Welcome. I'm calling the order this meeting of the on select board on Monday. This is my fifth 2022 I'm select board chair Linda Diggins, and I will now confirm that all members and persons Existing on their agenda or present and can hear me members when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative They are behind affirmative John heard. Yes See the Corsi Eric Helmeth. Yes Staff when I call your name, please respond in affirmative. Sandy pooler. Yes Doug Heim. Yes, Ashley Maher. Yes Tonight's meeting of the on select board is being conducted in a hybrid format consistent with chapter 107 of the acts of 2022 Signed into law on July 17th, 2022, which further extends certain COVID-19 measures regarding remote participation until March 31st, 2023 Before we again, please note the following First this meeting is being conducted via zoom was being recorded. There's also being simultaneously broadcast on ACMI Second person's wishing to join the meeting by zoom may find information on how to do so on the town's website Participants by zoom are reminded that you may be visible others and that if you wish to participate You are asked to provide your full name in the interest of developing a record of the meeting Third all participants or advice that people may be listening who do not provide comment and those persons are not required to identify Themselves both zoom participants and persons watching on ACMI can follow the posted agenda materials Also found on the town's website using a notice agenda platform and finally each vote tonight will be taken by roll call So let's step force on tonight's agenda and next is the land acknowledgement I would like to read the land acknowledgement that the board supported in the spring of 2021 and that was adopted at the 2021 annual town meeting We Acknowledged that the town of Arlington is located on the ancestral lands of the Massachusetts tribe The tribe of indigenous peoples from whom the colony province and Commonwealth have taken their names We pay our respects to the ancestral bloodline of the Massachusetts tribe and their descendants who still inhabit historic Massachusetts territories today Next on the agenda is acknowledgement of an expression of appreciation of Kevin Mills me former member of the zoning vote of appeals Kevin's not able to join us tonight. And so we're going to postpone this tell either the Amida 21st or the first from meeting in January But you do have the letter that crafted for him and I'll ask my colleagues me to take a look at it And if you think that it can be improved in any way Please don't hesitate to let me know This is something that you have just kind of It's something I've been wanting to do I mean we did it for the the chair of TAC when when he retired from from the transportation advisory committee You know and it's something that I would like to do more of me to an extent possible means certainly You know if I think if you read the letter me It's very insightful being all about Kevin being in his relationship with his colleagues And so I think often in expression appreciation We've we benefit from it Probably as much of not more me than the person that to whom we're trying to express appreciation So once again if you see anything that any way to you prove it me words missing overall content whatever it means I welcome your input and so next we'll move on to the Review and to Approve bond issue bond into I'm sorry, excuse me to review and approval of on issue bond Anticipation notes and related matters Well, I'll not turn it over to the senior pooler the Tom manager Thank you Thursday December 1st the town conducted a bond sale Which is basically an auction We had several bidders for both our bonds and our bond anticipation notes at that time we sold 8,515,000 dollars with the bonds Which was actually a gross total of 8,945,000 dollars But at the sale we received cash payments of 430,000 dollars in premium pay premiums to bringing down the amount of the bond at 8 million 515,000 these are general obligation bonds and they are Mostly for the construction of the new DPW facility Plus all of the bonded capital projects that were approved by town meeting last spring In addition to that on that date We sold four million six hundred and seven thousand four hundred and one dollars worth of bond anticipation notes. Those are essentially bridge loans that we pay interest on for a year and We will then convert to permanent bonds next year The interest rate on the bonds was three point seven seven percent Which was good because we had budgeted for Originally for four percent and lately we were thinking it might be as high as five and a half percent So we're very happy with this sale. It is higher than we got about a year ago Which was just under two percent, but that is is the market The interest rate on the bands was three point one three three six percent And I think it very interestingly shows that we have a very flat yield curve In other words, the short-term interest rates and the long-term interest rates are very very close to each other. That's sort of unusual I Think it reflects the fact that on the short-term interest rates people are paying a lot of attention to what the Fed is doing and raising its friend interest rates But that people think over the next 20 years that the true interest rates that they're going to have to deal with Aren't going to be that much higher We issue Because we're not yet finished with the DPW project, but we expect to be done with the construction by the time We need to go out for bonding again and so what we do in that last phase of almost any project is instead of Selling the full amount of bonds Which might mean that we borrow too much if the project comes in under budget We sell a band and then once we know the final project cost We then only sell the bond for the remainder of the project The one other thing I just mentioned in case you are interested in it is that usually we sell our bonds in February But this year we decided to do it in December because we know that the Fed has at least one more Meeting where it's expected to raise interest rates again. So we thought that this was a good time to To borrow the money Overall, I think we've had very good success with selling our bonds both for all of our projects The fact the matter is that We've previously sold permanent bonds for the first part of the DPW project at very very good interest rates And so now we're just kind of closing things out You have before you a Few votes Want a determination of the maximum useful life of capital assets purchases? It's something that the board needs to vote To declare How long the useful life of various pieces of equipment are? That is laid out in the draft vote for you The other thing then is is be Actually approving the award of sale We deducted the sale. So what there is first the word of sale of the bond and then the word of sale of the band And then Once that voted voted We will have to circulate to you Which we do not have tonight the documents that you'll have to sign to affirm all that With that ladies and gentlemen, I'd be happy to answer any questions And you just raise your hands I can see clearly enough so we don't have to go down the line. Let's see this one too Is not Thank You mr. Chair um This borrowing I know it's for DPW, but I have a memory does it cover other projects? Yes, there were a number of projects that were voted in the capital plan at town meeting last spring You know buying trucks and listening here the street sweeper a couple of smaller fire replacement vehicles a cemetery pack hole the fire alarm System and a forklift so Basically anything in the capital plan that's worth $100,000 or more we tend to bond for So this borrowing covers The initial DPW what we need right now Town meeting votes the second barring This this barring covers everything the second barring will just be for the DPW Yeah, yeah, the the band that's something else comes up. I'm just know that you have it exactly right We so we're basically putting a pile of cash together some from a bond and some from a band Those two together should get us to the end of the DPW project if it Comes in exactly on budget then we'll sell a bond at that point for the exact amount of the band We just says it's all then pay that over time if it comes in under budget will sell a smaller bond and Pay that over time so we just have to see what the final cost is going to be and we should know that by next fall Okay, I'd like to Move favorable action for the sale of the bond and bond anticipation notes closing on December 15, 2022 as well as the Determination and approval of the maximum life of department equipment as contained here and in the memo and recommended vote Is that good? Okay? Thank you very much. Thank you So excuse me, I just wanted to check with some attorney time I mean so we can do all these votes at once or I was I was getting an impression. We had to do a separate vote No, thank you, Mr. Chairman You can do these all at once the treasurer is recommended basically a form vote while it says further voted Essentially each one of those further voted items is a further detail or qualification on the Entirely so you can take one vote as proposed by the treasurer and given in your reference materials Great. Thank you. Thank you very much second Thank you, Mr. Hearn Any other questions comments? Okay, well, let's just hope that that on flat yield curve doesn't inferred me because how indicate our recession and that's not good for anybody so on a motion to prove the the sale of the bonds mean and the bands mean and the Assessment of lifetime of the Equipment mean in capital purchases mean by Mr. Mahan and a second by Mr. Herd. Mr. Heim Yes, Mr. DeCourst. Yes, Mr. Helm. Yes, Mrs. Mahan. Yes, Mr. DeCourst. Yes Great Thank you. So I Think that's it. Mr. Polar Yes, thank you very much. Okay, great So we'll now move on to Item number five on the agenda is a discussion and vote the Tom manager position search statement and Discussion about the selection committee means. So can we bring in Mr. Lynch? I see Yeah, so she Maybe Sharon's filling in and Sharon certainly is on part of community paradigms. So let's work in Sharon, please Good evening. Hi, Ms. Flaherty. Thank you for joining us in Absolutely, Mr. Lynch is juggling a couple of meetings. So he's going to be here as soon as he can. Okay. All right, that's fine, you know, so All right, but I think I think we Are you are you comfortable moving on now? Would you like us to wait a bit? Absolutely, we can certainly go through the position statement if you'd like. Okay, great. Please. Let's do it. Let's do that Great. Well, it was as you know, it was a version two I had requested some feedback from board members if they if there was any feedback to be had I did make some revisions based upon recommendations received Waited for any further input and then sent it back out today earlier today So the board members should all have received that this out early this afternoon and it should be in your packet I believe and if there's any any other changes or discussions regarding the position statement, I'm happy to Hear those and make changes Great. Thank you. So So turn to my colleagues Mr. Helmets Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the work that went into this and the revisions. I Would prefer not to name the salary I Don't I actually don't know what plus or minus means I'm not sure that is what that signifies But regardless, I don't think I know what the salary is I think that that really will depend on the applicants their years of experience their qualifications It's not a secret what our past two town managers or any of them have made but I my concern would be that that would be misleading and You know, I strong proponent of paying our employees what they're worth because I think what you pay for in the market Is the market, but I don't know what the market is You know, I think we're going to find out when we go through the applicants and have those discussions So that would be my main substantive feedback on this You know analysis. Mr. Hard. I say I'm fine Not having a salary on there. I would just ask the consultant if it's If that in your experience has can affect the ability to draw candidates if not Then I think it's fine to not have a salary and we can Come up with it as we find a candidate Ms. Florida We have always listed pretty much always have listed a salary I can tell you that will be the first question and people will not apply without Having reached out to hear what what the seller at the ballpark will be for the salary understanding that a plus or minus means It depends on Qualifications experience it could be less if you have less experience It could be more if you're a stellar candidate that that the town really wants to pull in There are some Advertisements that we would need to list a salary in order to place the ad there's a couple of those that we usually use Okay, thank you, Ms. Florida, you know, and I think mr. Lynch has joined us Yes, good evening everyone and I was able I was just brought in as a panelist But I was able to listen to a few of the comments before that and I just caught a little bit of what Sharon was saying there Many of the places that this position will be posted Sharon may have already said this many of the places That where this will be posted actually require us to place some type of salary Range in there Obviously, you know, if we advertise in a place or post position a place that we don't have to do that You know, I guess we wouldn't have to but it is a it is a question It is does sort of drive people's it gets people's attention to have some sense of what the salary is the the plus or minus is a pretty standard Terminology it basically indicates that the salary the given salary is Sort of the midway point that you can go a little bit more if you find a candidate that Is particularly experience and attracted to you Because of the skills they bring to the table Well, you could pay a little bit less if they may not have everything that you're looking for and I may not have quite as much Experience so it provides some sort of range for people and it's a some communities up to put a definitive You know first step pop step And let the negotiations fall into that category What we find is if there can be an attractive number that's put in there that gets people's attention that they can Sort of count on that sort of a salary number that gets their attention and Generates the interest in the position. So it is if you look at the MMA Job board you look at the ICMA you look at the emerging local government leaders organization You know those are the women leading government organization These are all pretty standard to have some type of salary in there Thanks for some lunch, you know anyone else This is my chair I'm not sure I want to go next but I'm was mr. Hardware you finished well I just want to follow up and just say if that was the case I Think we're I think $220,000 is on the high end of the I would be more comfortable with a range So people don't I think people see 220,000 like I'm gonna get to the 220,000 plus or minus 5,000 I think I mean Mr. Chaplin got his chap salary because he was here for a long long time and we valued him as one of the most Qualified town managers in the state in same thing with mr. Pooler, but I don't know that we're For someone to come in at the top of the range of what around 220,000 dollars of Salary that seems that that would be really a bang-out idea like Incredible candidate that had other offers that we really wanted to make sure that we we brought to Arlington So I think it's a little miss leak because I think when we had spoken Pre I mean in other negotiations. I think our starting point hasn't been 220,000 dollars. So I think that's high Even for a mid-range. I think that's the top of the range. So