when we need that institutional knowledge do we know how to contact you

[Speaker 11] (26:20 - 26:39)
when we need that institutional knowledge great that's great all right

[Speaker 2] (26:39 - 27:08)
so moving along we're now going to the discussion and possible vote of the new Board of Health member thanks guys thank you gentlemen Peter you need to just call your board need to call your board to call a meeting of your board

[Speaker 14] (27:08 - 28:25)
yeah so I'm Peter Sheckman I'm chair of the Board of Health and we first will call a meeting of the Board of Health and our other board members to my right Gargi we're here to vote with so the meeting is called to order for the Board of Health and we are here tonight to present a candidate to you for the open position on the Board of Health there are three seats on the Board of Health one is open we had the opportunity to interview two people who presented as candidates they were both excellent candidates one of the candidates for personal reasons and work reasons decided to withdraw his application and so we are going to nominate Helen Teager for the position of member chair excuse me member of the Board of Health Helen is a very experienced nurse starting in clinical nursing and she's done just about everything in nursing that you can can imagine from hospice to administrative work to home care so we feel she will be an excellent addition to the Board of Health that's great

[Speaker 2] (28:27 - 28:35)
does anybody have any questions about Helen so can we so can we then take a

[Speaker 14] (28:35 - 28:43)
vote for we have a motion to is there a motion to nominate Helen Teager we have

[Speaker 7] (28:43 - 28:55)
a second why don't we why don't you make your motion then we'll make a motion

[Speaker 14] (28:55 - 29:15)
just to double-check it so I'll make a motion to nominate Helen Teager for the Board of Health Gargi you're gonna second that right and then we need a vote from the select board for approval all those in favor we have to we also

[Speaker 2] (29:15 - 29:36)
have to make a motion so can I have a motion to I'll make a motion to to appoint Helen Teager to the Board of Health second all in favor I you guys are all in favor congratulations Helen okay all right is Helen with us tonight

[Speaker 14] (29:36 - 29:50)
we'll have to call her she was very eager to to be a member of the Board of Health that's great yeah that's terrific so then I need to have a motion for us

[Speaker 2] (29:50 - 30:18)
to close the Board of Health meeting I'll second okay so moving along we're going to go to their update on the elections from the town clerk thank you

[Speaker 5] (30:18 - 37:06)
very much just to give a brief update on the upcoming November 5th election so not this past Friday but the Friday before that we had a number of senior tax work off volunteers town clerk staff and others send out 30 roughly 3,800 ballots if you indulge with one second I would just like to thank senior tax work off volunteers Lorraine Grant Eric Goldstein Laurie Jackson Sally Geron every block Janet Fisher Ray Kevorkian Doug and Sue Burgess along with Neil DiCirio Mike Devlin Jody Watts and actually her daughter Katie as well came get dragooned into helping us so there was 14 of us in four separate rooms that day and put it in roughly 80 minute 80 work hours to get that all done in one day to put that a little bit in perspective we had about a thousand rest applications for the state primary it took Mike and myself in near the chill and a few less volunteers over two days to get it done so we were grateful for the people of Swampscott who came out and helped it makes this manageable and without their support we wouldn't be able to do that so far in the past 10 days we've received 1100 and four ballots back into my office that have been checked in they get checked in the day they come back scanned into the computer so that everyone can check the Secretary of the Commonwealth's website to see it as of last week when I was not in the office we got an email from the Secretary of Commonwealth's office that we were at ninety nine point seven percent of our ballots sent out I have since rectified that we are now at a hundred percent of our ballots sent out so which is better by about 50% in the state average last I checked state averages a little over 83 percent 83 percent last week we've also had 61 ballots for residents formerly living at Swampscott or students and other people living overseas which is a whole separate process a more involved process we have 61 of those that have also gone out and so the next pot to this whole process now that we've sent out all the vote-by-mail ballots will be the voting in person which will start this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the town clerk's office and we'll run 12 to 12 I'm sorry eight to eight for 12 hours Monday to Thursday for the following two weeks so we're at about a hundred and eight hours talking to other clerks this is maintaining with Swampscott's desire to make sure there's ample time for everyone to vote in the if they if they want to or need to we're still processing maybe 20 to 30 vote-by-mail applications a day which they have until the 29th of October to get those into us though we are encouraging people to get them into us as soon as possible our local post office has been great with working with us we sort them and they don't even send them out of town they keep them in town and give them straight to the mail carriers to deliver so last two Fridays ago when we handed it to him people were getting him by that Saturday which is really great given the national issues with Postal Service unfortunately we do have people who are away at college or out of town which we do have to go on that so we're telling people to get them back to us as soon as possible in addition Mike Bryson the assistant town clerk has come up with a little fun thing to try to get people to come out the clerk's office on the 30th and 31st has advertised to dress up with yourself your children come down vote we'll be giving out candy I'm proud to say that Mike also took the initiative to send this out to other city and town clerks and about a half dozen have adopted this using his flyer so it's nice to see Swampscar pioneering some new ideas to get voter turnout in addition I have ramped up a advertising for lack of a better term of all the options that people have there's an FAQ on our website there is the sample ballot commonly asked questions we also have a new story that's perpetually up on the front page we keep refreshing to make sure people can easily find it when they come there we've contacted the win item the patch Gino has been nice enough to program the sign for us as of this Thursday that will be going up a robo call just went out to everyone who had signed up for the elections updates which is I think the second highest kind of subgroup of our system so that's gone out to everyone and then today we completed two trainings for new poll workers thankfully again the people Swampscar they really want to come out and help out with this we've been pushing for the time I've been here for the past two and a half years to get more workers we have a list of about 75 to 80 now who have said they are interested and over 60 who have signed up to work the polls so we are working with them to get training we've done myself and Mike Bryson I've done two today and want to be doing one makeup for those who couldn't make it today via teams so we have upped our staffing for the day of the election the election obviously will be from 7 in the morning till 8 at night yes 7 in the morning till 8 at night at the Swampscar High School out here in the cafeteria we're actually because the school is closed down that day we'll be actually expanding a little bit to give plenty of room put up more polling booths with all the new equipment that we got through our CIC funding everyone is really impressed in September and we've gotten new booths new banners new dividers it looks really nice it's something I've been working on for the past two and a half years and thanks to town administrator CIC and the finance department we were finally able to make that a reality which is great and that's about it for the brief update and I can answer any questions or concerns people have David yeah Jared just just

[Speaker 7] (37:06 - 37:11)
curious what do you what is anticipated turnout going to be in 2024 compared to

[Speaker 5] (37:11 - 38:00)
where we were in 2020 um I think my estimation will be about the same you'll be about 70 to 80 percent if my numbers are anything to go based off of we've sent out about 30 30.4 percent the 3,800 that we've already sent out is represents about 30.4 percent of the population there is still a large chunk of the population who are old-fashioned like myself we like to go to the polls like to get our sticker we like to do all that I know I see Gino every time come down and with his family to vote I'd say we probably get 750 come in voting so I'm estimating we'll probably see slightly north of 9,000 if if my estimations are correct which I'm pretty sure they are so thank you Jerry thank

[Speaker 2] (38:00 - 38:45)
you to you and your team thank you any other questions comments I do have a comment I actually received a phone call from a young couple in Marblehead that wanted to get married and they filled out their application and they were having a little bit of a challenge getting an appointment in Marblehead because Marblehead was just so busy with the election and they made a phone call to swamp Scott and they had their paperwork that had to be filed properly and mr. Bryson told him come on by at 630 today and we'll get you taken care of and he married them on the steps and they were so excited Mike Mike and I

[Speaker 5] (38:45 - 39:51)
just based off that we have tried there are a lot of places that are curtailing the other services they offer like we said like I'm not to judge other people but like the town clerk's office to the best of our abilities is keeping all our services open for as long as much as possible we're asking people to make appointments but we Mike and I can't turn people away so we're doing it we're seeing a increase from Lynn in particular who despite being a big account a city has a lot more people in you know isn't doing all the services that they previously provided for so we're trying to pick up the slack as much as we can we doesn't matter Mike and I are of the belief Lynn swamps got doesn't matter we try to help everyone as much as possible so and I can always say for Mike I have got nothing but compliments about him for everyone who walks into our office he is the face of our office he has done a phenomenal job yeah keeping that front office running so we can get all the work done well they

[Speaker 2] (39:51 - 40:24)
are very appreciative and they will be looking for a home in swamp Scott now okay so thank you very much for your hard work Jared you really done an amazing job here and you know I'm always hearing just wonderful things about you and and about your staff and it's much appreciated thank you very much okay so now we will move on to discussion possible vote for the approval of seven million two hundred twenty five thousand bond anticipation note for the

[Speaker 9] (40:24 - 42:56)
Hawthorne okay so I'm here tonight to ask for your approval on a bond anticipation note this note refinances acquisition costs for the purchase of the Hawthorne by the sea property that the town completed a couple years ago as by town meeting we have a note that was issued I was here a year ago before the board but the note that we were issuing for this exact same purpose and that note is maturing next week hence why we need to refinance so ahead of the maturity date for the note Amy and I met with David Eisenthal our financial advisor at Unibank who advises on the town securities transactions and we looked at whether a note or a bond issuance would be more advantageous at this time for this particular issue and we determined based on the analysis and the discussion with him that using a bond anticipation note for another year would be most advantageous at this time and we can secure a better rate on a long-term bond in a year or two when we know the final disposition and use of the property so that's where how we proceeded we had a meeting with Standard & Poor's credit analysts and they reviewed our credit ahead of the offering for the note and our AAA credit rating was reaffirmed which is great they last reviewed us in March so it's been six months we don't have a new set of audited financials so they weren't looking at any major changes in the town's financial profile but we had discussion with them and it was positive overall we maintained our rating and from there we conducted the sale and received the bids last Wednesday we received four bids and the most advantageous bid was from Piper and Sandler Co. who has bid and purchased securities from us in the past and the net interest cost of the town is four point six nine percent on the note which was within 30 basis points of what we forecasted for the issue so we were pleased to see the market meet our expectations in that sense and so that brings us to tonight where I'm looking for your approval on the note so that we can settle everything on the 23rd in order to pay the maturing note on the 24th I'll take any questions

