Agenda – Plymouth Select Board 5-3-22 Agenda

Official Minutes – Plymouth Select Board 5-3-22 Minutes

Please note this transcription is unofficial. If you find an error, use the contact page to notify Plymouth On The Record.

Dick Quintal:

Welcome to the Select Board’s meeting of Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022. Please join the Board in the Pledge of the Flag.

All:
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Dick Quintal:

Mrs. Cavacco?

Betty Cavacco:

Yes, thank you. Good evening, everyone. In accordance with Section 2475, and pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means and in-person. Members of the public who wish to watch the meeting may do so in the following manner: tune in to PACTV government cable access channels Comcast channel 15 or Verizon Channel 47 and watch the meeting as it is aired live, or watch the meeting live on PACTV website, PACTV.org. Members of the public who wish to participate in the meeting may do so in the following manner:

In-person attendance: Plymouth Town Hall, 26 Court Street in the Great Hall.

Remote Participation: please go to the Town website on the Select Board page and click on the Zoom Webinar Registration Box.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you. First order of business is a public hearing for Flynn’s. In accordance with Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws as amended, notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held remotely or in-person at the Plymouth Town Hall, 26 Court Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022 at 6:00 pm to consider the application for an alteration of premises from Ambrosi Restaurants LLC d/b/a as Flynn’s Irish Pub. Holder of an Annual All Alcohol Restaurant License, 2240 State Road, Christian Ambrosi, manager. Description of the premises will be as follows: full-service restaurant, pub offering food and drink, a bar, dining room, two handicapped bathrooms, two points of egress and a full kitchen. Applicant seeks to add an 18×36 outdoor patio area and three parking spots, direct spots excuse me, directly outside the entrance of the restaurant. The area will be cordoned off with barriers. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter should plan to attend this meeting. I now declare this meeting open, this hearing open. And is that Mr. Ambrosi we see on the screen? How are you doing?

Christian Ambrosi:

Hello, Select Persons. Can you hear me okay?

Dick Quintal:

Yes, we can. Would you like to comment on this or–

Christian Ambrosi:

I’m sorry?

Dick Quintal:

Would you like to say anything at this point or–

Christian Ambrosi:

I would just like to say thanks for considering the appointment. I’m trying to get ahead of the curve when the emergency mandates cease to exist in 23 so that I can continue using my outdoor patio area. I have approval from my landlord who has been very supportive of me during this entire pandemic situation, and that’s all I needed to say. Thank you for your time.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of this application? Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Okay. I now–

John Girard:

John Girard. Hello?

Dick Quintal:

Hello?

John Girard:

Yes, can you hear me? John Girard here.

Dick Quintal:

Yes.

John Girard:

I’m a neighbor of the Flynn’s organization. I’d like to, you know, speak, just say a few things. I do want to thank Christian for operating good business. He has good burgers. His shepherd’s pie is really good too, but I also want to say I have a few concerns about the noise issues. And we know there’s supposed to be a quiet time between 10:00 and 7:00 in the neighborhood behind here and Christian has worked well with my wife and us trying to keep his truck deliveries from not delivering at 5:00 in the morning. He’s also worked with the dump trucks and keeping them under control, but my concern with this new outside dining, I’m wondering how late that’s going to be opened.

[0:05:03]

John Girard:

Will it just be the seating outside or will there be bar setup or TV or music planned for out there? Because beyond the noise level, we just want to make sure that we can get some decent sleep because again, Christian has worked very well with my wife, and I’m sure he will in the future unlike some of the other businesses in the area. Those are my concerns. And I don’t know if Christian has any insight on that.

Christian Ambrosi:

Thanks for coming on. Yeah, I have been working with the Girard’s to try to get the logistic companies that are serving the restaurant, not just mine but the ones that are also serving the other locations because we shared a lot of the same companies to get them to make sure that they are coming in before 7:00 o’clock in the morning and that’s an ongoing process that I’m fighting with the Girard’s. And I’m completely on their side about it. In terms of the outdoor dining area, which is a different thing altogether, it’s going to be how it has been last year and the year before. So, it’s just going to be the tables outside. We plan on putting an awning and also barriers around it, but I don’t plan on putting any music out there. And the music that I did have out there in the past was a small Bose portable speaker. I haven’t heard anybody complain about sound during the last two years when I have used it, Mr. Girard, but I’d be working very closely with you guys to make sure I wasn’t a nuisance to the neighborhood.

John Girard:

Right. We haven’t heard any of that. I know of one complaint of the building down the street had live music that was pretty loud that we heard in the middle of the day, but you haven’t had that, so we appreciate your concern for us that way.

Christian Ambrosi:

No. We don’t plan on doing that. One of the main things in my philosophy for running the business is that I am the local for the area and as such, I need to be tied into the community. So, the last thing that I’m going to do is burn bridges or do things that make me a nuisance because I want you guys to continue to come in and eat my food and talk.

John Girard:

Well, the food is good, and we appreciate that. So, thank you.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in opposition? Closing it here and bringing it back to the Board.

Betty Cavacco:

Motion to approve.

Charlie Bletzer:

I second.

Dick Quintal:

Second by Mr. Bletzer. Discussion? All those in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. Good luck.

The next hearing is going to be for Anna’s Harborside. In accordance with Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws as amended, notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held remotely or in-person at Plymouth Town Hall, 26th Court Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022 at 6:05 pm to consider the application for an alteration of premises from the Stav Family Enterprise Incorporated d/b/a Anna’s Harborside Grill, holder of an Annual All Alcohol Restaurant License 145 Water Street, Suite 2, Demetrios–help me with this one, Charlie.

Charlie Bletzer:

Stavropoulos.

Dick Quintal:

Stavropoulos, manager. Thank you. Description of the premises will be as follows: dining area, bar area and ordering area with pickup counter, food prep and sink cleaning areas and a rear full kitchen, two fully accessible bathrooms and the premises will have three exits for the use by the public and an additional rear exit on the one–on the prep areas. Outdoor patio area. Applicant seeks to add 1800 square foot of outdoor seating in area cordoned off, the grassy area directly in front of the building. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter should plan to attend this meeting. I now declare the hearing open. Is the presenter online? No? Okay. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of this application? Anyone wishing to speak in opposition of this application? Nobody online? Okay. I’m going to close the hearing and bring it back to the Board.

Betty Cavacco:

Motion.

Harry Helm:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Discussion? All those in favor?

Charlie Bletzer:

For full disclosure, I’m going to abstain.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. So, three in favor and two abstaining, Mr. Bletzer and myself.

