Agenda – Plymouth Select Board 8-16-22 Agenda

Official Minutes – Plymouth Select Board Minutes 8-16-22

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

Betty Cavacco:

Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to the Plymouth Select Board, Tuesday, August 16th, 2022 meeting. We call this meeting to order. The first order of business is a public hearing: Shikku Hot Pot and Noodle Bar.  Oh, I’m sorry. Would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

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.

Betty Cavacco:

Thank you. Now, the first order of business is a public hearing. We’ll start that again. The Shikku, I hope I’m pronouncing that right, Hot Pot and Noodle Bar. Early Sunday Sales (10:00 a.m.), Comprehensive and Entertainment (Group 1- Radio, TV), and Common Victualler. In accordance with Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws as amended, notice is hereby given that the public hearing will be held remotely or in-person at the Plymouth Town Hall, 26 Court Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts on Tuesday, August 16th, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. to consider the application for an All-Alcohol Restaurant License from Shikku Corp. d/b/a Shikku Hot Pot and Noodle Bar, 18 Court Street, Patricia Cho, manager. Description of the premises will be as follows: ground floor is full service dine-in and take out. 1100 sq. feet of space for seating, basement floor will have a full-scale commercial kitchen with approximately 1100 sq. feet with walk-in cooler and walk-in freezer units. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter should plan to attend this meeting. Do you have? And please state your name for the record.

Patricia Cho:

Good evening. My name is Patricia Cho. I will be one of the co-owners of Shikku Hot Pot. Shikku also means family in Korean, so that’s where we’re heading. Just making adjustment. The kitchen is actually going to be upstairs rather than downstairs. It’s safer that way and more convenient, so I want to note that. Hot Pot is pretty much induction tables at every table and people get to pick ingredients they will like and they get to cook it at the tables. So, very family social event. So, that’s what we would like to bring to downtown Plymouth. Do you have any questions?

Betty Cavacco:

Sounds wonderful.

Harry Helm:

It is wonderful.

Charlie Bletzer:

It’s an exciting concept. What’s your experience? Do you have other restaurants?

Patricia Cho:

I also co-own Kogi Bar and Grill.

Charlie Bletzer:

Where is the premises?

Patricia Cho:

It will be two doors down from Kogi Bar.

Charlie Bletzer:

What was there before?

Patricia Cho:

So, it was the Lux Hookah Bar and then it was the Munchies Milkshakes.

Charlie Bletzer:

Okay. All right, good.  So, the parking fund didn’t come into play then on that. All right.

Patricia Cho:

I’m sorry?

Charlie Bletzer:

No, you answered it. I wasn’t sure what was there before so, but yeah, that sounds exciting. So, good luck to you.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor? No? Anyone opposed? And I’ll bring it back to the Board once again. Any comments?

Charlie Bletzer:

I make a motion to approve.

Harry Helm:

Second.

Betty Cavacco:

We have a motion and second. All those in favor? It’s unanimous. Congratulations.

Harry Helm:

Yes, it’s great.

Betty Cavacco:

The next order of business is the Citizen of the Month and we haven’t had them in a couple of months, but this month is for Mrs. Dorothy Zupperoli. In recognition for her service of the town as an employee in the Personnel Department and a dedicated volunteer at the Plymouth Public Library and the Center for Active Living, awarded on the 16th day of August 2022. And also, Mrs. Zupperoli just had a birthday last week and she turned 85 years young. So, although she’s unable to join us today, I believe her son will be in shortly to pick up her award. For all of our residents out there, if there is a citizen that you believe that deserves and is worthy of the Citizen of the Month award, please send that to Anthony Senesi, our admin and he’ll make sure it gets on our docket.

[0:05:07]

Betty Cavacco:

So, next is public comment. Do we have anybody for public comment? Please state your name for the record.

Pat McCarthy:

Good evening. Pat McCarthy, and I have two quick things. First, I’m representing the Plymouth Area League of Women Voters Board of Directors and I’d like to first of all thank the Board for the letter that you wrote regarding the Holtec Save the Bay situation. And I just would like to read part of our letter that was sent into the record for the citizens watching and people who might watch later on down the road.

Dear Attorney General Healey,

The Plymouth Area League of Women Voters is increasingly concerned by the real prospect that Holtec International Decommissioning, the company responsible for decommissioning Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant will discharge a million gallons of radioactive wastewater into Plymouth Bay. This act would defy the Settlement Agreement that Holtec signed with the Commonwealth in 2018. It would flout the Marine Sanctuary Act. It would make mockery of the June 17th letter from the EPA to HDI President Kelly Trice, which rebuts Holtec’s skewed interpretation of EPA regulations and reiterates that any discharge of water from the spent fuel pool would be strictly illegal.

Holtec has a legal and preferable alternative. It could send the water to a licensed rad waste site out of state. This is the logical option. But by Holtec’s calculus, it would cost $20 million cutting in to their profit. At the July 25th meeting of the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, Holtec Compliance Manager David Noyes stated unequivocally that the plan to release the water would remain on the table despite the EPA warning letter sited above.

No amount of radiation can be considered safe. Even the NRC acknowledges this. Holtec claims that processing will cleanse the waste water and make it pure. They failed to acknowledge that Tritium cannot be filtered out of water and that when organically up taken, it is at least 20 times more potent than if simply ingested in water particularly to women and children.

You alone stand between us and Holtec’s contamination of the bay. All of Southeast Massachusetts will rejoice when you assert your authority to Holtec’s plan, but time is short. We urge you to enjoin Holtec from dumping before it’s too late. It is the right thing to do and will certainly win you votes.

The Board of the Plymouth Area League of Women Voters  

We have not had a response to the letter. My second comment is a request to the Board as a town meeting from Precinct 18 and I would just like the Board to put on an agenda in the near future an update on the most recent answers maybe to questions from Plymouth South Development and their filings for permits through the Town of Plymouth. We’re almost into the second month of their 90 days. It started July 21st for their first 90 days of due diligence with regards to those kinds of permits. I’m concerned about that and I’m very appreciative of the Board and its letter of addressing the series questions a lot of us have to Boston South Development.

I believe there was some kind of a meeting with Boston South Development and I would love to know what their further intentions are. The Wood Lot just happens to be in the current Precinct 18 but it also abuts Precinct 4 and it abuts a lot of citizens in Plymouth. So, I just would hope that you could get an agenda item so we could get an update on what is going on that you know about especially with regards to whether the county has more jurisdiction over our local zoning issues if they can override their residential area, and a lot of us are concerned about that. Okay. Thank you very much.

Harry Helm:

Pat, question for you on your first item, when did the League of Women Voters sent the letter?

[0:10:06]

Pat McCarthy:

About two or three weeks ago.

Harry Helm:

Two or three weeks. And when did we send ours?

Pat McCarthy:

It was sent right at the same time almost a day, within a day or so when you sent your letter because it had to go for final review from the Board and Henrietta was–

Harry Helm:

Okay. And we have not heard either?

Betty Cavacco:

I think we heard that it was received.

Harry Helm:

Okay. But we have not had an answer from the Attorney General of the State of Massachusetts who happens to be busy running for governor.

