TranscriptSelect Board Meeting ~ June 11, 2024

[Music] for [Music] like come on working on that right we'll uh I'll call this meeting of the Derm select board uh to order we have a quorum Joe Roy had a work uh I don't know event something come up so he couldn't make it tonight um and so we'll stand and do the

of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for agenda uh can I ask a question about new business yes since Joe's not here are we still going to take up goals for select board uh he he wanted us to okay um I

asked him I asked him to share anything he wanted me to discuss and I didn't get anything on that topic so okay um then I don't have I just feel a little bit not prepared and I know I mean what just the list that we made the flip chart like all that stuff is that what we're referring to with that because if it is I don't feel like I have that in front of me no so I think what this this was intended to discuss um sort of this board's goals things that we don't necessarily see we don't necessarily need other boards uh to accomplish so Jerry and I were talking because that was a question that I had him tonight uh and the example he gave was uh switching to a calendar year budget um and or

Personnel policies or any kind of policies that you don't need to necessarily bring to town meeting it's right so those kind of fell into that bucket of this doesn't have a bucket for another board and I thought we had written those things on the two weather pages and there over there to those pages we can bring okay that would make me feel more comfortable if we're have this conversation tonight just so that we can put eyes on what we all talked about what what is our meeting on the uh what is it the 25th so the 25th

we're going to be talking about um the ordinance article 12 and 5.1 with the historic district commission that that's on there I know that um I I don't Rec call I can't either and oh we're going to talk about fees um because we can update those fees that's going to be on the agenda um so if are you asking to take this off

the agenda for tonight and put it on the next meeting when Joe's here if we have access to the information I'm okay with having the conversation tonight I just don't want to overlook something that we had talked about when we made those lists because I think we spent a lot of time making those lists so I'm fine to go either way as long as we can access that information tonight I I yep I can see I can see it we can get it and so what I'll do Jerry is also I guess um I'll do

it now so we don't forget is ask you to put on hold business at the next meeting uh the same topic to give Joe an opportunity to add anything that he wants to add okay is that yes does that work y y thanks okay no other [Music] amendments right public comment see seeing none we'll uh we'll

move to Old business uh first issue first item there is discussion and award of legal services so anybody want to start on that with a discussion or a motion I wasn't at that meeting I watched that meeting um I know who I would like to vote for if that's what we're doing tonight that's I think the intent okay um and so you can do that I also I did speak to Joe about this topic and he had a recommendation um but I'll wait to see if there's any other conversation first before I share

favor of the um scouton terer and Abbot okay T I thought both presented good case cases or whatever but I felt this group had a little bit more depth maybe a lot more depth and felt that that was a good choice okay and that was that was the first group that presented yeah uh yes I think

so how did you want to I have the opposite feeling of Deb I'd like to um um my thoughts are that I would like to go with Freddy um I have is is that who I'm sorry to interrupt yes no that's that's actually the group I had the right B in front of me yes um that i' I've witness some of

their um interactions with other municipalities and um I feel confident in their ability to provide durm with the services that we're looking for and I also like the way that they detailed out um their fee payment structure um in their presentation and so um that's who

I would like to put my recommendation on okay yeah I think I for the records to go back too I also agree with that recommendation I had the wrong paperwork that but um I thought they did a great job presenting and had a lot of depth knowledge depth and expertise that they could reach out to so I felt that they were a right choice did you want to say anything or I yeah I'm just trying to remember back who was who in the zoo did we talk to any of the ref the um references did we call any of the references so Jerry did um and I think there were positives and negatives for both that that Jerry can share right so I I

talked to uh well I'm not going tell you who I talked I put B I talked to three different references uh for one firm and two for the other MH so also gotten some good um recommendations from folks who have worked with them that have worked in other municipalities so not managers Co enforcement people and that sort of thing yeah they they seem to have more reach back as well from what I could tell um you know in their organization as it seem

to um I'd make a motion that we accept predy and flarity is our uh Legal Services is there a second I'll second that okay uh any discussion so I I'll just chime in um Joe Roy had the same feeling uh I think that's been expressed by everybody um about predy uh I know Attorneys at both

firms um and I know that whichever route we do go uh we will get good representation so I feel like uh you know whoever we we choose is a win but but because of my relationships I am going to abstain tonight um so hearing that is there any more discussion so then I would call for a vote all in favor all opposed and I'll abstain so

motion passes agenda is discussion over quick claim deed of union church with the Durham Historical Society so tonight everybody else is that's do you want to come sit next to Jerry and yourself first uh yeah I'm Tia Wilson and I'm the chair of the durm Historical Society all right welcome um so

discussion at our last meeting you provided us a list yes and so I appreciate that um and so I just wanted to make something clear from from what I presented uh and and so I feel there's been a little push back from some people in the community about you know why are you doing this and and my response has been uh you know we represent the town so I feel like it's my obligation sitting here that we have to protect the town and that's by raising these issues it it's nothing to do with uh not trusting you know all I think you and I have had that discussion uh so you know it's and and I understand it it it can seem offensive um but but I assure you that none is meant okay so I just wanted to get that out there because that has been an issue raised to me okay um so um is there any discussion let's

