Select Board Meeting — September 2, 2026

Good evening and welcome to the select board meeting on September 2nd, 2026 at 6 PM.

Call to order.

Would everybody please rise, uh, for the salute for the flag and moment of silence?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, thank you.

Mass General Law Chapter 30A, Section 20F requires any person recording must notify chair at the beginning of the meeting.

All select board meetings are recorded via audio and video and are broadcast live on Secong Channel 96.

Okay, would somebody like to take us through the board and committee openings?

Yes, volunteers are needed on the Capital Improvement Committee, 2 from the select board, 3 from moderator.

Commission on Disability, 5 from the Select Board.

Economic Development Committee, 3 from the Select Board.

Energy Committee, 3 from the Select Board.

Finance Committee, 1 from the moderator.

Historical Commission, 2 from the Select Board.

Recycling Committee, 1 from the Select Board.

Thank you.

Priority matters: appointment of William McDonough to the position of Building Commissioner/Zoning Enforcement Officer.

Mr. Kadeem.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So we had the opportunity to post the position.

We had several quality applicants that came before us.

One that really stood out to us was obviously Bill McDonough, who's been our per diem inspector, and he's been our per diem inspector on and off for a number of years.

Currently the building commissioner in Attleboro, has had some experience with Rehoboth as well, and he's also doing some per diem work with Rehoboth.

So I'm just happy we were able to steal him from uh, Attleboro.

So my recommendation to the board, uh, would be to appoint, um, William McDonough to the position of building commissioner zoning enforcement officer.

Okay, is there a motion?

Oh, sorry.

Yes, it moves that the select board appoint William McDonough to the position of full-time building commissioner zoning enforcement officer, subject to and conditioned upon successful passage as determined by the town administrator of a pre-employment background inquiry check, physical examination, drug screening, completion of all pre-employment paperwork, and successful negotiation of a contract.

Second.

All right, any further discussion?

Uh, I would just say that I think Mr. McDonough is a very, very welcomed addition to our, our staff, and I'm, I know he'll do a good job.

He has in the past, and He has a wealth of knowledge and experience, and this is a very good hire for the Thomas C. Connick.

So, okay, all in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Mr. McDonough, congratulations.

Congratulations.

Okay, all right, community speaks.

And if, uh, anyone want to speak on the community speaks?

Yes.

Hello, um, Doreen Taylor, 101 Forsyth.

I'm going to read a statement that I wrote, um, so I don't go sideways and off the charts.

Um, first I want to thank Michael Healy for reading the extended response from the AG's office at the last meeting regarding my Open Meeting Law complaint regarding the process of the purchase of Madeira's Farm.

I was not prepared to speak to the document at that time, but I wanted this board to know that while the AG's office did not find a violation of the law in legal terms, they did send a message regarding the use of executive sessions and the discussions within.

I remain steadfast in my belief that the select board involved violated the public's trust and that they were— there were discussions pertaining to land use to the point where designs presented at town meeting matched their discussions behind closed doors, along with the involvement of the Community Preservation Chairman to convince us to vote in favor of the purchase.

I voted in favor for the family, not for the town, for the purchase, not for the design.

There was a violation in the town's own administrative policy regarding acquisition of real estate whereby the designee appointed to negotiate a buying price was not voted by the board.

That designee failed to obtain the required 2 appraisals for the property as outlined by policy, and now we have learned that same designee communicated with someone on the state level to see if the town could offer more money to buy over and above the appraisal land in hand.

Further, the application to CPC for the monies used to purchase was not filled out by our governing authority making all the— making all the plans behind closed doors.

It was submitted by the Conservation Trust with no signature.

To make things worse, the application is not signed or dated as approved by the Community Preservation Committee chairman.

But that individual could not really ask for and approve monies under his own purview.

Still, the application should have been completed by the CPC vice chairman in his stead.

This is an auditor's sweet dream here.

It's like a loan application without being signed.

The application in the amount of $2 million— was $2 million.

No outrage because no one knew what was going on.

There was zero oversight.

There was no disclosure until the vote on town meeting floor.

There we thought was the end of CPC involvement.

Fast forward to the questions of the design— of the designer phase.

I recently sent a Freedom of Information request for the CPC applications submitted and select board minutes for the $825,000 to hire a designer for project.

Simultaneously, I sent the same request to CPC.

The Select Board's office responded with the application which was submitted by Mr. Kadeem.

There was no voting minutes provided to show this action was authorized by the Select Board.

The application was incomplete as it was not dated as received by the CPC or authorized by the CPC as accepted or approved.

Another blank loan application.

The CPC responded, uh, with the application same as the select board did and included their voting minutes dated April 1, 2025, along with a copy of the CHA overall site master plans for the Seacombe Medeiros Farm Recreation Complex It was dated February 2025.

During the joint meeting of the CPC and the Farm Committee on April 1st, the presentation was made by the Farm Chairman requesting $825,000 for designer services.

Subsequently, the CPC approval votes also included the Farm Chairman, as he serves on both committees.

But that individual could not really ask for and approve monies under his purview, but he did.

In short, this means the Farm Chairman asked for funding of CPC, which was the document submitted by Mr. Kadeem, and then voted in favor of receiving it at the same meeting for his use through the Farm Committee.

At town meeting of May 8th, 2023, Article 11 approved $150,000 under the direction of the Board of Selectmen to seek, hire, and direct a consultant to develop a master plan for the Madeira's Farm project at Elm and Lincoln Streets.

Mr. Kadeem has confirmed those plants cost $143,200.

There is a remain— a remainder from Article 11 in the amount of $6,800.

Skip ahead to town meeting of May 12, 2025.

A resident, Mr. Kazarian, petitioned to stop the expenditure of $825,000 and actions by the armed committee until things could be reviewed.

He was told his petitioned articles were legal, only to be shouted at and vilified by the audience with no assistance from the select board or the town moderator.

To add insult, he was ultimately told his articles were not legal on the floor of town meeting.

Not one person would listen, yet he was correct.

This did in fact need further review.

That warrant, as with many others, is under the direction of the select board.

Town meeting does not direct use, they approve it to be used as defined within the language of the warrant, just like they do not appoint building committees, they simply create them.

Those members of that building committee were not appointed properly until 2026 by the proper authority as per the Seekonk Town Bylaws.

Meeting commentary saying it was a reaffirmation was bogus.

It's that simple.

When it was brought to the Farm Committee, discussion was shut down immediately.

Not one person would listen.

Yet I was correct at that time.

When town meeting approved a 10-classroom addition to Aiken School in 2018, the warrant was written under the direction of the selectmen, yet the school committee took it over.

And the result was more than the warrant originally requested.

Look at the results.

It's more than just 10 classrooms.

We all know it.

Yet no one would listen.

Where was the outrage then?

Crickets were louder and we went further into debt.

Everyone now is whining about signing the designer contract.

As part of another Freedom of Information request, I obtained a copy of said contract.

There is nothing in the document projecting the design wants of the town.

If this contract is supposed to mirror image the RFQ, other than the designer's name, address, and dollar amount to be paid, it does not match.

I certainly wouldn't have signed it, and if this is the way past boards signed contracts on our behalf, I'm not surprised that when projects are done, there are even more questions to be answered.

We have already paid $143,200 for designer services.

I'd like to go on record and request that I get to see the RFQ for that $150,000 and see what steps are currently repetitive to the request and reason for the additional $825,000 to the same company.

Are we repeating ourselves in any way, shape, or form?

In conclusion, where and when the town government decides to spend our tax dollars, no matter where they are allocated, be it free cash or any fund including CPC buckets, We have entrusted care to our elected officials, and we expect full disclosure, adherence to applicable laws, established policies, and defined procedures for use.

Anything less is totally unacceptable.

We have a right to know before anyone acts.

Clearly, in this project case, whether one likes it or does not like it, It was a mess from day one.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak at the Community Speaks?

You with the lady with your hand up.

Name and address for the record, please.

Jeannie Stocker, 4 14 Washington Street.

Okay, good.

It's come to my attention as of late that this board is doing some things that have struck me as inappropriate, and I'm talking about the Medeiros Farm project and the nay votes that have occurred.

Um, it's my understanding the town has voted 4 times for this project to move forward, and I know 2 of you are newer, newer board members, and, uh, I voted for you.

And I know one of you should not be voting on this because you're in a butter.

So I just want to make it clear that I didn't sign up to vote for people and then have you make your own little fiefdom here.

I, I don't entirely appreciate it.

So yeah, that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Sir, name and address for the record, please.

Hi, good evening.

Joe Novenson, 100 Brown Avenue.

Good evening, folks.

I'm speaking tonight not only on my behalf but on behalf of my children.

They're too young to vote right now but old enough to have strong opinions, as any parent knows.

Oftentimes I find myself telling them, you have to wait for something great.

That all being said, I'm asking you guys here tonight to pump the brakes before approving a formal traffic study based off of an informal master plan put together by the Maderos Farm Committee.

It's critically important that we get things right the first time.

I have waited 6 long years for bucket swings to be installed at the playground behind Town Hall.

We have cargo nets, a swinging rope bridge, and parallel bars that drop you from a climbing tower 2 stories up.

But to simply swing my toddler, I have to cross state lines into Pawtucket to visit Slater Park.

That's why it excited me to hear about the proposed Medeiros Farm project.

Finally, a place I could bring my growing family in the heart of Seekonk that could cater to all ages and abilities.

I enthusiastically voted at town meeting in 2021 that the town purchase the Medeiros Farm property.

The Medeiros family willingly sold it off, rejecting higher bids by private developers to help preserve Seekonk's historic character.

I left that meeting feeling hopeful.

It's easy to despair that our community, and our country at large, appears stuck, incapable of doing big things.

We've not had the necessary majorities to build a library, a Department of Public Works facility, nor a South End fire station for the modern era, and instead find ourselves managing decay.

By comparison, Madero's Farm project has won majorities at, at least 5 times across multiple town meetings years apart.

We don't agree on a lot, but 5 majorities says something.

Mr. Cadime has stated that by conducting a traffic study at the outset, there could be additional costs as the design has yet to be finalized.

He's reiterated the master plan put forward by the Madero's Farm Committee serves as a conceptual guiding document.

It's not the schematic design Seconck voters put up $825,000 for that can be adjusted by us, your constituents, by giving it an up or a down vote.

I'm deeply concerned that by forging ahead with a formal traffic study based off the concepts of a plan, we're putting the cart before the horse and wasting taxpayer dollars.

I ask that Mr. Archambault, a direct abutter to the Menderes' front property, recuse himself from tonight's vote and abide by the April 15th legal advice Town Council put in writing saying that because of his financial interest as a direct abutter, the law prohibits you from participating as a select board member in any matter regarding the Maderos Farm property.

I also ask that the select board carefully consider the implications of moving forward with their own traffic study that excluded the Maderos Farm Committee from the project they've oversaw from day one.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else?

