Select Board - September 28, 2026

All right, I'm going to call the meeting to order. Will you join me in the pledge of allegiance?

I pledge algiance 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.

Good evening. Welcome to the Monday, September 28 meeting of the Westport Select Board under Mass General Law, Chapter 38, Section 20F. This meeting is being recorded. Um, I do have um a few events um that are coming up that I want to mention. You can get more information on the town website or contacting the various organizations. So, just going chronologically, um, on October 7, um, the Westport River

Wershed Alliance is hosting an electronics recycling day that'll be hosted here at Town Hall. So, that'll be October 7. Um, I forgot to write down the time, so check with check with the Watershed Alliance. Um, and bring your electronics recycling down. Um, and then we have, um, I lied, I'm not going chronologically. Then we also have a watershed Alliance is having a beach cleanup um, out at Gooseberry Island on

November 7. So, check out um the uh event there for the beach cleanup on November 7. And then we have a couple of events going on at the library soon. Um on October 19th at noon, um they're having a dedication of that uh bench, the memorial bench area, and I think there's like a seating a seating area that they're going to dedicate on the 19th. And then they're also having um

the start of a new program at the library that's being introduced called Traveling Toys. So, it's uh children's and teens toys that are going to be coming to the library. So, check out the library's website and see what they have going on. And I wanted to start um the meeting with um an update on the storm response that we had from the storm over the weekend.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So, uh this weekend, uh we experienced a noraster here in the region. Um so, there we go. Thank you. All right. So, as I was saying, so uh uh this weekend we experienced a noraster here in the region. Um Westport was fairly lucky in the sense that just based on how the winds uh were in the area, we did not have nearly as much coastal flooding as

I think um we saw in other states and just nearby communities. Um there were isolated reports of down wires and branches. Um, you know, in talking with our fire chief, he wanted to just um make a point of mentioning that both National Grid and Eversource uh were very responsive throughout the uh throughout the storm and the points of contact. Um we did note that there were a few storm drains um that had to be

cleared and so there was um some flooding in areas of town. Um however um overall uh we managed to get through the storm quite well. Um and you know if there are still any outstanding concerns uh encourage members of the public just to reach out to us so we can continue on with cleanup efforts.

Yeah. I just want to say thank you to everyone who worked during the storms.

So the highway department, the harbor master department, police department, fire department. Um we had really good cooperation. And I'm glad to hear the utilities were cooperative. So, and I know I didn't lose power, so I was grateful for that. But thank you. Does anybody have any questions or anything on the storm before we move on?

Madam Chair, just to follow up on your e- recycling, that's Wednesday, October 7th from 9 to 11:00 a.m. uh behind the town hall.

Thank you.

All right. And um in the spirit of talking about cooperation between departments, I'm going to invite uh police chief Christopher Dunn.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. Mr. Tally, welcome.

Or good evening, I should say.

So, yes, I'm here today um to talk about with the board about the recognition of a life-saving award for officer David Simco and Harbor Master Captain William Chase. So, I'm pleased to forward Sergeant Nicholas Fistachi's nomination of Officer David Simco and Hob Master William Chase for the Town of Westport Life-Saving award for the heroic actions on July 4th, 2026. I fully support this

nomination and believe their actions exemplify the courage, professionalism, dedication to public service this ward represents. On July 4th, officer Officer Simco and Captain Chase responded to a report of unresponsive mail near Ship Rock on the east branch of the Westport River. They quickly located this and brought him they quickly located him and brought him aboard the vessel. Officer

Simco immediately began CPR and applied an AED while Captain Chase navigated to the state boat ramp where the Westwell Fire EMS was standing by. Officer Simco continued CPR throughout this transport until EMS assumed care. The male subsequently regained a pulse was transported child to Mor hospital and ultimately survived. This incident is also an exe excellent example of strong collaboration between the West Police

Department and Hob master's office. The ability for officer Simco and Captain Chase to work seamlessly together utilizing their respective training expertise was critical to provide a rapid rapid effective response. Their teamwork, composure, and life-saving actions undoubtedly contribute to Mr.

Smith's to the person's survival. I'm extremely proud of their actions and believe that they brought great credit to themselves, their respective departments, and the town of Westport. I respectfully request the board to recognize Officer Simco and Captain Chase with the town's life-saving award.

They're truly deserving of this honor.

Thank you.

We have um these pins. This is the life-saving award. Yes, this is the life scene what we present to to officers in our department when they conduct this action.

Great. Thank you. Um so I just want to say thank you um to you gentlemen for the work you did. Thank you for the preparation that you do because we don't really want to have to have these kind of rescues and it requires a lot of cooperation before anything happens so that you know what to do in emergency.

So just kudos to the department to the fire police harbor master um the EMTs the paramedics rather working together.

Um, I think it's just so important. So, thank you for what you've done. I think you truly deserve this.

Thank you.

Um, we're going to present them in a second, but anybody want to say anything before we before we move to photographs and Madam Chair, I echo your sentiments on obviously the collaboration between the departments. I was at an afteraction meeting um last week with uh fire department, the police, the hover master uh and then DCR. Um so it was it's good to see obviously they do that prior to

during the year and then at the end as well. So um obviously the July 4th is a very busy time around here and the fact that uh everyone was there and acted in a professional manner and was able to save a life is uh pretty impressive. So thank you.

Thank you. Do either of you gentlemen want to say anything? You don't have to but just I want to say okay just because just make sure you're at the mic there.

So I'm Dave Simco. Um, one of the things I wanted to recognize too also, this uh, incident starts with a phone call from basically a victim or a victim's family.

And when that happened, the n uh, so when you call 911 from a cell phone, you normally get the Google Earth look.

Well, when you're at Ship Rock, you get a dot in the middle of a water. And now we have to have the dispatcher has to basically extract information from this person exactly where they are. Um at while that that's happening, she's actually typing into a uh a program called I am responding to the fire department to get them underway. She's um also dispatches letting the police and fire over radio in the harbor

masters department to respond. At the same time, the harbor master has to make a determination of what vessel to take given the tide and where the location of this is going. So that's done in a second.

Then once we get underway, we have to get to Shiprock. I'm now peppering the dispatcher with a bunch of questions of what color is the vessel, how many people are on the vessel, where exactly is the vessel because there's 35 vessels at Ship Rock on that day. Um, and we're talking about 8,000 people probably on the other side of Drift Road for the beaches, for the horse neck that day. I don't know.

