===PAGE 1=== SELECT BOARD MINUTES July 19 , 2022 Town Hall, 17 Main Street and via ZOOM Members present: Michael-Ray Jeffreys , Chairman; Tom Alonzo , Vice Chairman; Lou Franco, Clerk; Todd Dwyer Member not present: Heather Sroka Also Present: Heather Lemieux, Town Manager via ZOOM ; Peter Beardmore , Dr. Kate Burnham, School Superintendent ; Elizabeth Lydon of Mead, Talerman & Costa via ZOOM School Committee Members present: Carol Archambault, Chair; Brian L ehtinen, Vice Chair; Anthony Sculimbrene Chairman Jeffreys cal led the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. He asked everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. He announced in accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live over the Lunenburg public access channel, on Facebook Live and it will be uploaded to the Lunenburg public access YouTube channel within 2 4 hours after the meeting. The agenda lists all the topi cs which may be discussed at this meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by the Chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by the Open Meeting Law. He announced Town Manager Lemieux was participating remotely this evening. PUBLIC COMMENT - there was none at this time. ANNOUNCEMENTS Ms. Lemieux reported Council on Aging Director Sue Doherty has stated Eagle House Senior Center will be open as a cooling center on Wednesday from 8 am to 7 pm: T hursday 8 am to 5 pm and F riday 8 am to 4 pm . Mr. Alonzo announced last night's band concert was canceled because of the rain so they will use their rain date so they will be going to that extra M onday . T hey'll be back hopefully w eather permitting next Monday at 7 pm in front of the TC Passios Building. COMMUNICATIONS FROM OTHER BOARDS -none this evening Joint Appointment with School Committee to Fill Vacancy with a term to expire at the next election Chair Carol Archambault called the School Committee meeting to order. Mr. Jeffreys noted there was one applicant for the School Committee vacancy, Peter Beardmore of 282 Pleasant Street. Mr. Beardmore stated he was bo rn, raised and has lived here f or most of his adult life . Following college he was an A rmy officer for four years and since the last 24 years worked in high tech , primarily in product marketin g and marketing functions in IT security , fraud compliance and risk management . He has a son who is an 8th grader at Lunenburg Middle School and a daughter who is a 2020 graduate of Lunenburg H igh . He ’s always taken an int erest in town government since he was 11 years old and his mother ran for S ch ool Committee and served for six years. He served as a member of the ZBA for almost a full term several years ago . He has served on the ===PAGE 2=== Finance C ommitt ee for the past three years as C lerk and V ice Chair and Chair for the past year . For most of his first term on the Finance Committee he served as a liaison to the S chool C ommittee , so has sat in just about all of the school committee meetings for the last three years . He also currently serves on the Municipal B uilding Design C ommittee . He is familiar with the duties and responsibilities of the school committee . He has watched M rs . A rchambault's series on p ublic access channel and read a number of documents that she's furnished to him on the duties of the school committee ; the operating principles in a document for new members . If appointed tonight he look s forward to the opportunity to work m ore closely with the School C ommittee members and the ad ministration in pursuit of the S chool department's mission. T he school administration has done remarkable work in improving the overall professionalism of our faculty ; the professional development program has really grown . Very early in her term the S uperintendent identified some of the g aps associated with socioeconomic changes that have occurred in L unenburg and put forth plans to begin to address some of the behavioral and emotional challenges that some of our students have. T hose plans were able to be put into force as resourc es became available during COVID . T he investments we've made in curriculum have begun already to pay and show results . He was excited about the civics curriculum as he knew the board was. T here are four a reas that the S chool C ommittee has an opport unity to set measurable and tangible goals, garner resources and support from the comm unity and ensure that there's accountability and some of these will overlap a little bit . T he first is safety and ce rtainly the most important one. This is an area that the School department, you and our public safety officials pay close attention to . I t's an area that we can't discuss enough and as a parent I can tell you that I don't feel that I'm fully informed and I think that there's work to do there . The second is achievement , I think we would all like to know that we're getting good return on our investment . U.S. News and World R eports published a national survey a few months ago that ranked LHS as 119 in the state out of 378 public high schools . This puts us just inside of the top third and my question is can we be in the top fourth ? W e should decide what our goals a re and what we want and what we should expect as measurements to ensure taxpayers that our students are getting the best possible return on investment . T he third area very tied to return on investment is budget; that's an area that I ’ve paid close attention to over the last few years for obvious reasons . I think we're in for tough times ahead and it might not be this f iscal year or the next but by FY 25 whe n the COVID funds start to dry up and our contracts and line items st art to c atch up with inflation. I think we need to start strategizing and planning for that eventuality . If appointed one of the first things