Select Board Meeting 07 15 26

Speakers are labeled SPEAKER_N. This transcript is machine-generated.

Recording

Turn your microphones on when you're ready.
Last thing that you're done, other than mine in this folder.
So we will start it up.
Select board meeting for Wednesday, July 15th,
2026.
We'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice,
for all.
Thank you, crowd, for joining us.
That's very nice to be.
We'll kick this off with the consent agenda, which consists of the profit and loss,
balance sheet, check manifest, and payroll for two weeks,
non-public and public minutes from 7126,
CPCNH fall 2026 rate announcement,
UNITIL 2026 electric exercise invitation,
June treasurer's report, sewer project three and four, disbursement number 26, and tax exemption,
map 45, lot 30, sublot 6.
Do I hear any motions or any adjustments to minutes?
I make a motion to approve.
I'll second.
All in favor.
Aye.
Next up.
I think I've got your sheet sheet, Matt.
I only have to read the highlighted stuff, right?
No.
Damn.
All right, so we are moving into the public hearing for the Comcast Franchise Agreement.
I'll open that up at 602.
In accordance with the provisions of RSA 53-C colon 3A.
Notice is hereby given that the Bosquin Select Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, July 15,
2026 at 6 p.m.
to receive public comment and testimony regarding the proposed five-year cable television
franchise agreement between the town of Bosquin and Comcast.
The hearing will be held in the fourth floor meeting room of the municipal building,
116 North Main Street, Bosquin, New Hampshire.
The copy of the proposed franchise agreement is available for public inspection during regular
business hours at town administrator's office 116 North Main Street, Bosquin, New Hampshire,
0333, or on the town's website, which is Boscawine at H.gov.
All right. This is opened at 602.
All right. And Monica, TiVo, she's a representative from Comcast.
If you want to come up here and just turn that microphone on for me.
And Monica's going to give a little update of any changes that we're looking at for this new agreement.
Yep. Good members of the board. Good evening. Thank you for having me.
I'm here as part of the public hearing for you to assess your future cable-related needs
while taking into consideration the cost of meeting those needs. This is a public hearing for
public input and for you to hear from your constituents as it relates to the proposed
franchise renewal. I'd like to start by offering a brief definition of the franchise agreement.
So the Federal Cable Act of 1984 defines a cable franchise at its core as the authorization
that a cable operator receives from a local government to place and operate its cable system and
public roads and rights of way. In addition to granting authority to operate, the franchise also sets
out explicit rights, requirements, and conditions of the cable operators of
authority and delineates many aspects of its relationship with franchising authority at the town.
Under the law, the franchise is a contract governed by contract law.
With that said, the proposed franchise renewal is very similar to the existing franchise with the town.
I've matched all the basic terms, including the term length, insurance amounts, and density calculations
for areas to be served. Additionally, we've agreed to implement the three and a half percent franchise fee that the board has requested.
So with that, I'll take questions.
And it's decreased from a 10 year to a five-year agreement.
So it was a five, we proposed a 10, but we agreed to five.
Yes, because when original one I worked on was 20 years and that's way too long,
very too long.
Very long time.
Any questions from anybody on the board?
No, it looked good to me.
Do you anticipate you'll be expanding your coverage or able to expand your coverage with this new franchise?
So the franchise, I think we're pretty well covered in Boston.
The franchise just really allows us to operate within the rights of way.
If there are opportunities within town, I'm sure we have to take a look at that,
but I think we're pretty well covered within town, but yeah.
So the franchise agreement specifically doesn't say, like, we'll go out and serve additional addresses,
but we're always looking to add broadband expansion areas when it makes sense.
You're going to say with all the growth going on in town, there's some
opportunities coming up. So yeah.
Most of which are probably covered already.
So this is, all right.
Well, public.
Any public comments?
Anybody at all?
Do you know?
Cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap.
So I would wrap up the public hearing at 6.
606 PM.
Don't you love your cheat sheet, Matt?
I do.
It's very nice.
Do I hear a motion to approve the Comcast franchise agreement for
2026 through 2013?
I'll make a motion to approve the Comcast franchise agreement
from 2026, 2013.
And I will second it.
That way we get blamed.
You see he has taken.
All in favor?
Aye.
I suppose.
So then it's noted where you need to sign.
And I'm not sure if you're authorized to sign.
if you're authorized to co-sign or if you bring it back.