I mean I would Almost suggest putting something Just a throat number it's like a hundred and seventy thousand to two hundred twenty thousand dollar range Mr. Chair if I may yes, I think And I'm happy to share information with the with the board on the the going rates. I literally just got off the Another zoom call with the town of Sudbury Which is going to be paying 215,000 dollars for their town manager Town of I have all the salary information or I should say all the salary information I have quite a bit of new salary information as of just this past November for a number of communities in the In the same area as Arlington and everything is north of 200 everything is for base salary they range from Really the 200 that two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars up to 247,000 dollars for the neighboring town of Lexington The town of Westford just went out and they advertised at 210 to 230 thousand dollars so I think you if you're if you're looking to get a Candidate that You know meets the qualification standards that that I think is included within this position profile I think you're going to have to pay if you don't want to put 220, you know, I would recommend that you go At least to 15 and that that gives you some sense of you know Well, if you if you want to go a range I started started a lower salary and just put a plus That would at least give some of the sense that they'd be coming in at a minimum of 200 let's say as a number And and move up from there, but The market right now for managers is such that in order to get Someone of the quality that Arlington Would likely want You you're going to have to put that type of salary number out there Thanks lunch. Hey, Mr. Han Having been through this many times First I would say with all due respect, it's this board's Decision what to to list for a range So we've definitely heard your arguments and I shouldn't say arguments your your statement But don't need to hear it any more in the sense of Arlington besides Brookline is really the coup de gras the plum job In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for up-and-coming managers And that's pretty well known and I would like to do Arrange also 170 to 220 180 to 220 And if you want to put the plus and minus in there, that's fine only because I don't first of all the board has to negotiate the the salary and Tying our hands at the very beginning putting the top number of what I consider For town manager sort of for me handicaps. I think my ability number one number two I I'd like to see the range knowing that in all probability We're going to go towards the higher end versus the lower end of 170 180, but I think it's also Could send a message someone They're a professional not that they would take it this way, but that you know if it says 220 and We're negotiating somewhat something lower than that Especially if we get a candidate as the statement says that will give and we will serious consideration to applications from non Traditional candidates who display exceptional characteristics and the necessary aptitude for this position along with the fact that We're requiring a bachelor's degree with a master master's preferred I'd like to just say master's preferred because we've always had that but I'm okay to go along with that but To me that plays into having a range if You know somebody Can look at it and if it is someone that we take with that one line that we have in there about a non Traditional candidate and I know what that means in in in the business world. It could mean anything We aren't sort of insulting them if we give them because they are a non traditional candidate and perhaps The experience isn't exactly as we've outlined and crafted But we see great pretend potential and want to do that I don't want them to feel like you know We really tried to go sort of bargain basement and didn't give them that 220 I think having that 220 really handicaps us in terms of negotiating which everybody on this board In their current job here as well as their day-to-day jobs is very familiar with and It's really precarious when you get into the I Don't want to be fighting the ghost of 220 plus or minus. So I'd like to go with a range I I'm happy with 170 to 220 plus or minus 180 to 220 plus or minus But I'd like to hear from my colleagues. So thank you, mr. Chair Thank you, Mr. Han Mr. Of course, he does it I see and Mr. Of course, that's it then thank you, mr. Chairman and and I think You know from the from the earlier comments I don't think there's going to be a consensus putting the 220 plus or minus I personally I'm not crazy about a range But I'm thinking maybe we can work out a compromise here by putting 200 plus I think we've got to deal with the reality that that the next town manager the first number is going to be a two in my mind and So I could see something doing 200 plus That's the midpoint of the 180 to 220 and we're not going to know until we get the candidates in terms of what that is So I I know I'm familiar with a Profile that you did in another community and not going to compare ourselves directly to that community Earlier this year we use 200 plus and if you feel like you need to use a number I'd be comfortable doing that and taking out the minus and that gets us to a midpoint here Mr. Helmets Thank You mr. Chair and thank you mr. Lynch. I feel like I now have a better sense of the market And that's why you're here So and and understand that my prior comments were based on no not having that information prior to this meeting and that That actually may have been helpful That said here. We are I Think that very understandable why we need to list a salary in some venues to post the position And I think that I'm also comfortable with mr. Decorsi's proposal Mr. Her I mean, I think 200 plus or minus is fine, too. Just I mean It gets makes it mine it could be 50 bucks that's 100 200,000 So it I mean, I guess the range handicaps us a little more as I talk it through I'm much more comfortable with 200 than 220 plus or minus because As far as I'm concerned 220 is just about the max because we all know there's other benefits that come Along on top of what your salary is. So I think 220 would be the max that I'd want to see a new salary regardless of the candidate So 200 plus or minus is fine for me Mr. Her and Certainly in agreement with that and my last question I promise The Application deadline of January 13th, I'm just curious it And it's not a big deal, but it has a 3 p.m. Cut-off time is that because of Our consultants prefer that only because we co-till for And it's it's no biggie either way I'm just wondering if that you know it could say three I don't care But I to me for some reason I thought that would say 4 p.m. Is that a big deal to switch that Not a big deal at all. We used to we used to go to buy five I think but we we switched it to three and it's it really doesn't I'll tell you right now It's really aren't going to matter because at 259 the resumes will be coming in some will come in at 302 It's just people So it's a somehow wait till the last minute so we try to get that a little bit earlier and but four o'clock is fine No, that's fine And if you wanted to hang around not that you have to when we Discuss opening the warrant and closing it. It used to only be a week. It's supposed to be four weeks We give eight weeks. Yeah, it's the same four people and I'm shouldn't it's not the same four people But it's the same four placeholders. That's still no matter what it could be 16 weeks And that's okay. That's that's the way it is. So if that's okay with my colleagues. I just for some reason the Okay, I'd make a motion to approve the draft and make it a final Statement for the job application for town manager with the amendments Regarding the salary and the close time from 3 p.m. To 4 p.m I With a closing date of January 13th 2023 at 4 p.m. I I'm seeing a second by mr. Helmets. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, Ms. Mohan. I will certainly Respect the views of the preponderance of my colleagues But I but if I recall correct me sir, of course, he was suggesting that we Set the salaries 200 plus and not 200 plus or minus is that right, mr. Of course that that was my suggestion and there was a couple comments to put the minus and I Personally, I'd prefer just to have the plus but I think for consensus purposes If they're the will of the rest of the board is to put the minus and I don't feel that strongly About it, but thank you for asking about the clarification And I think I would like to with the chairs indulgence Kick it back to mr. Lynch because I think that he had a early comment on that Do you have advice for us mr. Lynch on that point? No, no, I The the minus I I guess I would agree with A message of course if for the consensus here as long as is I will say that as long as there's a two there That's good to help you get the candidates If it turns out that you're getting, you know that there's candidates that You know aren't as qualified aren't as experienced That you feel you can negotiate in a lower salary That I guess gives you that opportunity, but This job is really going to require All likelihood to get the experience level something a little bit higher than that But it was as it was also pointed out there are other parts of the negotiations that to go into this with other benefits that Could be part of the whole package Thank you, sir And again as we get as we get farther along To the actual selection and negotiations You know we'll be there with you to provide you with all types of data and information about What's happening in the marketplace so that you're Well prepared for any negotiations Thank you Thank you Mr. Lynch All right, you know, well, yeah This is easy for me to go on with me So I Had a conversation recently with mr. Lynch I mean about I actually was his clarity. I mean, and so I'm interested where they were coming from I think me in the 20 plus minus is it is a good place Me actually miss mahan I thought he or she was going to be with the fact It was a friday the 13th meet and so so the fact that that um They were going three o'clock to me he meant that they were they were the ones bringing in Receiving the applications because as you very well know we closed at noon on friday. So on a motion by miss mahan to Accept make well Turn the strap into the final version with the state of the amendments mean And a second by mr. Helmets. Mr. Hyde Yes, Mr. Corsi. Yes, mr. Helman. Yes, this is mahan. Yes, today Yes, it's unanimous vote Thank you mean so the second part of the discussion mean is the creation of the selection committee mean and so So as you know, we have a variety of formats mean that we can we can choose mean The consultants have recommended that we keep the size of the committee To 79 and I think that's a a good number mean and it's really matter how we get there, you know and so We can have We could choose the seven members however we want mean be my preferred My preference at this point would be me for us to Choose a member from the school committee a member from town and then the five of us mean could Choose members of the committee and and but if you choose yourself mean that you can't choose Anyone else mean uh and and so I I know I'm not sure if mr. Corsi's position has changed me about him wanting to be mean on the committee I mean, I certainly want to be on it. I should say this is a screening committee. I call this election committee I should just screening committee. I'm sorry for that type of or that miss miss statement in the in the agenda I would love it if he Were part of it me but I would almost feel that by saying that I've already put too much pressure on you Me but but I've enjoyed working with you in this capacity so far already and I really would value your input on it You know, but then um, there are other ways we can put together the screening committee and if folks Want have suggestions for that? Um, I welcome them I mean it'd be good if we could come to a conclusion tonight, but I think we could put it off until The 21st, but we really want to have this committee I think up me by the 13th means for that You know week or so after we have those those applications. They can get to work So um, that's what I'll say for now I will ask mr. Lynch or or miss flairty if they have anything else to say before I turn it over to colleagues Uh, no, I mean, I think that the uh, I'll jump in chair and I think that the number of seven is a good one You know the purpose of this screening committee. It's it and I think you're uh, the the differentiation between screening and selection Is significant the purpose of this committee will be to simply take the applications working with us Screen them down to a reasonable number that could be interviewed for the purposes of then screening it down further to the final list that we brought to the void The the purpose for these screening committees is that massachusetts the open meeting law Does not allow the select board to conduct these preliminary interviews in executive session and candidates are only going to apply if they have some level of Confidence that their Application will be kept confidential until they're selected as a final not just a candidate So that's why uh screening committees exist primarily and they You know, there's a you could have a member Or so on the on the screening committee But you can't have the entire board serving on the screening committee or a majority of the board serving on the screening committee uh, and the void kind Dominate the the screening committee. This is supposed to be separate to provide assistance to the the board in getting the candidate numbers down Okay, thank you. Mr. Lynch. He's uh now open up to my colleagues Mr. Mr. Hurt So I'm sure I understand so We're gonna ask the school committee to designate one of their members Have someone that will Who's gonna decide from the town? Us as a board That's a question I mean, um, I recommend jill harvey if you do it, but we'll I mean, I think we'll have to have a discussion about that um Then you and steve and then The the remaining three of us pick anybody Yes Interesting I didn't mean to flash peace at you but peace anyways Peace be with you I'm fine with that I want to see what the rest of my colleagues do. I just want to for history's sake, and I don't have any strong feelings and um Either way It may be something that the previous boards did That it was sort of the state of the times and it's not necessarily a tool that we need right now, but um In the previous town managers searches from um, mr. Marquis Mr. Farrington and then mr. Sullivan To mr. Chapter Lane It got carried over and that was and again, I don't have any strong feelings I actually kind of spoke against it way way way back when the first time so but Was that there was an understanding since the tail manager position is um Under the direct purview an oversight of the select board um Sort of tan amount top three Responsibilities as a select person some would say that there was always an understanding and agreement by the board and I'd be interested in what my colleagues have to say and I I'm okay either way, but the Previous three or four times that I've done this was that um Each the board member was allowed that if for some reason a candidate who applied Um, whose name did not get passed on from the first round only Uh individual select person or select persons Could advance that person And that that's been done in the the previous how many have I done have I done three or four? I can't even think four four that said that was carried, you know, that was done in the first Um, and it was carried over um And it's just been carried over I think just because of It's always been there before so I don't have any strong feelings of the way But I'd like to maybe clarify if you want to continue if my colleagues want to