Agenda – Select Board Agenda July 25 2023

Official Minutes – Plymouth Select Board Minutes 7-25-23

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being of Tuesday July 25th 2023 please join

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the board and salute to the flag

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pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

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Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and

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justice for all

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thank you Anthony pursuant to the chapter 2 of Acts of

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2023 and act relatives to extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency signed into law

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on March 29 2023 this meeting is conducted via remote means and in person members of the public who wish to watch

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the meeting May do so in the following manner tune into Pac TV government access channels Comcast 20 Comcast

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channel 15 or Verizon channel 47 and watch the meeting as it is aired live or

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watch the meeting live on the PAC TV website Pac tv.org members of the public

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who wish to participate during the meeting May do so in the following manner in person at the Great Hall at

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Town Hall and also via remote means and if you would like to participate

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virtually or remotely the agenda is on the town man the town of plymouth’s

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website Mr chairman thank you first out of our business is the public

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hearing aquaculture license renewal Thomas Hagan

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we have reviewed Mr Hagan’s renewal application and he has met his

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expenditures for the last for his grants and we are recommending that this uh renewal will be approved and he is in

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good standing so we uh we support this measure happy answer any questions thank you any questions from board

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members this is renewal right

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motion from the board of approval second we’ll move the motion

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by Mr Mahoney second by Mr Canty discussion Mr bletzer yes Mr Helm yes Mr

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Canty yes Mr Mahoney and myself yes thank you very much

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Chief good evening and welcome

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good evening Mr quintal I thank you for allowing me to take Tommy busy schedule

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tonight to introduce you to your four newest police officers three of your four newest promotions and

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introduce you to three gentlemen civilians Whose actions on June 3rd ultimately saved one of our residents of

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of from severe bodily harm I’d like to introduce the offices first

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Captain Higgins uh the the four newest officers

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graduated from the academy on July 7th they just finished two weeks of In-House training going over our policies

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procedures and just some of our own internal administrative issues they will

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be actually Monday they are now on the road in the company of a field training officer will be there for the next four

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to six months they’ll be evaluated weekly and hopefully they pass our

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rigorous program they’ll be on their own by Thanksgiving

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I’d first like to introduce you to officer Noah Regalado he was born in Portland Oregon and grew

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up in Plymouth he’s a proud son of Lawrence and Michelle Regalado he graduated from Plymouth

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North High School in 2015. he attended the University of Southern Maine hearing a degree in an environmental planning

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and policy prior to entry in the police academy he worked for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s

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Department as a corrections officer his badge will be pinned on by his parents

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officer Joshua aylward was born and raised in the town of Plymouth he went to Plymouth South High

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School in completing the vocational carpentry program if he’s around long enough hopefully

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he’ll help us design and build my new station After High School he started his own

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business running a court the Corian countershop business a countertop business for 10 years before he decided

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to pursue a career in law enforcement officer Edward’s badge we pinned on by his mother Tracy his father Mark and his

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brother Zach officer Jacob Usher

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was he was born in raised in Plymouth he went to Plymouth South High School played football and was in the technical

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studies program he attended Bridgewater State University and hold the degree in business management

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during college he was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society he will be pinned by his mother Jill

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officer Thomas Malloy is a proud husband of Whitney and even prouder father of his daughter Avery he’s from Whitman

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but now that they no longer make the Toll House Cookies he wants to serve the residents of Plymouth

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officer Malloy served in Marine Corps for 11 years reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant having the duties as a squad

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leader unit leader in infant infantry combat instructor officer Malloy was elected by his peers

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in the police academy to be their class president and we are very proud of him for his accomplishment

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he would be he would be pinned by his wife and daughter

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the four newest promotions long time police officers for the town of Plymouth they all took effect on July 1st

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the first one is Sergeant Thomas Delora unfortunately due to previous commitments he’s not a lot he was unable

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to be here tonight Thomas grew up in Plymouth he’s married with two children he attended the Roger

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Williams University field training officer class becoming the one of our field training officers

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in 2020 he became a member of our Department’s training unit he trains offices in the taser Firearms

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less lethal use of force and de-escalation Sergeant delore has been assigned to the

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mountain bike unit as well as the street crimes unit in 2018 he was awarded the medal of

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valor from the Massachusetts Police Association in the Platinum award from the Massachusetts Coalition of police

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while serving as a secretary secretary for the patrolman’s union he organized the Plymouth Police Department’s

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children’s toy drive Sergeant Charles Delora

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yes Thomas and Charles Brothers Charles delor grew up in West Plymouth

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and attended Coyle Cassidy High School he has been a member of the department since 2013.

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he has a bachelor’s degree in business management from Bridgewater University and a master’s degree in criminal

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justice from California Coast University Sergeant delore is currently a member of

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the motor unit and recently participated in the top cop challenge at New England Motor Speedway

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he has been a field training officer and has been a member of the street crimes unit Charlie was a Union steward for the

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patrolman’s union prizes promotion to Sergeant he is a proud husband to his wife Kimberly and proud father of his

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two sons Charlie Jr in Cade he will be pinned by his wife and

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children this evening Sergeant Daniel heard grew up in Plymouth graduating from

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Plymouth North High School in 2005. he graduated from the Plymouth Police Academy in 2014.

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prior to his career policing he was involved in construction and restaurant management he lives in Plymouth with his

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wife Courtney and his new daughter Leanna Sergeant hurt has been a field training

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officer and has worked in the street crimes unit and he is working towards his bachelor’s degree at UMass Dartmouth

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he will be bitten by his wife and daughter I finally Lieutenant David Liss

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David grew up in the Berkshires at the age of 17 he enlisted in the U.S Army Reserve as a combat engineer in 2003 he

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realized the Berkshires did not have an ocean and wanted to move to Plymouth he made his home here

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he’s a proud father of two children and he joined the police department in Plymouth Police Department in 2007.

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here in this bachelor from Westfield State University and he later went on to earn his master’s degree in criminal

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justice from Curry College Lieutenant Liz has been a patrol supervisor as well as a member of the

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mountain bike and Street crimes units he has also been assigned as a field training officer he is currently a member of the training

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unit as a Firearms taser and less lethal instructor in 2018 he was awarded the

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medal of valor by the Massachusetts Police Association in the Platinum award by the Massachusetts Coalition of police

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Lieutenant list would be pinned by his daughter Carolyn Captain Higgins

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some more

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raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name

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do solemnly swear that I will be of true faith and Allegiance

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two and well and will uphold and defend the Constitution

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of the United States of America in the Constitution

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are the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and that I will fairly

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and equitably execute the laws thereof

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within the extent of my authority in jurisdiction

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so help me God I state your name do solemnly swear

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that I will faithfully and impassionately discharge and perform all the duties

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incumbent upon me has a stake your rank

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of the town of Plymouth Police Department and I will obey

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and be bound by such rules and regulations has now are

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Maybe from time to time established for the government

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of the town of Plymouth Police Department so help me God

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one last time I state your name hereby accept the position of State you

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rank in and for the town of Plymouth Police Department

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of the town of Plymouth congratulations

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[Applause]

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please spread out down the aisle a little bit anybody pitting these officers and

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supervisors please come forward any family members or friends pinning

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go ahead and pin the badges on folks thank you

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take a picture

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could I would just have one last round of applause [Applause]

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congratulations gentlemen dismissed

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foreign could I please have Jamie Costa Jeffrey Williams and David Williams step forward

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ladies and gentlemen these are three uh three men that really helped the civilian of ours as a a Plymouth citizen

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in her time of need this was a letter from Chief Flynn to Jamie cost who was in the middle

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Jeffrey Williams who was on your left and David Williams who’s on your right from Dana Flynn chief of police the date

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is July 11th of 2023 regarding a letter of appreciation on June 3rd 2023 a man entered his

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estranged wife’s house in violation of a restraining order while masked he was carrying weapons in handcuffs

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from across the street the three of the three men in front of you heard a woman scream for help without hesitation the three of you ran

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towards the screams and observed as the woman was pulled from the house and led by a man across the front yard as you approach the man brandished what

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appear to be a firearm without any regard for your own safety both Jamie Costa and David Williams engaged the man

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of physical struggle and were able to bring him to the ground which allowed the woman to break free

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Williams then lawfully held the man at gunpoint until the arrival of us

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your actions on June 3rd undoubtedly saved the woman from serious bodily harm on behalf of the Plymouth Police

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Department and the residents of the town of Plymouth it was important that you be publicly commended be a little emotional

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some of these guys for a long time went to school with them your actions were nothing short of heroic we thank you for

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your selfless and bold action Chief Dana Flynn [Applause]

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[Applause]

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[Applause]

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Mr Quinto that concludes our presentation for the evening again I thank you very much for your time thank

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you very much we’re going to take a five minute recess and let people

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clear out and do what they’re going to do

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number one welcome back everyone

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next on the agenda is no place for hate committee outstanding citizen Awards

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presentation please make sure the green light is on and identify itself for the record

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please thank you good evening my name is John Platt

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tonight for the sixth year the town’s no place for hate committee is presenting its outstanding Citizenship Award

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this award is different from the many excellent scholarships offered through the high schools the recipients do not

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have to be seniors nor do they have to be College Bound they do have to be active in their

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community and make a difference in ways that are consistent with the committee’s mission which is described on our

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website the specific eligibility requirements for this award are

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a recipient of the award will be a student who in the opinion of the committee has shown a commitment to

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Social Justice by challenging discrimination or bigotry through his or her actions

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and or who actively Works to celebrate diversity or to protect the civil rights of all

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people in our community tonight we honor three amazing young women

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our vice chair Peter Matlin will tell you about the first one

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thank you very much John it is an honor to announce that the first recipient of

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the 2023 outstanding Citizenship Award is Grace Elizabeth Hamilton who has just

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finished her junior year at the rising tide Public Charter School

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according to her college and future planning counselor Isabella trautsmendorf Grace stands out among

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Rising tied students in that she sincerely cares about the well-being of others and the school Community as a whole

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Grace is a founding member of the school’s diversity belonging inclusion and Equity work group

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and has always maintained a commitment to its values she has actively recruited new members

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and puts forth ideas about how to do the IBI on an everyday basis she frequently

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Asked teachers for suggestions for what would make the school a better place and keeps a notebook of these ideas

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the mission of the dbie work group is to help make everyone feel

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like they have a place in the school that their voice will be heard and to educate others about minorities who have

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been mistreated and misunderstood so what does that mean in practice

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last year for example on her own initiative Grace reached out to an uncle who leads diversity and inclusion

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initiatives at Bridgewater State University and brought him in as a school speaker

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she and her uncle also brought a group of Muslim Students from BSU to speak with students about Ramadan and how they

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overcame the racially charged hate that they’re forced to deal with on a daily basis

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previously Grace took leadership role in a collaborative racial healing quilt project to raise awareness about diverse

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cultures within the school community recruiting friends to join the project and bringing in our own art supplies to

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supplement the grant funded materials when asked about what motivates your

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interactivities greats credits her amazing teachers and everyone in the

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upper school office she says that they have shown an unbelievably steady stream of compassion

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and understanding they’re always giving 100 percent the rising tide Community is what

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inspires me to be positive it’s about a future Grace says she would

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love to be a financial advisor or a history professor at a college

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so the Plymouth no place for hate committee is thrilled to present its outstanding Citizenship Award to Grace

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Elizabeth Hamilton and let me read the award it states the town of Plymouth no place

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for hate committee is pleased to present Grace Elizabeth Hamilton with its

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outstanding Citizenship Award in recognition of her actions towards making Plymouth A Better Community for

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all awarded this 25th day of July 2023 Grayson congratulations

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[Applause]

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thank you

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good evening my name is Artis logis and I’m an associate member of the Plymouth no

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place for hate committee our next recipient of the award

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is Maria Eduardo Tabora Pierre class of 2023 graduate of Plymouth North

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High School she was nominated by Matt capanito the

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advisor of friends Without Borders Club he writes I have known Maria since January of

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2021. I have been Amazed by the immeasurable impact Maria has had on

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advancing Equity Justice and inclusion throughout the Plymouth Public Schools

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community she is driven by a deep-rooted conviction in her work based on her

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experience as an English Learner in Plymouth Maria told us

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from elementary school kids were rude to me because I was one

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of only two ESL kids in my school so she made it her goal to help ESL kids

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be more included to create a safe space for them to share their experience at

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school with English-speaking students in a fun environment in March Maria helped to facilitate a

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recorded Roundtable held for former English learners through her courage and honesty Maria

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helped to draw out powerful perspectives by the other students about their school experiences

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this conversation will be shared with Plymouth Public Schools staff to promote a better understanding of English

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Learners successes and challenges Maria’s leadership skills have also been

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of great benefit to the pnhs equity and Justice committee this spring Maria held

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to produce a video highlighting students experiences of Injustice and bigotry

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is she puts it we created a Vizio video that showed the insensitive comments we

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heard around school we showed this to the staff at pnhs

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this was a big step for the club because it was a way to show the staff

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things that could want every day that they don’t see or hear this video had an impact town wide and

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it helped staff develop responses to these situations

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when asked what drives are activism Maria says the thing that modify

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motivates me the most is the thought that the same thing could happen to somebody else

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this fall she will be attending UMass Lowell majoring in Psychology she plans

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to go into the criminal psychology field just like to add from my lived and

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personal experiences I know the Harem that is caused to

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students and for that matter everybody because of exclusion and I want to personally thank Maria for

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her leadership and courage to do something about it the Plymouth no place for hate committee

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is thrilled to present its outstanding Citizenship Award to Maria Eduardo

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Tabata Pierre congratulations

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my name is Susan Moore a longtime member of no place for hate our third recipient

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of the 2023 outstanding Citizen Award is Alana rabbit who has just completed her

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junior year at Plymouth South High School she was nominated by Keith Graceman who

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was both her teacher and the gay straight Alliance facilitator the mission of the GSA is to unite queer

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and non-queer youth and to make the student body of Plymouth South safer and more accepting by spreading awareness

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and education here’s what Keith says about Alana she’s always been motivated engaged and

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Keen to work for change for the school play she helped man a

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table to increase the visibility of the GSA this year she took over and showed true

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leadership compassion and dedication she kept the group organized and focused

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while we created the no place for hate Post-it project this project was done to raise awareness

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in the school of the Discrimination that takes place in the student body and to

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open up a dialogue it consisted of a mural of encouraging and accepting messages which students

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wrote to speak out against discrimination Alana is a member of the Plymouth South

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theater Guild and acted in its 2022 production of The Laramie Project

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a moving and timely drama about the death of Matthew Shepard a young man

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murdered for his identity as a gay man in the town of Laramie Wyoming

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Alana is part of the center stage Dance Studio as well as its Outreach team

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which performs regularly for several causes including the kindness Festival in born last fall and at several nursing

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homes over the winter I love this kind of volunteer work she explains because dance is such a

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beautiful form of expression and it can bring such Joy Alana hopes to pursue a career in

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environmental science and is working with sustainable Plymouth to build a pollinator Garden in the manomet