I'll bring it back.
Okay.
Do you want me to scan a copy to you?
Yeah, you can do that.
I can do that.
Okay.
I'll do that tomorrow.
All right, sounds good.
You're all set.
Thank you.
Thank you.
She's relieved.
Next up, we have a 630 appointment, so we're a little early for that.
Department updates on Electrosolar Proclamation Amendment suggestion.
I've put the red line on top and a fresh copy below.
that's what the board so chooses it occurred to me as we were sharing the obligation to read the
proclamation that one thing that's really important is that Electrosol is support of
the arts in Bosclan because they were an early business that supported the arts long
before others did and they were in fact so supportive the arts in the town of
Bosclan that they were nominated and got the New Hampshire state business and the
the Arts Award, which we probably wouldn't have known about it.
And I know AI does, so I thought that I should go in there and also they have been instrumental
and in stating and continuing the Artist and Residence program at Bosclan Elementary.
That was really important too. So I asked about putting in this extra piece, which if you lived here
in town, you would know about this old folks.
as well as young folks.
Those that lived here 50 years ago when they, you know, started.
Well, the old Home Day art exhibit, that continued until Lori Hart required.
Yeah, and that was 20 years that they did that.
So imagine, and they expanded it.
So it started out, it was just kids, and then they expanded it to include adults, and then they expanded it to include the nursing home.
So you had really the full range of age.
of people participating. It was really wonderful. And it brought folks out during old home data to look at all the creativity we had in town.
But, you know, beyond, I focused on Boskwin because of what they did for Boskman.
But beyond Boskman, Electrosol also supports a number of arts organizations outside of the town.
But these were ones that were specific to the town and for which they won an award, a state award.
And as a quick separate note, I did amend the title because it was 50 years, Boston.
Boskland is it 50 or 70th anniversary in Boston in Bosnia?
And I didn't want that to be confused because they've been around longer.
Yes.
So yeah, 1940s, right?
Yep.
Yep.
Well, I still have to recuse myself from it, but are you amendable to the amendment?
Yeah, I would make a motion to accept the amendment to the
the proclamation for Electrosolidae.
all the day as written. Is there a second?
Well, I'll second it because I wrote it.
All in flavor.
So if you can sign the copy that is behind that, not that one.
Not that one.
No, the nice, pretty cleaned up version.
Are we going to frame it?
I already have the frame.
A matted frame downstairs.
It's got a gold.
It's nice.
It's nice.
Oh, gosh.
Oh, they're right.
All right.
That's expensive.
Well, we've been making.
It's cheaper than the gold.
Probably.
All right.
While Josh is signing, I'm going to go to the Primax return of surplus, and Kate's going to take
this one.
So Katie sends out that Primax is doing a return of surplus for workers' comp and unemployment.
Workers' comp in the amount of $2,317 and unemployment in the amount of $156.
So there's two options.
either get a refund check or you can get a credit on your January 2027 invoice.
So I say credit.
I say credit as well.
Yeah.
Is there a motion?
Well, I would make a motion that we accept the Primex returns of surplus
in the form of a credit on the next billing.
Do you're a second?
Second.
All in favor?
Hi.
Thank you.
Select Board Work Session, August 3rd, just a reminder that we've
a reminder that we have scheduled a work session for the board August 3rd at 530 here at the office.
And this will be to discuss AFMI's pilot and Avatar will be present as well.
August 3rd.
Yes, it's a Monday.
5.30.
I will not come here.
Okay.
I will not come.
Okay.
Okay.
Next that's the FEMA floodplain resolution ordinance update.
This is coming back.
FEMA has updated there.
updated their floodplain maps.
Didn't we just do this times?
Yes.
Yes.
However, they've added another update as of November 13, 2026.
So we need to do this again.
So there is a resolution to adopt the new FEMA insurance rate map firm and flood insurance study.
And the dates will change from November.
It's a study dated November 13th, 2026 together with the association.
together with the associated flood insurance rate map panels dated January 23rd,
2026 November 13th, 2026.
And the associated ordinance within the zoning ordinance has been updated to reflect the same dates.
So one of you can read that lovely resolution into the record and make a motion.
Do you want to read?
Josh, do you want to join?
I'll do it.
Oh, you want.
Ooh.
Oh.
