Select Board - Regular Meeting

Okay, gonna get going. Welcome everybody. In accordance with chapter two of the acts of 2025, the Tuesday, September 1st, 2026, 630 public meeting of the Rentham Select Board shall be conducted remotely. The public is invited to join. There was a Zoom instructions on the town's website. As a preliminary matter, as the Select Board Chair, Chris Gallo, please permit me to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the call on the agenda. Our president can hear me. Members, when I call out your name, please respond to the affirmative. I will ask, though, we do have a lot of people on Zoom. I'm going to ask everybody to keep themselves muted unless you're in direct conversation with the specific agenda item that's going on. So if you're not muted, please mute. Amanda, Maya, if you could mute everybody. I'd greatly appreciate it. And members, when I call your name, please do respond to the affirmative. Selectwoman Rouse isn't with us this evening, so Selectman Anderson. Anderson is here and present. Welcome back, Mr. Anderson. It's good to see you, my friend. Good to be back. Thank you. All right. Selectman Harrington. Harrington here. Okay. So just so you guys know, in the, in the, uh, Botash conference room, there's a tiny bit of a delay. I'm hearing a tiny bit of a delay. So I may ask you to repeat, and I'm not being a wise guy. All right. Uh, so just so you guys know that. So Anderson Harrington, Selectman Lamothe, are you with us? Lamothe here. Great. Chris Gallo, I'm also here. So welcome, everybody, to the meeting. We're going to get going. We have a very busy agenda. We're going to start with tab number one with the announcements. I'll ask Selectman Harrington to read them into the record, please.

Stage three water ban is in effect starting July 24th, 2026. Residents may engage in non-essential outdoor watering once per week on their regular trash collection day. Outdoor watering cannot occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Further information on restrictions and what is considered essential and non-essential water use can be found on the town website. Municipal offices will be closed on Monday, September 7th due to the Labor Day holiday. There will be a one-day delay in trash services. A September 11th remembrance ceremony will be held on Friday, September 11th, starting at 8.30 a.m. at the 9-11 Memorial in front of Town Hall. Wrentham Day will be held on Saturday, September 12th, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Town Common. Those who wish to participate in the Rentham Road Race and or Pickleball Tournament are welcome to register online via the Rentham Recreation website. Jane D'Amico Playground is currently closed due to construction at the Rice Complex. The 2026-2027 Cultural Council Grant Cycle will open on September 1st and close on October 15th. Those interested may apply online and can find more information on the town website. The Elderly and Disabled Tax Aid Committee will begin accepting applications for real estate tax assistance on September 1st at the town assessor's office and scene in the center. Finally, Relay for America. Reclaim the route. Two American flags will be carried on foot from Boston starting on September 9th, 2026 and ending at the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2026. The route goes through Rentham on September 9th between 10 p.m. and 1130 p.m. using Washington. More information available on their website, www.RelayForAmerica.org forward slash 9-11. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, great job. Thank you. Let's go to tab number two. Tab number two is approval of the minutes. In our packets, we have the documentation from the August 18th, 2026 open session meeting minutes. At this time, Chair would entertain a motion to approve the August 18th, 2026 open session meeting minutes. So moved. Motion made by Selectman Lamar, second by Selectman Harrington. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson will abstain. I was absent at that meeting.

Thank you. Selectman Harrington. Harrington, yes. Selectman Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries. One, two, three, and one abstention. Is that correct? Yeah. One, two, three, one abstention. Okay. Good. Not used to saying that. So what we have tonight, we have a... We have a... Hold on one sec. Thank you. We have a public hearing at 635, but before we do that, I personally asked to have Tony Mazzucco, who's the Norwood general manager, to come on and give us a quick update on the Norwood Hospital. So I apologize, but I'm going to take a few things out of order this evening. I appreciate everyone working with us. Tony, can you hear me okay? I can, Mr. Chairman. Can you hear me? I can. Tony, so we've known each other for a little while. You know Mike's predecessor here very well, a man we all know and love, Mr. Sweet. I know that you're spearheading the group. There's a great group of people that you've assembled to really figure out what's going on with the Norwood Hospital and what the plans are to get the Norwood Hospital back up and operational. We've had multiple residents. Tony, reach out to us, showing a high level of interest in an update from you. So we appreciate you coming on for us. And we'd ask you just to provide the board a high level update, if you can, as to what's happening with the hospital and what our residents can do if they want to get involved.

Sure, absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your support and your board support, your public safety team, and of course, Mike and Kevin before, and they've been very supportive in this project. So it's been about two years since we started in earnest, and we've made finally some significant progress. A couple of weeks ago, the legislature passed H553, which is a bill for the state to engage in an eminent domain taking of Norwood Hospital. The governor did sign that bill. She was here in town just last week in Norwood. doing the ceremonial signing of that bill. So that in and of itself is a momentous step. What that bill outlines is that should medical properties trust the owner of the property not be able to sell the property by November, the state is gonna step in, do a taking via eminent domain, and then turn it over to a responsible operator through a bid process. We had begun looking at that process at the local level, whether we could do it. And we certainly could. As you know, cities and towns can engage in eminent domain. We ultimately concluded that the state should do this given the regional impact of the nature. And fortunately, the legislature agreed with us and the governor has signed the bill into law. So I'd say that's the best news we've had in two years, but we're probably still at the halfway point. Several things need to happen. There's one of two paths this can go down. One is between now and November 1st, which is, I believe, the date in the bill, Medical Properties Trust sells the property to a hospital operator. We don't believe they'll sell it to anyone else. The property has very little value to anyone outside of a hospital operator. Hospital operators can pay a significant amount of money for it. So if that happens, great. They have to go through their determination and need process and finish their construction process. That's the best case scenario. If not, the state's going to value the property, engage in the taking of the property, take it, and through an RFP process, turn it over to a responsible operator. That will probably take a little bit longer, but either way, we're looking forward to getting to the finish line. There's still a lot of construction that needs to happen once a deal is done. We're still looking at an 18 to 24 month of construction to get the ER open. But we feel like that construction can now start in under a year. It'll be 60. It's been six years since the hospital's closed. It has croaked public safety services throughout the region. The towns that were not directly impacted that may have had other hospitals with an equal transit distance, those hospitals are seeing boarding in their ERs and longer response times and longer turnaround time. So Rentham, really every town in Norfolk County and in the area has been affected by this. But we're on the offensive. November is an important date. We're going to continue our work until we hear whether or not a sale has taken place or the state has started the eminent domain process. We have a website, finish the job, finishnorwoodhospital.org. That's a great, we'll make sure you guys can get it out there, a great way to stay up to date on what's going on. It's been a very tough campaign. There have been a lot of behind the scenes discussions and work that's gone on, which has made it tough to keep people up to date on where we are. But we are also sort of building this plane as we're flying it because it's unprecedented for the flood, combined with the pandemic, combined with the bankruptcy, combined with some other practical challenges, as well as cities and towns team really joining together to try to get this done. So we've made great progress. Kudos to the governor and the leadership and the legislature for their hard work on this and getting us there. But we're getting closer to the finish line.

That sounds fantastic. I appreciate that high-level update. What I'm going to do, Tony, very quickly, I'm going to just open it up to my fellow board members to see if anyone has any high-level questions for you.

Absolutely. I'm happy to take questions.

Thank you. And if we could put that website, if someone could put that website in the chat for everybody, and maybe, Tony, you could email us that website to check out. I know there's a lot of residents that want to stay updated and see how they can make their voices heard with the legislature and the constituency as well. So thank you for doing that. We're going to open it up with Selectman Anderson. Do you have any questions or comments?

So I do have some comments, Mr. Chair. So, Tony, first of all, I want to thank you and your team for spearheading this important mission. I've heard from a lot of people who have either gone to Sturdy Hospital or Milford Hospital, and they said the ER room is just a mess. They're waiting eight to ten hours before they're even getting seen. So I think opening up Millwood Hospital would be a great resource for the Rentham residents. And I just want to thank you again for spearheading this. And if there's anything else we can do to help, please let us know.

Absolutely will do. Thank you.

Thank you, Selectman Anderson. Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Chair Gallo. So, yeah, I concur with Selectman Anderson. I wholeheartedly agree. You know, it would be – a benefit for the town of rentham uh obviously it was you know very important to us when it was open uh one question what state of repair disrepair is the building in since there's been little or no activity in it been shuttered for six years

George, so that's a great question. The original building was completely torn down and new construction was started. So what's on the site now is the shell of the core hospital building. That's the four-story building that'll hold operating rooms, the emergency room, and about 80% of the garage. There's also a outpatient service building planned for the site that construction hasn't started on yet. The core hospital building is approaching, call it two, two and a half years old since the bankruptcy. Medical Properties Trust has spent money to make sure that they're sealing up that building. And the HVAC system is actually working. So, I mean, they are paying to, I hate to give them credit, but I'll give them some credit. They're paying to make sure that the building is kept open. The shell of the building is kept with airflow in there. But it's a blank canvas waiting for an operator to come in and say, we want this room here and we want that room there. But our building department still stays in touch with Suffolk Construction and their super is on the site. So the building's in good shape, ready for somebody to come in and finish the job.

Thank you. I appreciate the update. Absolutely.

Thank you. And selecting them off. Tony, great job. Thank you. We read all the material that you sent out last month. I have no questions, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Great. So, Tony, please continue to keep the board updated through Mike King in the office. But again, we just want to say thank you for taking the leadership role on this, pushing it forward. It's very important to our community, all the ancillary communities, the economies. We forget to think about all the jobs. right? All the jobs. When you have a hospital that employs that many people, you supply, you know, there's housing needs, there's restaurant needs, there's all these ancillary support that helps the surrounding community and the economy thrive. We've now haven't had that for these years. So it'll be a nice shot of adrenaline to get that back to not only City of Norwood, but all of us in the surrounding community. So we appreciate that. Please do keep us updated.

Absolutely. Will do. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, members.

Have a wonderful evening, everybody. Tony, everyone else stay on. You can't get off that. I wish. All right, we're going to move to the public hearing. Let's go, everybody, let's go to tab number three, which is a public hearing. This is a request for children to play sign installation on Blake Road and Fisher Road. So in our packet, we have the public hearing notice. We have an email from Jordan Weigand. And I apologize, Jordan, if I messed that up. For requesting children to play signs on Blake Roldan Fisher. We have another email from Brian Antonoli from the DPW. We have Chris Cassidy with us, I believe, who can answer any questions from the DPW's perspective. And we also have an email from Police Chief McGrath. With us in attendance, I see Jordan, I see Chris Cassidy for the Department of Works, the Assistant Director, and I also see that we have Chief McGrath with us. So before I get going, I have to ask for a motion to open the public hearing. So moved. Second. Okay, motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussions? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson's a yes.

