Town Council - Regular Meeting

just anotherbody. How are you? How are you?

Is the link on the website? It is. You know where

it Yeah. So yes, yes, yes. So because you are very close to this That's my hardest part. 8 7 6 Good. We got a couple more seconds before

we'll get it started. Good evening everyone. Uh welcome to the Plymouth Town Council meeting for January 6th, 2026. Like to call this meeting to order. Uh notification of the fire exits. If you exit behind you, you can go to your left and exit directly to the street or you can exit to the right and exit through the police department. Item number three is the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands nation and justice for all. Thank you. Item number four is our invocation. I would just like to note that um I was able to attend the police and citizens award that was uh award ceremony this December 18th and we were reminded of the great risks that our police, fire, first responders take. So, I would like to uh in their honor say that um I'm going to ask for God's blessing for all of our first responders, the people in our community um who keep us safe and God bless the town of Plymouth. I would also like to ask for a moment of silence in honor of William Bill Oganowski, uh folks that are regular attendees of the various meetings uh over the years, town council, uh and particularly the downtown committee um the downtown revitalization uh committee. Uh Bill was already our attendee. Uh for those of you who may remember seeing Bill, he was a regular patroller of our downtown and Main Street and uh he was a close friend

of mine. He was a good friend of town. So I just ask for a moment of silence in honor of Billowski. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Item number five is acceptance of the meeting minutes from December 2nd. Do I have a motion to accept the meetings of December 2nd, 2020? Make a motion to accept the meeting minutes of December 2nd with the change of Tisha and myself switching our assignments doing the ambulance and I am assigned to the fire commission.

Second by Mr. Tisha. Thank you. So there's a motion on the floor um and to accept the minutes with the amendment as mentioned by Sue. Is there any further discussion? Any further changes? Hearing none, all those in favor of accepting the amendments say I.

Anyone opposed? Any abstensions? Thank you very much. That carries. Item number six is public comment on agenda items. If anyone from the general public would like to come forward, uh state your name. There's a recording sheet, uh, your name, address, and if you'd like to address anything that's on our agenda tonight, and a reminder, later on in the meeting, there will be an opportunity for folks to address the council for anything that is not on our agenda. Does anyone like to speak to an agenda item at this time? Please come on, step forward. Thank you. The volume is up there, so

yeah, careful.

Patty Deuff, 21 Avenue. Good evening, Mayor Sakorski and members of the council. I want to talk to you tonight about oaths. Each of you took an oath to uphold the US and Connecticut constitutions. While some may view an oath as a trivial necessity in order to take a seat at the people's table, I take your oath as a covenant between you, we the people, and God. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an oath in part as a solemn or formal declaration invoking God as witness to the truth of a statement. The preamble to the Connecticut Constitution acknowledges God. It states, it starts with these words, the people of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good providence of God. Every decision you make will be seen by God as either upholding your oath or violating it. I pray you will uphold it. Connecticut's legislature has created law, new laws. Some of these laws were enacted illegally in violation of the Connecticut Constitution. Stand firm on your oath to uphold the Connecticut Constitution. There is another very important document critical to you. It's our Plymouth Charter. I hope by now you have read it and will refer to it often as you deliberate on any given topic or issue. There may come a time when you may be given advice in violation of our charter. Know what it says so that you will be able to reject that advice. God has given each one of you a voice. Use it. Let there be vigorous

deliberations among you without regard for time constraints. For each of you brings to the people's table a unique perspective that God has given only to you. You see things differently from your colleagues and that's by design. That's so that you will be able to protect our town from those who may seek to destroy it or use it for their own personal gain as they attempt to make backroom deals. Resist those voices. There are other voices you need to hear. the people's voices, those um they bring unique their own unique perspectives to any given issue. Under council rules and procedures, please adopt a rule that allows the people to comment throughout the meeting. Do not reject these voices for like a brilliant diamond with many facets, their voices will help you to make wise decisions for our town and help you to keep your oath to the US and Connecticut constitutions. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Just a gentle reminder, sure to keep it to agenda items for the opening comments. Thank you. Um, if it's not directly related to an agenda item, I'd appreciate it. Okay, understood. Thank you. Appreciate that, ma'am. Yeah.

