All right, so I'm going to call the meeting to order of the select board at 6 31 p.m. On February 12th 2018 First thing we start with opening remarks announcements and agenda reviews or anything on the agenda that anyone needs to Comment on or change or add to it? Delete from it, etc If not, then I think we'll start with public comment is anyone here for public comment not related to a agenda item If so, please come forward We'll just while you're coming up. We'll Do what we usually do which is we'll listen to you carefully. We'll generally not react or offer any comment or or Commentary at that time, but we'll take what you have to say under advisement So please just identify yourself with the microphone and my name is Bill L. Sasser. I live in the Antwerl and I Am now a bit frightened walking further than Xana Toward the University on the main drag Archipelago statements not withstanding and I would like to propose a Bridge of flowers Analog down in that area which might mitigate the awfulness of it Arguably there is some awfulness there And I I don't know if I could afford to provide a solenoid for such a Community movement perhaps elderly retired people working together to implement some lush non S Some lush aesthetic as opposed to the grayness of the building That that's all I have to say Thank you No one else anyone else here for public comment related to some if you're wanting to speak to something is on the agenda We'll get to you when we get to that agenda item. So if you're Here for just a general public comment now would be the time But if not, we'll wait till we get to that point in the agenda and That's the case okay, so we'll move right into our our action discussion items first up is the second quarter budget update and we have Ms. Aldrich here, and we have a memo in our packet related to that so Like to come forward this is going to be really quick tonight I've had a few comments lately about oh you're not going to read that whole letter And I'm not going to read the whole letter This letter will be this some report will be posted on that Is posted on the accounting website so anybody that wants to go and read? We're rat at the second quarter It's there for anybody has any problems getting to it. They can call the accounting office So second on the second quarter. There's really nothing Different from any of the other second quarters. We've done over the last ten years So I'm not going to bother reading through the whole thing. I'm just going to point out a few of the highlights that stuck out for me I Wanted to mention that Jerry Hill is up 15% from last year at this time However, it does continue to be less than they were historically On the revenue side talking here the fines and for fits are higher than usual and that's due to Large zoning violation penalty that was penalty and interest that was paid recently Penalties and interest jumping that's the presidential payment. I didn't know if I should say that why ever not Penalties and interest are up a Bit they're up 55% this year from FY 16 I mean from FY 17 and they were up 55 percent from FY 16 And we're just watching this to see what the new trend is here on the expenditure side The salary we have a salary reserve in there for some of them you on contractual Agreements that aren't settled yet So that tends to skew the percentages and departmental budgets because this is all budgeted in the employee benefits section of the budget Until those are settled and then we move the funds it in at the annual town meeting the only other things that stick out or We'll probably going to the finance committee for reserve transfer For the fire department boiler the North Amherst fire department boiler that went down That was approximately 62,000. I don't have a total cost yet For that and then there's snow and ice. We don't know where we're going to end up with snow and ice this year It seems to be another year like last year where we have a lot of nuisance storms They still have to go out in the sand and stuff and the other big Section that is concerning is employee benefits. This is where we pay our all of our employee benefits including retirement This is also where the appropriations are for health insurance We had budgeted for the first increase at 10% to the PPOs, but we did not budget for the second and third increases and It's our hope that we can raise that we can Pay this deficit with savings in the operating budget. We're aggressively working with department heads to Stop any discretionary spending and trying to control it so that we can And that's it I told you I was quick any questions This is number. I guess I just had one and that was in the hotel motel tax Which is running at sixty one point nine percent? And a year-to-date basis and I was wondering if those come in evenly per month and or if there's some other explanation Or we actually running ahead this year They come in on Monthly they're not they're not in the same amount every month. It's whatever the usage is for that This is through November For hotel motel So if it's through November, that's five months So we actually are exceeding estimate on that one, right? You're talking a hotel motel Motel, okay. I got the UMass payment in lieu of in my head. Yes. It's only through November And does the UMass show in that line or does it show in? the Revenues for the UMass hotel. It's a payment in lieu It's not a pilot, but it's just a payment. That's under Non-recurring revenue, so it's in a different line item completely Thank you, it would be helpful in future if under miscellaneous non-recurring It's fine if it's just in the text if you could break out which part of that's the UMass part and which part of it's the Amherst College Part that would be great in terms of the non-recurring just because it shows a total But I don't know what that represents. Okay That can be done. Thanks Other questions or comments regarding? Thank you. I did actually have one other quick one You mentioned the boiler and we've certainly talked about the boiler before but where will that fit under? Where will that what category will that end up in when you end up writing this report in the future? It's in public safety. It's under. It's in the fire department budget under new equipment In building maintenance, so that's where it'll be Great. Thank you. Just to follow on that Would there be or have you considered using any ambulance funds? ambulance funds reserve for whatever I forget the name of the fund but any ambulance reserve funds for Mitigating or reducing that cost of it being out of the general fund. It's or I'm not sure that's possible because it really doesn't have to do with the medical side. I know it's heating the Building that holds the ambulances and stuff, but I'm not sure Checking to that all no more. Yeah a lot of little expense I just was thinking maybe some portion because you know, obviously it's a fire operation and but that's an integral part I didn't know whether not to yeah We normally use the ambulance funds just for the ambulance or medical equipment for the ambulances or in payroll We don't know So I do note in that line at a meeting I was had recently that the fire chief Nelson did make the comment that There is a heating requirement in order to Maintain medical supplies at the adequate temperature that is required Checking to it right fantastic any other questions or comments? Thank you very much so I'm going to Alter the agenda a little bit I was it was pointed out to me that we have a we have a chapter 61 a notice of intent to withdraw a Parcel from a from a section of chapter 61 a land and it's just relatively small item And we have someone here that is here for that purpose. So I think we'll skip ahead barring a any comment from my colleagues to just to Item for e which is chapter 61 a notice of intent to withdraw and I think in our circumstances Generally, we have a right of first refusal with mr. Zomek if you could kind of walk us through this particular Peace Excuse me. I'm just gonna get this much later. So it's not thank you very much Dave's on my assistant town manager I'm actually joined the owner of the property in question is here behind me tonight His Edelman is here. So if there are any specific questions that the board may have I'm sure she could answer Perhaps more specific questions than I can this is a somewhat unusual situation For us and I realized that we're asking the board to move a little more quickly than is is your practice In short before you on the screen and for those folks at home there is a the property in question is here and The sliver of land that we're talking about which is in chapter 61 a Is three tenths of an acre it is right here. It is a tiny sliver of land that Ms. Edelman needs because Her well for her house Was actually determined to be on that property so she needs to add that small sliver of land from property owned by coals to her property so that she can eventually sell her property and Although the planning board and the conservation commission typically weigh in on these I realized before they reach you I think given that there was a impending closing On the property we we were doing everything we could to try to move this process along fairly quickly I have been in direct contact with Christine Breastrup She is very confident that the Planning board Would not recommend to you that the town exercise our right of first refusal on point zero three acres of land Nor would I can say with with some certainty that we would not be interested in this parcel for conservation purposes so I did check in with town council Sharon Everett and there is nothing legally that prohibits you From doing one of two things either voting to not exercise your right of first refusal this evening or voting One option another option will be to vote to not exercise your right of first refusal pending Vote from the planning board in the conservation commission I Think given the circumstances I feel very confident that the planning board Nor the conservation commission would recommend to you to exercise The towns right of first refusal on this tiny sliver of land So I'm happy to give way to the owner of the property if you have more specific questions And I hope I covered that well Does this look we're having any questions Relative to this yeah, yeah, I'm you know, Mr. Zomick went with a third option be to Not that I'm Suggesting it but just to make sure we get all the options on the table to approve its subject to the approval of the planning board and conservation commission as opposed to negative I Might have said that wrong. I think that was what I was trying to say My only concern there is that and perhaps the owner could speak more to this than I can but I Know they have a closing date coming up the conservation commission will take this up Wednesday night the 14th But the planning board due to some scheduling challenges last week with the snowstorm and whatnot It may be a few weeks before they can get this on the agenda again. So I don't know if Microphone and just identify yourself the mic so that folks at home know who you are Deborah Edelman, thank you, and I'm I don't feel this famous except when the Patriots are playing My closing is February 20th and it was already extended it was supposed to be January 31st Yeah, any other questions or comments as Brewer So recognizing both that deadline and the fact that We need enough time to make these decisions That's why these come to us with a certain timeframe on them and we're trying to make it shorter already And so I'm a little frustrated that we're being told that It's not fast enough when we're actually trying to do it faster than normal And this is not the first property owner who has who has worked with us and been frustrated by the timeliness of the Process, but I can also appreciate that in this particular Circumstance the planning board had that weather issue and would have done it last week. It's still cutting it close For the 20th because our clothes your closing date is not our problem But in terms of us, you know doing our due diligence, etc. From what mr. Zomek has reported Not in the mood to fight about it There's not further comment I would entertain a motion Okay, I moved to Not exercise the town's first Right of first refusal the right of refusal option in accordance with mass general law chapter 61 a section 14 to purchase three tenths of an acre owned by WD Cole's Said land off of Shootsbury road butting the land town Is I'm gonna stop for a second. It's a Shootsbury or Pellum I know but with town line is it a budding No The motions of Pellum, but Pellum doesn't run up that way Shootsbury runs up that way This is your problem with knowing geography Yeah, I think I'm just gonna Maybe remove those words. I'm gonna pause for a moment and Ask if I may mr. Chair just ask mr. Zomek about this. Yes That's what we were wondering to because I'm not I think it's Shootsbury, but I'd rather than correct the difference. It's really not necessary So I'm gonna start the motion over again and I moved to not exercise the town's first right of refusal option in accordance with Massachusetts general law chapter 61 a section 14 To purchase approximately three tenths acres owned by WD Cole said land off of Shootsbury road Assessors map parcel 1d 9v-11 It's gonna motion in a second is there further comment Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Post that's unanimous. No, I'm abstaining. Oh, you're abstaining. Okay one abstention. Thank you So that would be We're zero one. All right. Thank you very much That Thank you for coming in Put mr. Zomek on wheelchair. You should have wheelchair tonight because I'm gonna go back to our original order Which is the next on our agenda is the group health insurance update? So mr. Bach, would you want to bring that forward for a moment? Yes? Thank you, mr. Chair With a site if it miss Aldridge who's our comptroller and Patrick Brock whose chairs the town's employee health insurance advisory committee and I just want to give you some updates on where we are So as you know the town is insures its employees along with the town of Pelham in the Amherst regional school district through the Amherst Pelham Health Claims Trust It's a legal entity formed in 1986 By the by Amherst Pelham and in the district pay claims and administer the health insurance programs for its employees and retirees So this is we are not an insurance company We are a trust where the money from the town that contributes to employees Health insurance and from the employees that we deduct from the paychecks goes into the trust And then all the claims that the that the employees and retirees incur are paid out of the trust So that's why you have heard me talk before about the volatility of the trust When the experience of the trust is good meaning fewer claims than the money coming in we benefit from that But when the claims exceed our revenue we we that's a bad thing and that's what's been happening over the last period of time We have over the last year alone. We've increased on July 1. We increased the HMO rate by 10% on October 1 we increased both plans by 10 the HMO and the PPO by 10% and then on February 1 We increased the plans by 100 for individual 200 which is about a 14 or 16 percent increase The we So but we have a problem with it now And so we've engaged our employee group which is represented through the insurance advisory committee to talk about solutions to the problem The what's the problem? The problem is that we have a very large number of large claims And this has been going on for a while now and while we have reinsurance Which means we buy insurance to cover the large claims that doesn't kick in until that the claim hits $250,000 so the trust has to pay the first $250,000 of the claim we've had a number of those over the years and I've summarized those in the In