Needham Select Board, 2/10/26

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Calling to order the select board meeting for February 10th. 26. This meeting is being broadcast by the Needham channel, the Town's YouTube channel and via Zoom and is being recorded for publication and later viewing. I see that the Needham observer is recording and the Needham local is recording if anyone else is recording this meeting you must tell the chair now Okay, so we're going to start as we always do with public comment, but I just want to make a quick distinction for Anyone who is unfamiliar, we have regular public comment at the select board meetings and you can come on up here and you can talk to us about anything. But if you're here specifically for the the public hearing on the golf course closure we're going to ask you to hold your public comment until we start that hearing and then all of your comments you can

you can have the comments you can say whatever you want um but we'll have them within that hearing okay so if there's anyone here for public comment that is not about the golf course closure now is your time anyone Anyone online? Okay. So the first public hearing is for a grant of location with Eversource at 184 Brookline Street. We're going to be joined by our representative Joanne Callender. who's coming on okay great thank you good evening hi Joanne

Oh, hold on, let me get my video together here. Here I am. Good evening. Good evening. As you said, Eversource is seeking a grant location to install approximately 13 feet of conduit. into Brookline Street, and this is to provide service to the new home at 184 Brookline. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Town Manager, is all in order? It is. Okay. Any comment from the colleagues? all right this is a public hearing so is anyone here specifically to comment on the grant of location hearing for 184 brookline street i don't see any hands in the room and nobody online okay um

Madam Chair, I make a motion that the Select Board approve and sign a petition from Eversource Energy to install approximately 13 feet of conduit in Brookline Street.

Second. All right. All those in favor? Aye. And the motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Joanne.

Thanks, Joanne.

Have a good night. You too. Okay, so next up is our public hearing on the golf course seasonal closure. And this is a public hearing regarding whether or not to Pilot, a closing at the at-grade railroad crossing at the Needham Golf Club seasonally from December 1 through March 1 to eliminate regular train horn sounding. and this is proposed to start on December 1st, 2026. So we're going to just hear briefly from the town manager to get a current state and any issues before we start with public comment.

Great. Just a quick update. Since your last meeting, we did start to kind of get the wheels in motion, which was the feedback I'd gotten from the board. Again, looking towards a December 1, 26 start. but we got specifications for the gate that from the T of what their standard is and what they'd ask us to install. We've sent those over the golf course so we can confer with them, make sure it's something we're all comfortable with. and I'm also in touch with the T about a draft agreement and we'll go back and forth between councils on any changes on that that may be needed. So just to say that those are kind of the major pieces and they are in process.

Could I ask what the general terms of that agreement would be? Will we recover?

yes they had sent us a agreement they had in place in a different location that I think was in a previous board packet but it was basically laying out the terms of that they would not sound the horns under certain circumstances when the gates closed. The template release that they had provided us also said we would release there would be a release of liability but not an indemnification and so we'll be looking for kind of similar terms and reviewing the agreement.

Thank you.

Katie, I'm just curious, does the new agreement also include a gate? And what are the provisions for the gate?

the prior agreement didn't include a gate so um i will have to double check in terms of who has keys that kind of a thing i thought that would be part of it i just

I haven't gotten to that level of review, but just that we've received a draft and I'll confer with council.

How many gates are we talking about? There's two, I mean, either side, right? So it's going to be two gates, that's the four, right?

I think there's a visual in your packet, so it would be on both sides of the fencing, on both sides of the track, we'd have to install. Yeah, I don't have that. Okay. The spec of the gate sitting on in there.

There's a spec, yeah. I see it. Panel width, but not how it would go across the crossing on either side. Right?

so the what you're looking at kind of is fencing yep with the lock in the middle so there'd be that in duplicate one on each side of the track good okay

And just to be clear, this is permanent. I mean, I understand that this is a temporary pilot situation, but the fence itself is permanent until we take it out. It's not like something that's going to be put in for the closure and then removed for the season. Correct. We will just be open for the season. Correct. Okay.

And until the culvert.

Well, yeah, until a more permanent solution. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. Personally, I would have wished that this had started like we could have gotten in this year. It would have been nice. I mean, I know it's ridiculously short time. I understand we're timing out, but it would have been I kind of was hoping we could have got a quicker pilot quicker. Yeah. Well, I should ask, yeah, no. I wish we just had a quicker pilot, quicker.

Well, I think we all wish that. I mean, I know we all wish that, but... First of all, we have to have this hearing because we have thought that we had found a really good solution in the past and we were have proven incorrect or told otherwise. But also, I think legal contracting is just always slower than anyone ever hopes that it's going to be. And while it seems really simple, It's just generally not. And so I think, I know that the town has been moving as quickly as possible on this. and that's sometimes just how it goes. It's not for lack of trying.

I would say yes. We all wish it could be sooner, but some of the tricky bits are the issues of liability. you know that we have to be concerned about and that's just not prudent to rush into so as much as we all would wish we could have had it like on December 1st

you know when we as fiduciaries for the town when we're talking about liability you know we have to be careful yeah but but absolutely understood i mean i think we all wish that this could have happened now last month, the month before. Absolutely. We all hear the train horns as well. Anybody else want to make a comment before we open it up to public comment? Okay, so hang on one sec. Yeah, we'll call in everyone. Everyone will get a turn, not to worry. Wanna remind everyone that when you come on up here, you're gonna tell us your first and last name and your address, please, for the record. And we'd like to keep the comments around three minutes apiece, because we want everyone to have a chance to speak. So if you want to echo somebody's comments, that's perfectly OK. Come on up.

and and sort of say ditto but you know you don't have to say the whole thing if you don't want to you can say whatever you want around three minutes okay who wants to talk come on up from the back and have a seat. The microphones don't amplify in the room, but they're necessary for folks on right here. They're necessary for the folks online to hear. So just pull the mic up to you as you start to speak.

I'm Charlie Mahoney. I've been in town since 88. I live on Lawton Road. And I would agree with the proposal that's been put forward wholeheartedly at a minimum. it seems to me that that's the least we could do and I understand that it's private property but Mr. Hood the Greenskeeper could probably pretty easily lock that gate each day because they do a lot of things early in the morning and late in the evening. So my suggestion would be to wholeheartedly start with this. and if we wait till December, well I've been waiting since 88, that's okay, but I would suggest that they could lock the gate each evening. It seems to me that using sound is sort of a hammer on a simpler problem. We wouldn't use sound.

