Select Board - Regular Meeting

April 24th, 2025. I open the pledge of allegiance and um I would ask Andrea, but we'll be with Andrea tonight because of reason for great traditions to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. the honor still serving me to pursue the rest of the agenda. I'm going to pass over to Tom. It's my my great pleasure tonight as vice chair to uh preside over the celebration of Scott and Andrea. Um if I take you back to the year 1997, the first Harry Potter book has come out. movie Titanic is in theaters and Andrea Pendersuite joins the the planning board. Uh to be followed by a long and and amazing uh career with many many board appointments uh I I can't even list them all. There are 20 here, but countless hours, countless uh countless ways that she was dedicated to the town of Westford, countless contributions, and I think Scott is now at his 20th uh anniversary uh here serving on the town board. So, we're we're so fortunate to have them with us. There are a lot of people tonight that would like to uh celebrate and make a comment and and make a make a reflection. So, uh I won't be long, but I do want to uh starting with the most humble. We have a number of uh celebrations or a number of important uh documents here that I'd like to make sure that we have for both these folks. So, uh first from your very own select board with great gratitude for 12 years of service. Thank you, Scott. 15 years from again your drawing fans here on the select

[Applause] board. This now now we're getting into the big time. Uh and I do appreciate having our two elected representatives here and I'm sure that we'll welcome them to the mic soon. Um, from the United States House of Representatives, certificate of special recognition, Representative Scott Hazelton, in honor of your dedicated service as chair of the Western Select Board since 2013, member and and often chair since 2013. Your steady leadership and tireless commitment to public service have made a lasting impact on the town of Western and its residents. Your contributions to the community will be remembered and appreciated for years to come. Glory [Applause] Andrea, this may sound this may sound similar and familiar, but thank you for your service since 2010. Again, your steady leadership, tireless commitment, your many terms as chair. All of your contributions to the community will be remembered and appreciated again from Representative Lord Tran. [Applause] And now I will bet closest and dearest to your hearts, these are from the people of Westford, from the people that you've served with such talent and commitment. This is for serving the sweatboards from 2013 to 2025. Thank you, Scott Hazelton, from staff, colleagues, and the town's people for your outstanding commitment, knowledge, and leadership. [Applause] and Andrea. Thank you Andrea Pareruite from staff, colleagues and towns people for your outstanding commitment, knowledge

and leadership. [Applause] So, uh, again, in order from most humble to most important, from us to our elected representatives to all of you, uh, why don't, uh, why don't we go first? I've already said my piece. Why don't we go first as board members and then town manager and then town manager, who I think is out there with us, Jody Ross, would like to speak. Uh, and then we'd like to invite our our elected representatives and then everyone else, the most important people, the people we serve. So, so I'm up. All right. Well, I will tell you guys that the only reason why I'm here tonight is largely these two. I've been working with them in various capacities for a very long time. Usually sitting on the other side of the of the podium. Um, but just using them as a role model has been a phenomenal opportunity for me. And when I was offered the opportunity to come and join them in this board, I readily took it because they're just so great to work with. the depth of knowledge, the dedication to this community is unparalleled. And I thought, hey, there's somebody that I can learn from and and how to do the job as well as they've been doing it for such a long time. This is the this is now the time and the opportunity. So, thank you both for for being those role models and doing so much for the community. It's been really a pleasure and an honor for me to be sitting here with you and words escape me on how much dedication you guys both provide. I mean, you don't really get it until you're here, but once you're here, you it's the amount of time and effort these two have put in over the years is just amazing. So, thank you so much. You're here. I can't say anything better, but this has been a pleasure to serve with you two. You set examples that we just hope to follow in leadership and knowledge and care for the community. We just hope to emulate going forward in

the future. So, thank you very much again. Thank you. On the staircase up, we're wondering what we're going to do without our mentors. So, we'll uh we will mow along. We will find a way. Um, so I wrote a little bit about each of you. Um, just wanted to say first, Andrea, it's uh truly been a pleasure to work with you for the past two years. You were the first select board member in addition to Anita that I met uh from the town of Westford in my screening interview for town manager. Uh you were the first chair I got to work under as well. Uh your commitment to the community and doing what is right is at your core. Um you have taught me so much about the history of Westford, the challenges and traditions here and the procedures of the town. You've provided me tremendous support and knowledge and it's been a pleasure to work with you. you trusted my decision to move forward with a strategic plan and to hire two assistant town managers, which I treasure, and I will be forever grateful of our relationship and look forward to our continued guidance and wishing you the best. So, I do have just a little uh treat for you that hopefully you can put in your Oh my god, it's beautiful. And Scott, again, it's also been truly a pleasure to work for you for the past two years. Um, and especially the past year as chair where you've helped guide the town in such challenging times. Uh, you're compassionate and caring as well as practical and stand up for what you believe in. Your background with the town and various boards and committees have been invaluable. Um, we also have interacted frequently with our work through the permanent town building committee which I am grateful for. Um, I will again forever be grateful for our relationship and look forward to our continued guidance together and wishing you the best and also have a treat for your

garden. because it's your Yes, I promoted her to panelist. So, she promote Jody. And while Jod's coming up, uh I do want to recognize Sue and Mitchell. It's a family commitment to be involved in uh in town government. Uh many nights away, a lot of listening to uh you know, what happened in the meeting and you know, sometimes complaining, sometimes celebrating. So, uh thank you so much for that. We really appreciate without family support none of this would be possible. So, thank you so much for being here. Jody, you look wonderful. Welcome. Thank you. So nice to see all of you. And um this feels weird. I'm not going to lie. But so Scott and Andrea, in order to thank you properly and honor you both for your many years of service as select board and other committee members, I scrolled through some annual reports and to prepare notes on this to of your significant accomplishments during your tenure. But to be honest, there were far too many and I would have been going on hours here to even begin to scratch the surface. So it was overwhelming. But knowing you prefer comments to be sus succinct, I thought globally what it was about the two of you that made such a significant impact on our town through the years. Andrea, your experience on the planning board really helped when you became a select board member in so many ways over you had an intimate knowledge of the permitting processes and the many developments in town and you also possessed a wealth of knowledge about the procedures the planning board usees and um all the matters that go

through them and also understood other that were interconnected. So that was so helpful. The fact you are an attorney also helped us more than you know in many ways and some you do know. So that was that was really also wonderful. And Scott, your prior experience on town boards and as a firefighter in Voxboro definitely helped the board and all of us to understand your perspective on public safety. So that was invaluable. um capital projects you had a very good handle on in your many years on permanent town building committee. You've been successful in pushing forward so many of our town projects. You both never shied away from challenging andor difficult situations and there were many. You worked so hard to ensure that the board had the necessary information make the decisions at your meetings and then once you made the decisions you did not micromanage. You got out of the way and you let you supported town staff and town volunteers to take the necessary steps to be successful and implement your decisions. You always supported and championed our town employees and our town uh volunteers. And I will mention during town operations with COVID, you were in complete support of all of our necessary actions that we took in order to provide services while protecting our town employees and our town residents. During my 14 years as town manager, you created an environment which helped make jobs of every town employee easier, more fulfilling and gratifying. And you established clear goals, clear attainable goals, I may