the memo that you have in front of you the freak the frequently asked questions Additionally We have had we've benefited over the years by having the trust Have lower than you would expect premiums and when there are no increases to premiums That's benefits that the employees, but it also benefits the two towns and the district because we're not in Appropriating funds for the trust So while in the past years we have benefited It's the experience has deteriorated where we have had to make these insurance and these increases on Into the trust so the when you make an increase to the truck We do an increase to the trust it comes out of the town's coffers as in the school's coffers as well as the Employees pocket so it's both parties get hit by this To put it in perspective we are we are self-insured trust our neighboring communities like the city of North Hampton and The University of Massachusetts not a city, but major Employer are part of the group insurance commission the group insurance commission is the state-run health plan That that that's the city or the town could participate in if we so chose so When this problem began to Rear its head we engage the employee group through the insurance advisory committee which mr. Brock chairs and does a tremendous job of chairing it It's a large committee 14 members Every bargaining unit in the in the town and in the schools is represented at the table and has and can participate in the discussion And the three we've identified three things that we have to address First is do we want to stay self-insured as a trust or not or do we want to go out and buy insurance? And the key question on that is who who is going to bear the risk? The risk is if you are fully insured as you would imagine you pay a premium every month or you pay the premium for the year and The insurance company if the if the experience is bad they absorb it if the experience is good They get the benefit of it, but in either case they absorb the risk the The second one was we offer two carriers now one is Harvard Pilgrim Health and the other is Blue Cross Blue Shield and Having two our employees Split almost evenly between those two plans those two carriers makes it difficult For us to assemble ourselves and market ourselves out if we wanted to seek something a different type of coverage So one of the things that we would like to do is to eliminate one of the two plans when you look at the plan side-by-side There's 99 to 100 percent Overlap so if you are in Harvard Health There's a hundred percent chance based on your that your primary care physician is going to be Covered by Blue Cross if you're on Blue Cross and you and we want to switch to Harvard Health There's a 99 percent chance and if it's not if the if the Physician is not covered Blue Cross will go out to that person and offer them a contract to say Would you like to be able to take this the Blue Cross plan? So the first one was whether we want to stay self-insured or go fully insured the second one is to have just one Carrier that offers and we still offer two plans HMO and PPO HMO means that you're in the network PPO is a little more expensive, but it allows you to use the network of the HMO or go outside the network to the PPO with certain conditions The And then third item that we want that we have talked a lot about is plan design and Right now the town offers first dollar coverage, which is Unusual to say the least in health insurance industry now. We look at again the GIC communities We also look at the Hampshire County Trust which ensures about 70 small towns In the in Western, Massachusetts They have a plan through Blue Cross that mimics in a large measure the GIC Plan and then we look at private employers too in terms of what they are offering their employees because that's our competitive environment What we're trying to do is get to what I call intelligent plan design something where our employees Can migrate to that as we look at their experience and we we've determined whether they are Utilizing all the benefits that we're paying for sometimes they're not utilizing all the benefits that we're paying for and it might not be as hard a request The goals as we talk about this with the insurance advisory committee is With the three increases we had this year we don't want to live through that again next year We just don't want to be there and so we want stability We want to we want to be in a place that gives us options So consolidating the risk pool into one group gives us options The stability we'd like to see is you can't look very far ahead in the insurance Market especially health insurance, but we'd like stability and predictability for at least two years So it'd be FY 19 and FY 20 And then in terms of our plan design We'd like to bring start to beginning to bring our benefits in line with other Communities and with the University and everybody else is out there in terms of what we're offering It's a complex conversation to have at the insurance advisory level Mr. Brock does it it's it's a it's a large number of people there And then there's even you know probably three times that many people who are very concerned employees mostly Who are in the audience observing? And we've had very structured conversations about this. There's a small group that that that we gathered together to sort of dig deeper into some of these issues and then on Last Friday afternoon we brought these their their research back to the full group The timing of this is if we are to change on July 1 Which it means that we start making deductions from employee paychecks on June 1st, which means that We need to have the actual blue cross cards in people's hands by that time blue cross typically needs Two months, you know two months six to eight weeks to implement to get all the cards because that's the most important thing to our employees They don't it's not fair to the employees to have make a change in them Not and something happens on July 4th, and they're not they go to the hospital and their car doesn't work that has to work It has to be tested So we're on a very tight time frame and we've been at this for a few months now But our goal is to make a decision by end of February early March so that we can have a direction on where we need to go and then and during this process we have a major commitment to doing a lot of employee education on what the changes mean to them and giving them and most people when you have a group meeting their questions aren't Import they don't want to ask their question in public So there's a lot of one-on-one and we would have people from blue cross in here or represent us from the whoever we buy the insurance from Here to walk people through Who's a who's your provider? What does it look like? How does it look for you in terms of how this new design would look like? So that's where we are. It's a major financial challenge for the town our experience over the last year has not been great in sense that we can our claims continue to come in at a very high rate and One of the other challenges that happens when you switch to a fully insured program is like right now We will the claims that we incur in May and June They won't come in as bills until July and August so we are responsible for those bills So there's it's the tail run out whatever you want to call it Some people call it ibnr incurred but not reported we have to factor that into the price as well and We would want and that's so in essence. We will be paying 14 months of claims Over a 12 month period and so we have to raise those funds We can work on that to Extend that over a two-year payback period, but we still have to come up with the money So once we have the group consolidated if we get to fully insured and we see where we are with that after two years We can look at this again And if we say we'd like to go back to being self-insured We have that option if we feel like whatever insurance we go to is an adequate we can look at that There are a number of options But the key piece right now is that we have to take action I think the insurance advisory committee the employees who are participating that are really well educated on the on this on this Challenge that we face and have been pretty open to having a frank discussion It's not an easy one because they feel it's a degradation of benefits, which it is But it's one that they've come to understand and educate themselves about Those are the people in the room. There's a lot of people out there who are just working their regular jobs who This will hit them and though we have to talk to them about it as well So I just wanted to have this opportunity to talk to you. There's no action from the board and There's Aldridge mr. Brocker here if you have questions for them or comments from them I'm sure if you the one you want to say anything, but I I want to bring it to your attention because it's a big issue It's something you will hear a lot about as we focus on town meeting and Appropriations for this year and for next year and we the finance director just to side note The schools are the largest employee group the finance director from the schools is intimately involved in our all of our conversations Anything else you'd like to add either mr. Brocker miss Aldridge do you either one want to offer any? No, just do you have anything you wanted to offer as far as you know information for us as far as Process and what you've discovered discussed etc. Patrick Brocker and Amherst town employee retiree and retiree representative on the insurance advisory committee and and the chair that was a mistake The I'm really Pleased with what we've done in the last year as far as organization Our insurance advisory committee over the last 10 years out of the 14 members We'd get six or eight at each meeting when this started blowing up and in June and July Our attendance increase and we've had full attendance at every single meeting and we've been meeting a lot When it was first proposed That we needed an additional increase in Sometime in December or January after doing two increases There was a lot of pushback and there was a lot of education a lot of outside meetings outside communications and stuff I Was overwhelmed and pleased that we voted unanimously to authorize the increase February 1st What We're looking at now and hopefully that will take us to the end of the year But we've had some recent negative information that that's going to be difficult I think the town manager has put together a plan I constantly remind the town manager and the committee that it's the town It's the insurance administrators duties to set forth the program and it's the insurance advisory committee to give a Supported or oppose it He has asked for the committee's input. He's a good listener we've adjusted a few things And we've moved forward I'm not sure the that there are several Difficult subjects coming up That can derail our efforts And I'm not sure what the outcome is is we'll keep working on that And what I'm most pleased with is the communications between the town management staff and the committee members It is a significant financial event Working with the retirement board. I know what those are like And I I understand where the town is coming from although there's massive increases for the employees To come up with the balance that money from the town and the 75% contribution is is three times what we're suffering so Well, we are meeting the 20th Tuesday And we will try our best to go as fast as we can We're kind of pushing it along but what we're looking at is a is a As the town manager outlined to you is a plan starting July 1st Hopefully that plan would avoid any further premium increases for a year or so if we Do the actions that he's recommended? And we discussed all those actions and in fact the education for the last meeting was about deductibles and co-pays and how they're applied and I think that there was a lot of Recognition that they weren't what they presumed to be And we had representatives from blue cross blue shield helping us. We were getting the facts straight from the insurer so it was very very helpful and We just have to keep lobbying Tom manager can go into other issues that there will rise But I'm I'm hopeful that we'll have a vote and and the The issues that we have would be resolved But there are other issues collect the bargaining issues and other issues that are going to have to be addressed Thank you Questions for the manager of mr. Brock Mr. Sembert and First of all, thank you, mr. Brock for what you're doing and I'm not going to ask the question Of what part of your life plan whether was serving on the committee being retired or chairing the committee But you were thinking might be a mistake, but please don't answer that that's how what I was really I was my granddaughter's mistake. That is always a mistake the One question that struck me as I was reading the memo in advance is that it doesn't really set forth any information about How many claims in the total dollar value of claims that fall between 100,000 and 250,000 dollars Because the way the memo is structured it talks only about number of claims over a hundred thousand but that got me to wonder whether there was an option that was considered and rejected or not are not considered about Seeing if the stop-loss Insurance could be rewritten to trigger a lower amount So we when we went out to bid we looked at we only had one one company bid on our reinsurance last year And they bid at 250,000 and we would like to move that down to 125 or something like that But that's a we'd have to bid that out and negotiate with the reinsurer The There are some that exceed the 250,000 and then there are some claims that they what they the term is called laser out They say these three claims we know are going to be recurring So we're going to not address them until you hit to the 500,000 mark because they know that's a that's a known expense to the Insurance company So it's a pretty they're not in the business of losing money. They know our group. They know our claims So The idea of giving you the $100,000 threshold was to give you a sense of the number of large claims And that's really where the claims activity is and it's you know, if you have four claims at Up to 250,000 even if they don't exceed that. That's a million dollars right there And that's what we feel is driving our experience I think one of the the points in my time on the insurance advisory committee is that we used to work Six to eight claims over a hundred thousand dollars and now we're up to 12 to 14 claims And that makes all the difference in the world. It isn't one or two big eight hundred thousand dollar claims because we've got the reinsurance I think the committee has always followed the lead of Trusts administrator, which is the town manager We kind of got lulled into a good feeling with premium holidays and zero percent increases And when they said well, we've got problems Oh, how come how bad can it be and we probably waited too long before acting and they are this bad The other thing is I'm very well aware of benchmarking and and the relationship to that exists I don't think the people involved are that aware of benchmarking screw I just want to make a couple comments and I will I Think it's okay if I make comments, but I will disclose that I am I Benefit by being a retiree. So this affects me, but I'm trying to I'm really speaking from a bigger point of view In following this one I well I have a lot of faith in both both the manager and mr. Brock I've known you a long time, and I think that you did this with a lot of Skill and integrity so I Think people have approached this Trying to manage the situation and it kind of caught it kind of caught up with us because it was going so well It's kind of like you don't know how good you got it till it's gone in terms of having low premiums and