Select Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. We're going to get going in accordance with Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025. The Tuesday, July 14, 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 in the affirmative, starting with Selectman Jim Anderson.

Anderson here.

Selectman Bill Harrington. Harrington here. Select woman Michelle Rose. Rose here. Selectman Roy Lamothe. Lamothe. From Nantucket, I might add. Great. Bill, you having camera issues tonight? I miss seeing your handsome face. Selectman Harrington, can you hear me?

Yes, sir.

There you were. There you go. Now we can have him.

Having trouble getting back and forth from the screen to the mail.

Well, if I don't see your face, then I'll know why. I just want to make sure everything was okay.

Do whatever you need to do.

Staff, when I call your name, please also respond to the affirmative. Starting with our town manager, Mike King.

Present.

Assistant town manager, Greg Enos. Present. I think you said you're here. Administrative Services Manager Amanda Vazapolo. Present. Executive Assistant Maya Matarazzo. I'm present. Great. Okay, everybody, let's get down to it. So we've got a decent agenda. We're going to move at a good clip. We have a public hearing at 6.50, and we're going to try to take care of some other business before that. I would ask anyone that's not in the direct conversation, like Mrs. Fry, could you mute yourself, please? We're just trying to limit background noise as this meeting is recorded and viewed by over 3 million people online. All right, let's go. Let's go to tab number one and we'll turn the announcements over to Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Announcements for July 14th, 2026. The annual stage two water ban is in effect starting May 1st to September 30th. Mandatory restrictions. Non-essential use is prohibited between 7A and 7P. The 2026 concert on the Common Series begins or began Sunday, May 31st and lasts until Sunday, August 23rd. All are encouraged to join on the Sundays at 6 p.m. to enjoy live music at the Town Common. Sweat Beach will be open daily from June 13th until August 23rd between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The Cultural Council is hosting a poetry night on Wednesday, July 15th at the Old Fisk Museum, 55 East Street, starting at 6.30 p.m. Real estate personal property taxes are due on August 3rd, 2026. Payments can be made online, in person, or via mail. Thanks, Jeff.

Thank you, Selectman Harrington. I only think there's one announcement that we may have forgot to mention, probably the most important one, that pertaining to Selectman Anderson and I relating to an event happening this Saturday at the Big Apple Farm. Selectman Anderson, do you want to tell everyone what's going on there?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the board was invited to participate in a pie-eating contest. And because everyone knows that I love pie, I jumped right in. And I believe you and I are the only two that can make that commitment. But I'm looking forward to it. Noon time. So anyone who's listening who wants to come in and watch us eat pie, maybe get a little cherry face, feel free to come up.

And now listen, I love Selecting Anderson, but the gloves are off, Jim, and I'm coming at you 110%. I just want to make the record clear on that.

Listen, and I welcome that. Because you have yet to see me eat pie.

All right. A lot of fun. Let's go to tab two, approval of minutes. At this time, chair, did you take a motion to approve the June 16th, 2026 open session meeting minutes?

So moved.

Is there a second? 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. Selectman Anderson?

Yes.

Blackman Harrington. Harrington, yes. Blackman LaMoth. LaMoth, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Okay, we're going to come back to the public hearing, and we're going to go to some new business. Let's go to tab number four. This is an interview, an appointment of Kathleen Hallett. Let me know if I didn't get that right, for the Cable Advisory Committee. In our packets, we have the online submittal form, the volunteer application form. We see that it was filled out, you know, correctly. Shows a list of other boards and commissions. previously served on, which are quite robust. And I think, Mike, do we have anything to add to that before we quickly say hello to Kathleen?

I'll just provide a little bit of background on the Cable Advisory Committee, because this isn't one that comes up very often.

Thank you.

So just so everyone's aware, the Cable Advisory's charge is to work with special counsel to negotiate and renew the town's cable license agreements with Comcast and Verizon, respectively, and recommends the negotiated agreements to the select board for approval. The committee is currently working on the Verizon cable license renewal, which expires in December, making this an especially important time to add new members, as there are currently only two appointed members to the five-member committee.

Great. So, Kathleen, welcome to our meeting. We just want to say a quick hello. I'll give the board members an opportunity to ask you any questions that they might have. I would just like to say thank you so much for throwing your hat in the ring. We appreciate your long-standing service to the community. And I'll start with Seleka Monroes to see if she has any questions for you.

Sure. Hi, Kathleen. Nice to see you. Do you mind just sharing with us what prompted your interest in the Cable Advisory Committee?

I've been involved with cable since before the pandemic started, not really working down there, but volunteering. I started by doing some videoing and actually did camera work from one of the churches here in town. And they started giving me training and everything just to help me to edit what I was doing. And they just were so appreciative of having me there. But not only that, they gave me every bit of training I possibly could need to do the job that I wanted to get done. And that's part of the reason I want to be part of this committee, just to make sure it continues for the rest of the community.

Great. Thank you. No further questions, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you for that, Selectwoman Rouse. And Kathleen, how did you say your last name? Hallett. Hallett. Okay, just as it sounds. Lifelong Rentham resident, I want to add. Yeah. Thank you very much for that. We love lifelong Rentham residents, so it's a great place to live, work, and play. So I'm going to continue the introductions. This is Selectman Jim Anderson.

Hi, Kathy. How are you doing?

I'm doing great, Jim. Thanks.

Listen, so Mr. Chair, I've known Kathy for probably at least 40 years, and she's served on a lot of different committees in town. Whatever she does, she puts her heart and effort into it. So I've got no further questions. I know that she'll do a fine job on this committee.

That means a lot coming from you, Selectman Anderson. Thank you for that. Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So thank you, Kathleen, for volunteering. I'll go with Jim's recommendation, and I have nothing further to add. Thank you.

Thank you, Selectman Harrington. Appreciate that. Selectman Lamar.

Kathleen, nice to meet you, and thank you for all the good service. I have no questions, Mr. Chair.

All right, excellent. Looks like everyone's asked all their questions and comments. So what we're going to do here is I'm going to entertain a motion. Chair would entertain a motion to appoint Kathleen Hallett to the Cable Advisory Committee as the Verizon subscriber representative for term effective immediately and expiring on June 30th, 2029. Motion. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, seconded by Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Select woman, Rouse. Yes. Blackman, Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Blackman, Harrington.

Harrington, yes.

Blackwoman, Moth. Moth, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Kathleen, please go get sworn in from the town clerk. And thank you once again for your service.