should we start with the um the deed just no I'll thank you the list I I just want to tag on to what Josh said there and uh yeah there was it was initially back while I was chair a a request to uh make sure that that contents of the church were were allocated appropriately um in in the wording of the deed and that's kind of why the original request for you know what belonged to to what bucket um so this is a great list and this shows everybody where that is so thank you for that no problem um this does close that original Loop that was opened you guys are more than welcome to have that upstairs we've been trying to get that out of there since

just to close the loop on on where some of this came from in the original format that we had last going last year so thank you toiz I'm good with that list of it well so let's talk about the list of we'll change course did you want to have any discussion about those my um comments regarding the list or that this is extremely comprehensive I think that the Historical Society has absolutely done its due diligence here um I appreciate this and I think that this not only I understand um where both sides are coming from regarding this um and I think that having the documentation is a pathway that makes it

so that there are never question going forward for anyone um and I think that this list again is very comprehensive and it's sincerely appreciated I think that you have dotted every eye and crossed every tea with this so well done thank you Emily Alexander who's not here and so this becomes the official record uh for the meeting

contents official yeah we don't have yeah that's it that's all of it yeah now switch over to the deed um and so when we were here before you know we had raised the question about um adding some terms to the deed and the I know the attorney has said that that's not a good idea M and um uh well I go ahead um so again I

wasn't at this meeting but I watched this meeting and um and I agree with the attorney's um interpretation of what's transpiring here I think what the immediate thing that stood out to me when I'm looking at the deed and a way to kind of alleviate some of the concerns around access um but also stay

within like legal framework are if we look at the last paragraph where it says also hereby conveyed are the easements of record um and this where like the second line where it says for the Durham Historical Society purposes I think if we change the word purposes to Mission we have the official mission um that was

adopted by the Historical Society I want to say in the' 70s I think 76 was when it was adopted and then we also have that detailed report that they put together for town meeting that really outlines um it doesn't have like specifics like on Sunday from 1 to 4: it doesn't detail it that way but I feel like that gets people into trouble where if if it were that detailed and specific and we and they're in a situation where they're doing renovations and they can't open the building that Sunday for renovations from 1 to 4 putting those really specific parameters around something like that I think that ties everyone's hands and then they could fall under that Clause of not um

facilitating what the purpose is of the building if it's written so specifically that way so I think if that word purpose was changed to Mission we do have a documented Mission and we do have that report that they put together for town meeting which in my mind takes care of that and also lines with what the attorney has

that's my next question have you have you seen this yet no I have not so it's so I was waiting until we got the words here it's okay this what she want change she wants to change that to to the mission yeah and this includes the land next to the the building as well yes uh L 32 and

3 so it's pretty cut and dry yeah it looks very similar to the uh Methodist Church one thoughts on the purpose to Mission or other concerns around the access you know based on the good I think that'll probably this again and I'll give the caveat this is not again not an attack but just a statement um and that is that the mission can change tomorrow uh and so um that's fair do we

want to say something like Mission as of with a date including now how what what are you looking for that you think would like so go go sorry I don't disagree with you I'm just trying to make it so again it's not like so specific that it ties people's hands but also alleviates the concern around

access excuse I mean how old is the mission you said it 76 yeah so I mean I mean there is a difference between the two words so a purpose statement provides the reason or reasons you exist it is about why you exist whereas the mission is about what you do and for whom so which word should it

and Mission as of or purpose and Mission um as detailed in the 2024 Town whatever we call that it was like the pamphlet or whatever that and that does say I don't know if it says the um I want to bring it up so we can see EX what it says what are you thinking Josh are how how are you thinking this should read I'm I'm just trying to remember what the booklet I'm going to find it um actually it's on their website I have no idea off the top of my head it's not like the proclamation of whatever we had to memorize in fifth grade I had I had that pamp with me for a while and I must I have it in my car yeah uh hold on one second I know I saw it right on the webs on there on the historical right here intent of use DHS intent of

use this thing intentive use for the Union Church provided to the derms leard on January 11th 2024 and this goes through um the museum hold on I just want to get to the part that says so so like just while you're reading that he the mission is what they do the historical society as as a whole

and they say govern over the um historic artifacts that they have in there in their uh under their charge and the purpose of this is to transfer a piece of property over to them MH their mission could change over time but the purpose still is that they're they're providing a a like I'll say a service to the town by keeping this building and so I don't

know I'd say leave the word that's what the lawyer wanted like I still error on the on the lawyer side of the larger broader I'm not trying to split hairs um I was trying if if it said both if we did both I was trying to cover the bases of including access so in the mission as of