I'm
All right, pursuant to RSA 674-5-7 by resolution of the select board, all land designated as special flood hazard areas by the federal emergency management agency FEMA in its flood insurance study for the county of Merrimack, New Hampshire, dated November 13, 2026, together with the Association.
with the associated flood insurance rate map panels dated January 23rd,
2006, and November 13th, 2006 are declared to be part of the town of Bosquin's zoning ordinance
and are hereby incorporated by reference.
I would make a motion to do that.
Do we just do that?
Do we just do that?
Accept the map.
You did?
I'll second.
All in favor.
Aye.
Aye.
And Josh says aye too.
I too.
Yeah.
All right.
All right.
That's good.
I want to jump to an abatement request from Nicole Hoyt.
It's for an error in issuance of a tax bill due to our computer going down.
So essentially, it's kind of a housekeeping abatement.
Is this red oak?
No, it's all there.
It says white plants.
White plant.
plant in Manchester, but isn't that the LLC?
The red oak?
I don't know.
I don't know that.
It's the one that just went to condos.
Yes, that's right now Lord Edward Edward.
Lord.
Okay.
Yeah, that sounds familiar.
Yeah, because I think this is,
Red Oak is the master and white plant LLC is the sum.
All right, we'd make a motion that the select board authorizes you to abate $27,727 for White Plant LLC 409, Elm Street, Manchester, New Hampshire, 0310 for property located at Map 183D, lot 10, due to an error in issuance of tax bill and per recommendations from Avatar Associates of New England.
So I made the motion.
Do I hear a second?
Second.
All in favor?
I just wanted to note for the record that the commercial street cleanup is in full swing right now.
In the last five days alone, they've transferred about 243 tons of C&D, both granite, bricks, and with the like, to the transfer station.
So there's a lot of material coming out of there and a lot of prep work going into creating a road that they're going to use to access the cleanup spot.
And are we saving granite for?
We are saving granite.
and then it's being stored at the transfer station.
Okay.
That's awesome.
Any cool bricks that could be set aside for some type of artsy project at a later date?
The what?
The bricks, if there are any that are in good shape.
Possibly and not entirely.
So many different places saving old historical bricks that they can, you know,
you pay big money for old bricks.
I know I've had my chimneys rebuilt and I wanted bricks in the same time period.
And the only place they had it was up in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
I'm sure. So there we go.
Before I go to this human services thing, I'll go to you.
Okay.
And two things.
Perfect.
First, I have a donation for the town park improvement project
and the amount of $300 from Gary Moore.
Ah, I would make a motion to accept that
donation to the park improvement.
I will second. All in favor?
Hi.
And then the second thing is, I just want to follow up last year.
talked about doing work sessions for employee reviews that you guys have to do before this year to do.
So I wanted to see when you would like to schedule those four. And if you wanted to do it for
both, you know, writing up your video and giving it to them or do one in the work session
and the other after a meeting.
Can we do all in the work session and then all of them?
you know, do the work on it in a work session.
Yeah.
And then do the presentations in a separate session.
That's so two works sessions.
Two work sessions.
Yeah, so I'm wondering if you want to do two work sessions or a work session and select board meeting.
Oh, well, if we do the work in the work session, we should be able to do the presentation at the end of a select board meeting, right?
Well, it has to be typed up.
Oh, well, yeah, they'd be two separate, yeah.
So one week you do the work session.
work session and then you do the presentation at the next select board meetings.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
A non-meeting week for the work session?
Yes.
I would say like October-ish would be good.
In the second meeting preferably with.
Oh, no.
So our meeting said, our manual says they're due by the beginning of October.
Spectacular.
Yeah.
So that would be the last meeting before October is September 16th.
So that's when, if you wanted to still.
to still follow that manual, that would be your meeting where you would give the reviews.
It would be a work session before that that we would look at today.
So do you, so do you want to do it that same week or do you want to do it the Wednesday before
when we have no meeting?
I'd say probably the Wednesday before.
That way it gives time to write them all up.
Yeah.
We have the date of that morning.
And would you want to do at six or a different time?
It's four reviews, right?
Each review takes half an hour.
Yeah.
Okay.
So two hours.
So if we start at six, we'll be done eight.
So five?
Five.
Okay.
We do five 30.
It's hard just to get down here for five from later.
30.
Okay.
Five thirty.
Well, I can get here for five thirty.
No other meetings that night.
No.
Right now they're right.
What was it?
I don't see any.
All right.
That was all in.
Perfect.
Nice, Kate.
