Needham Select Board 12/16/25

Thank you for watching!

Order the select board meeting for Tuesday, December 16th. This meeting is being broadcast by the Needham channel for the town's YouTube channel and via Zoom and is being recorded for publication by the Needham Observer. If anyone else is recording, please let the chair know now. Okay, so I want to begin this meeting by noting the passing of Evelyn Evie Pones, who retired from town service in 2022 after 43 years with the town. Evy was the first female treasure collector for the town and held that position for 35 years. She was also the longest seated member of the retirement board. She was quite humble and reluctant to accept any fanfare at her retirement, but we want to remember her now and remember her dedication to Needham.

a long time meeting resident yeah um additionally uh i just want to say as we open public comment in just a moment um that i know that we are discussing Stephen Palmer tonight and also Envision those are first on the agenda and that is on purpose to help keep people from having to wait for a very long time to get to those subjects because I know there's a lot of interest in them. So I just want to make sure that everyone understands that these are board discussions. They're happening in public, but they're not of Public Hearing, so we don't accept public comment. However, they're right at the beginning of the show here. So I know we have one person who has told us in advance that they want to speak publicly and of course we'll welcome them up. But I just want to remind folks that

you can always make a public comment at the beginning of the select work meeting so if anyone else wanted to make a public comment then certainly online or in the room you both you can have that opportunity so Carol are you you're not Carol okay yeah so we were notified that Carol Roskam wanted to make a public comment I know she she also sent us a letter so maybe she's decided not to join us tonight she's not online okay um all right well um anyone else want to make a public comment

Hi, are you Carol?

Yes. Hey, Carol, come on up.

Yeah. Well, stress delays us, that's for sure. I am highly stressed. I don't even have matching socks as a result.

Carol, have a seat. And just if you don't mind introducing yourself and telling us your address. And then I can just remind you how public comment works. We generally don't. It's not generally a conversation. We're just going to give you time to say your piece, usually about three minutes. I know you have a letter. I'm not sure if you're planning on reading the whole letter. I know it's kind of long. But also know that your letter was shared with this group.

Right, thank you. Okay, my name is Carol Roskam. I live at 83 Pickering Street, apartment 207 in Needham. I've lived in this building since March of 2021 and total two different times in Needham, 21 plus years. I have family here. Yes, I did submit this three-page letter. I'm not going to read it. Four pages, sorry. Yeah, but there are a few points that I do want to highlight. Number one the three big requests. Number one, that the select board reverse its decision about

forcing us out of Stephen Palmer for multiple reasons that are articulated in detail in this letter, especially after I did speak with an attorney. about this. And number two, I was strongly encouraged to ask the board to look at the exact definition of local preference for upcoming affordable housing resident purposes and expand it to include wording, allowing, enabling those of us who are going to have to leave Needham because of this situation to still have priority preference in the future when it comes time for these affordable

housing projects to become available and accept residents. And apparently it is within the oversight of this select board to actually do that even with Private Developers. Never mind state funded projects like down at Linden and Chambers Street. The third request is that you, in addition to and as part of The first request to not move us out is to revisit the request that you put

put out to bid for a different property management company to oversee the building so that we can stay. Earlier this fall in October, it was mentioned, it was stated that a consultant said the building is structurally sound. But then I learned from an attorney yesterday that two years ago, the housing working group in Needham actually said they recommended that the building remain for housing. Is that my three minute beeper? You can finish that. So that's the gist of it. We are all highly stressed. highly anxious, extremely depressed.

It's interesting to speak with my neighbors who all are using the same words of how we're feeling of the discrimination and extreme judgment that we are facing from real estate agents who are the intermediaries for landlords it's not like 40 years ago where we just rented from directly from a landlord and it's all the same story We're getting, oh, well, you're retired. Oh, you're only paying how much? $1,000 a month? And we have to disclose that to them. And oh, how are you going to afford more than double the rent? Well, we're going to figure it out. Well, how are you going to do that? And it's really, really stressful. So this entire story and this entire situation has become a big Boo Boo. And finally, I was so horrified to learn today that one of our neighbors who found a place in Waltham is paying $7,000 to movers to move her.

Waltham is not that far. When I moved into this building in 2021, I moved from Needham Heights on Hillside Avenue. I had to pay $4,000. Partly because it took four men to hoist my bed frame and a little bit of furniture up onto the loft. That was five years ago. That was $4,000. To hear $7,000, that is scary. so in the context of the ten thousand dollars that we're going to receive and for the deposits and first month it's nothing that's it thank you thanks carol thank you

you're welcome to come on up but I need to hang on one sec I need to just come on up and sit down and say your name into the microphone and all that they can't hear you on the cable channel if you don't okay good evening

I'm a resident of the Steven Palmer facility. And what's your name? It's Kerry Cronin. And it has been It was an extremely stressful process, even with the so-called help from homes to house or whatever they're called. Places that I've gone to investigate. Three year waits. Availability not available. um place owned by a separate owner but a property manager is using it and um they didn't

um allow low-income people so they said that i we couldn't meet your needs so i got views from them um and this has been going on because i am scared to death Not to have a place to live. I'm 70 years old and I live alone. And I don't know if any of you can imagine not having a place to live. I've been in Needham. I still work at the hospital. I want to be able to be close because everything that I do is here in the places that I have gone to look at. have been far away. I am never going to be able to do my job at the hospital in three to 11 shift four days a week if I'm living out in Natick somewhere in a snowstorm. I have to think of my safety. I have to think of my well-being. And I'm very, very scared.

I've been scammed twice already, doing background checks, filling out an application that on my phone went like this. I have never done that before. I didn't know if I was doing the right thing or the wrong thing. It was, I'm a mess, and I'm not normally a mess. I've taken care of myself for many years, being divorced and having children, and I've never come against something like this. So unloving. So, so cruel. It's worse than my divorce, okay? I've never lost... Anything the way I've lost what's going on here. And I've recently found a place on Hamlin Lane. and I went over there to secure it.

And I had to come up with $4,000. And now I'm hearing that it cost five, six, seven thousand dollars to move my furniture over there. when I don't think that you've given it the proper consideration of how things have inflated. The inflation that has gone on for these things, for these down payments, for $45 for this, $75 for that, and I've got to keep all these receipts and I have a folder. and I'm very scared that I'm not going to get reimbursed. And I manage my money very, very well as a single person in their 70s trying to live out the rest of my life in safety. and I deserve a roof over my head and a pillow to put my head on.

And I shouldn't have to go to some place that costs three, four, $5,000 because that's what the rents are. and as elective select people by the town of Needham, you should be doing something about developing affordable housing for people because if it's not me today, it's somebody you might know tomorrow or next summer or next winter because this is real. This is real. And it's extremely unfortunate. And I have to keep my health. I have to keep my mind. I have to keep my brain. And if somebody sent you on the phone and... Excessive, extensive. I'm filling out and I can't even type on the phone. I'm making text mistakes. I mean, you want to take the phone and throw it out the window. Just send me an application.

What the hell happened to applications? No, everything's on that damn computer. And it's extremely frustrating. We appreciate you sharing. And you hire a consulting house to home place. How much are you paying them? And you're giving us $10,000? If I move out of here January 1st, they're going to pay the difference between my $1,200 and then however much I just want to rent that apartment for? How long is that going to last? Not long. Thank you for sharing. So you think that you're giving us promises that are just not real. They're just not real. And I know everyone else over there doesn't have the strength to come over here either. We're all pretty beat up. And it's not nice. It's not nice at all. I don't know if any one of you has suffered

anything like this, but it's like we've rid a disaster.

Thank you, Carrie.

Would anyone else like to make a public comment? Is there anyone online? Okay. All right. We're going to move on to our Steven Palmer tenant relocation assistance agenda item. which is enlarging the category for which tenants can be reimbursed.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The town has started receiving a reimbursement request from Stephen Palmer, tenants for eligible reimbursements. We've received two individuals to date and the categories that had been previously discussed with the select board and with the Finance Committee when they approved the reserve fund transfer for $50,000 to start the allocation to fund the assistance. Those categories were the rent differential between the current and future rent for up to four months, security deposit, moving costs and application fees. and so we've been administering those categories and have conveyed through Housing to Home those categories to tenants. the first reimbursement request that we received included a request to be reimbursed for the fall first and last month's rent because it was required for that tenant to put that down in fall

in order to secure a new apartment, which that individual has secured. And so this being the first one, I think we should anticipate that that's going to be a requirement for most tenants. And so because the categories previously discussed by the board hadn't explicitly included the fall first and last months, I wanted to add it to your agenda tonight. ask you to take a vote so we have clarification. And if approved, we have a pending, that pending request we would pay out for the full first-in-month rent for this tenant and any future ones that come in.

excellent uh discussion yeah manager I have no problem with adding this I just think we never really discussed as I said I think at a previous meeting we never really discussed the the Relocation Assistance Program in detail before so I just wanted to codify it and I don't think this is a surprise to anyone I think this is very similar to what the town manager previously outlined so I just want to make a motion and Again, I think this is very similar, or if not identical, to what the town manager said, that the select board establish a tenant relocation assistance program with the following terms. The town shall reimburse up to $10,000 per unit to eligible individuals for eligible relocation costs. Reimbursement to multiple residents of the same unit shall not exceed $10,000 in the aggregate. Individuals eligible for tenant relocation assistance are residents of Stephen Palmer Apartments at 83 Pickering Street, Needham, Mass. 02492 as of October 20, 2025. That's the date of town meeting vote.

that the following eligible reimbursement costs, as the town manager said, the rent differential between future and current rent up to four months, security deposit, moving costs, application fees, and then the two additional items, the full amount of the first month's rent, the full amount of the last month's rent if it is required upfront for payment. Costs eligible for reimbursement must be incurred between October 21st, 2025, the day after town meetings vote, and February 28th, 2026. that's four months after the end of leases on October 31st and the four months is because we are covering rents for up to four months so potentially a person could stay until October 31st and then we would cover the following four months, which is reimbursed only afterwards. And then the fifth one because reimbursement I mean, they have to be incurred before they can reimburse. Typically, these types of systems have a grace period when receipts can be submitted for reimbursement. So I said an additional three months. They can be submitted until May 31st, 2026.

and then just to clarify that Housing to Home will administer the tenant relocation assistance program on behalf of the town.

So I think that all of this is accurate, but I think it's also with the exception of the first and last month's rent that we're adding this evening already policy.

but we didn't vote on it. So if it's redundant, that's fine, but I'd feel comfortable if we took a vote on it.

I just having just been seeing this for the first time, I'm just trying to cross it with the guidance that we had already provided to Housing to Home to implement it. And there are some dates that don't line up. So I think, yeah.

I think we could we could potentially hold on to this until our next meeting to give everyone a chance it's I think yeah that's fair this is this is fresh and that if we want to take this the next meeting that's fine but but I do think we need to take a vote on the policy? I didn't know. I'm curious what the other dates are that were communicated to Housing to Home.

so one that jumped out at me is we have said we would have reimbursements available through the calendar year of 26. And I think I'm looking quickly here that you had May 31st of 2026. on here. I'm just trying to crosswalk this. Oh, I understand.

OK.

It's more lenient than we have here. So I just would want to be able to digest this.

I think the important thing is to increase the categories because we already have a need. It seems to me to be a completely reasonable request. and foreseeable expense. So it's important to get that done as quickly as possible so that folks who are lucky enough to find a place and have this need can utilize those funds. So regarding the question at hand, is there any discussion?

No, I fully support this expansion.

As do I, yeah. Make a motion. Please do. I move that the board vote to include in the list of Stephen Palmer tenant relocation expenses that are eligible for reimbursement quote, the full amount of the first month's rent, unquote, and quote, the full amount of the last month's rent if it is a required upfront payment to secure a new apartment, unquote.

Second.

All right. All those in favor? Aye. Okay. Motion passes. OK, the next item on the agenda is Safe Streets for All grant. This is the Envision Center pilot funding. And I guess we're going to have Karis. Lustig, the director of public works, and of course, Kate King, our town manager. Fill us in.

Great. I'll just start with some context and then turn it over to Karis to share a little bit about why we were recommending Declining the grant at this point. But as you know, the town through DPW had secured $320,000 from Federal Highway Administration. The Safe Streets for All grant was intended to be a demonstration grant and basically pilot the Road Safety Changes. And we heard from Federal Highway that they were changing the conditions of the grant and that we had to revise our scope by the end of this calendar year to remove any items that involved reduction in vehicle capacity. including any lane reductions and just as a reminder maybe more for the public than the board but our use of this grant the board had asked us to put on hold and basically until the Envision Needham Center working group process had played out, the three layout options had been refined, gone back out to the public for feedback and then come back to the board for a decision.

and then the decision about the grant could be made after that. So with this updated guidance from Federal Highway, we're kind of back in a position of needing to make a decision about the grant by the end of this calendar year in advance of actually knowing what the layout choice will be for the project. So that in and of itself has posed a challenge for us. but I think with that I'll turn it over to Karis to just speak to the additional thinking around why it's challenging to re-scope the grant.