Pat McCarthy:

Yes.

Harry Helm:

Not that I would suggest that people might want to call her campaign and ask her why she has not answered this but she does stand in between the two of them, but that’s just my own comment.

Pat McCarthy:

I’m reading the letter on behalf of Henrietta who had surgery and from the whole board of the League.

Betty Cavacco:

Derek, did we get anything from the Attorney General’s office after we resent? I know we got something that said the letter was received but did we–

Derek Brindisi:

Which letter are we referring to?

Betty Cavacco:

The one we sent regarding Holtec dumping water and–

Derek Brindisi:

We haven’t received any formal response from any agency.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. All right. So, not as of yet but I was going to wait to say this under new business and I’ll give you a little bit of a Boston South update. Myself, the Town Manager and Vice-Chairman Quintal had a meeting with the representatives from the County Commissioners Office and Boston South on Monday, August 8th. There in this meeting, Boston South outlined its desire to develop this property. Possible developments under consideration are everything from commercial/industrial uses and entertainment complex and yes, possibly a horse racing venue. Although the meeting was somewhat amicable, I reaffirmed the Board’s strong opposition to horse racing in our community. Currently, Boston South is using the 90-Day process for its due diligence to conduct an environmental analysis and to conduct these searches. They plan to report back to the Board in November. So, when we get that report, we will make an agenda item and we’ll be able to discuss findings for the public and the residents. So, I was going to read that under new business but it’s old business now, so. Anybody else under–oh, go ahead.

Harry Helm:

Derek, while you were out in the hall, Pat McCarthy asked about where we stand with our questions to the attorneys about Boston South and the racetrack and when we will be able to update the residents?

Derek Brindisi:

So, I can tell the public that those questions were forwarded to town counsel on August 5th. I’ve communicated with them twice since and they said they are working on the responses to those questions and they’d have them back to me as soon as they can.

Harry Helm:

Question, am I correct, I believe you told me that you also forwarded them the lease and other documents?

Derek Brindisi:

Yes. They have the lease agreement, they have the RFP, they have all the backup materials that they need to develop those responses.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. Harry?

Harry Helm:

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I just wanted everybody, since Pat had asked, all the residents to know that it’s moving forward.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. Anyone else for public comment in the audience? On TV? No. Okay. We’re going to switch up the agenda a little bit and we’re going to allow the Charter Commission to go before our Select Board goals and priorities and Mr. Abbott. This is an update in request for legal services for the Charter Commission.

Bill Abbott:

Good evening, Madam Chair and members of the Board. Thank you for allowing me to come before you tonight and make this request on behalf of our Charter Commission that you approve our hiring of counsel. And I also want to thank you for inviting me in addition to making this request to update you in our work and where we are in the Charter Commission process of drafting a new charter for Plymouth.

As you know, in May 2021, some 19 candidates ran to become members of the Plymouth Charter Commission. Nine were elected being Larry Pizer, Wrestling Brewster, David Peck, Betsy Hall, David Malaguti, Bill Keohan, Scott Vecchi, Frank Mand and myself.

[0:15:09]

Bill Abbott:

After we organized as a commission, we immediately set about the task of gathering as much information as we could by inviting folks from across the town, present and past officials, interested citizens, volunteers in our government and really anyone who had an opinion on our local government as well as officials including moderators, Select Board Chairs, town counselors and many others from across towns in the state who have particular experience in municipal government that we thought could help Plymouth.

At the same time, we individually read the charters of 30 cities and towns most like Plymouth, most of them smaller but some the same size to look for provisions that might have special relevance to Plymouth and give us new ideas to enhance our own charter and then collectively and extensively discuss these provisions in these other charters. Along the way, we posted in our Charter Commission website access through the town’s website countless letters, memos, research papers, articles and the like that we thought has special relevance to our own charter drafting. This work enlisting and reading and discussing options went on vigorously for the last 15 months. At one point along the way earlier this year, the commission focused its discussion as to what would be the core of its recommended charter. The vote was taken and by the vote of 6 to 3, the commission announced that town meeting would be the center of its charter.

As the commission bore down on the discussion of drafting of specific charter provisions that would be particularly designed to meet unique needs of Plymouth, the commission debated the kind of consultants and legal counsel best suited to assist the commission in its work. Thus, in April, after a series of interviews and extensive commission discussions, we decided to hire the Collins Center for Public Management facilitated with University of Massachusetts in Boston as our primary consultants. The Collins Center comes with a very wide range of experience working with literally hundreds of charters of towns and cities in Massachusetts. It was clear to the commission that we could not find better consultants and their worth has proved itself.

Since May, we’ve had some 50 meetings with the three members of Collins team present in every meeting consisting of the director of the Collins Center and two very able, knowledgeable associates to give their advice and assist the drafting as our charter has gradually taken shape.

Now, with about a month to go before September 16 when our preliminary draft charter must be ready and it’s available now for viewing in its draft form in our website so all can see its evolution. I would like to outline briefly the remaining process the commission will be following as required by Chapter 43B of the Massachusetts General Laws and why I’m here tonight.

We have in our budget; those are already approved at the Spring Town Meeting an item for legal and consulting services to allow us to hire the consultants and lawyers as maybe necessary to help us draft this charter and to check if there are any legal issues that might arise in our drafted language. I’ve already told you what Collins has been doing but we are at this point now when we hired this legal counsel using the money already appropriated by town meeting to render to us their legal opinion on a few legal issues raised by new provisions that we proposed to include in the charter and to give the charter one last review before we submit it to the Massachusetts Attorney General for her approval together with any changes for the charter’s mandate.

Specifically, we propose to hire Anderson & Kreiger, a Boston law firm who already does work for the town for our legal budget of $15,000 which was also included in the last town meeting. We talked to 5 firms. We interviewed over Zoom three firms including Anderson & Kreiger, KP Law and Miyares, Harrington, and Wellesley firm who specializes in charters and we chose Anderson & Kreiger.

We expect to submit the charter to the AG’s office on September 16 and the Attorney General then is required to respond by statute within 4 weeks to our charter draft. At the same time, in mid-September, our preliminary draft charter will be frigid in its entirety in the Old Colony Memorial. It will then be scheduled in one or more public hearings on the charter draft. The first of which hearing is scheduled for Monday, October 3rd. Two months later on November 16th, 18 months since we started in May of 2021 the state statute requires us to submit to this Board, your Board our final report as adopted by majority of the commissioners together with any minority report from one or more individual members of the commission.

[0:20:17]

Bill Abbott:

Thereafter, Chapter 43B requires that the Select Board mail the draft charter to all residents and voters in Plymouth and prepare the question to be placed on the May 2023 ballot for up or down vote.

Finally, I can say a few words about the new charter the commission is working on until the final vote is taken in September. The provisions of this draft charter that anyone again can view the website are not final and can be changed or omitted altogether. Our work will continue until we have to try and get the final charter language exactly right so that our local government will become even more efficient, accountable with fully effective checks and balances with a well-prepared proactive legislature and a focused goal setting visionary Select Board, a government that emphasizes democratic participation and transparency in all of its operations. Thank you. And I’m happy to answer any questions.