Healthy trust one, but I agree with mr. Backelman that we can't face this year after year Or even if we had a good year in two years this up and down. It's It's not really acceptable because it makes it too hard to manage I I'm expecting that whatever changes we make and I do believe we have to make changes It's going to cost more money and it'll cost the Both the you know the town for their percentage share and the recipients more whether it's because We have a group insurance. We have an insurance provider that is going to go up and But I think we have to understand that that's what's going to happen and then I was Struck it's in the memo, but also we've talked about this before that if Amherst offers a better plan Maybe it's the you know the right level of benefit, but if it's better Then the employers around us we will attract people to choose that as their family plan provider And that's just the reality so It's a little bit like parking if you don't charge enough Then they're going to park here and not there So they're gonna and I've seen this other places. I've worked too. So it's just In people, you know, it's the rational thing to do if it's a better program you switch over So I think we we have to really be mindful of keeping the benefits pretty comparable to what else is Being done by whether it's the university or other large employers or even some of the smaller ones And I think that's just the new reality Going to that but it's going to be a hard transition It didn't help when the GIC made their changes and the pushback from those changes resulted them in changing their vote There are still members of the committee that believe We can do nothing. We can go ahead and stay self-insured and manage our way out of here I'm not sure that that's possible and I'm not sure that that's financially effective I Try not to vote to Unless there's a tie or something I have voted on on several emotions, but Most of the most of the members all we have representation from non-union members, most of them are bargaining members They are very involved in their own bargaining and and so this you know I got for my old days when we bargained health insurance in the contracts. Yeah, it was a total package When we've taken health insurance pretty much out of it it has an effect on the town's ability to give increases and stuff and We have to get people to understand that that's real and that you're getting a benefit in continued health insurance You know, so it's not an easy easy thing to do The questions or comments? Sure, so Starting in a random place might as well follow up on the GIC conversation My husband's employed by UMass and we're on that plan And yes, it was it was going to be a very different conversation of GIC went to only three plans And then we had employees who had the option of picking up the town of Amherst plan instead of the relatively crappy three Plans GIC was going to offer and relatively crappy is indeed the technical term for the health insurance I currently have which they were going to retain and then two other options Along those lines as you continue to figure out all these different puzzle pieces Which we you have done a great job of elaborating for us at several meetings now How all those different factors play into it and we appreciate that you brought up both? You know other municipalities and then also private employers and then of course UMass Which is a whole nother kettle of fish, but in terms of I'm assuming that it's true that it's still Standard today to offer both the HMO and PPO option from at least one provider as a just as opposed to just saying You get an HMO and that's all there is I'm assuming that's still like you know industry standard And that's why we would continue to do that. We're required to do that. We are required to do that by what? police state law or They're required so I can confirm that for you Just The end of 32 be yeah, okay just because I like this document has been and like others have been It's really helpful to be able to point people to these things and say this is why we're doing what we're doing This is how we got to this point. This is why and this for example is why we're doing that Is that we're offering both beyond the fact that I assume it's probably comparable to what other places are doing It's especially comparable if it's legal, so that would be worth pointing out I really appreciate the detail that you put on page 2 in terms of the years of premium increases and decreases for those of us Who sort of remembered some of that Again having that in front of us is helpful and so for example in FY 16 We had a premium decrease for those on the HMO But we actually didn't increase for those in the PPO and another year. We were able to just keep them at zero So we have done lots of adjustments and again That's something I think valuable information to show people that we've been doing these things But speaking of pages if we could have page numbers and a date on this document That would be super helpful because we've had variations of this document before and I don't have any way of knowing which ones which At this particular moment in time, so that would be great Just jump on that. So this is a document we shared with every employee in the community So they could they could see the information Can you jump on a couple other things while you're Sure, and then I was just gonna I was just gonna ask will I ask one other complete make some other complete separate comment That you've you've talked about in the past and I wanted you to remind us of which is that and as mr. Brock So helpfully gave us the segue for health insurance and Used to be part of collective bargaining agreements is not on the town side per town quote unquote Area now, but it is still in the schools, which of course is our largest group of employees. So Tell us about that again and how that's gonna work because they're in the middle of bargaining right now, too But that means not only instead of just taking it into account like we do for bargaining They're gonna actually have to potentially change something that's in the contract or not or well the school Department is in the middle of Negotiations with their with their bargaining unit. So I know they were having a meeting They may be meeting to right now So I can't really comment on it, but they're aware of this situation both parties are aware of it And I'm sure it's on the list of things that they're discussing But what I'm saying is it's in their contract. So they can't no matter what they say about At the insurance advisory committee stage, there's still that separate step for them. That's part of their contract Yes, it's there's something in their contract that they have to address But it's a complicated because of course I'm the trust administrator But the contract is not with me the contract is between the school committee and then in the bar and the bargaining unit the bargaining unit happens to Bargain for the regional school district and the local in the Amherst school committee who are town employees so all these things sort of weave together and We each have certain authorities to do I mean And But we don't want it we want to get to a agreed-upon place versus people saying you don't have a right to do this Or I I'm saying I'm going to do this whether you like it or not That's just not a good place for it was not the way we interact with our employees We really work hard and it's time-consuming in its education and it's us listening and them listening and so we work hard at Not getting into that kind of confrontational mode But both parties have certain rights and the employees clearly and they've art and if for the Teachers have clearly articulated that they know what their rights are. They're well represented as well Thank you because again that just follows up in the hall. There's so many complicated pieces to this that yeah It's not just one single decision. Thank you Screwed for what mr. Bachman you said this was circulated to all the Employee groups. Yeah, but it circulated to the retirees. I don't think it did actually just want to make a bitch that That was our bad. Yeah. Yeah, and just because clearly retirees have a huge interest in this as well and It's easy to forget because it's a different list So the other thing I would mention two things one is that like the screw-er Alvin not retired I am on insurance plan Wish I'm retired but not yet So it is again, you know sort of an interesting situation to be in but at the same time One of the things I wanted to point out just for people to recognize is on the second page of this mill Where you have fiscal year 13 through 18 your date and premium increases decrease if you go back when? High fifth fiscal year Six or seven there was a similar kind of spike in cost and It required premium increases a surcharge it was charged for a period of time And significant plan design was was altered at that point and we've kind of coasted on that for a while to be perfectly honest I mean, I think if you're an employee it's been employed during a whole period of time It's all sort of washed out and it's not too bad And and of course the other thing for folks is that you know Yeah, we could have just gone and put 2% of you know doing it done a 2 or 3 or 4 or 5% increase every year and all these things And that's you know half what it is nationwide But you didn't then are forgoing what you could do with that in your operating budget Because this means you're not paving roads or hiring staff or doing other wonderful things We want our communities to do it so so these things are You know pitted against that the other these choices are pitted against choices of you know Things we want our our town government to do our schools to do for for our citizens And so that's part of why we try to carry the the trust balances You know safely and small as it can be Because you know having a bunch of money sitting there not really doing much for anybody Doesn't do anybody any good, but it would at this point when we've had these high claims But we're gonna have that boom and bust cycle because we have such a small group quite frankly and so you know There are things we could do around sort of maintaining a larger level of balance or a steadier percentage increase every year, but I think You don't get down to brass tacks of conversations about planned design changes being comparable with neighbors Etc. Etc. In some ways until you get to these sort of harder points in time where you know The money's just not there and you have to make the choices, you know It's hard to have that discipline in the good years. It's hard to have the discipline and the foresight to sort of see You know how bad it can get you know, I think if you We're talking to us isn't fiscal 14. We'd have you know, no You know, no sense that it was gonna do anything like it's done I mean, we might think oh, it's gonna get more expensive at some point But not to this level and so it is a bit of the boom and bust cycle of a small small group Which speaks a little bit to some of the suggestions about being fully insured by somebody else or? You know other changes that are discussed there, you know help mitigate that small group thing a little bit Other questions or comments? None. Thank you Slaughter yes, I have one actual Question that before Ms. Aldrich leaves that is really budget and in how this Is going to be reflected into the budget as opposed to the health insurance policy issues or two issues We were addressing the Mr. Brock The reason I brought up the Whole question for a while during the budget discussion about that one line item the hotel motel tax that was coming in over I did some quick calculations and it seems like that's Approximately a hundred thousand dollars if you annualize it of additional revenue that we might be receiving that we didn't budget for and And so it made me realize that there are other variations that Are in there and I guess the question is Knowing that we have this large additional expense that we didn't budget for when the town meeting adopted the budget for the current year at the annual town meeting which is increasing the cost side because of the employer share of the health insurance costs Are is there a budget plan that goes with this that can and where where do we sit with that? So as as the claims mature right now, we have data from January 31 Which is seven months into the fiscal year and we're monitoring it on a Weekly monthly basis And once we know where we're headed Ms. Aldrich makes projections all the time and so we monitor those things the The you know the deficit the the Ibnr that the tail of the claims are both very large numbers that that the trust is responsible for paying and as a trust as a standalone entity and So the town and the employees would have to Pay into the trust to make sure the trust is whole so We have ideas we need to get a better handle on the scope and also what's going to happen in FY 19 and 20 and then and our idea is that part of the financing plan of the current Deficit would be incorporated into the FY 19 and 20 rates So it'd be spread over time for the employees So it's not one like the surcharge that we talked about earlier Chris, but I'm referring to is not the rates and not the trust but the fact that when you increase the rates and They're payable and part by the town and part by the employees part by the employees falls on the employees and retirees and Part that's attributable to the town falls in the town so that there's an effect on the Operating budget of the town That's a separate entity from the trust as you pointed out. So what I was really referring to is Where we stand with the the budget that was presented earlier and but Going for the rest of the year in comparison. So I think Ms. Aldrin alluded to the fact that we're we've Cracked down on all discretionary spending The idea is that we are trying to reserve as much as we can in our operating budgets to because we know this problem Is there we're gonna try and manage it to the best of our ability using Limitations on what people are purchasing basically just not spending as much and hoping that we'll have surplus and not hoping Expecting knowing that we will have some surpluses And I think that's You might want to add to my comment So I haven't tracked before you get too excited about the hotel Revenue being higher and maybe bearing that out. I've noticed that that business is very cyclical So the busy part is the fall and then later in the spring and we're going into the quarters where that Occupancy really falls and I don't know if we've tracked the up Cycle of hotel motel in the down but just because we're up after the busiest part of our accommodation season doesn't tell me that we're gonna stay there because People just don't come here December January February and March So I I don't know if Ms. Aldrin has seen that kind of a pattern. I I see it and some of the things I do I'm not sure if you were asking if that would help us for fiscal year 18 or 19 We're really talking about 18 and I appreciate the comment that was just offered by miss Krueger about Any single item including the one that she cited you know and I Referenced earlier may not in fact because of the cyclical nature of the funding be a be a factor, but at what point Are we going to look at? comprehensively The 18 budget to really see where we're at because we really are being hit with a more significant change I think in the line items and we're normally at and Might be helpful for us in the finance committee to know exactly where we are for the overall comprehensive Consolidated budget Now as compared to where we Expected to be when we adopted the budget as far as projections through the end of the year For 2018 we can't we can't go back and look at revenues and re-estimate our revenues because our tax rate is set