0:08

thank you so

0:14

um I don’t know dick are you having internet difficulty

0:20

okay well maybe he is all right good evening everybody uh

0:26

welcome to the Plymouth select board Tuesday March 14th recording in progress

0:31

uh Harry do you want to read the um statement

0:41

you have to unmute yourself um I’m aware of that that’s what I was doing well I gave you a thumbs up all

0:47

right in accordance with state law 2475 and pursuant to chapter 20 of the

0:54

acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means remember

1:00

Betty do I read the in person because the Preamble is okay because it’s not being in person

1:09

oh gotcha totally virtual yeah you can read it you can just okay hold

1:16

on a second well I don’t have the new agenda all right I have the new agenda that was posted

1:23

um on the town’s website in accordance with s2457 and pursuant to chapter 20 of the

1:30

acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to watch the meeting

1:36

May do so in the following manner tune into Pac TV government cable access channels Comcast 20. Comcast channel 15

1:44

or Verizon channel 47 and watch the meeting as it is it is aired live or

1:49

watch the meeting on the PAC TV website at pactv.org members of the public who

1:55

wish to participate in the meeting May do so in the following manner go to the town website under the select word page

2:01

there is the agenda for tonight’s meeting click on the zoom webinar link and it will take you to be able to

2:08

participate in the meeting remotely and in addition members of the public this

2:14

is just in general moving forward if you would like to make a public comment during the public comment period Please

2:20

rate State please raise your hand by clicking the raise hand button at the

2:26

bottom of your screen right I think we just got Anthony a new

2:33

new uh task he’s got a new job now

2:38

okay so uh public hearing is fraggle Incorporated doing business as Sandy’s

2:45

at Plymouth Beach 132 Warren Ave Tara freyr manager is requesting the

2:53

following licenses in conjunction with their request for transfer of an annual all alcohol license

3:00

common Victoria’s license and early Sunday sales 10 A.M

3:06

is there anyone that would like to speak on this

3:13

okay is there anyone opposed to this

3:19

Madam chair we actually have a person’s hand raised by the name of Thomas Rook

3:24

okay is it regarding this I’m not entirely sure his hand is raised

3:33

Mr Rook

3:41

Mr Rook you may be May unmute yourself

3:54

Mr Rook you are able to unmute Yourself by at the bottom of your screen there is a unmute button on the left hand corner

4:03

of it

4:11

can you now hear me yes we can hear you now okay so my name is attorney Tom Rook

4:18

I live four houses away from sandy’s uh Beach

4:24

bar if you want to call it that and we have two grandchildren and we go

4:32

down there three or four times a week and we love it it’s a beautiful family

4:39

location where you can have hot fudge sundaes hot

4:45

dogs hamburgers french fries and as I said hot front Sundays and our grandchildren love it

4:53

and it’s a beautiful spot it’s family oriented and I would strongly encourage this

5:00

board to approve the transfer the license I think it’s a great opportunity for the

5:06

community um It’s a Wonderful in my opinion it’s a wonderful

5:12

opportunity for the uh residents of Plymouth to enjoy the beach and at the

5:19

same time have some great Seafood and if you have grandchildren or

5:25

children enjoy their food as well

5:31

thank you very much is there anyone opposed

5:36

Madam chair we also have Everett malaguti who has his hand raised Everett you may

5:43

unmute yourself thank you Anthony um everetti chair of the natural

5:50

resources and Coastal beaches committee um I entered in as there was

5:58

um try to be before the meeting started I thought I heard um

6:03

Miss cavaco say that uh two parts of that uh license are being removed for

6:09

tonight for a future meeting yes and those were the

6:16

um entertainment um ones correct correct okay thank you

6:21

so much um I will actually um speak on those during the future

6:27

meeting for that as the committee did have a couple uh questions to ask on

6:32

those so once that comes before I’ll be back in attendance for that thank you great thank you mister

6:39

all right back to the board do we have any questions

6:44

Mr brandisi did you um yeah I just to Mr malagudi’s comments

6:50

we’re more than happy to sit with them in advance of the meeting so that we’re prepared to answer his questions holy

6:57

the next time this um issue comes up great would you would you like to do

7:04

that Mr malagoti it just made him a uh an attendee again

7:12

so um okay

7:18

so now bring it back to the board any discussion

7:23

all those in favor and we’ll do roll call Mr bletzer

7:29

yes Mr Helm yes Mr Mahoney

7:37

and Mr cuanto yes and myself yes it’s unanimous

7:46

on to the next public hearing aquaculture license for Jennifer Tarantino I believe Mr Hunter is

7:54

on our panel and so is Miss Tarantino Hi how are you Hi good

8:02

how are you good uh thank you for the opportunity uh well my husband and I are very excited to have the chance to

8:08

diversify both our growing operations as well as our working operations so this

8:13

will allow us to better manage the tide um and just try to farm in different

8:19

ways from a different area great Mr Hunter

8:26

good evening to the select board um yeah and this is very similar to a few other requests that you guys have

8:32

heard in the uh last month or two um so Jennifer is looking to uh give up

8:38

her site within the aquaculture development Zone and start a new site uh

8:43

over in the segment area and we do support that thank you

8:49

is there anyone else that would like to speak on this

8:55

anyone in favor opposition back to the board any questions for the

9:03

board or to the board or with the board

9:08

of approval Rebecca approval by Mr Mahoney seconded by Mr

9:14

Blitzer it’ll be a roll call vote is there any discussion a roll call Vote

9:19

with Mr Blitzer yes Mr Helm yes Mr Mahoney yes

9:27

and Mr quintal yes myself yes unanimous

9:33

thank you congratulations thank you have a nice night you too

9:39

uh public comment is there anyone for public common as a reminder for any members of the

9:46

public who are on Zoom with us tonight you may click the raised hand icon at

9:51

the bottom of your screen looks like we have one person that would like to speak

9:57

Pat Edelman and I will give her the ability to to um

10:04

able to speak

10:13

Pat you may unmute yourself

10:20

thank you for letting me speak um I just have a comment about the Forum

10:27

last night which I considered um a political Forum because it’s about

10:34

a question on the ballot and I heard Town staff member after town staff

10:43

member say how difficult it would be to accommodate

10:50

um the committee of Precinct chairs or town meeting members and I took offense to that as a town

10:57

meeting member I just um am disappointed that town staff is

11:05

taking a political stand and an election matter

11:11

thank you for listening to me thank you

11:17

anyone else for public comment Madam chair we have Rick veyo and I’m

11:23

going to um bring him into the room here

11:34

Rick you’ll have to confirm on your screen okay Rick you may unmute yourself

11:42

can you hear me yes okay so uh Rick veyo um I I wasn’t

11:47

sure if um the public comment section this would be the only public comment section I I

11:53

was actually going to comment on the outdoor dining vote and Arbor funds coming up uh later

12:00

and everybody wasn’t sure based on the agenda The Way It Was Written if there’d be an opportunity to speak on that or if I should be speaking during public

12:06

comment um we can it’s really either either way

12:12

you’d like if you want to wait uh we usually move

12:17

those administrative notes in a group so you can probably it would probably be

12:27

um it would be okay for you to say Mr Helm hold on um Adam Jerry it is not an

12:32

administrative note these two aspects of this are or agenda items

12:44

they’re after the admin notes right after

12:49

wards oh okay

12:55

yeah Mr Vale if you wouldn’t mind waiting sure no problem great okay

13:01

thank you um next anybody else for public moment

13:08

um if anybody would like to speak during public comment please click the raise hand icon at the top of your screen up

13:15

looks like we just had somebody oh um they keep

13:21

um Irene Caldwell um can promote her to a

13:28

H there you go okay

13:34

one moment

13:49

Irene you are able to unmute yourself at the bottom left-hand corner of your

13:54

screen

13:59

pillow um my name is Irene Caldwell and I’m

14:04

here today um to launch my to State my growing

14:09

concern about the Public’s ability to reach our ponds and beaches and as you

14:15

go through tonight’s meeting to talk about parking fines and parking areas I

14:22

would request strongly of the town that you that you consider the rights of the

14:29

public to reach the beaches as you close places where we can no longer access to

14:35

that concern I’ve gone and spoken to a whole lot of people but I don’t have numbers but I’ll do whatever you want

14:42

that we would like to have a bus that would meet us at at the SIMS house or at

14:49

manomet elementary that would get us down to the public access place on White

14:54

Horse Beach I understand that you’re working to protect the landowners I

14:59

understand you’re working to protect the environment I just think that the public has a right to get to White Horse Beach

15:07

on their own without waiting for a special invitation and if we had public

15:14

places where we were ahead um the gatry bus or something people

15:20

picking people up we would be considered a welcoming Community I don’t know what

15:25

would happen with this but certainly this summer on the six busiest days of

15:31

the Summer where we know that Morton Park is going to reach capacity or

15:36

probably will reach capacity and more and White Horse Beach is going to reach

15:41

capacity if you could enact using the traffic engineer as a person to help you

15:48

that we have a trial run I’ve tried to get to all the Committees but I have not

15:55

been invited to one tried to get to Tidal beaches I’ve pleaded with them to

16:00

please let me come and the only meeting they had was on the one day I said I couldn’t be there and that was the only

16:07

meeting that they had I went to open space committee and on the day I was at

16:14

open space committee they chose not to acquire property that was adjacent to

16:22

Great South Pond that would have been a lovely property for Walkers and hikers

16:28

that go to Pinnacle Hill to sit and have a picnic by the beach but the public

16:34

access was not considered it wasn’t it wasn’t the domain of that committee

16:39

anyway what do I do so you would consider this request of

16:46

public transportation to take people to Morton park on the hot sunny days of

16:53

summer when we know that because of your changes in parking policies is going to

17:00

mean that lots of people can’t get to the beach

17:05

thank you just for a point of information the GATRA buses do go to all

17:12

those areas I know they go by the public entrance about every 30 minutes down on

17:18

White Horse Beach so there is public transportation they for that would that

17:23

be true for Morton Park too I’m not sure but I’m sure we can have

17:29

staff check that out and hedges Pond also again I believe they do go down to

17:36

Hedges Pond I just I’m not sure I know that um the NASA life Beach

17:43

they allow the bus school allows The Parkers at um to

17:50

park at the school and it’s either free or for one dollar you can get down to

17:55

the NASA Beach if we could do something like that to get to Morton Park

18:00

Fresh Pond hedge pun and um White Horse Beach that would be a

18:07

wonderful we could call it the beach run could run every hour or two you don’t

18:12

have to stay there for the whole day we wouldn’t have anybody walking on anybody’s yards I know that the limiting

18:20

factor for all the beaches is how many porta bodies are we going to put in and

18:26

how many uh lifeguards are we going to pay for so that’s the limiting factor

18:31

making the minds of the adjacent a Butters and landowners feel relaxed

18:37

enough to let the public use our beaches would be wonderful Betty how do I follow

18:43

up on this uh hold on a second Mr helm

18:51

um Irene um in terms of using the schools as

18:57

parking areas for people to then access the beach as part of the

19:03

um White Horse Beach parking discussions the school board School District whoever

19:09

was approached and asked if they would allow that and they said no

19:15

I I understand stood that they did say no so I took that to be the final word

19:21

until I heard that NASA beach has the free bus or the one dollar a bus and it

19:28

allows the public to park on the school property so if it works for NASA Beach

19:33

it must seems like it should be across the board that isn’t under our purview so that is

19:41

strictly with the school department and I do know that we have public transportation and I believe that Mr

19:47

brandisi would like to speak I just wanted to add that I know Mr Everett malaguti is having he’s

19:54

convening next Thursday the natural resources and beaches committee

20:00

um at these meetings that they’ve been having they’ve been discussing many of these issues in particular the issues

20:05

surrounding Park and I think would be great if Miss Caldwell attended one of those meetings where she could have her

20:12

concerns vetted out in more detail

20:18

town meeting site so I can time they posted I was already on a

20:24

plane yes Irene I will send you the agenda it’ll be on the um towns website as it

20:32

normally is 48 Hours business hours before the meeting occurs but I will follow up with you Irene after the

20:38

meeting thank you thank you very much I look forward to working because I know

20:43

we all love the town and I know you all work so hard because you love the town so I look forward to seeing how we solve

20:51

this wonderful problem thank you thank you anyone else for public comment Madam

20:58

chair we have Rich Cirque okay Richard you may unmute yourself can

21:06

you hear me now yes we can all right thank you for recognizing me

21:13

um I want to talk briefly about the subject of graffiti

21:19

okay

21:26

uh did we lose Mr Sergey um just give us one second let’s see

21:33

let’s give me one moment we might have lost him for a second

21:44

just one moment please

21:55

rich I apologize for that not sure what happened there

22:01

whoops probably my fault anyway

22:07

um I wanted to briefly talk about the subject of graffiti like most of us I’m troubled by the

22:14

amount of graffiti we see everywhere especially on signs Jersey barriers and

22:20

utility boxes um I’ve forwarded to you a copy of the

22:25

graffiti and litter bylaw that was passed by the town in 2010 I was involved at that time as a member

22:33

of the copc in drafting the bylaw unfortunately I don’t believe that the

22:38

protocols set forth in the bylaw have been utilized frequently

22:44

graffiti on public property is particularly bothersome because its existence suggests that the town is

22:51

perilous to stop it or is indifferent to it and I was thinking about whether a fund

22:58

could be created from private donations that could be used to reward high school students Who removed graffiti from

23:06

public property by paying them to do so and by giving them public recognition

23:12

I sent to you um a copy of the bylaw and a copy

23:19

of a sign at the Northern end of the bike trail and I called it before it’s a picture of

23:25

what the sign looks like with all its markings and I have a I got a product that I got

23:32

from Home Depot and you can apply it with a with a clean cloth and it wipes the graffiti away

23:39

almost as if it was an Etch A Sketch screen that’s that’s a picture before

23:47

and um there’s an after picture as well

23:53

um the this is the type of project that a

24:00

service club or a scout troop might be interested in sponsoring but sponsor such sponsorship isn’t necessary

24:08

um I just wanted to get your thoughts on it I I’m going to be speaking at the committee of Precinct chairs meeting on

24:13

Thursday and I’m also going to be speaking before the school committee next Monday

24:19

but it just seemed to me to be a way of removing a common scourge

24:27

and uh fostering citizenship and uh especially among young people

24:34

and a place to start could be signs of the type that I sent to you so

24:41

I’ll stop speaking now and see whether you have some ideas that could Advance

24:47

this notion

24:52

um well I don’t think I just received it I own Mr Brandy see me have something to say so

25:00

if um we can certainly take a look at it and come up with a plan internally and

25:06

you know be able to communicate that

25:11

Mr brand easy um yeah thank you Mr circuit for raising this I think many of you all have heard

25:18

under my Tommy and reports I’ve often talked about graffiti and vandalism both

25:24

around town and to our public property so um this issue certainly is a

25:29

priority of my own I believe Mr Quinto a couple months back had asked the

25:35

administration to appoint a graffiti task force to look at this very issue

25:40

um we’ve had those conversations internally uh we can certainly work with

25:45

Mr circuit to come up with some um other strategies and creative ways to

25:52

try to remedy this issue but I think we all can agree that uh graffiti does not

25:58

go unnoticed and I um to Mr Stuckey to your question we do all take it

26:03

seriously and I don’t think any of us are indifferent on this issue

26:09

thank you I I believe that that DPW department is now handling a portion

26:19

of it and they get funding through the pggc correct Charlie um for years I was raising my hand about

