Select Board, August 13, 2019

The town published an agenda for this meeting. No minutes have been published; the recording is the only record, and what follows is a guide to it.

budgetchapter 70electionsexecutive sessionfacilitiesgrantshiringlegalpersonnelpolicypublic commentpublic safetyseniorsstate aidtown departmentstown meeting

Present: Mr. Jeffries (member); Mrs. Adams (member); Mr. McQuade (member); Mrs. Locke (member); Town Manager (town manager); Police Chief (presenter); Council on Aging Director (presenter); Damon (member). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

1. ▶ 27:50Ratify town manager's appointment of two police sergeants, effective August 13 and 14.passed
2. ▶ 34:29Ratify appointments of two full-time police officers effective November 2 and 3.passed
3. ▶ 37:01Ratify appointment of reserve police officer Anthony Cappucci.passed
4. ▶ 1:12:31Create building committee per the bylaw with the seventh seat offered to the School Committee rather than Finance Committee (later amended so one board seat goes to Finance Committee designee).passed (voice vote with one nay and one abstention; exact count not audible)
5. ▶ 1:23:04Designate Damon as the Board of Selectmen's representative on the building committee.passed
6. ▶ 1:34:36Replace the Accu-Vote optical scan tabulator with the new ICP tabulator.not audible
7. ▶ 1:40:52Accept the July 2019 revised recycle policy replacing the 2001 one.not audible
8. ▶ 1:45:47Amend policy manual section 1.1 public comment as written, with a hold to revisit it.passed
9. ▶ 1:47:34Accept deletion of smoking language in section 2.05 as moved to employee handbook.not audible

And 1 procedural: enter executive session under chapter 30a section 21 reason one concerning the conservation commission chairman, not to return to open session. (▶ 2:07:04).

The money

1. ▶ 14:41Senior Center volunteer value

   Director said volunteer hours valued at a national hourly rate would have saved the town a stated amount.

   as heard:$25 and 43 centssixty two thousand three hundred and seventy-three dollars

2. ▶ 16:02Memory cafe grant funding

   Memory cafe received grants and donations from several organizations.

   as heard:eleven thousand three hundred and seventy nine dollarsfive thousand dollars$1,000

3. ▶ 19:48Eagle House supporters donations

   Supporters group gave funding for furniture, programs and supplies last year.

   as heard:thirteen thousand dollars

4. ▶ 20:31Council on Aging state formula grant

   Grant is per elder based on census; updated 60-plus count would raise funding.

   as heard:$12 per eldertwenty five thousand dollarsforty seven thousand six hundred and fifty two dollars

5. ▶ 43:29Mass DEP recycling grant

   Contract executed for recycling grant award.

   as heard:$20,000

6. ▶ 46:37State budget versus Town Meeting estimates

   Final state aid and assessments net to a small decrease compared with the figures used at Town Meeting.

   as heard:seven thousand eight hundred and fifteen dollarsthirty two thousand six hundred and twenty two dollarsfifty eight thousand five seventy onesixty nine thousand nine hundred ninety one dollars

7. ▶ 48:44State earmarks

   State budget included earmarks for breathing apparatus, DPW fuel tanks, Eagle House HVAC and a town hall ramp.

   as heard:a hundred thousandone hundred and sixty-five thousandforty thousand27 thousand

8. ▶ 51:48PEG cable fees

   FCC ruling could let cable providers deduct costs against the five percent fee, reducing funding for public access.

   as heard:5%

9. ▶ 1:35:38Accounts payable warrants

   Accounts payable warrant total reported.

   as heard:368 thousand four hundred twelve dollars and 27 cents

Settled without a vote

• ▶ 1:06:39Board agreed to follow the bylaw building committee composition for the TC Passios design committee and keep it at seven rather than nine.
• ▶ 1:31:27Town manager to notify the Planning Board and School Committee so they can appoint designees, and to advertise for three citizen-at-large members.
• ▶ 1:51:42Social media policy tabled; members to read the Easton model and come prepared, likely in September.
• ▶ 1:45:04Public comment policy section to be revisited in light of the Natick court case.

Documents and exhibits

State law asks minutes to list the documents and exhibits used at a meeting (M.G.L. c.30A §22(a)). Names from the recording are the caption model’s hearing; the two sides are matched by name, by script, so a document named two different ways can be missed. A place to look, not a finding.

Public comment

1. ▶ 5:45Announcement of Lions Club pancake breakfast at the Senior Center the next morning.
2. ▶ 1:52:29Asked for clarification of public comment policy and urged openness; said he wants full cost of the whole package of town buildings before voting, and raised concern about school impact of Arrow's Farm development. — Dave Rodgers, as heard, resident, 82 Highland Street

Where the time went

Minutes of recording by subject, from the topic spans below. A topic with two subjects counts toward both.

• facilities50 min · 40%
• town meeting36 min · 29%
• grants34 min · 28%
• state aid17 min · 14%
• town departments17 min · 14%
• personnel17 min · 14%
• seniors17 min · 14%
• public safety16 min · 13%
• hiring16 min · 13%
• public comment15 min · 12%

The whole meeting, in order

1. ▶ 3:35Pledge, Open Meeting notice, board comments on storm resiliency hearingsinformational · 2:10 long
2. ▶ 5:45Public comment: pancake breakfastinformational · 0:20 long · public comment
3. ▶ 6:05Council on Aging annual updateinformational · 16:54 long · seniors, grants
4. ▶ 22:59Police appointments ratifiedvoted · 16:11 long · personnel, public safety, hiring
5. ▶ 39:32Town Manager report incl. vacancies, state budget, earmarks, PEG feesinformational · 17:17 long · state aid, town departments, grants
6. ▶ 56:49Appointment of TC Passios design building committeevoted · 35:39 long · facilities, town meeting
7. ▶ 1:32:28Replacing vote tabulatorsvoted · 2:48 long · elections
8. ▶ 1:35:16Minutes, warrants, action file, committee reportsinformational · 3:04 long
9. ▶ 1:38:20Workshop on Board of Selectmen policy manualvoted in part; social media policy tabled · 14:09 long · policy
10. ▶ 1:52:29Public comment from Dave Rodgers on public comment and building plan costsinformational · 14:35 long · public comment, facilities
11. ▶ 2:07:04Executive session and adjournmentvoted · 1:04 long · executive session, personnel

What the captions could not carry

• Exact vote count on the building committee motion (one nay and one abstention heard).
• Captions say FY 2009 and FY 2008 for state budget; context suggests FY2020 and FY2019, so fiscal year is unreliable.
• Roll call responses for executive session only partly captured.
• Outcomes of the tabulator, recycle policy and smoking deletion voice votes are only partly captured.

Reports this meeting suggests

Our reading of the discussion: questions where numbers were in play and a page laying them out would have helped. Every meeting’s suggestions are merged into one register.

• ▶ 1:56:05TC Passios building costsWhat would the consolidated town office, school and community use at TC Passios cost, and what would the full set of town buildings cost?already answered: thread:tc-passios-site
• ▶ 51:48Cable access financesHow would the FCC ruling on PEG fees change cable funding for public access?

Written 2026-11-05 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/select-board/2019-08-13-Q9mIJ4SoHd0.json — 2,778 caption segments, sha256 60deda1be929…. All recorded meetings.