for 2018 So our only option for the 2018 if we To cover the deficit in the health claims trust fund is to have a vote for free cash From reserves and that would go into the trust fund so that we would not have a deficit because it's legal to have an appropriation deficit According to the dr so we'll have to have make the trust fund whole and That's where we would have to look at what the Surcharge would be Like mr. Slaughter alluded to back in 2006 and we had this Happened before we did institute a surcharge to pay back the general fund for those appropriations in the town The town Contributed to 75 or 80 percent and the employees contributed their 25 or 30 percent or 25 or 20 percent But we can't go back and look at those revenues and increase them and say we're going to use this to pay Because it would have to be an appropriation at town meaning But you can't use that anyways because of the tax rate and we do watch the trends on all of these if we have huge spreadsheets to show the trend of Thing if we think it's going to stay a study upward trend then we'll adjust our budget estimates for that in normal years Well, thank you, that's very helpful, and I'll just conclude it because I don't want to drag this on longer But I think it would if we are going to have to use Any significant amount of free cash in order to make the budget balance at the end of the year If we can offer some sort of projection to town meeting Before it starts. I think that it's very helpful to remind town meeting that We put in free cash as part of the reason for Building free cash was because unforeseen things can happen and to remind town meeting that free cash isn't a just a piggy bank to go to for Whatever but that there are purposes of free cash, and this is one of them. That's I think why I've driven it a little bit Thank you for that Thank you, Mr. Brock for coming Um at this time we'll move on to our next item on the agenda, which is rental appeals board charge In sketch I might be the right word In in your packet you have a draft rental appeals board charge as you recall the bylaw Anticipates the creation of a rental appeals board Which has not been need necessary to date Previously you established the membership of the rental appeals board as being the whoever's the current chair of this of the select board Whoever's the current chair of the planning board whoever's the current chair of the zoning board of appeals And then they would be called into action if there were an appeal of of the building commissioners decision and You know, I think the board pointed out well, we should have a charge and so we Put one together, but so it's very a first look at it for you comments and feedback. We'd appreciate it So on your desk tonight, you can see my incredibly clear edits I know that they are just so so very clear, but basically they're that It's a couple of issues one is that this is not based on one of our more recent and At accurate Formats of a charge. So that's why a bunch of stuff is missing from the top for example SME status special municipal employee status is missing That's a separate topic and something we should plan to either vote on tonight or vote on at a future meeting because Obviously all three of these It needs special municipal employee status because these people represent other bodies because that's their job is to represent Other bodies so just to put the icing on the cake. It seems like we need the SME status But of course that's supposed to be at the top of the charge also It's also supposed to indicate and Honestly, it's been a while since I looked at the more recent one that I worked on which is Time limited or ongoing and in this case it would be ongoing Whereas we've had a number of things that have been task forces lately that are time limited You know do a certain project like dog park that we'll talk about later and then be done rather than an ongoing committee and Another area is associated with enabled under town by-law is not the terminology we use But it should say town by-law and it should say yes And it should say the actual town by-law which is written there And I believe maybe member appointments was trying to get it term length and I think in this case We're just in the unusual case of because we picked chairs when we had this last conversation informally It's completely different than anything else. We normally do unless we looked back at what the JCPC charge says for example Where they appoint their own so that's not as important But just in terms of trying to get that mask Accurate in terms of the frame Then in terms of the rewrite that I did there at the bottom, which I know my handwriting is atrocious What I was trying to get at is that it's my understanding that this board only has one purpose It's not a primary function. It's an only function and its only function is to cut be called into action if An appeal is filed within 14 days of the code officials decision to suspend the residential rental permit now in order to do that job I wrote this I'm totally made this section up so you guys can rip it as ever you want But it said the RAB will develop and from time to time review and revise the following the criteria for evaluating appeals the procedures rules and or regulations for Advertising duly notice public hearings conduct of the duly notice public hearing as some of you recall we have not had a lot of experience with some kinds of public hearings we do unlike say the planning board historical commissioner conservation commission and Documentation of their written decision. So that's not like an ongoing thing It is and it isn't and in that their job is to do the appeal But at some point they're gonna need to get together and do those things to support them being able to do the appeal So that's what I was trying to get at when I rewrote that rather than making it seem like all those things are equal Because those things are not all equal. There's really only one thing that's critical for them to do Let's just but hopefully we've set them up for success by giving them time To make those previous arrangements and you know, we've waited since 2013 to put this into effect And so we may continue to get lucky and not need to have that planning meeting because we all have a bazillion other things on Our plates, but at least it is listed here And I thank you for the structure that you gave us in terms of it being listed here What things you would want to go ahead and address before you had to deal with that first appeal Thank you After that rewrite my thing is really minor so In my universe that by law is not it's never hyphenated so kill that Because it's inconsistent everyone does it differently, but you've basically changed that anyway But when we do a rewrite in the next version up in the upper right corner and enabled under town by law take it Please remove the hyphen cuz it was My only other thing that's that's kind of different When Miss Brew when you say Documentation of the written decision would that be a written decision that's then filed with a town clerk How would somebody find that written decision? It's an excellent question that I don't believe the by-law actually covers and I don't know if we have Practice of other communities to look to because this is a fairly interesting thing that Amherst does that others perhaps do not So yes, unlike say conservation Commission historical Commission. What would that we could potentially add that to this because I think that's You know instead of trying to find it in someone's files ten years from now. That's the place to file the written decision So it says documentation of the written decision But if you want to mandate rather than letting the three people develop where it's going to be then that would be Why I decided you know and filed with the town clerk so if you give us Lee way to take this back and make the changes I don't think there's any urgency to it But we'll have the building commissioner look at this and review it with the town clerk as well and bring it back to you It's great And when you bring it back to us if you would just make sure there's also a motion about SME status So we don't forget enough to make it up You know the further comment on on the And what about a date on the charge so we know what version and it would show voted at the bottom We're done in the theory when we vote it would show it We voted and it also show a separate date for the SME status But you're right that should be part of the word template is the one I've been looking for. Thank you So if there's not further Comment offered for that, then I think we'll move on to our next Agenda in which the municipal property uses and disposition process policy Mr. Zomek if you'd like to take us through that well again In short what you have before you really is very similar essentially what I did is I took out all the Old boilerplate if you will out of an earlier document that we discussed back in November We've had two discussions on this To date and this would be our third Conversation and what I did was try to take out all of the references of course to other cities other towns with municipal real property policies and try to boil it down to really what could amount to a draft policy and I'm happy to work with you tonight to get some more feedback on it I did just want to tell you what I have been doing in the meantime since last we met on this We've met as I said twice on this topic had headed on the select board agenda I've met with all the department heads at least one some of them two or three times for feedback on this We've begun gathering data on Municipally owned property in our database I've met with the conservation commission to get feedback from them They are very supportive of a process and a policy coming forth I have also met multiple times with I've not met with the entire Affordable housing trust, but I've met multiple times with John Hornick the chair And at least twice with Rita Farrell their staff consultant on this topic And gotten some feedback from the through the chair from the trust and they appear to be very supportive of moving this process forward There's probably a little asterisk on that in that they are considering as the chair knows The East Street School and and a possible alternative to that property going through this policy But we'll save that for another night, and then I know Chris Breastrup the planning director Has also discussed this with the planning board. I did not go to that meeting myself but I know the planning board is aware of this and Christine did not receive any significant negative feedback on getting started with the process as I look at this I think of this as something we To some degree need to start and we will have some test Cases if you will come through the process, and I think we're gonna learn we've never did my understanding is we've never had a Policy or process like this at least I've been with the town for 13 14 years. We've not done it I think we're gonna learn as we go and I suspect that I and the town manager will be back before you as we learn how to do this and there will be some policy adjustments my goal would be to start and Begin the process and and start to do some of the research get the database Going and and again as I said before to earlier meeting we expect there's fewer than a dozen properties That we think will come through this process and we might start with four or five So I'll stop there What's to go first if I could just say briefly thank you so much for all you did to get us to this point because we really Appreciate it the way that you've outlined it for us up to this point You know this is how this town's doing it This is how this place is doing it and then we knew that eventually we would need a thing that was an actual policy So thank you for bringing us to this to this stretch without just jumping into this in the first place And I appreciate the ordering at the end associated with I had felt like even though we all knew what it meant It was confusing in terms of tracking You know whether or not it had to it was up to the select board to take it to town meeting And then if the select board said no it wasn't going to go to town meeting that that The only way it could actually finally be done is if it went through town meeting the part that the select board could wave Wasn't the taking it to town meeting part. They can only wave some other aspects of it So we just want to be super clear to people that it would have to go to town meeting if it was gonna actually be acted upon and The I would hope Without getting into the conversation you alluded to that the trust would understand that they could fit Anything conversation about the East Street school potentially under number 10 because if we don't put East Street school through this process as a Test case. I'm not sure why we're bothering to do this at all I mean East Street school is the main reason we needed this policy after all these years of discussing different variations, so I would think that item 10 about waving and varying would accommodate any Creative things they want to do associated with that, but I don't I don't know why we would exempt Give them any impression that we were exempting any discussion of East Street school From this policy I would hope that they would be if it if anything the first test case I can already hear people talking about a performing arts center at the fire station that's still occupied as being Another test case still occupied being the critical point But thank you So I will paint a little bit of the picture about East Street school later when I give my member report, but anyway Okay, if you could bear with me I had a couple of questions and comments and I'm pleased to see it. It's it's been coming a little this process has been coming along I don't I think the East Street school Conversation has underscored the need to do this. I don't think it's the reason we're doing it I think it's been long-awaited and important It's particularly interested in the word this clarifies in the second paragraph at the beginning of the document about the authorization to dispose surplus real property and it also And I did have some questions about how this would relate to our municipal affordable housing trust but partway So all town-owned property. I kind of underlined all the first sentence of that paragraph and then Town meeting partway down town meeting must also change the use of the property and or transfer the custody of The property and then it gives the citation master in a law chapter 40 15 a So one question I had and I'm going to I'll go through all of mine, but if you could just kind of follow If we're looking at For example the East Street school and the trust wanted to have the custody transferred to them It sounds like that would require a town meeting action some question about that and then the next Sentence it goes on if the property is being transferred and then it says And the board needs to make a determination before or after town meeting and I was just confused before or after town meeting Looks like it's kind of hanging out there, maybe it's it's just grammatical That it does not need the property for the purposes which was held So I'm glad we clarified about the value Could be by the assessor, but his best practice is by an appraiser. That's in here. I thought that was good Page two under the section policy and process for disposing of surplus real Property I was thinking because of that issue about the transfer of the care and custody Or transfer of the custody Maybe we want to also add a number in here about a policy to determine when and how What the criteria would be to transfer the custody because it doesn't it doesn't really talk about that. It just talks about Dispositions, but sometime there's a there's often a first step where one Department or