How often do we use sound to suggest to people that they ought not do something or do something? and I've got a whole host of things here. We visit daughters in Baltimore and San Francisco. It's quieter in those places. particularly in the evening, sure in the day, but my wife and I say it's remarkable. Needham with the leaf blowers, et cetera, but particularly They are train whistles. This is one of the loudest places around. It's just remarkable that we've been putting up with this. So I would appeal to common sense that using sound to dissuade people is sort of a brute way to go forward. I think that Tim could lock that gate in the evening. and that's about all I have.

Thank you for coming in. I appreciate it.

My name is Toby Segerman. I live at 10 Fuller Road, which is two blocks away from the Hersey Station. We've lived here for 38 years, and this is our third house in Needham, so we like it here. It's a great town. Two weekends ago, the trains didn't run. And it was wonderful. Just for that weekend. It was so relaxing. Normally we hear 148 horn blasts every single weekday. and since they did all the tree work over the past few years after we bought our house, the train horn sounds like it's next door. where before it was a muted presence in the background. We walk our dog often at Ridge Hill Reservation, which is I think about two miles from the center of town. We never used to hear the train horn down there.

Now we hear it all the time. So that made a huge difference. So this past two weekends ago, I wasn't woken up at 4.22 a.m. And I wasn't woken up again at 12.24 a.m. because the train horn was thankfully not running. We're talking about spending an enormous amount of money on all the crossings for, you know, safer, quieter Needham to mitigate for all the train horns. This proposal is what, 700 bucks? to stop the train horns for at least three months for hundreds of residents in the area. I mean, this just seems like such an easy, simple, common sense solution. and it's going to make the crossing a hundred times safer than it is now. Right now there's just a walk right through Trainhorn or not, no Trainhorn,

for three months this crossing will be far safer than it ever was. So I'd like to thank the board, the acquirer, the Quiet Zone Working Group, the Chris Supple, the MBTA, Keolis, and the Needham Golf Course for moving this forward. I know it's only temporary, but You know, that last weekend was temporary, too, and that was a big relief. Thank you very much. Thank you.

all right two you're all here for this right come on up don't be shy

Ruby, I am Tosca. I was wondering if it's possible for you to show what it is that How the gate, can you put it on the screen? And I'm just curious if you can shut it off for three months. Couldn't you shut it off from 9pm to 6am? That would be extremely helpful.

Just while that packet is coming up, I just want to note that I did talk with the T about the possibility of doing this every night. And they said that they were not comfortable with that. They were comfortable with the seasonal closure. because it wouldn't be something that would be reliant every single day on somebody to make sure that it's locked. So we did ask that question. At this point, they're happy to help us with the seasonal only.

Thank you. Thanks, Frail. Thank you. I'll be happy to call you back up, but I want to make sure that everyone gets a chance. Maybe whisper your question to the next person who comes up, and we'll get it done that way as quick as we can.

Is it possible to get a copy of the packet?

The packet is online and it's available to all. It's in the select board agenda packets. So if you go to the website and look under your government, you'll see it there. Come on. Do you have his question?

Carry it up with you. Come on in. It's not a question. It's my statement. OK. Hi, my name is Tammy Lomenzo. I live at 148 Harris Ave. And I've been a Needham resident for 35 years. I fully support the seasonal closure of the train horns at the golf course crossing that Chris Supple has been advocating. The trains, of course, I sort of only remember the 5 a.m., but 422 I also remember. So they are very early, and we hear them all the time. It also happens to be affecting my grandchildren's nap schedule. So they hear them too. So they wake up. I'm in favor of closing the golf course crossings as soon as possible even if it's just March 1st, if we can get it done soon, at least another two weeks.

There are much safer and quieter options that could be pursued, and we're asking the board to consider those alternatives. for quality of life for the residents. Thank you.

Did you? I saw your hand up earlier, sir. Yeah, do you?

Yeah, I thought I'd clean up.

Oh, all right. Well, that's your choice. Who else wants to come up and talk then? Anyone? Anyone online? All right. Well, it sounds like you're batting cleanup. Maybe you'll embolden some more folks.

Thank you. Madam Chair and members of the board and thank you for everyone who testified already and and everyone who has helped me out. A lot of neighbors have been very helpful and supportive. I had the pleasure- Let me ask you to state your name and your address, please. Yeah, Chris Supple, 62 Harris Avenue. Thanks. I've lived there for five years. and when I bought the houses I bought two houses right next to each other I bought them because they were on the golf course I have two kids with severe autism and I love to play golf and I've been able to merge the two my son Stuart is kind of like the little mayor of the golf club everybody knows him and he has a great time otherwise we'd be riding bikes and he wouldn't be socializing I knew the train obviously went by and blows its horn because I play golf there all the time I caddied there as a kid they used to have a bridge so they didn't have to blow the horn but I thought Needham's a very respectable town we have great

leadership and every other town has figured out how to get a quiet zone and I figured Needham would too and I think we will and I want to help you all do it. I've worked with the MBTA for years. The MBTA is a client of my law practice. They're a good client. They don't mind spending money on lawyers. Somebody mentioned the agreement. It's a template. They have it. It's a template agreement and they're not going to negotiate it. So it's not going to take a long time. It will be very quick. Somebody also mentioned liability. Liability is established by law and you can't contract your way out of it. I know they sent Katie document that mentions transferring liability. If somebody got hit by a train and they sued the T, the T would be responsible. Needham might be too, but that piece of paper wouldn't change anything. You can't contract your way out of law, and I assume your town council Chris Heap, is that his name? Probably told you the same thing. But Dan Dane, who's the chair of your golf

Advisory Committee, whatever it is.

He's a fabulous lawyer and a great guy. And he told me the same thing. It's very clear. So I went and measured it this morning because Don McGloin, who's the golf club's fencing contractor, is going to have his guy do it the moment the ground thaws, if he gets the green light from you all, which he thinks will be Friday morning. It's 5 foot 4 inches high, it's 24 feet wide, and it's chain link. The MBTA tells me that they regret having sent the picture of that gate in the email that they sent because they don't care whether it's a gate or whether we just close the chain link fence. And from a liability point of view, it would be better to close the chain link fence because then no one can forget to lock the gate. but if you're going to do it every year it's probably better next year to put a gate in there but at the last meeting and you all were very I was very impressed with the quality of the discussion on the comments you all made at the last meeting and the way you interact with each other in a very respectful and productive, pleasant way.

