Calling it to order at 6 30 promptly as Is apparent our chair Stephanie O'Keefe is not with us this evening Because her father John cool was in a very serious bike accident on Saturday and is hospitalized at base date So I'd like to start this meeting with a moment of silence for John cool with our very best wishes for his speedy recovery Thank you. There appears to be no one here for public comment So I'm wondering we should probably go to our first untimed item Which you could explain to us if you would About how the layout of the limpia drive is a public way is going to work What I'd like to do actually Dave Zomac We'll be joining us any minute now. Okay, I thought in the interests of time I could Briefly summarize the warrant town meeting warrant that's ready for your signature this evening that would be fine because That will come after our first quarter budget update and those folks aren't here yet either Okay So we have our fall town meeting scheduled to begin November 19th. We've been working at the staff level and with our warrant review group which includes the moderator and Finance select board chairs planning reps myself and TMCC etc It is now ready for signature And you have that In your packets There are 19 articles Scheduled for the fall town meeting on a variety of subjects Including a couple of Financial articles One capital article one related to solar there's an article related to a limpia drive Street acceptance we have a three recommendations from our Community Preservation Act committee Recommendations for use of CPA funds related to open space as well as historic preservation Then we have An article that you'll hear about tonight related to Banning polystyrene in containers There are There are six zoning related articles that the planning board intends to bring Forward And there are excuse me for citizen petition articles related to Related to zoning or town bylaws That are on the on the warrants also So And reviewed, you know by the group and by town council as to form and I think it's ready for signature Well, we still have a few minutes before our 645 item So at this point, I guess we could do the new taxi driver chauffeur licenses and I wonder who would like to read the motion Can I ask a quick question while we're finding those sure materials we have on our desk tonight? Mr. Towne manager a town warrant that doesn't any longer say draft on it. Is this the one we're going to actually be signing? Yes, it's a copy of it. Okay, and it's basically the same, but it's the the most current. Yes Okay, and I suppose you could sign that just wanted to know which one to recycle Right All right, who would like to read the motions for the taxi driver license? I would be thrilled to oh, that would be good. It would be lovely to approve a new taxi slash chauffeur license for Kristina Christopher Babineau of Springfield, Massachusetts on behalf of Celebrity cab Second okay all in favor. I I And the to absent Okay, no second one is to approve a new taxi slash chauffeur license for Timothy Bowman of Amherst on behalf of Zeequie taxi second All in favor say aye We still have quite a lot of time till 645 so I'm wondering should we sign the war we can do the The Appropriate folks have come in related to so Olympia driver Okay, would you be so good as to explain both the article and the Layout that the select board is going to Sure, so in your packet You have a series of documents with a cover memo from myself Asking you to approve the layout of Olympia Drive as a public way That is a required and necessary Action step by the select board prior to any town meeting consideration of Whether to formally accept the the street That Layout also in the packet has been reviewed and Positively recommended by the town planning board at their meeting of October 3rd you also have a An email that summarizes all the various action steps prepared by town council of which this is one of several And then we have background materials From do set Associates showing the the Layout of the roadway itself. We have Dave Zomek is here tonight Rudy Perkins from Hap and their attorney David Bloomberg is here as well and all of these are precursors to the Planned development of a 42 unit Housing units affordable housing units on town Townland at the end of the Olympia Drive and included in this effort as a Funding to upgrade the road, which is currently State-owned land. There's also a concurrent step underway to pursue special legislation To release that property from state control to town control so can in fact be a public way All of this is tied together including the objective of Securing grant funds for the upgrade of the road itself So that it's in an acceptable form public way. I don't know Dave or the others want to add anything I'll be very brief because I believe your packet included quite a bit of information on this on this topic And I'll defer to Rudy on some of the specifics if you have specific questions But as mr. Music said the planning board has reviewed that the layout and sent a memo to The town manager and the select board Prior to that the town engineer, of course under the supervision of the superintendent reviewed the layout as well and Concurred that it was in the proper form And I would also refer to if you will in your packet was a memo from Sharon Everett Attorney from Coleman and Page who very clearly in a and about a five-step Process memo lays out the various steps this being the logical next step In the in the process of accepting the the public way So I think since this is an untimed item This is one piece. I know there may be another discussion of the warrant article I don't know if you have time to do that now But we're specifically here tonight to seek your acceptance and vote on the the road layout Mr. Perkins wants to add anything or mr. Bloomberg Mr. Hayden, I just wanted to say that I'm when we get to the end of this and Our our the Olympia oaks are built and the road is finished I'm going to miss having this article come to us at every town meeting the point being that this is This is the next step and what's been a long process Every step along the way has been met with General approbation by town meeting town meeting supported this With enthusiasm so so thank you Okay, it's a two-step process tonight the first is to have the motion voted on on the actual Acceptance see how the motion actually reads We have to have the laying out the official a laying out as a public way and that has to come first and my understanding from mr. Musanti is that we're not going to actually Deal with the article tonight due to some legal Machinations that have to occur right and that's that's a process. That's well underway, and we're we're quite confident We'll be there prior to town meeting right about Funding you know securing funding for the road improvements themselves, which is tied together with with the street acceptance And I know town staff and town council are working closely with the HAP team to make that happen so we would expect the Asking the select board to take a formal position on the article itself At as early as your next meeting, which is November 5th, but well in advance of the fall town meeting So my point would really be that the layout of a Libya Drive is a public way that motion would Would go forward to go forward tonight But that mr. Perkins would not need to stay for discussion of article 7 because we're really not going to deal with that Right till the future date when right? Okay Does anyone on the select board have any further questions on the layout of Olympia Drive as a public way? Okay Listen would you like to know? Just wanted to make sure that we were set with the funding portion of it and we will be so okay Would you like to make the motion is the motion at the bottom of our motion sheet still the correct one? Yes, it is the other was great. I Move that the select board having determined that common convenience and necessity Require the layout of Olympia Drive as a public way Adopt an order of layout laying out Olympia Drive as a public way as shown on a plan Entitled roadway acceptance plan Olympia Drive and Authority way Amherst, Massachusetts Dated August 23rd 2012 Prepared by do set and associates and forward said layout and plan to the town clerk for filing second All mr. Hayden this is the time for comment. I just wanted to as my comment Thank the the staff for having worked on this I know they've done a lot of work to get it in the right place and to get it all laid out and get it ready For us tonight, and I appreciate that And I'd like to note that prepared by his duplicated Is there another correction any other okay, are we ready to vote? Yes all in favor say aye. Aye Thanks, thank you All right, so it is really close enough to 645 and I think Mr. Puler is here and So we can go on with the first quarter budget update Good evening Thank you for I mean the chance to present tonight I'm gonna go over the results of the town's Operations from a financial point of view for the first quarter of FY 13 In other words this last June excuse me July August and September so we're 25 percent on the way through the fiscal year and As you'll see in a minute we have collected about 29 percent of our revenue and we have Spent about 29 percent of our budgets Although that is a little bit deceptive in both instances because in both instances as we go through the Specifics you'll see that because of the timing of certain things Some things have happened earlier so that you're not exactly matching that That 25 percent of the budget as we go through these reports later in the year when we're halfway in three quarters In the end of the year things tend to match up much better, so it's a little bit early, but Let's say the overall takeaway from the report is that 25% of the way through the year we are on target for our major revenue and expenditure Categories we have not noticed anything that is out of the ordinary or would be a signal for any particular problems and I'll go through some of the specifics on on that now So just to review what we have here. There's a two-page memo here that highlights some of the revenue and expenditure data the memo refers to The revenue pages that are on the third page here for the general fund and the enterprise funds and then The fourth and fifth pages are the expenditures So Really looking at the major categories In recreation and I'm going to include talking a little bit about the golf course in here The golf course we've collected 30% of our revenue Which is again slightly more than 25% but you'd expect that because they're not going to collect much revenue in the next few months They do it all in the summer in the spring Recreation shows 93% collected The reason for that is that within that number There's one big transfer that happens every year that comes from the revolving fund account To go into the general fund and that happens all at once. It's a transfer So it it just shows up as one big lump. We do moderate monitor that separately and Look at the individual programs, but that's that's a that's a different discussion The other major categories Fines and forfeitures are right on target interest income is is pretty small here, but it represents only two months and The timing of that is affected by when things like CDs come do so I would the fact that there's only 3.6% of revenue shown here Does not reflect that we have a major gap in our our interest revenue that in fact is on target other things are Moving right along license into permits More motor vehicle excise tax Again a very small number because you get the bulk of that probably three quarters to eighty percent of that revenue comes in In March when we send out those bills I'm just going to skip down to Some of the bigger numbers here The pilot number, I know one of the members asked me about an email. I'll just mention again That's a timing thing. These are payment a lieu of taxes from certain institutions and from the enterprise funds and those were paid all in one big lump in Some instances probably the most important thing to look at from a revenue point of view are our property taxes That's our biggest source of revenue. We've collected twenty six percent twenty five percent of the way through the year So that's right on target And our state aid is coming in And expected level And our revenue from the enterprise funds is all flowing in again. I think right on target On the expenditure side The reason that you're going to see some of these departments spending Above their 25% target is because within expenditures we include in conferences and there are some departments Such as IT is a very good example where they encumber contracts for services Early in the year. So you see a big jump in expenditures in the very beginning Other than that caveat I would say We are right on target for our spending our biggest departments DPW and police and fire that have the bulk of our Staffing their spending levels for salaries and so forth are at or below where we expect them to be so I Think we're in good shape that way I just want to mention one thing specifically because I realized we didn't put it in the details of the revenue report, but It is