You're welcome. I'll be up there tomorrow morning.

Sounds great. Thank you.

All right, have a good night now.

All right, we have a few more minutes. Let's go to, I want to go to tab number nine. This is a staff introduction to Shane O'Brien, Director of Planning and Economic Development. I had the opportunity to have a meeting with Shane yesterday to get to know him a little bit. And I think he did a great job. He was very prepared. But I want to take this opportunity to let him address the board and the board also to address him. So, Shane, we'd like to formally welcome you as the new director of planning and economic development to our wonderful town of Rentham. We're so happy that you're with us. We'd like to give you an opportunity to quickly address the board. And then I'll open up to the board members to ask any questions or comments that they might have of you.

All right. Thank you, Chair. My name is Shane O'Brien. I'm the new Director of Planning and Economic Development, and I'm happy to be here before the Select Board to introduce myself. I wanted to thank Town Manager Michael King for the appointment and the opportunity. I wanted to thank the appointment team. It was a wonderful interviewing process. It's been very accommodating here working with Heather Connor and Daryl in the land use department. So, I look forward to the opportunity to work here. I've already kind of gone to a ZBA meeting and a conservation meeting. We got planning board tomorrow, meeting with various chairs and boards and committees. So learning people's names, learning where they come from, kind of their expertise in different fields. So I want to kind of allow myself to kind of also bring my expertise to these boards and commissions, as well as to the town in general. So I come from the town of Bridgewater as a town planner. I'm sure everyone's seen the press release of my experience. I look forward to kind of working with you, especially in terms of I think in February you put together a strategic plan, a lot of which has town planner and select board individuals responsible. So we'll be coinciding and working along that, especially to seeing that the completion time being zero to one year. So we're going to get on top of that. But, you know, I look forward to kind of the opportunities and some of the challenges here in Rentham. um you know i i think i bring uh some expertise and grants um looking at a lot of opportunities through like shared streets and complete streets as well as other opportunities to help benefit edc um and overall just improvements to the town but um no i'm very thankful to be here i'm very thankful to be in front of the select board and i'm open to any questions and any comments that people may have

Thank you, Shane. Appreciate that. I'm going to start with Selectwoman Rouse. See if she has anything to ask you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have the honor of being able to interview Shane. So Shane, it's good to see you again. Welcome to Rentham and no further questions at this time. Just looking forward to working together.

Great. Thank you.

Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, Shane, welcome to Rentham. I look forward to working with you and, uh, Please feel free to reach out to any member of this board if we can be of assistance.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Thank you, Selectman Anderson. Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, yeah, I went through all the notes previously and read some of the interview process. You did very well. You've come highly recommended. We're glad to have you. And I look forward to meeting you in person and working with you.

Thank you. Thank you, Selectman Harrington. Selectman Lamar. Welcome, Shane. I know we passed a couple of emails back and forth, but you can give me a call later this week, but not tomorrow.

Sure thing.

But that'd be great. Thursday or Friday, that would be perfect. Anytime.

Alrighty.

We'll catch up on the production plan.

Thanks, Ray.

All right, great. So thank you, Shane. Appreciate you being on the meeting tonight. And this is not going to be the last select board meeting that you attend for sure. As you said, we are a very active board. We're very active town. We love our resident taxpayers. We work hard for them. We want to make sure we make a lot of obviously fiscally responsible decisions as we continue to do. uh as the history of this board and our town management team um so we're looking forward to have you just uh play a major role in that and um yeah looking forward to having uh you know meetings with you in the future so uh we're going to move on to the next agenda item but please note this the board's excited about collaborating with you thank you mr chair thank you board All right, great. As you guys can see, I'm not losing sight of the 650 public hearing. So I'm just trying to bang out a few of the quick ones here. Mike, let's go to tab number 10, everybody. ZBA resignation. So this is something that we discussed a couple of meetings ago. This is a resignation of Jean Lightbody from the Zoning Board of Appeals. We have her letter of resignation and an email. in the packet. We recently appointed her to the Cultural Council, if I'm not mistaken. So Selectman Harrington, as just a process that we carry, do you mind reading this into the record on page 46? Yes, Mr.

Chair. So it's an email dated June 22nd, resignation from zoning board. Greetings. Please accept this letter as my letter of resignation from the Zoning Board of Appeal. I'd like to thank Select Board for approving me for the appointment and Bill for his recommending me and for the training and leadership he provided. My thanks to all the other board members across time who were a pleasure to deal with. I really enjoyed meeting residents of Rentham and working with the other town officials and board members over my time. I was always interested in the Cultural Council but was glad to be Glad to contribute to the town through the zoning board until an opportunity for cultural council presented itself. The zoning board has an excellent forecast of members now with a great variety of experience and skills. So I'm comfortable, but I'm not leaving anyone in a tight spot. Thank you again for the great experiences, Bill. I wish you and the board continued success. I'm going to miss the camaraderie of the board. Best regards, Gene Lightbody. Thank you.

Good job. Okay. At this time, she'll entertain a motion to accept with regrets the resignation of Jean Lightbody from the Zoning Board of Appeals effective immediately.

Yes, with regrets.

So moved. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, seconded by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Lamothe? Yes. Selectman Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Selectman Anderson?

Anderson, yes, with regrets.

Selectman Rouse? Yes, with regrets. Gallo, yes, with regrets. Motion carries 5-0. While we're on this topic, let's go to tab number 11. I think we can get this one done quickly. This is a Roderick School Building Committee appointment, Christine Dupris. So in our documentation, we have an excerpt from an April 16th. 2026 school building committee meeting minutes with motion passed and recommended that Christine be appointed to the school committee, we have this in our packet on page 49 goes into page 50 you can see that highlighted it says. You know right there in the packet it says that Mike do we have to do we have to you know, do you want to provide any more color to this or are we good just to kind of make the motion and go forward.

I'll just add quickly a little, you know, just briefly the background. So there's currently one vacancy on the school building committee, specifically the position designated for the town budget official. I previously served in this role while serving as town's finance director. However, upon my appointment as town manager succeeding Kevin Sweet, I vacated the position. So Christine would be filling that specifically designated town budget official role as finance director.

Great, appreciate that. So does anyone, board members, do you have any questions or concerns about this before we go to the motion?

No, Mr. Chair.

All right, I'm seeing no. So at this time, chair will obtain a motion to appoint Christine Dupras to the Roderick School Building Committee as school committee representative for a term beginning immediately and expiring on June 30th, 2027.