Harrington. Yes.

Yes.

Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. All right, now I need a motion to waive the reading of the public hearing notice. So moved. Second. Motion made by Selectman Innocent, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson? Innocent, yes. Selectman Harrington? Yes. Lincoln, yes. Luckman, Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Public hearing is now open. Okay. So, Mike, who do we want to, Mr. King, our town manager, who do we want to kind of give us the backstory on this for the board, Mike? Do you want to do that or do you want to hand it off to Cassidy or somebody else?

Typically, we would ask the petitioner to start the process.

So let's do that. So we have with us Jordan. Jordan, are you with us? Can you hear me okay?

Yes, I hear you. I'm Jordan Wiggin. Yes.

Jordan, welcome to the meeting. We want to turn the floor over to you. We have a packet full of emails and documentation, but we do want to, as Mike said, give you an opportunity to address the board. Tell us all why we're here and why you're looking for the sign installation. So the floor is yours, Jordan.

All right. Thank you, sir. All right. First of all, I'd like to thank the board for welcoming me here tonight and giving me the opportunity to bring this concern forward. Yeah, again, my name is Jordan Wiggin. I live at 75 Blake Road. I'm here tonight because I'd like to ask the town to consider putting up children at play signs in our neighborhood. I've lived here for almost three years. And during that time, I've noticed a lot of traffic coming through the neighborhood, particularly from Amazon, UPS, FedEx drivers and really any other delivery drivers. There have been plenty of times when I've seen drivers coming through at pretty high rates of speed. I also believe that Fisher Road and Blake Road are frequently used as a cut-through to get to May Street and Cher Street, which brings additional traffic through what is considered a residential neighborhood. There are a lot of children who live in this neighborhood, regularly play outside, including my own. With the amount of traffic coming through and the speeds I've seen some of the vehicles traveling, I'm deeply concerned at the safety of these kids who live here. I think children at play signs would be a simple way to remind drivers that they're, you know, traveling through a residential neighborhood, you know, where children are frequently outside and that they need to slow down and be more cautious. I propose in the town to consider, you know, installing two to four signs. Ideally, I'd like to see one at each end of Fisher Road, as well as two along Blake Road, one near the intersection with Fisher Road and another near the beginning of Blake Road by May Street. So that's really all I have regarding that. I really appreciate the town considering this request and helping make our neighborhoods safer. And I would be willing to take any recommendations, any suggestions from anybody from the board, as well as the DPW and also the police chief moving forward. So again, thank you for your time.

Jordan, thanks for that intro. What we're going to do now is I'm actually going to turn it over to Chris Cassidy, who's our Department of Public Works Assistant Director. I'd like him to weigh on number of signs, locations, and then I'm going to ask Chief McGrath as well. Then what I'm going to do, Jordan, is I'm going to open up to our board members to ask you any questions that they might have. And then being a public hearing, I have to ask members of the public if anyone has any comments or questions, and then the board will then take a vote. So that's how the process will work. I do want to let anyone listening know that we have recently revised a lot of these processes. The board wanted to kind of streamline these processes, make sure that we follow the same process. We know that You know a lot of these requests they're very they're very important, sometimes they bring with them a lot of passion right. We all have children are not all of us, but many of us have children, I do as well, we all want our kids to be outside and be safe. And we got to balance that with what I call sign pollution all over town, because if you ask residents on every street and rent them i'm sure. You know, there's a lot of streets like yours that we could justify and warrant have any signs so I just want to give you that as just a point of discussion. I'm not saying we're going to support or not support it, but we do take very seriously we do not want to have, you know, I call it, you know, just sign. on every street all the time. So with that being said, I would like to hear from Chris Cassidy regarding the Department of Public Works position on these signs, Chris.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had the opportunity to go out and look at the area, specifically trying to scout for locations we could install the signs where they would be located. aesthetically pleasing while at the same time serving the purpose that's being requested. I do believe we can do this. I believe there are four locations that we could install these signs where they would be functional and not present an issue for a resident looking out a window, having to look at it or anything of that nature.

Fantastic.

We also have the signs. Okay.

Chris, I think you might be breaking up a tiny bit. Try shutting off your video. It could be just a little glitch in the connection. My apologies. No, no, no. Don't worry about it. It happens all the time. So can you just repeat what you said? You said you identified four possible locations. You think you can get this done in a way that's aesthetically pleasing to the neighbors, but also get the desired outcome for Jordan and the fellow neighbors, who hopefully we're going to hear from soon as well. Yeah. and accomplish both tasks. Is that correct?

I do. I do, Mr. Chairman. Yes.

Okay. And regarding the locations of the signs, can you give us an estimation on where you think they would go? Do you agree with Jordan's assessment and placement, or would you want to put them in different spots?

No, I think, you know, if you think about this neighborhood, you're going to want to catch the traffic as it's entering the neighborhood. So you're going to want to get it in a location where it's going to catch the attention of drivers where they're entering. So from Shear Street, from May Street, you're going to be looking, you know, I'm ballparking it and, you know, I don't have the exact measurements, but approximately 50 feet in. So it's going to be visible there. At Fisher and Blake itself, it would be a normal. That's the only intersection I have in question because you're entering two separate streets from two different directions potentially there. So you may end up with two signs in that location that are closer together than the other two. But I still think we could make that work visually and effectively.

Okay. Sounds good. Anything else before I turn it over and ask Chief McGrath to comment? No. All right. Well, thanks, Chris. Appreciate you being here. Hang on tight while I ask Chief McGrath. Do you have anything that I see you on here? Do you have anything to add to this conversation, Chief?

Just support. If the neighbors are in favor of it and the DPW is in favor of it, there's absolutely no harm. So hopefully it'll address the problem.

And great. And you agree there is a problem here? Chief, one worth addressing?

I can't say that I've done a traffic study or anyone's done a traffic study or paid much attention to it. You know, the consensus around the station for officers who've gone through there, because since this thing started, we did add it to our log of checks, you know, traffic checks. And there is, you know, there are observations. So there's a few things to consider. One is it's hard to judge when you're at the end of a driveway, right? how fast a vehicle is really going. And our traffic enforcement efforts have proven over and over again in these neighborhoods, they're never going as fast as you think they are because it's a big truck. They make a lot of noise. There's a lot of studies that support that. Perception is different than reality. But, you know, again, I don't think it's a big ask. So if it's going to keep a whole neighborhood happy, why get into the weeds over it? Just if the signs are wanted and they're all agreed on and the town agrees on it, then I support it.

OK, great. Thank you. Now, Mike King, do you have anything to add from the town's perspective before I open it up to see if any of the fellow neighbors or residents would like to support or not support this?

It would just be a clarification, Mr. Chairman, because my understanding is that two signs were requested, one on each road. And that's what I believe the motion may reflect. So we just want to be cognizant of that.

Well, then let's make sure that that is what the motion reflects. So if we were, let me read them. Let's go back and make sure that that is what the motion reflects. My motion says one children at play sign on Blake and one children at play sign on Fisher as determined by the director of public works and signs she'll be in accordance with MassDOT standards. Is that what you read and you think the applicant was asking for?

That is correct. We have a June 16th email from Jordan requesting two children at play signs, one on each street.

Okay, so Jordan, I'll get back to you one sec. Chris Cassidy, if you're still with us. I am. Can we accomplish this with only two signs?

I do, and Mike Hink, thank you for clarifying. That is correct. It was actually a request for two signs, and I 100% do think that we can still accomplish this goal given the locations.

Okay, Jordan, you did raise your hand. So I'll go back to you very quickly.

Yeah, so I think there was a little miscommunication, possibly on my end. But what I am asking would be two to four signs. It wasn't like I want four or like I think we need four. At this point, I'm willing to, you know, you know, stay on two, but I think four would be better. But if you have to go off the original motion, then I'm all for it.

So, you know, Jordan, sometimes what I see in these situation is if we can get the two approved, we see how the two work. And then if we need to revisit the situation, we can always put it back on the agenda. We can always do another public hearing like this and we can kind of go from there. But I would say to your point, I think this is what you're saying, but I'm not, I don't want to put words in your mouth. Two is better than zero. right?

Correct. I was seeking the higher road. And then, you know, if you guys can, you know, break it down to two, then I'll take what I can get. So.

Okay. With that being said, thank you for that, Jordan. I'm going to open it up to the public. Are there any neighbors on or abutters on that would like to make a comment? I see Daniel Cornier. Did I say that correctly, Daniel?

Daniel and Catherine Knoyer.

Knoyer. So I did not. I apologize. Welcome to our meeting. Please feel free to address the board and the public and everyone who's listening.

Thank you, everybody, for having us on. Again, we are we have four of our own young children here and they're always in the driveway right along the street riding bikes in the neighborhood. It's a pretty safe neighborhood for them to wander out and kind of play with the neighborhood kids. So I agree. The the trucks, the bigger, larger trucks that can't fly through there. definitely seemed to present a problem. So having any kind of signage would be great. We're both on board with that.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. Is there anyone else that would like to make a comment? I see there's Sue Shirley on. Yep, I'm on.

We are right across the street from Dan and Catherine. And we wholeheartedly agree that the number of trucks, especially coming through the neighborhood, has been high. And they do seem to be going too fast. And there are a lot of kids out on bikes, especially. So we're for it.

I'm sorry, what else did you say? We're for it. Okay, yeah, I appreciate that. Anybody else on that would like to make a comment before I turn it over to the board? Okay, seeing none, I'm going to turn it over to Selectman Anderson. Selectman Anderson, any questions or comments for anybody with regard to this issue?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, I would support, you know, the signs, especially at least two of them. But my question to you, Mr. Chair, is now we have a sign policy in place. So I'm assuming this has already met the sign policy and that's why it's here.

Yes. Great question. And as I was alluding to before, but I didn't eloquently say that. In part of us going through all of our policies, we revamped our sign policy request and exactly what you're seeing before us followed the proper protocol. We... Whenever we get a sign request like this, Mike King in his office takes the request. They do the necessary due diligence. They reach out to the DPW. They reach out to public safety. They do a public hearing notice so that the abutters know that we're trying to do something like this, get it on the agenda. And then by the time it gets to us, Selectman Anderson, all of those other boxes have been checked.

Okay. So no further questions. I would support the two signs.

