Town Council - Regular Meeting

Ice flag and to the republic for it stand. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. I'd like to report that no vote has been taken in open session uh in executive session and I'll make a motion to seal the minutes of executive session. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? I thank you. Announcements. Do I have any? They can come from the gallery. Thank you.

Um we have an announcement. Why don't you stand up? Right. Um, my microphone may not work. Uh, so I am in receipt of a certificate of special recognition from Governor Daniel J. McKe, the town of Little Compton Department of Public Works in celebration of exceptional dedication, resilience, and public service for your extraordinary efforts during the blizzard of 2026. Read the rest of it, but

congratulations. You say it one more time in more summer but on the fire uh people sleeping right in the fire station and ted skies are out over 24 hours. It's quite a thing. So good time. We have approval of minutes. Motion to approve the minutes of March 19th unless you don't have any changes. I have a second. Second. All in favor? Hi. Hi. Thank you. Department head reports. I am going to take one out. The finance director's activity report.

Make a motion to uh place other department head reports on file. I will second that. All in favor? I. Thank you.

Did you want to give I have a big interview from my introduction. And here he was manager in Rhode Island. That's enough. 1941. Oh, I'm sorry.

So, I do apologize. Normally we have a a slide but these these were in the uh on the website our IT persons on medical leave. So miss that. That's uh my fault. But so um let's start off with the June 30th 2025. So in the process now of getting uh information to the auditors. We actually had a planning meeting on Tuesday with our new audit group CBiz. they have uh people scheduled over the next uh two months to get get the work completed. So, next week I'm going to be in the process of uploading uh trial balances and other information that they need um to complete the audit. And in the process, I'm going through the 25 numbers and and making uh changes and corrections, which I've pretty much gone through at this point in time. And it looks like uh at the end of the day that we'd be showing in the general fund revenues about 16 million 10,782 um the revenue side which is about 110 156 above budget. So we've got a little bit of an excess of uh revenues from our budget. On the expense side, we're um we're at 16,878360, which is a little bit less than our budget of 17,177422. So, at the end of the day, we'd be looking at roughly uh 867,578. Now that number compared to what was voted on at the financial town meeting which was a million16796. So we're going to do better than we uh anticipated that we were going to do in

FY25. So So that's that's very positive. Um I know I've talked about this in the past. We had a um about a million62 in road paving expenses that went into 25. There were uh two items that helped to offset that. Well, actually three, but so the first one was that we get um a DOT grant for 281659 on that project. So I've applied that money should be coming in very shortly from DOT. We also did a municipal resiliency grant for 164,000 and the expenses were included in that million 162. So, that's going to be grant fund out of the general fund as well. And uh as we put in the FY25 budget, we had a little over $100,000 plugged in there for road paving. So, that was already in the budget. So, at the end of the day, we're going to be looking at um approximately $516,000 that was going to be charged to uh the road paving expenses. uh um is is certainly less than the million062. So that's where a lot of the adjustments did come uh through for um at the 25 this point in time. So with with that said um the fund balance that I'm projecting for uh so we started out with a projected fund balance in our general fund of a million 980967 with the uh loss that we're going to show of 867578 we're going to show a fund balance of a million1389

uh for the endo 6325. So that's what I'm projecting that the audit will wind up showing at this point in time going into 26. Um I've had time to kind of go through some of the numbers. Um I went through the revenue numbers and on the tax side it looks like we're going to be doing a little bit better than we had budgeted. So we're going to be showing an excess over budget of about 2195 and and this again is in 26. Uh on the expenditure side, our run rate is approximately 74.28% for all the expenditures. Now some of those are 100% expended like the debt service which is 800 and some odd thousand that's already part of that but then there's others that we may not have spent all the way. But the two areas of concern were um the highway department which um obviously with the uh later snowstorm there was a fair amount of overtime and additional uh work with outside contractors. So we're anticipating uh a little bit of a shortfall there. And uh there was another 372,000 on the road paving contract that came in for the work they did this past summer which got into 2016. uh we are going to receive another 122685 from the Department of Transportation and a grant and then we have about 69,000 in upper funds that we're going to use to offset that plus the $100,000 that we had budgeted in there. So we're looking at the impact on that and 26 to be about $75,000 against that um road paving uh uh contract. And then uh the only other area we're looking at for some potential overage would be uh some overtime in the fire department. He's had some injured

on duty and some and certainly some of the snowtorms of course increase in the overtime. So I'm I'm I'm pretty confident that um we're looking pretty good for FY26. Right now I'm looking at a projected surplus for 26 of about $178,000 the fedic is uh operating cash uh as you know that's what was a concern that I had with cash flow right now we're looking at in our operating accounts uh roughly about uh 2,364,000 um and That's after paying out about 505,000 in um principal uh in interest on the school bond which was paid at the end of March. So we're pretty good shape. We do have obviously another tax uh quarter to pick up as of June 15th. Um, and outstanding the larger bills that are outstanding other than, you know, the the weekly and bi-weekly payroll numbers would be, uh, we'll have the fourth quarter tuition payments for Portsmouth High School, which will be running around 300,000, and then we have the three summer payrolls that we have to make for the school in June. So, those are the two that uh, uh, we'll deal with um, on that. So cash flow is is better than uh than I expected. So um I think we're moving along in that in that area. Uh the last thing I want to touch upon was uh and many of you have seen that we had met with the um S&P standards global on the bond rating for the town and uh the town has traditionally had a AAA

rated uh bond rating. I think um the only other community in Rhode Island was Barington that had that rating, but we were downgraded to a double A plus, which is just kind of a half a step down from the AAA. uh and there was a negative outlook and the negative outlook was um from the standpoint that uh if we didn't meet the expectations for example you know we we had obviously communicated to them we had we we had a discussion with them for almost uh an hour with the town administrator members of the council and um our financial advisor from uh PFM and it was it was a good conversation we knew knew that the rating probably would come down. Some of it is the impact of what's happened globally as well too. So um but uh you know we do have obviously a strong uh tax base um and they took that into consideration. So the negative outlook is hopefully um if we meet the expectations in terms of not eating into reserves which we won't be doing and um also um providing current financial statements from the audits which we are we will be doing. So the the June um June 30th is the deadline for the 25 audit and they're aware of that as well at this point in time. So, that was um um as as much as we'd like to keep the AAA rating, it wasn't as bad as I I thought it could be at this point in time. The impact is that we're not doing any borrowing. We don't anticipate to do any borrowing, so it's not going to have a real financial impact um to the town at this point in time. But um so that's uh my report.

