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Selectmen's Meeting - 8/25/2026

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stand
to the United States of America and to
the republic for it stands one nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for
all.
Everybody see payroll manifest.
>> Minutes from August 18th.
>> Yes.
>> Make a motion accept.
Second it.
>> All in favor? Okay. [snorts]
>> Is that fan too loud
back there behind you?
>> What?
>> Oh, good. Huh? [laughter] Hey, I'm just
making sure. So, the acoustics are
lovely in here. [laughter]
>> Everybody see the letter of hire
regarding the tax office?
>> Yeah.
>> Yes.
>> One EW tax
one intent to cut.
Everybody see the letter um to appoint
the fire chief to the lakes region fire
mutual board.
>> Yes.
>> Yep.
>> Did everybody see the appointment
planning board?
>> Kevin Harrison as an alternate.
>> We had one exit letter
from the fire department that was a call
member. what it was.
>> Everybody see
uh approval of expend the expendable
fund payment. That's for paving.
>> Yes.
>> R&D.
>> Yep.
CIP meetings. Those are going to happen
every Thursday through August and
September
beginning August 27th at 2:00 p.m. here
in town hall.
So,
if anybody wants to stop and listen,
you're more than welcome.
Rules of procedure. We're still working
on that. Has everybody read through
them? Suggestions to Karen?
>> I brought it. She did.
>> Okay. So, [snorts]
have you Jason any suggestions to Karen
or whatnot?
>> I haven't got them to Karen.
>> So,
the new town website is up and running.
So,
>> there's a few glitches.
>> Yay.
>> Few bumps in the road.
There is there is a few few glitches
there working through. So
>> there's some data updates that need to
be done.
>> Yep.
>> Sorry.
>> I know.
>> You're lucky.
>> If you can't control yourself, we may
have you removed.
>> So if you do see something, just please
let us know right now so we can get it
fixed
right now.
Oh, hard road culvert there. Um, that is
for the butter allowing us to put a
temporary roadway through his property
when that project happens next year. So,
that's what that is.
school board instruction meeting.
Well, Jason, you're the only one that
was there last week that's here.
>> I was there online.
>> Well, you were online. Sorry. Physically
in person, but
>> physically I wasn't here.
>> So, I unfortunately missed it. So, any
updates?
They didn't didn't really give any
updates they had
anyone. They said the part of the work
name was Gordon.
Uh didn't say what his last name was,
but they said that somebody the school
had hired to be the clerk for the work.
>> Okay.
>> He talked about bad report.
Do you know if they hide him at the
beginning or if they just recently
>> they claim that he's been there since
the beginning?
>> Okay.
>> Do they know where he's
>> where he's from or who he works for or
how they found him or anything like
that?
>> I I thought that he was actually the
contractor representative in the meeting
as did Gary, but we introduced him as
the clerk of
So, we on schedule.
>> They said they were on schedule. They
And actually Gordon's title is owner's
project manager
>> is what?
>> Owner's project manager.
>> Owner's project manage.
Any other comments? Paul from you?
>> No. I like Jason said that he said that
he's the one that's he's not called the
perk of the works but he is the person
the independent person that is
overseeing it which
>> the information was very general but
>> hopefully going forward
they will you know at each meeting give
us a little more information
>> right
>> okay so I'm assuming this
is Gordon
um was going to them for updates and
then bringing them back to the board.
>> Is that pretty much how that worked or
>> I assume that he was reporting to the
board.
>> That's what you thought, Jason? Yeah,
this Gordon is reporting to the board on
the progress.
>> Okay.
>> That's how it came across to me.
I'll ask ask f if he's ever heard of him
just out of curiosity.
>> I believe Pat mentioned him in one of
the emails. I think he was he has spoken
with him
>> but that's probably after the fact
>> after the first instance. Yes.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. So
uh Narrow's road that project should be
finishing up Monday. So, they are going
to make sure that the road is passable
for the school buses Monday, but
I know they were trying to finish it up
for Friday, but it looks like it's going
to be Monday when they do finish up that
color replacement there.
board have anything?
>> Well, I do want to thank Danielle for
all the work that she's put into the
town website. So, I just want to make
that statement there. So, she's done a
lot of work um
not only this year, but last year as
well trying to get ready for this.
There's been a lot of back and forth
with
Civic Plus. So, there's been a lot of
headaches, but I do want to throw that
out there to thank her.
>> Okay, Nina Kelly,
come on out. Want to take a little
early, I guess. Not quite 6:30, but
>> [clears throat]
>> Good evening.
But in any case, we are here to talk
about
just to give a little history. Two years
ago, we applied for a grant from DES and
we
create
us to complete that
three of the priority projects that they
identified.
part.
So we
just
have recently
and that CIS
and they have just done a
threee
So, one of those iss
he provided this week for concept
as well as potential costs been set in
stone
just to give us an idea of what we'll be
looking at.