Sir, you have your hand up.

Hello, Timothy McKenna.

I live at 450 Cole Street.

I am a board representative on the CPC from the Parks and Recreation Committee.

The CPC is a board board who suggests to town meetings and select board projects that it feels will best achieve the purpose of the Community Preservation Act, legislation that includes open space, historical preservation, and affordable housing and recreation.

The Madeiras Farm project is a good way to take a big whack at 2 of those things that we believe are very important to the town, and, uh, I would like it to be known that we support the project and It's moving forward.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Anyone else?

Ann Miller, 25 River Street.

I would just like, Mr. Chairman, your confirmation that Mr. Archambault will recuse himself from the Agenda item J, discussion and approval of the Howard Stein Hudson contract for the Medeiros Farm transportation planning and traffic engineering services.

That is totally his call.

Mr. Archambault?

I will be recusing myself on that vote.

And discussion?

Thank you.

Okay.

Anyone else?

Sir, Chris Rizzo, 305 Pleasant Street, and I have a couple things I'd like to speak on tonight.

Um, the first one is the South End Fire Station.

Um, I still believe that the South End Fire Station is going to be needed at some point in time.

I don't know exactly when that time is, um, but I am not sure how to vote on the November ballot question that's been put before the town.

Um, I am very stuck on the fact that we still need to be able to fund all of the pieces to make a South End fire station whole, both from the capital side, whether that be trucks and the building itself, as well as the staffing.

Um, and I believe the number that was required for that in the chief's presentation was around $11 million.

And before that presentation, I had thought, hey, you know what, maybe there's a way we can do a home rule petition where people like me who can afford to pay more would be able to, to do that.

Um, however, I believe recently there have been also questions on home rule petitions which will have people like me paying more to give tax breaks to, uh, to others.

And and seniors.

And specifically, one of the things that caught me was one of the people who got up and spoke at public meeting mentions he pays $12,000 in taxes a year, which when we have about a $12 per thousand tax rate means that's a million-dollar asset.

And I don't understand how we can consider this when realistically I need my taxes to go to funding things like firefighters, because I think we definitely need that.

And I— and that makes me struggle even more with the vote in November, because I think that it would be the right thing to support.

But I am deathly worried that we are going to build a South End fire station and not be able to staff it.

And I've been there, and that's a terrible spot to be.

I got lucky when I was short-staffed.

The worst thing that happened to me was I got a chemical burn on my arm.

10 members of my team weren't as lucky, and I would please beg you to think about that before you go forth, because all I see is the Swiss cheese model and the air going right through the holes in it.

And I really cannot be complacent in building a South End fire station and then ending up naming it after somebody.

Can I be convinced?

Yeah, there are things that can happen to do that, but I, I am very worried about it.

The second thing that I wanted to talk on was the traffic study, um, for the Maderos Farm project, and I am worried about a couple of things.

The first one is that by divvying it up into pieces, you end up paying more in the end for it.

So my understanding is we only got one, one bid for this, which makes me wonder if we're paying a premium for it or not, and I could be very wrong about that.

But when I've bundled things together in my professional career, I'm able to get discounts more on the lines of 33%, as opposed to when I don't bundle it together, I get maybe 4%.

But that's only one reason.

The fundamental reason is that at the end of the day, we asked the Madero Farm Committee to do this.

And as you read through the board committees and openings, I would ask you to think about that.

Why don't we have people who are coming forth and volunteering for committees?

And that's where I worry about how the vote went to even start this.

When you take votes, they have meaning and impact, sometimes before and far beyond what we intended.

That particular vote was illegal, right?

And I very much worry that that sets a disappointing tone for the members of the Maderos Farm Committee who are trying to do this work.

These are people who have volunteered for other committees and then got appointed to this one in addition.

And I worry that people who came, like those— a young father who was worried about the fields flooding, who participated in the 2004 open study report, get ignored, or the people who are— who had to go to the Yasemi Quinn Farm instead of using the fields here because they didn't have enough of them, or when the lacrosse team is playing across the street from my house at the Pleasant Street School on weeds that are on fields that are covered in weeds, that we forget all of the different needs that do occur for a property like this and we ignore the voices of of that foreign committee that we had appointed to do it.

And I would certainly recommend, and I'm happy to see that Mr. Archambault did recuse himself from a previous discussion, but he wasn't the only one who had concerns with that vote.

And I don't believe those concerns have been resolved yet, and I would ask those parties to do so.

Thank you for your time.

May I speak?

Sure.

Sitting here, people are passing judgment without knowing what document we were presented with.

The contract was not complete.

Sean, we can disagree on this, but what we were given, I wouldn't advise anyone to sign it.

That's why that document wasn't signed.

That's why the contract wasn't signed.

And if anyone would like to see the contract, we should share it because it didn't make reference to anything that was in the RFQ.

So if you really want to get down to talking about money, because of what was lacking to be— what was not in that contract could have ended up costing the town more money, because what should have been enumerated in that contract was not, and there was no reference to the RFQ the way it should have been.

So that's the real reason why that contract wasn't signed.

It was more legalities than anything else.

So I just want to put that on the record.

Anybody else want to speak?

Hi, Danielle Margarita, 26 Covell Ave.

I'm sort of new to understanding the contract and procurement process.

I'm just curious, with the contract process, Was there not a possibility of going back to CHA with the contract to say this and this is missing?

Can you— you have so many days to include this information before we can approve this contract?

Sean?

Well, first of all, I disagree with the statement.

So if the contract was valid, it calls out the scope of service.

It's completely The same contract that's presented to us by KP Law, it's the contract that we've used for all our building projects.

We've never had an issue with the contract.

So sure, we could have gone back and amended it if that's what folks wanted, but— So why was that not an option to have a better improved contract, if not with CHA, then perhaps with another company that had participated in the bid process.

In all fairness, um, we should have been given all of that information in advance, and we weren't.

I'm not going to sign a contract that I get the night of this meeting.

That's fair.

That's totally fair.

But in the effort of goodwill and collaboration, then I just don't understand why then there wouldn't be communication with CHA about presenting something that is more to your liking.

Would you— would it surprise you if I told you that I had to ask for the documents by— I just got them last week or a week ago, 2 weeks ago.

Would that surprise you?

But that didn't answer my question.

But that's— I can only do so much with the information I'm given.

I shouldn't have to chase anyone for information.

Well, that's kind of your job as a select board member.

No, I think it's the job of whoever puts our packets together.

If you don't get correct information, then you need to ask for it.

That seems kind of ridiculous to— I mean, not to use, not to use like, you know, a, you know, silly saying, but you're kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Let's take a look at something that's on the agenda again tonight.

Okay, but this isn't what I'm asking I'm giving you an example so you'll understand.

There's something on the agenda tonight that I've asked for 2 or 3 meetings ago.

I still don't have it.

So what exactly am I supposed to do, put it in writing?

And, and, but I'm sorry, so yeah, let's, let's, let's move on.

Community speaks.

Yeah, I get that the individual came up and spoke.

If the chairman allows you to say something the game, that's fine.

But this— what, during Community Speaks, this is not like back and forth.

There's not audio time.

I'm not arguing, I'm clarifying.

Okay, can I finish?

Yes.

Thank you.

You come up as a resident, you have a concern, we're here to listen to you.

It's our job to listen to you, okay?

Whether we like it or not, it's our job.

You have questions, we're going to give you answers if we have them.

If we don't have the answer, then we'll find an answer for you.

There should not be going back and forth debate because we don't like the conversation.

This is going on for the last couple weeks.

I'm not, I'm not saying anything directly to you.

This is going on the last couple of weeks, and we actually, as a board, we need to reel in community speaks, in my opinion.

Okay, we have to be respectful to residents who come up here and speak to express their concerns, whether we agree or we don't.

That's what we're elected for.

Absolutely.

And I do thank you for your point of that, you know, we have questions, it's your responsibility ability to answer it.

So I would love— not tonight because you have a jam-packed agenda, but I will send an email and will request further information about the contract process and why can you not then negotiate a contract that you're unhappy with instead of it being, you know, null and void.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

Yes, ma'am.

Bonnie DuBois, 380 Prospect Street.

I just want to say that I oppose having a traffic study at this time.

I think it should be included in the next stage of the contract when we have a more firm view of what's going to be included in the project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else?

Anyone else?

Okay, moving along.

License hearing.

Consider requests from Gary Minnesian Ocean State Multisport to waive the strict compliance of the requirements from the one-day special event bylaw and to conduct 2 road races to be be held on December 6, 2026, and January 1, 2027, with a start to be located at the Newman YMCA, 464 Taunton Avenue.

Sir, yes, for the record, you are, uh, Randy Shoecraft, 101 Forsyth Circle.

Okay, so I'm here on behalf of Gary.

Um, he had an emergency, he couldn't make it tonight, um, but I'm here for the consideration to waive the strict compliance requirement for the one-day special event bylaw for those 2 events, one on December 6th, one on January 1st, road races both starting at the Y and ending at the Y.

And you've done these many times in the past?

Yes.

Yep.

Okay, any questions of the board?

Okay, do I have a motion?

Motion?

So moved.

Second?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Okay, thank you, sir.

Okay, next we have a continuation of a license hearing.

License hearing pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 140, Section 59, to discuss a Class 2 license regarding K&A Auto, a motor vehicle business located at 190 Taunton Avenue, Seekonk, Chu Hong Kim, owner.

Good evening.

Good evening, sir.

Uh, again, for the record, you are— my name is Attorney Michael Garland.

I'm representing K&A Auto Sales.

Okay.

And this is my client, Chu Hong Kim.

Yep.

Very good.

Go ahead, you have the floor.

So, yes, thank you.

So we appear before you on August 5th, based on complaints that had been made to the Seekonk Police Department from disgruntled customers who had been dealing with an individual by the name of Anthony Baronet at the K&A Auto Sales lot on Taunton Avenue here in Seekonk.

And at that point, I represented to you that Mr. Baronet was, was conducting business in a proper manner.

And in fact, he had been fired by Mr. Kim at the end of June of this year.

I believe the day after, I was able to obtain copies of the various complaints that have been made to the Seacong Police Department.

And Mr. Kim and I have been able to do some research in terms of what the complaints were and what the issues were and if they could in fact be fixed.

And I— what I would prefer to do is to just take things out of order specifically, just— and I'll explain the reason why.

One of the complaints had been asserted by a gentleman by the name of Mackinson Revolt, in which he claimed that he had purchased a vehicle from our lot and had never received the vehicle.

Mr.

Revolt brought a small claims action in the Taunton District Court against K&A and also against Mr. Baronet, although he misnamed Mr. Baronet in his complaint.

I don't really know the reason why.

We had a hearing on that, that complaint last week.

I believe it was August 26th, and the court found that Mr. Baronet did not show up, which is actually part and parcel of his course of action, and I'll explain that in a moment.

