October 18, 2022 Select Board Meeting
Unofficial Transcript
Please note this transcription is unofficial. If you find an error, use the contact page to notify Plymouth On The Record.
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. The Board of Selectmen or Select Board, excuse me, have been in executive session since 5:00 p.m. and now, we are back to open session. And the first order of business is the amendment.
Harry Helm:
I’ll read that.
Betty Cavacco:
Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want to read them?
Harry Helm:
No problem. I’ll read that. In accordance with S2475, and pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021, this meeting will be not 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 into 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 the PACTV website at PACTV.org. Members of the public who wish to participate in the meeting may do so in the following manner:
In-person: Here at the Great Hall located at the 2nd floor, at Plymouth Town Hall, 26 Court Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Remote: or go to the Town website under Select Board page and click on the Zoom webinar link or simply type in something really, really long. But go to the Zoom webinar link under the Select Board page.
Betty Cavacco:
Great. So, our first order of business is an Amendment to the Aquaculture Regulations.
Chad Hunter:
Good evening. Chad Hunter, Plymouth Harbor Master. So, this Aquaculture Regulation Amendment has to do with Section 7.3 The Public Hearing and Notice Section C, which addresses abutter notification. So, back when these regulations were drafted, these regulations were put in place for your typical aquaculture grow out site, which these sites can be anywhere up to four acres in size and they have permanent gear that’s actually on the site. And what we found is with the recent upweller site, smaller, a much smaller upweller sites, a little bit of a concern. And one of the hearings you have tonight brought this concern to us and it had to do with sort of the difference between these upweller sites, which are typically about less than 640 square feet and very temporary in nature versus the traditional growth sites.
The upweller docks, they look like any other floating dock that would be in the harbor. Most people would walk right by them not even know that there’s oysters within that dock being raised for grow out. So, really their very low impact not going to affect the abutters the way like a four-acre grow outside would. And the areas that we designated are sort of commercial use areas. So, Town Wharf is a commercial fish pier. The infrastructure around it, the floating docks are used for commercial purposes as well as the State Pier, which is where the Mayflower II docks. These areas are commercial use areas and really these upwellers won’t detract from that experience that people have when they visit those sites.
So, in the memo, we came up with an amendment which we had talked about at the October 6th Harbor Committee meeting. We discussed it, the concern here and sort of how to move forward to address that. So, you’ll see, I don’t want to read the entire section but we were looking to add the language that says, Nursery sites for floating upwellers of less than 640 square feet located within a private marina, dock or moored, to Town of Plymouth owned infrastructure, piers and floats systems or DCR State Pier are exempt from abutter notification with written permission from the owner/operator. So, that language we spoke or talked about at the Harbor Committee level and they were fine with waving abutter notification, but they did want to make sure that the owner of the infrastructure that they had permission to have the upweller there. So, that’s what we came up with.
[0:05:16]
Betty Cavacco:
Great. Does anyone have any questions for our Harbor Master or anyone else? I do know that this was voted unanimously from the Harbor Committee.
Chad Hunter:
Correct.
Betty Cavacco:
So, do we have a motion?
Harry Helm:
I motion to amend Town of Plymouth Aquaculture Regulations 7.3: Public Hearing and Notice section as noted with the addition of the sentence, Nursery sites for floating upwellers of less than 640 square feet located within a private marina, dock or moored to town Plymouth on infrastructure piers and floats systems or DCR State Pier are exempt from abutter notification with written permission from the owner/ operator.
Betty Cavacco:
Do we have a second?
Charlie Bletzer:
I’ll second.
Betty Cavacco:
We have a motion by Mr. Helm and seconded by Mr. Bletzer. Discussion? All those in favor? Unanimous. Thank you.
Chad Hunter:
Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
The next is a Donation of a Table for the Maritime Facility.
Chad Hunter:
All right. Welcome back. So, just a quick story, I know I told Anthony I’d be brief with this but when we started construction for the Maritime Facility back in 2019, we wanted to try and incorporate sort of the Plymouth Maritime history, any pieces that we could bring in. New with the old we tried to do and at the same time, Captain Whit Perry and his crew were working on the restoration of Mayflower II. A very busy time for both of us. And initially, I had talked to Whit and we were trying to brainstorm some ideas of how to bring in the Mayflower to history into the Maritime Facility and we had a number of different ideas using some of the timber that came off the original Mayflower II in the building and we were dealing with a contractor that let’s say wasn’t too excited about using old materials. So, unfortunately, we weren’t able to do some of the ideas that we had discussed. But as the Maritime Facility came to completion and obviously the Mayflower II’s restoration was completed, actually the guys here approached with this concept that you see before you hear and it’s a table. It’s one of the original wooden hatches from the Mayflower II restoration and it’s tremendous. It’s stunning, it’s beautiful, it’s a great piece of history that will reside at the Maritime Facility. And I would like to invite Captain Whit Perry up to the microphone, if I could, so he could just tell you a little bit about exactly what this is and how they put it together.
Whit Perry:
Thank you, Chad. Good evening. Yeah, I am Whit Perry. I’m the Director of Maritime Preservation and Operations for Plimoth Patuxet Museums and the Captain of Mayflower II. As Chad said, we were looking for something to show our appreciation of the dedication and hard work that his Harbor Master’s office has had within the whole waterfront community for so many years. And this is what my guys came up with. We’re going to be really quick. If I can have you guys stand up. We built this table. It was kind of an experiment. It’s made of English White Oak from one of the six cargo hatches on Mayflower II that got replaced in the reconstruction. And as many of you know, Mayflower II has now been named to the National Register of Historic Places. So, this is a historic piece of wood from that ship at this point. And my crew, Don Heminitz, Remy Willocks and Dylan Perry all helped to kind of fabricate this. What we did we made a mold around the white oak, it’s a mold and then you pour tinted blue epoxy inside of it and then outlining it. It is some very, very old growth longleaf yellow pine that we had repurposed for use in the restoration as well. So, I hope that the Town of Plymouth and the Harbor Master’s office would accept this gift and enjoy it in the beautiful new facility that Chad and his guys have. Thank you.
[Applause]
[0:10:13]
Betty Cavacco:
That is a beautiful facility and thank you so much. Chad, I think we should actually switch. I think the Selectmen should be over there and you guys can be over here.
Chad Hunter:
I can’t see the harbor from here though.
Betty Cavacco:
And everything would be great. What do you think?
Chad Hunter:
I just want to really say thank you to all these guys. I’ve gotten to know them quite well. I think part of the restoration efforts and seeing the Mayflower go back in the water down in Mystic and the relationship we have, I consider you guys great friends and colleagues so thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
So, do we have a motion to accept this lovely gift?
Charlie Bletzer:
I make the motion.
John Mahoney:
Second.
Betty Cavacco:
We have a motion from Mr. Helm and second from–oh, Charlie. You guys look alike. I can’t see that far. So, a first from Mr. Bletzer and a second from Mr. Mahoney. And like I said, thank you so much. It’s beautiful and I’m sure it’ll get a lot of looks over there. So, we really appreciate it. All those in favor? It’s unanimous. Great. Thanks so much.
Okay. And the next is a State Commendation for Steve Grattan from the Redevelopment Authority.