[0:10:13]

Dick Quintal:

Next one up is Martini’s. In accordance with Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws as amended, notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held remotely or in-person at Plymouth Town Hall, 26 Court Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022 at 6:10 p.m. to consider the application for an Alteration of Premises, looks like LJP Corporation d/b/a as Martini’s Bar and Grill, holder of an Annual All Alcohol Restaurant license, 50 Court Street, Joseph Perret, manager. Description of premises will be as follows: 76×38 with a front entrance and side door, bar, kitchen, dining area. Applicant seeks to add outdoor dining in cordoned off parking spaces in front of the restaurant. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter should plan to attend this meeting. I now open up this hearing and I see the applicant Joe is on the screen. Anything you like to say, Joe? I think you’re on mute.

Harry Helm:

No, he is on mute.

Dick Quintal:

Is he? Thank you.

Joseph Perret:

Good afternoon. Can you hear me?

Dick Quintal:

There you go.

Joseph Perret:

Okay, thank you. I just want to be heard tonight to extend the business and that’s about it.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of this application? Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Nothing online? Okay. Going to close the hearing, bring it back to the Board.

Charlie Bletzer:

I make a motion.

Betty Cavacco:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Second by Mrs. Cavacco. Discussion? All those in favor? Four in favor, one abstention, myself. Thank you. Good luck, Joe.

Joseph Perret:

Thank you very much. Bye now.

Dick Quintal:

Then we get a hearing for the Healing Gardens, Marijuana Cultivation and Manufacturing. Okay. And that–when you speak, is the green light on there? Yes, okay. We’ll wait for your attorney, and for the record, who are you sir?

Blake Mensing:

Attorney Blake Mensing.

Dick Quintal:

Hey, how are you?

Blake Mensing:

Doing well, thank you.

Peter Krukiel:

It’s green, and I’m Peter Krukiel.

Dick Quintal:

That’s what I wanted. Thank you. So, anything you’d like to say at this point of what you’re trying to do so people watching or listening know what’s going on with you?

Peter Krukiel:

Blake, you can introduce it and then I’ll take it myself.

Dick Quintal:

You got a little presentation? Okay.

Blake Mensing:

Sure. So, I’m Attorney Blake Mensing. I’m a Cannabis attorney meaning I only represent cannabis businesses, and I’ve served as a municipal attorney before. And I found Plymouth to be very professional in going back and forth on a draft host community agreement proposed for Healing Gardens LLC at 19 Richards Way. The proposal that Peter will go into a little more depth on is a tier-two cultivation and manufacturing operation. And just for context, a tier two is the second-smallest tier of cultivation that’s allowable under the Cannabis Control Commission Regulations. So, I’m happy to answer any regulatory questions that may come up. And with that, I’ll turn it over to Peter.

Peter Krukiel:

Thank you for taking the time. Peter Krukiel, and I think I’ve been in the Town of Plymouth since 1999. We started and founded ANG Industrial Services, which is at 19 Richards Road. In order to diversify our portfolio of holdings as companies, we decided that we wanted to get out of the construction business at some point because we travel throughout the US and we do specialty construction for power generation and utility. So, we decided that we wanted to do something that would be more homebased. We decided on cannabis as well as some other distribution for carbon fiber wraps and some other things that we’re doing internally at the building. We’ve been a staple of the community for the time since we’ve been here, and we’ve been involved in Special Olympics, coaching and a variety of other charities that are important to us here as well as the veterans of Plymouth. We thought this would be a good opportunity to kind of get off the road and come home, and that’s why we decided to do a venture like this.

[0:15:04]

Peter Krukiel:

It’s a lot less stressful of a business opportunity than it is to wrap and coat pipes throughout the US underground in buried utilities. So, this is why we took up this venture. And Blake, if you wanted to get into the nuts and bolts of the presentation, because there’s a lot of the zoning and the security and things that are important to the town that Blake is very fluent in describing.

Blake Mensing:

Sure. Sure. So, the process before this business, the first step would be to get the Board’s blessing and signature on a host community agreement. That is one side of the coin in order to be eligible to apply to the State Cannabis Control Commission for licensure as a tier-two cultivator and manufacturer.

The next step after this will be to pursue the local permits. That process, I would imagine, would be concluded prior to the issuance of the final licenses by the Commission just because municipalities are a lot faster at processing things than the state, but we’ll try to have both of those clocks running concurrently. Did the zoning check, it’s right down the road from an operating retail store who may eventually become a customer, but yeah, it checks out in terms of all the setbacks, all the buffer requirements. The state requires every cannabis operation would be 500 feet or more away from a school, that’s not an issue at this location which is an industrial area as for the zoning map of the town. I think that’s on that side, but yeah, the basic emphasis here is that there’s a whole lot of state level regulatory requirements to comply with including security, that’s a major one. So, the Cannabis Control Commission Regulations at 935 CMR 500.110 go into very granular detail about what a facility like this must contain.

In broad strokes, there’s a camera on every square inch of the facility except the bathroom, for obvious privacy reasons. Each member of staff has to go through a background check before they’re eligible to be employed. They’ll have to go through a state required responsible vendor training, which is a sort of cheat sheet or a way to learn the regulatory compliance obligations. And I’ll be in tow as well to make sure the rules are followed.

There are a whole host of standard operating procedures that the state requires to vet someone as capable of applying and running a business like this successfully. In addition to security, there are requirements to prevent diversion. The primary tool of that is the physical security apparatus on site, which will include cameras as I mentioned, commercial grade locks, and someone has to have a valid business purpose to be in any part of the facility. Even within the entity, there are different layers and levels of who may access what. So, for instance, your day one first lowest level employee wouldn’t have access to the product storage vault. And I do use the word vault with intent, it is very beefed up. Not something you could just kick through the drywall and get in and again, with full camera coverage.

There’s also reporting obligations to the Police Department as well as the Cannabis Control Commission, if there ever were such an incident of diversion. The other tool that is useful is that every product that would come out of this facility would be entered into the state seed to sale tracking platform known as Metrc, M-E-T-R-C, that’s an alphanumeric code that follows each plant through its life cycle and into whatever it turns into in terms of the various product form factors that exist in the market today. That is also something that I encourage my clients to include in their wholesale supply agreements, where if they sell to a retailer, and it turns out that that retailer was selling to someone and that ended up in the hands of a miner, you’d be able to trace the trail of breadcrumbs back and find out where that came from. And on the supply side, I would tell my clients to say, “Look, that jeopardizes your license when a retailer loses track of it and there’d be a way to get out of a wholesale relationship. If the retailer isn’t doing their part, they would face consequences by whatever municipality they were in as well as the Commission as well.”

