2026-10-21 - Redevelopment Authority

Welcome to the uh Redevelopment Authority minute  uh meeting of November 21st. Um our uh chairman,   Mr. Cooper is away on business, so we'll  uh kind of try to get through this. Um minutes, I think,

uh we uh we do not have  any minutes at present presently. So,   uh we'll move on to the next finance finance  report. Yeah. and uh treasurer. Yes. Good   evening. Uh here's the most current

statement  for you guys. I just print it off today. And   uh it was mentioned in the last meeting  that um I thought it was a great idea   uh to look at um getting some kind of interest on  on our

money or some percentage of the money here.   And I u it's on the bank website that they're  currently offering uh 4% on a seven-month CD. Um,   and the minimum balance would have to be only 5  $500.

But, um, I didn't know if we had a sense of   u, if not a dollar amount, a percentage of what  we wanted to maybe put in that and then I could uh   get together with our chairman to uh to put those

funds in in a CD. But I know we have the truck   festival coming so I didn't want to put us in a  situation where we wouldn't have access to money   if we needed it right for that too, you know. So,

um I didn't know if there was a consensus that we   wanted to do it and what percentage of the of  the balance that we have in here now and then   then I can uh I can go ahead and make that happen

with Sean when he gets back, you know. Whereas   our chairman is uh away on business. I will table  it until the next meeting. Sure. In November. And   um I do have um some cash for you. Okay. Which

was from uh two uh replicas of the clock. You   know that cat's meow. Oh yeah. And uh we had uh  we only had three of them left in the box and   uh the two of them went out and I got to give you

Harold has the second one. I mean the third one.   Third one. I just you just gave it to me tonight.  So I'll give you some money before leave. Okay.   Okay. So that that's the end of the replicas

then.  Huh? Yeah. Yeah. We can always have them uh have   more made. Sure. Uh, I'm not sure how many we  had originally. Is it a working replica? And uh,   it's a wooden statue like a like a Yeah,

that's  You didn't bring it. It's in the car. I could run.   Yeah. Uh, nice. That's great. They're nice little  replicas of the clock on the common. Nice. Yeah.   And uh if uh anyone else uh in the

community wants  uh uh to order one, we can do that and then we'll   uh place an order for uh additional ones. Is  there a separation? They were a $25 donation.   Oh. Towards the uh uh for the clock.

Gotcha. Nice. That's great. Thank you. And then you got old business.  There is no correspondence, right? So we get down to old business. Uh  food truck festival for 20 uh 2027.   Uh the permit is

done. Uh I haven't received  it. I was supposed to receive it yesterday.   Uh but we need to uh uh talk about the  flyers. Um we need to place an order. I have a quote here somewhere. Harold, you want

to read that? What does this  say? That's a quote for the flyers. Uh, there's   a good 6,000 flyers, golden rod, 5x5, 5 1/2 in  by 8 and a half inches for $335. Thanks again for   letting us letting

us quote this job. And it's Mr.  Ullman and his son. Mrs. Ullman and her son. Uh,   Ullman Printers. that supplied our uh suppliers  for quite a few years. And uh we need to uh You   want to get them

closer to the date though? I  mean, we can Well, we need to in case something   comes up in the meantime, we need to post some of  the flyers. Can we do it like AI version and then   print something

later? We uh you know, in case  something comes up and you have to change a date   or something that's you got 6,000 of these  things, the date won't need to be changed.   Uh it's rain or shine and

like I say the  permit has already been approved. So the date   is the date. Yeah. Uh so should we make a motion  to approve this expenditure? Yeah, we would need a   motion to uh uh approve that

purchase. I I'll make  the motion. I just think we should wait a month   or two before it's eight months into it before it  even happens. When you're printing these, they're   going to have to be

stored. There's a lot of  boxes. I don't I I think we can do them in a week   when you call them. We have to start in January.  We have to start posting these in no November. The   flyers. I don't

think people remember. Yeah,  we post some of those flyers in November to   uh the uh craft craft sites. No. Can't we do  an AI ad like you did before? That was so nice.   The AI ad will be uh uh for

a later date than  the original flyers. These are the flyers that   we've used every year. Okay. People realize  if they the only thing changing is the date,   you know. So every year around this time

is  when you normally do it because the mail list   are going to have to start going out in November.  And that flyer is the one that accompanies the uh   um vendor applications. You know, basically