1976 I'm just reading an excerpt from it the society will collect material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of the Town its settlement and development its progress in population education agriculture science and the Arts it will collect printed materials such as histories genealogies biographies directories pamphlets programs posters and circulars manuscript materials such as letters Diaries journals charts surveys and Museum materials such as pictures photographs paintings portraits and material objects illustrative of Life conditions events and activities past or present the society will provide preservation of such material for its accessibility as far as may be feasible to all who wish to examine or study it cooperate with officials in enens ensuring the preservation and accessibility of the records and archives of the town and to ensure the preservation of historic buildings

monuments and markers it goes on to say more um that's why I was looking to include mission in the deed because is then and if we put Mission as of the date or Mission as included in the pamphlet dated January 2024 it directly draws to this but if people want to leave it just as purpose and then we create a second document that is agreed to and recorded in the registry of deeds is that what you're thinking Josh no okay how do you how do you or

how does anyone foresee a pathway forward given what the attorney has said to alleviate people's concerns around this I I think changing it to purpose purposes and Mission is it's fine with me or I mean I'm or yeah if you had both in there that's fine I thought you were substituting mission for purposes when you first said it I did originally but after discussion I I agree with people that keeping the per Bo purpose there is intentful yeah are you come because missions change are you do you want to put dated as of or Mission as explained I don't know

you're the lawyer Josh help me with language that doesn't sound presented to select that I am okay I think that's how I think that's how you said it right yeah mhm zad yep Joe yeah no I'm I'm good with that [Laughter] Jerry the intent of this is to transfer it to the district the Historical Society purposed Mission it's that purpose and Mission can change if I were going to do anything to this I would just eliminate the word purposes Al together to have it read this land is granted subject to the condition that it be used solely for the dur historical society and that should the dur Historical Society cease to exist or discontinue use of this Landing building exped so used then the property shall revert back to the town is that's really what you're doing you're just transferring the building what their purpose and Mission is doesn't really have anything to do with the transferring of the building so that's

just my two cents but I you know it's cuz when we shouldn't dictate really what their purpose and Mission is they they they'll do that on their own right they just they're just yeah you can that's just how I see we're transferring the building and we should try to keep it as simple as that so do you think that a secondary agreement should be entered into to alleviate the concerns around access because of the funds I I understand where people's concerns lie with the fact that we're transferring the building with the funds and so if we want to keep those two things separate in separate buckets that this is just the deed that talks about the transfer of the building in the land and then a second agreement regarding access and Mission and purpose and and whatnot I but I think if we do what you're saying there are people that feel like the Box isn't being checked with regards to the money also being

transferred which is intended for public you what's the word public what am I benefit thank you do you think that should be a separate document and not trying to do both things in this well that was stated in the warrant though right that's what I was going to ask is what did the warrant State again the warrant I think already explained that that with the public was I didn't bring the warrant with I I didn't bring my copy explain right in the book right there should be in there right you have the warrant right there yeah I think it's in there please let me see it sorry I was rude read that warrant again because I I thought we were covered under the warrant already when we voted on it so I'm not sure why there'd be a concern at this point I know some folks may have voted against it um but majority voted for it so I'm not sure why we have to put any other language in there does anybody remember what article

it was it was 20 over note but the money actually will never be in our possession because the check will be made directly to the vendor exactly so this says uh so article 27 is to see if the town will vote to authorize the select board on behalf of the town to transfer the property located at blah blah blah to the dur Durham Historical Society by means of a quick claim deed um Article 28 says to see if the town will vote to authorize the select board to spend the funds in the Union Church restoration Reserve account in conjunction with the Durham Historical Society for repairs and maintenance of the Union Church explanatory note prior to this annual meeting oh it just says what the amounts

the funds in the Union Church restoration Reserve account in conjunction with the dorm Historical Society for repairs and maintenance of the Union but I don't have a concern about that I mean my concern is you know is access and but if I'm the

only one that has that then I think I think go ahead but how would we how would we regulate that like like Jack has said in his letter someone could interpret think well I have Public Access I can go in there anytime I want because that's what the deed says that's probably not okay no it's not like use for private events like because we have expensive items in there so it'll only be able to be used if we're in that building with them so if we're hosting an event then it will be open but to just open it for somebody to use without us there that's where I worry about the interpretation is there a

so we can have a discussion well however I just I think we've had this discussion now two meetings down the word that you had there but you is that is that you want you want to make a motion with this change so with so to um well uh I don't I I

don't you can but I'm not gonna vote for it actually you know what I hang on a second uh so I'd like to make a motion that we uh move forward with claim deed um the town of Durham and the uh just Durham Historical Society removing the word purposes from that last paragraph so that this land is granted subject to the condition that it be used solely for the Duram historical society and that should the Durham historical side cease to exist or discontinue use of this land and buildings for its sole use the property shall revert to the town of Durham uh with that sentence changed in that manner uh and move that forward here a second

discussion then it's really silent to anything about the mission statement the purpose the town's access um so I think be silent I think the I mean durm historical side I think you know come forth and historically lack of a better word has always made available to the town I don't see that changing today it hasn't changed since when it when of when it started back in the 70s or before that so um you know I'm not I'm not seeing a large risk here um again if they default in some