important under other excise that reflects the hotel motel tax and the meals tax and We've collected a hundred ninety three thousand dollars So far this year of that ninety nine thousand eight hundred eighty one has come from the hotel motel tax and Ninety nine thousand one hundred and eighty three has come from the meals tax Interestingly the meals tax is at twenty four percent of our forecast So, you know, it's it's spread on target the hotel motel tax is at thirty nine percent It's running ahead and I think that's because mostly because we do see the Lord Jeff opened We had adjusted the Estimate somewhat, but it does reflect the fact that they're really coming in At a much higher rate than they had in the past and I know that that's People often want to know how that's coming in and that's in fact what's happening. So it's doing well With that I'd be happy to answer questions that the board members may have the stock market has risen quite a lot in the last year as that in any way impacted our investments are or are they Protected by being very conservative and therefore we're not going to see much change from and that's a good question because the investments income that you see here is investment on basically our cash position those by law are restricted to short-term investments So it's the short-term interest rates Just buy-and-buy. I think in a year where you see a big increase in the stock market the Effect on the town would be two-fold in the long run one would be on our pension obligations the Hampshire County Retirement Board and Although it takes a couple of years to for that to sort of roll out and on our assessments the other is the extent that we have trust funds or As we'll get to in a minute when we're talking about having an OPEB fund if we can invest that you would see the effect of Stock market gains on those sort of long-term investments. Thank you. That's very helpful other Comments questions Thank you very much. It's oh, there is one miss. I'm just trying and I'm not following it well enough my own notes Which is my fault? when we had the year-end report we talked about Recreation and What we were going to be looking at in terms of perhaps changed expectations this year, etc. but in terms of where we're at just in terms of these quarterly reports where It's the revenue falling and you talked about the golf course for example and of course based on its season You know, we do expect not necessarily things to fit into nice quarters, but at certain times of year Are our other recreation areas, you know on target at this point or? Yes, no, I know for example the softball is way ahead of its expectations. So there's variation, right? So it's a little too soon to say perhaps right, well, thank you very much and We are essentially at 655 So I think we can go into the section on the articles for the town meeting warrant articles that We are discussing tonight and what's actually going to happen tonight Is that we're going to have an overview of these articles and we're going to have presentations from members of staff or Several of the town meeting warrant articles and the select board can ask questions about them But Due to circumstances beyond our control We did not receive some of the background reading material in our packets So we're not really ready to take positions on these formal positions on these articles this evening but we'll do so at a later select board meeting and Then as we noted earlier article 7 will not be considered Tonight as mr. Miesanti explained because we need Some legal work to be done before we can consider that one so the first article is Article 3 and I think mr. Poole will probably discuss that and article 4 It's nice to see you again Such a long absence I think something was emailed to you. I don't know if you have okay. Yes, we got it by email very good So article 3 is for an appropriation of 585,342 dollars into the OPEB trust fund Just to remind people very quickly what the OPEB trust fund is about two years ago Town meeting adopted a state law that allowed cities and towns to set up trust funds To put aside money for long-term obligations to fund retiree health insurance That's OPEB otherwise known as I'm blanking other than Other post-employment benefits, thank you We have an actuarial study that shows that we have about a 72 million dollar liability in these funds That study was done two years ago. We're in the midst of having another study done now to update those figures And What we've been talking about with the finance committee and generally at the staff level is Trying to make a start at putting money aside to try to meet that obligation It's just like a pension obligation where Once when people are employed and they start working for a certain number of years, they'll be entitled to Certain benefits at the retirement and in order to have money set aside for them at that time You start to set money aside now One of the fortunate things for our budget in FY 13 is that after town meeting legislature passed the state budget and it Restored funding state aid funding for the general state aid To cities and towns across the state and for Amherst it meant an increase of over five hundred thousand dollars as we've been doing the final numbers on the FY 13 number budget and Submitting our recap sheet to the state to get ready to set our tax rate We realized that with that extra state aid and a few other minor adjustments there is 585 thousand 342 dollars in revenue that is going to come into the town in FY 13 Over and above what town meeting appropriated? So it is in one sense Extra It won't it won't be extra in future years It will get it's getting used up in future years So it's a good time to do a one-time allocation of those funds for a useful purpose and The recommendation here is that that useful purpose be the OPEB trust fund so I think it will be a good start for us and Getting our foot in the door on funding OPEB. I think we'll send a good Message to the rating agencies and also to our retirees and to taxpayers to know that we are being responsible and starting to set money aside for this purpose I'd be happy to answer questions about that or keep going on to the next item depending on what your pleasure is Does anybody have a question for mr. Pooler about the OPEB funds or Any materials at this point This is where I should really refine the sentence before I get to town meeting But this is the part where I say Even if we put the money into OPEB It isn't completely untouchable in that it is it can be used for current employees and currently retired Employees health insurance if we were to need to do so so if some Significant change in our budget practice needed to take place It isn't that this would be you know untouchable money that could never have anything to do with our current needs Yeah, I just would put one caveat on that and that is I believe under the state law And I will double-check this but I believe under the state law it can be used for the expenses The retired health insurance expenses of retirees, okay, but not current employees Currently retired so to speak yes in place as opposed to Futurely retired One of the things you mentioned earlier is the fact that in that fund it could grow so that would be a good thing for us In several ways Absolutely, that's the whole idea if you can make your money work for you over time It's a good investment again. It's it's the exact same strategy we have for funding our pensions The town has been doing that Since the mid 80s and so now we're moving on to do that with our health insurance Since we're not going to take a position on the articles, I think we should probably wait to assign them as well Are we good? I wasn't sure if we were going to be waiting on these two articles as we are on the others because these were ones that We had discussed previously, but I Had thought we were going to defer on all of them because we didn't have the background material in our physical hands, that's right Yeah, I guess it's a good point. We have been seeing a lot of this and we've we've it's part of our financial guidelines and a whole bunch of stuff, but for our Our audience at home. They haven't had a chance to think about it and be in touch with us about it That might make sense So we'll postpone although I intend to speak to it and better than I'll wait on the assignment Okay, so mr. Poehler if you would like to move on to article 4 Yes, I would thank you very much town Town Financial policies say that our combined free cash and stabilization Should be maintained at between 5 and 15 percent of our general fund operating revenues It also says that if our free cash balance Exceeds 5% of the general fund operating revenues then the excess of that 5% may be appropriated into the stabilization fund and so what the suggestion here is is that Now that we know what our free cash is For coming out of FY 12 or FY 13 free cash We got that certification just last week That we keep 5% of the operating budget in free cash and Appropriate the rest of it into the stabilization fund I'm going to ask you to turn to The graphs that are on the second page of the memo I handed out At the top of the page is a blue graph that shows What our combined free cash and stabilization total fund balances were over the years and you can see going back to 2001 up through current year 2013 We hit a high point in those funds in 2002 at 9.2 million dollars and then Because of difficult economic challenges and cuts in state aid and so forth. We drew those down To hit a low point of 3.8 million in 2006 For several years it stayed fairly stable and then in the last three years We've slowly started to build Those funds up and the FY 13 number is what it the combined free cash and stabilization fund would be Regardless of whether you do this transfer or just the two of them together But it does show that overall what we want to do is get back to a point where our free cash and stabilization fund balances are more in that The mid-range of that 5 to 15 percent range and if we make this transfer They will be at 9.3 percent the bottom graph shows And the sources of those reserve funds the blue part would be Free cash. These are our actual numbers in the past the red part is stabilization fund so for FY 13 what the proposal is is Have free cash be at 3.3 million dollars Transfer money from pre-cash into into stabilization. That's the one million dollars at the top and We already have 1.8 million dollars in Stabilization now from a transfer that was done last fall at a town meeting where we put 400,000 in there I Would then refer you back to the first page of the memo and I have to say I Did this memo this afternoon and there's a couple of typos in here that I'm noticing So I would like to ask you to focus on the numbers in the grid at the bottom Those and anything everything under results is accurate that there are a couple of numbers at the top that Where it says free cash above 5% Whereas an old number that I was using before we have at our final certification of free cash from the state But we do have a free cash certified It's four point three million dollars five percent of that would be three point three million. And so there's an excess of one million Two thousand forty four hundred forty dollars that could be transferred into the stabilization fund. We make that transfer We would then have a Total of two point eight million dollars in stabilization fund and a total of six point two million in our total Free cash plus stabilization again that equally nine point three percent of our budget Okay, just Mr.. Hey, I didn't mean to interrupt. No, no, you're you're you come first. I just wanted to Make a point that has been made before to us here that this This process of moving things into stabilization and all has played a role in Our being able to get a very good reading on our Barrowing So while it seems maybe a sort of a mundane thing it turns out to have some important consequences And I appreciate the reports that we've been seeing with the red and the green and the in this case the green mark saying that's a good thing And I guess I would just add to it that We can spend money from either account. It just takes a greater vote from the stabilization Account from town meeting two-thirds require stabilization fund Requires a two-thirds vote to spend from it. Let's re-cash is so re-cash is a simple majority Stabilization is an explicit separate fund that is invested and earns its own interest and Really is our long-term? Reserve account and so what's being recommended is consistent with the Financial policies that were developed with the finance committee and staff a number of years ago that You know we have a goal of Maintaining reserves between five and fifteen percent of annual operating revenue this This activity gets us over nine percent Right in the middle of that and it's a very prudent thing to do Planning for the inevitable next downturn it'll be out there with the economy obviously goes in cycles This is another action step the town can take To you know protect us and protect our services that we try to fund when that inevitable next time happens Are there other questions miss Brewer