Stephen Michael Palmer:
Stephen Michael Palmer, Chairman of the Redevelopment Authority of the Town of Plymouth. We’re here tonight to commend a recognition of my colleague here. Would you step up, Steven, please? The fact is that this gentleman has given 27 years of service to the affordable housing in this town not two, not seven not fourteen but 27. So, the board and I have decided to call the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and have Charlie Baker, have a citation that goes, On behalf of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I’m pleased to confirm upon the governor’s citation and recognition of 27 years of dedicated service to Plymouth Redevelopment Authority as a member of the Authority as well as the vice chair, we commend his efforts and ensure the expansion of the access of affordable housing opportunities through the South Shore in Cape Cod.
Now, the fact is, is that when I first came onto the board as a member, Steven was the Vice-chair and without Steven, I don’t think there would be an affordable housing in Plymouth itself. So, I’d like to give everyone a round of applause for Steven. And the fact is his wife’s father I served with as a town meeting member, Mr. Burke and he was also and I’m not sure in the server at Saint Peters in Plymouth and it’s just commendable for this gentleman to get this tonight. And he was a mentor to me as well as the board and without him, there would be no board. Thank you very much.
Steven Grattan:
Phil Burke I think served 38 for the Town of Plymouth and that’s Phil’s daughter Kathy, my wife in the back here. And I’m actually surprised it’s 27. I thought it was only 25 years. So, thanks. It’s been a pleasure and it’s a state appointee, the sitting Governor can make an appointment. I happen to just go through that whole chain with about five or six different governors starting with Weld and the slots open. They need to have five commissioners. I can’t have a 2-2 vote. You got to have the fifth person in there to balance it so if anyone’s interested, just get in touch with Stephen Michael Palmer and I’ll help through the scenes to guide you through the State House, how that all goes whether it’s a Republican, a Democrat. They’re just looking for someone that’s independent like me.
[Applause]
[0:15:05]
John Mahoney:
Steve, so does this mean that you’re moving on?
Steven Grattan:
This has been a big year to move on. I stepped down from chairman of my rotisserie baseball league, one of the oldest ones in the country earlier this spring when I came down with a Covid and I officially retire from Eversource on Friday, November 4th after spending 38 years in the energy efficiency industry. I’ve only worked for Mass Save Energy New England and Eversource over a period of 38 years, not doing any work on the polls and wires, just all energy efficiency, helping people. We helped with the incentives here, probably given the school department well over a million dollars in incentives over the years. So, very quietly, this is the most I ever talk and I just like doing things quietly behind the scenes.
John Mahoney:
Steve, I just want to say that obviously your father-in-law was a pillar of integrity in the community. I mean, he was a tremendous role model for me. Obviously, public service runs in the family. I’ve known you and Kathy for 20 years. And then the other thing is your son wasn’t a bad baseball player either. But congratulations. Steven, I appreciate your comments, 27 years. God bless.
Steven Grattan:
Thank you. Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
Thank you so much. Congratulations.
[Applause]
Betty Cavacco:
Next, we have four public hearings for an Aquaculture License. I will do the hearing and state the names as we move forward. I’m not going to do all the coordinates and everything, but it’s in the package that the board has received.
In accordance with Chapter 130 of the Massachusetts General Laws as amended, notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held at the Plymouth Town Hall, 26 Court Street, Plymouth Ma on Tuesday October 18, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. to consider the issuance of an aquaculture upweller license to:
- David Tarantino
- Kevin Dory
- Michael Withington
- Don Wilkinson
- Sean Withington
For an area situated in Plymouth Harbor described by the following coordinates that are in the packets. Is Chad still here?
Chad Hunter:
Thank you. And I would recommend that you approve the upweller licenses before you tonight.
Betty Cavacco:
Great. Do we have a motion?
Charlie Bletzer:
I make the motion.
Harry Helm:
Second.
Betty Cavacco:
Discussion? All those in favor? It’s unanimous. Congratulations.
And now, Public Comment. Do we have anybody for public comment? Please state your name for the record.
Michael Withington:
Michael Withington, Precinct 15. Thank you very much, honorable board. I appreciate all of your energies and enthusiasm and efforts that go into making this a wonderful town. And having gone through a few of these meetings 40 years ago, I believe my brother was reminding us to this day, we applied for an aquaculture license and here we are, no smarter rather than we used to be but a little bit older. I wanted to just say that Derek Brindisi has been fantastic in aiding us in the wording of allowing us to do an upweller. And since you don’t know what an upweller is probably.
Betty Cavacco:
Sure, we do. We’re wicked smart.
Michael Withington:
This is the brand that Don Wilkinson, Sean Whittington myself and my son of the photos from when Don got a professional photographer to do an article of oystering a photographic essay or photographic book.
[0:20:07]
Michael Withington:
Jim Hooper, if I am correct was the photographer and Don, as you know, is a community builder and concession builder. Essentially, what Sean, Don and I have done throughout the years and our children have been involved, Don’s children have been involved, we took the saying, “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime.” So, we took it one step further, teach your family to farm and they’ll feed generations. So, with that saying in mind, we went out and got unproductive plots of land that are underwater all the time. So, we bought real estates that’s underwater continually and we managed to do a collaborative effort and build up a brand. It’s running at Legal Sea Foods right now as Oyster of the Month. And I’m going to do just on the interest of saving paper and time. That’s what an umbrella looks like and I’ll let you pass it around.
So, I only did one that’s the silos inside that accelerate the growth and that’s the size of the seed. If you look at the last page, that’s the seal of approval which is Don Wilkinson going up to one of his trays and finding a harbor sale there. So, we built an ecosystem that is incredible. So, one of the things about growing and farming and fishing is you need cooperation. So, anything that the town can do to help grow the industry will be appreciated and we appreciate everything that the Select Board has done starting 40 years ago. So, in your ability to move forward and there’s a blue economy conference coming up that we were invited to and it’s about turning all of the underwater real estate into productive pathways into the future.
And what we’ve done is we’ve taken students from the public-school systems and brought them out in the water. And as a Matter of fact, Plymouth North when my sons were growing up, they did a video on it and it went on the newscast PACTV for the school systems. So, we may not be looking for the A students or the B students, but we’re looking for the C students and that’s spelled S-E-A. So, since some of you don’t like oysters. I’ve already done my homework. That’s for each one of you. Those were some pins that we had from pins when one of the oyster women or mermaids as they’re known got married. So, those are shots of Plymouth mud flats and beaches and those are oyster shells and also razor clam. And what we’d like to do is in the future if we can help build a brand, this is something of species that you cannot grow in Worcester. Am I correct? And are they good oysters? Yes. So, take it from an expert. He comes from the middle of the state where all the action happens. And so, what I did is I got the Ichabod himself, Don Wilkinson and my brother Sean Withington to get up some oysters. So, they’re two-year-old oysters, just so you know and they’re plate ready. And so, one of the things in talking to one of the Select Board saying that they didn’t like the oysters. I said, “You can’t leave a two-year-old unattended.” So, you have to put it in the hands of someone who will attend to it. And if you don’t like to shock them or you don’t like to cause injury to yourself, you can always put them on the grill, cup side down and open them up that way. So, I didn’t mean to be long-winded but anything that we can do to grow this industry and it’s more than just oysters, it’s scallops, it’s razor clams, it’s sea clams and hard shell clams and soft shell clams. And we’ve tried to grow quite a few of those with limited success, but you never know.
[0:25:03]
Michael Withington:
So, thank you very much and appreciate your time. And I have oysters back there for the board. It’s under $25, so it’s not considered a bribe and I’ll put them in the hands on the honorable Mr. Derek Brindisi to hand them out. I do have plastic bags but not a lot of them.
