Select Board, March 3, 2020

The town published minutes (text) and an agenda for this meeting. Those minutes are the record; what follows is a guide to the recording.

contracts and unionsfacilitiesfeesgrantslibrarypersonnelplanning and zoningpolicypublic commenttown departmentstown meetingwarrant articlewater sewer

Present: Katie Adams (member, remote); Mr. Jeffries (member); Mr. McQuade (member); Damon (member); Heather (town manager); Tom (town counsel or moderator (addressed)). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

1. ▶ 19:19Approve peddlers license for Kevin Clem / Vivint Solar as submitted — moved by a member, as heardnot audible
2. ▶ 25:07Accept application to store and sell propane at 160 Mass Ave (Mackay Corp) as presentednot audible
3. ▶ 38:52Ratify town manager's appointments of videographers and dietary aidenot audible
4. ▶ 42:07Ratify appointment of Sheila Cragen as temporary administrative assessing assistantnot audible
5. ▶ 44:15Appoint Chuck Visia as clock windernot audible
6. ▶ 1:04:30Accept Butterfly Lane as a public way for nominal considerationnot audible

And 1 procedural: adjourn (▶ 1:24:40).

Against the town’s minutes

The town published minutes (text) for this meeting; ours were compared item by item. 8 agree, 4 caption errors resolved by the official reading, 8 substantive differences. The town’s minutes are a partial record.

1. differsPeddlers license vote (Kevin Clem / Vivint Solar)▶ 19:19

   recording Approve peddlers license for Kevin Clem / Vivint Solar as submitted — not audible

   town’s minutes “motion: d. mcquaid to approve the peddlers license for kevin clem for vivint solar vote: ms. adams- abstain, mr. jeffreys-aye, mr. mcquaid-aye, ms. luck-aye”

   Ours records no audible result; official shows 3-0-1 with Adams abstaining. Check the recording for the tally.

2. differsPropane license vote at 160 Mass Ave▶ 25:07

   recording Accept application to store and sell propane at 160 Mass Ave (Mackay Corp) as presented — not audible

   town’s minutes “motion: m. jeffreys 2nd: d. mcquaid to approve the license to keep, store and sell propane at 160 mass ave. as presented”

   Both record the vote, but ours has no audible result; official shows it passed 4-0. The applicant is 'Mackay Corp' in ours and 'Maki Corp.' in the official minutes; check the spelling.

3. differsRatification of town manager appointments▶ 38:52

   recording Ratify town manager's appointments of videographers and dietary aide — not audible

   town’s minutes “to ratify the town managers appointments as presented vote: ms. adams-aye, mr. jeffreys- aye, mr. mcquaid- aye, ms. luck-aye”

   Same vote, but ours names videographers and dietary aide while the official minutes say only 'as presented'. Ours has no result; the official shows 4-0. Check the positions in the recording.

4. differsDPW roof shortfall transfer▶ 51:09

   recording Roof project shortfall to be covered from the facilities budget — 19 thousand (discussed only)

   town’s minutes “this was a project in the fy19 capital plan in the amount of $65,000 and we will need to subsidize the balance of $19,000”

   The official minutes list no transfers and say the balance comes from the Facilities budget, with earmarked engineering funds named in public comment. Check whether a transfer was voted and which source funds it.

5. differsWarrant totals▶ 1:14:36

   recording 7200 $11.24, eight hundred twenty eight thousand ninety five dollars and twenty seven cents, three hundred seventy four thousand three hundred sixty four dollars and forty four cents

   town’s minutes “the board signed an accounts payable warrant in the amount of $374,364.44; a deductions warrant in the amount of $577,377.60; a payroll warrant in the amount of $828,095.27.”

   The payroll and accounts payable figures match. Ours has a garbled deductions figure, '7200 $11.24', against the official $577,377.60. Check the recording.

6. differsSenior tax work-off hourly rate▶ 1:19:43

   recording Senior tax work-off hourly rate: 1275

   town’s minutes “they did meet recently and voted to increase the hourly wage to be the same as the state minimum wage.”

   Ours gives a figure of 1275, probably $12.75; the official minutes print no dollar amount and say only that the rate matches the state minimum wage. Check the recording.

7. differsTiming of warrant article recommendations▶ 1:07:00

   recording Board will wait until March 17 to vote on warrant article recommendations so a full board is present.

   town’s minutes —

   The official minutes do not record this decision. Check whether it was a decision and whether it is recorded elsewhere.

8. differsAttendees: Tom and Chairman absence▶ 0:00

   recording Tom (town counsel or moderator (addressed))

   town’s minutes “members not present: tom alonzo, chairman”

   Ours lists Tom as being addressed. The official minutes list Tom Alonzo, the Chairman, as absent. Check who was addressed.

Compared 2026-11-04. Neither record is treated as the referee: a caption error is the same fact heard badly; a difference is for a person to check at the timestamp.