actually a couple of comments one is that? Based on what someone sometimes reads in newspapers about other communities They sometimes seem a little unclear on what their free cash might end up being but we are always really good at predicting what our Cash is and so we should be pleased with that It's another good sign of our good budgeting and the other comment I had is in regards to the financial policies that we're referring to that Those are available on the town website. They should be linked from the FY 14 page Although I haven't gone and looked recently so those are not like some you know Mythical policy from 400 years ago Those are things that we are very currently looking at and select board continues to refer to in our budget guidelines as well Okay, I guess we again are not going to take a position. So you are free. Mr. Puller and thank you very much. Thank you Hey The next article we're going to discuss is article 9 which is the ban of EPS foam in restaurants and I know that Susan wait is here and Please introduce yourself and if any of your colleagues are going to come up there with you They should do the same My name is Susan Wade. I'm the recycling coordinator for the town of Amherst I work for Guilford mooring at the Department of Public Works and I have joined here tonight by Four used to be four of the recycling and refuse management committee members We have oh it is four. We have Laurel Dickie over here on the left Brenda Kennedy Davies next to her behind them is Sumirello and to Sue's Right left left is Christina Cox Fernandez Thank you. You're welcome. So I have been elected. I'm Here representing the recycling and refuse management committee about this article The article is essentially to ban the use of expanded polystyrene foam single-use containers from restaurants in Amherst and Users of town facilities They would be prevented from dispensing them The key reason why we feel that this is a really important issue to handle now Are that first of all? Extended expanded polystyrene foam is extremely bulky. It weighs virtually nothing and you'll find that the Manufacturers often emphasize how little it makes up the solid municipal waste stream by weight It weighs virtually nothing the amount of paper If this was filled with reams of paper The equivalent amount of weight in polystyrene expanded polystyrene would be the size of a refrigerator So this material is filling up our landfills which are quickly reaching the end of their lifespan and If it is incinerated as 50% of the municipal solid waste in Massachusetts is then that material is going potentially Into air quality confusion So that that's one reason it's also not biodegradable. It's photodegradable which Light does not hit it in inside a landfill and it's impractical to recycle I can go into detail about that because some people have arguments the other way, but I'm happy to take them on Local landfills are closing as you may know We have three landfills that are not too far, but all three of them will be closing in the next three years some of them sooner than that It was classified that is styrene was classified as a human carcinogen by the national toxicology program Which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services Last year so that was in 2011 So that's another timely reason why now that might be a good time We believe Amherst is ready for it in 1987 this a ban was brought before the town meeting in Amherst and I'm not sure exactly what happened to it. Some people think that it was passed, but the town Clerk tells me it was not passed. So we figure 20 some years later We might be better prepared to take this one on the taste of Amherst recently occurred in June And it was for the first time a pretty much trash-free event We composted and I think the Chamber of Commerce and some local restaurants really saw that it was doable to do this All of the 20 some restaurants were were approached and explained that that foam was not going to be allowed Would they had to use something? Compostable and it was a really successful event and I think Tony Maroulis and other people were just really thrilled at how easy it was It it was not as big of a burden and a fight as they thought that it might be As you may know lots of other communities in the United States have started on this path the city of Seattle has Banned not only banned styrofoam, but it has made all restaurants use compostable material and all restaurants must compost in addition Great Barrington in here in Massachusetts Nantucket and They all they both have bans for styrene or poly stop expanded polystyrene and Most recently the town of Brookline is also pretty pretty far along in their In their efforts to make it happen This is part of a bigger vision that the refuse and recycling management committee is looking at Which is looking at how we can reduce our waste stream in general? You might have heard about the zero waste movements in other parts of the country and in Europe and indeed I think the whole country of New Zealand has adopted a zero waste approach as well where it's looking at Looking at what we throw away and making sure that that there aren't things that we can be pulling out and Using in a better way in a better fashion That it's a resource and not it's not waste till it's wasted So this is a first step that the recycling committee sees in a larger movement and we also think that at this point It's kind of low-hanging fruit in that based on some of our research Only a 30% or fewer of the restaurants in Amherst are currently using expanded polystyrene It's easy to identify It's is used for hot food, which is a Potential concern based on some of the health issues So we just feel that it's a good time to pursue it right now Okay, are there questions mr. Hayden? Yeah, I have three questions two of which you've answered already but the the third is that First of all, I'd like you to describe the work that you've done to be in contact with the restaurants and to Sure, out the alternative or figure out where they might go for alternative material compostable material sure Well, the question is what about the restaurants which are not local. I'm thinking that we've got three chains in town that Probably are required or have some impetus to use expanded polystyrene From headquarters. Sure. Well the committee. Oh, I forgot a very very important piece the committee has been Working in conjunction with the Amherst League of Women Voters and the Hitchcock Center for the environment to push this issue forward They've been they both groups have been really terrific in supporting the whole process and we thank them And we we consider ourselves a team with them and I apologize for not mentioning that sooner so the group has after they took their information about which restaurants that are known users of foam and they have been visiting them with information with samples of alternatives to foam with information about what we're doing letting them know that we're pursuing this at town meeting and Telling them that we are hoping to help with them and help them and work in conjunction with them to find solutions One of the solutions that we're pursuing is that we are we have identified a supplier in Greenfield Who is interested in the possibility of making a buying? Consortium for small business owners here in Amherst that might help them reduce the price of Alternatives to foam foam is extremely extremely cheap to buy. It's really easy to make. It's a real profit Center for for those who make it It's essentially blowing air into polystyrene and so it's inexpensive to produce It's the hind end of the of the lifespan that that we are most concerned with So it's very cheap to purchase in comparison with some other things but the other the prices of the other products that are alternatives are coming down and this buying consortium that we're working on would potentially allow not only the The supplier to go back to their Manufacturers and say hey, there's a potential market here that we're working on building and if you can help us ease some of the prices We can we can build this market So it's going to give them some leverage with their suppliers and it'll give Amherst community Amherst restaurants a possible possible venue for Reduced prices also That being said the prices are already coming down when people first started looking at this about four years ago or more the price Comparison was much the gap was much greater than it is today So that's that's part of what we've been doing with the local groups. We are also Going to be running an ad in the Amherst bulletin Explaining why we're pursuing this at that at this time and and having a list of restaurants and Amherst That do not use foam at this right now and and don't plan on using it and kind of thanking them for for For doing what they're doing so that's We have visited over the last three or four weeks about 30 restaurants or so and For the most part the results have been people have come back and said things were very positive people Want to do want to make a change some of them have a harder time financially doing so Some of them have already made the change since we identified them as using foam So that then some of them were very enthusiastic about the concept of the buying consortium So so it's and some of them only use it for one item in their restaurant So, you know, we only use it for soup or we only use it for this or that so it's not Often it's not the situation where where they they're using tons and tons of it There are a few of those situations, but I have a couple of quick questions the first is if this and I'm sorry that I haven't read it in article and enough detail to be sure but Would there what would the effective date for adoption of this article be the effective date is written is July 1st 2013 okay So that people would have more than six months to sort of get phased out of their stocks right right The second one was on a cost basis How many cents would moving from styrofoam from expanded foam to paper or plastic What's the price differential? I'm we don't have I'm embarrassed to say We don't have that information yet. We're in the process of getting it part of the problem is that for me to call suppliers Is kind of a shot in the dark because they don't know how much I'd be ordering. They don't know what I'd be ordering They don't know what I'm ordering now. So we're going to be Working with a couple restaurants to work through them to find out what their suppliers say would what the price Differential would be I did a little looking on the web You can get a lot of information there about different paper products and plastic ones and it's Surprisingly reasonable Didn't used to be yeah, didn't used to be but I think that's definitely the trend No, I'm saying it's it's reasonable Not expensive Other questions or comments miss Brewer. I have a few and For those of you who are more interested in zoning articles in this particular article Please don't feel bad if we don't ask nearly as many questions about the zoning articles yet because we haven't read lots of pages associated with that but this we've had a little more information on ahead of time and you know It's one of those things you see in restaurants. So it's a little easier to get your hands around You've mentioned here in the article itself that UMass Amherst College Hampshire College are already on board, which is great Are there any town or school uses currently is the town or the school side using these products at this point? Not that I'm aware of well. Well, I should and there's a caveat to that the Wittson's culinary group is the school school Food service provider they their predecessor did use foam disposable trays in all of the schools Wittson's since they have come on board has been using bamboo trays bamboo fiber trays Which are compostable and at our middles at our elementary schools. We have compost programs. So Probably, you know a mass vast majority of those are going into the compost There I don't know about Any other kind of auxiliary services like I guess soup kitchens wouldn't necessarily be a town event There might be some auxiliary ones, but the schools Might still use it at the high school For soups. I'm not sure I need to double-check. I need to give them a call and be in touch with them But they they for the most part do not they might use it for soups an oatmeal I don't recall what they were using But they do not use it for the trays That's great that they aren't using it for the trays I think it would just be nice to be able to confirm that for town meeting just like it's nice to be able to say about UMass Etc. In terms of one of your handouts here that we just received today Talks about materials to look for and materials to avoid One of the things I'm confused by in the box of materials to avoid I can see on the left hand side where it includes the foil and the more things that we think of as like cardboard and Paperies as being appropriate things to use materials to avoid I'll look like white styrofoam to me except for what looks like a takeout box That's a little foldable So is that because it's so heavily weighted toward the white compost right to a