say. You set priorities and expectations. And then you positively recognized when we achieved those goals. If you remember a few years ago, we did a we conducted a townwide survey of department heads to find out, you know, what was their number one priority in the town and and it was providing the best service to our residents. So, uh, this is what you created with your leadership and it's just one of the many reasons that Westford is such an exemplary town that we're fortunate to call home. Thank you Andrea and Scott for your years of service, your time, your commitment, your guidance, your support, your compassion, and your sense of humor because you too do have one, which I I have appreciated. And wherever I go, when people learn I live in Westford now, they comment on what a wonderful town it is. and you too as town leaders have succeeded in keeping our town one of the most nicest exemplary communities in the Commonwealth. So, thank you for your years of service and you will be missed. [Applause] Well, well said, Jodian. Thank you for being here for this celebration. Thank you. uh if we could invite our two uh so we're very fortunate to have our two uh statewide elected representatives tonight and if uh John and Jim could could share your thoughts we'd appreciate Certainly. Uh first I've had the wonderful and unique experience over two decades to work with Scott and Andrea on so many projects and betterments for this community. Um, it's certainly something I'm always going to look towards when I see people that are

getting involved in public service and they don't really understand sometimes that putting your name on a ballot is a big deal. This is something that it opens you up to public scrutiny. The decisions you make that that seem wonderful sometimes. Uh, you'll get phone calls later on, they're not necessarily everyone's decision. Uh, but that's part of it. but the work that you've done over the last two decades, Andrea, uh especially in in in planning and zoning and the work you did on planning board to make this a desirable community to live in. Uh the steady hand that you had during the pandemic, but during the fiscal crisis, two fiscal crisises uh in the period of time that you were a member of the select board is exemplary. and Scott, the work that you've done with folks with uh dis, you know, uh developmental disabilities um as well as uh your work in affordable housing has been a blueprint for people to follow in this community from decades further. So, I really would have to first and foremost, I want to say that I'm going to have to refrain from allowing you to use my cell phones now. So, I'm going to direct you towards office hours. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Um, but my family, the people of Westward, thank you for your work. And on behalf of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, be it known to all of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, offer sincere congratulations to Andrea Parinerite in recognition of 15 years of dedicated public service and leadership on the Westford Select Board and Scott Hazelton in recognition of your 12 years of dedicated public service and leadership on the Westford Select Board. given this 24th day signed by the speaker of the house Ron Mariano and state representative Jim Marcero. Congratulations both of you. [Applause] Thank you. It's always difficult to

follow Chairman RC to Scott and Andrea. It's been such a privilege to every interaction that we've had. I've always been impressed with just your kindness and I think your selflessness and your love of this town uh comes through right away. So, not an easy time to to be an elected official, not a time uh that's easy to be in municipal government, but as so many others have said, Westford is a very special place. Uh and that can only happen because people uh like you step up and are willing to serve. So, on behalf of the Massachusetts Senate, I uh I have two citations for each of you, and I hope to have a place of honor in your house for a long time to come. [Applause] I want to before we move on. Oh, please. I need I just wanted to ask for a photo. I wanted to ask the same thing. So, are you two gentlemen? We thought you were going to ask another question, so we were to leave. No. Okay, that's right. You're on. You're now that you're here. Actually, I do. Yeah, exactly. Why don't Why don't we do pictures now? Sure. So, if if we can get up and if we can grab if you guys could grab your special town awards, maybe we'll go over there and we'll take a picture with all the people that are here together. Okay. Thank you so much. And uh Anita, since you're so important to the town, maybe you can stay out there, too. And Nick, Nick, can you Nick, could you come take a picture for us? You come take a picture. Thank you, Nick. I appreciate. So, Nick's going to come here and take a picture that way. We're gonna go stand over there. Guess that's all of us. All right. All of us. Yeah. Cool. See this Tom? And Tom is here. And we're going to go over here. If everyone just stand up. We're just going to take a picture all together to celebrate the day and then we'll come back and hear from everybody else. You're going to go in the center. So, you're going to go right in the middle. Why don't you You want You want these

two in the center? Please. [Music] [Music] I guess I have to show you. You can just stand there. Nick is taking a picture. Nick's taking a picture. Nick is our hero from Western. Superstar in always. All right. Thank you, Nick. Ready? Okay. Yeah. Everybody say cheese on the count of three. One, two, three. Cheese. Take another. Do one more. One more for Thank you. You ready? One, two, three. Thank you. You are sorry. Thank you. See your house on Christmas. You were taking care of business. stuff all over the place. Okay. Uh I know that there's a number of community members that uh would love to to celebrate our two much beloved and departing members. So at your leisure at the mic, this is the most important thing we're doing tonight. If you've got something you'd like to say, please come up and and say it. So, I think it is possible that I've known Andrea for longer than almost

anybody in this room except for her family. Very couple of people here. Yeah. She and I met on the stop Walmart committee in 1991 which was both of our introduction to Westford politics and then we served together on the 1991 master plan committee and it just sort of went on from there. Um it is impossible to list all the things that both of you have done. I've just known Andrea longer. But I think both of you share um some characteristics that are essential for people to recognize in order to appreciate what you've done. And some of those are a complete sense of honesty and a moral compass that allows you to just say what the right thing is, what you believe the right thing is, and follow through on that. And that's not something that everybody has. So I really like to thank you for that. and also the degree of dedication that you've put into um leading our community in a way that everyone can respect whether they voted for you or not. It's clear that you're always doing what you believe is in the best interests of the community without any regard for anything else other than what's in the best interests of the community. And I think you have both been a role model to many people, not just you, Chris, who have um decided to volunteer over the years, who have seen the example that you've set and who set their sights on doing as good a job as you two have done. You are really, really going to be missed. Thank you so much. [Applause] Anybody else? Certainly plenty. I hope you feel how important you are to so thank you so much. We're also going to say Oh, please. Did we get Oh, yes. I'm sorry.

Andrea is still in charge. Okay. Um so, so thank you everybody. Um this is overwhelming and it's truly a very bittersweet moment. Um, it's been my privilege and my honor to serve this town and its residents for the past 28 years. First as a member of the planning board for 13 years and then as a member of the select board for 15 years. And throughout my service, I've really only had one agenda item and that was to do and act in the best interests of this town. I've worked really hard to make Westford the best town that it can be. I've tried to honor the town's history and heritage, to act in a fiscally responsible manner, and to preserve its open space, and to create a welcoming, diverse, and dynamic community. I always tried to foster an environment where all voices could be heard and all perspectives could be listened to, where there could be a frank and open discussion, where people with differing ideas and viewpoints could come together and explore new and creative ideas and solutions and achieve the best solutions for Westford. And while I'm not so naive to believe that everybody agreed with all of my decisions all of the time or even that some people never agreed with my decisions, but what I do hope people understood and realized is that I always was willing to listen. I heard you. I considered your viewpoints when making any decision. And while we may not always have agreed, I never discounted your opinions and I valued each and every single one of them. I want to thank the town staff, the multiple boards and committees I've worked with over the years, all of the members of both the

