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foreign good evening everyone and welcome to the

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March 28th Plymouth select board meeting would you please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America [Music]

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one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

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thank you everyone at this time I am going to turn this meeting over to Chief Foley for a promotion of one of our

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firefighters thank you very much for having us back

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here tonight I appreciate Madam chairman before uh allowing us to come and and share this

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this wonderful celebration and achievement of these uh three gentlemen

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that come before you tonight to be formally recognized for their hard work and dedication that led to the

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promotions that we’re going to solidify tonight um

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if you see us coming in we were kind of in a little bit of a bustle uh some of us were getting ready as we were coming

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through the door I just think it’s uh it’s very timely to recognize that uh

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two of the people that are going to be recognized through their promotions tonight were actually on duty and we had

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a very um uh technical rescue that had to be performed down in the manomet area just a short time ago

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um newly promoted Lieutenant Jay Hoffa was down there assisted with that rescue and

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I’m happy to say that the occupant of that vehicle was safely extricated and transported to the hospital and is

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expected to be okay so really

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so obviously this brings me to to the hard work and dedication that does come with this night it’s not an easy task

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the promotion process is long the study

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habits have to be on point there is an immense amount of material that these people need to study to be able to gain

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the knowledge that will allow them to take the next step forward in their careers

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um and really that can’t happen without the support of the people around them their co-workers their family a lot of

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which are are here tonight assisting them and I think it really

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really brings to to light that our profession isn’t one that we walk

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through Alone um we show up on scene we show up as a group we

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we act as a group and we support each other and these

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people will be the leaders of those groups that are going to effectively make the rescues like I like

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I explained to you earlier especially now with the ever-changing role of the fire service these officers

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are going to be challenged with more and more as the challenges of of the fire service continue to grow

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and I just want to say that I’m very proud of these three individuals I’m happy to see they’re

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getting their promotions and I look forward to what they’re going to be able to provide not only the fire department

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but our community in the future so thank you very much [Applause]

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I’d like to get right into it and the first promotion is going to be the

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promotion of Jay Hoffa he is being promoted from firefighter to Lieutenant Jay could you and your family and uh the

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person that’s going to be pinning you please step forward to the front

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right in front right there and at this time I’d like to turn the microphone over to our town clerk who

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will be doing the swearing it

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repeat after me I Jason Hopper aye Jason Hopper do you solemnly swear do you

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solemnly swear and affirm and affirm that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and impartially and

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impartially discharging the form discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me all the duties are

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coming upon me as a lieutenant as a lieutenant of the fire department of the fire department of the town of Plymouth

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for the town of Plymouth according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities and understanding and understanding

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agreeably to the rules and regulations agree to the rules and regulations the constitution of the Constitution and the

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laws of the Commonwealth and the laws of the Commonwealth so help me God so help me God I promise to win pot I promise to

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impart to my Professional Standards to my Professional Standards of quality and integrity of quality and integrity so

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that the conduct of the Affairs so the conduct of the Affairs of the Department of the department shall be above the

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coach should be above reproach and Merit public confidence in the department and Merit public confidence in the

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department congratulations Thank you very

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in pinning Lieutenant Hoffer is going to be his father Dennis Hoffer and well Mr

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Hoffer is pinning his son I’d like to read a little bit about Lieutenant Jason Hoffer Lieutenant

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Hoffer is a graduate of the Plymouth North High School he served as a search and rescue swimmer in the U.S Navy he

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worked as an ENT at the Brockton Hospital in Brockton I’m sorry and then his emergency room technician at the

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Beth Israel deacons Lieutenant Hoffa was appointed to the Plymouth fire department November 10 2009. he earned

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his firefighter one firefighter 2 hazardous materials first respond to operational level

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certifications and is a member of the Plymouth dive team

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Lieutenant Hoffer has been assigned to group one station one engine one

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his achievement today has been made possible to supportive his wife Courtney his son Aiden and his daughter Todd as

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Annabelle and averly

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[Applause]

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thank you

7:11

thank you very much thank you

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Keith McDonald Lieutenant Keith McDonald being promoted to Captain please step forward

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with your family please

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and Kelly thank you

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raise your right hand I Keith McDonald aye Keith McDonald do you solemnly swear do you solemnly swear an infer in a firm

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and a firm that I will faithfully and impartially that I will pay clean and partially discharge and perform

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discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me all the duties incumbent upon me as a captain of the

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fire department as a captain of the fire department for the town of Plymouth for the town of Plymouth according to the best of my abilities according to the

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best of my abilities and understanding and understanding agreeably to the rules and regulations agreeably to the rules

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and regulations of the Constitution of the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth and the laws of the Commonwealth so help me God so help me

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God I promise to unpot I promise to impart to my Professional Standards to my Professional Standards of quality and

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integrity equality and integrity so that the conduct of of the Affairs so the

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conduct of the Affairs of the Department of the department shall be above repo shall be above for approach public

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confidence in the department America public confidence in the department congratulations sir thank you

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thank you Captain McDonald will be pinned by his

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father Richard McDonald Captain McDonald worked for a private

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security Forum firm at the nuclear power plant and spent five years in the industrial fire brigade at the power

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plant before being appointed to the Plymouth fire department on August 12 2002. he was promoted to Lieutenant on

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March 5th 2018. Captain McDonald has earned his fire 501 firefighter two has

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some materials first respond to operational level fire instructor 1 fire instructor want Fire officer one Fire

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officer two and his technical rescuer certifications he is an instructor at the Massachusetts

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fire academy a member of the Plymouth County Technical rescue team and is a member of FEMA’s Urban search and rescue

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unit Captain McDonald has been assigned to group one station one Tau one

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[Applause]

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nice job cap

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thank you thank you

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[Music]

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Lieutenant Jason Pierce being promoted to Captain please step forward with your family

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good to see you up there cap

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need your right hand are Jason Pierce aye Jason Pierce do solemnly swear do solemnly swear and

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affirm and a firm that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and impartially and impartially discharge and perform

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discharge and perform all the duties all the duties all the duties incumbent upon me and coming upon me as a captain of

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the fire department as a captain of the fire department for the town of Plymouth for the town of Plymouth according to the best of my abilities according to

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the best of my abilities and understanding and understanding agreeably to the rules agree oblique to

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the rules and regulations and regulations of the Constitution of the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth and the laws of

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Commonwealth so help me God so help me God I promise to unpot I promise you in part to My Professional Standards to put

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my Professional Standards of quality and integrity of quality Integrity so that the conduct so that as the conduct of

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the Affairs of the Affairs of the Department of the department shall be above the approach to be above reproach and Merit public

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confidence and Merit public confidence in the department in the department congratulations sir thank you

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Captain pius’s wife Jessica will be pinning him Captain Pierce is a graduate of the

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Silver Lake Regional High School he went on to serve in the United States Marine Corps where he was a decorated

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veteran Captain Pierce was appointed to the Plymouth fire department on October 22

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2001. he has earned his firefighter one firefighter two driver operator pump

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operator driver operator aerial certifications and is the assistant Dive Master of our dive Rescue Team he was

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promoted to Lieutenant on June 1st 2007. Captain Pierce is assigned as the

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station Commander station three Pine Hills his achievement was made possible with

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the support of his wife Jessica and his sons Joshua and Jason

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[Applause]

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thank you very much

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[Music] thank you again for the opportunity to come before you tonight publicly share

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our our our achievements um I really look forward to seeing what

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these gentlemen are going to do to help bring us forward into the future with our department uh it’s an exciting time

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there’s a lot of changes going on with our community and I know that these men as well as the the people in the back of

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the room that came here to observe is from the fire department are going to do great things in the

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future and be able to move us forward and keep our community safe thank you very much

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thank you Chief Foley and congratulations to everyone we’re going to take a five minute break so you guys

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can take some nice pictures with your family and not have to be rushed around so thanks thank you

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welcome back everyone and we are in back into Open Session and I’m gonna just

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move the agenda around a little bit because we have a polar bear that looks like it’s going to pass out

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so we’re going to let her come up and her uh her Partners his Partners

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actually I don’t know if it’s a he or she it’s partners so

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V partners

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thank you thank you um hi there my name is Catherine McKellar and I’m here on behalf of the

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Jordan Hospital Club Polar Plunge committee along with Jordan and of course Jen rushed forth and we

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just want to come and thank you so much for the town’s really unending

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um top-down support of this event so this was our 21st year and since day one

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the board of the select board we rephrase that uh select board the

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managers the assistant managers every single Town department whether that be the fire the police

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EMTs the DPW the Harbor Master and his Department

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have all come together to just rally around this event this really terrific

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Community event that raises money for bid Plymouth Cancer Center so this year

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because of the generosity of so many of our sponsors and our plungers their

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donors raised over ninety thousand dollars for the Polar Plunge I also want to say the visitor Service Bureau was

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always very supportive of this function too so Jordan wants to thank you as does

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Jan rushworth and we hope next year

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of course you know the weather this year was a little iffy so we have a guarantee

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from a wonderful gentleman over here that they definitely will take the

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plunge next year but we do have a little thank you of things for them here’s your

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towels for next year to dry off we want to make sure