When that's happening, we're also coordinating with the fire department and the police department to clear the ramp that where we're going to extract this person from when we return. Um, also, um, once we get there, we have to put the person in the boat. The captain has to make a decision who he's going to take on a boat. Uh, also, you know, one person is as a a survivor to, uh, help the family out.

This all took place in 12 minutes. in 12 minutes. The the fire department responded with their ambulance and a and a Zodiac, their their small boat in case it was somewhere else. So, uh we're one spoke in the wheel that this it's not one person or or two that just make this happen. There's an entire team behind this. And so, for all the first responders, I just want you to

understand it takes takes a you know, a whole team. That's all.

Thank you. Thank you for saying that.

Do you want to say? No. Okay. You You don't generally pass up an opportunity to speak, Bill.

I think you know, Madam Chair, I'm not shy with a microphone or a camera. Um, first of all, thank you, Chief, for this. Um, thank you.

In a town where, um, police and fire do heroic stuff every day, this is quite an honor for us. Um, I I really think it's important to point out, and I think Dave alluded to it, that this is really a team effort. This is not just Dave and I. Uh, this could have been Rick and Officer uh Munzing or Kevin or uh Officer Silva, any combination of us. I believe the result

would have been the same. And that's what I take from this. And I hope that's what you all take from it as well. So, thank you so much for this. This is this is validation for us and we really appreciate it. It was deserved.

Yes, very much so.

All right. Thank you. I'm going to um come around to get and let you can shake their hands and then we'll kind of meet in the middle here for a photo.

Yep.

Congratulations.

One on one side, one on the other.

Be in the middle.

Yeah, we haven't really figured out the picture taking format here.

All right.

First one.

One, two, three.

and chief.

Yes, I think we have another item for you.

We have another one. Yes, we have uh 4A. We have a request from uh police chief Dunn to appoint Anna Verentes to full-time police officer effective January 10th. So, I'd like first off like to thank TA Vitali. Um, he was able to find some money in this fiscal year's budget to for us to get half a position, an additional half a position for a 32nd officer, which is going to help out with our staffing. So,

I'd like to thank him for that. Um, so I reg I respectfully request your consideration for appointment of Anna Vertentes as full-time police officer with the Westport Police Department with an effective date of Sunday, July 10th, 2027, contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation, psychological evaluation, other required training mandated by the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training

Council. Miss Fentis is currently a full-time police officer with the Pucket Rhode Island Police Department. She has approximately 10 years of experience and is bilingual with additional experience in crime scene processing, peer-to-peer support leaison, and a taser instructor.

Miss Ventes is married to to Jennifer Ventes and they currently reside in Warwick, Rhode Island. Miss Ventes has strong ties to the area and and she and her wife have expressed a desire to relocate to Westport or an adjacent facility. Officer Verente's extensive law enforcement experience and combined with her commitment to public service, specialized skill, and desire to become an active member of our community make

her an excellent candidate for appointment to the Westport Police Department. I'm not requesting any additional funding for this position.

And I respectfully request the board to appoint Anna Tentes as a Westport Police Officer effective Sunday, July 10th, 2027, contingent upon those.

So, you said July 10th, but it says January 10th.

I'm sorry. January 10th.

It's January.

Yeah, January 10th. This January 10th.

Okay. Thank you. January 10th. My apologies.

Okay. So, you um appointment effective January 10 pending the Yes. Uh men background psychological evaluation other required training and mandated by the Massachusetts training council. Considering she's a Rhode Island officer, there's different protocols we have to do. So, there's other hurdles we have to do which takes a little bit longer. That's why we're here tonight and not so like in

November. And Miss Fenty is actually in a she's back there in in the if you want to quiz her on her qualifications.

I I I we myself and the deputy chief quizzed her quite a bit. We came way very impressed um with her. Yes. So she'll be an excellent addition to our community.

Thank you.

Best place to get a bite to eat in Punk.

Where is it?

Like tacos.

The best place. What's the best place?

CF is Okay.

Okay.

Is that you approve of that? You can I'll allow that.

Allow that. Okay. We have a motion.

Motion to approve. Uh Mr. Verentees uh pending a background check, training, and any uh necessary certification in the state of Massachusetts.

Second.

Is there Did you want to say anything?

You don't have to.

No. Okay. I just chief, I'm curious. How many female officers will we have with her on board? This will be our third.

Third.

So we have detective Michelle Donovan, schooly sauce officer Sarah Pacico, and now Ann.

Excellent.

Yes.

Thank you.

I think Miss Verent Verentes will be coming here a lot sooner with the Washington Bridge. I don't think Trafford from Warwick. You You might be moving sooner rather than later unless they build that bridge faster.

I will.

All right. So, we have a motion and a second. All in favor?

I. U. So, that's four in favor and one absent. Anything? Welcome aboard. Um, anything else you wanted to talk about while you're here?

A few things if I can. Um, one, the virtual machine, the simulation machine has arrived and has delivered. So, I would like to thank uh, one, Senator Rogers with the earmark for us to purchase this. Secondly, I like to thank um, Deputy Rebello and those who spent their time on their own time to create um, the floor and the ceiling and making sure everything works per great. I will send a request through um, Mr. the

Vitali about inviting members of the board to come and check it out hopefully in the near future as well as members of the fincom. So that's the first thing.

The second thing is we're updating our dispatch consoles which we've done with capital improvement money that we had last year. Uh we're moving sooner than later um to help out with the fire department. Unfortunately, the fire department has to have a police portable in station one for us to hear. So we've been moving uh quicker on that. We just had the promotion of Sergeant Michael

Cher last Thursday which was great. Um, the last thing is our community engagement team is doing uh we'll be helping out with trunk or treat which will be October 18th from 12:00 to 2:00 and that will be at 573 Adamsville Road.

So that's always a great time for the officers to decorate the cruisers.

Yeah.

So thank you. Anything for the chief before we let him go?

Just ask um if you're welcome to stay because you're Westport residence, but if you do leave uh don't congregate in the hallway and chat. Go we'll be downstairs.

Downstairs.

All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Um, so the next item we have is a request to appoint Jeff Wade to the Community Preservation Committee. And Jeff Wade is here. We don't usually get our appointees here. So, did you want to say anything or you just No, I just came out of respect.

Okay. All right. Um, thank you.