[Speaker 7] (42:57 - 43:06)
David yeah Patrick two questions just the bids that were rejected because they were bid on a tax-exempt basis what can you can you explain just yeah so that

[Speaker 9] (43:06 - 43:35)
was odd the financial advisor said that was odd that they would submit bids you know you you look at the bid sheets and you see something that looks too good to be true obviously so we knew something was wrong and we went through our our disclosure documents and our advertisements because that's so I wanted to make sure there wasn't something that the town or the financial advisor in the disclosure would have you know led to that and there wasn't so it's it's it's an error on the analyst part so we rejected those bids they weren't

[Speaker 7] (43:35 - 43:57)
reflective of got it taxable issue understood and then just just for my edification and yet and the board's information what would be what's the difference between a triple-a issuance for a one-year for a one-year band versus you know a you know a double-a plus yeah it could be it's hard to say

[Speaker 9] (43:57 - 44:26)
exactly right you get a spread when you solicit bids but it could be you know a quarter of a point or 50 basis points which you know if you apply that to debt over time not that can add up understood because those were real savings that we realized as a result yeah yeah we benefit from the triple-a if we had a lower credit rating we would likely see less advantageous results great thank

[Speaker 2] (44:26 - 44:31)
you yeah what is the difference in percentage on a right now at the band

[Speaker 9] (44:31 - 44:58)
versus a bond so when we did the analysis the we looked at a 28 year and a 25 year bond and those were total interest cost of five point two two percent and five point zero nine percent versus the note we've got four point three nine percent for a year and this is the so FY 26 will be the third year that this debt will be maturing so we'll also make a principal pay down in FY 26 which should

[Speaker 2] (44:58 - 45:14)
be good and then the issue is if we have a tax it we have to it separates out there's different categories if we're if it's a not-for-profit or versus tax

[Speaker 9] (45:14 - 45:50)
generating yeah so generally I think of the point you're getting to is the town generally issues tax-exempt bonds and notes and the benefit to the investor is that the income they derive from their investment is exempt from taxation so they're willing to accept a lower coupon rate from us so we we then expend less money but for this particular use we have commercial activity formalized in a you know a lease I know you're all familiar with that so that that changes the tax status of the issues so that we can comply with the IRS regulations

[Speaker 4] (45:50 - 46:36)
all right that's interesting I don't think I caught that in the past did you already ask the question maybe I missed it about the differential so if we didn't have that commercial activity there yeah we would get a lower rate definitely right you just asked that sorry yeah it's okay thinking about my next question I guess when I was when you talked about the triple-a bond rating from S&P in this context did I detect any kind of was there any feedback we got from them in terms of looking forward things that they were cautious about or

[Speaker 9] (46:36 - 47:44)
any risks we didn't get any any significant feedback they don't have a new set of audited financials they're still looking at the FY 23 financials and then supplementary information on audited that we gave them but we did have a change in credit criteria so S&P has been using the same credit evaluation criteria since 2013 and effective September 1st they changed it and the two biggest changes that we were advised that swamps gotten would be most impacted by although it didn't affect our credit rating in this review is the fact that the economics of the town the economical profile of the town was weighted more heavily in the past it's now weighted less and the liabilities of the town are weighted more so OPEB pension future debt that type of thing has a little bit more weight now so that doesn't necessarily hurt us but we were benefiting from the criteria previously and now due to criteria change it's a little less advantageous for us and a lot of other communities is the

[Speaker 2] (47:44 - 47:48)
new school did we bond the new school as a triple-a or was that a double-a plus

[Speaker 9] (47:49 - 47:52)
that was a double-a plus we received the upgrade after that

[Speaker 1] (47:52 - 48:07)
mm-hmm okay I believe the board also has the packet of the S&P rating criteria mm-hmm I believe Diane included it in your packets yeah we have that yeah you have the rating report so Sean's gonna

[Speaker 2] (48:07 - 48:13)
address that later but the bottom line is chances of it might not look too rosy

[Speaker 3] (48:14 - 49:17)
in the future I think you know we can have a bigger conversation there what we heard from the analysts was that they'd like the economic development efforts they really thought you know the hotel was a really positive sign and and really the balance that we have with the budget they see that it takes a lot of work they look at a lot of different cities and towns and they recognize that you know our reserve levy capacity that is a sign of financial prudence and so they're looking at the metrics of the town and you know they are changing some of these criteria they're trying to equalize it across cities and towns across the country that doesn't necessarily bode bad for the town but it does say that we have to be really focused on on our metrics okay so am I

[Speaker 2] (49:17 - 49:56)
calling for a motion I move that am I calling for this motion yes okay so can I have a motion for a move that the written votes presented to this meeting in connection with the town sale of its note be adopted as written and incorporate into the minutes of this meeting in full so move second all in favor I so moved thank you okay now for just our update on ARPA funds Amy sorrow

[Speaker 1] (50:16 - 50:52)
all right so this is just a quick update on the ARPA monies so this is an overview of the spending to date on the projects I do just want to note that after a discussion after this presentation was put together with the town administrator and with Gino that 28,000 on Fisherman's Beach is going to be moved under the general obligation bond because we're spending that part first before we hit the ARPA so that's one adjustment from this report but otherwise this is the authorized votes that the board has made and the spending

[Speaker 6] (50:52 - 51:04)
to date on that Amy just to clarify then yes on that Fisherman's Beach line item the twenty eight thousand twenty two will actually be zero then yes okay we

[Speaker 3] (51:05 - 51:10)
have an appropriation from town meeting for the work for Fisherman's Beach the

[Speaker 1] (51:13 - 51:22)
way that Gino structuring the project he has portions of it that are coming out of the bond and portions that are coming out of ARPA and this is the portion

[Speaker 4] (51:22 - 51:37)
that's going to be under the bond I have a question about the Pine Street yes so we authorized the amount that's a little less than what we've actually spent do we need to revote for anything yeah that is a discussion that has to

[Speaker 1] (51:37 - 51:42)
happen if the vote needs to change a lot of that was the carrying costs while we

[Speaker 4] (51:42 - 51:48)
were waiting for the sale yeah that's something that you would like us we

[Speaker 1] (51:48 - 55:40)
should do tonight it does not need to happen tonight okay it doesn't need to December 31st or we can find a different place to put it in the general fund either way it's a discussion that has to happen right so status updates the Fisherman's Beach infrastructure contract was just awarded and work is slated to begin November 1st the climate action resiliency contract has a signed agreement and work has begun the townwide economic development study has a signed agreement and work has begun on that the MS for work was completed and this is just a list of the previously completed projects which were the sewer repair the health COVID tracing and vaccine clinics the pine tree acquisition and the Hadley RFP redevelopment this is just highlighting the deadlines that are coming up so the funds need to be obligated by December 31st 2024 and fully expended by 2026 so the emphasis from state and federal level is for the funds to be considered fully expended the checks have to physically be out our door by December 31st 2026 we can't be receiving any invoices after the fact ain't that small footnote there's a caveat for if you have certain payroll expenses but we don't if we have any unpaid items after that deadline it doesn't matter that money gets turned back to the Treasury so whatever money is not spent by December 31st 2026 is no longer swamp Scots I added this slide because this is one that was actually in a mass GFOA presentation that I went to the other day that was put on by Clifton Larson Allen so I credited them at the bottom but per the Treasury an obligation means that we actually have to have an order for the property or assigned contract so previously we were told that a vote by town meeting or vote by the select board was the obligation that is not what the Treasury is saying now so December 31st 2024 of this year if we don't have a signed contract in file in my office or an order for stuff that money's gone I have had conversations with the town administrator and with our auditors and with the state and federal on what some last-minute uses could be if we need to shuffle those I just want to make you aware of it and Diane has let me know that the board would like an update for ARPA every meeting I don't imagine you want me here every meeting but I will be providing you with updates along the way so I imagine if nothing else in December we'll have another conversation where we potentially shift those and there are some last-minute things that can be done without needing procurement so if you go back to slide two any of those authorizations where we haven't either started it or like even the resiliency project with the grant matching you know depending on how that grant works any of that we might need to shift I know that vote was taken with a caveat that if we get the grant the money was already predetermined for where it would go but any of these and I will keep you updated as we get contracts signed as things are awarded if you would like to keep the town administrator updated on any adjustments you guys may have so he can keep me up to date as

[Speaker 6] (55:40 - 55:56)
well that would be helpful can you just go line by line and tell us which sites do not are not obligated so like understanding that the funds already expended means that those are fine yeah so on slide three so basically the

[Speaker 1] (55:56 - 56:16)
Fisherman's Beach contract has been awarded and assigned I have that in my office that's slide two so slide three is basically the information that you want so basically if I merge the two that would be helpful yeah so it so anything

[Speaker 6] (56:16 - 56:40)
that if you're looking at slide two anything that has a spend to date that's fine yeah we've spent it we're good so the the Glover at 30,000 the Glover at 64 5 5 5 the partial Fisherman's well all of Fisherman's Beach because that will be it's under obligation because we have the cotton fine that one's fine yep the climate action resiliency consultants we have a signed agreement okay so that's fine there's a signed agreement is it

[Speaker 2] (56:40 - 56:45)
for the entire no it's not no it's not for the entire amount no okay do you

[Speaker 4] (56:45 - 57:10)
foresee another consultant very possibly and if I'm we did not we just learned today we did not get the coastal zone management grant so we were hoping this resiliency grant at the bottom would just be a match and now we are left without getting either we thought we had two chances and we struck

[Speaker 6] (57:10 - 57:31)
out so these are things we should come back yeah okay so we'll just put them on the side okay so the redevelopment of public housing feasibility study we do not vulnerable nothing's you do not have an obligation there no we have any updates on that okay the town wide economic development study that one

[Speaker 1] (57:31 - 57:44)
wherein that one signed it's slightly under the 60,000 but I'll follow up with Margie to see if there's an intention on the other I believe it's 55,000 that the contract was signed up so if we have anything we have anything left over we

[Speaker 6] (57:44 - 57:56)
can come back and yes we have something else where I think okay the MS for work for Fisherman's Beach it's complete complete yep there should be so there

[Speaker 1] (57:56 - 58:07)
should be $50,000 in the I believe Gino just told me yesterday that you have the bills and turned them in they just haven't been processed yet the MS for

