Board of Selectmen - Regular Meeting

I'm going to call to order the regular Board of Selectmen meeting for June 15th, 2026 at 530 p.m. In attendance, we have Selectman John Misham and Selectman Jim Lampos and First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker. And we have some members of the press and Bill McNamara in the audience. And I'm going to do information items first, just so that we can quickly run through this. So information items that I have is the correspondence. I've heard from a couple of people about the trees at Big Y. Eric Knapp assures me that they are following the plan and they are working with him and everything is going according to plan. So they are replanting, et cetera. Parking permits. I just want both of you to know that we are going to have to work out some kind of a policy on parking permits. Originally, years ago, Tim had instituted two parking permits per household. But then there are households where there are five cars and older adults that have older children have moved back home. They pay taxes on their cars as well. So we're not going to do anything for this year, but we have to look at it for next year. Please remember also we have a household hazardous waste collection on June 20th. It is at the middle school, and I believe it's 9 to 1. Then we have a special town. We're going to have to schedule a special town meeting. We're thinking July 21st, so please let me know if you're available for that. And that is because we are going to have to have an election for a Board of Education member who is leaving. Susan has informed the Board of Ed that she is stepping down because she's moving to Essex along with her husband and will have to do an appointment as well to zoning, but that won't happen till July. But the meeting for her is July and Board of Ed doesn't matter because they don't meet in July anyways, but we have to have it within 30 days and her date of last day is June 30th, so that's that. I had an Amtrak meeting. which I'll give you some information under Selectman's general discussion. But if either of you would like to attend this special meeting for Amtrak for the fast rail, um, study, please let me know. There's one at Wednesday at 5 PM and I'm more than happy to send you the information to sign up.

We did it today.

Oh, good. Um, and then also under Selectman's general discussion, we're going to have to look at July 6th. I need to reschedule a meeting because, um, My husband's having surgery, and so I sort of need to be there. And August 3rd, we need to reschedule because there'll be early voting here in this room. I'm not sure if we can get another room or we can just reschedule when it's up to another week. So look at your schedules on that, and we'll figure those two out for the next month. Is there any public comment? Bill, I'm taking it. You're going to be fine if you're good. Is there anyone online who would like to offer public comment?

calling once.

Yeah, Scott.

Scott, would you like to offer public comment?

Yes, I do.

Okay, Scott Bollinger, go ahead.

Yeah, just two items. First, most important item is just to report out that the resident state trooper and the rangers are doing an outstanding job with the policing of the beaches especially miami beach they have been doing uh they're very visible and seem to be doing a very great job and i just want to let you guys know that it is recognized thank you uh the other uh go ahead yeah one other item um i i'm kind of baffled and i don't know you know um how it can be i'm sure it is some kind of a loophole or whatever, but it appears that, not appears, Kokomo's in the pavilion parking lots are charging money to park cars. Kokomo's has a sign that says park all day for 10 bucks, 15 bucks, whatever. The pavilion's been doing this for a couple of years, parking cars, they even have a person out there collecting cash. And now they put up another sign saying they need to be a patron, but I'm fairly positive that these folks are just charging for parking and whether they go into restaurants or not or establishments. And I do recall in many years back that we shunned this. So Teddy used to park cars up at the pizza place and we stopped doing that. So I just think it's not really fair that these folks are doing what they're doing, especially when we allowed them to park the amount of cars that they're parking in the two parking lots that up on Hartford Avenue. I witnessed over the last weekend that there was quite a few cars that are parked there for their establishment. So I think we just, our resources are just spread thin to allow these folks to do what they're doing. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else online who would like to speak? No. Okay. That's it for public comment.

And at this point in time, we have Rob Klee and Alan Brown online for CW Energy and Klee and Associates. Oh, and Alan also is here as well. We have both Alans. That's great. I know one of you wants to share their screen. And I think that Katie know is Alan Brown who's going to share screen. So Katie will give you permission. Perfect. Thank you. So, Alan Sabins, are you going to be the lead?

That's right. Yeah. Just want to make sure everyone can, you can hear me okay?