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all three of you have your towels and a little reminder for the

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a little reminder for the third floor every day you can leave that picture right in the lobby

16:53

fourth floor I guess it moves since Dave was here so for the fourth floor these

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guys were great and Derek was supposed to be playing soldiers someplace in New Hampshire and he’s he’s down here he’s

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like just let me dive in so that I got to get up to New Hampshire we’re like no the Harbor Master said your Camp they

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were wonderful they came back to the after party with all of the young people and they did a fantastic job and we also

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have a little something for selectman Quinto because he is constantly over and

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above generous to this this cause so we have a little thank you for you

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that’s awesome wonderful

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nice and and that’s just to keep you warm

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next year Dickie oh and one more thing um I understand that Mr Hartman from the

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planning board the planning department has said he would love to join your team so you put him right on that and we’d

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love to have Mr Hartman we thank you again for everything that everyone in the town has done it’s made a successful

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and we’re so pleased with the result thank you [Applause]

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I want to say thank you very much for the the jacket and I’m going to wear it

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with pride believe me I know that you will and we’ll see I also said to you that day I asked what the record was and

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you said sixteen thousand so I’m setting my sights and my goals on raising sixteen thousand twenty dollars for next

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year I don’t know if I’m gonna get there but I’m gonna ask everybody we love it thank you very much thank you

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thank you Jim

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okay we have a couple public hearings that we have to move forward on oh actually

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um is there any more I know that project Arts I know that you guys wanted

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to go ahead up and then we’ll move right into the agenda thank you I’m Pat McCarthy and I’m here

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on behalf of part of our project art sport who is here tonight and I just want to thank

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all of you in the town of Plymouth for all the warmth and prayers that you have all shown our beloved Mike Landers and Mike is

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coming home and we just want to invite all of you and all of you out there to

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our fundraiser event Friday night this Friday night 6 to 11 at Memorial Hall

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and the tickets will be available at the door or online at projectarts.com

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Mike continues to make a lot of good progress from his stroke that he suffered two days after fall town

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meeting but it’s a long road to recovery he has given so much to the Arts

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community and the town as a town meeting member over the years currently is the

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vice chair of the committee of Precinct cheers he has been honored as a Paul Harris fellow rotary award recipient and

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an ocm person of the year so many in the community have shown support so far we just thank all of you

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I just have a couple of highlights and I know I have a couple minutes in 1995

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project Arts of Plymouth was founded in partnership with Mike Landers and a few

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of his colleagues it’s a non-profit organization with a mission to promote local arts and entertainment for free

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Landers and his team have produced free concerts and festivals over the past 27

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years Mike in the local Arts Community is known as Mayor Mike he suffered as you

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know as I said a major stroke the stroke left him paralyzed on his

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right side unable to speak swallow or walk after a long stay in Rehabilitation

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he is coming home he is doing well with his Mobility but

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he still has a lot of issues that he has to work on he’s learned to play his

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harmonica with his left hand even though he is right-handed he has been a music

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therapy at Wingate over the last couple of months and that has been a marvelous

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for him for 47 over 47 years Mike also has

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volunteered and produced events for the muscular District Association raising thousands of dollars for that

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organization he served on the Plymouth area Chamber Of commerce’s Industrial Development tourism and Plymouth Summer

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Festival committees and served on the Summer Street skate park committee and

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the Plymouth cultural Council um Emily Clark who’s a long-standing mem

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friend of Mike’s mentioned in her article that was in the ocm last week

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that he’s the guy who quietly sacrifices and does the right thing helping people

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live happier lives helping people feel more loved every single day of his life

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we hope you can join us Friday night for a lot of fun Raffles music and a good

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time and thank you so much for all of your support and I just would like to

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introduce briefly are some of members of our Jan Bridge who is our excellent PR

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person and you may have seen her on TV recently on some of the local shows she’s going to get an Emmy soon and

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Peter pederazani Donna Osborne and Robbie Hague and we

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thank you and we thank you all your support and thank you for letting us speak

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ing hey Pat before you leave I just uh if if

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Mike Landers was here uh I think I can speak for Mike right now that uh

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it’s his organization project that’s he’ll tell you he can’t do it alone it’s

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a fantastic organization that he has that volunteers hundreds of hours to

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make this thing work and uh this group they love they love you Mike and they’re

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putting this on in fact I’m honored to be one of the volunteers as

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I got him involved so and it’s we’re honored to do this if anybody doesn’t

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know what project dad says then they don’t hang around Plymouth much because Wednesday night free concerts great

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great time it’s a great time it really helps the tourism which helps all the businesses in the downtown and

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Waterfront area but uh Mike I know Mike appreciates everything that you’re doing

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from and it’s going to be a great event that’s six to eleven it’s this Friday night at Memorial Hall so hopefully

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everybody comes down there okay and we have a lot of restaurants there’s a bunch of restaurants that have donated

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food for that so I won’t name them and and just because they’re not looking for that by the way

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um all of our concerts are scheduled for the summer starting at the end of June the 10 concerts are a sound uh person Ed

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McGee has been wonderful in helping organize all of those concerts and we’re

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working things out with DCR as usual thank you we’ll see you Friday night see

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you Friday night thank you

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our first public hearing well let me just tell you that we have been the select board has been an executive

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session since 4 30 at the end of this meeting we will go back into executive session so

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um we’re going to try and move this along quickly our first public hearing is

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farmer Brewery pouring permit new dirty water Distillery LLC doing

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business as llama Nama beer Labs 49 cordage Park

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Circle Bay two Petrus of ozonis Junior Ph.D manager

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do I we have anyone that wants to speak to that

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anyone in favor anyone opposed

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back to the board do we have a motion

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do we have a second a motion by Mr Quinn uh Mr

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bletcher yeah that one Mr bletcher seconded by Mr quintzel discussion

25:55

all those in favor it’s unanimous congratulations

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the next public hearing is farmer Distillery pouring permit and it is new

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dirty water Distillery LLC doing business as llama Nama beer Labs 49

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cordage Park Circle I think there may be a double

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yeah no yeah

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it’s the same information yeah it’s the same information no it’s not there’s a it says farmer Brewery pouring permit

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and then farmer Distillery pouring permit

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that’s what I was reading yeah the second one right right

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yeah it’s it’s not the same as the one we just spoke

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all those in favor discussion and all those in favor great congratulations again

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public hearing alteration of premises Legacy Hospitality LLC doing business as

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Brewster bar 46 Court Street holder and alcohol restaurant license Michael York

27:23

manager is there anyone in faith in like to speak in favor

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anyone like to speak against back to the board do we have a motion

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approval by Mr Mahoney seconded by Mr quintal

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all those in favor unanimous congratulations

27:53

next is public comments are there any public comments up

27:59

we have something from Marshland oh yeah why is my oh okay

28:05

hold on a minute Steve Steve hold on um next public hearing is alteration of

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premises Marshland Group LLC doing business as March land 3A holder of an

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all alcohol Hall Restaurant license 986 State Road Martin Finch manager

28:25

anyone wishing to speak in favor opposed

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back to the board do we have a motion second approved by Mr quintal seconded by Mr

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helm all those in favor unanimous congratulations

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now we’ll go to public comment thank you Steve Lyden uh months ago there was a committee form on the symes

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house where they were looking for a 501 3C to run the building or as there has

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only been progress with that are we still standing still on it thanks thank you

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um we’ll dress it up any well anyone else for public comment okay next are

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licenses and administrative notes has the board reviewed all the licenses and

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administrative notes and if they have no issues I look for a motion to move as a

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group still motion motion by Mr helm

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second by Mr bletzer discussion all those in favor

29:43

unanimous

29:49

okay now there’s application for renew America’s School Grant Plymouth South

29:55

Elementary School Dr Chris Campbell Christina Renault Tiffany Park and Mark

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reel good evening everyone thank you for having us this evening

30:08

so thank you for having me again I was here a couple weeks ago about a different project um related I think regarding sort of the

30:16

significant Capital needs we have in our community particularly around some of our schools we have significant needs as

30:22

you know and we’re also very realistic about the availability of funds for for

30:29

projects so we’re trying to be very mindful of that we’re using a lot of Esther funds to renovate and renew some

30:36

of our buildings but we also have this wonderful opportunity to seek additional funding through the department of energy

30:42

which would be a significant project for South Elementary School and I just want to thank Christina Renault Tiffany Park

30:48

and Mark reel for really doing the heavy work on this I’m just here to support

30:54

them this has been a wonderful collaboration and would really bring a

30:59

project to Plymouth and to South Plymouth that would not only eliminate the need for significant

31:06

funding from the town but would complete a project that really I feel fits with

31:12

the goals of this community in terms of energy and sustainability so at this point I’m going to turn it over to

31:18

Christina and she’ll start this presentation thank you

31:24

thanks everyone for your time if we could move a slide forward and I do know that Dr Campbell did briefly approach

31:31

this the last meeting I’d like to speak to the technical end of what this project is looking to

31:37

complete and then Tiffany Parks will talk to some of the grant process that

31:43

we are currently going through and that we seek to go through in the future as we move this forward hopefully with all