And I appreciate the way you treated me with great courtesy as well. but at the last meeting there were comments made like oh we can't do it this year you know it's only March 1 it's almost March 1 you know as these folks mentioned Close it for two days. It would help me out. My kids don't wake up at 4.15 in the morning. And I don't know Mr. Mahoney. I know all the other neighbors pretty much. But his remarks I was very impressed by. and you know, that horn blows at 12.24 and I don't know whether that's the last one at night or the first one in the morning and I wake up and, you know, I used to wake up at 4.15 and send you all a nasty email saying, why do these trains blow all day at 4.15 and nobody does anything about it? I love Kate Fitzpatrick, but I can't believe she was town manager as long as she was in never did anything about this issue. She should have had the MBTA on her speed dial. But, you know...

It's a 24 foot gap in a chain link fence. I grew up in government by accident. I got out of law school and went to Hale and Doran. Bill Weld was four doors down from me and then he later became governor and I went and worked for him. and he had two of us we split up state government and helped him oversee it and the other guy had health and human services and environmental I had everything else including transportation which meant I helped Bill Weld oversee Jim Karasiotis building the big dig If you think supervising Jim Karasiotis was easy, think again. If you think building the Big Dig was easy, think again. On time, on budget, remember that? He almost went to jail for saying that. This is a 24-foot gap. in a chain link fence and we've been talking about it forever. The relief it would bring would be incredible. Even if you do it Friday,

if the golf club's fencing contractor does it on Friday like he says he will and I'll pay him it's 700 bucks I don't care and he'll take it down on March 1 it'll take him an hour it would bring a lot of relief to my family and to the neighborhood I'm exhausted right now. I had my 38th and final IEP meeting this afternoon. You have one a year. I have two kids with severe autism. I can't believe I've had 38 of these things. And I can't believe I've been listening to these train horns for five years. and we're not gonna close this 24 foot gap fence. The MBTA has been great. The golf club has been great. And you all have been tough, candidly. My own town, and I've lived here for, I'm 60 plus years, I've lived here half my life. I've got nine brothers and sisters and I know some of you think nine brothers and sisters, holy smokes, didn't your parents know where the CVS was? Mr. Keane, he thinks nine kids, didn't your parents love each other?

but anyways I'm going to conclude shortly if I've covered all my points oh somebody mentioned you know all these horns. Needham's a great town. This is a disgrace. Nobody else does this. We've got 875 horns every day. You go to church at St. Joe's, you eat at Blue on Highland, you play golf. All you hear is trains. And

I'm going to ask you about that.

I'll finish up. And the reason we have this is because there are seven holes on one side and two on the other. That's the only reason to have this crossing. The only reason we all listen to horns and once we get the seasonal thing done I'm going to work on the MBTA on the nighttime thing too and by the way the reason I was able to do this and I'm not trying to name drop but I saw Governor Healey ask the NBTA to meet with them. So, Keane, I know they've said they're not going to do the nighttime thing, but they don't make the rules all the time. They answer with the governor. We're going to keep working on that as well. Thanks, Mr. Supple. I'm getting the signal. I will subside.

I appreciate your comments.

Thank you, Mrs. Thompson.

Thank you. Okay, I want to just make sure that there's no one else who

It was just a pronoun. They weren't comfortable, but it was not the golf course, but the MBTA. Yeah.

Correct. MBTA. Thank you. That was it. Come on up. Just a reminder, please, to say your name and address.

Thanks. Good evening. Alexandra Clark, 10 Greendale Terrace. And I'm here tonight on behalf of the Needham Golf Club. I'm the president of Needham Golf Club. and I just want to let you all know that Needham Golf Club wants to be a good neighbor We are an excellent steward of the land that we lease from the town. We want to be a good neighbor. We want to partner with the town and with the MBTA and work with everybody to establish a seasonal crossing and then potentially in the future a culvert or a more permanent. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

No one online still, Carol? Okay, anyone else in the room?

I'm so tempted.

All right, come on back up.

Charlie Mahoney, Lawton Road. So I'm glad that we're hearing from the golf club because it's interesting and I'm passionate about this, but I don't see it as a Needham Golf Club issue versus the neighborhood. I really don't. I mean, at some level, but I think mostly it's an issue of logistics or what you can do in liability. But that's all I wanted to comment about because I've loved being close to the golf club. And Tim's a buddy of mine.

Thank you.

All right. So it sounds like we've exhausted public comment. Okay, so I just want to, you know, again state that the town is doing everything we can to move forward as quickly as we can while safeguarding the town. So any notion that we're slow walking this or anything is not the case. But there is a process that needs to be followed to make sure that the town's interest in the long term is protected. And we are doing everything we can to make this happen as quickly as we can.

all right uh could i ask yeah two more questions so for the town manager when we spoke about this in january there's a question of who would bear the costs of the fencing or the gate um if it's the town to go through some procurement process if it's the Golf Club, they perhaps would not. Do you have any more information about who would bear the costs?

We have not met with the golf course to discuss that explicitly. We were getting a quote from the town's contractors so that we would know what the cost would be for the town if we were to do it. And then we could go from there. And we'd have to coordinate with the T for the permitting of the installation because it's attaching a fence onto their existing fence in their right of way. We will do all that coordination.

Thanks. And then the other question is what would it take to have this closure implemented before the end of the March 1st season?

I was not recommending going towards that timeline and I just want to say you know I the board's expressed it but I know that any day is of value to everyone here but everyone who isn't here in the room I think it's also just a matter of and all the other things that we have on our plate that we're trying to get done on particular deadlines related to other projects, town meeting, etc. So it's not just a matter of kind of getting all the pieces in place for this one. It's kind of the other things that are in process right now to fulfill other board priorities. So my recommendation remains to have this be for December 1, 26th start.

Drive $700, I'll pay you. All right, all right.

Thanks, everyone. 24-foot gap in the train lane front.

OK. What would it take for the new seller? Kevin, did you have a... Yeah, I'm just timeline. This is a hearing. We don't vote until the next meeting, which will be February 24th. So 24th, right? Next meeting? Yes. And I find that frustrating.

I'm ready to vote now as well.

Is that a protocol or can we?