Yep.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you, everyone, for taking some time here. As a refresher, Rob and I and Bill, an old Lyme resident, were there just a few weeks ago to walk through the prospective RFP for the closed landfill. We went ahead and ran that RFP collectively, and the point of our conversation this evening is to walk through the results of that RFP. Actually, Alan, if you could go to the agenda. So what we'd like to do is give a quick refresh of the RFP in an overview, the bidders, their submissions, ultimately our recommendation for award, how that relates to next steps in the timeline, and then answer any questions that may come up along the way. And that said, before we go to the next slide, if there are any questions, please feel free to stop me. We're happy to answer them along the way. We don't have to wait until the end. Go ahead, Al. So as an overall refresher, just want to bring back A couple of key definitions here. So, if you look on the left hand side, that's a map of Connecticut. Obviously, the star represents where the prospective solar installation would go. And this project would be participating in what is referred to as virtual net metering or VNM. First bullet and the way virtual net metering works is there are Basically, beneficial accounts that are a part are tied to state agricultural or municipal otherwise known as Sam as an acronym. That would basically the usage profiles that are tied to those Sam ever source accounts. Basically, that kilowatt hour profile is what is used to substantiate the size of the perspective project. that the developer is putting together. So simplistically, if the SAM Eversource account profiles is 1,000 kilowatt hours, then the size of the project has to basically match that. So that's how this whole sizing component really takes hold. So again, this project would be a prospective virtual net metering project. It would be installed at the closed landfill. The developer is the one who would be securing the virtual net metering incentive through the state program. And in the end, the developer is splitting the proceeds and the revenue from that NRES state program with the host being Old Lyme and any other prospective SAM accounts that are participating in this project in order to justify the project size. And lastly, that NRES benefit from Eversource's standpoint, who is the one is actually remitting the benefit itself, they are just as happy to apply bill credits to the utility bills that are tied to the account to the project or provide them as an ACH payment. So that's a decision that gets made later down the line. but those are the two relative options regarding how to receive and utilize those benefits. Next slide, Al. With that said, I just want to give a quick refresh on the RFP submission. We provided two guidelines. One we referred to as a base bid, which was ideally meant to be sized to primarily match the old line municipal account profiles. we looked at the historical bills for the old line municipal accounts sum those and that's how we got to in the base bid paragraph the bottom sentence in bold it's about 400 000 kilowatt hours per year so that's what is used to justify at least a portion of the project size but in addition to that we also saw what was what we referred to as a bid alternate in order to maximize the available geography at the property. So the bid alternate says or said, you know, basically development community maximize what you can based on what is available. Know that old line has roughly 400,000 kilowatt hours and then the last sentence in bold at the end. To the extent you size a project that is greater in 400,000 kilowatt hours in yield, Old Lime will do its best and others to bring another SAM account profile into the mix. And the goal there was gain economies of scale, get a larger project, therefore the benefit pool gets bigger. So those are the two offerings that were part of the RFP, a base bid to primarily offset Old Lime, and then a bid alternate to offset old line plus other SAM or municipal accounts. Thank you. So, as an illustration, this table may be helpful. So, base bid, system size, roughly speaking, KWDC means kilowatt direct current. Base bid was meant to be around 400 KW. which equates to about an even offset to the 400,000 kilowatt hour usage profile. Sorry, I misspoke. 400 KWDC, which was about maximizing the offset potential for old LIMES accounts. There would still need to be other beneficial accounts from other SAM Eversource accounts by about a third. And then the bid alternate, again, was maximize all that you can And then O-line would be able to contribute 400,000 kilowatt hours. And the end result is roughly greater than 50% of other SAM accounts would have to participate in the project. Next slide, please. So from an RFP standpoint, we just wanted to highlight where we are. So we've already obviously done the RFP release. We've facilitated the non-mandatory site walk. We facilitated the question and answer period, responded to any questions that came in. The proposals were due on the 10th, which was last week. And in short order, here we are on Friday, we compiled everything and here we are seeking town approval for contracting and proceeding. With the ultimate goal of later this year, early next year, the awardee would participate in the NRES program in order to secure that state incentive. Go ahead, Al. So the RFP received two bids submissions, one from Green Skies and another from Vergy. They're both located in Connecticut. Green Skies was founded in 2009, Vergy in 2018. Green Skies has nearly about 200 project level experiences here in the state. Vergy over 20 and both of them have extensive experience both with landfills and in participating in the state program named NRES. So, thank you. so we wanted to highlight the conceptual design submitted by each so this is the bid alternate that was submitted by green skies which was the larger project profile we wanted to highlight the asterisk below the the blue rectangles which is where they're saying solar would be installed the yellow asset represents that this proposed layout looks like it won't uh really significantly impact the operations at the landfill or at the transfer station next down Vergy submitted two submissions one is a base bid which is that smaller project profile and the other is a as a bid alternate I don't know if you go to the next slide

Alan, can I just stop you? Could you go back one? The green dots, I think you were going to clarify that was removal of trees?

We didn't want to go back to them on us. We wanted to do that officially, so we haven't asked.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome. And then this is a submission breakdown, basically two tables. Table number one, the upper table, represents the usage profile and how that equates to the production. So if you're looking at the top table, first column is the forecasted production that each bidder said that their project was expected to produce in one year. And then the SAM usage, the subtables to the right, The first one is the old lime allocation, which again is 400,000 kilowatt hours. And then on a percentage basis, how that equates to the estimated production by each project scenario. And then to the right there represents other SAM or other state agricultural municipal allocation that would be required in order to meet the production estimate. And what you'll see obviously is the smaller the project, the lower the production, the less there needs to be participation by other SAM accounts. And then the bottom table represents the financial benefits associated with each project and how that split occurs. So the Verigy base bid has the lowest old line benefit and the Green Skies bid alternate one has the highest old lime benefit as a result of not only the increased size and increased production, but an opportunity for a higher split, if you will, of that incentive from Green Skies. So with all that said, our recommendation is the award to the Green Skies bid alternate I'll cover the bullets on the right first and then go to the table. So number one, Green Skies went ahead and reached out to Eversource to seek their guidance on a prospective project of this size. So that was taken into account and they held some additional contingency in their budget submission based on their direct conversation with Eversource on their proposed project. And then we also thought It was prudent of them to provide a 2026 price that they would submit into the interest program as well as 2027 because right now it's uncertain whether or not the program will accept project submissions this year. There had been a previous auction round earlier this year, and it's unclear right now if there's available capacity to to open up another bid window. So we thought it was prudent and thoughtful that Green Skies took that into account and provided both a 26 and 27 price scenario so that there isn't guesswork going into next year in the event a bid window doesn't open this year. And then lastly, the obvious one is it's a higher overall benefit for old lime over the course of 20 years. And as I mentioned earlier, Green Skies has extensive direct Connecticut landfill project experience, and then based on our technical review, again, their interconnection approach as evidenced by their conversation with Eversource, their consideration of the relative slopes at the landfill, and their intent of how to utilize the program itself, which is the reference to the medium incentive, Rob I could probably cover the row for you on the legal side Rob reviewed and said he didn't see any glaring concerns of any kind in their submission and then lastly the old line benefits and the total benefits is a transposition from the earlier slide so all of it to say where are we now and where could this go so We'll just go left to right. Thus far, we've administered the RFP process. The vertical yellow dashed line represents where we are today. The prospective next steps would be an RFP award and then heading into executing agreements, which when I'm done going across, I'll ask Rob to step in and talk through the option agreement process. And then as I already mentioned earlier, the NRES, which is the commercial solar state program. It's uncertain as to whether or not that will reopen or open later this fall. If not, then the submission would take place in spring 2027. And if selected, it would go through the traditional project development process, which is engineering, getting all the necessary ministerial approvals through the state and local jurisdictions. as well as the local utility company, Eversource, buying all the relative materials, staging them, installing them, and commissioning them. And ultimately, in the end, the goal is that there is an operational project, and those activities will take the course of 2027 and likely into 2028, more specifically depending on when the NRES auction opens, and if that's later this year or early next year. Rob, do you want to touch on the option agreement now or we can.