continue that with that if you don't that's fine too Well, I should know that the last one we only had one candidate apply. So there was no screening company And don marquis That was a long time That's before Diane was born I Didn't know for his replacement as a man But anyways, so I don't know if my colleagues have any feelings. Do you want to continue that caveat or it's not needed So, uh, mr. Corsi mr. Corsi Yeah, thank thank you, mr. Chairman and I guess just a couple things to follow up on your earlier comment and mr. Diggins and I Have been working as a subcommittee with mr. Lynch and miss flarity. So we've had some discussions about You know what what a committee could look like and I think as long as my colleagues aren't Interested in naming themselves As as onto the committee that maybe gives me a little bit more time to think about and I'll just be honest My concern was on a search committee If there are two members of the select board and it can't be more than two members because it'd be a quorum That we may have an outsized voice on the search committee and it may Not be um as productive for the for the other members. So that that's what I'm Dealing with individually, but I think we're not naming the people tonight I can think about that a little bit more and talk to mr. Diggins about that a little bit more But that would be my only hesitancy on that as as to the to mrs. Mahan's Point I actually was on the search committee screening committee For brian selivan and that procedure was used and actually there was a issue I believe with a candidate who sent something in that Um did get pulled in later because it was an issue in terms of when The screening committee received that application or whether it was received or not and in That seemed I as a member of the screening committee. I was fine with the board of select men doing that at the time Um, I also recall it at that time I think you would nobody miss kelly did to be on that screening Committee those five of us we worked with miss mullay and You know, it's comfortable with that with that format and with that understanding That somebody else might be pulled in because we understood at the end of the day It's the select board's decision who to hire So I personally don't I don't have an issue with that if the if the rest of the board is fine with that and I guess I would only ask As the chair when I when are you looking for us to Identify the individuals that for the 21st No, no, I just want us to make a decision as to me what the composition The the template composition of the board will be any other other other committee will be meaning He will we have seven we have five mean how we'll go about selecting them So I like to have we can have that decision done tonight. That'd be great We can wait until 21st, but then I would like to have the the members of screening committee being selected By the first meeting, you know In january, which is the ninth mean we could fall back to The 23rd if we had to I mean, but but um, so did that answer your question, mr. Of course, he didn't know it does and I think thank you for that clarification and Also, I'm fine with seven as the number And I've made my other points on on the other two So, I mean at least for purposes of tonight seven seems fine to me I think there is a question in terms of The exact language is it school committee or it's designee or is it how that how the town Person is selected, but I think I think for purposes of this evening Um, I think there's consensus that that seven seems to be a good number Mr. Helmets Thank you. Um, I just like some clarity on what exactly the proposal Is taking shape is I think mr. Of course his idea but the school committee or designee is a good nuance to consider One question I have is the rationale for school committee member I think very highly of our school committee. I don't believe That the select board had it was involved in the screening of the superintendent Which doesn't mean that we can't do it that way, but I think that I'd like to have some visibility into the rationale For asking them to do that. So that's one question I have For the second slot What we've talked about a town person. Does that mean a town employee or what or or is that just another open slot that would be jointly appointed So So I am definitely thinking a town employee named probably along the lines of the department had, you know, someone You know, he's going to work closely with the the town manager, you know, and if you like I can answer your first question Oh, please. Yeah, I don't mean to I understand the The asymmetry, but I think that's because that's the way the town works. I mean the the town manager does work, you know with With the schools, you know I mean and and so I understand they have a level of independence mean but but we through the town man There is influence mean from the town manager mean Respect to what happens now with the schools, even if it's not particularly large mean so I think it'd be good mean to have the school committee Have some input in the process and It's not the strongest argument, but but it's the argument that I feel comfortable with Mr. Mr. Of course, yeah, and just to maybe follow up point to what mr. And maybe cast mr. Lynch as well and Going back to the search you conducted earlier this year In water town. I believe the water town superintendent of schools was on that Initial screening committee a search committee and and maybe that's something between now and the 21st That rather than the school committee we think about it as the superintendent or designee because the superintendent is really individual working Most closely with the town manager, but if mr. Lynch if I could ask you Um, you know, whether it's the search you participated in this year or other searches Do you see superintendent schools being involved often on a screening committee or search committee? Actually, we do we we've had that in a number of communities. The superintendent has participated Or a member of the school committee, but uh, it's an interesting point that water town. It was a superintendent in I couldn't believe it was ip switch that we just completed. They had the school superintendent Bond had the school superintendent. So it is it is pretty common to Have that similar to having a department head Someone that sort of knows the inner work is again The the goal here is to help narrow the search down to then move candidates on to the to the board For their consideration Thank you. I mean, I I I think I just know that The town manager and the superintendent have weekly meetings. There's a lot of contact and That may be the way to go but again, we don't have to decide that tonight, but I think it's it's It makes sense to me that there should be a school presence on the screening committee But I I as we've talked it through and listening to tonight I may lean more towards the superintendent or her designee But I mean, I think it's it's something for us to think about and come back. Um with later this month Mr. Helmets, uh, thank you. I'm sold on that point And I might have been incorrect actually in my earlier assertion that it now that I think about it It's possible that there was this like we're member involved in this in the school search So that's subject to to correction in future. Um, and then finally my question is Do we need to decide or it sounds like we do if if We will provide for any of ourselves to be on this or not through self naming or through another process I know I I know that I think mr. Diggins expressed of you on that I'd be curious about other colleagues who have more experience than I have a have a view on the wisdom of that or or not I mean, I don't have any views on the wisdom of it. Yeah, I certainly have a view of preference me So as I said, I mean, you know, I'm certainly going to nominate myself um to be on that screening committee and I Also, that's another preference mean but but um, it's really up to us inside that I will say that it is there are there are There many communities do have one or two members That will serve on the committee. But again, once you go beyond two then you get into a form of the board And that affects the open meeting lot, uh, which affects the way the screening committee operates Well, since there's silence mean I'll add a couple other things me. I understand. Mr. Corsi is concerned about it having two means Indicating a lot of weight of the selector on it But I think that's also reflective mean of the fact that it really is the select board's decisions So I don't have a problem with us having being a high weight being on on the board, you know, and and even along with that I'm fine with being allowing the select board or a select board member mean to um Ask that someone else that the screening committee did not select and um to be Moved on to the next stage of the process, you know, because once again, it is a select board decision And I think we we five need to be as comfortable as possible mean with the Candidates that we take on to the next step because those will be the ones from whom we choose I see you mr. heard No, I just gonna say attorney. I'm had his hand up. I think you couldn't see it Okay, thank you Mr I'm Thank you, mr. Diggins. I just want to be clear for people watching at home that essentially a preliminary screening committee can Do the initial screening an executive session after that You Can't go into executive session with the preliminary screening committee and the screening committee very specifically And this body can only have two select board members. So that's what folks are talking about You can't have more than two on the preliminary screening committee And the preliminary screening committee can only do the first essentially cut to identify What are the qualified applicants just so folks again watching at home are clear on what we're talking about in terms of the dimensions of it Thank you sign Um I have a operational question about miss mohan's suggestion, which I I think is actually a good idea but just operationally with respect to the opening law and that Constrains that mr. Lynch and mr. Hyme How does that work that the select board would still have the ability to bring forth the candidate outside of the screening committee Process but what without getting in a trouble on that front I want to make sure that mr. Lynch and mr. Helmuth just so he and I are on the same page as I already wanted to interject something By all means go ahead. Go ahead, please If Is that referring to me? Yes, yes The I just an important point I think needs to be made to regarding the resumes that are received The resumes that are received remain confidential only to The screening committee members There are these resumes are not distributed outside of the screening committee They're and so therefore nobody knows who applied to the position other than the screening committee members And it is a So I think that's that's notable. Is there's some if there's some Understanding here that somehow the the board is going to receive these they will not Only the screening committee The only ones that the only names against the screening committee sends on are those that they've determined to be the finalists and that's in accordance with the in your attorney will I think will back me up on this the That's in accordance with the rulings of the attorney general with the open media law process In the other part of that just the other just sort of concerned If you will Regarding candidates because again, I I kind of stress enough what a competitive market It is right now for a town manager tends to our discussion on salary And also just getting people to apply for these jobs Is that People are not going to apply if they don't think that they stand a good chance of Getting at least to the finals and having a shot at the job The concern I have is that if candidates can sort of be Put in place outside of the screening committee process That's going to put a That's going to put a freeze on candidates that are going to be applying for this job Mr. Diggins man. Thank you, Mr. Lynch. You know, so I heard Mr. Hahn Yeah, yes, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Diggins. So again just to recap The select board doesn't have to use a preliminary screening committee if it doesn't want to But if it wants to have somebody go into an executive session For the purposes of both maintaining the confidentiality of potential candidates And also giving the preliminary screening committee a little latitude to talk in an executive session about what they deemed to be Sort of a qualification under the parameters that you provided You would have to convene a preliminary screening committee For the initial screening process and I'll just again to be crystal clear read the law for everyone It's the purpose of the executive session and a preliminary screening committee is to consider or interview applicants for employment Or appointment by a preliminary screening committee if the chair declares that an open meeting will have a detrimental effect In obtaining qualified applicants Provided, however, that this clause shall not apply to any meeting Including meetings of a preliminary screening committee to consider and interview applicants who have passed a preliminary screening So the preliminary screening committee can convene an executive session to look at resumes They can have some interviews Including more than one round of interviews potentially In determining who is essentially a qualified applicant to be presented to the rest of the board The difficulty in I think what mr. Lynch is saying the difficulty both practically and legally If you have resumes being submitted to the rest of the board outside of that Is whether or not the purpose of this executive session exists anymore because the idea is to keep confidential I see mr. Her Mr chair Yeah, I guess I mean if we kind of Simplify this the screening committee Is a committee that puts forth a couple of candidates and The full board could say we don't like any of these candidates and not vote for them and I think what I mean We're talking about disseminating who applied through this screening committee I think in reality what we're talking about is somebody that tells me Hey, I applied And then we don't see the name Put forth through the screening committee That's on an open meeting law violation that some candidate told me that they applied for the job and When we uh, once we vote on this Regardless of whoever I mean there's nothing Other than bad form. I guess just to stop any of us from saying well You know, I hear your candidates, but I want to nominate Ashley Meyer to be the next town manager And I could do that and like if I can convince three of my colleagues that that's the new town manager. So I mean, I think We're looking at this in a vacuum of the screening committee. I'm like, oh, they must have been a Open meeting law violation that they knew that this person applied, but I mean, I think in reality That's how it works and that's probably how it worked before That being said, I Would envision that we will rely on the judgment of our screening committee and Most very likely select someone that the screening committee put forth But I mean just as we're talking To simplify it. I think we're kind of talking through hoops and ignoring the obvious Thank you, sir Well I hear everything, you know I Mr. Lynch, you know if we If we don't Have made the option of moving someone That wasn't Selected or chosen by this screening committee Well, let me rephrase the question. You said that if we do it will make it harder to attract candidates I mean, so so I'm assuming if we don't It makes it easier, but then what mr. Hurd said is that I mean We we still have that option. Even if we don't like formally say it, I mean, so So I'm trying to understand that I mean if we Don't state it mean how is the extra bit to the selection process negated well, I think And again, I can't that it's watching this meeting tonight Uh, I didn't know that this this is a possibility that they may apply and that they may be someone who contacts a member of the board uh Down the road and gets their name put into nomination and uh You know when we have for instance when we have internal candidates That are known to be candidates for the position. It makes the search um Very very difficult to get candidates because they assume that The inside candidate has the advantage And communities have gone through this where they lose Three of their finalists two or three of their finalists Because it's an internal candidate that's that's comes to the The forefront if someone can be brought in outside of the process that politicizes that process and um That scares candidates off Right, right. Did I say him I've never I have to tell you I I I don't outside of um outside of um you know couple cities that have Planned e forms of government That are highly political Um, I've I've never seen I don't know if I've seen a A community that has gone this route or Holding someone in that hasn't gone through the process or wasn't Brought forward by the screening All right, all right, mr. Hurd I guess what I was trying to say That I think will allay miss. I was trying to explain a potential Where mrs. Mahan's suggestion could come into play I don't think we should put it in writing anyway. It does I think we should end the discussion and that's it It's just we understand that that Is a possibility and I'm it's a possibility in any Town that's governed by a select board and any candidate applying should know that it's not it's It can happen, but it is unlikely to happen But we we're not going to put it down as part of our policy It it's just that can happen in any city or towns a search committee proffers Three candidates and three select board members.  