Yeah, just a couple things I picked out of it. Uh I think it's positive news that we've council has hired. CBiz the accounting firm is the biggest firm that's ever done little confidence. They're not the top four in the country but they're right below that. I

think they're seventh actually. seventh in the country and apart from that seventh from the country I see your hand and um in the meeting they said they dedicated three accounts uh they put aside um which is positive news and I know that you said June 30th is in a contract which I saw signed for the FY25 audit but to put you on the spot for the heck of it we're 40 days out from May 19th eight weeks Is that right? 40 days out. What do you think we're going to see in 40 days uh from our auditors? CBI is number seven in the country. What do we what can we expect?

We're probably going to expect the same numbers that I'm going to present to them next week. So, I don't think you'll see any changes in that. I mean, in the 15 years I've been doing the school, I can count on one hand the audit adjustments that I've had. So, I'm not anticipating any significant adjustment. That's what I wanted to hear. Thank you. Yeah.

Do I have a hint on on the U finance director's report? Go right to my podium. Sal Marinosi, I just wanted to know what the status of the delinquent taxes were. Uh how much we collected, what did it cost us, etc. So, we've we've collected uh we we had roughly about 760,000 outstanding at the end of June and we've collected uh almost 575,000 and um the balance that's sitting in those outstanding receivables at this point are are ones that we're probably going to look at when we do the tax sale. So it's it's really more the hardcore that's remaining and we're going to be addressing that within the next quarter. So we we've done pretty good in terms of the the collection.

Thank you. Can I see another hand in the back? Sure. Come on up.

Ben Gothier 87 West Main Road. Um, first I'd like to thank the council for stopping the hemorrhaging that caused us to get into the situation we're in. Um, but the negative outlook is particularly concerning to me and I'm wondering, you know, is it a turnaround in reserve balances or what what can the town do to demonstrate it actually has its act together and deserves a positive outlook? I think that's to me the most critical thing for us all to work on.

Yeah, I think it's it's going to be meeting the uh projections that we did provide to them. So, um we told them, you know, we had a balanced budget for 26. It looks like we should be selling a surplus for that and continuing to build up the reserves. when they were looking at the AAA rating, they were looking at a number that was above 4% of uh your budget. Um, so I don't expect it and I don't think that we'll be getting back to that number within a year or two, but I think we're going to show some good progress against that. So that with my discussions with the fiscal advisor, he thinks the they feel that they'll put that they put that in for a 2-year period to kind of cover themselves. And I think as long as we meet the uh expectations, they they should lift that. Um we could probably push depending on what happens in uh 26. I mean, uh, we could have another ratings call in the fall and the spring of next year if if we feel as though that might be, um, uh, important to have, but the reality is we're not using it really for any bonding. So, we're not and we're not being financially impacted by that,

but the option goes away, right? I mean, I guess that's it took a long time to get there. And when we did get AAA, you know, was explained to Mr. Mars and myself and the rest of us on budget that it it it assures the creditworthiness of the town no matter what happens and as a coastal community and it's an extremely rare thing to get. Um so no matter what happens with state budget with other exigencies that may happen in a major hurricane whatever the town has going the town is good for it um because of those those reserves. And so and it took a long time to get there. Um even if it takes us know many many years to get back having a positive outlook to me you know being a parent being a teacher you know just the way you want to live your life. I think we really ought to double down on trying to at least turn around that part of our rating. And thank you both for your amazing efforts in turning things around so far.

Thank you. Thanks. What's love?

Ben Kennedy, a resident on Big Dum Road. Um, first of all, I want to thank John and the staff for a huge improvement over the last year or so. First of all, thank you. Um, I'd also like to a point of clarification is that this downgrade is only with respect to the general obligation bond of the town as distinct from the school. Is that correct? Uh, no, that's the bond rating for the town. So, just the town, it's just that's the fixed rate.

Well, a school bond is actually a town bond. It's just for the schools, but the town is the only entity that has the ability to borrow money. Okay. So, but it affected both issues, the the general obligation bond as well as the school. Well, those bonds have been issued, so it's not going to impact the rate rates that are on those bonds at this point in time. Spread between a AAA and a double A is between 15 and five and 10 basis well 15 basis points averaging somewhere around seven. So on the low floater do you expect expansion and or an increased expense?

Uh no. Thank you.

Okay. also the the CIS contract the FY26 bought it for December if I recall. Is that right? That's that's contract. Uh that that's the um that's the state deadline is 6 months and we're we're looking to hit that. They actually have um people scheduled for September of next year to work on the 26 audit. So we're right in line to get three audits this year. So, uh, that's great. Appreciate it. Any other questions? Make a motion to accept the finance director's activity report. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you.

All business one, request to advertise the public hearing for the harbor commission increase in moing fees. Recommendation following update to the town vote public hearing was on December 4th, 2020. If I don't take a stab at this, I'll make a motion to set a public hearing. I have I have a second. Excuse me. Sure. Is that the route we're going with this? Yes. Okay. And um Mark, did you send Mark just sent you the language? Okay. We want to set a date now or we can we can Heather, you take care of that date. Well, yeah. I got to advertise. Thank you. Have a motion. I think I have a second. All in favor?

Who second? I did. Oh, thank you. All in favor? Hi.

Thank you. Old business update for state building located at 144 Avenue. So, we have a um some have a very special constituent south is probably walking up. There he is. Who's been working on the state building with Gary Mataronus. Thank you, John. Gary Mataronus and Bob Mushin. He's going to give us an update. Um for anyone that doesn't know, that's a state building. It's not little Compton's building. Um, so they're looking to we're looking to uh inhabit that building, but some plans and I haven't had the chance to speak with my other with Bob or or Gary. So, we don't have a real link forum issue, but I have S has dropped by and spoke with me this morning and we're going to go over septic, the well, lead paint and a tour and go ahead for that update. So, thank you. I want to thank you for everything you're doing.

Well, thank you for I hope I hope make this happen.

Well, I hope so, too. Uh I think it'd be uh feather in our cap for the town. Uh it's it's a large amount of money we don't have to spend on a building. Then uh as you know I met over there we had the cesspool pumped and uh investigated the blockage that was there. We took care of that. Uh I spoke to Acme uh this today and they dropped the fee. They charged me uh initially from 400 to 290 which I thought was nice. And uh we we uh pumped the system, put the dye in the system, trace the effluent and where it was going and it's working. So, uh it uh it is a big big item off the list. We were we were thinking of that we needed a new septic system. Uh we did um take paint chips uh off the walls and we brought them to Rhode Island Analytical and uh they did come back as lead paint. I had a contractor look at it and the first number we got to take care of the lead paint and take care of the interior was $30,000. I'm going to be talking to other people to see if we can get that number substantially lower. Uh there's a number of ways it can be done. They do it one way, but I know of three or four other ways they can do it. So, we're going to stay on that item. Uh the restrooms were a nice surprise because they're all new and uh I was surprised that when we opened the door, we had uh a nice facility there. I thought it was going to look like the rest of the building.