[Speaker 10] (58:07 - 58:19)
yeah throughout the town yeah so even though he has it for the whole town it

[Speaker 1] (58:19 - 58:29)
says Fisherman's Beach it doesn't matter the portion of it that was approved is this the entirety of the bill covered multiple MS for areas okay so well it is

[Speaker 6] (58:29 - 58:34)
broken out and we are clear on that okay okay the public health project we

[Speaker 1] (58:34 - 58:45)
have some contracts underway I did speak with the health director and they are confident that they will have all their obligations signed I think to Katie's

[Speaker 4] (58:45 - 58:58)
point would be helpful to come back next time with another column yep with anticipated expenditure right so we know can we also know what some you know I'd

[Speaker 2] (58:58 - 59:09)
like to make sure that the public know what some of these projects are and are we doing any programs with this with the schools yes okay so they are doing a

[Speaker 1] (59:09 - 59:37)
literacy program that they have partnered with the school okay they are also doing a mental health partnership with the school as well as one for residents townwide they are doing outreach and they are also it was a smaller part of it that was a couple thousand so apologies Jeff if you're

[Speaker 2] (59:37 - 59:42)
watching this okay and then they they also the board of they also have the

[Speaker 1] (59:42 - 59:56)
opiate money yes and they have been I was just on a call with the school and the health department last week discussing the opioid monies and the partnerships they're doing with that as well okay I'm sure the school

[Speaker 6] (59:56 - 1:00:04)
appreciates that and could you just explain again the resiliency project

[Speaker 4] (1:00:04 - 1:01:05)
grant match yeah I remember we had it it's like $400,000 proposal that we put in both the coastal zone management and municipal vulnerability preparedness and we didn't get either so we had hoped that we would only have to put up like a $40,000 that's what that's 40k is $40,000 match although we had allocated full 200 so I think I don't know if it's really the time tonight per se to have that conversation or Danielle and I have been talking about and we really need to come back and have a full discussion especially now in this context about what we want to do because it is my opinion and we talked about this before that we need to go ahead and actually do this resiliency planning now regardless we can't keep waiting and be prepared for when I part of the issue I think is that we weren't as prepared as we needed to be so we may need to do this work on our own to get more prepared for when the next grants come and we need to get all

[Speaker 2] (1:01:05 - 1:01:12)
on the same page about the scope of that so the coastal zone that comes from the state or the federal government?

[Speaker 4] (1:01:12 - 1:01:13)
State.

[Speaker 2] (1:01:13 - 1:01:42)
So is there because what I'm hearing is the state is issuing grants to communities that did not vote for 3a and they're saying to communities here is the money that you've been awarded but you must be 3a and they're not compliant with 3a so they're gonna lose out on that money so I'd like to I'll call Jenny Armini and ask how is that money gonna be coming back into the state and for communities that have been compliant with 3a do we have an opportunity to tap into them?

[Speaker 4] (1:01:43 - 1:01:44)
So Marble Head was awarded.

[Speaker 2] (1:01:45 - 1:01:53)
Marble Head was what no but if Marble Head was awarded they have a let they have a note on their award that you can only have this if you are compliant.

[Speaker 7] (1:01:54 - 1:01:55)
By 1231-24?

[Speaker 2] (1:01:56 - 1:02:01)
Yes. So maybe we can get Marble Head to be compliant.

[Speaker 7] (1:02:02 - 1:02:03)
Second bite of the apple.

[Speaker 4] (1:02:04 - 1:02:23)
Right that's that's a hope and not necessarily a plan but yeah okay. We have an incredibly detailed proposal about how to spend it so that's the good news. We just need to make sure we're all on the same page about making sure to move forward with that.

[Speaker 6] (1:02:24 - 1:02:40)
And not to put you in the hot seat again but what's the plan for Glover? Do you know? Only because there's $94,000, $5,000 here that's been committed to them.

[Speaker 3] (1:02:43 - 1:02:44)
Ongoing conversations.

[Speaker 6] (1:02:45 - 1:02:46)
Maybe I should be looking this way.

[Speaker 3] (1:02:46 - 1:03:04)
You know I was in touch with Mr. Athenas today I was in touch with the attorney that represents Mr. Athenas. I think there's a sense that we could actually do some things and we're just trying to outline some legal agreements to allow the town to expend some of these dollars.

[Speaker 6] (1:03:05 - 1:03:08)
Does he know that we only have until December 31st?

[Speaker 3] (1:03:08 - 1:03:18)
They do know that we have funding that has been appropriated through ARPA. I have not stressed the deadline but I will do that.

[Speaker 6] (1:03:19 - 1:03:22)
I don't know if that makes a difference but just to say it.

[Speaker 2] (1:03:23 - 1:03:27)
Is Glover, hold on a minute, we only have one Glover?

[Speaker 6] (1:03:27 - 1:03:30)
No we have two Glovers, a 30 and a 64.

[Speaker 1] (1:03:30 - 1:03:39)
That's one above and below question and speech. I probably should consolidate them but they were two separate votes so I kept them separate.

[Speaker 21] (1:03:40 - 1:03:40)
Okay.

[Speaker 3] (1:03:41 - 1:04:07)
So I think we can update this spreadsheet, add a description column, put more data in there including times and you know deadlines for the work, what's been expended year to date, what's been authorized, and whether or not we need to come back and actually have a conversation with the board on certain items that we've discussed tonight.

[Speaker 4] (1:04:07 - 1:04:34)
Yeah and one thing I should just know about the Glover, we actually do have a signed contract for $30,000 for the Glover of which we've some of that money has been expended. So that was the initial kind of assessment of whether or not it was eligible and to what degree and all of that that we voted on and all that. So that piece, you know, actually I'll follow up with you after.

Maybe they haven't even invoiced us because it was maybe they only did five or ten thousand of the work yet.

[Speaker 1] (1:04:34 - 1:06:22)
I'll follow up because I don't have a copy of that contract. So okay. Just an update on the reporting.

So Swamp Scouts considered an annual reporter so every April I submit our reporting. My next one's obviously due this coming April. I'll have three more reports due in 26, 27, and then a final reconciliation in 28 with a final audit documentation limit in 2033.

So there was a large joke amongst all the accountants and finance directors of who would be retiring or who would actually be around to see this money through. I was excited to see my final CARES and FEMA come through and then we got ARPA and we'll see at what point in my career I finally escape all the COVID money. One notation just because Swamp Scouts award is under the ten million dollar threshold for revenue replacement.

The recommendation from state is that we should, regardless of what we're using it for, even if it's already a useful thing like water and sewer infrastructure, we should vote everything under revenue replacement. It has lesser procurement requirements, lesser reporting requirements, and less stringent. They're not going to look at it as closely because you're taking it as revenue replacement.

So that is the recommendation that they gave to us so that is what I am recommending to the board is that when we do the final discussion we just everything is revenue replacement for these specific purposes and they aren't going to scrutinize it as closely as they would if we voted it under those other buckets.

[Speaker 2] (1:06:22 - 1:06:30)
So under that, so what you're saying is we have to make sure on our second meeting in December we that is on our agenda? Yeah.

[Speaker 1] (1:06:31 - 1:06:41)
And we're under that percentage? We are under the ten million dollar award so we can take the entirety of our four point five three million as revenue replacement.

[Speaker 8] (1:06:42 - 1:06:42)
Okay.

[Speaker 1] (1:06:44 - 1:07:25)
Just to follow up that I'll be providing an update to you for each of your meetings through the end of calendar 24 and then after that I apologize for the typo of the BORD but we will determine the frequency for the remaining 18 months of the expenditure deadline. And like I said I don't imagine you actually want me to come here. If you do I will.

But most likely I will be providing, I will hang out with you guys as much as you want. I will most likely just provide the update to the town administrator and Diane to share with you and you can determine if you actually want a presentation or if you just want the information.

[Speaker 2] (1:07:29 - 1:07:35)
Does anybody have any more questions on ORPA? David? You're going to double-check on me?

[Speaker 6] (1:07:37 - 1:07:51)
I guess the resiliency conversation then maybe should be happening sooner rather than later so that then we can sort of go through the contracts and things that are necessary for the end of the year.

[Speaker 4] (1:07:54 - 1:07:59)
Do you have any sense, Mary Ellen, whether or not that would be the next meeting or the first meeting in November?

[Speaker 2] (1:08:00 - 1:08:10)
I think that is the next meeting. So it should be the day after election day? The day after election day?

[Speaker 4] (1:08:10 - 1:08:11)
Is that right?

[Speaker 2] (1:08:15 - 1:08:17)
First Wednesday of the month.

[Speaker 19] (1:08:18 - 1:08:19)
Yeah lots to talk about.

[Speaker 2] (1:08:21 - 1:08:24)
Probably got to get some of your ideas narrowed down.

[Speaker 4] (1:08:25 - 1:08:34)
Okay so then we would invite Harbor and Water and Climate Action. Anyone else?

[Speaker 2] (1:08:36 - 1:08:38)
Should we have a separate meeting?

[Speaker 3] (1:08:42 - 1:08:45)
I'm assuming Harbor and Water and Climate Action.

[Speaker 2] (1:08:47 - 1:09:19)
You're going to meet with Climate Action and get some recommendations from them? Alright why don't we just, I'll call you tomorrow. Figure that out.

Or over the weekend. Okay. Now let's go to our quarterly update.

And we'll have Amy Sorrell back on the stage for that.

[Speaker 1] (1:09:25 - 1:10:53)
Alright so I'm just going to give the highlights. You have the line item reports in front of you. These are just summarized and shrunken down into their main categories.

So the big highlights on general fund revenue is our meal taxes for the first quarter came in 6% over what we had estimated. Our rooms taxes came in 52% over for the first quarter estimate. And that's because our new rate went into effect that was voted at town meeting.

Short term rental impact is up 21% over the first quarter estimate which is about $4,000. And then just a notation that the motor vehicle excise commitments go out in February so that won't be due until March. So don't be alarmed about the 7% on that line.

Likewise the licenses and permits, the liquor licenses, the board does in December so those fees are also not reflective. So overall given the fact that some of these large revenue categories happen annually and are not reflected yet, we're actually much better than the 24% that's on here right now. If I have no questions, questions on revenue.