I mean, I think That's a risk that any candidate's going to have to take I understand it's a competitive market. I think we put together a good package I think this is a great town to be a town manager of so I do Anticipate that will attract some talent So, I mean, I'm not worried about that. I think we will find a qualified town manager But um, yeah, I don't I'm not Advocating to put it in writing anywhere that we are Anticipating doing that and if someone sees the meeting they see the meeting, but so Show it in sweet totally agree with what mr. Hart said And with all due respect, this is the select boards um Process that we're overseeing That we're choosing um for transparency and to continue with what we've done before to have a screening committee We've never put it in writing. Um, I can tell you the four um Not counting the current town managers, but the four times I've gone through the process We've gotten that that's sort of been a tacit agreement or caveat And we've never had a problem of attracting if you want to Consult our human resources director Karen Malloy the next time you talk to her and ask her what the previous searches were like um We always had anywhere from 20 to 40 20 to 30 plus candidates in the initial round So as I said Arlington, uh, if you really look throughout the Commonwealth um Even with some cities Arlington definitely is for a town manager Uh, very well sought after uh position Because of the position that the town is in because of the select board because of the department heads because of the school so um If you I guess we're not asking for that to be codified or put in writing We're just going to continue with the past practice and I I think we should move on from there. Thank you Mr. Helmets How many candidates are we going to ask the the screening committee to do Put forth has that been on the on the table? Is that something we need to decide? I recommend that you ask for three to four candidates. I'm sorry. Can you say again, mr. Lynch? Three to four candidates three to four. Okay I mean if I could just just by way of clarification. I know this is going back a little bit, uh, you know, I think it's I'm not sure how how and I'm just Providing this information so that there's a full understanding of Um, my experience in this area, you know, I I've I've been in municipal government here in Massachusetts 40 years I'm I'm well aware of the the managers Positions throughout the Commonwealth and we've we've now done 90 searches over the last five years six years And so we come in with some some experience quite a bit of experience in this area So I just I just want people to understand where we're we're where I'm coming from where we're coming from when we provide you with this information Thank you, mr. Lynch Okay, well, I think we're out of consensus on seven You know and and I think We're out of consensus being that we'll have being a member of the school committee or the superintendent and someone from town staff, you know and then the five of us put up and Members for the section committee and then we can determine who it is of us That are on it. Um, mr. Mr. Herd Um, I don't know if my colleagues are ready for this, but uh, I'll make a motion to establish a search committee of seven people one The superintendent or a designee one town employee in one person each As suggested by each member of the select board with the understanding that no more than two can serve Mr. Mr. Corsi, yeah, thank you. Mr. Just a point of clarification. Mr. Herd, you mentioned search committee. I think we're Going to call a screening committee. So with that screening committee, okay So amended thank you And that second is by miss mahan any other questions and comments I just we didn't really determine how we would select the second spot, but I'm fine fine with the motion But I just I don't know if that needs to be discussed tonight or decided What's this? Sorry. What's the second? Who will choose the second spot? the town employee So I think at our next meeting when we proffer candidates will all come in and say This is the town employee that we think is would be too fast and Givens each other Yeah Yeah, this was her. I mean, that's a that's a good idea. I mean it was um I didn't go that next step because I just didn't want to presume What we would determine how we would You know, I'll vote on that. Okay, but that's a good first idea and it's probably very likely what will happen You know, so all right So Any other questions Mr. Chair Just just because my brain i'm not functioning at 100 did we already vote on The motion that I made and mr. Helmets seconded Of the january 13th I I don't remember doing that. So if that's the case, do you have it down? As chair that on this agenda item five we have two separate votes The initial vote by myself and seconded by mr. Herd and then the second vote Regarding the screening committee made by mr. Herd and seconded by me So we have two votes to take right or did I fall asleep and we already took the first one I'm not recalling. Um, miss mark. So we have to take we we did take the first vote. We did. Okay, then we're all set. Sorry I think Yes And so So then on this this second right now we have a motion by mr. Herd I mean and you seconded it mr. Mr. Hahn Yes, thank you, mr. Chair. All right I mean, so I think we're ready for the vote All right, mr. Heim Mr. Herd. Yes, mr. DeCoursey. Yes, mr. Helmets. Yes, this is mohan. Yes. Thank you mr. Diggins Yes Thank you, you know, so On to the consent agenda, you know, so we have the Actually, mr. Lynch and miss flaherty. Thank you very much. I mean, I appreciate all your work on this mean I mean very happy with the position statement and it's been a pleasure so far working with you and I'm sure In you to be We'll touch base soon. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you to the board and we'll get we'll get moving Getting this out on the street. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Thank you. Take care. Good night You know, so now on to the consent agenda, you know, I'm number six minutes of meeting Minutes of the meetings mean of the november 7 2022 meeting and the number 21st 2022 meeting and Number seven a request a special one day bearing wine license for the 7th 10th 2022 at the arms and center for the arts private event But Was um jane bier and so can I get a motion move approval? I'm motioned by mr. Herron second and second by Mr. Helmets. Um, mr. Heim Oh, I have one question. I'm sorry. Is it behind? I'm sorry, mr. Chair. I just have one question on the Consent agenda number seven Just because I I never recall seeing this but on page five of the application And this is for a gathering of approximately 30 people I just never seen this before and I don't know if we can just let it go the way it is tighten it up a little or whatever But it where it says how will the excess alcohol beverages be disposed of traditionally in the past? Whatever wholesaler or company brings it in Takes it back But where it says any leftover alcohol will be distributed to the guests and small amounts and transported in the trunk of their car We've never Done that before approved that Is it too late to I mean what I would think is the person who's going to be the tip server And I can't anticipate for a party of 30 that there'd be a lot left So I guess my question would be through you mr. Chair either to town council um I mean at the very least I'd like it to say If if we are allowing them to dispense it in small amounts to their guests and to be transported in a trunk that it says It will be secured or something like that or um I don't know if town council or anyone can give me any guidance on me. Am I overthinking this? I was actually just wondering how they are going to enforce that they put it in the trunk of their car What if they have an scv? I'm a sign Thank you, mr. Chair. I think the board can place a reasonable condition on it if you want to say that You know alcohol shall be Secured in a more specific way I think you could think you could also say that you know you'll limit it to two drinks or three Or whatever you want if you want to be more specific I think you can grant it with you know Conditions that you're making on it if they as long as they're reasonable You can also direct them just to take it with them And not distribute it to guests if that's what you'd like to do Yeah, I mean then hey Looks like a potty favor, but can um, I don't know how my colleagues feel about this But I'd like it to if if we approve this and just say that um for the the Any leftover alcohol will be secured by the tips server Sara buyer who also will not be drinking at the event And transported by her Or am I just overthinking this should we just let that I think it's good catch So can we do that yet? Can I can I do that maternity? I can I just say for how and when uh leftover alcohol will be secured and transported by Ms. Sara buyer Period Is that okay? Okay, okay with that change. So thank you. I'm all set. Thank you, mr. Chair And I I had noticed that and for some reason I thought maybe I had seen it Or or that I knew that it was a possibility I mean so my question to you is mahan is is the fact that uh officer rato Sign off on it. Does that mean that it is legal for that to be done And we're simply expressing a preference that it not be done No, we're the we're the entity that gives the approval for alcohol at this town owned facility And we take the recommendations anyone can correct me on this if I'm stating incorrectly, but um The final vote is ours I'm seeing nodding yeses to my left, but I think I mean I think Where mrs. Mahan is getting at is that we're responsible for how alcohol is distributed And a bartender has to be tip certified. They have to Make sure that somebody's not intoxicated when they give them alcohol So if you hand somebody alcohol and they walk off Not into the trunk of their car and into, you know Woodmore park or something and consume it. It just it seems very Kind of wishy-washy on our part Say all right. Yeah, you know whatever's left over just hand it out and have a party in the streets Not that I'm saying that this is what these Applicants are going to do but I think as a policy we should Say anyone any alcohol left over should be secured and removed by whoever the tip certified bartender is I'm fine with that, you know, so All right, you know, so so Sorry to the party goers that won't be walking away with the excess alcohol new potty favor look at time Go ahead Sorry, all right. Thank you This is yesterday Mr. Diggins, shall I take the world? Mr. Herring. Yes, mr. Corsi. Yes, mr. Helman. Yes, this is mahan also known as the Grinch. Yes Mr. Diggins. Yes It's unanimous vote all right, thank you very much And now on to The next item Appointments need so an appointment to the commission for arts and culture We have Nicole cuff and I see Nicole is in as a panelist. Hi, Nicole. Hi Thank you very much me for your willingness to be on the Commission on the commission for arts and culture. You want to tell us a little bit about yourself? Yeah, thanks so much for having me today So I'm an acoustician I'm an educator an artist and a community volunteer In terms of my work as an acoustician I designed spaces to make sure that users have excellent speech intelligibility As well as excellent musical acoustics I'm the k-12 market leader at my company Which means that I work closely with our marketing department to communicate our branding and k-12 message to clients And I'm the base of public and independent school work at my firm In terms of being an educator I teach acoustics at roger williams university in the architecture school and I've done that for the past three years I'm an artist and i'm involved in community groups with other artists in the boston area And I regularly support other friends performance citizen recording media I have a history of community volunteering with little brothers friends of the elderly boston cares and windgate I would love to have the opportunity to serve arlington and promote the acac mission and strengthen my town I think of beloved small local performance spaces like johnny d's and riles and tt the bears that close pre-pandemic And I think about how the acac Can provide even more performance opportunities for local artists to help make up for these venues closing We can help strengthen the local community music community in arlington I see more local performance opportunities coming up in areas farther outside the city like wo wo wakefield stoten and melrose And i'd like to be a positive agent for change to bring more performance opportunities to arlington Thank you Thank you, miss. I mean, so um, I turn to my colleagues Mr. Herd Yep, I will not approval and just say thank you for your willingness to serve I feel like we say this often but not at Every meeting we've always taken aback by the quality of candidates that we have to serve on our local committees and how in spot-on experience Uh, the members of these communities are so thank you again for stepping up to serve I'm uh, I see mr. Helman and this is of course, but I saw mr. Corsi first So mr. Corsi thank you, mr. Chair. I'll second mr. Herd's motion and I also want to thank miss cuff and I Was looking at a little bit of your background and and even beyond what you have here I understand that you actually performed at symphony hall and you were the uh, Director of your the cordial yours a cappella group at boss university. So it's always nice to have a fellow terrier Here as well. So thank you Mr. Mr. Helmets, I'm good. Thank you. All right and um, so um, so yes, yes me, you know impressive being and and the acac is just a really great organization You you I think you know where you're getting into And and I mean that in The most positive way, you know, so look forward to your contribution and and and um, and then Maybe someday we'll figure out how to put Haiku to song Haiku so