Betty Cavacco:
Thank you. Mr. Mahoney would like–
John Mahoney:
Michael, one question and I want an honest answer. Are your children as passionate about this as you are?
Michael Withington:
You want an honest answer? Is this on TV? Yes, they are. I will say that anybody who comes and works on the ocean has an appreciation what hard work is. The other thing is whenever you go to a college interview and you said, what did you do during the summer? And the child turns there the young adult says, “Oh, I ran an oyster farm.” You’d be surprised at the doors that open, because no one wants to talk about their work. They want to talk about something that’s fun and it is. So, to answer your question honestly, no.
Betty Cavacco:
Mr. Bletzer.
Charlie Bletzer:
Yeah, Mike. I want to thank you and the other farmers out there for your efforts. When we’ve met with the Economic Development, and one of the things they talk about is the blue economy. And it’s a big deal here. We have 36 miles of coast in Plymouth, and this is going to be very important for our economy and you folks are a big part of this. You’re getting great support. Chad Hunter and David Gould are very supportive of this. It’s a big deal. And this board is very supportive too. Town meeting just gave us the funding for the new ramp, the new boat ramp which is going to be helpful and it’s for the commercial, you folks so you can get your product, you can get it out and get it to the refrigeration as quick as possible. And I would love to be known, you know, Doxbury has their, we won’t say the name of their oysters but I would like Plymouth should be known as ichabod flats or whatever. We need to get that name out there so it’s national and it would be great to be to be known as an oyster area. That’s our goal.
Michael Withington:
Well, in that vein, the nickname for oysters are rocks and in each one of the bags, there’s 16 or 20 oysters in there. So, it has a natural fit. We’ve got the big scallops that everybody takes a picture next to my objective is to get oysters on there or grow scallops, one or the other but thank you for your support.
John Mahoney:
It’s great that you’re getting the youth involved too on this and getting the family so you can continue this. So, it’s going to be as important as the lobster industry and the scallop and it’s very exciting. And the mussels too.
Michael Withington:
Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
I just have one comment. Well, maybe it’ll be a couple comments but my son actually worked for not any of these growers but one of the oyster farms for three years. So, he’s at Mass Maritime now with that love for the sea and if anyone has the opportunity to go to an upweller and see how this whole thing is, I was lucky enough to be able to do that. And it’s really fascinating: the seed and this and that and these guys work, you guys are constant. You have to fill your generators. You’re out there. It doesn’t matter what the weather is. It really is something. Now, he’s not doing oysters anymore but–
Michael Withington:
He’s smartened up.
Betty Cavacco:
He is at Mass Maritime and loving life down there. So, he’s always been that ocean boy and I think working on an oyster farm really helped him go in that direction.
Michael Withington:
Great profession. And so, thank you very much, Betty. I appreciate it.
Betty Cavacco:
All right. So, any more public comment? Do we have anybody online? Geez, we got a lot of people here in the audience and we’re not even talking about dogs. So, all right. The next is the introduction to our in-house town counsel- Reservitz and Bergeron. Good evening, Dave.
[0:30:10]
David Reservitz:
Hello. I’m sorry I didn’t know we were supposed to bring gifts. So, my name is David Reservitz, and I’m an attorney. And I’m here with my law partners or our legal team. This is Michael Bergeron and we have Attorney Stacy Verde, Sean Murphy and Brittany Blye. We’re thrilled at the opportunity coming in here and just introducing ourselves and the opportunity of potentially representing the Town of Plymouth.
Just to give you a little bit of background because based on what we’ve heard so far tonight about maritime and oyster farming, this is maybe not the most interesting stuff so I’ll try to get through it pretty quickly. But we’re a group of lawyers and we’re Plymouth County lawyers. We have approached the town in such a way to come in as in-house counsel, which is different than out-house counsel obviously or outside counsel, which is what the town has been working with for decades. And that is a common practice of smaller towns but the truth is, as you all know, Plymouth is certainly not a small town.
So, we have this opportunity to offer office space on a hybrid model of an in-house counsel where we, our team of attorneys will be present at Town Hall to address any and all legal concerns that the town has, all their departments, whatever it may be. So, we’re thrilled at that opportunity to do that and we were asked to just come here and just say hello and let you know who we are.
We are a group of local Plymouth County attorneys. I, myself, have been practicing in Plymouth County exclusively since the late 90s. I’m the former President of the Plymouth County Bar Association, and I’ve also been active in the Pilgrim Bar Advocates Organization, which my partner Michael Bergeron has been in charge of for a number of years. And we handle various legal matters that may concern the town. We also have a couple of other lawyers that are not with us tonight that are working that are associated with our legal team. One of which is John McCluskey who happens to also be an oyster farmer, but he’s primarily an attorney. And we’re thrilled with this opportunity and we want to really impress upon the town that our main focus is to be available, is availability so that as the town continues to grow, we can render local legal services right from Town Hall and be able to make ourselves available to look out for the town’s best legal interests right then and there. I’m happy to answer any questions that anyone might have about that.
Betty Cavacco:
And we are so glad to have you and your team. It’s like a whole gaggle of people over there. So, I think it’s been a very long time since we’ve had to be in this position, and I’m very happy that the board agreed to try to do this hybrid type model. As we all know, there are no contracts. Well, I’m sure it’s going to work out well and if it didn’t, either/or, it’s just a handshake and see you later without any kind of financial responsibility on the town’s part or the taxpayers’ part. So, I’m really excited that you guys are here. And I don’t know if my colleagues have any comments. Mr. Helm?
Harry Helm:
Mr. Reservitz, could you go into a little bit more detail about your firm’s experience in Municipal law? That’s been a question that I have heard for the past two years.
David Reservitz:
Sure.
Harry Helm:
Thank you.
David Reservitz:
So, I’ve been a lawyer for almost 30 years. The law firm has changed in name, just to give a little bit of history, for some reasons. It was originally Reservitz and Steinberg, and Attorney Steve Steinberg became a judge and then we became Reservitz, Steinberg & Belinsky. And Ilene Belinsky went on to work as City Solicitor for the City of Brockton. Our firm started working with the City of Brockton probably in about 1998 and represented the city’s interests including land use issues, labor issues.
[0:35:13]
David Reservitz:
We represented the Brockton Housing Authority for a number of years. The firm then became Reservitz Law Office and we continued to represent the city on a part-time basis at that time. The city would switch from having full-time solicitors to part-time solicitors and those part-time solicitors were private attorneys or mid-sized firms like our firm. So, we handled a lot of those matters for the City of Brockton. At that time and at other times when we were not representing the City of Brockton, our collective practices represented the towns of Easton and towns of West Bridgewater and other smaller housing authorities.
We all have general practice experience as attorneys, but some of us have more specialty areas. My practice has essentially been civil litigation which focuses within municipal law and I’ve represented cities and towns in litigation issues.
Attorney Bergeron has strengths in writing and research. Attorney Sean Murphy was a former solicitor for the City of Brockton as was Attorney Blye. Attorney Murphy’s practice is focused largely on land use and code. Attorney Blye has a strong focus in employment law and Stacey Verdi has got a broad experience in civil litigation, employment law and real estate. We as general practicing attorneys, we haven’t been municipal specialists for 35 years straight. We’ve handled other areas of work, but this has been a strong focus of us for a long time.
Betty Cavacco:
Mr. Mahoney?
John Mahoney:
I’m just going to throw it to the Town manager. Just give a quick synopsis, Derek of how we got to this point, how this firm was brought on. And obviously, working in conjunction with the board, what do we envision happening here with respect to the hours in Town Hall and then obviously, the process by which we arrive at who and when will have access to the in-house counsel?