That covers that. So, for community impact, I think I’ll turn that back to Peter. After this first part, there’s a state-required positive impact plan, which is intended to benefit people in one of the 29 areas of disproportionate impact the state found.

[0:20:00]

Blake Mensing:

Essentially, they ran the numbers and looked at statistics and said, “While Caucasian people and people of color consume cannabis at virtually identical rates, people of colors face more frequent enforcement and harsher consequences than others.” So, state law requires that this industry try to undo some of the wrongs of the failed drug war by giving back. So, yeah, I’ll turn it to Peter to talk about how he’s hoping to give back to Plymouth in particular.

Peter Krukiel:

Yeah. When we first went for this venture, one of the important things that the Board had stated to us was that we were a community member, and we want to make sure that we hold true to that. I know that there are some provisions within the agreement that make sure that it’s a local farmer that you brought to the table and that we’re not going to just flip the license and use it as a way to profit. We want to do this. Well, first of all, I want to come off the road, that’s first and foremost, but we’ve always had a special tie to the Special Olympics and to veterans. And I’ve recently met with the Veterans Committee here to talk about what’s happening in the future. I’ve also gone over to the Plymouth employment because we’re looking to hire some veterans, and we’re looking for assistance with hiring, which everybody is looking for assistance but we thought that veterans and special Olympics were going to be our two key core contributions to the town. And although we’re miles away from the finish line here as a self-funded project in this arena, it takes time and it takes patience especially if you’re going to fund it yourself, which we are doing. We don’t have any partners. We don’t have any intent in including a bigger partner. If we do include a partner, we want it to be someone who is local that meets our obligations to what we’re trying to develop. That’s part of why we went with Healing Gardens because we’re trying to do things differently, organically. We’re trying to take it to areas and push the boundaries of the health side of it from a recreational. We also look to the future to potentially move into the medical market, because we believe that there’s a lot of healing qualities to what we’re doing, so. But I just wanted to make sure that the town understood that I am committed as a community member.

Dick Quintal:

Great, thank you. Tiffany, is there anything you’d like to add at this time?

Tiffany Park:

Not unless you have any questions for me.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. Are there any questions for the gentlemen? All right. So, just so I understand this, this is to give a naught or a vote tonight and then move forward with an HCA, Host Community agreement afterwards. Is that what you’re all looking for?

Peter Krukiel:

Oh, yes, yeah, that’s what we’re looking for.

Tiffany Park:

Thank you, Chairman, Tiffany Park, Town Manager’s Office. So, yes. So, this was an opportunity for Healing Gardens to come in and reintroduce themselves to the Board. We’re just about there with the Host Community Agreement. I think there’s just a couple of remaining details that we just need to finish, and I should be able to bring that back to the Board for an Administrative Note within the next couple of weeks. So, if you’re fine with me proceeding to do that, as I said I’d probably within the next week or two, I should be able to bring a final agreement and get that rolling so that Mr. Krukiel can begin filing with the Cannabis Control Commission.

Dick Quintal:

And this is for the growing, right?

Tiffany Park:

So, it’s for cultivation and product manufacturing, no retail.

Dick Quintal:

No retail. So, in the future, they wouldn’t be able to do retail? Do we have a retail location on that?

Tiffany Park:

So, with the presentation from last week, that would be the fourth existing retail license that we could issue.

Dick Quintal:

Right.

Tiffany Park:

However, right now, the town has 23 package store licenses issued. So, therefore, we only allow 20% of the existing package store licenses issued that equals currently four retail licenses that we can offer for marijuana retail. If we get up to 25 package store licenses issued, which we still have a handful of Annual Wine and Malt package store licenses remaining, then we will kick up to a fifth existing license that we could offer.

Dick Quintal:

So, then at that time, if they wanted–somebody else wants to, they could do retail.

Tiffany Park:

So, Healing Gardens would need to come back before the Board to amend its Host Community Agreement, or another establishment could apply.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. Anybody else has questions? Okay. Thank you very much.

Peter Krukiel:

Is that it?

Dick Quintal:

That’s it.

Peter Krukiel:

Thank you very much.

Dick Quintal:

All right. Good luck. We’ll see you in a little while.

[0:25:00]

Dick Quintal:

Okay. Now, we’re going to do a Cable Advisory Committee update, and who will be leading off with that? Please come up to the microphone. Make sure the green light is on, please and identify yourself for the record.

Paul McGee:

The green light is on. And I’m Paul McGee, I’m the Chair of the Cable Advisory Committee. And I say good evening to gentlemen and a lady. It’s nice to see you in person. I never know what you look like when I’m not sitting around eating pretzels and drinking beer. Anyway, I’m here this evening with my colleague of the committee Sean Mullin, who will speak after me. Also, attending is our attorney Bill Hewig of KP Law, who will also follow Sean, and attending is Donna Rodriguez, a PACTV Director of Government Affairs and Brian Byrne of Plymouth EDTV.

Our primary purpose of being here this evening is to update you on the steps being taken into consideration of the request by Verizon to renew their license with the Town of Plymouth. The license became effective on June 17th of 2008 and expires on June 16th of 2023. They are seeking a five-year renewal. This review process that we’re undergoing is known as an ascertainment. The process includes a determination of Verizon’s compliance with its current license, a review of Verizon’s past and present performance, and also its response to complaints, any community programming issues and finally, an effort to identify the current and future cable needs of the community. So, we’re talking about compliance, complaints, programming issues and the future needs of cable TV within the community.

We also will be conducting a public hearing in the fall where the residents of Plymouth can voice any concerns or suggestions. A major factor in this process is the conduct of a town-wide survey. Hopefully, reaching all residents you may have already seen evidence of that. Sean Mullin, will be discussing this activity in some detail, but there’s already been delivered to homes throughout the town, through their water and sewer bills a survey card, and he’ll be talking about we’ve had an excellent response so far on that. I would add that we cannot overestimate the importance of cable subscribership to the continued success of government and educational broadcasting that is funded almost entirely by subscribers to cable TV. it is no secret that residents are moving slowly but surely from cable to streaming. Fewer subscribers mean less income to support these important enterprises.

Donna and Brian are here to answer any questions you may have on this important subject. Finally, I would add that there is important legislation namely House Bill No. 130, sometimes known as the Streaming Bill, pending in the state legislature that would require streaming content providers such as Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix and others to initiate pass-through fees charged to subscribers in support of paid broadcasting similar to those paid by cable operators. These so-called streaming bills must receive favorable consideration in our legislature. Anything you can do to move these bills along would be greatly appreciated.