white styrofoam Is that because it's waxed cardboard? It's not waxed. Unfortunately. There's a plastic lining Oh, that's a plastic lining. There's a plastic lining in the folded in that we do have there are Versions of those like the ones used at Whole Foods and others that are that are not that are waxed And they are not they don't have a plastic lining, but those particular things Commercial composters do not want because of the plastic lining. So a waxed cardboard is wax cardboard is they love it It's they get lots of it from produce. Yeah, that's the problem. Yeah On the on the schools, I mean one of the practical considerations on the recommended effective date of July 1 of 2013 was to get us beyond of the Academic year so that we're not introducing a regulatory change, you know with 45 days to go in the school year. So that was done on purpose The only other thing I'll say is to thank Susan and The members of the committee who have been laboring for at least the last two years on this and to me it's To me it's analogous to the work that was done on a different but similar issue the Building stretch code related to our green communities Aspirations there was that process was marked by a lot of outreach to potentially affected Customers which in that case was the building contractor community and there was a lot of education and question-and-answer thing going on the same has been true on the Expanded polystyrene with the outreach through to businesses and the visitations to restaurants, etc. So that's Just wanted to note that it's great staff and committee work Mr. Wall. Yeah, just thank you very much for a detailed and thorough presentation. It's very helpful It's a I think it's a it's a great move and you know We would hope also not that people decide to do their shopping on the basis of compost ability But that you know if we establish the town's reputation as a green town, especially given the number of restaurants here That's kind of a plus to you know You'd hope you would attract shoppers if they have a choice would prefer to do their eating an emmerist and somewhere else Because of our ethos as well as the quality of their products. Sure. I had a thank you I had a Conversation today with the health inspector from Great Barrington, Massachusetts and he was explaining they've had their ban in effect for over 20 years But he was explaining how proud the community is and and that there really is very little pushback. He said that when You know an occasional an occasional voice of especially after the market crash in 2008, but he said for the most part everyone is very supportive and they have a Not only a population base but visitors that appreciate the Great green, you know, aspect. Yes. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. I do think we need to move on and I See a couple of faces in my audience that I don't know was somebody here to speak on this or Okay, all right, then we will move on the next Is article 10 public water supply? Protection And tonight we have planning director Jonathan Tucker and Rob crowner from the planning board to give you an overview on these articles so the first article is is Actually, all these articles are really just the pregame. It's next time around when the really exciting stuff happens The first article is is is Really a so-called technical fix it just adds a reference to state law Regarding a water Supply protection It doesn't change the regulation the regulation is already there But it but it adds the language of the state law to to our zoning by law so that when Waterside protection district is affected, you know to go to the right place in state law Seem very straightforward to me. Do any members of the select board wish to ask questions or comment? Yeah, I just just a couple of quick that I'm you know sort of justing all of this What is zone one two and three in ABC and do we have those or is that the sign to us by the same state? Regulating body that created the regulations that we're referring to now. Yeah, those those those are state state designations They're not part of this ever by law I don't know exactly what they are All right, I guess we're ready to move on to article 11 Lodging and boarding house definition. This is just adding a definition That does not exist although we have the use and we already regulate the use in the use chart. We also regulate the use Someone differently in Accessory uses in in article five of the zoning by-law. So it's it's lodging and boarding house What that does is It Describes what exactly we mean when we when we refer to lodging a boarding house in the zoning by-law Lodging or boarding house is a place where rooms are rented out rooms not dwelling units by a resident owner or manager and It it's up. It's from six to ten rooms. So the reason for this is When we are discussing when we were discussing the other residential use Amendments that we're going to be proposing There's often reference to a lodging house or a boarding house But we need to have a common understanding of what that is That that definition or that definition is implicit in the zoning by-law, but it's not actually stated right now So we're proposing to add it so that everyone knows what we're talking about comments Obviously, we haven't seen this in detail and so we'll take a look at it, but to one's really easy question and then I'm more slightly more complicated one the really easy question is I do not recall from my zoning by-law if cooking Facilities include the definition of microwaves or are we talking about stoves and hot plates and that sort of thing What does that mean really? Oh The the actual term in the by-law is kitchens kitchens rather than cooking facilities When you're talking about a dwelling unit under the state building code, it has sleeping rooms It has sanitary facilities and it has kitchens if you have all three of those It's a dwelling unit no matter how small or how it's arranged Since this use is intended to not be renting Dwelling units, but instead to be renting rooms. They may in some cases have sanitary facilities associated with them or not The dist the distinction between these and dwelling units is the absence of kitchen slightly more complicated question is again since I Don't have time to read what it said happened at the public hearing Is there anything in particular that jumped out during this discussion that you think will be come an issue? Associated with this there was any particular point of concern that anyone raised during discussions either amongst yourselves or at the public here So I don't think there will be there was some discussion of the public hearing, but we incorporated the response to that wording so Shouldn't be anything left over that's that's controversial other questions I Guess I do have a question our This term would now apply to the kind of houses that have four unrelated students in them Is that is that considered now a boarding house? No boarding house a lodging or boarding house Lodging a boarding house The owner is resident on on-site or there's a manager who resides on-site and you're only renting rooms individual rooms It's not it's not a group living situation. It's it's it's just renting do we have places like this now We have a few actually we have a few that are recognized We probably have quite a few that are not recognized. There's one on South Prospect Street In a long-standing this SROs would also fall into this this category This says it is a Use that has been in existence in Amherst since probably the late 19th century or earlier in response to the growth of the first Massachusetts Agricultural College and and as the institution grew we probably have these all over But in terms of what is being regulated here. It is these as a principal use There are also in the bylaw as mr. Crown are referred to there are provisions that allow Someone to use their single-family residence, which is the principal use in an accessory fashion to let Rooms to one to three individuals by right or four to six People by special permit. That's not the same thing. Those are still single-family residences That's the dominant use on the site in these cases a lodging or boarding house The dominant use of the property is to for lodging and boarding. That's what it's Principally for and that's what this is intended to regulate and again all that we're doing here. Although we're making we're adding a few Regulations that weren't there before as we're adding a definition that was missing Other questions. I'm sorry. So it's without belaboring this too much because I'll obviously read more about it Again, obviously we have a few they certainly more than likely predated the idea of taking a three-bedroom cape and trying to turn a Regular three-bedroom cape into a student rental and lodging and boarding houses have a great history in our country for all sorts of reasons At this point, we are not seeing many conversions to that I should think in that you would have to have a fairly substantial property in order to do that given that a minimum of six rooms Is what qualifies you as a lodging? So this is not something that's going to be like a 1949 cape is going to be turned into this in theory of Victoria and of some sort might be am I sort of understanding the scope of what we're talking about? It's actually persons not room. Okay to 10 persons and the number of rooms is not specified Okay, so it could six persons would be above the foreign related limitation so For the occupancy of a single dwelling unit That's that this is distinguished from a dwelling unit. This is a lodging or boarding house That's part of the difference here. It's a distinct principle use and regulated in that way Okay I'm still having a little trouble getting my head around what how I appreciate that we had to put the definition in you know That would be useful obviously but in terms of understanding where this positions us in terms of our future discussions about neighborhoods etc and Trying to keep track apparent, you know possibly through some sort of rental registration system this would If it were to be included in such a thing would need to be included in kind of a separate way And that it is a different sort of thing then then renting out Than having a house that's been turned into a rental Further questions or comments? Okay, then we can move on to the last zoning article for tonight residential zoning definition So these are more definitions that arose in missing or Definitions that need to be slightly revised that arose in our discussion of their residential use amendments so again, it's it's the reason is is so that we have a common vocabulary We we understood we Are meeting something specific when we refer to various terms in the zoning bylaw. So we're adding A definition for dwelling unit, which does not exist Again, a dwelling unit would include The various uses including kitchen and sanitary use that that are not necessarily Part of a room So all of the things that we present for dwelling unit to exist We're adding some revisions to the definition of family or household These are Aspects of a relationship that that Everyone knows exist, but but are actually not in our bylaw It our bylaw appears to discriminate against civil unions. It appears to just discriminate against custodial relationships It appears to discriminate against Congregate housing so so all these things are we we understand them as as Being a family or a household, but they're not in our bylaw. So our bylaw sort of seems to disallow them we we attempted to Address the issue of for unrelated possibly by developing definition of functional family that might include Four or more or less unrelated people That's a bigger job than than we anticipated and we're going to come back to that Hopefully in the spring. So this doesn't this does not change or or make any Amendment to that part of a family Adding a definition of habitable space because a subsequent article will On converted dwellings Will refer to habitable space in In a place where we currently talk about footprint so we need to have a Definition of what habitable spaces and again habitable spaces is is a Similar to dwelling it includes all the Aspects of dwelling but it's it's it's a way of measuring the space rather than Describing the space A definition of principal residence This is directly in in response to The idea that that places should be occupied by the person who owns them but Ownership is does not necessarily mean residents and so we need to we need to Explain what we mean by a principal residence so that when we refer to it we understand and so a principal residence is is Is is really the place where a person actually resides and it would be proven or demonstrated by a variety of things including decoration of homestead the place where you fire your taxes from the place where you Get your mail and where you are listed on the street address and so on I Guess the next one is resident manager resident manager again. We're going to be proposing that For a special permit a the permigrading body would be able to require as a condition of a permit a Resident manager among other things if they want to do or some other sort of management