board has it and it's going to another. How do we decide when it's ripe to be transferred? I'm almost done Under five advisory groups recommendation to the town manager shall include be the assessed and Appraised value. I think it's supposed to be and or the appraised value 5b This is 6g you have about the restrictions can be placed making recommendations about the restrictions and I Had a question mark if g Might best be under five or both in five and six which is where the advisory group Makes recommendations about what restrictions might be placed on the property before it Gets used for whatever or goes into this surplus process. So I don't have an answer it may be in both and then 6d Assessing making recommendations on the impact of sale and proposed use of the property on the abutting landowners and surrounding neighborhood my how are you going to do that that to me is a Little bit of a land mine unless you know what that means The only last one I have is under next steps a final comment the third bullet Develop a corresponding policy that would establish the priorities For determining a property as surplus Question mark. I don't get corresponding policy develop a corresponding policy Separate from this as part of this I just just you know, this is a draft So that's that's just as a reader. I struggled with some of that. Yeah, I thought that last bullet might come up And we might soften that a little bit But my understanding and talking to staff about that was that and town council was that we As a town we should it reminds me a little bit of of the CPAC developing Kind of some priorities in other words We would gather from CPAC from the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust from concom Not new information, but we would pull together a short Policy might be too strong, but a guiding document to say, you know in 2018 The town of Amherst has established Strong and clear goals on the need for affordable housing as referenced in the Municipal Affordable Housing Trust's Plan X the master plan speaks to this so that we would have something that we're not every property is not We're not looking at it simply in a oh well, this might be good for conservation This might be good for no these are the guiding principles if you will that we're using to say and and a good example Would be the need for affordable affordable housing whereas we've been Redefining if you will and and refocusing our goals for open space in the last five to ten years Those are different than they were in the 1980s. So I think that document needs to be Living a living document that isn't it's it's appropriate for 2018-19 maybe a five-year period Yeah, so that that's what I was trying to get at I could just fuck and that helps I just would suggest just in terms of word crafting that you might spend some more time Just refining and it's not as long as maybe your answer to me verbally, but trying to get that into that That section we can do that Comments I was just going to recommend something more along the lines of criteria for that last concept Because in some ways it's also an alias to the community development strategy that block grant uses right every year They look and they say based on all the different policy documents we have in town These are our priorities for this year. So it's a strategy It's a set of criteria, but so as not to confuse it with being a different policy than this policy, right? And if I could just to address one other Question that Ms. Gruber brought up the the issue of care custody and control what we're learning from counsel is that Absolutely, there are different ways that a town can work with a municipal affordable housing trust And there are many examples in Massachusetts and in fact Through town meeting The entire property does not need to be transferred all at once Through deed in other words There are ways that the trust could have certain rights to explore development for a b or c While not taking full custody of the property the town may still take care of the building You know keep it secure, etc. Etc. And then eventually if a viable option is determined for housing then A transfer could could take place. Just a quick follow-up on that. So my understanding Think reinforced by this document is for example, if the East Street School were to go To the municipal trust For their exploration period for their custody that would require A vote of town meeting for the transfer of custody and then later or maybe simultaneous a vote of town meeting to authorize the disposition for Sale or lease for affordable housing. That's that's my understanding as well that it could take place in two votes Or one vote depending on what the trust wanted and what they Asked the town to do the other would have to address those two Yes, those both would have to be spelled out in the vote custody and eventual Disposition yes, there's gonna need to be a vote even before that because in our research We don't appear to have a vote from the school committee, so we're gonna need a vote from the school committee essentially Giving back the school to the town to make clear that it is under the town's control That's a town meeting vote. So that's three That's just a school committee. The school committee vote on record and then the two correct or simultaneous to correct Again, I think we're gonna learn as we go here a little bit. I think this provides a framework. I'm happy to Make a few Edits here and then I mean I need to come back before you but certainly through the town manager We could get this approved at a future date whatever you'd like Mr. I was just gonna mention that when when you're editing so page four I think is when we ended up talking more about the corresponding policy and the potential words criteria and strategy and the way You had explained that That is of course also then talked about on page two under item three So just so that you know, it's in both Recognize that it's in both places that we're trying to avoid that particular use of policy In that section because this is the policy. That's something else Excellent, thank you other comments or question for Mr. Zomek on this item. Thank you for this I will I Do have one question. Have you mentioned to mr. Hornig about the school committee needing to take action? He's very very aware of that. So that's good I won't steal my own thunder from a later conversation about things that happened at the trust meeting last week. But anyway So if there's not further questions or comments on this Thank you for that and why don't we move into 4f which is project updates on a variety of things I wonder if I could ask the chair. Would it be possible since miss. Ciccarello is here To do the sustainability committee first with that. Absolutely if that's all right with the rest of the body I presume it is so yes, that's That's fine with me. So we'll go to the recommendation for creation of stability committee. Do you want to start this? Thank you. Yes. Okay. Thank you. So thank you for many well since I've been here and It's not very long But you've had it on my goal list from the very beginning that you wanted to town to continue its focus on sustainable issues and stability initiatives and as we've thought about this we've I Want to first recognize the amount of work that we've already done And I've tried to document some of these things and miss chicarello came up with a list That's a page long of all the things that we have done over the over the years What this doesn't include is all the work that we've done at waste water treatment plant the water treatment plant a number of other Departments these are sort of things that have happened In general for the town. So we've done a lot and that's the message here But I think we can do more and I think that The expectation that you have said is that you expect us to do more and so we're prepared to do that And I think we're set to set up to do that So as we conceptualize this One of the things was there are you can do a hundred things. There's a thousand things It's so big sustainable stuff goes from you know the way you build a building the way you source the materials to electric vehicles to lights to how we provide Water to at events and it can be a million things and sometimes There are so many things that we get we struggle with inaction so I think what we sort of need is a overarching group that's going to first establish goals for us on what we're trying to achieve and then from that group there will Emerge smaller groups that would not be necessarily part of the larger group But would be part of the overall strategy to focus specifically on so zero energy buildings or you know aggregation aggregating electricity in the town or Working on solid waste issues and I guess tonight what I was gave you a brief memo to sort of Get you start thinking about it and how you want to conceptualize it. This is One person's basically concept, you know idea on one way to go. It may not be the best and And so it's just a way to sort of open up the dialogue a little bit We have this chickarello here has been working in the field for a long long time And she's able to contribute or weigh in as well. I'm not sure if you want anything to add but she's Drafted much of this and So in my mind what's really needed is for us to Establish a set of goals that we as a community want to achieve There are many models out there other communities that have done a really good job on this city of Cambridge Obviously, but a number of communities are out in front on this issue And I think we expect ourselves to be one of the leaders in this area at least leaders in Western, Massachusetts And I think that we're not far off from being that way, but we need an organized and Set of goals that we want to to reach for and then a strategy for reach for meeting those goals Otherwise what I fear is that there will be Initiative overload people individuals will come with individual projects safe in every individual project will have merit We'll think and it'll be unrealistic or Unreasonable for us to say no to any particular thing Unless we have a criteria and what's really important for us and especially for our staff is to say What can I say no to what can I say yes to does it fit in with an overall policy and where we want to put our best efforts and So I think that's why we need some a Group of people volunteers from the community who are going to help us conceptualize this and the great thing about this is we've got some really really talented people in the community who are already thinking along these lines and We have our institutional partners who are active in addressing these issues on their own campuses Hampshire and Amherst and UMass and we can learn from the efforts that they have made and in fact Fold them into our efforts because I think we should be looking at this as a community-wide initiative not just Town buildings or things we may want to start with a few things that are town oriented But ultimately we're looking at ourselves as a whole community that includes these three institutions And I think there's a lot of cross-fertilization that can happen So that's the sort of concept of this and be really eager to hear I don't know if either of you want to add into anything, but you'd hear some thoughts on this and what what we should do next Thank You Stephanie Cicarello sustainability coordinator for the town and I would say that Amherst has been in this role and doing this work for quite some time as noted by mr. Balkaman and We are actually in many other communities Noticed and recognized as a community that's doing quite a bit in the field of sustainability and energy efficiency and dealing with the issue of Climate change because we have been doing this for so long But we are at a point where a lot of our focus has been really at the municipal building level and just on what the town operations are doing to address this issue and We're at a point where we really do need to sort of make it a broader more holistic townwide effort And that is really what other communities that we have been working very closely with for instance north the city of Northampton The city of Greenfield some other communities in the area are now looking really more more holistically at their entire and broader community So that's really the point that we're at And why we need input from not just The town government portion of you know What's happening with the town buildings and town operations? But we need to look at what's happening within our broader community And so we need representation from the community as well and we need a lens We need to sort of look at sustainability and all the work that we do in the community from that lens of how it impacts the long-range Vision and sustainability of our community as a whole so that's really what this committee would really be charged with Strings or comments for the Mr. Simer well, I Do note that we had a very successful enterprise to Reach out to make a difference for homes within our community with Solaris Amherst and That was an extraordinary success So I think that we Really have done quite a bit and I'm pleased that we're going to continue to look to doing more the question that I was pondering was How much of the various projects that we've been working on? Have been driven by staff and how much have been driven by volunteers and are we looking to the committee? To be the core of the volunteers to do the work or are we looking for the committee as Mr. Malcolm and said to set the goals and The recruitment of volunteers is a separate enterprise and the reason I bring that up is that the recycling and refuse management committee very much is not just establishing goals but actually Organizing itself to do the grunt work to achieve the goals and I guess I Just look for clarity as we move forward so that we are Sure that we are charging the committee appropriately for the role and if we are not going to have the committee moving forward Taking the violent citizen volunteer component of implementation that we know how that's organized in place So if it's okay, Mr. Chair, I think there's a dialogue because I don't I don't have answers and in Stephanie yet But it's we have opinions and so that's the type of thing our response My sense is that we do need volunteers to do the work and that's where the core of the work will begin I think we do need a volunteer group that is educated on this area or on these areas already to help us Work out in an overall plan, but I think there will be subgroups You know I think of the dog park task force for instance that they have an overall group But they have small groups that go off and work on their own on location and rules and things like that We you know it'd be that type of thing that we would have subgroups That would be going out and working on say energy aggregation or whatever it is that we really want transportation might be one Yeah, I would just add that It's really going to vary there will be moments and projects and times when There will be a requirement for staff to sort of make a commitment to maybe maybe Either move us towards a campaign or project for instance with Solaris I had a very large role in the beginning in terms of the application process But when it came time to actually then implement the program We had a group of community volunteers who were our Solaris team And they were the ones who actually went out and did the hard work of the marketing. They were you know They were at events. They were going door to door They they had a lot of different projects and campaigns that they created to Advertise the the opportunity for folks to install solar on their homes during that time frame So it was a very specific targeted campaign. It was a very specific and targeted time frame as well So I think it you know, it depends. There's again, there's a