2026-10-21 - Select Board

00:05Please stand for pledge of allegiance.

00:08>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

00:10United States of America.

00:23>> Okay, I will call the meeting to order.

00:26Dawn and Brooke are online, so all our

00:29votes will be by roll call tonight.

00:32And

00:34any changes to the agenda?

00:36Okay, Libby, announcements?

00:38>> Thank you. This meeting is being video

00:40and audio recorded, and

00:42um we have an announcement that I'm

00:44going to make now, and then we have

00:45another um quick one from the health

00:48director.

00:49Um the May 10th, 2027 annual town

00:53meeting warrant is currently open for

00:54citizen warrant article submittals

00:56through Monday, November 16th at 4:00

00:58p.m. And I've been mentioning this, but

01:01so in case people have not really heard

01:03about it, um we had a home rule petition

01:06for some charter amendments that was

01:08adopted at the 2022 annual town meeting.

01:10One of the amendments increased the

01:12number of required signatures of

01:14Nantucket registered voters for citizen

01:15warrant articles from 10 to 25. That

01:18home rule petition is pending. We

01:19thought that the governor would have

01:21signed it by now, but it's it's not

01:22quite in place. It might not be in place

01:24before the deadline for citizen warrant

01:26article submittals, so currently it is

01:2910, but we do encourage sponsors to

01:31secure more than the required number

01:33because sometimes people are not

01:34registered voters. And again, that's

01:3710 now, 25 if the legislation passes,

01:40but maybe get like 30

01:43just in case.

01:46Um

01:47Joe?

01:48>> Sure. Um so, just to let the public know

01:52that there will be vaccination clinics

01:54that will be held at the Mid Island Stop

01:56& Shop from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

01:59on November 2nd and in the cafeteria at

02:02Cyrus Peirce Middle School from 10:00

02:04a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on November 3rd. Um

02:06we're hoping that there will be

02:08additional clinic dates announced soon

02:10and we'll um make that information

02:12available when we have it. Um flu,

02:14COVID, shingles, RSV, and pneumonia

02:17vaccines, including children's doses of

02:19flu vaccine, will be available at both

02:21locations. Um and the middle school

02:24vaccination clinic on November 3rd is,

02:26of course, on election day and it's

02:28conveniently located near to the polling

02:30station. Um so hopefully you can get two

02:32errands done in one go. Thanks.

02:35>> Great. Thank you.

02:38All right. Do we have uh select board

02:41announcements, comments?

02:43Any?

02:45I'm seeing none.

02:47Do we have any up Oh, Don?

02:51>> Sorry, I was looking for my little hand

02:53button. Um I just wanted to let everyone

02:55know that uh we did finalize the MOU

02:59with Sherborn Commons.

03:02>> Okay, great. Thank you.

03:03>> Just update.

03:04>> All right.

03:07All right. So, do we have any updates on

03:09public comments? I don't believe we do.

03:11Oh, okay.

03:13>> Just There were no questions asked last

03:15week, so.

03:15>> Exactly.

03:16All right. So, we have public comments.

03:18Is there anyone that would like to make

03:19a comment? It's not on our agenda.

03:28Okay.

03:29>> Good evening, everyone. Campbell Sutton.

03:31Um so, I just had a couple quick things.

03:33Uh before leaving last week's meeting, I

03:36thanked Rick Sears for all of his work

03:38putting together what you guys have been

03:40going through in terms of project

03:42listing, costs, etc. I really

03:45appreciated the process and appreciated

03:47the um

03:48public nature in which it's been

03:50happening. So,

03:51thanks to him and thanks to you guys for

03:53putting that together.

03:55Um one of the things I wanted to comment

03:57on was also at last week's meeting. I

03:59believe there was a hearing for

04:02that structure thing

04:04um over there and there was some

04:06discussion after the decision about

04:09looking at um

04:13how that uh process or maybe how fines

04:17are levied or what have you. And I

04:18thought

04:19um more than how fines are levied, I was

04:23thinking more about the process and that

04:25maybe um

04:28you know, having the hearing and not

04:30making a decision right then and there,

04:32but having the time to actually think

04:34about it. I was thinking like the

04:35Supreme Court where you know, you don't

04:37hear any more arguments once the public

04:40hearing is or it's not public hearing,

04:42but once hearing is closed, you've taken

04:44information that gives you time to chat

04:47about it among yourselves at during the

04:49week. You can come back the following

04:51week or something with a decision

04:54because I think that helps um

04:59I don't know it's not really leveling

05:01the playing field, but I think even I

05:03went home and you know

05:05by 2 days later had a different thought

05:07than I did when I was in was in here and

05:10I just thought well, that might be

05:12um instead of changing the structure of

05:14the fines, maybe look at the process

05:17instead. So, that's my 10 cents.