Service so so we need to have a definition of what a resident manager is and that is Someone who lives at the site and is responsible for managing the site So none of these Definitions specifically Regulate but they allow us to regulate more clearly and and More directly than than we currently do Questions, Mr. Hayden a quick question. What are the qualifications? Qualifications for the rental resident manager, so Okay, this this is a good question Let me preemptively answer This first question the controversial ones in this list are Resident manager and principal residence we can't possibly Define all the qualifications Nor all the aspects of what a management is What we're doing is is is allowing the permit granting body to to Use the definition to craft conditions for a permit that makes sense in the context of that permit That that place in town that use whatever it is so so qualifications for a Two-family home might be different than qualifications for a six unit apartment I Would expect or I guess I would hope that when the rental permitting system is is Developed that there might be a a series of of qualifications that that Apply to various kinds of management But we're not going to we're not going to define them in the zoning bylaw We're providing that as a tool for the printing body to to use to issue a permit And so there's a follow-on to that This then would be Only an issue when a special permit is being considered I mean, I know I know we haven't gotten to the next section yet, but is that where it fits in? That's exactly right It's it's um there. There's no current requirement for resident manager on any use But but if the subsequent articles are adopted by Tom meeting They would they would empower the permitting body to require a resident manager if they want to Are there comments or questions? Is there again unrecognizing that you can't do every little detail on that the purpose is to provide a Starting point for the permitting body talking about principal residents. Is there been I'm glancing at these you know It says illness Catastrophe references our academic calendar, which is great What about the people who live half or three six months in Florida every summer or you know North Carolina or wherever the current warm climate is How is that considered? There's a provision in Massachusetts law That it says for purposes of a range of state functions You have to declare what your primary your principal residence is whether it's in Massachusetts or somewhere else That and that is referenced in that that so if someone's principal residence is actually in Florida and Massachusetts is just a summer thing or whatever That would be noted and caught in that way part of what this definition does is to Try and describe enough different indices and then turn over to the zoning enforcement officer in some cases the permit granting body responsibility for assessing in each individual case Where the where the measure falls What is this real or is this not? There was a great deal of discussion during actually the entire summer pretty Pretty much over all of the ways in which people might artfully Find ways to game the system here because rental Property is such a substantial part of the economy of Amherst There would be motivation to do that and the way to get around that is as I just described is to create a range of Indices and then allow the permit granting body or the zoning enforcement officer to make judgments in each individual case That would apply also to the resident manager situation there was The the feared circumstance Heard from often was well the owner will just assign one of the students presuming. It's a student rental We'll just say you you're the you're the manager You have to you know give your name to the police and so forth in case of this there's trouble By giving the permit granting bodies the ability to assess this and saying using the word qualified Hopefully you get around that that's not to say that you might not encounter a 19 year old who had been Part of a family that does you know rental properties and had been doing this since they were 16 And we're certified under the state to do this and you just you need to be able to respond to the full range of Possibility that's out there and that's why the language is not as specific as some would be comfortable with other comments or questions Mr. Hayden Just a comment of appreciation I've sat in a lot of the zoning subcommittee meetings where this stuff has been hashed out the last several months and I know that a great deal of information has gone both ways And I just want to appreciate that. Thank you. I think we will move on then to our 740 item We're running a little wait and that is this Right of first refusal option on a parcel owned by Cal Coles on Flat Hill Road. This is Something we have voted on in the past with two other lots as I recall so as I remember Both the planning board and the conservation Commission Voted to Refuse to By the land basically they I think it's called the right of refusal Yes, the right of first refusal so But somebody like to either speak to the issue or make the motion for us I just want to make a comment on this we've seen Now I can't remember in which one of my lives I first saw this whether I was in the planning board still or if this was a conversation that happened subsequent to that But part of the reason that the conservation Commission didn't Recommend that we exercise Our option to purchase this parcel is that it did not include Habitat for sensitive Species it's not valuable that way. I mean if you if you're familiar with it It's a kind of a grassy field on top of a hill But they didn't feel it was a had a huge value that way It has been Protected under chapter 51, but then they pay the difference And taxes which comes to about five hundred and some dollars. That's right Mr.. Of course we have in our packet as we usually do The position of the conservation Commission and of the planning board I noticed that the planning board was not a unanimous decision though, and I just wondered if there was a particular Concern that was raised associated with that that I don't see mentioned specifically Usually they're pretty no who had that concern. Do you want to say anything? Mr. Mr.. Kroner So I was a person who voted against it Obviously, I'm not I'm not representing the planning board. This is my my position I felt that that Planning board did not have a basis for making a recommendation on whether to exercise the right of first refusal or not There's a lot of factors. There's cost There's a you know the conservation plan. There's Conservation issues. There's the master plan all these things. So I felt that All right, and I do feel for all of these withdrawals is That we should be providing our input on on on how would have how our expertise are from our sphere of Contribution to the town Where does it fit and and and to me? I think Our our master plan Asks for Directing growth residential grow to to centers and and at the same time protecting outlying areas I consider this an outlying area. I consider Development there to be sprawl development because there's no sidewalks It's not close to any services or shops or anything So that doesn't mean that it that it should be protected to any cost obviously, but we don't know we don't know From the planning board. We know that what the purchase price was We don't know what the context of the of the long-range funding for all conservation project is So I thought that the appropriate response should be That it meets a minimum standard for protection that is our map if you interpret our our master plan very strictly It would meet that those standards for protection But then obviously you would have other factors to consider Thank you, thank you I just want to mention I not having discussed this with you ahead of time Um, but having served with you on complaining at some point associated with master plan That does bring up an interesting and valuable point associated with process beyond this particular Project in general one of the things I've often been heard to complain about this venue is why are we signing off on something? Why are we asked our opinion on something if we have no control over it or we don't feel like we have Certain background information associated with it mostly. It's that it's a state thing We don't have any control over that I end up complaining about But in this case it it is quite clear what the conservation Commission's role is in these but it isn't as clear what planning boards role is and Where that line is drawn as to how much information? They should be expected to consider Versus what we as a select board should be expected to consider because I think that basically our response over my years On the select board has been if the other board sign off on it, we do too and so if no one's really looking at The conservation Commission I'm sure to some extent would look at the master plan, but given how important the master plan is to at least three of us at this Many more of us than that I Just want I want to get a sense maybe for you town manager, although this is obviously completely, you know new comment Where where how do you perceive, you know, we only do these every so often and when we do we always have this huge amount of paper and It all seems very straightforward, but maybe right and state law chapter chapter 61 section 8 gives the town an opportunity exercise right a first refusal So the staff The conservation Commission and you know the planning board by a vote of seven to one Felt that this parcel is such that it doesn't Suggest the town exercise, it's right at first refusal so they've done that in the context Of master plan and other things So the recommendation is to Not exercise the town's right at first refusal Yeah, I would want to develop the idea a little bit further because I've been In a similar position thinking about this in a past life as I mentioned There are Many ways that a parcel of land can be protected from development The master plan in fact refers to a couple of them and suggests developing some tools that We're just beginning to think about now as far as moving around development rights The the chapter 61 process is one. It's not a very good one It's not like an APR process for instance or Purchasing the land outright and turning it into you know or having a kestrel fund come in or some other way some other mechanism It isn't in perfect one. It has this rigid process and That's the one we're engaged in now In a way I Hope that mr. Crown is concerned would excite People to engage the other ways of preserving this plot this parcel But as far as this one process is concerned, you know, the decision is kind of straightforward Whether or not the town should buy it to protect it Comments mr. Walt. Yeah, I tend to defer here to the opinion of the conservation commission and the planning board majority But again, like others here. I've worked very closely to enjoy with mr. Crown around the master plan for longer than I care to think about sometimes And one of the things that was so good about that was a kind of intense debate We had about fine points of policy and wording So I really are very grateful to mr. Crown for bringing out these these subtleties here Even if they may not affect the outcome because I think they are important I guess the way I understand things when I when we say the town will direct growth here or there We do it more actively through zoning. I mean it's a little bit like the historic preservation cases We find so for example the Hawthorne farm We decided could not be saved because it wasn't affordable and it wasn't historic preservation priorities I guess priority is one of the key words there You know given the in a time of fiscal constraint and a free market system that privileges capital and private property ownership We're going to have limited tools and so this is one of the things going to come up And of course one of the dangers is that property owners couldn't affect blackmail the town by threatening development under destruction in places and Trying to force us to expend money, which obviously we can't do Just to follow mr. Hayden's point about the general issue as some will recall one of the Forces that helped us move the master plan toward completion was the Sun setting on our phase growth by law Which was ruled unconstitutional along others in the state and we had in place replacement for that the development modification by law which would have done some things that we all support like encouraging good growth and discouraging bad growth and town meeting in its wisdom decided collectively not to support that But we have tools that we could be thinking about in the future to help a will again other comments Mr. Cronin Yeah, I just want to add one more tool to mr. Wilds list and that's transfer development rights I think this would be a good candidate for transfer development rights Okay, I think that concludes then our discussion of the zoning article The chapter 61 right of first refusal, but we need a motion I think Yes, I move that in accordance with MGL chapter 61 section 8 to not exercise the town's right of first