Agenda items. Anyone want to comment on an agenda item? Virginia Canadian 18 Adams Drive. We have recently seen the director of public works terminated, followed closely by the superintendent's convenient retirement. Now residents are hearing that the same superintendent may be receiving a consulting contract. Has this proposed contract been reviewed by a labor attorney or the town attorney? If the attention truly is to clean house, then clean house, not do favors for our friends. I respectfully ask the council to ask questions, really ask if this is in the best interest of the people you represent, the taxpayers, and not just be a rubber stamp and a rash decision.

Thank you for your comments. Any other additional public comment on an agenda item? Thank you for your contributions, folks. Appreciate that. We are going to move to number seven, which is the mayor's report. I have a couple of additional items uh from what I sent you folks, but nothing too drastic. I'll point them out as I go through the mayor's report. Um, first of all, I want to say thank you to our town clerk who's filling in this evening as our recording secretary as Trish Hail is dealing with the flu. Uh, I reached out to Trish yesterday and she was regretfully not able to make it tonight. So, thanks Linda for jumping in at the last minute. Um, I would like to say thank you to all the agencies, staff, volunteers who provided services uh to the town of Plymouth over the holidays. I'm probably going to miss some people, but I just want a couple people I want to mention. Um, it's that I think it's extremely important to know services that were provided. Uh, first of all, the Plymouth Food Pantry. I don't have the numbers, but I know that there were hundreds of families that were assisted over the holidays by the Plymouth Food Pantry. Uh the Small Wonders program and its volunteers, well over 80 children uh received uh benefit from that program. Uh the Plymouth Beautifification Committee, uh the Rotary Club, other local businesses, and all the volunteers to help ensure the success of the tree lighting on December 6th. Um, again, the amount number of families that had food on their table and gifts for their children at Christmas uh was impacted significantly by everyone's efforts over

this holiday. I think the town of Puma should be very proud of its generosity and and of its citizens with the amount of time spent volunteering and the generous amount of money and gifts that were donated for these programs. So, thank you very much on behalf of the town of Plymouth Council. Uh just some general updates, comments on recent snowstorms. I know uh a lot of chatter about this issue. Uh I would first like to recognize the town crewman, the town crew and their efforts during the storms due due to the holidays and the illness and various illnesses, two significant ones. Uh we had a shortage of personnel. Uh during the past two events, the larger event that occurred with 7 ines of snow and then the one that was uh just after Christmas, we had only four persons operating our snow plows. Um we also I also want to recognize that we uh utilized our current vendor that we're in contract with also provided support to the town crew. I think they did an outstanding job considering the personnel issues that we're facing. Um other storm related issues. Um we did utilize our uh ability to place a parking ban for the larger snowstorm. Uh we will continue to do that within this, you know, guidelines. Uh it's extremely helpful. Uh when citizens uh obey the parking van and keep their cars off the road at all possible, it makes things run a lot smoother. So we appreciate that. We are working on a storm related policy and communication protocol. It's under review and when that's completed, I'll let the council know provide you a copy of that and we'll get the information on the town website. I also want to say thank you to the public for their patience and assistance uh especially clearing the sidewalks after the storms. Uh we know that that's sometimes a burden and not everybody's