But after hearing, the clerk found that K&A was not responsible or liable for Mr.

Revolt's complaint.

In doing further research to prepare for tonight's hearing, Mr. Baronet resides in East Providence, and in Rhode Island— and I'm licensed in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island— I was able to to go onto our court portal.

And when I did that, I found a number of complaints that have been filed by individuals specifically against Mr. Baronet.

And it's a continuing pattern of conduct where he holds himself out as a reputable dealer, payments are made by these people expecting to get a used vehicle, and they don't get the vehicle, and Mr. Baronet holds onto the money.

And I have— I printed copies of the complaints, and I think in all cases he did not appear for a single one, and so default judgments were entered.

And so my point is that this is a bad actor.

This is a man who my client should never have hired, and I think he acknowledges that.

And I think because he left number of disgruntled people in his wake.

That's why, and because they were not getting answers because they were dealing primarily with Mr. Baronet, that's why the Secaucus Police were contacted, and they in turn contacted you concerning what was going on at K&A.

I'm advised, and having spoken to my client, and again, I'm taking things out of order, but if you'll bear with me, I'd appreciate it.

There was a complaint brought by Michael Gabriel back in April of this year in which he claimed that there were problems with, with the vehicle that he had purchased.

My client actually reached— actually took— made arrangements to have that, that vehicle repaired.

It's my understanding that whatever issues Mr. Gabriel had have been resolved, and that what I would say is, is that, and I think this is true for any vehicle, if there's a problem with the vehicle, the consumer's remedy is to go back to the dealership.

Under the Lemon Law, the dealer has 3 opportunities to make repairs, and in most cases, at least based on my experience, the problem is then remedied.

If it's not remedied, the consumer or the customer has recourse under the Lemon Law.

That was Mr. Gabriel, Michael Gabriel.

With respect to a Mitchell Dudley.

Mr. Dudley had contacted Mr. Kim complaining.

He had told us that he had, had been unable to find the duplicate title for his vehicle.

It was lost.

He asked my client to, um, to obtain another title for him.

And apparently after he put in this request and the money was paid, Mr. Ricky then then, or Mr. Deli rather, I think, then called him back to say that he had found the title and he wanted his money back.

The problem with that is that Mr. Kim had already processed the paperwork and paid the fee in order to get the duplicate title.

So it's an unfortunate situation, but it was not anything or any misconduct on behalf of Mr. Kim.

The issue— there was, uh, one of the police reports was from a Luxon Firmius.

This is back in May of '26, in which apparently he went to the lot and he apparently had an altercation with Mr. Baronet relating to a transaction that he had conducted, not at K&A, but a previous transaction.

Again, I would submit to you that this is, you know, further evidence of misconduct by Mr. Baronet.

The mistake my client made was hiring this gentleman, and that has been remedied because he has been fired.

There was also, back on June 29th, when a Karina Gandulia, who had been hired by Mr. Baronet, was fired by Mr. Kim, the police were contacted.

There was an issue of returning a store key.

She returned the store key.

She left the premises.

So I think to the extent that my client has had dealings with any of these individuals, he has acted in good faith to take care of them.

Let me mention one other one that comes to mind.

This in fact may have been the first complaint.

This was a complaint filed by a Charles Emanuel and a Ruth Fortune back in February in which they apparently had purchased a car at an online auction.

They wanted a refund because they weren't happy with the car.

This was a deal that was handled by Mr. Barnett in the state of Rhode Island.

It was not a K&A transaction.

Apparently they traced him or found him at K&A's— at K&A, and that's when they went there or complained about trying to get this refund.

But again, it was not something that my client was responsible for.

If you wish, I can submit copies of the small claims actions that have been filed by Mr. Baronet, or against Mr. Baronet, Rhode Island.

I can also provide you with a copy of the docket sheet for the case in Taunton that was just resolved last week, and I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

Are you suggest— suggesting that Mr. Kim should not be a responsibility for the police having to respond 18 times?

Well, I— sir, I have, uh, I have 13 or 14 times.

But aside from the number, I think he bears responsibility.

But I'm trying— what I'm trying to point out is that this is the action of a rogue employee, someone who com— who committed fraud against my client.

This is a situation where, based on our investigation, Mr. Baronet, holding himself out as an employee of my client, was pocketing money, um, and, and, and burning customers and also burst burning my client.

So yes, I think he bears responsibility.

I think respectfully you've suspended his license for a period of 1 month.

He's taken affirmative steps to remedy these problems.

And so I think he— I would say to you, sir, that he does bear responsibility, but he's also paid the penalty.

And I think he's taken steps to try to remedy any problems that can be tied directly to K&A.

But to the extent that these are complaints from individuals who dealt with Mr. Baronet, not at K&A but in his prior dealings, and again, I mean, my research, I did this this afternoon and I found 5 cases.

There may be more.

There may be more cases in Massachusetts.

I didn't have a chance to review the dockets for the various district courts in the state.

But this, all I can say is this is a bad actor.

My client made a poor— showed poor judgment in hiring this gentleman.

When he found out about the scope of the misfeasance and fraud, if you want to call it that, he took the affirmative steps to fire this gentleman.

We're talking about action that took place over a period of about 3 months.

And so this man inflicted a substantial amount of damage to my client.

To the business, and when the scope of that problem manifested itself, he took the appropriate action in firing him, also firing this woman, Ms. Gandella.

And I would submit to you, I don't believe— and if I'm wrong, please correct me— I don't believe that there have been any further complaints complaints since, uh, we appeared before you on August 5th.

If you want to accept them just as records for the meeting, you don't need— well, his license was suspended since then, so there wouldn't be any activity.

What I was saying is that there have not been any further complaints brought by— or as far as I know, no one has contacted the Seacock Police Department railing any contact, any other conduct prior to August 5th.

Okay.

No, Miss And to be clear, my client has not sold any vehicles since his license was suspended on August 5th.

If you'd like to submit whatever documents, we can put them in the file.

Yes, I appreciate doing that.

I also wanted to ask you about, um, the plan that had been approved by the planning board to expand the number of parking spaces.

We had submitted that at our, at our last meeting as well.

I don't know.

It's to my understanding you— your client went before the planning board to an attempt to get more, and they ended up taking one away.

So he's permitted for 22 vehicles, not 23.

I thought he had been approved for, for 4 spots, sir, but I'll, I'll do further research on that if it, uh, please the board.

Yeah, and we've got copy of the approval hear from the planning board.

Yes.

So that puts his license from this board in conflict.

So we're going to have to mirror the two of them.

So if the planning board says 22, then we have to amend his license to 22.

Then we would request that that be done.

And to the extent if you need a formal request from us to do that, I'm happy to submit it in writing.

I think I mean, you know, he's here.

If, um, I think based on what you've heard, if the board wants to, uh, make a motion to amend the complaint— the, uh, I'm sorry, amend the license to 22 vehicles, I think that's appropriate for the board to do tonight.

Okay, what's your thoughts?

I'll make a motion.

Okay, if no one else has any other questions.

Chris, you have anything?

I'm good.

No.

Bob?

No.

No, this was, uh, I have a copy.

Oh, that's right, you got a copy.

I'm sorry.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to amend the Class 2 motor vehicle license for K&A Auto Sales LLC at 190 Torrance Avenue with the following stipulations.

1, parking and vehicle display shall conform to the parking as shown on the executed final site plan approved by the planning board on May 28th, 2026.

2, vehicle storage and display shall be limited to 22 vehicles as shown per the parking plan.

3, customer employee parking shall be limited to a total of 5 spaces, with one of those 5 being a handicap parking space as shown per the parking plan.

4, there shall be no parking of vehicles on the street right-of-way, uh, right-of-way of the road.

Okay, that's your motion?

That's my motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion?

And we will reinstate the license Effective tomorrow.

Tomorrow, September 3rd.

September 3rd.

Yeah.

Okay.

Is that part of the part of the vote?

Yeah, that would be part of the vote, right?

Yeah.

That reinstatement would be reinstatement of the license as of September 3rd.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Well, you know what?

We'll give you this.

Did you pass that down to him so he has it?

Okay.

Okay.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

And it goes without saying, I hope we.

We don't see you back here again.

Uh, it's been an interesting experience for sure.

Uh, thank you very much for your, for your attention, and, um, thank you again.

Thank you.

All right, okay, that's done.

Okay, review and approval of Police General Order GO 5.07, Automated License Plate Recognition.

Good evening.

Um, as you know, uh, department orders, uh, new ones, and when they're reviewed, goes to the board for action.

If there's no action, they automatically go into effect.

Uh, this particular one is a, a new general order.

Um, license plate readers, the department's been utilizing them for at least 5 or 6 years.

We always had the guidelines under, like, CJIS because the information that it's looking at and reading is registered motor vehicle information, which is guided by CJIS law.

So we already had rules in place.

Recently, license plate readers have become a hot topic.

Best practice says that we should, you know, have its own policy for that particular devices.

So this, this will cover us.

It has the, uh, wordage in for accountability and best practices in law enforcement.

So I asked the board to, uh, we gave a copy, hopefully you reviewed it, to approve it so, uh, we can issue it to our folks.

I have a question, Chief.

The, the Flock safety cameras, these are all fixed installations or these are on the cruisers now?

So flock cameras are— they're fixed, correct?

We have 20.

We do service right now.

We do.

We're not going to put any on the police vehicles.

We no longer— we had, we had a cruiser that was outfitted.

The operating system was through Mass State Police.

They changed vendors, which made our system not work anymore.

And I don't have any intentions to replace placing it.

Could you explain, um, what exactly these rules do compared to what— as you did for me?

So meeting started, like I said, the information that the license plate readers, uh, check is registered motor vehicle history, right?

Criminal justice history.

That all is guided through CJIS.

So there's already laws in place saying that you can't misuse it, right?

Um, this right here just goes a little bit further with, uh, retention of information, things that can be used for, things that can't be used for.

Like I said, it, uh, it gets a lot more detailed than the day-to-day operation of it.

Okay, thank you.

I did a little, just a little research, and the, uh, the The initial authorization came from the Board of Selectmen on January 4th, 2023, and at that time it was Chief Isabella that brought it forward with 20 cameras, uh, and they were going to be placed in high, high-traffic border corridors like I-95, Highland Avenue, Taunton Avenue, and they were financed under that American Rescue Plan Act, the ARPA.

So correct that we're talking about Flock now?

Yes, that, that Flock, uh, system, that's correct.

Okay.

All right.

But this is going to guide not just— it's, it's not a Flock, uh, policy, it's for any kind of technology for license plate readers.

Okay.

So these capture, if I'm reading it right, they capture the rear license plate, correct, the color of the vehicle condition of the vehicle, whether it has roof racks on it, it grabs all the bumper stickers, it grabs everything.

A lot of characteristics, correct.