So, that's why we're here today to
do that. But we still We understood
maybe incorrectly that there is also
discussion amongst board members to kind
of engage with an engineer to review as
well.
>> Uh
>> between that and the bridge kind of try
to do it all as one project potentially,
but you also have to have the
expectation that it's not going to
happen overnight. It could be 10 years
down the road. Or if we apply for uh
bridge aid funding through the state, it
could be like Canada bridge where it
took us 15 years to get the funding for
it. So, but if we can try to have
something planned now, have a dollar
amount and we can plan forward going
forward there. Um because nobody wants
to close the road down at the end of the
day. So this is something that we need
to have a plan going forward in my
opinion um and budget a small amount
every year until we can fund the project
is is my thoughts um because if we don't
there could come a point in time when
Jersey barriers have to go up and close
the road off. So you know and we don't
want to see that. It's a it's a main
road a lot of people travel it. So it'
make a lot of inconvenience for a lot of
travelers is what what it would do.
>> That is going to go on that bridge
right now.
>> Yeah.
you know
that
>> I mean somebody
>> I mean that's something talking to the
engineers talk about too like we just we
just brought this [clears throat] up two
weeks ago
>> um about having a couple different
projects known areas in town looked at
by
>> we have two town engineers that we've uh
hired
We just got to figure out which projects
we want to give to them and then have
them look at it. But temporary repairs
is something to bring up with them. So
something we see what we can do.
>> So I was going to ask does it make sense
to mesh or merge
together
at this point?
Uh
I would I would agree with you on that
one. Um because we haven't we haven't
reached out to the engineer yet. Uh we
were trying to bring the road agent up
to speed on everything. So she is fully
aware of what's going on, what the
issues are um and then reach out to an
engineer. So
>> we talk about doing something on a
temporary basis over there.
>> Not to my knowledge. We haven't yet. So
I know back in
2019,
but I always forget his name. That is
>> Josh.
>> Josh. Yeah. Josh I met over there. I
know at that point it was he was
thinking it need to be completely
redone. The covers needed to be taken
out
at that point. So
>> they have no unfortunately.
Unfortunately not. But uh
was that something last year you were
thinking about with
>> I thought we talked about rip wrap down
running that down the side and stuff
like that
>> one as Sarah was talking about it.
>> I mean
I can tell you the rip's not going to
hold.
>> Well I know it won't hold. That's why I
said temporary. Well, no, it won't even
I can tell you from experience because
we dried that on uh case of black road
there, tried to put rip wrap and the
velocity of the water just blows right
out. Unfortunately, that's
>> or it fills it up with crap. So, it
really doesn't work anyway.
>> It does. Yeah. The engineer
CDI came through
suggest
that
>> catch basin
That's
>> so mentioned that there are two other
projects.
So the other two one is a
by law and both of them agreed to commit
to
power to the extent that they're able to
to
construction cost because the
construction cost raises the price.
So you can keep the price lower.
So one of the questions that we have
today is can we ask for requests for the
same consideration
armstead for equipment
to be for the time armstead for this
particular
>> it's I guess it seems to me that we need
to figure out what exactly the solution
is to find out how much resources are
going to be necessary.
>> That's an excellent question and I'm
afraid I'm not in a position to answer
>> and so we had hoped that we'd be able to
have this opportunity but we're not to
do that. So the contractor did offer to
do that
just selecting a different time frame to
do that and he'd like to review that
with you so that you have a better
understanding of what conceptual
ideas might be answering questions at
>> I mean we're not against consolidating
resources and working with Alton or
whatever if we can
>> if we can manage it but
>> we can't we can't use all of our
resources you know
>> understood but part of [clears throat]
so the grant is for
these three is for
>> and that's just for engineering correct
>> that's engineering
Oh, it is
contribution.
>> Okay.
>> And that also
has a mandatory
matching opportunity. So in other words,
they provide 75,000. We have to come up
with a matching opportunity.
So that matching opportunity is offset
equipment.
Mhm.
That's not comments.
>> Do you have any thoughts, Jason?
It would be good to hear what that
engineer says.
>> Is it advantageous at all for us to
get our engineer involved as well and
maybe maybe see if we can get something
from
from them?
>> I mean, I would definitely reach out to
our engineer. Um,
>> I mean, just it'd be nice to have two
opinions,
>> you know what I mean? And before we
start talking about which one is better
than the other, you know,
Yeah, I know. I know from my experience
I'm a little skeptical of that. I don't
know how you feel
>> about it. You see more of this than I
do. So,
>> a little skeptical of this particular
design or
>> that Yeah.
>> Even if it works initially,
>> longevity wise,
>> a year or two down the road, it's
probably not going to work.
>> There's one question to ask.
One of the things we noticed
has been
done and that's
keep
unfortunately
rain so much water that flashes
So
everything
it's a concern
and I just I don't
I think somebody has
>> Right. Right. I mean
all that that rip rock to clean it out,
dig it all out and put it all all new
back in.