05:19>> Okay.

05:20>> Thanks.

05:20>> Thank you, Campbell.

05:23>> Mr. Baraka.

05:26>> There it is.

05:28Is there any and someone has to tell me

05:29if there's anyone online?

05:30>> All right, so I'm just going to there

05:32is, but um

05:33the clock is not cooperating with me. I

05:37am trying to stop it on

05:38>> Can you do this in 3 minutes, Tom?

05:39>> Yeah. So, I'm just going to set a timer

05:42on my phone.

05:43Okay, give me 1 second, Tom.

05:45>> Before you set start the clock

05:47technically, a person coming up for

05:49public comment does not have to identify

05:51themselves

05:52by first amendment right of freedom of

05:54speech. Just so you know, that's

05:56precedent, but Thomas Barrett, anyway,

05:59I'll let you know.

06:00Um

06:02Don just said the MOU's been signed and

06:04agreed. I saw that she I have a copy of

06:07the MOU here.

06:08And I guess she signed it the other day

06:10electronically. But I have a question.

06:13We're given We're given RSC, which is

06:16the residents of Sherborn Common, that's

06:18what they're called in here.

06:19Uh and as-built survey. So, at the end

06:22of it, if we go over our survey size,

06:25we're going to be paying $51 a square

06:27foot of anything over that. How do we

06:30come up with $51 a square foot? I'm on

06:32the real estate assessment committee,

06:34and we sell property town mutual land

06:36for a dollar on on the paper streets.

06:39The other question is that the town's

06:41obligated to pay them at October 31st or

06:4430th

06:45$2,240,000.

06:48I know where the 200,000 came from. I

06:51don't know what the other 2,000,040

06:53thousand is for. The 200 was the

06:56the negotiated amount from couple weeks

06:59ago. The other one is the town the town

07:02pay payment of RSC of a one-time impact

07:05fee of $4,000

07:07for the costs and impacts that shall

07:09arise from the town's construction of

07:11OUI beyond the original 55,000 square

07:15feet. And it may include residents

07:17quality of life, loss of natural

07:18vegetation green, as well as other

07:20financial impacts to RSC. So, now we're

07:23paying them another 4 million that I'm

07:25just getting word of. Then we've also

07:28waived our annual the RSC's annual

07:31obligation to pay a 1% of operating

07:34revenue until year 2108.

07:3882 years of no income from them coming

07:41from them.

07:42The other thing we got is that we have

07:44to build a road on the back end of the

07:46property cuz we're closing the main

07:47road. We have to build it to their size.

07:50It has to be 20 ft. It has to have

07:51gravel. Also has to have two gates. The

07:54kicker is it's going through the mass

07:55Massachusetts natural heritage and the

07:57endangered species has to be uh

08:00permitted. So, we have to go through

08:02that and that's all under the town

08:04obligation and probably ConCom because

08:06of that. Not sure, but maybe ConCom

08:09because

08:10it's pretty close to the pond there.

08:12Uh also the town's going to at their at

08:14our own expense, we're going to design

08:16and construct the new buildings for the

08:17employee housing. But then, we're only

08:20going to we're only going to lease it to

08:21them for a dollar a year. So, I guess

08:23we're making a little money back.

08:26Also, the town

08:28will determine the commencement date of

08:30the construction of OUI, but will ensure

08:32that RSC employees will not be displaced

08:36from their housing during construction.

08:38We have two employee houses over there

08:40that are going to get moved because we

08:41have to build it there. But then, they

08:43want us to make sure that we have

08:45employee housing for them on site before

08:48our construction begins.

08:50Is that

08:50>> [clears throat]

08:50>> like what's the time frame on that?

08:52So,

08:54that's it. I mean, there's other stuff

08:55in here. There's put options,

08:57restrictions, and stuff, but that's just

08:59basically the chunk of money there that

09:01um a lot of us didn't realize that that

09:04we're going to be paying $4 million on

09:06top of $2 million

09:07on top of the

09:08>> Can you tell me that

09:09>> $200

09:10>> We you we got you and and we don't

09:11answer as you know tonight.

09:13>> I know, but but

09:13>> But we will next we will.

09:15>> But the the mutual agreement was was it

09:17said it until October 30th.

09:19>> Next, we've got to move on.

09:22Thank you.

09:28>> Hi, Amy Eldridge.

09:29I kind of wanted to tandem off of

09:31Campbell Sutton's comments.