31:50

the member support so um essentially this project will

31:56

really re-institute a solid building envelope at South Elementary

32:01

by repairing the wall panels replacing the windows and adding a combination of

32:07

window repairs and excuse me roofer repairs and replacements that addresses the envelope from there

32:13

we’re looking to complete the required Ada upgrades to bring the building to code AS would be necessary with this

32:21

amount of work and then from the mechanical and HVAC side The Lion Share of the project would

32:28

be a geothermal install which would either go underneath an athletic field or underneath the parking lot area to

32:35

feed a new set of mechanical systems on the roof which align with um energy

32:41

efficient heat pump style larger heat pump style would work with the geothermal system and along with a solar

32:49

array and Battery system as you can see when we add in soft costs the total

32:55

estimated cost of this project is almost 22 million dollars the grant does have a

33:01

Max of 15 million dollar request so at this time we’re here to present

33:07

this to get a preliminary support from the town and from the board to move

33:13

forward through the application process and at this moment we’re not necessarily

33:18

dedicating any funds but it is the commitment to if we should get a full

33:25

Grant or even a partial Grant to work through the grant negotiation process which comes at the end of the award if

33:32

we should get it to see how we can support this to move this forward

33:38

we could either get a partial award let’s say five hundred thousand dollars or we could get the whole award which is

33:44

close to 15 million which is what we’ve we’ve asked for at this point so

33:49

a couple of other technical things just to bring up before I turn this over to Tiffany is that the goal of this project

33:58

is to obviously perform the needed maintenance that’s already needed at

34:03

this school at this site but it will also make this school a Net Zero Energy

34:08

School and also give us an option to provide a

34:14

24 7 emergency shelter in the south end of town which can also move forward to

34:20

other communities that are nearby not just Plymouth so more of a county-wide goal here too with this so from the

34:27

technical end that’s all I have if you have technical questions I can take them now

34:32

otherwise I’ll turn it over to Tiffany Christy and I just have one question the owner’s project manager what is what

34:39

does that entail so when you have a project of this size you’ll have project managers that are

34:46

part of let’s say the construction piece but you also have an owner’s project manager which is required at a project

34:53

of this size through codes but they’re there to represent us the town the

34:59

school and the project just to make sure that the bits and pieces that have all

35:04

stacked up to make this job happen happen the proper way the things that we’re paying for are being installed and

35:10

they’re they’re looking at our interests now I understand that but how many project managers is that one million

35:17

seven hundred thirty thousand well that’s a that’s a percentage estimate so typically when you estimate

35:23

for an owner’s project manager you do it off the total of a project so it’s

35:28

typically around 10 of the total project construction cost so it could be one two

35:34

three it could be a group of people I thought it was only like one person that was

35:40

a project of this size it may be a team okay right it really just depends on the

35:45

schedule too yeah yeah okay it just seemed like a lot that’s all I was just wondering and maybe

35:52

um it may be depending on how the schedule is laid out but you typically put a 10 uh cost on an OPM for a project

35:57

of this size okay all right thank you you’re welcome

36:06

hello esteem select board it’s always nice to see everyone um Tiffany Park grant writer I am super

36:13

excited to work with Christina and Mark and Chris on this project

36:19

um I had saw this opportunity come up and the phone rang and it was Christina and I picked it up and said I think I

36:25

know exactly what you’re calling me about the renewing America school program is a new program that’s funded

36:32

through the department of energy from the bipartisan infrastructure law they are dedicating 80 million dollars in

36:40

this first round of Grant applications to this project we are applying for 15

36:45

million of that so this is going to be an ambitious application process

36:51

but we think that it matches really well with this particular project it will be

36:56

a very exciting and Innovative way to show Plymouth as one of the nation’s

37:04

oldest continuously inhabited communities that we could actually have a fully net zero

37:10

school facility and really act as a model for other school systems around

37:16

the country so they think this is a pretty exciting project again the program is dedicated to modernizing

37:22

public school infrastructure reducing School energy expenditures and helping Public Schools lead the way in the

37:28

nation to solve the climate crisis um we are applying for uh 14 million

37:35

seven hundred and five thousand towards the total estimated project cost of 21 million six hundred and twenty five

37:41

thousand dollars this is our estimates right now for the project uh we put together a concept paper which is a

37:49

required portion of the preliminary concept paper is a required portion of

37:54

the Grant application so you cannot apply for the full application without first going through the concept paper

37:59

process we submitted the concept paper and the department of energy has

38:05

responded to us that they’re encouraging us to apply so we see this as very encouraging for us to follow through on

38:11

this process we again we recognize that this is an ambitious project it’s got

38:16

multiple layers to it and it obviously costs a lot of money if we have the opportunity to potentially obtain almost

38:23

15 million dollars towards the project we’d like to go for it but of course that’s going to you know rely on some

38:30

commitments from the town um the project can be spread out as Christina mentioned it is a negotiation

38:36

if we are invited to negotiate with them for a full award we

38:42

can negotiate to spread the project cost over a course of up to five years we can go anywhere from two to five years to

38:48

spread that out but the town would need to commit a level of funding as a match

38:54

to the project if we were to be awarded the full 15

38:59

million and want to commit to fulfilling the entire project of you know roughly

39:05

over 21 million that means the town would essentially have to come up with between six and seven million over the

39:11

course of the project duration again that would be part of the negotiations if our application were to pass muster

39:16

with the Department of energy but that’s something that we wanted to run by the

39:22

select Board of course and get the select boards uh commitment for us to pursue this application and go forward

39:28

with it so keep in mind that if if we are successful and again this is It’s ambitious we’re going up across School

39:34

against school systems across the country of all different sizes and you

39:39

know economic needs but we’re encouraged by the department of Energy’s invitation

39:44

to us to apply now that we’ve kind of passed that concept paper hurdle

39:50

um so if the town would like us to pursue the application a full application with

39:56

your vote we’ll do so and submit that by uh eight the third week in April they

40:01

would come back to us during the summer to tell us whether we are being invited to negotiate with them for an award and

40:08

negotiations would take place at some point uh you know ending in September so if we were ready to begin if again if

40:15

we’re lucky enough to be awarded with this we could potentially start on this project within the next year

40:23

I don’t know who would say no to the town of Plymouth [Laughter]

40:30

I’d like to invite mark a few to talk about any of the vet or I’ll say a few words okay sure thanks

40:38

thank you madam chair yes Mark I don’t know if you know this but can you just hit on

40:44

going to the geothermal system itself if you know what it is and just uh you know how far down would the pipes go and just

40:51

kind of do you have a baseline of how that works the technical part of that maybe you could answer more than I could

40:58

to be honest with you this would be my first geothermal project ever I have reached out to a woman named Tracy Ogden

41:07

who is a very experienced probably the most experienced in the state with

41:13

installing uh the geothermal projects worked with her through the site and she

41:18

feels confident it’s a good site for geothermal several hundred feet is about the answer I could give you because it

41:25

really depends there’ll be a test drill right to answer the question for us I will also say I asked her about a

41:33

million questions trying to debunk this as a real a real good moving forward the

41:39

reality is and this is I’m glad you called I got called up again because it’s something I really should have brought up geothermal as an energy

41:46

source and the funding for geothermal as an energy resource is not going away so even if let’s say this we don’t get

41:54

an award or a full award the work that we’re doing here absolutely can be

41:59

applied to Grants that will be there in the future okay so just one follow-up is

42:07

you said this site is favorable to geothermal is that because of the size of the campus I think I think we own is

42:13

it 20 acres down there Chris or is it only 10. yeah yeah

42:21

I think it’s 20. okay yeah is it because of the the availability of land like you couldn’t do this at hedge correct

42:27

um actually you could it’s actually surprising as I spoke with Tracy back

42:33

and forth through a number of phone calls just how little space you need for geothermal

42:38

um and it can go under lots and it can go under athletic fields um I’m more saying that because she’s

42:44

familiar with the geographic area of South Massachusetts and and it’s been it’s been done in similar Geographic

42:51

locations yeah you’re welcome all right so I just I mean most of what

42:59

needs to be said has been said but I wanted to reiterate that this project really is an Innovative project that

43:05

really matches with the renew America’s schools grant program I think it exemplifies the town of plymouth’s

43:12

commitment to climate resiliency and the part with this building potentially

43:18

being a heating and cooling emergency shelter is really critical to this whole

43:24

project because that’s what they’re looking for they’re looking for Innovation and new ideas and so it’s

43:31

great to see Plymouth leading on this issue I really think that any of the work that I’ve been doing I’ve been

43:37

looking for ways to show that Plymouth is a leader so I’m really looking forward to seeing this project come to

43:45

fruition if we are lucky enough to be granted the award and hope to have your support

43:51

thank you great um bring this back to the board discussion

44:00

sorry he has more questions all right so uh Tiffany or Chris I just with respect to so

44:07

I think we all know that we have this backlog of overall all infrastructure but we know that we have these eight

44:12

elementary schools that are we’re getting to the point where the youngest are almost 50 years old

44:19

and I think it’s great that you’re doing this but my question is so we gotta put doe

44:24

and you’re applying for Federal Grant and we know that the town’s going to have to Pony up something so how does