26:27

yeah when I was on that board I don’t know if it was six eight years

26:32

ago I’m not sure it was a while ago and they started the graffiti task force and

26:40

we I know we donated five thousand dollars and we did it I believe more than once we we fund we funded it here

26:48

so my question is two questions do we still have that task force in any funds

26:53

left in that that uh that uh task force or committee

26:59

uh that was actually handled through um Redevelopment Authority

27:05

uh by that gentleman’s retired you can look into it because I know we

27:11

put funds in there they may have used they might have exhausted the funds be because this problem is so rampant I

27:18

mean it’s but I know if the town requested a ppw I know that you know I’m pretty sure that

27:24

pgdc would would have went out again right while I’m commenting on this issue uh

27:33

that have been known to be doing the graffiti I might I’m not knocking the youth but it’s probably getting them

27:39

involved will be a good thing because they’ll be aware you know of of this problem so I like your idea

27:45

thank you well honestly that it wouldn’t even be something I mean we could have a

27:52

conversation with the school department because I know the Honor Society are always looking for community service

27:57

hours so that would be something we would could certainly entertain Eagle Scouts as well Eagle Scouts are always

28:04

looking for projects yeah I I think that’s all good ideas but

28:10

I also think that you know we have to talk about it because it’s going to be different levels of cleaning sign language it says you you put the gunk on

28:17

the rag and you wipe it off but there’s also some highly ones that involve

28:23

pressure washing or whatever right so yeah

28:29

oh sorry Richard is the union I’m sure that there could

28:36

be issues with the unions I’m not sure about that I I know that signs are

28:42

probably the easiest things to deal with when it comes to masonry and uh and so

28:48

forth then you’re dealing with power washing and so forth but I thought we could at least start with signs

28:55

um the process in the bylaw oh by the way I met with Lee Hartman and he

29:01

indicated that he has a sum something like five thousand dollars which may be the sum of money that Charlie was

29:07

referring to and he also has a limited supply of graffiti remover spray of the

29:14

type that I I took a picture of but it’s in limited quantities but

29:21

um the process in the bud just so everyone is clear

29:27

um a person has to uh notify the the office of Community Development by

29:34

sending them a picture and um and an indication of where the item is

29:41

located and then upon receipt uh notification of the existence of graffiti the office of

29:49

Community Development is authorized to forward it to the DPW to remove the

29:57

graffiti but I just thought that that process is fine but you know there’s so many things

30:03

that the DPW staff has to do it seems to me that

30:08

a citizen effort here especially among the youth where we use a reward system

30:14

to incentivize them would would result in citizen participation and and perhaps

30:21

few people who wanted to tag signs because as we all know the the secret I

30:27

think in fighting graffiti is to remove it promptly so that a person who tags a

30:33

sign doesn’t uh doesn’t walk away with the impression that that’s going to stay on there for

30:39

six months or a year it’s got to be removed quickly Mr Brandy let’s get this on the agenda

30:47

as a docket item um and we could uh maybe look into the

30:52

information that Mr Cirque provided and get some more detail on I don’t know

30:58

forward that’s great absolutely thank you thank you Mr sir thank you

31:06

anyone else um public comment

31:12

as a another reminder please click on the the um the raise hand icon at the

31:18

bottom of your screen if you’d like to make a public comment okay as we move forward we have

31:27

um several licenses and administrative notes do any of the board members have

31:33

any questions or comments on any of them

31:41

I look for a motion to move as a group more of them second

31:48

uh motion by Mr Mahoney seconded by Mr Blitzer on discussion

31:55

all those in favor roll call vote yes that was our main devotion

32:02

oh I’m sorry Mr John did too did John make one nope I

32:08

was all right okay all right sorry I was looking at my sheet I didn’t know who I

32:13

thought it was um roll call vote all those in favor

32:21

mister only yes Mr bletzer yes

32:28

Mr Helm yes and Mr quintal yes myself yes unanimous

32:41

as we move on um proposed outdoor dining fee

32:48

schedule and I believe that’s Mr Brothers

32:54

foreign

33:01

so we’re looking for the board to approve um a new rate fee and we’re looking for

33:08

a change in the current existing one thousand dollar fee to the business owners and we’re looking to go to 2000

33:16

for Renewal businesses and 2500 um for a business that’s a new

33:23

um new to the outdoor dining and then requires a new parclip

33:28

so this follow-up to that will be the next item which is the our Pro request

33:33

but just so the board’s background is um in previous years the arpa was the

33:39

funding source that covered the balance between what the uh business owners paid

33:44

in and what was required to create the parklets so the majority of them are pretty much covered for Supply material

33:50

and that’s why they see the 500 difference requested but if there’s any other follow-up

33:55

questions I’ll be glad to answer them okay are there any questions

34:03

well Mr quintal Brad is there any other projects

34:09

um waiting for approval with apple money and how much Opera money is anything left

34:14

there is money left um Derek chime in if I’m wrong I think we have about 3 million left three to

34:21

four million that’s unallocated technically but we do have a list of items that actually is over 5 million so

34:27

we’re doing a little bit of homework on our end to kind of figure out what we want to go for a final proposal to you guys but I believe that’s in the range

34:33

of the numbers we’re looking at thank you Mr Helm uh yeah I would I would like to

34:42

ask that we remove consideration of these two to the March 28th meeting

34:49

um neither the downtown Merchants Association or the

34:55

um outdoor dining committee are aware of any of these changes or suggestions and

35:02

I feel that it it would be best practice to present to them and then vote on them

35:11

here so Harry there was an email sent out from Chris padeaux

35:16

I think it was either late two weeks ago or early last week that outlined all of this so I don’t know what group it went

35:22

to but there was something that went out to I believe at a minimum the current business owners who used the parklets

35:29

last year no that’s that’s great um but I still maintain that it should

35:35

go through the um the it should be run through not

35:41

because you know we can do what we want to do but I think it’s only fair to run

35:47

it by um the outdoor dining committee and the merchants the downtown Merchants

35:54

um they’re a part of this proposal is the um the removal of flower the flowers of the

36:05

of the Town putting in the flowers and allowing the merchants to put in whatever kind of flowers they want

36:12

um that’s highly problematic um in terms of one of the great things

36:17

that we did that this board did in initializing the outdoor dining committee was we regret we created an

36:26

outdoor dining scenario that was good enough to be covered in the Boston papers in in in in in contrast to what

36:36

was going on in the North End um I think we’d like to maintain that

36:41

um but that whole aspect of it in my mind should be discussed with both of

36:47

those groups uh the outdoor dining because of their experience the downtown Merchants because of their being

36:54

downtown um so anyway that’s I am um asking that we do that but I see that

37:01

Rick Leo’s hand is raised I’ll second that I’ll second Harry’s motion for uh discussion Madam chair

37:08

was there a motion or was it just a comment I was considering his comment emotion it is emotion okay and just hold

37:18

on a second discussion Mr Mahoney oh I’m sorry I’m John go ahead I’m sorry I I

37:25

completely agree with Harry um I think I just heard Brad mention that Mr bedou a while ago might have

37:32

sent out an email I think we have to be more robust than that with respect to reaching out to the all the downtown

37:37

Merchants um you know we have to be in the same room talking to these people and I

37:44

and how do we make the jump from one thousand to two thousand what was the validation there and then you know of

37:49

course the second piece is how does the Apple fund come into the whole thing but I don’t want

37:54

we’ve got to be as open as transparent as possible on this issue and I just want to make sure that nobody is um you

38:00

know the down there on Main Street not understanding what we’re doing here or what what is on the table currently so

38:06

just to add on one comment to that John is that yes in the sheet in the uh in the file folder for you guys for the

38:13

agendas there should have been a sheet in there that outlines all of the costs and last year the cost is for a new

38:19

parklet when you include the flowering and watering is just under fifty nine hundred dollars for the town and then a

38:25

renewal was just under 4 900 so the town was absorbing

38:31

forty eight hundred dollars per new business and thirty eight hundred dollars for every new

38:38

um I shouldn’t say every new for every existing business so that’s what the Arco money covered last year arpa’s

38:44

drying up so the question becomes as we go through and if we talk about this next meeting

38:50

um long term we got to figure out what the solution is for the money so yeah how does it become sustainable long term

38:55

yes and I can understand the sustainability uh question about it but I know that Mr

39:02

Vale um would like to speak on the subject so if the board doesn’t mind I will allow

39:09

Mr Mayo to speak I’m sorry excuse me thank you and while

39:15

I don’t disagree with anything that Mr Helm said in terms of I think you do you

39:21

know need input from the committee in the downtown business owners um Mr bado’s email was very robust and

39:30

detailed everything and the costs and how it was going to work and the fact that Opera funds were drying up and that

39:36

you know the town really doesn’t have um a lot of choice but to increase the

39:41

cost so I think it was um very detailed when that letter went out and I received

39:47

that as well um I talked to um the town manager and you know we’ve had a couple of

39:54

discussions about you know how how do we work around this I mean my feeling is is that

40:00

the selectman the DPW the outdoor dining committee

40:05

um did a phenomenal job last year and transformed outdoor dining in Plymouth

40:11

and made it something that we actually were bringing people to Plymouth for um and and as Mr Helm pointed out it was

40:18

recognized um you know both in in Boston papers and and other resources

40:24

um I think at this point I guess my my biggest uh

40:31

fear is that we slide backwards um obviously the business owners are not

40:36

going to want to spend more money but I think they have to and and I’ll be one of those business owners next year fighting that because we have some you

40:43

know shops opening up and whatnot that we’re going to be looking to do that and I understand the the Dynamics of it but

40:48

I think the fees have to go up there’s no choice in that I think we have an opportunity this year and this year

40:55

alone and what I’m here tonight to ask for is that the board consider increasing the Opera funds

41:02

um by ten thousand dollars uh to cover the cost of the plantings

41:07

and then push back on the business owners to cover watering and deadheading as they they did deadhead flowers last

41:14

year and kept them uh tidied up so to speak um but the town was handling watering

41:20

and watering is a major major expense um well I think partly because it’s on overtime

41:25

um so if the board would see fit to look at increasing the Opera funds by ten

41:31

thousand dollars I think it’s a stop gap for this year then we can reconvene as a committee

41:37

uh along with the town manager and the DPW and hopefully come up with some creative ways of addressing it for next

41:44

year with a long-term goal of obviously having permanent outdoor dining but I think it’s very very important

41:51

um that we do not slide backwards I think the consistency

41:57

um of the flowers the consistency of the color of the flowers were one of the big draws although I think the barricades

42:02

looked nice the flowers were a major drawer and I don’t think that is a good

42:07

idea to leave on individual shop owners um so to Mr Helm’s point of of putting

42:14

this off uh well I don’t agree with the concept I think we are under a little bit of a time constraint here I think

42:20

April 1 has typically been the start date of this I think it might be pushback I’m not entirely sure but

42:28

nonetheless um I think we do need to roll forward on this and if the board you know would

42:34

approve those additional funds I think I think the shop owners or restauranteurers have had a chance to

42:41

give some feedback to Mr bado and the town manager um I don’t know if the town manager

42:47

would you know weigh in on that at all of what feedback I did not personally hear anecdotally a lot of pushback in

42:55

the increased fee although no one likes it I think they recognize the reality of it

43:01

I would agree with that our office did not get any feedback from anyone that we reached out to

43:07

Mr bletzer is the outdoor dining task force uh one

43:15

of the reasons why we put that task force together Harry Helm was judgments

43:20

yeah was due for consistency and I wrote Danny that was one of the famous we wanted consistency and

43:28

and that means if we allow the the each restaurant to to do their own flowers

43:34

different colors gonna go back to what it was when it first started the first

43:39

year it’s gonna it’s not going to look good it’s not going to have the appearance that I think we want for a

43:45

downtown uh the other thing I have to listen to Mr

43:51

Vale who is a Super Bowl but he’s got a big stakeholder in the downtown he also has the air of other stakeholders uh and

44:01

also I don’t anybody in the public comments here they stakeholder businesses down I don’t

44:08

I don’t hear any of them talking against this this increase nobody wants to pay

44:14

okay let’s face it but it’s a reality but I think I think if we can up the

44:21

Apple money to pay for the flowers uh I think it’s a good idea because I want to

44:26

keep that that consistency downtown and to go off to raise the fees we’ve

44:33

been doing outdoor down in there for a few years and the fee hasn’t been raised so and again one more time there’s

44:40

nobody really here on a position of it so I I would be a favor but the last

44:45

thing is I would be in favor of voting on a tonight be April 1st is the stat of

44:51

the outdoor dining and right now certainly you look out the window it doesn’t look like we’re going to have

44:57

too much out to a dining table first but you never know the weather could change and uh that that could change so I would

45:04

be in favor but I want to hear one more time from the town from bread can we

45:11

afford or from there can we afford to to the 10 000 for the Apple money

45:17

yeah we can definitely add on the 10 000 to make it the 3 500 requests before

45:23

before we get into any more conversations and I see you Mr Holm hold on just a second we have we have kind of

45:30

combined two agenda items write this so the first one is whether we are going to

45:38

vote on the fees there’s a vote anticipated on the fees and the second one is the arpa funds and whether we’re

45:47

going to add an additional ten thousand dollars to it so I think that the board has to decide first of all if we’re

45:54

going to vote on those fees this evening um Mr home I don’t know if your opinion

46:00

has changed um whether you want to move forward or however you can only remove yourself

46:06

like yeah but I wanted to wait until you were

46:13

done um I would like to ask Mr brandisi

46:18

is there a problem if we hold off for two weeks and actually hold face-to-face

46:25

meetings with the people who are most affected by this

46:32

I don’t well I mean I think we certainly can be so Monday morning the The

46:37

Business Association will be meeting here at Town Hall uh I had met with Lee having this morning and we had already

46:44

talked about meeting with the association letting them know about the fee increases and giving them a road map

46:51

of how uh what they need to do next year for themselves like for example go seek vsb funding to help subsidize the

46:58

flowers um so that’s in motion but I think to your question Mr Helm you know what we

47:04

hadn’t done is gone back to the the committee the outside dining committee and had this properly vetted either

47:12

and next meeting is March 28th outdoor dining is supposed to begin April 1st

47:18

um you know we definitely would be up against the um the window but you know I think

47:24

honestly I think we can do it I think it’s the proper way to go I think it makes sense to make sure that all of our

47:31

stakeholders are on board before we move forward in any fashion

47:37

quintal I would just like to know next week what

47:44

the plan is go involved with this I brought this up the first year it was implemented then Harry took it over I

47:51

got it up that year and I’m gonna bring it up again in two weeks when when do the people realize that

47:59

this was implemented for covert relief we had a pandemic that’s how this all

48:06

started with the governor it was a certain date and it was to end we we

48:11

meeting in the community the town has increased it uh it’s expensive it looks

48:18

good but you know what if you want to look good you got to pay for it and I

48:23

guess my question is when the Apple money’s gone who’s going to do the paying because I don’t think the

