Town Council - Regular Meeting

We're missing Andy and he'll be on Oh, Andy and Alicia. Yeah, Alicia's not here yet. Andy's coming online eventually. Andy should be joining us. As far as I know. As far as I know. I sit this back. It's like This is like massive pickup. This one's been adjusted. This mic has been adjusted to pick and I'm so used to having to be so close. I have to like It's picking it up from a far away. Yes. Andy is here.

Andy is here. Okay. Oh, yep. There he is. And are we ready since we have a very full agenda? Recording in progress. We are recording. Please go ahead. Okay. Thank you.

Good evening. Seeing a presence of a quorum, I am calling the April 27th, 2026 regular meeting of the town council to order at 6:31 p.m. Please be advised that this meeting is being held in person and that the remote access options for members of the public is provided as a courtesy only. In the event of technology issues with the remote connection, the meeting will be continue in person as scheduled as long as there is a quorum of the council present in the town room or through technological means. Chapter two of the acts of 2025 extended through June 30th, 2027 the ability of public bodies to meet without a quorum of the council physically present at a meeting location. Although we have a quorum of the council present in the town room. This meeting is being recorded and is accessible in real time via Zoom, by phone, and as a live broadcast on Ammerst Media Channel 9 and at ammerst media.org. At this time, I will call upon each counselor by name by the name they have indicated that they would like to be addressed. This will indicate that we can hear you and you can hear us. Councelor Brevik

here. Councelor Kennel Martin here. Andy Churchill here. Andy Anna Delong present. Lin Greamer present. Mandy Joe Hanicki is present. Councelor Lord present. Sam Mlab present. Pamarini here. Councelor Ryan I'm here. Kathy Shane I'm here. Jennifer Tob here.

And is councelor Walker present yet? We will watch out for counselor Walker. If counselors have technical issues, please let the council clerk know or call a point of personal privilege. There will be one public comment period during the general public comment. There is also a public hearing and there will be public comment during that hearing on the hearing matter. If you are in the town room, please sign up with the council clerk to make public comment or to speak during that hearing. If you are attending remotely, I will ask for you to raise your hand in the Zoom application when we reach the time for public comment. Um, at this time, we're going to then move on. Um, announcements were on the agenda. Um, there are no added announcements at this time as far as I know. So, we will move on to hearings. We have a public hearing um on an Eversource petition to install an underground conduit at College Street and Dickinson Street intersection. Um at this time 633. I am calling that public hearing to order. Um the order of public hearing will be a presentation if we have one. Um and then councelor comments and then the public um any questions, comments uh on that public hearing on that subject matter. We'll go back to council comments and questions and then we will move to close or um the extend the public hearing. So um is it Athena? Is it Guilford doing the presentation at all?

There's not a presentation. Um I believe there's an Eversource rep. Is there an Eversource rep here? Excellent. Come on up. Guilford. Guilford is here if there are questions. Excellent. Alicia is here. Oh, excellent. Um, Alicia, uh, councelor Walker, can you hear us? Yes, I can. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Uh, welcome. Um, can you please give us a little indication as to what this request is? You should make sure the light is on, and if it is, you probably have to speak closer to the mic than I do. They should introduce themselves.

Yes. Travis Walsh. I'm a project designer with River Source. Excellent. Um yes. Uh so this project is uh to aid in a electrical service upgrade for Emers College. Uh it's going to be converting the service to an essentially underground fed service from the existing manhole at the intersection of Dick Dickinson Street and College Street uh in Ammerst. Um, and it's essentially uh we're requesting uh to install conduit from that existing manhole uh onto Ammeris College property to support this project.

Thank you. Um, are there any questions from counselors or comments from counselors? Um, caffeine, I just I just have one seeing where it's located. Are you going to be able to go underground without dis uh disrupting the surface at all?

So, the manhole is existing. Uh really the petition to work tonight is that we're going to need to saw cut the road and install four conduits from the corner of really the almost the center of the intersection of college tree and Dickinson and it's a 10-ft spans from our manhole to the east drive which is Amherst College property. Um and that is the first phase of us bringing new underground conductors. So once we energize the new underground conductors and the service equipment, we can take down the existing overhead infrastructure.

Uh Anna, I just I'm over here. Sorry. Uh I want to thank you. We've been a bit of a pain I think in past years to try to get more things moved underground. So I appreciate that you are moving even just 10 feet underground. Thank you. Lynn, will the conduit be available to other utilities?

Uh, this specific conduit uh as of right now would not be available to other utilities. Uh this would this is strictly feeding uh some existing electrical infrastructure that Ammerst College um is going to be taking over that that is ours and it it is only four conduits and two of those are going to be populated by essentially ever source electrical lines and the other two are uh in our standards we require spares in the event of an emergency we have those spare conduits to quickly pull in conductor uh if one fails essentially. Um, so we do kind of uh eat those spares and preserve the right to those. Anything else?

Actually, I do. Did you approach any of the other utilities to see if they wanted to join in this project? Yeah. So, we notify Verizon anytime we put we remove poles or put new infrastructure in. So, they are notified. It's up to them really to move forward with it. Um, but as far as the conduits that we install, I mean, Eversource is solved from our manhole, which is energized by 13,000 volts. So, really any communications couldn't be anywhere around us.

Thank you. Okay. Any other counselor questions or comments? Seeing none, we will move to public comment and questions on this petition um to um install an underground conduit. Um if you are participating remotely and have a comment or question regarding this peti petition um specifically please raise your hand now. Um Athena are there any people signed up to comment on this petition? Are any of those who signed up for public comment speaking to this petition? No.

And I am seeing no hands remotely um requesting to comment on this petition. So, I will move back to the counselors. Are there any additional questions or comments on the petition? Point of order. Can we just confirm that councelor Walker can hear and be heard, please? I did. I did. Yes, that's okay. You must have been signing people up when I did that, but I did. Um, seeing no other counselor hands, I will make a motion to close the public hearing. Second by Shane. Um, seeing no hands, we will move to a vote to close the public hearing. We start with councelor Keno Martin. Yes. Andy Churchill, yes. Anna Delangier,

I. Lyn Greimemer, I. Councelor Lord, man. And Mandy Johannicky is an I. I'm sorry, I skipped right over me. Councelor Lord. Um, Sam Mloud. I. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councelor Ryan. Hi. Kathy Shane. Yes. Jennifer Todd. Yes. Councelor Walker. Yes. And councelor Brevik. Yes. Thank you. That is unanimous. The public hearing is closed. Thank you for showing up tonight. We will be voting on this. It is currently on consent. We have public comment before we get to consent. You're welcome to stay or you can leave if you'd like. But thank you for coming tonight.

We are now moving on to public comment. This is the one general public comment period. Anyone wishing to make general public comment who is attending remotely, please raise your hand in the Zoom application. If you are present in the town room and have not signed up with the council clerk, please do so now. Residents are welcome to make public comments on matters within the jurisdiction of the town council. The council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during general public comment. Public comments are not reflective of the opinions of the town council. The First Amendment broadly protects individual rights to address the government, to speak, and to express themselves, including their right to say hateful and offensive things. I am generally unable to shut those commenters down under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, unless their level of speech falls within an exception articulated by the courts, such as fighting words, true threats to a particular individual, harassment of a particular individual, or incitement of imminent lawless activity. If a question exists as to whether a particular speaker is engaging in unprotected speech, I must defer to the principle of freedom of speech. Um, there are no hands raised at this time on Zoom of People who wish to make public comment. How many people in the town room have signed up for public comment?

Nine.

Nine. Each commenter will have two and a half minutes to make their public comments. Um, and we do now have one person on Zoom that has signed up. Um, but we will start with the commenters that have signed up in the room. Maria Copeki. Maria, please come on up. State your name and where you live and make your comment. Thank you. Maria Copiki, South Ammerst. I won't take up much of your time. The Jones CPA application is ripe with problems. Its eligibility is sketched sketchy at best and the process that brought it forward failed to adequately address concerns about supplanting and historic preservation requirements for CPA. It was also far from impartial with several members of committees who failed to recuse themselves from discussion and decisions despite their active participation in the very capital campaign that brought the application. Two contrasting legal opinions have been received and both the department of revenue and the community u preservation coalition have described the issue of supplanting as a gray area. Those are as strong opinions against a municipal application as you will ever hear from state agencies. And the direct executive director of the community preservation coalition went even further explaining that he does not support the application because it violates the spirit of this funding program. So now it's down to you. All we are asking is that you keep your word to not give any more of our tax money to this project and insist that the project's capital campaign keep its word to seek their share of money from federal, state, and private sources. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're taking money out of our left pocket or

our right pocket. It's all our money as taxpayers. Each time this project has come to the town to bail it out, you reassured us, your constituents, that theUS protect us against further impact to us. It's time for you to show us that those were not empty promises that you had no intention of actually keeping. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming tonight, Maria. Um Laura Avon Steinman, please unmute yourself, state your name and where you live, and make your comment. Um, hi. My name is Lauri Vonsteman. I'm coming from Florence, Massachusetts. I just wanted to make sure, is this for general public comment right now?

Yes, it is.

Okay, great. You all moved it up in the agenda. Um, I'm here um tonight virtually again to just remind everyone that the Ammer school committee um has voted for uh scenario number two that restores specialist positions, interventionists, and other special ed positions. Um, and as an art educator, um, and just an educator in Ammerst public school right now, um, I would just highly recommend listening to the Ammerst school committee, um, in what they have proposed. um they've really listened to the families and the teachers on what's really needed to um advocate to have really really good um schools and meet the needs for everyone. So again, this is um please um vote to restore the budget and vote for scenario two. Thanks so much.

Thank you for coming tonight, Laura Athena. Josh Gate. Josh, please come on up. Have a seat, state your name and where you live and make your comment.

Hi. Um, so some of you might recognize me more as the guy that has been coming sitting in on a lot of these meetings for the past like seven or eight months, but I'm Josh Gatau. I'm a resident of District 4. um as well as an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Ammerst um where I also have the opportunity to serve as our secretary of external affairs for the undergraduate student government association. Uh with that, I've brought several of my colleagues here today just to discuss um our appreciation for the town and our desire for further collaboration with you all. Uh we all really love Amoris and its community. We feel really lucky to be part of that. Um, but we feel that there are more ways we could be getting students involved. So, we're hopeful that in the coming years we're able to foster stronger relationships between students and residents, creating opportunities to engage more with our local school systems and find some common ground in all the ongoing housing issues that we all face within this community. So, just on behalf of all of us at SGAA, like to thank you for your time and we look forward to staying in touch. Uh, thank you.

Thank you, Josh, for coming tonight and for the rest of the SGA students that are here tonight. Athena, there's another person online who has a hand up. What did you want to call? I I will go to him. I didn't I missed it. Thank you. Jason Dornney, please unmute yourself, state your name and where you live, and make your comment. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes.

All right. Thank you. I'm Jason Dornney. Evan East Ammerst. I um wanted to comment. I know that we'll be or you all will be chatting about uh the closure of Hampshire College later on, but I wanted to make a comment now. Um the closure of of Hampshire College is uh is a great loss all around and uh certainly feel for all the students and faculty and staff that work there. But I want to make sure that uh whatever discussions, whatever happens, we recognize that this is a potential uh once in a-lifetime opportunity that we have for a number of issues that the town faces with fiscal with the fiscal issues we face and with the housing issues we face and the lack of large amounts of buildable space. Um, Hampshire offers a lot of uh land and a lot of opportunity and I just would like to uh make sure that whatever happens there that the town has a good plan for any any area that we might be able to influence through zoning to build more housing in that area. build taxable housing in the area of all types, whether it be single family homes, senior uh senior age restricted, income restricted, affordable housing through Valley CDC or any other partners that we can build with. Um, I just want to make sure that we are looking at the opportunity as a whole and that we are not going to try to make a one use zoning uh, restriction there, try to build single family detached homes on quarter acre lots. uh we have a lot of opportunity down there and I really want to make sure that we are looking at all the possibilities to

address housing for all types of people, not just students, not just seniors, not just single family detached homes. Uh so I really hope that we take that into consideration when the opportunity comes up for zoning if it comes up. I know it's somewhat premature. There's still a lot that is uh undecided or unknown about what's going to happen, but I want to make sure that we I voice that opinion to everybody. I appreciate it. So, uh thank you very much. Thank you, Jason, for coming tonight. Athena.

Uh Jess Valka. Jess, please come on up. State your name and where you live and make your comment. Hello, my name is Jesska. I am a resident of district 4, a student at UMass Amherst, and I currently serve as a senator in the undergraduate student government association. I'm sure you have discussed at length and for a long time the issues for housing of housing for residents and students alike and the various interests between the town and the university. We are increasingly eager to listen to the concerns of the town of Amherst to better understand the struggles that residents have been facing and will be facing beyond our time here. I'm here to ask for opportunities to build on each other's experience, knowledge, and efforts to refine and implement plans for more affordable housing for both students and residents. The student government association would love to be an active participant within the Amherst community and work with the town to create opportunities for building relationships with residents. We ask this in hopes of better aligning our interest and strengthening lines of communication for future efforts. Thank you for your time and dedic Thank you for your time and dedication.

Thank you for coming tonight. Chess Charles Walker Hoover. Charles, please come on up. State your name and where you live and make your comment.

Hey y'all.

Hey. I'm Charles Walker Hoover, senior here at UMass, studying African-American studies and history. And um kind of disappointed in myself that this is my first time here as a senior. I feel like if I, you know, had known more or had any more prior information, I'd be at most of the meetings because I feel like this is where government starts, you know, locally. Uh but no, recently I attended the Ammeris Global Village Festival. I was a volunteer for that and pretty happy you know to see the turnout from the town showed up wave like students maybe did not get enough information that was happening so maybe we got to get on social media Instagram do something um to spread visibility for an event like that and I thought it was a success all around though because you got to see people's cultures and you know really recognize that Amoris is a place with collision cultures And I also want to shout out Ancestral Bridges. They do great work here. Um they preserve black history in Ammeris. Um and not not too many places do that, you know. So shout out to that. Um and then I also just would want to know like how can UMass Ammerst student government be a better partner with the town, you know, for a wide range of issues. I sponsored a resolution in the SGAA um for to increase the fire of the writing staff and supporting them. Um just want to know how that's going. Yeah, that's that's pretty much it. It's good to see y'all. Um shout out counselor Walker. Um good friend. Good friend. Thank you guys. Have a good night.