09:34Um I

09:35I think I was a little

09:37about two times the penalty for the um

09:42Poseidon's um

09:44project over there at the old Downey

09:46flake site. And I didn't understand, I

09:49guess, that the permit fee had not been

09:52paid and that's part of his 60 plus

09:55thousand dollar fine.

09:58I would have thought it would have been

09:59two times including that cost and it

10:01should have been somewhere in the 90

10:02thousand dollar range cuz two times the

10:05cost of the permit should not include

10:07the permit.

10:09So, there's a lot of confusion there. I

10:10didn't fully understand

10:13that he wasn't paying. That was the main

10:14part of the fine. That fine also

10:17included a permit he was going to have

10:19to pay for anyway.

10:21And then

10:23to tie it in with Mr. Barada,

10:25I asked some of these questions at the

10:29meeting a few weeks ago when they wanted

10:31Sherborn Commons wanted the extra money.

10:33Were they going to come back in the

10:34middle of this to complain about noise

10:37and the dump trucks and the construction

10:38sound and I was told that that may that

10:42would be included

10:43in the signing of this agreement and

10:45that at the end of the project there

10:47would be like a survey to find out

10:48whether or not Sherborn Commons was

10:50going to get money from us

10:51for whatever reason or would there be a

10:54back pay of money to the town, but it

10:56sounds to me like we're committed to

10:57four million dollars to make sure that

10:59they're they're happy and okay and that

11:03I wasn't very much aware of either and

11:04if we're going to build them a new

11:06building, why aren't we moving the

11:07housing that they currently have for

11:09their employees

11:11to somewhere on the property and reuse

11:14those buildings instead of the town

11:16taking them for employee housing at

11:17waste water

11:19instead of

11:20building something that those buildings

11:22aren't that old. So, I just I don't

11:23understand all this. And is any of this

11:26money

11:27captured in that amount that we were

11:30told at town meeting that everybody

11:32voted on or is this going to be some big

11:34whammy that we all find out and go

11:36"Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm

11:38blindsided." because

11:39what I just heard tonight is shocking

11:42and it scares me because now

11:45that's more money to the tax base that

11:47we weren't aware of when we initially

11:49voted for OIH. Thank you.

11:51>> Thank you, Amy.

11:54Is there anyone else online?

11:57>> There is an

11:59Arlie Francois.

12:06>> Okay.

12:07Arlie?

12:09Are you there?

12:12>> They have to unmute.

12:13>> Can you unmute, please?

12:22Hello.

12:24All right, we'll move on. Is there

12:25anyone else?

12:26>> No.

12:27>> Okay.

12:29Approval of minutes, warrants, pending

12:30contracts.

12:34Okay, so let's do uh

12:36minutes and warrants first. Motion to

12:38approve. Is there a second?

12:41Okay, let's do uh Dawn.

12:46>> I.

12:47>> Brooke.

12:48>> I.

12:49>> Bobby.

12:50>> I.

12:50>> Jill.

12:51>> I.

12:52>> And I vote I. That's 5-0.

12:54Okay, contracts.

12:57>> Okay, on contracts, one is a

13:00uh

13:01want to pull out the solid waste cuz

13:02I'll work you on that. And the other

13:05contract I want to talk about is the

13:08contract for TRC.

13:10And I think

13:12I had [snorts] some questions about

13:13that.

13:14And I think Andrew might be on or he's

13:17here.

13:17>> He's online.

13:18>> Okay, great. Thank you.

13:21Um

13:22so Andrew, I only got to quickly read

13:25this contract. I got it late in the day.

13:27Um

13:28But it looks like this is to

13:31kind of take all the data you have for

13:33testing and put it into one software, is

13:37that right?

13:38>> I think that's a great description of

13:40it.

13:40>> [laughter]

13:42>> Um and so you have like about 1,150

13:46samples. You're going to

13:49And is this going to help you also

13:50report to the state?

13:53>> Yeah, this this will ensure that we have

13:56valid data that is defensible and

13:59actionable.

14:00>> So how do you report to the state now?

14:04>> Uh we have our contractors do that. Um

14:07they send um a report. It usually has

14:11sometimes literally thousands of pages

14:13of data attached at the end of it. Um

14:16and we have different contractors

14:18working on different sites around the

14:21island. They collect data in sometimes

14:24different ways and we want to

14:25standardize it and get it all in one

14:27place.

14:28>> Right, is that the EarthSoft software

14:30and then you're trying to go to EQuIS or

14:32is EarthSoft work with EQuIS? That's

14:34what I couldn't figure out.