that I 'll do is suggest that we form a subcommittee of the S chool C ommittee to scrutinize the entire budget , not just the lines that are addit ions and subtractions that the School C ommittee tends to pay attention to during budget season , because there may be opportunities for greater efficiencies and or reductions if things are not running efficiently . His final area of focus and the biggest and hardest one is to better address communication and community engagement . B oth are lacking in his opinion despite the fact that they've been identified and there's been some effort over the last few years . He wonder ed if we're just opening our wallets and paying for things that that we used to do ourselves . He work s in marketing and a common metric that they use is calle d net promoter score to measure how they ’re doing in the eyes of their customers and it's a simple calculation that you see on every survey that you've probably ever taken from a vendor . He suspect ed that if we were to get a measurement that we'd ===PAGE 3=== all want it to be better than it is and the way to achieve this is through policy and through performance . I t com es to administration by looking at means of communication but not just the platforms that we're using for communication but the engagement of those platforms and looking for ways to bring community members to bear . W e just don't have that magnitu de of participation anymore in L unenburg partially because we have n't tried and partially because some people have been turned away . T hey've been made to feel that their opinion doesn't matter, that their problems aren't cared for and they begin to feel disenfranchised and how do you build ownership when there's a sense of disenfranchise ment. Those are the areas that he hope d t o focus on should you appoint him to the School C ommittee. Mr. Jeffreys thanked him for his comments and deferred to the School Committee members to ask questions. Vice Chair Brian Lehtinen asked Mr . Beardmore if he had attended School C ommittee meetings before he was appointed to the Finance Committee. Mr. Beardmore stated he had attended them sporadically over the last 20 years when there was an issue that gathe red his attention. The earliest in the last five years was Dr. Burnham ’s first or second school committee meeting and there was issue about the turf field agreement made between the Bengals and the school department and the fairness of paying fees for use of the fi eld. There ’s a lot that can be done to conv ey a sense of partnership with the community when it comes to working through and resolving tho se issues. Not long after that he applied for Finan ce Committee t here was a proposal to cut the French langu age program at the school and his daughter wa s i n that program at the time and he spoke out against it. He also attended a Finance Committee hearing on a topic where he thought there wasn ’t a lot of engagement from the Fi nance Committee that led him to volun teer for the Finance Committee. Ms. Archambault asked how you feel about potential conflicts of interest as you have been liaison for the School Committee as I have been for Finance Committe e. She saw places where there could be conflicts. She had called the Ethics C ommission to ask if it was possi ble for somebody to serve on both boards and they said yes , as long as neither position was paid . S uppose the School C ommittee made a decision to submit a capital plan item to build a swimming pool at each school ; the School C ommittee had discussed it and despite the fact that you disagreed they had voted for i t and this came to you at Finance Committee. W hat do you do with that because by our protocols when you are in the public if something is passed , you can't say that was not a good idea b ecause it's all part of the team? W hat would you do with that ? Mr. Beardmore replied I too called the Ethics Commission but for a different reason today . T he Finance Committee discussion did come up and I've also had a number of conversations since my last c onversation with you and my opinion has evolved . To answer yo ur question , I think that while I don't see a pragmatic conflict in the majori ty of the duties of either the School Committee or the Finance C ommittee, and I do think that there are efficiencies potentially to be gained in the same way that Mr. Passios served on the Finance Committee and the Parks Commis sion at the same time; I recognize that there are more than a few eyebrows that have been raised about this proposal. That perception is reality. I would propose to the members of this joint committ ee is that if appointed to the School C ommittee, I'm not looking to resign immediately from the Finance C ommittee . T here' s work that I need to help the Finance C ommittee do and some goals that we'd like to accomplish together. But I can't see serving on the Finance Committee and the School C ommittee through budget season and I would need to make an e xit before the end of the year . I think that it would have to be dealt with very carefully. Y ou raised another question in your question, which I don't know if you intended to do so or not . ===PAGE 4=== I suspect you did about your protocols because I 've spoken to your protocols and your operat ing procedures and I don't agree with them entirely and when the time comes I ’m looking forward to those discussions . I 've read them over the last couple of weeks and I don't think they serve us well particularly when it comes to exactly that circumstance that you brought forth . The “ there will be no surprises ,” clause and a couple of other cla uses that effectively turn the S chool C ommittee into an omerta or cabal of unity . I recognize that as an appointed member of this elected board I will abide by those rules until such