And uh it's operational. The water system inside has a uh a um filter system on it that hasn't been serviced. Hasn't been operational for a while. I talked to the water company of wreck for the building and uh they described the system as something that had to be kept up and they decided not to do it because they weren't using it as much. So I when I contacted them I asked them if they would be interested in servicing it. They said we're out of that business now. So they did give me somebody that took over their their clients and he's meeting with me Monday at the building. We're going to go over the water system. he's going to do some water samples and uh so that's where we are now. I talked to uh Mr. Disto and I had sent a letter to the state uh describing the items that had to be done and the schedule that I uh I thought was reasonable. I'm going to forward a copy of that to Mr. Dysto so he'll have the the verbiage that was discussed between the state and myself. Thank you.

Thanks. So, yeah. So, again, the septic system you had pumped up for 290. Um, we're going to test the the weld water, have an analysis because there's salt contamination on the butter side. Yes. We want to make sure. Have you spent any money on that? So, not yet. Okay. Um, and the lead paint that you sent out that was that was $100. Yes. And I would like to get a tour for the counselors that haven't been to the been to the building yet. So maybe we could could do that. Have a walk through a walk through and the and the town administrator also. Yes.

Again, I appreciate I'm gonna make a motion to reimburse S uh for $390 for work been done investigating uh this potential property. Do I have a second? Second. Do I have further discussion? Not seeing any. All in favor? I. So you can hang around the finance department's office tomorrow. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank

Okay. New business one request for Ron Library to advertise for bids to replace four tables and 22 chairs at the library. I'll make that motion. Do I have a second? Second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Thank you. Two. do consider to appropriate the sum of $180,000 or so. Uh therefore necessary to pay health insurance expense for retired town employees as recommended by the finance director. I have a motion. Did you Why are we dealing with this at this point?

These items were not on the two special budget meetings that uh when I had presented the warrant uh item in that fashion to the council. uh the last minute document that was presented to you at the meeting uh that Ana had passed out. These next three items were removed as past experience or past previous years of being voted on needed to go on the warrant. Now is a is a different figure than we anticipated because the rate came in differently. Rate came in at about a 14% increase as opposed to our projection of a 10% based on what the trust had told us. Thank you. Yep. Have a motion. I'll make the motion. I'll second it. Any further discussion? All in favor?

I. Thank you. Biz new business 3 consider appropriate sum of $5,000 to expense associated with the town Landing for the ensuing the motion. Now here town Landing is referring to an organization, not a physical location. Right. Is that right, Heather? This was something that Oh. John's gone. Um, the finance director had broken this out or someone Anya can speak to this had broken this out separately this year, so I can't speak to that. Okay. Yeah, it's for the physical location. Um, and I am not off the top of my head remembering it was at one point it was in DPW.

I'm gonna phone a friend. It had been in the game and we moved it to Okay. So, it's the amount in the DPW budget for I apologize for the confusion. I thought we were speaking of the town meeting and the funding of the people who who provide those services who happen to have a name that's similar to that. Thanks. Disregard. Thank you. I'll make the second. Any further discussion? All in favor? I4 institute to appropriate the sum of $45,000 for expense associated with town human resource duties for the suing year. I'll make that a motion. Do I have a second?

Further discussion? I'm seeing any. All in favor? I. Thank you. New visit five letter from capital councils of wall. I see them here. I see a counselor at all. There he is. Would you like to speak on this?

Good evening and thank you. My name is Matthew from Bush and Kavanaaugh in Providence, Rhode Island. Our firm represents Luan Nevett, property owner of three Birchard Avenue. We also represent Natalie and Brian Elias, all of which are here tonight. The Eliasins own multiple properties, but in particular they own 15 Birchard Avenue. So hopefully uh you've all had a chance to review our letter of concern. I likely provide more details than I'll be able to get into here tonight, but I will try to summarize a bit of the more important points for you. Um, so my clients are the northerly and southerntherly abutters of 9 Birchard Avenue, which is map 26, lot 1-2. That lot was created in 1990 and 1991 by a subdivision. In 1992, the former owner, Alexander Gulard, went to this town's zoning board to seek a variance from the non-conformance of that lot to build a single family dwelling. So that's a non-conforming lot. 1992 the zoning board approved the construction of that single family home by variance on the condition that no further development of said lot would take place. So this means two things. one, there's the written condition, no further development of said lot would take place, but also by way of approving the home to be built by a variance on a non-conforming lot, essentially your ordinance reads that as a special use permit. So any intensification or expansion of that use would require zoning approval. Um my clients on the other hand have

observed multiple times that the town the building department has approved projects on that lot without any zoning approval. Now the closest we came was in 2018 when the current owners sought a variance from um those conditions that are on their lot. However, that um application was withdrawn before the zoning board could speak to the conditions that were on that lot. Now, since that time in 2018, several significant development projects, uh such as a large home expansion and multiple smaller ones have been approved by the town without any zoning review. The most recent of which was the issuance of a building permit for an accessory barn structure which my clients appealed and the owner subsequently requested to resend. Now the result of all of this is that my clients have spent considerable time, effort and money bring this issue to light when they have the ability to but they cannot stand in place the zoning officials and make sure that the zoning procedures are held. So, we're essentially here tonight to ensure that there's communication between the zoning and building officials to make sure that if there are conditions on the record that they be addressed before further development is approved. And and although we have the the neighbor property at issue, this is a concern for our clients at a larger scale. And we just want to make sure that the building department and the zoning department are speaking to each other in a way that ensures that the proper procedures are are put in place. Now, attorney Dysto and I had a conversation before. Um, he gave me some assurances. I don't want to speak for you that he will make sure that this is addressed. Um, I would happy to answer

any questions that that the council has on our letter. Um otherwise Natalie Elias is referenced in our client would like to make a personal statement. Yeah, let's bring Natalie up. Sure. I I'll I'll address that. I did have a good conversation with Mr. Grinberg. You want to speak now or I think it's appropriate for uh Elias your feet now and then I'll I'll follow. You got it.