lot of opportunity here, but And again, it's not it's not something I could answer today either because we really that's kind of what we need the committee for Is to help us frame what the priorities would be moving forward as well So I'm gonna jump in at this moment. I think for me when I think about this. I think about We may want to consider In regard to you know sort of developing a group like this is in some aspects of what we do, there are certain Of our committees and boards that have certain professional expertise required the board of health has, you know certain requirements This is on review. You have to have like an architect There that might be a wise thing to put in here and the reason why I say that is because I think the most Maybe not the most but one of the critical things That when you're setting the goals or things that have highest leverage and it depends on the area of Sustainability you're looking at as to what might be a high-leveraged thing as you said, you know Any idea that people bring forward is noble and and and and worthwhile But is it the best at this point? Is it the kind of thing that moves us the most in whatever directions we choose? And so I think we need to you know identify what those areas are that we think are most important to us or Define what the the broad categories are and then within those categories one of the highest leverage sort of things and I think people that have expertise in In in those areas will be valuable in sort of framing the conversation because You can get into things that are You know very good and noble and have an impact, but their impact for the effort is small Relative to other things we could do and we want to probably take on those things that have the largest impact first I think There may be varying opinions about that and and obviously you know a lot of it is opinion-based as far as what is important Or what has the highest leverage or that sort of thing? But I think that's something that I would offer as suggestions We move forward and this is to think about what expertise do we want to bring on we have some in-house obviously, you know yourself included in that but but I think there's plenty in our community We have the you know fortunate nature of having you know the university and and two colleges in this in city limits to think about these things You know professionally all day long. So, you know, we should tap into that as best we can and and help that to help People with good intentions and lots of energy to keep them focused on things that have the highest leverage be my suggestion a Couple things that just to reinforce what my colleagues have been saying I'm mr. Steinberg's question and then mr. Buckman's answer about Policy versus implementation. I think it's the most a broader conversation because it comes up often with other committees in the work Like when is the committee there for policy and where do they expect it to roll up their sleeves and do the work? So There's different ways to look at that I think your point about the professional looking at some professional Skill set not for every everything what I worry about I mean, I think we're going to move ahead and create this Entity right now. We're just kind of you know fleshing out some ideas and different thoughts we've had so this I'm assuming we're going forward But some of the I Worry that from I worry that Sometimes depending on the composition of the group or maybe the charge You get people are advocating for their interest area or the thing they're most passionate about I think we do have to be able to prioritize because we're not going to resources and time are finite and so we have to make choices all the time and I wouldn't want to see well these two people want to do building stuff and these two people want to do trash and these and then you sort of cancel each other out but people who can Were excited about the overview, you know in the set of compromises that have to be made in order to Move the the town as a whole forward You know the picking and choosing kind of thing that you were talking about But that problem interests them and not just you know, whatever the I mean Advocacy is great and being passion is great, but I I don't want this to splinter out into one of these in one of those kind of kind of things because I Want this to really help us have a clear vision of where we're where we're going I'm not sure if it's exactly along those lines, but I like to hope so and so One of the things I would like that I really like about this is all the things we've talked about But also the idea of bringing all these different groups who have been working on things individually and in set little Areas before like as it has is mentioned on Mr.. Karela's list We had the energy conservation task force in 2000 for some number of years and then it just kind of dwindled away Because we have other things to do and other priorities But the work that group did would be entirely appropriate under this umbrella and looking at this umbrella So how you structure at what you call it certainly you tack that you know I've been part of likes to argue about what's an executive committee and what's a subcommittee and what's a steering committee No offense to mr. So much who's doing a fantastic job over there It's just you know the way people structure things in their minds and what that means But you know we previous had work on climate action by Vince Chikarello with also some volunteers and involved But it wasn't really a formal town committee in some respects and some things were and some things weren't and I would definitely Like to see recycling and refuse management be considered for moving under this umbrella So again, you'd have so that you don't just have you know one of these and one of these one of these It's kind of like you have this overall group and then when it's decided to move on with certain things Then a whole nother committee can get Dispicked that may have one or two people with expertise and then a whole bunch of just really dedicated people who want to do it So that you have all those branches off the committee But so that they all know what each other is working on and whether it's you know Bringing us another thing about how we have to buy recycled paper towels or whatever it is It's not just Tell procurement to do that but that everybody knows that that's all part of the bigger picture So, you know not setting it up in parallel with recycling and refuse But with the idea that recycling refuse would fit nicely within this because the work. They're already doing It makes a lot of sense to me to look at this as a sustainability effort and figure out what all goes in that So that as you say you can make the hard decisions about what to pursue quickly and what to maybe put off for a little while Long the same lines elected with the town manager presented because it reminds me a little bit of the master plan You know when you've got something you can say is it in conformity with this overall instead of goals And then it's much easier for the employees because there's a lot of pressure on staff to do things and we have very active Citizens with lots of ideas. So I think that's a good way to frame it. Let me The other thing I would mention if I could I'm just talking about this is as we move ahead and depending on the circumstances situation I think we I'm not sure how to sort of articulate this without being sort of overly dictating the direction but but the idea of impacts when we want to broaden to the larger community now you're starting to impose things upon the citizenry whether it be our business community our homeowners What's the impact of that and how to evaluate that well as we move ahead because you know you can create You know zoning that forces certain kinds of things to happen you can have unintended consequences Along with the intended consequences that price people out of our you know it could run counter to you know other efforts We're trying to make an affordable housing perhaps or we might squeeze businesses out because these kinds of changes are onerous and You know it's just not something that people have a way to you know May or may not be able to evaluate be able to evaluate well And so that's you know again gets back to some of the expertise questions that I raised earlier But also just I think that's a that's a piece of the puzzle as well as as we make these you know Movements in these different areas that we keep and we try to broaden it out You know what constraints are we imposing upon other people? What is the impact of those of those things as we move ahead? So does it change the timelines we work under or does it change the degree to which we do things? And do we put then you know? reevaluation points in in those sort of actions and activities So I just wanted to address a few things that were said. I guess first of all I just want to say in terms of the the Energy task force that when they came together they really had a specific goal which was to create a climate action plan Which was done and and it was actually Disbanded after the climate action plan was completed and we were getting into the phase of implementation And what happened was once we sort of got into that phase of implementation The sort of necessity of having that organized group wasn't Necessary quite as much anymore and also we were moving towards the direction of Become a green community at that point green communities became available and there was a really a shift in the focus of looking at this issue I think because You know there's been a movement at the federal level to move away from being involved in for instance the Paris Accord that I think we're Looking more now at specifically addressing climate change again That's kind of a it seems to be a renewed focus and not just talking about energy efficient efficiency But really looking at climate change once again So I think having a having a group focused on this effort absolutely at the more the broader community level is important and I hear your concerns and I Share them that we don't want to be imposing things on the citizenry in town in a way that would feel Onerous to them. I mean this is something that hopefully there will be broader support within the community and something the community will will want and Want to work towards and be part of in doing that I think What we really need is to have some kind of a plan and my hope would be that when we gather a Committee together that we create some kind of a plan and a framework to move forward with this work Because you really can be over the map and as miss Kruger pointed you have people with their specific interests So in order to make that sort of a more equitable playing field I think we need to have some kind of a plan or strategy that we create as a committee To move forward and so that will sort of keep that in check to some degree And it will also identify what those priorities are and by all means absolutely We have an incredible pool of talent within this community and absolutely We should tap into them and there are several people I think that would be very eager to participate in this effort already to further comment or questions for the Manager of staff on this I can't resist a Small edit on the first line when it says re regarding and It says an emmerced that is resilient and sustainable. I thought The title for what we're doing is a resilient and sustainable amourst We get rid of that isn't I'm offering that you can keep it the way you have it or it's interesting because it's definitely pointed out sustainable Amherst is Already is that's that is labeled the Amherst College initiatives Sustaining Amherst is our the town though. So there there's these words are so we want something that sort of recognizes that Who we are so sustaining the Amherst was the one that we've used as a town But if you they don't say college after there, no, well, then let's just take theirs They have the they have that Twitter account So thank you both very much miss Brewer When when you write the charge that I'm sure we're going to suggest you please go ahead and do is There is surely some reference you can make to the master plan But the charge itself should reference the master plan maybe that was a disposition of property That's right, so thank you all very much but So next steps Would be we will work on this a charge Sort of steps going forward to sort of lay out a map on where this might go and bring that back to you for further conversation Just the less I was glad to see that the point your concept Includes folding in the recycling and refuse because I was looking at this saying we really need this but I have a sort of my No net gain of committees, so this would actually accomplish the no net game Thank you. Thank you Bob So now we'll go back to 4f which involves project updates on a variety of topics Great, thank you. And again, I will respect your time and the time this evening. I know you have many more agenda items but the town manager asked me to Give you and the the the public out there a very quick Overview of some of the exciting projects that we have on the on the front burner And it is going to be a pretty exciting winter and spring and summer construction season We hope I wanted to talk very briefly and I'm going to go pretty quickly I'm happy to maybe go back at the end and if you have any questions Just note them and we can we can zip back through But I have five projects and then one minor update that I think the manager may want to give on Sweetser Park I have a slide on Sweetser But let me start with Where we're headed on community field as you know the rec working group is Currently focused on creating a master plan for the area you see before you on the screen Community field the high school and the middle school These areas have been identified really as our core recreational field facilities in town and We are looking we have hired using CPA funds Weston and Samson an engineering and design firm out of Boston with extensive experience in master planning for Recreational facilities were very excited to be working with them They came out in December and January to do before its note actually and then after as well to do some recon and some baseline Research out here in town. They met with the rec working group. They met with the ad they met with Facilities staff and and my staff and they are beginning to put together This master plan for this core area that you this see that you see before you on the on the screen We are planning a public meeting on this topic for February 28th at 7 p.m That will an announcement of that will be going out very soon In the next day or two It'll be at 7 p.m. In the town room hosted by the rec working group and the idea there is for us to gather input from coaches from parents from athletes About the current conditions the configuration ideas concepts hopes dreams about what These fields and facilities could be We you'll note that community field not only includes the football field It's really a complex of football softball Baseball and the War Memorial pool So they will be looking at that facility as well You know that there is a very old playground associated with War Memorial pool that clearly needs work They'll be looking of course at the track and the soccer field We know through our communication with school personnel that the track is in in dire need of some improvement so we have Town and school staff as well as committee and board members on the rec working group We're going to be pulling in mr. McPherson our new facilities director as well And I'm slated to meet with him in the next week or so to kind of update him on this So I think I'll keep moving and then we can come back as need be This was referenced earlier in the evening another very exciting project and that is being put