Uh, motion by mr. Herd and it's taken by mr. Corsi mr. Haim Mr. Herd. Yes, mr. Corsi. Yes, mr. Helman. Yes, this is mahan. Yes, mr. Diggins Yes, thank you very much Thank you so much And next we have um an appointment to the clean energy future committee by Amos meeks, you know So I see amos is in you know, mr. Meeks. Want to tell us something about yourself? Hello, uh, sure So professionally my background is in material science and applied physics. Um, I finished a phd from harvard in 2021 But in terms of sort of climate and activism I've been pretty involved with things since high school Most recently and in particular in arlington. I was I joined sustainable arlington in 2016. I was co-chair for about two years Involved in a number of efforts there Including I think more recently in 2020 I was part of a group sort of spearheading an effort to pass a homeworld petition Asking the state legislator to let us Sort of create a bylaw that would prevent the addition of new fossil fuel infrastructure in new construction That passed town meeting pretty overwhelmingly and has since gone on to sort of inform the current 10 town sort of pilot program that the state Has put together that we are trying to participate in So i'm excited to Join the cefc. I've sort of been involved and in collaboration with them in my work with stand for arlington I think they've done Tremendous work and and I think there's a lot more to do There's a lot coming up with sort of the new stretch energy code That's been created And that then ties into also this fossil fuel infrastructure And then continuing to go on to to promote electrification and make arlington as sort of Green and low carbon as possible to get to our sort of net zero goals So thank you very much for for the consideration and i'm looking forward to Getting to serve Mr. Helman Thank you. I'd like to move approval and as the select board member who's fortunate to currently represent the board on the cefc I I know that you will find it to be just an absolutely terrific group Led by our very capable town staff member and volunteers who have a tremendous wealth of knowledge Looking at your resume. Dr. Meeks. I think that you are about to add to that considerably and we are very fortunate for you to step up Thank you Thank you. I'm looking for a second Second Any comments questions? All right. Well, um, dr. Meeks and uh It's first time i've seen an entry for a rizia Subway's resume To the law conscious i've been to one of those you know back in maybe like the early 90s good to see There i guess still going at least until 2017 it uh, so I expect nothing but the best from you It uh, because we hear your town meeting member from precinct three Precinct city delivers and i expect you to keep delivering me. So so um, so thank you very much mean and so on uh motion being um by by um Mr Helm is there a second by mr. Corsi mr Mr. Heinlein mr. Herd. Yes, mr. Corsi. Yes, mr. Helman. Yes, this is mahan. Yes, mr. Diggs Yes, unanimous vote Thank you. Thank you very much So we now move to the forum Except in unusual circumstances any matter presented for consideration of the board shall be so neither be active on nor a decision made The night of the presentation in accordance with the policy on the wish to over form was established This should be noted that there is a three-minute time limit to a presentation to present a concern or request And so do we have anyone? Yes, there's one hand raised at this time I'm going to promote them now Great. Thank you Mr. Lapsik I see your audio is coming on And let me just make sure to have a clock and turn it over to the gallery view So you don't give me a clock I can give you one. Yep. Hold on a second All right, mr. Lapsik Hi Beth Milovchuk Russell Street Town Meeting Member I just wanted to Acknowledge and thank the great effort that the town has made Concerning curating the tree canopy. I was happy to read the announcements this past week on all of the efforts I know I know because of my work Paying attention to the tree committee that they put a great deal of effort volunteers there did in watering during the Extreme heat that we had this summer and I know how difficult it is to maintain the newly planted Particularly bare root saplings to get them to survive So I just want to thank everyone on the tree committee and dpw and on your committee who support the efforts of these committees in curating and protecting and Increasing our tree canopy. It's very much appreciated I did send you a letter which I noticed in the uh, correspondence received I appreciate that that it was posted and I would just like to Encourage the select board to consider As a potential perhaps warrant article that some committee could bring up that Any and when any town land is going to be repurposed That a protocol be established or requirement be established That a tree inventory and an environmental impact statement must be done prior to a consideration of repurposing So prior to any Project progressing that that first be established So that the interests of the community the interests of arlington Needing its tree canopy for public health and defense in extreme heat and climate change Be fully represented. So mr. Chairman. Thank you for this opportunity to speak during open forum It's been a long evening. We have a lot of work and I um, I'll end there and uh, thank you very much Have a night Anyone else miss mark? No, that was it at this time Great. Thank you. Yeah, so moving on the item number 10 election review 2022 and election preview 2023. This brazil All right, so it's fun to be here in person. Um I'm going to Just touch on a few things since the Memo is fairly detailed. I just want to call out a few things We had three elections in 2022 Things went very smoothly Even including rolling out for september and november the new electronic Voter list the pull pad check-in to the souped-up ipad and printer And so that was a lot of fun and I think a great success. I've got a lot of election workers Saying they'll work full day shifts now that the ending the end of the night isn't quite so horrifying Counting manually the paper list. So I take that as a huge win to keep some of our most experienced people Working the elections So, you know each election has its story in And if sort of if you look at the numbers presented in the memo, um the town election Did have um, you know lower turnout than we like to see it Was not helped by the state Not authorizing vote by mail. So it was only absentee which is a very restrictive restriction So that certainly didn't help our numbers In september of just the confusion I think all of the september primaries suffer from the fact that when you get the postcard from the state in july It's very difficult for you to visualize that you're going to be on vacation the last two weeks of august Which is when i'm going to be mailing you your ballot So that creates a lot of confusion and and so It's difficult for voters to navigate. I'm hoping we all get into a vote by rhythm vote by mail rhythm over the next few elections And that improves And then, you know, november had higher higher turnout than i think the secretary was Predicting things went very smoothly in arlington And i was also really excited to see how much How well vote by mail worked High participation and a high return rate We do track how many ballots we mailed, but we also track how many we get back That we mailed and getting back, you know Most of the ballots that we mailed Was great only 12 percent were not returned. Um, and that's a really great statistic It was 30 percent in september. Um, and that's, you know, feels a little more wasteful So I was very excited. Um, and then the last thing is if you look At the chart the right hand side The percentages sort of for each election add up to 100 and what you see is that it's about a 50 50 split Uh in person and by mail and we'll be keeping an eye on that But that's sort of an interesting statistic and it shows that people really do like Voting by mail and it's a great alternative to be able to offer So looking ahead to 2023 There are several things that i'll be coming back in January and february to ask the select board to vote on um Tonight, I would like to just confirm the date of the town election in april I know the default date in the bylaw is always the first saturday Um, the board has the right to change that. Um, I don't see a reason Why you wouldn't want to change it, but I suppose I'd like To hear that from the board as well Um So that we can all sort of agree on the date of the election and I can move forward The uh, we have uh, we'll have two members of the select board On the ballot three school committee one town clerk and one member of the board of assessors I've started the process now of looking at uh vacancies on town meeting. Um, of course, we don't really know open seats on town meeting until We get past the deadline for current town meeting members to uh Re up But we do have a few seats available and so I'll be getting information out to the public about How to run for town meeting so we can encourage people to jump in and do that State law requires now that we offer vote by mail unless the select board votes to opt out Although it is optional. I strongly believe that we should do A postcard mailing to every registered voter. So I am planning to do that So I'm planning to do that in late January, uh, so that's sort of how long you all would have Were you to decide that you wanted to vote to opt out? State law allows us to opt in to Early voting in person for local elections now And I am planning to offer that at least on a limited scale. You may remember That the election modernization committee recommended to town meeting which approved it a plan to do Three days of early voting prior to a Local election our town elections. Um, my current vision is it would be Wednesday saturday Wednesday and then the saturday election so that that's kind of easy to stick in people's heads and we get as close To the election as we can before we need to stop and actually Get ready for the election And I I think it's important and the reason for doing the postcard mailing and offering in person early voting is so that As much as possible all elections are conducted exactly the same way the dates and deadlines will vary based on Which election it is but I want voters to sort of Get that rhythm and that understanding about how they best cannot exercise Their choices and their options for how to vote And then the final vote. I'll ask you to take will be to specifically authorize The dates for early voting and the police details Those are all Things that you'll have to do So that's you know, sort of my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have about elections Um Sorry, if I was confused, um Are you looking for any of these motions tonight? No, I mean, I mean, I'd be happy to move that we set The date for annual town election April 1st 2023. Sure. I think we do have that as a placeholder on the agenda. So you have a place to discuss it Yep, I won't leave until we finish that agenda. I don't Well, I retract my motion Anyone else? Mrs. Mahai Was that a motion to receive mr. Herd sir I second motion to receive Okay, I'll second mr. Herd's motion to receive and I just have one question And through you mr. Chair um And it could be that the state laws changed and I haven't paid attention but traditionally in the past when we Because um went around to some of the polls not all of the polls saw new workers. So thank you Much appreciated. I know how difficult that job is Um to fill Just about all of them don't do it for the money. So yep, they do it for the civic engagement and participation But I had it in my head that whenever we have new election workers The names are forwarded to the select board And we has that been because I don't I don't recall seeing them for like a year or two now And I know we've had new people as the state law changed Are we behind do we need to do that and play catch up? Both are true I am behind in doing that and state law has made it Much more clear that when you get to within a few weeks of the election The town clerk just needs to get it done But I do I do want to come back and have everyone formally appointed and and I Discussed with no if you could in my head for some reasons. I'm thinking it's been like two years Maybe three. Yep. So absolutely. I don't want someone to say yes We have that latitude because an election is coming up and they say well, it hasn't been three. It's been three years Absolutely. So we'll get up on that. Okay. Thank you. That's all. Thank you, mr. And I apologize. No, it's a very good question. I thought it sooner. Yep. Okay. Thank you Thank you. Thank you madam clerk for your patience waiting tonight and for your work through these as you say Each election has a story and each of these did And you know hats off to you and to your team For these going well, you've had a lot flying at you. Things have been changing on the ground And your adaptation to that has been exemplary and served the the Residents of the town really well just one question. How are we doing with People who are returning to ballots by mail with respect to technical errors like failing to sign the envelope and You know it can give us an idea of how often that's happening And is there an opportunity if those are flagged for do you reach out to voters for them to Remedy that kind of how does that work? What's ours? Yes as much as possible You know sort of in the early going we we definitely contact them Mail them a second ballot with a rejection letter and explain You know what they did wrong and what they need to do to fix it As you get closer to the election that becomes less and less practical In which case we get we get a lot of calls and track my ballot is updated daily And that helps people Understand they can tell you know, why was my ballot rejected? What are my options and then at that point, you know, they were usually in the middle of early voting And and then of course, you know, they can always vote on election day So we work with voters There's there's always some it wasn't a particularly high number in this election. I think people are Are getting better. Thank you. Yep Mr. Corsi thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you, mr. Brazil for the The the report here. It's very interesting in terms of Seeing the trends and just one question on and I'm happy to see That the percentage went down dramatically between the primary and the general election from 30 percent to 12 percent for ballots or people that requested ballots and and They weren't returned just wondering If you have it and this is more for the september primary, maybe Of the 30 percent, do you know what percent of those people actually showed up to vote? Or was it that's because it's about 2,300 ballots That wouldn't have been returned. Um, and I don't know if you have that information. I can ask you for it after the meeting Yeah, I'm not I'll have to figure out if there's a way to get that information out of the database. It's not an obvious Or that it's not a standard report, but there may be a sort of a back-end way to look at that I do think in september the a lot of the non-returned ballots just didn't get to the voters Is my best guess. Um, I think there's a lot of confusion with mail forwarding in august there's a lot of I think there were a lot of days where The regular mail carrier is not there and it takes longer You know they're on vacation as well So, I mean, I just think late august is an awkward time in general to be voting in by mail And I think that's really sure what we learned great. Thank you. Sure Thank you. Um, this brazil You said something earlier about how There was something about the process being that Made the election workers happy with the way the evening ended and what was that? So the the old