It's all moved.

Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by, I think that was Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Selectman Harrington. Harrington, yes. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Selectwoman Rouse. Rouse, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Please let Christine know she's on the committee. I'm sure she's thrilled. Thank you. I'm here. Good. Thank you. Thank you for serving and stepping up on this. This is an important role to fill. I'm glad to have you on the committee. You know, we know you're going to do a great job as you do, you know, at your other duties in town. So I just want to say thank you very much and looking forward for your contributions on that committee.

Excellent. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. All right. Have a great night.

You too. Okay, Mike, anything, we're gonna start the public hearing in a minute. Is there anything we can bang out really quickly?

Tab 12.

Oh yeah, let's do tab 12. Good call, Mike, that's why I have you here. CPC appointment. So this is appointment of John Longley to the Community Preservation Committee as Recreation Commission representative. We have in our packets an email from Ray Palmer, the chair of the Recreation Commission. Mr. Herring, do you mind reading this in the record, please?

So it says, hi Maya, Commissioner John Longley was confirmed tonight as the new representative of the Recreation Commission on the CPC. Please let me know if you have any other questions, comments. Thank you, Ray Palmer. And Maya replied back, hi Ray, sounds great, thank you. And there you go.

That sounds great to me, Selectman Arrington. So does any of the board members have any questions or comments before we go ahead with this motion? Seeing none, chair will obtain a motion to appoint John Longley to the community preservation commission as a recreation commission representative for a term beginning immediately and expiring on June 30th, 2027.

So moved.

So motion made by Selectman Harrington and second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Well, I'll ask one thing. We don't have Mr. Longley present, do we?

We do not.

That's okay. I know this is, you know, this is kind of, is this, Mike, is this a rubber stamp?

So the way the bylaw is written is the select board is required to appoint whoever is recommended and voted by the respective committee commission.

Gotcha. So I'm sure we do appreciate this person and want them, but even if we didn't, we'd still have to appoint them anyway, correct? That is correct. All right, well, so with that being said, we know that John's going to do an amazing job, so please tell him we said that. But chair to dictate a motion, I already did that, right? Any further discussion? Being none, let's go to a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse. Rouse, yes. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Selectman Harrington.

Harrington, yes.

So Lechman, Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. I'm just going to cross this one off. Okay. It's 6.50. Let's do this public hearing. This should be pretty straightforward. We've done a million of these. Go to tab number three, everybody. And being 650, we can get going. We should have the public hearing notice in our packet. We have the petition for joint or identical poll locations. We should have Andrew or Alan from National Grid with us. So at this time, the CHEO to obtain a motion to open the public hearing. So moved. Second. Second. Second. Is there a second? Second. Okay, motion made by Selectwoman Moss, second by Selectwoman Rouse. Any further discussion? Being none, do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes. Anderson?

Anderson, yes.

Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Moss? Moss, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Public hearing is open. Now, shall we obtain a motion to waive the reading of the public hearing notice? So moved. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, do a roll call vote. Selectman Rouse? Yes. Anderson? Yes. Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Public hearing is open. Who do we have? Do we have Allen or Andrew Allen, sorry, of National Grid? Do we have you, Andrew? Do we have anyone from National Grid? Mike, do you want to step in and tell us, if you feel comfortable, a quick summary of this poll petition that's going over by Ledgeview, if I'm not mistaken, correct?

That is correct. This poll location is on Madison Street over by Ledgeview. The poll petition specifically is preparatory work to facilitate a conceptually proposed EV charging parking lot at 20 Ledgeview Way that has yet to be formally submitted to the town for approval.

So this is a national grid has no issue with this, Mike, or it wouldn't be on our agenda, correct?

That is correct. They are the ones officially submitting it.

On behalf of the potential development, if you want to call it that.

This poll would facilitate that.

By no means, if we approve this, are we saying that we're going to support this development in any way, shape or form, correct, Mike?

Yeah, that is correct. We'll still have to go through the formal planning review process.

Do you see any reason, like this isn't in a location that would cause line of sight issues for abutters or anything like that?

No, and I don't have any aesthetic concerns either. It's right in front of some trees.

Okay. So with that being said, I'm going to open this up to the board members to see if anyone has any questions or comments that, you know, would make us not want to move forward with this. We'll start with Selectwoman Rose.

No questions for me. It seems pretty straightforward. Thank you. I would concur.

Selectman Anderson?

Yeah, no questions.

Okay. Selectman Harrington?

No questions, Mr. Chair.

Okay, select them off. I live near there. I know where it's going to go. It's not a problem for me.

Chris Callow, I have nothing else to say. Being a public hearing, we got to open it up to the public, which sometimes I forget to do. So do we have any members of the public that would like to make a comment about this poll petition? I'll give you a few seconds to raise your hand. Unmute. I'll give you like five seconds. Five, four, three, two, one. Okay, being none, chair would detain a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second? Second. Okay, motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes. Anderson?

Anderson, yes.

Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Moff? Moff, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. That is it for the public hearing. Let's move back on to new business with tab number five, which is a community preservation committee update. With us, we have Robin Cuddy.

Just to confirm, was that just to close the public hearing? Did you take the vote to whoever not to approve the poll petition?

Well, clearly I didn't. I made a mistake. So let's go back and do that. Robin, give me one more second. I apologize. So let me get back to this. This is why I hate public hearings. So I did close the public hearing correctly, right? Yes. Okay. So I'm so sorry. Now... to obtain a motion to approve the National Grid poll petition for Madison Street as presented. So moved.

Second.

We have a second. 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.

Yes.

Selectman Harrington. Harrington, yes. Luck and Lamar. Lamar, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Mike King, thank you for that. Saving me there. Now, I think we could go to the tab number five, which is the CPC update, community preservation update. With us, we have Chairwoman Robin Cuddy. Thank you for joining us this evening. I know you have a couple of projects to talk to us about, but before we get to that, we just wanted to explain that this board, as part of our strategic goals, and we're trying to increase civic engagement, we're trying to increase communication between all of the boards and committees in town with this board, just to show that we're here as a support system. We want to know, obviously, projects you're working on, challenges you see, ways that we can collaborate with your committee closer, and things that basically you just want us to know about. I know your committee, the Community Preservation Committee, is a very important one in town. I know you take a lot of very important votes, bring a lot of important projects forward. I know the board always has questions and comments. And I also know that we're blessed to have your vice chair, Selectman Harrington, on our board with us to provide us updates. So although, of course, we're going to be asking Robin a lot of the questions, Bill, you know, we're going to be looking to you for some guidance and your thoughts as well. So Robin, let me just turn it over to you and say welcome to our meeting. It's great to have you. Please feel free to give us a quick update and walk through those two projects or whatever else you want us to know about. And then I'll turn it over to the board members and Selectman Harrington to chime in.