So I just want to provide a tiny bit of context, which is that the town initially applied for this grant in the summer of 2024. As part of that grant, some of the requirements were looking at things like bike lanes and road diets. Obviously, administrations at the federal level have transitioned and the expectations and requirements of those administrations have also significantly shifted. So the grant initially was intended to provide a pilot of what a road diet would look like. and this particular corridor and one of the advantages of doing something like bike lanes as part of a pilot is that it's a pretty easy thing to pilot versus adding additional sidewalk or additional amenities because you have to deal with ADA challenges. So you have to take things that are at road grade and make them accessible to the sidewalks in a way that is more challenging. If you're just simply piloting something like a bike lane, all you have to do is put down some striping and the use does not need ADA accessibility to the sidewalk.

So we already knew coming into this new phase of Envision, looking at the three layouts that we have, and a very high likelihood that we might not be piloting a bike lane, that we would have to tweak some of our initial expectations about what a pilot looks like. One of the things that we would, when we looked at the three different models that we currently have for Envision, we sort of categorized the various features of each, and one of which was the need or the value of having a demonstration. and the consultant and the committee is on the same page regarding whether or not a demonstration would be advisable or necessary for each project. and for the two-lane project and the three-lane project it would be advisable or beneficial but for the four-lane project we did not determine it was. I'll just recognize that the four lane looks very similar to what is currently designed for today. What was anticipated would be designed when we did the initial

downtown project and so wouldn't be a significant flow change or you wouldn't be demonstrating significant changes and how people react to those changes in the downtown. The other challenge is if you're not taking parking and you're not taking vehicle lanes, you don't really have space to do things. So, for example, we had looked and all three options, which is probably the most significant thing to pilot with the four lane solution, removing the slip lane and adding some significant pedestrian space. In the four lane solution, that slip lane removal is dead center in the middle of the island that currently exists. So in order to pilot it, you'd actually have to demolish the existing island and potentially relocate the existing signal structure.

I'm just going to say for folks who are watching, slip lane is that sort of right-hand turn around Littlespoon as you're coming up 135? I didn't know that that was the name of it until last week. So I'm just making sure that everyone knows what you're talking about. The reason you can't pilot it is because there's actually a raised median there. just take that away.

Correct. In other alternatives, it goes around the entire lane, but in order to accommodate four lanes, we have to bisect that. And then the other issue is if you're trying to pilot like maybe different pedestrian paths, you then need to add ADA ramps. Those ramps are going to be temporary and you would usually jet out into the road. if you're removing a lane it's easy to add that ADA ramp if you're now adding it to the existing infrastructure it's going to go right into the lane of traffic So it's just much more challenging in order to implement. And when we talked with Apex, I think if we did want to pilot some little features, we're talking very low dollars as far as adding a jersey barrier here or there or some cones. It's not as extensive yet. as what we would have been looking at if we are making more significant changes in the downtown.

Okay, great. Thank you. Well, I know that, you know, people often say, well, Why did you hang on to it? Why didn't you just refuse this in the first place? I just want to say that it's the select board's job to come to these discussions with an open mind and ready to consider all of the options. two, three, and four lanes, whatever they may be. In this case, there was no reason to refuse the grant. There was no reason to exercise an option that might prove useful in the future until there was a reason to do so. It didn't cost us anything to hang on to it. and we weren't ready to make any choices but we're still not ready to make any choices except that we know that this won't fit our situation at this point. And so externally, decisions were made that changed our choices. So I think in recognition of that difference, we're here having this discussion about refusing the grant at this point.

So I'll see if my colleagues want to say anything.

Yeah, I think it makes sense. I mean, if it can only be used to pilot the four lane, and we essentially already have the four lane, we're not piloting anything hence the money is not useful to us, I guess. So I think that makes sense.

Yeah, I think at the InVision, Needham meeting. So it was consensus that the four lane is like the plan that wouldn't need a pilot. So it's, you know, it's unnecessary and we... they've made the terms that they'd only be available for something we don't need. So it's like, thanks, but no, thanks.

Yeah. And I'll give you guys a chance to speak in a sec. I just want to mention that, you know, the town manager had had asked for questions regard on this subject and actually questions were raised that I think I just want to make sure that the public understands it. you know this was a thoughtful process. You talked about slip lanes because I had asked about bumping out intersections where we talked about like shortening crosswalks, can we paint those, whatever, whatever. it seems like it's not going to work. One of the other options was potentially choosing a different road to use this money on to pilot. But we weren't able to identify anything in our portfolio that would be appropriate for this. So just, you know, we sort of tried to use this and it's not going to fit. So we're going to potentially let it go. Marianne, did you have anything? I was going to go last. All right, Jeff.

I agree with Kathy that it doesn't make sense to keep the grant. I think there isn't another project identified that we could use this for. which is kind of a shame, but that's fine. It's just the timing. I think because this project, the total cost of the pilot was going to be $400,000, $320,000 grant and $80,000 and Chapter 90, that $80,000 is freed up and we can use it in other ways. I have ideas, but do you have anything that you've thought of?

I think I've actually been working with the town manager on trying to develop a process and procedure for how we utilize Chapter 90. Typically we would use it for I think aggregating larger projects and use the town's infrastructure resources to deal with smaller projects scoping wise. So right now, the large project that we have in the queue currently for Chapter 90 is Mark Tree Road because that was one that could not be funded through the infrastructure process and is a fairly sizable cost. Just the administrative capacity of utilizing Chapter 90 can be I think we have a significant number of just capital improvement projects where it comes to sidewalk and and Road Condition improvements that we would use the infrastructure funds or Chapter 90 funds that are saved up in order to to manage.

So no project specific for the $80,000, but we would have it there to aggregate and help offset larger projects when we don't have town resources to fund them.

So when this change in the grant structure and permissions occurred, the town manager wrote to us a memo as she often does on topics, letting us know that that change occurred and looking for questions from us to understand what we would like to know in preparation for bringing this topic forward. and I was actually caught by surprise because the memo was forwarded by one of my colleagues. maybe more than one of my colleagues. So I just wanted to ask which of my colleagues forwarded a work product to somewhere else before it had a chance to be fully kind of fleshed out so that it could be discussed. And I'd like to understand why.

I received a public record request for that document and I sent it.

You received a public record request?

Someone asked me for the document and so I gave it to them.

How would somebody... Public record request.

It's a public record and they requested it.

Well, public records requests go through a particular process. They don't come to individuals. They go through a particular process.

I would suggest that we not unilaterally respond to public records requests by whatever means they come in. Do we have a We have a process for receiving that goes through town council, a public records request.

Is that correct? Yes, we also have a town manager.

The town clerk is the records access officer for the town. When we receive a records request, it can go to any of us. If it goes to the town clerk and it's pertaining to the office of the town manager or the select board, then I administer that with town council and we ask the select board if we need documents produced from your personal email or text. And ultimately before the request is fulfilled, we review it for compliance or redactions related to things that aren't actually public records. if there needs to be redactions for attorney privilege or personnel matters or the other exceptions allowed under law.

So I guess I need to observe. This is a public document, clearly. I don't know how anybody would know to request the document. How would they have ever known to request the document of you?

because I talk to people and people ask me what's going on in town and I mentioned the town manager recommended that the grant be not declined so I mean this is this is not secret I don't think any of these These communications are secret.

Nobody's suggesting that they're secret. They're suggesting that there's a process that one goes through when one is distributing public records. You don't just share email unilaterally. We don't work for ourselves, we work for the town.

yeah so i i mean in in the open meeting law training and in the public records training that i've received like we are all responsible for the public record law if i mean if if you'd like me to reply i guess If there's a procedure that I'm unaware of, please let me know.

Well, I'll give you an example. When I receive emails or actual mail that comes only to me, or at least appears to come only to me. I share it to the town manager so it can be shared to the entire board so that everyone can have the same visibility that I do into these letters. I would expect that you would follow the same procedure, especially if you're interpreting a request like that as a request for a public record.

If someone asks me for a public document and it's available and there's nothing that needs to be redacted... We have processes for a reason.

Uh-huh. your determination that there isn't anything that needs to be redacted isn't part of the process. So tell me what the process is, because I'm to forward such a request to the town manager or to the town clerk for evaluation.

Well, then that's something that should be disseminated to the board so that we all are on the same page.

I guess I'm going to reflect. You know, again, I understand I'm the person who's been around the longest and I'm leaving soon, but I just am not sure I've ever seen that happen in my entire tenure. So I was taken aback. It is a work product memo. it is a memo that is in process that is incomplete. And I just was shocked by it is what I'm going to say. I think that it is important for all of us, for the board, for the town manager to have an opportunity to do their work without having that work kind of interrupted in the middle It was just surprising to see it published on Facebook by a member of the town and to learn on Facebook that multiple people in town had all seen the letter.

It just is really sort of something that undermines a trust, I think. So I was really concerned when I saw it. It was important because I haven't seen it occur before and I felt it was important to talk about it as a norm because it never would have occurred to me to do that.

if so I think we're all public officials and we all have there's an expectation that all of what we do is is in public and it doesn't mean that you know I send every single document unsolicited to everyone, because I don't do that. But if someone asks me for a document... How do we know that, though?

Just because it doesn't end up on Facebook? I'm sorry? How would we know that? I mean, it just erodes trust. You may not forward everything, but until something ends up on Facebook, how do we know?

Are you talking about the trust that you have in me or the trust that the public has in us? Because the public...

Certainly mine, but...

because I think that the public does have an expectation that public documents are public.

and if they request it.

That's not actually the issue here. It's not the issue. Well, also, I think it is a public document. I agree with you. But it's also a matter before the select board. It was an open matter. She was requesting feedback in that. email so it's an open matter before the select board that we need that we haven't discussed in public and so to me sharing any of your even just sharing it on a one-off basis with no public official notification is almost like discussing it.

Well, actually, I have to conclude that it was discussing it, right? It came up in discussion.

and... What do you mean?

Well, you said people were aware of it because you told them that it existed in a discussion.

because they asked me about Envision. I hope they ask everyone here about Envision, and I hope we're honest and give honest answers. I guess I don't understand. Maybe I interact with members of the public differently than other people. I mean, if someone asked you, what's going on with Envision? That would seem very relevant to share.

Actually, I usually try to share what I'm aware of from what's happened at public meetings. So that's how I think about it. And I also try to share what I'm on record saying at public meetings. right, those are kind of the angles that I think about. This wouldn't have fit either of those yet. So that's just, I think we do need to move on, but I just, I wanted to mention it because it took me back.

so all right we'll move on uh our next make a motion uh oh right

I move that the board approve the town manager's recommendation to decline the Safe Streets for All grant due to the updated grant conditions. Second.

all those in favor aye aye thank you the motion passes we'll move on to the golf course culvert feasibility and Karis is with us already Do you want to start, Katie?

I was just going to suggest one contextual framing thought that we will be talking about. The Quiet Zone at length over the coming weeks, months. And just a reminder, we have six crossings, at-grade crossings in the town. The Quiet Zone is the five of them that you see on public streets. and those are kind of within the bounds of the Federal Railroad Authority's criteria for a quiet zone itself. This is the sixth at Grade Crossing, which is at the golf course. It's a private crossing and not part of the quiet zone. So we have been talking about and thinking about working on a way to address that crossing, but on a parallel track, pun absolutely intended. for separate from the $7 million cost estimate currently being recommended as a hold number in the fiscal year 27 SIP. This is outside of that. So I just want to put that into context.

and then if I could suggest that kind of if CARES could cover the the feasibility study and the dollar amount that's being requested but then Ms. Cooley is Slipper member, but also the chair of the Quiet Zone Working Group. We met last night. And so I think if she could pivot from there, that might be helpful.