refusal to purchase lot for as Described on a plan of land entitled plan of land located in Amherst, Massachusetts Flat Hills Road prepared for WD Coles Inc. dated January 20th 2012 Land currently classified and taxed as forest land Being sold and or converted to some other use second All in favor of mr. Hayden you would like to comment which is gonna have a question mark in it We get some back taxes on this right 500 There's a certificate from the assessors in your packet that details that All in favor say aye Okay, so now we're ready to move on to the budget policy and guidelines discussion and Miss O'Keefe Had modified our Guidelines yes, and I Do not know Whether I should read the new editions or the whole of the Guidelines it seems like a lot to read it So maybe I should just read the new editions mr. Hayden I was gonna recommend that you read the edition since we have read the rest of it. Yes All right, and it is available online too for and it is right so we are talking about FY 14 revenue and I will read the sentence Sentences we support maintaining a level services budget to the degree that it is possible While recognizing the necessity of addressing the loss of community development block grant funds It is critical to find a way to continue funding the winter emergency shelter and Other human service agency investments as well as town staff support for these efforts This may well be the greatest challenge of the FY 14 budget And we are confident in your ability because this is stressed in mr. Miss Antie to find a thoughtful and practical solution and then under expense reduction I will read what was modified the whole sentence The select board continues to support appropriate Regionalization and reorganization Where such initiatives would reduce costs and realize efficiencies and we would like to see real progress on the Emergency dispatch regionalization effort in particular Later on in that same paragraph. There is a paragraph sentence added saying we encourage the town's continued success at Expense reduction via Quote ordinary end quote means such as aggressive cost comparison reducing waste and seeking greater efficiency and Do we have an update under economic development about our current commercial sector as a It's not ready for tonight. Okay, and then other new revenue has these new portions We believe the renewal of the strategic partnership agreement with UMass provides an important opportunity To ensure that all relevant categories of costs incurred by the town are included and updated We encourage active pursuit of similar reimbursements with Amherst College and Hampshire College A sentence further on we appreciate and encourage the town's aggressive pursuit of grants to offset costs Expand services and again another sentence further on we support strong local Advocacy for the statewide effort to increase funding for road work and other transportation and transit transit infrastructure and the last one includes amongst the Possible grants for additional capital the park grant program which has been good for us in the past and hopefully will be in the future So those are the amendments to the guidelines for the budget guidelines for FY 14 and I Would ask the board for comments suggestions for additions or corrections Mr. Hayden first of all I want to thank Stephanie for doing a very good job of Distilling our conversation as I recall it when about these things I Want to point out I support these I'm very happy with these But I want to point out that By adding them or adding several of them We are going to have to revisit this next year because these are things in here are very timely and specific to this fiscal year it may not be Appropriate another fiscal year, so just just I don't mind taking on the extra work But I just want to remind my colleagues that it's going to be there right that's why we do this every year I guess We were getting close to a sort of a it seems like Asia flew all over again, but it really isn't yeah Other comments from the select board Okay, so we could take public comment at this time on the budget guidelines with someone Wailing Thank you. My name is wailing greeny and I'm a time meeting member from precinct 10 I really appreciate the comment that our time manager spoke last Selectful meeting about the CDBG money You recognize that the CDBG money is critically important to help serve some of town's medias residents and With that said, I understand further that you are discussing a revised Budget guidelines here. So while you are trying to deliberate the fine points I think in terms of the process and procedure thinking about in the past when I apply for Town social service funding these are the steps that Agencies have to go through so while you're trying to decide whether you want to increase the budget by including By restoring the human service budget line item. I like to point it out Just in case if you do decide to do that where you deliberate There are a couple things I would think it's wise for you to put in place And the first thing is that the current CDBG advisory committee unfortunately because of the transfer out of the line item Was eliminated. So therefore the community to develop committee CDC has been changed completely eliminated the responsibility of overseeing the human service budget But human service funding so therefore that committee CBBG advisory committee might have to Transform itself to become a committee that will address this application process That you you know if you choose to that will have to happen So that's one thing about having a committee will help the town to Evaluate appropriate applicants. That's one thing and that will take time to do and the second thing is The agencies they need to be notified Saying that the town might be considering adding restoring this human service line item back So therefore the notification needs to go out to give you know agencies time to respond to This possibility of funding so therefore the That also takes time and then you will have to see the deadline in the past I remember February 1st was the deadline for all human service funding for all human services to submit their Proposals to the town and then I know that you will have Well, you are accepting the applications The same time the four tongues meeting is taking place that you were discussing the budget for Amherst and the town manager will provide the budget proposal for FY 14 on January 16 2014 so all these things will unfold So it all takes time. So I'm just you know Hopeful that the line item will be restored But in the meantime while you deliberate to see that will be the case. I would say it's really a good idea for you to Really have help the human service agencies to put all the steps that necessary in place this way You will not be scrambling for example if you decide to put that human service funding in place Say in January when town manager come out with the budget proposal by then January 16th was really too hard for human service funding agencies to come give you the proposal while you Take a position for the May town meeting. So that's the kind of logistics issues. I like to ask you to Consider as well while you have so much on your plate already. Thank you very much Miss Brewer, I want to make sure that we're very clear at this point in the process That while all those steps are important to be aware of and to consider if we were to go down the road of Returning a human services line item to the budget These budget guidelines do not say to go back to what we used to do They do not even begin to say that so we should not make the assumption that by including This is a priority that we are going to go back to a way that we've previously done things So I appreciate the understanding of just like the process that is currently in place for community development block grant Funding has certain proposal dates certain deadline dates and that we would need to either have that committee do something slightly different Or an additional process if we were to do it that way there This I can't say it any clearer. This does not say restore the human services Line item to the budget that is not what this says to do This asked the town manager to consider what might be done by the time He's ready to put out his budget by which time we might know something different about the community development block grant status But it in no way says that we will go back to doing things the way they were being done before Okay, other comments from Mr. Weiss Jerry Weiss precinct eight former select board member I I'm very pleased to hear Miss O'Keefe Speak of the need to address this. I I also heard that she didn't say it's gonna be restored. I heard her say please address it So I'm gonna echo her words and say please address it Every agency that receives money Needs that every dollar and and she seemed to underline the emergency shelter which At the moment wouldn't be able to run without that money the board actually I should disclose that I am a board member of Craig's doors, which runs the emergency shelter and currently Good portion of our operating funds come from the town We actually met tonight to begin discussing this potential crisis We didn't come up with any answers either, but We need to Be ready to get in gear if we have to so you all know the stakes. I know I don't have to remind you of that I just appreciate that you're you're speaking of it and Just want to put my two cents in that it's really that's really vital that some way be found to replace that money I also want to say that while I was on the board. I went along with a plan to replace human service funding With CDBG funding Against a lot of there were there was quite a Segment of the population of town meeting that was against that replacement feeling like a it's soft money It can disappear and then what's going to happen. We might be there in a year B town should always be supporting with tax money Extra social service funding, but I went along with the plan So I just want to say from my promise was as long as the CDBG money was there. I went along with it It was not going to be there Alternate ways of funding it should be found Where I was to be on the board. I would be more adamant because that was my promise. I Remember I Took a lot of flak for that remember So, thank you. Appreciate your deliberation You're welcome others mr. Oldham Jim Oldham precinct five town meeting member So I want to echo the appreciation for the new language is currently in the guidelines and I recognize That we are still in an uncertain period Might actually get the block grant money though this is through the appeal process or more likely some kind of Transitional funding But what I really would like to see I would like to see the guidelines go a little bit farther. I think that It really is the responsibility of the select board as the elected representatives to provide guidelines guidelines in terms of priorities budget priorities and I think there's a very simple guideline that that should be that human services Should just because they were funded out of this one pool of money of block grant money as opposed to out of the general budget should not Be any more heavily impacted than anything else in the budget. So if we're $900,000 short some of that money Block grant money was directed for Capital issue and should be dealt with within our total capital budget and use the same process for for developing a hierarchy. I'm not Interested so much in speaking to that but as far as the Money on the human services side It seems to me that if we can't get it out of the block grant money We just say put it into the pool with everything else And if everything has to lose a half a percent across the board let human services lose that half percent too, but it would be Very very wrong for us to say well human services We pushed over here because we had the money and now we don't have the money and it's gone or or even to say well, we can fund 50% of what we used to fund but But to maintain the 3% increase that we want for for all our other budget items We're going to let human services which serve the most needy members of our community We're going to let it take a 50% hit or 25% hit that would be wrong And I think it's up to the select board to provide an Instruction a request to the town manager to bring forward a budget With that kind of equity across the budget line Not because we don't trust him to do it from his own knowledge and his own Capabilities and so on but because it's your responsibility as elected members of our community to represent that represent us to the manager who who then can can act knowing that he's acting on behalf of the voice of the community so Again, thank you for what you've put into the guidelines so far. I would encourage you to go farther and make it stronger and more precise Thank you. Thank you Mr. Noonan Kevin in increasing five. I'll be real brief since My predecessors all Articulated it very well. We appreciate very much the chairwoman's Recommendations and if there's any way we can be helpful to the town manager in terms of this transitional funding if it's at all possible We stand ready to do that in whatever way we