Thank you. Natalie Elias, 21 Burchchard Avenue. We also own the property at 15 Burchchard Avenue, a historic farm. I'd like to start with some history because I think it's important um to to show the pattern that has developed. Um over 10 years ago, the building official Bill Moore allowed a stage to be built on the vineyard a trust land without proper approval from the LCACT, the state of Rhode Island A Trust, and the US government, which were stakeholders. This resulted in a concert series that disturbed our town's peace and tranquility. We sued the town and Carolyn Rafelian to protect our property rights and to get the town to restrain Carolyn Rapalian's concert series and address the building of the illegal stage. Now, as Matthew has so eloquently put it, we are faced with another situation where Bill Moore repeatedly approved building permits on a non-conforming lot with no further development restrictions without the property owner getting the proper zoning relief. We brought this to the town's attention on several occasions. Brian and I brought it to the town's um attention. We went to Peter Madurus, the zoning official, and again, we brought this to the town's attention on several occasions um with Dean Simmons when he took over the position in 2023. Dean Simmons handed it over to Attorney Dysto, who had multiple correspondence with our then attorney. In an email from Anthony Disto to our attorney dated May 25th, 2023, he addressed concerns we had about the building that was going on in the addition of the house. And he said, and

I quote, "You mentioned another issue regarding whether there are either restrictions or a condition on the zoning relief issued that has been violated. I will follow up on that issue and get back to you. We're still waiting for attorney to get back to us." And since then, much building has happened with multiple building permits. This winter again, we had to hire an attorney to defend our property rights when Bill Moore approved a building permit for a garage/barn on the non-conforming lot at 9 Burchchard Avenue. The building permit had no measurements for height or setbacks and at cost to us, we had our attorney prepare an appeal to the building permit and to prepare for the meeting at the zoning board of appeals for March 18th. According to nine Burchchard Avenue's attorney in a letter here that's public record uh they have written to Dean Simmons to tell them that they are rescending building permit B25 to11 as requested by attorney desisto and their client intends to modify their plans and resubmit them in the future. As confirmed by attorney Disto, this request is without prejudice and will not impact the future application for another building permit. Moreover, this request moots the appeals scheduled to be heard before the zoning board on March 18th. So once again, we were not heard on appealing this building permit. It is not our job as neighbors to make sure property owners are following zoning. There is a clear pattern of Bill Moore approving building permits without doing his due diligence. Going forward, we expect the town to

make sure not to allow development without zoning approval. Please make sure, and this doesn't just concern us as the neighbors of 9 Burchard Avenue, it concerns all the citizens of this town. Please make sure that the building department checks with zoning before granting approvals. These mistakes continue to cause immense frustration and it cost the residents of Little Compton significant amounts of money. Thank you. Thank you, Natalie. I believe Lann would also like to make a comment. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Lan Nevett. I reside at three Burchchard Avenue. Um I've lived there for over 50 years. I grew up here in Little Compton. This is my home. Um, in addition to what Matt and Natalie have um stated, I'd like to provide a few more facts uh to paint picture of what we've been dealing with. So, um, back in 2018, the request was, uh, to build, uh, to knock down the existing barn, build a new accessory structure, um, including a business, apartment, garage, barn, much larger building. and um they requested relief from the 1992 zoning restriction in addition to other um zoning regulations. Um one of which was a 2-year period that they were supposed to wait for an accessory building. So I have the meeting meeting minutes from that zoning board meeting and I would just like to um quote some stuff from it. So, one of the zoning board members um had suggested why don't you use the existing building and only improve it 50% and get a special use permit um just permitted under the ordinance with a special use permit and you don't have to wait the two-year period for that accessory. The my butter said no. Um, and the zoning board member said, "What is the position of the building official? If you were to reuse, add 50%, come back to the board, does he still feel you have to wait a 2-year period?"

The butter's response was, quote, "The building official would not go beyond." When I inquired about many of these things, he would not go beyond any questioning until the 1992 zoning decision was addressed, which is why we are here. After this meeting, there was discussions with between my attorney at the time, the abut's attorney, and as Matt indicated, the next zoning board meeting on February 21st, they withdrawn their application and all their requests for variances, which I didn't find out till years later was that 37 days later, a building permit was issued for a 12x6 Home Depot prefab shed for that same abutter that the building official had said no that he wasn't going to do it until all the restrictions and everything else was addressed. So it's really concerning that one thing is said and then another thing is done. And I like it matter of record that according to Ariel's and all of our that building was never built. Um then um in 2021 we saw excavation going on and that was for the foundation for the new house. Um at that time I approached Peter Maderas made him aware of the 1992 restriction which he was not at that time aware of provided him with all the documentation the zoning board minutes that they were not going to make a decision on this and there was also a property line issue. So

that is still outstanding. Um, but the information that I provided was also provided to the um then town administrator, Bill Moore, who at the time was the building official and the then um town council president. And here I am presenting all of the evidence of the law that is supposed to be upheld and I was told literally if you don't like it, appeal. Um it it it's very disappointing to have elected officials that are supposed to be upholding our ordinances, our laws just brushing us aside. And for what reason? I don't know what reason, but in it in total five building permits were issued. We've never gotten any answers. And again, it has caused us time, money, health. Um, and they aren't even from around here. They're from out of state. You know, why what is what is so special? But even no matter who it is, this has been ongoing and we're just looking for some answers and for people to do their jobs.

Thank you. Thank you. I I I I believe another uh neighbor uh butter within the um twin foot limit of the prop set back. Thank you. I would also like to speak. Uh Robera, we have someone else.

Hi, I'm Robera Shaw. I'm at two Bard Avenue and I was just here questioning the process that's happened in 2018. We were notified as a Butters and I have no problem with what people want to do as long as everybody follows the same rules. And I was really surprised to find out they were issued a permit this year without any notification and nothing's changed. It's still they don't have the frontage. And I thought it still should have gone before the board. And that's my objection. I I just I think the rules are made for everyone and it just has the air of impropriy which bothers me. And I think we all need to play by the same rules. And that's just my question. I as long as everybody follows procedure, I have no problem with people want to do with their property. But I don't understand how the rules keep changing and that's what I'd like someone to look into and give us some answers for that. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. And we certainly understand that the town council is not the zoning board and you're not looking at building applications. Um, as you heard, my clients and other neighbors have gone through this process and they just wanted to be heard tonight. So, thank you for your time and again, if you have any questions, please feel free. Thank you for that. Turning to sister, when you're ready.