Thank you. Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So yeah, obviously, public safety is paramount. I live in an adjacent neighborhood and I agree there's lots of trucks rolling through the neighborhood. They clearly do drive fast. And like Chief McGrath said, perception is different from reality, but I would support this. And finally, through you, Mr. Chair, could we make an amendment to the motion to go for the four rather than having to bring it back another time?

I would not actually, I would not support that. I think we should start with the two. The two is what the recommendation is from the DPW. And then we go from there. It's harder to take signs away than to add signs. So I would say we start with the two and then we go with, if we need to revisit it, we revisit it. But obviously I'm only one vote. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mike, do you have anything else to add?

Nothing to add, Mr. Chairman, about what we can do.

All right, select them off. Well, I would like to have seen a traffic report. I think that's something we should desire going forward as part of this process. But no doubt the reality is happening. There's people speeding there. I support it. Mr. Chair, no questions. Okay, appreciate that.

And we can revisit an official traffic study. I want to dive into that a little bit, Roy. It doesn't sound like a bad idea, but I just want to see what that entails before we do, you know, maybe add this to the process moving forward. So good suggestion. So at this time, I'd like to take a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. Second. Second. Oh, thank you, Wright. So motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson?

Anderson, yes.

Selectman Harrington? Harrington, yes. Selectman Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. And at this time, Chair would entertain a motion to approve... the request for one Children at Place sign on Blake Road and one Children at Place sign on Fisher Road as determined by the Director of Public Works and the sign shall be in accordance with MassDOT standards.

So moved.

Second? Second. Motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by I think it was Selectman Harrington. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson? Anderson, yes. Selectman Harrington? Yes. Selecting Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Congratulations. DPW, Chris Cassidy, when, just to set expectations, when do you think these people might see these signs?

I am going to, Mr. Chairman, I'm shooting for it for next week. So I'm going to try to get them in as quickly as I possibly can following this meeting.

Great, Chris. Yeah, that'd be great. Have someone shoot Mike's office an email when they're up, just so the board knows that the issue has been resolved. We appreciate everyone who brought this to our attention. And thank you for being great residents of Rentham. Please feel free to hang out and listen to the rest of our exciting meeting. And we wish you all the best. Have a great night.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you.

You're very welcome. Okay, let's move on. Let's go to tab number four. Looks like tab number four is going to be a special event permit. Vendor market at Big Apple Farm from September 19, 2026. No, not from. On September 19, 2026 and October 10, 2026. So in our packet... We have some documentation pertaining to the special event permit application for both of the events. With us, we should have Cynthia Guyon. Cynthia, are you with us? Yes, I'm here. Hi, Cynthia. Welcome to the meeting. So I just want to let the board know before we turn it over to you, Cynthia, just for a quick summary of what we're doing. Okay. We have in our packets board, as you know, we have a complete process, a checklist. It's already gone through all the stages that it needs to, including, I'm assuming, public safety, Board of Health, all the necessary people have signed off on this so that it comes before us. And I also see, who's that on there from the Big Apple? It's me. It's Becky. Hey, Becky. I thought that was you. How you doing? Good. How are you? Guys, I have a personal gripe with Becky because at the last, I'm joking, at the last event that they had, Selectman Anderson and I got into a pie eating contest over at Big Apple. By the way, it wasn't much of a competition. I knocked his doors off on this thing.

First of all, second of all. Not even close.

Second of all, I was totally joking, but how do I say this in the nicest way possible? This has no influence on the quality of the pie because their pies are incredible. But because Chris Gallo tends to be a competitor and doesn't want to lose, I ate the pie so fast that I barely got home before the pie came back up. So I have a major issue with Becky. And again, I just we had a great time. It was a great event. It was awesome to get the vendors there. And I'm looking forward for the next one. Maybe I'll tone it back a little, Becky, for the next one, though.

I mean, you came with goggles on. So, I mean, we have to we have to state that for everybody.

All right, so that's embarrassing, but I did. So Becky, great to have you. Cynthia, great to have you. Do you mind just giving us a quick understanding of what we're doing on these two events to the board, please?

Sure. So they're going to be pretty much the same that we did last year. The one in September, we're planning on having it up in the Pick Your Own area. We understand that that gets a lot of foot traffic. There'll be plenty of room for parking. No problem with, you know, pedestrians crossing. So right now we have about 25 vendors. We only have one food vendor. No food trucks, no entertainment. So it's a pretty basic event. The October one, we're going to bring it back down to the blueberry patch. We've got a few more vendors. Again, only one food vendor, no food trucks, no entertainment. You know, just pretty basic outdoor shopping and and fun.

Sounds fantastic to me. I'm going to open it up to the board members to see if anyone has any additional questions or comments. And we'll start with Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I actually attended the one they had last year. I thought it was well run. I didn't see any issues. So I've got no problems with this request.

That's fantastic, Selectman Anderson. Selectman Harrington.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, yeah, I wish you the best of luck on both the events. It's already been through all the departments, public safety, and I wish you the best.

Great. Thank you, Selectman Harrington. Selectman Lamothe, anything to add?

No, we're going through the process. It's a continuous process. Looks great. Thank you.

All right, great. So at this time, Chair would entertain a motion to approve the special event application for Fair Factors Vendor Market to take place at Big Apple Farm on September 19th. in October 10th, 2026, pending good standing with the Board of Health, Building Inspector and Public Safety.

Don't move.

Second. Motion made by Selectman Anderson. I think it was a second by Selectman. I'm off. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Blackman Harrington. Yes. Selectman Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Congratulations. Have fun. And Becky, good luck later on this week with the delegation coming through the farm. Please keep us posted on how our board can continue to work with you guys and support you. Okay. Thank you. All right. Have a good night. You too. Okay. Let's go on to tab number five. Tab number five is a license amendment application for La Familia located at 263 Shears Street. This is for a pledge of collateral. So in our packet, we have some documentation. We have the license amendment application for La Familia. And with us, we have someone that I thought this was him, a gentleman by the name of Peter Salino, who I happen to know. Peter, welcome to our meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Happy to be here. I did not know you were the chair of this board, and I'm very happy to be before you.

And now you know, and you still came. So that's impressive.

I'm happy to be here.

We're happy to have you. So Peter, do you mind just giving our board, we got the full package in our packet. The board's had a chance to review everything. As we do with all these, Peter, there's a checklist of events that have to happen before it gets put on the agenda and we have a meeting like this. But if you could, do you mind just giving the board a quick summary of what we're trying to accomplish?

Certainly I can. So for the record, my name is Peter Salino. I'm a lawyer in Fall River. I'm here tonight for Bay Coast Bank. I conducted a commercial real estate transaction in which Bay Coast provided a line of credit to La Familia. And part of that loan approval was a pledge of this liquor license. I do see Deb and Ever Amaya are on who are the operators. That was at the request of the board. So simply what's before you is to approve a pledge of the liquor license associated with La Familia Restaurant to Bay Coast Bank as collateral for a promissory note in the amount of $4.75. Okay.

And Mike King, just for anyone watching that might not be familiar with this process, is this a pretty standard process?

It is, Mr. Chairman. It needs to go through approval of both the select board and ultimately the ABCC will have the final say.

Okay, fantastic. And Attorney Salino, you mentioned that the applicants are on. Would they like to address the board?

Deb, can you hear us? And would you like to address the board?

We're here. My husband and I are here listening. We can address whatever it is you're asking.

No, we just wanted to say hello and see how you're doing over there. I was just in there. Actually, I got takeout from there last weekend, and the food was incredible. So how are things going in Rentham so far, Deb?

Super. We've been received great by the community. A lot of great feedback. We really love the town. We're doing great over there. It's been a real blessing for us.

It's great. Yeah. Like I said, food was great. Uh, and I've been there before. Service is great. So it's great to have you in the community. We love our restauranteurs in Rentham. Um, so with that being said, I'm going to open it up to the board members to see if anyone has any questions or comments for attorney Salino. Um, and we'll start with Selectman Anderson.

Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I also have visited La Familia, not only in Rentham, but also in Cumberland and, um, They do a great job. I have no issues and no qualms about this request.

Fantastic. And just so you know, Selectman Anderson is the Select Board's official foodie. So if you get a badge of approval from Selectman Anderson, Deb, it's a pretty big deal. So I think things must be going great at La Familia. And thank you for that comment, Selectman Anderson. Selectman Harrington, any questions or comments?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So yeah, I too am a frequent flyer over at La Familia. I think Eric does a wonderful job. Awesome server. Can't talk well enough about the bow and ace and keep up the good work. Great spot.

Fantastic. Thank you, Selectman Harrington. Selectman Lamar. No questions, Mr. Chair. Thank you. All right. So at this time, Chair would entertain a motion to approve the Pledge of Collateral License Amendment Application for La Familia, located at 263 Sheer Street, Rentham, Mass.

So moved.

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

Anderson, yes.

Selectman Harrington. Harrington, yes. Select on the MOF? MOF, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Peter, great to see you. Thanks for being on. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Have a great night, everybody. Thank you. Okay, let's go to tab number six. Tab number six, this is a license amendment application. This is Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, located at 1048 South Street, Unit 40 in Rentham at the outlets. This is a change of officers, directors, and LLC managers. In our packet, we have the license amendment application for Cracker Barrel. And with us, we have Madeline Gaines and Stacey Reynolds. Madeline and or Stacey, are you with us? I'm here, Stacey Reynolds. Hi, Stacey. How are you this evening? Good. How are you? Thank you for having me. Doing fantastic. Welcome. Do you mind just telling the board what your affiliation with Cracker Barrel is and what we're trying to accomplish this evening?

I'm actually the general manager of the Rentham location. Great. And we are just coming here to talk about the officer changes that have happened with Cracker Barrel.

Okay. Do you want to give us a high-level summary of that?

Yep. So Richard Wilson, who was one of our current offices, has retired. And Jennifer Lankford has taken his place. Our current CEO is now David Dino. Julie Bassino is no longer our current CEO. So we've had a little bit of change with our offices within the company.

Okay, great. Seems pretty straightforward. We see these quite often. I'm going to open it up to the board members to see if anyone has any additional questions or comments. And we'll start with Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is basically just clerical. I've got no issues with this.

You're correct. Yeah, okay. Selectman Harrington.

No issues.

Okay, great. Selectman Lamar. No questions. Great. I don't have any additional questions either. So chair, I would entertain a motion to approve the change of officers, directors, LLC managers, license amendment application for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store located at 1048 South Street, Unit 40 in Rentham, Mass. 02093. So moved. Second. Motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson's a yes.

Blackman-Harrington. I think you said yes, right, Bill? Okay, thank you. Selecum and Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Congratulations. Stacey, have a wonderful evening. Keep up the good work over there.