I serve with Jeff on the school building committee, so I recom I recommended anyway.

Motion to approve Jeff Wade.

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor? I.

I. That's four in favor and one absent.

Thank. Welcome aboard.

Great. Thank you very much.

Um, we have a request to appoint Steve Connors to assistant harbor master.

Did you want to say anything?

Yeah, just briefly.

So, uh, Steve, we've known God for years. Uh you might all remember him from u his work at the watershed alliance. Uh he's since retired from the watershed Alliance and um he just came down the shack one day and said, "Hey, I'm available if you need any help." Uh that kind of thing. Um when we have talent like that, we like to grab them.

Uh so I think Steve can uh bring the same uh the same uh zeal that we have for the river um to the department. Um he's a great guy. Um and I I think I can speak to his character and um and again his desire to uh to jump in and help us out.

So uh I'm formally requesting his u nomination as uh assistant harbor master as needed.

Thank you.

Motion to approve Steve Connor.

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor?

I. That's four in favor and one absent.

That's correct.

So the request is to reappoint um Milton Adams, John Ezedo, Edward Kerry and Carl Chip Harbor Advisory Committee.

Motion to approve those appointments.

Second, Madam Chair. And I have a question.

Sure. Go ahead.

This is kind of late in the appointment season. Was this is this effective back to July 1?

Yeah, I think they just forgot to um uh they they just missed the notification that they needed to request reappoint and so we just they just said please reappoint all of them which is why we had five names on there but um Alexander Preston had already um resigned from the committee previously so that's why we're not appointing him.

So it's July 1st is the July 1. Yeah, we're neatening up the paperwork.

I did second that. So, okay. Any discussion? All in favor?

I I That's uh four in favor and one absent. And then we have a request to open the 2026 and 27 days scallop season. Did you notice how I said scallop and not scallop?

I got a lot of grief for that a couple years ago.

Really?

Go ahead.

How do you say it, Captain? And madame chair, members of the board, um it's that time of year again uh where the state is opening the base golf season uh through March 31st, 2027.

So I hereby requesting that the town allow us to open on 10:17, which is a Saturday, at 8:00 in the morning. Uh we have not had a banner of scolops scolop season since 2018.

Um, we're starting to see a slight comeback, which is a good thing. And I think a lot of that has to do with eel grass in the river. We're seeing an uptick in eelgrass. We've been working on a study with Nor Eastern University.

Uh, we've done aerial studies, we've done studies from vessels, and we've actually had um Northeastern two weeks ago had people in the water actually looking at the eelrass in the river. So, eelrass is looking good. That's where the scolops uh start as young scolops.

So, we're hoping that you will approve opening on 10:17 at 8 a.m.

Thank you. Any questions?

Motion.

So, this is the first season since 2018 or the first potential good season?

Potential good.

I hope it's the first potentially good season. Um, we 2018 we just had that banner season every 20 years or so. Um, we're s seeing a small uptick in in the scolops that have been taken and the bay scolops that have been taken. So, we're hoping in the last few years we've had a small increase, not a whole lot. Um, they're spotty. They're all over the river, but they're starting to show up.

We were hoping they're going to show up this year. So, we'll keep our fingers crossed and um hopefully if anything comes out of this year, we'll see a lot of young ones that hopefully grow next year and we'll keep going from there.

Thank you.

Motion to approve the opening of scholar season.

Second.

There any discussion? All in favor?

I I That's four in favor and one absent.

Anything else here?

That's good. That's good. Thank you very much.

Uh 5B is a request to approve the warrant for the November 3rd, 2026 uh state election. So, the polling places are the same as they always have been. The five location or not always, but recently um been the same ones for the September primary. Um there's a slate of um Commonwealth and district and county positions that are on the ballot as well as nine questions. So we don't um we didn't create the ballot.

The ballot came to us. Um but we uh need to approve the warrant.

Motion to approve the warrant.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

All in favor?

I I That's um four in favor and one absent. And I do want to remind people early voting starts on October 17. Um so check the town clerk's office for um voting information and then the general the election is on November 3rd.

Uh 5C, we have a request to accept the resignation of Linda Carrera at the town of Westport certified water operator effective December 31.

Yes. Uh so this is um Linda Kra who uh helps us with our water enterprise fund.

She coordinates the reports, testing um and make sure that our system is compliant with the state regulations. Uh Linda sent us a notification that she's retiring at the end of the calendar year. Uh and she did this now because she just wanted to provide the town of time with its transition efforts and obviously uh try to make that handoff as seamless as possible. Um, I will say that this is a very big loss to the

town. Linda's been with the town for a long time. Um, I I believe almost two decades or if not more than two decades.

So, I just want to thank Linda for her service to the town as a contractor. Um, you know, because this is a function of our enterprise fund. You know, one of the things that we've talked about here is the need to evaluate that operation.

you know, our waterline is growing. Um, and now, especially now, um, with this upcoming transition, um, that's something where I'm going to want to look at this operation model and come to the board with recommendations. So, I anticipate doing that in the next couple meetings so that, uh, we can get begin planning ahead of that, um, end date at the end of the calendar year.

All right. Thank you. Any questions about that?

Have a motion.

Motion to approve the resignation.

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor?

I.

I. That's four in favor and one absent.

We have a request to accept a $20 donation from Donna Wall to the Veterans Office for the Veterans Food Pantry.

Motion to approve the donation.

Second.

Any discussion?

I didn't know we had Veterans Food Pantry.

We do.

The Veterans Agency does amazing things.

She's got all kind of stuff going on.

I don't know where that's located. Do you have any idea?

I assume in the veterans office, but I don't know.

All right. Any discussion? All in favor?

I I four in favor and one absent.

We have a request from Highway Surveyor Chris Gonzolves to execute a time extension document letter to PJ Keating in order to establish a new project completion date of November 21 for the 2026 phase 2 roadway paving improvements project. You want to tell us about that?

Yes. Um, so as you said, this is an extension request uh through November 21st, 2026. Um, my understanding is this extension accommodates uh some additional pavings and markings um as well as some additional pedestrian road safety work. Um, and I think as part of this agreement, there's also uh the contractors waving any delay or increase cost claims. So, uh, doing it within the scope of work just, um, this would be

the town allowing them a little extra time to get it done.

Thank you.

Motion to approve the time extension.

Second.

Is there any discussion? All in favor?

I.