planning board and the select board that I've worked over with over the years. Um, all of the volunteers from this town. This town is what it is because all of you volunteer in some way to make this town what it is. I have learned from each and every single one of you. And finally, I cannot begin to express my heartfelt thanks and deep appreciation to you, our residents. For 28 years, you've put your faith and your trust in me by electing me to office. You trusted me to take care of the town. A trust that I never took lightly and never forgot. A trust that I hope you feel that I've lived up to and that I've met. We have a great town here and I am one that I deeply deeply love. And while I may no longer be on the board, I will not be riding off into the sunset. Trust me. And I will be watching you guys. But thank you all so very very much for this evening for your just overwhelming tributes and thanks. As I said, it's been my honor and my privilege to serve all of you. Thank you. [Applause] So now you know that for [Music] um thanks to Andrea for for 12 years I've been the duty member of this I knew where I wanted to start. I knew where I wanted to end. I wasn't quite sure where to put in the middle, but um you know to start is just to thank the voters of town for trusting me for for 12 years. It's really humbling to

look on a Tuesday night and see votes that are in the thousands and you know people that are in the hundreds and so people you don't know are trusting you with their tax revenues, their fire protection, their police protection, their schools. It's it's um it is a really humbling experience. When I ran first ran um I had letter from I was a boy scout write a letter on a paper from one of my scouts. Um and dirty secret is if you're campaigning letters I'm usually surprised usually someone tells you they're writing or you ask them to write. This was a surprise. I did not expect it. Um it struck me that this scout, you know, has got pretty high standards for me. Um I have to live up to this and his parents watch if he doesn't watch the meetings. So try to, you know, protect myself and his meetings in the manner that um a scout or any of the resident would be would be proud of. Um when I joined the board, I asked one of the former selectman who I of course was bit of mentor to me. Um what's what's your advice? I thought I'd be told, you know, watch out as a budget item, watch out for the state program. His advice was take good care of the town. Um great advice, which probably interesting advice in our day. And um so decisions are made when they've been right or wrong were made in the context of what I thought was best for the town. And I've been really proud to serve this board and and prior boards like it where we may disagree on a Tuesday night. We never argue. We may vote 3 to two on something on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning gets a five decision. We don't second guess each other. Um, you know, John, I I've you know, your attention to contract details has been amazing. I could I could my mind

goes blank with contracts shows. Um, you know, Chris, uh, there was a day when this time when a sidewalk proposal was a kiss of death, we now have as part of our annual capital plan. So, you've amazing what what you did with prison safety. Um yeah, Tom, I met Tom when he was chair of school committee and I was chair of the select board. It was override New York. I a little bit skeptical about the override and Tom I met somebody who was as data driven as I am and uh it convinced me to to go along and approve that override. Um since then we've partnered on public safety on um school and town safety. So it's been just great pleasure work with Tom that what became a school safety became town and school thanks to Tom and and mental health as well as physical safety because of Tom's thinking outside the box. So it's been a great board to work with. Thank you all. Um you know I met Andrea my first job was affordable housing as it was 20 years ago. my first job, she was already on the planning board then. So, um, but I went in with a with a vision of a group home and Andrew said, "Let's make it happen." And my first experience with her was, "Let's make it happen." Um, we sort of a CPA together, CPC together, get some money for that group. Um, so over the years, Andrew, you've been um I would say, you know, my sounding board for anything political, uh, moral compass for anything that involves civics. So, it's been an honor to spend this time with you. I'm sure you're glad to retire with me. Um, thank you. Um, the staff this town is amazing. Um, please we have here at Chief and Deputy Chief. Um, I would say if you go down the list of all of our town departments, take a look at who leads them, find somebody else better in the state, and and you won't. Um, that's a credit to Jody when she was time

manager, to Kristen now as as time manager. Um, yeah, to Jody, I she's still on or not, but um, the most driven town manager I've ever seen. you give her a set of goals and she wanted to hit 50 out of 50. I think her record was maybe 40 and a half. She did really really well with those goals. Um and I learned a lot from her and certainly others did too. There were eight tenants out there now that were all trained by Jod as assistant here. Um when she retire was very important to get somebody couldn't fill the shoes but you know come as close as you can and we found Kristen and um you're very happy that we have Kristen on board. It's been a great two years working with you. Um, you know, we've gone from, I think, a a place of stability we had with with Jody and now we've got this new set of plans of where we go for the next 10 years. Uh, new vision that we will act with probably a new a new board. But like like Andrew, I'm not going to go away. I'll be around someplace in town so you can still find me. Um and then um I guess finally what I planned to end with was um also about 12 years ago I had this really dumb idea to run for a select board and I asked my wife what she thought of that and she says well if you want to do it you you know I'll support you. Uh she went to the bank with me to get the account set up for the campaign account. Um over the years she's put up with the stress of campaigns of sometimes bad nights uh here. Um phone calls that people don't always understand what dinner means. Um a lot of nights out especially especially before co um I still think back to the first night when I what do I wear you know and I we picked a black pants a blue shirt and a gray coat. It's been my uniform ever since.

But um and she said if I'd want to run again, she would have said yes. Uh so um I did not want to, but she was very happy with that. I got no excuse not to get things done around the house. But um thank you, dear, for letting me do this. And thank you, Westford, for for trusting me to do it. [Applause] Just give a moment for any any last inspired comments before we move to the next topic. We have another beloved uh town support member that we're going to recognize in a second. And then understanding that uh I hope you'll stay for that and then understanding that many of you may have other things going on tonight. We'll we'll give a little bit of a break. But first, I'm going to keep it short because those are big shoot big um speeches to follow. But just a very sincere thank you to both of you for being mentors and guides. Um, one of my very first conversations with Andrea when I was on the school committee the first time, first year, um, and you were chair of the select board at the time, I think, uh, we had a phone call and you said, "If you're doing this to be well-liked, find another reason." And it's wise advice and it's a good reminder that doing what's right for the community is really the goal in all of this. So, thank you for leading that way. Sorry. Okay. Was glad to return it to you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Um, thank you everybody. This is very very special evening and but with that we have actually some business that carries on and unfortunately part of that is to say goodbye and and um congratulations to Dana Dong our finance director who will be uh leaving us at

the end of the month to uh go on to another position I think Chris has prepared some so he's on vacation there is a party for him I think next week yes next win uh next Thursday at Aviva from 4 to But in the meantime, I think you I did. Um, again, we'd like to recognize Dan O'Donnell for his 20 years of service with the town of Westford and also his service uh through his high school years with the recreation department and the past 11 years as finance director. Um, specifically, he has been an amazing uh rock that has held our town employees, our town boards and committees together. Um, he will be sorely missed. um he began sending me documents um even before I officially started and walked me through the financial process for the town of Westford and I am forever grateful for his uh work with me. We have worked tirelessly on the override scenarios and all the financial scenarios the past two years. I know that he is in everyone's office and on everyone's phones daily. Um and you know he has very big shoes to fill. Um we are really uh going to miss him very much. Um, on a personal note, he and I have even bonded on the ski hill as our kids race for two separate ski teams while we see each other at Nishoba and other areas around. Um, and we know that he will still be paying his taxes to Westford. Uh, so Christine will welcome his presence at the counter when he is there. So, just want to congratulate Dan for his years of service here in Westford. We'll miss him very much and look forward to presenting him with this certificate when he returns from his well return welldeserved vacation. [Applause] And um one more retirement happier to have retirement than from the leaving. Um Virginia Moore who has spent uh 35 years um actually more than 35 years