time as I can convince you othe rwise that we should change them. Ms. Archambault stated you brought up another point that I need to make sure that that we are very clear on ; tha t the real constituents of the School C ommittee by law are the children . We don't want the parents upset , but we speak for the children for they have no voice a nd that's very important . I know that 's really not something you 100% agree with either . Mr. Beardmore stated, yes , because I don't see how you can solely represent the children when you are budgeting with taxpayer money and you are elected by registered voters . I see an inherent conflict there but I also see that a strict view of that ha s put us in the position when it comes to this net promoter deficit and engagement deficit . T he re are some people who believe that the School C ommittee i s more in support of the admin istration than of the peopl e and the students and the need to resolve issues . I 'm not sayi ng that I agree with that position . I think it comes with a lack of context sometimes. That perception issue is something that needs to be addressed . I ’m no t one of these I alone can fix it types , but I will probably push, prod, ask and apologize and do all the things to try to move the committee in the direction of doing both a great job for our children to accomplishing our m ission exactly as it's written. I have no problem with the mission but to do so in a way I think that that supports community engagement and support more holistically . Ms. Archambault responded, our job as the School C ommittee does not touch day-to-day operations and how things work that way . T he S uperintendent is charged with carrying out our policies . N ow if there is a big problem in the day to day, then we have two choices . W e ta lk with the S uperintendent in her evaluation , we say this needs to be addressed or we change the policy . T hose are the only two options , we don't have any other options by law . Mr. Beardmore stated I agree d with you entirely and I read the law . I 'm familiar with educati on reform in the 90s and the changes that came with the Student Opportunity Act and the local policie s as well. W e will probably have some disagreements on some of the rough edge s but the points you just made are valid points . T here are oppor tunities through policy, supervision and hiring/firing of the administration of the superintendent , and through budgeting . Many of these things can be pushed along and that progress can be made through benchmarking , measuring, goal setting and holding people accountable . Al l of those things that are n ot day-to- day activities but are direction setting in policy setting . W hen it comes to so me of the issues where controversy has ensued , it's hard to come up with hyp erbole and examples and you just don't kno w what's going to happen and to really pressure test those policies in adva nce but sometimes that just has to be done . The School C ommittee has in its toolkit plenty of levers and knobs to do a great job and I don't subscribe that we can't address this because we're not allowed. I think yo u know give me a rule book and I 'll find a way to win the game and I guess that's the approach that I think we need to take . Mr. Sculimbrene asked if Mr. Beardmore had any preferences for any of the ir subcommittees. ===PAGE 5=== Mr. Beardmore stated he was not up to speed on the subcommittees but thought he could do his fair share .  He mentioned a budget subcommittee which he did not think existed righ t now. It probably ought and would certainly love to participate in that. Mr. Dwyer asked if Mr. Beardmore could speak about a time he came to a meeting with one opinion and been persuaded by others and had your opinion changed. Mr. Beardmore could not think of any time at the moment, but in his capacity as Chairman of the Finance C ommittee and tenure I have been enthusiastic about discussion and shaking out issues . Also when I 'm wrong , saying I 'm wrong . I t came after the fact and it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things but in the June 2020 town mee ting if you re call I made a motion , Mr. P assios seconded it , to basically reduce the capit al plan in half and at the time we just did not know where the state was at for funding . It was the beginning of COVID; it looked like there was massive economic impact happening , the federal government ha dn't stepped in yet and we didn't really know what was going to happen . M y strategy was just spend what we absolute ly need to spend on capital in June and then come back in N ovember and figure it out when we had a better view . T hat opinion was vigorously opposed by the Town M anager and by most of the members of this board . T he motion failed an d the capital plan passed proposed . I was wrong and I admitted such as many times over in Finance C ommittee meetings in the couple of years that ensued. S o I when I'm wrong I don't have a problem saying I 'm wrong . But I have no problem with be ing a lone dissenting vote either . Mr. Franco stated w hat am I about to s ay my position is not a Peter B eardmore thing ; it's an appearanc e of conflict and while I have no doubt that you personally would be able to navigate this situation , my concern is over appearance and the precedential effect of having the same person , not you , the same person serving both roles simultaneously . My concern is that in the future , four or five years from now , if something like this comes up and it's a much long er period of overlap, people will dig back into the annals of what happened and said is there any precedent for this ? T hey're only going to know that one person occupied both of these positions simultaneously so my questio n is, is there a way that we can make this not overlap ? H