Well, I think that we do receive, I know it's hard for everyone in this room to believe, but we do receive and have received quite a few letters asking us not to implement this change. Our typical process is that we discuss in one meeting and then two weeks later we vote. And I guess I'm reluctant to change the process because i think that there are people who don't want to come to a public hearing like this and sit in front of you and state that they don't agree with hold on just just a moment um So I'm reluctant to deny them that opportunity with no advance notice. I mean, I understand where you're coming from and I definitely hear the sentiment in the room. I also hear the train noises at night, as do we all. We all live in Needham and we all Everyone hears those.

And we will still hear them even after this. Yeah. But I don't think it's appropriate to shorten the process with no notice.

Can I ask, are you suggesting that the hearing remain open for a longer time? Because I thought the hearing was ending tonight.

I think that it is typical for people to feel that they can email us comments even after we close this hearing because the typical process is that we don't vote until the next meeting. and I think whether the hearing remains open or not people expect to have that opportunity to get their comments in another way especially if on a charged issue like this they don't want to make a public comment.

This matter was on your agenda and discussed a month ago on January 12th.

That's right. And when we notice a meeting, we do it deliberately we noticed the hearing for this meeting and then our typical process is to vote the next meeting so i'm reluctant to change that um and and deny others an opportunity Hey, Mr. Supple, Mr. Supple, this is... Thank you, Mr. Supple. We understand your position. We really do.

Heidi, I also do want to note that the discussion that we had in January and what was noticed for tonight is for December 1, 2026. That was the discussion we had in January was that it was for next year's cycle. given that the conclusion was this was not in our work plan. We're trying to figure out where it fits given new information. But again, I would hesitate to do something that is not within the bounds of anything that's been noticed to anybody. I also think there's a good reason for having process. It's something that gets honored within local government, and I think there are good reasons for having it.

My recollection is that in January we said, given the short time, it was certainly possible we wouldn't get it this season.

We said that we would try to move everything forward quickly enough that it would be possible. but that we couldn't that also that we were not going to displace other priorities that the select board is working on, the town manager's office is working on, like our upcoming town meeting and our budget process and all of the many, many projects that are ongoing and run concurrent with this. Kevin, did you have a?

Yeah, no, my thought was the last meeting. We were talking that is there a possibility of a Hail Mary that we could get this done before March. So that was the last meeting. I get that normally we do not vote after hearing like this. We give it some time to digest. But I think this is slightly unusual because we are under an extraordinary deadline. But if we were to vote tonight, what does that buy us for time? Like, what are we getting?

I think if you're comfortable with the policy direction, that's up to the board when you want to vote that. I guess I have already stated that my recommendation from a logistics perspective is to have the start date be December 1.

December 26th. OK, I get that. But if we were to vote tonight, is there any chance?

My consideration is not relying on your vote. It's relying on all the pieces that have to get into place.

So what would that like?

It wouldn't change the work on my end when you vote.

Okay.

Kathy? I think Marianne wanted to say something and then I'll speak.

So I'm just going to say I've been around long enough to know that everything has trade-offs, right? And if you were to ask me in this moment about the trade-offs we are making, I'm going to tell you that my personal trade-off would be I am hoping for more of the town manager's attention over the very near term on issues related to ice. then I am on this and this is a big issue but you know what as everybody said it's been here for a very long time I'm still going to hear multiple train horns starting at 4.30 in the morning coming across town at my house. That will not change. And similarly at 12.30 at night. it is attention and work that we need to do but I think we do have other priorities even other newer priorities that are also showing up on the work plan that frankly I would prioritize higher so that's my feeling

I guess what I would say is that everyone here should understand how committed this board is to the quiet zone in general and to this particular solution happening in December of this year. So you should hear that commitment. I think when we're talking about trade-offs, we're looking at maybe getting a week or two at best. at the cost of really rushing the process and compromising sort of the hearing vote process rushing through the negotiations with the MBTA, rushing through thinking how to put the fence in order to get a week or two. I'm not sure that trade-off makes any sense and I think we're hearing from the town manager that this isn't really doable and that voting tonight will make no difference in terms of the timeline and her recommendation is December 1st so I would like to

respect that, but I think people in the room should understand how committed we are to getting this done.

Any other comments from the board? All right, then we are going to close this hearing. Oh, all right. You can come up one more time. Wait wait wait wait until you speak.

Charles Mahoney on Lawton Road. I'm not sure if I am allowed to ask this, but you had suggested that there are people that have written in that are against this. Can I ask what their arguments or suggestions are, why this is not a good idea? Is that something?

Well, yeah, I mean, I think they're varied. Everything from, it's always been this way, we don't need anything to change, to people who purchased houses near a train. The train was an existing condition. I'm sure you've heard all these arguments and I'm not making them. I want to make this clear. I'm responding to your question. I'm trying to be forthcoming. I'm not going to speak for these folks, but you can imagine the arguments and people are entitled to their own opinions and we're going to leave it at that.

Okay. If they had suggested safety, maybe, but it's always been that way? Okay.

Charlie, we've heard lots and lots of reasons.

But I would say roughly the notes that we've received have run two to one in favor there have not been a lot of notes there's been actually very few which i was surprised by but

Safety. Are people concerned about safety?

That's one of the other factors.

They all have different reasons. They all have different reasons. They're all coming from different places, just like this group.

Yeah, and one last comment. Honestly, two weeks worth of getting this voted tonight doesn't, to me, make sense. So if we can do our best, that'd be great. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Mr. Seppel, one more time, and then we're going to close this hearing, but I would like you to stick to our three-minute limit, please.

Christopher 62 Harris have just a couple of quick points. I have been a lawyer in state government and around state government for 40 years. So I know the open meeting law. I know the Public Record Act. you've had four meetings two of the quiet zone working group two of the select board it's silly to think that nobody had an opportunity to weigh in anyone who was paying attention could weigh in i made a public records act request 11 days ago for the very reason that charlie asked, I wanted to know what the people in opposition were saying. Those are supposed to be responded to as soon as possible, but not later than 10 days. That was 11 days ago. I made 11 days ago so I would see that before the hearing and you just said there aren't many so I don't know why it takes 11 days and I still don't have them here we are at the hearing last thing on the issue of safety It drives me crazy to hear everyone talk about safety on this because that is wide open right now. There's no fence. And the horn is just to alert people that a train is coming.