way To end the election night was to take the paper voter list that Where all the names had been crossed off and to manually count And add up the total number of voters And it's very difficult to get that accurate and in a perfect world You want that number of voters checked in to match the number of voters number of ballots you have in the tabulator The poll pads Just it's a click of a button And you run the summary report And then and then you know exactly how many voters were checked in on the poll pad And so it's it's much more efficient and it automatically for a primary does the breakdown by party And so, you know, it increases speed and accuracy At the end of the night, which is a great blessing I just missed what was it that allowed that to be done more easily. Thank you And um, my other question is how many of the ups and downs of how many people Get their ballots return their ballots late like they put their They made their ballots on that day, you know, as opposed to having them end to us by eight o'clock It's not it's not a whole lot. Um And um, it's it's it's kind of screwy the way the state tracks it um So I don't I don't really have Totally good numbers for that. Um, but it isn't There are I mean, yes, it's it's of the val of the ballots, you know, sort of those are the problem is they're rejected rather than Not returned Because they arrived late and so it's sort of a different report And then the The apples and the oranges are are tricky to track But that's a good statistic to try and track over time. So I will add that To the list. Yep No matter whether it's a big enough amount. Well, we want to try and get everyone to vote Of popular you mean and so it's a it's a little bit me It's not our fault that the law is as it is, you know But but to the extent we can, you know, make the effort to educate people better mean so that they Come on, but there's not a huge problem then it doesn't require like a Emergency response for lack of a better phrase So thank you for that, you know, I'm so so so anything that Um, you you need from us tonight. This is kind of like a repeat of what mr. Herd asked me, you know No, other than um for the right election date. Yeah the election date. Um, and that's all I need. Um for elections Okay, great. Great. So, um So on a motion to receive by mr. Herd and a second by mrs. Mahan. Uh, any other questions or concerns? Alrighty, mr. Han Mr. Herd. Yes, mr. Dacorsi. Yes, mr. Helman. Yes, this is the Han Yes, mr. Diggins Yes, it's unanimous vote great, you know, so So, you know, so next on the agenda is the presentation of the clown town clerk study you know, so Um, since yeah, I mean since you're gonna hang around for item 12, we'll just go in order So so we we we see the study being I probably at this point like six weeks ago Uh, it was a good read then it was a good reread, you know This weekend, you know, and so, um, I think we're pretty well versed in it. So maybe something brief and we can entertain Yep, absolutely. I will just touch on Um, just a few things that really sort of stood out for me. So I asked for the study for two sort of broad reasons one is to Sort of I think it's good to evaluate whether we've sort of we in Arlington have The job description for the town clerk right And whether we want to make any changes to how we distribute the job duties And then of course the second question is whether we want to convert the position from elected to appointed Um, so Pages six and twelve have, you know, that very helpful summary of the findings. Um, so I'm certainly not gonna Read them out loud Findings one two and three Speak generally about the complex nature Of a job like mine where all of the duties are spelled out in state law and regulation Um, and it gets interesting that the select board under the current election law has to take so many votes Around elections. That's sort of a trend that that we're seeing in the way. They're writing the election laws now And I will note that I do read sections of state law Nearly daily and I found this statistic in the report fascinating 451 different sections found in 73 Chapters in state law apply to my job So it's it's um, it's a substantial issue Just sort of facing town clerks findings four through six talk a little more about the Comparisons to the communities that they looked at in the study More than two-thirds of the 34 communities studied have appointed clerks And that trend to appointed clerks Has sort of been spreading across the state It is more common in communities of a similar size to Arlington to have an appointed clerk And no community that has converted the position has sought to undo that change later Finding seven eight nine talk a little bit about the best practices that are found sort of In nearly all communities across the state The first two are not currently true in Arlington And I for finding number nine I have now taken over complete management of election workers So now we're on to the findings that are specific to Arlington summarized on page 12 Findings 11 and 12 talk about the challenge of using elections as a performance review It is rare to challenge a sitting clerk Usually, um, you know since 1975 that's happened in Arlington When a clerk retires and then multiple candidates run for the seat um A lot of the work that town clerks do isn't visible To residents and so candidates are talking about things during their campaigns that are fairly abstract To most people Finding 13 through 15 come out of interviews with officials and so they're fairly subjective But obviously specific to Arlington And finding 17 notes two areas that are commonly managed by town clerks um and So you know focusing on the first question of reevaluating the job expectations Arlington has for its clerk I just find the study very um very helpful I am not looking to take on public records requests But I have thought about ways that we might be able to improve the coordination of agendas and some of the open meeting law Requirements it's not in the study specifically, but illustrating similar issues I would like to take a look at conflict of interest law compliance And um committee appointments. I know committee appointments are being looked at in the context of the equity audit and I do think that um better records And a way of sharing them between my office and the appointing authorities could make some improvements Um, and so I'm excited to sort of see the results of the equity audit and continue that conversation um The question about appointing a clerk is really for the select board To start I think Arlington would be better served by having an appointed clerk One who was sort of fully integrated um with town hall A clerk working alone can't really make complex things happen And an elected clerk can choose not to take on specific tasks that are common um to the job descriptions in most towns so um That's just not a good way to run a department or an election So I am recommending tonight that the select board Put forward a warrant article and then town meeting will vote whether to put that question to the voters On a ballot question a year later So that's my presentation. Thank you very much Thank you, Mr. Well, so um turn to my colleagues questions comments Mrs. Mahon Thank you, mr. Chair And thank you madame town clerk for um all this information that you put together along with The Collins group Didn't have it on the first page um Is it in here and if I missed it I apologize I usually pride myself on reading every word I'm just having trouble retaining everything lately um But that'll correct itself I know you said of uh I think you said two-thirds of the Community surveyed have appointed clerks um On the 34 communities 22 of which have appointed clerks that were surveyed somewhere in this report What cities and towns those work? I missed it. What page is that? I think uh, so the statistic is Sorry the finding on page um eight and nine. Yeah, I have that. Yep, and then I think they're the charts the appendix in the back um Breaks out. Okay, so I have to go through with the a yeah, but how do I know which 34 were used? Um, so I think the the last page um Oh, which are this which are the specific municipalities? Um, I'm sure they're listed um You know what you can get that we yeah, it's pages 19 and it's it looks like pages 19 and 20 call out A lot of that. Um, so yeah, but we can I can get you a list of exactly which Communities Yeah I'm well of the third. I mean I see like nine or 10 there, but there were 34 surveyed. So I'm just just curious what they were Um, just in case I want to use them for future comparisons, but then I also noted that um, this report noted that 153 of the 351 communities have um appointed clerks so whereas The 22 of the 34 surveyed have appointed clerks for two thirds The actual number of the total 351 of 153. I'm terrible at math. It's like 32 33 percent And I can be corrected on my math that um Have appointed clerk meaning the remaining Um, which is the larger number. Um Have elected so um I'm I'm not Going to make a motion From myself because I like the appointed clerk It's sort of been something that's uh, I won't say since I started on the board in 1999 But probably about a decade after that it's come up in various forms and um, I'm not saying it's something that shouldn't be considered and Um And am I correct that if you wanted to as town clerk, you could submit the warrant article To go to town meeting or no I mean, I I don't know. Um, I do know the select board has traditionally done. Um, the conversion articles I'm Mr. Chairman I think it's likely that the town clerk could request a warrant article. I was an elected official Um, obviously we've had warrant articles in the past submitted by the town treasurer and other folks who um, are elected Obviously, it would still be a matter that would be before the select board for hearing right So I like that route that we've kind of done before so I'll get back to you on what those under 34, but just just what I have is here from the the carlin center for public management I now see their name. I should have kept that page open the vast majority have um elected town clerks and That's something that I I'm just one person would like to consider on what so I'd be happy to also move receipt of Um, this report from the town clerk in in the uh, college center for public management Thank you Mr. Helby, thank you. I'd happily second the motion for receipt and offer my Appreciation for the report. I think it's really thoughtful Um, I think it makes some compelling points that the job of the clerk has changed a lot It is a lot more complicated with the recent changes the very positive changes in election law Um, I think it is a more professional Lies position than it used to be So I welcome the discussion. I think that we should have it I look forward to listening carefully to people with different points of view on the merits And I think that I you know, I agree with Mrs. Mahan. I think it'll be good to dig into 34 municipalities, you know the commonwealth has 351 municipalities, I believe And they're all really really different. Some of them are really really tiny. Some of them are like boston And So for me the important thing that I will think about is this like board member And I hope that my town meeting colleagues would think about if we have an article Is what's the apples to apples comparison here? You know, what's the best way? What's the best yardstick and I don't know the answer to that The report has has a point of view and I look forward to digging into that and having future discussions with you Others about it. I think this is a really good starting point for that discussion and I think we'll have a good one Thank you so much Is that a hand? Yeah Thank you for the presentation I think the report certainly makes a compelling case and I think this is a Something that's been talked about for More than a few years. So, I mean, I think this will at least Weren't moving it forward to a town meeting to talk about and see what town meeting thinks And then ultimately has to go to the residents. Anyways, so there's been there's plenty of Plot game put discussion before we get to that point but again, I think the The report is compelling To that point but to mrs. Mahan's point there this Connor points to any any point that gets put before us So I look forward to the discussion Thank you. Sorry, mr. Corsi. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Yeah, and I look forward to the discussion as well and I found the report Interesting on a number of the different findings and I think even before we get there I think it would be helpful and this isn't whether the appointed elected question But on the public records access officer That I found very interesting because the majority of other communities the clerks office is the Access officer and in talking to mr. Feeney We received about 600 public records requests per year And he's coordinating all of them and a lot of them he needs to coordinate between different departments, but I I'd like to see in the short term And I'm sure there's dialogue because I know you're talking to different people in town hall just in terms of Is there a way that that can be that that burden on him frankly can be Allocated in and and what's the best way to do it because we get a number of those requests And I think from my understanding unless it's a request that has to do with the clerk's office he's coordinating Those responses and I did find it interesting in the posting Of the meeting agendas. I I think From everything I've heard it seems like committees and Various groups that are posting meetings are doing it on their own.  