Thank you. You also. Take care.

Okay, let's go, thank you. Let's go to tab number eight. Tab number eight, we have one of our well-respected guests joining us for tab number eight. We have Dr. Alan Cameron, who's gonna give to us a back to school update as he does every year. Dr. Cameron is the superintendent of Rentham Public Schools. Dr. Cameron, welcome to the meeting.

Thank you. Great to see you, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Mr. King. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here tonight and give you just a very brief update on what we've done to start the school year and some upcoming events we have. So we officially started off last week with two days of professional development, classroom preparation and collaboration on Tuesday the 25th and Wednesday the 26th. During those two days, staff members came in. We completed state-mandated training on a range of topics, ethics, special education, civil rights, discipline, crisis intervention, and emergency medical response. We were fortunate to have some security and safety training with Rentham Police Department Sergeant Morris and everyone's favorite officer, Cruiser. And we hosted our meet and greet, which is a Rentham event. unique tradition where we invite students and their families in to see the classroom before the start of the school day. That Thursday and Friday, we welcomed in students. We have 1,002 students this year. That's a 2.3% increase over last year, continuing our continued increase in enrollment. We're happy to see the students coming in. We're glad to have them. This year, we're going to continue to work on our three strategic objectives relating to learning, nurturing respectful environment connections, excuse me, and ensuring the environment is safe, innovative and inclusive. I want to focus on that last one briefly. I want to thank the voters and the leaders of Rentham because thanks to you, we're able to continue working on the new elementary school building project. The School Building Committee will continue to update the community as the project proceeds with an anticipated opening date of September of 2029. Also, I'm very thankful to Police Chief McGrath, KP Superintendent Rich Drolet for collaborating with us to help us to secure a full-time SRO for the district. We were sharing part-time, Officer Schwalbe. He was between KP and our district. Now we each have our own. We're sad to see Officer Schwalbe head to KP, but we welcome Officer McAllister and we're glad to have him on campus full-time. And I want to thank Select Board Finance Committee, School Committee, School Building Committee, and town meeting participants for supporting us and helping us to get all that work done. And then I just want to briefly mention a few things we have coming up, a couple of important events. On Thursday, September 10th at 6 p.m., we have the annual softball game between Rentham Public Schools and Rentham Police Department. That takes place at Sweatfield at 6 o'clock. and uh i can't we got beaten so badly last year i don't even feel comfortable talking any trash although i usually that's my one skill i bring to softball is trash talking but uh we're hoping for a better showing this year and we hope people will come out all the proceeds will benefit the rentham education association scholarship fund Then on Friday, September 11th, that is... Oh, yes, I'm sorry, Mr. Gallo.

No, just say the date and time again. I just want to make sure everyone heard that, and we can get that out to try to drum up some additional support for that event.

Yes, sir. September 10th, Thursday, 6 p.m., Sweatfield.

All right, great. Sorry, please continue.

No, thank you. The more we can get the word out, the better, although it is a little bit of a humbling experience to play against the police. They're quite good, but... I don't know what to see, what we can do this year. On Friday, September 11th, this is the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The National September 11th Memorial and Museum provides excellent resources for talking to children about this day. And I've shared that with the parents and teachers in our schools because of the age of our students, we're going to focus on patriotism and honoring the helpers and heroes in our community. And I will be in attendance at the town commemoration at 830 at the 9-11 Memorial. Thank you for hosting that. And then we've got two big nights for families coming up. The following week, we have our curriculum nights. So that's the night where we invite the students' families to come in. They get to meet the teachers, see the classroom, and learn about what the students are going to be learning during the year. And that's going to be for Roderick on Thursday, September 17th, and Delaney will be Thursday, September 24th. And the teachers and the principals will put out specific times because we have staggered times for those events. But overall, we've had an outstanding start to the school year. Very positive energy. I think that that vote for the building last spring really energized the school community. People are feeling excited about this year. Students and families seem very happy and ready to learn. And my colleagues and I are eager to help them learn, make friends, stay safe and have fun. And I'm honored to be the superintendent of Brenton Public Schools. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak with all of you. And I thank you for your service to the community. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you have.

Great. I'm going to open it up to the board members, make any questions or comments that they have in just a second. I feel the same way. We're lucky to have you, Dr. Cameron. You always do a great job. Appreciate your enthusiasm. Appreciate, you know, you know, just the level of professionalism and you bring an interesting, a very professional and, and you know, being a, Being a former Army Ranger yourself, you bring a very unique perspective when it comes to patriotism and when we talk about very difficult events like 9-11. I think you and I have discussed this in the past. I was in Manhattan on 9-11. It's a very important day for me, somber day, when the terrorists attacked the buildings. And then not only that, the other locations too. where heroes stepped up and made sure that more people didn't die. So we really appreciate you, you know, educating our students in a way that, you know, you know, in a balanced way where it gets the message of what happens because we have to talk about difficult things, but we do it in such a way that, you know, isn't going to scare anybody at the same time. I appreciate you saying that you come into the town event on 9-11 at 830. You know, we open it up to anyone, anyone, any parent, any student, you know, any resident of Rentham that wants to come pay their respects for the thousands of lives lost 25 years ago on 9-11, we welcome you to come. It's a somber event, but it's an important event. So appreciate you saying that. Appreciate your support there. Appreciate all you do for our community. And I'm going to be quiet and open it up to the other Select Board members for additional questions and comments, starting with Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Dr. Cameron, it's so good to see you tonight. Thank you, you too. I just want to thank you, your administrative team, your staff, and your teachers for everything you do for our children in this community. You've done a tremendous job in the amount of years you've been here. I expect you will continue to do the same great job you've always done. And I wouldn't sell yourself short. I'm pretty sure this year I'm going to make you look like a star in that softball game. I hope so, Chief. I need all the help I can get. I don't know. We'll see. You are the X Factor. We'll see.

I heard the police were looking for a new pitcher, though, is what I heard. Selectman Inneson, anything else before I pass it along? That's it, Mr. Chair. Okay. Selectman Harrington, the floor is yours.

So thank you, Mr. Chair. So thank you, Dr. Kamian. You did a wonderful job, you and your staff. You know, I'm proud to be part of the select board that's continued to support the school system, the school building. My four children graduated from school systems. They're all successful today. And I'm proud to say my grandson is there now. And I look forward to having him have the same great education that my children grew up with. And thank you for all you do.

Thank you, sir. And select them off.

Cameron, you make us all proud. I'm so happy to have you. And thank you for all the good work you've done and are doing.

All right, great. All right, Dr. Kerman, keep in touch with us. I always say you reach out anytime you have a question, concern, issue. Mike King is fantastic about responsiveness and getting you in front of us as needed. So the door is always open. We wish you and the staff a wonderful year. I know it's going to be a great year, but we wish you a wonderful year. And we look forward to getting an update from you again sometime in the near future.

Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Thanks for your kind words. And I'll see you all next Friday. Sounds great. Take care.

Okay, guys and girls, let's move on. Talking about a 9-11 event, very blessed to have Chief Marino with us. Chief Marino does a really great job every year of leading the charge with the SOMBER event, as we just alluded to. And I would like Chief Marino to see, Chief, do you have an update for us? Or is there, want to talk about the order of ceremony, how the day is going to go that morning?

Yep. So thank you for having me. Thanks for, you know, getting the message out on this. It's good to see the schools and Dr. Cameron, you know, try to educate, you know, a lot of the people that don't really understand what that day meant to a lot of people, you You know, it's interesting. I can't believe it's been 25 years. And, you know, every year seems to have a little bit more of an impact, especially when, you know, I'm hiring kids that weren't even born yet when this actually happened and trying to educate them on the, you know, the ravidity of the situation. So, yeah. It's the same routine that we have. We'll start at 8.30, muster in the morning. You should have the itinerary from years past as well as last year. We give the opportunity, we welcome the board to come and place the wreaths. Hopefully that will be the same as this year. And we just go through the announcements as the day unfolds until the last event of the final bells just after 10 a.m.

Fantastic. And yes, we have the agenda in our packet. And, you know, in past years, past couple years, I've addressed the people attending. Anyone else from the board, please feel free to address. It doesn't have to be me. But I do think it's important from a town official to address the crowd and, you know, the men and women wearing the uniforms. I just think that's an important piece of the, of the event. So chief Marino, once again, we appreciate you putting this together, making sure this happens each and every year. And I know I'll be there and I hope to see, you know, a huge turnout from the public. Cause like you said, it's it's crazy that it's been 25 years. It seems like just yesterday, but 25 years ago and talking to my kids and, about this day and what it meant for the country. It's mind blowing that it happened and here we are 25 years later. So we will never forget the event of those days and we will continue to celebrate all the wonderful men and women who lost their lives on that horrible day. So with that being said, we appreciate that. We're gonna move on and we hope to see a lot of people turn up for that event. We're going to go to tab number 10 at this time. So tab number 10 for the board. This is an elderly. We have the elderly and disabled tax aid committee update. So as the board knows, we've been reaching out to all of our boards and committees in town or most of our most active boards and committees in town. We want to give them an opportunity to come on, address the select board, address the residents. We want to let them know that we're here to support them and kind of get a high level update of what's going on within the organization and how our board could partner with you on things that you might need moving forward, challenges, opportunities, things of that nature. So with us, we have Amelia Small, the chair. Yes, here I am. Hi, welcome. Welcome and thank you so much for being with us. We want to give you the floor. And like I said, this is a very informal opportunity just for you to give us an update as to what you're working on, things you're seeing in the community, challenges, areas that our board can support and partner with your board on different things. And we just want you to know that you've got, you know, you've got a town that supports what you're doing and you've got a board that supports what you're doing. So welcome.

Oh, thank you very much for having me. First of all, I'll just give you a little update on what we do. The fund was established, the Elderly and Disabled Taxation Aid Fund was established to provide tax assistance for the elderly and disabled Rentham residents who are homeowners with limited income and assets. It's funded mostly by donations. And we have renamed ourselves the Rentham Neighbors Fund. We thought that was a little friendlier. And so what we did, how this all happened was, The committee was here in 2017, but disbanded. And then they regrouped again in fall of 2025. And since then, we have managed to get our application updated. We have guidelines. The application is now available at the assessor's office and at the Council on Aging and also online at the rentham.gov, which is great. It went active today. We have sent out buck slips with the tax bills for real estate in July. And we have now received about $1,500 in donations from the citizens of Rentham. Hopefully, we will be able to fundraise some more from some of the businesses. That's where we're at now. But all things considered, we have gotten a lot done in a very short amount of time.