If you don't know a train is coming long before that horn blows, you don't have good hearing. and if you don't have good hearing and you don't hear that horn and you go right into that crossing you're going to get hit by a train and killed okay and my One of my guys is good enough that he'll look both ways. The other guy's not. If there was a can of Coke on one side of that crossing and he was on the other, he would go for that can of Coke right now. So when you people talk about safety, it drives me nuts. That is totally unsafe. the way it is now closing that crossing with a chain link fence would make it much more safe I know Katie's got a lot on plate and by the way Katie if I were you and I always prepare my case for my client by preparing the other sides. I would say, how can I respond to a public record act request? I've got this crazy guy sending me emails all the time about train horns. And when I met Josh, he said, oh, yeah, Chris Semple, you're the train horn guy. And I said, I hope I'm not the crazy train horn guy. And when I get done with this issue, and I'd like to help you fix the other five crossings, too, I know the MBTA inside and out. They're not bad.

You can figure them out. I'm never going to have anything to do with town government again. Don McGloin will do this Friday morning. Done. I'll pay. You don't have to do anything. I mean, no one has to do anything. So what are we talking about? I don't get it. Thank you very much.

okay looking around to see if there are any hands left this is all right we're going to close this thing up we really appreciate all of your comments your multiple comments and appreciate you being here We're going to move on to our next agenda item, which is an MWRA grant and loan approval. Thanks. We'll just give the room a sec to shuffle about.

I note the presence of our town clerk to ensure that we all are listening and acting under our own free will here. Thank you, Marianne.

Thank you, Louise.

Madam Chair, can we move to consent? Sure.

All right. Any discussion? Something that I must say. oh I just wanted to note that like we're getting to spring despite the fact that it's snowing and it's insanely cold because there are two um runs run permits on our on our consent agenda which makes me very happy so other than that All in favor of passing the consent? We have to second. Second. Yeah, I thought, didn't, oh, did nobody, all right.

No, the Great Bear Run, wasn't it on this? I think you're right. Yeah, Great Bear Run and the Rocket Run. Yeah. They're on here. There was a second for the consent.

all right so all those in favor aye okay fantastic all right so the room is reasonably quiet, and we're joined by Dave Davidson, Celia Simchak, and Diane Ryan. Thanks for being here, and please tell us all about this fantastic opportunity.

Well, first, it's fairly pro forma. It's a bond. You're authorizing the issuance of a bond. What's special about this bond is that we're borrowing from the MWRA and the MWRA is going to be giving the town about $3.4 million. And for doing that, so the town can partially fund its sewer realignment project. We only have to repay back $945,000 in $50. So that's the first thing. That has very positive impact because it's debt on debt service because we thought they would be issuing a bond for $3.4 million. We are, but $2.5 million of it, we never have to repay. So that comes right off the top.

Part two of this is they also offer this loan at a 0% interest rate. So not only do you have to pay back less than they give you, but the The town is not paying any interest on that, so that's another savings. And just to remind the board that when this was approved, and I'll note there was a typo in my memo, this was not approved at the annual town meeting of 23, it was the annual town meeting of 24. but it is Article 33, $13.6 million of which $13 million is from debt financing and that was put together. The costing and impact was based upon borrowing $13 million, which we'd have to repay $13 million at a 7% interest rate.

So at the very least, $2.5 million out of 13 we never have to repay, savings number one. Savings number two on $3.4 million of the project, it's a 0% interest rate. So all those will have a positive impact in terms of the debt ratios and such. And lastly, just as a reminder, that sewer debt, enterprise fund debt, comes under the 10% threshold. The 3% threshold is general fund debt within the levy limit. And with all that, we would ask the board to approve. And there's lots of things that Ms. Ryan has brought for you to sign. So little hand cramps to save all that amount of money is not a bad deal.

All right, questions, thoughts?

Mary Ann.

I was just going to observe that I wish all of our deals worked like this. Right. Fabulous interest rate. Thank you, Dave.

just tell me if I'm correct, but my understanding is this is work that we need to do anyway. and so this is essentially a state subsidy to what we need to do to make sure that our sewers are not Malfunctioning.

Correct. This was already approved by the town because it has to be done. The favorable news on this is that the state's picking up part of the cost, or technically the MWRA is actually picking up the cost. And I guess I could add to the reason they do that is that this helps communities Fund needed construction to tighten up the sewer systems to prevent groundwater from getting into the sewer or for illegal connections into the sewers. because if it gets into the sewer, they have to treat it at Deer Island and that puts capacity issues. And of course, I think anybody that might have been following through with the MWRA, that's become even more so of an issue where they're seeking Regulatory Relief in order to dump sewage water into the rivers because of the capacity issues. So as much as communities can help tighten up the system, it makes it better for them.

so hence why the MWRA has this program to begin with.

Right and the monies that town meeting has already appropriated for this or approved for this will be

It's debt.

They approved the borrowing.

Yes. And they appropriated $13.6 million for the project. They've given the authority to the select board to issue bonds up to $13 million. And then the select board decides if they issue the bonds.

So we leave that borrowing authority alone for the moment, or do we at some point...

It disappears.

It just disappears.

It's just like the MSBA project that as the MSBA contributes its share to the cost of the project, the borrowing authorization is reduced.

Great. Question? Of that $13 million, how much is remaining do you expect to be borrowed?

Oh, the whole project's going to spend a full $13.6 million. We have another phase that's Becoming Forward, which the board may remember the April report, which will be updated in the next few weeks. But April 2005, we're looking at another multi-phase project in the $15 million range. Oh, in addition to the 13. In addition to the 13, yes.

But of the 13, how much has already been borrowed?

This is the first borrowing.

Okay, thank you.

Yep.

That was kind of interesting because I remember presenting on this at town meeting and here we sit and it's coming kind of full circle. But the INI is a big one because like a crazy percentage of Granois goes into our sewer pipes. We get charged for that. There is an assessment on that. So we're saving, and we're saving to save. This is a win-win-win. Yes, it is. Thank you.

right any other comments questions seems like a very good deal for us

Let me sign.

Madam Chair, I would make a motion that the Select Board approve the motions as presented in our documents.

Second.

okay all those in favor aye the motion carries and we're yours okay turn it all over yeah bring it on

And as Ms. Cooley noted, our town clerk is here. She's saying that you voted on this and have approved it. Thank you. and the Town Clerk will be certifying that as well.

And while we sign, Needham Cable will be playing music.

And actually I was going to recommend to the board is that you could continue with your work and we'll just move to our seats and you can sign them. and then let us know once you're ready.

Sounds fine. I don't know. It's a little hard to concentrate, actually. You want to just sign on this end.

There's six in each packet.

Sure.

Thank you. All right. I know the pressure. I feel like everyone's really distracted.