Well, I know that there's been a history here and it, you know, predates my appointment. That's the first thing. Second thing is I have been in contact with attorneys uh for both uh these abutters uh the objectors and also the attorney uh for this um property owner who's not here. Mr. Simmons is not here and I'm sure that he could give you some explanations if he were. Um, but I will say this, uh, you know, the question is is whether or not that 1992, um, condition placed on the, uh, uh, um, lot, which Mr. Grunberg mentioned, uh, is an interest in property, which he asserts that it is in his letter that he sent to you. And if it is, uh, under section 8-2-14A of the general laws, the superior court would have to make a decision on that. What struck me about the history of this whole thing is that there's been times where they've gone to um uh this property owner has gone to the zoning board but then withdrawn the application as was marching forward to a hearing. Uh this last go again they withdrew it. Um you heard uh by the way this email I've never seen. They're quoting me. The lawyer asked if he could withdraw. He can. He asked if it would be without prejudice. Under the law, it is. So, if we're playing by the rules, it's got to be the rules for both. At some point, uh, if this property is to be developed, there's no doubt in my mind that there'll be a lawsuit filed, most likely by the property owner. Things will be determined then. But, uh, uh, you know, I'm aware of this restriction from 1992 and I'm aware of the law behind it. And I think what you need to do, uh, you've seen Mr. Grunenberg's letter. Uh, perhaps the best thing for me to do to

advise the town, not only the town council, and he's correct, by the way. You know, it's really inappropriate for the town council to get involved in this, but I would like the opportunity to give you a legal memorandum so that you know what uh um as the solicitor, I think the law is surrounding this, and of course, we share it with Mr. um uh Simmons, too. And I I think that's appropriate uh if you would um do that. It's been raised publicly. There's been some allegations as to prior and current officials. So, I think it's appropriate for me to respond to you in writing. And by the way, that won't be a public document because I'm going to be doing this on an attorney client privilege basis. I will speak with Mr. Grunberg so that he knows what's going on. I've already done that, but I'll follow up with him on that. And I, you know, in 2023, um, I did speak to this, but then that was something that was withdrawn when I got involved. So, here we are. And I don't expect things to end here. So, yeah. Request a memo. You need a motion for that.

Like me to make a motion for that. Uh, or can I just direct you to make a motion, please? make a motion to have the solicitor draft to read the request for a memo on this matter. Do I have a second? Any further discussion? All in favor? I thank you and thank you for coming.

Six association. He did. It was unanimous. Okay. I'm sorry. Request for the Little Cal Scott Association, Inc. use Little Council Crest in their logo design. Someone want to put the Crest up for Make a motion that we approve the use of the Crest by Boy Scouts. Crest has a motion. Does the press have a second? Second. Further discussion? All in favor? Hi,

the crest is traveling. Number seven, email from expressing concerns of ability to edit this via a motorized wheelchair. Anya, do you have I know you've been working on this one. Yes. Um,

so I've been working on this some there's still more work to do. So, um this was first brought to my attention by um councelor Talbet who had heard from concerns with not being able to access Pikes Peak for events that are held there um via motorized wheelchair. Um my first step was to meet with uh the engineer who we use uh from uh Kevin Aar. I have trouble with lot people have trouble

and uh and go out there with Ted Bington as well uh and talk about what might be possible. He advised that it could get very complicated and very expensive very fast because uh if we made a uh a curb cut, which was what was requested um to get on to Pikes Peak, we probably would have to make other accommodations within Pikes Peak that might be quite extensive. Um, we then uh we heard from uh Miss Gulard again and so I've done a little bit more uh investigation mostly through Chief Reigns who is the person who's been taking charge of the restriping of the uh parking all around Pikes Peak. Um, and he has checked with uh the Department of Trans, Rhode Island Department of Transportation to see what might be possible as part of that project to make Pikes Peak more accessible. Um, we're still waiting for some uh information from them. But basically, what I'll tell you is um there's issue of the curve cut and a ramp to go up there. and that may be uh that may be doable as part of what DOT is going to do around the commons either this summer or this fall. Uh and then there's the separate issue of uh what further accommodations would we have to make? That's probably not a DOT issue because it's it's it's our land. So that would probably implicate uh would not implicate DOT. It would just be our responsibility. So I will get to the bottom of this um but I'm not there yet. And uh

you think there's an opportunity to look at the whoever needs to look at it the design of the new feet which likely is not going to be a sharp uh point but rather around the thing and use that opportunity to at least get up to the level of five feet then we can deal with the other other people maybe do it in two

I think so but I don't have full on that um and I'm not sure how the time what we heard from DOT today was that the the issue of making it accessible might take more time to get approved than uh and be outside of the window which they're doing the striping. I don't think that makes it undoable. It just may not line up as easily as we think. And then um I'll need to get advice from Tony or somewhere else about the ADA compliance once we've made it possible. The other thing I should mention is that Miss Gulard said that there are um temporary solutions kind of portable ramps that we might be able to get relatively inexpensively as a temporary solution. So I will also look into that and talk with her about it.

Seems to me that would also suffer from the same once the wheelchair has gotten up to the level it needs to be it doesn't have a place to Yeah. Ana, did I see on the uh one of the latest emails late afternoon, there was an historical aspect to it? There is. I don't fully understand that, but yes. Uh there's a historical aspect that DOT has to look at. And and the woman's name, was it Wagner? I forget her name from DOT who's excellent. Michelle King. Michelle King.

Wow. That's pretty good. Is reached out to the historical They have a historical department. Yeah. as I was reading the email uh and she reached out to them and said it's going to take a couple of weeks I think for her to get that answer. Am I right in reading that? Okay, Sally, you want to speak on this issue? Is that what you want? Go ahead. Yeah, we go again. The people I get Texas from home that people can't hear unless you're up there.

My voice they can hear. Uh I I think that can be solved rather easily that have an interior cut with a ramp and uh I'm willing to go to DOP. I have a couple of friends down there and see how involved that would be on the needs committee. We have Sue uh Dalvo. he'd probably lend a drawing for it and uh we can get that to you and yeah, I suspect that the more complicated issue is um do we uh what kind of liability do we have if we just do the cut? I think cut probably I'm not saying just a cut have a cut and a ramp

have a a conforming ramp. I'm not sure that that will meet uh the requirements, but that's one Well, she would know because that's one of her specialties. Let's talk about that offline because that I'll I'll take information from any place I can get it. I can't hear you. No, I'll talk to this microphone. Thank you. Let's talk offline and I'll take our number. Thanks.

Any further discussion on this um correspondence? Not seeing any. uh a email resignation from Carol Troy effective March 31st 2026 from the conservation commission. It is with regret and I'm not just saying that because I have to and it's written here uh to accept this resignation. She's outstanding and lays on to the act trust woman's committee uh she's a wealth of knowledge. So people here have been in meetings with her. She's outstanding and it's a it's a loss to not have her on conservation. Um so uh we will accept that a motion for that. I make a motion to accept that resation. Second.

All in favor? I uh nine post a vacancy of unexpired three-year term ending January 31st, 2028 on the conservation commission. Make a motion for that. Is that too?

All set. Yes, sir. Good. 10. A letter from Angela Dunham. Is Angela here? Angela's not here. Coordination oversight of senior events. Any you want to take this under advisement? Excuse me. She asked that. We read it in the record. Who did she ask? She asked me when she dropped it off in the clerk. She asked Jim. Okay. Is that something you'd like to do now?