the AI flyer poster is uh for the local area.   Don't you think they're going to see it so much  they're going to ignore it after a while? You keep   seeing the same thing continuously eight months

before an event. You want to do it, you know,   a month or two. Starting to book now. The  booking is one thing, but the people, you know,   I'm thinking of the people, like just getting  the flyer or

seeing the flyer or wherever it is,   after a while, you just kind of turn your head  and look the other way because we have to end   up scanning the flyer and then posting it with the  uh Can they

make us a template that we could just   have and then print them when we're ready? Well,  the template they'll they'll print the flyers   as soon as the template's made. The only thing  different of

that poster, that flyer, is the date,   10th annual, May 23rd. The time and everything is  all the same. You know, do you anticipating using   all 6,000 flyers in like say November, December?  Would

you be using all those or you just getting   them all printed now just to save money and use  the ones you Yeah, we need to get them done. Yeah. If you want to store them, you want I don't  have a

problem storing. All right. Yeah. Well,   then I made the motion to approve the uh cost of  $335 to print 6,000 flies by Ullman Printing. All   right. Second. Motion has been made and seconded.  All

in favor? I I'll take care of that. I can use   I can use the uh they'll know associated debit  card with this, right? Just get the receipt of   it. Okay. You want to hang on to that? Yeah.  Okay. Cuz

I still have it on my computer. So,   okay, cool. I'll-I'll take yours. Yeah. So,  sometimes I just write them a check so they   don't have to pay that little check. Yeah. Okay.  Yeah, you do. We all

that stuff. Yeah. Okay. So,   the check is better probably for them. They're  a little, you know, they're going to pay 3 or   4%. Right. Great. You're going to hurt the small  business. Very good.

Good thinking. Yeah. And with   that, that looks Wow, that's nice. There's  the AI poster. See, that should be your ad. Uh, could you email us this so we we  have to Can you email us this? Uh,   so we

could start to I'm I'm sorry. Could we Could  you email this to us so that we could start to get   the word out or whatever? You know what I mean?  I can. Yeah. It's beautiful. I laminated it.   Yeah.

Because usually that goes at Gorettis. Oh,  yeah. In the window. Put a paper one in there,   the window sweats and the paper wrinkles.  The colors will run. Oh, yeah. You know, so it's different the

illustration in  the background. Did you do it? Is No,   I didn't do it. Okay. Uh, as  we uh as I talked to uh Sean   uh my computer tech did it. oh wow. And last  year we gave him a free site at the

the food   truck festival. It's fair for doing it. And again  we did that again this year. That's beautiful. So nice. Okay. I want to uh I mentioned to uh Sean that  I spoke to uh the friends of the

Millbury seniors   and uh about the possibility of a uh park  and ride for people that have come to the   the event and found that you know there was  no parking because all the spaces were filled.

and some people had complained about it, but  that's something we can't do anything about.   We can't make them a bigger parking lot.  So, the possibility of uh one or two buses,   uh we'd make a

donation and cover their fuel,  you know. Would these be Millbury Council on   Aging buses? They they the friends of Millbury  seniors. They own the buses. Uh They have two   buses. Um Judy O' Connor

said she'd be willing to  drive one of the buses. You know they'd park over   at the senior center. Uh be shuttled to the high  school and people that wanted to leave would be   shuttled from the high

school to the park and  ride. So that's something that uh we won't be   voting on it at this particular point, but think  about it. Would that be exclusively for seniors   or for anyone that wanted to

take advantage of  that? What what would the transportation provided   be exclusively for senior citizens or would it  be for anyone that wanted anyone that wanted   to park and ride over? So we got

to look into  our insurance on that too. They have insurance   as well. So but if somebody got injured,  would they come back to the our board too?   I'm not sure. I'll check with Judy. Yeah. Before

the next meeting. Yeah. And uh somebody trips   fall. Not that it's gonna happen. Where's We're  put high liability. It may have to be mentioned   in that insurance which could skyrocket. Then  you

got to look at how many people are going to   use it. If it's only 10 people and you give $100  to them or $200, you need 40 people just to use   the bus to break even. You'd rather have them not

show up. We'd also have to think about how are we   going to advertise the park and ride. Yeah. Yeah.  And like when they come and they want to leave,   they're going to leave that minute or they

have  to wait on the hour. You know what I mean? So if   they show up and the guy wants to leave and now  the bus has already left and another guy said,   "I want to leave." And you can't. It's 20

minutes  before they get back here. And if we do that,   we would need probably two A-frame signs. One for  the park and ride there and one for the food truck   festival. Yeah. Where people would