I. That's four in favor and one absent.

We have a request to approve $300,000 emerging contaminants in small or disadvantaged communities ECD SDC grant agreement and authorize expenditure for the Briggs Road Fire Station water mean extension project. And tell us about this one.

Sure. Uh so the town was recently awarded a $300,000 grant through Mass D uh as part of the grant program which you mentioned. Um and this is for the next phase of the town's waterline extension. So, this project would extend town water from Gford Road to Briggs or to the Briggs Road Fire Station um through the installation approximately 1,700 uh linear feet of 12-in water mane. Um this is part of a bigger uh

project package which is also grant funded through other sources. So, um we have congressional directed spending from FY24 and FY26 that will um uh complement this project package. Um this project uh the current estimated cost for this phase is approximately $1.1 million. Um so this like I said 300,000 this just a piece of it. Um, and you know, again, as soon as, uh, this grant contract paperwork is

finalized as well as those other funding sources, um, this project will be out to bid probably in the early spring.

Thank you, Jake. I know you have infrastructure. Do you have anything to add to that?

Nope. Uh, we actually had an well, I'll give an update at the end, but we did have an IOC meeting and we are looking to other opportunities to ex uh, extend the water line. Uh, and we did talk about obviously the the necessity to approve this here at the select board meeting today.

All right. Thank you. Have a motion.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Any discussion? All in favor?

I.

I. That's four in favor and one absent.

And then um consideration and potential vote on grant authorization policy. So tell us about that.

Certainly. Uh so as the board knows uh the town applies and receives a number of grants uh through our departments, our boards, our committees. um over the last several months, you know, there was a question that had come up with regards to um you know, what contracts had to come before the board, which and which contracts were handled administratively.

Um there was not clarity amongst the staff and my understanding is um that based on past practice, there are certain grants that have just been processed administratively. Um you know, again, recurring grants the town gets every single year. um you know but nevertheless it is considered a grant contract. So you know according to Mass General law there's actually a requirement that uh grant contracts come

before the board not to agree to the grant necessarily but to approve the expenditure of funds. So you know again just by de facto you know those grant contracts really have to come before the board you know prior to signing um just so that we can track them and administer them better. So before you this evening is a proposal for a grant authorization policy um to align with what the current practice has

been here in the town but to get us in compliance with what Mass general law requires. So, what this would do is for uh I'll say routine grants, grants that we already have matching funds for, uh funds that are not adding a significant costs to the town's operating budget. Um those are things that um this policy would allow me to sign those on behalf of the board for the town. So, this

would be considered a pre-authorization.

um larger grants or grants that the board wants brought forward. Um you know, there's exceptions here that would bring those grants forward for discussion.

Um and again, I think there's a dollar threshold as well as other conditions on insurance. Um or if the grant fund specifically requires the select board vote on it. You know, again, I think the idea behind this would be to create a clear and consistent process. Um, you know, I know just in my time here, there's been a couple of grants, um, you know, that we've heard about and this

would create a system for me to be able to track them a little bit better and, uh, again, be able to report those out to the board on a um, a set time frame.

So, that's what's before you this evening and um, open any questions on it. So um I first want to say that so this um policy would um applies to non-educational grants. So educational grants are handled under the authority of the school committee. So this only applies this does not apply to the school uh grants.

Correct.

And then you have um like eight things in here that would specifically require Yes, you have to come to the select board. So it's things like um it requires the town to appropriate or borrow money. Um require creates a financial obligation over $10,000.

creates a permanent position. Um involves acquisition, transfer, restriction of real property. Um there's an insurance about um indemnifying a hold harmless another party. Um creates a material repayment or clawback obligation that would require town funds, requires a town meeting vote or um if you basically the town administrator just wants to bring it to the select board. Right. So I thought it

I thought it was good. I like having a policy that we're following and u to kind of align with what we're probably already doing mostly, but just to be very clear. So I I'm in favor of this.

Does anybody have questions though? And Madam Chair, just a couple questions.

Sure.

Uh directed towards Chris specifically.

Um so we'd like highway department grants. Most of those come before us because they're larger size grants. Is that correct? or cuz what my concern is I don't want to like and we had a situation with a grant earlier this year where we may have missed a deadline or is there a way that we can give Chris the authority like if it's between if all of a sudden it comes up where we

need approval on it and it has to be can you is there like basically a preliminary authorization you can do so we don't lose the grant if there's a time constraint because I've seen that a couple times in like the past year where you know it may have come late or we may be missing it. So I just don't know especially with the two weeks that we have.

Yeah. So I think what this policy does and and again I'm I guess I'll make some assumptions here is assuming that there is not a condition on those grant contracts that is triggering any one of these exceptions.

Okay.

There's not a dollar threshold necessarily.

You know it's you know uh I'll just use an example. you know, we get $30,000 to help buy a van and it's complemented by town meeting authorization for capital funds. Um, that wouldn't have to come to the board.

I could just report out that, hey, this is the list of grants that we've received and we've been able to approve for the town. So, I don't know if that answers your question there, but Madam Chair, another another question.

Um my concern is that a lot of the grants that we end up getting it becomes news to us when they come before the select board.

Um you know perfect example this may not be a gerine to this discussion but perfect example would be uh the speed humps on old county road that is now percolating and people are starting to hear about this whole plan. You know the first time we heard of it is the first time it was presented to us. So, will there be a process in place where we know what grants certain departments are

applying for prior to getting it? Uh, you know, this is maybe outside of this grant authorization, but if we're going to streamline this process, you know, maybe we have a better idea of what those grants are and where they're coming from.

Yeah. So, right now, I know uh there's a lot of grants that are administered that's very decentralized. So I think this is kind of the first step to have a better idea across not just the departments but also other boards or commissions that might be getting you know grant funds on their own to get an idea of what's out there. You know I do think um you know longterm I'd like to

work with departments and be proactive as to what we're applying for. Okay.

Actually I think the discussion either next discussion or two items down we're talking about strategic priorities. You know, I think that this kind of dovetales nicely into that because um you know, ideally what we're going after for funds is complementing what we as a town are expressing as priorities.

Um I know I've been very frustrated about not knowing how much grant funding like we we get a lot of people complain, oh, you need a grant writer. It's like, well, I don't even have I don't even know how much we've even gotten in grants lately, you know, because they come off like uh so I would like to see I think centralizing it is an exceptionally good idea so that we can report out we, you

know, we we get a lot of criticism for not getting grants, but we have we get a lot of grants, you know, and we and want to make sure that we're recognizing the people in the departments that are doing a lot of work to get these grants. So I I really do think we should centralize and and so we can report out.