Good evening everyone. Hopefully you can hear me. Yes, just briefly included in the RFP package was a model option agreement. This is the binding contract. That is a key milestone for the town and the developer. to establish the project is real, we are serious, we're going forward with our, what I sometimes like to call, dance partner through this development process. What's been highlighted in this slide is that executed agreement or contract needs to be executed before July 4th, 2026 to try to safe harbor federal tax incentives that are associated with clean energy deployment. And those new dates are part of what the federal government did last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that creates that it is literally a year since the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. But with after our discussion and your deliberations, if we have the authorization for the first select woman to engage in this contract and to engage and sign all of the necessary submissions and forms for the state incentive. We would then have all the things aligned so this option agreement could be executed before that key July 4th date, and that would then help secure that upwards of, I believe it's a 50% federal tax incentive, which is what they were going for, a 30% base incentive, 10% bonus for using domestic content, and 10% bonus for siting it on a landfill. Anything else, Alan, that I should cover now, or I'll save the rest for questions.

Yeah. Thanks, Rob. Alan, if you go to the next slide. Perfect timing. So we're happy to field any questions that you may have, but that is our overview.

Alan, just to clarify, the 400,000 kilowatts That the town is drawing that is strictly the town itself and doesn't include the school system or anything else, correct? That's exactly right. And the total benefit of 1,500,000 over 20 years would theoretically include other SAMs like the school system. Is that what we're looking at? And the town benefit of 610 is strictly the town of Old Lyme's draw. That's exactly right. Thank you.

So, Alan, how do we go about getting other SAMs into the program?

I appreciate both of you using acronyms.

Roger, we'll go.

We already had a conversation with Region 18. By the way, Alan, I don't know if that's you or not, but you're sharing the screen of us inside the screen. It's like a Hungarian doll. Yeah, thank you. So we had a video conference call with region 18 and we spoke with them about the project on its highest level being. We're going to go out to bid and we're going to try and see, you know, here's a smaller scale project and a larger scale project and to the extent it's larger scale project and it makes sense. Would you be willing to participate? And they said at that conversation they would so.

So, Alan, I can just tell you that I did have a conversation with superintendent and advisor today. He is more than willing to come to sit down with us again. And I explained his school gets out on Friday. So he's going to send me his availability for next week. But he would be he and Ron would think the only thing they were going to check in. They had a phone call into Green Skies because Green Skies monitor has their solar on top of one of the high school buildings. So they just wanted to connect with Green Skies and make sure this wasn't a conflict that they'd be entering into a different project with them.

Understood. And it is important to note, I think we mentioned this in the last meeting. I just want to bring it up again. All of the traditional energy procurement. So if you use a broker of some kind, if you're in an agreement right now with a third party supplier, that is completely separate and distinct from this opportunity. So there is no risk of buying, because you're really not buying this power, you're just receiving a benefit associated with this power. So I just want to make sure that point is clear as well, that there's, you know, if you're with Constellation, Tradition Energy, any of those types of supply organizations, they don't even see this on their radar at all.

Okay. Do we know what Region 18's consumption is and if it fits in with the scope of this project?

Yes, good question. So when we met with them, we asked them as a follow-up to provide their utility accounts. We reviewed those, we summed those, and they have a usage profile greater than the largest requirement, the bid alternate one, of their share for the project.

Okay, so we would not need another SAM to jump in?

No.

Okay, great.

Anything else?

There's one criticism that keeps getting raised by opponents to this project, and that's potential decommissioning in 20 years or the bidder going defunct. So just for the record, I was wondering if you could address, I know you addressed it last time, if you could address that one more time for us.

And Rob, you're on mute.

There you go. Sure. No, it is another great question. This is something that gets baked into that final long-term lease and power purchase agreement that happens after we go through the process together of hopefully securing that incentive and the project is real. A long-term agreement will have provisions in it in two regards. One, it is all on the developer. This is their solar array. It is theirs to operate, to first design, construct, then operate, maintain, and decommissioned. So they're responsible soup to nuts, including the removal and the returning of the landfill site to its previous condition, minor wear and tear accepted. So that's all on them. The second part is that, again, long-term contract has a number of provisions about what happens in the event of bankruptcy or even transfer of the solar array to another entity. All these projects are financed those financiers have the ability to take over the project and the project will be a moneymaker for X number of years. So those same responsibilities in whole transfer to that next entity that takes over in the event that Green Skies doesn't. Alan, I'll kick it back to you. Generally speaking though, Green Skies is the type of organization that tends to hold these projects for longer in general terms.

Yeah, their traditional business model, Probably could ask Region 18 because this is exactly the same situation where Region 18 is reaching out to Green Skies to chat with them about the projects that they installed. I believe it was five years ago or so. Green Skies is considered more of a holding company. So they have an internal group of teams that manage field projects, monitor them all to the points Rob already made. So they are considered more of a holding company and less of a pure project developer where the hands consistently trade as the project matures. Do we answer your question?

I hope. Yes, thank you.

Anything else? Gentlemen.