able to do that. we were getting to other sidewalks using our tools when staffing allows it. Uh a comment or rather a followup to the comments from the December 2nd council meeting. Um, first of all, regarding public comments on the town's response to the uh FOIA requests, Freedom Information Act requests, um, regretfully, one of the three requests was not acknowledged in the time frame that's described by state law as was noted by our citizens. Uh however at this time to the best of my knowledge all of our requests have been responded to and the information and not only that the information that was requested has been made available to the folks who requested or who made those requests. Uh with respect to the comments regarding the number the number of and use of the police vehicles uh as we enter the 20 uh 2026 2027 budget season a full review of the police vehicles the number their use will will be will occur during the entire budget process. I am sure that our board of finance and department heads are going to be fiscally responsible and will bring recommendations to the mayor's office for the final budget that in regards to police vehicles. Uh also uh regarding the question of our advisory boards which was uh which I've been promoting uh we are at this time moving forward to establish a community advisory board. The plan is to meet monthly with the mayor to discuss general concerns of the community. If members of the public are interested in participating, please contact the mayor's office. Several individuals have already expressed their interest and depending on the amount of folks that we get and the and the size of the interest will determine the size of this new committee. Well, it's an advisory board technically. Um, I'm following up with members of the economic development commission and our

consultant regarding the need to find an to form an advisory board that would focus on economic situations. I know that's also something that we committed to, but at this time um we're going to just start with the citizens advisory committee and kind of see how that goes. Some professional staff updates. I'd like to say congratulations to Jim Schultz who retired from the town after 30 plus years of service. Jim's experience and general operational knowledge will not be easily replaced. Fortunately, I believe we're very fortunate to have reached an agreement whereby Jim will provide some administrative consulting services for a short time while we look for a replacement. The position for highway supervisor is posted internally right now and will be posted publicly after the twoe requirement by uh contractual agreement. In the interim, I've asked Dennis Kizes who has has the experience of filling in for Jim Schulz while he was out on vacation etc. to serve as the acting highway superintendent. He will be responsible for the operations and all and oversight and all on call responsibilities. All the necessary departments have been notified of uh Dennis's uh taking over that responsibility. Uh the interview process for public works directors in progress. I will keep the council advised of the status. I want to let folks know that a meeting was held with two members of the state DOT transportation division to discuss the possible use of ATD which is called which is automated traffic enforcement device as an option for our route 6 in the Plymouth section of town. As you know we continue to have

vehicle crashes in the area of Route 6 and Carter Road. ATESD is the use of cameras to track speedy vehicles and ultimately send out citations. This tool has been effective in Middletown and some rural areas such as Washington, Connecticut to reduce speeding. Other general options were also discussed in this meeting. This problem has gone on for many years as efforts as efforts to give residents relief has not been very successful. This option would retire the town to create a townwide ordinance for the use of the devices and the cameras and the tracking devices to be used to track folks speeding and automatedly report those issues. So I'm at this time I plan to bring bring the police commission bring this issue to the police commission as a potential option as well as continue dialogue with the state DOT. I will keep the council and the public advised of these meetings as they progress and as appropriate, we'll open it up as that may be necessary to have public hearings and other inputs, but this is just a preliminary meeting that I want to let you folks know that has taken place. Um, I don't have the statistics. I know I mentioned it last meeting briefly, but there's been multiple crashes in the area Carter Road 6, some of them severe. We're fortunate we haven't had more problems. Uh some technical updates. Uh full review of the town's website is underway. The preliminary findings indicate that the site needs to be on a mo new modernized platform. A new platform for a new platform will provide improved security, more self-service service options for citizens and allow for faster realtime updates and other features that will improve its usability. We're working with the town's vendor, current vendor, and additional vendors may be needed to verify the cost of the upgrade and offer other services.

We're confident we can use the existing funds in the technology budget or rep prioritize items items in the tech upgrade plan to ensure we can properly rebuild the website. We expect the upgrade can be accomplished in two to three months. We're also working on launching a mayor's office Facebook page to manage communication and public service announcements. Uh there's discussions as late today about that and um I'll keep the council up informed as we move forward with that. Uh this is a new item. Uh I'm happy to report that the financial audited financial I'm sorry the final audited financial statements for the fiscal 2024 year were completed and issued and supplied to uh the department of operations and management. They've been informed of that and they haven't give us any reply that there's any problems with that. Um there are still some outstanding items that the finance department is completing as required and we hope to have everything complied and uh for the 2024 audit completely finished uh including response to comments and that should be completed by the end of January and we're meeting with the office of policy management uh in February their regular meeting. Um, I have not gotten any communication from them uh since we've sent this information to them and we're already starting to work on the uh groundwork for the 2025 report. Um, lastly, uh, in your packet, you'll you'll find a variety of details of complaints or problems brought to the mayor's office. Issues involve land use, permitting, public works, road and bridge repair, and human services. In each case, the mayor's office worked with the appropriate department to remedy the situation. Please let me know if you have any questions on the report that I provided to you. Uh kind of a lengthy report tonight. I appreciate everybody's patience and if you have any follow-up questions, please don't