I mean, to say that, you know, a dent in the left corner, I know it does the make of the vehicle, the plate, runs the plate.

Bothers me.

I gotta be honest with you, and I talked to a bunch of people in the past week or so on this, people that reached out in it.

And I won't say it was prevailing, some of the things that people talk to you about, but I do have a lot of people saying, oh Bob, what do you got to hide?

If you got nothing to hide, what's the issue?

And I just— it bothers me on a essential civil liberty issue to me because I wonder where it goes from here.

And I know it's proliferating all over the place.

I don't know if it was New Bedford that just— was it New Bedford or— it's reeled it back.

Um, so I'm in the technology business and it's always advancing.

It's incremental.

It's always getting better.

And Is the next step facial recognition?

Because that's better, right?

Because you can't pick up everybody.

Not every, not every criminal has a plate in their vehicle.

Not every criminal is driving his vehicle.

What is the next incremental phase?

So I will say I'm a little bit bothered by it, uh, essential liberty issue.

And I'm sensitive to your concerns.

Um, we already have the system.

More than happy to— we'll talk about, you know, its capabilities and, and where we want to go with this.

Is for a policy like tonight.

This is to approve the policy so I can make sure that the best practice is being done with the technology that we currently have.

Um, you know, there's a big conversation to have.

As you can see in the papers, it's a big topic, but it's not just law enforcement, right?

I mean, commercial uses this technology.

People go through different places that have this technology, retail stores, you know, parking garages.

I know, I know, I know.

Right now, it's a great tool for law enforcement, and I don't want to go off on a tangent because, you know, We could sit here all night and talk about, you know, the different aspects.

I'm here tonight to make sure we have the best policy in place so our folks don't run afoul.

But I will say something on it, right?

It helps solve crimes, crimes that would never get solved.

And some of them are big, but some of them are small, too.

Quality of life things.

Right.

So, you know, I guess it's a debate that's going to be going on.

And we'll see where it ends up.

But, um, I just want to make sure that we have, uh, the rules in place that will protect the town, the town's people, the people who drive through town, and the office to make sure— offices to make sure that they're making the right decisions.

And just to elaborate a little bit, not to get off topic, but I don't disagree with, with the chief, and I understand the philosophical differences that, that folks have.

But I think we can't lose sight of the fact that, like any technology, it can be misused, right?

So what we're trying to do is obviously prevent the misuse.

And, you know, I have enough, you know, confidence in the men and women of our police department that they're not going to misuse this.

This policy will help do that.

But it goes far beyond just crimes to what the chief has mentioned with regard to solving crimes that wouldn't otherwise get solved.

But we have used the FLOC system to find a resident who had dementia.

He left the city.

The family didn't know where he was.

We found them in Tiverton because of the FLOC system, right?

So we were able to quickly relocate that individual with, with the family.

So there's a lot of positives that go with this.

Unfortunately, I think what we're seeing right now is, is just a lot of discussion and pushback with the misuse, just, just like we've seen with any type of situation.

And it happens in police departments, it happens in, you know, different public sectors.

But I think from our standpoint, this is why we want to have this, you know, this policy in place to make sure that the tool, which is a very good tool for, you know, public safety and solving crime, is not misused.

And if it is misused, then we have the ability to hold people accountable for it.

Yeah, I mean, I've read the cases of the misuse and If I was, if I was the police chief in any town, including this one, yeah, I'd be doing the same thing and lobbying for it because it's a, it's a great tool to catch people.

To me, it's, uh, and, and also, like Mr. Cadime said, you know, missing people.

No, I, no, I get it.

To me, it's an opportunity cost.

I mean, there's a cost, there's a cost to it.

There's an opportunity to catch bad actors.

There's no doubt about it, and all your points are valid, but there is a, there is a cost to it as we move forward with all this stuff.

I'll leave it at that.

Okay, Chris, you have anything?

No.

Michael?

Liz?

No.

No.

Okay, does somebody want to make a motion?

Mr.

Chair, I'll make a motion to approve Police General Order 5.07, Automated License Plate Recognition.

All right, I'll second that.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Abstain.

You're gonna abstain?

Okay.

All right, consider accepting the various donations to Secaucus Public Safety from National Night Out event.

This?

Uh, I kind of put it as one item if anybody has any questions.

Just so— I mean, as you can see that we have a lot of support from the community, different businesses, uh, for that event.

Every year it gets bigger and bigger.

Um, some are financial, some are items, some are companies that come in and run little booths.

And for those of you that have gone this year, you can see it was a little bigger this year than last, and hopefully next year we'll be able to at least add a few more things.

Okay, so would we just like to accept the list as submitted by the Chief of Police?

Yes.

So I'd entertain a motion to accept the list of donations for National Night Out as submitted by the Chief of Police.

So moved.

Second.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

The next item, the discussion of a Veterans Memorial military service dog monument.

I'm going to turn that over to Michael.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Um, probably about a month ago, a local resident who's a Marine veteran by the name of Ahmed Pearl reached out to me and wanted to know the possibility of putting a military service dog monument at the Veterans Memorial Park.

So him and I had a conversation, and he wanted to know what the process was.

So I asked him to first start with the veterans agent in the Veterans Council to see if they would even entertain that idea and that concept and stuff.

He has done that.

He went to the veterans— last Veterans Council meeting, and I believe they supported the project.

And the next step I told him would be I would ask the chairman to put on the agenda for our discussion to see if we would support it.

The one question I have, Mr. Kadeem, maybe you can answer it.

Do we still have to get permission from the Library Board of Trustees?

We do, to put something there.

Yes.

Okay.

And I did after tonight.

Correct.

I did notify the, uh, the chairperson and the library director that this was on the agenda for discussion, that we would do a presentation before the Board of Trustees.

Okay.

So, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Pearl is here.

Um, he's more than willing to come up and, um, make a presentation.

Sir, you want the, uh, what he's looking to— the Veterans Committee representative to come up?

If any of the Veterans Council wants to come up, yeah, sure.

Hey, again, identify yourself for the record.

I'm in for all— 81 Sykes Road.

And you, sir?

Kevin Kugel, 70 Noble Street, chair of the Veterans Council.

Yeah, go ahead, floor is yours, sir.

Okay, yes, um, so yes, I thank you for having me.

Uh, this has been a long longtime thing of mine to recognize these military war dogs, um, from my past serving in Vietnam, since they went through and fought.

Can you get a little closer to the mic?

Yes.

Okay, very good.

Okay, so anyways, uh, these military war dogs, if you were to read this little plaque on there, which is on there, never received any recognition Approximately 4,000 of them went to Vietnam and maybe 200 of them come back.

Not because they were killed over there, because they were viewed as equipment.

They were either euthanized or they were given to the South Vietnamese.

And that went on.

And you gotta look at these, handlers that have these dogs receive these dogs from when they're young, and they, they train with them, they eat, they sleep, they do everything with them.

They deploy, then the soldier, Marine, whatever it is, comes back to the state, the dog stays over there.

They have, they have saved estimated 10,000 lives in Vietnam alone.

They still served in Iraq, Afghanistan.

Some of these have one of these brochures also too.

There's 2 stories in here on 2 particular ones.

Uh, if you like any of these, I can give them to you.

Oh, you got them?

All right, you got them already, right?

That's pretty good.

Okay, good.

So anyways, uh, you probably read that, and that's what it is.

I was asked doing there on the one that you have here to get involved and be a vehicle to put this one at the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery, which I, I did.

In the process of doing that, I found out how many people don't know anything about these military war dogs and what they've done and the lives they've saved.

I, I wasn't a war dog handler, but I was out on patrol outside a while.

I've seen these dogs operate and, uh, It's just amazing the bond they have, the lives they save, the things they detect by their senses and everything.

It's just unbelievable.

And they get no respect.

No.

So it's— I find it's my choice to make people aware of this, of what they go through and what the handlers go through.

I have also a friend of mine that became a friend.

There's this one in the front there, Chris Willingham.

He was a 20-year Marine, 2 tours in Iraq, and he had a dog called Top Dog Lucker.

There's a book on Top Dog Lucker and everything.

And Lucker originally went on to as Chris rotated back to the States, he went to another handler.

While they were on patrol out in Afghanistan, he was wounded by an IED, lost its left leg and all.

So when these dogs also get injured or want to retire, this organization organization, the U.S. War Dog Association, takes them in.

There's a lot of cost.

Anyone that owns pets knows the cost of that kind of stuff, what they go— the expenses and all like that and all.

They try now, which didn't happen before, they're trying now to have maybe one of the handlers that had them adopt these dogs after life and all.

So that's my thing.

I ask that we're able to put this monument I just got pictures on this in a rough.

It's just being finished up right now over at Warren Monument.

Uh, the thing is, the stone inside matches the exact stone that's over there now, the jet mist that's on the other thing.

The cost of this?

Nothing.

This is going to be strictly a donation.

There is absolutely not one cost.

Nobody even has to pick up a spoon of dirt.

I already have The footing that's going to be put in, that's already been funded by Sam over there at the Sundees.

He said he would pay for it, everything like that.

And the rest of the thing is everything is paid for.

It's just to give in and put there.

A location that I think, if it's approved, would be over there was, as you look at how it goes out and it's got the wings that go out on the side, the north wing, which is closest to the library from that wing out.

Then there's a blue spruce tree.

I think a good place for that would be closer to the wall because that spruce tree will grow out, would be just a little bit on an angle, but that you can see the dog's head is angled off.

Um, so that's pretty much what I have to say on it.

If you have any questions Any more.

I just ask you to move— if we can move forward with this and get it done.

When can we start?

When can we start?

We can start right now.

I'll go down there.

No, I was there today.

When we can start, I have everything in line.

When I get the word, I have the Ponce— it's a landscaping company out in Bristol— and I've spoke with Mike over there, and they'll come out.

He'll put the footing in.

It's paid for.

So everything, we can start this the monument be ready to go in about 2 days.

So do you have anything you want to add?

Um, the Veterans Council did discuss it, um, at one of our meetings.

We voted to endorse it.

Um, since then there's been some question about the placement, um, just because of the Gold Star walkway that goes up during ceremonies and also the holiday festival that we do with the trees.

We want to make sure that it doesn't interfere with things that already exist and have been established in that specific location.

But at the memorial, we endorse that.

Okay.

So I think from our perspective, we're just going to follow suit and endorse it, and then you'll just have to go to the Board of Library Trustees.

I believe so, right?

Get the final approval from that.

So somebody want to make a Gary, if I could add one more thing.

Mark Draco, Friends of the Veterans Memorial.

Um, I've met with Armin and of course Chris.

Um, we've gone over this thing and talked about it, and Doreen and I walked the site, and from that walk and looking around out there and the impact it would have depending on where it was placed, um, we decided to show it on a plan.

Um, again, a suggestion, but it's out of the way where it's not going to interfere with anything, especially any of the, uh, the Gold Star Walkway or any of the functions that are out there.