So we do have some suggested language if you would. I don't know, Alan, if you could, I think you're the one of us that is authorized to share screen. I don't know if it's helpful, but it's a written down version of what I said earlier that would basically have your board, and if you can make it a little larger for eyes that are not as good as yours, that basically is a proposed resolution. You should obviously put it in whatever language, but the spirit of it is both. one, approving the selection of green skies, two, authorizing the first select woman to enter into the binding agreement, and then three, authorizing the first select woman to sign all the forms and documents that will come sort of as part of the package here when this project is going in front of Eversource. It'll also have to go in front of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for a permit for a future use of the landfill, those sorts of other permits that will go along through the development process.

Okay. So I know that you gentlemen would like to be on board.

We could just get a quick amendment to change the order and do the approval of minutes for the June 1st meeting. If we could just get a quick motion to move those to perhaps under old business, we could just switch those around and then we could move on to the first thing for the approval under new business. So can I get a motion to change that?

I'll make a motion to move the approval of minutes to old business. I have.

Thank you both. Any further discussion on that? Hearing none, approval of minutes, we'll move to under old business. All right.

No, we're going to.

All those in favor of moving it to under old business, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes. Thank you, Jen.

Thank you all.

Okay, so under new business, we have the approval of the RFP award for the landfill solar project that you've heard about. And we have a proposed motion on the board for you to see, which I will read just so that everyone hears it. It says resolve that the old line board of selectmen hereby approves the selection of green skies at clean energy LLC and the RFP for solar. at the Old Lyme Landfill and authorizes the first select woman to enter into a binding agreement with Green Skies Clean Energy LLC to develop the solar project at the Old Lyme Landfill and further authorizes the first select woman to sign any and all related forms and documents associated with the Eversource Clean Energy Incentive Program or other utility, state or local permits or approvals in support of the development of a solar array at the Old Lyme Landfill. So if somebody would make that motion, second it, and then we can have discussion before we vote.

I'll make a motion to approve the proposed forest selection resolution for Old Line Landfill Solar Project.

Second.

Okay. So let's do discussion on that motion. Jim?

Seems like a big win to me.

Do we need to differentiate the larger scale on this?

No, they only put in the bid alternate one. So that was their RFP.

They didn't do the base. Any further discussion?

No, that answers my question.

Okay. So all those in favor of the resolution that we've put put on the board, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Thank you, gentlemen. I'm sure I'm going to be hearing from you in the morning, so I will see you tomorrow.

Very good.

Thank you for being here tonight.

Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Take care.

Thank you both, Jim and John, for reviewing things over the weekend and asking great questions. Okay, the next one under new business is the appointment of Adam Seidner to the Ledge Light Health District Board of Directors. We did appoint him earlier this year, but that was to fulfill. Mr. McNamara, thank you so much for all of your help.

We'll be talking.

Okay. And this would, but this would be Adam's full, his first full term as himself because he had filled in for Tom Gotaku when he had taken it out. So could I have a motion to appoint Adam to another three-year term ending in 6 of 2029.

A motion to appoint Adam Seidner to the Legislative Health District for term ending June 2029. Thank you both.

Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor of appointing Adam Seidner to a three-year term on the Legislative Health District Board of Directors signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Okay, so we're moving on to the social services section of the policy book. You were both sent the entire policy book, and the social services began on page 58. It's a draft copy at this point in time. Amy Benati reviewed the two, I think it's what, three pages, five pages? I think it's two. Two pages for her, three pages for her. Three pages and reviewed it and said this is the policy. Please remember that many of these policies were actually existing. Do you want to see it? No, I'm good. Okay, 5.0. I know, but I'll do it. Some of these policies were in place before. They might have needed a quick update or an edit, and she had gone through this with Elena when she was here. and she feels that this is appropriate and ready to move forward. So if we could get a motion on this just so that we can discuss it, that would be great.

I think a motion to approve the proposed social services section of the policy book. I will second.

Okay. Any discussion on that? Either of you?

I didn't see any issues.

I didn't either. Anything for you?

No.

Okay. Hearing no discussion, call for a vote. All those who would like to approve the social services section of the policy book signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. Okay, we are going to move the tax collector section of the policy book off today's. We're moving that off the agenda because Suzanne would like some further time to review it. She feels there's a couple of mistakes in it and she also wants to put some forms into it. So, She's asked that we move this from today. And I said that was fine. Then we have the town clerk section. Vicki, did I forward you the sections that she had made a couple of changes? I think I sent that to you this morning, correct?

You did, yes.

Okay. So she's got a couple of typos based on the pretty simple on page 65, changing it from Town clerk's office to town offices. And disposing of all town. Disposing of records maintained in all town offices. Because we have to follow the state library code. She does not like the disclaimer.

Which we could. On page 66.

Which I don't have. Problem with, I think it's a.

Yeah, I don't understand what the issue is with that.

I don't have an issue with it.

I think it should stay in.

I think so, too.

I agree.

So it's just covering. I think it's just legally covering her and anything else.

Yeah, I think it's just saying that anything in the policy doesn't supersede state law for one thing.

Right.

If there's something going on where we're required to retain documents... pending a lawsuit or something in that regards that we need to retain those in accordance with that, not simply dispose of them in accordance with the policy. So I think it fits there.

And we kind of follow this. I mean, each department does maintain their own records, but if they are getting rid of anything, they do have to follow their paperwork through the state library, and then they have to provide that document to me for signature. And then after it's approved by the state library, then it goes to Vicki and it's recorded as such. And then just page 70, she said, staff shall not waive fees except unless authorized by law.

That doesn't make sense. I don't think the original was correct.

I think so, too. I don't agree with that one. John, do you think same?

I think it stays the same.