Why don't we just sign and we'll just wait. And again, this is just your signature.

OK. I'm the bottleneck.

My hands are shaking. It's so cold in here.

My shoulders are up around my ears.

Josh, I'm going to send this back to you because Kevin has a really big pile.

Thank you. So I'm not the slowest one. Yeah.

Got our names.

This is just one signature on this one. It was just one.

Okay, this can be you. or anyone? Yep.

So that's this one and then those. Oh, these are separate? Yeah. I see. So it's all the green tabs.

You have an illegible signature, Kathy.

I do. And the town clerk has pointed that out to me. Guilty as charged. Okay.

Who's missing? You. Okay.

That's everyone. Okay.

That's everyone?

Yeah. There's this one.

and what do we do when we've got one that's done to you this one I have to sign

Now my own name looks very strange.

I've done this one. You've done this one. This is just...

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, so we're gonna move on. Thank you, everyone. to the town manager's report. And first thing on that list is to close the 2026 annual town meeting warrant.

Great. Just a few things to share. We had talked at a prior meeting about the preliminary list of articles that we were anticipating. So I just wanted to tell you some things that have moved or shifted since then. So additions to the Annual Town Meeting warrant are all of the citizens petitions that we received. I can walk through each of those briefly. Things that were on the preliminary list that had been removed are zoning related to the large house review working group. That's moved to the special town meeting. So still in May, but just to the special. and then items that were removed to advance probably to the fall town meeting are there was zoning updates related to corner lots that I had mentioned and then general bylaw review committee has been completing its work. There will be a report to town meeting but

partner article with their technical cleanup is anticipated for the October special town meeting at this point. So you won't see that on the list. and so you will be closing the warrant tonight but i do want to just remind everyone that we'll still be making changes i'll just bring those back at each of your meetings walk through what those changes are make sure the board agrees with any of those edits and so if you see a typo if you're not there's and there's a lot of article information we have to fill in but as numbers get finalized and as we get closer to deadlines on certain projects some items will continue to shift from the annual to the special if we think we need a little bit more time so just to give you a sense of what to expect and just in terms of the citizens petitions, I will invite the petitioners for each of them to come to a future meeting to do a presentation

to the board, but just to walk through before you close the warrant at a high level. is to say that the town clerk has certified the signatures for all of these. So the requisite numbers were reached. So that allows them to go on the warrant. Three petitions were submitted by Elizabeth Grimes related to zoning changes at the parcel of 888 Great Plain Avenue. one of those articles would extend the center business district to cover that parcel the second would extend the Needham Center overlay district to cover that parcel and the third is the map change to pair with the language change. The next citizen's petition was filed by Wells Blanchard.

This is related to the use of appropriated funds related to Envision Needham Center. the moderator and town council have discussed this petition and the position of both of them is that this is a non-binding petition and so it would give the Slack board the view of town meeting.

Before we move on from that, I think there are two typos in this. OK. It says current town lane plan or town lane hybrid. I think those are both meant to be two. Two Lane Plan, Two Lane Hybrid.

Oh, that's actually a typo in the warrant that I drafted, not in the actual petition. So I'll make sure that I fix that. The petitioner was accurate. Great. And then the last citizen petition was filed by Robert Dangle, and it makes changes to our general bylaws section 2.1.3, making changes around notifications required of the town manager. when contracts currently over a million dollars are signed. So this will also go on the warrant and I will invite all of the petitioners in.

Not a million, half a million, right?

So the petition would make three changes from the current bylaw. Currently, the town manager required to notify the select board. Under this language, that notification would go to the Select Board and the Finance Committee. The second change is the current bylaw. has notifications required for contracts in excess of $1 million. This would reduce the threshold to $500,000. And the current bylaw is silent related to change orders and amendments and this petition would have notifications apply to those circumstances as well. So three policy changes. Yep. So with that, I'm happy to answer questions before you vote to close.

Madam Chair, may I make a motion?

I have one question. Not specifically this one. There was a question that came to me about are there a possibility for citizens petitions on the special?

Yes, thank you and I was conferring with the town clerk about the deadline so I will get back to you with the concrete date but citizens petitions are allowed for the special town meeting the number of signatories is a different threshold it's 100 signatures but i will get back to you with the deadline for that and make sure that it's posted thank you

I would move that the board vote to close the warrant for the 2026 Annual Town Meeting subject to minor technical corrections to be made by Town Manager, Town Council, and Bond Council. Second.

Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. The motion passes. Okay. Next up we're going to take a look at our special municipal employees.

Great. So our special municipal employee list is something we try to look at at least twice per year to make sure that it's updated. And this is a designation allowed under the state ethics law. and in terms of what the designation means, first I'd clarify that the designation is not to a particular person, it's to positions that are on Town boards and committees and in practice the select board when you create a new charge and composition we've included in those initial votes the special municipal exemption all have different status, employee status on those. So as you're creating those committees, you're voting that status at that time. So what's before you tonight removing the stormwater working group since it's now dissolved. It's adding Stephen Palmer committee to the list. You've actually already applied the designation to that when you created the charge.

but we also are recommending that you add school councils. Each school has a school council and they previously because they don't normally come before the select board had not been something that we had given thought to relative to our special municipal employee list up until this point. So as a reminder about what that designation would mean, it really applies to just two specific sections of the conflict of interest law. the first is to section 17 and really this is about acting on behalf of others so if there is a Board or committee member who is in a position that has special municipal employee status, they would still be able to represent a private party before a municipal board other than their own. so other than the one that you're designating the status for.

They also could be an agent on a matter similarly not just represent somebody before the board but maybe do work related to a matter before the town again that's not related to the committee that they are appointed to So that's one of the outcomes of applying the status. The other is under section 20 of the conflict of interest law. and this is around if you have a financial interest in a contract with a department and if those who are special municipal employees you can have a financial interest if it's independent from the work that you're working on

if you file a disclosure and then there's in rare instances the select board could allow someone to have a financial interest even related to the work that they're doing if they file a disclosure but only with your approval. Those circumstances are very rare, but happy to answer questions about that.

Any questions?

Can I just ask about the school councils? I didn't realize that they were public bodies like the other committees. Who appoints them and are minutes hosted, things like that?

they do operate under open meeting law and they are the charge and the composition is largely set under mass general law. Every school has them and the superintendent has indicated to me that their primary role is every school has a kind of an improvement plan and this group oversees the implementation of that year to year the makeup is different from some of the committees in the sense that it has often the principal is on them for every school council. There's teachers, there's students in some instances, but then there's also parents and maybe some community members. so thank you yeah

All right. If there's no questions.