So the human services and administrative assistant position, we had Lisa leave us
probably a month ago, a month or so ago.
Yeah.
And we put a position out to be hired for.
We changed it from a full-time to kind of a part-time position.
But in looking at candidates and talking about it internally, we thought we wanted to
pivot in another direction, only because welfare is such a unique position.
Not a lot of people are good at it and know how to do it and administer by the laws and the books.
So we would like to have the board consider contracting for the human services position.
And we have interviewed with Sarah Tracy, who is in attendance tonight, and we would like the board
to meet with her and see if she's somebody that you might want to work for the town as a
an independent contractor. So Sarah, if you want to come up, come on up.
Is the microphone around?
Yeah, you can come right there. Just push that button on the microphone until it lights up green.
It's great. It is perfect.
And Sarah, this is Chairman Burdick in the middle. Select the Sprofford on the end and we'll be carrying here.
So thank you for having. And she's lucky to me.
opportunity and job to build.
Yeah.
People who do it building forever.
You can find something.
Yeah, I brought up the concept of contract, you know, because it's not
staying hours all the time.
So it wouldn't make sense of something.
We kept busy and I'm scrungy with your money as I am with my money.
And it doesn't make sense to just find something to do when there isn't anything to do.
You know, so as I said, it makes sense and I do
contract for several other small towns that are under 4,000 or 5,000 people.
When they need me, they call me and I meet, do what they need to do.
And in small towns, I'll reiterate, it helps.
I don't know anybody.
So therefore, I can come in as the specialist, and basically most of the people are in a position
they're stuck and I don't want them to repeat it.
So basically, it's more of an education role in many respects,
to show them what their resources are, how they can get through whatever they have to.
And then the biggest thing is to make sure that this is basically an assistance
that it's not a free money, they have to pay it back.
And I'm very good at collecting funds or getting them to work it off, you know, and figure out, you know, how to not do this again.
And a lot of the people I generally see in the last towns I've done,
I've only had one person repeat in about six years.
So I clearly gave them a skill set to move forward to get what they need to and not go back on the town,
which is good. So I would like the opportunity to tackle it if you'd like to.
How many years of experience coming?
Probably 15 or 20.
15 or 20. I started in Massachusetts with fair housing and working on a hotline and doing outreach
for actually ladies from the zone.
I was very successful to getting them out of their jobs into doing something differently.
And then when I came up to New Hampshire, I continued to work with outreach.
I have a small motel, so I would get a lot of people that would be dropped off and clearly
were unloaded and just get left there.
And they were clearly, you know, had some kind of addiction or issue and the family thought
it would be great not to have them evicted and they would just leave them there.
leave them there.
And after a few days, you realize, no one's coming to collect this person, and you'd have
to just figure out how to graciously move them forward someplace else.
So I've been a Salvation Army coordinator for about 15 towns, I think about 15 years.
So I said, I've got a lot of background.
I've trained a lot of social workers.
And during COVID, I got my master of social worker from, social work from Fordham,
and then they offered me a law degree that was specifically for social services.
So it's very municipal weighted as it was.
weighted as it were, which I just finished this February.
So I said, and I have no one just passing the bar.
I just like the information to be useful, as they said.
So my son uses me probably more than anyone to keys it all over the road trucker.
So he's always calling up with some question to say, Mom, I have Greg on the phone.
And Greg goes, hi, mom.
And it gives me some, there's usually landlord-type related question or whatever.
And I just said, this is what you do, what stay do you in, do my homework and get back to him.
So it's been good.
But it just seemed like a reasonable fit to if you're not having people
come in all the time to make appointments, let them get the application filled out, and then
come in and tackle them when they present. And if, you know, most of the other towns I get paid
either monthly or quarterly. And sometimes it can be two months and there isn't anything
and that's okay with me. You know, I said, whatever it is, on my end, it goes into savings.
So do you assist people with filling out the applications?
If they need it, yeah. In Franklin, where I was the director for six or seven years,
I found a huge percentage of people over the age of 50,
were paper-wise illiterate. You know, they just, they were overwhelmed with applications.