44:30

this not dovetail with the model schools in Massachusetts and is there not of the

44:35

ability to get a funding uh contribution from them

44:42

you want to take this and I can elaborate um and I’m assuming you’re meeting the

44:47

msba correct right so if so there are you’re right there’s a lot

44:53

of sites to consider and what what is helpful is two things one that we did

44:59

the assessment right that we we did a couple years back and two was the request to put together a 10-year plan

45:06

uh for the town right so the reality is we need to just get more creative on how

45:13

we’re going to attack the needs throughout the district the msba

45:19

I’ll let I’ll let Chris talk about what we’re looking forward to doing a week

45:25

prior to this to this particular Grant being um requested but

45:30

um the msba won’t won’t partner this way so you can’t do both the other thing is is the

45:37

percentage that we’re looking for to get back from this project is actually we’d

45:43

actually be required to spend less as the town than we would If This Were a

45:48

core project for the msba well it’s about if we get the whole Grant it’s 66

45:54

doe 34 Plymouth with the msba

46:00

um it’s about a 50 Payback this is the msba sure yeah and that’s

46:06

great and I’m okay with that but my problem is uh you’re making you we have

46:12

two model high schools that are one’s five the other one’s 10 or 11 years old they went for the model school program

46:17

we just gave you approval for Cold Spring and hedge okay I think we know what direction that’s going in that

46:24

qualifies for model school this is the same thing you’re talking about a 22 million dollar investment Chris that you

46:30

said at the the last Zoom meeting we had would would take this building out for another life extend its life expectancy

46:36

for another 20 to 30 years correct Beyond quote-unquote routine maintenance for sure it’s in my opinion

46:42

there’s something wrong with the program at the state level of I mean if the fed’s pony in five to ten and is a differential of 10 to 15

46:48

million they can think you know they they should be picking up the 50 of the differential that the feds don’t yeah

46:55

I’m just I’m just uh editorializing here so and I would agree with some of the comments he made Mr Mahoney

47:01

um the msba funding has been limited from msba they’re funding fewer projects

47:07

and currently the model school program while they have the model school program you’re not getting the reimbursement

47:12

points that we did when we got North High School so the five percentage points that we got for the model school

47:18

at North are no longer given excuse me two communities just confirmed a few

47:23

days ago by some of our Consultants who have helped us with the SOI process so this could very well be

47:29

a model moving forward there are two buildings that were built

47:35

in the Watertown public schools that were not supported by msba that are Net Zero buildings

47:41

um so you know this certainly is I think something that down the road may be

47:47

become a model for msba and perhaps there’ll be some incentives there but

47:53

right now there isn’t any Financial incentives that the msba is giving towards those kind of projects

47:59

okay thank you well

48:05

any other questions you know what I’d like to make a motion to approve that you move forward with the

48:12

application process a second [Music]

48:17

discussion I’d like to say thank you and a good job

48:23

by all and it’s nice to see our new town positions actually coming around and

48:30

doing what’s supposed to be doing as far as the community goals not the individuals we know you you know so

48:36

thank you good job bye all support this no problem

48:42

great any other discussion all those in favor

48:47

unanimous thank you very much thank you all right the next order of business is

48:55

our fiscal year 2024 budget recommended by the advisory

49:02

and finance committee so I can take this one so as you know we

49:12

talked a lot about this year’s budget um and what’s in front of you this evening

49:17

is just um a request for the board to consider

49:23

supporting the advisory and finance committee’s budget recommendation that’s

49:28

going to town meeting as you know the the budget that was voted by the

49:35

select board to go to advisory Finance is different than what a f recommended by approximately by about 860 thousand

49:42

dollars that 860 thousand dollars represents eight hundred thousand dollars to the school department

49:49

to be moved to the salary reserve and then sixty thousand dollars to the library to move to salary Reserve so in

49:57

an effort to um be a unified front on April 1st the

50:04

recommendation is for the board to consider supporting a F’s recommendation

50:09

of 285 million dollars 593 611 dollars

50:18

great any discussion with the board

50:24

and do you need a motion yes I move we support the recommended

50:30

2024 Town budget as recommended by the advisory and finance committee

50:36

second we have a motion by Mr helm seconded by Mr quintal discussion

50:42

all those in favor unanimous the next order of business is the

50:50

10-year Capital Improvement plan with our finance director Ms Barrett

51:00

thank you good evening and thank you for the opportunity to update you

51:07

on the progress that we’re making to create a 10-year Capital plan our

51:14

current bylaw requires us to look at five years which we have done in the past but now we’re we’re really looking

51:20

out 10 years to try to you know get a better idea of what’s out there and

51:26

what’s coming in our future so let me see okay

51:37

okay so this um we’re going to go over the 10-year Capital request

51:44

with that timeline has been to date and what we’ve done and then we’ll look at

51:50

sort of a summary of those 10-year Capital requests by Department

51:55

and then we’ll look at funding discussions and review of different options that we have and then closing

52:02

remarks so this 10-year Capital plan is what I like to call a work in progress the town

52:10

manager asked departments to submit by September 1st of last year a 10-year look at their Capital requests and to

52:17

especially think about large Capital purchases or projects so that we can put them on our radar screen

52:23

it was quite eye-opening to see the requests in a 10-year preview it

52:28

represented a framework for us to understand where Department’s thought processes are and have serious

52:34

discussions on priorities focus and manageability

52:39

they then finalize their 2024 requests based on those reviews and that is what

52:48

was submitted to cic for ranking on December 28th and February 14th and

52:53

those are the projects that you will see at the special and annual town meeting

52:58

but there is much more work to do though going forward

53:05

so this slide represents the 10 years that we looked at the first being sort

53:11

of a base year which was fiscal 23 which had just recently been approved and

53:16

funded at town meeting the 10 years is broken down by the general fund and the Enterprise funds on

53:24

this slide the general fund including all

53:31

departments except for the airport water sewer and solid waste because those are

53:36

Enterprise funds I then broke out on the general fund side the projects that

53:41

would be likely considered [Music] um for like a debt exclusion because of

53:48

their high dollar amount um looking at these numbers and not the

53:55

project specifically it represents approximately 626 million dollars over

54:01

10-year period That’s staggering again it’s a work in progress because looking

54:08

at this year’s looking at it this way there’s no way

54:13

that we would be able to do this in 10 years um so just keep that in mind as we go

54:21

through this this next slide I know it’s really hard to see so we broke down

54:29

the general fund Department’s 10-year requests by department so you’ll see all

54:36

the different Department of Public Works divisions there’s nine of them Information Technology planning police

54:43

fire schools Marine environmental Affairs Center for active living library

54:48

and Recreation the specific projects are categorized as like facility upgrades and major

54:55

maintenance requirements Road Bridges dams sidewalks environmental Improvement

55:00

requests equipment and vehicle replacement technology advancements in

55:06

master planning this slide breaks out those projects

55:13

that I mentioned earlier that are really major building Renovations or Replacements heading our way that

55:19

include the DPW facility fire stations police Renovations and a new elementary

55:25

school this also includes other major projects that were in like the DPW

55:33

10-year request which included Water Street Promenade and Town Square so

55:39

these projects alone represented about 215 million of the total 600 that I

55:46

mentioned earlier I mentioned the elementary school project and the number that’s in here

55:54

um I just got some information from the school today and sort of if they’re looking at a timeline with msba for a

56:01

new Elementary School they’d be looking at probably sometime maybe starting

56:07

construction in 2027. I got that information today but that’s sort of if

56:13

their statement of Interest gets accepted and they you know I mean they’re everything like gets checked off

56:20

as it gets submitted but in this actual presentation I have it sort of being

56:27

funded in fiscal 29. I threw a number in there it wasn’t a number based on any

56:33

actual numbers that they were looking at I actually threw a number in there 50

56:39

million which represents 50 percent of a hundred million dollar school now this

56:46

the cost of that school hopefully will be much less than that but that’s sort

56:51

of the number that I threw in here for for now and as they get as they move along in

56:58

the process we’ll be able to fine-tune these numbers and the year in which you

57:03

know it might be happening and that kind of thing um but that’s what I want to show you

57:09

there let’s see okay so more work to do

57:14

um so where do we go from here we have a lot of work to do we will revisit and

57:19

update the plan with the Departments and obviously add the next year

57:25

um and we’ll do that over the summer months we’ll meet with all the different

57:30

departments we’ll fine tune their priorities their

57:35

timelines the costs and those kinds of things and we’ll add on another year to

57:41

this at the same time what we’re going to do is internally is we’re and we’ve been

57:47

talking about this for a long time with the capital Improvement committee and

57:53

um Town management select board advisory and finance that we really sort of need

57:59

to look at our Capital Improvements by law and try to make some improvements to

58:04

it it’s really hard right now I personally I think there

58:11

needs to be more involvement in the process of a committee similar to a

58:17

Capital Improvements committee to sort of look at all these different projects going out this like 10-year period to

58:25

really try to fine-tune what the town’s priorities are I think by making some tweaks in the

58:32

bylaw that the the committee isn’t just put together just to do like a ranking

58:37

process and a one-day you know window you know I mean they they meet with the Departments