So I think in trying to address the private crossing that we have at the golf course, we have been trying to think of various solutions that we could try to implement in order to reduce the necessity to sound the horns at that location. This even came up at the diagnostic review meeting that we did in the spring. And on that meeting afterward, we met with the FRA, the Mass Highway, and MBTA and Keolis and we were sort of just trying to figure out like what could you actually do at that location. So for example, you can't add gates or quad gates at that location because all of those gating systems rely on electromagnetic signals and the golf carts themselves are made of plastic. So they actually would not queue any of the requirements that you would need in order to operate a signalized intersection. If you go out to that location, you'll see that there used to be a bridge that actually went over the train,

That bridge was taken down when the MBTA started running double decker trains because it didn't fit underneath the bridge, which is when the current Acra crossing was established. We had talked for a few years in the past with the golf course about adding a culvert underneath the tracks itself. in order to convey the traffic that would go across the crossing. The struggle with that is that the golf course maintains equipment that is larger than what a standard culvert would be. In fact, it's so large you'd basically be installing a bridge at that point underneath an active rail line, which has a significant number of challenges. and after we had that meeting for the diagnostic review the golf course approached DPW and indicated that they we talked a little bit about how DPW maintains our field so we have a lot of the same equipment that the golf course runs and We do not have that equipment in contiguous fields, right? We have to move it from location to location throughout town.

And we had a quick chat with their operations manager about could they plate their equipment and run it over the street on Great Plain Avenue instead of using the culvert. Obviously, there's efficiencies that are lost from doing that, but they ended up reaching out to us after that diagnostic review meeting and indicating that that was actually something they're willing to entertain. in order to deal with the issue of the crossing. So at that point, we engaged Ty and Bond to find out what the cost would be in order to move forward with the feasibility study. I think the question has come up, why do we need to do a feasibility study versus design? And I think right now at that particular location, we have a lot of unknowns, so we're not ready for design. so a couple of the unknowns we know the golf course would prefer a nine foot culvert we know that the standard is an eight foot culvert so what's the cost difference right between going for an eight foot nine foot and what's the value to the golf course

additionally they would like the crossing to continue at the same location which is at the high point which is exceedingly more challenging to install a culvert when you're doing it you know through the high point versus other areas that are lend itself better to the topography but might not fit as well for their play. So there may be some redesign required for their course as part of this project or there may be some weighing of costs and benefits as far as the different options we have. so at this time we determined that we would do a feasibility study and that's the proposal that you have right now from tie and bond the reason that the ask exceeds the value of that proposal is because that's the initial proposal we've received we haven't done any sort of quality control, making sure that they've included all the meetings we're going to need to have, any additional information we would request. So that's why were requesting a little bit higher than a contingency than we would typically do. Obviously, if we don't require any of those additional services, that would be money that would be turned back.

So with that, thank you, Karis. This particular proposal came in, I think, shortly before the September meeting of the group and in fact was received I think that evening in fact when I went back and looked right before the meeting. We had discussion of it at the time. It was not, I think, for $60,000. It was for the $44,000 at that time. And asked some questions and then moved forward. When we raised the proposal again last night with the $60,000 request, there were some additional questions from a member. and the committee determined that they were not prepared to recommend action by the select board yet to go forward to the FinCon. that they would prefer to re-meet, have a chance to speak with the consultants about the request or get the questions answered so that they can in fact make a recommendation to us and then we would go forward.

to the FinCom with a request for a reserve fund transfer. There was a little bit of discussion again about whether this is the proper use of town funds. on the golf course's behalf. I think that the Quiet Zone Working Group Committee has all along consistently indicated that their willingness to try to understand what potential solutions would be for the golf course. This is definitely a potential solution if the golf course can use a smaller culvert. So it is important information to have. I think once a feasibility study is done, then we will have to deal with the reality of what would it actually cost and how would such and expense be paid for which is a separate discussion but this at least would provide information for town residents that would be a solution for this crossing

while we continue to pursue what we understand and we've already gone through the designer view for the other crossings in town. and have some approach that we are working on getting the design settled for. So all of that is to say we're actually not ready for a vote tonight. We will not take one. I am expecting that the Quiet Zone Committee will meet again in the near future and that I will be coming back to you to ask for most likely a reserve fund transfer, but we'll see where we end up.

can I ask a question or maybe it's a statement the I guess I would prefer to have this as a capital in the capital improvement plan rather than as a reserve fund transfer What are your thoughts? Yeah, go ahead.

So this initial money for the feasibility study was determined that the best way to approach it now, if it goes deep into the spring, we may have a different approach for it. Okay, but the best way to approach it now would be through a reserve fund transfer. Certainly, there is not a project for this on our capital plan. I think there's a question about whether there needs to be a project for this on our capital plan, but we'll have that conversation once we have some more information back. Certainly, I think it will need to get to the capital plan if the town were to do this.

But even I guess what I'm saying is by asking the finance committee for a reserve fund transfer, it's not competing with other funds. We're not weighing its value compared to other items like we do with the capital plan. and and also just the the reserve fund is for extraordinary unforeseen expenditures and i guess i don't see how this qualifies so it just seems like may is not far away we could we could put this on the warrant for may and still get it done. But I just want to make sure that we use the reserve fund as it's intended.

Well, I think everybody intends to do that. The original thinking around bring it for a reserve fund transfer was at the FinCom chair's request. I know. And so we had made some other proposals. This was how he wanted to handle it. And so that's what we were doing. I think once we get the information back and have the conversation with the consultant, we may choose a different path depending on what that timing is. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else?

yeah i just a few um explain the project so are we boring through the grade all right nine foot possibly but it'd be basically i know they'll be very strange about like it's we're doing with the uh Sewer Project underneath the train there. So it's the same thing, right?

Yeah. So one of the things I just want to mention, yeah, they do have a standard process for doing culverts. They usually do them for drainage. This would be to convey people. based on preliminary conversations we have with the MBTA and just the nature of the project, I think they're going to be quite friendly to this. Their general goal is to remove grade crossings, right? So some of the struggle we've had in the downtown is we're not removing anything. The grade crossing will still exist. in this particular case we would completely eliminate a crossing in which case they are in favor of it anytime you can eliminate a crossing is better and safer for them so we anticipate that they'll be much more cooperative in the permitting process and even potentially in the installation process.

And we also think it may make it eligible for some grant funding for the same reason that there is a desire to eliminate grade crossings. But all that remains to be seen.

I'm very happy to see this. I know that for all the people who are really suffering from the train horns, you know that there has been more discussion obviously of the ones on the streets because there's much more of a process that we can understand and that this was the one kind of hanging and people who live near here were you know have been concerned about it so I think this is important information to have so that we can begin to see what our options are and you know try to move forward with this along with the other ones you know so I'm very much in favor of of anything that will help us move forward on the quiet zone and whatever we call this that's not officially quiet zone but removes train horns. but plus especially this one is really would if we did it would be really safe right safer you know to remove a crossing entirely so i very supportive and I'm glad you guys have worked hard to come up with this.

And then sort of a legal question. This is town land. I mean, we lease it. So is it public? Is it private?

The crossing itself you mean?

The crossing itself.

So there's a legal definition for a private crossing and it has to be a public road in order to qualify. This is not a public road.

Okay, thank you. We tried to make one and we couldn't. We did spend some effort on that.

Thank you.

Before we leave this subject, I just wanted to ask a question about something that's tangentially related, which is that there's this idea floating around that potentially we could... We'll come back to that under committee reports. Okay. Then we'll come back to that under committee reports. No worries. All right. Well, in that case, we're not going to vote on this today, so we're just going to move along. And thank you.

If you care.

All right. So. the next thing is the proposed dedication of the bench from the Needham Community Revitalization Trust Fund and Paul Good is here to give us a brief overview of that project so welcome

that may be one of the least complicated things to probably deal with this evening, hopefully. You know, as we have, you know, many times that we've been able to utilize a part of the program that the Revitalization Trust Fund does, which is the celebration benches. and they're in place in places all throughout town. basically the criteria that we use for them is based on whether there's a need for the bench in the place that it's in. One of the things that we've done is replaced basically the old concrete and wooden slat benches, which starting out, that was basically what 90% of the town common was. but of course it expanded to a lot of the other places like Greensfield and some of the other locations in various places.

Another criteria is actually whether you have people who have a certain affinity to specific places in town. a bench that we had approved just a little while ago which was for which is for additional bench for a cricket field and that's because the the person who as a family were basically honoring a child who had died very young and always used to love to play at Cricket Field. At the same time, Cricket Field also can benefit from being able to have a few more benches because there are very few places for people to actually sit unless they bring their own bench. So those are the types of things that we look at in any individual project. We know whether there's a need, whether it's going to be an asset to it. And then, of course, we go through the process of being able to speak to Ed Olson in Parks and Forestry,

or whether it's Park and Recreation, or even the Conservation Commission, depending on what input and who oversees that section of land, to make sure that not only that they feel it's appropriate, but that they feel that it's going to supplement a need that's in that area. So with this, this one's kind of an interesting one because Right now, there's a group of cyclists who have gotten together for a long time. and they're basically, as one of the gentlemen categorized them, sort of the knights of the square table because they would meet at Starbucks. after their rides. And then they would talk about their ride and different adventures that they had had.

Of course, solve the problems of the world at the same time. And Fred Cressy was one of the ones who was part of that group. and unfortunately he passed away in 2024. So they wondered if it was possible to be able to do something that would sort of keep his memory alive and basically represent and the cyclists who actively do this as a regular thing. The bench was proposed for there. There's an existing town bench, which is blank. It has no plaque on it or anything. So the thought was if we would move that bench to another location, because there are a number of places where that would actually fulfill a need, and then replace it with the bench that's proposed.

So in your packet, hopefully you have, or on your screen, you'll have pictures of the proposed bench. This bench is actually made out of powder coated steel. And this is really, I rendered it in exactly the way it would look so that you can see. And on the plaque, There was a phrase that apparently Fred loved to say that was kind of a unique thing of their group, which was that if it's second, you don't succeed, try first again. So one of the things we like to do is be able to, whenever possible, introduce either some humor or some, you know, because it's a celebration bench. or some unique thing that even people who didn't know the person would just get a smile on.

So that's basically the request is to be able to place this bench in front of Starbucks in replacement of the existing bench. This one also will be easier to clean up because when you spill coffee on it and so on, it wipes right off. So it's actually more practical for the location. And of course, it's the same style of bench that we've used in several other locations. that are highly durable, require basically zero maintenance for a very, very long time. So that's one of the things we always try to make sure that we do is any project that we propose, that it's made of the highest quality materials and that it has a great propensity for not needing maintenance.

Seems like a beautiful remembrance project. Do any of my colleagues have any

I love it. And I think the inscription is brilliant. It's great inside. Makes it very personal. As someone who's smashed gears, and yes, you can't find combing up a hill. I know exactly what this means.

I like the Knights of the Square Table. I do have one question, and I know we've seen pictures of these benches before, and I've been by them in other locations, and for some reason... Thank you so much for joining us. Have we thought about a lighter color? I don't know if there's anything that can... counteract that but it just for some reason when I saw it I went oh imagine that I mean in front of Starbucks what that's going to be like in the summer

Well, that's a good question. In just several other applications you can see on Green's Field that we have three of those banshees.

Right.

and I've sat on them in the peak of summer and so on. And surprisingly, I mean, it's not that they don't get warm, but it's not the kind of thing where you sit down and you're like, oh, I'm going to burn myself. It's the thick powder coating that they use and the absorption of the steel itself seems to keep it at a very modest, reasonable temperature.

Not Scalding.

Not Scalding, yes. Okay, that's good to know. Thank you, Paul. The other one is, of course, on Memorial Field, to the left of where the entrance is. And that one sits out in the sun, you know, quite much too. And I've been there on multiple times. during the summer. And it's really never been an issue, but it's a very good point. And that's, you know, we just definitely don't want to point anything out that makes people, you know, like when you get into your car seat with shorts on and jump off the seat.

Great. Thank you.

You always make me smile, Paul. And this bench is going to get a lot of use. This is a very well used location.

Yes. it is a well-used bench today and it will continue to be so yeah absolutely thank you Thank you.

Could I just make a process comment that it's in your policy but maybe not apparent to the public that you hear the presentation and then you wait until your next meeting to vote in case there's any public comment. will put it on your consent for January 13th.

Great. Thank you. Thinking about consent, as you mentioned that, it seems like we should move I should move the consent agenda second I'm looking to be sure are there any no appointments this time the consent agenda second All right. Any discussion?

I just want to mention, so I went back and forth with Miles, who's really helpful with all of these applications, but he just confirmed that Everyone has to get their documents submitted for them to actually be licensed. Correct. Particularly alcohol licenses. You don't get your documents in, you're not serving. Right.

All right. All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes. Thanks, Marianne. All right. Next, we're going to hear an update from the Tree Preservation Planning Committee. That's Gabby Queenan, our sustainability manager, and myself and Josh, who are both members of that committee. All right.