than um the library as a local historian. So that's dear dear to my heart is the local history angle. Um I know I know um I think Ellen is here to have it. She's online. Yes. So, we're celebrating Jenny's retirement after 35 plus years at the JB Fletcher Library. She's been a most flexible employee, but most importantly, she's created uh conserved and curated our local history and West Foriana collection. So, she'll be very much missed as she embraces this next phase of life. Um, any patrons or researchers who want to say goodbye to her one last time, there is a drop-in reception this Sunday, April 27th, at the Westford Museum during their normal Sunday hours from 1 to 3:00 p.m. And you're invited to drop by and say goodbye to her before we see her leave the Commonwealth and move to be closer to family. So everyone is invited and we have a certificate for children when when we move here. [Applause] Um actually as to town business um we have some agenda to get through tonight. Short a short one. Um on May 9th we have the we have Wendy from other open items other open forum. Oh I'm sorry. Okay. Yes. I'm sorry. This is why they're firing. I have to get this open forum. Yeah. I'm guessing you do. Wendy. Yeah. Uh Wendy Gloyd 16 Pleasant Street. I'm here today as a Westford resident to express my concern about the lack of clear written standards for code of

conduct for town board and committee volunteers in Westford. This absence leaves us vulnerable to harassment and intimidation for fellow Westfordians. While we once relied upon societal societal norms to ensure respectful interactions, re recent experiences both mine and those of other volunteers reveal a troubling trend in increase of such behavior. Such behavior is unacceptable and undermines the spirit of civic engagement that makes one westward a wonderful place to live and volunteer. I strongly urge the town to prioritize developing policies that define ex define expectations for respectful communication, including guidelines for public speaking, written correspondence, and social media engagement. Establishing these boundaries will prevent mis misunderstandings and ensure that volunteer volunteers and officials receive the the respect they deserve. Several municipalities in Massachusetts have successfully imprint implemented such policies, fostering a more respectful and collaborative environment. I believe that adopting similar standards in Westford will reinforce our commitment to civility, transparency, and effective local government governance. For my own story, uh I recently found out of a prolonged effort by a westward resident to try to have me removed from a committee upon which I serve. and I discovered through a

freedom of information request. I believe that something like that could have been dispensed with efficiently with clear policies in place. The lack of clarity from select board also unfortunately allowed this situation to persist leaving me finding out here a year later that it has gone on and on and I'm feeling alarmed that one person has had such an insistent campaign against me. Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I look forward to your leadership in creating a more respectful and supportive environment for those who serve and volunteer in Westford. Thank you. In fact, that's I've shared that with with with Tom because it'll be a future board. Um it's a fair point. In fact, we have a code of conduct for uh town staff on town websites, but not for social media or other things, which you're right, other towns have that. and um we we need to give us that direction too, but there'll be a a new board to handle that. So, thank you. May I just go back to your meeting for two weeks ago to just clarify one item that was discussed that I found since then there's been confusion. Um Keith Bony and his daughter were here asking for permission to uh build a building on their at their orchard and I the address was never given and several people I've talked to in the last two weeks thought that this was the property at 6668 Boston Road and I just want to make it very clear that that's not the

orchard in in question. Drew Farms is the orchard at 31 Tadmuk Road between Route 110 and Main Street where the pumpkins are lit every Halloween in the orchards and the apple picking takes place there. Keith and his family have owned that orchard since they sold the land on Boston Road. So, just be very clear that the new building will replace the plastic hoop house that's there at the moment at 31 Tadmick Road. It has nothing to do with either of the Boston Road properties that have once had Drew in their name. So, I thank you for that clarification. Thank you. In fact, um I had a couple of emails on that myself. So, I'm glad you put on the record and actually I'm also glad you made Wendy because I had one thing myself open open forum. Um I want to thank the highway department or or especially John Rivas for taking care of the gardens. Not all the way done yet, but they've been working on it. I won't be here in two weeks to say thank you or two weeks um you know thank you tonight for work so far and I'm sure work that will be completed as always with the usual uh care and quality. Um anything else for him? Yes. So just just uh just mentioning so we're about to enter ordinary business. If you're here tonight primarily for the celebration we understand if you uh need to make your way out. Uh but we're moving into the regular sort of progress of the meeting at this point. out of here. Your tiles, your tires squealing. Both of our spouses leave immediately. Suffered enough. So, so now for the um the consent agenda, request of a special license for

a Kentucky Derby party at Chris Pick and Farm. Applicant is Senator H 9th, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. to 300 pm at 506 Gold Road in Westward. Um, also a community block party. Applicant is Amanda Sullivan. Date is August 22nd, 2025 at the Gordon Bush Community Center, 65 Main Street from 5:00 p. a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and a road bike race civic fibrosis emo bike race um applicant assisted fibrosis foundation that will be on October 4th 2025 is a motion to approve subject public safety comments second. All in favor? I. We have a request to approve application for MGL chapter 138 section 12 deer and wine restaurant license for JJ's place LLC located 223 Groen Road proposed manager is Joshua Johnson I should recuse myself the best pancakes in town but yes welcome Jake and Jake are thank you. So yeah we are uh interested in expanding uh the menu in hopes that it can bring more people on our side of town. uh we have the unfortunate location of more of a commuter path than where people usually gather. So, we're hoping that a beer and wine license and expanding the menu a little bit to get like some mimosas in there can help um yeah, expand our opportunity for new growth and uh revenue and revenue and hope we can get more people on our side of town. Um, so all the paperwork kind. Yes, they always try. I'm sorry, I'm forgetting his voice here. We actually have the treers, not just the America's time. Okay. So, the question was, was the microphone? Oh, sorry.

I want to make sure that the paperwork is in order for the beer and wine. Yes. Nice and succinct. I'll move second. All in favor? I thank you for being here. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Next we have a joint meeting with the school committee, the town moderator to appoint one alter representative to the valley typical high school committee. We have one applicant too apparently which is Abby Matthews. Um, but if this is where I I give control to the town moderator to run this session. So, welcome Angela. Thank you. So, is the school committee also in session? Yep. Should be there should be a couple people online. Yes. I just promoted um Bill McDonald, Lori Oliver, and Sean Kelly. And Tom and I are in person. Okay, Valerie, do you need do you need to call your meeting to order or Yeah, I was just waiting for is Katherine also I don't see Katherine. Okay, I have quum. So, I'll call to order the school committee. Okay. So, for this joint meeting of the um select board and the school committee of the town of Westford, um we're here to um appoint a a member to the Nohoba Valley uh technical high school uh committee and we have one applicant and that is Abby Matthew. Um I need a nomination from the floor. However, so moved. Are there any other applicants?