So I made up a couple of sets showing the location of it and what the memorial itself, uh, the monument itself looks like.

So from my perspective, we would endorse and support it, and then the final location be with the Board of Library Trustees.

Yeah, because they have the overall— so I think we also have to reach out to Mr. Cabrera just in case there is sprinkler systems over there, right?

Just to make sure we're not digging up when we set it up.

Though it's located— yes, I know the location.

Okay, okay, okay, okay.

So I was going to say, somebody want to make a motion?

I'll make a motion.

Uh, make a motion to endorse, um, the Veterans Memorial Military service dog monument, uh, subject to the approval of the library trustee.

Second.

Okay, any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

Thank you, sir.

Oh, thank you very much.

I really appreciate it.

And we can get him, uh— I'm sorry.

Sean.

We can get him the date of the Library Board of Trustees meeting?

We can, yep.

All right, okay.

I'll get it, I can get it to him.

Just get it, if you can get it to me.

I will.

Thanks.

All right.

Item F is on here in error, so just cross it out.

There's nothing to discuss tonight for a senior tax assistance program.

Item G, review and approve the Human Resources Director job description and salary.

Mr. Cadime, you want to, uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

So with regards to the, uh, Human Resource Director, so this has been on the agenda a couple of times.

We've, um, pushed it off, uh, for several different reasons.

So just, this is really, I guess, the board's, uh, opportunity to discuss the job description and any changes that the board wants to make or the acceptance of the job description.

So I just turn it over to the chair for discussion.

All right, well, I know I was absent at the last meeting, but I haven't seen any of this.

So this was mailed out, emailed out, I believe, like August 5th.

Yeah, yeah, but I didn't— were there any changes made?

Uh, no, no changes made.

No, because I just, I wanted to see it in the packet just because I didn't know if changes were made.

Yep.

No, so, but the— just for clarification, so August 5th was— it was sent out to the, the board for— with redline for both the HR director and, uh, the, um, executive assistant.

Okay.

And then I believe there were copies that were out at the last board meeting as well.

I got— I have copies here too, so if you need— Yep, if I could please.

I apologize, everybody.

Do you have one?

I think there's 2 there.

2?

Okay, thanks.

There was one thing that I did wanna add, or that I was gonna ask be added, and that was one of the reasons why I wanted to put it over.

It says, let me just find.

The part on here where the director will report to you, which is fine, I would just request that the board get a monthly report on— Yeah, so HR typically does the monthly reports, so we'll continue to have that monthly report that's submitted.

So the department heads do submit the reports.

So if there's something in the report that you would— that you feel like it should be in there that is not there, we can absolutely amend that.

So there's no anticipation of removing that monthly report.

Okay.

So I mean, you'll get limited in terms of sick leave, things of that nature, but you'll get some HR data associated with it.

You'll get the FMLA, things like that.

Okay.

And I mean, it just won't have individual names on it because— no, it shouldn't.

I mean, this has to abide by HIPAA laws, which is fine.

I just think we should know, you know, anybody that's been hurt or— yeah.

So we typically have that.

We have the vacancies, the positions that are being filled and advertised.

So that's all captured in that report.

Any other questions?

Chris?

No, I'm good.

I don't have any.

No, you're all set?

Yes.

Okay, you want to make a motion?

Sure, uh, make a motion that the board, uh, approve the human resource director job description and where's the salary to be negotiated.

So Okay, is there a second?

Second.

Moved and seconded.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

And the next one is review and approve an updated executive administrative assistant to the select board and town administrator job description.

So this, this one's a little bit different because it's, um, obviously subject to if the executive assistant, uh, town administrator is moved over.

So this currently— position that we currently have is the job description is what she was hired to do and is under contract.

So obviously this is subject to it, but these are the changes that we made assuming that the board would approve the HR position.

So these were really just minor changes, so just removing assistant town administrator that were— that was actually in there.

That's all.

Good.

Any comments?

Any questions?

Everybody good?

Okay, make a motion that the board approve the job description description and salary to be negotiated for the executive assistant position.

Second.

Okay, any questions, any comments?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

So voted.

All right, next is reading the proclamation for the town's Purple Heart.

Purple Heart Town.

Whereas the people of Seekock, Mass., have great admiration and the utmost gratitude for all the citizens of our community having selflessly served in the armed forces that have been vital in maintaining the freedom and way of life enjoyed by all citizens, and whereas the citizens of our community have been killed in action while serving in the armed forces and have been posthumously awarded the Purple Heart for their ultimate sacrifice.

And whereas the Purple Heart is the oldest American military decoration, it was created as the badge of military merit made of purple cloth in the shape of a heart with the word merit sewn upon it on August 7th, 1782, in Newburgh, New York, by General George Washington, then reestablished as the Purple Heart on February 22nd, 1913, 1932 by General Douglas MacArthur, and whereas the heritage it represents is sacred to those who know the price paid to wear the Purple Heart, and whereas that August 7th is nationally recognized as Purple Heart Day, and now therefore it be proclaimed, we the select board hereby proclaim the town of Seekonk, Massachusetts, a Purple Heart Town, honoring the service and sacrifice of those from our community who were awarded the Purple Heart while serving in our nation's wars, and also be it proclaimed that Seekonk, Massachusetts will also recognize August 7th annually as Purple Heart Day and urge our citizens and organizations to display the American flag as well as any other public expressions of recognition of our Purple Heart recipients.

So we already voted to approve approved this, so we did it earlier.

So I'll sign it and I'm going to date it August 7th, if that's okay.

All right, all right, all right, very good.

And just for everybody's information.

You read the definition of who gets a Purple Heart.

The 24 banners that we see along Route 152, all of those individuals qualified for a Purple Heart, and for whatever reason, only— there was only 4 that were awarded.

That doesn't make any sense.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, discussion and approval of the Howard Stein Hudson contract for the Medeiros Farm transportation planning and traffic engineering services.

Mr. Chairman, recusal.

Okay, call me back in the next item.

Okay, um, this company was selected.

It was only 2 that submitted bids, Mr. Chairman, at 7:16, Mr. Aschenwald left the room.

Okay.

Thank you.

Correct, Mr. Chairman.

So I know it was stated that there was only one individual or one firm that actually put in, but we actually sent it out to 4 firms.

Yep.

One firm did not return a proposal.

One firm actually denied due to the workload.

And then we had 2 proposals that were actually submitted.

So of the 2, this is the lowest bid.

I did have John Aubin and Dave Cabral review this to make sure that both proposals— that I wasn't missing anything in terms of the engineering requirements that were required.

They were both the same proposals bid at the same tasks.

So obviously the recommendation would be to go to the lowest bid, which is the one that's before the Board.

What we were asking for was the anticipated average daily traffic.

And peak hour traffic volumes to be anticipated from the facility at full build-out.

And again, that was based on the Master Plan that was completed.

Potential impacts on the Route 44/Taunton Ave. intersections with Lake Elm and Lincoln Streets, potential impacts on the intersections of Lincoln Street and County Street, potential impacts on the intersection of Lincoln and Elm Street, and a traffic signal warrant analysis to be conducted to determine the need for a traffic signal at the intersection of Route 44 and Lincoln under the current conditions and then also at the buildout of the project itself.

So that's what's before us.

Okay.

And a very interesting note in their narrative that they submitted said the Select Board recently voted to to conduct a traffic impact assessment, a TIA, that is intended to help inform design decisions of the project.

And that— couldn't have said it any better.

And this company also, I believe, is the same company that was hired to do the peer review for the 40B project.

Correct.

Down on Sagamore Road.

So they're familiar with the area and the— So, and it, uh, they're projecting somewhere around 3 to 4 weeks if I read that correctly.

Uh, yeah, I thought it was 6 weeks, but I could say only 3 or 4 weeks maybe to collect the data and then— okay, so about 6 weeks to get it done.

Okay, any questions?

No.

Comments?

No.

I still feel the Medeiros Farm Committee should be handling this when it's appropriate to.

Okay, is there a motion?

I'll make a motion to, um, approve the Howard Stein Hudson contract for the Medeiros Farm Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering Service.

Okay, is there a second?

All right, I'll second it.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

Nay.

Nay.

Okay, so fails.

Okay.

Okay, update discussion on the engineering plan for the Newman Avenue Cemetery.

Do we have that?

Oh, okay.

So good evening.

Good evening.

I have with me tonight Ron Hedrick from GPI that worked on the assessment letter.

We did meet out on this location back in June, I think it was June 15th, reviewed the entire site.

I'm just going to do a little brief item list, if you will, that we're looking for some direction on through this board of what you want to— how you want to proceed, what you want to prioritize, and give a little direction to the whole project.

And there's a lot of different things we can do there, but we just don't know the level of effort that we're looking call from the board.

So, um, I did, um, we did work out a couple of, uh, key items out there, one of them being the roadway improvements.

We are going to provide you 3 options for discussion purposes along with estimates for each of those.

There is the white decorative fence along Water Lane, um, just, you know, I'll let, uh, Ron handle that discussion there, but at the end of it, there's also concern of a gate, whether or not you want that reattached or not.

But, uh, I'll leave that for further discussion.

Uh, the other items were the stone wall along Newman Avenue.

That's the one right out front, very visible.

Some concerns with that.

Again, we could spend minor or we could spend a lot of money out there.

Um, the 2 stone walls along the 2 wooded sides of the property, not as noticeable.

DPW has been cutting back to those walls to keep the out of there to help preserve the wall from falling down and stones moving, further disrepair.

Tree removal, DPW has been taking trees out of there over the years.

I do have target of this year of removing the final 6 large pine trees out there that have been a constant threat to the headstones out there.

Fortunately, no damage over the years.

This year's— this fiscal year's money we're in right now, I intend to take the rest of those lodge pine trees down.

And then finally, a drainage concern on the southeast corner close to the Runnins River along the front of the property.

For those of you who may not be aware of DPW's involvement itself with the cemetery, I just want to just point out to you, especially for the new members, DPW does not maintain the grounds at the Newman Avenue Cemetery.

So we're not— we used to years ago be involved in that to some degree.

Used to at one point take care of the whole grounds.

We do not do any maintenance work over there unless asked to do so.

Um, DPW did install, um, some underground piping for 3 or 4 additional water spigots on the property.

We only had one out right at the front gate when you came in.

There had been a request through the town administrator to have us take a look at that, and we were able to dig the trench, put that in.

You can't even tell else been out there right now, but the, uh, residents in town that go there and want to water their plants have more locations now that they can get to, and there's been a lot of positive feedback.

So without further ado, I'm going to hand over to Ron.

Um, and Ron prepared a report.

I'm sorry you didn't get a copy in advance, but the report hot off the press today— uh, we do have copies.

Yes, we can pass those around.

It's only a 4-page report, so Hopefully he'll talk less than I do.