Fabulous. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. So I'm just going to give a quick recap of where we are in and a little bit about what's informed some of the committee's conversations to date. I will just note before I go into this, the memo and attached draft that was included in your packet was sent on November 21st. Since then, there's been two meetings of the Tree Committee, December 1st and last night, December 15th. So the information that I will provide in my recap is going to include some updates from this memo because there have been some additional decisions that were made at these last two meetings. Just so you have that for reference point. um so tree committee has been hard at work uh since march 2025 um and has had

Several productive meetings that have, I think, helped shape to the point where the group is today. Just a little bit about some of the information that's informed their discussions. The group has done a review of the town manager's working group draft. Goals from multiple prior iterations of this discussion. There was a review of tree preservation strategies in other communities. There was a June 4th public listening session and a November 19th North, Community Forum. There have been two meetings with town council to discuss legal considerations. There's also been a presentation regarding developer process in Needham, a review of the building permit process, and then also tabling at the Harvest Fair to provide some additional community input. So I'm just going to give you high level of where the committee is right now.

The intent being that we are looking for feedback early in the process to try to help to help shape the conversations that move forward. So the quick recap. The group is intending to bring this draft bylaw to October 2026 town meeting. At this point, departments, committees, boards and commissions have received this memo and this draft with the goal to gather feedback from folks early We've heard from the Building Design and Construction Department, Building Department, Department of Public Works, Conservation Department, Engineering Department Division, excuse me, and one Conservation Commission member. regarding the foundational concepts. So the intent at this time is for the draft bylaw to be a general bylaw under the select board. It would be accompanied by detailed regulations.

the bylaw would apply to protected trees of a particular DBH, diameter, breast height. At the meeting last night, the group has decided to...

I'm sorry, DBH is...

Diameter, breast height. So you have four and a half feet trunk is. Yeah. Yes. Thank you. So the group discussed last night looking at six inches as the appropriate diameter breast height, DBH. that would apply for a protected tree. And it would only apply to those protected trees within the tree yard. At this time, the tree yard, would be existing zoning setbacks. That's the definition that the group has come to a consensus on thus far. Triggers for the Tree By-law. And this has changed a little bit from your packet. So the Tree By-law could be triggered under the following circumstances. Opening of a demolition permit.

opening of a new construction permit and opening of an addition or alteration or other permit which increases impervious surface coverage by 25% or more. There are several exemptions that are identified within the draft at this time, including hazardous trees, risk of disease, infection for trees, wetlands because under Needham's Wetlands Protection Act, Wetlands Protection by-law and regulations. We have our own tree policy. Town owned public trees and emergency projects for safety and public welfare. Regarding the mitigation process, there's three options. So there's preserve and protect those trees, those protected trees within the tree yard. remove and replace those trees and then finally remove and compensate some amount of fee to the town's revolving tree fund.

Tree revolving fund, excuse me. There are many outstanding items that the committee is still discussing. I'll just highlight a couple of them. The first mitigation fee schedule, the group has not discussed that at this time. Conflicts. There are several identified conflicts, including, for example, what is allowed within setbacks. We've identified many things that are allowed within setbacks. Enforcement, another issue, some other communities that have adopted tree bylaws, have chosen to put them in their zoning bylaw versus general bylaw. And whether or not the building department is the right enforcement agency is a question. There are communities that have their tree bylaws within their general bylaws. So we're talking a little bit more about where does the final Stepford, Enforcement, Fall, who's the final authority.

And then subdivisions is another question that's been raised as well. So that's a quick brain dump, but happy to turn it to Heidi and Josh if you want to jump in.

And I'll just say I think the main intent of the bylaw and the main and the intent of the committee was to address the most egregious of situations, typically the teardowns that result in clear-cutting of lots. This is not a bylaw that's going to address all tree removal. our intention is not to render even tiny little SRB lots, not to make them unbuildable. This is meant to be a fairly realistic bylaw that is sensitive to conflicts. So I think we are achieving that thus far. We are concerned about The extent of mitigation expenses and the staff burden that this will place on the town, trying not to unduly burden Town Staff, to the extent that we would need to add staff to deal with the bylaw. So we have been gathering.

Part of the staff memo was not only to get feedback on potential bylaw, but also to gather information on what departments think they could realistically do versus what they feel like they might be asked to do by the by the bylaws so that we can reconcile that. So we have we have quite a lot to do yet, but we're trying to make a balance between private property rights and community benefit so that we can make a workable bylaw. I guess I just want to at the outset just say thank you both to Gabby and to Ed Olson who have been doing like an insane amount of work and all of the volunteer members of the Tree Preservation Planning Committee which are

meeting twice a month which is you know quite a lot for a long time um so and our goal today in bringing this to the select board is a to check in i think it's important when you have committees out there doing work to make sure that we bring it back make sure that the direction is one that the select board can support and and move forward with but also to sort of give visibility to the ideas that are underpinning this potential bylaw. So Josh, do you have anything to add?

One thing, I agree with everything you said. I've been thinking a lot about enforcement. The committee's been talking a lot about enforcement. I want the bylaw to be enforceable. I think if it's not, it's just symbolic. And so we have to strike a balance between what how much staff we need to make it enforceable, which would come with extra cost versus, you know, being realistic.

Yeah, well, I think that's true pretty much on every point. So certainly for Staff Burden and Enforcement, but also for you know mitigation and replanting and all of the things inspections um so so um that's that's where we're at would accept any feedback thoughts

I'm just going to give a cautionary note, right? One of the things I did recently was I spent some time looking in the town of Wellesley. and I found three neighborhoods off of Western Road that have house lots generally under 10,000 square feet. otherwise more houses in Wellesley are greater than 10,000 square foot lots or they have a greater proportion of those than we do but I did find these three neighborhoods I would observe a couple of things from going through those neighborhoods. First of all, very few houses have been rebuilt in the under 10,000 square foot lots in Wellesley. So most of their rebuilding activity has come on lots greater than 10,000 square feet. On the limited number of houses that I found that had been rebuilt on those streets, I found three houses. They were all clear-cut. Two of them had one tree left in the front yard, one large tree left.

Their front yard setbacks are greater than ours. I just make an observation. all of that is just an observation. I think people need to understand this will not be a panacea and it will not protect all the trees out there and they need to not anticipate that that's it. I still think that this is a worthwhile effort, and I encourage people to protect the trees on their property. Thank you.

Do you explain tree yards? Do other towns do it? The concept is unusual to me.

Sure. So there's different approaches by community, but the idea is to identify which portion of the property the bylaw is applicable to. And it's very common for communities to use the zoning setbacks, particularly because that's a non-buildable area, although we've talked a lot about some of the overlap. But that's really the intent is to say that only this portion of the yard, the by-law would be applicable to. So if someone... removed a tree in what's referred to as the private yard, so within that area. It would not apply to them. The bylaw would not apply.

is there any protection for so trees in the tree yard but that might be lay down spots so could you add in some something like don't put the trucks on top of the roots

It's one of the conflicts that we heard from staff and departments about. So it's one on a very long list of conflicts that we have to resolve.

And then just some thoughts. In the stormwater bylaw, there is a piece about tree replacement tied to infiltration tanks. and it's sort of referenced until this bylaw, the tree bylaws written, this is what the town is going to do. But there's an opportunity either to adopt it reaffirm it or write a version of your own. So I don't know where you guys want to stay with that.

Well, we just discussed that last night, actually. Fortuitous. First of all, it was brought up that there are some lots that just don't have any trees. or where they choose to clear cut and as a consequence will be they will be triggering the stormwater bylaw, which will require them to put in the water retention systems and plant their three trees. So I guess my point is that if you have a lot that has no trees to preserve, whether it starts that way or whether you clear-cut it, you're going to be putting in these stormwater things. That may be an option for you in addition to whether your lot is triggering the tree bylaw as well or not.

so there are different situations like if trees are not an issue for you then you would still be subject to the stormwater by-law which includes the three trees if the tree by-law is triggered we have to discuss what the solution would be.

There could be some language because I think in the stormwater bylaw it says until there's a tree bylaw. So you need to affirm it that you're keeping it or do something.

Yeah, we're going to address it, but we haven't.

And I always mourn that trees get cut down. It bothers me more that people never replant them. and so I think I've you know Joe Pondak who's the building inspector said about this you know infiltration tank to tree ratio is that everyone can understand it everyone can count and the builders see what has to happen they get it it's easily enforceable yeah it's like it is or it isn't and so they could do it so just a plug for that thank you

So I had some detailed questions on this bylaw, but it seems like I should hold those because this is a work in progress.

It is definitely a work in progress.

So I will not ask my detailed questions. I am interested picking up on what Marianne was saying. I know that Wellesley has been at least somewhat of a model. What have you guys learned from Wellesley and what's different about our approach from them?

but we did model our draft on Wellesley's. So to start with, I mean, it's following their guide.

yeah i'd say like the structure is very similar their bylaws in the zoning bylaw rather than general bylaw so that's one difference we did change the one of the changes that have been discussed is the and the required caliper of newly planted trees. So we actually reduced it from two to one and a half based on the recommendation from Ed.

And the recommendation was because the smaller trees actually survive better than the bigger trees. There we go. Counterintuitive, but that was his recommendation.

We haven't discussed mitigation fee schedule at all, so I can't speak to how that will differ from what Wellesley has. and then in terms of enforcement or in terms of the reviewing entity the way it's drafted right now our tree warden is responsible or their designee is responsible for the final sign-off of the Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, Levy, with the building commissioner, just based on experience and knowledge about , you know, where to question replantings. Is the replanting space sufficient? Is a particular action going to damage trees that maybe wouldn't be evident to the average person? things like that. Those are the biggest things that jump out to me.

I guess just sort of following up on that because that's an example of something like it seems like there would be two reasons to depart from Wellesley. Either something in Wellesley doesn't work very well We don't think it would work, or we're different. You know what I mean? There's something different about Needham. So I'm just interested in kind of what your thinking was.

I think that's true. As Marian mentioned, a lot of the Needham lots are significantly smaller than those in Wellesley. And when you start to talk about, you know, fitting the setbacks and the house and anything else into some of these smaller lots, things very, very quickly become very crowded. And we don't want to turn this into something that penalizes small parcel holders. So we talked a lot about conflicts, things that are allowed in the setbacks, et cetera. So I think there is still a good deal of situations to resolve. and it's likely that as we resolve them we will depart even further to make that work.

Ed Olson speaks with tree wardens and park and forestry people all around. And I think in general, The enforceability has been difficult, not specific to Wellesley, but I think your example may speak to that as well. They're all well-intentioned, but they may be difficult to enforce.

yeah that makes sense also we have you know a lot of moving pieces these days because we have the stormwater law that just passed we have a potential change to the housing Yes, thank you. That is going to town meeting in May, presumably. And then we also have this going to special town meeting in October of 26. just a lot of changing parameters to reconcile.

I hate to go down the rabbit hole, but you might want to talk to the building inspector or the engineering department, because I know with the new bylaw, there's going to be a plot plan required by engineering. it could be required that they post or designate what the tree yard is. And they also should identify what trees are there rather than have duplicative efforts of the tree warden trying to ascertain what building projects are going on. because I think it's all coming through the building or construction permit. So you might want to be aware of that.

the bylaw would require a tree preservation and mitigation plan. So not only to provide a plan with the application that plots all of the trees that are relevant within the tree yard, but also their sort of root size and and makes a plan to to fence them off so that they don't get damaged during construction those plans can i guess when

Developers go into engineering to get a permit. It's all digital. It's a checkbox, but that should be a checkbox. Have you done your tree preservation plan? and they'll have to do that. But one stop shopping, I guess.

Yeah, that's exactly what we talked about with the building department and engineering division was There's already some of these processes in place with our other permitting systems, like conservation, for example. There's a checkbox in that process. So it seemed like from the feedback we've received so far that the idea for integration into our system, we see a path forward for that.

Okay, good. Nothing to it.

So any major objections? that's real carry on all right we gave you gold fantastic thank you thank you All right. Next, we are on to the Needham Housing Authority Seabeds Way Preservation Project. Reg was just here. He just stepped out, but I'm sure he'll be back in the meantime.

We'll talk about trees some more.

Yeah, right? Chris, welcome.

Thank you.

Hello, everyone. Reg is actually not on our agenda, so I assume that you guys are ready to just tell us the whole story.