58:43

in one day and they rank but they don’t they get information about the projects

58:49

but I think there needs to be a little bit more time involvement in re in reviewing all of that and sort of more

58:55

conversations between all the different committees and boards that are involved with it

59:00

almost set up like uh The Advisory subcommittee meetings yeah yeah I mean it’s just I think

59:07

I do need to make some tweet for it to really sort of

59:12

um let’s see okay and then we’ll review funding

59:19

options um oh actually I’m just going to read my notes here because I think this was sort

59:25

of important so the with regards to this group like my

59:33

thought process is is trying to get more um you know conversations and

59:38

discussions regarding it um and quite possibly maybe add to this

59:44

group maybe a couple of more members because right now there’s like a selectman designee there’s an advisory

59:51

and finance designee there is a town meeting designee there is a school

59:57

committee designee there is an at-large person I know Steve’s on the committee so he’s

1:00:05

familiar you know with the makeup of this group but what I was thinking is maybe adding a building committee

1:00:12

representative because where we have a lot of building needs you know that that

1:00:18

might be a possible addition to this committee and then maybe someone from the Rhodes advisory committee because of

1:00:25

their involvement with the roads and bridges and sidewalks and all that other stuff so those are just some of my

1:00:31

thoughts um let’s see and then we need to review the

1:00:36

funding options for affordability and then incorporate those into our plan

1:00:45

oops we’ll go back to that one okay the

1:00:50

funding options so one of the basic ones that we talk about and that we use a lot is free cash because free cash is the

1:00:58

resulting um income that the town gets after it closes its fiscal year and it’s really

1:01:06

sort of a result from budget so we don’t want to use that money necessarily on

1:01:11

recurring operating budget items we use them on one-time Capital expenditures so

1:01:16

we want to continue to do that but we want to actually sort of develop a free cash policy so that we know on an annual

1:01:25

basis the different things that we’re going to do with our free cash depending on how much that is so another funding

1:01:33

source for projects especially to the Enterprise funds is when we incorporate rates for the Enterprise funds we always

1:01:40

talk about sort of building into those rates future Capital needs Enterprise

1:01:45

retained earnings can be used for Capital and then betterments based on the type of project that it is if it’s a

1:01:52

sewer project or a water project that’s servicing a particular area this quite

1:01:57

possibility that you can do betterments the other area of funding that we’ll look at is any special funds

1:02:05

stabilization funds and then the other funds obviously grants in the grant writer

1:02:10

coordination is going to be a huge Focus for sort of this 10-year Capital plan

1:02:18

um and then we’ll look at any either Capital exclusions from Two and a Half

1:02:24

Levy or obviously borrowing either within our Levy limit or borrowing that

1:02:31

has debt exclusion component

1:02:38

so a free cash policy so we’re updating the free cash policy to drive derive a

1:02:44

free cache that represents about five percent of the annual budget we’re in our policy we’re going to really Reserve

1:02:52

10 of that free cash amount on an annual basis so that it rolls over to the

1:02:57

following year we’re not going to spend it um we’re also going to set aside the

1:03:03

component that represents the excess motor vehicle excise that we put into

1:03:08

the pavement management special purpose stabilization fund we’re also in our

1:03:14

policy going to try to commit to increasing the general purpose stabilization fund to a five percent

1:03:20

amount of our annual budget and we’ll do that over a period of time any remaining free cash we’re going to

1:03:27

use towards Capital studies and other one-time expenditure so whatever remaining we’ll use for this Capital

1:03:33

plan and based on all these numbers we can sort of tell over like a 10-year

1:03:40

period what that amount might look like so it’s going to look like something between like eight and like 11 million

1:03:47

dollars that we’re going to have on an annual basis for free cash to be used towards Capital so this spreadsheet

1:03:55

really sort of looks at what a potential free cash certification will be what the

1:04:01

amount will put into pavement management what the amount we would

1:04:06

um increase our general purpose stabilization fund and then what amount would be left for

1:04:13

Capital so this slide right here really just

1:04:20

goes into um any all the different types of special

1:04:26

Revenue funds that we have that we use towards Capital the facility Capital

1:04:32

maintenance stabilization fund so that is one fund right now that we have been focused on putting money into

1:04:41

this year when we we allocated some free cash to the facility maintenance

1:04:47

projects for both the town and the school at in our free cash we actually had some money left of about 630 000 so

1:04:55

we’re recommending to put that away into this facility Capital maintenance stabilization fund I’m hoping as we work

1:05:03

on this Capital plan that I mean you want to continue to sort of put money into it but then you also want to come

1:05:09

up with a plan on how we’re going to use that towards trying to address some of the capital maintenance issues that are

1:05:16

in the 10-year plan so we’ll try to work those things into the plan

1:05:22

um other special Revenue funds that are available to us some of them aren’t very significant right now but I just want to

1:05:29

mention them so that Community impact fee fund for affordable housing and infrastructure

1:05:34

that comes from the three percent that is charged on short-term rentals that we

1:05:40

receive we probably have right now about like a little over eighty thousand dollars in that fund but that fund will

1:05:46

continue to grow and 35 percent of that fee is put into this fund

1:05:52

we have our sale of real estate which right now has probably 57 cents in it

1:05:58

but as we sell properties for example South Meadow Road that money will go

1:06:05

into sale of real estate so that’s a funding source for future Capital environmental Affairs fund the dmea has

1:06:12

used that for some significant capital projects we also have What’s called the

1:06:18

transportation Network fee fund and that that fund is derived from

1:06:25

ride share like Ubers and Lyft and all that that go through the town of

1:06:31

Plymouth the town receives a certain amount of money per

1:06:38

trip or something like that so that money comes to us and it’s to be used on

1:06:43

like a roadway project so right now in that fund we probably have about

1:06:49

maybe 35 to 40 000 so we’ll eventually you know earmark that towards one of our

1:06:56

road projects revolving funds we have several different types of revolving funds that we’ve used in the past for

1:07:03

capital projects a couple that I’ll mention is waterways and sale of lots

1:07:09

receipts reserved for I’m sorry receipts reserved for appropriation is the ones I just mentioned the revolving funds are

1:07:16

for example the fire prevention revolving fund that’s used for some of our Capital Memorial Hall Recreation

1:07:24

revolving there are some other revolving accounts that we can use towards either

1:07:29

paying for a capital project or at least funding a portion of that Capital project

1:07:35

especially for one safer Recreation or like Hedges Pond they could

1:07:41

contribute you know a portion of it and then apply for other grants and that could be the town share you know that

1:07:48

would match like a grant that they would get from somewhere else um another item that I just put on here

1:07:54

is just something for the future if the town was ever had you know land purchase

1:07:59

involved or anything like that they could use the nuclear mitigation fund another funding source for projects that

1:08:07

are either open space Recreation historic or um

1:08:13

housing the community preservation fund is a funding source that a town

1:08:18

Department could apply for and then also a funding source is any surplus article

1:08:23

or Bond proceeds that are left in like an older article that was that we had

1:08:29

some money left in we do that a lot you’ll see at this town meeting that we had some money left and a lot of smaller

1:08:35

projects and we’re transferring all that money into a school project and we’re doing one for I.T

1:08:43

so this next slide I just wanted to go over the grant right of coordination that I talked about earlier so this is

1:08:50

really significant so since Tiffany’s the grant right has been moved into the finance department office

1:08:56

um we meet you know on a regular basis and I’m going to have her sit in and be

1:09:03

very involved in this Capital planning process it’s really important for her to

1:09:08

see what types of capital projects the Departments are looking for and be able

1:09:14

to communicate with those departments help them you know research grants and other things that are out there so show

1:09:21

review requests she’ll work with those departments on researching those grants she’ll develop application narratives

1:09:27

and components of their Grant applications and she’ll manage the application process I mean a perfect

1:09:34

example of the work that she’s done I mean was this project that she’s working

1:09:40

on with the schools I mean that’s huge if we can get a higher reimbursement for this school project versus an msba or

1:09:47

something I think that’s that’s really very significant and and even

1:09:53

like they said earlier the work that they’ve done on this project even if

1:09:59

they don’t get the grant or they get a smaller amount all the work that goes

1:10:04

into developing the narratives and the components and everything that goes into these grants those items can be used in

1:10:10

other Grant applications so a lot of that work you know will already be done so that’s really significant

1:10:17

um then we come to borrowing so borrowing is something that we have used on an annual basis over the years to

1:10:23

fund a lot of our capital projects I’m just going to go over what our current status is for long-term borrowing what’s

1:10:31

authorized and unissued current short-term borrowing what the

1:10:36

town’s debt limits are we’ll talk about borrowing inside the levy or outside the

1:10:42

levy and then any ex debt or Capital exclusions

1:10:47

so what this slide shows you is just our current debt status long term outstanding as of June 30th of 2022. so

1:10:55

in total we have outstanding principal of 204.8 million

1:11:01

and it’s represented when we borrow money we borrow money onto Mass general

1:11:06

laws different sections chapter 44 section 7 the items that are within our

1:11:12

debt limit and then chapter 44 Section 8 are items that are outside are that limit

