Select Board - Regular Meeting

what's up everybody okay how we doing good how you doing chris good jimmy i'm here i'm not sure if you can see me um cynthia we can hear you uh here we go see you now we can see you hi there how you doing good how are you fantastic awesome we're gonna get going in uh just one minute

How are the kids, Chris?

Thanks, Jimmy. Everyone's healing well over here at the Red Cross. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for asking. They're doing great. Way better spirits than I'd be in if I were them. But thank you. All right. Let's get going. Busy night after a busy night last night. In accordance with Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, The Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026, 630 public meeting of the Rentham Select Board shall be conducted remotely. The public is invited to join via Zoom. The login information is on the town's website. As a preliminary matter, this is Select Board Chair Chris Gallo. Please permit me to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me. Members, when I call your name, please respond on the affirmative. We'll start that with Selectman Jim Anderson.

Here.

Selectman Bill Harrington.

Harrington here.

Select woman, Michelle Rouse. Here. Selectman, Roy Lamothe. Lamothe here. Staff, when I call your name, please respond to the affirmative. There you are. Town manager, Michael King.

Present.

Assistant town manager, Greg Enos.

Affirmative.

Administrative services manager, Amanda Vazipolo.

Great work. I am present.

Thank you. I've been working on that. And Executive Assistant Maya Matarazzo. I'm present. Excellent. Okay. We are going to do some announcements. We have a quick 635 public hearing, but I will ask Selectman Harrington to read the announcements.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Join the Anthem Open Space Committee on Saturday, June 6th at 9 a.m. at the Senior Center to learn about the importance of gardening with biodiversity. Learn about providing habitat for native pollinators, birds, and other essential wildlife, all while creating a beautiful garden. This event is open to all ages. The annual stage two water ban is in effect May 1st to September 30th. Mandatory restrictions, no essential use, non-essential use is prohibited between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Please join the Rentham Historical Commission for an observing honoring America's 250th anniversary on the town common starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 5th, 2026. A special election will be held on Monday, June 15th, 2026 at the Delaney Elementary School for the debt exclusion vote for the Roderick School Building Project. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. The Moonwhacker All-Night Trail Race will take place June 27, 2026 at the Rice Complex from 8.25 p.m. to 5.09 a.m. Check-in will begin at 7 p.m. at the Pavilion. Participants may enter as a solo competitor or as a team. The cost will be $25 per adult and $20 for children 12 and under. The Concert on the Common. Series begins Sunday, May 31st and lasts until Sunday, August 23rd. All are encouraged to join on Sundays at 6 p.m. to enjoy the live music at the Tom Common. Sweat Beach will be open on weekends only from May 30th to June 12th. Starting June 13th, it will be open daily until August 23rd. The beach will be open between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Residents interested in serving the Rentham community are encouraged to apply for openings currently available for several of our boards, committees, and commissions. A full list of positions is available on town website and applications will be accepted until June 4th, 2026. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Great job. Let's go to tab number two, approval of minutes. In our packets, we have documentation for May 19th, 2026 open session meeting minutes. CHAIR, I DETAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MAY 19, 2026 OPEN SESSION MEETING MINUTES.

SO MOVED.

MOTION MADE BY SELECTMAN HARRINGTON, SECOND BY SELECTMAN ANDERSON. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? BEING NONE, WE'LL DO A ROLL CALL VOTE. SELECTMAN LYNN RAUS. YES. SELECTMAN ANDERSON.

YES.

SELECTMAN HARRINGTON.

YES.

SELECTMAN LAMARTH. YES. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Just a quick point of order. I do want to just thank everybody for a great and overly successful town meeting last night. A lot of time and effort went into the town meeting. I know it was a late night for many of us. So I just wanna appreciate, just let everybody know how much we appreciate not only our board, all the other boards, commissions and committees that were involved, our time manager and team and staff, as well as Rentham, I wanna say Cable 8, but I know I shouldn't, Rentham Media, I screwed that up, I'm sorry, for their hard work. So great job, everybody, appreciate it. in the time now we're going to get our public hearing underway this is a this is a clarification we did this you got you know just in case you think you're losing your mind you're not we did just do this i believe last meeting there was a a little bit of pushback i guess um from the abcc so let me open up the public hearing and we'll let um the gavel attorney uh mr timpson just tell us what we need to do hopefully it's nice and quick for everybody so um at this time The chair will entertain a motion to open the public hearing. So moved. Motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Harrington. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes. Anderson?

Yes.

Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Now the chair will entertain a motion to waive the reading of the public hearing notice. So moved. by Selectman Harrington, seconded by Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes. Anderson?

Anderson, yes.

Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Now we're in the public hearing, and we'll turn it over to Attorney Chris Timpson, who's representing John Cox and Glenn Stowers, owners of the gavel. You're muted, Attorney Timson.

There we go.

Much better.

Thank you. So, Mr. Chair, thank you very much. This is a petition for change of officers, directors, and stock ownership. Quite simply, we've got a change in the gavel where John Cox and his wife, unfortunately, are now separated. There was in the divorce decree a transfer of stock from Jennifer to John Cox, and John is assuming officer and director positions that Jennifer has vacated. In addition, there's a transfer of stock as a result of some various machinations within the corporate structure between John Cox and Glenn Stowers. So it's not like there's a new person coming into the fold here. It's the people that have been there all along. It's just a little bit of a reshuffling of the deck, if you will.

Understood. I think that's a perfect summary of what we're trying to accomplish here. Any of the board members have any questions before I open it up to the public? Seeing none. And I'm very thankful that I actually remember to do this this time. Because this is a public hearing, we have to see if any members of the public have any questions or comments. So at this time, I would ask any members of the public, if you have any questions or comments for Attorney Timson. Being none, okay. At this time, chair would entertain a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. Motion made by Selectman Lamar, second by Selectwoman Rouse. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes. Selectman Anderson? Yes. Selectman Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Selectman Lamar? Lamar, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Now the chair would entertain a motion to approve the license Amendment application for the gavel, 36 South Street, change of officers, directors, LLC managers, and a change of stock interest.

So moved. Second.

Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Rouse? Yes. Anderson? Yes. Harrington? Harrington, yes. Lamothe? Yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Good to see you all again and see you soon.

Thank you very much. And once again, special thanks to Amanda, who again, does a great job. Really appreciate it.

She's awesome. How much is she paying you to say that attorney? She's fantastic. We couldn't do it without her. And Maya is quickly stepping in and filling a lot of Amanda's shoes as she takes on other responsibilities for Town Manager King and the town. So we're very blessed to have an amazing staff of people here in Rentham. So thank you for recognizing that. And we appreciate the sentiments and we agree with you 100%. So have a great evening, everyone from the gavel. We're going to move on to the next item of business.

Thank you very much.

Mr. King, I'm getting a text message. Do we have a waiting room? Someone says they're trying to get into the meeting and it's saying that they're not able.

There shouldn't be a waiting room. Okay. We have the wrong meeting credentials.

I'll get the next item going and I'll text them back when I have a second. So at this time, we're going to go to tab number four. So tab number four is, I always love to see the Big Apple come on. And I know my board members do as well. This is a special event application for Big Apple Vendor Market on June 20th, 2026, in July 18th, 2026. In our packets, everyone, there's documentation regarding the special event permit applications for June 20th, 2026, and July 18th, 2026. With us, we have Cynthia. Cynthia, is it Guyon? Guyon. Sorry, I butchered that. I apologize.

That's okay. That's common.

Guy on is with us. And we're going to turn it over to you, Cynthia, in just three seconds. But I do want my board members to know that, you know, because we have the application at this stage in the packet per usual, it's already been cleared with all the necessary department heads, police, fire, you know, Board of Health, all of that. So I say that just to say that so that I can turn it over to Cynthia to give us a quick summary of what we're trying to accomplish this evening.