Great. Thank you, Selectman Gallo, and thanks for having me. I appreciate the opportunity. And I also really appreciate, Vice Chairman, Selectman Harrington serving. Very helpful to have that connection. Just to give you a kind of a quick overview. So we have nine members of CPC. We have one vacancy right now in the historical representation from the Historical Commission. As you just commented, representatives are selected from their respective commissions, Housing, Historical, Open Space, Recreation, the Selectmen. the planning board, conservation, and then there's two at-large members. I'm an at-large member. The at-large members are appointed by the selectmen. So you have the opportunity to do those. Established in 2017, CPC, and these are some round numbers. We've collected about 2.7 million from taxpayers in the surcharge for projects with CPC. an additional 600,000, give or take. Christine can audit all these numbers with Mike's help, but about 3.2 million that the CPC has had in funding. We've recommended and had approved at town meeting 32 projects. And just to give you an idea, two of those in housing, nine historical projects, and 21 projects between open space and recreation. There's some restrictions on what CPC money can be spent on. As you know, we can acquire, we can preserve. we can create housing or open. So we wanted to make sure that the selectmen are aware of is when open space is acquired with CPC funds, then CPC funds can be used to maintain, restore, actually it's restore or rehab those properties. And so for example, 295 West Street, 2095 West Street, that property was acquired with CPC funds. And so in order to restore or rehab trails or some of that property, um, CPC funds could be applied for for those projects. And so that's something to keep in mind with any projects that are acquired with CPC funding. It's also good to know that if somebody wants to donate property in total, that would be open space for the town for a conservation restriction or something. It might be something to consider for the selectman to say, we'd like to buy it for a $100 on new CPC funds to acquire that because then that property is eligible for restoring or rehabbing items on that property, old buildings, things like that, trails, using CPC money. Same process would apply. You'd have to apply for it, but it makes those projects eligible. I know the town manager knows that, but I think it's just good as a reminder. So a couple highlights. I think there's been some impactful projects. There's been ADA doors put in some affordable housing. The great project with the lighting at Sweat Park and the pickleball that I went by and saw this morning and the paths. The purchase of 2095 West Street, the playground at Rice Complex and archiving of all the town records, just to give you a few. I think the two projects that we have going forward, we will hear on Wednesday, July 22nd from the Friends of Mirror Lake. They're asking for $24,000 to preserve open space and treat some invasive weeds. Again, we'll hear that full presentation next week. And we'll also hear our full presentation from the recreation commission for $350,000 for field lighting, which was the alternate two on the recent rice complex project, mostly driven by the relocation of sweat fields because of the Roderick school being rebuilt. So that's what I have for you.

No, that's great. I appreciate that. And I'm going to turn this over to Selectman Harrington in a second to see if he has anything to add before I then turn it over to the rest of the board members. But you brought up a very interesting point that I've actually pondered, and I just want to ask you the question. So there's two projects right now. The one from Merrill Lake, I think you said it was somewhere around, was it 12,000 or 15,000? Twenty four. Twenty four thousand. And then there was a project coming forth for the lighting at the rice complex. I think that was like three hundred fifty thousand maybe. Correct. OK, so just so I and the board members and anyone listening understands when you get projects like this, Robin. and Bill, but Robin, walk me through the application process, the due diligence process, how you determine if the project, in your opinion, or the committee's opinion, is one worthy to move forward. And is there different levels of due diligence, like I'm in real estate, when I transact on a million dollar project, I have a different level of due diligence than when I transact on a you know, $100,000 project. So can you just kind of maybe speak to that a little bit, the process, the due diligence, how you kind of decide as a committee, what projects are good, what projects, you know, might not meet the intent of those funds, and how you kind of decide? I know that's a lot. I'm trying to write down all those questions. I'm sorry. I sent a My wife tells me all the time I ask too many questions.

It's okay. I'll do the best I can, and I know Selectman Harrington can help. So the application process, there's a hearing in March every year, a public hearing where we explain the process, and we publish that in the newspapers, et cetera, as required. We invite people to come to that public hearing and to learn about the two-part application process. Those applications are available online. They're on the website. They're on the town website. Part one is called an eligibility application. And it's essentially just that. The applicant, interestingly, can be any one of the town commissions, committees. It can be a community group, a 501c3. It, in fact, could be an individual. OK, so when you look at who can apply, really anybody that's a resident of Renton can apply now to be preferred. We prefer that those applicants are supported by the Recreation Commission, for example, or open space or or a town committee commission, the selectmen. that kind of support is important for us to consider this a project. So the eligibility project, we essentially run it through a filter, which is a grid that's very simple. It's mostly verbs and it says a project is eligible, for example, if it's a housing project, if you're acquiring the property. If you're preserving the property and housing, it can be if you're supporting the property. So there's very specific eligibility requirements for the different categories. We can fund projects in housing. We can fund projects that are historical, open space, recreation. Right. So each of those has a few filters. And for example, we can't create historical projects. We can preserve or restore it, right? So we run it through that grid and we vote on the eligibility and that eligibility doesn't really have anything to do with our opinion as far as the value proposition, for example, to the community of that project. It simply is if it meets the requirements, the state requirements from CPC. If it's eligible, if we vote that it's eligible, then typically what we would do is we would send the applicant follow-up questions or we would send the applicant notice saying, please submit part two of your application. And part one is due in May. Part two is typically due in June. We receive part two application. We read through it. We go back to the applicant typically with questions. Those questions could be anything from, for example, in the recreation project, did you go out to bid for this project? And what were the bids? And the town manager helped us with, it's part of a bigger project bid, things like that. We ask questions around what their other fundraising activities have been for that project. We prefer leveraged projects, something that has a match or something that has other additional funding other than just CPC. It doesn't have to, but it's a preferred project if it is, and that's stated in our part two of an application. So in both of the projects we're looking at next week, Friends of Mirror Lake and the recreation, we've gone back and asked for them to let us know their other fundraising activities or grant applications regarding these projects. To your question about the due diligence, I think we... have tried to continue to get better. We had some feedback last year that folks thought we needed to do a little bit more homework on one of the projects. And so we're spreading out our process where we're having presentations then after the presentations, some additional questions potentially in writing, and then deliberations after that. I think certainly there are times when maybe the amount of money, a little less diligence, but I like to think no. I like to think that if it's a small amount of money, it should be just easy enough for us to do the due diligence to see if it's worthy. And then I think your last question about how do we decide? I mean, there's nine people, so there's nine opinions. We try to hear each of those nine opinions once, not one person's opinion nine times. We work hard to... you know, keep our thinking about the greater good. And I say that because we have two at-large members, but each of the other members are representing a particular entity or interest, right? And so We try to avoid, you know, people really wanting to only vote for things that are put forth by their committee or commission, right? That wouldn't be a great process for us if you were on the historical and you voted no for everything that was not historical, that would not be where we would want to want to be. So we encourage everybody to consider the greater good for the community at large. We've tried to push toward more impactful, larger projects. We were seeing a lot of small projects, frankly. And as chair, from my perspective, when you've had $3.2 million flow through, we want to do some impactful projects, not just signage or weed treatment at a lake. You know, we want to see some things that are going to have long-term impact on the community. I only have one vote, but I know that, you know, we're working toward that.