Sorry about that. I was on mute. Sounds like you have. So thank you for that update. We appreciate that. What else can you tell us is going on?

Also, we are accepting donations all year long. We don't have any limit on that. People can donate on the website. There's an actual tab under where you pay your bills. There's a tab that says Rent Them Neighbors Fund. You can donate there anytime. People can also donate by check if they want to made out to the town of Rent Them. As long as you put Rent Them Neighbors Fund in the memo line, then we know that that's what it's for. And you can also donate in person at the collector's office. I don't know. Any questions you have for me that I can clarify anything?

I would just say, I think this is a really important initiative. I would say there's a lot of, you know, when I'm out talking to people and we try to, this board, one of the strategic goals of this board, Amelia, is that we've tried to increase our transparency with the public. We want the public to know that we're out there, we're available. You know, you see me pumping gas, you're getting a haircut, you know, maybe having dinner somewhere, feel free to come over and say hello. And we want to talk to the residents and hear from the residents about, you know, concerns, issues, opportunities, things that are going good. It doesn't have to be things that are going bad, things that are going good in town. And one of the things that I continue to hear, especially from our older residents is they love Rentham, but costs keep going up. Taxes keep going up, right? Utility bills keep going up and it's a challenge. And we, I think we need to, I think we need to continue to aggressively pursue ways to help our, you know, and not necessarily our elderly people, but anyone in Rentham who's having difficult times, right, paying the bills. This is a wonderful opportunity, though, to help the elderly and disabled people through this initiative. So I would just encourage everyone on this board, anyone listening, you know, find more about it, tell people about it. And geez, you know, it'd be nice if all of us could make a small donation to help the cause at the same time. So that's my two cents. Amelia, with that being said, I'll open it up to the other board members to see if anyone has anything to add or ask. And I would ask you that if you could, I want to make sure, Mike, can you get the website and send it out to the board members where we could spread this around and see if we could, you know, encourage people to make a donation? I would really appreciate that.

Absolutely. We've done some social media postings and website postings as well, so I can share that with the board.

And then maybe we can post it on... Sorry, go ahead.

That's okay. No, go ahead. Keep going.

I was going to say then maybe we could post it on our social media, within our networks, or what have you, Amelia, but go ahead.

Today, actually, there was a beautiful posting on Facebook highlighting this particular thing, and it was really well done. And so I would like to thank the town for that. It was a good advertisement for the fund.

That's great. Well, that was very timely. I'm glad that we could do that, and let's continue to do so. So with that being said, I'm going to turn it over to Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Amelia, it's good to see you tonight. Good to see you. I just have one quick question. What are the income limits?

Oh, okay. All right. I do have that listed here. It's $44,000 for one person. So $44,000 income for one person, and then it goes from there. So it's all listed on the website also.

Okay. Terrific. Thank you. No further questions.

All right. Great. Selectman Harrington, any questions or comments?

Give us a chance. So, hey, Amy, it's nice to see you. Nice to see you, Billy. I hope you and Steve are doing well.

Thank you for your participation.

And you're doing a great job getting it out to the public. And we'll clearly be sharing it on social media and do what we can to help.

Excellent. Thank you very much. Selectman Lamar.

I have a number of questions, but if you tell me it's on the website, I'll go there right after I get that link. But I assume there's a mission statement?

Yes, there's a mission statement and the guidelines and the application are on the website.

Okay, and do we have an idea right now what the queue looks like?

The what?

The queue, how many people, have you gotten the applications yet?

No. No, they just went live today. So September 1st to October 15th, the deadline is October 15th. Then we will go through the applications and we will give out the money according to need. But also all of the amounts are based on what we get in donations. So the more money we get in donations, the more money we'll be able to give out.

Sounds great. Thank you. I look forward to looking at that website and taking part in a donation.

Thank you very much.

Amanda, just so everyone knows, Amanda Vazapolo posted a couple of links in the chat for us. And I want to say Becky from Big Apple Farms still on, Amelia. And she wanted to tell you that if you could notify the community that the Big Apple offers a 10% discount for seniors on Tuesdays, 60 plus to qualify. So I think that means you got to be 60 years old to qualify. So that's another nice opportunity because I got to tell you, the pie's really good at the Big Apple. So we just wanted to share that with you. And there are some links in the chat. So yeah, like I said, very informal, Amelia. We just want to give you an opportunity to come and just show us in the public what a great job you and your team are doing. Clearly, you're doing that. So that's it. We wish you the best and continue to keep in touch with us.

Thank you very much. And I would love to send out a big thank you to all the members of my committee. They've been wonderful and very easy to work with. And thank you very much for having me.

So thank you and thank you to the members of your committee. Like you said, have a wonderful evening.

You too, thank you.

Okay, everybody, let's go to tab number 11. This is a cultural council interview. So interview and appointment of Kathleen. And I wanna say it's, is it Baliki? She can correct me if that's wrong to the Cultural Council. We have documentation from Kathleen in our packet, including there's an application. There's a recommendation letter from Eileen Erig from the chair of the Cultural Council. Kathleen, are you with us? Can you hear me okay? I am here. I'm with you. Did I pronounce your last name correctly or no?

Bellici. That's correct. Yes.

No, I said Bellici. I should have said Bellici.

Well, you must speak the real Italian because that's what you would say. I'm Irish. I just married into this family.

That's okay. It's great to have you, but the hand motion, you looked like a real Italian too with the hand motion, because that's what my mom and grandma would do when I got in trouble. So welcome to our meeting. Welcome to the Select Board. You know, we have your application in our packet. You're clearly very qualified. We have a recommendation letter that I'm going to ask our clerk, Selectman Harrington, to read into the record. And then what I'm going to do, Kathleen, is just open it up quickly to the board to ask any questions that they might have of you. We'll do a quick vote, and you'll be on your way. So, Selectman Harrington, do you mind, on page 48 of the packet, reading the recommendation letter into the record, please?

Okay. Letter dated August 23rd, 2026. Dear Rentham Select Board, it is with great pleasure that I recommend Kathleen Bellici for appointment to the Rentham Cultural Council. I've been working with Kathleen on the Rentham Cultural Council for a number of years and have been impressed with her level of commitment and engagement. She regularly attends monthly meetings, is an active participant and volunteers for activity in which the Cultural Council is engaged. It's without reservation that I make this recommendation. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like additional information. Sincerely, Eileen Erick, Chair of Rentham Cultural Council. Thank you.

Thank you, Selectman Harrington, for that. Again, Kathleen, looking at your application, 15 years in Rentham, occupation of consultant, master's in education, you know, been serving on the council since 2024. You know, look like a fantastic candidate to me. I'm going to open it up to the other board members for any questions or comments, starting with Selectman Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So Kathleen, just a real quick question. What do you see as the biggest issues facing the cultural council right now?

Well, I would, I think you'd have to compartmentalize them. 1 of them is being in the old Fisk. I think just in terms of the physical space, they are trying to get a new roof on that building to save the building. And I know that they're, they've been thwarted in their efforts to date. So I would say that is 1 thing. And then beyond that, I rather than what are the biggest issues I would say the biggest improvement since I've been there are the number of local and rent them people and events organizations who have benefited from who have submitted applications and benefited from. support by the Cultural Council, financial support to carry out their programs.

Okay, so let me just give you a quick follow-up question. How are you being thwarted on getting a new roof on the... You know, I'm only...

I'm like a plebe. I'm not... I don't know, but I know that there was a... They had requested finance. I don't know if it was from the town or whatever, but it was not granted. And I know that the Historic Commission has been also... Part of that, but I, I know enough to be dangerous in these areas. Mostly what I do, I attend meetings, whatever needs to be done. I'm happy to pitch in and be helpful. But the longer term members, I don't even know what the relationship in terms of ownership with the cultural council. And old Fisk is, but I just know that is probably a big concern. that there's a problem with the roof of leaking, et cetera.

Okay, Kathleen, well, good luck tonight. Yeah, thanks. No further questions, Mr. Chair.

Right, and I would suggest if I could to the board, we can get Mike King to send us an email follow-up on the roof issue. I know it's a deeper issue than- I know it is, yes.

And I think it gets deeper every year.

So my recommendation, Kathleen, isn't to focus on those things tonight. It's to focus on why you would be a good member on the committee.

Well, I just couldn't help but once I had the floor and you said, what are your biggest problems? And I thought, well, this is, I'm just, I was just grandstanding and taking my opportunity, seeing I had so many people who might be able to do something there. No, that's fine.

That's fair. But on this board, what we do is we really want to make sure we understand all the facts before we make comments.

Of course.

You know, just because we don't want to throw any blame around when, you know.

No, no. I just wanted to raise the flag.

Sure. Well, how about this? Let's agree that the flag is raised and we can have a follow up conversation. I'll make sure Mike King addresses the board on this matter because I know we've talked about it. But for now, let's move on and just focus on your application, if that's OK. Very good. So Selectman Anderson, thank you for that. Selectman Harrington, any questions or comments?

So, Kathleen, this is kind of like a reappointment conversation. If I'm not mistaken. So I appreciate your work. I appreciate taking the time to volunteer. And please keep up the good work. Thank you for your service.

Thank you. Thank you. Select them in the loft. Go right ahead.

Well, I want to thank you for your service and the fact that you'd like to volunteer and do it again is great.

Thank you, Roy.

And then go on record to say that it was Jim that opened Pandora's box.

I know.

No further questions, Mr.

Chair. That's a great point. One of my areas of focus is executive presentation skills. And in a meeting like this, you want to ask questions. focused open questions. So by asking, what are the biggest issues? It's like you just opened up Patriots, you know, the Patriots stadium in terms of what we could bring in.

I guess we could all agree that this is Selectman Anderson's fault. Just kidding, Jimmy.

yes sir once again i'll follow the sword thank you roy and jimmy we appreciate you being so light-hearted believe me everyone's great this is fantastic kathleen you're fantastic also just for all of you i i don't how many of you have been by the fisk or stopped by there is an amazing exhibit there of all of the artists who either lived in Wrentham at one time or currently live there now. And there's textile, there's pictures, there's paintings, the stories about Wrentham. And then the previous exhibit was oil, well, paintings, and then stories of old, and rent them and how far they go back. It was just fascinating. Anyway, I know I grew up in Connecticut in a small town which had a lot of also local history. And Rentham is just, it's an amazing place. There's so many just different little things to learn and focus on. And the Cultural Council just really brings that to the attention of the town. But getting the word out And actually stopping by, it's like, you know, if you live in New York, you've never been to the Statue of Liberty living and rent them. We, you know, we go about our business, but there's so many things. To enjoy if you stop and. I invite you to come.