I don't know if that that's an area that that it probably needs more Coordination maybe as well yes Do you want me to answer briefly mr. Diggins? So yeah, it is it is complex. Um, I certainly understand the reasons why arlington moved to a I'll call it a distributed system where you know staff liaisons Facilitate the posting for the committees that they support And then we do post paper agendas on the bulletin board I'm fairly sure however that arlington took a vote And that the online agenda is the one that counts Um, so the paper the paper's Version that my office, you know facilitates by stamping isn't the official legal version And that's where it starts to just get muddy and that's the muddiness. I dislike and so, um, you know That's part of what I want to look at And you know make sure that we've Got a robust system that um that we understand and that um, I can do everything I can to support Um compliance Okay, thank you and just an aside on Footnote two when you reference the 451 different sections. I think that's going to be a very long footnote But I was happy to see it's it's just a reference of where they're accumulated So Thank you, of course Thank you, mr. Corsi. Yes, I was thinking about the agenda aspect too because When I have to Because the committee said I work on agendas for me usually go through planning always feel badly and asking planning You know to to post the agenda and give me know how busy they are I kind of feel that you know other things that it can do it can do Uh, and not that it's not not that the clerk couldn't do that Also, not horror that the clerk doesn't have other things to do with his or her time Me and I think it would be good if it was just one person that was Responsible for we're doing it all, you know, and so Even if if even if nothing changes would that be something that could be pulled into the clerk's office I mean you could yeah, I mean you could pull anything in. Um, it would be a lot of work if we're including um Right now it's distributed. So there are you know like 12 different people Who are going through all the steps to get it up? um on the website You know sort of the back end for the websites a tad Persnickety, um, so it would be If we were to move it into the clerk's office, I would recommend that we Contemplate different ways of doing it the towns that do it tend to have The official version that's posted on the website is a scan of a document with a date stamp That creates problems having talked with uh, Joan Roman our public information officer with the ADA compliant So this is a extremely messy and complicated problem to solve But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try To look at it and find ways to do it better Which is my goal I mean that technical thing seems the technical aspect though seems like it will be the case regardless of whether It's elected or not. It's really matter. I'm figuring out how to do it I was really just trying to understand if we have the resources now I mean if we didn't change the position to an appointed position Need to to pull that function into the clerk's office and so I'm gonna ask the question again Do we have the resources or we have to get more resources? We might need um, we might need another staff person or You know, I don't know if it'd be a full FTE, but I'm not sure I could do that on top of what we do Now, but until you look at sort of where the efficiencies are That's tough to say And so, um, is there any sense of how much being the appointed clerks are paid? um I don't have that data. I mean there there are um salary surveys that are done and um, I can certainly Get them from the mass town clerk's association With current numbers Do you have a sense? Um, I'm I am underpaid in comparison to appointed clerks. So Okay. All right. All right. All right. Thank you. Um, so we'll look I mean, um I think the report's compelling as Mr. Herd said, you know I look forward to discussion because I really like to see the counterarguments meaning if there's a counterargument that can change How I feel about you know, where this report is headed. I mean, that's going to be a powerful counterargument I'll learn a lot from it, you know, so so, um, yeah Yeah, wow, it's a really eye-opener I mean the only reason my eyes weren't open even more is because I was interviewed one of the people that was interviewed So I got a real sense of like the the issues that we have with the Elected position, you know, man kind of with me. I'm I'm pro-democracy. I'm all about elections. I just really think that we need I mean, there's some some kind of like training or something for candidates, you know So that we kind of like increase the quality of candidates and and I say that as someone, you know Ran for select board and it's like I I could have benefited me from from some some like Kind of training before and or something and so so So, so yeah, I mean so so Yes, this is such an important position to be that I think We need to make sure that we have the highest caliber person in the position to be you know And I think we get that with the point it gets certainly when we look at the people that we appoint to Commissions to be we really make sure that they have qualified for the commission to be and so it's like to make sure that We have a really qualified clerk, you know, so so thank you very much for this, you know, and and we'll be We'll be back I mean to deal with this one way or another Sooner rather than later. Thank you very much So on a motion to receive by miss mahan and a second by mr. Helmets Any other questions and concerns? All righty, um, mr. Mr. Heim Mr. Herd. Yes, mr. Of course. Yes, mr. Helmets. Yes, this is mahan. Yes Mr. Jacobs. Yes Thank you. Sorry keep stepping on you, mr. Um, I you know, uh, so Uh, next on the agenda Is I think it's the vote on the election day or determine the date of the election Yes vote of the 23 23 annual time election. Um, so mr. Heim Uh, mr. Chair, I think that the board's familiar with the process and the legal parameters that the board has any questions I'm happy to answer Mr. Mr. Heim I'd like to motion to set the annual town election for april 1st 2023 Mr. Helmets like in school second All right. So any questions comments? From 8 a.m. To 8 p.m. Yeah In accordance with the bylaw and I second that change clarification All right All righty, so on a motion to set the election date for april 1st from 8 a.m. To We can come in by mr Mr. Herd and a second by mr. Helmets mr. Heim Mr. Herd. Yes, mr. Corsi. Yes, mr. Helmets. Yes, this is mahan. Yes, mr. Jacobs Yes, that's unanimous vote Great great moving right along now to opening a town warrant, you know, so Uh for annual town meeting 2023 mr Mr. Heim thank you, mr. Diggins. You all have my memo. You all have done this Several times in the past a minimum The proposal before you is to open the town warrant this friday December 9th and to have it close the Sorry, why is my computer freezing? The 27th of january all in accordance with the town's bylaw The board will note that the notice of your intent to open the warrant has already been posted in compliance to the bylaw The timing this year was a little funky. So it was posted at Different municipal locations around town isn't on I'd like to move that uh, we In accordance with the law in the five days Preamble to it that we open the warrant on friday december 9 2022 And it shall remain open and close on friday january 27 2023 May I just one thing Would uh, this is mahan be amenable to also just stating that the town meeting will commence this business on april 24th Can I do that in the same vote? Okay, and and that as mr. Attorney hind has stated that town meeting will start the fourth monday in april april 24th 2023 In accordance with the bylaws for start time Mr.  Yes, mr. Of course. Yes, mr. Helmeth. Yes, this is mahan Yes, mr. Diggins Yes, senator spoke Great. Thank you. And so We're right along item 14 discussion increased engagement with darling and tree committee And so that's me. So I had an ordinary conversation with my colleague mr. Helmeth You know who is currently is on to the tree committee being and And um, I mean what I would like to do is first off get And update being on What's been going on with trees since we developed a tree management plan and I I'm impressed with the plan, you know and my understanding is that the goal was to Have a net increase of 100 trees per year In order to try to get us back to the amount the level of tree canopy that we had in maybe like 19 Well, I guess it was like 10 or 15 years before The tree management plan went into effect. It was understanding that we couldn't Me increase our tree canopy as it was like 40 or 50 years ago But we're at least going to try being to get back to where we were like about 20 years ago And and so it'd be interesting to see where we are But more so I mean I'd like for us the town to really have a conversation mean about how we want to deal with The conflict often between trees in and other things mean be they in the veterans memorial park or Um development mean there's only so much we can do mean right now article 16 you know or I forget well, there's a bylaw. I think it's number 16 that handles me what we do with trees In the the set the setback, you know But if someone, you know decides to Cut down a bunch of trees in the backyard. There's really not much we can That's what we really can't do about it. I mean if um developer comes along and wants to Do a development and that involves cutting down some trees while we There's a limit to what we can do I mean, I mean, I think there should be a limit to what we want to do But if we as a community Me really want to see more trees mean then then we can do that You know, we just have to pay for it, you know And and I think it will be good for a community to decide me Well, what is it that we want to do when it comes to maintaining trees or increasing trees and also achieving Our other goals mean so what I am coming to you all to do is to ask the I think permission is not quite the right word but to to to get a sense from you How you feel about me going to the tree committee being and engaging them more on this issue Being and I'm not going to be replacing mr. Helmets On the committee. I would just be interacting with them More and so they would get Two select board members working with them because this is important being and so so that's the purpose of the discussion I'll open it up for questions comments concerns So are you asking us to comment on You Talking to the tree committee Yes Yes, I mean with no action specific action items Correct No, it's more so to well for well one thing I will ask them to do is to And perhaps it would be the tree warden is to give us an update on what has happened Since we Initiated a tree maintenance plan mean so that would be one action that come out of this, you know And beyond that it would just be to have A conversation to understand Is what their approach is what they're thinking is respect to creating. I don't want to say a policy because that's perhaps a strong word but Having Developing a way to have a conversation with the town about how we want to handle Increasing our tree canopy or maintaining it in when we also want to do development. I guess that's a longer conversation Um Yeah, I mean, I think I certainly understand We're coming from um Is recognized for its tree canopy It's urban coverage and It's our immense efforts that we've been doing over the past couple years To increase tree canopy And I think as you said there's limits to things that we can do And I think people recognize that Some more than others So, I mean, I think we are on the right track. I think we do very very very well um Maintaining our current tree canopy and in our efforts to replenish tree canopy So I guess I don't know what I mean If there's more we can do we're open to suggestion, but I don't Have anything specific to add right now Mr. Elvin Thank you. Um, I did this was a good opportunity to reread the tree management plan Which I did in the last few days and then I had a conversation with one of the co-chairs of the The tree committee and you know, it's an excellent document represented. I can't believe it's been five years since that's published But there's a lot of research that went into it In fact, my husband reminded me that he was one of the volunteers that miss burden led on the tree survey that many years ago That was a really great experience And it set some really good context in history for the loss of our industry canopy over the last few decades and the goals to replenish it And one of the things that she and I talked about and I think agreed upon in principle while not representing The board or representing her colleagues on the committee Is is the benefits of updating that plan or providing a supplement or providing a report that would just give the select board in the town A window into the progress and how we're doing and I'm not going to put mr. Pooler on the spot But I would recommend the the latest Time manager updates from acmi news last week where he happened to give some of last year's data about our net positive tree plannings Over over loss and that was encouraging news It said to me that this is already on is a priority for him and he brought it up in the interview It's it's it's very much a priority in the town government. So I was really glad to see that and grateful for that mr. Towne manager I think for me any select board member can talk to any tree committee member at any time I don't know that the action is necessary for that I think that a more useful discussion would be if this board has any Suggested direction to give the tree committee that could be worthy of our consideration either formally or informally Um Such as a request to provide, you know, perhaps after town meetings settles down, you know provide um Is some kind of a written update to that plan just as a report And and I think the final thing I would say is I think what's missing for me in this conversation is the role of our Tree warden who is a town employee As I read the tree committee by-law their role is to support the tree department I don't think that you know, they're not a policy board We are you know, it comes to these decisions. I absolutely welcome and value their expertise, but I tend to view them as supporting of the tree warden principally and I think that for me Any of these conversations really need to start with that professional that we employ To manage the tree department and to implement the tree plan Because I think that the structure of the committee is is such that they support in this case him and his work So those are just my thoughts. I don't know if that's particularly actionable I don't I don't think they've contravened anything that mr. Diggins suggested that we do but that's how I would look about structuring some of this Thank you, Mr. Talbot Anyone else Well as you said mr. Talbot mr. Mr. Chair mr. Chair Yeah, I thought mr. Um, mr. Um, pull his hand. Yes. Thank you So the the tree management plan did call for an increase of 2,000 trees Basically at 100 trees a year net gain Over the last four years We've had a total increase of 590 trees. So Or about 190 ahead of schedule Sometimes you know, we have ups and downs because of weather or micro bursts or so forth, but on in general We have done a good job of planting trees here and in my remarks The other day I also noted that in addition to The trees that are being planted under this plan We've had about 60 trees planted on private land with the help of the tree committee And I don't remember the exact number right off that Top of my head now, but there have been other trees that have been planted through other funds over and above that so I think the town is making great progress We set out a goal for how many new trees we wanted to set out And we are ahead of that goal. So I just wanted to inform you and the public of that. Thank you Great Thank you Well, just one of those cases where I mean I generally do tend to be the permission First rather than you know, I'm asking for forgiveness Me and and so so I mean, I realized that I could talk to anyone Me I really wanted to bring this up so that he's not like well It's just going off on his own doing something that the board might eventually have to like weigh in on Me that wanted to let you know that I wanted to have this conversation and to get some input from you about Maybe directions in which the conversation Could go me so so I guess more so than anything else It's a kind of a courtesy item on the agendas. Oh, so I thank you for Having this little bit of the conversation with me. So we'll move on to the next item, which is discussion of potential vote that refers to the public memorial committee And they also are going to be seeking a new member means so so this comes from Primarily from the article in The previous town meetings weren't being regarding Naming a section of roadway that has no name after one of the Mally Magali Magali Odyssey brothers And and so We voted no action Well, actually while town meeting Voted no action on it being with the understanding that we would Take that to the public memorial committee mean I held back On pushing it forward because I wanted to understand more about the public memorial committee and and and how it How it does what it did what it How it does what it did How it functions, you know, and and so it took a little while for that to happen I finally got had a conversation with the chair mean and and I did see the Their their roles mean I mean they are I think they're pretty good And and so I would at this point like to move forward that Request we also got one and just recently regarding renaming Downey Square mean and also asked For them to maybe weigh in and give us some Ideas about how to potentially memorial memorialize marika pelka So That's where the potential load is mean. So I now turn it over to my colleagues Mr. Halman Thank you, mr. Chair. I first of all I suggest that the Downey Square matter might be better best reserved for the correspondents