Betty Cavacco:

I’ll bring it back to the Board. Mr. Helm?

Harry Helm:

Thanks, Mr. Abbott. On the website now and in the future when it is mailed, the charter is quite a document. Will the changes whether in language or additions to the charter, will they be highlighted for the residents or will it just be the new charter?

Bill Abbott:

To answer your question, I think we’re going to be highlighting them. As you see the draft on our website now, the red is all the changing and I think that’s a good way to present it.

Harry Helm:

Thank you.

Charlie Bletzer:

Mr. Abbott, I got a couple of questions. The Collins Center at UMass, they were hired. They started in May with you?

Bill Abbott:

Yes.

Charlie Bletzer:

So, what exactly were they hired to do? And how much were they paid to do it?

Bill Abbott:

The total budget for them is going to be $24,000.

Charlie Bletzer:

So, $24,000 and what exactly were they hired to do?

Bill Abbott:

To be specific, they get paid $1500 per meeting and we have 16 meetings budgeted. And what they do exactly is they are really an incredible resource for charters all across the state. So, if we have a change for example to our Finance Committee, they’ll tell us that was tried in North Brookfield and it didn’t work. They’ll tell us what works, what doesn’t work, what’s practical, what’s not practical. Again, I think they’ve been involved in just about every charter that’s been amended or adopted in the last several years.

Charlie Bletzer:

So, were they hired after you made your decision on the town meeting form?

Bill Abbott:

Yes, after. They’re hired in May.

Charlie Bletzer:

I just have a question. Why wouldn’t they get involved from the beginning?

Bill Abbott:

Because we felt it was our job for the first several months, actually in this case 9 or 10 months for us to gather our own information everywhere we could from listening to people, listening to town officials in Plymouth, from other towns like Plymouth even cities. We listed so many different points of view to gathering information, we interviewed them on Zoom, some in-person and then we also read approximately 30 charters ourselves. Each commissioner was assigned to read three charters, four charters and then report on them. So, we were gathering information up until January. That’s when we made the decision as to which way our charter would go and then we knew at that point, we needed to start looking at specific provisions and that’s where Collins came in.

Charlie Bletzer:

These folks, you just tell me they’re the experts and they know all the charters around the state, shouldn’t they have gotten involved before you made your decision to go with the town meeting form of government? It would have been helpful.

Bill Abbott:

I don’t think so. I don’t think there was any–every member of our commission was in a fact gathering mode and they all can think for themselves. They don’t need to be told by anyone. For example, whether mayor is a better or not or any particular form of government is better. I mean, this is why they are charter commissioners. The Collins people are there to help you draft the charter you selected and to actually write provisions, the details. Many of these provisions are down in a whizz but the overall type of government I think was up to the commissioners to decide. I think they would have been abdicating their responsibilities if they didn’t make that decision to begin with.

[0:25:03]

Charlie Bletzer:

So, I mean, I don’t know who’s on their team. Are there any lawyers on their team, in the Collins?

Bill Abbott:

The Collins? Yes, there are. As a matter of fact–

Charlie Bletzer:

So, my next question is why do we need another law firm if you’ve already been working with the Collins? Shouldn’t they have been able to answer all those questions for you?

Bill Abbott:

Right. That’s a good question, but they made it very clear to us at the beginning that they’re not going to function as lawyers. The three-member team that come to all our meetings, one of them is a lawyer but she said and the Director of the Collins Center said we’re not here to function as a lawyer. You should have your own counsel. They’re here as charter experts and they specifically have highlighted three items in our charter that we should be seeking counsel’s advice of. There’s only a few. But that’s not why they are hired. This is not why they are part of the team.

Charlie Bletzer:

The questions that we’re paying $15,000 for the three questions, they must be pretty serious questions if we’re going to spend that kind of money for three questions?

Bill Abbott:

This is Anderson & Kreiger. You probably already have some familiarity.

Charlie Bletzer:

It seems like excessive.

Bill Abbott:

They gave us a conservative estimate of 30 hours at $15,000. I don’t think we’re going to need that much because I’ve only identified three legal questions and they’re not that difficult. It’s my personal view we’re going to be returning money to the town because I don’t think we’re going to necessarily spend it. That is just a budget of ours if necessary. But the one review, which is important is the review of the entire charter. So, they’re going to get the whole charter and they’re going to read it, tell us if they’ve seen any glitches and then we send it to the Attorney General.

Charlie Bletzer:

Not to cut you off, but didn’t the Collin Center do that? Isn’t it we paid them $24,000 for it?

Bill Abbott:

All Collins have said on that score is that they will not be our legal counsel, they will not go and find any legal issues. All they’re going to do is identify what could be a legal issue and then we better get counsel check it. That’s what they’ve done. They’ve identified three things and said, “Have your counsel check on that,” and that’s it so far. Once it goes to the Attorney General, I’m hoping that review will go quickly and we’re not going to get back a letter of all kinds of edits and changes. The last time I went through this process, we got back a letter from the AG’s office, which is really pretty clean. It was great. But if we send it up with all kinds of legal questions, it doesn’t look good, it’s a waste of time. But the Collins have made it very specific that they’re not there to be our legal counsel.

Betty Cavacco:

Anyone else? I just have a quick question or maybe not a question, but a comment. Is there any opportunity for the Charter Commission and the Board of Selectmen to meet. I’ve watched quite a few of the Charter Commission meetings, I’ve spoken to some. But some of the information, how it was put forward wasn’t actually factual about the process is and the way things are brought on. So, I was just wondering if that’s something that the Charter Commission would be interested in meeting with the Select Board and asking some of the questions that our post for the Select Board. I think it would be–

Bill Abbott:

All members of all the boards and I’m actually I’m looking here, I’ve heard from three members of this board already, not as a board but individually as to what their views are. We did the same thing with the Planning Board. We had the vice-chair of the Planning Board and they came in and spoke to us. We spent quite a bit of time with Lynne Barrett. But your individual members of boards what we heard from–I think you spoke at least two or three times at our meetings, I assume.

Betty Cavacco:

I did, right.

Bill Abbott:

Patrick certainly did and John Mahoney came to our meeting. But I think rather than a collective board, we got to hear from each one of you with your ideas and there will be time of course between September and November, there’s a two-month period where we’re going to be having public hearings. So, it’s not too late then to make your suggestions to us.

Betty Cavacco:

I just think it would be good for the residents to see the different interactions and for what some people may think is the way the Select Board performs and what actually really happens. So, I think that’s important because I think there’s some misconceptions out there.

Bill Abbott:

Well, the perfect time is between now and November 16th.

Betty Cavacco:

Perfect. Sounds good. We’ll make a date. So, all right. Anyone else?

[0:30:12]

John Mahoney:

I’m all set now.

Betty Cavacco:

All good? Okay. So, I’ll make the motion. I move that the Select Board approve and execute the letter from Anderson & Kreiger and to authorize the use of special counsel to review legal issues that the Charter Commission has identified in the revisions to the Town of Plymouth’s charter.