So I classically would look at it and assess rather quickly that they were overwhelmed with,
you know, 10 or 15 pages of anything and just say, oh, this is the new form. Can I play secretary
and I'll ask you all the questions and I'll fill it out. And then they just, the shoulders
drop and they're like, I can get through this and I go through all the questions. And in that
environment, you're more likely to get a lot more information out of them to figure out what
they need, you know, which works really well. So as I said, not a problem. And then if I get
backed up. Generally, the senior centers are great to find someone because they're usually
full of, they can always find a retired teacher in a senior center saying, geez, could you
help someone fill out an application if I sent them up there? No problem. So it's it gets,
then they find someone else in the community who's willing to help them out. So it works to
get people organized. So you feel the relationship with boss going to be one where you'd essentially
be on call. Yep. And when an need arises, the town would call you and then you would address
the issue and. Yep. Call them, make the appointment and set up whatever.
Keep your time and send us a bill.
Yep. Okay.
Yeah, that sounds perfect. I like the passion. You have a lot of passion for it.
You have to. Because most of people have said they're in a bind. It's not really about the electric bill or whatever. For years, I've been doing Salvation Army.
So on my cell phone, which is, you know, the mini computer, I would put essay for Salvation Army, the date, you know, and I put Joshua Crawford. And then all of a sudden, next year, the same month, all of a sudden, you're calling me again for something else. So then I have to beg the question, what's going on in his life?
April's terrible or whatever it is. And a lot of times you can figure that out, you know,
you can solve the problem. Is it? So it's just a matter of being a detective a little bit.
But I get along with people and to me, it's just problem solving, which I like to do. And I get to
travel around as meet different people, which is good. So not a problem. But I thought from a financial
point of view, it works on the city side and town side, much better to just pay for what you need
and not just, you know, it sounds like a what Liberty Mutual commercial.
Yeah, customized. Just for what you want. But yeah, because, I mean, it doesn't make sense for you to come up with busy work for someone. You know, it'd be different if you had someone on staff who could jump into it on occasion. But the timing's always tough because it usually happens in budgets back to school when the weather gets hold, you know, after the holidays, you know, which are always busy times for towns trying to do their budgets of moving forward. So I have one question that I forgot to ask. Do you charge for mileage or is it within your hourly rate? No, it's in the rate, as I said, because I can deduct it on the tax.
So which is fine. So not a problem. So this is the contract. He had kind of sent me kind of her background and what she's willing to do the work for. And I kind of put together an
independent contractor agreement. And I did send it to Sarah. And she was okay with how it was worded. Yeah, that kind of outlines the duties that we would be looking for
up at the top. So. So the only question I had, if you move forward is, who's the insurance company for the town of Oscaron?
Okay, Paramex. Because it makes sense to call them and say, I'm doing this independent. What would you suggest for the level of liability? You know, let them tell me, you know, which is fine. Then everybody's on this. I'm willing to reach out to them as well. Yeah. Okay. What you need? But my company on the side is called Irish social services. And the tagline is all may apply. I'll say I would be completely amenable to this. Seems like that. Nice way to go.
position. Haven't been able to keep staff in that position. And it's it's kind of frustrating after a while. So this
seemed like another option that might be more cost effective for the town in general.
Great. Yeah. This looks good to me. And that's an awesome niche to fill too. Yeah. That's good. I know that I would enjoy
working with. Are you from Mosquin? No, from originally from Massachusetts, but I've been in Franklin.
and then recently moved to Alexandria. I bought an old farmhouse with my son. It's 1941 special.
But my background prior to moving up here was a greenhouse person, which meant I was a boiler operator.
So we found an old house that needed a new boiler. We're like, not a rough.
So when it was 90 degrees, we're up at Smithfield's buying a boiler to install it ourselves.
But as I said, it's got, you know, six and a half acres for the side yard. So plenty of stuff for us to do.
Peace and quiet. It's quiet. But you're near stuff, but yeah, but it's quiet.
where we are, so I can't complain. So it's nice. So I've been up here since 93.
When I first bought my business, my son was three months old and I commuted back and forth from Boston
to get the business going. And it's funny because the motel I own was originally put in place by
Rue and LaBranch, who had a trucking company. And that's what my son does for living,
which is ironic, but he loves what he's doing. So he came a hotel up in Franklin, you know.
Yeah. Oh, well. And LaBranch is now Watts regulator trucking. But yeah, yeah. That's right.
That's where my father learned how to drive.
Do you need any special equipment or anything to do this job or just kind of come in and have a...
Just come in and do my thing. That's right. And I have security if it's something scary.
Kevin, I introduce. He's my cranky Navy SEAL. So generally, people say, are you nervous about meeting me? I'm like, no, I'm bringing a Navy SEAL. And I've never had anyone...