Anybody want to nominate any other applicants? Okay. Um, did the Go ahead. A small note in favor of Addie. Are you at point at the point? Not yet. We just have We just have him nominated. Is there a second to his nomination? Yeah. Okay. Um, would you like to hear from the applicant or does the board have any comments? The boards have any comments or questions they would like to. Yes. Would you like to come to the microphone? Good evening. But considering Andrean Scott's uh service, I feel so inadequate here. Uh my my name is Abby Matthew. I'm a resident of two Phillips Drive. Um I've been here for about u 25 30 years and uh this is my uh second term that I'm applying for to be a school committee at Nuba Valley Technical High School. So any further questions for the applicant just just a small note based on um you guys had a recent conversation about renewals for June and checking in with chairs. So I did email um the chair Charlie Ellis just to ask if the member if the applicant because um is incumbent um had been engaged in in participating in meetings and got high high positive remarks um back from the chair. So a voice of um certainly confidence. Any other comments or questions? All right, we'll call for the vote. All in favor of reappointing Abby Matthew to the Nshoba Valley High School Committee, please say I. I. Do we have to do roll calls? Oh, yes. Okay. So, we'll have to do a roll call. Let's Let's start with the people in the room. Andrea, yes. John, hi. Chris, hi.

Tom, hi. Hi, Scott. Valerie. Hi, Tom. Hi, Sean. Hi, uh, Lori. Hi, Bill. Hi. Did I get everybody? All right. All in favor? It's unanimous. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Congratulations. [Applause] Motion to adjourn the school committee. So moved. And a second. Second. Thank you. All in favor of Bill. I. Lori. Oh, she's muted. I Sorry about that. No problem. Sean, I I I thank you. Thank you guys. Next request um to acquire an easement on on Bay Lane as authorized by the 2025 annual town meeting. Yes, I can handle that. So, at the 2025 annual town meeting, uh the town meeting voted in favor by majority vote uh to accept Diane Lane as a public way. We have been uh reviewing this matter with the engineering department and the planning board and the planning department. And this evening, we have a deed for your consideration and execution to accept that easement and then officially record that at the registry. And then the town will take all um responsibility for the maintenance of that roadway. who would need a vote for you to uh acquire that easement this evening. So, I'll second. All in favor? Thank you. I'll have a signature page for you at the end of the evening for that. One of my favorite parts of the agenda is when when a band of expert means bond participation. So, um Christine, if you uh want to tell us where all this money

is going. Oh my. Lots and lots of money this time. Christine Collins cont. So there is um a stack of paper in front of Kristen. There is a memo on top and you sign all those tonight. You do absolutely do. I need to get them in the mail in the morning. Um so at the top of the memo there is a highlighted section that is the vote I need you to take. The full uh verbiage of the vote is in the select board packet and it is what it will be signed by um the clerk of the board which I think is Chris. Um the rest of the documents are pretty much signed by everyone. There are four documents that are flagged in green flags that um Lori also needs to sign. So if you want to wait to sign the rest of them till the end, that would probably be okay unless you want to just blow through it and get it signed. But the ones that Lori needs to sign, she has to sign after you take the vote. And then if she signs them, she can she can go. Um, let me just run through the the summary memo that I provided to you. So, we offered short-term notes totaling 28,720,270 for sale on April 15th of 2025. Received four bids. The winning bidder was Bank of America at a rate of 3.389%. The coupon is 4.25% but they offered a premium of $246,419 which reduced our net interest to the 3.389. Um we also offered for sale $8,675,000 in bonds and received seven bids. The bids true interest cost ranged from 3.908% to 4.095%. Brownstone Investment Group was the winning bidder of that um sale. They offered a $37,080 premium which will be used

toward our closing cost and applied against the principal. So that reduces the amount we need to borrow. The bonds that we'll actually issue will total $8,445,000. One interesting little note about the um bond anticipation notes. If we had sold a week earlier, our our um rate would have been 70 basis points higher, which would have cost us like $200,000 more. So, you know, just happy timing on our part, but I thought it was uh worth noting. Do you want me to run down through all the projects, the summary of the projects? I can if you'd like. I think for the money involved that the taxpayers Sure. they should do that. Absolutely. I just I just wanted to be considerate of the time. Um so we for the uh bonds we're bonding Town Farm Road water tank at 898,000 Oakill Road um infrastructure improvements we are bonding 6,658,000. Um that project is split between the town, the water department and the storm water uh enterprise. Um we're also bonding the Francis Hill Water Tank at 889,000. Some of these projects have been reduced by premiums from this sale, but also from other times when we rolled vans and we received premiums. And so we have, you know, we're not bonding the total expenses for these projects, but that's the amount we're bonding now. Um, the Palm Brook Culver design is our is one of the bond anticipation notes at 296,400. Um, sorry, uh, 185 North Main Street. There's different names for these culbert projects. So, you know, we tend to cling on to one piece of it because it's too long to put the whole thing in. So, there could be other things involved in some of these, but what we have been calling it is 185 North Main Street. Uh

we are doing bond anticipation notes at $470,000. Uh bond uh pond and bluebrook culvert replacements. We are borrowing $1.2 million. Uh the plane road sidewalk construction project is um 150,000 and it's worth noting that we're expecting mitigation funds from Newport. So we may not even need to bond that. That's probably going to get paid for um partially through budgeted paydowns but also through uh some mitigation funding. Um Carla Road sidewalk we are borrowing 153,870. that project is nearing completion and again mitigation funds are going to be used. Um the PAS treatment plant is uh we're borrowing $1,150,000. We're expecting to do the majority of the borrowing for that project. If you remember it was authorized at 24.5 million. um that project is probably is going to be borrowed mostly through the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust which gives us an excellent interest rate and sometimes they will even give us grants or discounts. Um so this portion is the ineligible cost the one 1,150,000. Um the Blanchard school roof um we are rolling the b the bond anticipation notes at 5,300,000. We've received some funding from the state, but we will not know exactly what they're going to give us until after the project is audited. So, the project has to be completed and then they have to do the audit and then we'll know exactly how much we're going to receive from them. Um, the library uh renovation and expansion project, we're borrowing $20 million. That is what is expected to be needed over the next 12 months for that project. Um we have received already um 3

3,140,798 in grant payments from the state out of the 8.6 million that we expect to receive. They've already done fundraising. Um when I asked Ellen it was at that point $784,000 had been raised in fundraising and um they expect to go to the CPA for a small portion. Um, the cost of the short-term interest on the FY26 tax bill for a home valued at $796,000 is going to be approximately $79.38. So, is there are there any questions on any of that? Well, first I would say thank you because if you're listening, you see he's dealt these amounts, fractions of points make big differences to the town and Christine is very skilled at this. I mean some of his luck but a lot of his skill some of his luck you should do these these costs. Oh, thank you so much. I mean the AAA rating um that we recently was affirmed again is is crucial to keeping the rates as low as they can be. I mean, the rates are going to be what the rates are going to be, but the AAA rating really helps. And on the strong financial management, you know, not using one-time funds for ongoing things that will end up being ongoing and being careful about careful budgeting the way that, you know, Dan has always done. Um, yeah, those things are very important to, you know, those rates that we get. So I I I know you guys will make a good decision and the next you know the next finance director and won't be too long you'll be looking for treasure. Oh yes John we say borrowing authorizes 32.5 million but the budget says has of that 32 million 8 million is coming from state. Correct. Correct. Correct.