Now, I’d like to save any questions to the end. So, at this point, I would like to introduce Sean Mullin, my colleague on the Cable Advisory Committee. We’re a committee of two, by the way. So, you’ve seen the whole committee here tonight. Thank you very much. Sean?

Sean Mullin:

Thank you very much. Good evening. As Paul mentioned, we’re doing a survey right now and it’s going very well thus far. As of three o’clock this afternoon, we have 542 completions, which is exceeding my expectations entirely.

[0:30:05]

Sean Mullin:

So, I’m very pleased with that. It is way too early to determine what any of it means. We haven’t really looked at the data yet, but it’ll be interesting when it does happen. I believe you have copies that were furnished to you so that you know exactly what is on the survey, but essentially, it’s focusing on two key areas. Focusing in on what we’re doing now for cable subscribership, what people needs, and how customer service is, signal strength, that kind of thing. And also trying to make a prediction about what their cable needs will be in the future. And I think that we will see that the younger people are moving away from cable. I suspect that is what we’re going to see when the survey is done, and then that’ll bear that out. We tried to make this survey as accessible as humanly possible. If you can send an email, or you can read the news online, you can easily take the survey online. However, there are several people I know who are not comfortable with using the internet for a variety of reasons. So, for them, we have paper copies and we also have copies available. They’ll be available around town, at the library here at Town Hall and the Center for Active Living will also be able to distribute those paper copies. It’s very simple. They just take the survey out of an envelope, put it back into the envelope after they complete it, put it in the mail and then we get it and tabulate those results.

We’ve also had a few people take the survey over the phone. I had one person this morning actually who began by telling me that he was sick of his HBO subscription. I said, “You know you can cancel that,” and he said, “I can cancel that?” I said, “Yes, you can cancel that.” So, it’s interesting the level of knowledge that some people have. So, that is essentially all I have to say right now is I’m looking forward to these results, and we will be able to tell at a very localized area the way we’ve structured some questions, we’ll be able to see where if there are any service issues or customer problems in relation to what public school they’re nearby, we’ll be able to pinpoint that location to be able to narrow that down for Verizon or Comcast. I believe that our attorney is up next.

Bill Hewig:

Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Paul. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the Board, Mr. Town Manager, members of the public, members of the committee. I’m the Legal Advisor for the–my name is William Hewig, I’m from KP Law, town council’s office, and I’m the Legal Advisor to the Cable Advisory Committee, and I’ve been doing cable television license negotiations for almost 30–well, over 30 years now since the early 1990s. I’ve been through I think three cycles of Plymouth licenses from going back from the 90s and however long ago they were. I usually confine my remarks to a legal perspective, and the legal perspective that I’d like everyone to understand is what you can get out of a license and what you can’t get legally.  I used to frame this in terms of good news and bad news, and I’ll give you the bad news first. The bad news is that the things you can’t get from a cable TV license renegotiation are the three things everybody wants: Lower rates, better programming and improvements in broadband. None of those are on the table for negotiations during cable license renewal. Rates are not, because they’re unregulated. Previously regulated by the Commonwealth when there was one carrier. Now, we’ve got two cable operators in town. The market is supposed to keep rates down and there’s nothing we can do about that. Nothing the issuing authority can do or anything anyone else can do. The rates are going to be what they are. The second thing: programming is also supposed to be governed and controlled by the market. We are prohibited by FCC regulations from requiring any programming in a cable renewal license other than broad categories such as: family, sports, news, general information, that sort of thing. Beyond that, we can’t require and we’ve tried many times to require specific programs such as the Golf Channel or the Curling channel or some specific particular channel, we can’t do that FCC regulations per minute. So, that’s the second bad news. Third bad news is since the advent of broadband and the delivery of broadband over cable lines. There has been a constant struggle to get broadband controlled by the issuing authorities to grant cable licenses, because after all, the broadband signal goes over the very same wire goes through the very same wire that goes over those same public right of way, but that’s not possible, not yet.

[0:35:08]

Bill Hewig:

Broadband is not considered a cable television service. It’s considered an information service, and because of that and because of the determination of that nature by the FCC and by various courts, we have no power to control or regulate the content, the quality, the amount, the volume of any broadband signal that goes over our rights of way even though it goes through by virtue of a cable television license. So, that’s the bad news.

What’s the good news? Well, there is good news. The good news is what you can get is monetary support for public access. PEG is Public Education Governmental access, three channels, each has a separate function, a separate purpose, and we get money from the cable operators to support that, and we get a good amount here in Plymouth. Now, it’s true the requirements of the license including the money are passed through to the cable subscribers, but when you consider how much you get and how very little it is on the monthly bill, 50 cents, 60, 70 cents something like that per subscriber, you get a lot, you get a lot of bang for the buck here in Plymouth because we’ve got lots of subscribers and maybe some survivors too. We have lots of subscribers and lots of numbers. So, for example, the Comcast subscribership is somewhere around 11 to 12,000, that generates a lot of money. So, the good news is we get a lot of money to support a very active and a very excellent public access program.

The second thing that you can get, and we will get is technology improvements. And this time around, we’ll get an HD channel. We will get one of our channels for PEG in HD and you get to decide whether it’s the public, the education, the governmental channel. Most communities take the G Channel because you’ve got presentations like that you want people to be able to see the fine print for public meetings, but it’s up to you folks. You can put that HD channel on whichever one you want, or you can also switch it around from public this week to different meetings, education meetings and so on. So, that’s a big advantage and a big bonus of what we can get, and we will get this time around.

The third thing is we get things like senior citizen discounts and other sort of benefits like that. So, that’s what we get when we negotiate a renewal license, and it’s also what we don’t get. So, it’s important for everybody to understand what the limitations of licensing are and the limitations of your power as the issuing authority are.

So, in my guiding of the Committee, we will do our very best to get the best possible package of benefits for the town and its subscribers, within the limits of the law and to bring that back to you, and we hope that it will be appreciated by the subscribers of the Town of Plymouth the next–well, for the Verizon license it’ll be five years and for the Comcast license then it’ll be ten years.

Let me just say one thing about Verizon. They’re a little bit of a different animal, and they’re a different animal because they were in town with wires up to transmit telephone and broadband before they had a cable license. Because of that, if they lose their cable license, they can still sell broadband. Comcast can’t do that. They lose their license, they’re gone. So, Verizon has got a slightly different attitude. They’re different, and they know it. And so, to prove that they’re different, they’ve started saying they will only entertain a license renewal for five years. So, we’re stuck with that. We will secure other benefits in exchange for that, but the five-year license Verizon isn’t our choice. It’s imposed by Verizon. So, just so you know that and are not surprised. That seems like a short time, but we’ll get a good license out of Verizon too. Thank you for your time. I look forward to working with Paul and his Committee and to serving you and the residents.