hesitate to reach out to me in the mayor's office. on a little bit of a change in the normal procedure or at least a change in the agenda items. We're going to now uh bring up uh town council lays on reports under n item eight. I'd like to cover this at this point in time. We still got some business to take care of after this, but um please if anyone has town council lays on reports, I'd like to cover them now. I item eight. We'll start on my far left.

Uh sewer commission is still plugging away on their uh studies. They're just about wrapping up with that. So, have some numbers put together over the next couple months to uh see which way we're going there. Uh they're also purchasing a new VAT truck and the snake truck to eliminate some of the excess costs of farming that out. Uh basketball is going on with public or with uh park and wreck right now. So, they're full of that. And uh we're just in limbo right now in the public works department with uh no director and no highway superintendent. So, uh, things are running a little bit rough there, but they're getting through.

Thank you very much, CJ.

Um, I am a leazison to the fire commission, the police commission, the human services, and housing appeals. I've been to three out of four of them. Um, fire commission is is incredibly well done at their meetings. It didn't take long to go through everything they had. there. They had a lot of communication. So, that was really good to go to that one. Um the police commission I attended. Um we had talked about the Route Six um with the accidents at Route 6 and Carter Road. Um so, I can't wait to tell her that they're going to be doing something with it because the people, one of the people that lives there is afraid to go home half the time because she's afraid the car is going to end up in her yard as is her neighbor. So, um, they resent some of the letters out and it's nice to see that there's been some movement on that. Um, human services, uh, we discussed the veterans, uh, leaison that we've been talking I've been talking about since day started. We have a meeting that we'll do at the end of January. Um, we need a leazison to to help the veterans to kind of streamline that whole thing so this person will know where to go for help. Um, so that's that's going to be done hopefully very soon. Um, that's it. Thank you very much,

Joe. I didn't have specifically, but you're absolutely welcome.

Okay. Um, December 12th, I lean to finance and fairly lengthy meeting, but uh moving along quite well. uh they reviewed and approved the minutes from April through November exerted said that's not going to happen yet. Um the controller also presented a sample of what the fellow expendance report and comment once it's finalized the standard process fiscal year 26 calendar dates were discussed We'll be setting up starting on the 15th of the third Thursday of each month and starting February 19th through April meeting twice a week and initial budget is due February 10th budget by April 17 of the risk assessment for the 24 and

thank you. Um Ron, I will just comment to give an update on where we are. Um okay, so um there is a proposal um on Preston Road regarding uh a solar farm. That particular project was put up in front of our zoning, right? Was it planning and zoning, right? and then and then it was it was pulled from that or withdrawn from that committee locally. The applicant is going forward through um a process that was set up by the state. It's called the sighting council. Please correct me if I state anything wrong. I'm going from some memory. Um we've worked uh I've been keeping the council informed and kind of on what's been progressing with that. Uh there was a deadline set up. We did work with our town attorney. We worked with Representative I'm sorry, State Senator Henry Martin, our planning uh folks, and we did send a formal what they call letter of intervention. And attorney Hy, correct me if I misstate anything. Uh we did submit a letter of intervention saying the reasons that we as a community were very concerned about the proposal that was being brought forward. Uh the last I heard I believe that we well what we absolutely requested a public hearing which is up to the sighting council to determine or agree to whether or not they have public hearing. It's kind of in the state's hands if you will. Um the we did receive correspondence from the state saying that um our response was on the agenda. I say that correctly. um and we will be notified if in fact that that siting council agrees to hold a public hearing. So, uh I know that