[Speaker 7] (1:10:54 - 1:11:08)
Questions, yeah cannabis impact fees. Yes. So I believe the state had, there had been guidance a few years ago saying that we couldn't charge impact fees and then I think the state had reversed those impact fees.

[Speaker 1] (1:11:09 - 1:11:38)
What's the latest? We've been working with town council on if we can do this. So I believe what you're referring to is a couple of towns were able to fight back about it.

And if you had an existing community host agreement prior to that legislation that superseded, the advice that we have been given by town council is do not charge them yet. And we are still working on it. So we've been working on this for a year.

[Speaker 7] (1:11:38 - 1:11:40)
Well over a year.

[Speaker 1] (1:11:40 - 1:11:49)
Yeah the ruling for the other two communities just came down within the last few months. So that is what kind of re-prompted it.

[Speaker 3] (1:11:49 - 1:11:51)
We intend to collect the revenue in our agreements.

[Speaker 7] (1:11:52 - 1:11:58)
We're not going to. And just to be clear our host community agreement predates. It does.

Okay.

[Speaker 1] (1:11:58 - 1:12:01)
Yeah and it's 3% of the sales.

[Speaker 2] (1:12:02 - 1:12:10)
How does that work? We can't go back retroactively can we? We can.

We can go back retroactively.

[Speaker 1] (1:12:10 - 1:12:24)
We can do it for the extent of the host agreement which was a three year agreement 3% of their sales. So essentially what you see in the cannabis sales tax which is also 3% you would see that exact amount in the impact fee.

[Speaker 7] (1:12:24 - 1:12:26)
$200,000.

[Speaker 1] (1:12:26 - 1:12:29)
So when would we see that? That is what we are working on.

[Speaker 2] (1:12:32 - 1:12:35)
When will we meet? Okay. I'll call you.

Yes.

[Speaker 6] (1:12:42 - 1:12:49)
This land I'm hearing though is just this year's? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

So we did not collect last year's?

[Speaker 1] (1:12:50 - 1:12:54)
No. We have not collected any on the impact fee.

[Speaker 2] (1:12:56 - 1:13:10)
So overall on the local receipts you're at $18.02 and yet we're at 25% of the year. Do you feel like when the excise comes in it will balance out?

[Speaker 1] (1:13:10 - 1:13:19)
Yeah the excise tax is $2.5 million of the $6 million in local receipts so it is a large percentage of it.

[Speaker 21] (1:13:20 - 1:13:21)
Okay.

[Speaker 2] (1:13:24 - 1:13:36)
Do we have any other questions on revenue? I have a question under the enterprise funds. Yes.

Why is sewer so much higher than water?

[Speaker 1] (1:13:37 - 1:13:45)
The expenses or the revenues? The receipts. The receipts have to match the expense so.

[Speaker 2] (1:13:48 - 1:13:49)
Okay.

[Speaker 1] (1:13:49 - 1:13:50)
It's just that the costs are higher.

[Speaker 2] (1:13:51 - 1:13:53)
I thought they ran closer.

[Speaker 1] (1:13:53 - 1:13:55)
They used to run a lot closer.

[Speaker 2] (1:13:55 - 1:13:56)
They used to run like neck and neck.

[Speaker 1] (1:13:57 - 1:13:57)
Yeah.

[Speaker 2] (1:13:57 - 1:14:04)
That's why I'm seeing them not running neck and neck. Okay.

[Speaker 1] (1:14:05 - 1:15:21)
That's revenue. Okay. So expenditures.

I changed the format of the report so depending on how you guys feel about it I can change it back or we can do something different. Like I said to finance committee the report is for you and if it does not work for you then we can tweak it again. The actual expenditures for Q1 FY25 is 24.86. I added in the lines for the encumbered funds because as we talked about projections and how we were looking to year end there was a lot of discussion on what funds were already set aside so that is why I added those encumbered funds in there. Those are the approved purchase orders for expenses or for services that have already been committed to but those monies have not gone out the door. When we have historically done our spending freeze the spending freeze is on the available funds and it would take a more extreme circumstance for us to pull back those encumbered funds.

[Speaker 2] (1:15:22 - 1:15:37)
So what happens now when you have a spending freeze in January and DPW gets jammed they can't spend some of their money because overtime is being spent in some other departments.

[Speaker 1] (1:15:37 - 1:15:55)
When we freeze the budgets we freeze all not mandatory spending. So if Gino has to tend to a snowstorm or a water main break those would be considered necessary spending so those would always be exempt from the spending freeze.

[Speaker 19] (1:15:55 - 1:16:00)
Anything that is public safety is going to be expended.

[Speaker 3] (1:16:00 - 1:16:05)
If a department has any question about anything they can come to me.

[Speaker 1] (1:16:05 - 1:16:09)
And we put that in the memo as well that any exceptions that need to be made.

[Speaker 3] (1:16:09 - 1:16:51)
It is the expectation that we are going to manage the town budget to budget and so it does create pressure and every department head has discretionary authority for certain line items. DPW's public safety department though just like police and fire and there is not a lot of flexibility when it comes to repairing sewer pipes or water pipes. These are must do responsibilities.

The discretionary spend whether or not we have enough money to go buy a few signs or nice things as opposed to must do things that is where we really lean in.

[Speaker 1] (1:16:54 - 1:18:37)
Some of the highlights of this. I did the legal encumbrance based off the monthly average bill of FY 24. So that is why that is showing that there is negative money available.

As those bills come in I'll adjust that encumbrance to what we're actually trending towards this year. And I'll obviously keep the board updated if that looks like it's trending over or on target. The majority of our debt and benefit payments such as our pension obligation are made early in the year which is why those are higher than 25%.

As of this moment I don't have concerns with any of the salary items. They are all projecting on target which is a nice change from last year's Q1 where we were not looking so great. So right now there is no concern that the salary lines in any department are going to go over.

If there's no questions on expenditures. I decided to break the enterprise fund out into its own slide on here. Just to highlight it.

We're at 16% actual spend to date on all of our enterprise funds. There's nothing concerning at this point in here. And then the board had been asking for revolving funds so I added it into our presentation.

So I did the...

[Speaker 2] (1:18:37 - 1:18:38)
We didn't have it in our packet though right?

[Speaker 1] (1:18:39 - 1:18:40)
You didn't?

[Speaker 2] (1:18:44 - 1:18:47)
I found the packet earlier. That's alright.

[Speaker 1] (1:18:57 - 1:19:34)
So I put the fund balance at the end of FY 2020 to give the rolling basis to give the up to date fund balance. So if we start with Rec Revolving they have an annual spending limit of $300,000. They ended FY 2020 with $245,000.

There's the rolling balance at the bottom so as of this moment they have $291,355. And this is the breakdown of the different categories that's in there. And I broke out each of the revolving funds.

[Speaker 2] (1:19:37 - 1:20:13)
So there's a couple questions I have on this. I actually... I was asking someone...

I actually asked Jackie Camalingo if they would take... If they had programs going... If they were bringing in money for programs right now.

I just wanted to get an idea of when is the real busy time as far as cash coming in? And when is the slow time with cash coming in? Because if you're reporting a number right now, $291,000, what is the true number?

You should be able to back out their expenses minus their income right now. So what do you think their true number is?

[Speaker 1] (1:20:13 - 1:21:13)
So the best time to get the true number on recreation is right when the summer ends. Because they... So in the Q2 presentation for this, it will show all the monies that they've already taken in for the summer programs that haven't happened yet.

Right. But at the end of the summer, they haven't taken in for any of their winter and fall programs yet. So at the end of the summer is the best time specifically for the rec revolving fund to see where they end up.

I did have a conversation, actually, with Diane earlier about the recreation software and talking about different ways that they can plug in the expenses so that each program itself can have its own little report. The MyRec program is actually really great with it. So that's a conversation I'm going to have with Danielle and Jackie to see how we can better utilize the software they already have just to get a better program reporting.

[Speaker 2] (1:21:13 - 1:21:16)
So that basically you'd be running like a little P&L?

[Speaker 1] (1:21:16 - 1:21:44)
Yeah, you'd be able to look at their ski program and see exactly how much money came in for skiing, exactly what those expenses were, and how that program itself worked. If that was a profitable program, if it wasn't, and every program doesn't have to be profitable. They can be subsidized by something else, but it at least gives a much better picture.

So that's something I'm going to be talking to them about utilizing better.

[Speaker 2] (1:21:44 - 1:21:47)
So what would you say their number actually is then?

[Speaker 1] (1:21:47 - 1:21:50)
At this exact moment, they have the $291,000.

[Speaker 2] (1:21:50 - 1:22:04)
But they're also carrying, according to Jackie, they have people signing up for programs that they haven't started yet with their expenses. So I guess, what do you think their number was at the end of the summer?

[Speaker 1] (1:22:04 - 1:22:17)
It was about $450,000. Really? Yes.

But then they did buy the movie screen right after.

[Speaker 20] (1:22:18 - 1:22:19)
More movie screens.

[Speaker 2] (1:22:22 - 1:23:01)
Okay. And then the other question I had for you was, I went over all the event spendings and the event revenue, and it just seems like that really needs to get buttoned up, because it doesn't really show a true pattern on what people are being charged. So for example, if you say, how much is that vendor paying?

And when the answer is, well, he pays for the music and whatever, that just seems like that should, you know, do we have a policy on that? What is the exact amount, and how do you really know, and how do you compare things?

[Speaker 1] (1:23:01 - 1:23:10)
Yeah, the town administrator, myself, and the rec director have talked about starting to make more policies on that, and that's something that we are drafting right now. That's great.

[Speaker 3] (1:23:12 - 1:23:52)
These events are relatively new in terms of, you know, community events, these big events, Oktoberfest and other things. They've been here for really three or four years now. Five.

Five years. And so now they're starting to grow roots, and it is time to really put a policy in place and say, all right, we're going to standardize, you know, how we charge for fees, and perhaps, you know, put a little more rigor to some of the insurance requirements and other things that really would help us, you know, ensure that we have consistency with these large-scale community events.

[Speaker 2] (1:23:53 - 1:24:08)
Well, one of the bigger concerns I have is there was an event that was run a few years ago, and it's supposed to be split 50-50, and the town did not receive their 50%, so just really want to make sure that everything is really lined up.