Transfers

The money

1. ▶ 26:29Library trust funds investment

   Library trustee explained a warrant article to let trustees invest trust funds under prudent investor rules for higher returns than the town stabilization fund.

   as heard:3.93$70,000thirty four thousand

2. ▶ 38:11Videographers as employees

   Videographers become employees paid through the cable enterprise account, which covers indirect costs including retirement.

3. ▶ 48:43Old primary school hazardous material abatement

   Final survey report identifies an abatement cost.

   as heard:thirty seven thousand eight hundred and seventy five dollars

4. ▶ 53:26Recycling coordinator grant

   A part-time grant-funded position with a local match paid from the recycling dividends program grant.

   as heard:30,00025%three thousand seven hundred and fifty dollarsa thousand eight hundred and seventy-five dollarstwo thousand five hundred dollars1250

5. ▶ 55:32FY21 new growth

   Estimated new growth falls further due to a delayed solar project.

   as heard:forty thousand six hundred dollars

6. ▶ 56:32Regional dispatch assessment

   Assessment voted lower than the original estimate.

   as heard:one hundred ninety eight thousand five hundred and thirty dollarsfive percentthirteen percenttwo hundred and thirteen four hundred ninety seven dollarsfourteen thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven dollars

7. ▶ 1:08:25Solid waste and cable enterprise articles

   Recycling is paid from the operating budget while trash and cable run through enterprise funds paid by users.

   as heard:206 thousand dollars101 191,000120 thousand

8. ▶ 1:14:36Warrants

   Water billing, payroll and accounts payable warrants read.

   as heard:7200 $11.24eight hundred twenty eight thousand ninety five dollars and twenty seven centsthree hundred seventy four thousand three hundred sixty four dollars and forty four cents

9. ▶ 1:19:43Senior tax work-off hourly rate

   Rate reportedly raised to the state minimum wage.

   as heard:1275

10. ▶ 1:23:58DPW roof shortfall funding

    Resident asked about covering the shortfall; manager said it comes from unused engineering services funds this year.

Settled without a vote

• ▶ 1:07:00Board will wait until March 17 to vote on warrant article recommendations so a full board is present.
• ▶ 1:13:25An executive session to be scheduled before next week's meeting, around 6:30.
• ▶ 12:14Staff to look into video options for remote participation.
• ▶ 1:18:19A member requested an executive session on teachers union negotiations.

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. ▶ 4:33Asked the board to support remote and video participation for working volunteers on town boards. — Peter Beardmore, as heard, Finance Committee member, 282 Pleasant Street
2. ▶ 1:23:37Asked whether the DPW roof bid shortfall would be covered from current-year funds and need a transfer. — Peter Beardmore, as heard, resident, 282 Pleasant Street

Where the time went

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

• warrant article17 min · 21%
• policy16 min · 19%
• superintendent report15 min · 17%
• grants15 min · 17%
• town departments15 min · 17%
• public comment13 min · 15%
• personnel10 min · 12%
• hiring10 min · 12%
• library9 min · 11%
• town meeting8 min · 10%

The whole meeting, in order

1. ▶ 0:00Opening and board member commentsinformational · 4:20 long
2. ▶ 4:33Public comment on remote participationreferred · 11:17 long · public comment, policy
3. ▶ 15:50Peddlers license hearing, Vivint Solarmotion made, result not audible · 4:39 long · policy
4. ▶ 20:29Propane license hearing, Mackay Corpmotion made, result not audible · 5:21 long · public safety
5. ▶ 25:47Library trust funds warrant articleinformational · 9:13 long · library, warrant article
6. ▶ 35:00Appointments: videographers, assessing assistant, clock windermotions made, results not audible · 10:00 long · personnel, hiring
7. ▶ 44:55Town manager reportinformational · 14:35 long · superintendent report, grants, town departments
8. ▶ 59:35Butterfly Lane acceptance and stormwater policymotion made, result not audible · 6:25 long · roads and dpw, legal
9. ▶ 1:06:19FY21 budget and warrant articles reviewinformational · 8:11 long · warrant article, town meeting, budget
10. ▶ 1:14:36Warrantsinformational · 1:54 long
11. ▶ 1:16:36Action items and committee reportsinformational · 6:44 long · contracts and unions, seniors
12. ▶ 1:23:37Public comment and adjournmentadjourned · 1:26 long · public comment

What the captions could not carry

• Roll call vote results were not stated explicitly for most motions.
• Section on air-out discussion at 4080-4105 partly garbled.

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.

• ▶ 26:29Library trust investmentsHow are the library trust funds invested and what would prudent investor rules change?
• ▶ 35:59Videographer employee costsWhat does reclassifying the cable videographers as employees cost the enterprise fund?
• ▶ 59:57Stormwater permit costsWhat does accepting new roads into the MS4 system cost the town?already answered: thread:stormwater-fee

Written 2026-11-04 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/select-board/2020-03-03-BRZ-KyW5ZJE.json — 1,730 caption segments, sha256 3b5e7c24ac9f…. All recorded meetings.