We are. We are. Thank you, Madam Chair. So the Needham Housing Authority has been working very hard to get their financial stack in place and to move forward with construction at Seabed's Way. This is to preserve 46 existing affordable housing units there. And as part of their final Submission getting ready for financial closing. They have to submit documentation to HUD next month. And so the Housing Authority approached the town for three documents and requests of the town for them to be able to include in that paperwork to HUD. So if you're looking at your fact sheet, I'm just going to comment generally on them actually from the bottom up, and then I'll turn it over to Chris if he wants to add anything specific about the language of the documents.

but from a high level the three items that we worked on with the Housing Authority to bring to you the first is a CPA grant agreement this is just to codify the agreement for the 3.2 million dollars that the May 2025 Annual Town Meeting appropriated to contribute to the construction funding needed for the Seabeds Project. This is not before you for a vote, but we met with the Housing Authority made some modifications that both parties were comfortable with and it's in your packet just for reference. The second item is a request to waive future building department fees that would be for construction, permitting, electrical, plumbing when the housing authority is ready to actually pull permits for this project. And just for context, to the board has taken similar action for the housing authority on the Linden project, although that's further out now for construction timeline.

but also I found documents of the select board waiving permit fees for the housing authority dating back decades. So that request is before you. and lastly is the agreement regarding taxes. The housing authority under Mass General Law, housing authorities do not pay property taxes, but communities may enter into a pilot agreements payments in lieu. with housing authorities. We looked back at our records on the town side and we found documentation from the early 2000s saying that we had no documentation for a pilot agreement on this location. But what we do know is that the housing authority has been making payments to the town. and this is for both Seabeds Way and Captain Robert Cook together. They're co-located on one site. This project is specific just to the units at Seabeds, but the request for the pilot agreement would cover all of the units, seabeds, and Captain Robert Cook.

So the payment that has been made has varied over the years, but we know from the payment documentation. It's a formula that the Housing Authority has been using. My presumption is there was an agreement at some point on that formula. It was 10% of rental income charged by the housing authority, less utility expenses. And so the most recent payment that the town has received was around $68,000. So the request and the draft pilot before you is that that payment would be replaced by a $1 annual pilot fee from the housing authority to the town for this property. And again, the board took similar action on the Linden property earlier. this year and with that I'll turn it over to see if Town Council wants to add anything else for context.

Not much for me. The only thing I'll add is that you know although we exchanged drafts of the CPA grant agreement with the Housing Authority the only changes were really minor and editorial the draft that you have in your packet is consistent with the other CPA grant agreements that we've been entering into with other applicants in town. And the pilot agreement is, you know, we had the benefit of doing one with the Housing Authority a year ago for Linen Chambers. And the agreement in your packet is consistent with the one that was signed then.

Can I ask a question about the pilot? So for NHA, there was no pilot agreement ever. And so there was no change when we entered into the new agreement to have no pilot. Sorry, am I being unclear? In February, when we entered into the agreement for Lyndon. Or specifically for Lyndon Chambers. Yeah. We were not reducing any payments that they had been making because there was no payment.

I believe that's right.

Yeah. For this, it is a reduction. And I guess I think of pilot payments as a benefit to the user, in this case, to the tenants. So the pilot helps to fund things like ambulance services or fire or police. What is the impact of not having this pilot in place on the operating budget, for instance?

so we have been receiving these payments that have changed over the years and we don't have paperwork of a pilot but there may have been one but because we don't have one we don't plan to have the revenue. It's not something that we would rely on kind of regularly in our planning in the same way that our consistent and documented revenue sources are. So in that sense, I I'm comfortable with the proposal in terms of how we would accommodate it within our operating budget planning moving forward.

And it wouldn't require additional funding from the tax levy, for instance? No.

Okay. So $68,000 just landed every once in a while?

I don't know how to best articulate it, but it is not something we rely on to balance our operating budget. I guess that's what I would say.

And does it benefit, maybe this is a reg question, because there are so many funders in this, ultimately, who would, say the pilot remained in place, who would be paying it? Would it be a for-profit entity, like one of the funders?

Sorry, could you restate the question?

So the 68,000 pilot. So say we made no change to the pilot. I'm trying to figure out who is financially benefiting from not having a pilot payment. Is it the housing authority, or is it a for-profit entity who's who is earning money as an investor of the project?

It's the housing authority would not have to pay the town annually that amount so it they have to find the money in their annual operating budget from the housing authority to the town. So the benefit is to the housing authority itself.

but does it does it mean that let me ask it differently I'm sorry does it mean that that money can stay with the Housing Authority and benefit tenants or does it mean that the funders will be entitled to more profit essentially?

I don't think this benefits anyone privately, but I guess. if you're comfortable.

Have a seat and just remind everybody who you are.

Those of you who don't know, I'm Reg Foster, chair of the housing authority.

And so the answer to your question is there are no for-profit entities involved except for the banks that are loaning us money. because of the town's willingness to do this, we can borrow more money and that means that we can make more construction improvements to the property. There's about $11 million plus or minus permanent loan that after the construction is finished will be paid by the operating revenues of the project over the following 20 years. and so I can't do the math off the top of my head, but another $68,000 a year over a 20-year period, the net present value of that at whatever the interest rate turns out to be in June.

which is hopefully still going downwards as it has been means that the capital stack that we can raise and in this case what we can borrow like any conventional I don't know what that math would be but it would be another few hundred thousand dollars that we can borrow and pay off and that's how we are able to kind of barely make the $20 million total development cost that looks like we're going to be able to close this year. So the short answer is the benefit is the housing authority, the housing authority is not a profit making entity. The tenants are benefiting because they're having their apartments completely renovated and it'll be there and they're being preserved for the next 20 or 30 or 40 years. and there's no private developer involved in this case.

But it gives you more leverage. And when I said private developer, I was referring to the funders.

Yes.

Who are earning money and that's why they're investing.

Yeah, but the banks, you know, basically, if we can pay them more, $80,000, $60,000 now, it would go up gradually over 20 years, you know, we'll... loan us more money, and then we take those dollars during the construction period and be able to renovate the kitchens and do everything else we're doing.

Go ahead. I'm sorry. I interrupted someone. Go ahead.

Anyone else? I just want to say that I'm very supportive of this because I know, and I was going to give a teach-hawk update at the end of the meeting, but I know how nip and tuck this is to make this work. And I think Town Meeting has spoken very clearly in support of this project. and we want to make it work and this is part of making it work so I'm very strongly supportive.

And the town has impressed everybody else on how much they support the project and that's been extremely helpful in convincing the other sources of soft funding to kind of pitch in and do their part.

We've waived permit fees Lyndon Chambers, right? Yes. So this is consistent with that. That's fine.

Yeah.

I'm totally supportive of this. So this is completely consistent with what town meeting has asked us to do. And I hope this project is very successful.

Did you have more questions?

Just one more. It's just kind of a theoretical about the agreement. So if it's meant for leverage to borrow more money. Why isn't it for the fixed period of time, for the duration of that loan, for instance, rather than in perpetuity as this is?

So in practicality, though this has a fixed period like a mortgage, it will be refinanced at the end of that period. So there will always be a permanent loan that's supported by the funding stream that comes and the funding stream is increased over what we're receiving today as a under the Section 9 public housing program. We're doing this over and over again, but people are starting to get it. We're repositioning, financially reengineering, if you will, to move over to the section eight public housing program that provides a larger funding stream which enables us and it's also one that is committed in a way that allows are permanent financing, which in this case is from Mass Housing. It's in a way that they can depend on it.

is not subject to annual fluctuations and so you can actually then borrow against the available cash flow from that increased funding stream and along with the town's $68,000 a year means that we can have permanent financing not only for the next 20 years or 30 years, I think it's a 20 year mortgage, but then it gets rolled over and continues as a 20 year mortgage into and the indefinite future beyond our planning horizons here around this table today.

Thank you.

Madam Chair. I move that the Select Board approve and sign the agreement regarding taxes and payment in lieu of taxes Seabirds Way and Captain Robert Cook Drive property Needham Housing Authority to be provided to the Needham Housing Authority in connection with the Seabeds Way preservation project and approve the request of the Needham Housing Authority to waive all local permit fees Second. Second.

Any more discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Motion passes.

Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Thanks, Reg. Thanks, Chris. Thank you. Thanks Gabby. Okay, we're going to move on to our agenda item, approve the fiscal year 2027 through 31 capital improvement plan. with Katie King, our Town Manager, Dave Davidson, our Deputy Town Manager and Director of Finance, Liz LaRose, the Deputy Town Manager, and Cecilia Simchak, Assistant Director of Finance and before we begin, I'm just going to say I want to say a public thank you to Cecilia, who came to visit the Council of Economic Advisers some weeks ago. and who gave a fantastic presentation to our membership that was really, really, really helpful.

and we might need a little extra to continue discussion of some of those subjects, but we really appreciate it and just want to say thanks. Okay, so we're here to talk about the Capital Improvement Plan.

This is our third and final time bringing the FY27-31 capital improvement plan to the board. Kevin just said, here's a brain trust. And I want to say, even though Dave and I are the only two speaking, there's so much work that goes into this at this table and beyond. But with that, I will turn it over to our Deputy Town Manager, Dave Davison, to talk through changes since your last meeting. which are not many.

Yes. The changes from that which was before the board at the previous meeting is that we have identified as tier two debt, HVAC upgrades, and the Athletic Facility Improvements, which is the Elliott School grounds renovation. In the previous plan, they were showing Tier 2 cash. Tier 2 debt would come into play if, well quite frankly, if the quiet zone were to drop off or was significantly reduced in price as the Board is aware the price currently is estimated twice of the amount that it was planned for last year at this time.

The other changes include that the Health and Human Services electric bus that was being recommended for funding at $382,800 is being deferred at this time. There's a few reasons for that. First, the cath does not have charging stations to accommodate the electric bus, so that's something else that we need to do before we can purchase it. Second, there is always opportunities for grants for electric vehicles, so that will be explored further to see if that's an opportunity.

As a result of that change, we were able to increase the number of DPW vehicles that are being recommended in Tier 1 from 3 to 6 vehicles. So in other words, that one bus by deferring it allows us to fund the priorities four, five, and six for the Public Works Department. The net effect of all these changes is that the total cash capital amount is $25,800 more for Tier 1 than that was shown in the land to the board at the previous meeting.

The extra $25,800, do you anticipate that we'll have free cash for that?

Yes. In fact, currently, based on my estimate, we'll still probably have a few hundred thousand in free cash not yet committed once we have the once we know what free cash is actually certified at. We can explore whether or not the board would be supportive of funding some of the Tier 2 cash capital recommendations. And that would come in later in the fiscal year.

Can I ask another question about the Pollard placeholder? Will, so I know for other capital items we have estimated impacts on operating costs. Will that, will we also be able to have estimated impacts on operating costs in the capital plan for this item?

The Pollard School, that has been one of the things that have been requested the school department and they would come forward. There is not a request to fund that this year, although it appears in the plan requested for 2027. We do not see it getting funded any earlier than a special town meeting in October of 26. And we would certainly have enough time to know what those costs would be.

But that's during FY27, right?

That's during FY27.

So do we need to put that in the capital plan?

It is in the capital plan that's been requested. There's just no recommendation because we don't actually know what the requested project will be. What was submitted by the school department is the exact same documents that were submitted last year, and we already know from the public hearings that have been held to date that the dollar amount in the type of project is different than what was originally submitted.

And so then on the operating costs, when do you think will... I know I'm kind of putting you on the spot for other people's research, but when do you think the school department will have information about the potential operating impacts?

I think as they would get closer to actually having an article for funding the project would be the time that they would have that.

Yeah, I was just gonna make the observation that doing, projecting operating costs now is actually not a useful exercise. They need to design a school once they have a design then I think based on that design you can run a model for what the operating costs are so those two are definitely married otherwise you're kind of just doing an exercise that's going to have to be redone when you have a real design.

Yeah, I'm just saying as part of our capital plan, like in our bylaws, we include operating costs for any item that is in the capital plan. And so It sounds like this is a gray area. It's in the capital plan as a placeholder, but there is no dollar amount that's being submitted yet.

That's correct. And that's not inconsistent with other major projects that have been deemed extraordinary. It's when you get closer to the actual funding request for town meeting that the operating implications are vetted.

Thank you.

Kathy?

Kathy? Sure. Strange question. The only thing that raised my eyebrows was on Page 2, it was RTS Property Improvements, 240,000, critical repair. Why that note? What's happening?

The board may remember the dollar amount was higher for this year, and then it's down lower. The only improvements that are being made are the repairs that need to be done. for the safety of the building and our employees.

Okay. The trailer?

It's the facility.

It's the tipping floor.

Tipping floor.

Okay. So we're... We replaced the employee trailer. That had already been funded and completed, and it's a wonderful improvement for the staff.

Thank you.

But this is a different floor. Yes.

Thanks.

I'd like your use of color to indicate that stormwater quality improvements has mixed funding source.

Madam Chair, may I make a motion?

Certainly.

That the Board approve the fiscal year 2027 through 2031 capital improvement plan for transmittal to the Finance Committee.

Second. Any more discussion? All those in favor? Aye Motion passes Thank you Dave, thank you for hanging out to talk with us about sewer rate relief and the application that we need to fill out for that.