I appreciate your passion. Very well said. And let's move on to take a vote. So Selekma Mamath went, at this time, I want to go to the motion, which is I would entertain a motion to appoint Kathleen Bellici to the Cultural Council for a term effective immediately and expiring on June 30th, 2029. Don't move. Motion made by Selectman Harrington, second by Selectman Anderson. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Selectman Harrington. Yes. Selectman Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Congratulations, Kathleen. Keep up the passion, and we will see you soon.

Excellent. Mr. Chair, could I address Kathleen with one comment? Go right ahead. Kathleen, in the St. Mary's Church, in the last year, there's been a donation. The Stations of the Cross had oil paintings, and it was done by someone, I think, in North Attleboro or Attleboro, donated them. Absolutely gorgeous. If you have not seen that, the Cultural Committee should go in and take a look at it. It's amazing.

Thank you. I go to the Abbey to mass, so I will go and see that. Thank you. Thank you.

Great. Kathleen, make sure to go get sworn in before you attend the next meeting, okay?

Yes, we'll definitely do that. All right, great.

Have a wonderful evening and we'll see you soon. Yes, thank you.

Thank you so much. It was a pleasure being at your meeting. Thank you.

Pleasure was all ours. All right, let's go to tab number 12. All right, tab number 12 is an appointment of Paul Bender to the Community Preservation Committee as Historical Commission Representative. In our documentation, in our packet, we have an email from Gina Solaris, who's the Historical Commission Chair. Selectman Harrington, you want to read that in the record, please?

Chair, so from Gina Salaris says, hello. During the historical commission meeting on August 6th, 2026, Paul Bender was unanimously voted to represent the commission at the CPC meetings. All our members of the commission were in attendance on August 6th. Roy Vann, Ray Rose, Leo Baldiger, Bill Jones, Zach O'Friel, Paul Bender, Gina Salaris. Thank you. And that's from Gina, the chair of the Rhythm Historical Committee.

Right. And just to thank you, Selectman Harrington. And just to remind the board, these are kind of, I hate to use the word rubber stamp, but I'll use the word rubber stamp. So if anyone has any questions or comments, raise your hand. Otherwise, I'll go right to the motion. All right. Seeing none, chair to obtain a motion to appoint Paul Bender to the community preservation committee as a historical commission representative for a term effective immediately and expiring on June 30th, 2029. So moved. Is there a second? Second. Motion made by Selectman Anderson, second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson?

Anderson's yes.

Selectman Harrington? Harrington, yes. Selectman Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Please let Mr. Bender know to go to the town clerk's office and get sworn in, okay? Mike, shaking your head, yeah? Everything okay? Do we need to add something to that? No. Okay. I couldn't hear you, but I'll take that as a no. Okay. Let's move forward. Tab number 13. So tab number 13 is a vote to approve the issuance of a $5 million general obligation bond and bond anticipation note or ban dated September 17, 2026 and execute any closing documents related there too. In our packet, we do have the documentation supporting it. Shows the votes of the select board, description of it. And we do have with us town manager, Mike King, who might be able to give us a quick summary of what we're trying to accomplish here.

Mr. Chairman, we actually have with us tonight, treasurer collector, Kathy Nelson, who will be willing to speak on the subject if you will be okay recognizing her.

I would love to recognize her. Can you do me a favor, though? You guys do this sometimes and I love you, but you don't put it in the packet. And then I look silly because I go to you asking for information when I have Kathy right here. So I apologize, Kathy. Welcome to the meeting. I'm going to have you on mute in a second, but welcome to the meeting. It's so great to have you. Thank you for all you do for our great town. Please let us know what we're trying to accomplish this evening.

Sounds good. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. The town had held a competitive bid sale on Tuesday, August 25th, 2026 for a $5 million one-year bond anticipation note to finance the beginning phase of the Roderick Elementary School building project as approved by a town meeting on June 1st, excluded from limitations of Proposition 2 1⁄2 and by a vote of the town passed on June 15th. The town received five bids on the note and TD Financial Products LLC was the winning bidder with a net interest cost of 2.84%. What is before you tonight is the vote to approve the note sale. The entire vote does not need to be read, but must be included in the board's minutes. Upon approval of the vote, I'm sorry, upon a vote of approval, there are several pages of documents that need to be signed by the majority of the board. And please note that wet signatures are required and that one of the signers must be Mr. Harrington and his role is clerk of the board.

Well, that's fantastic, Kathy. Thank you for that summary. Bill, can you sign for me too? No, I'm just kidding.

I had to sign today. It's like getting a mortgage all over again.

So Kathy, just so the board's well aware, and I'm sure everyone is, the reason that we're doing this ban is because we don't want to pay interest on a huge amount of money, like $40 or $50 million, right? Because we're not ready to actually break ground with the new school. So what this ban does is it acts as temporary financing, if I'm not mistaken, so we don't have to pay interest on the full amount.

Right, exactly. And then this ban will be rolled into a bond next year, is the plan at this point.

Okay, fantastic. Appreciate the explanation. Appreciate you being on here this evening. Select board members, does anyone have any questions or comments? Starting with Selectman Anderson?

None, Mr. Chair.

Selectman Harrington? No questions. Selectman Lamar? No questions. And I have no further either. Mike King, now do you want to add anything? Are you still okay?

I'm just happy that we got Selectman Harrington with me this evening to sign as the Clerk of the Board immediately after the meeting.

That's great. So, all right. Chair would entertain a motion then at this time to approve the votes as written in the form of the document that was prepared by bond council and provided to the board for the $5 million general obligation bond anticipation notes dated September 17, 2026 to be issued to TD Financial Products LLC.

Motion.

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

Anderson, yes.

Selectman Harrington? Yes. Selectman Lamothe? Lamothe, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Mike, can you please make sure that Maya or Amanda follows up with the board, reminds us to come in for wet signatures?

Yes, we'll just need to.

And thank you. Sorry, go ahead, Mike.

We'll see two more board members in addition to Mr. Herring, preferably either tomorrow or Thursday.

All right. Sounds good. And Kathy, thanks for being on with us this evening.

Thank you.

Okay. Let's go to tab number 14. Okay. Tab number 14, Mike. This is the discussion of the 2025 Volunteer of the Year nomination form. Mike, do you have a... I'm going to pass this one off to you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So annually, the select board identifies two members in reviewing applications for the town's volunteer of the year awards, which include an adult award and the Henry Carr Youth Award for individuals that are age 18 or younger. The awards are presented at the fall town meeting. the board can identify two members who will serve in a reviewing capacity this evening, as well as discuss whether there's any interest in making any updates to the application or selection process.

Oh, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So, Mike, appreciate you taking the lead on that. So, board, typically what we've done the past couple of years is Selectman Anderson and Selectwoman Rouse volunteered to kind of lead this up. One of the things that we discussed last year, Mike, if I'm not mistaken, was keeping the youth award exactly how it was, and then potentially we discussed making a couple of edits or at least discussing an edit for the other award. Is that a fair statement?

That is my recollection, Mr. Chairman. Currently, The adult award is for an individual. And there was some discussion about whether or not it could possibly be an organization in the Renfrew community that does good work.

Right. So I guess we want to just get some guidance from the full board. I know Michelle's not on tonight. She's out sick. But from us who are here, you know, I think the in my recollection, Mike, too, and I say this with all due respect, there was limited participation in the adult award. And there's always pretty good participation in the youth award. Is that also a fair statement?

That is correct, Mr. Chairman.

So what we're trying to do here, gentlemen, is, you know, because there wasn't an abundance of participation on the Adult Award, we started brainstorming and saying, geez, I wonder if we could open it up to, like Mike said, groups that are doing good things around town as well. I do think that the Youth Award is very important. I think people, you know, take it very seriously. And it's a great event for the youth. So I think we should keep that one alone. I know Select Woman Rouse agrees with me on that. But what are your thoughts? Does anyone have any comments or thoughts if we wanted to make that edit to the adult award, maybe opening it up? Or do you want to keep it the same? Open it up. Go ahead, Roy.

I think going with a group makes sense. Again, to your point, very few applications. I think there are far more groups that would benefit from the recognition, even the one we spoke about tonight, which is the neighbors of Rentham. You know, fantastic. Yeah.

Okay. Appreciate that. Bill, you had your hand up.

Well, for you, Mr. Chair, I think, you know, I agree with you and select moment Rouse, open it up to groups should also obviously leave it open up to, you know, individuals. Broaden it out. It would be good to have some additional applicants, if you will. And, you know, people presenting possibly groups or individuals.

Yeah, I think that's a great idea. That was the intent. We're not saying that an individual couldn't apply, but we're opening up to your point, Selectman Harrington. I think that's good. Selectman Anderson?

Yeah, I concur with both Roy and Bill on this. My question is this, is that are we picking two selectmen or select board members to do this tonight?

Mike, do we need to vote on the sub, quote unquote, subcommittee this evening?

You don't need to vote, but if you have any volunteers, that would be helpful.

Through you, Mr. Chair, I thought we volunteered. I mean, I thought the Selectman Anderson and Selectman Rouse volunteered for that in your initial opening comment.

Yeah, you know, I kind of thought they did too, Selectman Harrington.

I heard. I'm not positive. We're breaking up a little.

Yeah.

So, Mr. Chair.

If I recall correctly, Select Women Rows and myself have done it for several years. And I thought we said last year we were going to let Younger Blood take over and give them an opportunity to actually be able to experience the Volunteer of the Year Award.

Mr.

Chair, I want to make a correction.

I am probably older than all of you. And I did do the scrubbing of the individual awards last year.

Oh, it was you and Michelle?

Yes, that's right.

So the common, the consistent, the consistent select board member, select woman, Ross, I'd hate to take that away from her. Yes.

I would agree.

And since she's not here.

She enjoys it.

She enjoys it. It's a passion.

Okay. Mr. Chair. Yeah. I would make a motion to volunteer Selectwoman Rouse and Selectman Lamothe to continue the great work and do the Volunteer of the Year Awards this year.

I would second that motion. I'd third it. All right. Well, Roy. I didn't think there was any other way last year. I'm just going to tell you, Roy, the reviews are in. Five-star Google review. You did fantastic. You guys are going to run it for another year. Good. Let's go. We appreciate you, appreciate all the hard work, all joking aside. Appreciate you and Michelle tackling this. It's important that we do this, and you guys did a great job. So thank you. All right, let's move on. Mike, so there you go. That's the vote. And let's go to tab number 15 and talk bylaws.