Thank you for coming tonight. Charles Sharon Wanita. Sharon, come on up. State your name where you live and make your comment. Um, hi. I'm not Sharon, but uh Sharon couldn't be here. Uh, so I will be speaking on her behalf. Um, could you state your name too if you're My name is Joshua Spurski and I'm also in the SGAA. Excellent. Thank you.

Um, hello. My name is My name is Sharon Wanita Taki. I'm a resident of district 4 and also a sophomore attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst studying legal studies and economics. I currently serve as a senator in the undergraduate student government association and I'm appreciative for the opportunity to speak. As a student at UMass Amherst, the rising costs of housing affect the large majority of students who choose to attend this university due to the sheer number of students. I have heard se multiple personal accounts of students who have had to pause their studies as a result of unaffordable housing costs. I'm here to ask for the support of the town in collaborating with the UMass Amherst student leaders, administrators, and developers to create more affordable housing, which would allow us to become a part of the vibrant community here in Amherst while pursuing an undergraduate education. Thanks.

Thank you for coming, Joshua. On behalf of Sharon, Charlotte Ry, is that right? Charlotte Reeb, sorry. Thanks. Please come on up, state your name and where you live and make your comment. Charlotte,

everyone. Um, my name is Charlotte Reeb. I'm a resident of district 5 and a senior at UMass Ammer studying English and journalism. I serve as a senator and clerk of the student government association and I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak with you all tonight. Um I would like you to bring your attention to the student perspective on the no more than four uh leases in Ammerst. Um as rent prices continue to rise and housing remains a general issue for students and residents alike uh students feel even with poor contributors the price they're having to pay is getting out of control. Um the thing is also as a deterrent from student housing simply outpricing residents um by having no restrictions on leases. It still falls short as very few families can still pay into those prices with only one to two people splitting it. Um and we see family rates continue to fall every year which isn't ideal for either of us. Um, additionally, as a deterrent of noise and trash, we'd be interested in seeing how those numbers have changed since the implementation of the four person lease policies. Um, that being said, we understand that regulation is of course necessary and we are simply hoping to find a solution that is capable of providing for students and families alike. Um, this is simply simply how some students are feeling about the ordinance and not our express opinion of what needs to change. However, we do think that it is vital to clearly communicate where many students feel this ordinance is failing short of what it set out to do and we would love to hear further opinions um from residents in the future. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for coming tonight, Charlotte. Cass Melo Cass, please come on up. State your name where you live and make your comment.

Hello, my name is Cass and I'm a resident of District 4 student at UMass Ammerst studying education in English and I'm also a the head of academics for the SGAA student government association at UMass. In my free time, I volunteer for local organizations including the Jones Library where I tutor and teach English to older Ammerst residents. When I'm not a college, I live by a public state university and a few private schools in central Massachusetts. I feel I have a strong understanding of what it means to have students all over your community. I would also love to be part of efforts to improve these dynamics, but I understand it's difficult um to figure out what we can do instead of focusing on what students often demand from the town. I'd really like to learn um and take inspiration from JFK and ask what can we do for Ammerst. Uh at the same time, I think that there's a broader ways students can contribute by supporting local businesses, collabing on sustainability initiatives like waste reduction, energy use, and working together to address shared concerns around safety, basic needs, transportation, and more. And in fact, both residents and students. I'm interested in building stronger academic partnerships between the college and the town, maybe through expanding tutoring and mentorship programs, connecting student coursework and projects to needs of the community, and creating internships or learning opportunities within town departments here. I hope we can create student involvement in the community that's thoughtful, respectful, and mutually beneficial. My hope is to create a more reciprocal relationship where students not only learn from Ammerst, but also actively can contribute to its academic, social, and civic life. Thank you.

Thank you for coming tonight, Cass. Michael Barowski. Michael, please come on up, state your name, where you live, and make your comment.

Hello, my name is Michael Barowski. Um, if you can guess, I'm also a member of the UMass Amherst Student Government Association and a resident of District 4. I am the president and have had the privilege to serve for the past year and will continue to the next. I am wrapping up our public comments for the night and we just like to thank you all for listening to us and uh, thank you to Josh Gatau who arranged this visit. This has been a very uh, insightful experience for all of us. Um, UMass Amherst wouldn't be UMass without Amherst. And as someone whose job it is to keep pulse on our campus community, uh, this town and everything it does for our students and the opportunities it provides are very much appreciated. And at UMass, we have the, uh, we have the privilege of being recognized as a co-governing body on campus. So, I like to think that we are on the precipice of some fantastic collaboration. And, uh, as I think students and residents of this town may have many common goals. We all need food and housing and a safe place to be. I think John L talked about that. So to you all and anyone else in this room or the Amherst government. Uh if there's anything we can do whether it is engagement, feedback or getting information to or from the student body, we are always on hand and would be very happy to volunteer those services. I would like to echo some of the comments, suggestions and concerns of my peers raised today, but in any way we can offer suggestions as to the solutions of these, we would love to. Thank you again for listening to us tonight and we would be happy to remain in touch.

Thank you for coming tonight and again thank you to the SGAA senators and officers for coming. Um for information purposes we tend to take our break in about an hour around 8:00. Um so if you want can stay through that. I'm sure a number of counselors would love to talk with you but it's at 8 o'clock or so we take it. Uh next Emily Land. Emily please come on up. State your name and where you live and make your comment.

Hello everyone. My name is Emily Land. I actually live in Greenfield. Um but I'm currently a employee of Hampshire College. Um and I am aware you're discussing this later today. Um I'm the director of the farm programs and um I felt that it was important to come as I know that this is on your agenda to think about what happens with Hampshire. um that farmland that we currently operate our farm on is about 80 acres on that property. And as someone who has farmed in the valley for over 15 years at this point, I see it's very important to conserve that land as farmland. Um there's not a ton of information as to what's happening. There's a lot that's up in the air and I'm very aware of that. I don't actually even know what the town of Ammerst is going to have impact on. Um, but I felt that it was really important to put it out as um, something that feels really important. I hear the desire to develop. I understand the need for housing and I also know that farmland is extremely important and it's important to preserve that and that farmland has no protections on as of right now and I do believe that the town of Ammeris could have some impact. Um, briefly, one of our potential proposals that we're putting together as the staff of the farm right now is actually the idea of creating a community farm there. Um, I do believe that Amoris could have a lot of impact in the continuation of a farm operating on that land and um plan to bring a further proposal, but I wanted to put it in your guys's ears um as an understanding of a possible way to continue that land and keep that land in farmland. um going forward with the potential of potentially um um collaborating with or remat trade to some of the hassis bill. Um so we have a lot of things in the works. Um there's a lot that's up in the air as we all know, but I I wanted to put it on your radar as feels really important to preserve at least some of that land of Hampshire as

part of it. Thank you for your time. Thank you for coming Emily and talking about your work at the Hampshire Farm. Chris Penoszi. Chris, please come on up, state your name, where you live, and make your comment. Hello. Um, my name is Chris Senosi and I live in Northampton, Massachusetts, but I'm an educator here at the Can you speak a little closer to the mic? Thank you.

Is this better? Should I repeat what I said or Okay. So, my name is Chris Benoszi. I live in Northampton, Massachusetts, and I am an educator in the Emers Pelum Regional School District. And I just wanted to come and make a statement of solidarity with my fellow EPA members and just reaffirm the school committee has voted on scenario number two that has that would restore essential positions. Um just I don't know I have a lot of opinions but not a lot of time. Mhm.

What I will say is that, you know, thinking about cutting any further, thinking about, you know, colleagues who I'm potentially not going to see next year or, you know, have the privilege to work with, um, is really difficult to get my head around. Um, so again, I'll keep it brief. I just want to affirm my solidarity and again encourage you to consider scenario two that restores essential positions voted on by the school. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for coming tonight, Chrisina. Pete Nolan.

Pete, come on up. State your name, where you live, and make your comment. Hi. Uh, I'm Dr. Pete Nolan, Amoris resident and, uh, I work at Wildwood. I'm a special ed teacher, uh, second grade boat teacher. And I'll read, I'll paraphrase some of this, but it's a document that been signed by eight of the special education teachers at Wildwood and Port River uh, to uh, the town council. We special education teachers working at Wildwood and Fort River elementary schools write to you in opposition to the proposed budget cuts to special education next year. The current proposal to cut 20% full-time special education teachers and additional PAR educator support will be devastating to our students, their families, teachers, administrators and district as a whole. Fewer teachers uh for our most at risk students means unmanageable case loads, less effective delivery of services, and increased scrutiny from regulatory agencies like the like DESIE. Um so we know there's two schools coming together. Uh that's twice as many kids in one school, but the same the current idea is that there's going to be six teachers um providing services for all those kids. For for me, I currently have eight students on my case load, which might not sound like a lot. I'll explain what that means. Um, but that's going to be doubled next year. Uh, so most, if not all of our students with IEPs have dyslexia or other learning disabilities that make learning to read especially challenging. Currently, one in five students at the second grade level in Amoris requires direct instruction and the rules of spelling and phonics in order to learn to read. This type of intervention is time consuming and

requires small groupings of students in order to be effective. Uh so with the huge increase in the number of students we will be serving next year, it will be challenging if not impossible to provide effective instruction to our students who learn to read differently than their peers. The proposed budget cuts mean that small group instruction size will likely be at least six students, if not more. In our collective experience, small group size is the main factor in a teacher's ability to deliver quality instruction and the students ability to make effective progress. Many special education students require specialized instruction in reading, math, and writing and modifications to classroom instruction to regulate behavioral and attention issues. In our experience experience, we can effectively teach a group of up to three or four students when one student is disregulated. Uh the irregular schedule and language constraints of the commonant ones program further complicate scheduling for special education teachers with such an unrealistically large

wrap up. Uh okay well I will just say you know this is we we need more money and these are the people that signed this document. Jeff Celman, me, Pete Nolan, Sole Sonata, Anthony Principe, Sarah Hickman, Kristen Riley, Vera Goodwin Brown, and Pamela Kavanaaugh. Um, and these are all special education teachers at Port River and Wildwood. I I you know, it's the kids that are going to lose out if we if we stick to this plan. It seems it's keeps me up at night. It really does. I'm not not excited about.

You need to wrap up. I hate doing that to you, but we have a time limit. Thank you for coming, Pete, on behalf of yourself and the other seven or eight um teachers that signed that letter. Um Athena, that was the last name on the list.

Thank you. With no other names on the list, we will move on from general public comment to the consent agenda. Uh, the following items were selected because they were considered to be routine and it was reasonable to expect they would pass with no controversy. To remove an item from the consent agenda for discussion later in the meeting, ask that it be removed when the president lists the consent agenda items for the request to remove an item from the consent agenda does not require a second. A few things about this agenda before I read it. It has changed since it was published on Tuesday. Um because there is an item not anticipated that is on the agenda an item technically item under the not anticipated items. We've moved it up to 6A which is a resolution honoring Ammeris Media's 50th anniversary. We have moved put that motion and the motion that requires a waiver of the rules to pass it tonight or vote on it tonight on the consent. So that is one thing about consent. It has additional items on it. I sent an email today about that. Um the clean energy item on consent um is 8B is a referral for hearing on consent but there will be a short presentation and some time for questions when we get to that item on the agenda and the CPA items on consent 8D 1 and three as well as a motion to divide. It is all projects but the Jones project on consent. Just to be clear as I read all of these, it can be a little confusing. The Jones Project vote is not on consent. It will come up in the moved and voted when we get to that item on the agenda. Um, so now I'm going to read the consent items and after I do I'll see if anyone wants to remove anything. Um, the motion would be if nothing is removed to move the following items and the printed motions they're under and approve those items as a single unit.

Item 6A, waiver of town council rules of procedure rule 8.6 for agenda. Item 6A. Item 6A, adoption of res resolution honoring Ammerst Media's 50th anniversary. 8A, approval of the Eversource petition on installation of underground conduit at College Street and Dickinson Street intersection. 8B, referral of proposed zoning amendment article 18, clean energy infrastructure and associated amendments. 8 C approval of Ammerst Pelum Regional School District borrowing order 497,000 for building repairs and equipment. 8 Division of Restoration and Preservation of the Jones Library from council order FY270 07A to be voted separately. 8D1, approval of council order FY2707A1. Um, an order appropriating the FY27 Community Preservation Act budget as required under MGL chapter 44B. Item 8D3, approval of council order FY2708A, an order appropriating and authorizing debt for the construction of the War Memorial Bath House under open space and recreation. Um 8F, approval of proposed amendment to town council rules of procedure rule 8.2C. 9 A1 to2 approval of the town manager appointments to the board of health and community safety and social justice committee. 11A approval of minutes the April 6, 2026 regular meeting and public forum on appropriations outside of the budget. Are there any hands to regarding removal of anything from consent? Uh, councelor Hannah Martin.

Yes. I would like to remove item 8F, please. Okay. HF is removed. Any other hands requesting removal? Seeing none, is there a second to the motion? Second, Reese. Thank you. Um, we will move on to a vote. Um, we start with Andy Churchill. I, Anna Develafier. I, Lynn Greamer. I, Mandy Johanni is an I. Councelor Lord.

Um, I believe I'm abstaining because recusing for the Goodwin thing is in this consent. Yes, that's fine. We will mark you as abstain. Sam Mloud, I. Pamarie, yes. Councelor Ryan, hi. Kathy Shane, yes. Jennifer Todd, yes. Councelor Walker, yes. Councelor Breick, yes. And councelor Kenno Martin, yes.

That is unanimous 12 to zero with one abstension. We will move on to resolutions and proclamations. This is an item that was we're moving it up to read the now therefore clause. Um, technically it was under items not anticipated. Uh, it was brought to me today. Um, councelor Walker, would you like to read? Uh, yes. Thank you. Now, uh, therefore, be it resolved that the Ammerst Town Council expresses its deepest gratitude and highest commendation to Ammeris Media for 50 years of exceptional service to our community and celebrates its golden anniversary as a testament to what can be achieved when a community invests in its own voice. And be it further resolved that the town council calls upon the residents of Ammerst to recognize and celebrate the vital role that Ammerst media plays in our civic life to support its continued mission and to take full advantage of the extraordinary resources it represents and that a copy of this resolution be presented to the executive director and the board of directors of Ammeris Media as a token of the town's enduring appreciation and pride.