Dick Quintal:

Mr. Bletzer has a question. I have one too.

Charlie Bletzer:

A five-year contract doesn’t seem like a long time. Is there a chance that they could pull out, there’s no intention, and they request to pull out that we should be stuck with no progress?

[inaudible due to mic is off]

[0:40:02]

Charlie Bletzer:

The town having its own cable company. I know you’ve done it in other towns. I think Braintree did that. Is that something down the road? I mean, I’m jumping way ahead of things I think, but–

Bill Hewig:

Braintree is no longer in existence. And a number of communities had it, and here was the problem with them, they’re more expensive because they’ve got to go to the market and buy the same programming Comcast and Verizon do, and those companies buy programming in bulk for the entire country and Braintree’s company, BELD, Braintree Electric and Light ran the cable company was at a real disadvantage because they were just buying for about 4,000 or 5,000 subscribers instead of millions. So, they had to pay more for the programming.

Charlie Bletzer:

So, question, so there’s a chance–I mean, five years, again, it’s not a long time and I think you’ve been around a long time and so Mr. McGee has too, I think and Sean over there. Sean knows what’s going on that there’s possibly a chance that they may be pulling out. Do we have somebody lined up to maybe come in? Is there a game plan for that?

Bill Hewig:

Well, the answer–so, the answer is no. There isn’t any real game plan because cable companies–let me just backtrack a little. Until about six months ago, I would have told you that there’s no chance of getting another carrier in town, that Verizon was the last independent cable provider that went around to Massachusetts towns trying to get licenses, and they made a target of trying to get second licenses in town so they could steal business away from Comcast and the other carriers, and they were successful doing that for a while, but it caught up with them, and finally they stopped doing it because they just found they couldn’t get enough cable subscribers to make it profitable to be in the community. So, we’ve only got about 100 licenses out of 300 towns in Massachusetts with Verizon.

Six months ago, I would have told you, there’s probably no chance of getting a second cable operator in town, but all of a sudden a company called Breezeline has appeared out of nowhere. And I’m seeing licenses, I’ve seen two licenses being proposed by this company called Breezeline. They’re in Amesbury, and they’re in, not Tewksbury, but there’s another community that has just sent me a Breezeline license out of the blue. So, it is possible that there may be. I mean, that’s great news because I thought you’d never see another one of these companies again in our lifetime but here it is, popping up and somebody thinks they can still make money with cable, and they’re willing to go to towns and get licenses and that’s great news.

So, six months ago, I would have said no way. Now, I would say a possibility. Let’s hope. And you mentioned Verizon, is Verizon–it’s a possibility Verizon could leave? Yes, there is. I don’t–they’ve been doing five-year licenses now for about five years, so we’re getting into the second term of those. They haven’t left any town yet that I know of. If you ask them, they’ll say, “No. We’re here to stay. We’re just being cautious because the business is volatile, and we don’t know what five years are going to look like. So, right now, we’re going to tell you, ‘We’re here. We’re committed to stay,’ but business conditions might be so awful in four or five years, we have to make a practical business decision to leave.” I don’t think it’s because they’re plotting and thinking, ‘Okay. We’re going to get away with something here,’ but I think they’re being cautious as businesses tend to be, and I’m hopeful they’ll be around for five years.

Charlie Bletzer:

So, my last question is, in your experience, is five years standard? Is that low? Was that the five-year contract, is that–

Bill Hewig:

I didn’t quite catch the question.

Charlie Bletzer:

A five-year contract, is that standard for the cable companies or do they usually want more?

Bill Hewig:

Only Verizon. Only Verizon does five years. Everybody else does 10 years. It can be as little as three years under state law. It makes no sense to give a three-year license. You don’t get anywhere near as much money. You got to turn around and renegotiate again. So, I always recommend the longest possible license term. For renewal license, it’s 10 years. Verizon’s original license was 15. The first license you get can be 15 years, and after that they’re up to 10. But Verizon’s only going to be 5, and we just have to live with that, and we’ve learned to live with it and there are accommodations and some additional concessions that we’ve been able to get out of Verizon that we’ll be able to get here for you as well.

Charlie Bletzer:

Thank you.

Bill Hewig:

Thank you.

Dick Quintal:

Would a letter of support for the streaming help use it all right now or is it premature? Would a letter of support for the streaming for the new legislation, would that help you, at this time?

[0:45:05]

Dick Quintal:

Okay. So, Derek, if you can put that on the list.

Derek Brindisi:

Absolutely.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. We’ll get it ready and Mr. Brindisi will get it ready, and we’ll sign it.

Paul McGee:

In the petition to advance that legislation that was signed by all the local state representatives, at least I think Matt Muratore is on there, Kathy LaNatra and the State Representatives from the Duxbury area, they all signed on to the petition. There’s about 170 state representatives, but it’s now in some committee activity. So, I think in order to support the plan for the future, this is something that we hope can be advanced.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. So, that’s where I’m going next, right to the future. I noticed and I think I brought it up already prior to this, I think it was in the budgets for town meeting, but I don’t know, I look at so much stuff, I don’t write down every time I look at something, but I did notice the last two years, the cable funding has gone down. So, my question to you is regardless of the streaming, is that going to hopefully take the place of this? But more so than not, for future boards, for the town’s future, will you have a plan ready to go? In other words, if we’re going to get enough, so it starts affecting the PACTV say. I mean, they have bills, I mean you got rent, and you got all that stuff. I mean, I’d rather be proactive than leaving it for somebody to react like we have in our few other departments, so.

Sean Mullin:

I think we’ll know a whole lot more at the conclusion of the survey, and that’ll give a pretty good indication of where the town is going and where certain segments of the town are going. I think those results will be very illuminating. And I’m confident that they will be useful in that regard. But you’re absolutely correct that there’ll be need to be a discussion at that point about it.

Dick Quintal:

Exactly. So, in other words, once we find out more on the stream and in your survey. So, that’s all I’m asking is either come forward with some kind of idea or plan if you will for the future, so Plymouth still can have the government channel and the education channel.

Paul McGee:

That will be our goal.

Dick Quintal:

Okay, great. Any other questions from Board members? Thank you for all your hard work, and we’ll get you that letter. And anything else you need from this Board, just reach out. Thank you.

Town Manager’s Report. Mr. Brindisi?