1:11:18

um so that’s where our stand right there this is what’s authorized and unissued

1:11:24

and what this means is these are projects that have been voted at town meeting town meeting has authorized them

1:11:29

over the years um sort of within probably the last four to five years of the projects that are

1:11:36

sitting here some of them are in progress some of them have anticipated

1:11:41

Grant reductions so we’ll end up not borrowing the 81 million that’s

1:11:46

authorized because we’re going to get Grant reimbursement towards some of these projects so the remaining

1:11:52

authorizes 66 million and then what it means is just we haven’t issued long

1:11:58

term yet so for example the fire stations for West Plymouth and

1:12:05

manomet are included in this number they’re in progress but we just haven’t

1:12:10

borrowed long term yet we’ve done some short-term borrowing for them

1:12:15

so that’s what this slide it shows you is what as of June 30th of 2022

1:12:23

this is what was outstanding for our short-term borrowing based on all those projects that have been authorized so

1:12:30

this totals about four million dollars and it’s just various projects for the general fund the fire stations the

1:12:36

school roofs um some sewer debt and on the water side

1:12:41

one of the major projects there is the manomet pipe Zone upgrades that actually

1:12:47

just went out to bid the con the prices came in and they came in much less than

1:12:54

we had expected so that was good news um

1:13:01

this next slide because we talk about debt and I know debt can sometimes be scary

1:13:07

and people don’t like to borrow money but it is definitely one of the funding

1:13:15

sources for the town to be able to do a lot of our projects

1:13:20

um the reason why I wanted to show you these next few slides is that

1:13:28

um just wanted to sort of give you an idea of borrowing really isn’t it’s not that

1:13:35

bad you know it’s really a good resource for us to be able to use so right now we’re obviously in an interest rates are

1:13:42

rising and you’ll see that with your mortgage rates we’re also seeing that with our own borrowing rates but the

1:13:49

slide on the left here shows you the 20-year bond rate and we are close right

1:13:54

now the rates that are out there are close to like the 10-year average and much less than the 23-year average the

1:14:03

rates are coming off of historic lows so and I say that because I’m not sure if

1:14:10

we’ll ever see those sort of historic lows again it was really I think because

1:14:15

of covid and all the things that they were doing so right now the rates are sort of getting into that level of that

1:14:22

average where they sort of should be the list on the right and I know it’s

1:14:28

really hard to see this has been plymouth’s experience in the market over

1:14:33

the same 23-year period And if you look at this individually based on the rates

1:14:38

that you see on the left hand side Plymouth has always done very well we’re rated better than a double a two or a

1:14:45

double A we’re a double a one and a double A Plus so we usually tend to

1:14:51

borrow at a better rate than the Double A’s and it really all depends on what type of

1:14:57

how the how the bond issue is set up if it pays off principal versus having like

1:15:04

a mortgage payment because if you do a mortgage payment loan that’s level debt so it’s the same

1:15:10

principal and interest payment every year if you do level principal then

1:15:15

you’re paying off um more of the you know principle before the interest the interest isn’t as much

1:15:22

so the the debts sort of goes down like that way so Plymouth over the years has done really really well our rates have

1:15:28

done good there’s a notation for three Bond issues that we did during this time

1:15:34

frame that we actually ended up refunding so we reissued them

1:15:39

sort of refinance them just like you would do with your mortgage and we were able to save the town

1:15:45

several millions of dollars which was which was awesome

1:15:50

this next slide shows you what I guess sorry so

1:15:55

you go back to that prior slide yes so that that reissue is 41 million dollars

1:16:01

in June of 21. yep that was a 2009 bond issue that was

1:16:08

reissued in 2011. all right so the the true interest cost is about 1.4 percent

1:16:14

foreign the true interest costs on the 41 million 0.5

1:16:20

that was 3.9 to I’m looking at that third column true

1:16:26

interest cost the bottom number I’m rounding up to one oh the bottom one you’re looking at yes is that accurate

1:16:31

that’s it yes that’s accurate true interest cost 1.4 on a bond that was 41

1:16:38

points and is that that’s where we’ve saved the million dollars by

1:16:44

is that where we saved the multiple million dollars would that remortgaging right there that was a

1:16:56

so we did a bond issue in 1911 for 41.6

1:17:01

million we refunded it in 2021 and we were able to save yes and it was

1:17:08

primarily on the school school debt so we were able to decrease that debt exclusion all right thank you

1:17:16

okay what this slide just shows you is what our debt limits are so Mass general laws dictates what your debt limit is

1:17:23

and you have to stay within those limits so under our normal debt limit it’s five percent of our most recent States

1:17:30

equalized valuation so the equalized valuation in 2022 was

1:17:36

13.6 billion so our debt limit is

1:17:43

682.4 million um when you look at our outstanding debt

1:17:49

plus our short-term debt that’s 208.9 million so we’re well within our

1:17:54

normal debt limit and when they look at the debt limit they actually don’t even look at what’s outside the debt limit so

1:18:01

are outside that the debt limit number is about 97.9 million so we’re we’re

1:18:07

well within our debt limit so we wouldn’t never have enough an issue of being able to borrow more money your

1:18:14

normal debt limit you just need local Authority town meeting vote by two-thirds if we were to ever and I

1:18:21

don’t ever see this happening because I would never recommend it is going above your debt double debt limit which is the

1:18:27

10 percent but you would need State approval required to be able to do that but we’re well within our debt limits we

1:18:35

have room so this is what I was talking about where the blue line is our debt service that’s falling off

1:18:41

and I’m primarily looking at the general fund here versus the Enterprise funds because we look at each Enterprise fund

1:18:48

individually as to what they could afford but in the general fund we have a lot of debt coming off the books and

1:18:55

then with our debt policy being six to eight percent of our general fund the red line represents six percent of an

1:19:02

annual general fund that would increase approximately four percent so we have room like the room between the blue line

1:19:09

and the red line is is debt that we can fit in there so we’ll be using that for

1:19:15

the current authorized and unissued that we have right now but like going forward down down the road you know you you’d

1:19:23

continually authorize new debt to sort of fill that in

1:19:29

so that was really the presentation um my closing Remax again is just this

1:19:35

is a work in progress we update it every year we’ll try to incorporate some new

1:19:40

improvements and um you know I’m going to be bringing back

1:19:46

to you some updated Financial policies based on a lot of the stuff that I talked about we’ll be creating a capital planning

1:19:53

policy with this and then also looking at to improve our Capital Improvement by

1:19:59

law so if you have any questions I’m available

1:20:05

anyone have any questions John just one I think I already know the answer but Derek I I participated in the

1:20:12

cic for the first time ever Betty had always told me that I didn’t

1:20:18

know what I was missing but we did that anyways we conducted that exercise and you know if it was you

1:20:24

or the two of you instituted a new policy where basically there was really no competition I think Lynn said hey

1:20:30

this is what we can afford in the department heads brought forward that

1:20:36

number we just ranked them from there so nobody really got left out in the cold is as long as you’re around is that

1:20:42

basically how we’re going to approach that going forward so I mean you know again as Lynn pointed

1:20:49

out this is a work in progress and um you know I think you guys all accustomed to the prior way to the cic

1:20:55

ranking process where they’d be you know upwards of 50 60 projects that were

1:21:00

presented in cic we go through its priority ranking system we went through that process internally

1:21:07

both Lynn and Brad and myself and we kind of whittled it down to just bring forward the projects that we knew one

1:21:14

were a top priority of the department so it’s like for example the butler Bridge right that was a top priority so we knew

1:21:20

that was very important so we want to advance that and again you know using our left and right limits of what can we actually afford so that those are the

1:21:28

projects that were in front of cic so I think we’ll continue to use that as a Guiding Light moving forward but as Lynn

1:21:34

pointed out we recognize that the existing CAC process probably needs to

1:21:40

be pull apart and put back together I think and maybe what I could add is

1:21:48

maybe what we’re looking at is maybe having some engagement of cic in that

1:21:54

process when we look at that those requests the 10-year requests you know and that kind of thing and obviously

1:22:01

with the Departments you know their priorities and really what they can

1:22:06

manage because some of the requests at least personally I think the request was a lot and I’m like you can’t possibly do

1:22:13

all that in one year like you physically are not capable of doing that you know so those kinds of things so those are

1:22:18

the discussions that we had sort of going back and forth and trying to get them to refocus and and prioritize and

1:22:26

and that kind of thing I I know it’s a work in progress but you

1:22:32

know huge step in the right direction thank God we took it from five to ten years out and I do love the fact that

1:22:38

you know the the school side in using this example on a potential Middle School in North Plymouth okay perfect

1:22:45

scenario shoveling the ground in 27. when are you going to go out to bond 29 plug in 50 million dollars I mean

1:22:53

we should be doing that for you know a lot more stuff so you know the especially the public knows that what

1:22:59

we’re up against yeah and I think there are going to be decisions that are going to have to be made with those larger

1:23:05

projects are we going to commit to recommending another dead exclusion you

1:23:11

know for some of these major projects and I know that’s a big pill to swallow I think for some people