Okay, so we did three of these last fall. They were a huge success. I think the town of Rentham was really excited to see the Big Apple up in business, and they really enjoyed the vendor events. Becky asked us to come back during her blueberry picking season because our events do bring in a lot of new company or customers. you know, for her. So she was really happy with that. We decided to go across the street. We thought it would be safer. That way there weren't so many pedestrians going back and forth across the street and we had a little bit more room. So it's more of the same, just blueberry picking season. Correct.

Excellent. So just give us a little bit more detail. What can we expect if we go to the event?

Oh, OK. So right now we have about 48 vendors signed up. So we have everything from crafts to books to a pickle guy does the best pickles, bakery items. We're hoping for an ice cream truck. They're still working on their permit with Liz Bugbee. We don't have entertainment. We're hoping to have entertainment on July 18th. I think Becky is working on entertainment. So it's just wholesome local shopping, you know, just supporting local businesses.

It sounds fantastic. I'm going to turn it over to any of my board members. Anyone have any questions or comments, please raise your hand and feel free to ask or mention. Start with Jim Anderson. I see that hand up.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Cynthia, did I read that this is part of the America's 250th Celebration?

It can be, but it's not, but it absolutely can be.

Okay. My bad. I thought I saw this someplace, but there's nothing more American than an apple pie.

Absolutely. Yes.

I'm going with the big apple.

Okay, awesome. Love that. Well said, Selectman Anderson. Any of my other board members? Mr. Harrington, Selectman Harrington?

Yeah, Mr. Chair, just, you know, Cynthia, wish you the best. Hope you have good weather for both of your days. And we look forward to going to the event also.

I hope so. Yeah, we hope so. It's a lot of fun. There's some really, really great vendors there. People work really hard with making their stuff. So we'd love to see you.

Geez, you know, just thinking on the fly here, Cynthia. Now, some of my ideas, Mike King gets a little nervous, our town manager, when I think on the fly like this. I often get nasty emails post-meeting. But what about, imagine if we could figure out some kind of a select board or town manager pie eating contest or pie fight. We'd love that. Wouldn't that be interesting? Can we sign you guys up? I mean, you know, I think you should send us a follow-up email. Send it to, Mike, what is it? What's our email address?

SBOffice at Rentham.gov.

Please send us a follow-up email at SBOffice at Rentham.gov. and maybe what date you would prefer. And let's see if we can round up some of these feisty Select Board members.

That would be so fun.

Okay, we like having fun. So that sounds fantastic. So does anyone else have any questions or comments before we go ahead with the Select Woman Rouse? Do I see you, Hannah?

Just that since you and Mr. Select Board Anderson didn't do the dunk tank, you two could be front and center for pie eating.

Sorry, I was sick in bed and I missed it. But you're right. I owe the group. I'll take one for the team. So let's do something fun for that. We love the Big Apple Farm. Big supporters here. So send us an email. Let's follow up, Cynthia. Let's put something together, OK? I will do that. Absolutely. Excellent. At this time, Chioda, obtain a motion to approve the special event application for Big Apple Vendor Market to take place on June 20th, 2026 and July 18th, 2026, pending good standing with the Board of Health, Building Inspector, and Public Safety.

So moved.

Motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse.

Yes.

Selectman Anderson. Selectman Harrington.

Harrington, yes.

Blackman Lamothe. Yes. Chris Gallo. Yes. Motion carries 5-0. Excellent job, everybody. We'll see you soon, Cynthia.

Okay.

Thank you. You're very welcome. Let's go to tab number... Okay, so as our board members know, just for the general public, this select board has tried to do an extra special job per our strategic planning goals and initiatives that we laid out as a board. We were trying to increase civic engagement. We're trying to increase communication. between all the town boards and committees. We've been trying to have all the boards and committees come on to our select board meetings and give us an update, let us know challenges, opportunities, strengths, weaknesses, areas that we could partner with the individual boards and support them and committees. So tonight we have with us Chair, I believe it's Chairman Alan Selling of the Open Space Committee. Mr. Selling, good evening.

Sorry, I was muted.

Okay, well, now you're not. So welcome.

Yes.

We want to welcome you to the meeting. And I don't know if you heard what I said, but as part of our board's goals and initiatives, we've been inviting all the boards and committees, you know, that are all of them actually in town. And we're trying to just, you know, establish relationships. Even better lines of communication, get updates. What are you working on? What do you see as challenges, opportunities? How can your board and our board work closer together? So with that being said, Mr. Selling, I'm going to turn it over to you for a high level update from the Open Space Committee.

Okay, I'm gonna start with, we just had to submit a fiscal year 25 report, which we did to the administration. And I sent a copy of that to Michael just before the meeting, but I'll just read from that and then I'll add what's happened after the end of FY25. Okay, so I'm gonna skip how many meetings we had. Please. Yeah. We're supposed to put that in there, how many times we met. As part of the committee's education responsibility, we held three events during FY25 at town facilities. This is funded by the Sweat Fund. They give us money and we run outside or inside activities, whether they be lectures or nature walks or whatnot. These included a presentation on invasive plants by the Rhode Island Audubon and two presentations by a nonprofit group called Return to Wild. That's with the number two between it. And they highlight wild animals that they have rescued and they bring them back to health and then turn them loose back into the wild. So they've done hundreds of animals like this. They're local, and we are actually probably going to have them back this fall to talk again. And they just bring animals that they're currently rehabilitating, whether they be birds, mammals, or whatever. So it's a great family event. And then we applied and received a $200,000 funding from the CPC for the conservation recreation land acquisition fund earlier last year. And then I'll just skip down. We, along with several other boards in town, added a warrant article to purchase 2095 West Street out of West Rentham, a 65-acre parcel. This was passed at the town meeting in May. And I just wanted to add a little note, which is actually in the status. One of our members, Dave Paulson, worked with several land trusts and other organizations and was able to secure $650,000 from the Pawtucket Water Supply Board and $500,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation to supplement the funds we already had. to purchase the parcel, which was a total of $2.5 million. So that was a significant portion of that purchase. Since that time, we have worked with the recreation commission as an opportunity to update our open space and recreation plan by just updating what they call section nine and section 10, which are the plans and execution. So both committees updated that section. We submitted it to the state And for doing that, they gave us an extra three years on that plan. So we're eligible for an additional three years till 2030 instead of having to redo the whole plan. So that was a big thing. We also... We updated... approximately 20 parcels that had been scored previously. And I sent a copy of that to Michael also. It's on a spreadsheet where it explains a little bit of the scoring criteria for the scoring system we use for rating empty parcels. And we're in the process of working with the folks in the town hall to decide which way we should display those scores so that it's easy for people to figure out what we're doing there, but preserving some level of privacy for those owners. And We're also going to score existing land that the town owns as a comparison so that people can get an idea of what parcels, what the score really looks like in terms of a parcel. Some of those will score the existing conservation areas we have in town, things like that. Later in the fall, we worked with White Barn Farm. We wrote them a letter of support towards their conservation restrictions that they applied for and got and worked with Metacomet Land Trust for the amount of money that we, as the town, rent them matched to purchase that conservation restriction so that approximately 16 acres is now available to anyone to use. And then in the education area, we ran a bat box building project program in early may we had 60 people show up approximately 28 families and we built 34 bat boxes apparently bats are pretty cool now And this June, we have a person coming in talking about pollinators. That's scheduled at the Senior Center for June 6th at 9 in the morning until 1030. We'll talk about different types of pollinators, of which, believe it or not, bats are pollinators. along with bees and other insects so it should be a really interesting talk um there's some information on the web town website as to uh signing up for that and we're currently working on a program for rent them day we were originally going to try to get uh These outfits that do animals or reptiles, but apparently that's their busy season and we missed that window. So we're looking around for some appropriate thing to do for Rentham Day. And that's about what we've been up to. I did send some other information along to Michael, a large spreadsheet that lists all of the vacant land in Rentham. And it just gives you an idea how much there is and how big this task of trying to score those are. So it's color-coded, so it shows the ones that have been done. And it's sorted by size.