that's we've gotten a lot of communication through my office and probably to some new individual council members about that project. There's some concern about it. Uh we are doing our best to provide information to state our position why we don't think that that location is a particular good idea. Certainly doesn't reflect our general uh concerns or understanding that we need alternative energy. I will recognize uh our town attorney Mr. Hamsy for a quick comment. Thank you Bill. Just for everyone's information, the sighting council scheduled a meeting for Thursday at 1:00 to take up our request for a public hearing and that's by Zoom. So, if you go on the committed sighting council website, you'll find the link to the um to the petition and you can join the meeting uh through Zoom Thursday at 1:00.

Thank you for that additional information, Mr. Hamsy. Um, so that, you know, that's kind of a situation where we feel like we're putting the best interests or representing the best interests of the community as best we can um within the limits of of the process. Thank you everybody for your reports. Um, keep it. Absolutely. Well, I got a question on that. I read the engineering report and the engineer had stated that we can't hear you. poop under deer.

If that if the size of the solar farm was less than one megawatt that it did that it was in the hands of the local and not the state and wasn't that the case.

Yes. So what the applicant is saying is well what the applicant is doing is trying to get a declaratory judgment from the sighting council that says that the sighting council has the exclusive jurisdiction over this project rather than the town. That's the process. We're just asking sighting council to hold a public hearing regarding not just that issue but also the plan that they have uh submitted. But yes, there was an engineer that was retained by the town to prepare a report which we submitted to the sighting. But the process is the applicant wants a sighting council to retain jurisdiction over the process. I thought that size if it's under one megawatt then this is a process where the sighting council can assume jurisdiction. more to come. Thank you for the clarity. But um we are doing our best to represent the interests of the folks in this town as much as possible. And and I also want to recognize all the folks um who are doing it on their own. Uh you know, local residents who've I believe submitted letters, petitions, and all those kinds of things. So, uh, it's a fine line to walk and we're doing our best. Thank you for that. Okay. All right. Let's move to number item number nine. Uh, this is the information that was provided to you in advance. This is in fact an approval of a contract for the highway department support services. Um, I will be glad to provide a little bit of background on this. Uh the uh as

I mentioned uh Jim Schultz has uh placed and has executed on his retirement options from the town of Plymouth. Um we recognize that we need some support in this area from an administrative perspective. Uh with the fact that we have a younger highway department. Uh, so I worked with uh council, meaning our town council, I'm sorry, our town attorney uh and our human resources provider uh to develop an agreement that we thought was within the law. Um it was reviewed by our town attorney and that um revised document was what was included in your packet. Um I think that this is a necessary action. It's a part-time term limited contract. It is not an open-ended agreement by any means and it has limits on the amount of hours of support based on what we feel. We need some additional uh guidance until we are able to replace the highway superintendent which that position has already been posted and we're hoping to move forward that as rapidly as possible. Um I would be um grateful if there was a motion to accept the uh agreement for the highway department support services that you will provide. Is there a motion to that effect?

Motion, Mr. Green. Thank you. Is there a second? Second, super. Thank you. Are there any questions or discussion? And please folks um I openly accept any and want dialogue on this topic. Any comments, questions, please? Mr. Mayor, uh who wrote this contract?

This contract was provided to us in conjunction with the original draft contract through our HR support person. uh inputs from myself based on what we wanted to make sure that we limited the services that were provided. You I hope you note that it's does not require it's not supervisory capacity and then it was also reviewed by our town attorney who also made some updates. So there's multiple inputs. Did the town's labor attorney look at this at all or just the town attorney?

Just the town attorney. Do you think it's advisable to have a labor attorney to look at this just to make sure that everything's legit in the wording and the pay and the hours and it's not like a breach of contract between his retirement pension and working as a subcontractor?