I think so, too. All right. And I think everything else. And then she just asked that we put this authorization form. And this basically is just saying that if we go in and borrow the meeting minutes book to take it, that we fill this out first and then we return it in case where some of us may borrow occasionally to go sit down in another office to read it. Because if there are a lot of people in doing titles searches and things it's hard to sometimes get our work done in there so do we have any other discussion on that okay so noting the discussions and the few words that she had changed which is fine and then we left the other things that we did not so we are going to leave those um can we call for a vote all those in favor of approving the town i thought we did i'm sorry We need a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve the section of the town clerk handbook with the exceptions noted during discussion. I'll second.

Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. Hearing no others, call for a vote. All those in favor of approving the town clerk section of the policy book, signify by saying aye. Aye. Okay. Any opposition? Any... Abstentions? Motion passes. Okay, then we have our approval for their proclamation for the America 250 celebration. So you had a chance to read it. The draft was sent to you. And just to save time, if we do approve this, we're going to sign this tonight so that everything is signed and ready to go for 4th of July. So can I have a motion? to approve it, then we'll discuss it.

I'll make a motion to approve the America 250 proclamation.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. So any discussion on the approval of proclamation for the America 250 celebration?

I want to clarify, this is something that the state was asking each town to do to recommit themselves to the ideals of the revolution.

Is that where the authorship came from?

No, I took a crack at it. Oh, okay. And basically I tried to mimic the language of the original document and kind of double down.

I thought it was very good.

Thank you.

Okay. Any further discussion? Thank you, Jim, for taking a crack at it.

All those in favor of approving the proclamation from America 250 celebration signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstention? Motion passes. I'm going to sign to give that to you so you can sign yours. Then we'll get those all signed for Katie. At this time, I'd like to add one thing under new business, and that is the resiliency grant. Jim would like to give us an update on that. So if we could just make a motion, I'll make a motion. I can make a motion. I'm going to make a motion to add the resiliency grant as one more thing under new business so that Jim can give us an update on that resiliency grant.

Can I have a second?

Second.

Any discussion on that?

All those in favor of adding the resiliency grant to the under new business signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Motion passes. Okay, so Jim, Resiliency Grant, would you like to fill us in where we are?

Yes, we had our first meeting of the Resiliency Grant Committee. It included SOR, who is our consultant, appointed by UConn Sea Grant, representative from UConn was there, as well as people that are on the committee, including representatives of Flood and Erosion Control on space. A couple people didn't get the notice. They're all on board now. We have a second meeting planned for the end of the month. And we have been approved by the EPA, so it's all system to go. We were awaiting approvals that popped from the EPA, and so they have approved it and signed off on this project. Again, it's something that's at no cost to the town. It's 100% funded by UConn Sea Grant. Our Right now, we're in the phase of gathering for asking each member, whether it's zoning, planning, all the groups that are involved in this, send us all the research, all the reports that they have that pertain to resiliency so that we're not reinventing the wheel, so that we know what everybody is currently engaged in. what their projects are, what their perspective is, and those will all be reviewed by SLR along with our strategic plan, which is being revised currently. So there'll be another meeting at the end of the month. It's going to, this time, include emergency services public works director. I did reach out to the private beaches, offered them... to join our meeting. I have heard back from one of the private beaches and hopefully they will send a representative. Rogers Lake is included. So the next step after we gather all these materials, we have this general meeting of the membership where we will discuss the special priorities that each member has. we will be looking to schedule a public meeting. End of July, early August is our window right now trying to do well. Seasonal residents are still here to introduce this project, this effort to the public, and also to begin what will be a two-year process of soliciting feedback. The the goal is to make this as inclusive as possible to hear as many different diverse voices as possible on this as we go through this analysis because it will be a process of trying to prioritize our risks trying to prioritize our potential methods of addressing those risks so the more we hear from within the town and people working in the various silos within town, what is essentially a common interest to all groups, our vulnerability to natural disasters. We also want to bring as many people along as we can within the general public over this two-year process of coming up with a strategy.

That's where we're at.

Great.

Okay, so moving on to old business, I'll just let you know that the gazebo is up and moving. I have not seen an update today, but the rafters were going in. I did go down on, I think it was Thursday or Friday. I spent some time with the foreman down there, and Basically, he said it's taking longer because they have to drill into the rafters, whereas he said if we were doing nails, this would go really fast, but it would also go very fast in a hurricane. So we are doing the best job possible. The brackets had come in. Next steps would be the roofing, and then they have to raft the columns. And people have asked about picnic tables. So Parks and Rec is working on that. There might be some temporary picnic tables there this year and then more formulated for next year due to the timing of the season and to get something in there. Then just to let you both know that, you know, sustainable CT, we had taken our silver and our bronze, but we've lost both of those ratings due to the fact that it's been so timely and they have new expectations list that come out every year. Cheryl had requested some money next year for someone to help with the writing of sustainable CT because it's a very time consuming thing. So we had a little money left over for this year. So we are working, Cheryl is working with Susan Millerig And they're going through and putting together all the data. And then Susan will stay on with us next year to work through that and get as much done as possible. And as Cheryl has explained to her, you're really like the cheerleader because you sort of have to go out and give the homework assignments to the departments to get their information. So Susan is willing to do that. And then Cheryl said she would still be the proofreader and such.

And we appreciate both their help on doing that.

I don't think I have anything else. If you have any questions on projects for me, let me know. Anything that you think of? And I will say, I do agree that our, well, we'll get to that in a second. Okay, so John, while you were away at the last meeting, we decided to move everything until you were here. So the human resources section of the policy book, we have to get a... Jim had made it, we'd made a couple, I think, we talked about adding the summer hours to it because it wasn't in. And we also talked about the form for the non-disclosure agreement to be put into the policy book, which it is not. And then, Jim, I have a note for general versus option, the top of page 24. What was that?