ow long are we talking about this overlap and is there a way that this appointment could be done in a way so that your term does not overlap ? Mr. Beardmore noted t he power of the F inance C ommittee is purely of influence. We participate in making recommendations on the warrant and a town meetin g , but we have literally t wo powers ; we appoint members to a couple of other committees, the capital planning committee and bu ilding design committee, both of which are advisory committees . In very rare circumstances we approve an interdepartmental transfer . T hat's the extent of our power on the Finance C ommittee . S chool C ommittee is obviously very different in its scope of responsibility and authority . But I'm also sensitiv e to the perception of conflict . T here is no prohibition of this anywhere in our bylaws or charter . A ny member of the public can serv e in an elected position and appointed positions simultaneously . U ntil a few weeks ago we had a member that served on multiple bodies in town , including the Finance C ommittee . T o answer your question I t hink the School C ommittee is not scheduled to meet until A ugust 19 th . Ms. Archambault noted they will have a meeting mi d-august to talk about setting pro tocols. T he Finance Committee will meet twice in A ugust so there's a potential course of action where I could be appointed tonight , work with the Finance C ommittee to reorganize and set the c alendar, path and plan to facil itate some continuity and resign and be sworn in just prior to the next School C ommittee meeting . Mr. Franco understood that the Finance C ommittee ha s no binding authority but the persuasive authority is very substantial. P eople rely on that information that comes o ut of there, that ’s a ===PAGE 6=== testament to how useful that committee is. I f there's a way it can be engineer ed so that there is no overlap. If that circumstance can be engineered I am totally in. Mr. Beardmore stated given the way the calendar is right now I think that could be accomplished. Mr. Alonzo stated in in your engagements in public se rvice there is not a time when I have not felt that you didn't elevate the con versation and brought critical thinking and clear vision to your opinions about how things should be and I appreciate that entirely. That's an incredible quality so I definitely want to echo what M r. F ranco said . You are an excellent candidate for this kind of public service so thank you for all of that. I also would like it to be unanimous , I think it's very interesting that as a candidate before us that's looking to have a vote that you take strong positions on things that may not be particularly popular with people who are going to be voting in one way or another and yet you still take them and that's exactly why you should be on these places . My only concern is the conflict and the precedent that M r. Franco said and what I 'd like to propose s o we can say yes this has been done but only for a set time window. I nee d to hear how long it's going to be , but it's not going to be past this date . We're so close to this I would like you to commit to say for ever ybody's sake that you ’re only going to be here for this amount of time whether it's another three meetings of the Finance Committee or until middle of September whatever that is I want it to be certain because ot herwise I have absolutely no trepidations about voting for you . I think you'd be an excellent member of the School C ommittee as you are an excellent member of the Finance C ommittee . Mr. Beardmore stated since I 've been on the Finance C ommittee we've taken the summer season to look at special projects ; we've go t half a dozen on the list of which we haven't mad e a lot of progress yet this summer and I don't think we'll accom plish all of them before I leave . B ut typically the summer is the first f iscal quarter of the year so J uly , August and September and then things start happening in October. A drop dead date of the end of September would be more than reasonable and more than generous ; p robably no interaction with the sc hool department du ring that period of time. T he one issue bearing down on all of us is debt financing of new buildings and the discussion around do we build a new elementary school and those kinds of things . B ut the mechanics of setting up a financial plan have very little to do with sc hool committee policy so I don't see any potential issues there . N o later than end of S eptember . Mr. Jeffreys had no questions but did have a comment . He stated t his is really our only opportuni ty other than voting to offer influence. We ’re an executive board but in many fashions the School C ommittee is as well, but I think that there's no doubt that the School C ommittee is on par ; I would consider them to be our sister bo ard in town to the Select B oard because more than half the budget goes to schools . S o there's a lot of money from the taxpayers that goes through the School C ommittee . A s a citizen I appreciate all the achievemen ts and all the areas of needed focus that you identified and I agree with them . I think that in t he dialogue between you and Ms. Archambault who I have a ton of respect for , I think that I probably side a little more with you. The C harter gives the School C ommittee a little bit more authority than it gives us in certain areas . S pecifically it does give a little more authority to school community, I wouldn't say over day to day by the Charter rules and regulations for the manager of the public school system and for conducting the business of the School Committee that's a pretty substantial charge . The Charter reads that the School C ommittee shall have the general charge and are superintendents of all school buildings and grounds. I would just ask current