Dick Quintal:

I second that.

Betty Cavacco:

Seconded by Mr. Quintal. Any discussion? Okay. And we go for a vote? All those in favor? It’s unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Abbott.

Bill Abbott:

Thank you very much.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. The next order of business is the Select Board goals and priorities. I’ll be presenting some of what we have. Although this is a brief synopsis of what my colleagues, myself, the Town Manager and many of the department head–okay. Lynne, do you want to do you tax things so you can go? Are you sure? Okay. Now, I lost my train of thought.

So, although some of these goals that you guys will see will have a particular Selectman’s name on each of the goals that were their priorities, there are more priorities and what we’ve decided to do is if let’s say Mr. Quintal has a goal, we’ll all work together with him to make sure that goal is achieved and we’ll do that for each one of the board members. Although I have one name on some of these goals, it really was a joint effort by all of our Selectmen to move this forward.

From speaking to some of our senior Selectpersons, this is really the first time that we’ve ever moved in this direction as a Select Board, as a Town Manager with actually goals and priorities and a strategic plan to move forward. So, do you want me to? I can go up there.

I’m not a good clicker person so we have Mr. Senesi doing the clicker for me today. So, one of the things that like I explained earlier, this is our Select Board goals FY 23 and priorities. The Town Manager held many group meetings with Department Heads to review the priorities for the upcoming years. The Select Board has met a couple of times. We met on June 24th and August 4th to review shared goals and priorities. And then the Town Manager met with each individual department head to embed the Selectmen’s goals to their priorities and to each respective department and annual workplan.

So, next June, the Board with the Town Manager will review each goal to measure its success and then today, August 16th, 2022 is the start of the creation of a 5-Year Strategic Plan for the Town of Plymouth and its partners. So, we’re going to highlight some of these goals. And don’t mind me, I’m reading from the piece of paper that I have in front of me because I can’t see that board.

Ensure a Safe and Healthy Community and the first is Mr. Helm to achieve Age and Dementia Friendly Community Designation. So, I don’t know if Mr. Helm wants to give like a quick brief. Can you do quick, Harry?

Harry Helm:

I can do quick. You all may remember last year in I think October, November, we set up a task force to examine senior issues. In our examinations and in our explorations, we came to the understanding that by getting this Age and Dementia Friendly Community Designation is an umbrella designation and we will have to achieve a number of things that will benefit our seniors and make them more secure in the community and it will also enable us to access funding outside of our local funding. So, that’s basically it. And you’ll hear more about it in a couple of weeks from Michelle Bratti, the Director of the CAL.

[0:35:38]

Betty Cavacco:

Thank you, Mr. Helm. Just so folks know is that we have a lot of goals embedded and all these little brief highlights. And as soon as the Board takes a vote to adopt them, that it will be posted on the town website so everyone can see. It’s not as quick and easy as what you’re seeing up on this board. It’s pretty extensive. So, we’ll make sure that it’s on the town website and Mr. Senesi said that he would post it as soon as we take the vote.

So, one of our other highlights is to commit to long-term financial planning, develop a robust 10-year capital improvement plan. Do you want to speak to that?

Derek Brindisi:

Yeah, sure. I’m happy to speak to this one. So, I mean, I think everybody will agree that we’ve talked a lot about capital improvement planning and the town has done a great job over the last decade or so having a 5-year capital improvement plan. So, the Assistant Town Manager with the support of the Board working with our Finance Director, they have committed this FY 23 period to expand that to a 10-year capital improvement plan. So, we can really look like long-term what financial constraints are going to be and then laying on top of that, we will then develop a plan in how to fund this capital improvement plan. So, again, this is kind of a launching point from what was previously developed but looking more long-term.

Betty Cavacco:

Thank you, Derek.

The next is Communicate & Engage with the Public. This was one of my goals and it’s to develop the 311 System. Communication has always been difficult for our town and we’re a big small town. We’re not a little town anymore. We’re big but we all still like to think we’re still a little town. So, the 311 System is it performs in some of our bigger cities, Worcester, places like that. And what the system does is that it will allow a resident to be able to report something without having to come to any of the Selectman or posting on Facebook or contact the Town Manager and it really will streamline. And what that’s going to do is that once an issue is reported, it will provide a log of where in the process this issue is. So, you’ll see it get assigned to someone. You’ll see where the potential of it being repaired and then you’ll see each step as it works through until it comes to fruition. So, I think that’s very important. I know we’ve gotten some quotes as of recent. I don’t know if there’s anything more that you want to highlight with that but I know that our new BOS Admin, Mr. Senesi, he’s working fast and furiously on it and we keep getting more and more information regarding it. So, I think once we come up with the system that we can implement it, I think the town is going to love that. If there’s a pothole on your street, you’re going to see it get to DPW. You’re going to see the crew that’s working on it, you’re going to see when they’re working on it and you’re going to see when it’s supposed to be complete. So, I think it’s important information for everyone to have. Not that I mind anybody calling me and I’m sure none of the Board members either.

The next is Ensure a Strong and Vibrant Economic Development & Business Sector, and this is Mr. Bletzer. He has been talking about economic development. Again, even though these are singularly Board priorities, we’re all committed to working together to ensure that each one of them develop and come to a successful. But I don’t know–

[0:39:58]

Mr. Bletzer:

I’ll just say just a couple of things. When I was looking at interviews of when Derek Brindisi, when he interviewed for the Town of Upton, when we were doing our research on the candidates and one of the things that really impressed me was they asked him about the downtown and what he could do to help the economy. And he talked about reimagining the downtown and he did that in Upton. He revitalized the downtown. Obviously, it’s a lot smaller than what we have here but it’s a great idea, reimagining our downtown waterfront. We’re going to develop a masterplan, get a merchant association, which is huge. We got to get everybody together, working together on the same page.

I talked about a façade improvement program, which I know we did in Boston. It was years ago and it was called City Lights and they come up with a low interest, no interest, low interest for merchants in the downtown areas of the different sections of the city. And everybody, I’m from Brighton and our whole downtown Brighton, all the store fronts, everything was just beautiful. It really changed the whole downtown in Brighton and it was totally revitalized.

The other thing is cleanliness. We got to do a better job. We need our streets and sidewalks especially the downtown waterfront, we have to work on that. It gets where the tourist stand and that’s one of the things. I mean, there’s all kinds of other, you know, the e-permit and everything is given there. One stop shop for town permitting, develop bylaws to enhance and encourage economic developments and support, promote and enhance our blue economy. So, there’s a lot of different things we’re going to do and create an Economic Development Task Force. It will be business people, it will be economic development people. So, it will be a good group of people that will be working on this and again, working together, helping Plymouth. So, that’s what it would be.

Betty Cavacco:

Great. Thank you, Charlie.

The next is Improve Town Infrastructure and Protect the Environment. This one is one of Mr. Quintal’s priorities and he wanted to develop strategies to implement underground easements for restrictive properties. Some of the issues that we have is that we have so many of our properties that either have an open space restriction, a conservation restriction and it really is kind of tying our hands for what we need to do. And I think that the underground easements, I don’t know Mr. Quintal if you want to talk briefly about that. No?