Madam Chair, I move that the select board adopt the motions as listed in our materials. Okay.

Do we have a second? Excellent. Thanks, Kevin. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Okay, so next thing up is to accept and refer zoning on the citizens petition, but not the large house review. As you said, that's moving to the special.

We have both before you tonight. So the first one up is to accept and refer the zoning from the citizens petition related to 888 Great Plain Ave. So under Mass General Law, the same process applies to the board's role in this, whether you receive the zoning from the planning board or from a petitioner. So this is ministerial and the planning board will hold a hearing on the matter. Great.

I move that the board vote to accept the proposed zoning articles, the zoning map change for 888 Great Plain Avenue Extend Center Business District, the Zone Map Change 888 Great Plain Avenue, Extend Needham Center Overlay District, and Zoning By-law Amendment Section 4.4.12 for referral to the Planning Board for its review, hearing, and report.

second okay all those in favor aye motion passes fabulous and we're still reviewing referring back the uh Hart House, even though it's going on to the...

They still need to start their process. Yeah. Okay. So that's our next one. Madam Chair? I vote that or recommend that the board vote to accept the zoning or the proposed zoning articles article 1 amend zoning bylaw floor area ratio requirement in the single residence B district County. Article 2, amend zoning bylaw lot coverage requirement in the single residence B district. Article 3, amend zoning bylaw height requirement in the single residence B district and article four amend zoning bylaw front yard setback requirement in the single residence B district for referral to the planning board for its review hearing and report.

Second.

All those in favor? Aye.

Anything else? I have one update under Town Manager's Report, which is that we had wonderful news from Congressman Auchincloss's office. He was able to secure for the town $1 million and 92,000 dollars in the federal appropriation bill that was signed into law and that funding is for us to use for stormwater control measures so this is obviously something we spend a lot of time and energy and focus on to address Stormwater Quality and Quantity, and to have a million dollars assistance from the federal government is welcomed and we will put it to good use. So when we have the specific projects we'll apply it to, I'll update the board.

excellent yep so thank you Representative Auchincloss OK, so it's time for board discussion. So I'm sorry, the appointment. Department Policy. Yeah, my apologies. OK, so on this one, the Select Board is considering revisions to our appointment protocol. and this is something that we discussed in our last meeting and I guess I'm curious to hear my colleagues Feelings on approving the policy as written as opposed to some of the discussion that we had last week?

Any thoughts? I guess I would say that we can approve it as written with the idea that a vice chair can always create a subcommittee. under the open meeting law, notice it, et cetera, et cetera, if that is wanted. And the other thing that we can do is we can set up a plan whereby the town manager's office, Miles, when he gets back, or Liz, can take feedback from the committee chair as well as to what that committee chair in general looks for in our criteria. So those are two different avenues. I mean, we obviously have to comply with the law and with what the AG has laid out for us. And the option of having a subcommittee exists. agreed.

I do want to echo Marianne's comments from last meeting, which were that of course we're going to comply no question about it but it is it is a loss in terms of communication but one of the reasons that we started to include committee chairs in this process was because they felt unconsulted. And so this was a way to incorporate their feedback into the process. I also personally as when I was vice chair found it incredibly helpful to get to know to have a chance to get to know the chair of the committee's for which we were appointing volunteers, not only to get to know that person, but I think to have sort of a better understanding of the work of that committee. where that chair saw that committee going and what their vision was.

And so clearly we will comply, but I guess I just regret the loss of that participation.

I guess I do want to say I think it was phenomenally helpful for understanding the work of the committee, for understanding the work of so many dedicated volunteers that we have throughout the town. and their passion for the various areas that they have interest in that contribute to moving everybody forward. I know that I had a number of them say to me that they really felt like their committee's work was seen and acknowledged by being able to participate in this process. It just, it really is a loss and I do absolutely think, you know, we should do it within, have to do it within the rounds of open I hope that more people will consider maybe doing, forming a subcommittee and taking the time to go through that. because I think it's tremendously useful. I think their feedback was helpful on candidates.

And it does give you a chance to talk about both what the select board's vision is, and where they are and what their visions are to understand where those are the same and where they're different and how they might both be those factors could be considered because sometimes I do recall some committees where I think the select board has sort of a different view of where that committee might need to go and how it might need to change and maybe it needed to adapt some to move forward and it gives a forum for having those conversations which otherwise doesn't happen in the course of our normal work.

So I guess I disagree with that assessment. I mean, I think that the purpose of the open meeting law is to ensure that the acts of governments, whether it's town governments or any level, Thank you for your time. We still, like Kathy said, have the opportunity to form subcommittees so that people can see that discussion. We could even, if we didn't want to form a subcommittee, invite them here to one of our meetings so that it's It's a conversation that's happening with everyone. So I think there are many ways to continue to happen in the public. So I think this is not a bad thing.

I'm OK with the joint appointments. I mean, as it goes, it makes sense. I'm fine with it. But as standard appointments, I think there's a paradox here. We want the open meeting law and understand it, but the only way to fulfill it is to create a system that's so cumbersome that the only solution is to cut out the committee chairs. So I think we'll just do it with the with the vice chair, making appointments that I think the committees might feel are unilateral. And I think that's a loss. So I kind of mourn this. It's like there's always a chance, but.

Can I say, I think there is, if this is a concern that committee chairs are not going to be involved in appointments of members that are going to be committed, appointed to there, we can change this protocol to have them come here to our meetings.

Yeah, but that's not the issue. The issue is that You might set up a Zoom meeting with the chair and vice chair and then four possible candidates, one who will be late. Another one will have to reschedule it later in the afternoon. and so you're always trying to scramble doing this stuff but there's no way you could repost that 48 hours in advance so it's like we've made it's it's just now we can't do a a difficult situation is now impossible it's not about It's also about talking to the people who are going to be on the committees and just talking to the committee chairs. It was a great opportunity to get another layer of government involved and I think it has to go.