members rhetorically here how many times a year do you go into the buildings ? H ow many times are you are yo u looking through them and exercising that general superintendence or is that being outsourced or being delegated down ? I think that there's more work to do and it's one of those ===PAGE 7=== things that we all h ave a capacity concern, but the School C ommittee unlike any other board in town has a very specific charter- driven charge of actual responsibility over property and grounds . D irect general superintendents that's not being exercised in my view . It also has the adoption of the budget and my observation has been that the S uperintendent provides to the School C ommittee a qualified budget that she thoroughly exp lains and thoroughly details to the School C ommittee but that i t's not a collaborative process. It is a r eport and an explanation and often what seems to me to be an agreement . T here are some questions but it comes out that it's not a collaborative product and as a citizen I have an expectation that it is a collaborative product . I think that your viewpoint here is certainly aligned with mine . T here 's a value that you add to the School C ommittee . I appreciate the value that you add to the School C ommittee , you absolutely have my support . I agree with my colleagues that there is a conflict of interest . Y ou've heard tonight from the SC Chair that she reached out to the Ethics C ommissions ; we did the same thing. T here was a question from us of is this an ethical issue ? W e went back to the C harter ; we looked, the Town M anager looke d into this b ecause it does strike us as this is a committee that has a huge part of a budget and then there's a Finance C ommitt ee which has a big voice over this budget . As a C hair of a board you have to be shown a little bit of def erence here because a transition may not occur in only three meetings and you've been workin g on a product to get the Finance C ommittee to a point where you guys are trying to set new policies and new process. Y ou need to be given to afford a little bit more time to be able to complete that and so I am completely in agreement that you know end of the summer , end of September no difference. I would support you remaining and serving in both capacities with a commitment that you will resign. There's minimal opportunity for conflict; it is not budget season in September. I think it ’s important as Ms. Archambault mentioned that the school community represents the students and so when t he school committee gets going I think it's important to have a full board and to make sure that that you're a seated member . So I will support your nomination tonight with a commitment by the end of September.   Mr. Beardmore thanked Mr. Jeffreys for all his comments . He stated he did have a disclosure to mak e and this was the reason for his call to the Ethics C ommittee today just as I made a call when I was appo inted to the Finance Committee and if appointed make a public disclosure in accordance with the law . B ut it's important that the members of this joint committee hear it prior to voting . M y former spouse is an employee of the school district . The state of Massachusetts does not recognize former spouses as immediate family members and therefore the nature of that relationship for all intents an d purposes there is no conflict where a potential conflict exists . I had a lengthy conversation with the attorney of the day at the E thics C ommission today on this . W e have a financial arran gement to take care of our kids which is a formula driven arrangement that involves both of our incom es. As a result of that if appointed I will r ecuse myself from participating in co ntract negotiations with the L unenburg E ducation A ssociation (LEA) and on voting on salary related items pert aining to contracts with the LEA. S o that is the course of action that I'll take and I 'll put all of that in writing when the time comes . Mr. Sculimbrene to Mr. Jeffreys stated when you asked me in Dec ember about what I would do, one of the things you pointed out was superintendence of the building and the grounds . I don't know a lot about the inner workings of education as it is done tod ay and so in A pril we did a tour of the buildings . Unfortunately I was unable to attend but last week we went into the S uperintendent's office ; the building there , they walked us through the curriculum revamp . T hey walked us through data regarding testing and metrics they used to measure chi ldren so I want to report to you that we are doing that and as somebody that was really a novice it was an amazing ===PAGE 8=== thing t o watch all of this data that I only dreamed about on the back of baseball cards now being generated for kids and helping them . So I think that's somethin g that you'd asked us/me to do and and I 'm grateful that you did that because it's helped me educate myself about what it is to be running a school district and being the administration . Ms. Archambault stated say some of the things that you don't realize happen actually do happen . Y our feeling is they need to be communicated bette r but here's the dichotomy . A s Mr. Sculimbrene is talking about this very detailed data that's being done to drive an increase in achievement in the kids that has been worked on by our curriculum team . We were there for two hour s going over this very honed down data and I believe the comment was we don't need these long curriculum presentations ; the meetings are too long . So you see there's some of this and some of that so it can't all happen in the public eye because the meetings are too long . I 'm not anticipating you're joining the group to make our meeting shorter (the meeting broke out in laughter), so at the end of the evening I look forward