congregate  at the sign be picked up and shuttled down.   I think it's a nice idea, but I mean it  not like the big E. We don't run the big E,   you know. That's my opinion. I think the liability

puts us at a disadvantage if something happens. To   clarify liability question, would that be a Judy  question or will we call our own insurance? Well,   we buy insurance for the event and they want

to  ask sometimes it's in there. I think one of the   clauses about do we provide, do we have, do we  use motor vehicles for any purpose on our own   use? Do we have little uh golf carts? So, should

we reach out to the agency or We might have to   look into it. Yeah, I wouldn't shake the box, but  I would just look at the policy that we get and   the ones that we can buy. They have a whole list

of them. What you want, one's a bake off. One is a   festival. The festival is like three times a bake  off or, you know, but we have an event where we   ch uh we have a a contest. So, people can bid

on  there. I mean, pick their best food vendor. So,   that's basically like almost like a bake off,  right? They they choose who's the best food   truck. We give an award for that. But if you pick

just festival, then they don't want animals there.   They want trampolines there. They don't want  air. Anything that goes in the air, it gets I   mean they'll give it to you. You can have it.  May

come at a cost. The liability. Yeah. Yeah. But um think about it. You got any thoughts  or ideas regarding that? bring him to the   next meeting when Sean will be here. And  Sean liked it. Uh I sort

of thought it   would work out. Um but we have plenty of  time to uh work out a uh a plan for that. Uh as far as entertainment is concerned, do you  have any uh bands that you may like or that u we

could look into? Can you get the old people back?  Everybody you use was always We try to alternate,   not have the same one every year, you know. I got  you. Um I was thinking about uh the

Superchargers   again. That's John. John Brindisi. John Brindisi.  I mean they're a powerhouse. Yeah. He's good.   Yeah. And he was a big draw, you know. um  Jesse Garcia, any of the groups that

he's   affiliated with, you know, um Belit, um he's got  several groups. Um Tina Tina was great. She's an   excellent one. It depends on what group she she's  with. Yeah, she was Sweet Pat Sweet

Patina that   our group last festival uh Far from Eden. They do  a lot of uh uh 50s music, you know. And uh do they   ever do anything like uh the like local dance  schools or something that would

like a little   a chance to like Yeah, obviously the bands are  great. You want to have that like it was an Irish   step class or something that would that would be  like a they'd be tickled to death

to a perform in   front of people on the stage or I'm just trying to  think of different types of entertainment too. But   I mean the music is is fantastic. I remember that  last year was great. Kept

people engaged the whole   time. But I was trying to think of other things  that maybe we could put in the mix but I don't   know if I can just have a brain dump here. So but  um can you think of

anything different we should   consider doing? All the local families, you know,  it's the Irish step. The kids are in it and they   and they're talented and they perform or, you  know, I'm saying the

Irish step or whatever it   might be like Lord of the Dance or whatever the  dance, whatever that was. Yeah, I remember that   was I loved watching that. I couldn't imagine a  lot of these little kids

where they all all the   Irish get up and do their dance routines. It was  a whole thing that went on for a couple years,   right? It was a big big deal. It went around the  world. Yeah. I wish I

could think of the name of   it because it's been so long. What is it? I don't  know what it's called. Something dance. Yeah,   somebody out there will probably hear it know  right away. But it was

good. It was really good.   We had the We have the We have the band for  Milbury High that gets involved. Is that Do   we do that too or do we have the band for Milbury  High School get involved in

that as well or No,   they do the opening. They do the opening.  That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's   right. Yeah. From 11 to 12. Yeah. There's  two there. There's the marching band and   then

there's the acapella group. Oh yeah. Nice.  Yeah. That they do the national anthem. Oh yeah. And people really like that. Yeah. We had a member on one time, Mr. Delaney. He  was a selectman. He said

he could get us the   uh singer who opens for uh does  the opening for the anthem for the   Red Sox. Really? Maybe he could  still do that. That'd be great. Yeah, that would be nice. Yeah. So, any

any  thoughts you might have or any contacts you may   have? Yeah. Uh pertaining to uh entertainment.  I mean, we we have uh what do we got? five or   six hours, you know, just have high school  band

takes up the first hour and then uh we would have a a singer for an hour and then  two uh uh two other sets of two hours each.   See, like you should have those. We should pick  all of whoever's going