Derek Brindisi:

So, I’m going to do my report from the podium just so I can look towards you, given the new seat I have. So, let me start by saying that this conversation about cable access is extremely important. I can tell you having worked in the City of Worcester where they had a very strong PEG program, you took it for granted. And then I came here and then having the opportunity to work with PACTV and EDtv, I think the bar has been raised as far as the PEG programming. And then having gone to Upton, there is no. Although they have money for PEG, they don’t have any providers to provide those channels. So, I’m really excited to come back to Plymouth and be able to work with PACTV and EDtv because of the level of programming that they offer, and it allows us to deliver our message on a fairly regular basis.

I’ve had the opportunity last two weeks to work with Donna who is in the back room here on This Week in Plymouth where every Monday, we go and we have a conversation, a 30-minute conversation, and we talk about all the things that are happening in the community to try to let folks know of all the different programs and projects that are happening just to get the facts out. So, again, I thank the Cable Advisory Committee for the work that you’re doing because it is very important, and it’s easy to take for granted when you see it on a regular basis. So, again, thank you. And thank you to Bill for, and we’ve worked together for many years now going back to–I was on the–I started the Cable Advisory Committee back in 2015 when we did the Comcast negotiations. So, thank you again.

So, moving on to my update. I just wanted to remind folks that this coming Friday at 10:00 a.m., Senator Markey will be here. He’ll also be joined by Congressman Keating. They’re going to be holding a congressional hearing to talk about primarily the nuclear industry.

[0:50:08]

Derek Brindisi:

And just so folks are aware, they are only allowing 5 agencies to provide public testimony. They did not provide an invitation to the Town of Plymouth, so we will have to provide some written testimony in the future. I think we’ll talk a little bit about that later. But just so we’re clear, if folks in the community, if they want to attend, go online. We have an Eventbrite location where folks can link to that, they can register, and they can be one of a couple of hundred folks that will be able to join us live. So, the event itself is going to be held in the 1820 Courtroom. The overflow for folks that are attending will be held in this room, and it will be broadcasted by PACTV. And those individuals that can’t attend because possibly we’re out of capacity, it will be aired through PACTV so you can watch it from your home. So, again, there’s been a lot of build up to this event. And I was told by Senator Markey’s staff that this is the only second–this is–at least in their experience, this is only the second time that they know of a congressional hearing that’s taken place in Massachusetts, the other congressional hearing had to do with the gas main breaks in Lawrence. So, again, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Town of Plymouth.

Just moving on to the June 21st special town meeting. We met today to talk about the timeline on this town meeting. So, just so folks are aware, we will have to hold our article reviews on May 17th. It’s earlier than I expected, but given the timeline of having to deliver our backup materials to A&F and execute the warrant on May 24th, May 17th will be the date that we begin to discuss those articles. At this time, we only believe there’s going to be three articles, so it should be a short review period.

The moderator is in conversations with the Board of Health. He will be attending the Board of Health meeting on May 11th to determine whether or not this is going to be an in-person or a virtual town meeting, so more to come on that. A&F will review the articles on May 25th, the moderator will hold a town meeting preview on June 9th, and then he will be holding an orientation and a presentation night on June 13th. So, that’s really important because as you know we’re going to have many new town meeting members. It’s going to be fast and furious trying to get them sworn in, get them to their precincts so they can have caucuses. And so, the orientation meeting on June 13th, I think will be very important because that will be an opportunity that they will hear the various articles.

Moving on, additionally, next Monday, May 9th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be in town. They will be holding their own public hearing at the 1620 Hotel and that begins at 6:00 p.m. Again, that conversation is focused on decommissioning nuclear power plants. From what we understand, it’s more of a fact-finding mission by NRC to understand what went well, what didn’t go so well so as other communities start to decommission their power plants, they can go ahead and apply those best practices. We don’t believe the NRC hearing will have any effect on the decommissioning here in town.

And then on May 11th, Boston South will be having their own public session at Memorial Hall. Again, beginning at 6:00 p.m. This is Boston South’s opportunity to engage the community at large and talk about their proposed project and their proposed development. It’ll allow folks from the community to ask questions so that they can get a better understanding of the direction Boston South is headed in with their proposed project at the Wood Lot.

Moving on to some operational updates. I had the opportunity last night to present in front of the Charter Commission and I had the pride to that. I went through the charter. I had made a number of annotations and notes for them to consider. So, I was invited to come to them last night and to talk in-person about some of my thoughts about some charter revisions. From that conversation, they asked me to reduce that to writing, so I’ll reduce that to writing my proposed changes, and I’ll share that with the Board as well.

I wanted to bring this other item. Brad and I had the opportunity this afternoon to meet Nick Faiella, our Parks Director up on Allerton Street. So, I’m sure you’ve heard this conversation in the past. The residents–we get resident complaints of this de facto dog park.

[0:55:05]

Derek Brindisi:

In fact, when we were, there were three dogs running loose. By the time we left, there were five dogs running loose in this area. So, what we’re proposing and I just wanted to bounce this off the board is that we reduce the footprint of the playground itself. So, we take down a portion of the existing fence, and then we reduce the playground itself so that’s fenced in. It’s safe, it’s secure for children to play, and then the remaining two-thirds of what is now a fenced-in park remains open. We think this will help mitigate loose, unleash dogs in that park area. But again, I wanted to bring this to your attention because I know that you have heard these similar complaints over the years, and the town has tried to remedy this in a lot of different ways. The last strategy was to remove the gate itself and that really doesn’t seem like it’s helped all that much. So, this is our next effort into trying to prevent this park to being used as a dog park. So, unless I hear any comments or feedback, that’s going to be our course of action. That’s what we think will help the residents in the area, and again, provide a safe and secure environment for our children to play in.

So, moving on, we were notified, I may have mentioned this in the past, but we just received word today by MassDOT that the town received an additional $790,000 to put towards streets and sidewalks this year. So, it’s a reimbursable program. Again, additional $790,000 we can put to our streets is certainly welcoming news. So, we’re very happy to see that.

Moving on to personnel issues. We’ve done interviews for HR Director. I would imagine the next week or so, I will make a formal announcement for our next Human Resources Director. As you know, Marie Brinkman, her last day was last Friday. We bid her farewell. She had worked for the town for over a decade, and so we appreciate all her efforts. But at the same time, we have to move forward with our succession planning and so, you’ll be hearing from me in the next week or so on our next Human Resources Director.

Additionally, per town meeting vote, we are now advertising a climate resiliency position. So, that is currently being advertised. We hope to have a person named by the end of this month, which would then come on Board effective July 1st as well.