Like, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am.
But I'll bubble up.
Yes.
He's good. So, no, not bad. But yeah, it can meet people here. It's not a problem. I mean, based on the hours.
I mean, I think people prefer that if they, unless there's something strange, you know, to meet McDonald's or someplace.
But you would know what I'm doing.
Perfect. And we still have the office downstairs. We do.
So that would be a nice private location for people to meet.
Right, yes. So if the board is in agreement, then I perhaps want a motion that I can either have the chair authorized moving forward with them.
agreement. If you'd like additional time to think about it, that's fine. We can wait until the next
meeting or you can authorize me to sign. I would recommend that we move forward with this and
authorize the town administrator to sign on behalf of the town. Do I hear a second? A second. All in favor?
I just want to state that so there's no conflict of interest here. I have known Sarah Tracy since
probably 1997 because we're both part of the business and professional women's
organization so recuse i'm just putting it out there if you think i have a conflict of
interest i will absolutely recuse we'll just go with two pros two yeses and the town
administrator is authorized to move forward and sign on our behalf okay so thank you very much
yes thank you and i will give you a bus tomorrow sounds great sounds good all right thank you
thank you have a good night have a good night yes and the yellow
paces gone finally yes but it's been back yeah yeah so i put the roof back on the jeet
yeah so in continuing this discussion now that we have have the welfare aspect figured out i am going
to request assistance for myself and we had posted for the welfare administrative assistant
position but the assistant to the administrator would be much appreciated given
the immense workload that i am currently undertaking which i have given you a list of things that i'm
doing um i would like to do something part-time no benefits so this is still going to be more
cost effective for the town it's going to be somebody that the board can call on if i am out on
vacation or if something emergent happens this is going to be a lot of
of clerical backup for boards and committees that i'm currently assisting such as brownfields
dustin island so um it looks like this person is also doing work for hr so is this a
multi no this is these are the things that i am currently doing myself this isn't what
this person would do you do oh you're doing you're personally doing so i'm i'm supporting a lot of
boards committees helping with special projects
just a lot of stuff that takes a lot of time away from other things that i should be doing and it would
just be a very helpful well you know i hate to mention it but we did set it up to have an
an administrative assistant and that was kirsten o'brien back in the day and you gave that up
i did yes and i'm not very good at asking for help and i tend to take on a lot yes and um
so i don't have a lot of staff members that what do we learn out of this yeah okay well everybody's
tapped yes so asking people to take something else on is just difficult yeah so i'm i'm i
would say asking for this now this is a reasonable request it is as we envisioned the position
would need and hopefully hopefully it's somebody who might one day learn the job and
move into the position that's another thing to think about yeah succession planning yeah
what budget does this come out of this well technically right now we have this
position budgeted full-time for the welfare administrative assistant when we are looking to hire
again we were only going to hire as part-time so we have like full-time benefits
budgeted and a full-time hourly rate i'm going to have to work with kate on a new wage scale
for this position and bring it back to the board for approval because we haven't had a
position for a while so if we were to hire somebody before the end of the year then it would
likely be a transfer of funds to from the welfare budget to exec to cover what's left of the year
and could this person be cross-trained to do maybe planning stuff and downstairs stuff or is it
have to be uh there is some flexibility because i mean the projects right now are overwhelming but
they won't be there forever um i've talked to
about DMV cross-training just to have a backup for that and also Connor doesn't have any sort
of assistant for like cemetery files and things of that nature yeah that's possibly something this
person could take as well so there's definitely other opportunities to support different people
in departments but the main focus would be support for the administrator so this would
essentially uh take a lot of workload out of downstairs
it would take away the welfare for projects such as currently we're selling stars for
agcom yeah it just takes a person to do it when somebody comes in so just having a specific person
for somebody to go to would be helpful um welfare i mean this person could do the initial contact
for welfare and intake and then send it to sarah yeah yeah all the files for welfare are in that office
I imagine if there was the assistant to the administrator they would also be in that
welfare office and what about backpack program that is another discussion entirely and i don't know
because i know the ladies downstairs spend a lot of time on the backpack program they have
buying the stuff packing the packs and i think that's part of the reason why they close on
fridays is to pack the packs and my understanding is that they do not want to continue doing that okay so i don't
I don't want to speak for Nicole.
I want Nicole to be open.