Could I just ask that? I don't know what the procedure was, but I just asked Michael to have Maya forward all of those applications to us. Is that typically the procedure?

Yeah, I don't know. We haven't received any yet, right, Mike? No, but as we do.

We haven't opened it up because we were waiting for direction on whether to allow groups to apply.

Okay, so yeah, Maya and or whoever gets them in the office, we'll be sure to send those to both yourself and Select Woman Rouse. Mr. Chair, how many years has this been going on? Mike, do you know off the top of your head?

It's been over a decade. I'm not sure exactly the number of years. So Mr.

Chair, I want to say it's been probably at least 15 or 16 years.

My recollection, Roy, in talking to people is what Selectman Anderson is alluding to, 15 to 16 years. But I don't want to formally say. I'll get that answer for you, though. And we're getting the mileage we anticipate from it.

I mean, the kudos. I don't know. I'm just asking. meaning uh the the activity the interest or what mileage do you mean well i mean there's got to be some benefit for the effort that we put in so i mean what's the town's benefit is it appreciative you know or is it just two individuals or that walk away with their on the peacock for a moment, you know?

And Amanda did put in the chat, it's the 19th year for 2026. So that's great. I think there is, you know, the family that started this, I don't wanna speak out of school, but I know that there's a family that started this due to, I believe it was a child passing away. And in part of that grieving process, they established these volunteer awards. I can tell you that my neighbor won one of these a couple of years ago and, you know, took it very seriously, Roy, and he thinks helped get him into the college that he got into, showing he's a well-rounded, balanced student, you know, not just academics, not just sports, but community involvement as well. So, you know, I don't know, you know, the mileage you're talking about, but to me, you know, I think it definitely does, but I don't know. So, you know, that's just my humble opinion. All right. Okay. I appreciate the question. Mike, do you want to take the lead with the bylaw discussion or do you want me to run through this?

I'll take the lead, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Go right ahead. So for the town bylaw update discussion so fall town meeting has been scheduled for Monday November. And the warrant is currently open for town meeting article submissions and I would like to gauge the board's interest in submitting a housekeeping article to update the town bylaws to reflect the current titles of town manager. director of public works and director of planning and economic development. These updates would ensure consistency with the title established in the town charter, which is the controlling document and takes precedence over the town bylaws. So a couple of years ago, town meeting voted to update the titles with the charter. There hasn't been a vote to update the bylaws. So now we have some inconsistency in between the two documents.

So Mike, just to clarify, this is strictly kind of administrative. You know, this is low hanging fruit. This shouldn't be confrontational. You know, we're not looking to do anything that, you know, could potentially be viewed as such. This is more just kind of administrative.

I would agree that it's an administrative housekeeping type of article.

Okay. I see no issue with that. What are the board? What's the board think?

I'm with you, sir. Chris. I concur.

Roy? Thumbs up. Mike, go ahead. Move forward with it, please.

Thank you for the direction.

Okay, at this time, let's go to public comment, tab 16. So as part of our meeting agenda, we have an agenda item, a standing agenda item for public comment. Residents who wish to participate in public comment will be allotted two minutes to speak and must state their name and address. For the record, we ask you to put your camera on if possible. At the start of the comment, a timer will be sent via message from Maya Matarazzo. It should be visible on top of the screen and alarm will chime when time is up. At this time, do we have any residents interested in making a public comment? I'll give five to 10 seconds. Okay, five, four, three, two, one. Okay, let's go next on that. So, Jim, this is, I don't know if you saw this, but this is a new thing that we've added to the agenda starting last meeting. And I know you were in Alaska having a blast. But, you know, we have two specific things. select board appointments in Roy and Bill. And as you know, Roy is the select board representative on the Housing Production Plan Committee, and Bill is the select board representative of the CPC. So Mike and I and Michelle were speaking, and we thought it would be prudent to put a standing agenda item to get updates, because these are the only two committees where we have representation as the select board on both of these committees. So the goal would be for Bill and Jim to give us updates on the respective committees. If there's any votes or anything that we need to discuss coming up, we would, you know, there's no, any vote that we take is strictly for guidance in our opinion. there's no pressing vote, right? Because clearly we don't control the CPC nor do we want to, and we don't control the housing production committee, but it's a vote of kind of confidence or voter support, if you will, that we've done, you know, especially at the last meeting with the two projects that were up for CPC. So Mike King, would you say that's a fair assessment of what we're trying to accomplish with this agenda item?

I would agree with you, Mr. Chairman.

okay so with that being said i'm going to start with roy this evening roy um i know the committee the housing production plan committee is still very new you know essentially your charge is to do a study tell us what the housing plan looks like what the what you know what the the number of units looks like and obviously the ultimate goal of the housing production plan committee is to make sure that we're always above that safe harbor of 10 affordable housing So I understand you're the chair. We've established that. We established that it's a very new committee and it's infancy stages. Do you have any very high level updates for us at this meeting that you want to share?

Yeah, so we're at like 11.4 percent, 11.7, 560 some odd units. So we're in good shape and we're going to stay that way. And this committee is looking to put something in front of both the zoning board as well as the select board by the end of the year. The first draft of the housing production plan that was produced by RKG came just about two weeks ago, right about the same time we did this meeting. And I've read through it entirely. Personally, I don't have any questions or concerns about the content. It's a lot of fluff where they're repeating statistics and things about Rentham in such a form that would allow the state to approve it. So again, not much in there. The only thing I took was taken back by was the amount of non-compliance we have within our zoning bylaws for housing. It's upwards of 40, 48%. And You know, when I spoke to Shane O'Brien about that, it's pretty typical when you look at a town as old as ours and the setbacks from the street, there were no zoning back then. And when you're looking at different types of housing programs, you know, in order to accommodate the builder, there are certain adjustments or accommodations we make. So, you know, I was taken back by it. But now that it was explained to me by Shane, I understand it. We also received, so that's moving along. We'll have another meeting with them on September 15th. We also have received a proposal by the INES group for the community engagement. Again, like I said, repeated last week, I wasn't particularly happy with them. They did come back with a list of questions that'll be on the survey. We also have a QR code that'll be going out on postcards as well as flyers. They'll be in attendance at our Rentham Day. We've also set up a time for a meeting by constituents at the Fisk Library. So those things are going forward and we'll be able to complement the draft by the end of October. So it's moving forward. We feel good about it.

All right, great. I appreciate that. Anybody have any questions for Roy before we move on to Bill? No? Great job, Roy. Keep it up. Appreciate the high-level updates. Let us know how we can help you out. Okay. All right. Let's move on, Mr. Harrington. So let's talk CPC. So CPC bill, there was two votes for two projects. The first project was the rice complex field lighting that passed 5-3. So let's start there. What are your thoughts on, and again, we understand, let me just, I want to make two things clear. We understand both Roy and Bill that you guys have your own opinions and you're the ones that we've appointed on these committees. So you're obviously always gonna make your vote and we want you to make your vote. The only thing that I would ask is, chair, that when you're on these committees representing us as a board, if it comes to a vote, I'd always want you to at least say the select board supported this, the select board didn't support this. Not that you have to vote that way, but I want you at least to be acknowledged that the board either supported or didn't support it, because I just think that's kind of, I think that's par for the course as the elected or appointed official from this board. Does that make sense? Is that fair? Mike, would you agree with that as well?

I would.

Okay, so with that being said, let's talk Rice Complex. It passed 5-3. It looks like Leo, John, Jane, Chuck, and Andrea voted for it, and then Robin, you, and Steve voted against it. Any, just curious, the reasons, to your knowledge, why people didn't support it? Can you give us just a high level?

Sure, absolutely, Mr. Chair. So those, as... The vice chair on the committee and the chairperson on the committee had requested additional information from the recreation department, which we never received. Okay. From specifics. We have an email from Heather sending it to recreation. We didn't get it. Myself. the chair and one of the members didn't feel as though the recreation department was being transparent in their communication with us, that they were losing fields. They kept presenting the fact that they're losing fields and they're being taken away from them. Well, the land belonged to the school to begin with. It's for the betterment of the town. The department, I mean, the town has funded quite a bit of money to the recreation for it. They kept touting the fact that they're the only department that makes funds to offset costs, but they didn't provide any information. Gotcha. No, you know, it just, it wasn't transparent. The bid, we weren't notified that the bid had been submitted incorrectly and there was a problem with it. And for them to come back and have... change it up after the fact to not to exceed 350,000 did not seem to me something that as a member of CPC as a select board member and a citizen that I wanted to support something that I didn't feel was transparent to the time. That was okay.

I appreciate that. Anybody have any questions for Selectman Harrington on the rice complex vote before we move to the other one? No. Okay. So, Bill, thank you for that. Appreciate your opinion on that. Let's talk about Merrill Lake. So this is the one that, for me, it's a little bit more, I'm a little bit more concerned about this one. So this vote passed 6-2. So it was Leo, John, Bill, Robin, Chuck, and Andrea voted for it. And then there was two people, Jane and Steve, voted against it. This is the one that we actually got a legal opinion from town council on saying that in their opinion, these funds could not be used for what they were saying is maintenance and instead alluded to the fact that these funds should be used for preservation, one-time activities. So, the concerning thing for me is that town council highly recommended or at least put their determination that we shouldn't support this. I know, I don't want to get too much in the weeds but can you just kind of walk us through the rationale of still supporting the project.

Absolutely. So we had quite a bit of discussion with regards to Mirror Lake, the amount of money that has been spent by the town provided to Mirror Lake for the study to determine what is at the base of it and ultimately what will be done to it. So in the letter we provided to each of the board members, we gave them an opportunity to read it. to get an idea of what they thought um i came up with one very specific line in the letter that was provided and it says preservation is protection of personal or real property from injury harm or destruction So this crappy little weed that's in that lake is going to destroy the lake if it's not properly prevented. So you can, I mean, the attorney's letter doesn't clearly state, no, you shouldn't or can't do this. It was a recommendation. We also would have liked to have seen a counter to that from an attorney that might look at it differently, which we obviously didn't get. All of us, quite a few of the members went on to the state website, and there's numerous towns that support the destruction of their lakes as a result of weeds. Number one, Tingsborough happens to be one of them, which is they recently voted on it again, and they have our same attorney. Norfolk, I think it goes this week, they did a five-year plan for it and also the attorney for Norfolk represents the same law firm as ours. So I think, I mean, I liken the letter saying that they don't recommend it, but I don't believe that it would be an issue down the road, especially where it's clearly stated it's more of a preservation thing. She likens it to having grass Not mowing it, well, if you have the grass and it just regrows, it's going to grow weeds and it's going to destroy it. So yeah, maintaining it with preservation of mowing and treatment would make it more of a beautiful field.