Dick Quintal:

I’ve been talking about it for a while now so no.

Betty Cavacco:

So, that’s something important because we can still have one of those restrictions with the CR or something open space or something and still be able to access underground. And as you will see coming up very quickly is Mr. Mahoney’s, one of his things is about water, water, water. So, when we have so much restrictions on our property and we can’t get water, that really can become problematic for us.

So, the next one is Strengthen the Town’s Workforce and I can say that not only is that a board’s priority, of all of us but the town manager, the assistant town manager to recruit, train and maintain professional staff. I have to say that for the first time in my experience as being on the board that I see such a cohesive group of folks working together, our department heads. We have so much institutional knowledge. Some of our new folks that have joined us and it really is. It’s a joy to be able to have these little group sessions and work with the town manager because these folks that people don’t even know and they just say they work for the Town of Plymouth. They’re really amazing. We have so much knowledge.

I mean, our Finance Director is here and she comes with some of the biggest strengths that we have and we all look to her to advise us of our financial future but the best and brightest is something that we always said. Plymouth deserves the best and brightest and I think that with this strengthening of the town workforce that is something that we look forward to doing. Go Charlie and then Derek.

[0:45:10]

Charlie Bletzer:

I was just going to say that first step was to get them paid fairly and I think that helped the morale and also helped us be able to recruit people. I know it was a concern for some of the department heads that they were leaving for other jobs in other towns. So, they want to be able to hire people, skilled people but we have to pay them. And they’re still not a hundred percent so we didn’t give it away but they’re up to the 75% but that was the first step towards this right here.

Betty Cavacco:

Right. And the best and brightest is exactly what we want and exactly what we need and exactly what this town deserves. So, I don’t know, Derek if you want to–I mean, you’re one of the best and brightest, so.

Derek Brindisi:

Well, yeah, I mean, I agree with everything that’s been said. We have a new Human Resources Director who’s really looking at that department and the different weigh in. When I first came here, I think we have about 47 vacancies that didn’t include the police department just has still 23 vacancies as of today. And so, I agree. In order to pay our staff appropriately I think was a step in the right direction and we’ve started to see our recruitment strategies increase because of that but we got to keep them. Right? So, we have to maintain that staff, we have to train them, we have to prepare for the future because succession planning, when we’re all gone someday, we want our division heads become department heads. And so, that goes back to training and making sure that they understand they are part of the team. They understand their role within the organization and they’re happy to come to work every day to be a major contributor. I mean, that’s lot of what we’re trying to accomplish these days.

Betty Cavacco:

Right. So, like I said, I mean, working the staff on a different level that this Board has taken the ability to work with. We really do have some very talented people that are working for the residents of Plymouth.

So, the next one is Create Efficient Town Government and part of that is review and update all town policies and bylaws. And although we have done some of that, we still have ways to go.

Derek Brindisi:

Yeah. If I could touch on this one. Again, when I came here, I knew that this was one of the focus areas of the Board to look at all the policies and I joked with Chad Hunter, our Harbormaster, when we talked about mussel licensing and I believe the policy was adopting like 1984. And so, clearly, we have work to do. The government has evolved over decades and so we have to keep pace with that. So, I’m looking at all the town policies. I have talked to the department staff when Governor Becker became governor years ago, he issued an executive order to all of the various departments and said that each one of them had to review every regulation and every statute and come back and update those. So, taking a page out of that book, we want to look at all of our policies and our bylaws, and if they’re out of date, we take them to town meeting. If they’re out of date, we take them to the Select Board so that they’re current.

Betty Cavacco:

Right. We have done a few of those, some of them and we just need to continue on to do the rest of them. So, next is when I look at this next one and I say Future Generations, 4 to 6 years really isn’t what I was thinking for future generations. I’m talking about when my kids have kids and I’m a grandmother, which is probably it’d better be a long time away. But Selectman Mahoney, his goal is to develop a long-term plan for water and when you hear John Mahoney, you know it’s going to be water, water, water because it’s always been water, water, water. But I mean, the goal of this is so important for our infrastructure and our needs that helping this whole process go through is a definite priority of all our board members. But Mr. Mahoney, maybe you can give us a little overview.

John Mahoney:

Thank you, Betty. So, Boston was in a perpetual state of water issues for 30 to 50 years coming out of the 1800s. And then what happened was finally in the 1930s, they told 4 to 6,000 people west of the city somewhere in 3 to 5 little towns that you don’t live here anymore.

[0:50:05]

John Mahoney:

They put up a dam and they created the Quabbin. Now, even if it stops raining tomorrow, they have a consistent source of freshwater for 6 years if it stopped raining tomorrow and never rain again. So, that’s building redundancy and resiliency and security into your water system. We don’t have that. The cart has always been in front of the horse. So, it was refreshing a month or so ago, the DPW Director was standing where you are and he said that we’re down two wells now. Negative 2. I think Mr. Helm asked something along the line of where are we going to put them? And that’s not exactly known right now and that’s not good especially when you see all the pressure is being put on the community and we can list them all but one of them is a failed affordable housing policy from the 60s that is being leveraged all over the community by developers and all I can tell you is that we want to think decades, generation in a center, Betty but you’re right, we want to have that problem solved in 3 to 6 years because water is economic development, it is public health and it is public safety. We can’t work on that solution enough.

Betty Cavacco:

Right. Thank you, John. So, that is a brief highlight of our goals and priorities that we are moving forward with. The complete list of goals and priorities will be on the town website this evening probably as soon as we take the vote and you can get those on www.plymouth-ma.gov or you can visit the Town Manager’s Office or you can also contact our admin, Anthony Senesi and he can send a copy to whoever. Hopefully, we’ll get a file on our social media pages as well that people can download and go from there. But again, I want to reiterate the pleasure that has been working with staff and coming up with these goals and priorities because I think it’s been a long time coming and I think we’re finally there and you know what? We have a lot of work to do. I think together that we can do a great job and I think that’s all of us. That’s not just the Board. That’s not just town staff but it’s input from our residents as well. So, I think it’s really important that it’s time to put some of our differences aside and just work for the greater good because we all want the same thing. We all want the success for the Town of Plymouth. So, I really appreciate having this opportunity to present this on behalf on the Board and the town staff. So, anyone else wants to say anything? Go ahead.

Derek Brindisi:

Mr. Senesi has pulled up a document. So, once this goes live on the website, this is what folks will see and as Chairman Cavacco pointed out, we’re just hitting on the highlights this evening with the presentation. But Anthony, if you just want to scroll through it, those are all the different priorities under Health and Community. Those are the priorities under Financial Planning. Keep going. Just so folks can get a sense of what they’re going to see. These are all the various priorities under Communicate and Engage with the Public and so on and so forth. So, again, as you pointed out, we just touched on the highlights this evening but that’s the full document and the ultimate goal is to develop that as you pointed out, that 5-year strategic plan.

Betty Cavacco:

So, if anyone has any questions for me, I’m going to go back to my seat and any questions for any of the board members. So, does anyone have any questions? Anybody out there in the public, Anthony? No. Anybody in the audience? Mr. Lydon? I don’t think your mic is on.