way and become non-existent then the town gains ownership again um I don't think we need a second deed or amendment to this to cover the town at this point I think the money is it's clear as to why we're going to use that money and where we're going to use that money it's just a matter of coming up with the receipts for the work to be done um so I'm not seeing a lot of risk here is really what it comes down to to the to the town and and I having more words in

here for Access I we could probably write a whole page on what kind of access and why but um there's access accessibility problems with that building which is kind of what started this all to begin with um so I don't see that ever being solved in the near future um if at all um from a from a you know purely 100% adaa accessible

building with all the safety bells and whistles uh that's going to take a lot of time while lot of money and a lot of changes um so I think you're getting into a lot of writing at that point as to what you mean by accessible I'm not sure anyone's really ever going to do that nor it doesn't need to be done um

you know I think they just going to keep moving along as they are but that that's you know again back to what's lowrisk approach to this you know what the realistic low risk risk approach to this I have a question for Tia if that's is that

every single member of your board or however you guys um structure yourself if every single person on that changed yep how do you foresee um worried about anyone that sits there now regarding this issue I think what what Josh is trying the bases that he's trying to cover are if this entire board changed or your entire board changed what does that look like going forward and I know that's a big what if but how would you uh Shepherd in you know the understanding that is being assumed by everyone as we do this well hopefully who we have on our board isn't going to change anytime soon so I mean if we have new people join we have um we have a chair we have a co-chair we have a secretary treasurer archivist and if any of those people were to leave and somebody were to replace them they would obviously be informed of the deed and the access rights which have been other than the deed the axis has been the same

since it opened in the 80s which was um one weekend a month for x amount of hours and it was usually the third Saturday of a month is usually when the museum was open um and we would also open it during special occasions like Memorial Day Parade or 4th of July or or special occasions like Durham's anniversary things like that but it's for me it's more so educating the people that are coming in after hoping that we all don't die on a bus together or something because if we all die together that's where we hope the select board will also say look this is what was given to the Historical Society these new members you know you have been tasked at keeping this job and if it's not something you want to do then it goes back to the town it's that's a hard question I feel like I'm being asked for for like Miss USA pageant I don't know how to answer it cuz that's you did good I mean I I I and this is all part of the record too so

like I think that that's important I I'm trying to be the Devil's Advocate on both Sid of the coin so the issue to take that a step further the issue that I have well issue is a strong word the concern is if they're all on a bus they all die at the same time or they don't but something within the organization changes the mission changes there's nothing keeping the building open to the public and that is my concern for not having it somewhere uh and it has nothing to do with people there things change you call it low risk I say that is that risk worth it for the town maybe but I still think protecting that is is worth it but um that's my two

cents is there anything else does the word purposes hit the mark if we just left it as written would it hit the mark with that concern do you it's interpretation and and it could change right and that's that's the issue but but I think you know that's I'm glad we're having this conversation

doing anything with it the there's nothing they all died now oh my gosh never know if you take that out they it still belongs to them but they're not doing anything with it so then does that then doesn't re back if you remove that word purpose you know that yeah maybe we should just leave leave it as written with the knowledge of this this meeting this the meeting minutes you know everything that documents the con concern and maybe both of those things together would you know provide information if something ever does come up and we're talking through it are people are reasonable a friendly motion yes I can I can draw my motion first okay all right so I'll withdraw my motion okay and I would like to motion that we accept the quick claims deed um

as written without change is there a second second I'll second oh let Joe have that one go I'll second any more discussion I just want to make sure you don't want an additional consent agreement no okay I I think I think it's important it's a concern I wanted to raise I mean again I agree it it's a low risk but it's a concern there and as stewards of the town you know I think it's a discussion that has that has to be made can we have the meeting um notes Mark that we have a collective understanding that I don't think that I don't think probably not leging so um it's a good read for five years any other discussion uh the only thing I would add is Jerry I think before T get the address because I think it you have okay yeah I got work with her to get from y um any other discussion seeing none um

all those favor all opposed seeing none motion passes um and so you will work with Tia to get this finalized and Y and get it to Jack to type it all up stop sign it and he's still he's still going to work on okay he's they're going to keep their email and stuff for a year to up any new that theyve had up there I have one question so when it says address does it have to be a Durham main address no okay because I don't live in Durham so I mean we could do um somebody in Durham but I

just being the chair and having been on it the longest I know I'm not going anywhere so all the mail comes to my house now so y as long as that's okay and I will stop over tomorrow can you call cuz I got a couple appointments I just want to make sure I don't want to waste your time I'm home all day so yeah just call me about 8:30 Perfect all right um wait