[Speaker 1] (1:24:08 - 1:24:28)
Yeah, we're trying to have a standardized policy that actually outlines everything, including a checklist of what needs to happen, you know. Did we receive their certificate of insurance? Did they have all the licenses and permits that they need?

And, you know, do we have a signed agreement with whoever we're partnering with if we're partnering with someone? So that's what we're working on right now.

[Speaker 4] (1:24:31 - 1:24:38)
Very literal thing you mean. Yeah. When you say actually you're a date through 3-31-2024, all these columns say?

[Speaker 1] (1:24:39 - 1:24:41)
It's 9-30, right? Yeah. Okay.

[Speaker 8] (1:24:41 - 1:24:41)
Sorry.

[Speaker 1] (1:24:43 - 1:24:47)
That is through 9-30-2024.

[Speaker 4] (1:24:47 - 1:24:57)
And I hesitate to even ask, but, like, so Department of Revenue for Recreation, even though annually it's $475,000, it's still only $39,000 for the first quarter?

[Speaker 1] (1:24:58 - 1:24:59)
First quarter of this year, yes.

[Speaker 4] (1:25:01 - 1:25:05)
But it usually runs $475,000 for a year?

[Speaker 1] (1:25:05 - 1:25:06)
No, that's the full year.

[Speaker 4] (1:25:07 - 1:25:14)
Right. I understand. Yeah.

But we're a quarter of the way through, and we're a tax- Most of their revenue is generated in the summer.

[Speaker 1] (1:25:14 - 1:25:15)
In the summer. Okay.

[Speaker 4] (1:25:19 - 1:25:23)
But the first quarter included July, August, and September.

[Speaker 1] (1:25:23 - 1:25:29)
They pay for it before the summer starts. Okay. So they pay for your kids' summer camp before they go to summer camp.

[Speaker 6] (1:25:29 - 1:25:30)
Before June. Yeah. Like April.

[Speaker 1] (1:25:32 - 1:26:38)
Got it. Got to sign up quick. February at this point.

Yeah. So we also have the COA revolving for the Senior Center, which also includes their lunch program, and the Senior Center Director asked that we start doing the social day program. From this, as well, it is turning into a self-sustaining program.

We have the Blue Bin Revolving Fund, which has not really been utilized at all in the last couple years. The Library Revolving Fund, which is for the printing and faxing at the library, so it genuinely is supposed to just cover those supplies. The Field Maintenance Revolving, which is for field use.

It covers the coordinator's stipend and the maintenance of those fields. The Historical Commission Revolving, which was just voted in FY21, and then the Andrew Chapel Revolving, which was just voted last year.

[Speaker 2] (1:26:42 - 1:27:09)
Does anybody have any questions? I just want to go back to the expenditures really quick. Under our insurance bill?

Yes. Is that paid in full?

[Speaker 1] (1:27:09 - 1:27:11)
Yes, insurance is paid in full in July.

[Speaker 2] (1:27:12 - 1:27:39)
Okay. Good. My next question is going to be on the overtime for fire and police.

Their overall line item, they're right in there, so that's really not an issue, but are they going to be able to keep that because they've spended so much of overtime line item?

[Speaker 1] (1:27:39 - 1:28:32)
Yes. One of the things that the chiefs and I discussed this year is there's always discussion that there's a vacancy and that's why overtime is trending high. What we're doing now is on a quarterly basis, if there is in fact a quarter of a vacancy, we're taking that portion of the salary and moving it from the patrol line and moving it into overtime.

That way, when we're looking at the report, because last year it was alarming anyway because it went over, but it was alarming on a quarterly basis because you'd look at overtime and it's saying it's 127%, but then you'd have, say, a sergeant line that's only 76% and you're like, oh, well, the money's coming here and so now we're just literally moving that budget there. That way, when we look at the report, it's a lot more realistic.

[Speaker 2] (1:28:32 - 1:28:34)
And you do that for both those departments?

[Speaker 1] (1:28:34 - 1:28:35)
Yes.

[Speaker 2] (1:28:35 - 1:28:39)
Okay. I don't have any more questions. Does anybody have any other questions?

[Speaker 6] (1:28:40 - 1:29:20)
I had talked to, just speaking about overtime, quickly had a conversation with Chief Posada about some of the community programs that the police has been involved with in recent years and how that may add to their overtime. And I had asked if there was a way to inform us when we are looking at quarterly overtime or even overtime over the year to say what percentage of that was community programming or coming out for the block party or running the camp for our future police officer program or the new school.

[Speaker 3] (1:29:21 - 1:29:26)
They have some targeted grants. They're usually $20,000, $30,000.

[Speaker 6] (1:29:27 - 1:29:51)
I just think it's an important note to make when they're doing the things that they're asked to do on behalf of the town and that adds to the overtime. Not to say we're not going to give them a hard time because it's our job to do that, but at least to understand the context of it in some regard. I think one of the biggest issues is that it's difficult to keep track of that unless somebody is actually writing it down in a slip of paper and keeping track of it.

[Speaker 1] (1:29:51 - 1:30:12)
At least going forward, I can add that as a budget line item. I can talk to Chief Cassata about breaking that out and determining how much of his overtime budget he was allocating for community programming. It won't help us on the historical level.

We'll still have to go through the book on that. But at least going forward, we can add that as a line so that it stands out on its own.

[Speaker 6] (1:30:14 - 1:30:31)
I think it's helpful just to understand the context of it and also understanding for the school, the school isn't paying for the overtime. It's taking the police to do the details outside. They're just doing the job they need to do for the community.

[Speaker 2] (1:30:32 - 1:30:32)
Oh, the school's not paying for it?

[Speaker 19] (1:30:33 - 1:30:36)
No, for the new school, charter school, that's all.

[Speaker 20] (1:30:37 - 1:30:38)
That's all on the police?

[Speaker 19] (1:30:38 - 1:30:39)
That's all on the town, yeah.

[Speaker 20] (1:30:40 - 1:30:46)
I just think it gives a little more context to that overtime line from time to time. It doesn't excuse it.

[Speaker 19] (1:30:50 - 1:30:56)
I'm totally happy to provide some additional detail there.

[Speaker 1] (1:31:06 - 1:32:02)
My department is doing a regular review of open purchase orders quarterly to keep that encumbrance line in check. We're regularly reviewing the department's activity and adjusting their staffing stay on budget. And that includes adjusting the budget lines to line up with reality.

Having consistent updates with the town administrator on the budget status and projections. And we are already working on FY26 budget development to start next month. So I put this nice little timeline and I gave Mary Ellen the printout of it in case she would like it.

I'm going to distribute it through email to all the staff boards and committees in the morning. I wanted the board to have it first. So this is our regular timeline through budget development, capital, and everything else that leads us up to annual town meeting in May.

[Speaker 2] (1:32:05 - 1:32:11)
That's it. Okay. Anybody?

David, do you have a question? Danielle? No.

Doug?

[Speaker 21] (1:32:12 - 1:32:12)
No.

[Speaker 2] (1:32:13 - 1:32:14)
Katie?

[Speaker 6] (1:32:17 - 1:32:21)
No. I have a question, but I think I'll circle up with Amy afterwards.

[Speaker 2] (1:32:23 - 1:32:47)
I do have a couple little questions on the budget, but I am going to call you because they're just... Absolutely. Okay.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Amy. Amy and Patrick, thank you so much.

Now let's go to our...

[Speaker 4] (1:32:47 - 1:33:05)
At the risk of... You can say if this is out of order or not, but, I mean, is this a time to give an update about the... You know, we're talking about finances, what's going to happen with financial summit?

Are we going to wait until the town administrator's report and select more time for that?

[Speaker 2] (1:33:05 - 1:33:57)
I think we're going to wait until the town administrator's report. Now let's move to our discussion and possible vote on the amended art museum donation placement policy. This is the third visit for the policy.

And... Does anybody have any questions on the policy? It went back to...

It went back to their committee. It did, yeah. And are they all set with that?

I believe they're all set.

[Speaker 4] (1:33:58 - 1:33:59)
They being open space.

[Speaker 2] (1:33:59 - 1:34:07)
Open space and rec. Open space and rec. Okay.

Are you voting this on today? Yeah. Good.

Ryan is on.

[Speaker 6] (1:34:07 - 1:34:12)
Ryan is on. So you want to talk to us? That's the real question.

[Speaker 2] (1:34:13 - 1:34:14)
Ryan? Hold on.

[Speaker 16] (1:34:16 - 1:34:25)
Hey, good evening, everybody. I'm just here to answer any last minute questions anybody has, but hopeful that you guys bring us to a vote tonight.

[Speaker 2] (1:34:26 - 1:34:40)
Thank you, Brian. I think we're going to do that, Brian. So can we have a motion to adopt this new policy as presented in our packets?

So moved. Second? Second.

All in favor?

[Speaker 4] (1:34:41 - 1:34:47)
Can I just... I just want to make sure. Is this a three residents from the town?

Is that the edit?

[Speaker 16] (1:34:49 - 1:35:08)
Yes, that's the edit. We received some feedback from the board that y'all were looking for a little bit more input from the town, and we took off a few of the committee representations. The last edit would be just the addition of the school department as necessary, similar to the historic district.

[Speaker 4] (1:35:12 - 1:35:29)
I apologize if we had these exact same edits before us last time. Can you briefly say why you took off the ones you did? Is it solely because you just felt like you were adding some residents so you had to take off other people, or was there independent reasons why you took off these committees?

[Speaker 16] (1:35:30 - 1:35:45)
We received feedback that the committee was becoming large and that some of the committee representations was overlapping one another, so we removed a few, and that was on the basis of consultation with Marzee and other select board members.

[Speaker 2] (1:35:48 - 1:35:52)
Doug, are you comfortable with historic committee coming out of there?

[Speaker 4] (1:35:53 - 1:36:02)
I can see Conservation Commission kind of, because they have open space and rec, kind of think that they have similar interests.

[Speaker 2] (1:36:02 - 1:36:03)
And I can see finance coming out.

[Speaker 4] (1:36:04 - 1:36:25)
We're not really talking about major expenditures here. That's my rationale. But historical, I was kind of wondering.

It seems like they might have something useful to say, especially, frankly, because we have some trouble with cultural council really functioning on its own, let alone actually representing other points of view. So I suppose that's...