Madam Chair, this request is before the board. It's from time to time, the Commonwealth makes available funding for sewer rate relief. This is a program that started in the 90s. At one time it was funded in excess of $50 million. recently this year it's funded at 1.5 million dollars in sewer rate relief the last two years the plan hasn't been funded and FY25 the governor vetoed it and the year before FY24 there were no The funds were not expended or distributed by the Commonwealth. The last time that we were before you for this was in May of 23. The amount was $1.5 million.

The result of the application and approval was a rate relief of $379. I do not... I do not anticipate that the rate relief is going to be more than that. it will probably be less. And understand the rate relief is subject to certain debt that is used to finance sewer infrastructure. The debt has to be something for more than five years. It has to be something that's has been incurred after 1990, which, of course, this would be true. It's got to be something that wasn't a project that received grants or other financial assistance, for instance, projects that are funded through an MWRA grant or state revolving fund grant are not eligible for this rate really because you're getting benefits by the lower interest rate or no interest rate.

depending which program we are successful in getting funding. And it is 20% of the debt service that is subject to the rate relief calculation. the reasons before the board this evening for approval is in order to get this application in based on the timeline, which is January 20th. the board will only have one more meeting and that would be right before the submission deadline so just so that we're not it doesn't get lost it's before the board this evening for approval and will be submitted promptly

Excellent. Can I ask a question? Sure. Dave, I am curious. Is submitting this simple and straightforward?

It is administratively a lot of work, such as the different signatures and the fact that it requires the board to actually vote to submit it. But the work in doing it is fairly straightforward. The application is actually in your packets. And in this case, there are no new projects. It's just the recreation. Debt that we're still paying, which is already on file with the Commonwealth.

Okay, because while the amounts are large amounts, right, a million and a half or whatever, $379 says it's not worth a tremendous amount of time. So I just wanted to be sure that you weren't telling me you were needing to spend hours at the back end to figure out how to get this pulled together and submitted, because then I wasn't sure if it was really worth it.

The work has already been done, so let's not waste it.

But we could save it for the future if, in fact, that was the case. But if it's together and we can leverage what we have already previously done...

But if everyone thinks that, then one lucky time. One lucky time, there'll be things.

There'll be money. That'll be the year we don't submit.

All right. Thank you. Any questions, Kathy? Well, just to clarify, so that's 387 total complete for the entire town?

Correct.

Yes, we were. Hence the, yes.

Yeah, pennies, pennies too.

To rate pairs, yeah. Just a question. How does the billing and collection software deal with this? Is that okay?

um we will make it work okay thank you so much all right

Madam Chair, I make a motion that the board approve and sign a fiscal year 2026 sewer rate relief application.

Second.

All right. All those in favor? Aye. The motion passes. Thank you, Dave.

Thank you.

All right, so we're going to go to the town manager for a goals update.

Great.

Thank you.

In the board, you had your annual goal-setting retreat in July of 2020. this year and a blink of an eye happened and now we're six months later. And so in your pocket is the vision that the Select Board adopted and the seven High Level Goals. What I'm going to walk through is just a status update on the actual initiatives, the 34 of them. That really is driving the work plan for a number of staff and a number of departments. to advance the priorities that the board has set for the town. So I think I will try to go through these. We actually are almost back on schedule, but I will try to go through these.

at a high level but please if there's questions along the way I just want to make sure people have a sense of where we are on various all the various projects and also just to note this is absolutely not the full work plan of all town departments this is a snapshot but the things that I owe you an update on. First, establishing clear guidelines for public art proposals. We have done an inventory of our existing policies and analysis looking at and some other communities. We need to come back to that initial research that we did to dig into recommendations to make to the select board to advance that in 2026. so stay tuned on that and this will come up at a later item but the conversation the board has had around display policies and the decisions under kind of free speech and what is government speech has kind of all merged together with this goal.

So we're taking an eye at both the arts policies but the select board policies, kind of holistically trying to look at it. item two is there are ADA requirements that are coming for website accessibility for municipalities based on the size of the community. Our deadline for compliance is April of 2027. Our Director of Communications and Community Engagement is fully up to speed on what those requirements are and is mapping out our plan to ensure that we can be compliant by that deadline. So more to come on that. Town Commons Celebration. The new deputy town manager is working with Park and Rec, but also all of our kind of community service departments to map out a good event. And we're targeting April. So and we will plan a rain day. I think last year we didn't and to our own detriment. So we will do that this time.

Projects, there'll be a few throughout this update that are have not started yet and are on deck for us to get going on in 2026. So one of those is a plan for transitioning to have at least one bathroom in each public building that is all gender.

Katie, can I go back for just a second? I'm sorry on the town comment. Yeah. I just want to be sure that we are reaching out to our merchant community and involving them in the planning this time. Great. Perfect.

Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Initiative number five, Placer AI is a software that we piloted with ARPA dollars, and it gives us access to kind of of how people are moving about town using our facilities accessing our merchants and so we will be ready to give an update our year with that Software has come to an end and we'll have an update of how we used it, what we explored, and if we have a recommendation whether to continue that or not. So right now I'm holding time at a January or February meeting for the staff to give you an update. there. With Steven Palmer, I think I just we've talked at length about the transition of the building and the tenant assistance and benefit. So I think the

The next item to add is the Steven Palmer Development Review Committee began meeting in October of 2025. We have a consultant on board, Barrett, Planning, and Gamble Associates to support the work of that committee. And we have the first public forum to think about the future use of the building and site that is planned for January 12th. So more to come on that.

No snow date.

Yeah. No snow date. Pollard, the school building committee, PBBC, voted last night the submission of the preferred schematic report. That's down to the one option that we're submitting to MSBA. and the MSBA will receive a presentation from our team to decide in February if we're ready to advance to their next module, which is heading into schematic design. So a lot of work. You guys are well aware of all of that and participated in making some of those big decisions. And we're on a great path to move forward to the next step. large house review that study committee two of you are members on that is nearing its completion for final recommendations to the planning board and then they will take the torch from there with a

and anticipation that there will be some zoning articles at May town meeting.

Or the May special.

a little bit more time. Yes. Yes. So we will hold space on both. Our initiative nine is the Affordable Housing Trust. and the trust last night in the spring. And we discussed both the League of Women Voters report and recommendation town staffs. opining on those recommendations. And in the interim, we have recently applied to the Mass Housing Partnership. They have technical assistance specific to affordable housing trusts. our application is in and we hope to hear back next month and that would be it actually was a next step that came out of the last trust meeting was to follow up with Mass Housing Partnership so it was fortuitous that this technical assistance opportunity opened up question do we have a date or have we thought about a date for the next affordable housing trust meeting um i haven't um but i think we can when we hear back from mass housing partnership um give some thought to when it would be good to reconvene yeah

Great. The board recently received the update on the RTS study and survey results. So I will, I guess, leave it at that unless there's questions. You also recently received an update on the town seal. The letter has gone to town meeting members, giving them the history of the work of the committee and the current design. So we will see what the feedback is and then the committee has a meeting scheduled I think already in January to digest and plan next steps. updating the town's noise bylaw. We have started the research on this. I'm just looking at, I guess, a few things doing some stakeholder interviews we'll be doing with departments. We get a lot of requests related to noise and I think one of the things I want to make sure we do is check in with all the departments that happen to get those calls to get a sense of like what problem are we trying to solve for here.

and then do some research of other communities that have noise bylaws so we can start putting together some options for the board to consider.

And I think we discussed that we're hoping to get this on the agenda for February or so.

Okay.

I didn't make that up. I swear.

I absolutely believe you. I'm sorry to juggle the timelines of the 34 initiatives. Orso. We'll play in that. Orso. Great. I've now made a note. Thank you. Project 13 is quiet zone. I think I'll hold this for board discussion. We can continue that at length. and the Highland Ave roadway project on the tip, which is the transportation improvement program through the regional Planning Agency that does transportation funding. This project is at pre-10% design. The Select Board has had an opportunity to review those current plans. We have it that There's project applications still in the queue for the MPO for the TIP, but we're not yet on the TIP. So the earliest we could get at it is the far out year, fiscal year 2031.

that would be the earliest that we would anticipate getting funding and the MPO has already indicated to applicants that if you're not already on it would be challenging this year they think to add any new projects so we're going to just stay in the queue and we will keep you posted.

Does that mean that means that we're going to stop where we are with the work on that right now and just hold or what will happen?

Good question. We will come, staff will be able to come back to the board I think in the spring regardless of the TIP decision to talk about our next steps locally on the projects if we want to advance the design any further. So we'll work on getting that to the board in the spring to have that discussion.

And were there, after we had met with DPW, was there a synthesis of, or any changes to the design since we saw them?

No changes, just an understanding of the perspective and feedback from each of the five members, but we haven't done any wholesale updates to the design from that yet.

I think there were a bunch of lessons learned, though. The question is just how did they get incorporated at some point.

So that we can do a feedback loop when we present in the spring. Great. Item 15 is a project that is delayed from our original timeline, but we have both now a parking app and a parking enforcement software that speak to each other. That integration is now complete. And so we are now training our staff to make sure they know how to use it on the enforcement side. We'll be doing some beta testing, which no one will see. but we will be kind of quietly testing that out to make sure before we release it to the public that it is working and working well and so I will joyfully tell you when we're ready to publicly launch it. But for right now, we have free parking anyway. We have free parking anyways right now. Yes, please shop local. And save your quarter. Great.

Would this have on-demand, not on-demand, but demand parking software in it? say what you mean by demand parking well the idea that the software can figure it's the hottest spots so you always calculate that would be 80% full, so there's always some parking, but it puts a premium.

I think that's meant to be the second phase.

So my understanding is the technology allows for that, but we don't have policies that we don't have demand pricing as a policy for parking payments. So it could be a future consideration. We'll get... We have a parking regulation and permit program under item 17. So not yet. Item 16 is Envision Needham Center. We're holding time. at your January meeting for an update from the working group about the three options that they're fine tuning. You'll get that update and it'll also be going out to the public and with surveys and community engagement opportunities to kind of move that to the next phase of that work. And item 17 is a to start in 2026. And this really is looking at our regulations and

policies around hours of parking, pricing of parking, parking permit programs. I think these largely haven't been looked at for a long time. The parking study looked at them for us. but in terms of us really making some recommendations and trying to align our policies with whatever goals we're trying to achieve, that's the work that would need to be done for this initiative.

can I ask is that going to be done internally or do we need consulting funds to do that?

at this point we're planning to do it internally we do have some residual funds from the 2023 parking study but i haven't scoped a need for that yet but i would like to know if that changes

They made a number of recommendations too.

Yeah, the study was really helpful. Initiative 18 is also to start in 26 and one of the recommendations in that study was to look at additional public-private agreements to expand public parking options in the center, particularly We have a number of agreements in place already. Most of our public parking lots are public-private partnerships or some kind of agreement. But there's more that we could explore. So stay tuned for that. A top priority is implementation of our IT strategic plan, including cybersecurity initiatives. there's a lot of progress here I tried to list out a few items but just to say that this consolidation with the school department for IT continues to be

Highly productive, of huge benefit to the town from my perspective, and incredibly collaborative. So we've convened an IT user group. This is users across and School Departments to help drive some of the policies we need to get in place and share some best practices. And we have inventory to all of our software, all of our hardware, some of the foundational work that particularly we needed to feed into our budget planning for the last couple of fiscal years. We now have Zoom phones throughout town buildings. The old copper lines were really challenging. and are not yet really supported anymore. So having the Zoom phones has been incredibly helpful. and the superintendent has presented his initial FY27 proposed budget to the school committee. There is a cybersecurity position in that budget proposal for fiscal year 27 that would be shared across town and schools.

and that was one of the top items related to the cybersecurity next steps.

Questions for that?

Item 20 is, I feel like, maybe a huge sigh of relief. We have done the procurement for our townwide ERP financial software. System to replace the current billing and collections and accounting software. So Tyler Chantology's has been selected. That is the Munis product. and we're currently negotiating the scope of the contract with the vendor. So more to come on that. And when that's concluded, we can share details of next steps and project timeline implementation. and the general bylaw review committee has been hard at work, including a member of this board. And they're finalizing the report to town meeting, including recommended administrative changes, and then a list of referrals where

the committee has identified it may be time for policy setting boards such as the select board and others in town to take a substantive look at some items the general bylaw review committee is just going to kind of make those referrals as opposed to making those recommendations Recently, the board heard from the town clerk about her thinking for potential new polling locations for precincts C and D. and so I'll be following up with her to kind of map out pros and cons of the logistics for those options and we'll be back in touch. Item 23, Creating Communications and Community Engagement Toolkit. This is a pretty broad topic. to say that the two things that we have been tackling kind of first are things that have come up quite a bit for the board or for town committees and staff wanting more guidance. And that is criteria for townwide mailings.