14:36>> Those those are one in the same. I can't

14:37remember which one is the company and

14:40which is the software that they offer,

14:43but it they're they're one in the same.

14:45>> And then so with TRC what you what

14:48you're really doing from what I could

14:50understand and I want you to correct me

14:51if I'm wrong

14:52is that you are going to kind of use

14:55TRC's license to see if you like this

14:57software.

14:59Is that

15:00because it said you'll have to you'll

15:02have to get your own license later.

15:03Yeah?

15:05>> We found it was cheaper to have TRC

15:07start by keeping the license and having

15:09us not procure the license.

15:12>> Right, but going forward um

15:15do you know how much the license will

15:16be?

15:18>> Um we have a quote that's somewhere, but

15:21um again we opted to have TRC

15:25um, purchase it.

15:28>> Oh, you would still have them purchase

15:29it, but that would be additional cost

15:31for phase two, I think. Yeah.

15:34>> Phase two is year two.

15:38Let me see.

15:43Yeah, I I can't remember off the top of

15:44my head when we purchase it.

15:47You'd have to look at the contract.

15:49>> going to make sure that you like it,

15:50that you're that you can migrate all the

15:52software and get it together. So,

15:55I guess for me,

15:56when I read this,

15:58it's it's

16:00and I'm not saying that you don't want

16:01to have one place to put all the data.

16:04Um, I understand that, but

16:08to combine all this software, I guess

16:10technology is just moving so quickly,

16:12and so it just occurs to me that, you

16:16know, isn't there a way to combine some

16:17of this software ourselves?

16:20And I mean, I

16:22we just might it might be a little too

16:23early to say that, but I combine PDFs

16:27and Excel spreadsheets all the time, and

16:30I'm, you know, probably not nearly as

16:33computer savvy as you are.

16:35Um,

16:36and I I'm just concerned about this

16:38going forward being something that we're

16:40locking into when it's something that I

16:42feel like technology might replace it,

16:44but

16:45that might be a little early.

16:48>> I think I think I think

16:54Go ahead.

16:56>> I I think it takes a good amount of

16:57expertise to combine these. Just having

17:00different, um, environmental media

17:03sampled, and we did consider, um, other

17:05vendors as well, and this one came out

17:08on top.

17:11>> Okay.

17:12>> All right, thank you.

17:13All right. Tom, do you have a comment on

17:15this?

17:15>> Yeah, I I have a I have Thomas Barrett.

17:17I have a comment on the this discussion

17:20here.

17:21Uh

17:22first question is is what most important

17:24question I have is

17:26I have a client I've I'm working on

17:27trying to find a PFAS situation at a in

17:29a neighborhood and I'm going and I'm

17:31going to be going through all the town

17:33records for the well permits and

17:35everything to see and also the sales of

17:38real estate where they did PFAS test to

17:40determine what the numbers are within a

17:42within an

17:43uh area that's of question.

17:46Um is this data going to include all the

17:49well testing that the real estate agents

17:51have to do on the sales and all the all

17:54the information that's at the health

17:55department in regard to the PFAS

17:57testing? Will that be included in that?

17:59Number one, number two,

18:01I'm from AS400 days and SQL Server and

18:03all that. Are we going to own the data

18:05on our servers or is it going to be in

18:07the cloud under somebody else's access?

18:10And are we going to have it or do we

18:12have to license the data once it's put

18:14in? And who's going to be putting all

18:16this data in? Is it going to be

18:17dedicated staff here or is it going to

18:19be outsourced? And also you said

18:22something about a phase two. How many

18:24phases are there and what's the total

18:26cost of this program to get initiated

18:29and

18:30basically finalized? I mean, we're still

18:32paying for the map geo system every

18:35year, so is this going to be a

18:36continuous expense throughout or are we

18:38just going to have the data and we enter

18:40it ourselves and we don't have to pay

18:42licensing fees or anything like that?

18:44Thank you.

18:47>> You want to try to You want to Do we

18:48have the remember those?

18:51>> Sure, I'll I'll take a stab at it. Um so

18:53first it will include the department

18:56that goes through the health department

18:58for new wells and for um property

19:01transfers. We have that data but is not

19:03currently integrated with our other data

19:06sets, for example, our wastewater data

19:08set. Um if anyone does, you know, need

19:11access to data that's from a property

19:13transfer, can always reach out to me.

19:16Um

19:19We we will have to pay for this

19:21continuously.

19:23Um we have three phases mapped out and

19:26um at any time we'll be able to access

19:28the data um and download it and keep it

19:30with us. This is putting it all in one

19:32place and eventually we'll be able to

19:35just download it and we can take it

19:36ourselves. This is helping us get

19:38greater access to our data, not less.