Appreciate that. I'd love to be able to maybe at another, when you come on next time, we could walk through some of those. I think the board members might have some questions on parcels. I'm looking at a sheet. I want to make sure that, Chairman Selling, I want to make sure that I don't speak out of school here. I'm looking at a piece of paper that you sent over. Is this confidential information that you don't want?

No, the only information that is not from the assessor's website is the scores that we developed. Okay. But we just felt uncomfortable putting all of that information because right now it's a fairly short list. It's really easy for people. In other words, if you go to the assessor's database, I mean, there's thousands of things there. Whereas this, we just felt we should kind of keep it short. And we actually, we welcome any input you might have.

I would say we'd welcome the opportunity to digest the list and then maybe have a working session with you and your group at some point. Um, considering we just got it now at six 56.

Yeah.

Uh, but I, I will, I will ask you this though. Uh, I know this is my question for you, uh, Mr. Selling, you know, you mentioned that you had a successful, uh, uh, conservation restriction with White Barn, as well as the 2095 West Street purchase, which is number one on this list in blue that I'm looking at that you sent over. What is on the horizon? Do you have any other properties that you're eyeing in your pipeline for fiscal year 26 into 27? Well, the scoring system,

when we developed it was so that we could tell at a glance, if a property came up for sale, for example, especially if it was in any of the chapter 61 things, that was what, and really, The intent was to figure out which ones we didn't want, not the ones we wanted, the ones we didn't want, so that we don't waste time and resources doing that. And that's really what we're trying to work through is to pick the ones that we want to. For example, I mean, 2095, we didn't think in our wildest dream that that was going to go up for sale. Because it was Chapter 61, we had a chance to purchase it. So it's by happenstance that you can execute these things. If the fund that will hopefully be replenished over the next few years through the CPC, maybe we can go... Instead of reactive mode, we can go and be proactive and go out and try to purchase a really nice piece of property that would be good for passive or active recreation or water supply. Right.

Okay.

That's really what we're trying to do.

Yeah. And then the last thing I'll ask you is, uh, what, what could our board, like what, what, how could we partner together? How could our board be more supportive of you and your board?

Well, I think if we have a working session where we work through this, like how we publicize these scores and things, I think that'll give you guys especially a really good understanding of how the system works and the value of these things. parcels in municipal hands instead of in private hands for things like, especially water supply. That's a big issue these days for everybody. I mean, water supply coughed up $650,000 just so that nothing would happen to that piece of land. I mean, when you think about that, that's pretty amazing.

And that's it's very interesting. And you wonder how much more money they have.

They have a lot more money. They own. We can actually if we have a working session, we can show you how much land they own. Actually, they actually own outright in rent.

Interesting. Yeah, I'd be very interested in doing that. So before I steal all the thunder here, I'm going to open it up to my other board members to see if anyone has any questions or comments for you, Chairman Selling, and we'll start with Selectwoman Rouse.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Nice to see you, Mr. Selling. I just have one question, and I'm unsure if you'd have the statistic, but I'm curious, what's the percentage of open space here in Rentham, open space property or space available? What's the percentage in Rentham?

I'd have to run upstairs and get the open space and recreation plan. There is a chart in there.

You don't have to do that now. I just thought maybe if you knew that, you could share that, and I would be interested to know, I guess, in relation to other towns in the Commonwealth as well, right? Interesting information.

Actually, that would be – all right, I'll dig that stuff up. you know, our numbers and see if we can get some numbers on other towns, you know, maybe start in the immediate area as a better comparison.

Sure, that would be great.

Thank you.

That's a great question.

It is a great question. One of the things that we often do, Mr. Selling, is whenever Mike King, our town manager, or anyone brings something in front of the board, we always try to say, not that we want to replicate what other communities are doing. I just like to know what my peers are doing so that I can see, are they on the right track? Am I on the right track? Is the right track somewhere in the middle that we haven't figured out yet? So that's a great question, Circleman Rouse. Do you have any others before I move on?

No, I'm all set. Thank you. Thank you for the information.

Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Alan, I just want to thank you for your presentation. And just keep up the good work, and I'm sure we'll be in touch as you get further information to us.

Okay. Thank you.

Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, yeah, Alan, nice work. Appreciate it. The only thing my suggestion would be is that your committee be more open and transparent with the specifics on when you are going to do a request for a property so that it's not comes out later on as questionable how it transpired. Thank you. Okay.

Okay. Thank you, Selectman Harrington. Selectman Lamothe.

Alan, great job. My question is, and I know you'll have to do the homework, not only will you give us the open space that we have under our control, but the volume of open space that you're scoring, both what you consider in terms of wanting and and that that you don't want so so that we can understand that large population of land that we have and and might want right exactly why we did the tool yeah i think it's great idea

All right, excellent. So I guess that'll do it. We appreciate the update, Mr. Selling. Thanks for coming on. We look forward to, I'd like to have Mike King or someone from Mike's office be in touch with you post-meeting over the next week or two and see how we could set up some kind of a working group, Mike, if it would be, you know, would he have to do like a joint meeting, you know, for open meeting law purposes, how that would look, would we, or would we, would we, authorize, you know, two members of our board to do an open, you know, working group with theirs. So I'm open to suggestions, Mike, yourself, myself, and Michelle could take that offline as to what you think would be best, but definitely interested. I appreciate the update, Mr. Selling, appreciate being on with us tonight. We're going to move on to the next item. So thank you again.

All right, thank you.

Okay, next on the agenda is tab six. This is, we just talked about 250th anniversary, select me, Anderson brought that up with his apple pie comment. Let's get an update from the historical commission chair, Gina Solaris, on some festivities that I'm told are planned for later this week, in the next couple of days, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country. So go right ahead, Gina, how you doing tonight? I think you're muted. It doesn't say you're muted, but I can't hear you. Am I the only one? No, I can't hear you as well. Okay. Maybe you got a Bluetooth thing in or something? No? I'm pretty good at reading lips, but not that good. Bill, I can always count on you for a good chuckle every once in a while. I appreciate that.

Well, we thought she could. Yes.

Now we got you right there. Sorry. Welcome. And the floor is yours.

Thank you. And I apologize for the technical difficulty. I got a new computer, new job. So congratulations. But leaders week on Friday, the fifth. That date was selected because that is actually the date of Rentham's Declaration of Independence. We will be setting up on the town square by the gazebo. Jeff Hall is running the mics and the speakers and all that. There has been some new information since I sent over the agenda. So as of now, the choir director for the Congregational Church is has offered to open with the Star-Spangled Banner. So I think we can go with that. Mr. Chair, you know you're on the opening remarks as well.

I was voluntold and I'll gladly do that. I would be happy to.

Well, perfect. Mike King has also offered he will read the actual Rentham Declaration. It is not as long as the Declaration of Independence, so it shouldn't be very long. But then we also have other towns coming that were once part of Rentham. So they are bringing a presentation of keeping it more of like war veterans and important people. So... There's Foxborough, Franklin, Norfolk, Plainville. We did have Holden, Maine. And there's a connection that I actually just found out about of Wrentham soldiers getting plots of land in Holden, Maine. They were going to come. They are not because it's just, it's a long drive. But we will also have some like refreshments at the Fisk. So really just looking for one hour at the gazebo and then move over to the Fisk and people can see the new exhibit that the Cultural Council has put up. And also there will be some light refreshments.

Nice. Sounds fantastic. Now, Gina, can I ask a question? I don't want to... Do you have any surprises that you don't want people knowing about or is everything kind of open for discussion?

Um... I don't think there's any surprises. I mean, we do have, it might not be the exact same people, but from the Rochambeau Memorial, the Sons of the American Revolution came and they fired off of Ollie. We are doing that again. So we did get, and now I forget his name once again. It's not Chief McGrath. It's the next in line who approved that.