Thank you. We will be moving on to presentations and discussions. We start with a zoning introduction uh that I believe is being given by our planning um and economic development director Jeff Bag. And I I think is Rob also giving it or is it just Jeff? It's our building commissioner. Or is it just Jeff? I think it was just going to be me tonight.

Okay. Um and you'll give a short presentation and then I I have aotted 20 minutes for this item today. We are under trying to get this meeting done by like 11 if possible. So, um if there are questions after that 20 minutes goes, we will take them down. Um email them to Paul, myself and we'll get them to Jeff and get them answered. Okay, Jeff.

Great. Good evening everyone. Um thanks for having me. This is a sort of overview of zoning. This is described as 101. And before I get into the slides, I I have five other slides just to say it's it's kind of described as 101 because zoning has many different elements and there's different ways that zoning can be used to to do certain things. So, this is really an overview kind of to set the stage for the town council to talk about um first the clean energy bylaw infrastructure and then I do think a little bit later tonight, you know, at some level of discussion about Hampshire. There are two different things in in in play here. So I'll get to the slide. So what is zoning? You zoning regulates the use and development of land and it includes where different uses um can occur and it establishes things like dimensional requirements and other standards. And a lot of this is based on location um or neighborhood or a specific intent. So tonight you'll hear about the clean energy bylaw as sort of an example of a specific intent. Um the way it works overall is uses are separated into distinct categories and if uses are not prohibited the building commissioner is required to put um every use into a category to which it's most similar. Um uses are regulated by what we are calling a permit granting authority or a special permit granting authority and these include the planning board which deals with site plan review which is a type of approval. uh the ZBA, so it's zoning board of appeals and they primarily um work with what's called a special permit. There are a couple other examples as of right is a use that is eligible to proceed with just a building permit. So each of these, you know, groups can be called those authorities. Then you know taking the whole town and dividing it up into a map. Um there's a zoning map and we have a bunch of different districts that uh are intended to kind of capture the character of

certain areas and that's been developed over um many many decades um you know grouped broadly into residential, business, industrial and other special districts. So again this is the 101 class. So um there's a lot of districts and each one has a different definition and a purpose. Uh but I'm not going to get into that tonight. Dimensional regulations is another important element. Um and this is things where um it dictates where a building can get built on a property. So it's set back. Um they dictate how tall a building can be, how many stories. Uh lot coverage is the amount of um the amount of a parcel that can be covered by something, let's say a building. And then it does talk about residential density or other standards. And those are based again on the location, neighborhood or specific intent. So overview in terms of some process which the group will hear tonight and then move through. Um zoning amendments can be initiated by the following. This is a this is a summary. So this intends to capture a summary of all the ways but it is a technical process. There's a guide. There's specific information available for each of these. But a town counselor, citizen petition,

um town committees and the town manager or designate are all eligible you know groups who can bring a zoning amendment. And once received by town council such as tonight, um it it sets forth a sort of a legally mandated process. Um and there are required steps and timelines. And again, because we're short on time, you know, we each each zoning amendment should allow the council to get familiar with some of these, but in terms of overview, there's a public hearing. Um the public hearing must be um held each the planning board and the CRC must hold a public hearing. And through recent discussions, we're trying to work towards having joint public hearings, especially for for example the clean energy bylaw. The plan board must vote and submit a recommendation to the CRC and then from there the CRC um goes to another committee for review and then if that's recommended, the town council then holds a final public hearing. Uh this is a distilled version of what the town has posted as a flowchart. Again, this is an abbreviated summary. So, there are some technical details that are not shown here. But tonight, for example, with the clean energy, the town council receives and refers the zoning bylaw amendment to to both the CRC and the planning board. And each entity is required to hold a public hearing. I think in this proposal for clean energy, the goal is to have a joint public hearing um to share information together, make it a little bit easier for members of the public to follow that part of the process. And when that concludes, the planning board uh reports to CRC. CRC votes to go and then the town council holds another public hearing. So it's really two two distinct steps in this process. Then just briefly, and this is all information that's available online, but in terms of the charge for CRC, um it is a a subcommittee of the town council, and it has a a requirement to make recommendations on planning, zoning or land use matters, housing and

homelessness, community sustainability initiatives, master plan, local economy, and appointments of of these boards and committees, planning board, and ZBA. And then the planning board statutoily is required to study the needs of the community and prepares plans that involve land use. And so the planning board can propose amendments to the zoning bylaws we talked about. It can approve subdivisions, site plan review, special permits for a wide range of uses. So that's actually projects and it is charged under this MGL to develop the master plan and advises town council on all other matters. So the last thing for this evening in ter terms of the 101 a couple important notes um as we move forward in this process the materials you know should be available online for review by members of the public. So it's really helpful in this day and age to have the materials posted once it's legally advertised at the beginning of the process. The proposed amendment amendment is technically in effect. Um this is important for construction projects um that have to wait and typically they have to wait until a process for a zoning amendment is complete to reduce the potential you know risks for them if a zoning amendment is not adopted. You know that's a fine point. There's a lot of legal elements within zoning. But that was something I just wanted to mention. Staff planning department the building commissioner and others provide guidance to the plan board CRC and town council during the process. and then the town attorney will review the zoning amendment um that has been recommended to go. And then the final step in the process is that zoning amendments are subject to review by the state's attorney general's office. And then the last couple notes I just wanted to mention is it's newer um state law has changed to to to say that certain housing related amendments require only a majority vote. Other zoning amendments require supermajority and some amendments may only change the official map while others change the

text um and the text of the bylaw is updated after every change. So this is perhaps a little bit of a crash course. Maybe some people are aware, but we wanted to kind of set the stage for some of the most important key elements for zoning as you um move into this clean energy discussion tonight. Thank you. Are there any questions for Jeff? Kathy,

it's not really a question. It's a comment that was extremely clear and it would be great if you could post the charts because I think we could use them um periodically when we do district meetings of making the arcaneness of zoning clearer would be helpful. Thank you. Thank you, Lynn. There was one statement in your chart about once a notice has been filed that anything that is going on is subject to that. However, it is my understanding that some items are grandfathered through so that they are not in fact subject to the potential of a change in the Bible. Could you please address that,

Jeff?

I'll try. um probably falls into the the next level up in terms of the discussion, but yeah, some some there are some ways that uh zoning can be frozen, I guess, and and sometimes that is a tool that people use when they hear about a zoning amendment coming. They could take certain steps to freeze the zoning for a property. Lynn, I I don't I don't know if that's what you're referring to. um something like this clean energy bylaw is what I I was intending to speak to, which is that once this is legally advertised, so after the council recommends this and it's established for public hearing, at that point if you were a solar developer, for example, you know, you are technically have to abide by that new regulation. The risk is that this could take a several months and so a developer is probably not going to proceed too far with a project while there's a pending zoning amendment discussion. So, um, this is something that we can follow up on if if that was not a clear answer.

I specifically am speaking to the project on Sunderland Road, uh, that includes solar development and I'm have always understood that that's grandfathered and would not be subject to any law change any change in bylaw. Yeah, I think for any specific question like specific example of a project, I might want to take some time to research that. I don't mean Sunderland. I mean Shoesbury Road. Thank you. Shoes Road. Any other comments or questions from counselors

for zoning 101? Jeff, that must have been extremely clear and quick. So, I thank you for that. I'm sure as we go through this process multiple times this year, there will be other questions. So, I appreciate um that quick overview and I appreciate the council for keeping it quick. Um we will move on to the Hampshire College update. Paul,

thank you. Um so, I'm going to be as quickly do as talk as quickly as I can, but there's a lot to um cover here. Um, so you know, Hampshire College is closing and I think by the at a certain point in this presentation, you'll be able to use your newly learned uh zoning knowledge to uh engage with Jeff on on some of this. This is just to give you give you a broad overview about what's going on with Hampshire, what we know. I want to say that this is information as I know it. It's probably it can be changed. uh that college is making decisions in real time that that's adjusting things all the way. I want to go back a little bit in 2019 in January I received a phone call from the president of Hampshire College, the then president Mim Nelson stating that they were not going to accept the college was not um going to accept a class that year. And my initial response was that is going to communicate to everyone that you're closing the college. And she said that's not our intent. and but uh the Hampshire College um uh students and faculty and alums uh rebelled against the decision. Ultimately the trustees changed um and the a robust uh fundraising effort was led by Ken Burns and the college continued to operate but the fundamental challenges of the college remained. Um they um the fundraising was actually going quite well based on the target that they had established. Um what their their second strategy was to monetize the land. They recognized that they owned hundreds of thousands of ac or hundreds hundreds of acres of land in both Hadley and in uh Amorest and that they intended to monetize that as best they can. Um and that was the the initiate the initial uh project was the at what's called the

Atkins site and the third was to increase enrollment. Then go to the next slide. So and two things happened. One was the land on Atkins did not go to go get sold based on the failure of the developer to get a proposal that was passed by the town. And second, their enrollment did not um achieve the goals that they had wanted to. And they were also facing a demographic cliff which we all know about that there are just fewer college students out there and for Hampshire in particular, fewer college students choosing their education. So on April 12th, uh just about just over two weeks ago, the board of trustees voted to close Hampshire College. Um 13 days ago they made the announcement to the community that they were closing. So next slide. So this is a timeline of what they said they were at the time were going to do that. They voted on the 12th. They notified the the students and everybody on the 14th. They indicated that there would be a graduation for the class on May 15th. They would close the dormitories on May 17th. Um the early learning center would cease operations on the June 2nd. and they've given notice to 199 employees that they would be uh terminated as of June 15th. Their intent was to have some students on campus to do the teachout that would go through the end of December and that they would honor the contracts that they had signed for the Red Barn through the calendar year. Next slide. So the the um the Massachusetts has gone through some closures of colleges and it's been really rough and so they've established certain guidelines for what you have to do when you close the college and I will give um the Boston Globe recently commended Hampshire for the way that they're going about it. It doesn't mean that they're doing going about it

without creating a lot of pain. There is pain when you close down a major institution like this for the students, for the faculty, for the community. Um, so this is um I sort of said this on earlier just but they will maintain the buildings that they need for the fall. They're going to try to close as many buildings as they can because they're expensive to maintain. They're going to maintain the red barn and some administrative buildings. Um, their intent is to trans sell or transfer the real estate in the buildings that they own. They will transfer the student transcripts and records to the University of Massachusetts which is a pre-existing relationship they had and then they will start to sell everything they own which includes arts uh books um farm animals everything that is owned by the college. These are the respons this is the responsibility of the board of trustees. They are the stewards of the land and the holdings of the college. Um next slide. So for the students there are 667 students. um 157 will graduate in May. And these other name numbers are fluid. Uh if you know the um you know in h at Hampshire I'm an alum so I know the language. Um division one is your like your freshman year, division two are like your junior seniors and division three is your sort of capstone project year. Um and people can be in division two for two years or more. Um, so their their initial goal was to allow people to finish out their division three and get their Hampshire College degree by the end of 2026. That has changed recently. So I'm not I think the college is making some adjustments to that. Another thing that they had to do is to have transfer pathways. These are agreements with partner institutions that would prioritize um Hampshire students and create a pathway after the enrollment period for certain colleges. they have um agreements with these these

colleges. It doesn't mean you get automatically accepted. It means that they will give you an answer and a quick as quickly as they can so you know if you're going to get into these institutions or not. For the students, they're a valuable commodity if you want to look at it that way. There's a lot of colleges that are desperate to have students enroll. Uh Hampshire College actually did this with New College when it closed. They recruited students from New College and so their Hampshire College is also getting and the students at Hampshire College are getting recruited by other institutions who are looking for enrollment to beef up their their um their college mix. For the employees, they uh as I mentioned 269 employees are losing their jobs. 55 of them which is a prepoundonderance of the of all the communities they live in Ammerst. They they live throughout the valley. They live in every community pretty much in the in the Pioneer Valley. Um they intend to do employee reductions and waves with most ending on June 15th. They will hold on to some employees through the end of the calendar year. Um, Mass Hire, which is a state agency, has been on campus, I um or will be on campus tomorrow, I believe, and on May 18th to help uh employees who are looking for services, support, um, you know, uh, guidelines on, you know, support for doing resumes, getting uh, health insurance, all those types of things. So in terms of the land, so Hampshire owns an enormous amount of land in our town, 692 acres in Ammeris specifically, another 200 acres in Hadley, mostly in Hadley is mostly a solar farm and a regular farm. Um 600 just over 600 of those acres are tax exempt and it means they're on the campus and we'll show you a map of that shortly. 78 acres are taxed. That means they're not used for

educational purposes. Um, so those that's their holdings. The land is just extraordinarily beautiful, but it's includes farmland, trails, wetlands, open space, historic buildings, what they call star buildings like the Kern Center, which is one of the two living buildings in in Ammeris, uh, which and there only 23 I think in the world. We own two of them. These are not just net zero buildings. These are buildings that full fully support themselves. Um, the Hampshire College Farm is iconic. The Red Barn is used by many people. The multisports center has a tennis club in it and has pickle ball courts and is used by a broad range of the community. And the early learning center is also um important. Um we'll talk about the core campus parcels and then the other land they own. They own on the south side of West Bay Road, south side of West Bay Road, and they own the east side of West Street. Um and we'll show those on the map. And they also own the president's house which is basically on the south Ammeris common. Most of the land that they own especially in the um the 600 acres and is in the education district um which means you only allow users that are affiliated with higher education. Next slide. So can I use this? show. Okay. So, I'll try I'm going to try and orient you to where where everything is. So, first off, we will um look at Atkins Market, which is right here. This is West Street coming into Ammerst. Ammerst is up this way. This is West Street. Um the driveway into Hampshire is right here. And then this is the core campus right around here. These this is

Enfield House, uh Greenwich House, Prescott House, this is a Longssworth Art Village, uh Merrill House, and and Dacen House. And just a side note, uh the these three the three dorms, um Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott are all named you would hope they would be named after donors, but they're not because they never got donors. Um they're named after the three towns that were submerged when the the Huabin reservoir was was created. Um the the Kern Center is around here. The the Robert Crown Center, which is where they have their their swimming pool, a gorgeous swimming pool. The library, science center, academic buildings, things like that. This is the solar array that is owned by the college, one of the first solar arrays, and it it actually powers the campus. Um the Yiddish Book Center owns its own land here. The Eric Carl Museum owns its own land here, but I should note that neither of them have access except through Hampshire College property. Um, and we'll talk about that in a second. Um, the early learning center is here. Uh, the multisports uh facility is here. These are the tennis courts that also get converted into pickle ball courts. Um, this is a red barn. Um, I'm not really saying this easily, but I think the um, Hitchcock Center here and then the farm, Hampshire Farm is here. These are holdings that they have. And some of this land on this side was looked at uh, about 10 or 12 years ago. It was called Vidian Village. And Dave Zel could probably point it out to you exactly. Um, so and this is one of the parcels that they started to look at in in advance prior to them. uh announcing their closure like maybe this is a parcel we could utilize and then they also looked at a parcel up here um on on a West Bay Road is a perhaps a parcel

they could manage. Um this their um facilities department is uh is down here. This is this is Hadley U and they own a bunch of land here. Um they own land here. A lot of this is is wetland wet and can't be developed. Uh this parcel here is what they call the cornfield. It's a possibly a developable site right on West Street. These are the the two rotaries, right? The two roundabouts. So I think that gives you a sense of they own a lot of land. Much of it is wet and can't be developed. Um they this is the big open space that you normally that you see as you drive uh down West Street. And then their core campus is right here. And they've been trying to protect their core campus. It's also important to note the different parcels of land. These are all different parcels that our staff sort of put together. Um, so it's it's large parcels um that they that they own.