Madam Chair, just follow up on that. So we end up obviously being kind of the front line of a lot of the stuff that other um commissions boards are doing.

Like again, I'm going to go back to the speed hump, the six speed humps from, you know, the high school to the post office. I've heard a large outcry for this and there's a big post today on Facebook and you'll see all that. Um but again the first time we had heard of it before was before I came to us. We're getting the blame now. The select board is getting the blame when this is

actually a planning board you know kind of directive to get that grant. So I just want to make sure that uh to the madam chair's point that we do streamline this and we do have it so that we know what's coming before us in in in situations like that because that we're the ones that are going to get blamed or you know take some of the credit for something because they think

you know we're overseeing all that. So yeah, so within this policy, it does, like I said, it it designate designates me as the authorized signer. So, you know, when we get these grant contracts in, we know or, you know, through my office, I'm going to be able to know what it is we're signing on for before it becomes an obligation. if it's something where I think it warrants a discussion or there hasn't been a

discussion or you know maybe it's a bigger conversation between departments you know that would be an example of something I would bring to the board to say hey I think I want to make sure we're on the right track with this and that will definitely help us I think so thank you any other questions yeah I took some notes and it kind of echoes what Jake was saying like my concern there's no town fund source

being triggered and there's no operational obligation there's a possibility for a blind spot to the board of grants that are being issued.

What blind spot are you thinking?

Well, it's going back to the speed humps or I remember that there was uh heartburn about how the water started out in the north end.

Yeah.

Um so and then if like I said if there's no oblig operational obligation of a town or town fund source, there's a potential that have blind spots, good grants. So it would be nice to see as opposed to like the section 3 requirement for approval just to have a select board oversight on grants. So like the grants you signed off for the signing authority, but every six months just attach here's a list of all the

grants we got.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I I think that's I think I did one year just to keep it in line with fiscal. If the board wants a a different schedule, six month schedule than that, you know, I I would leave that to the board's discretion. Um, you know, like I said, I think when it comes to what the town is, uh, going to gr get grants for, you know, I think the idea is to

complement that with what the board wants to see.

Correct. Um and so I think in the absence of that a lot of this is either departmental priorities or issues that the department sees and maybe again all well intentioned but maybe um just some additional discussions are needed. So I I hear you and are you not currently the signing authority for all grants?

So like if the council agent wants a grant, the director of the council aging sign for the grant, it never comes across your desk currently since there is no policy.

There are grants that have been signed that have not been signed by me.

Okay. And this codifies it. So all grants come before you.

Yes.

Okay.

One more question.

Go ahead.

Um Madam Chair, so my question is I think this is probably more for our town employees. I think a lot of them have kind of been operating in silos. Uh so I appreciate your efforts to try to kind of streamline this and make it more efficient. Um I know people may think that we may be trying to delve into some policy, but at the end of the day, I think we're trying to, you know, at

least, you know, protect ourselves as a kind of the first line of defense to know what's what's going to come before us and allow you to kind of have that oversight. So, while some town departments may have a little bit of heartburn or, you know, thinking we're make you specifically are making their life difficult, I think um they've kind of been operating in a vacuum in the past. So, hopefully this helps to, you

know, make it more efficient and and a little bit more oversight. So, thank you.

Yeah, change is a little hard for people who haven't had to do it, but I think it's I think it's a good idea.

What's the pleasure of the board?

I guess would we'd be making a motion to on the grant authorization policy?

Yes.

To approve it.

Yep.

If that's a motion, I second it, Madam Chair.

Was that a motion?

That was a motion.

Any further discussion?

Anyway, any further discussion?

All in favor? I I That's four in favor and one absent.

Um budget timeline review and priorities discussion.

Yes. Uh so in your packet uh if we can believe it uh we are starting to talk about the FY2028 budget. Um so in your packet you have a proposed municipal budget calendar uh outlines tonight's meeting which is uh our first discussion on the budget. Uh there's also other dates in there uh identifying uh you know when we send out our capital instructions uh when we have our official budget

kickoff uh talks about uh tenative date for uh submit submission of budgets by departments. Um you know when my office uh presents the initial recommended budget you know and associated deadlines. Um, you know, I will make a note that this is starting a little bit later than it did last year. Uh, I think the reason for that is because I'd like to have a little more data to inform uh the budget

instructions that go out and be able to inform the board during that kickoff in mid November. So um you know again I think my hope would be you know that this year uh the board consider holding a joint meeting with uh you know the select board school committee and finance committee. Um, you know, I I think that that will give everyone a clear picture as to, you know, what our current policies are, what we're

anticipating for revenue, you know, areas of, um, expected, uh, expenditure growth, um, you know, other budget drivers, and just be able to ask questions at that meeting. So, um, with that, open any questions on this piece.

I really like that idea of the joint meeting with the school committee and the finance committee early in November because it seems like we meet late and after the things are already settled.

So, I really like that conversation. So, and and reviewing, you know, what you're basing your projections on and things like that. I think that's a great idea.

And then I did note um did did we actually I know you sent this to the chair of the finance committee because um we're proposing delivering the final budget two days later than the bylaws which do do you know did she already okay that um I did leave her in follow-up message.

I haven't heard back from her yet. Um but I will typically it's usually fine but yeah.

Okay.

Any questions about the timeline?

Why are we proging out two days late this far out?

Why what why are we proging out two days late? I think history.

So, why aren't we Because when is the meeting before the February 22nd meeting?

February 20th.

February 20th is a due date, but I think that's a um February 8th is the only other meeting in February.

Yeah. So, um because February 20th is a weekend right?

Yeah. So, we get our updated uh state revenue numbers, you know, either the last day of January or the first day of February. And so, um, it would be my recommendation that the board has that information for longer than a couple days if there are follow-up discussions that the board wants to have. So, that would allow time for the board to review the updated information on the meeting on the 8th.

And if there are any last minute changes recommendations then you know, we have that second meeting in February to be able to um, make those changes happen and get it over to the finance committee. But I think that would also be something we could talk about on that joint meeting that we have about because we could call a special meeting like on the 19th of February if we needed to. Um, typically they've

usually been fine with a couple of days because the weekend.