Well, good evening.

My name is Ron Hedrick.

I'm a senior project manager with GPI.

Um, yeah, apologies we didn't get this in advance, but I'll just kind of walk you through it real quick.

As Dave mentioned, there's kind of 6 items in here, and I'll just kind of run through them per the memo.

And there's some photographs in the back as well as just a location map, but the cemetery is 4.8 acres in size.

It's abutted on the north side by Water Lane, the east side by Newman Ave., and as Dave mentioned, on 2 sides by water supply land, wooded water supply land.

Starting with Newman Avenue, we have what's probably the most prominent item or element in the cemetery.

Area as you drive by.

It's a stone wall, measures about 2 to 3 feet in height.

It's pretty consistent.

It's about 440 feet as it stretches across that entire length of that side.

And it's a dry-stacked wall, meaning there's no detectable concrete in it.

It looks like it was just put together by a mason.

There is a concrete parging on top to kind of shed the water and hold it together a little bit.

What we observed about the wall is there are sections that are in pretty good shape.

There are sections that have obviously been damaged for one reason or another over the years and have been repaired.

There's a few sections now that are starting to fall apart.

There's a couple noticeable places where the stones have just dropped out.

There was a recent piece down kind of towards the southern end that was repaired recently, but it was not done very well.

Very noticeable.

It has a glaring white concrete on top of it.

So we just did some quick cost estimating on this.

We assumed 25% of that length, about 110 feet, might require repairs.

And using some cost numbers we had, we estimated that to probably be between $55,000 to $65,000 to do that work.

It would require disassembling, possibly, you know, digging down to reestablish a foundation if necessary.

Because a few places, some of the dislodging may be because of trees, tree roots.

So that was one cost.

There was another option of if you were to do that, that if you were really looking to improve it, you might go further and do something with the top.

And on some of walls, we've put granite coping capstones as a way to sort of enhance it, but also further stabilize it.

The weight on top actually helps to hold the stones down.

And that would have about another $33,000 to $40,000 cost to it if that were elected.

And I think for that, for this particular element, we would recommend that that work get done by a qualified mason.

Given its visibility and just, you know, masons work magic with stones that not everybody can quite accomplish.

The other part of the walls are the 2 walls on the south and west sides.

In total, they're about 900 feet, and they are much more kind of a looser wall, what I might call a balanced stone wall.

Rocks kind of piled up on top of each other.

Some areas are a little bit better than that.

Some are a little bit almost nonexistent, particularly down in the south— what is it, the southeast corner?

It almost disappears.

But some of the stones have fallen off.

They're lying on one side or the other.

I know Dave had mentioned recently there was some yard waste that had been piling up behind those walls that his crews removed, that could have been part of the problem was people dumping over the walls and knocking stones off.

So we didn't put an estimate to that together.

We thought that might run about $200 to $300.

It's a little bit— would be a cheaper effort, I think, than rebuilding the stacked wall.

And it's just an item out there for consideration.

The 3rd item is the picket fence long water lane.

It's about 420 feet in length.

Generally, it looks to be in pretty good shape.

It's an aluminum fence.

A lot of times they don't hold up very well from snow plowing, things like that, but it generally is in pretty good shape.

I, I do notice in a few places it probably could use a good scrub.

There's lichens growing on it under some of the trees.

But as Dave alluded to, there's, there's a gate kind of across the driveway from the Hurley Middle School that's— it's a double-leaf gate and both the leaves have been removed or fallen off and they're kind of stacked off to the sides.

And the question I think we have about that is, were they removed and is there a desire to put those back?

And there's a couple things to consider there.

Was, you know, were they taken out because— was it originally seen that they were closed every evening.

But one of the things that's been observed in the cemetery is parents queuing in the cemetery waiting for dismissal in the middle school.

So the kids seem to come across the street kind of through the cemetery and get picked up and avoid some of the lines at the middle school.

So if that gate were put back, that would preclude that.

So it's an activity that I think the town would need to decide if that's something that makes sense to alleviate congestion at the middle school or not.

I'm just going to interject here too.

So years ago, that gate was installed mainly for access only.

It was a gate put in, locked, and kept just for access for maintenance, if you will.

Over the years, the chain and lock was removed.

Recall exactly how that all occurred, but it did occur.

And then most recently, the gate was left open up to the point where it was actually physically removed from the fence itself and was off to the side.

So before it got damaged— and it's still salvageable, it's in good shape right now— we're just looking for direction on what you may want to do with that gate.

The 4th item would be the interior roadways.

There's a If you're familiar with the cemetery, there's essentially a perimeter road that goes all the way around the outside.

And there are— there's a certain number of cross streets kind of running east to west.

And then there's one central road running north to south.

They vary in condition.

Some of them are in pretty good shape.

I think the one that stands out in my mind as being in the worst shape is the southern perimeter Road.

It's pretty broken up down there.

Um, you know, I think it's important when, um, when there are burials and such, you know, that people come to the cemetery and get out in their dress shoes and that sort of thing, that, that it's important that there's a good surface for them to, to be on because generally there's a, there's a certain population of elderly people that come along with those kinds of events.

So from my own observations.

So we've given a couple options for this, just some cost really.

This was done by my engineering colleague Jim Noyes.

One option would be to place pavement millings.

It sounds like maybe the DPW has access to pavement millings, essentially ground-up asphalt that could be spread and leveled and compacted.

That would be at zero cost because it would be done by the DPW.

The second option would be to go in and resurface with a quarter— inch and a quarter overlay, which is kind of the minimum you can do.

So you'd need to level it prior to that.

The estimate to do all the roads would be approximately $52,000 to $67,000.

Or a third option would be total reconstruction, basically basically digging all the way down and replacing the roads, which would be closer to about $300,000 to $315,000.

Or I think there would be sub-options to all this of, you know, we like one or we like two, but only— let's only do key areas or something like that.

Sort of a kit of parts here that we're trying to sort our way through and understand what is best.

5th item, again, Dave alluded to it, hazard trees.

DPW's already taken down a number of aging white pines.

They get really tall and they tend to lose their lower branches and they get kind of prone to wind toppling.

They've removed some.

They still have a few to do.

There's no cost to that, as I understand, because the DPW is taking care of that.

But there are Rest assured, there's a lot of other trees within the cemetery they're not taking down, some large, beautiful deciduous trees.

I think if anything, it's kind of noticeable along some of the edges that some of the trees have aged out and are gone, if anything.

And then finally, the southeast corner, there's a— I think it's a culvert that comes out from under the road.

The water puddles there and it's largely because there's kind of a raised lip along the edge of the forest and, you know, some debris there that causes some localized flooding.

And that would be something that could be taken care of.

And, again, I think the DPW could do that.

I think the only caveat there is that corner looks to lie within the 200 Riverfront— 200 200-foot riverfront area.

So, it would require some coordination with the Conservation Commission to understand if, you know, what actions might need to be taken to get approval of that.

Like I said, there's a number of photos in the back.

I can kind of run— photos 1 through 4 are kind of of the Newman Avenue wall.

5 through 8 are the interior perimeter walls.

9 through 12 are the picket fence.

13 through 16 are the interior roadways.

17 through 20 are some of the trees, including some of the pine trees and some of the other deciduous trees.

And then 21 and 22 are the southeast corner drainage.

And at the very last is just some pictures of the kind of the construction yard kind of towards the back of the cemetery where the sort of the working back, back of the cemetery.

Dave, that southeast corner, you couldn't take the mini and just put a little waterway just to— or even a shovel, chip it away to get rid of that water?

It could be very easily done by the DPW.

Again, as alluded to, it would just require us coordinating the work with the conservation agent.

They'll looked like there had been riprap placed here years ago, but it is up a little bit higher elevation than the edge of the roadway.

And then when the leaves and pine needles come down, it collects and dams up the water.

So it needs to be brought— it just needs to be regraded, brought down and brought the riprap up.

Yeah, just— and not a lot, it's probably within 3 inches.

I think if we got it below, drop it 3 inches at the interface of the roadway, right, the water would just go right off and not puddle.

That's what I'm seeing from the photo here.

Yeah, and that's— we spilled that one out there.

That could be easily done by DPW.

And in those pictures, you'll also notice that rock, the retaining wall.

For those of you who've been here for a while or those that you may have been through the cemetery, that used to be an old stockade fence that was constantly falling over, very unsightly.

We had those blocks down at the transfer station available to us, and we put them down there to neaten that area up.

So I'd like to see the, the stone wall out front completely rebuilt.

And as far as the stone walls in the back of the— that abuts the water district property, I don't even see a need for that to be there.

So they needed stones, that's— they could get them from there, right?

And then maybe plant some apple arbiters or other vegetation on the back and the sides.

Picket fence needs— yeah, picket fence.

Yeah, so I would say from the— from that perspective, the picket fence and the stone wall, Water Lane and 152, would be the ones that would require the biggest.

And I would like to see— I mean, you're gonna— I know you and I had spoken a long time ago, you're going to take You identified, was it 6 or 8 trees to take down?

There are 6 trees remaining that are those old pine trees that are very weak under the snow load.

There is one beautiful symmetrical tree right in the center of the cemetery that we'd like to see stay there, along with 2 oak trees off to the corner at Water Lane where the white picket fence is closest to the school.

That one also has a pine tree growing like on the inside of it.

I would recommend taking that pine tree out, leave that oak tree there.

It's been there for a long time.

Um, there's another tree on the property, uh, probably along the white fence, maybe a third of the way down from Newman Avenue, that is also a nice healthy tree that could stay there.

I don't know, uh, what the board may want to do with one tree that's at the wall of the Newman Avenue wall.

There is a tree, I believe it might be an oak tree, but there is a tree tree there that I would recommend taking down because it's going to keep interfering with that wall, especially if you're going to look to spend money on improving that wall.

So that's just something to consider there.

And there's one other tree right at the entrance that to me kind of looks more like a takeaway.

It's at the entrance, kind of where the sign is.

It's there.

I don't know if that's another tree you may want to consider taking down.

Okay.

Um, but in terms of and I guess direction from the board, right?

Is it the intent then that they can pursue identifying on that plan that they're putting together too, uh, you know, whether we go through this item at a time?

We'll skip the roadway improvement for now, but the white decorative fence existing to remain, uh, is what I'm hearing, I think.

What about the fence?

You want that reattached?

No, the gate.

Okay, I'm sorry, the gate.

That fence, how old is How old do you think that fence is?

It's been there, I'd have to say it's been there probably at least 10 years, but it's in good shape overall.

Yeah, well, it's long.

I've been here like 12 and a half years, so it's got to be.

So yeah, time, time is a way going by.

So COVID is maybe 15 or more.

What would be the reason not to put the gates back on?

I know I heard about parking and people waiting.

I mean, I guess I'm a little bothered by a waiting period being in a cemetery, but what would be the argument against putting the gates back on?