Your point is well taken, Josh. I mean, it is entirely possible to do this. It's just a logistical challenge that you haven't done yet. The number of appointments that you have to do in a very short period of time makes it really challenging to space appropriately, to post the meeting, and then to schedule these Zoom meetings. it's challenging it's not undoable if we choose to pursue that but it will elongate the are going to take the process tremendously if we try to do that. And so then that's another prioritization question, right? Is it more important to get folks on these committees to allow them to do their work, or is it more important

us to you know thoroughly explore all of these relationships in order to and and then the staff burden of doing all the posting and the meetings and the minutes and all that stuff so it's you know it's a question of priorities

And I think Josh has made a suggestion that perhaps you consider bringing people to this meeting, right? So the question is, are you going to add a meeting during the summer to do that? People don't really want to be here during the summer. are you going to add it to the fall when the fall agenda is already jam-packed sprinting toward Town Meeting and those appointments need to be really well down the road to being in place by the fall. So the timing of the calendar is another factor I think that will it just makes it challenging with everybody even having the best of intents.

If I could, bringing it back to the policy, I think the policy complies with the law and the policy gives us the flexibility to have subcommittees if and when we think it is appropriate. So I think the policy makes sense. will work. I agree.

So it seems like we all are in agreement.

Does someone want to make a motion? Madam Chair, I move that the Board vote to adopt the revised policy SB Admin 003 protocol for appointments made by the Select Board as dated 210-2026. Second.

Any other discussion? All those in favor? Aye. The motion passes. And now we go on to committee reports. And so why don't we just start at the end of the table. Marianne, you want to?

I don't think I had any. No, wait, wait, wait. Quiet Zone, right? There was another Quiet Zone meeting. So the focus of the Quiet Zone meeting this time actually was to really think about the quiet zone writ large. We didn't have as much information as we had hoped to have for a variety of reasons. But work continues. It's well underway. We have received the documents that we needed to receive from the MBTA. We are anticipating that we will have the information that is required to move ahead to town meeting this spring, but we don't have an actual number. I think we'd hoped we'd have a number by now to report to all of you that's not quite there yet. But soon, we're hoping soon that we will have a number and we'll be all able to take a look at it and see whether It fits within the framework that we've tried to hold for it, or it doesn't.

So I don't know yet.

OK. Josh? in their individual capacities attended the public information session about Envision. And there was a really good turnout, healthy turnout. It was good to hear a lot of those comments. And I just want to say I agree with many of those comments.

Okay. Okay. Let's see. Two to report on. First, the general bylaw committee, which Katie mentioned earlier. So we will have a report for town meeting, which is what the and so forth. And I think that's what the bylaw that created the committee requires. And that will explain sort of the philosophy of the changes, et cetera. they're really housekeeping type things they're having things consistent throughout getting rid of gendered language getting rid of really archaic things like like posting for example like in in you know 20 places that now that we have the internet we don't need to post in 20 places so things like that. The reason why we are not going to have the actual warrant article is because we do not have a clean copy

of the bylaws as they are and so for town meeting to understand the warrant article you you kind of have to give people the chance to say here's the changes here to compare it to what it is and the number is numbers changing and It's really a Herculean task that the town clerk is undergoing and really because of technology that's 50 years old or whatever, it's very, very difficult. So it's just not going to be ready. So town meeting, in respect for town meeting, need to have that in order to do it. So that's what the holdup is. But I think the report will make clear essentially what the changes are. but we've been very careful not to step on any of the jurisdiction of the planning board or the select board or anyone else and so there are and within that report there are going to be referrals like things that seem maybe out of date or something that we felt were beyond our remit. And so we make a referral. So that will be in there as a suggestion.

There's actually plenty for us to look at to change. So that's the General By-law Committee. We had a meeting of TCHOC last night. TCHOC, really, we were going over the report that TCHOC will send to the Select Board. The Select Board will get that report. prior to when CPC comes and speaks to us. So I believe that CPC is coming on the 24th, March 24th?

February 24th.

Oh, that's right, of course. February 24th. It's confusing because the months have the same days. You guys have noticed that. It confuses me anyway. So we will have a report prior to February 24th. for your reading enjoyment.

Could I ask a question about the bylaw committee? Are you anticipating a single article for all changes? OK. be really special.

Can I just say that I really appreciate that you guys have done this work this year? I mean this is something that I talked about for a while as a matter of good governance and I'm glad to see that the committee has begun its work and had a productive year and I think it will be an excellent precedent for the town going forward

Excellent. Kevin?

Okay, and then two things. The schools did an override regulations training for the upcoming override, just how government works and our role in and where the lines are and what you can do and can't do. I went to the Envision Needham Center, did have the public meeting. The questions were good. I think one thing that showed was the committee has done a lot of excellent work, and the plans are well engineered. A shout out to Kara Celeste. She did a great job fielding a lot of questions, and I think she was nimble and she was thorough. The line of the night I heard was someone in the back saying, don't make the answers so long. That was a point. It was an informational night, and I think Karis did a great job. But I would also add that the survey is open. So please take the survey. And that's all I got.

okay thank you um the tree committee met the tree preservation and planning committee um we discussed um what the mitigation fees will look like um and really laid out a plan to encourage the preservation of specifically overstory trees that will assist homeowners in managing the overall mitigation fees that might be required. Town Council will be at our next meeting, which is on February 23rd, to review the draft bylaw, which he has already reviewed and gotten back to us and we have discussed excuse me the changes that he wanted to see so we're going to talk about all of that and then also we have a very long list of

potential conflicts that we're going to be discussing with town council to sort of sort out all of those bits. I think that that list of conflicts and the mitigation fees are things that the that the public will be most interested in and that folks are waiting for. And so at our next meeting, we are also going to work on A few changes to our schedule. So we will have the ability to have a public forum to share that information on those conflicts and those mitigation fees before we finish up and hand over to the select board. So my committee colleagues might be surprised to hear that we're going to have to add have to add another meeting to accommodate all of that work. But that is on our list of to-dos for the coming meeting. I also note that we had

the Charles River Watershed Association that happened last night to talk about their work. in the Charles River Watershed which includes Needham on looking at tree canopy loss and some guidelines for replanting as well as guidelines for communities that are engaged in the work that we are doing which is to potentially establish a bylaw. And then lastly, I want to note that Kathy and I attended the Chinese Friends of Needham Lunar New Year celebration last Sunday. The first. Right, so last Sunday. A week ago Sunday, which is just an unbelievable extravaganza of food and

talent across all segments of the community which was really special and hugely enjoyed and so congrats to them on another successful event that's all i have

So, Madam Chair, I move that we adjourn.

Second.

All right, all those in favor? I don't see the rush. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

all right the motion carries thank you good night recording stopped