Okay, Paul, if I could could I Dave, please,

if we go back to the previous slide, that one there. Yeah, I just wanted to point out and Paul, you were correct. That is the Vidian Village over to the east of that parcel right there is where the proposed Verdian Village was some years ago. And then you know you correctly pointed out the uh the town line the the parcels in Hadley the very large parcel on the lower left um is although the frontage is unprotected the back land is actually protected in perpetuity with a conservation restriction. So that is um a permanent restriction on that property. And again, I think you also mentioned that the farmland in the in the upper center uh is some hundreds of acres. And I think an earlier speaker who works at the farm center pointed out some of those soils are certainly prime farmland, but they're also um uh in amongst many wetland uh and stream uh streams that that traverse that area. So I think Paul covered most everything else. So I think we can move on. So, this is a closeup of the core um buildings of the co of the college. Trying to do this. So, not that we have to know it, but again, the Yedish Book Center here, they own their parking lot here, the Solar Array here, the Eric Carl Museum here, uh the Eric the Early Learning Center, the Multisports, and they have this sort of road that goes around. These are the the first two dorms. Um this is the arts village. And then on this side is Enfield, the donuts, which you may have heard of here. Um, and then the Robert Crown Center, which is where the pool is, the the uh current center and the other two academic buildings. So in terms of our we um have met with our the cultural institutions at um that first week as soon as they announced it

we pulled them together along with town staff um with the chamber and the bid and um the college and the university to just share what people's concerns were and we were really focused on our cultural institutions because they're really important to our community. Um, Eric Carl, as I mentioned, owns their own land, although their access is through the driveway that Hampshire owns. So, if Hampshire closes and whoever owns that land closes off the driveway, they are going to have an access issue. Um, and that was their number one concern. Uh, the Yiddishbuck Center has the same concern. They own about 10 acres. Again, their access is only through Hampshire College driveways. Uh, neither of them have rights to those driveways. They have licenses to use them, but they don't have in um easements like legal legal rights. Um they also the Yedish Book Center also uses the Hampshire dorms in the dining halls during the summer for summer programs and they all all the institutions use uh work study students many from the college but not just strictly from the college. The Hitchcock Center is different. They don't own their land. They have a 95-year lease which they signed about 10 years ago. Um again the access is through is via Hampshire College and they also have concerns because they use a lot of Hampshire College land for their educational program both near their site but also um up beyond the main college. So they they that's a lot of their education programs are dependent on that. So and then we also looked at the you know just we're just identifying issues here. Um so the biggest things is the people who are losing their jobs. um the visitors who you know will not be visiting. Uh an estimate said that those visitors bring up to $4 million into Western Mass every year. Uh and then this spending that is done by the students, the parents, but also the college itself. They buy things from the community. They um all the time, you know, at Atkins uh has get some business, but they haven't expressed a lot of concern um that, you know, they

they recognize having a flourishing campuses to their benefit. Pomeroy Village businesses again the same type of thing. Um, Early Learning Center has ex very um serious concerns about not being able to able to operate and we can get into that in more detail if you want, especially in also the Bay Road Tennis Club, uh, the Hampshire College Farm, which you've already heard tonight, and then the Red Barn. And then there's also the campus is pretty open to anybody. You know, if you live in Applewood or live in the community, you're welcome to walk on the through the campus um, anytime you want. and people from Applewood do cross the street and they take you know their their morning constitutionals through the campus. So what we did is again we brought people together um that that same week and just to share you know email addresses connecting and so it was a really important meeting the town departments were there um and the whole point on it was to start to build relationships and under and start to connect with people um still more work to be done on that there's been a lot of activity um around uh with alumni groups organizing with uh um developers and All kinds of stuff like that going on. Uh so what what's the impact on town services? So our first we checked with fire EMS. They right now the fire department makes about 120 calls annually to Hampshire. Mostly are smokes smoke alarms. As former chief uh Nelson said Hampshire students don't know how to cook. Um and but all the buildings uh are if they're alarmed and sprinklered then then they also have to be maintained. Um the other concern for the the fire department was the proper disposal. When you shut down a chemistry lab, there's a real a serious protocol for how you do that. Um and then also if the early learning center is going to be stay open, they want to make sure that that's inspected and safe. Um for police, they don't make many calls to

the campus. Campus isn't interested that much. They have their own security system. Um but the concerns with um for the building department were about security for the buildings, vandalisms, squatters. Um they private security may be needed. Um that was a major concern for the nonprofit cultural institutions about having a derelic campus next door would they felt would really hurt them. Um so and then water and sewer, they're the third largest customer for the town. Um and they generate approximately $100,000 in water and sewer fees per year. they would not be using that water as much anymore. Um that would be le less. And then our recreation department utilizes the swimming pool. They were been really expanding into using the pool more often because you can use it during the day which the middle school pool you don't have access to. So a lot of um groups have been uh renting out the the pool and it is really a gorgeous pool that has a big glass door that opens up onto the Holio Range. Next slide. So the issues that they we have to consider is that the buildings have to be maintained and heated so that the the pipes don't freeze. They have to maintain their fire alarm and suppression systems. The buildings have been inspected by the town. It's inspected. They usually inspected in September. Um and then the security um concerns. We also worried about the PVDA. If the college is not open, will they see the need to continue the bus uh um service to that end of town? possibly probably they they're going to South Hadley but um they would and it would also if um you know the PV we're in touch with the PVTA and they're sort of monitoring the situation. Next slide. Um so our concerns look at loss of jobs um the future of child care recreational red barn and the farm um loss of revenue

um sort of just say that's what I just said I mean the biggest thing though is um the future ownership and development looks like so what is our role um the town's role we have two roles major roles in this one is regulatory which means are zoning, the power of zoning, which means we can tell you we can by the council passing a bylaw can regulate how the land is used. The other is to purchase the land or with a group of people or whatever. So you can take ownership of the land. You can control your destiny either through owning the land or through regulation. So Jeff's going to talk about this. Thank you. I'll try to be brief. I, you know, trying to think this through. Couple key points is that as Paul mentioned, this has really been, you know, 13 days that we've had, you know, this this information available. Um, the ED zoning is is an area that the zoning district really only allows um uses that are associated with higher education. So any of the discussions about providing housing or looking at things that might generate tax revenue sort of leans us in this direction of exploring potential zoning amendments in the future. And then you know the third part is just that it's an area that we really have never really explored. Um it's always been sort of the Hampshire campus and it's not subject to a lot of detailed information that we have in a lot of other village centers or a lot of areas in town. So the planning around this, you know, it will it will really incorporate many elements and the summary here is really just to kind of get everyone oriented is as to the direction that we see us potentially going, which is an assessment and understanding of the campus land. Um you we have the the it's it's very beneficial the location of the campus close to you know the Atkins village

center, Carl Yedish Book Center and the Hitchcock Center those those cultural institutions is is instrumental in terms of what could potentially happen next. Um but we're in the process and we need to continue we need to continue to start the process of evaluating sort of re resource areas, building types and building condition. um we need to better understand the existing infrastructure um and then the relationship to cultural institutions and neighborhoods. So I'm thinking, you know, roadway access, sidewalks, you know, all the actual things that exist out there. And I think one of the steps that we would undertake and want to undertake is kind of prepare a series of plans and illustrations to understand what what does the campus look like when you add these different layers. So what does it look like when you think about resource areas or areas that are regulated? What does it look like when you put all the infrastructure on a map uh roadways etc. And that kind of moves us into this next phase of aligning you know aligning the whole process with Ammeris plans and and planning principles. And again, this is a summary. I I don't have another slide, but you know, I I had talked I had looked at the master plan, the open space plan, the housing production plan, and each of those documents is really robust and has a lot of goals and a lot of objectives. So, we want to then go start start this process of aligning any of these thoughts and compare them to those plans. You know, the core principles in Ammeris have have really been consistent for a very long time. So protect sensitive areas. Um focus on already developed areas. Um and that really is these areas that are close to village centers, the those that have access to existing infrastructure. So again, just think about the roads, um the water service, the sewer, um sidewalks, and and the buildings that are all there. And so the last principle there is reuse existing buildings. That's a core sentiment of, you know,

things in Ammerst. And so we need to really better understand what that means. if there are buildings that are potentially reusable. I mean, there's there's some buildings that are brand new. There's some buildings that offer important services. And so, start to catalog those. And then finally, prepare some zoning amendments, prepare some discussion pieces, um, and create a community informed process. Um, and then throughout this, we would be really needing to balance the needs of the community with opportunities for new growth. Um, and then acting swiftly to maximize, you know, opportunities to create new tax revenue. So the biggest unique feature here is that we're not we don't own the property. So we have to uh move fast to kind of keep pace with with the way this will unfold. This is this is different than you know a town owned property where where we have more time to to carefully explore things. We have to be careful strategic but also fast. So that kind of summarizes where we are 13 days into this.

And a couple just sort of notes on that. We we do know that that the um the three cultural institutions have separate services for their water and sewer. So that's not a concern. They don't go through Hampshire. Um and and so I think that that's that's a you know there's certain thing and the other thing is that the Red Barn it it only operates as a as a venue because it's affiliated with the college. The college doesn't exist. It doesn't have a zoning right to exist as a as a venue unless the zoning gets changed. So, and we're gonna uh the council president has allowed us to ask for an executive session if you ch so choose to talk more about the purchase because that becomes a little more detailed and technical and also uh it's can be strategic. So, it's something that we would like to talk about with the council in in executive session as opposed to but these are sort of the different things that anybody would think about that you see on the screen. That's the end of our presentation.

Questions or comments from counselors? Councelor Ryan. Two questions. Paul, just quickly, um the assessment element seems really important trying to figure out what's there and what can be done. You're going to need funds for that. I assume that we do not have the people on staff that can do the kind of detail assessment. So, that's going to be something that'll need to be funded and fairly quickly. I assume if given the element of speed also just thought about the early learning center is there any possibility maybe we'll discuss this later but um there are 40 families I think and obviously a staff is trained is there any way that we can assist or help in in trying to preserve that vital community service?

Sure. So um so we have been touched with the state with mass development and and our state legislators about getting funding for this. It's a mini crisis for us that we can't absorb this by in our budget and we believe that there and our state legislator have been very willing to work with us to get funding to do it. And you're right, we don't have the staff capacity to do it. We would need an outside firm to come in and really do a robust analysis of the property. The early learning center um you know I met with them today and um they they it's a wonderful organization, wonderful service. Um the college is they are employees of the Hampshire College. Uh it's they're not a nonprofit or anything like that. They are the building is owned and operated by Hampshire College. If Hampshire College decides to close, we have I've talked with them about locations that might the town owned buildings that we might be able to help them with, but they have would have a hard time relocating without a fiscal steward of some sort who would be their employee employer. Um so and but I have uh she has to be connected with the superintendent of schools to see if there's an opportunity there um because they the schools do some things. It's a you know child care slots are really precious and we need every one of them. Um so we're really focused on helping them to survive. Kathy

trying to just build on some of as we go along. Um you said the colleg's timeline is at um I just understanding the selling off their resources uh land and is that by December when it starts is timing question and then secondly that if we don't zone before that the purchasers of that won't know what the value of the land is. Um, so that we would have to make any, you know, aside from maybe we want to buy pieces of it. I understand that, but I'm just saying that it's hard to sell a piece of land if you don't know. Are you buying it in halfacre lots or are you buying it with just these pieces? Am I right? I mean, that we need we would need to do some of that to facilitate the sales. Then my third I'll just add one more. If we separate out uh the outdoor tennis courts from the indoor facility, are there any leasing or temporary occupation through the summer or is Hampshire going to close it down? And it's the reason I'm asking is Emmer, the town of Emmeris doesn't have a lot of tennis courts, let and we don't have a lot of outdoor pickle ball courts and that set is both. It's got fabulous and there's been tennismies running there. So just I'm getting lots of questions on whether the gates will be locked on May it's a very shortterm you know it's it's used all summer and into the fall so it's separate from the indoor facility and so you don't have to answer it but just to have it in your hat that that's a a a heavily used um uh operation and people pay a fee. I mean you pay a small membership fee. So I could see the town charging amorous residents or non-amorous residents, you know, to recoup it. So just thinking about could we keep it open going into

the fall?

So I can touch on those. I So um what the college is what they're respons what the trustees have responsibility for. They owe about $20 million to banks for they've mortgaged the land. They owe that money. So they're the f fiduciaries for that for the college. they have to pay that money back and they have responsibility to the students um to teach them out to get them to where the uh rules and the laws require them to be and that's about another I'm just throwing these numbers out they're roughly in the magnitude of about $10 million. So for $30 million you can the trustees would feel free and clear now um that would be anybody could come and do that if you've got $30 million sitting in your pocket. Um, but then you own it and you have to maintain the buildings. You have to take care of the buildings. In terms of the tennis courts, I don't know what their plan is. I don't think it's the highest priority of of pickle ball courts being open or not. I wonder, you know, they were they were very nervous about being able to get have insurance. Uh, starting July 1. They have gotten insurance. It's very expensive for them to continue to operate for the end of the year. um a you know these things when you're in a situation like this things become very very expensive because people don't want to insure you. They worry about the liability that comes with it. They would worry I'm sure the college would worry about liability on their tennis courts if someone were to get injured um that whoever is the owner of the of the courts and it's the owner is the the trustees of Hampshire College. Lynn,

my other question, Paul, was zoning needs to precede it so that people know what they're buying or not.