I 650 I'm gonna go grab the chart probably won't be it'll probably be we after we that's fine I'll send you an email and you tell me when you're ready and I'll zip over I'm at home all day thank you everybody we get the Miss America wave when you leave elbow elbow wrist like it's like the

your work you guys yes the next item on the agenda is uh new business the goals for select board and the town manager and so thank you heather for bringing that that board out and so just this is again a discussion of things that the board with the town manager uh

can work on and and discuss and start uh without I think Jerry correct me if I'm wrong but the goal is uh for us to have these goals where we don't need to utilize time for any of the other boards of committees or Allan or George or anybody else right right these are these are more policy oriented

y so uh with that being said anybody want to start this discussion well we hit item one already law coverage yep we have uh we have that meeting and now might be a good time while we're discussing that Chief McGee is not available next week but ask that we still go forward with the sheriff and the deputy sheriff and he's said that he will come to another meeting if we invite him uh to get his input um but he

thought it was important to I thought that was the lawyer attorney oh thank um maybe maybe but I think I'm with you okay um and so yeah so we did do uh and then fee structure is something we're going to discuss at our next meeting yeah 25th so that goes on as a goal the fee structure well it's kind of well it's already written the so what what Allan's going to do or the CEO is going to do is he's going to bring some recommended fees for different Services which will either you you have a chance to either up them or down them but bless them so when we when people come for that service we have the right feed for that so that's not really a I mean it's a policy but it's it's really not what what talk about right it's already it's already written it's already written it's already written it's just an adjustment of those written see the board periodically can look at those fees to to adjust them and

so that's what we're doing on on the 25th I'd just like to add to that conversation a little bit that you know I beat this drum a lot I feel like there's a lot of places that we're not capturing um fees that we should be and so I look forward to whatever George is going to bring us but I also feel like I'm going to have a lot to say about it just so everybody's aware I and I think that's where it falls into our goals right yeah and I agree and I think that was everyone's expectation is that you would have some comments on that so um uh and so one of the ones that's not on this page that we talked about earlier is uh moving to a um uh fiscal year fiscal year thank you

budget uh which is something I think we've talked about for years this board um before I think any of us got on um and it's something I think we talked about at when we were talking about the um the um reevaluation that might be an opportune time to uh just to to do that uh so I

think that's something that's going to take some time and it's something that we should start discussing uh this year because it's a discussion that we start here and then move to other people so we was gonna I was going to bring in Don in an August meeting to discuss that um what that looks like so doing a little bit of research on that through MMA and I had it as a warrant article MMA suggest that you put it on a like a

on a warrant article as a poll to see if the town's even interested in doing that before you do it even though it says in the law that you have the authority to make that decision it does that they also talk about but if you have a town meeting former government sometimes it's just nice to ask people of the town because it it really is going to affect them I mean they're going to be paying you know their taxes are going to because of the going to the fiscal year and the and the you're it's going to be an 18month budget or a six-month and a year budget so that's what we have to talk about to see what Avenue you're all interested in going in whether that's that 18 month 6 and 12 it's a fair amount of work there we you should bring what I'll do is I'll bring Donna in and I'll bring Mark in and we'll have that conversation then once we decide where we're going then we really need to do a lot of Outreach with that so folks are

really up to speed on how that how it works and what they can expect so so does MMA expect us to do the education up front then hold the then hold the I'll say the warrant article after that education or before yeah after that education or the education comes after the Warren article like does the town authorize us or I say authorize give us permission to go and do all that upfront research to let them know what it will look like or are we doing that this year

before you get to Warr I I think the way Jerry explained is we do the education we come with a vote to determine whether the town would be interested in doing that yeah and then we put a plan together and then we present it at another time so it's essentially it's it's education a non-binding vote vote at a town meeting and then if it then we the board at that time goes then we execute at that point either ex and then the next year you'd flip the flip the switch and we'd go there right because I do understand what we're going to have to do do and how folks are going to have to restructure their I'll say their financial outlook for that particular year which will be um which will be hard and it changes the timing of payment it changes all that stuff it affects people in many different ways so ites y I get it I just didn't know what MMA recommended doing to do that it is more fiscally IR responsible because you're lining up

with the school you're lining up with the county you're lining up with the state me state revenue sharing is very difficult as it is to kind of to kind of estimate because they do projections I mean they're Pro we got paid more than what they projected a year or so ago so it's it's difficult but the closer we are to their budget and we can see it uh

like for example uh Revenue sharing comes in two tiers tier one and tier two well we're not getting tier two this year so because of our evaluation so we're getting less than we thought we were going to get it still hasn't shaken out yet because they still mess with it but they just put out the latest uh version of it on May 7th and I looked at it and there's no tier 2 allocation it's like wow okay so that's like a that's like a $98,000 difference y um will they adjust it could they adjust it y but you just don't know so it's but the closer you are because we're really guessing in April when they're still putting out numbers in May you know or March when we're doing our budget so getting it closer to them really makes us a little bit more fiscally responsible in putting the budget together definitely more Pros than cons yes absolutely yeah so are there any other goals that anybody wants to discuss um I

see there's uh Road planning uh changes to the comp plan zoning Public Safety and storms that one's a big one for me I I don't want to like carry the conversation but your own list I have my own list meeting order of operations RP processing projects with delinquent taxes oh yeah that's a big that's that's

actually one that Joe Joe did raise to me that he wanted to discuss so okay I think I think that one is going to be on on a goal list okay um this one for me especially this year with all the flooding and the storms that we had and the power outages um I know there was brief discussion with Roberta on the Conservation Commission I'm just saying that she I'm not saying that the Conservation Commission should be tasked with that um but I think that we should as a board discuss if we should try to create a committee or something where we

have some systems in place or education in place or um elderly resident check-in or people that don't have the ability to get water you know we don't really have any of those kinds of planning um things in place and I think