Correct. And a million three is coming from that library, the funding. Correct. So 20 million is pretty close. Not too far from the actual construction cost that the town is going to pay. Correct. We So they kind of get or somebody might be reading this and say, "Oh my goodness, we got another 12 million to go." Right. So we're going to receive five payments in all from the state and um we've received two already and the others will be coming. The anticipated spending for the next year is 23 million. They gave us a sort of a spending plan um that we based how much we needed to borrow on. So we know we've got the 3 million from the state already. So we, you know, we didn't want to count on things we haven't seen yet, but um so we figured if we borrow the 20 million, we should have enough funds to take care of the construction costs for the coming year. But yeah, we're definitely counting on the eight million. Okay. All right. So the motion is uh to approve the vote prepared by bond council which is in the site board's packet and available online in connection with the town's note and bond issue date of May 1st 2025. So moved. Second. All in favor? I All right. So if you want to sign um at least the ones with the green flags and then Lori will need to sign that as well and then you'll need to sign all the blue flags before you. So the green ones right now. So we could let Lori go when she's done her next item and then at the end of the meeting we can do the blue flags. So I'll take the blue flags for now. And the purple is you purple is the one that only Chris has to sign. Only Chris. So we'll have Chris do that now. Shine. It's a big big day. It is. Yeah.

And everything's in triple and quadruplicate. I'll just give you this as a whole package tomorrow. Great. I'll sign anywhere that my that has my line on it after at the end tomorrow. I'll keep that. Actually, while Lor's she's here, I'm not signing right here. Do you want to do the um register right now or get this messed up? If you all want to sign a speed for Diane Lane while you're waiting, get that done, too. One last thing I have yet and I'll put that tomorrow morning.

That's how I remember them. They're cute. Listen to me. This is literally high financing, why couldn't she have waited two more weeks have to do this all of it wouldn't have gone as well. Yeah, she's Andrea. She wants a stamp, but I said the original. I think I think I've got them all. Yeah, got them all. Yeah. All right. And then the rest you guys can sign if you guys. And thank you, Scott and Andrea. It was a pleasure working with you. Okay. So, Um, deed. Do you have the deed? Yes. Okay. I just wanted to make sure Lori didn't walk off with the deed. No, I'm not going anywhere yet. So, this is our I think our annual um appointment to talk about the regist drives. So, yes, it's your show. Okay. So, we've got um there's one seat that's up right now. Um it's Beverly Woods and she I don't actually don't have the names right in

front of me. she would wish to be reappointed. Um, she is a member of the Democratic Party. Democratic Party. Then we've got three members of the Republican party uh that are nominees. One is Ray Z, if I'm pronouncing that right. Uh, Jean Arno and Jeffrey Pearson. So, we've got the seat up. It's a three-year seat. Um, and we've got four nominees looking to fill the position. So, Galilee Woods is looking to be reappointed and we've got the three Republican nominees. So, we currently have a Republican there's three registars now. Correct. Correct. A Republican and a Democrat. This is this is for a third seat. This is for a third seat and I'm considered the fourth seat. Okay. So, we have um I'll nominate those. I'll second. Any discussion? Any discussion from the audience? We do have a comments with the audience. She already have three online. So, Beverly Woods is online. Um and then I have a question from Kathy Lynch. Okay. So, you want to say I guess I say this I guess in order. Yeah. Usually the usually candies speak first. So if Beverly wants to um address her candidacy that's fine and then we take the question from Kathy. Everly I just unmuted you. Okay. So good evening everyone. And before I say my piece I'm going to just thank Andrea and Scott for all of their dedication to this town over the many years. You've both done a wonderful job. You're going to be very missed. Um, so as Lori has said, I have been serving in the seat for one term. I would like to get reappointed. I've very much enjoyed

my experience there and I think we've um as a board worked well together and we've had even some interesting situations with the the recount that happened short time after I came on the board and I think that process went very smoothly and I think even during the presidential election and some other things that were you know where there's a lot more activity than would happen with a typical election everything went really well and I would really um like to continue if I can. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else on the on the line of the candidates? None of the other candidates I can see on the in the case. Question for from Kathy. Kathy, I just unmuted you. Yes. Hello. Um, so just so I heard you correctly, were you nominating or um up for nomination for Beverly or were any of the others considered? The the nomination the motion was to appoint Beverly as the registar of voters. Okay, thank you. I just want to make sure I heard that correctly. Um I just want to say that um the way the board of registars is structured is that you when you have an unenrolled clerk there's two democrats and one republican or two republicans and one democrat and the way the law is designed is to be um equally representative of both parties. Right now it is not. It has two Democrats and one Republican. the past term it has been um two Democrats and one Republican and I remember having a conversation with Lorie Shaw about how unfair that is because it's not equally represented and the law makers have not changed that situation. Um, so what

would really be fair is if you alternate the terms so that one one year or one term you have two Democrats and one Republican and then the next you have two Republicans and one Democrat. Um the Republican town committee in Westford has submitted three three names of very qualified people and I just think it's fair and um it goes to the spirit of the law of equal representation of the parties if you select a Republican registar for this term. Thanks. Just one. So just but this I'll get you John but just a question for Lauria. As I recall it's been a year. The way the law is written is the register should reflect the voting composition of the town. Correct. Equal represent. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. Equal representation. So if if you have someone that's unenrolled in it, it goes the same for um election workers during an election. We try and have equal representation uh within the polling locations. So it's it's basically the same um when it comes to the border registars. So you have four members and you have one which happens to be me that's unenrolled. So we can have either two Democrats or two Republican or two Democrats and a Republican or two Republicans and a Democrat as the alternates and the unenrolled would be considered the one that would sort of balance out what the opposite is. Okay. So my understanding of all these is that the town clerk doesn't make any difference on the you know which party you're on. The other three have to represent the way the electorate. In

other words, we have twice as many Democrat registered voters as we do Republicans. So there two Democrats versus one Republican. And we just we discussed this three years ago. I think we went through this. And so I think reappointing the Democrat keeps that two to one which represents the uh uh you know actual composition of the registered voters in town. Now you can double check that if you want to have the legal counsel do it but that's the way I read it. That's the way we talked about it the last time we did. So I think Beverly Woods would be the one and I don't and we'd still be two Democrats and one Republican. And and it's also typically the case that if a if an incumbent has been attentive to their duties um and wants to be reappointed, we usually reappoint them. Yeah, that that would be mine. That would be the reason I would wish to support. So, we have a motion, a second for several Kathy still has. Okay, Kathy, go ahead. You have a question. I I think that Lori Shaw explained it pretty well in that it's supposed to be equal representation of both parties, right? But if if so, right now we have two Democrats um and one Republican and we've got the unenrolled and the unenrolled is always considered they could go either way, but they are a neutral party when it comes to balancing things out. Can I just say something? Yes. as your former town clerk and having dealt with what John was saying. Um there were many years that we had two Republicans and one Democrat. So I mean it just goes with we were lucky we got reg people who wanted to be registars to be quite

honest and and it's rewarding to know that people are now anxious to do this but what John said is true and I'm backing him up and I'm backing Lori up. And and also we had two Republicans and one Democrat. I remember that meeting, right? Being old has its advantages. Um only one person showed up. He was Republican and we picked her tonight. One person showed up is so I we're being totally consistent with. So Chris, just two questions. So are you required to be a member of this? Yes. Okay. And then if they in order to expand the membership of this group, that's something that the state legislature would have to take up. Correct. This is under dictated under Mass General law assume. So yes. Thank you. Okay. So back who we were a motion a second from Beverly. All in favor? I opposed. Thank you. Um thank you Lori. Thank you. Thank you Beverly. Um on to all the new business we have. Um I think first place I wanted to um perhaps add something to the agenda at impromptu. Um if you've driven past uh where it won't be there anymore drove past 12 North Main Street used to be a sign there which um indicated where the funding had come from for restoration so far um that was vandalized at some point um probably overnight. um it's been taken down because it has been completely defaced. It will be replaced because it's a requirement of the grant that we have that signed there. Um you know the western police is is will be investigating that but um the board did um prepare a statement on that and if I