So yeah, that's interesting. I appreciate that feedback. Mike, what I think we should do, obviously let the board members opine, but Mike, if you're okay with this, I'd actually like to put this on a specific agenda item for next meeting. And I'd like to get town council to come either remotely zoom in or come in person because we're actually going to be in person at the next meeting. We're doing the police swearing in ceremony on the 14th. I believe Mike it's the 14th. Yeah. Yeah. No, the 15th. I'm sorry. And we decided to do a hybrid meeting afterwards. So Mike, I actually want to dig into this a little bit because to Bill's point, I want to get some understanding. How are other towns doing this? How are other towns that our town council may or may not be representing doing this? What's the difference? And then what happens if Because I started reading into this myself, guys. And, you know, my research tells me that if it's deemed that we're misappropriating CPC funds on projects that we're not supposed to be, it's a violation of mass general law and we could be sued. So it's not something that I'm taking lightly here at all. And for that reason, I think we need to add it to the agenda specifically to talk about this, Mike. And I'd like to see if town council's available to come in, weigh their opinion. And then I wanna walk through the whole process. I wanna say to town council, okay, what happens? What can we do from here? What happens if it goes on the warrant and it gets voted in at town meeting?

what's our liability what's our potential exposure what does that look like um is that something that we can do mike yes i can facilitate town council to attend on the 15th and mirror lake can be an agenda item in the cpc vote

All right, excellent. I think it's that important because, Bill, you make some fair points that I want to dig into a little bit. Roy, Jim, do you guys have anything to add on this? I am going to make it an agenda item, but obviously I want you guys to opine, give your, you know, whatever you think. So, Jim, starting with you.

So, Mr. Chair, I didn't see that letter from town council, but was that a recommendation or was that a letter stating we should not do this?

I'm going to let Mike, Mike, would you consider it a recommendation or an opinion that we shouldn't do this?

Yeah, I saw it as an opinion that the weed maintenance has transitioned from possibly a preservation to a maintenance due to the frequency of the timing of those treatments. So I see it as an advisory that the CPC should not move this project forward as it is maintenance.

And that's, Jimmy, that's why we want to get clarification from town council, be able to ask these questions to your and Bill's points.

Mr. Chair, either through you or either Mike or maybe Bill, half that lake is in Norfolk.

85% is in Norfolk.

Yeah. So what is Norfolk doing to support the weed?

Whatever, I don't know the specific thing. One-third, three-quarters, I forget what the specific acreage is. Theirs is a much smaller chunk of the 15%. But they approved, I believe it was three years ago, for a five-year treatment.

So are they currently maintaining a five-year treatment?

I want to say it's possibly year three or four. I don't know for sure. This is the second time that Mira Lake has come back for funds for this particular.

So do we know what Norfolk's using for funding on that weed control? CPC. So Norfolk is year after year using CPC funds?

They approved it. I want to say three years ago for a five-year treatment plan. Correct.

Jim, so the only caveat to that, because I asked the same question, and Mike, correct me if I'm wrong. The only caveat is that, and this is why we need legal counsel to come on. I asked Mike King to check with legal counsel on if because it was a one-time approval of a five-year treatment, it's a one-time approval of a five-year treatment. My question is, is that considered preservation? Because it's technically a one-time event covering five years, right? And I want to see if Norfolk then goes back and asks for more money, does town council now think that that would be a violation of allowable use for CPC funds and a violation of mass general law?

Okay. Makes sense. I do think it's important to have town council at our next meeting.

All right. I appreciate that. I concur. Selectman Lamar?

Well, I think it's like the Bible up for interpretation. So I think another opinion would be of good service if you want to do that. I do believe it should be treated, particularly with the potential of dredging this, whether that happens or not. But now that they're looking to go out and get grants from the state and federal to dredge this and really resolve the issue, we should at least support them in the meantime. And as far as I'm concerned, I don't care whether it's maintenance or preservation. I think we should fund it. But I won't be here on the 15th, so.

Well, I appreciate that statement. I'll make sure that the board hears that. But I will just caution you that you may not care, but if we violate Mass General Law, Roy.

No, I understand. But again, it's an individual legal opinion. OK, it's not a fact and it's not black and white like like.

Well, listen, Roy, that's what we're going to have them come in and we're going to ask them questions. We're going to ask them to give us case law or examples where communities have potentially violated CPC funds and what the results have been. And I could tell you one of them that comes to mind turned into a lawsuit where residents sued the CPC. uh for violation of mass general law misappropriation of funds and the town had to pick up the legal bill uh for the applicant for the the residents the town's legal bill and it had to pay the cpc money back i think with a fine um so we are drudging in uncharted territory here um so i want to be very careful mr chair yes so is it possible can we get a ruling from the state on this It's a good question. It's a good question. I think we could ask Mike King to ask the state what their opinion would be. Mike, is that possible? Or are they going to say it's up to us because it's CPC funds, they're our funds?

Well, if you go on, not to interrupt Mike, but if you go on to the website for it and the director, Stuart Saginaw, I don't know if he would give a specific answer or not, but I asked Mike to have Heather go on the site and look at the towns that are doing it, how long they've done it for, and maybe we could send an email to Stuart and get his opinion on it. I mean, clearly, myself nor any member of the board want to do something that's going to cause harm or foul to the town to be sued. Of course. In reading their specific letter, to me, it's gray. And I mean, I think if you read it and you read what it says, I think it's a gray area on preservation. Because if we don't take care of the lake, with this treatment, it's gonna destroy it. It's gonna be ruined. It'll be...

I don't think anyone's debating that. I think they're debating whose funds should be paying for it. I think that's the question.

It'll turn into the crap hole in the corner of Park and Mill Street. So that's... And Brown funds all of the weed treatment on... Lake Pearl because of the beach and the boat ramp. But quite frankly, Mirror Lake is open to the public and partially town-owned, or it's all town-owned.

There's no access, though.

The access for a boat ramp is in Norfolk, but it is completely accessible to residents of Norfolk and Rentham.

Yeah, right. All I'm saying is there's no direct access through Rentham. We own a parcel. You can't park there. There's no beach in Rentham. In my opinion, Norfolk needs to step up here. And I want to see how much money they've spent versus how much money we've spent. And Mike has to have a conversation with town council and the Norfolk town manager, in my humble opinion. So as we can see there's a lot to this topic and that's why I wanted on the next meeting agenda, so we can really dive in and, you know, ask the necessary questions and no one's insinuating bill by the way that you want a lawsuit to happen for the town. I'm just saying, we got to make damn sure that we're pretty comfortable that that's not going to happen. That's my point. So, yeah. Let's go ahead and get that on the agenda, Mike. Let's see if we can get any follow-up determination from the state per Jim and Bill's request. And let's get our ducks in a row and ready for a good dialogue on the 15th. All right. Bill, appreciate the update. Roy, appreciate the update. If there's nothing else from the update on the board committee representatives, I'm going to pass it off to Mike King for his town manager's report.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have several updates for the board this evening. The first is in regards to the Public Works Building Project. So the Public Works Building Committee recently voted to demolish the existing DPW facility once staff transitioned to the new building that's currently under construction. The committee had originally planned to retain the existing building for cold storage. However, after reviewing the costs associated with preserving the structure for that purpose, along with future maintenance expenses, the committee determined that demolition was the more appropriate and cost-effective approach. As part of the revised plan, a vehicle canopy will be added to the site to provide additional covered storage. My next update is on a pavement management plan for the town. As part of the town's ongoing efforts to maximize its investment in roadway infrastructure, a five-year interim update to the comprehensive pavement management plan is currently underway. The current plan is approximately five years old and is due for an update to reflect current road conditions and priorities. The town is working with engineering firm Ty and Bond, which will present its findings and its recommendations at an upcoming select board meeting. Pavement management plans are valuable tools for prioritizing roadway improvements and helping ensure the available funding is invested strategically and cost-effectively. My next update is on the strategic communication plan. So the town will be distributing surveys this month, focused on both external and internal communications. A survey outreach is planned for Renfrew Day, similar to the housing production plan. Hopefully we can get some coordination there. where attendees will be encouraged to provide valuable feedback on how the town communicates with residents in the community. The surveys will help establish a better understanding of the effectiveness of current communication practices and identify opportunities for improvement as the town develops its strategic communications plan. And my last update is the retirement of Ray Rose from the Department of Public Works. So longtime employee, Ray Rose retired from the Department of Public Works on August 20th, after nearly 40 years of dedicated public service to the town of Ramfong. Ray made many contributions to the community throughout his long career. And we thank him for his decades of service and wish him all the best in his retirement. And that concludes my town manager's report, Mr. Chairman.

Great. Uh, anybody have any questions or concerns for Mr. King on the TM report?

Yeah, Mr. Chip. Go ahead. Yeah. So I would concur what he said about Ray Rose. I've known Ray for, for many years, well over 30. And, um, he's always one of the most hardest working guys they had in the DPW. Um, I'm sorry. I missed his, um, celebration. Uh, I was away on vacation, but, um, I'd be more than happy if someone could give me his contact information to reach out to him.

Yeah, that's very fair, nice. And I'm sure Mike can do that. And Jim, I'll let you know that I was able to stop by and it was a great reception. I presented him on behalf of the whole board, a really nice proclamation. I read it to him. I shared some kind words because I too have a relationship with Ray and he was very touched and appreciative and knows that this board and the town, you know, really appreciates his 40 years of service. to the community. He was very, very touched and he plans on remaining active. As you know, he's very involved in other volunteer groups within the town with historical and a lot of other things. So you'll be seeing a lot of them still. That's for sure.

Perfect. Thank you.

You're very welcome. Anybody else? Okay. Selectman Anderson, welcome back. The floor is yours.

Well, Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure who closed out the meeting last time I was not here. Who did it? Michelle.

Did Michelle do it? Yeah, Michelle did it.

She did a great job. Then I've got big shoes to fill. But with your permission, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn.

Is there a second? Second. Second by motion made by Selectman Anderson. Second by Selectman Lamothe. Any further discussion? Being none, we'll do a roll call vote. Selectman Anderson.

Anderson, yes.

Selectman Harrington. Harrington, yes. Selectman Lamothe. Lamothe, yes. Chris Gallo, yes. Motion carries 4-0. Thanks, everybody. Have a great night.

Thank you.

Great job. Two hours flat.

Great job.