When do we do postcards? When don't we? How do we fund them? How do we think about effectively communicating in a fiscally responsible way that does not create white noise. That is my problem statement that we're working on. So we have been doing some brainstorming around that and also establishing a matrix for community engagement strategies around various DPW projects. When do you get notified that something's happening outside your front door versus when is it regular maintenance work versus when is it really a policy change that we may have a community meeting about? So broad category, but I think it will be helpful for the board and for staff to have kind of some guidelines in place that we can discuss with you in terms of setting expectations. In 2026, we will tackle communications protocols for the Select Board.

item 25 is the DPW facilities master plan. The procurement is complete for the construction of expanding the Jack Cogswell building that will ultimately house our new fleet maintenance. division. We had a very competitive bid and bids came in under budget, including they had some add all options. You know, when we bid things out, if we think that we might not be able to fit everything in the budget, you know, we have some items that end up becoming optional, including all of the adults was still under budget. So we're looking. I hope this is a sign for the future of our But that's great news for DBW. And then, as you know, from the capital vote that you just took, the design funding for phase two is on hold at this at this time. Thank you.

um item 26 is our collective bargaining agreements with some of our employees whose contracts are coming due there are four of them uh Needham firefighters Needham police union uh the police superior officers and our building and trades Reed's custodial staff. So we are already talking with or will be having kickoffs soon with all four of those unions for negotiating successor contracts. Item 27, evaluate ways to increase minority and women owned business participation in some of the town funded projects. This will be part of a procurement policy manual that the finance team is developing. Item 28, Select Board Policies. You all have approved updates to your alcohol regulations.

As I mentioned, we're looking at display banner and sign policies. and we'll talk a little bit later about updating your appointment policy as well. Items that will start in 26 also include select board trainings and looking at a potential home rule petition for digital postings of legal notices. Item 31, recruitment and retention efforts. This is another one where it was hard to list the things that we're thinking about because it's constant, but a concrete update is we have procured our compensation classification vendor. And so we'll start that townwide study in the new year to inform that's all of our employees except public safety.

I'm curious, is that the same vendor as who did it in 2020?

It is not. Okay. Yep. Yep. Stormwater By-law, and we'll have to come back with the regulations. And I so wanted to make that box complete because I was like, It feels complete, but I'm going to hold out until the last step is done. You just had your update on tree canopy, and we have completed enabling the property assessed clean energy program, the PACE program. the board approved that in September and we have the executed documents just finalizing that between the town and the state have been in place. So a lot of work, a lot of really good work, a lot of staff work behind the scenes. I give all the updates, but I am absolutely not doing all of the work. So thank you to everyone who is and happy to answer any questions.

I'm tired just looking at this list. Yeah, I just got to commend the town manager and the staff because there is so much going on in this building and other buildings. Townwide at all times. It's just amazing. And like I think the public and to some extent even the board like really only sees the stuff that bubbles up to the top to the highest priority to that's like finished that's ready to go and uh but man they are working like ducks under the surface so thank you

yeah thank you to everyone for the staff um because these are actually really difficult you know the noise by i mean there's so much going on

I just wanted to observe that all the discipline here in getting this all done and the fact that, you know, we do have emergencies and urgent things that come up, but despite that, you know, sometimes that crowds out the strategic, but that has not happened. You guys are you continue to look at the strategic things far off and march towards them, you know, despite any urgent emergencies that come up and I would commend that.

Yeah, it's very impressive. There's a lot of work. I would echo actually Marianne's comments from maybe you've made multiple times that we have a lot of goals and maybe we'd be better off tearing it down a little bit so that we're I mean, I know you're very effective at doing multitasking, doing many things at once, but maybe more effective if you're doing fewer things at once.

It does strike me the thing that is not on the goals list is the actual delivery of everyday municipal services. So if you think about staff capacity, all of the things, checking out books and turning your water on and getting a 911 response, all of that is not reflected on. But I think when I continually focus on recruitment and retention, that's the only way we get any of this done.

I'm going to challenge all of you to have fewer goals next year. I can't wait till you call me to tell me how many here you have.

Seriously. Seriously.

Mary, you'll come to the meeting.

The board actually, this is a much lower number.

Maybe you can provide some guidance of which ones should leave before you go.

Be ready. Be careful what you ask for. Good luck. Lots of hard choices there.

great keep going yes please um town managers report um i have a few items um first is i wanted to um just update everyone on the attorney general's office ruled on an open meeting law complaint that had been filed with the select board The open meeting law complaint was related to the joint appointment process between the Select Board and the Needham Housing Authority Board. to fill the vacancy on the Housing Authorities Board earlier this year. The appointment was done in accordance with select board policy SB Admin 3 Protocol for Appointments Made by the Select Board. And the Attorney General ruled that interviews that were held by one member of the Select Board, one member of the NHA Board, ended up constituting a subcommittee, which is subject to the open meeting law.

And because those initial screening interviews were not done under the open meeting law, a violation did occur. So the Attorney General has required the town to produce minutes within 60 days to kind of recreate what those meetings were. which we will absolutely do and draft those up. The Attorney General did not nullify the appointment and so there's no change there to the appointment that had occurred to fill that vacancy. So in terms of next steps, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew about this ruling. we will draft those minutes but also Town Council and myself will come back to this board to give you recommendations to update your appointment policy because that was what underpinned the entire process and so we'll have to take a look at that let you know what your options are to make adjustments.

And we'll come back to you in January to discuss those potential changes.

Perfect. Thank you. Madam Chair, if I could just comment that the, as Vice Chair, I do appointments where are going to pause, you know, in the appointments until the policy is brought to us and accepted by the select board. There's not a lot going on right now. It's not the season, so it shouldn't be grave.

I guess one question was the vacancy on the Board of Assessors. Is that also posed?

Yeah, it's going to have to be because it's a joint board. So we have to redo the policy so that we can have a

policy to follow in order to do that so we'll do that first yeah if we did it the way we've done it we know that's wrong so yeah we do have to fix it

and I did have an opportunity to talk to the chair of the board of assessors today and he's aware and comfortable that they can continue their work as two people. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. and some other updates. These are just shout outs and some good things to share. So first, I wanted to thank the Needham Police Department. They organized a shop with a first responder event. there ended up being more than 60 kids from the Needham community that had an opportunity to go out and shop with Needham Police Department, Fire Department, and Babson Police I've gotten a number of thank you notes from parents and just really appreciative of seeing their kid have a joyful night, having the opportunity to kind of have some relief during a really challenging time. particularly for trying to make ends meet. The season ends up being even tougher than a regular month. So thank you to the police department and everyone involved there for just being really thoughtful in planning that event. And a lot of them volunteer their time.

The fire department had an ice rescue at Cutler Park. So there was an individual and a dog who kind of went in through thin ice. Everyone is okay and safe, but there's a lot of training that the fire department does all the time. to make sure that they're ready when these calls come in. And so I just want to say thank you and a general public service announcement. The Park and Recreation Department has an ICE status. on their website. This is not telling you what you should or shouldn't do. This is just giving you a data point and information about how thick the ice is on town-owned lakes and reservoirs and ponds. Please, everyone should make their own best judgment about what is safe. But that's a data point where we post how thick the ice is at the various bodies of water.

Katie, did you say that an individual went through the ice as well?

I thought it was just a dog. My understanding is the individual tried to get the dog.

Okay, so the note that I was going to make in my head for people is, please keep your dogs on the leash, which is actually the leash law anyway. It's particularly important when ice is thin.

Okay. Um, Needham was certified as a Massachusetts climate leader community. We are now one of 28 in the state. And this certification, we were able to achieve one because and our sustainability manager is excellent, but also because Needham had achieved the five criteria needed We're a green community in good standing. The board has established a local committee, the Climate Action Committee, to implement a plan. We have completed a roadmap for how we could transition our buildings and flee away from fossil fuels. By 2050, the board adopted a zero emission vehicle first policy. and Town Meeting adopted a specialized energy code. So all of that work made us eligible to become a climate leader community.

and what this means now is we're eligible to apply for grants of just over $1 million per project. and these are grants to help reduce municipal building emissions and so we will be applying as soon as we can to get access to fundings available just to 28 communities at this point so it's a much smaller pool than we're normally competing with.

Smaller pool and bigger funding. And bigger money. And I just want to say that I think that the Climate Action Plan Committee who was our first attempt at kind of getting getting our environmental house in order really did such a great job putting together the climate action plan and giving The town, a step-by-step kind of plan to execute on and follow has led to this. So just kudos. Needham's really changed its environmental profile in the past. Six years. Tremendous.

They also did an electrical aggregation.

Yes.

My last update is just a thank you to Carol. you all earlier voted on the consent all the license renewals and it's four pages of just who is being processed but the volume of work and it's also Miles Tucker it's also Louise Kempch but it's the lion's share is Carol so thank you job well done um and we're gonna keep everything moving in the new year Thank you, Carol.

Yay. Katie, I have a question. Are those now all signed digitally?

Yes, through Viewpoint Cloud, our OpenGov permitting system.

So all of you missed the opportunity to sit here and sign all of those documents. Trust me when I say it takes for forever. So this is a huge bonus. So thank you for setting all that up as well.

Maybe that's what made time for all the extra goals.

You know what? Even that is not enough for all the extra goals.

All right.

Well, thank you. May I ask a question? Yeah. Katie, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but of the letters that we've received this week, one of them informed us that the Needham Housing Authority's affordable housing list was closed. And this has been a topic of discussion relative to the Stephen Palmer residents. could you please just let people know when that list will reopen and and just in fact that it is expected to reopen there it is closed temporarily right now so something we've learned in this process as well

I'm just trying to find the date. I believe it was February. So the Housing Authority paused their list for, I believe, federal and state regulatory reasons. But my understanding is it'll reopen in February.

So I just wanted to make sure that everybody had that information.

Could I ask an unrelated question, but also related to a different email? OK. Sorry. The quiet zone, we received emails that while the golf course is closed, we can not have the training. Committee reports.

It's still coming. We're getting there. Jumping the gun. Sorry. I was going to ask that question earlier.

Okay.

we're holding segue well except that now it's time for community reports so why don't you start so the the uh the quiet zone committee the quiet zone working group met last evening and as you know we talked about the culvert question. Sometimes the Needham Observer likes to call it the tunnel question since they understand that better in terms of people going through tunnels. but at any rate the MBTA calls it a culvert. So we had the culvert discussion earlier and we also had an update on the quiet zone design, all right, which if you recall from town meeting in October we had withdrawn the October article because we had not made sufficient project or progress on the design as Dave will have reminded us earlier this evening the estimates that we had had doubled

that's because there's a huge contingency amount in there because again we hadn't been able to make progress on the design so if we needed a number they need a number that's a big number if we had gone forward but the that design is now back working and we will continue to monitor that progress pretty carefully and we're hoping that maybe sometime over the next 30 days we'll be ready to have another update and see how our at least to see how we're coming 30 or 45 days out from now. There was another question that had been raised and also discussed last October and in September when we brought the uh quiet zone information here which was there had been a question uh raised about a seasonal closure of the crossing at the golf course and whether that might be possible given all the other things that were true about that particular crossing.

The town had made a request to the MBTA over the summer. We didn't hear from the MBTA over the summer. We have subsequently heard from them. and because we hadn't heard from them, we went to the Federal Railway Association, the FRA agency, the FRA. and asked this question of them and they said, no, there are no seasonal closures. So that was the information we had in September, October timeframe. A Citizen had another conversation with another member of MBTA leadership. Somebody who's also previously met with the town and had not mentioned this in the array of options that we discussed, but at any rate had met with that particular individual and was given information that there could be a seasonal closure. So let me tell you what we've learned about these seasonal closures and what's been provided to us. There was a subsequent meeting with between Katie and Ryan Cajolan, who's the

Keolis had at MBTA. And he provided us with a copy of an agreement that the MBTA uses with private property owners. Now when I say a private property owner, what you should picture, and if you look up the address of the agreement that they gave us, is somebody whose house is at the end of a private road that is essentially their driveway. And the railroad crossing is right in front of the end of the driveway. So in this particular agreement, the agreement is with a property owner who's a homeowner. so that they can access their property. all right and they have an agreement that says to the MBTA that the MBTA has no liability for anything that the property owner takes that responsibility so that they can go back and forth and access their property so they had said to the town

If you are willing to sign this agreement, if you are willing to erect gates that are locked, you could close the crossing. What happened last evening at the Quiet Zone Working Group was we talked about the agreement. We talked about the gates. There is a picture of the gate that was sent to us by the MBTA. That gate we determined would not be sufficient for the town to feel comfortable, but there may be some other gate. that could cause us to feel comfortable. And there were a number of questions regarding the agreement. And the town manager has gone out to our insurer to ask our insurer if they have any guidance for the town with respect to insurance in such a closure, in which case the horns would be turned off as they go through there on this seasonal closure.

so there are a number of questions that the committee had that we still need answered so that the committee could feel comfortable making a recommendation to the select board about whether the town should enter into this agreement for some seasonal closure. We do understand that if the closure were to occur, the proposal when this was raised to the town at the end of November was that it should close from December 1 to March 1. The golf course has indicated that March 1st is the really last possible date they would want to have it closed. It's inconvenient for them over the winter, but they will make other arrangements if that's what the town wants. their goal is to be a good neighbor to the town in whatever would happen here. So we just need to get some more answers to questions, understand if it might make sense.