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recreation area when asked about what motivates your activism Alana responded right now is

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such a tense time in our country that every little thing counts if I’m a part of the thing that makes

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someone’s life more enjoyable that makes living with myself easier because I know

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that I was part of a positive change Plymouth no place for hate committee is

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thrilled to present an outstanding Citizen Award to Alana rabbit

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before I forget I think we’re going to be safe the Next Generation I feel blessed

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thank you

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so we did one picture with the with the select board and the recipient please

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[Applause]

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oh yeah

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foreign

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[Music]

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moving right along to uh licenses permits and petitions

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any questions on any of the administrative notes or licenses

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Mike on Charlie

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Mr chairman I just have a couple of questions on the

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Library event and I think somebody is uh Kelsey

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supposed to be here I think on Zoom Mr chairman Kate Gomes who’s the assistant

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Library director is on with us okay just one moment thank you

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people Library license

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it’s not listed as a right here third one down

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yeah

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absolutely sorry I just joined the panel is there um

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Charlie bless the select and I have a question what’s your first name

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the library Kevin I got a question for you on the event on 8 25 from four to

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nine a singles night event at the Plymouth Public Library with a

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wine and beer being served I have a question is this a private

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event or is this a library a library event

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this is a library event okay it’s a event that’s being hosted at the library for community members

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if you’ve done alcohol before in the library is this a new thing as we have

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actually as recently as April there was an event at the library and another after hours event where alcohol was

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served but it’s again the library was running it was run by the library not a private vendor

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so that was run by the Plymouth Public Library Foundation okay um but we last year in August we ran a another similar

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end of the summer event that we called Fireside Friday and that was an event that was run by the library for that was

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um free for the public to attend yeah is this a fundraising event or is this

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what is you what uh what’s the reasoning for this event is it

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fundraising or no it’s not a

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it’s not a sin who asked that the library take a more active role in um

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promoting uh you know social engagement for um patrons of this age range and then

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this demographic that we’re hoping to attract and one of our Keystone parts of

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our uh strategic plan was community so um we have a great partner in Plymouth

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pride and we thought that we would Host this event and see how it went and is this this after business hours is

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that this event it is it’s a library we call [Music] so how do you work with staff is this

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overtime for staff or maybe I should ask I have a

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DPW director and maybe I could ask your her I’m just wondering how does this work

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for the for the uh custodians or the library personnel

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oh so they’re um there typically wouldn’t be a custodian on at that time we could of course bring them on if you

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would feel more comfortable with that um myself and Kelsey Casey the library director would be present

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um and there would be two members of the regular Library staff present so it would be the four of us I mean I guess

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somebody has to clean the place so I just was concerned

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that comes in on Saturday morning

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current custodian overtime in order to stay we are currently down a custodian position I I guess I what I’m trying to

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have you talked to the DPW about this event and uh worked it out with them

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to make sure that uh they’re okay with this event I could certainly

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because in the past the are under

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the um work with the DPW when it comes to custodial work

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okay so the custodians are part of our budget okay

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all right I’m uh um those are my questions you’ve answered them and good

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luck with the event thank you very much any other questions from board members

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I’m just going to Echo in with budgets and employee costs you you mentioned four

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and the funds for this event going to pay for whether the Saturday or whatever

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day they are and is this going to be a precedence we’re going to have these

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after hours events um at the library I I just

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I’m a little mixed on this one um I’m being honest with you I just don’t want it to be I just don’t feel it

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should be like too often we should be having after hours at the library for for whatever reason I just don’t think

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the library’s uh to learn in place books computers um

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and alcohol brings its whole host of problems so you know I’m not saying you’re going

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to have problems but I would feel much better if there was least amount possible of these as

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possible and for my vote anyway I’ll let this one go you’ve already applied but

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I you know I guess you want to have a fundraiser you know maybe get a tent put it somewhere but I I just it just

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doesn’t sit right with me having a you know after I was at the library that’s not the way I looked at it maybe I’m

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old-fashioned you know who knows I don’t you know wait and see I guess but in the

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form of budgets and overtime and all that stuff I just think we could use out you know labor force money differently

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sure so Kelsey and I are on salary so we don’t cost you any additional funds

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um we only do a library sponsored after hours event once a year traditionally

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okay um and then it’s usually only one or two staff members who are earning like an hour or two of overtime so it’s

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not a huge uh staff cost well you made me feel better already where it’s once a

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year so no I’m not hurry with that any other questions or comments from the

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board you have a motion or are we going to take them all first

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off well we’ll find out what the motion is right

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the motion that we approve the licenses permits and petitions section as a group

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I’ll second that motion by Mr Canty seconded by Mr bletzer discussion

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Mr Mahoney yes Mr Canty yes Mr Helm yes Mr bletzer yes

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and myself yes moving on to the administrative notes

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there’s 15 of them any questions on any of the administrative notes

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CNN we have a motion motion that we uh move them is vote on

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them as a group second motion by Mr Helms second by Mr Canty

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discussion discussion Mr Canty I just would like to point the public to and

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anyone that may have any business that they want to be heard by Fall town meeting to administrative note 15 that

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the fall 10 meeting warrant is going to open uh today Tuesday the 25th and close

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on Friday August 11 2023 at 12 noon so any uh articles that need to be

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submitted for the fall town meeting including citizen petition articles need to be completed and turned in with all

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required backup by Friday August 11 2023 no later than noon

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thank you thank you anyone else

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Mr Mahoney no is that a yes oh yes that’s okay Mr Canty yes Mr Helm

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yes Mr bletzer yes and myself yes

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now we got board and committee appointments so on and Board of Appeals

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one alternate seat one three-year term until June 30 26 and

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we have two applicants Mr Helm before we begin I would just like the

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board to know that I will be recusing myself on both Mr Wallace and Mr Holm

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and any discussions of their appointments okay

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just getting the ones I want on the bottom

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so we take the two applicants I see Mr Wallace’s sale

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was here and Mr Holm he’s in the back

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how you doing would you like to come up and say a few words

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Mr walls

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thank you Evan’s gonna have

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thank you Mr quintal and members of the board for the record my name is Thomas Wallace I reside at uh 30 Highland

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Terrace in manomet Plymouth Massachusetts uh you have my resume in

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front of you which was submitted previously a couple of additions to that as well as having served both the past

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chairman of the board for the Plymouth area Chamber of Commerce chairman of the board for the Plymouth Regional economic

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development foundation and also I have had the privilege of serving at the request of the board of Selectmen to

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fill in the position in the past and the Board of Health and I’ve also had the privilege to serve as a town meeting

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member I’m ready willing to answer any questions you might ask I am a real

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estate developer I’ve been very involved in the development and the creation of such projects as the Pine Hills LLC the

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shops at five currently called The Grove and of course the project up in Commerce Way which hosts hosts Three Banks

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Santander Harbor one soon to be arriving Chase Bank as well as a Wendy’s and a

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Dunkin Donuts I am very involved in Economic Development have continued to be involved in Economic Development and

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trying to bring forward projects that not only serve the community but obviously enhance the

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community Through additional revenue and tax sources I’ll answer any question you might ask

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Dr Kevin thank you Mr Wallace I and I know you

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appeared before us once previously when we had not quite advertised it as we

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intended but I appreciate you coming back for us a second time so we have the application materials in

42:13

our packet and I’d like to Echo what Mr Helm said last time we’re doing appointments that having these

42:20

this application that gives the applicant an opportunity to list their qualifications as a real benefit

42:27

globally to all these and your qualifications certainly and this speak for themselves

42:33

in terms of as you are a developer in town obviously you may have items before

42:39

the zba from time to time and I assume you would have no problem recusing yourself I know you’re going

42:46

for an alternate position but if you were serving for that meeting or in a future if you ever were elevated to the

42:52

permanent position as a result of serving as an alternate you would have no problem recusing yourself for from

42:57

such a vote or determination such as Mr Helm has done this evening is that

43:03

correct that’s correct in fact the law requires that we either have any

43:09

conflict of interest in any form of manner that I must recuse myself otherwise any vote that I might take

43:14

could be easily nullified by appeal absolutely thank you I appreciate that

43:23

Mr Wallace a couple questions currently do you have

43:28

any projects uh going right now in Plymouth no the uh the most recent project I had

43:35

was the creation of five Lots each five acres a piece single family lots on bump

43:42

Rock Road the issue there at the time was that bump Rock Road because it was

43:48

so narrow the fire department had great difficulty in assuring that they could

43:54

respond to any emergency be it a house fire or a forest fire on bump Rock Road part of the agreement was that we

44:00

improved that road we wind it it’s met all requirements of the fire department as well as we have now requiring any uh

44:09

any homes that we control a building that they follow the Plymouth firewise policy which is designed to try to

44:16

prevent the kind of forest fires and other fires that have happened in the west coast as a result of not

44:21

maintaining the the forest floor so would you say that you’ve gone through the process

44:27

I’ve gone through the process for more than 25 years if you you feel it because of who you are that you’ve been treated

44:34

differently uh during that process no I have not ever been I don’t think I’ve ever been

44:39

treated differently I think obviously there is a permitting process in many instances I’ve had to go to town meeting

44:46

town meeting has approved the projects and development it’s the process of

44:51

developing in any Community is intended to be difficult it should be difficult and all questions should be answered but

44:58

it should also be handled fairly and I have always been handled failure and ultimately I believe and don’t I I

45:04

wasn’t on this board when this was going on but your your project was appealed

45:12

was it appealed or taken to court yeah the only project has been appealed on

45:18

the courts was Bump Rock Road that’s what I’m talking about uh yes that was appeal there was actually appealed twice

45:23

the first time it was appealed is when we did what is called an A and R plant approval not required since each lot was

45:31

five acres since each lot had over 200 foot of Frontage the law allows you to

45:36

have a a lot you do go through the planning board it is wise to get the

45:42

okay the planning board also locate it that was appealed in the court of law took two years and the courts found that

45:50

I had done everything correctly according to the law and they found in our favor we then had to change a covenant it was

45:57

not an open space Covenant it was a development Covenant the core issue was that in the past a previous previous

46:04

developer had decided not to improve the road and had made an agreement with the planning board that said if I you don’t

46:10

make me approve the road I’ll limit the number of houses since the road was never improved and was a public safety

46:17

habitat uh Hazard I went to the fire chief I went to the planting board the

46:23

planning board approved the lot the subdivision which was five Lots only one

46:28

which already existed and each lot at five acres a piece that was approved by

46:33

the planning board that was also appealed we went to the courts been two

46:39

years in the end the abutta who appealed it decided to withdraw their appeal and

46:45

that was cleared and worked out coincidentally and it’s just very recent the abutta in talking to my son said you

46:52

know what Tom my son is alternate Tom you know what the road looks pretty good

46:58

but the point I’m making is you follow the process you follow the law absolutely through this process

47:05

this appointment is very it’s a very important appointment we’ve gotten a lot

47:11

of emails okay that are controversial and uh and I just want to be clear on a

47:19

cup well one thing you have known you a long time 24 years probably at least you speak

47:27

will first opened and when you were doing Pine Hills that and you you’ve been a supporter of

47:35

mine I think you I believe you gave me a hundred dollars I want to disclose this right up front for my campaign

47:41

because you’re a supporter just like a lot of citizens in Plymouth yeah I I

47:47

raised a lot of money from my two campaigns you’re one contributor but there was quite a few other people uh so

47:54

I just want to beg a clear out there because some of the emails are talking about all the money you gave to political uh supporters and I think

48:02

they’re trying to make us scare us into not voting for you it’s

48:09

not going to be a conflict of interest for us I don’t consider it a conflict for me if I vote for you the other thing

48:16

that every every uh email they talk about you’re a developer

48:22

and I was going to talk about this afterwards and I probably will but being a developer to me is a plus for being on

48:30

this board because you have the knowledge and the expertise that and and that’s so I consider that

48:37

an asset for all the folks out there for the emails and in fact I’ll read you one email

48:43

that that’s and this is a woman who’s been in politics is I’m surprised she’s not here tonight

48:49

I won’t say her name I don’t want to embarrass her but I am writing actually here it is right here I believe it would

48:55

be an enormous conflict of interest to appoint Tom Wallace Wallace to the zba

49:01

no matter how well qualified he is to me that

49:07

it just that doesn’t make sense you’re going to recuse yourself you can’t vote on anything that your friends

49:13

are involved in or you’re involved in and there’s two areas of Plymouth that

49:19

we’re getting all the emails came from but I represent this whole town and I’m going to vote tonight I’m going to

49:25

listen to Mr Holm because I don’t know who he is and I’m going to listen to his qualifications I get your resume in

49:30

front of me and and I know you personally know what you’ve done I’m going to listen to him afterwards

49:37

and if his only qualifications are I’m not a developer I’m not that that doesn’t uh

49:44

because that’s what all the emails said he’s not a developer so I want to hear his qualifications before he decides so

49:53

uh anyway thank you for your time and uh that’s all my questions may I make one

49:59

observation obviously I’m very well aware of development development rules the

50:05

regulations the bylaws I’m very familiar and have worked within the town of Plymouth with all of the Departments

50:12

over a long period of time what I find interesting is on a board such as the zoning Board of Appeals

50:18

where every time any board this board the zoning board of appeals the planning

50:25

board the school committee makes a decision by the very nature of a decision right somebody’s got to be

50:31

disappointed and somebody’s got to be happy if we were not to allow qualified people

50:37

to serve on boards I offer this observation you can accept it or not wouldn’t it be a shame If On The Board

50:43

of Health we wouldn’t allow an LPN or registered nurse or a physician because

50:49

that was their practice wouldn’t it be a shame if on the school committee we didn’t allow an educator to run for

50:56

office I wouldn’t be a shame if on the planning board we didn’t allow an architect to run for office I don’t

51:03

think my background my history the work I’ve done in Plymouth which I’m very proud of all of it should be a

51:09

disqualifying factor in fact what I think is it should be a qualifying Factor so I thank you for your comments

51:14

Mr blitzo Mahoney

51:21

Tom welcome um obviously you rattled off your significant development accomplishments

51:27

over the years Pine Hills The Grove and your reference out there a Commerce Way uh the Wendy’s the Dunkin Donuts and the

51:34

banks and I’m in that Dunkin Donuts every day and I can tell you um I’ve seen some things going on in that

51:40

Dunkin Donuts that I don’t see at other locations so those are that’s a

51:45

I mean they’re comedic they’re nice people they’re don’t get me wrong but I enjoy my interactions with that crew

51:51

over there so having said that back to the uh the Covenant at bump Rock Road

51:56

um so you went in front of the planning board you asked for permission to have that Covenant lifted okay amended

52:04

amended and they did that so the director of planning of the

52:09

community who’s been in his job for decades vehemently opposed

52:15

the amendment to that Covenant and he typically doesn’t take those positions

52:22

that was unique for him to do that in his um time you know serving in that

52:27

role and he was vehemently opposed to that happening because it effectively

52:32

had never happened before and it was um obviously and I’ve discussed this with

52:39

him you know in extremely dangerous precedent to set you had a member of the planning board