Deputy Chief McGrath.

Yes. Yes.

Derek Cassidy. Cassidy. Thank you.

Yes. So got approval for that. So I guess that's not a surprise either because we needed to make sure that it was, it was approved.

So someone, someone told me there's muskets and I love muskets. So I didn't know if that was a surprise or not. So it's, I mean, how can you not, how can you have a 250th party and not have, you know, muskets. So that's incredible. I'm glad to hear that that's happening.

Yes, and I think they will be back in all of their garb as well. So they were dressed... A lot of you were there for the Rochambeau unveiling, so... Yes, it was great.

This sounds like a fantastic event, Gina. I'm looking forward to it. Obviously, I'm going to be there. I think my family's going to be with me as well, so it should be a great night. We're hoping for great weather, and with that, I'm going to turn it over to, if you're done with your update, I'm going to turn it over to the fellow board members to see if anyone has any questions or comments for you. Are you done with the update, Gina, just to make sure?

Yes. And I can update the agenda as well, because there have been some changes since I sent that over. And I did send it over to the SB office email. So I can update that as well. I think things are kind of changing on the daily at this point. Sure. Sure.

Well, it sounds great. Appreciate all the hard work. And we'll start with Silico and Rose. Do you have any questions or comments?

No, just Gina, great. This sounds very exciting. Great kickoff to the 250th of our country and excited to be celebrating on Friday evening.

Excellent. Selectman Anderson?

Yeah, Mr. Chair, just to clarify, is it this Friday night at 5 o'clock?

Yes.

5 o'clock, okay. I'll be there and I'll see everyone there.

That's fantastic. Selectman Harrington?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I look forward to it, Gina.

Great job. And Similar to Chairman Gallo, I love a good musket.

Bill, that's your friend, right?

That's a buddy of yours from the state police. Yes, he's a retired lieutenant colonel from the state police.

Wonderful man you introduced me to last time. Wonderful man. Go ahead, sorry.

No, he's a dear friend.

Oh, yeah. Yes, yes, yes. So that's fantastic. And select one of them off. You're on mute. Just, okay, high five. You good? No questions. Thank you. I'm looking forward to it. Awesome. Okay, Gina, we'll see you on Friday. Awesome, looking forward to it. Thank you everyone. Okay, everybody, we are going to go to tab number seven. So tab number seven is interview for reappointment to the Conservation Commission. We have two people that we're interviewing this evening. There's two openings, or not openings, but two seats that have come up or will come up, I believe at the end of June, Mr. King, if I'm not mistaken. Therefore, I believe we have two interviews this evening. There's no formal vote this evening. The formal vote will be at our next select board meeting. And I'm told we have at least one applicant already, possibly another sending in an application as well. It's good to see there's some interest in activity. It's a very active board in town and we will start it out with the interview for Julie Garland. Julie Garland, welcome to the meeting and the floor is yours.

Hi, thank you for having me today. I guess I will tell you a little bit about myself. I've lived in Rentham for 15 years and going on 16 and I applied for a position on the Conservation Commission nine years ago, shortly after finishing a series of classes related to environmental science. And it really gave me a strong appreciation for the work that our wetlands do in mitigating storm water and high impact weather events. So when that popped up, I applied and was appointed. And so I've served for several years and I have Really enjoyed that in part because I like giving back to the town. I like working to engage residents and expose them to different things like all the invasive species we have in our town that we all do. I mean, that can be problematic in ways to combat those. Also the wonderful open spaces that we have in town and the different birds and animals that you can actually see them there. Over the years, I think I've been a very consistent member in terms of attendance and a very diligent member in terms of doing my homework and coming prepared to meetings. I also participate and engage in trying to kind of both support the conservation commissions, the work that we do, and then also our role in the community. And I don't know, I mean, I have a, I did submit a list of things that I've done over the course of my entire tenure. I think most recently, one of the things that is not an ongoing project that I worked on was with the science teacher at KP Regional High School, Ms. Pickhart. She had a student who wanted to do an independent project. So I coordinated with Ms. Pickhart, a member from Open Space, another member from CONCOM, to create a class for her that focused on invasive species, which is a pretty hot topic. And then I also continue, I have worked with Diane Damaris who's on open space committee to try and socialize their speaker events. And I maintain the conservation commission's social media page, which we try to use to alert folks about issues that are happening related to the environment in town. and also highlight our open spaces and educational items about either the animals or plants. So I would love the opportunity to continue to serve because I think it's a passion of mine. And I think what I've learned and I think is maybe misunderstood about conservation commission at times is that you're really, The learning curve can be fairly steep because you are dealing with regulations and you are constrained by those regulations. So you may, you can try to work to do the best thing for the wetlands in your town, but you cannot stop things that you're constrained by those regulations. And I think that sometimes there's, there's some, not confusion, but I think that sometimes folks think we have a different sort of power than we do, so.

I appreciate that, and thank you for your nine years of service. What do you think, I'll open it up to the board members in just one second, what do you think the biggest issue and opportunity facing the Conservation Commission is right now?

I think, you know, there's a tension between I think there's always going to be a tension between development and open space. And I think that it's finding that balance. Conservation Commission, primarily, we are dealing with the wetlands and how the wetlands affect development and how to preserve what we have, but also permit smart development to occur. So I think that's a double-edged sword.

Yep. Okay. Appreciate that. I appreciate the answer. I'll turn it over to the select board for any other questions or comments. We're going to change things up a little bit because sometimes they fall asleep on me. We'll start with Roy Lamothe.

I didn't fall asleep. I was just on mute. Selectable Lamothe, the floor is yours. Julie, thank you for all the good service. And I was just wondering, you said education and learning about regulations. What's been the biggest challenge that you have faced with regulations and applying them to the Conservation Committee in your tenure?

I would say the senior living community in Sheldonville was really challenging. It was a project that was before us for more than I think like 18 months. It was before us for a very long time. We had packed meetings. I mean, people like 40, easily 40 people or more people were, we were getting letters pretty, I don't want to say nonstop, but we were getting a lot of letters from concerned residents with really valid concerns and tension. Emotions were high. And we had, you know, as I, mentioned earlier, we are constrained by the regulations. So while we didn't want to have, you know, I forget how many trucks they were estimating it, we're going to be traveling down West Street a day bringing fill that could potentially have invasive species into this area to build it up. We also couldn't say, no, you can't do that. We could push within the regulations, but we weren't able to say, no, this project can't go forward. You know, whatever anyone's personal opinion is about a project, you have the regulations as kind of, I think the term would be like a North star. You know, you can't, you have to operate with them. So that was really challenging because I think that, I think some folks were frustrated because they felt like we should have been able to stop that. And really we don't, didn't have that power. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Good question. Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So thank you, Julie. I mean, obviously, you've been on a long time. Looks like you've done some wonderful work with the CONCOM. What do you see with regards to the very near future as one of your biggest projects that you're working on currently?

I think one of the bigger projects that's before the commission right now is probably the red dam which is not is still in for it's at the state it's going through um permitting with the state right now so it's not uh nothing is happening with us for it but it will then come back to us and we'll need to prepare an order of conditions and we'll watch that project um through to the end um that'll be a big one and i think um That's probably the biggest project that is immediately on the horizon.

Yeah, that's definitely a big project and a very, very important one to say the least.

Yes. And there's a few, you know, there's the muscle, there's a couple of species of interest that we need to be very mindful of. Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Selectman Harrington. Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hi, Julie.

Hi.

So listen, just going forward, What are your goals and objectives on that committee?