That's great. And I appreciate those very, you know, very well thought out responses. It helps me, clarifies a lot of the process. Before I move on to the other board members, Selectman Harrington, because you play a very unique role here, being both a member of our board representing our interests, but also being the vice chair of CPC, do you have any kind of additional thoughts or comments as to what I asked Robin that you'd like to weigh in on?

Yeah, too, Mr. Chair. So one other item is the CPC on the state level has a website. Then they post all of the specific guidelines of what you can and what you can't do, which is very, very helpful. They also post every project that's been done by all the communities that are involved with the CPC on the state. So if you've got a project that you're questioning, you can go online and look at the various towns and projects that they've done similarly uh like you know we were concerned if i remember correctly with the uh ada doors on the housing and it worked out that you know It was eligible, and it was a very good project for needy people, but it was questionable because it was so specific. But we were able to clarify it through the state website. I've got to be honest with you. I think Robin does an amazing job, puts so much effort into the CPC, and it would be very different without her as the chair.

That's great. I appreciate that. It's great feedback. So I'm going to open up to the other board members now to see if anyone else has any questions or comments. I'm going to start with Selectman Lamothe.

Robin, thank you for coming in front of us today. And that was a very good update. You obviously know what you're doing and how you're doing it. I have no further questions, Mr. Chair.

Great. Thank you so much. We already heard from Selectman Harrington. Bill, do you have anything else to add as a Select Board member?

No. I mean, just next time there's a reappointment, if someone wanted to jump in as the person on the CPC through the Select Board, that would be okay.

Yeah, that's a great point. I mean, you're doing such a great job, though. But we'll definitely talk about that when that time comes. But thank you for that. So, Anderson, Lamar, oh, Jim Anderson, any questions or comments?

So, Mr. Judge, it's a good comment. I just want to thank Robin and her committee members for all the good work that they do. And I would just ask that they continue that good work.

Great, last select woman, Michelle Rouse. Questions or comments for Robin?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Robin and Bill, thank you for your time and commitment to this committee. It's so important to be the guardians of such important funds as they're brought to the town. So I thank you for that commitment. We have this great opportunity to hear a little bit more. I think it's a committee that a lot of people don't understand. The roles and responsibilities. So I'd like to expand and ask you a little bit more as the chair and obviously vice chair. If you want to chime in as well. What do you specifically see the role of each member of the committee? How do you see that role and their responsibilities? Or how would you describe it?

Yeah, so it's a good question. You know, I think that it's important for each of the representatives to be a liaison to their committee or commission as assigned. As I said earlier, there's two at-large members, myself and Stephen Sivanik. And so we're at-large, right? But everybody else has a duty to go back to their committee or commission and keep them up to date with opportunities or challenges or if there's a project that's come before us, for example, from housing, we rely on the housing person to, uh, share with us the thoughts of the housing commission on that project. Are they supportive? Why are they supportive? Is it a priority need things of that nature? And, um, And then come back to us with, again, any feedback from their committee or commission. You know, same thing with the selectmen, right? There's many times when Selectman Harrington will provide the perspective of a selectman on a certain project or a consideration that we have. And so that direct line is important for us. I think, and then, as I said earlier, then when it comes time to hear a presentation and then deliberate and decide. Again, our committee doesn't ultimately make the decision on the funding right the town at the town meeting is we're we're making a recommendation and then the town has the opportunity to either support that recommendation or not but i i do believe that it's important once the presentations have been made for the different projects even if it's not your committee or commission that's that's putting that forward um I think it's important that you step back from your direct role representing that group and be able to think again, not of, oh, my committee or commission wants this, but then again, looking at, is this a good value for our community, for the majority or for a large number of folks or maybe a niche group that is just under supported, right? These funds are supposed to be for things that the town can't do. you know, with operational funds and maybe capital funds very easily. And so I think we all have to, you know, put our greater good hat on when it comes time to make the vote and decide what we think based on everything we've heard and learned, if it's, you know, a good use and, you know, sometimes the highest and best use of the funds that we have available, right?

Great information. Thank you. Speaking about recommendations that come forward to the town, right? So important, such due diligence to get it in front of the town. Is every member required to give a yes or no vote during that recommendation?

Well, they can give a yes or no. They can abstain.

And they abstain for what kind of reasons?

Maybe they weren't at the presentation and they don't feel like they, they are able to make a decision. Maybe, maybe they feel conflicted because we've had that before. We've had a relative of somebody who was involved in a transaction and they abstained because they felt like it was a conflict of interest. And that was certainly very appropriate. So yeah, yeah, personal interest or a conflict, I think would probably be the most likely time that somebody would abstain, but it could be because they, they don't feel like they have enough information. Maybe they've missed meetings, although we haven't had much of that.

Would you agree, Selectman Harrington?

Any others? Yeah. Okay.

Um, okay. I, um, I guess my last question is, I promise this is my last one, everyone. In terms of the Friends of Merrill Lake, I know that in my history, I've seen that come forward a few times, right? So not them specifically, but just any group that's coming forward with the very same request and pretty similar dollar request for the same sort of needs. is taking a historical look at that request and what's been given and when it's been given and, you know, grants that have gone after state, federal, et cetera. I know that you slightly mentioned that, but just expand a little bit more about that and when you're getting these requests.