52:45

at the time I think it was a three or four to one vote it was a three to two vote three to two I believe it was if I

52:52

remember correctly okay so I believe that the um Mr McGregor was the chair at the time he was okay so I think he put

52:59

in 35 years on the planning board and I remember him saying something to the effect of that was the worst vote he had

53:06

ever participated in in almost two generations in the job so I guess my question is

53:12

I mean weren’t you provided with preferential treatment in that vote absolutely not

53:17

far from it uh in fact first of all there was a huge misconception as to

53:25

what the Covenant did it was argued by Mr McGregor and quite

53:31

frankly by Mr Hoffman that this was a conservation restriction and that voting

53:37

to amend the Covenant would have dramatic impact all of the conservation

53:42

restrictions in the town of Plymouth the legal issue was very clear it was

53:49

not a conservation restriction so the very basis of the argument was false

53:54

from the outcome from the beginning it was in fact a covenant granted owned

54:00

by the Plymouth planning board the town of Plymouth which was given to the previous owner so that

54:08

they did not improve the road and in their mind they were willing to not to

54:14

pay a great expense to improve the road to Public Safety standards and then they

54:19

that Covenant was granted to the town of Plymouth the first legal argument was

54:24

who controls the Covenant was it the landowners the people who lived there or was it the Plymouth planning board the

54:31

law stays very clearly that the Covenant was controlled by the Plymouth planning board correct there was great

54:37

environmental pressure argumentative oppression neighborhood pressure to not

54:42

grant that the we still have that public meeting on tape it was described by

54:49

others as out of control but that’s the process I was treated fairly people

54:55

stated their opinions they stated what they thought was the law they argued it other members on the planning board some

55:02

of who are still there today knew the law and knew in fact what was being required I agreed to greatly improve the

55:11

road over a thousand feet I agreed to widen it as requested by the neighbors

55:16

to not more than 26 feet I agreed to harden that road to hold fire equipment

55:22

that would weigh up to 80 000 pounds I agreed that our development would follow

55:28

the firewise policy of the of the Plymouth fire department I agreed to put in Hammerheads along that road which

55:35

allows firefighters to turn their trucks around as opposed to backing them down

55:41

150 to 200 feet I agreed to have every house sprinkled sprinklers internal

55:47

sprinklers I had met with both the then fire chief Bradley and current fire chief Foley and they negotiated with me

55:54

on what they needed to meet public safety requirements and I agreed with

56:00

everything they asked for I don’t know what else I might have done good thank you

56:07

one more thing so ultimately you you followed the law you did this go

56:15

to court yes it did the Court rule that you were the court never ruled the uh a

56:22

butter the appellant decided to drop the case no longer wanted to pursue it and

56:28

and and we we shook hands and made amends it’s probably because he knew he wouldn’t Prevail is that what why I I

56:36

can never judge another person’s motives and just to get it straight you you were five

56:42

single-family homes on five acre lots correct 25 acres each home five acres

56:49

and the road has been approved to the satisfaction of the the fire chief the road has the the fire department has

56:56

already sent down one inspector who’s walked the road we still have completing some more work to be done we have not

57:02

sold another lot yet and we won’t until such a time as that road is completed but interim steps the fire department

57:08

has sent inspectors down they have walked it they’ve approved everything we’ve done and continue to be helpful

57:14

and I brought this up and I didn’t have to bring this up it probably is opening up some I have a couple of gentlemen

57:20

friends who are friends that I know are against uh against this and uh but I brought it up for the reason that

57:28

the the your appointment is controversial because of that one project you know what you’ve done for Plymouth I

57:34

was going to save this till afterwards but I’ll say it now the you know the Pine Hills when I met

57:40

you you were developing that and I knew about you as a kid I grew up down here it was all Woods down there digital

57:45

bought the land not to get into the whole history of it and you bought that land for 10 million three thousand acres

57:52

and you started the Pine Hills which turned out to be an award-winning

57:58

developments okay and and that came on the hills of a disastrous

58:04

uh developments a few miles down the road called The Ponds of Plymouth disastrous

58:11

three thousand homes no Services uh uh that put so much pressure on the schools

58:17

with all the kids that it was all families the roads were terrible no sidewalks no ball fields uh no no fire

58:25

stations the the developer got away with murder

58:31

so when your development came and I remember it clearly everything you had to go through and the boards did a good

58:38

job you have your own water your own roads they maintain sewage everything the fire station there I know you pay

58:45

for the suppressant all the fire hydrants on all that but you created

58:51

your own self sufficient you know you get your water source treatment plant and your own

58:57

water and it didn’t I think there’s 35 kids there now but there wasn’t any for

59:03

years because it was a 55 plus predominantly and it was a great win I

59:10

think I I looked at the numbers and since the Inception I think they have if

59:15

272 a million in tax revenue I believe with about four four plus million in CPA

59:21

money to the town it’s been a huge award-winning and I commend you for

59:27

being on the ground floor of that and it was a great development also you do

59:32

you’re the landing over there on on Commerce Way has been a success there’s a Third Bank going in there it’ll be

59:39

three Banks two national chains very successful you also had a lot to do at the shops at

59:45

five getting that it probably hasn’t been as successful as your as you uh

59:51

wanted it to be but it was a gravel pit before and look what’s there now so you know what you’re doing I I feel

59:58

comfortable uh with with your qualifications and I’m going to listen to Mr home but I just want to get it on

1:00:05

the record that this one controversial uh chiltonville project it shouldn’t be enough to not appoint

1:00:12

you because you are more than qualified for this this board thank you sir

1:00:19

any other questions from Mr Wallace

1:00:24

thank you Mr Wells Mr Holm

1:00:37

ES well I come from a different perspective good evening gentlemen Don Holm

1:00:44

um and uh audience um

1:00:50

my wife and I live in Ellisville near Savory Pond our daughters and husbands and grandkids live nearby in Marshfield

1:00:57

and Weston and we feel Plymouth is a very special town Plymouth is also a complex town with a

1:01:04

mix of unique history incredibly welcoming natural Coastal Greenbelt and like many Coastal communities are

1:01:10

growing in and developing town planning and land use from the cordage to Cedarville challenges and face

1:01:17

challenges for commercial and residential development I hope to help provide a reliable and

1:01:25

objective perspective to all navigating through the zoning department Appeals processes the process while balancing

1:01:33

growth with Builders concerns and conservation minded residents and business businesses ensuring value and

1:01:41

avoiding litigation I will provide a diligent worth ethic

1:01:47

and objectivity to all before the zoning board of appeals in accordance with the

1:01:52

rules and regulations as deemed appropriate on a case-by-case basis

1:01:57

my credentials I am a real estate licensee since 2005

1:02:03

holding licenses in Massachusetts and California I was a board member from

1:02:08

2006 to 2010 of the bpoa which is more than 710 members of that are property

1:02:16

owners and professionals my firm represents represented commercial income properties tenants land and office

1:02:24

properties in the San Francisco Bay Area I own currently two properties here in

1:02:30

Plymouth since 2016. I’m licensed with Allison James estate and homes and

1:02:36

Golden Gate Sotheby’s International I belong to Nar Mar South Shore Realtors

1:02:43

cape and Islands MLS so I have some experience with the town

1:02:48

during 22-23 I became a Precinct 14 town meeting

1:02:53

member I developed an agenda on behalf of concerned neighborhoods and some of

1:02:58

the businesses located throughout Cedarville it was primarily working on traffic issues between Cedarville and

1:03:04

Ellisville along 3A Hedges Pond and Herring Pond roads I prepared a short treatment on Street safety and traffic

1:03:11

related issues that were designed to help to establish communication between

1:03:16

the town massdot and the community our own public works department the

1:03:22

Cedarville steering committee and our State Rep were Partners in addressing traffic safety and road conditions for

1:03:28

much a much needed traffic plan for the 3A Corridor and the Rotary

1:03:34

the results prompted more public awareness and funding from the town

1:03:40

and a vision for the future I’m retired well not exactly I’m I’ve always been interested in participating

1:03:46

in local planning and its impacts starting from my early years as a grape grower in those days nap in Sonoma

1:03:55

valleys had similar issues impacting the traditional farm towns Water waste

1:04:01

growth and their unique tourism I spent 40 plus years working with my

1:04:07

family as wine grape farmers and some of that is a winemaker and owner of a bonded Winery Toyon Winery

1:04:13

and Vineyards I was a solid waste industry executive for 20 years

1:04:20

holding a position with sawana the solid waste Association of America as a board member and a member of the

1:04:26

apwa the American public works Association I worked on behalf of Waste Management of America

1:04:32

altfater sulo and SSI of Germany we built private and Public Partnerships

1:04:39

with decision makers throughout the U.S Canada and Mexico to establish diversion

1:04:45

of solid waste and lengthen landfill life I worked with U.S and Canadian QP

1:04:51

it’s the Canadian Union of public employees labor union truck drivers implementing safer operating exposure we

1:04:59

designed engineered and implemented collection systems for both large Urban

1:05:04

suburban and Rural communities I hold two patents for product design if appointed I hope to build

1:05:11

working knowledge of the zoning board of appeals to provide fellow members a positive support and to provide the

1:05:18

town and those before the board with a commitment to fairness and objectivity thank you

1:05:26

Mr Canty thank you Mr Holm

1:05:31

um what is your understanding of what the zoning Board of appeals’s role is in

1:05:37

town government to provide an objective by the book

1:05:44

interpretation of the on a case-by-case basis

1:05:50

so are you making policy are you interpreting the law and the rules as they exist this is not a policy making

1:05:57

position okay and when you were approaching the microphone

1:06:05

you made a comment what was that comment oh I don’t I don’t really remember was

1:06:11

it I would vote for that guy if I were a developer that’s it well something like that something like

1:06:18

that yeah do you think that was an appropriate remark to Heckle your competition in an election

1:06:24

um I wouldn’t call it a heckle what would you call that I think it was a comment about the kind of

1:06:32

obvious very complicated relationship he has with the town

1:06:37

do you think that was an appropriate comment to me I don’t have that complication and I think it’s a position that probably doesn’t warrant that kind

1:06:45

of competition that kind of complication that’s just my opinion so would that be

1:06:50

a yes you thought that was an appropriate comment I don’t think it’s a yes or no answer it’s a yes or no question no I know but

1:06:56

I’m not answering it in that fashion I mean it seems kind of adversarial I don’t feel comfortable with that

1:07:02

you understand that you’re applying for a quasi-judicial role correct

1:07:07

quasi so you’re going to have to give a lot of yes or no answers based on the cases right on facts and you don’t want

1:07:13

to give one right now uh that’s not a fact okay thank you

1:07:19

Mr bellezza so uh Mr Homer I never met you and you’re an

1:07:24

impressive guy you know there’s three boys right away that’s I’d love to see you on Solid

1:07:30

Waste agriculture or land acquisition I think you’re qualified for all three of those boards but but you don’t have

1:07:37

complications but you don’t also don’t have experience in the town at the town in the town you don’t have

1:07:44

experience in this town and you don’t well as a town meeting member last year right chairman of the steering committee

1:07:50

in Cedarville that’s I know and I’m going to get to that in a minute okay I just want to know what what qualifies

1:07:56

you because the other three I could argue all day there’s other for you thank you

1:08:02

appreciate it Pharma you were in solid waste and you’ve done land Acquisitions

1:08:07

what have you what is zoning have you ever been on any kind of what’s your

1:08:12

experience with zoning rules and regulations well in small project developments I’ve

1:08:20

had to go before City councils and planning departments and Zoning aboards to make sure that the permits were that

1:08:27

were required were followed sometimes we needed a uh

1:08:33

support but you but you’ll be this should be a Judicial position as far as the rules

1:08:42

and requests yeah yeah um I don’t have the same kind of development uh sort of background and if

1:08:49

you’re looking for a developer for the position which I understand is a is a good qualification but that’s not what I

1:08:57

bring to the table so I’m bringing you something that is a little bit outside the box but not entirely because I’ve been in real estate a long time and

1:09:04

management with public and private Ventures professionally for a long time

1:09:09

this isn’t like my first rodeo and I get you from a different perspective but you

1:09:14

heard the the last candidate and his experience and the fact that he’s a developer well I think you advocated

1:09:20

very well for him yeah I mean I do appreciate your I want it if a hundred dollars could get me that kind of play I

1:09:27

would really appreciate it yeah trust me you can’t find it there’s people in this room that gave me a lot more than no no

1:09:34

it was a joke mostly but I know advocated very strongly for him but I get all these these are all emails and

1:09:41

and everything is he’s a developer he’s you know he’s he’s in it to me can I

1:09:47

make a comment on that sure go ahead I think what what we have here is we have some people who prefer to have someone

1:09:55

who is not a developer that doesn’t mean that uh Mr Wallace is

1:10:00

not qualified or capable or any of that but they would prefer not to see that and that’s why you got the emails but

1:10:06

this is about the mo who’s the most qualified candidate and people it all he says they just endorse in you they don’t

1:10:14

tell me why except that you’re not Tom Waltz so my next question is besides the

1:10:20

Cedarville I said this you got a chance to let us know Cedarville standard committee are you involved in any other

1:10:26

committees organizations anything besides them meeting the former town meeting member uh any other

1:10:32

organizations you’ve worked with with the town other than being on the Capital Improvements committee

1:10:39

158 Center Hill Road have you done some work over there affiliated with those folks over there

1:10:45

uh is that wasn’t that on the agenda tonight what’s that anyway

1:10:52

um I have the support of some really great people in the neighborhood around uh around town not a lot I don’t have

1:11:00

the long history here I’m trying to establish a positive volunteer role with

1:11:05

the community that’s my offer here’s my question I’m trying if you’ve been involved with the

1:11:12

group at 158 Center no you’re not no never done any kind of work over there I

1:11:18

think what are you reaching at I’m asking you a question I just told you but what what is what’s that basis for

1:11:25

it’s you you answer the question the answer is no okay do I have a right yes or no get into it a little more with you

1:11:31

just tell me the truth I told you no because he okay that is the truth so why what’s the basis for your question

1:11:37

there’s no there’s no there’s there’s no uh so I mean you have a question there’s a

1:11:42

foundation for it what is it you want to make sure you don’t have a conflict of interest because 158 San Diego Road has been the address

1:11:49

okay on multiple appeals okay of of

1:11:55

projects in town okay it’s across the town a lot of money so that that that’s my basis you know telling me you’re

1:12:01

telling me no what I said in my closing is I’m looking to assist the the board

1:12:08

I’m there to support them and to provide the town and uh the applicants for a

1:12:15

fair objective sort of presentation of the board’s position

1:12:21

and and it’s the advocacy of that whatever that group is are you reaching for something that I’m

1:12:28

not involved in okay okay yeah so the answer this is an impartial answer that

1:12:34

I’m bringing to the table you would not have a conflict that was the answer you you would not have a conflict those are

1:12:39

your words I said no I’m I’m you just said it yeah because

1:12:45

you haven’t been involved with them so you wouldn’t have a conflict so I don’t know why you’re getting so uh upset these are questions that uh I’m not I

1:12:52

don’t know anything about you it’s kind of interesting that you’re really pushing that that particular property I mean we just

1:12:59

spent 30 minutes on property still in development

1:13:04

so anyway yeah you’ve answered my questions and uh

1:13:11

I don’t think you qualified for the zba that’s my answer fair enough

1:13:17

thank you any other questions or comments from the board

1:13:24

thank you okay

1:13:39

so we have an alternate seat for a three-year term until June 30th 2026.