Yeah. So, right now we know what the zoning is. Um, you know, we had looked at the two particular parcels, the Veridian site and the West Bay Road site when this was a few months ago when they were trying to monetize their land, trying to help them. The key piece of that was the Atkins farm piece because that was going to be an element of them being able to pay off some of their debt and um let be less beholden to the the um to to the two major lenders. They were not able to make their payments and that was the issue. And so the failure of that project and then is moving forward with these other two projects really precipitated the sort of current crisis where the in their audit basically said you are not uh a a going concern and that that raised the um it was in their own audit themselves. So they were just not able to produce what they needed to do. Um and that's where that's where they were. The zoning is the zoning. We know what the zoning is. If we're going to propose something else and you know we have talked about this in terms internally with what are what's protective zoning, what would it be? What could we bring to the town coun town council quickly? Town council can act with great speed. We've seen the council act uh with great speed on zoning changes. So, we appreciate the ability to do that. Um, but we don't have a coherent plan. I think the the real thing we'd like to do is a is a major uh assessment of the property, a a communitydriven planning process to decide what we would like, we as a town would like that property to be utilized for. Um, and then to pass zoning, but we are also looking at we're in a defensive posture also to protect ourselves. And, you know, Jeff and Rob are looking at that as well. Lynn,

thanks Paul. And I I really want to thank you and your staff for jumping in. You've really um in might be 13 days, but uh you've obviously put some serious thought into this and I think that's important. Um, Hampshire College closing is distressing and no matter what we say, we need to keep in mind the impact of this on the students, the faculty, the staff, and yeah, the alumni, including the town manager. Um, but for us, it's a challenge, but it's a once-ina-lifetime challenge that we need to make sure we look at and care and carefully plan. We could all sit here and say, "G, I'd like this. G I'd like that. G, I'd like that. But what I liked about Jeff's presentation is the idea that we need to have a plan. And anything we do about zoning should be done with that plan in mind. Um, for us, what it creates is a revenue opportunity. We could solve a lot of problems in Ammerst if we do the right thing with the land and the land becomes a revenue generator. But again, the plan needs to look at what is it are you going to put there? What revenue will it generate and what will be the cost of what we do with that land? Um depending on what we built, what's built on it or whatever. So I really want to urge that we continue to look at this most carefully. We are in control of zoning and that's huge and should not be put aside lightly. Uh I also want to urge that we look at this in conjunction with the Wildwood property. It's the same opportunity. It's the same opportunity to move forward with some of our housing goals and other goals for things like seniors and um look at revenue generation for things like sewer and

infrastructure etc. So, thank you um for getting started and I hope that um with this excellent staff we have, we can continue to um shape our future with this opportunity and not fritter it away. Thanks, Pam.

Yeah, I'll echo what Lynn just said as well. Um I um I have been thinking about the opportunity to so there's a there's a time lapse between um the planning and zoning. Uh and in the meantime, is there an opportunity for this core team to be talking about leasing opportunities? Um I think of the students in the audience tonight. We've had discussions about what are housing opportunities in Ammerst and without without necessarily um building new dorms on the UMass campus, there are at least some existing dorms on the Hampshire College campus. And I'm and I'm very curious about the opportunity to work with UMass to encourage use of some of those as as a way to reduce pressure on Ammeris neighborhoods in the meantime in the short in the short run. Um, I think about, you know, if there is a core, and maybe this falls to the trustees, I don't know, but a core of folks from the town to, uh, to look at leasing of other facilities, the the recreation department uses uh, and things of that nature. So, just starting to generate ideas.

Jennifer, thank you. Um I guess I wanted to ask is and if this is appropriate to ask in public session, but um one or more banks I'm assuming will own the land when this by June or maybe they own it now. I mean do we has there been any contact between the town and the entities that are going to you know after graduation own the property? Well, the college owns the land and unless the banks foreclose on them, they will continue to own the land. Um, I don't think the banks want to own the land. Um, they're typically I talked to a talked to someone who works at a bank and these are major national banks. They're not local. Um, they said that that banks want their money back. They don't want to own the land. They don't want to manage the land. That's not what their business is. They want their cash back and they want to lend it to somebody else. And that's sort of their mission is to get the money that they lent to the college to come back to them.

Um so I picking up on what Kathy said since the town determines the zoning the zoning to do with the sale of the land. So does that give us more time? I mean, I appreciate what Jeff said that we don't have a lot of time, but do does that give us some time because the land's really not attractive to an entity to buy until they know what the zoning is.

Well, the land is attracted to it. Maybe college campuses are closing. Um, you know, high school, you know, private school campuses are closing. You saw what happened in Northfield with Northfield Academy. um you there are certain types of institutions that are attracted to these parcels but not a lot of private developers because the buildings aren't meant meant for them. Um so in the sense that if you want a private developer to be attracted to it, you need to have zoning that looks attractive to whatever you want to see happen on that site. Um, if you only want a educational institution to own it, um, then you're going to get whatever educational institution is is buying, but it can be a a church related institution. It can be a governmental institution entity buying it. It could be almost anything to move fairly.

Well, I think we we are need to be very I mean think very carefully about what do we want to do to protect the town's interest and then listening to you, what are the town's interests? what do we want to preserve? Um, we could put in, you know, acre zoning there, but I don't think that's what the town really, whatever zoning you put on it is what people are going to respond to. So, I think we it might be a two-stage thing, you know, short term and then a longer term process. Andy,

yeah, I wanted to um reinforce what Lynn said about this being sort of a once in a certainly once in a generation opportunity. And you know listening to this it it seems like there's sort of two conflicting things. One is we want to plan carefully for what you know what the land should be used for based on community needs and values which takes time and we want to protect our our ability to to actually do that planning so that somebody doesn't take it out from under us. And I'm I you mentioned the Northfield Mount Herman example and that's particular that's that's a real fear of of mine is that you know Northfield Mount Herman put a campus up for for sale and Hobby Lobby bought it and then they gave it to uh some Christian association and the town it remained taxexempt. the town didn't get any revenue out of it and they had new neighbors that, you know, were maybe not quite uh in sync with the the values of the town regardless of what what you might think. Um, so it seems to me that we need to figure out what the protect the protective strategy is up front so that we actually have the time to plan. And I'm not so whether that means putting some sort of overlay on it or some sort of you know getting it out of nonprofit use for a while so that we can um so that we don't have that kind of um you know other educational institutions or um non-t taxable entities coming in and just and snapping up and then we don't we don't aren't able to control our own future for that land which is a huge opportunity. So, it seems like some sort of zoning approach if we're not going to f or or some way of working with the state to identify sort of bridge financing so that we could temporarily purchase it and then distribute it to people who once we do

our due diligence, you know, distribute it to, you know, have the ability to offer an RFP out to folks who might want to do what we what the community wants with it. So, I guess we'll discuss more of that in in executive session, but I think we need to protect it soon and then take the time, you know, preserve the time to plan so that we do it right. Sam,

uh, thank you, Mandy, and, uh, thank you for the presentation, Paul. um listening and watching it and knowing the town and knowing Hampshire College, I have to say uh despite all the information that was provided, it was very painful for me to uh listen to the discussion and all the impact of this unbelievable uh part of our community going back 50 years. I see my childhood there. I see the impact of the town. uh this uh I would call it a trauma for our community uh is beyond an economic factor. Uh and just like with the passing of a dear departed loved one, elder um you have to both deal with the trauma and deal with concrete steps as to how to go. And that's what we're wrestling with. I would advocate that we uh be deliberate in our uh thoughts and discussions and open in our minds in terms of possibilities. Um you know protecting is certainly desirable but the the possibilities are grand and it it's kind of uh I I didn't realize they were going to be selling things ASAP. I don't know. But I I think it's warranted that we are deliberate and thorough of all the possibilities. It's, you know, the major trauma is for the Hampshire community themselves. the the loss I assume at this point of an institution all the staff all the students all the you know the history will remain but uh and then secondary to that I would say it's the Ammeris

community that has the greatest vested interest here uh and there's a myriad of possibilities uh and I just think that this council and this town uh it's in our interest to really consider consider uh I'm I'm not advocating for anything. I'm just indicating that this is uh certainly a painful opportunity. Uh but I I just think we should um think carefully uh about the implications of whatever we do because this is huge. This is huge. Councelor Keno Martin.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I I agree. I mean, this whole situation and this closure is absolutely heartbreaking for the community and really really upsetting to hear about. Um I guess so my question for Paul would be I know there was an email that was sent to us as counselors about um what to do about current students facing homelessness and I just wondered if there's any updates on you know the Hampshire College students who will um be homeless and how we can help them. Um, and then I have a similar question I think to Pam who raised um, is there a way that we can use those existing dorms for housing um, in the meantime and how many students or people can they hold? Um, and it just seems a shame to have these dorms standing empty for any length of time given the housing crisis in our town and if there's any way to lease them or keep them occupied um, and running. Um, and then my other concerns are um, absolutely preserving the farm. Um, I feel like that's a priority. that's a resource for our town and and making sure that we have access to our cultural institutions. Um, and I think that, you know, as we get into this community dialogue, I hope there's ample time for the community to express themselves about how important those institutions are and to make sure that we maintain access to them.

Thank you,

Paul. So, I've been in touch with the person who wrote um and they um so we've gone back and forth a couple times and they're they're trying to really get a uh I've talked to the president about this as well of of the Hampshire. Um the the person who wrote is doing this on their own time basically. Um and they were trying to get a a handle on what the what the need really was. Uh very really announced the need. Um, and I, you know, it's, it's like this, it's such a Hampshire thing. So, most dorms, if you were in college, you know, you they closed the dorms, dorms like the day after graduation and you were out. They just locked up the doors. And that was the way Hampshire was. When I went there, when um in 20 2020, they started loosening that up. Um, because there were many students who could not get uh back home if they were overseas students. Um and then um you know if you were trans or um out in any way and you felt you weren't safe going home there wasn't a home that for you they allowed students to stay on campus and it's a you know one of the things that Ham what I think makes Hampshire really special I think I told you stories about what they how they responded during the the COVID 19 crisis when they o volunteered to open up their dorms for those who are unhoused. Um, so, um, I I don't know what the scale what the real request is yet, but we're in touch with them.

Anna,

I really appreciate the Northfield example and I had to refresh myself on what had happened there. Um, and I appreciated people bringing it up because I think that it's very uh very relevant for what Amoris is dealing with. Now, I want to emphasize the prioritization of the early learning center, especially given the lack of infant care that we have in our community. Um, this is my understanding is that the early learning center uh is is providing care for younger children than many other centers in our community. Um, and it's a huge loss in an area that already is facing massive under existence. Underexistence isn't a word. Um, thank you. Um, so I hope that when we consider community priorities, we are putting that at towards the top of our list. I know that there are so many things, but that is that is a huge one. Um, and when we think about our community needs and our values, you know, supporting those folks, um, as many folks as we can, and that is certainly a population that will need support. I hope that as we're going through this, we can honor the legacy of Hampshire and move with speed, but also with care and in the Hampshire way, a lot of innovation in our next steps. I hope that the town will help to build connections. So, I'm thinking about the farm. You know, maybe the town isn't in the place to buy a farm, but hey, the town knows a lot of farmers, right? Like we we have navigated purchasing of agricultural land. We know who's looking for agricultural land. I think that a lot of the strength that we can offer in many there are so many ways, but another area of strength for us is helping to build and make those connections for folks who might be able to help in ways the town cannot. And I hope that we pursue those avenues. And I, you know, I just Hampshire really helps to keep Amoris weird in the best way. Um, and I I hope that we can hold that up and hold

up that innovation as we go through the process that we're about to go through. And I don't think any of us know what it'll look like, but I hope that we can bring innovation and creativity into that process to find the best solution for our community possible. Thank you. Seeing no other hands at this time, we are going to take our break. Um, we will reconvene at I'm going to give ourselves a 10-minute break at 8:25 because we still have a lot to do, but we probably need that break to be able to get through the rest. Well,

those conversations in the next few minutes so that we can get started. CPA Maria CPA is right after clean energy. Sorry,

I didn't want to put it through the mic. Yeah, CPA is right after clean energy given the the okay um things. So, we're going into clean energy now and then it's just so you know I figured you're showing up in here. It is it is right after clean energy which has already been referred so I don't know how long it will take to get some questions done at all.

Okay. Are we Andy and councelor Walker? Are you guys there? Um, I just want to make sure we have a quorum sitting at table as we get started again. And we've got enough people here to get started. Um, so we are moving on. The Eversource um petition was approved on consent. So we move on to the referral of proposed zoning article amendment article 18. The referral has been approved on consent but we will hear a brief presentation from our CRC chair and I believe Stephanie um sort of summarizing Stephanie I think is here summarizing clean energy as we move into this process. Um, and then we'll have a little bit of time for questions, uh, particularly of those that don't sit on CRC, um, as it's going to CRC and planning board for hearing. So, I'm going to pass it on to Pam. Thank you. And we have a presentation. I think that's should be lined up.

We'll get that set up right now. Oh, looks like Athena is feeding me to it. Here's Stephanie. There she is. So I'm going to start out. I wanted to introduce Stephanie Cherella who's the director of sustainability in Ammeris. She and I will present this uh and want to recognize that this is a quite a milestone uh with some work still to be done. Uh before I do anything about the presentation, however, I just want to speak um to the patience and hard work of all the town staff that have had input into this document. Um their expertise has refined what we what we'll see to today, what's being referred. Uh, and in particular, I do want to recognize Stephanie for the work with the starting with the um solar bylaw working group and carrying through to the work with the CRC most recently. So, thank you Stephanie.

Um, we want to introduce the Amoris Clean Energy bylaw and it is um an next slide please. The original uh charge, if you will, for the solar bylaw working group was to draft a solar zoning bylaw, including standards and guidelines that will guide and encourage responsible development of solar installations, including battery storage. So, it's a pretty pretty direct u charge and something that we have been working toward. Thank you, Stephanie.