Madam Chair, in the memo that's attached, this is to the town administrator, of course, there's mention of free cash and not having a town policy for the use of free cash. I believe at one time we had an opportunity to consider a policy, but then we didn't follow through on that.

Um, and I'm wondering why if in your research you came up with any reasons why that was not in place or is it required by the state for example? I know the finance committee would be actively involved in something like this but it is a little bit I thought we did have a policy. Do we have did we have like a proposed policy about Yeah. Yeah. I went back uh and looked at

a a meeting of a couple of years ago and it was actually a memo from Jim Hartnett and had next to each item like the percentage of ke free cash for capital expenses for example but it looks like it wasn't acted on and I didn't find anything after that.

So you know that I'll call it standing practice is still in place. You know I think one of the things that uh would be beneficial at the discussion in November is obviously um you know the town has utilized free cash for non-etime expenditures. you know, I think um guidance on how we approach this FY28 budget when it comes to those dollars, I think would be uh very beneficial from a planning purpose.

Um understanding that, you know, that's not something that can get absorbed in any one fiscal year. So, you know, what does that offramp look like? Is that something that, you know, um there's consensus on or agreement on the approach? Um, you know, I also think, you know, just as a general practice, it's good to look at the allocation of those, you know, of what we're putting towards stabilization, what

we're putting towards capital. Um, even if it stays consistent year-over-year, I think it's good to pull it out on an annual basis at the beginning of the budget process and say, "Hey, is this is this still in line with what the board would like to see?" and um taking in consideration any recommendations that the state may have too on best practice.

So that was kind of my thoughts behind that.

It makes sense to have a have a policy and we probably should have followed through.

I'll blame it on the chair, but maybe I was the chair at the time.

Did you have other questions?

No, I was it.

All right. So, um so you were looking for discussion about the timeline, but you didn't need a vote or anything yet, right?

No. So, I think the timeline was more informational. Okay. Um, you know, if there's not any concerns with any of the dates on there, like I said, a couple of them um are assuming that we could schedule a joint meeting uh in November on the board's regular meeting schedule um if the board wanted to do that off cycle at a special meeting, that's another option. Uh, and certainly if

there was any concern from the finance committee on that February date, we could also re-evaluate that. But, um, so I think, um, I think my ask on that would be for, um, for you to contact the school committee and the finance committee and propose the date and see if they're on board or if they need to make a change. I think we'll do.

All right. Anything else on the timeline before we go to the priorities?

Okay. Priorities.

Yes. So this is just, you know, when we're talking about the budget, you know, I felt that this was a good opportunity uh to start the conversation with the board about uh you know, the board's priorities uh for this next fiscal year.

Obviously, a lot of the priorities are driven by uh what we have funding for and what we're planning ahead for. So um you know, again, I just kind of wanted this to be an opportunity for the board to begin to talk about this. Um, you know, if you recall back uh in April, um, you know, I did provide the board uh with some recommendations uh on some priorities uh that we may want to

consider. Um, I've identified a few here just because I think that they're very timely based off of what um, you know, our staff and the town is dealing with currently. Um, you know, the first one is health insurance. you know, as we see for this past year, these costs are rising. Uh, and they are expected to continue to rise. Um, so one of the things that we are looking at is our

current plan structures uh ahead of uh FY28 in the open enrollment period. So again, that's something that is um you know, being looked at for this upcoming fiscal year and will uh come before the board at a later date.

Can we do didn't we look at that like a few like recently the health insurance plans? Do you remember Dick?

I don't well in the context of our budget discussions yes but I don't think we did it as any special endeavor.

Um so the second thing I had identified is and as the board knows our online permitting system permitize uh the company uh that whose program it is was recently acquired you know as a result they are sunsetting the system the town was informed that they are migrating us to a new system. Um we have uh been on a couple different webinars where they talked about it. um we don't know the

back end of the system. We haven't tested the system. I don't know its full capabilities. And so one of the things um that I think the town needs to consider as part of this next uh budget cycle and particularly the capital budget cycle is um having a plan in place again to meet the needs of those departments that utilize this system.

you know, I do also think that there is opportunity um to incorporate more departments in that online system as well as licensing.

Um but again, that's going to take some time and this is just something that we're following as we go into this budget cycle.

So you talk about in here you said you anticipate funding to evaluate our options and procure a system. So procuring a system obviously would require funding, but an RFP shouldn't like are you thinking you need help with an RFP? Um, so I do not, so I in I guess terms of clarification, I don't believe I need funding to do a plan study on this. So this would just be for uh implementation

and obviously uh the cost going forward, okay, which we would factor into the budget.

Um, I feel like we just got online permitting and licensing and it's so nice like we want to keep going. We want to make it better, not lose it. So I just want to also offer my assistance.

This is like literally what I do for my job is evaluate software solutions. So I just volunteering to help you with that.

I appreciate that. Um so we should have more information on that. Like I said just on that last piece of it, we did get some preliminary pricing. Um again just to help uh as a placeholder for this upcoming budget cycle.

U we talked about free cash already. Um budget and capital planning. So, one of the things that we're working on behind the scenes right now is implementing our new operating capital budget system so that departments can submit their operational budgets and their capital project requests uh online. So um you know again I think the idea behind this is um central system can invite people to participate build the

budget we can take the data we can um you know uh publish it make it available for people just again helping have we already set that up yet or is that still in progress? So, we procured the system in FY27.

Um, they have been building out the system for us, you know, over the summer and our intention is, you know, when we begin accepting operating budget requests that they'll be submitted in this new system for FY28.

I'm going to sneak preview next week, Madam Chair.

Oh, this is fundamental to the capital improvement planning committee.

Very exciting. uh last few items on that I had on my list. Um you know, we've talked about communications. You know, I've had an opportunity uh over the last several months to just evaluate the needs of the town, uh you know, our department, um as well as uh areas where I think we could add capacity in addition to communications.

Um so with that I am prepared to advance a recommendation to the board um when the board's ready to have that discussion and uh I will just say we have money in this year's budget but obviously this will factor into future budgeting plans as well.

Madam chair just so that position I think the chair and myself and others uh on the board have pushed for obviously a communications type web person. I mean, I know maybe tough to find that that type of uh uh background, but I think um if that communications does involve some sort of web back end with with our obviously our forward- facing website, I think that would be uh very key for us and kind of

our interactions with the constituents.