Yeah. That notion was right now for non-disclosure, you would have to opt in. And I thought that for people who are employees, not for us, obviously, for elected officials, but for employees of the town, I don't think they should be subjected to having their addresses or their social security numbers revealed unnecessarily. And we saw an example of someone who's an employee having their address published. And that seemed to me to kind of cross a line of privacy. So I understand their ability to opt in to a non-disclosure. And I was wondering if there was a possibility of having that be the general policy. Obviously, if there's a FOIA or something, It's going to get released. But as a general principle, I don't think that people's home addresses, phone numbers, and sort of security numbers should be a matter of obvious public record.

There are certainly some things that don't have to be released under ACOIA, and we do in certain situations that lawyers will send out a nondisclosure agreement type of thing that they have to sign and check off what they do and do not want released for certain reasons. Um, and then the lawyers handle that, but they send it out with a form and they have to check things off. So, um, but we can have a basic form. Um, it's not something that we, um, I think that they can sign certainly certain things at the beginning that they don't want disclosed and go from that, but this would all be done through legally.

And then the other thing was just to add the summer hours.

I don't know if we necessarily need to add summer hours considering this is a test run. So I don't know if we want to do it, but we can add it as a addendum in that this is what we did in 2026. And if it wants to be used in the future, this was how we did it at that time. So can I have a motion? to approve the human resources section with the addendum of summer hours being added and a form for non-disclosure that would be reviewed by a legal before it would be put in.

Question. This is the human resources section. Yes, sorry.

Did I not say that?

We did not talk about DEI.

And the, how is it currently?

You have a page number it's mentioned?

Yes, it is. It's under terminology for the culture on page 31. Yeah.

And I had suggested at the last meeting and I thought we should all be here.

Yeah.

I don't, I didn't see anything in this that's objectionable at all. I think almost everybody would agree with what's in here. Um, but diversity, equity, and inclusion are three words that set off alarm bells at the federal level at this point. And, uh, And as I said at the last meeting, I don't necessarily have an opinion on how to handle that, but I thought I should bring it up since we've seen.

So let's move this to the next meeting, and let me get some guidance what other towns are doing as far as how they're handling this, just so that we're comfortable, okay? And I'll put that on my plate to... And then what I'll do is if we have to redraft this page, I'll redraft it and send it to you both. Okay. Well, the whole section so that you'll know, and I'll get the changes made in the form and the other type of thing. Okay. So we're going to move that and discussion approval for the board of selectmen page, which I've gone through. And did either of you see anything there that you would like to bring about. The only question I have on this, and I have to, I understand why it's here, but I do believe the bid policy that is in here is also part of the bid, is the bid policy for finance. So I do want to talk to Anita when she was on vacation last week. So I want to make sure that this is the right section for it. And I don't know why it was put in ours, except we do most of the bidding.

So we had also talked about having an exclusion for any company or person that was in tax arrears, and there's nothing in the current policy to express that.

In the bidding one.

Right.

And what do you do? And we'd also, John, we'd also have to include something when it's just an RFP. for RFPs or bidding, because lots of times, if it's not over 20,000, we just ask for RFP or simple quote. So we'll have to do that both arrears. I'll have to have EGLE make that arrears and taxes. And I agree with that. Okay. So we'll move that as well. And I'll get those. Any other questions on this?

Was the Freedom of Information under Selectman? Was that a subheading?

I believe it was age.

So the only thing I saw there was it talks about I should have highlighted it, but it said it says the freedom of information request form should be completed for any document not readily available. It goes on. So no one is required to submit. an FOI request using any type of form. It can, somebody could come in with a handwritten note saying, and we accept those, right. But the policy does not express that. So I think the policy kind of makes it look like you have to fill out a form, which it could be, it could be an email. It could be, you know, different ways that this could happen. So I wouldn't want someone, you know, an employee looking at this and saying, Oh no, you have to go fill out the form. So I think it kind of, there should be a notation in there that.

We prefer the form.

Right.

And there's, you know, one of the things about our Civic Plus website, and they keep trying to entice us to purchase the addendum that you can keep track of all your FOIAs on their website. But I'm sure it's an additional charge. We haven't gotten to the actual number of the figure yet. financial figure, but I am one of those people that for what we're paying for the website, I don't think we should be paying any additional. So I think that, and they of course request a form and the form is pretty simple. It's just says your name, how do we contact you? And what is it that you're looking for? It's not a very in-depth type of thing. And it just helps Katie or whatever department it is seeing it. And if it's typed, it's legible. and we can understand it. So, or we try to our best of our capacity. And that's the reason for the form because it can be typed and then it can be tracked more easily. Sometimes when it comes in an email, we certainly consider an ask as a FOI and we keep track of those. There are people who say, can I have a copy of that presentation that was done? And that we consider a freedom of information, even though we readily approve it and send it off. So there are simple ask, but somewhere in the rules and laws, it says an ask should be considered a freedom of information request. So we do, we keep track of it. So I can, again, go through and ask legal. Although I think that they took an eye on this, but let me see if this is above and beyond. But I think if you look at the state too, almost every state department requires you to fill out a form or send in an email. But we have two people who use FOIA very often. Do you have to fill out forms for other government agencies? And that's okay.

That's to my point.

So you would Elizabeth, you would find that. Sorry. Just asking because you asked.

But in other cases, an email sometimes suffices. Okay. We'll get with that and see what they say. So we'll move that as well.

That's all good. I'd rather have everybody happy with it. Moving forward. Okay. So we'll move that off the agenda until next time.

Is the Senior Center also a separate one?

No, that's a separate one. Steph hasn't finished reviewing it. So I tried to send them off in pieces to people so that they would not be overwhelmed, nor would we. So next time we'll have a couple of new ones on there, tax collector being one. Okay, so we need to approve the MINIX. at this time. So could we have a motion to approve the minutes of the regular board selectmen meeting for June 1st?

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of June 1st or 2nd.