1:13:48

discussion discussion Mr Canty

1:13:54

um so I’d like to thank both Mr Wallace and Mr Holm for availing themselves of

1:14:00

questioning this evening I candidly am concerned by the demeanor

1:14:07

of the second applicant in coming up here uh in my opinion that was a hack

1:14:14

all of the other uh person involved in this election and then making a remark against a member of the select board

1:14:20

asking questions of him while he’s up at the podium I will grant the second

1:14:26

applicant that Mr bletzer’s definition of a question is more expansive than mine but nevertheless I think it’s just

1:14:34

totally inappropriate conduct to demonstrate my I have seen

1:14:40

enough hearings through my day job to understand that if somebody behaves a certain way in front of somebody that

1:14:47

they want something in front of like a judge or like a panel that’s elect that’s voting for them then they’re only

1:14:53

going to behave worse in a more liberal environment where they’re not being reviewed like that and that’s

1:15:00

concerning to me when we had previous applications the zoning Port of appeals I asked several questions related to

1:15:07

decorum because that is something we have heard historically some comments about that’s a concern for me

1:15:14

I got some rather colorful although ultimately reassuring

1:15:20

response from the other applicant at that time about that they would do

1:15:26

better in regards to decorum but I don’t think we should be moving backwards by appointing somebody that conducts

1:15:33

themselves in that way at this hearing I just it was totally unacceptable in my

1:15:39

opinion and I’m baffled that someone will behave that way while they’re going up for a position so that’s just my

1:15:44

position and opinion Mr blatter I’d just like to add to that

1:15:51

two things that the two hours you have to have if you’re going to sit on the boards

1:15:57

it’s reasonable and be respectful and when you’re on the zba you’re going

1:16:02

to have lawyers arguing in front of you and you know going to ask you you know

1:16:08

maybe some questions and you have to be able to hand yourself handle yourself with the Quorum Kevin’s right about that

1:16:14

with that being said Mr Holm I know nothing about you but right now like I told you there’s three boards

1:16:21

that you would be you’re more than qualified to be on I just don’t think the zba is a good fit right now and and

1:16:27

the reason why I I get a little upset is everybody that’s advocating for you

1:16:32

you’re doing it because they have an issue with Mr Wallace it’s a personal thing and you know the emails say we’re

1:16:39

all going to be watching I’m a I’m a voter and I’m we’re all going to be watching well watch me I’m voting for

1:16:45

the best candidate tonight the man who I think is the most qualified to serve this position and if you don’t want to

1:16:52

vote me or support me that’s fine I’m not even sure if I’m ever running again but I’ll tell you this I’m going to

1:16:58

remember be remembered for what I did and not what I didn’t do so with that

1:17:04

being said I’m gonna I’ll make a motion right now for Tom Wallace

1:17:10

that’s we’re not making motions yeah anybody else have comments

1:17:18

no I just like to say uh when I first came on the board and I

1:17:23

think it was about 2000 2001 the first year and a half I said it uh Zoning

1:17:29

Board of appeal earrings and and people probably said what’s that kid doing while I was younger but uh

1:17:37

I wanted to see how it worked and I went to all the planning board meetings and I did this for over a year

1:17:44

and it’s my view of the zone and board of appeals from the time I spent there is to Grant relief

1:17:51

whether it be a citizen or a business where they don’t actually meet the zoning they Grant relief or they don’t

1:17:58

Grant relief it’s a very powerful board um they go for your presentation goes

1:18:04

with a planning board they put a list of recommendations they can go for the zba

1:18:09

and the zba has the power to remove those restrictions I’ll even use the word ignore and Implement

1:18:16

different ones so it’s a very very powerful board and you got to be able to

1:18:24

be very balanced and for the most part it is the building is back to back in those days dick

1:18:29

Manfredi used to sit in the back and it’s had many meetings with him Gene Lowenberg

1:18:34

Karen Rich Creek it’s a good board so I totally understand what I’m voting for

1:18:43

and I’m going to vote what I think is best for the town at this time

1:18:48

that being said we’ll start the voting unless anyone else has comments

1:18:53

seeing none we’re going to have one extension Mr helm

1:19:00

Mr Wallace Mr Moon Mr Mahoney

1:19:07

he’s calling on you how do you want to vote no Mr Canty uh yes for Mr Wallace yep

1:19:16

yes three yes for Mr Wallace

1:19:22

one abstention which is Mr helm and one no

1:19:27

Mr Mahoney I’m just saying it out loud so he can get it you will okay

1:19:39

Mr chairman can you reiterate the vote yes thank you uh three votes in favor of

1:19:46

Mr Wallace Mr Canty Mr quintal in Mr blood sir one abstention by Mr

1:19:53

helm and Mr Mahoney is going to use his vote for Mr Holm

1:20:03

thank you very much going to move on to the building

1:20:09

committee Mr chairman I have a couple comments regarding the building committee um and

1:20:16

a modification to the agenda um Mr Finnegan who

1:20:22

is who is going to be resigning um

1:20:27

he will be resigning on September 1st uh 2024 so it is actually

1:20:32

um the term is effective September 1st 2024

1:20:38

through June 30th 2024 for this term for the building committee Tracy Marquis

1:20:45

is listed for both the building committee and the land use acquisition committee and um you know she can

1:20:51

obviously speak for herself but she said that she wants to be considered for either or

1:20:58

okay so we have three um two applicants for this position right

1:21:05

correct Tracy Marquis and Janice that’s what I have okay

1:21:10

so is Tracy here would you like to come up and say a few things

1:21:29

hello thank you for having me my name is Tracy Markey I grew up on the

1:21:34

South Shore and moved to Plymouth um to North Spooner not North to Spooner Street

1:21:40

two and a half years ago in 2021 and I am an architect by trade I worked

1:21:49

for a number of large firms for about 15 years and I’ve been working for myself for the past seven years

1:21:55

my work is primarily for commercial institutional and Civic buildings and

1:22:02

have focuses in historic preservation and sustainable design so I being a new Community member here

1:22:10

in Plymouth I would love to get more involved with the town trying to build more of a community meet more people and thought

1:22:18

the building committee would be a great place to start seems like it would be a great fit I do understand that there would be a

1:22:24

conflict of interest with me pursuing any work in the town of Plymouth during my tenure and probably I think for a

1:22:31

year after any questions Mr Canty

1:22:38

so if I heard Mr sanessi correctly you you’re interested in either the building

1:22:43

committee or the land use acquisition but not both preferably yes okay and you mentioned

1:22:50

the conflict of interest um is so you understand that and I

1:22:56

assume that’s not a problem for you nope okay do you given that you’re interested in an either or

1:23:03

um do you have a preference between the two between the building and the land use acquisition committee I think I

1:23:08

would prefer the building committee it’s a better fit for my skills and knowledge base

1:23:14

I would agree with that assessment I have no other questions thank you Mr

1:23:19

bellezza Tracy I I looked at your resume and uh I think you’re a perfect fit for the

1:23:25

building you’re an architect uh and it again goes for qualifications who’s got

1:23:31

the most qualifications and I think you’re very qualified for it I think you’d be an asset uh on on that board so

1:23:39

and I’m going again once again qualifications the most qualified and EU

1:23:45

seem to have great qualifications uh I know somebody dropped out and I haven’t heard from the third candidate but your

1:23:52

resume to me is was perfect for this position thank you great thank you

1:23:58

any other questions Tracy thank you very much is Janice abelia would you like to come

1:24:06

up

1:24:17

good evening my name is Janice Abel and I recently moved to Plymouth

1:24:24

so I saw that the town was looking for what I thought was a citizen no I’m not an architect

1:24:29

to serve on the building committee but I recently completed building a home

1:24:35

in Plymouth and I’ve been through that building process twice in my life and I always loved Plymouth which is one

1:24:43

of the reasons I moved here I’ve always visited Plymouth my whole entire life I’ve lived in Massachusetts my whole

1:24:49

life I’ve always loved the architecture the people the town and my background is that I actually

1:24:56

have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry I have a master’s degree in chemical engineering I have an MBA

1:25:02

so while I’m not an architect I spent my my career mostly working in

1:25:08

manufacturing the process control industry and I’m today I’m working as an analyst

1:25:15

and I went to part-time recently so I thought well this looked really interesting and I have some time to

1:25:21

devote to it and I understand a lot about the building codes and things like that because I’ve always had an interest

1:25:27

in reading the law so one of the reasons was I thought well I

1:25:33

have time to give back to the town and that was a way that I thought I could give back very constructantly

1:25:39

and I grew up in Canton Mass and my dad was an architect and he was a civil engineer

1:25:46

and he served on the planning board in Canton for 25 years and I always thought that that was an admirable thing to do

1:25:53

and I thought he did a lot for the town because he was also on the permanent School building committee

1:25:59

for as long as until he till he died and so he was very pro-proponent of

1:26:05

buildings and also of the architecture of the buildings and I thought he did a great job with the town of Canton

1:26:11

and my grandfather was also a builder so I spent my life looking at maps and architect drawings and I’ve always had

1:26:18

the Knack of being able to visualize it very well and as I mentioned I’ve built two homes

1:26:25

I’ve traveled all over the world for work so I’ve seen a lot of architecture I’ve been in a lot of manufacturing

1:26:32

plants all over the world and for me the most important things and number one is

1:26:37

safety number two is environmental impact and number three is the functionality and of course the cost

1:26:45

and I always try to find a positive win-wins in everything that I do because

1:26:51

I always find that it’s small sometimes it’s easy to make a small change in the planning process

1:26:57

in the design process than it is later on and the reason that I was saying this is

1:27:02

like recently when we’re building the house when I saw the plan I realized that when you open the door

1:27:09

to the entrance there’s stairs right there and you know and people are getting older today and one of the

1:27:15

things one of the biggest issues that people have when they get older is they fall and so I noticed this is the safety

1:27:22

issue that just a small change makes a big difference so I noticed I realized that if you just change the way the door

1:27:27

opened which didn’t cost anything no impact on cause that it would be a lot safer because

1:27:33

you’re not going to fall down the state as easily so I mean that’s just an example I have many other examples I have a friend that

1:27:39

built a house that was one of a few of a hundred houses in Massachusetts

1:27:44

that is completely off the grid because only about a hundred actually in

1:27:50

the whole United States only about a hundred and so he built it on the side of a cliff in Princeton so I went

1:27:55

through he said beside the next office so I was always making comments and telling them this and that you know what he should do for planning and and like

1:28:02

he put it he had to put a bridge in because it’s on the side of a cliff to the house and one of the things I said

1:28:08

is you know because I knew he had small grandchildren is another safety issue is you got to make sure that you have some

1:28:14

kind of railing on the side that the kids can’t get over so anyway that’s just just a few little

1:28:19

things and I have more examples if you want and um I would like to help you know I’m not

1:28:26

sure if I’m the most qualified person but I thought it was for a citizen making a Viewpoint and so I always have

1:28:32

good ideas and I have a positive approach to everything and I think the growth in the tone whether it’s

1:28:38

residential commercial is great so I want to win for the people a win for the town and a win for the Builder I’m a

1:28:46

great researcher and I will look into things and I have a lot of people in industry and contacts that I would even

1:28:52

consult with that I know that would help me because I had just have a lot of people that I

1:28:57

know and so that’s pretty much um what I was going to say so thank you

1:29:04

very much for listening yeah yeah thank you for uh for applying

1:29:10

I appreciate it you seem like a great person welcome to Plymouth thank you and

1:29:15

as you can tell you heard me I I you know I’m kind of an honest guy and I tell exactly what I think

1:29:22

uh I this is a very important uh very important board the building committee

1:29:28

because they oversee uh when new buildings like for instance we get two

1:29:34

fire stations that have recently they’re being built and they they work and prove

1:29:39

things and make recommendations to the DPW and it’s it’s a very technical uh

1:29:46

job I mean I wouldn’t be qualified to do it and uh so it’s not like residential

1:29:52

it’s more like Town buildings purchases uh

1:29:57

and so I I think you might have underestimated the job description that

1:30:03

that being said I think you want to look at some other boards because it looks like you want to do some community

1:30:09

service and I think that’s great you know the volunteerism in this town is awesome so at this time I think I

1:30:16

don’t think you’re the most qualified candidate doesn’t mean you’re not qualified for something you go on that town website and see all the boards out

1:30:23

there all the Committees and you should definitely because you get a lot of energy you’re smart for that man you

1:30:29

know I think you can really help us out in the town thank you

1:30:37

any other questions from board members

1:30:42

thank you very much thank you

1:30:48

so are we ready to vote discussion discussion

1:30:53

ah I I’m planning to vote for Ms McKee uh but I I do appreciate the enthusiasm

1:31:01

um and the perspective of Ms Abel um you know obviously an architect is

1:31:08

hard to pass up for the building committee so it’s not anything personal

1:31:13

um but I did really appreciate and I think there is some crossover between your other work and design and and this

1:31:20

type of thing that if this is still something that interests you you could consider it in the future but there’s like 40 something like 43 boards and

1:31:28

committees in town so if you do want to get involved I would encourage you to do so because I think you bring interesting

1:31:33

ideas and a fresh perspective so it’s nothing personal I don’t want you to feel that we’re I’m at least picking

1:31:39

somebody else over you for anything like that I I did appreciate your presentation it’s just the candidates

1:31:45

are who the candidates are and and we have to make the best choice for the town of Plymouth but in this instance but I I do appreciate you putting your

1:31:52

name forward and putting yourself out there thank you

1:31:58

I think the board’s in a very enviable position because both candidates are eminently qualified and typically we

1:32:05

don’t get this and I just hope that no matter what happens here that both of you stay involved in some manner in the

1:32:11

community

1:32:16

okay Tracy Mikey Mr Mahoney

1:32:24

no Mr Canty yes from his monkey

1:32:32

Mr Helm yes Mr bletzer yes and myself yes

1:32:38

four yet four yes [Music] I figured that you know and Mr Mahoney

1:32:46

one vote for Jan Isabel

1:32:55

thank you very much for both applying and as Mr Mahoney said and Mr Canty is a

1:33:04

boatload of committees in town we could use help on so maybe plea please reapply

1:33:12

thank you land use acquisition

1:33:19

committee do we have any edits Mr chairman we have Catherine Jackson

1:33:24

who I believe is not able to be uh uh here with us tonight either in person

1:33:31

or via Zoom I have a written note that she would like to pass along when we get

1:33:37

to that point we have two full voting seats one three-year term until June 30th 2026 one two-year term until June