[Speaker 16] (1:36:25 - 1:36:36)
Could I just point your attention, Doug, to that when necessary, this committee will still have to consult with the Historic District Commission. Right. It's a different committee.

[Speaker 4] (1:36:36 - 1:36:39)
But that's different. Right, yeah.

[Speaker 2] (1:36:39 - 1:36:42)
I would feel better adding that back in.

[Speaker 6] (1:36:43 - 1:37:02)
If we're worried about the size of the committee, what was the conversation regarding the Cultural Commission? Does it make sense? Given their inability to be a full-bodied council.

[Speaker 4] (1:37:03 - 1:37:07)
We're struggling to get five people to actually be the cultural council.

[Speaker 20] (1:37:07 - 1:37:09)
So are you saying to swap cultural with historical?

[Speaker 6] (1:37:09 - 1:37:37)
Yeah, I mean, listen. It makes sense to keep culture on here because the tenement of art and monuments is reflective of culture. But if the commission itself is not well-staffed, I mean, we can just add historical on here and then there maybe should just be sort of...

Two residents? A carve-out. Is it the...

I don't think it matters.

[Speaker 4] (1:37:37 - 1:37:38)
There's just one more person.

[Speaker 6] (1:37:38 - 1:37:40)
Yeah, okay.

[Speaker 4] (1:37:40 - 1:37:42)
So if we could add the historical, that'd be great.

[Speaker 6] (1:37:42 - 1:38:06)
I think, Brian, maybe a reference if any of these... Like, from a practical perspective, if any of the commissions aren't in existence, that we would just replace them with a resident. Does that make sense?

You would still have the same number all the time or you wanted to depreciate the number? Does it matter? I don't know if it matters.

[Speaker 4] (1:38:07 - 1:38:11)
I don't think it matters. I don't think you need to replace it. That's my two cents, but...

[Speaker 21] (1:38:12 - 1:38:14)
I don't really think it matters. Okay.

[Speaker 16] (1:38:15 - 1:38:34)
I'd agree with y'all. Just to add something, it's just that I think that the size of the committee is good and just to get the input from the town is what's important with the combination of the town administrator, a few committees, and having a systematic way for approaching this is what's important to us.

[Speaker 2] (1:38:36 - 1:38:39)
Okay. So what's our final...

[Speaker 4] (1:38:39 - 1:38:44)
So I move to approve the policy with this whole amendment that we add the historical committee back in.

[Speaker 2] (1:38:45 - 1:38:51)
Okay. Second? All in favor?

Aye. Thanks, Brian. It's passed.

Thank you very much, Brian.

[Speaker 21] (1:38:51 - 1:38:53)
Thank you, Brian. Thank you, guys. Have a good night.

[Speaker 2] (1:38:54 - 1:39:45)
Thank you. Okay. Now we have a discussion of possible vote.

Our members for the following boards and committees. This is the town election committee that once we add these two folks in and we get through this election, we will be pulling this committee together. So we now have Martha Serrata to fill the vacancy for the 16- to the 18-year-olds and Olivia Chavez to fill the vacancy for 18- to 22-year-olds.

And the way they were selected was the same process. Pretty close to the same process that we did before the HR department. Miriam Kallister took care of that.

So... We used the same policies and everything. Mm-hmm.

So can we have a...

[Speaker 7] (1:39:45 - 1:39:52)
A motion to approve Olivia Chavez and Martha Serrata to the town election review committee.

[Speaker 2] (1:39:52 - 1:39:54)
And a second? Second. All in favor?

Aye.

[Speaker 4] (1:39:55 - 1:39:58)
I think it's really exciting to have these folks join the committee. Absolutely.

[Speaker 2] (1:39:58 - 1:40:35)
Me too. I'd be more excited if I saw them online there. I think one of them was away.

All right. We'll get them next time. I'm sure they will be...

Yeah, it was great. Well, I did hear... I heard about them and these seem like two amazing people.

Mm-hmm. So now discussion and possible vote on select board liaison to community life center. The last time we brought this up, we had two select board members that wanted to wrestle us out.

Do we have... What candidates do we have here tonight? Going down.

Are we doing rock, paper, scissor?

[Speaker 4] (1:40:36 - 1:40:41)
Are we choosing one? Is that the idea? We only have one?

We're gonna have one. Oh. Okay.

[Speaker 2] (1:40:41 - 1:40:55)
Is there anybody that wants to raise their hand for this? Okay. So can I have a motion to appoint Katie Phelan...

Motion moved. ...to the life center feasibility and study task force? Second?

[Speaker 21] (1:40:56 - 1:40:58)
Second. All in favor? Aye.

[Speaker 2] (1:40:59 - 1:41:00)
Motion carries.

[Speaker 6] (1:41:00 - 1:41:02)
Very excited to start this work. Thank you, guys.

[Speaker 2] (1:41:02 - 1:41:13)
All right. So should we boot item number 10, the handbook? Because it is getting a little late to our next meeting, or do you want to start to tackle that tonight?

[Speaker 6] (1:41:13 - 1:41:13)
I...

[Speaker 2] (1:41:15 - 1:41:16)
Hmm?

[Speaker 6] (1:41:16 - 1:41:18)
I don't think I even drank coffee, but... I was gonna say...

[Speaker 2] (1:41:18 - 1:41:22)
Okay, so we're gonna move that. Yeah. We're not gonna blame Diane.

[Speaker 6] (1:41:23 - 1:41:48)
Well... The social media policy, though, that we provided last time, we should, next time, maybe get some feedback, because I think that was just something that we sort of... Compiled.

...used together, compiled. Thank you, Danielle. Thanks, sir.

From other local towns and cities. So, like, it'd be great to have some directional feedback on that, if something works or doesn't work, or...

[Speaker 4] (1:41:48 - 1:41:53)
So, Diane, can you send that out, like, at the beginning of next week so we have... Yeah, thank you.

[Speaker 7] (1:41:53 - 1:42:02)
And then, is the plan for the social media policy to sit separate, or sit within one of... Within the select board handbook, or within the code of conduct?

[Speaker 2] (1:42:02 - 1:42:04)
I thought we were gonna set it separate.

[Speaker 7] (1:42:04 - 1:42:05)
I just don't recall.

[Speaker 6] (1:42:05 - 1:42:35)
Yeah, I think our idea was already... It's not in it already, so to separate it, and then that it would be potentially a mirror provided to an employee handbook, a mirror social media policy. I know the social media policy that we provided does speak on not just elected officials, but employees also.

So, if it were something that we wanted to adopt sort of town-wide, and I'm sure the school has one, but if they don't...

[Speaker 2] (1:42:35 - 1:42:35)
Do they have one?

[Speaker 6] (1:42:35 - 1:42:40)
They do, they gave it. I have a copy of it. Yeah, we have a copy of it, but...

[Speaker 2] (1:42:40 - 1:42:44)
Is there a reason why we would have to have it different?

[Speaker 3] (1:42:47 - 1:43:12)
Public safety has different standards, so I think that both police and fire, you know, have, in my experience, different protocols for social media, posting pictures of accidents, and other things. So, you know, we've got a... Typically, you know, we'd have a little bit of a different standard, but certainly, I think, overall, for town personnel plan, we could have the same.

[Speaker 2] (1:43:13 - 1:43:28)
Okay. I don't know why we wouldn't, so... So...

We will address that at a future meeting. So, how about if we move, we go back to the town administrator's report?

[Speaker 3] (1:43:32 - 1:51:22)
Sure, I just want to thank Patrick and Amy. The work leading up to bond rating is significant. We have to really review all of the town's finances over the last year with analysts, and I think, as we discussed earlier, this new standard is going to put some additional pressure on the town, but we've put things in place that really help support a AAA bond rating.

This is the best bond rating that exists in the nation and certainly reflects a lot of hard work over the last many years. Finance committee, town meeting, select board members, it all has led to really great interest rates and significant savings for the town. We had a busy week this past week.

I had a meeting with Mayor Nicholson and key stakeholders, including Gino, to talk about a number of the complementary solutions that we're evaluating for Kings Beach. There continues to be a lot of interest in the UV or ultraviolet light disinfection. This has been reviewed very carefully by DEP and EPA, certainly City of Lynn and Save the Harbor.

They are really looking forward to doing a few more tests to really evaluate its efficacy. We're also looking at advanced oxidization. This is the nanobubbles.

This is something that the executive director from Save the Harbor, Save the Bay, has felt very strongly could be a very useful, supplemental solution to the bacteria that comes out of Stacey's Brook. Primary concern is that this has an impact on some of the microvertebrae, and this has been highlighted by the EPA and DEP. I've also pressed for the outfall extension.

I do believe, and I've shared this many times, that this is the solution that actually will prevent any kind of contaminant from the near shore. Certainly we have to study this. I've highlighted Myrtle Beach in South Carolina as an example of a community that has, in two and a half years, had an outfall extension permitted and started construction, and I hope that we can continue to advance a study on these three supplemental investments that would help ensure that Kings Beach and perhaps other areas along our coastline have beaches and resource areas that are safe for the population that they serve. We have a new exhibit at Town Hall. I would hope folks will come by if you're a graduate of any of the Swampskate elementary schools or middle school or high school.

You can see the buildings as you walk through Town Hall. It is great to see Town Hall used as a museum but also as a place to celebrate Swampskate's unique history. We are filling a number of vacancies.

I'm glad to see that we have a number of our DPW employees here tonight. Certainly it was wonderful to work with Carl Eckman. Carl was one of a kind, and Gina, I want to thank you for caring for him and being a good supervisor to him.

Carl was a joy to work with, and certainly I know that Joe Ragusa and Cabot Dow will follow in those footsteps. They're absolutely terrific individuals, and we've been fortunate to have a number of really good people working in the DPW. We are moving forward with our DEI consulting firm.

They are working. They're looking to have a jam session at the Swampskate Public Library and get residents' feedback soon, so we'll keep you posted about that. Senior Center is busy with the series on housing.

Heidi is as busy as any. Senior Center Director in the Commonwealth doing all sorts of important work. Last week I had an opportunity to meet with a student from Australia to discuss the synergies between the Senior Center and the high school and the programs.