48:29

taxpayers in this community are going to be up for that knowing what we’re going to be facing in the next year

48:35

so I just want you know I hate to be the bad news guy but I like my questions

48:40

answered I mean in the governor’s date I believe

48:47

was whenever it was that’s the end there is no pandemic

48:53

so we’re subsidizing businesses that want to expand outside and now I’m hearing go to the vsb for

49:01

money I sit on the vsb and uh you know it’s going to be a hot

49:06

sell there too if things turn a little bit which I believe they’re going to uh we have enough events and it’s

49:12

supposed to really be heads and beds apocalypse are not heads and beds

49:18

so I mean I don’t not saying to be the bad news guy but at some point

49:24

we gotta stand up and say where’s the money coming from that costs 50 000 where’s the money coming from

49:32

that’s all I have for the next two weeks thank you

49:37

so one of the things that Mr burnedisi I don’t I don’t I know you’re probably not aware of is that a couple of years ago

49:46

um Mr quintal and I had reached out to the Sheriff’s Department and

49:53

um I had an agreement that we would purchase all of our flowers for

50:00

everything that we do from them and they also win as far to say that they would

50:06

save an entire Greenhouse just for the town of Plymouth now I don’t believe

50:14

that um that was followed through on but I know

50:19

where we’re buying flowers and I know the prices that the sheriff department

50:25

charges are quite different so if someone could you know at least

50:33

moving forward now you may not we may not have everything they may not have everything we need but I think someone

50:40

should reach out to them um and find out where we are with prices

50:47

and all that kind of stuff because it was a significant savings when Mr

50:52

quintal and I went through it and I don’t think it was ever followed through

51:00

that’s a great suggestion and I think this is a suggestion for the committee

51:07

um I don’t think it’s appropriate for Town staff to organize the colors of

51:12

flowers or businesses I mean I think the businesses I mean they know how to run a business and the town staff they have to

51:19

get involved in organizing this type of uh event I think is is overreaching to

51:28

be honest with you this is what the committee is for and I think we could go back to the committee we could

51:34

present the costs associated with the town supporting this and if the

51:40

committee decides that you know that they want a certain color and from a certain vendor then I think it would be

51:46

great for them to to go ahead and do that work I mean honestly Town staff and we talked about this last

51:54

night is stretched and we keep adding more and more to their plate and to have

51:59

them start to organize you know this outdoor dining I think is an overreach for town government with the with a

52:06

licensing Authority you know we shouldn’t have to have to determine what color flowers that they’re going to be

52:11

putting out there if the committee wants to decide what color flowers that’ll be in the license agreement we’ll put that

52:17

in the license agreement and it’s up to them to adhere to it like anything else that we do we issue a license or a permit

52:23

actually this was more than this was a even before outdoor dining so it was

52:29

more we understand how much we spend in flowers Brewster Garden I mean

52:36

everything is beautiful but where we’re so budget conscious we have to be able

52:43

to you know get what’s best the best price for the town as we move forward

52:48

and like I said the sheriff’s department has agreed to wholesale things and and I

52:55

think in that aspect we need follow-up yeah I agree I think that’s a great idea

53:00

you know all the flowers that our parks department has uses on an annual basis I’m happy to ask Nick faella to reach

53:07

out and see if there’s cost savings um for our taxpayers so that they don’t have to overpay for the files that we

53:14

use in our different box I’m happy to do that my point was for us to organize flowers for restaurants I think is an

53:19

open right government no I I agree thank you though okay so we’re gonna move the fee

53:27

schedule vote to the 28th and we’ll have all the answers that Mr quinto’s looking

53:33

for and any others but uh I believe that

53:38

there is or I’d like to make a motion to add the ten thousand dollars as Mr vayo

53:46

suggested to the arbor funds for outdoor dining for this year for the flowers and

53:53

whatever else they need Mr Mahoney

53:59

so Madam chair there’s a motion and a second on the floor are you like making

54:04

a motion to amend what we’re currently discussing just yes

54:10

well we’re amending we’re saying that the vote for the fee schedule is being

54:17

moved to the 28th correct correct yeah we haven’t voted on that yet no okay do

54:23

you want to withdraw your vote Mr home or amend

54:33

to move the discussion of the outdoor proposed outdoor dining fee schedule

54:40

to March 28th okay and it was seconded by you Mr Mahoney

54:47

correct correct we could take a vote on that and then address the subsequent motion okay can I finish I’m sorry I

54:53

apologize I know I’m a little raspy in the voice but

54:59

um so we have a motion in a second to move it to the 28th discussion

55:07

roll call the Mr Helm yes Mr bletza

55:14

yes Mr Mahoney yes and Mr quintal yes and

55:21

myself yes that’s unanimous so now the second motion is to

55:28

use 10 000 additional dollars of arpa funds as presented by Mr Veo

55:38

do we have a second I’ll second that and

55:44

it was my motion seconded by Mr bletzer discussion

55:49

Mr Helm ET okay I agree with this idea

55:54

um and the reason I agree with it is that we do have to act expeditiously

56:02

and the um but at some point and Mr quintal

56:11

um refers to it in this coming year you know after this April 1st goes into

56:18

place we are going to have to discuss how is this viable moving forward and if

56:24

if we even want to continue doing this and how do we make it viable moving forward in the meantime

56:31

um Mr Veo is real is very correct that with arpa funds we could we will still

56:38

forget this last year have control over the flowers that are placed and he is

56:45

correct one of the exemplary aspects of our outdoor dining was how amazing it

56:53

looked um and how consistent it looked and how it really you know for those residents

57:01

of Plymouth and visitors that it mattered to um it looked great and I’d like to I I

57:07

think it’s important to continue that but then in the next year figure out how do we make this whole thing viable if we

57:14

even move forward with it okay Mr Bulletin I’m uh Harry absolutely

57:21

agree you just said uh I couldn’t have said it better so and Dicky you I know

57:26

you uh you feel the same way but we’ll have to look at this for next

57:31

year and see it uh and everybody has to prepare that you know that eventually

57:37

we’re not going to be able to fund it through Opera so anyway thanks

57:42

man all right so yes yeah exactly it’s not that I’m against it at all in any

57:48

way it’s just that I don’t think we the night that is scheduled for fees and

57:54

how it’s going to roll out should be continued because we don’t have the plan this stuff should be done before it’s an

58:01

agenda item and you know and I’m not saying somebody didn’t get it or somebody didn’t get it but I think

58:07

number one the first thing we gotta figure out that the committee has to figure out is how they’re going to fund

58:13

it and get it to us and uh get it to a board uh in ample time to get it figured

58:19

out because there was there isn’t going to be any Apple money so I mean I guess that’s what I’m trying to say not that I’m against it but you

58:26

know you got to face reality there’s all the things to look at uh the rate we charge at the vsb maybe

58:32

we look at that it’s been a long time since we looked at that and and that home will petition and you know maybe it

58:39

needs to be changed a little bit there’d be some more money for different things and you know but something’s got to be

58:45

done other than Apple funds that’s all so thank you thank you so we have a motion and a

58:53

second um we have a vote all those in favor roll call vote

58:58

Mr Helm yes Mr Mahoney yes Mr Blitzer yes and Mr

59:07

quintal yes and myself yes it’s unanimous so that gives an extra ten

59:13

thousand dollars in Opera funds for the flowers and everything

59:20

thank you all right the next order of business is we have an msba statement of interest

59:28

for hedge in Cold Spring and I believe Mr Kimball is here

59:37

yes thank you oh I can’t say it well there is good evening everyone thank you very

59:42

much uh it’s great to join you and thank you for this opportunity to speak before you um as uh chair cavako said I’m here

59:50

to seek the board’s authorization to submit to the math School building authority uh statement of Interest form

59:56

for both hedge and Cold Spring Elementary Schools but before um I think that I’d like to First sort

1:00:03

of set the stage if I could by sharing my screen and and sort of talking about the work that led up to this uh request

1:00:10

coming before you so if you give me one moment

1:00:16

can you see my screen now yes yes

1:00:21

thank you so beginning July of 22 this year uh the school requested the

1:00:27

services of ai3 Architects to assess the existing conditions of our eight elementary schools specifically so this

1:00:34

study aimed to collect information that would support the submission of a

1:00:39

statement of interest to the msba so we had already gathered demographic and population Trends uh through our

1:00:46

redistricting exercises as well as procured a physical building assessment uh in July of 21 uh through beerus

1:00:54

Veritas so ai3’s Focus was to analyze our eight elementary schools from an

1:01:01

educational delivery perspective which msba is also concerned about including

1:01:06

programs that are included the distribution and the size of our schools so the goal of their work was to provide

1:01:13

us with information required to inform a clear and concise statement of interest

1:01:18

for submission to msba if to determined appropriate to do so through that process so take into consideration the

1:01:25

physical building assessment that this was previously done as well as the educational assessment which they

1:01:31

focused on so there are two components of an educational facility assessment the

1:01:36

first being the physical assessment again reviewing the Integrity of our building sites again in July of 21 we

1:01:43

had that work done really to break down exactly what our buildings would need over for the foreseeable future to help

1:01:50

us with any Capital requests or capital projects or even smaller projects that we would uh need to prioritize for the

1:01:57

foreseeable future and as I’ve said since assuming my role as superintendent we have many facility

1:02:03

Improvement needs particularly at the elementary level um you know while we’re very fortunate to have two beautiful high schools our

1:02:10

eight elementary schools are older as you know uh four four of our newer schools are approaching 50 years old

1:02:16

well two or seven years old and two or over 100 years old so in addition uh not

1:02:22

all of our schools are strategically placed as you know across town some of the buildings are a mile to in a mile

1:02:27

and a half apart but we recognize that you know not all of our facility

1:02:33

improvements needs can be met through Capital um so we’ve tried to utilize Ester funds

1:02:39

as well for many of those needs when when possible trying to be very strategic about that and speaking of

1:02:45

Grants if I may just briefly I just want to quickly share a wonderful Grand opportunity that we’ve collaborated with

1:02:52

the town through renew America’s School grant program through our facilities Department has been working on a concept paper with

1:02:58

Tiffany Park and Mark reel it’s been great to collaborate with them to pursue funding through the renew America School

1:03:04

grant for significant Energy Efficiency and climate resiliency upgrades to Plymouth South Elementary School which

1:03:11

needs a lot of work um specifically this grant could would seek us

1:03:16

14.7 million dollars in Grant funds to undertake a very ambitious upgrade to

1:03:22

the to that particular uh property including a geothermal heating system

1:03:28

cooling system installing a new roof roof upgrades solar replacing the

1:03:34

building envelope Windows you name it um so we’ll be discussing that

1:03:40

um actually next this Thursday with the town a little bit further so just to give you a sense of this because it’s an

1:03:46

exciting project which I actually wanted to share with you uh this chart shows you the quarterly estimate energy

1:03:53

consumption and cost at South Elementary and and this this project would make us

1:03:59

you know energy neutral um at this property so Not only would it be a good you know Savings of thousands

1:04:06

upon thousands of dollars every year um but it would also bring a possibility of a shelter in the South part of town

1:04:13

which could be utilized for South Plymouth as well as the upper Cape so you know we’ve moved on we’ve been moved

1:04:19

on to the encourage phase which requires additional work uh we’ll be working with uh the town as I said but there is some

1:04:27

hot share pieces here but the potential to bring over 14.7 million dollars uh

1:04:34

for that property and again the savings is just significant uh this is just a list of

1:04:40

those um construction possibilities that would be included in that as I mentioned the

1:04:45

windows the window replacements complete Ada upgrades solar mechanical systems

1:04:51

it’s it’s a very exciting project and it’s been great to work with Tiffany and Mark uh along with that facilities

1:04:58

department but I want to get back to um why we’re here while I’m here um the existing condition study that we

1:05:04

did so you know the success of school structures you know from a learning

1:05:10

perspective was evaluated by ai3 here are some of the assessments they look at

1:05:16

um Aid of the elementary schools were analyzed for the educational equity and the opportunities through the lens of

1:05:22

the heightened design patterns noted on this slide um

1:05:27

so when looking at buildings for 21st Century Learning a critical element of

1:05:32

an education program is whether the learning spaces are appropriate for 21st Century Learning as you you may have

1:05:39

heard me say before when we were going through a redistricting exercise we have some significant concerns about some of

1:05:46

our spaces particularly at our older Elementary School hedge Elementary School um while the population is is just over

1:05:54

200 the physical layout is very challenging for the demographics and the supports that we need to provide our

1:06:00

students there so each space is um has a recommended size as the as MSB

1:06:07

is um ai3 evaluates that they take into consideration msba standards

1:06:12

so a space too small would be overcrowded a space too large uh would would require more maintenance than

1:06:18

necessary so they evaluate it for for you know the 21st Century Learning environments

1:06:23

um when determining what would be feasible in the terms of msba standards

1:06:29

um so over the years out of necessity speaking of you know Cold Spring and hedge

1:06:35

um as well as other buildings we’ve had to repurpose reinvent reconfigure expand and divide our schools in very creative

1:06:41

ways as programs came in as classrooms were set up um and despite our best efforts and in

1:06:47

some of our schools particularly um they you know trying to offer a

1:06:52

modern Elementary School within the confines of our existing conditions in certain buildings such as Cold Spring

1:06:59

and hedge are very very challenging as was noted through this assessment by ai3

1:07:05

so just to sort of summarize their executive summary uh for the public and for you you can see this the most

1:07:11

significant educational facility challenge facing the public school system is the severe overcrowded and

1:07:17

lack of an appropriate 21st century Elementary School environment for two of the facilities Cold Spring Elementary

1:07:23

and hedge Elementary the lack of appropriately sized classrooms and educational supports cases combined with

1:07:29

age Buildings systems and components creates a very challenging environment that is grossly inefficient when

1:07:35

compared to numerous districts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts so and there you can see some of the

1:07:41

educational deficiency deficiencies and the physical building deficiencies that were noted in that report from ai3

1:07:54

so both Cold Spring Elementary School and hedge Elementary School were identified through this process to

1:08:00

consider replacement these existing schools as I said do not meet 21st

1:08:05

century educational standards and the physical constraints of the existing

1:08:10

buildings are an impediment to maximizing the educational possibilities

1:08:15

for the students in those buildings so it’s part of the space deficiency

1:08:23

analysis they also reviewed the properties associated with their eight elementary schools and they in addition

1:08:30

five other Parcels in the town were reviewed by ai3 they looked at site

1:08:36

constraints um you know and some of them are they’re listed here on the slide for you to see

1:08:43

um they were generally utilizing aerial information available from match GIS there’s no site work or surveying

1:08:50

conducted at this at this point through ai3 it was an exercise intended only to

1:08:55

begin identifying the buildable area on each of the parcels these diagrams were in that are in that

1:09:03

report that was shared with you were intended to assist the district in determining if construction a

1:09:08

construction project is viable for the existing schools and whether in addition

1:09:14

renovation or new construction would be appropriate on the site in the town

1:09:20

either on the school property or someplace else so what was determined is

1:09:27

that Cold Spring would be a viable build for a new school but both buildings were