So, if I could direct your attention to the wall, I guess. So, this is a process that we’re trying to start with our departments. And I’m only going to share a few slides with you this evening because it’s still at work and in progress. This is called a quad shot. It’s something that I’ve used in the past, usually in the military, but it tries to identify what are some of the big issues that are happening across the spectrum of our departments. And so, I’m just going to share a few slides with you and what I’ve asked the departments to do is just and we’ve shared this at our Tuesday meetings, our staff meetings, and I’ve asked the departments just to kind of look at your current operation so we can have a quick conversation what’s going on this week and next week within your department that we need to be aware of. And then moving on to the corner box to the left, future operations, so what are some of the things that you’re thinking about that you’re starting to prepare for? And you can see clearly in this one that the Chief, he added discussion points talking about preparing for the third and the fourth of July events, reassigning the SROs. So, these are the things that they’re currently operating within and then the items that they’re planning for the future. So, it helps me get a 40,000-foot view of all the things that are happening at the department level. And so, moving on you see your personnel issues. This is interesting because I was made aware today that we have now 23 vacancies amongst our ranks in the police department, and I don’t think this normally–this wouldn’t normally come up in conversations, but it came up today because of again the right corner, it talks about personnel changes. And then the last right-hand corner at the lower right is challenges. And so, what are some of the issues that the departments are facing, some of the challenges that we have to resolve that should be brought to my attention and to Brad’s attention so that we can work directly with the departments and help them be successful? I say to the department heads all the time, one of my major roles is to help them resolve their problems so that they can be successful in their role. So, if you go to the next slide.

[1:00:01]

Derek Brindisi:

So, this is something that we’re toying with. Today was the first day that we unveiled this. So, this is just DMEA. Again, they have a lot going on here. And I’m happy to send this to the Board if you’re interested to learn more about what’s happening on a day-to-day level across all the different departments. But again, this is something that we’re just toying with. Maybe we only do it for a year, it’ll help Brad and I get up to speed as to everything that’s going on. And then maybe as we’re more accustomed with the day-to-day issues, this would be less necessary. But you can see how this is something that we’re starting to move forward with within the various departments.

Some departments I haven’t shared with you have broken down their quad chart by division. So, the Finance Department they have one slide just for assessing, one slide just for treasure collector, and when you break it down that way you see the volume of work that these departments are engaged in on a regular basis. So, again, very good information and again, happy to share with the Board if they’re interested.

The last item I want to bring up is there was a report as you all know by WATD, Bobbi Clark was the Reporter and in her report, it was a report that outlined the various timeline around the acquisition of Chiltonville and what information the town officials may or may not have had. In that report, there was a spokesperson from Holtec that had stated that there was a meeting that was held I believe on January 5th, 2022 with town officials and town council, and it was stated that the town was put on notice that Holtec had an interested buyer in the Chiltonville property. Certainly, there were a number of phone calls asking for clarification on this. I spoke to town officials and to town council, who both sat in that conversation, and they do not recollect that meeting having those words being said to them. So, I did receive an email today by special counsel Attorney Macarius, and he writes today that members of town staff and special counsel met with Holtec representatives on January 5th on a number of issues. The town’s team raised a number of issues for discussion including the town’s interest in a potential acquisition of the Chiltonville parcel. Neither the town staff present nor special counsel recall any explicit requests by Holtec that the town making another offer on the Chiltonville parcel while reference to any agreement with a buyer at that time. So, again, none of us were in the room during that conversation, but I’m quite confident that special counsel who we pay to pay close attention and hang on every word that Holtec states in these meetings, I’m confident that what he states in his email to me today is fact. So, certainly Holtec has a different position on that conversation, but I wanted to bring that up today to hopefully let folks know what may or may not occur on that January 5th meeting. Pending any questions, that’s all I have for this evening.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you, Derek. Any questions for Mr. Brindisi? Seeing none–Mrs. Cavacco?

Betty Cavacco:

Derek, did you want me to read what we are providing to Senator Markey?

Derek Brindisi:

Yeah. So, that’s a great point. So, I mentioned in some of my opening comments that we were informed yesterday by Senator Markey’s staff that the town will not be able to provide public comment unfortunately tomorrow, but they did encourage us to provide written testimony. I took the liberty and spoke to special counsel to draft a statement based upon the conversations that council has had with this Board in an executive session. I asked him to draft a statement on behalf of the Board, that it would be great, Selectman Cavacco, if you could read that. I hope the Board has had an opportunity to read it themselves and modify it, edit, amend it. Again, this is hot off the press. It just came to me earlier today so not a lot of time to prepare for the statement.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. So,

On behalf of the Town of Plymouth, the Plymouth Board of Selectmen, (actually it should say Select Board), would like to thank Senator Markey and the members of the Senate Committee for the Environment and Public Works EPW, subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety for bringing attention to the issues facing communities like Plymouth with decommissioning nuclear facilities.

[1:05:22]

Betty Cavacco:

As the subcommittee is aware, the Town of Plymouth has hosted the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station on its historic close coastline since 1972 helping provide energy to the Massachusetts power grid for decades. When the station was first proposed for sitting in the town, and for many decades that followed, the town was promised by the United States government that a comprehensive solution for final storage of spent nuclear fuel would be provided in a secure location outside the town. Unfortunately, the final storage solution has not materialized. Instead, the current owner of Pilgrim, Holtec International, has begun implementation of a dry cask storage solution on premises on the shore of Cape Cod Bay that is likely to keep the spent nuclear fuel within our community for decades to come, if not indefinitely.

The town remains deeply concerned with the various aspects of this Plan B solution to dispose of waste within communities. First, the town reminds the subcommittee that just as all politics is local, inevitably so is all public safety. The town needs the resources from the federal government to protect and secure the decommissioned plant site to ensure it is not a target for malicious activity or the source of an unfortunate accident.

The town also requires clear information on the risks of decommissioned facility within its midst, and the precautions it should take to protect its residents and those of neighboring towns. Unfortunately, to date, the town has often been the last to know of how the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or Holtec plans to carry out its security protocols.

Second, the town is concerned with the lack of clarity from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Holtec regarding the potential for discharges of water containing nuclear waste products and pollutants into Cape Cod Bay. As you are well aware, the news alone that such discharges may occur has caused alarm throughout Cape Cod Bay. Our shoreline is an important part of the town’s and the nation’s history and our economic future, and the potential chilling effects on tourism and investment in our coast and in Cape Cod Bay due to the fears of polluted waters being added to the bay is unacceptable. The federal government must make it clear to Holtec and the town what can and cannot be done with contaminated waste water immediately and provide enforceable barriers to such discharges.