can find it on my paper tonight. Um, you want to read this or you want? I have everyone. Um, on Tuesday, April 22nd, graffiti was discovered on a project sign located at 12 North Main Street, a town-owned property. This act of vandalism was a deliberate defacement of public property, and is unacceptable. The town of Westford has zero tolerance for acts of vandalism. Such actions show a disregard for our community and for the shared spaces spaces we all respect and rely on. The sign with the graffiti has since been removed and we encourage anyone with information about this incident to contact the Westwood Police Department who are actively investigating. They may be reached at 978-3992345. We are grateful to our residents for their ongoing commitment to keeping Westford a safe, respectful, and welcoming community for all. Thank you. Um, so it was already an agenda, but it it seemed with the four quarters of I didn't want to put it into open forum, so that seemed a good place to put it. Um, but back to the agenda, which I hope we can find. Um, we have a request from the Westford Massachusetts LGBTQ plus friends and allies to accept a $200 donation to support town of Actton in execution of the act Westford Friday event on June 21st, 2025. Wendy is just by request. Okay. Um, thank you for having me here and allowing me the opportunity to speak before you. Um, I have a check to present to you. Uh, funds raised for the Westford LGBTQ group in support of our town's

contribution to this year's Actton Westford LGBTQ Pride Festival. Last year's inaugural collaborative event with Actton was tremendous success and we honored we are honored to help contribute to a meaningful tradition. Last year the weather was perfect. Residents of all ages enjoyed celebrating community as a welcoming and diverse place. It was a well a wonderful opportunity and we heard a lot of positive feedback from the residents. So, on behalf of Westford LGBTQ friends and allies, I respectfully request that Westford Select Board accept this donation of $2500 to support the um our portion of supporting the event in collaboration with the town of Actton in organizing the Actton West Pride Festival for 2025. The event will take place on Saturday, June 21st at Nara Amphitheater Park in Actton from noon to 300 p.m. Uh the event is free and open to the public, features many familyfriendly activities, food, and vendors. and we encourage all residents of Westford to join us in celebrating diversity and community. Um the co-chairs of the DEI committee, Anelie Rajput and Joe Diamond could not be here tonight, but I am pleased to share that the committee has officially endorsed this year's festival

as well. We sincerely appreciate their support as well as the town's ongoing encouragement in current challenging times for the LGBTQ 2Q community. Events like this take on an even greater significance. They serve as a powerful reminder of acceptance and stren for diversity of all citizens of Westford. Thank you again for your support and consideration. Motion to accept. Second. Okay. All in favor? I thank you. Thanks, buddy. [Music] Always a tough call getting free money with me. Thank you very much, Wendy. Thank you. Next, we have request to select a housing monitoring agent for 70 across the road. And um Ellen is here. Yes, that's your agent. And I'm on the board. Jen Smith is a member of the board of Drew Farm. So J this evening. Yep. So um at our last meeting we discussed that the uh Drew Farmhouse Inc. project did does not currently have a monitoring agent. Um the town solicited to four monitoring agents and provided the same scope of services for each of those. Um, MCO Housing was a responsible and responsive proposer coming back to the town. We reviewed their proposal related to uh annual reertification of the affordable tenants which is required in the regulatory agreement. Any new tenant reviews and which we know that uh there is one unit available for rent and the annual account management. Um, so at this point in time, we would recommend that the board choose MCO Housing to be the monitoring agent with the Drew Farmhouse, Inc. uh, paying those annual

fees for that service in accordance with the regulatory agreement. And I believe this has been discussed with Miss Hardy uh, by Jeff Moriceet. He is unfortunately unable. I guess first any questions from the board before Okay. Um, Ellen, any comments? We received a phone call. I received a phone call from the principal of the uh company that um the town manager mentioned and she understands exactly where the Drew farmhouse is that we have four apartments leased and that we only have the fifth to be filled. So we are very comfortable working with her and we have the uh proposal from her. So, if the board approves this transfer tonight um from our previous uh monitoring agent who was no longer in that role, then we will sign that contract with Moren tomorrow and get that in the mail with her and she will immediately uh take over. So, she's prepared to begin immediately and we will work very hard on getting the fifth apartment um occupied because the other four, everybody willing, will be filled. Um people will be moving in this coming week and that's an exciting time for us for the first four apartments. Yeah. So we're very comfortable with this and we um agree to yeah to proceed. Is there a second? Second. Henry's motion. Second. All in favor? I thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tom. We have a request to appoint the regional community health and wellness coordinator position to be named as the county behavioral and mental health committee. Sorry, sorry, to be named to the um community behavioral mental health committee. I knew what I was saying just so I didn't say it right. Um is there any discussion or is it called mirrors? Uh so we do have a new

community behavioral and mental health um employee. Her name is Trey Ning and we would like to have her appointed to that seat on the committee. So all in favor? Uh next we have a followup to the annual time manager performance review because we had that back last meeting. Um, I mentioned that the board had approved a 2% merit increase for Kristen retroactive to February of this year. Mistake was that we voted that in executive session, but not another vote in open session, which we have to do. So, I need a motion to um approve the 2% merit raise for Christ retroactive to February 2025. So, move second. All in favor? Hi. Hi. And then um also Dr. session, we looked at a a contract extension actually for um for Kristen. So, as you may have guessed, when you get a score of I think 46.5 out of 50, we really want to keep you around. Um and thankfully, she wants to stay around. So, we've not scared her off yet. Um the new board might do that, but you kept here. So, uh, we're looking at a renewal extension of the contract for three more years. She had three years. It actually will renew, um, July 1st, 2026. It'll be the the third year. So, the three years start from that point forward. We're doing it a little bit early because this is a board that knows her, has reviewed her. It makes more sense to do it that way. Um, and frankly, if you were to be doing a new contract for next July, you'd be negotiating it in September, October anyway. So, this just seems to be the best thing to do for everybody. Uh, we did approve that in a executive session. Um, so if there was a motion to approve

the contract open session, that would be appreciated. So, move second. All in favor? I. Welcome, Christian. Three more years. Thank you very much. I appreciate the support. Um, we have minutes for approval and release from our April 8th session of 2025. And we have executive session minutes for release from December 14th, December 22nd of 2022. Why is it so late? Because those were in fact were Christian's contract negotiations on on the first contract. And we have um an offer release of second session minutes of January 14th uh 2025. There's a motion to approve and release April 8th, December 14th, 22nd of 2022 and not for release of January 14th, 2025. So move second. All in favor? I for updates. I have an update. So I think I provide an update at our last meeting regarding the conversation for doing to trying to determine what to do next about the nutting roads fields. Uh the park rec commission uh had a meeting beginning of last month uh decided to move forward with having a form more formal review of uh analysis of the costs between keeping the fields artificial turf versus converting them to natural grass. That meeting will be held on May 5th at 6:30 p.m. at the Millennium Building. It will also be hybrid, so there will be a Zoom option. So if anybody's interested in that topic, we encourage you to attend. Great. Anything else? Okay, Kristen Tamres reports. Yes. Um, so yearly, uh, the select board reviews and approves our non-UN pay classification and compensation schedule. Uh, this year in the budget, we uh, made an allocation for a 2% cost