1:23:20

okay Mr quintal thank you nice job

1:23:25

to wall I have a question it’s uh like a scenario if you will

1:23:31

um so a large parcel of lands available and then when I say large parcel like

1:23:38

over a thousand acres 1500 Acres comes up you know and they make better power plant there at one time

1:23:44

just to use an example and you know just say the price is 40 million oh

1:23:52

50 million is that anywhere in these scenarios that

1:23:58

you’re putting up here and the only reason I bring this up they’re probably not but I think it’s something that we

1:24:03

should start to shed some light on you know as that all plays out and

1:24:08

nobody knows how that’s going to play out but we know it’s going to take some money at least if I’m guessing I’m going to say

1:24:15

it’s going to yeah and you know should the CPC be submitting applications to

1:24:22

the town for now should we you know advise them um and Joint meet with them and tell

1:24:28

them look you know for the next year or two I think we need to cool it and put some money away

1:24:34

um so if the opportunity does arise and we need to come up with funds and we just saw what we saw there I’m just

1:24:41

being realistic now right so I think um to answer your question regarding is it in here

1:24:48

purchase of that land is not in here the dollar amount in the next 10 years but

1:24:53

the there is sort of some of the funding sources that we could quite possibly use

1:24:59

for that purchase are in there like the nuclear mitigation fund CPA fund

1:25:04

providing that some of the land would be set aside for open space you know I mean those kinds of things and and borrowing

1:25:11

you know so when does child administrators you think that these conversations should

1:25:18

start as far as the term goes I mean when do we should we recommend

1:25:23

the CPC that you know let’s tread easy if not nothing I mean I’m not afraid to

1:25:30

say that unless it’s really critical as to what they’re trying to do and you know

1:25:36

the grant ready should be ready to write see what’s out there and because when it

1:25:41

comes I think it’s going to come pretty fast you know if I was a guest in person and I don’t want anybody to say that the

1:25:48

board is not being proactive you know they’re being reactive so which is why I’m bringing them up and I know you

1:25:54

don’t have all the answers and I’m not trying to you know put you on the spot anywhere

1:26:00

but you know please I I can jump in on that one so um I I agree with Mr Quinto you know I

1:26:08

think we should start thinking about that land you know if the board so desires you know we went through a last

1:26:14

summer we went through a goal setting process we didn’t identify this issue as

1:26:20

one of our goals this June maybe late May early June we’ll look at the goals

1:26:26

the ones that we accomplished in FY 23 and we’ll go through that process again so I think that this is something that

1:26:33

the board should consider putting on a future goal because once the board makes that strategic decision that you know

1:26:40

they are intentional on acquiring that lane that gives us when I say us Lynn and Brad and I and others the ability to

1:26:47

have this conversation with CPC and say the select board has a goal of acquiring the 1500 acres and we need you to be a

1:26:54

part of that process so I would suggest that you know at the earliest we should start having that conversation in June

1:27:02

I think we should have a docket item or get the opinion on the board what do you think Harry I mean there’s a board

1:27:09

Charlie John I I mean and I don’t want to pick on the CPC because there’s other sources of

1:27:14

funding but it just comes to mind that you bring it to light now rather than when you actually need the money I mean

1:27:21

we know we’re going to need money so rather than it be like sandwich Street Sandwich Road excuse me and not you know

1:27:28

it could be missed this we missed that so if we put it out there now we know

1:27:33

it’s coming um I mean maybe all the capital um

1:27:39

free cash money shouldn’t be spent every year maybe we should stock some of that away I mean I don’t know what the number

1:27:45

is but that’s why we have the finance director and administrators no the points while taking so whether it is

1:27:51

free cash or CPC and the force Legacy Grant which could be upwards of 20 to 30

1:27:57

million dollars so and we have a grant writer now that could be working with Community Partners on some of that stuff

1:28:02

so again you know once the board gives us Direction I would say the best way to do that is through the goal setting

1:28:07

process that we’ll do annually then that gives us the green light to go ahead and pull all those pieces together

1:28:17

and then if we do um go for a new Elementary School in our Plymouth we’ll probably have at least two that

1:28:24

the school department will not need at least I’m assuming and what will we do with those properties will we sell them

1:28:29

what are we doing for housing for elderly or affordable housing or housing

1:28:34

for our veterans I mean this whole thing needs to be planned out and you know if we don’t have the money I I sat there on

1:28:41

the last um override vote if you will for the two

1:28:47

schools and the senior center and if it’s done right and it’s done collectively and the community knows you

1:28:53

need it I mean hey it could be a fire station I don’t want to see it’s going to be the school it could be a school Enterprise station

1:29:00

um you know I or a police station but you know if it’s done right and presented properly then it’s in the

1:29:06

community’s hands to make the decision and you know they made the last one the largest override and

1:29:13

you know I think it was a commonwealth it was big and you know we got something

1:29:18

to show for so and it falls off after that when it’s all paid but I don’t want to get there

1:29:23

beforehand you know I just want to bring those to attention

1:29:29

in the goal setting and I I’d rather see everybody know up front that you know

1:29:34

this is our goal and put some money aside because it’s not going to fall out of the sky in a few years so if we’re

1:29:41

all about future planning then we need to do that too I believe so

1:29:47

John yeah just following up in the 1500 Acres

1:29:54

which I refer to as the white whale

1:30:00

so the constitutional rights of the property rights current reside with a major international corporation which is

1:30:07

engaging in the decommissioning of the plant and ultimately if they want to move forward by

1:30:13

themselves and develop it they have every right to do that under you know the current bylaws and rules and

1:30:20

regulations of this community if they want to partner with somebody else and move forward they can obviously do that

1:30:25

but I agree with Mr quintal

1:30:30

as long as I sit here and even if I don’t sit here it is

1:30:37

one of the most important things that if we ever get a chance

1:30:43

a bite at the Apple we have to get that to town meeting and we don’t know what the price is but

1:30:50

there has been a start as Lynn mentioned there are a few different funding mechanisms up on the board and

1:30:57

I I think that we have certain non-profits in the community that uh can

1:31:02

bring other monies into play and I do know that roughly five years ago

1:31:10

you know there was a quasi presentation meant to the made to the board between

1:31:16

current department head of dma and EA and an individual who was in charge of

1:31:21

economic development at the time and was a pretty solid proposal but um

1:31:27

I’m completely on board with whatever we can do to position the community to be in a stronger financial position so if

1:31:34

and when we get the bite at the Apple

1:31:39

I know we keep talking about the 1500 acres and as far as I’m concerned I think they should give it to us so

1:31:47

put that right out there we are the host community and

1:31:52

um granted if there are non-profits and monies as you say John they they need to

1:32:01

come forward and let us know where they’re at so we can do that as we

1:32:06

negotiate with whole Tech now

1:32:13

well thank you Lynn thank you okay the next is the proposed 2023

1:32:22

outdoor dining fee schedule

1:32:29

did you want to take it okay so um this was before you two weeks ago and

1:32:36

I know that the board wanted us to go back and make sure that we Engage The

1:32:41

Outdoor dining Committee in the downtown Business Association Mr Brothers went

1:32:47

ahead and did that he met with the Business Association explain the the fee

1:32:53

structure and Then followed up with the outdoor dining committee with Lee Hammond again explain explaining the fee

1:32:59

structure so the the restaurants that have applied well aware of the new fee

1:33:04

structure and we haven’t received any other feedback to to date so what’s

1:33:11

before you is a renewal fee of 2000 and a new restaurant fee of 2500.

1:33:22

second

1:33:31

[Music]

1:33:38

okay so uh staying on outdoor dining the setup will begin on April 10th normally

1:33:44

we try to sat a little bit earlier than that but given that tonight’s vote we’ll be delayed by about uh seven to ten days

1:33:52

um I just want to remind folks that the vote by mail application deadline is May

1:33:58

15th although with some time away we have already received about 150 applications last year I received 16 000

1:34:06

so we expect another large turnout as far as vote by mail so again May 15th is

1:34:11

the deadline for that tonight miss Barrett and others met with

1:34:17

for the first time for the elderly and disabled committee so the first meeting was tonight they’re going to go ahead

1:34:23

put a plan together so that when folks start to donate towards the elderly and

1:34:29

disabled tax fund we can go ahead and distribute those dollars

1:34:36

I want to bring up some work that the town clerk is spearheading there are a number of born

1:34:43

and committee members that we are now requiring to take the open meeting law

1:34:48

it’s actually a requirement by the state um and in addition to that all Town

1:34:53

officials in both paid Town officials and volunteer officials will have to

1:35:00

take the ethics training so these aren’t new laws but our town clerk is now going

1:35:08

to be pushing to ensure that we are complying with the uh with the statutes

1:35:15

if you go to the courtroom you will see some enhanced audio and visual

1:35:20

um products over there we’ve received a number of complaints that the courtrooms

1:35:26

audio in particular the sound quality is poor and so working with Pac TV in our

1:35:35

I.T Department they’ve been able to add some some newer technology that we’re

1:35:40

expecting will enhance the audio visual experience so I’m still working on that but we’re expecting that to be a much

1:35:47

easier place to have future meetings and I want to commend Lee Harmon our planning director he actually worked