1:09:34

recommended for new construction so um this evening I am requesting that the

1:09:42

select board uh prior to the SOI submission closing date which is in April authorize me as superintendent to

1:09:49

submit to the math School building authority the statement of Interest form for both hedge and Cold Spring

1:09:56

Elementary Schools while we have no intention of seeking two elementary schools in the north part of town or

1:10:02

north Plymouth you know we’re seeking we would seek one um ultimately we have consulted with the

1:10:08

msba and the statement of Interest would need to be submitted for both schools and they would determine that through

1:10:16

the process if we were elected to enter that phase um so I’m happy at this time to answer

1:10:25

any questions that you may have does the board have any questions Mr

1:10:31

Mahoney uh Chris thanks for coming in tonight do you have a copy of the report or the

1:10:37

study that day I3 did is that something then yeah because it was it was sent to share with you

1:10:43

um last week okay I don’t remember seeing

1:10:49

um Anthony you sent that okay all right I’ll great how long was

1:10:57

the report I’m looking forward to reading that it’s um it well it’s about a hundred slides plus or minus a few

1:11:04

pages but it’s not dense Mr Money okay and how many how many other options did it look at

1:11:11

did it did it incorporate like West Elementary into this or was it just strictly the Cold Spring and hedge they

1:11:17

they they really focused on Cold Spring and hedge but they looked at all the properties they looked at all the

1:11:22

properties all the eight elementary schools but in terms of you know

1:11:28

um looking at our existing conditions study which we um excuse me the the facilities

1:11:33

assessment that we did in July of 21 looking at the age of the buildings the constraints of those they felt that

1:11:39

those were the most viable to pursue with the msba at this point

1:11:45

okay back to I didn’t see the South Elementary

1:11:50

conversation coming in here tonight so that was very interesting you guys are chasing what department of energy a 14

1:11:57

million dollar granting Department of energy Grant yes all right so overall a 20 to 22 million

1:12:02

dollar project down there at South Elementary and is South still the most populous Elementary School in this

1:12:08

community it is it’s over 600 students about 620 to be precise and it’s safe to

1:12:14

say that the location still works and it still work for decades correct yes the

1:12:20

location certainly I would not recommend uh yes the location does work Mr Mahoney

1:12:26

for that school you know where we find you know we have in Indian Brook is another location which um is sort of

1:12:33

closer to the management side but is close to manomet elementary school we have 25 acres of land

1:12:40

um at Indian Brook um you know down the road if there was ever an expansion project needed for

1:12:45

South Plymouth um that would be a viable space as well I know prior to me coming here 15 years

1:12:51

ago I believe when the high school when they were looking at the high school projects I believe that was a potential site uh for high school when they were

1:12:58

looking at whether or not they wanted to build one two or three high schools in in the town of Plymouth so there is land

1:13:06

there um buildable land expandable land but South Elementary is large enough

1:13:12

certainly I don’t think we’d want a bigger facility but this that project

1:13:18

that Grant would be very exciting for the town of Plymouth and certainly for the school department um an HVAC system that you know is five

1:13:26

million dollars alone for that for that site so when you look at the list on the

1:13:31

South Elementary project you’re talking about HVAC geothermal I saw windows and I saw a roof so if you invest that 20 to

1:13:38

22 million dollars and sell does that get you a life extension of at least 20 years

1:13:46

oh okay so there’ll be no modernization needed in that school for 20 to 30 years

1:13:52

God willing yeah there may be some basic maintenance too like flooring or things of that nature but the significant costs

1:13:59

I think that would that is a that’s a very exciting project that would um really extend the life of that

1:14:06

building for the foreseeable future and also provide you with that 21st Century

1:14:11

educational atmosphere yes that space that space there is is uh

1:14:18

certainly better than the hedging Cold Spring and it would provide us that yes okay and where would the the seven

1:14:24

million dollar of the community match where would that come from that that that is yet to be determined as

1:14:30

something that we wouldn’t need to have some conversations about and and how much you know over time you know how

1:14:37

many years are we looking at and where that money would come from okay so I

1:14:43

look forward to hearing the rest of my uh colleagues on the board talk about this one but obviously long overdue and

1:14:49

I’ll support any um boat needed to move the process forward on the edge and Cold Spring initiative

1:14:57

there’s no time frame on that yet correct correct this is there’s no commitment by

1:15:02

doing this it’s just allowing us to get into um before the msba to be considered but

1:15:09

we have to submit by mid-april um the statement of Interest with all of

1:15:15

the necessary information that msba would need to be considered okay thanks Chris you’re welcome thank you

1:15:22

any other questions from board members I’d look for a mosa for both hedge and

1:15:29

Cold Spring Madam chair um they the schools would like to

1:15:35

request that the emotionally separate thank you yes and there’s specifically I’m sorry if I may there’s specific

1:15:41

language that needs to be it within the motion which was included um which is very specific

1:15:48

um that the msba would would require school committee voted on this week two

1:15:54

meetings ago and read the the both both motions uh verbatim as well

1:15:59

they are in the agenda packet okay

1:16:07

someone like to make the first motion for hedge Elementary move approval on Hedge

1:16:14

as has this as um stated in the agenda

1:16:21

correct yes Madam chair do we have a second

1:16:30

I’ll second evolution discussion

1:16:36

all right Betty I was trying to second that and it was muted that’s okay

1:16:42

is there any discussion okay all those in favor roll call vote

1:16:48

it’s just a home yes Mr Mahoney yes

1:16:54

Mr Blitzer yes and Mr quintal yes and myself yes

1:17:01

unanimous okay the next vote the next vote is for Cold Spring

1:17:07

Elementary same uh not the same language but uh

1:17:13

emotion a move approval that we approve the language that’s provided in our package

1:17:20

with respect to Cold Spring Elementary that can motion by Mr Mahoney seconded by Mr Helm

1:17:27

discussion okay roll call vote Mr Helm yes

1:17:36

Mr Mahoney yes Mr Blitzer yes and Mr quintal yes and

1:17:44

myself yes unanimous on that as well thank you thank you very much really

1:17:50

appreciate your time and your support no problem

1:17:55

okay next is the public hearing for the beach sticker parking area finds

1:18:03

and I don’t know is that Derek I’ll take this one Brad yeah I think this one so

1:18:09

as you guys know back in the ball count meeting the home rule petition was um approved and it was sent to the state

1:18:15

legislature State Legislature approved it on January 4th of 2023

1:18:21

um in the home rule petition it gave the town the ability to charge 150 up to 21 days for a parking ticket

1:18:28

um 150 excuse me 150 for up to 21 days between 21

1:18:33

okay excuse me again between 22 and 42 um it was the fee was 200 and if the fee

1:18:41

was not paid after the 42nd day it was we’re able to adjust it to 250 so what

1:18:46

we’re requesting for you guys this year um in terms of parking districts is not to that full extent because if you

1:18:52

remember a lot of the public comment and perception at town meeting was that that was too high so we felt it will meet

1:18:58

somewhere in the middle so we’re requesting from you tonight is to approve the parking fine of a hundred dollars if paid within 21 days 125

1:19:07

dollars if paid between day 22 and 42 and on day 42 the citation gets sent to

1:19:14

the registrar and um that would require 150 after that 42nd day

1:19:22

and we worked on this with the police chief as well the town manager’s office and the police chief and we felt this was a fair compromise

1:19:29

um for this parking year in park Plymouth too correct

1:19:39

Charlie

1:19:44

you’re muted foreign

1:19:54

how’s that that’s better okay sorry

1:19:59

anyway I just want to clarify on that 150 it was is the most it’ll be it’s the

1:20:05

100 uh is the ticket 25 penalty and just so folks know that

1:20:13

25 wanted to come back at the registry that that’s a fee to the registry so the

1:20:20

town’s not getting that fee just so everybody knows this okay that that’s the we we have once that’s marked we

1:20:28

have to pay the uh registry that money into the town so I believe right that’s

1:20:34

how it works for everyone correct yeah okay I just want to want everybody to

1:20:40

know this thank you okay we did receive a letter from one of the parking committee members from uh

1:20:47

White Horse Beach and uh it says uh dear chairman kovacco and select board

1:20:53

members I am unable to zoom in tonight at parking hearing beach sticker program

1:20:59

area finds as a member of the parking committee and fully support the rate increase for parking here in the White

1:21:06

Horse Beach District over the last two years unfortunately the fifty dollar fines are insufficient it needs to be

1:21:13

increased I would like to thank you in support of the home rule petition sent to the legislator to help in this matter

1:21:20

Alice Baker so and is there any further discussion

1:21:27

amongst the board Mr helm just a question is

1:21:35

um Alice did not mention a specific amount of the increase was the proposed in Brad the town

1:21:44

manager’s office proposed increase that was run by the police department at all

1:21:50

was that run by um The manomet Village steering committee because I believe that’s the

1:21:58

letterhead that this comes in under and also uh the parking committee was the

1:22:04

actual amount run by it so I could say we did not we were not in

1:22:09

contact directly with the management steering committee um it wasn’t from it wasn’t from the

1:22:15

steering committee it was her as part of the um parking committee

1:22:22

I believe but I believe that in her signature

1:22:27

it mentions The manomet Village steering committee it does not okay what is it

1:22:33

mentions the parking committee okay yes and the only direct contact we

1:22:39

had was with Park Plymouth I’m not aware of us having any other Outreach

1:22:44

ready well I think go ahead I’m sorry Betty uh everybody has a stand-up after I don’t know if you

1:22:51

see that okay um Mr malagudi

1:22:56

and then his Bostick thank you ever Melody chair of Natural Resources committee

1:23:04

uh this afternoon we had a meeting to discuss on this topic and the committee

1:23:10

voted unanimously uh to support the the schedule as stated tonight uh the

1:23:17

committee did have a little hesitation in the beginning but based upon what we were

1:23:23

looking at for people avoiding um the actual rules and regulations for

1:23:29

the area by just parking and saying oh we can just uh divvy up the amount with

1:23:35

the friends and people that are within the car to reduce the cost and this is a

1:23:40

prudent approach that the committee thought would help to act as a deterrent

1:23:47

um stating that if you do this you’re gonna get slapped with 100 fine and the fine could still be used as

1:23:58

um to divvy up but I think people are going to think more about

1:24:03

um trying to give it up with a larger amount than if it was just a pittance amount like it was before so I just

1:24:10

wanted to reinstate the committee did fully support um this proposal as brought before the

1:24:16

uh as brought before the board tonight thank you Mr malagudi

1:24:23

any other comments Madam chair we had uh first Christine

1:24:29

bostack that’s a member of the public and then Irene Caldwell as a member of the public and I think I saw Charlie Mr

1:24:36

blitzer’s Hand as well okay um Charlie is it do you want me to take

1:24:42

them I want to say before they comment just uh because this may be helpful is that

1:24:49

this is not a money grab by either the town or the pgdc first of all the PDD

1:24:55

does not make money off of this did the money that the administrative fee

1:25:00

for process tickets and this is the the we’re raising this

1:25:06

to stop people from infringing on people’s private properties okay that’s

1:25:12

been a problem and that’s why we’re doing this if everybody packs legal there’s no fines there’s no nobody has

1:25:18

to pay anything okay so it’s not we’re not trying to tax

1:25:24

uh law by law-abiding citizens of Plymouth we’re not trying to do this

1:25:30

thank you thank you um Miss boster

1:25:37

you have to unmute there you go okay I just did good evening everybody my name

1:25:42

is Christine Bostic and I live on Taylor Ave um I have been many times the victim of

1:25:49

illegal parking where people pull into your car into your yard they slam the

1:25:55

door shut and they run to the beach you try to find out who they are and they just disappear somewhere

1:26:01

um I believe in this hundred dollar fine I think it uh might waken people up a

1:26:06

little bit um I am also the president of the Sands of White Horse Beach Association and

1:26:13

that has been a strong proponent of raising the fees for the parking

1:26:21

um if there’s anything else that the Sands of whiteboard speech can do to help the community we will do that

1:26:28

um that’s about all and always yes I’d like to Second what Alice Baker did State also thank you

1:26:35

thank you I’m not miss Caldwell

1:26:43

Miss Caldwell you will have to unmute yourself yeah okay

1:26:49

um I understand Christine’s problem with

1:26:56

living on Taylor Avenue the problem is is that the public doesn’t have a legal

1:27:01

place to park and no we don’t provide any way for them to get to the beach it

1:27:07

becomes a private beach and it’s not a private beach it’s a town of Plymouth

1:27:12

Beach just like grade South Pond was a Plymouth Beach sorry

1:27:20

I don’t know what to do isn’t this about normal anyway

1:27:25

if we don’t have planning about what to do with the people then all of these

1:27:31

speeches become private beaches because the public doesn’t have a way to get down there and like

1:27:38

um and I would have liked to have discussed I would have liked to have had the public represented at any of these

1:27:44

meetings thank you thank you

1:27:50

anyone else excuse me may I say one more thing please um I don’t know where the hand is I

1:27:57

think it disappeared the one thing I’d like to explain to Ms Caldwell is a lot

1:28:02

of White Horse Beach is land Court property the town doesn’t own the entire

1:28:08

park and the people that live on Priscilla Beach that’s also private and

1:28:14

the people assumed that all of that including uh Priscilla Beach is Town

1:28:21

property when it is not thank you

1:28:27

thank you yes my apologies uh we have Jenny Davis

1:28:33

as well who would like to speak yes yes I just want to respond to Mrs Miss

1:28:40

Caldwell’s remarks about the public being um part of it and this was

1:28:46

um in several select board meetings I know there were long long discussions about this and even in town meeting when

1:28:54

uh the home rule petition came up there was a lot of discussion and um

1:29:01

I just think we have to think of both sides both the public and the private

1:29:06

and we all need to have respect for each other so I think the town’s really really done their homework here and

1:29:14

um it’s never perfect but it’s a good start thank you thank you Miss Davis

1:29:21

okay um back to the board is there a motion

1:29:28

oh I will make the motion to approve the fee structure as stated

1:29:36

is there a second motion by Mr blesser seconded by Mr

1:29:42

Mahoney discussion all those in favor roll call vote Mr

1:29:48

helm yes Mr Mahoney yes

1:29:54

Mr Blitzer yes Mr quintal

1:29:59

you have to unmute Mr quintal sorry yes and myself yes it’s unanimous

1:30:07

thank you um just so pack TV knows that Comcast is

1:30:15

completely blacked out and I’m getting messages that they can’t see what’s going on if you’re a Comcast viewer and

1:30:23

it’s in and out so I know there was issues last night as well Mr Helm I’ve heard if you’ve heard

1:30:30

Comcast I’ve also heard Verizon okay so it would seem that our entire feed to uh

1:30:37

the PAC TV channel is down for both Comcast Android

1:30:44

okay well there are 60 mile an hour winds so I guess that has something to do with it

1:30:50

all right the next order of business is community preservation

1:30:57

committee presentation for Hedges Pond the fisherman Shanty and the Comfort

1:31:04

station one moment please

1:31:12

and this is no longer than 10 minutes

1:31:36

looks like there’s two um oh there we go

1:31:45

there’s two Miss Bill call hands

1:31:51

looks like the one is he the one bill Cohan there’s another one in the present

1:31:57

attendee assuming it’s another cone or some kind um bill can you unmute yourself

1:32:03

can you hear me yes we can yes okay

1:32:09

can you hear me yes okay let’s go ahead sorry about that I’m having a little technical difficulty my power’s been