Derek Brindisi:
So, yeah. So, those are number of questions there. So, let me start with the last questions. Who and when will have access is yet to be determined. We touched on this a little bit at town meeting. I’ve certainly talked to Attorney Reservitz about this and I reached out to Mr. Serkey, Miss McCarthy to help me in developing a policy so that we could provide access to our town meeting members. So, that’s yet to be determined but again, I’ve already made those connections with two town meeting members and with Attorney Reservitz so that we can draft a policy. That policy, once drafted, will come before the board for final ratification.
What I was envisioning could be anything as just working through COPC in each precinct chair or there’s another model that we just set office hours specifically for town meeting members, which they would have to set a scheduled time and date with the attorneys and have their issues dealt with. So, those are the two different models that we’re looking at.
And so, what are we envisioning? As pointed out, this is a hybrid model. So, most communities either outsource their counsel needs or they bring them in-house strictly as paid staff. This is a little bit different that we hope to have Reservitz and Bergeron in-house but as a private firm. So, right now, what we’re talking about is having attorneys in Town Hall on the fourth floor having their own office space every Tuesday and every Thursday. This will allow department staff to set up times or if available, just to walk in and have conversations with the attorneys. So, that’s the model that we’re looking at.
John Mahoney:
And those hours on Tuesday and Thursday would run concurrent with the hours that Town Hall is open in those days?
Derek Brindisi:
That’s correct. That’s right, that’s right. And then the other piece, we are working on the letter of agreement just to outline office hours and the rate, which we’ve already received a proposal on.
John Mahoney:
Okay. And right now, there’s nothing in writing? Like the chair had said that we don’t have a contract yet?
[0:40:05]
Derek Brindisi:
So, we’re working together on an engagement letter.
Betty Cavacco:
We have proposals.
John Mahoney:
Okay. Just proposals. So, I guess, one follow-up question would be so I saw that the hourly rate would be 250. So, I saw our letter. So, if you’re here on Thursday for eight hours, is that $2,000?
David Reservitz:
No, I don’t think so.
John Mahoney:
Yeah. So, how does that work?
David Reservitz:
Yeah. I think that we will bill for only the time that we spend working for the Town of Plymouth. We’re not going to bill the Town of Plymouth while we’re sitting in the Town of Plymouth’s office. See, the hybrid model is interesting because we are attorneys with our own practice, right? So, because the town is outgrowing outside counsel but doesn’t want to spend a ton of money on a full-time law department, we’re able to simply take used space within the town so that we’re available. We acknowledge the need of the town to get a faster response from counsel, faster and more available legal opinions. So, we’re there to do that and we will bill for the time only rendered to the Town of Plymouth even if we’re sitting there longer working on something else.
John Mahoney:
So, not all of you will occupy that office on a Tuesday or Thursday? There’ll be some sort of rotation through the lawyers?
David Reservitz:
Exactly.
John Mahoney:
But always having a minimum of one there, two or that remains to be seen?
David Reservitz:
That’s what we discussed and we are looking at likely one to two.
Betty Cavacco:
Anyone else? Any other questions from the board, from the public? Mr. Serkey?
Richard Serkey:
Rich Serkey, Precinct 2. I want to acknowledge the fact that Mr. Reservitz and Mr. Bergeron reached out to me and we had a good conversation in which a number of my questions were answered and they heard some suggestions from me. And also, Mr. Brindisi did the same and he asked me whether I would be willing to participate in a subcommittee that would further the required documentation. And I said I would.
Let me just make some brief comments. When a new pope is selected, the College of Cardinals meets in secret in the Palace of the Vatican and after they have decided on whom to appoint, white smoke comes out of the chimney and the new pope is presented to the Catholic faithful by appearing on the palace balcony. This is the model that was followed by the Board in this case in appointing in-house part-time town counsel. The board conferred in private, decided to hire Reservitz-Bergeron as in-house part-time town counsel and tonight, the Board is presenting them to the Plymouth public. The religious appointment process is a poor model for the political appointment process however. Be that as it may however since the Board will not revisit their appointment, I offer the following suggestions. One as has been discussed obviously a contract will have to be entered into by the Board and Reservitz-Bergeron. The Code of Professional Responsibility requires that the engagement of an attorney and a client be in writing. And I’m assuming that that will occur here. That needs to specify the terms of their engagement. In order to enable the town to save time and money, I suggest that the Board asks Reservitz-Bergeron to prepare the first drafts of their proposed contract with the town. And also, guidelines will have to be drafted by the town and agreed to by Reservitz-Bergeron setting forth policies on the use of in-house part-time town counsel including but not limited to the following: who can request to use town counsel? Does the request have to come from a department head? Who decides whether or not the request is approved? Is it the town manager?
We have a town counsel policy that dates back to 2011. Eleven years have passed since then and that offers a starting point, but it needs to be revisited in light of present circumstances.
[0:45:00]
Richard Serkey:
In addition, in order to avoid having to reinvent the wheel, I suggest that Reservitz-Bergeron furnished the town with sample contracts and guidelines from similarly situated municipalities so that the town can save again both money and time. And finally, I presume that the hiring of Reservitz-Bergeron will require modifications to the town’s engagement contract with K.P. Law. Having said all that, as I indicated to Derek and as I indicated to David, I wish them the best of luck and if I can be of help, I’ll be glad to do so. Thank you.
Charlie Bletzer:
Mr. Serkey, I just want to reiterate something I said before to you. At least from my understanding is this wasn’t some secret meeting that we had to discuss this. That would have been an Open Meeting Law violation if we did something like that. Our Town Manager, one of his goals, one of his ideas after we hired him, one of the things we talked about to make the town a little more efficient is to have in-house counsel so our department heads would have easier access to legal advice, and that was the reason. And we felt if we had in-house counsel, it will be easier and more efficient for us to do it.
Richard Serkey:
I have no problem with that.
Charlie Bletzer:
So, I just want to tell you that it wasn’t like a secret thing. And when we voted on it, you asked me the question, whose idea? The town manager is the one that found the Reservitz-Bergeron firm. And when I found out that that’s who we wanted to hire, having 26 years’ experience in Plymouth County and knowing lawyers that I was all for it. I said, “This is a very reputable firm and this will be a good hire.”
So, in open meeting, it was brought to attention and the Board voted. The Board voted in an open meeting. So, this wasn’t something some backroom deal. That’s what you suggested what you just said. So, it wasn’t like that at all. And there was no smoke or anything like that. So, we’re trying something. We’re trying to do something to make we think a town more efficient. I think the department is very excited about this and the town meeting folks that have questions are going to have some access. We’ll figure it out. We’ll get a policy down. I’ll tell you what, we would have saved 15,000 if we had in-house counsel when the Charter Commission came before us and they had three questions and that became two questions and they wanted $15,000 to answer two questions about the Charter. Well, had we had Reservitz and Bergeron, we would have saved 15,000 and they could have answered for 250 an hour, they could have answered those two questions. So, that’s one example that had we had in-house counsel, it would have saved the town some money. Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
Anyone else? Pat.
Pat McCarthy:
Pat McCarthy, Precinct 18, town meeting member vice-chair. Thank you. I want to thank Derek for responding to a lot of my questions back and forth and also all of the information that Richard had researched. It just was hard following all the links to different websites, but I finally got to the correct one for your law firm that’s coming in Marshfield. So, I thank you for that. And I’m comfortable with the proposal as such.