receive item Since since that's a specific item suggest I think in that's your discretion, of course, mr. Chair One question I have is and I spoke with Ms. Maher about this earlier today I just requested some some clarification I think this committee has been by its very nature incidental in its in its requirements to meet and that's just as it should be But I suggest that we complete our review of the membership in the terms of office I think there's maybe a disconnect between what's published and what's happened in the public record In this case, so I think that in addition to making referrals. I would suggest that That we evaluate the membership to make sure that everyone's up to date and you know, if there are any reappointments or new appointments Needed that would be a useful thing And um, and I had one of the thought I just left my mind. So I guess I'm done I'm sure if it's important it'll come back to me Thanks, that's right. No, no problem. I see I'm seeing some Maybe I'm seeing everyone's hands. I'm certainly seeing mr. Herds. I mean, this is behind I saw this behinds first. So I'll go this one Um, sort of to piggyback on what my colleague mr. Hamlet was saying Again, I'm going by my memory And something could have changed although I was right about the election workers. We haven't seen it in three years, but um Could we it's my memory that and if anyone knows the correct information that can say I'm right or wrong Definitely welcome it I believe with the public memorials committee unless the membership Committee members membership has been changed I seem to have recall in my head that Once members get appointed they stay appointed um I want to say until They resign does anyone remember that about the public Memorial committee and and what I would say is if that's the case if I'm correct that So one of the things I like about reappointments is if there's a new person on the board Or if you're not a new person, but you've been here and you just haven't had a chance in three years to thank that person You know that's sort of an opportunity or if you so I guess what I would Say through you to the chair. I'm pretty sure my memory is corrected I would like to Have the discussion that if my memory is correct That public memorial committee members once they're appointed. They're not reappointed. They stay appointed until I don't want to say ad infinitum. I can't think of a I just remember my point If that's the case that we have a discussion because I'd like to have a comport with other committees Whether it's initially might have to be staggered because everyone would come up at the same time Um, but if it is that you're appointed and you're you're a jet for a jet for the rest of your life, I'd like to All right, so I'm done. Thank you I think I would go to mr. Hyme for him to determine for us. Is that correct? so I Or I see mr. Chair. I actually have that the bylaw here in front of me if that's And It actually calls for three year terms and in similar to other committees The members stay on until their successors are qualified and appointed. So they say they're effectively You remain on the committee until until successors appointed Uh, duly appointed and qualified is actually the term of art there Um, so mr. Helmuth and then I think mr. Hurrick had his hand up. So mr. Helmuth Thank you actually that I hope you remember my last point and that was what I was I wanted to clarify What I was saying that I was actually aware of of the of the bylaw. Mr Of course, he mentioned And just that the terms of office don't necessarily roll over for the full three years It's just that the person stays on unless we do something So both of those things are true But I wanted to communicate as well as that not to suggest that we do anything other than we just check that Because I think if we're reactivating the committee and ask them to do work It would be a good time to come up to date with that even if it's nothing more to do reappoint into thank Mr. Corsi Yeah, thank thank you, mr. Chairman and I I think on on this and I Took the agenda item. I have a couple things to say on the request for a referral At the time we get to that in correspondence received So with the board's indulgence, I'd rather not vote on that referral as part of this Agenda, I'm not going to move it and you know if another member wants to I suppose we can address it now, but I think for this item I think we need to take a look at What the status is of the appointments? But I'd also like to ask Town council has been given an opportunity to do that in advance of the meeting is You'll help us take a look at the language here in terms of You know the charge here is that the committee should be the official source For memorial memorialization and I didn't say that word very well of persons by the town Just in terms of what that means and and what what our role is My understanding and doing a little research on On this bylaw this this was the committee was created in 1984 When Collins corner, which is the London Collins was a Wrote for the advocate and was very active in the community. There was the reddit school or court mass av There was a memorial to him And in the 1984 town meeting this public memorial committee was created And this is my hand would know better over the years But I mean, I know They were active when there was discussion about renaming the football field behind the high school back in 2005 Hasn't been a lot of activity Otherwise, but I I think just to get an understanding as to what the The bylaw or what the their powers are what the status Of the individuals are and in the terms Before we start talking about where we where we go with this because it it just It just seems to me I don't remember ever re-appointing someone in the three and a half years. I've been on The board so I I would guess just about everybody's a holdover And then so be nice just to get that clarified I There is one person that was reappointed in the last year the rest of them are expired Someone okay. Thank you Thank you, Mr. Corsi. Mr. Herrick Well, I guess just a question for attorney heim because it sounds like we're being asked to specifically send a few items to the public memorials commission is The agenda items sufficiently Are we in violation of open meeting line because I didn't actually know what this agenda item was and It doesn't mention the items that were being asked to send along to the public memorials committee So is the end is it to define enough in this agenda for us to make that vote? So the agenda item states just in case folks are Following along referrals to public memorial committee seeking a new member it's clear that Participated for discussion where some kind of referrals to the public memorial committee The specific referrals that issue haven't been enumerated. So It's a little bit on the border. I would say, you know, if the board wants to proceed. There's a good faith Articulation that this is a summary of what you're going to be discussing So I certainly think you can proceed I I don't know it's as clear as I would ideally like it to be in terms of saying referring You know this specific bench or this specific field because the idea in part would be to get the stakeholders necessary to provide Comment on that specific thing. So I suppose I would say I would prefer it to be a little bit more specific But I wouldn't say that it's per se a violation Yeah, I mean, I thought we were discussing a procedure to refer item Things to the public memorials committee rather than specific items I appreciate that. Mr. Hart. Ms. Thomas Thank you. I appreciate that too. I would like to suggest that Perhaps because the rationale has was presented to us in the warrant article hearings by mr. Schlickman That we do refer them on y'all. Let's see way. Let's see boulevard Proposal to the public memorials committee because we already said that we would What we used to agree that we did I think if I'll defer to my colleagues if it would be better to to notice that for next for our next meeting So that it's more clear and attorney hymes is more comfortable with that I think that's fine with me But I I'd like to make that suggestion to my college that we as especially as we head into another cycle of town Meeting I think town meeting could reasonably come back and ask us what happened with that if anybody cares about it I'll second that motion Yeah, what was my motion? Do you want me to make it that? Yeah. Okay. I'd like to move that That we a refer Mr. Schlickman's request And subsequent to that town meetings vote Regarding mag Leo Z way. I'm not going to say it right to the public more public memorials committee to initiate the process with them and then The second pot. I don't think we need a motion which is The chair and town council are going to Gather the information on committee members Years, you know Who was appointed recently who isn't And then when the chair deems that appropriated a future agenda He'll put that on as an agenda item to give us all that information and then have the discussion around that So we can get membership and reappointments back into the the normal course of business So I guess my sole motion would be because we don't need a motion to Ask the chair to do that since he already has indicated he would Would be to just on The mag Leo Z request refer that to the public memorials committee Second So we have a motion Yes Yeah, so I'm sorry. So we have a motion by Mr. Mahan Oh, sorry. He said is that sorry second My second might have been heard, you know So any discussion questions Well, I'll just add to this me. So what I was hearing. Mr. Corsi say though is that he really wanted a better understanding of what the charge of this committee commission is, you know before we means send anything over being and and I think that would be good, you know You know, we can certainly send something over and then and then say wait, you know And and and then we do we're going to find out Do the research mean and then proceed Accordingly, you know, but I thought I thought Mr. Corsi raised some good points and something that I think we should do So if we are to do that, I think it It might be a little more confusing if we send something over right now and then say wait as opposed to Waiting until we get the information that we Will get from our research being and then make an incision Mr. Chair, yeah, I think for this particular request since it started It's coming up on a year ago. I believe what mr. Corsi and I don't mean to speak to him, but I will say I I believe it was it's a different request that's under correspondence received And we'll get to that discussion when we get to it. So I really think we should I just would advocate that we you know, we refer that Either the chair or the acting board administrator can Contact the committee to let them know that it's coming But that there are some housekeeping Membership issues we're going to deal with first Before they get to that and and I agree. Maybe we should hold any other requests That's have come in we have one right now Within the past two weeks But I think we should Have mag leo's in there so that when everything is defined. We're ready to go with that one right away. So But I'll leave it to my colleagues on the vote I appreciate that mr. Corsi Yeah, and then mrs. Mahan is is right My concern is with the the correspondence received on the downing square request and and um So I don't have an issue with the referral at this time On the other matter that came up last year And it's interesting. Thank you. You know, so so I think then at this point We're all set.  Mahan and a second by mr. Herd mr. Hyde Mr. Herd. Yes, mr. Corsi. Yes, mr. Helmets. Yes, this is mahan. Yes. Thank you Yes Great, you know, so We're moving on now to correspond this received, you know So we have our island and climate resiliency resources tells held by death malachek in a proposal to rename downy square by bori smith and receive Both online 88 compliance of the strategy and training plan by gentle roman public information officer Mr. Corsi. Yeah, I I Mr. Chair, I'd like to move receipt Of the various pieces of correspondence, but I'd like to speak To number 17 specifically if I could Yes, please. Okay. Um, so there was a request here for referral I I cannot support a referral of this matter to the public memorial committee and and um The reason why is In looking at the letter and there was a reference made to downy square Downing memorial square was dedicated on may 5th 1946 So 500 people who attended the dedication Of two brothers both of whom died during world war two James francis downing died on september 10th 1943 in plane crash in california while in the service He attended west point He attended mit and and was in california serving our country. His brother cornelius Died in combat on november 20th 1944 in italy At the ceremony were two other downing brothers both of whom were in the service Cornelius downing who was a master sergeant killed in action Had a widow who um, they'd had to be I believe it was a baby boy. He never saw his child Because he was serving our country That Memorial is still there um We honor our veterans. We honor the service of the downing family. They were They lived at nine blossom street down the street from downing square I I can't support any change or even any discussion of changing The name there and and what I'd like to do is a couple news articles one from the advocate One from arlington news, which is a newspaper back in the time that described The service that they gave to our country And the speakers who included one of our our congressperson at the time Edith north norce rogers who attended The ceremony i'd like to make that part of the record of this meeting. Um, but um, I'd move receipt But I can't do anything further with it It's not I'd like to second it and Also say thank you. I I agree on on on the downing square This board nor the public memorial committee has never first of all the issue of renaming something Changing from down square. I wouldn't even entertain at all But to stop making a practice about businesses I know there were representations in the letter Um regarding A gratitude by the letter writer and perhaps a second, but um, but I'd like to Do is also not refer agenda item 17 to the public memorial committee and if I'm not saying the chair has to do this and or if the Person who submitted the request reaches out to you traditionally it's been the chamber of commerce That recognizes businesses Here in allington That's something in comport. Uh, that's Something that they traditionally do um in the town hasn't done so I grew it mr. Decorsi for all the points that he stated far more eloquently than I did and um, I did have something on a question on agenda item 16 And I'm going to look to my right. I don't know if my colleagues If I monopolize the time on 17, if not, I would ask If um on 17 the correspondence from a public information officer regarding a da compliance, which um I'm extremely pleased To see that in there and I understand From the reading of it that All employees Staff I can't remember or they used that post to the website a will receive training um if the town manager could in the next Whatever amount of weeks because it sounds like this isn't happening like next week or anything like that or maybe it is If um, you could just provide the board with information regarding um Unless you can answer it tonight. Is it literally every employee that posts? Is it every department head of a? Of an office that posts Mr. Chair if I may So, uh, Joan Roman our public information officer has a working group of People who do post so they're within every office. There's probably one or two people who have the skill to do it Not everybody does I for example have no idea how to post something. So Um, there are certain staff throughout town hall and other department