to do that and then put   their names on the flyer as well so their  following comes in. You know what I mean?   We should have all the groups whoever's going to  sing on a small like to the right

like I think   you did one time. No, I posted separately.  Separately. Yeah, because if it's going to   go everywhere and 6,000 people are going to  see it, they matter of fact. bands I posted about

that size. Okay. Had five slots on  it. Yeah. And it had pictures of each group,   right? But it would be nice if they were here  listen and the time Yeah. that they were playing,   right? You know,

so people that follow a  particular group would show up and say, "Hey,   we're going to go for, you know, one to three  because our group is going to be there." Yeah,   you know, but to put it on that

type of flyer  is kind of uh filling up. It's making it too   busy to read, you know. So a separate  flyer you have is what I I did you know and then I would post that to various uh well  the Facebook

pages in Millbury and then I'd send   it out to the local Facebook pages further out  with the entertainment schedule, you know. So,   that would be done at a at another time once we we  get the uh

group sign in, you know. You you issue   a press release for this before the event to the  local newspaper. Do you put out a press release   just before the event to the local newspapers? A  press

release. Yeah, I've done that before in the   beginning. Mhm. But there's been so much to do.  I never had time to do it in the last couple of   years. Yeah. So, so you've had the tremendous  success

that you've had really with no um   media exposure locally, right? Pretty much. Yeah.  Yeah. Yeah. That's something we could do together   because years ago we had the Millbury Sutton  Chronicle.

Yeah. They were very active. They had a   big circulation. They don't have a big circulation  anymore, right? You know, and uh they used to have   a reporter that would come out and do an article.  Uh

matter of fact, uh the Yankee Blackstone Valley   Express, they they had a a writer that would come  out. Well, they don't do that anymore, you know.   the telegram, you would pay pretty heavy to

have  an article done, you know. So, nobody bothers   with the uh telegram anymore. No, what other local  papers do you have? No, you don't. So it it's uh it's a lot to do one person. You know, uh  I

would like to see an article written.   uh on an occasion I wrote the article in and  submitted it but uh I don't have the capabilities   of doing that anymore you know where is I it's  very difficult

for me to uh see the keyboard you   know yeah I'm sure somebody one of us could  probably throw together a quick little press   release or something to the local paper and uh  free advertising you

just reinforces what you're   doing here and I've dabbled in that a little in  the past, you know, um throwing it in there. Um   I don't know. Somebody commented on the uh um  the business

organization down in the valley,   Blackstone Valley. Yeah. that um the uh woman  that uh heads that does a lot of uh scheduling uh athletes to come in and make an appearance  or the uh Woosox uh

mascot. Nice. You know,   and uh I don't have any contact with her. I think  she's from Sutton or something. I'd be happy to   reach out to her if you want me to. Yeah. Okay. I  don't know what they

could put together. Yeah. So,   just tell her what our plans are and is there  anything that the the chamber It's a Blackstone   Valley Chamber of Commerce, right? Yeah. Anything  the chamber could do

to help support the event,   including exhibiting maybe at it, too. Yeah.  Okay. Yeah. Okay. Great. If you want to uh   do that. Yeah. Why not? That would help out  a great deal. Sure. Uh see what we

can line   up. Yeah. Whether it be a ball player or a mascot  from the uh uh hockey team or the Woosox or or   whatever or even a Budweiser mascot. Which one's  a Clydesdale? For the older kids. kids

at heart. Um that is pretty much what we've got. Um, we have  to stop early and uh I'm waiting for uh Sean to   um clean up the mail list because we  have duplicates on it and rather than   send them

three copies, you know, uh we have new  vendors that we've uh had for the last festival,   they need to be added to the the mail list and  I'm waiting for that. so we can start getting   it rolling

because people are booking for May.  You know, I know I was haunted in December last   uh last last year because people were saying,  "You having a festival yet again?" Yeah. Well,   we want an

application. I said, "As  soon as we get everything squared away,   the applications will be sent out." They they're  trying to put together their entire year. Makes   sense. Yeah. They want to plan

ahead.  Yeah. So that pretty much it I guess. Would you want to make a motion to adjourn?  You may. I will. I did. To second. All in   favor? All right. All right. Oh, uh before  the next meeting will

be uh November 18th.   That will be the last meeting of the year.  Okay. Because we do Christmas vacation. So,   uh we'll tie up any other things that we need  to do for the uh end of this year. and

uh move on the next year. Sounds good. So,  we're done. Good night. See you in November.