Um, thank you, Pam. Um Athena if you could go to the next slide please. Um so the um the solar bylaw working group uh the the charge which Pam just uh read to you um the solar bylaw working group was convened um to develop the regulatory process and this uh was done in March of 2022. At the time there were seven voting members who were to convene for that group. It was the a member from the planning board, the energy and climate action committee, conservation commission, um a rep from the water supply protection committee, and then three community residents were also asked to participate and interviewed uh for that pos for the positions on that working group. I will say that um the folks that were chosen to be on this committee were folks with specific expertise, but not specifically solar expertise. We did have two members uh who did have some particular solar experience and expertise but it was not the primary um guideline for participating in this committee. Um they met from June of 2022 till November of 2023 uh in bi-weekly meetings and during that time they had various experts come in and speak to them on various issues. Um they also had representative from KP Law to discuss some decisions uh for uh bylaws that were um adopted and um actually challenged in some other communities to try to ensure that their process was a more uh smoother process in terms of getting this bylaw at the time um adopted. So from that point uh to November 17th of 2023, they continued to work on the

on the draft document. They had a final draft that went to the town manager. The draft that went to the town manager was not a complete document. So it did need further development. So in December, the town council received the final draft which was referred then to the community resources uh committee for further development. And that process began in March of 20 March 26th of 2024. Um, so from that point until present, the CRC has been reviewing the document. In August of 2025 until more recently, the CRC review edit had to incorporate new state regulations and guidelines um for clean energy sighting and permitting. uh and that includes B battery energy storage. Um so at this point is when the solar bylaw then changed to become the clean energy bylaw. If you could go to the next slide please. So in 2024 the state passed the mass clean energy law. A major component of this law was to create the division of clean energy sighting and permitting. And as a major objective of that convening of that division was to create a process that would expedite the permitting for large-scale solar projects. Um until that point sometimes projects could take several years if not even as in our case decades. Ours was for different reasons, but um it it could take um several communities lengthy process uh lengthy time and process in order to get their their solar projects developed. Um so the division of clean energy sighting and

permitting created a new process which expedited the permitting process um into 12 months. So the final regulations for that process were promagated on March 1st of this year. Um it establishes state review and permitting jurisdictions. So solar projects over 25 megawws and battery energy storage projects over 100 megawatt hours were then going to be automatically reviewed by the state. Anything below those thresholds then put the onus on municipalities to um consolidate a a permit process that would also require them to do so within a 12-month period. So be below the thresholds um as I mentioned of those of the state review. um they provided a draft municipal bylaw template uh that provided um kind of a a guideline of the permitting process. Um and that also kept in mind the 12-month review deadline. Um, I will say that the review deadline does include, which isn't necessarily reflected here, but it does include a 90-day pre-filing process that happens before the 12month period starts. So that's the process where very similar to how largecale projects are often dealt with in town is that um developers will often meet with with town staff to discuss the projects and sort of look at the process before them and what hurdles and things they might face or um information that they meet might need to provide in order to have a smoother regulatory process. This 90-day pre-filing period pretty much is that process. Um, it's just more formalized. So, that would require some coordination

with town staff and town staff working with the various boards and committees that would um do this permitting. So, the regulations uh officially take effect July 1st where municipalities may start to offer the consolidated permit option. Um, however, municipalities must have the consolidated permit pathway available to applicants by October 1st of this year. Otherwise, the state will oversee the projects automatically. So, that pretty much leads us to where we are now, where we have um incorporated the state's permitting guidelines into the draft. Um it does include battery energy storage now. Um and there is a more defined process and time period for the permitting. And you can go to the next slide, Athena. Our next steps, we are on bullet number two. We've already passed that hurdle. Um the vote tonight was to refer this document back to the planning board and to CRC for the actual public hearings. So we will start those on May 20. It will be a joint meeting the night of uh uh the planning board's normal meeting time uh in an effort to simplify the process for people who are interested in this topic to actually be able to follow the conversation. So it will they will not have to go to a CRC meeting or and or the planning board to catch up. We'll try to keep it uh somewhat unified initially to get this the thing rolling. Um at some point when we have concluded those hearings and we have we are wrapping this up we will go to legal council once more get KP law review. It

will go to go and finally come to town council for readings the first and second. The second we will we will vote on it and then we will hopefully have a clean energy bylaw in effect should someone knock on our door by October 1, we will be ready to welcome them in and develop our safe clean energy development. Thank you. Are there any questions about the clean energy bylaw? current draft that is headed to hearing um is in the packet. It is extensive. It includes a lot. Um many of us have been dealing with this for multiple years as you've heard. But um any questions on the process or even what is going on in that bylaw or specific questions about the bylaw? And I will state as you get through it and understand more of it, send any questions you have to the CRC chair, Pam, and she can always incorporate them into any hearings we are holding. Uh, Council Ryan.

So, if we do not meet this timeline that you're describing and someone knocks on our door, what happens? Pam, it would go to as a normal uh permitting process through either the ZBA or the planning board with today's standards and um conditions except if they file a consolidated permit, it would follow the state regulations as Stephanie said in 12 months. Um Sam,

uh thank you Mandy and thank you Stephanie and the committee for their hard work on this. Uh scanning through the document, it's certainly very long and thorough with lots of details. Uh I'm curious did and I assume did the committee uh take into account uh the impact on law on smaller homeowners? Uh, I saw in here a few references to salt and deicing and things and um, you know, I'm just wondering if there were discussions regarding anything that might delay or prevent individual homeowners from putting things on their roof. I assume uh, knowing who is involved that this is already taken care of, but I think the public some may have questions regarding that.

Do you want to tackle that, Pam? I I can try if you want me to. Um, yeah. So, so the question was about individual how does this affect individual homeowners that might want to put solar on their roof? So, the bulk of the bylaw applies only to ground mount solar, not roof mounted solar. Um, roof mounted solar in all of that language is an accessory use. So it would be permitted uh essentially you might still need the consolidated permit but the regulations wouldn't change much from the current ones in use in terms of what is how it's permitted now other than they could choose the consolidated permit route to guarantee 12 months or you can go non-consolidated permit but the bulk of all of that writing about salt and all of that applies only to ground mount systems. Uh, thank you. And I think that's helpful information for anyone who might be listening.

Yeah, Kathy, having spent what, one year on CRC um, tackling this, I commend you for moving it forward. And I just want to point out anyone who reads this and say, "Oh my gosh, is that complicated?" The state in its interest to speed up the process has produced one of the most regulatory h heavy things that I have ever seen where they're doing a lot of the direct regulating George. So, you know, and some of it is they're also deciding whether the site is suitable or not. They're going to have a rating system. So, if you attempt to read this and try to figure out what is this and what is that, some of it is directly from what towns are now required to do. that they didn't simplify the process. Are there any other questions or comments on this one? If not, we are going to move on. Um, so we are moving on two um the regional school district borrowing order was approved. So we have dealt with item 8 C. We are moving on to item 8D, community preservation act committee appropriations for FY27. We had split this into three separate items with a motion that helped before that which was to divide. The motion to divide was on consent and it was divided out and the approval of the two orders that did not involve after division the Jones library were approved. So, the only thing on our agenda right now for discussion is the Jones Library um order and so I am going to make the motion for that order um and seek a second and then we will have discussion on that order. So, I move in

accordance with charter section 5.6 six, having been published on the Talon bulletin board for a minimum of 10 days on March 24th, 2026, a public forum held on April 6, 2026, and having been reviewed by the finance committee with a report on April 23rd, 2026 to adopt council order FY2707A2, an order appropriating the FY2027 community preservation act funding for restoration and preservation of the Jones Library in the amount of $330,000 as shown on page 15 of the motion sheet. Is there a second? Second, Deon Cathier.

The motion is moved and seconded and is on the floor for debate and discussion at this time. Is there any debate and discussion? Kathy?

Yeah, I'm just going to since I get to vote later, I'm just going to explain my vote um by uh infusing a few pieces of information. I'm going to be voting against it and I'm going to do it for three reasons. The first two being the most important. I've always thought of community preservation act funds as tax dollars. They come these come from a 3% search charge on property taxes. Um less than 20% of the funds from the state match. As a counselor, I agreed with the statement although I realized we didn't enact it as policy that there be no new taxes for the project. I always considered the original one million CPA allocation to Jones to be tax dollars along with the general fund. Early on, I tried and failed to make this count as part of the 15.8. In other words, general fund would only be 14.8. Um, and I failed to do that. And just so people know, the 1 million that's coming from CPA for specialist collection is being funded by borrowing. and the debt service on CPA is counted toward the town's debt ceiling. So, it's it's integrated with our financing. The second reason is I do not think the project is eligible because it is supplanting funds that are already allocated to the project, contracted for and financed with debt authorization. It's a very unusual situation that the whole project is financed. The CPA funds, if you read our own CPA guidelines, are meant to be supplemental, adding to a project, enabling matching funds to secure grants. Indeed, the words in Ammeris CPA website say the funds are intended to increase available resources for community preservation. Many of the letters we received from the council in support of the Jones request appeared to

believe that the funds would add to the scope of the project that we were buying something more. They were perhaps unaware that the work had already been funded and explicitly contracted for with the construction company and the town had taken out debt to finance the project. Uh CPN's are not to supplant work that's already underway, including work funded by debt authorization. It's unusual that the town would finance debt finance such a large project for a building that's not owned by the town, but we have done that and the trustees assured us they'd be able to raise the funds. When we took a second meeting of the finance committee to get opinions about supplanting, you've already heard from a public comment. Two of the knowledgeable sources, including one at do, a lawyer, said it was a gray area. You could argue for or against it. And one, the executive director of the community preservation coalition noted that this went against the spirit of the law. Third, and this is my more minor reason, is CPA was never mentioned by the trustees a year ago. When we took a final vote on whether or not to resend the debt authorization, the trustees assured us they intended to raise the funds to finance their share. They listed foundation, state, and federal sources. They never listed CPA. If they had, I would have voted to resend. We have better use for our CPA do funds, our tax dollars for housing, for our school and town playgrounds, for our recreation areas. To honor the no additional tax dollar public statement, and out of concern for supplanting, I will be voting no.

Thank you, Councelor Lord.

Thank you. Oh, that's really loud. Um, I want to begin by saying clearly that I support the library project itself. I'm excited that Ammeris will have a beautiful and expanded public space that can serve residents across generations. I believe deeply in the value of a strong public library for our children, our teens, our English language learners, for those who come seeking connection, knowledge, refuge, and opportunity. I want to thank the library building committee, staff, advocates, donors, and residents who have given so much time, energy, expertise, and love to bring this vision forward. Their dedication deserves recognition and gratitude. I've heard from people on the yes and no side of the vote, and I thank you all for reaching out and sharing your point of view, your stories, and your truths. I don't make this decision lightly, but I will be voting no. And I want to be clear what my no is not. It is not aligned in any way with those who have weaponized this project through appeals to doge or the current federal administration. Those actions have caused real harm and fear in our community. to engage with this administration to strip away funding from this project was successful in causing financial harm to the project. But it was also what it has also done is to show that the safety and livelihood of many of us in this community are not considered. We're talking about an administration that targets our immigrants, our black and brown community, our trans and gender non-conforming folks, our queer community, and our lower income residents. At a time when black women are losing jobs, many estimate over 300,000 due to doge, trans and gender non-conforming people face increasing attacks and dehumanization and vulnerable young people are carrying unbearable pain. Our community has recently lost a member of that community. And I just wonder like how they would have felt to see a building built with them in mind and in gender-incclusive bathrooms. But to engage with this administration or doge is a line too far in my humble opinion for those who center humanity and that kind of politics is heartbreaking and

dangerous. So my vote should not be confused with that agenda. It is not the same and I reject that framing completely. My concerns are grounded in governance process and trust. This council previously stated that we would not commit additional taxpayer funds to this project. Whether one argues that the town share is just this percent or that CPA funds are already collected and therefore somehow different. I I just believe that residents hear one thing and then see another. And when we bend language to fit a desired outcome, we erode public trust and that matters to me. I've also heard that if we vote no tonight, the people who want to use the library will suffer. I respectfully disagree with that framing. The library building project itself will remain. The need before us is primarily financial stabilization. There are pathways to restore the lost grant funding maybe through legal action. There are community pathways to rebuild and protect the endowment over time. And I believe that Amoris is capable of meeting that challenge when we work together. For me, voting no tonight does not mean turning my back on the library. It means taking responsibility in a different way. I'm committed to helping raise funds, supporting community fundraising efforts, and doing my part in practical terms. I've canled a streaming subscription to begin making recurring donations. A little bit, but all that I can do, and I'll keep on doing more. And I will offer my labor and energy to help close gaps and support the long-term success of this library. This vote is difficult because I care about the project and the people it serves. But tonight, I'm just letting you know that I'm voting no, not against the library, but in favor of accountability, public trust, and a more sustainable way forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Pam. Thank you. Um, I appreciate the hard work of fundraising, uh, seeking grants wherever possible. Local tax dollars unfortunately do not fall into that category and I can't support the use of CPAC money for this project. Thank you. Any other comments before we move to a vote? Anna. Uh well I I was panicking so I would like to lower and re raise my hand because I was still gathering my thoughts and now that other hands have gone up I will lower and rease to go to the back of the line here. Andy,

um I think this project, you know, this project is going to get built. Um the question is how hard is it going to be to do the do the final lifting and and what risk are we going to put the endowment at? And um um you know I I I sit on the joint capital planning committee this this term and and this year in our in our report we suggested that the town continue to use to to see CPA as a source of funding for appropriate uses um that are you know that the town has the town has needs for. So to me, this is a this is a you know a targeted use for some historic pieces of the um of the library project and you know just the the CPA committee um looked at all the options and they did their work and they said that this was an appropriate use and I feel like we should honor that that process as well. Um, I I just think, you know, the project's going to go ahead, the library will be built, and but right now we're just making it just a little bit harder um for the folks who are out there trying in a very difficult fundraising environment. And um the committee who was charged with looking at the various uses saw this as an appropriate use and um so I'm going to vote yes. Sam

uh thank you Mandy. Um so this is this project the greater library pro project is clearly one of the most controversial projects in town for the last eight years. Um I respect advocates on both side and I I believe they are honest brokers genuine and I wouldn't uh uh label those who are opposed to the library as uh destructive or seeking problems. I think the motivations are real and genuine. Uh similarly, I think that those who are in favor of it are and I I think it's important not just for this but going forward that the discussions in my opinion should be based on the subject matter uh rather than seeking to label individuals. Um the decision for the library was voted by a prior council to authorize the debt obligation. Um and members on that had their own reasoning for doing so. Um there was an initial CPA uh I was on the CPA committee with the original $1 million uh that was authorized. Uh I was the loan uh member who did not vote in favor. I abstained on that. Uh but as we come to this um I was a former chair of the CPA committee for three years. Uh the town uh has a CPA committee to generate uh prioritization of CPA funds which are tax dollars. Of course, these are these are town tax dollars that can only be used in certain types of work, but you know, the CPA committee has nine members. In this case, they had eight. Uh I believe it was seven who voted. uh and they're

tasked with juggling priorities and applications that come before them. Um how anyone might have voted were they on that CPA committee including myself is not in my mind the uh primary issue here. It's that we have a committee who uh deliberated uh and some may think they didn't deliberate thoroughly, others may think they deliberated too much, but they deliberated and this is part of the process of uh having a group uh individual decisions may not always win out. Uh and they chose their rankings accordingly. Uh so for me the determination of whether to vote in favor of this funding uh is not based on my personal uh belief whether I would be in favor or against. It's based on supporting the um process and respecting the CPA committee. Uh and if there were an unequivocal uh statement from our town attorney or council who indicated that this did not qualify, I would not be supporting it. Uh but we received an opinion from the town council, meaning the lawyer, uh that said that it does qualify. Uh there are other opinions out there, but uh without an unequivocal negation or uh you know quote unquote vetoing of the CPA committee's right to do so, uh I I'll vote in favor of respecting the CPA committee's decision. Thank you,