We I didn't discuss all those details with the labor attorney, but I did confirm that this contract does not interfere with the retirement provisions from the town employment. That that was that was discussed. Uh, another question is, uh, when he's working with procurement with the new person coming in, uh, working on bids and purchasing, um, is he going to have this ability to bid on any of these projects or is he got to refuse himself from bidding for any company that he is working for or his own personal company? Um, that is not language is not exclusively written in the contract, but that is implied. Yeah, that that you can't double tip.

And was there any thought about any of the previous performance issues that we've had before with uh turnover in the department and leadership in the department from the past year with the human resources department? There was nothing brought to my attention. Thank you very much. Anything else? Anybody else questions, comments, concerns?

I just want to make I just want to make sure that uh it is it's kind of highlighted under human resources that he he's not involved with the hiring of our our next uh highway form in here or any other human resources responsibilities. Well, I that language was added afterwards at the recommendation of council. So, I think it's appropriate. I mean, that was my understanding that there's, you know, this is an advisory capacity dealing uh with the uh training procurement and what was the first one? I'm sorry. I don't find

oversight. uh trained payroll payroll craft oversight review procurement purchasing general operations. I don't know if I necessarily object to him phasing the new person in but I don't know if I want him giving his input on who we should hire. Well, that's why it says do not include correct. Right. So I that believe that's why that that was added is to to the it's an advisory for operational. It is not an advisory on hiring a replacement. Could that be made more specific that it's an operational advisory role not a hiring advisor?

I could have town attorney review it again and get back to you. Um I think Mr. Hamsy, do you understand the concern? I think it's prudent for both positions, public works director and highway supervisor, that he shouldn't be involved in any of the hiring or negotiations of those two positions. This should just be something that's help support whoever's coming in, not laying out who is coming in. I'm not sure I understand exactly your point. He shouldn't be involved in any of the interviews or hiring of anyone whether it's public works director or the

Now now I now I understand what you're saying. Yeah. I mean I I think that that's that could be implied. I don't know. I would have to consult with the town attorney and I certainly don't want to get into detail but I when we wrote the agreement or when we collaborated on writing the agreement we wanted to be very specific that there was no supervisory oversight as a responsibility. And I don't think there's any language that implies that there's contributions to the hiring, but I I could ask the town attorney to comment, but that I'm that's you know, I I guess I'm still struggling a little bit with your concern.

I recognize I'll recognize Mr. Hamy. I think we can add a provision make it explicit that the role in vision does not include hiring or offering input into hiring whether it's the highway supervisor or public works director if that's what your concern I'd be happy with that language in there. Okay. Um, so I'm going to try to form that into a motion, right? Or an agenda to the motion or if we'd like to retract. So what would you say?

And do we have the motion withdrawn? Okay. So then a motion would be in order. I think you're pardon. Okay. I have it written down and then Thank you, Joe.

Okay. Okay. Okay. So, a new motion would be in order to accept the agreement with the changes that the as directed by the town attorney to exclude the participation of the applicant in the Help me out, Mr. Attorney. Do you have some draft language that we could uh put into the record as part of the amendment or part of the motion?

So, the contract will be revised to make it explicit that this would not include any input to hiring a successor supervisor or a public works. And I'll I'll create that language. Okay. Um, does that address your concerns, Mr. Spearski? Yes. Okay. All right. So, a motion would be in order to approve the contract with the changes as recommended by the town attorney. Is there a motion to that effect? I make the motion. Thank you, Mr. Green. Is there a second?

I second. Sue. All right. Any other further discussion or questions on this item? I'm going to call for a roll call vote, please. And u Mr. Zigerski. No. No. Miss Bulliard. Mr. Green. Yes. No. Ron. Yes.

And yes. Okay, that passes three to two. Thank you everybody. Uh Mr. Hamsey, we'll I'll work with you first thing tomorrow to make those adjustments uh to that. Okay. Thank you everybody. Thank you for your input. Okay. Next item number 10, which is discuss and take action as may be necessary on the refund of overpayment of property taxes. Um uh for the benefit of the general public, the Tom council members were provided a list of uh property taxes that are to be refunded. This is kind of standard procedure. uh we received the weight the list uh in a different format and we had a big agenda. So not every single one of these revisions was placed into the into this agenda record. Uh but all the town council people have the details of the refundable of of property taxes. The motion was made to accept. I just got this documented. Okay. Motion was Ron, second by Joe Green. Thank you very much. Any discussion on the refund of property tax motion on the floor? Hearing none, I'll just do a voice vote. All those in favor say I.