I go there regularly and I sometimes use that entrance out to Water Lane.

Uh, how long the gate's been off, Dave, do you know?

Those gates been off now for 4 years, I'm willing to bet.

Well, they were— I can't say that I remember them physically being off the fence itself, but they have been open, unlocked, open, completely left wide open all the time, probably for the past 3 or 4 years anyway.

All right, so this is basically a good report in menu form, right?

So It comes down to— I was hoping to see if maybe we still can get a plan, and there's got to be some grant monies out there for cemeteries because this is considered a historic cemetery because we have people that were buried there before 1900s.

So in regard— so they are working on a plan.

They have an existing condition plan they're putting together.

Yeah, I think the part that we need clarification on from this board is now that you have that, uh, the list of items you can pick from, yeah, to give them some direction so they can advance that plan with the improvements you're looking to see.

Uh, because when we were out there looking at it, I— it's a very broad scope.

I didn't know the desire overall of the board of the features that are out there, but we could certainly make an assessment like the stone wall wall out front, you know, he did a great job of kind of presenting the different characteristics of that wall as it sits.

But for the level of detail and then the dollar amounts associated with it, it would be kind of nice to know on each of those 6— 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 items— a little bit of direction so they can give you a good drawing at the end that shows the improvements that this board is looking to pursue.

Because quite frankly, we know the cost of these things I said it before, you can spend a lot of money just on the wall out front.

I know initially I thought it was just going to be roadway improvements.

Even the roadway improvements, there's a lot of different— there's probably, you know, the 3 choices you have are all over the place in terms of dollars.

On their end of it, though, is they're trying to develop this plan.

I believe Ron would be better served if he knew a little bit of the direction on each of these items the board would want to pursue so we can develop that plan, show you the proposed improvements, improvements and go from there.

Do we agree on the stone wall up front?

Can we get a— so correct me if I'm wrong, if you're going off $500 a foot times 440 feet, that's $220,000 just for the wall, and then you have to pay for the cap too, correct?

So you're looking at $300,000, $400,000 just for the wall?

Yeah, well, less than that if you want to rebuild it in its entirety.

Yeah.

75.

Can I— while he's using the calculator, can I ask a question?

I know we were removing a lot of the trees, and I just hate to see all the trees be removed from the cemetery.

Are there any trees, smaller, obviously smaller versions, that won't impact headstones?

So ones that are limited to 20 feet, 30 feet, like we've planted out here, that can be replanted?

There are some evergreens and arborvitaes out there that are there.

There's a lot of trees along the wall as well.

Um, the ones we have taken down have been the ones that have been a threat, right?

But we've also had some big oak trees that have come down along the perimeter on the water district land that have— I'm amazed in the years that I've been here there has not been damage to any stones out there, because I've seen some of these trees come down in the winter storms.

But we have been fortunate.

Um, we will preserve some of the trees out there.

I think the bigger task too is going to be the keeper of the cemetery when these arborvitaes that were planted, a lot of them by residents, get to be a little bit big?

Yeah, I was looking more like, you know, ornamental trees that we're just replacing for the trees that were taken down.

So I know we've had conversations internally about once we start removing trees on town property, we're looking to at least replace one for one for the trees, right?

So that was kind of our goal internally.

So I guess from my standpoint, just driving down, we know this is a historic cemetery.

I just just from an aesthetic standpoint, right?

I understand taking all the trees for preserving the cemetery, but I'd also like to see if we can just kind of put back some smaller trees to, to keep that aesthetic feel for the cemetery.

Yeah, as long as it doesn't impact obviously the gravestones and the roadway.

Yeah, I'll put Ron on the spot a little bit.

We did have a discussion up there about landscape improvements because he was going to bring it up as an element.

Um, there is some room, I believe, along the, uh, picket fence along Water Lane to add some trees there.

You know, they would be smaller.

I'll defer, but why don't you pick up from there?

Yeah, I think there's a couple things to consider.

One is that, you know, of this street grid that's there, most of what's internal to that are the burial plots.

And so it gets a little hard to put too many trees in there unless we could identify an area where a tree could reside.

And like Dave said, some of the relatives have added things over the years.

Along the street edges, I think that's kind of public domain.

I think it would be easy enough, it's on the other side of the road, to fill in the gaps where maybe street trees have been lost over the years or if we take one out because we think it's a hazard to replace that.

And we could kind of decide on species and sort of ultimate size depending on those locations.

Like, we could put back shade trees along the roadway edge, but internally we might go with a smaller, you know, small to medium-sized tree to minimize potential impacts.

So, yeah, I think that the goal is not to denude the cemetery of trees.

It's just sort of trying to stay ahead of the ones that are considered hazards.

What do you guys think about the road, roadways in there.

I say rip them all out and do them over.

Well, he makes a good point.

For people that are there visiting, there are people dressed up coming straight from church, you know, for burials, and we don't want to see anybody get hurt.

I mean, that's, that's the safety concerns quite a bit.

Yeah, I'd be in favor of roadway improvement to the cemetery.

No doubt.

Yeah.

And a couple more water drops, a few more water drops.

You're talking total reconstruction of the road.

So with that in your wall, you're over almost $600,000, just so you know.

Yeah, just a question on the water spigots you may want to add.

Do you know where you might want to see those?

Because we could run DPW, ran some already, and we could do that before any road improvements happen to try to— I mean, I just— right now you have one central right at the end, at the entry of the, uh, location there.

That one's been there forever.

That's the only one that was ever there.

We've added down the center of the roadway at the first cross street, we've added 3 or 4 right in there, close proximity to the water, so we don't have to run that line very far.

I'm just wondering if it just made sense maybe to just to add one more along the center roadway towards the middle.

Well, just so that people don't have a long walk.

Yeah, well, I think in general when they come in, everybody was accustomed to going by the entryway and it was a little bit of congestion.

Not that there's a lot of people there, but at times, the holidays especially, you're looking at Memorial Day, you're looking at Veterans Day, Fourth of July, people go there, they're putting plants down, they want to go there and water.

We We tried to take advantage of getting them inside the cemetery and off to the sides where they could still fill their containers, and then they go about— basically, they're filling them in the car and then moving around the cemetery where they need to go.

I'm just wondering, you know, again, we're looking at adding a couple more spigots.

Where would you like to see them?

And from my perspective, the closer we can keep them along that center road so we're not dealing with that getting ripped up, it's shallow.

Use your discretion.

Okay, maybe 2 more is what I'm thinking of, at least.

Yep.

Where is that fed from, Dave?

It's, um, the water meter is right at the entrance, right where that main spigot is, just inside the wall.

So we branched off of there and ran a line shallow.

We have to blow it out every year with the irrigation, with the compressor, but we added more spigots.

So when it's on in the springtime, you just have more areas that people can draw water from.

So you're going to put this on a plan?

Yes.

Beautiful.

Yeah, I think we, we can put it on a plan.

We can, we can sort of update our costs, and then we can, we can talk about phasing different scenarios about, you know, the money of how you'd want to go about doing it.

So, um, can we look into grant funding first before we bring a warrant article for almost $600-something $100,000.

Well, and absolutely, but I think it's important we need that plan first, right?

Yeah, we have the plan for the grants.

So I have pretty good direction now because I've made marks on it.

So the white decorative fence along Water Lane, are we keeping the gate or putting the gate back up?

Just leave it off.

It offers a safer way for people to access the cemetery, like Mr. Sagar says he uses.

I say keep it off.

All right, good, good.

And then the stone, while we're doing the cap, is that what the board wants to do?

So like, can you show me the weight?

Just— I'm sorry, a cap would be the whole thing generally?

Yes.

Yeah, just the cap, the, the weight of it stabilizes the stones underneath and it keeps the water from getting into the which will help preserve it.

Yeah, and then we can look into the thickness of the cap.

We could also look into a concrete cap versus a granite cap, see if there's any savings there.

And on that item, it sounds like you want to do options 1 and then the additional cost of option 2, which would be the— in combination with the cap.

So both of those items for that one.

Okay.

Anybody else got anything?

No, I think— thank you, thank you, thank you.

Okay, item L, discussion of a loan article for borrowing for the South End Fire Station.

We previously voted voted to put a question on the state ballot, which will be the 3rd of November.

So, uh, yeah, I believe it's first Tuesday, November 9th, isn't it?

Uh, 3rd.

So I'd like to see us vote on it.

I was thinking about primary, the state ballot, and that's the 3rd, and then the following week would be town meeting, right?

Correct.

Yep.

So do it and get it approved and start building it.

So, so if we could just put a place— placeholder on the on the warrant, because the warrant's closed the next week, right?

The 10th.

Yep, the 10th.

All right, so I'd entertain a motion that we place a warrant article for debt exclusion vote for the Sultan Fire Station.

So moved.

Second.

Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Nay.

All right, uh, discussion of a law article for home rule petition.

And this probably should have been worded a little better.

I had a discussion— we've talked about this a little bit— I had a discussion today with Representative Howitt, and he said he'd be available in 2 weeks if we wanted to come and talk about a home rule petition for maybe a pilot Four Wheeler School.

So was it— we're listening to him and he said he'd bring the state senator too.

Do you want to table it?

Do you want to table that?

Well, if we want him— I just want to make sure we want him to come.

Yeah, I don't think we have much choice.

Yeah, yeah.

And again, we could put a placeholder.

Placeholder.

Yeah.

Is that agreeable to everybody?

Yes.

Okay.

All right, next, discussion of an open meeting law complaint filed against the select board by Christopher Zara, Seacock Select Board, dated August 6th, 2026, received on August 6th, 2026.

Acknowledge receipt of complaint, review and discuss response, and authorize submission of response by town council.

Votes may be take it.

Um, I requested through our Miss Testa that we asked for a second continuance for the, um, to answer the complaint.

And I know you had a discussion with, uh, Selectwoman Helmation today, and so would you want to just speak, speak to that?

Sure.

I guess before— can we just— because I think there's 2 options.

So before we have the discussion, do you want to give the options?

Because I thought you said executive session.

You can't— you can't hear in the back, Sean.

I'll address that too.

Yeah, Ms. Testa did reach out to me to see if we could request a second extension on behalf of the chair, you know, dealing with your terrible situation with your immediate family.

I reached out to the Attorney General's office for that.

They're, they're pretty understaffed.

I, and I tried to call somebody this afternoon before I headed down here, didn't reach them.

But I do feel very confident given the circumstances and the fact that the current deadline is this Friday.

So we are asking before that expires.

I do feel confident that they are going to approve that and let you handle it at the next meeting, which is the 16th.

Also, I did, based on the complaint, I did submit a proposed response.

And I spoke briefly with Ms. Omazian today.

And I mentioned something which I just wanted to pass along to the board.

I don't know if the members are going to want to do this or not, but the Attorney General has said that when a board gets one of these complaints, if they wish, they can discuss what their response is going to be in an executive session.