I have a practical question just for as an example of a concern that all of us in this, not all of us local people in this room have and it pertains to the county woodlot situation, which is looming in terms of that first 90 days is going to be up on October 22nd for the lease and their investigation of whether or not they’re going to do the racetrack. And my question would be and you probably can’t answer it tonight but is this where our in-house counsel could help us as citizens who have been trying to follow the issues? Because it’s a large impact no matter what development’s going to go in there. And in a more practical manner, I know we’d finally gotten some help because you voted to do it, which I know that was a hesitation on your part in the beginning but we were very grateful.
[0:50:06]
Pat McCarthy:
I’m very grateful that you followed through with that and we did get some guidance from Kopelman and Paige. Can they pick up where Kopelman and Paige left off in a more practical? Like for example, following a county commissioner’s agendas or the gaming commission’s agendas or if we had questions about the intertwining of that. I’m just throwing it out there. I don’t mean I want answers tonight but I don’t know if anybody locally agrees with me who are here tonight, a couple town meeting members if that’s kind of a–that’s just a practical question that I could think of we would get answers quicker and we could get more help as how we as citizens when we go to those meetings and hearings and you know I like to go to meetings and hearings and speak. And anyway, I thank you for all your hard work and especially in light of all your hard work for previous Saturday and that’s a different issue, but I’m just saying I appreciate that and I am following through with COPC just to let you know on Thursday night on that issue. Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
Great. No, I think that they held office hours in here today and we are going to make sure they get everything that we need. And just to say that to kind of answer one of your comments, there was no hesitation as far as I could see. Well, there may have been but the Board voted and that’s the way it goes.
David Reservitz:
So, just briefly to further that point, one thing that will be unique about our representation is that we won’t be representing any other town or municipality. So, we will have the Town of Plymouth Charter as the sole charter that we will become very, very, very familiar with and we’ve already started to do so. And present in the offices with that charter and its bylaws ready to answer any concerns that the town has. And we think that’s going to work out really well for everybody.
Betty Cavacco:
Me too. Mr. Brindisi.
Derek Brindisi:
If I could just because Ms. McCarthy points out a really good example of these back-and-forth conversations the Board had regarding the county woodlot with folks coming in through public comment and the missing link in that is that we didn’t have counsel hearing those conversations so oftentimes, we take a lot of notes, we pick up the phone, we contact KP. And it’s not just KP, it’s the other three law firms we’ve dealt with in the past. So, we keep focusing on KP, but there’s other law firms that we work with. And what’s different here is that this firm will hear those conversations. They’ll hear it firsthand, attending Select Board meetings in the future, attending staff meetings. We have staff meetings every Tuesday morning for two hours and we discuss all the things that we have to deal with as various departments, and they’ll be in those conversations and they’ll be able to shed light and provide feedback on more of a regular basis. So, I think being in the room is priceless. And I think that’s what we’re gaining from this.
Betty Cavacco:
I agree. Anyone else have any more questions? And as I said to Mr. Reservitz earlier today, welcome to the jungle.
David Reservitz:
Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
Betty Cavacco:
Thank you. Okay. Next is the Survey Results for the Cable Advisory Committee.
Paul McGee:
I don’t see the white smoke. Can you hold that for me? Thank you. Good evening, members of the Board. I am Paul McGee, the Chair of the Cable Advisory Committee. I’m joined by my colleague this evening Sean Mullin from the committee who will give you a brief report on the results of the cable survey conducted within the town. Also, Attorney Bill Hewig of KP Law is also present to provide his legal insight. We’re here tonight to provide you with an update on our progress towards the negotiation with Verizon in regards to its renewal license of the Town of Plymouth but aware about the survey, considerable time was spent by the committee to create a survey which was thorough and provided the feedback from the community necessary for our evaluations of cable performance.
[0:55:09]
Paul McGee:
To access the survey, a card was also designed pertaining a QR code and phone numbers to go directly to the survey. 20,000 of these cards were printed. By the end of April with the assistance of the town Finance Director Lynne Barrett and Jill Kandola of the Collector’s Office, 15,000 of these cards were sent to the contracted third-party to include in the mailing of the next water and sewer bill. And that all residents are not on the town water system areas like Pinehills, other residential communities and those that use wells do not see these bills so we needed assistance to get the survey in the hands of these residents. That assistance came through folks in Pinehills specifically Judith Froman, Executive Director of the Pinehills Landowners Association provided access to the survey through their association newsletter. At CAL, Michelle Bratti and Beth Hadfield provided information on the survey in the CAL social media platform and with cods on the counters.
At the library, Kelsey Casey, Library Director, provided a valuable assistance. The Plymouth Moose Lodge started the survey information and access in their Facebook page. Survey access was also contained on the town website. We appreciate the support these organizations and their staff provided in this effort. Sean Mullin is here to share some of the key findings from the survey. He will be followed by Attorney Healey who will be providing a legal update. And we are always available for questions from the Board. Sean?
Sean Mullin:
I have some materials to give all of you. If you could just take one of these and pass it down, that would be great. And there’s some extras for anyone who’s in there.
So, what you’re receiving now is essentially a binder with the most pertinent results the easiest way to look at them. We’ve already sent them electronically and we can continue to do that, but I thought it might be helpful for you to have something in your hand physically to be able to look at. Initially, I was going to recommend a good time to review these would be when you get tired of the Red Sox humiliating themselves during a game, you couldn’t take it anymore so you switch off the TV and read this. Mercifully, they’re done so I have to find another good time to do that. So, just let me go over quickly what we have in these binders.
So, in the front of the binder, we have overall results with some key information and then we have the all the actual narrative comments that people wrote both about EDTV and also about customer service for both Verizon and Comcast. And those are interesting to read and they’re there in the long form so that you can take a peek at them when you have a chance. Also, the long form of the actual survey results for the entire town are also there included for you. We have available results for only Verizon and only Comcast which have been sent electronically, but if you don’t have them, we can certainly get them to you.
Having said that, I’m going to confine my comments very briefly this evening and wanted to point out that Paul kind of alluded to this, we have two types of questions in the survey. The first are questions very specific to the Verizon renewal. They would be very, very useful and very helpful for that alone. We also though took the opportunity to be able to ask some questions that are useful information for the town to know particularly for PACTV to know and for EDTV to know. And so, there were a lot of good questions about that, good responses about that too. This evening, I’m not going to discuss any of that. I’m just going to talk briefly about what I see the impact of the survey on the Verizon negotiations, just a few things.
So, I have to say that overall, the news is good. The results of the survey are good. We didn’t have anything that was really unexpected in my mind that nothing shocked me. So, people seem to have pretty good opinion of their cable service. Of course, there are people that are not pleased about customer service in some cases.
[1:00:08]
Sean Mullin:
And when you read the narrative comments, some of them are rather amusing. You’ll see that some people in particular are a little upset about certain aspects of their cable service. What we have found by digging into this is that unfortunately, those comments aren’t really germane for the negotiation for the contract and I’m sure that Attorney Hewig will talk more about this in a moment. But people that are upset about receiving continued offers for more channels or the expense of the upgrade of cable, those kinds of things, it seems to be what they’re more upset about than actual customer service-related issues that would be traditionally considered to be customer service. So, I think it seems that most people are getting a good response time if they have an issue with their cable.