to resp ectful discourse which is what I have always experienced from you in the meet ing setting but knowing on the School C ommittee it has to be in social media ; it has to be everywhere . I know you always have a good idea and we will listen as we always do but it's not a marketing thing , the kids . It's their education so you and I will go around on this quite a bit I have no doubt . Motion: T. Alonzo 2 nd : T. Dwyer To appoint Mr. Beardmore to the School Committee until the next election with the express commitment of Mr. Beardmore to resign from finance Committee no later than September 30 th Vote: Mr. Sculimbrene-aye, Mr. Lehtinen-aye, Ms. Archambault-aye, Mr. Dwyer-aye, Mr. Franco stated he could support Mr. Beardmore, but could not support the concept or be party to setting a precedent, but wanted him to have a mandate and would not stand in the way of unanimity so abstained; Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Jeffreys-aye Mr. Beardmore thanked the boards. The School Committee adjourned at 8:02 p .m. Meeting with Town Counsel re: Purchase & Sale Agreement and License Agreement to purchase Streetlights Ms. Lemieux intro duced Attorney Elizabeth Lydon from Mead, Talerman & Costa who was participating in the negotiations with Unitil. Attorney Lydon reported she took over somewhat in the midd le of the process for purchasing the street lighting . The process is laid out in the statute and the first step was an informal request for pricing . T he company reached out with an informal quote and then the T own proceeded to issue a letter of intent to purchase the street lights and that's to satisfy the notice requirements laid out in the statute . T here was some confusion about the price because of the in formal quote that the T own received and the quote that was given after the Notice of Intent to move forward . She went back and forth with the company and discussed the tariffs which is how the price is laid out as approved by the D epart ment of Public U tilities (DPU) and they went over some details in the price as it was laid out which took some time . A fter that began reviewing the agreements that she has before you tonight and had three meetings with the company to discuss the terms and conditions of the agreement . O ne is the p urchase and sales agreement that lays out all the terms and conditions of the purchase . T he second agreeme nt is the license agreement that lays out the terms and conditions for having the street lights attached to the poles that will still belong to the company . ===PAGE 9=== T he first step is to execute the purchase and sale ; there's one outstanding issue remaining in there and it just dea ls with the insurance that the T own has . W e still have to have one more meeting with U nitil to discuss the insurance and whether or not there's an issue with that . T hen we'll have to lay out the details for the closing date and the final price should be what you see in front of you . H owever there is a period after it's signed and when the streetlights are actually purchased by the T own and that's because of the formula laid out in the statute . Unitil has to account for any replacements that are done , any street lights that break, or are replaced or any installation of new fixtures which there shouldn't be any between now and then . T here's also a depreciation factor and that could make the price go up or down depending on the n et unamortized investment and that's a way to say this price that you see before you could change after the agreement is signed . B ut that could be in the form of a check or a small amount of difference that will have to be paid and the license agreement remains in effect throughout our entire ownership of the street lighting . So the agreement in front of you is th e terms of having those fixtures on the poles . A nytime we do a replacement or upgrade we wil l have to notify the company , if there are any insp ections or if the fixtures have to be mov ed we have to get permission, and finally once we sign these two agreements the next step would be to do a closing which we sign the bill of sale that's included as an attachment to the purc hasing sales agreement. The cost listed in the agreement is $89,834.96. Also in looking at that price and going through the exhibi ts that they sent me that break down of costs, I did reach out to the general counsel of the DPU to confirm that all of the costs laid out there are as stated in the tariffs . S o this is a formulaic price , it's not something that really is negotiable ; it's appr oved by the DPU in a formula . Mr. Dwyer asked how this price compares to the ori ginal quote. Ms. Lydon stated the original estimate was $87,646.84 and that was the informal proposal that we receiv ed before the notice to proceed . Mr. Alonzo asked are we paying for the licensing fees year after year or just an acceptance of an ongoing license that we have permission to ha v e this equipment on their poles. Ms. Lydon stated the license is our permission to attach the streetligh ts to the pole s . T he only costs associated with that would be for moving the facilities upon request or if it's our own doing which I was assured that would happen very infre quently because everything else that's attached to the poles is in a different location on the pole . Mr. Jeffreys thanked her for coming in this evening and asked when she thought t he Town would be closing . Ms. Lydon stated we're hoping to have an agreement for you to sign in the next couple weeks and in that agreement it will state the closing date. Interview for Appointment to Agricultural Commissio n-term to expire June 30, 2020. Jennifer Duffy, 684 Flat Hill Road , presented for the request to be appointed. Mr. Jeffreys was contacted by the Chair of the Agri cultural Commission