forth by the dog park task force after some Many months of exploring both public and private land in town The committee with a recommendation from me. We have landed on trying to utilize exploring the utilization of a small piece of the South landfill Identified up in the right-hand corner there Off of old Belcher Town Road We really need about an acre and a half maybe two acres of the old or we're trying to call it the south Landfill because old and new confuses folks We have working with the chair and the various members we have made Presentations to a number of boards and committees in town and we recently as recently as last week Got a recommendation from CPAC for $90,000 to recommend to town meeting to spend to explore the the full feasibility of putting the dog park on the South landfill that would include surveying permitting work Engineering work as you can imagine This is not the easiest piece of property, but it is town owned There are very few encumbrances on it but we do have to explore and work with DEP on Assessing its Appropriateness and some of the potential impacts of course to the cap the cap is the most important thing If you will in keeping that landfill secure for generations to come. So we'll be working with DEP Berkshire design group has volunteered to do a In-kind a concept for the dog park Peter Wells who lives in Amherst and has his firm has designed a number of dog parks in the region and our hope is to put that Design with a grant application to the Stanton Foundation The Stanton Foundation has offices in New York and Boston, and they are the lead funder of dog parks in Massachusetts And I believe we can secure a grant up to $225,000 for the construction of a dog park. So we're in the feasibility stage We'll be working with DEP. This will have to Dovetail if you will I'll be talking about solar in a minute, but we will have to work very closely With our team of mr. Moring I've been consulting with mr. Moring miss chickarello on this But we'll have to be working very closely with our solar team on this Because we know we need the majority of the Southland feel which is up on the screen As mitigation for our solar project on the Northland feel so again We're creating excuse me the dog park task force has much of their information already up on the town website And we'll be adding to that as we go So the next step would be a concept design done by Berkshire design and then the Stanton Foundation grant So very exciting to be moving that forward The next project is What we call the North Common Main Street parking a come now a combined project as the select board knows We do have funds available through town meeting CPAC funds to Design improvements to the North Common The area between Spring Street and what we call the Main Street parking lot in consultation with mr. Buckleman With mr. Moring We decided that it made A lot of sense to do if if we knew we were going to redo the Main Street parking lot We had already had funds for the North Common It really made sense to treat this entire area as one and design the improvements both for parking for pedestrian ADA plazas lighting Erosion control all of that as one So at this at this time our plan is to utilize Mr. Buckleman may help me out here, but a transportation fund money as well as the CPAC allocation of $540,000 we are currently negotiating with Weston and Samson on this project And we hope to have them under contract very soon This will be a project that is Overseen if you will the public forums by the LSSE Commission the historical Commission With staff support, of course from the various departments, of course DPW mr. Moring and his engineering team will be right there every step of the way We're planning public meetings on this in late February. I don't have exact dates yet But I will have those soon. We will also be Creating a web page its own web page for this project so that the public can keep up on it as we move forward You may recall As we were assembling the money for the North Common We had a number of public meetings. So we feel as though we're not really starting back at zero here This conceptual design was done by DPW engineering staff And we feel as though we're gonna build on that concept design But we really don't want to go back to square one on this we've spent a considerable amount of time and energy I've gotten a lot of public comment so we can build on that So that's the North Common our goal would be under to be under construction ideally Early this summer and that is a that is a optimistic and aggressive goal Moving forward more excitement down south the graph park Spray park and the graph spray park and playground again. The select board is very familiar with this project we again were successful at Gaining the confidence of the CPAC and town meeting to assemble a funding package Just orient folks at home. This is the parking lot at Graph Park the existing comfort station and in this area This is the area where there was an old playground and the old Waiting pool which has now been removed The goal here would be to create a spray park feature a significant spray park feature and a playground And a pavilion both at the upper level and although it doesn't show it in this figure a new pavilion on the lower level Which is down at the Fort River and these are just some concept designs and and ideas That we are bringing to the table This is a project that is going to be designed by Berkshire design as it as it turns out they have extensive experience in in spray park and playground development Again, we are planning public meetings both in town But also down in South Amherst in February and March Our goal is to be meeting with folks. We'll probably have one at Crocker farm We hope to have one at one of the one or more of the apartment complexes off of East Adley Road As you know also we've asked through the CDBG process for funding to do a Multi-purpose path on East Adley Road We have half of that package assembled and we've put forth the the remaining funding request that will go to the state In the coming weeks So the idea is to really reach out to many of the residents neighbors people who are within walking biking distance of Crocker farm Crocker farm parents, etc to gain Insight as to what they would like to see at that park now LSSC has done some of that already, but we are going to redouble of our efforts to Gather more more input This project will be overseen by the LSSC Commission, of course But with input from appropriate staff from planning from DPW and from LSSC Again, we will have a unique web page up with this project in the coming days So that people can follow the progress of the of the project Our hope here and and this is another aggressive timeline But we're pretty confident in this one. Our hope is to have this under construction Late August or at least by September 1st. The goal is to be able to use Gough Park the entire summer and then We would have to fence of course the construction area But there would be construction equipment and and some modest disruption of use there But if we can get the entire spring and summer That we that would be our goal so Gough Park and Then finally This is an image that we used at a recent Solar forum that we had in this room. Some of the select board was there. We had about 40 people Attend. I thought it was a very productive discussion We had brief presentations that I did one miss Chickarello did one and mr. Moring mr. Bachmann was there to answer questions as well We feel as though we have a strong and and and growing partnership with Lee energy group our partner on this For those folks at home who have not participated in this forum This is a picture of the North landfill with the transfer station which is right off of belcher town road And this is simply a conceptual design showing this cross hatching represents a Concept of where? Panels for solar would go. This is about about a four megawatt Array and again that is currently under Development and design mr. Moring miss chickarello have been meeting with our our partners at Lee energy to talk about how this Would would move forward. There's a number of permitting pathways that need to Be completed by Lee energy and in the town will support Lee energy as they move forward as I alluded to earlier this North landfill is all Habitat for a very rare species of bird called the grassland Sparrow the grasshopper sparrow and in order to develop solar here. We need to put land From the south landfill in what's called a conservation restriction So we'll be working with DEP and the folks at natural heritage program in Boston on how to do that We've had a number of conversations with them. And so we have a framework for how that will How that will happen so we're quite confident in moving forward with that strategy Again this project Already has a web presence, but we'll be beefing up that web presence off of the town website in the coming days The permitting pathways, there'll be many opportunities for the public to get involved. There'll be conservation commission permits They'll be DEP process natural heritage process MEPA process and then Finally, there'll be a local ZBA permit that will need to be Achieved by the applicant so there'll be plenty of time for the public to hear more about that And then maybe I'll stop there I know mr. Backelman wanted to have one slide up about sweets or park and I'm not sure if you wanted to update the board Briefly on that. Sure is thing. Mr. Chair. So as you may have seen in the paper and Senator Rosenberg has put a funding request in for a bond authorization bill at the state house and One of the goals would be to for a his request would be to put in $100,000 for making improvements to Sweets or Park. We already know that When you will hear in a couple weeks when we talk about our paving plan that Main Street is scheduled to be repaved the sidewalk from along Sweets or Park and As far up towards Emily Dickinson house as we can do as we can achieve. That's a it's a design challenge is is very bad repair and needs to be addressed and Whether we get this grant or not that it's a top priority one of the top priorities for the town But we appreciate the efforts of the senator and if that money comes through there are Enormous needs throughout the town that we need to address and this is one of them So we utilize his the funds from the state to take the take on this project if I could could just add on this we do have some money set aside through CPAC to assess the condition and possible Repairs for the fountain in Sweets or Park, which is a historic feature of the park It is a unique. I don't have all the details myself But I know that mr. Tucker before he retired schooled me extensively on on the need to look very very closely at that That beautiful historic fountain, so we do have funds set aside for that We plan to contract with an expert to come in and assess Both the condition the and the inner workings of that fountain to see how we can repair that as part of the capital needs in the future Well, that's very exciting to see possibilities for sweet sir. I just looking at this and Wanted to underscore that we have the Clark House and then in Whalen right in this area, which are two senior housing developments in town and Whatever we do to have an eye towards the sort of age-friendly community Mr. Bachman's talked to us about before and maybe make sure that those people also have a voice because in a way This is their front yard or their backyard if you will I mean, this is a highly used area families play here at Lake to see you know a play area more Develop, but I think anything we do around the sidewalks on either side of sweet sir And benches whatever that make it even more accessible and friendly For the seniors who this is their yard Are there any questions? I know I went through those quickly, but other and you've heard some of that before But are there any questions on any of the other projects that I might answer for you tonight? Yes, bro. It's it's not a question. It's more part of a future presentation So when you're talking more about gruff park Although the neighbors who use it right now are pretty well aware of how old that equipment is Just in terms of context of there is the upper and lower playground of course I mean, I know you all know all this I'm talking about the general public So the upper and lower playgrounds obviously the lower playground is substantially older than the upper playground And when you referred to the upper playground is old. I was like well, let me think okay I worked on mill rivers most recent playground. Oh wow almost 20 years ago So yeah, it is older because that was done before mill rivers current iteration Which is showing its age and needing some refreshing But I think it's important for people to recognize that because people don't particularly people who don't have young kids playing right now They just remember, you know, the old stuff at mill river that you remember from when you were a child and Your family's involvement there and then the lower part of graph part where many of that much of that equipment just stayed the same for generations of children and That it was good enough for us Burn your hands on that slide. It's okay. It's not that high. It'll be fine and Just just show that, you know, just like splash parks are not something we We experienced as children that they're they have become the way to go associated with water features and safety and supervision that playground equipment has also changed a lot over the years and so even though It doesn't feel like it's that old It does need refreshing much more memorial again being new her but not new by any stretch of the imagination Because I think it's sometimes hard for people who don't have kids who play there right now to realize It's just not what we would want it to be for the community values that we hold It's not that we're trying to build the most amazing play structure ever But we need safe and fun and developmentally appropriate equipment for kids And that just takes ongoing refreshing and so thank you for including that as part of you know We don't just doing the splash markets that we're realizing that the whole thing and having two pavilions will be an interesting Addition to the space that has always been available there in terms of the lower because it's such a popular place to have To use of the pavilion in the lower section to have an additional pavilion sounds fantastic People will like so one subtle but important point about graph that a lot of people don't realize and and it factors into Where our focus is is that? On the lower level we get into many more resource areas because we're very close to the Fort River Which is a very special river with regard to the unique Species that occur there So we are going to redo the pavilion on the lower level in pretty much the exact same footprint than it is And that's a way that we can work with the conservation commission and and they will be very appreciative of us not you know Increasing impervious surface, etc. There um, but on the upper level our goal And we can't we can't do all things for all people up there But our goal is to do a playground and a spray park that has features that are Appropriate for children of different ages. So the goal is to design it. That's why it's it's really We need an expert to do that because if we we can all pick out of catalogs But Dave Zomek doesn't know what the best features are for three to five year olds and then from six to nine year olds And so this is why I'm a Berkshire design and they bring in People from the companies that make these and then they come up with with the right mix of Features, I do note. Yes, we do have very very old Play structures on the lower level of grove and that's something we're gonna have to really look at Do we need them? Do