1:33:45

30th 2025 there has been a large large

1:33:50

number of folks that were interested in the committee and as you know the land use acquisition committee is comprised

1:33:56

of appointed members from a variety of boards and committees and that committee is kind of restarting so we’re

1:34:03

staggering the terms which is why you get 20 25 and 2026. okay

1:34:10

and uh Bruce Howard withdrew his right I got I have that right so we actually

1:34:16

have Katherine Jackson was an incumbent who was not here and then Tracy Marquis

1:34:23

and Ethan Warren correct that is correct okay

1:34:31

miss my keys would you like to withdraw

1:34:39

right and that’s why I asked you so thank you very much

1:34:44

okay so Mr chairman

1:34:50

with your permission I I’d make a motion to approve Catherine Jackson and Ethan Warren I’ll second up well we um

1:34:57

for which differentiate the terms right yeah so I’d make a most my motion would be for Catherine Jackson as the

1:35:04

incumbent to get the three-year term that expires June 30th of 26th and have Mr Warren backfill the two-year term and

1:35:11

I was still second it

1:35:19

okay discussion yes I’d actually like to separate the vote

1:35:25

okay well Mr Mahoney

1:35:33

thank you to like to separate them on well they

1:35:39

I I’m looking we have a list of four where Miss Marquis has just announced that she would like to withdraw Mr

1:35:45

Howard already communicated that um he would withdraw also he has already previously withdraw it withdrawn

1:35:51

that leaves us with two seats a three-year term and a two-year term and only two individuals here yes and I can

1:35:58

count so thank you very much for that you’re welcome um but as you may all remember from previous episodes of

1:36:06

appointment okay these forms that people are supposed to

1:36:12

fill out are very important to me have you read Catherine’s okay yes she said

1:36:17

she’s a member nothing about her background nothing she phoned it in in my mind well she

1:36:24

literally did because he has something to read and that was sent yeah today so

1:36:31

um it’s a would you mind reading it sure to the record Anthony absolutely okay please

1:36:50

um the statement is I would like to continue my work with the land use acquisition committee I believe we’re just getting started in our work and we

1:36:57

have spent time creating a rubric and connecting with members of our of other committees to be able to do the best

1:37:03

work possible thank you

1:37:09

Harry I have no problem with withdrawing my emotion if you’re going to feel better about taking two separate votes I have no problem doing that well I mean I

1:37:17

don’t have a problem I can vote no that would cover both of them okay I mean if that’s you know I mean I think that it’s

1:37:23

kind of unfair for Mr Warren for me to vote no because I’m voting no on

1:37:29

Catherine Jackson that’s just my point if nobody cares that I’m voting no for

1:37:35

one that I would vote Yes for okay otherwise because the reality is

1:37:41

that statement was very nice there’s nothing to it okay I could have written the state the same statement for her and

1:37:48

she chose not to fill out the volunteer application form and it’s you know as

1:37:55

I’ve said before it’s extremely important for everybody applying whether you’re an incumbent or not

1:38:02

um you know so that so that they can be compared to each other whether you’re an

1:38:08

incumbent or not so do you want to bring Mr Warren up

1:38:13

maybe after him you might vote no on him too you want to hear him I I wouldn’t

1:38:18

mind hearing foreign

1:38:36

good evening I’m Ethan Warren I live at 794. Long Pond Road I’m a semi-retired

1:38:43

attorney I’ve known Plymouth all my life though not been a resident full time

1:38:50

I visited grandparents during my young years and teens I remember

1:38:57

Cedarville before the commercial area was there and there was just Bruno’s corner and a

1:39:04

I know one stall Volunteer Fire Department I moved here in the late 70s just out of

1:39:11

college with my wife lived here for three years started renting a summer cabin after I

1:39:18

moved away in 1980 I was lucky enough to buy that in 1983. I’ve been coming down

1:39:26

for Summers all through my life and finally in that 2020 got to move back here

1:39:33

became a member a town meeting member in 2022 was re-elected in 2023

1:39:42

I would I know a lot about 61b

1:39:48

which I think is where a lot of the land use acquisition work is in fact 40 of my Acres of my summer

1:39:55

cabin is under 61b I’ve been involved in some properties that come out

1:40:00

I’ve worked with Lee Hartman and Patrick Farah with Lee

1:40:08

I helped some TDR property held by a bankrupt Corporation get out of the

1:40:13

bankruptcy court and into the title of the Conservation Commission

1:40:19

I was also involved with my mother and my uncle against the attorney and go between with

1:40:27

Patrick Farah donating 35 acres to the Conservation Commission

1:40:32

and I like to bring some of my skills and whatever I can do the land acquisition

1:40:39

committee that’s impressive uh yeah Ethan and we

1:40:47

can probably use your expertise the TDR is something that I think at some point we could use your expertise on but you

1:40:55

know being in the journey again you’re an asset you get a history in this town you know this town and uh thank you for

1:41:02

your service and uh I think you’re going to be a great asset for this board thank you thank you any other questions

1:41:09

no thank you sir Charlie Mr bledso would you like to withdraw the second to John’s motion

1:41:15

even through his motion yeah the second okay so now we’re gonna have the vote for the

1:41:21

three-year term um Catherine Jackson

1:41:27

Mr Mahoney yes Mr Canty yes

1:41:33

Mr bletzer yes Mr Helm no

1:41:42

so we have four in favor including myself

1:41:49

and one note by Mr helm now the two-year term

1:41:56

Mr Warren yes Mr Canty yes for Mr Warren Mr Helm yes

1:42:04

Mr bletzer yes and myself yes five votes

1:42:11

thank you very much for applying and serving the

1:42:16

community I’m sure you’ll all enjoy it

1:42:24

boarding committee assignments for the select board there’s a Anthony put it in our packet

1:42:34

Mr chairman while you’re looking through your packet for the folks that are listening at home and that have been

1:42:41

appointed or in the in the room today you’re going to be receiving an email from the town clerk’s office

1:42:47

outlining conflict of interest forms um and being sworn in at the town

1:42:53

clerk’s office and I have all that information as well and for folks that are also listening at home if you’re

1:42:58

interested in any of the boards and committees there is a page on the town on the town’s website under the

1:43:05

government tab outlining some of the opportunities to volunteer there’s about four or five so

1:43:12

far which is actually pretty good for all things considered for 40 boards and committees

1:43:18

thank you very much okay you got the memo

1:43:24

dated July 20th from Anthony

1:43:29

questions or comments interests and anything that’s up or

1:43:35

wanting to be up Mr Helm well I know that there’s no name the

1:43:42

first one affordable housing trust and if no one else is interested I would take that up

1:43:48

is there any other board members interested um I I had an interest in it and I do plan

1:43:56

to attend uh more of their meetings given the need for affordable housing in the community but I think Mr Helm’s

1:44:03

experience as a real estate agent um makes him a better fit for it so

1:44:09

given his interest I would step aside and just attend as a member of the public meetings that I can attend

1:44:16

thank you any other interests or comments

1:44:26

let’s see the light on John’s arminius

1:44:32

all right so the one the the one that jumps out at me Mr chairman is the nuclear decommissioning citizens

1:44:38

advisory panel obviously for the last year or two I’ve chaired that there was a meeting here in the room last night um

1:44:46

it was kind of anti-climactic obviously a fair amount of the members or the attendees were happy with respect

1:44:53

to the the announcement at the state level from the congratulations with respect to the a million gallons I know

1:44:58

you two to my left have attended a meeting in the past and we’re impressed on how to um

1:45:04

I don’t know how to describe it but uh I’ll leave it at that but anyways having said that I was very impressed

1:45:12

I I I’m looking for a little relief here on this one and obviously if whole Tech

1:45:18

follows through on their um public statements with respect to slowing down or even putting a pause on

1:45:24

decommissioning for anywhere from three to four years this panel currently meets every 60 days certainly

1:45:31

um with respect to a slow down and decommissioning there would be no reason why that committee couldn’t go to Every

1:45:37

90 or 180 days but I’m looking for a little relief here and I don’t know if anybody would like

1:45:43

to provide me with that this is Kevin Kenny yeah uh yeah Mr Mr

1:45:50

Canty is is willing to provide Mr Mahoney his long desired relief if okay

1:45:56

no one else is interested I appreciate that Kevin thank you

1:46:03

anything else John no I’m good with that I’m good with the

1:46:08

other couple I have and I have an update on one of them later on under old new business

1:46:13

so we’re going to go right down the list here right Capital Improvements Joanne

1:46:18

I’m good I’ll take that yep Cemetery you Dicky yeah Center of active living is

1:46:24

Harry Potter yeah but I’m not sure why there’s a question marked next to my name is well it isn’t now I didn’t

1:46:30

confirm that you were indeed the the the uh the person that was assigned to it so

1:46:36

okay I was just kind of wondering yeah so I guess where I’m going with this is

1:46:43

if there’s no other changes other than those Jews we just take them as a slate I’d like to I’ll take the Haba committee

1:46:49

but he’s gone right here oh yeah interest Charlie

1:46:54

bledso yeah I make a motion the White Noise

1:47:01

no she’s busy at CPC right now

1:47:06

so that’s Charlie okay that’s the third one [Music]

1:47:14

oh white horse backing committee was Betty may I

1:47:21

may I request to be uh the liaison with the White Horse Beach parking Community I could think of no one better Mr Allen

1:47:29

right thank you thank you so much I’m thrilled to be in this position

1:47:43

um four so as we look at the Slate we have four

1:47:48

four changes affordable housing will be Harry Helm Harbor committee be

1:47:55

Charlie nuclear decommission sentences advisory panel will be Kevin Canty in White Horse

1:48:03

Beach parking committee will be Harry home you think I read them right and if I do

1:48:09

for example the South Shore Community Action Council

1:48:15

is Charlie there’s intro Kevin has interest I don’t know if the two of you have talked about it

1:48:22

I am interested in I am interested in South Shore Community Action Council

1:48:28

um so Mr Blitzer doesn’t mind unless he no that’s fine Kevin I just don’t want you

1:48:34

taking on too much so I I’ll stay on and I’ll be glad to it’s a it’s a very important point but

1:48:41

but if you want it go first but it is it’s a great book and

1:48:50

um Mr Blitzer in regards to the Plymouth County Advisory Board is that one

1:48:55

oh yeah that’s one that you yeah The Advisory Board which one is that that’s Plymouth County Advisory Board of

1:49:02

Bluetooth yeah I’d like to be on that if I could

1:49:08

I think I’m the only one who likes to counting on the sport you are yeah so it’s always one

1:49:16

makes sense wait a minute where’s that one um

1:49:21

it’s it’s normally been the chairman but uh the nuclear decommissioning yeah it’s

1:49:26

that little dot Plymouth County Advisory Board

1:49:32

formerly vacant and it wasn’t vacant it was

1:49:38

Betty and I don’t think she served on it last year Betty assigned me to that it was not vacant okay

1:49:45

okay for the record and I am interested in that you are interested yes I am

1:49:50

let’s have a Throwdown all right

1:49:55

take it out there no no I’m here when you need me that’s all

1:50:02

well how about we split it if I can go you go yeah that’ll work yeah

1:50:11

any other changes one two I know you’re just that in

1:50:16

trouble again three and four let’s make sure I get all this right no

1:50:21

it’s five two three four

1:50:27

and five five changes correct

1:50:32

you have a motion to move mom move approval with the um noted changes

1:50:38

of a second second it’s like motion by Mr Mahoney second by

1:50:44

Mr Canty Mr Butler yes Mr Helm yes Mr Canty yes

1:50:50

Mr Mahoney yes and myself yes

1:51:03

a public comment please identify yourself for the record

1:51:13

yes wrestling Brewster chair Precinct 15. um just want to give some concerns and

1:51:20

some facts um I was going to give these at the beginning of the zba appointment but I

1:51:26

can understand why the chair couldn’t allow me to speak

1:51:31

um in reference to the emails and the concerns that you get from the public

1:51:38

I would say that they were concerned that any developer on the zba is a conflict of interest and

1:51:45

they would have concerns about any developer and I I in watching what went on

1:51:54

the developer walked up and was welcomed to the podium and was shown his

1:52:00

accolades shown how great he is showing how awesome he’s been for the community

1:52:06

the second guy got up and was met with hostility I I just have great concerns that

1:52:15

you’ve put something someone into position of the zba and if you want to talk about bump Rock

1:52:21

Road Fiasco the reason that the people who were fighting this and taking it to court

1:52:29

stopped as they ran out of money so what you’re putting into the zba is somebody who has a lot of money and gets

1:52:36

what he wants and the intent of that Covenant that was

1:52:42

30 years plus was to keep that in open space

1:52:47

that’s why you’re a planning board director and the then head of the

1:52:55

planning board objected vehemently to this being broken it set a precedent

1:53:02

because when they make a covenant when the town makes a covenant with an in

1:53:09

with an individual or a bunch of people that’s an agreement forever

1:53:15

and basically what the planning board did was break that Covenant break that trust

1:53:21

so what it opens up is any other Covenant any other agreement that’s that’s like saying to the public

1:53:29

yeah we might do it we might not do it it’s also very interesting to me that

1:53:35

one of you recused himself I just am very concerned that you just

1:53:43

put somebody on the zba who has a very big conflict and has

1:53:49

shown that he’s interest he’s a developer and he’s going to develop things and that’s his job

1:53:56

but he’s interested in developing he’s not interested in the town thank you for your time

1:54:11

anyone else wishing to speak other than public comment

1:54:20

anybody waiting Anthony no Department of Public Works presentation

1:54:34

hi I’m Sheila scarzi acting DPW director thanks for taking the time for DPW

1:54:41

tonight we have a couple projects we want to talk about and then at the end we can take a q a

1:54:47

um pretty informal on any other projects you may be interested in hearing a

1:54:52

status update on thinking that you might want to hear about the Water Street sewer Interceptor project Brook Road

1:54:59

Bridge maybe the route 80 sidewalk so we’ll keep it open we have a lot of projects in DPW so if we were to go into

1:55:08

every single project I think we’d be here all night so try to keep it brief we’re going to start out with the

1:55:13

cemetery we have uh with us tonight Diane McGuire who’s our acting cemetery

1:55:18

and Crematory superintendent we also have Michelle Newell who’s our DPW safety officer Diane’s going to give an

1:55:25

update on the proposed Cemetery rules and regs changes and we can also talk

1:55:32

about the status of the Route 80 Cemetery project

1:55:40

s good evening Sheila mentioned I’m Diane McGuire in April I was appointed the

1:55:46

Acting Superintendent of the Crematory in the cemeteries um at the July 14th meeting of the

1:55:53

cemetery commission a vote was taken to prohibit certain items within town-owned cemeteries it passed unanimously

1:56:01

based on this on page five of the rules and regulations we have updated the prohibited items to include Shepherd’s

1:56:08

hooks loose stones and any glass items placed on graves after discussions with the town’s safety

1:56:15

officer Michelle Newell these items have been deemed unsafe for visitors and staff

1:56:20

included in your packet is a memo from Michelle with details of these safety hazards note that the town is