who endorsed the appointment. Ms. Duffy stated I 'm here to s upport the agricultural and keeping up of gardening and livestock and all those good things in the town which is why I moved here almost two years ago. I am interested in mainta ining that culture in this town. Mr. Dwyer and Mr. Franco thanked her for coming forward . Mr. Franco asked her what type of engineering degree she held. She replied chemical engineering and she works in the biotech field. She has tw o horses and chickens which she sell s their eggs to a small number of people . The term date was incorrect on the agenda so it will need to be clarified at a later time. Motion: T. Dwyer 2 nd : T. Alonzo ===PAGE 10=== To appoint Jennifer Duffy to the Agricultural Commission with a term to expire June 30, 2023 Vote: All in Favor TOWN MANAGER REPORT Announcement on Existing Vacancies The following is a list of current vacancies on the following committees:  Green C ommunities Committee ( 2 Associate vacancies)  Finance Committee (1 vacancy)  Historical C o m m issio n (1 vacancy)  Zoning Board of Appeals ( 1 associate vacancy) Interested persons can find application forms on t h e T o w n W e b site a n d c o m p le te d forms can be sent t o t h e S elect Board's Offi ce. Anyone t h a t h a s a n y questions on volunteer opportunities can contact t h e S elect Board's Offi c e a t (978) 582-4130 x 144. Current Employment Opportunities with the Town: The following is a list of current employment opportunities with the Town:  Conservation Administration Assistant (Part-time Non-Benefitted)  Library Assistant (Part-Time Non-Benefitted)  3 Heavy Equipment Operators (Full -T im e Benefitted)  Facilities Director (Full-Time Benefitted)  Meal Site Manager (Part-Time Non-Benefitted )  Paramedic (Full-time Benefitted)  Production T ech n ician ( P a r t - T im e Benefitted Position)  Van Driver ( P a r t -T im e Non-Benefitted)  Videographers (Part- Time Non-Benefitted)  Police Officer (Full-time Benefitted) More information on each position can be found on t h e job postings, which a r e located on t h e t o w n website. 925 Mass Ave (old Gas Station) TM Goal #1 I met with the Brownfields Coordinator from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding our proposed assessment work yesterday. Due to some questions that came up at this meeting about access and site control, I contacted our Tax Title Attorney and he relayed that the Final Foreclosure Judgement that was issued by the Court on July 6th was recorded at the Registry yesterday, this is the deed to the property and officially transfers the ownership of the property to the Town, so we can go ahead and do the work through the EPA without any further communication with the previous owner. Personal property items such as the pop-up shelter and contents inside the building do not transfer to the Town, only the land and building, so I will work with the owner of the personal property items to clear those out in the near future. I h a v e also contacted our insurance company a b o u t this parcel, a s w e will now n e e d t o carry a s p e c ia l p o lic y on this property until it is d is p o s e d of. Extension of Remote Meeting Participation for Public Meetings The legislature voted on Thursday, July 1 4 t h t o pass a b ill t h a t w a s a s im p le extension of allowing remote m e e tin g participation for public meetings until March 31, 2023. As t h e Governor w a s out of s t a t e this past weekend, t h e Lieutenant Governor ( a s Acting Governor) signed t h e b ill a n d it went into e ffe c t ===PAGE 11=== im m e d ia te ly . The provisions of this b ill follow t h e same g u id e lin e s t h a t h a v e b e e n in place s in c e t h e COVID public health e m e rg e n c y w a s first declared. Boards, C o m m is s io n s , a n d Committees can continue t o hold fully remote or hybrid meetings w i t h o u t t h e in-person quorum requirement until March 31, 2023. Flat Hill Road Culvert Project As t h e B o a r d is a w a r e , w e h a d submitted a S m a ll Bridge P r o g r a m application t o MassDOT in March 2022 t o supplement t h e funding for t h e Flat H ill R o a d Culvert project. This past Thursday w e receiv ed notification t h a t w e were awarded t h e maximum g r a n t amount of $500,000. MassDOT h a s indicated t h e Notice t o Proceed on this a w a r d would be issu e d by S e p te m b e r 1st so in t h e meantime w e h a v e notified our e n g in e e r of t h e a w a r d a n d t h e DPW Director . T h e e n g in e e r h a s already begun a sse m b lin g t h e documents w e n e e d t o submit t o M assD O T . Due t o timing of t h e a w a r d , w e will make sure all t h e easements a r e in place, coordinate with t h e utility, a n d t h e e n g in e e r will p u t together t h e bid package for advertisement. The bid is sc h e d u le d t o be advertised in J a n u a r y 2023, awarded in March 2023 a n d t h e project c o m p le te d by D ecem b er 2023. FY23 State Budget The FY 2023 s t a t e budget from t h e Conference Committee w a s re le a se d this past Sunday a n d w a s approved by t h e House a n d Senate yesterday. DLS h a s issu e d t h e updated cherry sh e e t estimates a n d t h e f i n a l cherry sh e e t figures a r e a n overall increase of $54,417 from w h a t w a s included a s estimates a t t h e A n n u a l T o w n Meeting. Financial Management Letter Comment on Fraud Risk Assessment T o follow-up on t h e m e e tin g with our auditors regarding t h e one remaining c o m m e n t in our management le tte r, I re c e iv e d a n updated quote t o perform a F r a u d Risk A s s e s s m e n t. Based on t h e amount, w e will be able t o do this w o r k this fiscal year. Due t o t h e amount of reward credits w e re c e iv e t h r o u g h participation in various risk management programs t h r o u g h MIIA, w e h a v e suffi c ie n t f u n d s t h a t can be used t o p a y for this assessment. Meetings, Events and Other Announcements  The Lunenburg Farmers Market will be every Sund ay until Sunday, September 25 th and the Historical Society is open during the Farmers Market hours.  