Durham was really hit hard with storms this year and I think that it's important for that to be one of our goals so I I would agree and I think for me what I would how I would like to see that addressed is tie it in with this law enforcement coverage because I think that ties in with Sheriff's Department who oversees Public Safety here and also um the uh what's it the an emergency management um there also a County uh department and so I think that they can all tie in and and work together and help us do that so I think adding that uh maybe not at the meeting next week but you know mentioning to them that this is a discussion that we'd like to have and involve them in in doing it I think is a is a good idea so Public Safety I'm just going to put that as like a headliner and that kind of encompasses the law enforcement and this conversation and then the other one was processing applications with delinquent

taxes um and then one other thing that I want us to talk about when we get I I don't I guess I'm not really following what the procedure is where we're going to decide exactly what our goals are if this is just our talk and then we're going to have another Vote or whatever but um so the lead on like having a

select board liaz on to the committees or the historic district commission the if I don't know that we need one to the planning board because we have a town staff member that's the Lees on for the planning board but you know like we've had conversation the new steering committee that we're trying to put together like how just to make information transpire between what's happening with those committees and what's happening with us a more um I don't know what word

is I'm looking for so I'm GNA go back to your first question sorry go ahead um I think for me what I wanted what I'd like to do I I um is discuss these and then we need to put them on agendas uh to discuss further some may be Workshop like the public safety storm issue you know the the fee structure for services issue I think we're raised at the next meeting um I also you know the delinquent tax issue might be something to start that discussion um

uh but I think that goes into you know probably a workshop of its own um so that's how I Envision this happening so this is just sort of a list and then either we fit in or we could prioritize but I think you know I think

make the list make the list and then fit it in where we can okay is a way if that's if that's okay with and so sorry I interrupted you I didn't mean to but I just I didn't want to forget that um I'm feeling like we need to have a goal on how to reduce tax burden for

the community by doing some I mean what are ways that we can think about to offset some of the spending that we may do this year um I'm not an expert in this area but I do think we should somewhere apply some Focus there and get some ideas and brainstorming having an industrial park or something that helps with the tax burden and not having that all on our residents you talk go ahead sorry I don't again I'm interrupting but this is a conversation uh Jerry and I actually sort of touched on a little bit in our conversation tonight because I just went over to to to say hi since I haven't seen Jerry for a while um and we we started talking and this was something so I think that's a good topic um and uh and so I know that Jerry has some ideas um I definitely have IDE so let's just put it on the list and I think it's a great addition again I keep saying Workshop but I think this is one that's going to

have a lot of discussion um uh and so sorry again for interrupting but no no that's fine no I I just one example of Howard just we've already have when we like say waste that reduces your taxes by finding a better way to manage Solid Waste then that would be on the list so that would be on the list but would but basically saying we're already doing that so there may be other things that we can go do I just I just want to point out that I just feel it needs to be a board goal so we can report back that we

applied some focus on that this year and these are the things even if it's just by default it just happened because of all of our activity then it would go under the bucket and we would check the box but you know continuing continuing to spend without any focus on that well no I agree I mean a lot of these subjects here involve spending instead of taking away especially when you got that Lo the more stuff you do the more it costs it really comes down to that unless you try to

this up before when we were talking about this and I think that's why we have the comp plan SL zoning I think that ties to part of what Debbie's conversation that she just brought up right it's really hard for us to do an industrial park when our entire town is real residential or agricultural right so those I'm not saying that we should do an industrial park I'm just saying we do we're not zoned to do that stuff right now so I would like to see us come and maybe this is a policy where we have a annual goal established a three-year goal established five-year goal established and then when you're doing things like that even though the seats on the board are changing there's some planning and long-term trajectory of the

direction that the town is moving towards um versus always being which I think we're getting much much better and I attribute a lot of that to Jerry of instead of being reactionary being proactive well you could tell we were ahead of that way when we had the town meeting and how you guys presented the data was very clear that was I think the first time we've seen a long-term type of um strategy so I'm with you I agree and I think you're we're headed there yeah I I agree the only thing I'll caution you on and this is I just the intent of these goals is to not use right too much Town resources and I think I think we're getting into that where you know a short-term goal is to come up with an idea and then pass pass the buck to get have another board work on implementing it so I do agree and I do think coming up with a 1 three fiveyear plan 10year um all of that uh is is a good idea it's a longer