1:56:27

responsible for following OSHA rules acting DPW director Sheila scazi and I

1:56:33

have also approved these recommendations if approved by the select board the

1:56:38

items mentioned will no longer be allowed in town cemeteries effective immediately

1:56:44

we recognize that this may be an unpopular and emotional issue for a lot

1:56:49

of our lot owners and we will give them ample opportunity to remove the items

1:56:54

within a reasonable time period once this time has passed the items will be marked and kept on site for a short

1:57:02

amount of time before eventually being discarded um Michelle is here to answer any safety

1:57:08

questions and I can answer any procedural questions the rules and regulations are approved by the the

1:57:15

board and this is the first update in several years

1:57:22

Mr Canty can you expand upon loose Stones what do you mean by prohibiting loose the public

1:57:29

has taken to putting borders with loose small rocks or shells

1:57:35

or broken down pieces of glass Etc these

1:57:40

can get caught in the lawn mowers and be uh shot out of the lawn mowers

1:57:47

so these are Stones put on the on the ground it’s not put on the ground like

1:57:52

it’s not put on the headstones it’s put by actually on the ground we have some families who will come and decorate the

1:57:57

graves with loose gravel loose stones okay so what in some traditions there’s

1:58:04

traditions of putting stones on headstones right is that that would

1:58:10

still be a permitted use we do have a small um Jewish section and we do have people

1:58:15

put stones on those we have asked that they make sure that they’re on the stones occasionally we do

1:58:21

have to go through those sections and remove the stones that have fallen replace them in a but they’re been put

1:58:26

in a bucket and put at the top of the section so we are still allowing that tradition

1:58:32

but they’re not to be placed on the ground okay thank you you’re welcome

1:58:39

any other questions and I was at the meeting and I’m the

1:58:45

boards represent representative on this uh this committee and like the shepherd

1:58:51

Hooks and stuff you’re gonna label them and number them so if somebody comes to their loved one’s site they’ll be able

1:58:58

to so if you just just touch on that a little bit so sure people watching well you know right so we’re going to put it

1:59:05

on our web page of course but we’re also going to have like the the mailers you’ll get on your door sometimes we’re

1:59:11

going to have some of those made and we will be placing them on the shepherd’s hooks themselves with notice saying you

1:59:18

know they’re going to have ample opportunity and as we see them we will approach them as well

1:59:24

um we will get I expect some pushback on this of course but it’s truly a safety

1:59:29

issue for both our staff and for the public we see a lot of broken glass and

1:59:34

and items that if you look in other cemeteries you will see that they’re not allowed

1:59:40

we’ve been pretty liberal in what we’ve what we put through Michelle did a good

1:59:46

job in her Memo explaining the the safety issues that we have with that and our workers have asked for quite a

1:59:54

while for us to particularly get rid of the shepherd’s hooks because they fall and they get caught in their their

1:59:59

lawnmower reserved big industrial lawnmowers that can’t even see them and if they’re left for a long period of

2:00:05

time they rust they fall over um so and they will be having ample

2:00:11

opportunities to remove them we won’t just be going off next week and discarding them absolutely I mean I was paying attention

2:00:18

but if somebody’s watching I just wanted them to know you know sure they’re probably asking them no I expect we will

2:00:25

I will be an unpopular person in the cemetery office for quite a little while but we will do our best to make sure

2:00:31

that they understand the reasons behind it and also that their items are returned I mean in some of the things

2:00:38

like the Shepherds hooks so that’s always your mandate you know right the town will be liable if somebody was to

2:00:46

get hurt and people have gotten hurt on them already they are um yes

2:00:53

and the last question I’m going to have could you just tell us where we are on the route 80 uh Cemetery what’s going to

2:01:00

happen because we’re talking about that briefly tonight sure um

2:01:06

we can talk about the sidewalk too um the route 80 Cemetery uh project we

2:01:11

invited uh two Consultants to submit proposals both of these Consultants had

2:01:17

worked on conceptual designs and studies in the past for this particular Cemetery

2:01:24

so we thought that it was fitting to invite them to submit proposals we have interviewed both Consultants we’ve asked

2:01:32

both of them to come back and refine their proposals we’ve made a few changes

2:01:38

I think originally this went to town meeting with design up to 10 acres of

2:01:43

space and we still want to do that schematic design up to 10 acres but in

2:01:49

talking this through with the consultants and with Diane we feel that three acres is the actual

2:01:56

amount of space we should be pursuing for design and construction that’s going to get us about 20 25 years 25 years of

2:02:04

space and then the idea would be well there’s a schematic plan available for

2:02:10

the next Generation to plan out um the next section of the cemetery so

2:02:15

we’re waiting for both Consultants to um submit their updated Scopes so we’re

2:02:21

comparing Apples to Apples and we’re hoping to make a decision by the end of this week or the beginning of next week

2:02:26

and then we’re going to start a schematic design and then we’ll get right into an archaeological

2:02:31

investigation out there so we’re down to three acres right now

2:02:38

that we’re going to be planning but we’re going to look long term I hope yes so another board member that’s sitting

2:02:45

here years from now uh exactly we just did what we just were

2:02:51

faced with right so we we don’t feel it’s it’s the responsible way to go in and design

2:02:58

and construct 10 acres right now when three acres is projected to get us out 20 25 years

2:03:05

so we don’t want to clear cut the land and have it sit Barren for that long

2:03:10

absolutely and I I hope we do it creatively so we do have some trees and exactly you know I I know it’s but it

2:03:18

does look nice and it helps people with the um the nature and

2:03:25

resiliency you know a step in the right direction so yeah we had discussions both firms on that on keeping it

2:03:32

aesthetically pleasing but also functional for us to maintain yes so it’s a balance there yep thank you any

2:03:39

questions for Miss Casey or no okay okay so next we can go into the

2:03:46

manomet pressure Zone water main Improvement project we’ve got Peter Gordon here our water superintendent do

2:03:52

you need a vote on the new regulations for the cemetery right you’re right we do okay did anybody know what happened

2:03:57

to Mr Blitzer I don’t think we want to know oh okay yeah if you if you hear ambulances

2:04:05

um then we’ll know um I move that we approve the uh changes

2:04:12

to the cemetery rules for safety reasons second second discussion

2:04:19

Mr Helm yes Mr Canty yes Mr Mahoney yes

2:04:24

myself yes and Mr Blitzer Mark is missing thank you

2:04:33

Miss gazi okay so next we can go into our manomet pressure Zone water main Improvement project

2:04:39

this project has been um in the works for a couple years now

2:04:44

we’ve got Peter Gordon our water superintendent here tonight we also have

2:04:49

our Design Consultants Weston Sampson I think we have Mike Warner and Darwin

2:04:54

Savalas with us via Zoom so they’re going to take us through a few slides we

2:05:00

can talk about the project we’re also planning to present a slightly different version of this to the manomet Village

2:05:07

steering committee on August 3rd we’re hoping to draw in residents of manomet

2:05:13

in that meeting so we can do more of a q a of what they’re going to expect with this project so Pete do you have

2:05:20

anything you want to say before we okay so I think we can go into the the PowerPoint presentation I see Mike

2:05:27

Warner there so Mike hi good evening thank you for the

2:05:34

opportunity to present I’m presenting correct yes

2:05:39

okay uh I believe I have control of the

2:05:45

PowerPoint mic so you can ask me to advance slides

2:05:51

okay um let me just make sure I am you’re not

2:05:56

seeing anything right now right so let me just correct we’re just seeing you we’re not

2:06:02

seeing any presentation oh now we are how about now yes yes okay great

2:06:09

well again thank you for the opportunity to present to you tonight uh as Sheila

2:06:14

mentioned my name is Mike Warner from uh I’m the project team leader from Weston

2:06:20

Sampson and with me on the call too I believe is Darwin’s bios the project manager and we’re talking to you about

2:06:26

the manomet pressure Zone water main improvements project

2:06:32

and as I guess next slide if you don’t mind as

2:06:37

Sheila mentioned um this product has been in the works for a

2:06:43

little while I think some of you may have know a little bit about the project but

2:06:48

just as a as a little heads up in a little background a water Capital

2:06:55

Improvement program plan was created and determined that

2:07:00

there was a need for some improvements in the management pressure Zone area to

2:07:06

increase um resiliency to increase redundancy of

2:07:12

the system and to maintain an adequate system pressures and it outlined 21

2:07:19

000 over 21 000 linear feet of water main that should be replaced

2:07:25

either eight inch or 12 inch duct pipe that should be replaced or improved upon

2:07:32

and I think it’s eight streets within the manomet pressure pressure

2:07:38

Zone area or the Manama area of town um

2:07:43

the you can see here on the map and and the list of streets listed one thing to

2:07:48

note that after the water main is replaced the the trench will be paved but then

2:07:55

following the following year after a set of criteria the the contractor will be

2:08:01

going in and doing performing a full Mill and overlay Paving on the roads

2:08:06

within the project um

2:08:12

and so right now of the the project was bit I believe it was it was March or

2:08:17

April the project uh the project was bid and the low bidder was MDR construction

2:08:23

Co um and uh we have yet to sit down with them

2:08:28

to understand um exactly all of uh who who they’re going to be using and their their

2:08:34

pre-construction information but they will be utilizing a subcontractor for some of the utility work and that’s KJS

2:08:41

and so also on this slide just wanted to point out the project team you know myself and Darwin from Western Samson

2:08:47

but just want to note that um Sheila Peter and and Kendra from the town have been instrumental in in assisting on

2:08:55

this project so we wanted to just remind folks that

2:09:01

uh during construction there will be impacts to the residents and any

2:09:07

visitors of of town during construction your typical traffic delays and road

2:09:12

closures um and there and some of the residents May um

2:09:18

see some water disruptions but that we would that obviously we will work with the contractor to make sure that these

2:09:24

are at a minimum uh but did want to point out that access to two residents

2:09:30

will be maintained during construction and obviously emergency um vehicles and Personnel will also be

2:09:37

maintained but we ask obviously the residents and the public we ask for patients during

2:09:43

the construction period which as I mentioned we we are in the process of

2:09:49

scheduling the pre-construction meeting with MDR and their representatives to determine their exact or determine their

2:09:56

their starting point but right now it’s anticipated that construction will start sometime in October

2:10:03

um so the fall of this year um and that it would extend through 2025

2:10:10

but I would point out that the majority of the water main work would occur

2:10:15

would occur next year in 2024 and that 2025 time frame would be when the would

2:10:21

likely be when the um the overlay Paving occurs

2:10:27

um typical construction hours are expected uh seven to three Thirty with

2:10:33

um you know likely some some extended hours if needed for uh for that specific work

2:10:42

and again we haven’t yet um determined what their exact plan is but

2:10:48

but there’s the potential because there is some work being done some tie-ins being done in Route 3A and um there’s a

2:10:56

massed eot um hermit that was obtained that has certain requirements so there there

2:11:02

there might be some night work that might have to occur some weekend work but that would be uh coordinated with

2:11:08

DPW and and the town and um police and fire and and whatnot and that

2:11:15

there would be public notification uh perform uh sent out Pride or any of that work

2:11:22

occurring uh quick view on funding breakdown

2:11:29

um was just that there’s uh it’s just under nine million dollars for engineering and construction costs and

2:11:36

and I haven’t yet noted but but on this slide you can see that there’s an we have an Eda Grant Line and so a portion

2:11:44

of this funding for the project was is being funded by a grant through the

2:11:50

economic development Administration which is a bureau of the um

2:11:57

uh was it the labor uh sorry Department of Commerce so

2:12:03

there’s a portion of it being funded by the the Eda and the rest of it has been

2:12:09

appropriated under uh with Town funding and just just lastly our contact

2:12:15

information is here uh for Western and Sampson from Mike for myself Mike and Darwin

2:12:22

um I did want to point out that there is down on the bottom you can see we there is a project website that’s been set up

2:12:28

for for the job for the project um that we will be making updates to and

2:12:34

and putting important updates and and construction scheduling on um there’s an uh a link

2:12:42

um or there’s a there’s a there’s a spot where you can sign up for a newsletter that we will be publishing so we would

2:12:48

encourage members of the public to go to the website and sign up for the the newsletter if

2:12:55

you’re at all interested in staying up to date or check the website and there’s some QR codes that can be scanned

2:13:04

um we can certainly send those around if needed and then I I think I was in the

2:13:10

middle of transitioning um in Zoom land but I think I heard Sheila say that there is a management steering

2:13:16

committee meeting next week on Thursday so I encourage if there’s more questions

2:13:22

people could attend that meeting as well that’s all I have

2:13:33

any questions or comments from board members Mr Mahoney

2:13:41

excuse me Sheila so we know there was a drought in the summer of 2016. we know that

2:13:48

I think there was more than one time that uh Amanda matwell went down to a

2:13:54

unsatisfactory level and so overall what is this project going to do for redundancy in Building

2:14:01

Safety and Security in the system well we’re replacing I think all of the

2:14:07

pipes are cast iron um they’re all I believe at least 80

2:14:13

years old they’re tuberculated which means they’ve developed a crust inside so they don’t have the full carrying

2:14:19

capacity um so we’re replacing them they’re they’re time it’s time to replace these

2:14:26

pipes regardless but in terms of system redundancy and system performance we’re

2:14:33

going to have diminished pressure fluctuations in that pressure Zone our wells aren’t going to have to pump as

2:14:40

hard Pete I don’t know if you want to get up and talk a little bit more about the hydraulics

2:14:45

um give an explanation of exactly what’s going to happen you know to answer your

2:14:51

question someone more specifically this project isn’t going to increase our capacity in the zone you’re correct it’s

2:14:57

not going to really do anything for our wells specifically right but what it will do is allow them to work not quite

2:15:04

as hard we’ll fill the tanks a lot easier and and this like she said this reduced the friction throughout the

2:15:10

pipes and these pressure spikes will allow us to pump water more efficiently fill the tanks Farm more efficiently so

2:15:17

I think you had a map up there and in yellow was the outlines of what’s being replaced correct

2:15:23

so that was roughly what 21 000 linear foot yeah so it’s close to four miles

2:15:29

which is why we’re presenting to you normally we don’t present when there’s a

2:15:35

water main project it’s pretty standard but there’s eight roads impacted and

2:15:41

their main thoroughfares in manomet you’ve got White Horse Road manomet Point Road Bartlett Road in all of Brook

2:15:49

Road so and we still have to have that initial pre-construction meeting with the contractor to understand what their

2:15:56

plan is it’s possible they may have multiple Crews growing on different roads similar to what we did with the

2:16:02

jacket water main project about eight years ago we replaced jacket water mains it was a little over three miles of pipe

2:16:09

all over town we had multiple Crews going at one point we had three different water main Crews on three

2:16:14

different roads so this is a big project just because of that scale so that’s why we want to get the word out about it

2:16:21

because it has potential to be disruptive actually the way the timing worked out where we’re not going to get

2:16:27

started in the fall I think helps per the Eda Grant originally we were supposed to have started the project

2:16:34

prior to August and we’ve gone through a lot of back and forth and paperwork with