Occasionally, it looks like there are people that are complaining about the wait times, but I suspect that was during things like storms and blizzards and that kind of thing in which there’d be an exception. So, overall, the results are pretty good. You can see here that 68% are satisfied with their cable’s customer service that is slightly better or slightly more people are happy with Verizon than they are with Comcast. 22% are dissatisfied with that, which seems to be a reasonable number and it’s pretty consistent throughout the town too.
In the front of your binder, you’ll see that we’ve broken down results by what school they’re near and I have looked at those results until I am blue in the face, until I can’t even see straight and the good news is I can’t find any spots in town that seemed to be an issue where we have poor reception, poor service. There doesn’t seem to be anything like that, which is a nice thing. So, that’s excellent news.
Overall, 85% of the people are satisfied with their cable signal strength, which is fairly impressive. It’s come a long way from what I would imagine was happening years ago. We have a big gap in the information we receive from other cable advisory committees but would appear just from looking at that information that it’s much better than it was back then, which is a good thing.
Overall, interesting too, that 79% of the people in town are planning on at some point getting rid of cable and switching to a streaming only service. There are a variety of reasons for that and I think cost being one of them. It’s clear that this is happening both literally from the survey results and anecdotally too in the past two weeks, all three of us, I’ve received notice about switching Verizon to just the streaming only. Paul received it and I think Attorney Hewig got too at the same time. So, Verizon is certainly shifting in that direction and cable is without a doubt going away.
At the last meeting we were here, one of your members said that we don’t want any surprises coming down the pike about funding for EDTV and for PACTV. Those are very important services. And I think the answer to that question very briefly based on the results is that right now, as it stands right now with this renewal in my opinion, we don’t have any serious issues about funding for those organizations. PACTV of course, has other ways to go about getting funding. It’s a little different than EDTV, but having said that the funding may go down and it will go down incrementally. But for this negotiation, I don’t see that as being a big issue now but we should start planning for five years from now I think because the results are clear and I think we would all know this anyway that cable is disappearing. It’s kind of vanishing and more people are just looking to tune in a different way, to be able to have access to the content they want to have access to, on demand. Nobody is really watching live TV anymore except for maybe sporting events and you can certainly watch those live by streaming them.
So, in short, there are a lot of different pieces of information you can look up when you read your binder. As Paul said, Paul and I are very happy to talk about these results in more detail. The only other comment I would like to make this evening is that the good news is that in terms of the people who were dissatisfied with their customer service from Verizon or Comcast, one of the roles of the Cable Advisory Committee is we are able to act as an ombuds person for those people. We are happy to reach out, to make calls, to do something whatever we can to help resolve those issues and I suspect we would be very effective in doing that. And unless there are any questions, I’m going to turn it over to Attorney Hewig for a legal update.
[1:05:00]
John Mahoney:
It’s Sean, right?
Sean Mullin:
Yes, yes.
John Mahoney:
Sean great job.
Sean Mullin:
Oh, thanks.
John Mahoney:
So, before we get into the minutia of what’s going on here. There’s two members only of this committee currently, correct?
Sean Mullin:
Correct, yeah.
John Mahoney:
Yourself and Mr. McGee?
Sean Mullin:
Right. We had one before, but she had to I think do other things.
John Mahoney:
How many people are supposed to be, in a perfect world, on that committee?
Sean Mullin:
But I would sell it for three. Three would be good.
John Mahoney:
Okay. So, I guess, through the chair, Anthony, is that something that–I mean, there must be some parameters around the committee? You can’t just say if we have three, we just go to five. That requires a vote of the Board.
Sean Mullin:
Of course, yeah.
John Mahoney:
So, currently, we can assume safely that we have three vacancies. I mean, I would just suggest that that’s something that you see the emails come through, advertising openings on the Planning Board, the open space and I want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to get these two gentlemen some assistance over there. Okay?
Sean Mullin:
Amen. Yeah.
John Mahoney:
Especially if Sean doesn’t want to show up because he’s home watching the Sox game.
Sean Mullin:
Right, right. Although that won’t be an issue apparently with the way they’re playing.
John Mahoney:
So, that was one, Sean and so the attorney and you’re absolutely correct that we’re getting essentially, I believe a five-year grace period here. We can see where the trends are going. I’m glad that you’re thinking long-term. And then obviously, we’ll be able to formulate some sort of plan Sean and through the Town Manager that we’ll be out ahead of this. Hopefully, that’s reinforced by the attorney and then we cannot get caught off guard here.
Sean Mullin:
Right. And we have a public meeting coming up, which is what Attorney Hewig is going to discuss and we will be working with Julie Thompson at PACTV and Brian Byrne at EDTV to get ready for that meeting, but I think you’re right and we would welcome more members.
John Mahoney:
Okay. Thank you, Sean.
Sean Mullin:
Sure. Thank you.
William Hewig:
Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. My name is Bill Hewig. I’m cable counsel. I’m with KP Law, and it’s been my pleasure to work with Paul and Sean for, I don’t know, six or seven months perhaps. Yeah, at least.
The legal status of the license renewal. The current Verizon license will expire in June 2023. We are having a public hearing on November the 14th. The public hearing is the only legal requirement that a town must have before signing a license, and that’s it. Purpose of the public hearing is two things: one, to determine what the future community cable related needs of the town might be, maybe not to determine but to advise and inform your negotiators, the Cable Advisory Committee and also PACTV what future needs will be and also to determine whether Verizon is in compliance with its license. It’s called a compliance audit.
And the two major areas of non-compliance for most cable companies are signal quality and also customer service, and those are the areas that Sean and Paul devoted a lot of time on their survey to developing information that will assist us in those areas. It appears that both of them are pretty good for Verizon. Signal quality was I think the approval rating was about 88% with 6% disapproval and the customer service a little bit lower but as Sean mentioned, it really didn’t go to the issue of compliance with the FCC regulations. It was more complaints about sales talk and sales pitching and things like that.
The license renewal of June should not present a problem. That gives us more than enough time to begin our negotiations after the public hearing in November. In the winter and spring, we will probably be having committee meetings to finalize what we will be seeking from Verizon, but I have to tell you that because of the so-called level playing field obligations that both cable companies have placed into their license, our ability to negotiate a lot more than what we currently have is going to be somewhat limited because Verizon is going to look to the Comcast license and say, “We won’t give you any more than you gave them in 2022.” I should say 2017.
[1:10:06]
William Hewig:
For that reason, it is fortuitous I think that Verizon will only agree to a five-year license because Verizon’s license will expire in 2028 and Comcast will expire in 2027. The two are close enough that we can look as a long-term strategy to figuring out a way to get more out of both cable companies because their licenses are both up at the same time.
We have the disadvantage now of having them not coterminous at the same time. We will have that advantage in five years. So, I think that one of our long-term strategies is going to be not just to figure out what we need this year, but also to figure out what we are going to be needing in four or five years’ time and going forward from that point. That’s really the status I can give you. We’ve been meeting. We’ve conducted surveys. The survey results are before you. We’ll be having the public hearing that will inform us more about what we might want or need to be negotiating with Verizon and then the next step for us will be to sit down and begin negotiations. And as I said, beginning in January or February up through June gives us more than enough time with Verizon. Negotiations with Verizon are relatively quick. So, we expect to be able to present you a proposed Verizon renewal license well before the deadline in June.
Betty Cavacco:
Wonderful. John?
John Mahoney:
So, the public hearing has the where and when been set. You said in November.
William Hewig:
Yes, it’s November the 14th.
John Mahoney:
Where’s the venue?
William Hewig:
The venue is this room.