we want them? Are they still safe? Many people have said oh, don't touch them. We kind of like them But definitely on the upper level closest to the to the restrooms that all needs to be Redone and that's our goal. So the other thing I would just add regarding play structures is, you know One of the things that's becoming more To the forefront in design of those play structures is Accessibility so that kids of all different kinds of it and levels of accessibility whether it be age-based or just physical based You know is factored in as you do that There are some playgrounds in the area that that have that in their design and and people will drive Ways to go to a park that has those kinds of facilities. We absolutely must have that as a key Criteria in our in our design We have recent experience with that because of course the planning staff work very closely with the folks at Crocker farm to design that wonderful CPA funded primarily CPA funded a new play structure at the Crocker farm preschool and kindergarten Just a couple of things and it's just our first bite at the apple because I know we'll see more as it is evolving But when you think about how you're going to use the upper and the lower Play areas It's also challenging when one is supervising young children and the four-year-old dashes to the lower and The two-year-old is at the upper so it may be differentiating or thinking about because I I think some of the parks I've gone to some really super-duper ones fall short where they don't make space for the people who are actually Supervising the children and that's shade Not, you know, we need shade being out there in July when there's no school and you're you know You're the grandparent and you're managing and it's just brutally hot for everybody So enough shade and enough seating in areas so that you're Appropriately watching but giving independence and then that thing of like one runs that way So there's a lot to think about and of course the accessibility I'm sure will be integrated and just to be clear We're really other than the pavilion. We're not really doing anything on the lower level in this phase It's gonna all be on the upper level absolutely shade ADA seating Multipurpose pavilion. How can it be used, you know, nine months a year? Etc. So and we're gonna tie in the the comfort station as well You can tell what things we find exciting Playground equipment. I loved I didn't just pick it out of a catalog last time But I want to talk about accessibility again I want to emphasize a little bit more what mr. Slaughter said back when we designed Mill River almost 20 years ago We looked at places that were we went on many field trips and we looked at places that were specifically designed to be Really accessible as opposed to ADA required accessible. We made Mill River ADA required accessible We did not make it the kind of magnet that there's a name of a child's playgrounds that's like a whole series of playgrounds that Really fully integrates Kids with different abilities and that science has changed a lot in the last 20 years But then we chose not to do that We just did what we had to do and I encourage us to look and see if there's a way that we can do at least a portion of it in the more forward-thinking ways with the more even more recent ways of looking at accessibility because We know that in Amherst we have a number of people who come here specifically because of our school programs that are available to us And so to be go beyond what's required because of course we're going to do what's required We have the little ramp. We have the engineered wood fiber blah blah blah But if we can look at it really carefully I'm sure Berkshire design or whoever can help us with that but to consider it as More than just what's required But perhaps looking at being a little closer to the cutting edge because we did made that decision not to do that 20 years ago And it is a draw. I was gonna say cutting edge, but then I thought I'm not being good for playground Yes, no cutting edges. I really appreciate the emphasis on the accessibility And I will bring that forth to and through Berkshire design I will say that mr. Backelman and I with mr. Moreing Ms. Bills have had fairly recent conversations about you know as we as we don't want to get ahead of ourselves here But as we as we launch Improvements to growth. We have a master plan going for community field. We want to make sure that In time we come back around the mill river because we do know that that playground there You know there are cycles and that cycle was 15 20 years ago We have not gotten a park grant from the state in quite a while You may recall that we applied for multiple park grants for North Common and for a variety of reasons the state didn't love that proposal so our hope is to circle back around and The goal being having an updated current ADA accessible exciting Park North Central and South Amherst and you know, that's our goal over the next five years So thank you. So I have a couple of questions Not related to play grants, but So at the North Common memory serves the Sidewalk on the north side of the Main Street parking lot is going to hold the bike share rack which given that we've gone with the Bell wagon or whatever that group is that the motorized will require power. So I presume as we redo the surface of that lot and we Will need to you know run conduit to that space I presume is the case The other thing I would suggest is just a thing to keep in mind not that it has to happen anytime soon that PBTA has the ability to take basically a panel out of the bus shelter and turn it into a electronic signage and so if there's You know sort of standard power available to them. They can do that They can also put solar on the roof if if necessary It's a fairly heavily used bus bus stop. There are others that are used more but just May not be something but if we're going to sort of tear up the sidewalk to do the parking lot And we're going to run power in that neighborhood It might be worthwhile to run the conduit whether it happens soon or not But just to put that in your mind is something to to keep in mind But the one one question about that though is is that sidewalk on Main Street actually going to end up any wider I know that the lot itself is a little bigger Than is sort of strictly necessary for a parking As it's currently designed so there's more space between cars Than is absolutely necessary as we're back in turn rent So are they is there some thought of widening that sidewalk make more of a little plaza up on the Corner near the lights or not or can you there have been Discussions about that, but it's a little bit early right now Because we're just getting our designer on board But certainly that's come through as we've talked about that island that includes where the bike share will go And where the current bus stop is that we all recognize that that is a very it's a hodgepodge of Generations of bituminous pavement and concrete and and and whatnot. So we definitely want that to be a More welcoming space a more accessible space We do have some room to to move out in in the right-of-way And we also have a little room So it's something that mr. Moring and his staff will weigh in with with our designers on I don't want to get it. I don't know the specifics, but it's certainly been talked about So it's on our radar screen. So the other thing I want to ask about is on the solar landfill You talked about being a four megawatt and again, this may be premature At some of the meetings way back when you know, there was some discussion about whether it would all be Would all the power be essentially sort of credited to the town or would you know Some communities will build one of those and homeowners can buy essentially a certain section of of power from it So for example, my house is not a great even though it's immediately adjacent to that property It's not a great doesn't a great solar resource by virtue of the way the house sets and that sort of thing But if there was a publicly available, you know ability to buy my section To get myself credit for having solar even though it's not physically there There are those kind of things that been part of the discussion at all or is it mostly all gonna be a an agreement between Lee and and the town only a We haven't got there a community solar is something that's becoming more and more popular The biggest Challenge oftentimes for a solar developers having someone willing to take off take the power and they like to have one customer I eat the town to say we will buy everything There are a lot of solar developers out there who are marketing their power to different people or and they look at the big customers and I think the easiest path to success is to have one Entity buy it, but they're doing a community solar option is certainly not out of the realm of reason Do we know what our general year-over-year sort of total use is I think this was a quarter of the use Yeah, we were not surplusing no That's what I'm thinking like we could use all of it and then a little bit of place into we've been approached by three different Entities saying buy our solar places in Western Massachusetts, right? We're sort of holding out because we want to be we want this project to go Right, and we want them not to have the ability the fact that they haven't sold their solar To stop this project from moving forward, right? So we want to be their customer, right? Other questions comments I just want to note, you know There's a there's a lot of product there a lot of projects in play right now and you know, Mr. Zomek is sort of really leading the charge on most of them and It's it's very ambitious, and we've set some very ambitious time frames, especially for the North Common that one is probably Gonna be a hard one to once people start to get their teeth into it and start to understand it and start asking questions I think we and think the public process is gonna be more involved But we have our goal and we're gonna try and work towards that But I just you know credit him and the department the various departments in the town for taking on all these projects And we're gonna be very busy over the next year Thank you Mr. Slater, we have a five-minute break. Absolutely. Absolutely. So we'll take a little recess again. This is a quick look I'll be back. We'll do updates. We'll keep the board very informed. Absolutely. Thank you very much We'll take a little recess so people can stretch your legs and get a drink of water or whatever Then we'll be back in a moment physical Because there's so much We have one other action and discussion item Which is medical marijuana procedures for letters of support and non-opposition. So last time we met we We were discussing a couple different things We may potentially have another request for a letter of support non-opposition, but we also thought it would be wise to take a few minutes and think about Since we haven't dealt with this in a while and we've got a little perspective on it and the circumstances around Medical and recreational or adult use marijuana has changed So I think we can take up a little bit of time to think about how we would approach this What would be our criteria? how In hindsight we would think about it what we would have or should have asked our previous Applicants for these letters and what we might be thinking about for any new applicants that come along To what kind of Rational we might apply to giving a letter of support or non-opposition which still is a Or pair of terms I should say so We have a few things in our packet just To sort of you know, lay out Where we are with applicants Cation of some of the currently approved letters and then the letters themselves I didn't know if our as an experts Wanted to offer some initial comment or thoughts about How they think about this or what their thoughts or Ideas are what they've heard from other communities because you know Let me blow it out and then you'll smooth it over. Okay. That sounds like a good plan Because I mean you've interacted with a lot of other communities who you know grapple with some of these sort of You know points of conflict. There's a very different, you know to my mind Let me just frame it this way is that I think that are we you know medical marijuana is a very different Thing than the adult use and I certainly think of them as very different things And so I think that my approach to a letter of support on opposition is is We're not required to for the other but for this There's certain things I want to kind of press them about relative to the medical aspects of this and so that's that's kind of Where I've been sort of thinking about this a little bit, but I'm curious as to what other communities When you see medical just think adult use because essentially With the new statute the new legislation There's no Prohibition to the conversion, so we may still be at the tail end of the medical Licensing phase and there there are legitimate medical Components that still might happen and they'll be separated in different tax structure and there's different reasons but When you see a request for medical or when I see a request for medical I'm seeing adult use So you can smooth that one out. No, it's only gonna get worse from here. So So one of the things I asked the town manager just to check in with KP law and make sure I hadn't missed something and all the pieces of Paper we saw at MMA and all the other articles we read by the reams every week about Marijuana of various sorts and affiliations from week to week and One we can't rescind at some communities talked about rescinding their letters of Non-opposition and support even if we wanted to which I'm not saying we wanted to but just in terms of knowing our options We actually can't do that because they already got their provisional certificates of registration. So that's a non starter anymore One of the things that's so interesting, of course though is that we have To provide in order for them to get that provisional certificate a letter of support or non-opposition However, as things currently stand with let's just say non-medical Marijuana we don't have to provide anything Except they just say that meets the zoning good enough for us Which is one of the things we've been working on at all the hearings because it makes No sense to me based on the conversations We've had over the years here that we who clearly our community supported medical marijuana. We Forth rightly and quickly did zoning in 2013 to make it happen We gave all these people letters and none of them opened and I'm really mad Jealous even that East Hampton is saying our community was so forward-thinking in allowing medical marijuana It's like so were we we can't help it. They didn't open and so we did all the things we needed to do And so I'm feeling frustrated that We went through this when we didn't have any idea when we wrote when we did those original letters of support Non-opposition that there was gonna be a provision that allowed them to automatically transition into non-medical use and Yet we asked them all these hard questions about who are you really are you really? Non-profit are you really medical? Are you just you know saying this or do you seem to have professional staff associated with this? I mean we were really trying to do our due diligence and now it doesn't really seem to matter because they're all gonna be allowed to flip to record to non-medical use and Without us Giving that letter of support or non-opposition the only saving grace is that they will have to have signed host community Agreements at some point in the process which they did not have to have technically It was a little unclear with just the medical and we only got to that point with one of the organizations but those will be a necessary component of Everything that happens after July