2:16:39

them we just got a contract amendment to start later and part of that was due just to all the red tape involved in

2:16:47

managing that Eda contract that had a lot to do with the delays as did

2:16:52

just again supply chain delays we’ve been experiencing since covid okay

2:16:59

one more question and I don’t know if you have the answer here but after this project is done in that area

2:17:07

it’s just still pipes left over that are of the age of 80 plus years is there

2:17:13

still work to do with respect to upgrading more pipes down there there is so we already have plans to add another

2:17:19

Street onto this project Samoset Ave in manomet that’s got an old Cast Iron Man on it we

2:17:27

need to repave that road we also need to do drainage so we’re going to add that into this

2:17:34

project so we can get our other work done on that road so we’re looking at that as you saw the the bid price came

2:17:41

in quite a bit lower than we had estimated so the bid price is came in at

2:17:46

7.3 million we have the total funding 14.6 million so we’re in really good

2:17:53

shape in terms of funding for this project okay thank you

2:18:00

Mr Canty Sheila um one of the affected roads is

2:18:06

Brook Road obviously that has the bridge what is the

2:18:11

what is what if any interaction does the pipe that’s being replaced have with the

2:18:17

existing Bridge yeah so I can dovetail into a brick road Bridge update um

2:18:23

because it is impacted so the Brook Road Bridge Project um as you know that’s one that’s been

2:18:30

lingering for a couple years now we originally proposed to replace the bridge went to

2:18:36

town meeting a couple of times it didn’t pass town meeting we listened to the residents the residents really wanted to

2:18:42

keep the existing Bridge so the decision was made to preserve the existing Bridge it’s not a long-term fix a replacement

2:18:50

would get you 75 plus years of lifespan this preservation project we’re

2:18:57

anticipating 15 to 20 years the past year we’ve been working with our consultant hsh on the preservation

2:19:04

project and back and forth with massdot we have an existing 500 000 mask small Bridge

2:19:12

grant for the project so but the grant was originally written to replace the

2:19:17

bridge so we had to amend the grant for the preservation and there’s been a lot of back and forth with massdot approving

2:19:24

the design approach we finally last week got the final okay from massdot however

2:19:31

we needed to make a change to the plan because of the sequence of the water main it was originally anticipated that

2:19:38

this amendment pressure Zone project would come ahead of the Brook Road

2:19:44

Bridge Project so it was designed and valved accordingly now the Brook Road

2:19:49

Bridge Project it’s looking like that’s going to come first so we had to change the valving on that Brook Road Bridge

2:19:55

plan so our consultant is doing that this week we’ll resubmit the plan to massdot they need to sign it and then

2:20:02

we’re prepared to put that out to bid so anticipate a bid opening for the brook Bridge Project in September

2:20:09

pending as soon bid results we want to start construction immediately in the

2:20:15

fall so the Brook Road Bridge Project involves replacing beams and also replacing the water main on Brook Road

2:20:21

and so we’re going to have it valve so we’ll be able to tie right in to the existing water main and then tie into

2:20:26

the new water main when that comes along thank you any other questions or comments

2:20:38

I just um have a few as if as you’re going down these streets

2:20:45

um neighbors have to be notified I mean it’s nice to have a website and all but

2:20:50

I think a physical knock on the door or a door hangers if

2:20:56

you will has to be definitely done so because people will

2:21:03

just be calling here they have no water and you know I I think I brought this up

2:21:08

before and even suggested uh a 9-1-1 reverse I like when they have a

2:21:16

water break and I thought we’re all in agreement until this past week when we had a

2:21:22

another water break which has nothing to do with this I understand but this is I am bringing this up again because my

2:21:28

phones are ringing and I didn’t call the town manager and I didn’t call you

2:21:33

um but and I agreed with the with the residents that and they said to me I

2:21:38

thought we were gonna I says well you know what I don’t know exactly how that was left

2:21:44

so it’s very important we know accidents happen but all people want is a reverse

2:21:51

call uh if you don’t can’t do that then you need to send somebody door-to-door

2:21:56

and and let them know that they’re going to have Interruption and like she said she had

2:22:02

somebody sick in the house and they needed water and she was very concerned and I said you know call 9-1-1 if that is

2:22:09

definitely the case but um I just was frustrated that I was having

2:22:15

to listen to it again not because the people were calling me but the same issue I thought we talked about we were

2:22:21

going to settle so that’s why I’m saying this again that when we have a water

2:22:26

break or anything of that nature when it interrupting service to people they need

2:22:32

to be notified I mean that’s only right and it’s very important and I think it’s

2:22:38

going to be very important down here although Harry lives right in Elmo all this so he’ll probably be getting you

2:22:45

know it would be Harry probably so yeah actually when we do have a water service disruption

2:22:51

um the first thing we do in the Water Division is reach out to Anthony to get the word out so we can always improve

2:23:00

our communication before we do any project like this we send out letters to all the residents so that will be done

2:23:07

here and again this this project we’re going A Step Above by having an interactive website just because we feel

2:23:13

like some people may want to follow the project but inevitably a project like that this this size there will be Water

2:23:20

Service interruption it’s bound to happen with this much water main going in the

2:23:27

ground so on these types of projects it’s a little bit different than when we experience a water main break-in house

2:23:33

we have a full-time inspector on the job site part of that inspector’s duties is

2:23:41

to go knock on doors when water service is interrupted and again we’ll we’ll

2:23:46

reach out to Anthony we’ll update the webpage so we’ll we’ll try to get the

2:23:51

word out as best we can but your Point’s well taken Mr Helm on

2:23:57

that point Sheila um may I suggest that when you meet with the manomet village steering committee

2:24:05

um the that group and members uh can be very useful they know the contacts of

2:24:12

all the HOAs in the area and there was there are several that you could if you

2:24:18

know your there will be possible service interruptions for instance up on manomet point itself Beyond Taylor Avenue that’s

2:24:26

an HOA the dunes condos down on Taylor Avenue that’s another HOA they know all

2:24:34

of those contacts and it could be very helpful to reach out one of the things

2:24:40

that I’ve noticed about town communication and we’ve made huge

2:24:46

strides in availability of information through Anthony through the website yet

2:24:52

still people complain that they don’t know know things we haven’t gone that extra step in my

2:25:00

mind of projecting the information we require that people come and get the

2:25:06

information I’m just saying in terms of this and that area you might want to talk to when you’re talking with a

2:25:13

manomet village steering committee they do they arrange all the information flow

2:25:18

for third of July so they know the HOAs they know the residents they could be really useful for projecting the that

2:25:26

information to people just just a thought that’s really helpful feedback thanks for letting us know it’s

2:25:33

interesting um when that Cherry Street issue happened on Friday concurrently I got a

2:25:40

text message about a water main break in Kingston um so and I don’t believe we do that in

2:25:45

in Plymouth but that would be an internal discussion but I found that very useful at first I thought it was

2:25:52

our Cherry Street Waterman I was like Wow but it was for Kingston so I mean

2:25:57

that’s a way to get info to people immediately but people need to sign up with their cell phones

2:26:09

okay so where are we now in Water World are we well-wise are we in good shape or

2:26:17

yep so uh we met internally last week um to talk about new source

2:26:23

investigations and sites for tests well drilling you may recall uh additional

2:26:30

money was allocated at Springtown meeting for test Wells so we met myself

2:26:36

Peter Kendra our water and sewer engineer David goulden Kim Tower of

2:26:42

marine and environmental and our consultant Horsley and Whitton to go through the sites and these were all

2:26:48

Town owned sites that they had identified to talk through are there any conservation restrictions prohibiting

2:26:56

the sighting of a well on the the potential sites so we identified

2:27:01

three potential locations one in West Plymouth which is our number one goal to

2:27:09

find something in West Plymouth so tomorrow Pete myself and our consultant are going to do a site walk to look at

2:27:16

the site see how we can get a well driller in and move that process along

2:27:21

so so it’s moving forward okay well maybe you can report back to us when you will yeah in the future

2:27:28

we’re excited thank you Mr Mahoney so Sheila when you say to

2:27:35

you when you say to uh drill well you’re talking about a test well that would

2:27:40

tell the community how much water could potentially come out from that

2:27:46

land correct yes yes and the one in West Plymouth we’re planning an eight inch well an eight

2:27:53

inch test well so we get a better idea of the production from that location

2:27:58

because that’s the one where we want to move on the quickest okay

2:28:04

um no that’s great news and I Echo the chair if anything happens please um you know keep the board updated

2:28:10

overall I should know this I don’t know if I’m getting fatigued going into hour number four or something

2:28:17

else but having said that we have 13 Wells overall currently yes at 11 different sites 11 different sites

2:28:25

and we have an aggregate of six in one area and seven in another area is that how they

2:28:31

uh they’re interconnected yes

2:28:48

I guess what I’m leading to is ultimately is this the long-term goal is to make it one giant system correct okay

2:28:57

so so there’s pros and cons to that concept so we’ve been um debating this

2:29:02

internally ever since that draft master plan came out in 2019. uh a precursor to

2:29:08

connecting the pressure zones is actually this manomet pressure Zone up the water main project

2:29:15

um but as I said there’s pros and cons to doing that in some cases you’ll be

2:29:20

triple pumping the water to move it and you still have uh

2:29:25

the restrictions in terms of pipe size you can only move so much water also

2:29:31

that may if you do connect the pressure zones there’s a lot more red tape for

2:29:36

Pete to manage in terms of sampling um so that there are there are definite benefits to keeping the pressure Zone

2:29:43

separate uh however it would be a way to move water from the Eastern pressure zones into the

2:29:50

northern pressure zones so it is certainly still on the table that

2:29:55

project would involve a water a whole new water main on Rocky Hill Road and a

2:30:01

booster Pump Station so I remember that one from a few years ago I just didn’t you know I’ll let the

2:30:07

experts determine what direction still on the table but we want to look at these well sites

2:30:13

first yeah no that sounds great very quickly could you

2:30:19

just give us a quick synopsis it looks like we you did a great job with your support

2:30:25

staff and regaining our footing down there on Water Street especially in May and June

2:30:31

and you know ahead of the summer holiday what’s a percentage of how much of that pipe actually was completed where do we

2:30:39

stand as a potential um restart down there and you know could you speculate on in a

2:30:46

perfect world with weather conditions how much longer would it would take the contract it or completely finish so

2:30:52

we’ve got Doug pinard our Wastewater manager here as well so I’m sure he may

2:30:58

want to say a few things I’ve been saying we’re close to halfway

2:31:03

done I think I’m being a little optimistic with that it’s over a third done what is the exact footage

2:31:11

yeah um when Northern restarted you saw they gained ground very quickly they got a

2:31:19

lot done in a short amount of time it was a very impressive effort

2:31:24

where we’ve we heard we realized everybody from the town was impacted by

2:31:31

that project the residents the business owners tourism so we heard it loud and clear that

2:31:40

resuming the project may be best to wait till after Thanksgiving it just so

2:31:46

happens that that works out best for northern as well so the current plan is to resume construction after

2:31:53

Thanksgiving we think we can get it done within a couple months but then there’s going to be

2:31:59

putting everything back together and we need to let the road settle out we have sidewalks that need to go back in so

2:32:07

we’re going to wait until probably the fall of 2024 to do all the final Paving

2:32:14

and restoration but if everything goes well they should be in and out of their winter

2:32:23

so yeah

2:32:29

hi everyone Doug Bernard with water superintendent uh Northern did I think a

2:32:35

great job in a short period of time like Sheila said um we’re projecting somewhere

2:32:41

around Thanksgiving or thereafter weather permitting if they have the same production

2:32:47

I would imagine they would have the same outcome where maybe a couple of months obviously as they move South we will

2:32:54

have another bottleneck somewhat where we have to do some bypassing and

2:32:59

things like that which will sold the project down a little bit but we do still have some some footage there where

2:33:05

we can make up some good ground in a short period of time so I’m projecting

2:33:10

that it should go well thank you

2:33:15

so and just anecdotally um I think it was June June 6 maybe June

2:33:21

9th we had a sewer Force main break at our homes Point sewer pump station

2:33:28

that’s a cast iron sewer pipe so we responded to that actually Northern came

2:33:34

in and helped us out with that they were working on Water Street and came right in worked all night helped us out that

2:33:41

pipe and it’s a different type of pipe but that Force main was installed under the same contract as the Water Street

2:33:48

the existing water streets who were Interceptor that we’re trying to replace so that sewer Force main that broke at

2:33:56

the Homeless Point Pump Station we were scheduled to actually inspect that this year broke before we inspected it but

2:34:03

we’re preparing to we’re preparing a bid bid in design package to line that pipe

2:34:11

because it’s uh in rough shape I got a question

2:34:17

I should probably should know it but since the stoppage when they when they restart it

2:34:23

did the plan change the way they were laying the pipe did did they not go as

2:34:28

deep what because it seems to be going a little smoother what what has anything changed in the way they’re doing it

2:34:35

nope nope nope it’s it’s getting shallower as we go down the road okay it’s getting shot um I think that they

2:34:41

got into sync um they did change out their project superintendent so the management of the day-to-day

2:34:48

construction changed a little bit um and they were incredibly productive and it was very impressive that they got

2:34:54

it all done by the deadline so it might have been Northern it might have been but the the ground’s getting shallower

2:35:02

and is that so do you think that is they do they anticipate that the rest of the way which might make it a little quicker

2:35:09

a little smoother I believe we still have to work through this with Northern but uh dewatering will need to continue

2:35:17

uh Contin as we go down the street the level of dewatering in the number of

2:35:23

Wells we need to work through with them in the coming months before we remobilize

2:35:29

okay all right well let’s keep our fingers crossed thank you

2:35:34

so um you know also on the agenda it just said DPW project updates

2:35:40

um I started going through our projects I got four divisions in I was up to 45

2:35:46

projects and 68 million dollars between capital and Grant Arbor funds so as I

2:35:52

mentioned earlier I think we’d be here all night if I went through every project but if there’s a specific project you

2:35:59

have an interest in I think we’ve hit Brook Road the route 80 cemetery on the Water

2:36:05

Street sewer Interceptor but we have you know

2:36:12

I got to 45 and four divisions in and I stopped so we have quite a few projects

2:36:17

in the queue here in DPW another one that’s about to go out to bid next week

2:36:23

is Stevens Field so that’s been a long time coming so we’re very excited to um

2:36:30

finally have a plan set that everyone agrees on and put it out to bid hopefully we the pricing is suitable and

2:36:38

we can get started on that project in the fall too but if you have any other projects you

2:36:45

want to ask about I’m certainly here to answer no I I don’t I just have one question

2:36:51

and that would be for this gentleman now what uh capacity is yeah Wastewater

2:36:57

treatment plant at right now but we had 50 or 60 or

2:37:04

well currently we are in that’s so yeah it’s another update it’s one of one of

2:37:11

our projects that we’re going going through currently with um the groundwater discharge so we do about one

2:37:17

and a half million gallons a day and we’re trying to get the the

2:37:22

groundwater discharge up to three million gallons per day and that’s keeping the outfall