Anyone opposed? Thank you very much. Okay. Uh we have um one item 11, board of commission resignations. Uh we received the letter of res resignation from the housing authority commission from Glattus Vasquez. Uh you should have received a copy of this. Everybody get that? Okay. All right. So, a motion will be ordered to accept the resignation of Glattis Vasquez Torres from the housing authority commission. Is there a motion to that effect?

So, move motion. DJ second. Ron. Thank you. Any discussion? Hearing none. Voice vote. All those in favor accepting the resignation, please say I.

Anyone opposed? Thank you very much. Okay. boards and commission appointments. I may not have them in the exact order that you have them in your packet, but we'll give it a shot here. Uh the first one is to reappoint Peter Janoscini to the water pollution control authority. Is there a motion to reappoint uh Peter Janosini water pollution control? So move

TJ. Thank you. Is there a second? And the second is by Joe. Thank you. Any discussion? I know Peter's been serving in variety of boards and capacities over the years and he's always there. Hearing no discussion. All those in favor say I. I. And opposed. And that will carry. Thank you everybody. Get these boards back. I know there's other outstanding boards and commissions uh but we're going to do as many as we can as they come in. Uh, the second one is also a reappointment of Scott Gray to the Water Pollution Control Authority, a current serving member, and you have that paperwork. Is there a motion to reappoint Scott Gray?

So moved. TJ has the motion. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Enter the table for one. Okay. Ray got in there quicker. Okay. Appreciate that. All right. Any conversation, discussion? All those in favor, please say I. Thank you. Opposed. Motion carries. Okay. This is the third position. Again, a reappointment to the WPCA for James Maloney Jr. Is there a motion for the reappoint of James Maloney? Make that motion. Motion, Joe.

I heard the second way down there. Thank you, TJ. Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor of the reappoint of James Maloney to WPCA for three-year term say I. I.

Opposed. Thank you. Okay. Um, this is under new appointments, but I could almost say it's a a reappoint of sorts. Um this is for Anthony Retto to um re rejoin wetlands inland wetlands. I don't know why I had WTC written next to this. Sorry about that. This is inland wetlands commission Anthony Reetta who had served and then left the commission as I recall was the order of how things happened. Uh because he did an interim stint as a town council member. We thank you for that. Uh so this is sort of a new reappoint if you will. Is there a motion for Anthony Retto to be appointed to Hland Wetlands Conservation?

Uh it's a double whammy. We're going with Joe for the motion and a second TJ. Any discussion? I do have a question. Sure. Go ahead, please. Um I I think I brought this up at another time, but it says he's applying for the um he's waiting for the resignation of Mike Mafia letter be done. It's in his

Yeah, it was a little confusing um because we our one of our very first meetings we approved the resignation of Mike Mafia, but it it wasn't in effect until uh January 1st. So, um, right. So, originally, uh, Anthony would was willing to go on as a alternate, but as it turns out, because of the opening, we're going. Yeah. So, that that clears the time. Okay. All right. Any other discussion or questions? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Thank you. And thank you for your service again, sir. Very qualified person on that role. Thank you. Okay, this is a new appointment um for our economic development commission. This is a vacancy due to a resignation which was approved by this council I think either last month or the month before. Uh this is to appoint Robert Wilcox to the vacancy to fill on economic development. Is there a motion to appoint Robert Wilcox on economic development?

So move second. Motion, Joe. Second, TJ. Thank you very much. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor of the appointment, please say I.

Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. And we'll Thank you, Mr. Wilcox, who's with us tonight. Thank you for joining the group. I am optimistic that the Economic Development Commission is going to be very busy over the next several months and thank you in advance for your service. Okay. Thank you. We are on item 14. I would need a motion to take off the table the item from 122 meeting which was the discussion or finalizing of our council dates from 26 or for finalize the meeting dates for the town council for 2026. Is there a motion to remove that from the table?

So move motion. Thank you. Is there a second? Second.

Second was there. Thank you. got all that recording secretary. Things are moving here. Okay. Get getting you back into shape. Getting you back into shape. Okay. So, uh so that's off the table. So, very quick reminder, we were discussing the calendar. And there were two outstanding uh items. One was the August meeting, I believe, right? We approved it. We had said that um I think originally we had the August meeting was not scheduled and we said it was the July meeting that should have been there. So we approved everything but in August we approved all the calendar except for August and then there was a question about the um the uh yeah right we might have to move that but I think we can do that procedurally. The other outstanding item was that the council meeting fell on election day. I think that was the other item and you'll have to forgive me because I don't I should have the notes right in front of me and I do not. Do you recall Mr. Green? I apologize. Somehow I don't have that. Oh, here we go. Thank you. Thank you, temporary recording secretary. All right. So the August regular meeting, right, was not on the original sheet. And then the conflict was November 3rd, which was election day, was the other one. And so we had left that to be determined. So we can we can move on it together or we can separate it and hold off on the election day date. We just want to fill in the calendar as much as we can. I I would recommend to the council that we approve or agree to have the August

regular meeting as scheduled which would be the first Tuesday of August and then we'll we could revisit the November date or you could take it. It's your pleasure. Uh we just need to resolve it for the purposes of calendar. We want to have an I know I I know the general consensus seemed to be yes, we want an August meeting because we agreed that July is generally the meeting that we do not hold. Testing my memory. Um and then election day may be a conflict, but um it's the council's pleasure how you'd like to move forward. Um one or two or both or none and we can ret. Go ahead. I'll make a motion that we schedule the August meeting for August 3rd or August 4th, Tuesday, and we move the October meeting to the following Tuesday, which will be the

Sorry, November, right? Forget November should be the 13th, right? November 13th. Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. So the motion on the table is the August the first Tuesday of August would be the regular meeting and then we're just pushing out the November meeting and scheduling you for the following week. Right. Okay. I got it. Any other any discussion, comments, concerns? It would be November 10th. November 10. Okay. November 10th. Okay. So, right. So, we're just pushing out one week. Okay. Yeah. All right. So, that's that's fine. Make note though that um November 10th is the day before Veterans Day. I was the while it's closed. That won't interfere with that at all. Shouldn't Shouldn't.

Yep. No. Good point. Good point. Further discussion or questions. Okay. The motion um we'll just do regular voice vote. Everybody in favor of the motion restoring the August meeting for the first Tuesday and the November meeting would then be the second Tuesday if I'm understanding that correctly. All those in favor say I. I. And opposed? None. Okay. Thank you for that quick handy dandy reference material. Uh motion was uh jump. Sorry. Motion Ray. I'm sorry. Thank you for I made the motion and I second. It was the other way around. TJ was fastest to the draw.

Yep. Okay. Thank you. We want to get it straight. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody for your indulgence on that item. Our calendar now for the year 2026 is complete. Okay. Um item 15 is um there is we need to meet in executive session with the full town council and the town attorney and representing uh and also a representative attorney uh Jim Tolberg. um in executive in executive decession executive session to discuss pending litigation. Um what we would need just a procedural comment so folks know exactly what's going on. Um this is to discuss pending litigation. We would entertain a motion to adjurnn temporarily so this council could uh move to the next room to discuss legal matters and then we would return from that session and there may or may not be action resulting from that executive session. That is what's going on. So I would entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss pending litigation. Is there a motion? Motion Joe second Ron. Thank you. All those in favor say I.

I. Anyone opposed. Thank you very much folks. I don't know how long this might last public, but we will take this council and the representing folks that we've invited to executive session. We will adjourn to the room across the hall and then we will return and we will restart the regular meeting. So short recess. Thank you very much.