can and we really appreciate that you recognize the need for human services in our community because obviously that's One of the ways in which we all want to be To think of ourselves as ones that people in the community that care about those who are less fortunate. So I thank you again I just want to make clear that it was miss O'Keeffe who revised the language even though I'm yeah, okay I just want to make it clear. I Totally behind it. Don't get me wrong, but it wasn't me who actually put the red ink in this room And the red ink was not Much as I adore miss O'Keeffe and all the work she does for us. This was not her idea This was not Miss O'Keeffe's idea to do this and if she hadn't done it it wouldn't have happened This was our discussion as mr. Hayden pointed out right and we were debating or where to put the block grant in this and we put It in there and she beautifully captured what we were looking for Yes, exactly she wrote the words it was our spirit in our discussion that's reflected in the changes that is correct other comments Okay, I want more go ahead. I'm sorry. I don't know you by name So do come up and introduce yourself My name is Maria Giorga Coppolo resident of Amherst 1980 I came from a very needy community which is still need him from Haverland my father's role and One of the things I really liked about this community is the way things were taken care of in a really good way because you know Often those communities people did take care of it and have that kind of money And we've been my husband. I remember some business community here for many years Paid numerous fees maybe they're not called taxes as per se for many many years house in belch town the eastern part of the state and You know with no children and one of the things when people say, you know, you're not getting things Oh, well people are getting things. So I mean, we've never resented. I've never resented money in April We never resented anything But you know if but because it was going to the right place everything's the right but in terms of these services were cut and I think there's many other people in these kind of positions or a retire to that kind of thing and You know it you begin to wonder, you know, is your money really going? Where is the most need and the biggest priority? Thank you Okay, if there are no other comments then I think So I would say based on the timeline that Mizzok you've provided us at the top of the page which we forgot to change to FY 14 that Because as mr. Hayden pointed out we had the pool in here last year We didn't pull in here this year, etc. That doesn't mean anything was a problem with the pool. Don't scare anybody We just didn't need to call it out specifically this year so She's gonna faint when we tell her that we're not actually gonna change any of this wording and we're gonna look at it again on The fifth and the only change we're making is we're capitalizing the G and block grant funds and putting the CDBG Abbreviation or acronym next to it. We're not changing anything else as I understand it. I Have no suggestions to make for changes yours are fine. I'm sure you Sandy will be happy to make those Sure, he says, huh? Yeah, I just did So we're good In the interest of Efficiency, I think we will move on to the town manager's report and we're only ten minutes behind time And I know that many people would like to go to the presidential here the presidential Yes, we can't get to Florida We know nine Yes, the First item on my town manager's report relates to draft Updates to our taxi regulations, which has been a process underway Really in earnest for most of this calendar year At the time taxi licenses were renewed for the calendar to 2012 And we had some discussion after spring town meeting of where we stood in our planning for 2013 It was really clearly communicated by myself and by the select board that There would be a process that would occur between the summer and up until now to Compose proposed updates to taxi regulations and Adopt them and our timeline is such that tonight you're receiving a draft Recommendation that you take a position on these at your November 5th meeting so they can be in place for the License renewal process that would occur the final two months of the calendar year So you have the draft Regulations in your packet There are a lot of housekeeping and clarification statements added that put into writing some of our current process, but For purposes of a summary there are Really three main areas The Formate four main things in section two licenses and permits required There's a lot of new language in there, but it's making clear what the existing process is for example if you Operate a taxi business with a business location in the town of Amherst It makes clear references to land use and other permits that are required So when an when an applicant Picks up the regulations or a permit It's clear that that's not the only thing that the applicant needs to do to operate a business With an O with a business location in Amherst So there's a number of references there that involve our our land use in Building zoning Processes with planning and building staff and the appropriate permit boards So that's section two section Actually, there's also at the very end of section two There is new language proposed That gives the select board discretion without setting a hard and fast number of the number of such taxi businesses or taxi driver license licenses that you may wish to grant in a given year we've seen a Substantial increase in the number of those in the last couple of years, especially recommendation from staff is that it be made clear in the regulations and Authority you do have under current state law But it's not expressed expressly made in the regulations themselves that you have the authority to Limit the number in your discretion So that's wanted to highlight that section four related to Consumer protection objectives all the kind of the basic Protecting those who who use taxi services and who pay pay for those services Replacing the current zone system With rates based on the distance traveled to a A meter system That you see in a number of communities particularly larger communities that has a a Determined rate per distance that would be set by the Taxi company taxi operator. We don't set a hard and fast across the board rate but that would be a Visible to the customer what the rate is for the fare As it's accumulated and what the rate per unit is In that that be used So that's made clear and there's there's equipment needed to implement that Purchase of the bare meters next There is just wording added into the regulations that spell out our existing vehicle inspection process What are the requirements? For safety of the vehicles protocols of the drivers Those kinds of things and it's just laid out I think pretty clearly it's a combination of the police and and Zoning enforcement staff who get involved with the inspection so that's spelled out and then in section Section 6 the violation section it spells out Penalties for failing to comply And also and this was I remember a select board suggestion At that in late spring when we talked about this process Building into the regulations An appeal process for license holders who may be Suspended or you're considering revoking that there's an explicitly laid out public hearing Process would do appropriate notifications To those and that the select board would act in that capacity in your role as the licensing board for the town so that was a Suggestion I believe that came from the at least one board member at the beginning of this Process We in terms of the timeline these are draft we mailed the draft regulations to all current Taxi license holders In the town of doing business in the town of Amherst We scheduled two Informational meetings for feedback and questions With taxi owners. We had our first such meeting with a number of staff present including myself We had a very good turnout of Taxi owners at that meeting. There's a second meeting scheduled for later this week. I will get to you a a Hard caught a electronic copy of the We receive one letter and there's other additional comments that were made at the meeting We will have that for you In plenty of time for your for your next meeting So with that I'll stop Okay, are there questions or comments on the regulations which were in our packet? I just might say for the viewers I was Surprised that we have actually had taxi regulations since 1992 and these are amendments And improvements that are being made and actually nothing has been done with them for But eight years, so it's really timely Mr. Hayden, I just wanted to recall that when we first began considering this is it almost two years ago now you're in a half ago That the the early response from the the taxi company owners was positive that In fact that they they prefer to know where the guidelines are then to try to So I'm I'm glad to hear that there was a large turnout at the at the meeting and I'm really interested in seeing the letter Any other comments miss a brewer, okay try and talk fast so associated with the At the end as you can see if you look at this online as Miss Stein mentioned that these were originally approved in 92 and 94 having been on the select board since 2007 I can guarantee you no select board member I served with during since then has ever seen these before so I'm very pleased The town manager's office and staff was able to find these regulations because we never knew they existed For example a particularly helpful item in here under section 3 is it talks about the phone number for complaints because I had asked about that six years ago and Was told me I don't know So yeah, and that was before the sound like for this town manager and this town manager staff So thank you very much for that. That's incredibly helpful in an ideal world. I suppose we might have followed the planning board's Structure of italics bold strike-throughs for what's new and what's old But as we dig up these old policies that might be helpful to know what we've added in Specifically, although you obviously went over a great deal of that one thing that I remember coming up Two years ago now from other taxi owners that were happy with some of their competition because they felt they were being unfairly Competed with is there was this concept that I have not had a chance to look into further But I wonder if it has come up Which is the idea of a livery plate or a livery license whereas there was this idea that some people were kind of doing the Livery like you think of like you call ahead of time and you say that it's six o'clock on such-and-such date You'll be picked up at the airport versus a cab which you might hail anywhere downtown or call right from downtown And one shows up in a minute and that there was some concern that this livery prey is a cheaper way of doing things I just don't see it addressed in here And I don't know if it's something we do have any control over or where that fits in On the livery plate question has come up before and from Some taxi operators From the operator standpoint the primary benefit as I understand it is Cheaper insurance because the use is different Livery service is basically a pre scheduled delivery service and the most common Livery such livery service in our area that town residents might be familiar with is Valley Transport Which is not a taxi business But it's a different model where you you you you make a scheduled Pickup and delivery to a destination Well in advance that's different from a fair You know for higher Service which is what under state law a taxi business isn't as such different insurance requirements kick in That so that question has come up but you know That's not what the use is so there's there's liability and other other issues that are exposed with that So there's no recommendation to We can't really deviate from the the state regulations on that So I'm confused. So is it worth mentioning in here that That under state law livery plates aren't permissible because I can see someone meeting all the other Requirements and putting in their meter, etc. But if we don't have a thing that says You know legally you're really not supposed to have livery plates. You're supposed to have something else I'm just confused as to why we wouldn't include it if there is if the if it's clear In state law that there is a difference between the two different types just like we say, you know We have land use rules about things So the suggestion you're saying is I as I understand that is we should consider adding a Sentence or two in the appropriate spot That references the appropriate laws as they relate delivery versus taxi licenses like taxi license license plate requirements That would be my intent simply come this I mean I would think that the insurance company or whoever would sort it out normally But apparently not in the past from the comments We've gotten so just that way we can say it wasn't our decision whether or not to let you have this livery plate It's a state law and if I'm inspecting your taxi right now I'm gonna say no if I see a livery plate on it cuz state law says you can't do that But just so that they