1:32:16

going on and off and um the PowerPoint that we had I am on

1:32:21

another computer because the other computer is is not reliable right now um but um uh the community preservation

1:32:28

committee tonight is responding to a a a request uh by uh the town manager uh to

1:32:37

speak to the board of Selectmen about uh the fisherman shanties these various

1:32:45

buildings so we’re here to answer those questions um the best I can provide the committee

1:32:51

at this point is that the community preservation committee has met and has discussed uh the buildings at Hedges

1:32:58

Pond we understand and there’s also a site visit to this location to talk

1:33:03

about uh the future of the infrastructure there uh and uh it has been determined by the town that the

1:33:09

same related issues they’re moving ahead to take down some of these buildings uh the community president committee has

1:33:15

offered uh to do a structural uh survey of the infrastructure at Hedges Pond

1:33:22

that structural survey uh would give uh the community insight into their current

1:33:29

conditions uh that could be then given to an independent cost estimator to

1:33:35

determine uh what it would be to stabilize uh these

1:33:41

resources to give us the opportunity to talk at greater length of where we want

1:33:48

to go with Hedges Pond really Hedges Pond phase two where after 10 years of

1:33:54

running a park in a day camp program uh what do we want to see what improvements

1:33:59

do we want to make it Hedges Pond I know that the community preservation is eager for that discussion to happen and we’re

1:34:05

willing to work with any border committee that will wants to facilitate

1:34:11

that discussion but for the time being the committee has voted to set aside these monies I have been trying to and I

1:34:17

and I did have a conversation briefly with the town manager in passing yesterday about access to Hedges ponds

1:34:23

so that we could get the structural engineer in to do an assessment of the situation and I’ve been given some

1:34:29

direction on um uh how to pursue that in which we will uh that is where we are with Hedges

1:34:37

Pond when it comes to the fisherman shanties uh this is uh something that the community preservation committee has

1:34:43

been aware of for a number of years uh we have been at different times in contact with different family members uh

1:34:50

that actually held the lease on the property for nearly 70 years the town of Plymouth had a lease for 70 years the

1:34:57

town owns the land that the fisherman’s shanties sit on um and uh the buildings themselves were

1:35:04

there nearly 70 over 70 years ago and have remained on that site during that

1:35:09

period of time the families that had secured the leases uh were fishermen or

1:35:16

Hughes who used these buildings uh for those activities um

1:35:21

um as the fishermen uh you know we’re no longer using these buildings

1:35:27

um these buildings actually started to be cared for by the department of public work during the 1990s the Department of

1:35:33

Public Works and some of its employees would go to the fisherman shanties and keep them in order uh and uh but then as

1:35:41

time passed in the early 2000s it was clear that there was no one taking care of the fisherman shanties the families

1:35:47

uh were no longer using the buildings the there wasn’t any uh any attention

1:35:53

given to the buildings and there was a sign put on the buildings for the removal and demolish that caused quite a

1:36:00

bit of community out uh outcry uh to find a solution to saving the fisherman

1:36:06

Sanchez and that’s how the CPC came in contact with these family members uh looking for an opportunity uh to uh

1:36:14

discuss uh possible saving of those buildings the CPC took an application uh

1:36:19

with an application the building became eligible for funding for emergency stabilization which we did work towards

1:36:26

boarding the buildings up and securing them but we did reach an impasse uh with

1:36:31

the town at that time and the applications never moved forward all we could do was take care of the buildings

1:36:38

as they stood over the years uh there’s been some attempts uh to keep

1:36:45

doors and windows secured uh in the spring of 2000 uh there was one of the

1:36:52

buildings was burnt down the CPC used its admin money to bring people in to

1:36:59

determine uh What uh they could do as a result of this fire there were of the

1:37:06

material that was remaining there was a survey done of that material so we could at least document uh the building that

1:37:15

had been on that site uh before we had the material taken away uh what has remained on that site is a footprint for

1:37:22

its pre-existing non-conforming use to determine what would be next to happen at that site but that was nearly uh

1:37:29

three years ago now uh and the committee still uh is interested in uh pursuing a

1:37:36

preservation plan for these buildings uh we feel that they’re incredibly important to our community uh their

1:37:43

visual uh uh uh their their Vista it’s uh as you drive through this part of

1:37:49

Plymouth uh they’re associated with this location they’re a part of our history uh they’ve been determined there has

1:37:55

been historical surveys and assessments of the buildings they have been identified as a historical resource

1:38:01

we’re very interested in working uh with the town to see what we could do to

1:38:08

um uh continue to stabilize these buildings but over the years the CPC has gone in with its administrative funds and they

1:38:15

have done significant stabilization work uh to this uh little white building that

1:38:20

remains the building out back um is uh was utilized as a cooling

1:38:26

refrigerated uh condition and and that does not remain in the condition that uh

1:38:32

uh is uh likely uh to continue in that location but we ought very concerned

1:38:37

with the remaining fisherman Shanty the white little building on the main road the committee did meet and discuss this

1:38:43

recently and voted to continue with a historical structural survey on the

1:38:48

building to determine what its current condition is and what it might cost to stabilize the building

1:38:54

um that’s where we are with the fisherman shanty and finally at Stevens Field it was

1:39:00

determined by the town that the little uh building that is located at Stevens Field built around the 1920s during the

1:39:07

tricentennial uh position somewhere around Memorial Hall for the uh people

1:39:13

that were visiting Plymouth 100 years ago uh was eventually in the 1920s moved to Stevens Field and at different times

1:39:19

used as a comfort station used by the school department in the athletic program at the time when it was a high

1:39:25

school football field uh the little building has a long history but in 1979 it became a storage building when they

1:39:32

built a comfort station in the concession stand at Stevens Field it is the determination of the town that that

1:39:38

building has to come down uh the Stevensville planning and design committee met and concurred the

1:39:43

historical commission took up the matter under the demolition delay bylaw they determined that they looked at the

1:39:49

Historical documentation relevant to the building and determined that there was not going to be a delay the building is

1:39:55

going to be taken down so that’s pretty much we had offered to do a assessment

1:40:02

on the greatest the greatest concern the town had for that little building and

1:40:07

that was uh the original plan presented to town meeting called for the building to be repurposed as a storage building

1:40:14

on site the town felt as if that might be cost prohibitive we opted to revisit

1:40:20

those estimates that we presented to town meeting but it has been the determination uh to move forward and I

1:40:27

think the priority with many people is to see that the Stevensville planning and design excuse me the Stevens Field

1:40:33

uh project go out to bid as soon as possible I think after waiting for now nine years for this to go out to bid I

1:40:40

think we’re all eager to see it Go to Bid And I think that’s what uh the final conclusion at that location our

1:40:47

attention now has been solely turned to the fisherman shanties in the infrastructure at Hedges Pond and we’re

1:40:53

looking forward to working with the town uh to do what we can to stabilize these resources but the community preservation

1:41:00

committee recognizes that next 20 minutes

1:41:05

uh the community preservation committee does recognize that these buildings are owned by the town and the town has uh

1:41:13

obviously uh has the right and and uh to take the buildings down uh and uh that’s

1:41:20

uh that’s CPC is not uh going to uh you

1:41:25

know um uh challenge that that’s uh that’s kind of a reality that we uh all

1:41:31

recognize that this infrastructure is owned by the town and controlled by the town and maintained by the town we as a

1:41:38

committee are uh reaching out to the town is in in offering to work with them

1:41:44

to at least collect information so that when we do make a decision what to do with this infrastructure that it’s based

1:41:51

on compiling this information uh so we’re um you know we’re standing by to to

1:41:57

determine what the town wants to do and how we can help them

1:42:03

okay well one of the things about the the Stevens Field project bill and I was pretty upset when I heard about this

1:42:09

that uh the CPC there was a person on the CPC committee that made a motion to

1:42:16

remove funding for Stevens Field and I don’t even understand why

1:42:23

there was any type of motion made saying that the CPC can’t overrule Town meaning

1:42:29

town meeting has already funded it and supported it so do you want to explain what’s going on

1:42:36

with that uh the TPC did meet and did talk about the building at Stevens Field and as I

1:42:44

indicated before when the community preservation committee took an application

1:42:49

to fund the renovations at Stevens Field it’s specifically had a cost estimates

1:42:56

done the cost estimates were in association with uh repurposing the

1:43:02

small wooden building uh that dates back to the 1920s as a uh as a storage building uh we we

1:43:16

the obtained cost estimates we presented them to yarbor representative them

1:43:21

through the finance committee 18 precincts and eventually town meeting voted on the plan for Stevens Field the

1:43:27

plan that we uh recommended the town meeting the community preservation committee called for the preservation of

1:43:33

this building and uh the town is now determining to take the building down

1:43:39

um and it will not be part of the plan that we presented to the select board the finance committee

1:43:45

18 caucuses and eventually town meeting all those communities and Boards voted on a plan that clearly showed that the

1:43:52

little building would have been preserved would have been repurposed in this money that we were setting aside

1:43:58

was based on the cost estimates of repurposing the building now that the

1:44:03

town has determined that the building will not be saved uh the committee uh

1:44:08

felt that well uh the CPC funds that are meant for preservation are not for

1:44:14

demolition of this magnitude based on what we presented to town meeting that we would uh indicate that uh that CPA

1:44:22

monies for Stevensville that were meant for preservation in building a park would not include uh putting this

1:44:28

building in a dumpster uh so um uh that’s what the committee

1:44:34

discussed and that’s the vote they took that they would recommend that the money

1:44:40

that was earmarked for this purpose of preserving the building as we all

1:44:45

understand is now not going to happen the building is going to be thrown away we don’t want to see CPA money utilized

1:44:52

to tear down a historical building and put it in a dumpster if it is the wish of a town and this is what they need to

1:44:57

do we will uh you know uh uh you know uh

1:45:03

you know seek the higher priority and that is uh getting the Stevens prailed

1:45:09

uh bid out in the construction begun

1:45:16

Mr Blitzer and then Mr Mahoney

1:45:22

gotta unmute yourself Charlie the luck there so that I want to say

1:45:31

in a historic storage shed they had a problem with tearing down a

1:45:38

historic storage ship I I find that it had the beliefs at Stevens fields so we get we’re going to

1:45:45

stop spending money on buildings that that we have no use

1:45:51

for okay and I don’t even want to talk about it we’re very sensitive about the Sam’s

1:45:57

house I don’t want to talk about that I want to start with Hedges because I’m uh because I’m very familiar with I did the

1:46:05

tour and I went there and and I agree with with the town about taking down those

1:46:13

four cabins I taught it and I asked the questions do we need them the answer is no Recreation

1:46:19

doesn’t need them they there was a couple of cabins that they preserved that they need and they use them they

1:46:26

don’t need those out of four cabins and those four cabins they’re actually dangerous

1:46:33

there’s a lot that the kids go in there and do things and they’re actually a liability for the town

1:46:40

so I agree that they should be removed

1:46:45

the building the other building I wouldn’t have a you know I don’t know

1:46:50

the problem I have with you the questions I have in the other building is who’s going to pay to maintain that

1:46:57

building once once if you do spend money on it I don’t know whether it’s a hundred

1:47:03

thousand or a million whatever you have to do refurbish or tear down and build an old building who’s gonna we don’t

1:47:10

have anybody leasing it there’s no there’s no Revenue coming in to that building and so how who is going to pay

1:47:17

to maintain that building we don’t have a great history of buying buildings and

1:47:23

uh and it you know and taking care of them uh

1:47:29

that’s my question on that as far as uh and you haven’t answered do we have anybody else will be releasing that

1:47:35

building if we do something with it at hedges

1:47:40

bill excuse me um the leasing of the building

1:47:46

um because I listened to you want to Reef the building either rebuild tear it down

1:47:54

and rebuild a new building in my my question is I know we need a pavilion there

1:48:00

but if you build this on a building how we how are we going to pay for it you

1:48:05

know what what can is there going to be enough for Revenue coming in to pay for that building okay I understand uh so

1:48:12

um I think we have to understand when the community preservation committee makes a recommendation to town meeting

1:48:17

and town meeting votes to do something the committee is sensitive to what we explained to town meeting and what our

1:48:24

intentions were uh and in this site Hedges Pond there is infrastructure now

1:48:30

some of the infrastructure has been modified and used uh their uh pots of

1:48:36

Hedges Pond that we have utilized CPA funds uh to improve uh infrastructure at

1:48:42

the park to support the day camp uh now uh we see a purpose of uh re-visiting

1:48:49

the infrastructure Charlie’s just simply let’s revisit the infrastructure let’s stabilize it so that we can talk to the

1:48:55

community about what are the next steps at Hedges Pond the remaining infrastructure how can we uh can we

1:49:01

utilize it for phase two which would be beneficial to the community D I can’t answer these future questions that you

1:49:08

pose I can only address uh what we propose to town meeting initially uh

1:49:14

what we’re hoping to open up as a dialogue with the town uh to do uh enough uh uh compile enough information

1:49:21

so that we can have this discussion but in the end if you want to take these things down you can we we don’t have

1:49:28

jurisdiction in stopping you from taking it down we just feel that there is a uh

1:49:34

connection between the committee its original recommendation to town meeting to take CPA funds and buy this

1:49:40

infrastructure now that the town is determined to tear the infrastructure down and demolish it uh we’re just uh bringing to

1:49:48

the attention that we’re willing to have these conversations to collect the information so we can make decisions

1:49:53

based on uh facts okay so the the cabins that’s I don’t

1:50:00

see any purpose for them they don’t need them and I don’t see anything historic about them we did save a couple of those

1:50:07

cabins so it it you know there’s so there is still some history on the site but the cabins have been positioned

1:50:14

closer to the water so they can be utilized so you know it’s a beautiful

1:50:20

sight that had my first time there I was kind of embarrassed that I hadn’t been there before but it’s a beautiful Beach

1:50:26

area so but that’s my feeling on that I want to get to the fish I’m enchanted because I know I don’t want to take up

1:50:33

too much time I’ve been I’ve been watching I’ve been I’ve been in Plymouth since 1963 my

1:50:39

family and I’ve driven by those shanties for for 60 years

1:50:47

what is the purpose of trying to refurbish

1:50:53

those buildings because what I see there is I see these

1:51:00

buildings with no parking in game type of

1:51:05

dangerous part of that Rose there’s no pedestrian Crossing

1:51:12

uh who’s going to maintain it I mean I get all these questions on the on the on the The Freshman chanting I I it’s again

1:51:20

we’re going to be buying buildings that we don’t need and it’s going to be a waste of uh I believe a waste of tax

1:51:27

paying money so he I’m against I’m against this uh the the

1:51:34

doing something with those shanties I think they should be just taken down that’s my opinion because uh I don’t see

1:51:42

what the purpose or of them refurbishing them it won’t be a 70 years old I know I

1:51:48

don’t think that’s that that old they actually date uh previous to 70 years ago a clarification the little fisherman