discussion and I think we have to put for it tonight um but maybe the list that we put together tonight which will end up in the meeting minutes maybe um then is it except for one of us to take those and put them in a goal statement so to speak and then we put that on the agenda and review them is it in the second quarter of next year when it's it you know I I think absolutely I think that could be sort of a board member report even so you can do it any meeting without it on the agenda okay um um one other thing I'd like to add is um what's it called the homestead uh taxe exemption ta um I would like to see what percentage of the residents are taking advantage of that now and create a you might think this is weird but I don't know why it's so on my mind um create a communication campaign with a goal that 100% of our residents are take filled out the form and are taking advantage of that and we

know what the percentage of benefit we are getting per resident you know I you know it goes up to 25,000 or something and maybe we're only at 10 I don't know what we're at but can we make that public knowledge can we put out not not be happy to lead all of that but we want to make sure that our residents are getting all of the benefits they can it is an easy form to fill out I mean it took me 15 years to fill out the form never never participated and I think it's a if we do things like that I think it becomes a service to the community isn't it I thought on our tax bill it's on your yeah it tell oh I'm not saying that people might not know like we get a we know our you have to fill out the form our ratio yeah we know the ratio but I think I think so I think the way to address that is when the tax bills go out that form goes out to everybody yeah um in in the mailing yeah well the form's online I

mean we could just put a Facebook post out there that says hey we're we're from now till next April we're on a mission for 100% participation here's the link to the form and then every month or two months we where' we go up you you know we're at 50% of the member or the community 60 whatever I just think I think if we also and I'm happy to do this and I'm sure that you would volunteer too is that if we I think maybe a lot of times there's people that are um anxious about doing stuff like

that or they don't know how to navigate that on the computer so if we had like two laptops set up here and we had a Saturday from 9: to 12 that residents could come in and sit with someone who's knowledgeable I'm again more than happy to volunteer to do that not asking for staff time to be able to do the form with them especially for elderly residents um you know just things like that like she's saying that that would be a community service that we could offer that would be a heavy lift yeah to it um well Donna when she comes

in I I get manag just report that I'll talk a little bit when Donna comes in on the 25th because she is coming in we can talk to her about how that how that really works and and how EX is affected by our ratio Donna is our taxes she's our tax so but I mean can it be a goal of the board that maybe 100 is to but

you know 90% of the residents of Durham are participating in the homestead exemption it can be and you can and it's just like that old cliche you can lead them to the Water by I get you I I mean maybe 100 is a little high but I don't know who that it I don't right we don't know who they are it's that who does the burden fall on if they don't is it is it the staff is it the volunteers if they don't sign up I mean I mean I'm just we have a communication campaign do the best we can if we pull in another it's already on our website it's already there 20 you get it up to a $20,000 reduction $20,000 reduction it's all there it's got to bring the horse in it's TP but for the FK folks that typically are probably not getting the information are probably not as techsavvy sure right you know what I'm saying so think about how many people are moving to Durham that aren't from here that maybe have no idea

when they're buying a new home or you know that that's not we're getting in the weed we're getting in the weed yep but you message it's a so have one thing I want to say as far as offsetting taxes so really in local government there's really two ways to help and that's through efficiency in the way you run your government right lower fuel cost lower light cost LED lighting all of that stuff to help reduce the cost of doing the business the only other way is revenue those are really your two options to to help so we need to find ways how do we how do we what what's look like in this town to to generate get more Revenue right is it a backyard Farms of tomatoes that people can't see or lettuce so I mean it's a fing Community right it's it's all of that so Joe and the other Joe and I went

to a GP Cog Summit and GP Cog will be reaching out to their member communities asking okay where do you need help and I had mentioned to Joe I said I'd like to bring them in to kind of explain the the whole Revenue side of things what can a town you know considering your comp plan the way it's written what can we do to help raise revenue okay I think that's a I think worthy worthy discussion to have for sure um because costs keep going up right I know and and a lot of people think taxes is what drives people out it's really not your taxes it's buying the house it's doing a renovation I mean it's it's inflation right I mean people can't afford to live here because they can't afford to buy the house it's not that they can't necessarily afford the the taxes well you know like we said before when people start hearing about the possibility of having law enforcement everybody's first thought is

what's my tax is going to raise so anyway I think we're we're good still yeah we are but I thought of a one good way of raising revenue without having the cops being here New York's throughway they have these automated ticket machines that they stick out there with pictures can't do it n what a bummer CU you could stick one up here and you could probably make a but a million dollars a day up on 136 there it just takes a picture it's nice and pretty I saw my own picture one time from the New York throughway it was interesting very speeding ored yeah speeding it's awesome what a great system that's too bad save a cop yeah I was trying to save

a cop one other thing that I heard that I'm not really quite clear on is working on something for delinquent taxes so there's a process in place that already takes care of that I think this was specific towards um permits for people who taxes okay well that's a different so we have two subdivisions in the works and the developers have delinquent taxes for multiple years and I don't think that they should be issued building permits for their Lots if they can't pay their taxes that's a little bit clear I thought me people had PID their taxes but we do about it there's a prop there's a there's a I'm saying being issued permits to people who have Del Linkin taxes we should not be doing that okay anything else we're picking up their trash anything else before we move on all right I think we have a good list um and we'll give Joe an opportunity to add anything if he wants um at our next meeting or on the