of living adjustment and that again was voted on at town meeting through the budget. And we'd also like to amend the classification plan by an additional 2% for any merit adjustments that are done for our non-UN employees. So in your packet, you do have a memo related to that as well as what the new paying classification plan would look like if you do vote upon that effective July 1st, 2025. We also approve this executive session. This is a matter of approving open session. So is there a motion to approve? Is there a second? Second. All in favor? Hi. Now, sorry. On the second one here, we're going to we had this also in executive session. We're going to table that one more um table for tonight. We intend as a board to take it up in a open meeting for that topic only before May 6th. Um so it will get resolved but not tonight. Uh the next matter before you this evening is to sign a certificate for the Massachusetts School Building Committee for the uh study enrollment for the John Robinson Elementary School project. The Robinson School Building Committee uh and select uh and superintendent and others in the school department review this enrollment letter and we would need authorization from the select board to sign that certification. It's in your packet this evening. motion to sign. So I guess I'm I'm there's a lot there, right? So is is are is are is everybody happy with this from the the working group and the school committee and Yes. So we did receive one letter that we were we did send back feedback and ask them to change a few things and this is the revised letter. So we are comfortable with these numbers and this letter the way it stands. Does it say that we're responsible for some

additional funding for if we wanted to look at one version of if we wanted to do a certain type of study here? Town would have to pay for that. It wouldn't be covered in the grant. So, you need to meet the eligibility requirements by the MSBA. So, if we were to do anything as a town that is outside of those eligibility requirements, we would be responsible for those funds. So, do we anticipate needing to do that? Not at this time. Okay. Thank you. If if that I can add more or that answer is fine. Yeah, it worked for me. So that's fine. I love hearing you speak but yeah. Thank you. Y second. All in favor? So Scott, I do. Actually, I have the signed copy. Oh, you have the signed copy from Dr. Shu. Okay, we'll give and then I'll take it back and scan it. Yep. Thank you. feel [Music] should have gotten you a new pen. It's a great idea. That is not an official West P. All right. And then the next item uh is to authorize the town manager to enter into an electricity supply contract for the town and school accounts. currently not under contract. You have a memo before you this evening in hard copy. Um Mike Edwards and others were able to identify that we did not have 24 electric accounts under our aggregation program. Um and in conversations with um our broker, Tradition Energy, they were able to solicit those accounts for a cost savings of um 11,600 a year approximately uh to enter into this negotiation. Mike, would you like to add anything to that conversation? Uh, no, just to clarify, this is on the municipal energy contract, not theation.

Um, but yeah, they we we had under the original agreement the ability to add up to 10% uh kilowatt hour accounts uh to what we had. Rather than do that, we asked them to go out to market and see what the prices look like. Energy prices are a little lower. Um, they agreed to do that. Ultimately found a lower price. the people we had the current contract with were willing to honor that. So, we just have to have a separate agreement for this rather than an amendment to the existing one. So, end of the day, we're saving money. Move to authorize the town manager to sign a All in favor. Uh, next is to accept a donation to the Council on Aging from an anonymous donor resident in the amount of $500. Second. All in favor? Thank you for the donation. Thank you. That goes into their account. It does. Yes. It's used specifically for council and aging purposes. Um, then we'll enter into purchase orders and contracts. The first is to McGovern Municipal for a 2025 Chevy Tahoe. the amount of 53,788,92 cents as requested by the police department. This replaces the Suburban that the chief currently drives and he is in the audience if you have any questions for him related to that. Is it traded in or is it Yes, it'll be traded in. Yes. Do you want to speak to it? So, the the entire purchase price of this Tahoe actually should not really affect town's budget normal police departments. Uh several years ago, we did have one of our Chevy Tahoe command vehicles that was totaled in an accident down on Route 110. Uh at the time, we were purchasing new cruisers, so we were able to uh pivot from a Ford um Explorer

to purchase the Tahoe for the Sergeants. Um, but since then we've had this $53,000 sitting in our insurance recovery fund. There's not enough money uh within that fund to fully upfit a new police cruiser. However, for an administrative vehicle, um we thought it was time to retire the Suburban as a huge vehicle. Uh however, I do still uh feel that that size vehicle is more appropriate for our command stuff. um the amount of gear. I think if any of you have ever seen the back of the cruiser that I drive is it's pretty stacked with stuff that I need for for um emergency response. So with the insurance recovery line and what we will get um for the trade in of that Suburban, it covers the cost of the cruiser and then the plan is to use our forfeite funds from the federal government um for drug cases that we've had our DA um our narcotics officer assigned to the DA task force cover that. So, uh, overall there should not be any incurred cost from that the town will experience and there's significant anticipated costs with the suburban that now that it's over 100,000 miles, it's yeah, it's starting to hurt. So, we we can we can effectively use it for a trade right now, whereas if we wait um even several more months, we may end up having to spend a lot more money to keep it on the road than what we'll get for it on a trade. Sorry if you order it today, but when do you actually get the new one? That was my question. So, um, with the wait times, it's actually three months to get one in. We had actually ordered one, um, hoping that we'd be able to get through. The way that MHQ and a lot of these cruiser, uh, companies work is they have huge stock, so if you order something and you end up not taking possession of it, they sell it to another department. So, uh, we were just notified that it did come in. Um, and everything's ready to go pending a vote.

Wait a motion to approve. I'll second. All in favor? I thank you. Thank you, Chief. And then we have contracts. The first fork bean harbors environmental for household hazardous waste collection day. The amount of not to exceed $17,000 as requested by the public works department. This is an annual request. The next is MJ Catalo for the construction of the Stony Brook track and athletic courts project that was approved at town meeting for one point 1,98,000 as requested by the facilities department. The wooded and current fiscal year 26 for services in the amount of $82,200 as requested by the town manager's office. And then finally an intergovern intergovernmental agreement for exploring the cost of shared consulting services as requested by the water department. There is no cost associated with this but it is a contract to approve. Second all in favor do you know when we anticipate breaking ground on the Stony Brook track project? So I see Jeff Goodwin on Zoom. Let me ask him if he wouldn't mind speak to that. Jeff, did you hear Chris's question? Yes. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Chris, we're going to break ground on that project on June 23rd, about 15 minutes after the kids walk out of school. Fantastic. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Yes, it is down to the minute. Thank you, Jeff. You're welcome. Have a good night. Which motion should we read the correspondence? All in favor? I. So, normally this is where I say um good night, Westford. I want to say thank you, Westford. Um and I just wanted to thank you Westford um really uh for tonight for you know all of the trust and faith you have put in

put in both Scott and I. Thank you to everyone who has just you know helped us along the way and whom we've served. So good night Westward and thank you. So that is a motion to adjourn. So moved second. All in favor? Fire.