1:51:55

shanties were originally out on Plymouth beach around the vicinity of where Sandy’s is now they were moved off the

1:52:03

beach uh after a series of storms in uh the late 18th and 19th century came

1:52:08

through the area uh they uh altered the area so the little fisherman chantis were picked up uh probably uh at least

1:52:16

uh 70 80 years ago and moved to this location they date from the 1890s on the

1:52:21

1880s these little buildings these buildings are quite old they’ve been Associated uh with this location for

1:52:29

over a century they are our character as a community when you drive by them they

1:52:35

tell a story about what Plymouth might have been like back 150 years ago at

1:52:40

this location they they have significant historical uh uh you know resources in

1:52:47

our community and other towns Charlie through all Cape Cod and the islands will take their fisherman chanties and

1:52:53

they fix them up and and people look at them like there they are over there they’ve fixed up little fisherman shanties sometimes uh they might not

1:53:00

have a purpose other than the little building being fixed up and being kind of uh an added element to the experience

1:53:07

of visiting Plymouth beach in our Waterfront uh it is uh something uh to look at but we’re realistic in its

1:53:15

Future Care at one time when we did talk to uh some of the descendants of the

1:53:20

original inhabitants of the fisherman shanties they came up with this application the friends of fishermen the

1:53:26

fishermen shanties with the idea of uh stabilizing the little fisherman shanties and using them for storage uh

1:53:34

and charging a fee and that fee would be reinvested in the uh fisherman Shanty so

1:53:40

the application that we originally intended did have ideas about how these

1:53:46

little buildings could generate a revenue to take care of themselves but I think it’s important to note that these

1:53:52

buildings have something significant to offer Plymouth and that is our character as a a community on Cape Cod Bay you

1:54:00

know they’re they’re in Warren Ave in a flood zone okay

1:54:05

every time there’s a storm in fact if you get on there right now

1:54:10

right now those buildings so it’s I

1:54:15

believe that they’re they’re worthless to us especially where they are okay it’s uh you know every storm

1:54:23

they’re going to get destroyed I I just we get this is taxpayer money that we

1:54:28

we’re spending that you spent and uh we got to stop we gotta start picking and

1:54:35

choosing you know what we’re trying to preserve and I’m all for you’ve done a lot of great things but these saving

1:54:42

those uh huts and saving uh the these uh these huts and Warren Ave I don’t think

1:54:48

a good a good use of our money the taxpayers money

1:54:55

when you think about the money the community preservation act monies are meant for historical preservation and we

1:55:01

have to start looking at these smaller details of our community that give it character historical character people

1:55:07

come to visit Plymouth to see these amenities we’re losing our smokestack we’re losing a lot of architectural

1:55:14

features around town it is the job of the community preservation committee to make recommendations at town meeting

1:55:19

where we find Opportunities of saving these characteristics of our community some of them might be small some of them

1:55:24

could be as big as the Spire so nothing gets overlooked in terms of it’s its

1:55:30

importance it might be small it might be big but we are designed to look at preservation opportunities and Charlie

1:55:35

always suggesting is that we stabilize these resources so we can do the analysis to see what the possibilities

1:55:41

are okay I I don’t want to spend any money on because

1:55:47

spending any money on those buildings where they are it’s it’s it’s it’s a

1:55:52

flood zone it’s already probably gone right now it’s probably underwater as we speak so it’s not a good use of money so

1:56:00

I I’d like to hear from some of the board members if I’m maybe I’m on the uh

1:56:06

maybe I’m not on the right page here but that that’s you know so it’s about spending money

1:56:16

hi Derek so we have a committee that

1:56:22

recommends articles to town meeting they go to the legislative body they’re approved

1:56:28

and then after that does the committee have the unilateral ability to cancel an article without returning to town

1:56:34

meeting no thank you all right so Mr Quinto will remember this I was a

1:56:42

Tom meeting member in 0506. when

1:56:47

town meeting stood up and said told the town manager at the time that

1:56:52

we could divest ourselves of the Russell Street police station the Audubon on Long Pond Road but not

1:56:59

the 2.91 Acres that um used to house the Finney

1:57:05

building and other things for the DPW and that that was to put in be put into Recreation

1:57:11

so at the CPC meeting Thursday night the planning board designee referenced the fact that the community has been waiting

1:57:18

a decade for this by the time that project is done you’re pushing 19 or 20 years this is going to

1:57:26

be a phenomenal investment in downtown Plymouth

1:57:31

and I I hopefully maybe Madam chair in the next uh well at least the town manager

1:57:38

can maybe keep us up to date on how that is proceeding the sooner that goes out to bid the better

1:57:45

when we go down the hedges pond Barry de Blasio Department headed

1:57:51

brought a recommendation forward to town meeting it was for a um what do we call it a pavilion a free

1:57:58

season Pavilion for roughly 350 000 he did that

1:58:04

because the Plymouth select board had a long-term goal of a um a full day camp down there summer

1:58:10

camp down at Hedges and he had done that so that created a little bit of controversy and some consternation among

1:58:16

individuals and I had no problem taking a step back even though it was a

1:58:21

wonderful proposal that it was fiscally conservative was going to provide the community with what we needed down there

1:58:27

to go to the next level but taking a step back I don’t have a problem with and obviously the key at Hedges is the

1:58:35

Great Hall so if CPC wants to take some admin funds and invest it into a you know study of

1:58:41

that structure see what it’ll take it to bring it up to you know 2023 standards

1:58:46

and what it can do for us long term I don’t have a problem with that but we’ve already been told by numerous department

1:58:52

heads but the four Cottages out back um present absolutely no use to the

1:58:58

community and they’re unsafe and they’re down there compromising Public Safety so I I I’m with Mr bletzer uh the sooner we

1:59:06

can get Town staff down there to remove those them the better let’s focus on the Great Hall get the report done bring in

1:59:13

the stakeholders have an open and public discussion and I I think part of the key here is

1:59:21

Bill and Derek is that prior to the summit obviously we all know I think Mr Hellman

1:59:27

Mr Blitzer attended the CPC Summit which was at this point in time a couple months ago the last meeting we had

1:59:34

before we went into the summit the CPC we all agreed that before we left the room that night

1:59:42

the chair of the CPC and the town manager were going to agree to a date time and location for the summit part

1:59:49

two that needs to happen you’re the CPC member inquired Thursday

1:59:56

night about potentially Hiring Our part-time help Bill I know you have concerns about

2:00:02

minimal access to town hall I think there’s other things we have to have a conversation about legal representation

2:00:09

I have an issue with article structuring with respect to financing there’s a

2:00:15

whole Litany of issues here good communication is not only speaking but

2:00:20

it’s listening so I have multiple colleagues from the CPC sat there and listened at the first summit

2:00:27

they took in everything that the department had said and they wanted time to analyze that and then they wanted to

2:00:34

come back at the second part of the summit and articulate their positions with respect to we can support a b and c

2:00:40

but we disagree with d e and f and let’s let’s improve upon this process and move move forward as a bigger better Plymouth

2:00:48

CPC that’s all I have Madam chair thank you well I have something to say

2:00:56

um obviously you all know how I feel about Hedges Pond and the Great Hall and I’m still committed to that

2:01:04

um I do know that I believe our fire chief did say that those four buildings

2:01:10

out back are a safety hazard so um that’s that’s an issue

2:01:16

but Hedges Pawn Great Hall you know what you want a pavilion build it but do not

2:01:22

take that Great Hall down and so that’s been my position all along the fisherman

2:01:28

shanty as adorable as they may be um once they’re fixed up just turn your

2:01:36

head and look at that outrageous hideous Birds that’s what we need to do

2:01:42

something with get rid of it buy it take it down whatever you got to do with it but I’m

2:01:50

wondering if CPC could get involved in that or have we

2:01:56

done anything to reach out to the owners and say you

2:02:02

know we’re going to buy it we’re gonna take it by eminent domain I don’t care what we do with it but we’ve been talking about it I know for the entire

2:02:09

six years I’ve been on the board we’ve had issues with uh what it looks like

2:02:15

and I’m sure it’s probably getting hammered tonight so

2:02:21

um you know the fisherman Shacks you know I I’m I can’t I guess my vision I

2:02:30

can’t see it as something adorable to take a look at because when you turn around you look at

2:02:36

births in the tedious so um and then the Comfort station at I mean

2:02:43

you know it seems like all of our projects are taking like a decade

2:02:48

and not even there’s no shovel in the ground as of yet and you know it’s great

2:02:55

to have communication but it’s even better to actually do something after it’s communicated so

2:03:03

um and that’s all I have to say about those three things is there anyone else

2:03:10

I can uh Betty I can reassure you and others that the community preservation

2:03:15

committee has reached out to the owners of that property uh at Birds to let them

2:03:20

know that there’s a community preservation act in Plymouth uh and we would be more than happy to talk to them

2:03:25

uh we see it as an opportunity as acquiring the site and taking the building down so that we had uh greater

2:03:31

access to Plymouth Beach to manage it after storms and during storms and having it as a Scenic Overlook and a

2:03:37

visitor where people can go that have mobility issues and not have to make it out to the beach and sit and enjoy it

2:03:43

from that location uh but we know that it’s going to be problematic that the uh the expected sea level rises that we’re

2:03:48

seeing along our coasts are going to require us to uh address this we’ve done it in the past the CPC was active in

2:03:55

negotiating with some landowners at White Horse Beach to acquire their Cottages so that the town would have

2:04:00

greater access uh to White Horse Beach to manage those resources after storms so we do see opportunities along our

2:04:07

Coast where we can kind of embrace that rationale uh so rest assured as we start

2:04:13

to move forward this spring in doing our community outreach to gauge different people on our application process we

2:04:20

will be continuing to reach out to people in that have resources like that let them know that the town is very

2:04:28

interested in talking to them um about uh their property and how it could be a benefit to the town so we

2:04:35

will continue working on that end I I would think that the town would be doing

2:04:40

the reaching out in my mistaken I know is that something

2:04:46

is that something we should be doing Derek as well as it relates to Brooks yeah I mean

2:04:53

there’s a lot of different approaches with birds you know certainly uh you know we’ve talked about in the past in this forum just having direct plans of

2:05:00

communication with the owner to see if you know where their heads are at what their Redevelopment plans are if they

2:05:05

have any um if if all else fails I can tell you though I’m working with uh Nick Mayo our

2:05:12

commission of buildings to draft a nuisance by law this nuisance bylaw we

2:05:18

uh hope would go to the oktober town meeting and would give us the regulatory

2:05:23

Authority to manage these types of properties in a community but I think we mentioned not

2:05:30

only births but we’ve also talked about the old full sale as well as Pro as problem properties that have sat there

2:05:36

that are highly notice but have gone um uh really uncanned for for many many

2:05:43

years so so that’s kind of our two-prong Approach at this time with those properties

2:05:49

we just to make a clarification the community preservation committee has jurisdiction over the Mass General law

2:05:56

that calls for an application uh to be created and released to the public in

2:06:01

releasing this application to the public we do Outreach uh we notify different people in the community that there’s a

2:06:07

community preservation application available it’s meant for these purposes and sometimes we reach out to directly

2:06:14

to property owners in Plymouth where their property is in an area Plymouth that is of great interest to us so we

2:06:20

just want to make sure uh that they know that there’s an application process but it’s on uh you have to have a willing

2:06:27

and able buyer to move forward in any discussion and I know that the town over the years different departments have

2:06:34

reached out uh but uh in our in our uh responsibility we try to reach out just

2:06:40

to let people know that there’s an application process and you can pull an application and bring it to the CPC so

2:06:45

uh I think that’s how we’ve worked with the town over the last 20 21 years in a partnership so I hope to continue that

2:06:56

all right so as oh Miss Davis did you have

2:07:01

something to say well I think what um Tom manager Derek

2:07:07

brendisi has suggested about um was it a bylaw you were talking about

2:07:12

yes is just a wonderful thing because uh I

2:07:19

couldn’t agree more I hear it from so many people to um that birth is such an eyesore it’s

2:07:26

dangerous um and it really should go and because it’s in a place that gets getting

2:07:32

battered by storms it shouldn’t be replaced it should become part of the town

2:07:38

and then the other thing I just want to say I was and have been part of the Stevens Field planning and design

2:07:44

committee for the last started in 2013 10 years

2:07:51

um so we are very excited about it going out to bid but also

2:07:56

um we have been very buffeted by the town because we had plans and then

2:08:01

they’d be changed the first ones we understand why they would change because of the rising water and and so the plans

2:08:09

had to be changed so um I think our very last meeting we had

2:08:14

with a lot of the town there we just kind of said okay you know we just really want this to go forward and

2:08:22

um so we agreed and as bill has pointed out is part of

2:08:28

what went to town meeting um was pop the little building from 1917. the only remaining pot from 1917

2:08:37

to be restored um and that’s gone

2:08:42

so I’m just I guess I’m just hoping and as Mrs cavaco said it takes us a

2:08:51

long time to get things going and I hope those bids will go out they’ll make a

2:08:57

lot of people happy thank you thank you

2:09:04

okay [Music]

2:09:10

am I seeing someone else

2:09:15

thank you Irene Caldwell and Mr printisi okay

2:09:22

for the meeting tonight it was very nice to be a part of the whole thing and I wish you good luck Betty thank you

2:09:32

good night made us all proud thank you I appreciate your kindness

2:09:40

Mr brindisi yeah I just I’m gonna take a quick two minutes because I don’t know if we’ll

2:09:45

have this conversation again publicly regarding these uh these structures that

2:09:51

Mr Cohen has pointed out but I wanted to just give a little bit more background on some of these items so the hedges

2:09:59

Pond cabins uh and the the Great Hall

2:10:04

um through the efforts of David Gould in Barry de Blasio have tested those for asbestos in uh lead

2:10:12

and um we’re still waiting for the final LSP report to come in but but what I can

2:10:18

tell you right now what we know for certainty is that the the four cabins have tested positive for lead

2:10:27

um and so many you know that you know that is you know it was used in a lot in most of the pains prior to 1972.