know because we've had some oddities I understand it and then I just have a couple other quick questions that weren't nearly as complicated I'm on page three in the second paragraph. This is going to sound stupid, but I guess I haven't lived in the city Drivers have to wear long pants pants or shorts. They can't wear skirts Funny you should ask so open here that you know it seemed Odd that was one of the sections we received feedback on from Taxi owner and we are going to revise that It was never our intention for the regulations to be Gender insensitive so So We'll give you some Suggested more appropriate. We hope language. I was gonna make a crack about adopting adopting the high schools Recommendations on length of skirt, but if you're driving a car you probably have a pretty good idea of what you want that to be anyway Halfway down that page page three It's talking about not eating drinking carrying a lighted cigar sugar at pipe or other smoking object or device as opposed to device I believe that's some legal term. I'm unaware. I'm sorry. Where was that? Just a typo We like easy typos It's a typo that spell check won't pick up exactly because it's a real word And then my last one was at the bottom of page three the second last phrase Which is very fascinating to me this idea of a 25% discount for all persons over the age of 65 Which I'd one like to hear the history of and two I think we need to specify that they have to provide ID, but they can't just tell the driver I'm over 65. Where's my discount? That seems kind of rude to the driver If we're going to provide that to people that they should have to provide some kind of proof That is new language in there You know, we will we will look at language and it's But being careful, I think not to get too deep into the weeds on the how But that here's the standard that We want complied with And quite frankly, it's a You know, it's a minimum discount. There's nothing to prevent a greater discount We did have some feedback about the size of the discount Should be established at that minimum or some lesser amount Minimum discount. I'm just thinking of potential complaints from customers saying I didn't get my discount and it's because one taxi cab Company requires ID and another one doesn't, you know, just because we have a bunch That's good. I'm just thinking in terms of preventing people being upset about Although I appreciate the not getting into the weeds Mr. Hayden In Bermuda, it was front page news when the taxi cab drivers Requested permission to wear light colored socks as opposed to black Knee high socks that they are required to wear, but that's not my question. I Just wanted to point out that While these have been around for 10 years The reason that this sort of came on to our we began to pay attention to it a year or two ago Is that there's been a really proliferation of these companies. There's been many many more requests that we've been handling here and This effort is a response to that. I mean back in 1992 what were there three companies? Maybe With six cars. I don't know But now there are Geez, I've lost track of it many many Some with very similar names and issues like that are beginning to come up more frequently Okay, I'd like to move on to your second item Which is the signage directional signage for downtown Okay, downtown directional signage plan brief update Some time ago now funds were allocated Through CPA and I believe a small amount of capital for wayfinding signs in our downtown there's been a renewed focus on that effort Over the past few months that has involved a number of town staff DPW and planning staff as well as feedback from and represent representation from the Business community including the business improvement district Basically in the select board packet I've summarized where we are The focus in the near term is to identify and implement in the very near term meaning In the matter of weeks not not many months the first batch of wayfinding signs and we focused on directional signage to public parking Locations and so in the packet is a detailed list of Proposed sites combination of either the blue banners with the international parking symbol on it Providing greater clarity for you know How to get to boltwood garage the town CVS lot the town hall parking lot which has no sign at all Presently and a number of other locations. So that's the near term And then phase two is going to be a more detailed discussion about wayfinding signs to institutional and other cultural Attractions in in in the downtown area Especially there'll be more to come on that but the parking is kind of phase one There's Been rumbling for for a while now about regarding the the signs For institutions finding institutions. I'm wondering if this is coming out of that. There was a working group Which was part of the Chamber of Commerce? Amicera Chamber of Commerce that came up with a with a scheme I'm wondering if this is an extension of that at all because I've lost touch with that effort It is an extension of that and it's it's some of the same players, but it's getting to the Implementation phase and not the talk about it for a very long time Continuing for a very long time They have representation in this group and they've been appropriately Well spoken If mr. Wald wanted to go I want to make sure you saw me wave my hand over here Mr. Moderator, I I'm really not just picking on the garage But I am a little bit. Yes, because I would think that if you live in town You know where the garage is and if you don't you're going to look for an above-ground structure I find it very frustrating that we put on directional signs that a garage isn't such a such place But in fact, there's the parking that's there between rails and the bank center Which is just parking and then there's what looks like just more parking. Oh, and there's an underground space So I don't know I'm not going to fight about it, but I think it's worth considering Of course if we change it here, we would want to change it on the cool maps that Michael can makes for us too about where to park But I'm just not really sure what I see the point of is calling it a garage To go look for as opposed to it just being parking this parking cares I mean the reality is there what 12 spaces there between rails and the boat and The bank center that aren't part of the garage, but they're important parking spaces Especially once we use the ones behind the Unitarian Church So I'm kind of a fan of just calling it parking Right the garage is underground Yeah, exactly not helpful when you're on Main Street looking for a building exactly Questions Do you have recent and upcoming activity I do have one item that I want to make you aware of and this is in the Upcoming activity in the very near-term meaning in a matter of Days and weeks As part of ongoing regionalization Efforts We renewed in recent Couple of months discussions with our neighbors in the town of Pelham Related to the town of Amherst providing Assessing property assessment services for a fee and there's mutual interest We have a Draft Interminiscible agreement that spells those out that's essentially Sharing our our database for property, you know, we have online access to property cards and things like that presently And very talented Principal assessor assessor mr. Burgess making that extending that database in a way that allows the Pelham property Information to be loaded on to it We would provide You'd have you know 24-7 online access Always a phone call away, but some limited office hour availability For Pelham in exchange for a a fee That we think is quite reasonable That we will want to do Related to this but independent of it Because there's an openness on a fee-for-service basis between the two towns. We are also about to apply for a Community innovation challenge grant Related to this service for the relatively Low-cost Technical enhancements that are necessary and some other things to fully implement this but this has great promise There's there's a support Among our own staff and finance director sandy pooler and there's enthusiasm In town of Pelham, so there'll be more to come when it's all I'll put the bed, but I think it's a very positive Positive development and that's all I have All right, so we are onto member reports. I did not I am not on BCG, but we have a Printed summary of the points that the group wanted brought to the home boards I wonder if Alyssa miss Brewer rather would told you you could just say her. Oh, whatever. Yes, we'd like to Bring out the just salient features Anything the miss salient feature beyond the reminder of Saturday November 3rd is Where you're all going to be joining me for a meeting I'm sure is we aren't planning to really meet again until January 24th in case unless something comes up Which is why we set the December 13th meeting So just like you know JCPC has to meet a million times and then doesn't meet for a long time we're gonna luckily take a little time off and Be all set. The other thing is is that under item two we wanted to make a point of everyone noticing I know that we all read these very carefully, but There have been some other boards that are associated with the BCG that in the past had not realized that they needed to read these Things carefully you will notice. There's a typo there that it's obviously 853 comma 000 not 853 period But what we were trying to do was show the context in terms of dollars I mean we know very clearly here at this board about community development block grant monies The schools are a little bit aware of that because of the relationships they have with the social service agencies But you know that CDBG is like a select board thing But there are also the title one and IDA grants that are also at risk right now And so there's just a lot that's up in the air And so we wanted to make it clear that we were not just saying ooh everybody get together and support block grant, you know Compensation also be aware that the schools may be running into a really big problem too and luckily the library is not We were very pleased to report that that none of their grants seem to be at risk right now So they seem to be in okay shape Okay So I guess we can move on to liaison and representative reports. I Have just two minor things I guess one is that John Alyssa Stephanie and I attended the Tuesday October 16th Open community forum Which was held at the UMass police station and which I thought was quite successful and thoughtful the dean of students Gonna mess up her name, but it's something like N. Cougalai And members of the community Discussed the student code of conduct Police chief Warvath was there. It was a thoughtful discussion. It was well attended and people Goodwill really were trying to find Solutions I thought to common problems and I don't know if any of the others who were there want to comment. I Have one other liaison report and that is the personnel board voted To allow the library to reorganize the staff to reflect more accurately what they actually do and in the process some people were able to move up steps to Have equity across the different levels of the Library staff and that's my Who anybody else Housing and sheltering committee has a meeting this week to review a draft of the housing production plan It's already been provided to them and then the the public forum is on November 1st So a reminder of that that's it Ann Whalen on the fifth floor on Thursday November 1st Which is also the date although not the time luckily not a conflict With the first annual meeting of the Amherst Business Improvement District, which is actually being held in the morning on Thursday first and The only other comment I would have is that obviously as the block grant process As we find out more or don't We will need to be feeding back into what the usual schedule is of the block grant process And so that the people serving on the committee know what's gonna happen as well as all the people who apply for money Know what's gonna happen, but when we don't know an answer. We can't really tell them either Okay calendar preview Thursday Right 1025 is that the time The trivia be will be held supporting the Amherst educational foundation at 7 o'clock at the Amherst Regional Middle School Auditorium and Mr. Musanti has agreed to be our fourth member So it should be interesting no wigs No way not this year November 3rd is the four towns meeting which I think Alyssa was alluding to from 9 to 1130 at the Amherst Regional Middle School Library There's a slick word meeting the 5th of November Where we will continue discussing the budget policy guidelines and take positions on town meeting warrant articles and The warrant review is November 8th from 7 to 930 in this very room the town room and that's all that I know of so Unless somebody has something they would like to say we do have to sign the warrant and we do have to sign the notice of intent the calls property And the order of layout and the order of my it also I Would move to adjourn to a suitable place to watch the debate and but first sign the documents Okay, and so it's about what second 9-11? All in favor say I So November 8th is the warrant review. How did I not know that?