Anna. So, I've, you know, been been spinning around on this one for a long time since we've had it in finance. And I I think the what drives me nuts here is that the library project team has had to scrap for every dollar and has had funds clawed back from it. Uh, and that has hurt the project and ultimately that hurts the town. It's not just the library. The library is a part of this community. And so I don't fault them for seeking additional CPA funds. And where I am stuck is if these were truly additional funds, I would have zero qualms supporting it. And I want to be very clear that I think the library absolutely should seek CPA funds. And I don't think that that is uh that using CPA dollars is counter to assertions that people have made in the past about town spending. My challenge with this is that the items are in an existing contract that has been signed um that would and a project that will happen regardless. And so I I while our lawyer will argue in court that it is not supplanting um where I feel that I continually need more information is other and I've been s searching for other precedent about contracts that have been you know signed and and work underway in other areas not work underway on the on this application and then receiving additional funds for a project that's going to go forward regardless of where those funs come from. So, I'm struggling with this one. Um, and I'm just naming that I'm struggling with this one because I I do see where the argument for supplanting is is strong here given that this contract has been signed.

All that said, because of the current spinning state, I may need to abstain. I would love to hear people argue for why why it is or why it isn't. Um because I continue to be not uh not fully convinced either way that it is or is not supplanting. Council Ryan.

Well, I can't answer that question. Um our attorney responded to it. I'm not an attorney. What I do know is this project will be completed. What I do know in a year there will be a dedication and hopefully all of you will be there. What I do know, it will be a transformative project. What I do know is a town jewel will be given another h 100red years of life. It'll be enjoyed by countless tens of thousands of people. Most of whom we will never know. But they will know us and they will remember us and they will be profoundly grateful for what we've done. The Jones Capital campaign has raised over $9 million to date. No project in the history of this town has ever come close to that figure. If that does not represent a level of giving and commitment, I don't know what does. Yet, it still has to raise another $6.8 million to fulfill its commitment. And it will fulfill its commitment. As you know well, the endowment is the back stop. Whatever it cannot raise in the inter intervening year and a year and a half will come out of the endowment. But I think you also know it shouldn't be 6.8 million. It should be 5.8 million. Where did that million dollars go? Well, that's right. There was a federal grant from NE that was clawed back. It was rescended. Where do you think the money comes for federal grants? It comes from taxpayer dollars just like the CPA. No one on this Well, I can't speak for anyone else. I'll speak for myself. The commitment was not to raise the 15 whatever it was town commitment and that

we have stuck to and that I would stick to to this day. If someone came back to us and said, "I'm sorry, you're going to have to raise the town's borrowing." I would, even though it would break my heart, I would vote against it. But never in a moment did I think that that was saying, but if the CPA, taking taxpayer dollars set aside for this particular kind of purpose, were to be granted to the Jones Library, that somehow that was a violation of some oath I had made. That's utter nonsense. You know very well how hard it is to raise money in this environment. You know how hard people work and they had a million dollars clawed away from them. So now they have to raise 6.8 million. And now tonight looks like we're going to rescend another 330,000. I guess I would just ask you to think who gets hurt in the end. The endowment is going to be put under greater strain. In the long term, yes, the money will be raised. In the long term, yes, the damage will be undone. But in the short term, we will contribute our little 330,000 to that damage. What's the glory or honor in that?

Are there any other comments before we move to a vote? Lynn,

this unfortunately has brought out all of the controversy that has existed around this project from even before this council was first seated. This project has been in court. It's cost the town an enormous amount of dollars to defend it in court, and we won. My biggest concern about this vote is that if we vote yes, we'll end up in court yet again. And it'll cost the town even more money. More money than in fact we could be sending to the library to help them reach their goals. This is the reason I abstained at the finance committee meeting and will probably abstain tonight because I just do not want to see us back in court over this issue. I am not only a supporter of the library. My husband and I are donors. That does not constitute a conflict. By the way, I want to be very clear. I have not gone out and solicited donations, but I am a donor. So I um regret that this has come to seem and feel to people like nonsup support of the library project. I think what George said is we will dedicate this library in about another less than a year and we hope everybody will be there and from then on people will enjoy this wonderful facility. Thank you.

Are there any further comments Andy? I mean this is presented as if it's a controversial um you know effort and certainly there's been a fair amount of hubbhub around it but when you look at the the um when you ask the the broadest uh gathering of residents when you take it when when it was taken to a vote it was a substantial majority um that said yes let's do this And in the intervening time, we've had COVID, we've had tariffs. There's all kinds of reasons why the costs have gone up. And so to find extra resources to help mitigate that a little bit seems appropriate, but I don't see it as a controversial project and and I think it's broadly supported. It's unfortunate that we've had that we have to live in fear of litigation to do, you know, to a avoid doing what the majority of our uh residents told us to do. Further comments or are we ready to move to a vote? Seeing no other hands, we will move to a vote. We start with Anna Delin Gothier.

Abstain. Lyn Greimer, abstain. Mandy Johanni is an I. Councelor Lord. Nay. Sam Mloud. Hi. Pam Rooney. No. Councelor Ryan, I. Kathy Shane, no. Jennifer Todd, no. Councelor Walker, no. Councelor Bev, no. Councelor Cano Martin, no. Andy Churchill, yes.

There are four yeses. Um, seven nazs, two abstensions, and it needed a majority present required to pass, and it did not receive that. So, the motion fails. we will be moving on to um 8D3 was already dealt with as I said earlier um so we are moving on to item 8E um which is uh charter 2.8 8C request for information on town manager executive order on immigration activities. Um I will on here I will recognize councelor brevik to make the motion. Great. Um well that's after we haven't gotten there yet.

Councelor breick. Okay I will read the motion. Um in accordance with section 2.8 8C of the Ammeristown charter. I move to require the town manager and any department head or heads he so chooses to appear before the town council at the May 18th, 2026 regular town council meeting to answer questions and provide more detail on the statements and action items included in the executive order issued by the town manager's office on March 3rd, 2026 as it relates to the interaction between town staff and federal immigration agents. Um,

if you want to add stuff now, you can make it now and then it's not a motion to amend. It's Yes, I am going to amend the motion to add another date by which we would provide questions to the town manager in advance. Um, and that date Um, so to add a a clause at the end saying with questions provided to the town manager by May 4th, 2026 to give two weeks for preparation. Is there a second?

Second. Sorry, I'm making my notes on the motion. So, um, the motion reads the motion has been made and seconded and the motion reads as it reads in the motion sheet. So, exactly as printed there with the clause added after the end of that motion. So, it would say um executive order issued by the town manager's office on March 3rd, 2026 as it relates to the interaction between town staff and federal immigration agents with questions provided by May 4th to the town manager. Is that it? So, that is the motion on the floor. Um, councelor Brevik, would you like to speak to your motion? I'll keep it brief since um we've got a lot to cover tonight and I provided a memo in the packet that explains kind of the background and rationale for this. It really in its essence is just a response to a lot of requests from residents to hear more um and have more direct questions answered. I think what we really want to get at is what would happen in different instances. Um, and so I think it just requires a little more uh direct question and answer. And I think this also will help will help remove counselors from being in between the public and the town manager on this. And and you know, I I would encourage um bringing along Chief Ting for this as well. I think it would be really helpful for folks to hear from him as well, though I know we can't directly compel him to attend. Um, I think that it it's helpful to not have a kind of chain of communication with with these kind of matters that it's it's really helpful to have that direct communication. So, I hope that this provides an opportunity for that. Um, and we uh I know that

there are other groups, the CSSJC and the Human Rights Commission both have similar interests in having a session like this. um for timeliness, I'm hoping that we can move this forward tonight and then I would and um maybe other counselors would also do, you know, some some work over the next week to make sure we're collecting questions and trying not to duplicate efforts so that we don't have to, you know, have this type of session in multiple different settings. So, kind of consolidating all of our efforts here for this one session. Thank you.

Thank you, Councelor Breick. Are there any questions, comments or discussion? Anna,

so a while ago, Paul and Chief Ting came to Applewood um and did a talk and he had shared that presentation uh with us and then I think had offered to do something similar. It sounds like Joel, you're asking for with a Q&A with the chief. Um is there anything in addition to kind of what was covered in that that you anticipate being covered here? I'm not saying it's not necessary. I think it can be a helpful avenue. Um, but I'm I'm curious if we if we look at that presentation or is it really just the Q&A part that kind of sets this apart from that presentation? Like there was a Q&A at that too, but is there like the in advance prepared Q&A kind of part the difference between that presentation and what you're proposing? Councelor Brother,

I don't think I can speak directly to the differences between that presentation and what we'd be asking for here, but I I think that the questions that I'm getting the sense that people have are really related to policy and and the directives that our police department is given around direct response to federal immigration agents. uh were they to be in Ammerst. So I think it's I think it's getting at more of the details and more of the kind of what actions are uh APD officers being directed to take um in these instances and I I think there were additional questions uh after that. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, I think that the presentation that I I had the opportunity to go to did address a lot of those. So, I think it would be helpful to have that um presented to the council and other members of the public as well.

Thank you. Um I'm going to skip over myself and go to councelor Ko Martin. I had thought I had an extra second to look at that presentation and tell you I can go myself if you don't want to go.

I mean, I I was just going to say I I did review the presentation briefly. um I didn't um spend as much time with it as I as I could have, but I think that it was very helpful in clarifying like the law and what the law says. But I do think that um people in the community, people I've heard from like they want like they have like specific scenarios in mind like what would happen if this happened or that happens and you know sometimes the policy isn't really clear like to the point where you would know. You'd have to kind of talk through it and say what factors would go into like the decision-m and how an officer might respond. So, um I think in that in that respect it would be really helpful to have this session and have the opportunity for Q&A.

Um I'm the only hand left so I'll talk. Um I think this will be helpful particularly after reading about what happened in um Burlington, Vermont. Um and the tension and I don't even know how to describe what happened there appropriately. um to be able to ask if something like that happened here, what would that look like here? Um but I I wanted to say as as president um if this motion passes, what I would ask is that all questions be provided to I at this point to to me and the clerk who could then consolidate them to send them all to the manager so that if the the same question he gets one document then with questions instead of receiving multiple times and all it'll just be easier and then I would ask the liaison the council liaison to the human rights commission, particularly the human rights commission and CSSJC to reach out to their members and forward any questions their members may have from them. Ask them to send them either to you or to me directly um so that it per you know councelor Brevik's wish we can try and get as many questions and cover as many relevant committees as possible. So we do have liaison to those two committees. There might be others that people think are relevant. Those two are the ones that popped up. So that's all I would ask if this motion passes. And I would consolidate them. And when I emailed the questions, when I forward them to the manager, I would CC the whole council so the whole council sees what questions were received and and asked. Um, Anna,

um, just to help folks orient if you're looking for that email from Paul, it was uh, March 22nd and, uh, Amber, yeah, that the the Q&A the or Jill, I can't remember, I'm sorry, councelor Bravick or Councelor Kamart, which one of you said this, but the Q&A on specific scenarios was really helpful for the folks at Applewood to be able to ask, and that was a huge part of the discussion. So, I I imagine that would be a large part here. I think for me the helpful reference point in the presentation is kind of a jumping off point for my own questions. So if if folks are looking for it, it was March 22nd. Thank you. 22nd to two. Any other comments, questions before we move to a vote? It looks like we don't have any and that we might be ready to move to a vote. We start. This is a motion. Um I'm going to read it since we've had a counselor rejoin us in accordance with section 2.8C 8 C of the Ammeristown charter to require the town manager in any department heads he so chooses to appear before the town council at the May 18th 2026 regular town council meeting to answer questions and provide more detail on the statements and action items included in the executive order issued by the town manager's office on March 3rd 2026 as it relates to the intera interaction between town staff and federal immigration agents with questions provided by May 4th to the town manager. So um we'll move to a vote. We start with Lynn.

I Mandy Joe Hanicki has an I. Councelor Lord I. Sam Mloud abstain. Pam Rooney. Yes. Councelor Ryan I. Kathy Shane. Yes. Jennifer Todd. Yes. Councelor Ry uh councelor Walker. Yes. Councelor Brevik. Yes. Councelor Kennel Martin. Yes. Andy Churchill. Yes. And Anna Delin Goofier.

Hi. That is unanimous. 12 in favor, none opposed with one absention. Motion passes. We are moving on. I as we move on, I want to thank the whole council for attempting to be efficient. We are we might get out of here at an almost reasonable time. So, we are moving on to item 8F, proposed amendment to town council rule of procedure 8.2. This was removed from consent, so I will make the motion. The motion is to delete town council rule of procedure rule 8.2C in its entirety and reletter the remaining sections of rule 8.2 appropriately. Is there a second?