My goals and objectives are I would love to continue to help educate our community about the wonderful resources we have available in terms of open space and wildlife. I would also love to continue to educate myself as things are changing. I mean, I know there things are always changing and I know that the regulations, wetland regulations have been kind of, there have been some suggestions to update them that have not, there's been no movement. So that would require being new, you know, learning new aspects of the regulations. I think For myself, you know, I have a personal interest in revisiting the open space preservation development bylaw. Updating that, that was something that had been on our prior planning directors list to do. And I think it's also mentioned in the master plan. And that's just one of the things that I think about when I think about that bylaw is the opportunity to kind of create more contiguous green space instead of just like a smaller space on the edges of a subdivision. So, and it's just, how can you do that without, you know, it would require some research and conversations. And how can you do that without making it too onerous?

Okay, thank you. That's it, Mr. Chair.

Okay, thank you. Last but certainly not least, Select Woman Rouse.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Julie, great to see you and thank you for your service. I just have a couple of questions. I know that you've talked a little bit about some of your challenging situations and needing to listen to and fall back on guidelines. I'd love to hear more from you. What's your approach and how do you approach things in balancing environmental protection as well as property owner rights or developers needs?

Yeah. I mean, I think that it's, Fortunate and unfortunate. I mean, it can be challenging to sit with sometimes, but the fact of the matter is that there's some gray area where you can push, but it is largely black and white. And I think when you have bylaws that are written clearly that provides the guidance that you can fall back on. And as you noted, and I don't think that it, I think there's little in this kind of role that you can do to make a unilateral decision or a decision that is kind of, not adhering to best practices because these practices are documented and they're very clear. And we have a great agent who has years of experience and has institutional knowledge of the area that has seen different situations play out in the past and knows how to help us write an order of conditions that is fair to the developer, but is also going to protect our community.

Thank you for that. And then I guess my other question is, as the Vice Chair of the Commission, can you provide some examples in which you've effectively collaborated communicated with other boards in town? I mean, open space is an obvious one. So I'm going to ask you to, you know, overreach a little bit beyond open space and give some examples of that.

Sure. I think that in the past, what I did work with our agent, Daryl Luce, and the chair to update the IDDE bylaw, which at the time had been with the Board of Health. So there was some cross-communication there. I believe it was with the Board of Health at that time. But then also the planning board. and this is several years ago, it hasn't been recently, but as I mentioned, there was the working group for the open space preservation development bylaw that Rachel Benson ran and tried to facilitate. I think that we most, I think the most overlap is with planning board because we see many of the same projects and open space committee. and I should say also Board of Health because we're both looking at septic systems.

Thank you. No further questions, Mr. Chair.

Okay. I appreciate the answers, Julie. We understand that you're not available next week. Sorry, in two weeks when we have our next meeting. But we appreciate you coming on this evening to give us and the residents, you know, just an update and an understanding of all your accomplishments. So appreciate you being on with us this evening. And wish you the best.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, have a great night. Okay, let's go to tab number eight. Okay, so tab number eight, we have another applicant for the appointment to the Conservation Commission. This applicant is a resident by the name of Sean Dooley. Many of you know Sean Dooley from his past experiences, state representative and whatnot. Sean, welcome to our meeting. Similarly, you know, just want to give you an opportunity to address the board, give us an understanding of some of your background, some of the relevant experience, why you think you'd be a good fit for this position.

Great. Thanks, Chris. I appreciate having me on. I'm also, like Ms. Garland, out of town in two weeks, so. I appreciate you squeezing me in for today. I don't know how much you want me to go into my background. I don't know how relevant it is. The reason I'm applying for the Conservation Commission is, to be honest with you, I think it's one of the most important and underrated committees in town. It's paramount for the future of Wrentham, the watershed, protecting the aquifer. you know, working with developers and making sure we keep our open space, all of that, it touches almost every aspect of our life. And so I think that's very important. I think one of the advantages I have is I bring a unique set of skills to it, mainly from a lot of relationships. I mean, I obviously work in the administration now. And so, you know, I have a great relationship with the governor and the secretary Tepper and things along those lines from a, from an EPA and an EPA standpoint. Also, I'm friendly with Lee Zeldin, who's the US EPA commissioner, known him for quite a few years. So I think those sort of things will be different than what the average person has. I don't have a background in environmental science, but I've been very, very involved. I've been involved with the Sierra Club. I'm currently on the Lake Archer board, and we've done a lot of work on water quality, protecting the wildlife in and around the lake, making sure we had a big campaign. There was an argument trying to put a lot of poisons in the lake to deal with some of the weed control. And we came up with alternative solutions to protect that because I think it's so important that we do not put anything into the ground that we don't have to. And so I've had a really, really good relationship with that. And In doing so, I guess that's a good segue into some of the things that I think that the Conservation Commission could do. Again, thinking a little bit outside of the box, we had a great experience. I worked with Mike King and the developer on the Town Center project. We came up with a completely outside-of-the-box solution to make sure that we didn't have more water going, especially given the pollution over on the old Grantham Steel Factory site. Um, we wanted to make sure that we had minimum amount of water going into the ground. And so we've come up with a lot of different interesting solutions. I don't want to talk too much about that because I know that hasn't been officially brought up yet, but we were able to look at it from a completely different angle. And I think instead of just having the knee jerk, you know, you know, you know, where they, you know, conservation commission and, you know, we're, you know, you know, we kind of have blinders on and this is how we're going to focus it. I think there's a lot of other things that we can do. Um, if you look at it creatively. I think conservation commissions get a bad rap because they're seen as blocking development and they're seen as, you know, a homeowner wants to chop down a tree and, you know, they're the ones that say no. I think in addition to being able to be creative, I think being educational, you know, being out there in the community, partnering with more organizations, you know, like you said, you know, whether it's the Open Space Committee, obviously that's an easy one, but the Recreation Committee, we should be working with the school committee and doing education at the schools and doing partnering projects with them. The Open Space Committee was talking about dealing with pollinators and helping that out. It seems like a complete natural symbiotic relationship to be like, all right, let's work with some of our open space and let's Let's create more unique environments and help, you know, and create a healthier and better habitat for the places that we have, you know, have the, you know, when they're developing things, the rice street complex, you know, let's make sure that we address it from not just a recreational standpoint, but also from, you know, let's, you know, how do we incorporate, you know, more walking trails and, and better accessibility for animals, but also create, you know, You know, like we said, you know, a wildflower field, things along those lines. I think we can be really, really proactive in a lot of those sort of things. And I think that's kind of where my skill set is. You know, obviously, as Ms. Garland said, you know, a lot of this is regulated and it's, you know, we're somewhat tied by the state regulations. So there's only so much we can do and can't do in certain areas. But I think if you're able to be creative and able to work with people and kind of come from that approach, as opposed to just being the knee-jerk no reaction, I think in the long run, it's better off. So I kind of rambled on a little bit there, but you let me know what else you want me to talk about and You know me, I'm not afraid to talk.

That's okay. That's one of the things I love about you. But no, it's a great, I think that was a great intro. I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Julie. And I know you're not currently on the board, but from an outside perspective, Sean, what do you think is the biggest either challenge, obstacle, or opportunity that you see with the Conservation Commission?

Kind of like what I was talking about is I think it has a... reputation and not, not Rentham's conservation commission. I think all conservation commissions have this reputation of being, you know, they're the ones that, you know, are blowing up development and they're the ones that are stopping homeowners from doing certain things. And, and they tend to be more of the no, as opposed to the, you know, yes. And I think that's, that's the biggest challenge is to educate actually what it's trying, what, what the commission is focused and mission is, and then create, you know, positive workarounds on a lot of these different scenarios. I mean, we've, you know, you know, I've worked with different lakes when I was a rep and different ponds. And there's some really cool things that people will be able to come out with, you know, different land swaps. There's different uses, things like that. And I think as long as you're willing to say, instead of just automatically saying no or automatically saying, you know, well, the book says this, this and this, and this is how we've always done it. I think if we can look at Some of these things from a different perspective. I think it could be a big win for Rentham.

All right. Thank you very much. I'm going to turn it over to the board for questions and comments. We're going to do the same thing. We're going to start with Selectman Lamothe.

Hey, Sean, nice to have you apply for this and your tenure and experience should be great should you get the position.