It's under Purpose 1, which is to hear a complaint.

Against a public official, the AG says, well, that's really what this is.

So if you want to do that, you can.

Obviously, the, the written response afterwards is going to be a public record.

But that could be— but that's, you know, Purpose 1 is not on the agenda tonight.

So I think, again, hoping that this extension is going to be offered, approved.

Um, and the board, you know, starting with you, Mr.

Chair, can decide if you want to put that on as a Purpose 1 executive session or let the board members, uh, you know, talk about an open session.

It's really up to the board, but that's an option.

So if, uh, if you want to, for those reasons, if you want to, um, just kind of table this for tonight and take it up on September 16th.

I can assist as needed, but in order to, you know, assuming we're going to get that extension, that's, that's an option for the board to deal with this.

I say table it.

Bob?

I agree, table it.

All right, assuming executive session, is that what you— when you say table it for executive session, just so when we post it we know how to post it?

For purpose 1?

Okay, underneath purpose 1.

So somebody make a motion.

Um, I'll make a motion to table or continue, um, the Open Meeting Law complaint to be discussed in executive session.

Uh, to be held on September 16th.

Okay, there's a second.

Second.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Okay, thank you.

I'll let— did you hear him?

That was abstained.

Yeah, abstained.

I'll let, uh, I'll let Sean's office know as soon as I hear.

Sure.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Okay, I think you're— I think you're set with me.

Yep.

Okay, thank you, Brian.

Okay, see you in a couple weeks.

Nice to see you all.

Okay, community speaks.

Anyone here for community speak?

Good evening.

Ann Miller, 25 River Street.

Mr.

Chair, Mr. Cadime, select board members, thank you for the chance to speak again on the Medeiros Farm designer services contract.

Now, this has been the Odyssey summer.

If you haven't seen the movie, you've heard about it.

Odysseus spends the whole story trying to get home with something new always in the way.

He gets most of the attention, but back in Ithaca, Penelope was running her own long game, telling suitors she'd choose one once she finished weaving a burial shroud.

Each day she wove.

Each night she quietly undid her work, so nothing ever got finished.

The Madeiras Farm project begins to look like her strategy.

Here's why.

A traffic study should follow a final design as part of the designer services process, not as a standalone step taken first.

And the traffic study this board authorized relies on the master plan as it stood on July 18th, 2025, before the board's own 3-2 vote to amend it.

That plan is final.

It can only be updated in the next phase, the schematic design.

So this study won't reflect even those changes.

It might look like progress, but the results won't accurately reflect what's actually being built.

Future decisions about safety and zoning, for example, based on this traffic study— will they have accurate numbers?

To work with.

And once a final design does exist, this traffic study will need to be undone and unwoven, adding unnecessary time and cost to the project.

Yes, traffic and safety are important.

Yes, understanding the full costs, including maintenance is a basic requirement.

And yes, listening to and working with the abutters is essential.

But the designer services contract the board voted down would address all this and more based on a final design, not a master plan already out of date.

If there were concerns with the contract, as mentioned earlier tonight, wasn't fixing the contract the best approach instead of stopping the designer services altogether?

It just doesn't make sense to me to run this study out of order for work the rejected contract already covers.

Madeira's Farm is a rare opportunity for this town.

It deserves a process that moves forward, not one that unravels each night what it wove during the day.

I'm asking the board to reconsider its vote on the designer services contract.

Funds have been appropriated, vendors selected, contract prepared.

Make the changes you need to that contract and move on.

Odysseus took 10 years to get home.

I hope it doesn't take that long to begin the next design phase of this project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

John Alves, 25 First Street.

Basically what she said.

However, I also have another issue that I would like to address.

And it concerns the, uh, the project.

However, um, let me make a statement here.

I, I chaired the Community Preservation Committee during the 2021 negotiation and purchase of the Madeiras Farm, and I want to correct the record on a question raised at the August 19th meeting about the purchase price.

The questions referred to an email I sent to community preservation members on October 19th, 2021, and it's been read as though I was proposing the town to pay $1.5 million more than the $2 million already on the table, already negotiated.

That email described an active negotiation.

At that point, Paul Madeiras had not accepted the town's $2 million offer.

He told me our number was about $1.5 million below what 2 developers had already offered him, $3.5 million.

In that conversation, he also told me that he— if he accepted the town's offer, he wanted not a penny less than the $2 million.

Both of those statements are about the same figure, $2 million.

Neither one proposed paying $3.5 million for anything.

That email also noted that I had written to the Community Preservation Coalition in Boston as part of my due diligence to ask whether CPC funds could be used to purchase property above its appraisal.

Price?

The answer clearly, from the correlation, was no.

This was important information for negotiate— for the negotiations with Mr. Medeiros going forward.

And that's exactly what happened.

The town ultimately paid $2 million for the property, its appraised value.

Under the Community Preservation Act, the act is legally barred from paying more more than the appraised value, so that the $3.5 million scenario implied by this question was never on the table to begin with.

So I'd like to have that record corrected.

With that, thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Is there anyone else?

Oh no, go ahead.

Bonnie Dubois, 380 Prospect Street.

I just have a question, um, about the home rule petition for the Wheeler School.

Could someone just explain what that is and how that would have to be approved?

It would be a home rule petition approved by town meeting.

Okay, so by— go ahead.

So what exactly is a home rule petition?

We're asking the legislature to pass a special law that would assess Weagle School, because they're tax-exempt, a pilot or payment in lieu of taxes, which a lot of all the universities and schools are now doing.

Okay, and then it has to be approved at town meeting, correct?

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Chairman, sure, take another shot at perhaps a definition.

Uh, and that's the, um, and I'm admitting I'm, I'm winging this a bit, I think Uh, if this is correct, with the discussion of the, uh, stone wall at the, uh, um, at the cemetery, uh, if I understood you correctly, Mr. Chairman, it's a historic cemetery.

And I think— and you, please, you'd have to check this because I'm no longer with community preservation— what I think you could utilize community preservation money to revive— rehabilitate is the correct word— that stone wall, if, if anybody is interested in that.

Of course, they'd have to go to the Community Preservation Committee and then the town meeting, if, if, if it's useful information.

Thank you very much.

Okay, anyone else?

Last chance, anyone else?

Okay, thank you.

Okay, other business.

Discuss other topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair 48 hours before the meeting.

I'm not aware of any.

Um, town administrator's report.

Thank you.

Just, uh, one update on the, uh, Newman— I was going to say Newman Ave Cemetery, uh, the Arcade Ave, uh, sidewalk and road pavement projects.

So the north section of the street, the road, has been completed.

The final sidewalk construction was also completed.

The pending work right now is just final pavement markers, which will be placed soon, hopefully weather permitting.

So if the weather doesn't hold up for this week, it will be done next week.

So we'll be doing thermoplast on that roadway on the north section.

South section has just obviously everybody driving by has seen that the work is underway.

There are detours that will continue to take place with potentially 2-way traffic detours and alternate traffic that will be required as they're prepping the road and the sidewalks for, for the final paving.

And so I'll have more of an update next week on that, that, or in 2 weeks for that project.

Okay, all set.

All right.

Accounts payable warrant, we took care of that.

TV9 liaison report, nothing at this time.

Bristol County Advisory Board, as of this afternoon, the minutes for the August 6th meeting have not been approved and accepted.

All they have out is a commission of minutes, which really don't apply to us here.

Okay.

Madeira's Farm Committee, just what happened tonight, that's the most recent.

Okay, so why don't we start with selectmen's comments?

Michael, do you have anything?

I do not, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, Chris.

Uh, just 2 things.

The Oak Hill, um, that they did the fire station perk test, you said it was a donation, we have to accept that.

I don't see it on the agenda.

If you can put that on for the next meeting.

And the other thing you said, Rep. Howitt's going to be coming in.

Um, can you make him aware or remind him about the, uh, the bridge we have to rebuild?

If he's able to secure any money from, uh, from the state.

Which bridge are you talking?

Pond Street Bridge.

All right, well, bring it up when you see him.

Well, you have to let him know that, give him a heads up that we're going to be talking about it.

All right, I'll give him a heads up.

That's no problem.

That's it.

Bob?

I'm good.

Liz?

If we could put on the agenda for the next meeting a discussion about the speeding on Cole Street between 7 AM and 9 AM when all the school kids are out.

I've had people reach out to me about that.

If we could address that, because that's safety, we have to talk about that.

And then if we could put a list of the debt exclusions with balances and the dates, um, of the status of the debt exclusions on our website, keep it current.

And there was also a request by a resident, um, that at the town meeting that information should be shared prior to any voting or anything like that, just to keep the residents aware of what's outstanding and the status of all the debt exclusions at this time.

Okay, is that all?

Okay.

I'd like to, uh, thank everyone that's reached out to me and my family with the, uh, loss of my son.

Thank you.

And in full disclosure, there were 4 selectmen at the funeral.

I hope nobody takes out an open meeting law complaint, you know.

We didn't sit together.

No, you can sit together, just not discuss town business.

And I called you to let you know I couldn't gather.

Yes, you did.

I didn't even know.

I didn't even know they were there.

That's fine.

And, uh, on the 13th, Sunday the 13th at 5 o'clock, uh, there'll be a dedication ceremony at the Cole Street Fields for the— for Neil Abelson soccer fields.

When is that?

13th, Sunday.

At 5 o'clock.

September?

September, yes.

Okay, I have one more thing before you.

Okay, go ahead.

September 11th, Friday, September 11th, there'll be the ceremony, or remembrance I should say, at 6:00 p.m. at the Public Safety Building, just to remind people.

All right, so the next board meeting will be on Wednesday, September 16th, 2026.

And we're gonna— we should have a discussion too, just to follow up, uh, at the next meeting about the 5 o'clock start that we did.

I mean, we're back to 6 now, and just to have a discussion, see where everybody feels.

So, okay, so our chair would entertain a motion to adjourn our regular meeting and to go into executive session reconvene an open session for potential contract approval.

A, to conduct strategy sessions with respect to negotiations with Seekonk Firefighters Union, IAFF Local 1931, per Mass General Law Chapter 30A, Section 21A-3, as having a discussion in open session would be detrimental to the litigation or bargaining position of the town.

And then we We are going to reconvene in open session for potential contract approval.

1, approval for the contract of the United Steelworkers Supervisory Unit, Local 9517-S09.

2, approval of the contract for the United Steelworkers Clerical Unit, Local 9517-10.

Approval of the contract for DPW SB Council 93, and approval of the contract for the Superintendent of Public Works.

So moved, Michael Healy, at 8:11 PM.

Okay, seconded by Mr. Archambault.

Okay, roll call vote.

Mr. Archambault?

Aye.

Elizabeth Dalmatian?

Aye.

Prezor?

Aye.

Michael Healy?

Aye.

Gary Segar?

Aye.

Okay, thank you, folks.