Third, the town and communities like it throughout the United States that host decommissioned facilities need the resources to continue to house these commissioned and decommissioning facilities include their spent fuels. While nuclear plants were in operation, many contributed significantly to the local tax base, and most made payments to their host communities either in the form of property taxes or payment in lieu of taxes. As the plants have closed, those sources of funds have dried up but the expectations that local governments continue to secure these sites, plan for future land use around them and address concerns like those caused by the potential wastewater releases from Pilgrim remain. The federal government which long ago promised these communities a secure safe end-of-life plan for nuclear power owes it to these communities to cover these costs.

Thank you again to Senator Markey and members of the subcommittee for your attention to this matter. We look forward to working with you to ensure that our mutual concerns are properly addressed.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you.

Betty Cavacco:

And that is what we will be providing to Senator Markey in written testimony.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. Any other comments? Seeing none. Anyone wishing to speak on a public comment? Anyone in the queue? Okay.

[1:10:02]

Dick Quintal:

Moving on to the licenses. Mayflower Brewing is requesting a One Day Wine and Malt License for 5/21 from 12:00 to 5:00 pm at Pilgrim Hall.

Betty Cavacco:

Motion.

Charlie Bletzer:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Second by Mr. Bletzer. Discussion? All those in favor? Unanimous.

Plymouth Lions Club is One Day Wine and Malt License for 9/10/22 from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm and 9/11/22 from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm for the Thirsty Pilgrim event.

Betty Cavacco:

Motion.

Patrick Flaherty:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Discussion? All those in favor? Unanimous.

Amplified Music Permit Plymouth Lions Club is requesting an Amplified Music Permit for 9/10/22 from 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm and 9/11/22 from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm, again for the Thirsty Pilgrim Octoberfest.

Betty Cavacco:

Motion.

Patrick Flaherty:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Second by Mr. Flaherty. Discussion?

Charlie Bletzer:

I’m looking at two different addresses. It’s the same event, right? Yeah, they both should be 8 Bay Colony.

Dick Quintal:

They are in the packet there. That’s what I use every week is the packet, but that’s good. Thank you. It’s on the docket. Right. Yeah, you were. So, it’s 8 Bay Colony Drive. All right.

Betty Cavacco:

Motion.

Harry Helm:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Second by Mr. Helm. Discussion? All those in favor? Unanimous.

Temporary Restaurant Expansion, and this is just like outdoor dining, but only it’s private property, correct?

Chris Badot:

Correct.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. Franciscanos of Plymouth d/b/a Ocho Café Tacos and Tequila, 275 Colony Place, Ana Michel, manager, is requesting Temporary Outdoor Dining on the grassy area outside the front entrance of the restaurant, 30 seats. This will also have a staffed hostess station out there. Area will be cordoned off.

Betty Cavacco:

Motion.

Charlie Bletzer:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Second by Mr. Bletzer. Discussion? Mr. Helm?

Harry Helm:

Will this involve any adjustment to their alcohol license? Because this only refers to dining.

Chris Badot:

This falls under the COVID legislation.

Harry Helm:

The which legislation?

Chris Badot:

When the governor, he allowed restaurants to have the outside dining.

Harry Helm:

Oh, the COVID? I thought–okay. I thought you said–

Chris Badot:

Yeah. It falls under the same thing. He extended it again.

Harry Helm:

Okay. So, this falls under that?

Chris Badot:

Correct.

Harry Helm:

Okay.

Dick Quintal:

Yeah, this is just private property.

Harry Helm:

Sure. No, I was just wondering because I kind of had felt that the other applications that we had earlier were a little bit more detailed than this one, and I’m kind of surprised it’s showing up in this rather than in the way that the other three were tonight. It just kind of takes me by surprise. I’m also kind of wondering why is this process a little bit different tonight than it was for Flynn’s, for Anna’s Harbor Side and for whoever the third one was, the Martinis.

Chris Badot:

Yeah, they’re changing their license permanently. That’s the permanent.

Harry Helm:

Okay. All right.

Chris Badot:

The others that we have listed are for just the temporary.

Harry Helm:

Temporary?

Chris Badot:

Yeah.

Harry Helm:

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Charlie Bletzer:

I have another question.

Dick Quintal:

Go ahead, Mr. Bletzer.

Charlie Bletzer:

I thought, I might have the answer, it says temporary grassy area. They’re going to do a more permanent outdoor patio?

Chris Badot:

No. This is just for the season. Next year, they may opt to and they have to do the whole.

Charlie Bletzer:

I make the motion.

Betty Cavacco:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Second by–all in favor? Unanimous. Any questions on the administrative notes?

[1:15:10]

Betty Cavacco:

No. I move to move them as a group one through nine.

Harry Helm:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Discussion? Second by Mr. Helm. All those in favor? Unanimous.

Committee Liaison updates? Designee updates? Old business?

Betty Cavacco:

I have. Don’t look at me like that.

Dick Quintal:

Mrs. Cavacco?

Betty Cavacco:

It’s old business for me, but it’s probably new business for Mr. Brindisi. One of the things we had brought up months ago, and I don’t even know if Harry were on the Board yet, but the Town of Arlington on their real estate tax they have a line item where people are able to donate to like helping the Seniors program, and they also have a line item for like a high school scholarship. So, I know that we had brought it up sometime within the past year, and it didn’t really go anywhere, but I’d like to be able to bring that forward again because I think especially with the prices and everything going up, if we can get some kind of account that we can help our seniors, I think we should use that.

Derek Brindisi:

So, I think what we will do is we’ll research that and we’ll come back to the Board with a recommendation for a full vote.

Betty Cavacco:

Perfect. Thank you.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you. Any other old business? Letters? New business?

Okay. I just want to let the community know that, actually she was a former employee here at Town Hall, Marina. They’ve taken in four refugees from Ukraine. They’re staying with her. So, they were asking, Derek, if there’s anything the town has, they can apply to or get some assistance maybe I don’t know if there are any organizations, but we might as well find out if we can, and I’ll give you the information. I’ll email it to you tomorrow.

Derek Brindisi:

Yeah, if you could send me Marina’s information, I can work with her and connect her to some of our social service agencies.

Dick Quintal:

Okay. I’ve offered them all whatever they need in food, if they should need any to come by, and I know the Legion and I know there are a lot of good shelters around town, so I’ll direct them to that, but I don’t know if there’s anything else we as a community can do, but I’m willing to support them 100% for them for and any others that may fall. So, I just want to touch on that, and that’s about it. Motion to adjourn?

Betty Cavacco:

Motion.

Charlie Bletzer:

Second.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you. Thank you for watching. Have a good night, a good week and keep the people of Ukraine in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you.