25th and so now we are on to the manager report okay good all right so we should be getting our Solid Waste contract I should have that for you by uh the next meeting on the 25th I'm probably going to have it tomorrow I was hoping to have it this afternoon but it never came in the email so there's that so the 23 tax leans have been uh have been filed at the registry of deeds we we've done that um the new website that should go live by July 1 I think we're in pretty good shape there kimber's working pretty hard on that um can we go back for a moment yeah sure when it when the tax leans are registered by the Deeds what you just said what what exactly does that mean I mean it's just an official lean yeah so they were given 30-day notices and then they if they don't pay then they it goes to the lean and now they're leaned so what that means is if they go try to get loan or whatever their lean's going to

show up credit so if they owe if so they've lean to 23 but if they owe 22 and they come in and try to pay they're going to have to pay 22s before they pay 23s and so on and so forth and we missed the 22 tax need yeah so but we're but

we're caught back up now and we do and we will be talking about foreclosures because we do have some properties that are in foreclosure we just got to get a information together and bring that to you and see how we want to handle that

a new cleaning person uh start next week so that's good the open space Grant we didn't get it so oh we didn't yeah we didn't get the open space Grant so that's Conservation Commission is going to have to I'm just going back to our Conservation Commission list on this to see where what we said if they didn't get the grant did they say why uh the grant wasn't filled out sorry

I wasn't trying to throw anybody open space solar RP updates and then the ne the only other thing on the list was battery battery storage so one this was number two so while solar part kind of a big deal so do you think they're going to shift or they we should give direction though right so their RP updates was number one and then this was two but this didn't happen so now two you would think so okay that's because I know they're working together uh on resource protection with the planning uh with the planning board they're working in concert together yeah so then the only other thing really is solo part two that's or battery storage what we talked about console work for battery storage okay but anyway they didn't they didn't get that okay um we will be uh so Donna will

come here on the 25th and give you your three options for what you want for uh um your overlay and your your taxes so on the 26 we're committing the taxes on that day MH okay 45 days from the 26th that's when interest is going to start so I just throw that out there for folks to know so that's the plan right now is to commit taxes on the

that I really have for you is um I going to go on vacation just one day on 6:20 and then the first and third weeks of July I will be on vacation so I plan them that way so I don't miss a select board meeting so that's pretty

much all I have for you as far as what's going on in the last couple of weeks thank you uh are there any board member reports um I just have some feedback I received from a couple of residents I actually commented on one of the um feedback that happened on when we shared the information about the steering committee there was some feedback from some residents I that I received personally but then also on the public Facebook page um about that it would raise taxes if we went through with a plan and so I explained that it was a grant through GP Cog that the town manager secured and that it will enable us once the plan is in is completed to be able to qualify for more grants through the do or perhaps through GP Cog and whatnot and so as um con constructive feedback I think that if initially out of the gate we're always kind of prefacing that when we're putting stuff out there it's going to raise red flags for people in terms of

raising taxes like that plan why are they doing this we're going to get sidewalks that's going to cost us more money or you know whatever I'm not saying that that's what we're doing I'm just saying that there people are immediately on the defensive about everything when we put stuff out like that like the law enforcement thing I think it's really important to tie any communication that we're making especially if a Grant's involved to include that in the communication that the town received a a grant to fund the creation of a plan which will allow us to apply for more grants and then that I just think is a way that we can kind of you know alleviate those concerns for people if we just we know that information because we sit here and we hear it but people are not watching our two and three hour meeting to also receive that information so that's the only thing i' like to say in my report thank

you good um have we gotten any feedback on the school um opening for the school board there there's been one name one application submitted as of today and we've all seen the mail of people yes what's the deadline for applicants do you the 25th the 25th

set do you have anything else no okay uh consent agenda is there a motion to approve the consent agenda make a motion to approve the consent agenda second uh all those in favor all opposed passes and uh the upcoming meetings we have the workshop here at the fire station next Tuesday June 18th and then our regular regularly scheduled meeting on the 25th at 6:30 here the planning board is meeting here at the fire station at 6:30 on July 10th and there was a note on the door the think is a solid was is meeting on June 15th July ju July 15th um here at the fire station at 6:30 that day um excuse me Josh 618 we at 6:30 or

6 I'm sorry we're at 6 we're at 6 o' 6 o' thank you thank you uh and is is there a need for an executive session tonight no no seeing none is there a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn second a second all those in favor thank you thank great and don't forget to turn off your microphone so we don't lose

this all right it's got full batteries okay that one's