19:42>> All right, so so eventually Andrew, what

19:43you're saying is if someone like Tom

19:45comes in and says, "I've got a property

19:46in this area and I'm wondering what that

19:48is going on the area." We'll be you'll

19:50know that?

19:52>> Well, he knows it.

19:52>> Yeah, it'll be in one place, nice and

19:54easy.

19:55>> This is This isn't for the public.

19:57>> Yeah, okay.

19:58>> You have to get trained on this system.

19:59>> Yeah.

20:00>> Correct.

20:01>> And then he said he said who's going to

20:03own it? Who's going to enter the data?

20:05That was one of his questions.

20:07>> TRC's going to do it.

20:08>> They're going to enter it.

20:10In phase two

20:11>> And they have They have algorithms that

20:13do it because it's a lot of data.

20:16>> Yeah.

20:17Okay, good. I think that answered all of

20:19them.

20:21All right, any any other questions on

20:22this?

20:24Jill, you said you wanted me to

20:27recuse from the

20:28>> Yeah.

20:28>> Okay, so I'll make a motion to approve

20:30all the contracts with the exception of

20:32the

20:32>> Van Buren.

20:34Right?

20:34>> Van Buren.

20:36>> The Van Buren contract.

20:36>> Van Buren, right. But I I I'm I'm not

20:39going to support this one either for

20:40TRC. So, if you pull that one.

20:42>> Okay, so we'll vote on that one

20:43separately. So, I'll I'll make a motion

20:45to approve everything except the TRC and

20:48the Van Buren contracts, right? Do we

20:50have a second?

20:51You can vote on this, Jill. I pulled

20:53those two out.

20:55Yeah.

20:55>> Sorry, I thought you were doing those

20:56first.

20:57>> Uh Brooke, do you have a question?

20:58>> Second that, Matt.

20:59>> Uh no, I'll second it.

21:01All right, so all right, Brooke.

21:04>> Aye.

21:06>> Don.

21:06>> Aye.

21:08>> Bobby.

21:08>> Aye.

21:09>> Jill.

21:10>> And I vote I, so that's 5-0. So, now

21:12let's vote on the other two. All right,

21:14so let's take the

21:16uh

21:17waste options first, which is that's the

21:19one you're going to recuse from. So,

21:21I'll make a motion to approve that one.

21:23All right, do you have a second?

21:23>> Second.

21:25>> Okay, so let's vote on this. Don.

21:28>> Hi.

21:29>> Brooke.

21:30>> Hi.

21:31>> Bobby.

21:31>> Hi.

21:32>> And I'll vote I, it's 5-0. Okay. Let's

21:35go back to this TRC contract cuz I do

21:37have one question.

21:38>> Okay.

21:38>> Um Andrew,

21:40this is a 3-year contract and this is

21:42the total is 302,000.

21:44There is a phase two and possibly a

21:46phase three. What happens if we decide

21:48we just want to do this for 3 years?

21:51We don't want to go to phase two.

21:53>> Um phase two is year two and phase three

21:55is year three.

21:56>> So, is this 300 a year?

21:59>> No.

21:59>> One year or is it

22:00>> No, it's 300,000 total for 3 years.

22:04>> all three phases. Okay, so reasonable.

22:06There's a phase two and a phase three,

22:07but it's included in this amount. Okay.

22:09>> Yes, that's correct.

22:11>> But we don't have the money going

22:12forward if we want to keep the license

22:14up, so that's just something to

22:15consider.

22:16>> And how much does it cost a year to have

22:17the license?

22:20Do we know?

22:20>> You don't have that

22:21off the top of my head, but

22:23>> So, I guess if we pay for it for 3 years

22:27and after 3 years we end it,

22:29do we still own the data or is the data

22:31theirs?

22:33>> We would still own the data.

22:35We currently own it. It's just in

22:39different places and then this would put

22:40it in one place and then we would own it

22:42in one place afterwards.

22:44>> Yeah, but everything we have that's in

22:46the cloud, I mean, it's in the cloud.

22:47Like

22:48>> [laughter]

22:48>> it doesn't we own it, but we don't own

22:51the cloud. So, all and all the

22:52technology we're dealing with is facing

22:54that. So,

22:56here here's the thing. He this is coming

22:58from a million dollars of funding

23:00for

23:02P

23:03PFAS and adjacent

23:05you know, services to provide it. So, a

23:06third of that money is going to this.