And then of course maybe with the online permitting going in a different direction or being uh acquired, that might also uh be an issue. So, I agree with you on that. I just hope they have some sort of web background as well to help with with kind of what we have out there.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Um, again, just last couple things on my list. Um, you know, we've talked about shared services. uh you know there is uh and has been interest expressed in looking at a couple shared service models in particular IT services to see if there's any overlap with the schools for efficiency and adding capacity on both sides. Um so that is something uh that is ongoing to evaluate and lastly

just facilities planning. Uh this is largely going to be driven by what Bruce Thorne comes back to us with. Um you know, but once that work is completed, I expect um we will want to put something in for capital for this upcoming rounds of funding. So um you know, again, just with this, if there are other uh priorities, things that the board would like to see, um I I know this isn't a

complete list, but I think these are some highle items. And again, I think my goal is this helps when I'm looking at the budget and looking at putting together the budget instructions. This helps me craft the message departments for, you know, what we would like to see from them. So, right. Thank you. Any comments, questions?

I like the idea of shared services. I think that anywhere we can eliminate overlap is awesome. Um, you have a goals reference for every single item here. Is that off of your uh TA goals when you got onboarded?

Yes.

Okay. And is there an easy place to find that if somebody wants to look at it?

Uh I believe it's online. If not, I can certainly post the goals to uh my page as well so people can see that report.

And then um yeah, I mean I looked at the budget when I joined the board here and we operate in a shoestring and I'm very nervous about inflation right now. So fiscal year 2028 I think is going to be a difficult budget to put together.

I agree.

Think you're going to have all your expenses are going to go up and we have we're three do we have an all the unions are at 3% now right or so the town is currently negotiating a successor agreement with one union uh our town hall uh the other unions are set to expire at the end of this calendar year. So that's all so next fiscal year has we have not negotiated with the we for contracts are

out.

Okay.

Anything else on the budget?

I think good job. Nicely done. Thank you. All right. Uh town administrator report.

Uh yes. Uh just a few items from me.

That up. Um you know the first just the mass plan update. So after the September 14th meeting, you know, I've been working with Brewster Thornton behind the scenes on um you know, just putting together that draft report um working with them on those potential funding sources that we've talked about as well as um you know, those cost estimates and their phasing plan. So, you know, I

expect to have a draft from them in the coming weeks. And I think the next time we're planning to come before the board is that early November meeting. Um, the next item I had on my list is, uh, you know, I've been working behind the scenes with MMA. Um, pleased to share that they will be coming to Westport for their next legislative breakfast. They do this a few times during the year throughout the state.

So, uh, they will be here on site October 23rd at 8:30 in the morning. uh they will be doing the event at our library in the community room and so this is the legislative breakfast for the re region. So I do expect other local leaders and legislators uh to come to Westport and see what we're all about. So uh the registration is available online um and I will be in attendance and encourage members if

you're available to stop on in.

Um, couple other things. Uh, September 21st, so this past week, uh, the town and Westport Community Schools hosted the open house at Westport Elementary, uh, to talk about their proposed decarbonization project. Uh, Representative Olette and Senator Michael Rogers were both in attendance along with other school officials. Uh we did have representatives from state funding agency down who could see the

conditions at um the school uh and look at what we're proposing. Um you know that project uh which would replace the aging boilers and classroom unit ventilators. Um that total project's estimated at 4.5 million. Uh and so having these funding agencies come down and see the conditions and see what our plan is, we think it's going to help us um be a little more competitive this upcoming funding round. So um that's

effort is ongoing. And just last thing um more of an administrative note. So, uh, next month, uh, is the ICMA annual conference. Um, and so it is from the 15th through the 22nd. Um, so I will be out of town, uh, for the board's next meeting, but, um, you know, I will try to looking at the items before the board. Um, it's my intent to either have explanations, summary memos, or if it is

something that, you know, I think can wait, I will try to move it to the following meeting just so I can be here to obviously assist the board with those agenda items. That's it for me.

All right. Thank you. Anything for Chris?

All right. We have the minutes of September 14th.

Motion to approve the minutes of September 14th, 206.

Any discussion? All in favor? I.

I. There's four in favor and one absent.

Report on the bill warrant.

Madam chair, there's one warrant. I signed it on 916. $2 million. Relatively r routine items. Nothing here that was out of the ordinary. Everything in order.

Thank you.

Um, we have uh committee reports or suggestion for future agenda items. Uh, Dick.

Uh at 4:00 today, I attended a meeting of the council on disability committee on disability and uh we went over, you'll love this, Chris, went over the handbook.

Nice.

And uh had a good discussion there focusing on the open meeting hall to tutorial of a so that was uh good. Other than that, we just talked about our projects and also our presence this weekend at the uh the fair the harvest festival I call it fair being rained out last week.

We'll have representation there myself included. Um last week I attended the Serped annual awards ceremony at the Fall River Country Club. Uh I attended with Jim White and he was actually a winner of an award last year. So, we covered that base and that's going along well. And uh we did have one meeting with the teamsters that represents a town, we'll say the town office employees. So, that's started already,

but that'll be going on now for several months and we'll keep you fully apprised of what's going on. That's about it.

Thank you. Dick just said the harvest festival which made me remember. So, we authorized um licensing.

I just received a text on it. So, yeah, we authorized licensing for them for last weekend, but I think it was date specific.

Yeah. So, I don't do we have to reapprove the harvest festival and this just and this probably should have been announcements early. We just kind of we all missed it, but um they were rescheduled for the second, third, and fourth, but the license was for last weekend.

Yeah. I think they had a victual license. I think they might have had alcohol license.

Yes. So, I did we did have No alcohol.

No alcohol. Yeah. So, uh I did have a conversation with Carl about this because it's an annual license.

It's not date specific.

Um so it's just like our other annual licenses. They just happen to apply a little bit later this year. So I don't think it has to come back before the board.

Okay.

Okay. And to that point, Harvest Festival Harvest Festival Friday, Saturday, Sunday this this weekend. It was last weekend at the fairgrounds.

At the fairgrounds, Pine Hill Road.

Okay.

Yeah. When he said that, I'm like, "Oh, wait. I thought we permitted them."