So let me let me let me answer that, I think, in two ways. One, we would expect that we would have the same groups coming back over and over again. Right. So we'll expect we will expect that the Historical Commission will come forward often and open space. Right. So we've given multiple open space funding or we've recommended multiple open space. Right. For example, Three years in a row, we recommended $200,000 to go into a fund to make it available for acquiring open space. So I don't think it would be unusual to say that we're going to have the same groups come forward, and sometimes even with the same request, right? We're looking for funds to acquire open space. Now, I do believe that you could then go to your specific question about, for example, Friends of Mirror Lake. and the whole lake kind of applications and concerns. And where does that sit? Very openly, we wrestle with the difference between preservation and maintaining in multiple projects, not just lake projects, but If you go to the definition of preserve versus maintain, really, it seems as though the discerning factor is the frequency of that, right? So you can preserve something once a year, you can maintain something once a week. Another person might say, well, if I'm doing something every year, that's maintaining. And then somebody else might say, well, but it's preserving. And so this is not black and white, right? This is where nine people sit. And I would tell you with very respectful discourse, try to wrestle with that. And then also wrestle with the outcome of our decisions, right? And To be very frank, when it comes to some of the lake, whether it's Lake Archer, Mirror Lake, Lake Pearl, these are unique open space areas in our community. They help create some of the character of our community. I personally brought a couple pictures of Turnpike Lake and a couple other locations. bodies of water that at one time were bodies of water and now are swampland. And, you know, are we preserving the lakes? Are we maintaining the lakes? You know, we could spend a lot of time, and I'm sure there's somebody much smarter than me that would be able to talk more about whether it's just frequency. But this is a challenge for us. It's a challenge for our group. And in the end, I think we're all just trying to weigh what is in the best interest of the community long term.

Yeah, I was just, I wasn't specifically looking for, you know, for the stance on Merrill Lake, just in terms of, you know, you have them come up very frequently with the same amount, and it's just interesting to hear that perspective. Thank you for providing this information. I encourage all of the residents in our town to really spend time listening, participating in meetings at the CPC. This is your money, taxpayer money, that's going to these projects. Show up at town meeting and make your voices heard on how you want that money spent, because We're relying on these CPC members to each give a vote to bring it to town. So we are expected to vote accordingly and how we feel on how our taxpayer dollars should be spent. So thank you both you and Bill for your time and sharing that information tonight. Yes.

And also know that, you know, if there's a certainly, you know, with Sluckman Harrington as our representative from the Sluckman, we hope to hear your thoughts and feedback as we go forward with projects for sure. Great. Thank you.

We shouldn't, that's something that, well, first of all, I appreciate the dialogue. I think those are some very, very good questions. And I think Robin, those are some very, very great answers as well. So I appreciate the dialogue. And I think that we definitely will. I mean, I know board members would share, you know, feedback to Selectman Harrington, but we probably need to do a better job looking at the, all of the project requests and taking a second peek to make sure that every board member has an opportunity to make their voice heard to the CPC. So I appreciate this very much. It's a, it's a, again, very important committee in town. I appreciate both your hard work and the other, obviously all nine members, please let them know that the board is in full support and here as a resource as well. Selectman Harrington, do you have anything else to add?

Not at this time. Nope.

Okay. So I think that's it. Everyone got to ask Robin questions, comments. We appreciate your time being here, Robin, and have a wonderful evening. All right. Many thanks. Okay, let's keep it moving. Let's go to tab number six. This is a special event application, hot tub and swim spa blowout sale. Sounds fun. At the Rent Them Outlets, July 23rd, 26th through August 5th, 2026. In our packet, we have documentation as the special event permit application. which obviously has already been reviewed by the appropriate committee, not committees, but department heads, or it wouldn't be in front of us this evening. With us, I believe we have Larry and or Dave from Crocker Sales. Who do we have with us this evening?

Hi, I'm Alana. I'll be standing in for both of them this evening.

So we have neither of them, but we're very fortunate to have Alana. Alana, what is your role with the organization?

I'm the event coordinator for a lot of our outdoor sales events. So I coordinate the equipment, the inventory, marketing. I basically am just all the brains behind the event. And then Larry sets up the contracts and whatnot.

That sounds like an important job. So since we have the brains of the event with us, can you please give the board a quick summary of what we're trying to accomplish this evening and get you approved for?

Yes. So first and foremost, thank you for your consideration. So the purpose of the outdoor tent event is with a lot of our clientele being either elderly or active or retired veteran families, our goal is to bring our hydrotherapy spas online. to a community that needs them most. A lot of people retire up north, especially snowbirds, and they have a lot of long-term and chronic pain. With these events, we offer really big savings for a high-end product to alleviate some of that chronic and long-term pain for a lot of our elderly and veteran customers. We've never done one up north this far before, but we do them two times a year. a week, every week, all year long, all over the other parts of the United States, aside from Christmas and New Year's.

That's fantastic. So walk me through what I can expect to see if I attend this event. Where is it going to be at the outlets? What's the setup going to look like?

Yes. So it's going to be a 40-foot by 100-foot tent. with AC, tables, chairs, lighting, and about 30 to 40 different units varying in size and price range. We bring all those different types of units because a lot of people have different size yards. They have different needs, different power supplies for their residences. And so that'll be really it. I think we're going to be at the outlets and rent them. I've never personally been, but I will personally be attending this specific event if and when it's approved. So as of now, I'm not sure if I'm able to share my screen with the Zoom.

You can. We just have to make you a co-host. Can we do that? What do you want to share before we let you share, just so we know?

Just a site map of where we'd be located. So we would be in the parking lot of the Simon Premium Outlets in the Rentham Village Premium Outlets. And we'd be, let's see if I'm able to share. I'm not familiar with Zoom. Let's see. If not, I can email this to you as well. I'm sure that it's included in the paperwork for the permitting. That's fine.

I'll be able to share now.

Let me see.

So if you go to the bottom and there's a share button at the bottom and just click that, there you go.

Okay. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

Yes, we are.

Perfect. So I'll zoom in a bit. So this is an overview of the outlets here. The X is where we're going to be using the water supply on the property to fill the units because we actually have people that attend the events that are able to test out the units prior to purchasing as well. This is the hundred and hundred thousand square foot area that will be located in. We'll bring in a tent, a rental dumpster that is going to be for a lot of like the waste during the event. As far as like pallets, product, plastic wrapping, all of the stuff that we arrive with from the inventory to set up the event. So all of that will be disposed of in a, 30-yard roll-off dumpster that we have within the square foot that we have permission from the mall for as well as a generator that will be on site to power up the units that have water in them and provide us power for the lighting inside the tent. And we'll have a forklift because we do immediate deliveries upon purchase. So we do same-day deliveries to a lot of the customers that we service in this area.