The Band Concerts will be on the following dates: July 25th , A ugust 1st, August 8th and August 15th. Band concerts will once again be held on the lawn in front of the TC Passios Building. Mr. Alonzo thanked Town Manage r and her team for all the work on the Flat Hill Road culvert project ; applying for the grant and getting awarded the full amount. He also thanked the State delegation for putting in a good word at the s tate house . He also wanted to comment on the fraud risk assessment recommendation on the financial management letter . The fraud risk asses sment addresses the one remaining item in the financial management letter which is a kudos to the fiscal manageme nt of the T own , led by the Town M a nager and the Finance Director Karen Brochu. I want to publ icly thank both of them , these are excellent reports . Mr. Jeffreys concur red. He asked for clarification on what the grant goes towards because there's two p rojects going on at Flat Hill Road, one is the bridge and then one closer to the orchard . Ms. Lemieux stated it is for the bridge. ===PAGE 12=== CURRENT BUSINESS 1. Discussion on 300 th Anniversary Committee Charge It was suggested to review the sample charges provided from other towns provided by the Executive Assistant and come back with suggestions for a charge when a full board is present. 2. Approve M inutes of May 24 and June 7, 2022 Motion: T. Dwyer 2 nd : L. Franco To approve the minutes of May 27 and June 7, 2022 as written Vote: All in Favor 3. Warrants : T he board signed an accounts payable warran t in the amount of $1,571,852.57; a payroll warrant in the amount of $728,704.54 and a payroll deduct ions warrant in the amount of $ 753,932.17. 4. Action Items -there were none Mr. Jeffreys reported we've been operating fo r the last couple of years with do the pandemic with suspension of open meeting law that was set to expire on the 15th and then over the weekend the Lt. G overnor was abl e to sign an extension until next year so boards and committees are able to continue meet remotely. I also contacted our state delegation I spoke with Senator Cronin and Rep. Kushmerek about our overwhelming opposition to the H ouse version of the bill that would have allowed this . There was support for the Senate version and that H ouse leadership was i n favor of the Senate version. It's good to hear that something was able to get through we can continue to meet remotely and I know many boards and committees have depended on this . It did affect the Municipal Building Design C ommittee . W e had to cancel a meeting last night due to a lack of quorum because we had an in-person meeting which was our first one in quite some time . We posted before they passed all this . Mr. Alonzo stated I do want to add a recomm endation for this board, I think I speak for the entire board ; when we heard what the H ouse version was and all the unfunded mandates and potential fines and we were all kind of aghast that people voted for that horrible legislation. I think it would be good if we could come up with what we think a revised remote meeting legislation would look like that would best suit what we've found. T he hybrid meetings are something that we started a little bit but now through th e pandemic we've done. We should as a board try to relay not what we don't like but maybe what we do like and take some positive action in relaying to our state delegation what we'd like to see in that proposal ; not necessarily that every meeting mandates that it has to have remote participation , but that it allows for it. O bviously different towns have different bud gets for their remote access whether it's through public access television or whether it's through zoom or whatever . These all cost money but we should be allowed to do them if we can do it, but not be mandated that each meeting has to have them. W e should put that as an agenda item before the next year deadline and get it in early so that our state delegation knows what we're looking for . Mr. Jeffreys will schedule it for a later agenda. Committee Reports : Mr. Franco reported Council on A ging had a meeting this morning but Ms. Sroka attended it and we can hear from her when she returns. It was noted that Finance Committee and Stormwater Task Force are holding meetings this Thursday. ===PAGE 13=== UPCOMING MEETING/EVENTS SCHEDULE Mr. Jeffreys stated their next meeting s are August 2, 9 , 16 and the 2 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Ms. Lemieux, adding on to Mr. Alonzo ’s statement about drafting a proposed language for regarding remote meetings stated we do annually have in our double delegation and they like to come in right before the session starts in order to get any budget priorities or anything like that you give them leeway to be prepared for the start of the session. So I think that would be good timing then as well , usually the end of January. Motion: L. Franco 2 nd : T. Alonzo T o enter into Executive Session and to adjourn after exiting Executive Session: Pursuant to MGL c. 30, Section 21, Paragraph 3, to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if any open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the Chair so declares. (Police Union) Vote: Mr. Dwyer-aye, Mr. Franco-aye, Mr. Alonzo-aye, Mr. Jeffreys-aye ***************EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES ARE SEPARATE**************** Th e meeting adjourned at 8:41 P .M. Respectfully submitted, Elaine M. Peterson Executive Assistant to the Town Manager