2:37:28

but but mainly using the sand beds at the treatment plan so that’s just another one of the updates

2:37:35

that we have well one of the projects that we have many projects that we have going on at the DBW

2:37:40

so yeah we’re a little little a little less than half I’d say currently yeah this is going to ask you

2:37:47

okay thank you okay thank you very much

2:37:55

sorry it’s the late hour of the evening but we appreciate it and

2:38:00

thank you any other projects or no no okay at the moment no

2:38:05

thank you Town managers report

2:38:15

okay um so I’ll keep this brief we’ve been at this for almost four hours so I think I just want to start off with

2:38:24

a few quick updates um the crossover I know we I think a couple

2:38:29

weeks back we talked about the piping flowers at White House Beach and prior to that we talked about piping plovers

2:38:35

over at Long Beach but we are happy to report that the crossover is now opened right now we’re receiving what 50 cars

2:38:42

per day uh we’re hoping by the weekend we’ll have about 70 cars allowed to be

2:38:47

on Long Beach and then David Gould and his team they’re working on

2:38:54

applications to allow for a a week of camping overnight on Long Beach to try

2:39:01

to again allow folks to to use that uh that amenity

2:39:06

um in large pot due to the strong work of mock rail climate resiliency planner

2:39:11

we received the grant around EV charging stations and so next week we will

2:39:18

install two more EV charging stations right on here in the back lot and at the corner slot that’ll be a total of four

2:39:25

more ports to allow for electric vehicle charging

2:39:30

just to let folks um let you all know that the charter Review

2:39:37

Committee met last night and they have appointed David golden as a chair Alan

2:39:43

Casa as a vice chair and Robert zuberoli as the clerk so we expect that we will

2:39:49

be supporting the charter Committee of the course of their deliberations over the next year or so and providing a lot

2:39:56

of technical input into uh into that work and then I think most importantly as we

2:40:04

all heard yesterday and was talked a lot about the handicap meeting last night

2:40:10

the Department of Environmental Protection has denied the discharge

2:40:16

permit that whole Tech was seeking uh so that’s a small win for the town of

2:40:23

Plymouth and for the entire Cape Cod region but again it’s a small win we

2:40:30

still will be waiting patiently for the EPA to rule on the nifty’s permit

2:40:39

Amendment on which holtech again is Seeking a similar permission to discharge their contaminated and

2:40:46

radioactive water into the Cape Cod Bay I want to note that when I had a

2:40:53

conversation with the commissioner yesterday I asked whether or not the epa’s ruling would

2:41:00

um allow for a contaminated discharge into the bay given the dep’s ruling they

2:41:07

don’t believe that to be true so that’s positive news that no matter what EPA rules we still believe that whole Tech

2:41:14

will not be able to discharge but again more to come on that we’ll keep you posted I I want to recognize certainly

2:41:23

Senator Sumerian representative Matt military and representative Kathy

2:41:28

linatra as you all know and this predates my arrival last year they had

2:41:34

done a lot of work at the State House working with a number of organizations to Advocate on behalf of the town of

2:41:41

Plymouth at the state level especially with the new governor to ensure that this ruling

2:41:46

did take place so again many thanks to the state delegation and and as well as

2:41:52

a federal delegation as well so pending any questions that’s all I have I do

2:41:57

want to make one announcement tomorrow this is an invitation to the one

2:42:02

at 2 pm if any board members want to meet here at 2PM who are going to travel

2:42:08

in the downtown area there’ll be some rubber chip seal that will be uh that

2:42:14

will be laid down in one of our roads I know the rubber chip sale and the DBW has since left but rubber chip sale is

2:42:21

one of one of our methods that we use to reconstruct our roads and it is a little

2:42:28

controversial as we’ve talked about in the past so those of you that are interested in learning more about rubber chip seal please come here at two two

2:42:35

o’clock and we’ll do a little road trip so again Penny any questions that’s all I have

2:42:42

any questions for the town manager Mr Mahoney Derek I I think that you just mentioned

2:42:49

but Sheila had talked about one of her many projects is Stevens Field I believe

2:42:54

those bids are open in 48 hours that’s right I don’t know who will be in the room when they’re open but I would

2:43:00

certainly hope that whatever data you have from that bid you can email immediately

2:43:06

to the board sure we can provide an update tremendous amount of interest in that project and we got our fingers

2:43:11

crossed sure yep thank you any other questions or comments for the

2:43:17

town manager okay fall town meeting Warren article

2:43:24

discussion

2:43:30

Mr brindisi um so this was a request I think by selectman Canty who asked to

2:43:36

make sure that we place this on the agenda like every other board of committee

2:43:42

um those members go through a discussion deliberate on whether and what articles

2:43:47

they would like to submit on the on the warrant so I think this will certainly

2:43:53

be here tonight if there’s any articles that the board would like to discuss a place on the warrant the warrants open today all articles will go to Mr

2:44:01

Brothers for Warrant construction and then we’ll have

2:44:06

one more meeting the next meeting before the warrant closes is April August coming out August

2:44:13

8 August 8th so the one closing on August 11th

2:44:24

Mr Canty um so I don’t have a particular article

2:44:29

that I’d like to add but I I just I appreciate that this was put on the agenda because I think

2:44:34

and that’s why I read out earlier in the meeting when the warrant deadline was because we have this relatively new

2:44:41

deadline we already went through 110 meeting with it and I think it worked well um but just to put everybody on notice

2:44:48

that there is this deadline because there’s a lot of people that wait for these 10 meetings they’re only six

2:44:53

months apart but they’re also they are six months apart so depending on what you’re looking to do that can be time

2:44:59

sensitive or not um so I don’t know if anyone on the

2:45:04

board has anything they’d like to see done for this town meeting in particular

2:45:10

but um I I’ll be in I’ll be away for the next

2:45:16

meeting as I’ll be in Asia at the time for the shishikahama trip so I prompt do

2:45:21

the time difference I probably won’t make it but uh to that meeting unfortunately but I’m interested in

2:45:27

hearing if anybody has anything at this point and obviously the board could discuss it at that second meeting as well

2:45:34

Mr bledser it’s probably too late to put it together but I still it’s what I’ve

2:45:41

since I’ve been on the board and when I was a town meeting member I wanted it to happen to and it hasn’t but

2:45:47

I’d like to put an article together to lift uh

2:45:53

height restrictions on that buildings and our industrial parks I think the the height is Antiquated I think we need to

2:46:00

go higher and I don’t know if it’s 7 500 feet but what the height is but I really

2:46:06

think we need to talk about the economic a Development Corporation

2:46:12

you know and and talk to them about the the pluses of doing that and the the

2:46:18

businesses that we could attract if we did that because I think we really have to keep trying to get new businesses to

2:46:26

come here Office Buildings with higher paying jobs and I think we’re not going to be able to do that with the 35-foot

2:46:34

restrictions that we have right now and it would just be in the industrial industrial areas not in the Waterfront

2:46:41

not in the downtown you know not you know in neighborhoods but in in the industrial area so

2:46:48

I don’t know you know Kevin I don’t know if you could help on that or whatever but I would

2:46:54

love to see that happen I I don’t know how the board feels about it but that’s something I would like to see happen

2:46:59

maybe Lee happened get him involved too wouldn’t it wouldn’t definitely need him need his guidance so anyway

2:47:07

[Music] if I could uh so the industrial park does have a

2:47:12

higher limit presently that was passed [Music]

2:47:18

and one of the concerns I’m not opposed to

2:47:23

having higher buildings but we do need to

2:47:29

we do need to involve the fire department in that discussion for their

2:47:34

apparatuses because if you go high enough that could require you to get a

2:47:40

significantly more expensive apparatus to do that so you just want to make sure that the well that you’re involving that

2:47:45

and the cost benefit I talked to the chief Bradley was and I asked him about the height restrictions we try to do it

2:47:51

and we were told that that would lose the quaintance of our town and that was just not

2:47:58

just didn’t make sense to me so I asked the chief is there a reason why do we not have the equipment and he said they

2:48:04

didn’t but now with all the engineering that’s done to these new buildings with

2:48:09

the fire suppressed suppression systems that they have the apparatus to to fight

2:48:15

you know 75 plus height buildings

2:48:21

so he had no no concern about that in in the old days we didn’t have the equipment the good to go that high high

2:48:27

of 35 feet but but that’s not a problem but we definitely would have to get get his official Neil Chief Foley’s official

2:48:35

opinion but I I think we have to go to at least 75 feet I know I don’t know if

2:48:40

it’s Carvers it went to 70 feet so you know we if we want to start

2:48:46

creating these new companies with businesses slight industrial uh commercial developments businesses and

2:48:54

Office Buildings we need to have higher high buildings and I I remember the discussion about

2:49:02

when that was at town meeting and I I agree with you Mr Blitzer I think that that’s the purpose of these

2:49:09

areas of town is for economic development we’re not talking there was commentary that if we increased it at

2:49:15

that time where which was one of the times that it failed that sooner we’d have sooner or later we’d have

2:49:20

skyscrapers looming over Plymouth Rock which is just totally not what was being discussed so

2:49:26

we should be making better use of our economic areas I think planning is would

2:49:33

need to be looped into this as well as fire so it may be ambitious to get it done for this

2:49:39

town meeting but I think that’s definitely something worth looking at for to increase our Economic Development

2:49:46

opportunities in the places where we are trying to Target that Economic Development

2:49:52

I just would I’ll remind the boy that you know

2:49:57

the August 15th date we will have a

2:50:02

financial Workshop so miss Baron our finance director I will hold a workshop to talk about with the board

2:50:09

the financial position of the Town projecting out our revenues and expenses for five years looking at a 10-year

2:50:15

Capital Improvement plan and that’s going to be the foundational work for

2:50:20

what will revisit our goals it’s like just like we did last year in August and

2:50:26

we’ll have another workshop at the end of August so that the board can

2:50:31

solidify the goals for FY 24. so this the reason why I bring this up as a

2:50:37

reminder to the board is that uh select one buttsa brings up a point of potentially changing the zoning to raise

2:50:45

the height restrictions in the industrial park and I think that if that’s the case it’s going to take considerable amount of research and work

2:50:52

to do that and this may be one of the goals the board decides to place on the fy24 goals and priorities listing and

2:50:59

then this will direct then the planning directed to go ahead and start that research

2:51:07

I agree I think we better take our time with it and and study it because a lot

2:51:12

more than just the height is the traffic that’s that’s the other big one with the

2:51:17

can the roads handle in the second is to go up and see how much you know Green

2:51:23

Space it saves maybe our friends we could invite in and have a round table

2:51:28

and uh all sit down and you know what’s best for Plymouth

2:51:34

and you know as far as tax revenue so I’m very interested in doing that but I

2:51:40

don’t know if it can be ready for fall but it needs to be visited again and why

2:51:46

did it fail last time I know Kevin you touched on a little bit but I’d like to see what was proposed and go through the

2:51:52

whole the whole thing so great

2:51:58

select board open discussion new business John

2:52:06

so I just wanted to give the board and the residents of the community an update

2:52:13

um so the community preservation Committee in effect is a nine-member baseball team

2:52:19

and to this board’s credit there was a change to the starting lineup

2:52:24

approximately a month ago so I just wanted to let you know that since then there have been three meetings

2:52:32

and what I have witnessed has basically been a 180 degree change in Direction so

2:52:40

since that change the committee has voted in the affirmative to hold all

2:52:46

future meetings at Town Hall so that they can be recorded and the

2:52:51

public and committee members could participate remotely if they so choose and we have

2:52:56

done that we’ve alternated between the 1820 courtroom and at this table here

2:53:03

the committee also voted to join or rejoin the Statewide CPC coalition

2:53:10

for over a decade the only committed Community not a member of that coalition

2:53:15

was the town of Plymouth the committee has also voted to use admin funds

2:53:22

to hire a support staff of one I’m guessing you’re probably looking in

2:53:28

the seven to fourteen thousand dollar a year range this job description has not been

2:53:34

defined yet obviously the town managers participated in some of these discussions I believe he will continue

2:53:40

to do so you will probably see Human Resources showing up at a future meeting and

2:53:47

describing the process but that is basically right now a lump of clay that

2:53:52

the committee in conjunction with the town staff is going to mold into obviously stepping into the 21st century

2:53:59

of modernization and having a proper uh staff member supporting the committee just like the planning board does the

2:54:05

zoning board of appeals and numerous other ones and then if you’re interested in

2:54:11

attending a meeting and we’re talking about it must be Friday August 11th deadline of getting articles in the

2:54:17

committee will be meeting I believe the next three Thursdays in a row I certainly hope that

2:54:24

maybe I don’t think you can be there we uh this Thursday Derek but I’m hoping maybe a week from Thursday you can

2:54:30

um remarkably you’re probably looking at because the committee did not bring any articles to Springtime meeting you’re

2:54:37

probably looking at anywhere from 7 to 11 articles Mr Brothers I will tell you that we have already voted on a new one

2:54:44

it’s remarkable 22 days before the deadline it was a borderline Miracle but 50 acres of Cranberry Bogs in West

2:54:50

Plymouth for 175 thousand dollars we voted in the affirmative I think it was unanimous last week so that one should

2:54:57

be coming your way I’ve already let Mr Gould know he’s aware and you know just

2:55:02

allowing Town staff to start knocking these things down and getting prepared

2:55:08

ahead of the deadline we hear from Mr Canty and his experience on fincom so there’s been a dramatic Improvement and

2:55:14

you know I look forward to uh you know seeing of eventually what we have you

2:55:21

know everything that we bring to town meeting

2:55:26

any other new business I’m sorry Mr Canty

2:55:33

um piggybacking on the town meeting related topic my plan for when we are in town

2:55:42

meeting is to attend to keep up my habit of going to as many caucuses as I have

2:55:47

over the last several years as a member of the fincom but rather this time do it

2:55:53

as a member of the select board to be able to answer questions that people have and explain the board’s position on

2:56:00

anything I hope I will get support from other board members and because some caucuses are happening at the same time

2:56:06

so obviously I won’t be able to be everywhere but would it be I don’t think the select

2:56:13

board usually gets fincom books the advice the report and recommendations book of the advisor and finance

2:56:18

committee there’s two different versions of those books in terms of their format there’s the the version that town

2:56:25

meeting members get which I think is the same version of the select board historically got and then there’s the

2:56:31

spiral bound ones that members of the fincom get because they’re going to the caucuses

2:56:37

and they’re report they’re reviewing those books more frequently having to ask questions of it would it be possible

2:56:42

for I assume the select Board gets the town meeting version would be possible for the select board to get the fincom

2:56:50

version I know we can’t give the fincon version to everyone because it’s more expensive but five more of them wouldn’t

2:56:57

be a tremendous increase in that would that be something we could possibly do

2:57:02

thank you anyone else have something for new

2:57:08

business moving right along letters

2:57:15

old business you have a motion

2:57:20

make a motion with Jared thank you thank you thank you very much for watching have a wonderful rest of your week we’ll

2:57:28

see you at the next meeting good night