And I'll second that. Jim, did you see any changes? I did not. I did not. Okay. So I'll call for a vote. All those in favor of approving the June 1st minutes of the Board of Selectmen meeting signify by saying aye. Aye.

Aye. I'm going to abstain.

And you're going to abstain. And there we go. Motion passes. So now it's time for Selectmen's general discussion. Just wanted to update you a little bit on that Amtrak meeting. Those of you, if you want to go Wednesday night at 5, it's a webinar. And Joseph Barr does most of the presentation, but basically... who said this would be called the New Haven to Providence Capacity Study. They are looking for their options to understand needs of communities, establish a shared vision for a community rail, and ensure long-term viability and resiliency. They talked about the fact that they're really looking at the 2040 vision for service overall, 2040 vision for service between DC and Boston. And these are just highlights that I told. The current study is going to be led by ANTRAC this time. They are partnering with the CTDOT, Rhode Island DOT, the MassDOT, Federal Railroad Association, and the NAC Commission. They hope to have robust and inclusive public engagement and focus on the needs of their ridership, potential impacts of no-build that they used as a terminology. and consider a full range of potential investments. They certainly understand along the shoreline, they have to be conscious of the sea level rise, severe weather, and the curvy tracks that we currently have, which restricts speed and capacity. They expect this to be a two-year study, and they feel that the study will end in May of 28. Over the next time, they're gonna do some summer pop-ups. Some of the sites, In New Connecticut that they hope to possibly have pop-ups at is Rocky Neck State Park on a nice sunny day when they feel the area would be flooded with tourists or people attending the beach. Old Mystic Village and the Brooklyn Fair, which happens later on this summer. And those are some of theirs. They're also going to be having an open house on November 1st and then more pop-ups in the spring of 27 and another open house next July. And those will be sent out to us. And basically, they understand that there were mistakes made last time and feel that two-way communication will inform. They're going to be informing the community on the study as it moves through. And then, John, you said you're going to go Wednesday night?

No, I attended today. And there certainly was some a good discussion on Old Saybrook to Kenyon, Rhode Island. And my big takeaway was the possible no-build option, how viable that is. I'm not sure because there was discussions about potential new alignments is the buzzword. So as Martha said, they discussed the curviness, which slows the speed, and speed is one of their prime objectives to decrease the amount of time between Boston and New York. So it was, I thought overall it was encouraging because it does seem like they're trying to be a little more, at least at this point, more transparent. So I definitely want to stay involved in their presentations and their upcoming, like you said, the open house and other things like that.

Yeah. And I'm, we're going to, um, This will be in my newsletter, but there's a website that people can go to sign up for and get updates as needed. So that's that. And then basically we talked about the town meeting July 21st. You'll check out your dates on that. And then if we could just, if you know your schedules now, I know Jim that Mondays are best for you. I would, Just ask if we could possibly move the July 6th meeting to the 13th, so we'd have two back-to-back, the 13th and the 20th, if that would be possible.

We don't really need a vote on this.

We just need to agree on it, and then I'll just put it in as a special meeting and cancel the regular meeting. Do you know if your calendars are available on either of those?

So you want to move the 6th to the 13th?

Yes, and then hold our 20th as regular meeting.

I can do it. Yeah, I can do that.

Okay. Thank you. And then on the other date was the August meeting, 3rd. And I think we might be able to get away with that by just moving a room. There are none. So if we move to the mezzanine. Yeah, so we'll just put it. And I don't think that needs, does it need to be a special meeting just because we changed the room? I don't think so. All right, so we're just going to move rooms on that. Okay. Anything else? Anybody else have anything else?

Yeah, I'd just like to go back to the gold and blue markers.

Oh, yes, I have.

So I, you know, I know there's been some emails going around and some memos and whatnot. And, you know, we... We approved the markers in the beginning because we knew that there were multiple options on where to put these. And, you know, I've had some time to reflect on and really think about the overall picture. And my concern here is maybe winning the battle and losing the war. You know, right now we're risking, you know, alienating an entire commission that voted unanimously for the last COA. And, you know, we can split ears and argue over the interpretation of regulations and statutes. And in the end, I think it's just going to be detrimental because every year we're looking for volunteers to come help the town. And I think this is kind of just the wrong debate to get into. So, you know, this was a garden club project. And at our last preference by the flagpole really lacks that whole garden element?

They're not supposed to be putting gardens. That's not the purpose of them.

Okay, the initial proposal included the markers in a garden over there.

Well, no. The original proposal was to be put on the land over there, and it was on post.

Surrounded by a garden, yes.

Well, not some daffodils, perhaps on the base.

Okay, that's a garden. So... I, you know, to me, it would make sense to look at, you know, the area of Sill Lane that is really sparse compared to other locations.

It's also the historic district.

Yes, but I think the historic district might actually approve Sill Lane.

Well, the interesting point is that we are getting different legal opinions and one is not current. they're using a past instance from I think it was 2020 that they asked for an opinion on this and that was also from the exact same law firm just a different lawyer and then the opinion of a municipal lawyer in the firm who said that there's no jurisdiction over this because it isn't an advertising or a bid side and said that Mark should be the one to give the approval, which at the first meeting, I was asked by John Noyes, if there was a way that I or the board of selectmen could not, didn't need or could overrule the historic district. And I said, I did not know at that time. So it wasn't until this municipal lawyer brought into play that they felt that it was, not under their jurisdiction because this sign does not represent an advertisement or a bid sign. And you have 540 members of retirees or households in this town that come from military backgrounds or have had a connection to a military member who has passed and I feel that I have to at least explore the opportunities because the American Legion and the BFW are both in agreement that they would like them on the wings. So I feel like I have to at least let's talk to them and do my best. I'm not making, but I want to explore those possibilities.

Yeah, I mean, I think they would like to see them anywhere that's appropriate. I'm not sure that they're stuck on the wings of the monument. They certainly gave their approval for that, but if they were given an option for another location, I'm not sure that that's been presented or not.