If we had a different answer in August, we might have had all these answers in time for a seasonal closure. Having it come up almost concurrently with maybe the start date is a little challenging for a start date right at this time. We do understand that the horns for people who live right next to the crossings are really hard. We do understand that there are people who hear horns all the time. And we do understand that given the number of people who don't like horns, we've also seen letters even today from people who do like horns. I mean, all of the above are true. Somebody that I spoke to in the last day or so who'd written to the select board said, well, would we need to have a public hearing? And I said, well, I don't know the answer to that question, but you would be surprised sometimes about the outcomes of public hearings. They're not always predictable.

So I just offer that as food for thought for everybody. The working group is still working on it. We're hoping that perhaps at the time that it makes sense to come back on design to have a discussion about the additional questions related to the culvert. maybe we'll have more information on this as well. So that group will meet more frequently for the moment. that is the update. I'll take any questions.

You mentioned going to the insurance to understand I'm assuming you're also going to go to town council to understand. Already have, yes. Liability question, because that is, I'm assuming that might be a little different than what we normally are liable for, right? If the MBTA is maybe normally liable for Terrible things that might happen, but if it becomes us, it does kind of raise... Right. It's a concern. I hear that kind of loudly.

Right. So we are trying to understand that. We did ask the MBTA if they had an agreement like this in place with any other city or town. They've told us they do not. all right so we would be a use case of one with an agreement like this um similarly we do believe that it our understanding uh the town manager was told when she met with um Keolis, middle of November, I'm losing, end of November, that the town would be required to sign an indemnification agreement. or a liability waiver with respect to Quiet Zone. And the question that I have asked is to understand, again, what have other communities been required to sign

now in the past by the MBTA because I do worry and it may be not a valid worry but I do worry that Needham is being asked after we make our crossings safer to take on additional responsibility that has not been previously asked of towns. But we'll find out.

if I could just add because there was an update that had gone out to town meeting members as well about where we were and we had a request for a meeting with Secretary Yang and also he wears the double hat of being the GM of the MBTA so I did just want to say so everyone had the same information that since that request for meeting was sent. I did get a response back from the chief operating officer from the MBTA. So that's who I met with just before Thanksgiving. And we had a very productive meeting. And I think some of the things that were pending and that were preventing us from advancing to October special town meeting have started to move. So we're getting information for the data that our design team and consultants were requesting. from the TEE, that data has started to get transferred over to our consultants so that they can advance the design. We've started to get additional guidance for agreements we would need to sign

how we would permit this project, the requirements that the T will have of us when we're ready to really break ground. So that's on a much better path than where we were September. So I just want to make sure everyone had that update.

I see the appeal of it, though, honestly. The gate that's there is not sufficient, though, right? Is that just a metal gate?

Certainly the gate that we saw a picture of, I do not believe anybody believes is sufficient. But some gate could be sufficient.

If DPW put Jersey barriers, would that work?

No, the agreement is not for that. I don't think that's it. And the MBTA looks for something that can be locked that they would have a key for.

Right. So just to clarify, because we've been getting a lot of letters talking about why the town hasn't already closed the gates. There isn't an agreement in place this is a proposal that we have yet to vet and implement you know should we be able to implement it and so it's not that the town hasn't done anything. It's that we're working on it, but this is a recent development.

Right. And there has also been something that suggested there was an agreement between the MBTA and the golf course. And again, that's actually not the case. What the golf course has said is that the golf course, whether you're talking about a permanent solution or a temporary solution, takes its lead from the town. They are trying to be a good neighbor to the town, but the town at this point is the property owner, and it looks like the town would probably be the required entity design. you know again we're trying to understand all that if the the golf course were to sign the golf course would actually have to meet as a board and have a discussion which they've not had at all about signing something but okay great well really good update thank you future school needs Kevin, how many committees are you updating on tonight? Should I do future school needs?

You do future school. I got some other things, yeah.

Okay. Future school needs met right before this committee. So Kevin and I went from our five to our six. and um which is not exactly like six and seven but um i didn't say that we listened to uh dr mckibben who gave an update on uh you know enrollment trends that are predicted for the next 20 years. He noted a few macro trends that are happening in the broader world. There is an 18-year decline in births that is continuing. The household size continues to drop. And the number of that have two working parents rather than one continues to rise. So those are sort of three macro things that are going on. The other thing that has happened at a macro level is that

it used to be expected that older residents of the town 50s 60s 70s would be routinely moving out of houses to somewhere all right and what has happened since the pandemic is nobody's really moving everybody is staying put if older residents are not moving then younger residents are not moving into those houses So you're not seeing the rate of turnover historically that the town had seen for a few generations. All of that tends to limit the growth in the population of students. So that is one of the macro trends. Having said that, In Needham, there will be a point in another 10 or 15 years where the number of older residents who are

I'm forgetting exactly what the term was. The term is essentially unwilling departures, right? But some version of that. who are leaving so that properties are vacated starts to accelerate as our town ages. All right. And at that point, there would in fact be more opportunities for younger families to move in. So in the out years of the study, you see some increase. in the numbers of school age students or younger who could be starting to grow into town. and essentially the net-net when you look at the best scenario of the school population forecasts suggests that between now and 2040 that the school population in K-12

will change maybe by 100 students. It will go down and then it will slowly start to come back a little bit to be exactly kind of where we are is the best case scenario right now. that is based on including a likely build out for MBTA communities which as I observed on the call I actually don't think is likely but but that is kind of baked into that so that if that were not to occur that would depress that a little bit but there are some other factors that will say in the out years there should be some more opportunities for people to move in. Anything you would add?

MBTA communities won't add to the numbers, but it might help because otherwise it'd be a depressed school population. And that's for, you know,

So it sounds like at least through 2040, we're not projected to reach pre-pandemic enrollment. Is that correct?

I think just at 2040 you might hit the pre-pandemic enrollment. It gets you back there. Okay. Thank you.

Okay.

so that's what we heard this evening. The high scenario included the complete build out of MBTA communities with what was voted. I don't think any of us think that that is actually a scenario that's likely. and their low scenario included zero build out at all for MVTA communities. Again, we got at least one building out of it. But yeah.

All right. Thank you. Josh?

We talked about tree committee.

Okay, Kathy? Yes, I wanted to update everybody on TCHOC. So TCHOC is meets monthly basically, but every quarter we get substantive updates from the entities that have gotten CPA funding to build housing. So we just had one of those last week. And the Charles River Center is starting to move. They've gotten their grant agreement from the CPC with minor comments sent back. They're beginning their zoning work. with the ZBA. And in fact, I think on Thursday they have a ZBA hearing. They're going to discuss stormwater traffic, etc. and I guess the most important thing is their goal is to complete their zoning so that they can go to the EOHLC for the funding round in March of 2026. and then we've talked about Seabeds tonight. There's really good news there for Seabeds that they are

planning they're hoping and they're pretty optimistic that they can start construction in June of 2026 which was in doubt let's say before so that's great news they found ways to close that budget gap which you know this this what we voted tonight is you know one teeny piece of that but they are always creatively looking for all the little ways that they can do that So they got two very nice awards from the state. They got $1.8 million DOER Decarbonization Award. They got a $1.15 million LISC Climate Ready Housing Award. and then they also update this is kind of complicated but basically they updated a study of what rent they could get and this this allows them to borrow more money and so but the other thing that they have done and this is going to come to May town meeting potentially if the CPC approves it

They have expanded their scope to redo their roofs. I guess that one of the consultants has said the roofs that they have are not capable of handling solar panels, which are heavy. and so they are going to the CPC they have applied for a $787,000 grant from the CPC we will see what CPC does and what Town Meeting does. But that's an addition in scope. It's not because things are more expensive. It's because they are adding on to their project. on Linden Street. So Linden Street has always been reliant on seabeds with this complicated moving of Fairclough Authority, which I'm not going to go into, but But that's the good news that now CBEDS is going to happen. But they actually, meanwhile, had come up with a creative solution where they would work with another housing authority to kind of swap that they had Faircloth Authority coming up sooner and they were going to swap.

They may not need to actually do that. they you know they did have their application denied but they are you know going to go back again um in the in the next round so you know that's common so it's not not like something to feel bad about usually the first time it was completely expected right so um that is the update So movement, forward movement.

Excellent. Thank you. Kevin?

Okay, on the 3rd of December, there was a street design presentation, which is to take our complete street goals, and they're going to make them, sort of create a guide to create and establish clear consistent design features and integrate latest standards and best practices. So that's upcoming. So they just want to trot some of that out. On Saturday, Marianne and I went to the Reeds across America. My wife is a schoolteacher, and I told her I was going to. She said, oh, Read Across America. I said, yeah, we're meeting at the cemetery. She could not understand it. I said, no, no, Reads Across America. It's actually a great ceremony to honor that. and those who have served and were laid to rest in the Needham Cemetery and they put a wreath on there, on the grave. And then also, yes,

Kevin, can I just add one more thing? So I think when we went to the first year of Reads Across America, my recollection is there were maybe 500 and some Reads that were there. and this past year there were 1,100 wreaths. These are financed by members of the community by people who have purchased these wreaths to be on veterans' graves. If you go to Arlington, every veteran gets a wreath at Arlington. So we are not up to every veteran in Needham getting a wreath. There are 1,500 in... in Needham Cemetery. There's another I don't know how many in St. Mary's Cemetery. So I challenge the town. to fund more wreaths because I do think it is a wonderful way to remember and to honor the lives of the servicemen.

Yeah. Thank you. and then yesterday there's a stormwater bylaw working group thank you party. and Josh was there too and was great. It's actually good to actually decompress and talk about our greatest favorite meetings. That's true. Our most cherished hearts, the bylaws. And actually just talk, but it's actually, you know, have a toast and congratulate ourselves for a job well done.

Yeah. I'm going to miss that committee.

Me too. I mean, it's actually a very good group. It really was. Good people on it and I think we've changed the world.

or at least Needham.

So that is my report.

great thank you um so in the past couple of weeks since our last meeting large house has met and trees has met but we've heard enough on those um oh actually did we talk did you talk about large house um Large House has a couple of meetings left. We're refining. We have not voted yet. We have yet to vote. That is upcoming, although, frankly, with the kerfuffle of our dates, I couldn't tell you quite when that's going to happen. But it's... I think the first week of January. I believe the first week in January. So making some choices to finalize that and then pass it on to the planning board. And the planning board, of course, will take it up and do a whole process prior to bringing it to town meeting. and that will include public engagement as well. So there'll be more opportunities to speak up about that if you have any thoughts that you want to share.

I just want to recognize that we had the blue tree lighting on December 6th and I was very fututzled at the end of that fabulous ceremony with Rocket flipping the switch. And in the thank yous, I think that I neglected to say thank you to the office of the town manager, There were so many people who had a hand in that fantastic event, but I know that the Office of the Town Manager did a lot, including showing up wicked early to a very cold event and Miles put everything together and wrangled all the people and So just wanted to say thank you because I think I neglected to do that then. But it was a lovely affair and everything went swimmingly. I also wanted to mention that there will be a Hanukkah celebration sponsored by Chabad, I think.

With an ice menorah. Well, exactly. It's called Hanukkah Fire and Ice, and there's going to be an ice carving and a menorah lighting, and there's going to be chocolate gelt. and all kinds of other fantastic things. This is happening here on the Town Common, just in front of the building at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, December 17th. and I am very sad that I won't be able to go to that, but I know that other members of the board will be there. And then last before we adjourn, I just wanted to express sympathy for the attack at Brown University this past weekend.

there really are no words particularly this is a recurring event but to have it happen so close to home is really just shocking and very upsetting so I just wanted to sort of share that I and I imagine my colleagues on the board and all of the town is thinking about them and wishing them healing. So anything else from anyone else? All right. I move to adjourn. Second. Excellent. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you.