2:10:34

and so so it’s not uncommon to see lead and paint what’s uncommon in this

2:10:40

situation is that sometimes the lead can be friable and then you can remediate it

2:10:45

but this lead in this pain um and this is the first time we’ve seen this is actually leeching from the

2:10:53

buildings and the LSP believes it’s leaching into the soil and because of the way the the lead is

2:11:01

leaching off of the building um the LSP is suggesting that the only

2:11:06

thing we can do is to take this to a hazardous waste site and not even a hazardous waste site here in

2:11:12

Massachusetts from what I’ve been informed of by Mr Gold the closest has his Wayside is in New Hampshire

2:11:19

so I bring this up because I know the fire chief and the building inspector both have said that this is that these

2:11:26

buildings pose a significant public safety hazard but now what we’ve come to learn is they pose a very significant

2:11:33

risk to our public health and so for those reasons

2:11:38

um and based upon what I’m hearing from the board this evening we really don’t

2:11:43

think we have any alternative but to tear those cabins down we still oh my

2:11:49

light went off a little second that’s what happens you don’t move

2:11:54

um so we still haven’t received the report for the Great Hall and when we have that report we’ll be happy to share

2:12:01

that back with the board and with CPC so that’s still an unknown the other unknown is uh Mr Blazer reference that

2:12:08

there was one cabin that was relocated closest to the beach and is being used uh that building hasn’t been tested and

2:12:16

that’s something we talked about this morning at a staff meeting that given the significant findings of these four

2:12:22

cabins and waiting for the findings of the Great Hall we may have to go test this other fifth cabin as well so I

2:12:29

bring this up because you know I don’t want folks to fail in the community that would just you know arbitrarily tearing

2:12:35

buildings down but we have concerns and quite frankly

2:12:40

um I I don’t see a way around of the had concerns that have been brought to

2:12:46

our attention at those four cabins so again you know I want this to be said publicly because folks may see these

2:12:53

buildings getting torn down I expect they do get torn down and I wanted people to understand why and then

2:13:00

um the the last item I’ll talk about is the conversation at Stevens Field and

2:13:06

the only thing I can say is what was brought to my attention today is that the historic commission did not impose a

2:13:13

demolition delay and the reason why they didn’t impose a demolition delay is that

2:13:18

they don’t believe that this that this structure was historically significant so

2:13:23

um for those reasons alone uh and for costs saving measures to put those

2:13:29

dollars back into the uh renovation of Stevens Field it was the recommendation by found staff to uh again to remove the

2:13:38

the confiscation at stevensfield thank you thanks

2:13:45

okay next um Mr Mahoney just a quick thank you just a

2:13:51

quick follow-up to the town manager all right Derek so you’re still waiting

2:13:56

on a report for the Great Hall at Hedges all right so now you’re telling us

2:14:02

that it’s distinctly possible that lead paint over there could also be leaching into the ground

2:14:08

that is correct okay thank you

2:14:14

all right now on to um

2:14:20

the next order of business is the shishi gahama exchange trip discussion

2:14:29

so our last meeting um we decided that we would speak

2:14:36

amongst ourselves I know that Anthony uh received an email

2:14:42

and forwarded to me um regarding the trip and there were a

2:14:50

couple things that I found problematic one of the big one of the biggest things

2:14:55

so I just wanted to tell you so after the last meeting when we were talking about this trip

2:15:01

and I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit and I understand that there’s going

2:15:07

to be fundraising and all that stuff but honestly there’s 76 000 in that account

2:15:13

and I want that account to be able to pay for our children to go not for I

2:15:19

don’t have a problem with them raising money but I don’t ever want them to get into a situation that if they can’t

2:15:26

raise enough money to send themselves um I I don’t want them to not be able to

2:15:33

go so um the money does come from distinguished visitors and

2:15:42

I don’t know what our jurisdiction is over that money if any but my suggestion

2:15:49

is that we also pay for the children and not just our school committee members

2:15:56

and administration and all that and we have decided who will be

2:16:03

um attending shisha gahama and that will be Mr quintal so

2:16:09

um I know that I believe that Andy lauritz and Kim Savory are here I

2:16:18

believe so and I think Mr Lawrence has his hand up correct

2:16:24

that is correct one woman

2:16:33

hi folks hello hi my first time doing a zoom uh select board meeting so I didn’t know if

2:16:39

you could hear me um I’m Andy loretz I am currently the chair of the distinguished visitors committee

2:16:45

um and so um I would just like to address those points

2:16:50

um so our first one is um uh chairman kovacco I I do love and

2:16:56

appreciate that um the the sentiment to pay for the students um and especially the idea that

2:17:03

um students shouldn’t be prohibited because of costs or whatever else

2:17:09

um from attending the trip I um I do really feel that as a as a

2:17:15

public school teacher um I hate it when students uh cannot participate for instance in music

2:17:21

because of the cost of instruments and things like that and I do try to seek every way shape and form to make things

2:17:28

accessible for all students um whether that’s through my own job or

2:17:33

through a program like this um I just kind of want to give an

2:17:39

explanation about the account and why it is at such a high amount

2:17:44

um normally our our balance runs around kind of a higher number to begin with

2:17:50

kind of usually in the 40 thousands to fifty thousands it’s slightly higher now

2:17:56

in the 76 range 76 000 range due to the fact that during the pandemic

2:18:04

none of the exchanges were actually occurring so the number does seem very

2:18:09

high um and that is a result of the pandemic essentially

2:18:14

um kind of taking a lot of uh no no use for the funds to be drawn at

2:18:21

that time um because we weren’t hosting and we weren’t sending student delegations

2:18:26

um so that’s the main reason why that account is so high as you know

2:18:31

um this is a a sending year but next year will be a hosting year and so um

2:18:39

part of the expenses that we’re going to incur this year um have to do with the fact that

2:18:46

obviously we have to pay for flights um we were only able to secure flights at this moment in time because of uh

2:18:53

changes in travel Arrangements in Japan itself with their domestic flights they

2:18:59

no longer offer domestic flight from Tokyo to Sendai which is the closest town or rather major city to

2:19:05

shichigahama so that’s going to incur another extra cost

2:19:11

um our committee did uh both at this previous meeting about a week ago and

2:19:18

and um about a month ago at that meeting we did as a committee decide that we would

2:19:24

help students who did approach us about this with the offer of limited financial

2:19:30

aid um prior to students actually signing up for this trip we did make them aware of

2:19:36

the fact that the trip could be running as high as 3 500 for their individual

2:19:43

costs which we know is a little on the high side but um mostly out of our control it’s mostly due to timing due to

2:19:50

all fights being a little bit more expensive but especially International ones um to halfway across the world

2:19:58

um and then with the added cost of not having those domestic flights within uh within Japan itself so um parents and

2:20:06

students and families were made aware um if they received an interview unfortunately like you you’re mentioning

2:20:14

we did have a couple of students who um when I emailed them saying okay if you’d

2:20:19

like to interview just so you know that the cost is going to be what it is um those students did decide that you

2:20:26

know this might not be the right time for them to try doing that um with that in mind

2:20:33

um I wish that we had kind of had this conversation prior to sending you know to to all this work because then we

2:20:40

could have had those students um kind of maybe reconsider this

2:20:45

um so um those families uh did have a family orientation meeting last night as well

2:20:51

we did go over the cost we talked to them about the fact that the fights right now are at 3155

2:20:59

um and again that that does not necessarily include the additional leg of the trip going from Tokyo to shichi

2:21:06

gahama and that they could be responsible for an additional cost

2:21:12

um it is my intention to put on the agenda for uh the dvc’s next meeting that we will cover the cost of that next

2:21:19

leg of the trip um using those funds so um so to the point that was being made

2:21:25

we are as a GBC trying to offer um a reduction in the cost as much as we

2:21:31

can um I want to do uh point out that

2:21:37

um those families did uh already agree to pay that amount last night um they did site contracts they were fully aware

2:21:44

um I did leave time for families to um speak with us about anything

2:21:50

um especially in regards to cost I mean we weren’t made aware of anything at that time

2:21:56

um and families like you said uh chairman kovacco do understand that

2:22:01

fundraising is a part of it um I do want to kind of speak to the value of the fundraising process

2:22:07

um this is the like the way that the students of that delegation become a

2:22:12

delegation in and of itself um that’s how they become a cohesive unit how they get to know each other

2:22:18

prior to going to the trip um I think if you talk to previous student delegations they’ll they’ll let

2:22:24

you know that that was kind of a a meaningful community service oriented impactful experience

2:22:31

um that I think is a valuable experience for the students to participate in especially since this is an opportunity

2:22:38

that not every student is getting uh to have um so I think uh

2:22:46

you know we might want to take that into account as well um

2:22:51

I also I don’t have any uh trust me I I I know all about fundraising and and

2:22:58

what it does and and I’m I’m lucky enough to be involved in an organization

2:23:04

now that that is all we do is fundraise

2:23:09

um for Cadets so I I that’s that is not a problem and and I don’t know how to

2:23:17

explain it to you I don’t want to I don’t want you to think that you know

2:23:24

I I don’t appreciate what you guys do I think it’s a great program

2:23:30

um I just don’t think it’s fair that

2:23:35

the people that work get all their trip paid for and the students don’t and like

2:23:44

I said that’s that’s what bothers me it’s not that I have no problem paying for you guys to

2:23:50

go none at all but I think we should do more for the kids and that’s that I mean

2:23:57

that’s been my thing for ever um so yeah and that’s just that’s a fair

2:24:04

point um uh to be clear I’m not going um this time around when I did go in 2019

2:24:11

um that was a lot it was a lot of work um and I think the reason why

2:24:16

um the adult delegation side of the delegation um they are there to yes to um have you

2:24:23

know a trip to shichigahama um but also it is a lot of work and uh representing the town in in its official

2:24:30

capacity especially for the teacher chaperones um I will say that that is why their

2:24:35

expenses are being covered um so I do understand the equity um piece of it that you’re talking about

2:24:41

and I would just like it more equal you know what I mean so and if it’s something

2:24:47

that we have to you know try to get more money whether

2:24:53

it’s from another organization or what you know what happens if you don’t make enough money fundraising and all that

2:25:00

stuff I just think that um I just like more done for the kids

2:25:06

that’s all and and like I said know nothing about paying for you guys to go

2:25:12

I have no problem doing it I would never take 10 kids over to shishi gahama I’ll

2:25:17

tell you that but um like I said I I just think if there’s

2:25:23

something more that we can do for them so they’re not like under the gun for

2:25:29

fundraising and I I will offer any help I can to help fundraise

2:25:35

um but I think that you know parents pay we pay a lot of money in taxes and parents you know uh I

2:25:44

mean what does it take to educate a kid now like fourteen fifteen thousand dollars seventeen thousand dollars so

2:25:51

that’s all I’m saying is I’d like to see more equity for the children that’s and

2:25:57

like I said without any anything about who goes who’s paying for I have no

2:26:04

problem paying for the administration the teachers any none at all yeah um if

2:26:09

I may um just to that point if I might step in here

2:26:14

would you please go over the financial ramp yeah I was I was just about to do that please do that I think you’ve

2:26:21

buried the lead here so please update everybody on the suggestion and the

2:26:27

costs involved of fully covering all of the students and what that will do to

2:26:33

the monies in reserve for this committee thank you yeah I was just about to do

2:26:38

that thank you Harry and uh we already know that but that’s okay so the costs yeah they are pretty

2:26:44

exorbitant I will go over that um let me just pull that up so like we

2:26:50

said our starting account balance is at 76 000. we do need to pay for the flights which in and of itself our

2:26:57

account needs to be able to cover essentially um and so the flights themselves are fifty thousand dollars so what that’s

2:27:04

going to bring our account down to is twenty six thousand dollars

2:27:09

um after that we need to get the bus which is another five thousand dollars roughly so then we’re down to twenty one

2:27:16

um then after that we also need to get travel insurance we don’t have an accurate quote yet because that’s

2:27:21

contingent upon uh the the passport information and all of that stuff being

2:27:27

provided um my basic idea was that that would be around five thousand dollars I don’t I’m

2:27:34

not exactly clear on that number but that would bring us to around sixteen thousand dollars

2:27:40

um I was going over the account information the official gift is another uh historically been between anywhere

2:27:47

between 400 but up to as much as like fifteen hundred um so that’s another I put in my ledger

2:27:55

at like 12 1200 to kind of break even there so then we’re down to fifteen thousand and then other small expenses

2:28:02

like t-shirts and stuff really bringing us down to fourteen thousand one all is

2:28:07

said and done so that’s what our account needs to be able to do if we were to pay

2:28:13

for all of that we would then no longer have substantial enough money

2:28:20

um for when they come to us next summer um just given the amount that we

2:28:26

typically spend which is usually in that ballpark range um it would be that sort of thing where

2:28:33

we might be very close but our account would not cover that um so it in terms of the numbers

2:28:43

um at this time while I I appreciate the idea of the equity I don’t think it

2:28:48

would work out numbers wise for this year if it’s something that the board wanted to decide about going forward

2:28:57

um that might be more doable if we wanted to talk about things like increasing

2:29:02

um and what you were talking about increasing you know ways that our board could uh committee could get more funds

2:29:11

um so I don’t know if that I mean helps clarify but well like I said I mean I

2:29:16

figured it would be down you know to around the ten thousand dollar Mark and I obviously they’ll be coming here next

2:29:24

year but I mean you know there are other Financial engines that I mean even if

2:29:32

you had to put an article to town meeting or or something I just like I

2:29:39

said I I just don’t think it’s right but that’s my own opinion and it has nothing to do

2:29:46

with you know whether who’s going or not going or whatever I just don’t I just

2:29:52

think that it it just doesn’t sit well with me that’s all

2:29:57

um because I think that you know our concentration has always been on the kids and it should stay on the kids

2:30:05

um and like I said not that I have any issue with you guys of any of the of the

2:30:10

teachers or the administration going I just think that you know if it’s something that and maybe it’s not going

2:30:16

to be next this year I won’t be here next year but

2:30:22

you know maybe something that we can move forward with a plan that says you

2:30:27

know whether it’s an article or or something for town meeting something

2:30:32

um I don’t I just don’t that’s a big burden for families and I understand that they un

2:30:38

they know how much it’s going to cost but you know obviously you had a couple

2:30:43

kids drop out because of the cost and I just I think that’s terrible yeah so yeah I agree yeah

2:30:50

but I guess enough with that and I know Kim you have your hand up so

2:30:57

no I just wanted to add a couple of things to Andy’s comments um one and and

2:31:02

Mr quintal might remember the DVC used to contribute some money towards the

2:31:08

children whether it was 500 a piece or 200 a piece

2:31:13

the select board and the DVC stopped that maybe because I’ve been on this committee for 12 years or 11 years

2:31:21

um they stopped that probably five or six years ago just that we didn’t have the money to do that so I just want to

2:31:27

say that with that that’s an option too right we could contribute some to the kids

2:31:33

um like Andy said the bus uh where where we have to take a charter bus from Tokyo

2:31:39

to shishikahama because there is no more flight and other than that we’d have to take a public bus

2:31:45

um and we figure for all of us to travel together and it would take us all the way to shichigahama versus just to

2:31:51

Sendai and then we’d have to get another ride the other thing too is just to just remember all the adults are um we’re

2:31:58

working the whole time I’ve I’ve gone before Mr quinto’s gone before uh Mr Mahoney’s gone before it’s not a

2:32:04

vacation by any stretch of the imagination and that’s why we actually the DVC and shishikahama

2:32:12

um we don’t we don’t really allow spouses anymore because of that um we are working the whole time and

2:32:18

it’s an extra burden for us to bring a companion person to go with us because we are working we’re going to meetings

2:32:25

we’re getting speeches where we’re talking um to different community members and it’s long days so I just want to give

2:32:33

you that background because I agree with you my daughter went several years ago it was around the same price you know we

2:32:40

made it work and I do believe that if these two students that um weren’t able to go if they had said

2:32:46

you know will we still want to go and we’ll we’ll help it out I’m pretty sure the school

2:32:52

committee has a policy that any student that can’t afford a trip we make it work so I’m sure we would have gone that

2:32:57

route as well if they hadn’t so easily said then the other thing is too if we do this in full

2:33:04

we’re going to be expected to do it every year that they go and I and you know there’s