They do not like the location in the garden because they feel that they're just being hidden because it's on the ground. It's four inches. The back

size of the granite will only go up four inches and then under the current yes under the current but if if if it was more of the original proposal in a garden i think that would be certainly appropriate again we we can we can argue about about the technicalities and the legal interpretations and i think we're just shooting shoot we're just literally shooting ourselves in the foot by by getting an entire commission upset over something that we can remedy by putting it in a mutually agreeable location.

Just to clarify, the same thought has crossed my mind when I read the legal opinions and the letters that have gone back and forth. The question was, was it worth it, even if we're right, technically? Exactly. Was it worth it? But my question would be, at that point, do you have a sense that We could do this at Sill Lane in the original format, like the signs up on poles. I didn't object to that to begin with. And I don't know how the American Legion or the VFW feels about that, just theoretically. Is that something that, from your understanding, is doable? Is that still on?

You can't because the signs that are on poles are larger. These signs are meant to be mounted. Yeah, we went to the smaller signs. So they're not the same thing.

But you could put them on a bigger rock. Yeah, I think the restrictions that the historic district put on the display of the signs, I mean, we did reduce the size to begin with and sensitivity to their concerns. And now they do seem to be sort of hidden away. I mean, they're very low on the ground, so it's not something that you can easily read. You know, like say the plaques that are on the south green, which I know the historic district was not too happy with, but I think that they're critically important to have them there, and they're easy to read. And I think that's kind of the importance of plaques. If they are mounted on a stone, it's usually kind of at eye level. And to have something that, you know, you have to bend down and take a look at and maybe it's hidden in the weeds, you know, not the weeds at the garden club, hidden in the flowers. I can see that being a little insulting to the veterans, although I'd rather have them speak to that themselves.

I would strongly suggest if you have not had time to listen to the meeting of where things were discussed. But I know that. the comment that the flower arrangements did look cluttered in front of the current memorial that the Duck River Garden Club does was not a sense of appropriateness but more to someone's individual taste. And a lot of the comments that were made were more to individual taste than to their

signage agreement, that is, their signage rules.

So, you know, the color of the star, perhaps it was too bright, might be too vibrant for Lime Street. Mary Ellen had gone to the purpose of putting together a star. She had used a fabric that suddenly was a little glittery, but it's not the star that is on the actual And it's drawn to the eye, but I know that one of the plaques is here. They are still waiting the delivery of the other one. But I think that the information that we received on Friday, I have not heard back from legal, but I did forward it to them to say this is the response that we received. So I would like to hear back from legal before I make any further discussion on this matter.

So anything else? Do you have anything else to say?

Yeah. The state is allowing municipalities to pass ordinances for street takeovers. I think it's not something we've had an issue with yet, but because we have such a huge surge in visitors and population in the summer, It's not something that's out of the question. I've witnessed a street takeover in front of my restaurant that ended in a fatality, so it's something that I think you have to take seriously.

Has Groton enabled one as they put one into place since then?

I know Montville is doing that, but if I wanted to sort of take the temperature of the board here, I I would personally like to see law enforcement just have an extra tool in their kit and for us to pass an ordinance, and I'd be happy to work on one if it's a path that we're agreeable to going down.

I think it would be a good idea because we certainly get a high influx of visitors in the summer, and that's the type of thing that could actually – I know a couple of years ago when this started happening more frequently, it was put out on social media and the state police used a lot of their computer guys to kind of monitor that and were able to head off the locations. And then it kind of became a little round robin around some parts of the state to get there before the crowd did. But yeah, it's probably lacking in some legal abilities now. without a specific ordinance for that.

So, yeah, I have a lot of things on the plate right now, but by the end of July, I think I can do the appropriate research.

Well, let's talk to Derek as well.

Yeah, I'm just floating that out there now, because I don't want to go off on a tear and then be like, no, we don't need an ordinance.

We also have an awful lot of, and I don't It's very hard to tell if they are a souped-up e-bike, if they're considered a moped or whatever, but there seems to be a great abundance of them floating around town. I know if the rider is under the age of 18, they're supposed to have a helmet on. I have seen some corrections by that, but there's an abundance, and I don't know if we should Again, the police can only work with what they have.

Yeah, there's a flowchart out there that kind of helps to break it down. But it is, yeah, a lot more going on than 20 years ago when you decided to worry about if it was a moped or a motorcycle.

Yeah, it's kind of youth and under the sun. And some of these e-bikes, they do 40 miles an hour on the sidewalk. I mean, it's a complete menace. It's dangerous, very dangerous. So it's kind of some of that falls through the cracks, unfortunately. I think with the bikes, it's going to have to be some better state guidance than what we have right now.

Okay. So with that town meeting, just so you know that we'll get through the ethics, I said, I said, we'll do ethics and tax. at that July meeting. And then there'll be some other ordinances that will have some revisions, which will come before us this summer in July, which I would like to have another town meeting perhaps in September to break it up so that it's not two ordinance heavy nights, but whatever. And we're assuming that because we'll probably have this July meeting over at one of the schools just to accommodate a larger crowd in case they're People are interested. Yeah, because it is a special vote.

Okay.

And I'll get follow-up from legal, because I know this has happened before, and Ian had called me today to make sure that we follow all the rules, but this will give us some time to get all the notices in the newspaper and things like that.

Actually, we're thinking of doing it at 6 o'clock that night.

because there is a Board of Finance meeting, I believe that night as well.

So we thought that if we did it at six, maybe we would be done by seven. Any other thoughts?

Hearing none, can I call for an adjournment?

Make a motion to adjourn.

I'll second. Okay, 652. All those in favor of adjourning, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. Goodnight, everyone. Thank you for staying on.