And I know the state rep, so he'll help us get all sorts of grants.

Well, that was my question exactly. How well might you be able to position the council to get grants? Have you done this before? And how do you posture that so that we take advantage of that going forward?

Yeah, I've never done environmental specific grants. I've worked with, you know, when I was a rep, we did a lot of stuff on the wind and solar. And so we're able to do that for a lot of communities and get a lot of grants along those lines. You know, I don't know per se what grant we would need and rent them, but, you know, I do have the relationships both at the federal and the state level. So if there is availability there, I think I would be, you know, able to get a little more traction than if we were just calling out of the blue.

Thank you, Sean.

I wish I had a strong answer for that, but I don't know what exactly, you know, and again, partnering with more organizations. If you get the school committee involved and you get open space involved and you get rec involved, you know, and you're hitting some of these grants from five different angles, you know, it might really be an open space, you know, solution, but there might be a funding source through either Sierra Club or some other um, uh, nonprofit or, you know, in Norfolk, I was able to help, um, you know, and I was by far the, one of the smallest people, you know, dealing with this, but we've got a private donor to quietly in a trust, uh, by the entire Norfolk airport to keep that, um, as a, as an open space. So that was zero taxpayers dollars. And it was all done by a very, very wealthy individual through a bunch of networking relationships. And so, um, You know, I think if you hit it from a lot of different angles, you have a better chance for success.

Sounds good. Thank you. All right. Good question. Selectman Harrington, you're up.

Thank you, Mr. Chitt. Nice to see you, Mr. Dooley. I'm glad you certainly touched on the relationship portion of what you can bring to the table from your past experiences. and their relationships to want to, you know, grow with the partners in town in the other groups that we have on, you know, open space, recreation. And I'm fairly sure you were instrumental in the storm drains on 140. Am I not wrong? Correct?

Yeah, no, that was it. Yeah, I got that grant. So that was one of those... Granted, probably shouldn't have ever gotten funded, but I was very fortunate that that was on Charlie Baker's way out the door. He asked, what are a couple of things on your major wish list that you want to make sure gets funded? And that was one of them. And so we were able to get that.

Keeping that stormwater out of Lake Otter is very, very important, which... Obviously, I was well aware of the fact that you were able to secure that.

And for the record, I did that long before I ever even thought about buying a house on Lake Archer. So it's just a win-win for me.

But I will say a very wise man once told me that you won't know unless you ask.

Right. Exactly.

Thank you for applying. It's a pleasure to see you. And we'll see you in a couple of weeks. All right. Sounds good. Thank you.

All right. Thanks, Selectman Harrison. Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hey, Sean. First of all, I want to thank you for your interest in this position and also for your willingness to continue public service. But if you're fortunate enough to get on this commission, do you have a specific goal or objective you'd like to see this commission achieve?

I think, kind of, I touched on it before. I think the main thing is just overall talent education and painting the commission in a better light and letting people really know what they're able to do and then go out and proactively do some really cool things. Because I think Orentham is such a special community with our agricultural history and the Merrill Lake, Lake Archer, Pearl. We have some really, really cool things that we can really highlight our environmental presence. And I think if we... are proactive about that, I think it just adds to the overall aspect of what makes Rentham so special. And I think if we're able to do that, and like I said, again, tie it into other communities and other organizations within town, I think it could become a much more positive. And I hate to say that, and I don't mean for it to say that it's negative, but as someone who used to be a builder and everything like that, Whenever you're going before the Conservation Commission, your immediate reaction was like, oh no, they're going to ask me for $500,000 to study some lizard or something along those lines, and you're just worried. But I think if it becomes much more proactive and much more positive, I think it will help everybody in town understand the value of actually having a good, strong and Proactive Conservation Commission. Okay, thank you, Sean. Thank you. Good question.

And last but not least, Select Woman Ross.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sean, nice to see you this evening, and thank you. You as well. Also for your interest in this commission. I'd love to hear from you. You know, every commission or group or volunteer group always has to kind of rely on teamwork and some sort of concessions. Can you give an example in which you've worked on a committee or a group in which... people had differing opinions and how you approached that and worked with that.

Well, one, I'm a Republican in Massachusetts. So just anything I've been able to accomplish has been dealing with people on a large scale of the population being on the other side of the aisle. And I think that's where I very much succeed. I mean, I have a great relationship with our governor. You know, the two of us are, you know, I've gotten to be friends and go out to dinner together. And so, and I think it's because not that I'm anything special, but I'm, I'm, I'm trustworthy. I'm honest. I put my cards on the table. I don't backstab anybody. And I, and I try to build consensus because I truly believe that if you sit down with someone, there's very few people that are actually polar opposites. The reality is most of us are in the middle and we all want the same thing. We're just trying to get to it from different perspectives. You know, I, you know, there's, it always kills me when certain people are like, oh, you're a Republican, you're anti-environment. Most people I know that are in the Republican Party are very, very pro-environment. You want to take care of your home. You want to take care of your country. You want to take care of your land, your house. It's the only one we have, and it's our children's future and our grandchildren's future. Lose the water, we're all screwed. So I think just because one person has a different opinion on how to get there doesn't mean either one's 100% right, 100% wrong. And the reality is when you work together, you usually can find a better solution. A combined solution is usually better than either one of the other proposed solutions. And I think that's, I'm willing to do that. I like doing that. I like collaborating. I like building relationships. And that's, I've gotten better far more done, accomplished in my life purely from collaboration and, you know, forming unlikely alliances than I could have ever have even thought about on my own.

Thank you.

I appreciate that. That probably doesn't really answer your specific question. No, it did. Okay.

It did. It did. Thank you. And I guess a very similar question to what I asked Julie, even though she's obviously a member of the commission, from your perspective, if you were brought into the commission, how do you see the communication collaboration? What would you like to see with the different boards here in town? And which boards do you feel as though should be important for, you know, to be getting involved with conservation?

Yeah, honestly, I think every board should be. I mean, conservation is such a key, vital element of every single aspect of our life that it really should reach out all the way across the board. I mean, the school committee, I mean, why not have you know, partnerships, especially at KP and, and, you know, do things with them and, you know, make sure that that's, you know, that connection goes on and it moves up forward. You know, so when they get out of school, they understand the value of that, you know, teach a class, bring in some guest speakers, do, you know, a project with DECA or, you know, or I don't care the football team, some, you know, there's, there's so many different opportunities to reach out and, you know, touch people, especially in an, in an educational, uh, setting. In addition, I mean, obviously open space planning, uh, maybe not zoning board of appeals, but historic commission, you know, we can, you know, we've had so many really great things coming on here, you know, like the, you know, even with the 250th anniversary, you know, you know, we're celebrating the land that is Rentham. You know, we're not, you know, we're celebrating the people and the land and, you know, you know, a huge history, uh, recreation commission, uh, you know, dealing with, you know, like I said, you know, you know, any development or with new fields, let's, let's see what else we can, you know, partner onto that, you know, whether it's a, you know, whether it's the bike path and making sure that it's, you know, connection to rent them. And we have wildflowers and, and, you know, we have plenty of plenty of crossings. So, you know, turtles can get through and everything along those lines. I think if we're all thinking about it together, you know, as opposed to being, um, adversarial or, you know, well, they got this money and I wanted this money. You know, I think we could really, really create something bigger and better all the way across the board. But I can't think of a commission. I cannot think of a board or committee in town that conservation wouldn't touch and couldn't partner with.

Great. Thank you. I appreciate it. No further questions, Mr. Chair.

All right. Mr. Dooley, thank you for being on with us this evening. Appreciate your interest in the commission. As I said, we're not taking a vote tonight. We had two interviews, as you know, this evening. We have at least one, if not two interviews scheduled for next meeting. And we'll be taking a vote next meeting.

