Select Board, March 22, 2022

The town has published neither minutes nor an agenda for this meeting. The recording is the only record, and what follows is a guide to it.

budgetgrantshiringhousinglegallibrarypersonnelplanning and zoningpublic commentrecreationroads and dpwtown departmentstown meetingwarrant articlewater sewer

Present: vice chairman (chairing in Mr. Alonso's absence) (chair); mr dwyer (member); mr franklin / mr free girl (member); karen (finance director); adam bernie (land use director); brian marshetti (mccarty engineering) (presenter); town manager (town manager); mr allison (resident on Zoom, remote). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

1. ▶ 23:19Appoint Dale Prue of 138 Beale Street to the Housing Authority, term to expire May 2022 (joint vote with Housing Authority)not audible
2. ▶ 2:10:05Ratify appointments of two board clerk/secretaries as presented by the town managerpassed
3. ▶ 2:24:55Table the Conrad's hearing item until next meetingpassed

And 2 procedural: accept the minutes of march 8, 2022 as presented (▶ 2:25:36); adjourn (▶ 2:39:17).

The money

1. ▶ 3:49FY22 second quarter revenue report

   Finance director reported revenues collected against FY22 estimates, with local receipts low because motor vehicle excise billing comes later.

   as heard:23 million 422 54751.9 percent31.44

2. ▶ 9:29Tax levy and state aid collected

   Tax levy and state aid estimates were roughly half collected through December.

   as heard:29 million 833 387nine million two hundred and forty two thousand eight hundred andfifty one percent

3. ▶ 10:12FY22 expenditures

   Expenditures and encumbrances stood near half of budget at December 31.

   as heard:45 million 98 000 551 and 93 cents50.8 percent

4. ▶ 13:18Line-item variance summary

   A member asked for a summary page of line-item variances; the finance director agreed to add one.

5. ▶ 1:27:00Capital article for Flat Hill drainage design

   Town manager noted a capital plan article exists for drainage design and asked the engineer to revise the proposal after a site visit; a member suggested a drainage study might need a special town meeting article.

6. ▶ 1:40:39MBTA Communities compliance and grant eligibility

   Non-compliance would bar access to MassWorks, Housing Choice and another grant program; technical assistance is free.

   as heard:750 housing units

7. ▶ 2:14:17Tax lien sale

   Back taxes were collected on some of fifty properties and some liens sold to an auction company.

   as heard:one million fifty eight thousand seventy seven dollarsthree hundred and thirteen thousand three and twelve dollarsfifty thousand seven twenty eight

8. ▶ 2:21:12Asset management grant

   Town received an asset management grant partly funded by the state revolving fund with a town match covered by year five work and the stormwater line, so no added FY23 appropriation is needed.

   as heard:128 thousand five dollars76 60551 40021 90013 000

9. ▶ 2:12:53Trash and recycling coordinator

   Town manager plans to outsource the grant-driven position as consulting.

10. ▶ 2:32:18Clerical union back pay

    Back pay will come from within the fiscal 22 budget.

Settled without a vote

• ▶ 1:31:05Site walk at 49 Cortland Circle on Saturday at 8 a.m.; engineer to revise the drainage proposal after the visit.
• ▶ 55:54Board to send a letter to the condo association asking about retention basin maintenance.
• ▶ 1:52:08Town will complete and submit the MBTA Communities form by May and pursue technical assistance.
• ▶ 2:25Lunenburg Auto Center hearing postponed pending special permit compliance.
• ▶ 2:25:15Budget, capital plan and warrant articles discussion deferred to next week.
• ▶ 2:28:25Board to send a communication to the school committee seeking support for an Earth Day cleanup.

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. ▶ 1:23Asked whether there would be public comment after the Flat Hill drainage presentation (address 377 Flat Hill Road).
2. ▶ 58:01Resident described a natural pond within Cortland Circle and culverts that no longer carry water west as designed in the 1994 stormwater design. — susan whalen, as heard, resident
3. ▶ 1:01:32Cortland Circle resident and homeowners association trustee described changed water flow after a septic installation and suggested the town send water to the association's retention pond with cost sharing for cleaning. — eric holt, as heard, resident
4. ▶ 1:06:00Page Street resident described soil saturation, shallow ledge and runoff in backyards; asked why piping water would be ineffective. — david melvin, as heard, resident
5. ▶ 1:14:39Page Street resident described the downstream water path and invited the board to a walk-around. — chris menard, as heard, resident
6. ▶ 1:28:40Resident said drainage problems began around 2000 with the subdivision and basement flooding; thanked the board for the meeting. — mr allison, as heard, resident
7. ▶ 1:32:31Resident offered her backyard at 268 Flat Hill as a starting point for the site walk. — christine tremaine, as heard, resident
8. ▶ 2:36:09Parks commissioner announced next Tuesday's parks meeting on the Marshall Park master plan and the town beach building structural problems; commented on MBTA rationale. — dave pascios, as heard, parks commissioner

Where the time went

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

• roads and dpw82 min · 52%
• public comment75 min · 47%
• capital69 min · 43%
• grants39 min · 24%
• housing36 min · 22%
• planning and zoning36 min · 22%
• hiring13 min · 8%
• budget12 min · 7%
• policy12 min · 7%
• warrant article9 min · 5%

The whole meeting, in order

1. ▶ 0:00Opening and public commentinformational · 2:05 long · public comment
2. ▶ 2:05Auto dealership license hearing postponedreferred · 1:02 long · planning and zoning
3. ▶ 3:07Second quarter FY22 financial reportsinformational · 11:53 long · budget
4. ▶ 15:00Housing Authority appointmentvoted · 9:53 long · housing
5. ▶ 24:53Flat Hill drainage presentation and public discussionsite walk set · 1:09:17 long · roads and dpw, public comment, capital
6. ▶ 1:34:10MBTA Communities draft guidelinesinformational · 25:54 long · housing, planning and zoning, grants
7. ▶ 2:00:04Planning board articlesinformational · 8:39 long · warrant article, planning and zoning, town meeting
8. ▶ 2:08:43Clerk appointmentsvoted · 2:26 long · personnel
9. ▶ 2:11:09Town manager reportinformational · 13:06 long · hiring, grants, roads and dpw
10. ▶ 2:24:15Old business, minutes, action items, committee reportsvoted · 11:33 long · policy
11. ▶ 2:35:48Public comment and adjournmentvoted · 3:50 long · public comment

What the captions could not carry

• Housing Authority appointment vote outcome and roll call not captured.
• Conrad's tabling vote was a consensus, with no count captured.
• Exact figures are unreliable as rendered by the captions.

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.

• ▶ 1:25:38Flat Hill drainage studyWhat would a drainage study and fix for Flat Hill and Page Street cost, and who pays?
• ▶ 1:40:39MBTA Communities complianceWhat does MBTA Communities compliance require and what grants are at stake?
• ▶ 3:49Quarterly revenue collectionsHow are FY22 revenues collected against estimates?

Written 2026-10-16 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/select-board/2022-03-22-FhF4gvCZ9nk.json — 4,410 caption segments, sha256 3b6a0ef8be7d…. All recorded meetings.