Steve Lydon:

Steve Lydon. The question I have is when the town takes over tax titled land, it always seems like, I know it goes through a process where it goes through all the division heads to see if they need this land and if they don’t, it seems like all the time it’s turned over to the conservation. We’re not receiving any funds tax dollars now and I don’t understand why we just don’t keep that land as town property in case we ever need it.

[0:55:11]

Steve Lydon:

Right now, when you give it to conservation, they put restrictions on it. If we want to use that land, we can’t unless we go and get 9 acres someplace else to replace the one acre we just made in the conservation. I think this is foolish. I mean, we talk about the future. John talked about wells. Maybe some of these properties we could have put wells on. But now, with all the restrictions we have to go through, I don’t understand why we have to do this. It seems like it’s done all the time. Thank you.

Betty Cavacco:

Thank you, Mr. Lydon. Okay. Mr. Quintal?

Dick Quintal:

Thank you. Mr. Brindisi, if we could just put another bullet in there on some clean energy. I know we get an update every year and as you know we got that grant, but every community I drive through when I see their new street lights and I keep asking the same question, why can’t Plymouth do it? So, I know they are very busy, the Energy Committee. The last I know they were looking with some bills. I was assured by Mrs. Arigi [?] that those power bills will be turned over, which I believe they were that they were looking for. So, I’d like to see where we’re at with that because like I said, one of my third year and I haven’t really seen too much action with that and I’d like to see more.

Derek Brindisi:

Yeah, absolutely. We can include that.

Dick Quintal: 

And with that being said, I’d like to make a motion to move the Select Board approve and execute the FY 23 Select Board Goals and Procedures.

Charlie Bletzer:

Second.

Betty Cavacco:

We have a motion from Mr. Quintal, second from Mr. Bletzer. Discussion? No? John? Come on, baseball analogy, anything? You got nothing? All right. All those in favor? It’s unanimous. Thank you.

So, the next is Senior & Veterans Tax Relief Program and I believe that’s Mrs. Barrett, our Finance Director.

Lynne Barrett:

Good evening. Lynne Barrett, Director of Finance. So, if you recall last fall, the town adopted the local option sort of an updated senior and in addition to veterans’ tax relief program that the state has allowed. So, we voted it at our fall town meeting in October 2021 and since that time, we developed sort of a small group with the Director from the Center for Active Living, the Veterans Services Director, our principal assessor, our Human Resources Director, people from finance, and the assistant town manager. So, we sort of met and we went over recommendation of sort of rules and policies and guidelines to implement this new program. So, attached to the memo that I sent you is those guidelines and procedures. And what we’re asking you tonight is to adopt them because we’d be starting this new program with applications in the fall and for work to start in the calendar year of 2023 for the fiscal 24 property tax year.

Basically, what we’re recommending is to sort of double the program that had existed. We’re recommending to increase the tax relief amount that they would receive based on their work hours from $500 to a thousand and then also, doubling the amount of participants and streamlining the process to coincide with the tax year that they would be working for. So, if you have any questions on the guidelines that we submitted to you, we would ask that you approve those guidelines so we can implement the program.

Charlie Bletzer:

Well, I think it’s a great program any time you give somebody some kind of relief like that. What kind of jobs would they be able to do?

[1:00:02]

Lynne Barrett:

They really could do anything. I mean, each department is sort of solicited as to what types of projects or jobs that they have available. I know like in the Finance Department, we’ve utilized people to do some filing, maybe we have a special project that we want to collect some data on. So, we’re going to reach out to all the different departments before we do the application process to see how many departments are interested in having someone. And then as they apply, the Human Resources Department will look at their skillset and try to fit them to the department that would need them the most.

Charlie Bletzer:

Oh, good.

Betty Cavacco:

I’m sorry. Anybody else have any questions?

Harry Helm:

Lynne, is there any opportunity when this moves forward as this program is put in place because we’re going from 15 to 30, people involve but we’re also adding veterans to it, which were not part of it before, correct?

Lynne Barrett:

That’s correct.

Harry Helm:

Okay. So, we’re going from 15 to 30. We’re going from a total town expenditure of $7500 to $30,000, correct?

Lynne Barrett:

Yes.

Harry Helm:

Yeah. Okay, cool. But if this is really successful, is there the opportunity within what is being put together that this could be expanded or would it have to go through another two-year long process?

Lynne Barrett:

No. I mean, as the program goes along, we could definitely look at the departmental need for help and the applicants that are applying. I know the program in the past sometimes wasn’t as enticing to applicants to apply so maybe the increase in the amount would entice them to. So, we could definitely look at that. The timeframe is such that to budget for this, we budget for it on the recap. We don’t budget for it at town meetings. So, it’s outside of the town meeting appropriation process because it comes out of our allowance for abatements and exemptions and that gets added to the recap in November. So, we’ll know within a year how many people have applied and what that exemption total should be on our recap. So, it won’t be restricted by we got to go to town meeting and appropriate so much money for this program. We’ll know how many people are in it and we can appropriate on our recap sheet sufficiently for that program.

Harry Helm:

Excellent. One last question. I may have missed it in what you sent us and if I did, I apologize. The previous program, I believe that residents were limited in their participation to one time.

Lynne Barrett:

I think what they did was if you got the program in one year, what they did was they said, you can’t apply the following year just to try to open it up to other people but then you could come back the following year after that.

Harry Helm:

You could kind of skip every other year. Is that still going to be part of this program?

Lynne Barrett:

We didn’t include that in this program. I think what we wanted to do is really look at the number of applicants and feel it out.

Harry Helm:

Yeah, and that’s why I asked about the expansion, if we are not limiting people to every other year, if they can continue doing it yearly, we may need to expand this program. So, thank you. I appreciate it.

Betty Cavacco:

I just have not really questions, but comments or couple of questions. Derek, the volunteer that we want telling people where to go, this would be great. Well, not like that. But when people come into Town Hall and they’re looking at the poles and they don’t know which department it is or which floor, having like a little visitor services person, I think this would be a great opportunity to do that.

Derek Brindisi:

Oh, yeah. I absolutely agree. I can tell you in the last community I worked in, which is much smaller than this community, we would spend easily $20,000 a year just in this program alone. It was extremely successful. So, I see this program taking off in the next year or two.

Betty Cavacco:

Yeah, that would be great. And just one of the other things and I know that we brought it up quite a while ago is to have that line item placed on our tax bills for like senior – I don’t even know what I called it back then.

Derek Brindisi:

Contribution.

Betty Cavacco:

Yes, senior contribution and scholarship, one or both of them actually. If we know that when that could maybe implemented on or know when tax bills come out if they’re out or if they just came out. I’ll pay mine with my mortgage so like that’d be included.

[1:05:13]

Derek Brindisi:

Sure, absolutely.

Betty Cavacco: 

And then anyone else? So, I move that the Select Board approve and execute the local rules and guidelines of the Senior and Veterans Property Tax Relief Program as presented in the agenda packet.

Harry Helm:

Second.