So once again, I love serving. I love public service. And if this doesn't work out, then I'm Then I'll go back to the list that, you know, Bill puts out the list every other day. So I'll go back on the list and figure out where I'm going to be able to help out next.

That sounds great. So appreciate it again, Sean. Thanks for being here. We'll be in touch soon, okay? All right. Great. Thank you. all right everybody let's move on uh to tab number nine uh tab number nine in our packets uh this is the appointment to the housing production plan committee um as you know this board uh already voted uh and mike i believe was three members mike king if i'm not mistaken we voted on three members so the select board appointed three um residents at large and then there were three other representatives from other committees that the select board appointed as well Okay, so what we're doing tonight, Mike, is we're, we're, the, the, so tell me what we're doing tonight then, just so I, is it the, it's related to the housing authority, right? Is that proposing there, the person that they want on the board?

So this is the, this would be the seventh and final member of the, of the housing production plan steering committee. The Select Board identified four committees to, boards and committees to appoint representative members. So there was the ZBA, the Planning Board, and the Select Board, and the Housing Authority. The prior three boards have already been appointed, including Select Board Member Lamothe as representative of the Select Board, and this is the final one with the Housing Authority.

Great. And this, it looks like it's Mr. Mayhew, former police officer, correct, if I'm not mistaken?

that is correct and he currently serves on that um the housing authority board excellent so he's on the housing authority board uh is so uh do we is this just kind of a rubber stamp or are we actually going to interview rick uh mr may here so the the select board for the other committee appointments uh went with the recommendations of those committees it did not require an interview so there's no interview uh not scheduled i was just in the interview mood we were on a roll mike

So no, I'm okay with it. I believe the, I trust the, you know, the housing committee. I know we have a select one Rouse that formally sat on that housing authority committee as well. I know it's a strong committee. So I have no issues. Does any of the board members have any questions, comments or conversation about this appointment? Speak now for beholdy peace.

I'll just quickly say that having worked with Ricky on the Rentham Authority Housing Board, I think he'd be an excellent selection for the committee. There you go.

That's fantastic. I appreciate that. Anybody else in the select board have any other comments, questions, concerns? Okay, sounds good to me. At this point then, chair would obtain a motion to appoint Richard Mayhew to the Housing Production Plan Committee as the Rentham Housing Authority representative, effective immediately and expiring on June 30th, 2027. So moved. Second. Second. Motion made by Selectman Anderson. Second by Selectwoman Rouse. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse. Yes. Anderson. Harrington.

Harrington, yes.

Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Congratulations, Mr. Mayhew. Does need to get sworn in, correct, Mike?

He does need to get sworn in, correct.

So someone make sure they reach out to him, let him know that we need to do that before his meeting. Let's go now to what do we have next? It looks like we have some resignations with regrets, if I'm not mistaken. So what I'm going to ask Selectman Harrington to do is get his vocal cords ready. And we're going to go to tab number 10. And it looks like the first resignation that we have is from Lisa Bailey. from the Historical Commission. Selectman Harrington, do you mind reading this letter into the record?

Yes, Mr. Chair. Please accept this letter as a gracious resignation from the Rentham Historical Commission, effective May 26th, 2026. I adore the commission and its members, but I have several scheduled conflicts that interfere with my ability to give them the focus and time they deserve. As a result of my stepping down, I will also therefore not be the historical representative on the CPC. I have alerted all parties. Thank you very much. Sincerely, Lisa Bailey.

Okay. So chair would entertain a motion. Any comments or questions from the board members? Seeing none, she will entertain a motion to accept, with regrets, the resignation of Lisa Bailey from the Historical Commission effective immediately. So moved. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, seconded by Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes, with regrets. Selectman Anderson?

With regrets.

Selectman Harrington?

Yes, with regrets.

Blackman-Lamothe? Yes, with regrets. Gallo, yes, with regrets. Motion carries 5-0. Next, let's go to tab number 11. Looks like we have another resignation. This is a resignation acceptance for Tatiana I'm going to screw this. Dana Lovia, did I get that right? Yeah. Okay. If I didn't, please tell her I apologize. From the Economic Development Commission, again, in our packet, we have a resignation letter. I'll ask Selectman Harrington to read it into the record, please.

Yes, Mr. Chair. So it's from Tatiana Donalova, 35 Chestnut Street, Rentham. Rentham Select Board, May 20th, 2026. Dear Select Board members, I'm writing to inform you due to ongoing medical circumstances, I must step down from my position on the Rentham Economic Development Commission, effective June 1st, 2026. Serving on the commission has been a meaningful experience and I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our community's economic growth. I hope to remain engaged in wherever capacity my health allows and would welcome the chance to rejoin the commission when my circumstances permit. Thank you for understanding and support. Sincerely, Tatiana Danilova.

Yeah, thoughts and prayers are with her, with her health issues. So at this time, she ought to obtain a motion to accept the resignation letter of Tatiana Danilova. Sorry about that. With regrets from the economic... Okay. Second. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectwoman Rouse. Thanks for bailing me out. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes, with regrets. Anderson?

With regrets.

Harrington?

Yes, with regrets.

Lamothe? With regrets. Gallo, yes, with regrets. Okay, it looks like we have one more. So this is tab number 12. This is a resignation letter from the Conservation Commission, Delana Riordan. In our packet, once again, Selectman Harrington, can you please read the letter into the record?

Yes, your chair. Dear members of the Conservation Committee, after 12 years of service on the commission, I am ready to formally submit my resignation. A new opportunity to travel a bit with my family has come up. I want to ensure that this seat will be available to someone who can fully participate in the important work ahead. It's been an honor to serve alongside such dedicated and thoughtful colleagues. My term of service will conclude on June 30th, 2026. Thank you sincerely, Delaina Reardon.

Okay, well, thank you for your 12 years of service. And travel sounds nice. So at this time, do you obtain a motion to accept with regrets the resignation of Delana Reardon from the Conservation Commission effective June 30th, 2020?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectwoman Rouse. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes, with regrets. Selectman Innocent?

With regrets.

Selectman Harrington?

Harrington with regrets.

Selectman Lamothe? With regrets. Gallo with regrets. Okay. Now let's go to tab number 13. Okay. So tab number 13, we talked about 2095 West Street a little while ago, Mr. Selling. So this is a vote to approve a memorandum of agreement with DCR for 209 West Street demolition. So there's some existing structures that we have to get demolished per our agreement, conservation agreement. In our packet, there's a memorandum of agreement for the building demolition site cleanup and site restoration between the Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation and the town of Rentham. Mr. King, do you want to make any comments? I'll turn it over to you quickly.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. So enclosed for the board's consideration this evening is a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Conservation and Recreation regarding the demolition of the derelict structures located at 2095 West Street, a property whose acquisition was authorized by town meeting through Community Preservation Act funding. As a condition of providing $500,000 in previously committed funding towards the purchase, DCR requires that the town remove the deteriorated structures from the property. This funding is tied to DCR's FY26 budget, which expires on June 30th. Because it is unlikely that the town will be able to complete the demolition and record the conservation restriction before that date, DCR has agreed to place funds in escrow, allowing the expenditure to be recorded prior to the close of its fiscal year and preserving the funding commitment Under the terms of the memorandum of agreement, the town would receive $350,000 of the $500,000 upon execution and recording of the conservation restriction. The remaining $150,000 would be released following completion of the demolition work. These funds may be used to offset costs incurred by the town as part of the demolition process. Additionally, I will note Attorney Leiden representing town council is in attendance this evening and is also available to answer any questions as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Tom Energy King. Attorney Lydon, do you agree with Mr. King's assessment and summary? Is there anything that you would like to address to our board?

I think he's covered everything. This agreement was to get us past the time hurdle that we needed to get to and get us the funds in time for the closing.

Beautiful. So it puts the money in escrow. We hit the deadline. Everybody's happy, correct? Yeah. Okay. Sounds good to me. Board members, any questions for either Town Manager King or Attorney Leiden? I have a question, Mr. Chair. Go right ahead, Select One Rose.