I can read that into the record. Sure. Um, this is from Angela Denim. Dear council members, I am writing to express my concerns regarding the coordination and oversight of recent senior events, particularly the March trip to the Holy Ghost church for the fish fry dinner. It is very important that a senior representative be present on the senior bus during all senior events. Unfortunately, no representative, excuse me, representative attended the event. Additionally, there was no announcement made during the senior lunch at the community center to inform attendees about the trip. As a result, many seniors were unaware of the event and missed an opportunity they would have otherwise enjoyed. Several individuals mentioned to me that they would have liked to attend and they have known if they had known in advance. Ensuring that seniors are informed about upcoming activities in a fundamental responsibility representatives oh excuse me sorry fundamental responsibility of the senior representatives announcements especially during well attended gatherings like community lunches should be standard practice given that these are paid positions funded by the town of Little Compton. It is essential that the senior representatives are present, engaged, and fulfilling their duties. Responsibilities should not fall to volunteers when designated responsibilities are available. Excuse me. Representatives are available. I'm not good at reading this. Additionally, both representatives should be capable of driving the bus when needed. The April newsletter stated, "Our March seniors event was an organized trip to the fish fry for the Lenton season. Great time was had by all and we look forward to more trips each month. While these this is encouraging, it does not reflect the experience of those who were uninformed and unable to attend. I would also like to emphasize how important it is for

seniors to build relationships with their representatives. These individuals are meant to serve as trusted points of contact and that connection can only be established through consistent presence and engagement. Moving forward, I respectfully ask that you consider improving communication, ensuring representative attendance at all events, and taking a more proactive approach to engaging with our senior community. Rather than waiting for seniors to come forward, representatives should actively reach out, show up, and encourage participation. We have two buses. Let's use them effectively to help get seniors out of the house and involved. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, Angela Denham, 6 West Hill Lane, Little Compton.

On you will take this letter of the Bible. Thank you. I have business 11. Sure. Go.

Strokes Oliver Lane. I want to uh speak to there was a nice um flyer put up behind plastic where donations go into the box and I believe it was Chris that spoke. There was a signup sheet there with the seniors there. Now a lot of them don't stop talking to listen to announcements or they don't go up to the box to make a donation. That's my observation and I'm there quite a bit. Thank you for that. Okay, I am on 11. Do I have another hand? Half a hand.

No, this is new business on on you'd like to talk about what was u just talked about. You then about something else? Yeah, that's not on the agenda to talk about. That would be a violation. Yeah, but we can put something on the agenda in two weeks. What's the topic? What's the What's the topic, Donna? I just want to report back on a proposal that the Sakana Garden Club um brought on at its meeting last night. So, that's why I'm here tonight. Is the

I have a lawyer here. Is is that something that you will allow? It's not on the agenda. Is it just an announcement? It's just a an update or point of information and it's the Sakana Garden Club. Yes. Okay. Well, uh I think what you need to do is move to uh add uh this item to the agenda as an announcement, vote on it, and allow uh the announcement to be made. I move to add this item to the agenda. Second. All in favor? I Can I have the citation, please? 42-46- Okay, one at a time, please. 42-46-6A.

Thank you, Donna, you're up. He made that up. You are on the agenda as soon as the Marold. Oh, geez. Some things.

Yeah, she's caught on Victor Kennedy. Jesus. I'm here to talk about something um from six years ago when um a senior citizen in town who was in her 80s but now she's in her 90s and knew that I was on the board at the community center came up to me and she said, "Donna, I got to tell you, every time I go in and out of that community center, particularly at night, I feel like I'm taking my life in my hands." And it's like, "Oh, so tell me more." And she did. And it's true. When you enter or enter that exit or enter that building at night, this goes back six years. It's it is treacherous. So I thought, well, that's a good point. So we the director at the time was um Mr. Orville and he met he and I met with Mr. Texera and Bob Mushin. Do you remember that Bob like six years ago? We said this is a problem

my range but go ahead. Yeah, everybody agreed. Yeah, this is this is bad. It needs to be fixed. And then six months go by. Nothing happened. I called everybody back. The four of us met again. And Tony, I remember me scratching his head. He talked about the uh fallen down uh handicap parking sign, the missing sign. That was his concern. And I said, "Yeah, but to get up to that sign is a problem." Anyway, he said, "You know what, Donna? The sidewalks are coming. We're going to wait and it's the perfect opportunity for us to fix a good entryway into here when we do that sidewalk work. Well, how long have the sidewalks been in? A while. And nothing happened. Nothing got improved. So, two years ago, Sconic Garden Club raised over $30,000. We worked really hard on a garden tour in town and we had requests for proposals and we had deadlines for these proposals. And um one the bulk of that money was a proposal to remediate the lead soil that the community center has um been in violation for. there was a a a lead test last October and so we um put investigated got a a plan for that. Some of the people in this room know about this others don't. So um so that was one issue and then when I'm thinking about that I'm thinking well why not bring this member's concern about the safe entry. So, we did a proposal on that, too. And I worked with Amy. I started in January working on this and getting um quotes and ideas from contractors, three reput reputable

contractors in town, gave good quotes um and it would be subject to all building approval. And I all along I said we have guidelines and we have deadlines and timelines for um allocating this money. as any and we had never raised $1,000, never mind 30,000. So, it took us a while to thoughtfully figure out how we would do this. So, long story short, I went to the town starting at the beginning. I developed the plan in fe in January. went to the started with the town early February and it's it got kind of kicked around and this person and that person and I don't I really don't know where it is now. All I know is the people in the town knew that we were voting on this last night and we did and but we did not vote on over $15,000 of repairs to the community center because we never could get town approval. So, I'm here tonight just as a point of information. You don't have to react or respond, but I'm just extremely disappointed that the garden club came up with this great idea. Um, just one more aside, a year ago, we have a new president. I don't know if any of you have locked up the community center at night, but you have to go over to the lock box, find the code, you you take at least two people because you need your phone with the flashlight because you have to punch in these numbers that are black and praying that you get the right numbers and that the lock box opens. You get the key. You walk, you're shaking your head. You know what it's like.

I've done it.