>> Right.
>> So that's a it's a high maintenance
item,
>> right,
>> is what it is unfortunately. So um but
yeah, I think I think we should have our
engineer look at it look at it and then
after they've kind of reviewed
everything then get together with both
engineers and
That seems kind of trying to work to get
something.
>> I mean, anything's going to help,
>> but where's where's our money best
spent, you know,
>> for longevity, should I say,
>> which one's that happen or
>> Lake?
for the season.
>> Yeah.
>> Just you know
much as possible.
It's voluntary organizations
by
realizing
Uh we're going to reach out to our
engineer um try to bring them up to
speed on everything.
>> Okay.
>> Um and then at that point we'll reach
out to you so that we can get both
engineers
involved. So
>> I mean I think I think it be beneficial
though but is is Zoom the only thing
that they can do?
>> Zoom.
>> Yeah. Like they can't physically come
here.
>> Yeah. Makes it difficult.
>> I got you. Uh
I mean we can figure something out then.
I mean they get teams meetings whatever
we can do. So um but let's let's get our
engineering involved with it first. So
see what they can kind of come up with.
At least we have this that we can show
them. Um so they have an idea of what
you guys are thinking of first and then
so we'll we'll reach out after our
engineers are brought up to speed.
>> Okay.
>> So
>> excellent.
>> We'll do that. All we need is a huge dam
right there to level it off right around
Georgetown straight across.
>> Get rid of all the water flow. Huh?
>> You got to make the hydro hydroelect
electric.
>> And we have a hydroelect electric too if
we want.
>> You're going to do that. So yeah.
>> See ideas. So many ideas. [laughter]
>> Exactly. So
>> Oh yeah.
>> I don't anybody else on the
>> No one has any
>> Thank you. It's it's a it's a tough
spot, you know. It's going to take time
to come up with a decent solution,
unfortunately. And it's been like that
for a hundred years. It's been a
problem, you know,
>> probably longer than that. But
>> and maybe
>> Yeah.
[snorts]
>> Right.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you.
Anything
else?
>> Nope.
>> Open public input at 6:26.
Anybody?
>> Come on up. Right.
Gary doesn't tell us anything. Just
assume he doesn't tell us.
>> I mean, the board hasn't seen him since
last Thursday. He's [laughter]
still
>> Yes. Anyway, we had
fire.
>> All right, cool.
>> Just wanted to mention
issues. The wildlife was done
and we ran
a job off
[snorts]
his work and did the job came down
and did a great
We also came
also.
So, was it just that um one area that
we've been having trouble with that was
repaired?
>> No. Are there other areas that need to
be addressed in there that you know? No.
>> I'm surprised.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah.
But that's just from trucks, right? Or
plows or whatever is gets in there and
>> the one you just fixed, right?
>> No, it's it's kind of
>> was close to the road or something. It's
close to the
lines
>> and not deep enough
>> got close to the surface. So that's why
>> is it is it buried all the way up to the
house?
>> No.
Most of the lines most of
>> us
wanted to listen to
past year or so and we came out.
There's a lot of great stuff going on
as far as pulling all of these together.
You know, the conversation actually
connected.
>> Just lastly, too, I just want to say
congrats to
She ain't gone yet. Just yet.
>> Yeah, she ain't gone yet. We'll let you
know.
town
>> administrator.
>> Administrator. Yeah.
>> Two different jobs.
>> Good job.
Very
good. Thank you.
>> Are they going to start any work this
year trying to identify areas?
>> Yes. As soon as we get the uh the plan
is get the scope of work with the
budget, it's approved. Uh and uh and we
spent a lot of time in the budget.
>> Y
>> okay.
company has
very
particular
events
So they're trying to get it before the
draw down.
[clears throat]
>> They don't necessarily have to
do
it by foot
and you're very familiar
Good.
>> Yeah.
>> Thanks, Frank.
[laughter]
>> Was Frank paying attention? Jesus.
>> Uh, every Thursday through or beginning
of August 27th.
>> Yeah.
>> This Thursday at 2 p.m.
>> September.
>> Yeah. Through September. Yep.
>> You did get at 2 p.m.
>> 2 p.m. Yep.
>> Here in town.
>> That's kind of important.
>> So,
Yeah.
>> And one one thing that
CIB did kind of work on this year was
having different thresholds for capital
improvements. Um it used to be like
$30,000.
But in reality, how hard is that for
parks and art to need a capital
improvement for $30,000? Now some of the
smaller departments
[clears throat]
department
>> else not the fire department.
>> I know you can without even looking
You
>> got another question?
>> No.
>> No.
>> Very excited.
>> Yep.
>> You want to make a motion, Paul? Um,
sure. Uh, I move first to go into
nonpublic 91A. I don't know what the
letter is, but personnel.
>> C.
>> C.
[clears throat]
I'll second it.
>> All in favor?
>> I
did. You see? It's about to be a minute.