You'll have a truck there and you'll just forklift it into the back of a truck and deliver it to the purchaser?

We have a truck and a flatbed. So the flatbed trailer will range from about 25 to 35 feet. Depending on how many spas we sell same day to deliver it to the residences in the community, we'll take them out of the tent or in the designated storage area for those that have been sold. And then we'll just load them on top of the flatbed trailer that the F-250 is hauling them with. And then, yes, so that's what we'd be utilizing the pork lift for.

Great. So I have no further questions. I just did want to make one comment to Selectman Anderson. Selectman Anderson, I don't know if you heard this, but you can actually bring your bathing suit and test drive one of these bad boys before you purchase it.

Well, considering that it is going to be summertime, I'm sure that the water will be like a polar plunge.

Yeah, I've never been up north that far, but I hear you guys have some pretty brutal weather in the winter. So I think during the time of the year that we're choosing to visit is a really good one.

Alana, where are you from? Just curious because you're alluding to us like we're in like Antarctica or Alaska. We're really not that far up, but where are you from?

I'm originally from California, but I live in West Palm Beach, Florida now for the job.

Hence the comment on the cold weather. So thank you very much. I have no further questions. I'll turn it over to the other board members to see if anyone has anything, starting with Selectwoman Rouse.

No further questions.

Selectman Anderson.

No, I would just make sure that she's been in touch with public safety and make sure that all the other documents that are needed are signed off on.

Mike Nygren, select minutes, I appreciate you saying that, and, as I say, they wouldn't be at this point if that didn't already happen. Mike Nygren, And i'll let my king confirm that, but my understanding is the only way they get on the meeting is if all the public safety and everyone else has already signed off on the application and then they get to come to us is that correct Mike.

Mike Nygren, That is correct, none of the departments have any concerns at this time and. Actually, the applicant has already set up inspections with the different permitting authorities for the day of the event.

All right, that's fantastic. Alana, can you do me a favor and stop sharing your screen too, just because it's the whole thing. Yes. So, Selectman Anderson, you're good?

I'm fine, Mr.

Chair.

Okay. Selectman Harrington?

I'm good, Mr. Chair. Yep.

Selectman Lamothe? No further questions, Mr. Chair. I have none either. So, let's get back up here to... Let's get back up here to... Okay, at this time, CHEO did obtain a motion to approve the special event application for the hot tub and swim spa blowout sale to take place between July 23rd, 2026 and August 5th, 2026 pending good standing with the board of health billing inspector and public safety.

So moved.

Second. Second. Motion made by Selectman Herring, sorry, Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being no, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse. Yes. Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Harrington. Harrington, yes. Lamothe? Yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Congratulations. Okay, keeping things moving, we have another special event application, which is tab number seven in the packet. This is a special event application for fireworks at Lake Pearl on August 8th, 2026. In our packet, we have special event permit application. With us, we should have a resident, Nelson Glassman. Mr. Glassman, are you with us?

I am, and I'm with Janet Frye is with me also.

Well, welcome to the meeting, Mr. Glassman and Ms. Frye.

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Selecting.

Very nice to have you here. We're looking at your packet, your application in our packet, which again has already been brought and approved by the department heads, public safety. Do you want to just run this board through just a quick summary of what we're doing? Sounds like a cool party.

Well, this has become a tradition on the lake that we do fireworks once a year. It's for the entertainment of the residents of the lake. Pyrotechnical will come out with a barge. They will get all the permits that they need from the fire department, and they will shoot off fireworks somewhere around 930 at night on the 8th.

That sounds like a lot of fun. Mike King, do we have anything to add or ask? I mean, I know this is pretty, we just did this for another applicant, you know, I think 30 days ago. And it went off without a hitch. The weather cooperated. There were no issues. I followed up with the chiefs and they showed me there was no issues. I personally witnessed fireworks at one of these events with another resident on the lake. a few years ago, and it's just a wonderful experience. A lot of fun. The kids love it. So, Mike, do we have anything to add or ask from your perspective before I turn it over to the board members?

No concerns are communicated from any of the department heads.

Fantastic. So let's turn it over to the board members, starting with Select Woman Rouse.

No questions. Everything looks in order, and it sounds like a great event.

That sounds great. Selectman Anderson. I'm good, Mr. Chair. Selectman Harrington.

Nothing to add, Mr. Chair.

Select them them off. Also good, Mr. Chair. Looks like the only thing you need to do, Mr. Glassman, is invite the select board and you'll be all set.

Thank you very much. We appreciate it. I'm seeing the fireworks.

Yes. So at this time, the chair would entertain a motion to approve the special event permit application for fireworks at Lake Pearl on August 8th, 2026 from 930 until 1030 pending good standing with public safety and contingent upon applicant notifying all abutters.

So moved.

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

Anderson, yes.

Blackmon Harrington.

Harrington, yes.

Blackmon Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Congratulations and have fun with the fireworks. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Have a great evening. You're welcome. Thank you. Okay, let's go to tab number eight. This is another special event permit. This is something that we've done multiple years in a row. This is the Truck Rodeo 2026. This is for Republic, if I'm not mistaken, right, Mike? Yes. Shaking his head, yes. So we have Mary Poirier of Republic Services. Oh, yeah, there it is right there. Mary, this is something that we've done, you know, how many years in a row now? If you're with us, Mary, I think it was going on three years, maybe, if not more. Is Mary with us? I see her. I think I see her. But I don't hear her.

So anyway. I'm sorry. Can you hear me now? I'm sorry. Hi, Mary. Now we can hear you.

Yep, this is year number four. Year number four. Welcome to the meeting. Thank you. So three years of success gone off without a hitch. Absolutely. Thank you again for having us this year. Anything changing this year, Mary?

Actually, a lot more permits are being required. So we are diligently working with... We have the building inspector. We have, I heard from, is it, let's see, where is his name here? Oh, John Naff today. So I've been back. Yep. Just wrapping up some things with him. Everything looks great. You know, I've submitted everything. There should be everything that was required by fire department, building department, whatnot. We have inspections going. Lined up for that event. We're having the, it's a 20 by 2010 that's being set up. I think it's two days prior. So, but other than that, it's the same thing that we're doing. It is closed to the public. It's just something for the company and, um. you know, mechanical techs, drivers. It's a skills competition and goes off every year. Sounds great.