John Mahoney:
It’s in this room?
William Hewig:
Yes, sir.
John Mahoney:
November 14th?
William Hewig:
November 14th, 6:00 p.m.
John Mahoney:
Is that a Monday? I think Veterans Day is the 11th, Friday the 11th, okay. So, it looks like it’s a Monday and it’s 7:00 p.m.?
William Hewig:
6:00 p.m.
John Mahoney:
6:00 p.m., okay. So, Derek, we have five enterprise funds. Four of them get all the attention: solid waste, the airport water and sewer. I guess, it was three to six years ago we created the fifth one. Sean is alluding and I think town counsel is backing his comments up that there might be some–we’re not getting more in this negotiation. It’s going to be level funded or maybe a little bit of a drop every year over the course of the five years. So, I was just wondering if you could have Lynne through the chair send us along and update on that enterprise fund, how is it performing and obviously, if we have a slight decline in revenues over the next five years, is that going to impact our ability to fund the services that we currently do?
Derek Brindisi:
Right. Yeah, happy to do that. And I think part of the reason why we’re going to see a decline in revenues and we’re not going to see there’s not a lot of room to negotiate because we’re already at 5% GAR so we can’t increase that anymore. And as cable subscribers drop off, we’re going to start to see that drop in revenue as well. So, those are the two big pieces. The only thing I think really at this point we potentially could negotiate is maybe some Capital Improvement dollars. Other than that, I think we’re capped on the revenue side.
John Mahoney:
Okay. So, the negotiating team is Sean, Paul and yourself?
William Hewig:
So far, yes.
John Mahoney:
Okay. All right. I wish you the best.
William Hewig:
Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
Thank you so much. All right. The next is American Cruise Line and we’ll table that till the next meeting. And now, the Town Manager’s report.
Derek Brindisi:
Okay. So, lots of updates today. Mostly announcements and reminders. So, we haven’t reported back on the Simes House Task Force and some of the work that they’ve been doing but we just met again today and just some quick updates where they are. So, I think I reported about a month and a half ago that there was a survey that was conducted across approximately nine different precincts that really focus in whether or not the Simes house is an option for a future municipal use. And so, we have that survey data and we’ll use that survey data as part of our final recommendations.
And then most recently, there was a meeting held over at the Simes house with approximately 15 non-profits so 501(c)(3) organizations. We gave them a tour of the facility to determine whether or not a non-profit organization would want at least the space.
[1:15:04]
Derek Brindisi:
Actually, interesting enough, there was a lot of excitement and we believe that there may be some interested organizations that may want to lease that space. But lay it on top of that, Steve Cole from the foundation and Amy Naples from the chamber, they just issued a survey today amongst approximately 1200 501(c)(3) in the region to determine whether or not they would want to use this space as well. And then we’re also working with procurement to conduct an analysis, a structural analysis and then we’re also working with procurement to identify engineering firm that can do a condition assessment. As we all know, the inside of the building has water damage, the outside of the building needs some upgrades so working with an engineering firm on those two analyses will help us determine the cost to bring that building back to what it should be. And then still working with procurement on what Selectman Helm had talked about in the past doing kind of a retrospective study of the conditions of the building back in 2017 and what the town paid to bring that building back to its former glory. So, again, the Simes house group is still working on that. The Department of Assessing has completed an updated assessment which hadn’t been done in years. We’re working with an appraisal service to do a current appraisal, and then we have two realtors that are on the board that are looking at it doing a fair market value. So, in the end, all of this stuff is going to inform final recommendations that we expect to come back to the board sometime in January.
So, moving on as far as updates, the second Annual Children’s Business Fair will take place this Thursday, October 20th at South High School. The Blue Future Conference will take place October 24th and 25th at 1620, that’s from 9:00 to 3:00 p.m. We have Hazardous Waste Day that is taking place this coming Thursday, actually tomorrow from 5:00 to 8:00. That’ll be at the DPW on Camelot Drive. And then we have Debris Collection Days taking place on October 22nd, 23rd. Again, at Camelot Drive 8:00 to 2:00 p.m.
One of the board members had talked about the frequent flooding on Taylor Ave in the past. So, just to give you an update, our DPW went and met with the Manomet Village Steering Committee. They had a really good conversation with a number of different residents down that area. They’ve recognized that since the construction in Taylor Ave, that is a problem that we continue to see frequent flooding down there. They’ve engaged Stantec Engineering to try to find a fix to that problem. So, just so you’re aware.
The town received the electric vehicle grant for $22,000. So, we’ll use that $22,000 to offset the cost of the electric vehicles that we’re going to purchase in the coming months.
558 Wareham Road, as you know, was a problem property in the past. Our Inspectional Services Department worked with through the courts to award a receiver. That receiver has now completed its work. They’ve mowed the property. They’ve loomed and seeded the property. That property is now back in good condition.
I want to thank the Economic Development Foundation for their candy donation to the Town Hall’s participation on October 31st working with the Chamber of Commerce.
Just want to remind folks, early voting will begin October 22nd through November 4th. The weekend hours are 10:00 to 4:00. So, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. And the Monday through Friday hours are the Town Hall hours.
Some of you will be interested to know that we’ve looked at our most recent hotel and motel taxes. We are $330,000 above last year. Pre-COVID numbers were $1.7 million. We’re already north of the pre-COVID numbers. So, again, we’re starting to see revenues increase through hotel and motel taxes. And as you all know, 45% of that goes to the promotion fund, the other 55% goes to the general fund.
I wanted to mention that Chief Foley has been working with Brewster Ambulance to bring a fifth ambulance to the community during the day hours. That started this past Sunday and he reports that we’re already seeing a decrease in the response times because of having that fifth ambulance on board.
And then before I turn the last segment over to Anthony, I wanted to talk a little bit about the opioid settlement money.
[1:20:05]
Derek Brindisi:
So, you may have heard that there was a national opioid settlement and the town will be awarded over the course of the next 17 years, $2.2 million from that settlement. This year in FY ’23, we will receive approximately $253,000. I bring this up because I know a number of community-based organizations are interested in these funds and so what I want to alert folks to is that the way these funds are being dispersed, it’s being deposited into the general fund. So, in order to disperse those funds, we have to go to town meeting for an appropriation. So, that’s what we plan on doing in FY ’24. So, the process, once the money is appropriated, we plan on issuing through like a mini grant program where we’ll see qualified applicants for these funds. We’ll set up a committee that will review these applications and then disperse the funds appropriately. So, again, that’ll happen in FY ’24.
So, I’ll end my comments at this point. I’ll turn over just a quick presentation. Anthony’s done a lot of work on trying to make everything we do more efficient but in particular, how potential volunteer committee members can submit their applications online. So, Anthony, if you could just do a quick demo.
Anthony Senesi:
Thank you. My name is Anthony Senesi, Administrative Assistant to the Select Board and the Town Manager. And like Mr. Brindisi mentioned, my work has been to find efficiencies in our processes without losing the personalization and also the ability for volunteers who make up a very large portion of town government and also how people get involved with town government. So, we’re trying to make it more efficient and also make it more accessible so people can fill out their volunteer applications online. And so, I will do that. I have it up on the screen here. I’ll have to grab the mic.