It's hard for me to believe that just a few years ago we had an entirely part-time staff at the Senior Center. Now it seems as though we have one of the busiest senior centers on the North Shore. Health Department has been busy.

They have installed Narcan boxes in public buildings. We have training. If you would like training, please contact Nia Illingworth, a full-time nurse.

We do have a part-time opioid settlement fund prevention and recovery contractor, Michelle Simmons, that has been hired to help us with that. Week of October 21st is the next curbside yard waste collection, November 11th and December 9th are the last two for 2024. So if you like raking leaves, again, October 21st, November 11th and December 9th for curbside collection.

Solid Waste Advisory Committee has our first ever pumpkin smash that will be held on November 3rd in the parking lot of the football field. A lot of really important ways to remove that organic waste from our solid waste stream that saves us money in our town budget, but also gets those pumpkins to Black Earth that can help make it a renewable resource. Had a meeting last week with our veterans agent to go over our veterans housing project with VFW, but also got an update on our Veterans Service Hero Meals program, a partnership with Greater Boston Food Bank.

We serve over 50 veterans and their families as part of our monthly food program. Mike Sweeney has been busy working on our Hometown Service Banner Program, a program that Mary Ellen has really championed, but this is something we've been looking at over the last couple of years. We have over 40 veterans pictures that we're gonna put on banners and white posts around town for Veterans Day.

So I hope that over the next few years, every one of Swampskate veterans will be highlighted, both active duty and folks that have served from Swampskate families over the generations. If you have any questions, please call 781-586-6911. If you have a family member that has a picture or wants to be highlighted on these banners, please reach out.

We certainly want to celebrate our veterans. A lot of great programs at the library and recreation. We have a classic sea car show Sunday, October 13th.

It was a big hit, and we have a Halloween parade, and all are invited to Town Hall for a trick-or-treat on October 31st. That's my report.

[Speaker 2] (1:51:24 - 1:52:20)
I have a couple comments. First, on the veterans, on the veterans' banners that are going up. Gino, you're ready to go, right?

And I just want to say, the person who's working the hardest on this is Diane Marchese, who is sitting right here. Absolutely. Thank you, Diane, for all your hard work, and I think it's gonna be really exciting.

But you are working nonstop on this, and it's much appreciated. On the Senior Center, on the housing, I haven't been able to make it, but they're online, and they're really terrific. I have a question on the Outfall Extension.

Do we have, can we get more information on, don't they have a video or something like that? Is there more information we can get? Because if they were able to do this, I just think...

[Speaker 3] (1:52:20 - 1:53:22)
Are you talking about Myrtle Beach? Yep. Yep, there's videos.

If you search up, as my kids say, Myrtle Beach Outfall Extension, you can see videos and community updates, testimonials about the project. There are slide decks that have been used to present publicly on the project. So I've spent some time looking at that.

I can share it with the board. But certainly I've shared it with the stakeholder group, and it's my hope that we can continue to invest in the feasibility, study the ephemetry, the seabed, and get a sense of whether or not we can actually move forward with a solution that will help this generation and the next 10 generations feel as though every time they go to that beach, they'll be safe.

[Speaker 4] (1:53:24 - 1:55:04)
Can I piggyback on that issue? Please. I just continue to be really frustrated about this.

I mean, maybe it's just inevitable with how complicated it is and how none of these solutions are easy. But I guess I'll just try to condense that down into, as I'm thinking about it, we're going to have a pretty full agenda at the beginning of November because we have the warrant as well that we have to do as well as this other discussion we just talked about. But maybe like the second meeting in November, could we have the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee come back and do a full discussion yet again about where we stand?

Because the other thing I'm concerned about is that the drift, that was a little bit of a pun right there, the drift is toward this UV. Thanks, Danielle. And what I feel like implicitly in that is like this facility for the UV is going to sit in Swampscott and it's Lynn that's deciding that they want the UV.

And just to be blunt about it, and so I'd like to make sure that we're being, we had a discussion with Senator Creighton which was a little unclear. And so I'd like us to kind of come back around to making sure we're giving Town Administrator, Gino, whoever else is involved in these conversations, kind of clear direction from the Select Board because I feel like we're starting to drift in certain directions and I want to.

[Speaker 3] (1:55:04 - 1:56:35)
Okay, I appreciate that. I would welcome making that meeting even bigger. I think it might be helpful for the Select Board, our Advisory Committee and Mayor Nicholson and perhaps our legislative delegation and members of the stakeholders to meet, whether it's in Swampscott or over at Lynn City Hall and have a conversation among all the stakeholders.

This is a once in a generation opportunity and I actually don't think it's drifting anywhere. I do think everybody wants to figure this out. I think it's complicated and I think it's been generationally really, really troubling for a lot of folks.

And we're all passionate about what we'd like to see. I think folks are in good faith trying to figure out the UV. I think I've probably unfairly characterized the UV because I've read publicly or I've stated publicly that DEP and EPA have challenged the UV because it's never really been used for wastewater, but it does show some promise.

I'm, I guess, an old Yankee because it's technology and I love technology, but I feel like it has a lot of complexities. Gino actually has shared with me, too. He has some of those similar concerns.

[Speaker 4] (1:56:37 - 1:57:06)
This is why, sorry to interrupt you, Sean, but I just want to make sure I'm saying I'm not saying anyone is not acting in good faith or everyone wants to get to an answer. And by the word drifting, I didn't necessarily mean in a bad way or a nefarious way, but I actually meant like things are starting to move, I feel like, in a certain direction and I want to make sure that we're all clear about if that's true and what that direction is and if we're really on board with it and I get the idea of meeting with others, too. I'm not sure what the order of things is, whether or not we need to kind of...

[Speaker 2] (1:57:06 - 1:57:08)
Why do you think it's moving in that direction?

[Speaker 4] (1:57:09 - 1:57:33)
I think what I heard from Senator Creighton and what I see in Sean's report here and even Sean kind of acknowledging the potential for the UV to potentially work and the only place I've ever seen a drawing of where the UV's gonna sit is in Swampscot. So those things all together make me feel like something's starting to happen here and are we really clear that that's happening and do we want it to happen that way?

[Speaker 3] (1:57:33 - 1:57:45)
So let's... I've been pretty adamant that I don't, I don't think we've done anything close to the work to help justify site selection for UV. I've shared it...

[Speaker 2] (1:57:45 - 1:57:47)
That message was delivered.

[Speaker 4] (1:57:47 - 1:57:51)
I understand that, but I've never seen a picture of it sitting anywhere else either.

[Speaker 3] (1:57:51 - 1:57:52)
Understood.

[Speaker 2] (1:57:53 - 1:58:38)
So just so you know, following our meeting, following our last Select Board meeting with the Senator and the State Representative, we did make a phone call the next morning just to discuss the issue with where a UV station would sit and we just helped them understand that it would be tough to have it sit where it was in that drawing that was presented to us. So my understanding is that there's an application for a grant that's going in and Sean had a good amount of input on the grant, but I agree with you. Let's air it in public just so that we can all talk about our opinions and get it out there.

[Speaker 7] (1:58:39 - 1:58:41)
Is this a grant that was vetted by the Select Board?

[Speaker 2] (1:58:42 - 1:58:42)
It's not our grant.

[Speaker 7] (1:58:44 - 1:58:46)
It's a City of Lynn grant?

[Speaker 3] (1:58:46 - 1:59:03)
City of Lynn. But I'd love for the Board to be part of the review and I'll submit a draft of the grant application to the Board and if we can put it to a vote here and get the Board's support for it.

[Speaker 2] (1:59:03 - 1:59:06)
Isn't the Infrastructure Committee going to look at that?

[Speaker 3] (1:59:07 - 2:00:06)
Yeah. I've actually talked to the Chair of the Committee. I've asked the Chair of the Committee to have the Committee take a vote and select an option that they'd prefer and make a recommendation.

I think we need to lead on this issue, but I've shared that we can keep an open mind. If we have good people that still want to evaluate the efficacy of UV or ozone bubbles, let's continue to get the facts and let's keep an open mind about short-term and long-term. I just think they've all agreed that studying the outfall can be a piece of the scope in the grant application and I think that's a good thing.

I think we should monitor this and be very active in the conversation and make sure that we help this region make the best long-term decision and long-term investment on behalf of the Commonwealth and the federal government that we can.

[Speaker 4] (2:00:07 - 2:00:09)
When does the grant go in? Do we know?

[Speaker 3] (2:00:10 - 2:00:13)
I believe it's... The 21st. The 20th.

[Speaker 4] (2:00:13 - 2:00:13)
Of October.

[Speaker 3] (2:00:14 - 2:00:14)
November.

[Speaker 2] (2:00:15 - 2:00:15)
November.

[Speaker 3] (2:00:15 - 2:00:19)
Okay, so we actually... Timing-wise, I think beginning...

[Speaker 4] (2:00:19 - 2:00:21)
The 20th would be our second meeting in November.

[Speaker 3] (2:00:21 - 2:00:45)
Yep. I think we need to talk about this in the first meeting, though, and just get a sense from the Board. I'll get it out to you soon and perhaps we can support the application and keep an open mind, but be very focused in terms of how we advocate for what we think might be best for a solution.

[Speaker 2] (2:00:45 - 2:00:54)
What is the plan for that grant? Are they going... Have they committed to sending it over to you and getting input?

Okay.

[Speaker 3] (2:00:54 - 2:01:14)
We've been working together for two years and I think there's a sense that we are in this together and it's okay for us not to see everything eye-to-eye. We recognize that we have different perspectives, but we're going to work through it and we're going to try to build consensus. Not easy, though, is it, Gina?

[Speaker 2] (2:01:18 - 2:01:30)
Amy, can you... The next time you report on ARPA, can you please also give us an update on the ARPA money from the state, the 2.5? Yes, the earmark.

Over there. And then can we also get an update on capital?

[Speaker 6] (2:01:40 - 2:02:02)
For human resources, could we just get... Could you circulate a list of open positions? Sure.

At Town Hall, CPW, just whatever's been... Yeah, everywhere. Whatever's posted...

You mean what's open? Not yet fulfilled. Is it an online?

I mean...

[Speaker 3] (2:02:02 - 2:02:03)
I can get a list. Yeah.

[Speaker 6] (2:02:04 - 2:02:06)
Yeah, not all they can... They're posted. Thank you, Amy.