Walk around to the front of the building. You jimmy the lock and pray that it will lock. All right. It's awful. We did it last night at the end of the meeting. So, our new president last year, and we don't do it alone. We make sure you always have, you know, a spotter with you. I was her spotter where we finish all of that. We go down. This woman walks five miles a day. She's fit as a fiddle. She took one of the hardest tumbles that I ever saw. flipped over right before the sidewalk. And so when I wrote this up, I said to Amy, "How many people have fallen, you know, since you've been here?" She said, "Oh, at least 10. How many people have complained?" "At least 20." So know that this is a problem. And it's just very discouraging that here is a well-meaning organization saying, "For the first time in our lives, we've got all this money. We're willing to fix your lead your lead in the soil and we're willing to make a nice entry into the building and it it was not because it was not approved. We didn't get approval by the town in time or asurances of approval in time last night. there were um three proposals and that were voted on and approved and this proposal was never presented because it did not have the endorsement. So I'm here just to express my displeasure and um you know I if if this is how the town handles things like this I think it's not a good precedent.

Thank you. That's all. Thank you. New business 11 letter from Larry Anderson. I don't see Larry here because I He's usually right there. I don't I don't see on vacation. That's good. Larry asked me to speak to his letter. Oh, okay.

Um so, uh know Larry will be our town moderator for our financial town meeting this year. He uh shared a a letter with the council addressed to the council and to the clerk. And in it, he shared his concerns about adequate capacity at financial town meetings and our current lack of a contingency plan for an overflow crowd. uh his letter cited our home rule charter provisions and Rhode Island general law which confer authority on the moderator to conduct and manage FTM which is distinct from the clerk's responsibility to manage the concurrent elections that are happening that same day. Um and then I'll I'll it's a lengthy letter so I'm not going to attempt to summarize the whole thing but at the end he had a direct ask of the council and the clerk and I'll quote it here. He said, "To this end, I respectfully suggest and request that the town clerk, the town administrator, perhaps a representative of the town council, and I, as town moderator, convene soon to discuss and initiate a process to expeditiously determine the feasibility of using the school cafeteria in combination with other school spaces to provide backup seating for the financial town meeting. That process, I believe, should reach out quickly to include other town, school, and public safety officials and staff who have important roles and responsibilities concerning the May 19th proceedings." End quote. So, I'd like to suggest that we refer this to our town administrator and ask her to provide an update to the council at our next regular meeting on the 23rd. You have room on your list for this one.

Do I what? Room on your list for this one? Yes. You too. Always. Great. Any other discussion about this one? All right. I don't think we need a vote. Do we need a vote? No. After the vote. Sure. I don't think we need a vote. I'm happy to make one if you want. If you want to make a motion, Tony, do we need to make a motion to refer something to the town administrator? I don't think I always suggest that you. Okay, great. I'll make a motion that we refer this to our town administrator and ask her to provide an update to the council at our next regular meeting on the 23rd. Second. Further discussion? Yes, we have further discussion. Go ahead. Right up.

This may not be an appropriate question and please feel free to tell me if it's not. We have been speaking this evening about the financial town meeting that will be held on May 19th. I heard our financial director speak about the 2025 audit will not be back until June. And as I think about the financial turmoil that occurred last year with audits not being in in time for the meeting. As a citizen, I am wondering if it would be prudent to move the TI financial town meeting to a later date until the what it is in and give the budget committee the opportunity to review the situation is before they recommend what is to come up for 2026 and 2027.

Thank you for that. Okay. I have a motion and a second on the table concerning your motion. Further discussion? All in favor? I any opposed? Okay, that's on yours. We'll see you in two weeks on that. Right. Okay. 12. requesting contract with installs by Bulldog LLC and playground repairs and installation of new parts not to exceed $12,000. Anya,

yes, thank you. Um, you may remember that um a while back the recreation had requested approval to do essentially a renovation on the playground over by the school. Um the uh some of the good news that was part of that was that there is a fund that was established um to pay for the playground in the first place and there was excess in that fund after the playground was finished that was put in uh the care of the Rhode Island Foundation and uh Marjorie Oul actually has the keys to to the box that has the money in it. Uh I've talked with her and she's uh indicated that this is a reasonable expenditure of funds. Um at that point I thought it would be quite a bit more than uh what we're actually spending. We spent 20,000 on parts for the um replacement and repairs. Um and then we got uh bids from we sent out to I think five vendors uh for bids. We got two bids back uh and uh Bulldog Installs was the lowest bidder. Uh and uh they came in at a little over 10,000. I've asked for uh a little bit of wiggle room on that just in case something comes up during the course of the job. Um and we will get reimbursed from the Rhode Island Foundation for this. We're still reaping the benefits of that wonderful playground committee that was were here and the plaques out there and anyone

84 84 and and and we're still uh successful with having money there to repair it. Outstanding group of people uh back then. So, thank you. Um, so I'll make a motion uh to uh sign a contract with LLC. Second. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor? I 13 requests from the DPW directed to advertise solicitation of bids for spring roadside grass and brush mowing along down roads. Have a motion for that. I'll make that motion.

I'll second it. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. Any oppos? Not see. 14. Request from DPW director for temporary DPW employee extension. Anya. Yes. Uh, as you know, you authorized the hiring of a temporary employee because we have one uh permanent employee who is out on medical leave. Um, that leave is uh has become longer than we initially anticipated. So Ted is asking for authority to keep the temporary person on until the person who's on leave returns. I will make a motion to uh extend the DPW employee, the temporary one. Have a second.

Further discussion. Is there a stipulation of time frame on that? Would we like to add a time frame? It's on here to A6. Yeah, I thought I thought that was it. 30 days, please. Date on there. It says uh May 16th. My motion to May 16th to hire to extend a temporary uh TPW employee. I have a second. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor?

Thank you. Another from Nelson F Wilbur Farm aka Nelson Farm regarding short-term rentals. See someone standing up and walking.

Hi, I'm Michael Nelson, West Main Road. Um I don't have much to add to my letter which I um I do want to thank uh Victoria took some time to talk to me um explain some of the ins and outs of the proposal of the new ordinance not proposed. Um I also got a letter from Gary Mer. Um still not totally happy with the way things are. Um I think there's there's a lot of room in the ordinance um problems down the road for property owners for people that operate rentals. Um there's a lot of language in there that um I think could be turned and become make the ordinance a little more ownorous that at first um I think that's it. I don't have much better.

You said you spoke with Victoria. Victoria did. Yeah. She took maybe about a half hour or so. A good conversation. lengthy. Appreciate it.

Um yeah, I just wanted to add that um Michael's letter um was not alone. There's a lot of people with questions and uncertainty about it and I take um responsibility for not doing as great a job as I had planned or hoped that we would be doing communication wise on that. Um our uh chief information officer is working on a registration form, but as was mentioned earlier, he is on medical leave. Um, but some of Michael's questions were ones that I had heard before. When does this start? When does it go in effect? You know, when when do we need to do this? Um, and uh they'd like to have certainty for their future um short-term rentals. So, uh just to be clear, it is not in effect for this year, 2026. So, it doesn't impact these uh this year's short-term rentals. It will impact 2027. the registration will come live sometime this spring when our IT uh guy is back and we will announce that. Um and the other thing that it made me realize would it would be helpful and um I haven't spoken with our town clerk about it but I would imagine it might help her too if we could develop like a frequently asked questions list so that we have that posted on the town website and available in the clerk's office so that there's a quick easy answer for folks who have some of these frequent questions. So we're going to work on that and uh Jonathan will be working on that from from home to some degree and then when he gets back. So thank you.