2:33:10

so many kids behind us that that we didn’t do it for and yeah we have 76 000

2:33:15

but on an average year we have 15 000. so I just want just think about all of

2:33:21

the ramifications of it and I’m sure Andy was going to get to that but I just wanted to to add all that

2:33:27

um but like I said in the past we did contribute some money towards it but not the whole thing

2:33:33

well I think that maybe that’s something like I said you know moving forward that

2:33:39

we should be doing whether it’s uh the distinguished visitors or whatever

2:33:47

we also have other um obligations other than chichagama so we have somebody coming before the

2:33:54

board uh next next meeting to um give us a proposal of something that

2:34:00

they want funded um there could be any other opportunity so I wouldn’t want to drain that account

2:34:05

completely I think that if somebody else were to come that’s a distinguished visitor that isn’t from Japan that that

2:34:12

would fall into the realm as well we’ve discussed this in in depth because

2:34:17

we we agree with you but um Harry so Andy

2:34:24

um if we Fund in full we end up with about fifteen thousand dollars in our account

2:34:31

okay in July we’re going to receive another

2:34:38

currently 10 000. because the visitor Service Board is not contributing their

2:34:46

five they may change their minds but currently we can count on basically

2:34:51

after July having let’s say twenty five thousand dollars how much is next year’s

2:34:58

trip from our friends from cc to Hama going to cost our group

2:35:06

yeah so I ran the numbers for the past um for or I’m sorry three times that we

2:35:12

hosted in 2018 2016 2014 each of those times was

2:35:18

between 9 000 and about uh eight sorry let me just look at this number

2:35:25

and about sixteen thousand so that would basically take up the entire account that would be remaining even with

2:35:32

everything else that got added so if if we’re going to extrapolate given the

2:35:37

expense of everything let’s say that we forget the average and just go with you

2:35:44

know with some scrimping and stuff next year sixteen thousand we’re going to end up after our friends

2:35:52

from sishi gahama come here of if that we had ten thousand dollars but

2:35:59

in that following July let’s say visitor Service Board does come back on we’re at

2:36:05

we’re at we are at 25 000. okay

2:36:12

and you’re saying that a fully funded students and everybody else cost fifty

2:36:17

thousand dollars when when would you anticipate the next trip

2:36:24

when will our friends from sishi gahama ask us to come again so that following

2:36:30

summer right so that would be 2025. so we would not have enough money to do

2:36:36

that basically yeah we would have enough money to do what we normally do but not enough money to continue the precedent

2:36:43

that we would be setting this year by fully funding correct yeah

2:36:49

so which would leave us yeah in a

2:36:55

an interesting position because then we would be subsidizing some of the students for this year and then

2:37:01

um it would be hard to explain to the parents for the 2025 delegation why we couldn’t do that again

2:37:09

um here’s the whole sign you know put it in the budget

2:37:16

I mean it’s fifty thousand dollars that’s like a buck and a quarter per taxpayer

2:37:23

I mean put it in a line item budget for the school department

2:37:29

I I just like I said I I mean I just think it should be more inclusive

2:37:36

and if if One’s Gonna get paid for and then everybody’s gonna get paid for

2:37:42

that’s all I mean and like I said maybe you know maybe that’s not

2:37:48

something that anybody’s interested in doing but I just I just I don’t know

2:37:54

it’s like I said it just doesn’t it doesn’t feel right to me that’s all and

2:37:59

I and I I mean and I’m serious it has nothing to do with people going and

2:38:06

getting I have no problem with that it’s just that it just doesn’t feel right

2:38:12

that you know we’re making the kids come up with the money

2:38:18

Mr home you know I think that the the committee of which I’m the liaison agrees with you

2:38:26

on this concept we get we definitely do um the problem that we have with fully

2:38:34

funding the trip okay and that doesn’t mean I don’t believe the committee shouldn’t discuss

2:38:40

partially funding these these Travelers at our next meeting but

2:38:46

if we fully fund them now number one we create a precedent of fully funding

2:38:52

going forward which is fine but it’s a precedent we can’t go back on that and

2:38:58

then if we don’t come up with other funding mechanisms we’ve already set the

2:39:05

precedent for fully paying but say for whatever reason we don’t get some sort

2:39:11

of thing in the budgets okay we don’t you know we don’t get funds we’ve

2:39:16

already committed precedent wise to fully funding the trips but we won’t

2:39:21

have the money to do it and that’s what concerns me so I Betty I think that the

2:39:27

entire group totally understands and totally agrees with you in concept I

2:39:34

think that in my mind um the best course of action is for us

2:39:40

to figure out an equitable way that amount that won’t deplete our resources

2:39:48

to the point that we will we won’t be able to really do what

2:39:54

we need to do in two years unless we actually figure out another

2:39:59

funding source you know I mean that’s and then work in those next two years to

2:40:06

create that funding source that um will make it you know viable long

2:40:14

term to offer full funding to the tribe all travelers I mean does that how does that sound you

2:40:21

better I I mean like I said Harry I’m I’ll be gone in May

2:40:27

um not saying that I won’t be back someday but um okay Betty you know what I mean I just

2:40:35

like I said I think it’s important that we focus on that you know because like I

2:40:43

said it’s I mean I I just Betty I don’t think we’re disagreeing with you I and I

2:40:49

understand that I just like I said I just like yeah yeah no I know let’s you know even if I’m out of office and we

2:40:56

need to work on something I’m happy to do that well and I think yeah no I mean you certainly you’re fundraising

2:41:03

um you know your your abilities there but I mean in much the same way this is

2:41:09

this is in a way like the outdoor dining you know we have to figure out you know

2:41:16

what are we going to incorporate full funding and then work out the mechanisms to

2:41:24

incorporate that it’s just that you know so I think we understand and I think we

2:41:30

agree about the concept we would love to be able to do that you know we would love no family to not be able to send

2:41:39

one of their kids because of expenses I mean we’re you know that you know it’s

2:41:45

just that right now it looks like we have a a lot of money but we’ve got a

2:41:52

lot of money that’s going to be going out in the next three years yeah no and and like I said I understand that and

2:41:58

maybe you never know maybe there’ll be a town meeting member that puts in a Citizens petition

2:42:04

to give money to the school department to be able to fund this program because it’s an important program no that would

2:42:10

be great but that citizen petition won’t occur until October right no I

2:42:15

understand yes and then I’m saying moving forward okay yeah no I mean yeah we have to explore what would be the

2:42:22

proper mechanisms to create a situation where all travelers were fully funded

2:42:30

okay and I know Matt’s been patiently waiting with his little orange hand up so I’m sorry Matt

2:42:38

no no that’s okay I just think that I agree with everything that literally everyone’s been saying tonight from the

2:42:45

chair from the chair all the way down through uh the you know our committee

2:42:50

um I think the only other piece that I just wanted to kind of ADD and I think you know adding something to town

2:42:56

meeting would be fascinating and to see that go forward but I also think that the other piece that we need to add to

2:43:03

this is that we also um from the last um DBC meeting

2:43:08

um spoke about the relationships that we do have that we haven’t even fully explored to their potential that we

2:43:14

should be um probably exploring as well besides shikigahama um you know we did have a number of

2:43:21

students and I only knew about it um come from Plymouth England to perform

2:43:26

um at Plymouth North High School and I only kind of knew about that because my son happened to be performing of the on the public

2:43:32

but those are the relationships between there and Holland and I’m sure Andy or

2:43:38

camera Harry could could talk more about other relationships but we need to keep

2:43:43

that in mind too because if we do receive a request or notification that someone’s coming over

2:43:50

from one of these other sister cities that may be were not as active with we’re kind of on the hook for that as

2:43:57

well so it is a big piece the funding is a huge piece um I think we would love to fund

2:44:02

everybody to be able to go for students and um and and the town um Administration that’s going and the

2:44:09

and and everything but we do have unfortunately these responsibilities of

2:44:14

being a good host uh when they do come over here and and that’s kind of the foresight that we unfortunately have to

2:44:20

go down I think at this time I I do think that it’s a little bit of a hiccup that you know the fundraising season if

2:44:27

you will for these students was shortened um that which is hard so I I look

2:44:32

forward to the next meeting where we do discuss um maybe possibly funding that last leg

2:44:37

of the trip but that’s that’s for the next meeting I can’t discuss that here I guess so but thank you and we should be

2:44:45

funding all the stuff that we do because it’s an Outreach and it’s like you know

2:44:51

I mean we’re the town of Plymouth we’re like the biggest town in the state I

2:44:57

mean I I think we shouldn’t be following anyone we should be leading

2:45:02

um so and like I said I’m I’ll get off my soapbox now but

2:45:08

I just like I I think there’s some serious discussion that needs to take

2:45:14

place because I mean I hate to say it even a hundred thousand dollars is not

2:45:20

a big burden on a taxpayer it’s like two bucks

2:45:26

so that’s just my opinion but all right so now

2:45:31

um can I just clarify one thing I’m sorry I had my hand up again you probably thought it was from before

2:45:38

um when you had said give the money to the school department just because we’re going into town meeting about on our

2:45:43

budget I just want to clarify it’s not going to the school department this trip is open to any student in that age in

2:45:50

Plymouth whether they go to a private school whether they go to Rising tide so I just want to clarify that we’re not

2:45:56

giving any money at the school department well meaning this school I know but that’s how it was wanted so I

2:46:01

just wanna you cannot I don’t care why I’m doing that yeah yeah I I understand why you’re

2:46:08

doing that whoever you call it that’s holding the person okay yeah give it to them

2:46:15

yeah thank you okay all right now that we’ve beaten that to

2:46:22

death and

2:46:28

um I think I think I think that’s it unless you guys have any questions for us

2:46:34

no I just wanted to say thank you for you know let me try and explain something probably poorly but

2:46:42

um I appreciate it and I do understand yeah I do I understand I just like said

2:46:48

you know it is what it is yeah thank you I appreciate it Andy thank you

2:46:55

uh uh okay tell me images report

2:47:00

all right good evening everybody so I I want to start this evening

2:47:05

but just uh bringing the board I know uh Brad brothers did a great job last week

2:47:10

uh working with other Town officials on keeping the board in the community a price of what was going on on Water

2:47:17

Street uh but just uh that’s our first meeting together so as you all should

2:47:22

know by now um the uh the contractor brought in and our

2:47:27

engineering firm environment department has brought in another consultant to do what is known as brown penetrating radar

2:47:34

and this was conducted last Friday morning around the Water Street area during in

2:47:39

the construction zone uh this is has to do with the water Interceptor project

2:47:45

um and um and what the GP I was looking for I was looking for any depressions in

2:47:50

the ground was looking for any potential um sinkholes that could have been created from from water movement uh if

2:47:57

through in the soil and we were happy to find that the GPI found no potential

2:48:05

depressions uh in the area that we we found a number of cracked foundations so

2:48:12

because we didn’t find any potential sinkholes we all felt comfortable with

2:48:18

the rest using the uh resident Engineers recommendation to let the businesses and

2:48:24

the residents in that area know that they can return safely back to their buildings

2:48:30

and that and that was accomplished on Friday afternoon um today we continue to work with a DPW

2:48:37

director uh Northern construction and EP Engineers to continue to look for

2:48:45

potential future concerns so there’ll be some soil testing and some uh and some

2:48:50

boars Doug so that we can get a better sense of if any of the soil in the area was further Disturbed the GPI goes down

2:48:57

approximately 12 feet so we continue to monitor the situation uh we are putting

2:49:03

plans in place to maybe change some of our means and methods of construction to

2:49:09

prevent anything of this from happening in the future but the construction has

2:49:14

um restarted and we hope to continue uh

2:49:19

without any further hiccups and and meet the June 1st deadline so again if anything comes up we certainly will keep

2:49:26

the community and the Border prize in the future moving on the this board has talked a

2:49:33

little bit in the past about I know Sonic Maloney has talked about it the town re-engaging the Department of

2:49:39

Conservation um at the state level to have conversations around the the state pair

2:49:48

um so um both David Gould and myself and ahaba master will be meeting with the

2:49:53

state delegation on Thursday in former uh Senate President Therese Murray to

2:49:59

have this conversation first and foremost and then Mr Gould has set up a meeting on Friday for just Town

2:50:06

officials and state officials to sit down and to have those early conversations so I wanted the board to

2:50:11

know that we again will keep you up to date as to those conversations and hoping to get

2:50:17

some of uh State delegation to help assist us with maybe having those

2:50:23

conversations with the governor and on the lieutenant governor moving on I’ve talked about the online

2:50:29

permitting system that is now up and running is live um started a few weeks ago we’ve already

2:50:34

processed over 300 permits just in the online system and we expect it to to increase exponentially uh in the future

2:50:43

months staying on construction station two uh

2:50:48

continues to stay on time and on budget we are projecting to cut a ribbon hopefully in November sometime if things

2:50:54

continue to go well station five uh the bid went out this past week we expect to open bids

2:51:02

sometime in mid-april for the bid opening we’ll keep you posted on that project

2:51:08

um as you know the police department has had a clinical social worker working

2:51:13

with our root cause during the day Patrol over the during the past year

2:51:20

Chief Flynn reported today that as of last week we have a second clinical

2:51:26

social worker who will be working the night shift from 4 to 12 Monday through Friday again so this way now we have 16

2:51:33

hours of coverage Monday through Friday to help our police officers with any types of calls most of these calls are

2:51:40

behavioral mental health related so that prod that program has proved its worth

2:51:46

in its first year and continues to grow um and uh it’s starting on Monday we

2:51:53

expect the DPW to be over at the Plymouth Rod and Gun Club as you know we signed the Moa with the ride on Gun Club

2:51:59

by a few months back um this will allow the police department

2:52:04

and other local law enforcements to have its own gun range at the Rod and Gun

2:52:09

Club the Deep our DPW forces will construct the gun range at the Rod and

2:52:15

Gun Club Once that’s complete again our PD will have its own range that it can

2:52:21

use as it needs um and then you all had seen the kiosk

2:52:27

um we had piloted over at the the main entrance here at Town Hall um we’ve added a second kiosk over at

2:52:35

the um the atrium area um so these two kiosks are now fully

2:52:40

operational and provide um very I think detailed directions uh

2:52:46

in instructions to individuals who visit here at Town Hall and they’re looking for a very specific service they can go

2:52:52

to this kiosk they can hit a button you know tell them exactly uh what service they need and what office to go to and

2:52:59

what floor to go to so again now we have the two kiosks that are fully operational and the last I want to report I think

2:53:06

you all know that um uh the senior task force has been

2:53:11

working very closely with Michelle Brady our director at the Cal on becoming age

2:53:17

and dementia certified they’ve had a recent meeting as they move down this

2:53:22

Continuum they will be issuing a survey to the 55 plus population and the next

2:53:27

few weeks so I wanted the boy to be aware of that in case you’re in that age range you actually may get a survey to

2:53:33

fill out and return back to the cow attending any questions that’s all I have for this evening thank you

2:53:39

foreign have any questions for a town manager

2:53:46

okay thank you Derek the next is uh select board open discussion new business

2:53:52

letters old business anyone

2:53:59

okay and next is a motion to adjourn motion

2:54:04

we have a second I’ll second all those in favor

2:54:11

all right good night everybody we’ll see you in a couple weeks okay