Shade seconds. Okay, Kathy's got it. Okay, Anna seeds to Kathy. Um, I'm going to Anna, would you like to give the go report?

Yeah, sure. So, go all discussed this on March 24th. Um, and the committee discussed the pros and cons of deleting this and reumbering. And essentially the message that came through from the clerk of the council and from uh Mandy as as proposing the rule change is that removing this rule eases the workload on the clerk of the council. And this rule has largely not been employed. Um, we have not used it as and instead have placed items on the council agenda anyway. So the the motion we had two members absent that day. We did still have a quorum, but the motion passed unanimously with those absent and two with those present. I don't know what the absent folks thought and um two two folks absent to delete council rule of procedure 8.2c in its entirety and reletter the remaining sections of rules of procedure 8.2 appropriately.

Thank you. Any comments, questions? I know councelor Ko Martin, you removed it, so I assume you've got something. Um yeah and then that's why I didn't know what it was about because I missed that go meeting. So um yeah I mean I I guess I was just wondering if you could just explain like again the rationale for it um briefly.

Yeah. So um people saw my email to go on it. Um I proposed it because it puts so so it's a weird thing to say an automatic referral that then you're putting on a council agenda. So are you allowed to put it on a council agenda or do you have to automatically refer? Question number one, we've been putting them on council agendas, but then you've got this confusion. Well, wasn't it automatically referred without anything? Yeah. Um, and and what I had heard from the council clerk was that particularly bond is a agencies want to see an actual motion to refer to finance passed. They don't like a simple in a in a president's report, this was automatically referred. They like to see the actual vote. Um, and then to give an example in reading the rest of rule 8.2, there is a section of the rule that allows the president um to refer things that aren't covered by the automatic referral in cases where time might be necessary. So removing this does not prevent the situation where we faced when um the town for example the easiest one to refer to is when the town council on a council meeting on a Monday asked that the manager issue a financial order for the borrowing of the middle school roof. The finance committee meeting was the next day but we didn't have the refer the the order at all. So the council couldn't vote that referral. There is a section of section 8.2 there is I don't know it's G. it's going to get renumbered, relettered. Um, that allows the president to do that. So, even if 8.2C is removed, the president could still have done that referral under a different section of the rules to make that efficient. So, in that sense, I didn't see an issue with practice necessarily. It's more matching the rule to our current practice, but it wouldn't prevent the council from

operating efficiently if it needs to operate in that more expedient manner. Uh, any other comments or questions? Seeing none, we're going to move to a vote. We start with me. I am an I. Councelor Lord. I. Sam Mloud. I. Pam. Yes. Councelor Ryan. I. Kathy Shane. Yes. Jennifer Todd. Yes. Councelor Walker. Yes. Councelor Bevik. Yes. Councelor Ko Martin. Yes. Andy Churchill. Yes. Anna Degafier. Hi. And Len Greimemer. Hi.

Uh, that is unanimous. Um, I want to before we move on, um, ask the council clerk, there were some questions I received today about links to council rules of procedure maybe not being updated on council pages. I don't know how because when I click, I think I get the right one. Um, we are operating the last printed council rules we have is also out of date. So, is it possible to get a print copy for all counselors once this rule is updated so that all counselors can have a copy in print as well as obviously updating the council web page for it. Um, as just a request as we just moved changed the rules. I think that would be helpful to everyone. Um, moving on, we dealt with appointments under consent. Um, that was just a hand. Are you like pre-handing as we Okay. Did you want to ask the clerk something about rules or can I move on the agenda? Okay. Pam. Um probably a year ago I think we sent this is this is this is rules related um in uh selection of appointments in the process of appointing people and it was had to do with how far we look back to look at active calfs and the timing based on uh public notice of vacancies in the bulletin and I would love to ask if go kindly put that back on the agenda. at some point because a year later we're facing the same situation and we didn't fix it.

So I'm going to consider that a question under council under committee reports which is the section we were moving to.

Well we're moving to that section. So Anna back up um happily to the practice of go has been that if for your action to be considered please submit it in its final form that you'd like it to be adopted. So, if you propose the change, um, it would be a mocked up version of the the policy of multi-member body appointments. I'm going to be honest with you, G is is swamped, uh, at this point. And so, I will happily take that up for the same reasons that you are frustrated with it. I too am frustrated with it. Um, and because right now we don't have a proposed exact language to discuss, it's a bigger project for G because we'd have to go through and words smmith it. So, it would be faster if you would submit or if anyone is interested in sending in the uh the language that you'd like to see it changed to. That would be awesome. Um it's on my list. It's it's just not at the top of it right now. Thank you. So, we're in um committee reports. Um we start with council committee reports. remind you everything we do from now on delays the executive session that could take a while. So just be mindful of time as we might want to but but any and we have a meeting next week. Are there any council committees that feel like they need to report on something now that cannot wait till next week? Please raise your hand. Um Anna G will be begin finishing our discuss finishing of committing do you all people across from me um finishing our discussion on the human rights commission uh now charge tomorrow um and we will begin our discussion of the resident oversight board uh motion which is a a big big big motion that we were given to kind of figure it out. So uh we will begin that discussion tomorrow.

That discussion will certainly not be done tomorrow, but at least we will be able to start kind of getting into that and um I know that you all are are eager for those charter recommendations to come back as well. So, we're going to try to map out our plan for those, but we've got a lot of big stuff on our plate. So, I appreciate the patience with G as we work our way through it. Thank you. Uh Kathy,

uh just a quick note on the finance committee report that you have in the packet on page nine is the budget timeline schedule that we've set up on which topics are happening and on which day. If anyone we will all get a copy, it'll may be online on May 1st. If anyone has questions for the different sections, please send them to me and I'll make sure that Sean gets them. We have people responsible for each section so we can do consolidated and it's a great thing if we can get them before the meeting so that people the the department heads who come to the meeting can be answering the questions. So I'm just it it you may not want to pour over the budget but if you do pour over the budget please send your questions in.

So and I will add on to that. I had sent out an email asking if anyone that was not on finance would like to attend the budget meetings, the review meetings. I received no responses, so I'm not planning on noticing any of those meetings as full council meetings. Um, any other council committee? Andy,

uh I'm I'm just curious when for for example when the finance committee discusses the school budget um I assume you'll be having school administrators coming in to talk about it. We've been getting a fair amount of interest and questions about what's going to happen between, you know, scenario two or or the original submitted budget. Is that a public meeting? Should we be encouraging folks to direct their attention to that particular session or is that more of an internal deliberation process? Kathy,

it's a public meeting. We take public comments at the beginning of the session. Andy and uh Lynn Lynn got consolidated questions. they went to the superintendent uh more than a week ago so that they would have those questions two weeks in advance and because we got that budget in advance we could go through both the superintendent's budget and the augmented budget with specific questions about items. Um we haven't posted the questions. um we haven't in the past done that be but often if we do that you can get answers to them more quickly and we're anticipating most of it will focus on the elementary school we have just a few questions of the regional and that will be the first part of that meeting which is that Thursday um of of May 7th the the first week

Anna and that by the way it's not the end of the discussion that's the discussion we're having with the superintendent and whatever staff she might bring. When we get to what do we want to say based on what we've heard and what we've read, there'll be more discussions as we get to drafting our recommendations. Anna,

I'm thinking about how to try to increase communication and collaboration between the town council and the school committees. And I'm curious if there's been thought around inviting at least the Ammer school committee to that particular meeting and having it be called as a d as a joint meeting of those bodies because I think you know by the time we get to the hearing they might have answers to some of the questions given their role in developing those budgets alongside the superintendent or or providing guidance in the way that they do. So I'm I'm curious about trying to find avenues to include the school committee in these discussions. I don't feel that our current system uh where they're here and kind of quickly present the budget, but it there's not really an opportunity for in-depth discussion is really working. Uh and I would love to try to figure out a better avenue and this might be one that could work better.

And last year, um there's no reason we can't extend an invitation both to the chair of the elementary school and the chair of the regional. They did both come last year and took an active role and they saw the questions in advance that were sent. So, we can at least do that as opposed to making it a meeting of the meetings. Yeah. Yeah. I I I would appreciate that. I think that would be a good a good step. Thank you, Councelor Kennel Martin.

Yeah. Uh I just had a question because um I must have missed an email and I apologize for that about whether counselors intended to attend these finance committee meetings if we're not on finance. So if we were to attend would we be sort of brought into the main meeting and allowed to speak you know in the meeting as a regular participant or how does that work?

So technically only if it's called as a council meeting too. That's why I extended the invitation to see if anyone was interested because I don't want to create more work for the town clerk if there will not be a quorum of the full council at any of these meetings because they then you know the town clerk if I decide to there's like eight of them or something. If I notice all of them it creates a lot of issues. But if there are specific ones that counselors intend or would like to participate in um we have a little bit of time to change that decision. That's why I brought it up. Um, so email me with which ones you would want to go to. If I believe a quorum will be present, um, I am more than happy to call those, if the chair of the finance committee agrees, as joint meetings, um, that the chair would run so that counselors can participate in them even if they're not on finance. Um, maybe my email didn't explain that well enough.

And the difference is that you're otherwise in the threeminut rule world during public comment. you know during public comment that you you can always be at the meeting but you won't be at the table in the same way. Okay. And we do try to focus on the questions we've been asking. It's not a decision making when we're working with the departments. We're we're gathering information is is the way I would say to inform whatever decision or recommendations we're making. Are there any other reports for council committees? Seeing none. Are there any committee reports for town committees with councelor members on them?

Just quickly, Paul, we mentioned this a couple weeks ago, but tomorrow at 3:30 is a site visit and um you have to indicate if you want to come to that because we try to control it's uh and I don't know how many are signed up already, Paul, because we were sending it direct directly. So, It's at 3:30 to walk around the new school. It's the Amethyst Brook tour. See no other hands for council count committees with council members. Are there any liaison reports from any of the council leaison to committees? Seeing none, we're going to move on. Approval of minutes happened on consent. So Paul brief

brief brief. Thanks to the school tours. So, we have a number of you who've said you'd like to go. I really encourage you if you can make it, try to attend, let Angelina know that you're going to be there. I appreciate the courtesy of giving us the questions in advance and time to respond to them uh for the and I believe the chief does will be interested in attending. Um things are developing with that, you know, information new since we made the presentation at Applewood. So, um, and we are planning to do a table talk exercise with our staff. Um, in terms of just some scenario planning, um, uh, Cupa Joe with Paul is going to be an evening edition because it's going to be associated with the budget with Sean Mangano. I think we're going to be using this room. It's the only room we have available. It's not we didn't really want to use it, but I think we're scheduled that for May 6, but we'll let you know what that is. And we're working really hard to get you the budget on May 1st, which you will get.

Thank you. Any questions for the town manager? Councelor Ryan Paul question from last time. We had asked that you would consider putting a DPW worker on the DPW building committee and I wondered where that stood. I'm considering it. Uh we're still but I haven't made a decision on it yet. Kathy, um I just have a question. Um having heard I don't actually need the rules of procedure printed but the budget book you often ask whether people want a printed copy of the budget book Paul um is should we be indicating that to

we will reach out to you. Uh we don't we don't do that in advance. We we give you the electronic version on May 1st and then we ask people who would like a a so no I didn't expect to receive it by May first but I just know when you would be wanting we'll send a questionnaire out to you. Councelor Kennel Martin. Yes. I just wanted to follow up um in terms of the DPW um building committee. Um would it be possible to make those meetings hybrid so that they could be um at least on Zoom and recorded because um right now it's really hard to if you can't be there in person on the day of is there would that be something that the town could make possible?

That'd be up to the committee to decide. So you could send that request to the chair I would suggest. Then the committee can they choose each committee chooses how they want to meet. And I believe the chair is Christine Greybollen. Yes. If you need her email address,

I have it. And and you could send it to Pam, too, who is on the committee and she can forward it. Um, any other questions for the town manager? Seeing none, um, town council comments starts with the president's report. It is in the packet. Are there any questions on the president's report? And if not, I will move on to future agenda items. Councelor Keno Martin. Okay. Um, future agenda items, May 4th will be just as busy. Um, rental registration report, the request from back in January or February is is at this point intended to be on that meeting. There's a number of proclamations. The budget is the big thing on that meeting. Um we will get the budget presentation um which will also in related to that water and sewer rates the 2.8 information requests related to water and sewer rights. Um the capital improvement plan. Um the um potential other items, some public way items. Um we might if I think we have time come back to the charter review committees beyond the charter referrals. It did not have time this meeting. Um, and then there's the possibility of starting um, discussing a regional agreement amendment request. We're still trying to figure out whether it was actually voted at the region or not. We've got some some technical logistics going on as to what's going on with their request to amend the regional agreement um, of the school district and stuff. So, that's the future agenda items. Um, I'm working with councelor Lord on another request for information under charter section 2.8B, 8B which is requesting um committees come before us or the committee chair and that would be CSSJC as the committee. So um the request

would be on May 4th if we can get that memo in in time. So I've been working with her on that. Um anything else for May 4th or any other questions on future agendas? Seeing none. Are there any councelor comments? Seeing none, we took care of the topics not reasonably anticipated in advance um which was the resolution and that was dealt with on consent and up in item 6A. And so um we are going to move to the executive session item of our agenda. Once the council if the council votes to enter executive session, councilors will log off of their present Zoom session and log on to a Zoom link provided for the executive session. Um and once we vote um I'll have a couple of more announcements. So, um, the motion is in accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 3A section 21A 6 to consider the purchase, exchange, lease, or value of real property, 893 West Street. The chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body. The town council will not return to open session. Is there a second?

Griemer second. Um, is there any discussion before we move to a vote? Seeing none, we start with councelor Lord. Sam Mloud, I. Pam Rooney, yes. Councelor Ryan, hi. Kathy Shane, yes. Jennifer Todd, yes. Councelor Walker, yes. Uh, councelor Brevik, yes. Councelor Kenna Martin, yes. Andy Churchill, yes. Anna Don Gothier, I. And Lyn Gre Lin Greimemer,

I. and Mandy Johannicki is an I. That is unanimous. Um, the council will now enter exe into executive session. Please log off of your current Zoom links and check your email. There should be another Zoom link in your