And if the board, I know the board probably already saw this in the packet, but on page 43, there's a site map of where everything's going to be laid out. Does anybody have any questions for Mary being this is going on year four? I'm seeing a lot of heads nodding. If anyone has any questions, speak up now. No. Okay. So I think you're in good shape. Let's go back to the top of the page here. And without anything else, at this time, the chair would entertain a motion to approve the special event application for Republic's Truck Rodeo event on August 29, 2026, pending good standing with the Board of Health, Building Commissioner, and Public Safety.

So moved.

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

Yes.

Selectman Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Selectman Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Okay. That brings us to tab 13. I'm going to turn this over to Mike King for a quick explanation of what we're trying to accomplish here.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So this is the vote to approve the expenditure of funds from the cemetery perpetual care account. Just so everyone is aware, when a cemetery lot is purchased, the perpetual care fee is paid to the town and is then deposited into the cemetery perpetual care trust fund. These funds are invested and the investment earnings may be expended by the select board acting in its capacity as cemetery commissioners for the maintenance and preservation of the town cemeteries. before the board this evening are two recommended expenditures from the trust fund. The first is $982 for the treatment of a large copper beach tree located in the center cemetery. The second is $12,950 for the removal of 11 dead trees in the center cemetery that have been identified by cemetery and parks division manager Ray Rose as posing maintenance and safety concerns, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Thank you, Mike, for that. Thank you for that quick summary of what we're trying to accomplish here. I'm going to open it up to the board members to speak up if anyone has any questions or comments about this. Anybody? Seems pretty straightforward to me. It sounds like everyone agrees. Okay. So at this time, let me get back to the top. Chair would entertain a motion to approve the expenditure for beach tree treatments not to exceed $982 from the perpetual care account. I'm going to do it individually. So motion made by Selectman Lamothe, second by? Anderson. Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse? Yes. Anderson?

Anderson, yes.

Harrington?

Yes.

Lamothe? Yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Chair would also entertain a motion to approve the expenditure for tree removal not to exceed $12,950 from the perpetual care account.

So moved.

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

Harrington, yes.

Lamothe? Yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Let's go to tab 14. This is also pretty straightforward. This is a vote to sign the warrant for the September 1st, 2026 state primary election. In our documentation, we have the actual warrant for the state primary election. And we have with us Ann Fisk, our town clerk, as well as Mike King, our town manager. Mike or Ann, do you want to add anything? This is pretty standard, right? Mike, Ann, hi. Ann, you're muted.

Yeah. Hi. Thanks for your patience. Yeah, this is standard. This is issued by the state. We just adjusted it for Rentham and Norfolk County offices. So this is the same, similar to what you signed two years ago.

Is this wet signatures or can you use electronic? You can use electronic. Great. Anybody have any questions for our town clerk? Shaking your heads no. Great.

Anytime you can call me.

Thank you, Ann. Appreciate it. At this time, CHEO to obtain a motion to sign the 2026 state primary election warrant. So moved. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Rouse? Yes. Selectman Anderson?

Yes.

Selectman Harrington?

Harrington, yes.

Welcome to the Moth. Moth, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Great job. Let's go to tab 15, which is public comment. Residents who wish to participate in public comment will be allotted two minutes to speak and must state their name, address, and turn their camera on. At the start of the comment, a timer will be sent via message from Maya Matarazzo. It should appear visible on top of the screen. The alarm will sound when the time is up. Do we have any takers this evening for public comment? I'll give a couple seconds here. Let's do five, four, three, two, one. Tab 16, Tom Indiger report. Mike King, floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a few Tom Indiger updates this morning. I'm sorry, this evening. The first being sweat park lighting improvements. Construction on the sweat park lighting project began last week. The project includes new sports court lighting for the pickleball and tennis courts, along with pathway lighting throughout the park, and is anticipated to be completed in September. Due to lead times for the lighting fixtures, the contractor is currently installing the underground electrical infrastructure and pole foundations with the poles and fixtures to follow upon delivery. Construction will be phased to keep the pickleball and tennis courts open for most of the project, with only brief closures anticipated during the installation of the larger sports court lighting poles. I have an update on the Rice Complex Improvements Project as well. A pre-construction meeting for the Rice Complex Project was held today with the general contractor, Diggers Landscaping of Cumberland, and athletic field subcontractor, North Turf of Plainville. The project is anticipated to start at the beginning of August with the athletic fields to be seated this fall. Update on the pavilion at the Rice Complex. The town recently received bids for the construction of the new pavilion at the Rice Complex. Unfortunately, all the bids exceeded the available project funding with the lowest bid totaling approximately $383,000, well above the $208,000 appropriated for the Community Preservation Act. Staff are currently evaluating procurement options to reduce project costs and remain within budget and will return with recommendations on how to best proceed. My last update this evening is on the DPW topping off ceremony that we held on June 25th, so the Public Works Building Committee held the topping off ceremony to commemorate the completion of structural steel erection for the new DPW's facility. The event included remarks from the Public Works Building Committee Chair John Murphy, select board chair and public works building committee member, Chris Gallo and myself, recognizing this important construction milestone. Following the ceremony, attendees were invited to sign a ceremonial steel beam that will become a permanent part of the building. And that concludes my report, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much. Anybody have any questions or comments for our town manager and his town manager report? Seeing none, I'm going to turn the meeting over to my foe, Selectman Anderson. My foe for Saturday only at the pie eating contest. Selectman Anderson.

Challenge accepted, Mr. Chair. I want to thank you and all the members tonight for getting through this long meeting in a very quick time frame. So I'll bid you adieu and ask for a motion to adjourn.

So... Is that Roy Lamont? Is that a second from Nantucket?

That's a second from Nantucket. Thank you. All right.

Motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Roy Lamont from Nantucket. Any further discussions? Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectwoman Rouse.

Yes, and I expect video from Saturday's event.

Selectman Anderson.

This is a hard yes.

Selectman Harrington.

Harrington, yes. I'm sorry I'm not going to be available to show you both up Saturday, but unfortunately I'll be away.

Listen, talk is cheap when you're not there, big guy. We'll miss you. Selectman Lamar. Yes. And Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 5-0. Have a great week, everybody. We'll see you soon.

See you Saturday. Bye-bye.

Bye.