23:09And I

23:11I just my gut says that we could

23:13probably find something a little cheaper

23:16than hiring these people for $100,000.

23:19This is I know there's a lot of backup

23:21data to it, but ultimately we we don't

23:23have

23:24that many samples, right? It's just my

23:27gut. I'm going with my gut and I feel

23:29like we could probably find something

23:30less expensive.

23:36>> Did this go to bid or or is this just

23:39And they were there any other bidders or

23:41are they the only ones?

23:42>> He did Andrew, he did say he did say

23:44that. Andrew?

23:46>> It didn't go to bid, but we did look at

23:48other technologies and the other ones

23:50were not as good as this one. They were

23:51not satisfactory, to be frank.

23:55>> And is are there are there Do you have

23:57any concerns that we're spending a third

24:00of you know, 30% of the million dollars

24:02on this one

24:04you know, this one aspect?

24:07>> Well, we'll be taking data from other

24:10Pfas appropriations. So, those are well

24:13north of the million dollars. So, the

24:15wastewater data that has been collected,

24:17data from the landfill, data that's

24:19collected for our real estate

24:21transactions, even data that MassDEP is

24:24continuing to collect. So, you know,

24:26there's several different data streams

24:28um

24:29representing well more than a million

24:31dollars, but we have a million dollar

24:33appropriation.

24:37>> And this And this consolidates all those

24:38data streams into one.

24:42>> That's right.

24:43>> Okay.

24:47What's the will of the board? Do we have

24:49a motion?

24:51>> Yeah, this is just again, I'm going to

24:52make one more comment about it and I'll

24:53shut up, but this is really about this

24:56is the kind of thing I would like to see

24:57in an operating budget. This money is

25:00borrowed. We're borrowing money for

25:01software licenses. Like that to me is

25:04just also wrong. Like I I have huge

25:06problems with that. So,

25:09maybe going forward that license would

25:11be in the budget, but I

25:13borrowing money for studies is a really

25:15bad idea. That is just bad fiscal

25:18policy. So, I'm a no.

25:22>> Is it This is a This is money that we've

25:23already set aside for for

25:25>> It's been authorized.

25:26>> It's been authorized, but hasn't been

25:27borrowed. Okay.

25:29>> I'm going to move approval.

25:32>> Okay. That Brooke moves approval. Do we

25:34have a second?

25:41Okay.

25:41>> Second it.

25:43>> All right.

25:44All right. All right. So, we've got a

25:45second.

25:46All right. Brooke?

25:48>> I.

25:49>> Don?

25:50>> I.

25:51>> Bobby?

25:53>> I.

25:54>> Joe?

25:55>> No.

25:57>> And I'll

25:58uh

25:59I'll vote I.

26:01All right. That's 4 1.

26:06Okay.

26:09Where are we now? Let's see.

26:10>> That's the contracts are done.

26:12>> Yep.

26:13Yep.

26:15Town manager's report, credit reports.

26:20Where are we?

26:22Oh, sorry. There we are. I'm My eyes.

26:25Town clerk.

26:29Request for approval, state election

26:32election warrant, review of the early

26:33voting options.

26:35>> I don't see the town clerk on or

26:36present, but um you've got a

26:38>> I I am I am here online.

26:41>> are? Good. Okay.

26:42>> know. Yes. Yeah. I'm here on the phone.

26:44I'm sorry.

26:45Uh yes, it's just simple. They're

26:48they're required by MGL that we approve

26:50the warrant for November 3rd, and that's

26:52really all I've got.

26:54>> Okay.

26:54>> Motion to approve.

26:55>> All right. Second.

26:57>> All right. Second. Online, Brooke.

27:00>> I.

27:02>> Don.

27:02>> I.

27:03>> Bobby.

27:04>> I.

27:04>> Jill.

27:05>> I. [clears throat]

27:06>> And I vote I.

27:07Okay. Number two, review request for

27:10waiver of town noise bylaw. Yeah, thank

27:12you.

27:16>> So, you have a request for a waiver of

27:19the town noise bylaw to allow RW Brian,

27:23who is a subcontractor for Comcast

27:26to undergo undertake night work from

27:3011:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. It's one night.

27:33Um

27:34and

27:37the request actually said for tomorrow

27:41through Friday. Um I would ask that you

27:43be flexible with that date because

27:46obviously with the weather we're having,

27:48they're not going to be able to do that.

27:50Um

27:51and we also have

27:54um Mike

27:56get Guyer from Comcast who can review

27:59the project.

28:00>> I don't

28:01Do we need

28:02>> I I don't know.