So, on the home page as you can probably see here, we can go to Boards and Committees which is the Select Board here. Let me grab that. And then we click on the Select Board page. It includes the application for boards and committee, interested applicants. This might seem kind of small but these are some of the things that make our lives and also people’s lives more efficient and also shows more of a professional approach to our work. This is also a little bit of a preview for the town meeting. Town meeting members passed some of the language to and the allocation for a new website. There will be a lot of ways that we can make forms available online quicker so folks if they want to come to Town Hall, they’re more than welcome to but if folks are strapped on time and wanted to fill things out online, there will be opportunities to do so and this is just a snapshot of that.
Derek Brindisi:
Yeah. So, again, it seems like it’s small. In fact, if you go to most websites, this is something you would commonly see unless you came to the Town of Plymouth website. But these are the small efficiencies that we’re trying to make not only to make it easier from the user standpoint but on the backend when we start to try to monitor applications, for example. So, now that we’ve gone through town meeting and we’ve received the funding to upgrade the website, we’re going to start to see a lot more of this type of stuff roll out. Again, this is to be more efficient and more user friendly on the frontend.
Betty Cavacco:
John?
John Mahoney:
Derek, so back to the opioid settlement. You said the FY ‘24 contribution to the town would be about 220 grand.
Derek Brindisi:
The FY ‘23 is 253,000.
John Mahoney:
253,000.
[1:25:03]
Derek Brindisi:
Yes. The FY ‘24 will be an additional 134,000.
John Mahoney:
Okay. So, you’re saying the 253 is going to go into the general fund?
Derek Brindisi:
That’s right.
John Mahoney:
It’s your intention to set up some sort of a grant program for anyone in the community to compete to go to spring town meeting to get whatever allocation that they request?
Derek Brindisi:
No. So, what will happen is because it goes to the general fund, these dollars have to fall to the bottom line in the way of free cash. So, once free cash is certified, we’d go to the May, sorry the–
John Mahoney:
So, we won’t see that until the Fall of ’23? Once the free cash certified basically a year from now.
Derek Brindisi:
That’s right, that’s right. Yup.
John Mahoney:
Okay. So, any grants that are approved from that 253 would then be approved in the October of ‘23 fall town meeting at the earliest?
Derek Brindisi:
That’s right. Yes, right.
John Mahoney:
Okay. So, any limits on that? Anybody in the community or any department head? I mean, is there anything that we can’t approve those funds for?
Derek Brindisi:
No.
John Mahoney:
No restrictions?
Derek Brindisi:
Right. You haven’t seen restrictions, have you?
John Mahoney:
I was just curious.
Brad Brothers:
There are. There are restrictions. I think it’s like seven different criteria.
John Mahoney:
Okay. So, you have to meet certain criteria?
Brad Brothers:
Correct. But it’s pretty open.
John Mahoney:
So, then that’s something if you have an email form, if you could send that along to the Board, that would be great. Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
Okay. Go ahead.
Harry Helm:
Anthony, this is for you. First of all, this is really great. A question that I have, say that I am a citizen, a resident and I am interested in volunteer opportunities or committee, signing up for committee, how would I know without some sort of email, Facebook, social media that this application process plus I’m guessing that right above volunteer application, it says Select Board Volunteer Opportunities is where the list is housed of what is open. Okay? Say I was interested in being on the Historic District Commission, how would I know to go under the Select Board. I’m not sure that the average Plymouth resident would identify any of those as Select Board Volunteer Opportunities. So, is there another way that they can find it?
Anthony Senesi:
That’s a great question. At the moment, there is not a specific way. On a more of an accessibility when you first open the home page at the moment, the volunteer opportunities and all of the descriptions are on the page but there was a couple late breaking things that had to be upgraded. This is something that’s more of a conversation about the redesign of the new website. There’s a lot of opportunities to mesh everything together on more of a 100-foot lens, I guess. There’s more of that ability to integrate those things with the new upgraded website. And that’s something that we’re looking forward to doing.
Harry Helm:
Okay. Well, I would just suggest you write it down in your little thing of things to do on the new website that you include that. Not to tell you what to do, but perhaps, if you went into a particular board or committee, it would say volunteer opportunities and volunteer application and it could bring you to this page. Just a suggestion but let’s make sure that we do that because I love the idea. I love what you’re trying to do, and I think you’ve taken several steps towards it. We just need to complete the steps to something our residents will understand.
Anthony Senesi:
Absolutely. And if I may, those build outs for the various boards and committees at the moment are slightly stagnant. With the new redesign, there will be a lot more information that is available for members of the public regarding those boards and committees. There’ll be a hyperlink directly to all the agendas and minutes and then there will also be that link as well.
Harry Helm:
Just know I’m going into the weeds or off topic here. Are there plans to start putting the materials that we see for the Select Board meetings in our packet online?
[1:30:02]
Anthony Senesi:
Absolutely, yes.
Harry Helm:
And when do we anticipate that being available for our residents?
Anthony Senesi:
It is possible now and we’re more than happy to do that if the Select Board would like to. At the moment, the ability to access that information is not in a clear way but with the new website redesign, it will be very prominent when you were looking for agendas and minutes and it will include the agenda packets and additional documents.
Derek Brindisi:
Yeah, I think it would be best to wait until the new website is up and running. They actually have a new module Anthony talked about that’s just focused on agenda management through the CivicPlus.
Harry Helm:
So, when do we anticipate that being up and running?
Anthony Senesi:
For the website redesign, CivicPlus who is the folks that give us the ability to utilize that website. It’s the content management system. They estimate about a 30-week start to finish dates. But we have been working internally to tighten up the website and delete various pages that may have inaccurate information. And every department has been advised by the Town Manager to go through each of the department pages, the boards and committee pages and work with the I.T Department as well to make sure that that happens kind of to get that initial start even before we speak with–well, we work with CivicPlus more on a day-to-day basis.
Harry Helm:
All right, cool. So, I’d just like to clarify we’re talking about information being available to the residents, the packet information in about three quarters of a year, 30 weeks?
Derek Brindisi:
Six months, six months.
Harry Helm:
Six months, okay. A little bit over six months since there are 52 weeks in a year and it’s going to take 30 weeks for them to do that. So, all right. Okay. I guess, that’s the way it’s going to be.
Derek Brindisi:
I do have to say though that even that small feedback you provided is helpful because staff look at this website every single day and they start to glaze over. So, when we demonstrate various pages to hear whether it works or not is really important because we can take that back and make sure it is more user friendly.
Betty Cavacco:
Great. Okay. Now, Select Board New Business/ Letters/ Old Business.
Charlie Bletzer:
I have some new business. I’d like to give a shout out to the Principal of West, Martha Deusser with the West family is running a pajama drive to help the underprivileged kids. It’s a program they do them with reading at nights. Scholastic Books will donate a book for every pajama that gets donated to the school. So, it’s kind of put your pajamas on, you’d go to bed, read a book and it’s a great program. And I’d like to let everybody know about it if they can support. They have some donation boxes around town. I know there’s one at the school. I think there’s one at South Meadow in a couple of local major businesses that have donation boxes. So, I just want to give them a shout out. I think it’s a great program and I commend them for doing it and I hope the community will support this. Thank you.
Betty Cavacco:
Great. Okay. Now, we have Licenses, Administrative Notes and a Change of Manager for liquor license. Does anyone on the board have any questions on any of those? And if not, asking for a motion to move as a group.
Charlie Bletzer:
I make that motion.
John Mahoney:
Second.
Betty Cavacco:
Questions? No? All those in favor? Great. And next is a motion to adjourn.
Harry Helm:
A motion to adjourn.
Charlie Bletzer:
Second.
Betty Cavacco:
Questions? All those in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. Everyone have a great week and we will see you on November 1st.