Mr. King, can you clarify? So is it, the town will be responsible for the charges to do the demolition?

That is correct. So the funding for the demolition was not funded at the time of the acquisition costs. It wasn't anticipated initially, but DCR would like to see all those buildings taken down when they record a CR, the conservation restriction. So in order to meet their expectations, but also we're still receiving that funding commitment, the option for this escrow account to be funded for the memorandum of agreement came to fruition.

Hold on though, Mr. King, I'm confused, but we're not, I thought I just heard that we were able to take some of the funds and utilize them towards the demolition costs. So it doesn't cost the taxpayer. It doesn't come out of our operating budget to do this demolition.

Well, it'd be reimbursement, right? Okay. Yeah.

Okay. I wanted to be clear for, make sure Seleco and Rouse understood that we have to pay and then we'll be reimbursed for it. So net, net, no cost to the taxpayer for the demolition.

Yes, that would be the money out, money in.

Okay. Sleco and Ross, I just want to make sure.

Yep, I just wanted that clarification for everyone listening.

Great job. Any other questions or comments for Mr. King or Attorney Leiden? Okay, being none, chair, retain a motion to authorize the chair to sign the memorandum of agreement between the town council and DCR related to the demolition of the building at 2095 West Street as presented. Motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Harrington. Any further discussion? Being none, do a roll call vote. Selectman Lamothe. Yes. Harrington.

Harrington, yes.

Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Rouse. Yes. Yellow, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Okay. Tab number 14. So now, tab number 14 is a vote to approve the conservation restriction for the property located at 2095 West Street. In our packet, you'll see the conservation restriction documentation. I will again turn it over to Town Manager King to see if he has any comments for the board.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So before the board is a proposed conservation restriction for 2095 West Street. to be granted to the Department of Conservation Recreation consistent with the authorization previously granted by town meeting. Should the board approve the conservation restriction this evening and upon its subsequent recording, DCR's $500,000 funding commitment would be deposited into the escrow pursuant to the memorandum of agreement. Recording of the conservation restriction would also enable the release of $650,000 from the Pawtucket Water Supply Board offsetting a portion of the town's costs associated with the acquisition of the property. And I will note that this document in particular requires a wet signature from the chair.

Excellent. And I have no issue doing that. Any questions or comments for either Town Manager King or Attorney Lydon from the board members?

I just had one question for Mr. King.

Go right ahead.

So through you, Mr. Chair, the parking lot has to be designed first, but does not have to be installed, correct?

Correct. So the area has to be identified for future parking. If it's not identified in the conservation restriction, then a parking lot could not be established in the future. There's no requirement to put it in. You could do it 10 or 50 years from now, but at least the option would be available. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, 10, 50 years or never. Right? No, I'm just asking. Yeah, that's an option.

Yeah, you don't have to.

10, 15 years or never. Okay. Okay. So let's, hold on a second. I just lost my place. So did we, I need to make a motion, correct? So we can vote?

Yes.

Okay. So at this time, that's why you're here, Mike. Chair would entertain a motion to place a conservation restriction on the property located at 2095 West Street for Article 97 purposes and authorize chair to sign conservation restriction for the property as presented.

So moved.

Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes. Selectman Anderson?

Anderson, yes. Yes.

Blackman Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Blackman Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Great job, everybody. Okay, let's go to tab number 15, public comment. Public comment, residents who wish to participate, public comment will be allotted two minutes to speak and must state their name and address. And if possible, put your camera on for the record. At the start of the comment, a towel will be sent via message from Maya Matarazzo. It should be visible at the top of the screen. Alarm will chime when time's up. Anyone wish to make public comment, speak now. Forever hold your peace. Until next meeting. Five, four, three, two, one. Mr. Eminen, did you want to make a public comment?

Yes, I did, Mr. Chairman.

Go right ahead, sir.

I want to thank the members of our staff and members of the select board for approving this consultation restriction. It's been a long time coming, and it's so nice to see us finally crossing the finish line. So, hooray! Thank you very much.

Thank you for that comment, Mr. Eminen. And I'm assuming there's no more. I'll give a few more seconds. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Okay. Mr. King, looks like the floor is yours for the town manager report.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Several updates for the board this evening in the community. I'll start with the annual town meeting update. So town meeting was held last evening, Monday, June 1st, with 547 voters in attendance acting on 21 warrant articles. 19 of those articles passed, including funding for additional fields at the Rice Recreation Complex and the construction of a new Roderick Elementary School. I will note that the Roderick Elementary School project is still subject to an affirmative debt exclusion ballot vote to be held on Monday, June 15th at the Delaney Elementary School. The two articles that did not pass were relative to rezoning a section of South Street between 495 and Wampum Corner to allow commercial business. I'd like to thank everyone who attended town meeting and participated in the local decision-making process. A few updates on recent grant awards. Sharing that the town of Rempham has recently received notice that departments have secured more than $1 million and state and federal grant funding for infrastructure, technology, and public safety initiatives. They include $800,000 awarded through MassDOT's Community Culvert Program for the replacement of the Arnold Street culvert, $168,000 awarded for the Massachusetts Division of Local Services Municipal Fiber Grant Program to connect municipal buildings through a fiber optic network with town halls serving as a central hub, $75,000 awarded for the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism Entertainment Events Grant Fund Program to support public safety security costs associated with the 2026 FIFA World Cup held at Gillette Stadium. And $8,500 awarded for the U.S. Department of Justice Bulletproof Best Partnership Program for Police Protective Equipment. These successful grant applications were made possible through the collaborative efforts of numerous staff members, including DPW Director Brian Antonelli, Assistant Town Manager Greg Enos, Administrative Services Manager Amanda Vasopolo, Fire Chief Antonio Marino, Police Chief Bill McGrath, and Deputy Police Chief Derek Cassidy. I have another update in regards to downtown crosswalks. For the edification of the board, MassDOT crews were in downtown Renfrew this morning, repainting crosswalks in preparation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup matches at Gillette Stadium. With an anticipated increase in traffic through downtown from visitors unfamiliar with the area, the town is working closely with MassDOT to enhance pedestrian visibility and safety. And my last update this evening is on the Director of Planning and Economic Development search. A conditional offer of employment has been accepted for the Director of Planning and Economic Development position, and the selected candidate is currently undergoing pre-employment requirements and is anticipated to start later this month. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who served on the screening committee for their time and assistance throughout the selection process, including our Planning Board Chair Tom Maloney, our Select Board Vice Chair Michelle Rouse, Building Commissioner John Naff, Assistant Town Manager Greg Enos, and Planning Board Vice Chair Chuck Woodhams. Their collective participation was instrumental in ensuring that the town identified the strongest candidate for the Director of Planning and Economic Development position. And I will note that during the current transition period, until the individual would start, Eve Tapper will continue to serve as Interim Town Planner. And that concludes my updates this evening, Mr. Chair.

Great. Thanks for the updates. Yes. And I want to just second, appreciate everyone's collaboration on securing, hopefully, you know, passing all the employment loopholes and hurdles, the new town planner. It was a collaborative effort for sure. And thank you, Select Woman Rouse, for your involvement representing our board there. Anything else, Mike? Any other business before I turn it over to Jim Anderson, who's looking mighty ready to adjourn the meeting?

Mm-hmm.

Nothing else to add this evening, Mr. Chair.

Selectman Anderson, the floor is yours.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, I want to thank you for guiding us tonight. And with your permission, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn.

Motion made to adjourn. Is there a second? Second. So Michelle tried to second it, but she was on mute. So I'm going to give that to Roy. So motion made by Jim, second by Roy.

I was so excited.

Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse. Yes.

Yes.

Selectman Anderson. Selectman Harrington. Harrington, yes. Selectman Lamar. Yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Great job, everybody. Have a great evening. You too, Dave.

See you Friday.

Bye-bye. Friday.