1:35:54

with Cape Cod Community College they offered the space for free Lee Hartman

1:35:59

and his team went to Cape Cod Community College for the first time last week and they’ll be doing it once a week for the

1:36:05

next three weeks where they’re doing free GIS training for staff so as you

1:36:11

know GIS has a big piece of software that most municipalities use both on the

1:36:17

DPW firing police can use it planning can use it so he’s actually conducting the free training down at Cape Cod

1:36:24

Community College for all of our staff who are interested just as a reminder this coming Friday

1:36:31

nomination papers are due at the town clerk’s office so again this Friday 5

1:36:36

p.m nomination papers are due so the town clerk will be there again until five

1:36:42

o’clock we plan to close on self metal this week so 1.2 million dollars will go

1:36:47

to the Sila real estate into that account although it’s 56th Century as of

1:36:53

tonight and then I wanted to let folks know the question was asked today about the symes

1:37:01

house RFP so that IRP will be issued on April 6th there’ll be a walk through held on April 17th and then all rfps are

1:37:09

due on April 28th the board a couple weeks back talked a

1:37:16

lot about graffiti you know you’ve heard me talk a lot about graffiti we had a resident talk about graffiti a couple

1:37:21

weeks back so since then we pulled together a graffiti task force made up

1:37:27

of folks from pop Plymouth the DPW the police department and the

1:37:32

planning department amongst others are going to convene have a conversation what we can do to try to uh eliminate

1:37:39

graffiti in the community and try to find those folks that are responsible for ruining our buildings

1:37:46

tomorrow at 4 pm in this room the Board of Health will have a informational session on the dangers of tritium and

1:37:54

the water so the Board of Health has convened a bunch of experts who will

1:38:00

talk about what health effects tritium has if someone were to consume it through some

1:38:07

ingestion through the water so those that are interested in what um

1:38:13

whole tax contaminated water could do to the Bay please join us tomorrow at 4 pm

1:38:19

and then last I just want to bring the board up to speed as to what’s going on the suit Interceptor project on Water

1:38:25

Street so we’ve talked a lot about in the past on March 7th we were informed that there was some shifting of the

1:38:32

soils there were some foundations that were cracked you see some Street walk sidewalks a crack the streets cracked

1:38:39

walls are cracked we we believe it may have to have it may have taken place due

1:38:45

to some settlement due to the construction that was taking place on Water Street all that construction has

1:38:53

ceased since that date it still has not restarted although you may have seen some work taking place on Water Street

1:39:00

most of that was water work we were placing valves but no sewer work has taken place since March 7th we’re still

1:39:06

working with the contract and Northern contractor they are responsible for

1:39:12

putting a new plan of action forward so that our engineering team alongside of

1:39:18

environmental partners who is our resident engineering can review that plan of action

1:39:24

and then give them the green light to move forward part of that plan of action is to sink

1:39:30

Wells on Water Street so that we can properly manage any groundwater in the

1:39:35

area the company to sink those Wells won’t be here until April 3rd we’re expecting that to take probably about

1:39:42

three to five days to sink those Wells so the earliest what’s being projected right now is that we may be able to

1:39:48

restart the project around April 10th we’ve looked at the contract the contract allows for the contractor to

1:39:56

work until June 30th their original goal was to complete the project by May 31st

1:40:01

by Memorial Day clearly we’re not going to hit that Target so it still remains to be seen as to when we will restart

1:40:09

the project and when we will suspend the project for the summer and then restart

1:40:14

the project in the fall so more to come on the on the dates but I wanted folks to be aware of kind of what’s happening

1:40:21

at the present time down on Water Street pending any questions that’s all I have

1:40:27

any questions for the town manager okay next is Select board open

1:40:34

discussion new business letters old business Mr Mahoney

1:40:42

Derek the water conservation committee came before us months ago and they had three recommendations and I know one of

1:40:48

them took a was going to take a significant amount of time from town staff because one of

1:40:53

their recommendations was to basically take the fees up on heavy users during

1:41:00

the summer months to in theory drive use down so I didn’t know where we were with

1:41:05

that and it was that something that was going to be available if and when the rates were set in May or June or

1:41:11

or is that not in the um um cue yet right so I don’t think that’s

1:41:17

I don’t think we’re going to have a recommendation for this rate setting period um we did the DPW did receive a grant

1:41:24

for about sixty thousand dollars uh to do a um um a height a new hydraulic modeling of

1:41:32

our water system and part of that is to look at conservation and any mitigation programs we can put forward through that

1:41:40

program so and then on top of that it would propose some type of new fee

1:41:46

structure for connecting to the the town’s water system so that Grant we just received that Grant about I want to

1:41:52

say about five six weeks ago so the study has already began I don’t

1:41:57

anticipate that study having been complete by the time we set our rates for this year but certainly we can use

1:42:04

that data moving forward for future rates rate setting

1:42:11

okay thank you next handicap

1:42:16

State decommissioning uh committee which I have the honor of sharing every 60 days

1:42:23

so the meeting was last night you know I thanked holtec during the meeting for allowing our you know your

1:42:30

request was accommodated with the uh they’re allowing Mr Gould to go down during the sampling which I believe is

1:42:35

going to happen in the first or second week of April and they fully expect the state officials get up and testify that

1:42:41

they fully expect those results to be in by mid-may

1:42:46

so um through the chair Mr Town manager the next meeting is in this room on May 22nd

1:42:54

Monday night I would just request a uh increased security presence

1:42:59

what’s the what does that date again yes what is that date one more time May 22nd

1:43:05

Memorial Day is the 29th

1:43:18

yeah okay I’ve got a question here Mr Helm I have a question about that

1:43:24

um Mr Mahoney why are you requesting an increased security presence

1:43:30

sometimes when we get to the public participation part of these meetings some of the members can get a little

1:43:37

rambunctious and this has been a signature event in

1:43:42

the timeline of this committee the sampling the state is coming sending down a

1:43:48

delegation Mr Gould is going to join the delegation he will just be an observer they will take

1:43:55

samples back to one lab there are only a handful of labs

1:44:01

the United States that are qualified that can handle testing this radiological to have the certain

1:44:07

licensing and the permits to handle this material and this has been a very

1:44:12

sensitive one and depending on where the results came in

1:44:17

that could influence the behavior of the crowd one way or the other if you know what I’m saying

1:44:23

and I’ve had other panel members request this so that’s why I’m bringing up

1:44:29

and then Madam chair one more you know Mr quintal mentioned 1500 Acres

1:44:35

earlier in the CPC and there was a bear here earlier with Miss rushforth and the

1:44:41

CPC a few months ago we a couple months ago we had the summit and the CPC met in a regular meeting

1:44:47

prior to the summit and mishrush fourth advised the committee in her opinion that when we left that first summit there

1:44:55

should be a commitment between the chair of that committee and Mr brindisi as the location the time

1:45:00

and you know when that next part two of that Summit would be so that’s imperative that we get that

1:45:07

done we could put on the agenda the discussion that Mr quintal brought up but there are some other issues going on

1:45:13

and I do have colleagues on that committee that do want to weigh in they felt it was best during part one to sit

1:45:19

there and listen uh suggestions brought forth by the finance director and others and they they wanted to get in the seat

1:45:26

on the second one and just voice their opinion as to you know the pros and cons of everything they heard at part one and

1:45:32

I just I just think that we need to follow up on that

1:45:38

um Derek I have actually received quite a few um calls

1:45:44

regarding this second CPC meeting so I would like for you to schedule something

1:45:51

for next week and ask CPC to attend

1:45:56

and then so we can get you know I think there’s a lot going on with CPC

1:46:01

especially because of the information that we’ve heard and and how we’re going to go but there are a lot of unanswered

1:46:08

questions from the first time and I have a lot of residents wanting to know and

1:46:14

board members that want to know what’s going on so Mr Cohan if you’re watching

1:46:20

please um make time next week to meet with

1:46:26

CPC and have a second meeting to answer some

1:46:31

questions yeah we’re happy to do that I’m in the process of preparing a formal

1:46:37

application of CPC to help fund uh further analysis of the

1:46:44

lead cabins and the potential contamination of the soil around those lead cabins My Hope Is that the CPC

1:46:51

would consider using admin funds so that we could further mitigate any hazards that are

1:46:58

over there great subject for our next meeting meaning CPC or cpc’s next meeting which

1:47:06

Mr Mahoney is the liaison for any other Mr Helm

1:47:12

I feel that Mr Mahoney actually did bring he brought up a good uh he

1:47:18

mentioned something that I think we need to follow up on a few months ago the water conservation

1:47:24

committee did make a presentation here they had several suggestions that they

1:47:29

wanted the select board to consider approving we

1:47:34

I I’m concerned that we are in danger of

1:47:40

um letting too much time go by and I would like to see it to be an

1:47:48

agenda item at a future meeting so that we don’t forget about it because they they did do a lot of work they did make

1:47:54

suggestions and we do need to um consult with them sure

1:48:02

okay and anyone else

1:48:08

so we will be adjourning from Open Session and going back into executive

1:48:14

session so do I have a motion motion for Mr quintal seconded from Mr

1:48:21

buttzer all those in favor it’s unanimous see you in a couple weeks folks