Oh.

[Speaker 1] (2:02:07 - 2:02:09)
Mm-hmm. I was...

[Speaker 6] (2:02:09 - 2:02:49)
Yeah, I think there are some folks who have either changed titles or moved positions and then I don't think we've reposted those positions and before I say that, I want to make sure that's accurate. And then I just have a question for... I don't know if this, Sean, is not necessarily for you, but I have a question about pumpkins in the compost bins, the town-issued compost bins.

Are they allowed to go in there? So you don't have to answer today. You're saying yes because pumpkins are compostable and all those things, but when the entire town puts pumpkins into...

They've asked to not have people overload their bins. And I think that over time, they've asked us not to do that. Yeah, they can be...

[Speaker 9] (2:02:49 - 2:02:52)
They've asked to not have us, you know...

[Speaker 10] (2:02:52 - 2:02:55)
So in the past, we've had a truck at the CPW. Okay.

[Speaker 6] (2:02:55 - 2:02:55)
Mm-hmm.

[Speaker 10] (2:02:56 - 2:02:57)
About to go drop the pumpkins off there.

[Speaker 3] (2:02:57 - 2:03:00)
Okay, that's what I thought. They do attract animals.

[Speaker 6] (2:03:00 - 2:03:02)
Yes. I see what you mean.

[Speaker 3] (2:03:02 - 2:03:06)
And so we want folks to bring them down and smash them.

[Speaker 6] (2:03:07 - 2:03:13)
Okay. But if you can't attend on the 3rd, then there might be another opportunity for you to compost them somehow. We'll figure that out.

[Speaker 2] (2:03:13 - 2:03:17)
You could bring them down to the police station compost area also if you wanted.

[Speaker 10] (2:03:17 - 2:03:22)
Yeah. The truck, I think, smashed and replaced...

[Speaker 2] (2:03:23 - 2:03:29)
Okay. Right. November 2nd is a general...

I don't remember the...

[Speaker 4] (2:03:31 - 2:03:45)
I had one, maybe two more things. The handbook revisions that we agreed on last time, status of actually seeing that updated handbook so we all can sign?

[Speaker 6] (2:03:46 - 2:03:54)
It went to council. Okay. Council has a question that I failed to answer because I don't know the answer yet.

[Speaker 2] (2:03:55 - 2:04:00)
We'll come back with the cannabis report. We'll come back with what? With the cannabis update.

[Speaker 6] (2:04:01 - 2:04:04)
Yeah, we'll have a question. It'll come back sooner than that.

[Speaker 2] (2:04:04 - 2:04:04)
Okay.

[Speaker 6] (2:04:05 - 2:04:06)
Because it's me, not them.

[Speaker 2] (2:04:06 - 2:04:09)
Well, you're... I'm holding them up. Okay.

Okay.

[Speaker 21] (2:04:10 - 2:04:10)
Okay.

[Speaker 2] (2:04:10 - 2:04:49)
Fair enough. Any more questions, Doug? No.

I'm past my time, David. Good. Danielle, do you have any questions?

No, I don't. Okay. So, moving along, we can go to the consent agenda.

And I just want to... On the consent agenda, I just want to pull out the minutes only because I didn't get a chance to go over them. So if we could just pull out both of them.

And... Motion to approve the minutes. I mean, the consent agenda minus the minutes.

In a second?

[Speaker 4] (2:04:50 - 2:04:50)
Second.

[Speaker 2] (2:04:50 - 2:04:51)
All in favor?

[Speaker 4] (2:04:51 - 2:04:52)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (2:04:52 - 2:04:54)
All in favor? Select board time.

[Speaker 6] (2:04:56 - 2:06:05)
Kate. The only thing I have is I did have the opportunity, as presented tonight, to interview the two folks who were interested in the vacant Board of Health position. And in one of those interviews, Helen, who is now on the Board of Health, mentioned that she was a retired nurse and even if she couldn't fill that seat, would like to help the town in any way in that capacity.

And Jeff Bonham mentioned that with the vaccination clinics and things that are happening in town, there are opportunities like that. So I just wanted to put that out there to the greater amount of people who are listening. If you happen to have a skill set in nursing or doctoring, I guess that's not very eloquent, but you know what I'm saying.

Public health. Thank you. Please reach out to Jeff or us and we'll connect you with Jeff.

And there are opportunities for you still to be given vaccines if you want to be given vaccines. So please raise a hand. David wants to raise a hand.

Can you help do that?

[Speaker 7] (2:06:05 - 2:06:09)
Yeah, of course. Of course. I will do my best.

Do no harm.

[Speaker 2] (2:06:09 - 2:06:11)
There you go. David.

[Speaker 7] (2:06:11 - 2:07:15)
Yeah, so I just had a few comments. Just a reminder, we are having a fundraiser tomorrow at Mexicali from 12 to 9 p.m. to support the Swampscot CPA. So come have lunch, have dinner, have a drink, and on your receipt write Swampscot CPA.

20% of the proceeds will go right to that ballot initiative. Received an email. Sean, you may have received this too from Mark Barden.

He just mentioned, he said, I've been cleaning out my folks' house to prepare my mother to move into the residence. One of the things my father had proudly hanging in his den was his Distinguished Citizens Award. It got him thinking that these awards disappear with their recipients.

He had talked to you, Sean, about putting a plaque in town hall, listing all the recipients as a historical record. Also, one of the things that he was looking to do was to tie the Citizens Awards into the town report. So is that something that we can do?

[Speaker 3] (2:07:15 - 2:07:51)
It is. I met with Mark. I thought it was a great idea.

I was absolutely very happy to have that displayed at town hall, but also roll that into the annual town report. That's something that I think, you know, if we want communities to typically dedicate the annual report to a distinguished citizen, maybe we could roll that up as part of the presentations we do at town meeting. We've worked over the last couple of years to standardize the town report.

We have a nice production, and I think we can roll that into a nice award.

[Speaker 7] (2:07:51 - 2:07:57)
So do we have a list of the Citizen Awards that have been here?

[Speaker 3] (2:07:57 - 2:08:01)
We'd have to go. Gino, do you remember the last Citizen Award that the town granted?

[Speaker 2] (2:08:03 - 2:08:05)
Joe Sullivan. Joe Sullivan.

[Speaker 3] (2:08:06 - 2:08:07)
John McLaughlin.

[Speaker 2] (2:08:08 - 2:08:09)
John McLaughlin.

[Speaker 3] (2:08:10 - 2:08:22)
Those are moderator awards, right? Are those different? Yeah.

This is, you know, dedicating the town report in honor of somebody who put a picture, read a little bio about them. Is that reported? You know.

[Speaker 7] (2:08:23 - 2:08:42)
Yeah, so, yeah, I mean, the moderator is supportive. I mean, he just thinks that, you know, it was his opinion that the town report is going to be the only thing that's going to survive the test of time. So if we can implement this and try to go back as far as we can and compile that information and generate that plaque, I think that would be.

[Speaker 3] (2:08:43 - 2:09:02)
I'd be happy to advance that. Jared actually has done the bulk of the work to herd, I call it, herding the cats to put that report together, but we're putting the town report together right now, and this would be the right time to actually have a re-inaugurate that Citizen Award.

[Speaker 2] (2:09:02 - 2:09:07)
So this is a different award than what the moderator gives out?

[Speaker 7] (2:09:10 - 2:09:29)
I'd have to check with the moderator. I'm not sure. The email, it just mentions a Distinguished Citizens Award.

It doesn't specify if this was given by the moderator or not, but I'll check in and I can report back. Dave, I'm happy to follow up with you about when this happens. Thanks.

[Speaker 2] (2:09:32 - 2:09:33)
Doug?

[Speaker 4] (2:09:33 - 2:09:35)
Nothing. Thank you.

[Speaker 2] (2:09:36 - 2:10:48)
Danielle? Nothing. No.

Mary Ellen? Okay. So I want to say thank you to Nate Bysheim for his hard work tonight and Joe Duet.

I also want to let the select board know that today Sean and I met with Max Casper, Cheryl Stella, Glenn Pastor. Glenn Pastor from the school committee, and we discussed the possibility of the timeline of issuing an application to the MSBA for the middle school. So I'm going to start looking at that conversation and what it's going to take and how will it fall into place with our capital budget, what are some of the goals of Clark School.

We should talk about that. And on some good news, Max said that he's ready for big blue bargains, so maybe you can make a phone call tomorrow and let them know, get in touch with him. I think they want to get them in there right away.

[Speaker 7] (2:10:48 - 2:10:51)
Yep. Can you take care of that? Yeah, I'll take care of that.

[Speaker 2] (2:10:51 - 2:11:06)
Okay. Yeah, we'll meet again in a couple weeks, but it's going to take a little bit of time to really figure out when's the best time to put this in, how to put it in, what the waiting time is going to be.

[Speaker 4] (2:11:07 - 2:11:08)
At Clark.

[Speaker 2] (2:11:09 - 2:11:12)
For the application?

[Speaker 4] (2:11:13 - 2:11:14)
No, for big blue bargains.

[Speaker 2] (2:11:14 - 2:11:17)
Big blue bargains will go in at Clark into the portables.

[Speaker 3] (2:11:17 - 2:11:21)
Two weeks they'll be in this. I think two days.

[Speaker 2] (2:11:23 - 2:11:26)
If they're watching this, they're probably loading up the trucks right now.

[Speaker 3] (2:11:26 - 2:11:56)
Middle school is going to take, you know, if a statement of interest goes in for this year's application, we don't even know when the MSB will open up. About five years, so it takes a long time. But it'll give the town a chance to understand how to put it into our debt service, Patrick.

We're going to have to find some space for it.

[Speaker 2] (2:11:58 - 2:12:05)
Okay. So with that, I think we are all set. So can I have a motion to?

[Speaker 19] (2:12:05 - 2:12:06)
So moved.

[Speaker 2] (2:12:06 - 2:12:08)
Second. All in favor?

[Speaker 7] (2:12:08 - 2:12:08)
Aye.

[Speaker 2] (2:12:09 - 2:12:09)
So moved.

[Speaker 7] (2:12:09 - 2:12:10)
Good night, everybody.

[Speaker 2] (2:12:10 - 2:12:10)
Good night, everybody.