28:02>> Do we need Does anyone want to

28:04>> Uh I'll make a motion to approve

28:07um

28:08with the flexibility of dates but as

28:10long as it's not on a weekend.

28:12>> I don't imagine they're going to work on

28:13the weekend.

28:13>> What's the 22nd? It's It's a Thursday.

28:16Um

28:16>> Mike, does that work for you as long as

28:18it's it's weekday work?

28:20>> Or weekday night work?

28:21>> Yes, that's fine. We actually uh moved

28:23that date to the November 19th to the

28:2520th.

28:26>> All right.

28:26>> Uh for scheduling purposes.

28:28>> So, I'll make

28:29>> Cuz we have to notify appropriately our

28:31our customers on our end.

28:33>> How about motion to approve but keep the

28:34date flexible? They they've got that

28:36scheduled, but if it needs to be

28:38>> I'll make a motion to approve it.

28:39>> Second.

28:40>> All right. All right. Brooke.

28:42>> I.

28:43>> Don.

28:44>> I.

28:45>> Bobby.

28:46>> I.

28:47>> Jill.

28:47>> I.

28:48>> And I vote I.

28:49>> Thank you.

28:49>> Can I make a comment, Mr. Chairman? Um

28:52I know that

28:53night work is not

28:56the preferred method, but the reality is

28:58with the amount of people that we have

28:59living here now and the amount of

29:00traffic that we have, a lot of this

29:02stuff

29:03should really be moved to night work.

29:05Um it's a little bit of noise, but

29:08it's uh

29:09the the inconvenience to the traffic and

29:11the people trying to get around this

29:13island in the day

29:14far exceeds the discomfort from the

29:17noise in the evening. So.

29:18>> And this was also Hopefully we see more

29:20of this. This was in This was downtown

29:23and would impact having Comcast down

29:24would impact businesses and homes down

29:27there. So, this was important to get it

29:29done while the majority people are

29:30sleeping. So.

29:32>> Great.

29:33>> So, that's important.

29:35>> So, Mike, um we'll have R. W. Bryant

29:38just adjust their permit or I can do it

29:40once I've If you can email me the the

29:42new dates.

29:44>> I will do that. Yeah. Thank you so much.

29:46>> Thank you.

29:46>> Have a great Thank you. Appreciate it.

29:48Have a good night.

29:49>> All right. Same.

29:50>> All right. Town manager's report.

29:52Preliminary view of town sponsored

29:54warrant articles.

29:57>> Okay. So, we started this review a

29:58couple of weeks ago with what I'm

30:00calling outline number one. This is

30:02outline number two and I've highlighted

30:03all of the items that have changed or

30:05been modified or

30:07uh updated since your prior meeting on

30:10this.

30:11So, I'm just going to point out some

30:12Some are very minor and more notes to

30:15myself for warrant preparation purposes

30:17than anything needed for you.

30:20Um

30:21I

30:22forgot to put in the

30:25list there uh the senior work off annual

30:27appropriation. That's just an annual um

30:30article.

30:31And then item 24 it is highlighted. It's

30:35not really new. It's the Community

30:36Preservation Committee annual

30:39appropriation article, but the finance

30:40director has pointed out some

30:42reorganization

30:44language and and just structure of the

30:47actual article for transparency

30:49purposes.

30:51And in those new items listed below

30:54there, there's been a request from the

30:55airport to dissolve the fuel revolving

30:57fund, and we're having a meeting later

31:00this week with finance and town council

31:02to discuss that because that was

31:05actually done through special

31:06legislation, so we want to make sure

31:08that we really are sure we want to do

31:11that and need to do that because we're

31:13never going to get special legislation

31:14again if we dissolve it now.

31:18There are a couple of articles for that

31:21relate to the municipal aggregation

31:23operational adder. That was a revolving

31:26fund, and there's been some state law

31:28changes that negate the allowance for a

31:32fund like that, and instead, we are

31:35looking to establish a new special

31:37stabilization fund for the transfer for

31:40the operational adder revenue to go

31:42into. It will require a town meeting

31:45vote to get them funding out when we

31:47need it. And there will need to be a

31:49vote to transfer the funds from the

31:50revolver to the new stabilization fund,

31:52and again, that's due to some mass

31:54general law changes.

31:56Um zoning bylaws, so I asked the

31:57planning director to come tonight and

31:59review the concept list that's in your

32:01packet. There are mostly zoning articles

32:04and there are a couple of non-zoning

32:05articles that we have talked with her

32:07about. So, Leslie.

32:09>> Okay.

32:10Uh Leslie Snell, director of planning.