Betty Cavacco:

I have a motion and a second. Discussion? No. All those in favor? Great. Unanimous.

Lynne Barrett:

Thank you very much.

Betty Cavacco:

Thank you.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. The next is the Town Manager’s Report.

Derek Brindisi:

All right. So, we have a few things to update the Board on. So, the first thing I want to talk about is the drought we’re in. Right now, the state officials have said we are in a Level 3 drought, which is critical according to their definition. So, clearly, there’s nothing we can do about the drought itself, but we are working on a couple of different water conservation efforts. So, you may have noticed on the Town Website that we have now are educating and asking our residents to eliminate all non-essential outdoor water uses, which would be irrigation of lands, filling swimming pools, washing vehicles, washing the exterior of your home. So, anything that’s unnecessary until we can get through this drought period.

Items that will not be subject to this would be for any health or safety reason, if you are producing food and fiber or if you maintain livestock. So, you can continue to use water for those purposes. But at the same time, so that’s a public water supply and the private wells, as you know, we have hundreds or thousands of private wells here in town and there are concerns that those private wells will start to dry up. So, our fire department through Emergency Management is working with DEP right now to start pre-planning: if this gets worse, how can we assist our residents? And so, one of thoughts right now is to start to pre-stage bottles of water here in town. So, if we do have residents who are without water because their well has dried up, we can then go ahead and start a distribution plan to distribute bottle of water to our residents. So, again, the fire chief is working on that with the EMD. So, more to come if we get to that point.

Speaking of the Fire Department, just some quick data points. The Chief had looked at the fires this year versus last year and we’ve seen a 200% increase in fires this year alone compared to last year and a lot of it has to do because of the drought situation. Most of those fires are brush related or mulch related but as you know, we’ve had some in the last two weeks or three weeks now, three major structure fires that they’ve had to contend with. So, that’s very labor intensive when we have to put out fires. We had a small forest fire, burnt about 5 acres. We had our Fire Department out there for almost a week tamping that down. So, again, very labor intensive, requires a lot of resources in order to respond to those types of calls.

In addition to that, over the last six months so from January 1st to August 1st, we’ve had a 30% increase in just our call volume alone. So, those calls are medical-related or just like rescue calls. So, I’m sharing this because you can tell like it’s really taxing on our fire department everything, they’ve been experiencing over the last six months. And so, we’ll continue to pay attention to that and the chief is doing the best that he can to try to rotate our staff more than we typically would because of the increase in call lines.

So, moving on. As you know, I think I’ve talked a lot about this graffiti. I took a walk yesterday down School Street with Stephen Cole, our Economic Development Director and you could tell from Burial Hill, you look down Burial Hill, what do you see? You see graffiti all along the backs of those buildings. So, the Planning Department led by Lee Hartman is going to be working with Inspectional Services. They’re going to go down School Street and identify all the graffiti and identify the owners of those buildings and start to work with them to have that graffiti removed.

And we talked about reimagining that downtown, I mean, I can’t imagine it with that type of graffiti especially in such a tourist driven community and many of our tourist just go visit that historic cemetery area and for them to see that, I think is unfortunate. So, again, it’s something we’re paying close attention to. It’s something we’re working on.

[1:10:08]

Derek Brindisi:

As far as the DPW update, over the next couple of weeks, they will be paving Murray Street, Teaberry Circle, Elliot Lane, Valley Road, Juniper Street and Ash Street and then parts of Coral Street and Commerce Way.

The election is coming. The primaries will be held on September 6. So, this is kind of a PSA for the folks that are listening at home. We have 18 Precincts. The primaries will be held from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. So, make sure you check your precinct because folks have changed their precincts because of the re-precinct thing. So, just be aware of that before you show up at your precinct.

Early voting will begin soon. So, as you know, there’s early voting and then there’s mail-in voting. So, early voting will begin in this building, in this room on August 27th, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. then again, on Sunday, August 28th, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and then we’ll roll into Monday through Friday, that following week and that will just be our typical Town Hall hours. That’s early voting.

Right now, the town clerk has received over 7,000 requests for mail-in voting and continues to receive those daily. So, remember, everyone at home should have received a notice from the state asking if you want to do mail-in voting. You fill that cut out, you send them into the Town Clerk’s office and they will send you a mail-in ballot. If you’re un-enrolled, please check off whether you are a democratic ballot or a republican ballot. If you do not check that off, you get nothing. So, again, that’s a good PSA for folks and I’ll continue to talk about that over the next couple of weeks.

Simes House. So, we continue to meet every Tuesday over at Simes House at 4:00 p.m. It’s open to the public. We just broke about 5 o’clock this evening. So, the update is the Committee has developed a survey. The survey will be disseminated from August 19th to September 6th. This survey is targeted towards the residents that live in 9 precincts. So, precincts 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 17 and 16 will be asked to log in. This is going to be electronic survey and then answer a number of questions. Again, this survey is focused on Simes House being a potential municipal use. So, asking them questions of if this were to be used for municipal use, what days would you like to see it open? What types of services would you like to see? Whether the town clerk’s office, treasure collector’s office, so on and so forth. So, we’ll learn more from that survey. Is it a build it and they will come type of proposition or not? So, that’s for the municipal use.

And then for the private sector use, myself and Steve Cole will be meeting with folks at the Chamber of Commerce to develop a similar survey that’s going to be focused mostly on non-profit businesses or for-profit businesses to determine whether or not there is a potential use in the private sector for the Simes House. So, more to come on that survey. But once we get that information back, we’ll get a better sense of what potential uses can be for the Simes House.

In addition to that, we will be doing a couple of different analyses of the buildings. So, structural analysis and just kind of a holistic building analysis to get a better sense of what the condition is of that building and what upgrades have to be made over the course of time.

And the last I just have as an update. We expect the trailer restroom for the White Horse Beach area to be delivered this week. We’re hoping to mobilize it next week assuming we have power to the trailer. So, we know we’re at the end of the season, but we think we could at least kind of beta test it for a few weeks to determine whether or not we could use it say for any one of our major events like a parade. So, pending any questions, that’s all I have for this evening.

Betty Cavacco:

Any questions? Great. So, the next is our Select Board Open Discussion. New Business? Anybody have new business? No. Guess what? I do.

So, one of the things that I wanted to notify the board of and of course, our folks at home is that myself, Vice-Chair Quintal and Derek Brindisi, the Town Manager along with Phil Chandler of the Harbor Committee, Lea Filson from See Plymouth, the Chamber of Commerce and Stephen Cole, our Economic Developer have met with American Cruise Lines.

[1:15:09]

Betty Cavacco:

And I want to invite the Board to join us on Thursday at 11 o’clock at the Maritime Center that the owners will be actually coming to Plymouth and see what Plymouth has to offer. So, what this is all about is that they are engaging with smaller cruise ships and these cruise ships hold about 110, 120 people. And now, that we have dredged all of our harbor, we now have access to be able to get these cruise ships in. And a lot of their focus is like historical areas. I know they’re in–

Derek Brindisi:

They started in Boston and in New York City.