Okay. Um, so I had a meeting um of the bike committee um since we last met. We also reviewed the handbook and people were actually very glad. I was surprised actually, but they were like they they like knowing what to expect and what's expected of them. So I think that was really positive. Um on the bike committee front, um you've probably seen on social media there's a lot of like

drama going on particularly in Dartmouth um about this proposed bike route. So, um the the active bike route that has grant funding and everything is just the Wata connector. So, it's just right behind um Leage is it still lees whatever it is now?

Right along that that that's the active one that they're actually in in some degree of um of movement on. But anything from there up down uh up whatever the beaten road I guess it is uh old Westwart road that is still super super early preliminary design conversations and so um there's conversation about as there's there's a lot of people saying they're going to take people's property. There is no

proposals to take people's property in Westport. I don't know what's going on in Dartmouth but there's no there's no proposal on the table. what um the uh South Coast Bikeway Alliance is doing.

The next grant that they have is they're doing right now. They have a grant for um an aerial study. So, I think they're doing that. I think they either just I think they did it when the leaves were not on the trees or they're going to do it when the leaves aren't on the trees where they're um taking drone footage of it. Um but we are many years away from

actually having like a a route and a p construction. There are some um public hearings um that are being scheduled for that. I think the next one I don't have the date in front of me but I think it's in the middle of October. So people who are interested the um bike walking path committee does have a Facebook page. It should be on the town website when we know the date. And then the south coast

u bikeway alliance is publishing a lot of information. So, we are still in our city information gathering. We are not about to like drive, you know, tear down stone walls and and seize property.

There's no that's not happening. Um, not that was the only meeting because the climate resilience I think we thought we had and then we didn't have it. Okay.

Um, that's it.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, just two meetings. Uh, first Chris and I were at the IOC meeting. Um, we did approve a further extan expansion or extension of the water line on Route 6 in a kind of grant or Keading 2 is what we're calling it, which is Congressman Keading's uh funding that he's getting for this waterline extension. Um, this is probably sorely needed. Uh, I did make the motion on

this. There are many residents on South Balt and Bryman, which are right after where the uh the complex is on Route 6 with the UPS store. right after there there's a lot of issues uh because they're obviously old non-conforming lots very small there's cesspools there's various uh issues with the water there so um a motion was made that hopefully with the um project that we discussed earlier we're going to the

Briggs Road Fire Station as well that this will all either be packaged independently or together for one contractor to hopefully address that in the spring time frame. So uh hopefully we can bring some uh you know resolve to the problems on South Bar and Barryman here in the near future. And the only other meeting I attended was as I mentioned earlier uh this evening was with the Westport uh Marine Services,

the police department, the fire department and DCR uh just about basically the plans in place that they did this summer. Uh future plans uh a lot of the training they did. They did lost person training this summer and various other things and and rescues. Uh so they all work together obviously we could tell earlier tonight. Uh work very well together and we have a uh really great services in place for that. So

that was it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

School's in session again. So I went to the PTO kickoff at the elementary school as well as their open house and the school department's doing a great job as always. I've gotten a lot of questions fielded my way about the Sanford Road construction, catch basins, and the Hicksburg road construction. I've met with residents and I've talked to Chris the highway department and he's been

very gracious and I think he's handled every single one of those concerns personally. So, uh I think those are moving along like big projects in this town.

You had something else you wanted to talk about.

Yeah, that was going to do unanticipated.

Okay. All right. And then actually just to echo the sentiments of Rick that another event this weekend which I had in my email was the Westport Mac PTO.

They have an event at the MAC Humber this Saturday from 9 to 100 p.m. Uh so just put that out there as well that they have a yard sale event uh to raise money on Saturday. If not, it's on Sunday.

Okay. Thank you.

Um so this is where we have comments or statements from the public. Do we have any public who wants to make comment or statement?

We have three people in the room. That's pretty that's like a record for us at the end of a meeting. Um just want to remind people that we do have uh vacancies on a lot of our boards and commissions. And even if it doesn't look like there's a vacancy, sometimes there's somebody who's just waiting for the right person to come in so that they can step down. Um so if you're interested in volunteering with the

town, um there's plenty of ways to participate. So um just talk to any of us. Um we can get you to the right uh direction. the topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours in advance.

Uh thank you, Madam Chair. The only thing that I just want to bring to light is uh as Rick pointed out, there's obviously a large a couple large projects going on on Hicks Bridge, but and I know next week we have a walk through uh with Eversource. Obviously, I want to address concerns of everyone on Hicks Bridge. I think the current state of that road is not good. um you know, you're you're

rounding corners where you're you know, your back end of your car or truck is getting kicked out. People are driving around it to avoid it in other lanes.

So, I hope we can address that with Evers Source next uh on Monday. Uh specifically, I mean, there's a sinkhole in there that happened this weekend, but it's probably a lot of sink holes that happened with the rain. Um, also at uh Pine Hill Gas, uh, there were issues there with flooding because they left basically the basins, catch basins filled with, um, basically they put in lining or a mesh lining that obviously

blocked all the water from getting through there um, right now. So, obviously a business that has been impacted with the construction was impacted again uh, the past two days with that. So, uh, I hope there's a resolution. They obviously know when they do the road work they kind of overfill or over patch but the way it is even right in front of the winery there is one that it's a you know if anyone

wants to see speed humps while they're on Hicks bridge right now uh that's essentially what we have on Hicks bridge so uh I think we need to really address that before going into the winter because even Chris at the highway department said it's going to be very difficult with those lips to do any plowing if we do get significant snow um this you know this winter Is there a meeting with Evers Source coming up? Do

we have Monday, next Monday? We So, I just wanted to make sure that Chris is aware and obviously the public's aware that we're going to try to address this with Eversource and hopefully bring those to a little bit more passable. Um especially on Hicks Bridge and then that kind of flows into my other old county road speed humps, but that'll be at a different time. Right now, I think um

there's a lot of issues with that coming up as well, but maybe we can put that on again or talk about it again another agenda. That's it.

Okay. So, um we have another holiday coming up. So, we have our next meeting is not till October 19. So, that's our only October meeting because we have a meeting October 19 and we have a meeting on November 2nd. Um and so October 19, we're not going to have town administrators. So, try to keep it light.

I will be absent also, Madam Chair.

Oh, boy.

Okay.

We'll be unsupervised.

Chris will be away.

All right. Is there anything else before we adjourn?

Okay.

Motion to adjurnn.

Second.

All in favor? I I That's four in favor and one absent.

We are adjourned. I'm going to the speed to go from drift.