It means that they should be open on Friday.
Yeah, they're not having to do that anymore.
I know there are, I hear from members of the public about that.
I just went to Null Post on Tuesday and heard about that.
Wait on it.
Could this roll alleviate some of their work so they could be open on Fridays?
I do not know.
Okay.
And I would prefer.
that Nicole speak for her own department.
Yes.
Do you need a decision right now or can we wait till the next?
We can certainly wait.
It's just I need to bring back a wage schedule for this anyway.
So I can work with Kate on that.
And then the next meeting is a department head meeting.
You could ask Nicole any questions you might have.
Because if we're taking welfare and the backpack program out of downstairs,
then does that free up time?
time because I know they all worked on that. Does that free up time for them maybe to be open, at least in the morning or something like that, to satisfy?
Or even at lunch time, maybe.
Yeah, if you had a floater, you know, it's back up D&B.
Because I know some of their positions, they have to have two people there because they're two different types of things.
Yeah, there's certain things that one could do, but the other cannot.
So that's kind of their logic for closing for that hour and all going,
instead of leaving one behind that may not be able to do one or the other.
Some people are specific about who takes their taxes.
They'll only let Nicole take their taxes.
So if they come in during lunch, Nicole's not there, then.
Yeah.
I know there's certain things that they'll have a question for you since you've been time
masterator.
I know you do all kinds of the cruise night, the stars, all the extra stuff.
Have you ever not made a deadline for the select board or have you ever been like so close you've been up at midnight?
Like, oh my gosh, I got to get this done.
And like, does that happen often?
I can tell you she is up at midnight and she is working on the weekends against, you know.
I tend to return emails a lot.
If you are really good at responding, I've got to say, like it's instant.
Including while on vacation.
Yes, yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel a level of responsibility.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Feel a level of responsibility to the job even if I'm not here.
So, yeah.
Definitely dedicated.
I sometimes cannot, yeah, just turn it off.
And I think Alan was similar to that.
Maybe I just got some of that from him, so.
But I think my observation is that she works herself into illness because she is so
is so particular.
anxiety, maybe.
Yes, anxiety, headaches, all kinds of things because she just
I'm a people-pleaser, so I try to take on as much as I can, even if it's a lot for me.
So.
What on this list would you be passing to this position and how many hours roughly do you think that would equate to?
That is a good question that I might be able to bring back to the next meeting.
But I know the job description that I had sent out lists a lot.
of like the support for the boards, the minutes, the agendas, the website.
The fielding calls, scheduling appointments.
The complaints, because anytime somebody calls them the complaint, you have to.
Complaint.
If somebody calls to complain, here's our formal complaint form, send it to them, take it in, sign that you received it.
Just simple things like that that just kind of in and date me sometimes.
So.
And the calendar invites and the meeting.
Calendar invites, yeah.
See.
You know, we used to, when Kirsten was around, we used to get reminders of upcoming meeting.
Yeah, I don't.
Send up because she had the time to do it.
Yeah.
And there was a lot of that. That's very useful.
Like, if something's not on my calendar, I won't remember.
I have to write everything down.
I got yelled out for trying to write something on her calendar.
No, don't do that.
Don't match the calendar.
And then the 91A requests, we were getting a number of requests from Timbuk 2, and those
are time-consuming and procedural.
I just closed out too, but just following up with people to try to get the records that are responsive to the request.
Just having somebody able to do that part.
It's helpful.
I have to write a letter to respond that we perceived it.
Do any of this for you?
No, you can't trust it.
I don't want it to be, yeah.
I don't know.
So I would say, yeah, go through your list here, check off what you think you could put on this.
Yeah.
assistant and then try to figure out roughly how many hours you think they would need to dedicate.
And you know what? I feel like having the DMV cross train will be a good thing as well.
Will Nicole be at the next meeting?
Maybe.
Department hen.
Or her assistant deputy.
Somebody else maybe.
Because it would be, I know we've got a deputy tax collector and a tax collector and a tax collector.
And we've got one DMV.
person, right?
Yeah, three.
All three are, all three are.
Oh, all three of them can get three.
So it's really only the tax collector roll.
But if two of them.
Like a new tax and three, they can be D&B.
But I think D&B is more all year long.
Yeah.
Well, no, I feel like those are the urgent ones.
Like, we're going on vacation.
I got registered this before.
I leave you.
Yeah.