Betty Cavacco:

Yeah, there you go. They started in Boston and then New York City but they have these little cruise ships everywhere throughout the country. So, we’ve met with them twice and we are going to meet with them on Thursday and invite the entire Board to join us if they’re able to and that will be at 11 o’clock at the Maritime Center. We’re going to have See Plymouth take them on a little cruise in their little new See Plymouth cars, but I think it’s actually such a great opportunity for the town. I mean, these smaller ships only take use 4 feet of drag so it really opens up a lot of opportunity. One of the biggest things that we’ve always wanted is that we don’t want Plymouth to be just a day tripper place. So, these cruise ships come in, they’re here for a day and a night. I think that would be great for our tourism, great for our businesses and I know that Vice-chair Quintal and I are very excited and the Town Manager about planning this whole thing together so they are here next summer. So, it’s pretty exciting. That was one new business.

My other new business and I know that there’s been a lot of conversations about this whole MBTA ruling, about housing and all that. I know it’s going to be difficult for us to allow the thousands and thousands of units that they are going to require us to have to be able to get grant money from the state. So, what I’d like to know and I think the Board would be interested as well, how much money do we actually get from the state for grants, because I don’t know if it would be worth it to accept that just because of the grant money, because I don’t think the Town of Plymouth can handle what they expect us to handle with all the building going around. So, I’m tired of building, but I can’t do anything about it, so. But if you could give us that information. And the last thing for me is–oops, sorry. Mr. Quintal?

Dick Quintal:

Ms. Chairman, maybe we have Mr. Hartman come in and give us an update because when the Chairman of Housing and Development was in Plymouth – now, he’s up at the Pine Hills, and we had a brief discussion on this exact topic. So, I think you might want to bring in Lee and give us an update and we can talk about it.

Betty Cavacco:

Can we put him on the next agenda?

Derek Brindisi:

Yeah, that’s a good idea.

Dick Quintal:

Thank you.

Derek Brindisi:

Just to give you a heads up, the next agenda, we are to have three presentations so we may want to delay it until September.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. We’ll talk about that later. And then the last one I have, I forwarded an email to you, Derek. I don’t know if you got it, about the Nelson Park bathrooms are always closed. Yeah, we can’t have those closed. If we could just open them up or whatever the issue is. So, anyone else? Letters? Old business?

Charlie Bletzer:

I just want to thank. Two things got accomplished. I want to thank Derek and the DPW for getting them done. The road at the full sale White Horse got rebuilt, it got fixed. Hopefully, it lasts a little bit. I’m not sure if it’s a temporary fix but they know that residents, the neighborhood is very happy. Also, the crosswalk got done so that people then they are very happy. We had a gentleman that came here today just to say thank you. So, they’re very appreciative of that. Thank you for getting that done.

Betty Cavacco:

Mr. Quintal?

[1:20:00]

Dick Quintal:

Thank you, Betty. Just want to let the community know that we’ve reached out to families and as many people as we can in need. I had a visit from the Gollov [?] family maybe it was two weeks ago, it was last meeting. They wrote a letter. Actually, the children wrote a letter and they made a picture and I’m going to turn it over to the Town Manager. It’s a thank you then it’s in Ukraine-Plymouth and the kids drew a thing. So, with that set on for Derek. I’m just going to read you a quick thing. We did very well for this family. We got them started. We got the kids enrolled in school. We raised enough money so that they had money to get transportation. For the parents, to get a second-hand car. And I’ll just read this to you.

Dear Plymouth residents,

Thank you for all your generous donations. We enjoyed cranberry Jello. We don’t have it in Ukraine. With donations we received, we were to sign 11-year-old Kate to Summer Camp at Hedges Pond. She is also enrolled into a chess camp. 5-year-old Andrew got nice bicycle and was enrolled into little sports stars classes at Memorial Hall. We are planning to take a whale watch trip with family. We got clothes that we needed for summer. We did all these fun things with your generosity and thoughtfulness. Thank you- the Gollov family.

So, I just want to pass it on.

Betty Cavacco:

That was the family that Quintal’s and Squinny’s kind of adopted from the Ukraine that we’re able to find a home here from another actually one of our former employees. And there are other fund raisers going on. We’ve had a family that lost all their home to a devastating fire a few weeks ago. And again, Quintal’s and Squinny’s, I actually had the pleasure of working with Mr. Quintal privately in getting this little boy a small little dirt bike and he lost it. It melted in the fire and they went and he got a new dirt bike, he got all new gear. They’re so happy they have all the clothes. The kids have a lot of back-to-school clothes. There’s people going in there every week and donating cash money, checks to this family. So, another great Quintal’s, Squinny’s. It’s been great.

Dick Quintal:

Actually, at the meeting on the 30th, I’ll give you the update on that one because that’s a big one. But they also had their mobile home delivered this past week, waiting for utilities which by now are probably up and running. And they got enough, like you said, school clothes for the whole family, regular clothing. Went above and beyond, I mean, even the town employees but I really don’t want to get into it tonight because I don’t want to offend anybody that heavy headed knows a lot of them. I mean, I made some phone calls and within minutes, all kinds of commitments. So, I’m going to go through all that and bring them their last check and then I can give you, the community an update of exactly. Very proud to be a part of this community. I love this town and then people in it are wonderful. Even though we may disagree sometimes. When we put that aside, we all go back for the same thing to help another and that’s huge.

Betty Cavacco:

They did. Thank you. So, anymore old business? No? John? Okay. Now, next, we have License and Administrative Notes. I’d like to be able to move them all as separate groups unless we have any specific questions from Board Members. So, the first would be licenses.

Dick Quintal:

Move them.

Charlie Bletzer:

Second.

Betty Cavacco:

Moved by Mr. Quintal, seconded by Mr. Bletzer. Discussion? All those in favor? Unanimous.

Next is permits. Do we have a motion?

Harry Helm:

Move.

Betty Cavacco:

Is there a second?

Dick Quintal:

Second.

[1:25:02]

Betty Cavacco:

Moved by Mr. Quintal, seconded by Mr. Helm. Discussion? All those in favor? Unanimous.

We have a pole petition: Eversource Work Order 8578918, One petition covering the installation of PVC Conduit (concrete encased) underground cable and conduit location at Doten Road.

Harry Helm:

Motion.

Betty Cavacco:

Do we have a second?

John Mahoney:

Second.

Betty Cavacco:

Motioned by Mr. Helm, seconded by Mr. Mahoney. All those in favor? Unanimous.

Administrative notes. Do we have a motion?

Harry Helm:

Motion?

Betty Cavacco:

Second?

Charlie Bletzer:

Second.

Betty Cavacco:

Motioned by Mr. Helm, seconded by Mr. Bletzer. Discussion?

John Mahoney:

I support everything but abstain from number 1.

Betty Cavacco:

Okay. All those in favor? Unanimous except one abstention from Mr. Mahoney for number 1. Okay. And that’s all we have. And now, a motion to adjourn.

Dick Quintal:

Motion.

Betty Cavacco:

Is there a second.

John Mahoney:

Second.

Betty Cavacco:

And a third? And a fourth and fifth? Thank you everyone. Enjoy your week. We’ll see you on the 30^th.