I think if I could say one more thing I think you know from from my perspective the you know as a rental operator um you know I I recognize that there's a need for an ordinance um you know and that everybody needs to play by the same rules and that there ought to be some rules. I mean, I think I think um you know, some regulation is is in order. Um and and for me, I I just want to be sure that I'm in compliance and I don't have any problems because I've had, you know, it's unrelated, but I've had a situation arise in the past where I've had to cancel somebody's vacation about a week before they arrived. And I don't really want to be in that situation. And I and I also don't want to be in the situation of finding myself, you know, um with a complaint and somehow not in compliance and having facing, you know, potentially up to $1,000 a day in fines, right? It's 500 for 500 for being not in compliance.

I think it's a it's a like a warning first. There's a six-month period, there's a warning period, and then I think it's $500 a day, which we averaged was the average night stay for houses in Little Compton. And obviously, some are less and some are much more. So, that's where we came up with that number. Thank you. Thanks, Michael.

We may want to build into the schedule something that that deliberately has us solicit this kind of feedback after people have had a chance to absorb what it is. It was true with the entertainment license when we when we first characterized that. We had people that came forward and said, "But that isn't the way I operate and it didn't take into account." Those kinds of things. I think we need to fold back into our ordinances so that we're we're speaking to the real problems and perhaps we've missed one. Perhaps we've overemphasized something that's not an issue. But but be deliberate about say in 90 days time or something whenever Jonathan is able to produce the the product maybe as part of that we task ourselves with the idea of reviewing what we've got and decide whether or not it requires revision

or maybe after the due date when everybody's actually engaged and done their applications or something like that. But we could talk more about that. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Moving on. 16 request room by Chief Richard Petron to purchase a 2026 Chevrolet Tahoe command vehicle. This is coming from the money comes from the ambulance reimbursement fund. Anya, would you like to comment on this one?

Uh it is budgeted. The source of funds, as you said, is the ambulance reimbursement fund and the old vehicle that this is replacing will actually go over to the tax and uh building official uh because they currently use police cruiser that is uh not really up to the job anymore. The assessor and the building official. Yeah. Make a motion to approve the purchase of the Chevrolet. Do I have a second? Second. Further discussion. All in favor?

I. Thank you. 17 safety policy town hall. Do you have more?

Yes. Um so um the genesis of this was uh well first of all I'll just say this is part of a broader effort to um develop um some policies and procedures for how we do business here at town hall. we are um woefully lacking in certain areas uh related to policies and procedures. And um this one came up because uh we had an incident where a constituent came into town hall uh very uh agitated and uh at least according to some people who dealt with him uh threatening uh at least to one person who was in the building. Um and in sort of debriefing with everybody uh who was involved in the incident, it became apparent to me that we needed some sort of policy uh around how we deal with these situations. Um and we don't have any at present. Um, so the policy that's in front of you, uh, is an attempt to make clear that everybody should feel safe in this building and that we will take certain steps if there's a incident where someone someone or more than one person doesn't feel safe. Um and basically that is if anybody perceives if if if either from uh people who work in the building or outsiders who come into the building if anybody perceives that one of their co-workers feels unsafe they should immediately call the police. Um and the police will come over and deal with it from there. If nobody else perceives if somebody feels unsafe but nobody else perceives that that person the onus is on them to say I

don't feel safe and at that point their co-workers should call police have them come over and deal with the situation from there. So that's really the gist of the policy. Um it's just kind of a starting point. We will have um some training. We've got training to do on um on a number of fronts for for people who work in the building and this will be added to the list of things that we should train on regularly, update annually um and make clear that there's a person in town hall who is responsible for keeping this policy and and the training is up to date. Um could I say something?

We're going to have a motion. go into discussion. Do I have a motion? So, I'll make a motion to adopt this policy. I'll second it. All right, we are in discussion. Is this uh Yes. Is this as clerk or is just Heather Cook? This is as the clerk's office. Okay.

Um I would like to just state that all are welcome in the clerk's office. Whether it be for compliments, complaints, concerns, suggestions, anything. The clerk's office has always been an open door policy for all. um I was present during this particular incident that occurred and um I would not want anyone to feel as though they could not come into the clerk's office and express their level of concern or uh upset or happiness or whatever the case may be. I just want that to be known. Do we have further discussion from the council? Not seeing any. All in favor?

Any opposed? Not seeing any. Thank you. New business 18, transport station review ad hoc committee of sever seven members post for letters of interest. I'm going to make a motion to create a seven member committee called the transfer station needs committee to review sections 8-1.5, 1.6, 6 and 1.7 of the town code and report back their recommendations to the town council at a future meeting. Do I have a second?

Second.

Any further discussion? Not seeing anything. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Do I have an I? Do I have an oppose? Okay, that's 42 nothing. Thank you. And you can send those letters of request if you want to be on this committee to Heather at the clerk's office. Board of License Commissioners as the as the council sits as the board of council one request a 12 class F1 day retail beverage license received from Charles Canain DBA the Village Green LLC a seasonal outdoor community space located at 22 Main Street once a month from May through October. Proposal and supporting request for entertainment license found in communications. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve all state and local regulations adhere to.

I'll second that. Any further discussion on this one. Discussion on this one. I have Yeah, they want 12 licenses is only six months. I think they want it every two weeks. No, it's it's um it's on their letter. It's there. Sorry. Um to have it for instance May 23rd and May 24th. That's technically two licenses. Okay. Okay. So, they're going to Okay. They're requesting June 13th. Okay. The six months they're requesting twice a month. Twice a month. Pairs of days. Paired days. Okay. Thank you. Weekend a month. Yes. But it's two

Friday night and a Saturday is two separate than a Saturday and a Sunday because it depends on the date. Yep. All in favor? I'm sorry. Who seconded that? I did. Okay. Thank you. Yep. All in favor? I I Any opposed? Not seeing any. Thank you. Communications request from Charles Kate Village Green annual entertainment license located at 22 Main Street. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve with all state and local regulations. I will I will second it. Any discussion? All in favor?

I. Any opposed? Not seeing any. Thank you. Consent agenda. Place calendar on file. Second. I thank you. Payment of bills. Motion to pay the bills. Second. All in favor? I I will accept the motion to adjurnn. All in favor? Thank you.