People are like, I'll pay my taxes on Monday.
Yeah.
Perhaps if Nicole's not able to attend the next meeting,
she can at least write something up
something up for the board for the reason.
Is who does want and if an additional administrative
support person would be useful for anything that they do downstairs.
So.
I mean, other duties as a sign pretty much covers anything else.
So I mean, so something to think about,
but we are definitely going to pivot on the posting that we had out,
given the recent developments with the welfare.
And if we decided that we could know
longer do backpack program because we don't have anybody to do it.
What would happen with all the supplies that we have and the space that takes up?
I don't have the answer to that.
I've reached out to friends of forgotten children to see if they would be willing to take the program.
I've followed up.
I have not heard back.
So
Food pantry at the church.
Boston Congregational Church may be another one I would reach out.
Somebody would take it on.
We could sell buy supplies and use the rest of the donations and give it to them.
So I feel like we could definitely use it to help support.
It's just the manpower.
Would we have to offer to return donations if we are not doing it?
I feel like we should give the donors the opportunity to
either take their donation back or we can purchase food.
I think we should purchase food even if we talk to the school and get the school to coordinate it.
coordinated.
At one point in time, wasn't there a teacher that was handling this prior to the time taking over?
Yeah.
I think as long as it goes to the same purpose, you don't have to do that.
So we're still buying stuff for the backpack supplies.
And that would be, for friends of forgotten children, that would be the big, you know,
how could they take on providing more backpacks?
But if we were providing the, you know,
necessary materials, they'd just have to stuff and deliver.
Yeah.
So if any of the board members have.
any other ideas or any other contacts they want to reach out to.
We would greatly appreciate it.
Or someone talking on a project through the end of the year.
Oh, yeah.
Over a couple of months.
Yes, that worked.
That's all they have.
Yes.
Does the board have any updates about committees?
Over.
My Hannah Dustin committee met this week.
We're making great progress.
We hope to have a finished.
finished Saturday interpreted panels by September, October.
Then we can sunset.
And we had one set of animals that was accepted by the whole group.
One set that just needed a little tweaking.
One set that needed a little more political tweaking.
But everyone seemed to be willing to work together.
And so we may actually be able to accomplish what has not been able to
what has not been accomplished in the past 150 years.
So it's exciting.
We walked the area and found out that a section that we always thought was state land is in fact Bosnland
and it would be a perfect spot to put the panels right across from the rail trail panels.
So it would be perfect.
And then Katie has kept the 1909
nine stone that came out of the mill and it would make a lovely little bench
in front of the interpative panel.
So we could get this much down.
I have one more comment.
Just because of how much time is between this meeting and the next meeting,
GSS is on site.
I anticipate additional change orders to be coming through for different items.
So how would you like me to authorize those change orders?
Oh, can we make a motion to have the town administers?
the town administrator sign on behalf of the select.
I'm willing to consult with you individually for your input and then do it that way if that's
Yeah.
Motion made.
I'll second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Just so I'm not stuck.
So perfect.
That's it.
I did not bring nonpublics for you tonight, Matt.
You're welcome.
It's very nice.
Very, very nice.
Any updates for you, Judge?
No, just the flag out front needs to be a half.
out front needs to be a half staff until Sunday, I believe.
It's not a half-s happening.
No.
All the other ones are, except that one.
Interesting.
Okay.
Just happened, though.
That's kind of my thing.
That person one can't be it.
Are you able to put that down on your way back?
No.
Are you able to put it down on your way back?
I'll put it down.
I don't want to stuff on anyone's toes.
I'll text Jason on.
So how's an old Monday going?
You guys met since?
No, or me next Monday.
Okay.
I kept trying to tell Hannah it was Monday.
She's like, I don't have a meeting.
Yeah, I thought it was too, and I was like, oh, you're fine.
And we look, ah, never mind.
So I could have some more updates then.
Yeah, and who's the local band that's going to be performed?
Yeah, I still don't remember.
You don't remember.
I will know next time, I see you know.
I have it written down downstairs, but I don't recall off the top of my head what it's called.
I heard that really good though.
Enough said.
Enough said.
It's something like that.
Something like that.
Yeah.
Interesting.
I didn't even know we have any local bands anymore.
Garage band?
I think they're like a rock and roll type of club band.
Club band.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, I'll make a motion to adjourn.
On second.
All in favor.
Hi.
Hi, hi.
6.48 p.m.