32:12Um

32:14I'll just run through the list really

32:15quickly. Um map changes, um we have some

32:18continued RC and RC2 phase out. Um the

32:21Rosebud Forest Ave Hinsdale Road

32:25neighborhood, we've been working with

32:26that family for quite a while to try to

32:28work out something out. That may or may

32:30not be something that we move forward

32:31with. There's one remaining parcel in

32:34Teasdale Circle that needs to be

32:35rezoned. We've also been working with

32:37that property owner. I think we will be

32:39moving forward with that. Um there was

32:41some discussion with the DPW director

32:44about a possible re-zoning out at

32:47Shadbush for the DPW facility. I'm not

32:49sure that that's needed or not, but

32:50that's on the list just as a

32:52placeholder.

32:54Um bylaw changes, a lot of these are a

32:57result of legislative changes that we

32:59need to implement into our zoning bylaw.

33:02So we have some continued implementation

33:05of the accessory dwelling unit and the

33:06seasonal communities legislation.

33:09Um there's some legislation pending

33:10right now that would allow duplexes in

33:13all zoning districts across the state.

33:15So if that happens, we would need to

33:17implement that as well. We already allow

33:20duplexes in most residential zoning

33:22districts, so I don't really see that as

33:24a big impact here.

33:26Um the planning board's interested in

33:28proposing an article that new secondary

33:31dwellings would have a year-round

33:33restriction. I mean there's been a lot

33:35of discussion about the need for

33:37year-round housing that's not

33:39necessarily income-restricted housing.

33:41So um

33:42I think we're going to see how that

33:43goes.

33:45Storage containers, um right now you can

33:49have one by right for 12 months during a

33:51construction period. Um construction's

33:54not really clearly defined in the bylaw

33:57and a lot of times, you know, people

33:59need more than one during construction

34:01to keep their materials out of the

34:02weather and and safe. Um so the idea

34:05there would be that the building

34:07commissioner could provide an extension

34:09and that they would need to go to the

34:10planning board for a special permit.

34:13Um section 8C secondary lots.

34:17Um this is sort of a

34:20covenant program 2.0 idea where um to

34:24incentivize people to create these and

34:26to

34:28you know, add more units to the covenant

34:29program. Maybe there's a ground cover

34:31bonus in certain zoning districts.

34:34Um

34:35New bylaw year-round lot creation,

34:38that's part of this 8C. We need to vet

34:40that a lot more.

34:42Um formula business, I think we all know

34:44that there's been a lot of discussion

34:45about formula businesses and about

34:47pop-up businesses. So, we're thinking

34:50this would probably be a combination of

34:53a zoning bylaw amendment to tighten

34:54those regulations up and probably an

34:57amendment to the general bylaw. Megan

34:59and Adele and Amy have a meeting set up

35:02to talk about that through licensing,

35:04but that's again just in concept.

35:07Um technical changes.

35:09Town meeting removed the tertiary

35:11dwelling from the bylaw, but there's

35:12some lingering references to it. So,

35:14those need those need to be removed.

35:18Um chapter 139 section 32, um that's the

35:22variance section of the zoning bylaw.

35:24The legislature, as of July 1st,

35:27approved a new 40A section 10 with new

35:30standards for variances. So, we need to

35:32implement those in our local zoning.

35:34Same with

35:36um 133 non-conforming structures.

35:38There's some new statutory regulations

35:40for that that are not optional. And same

35:43with 133 abandoned uses and structures.

35:47Um non-zoning, um chapter 124, that

35:51addresses some HDC

35:54uh

35:56rules, I guess.

35:58And that's really, I think, primarily a

36:00reorganization. It's called roofs,

36:03satellite dishes, and roof lines. If you

36:05were a citizen just looking in our

36:06bylaw, you would uh probably not think

36:09to look there for random HDC

36:11regulations. Also, the notice

36:14requirement for certain types of work is

36:18very unclear. So, that needs to be

36:20tidied up.

36:22And there's some repetitive information

36:23in there. If it's in the enabling act,

36:25it doesn't need to be repeated in our

36:27local bylaw.

36:29Um, the fire retardant shingles section,

36:32um, chapter 117,

36:34um,

36:35that's needs some more discussion, but

36:37we believe that to be in conflict with

36:40the state building code and it shouldn't

36:42be in our local bylaw because it's

36:44regulated by the state already. Um,

36:47municipalities are not allowed to be

36:48more strict than the state without

36:51getting special

36:53uh, approval by the building board of

36:55regulations and standards.

36:58That's the same thing for chapter 128,

37:00trench safety.

37:02That's completely covered by the state

37:04building code and we don't need that

37:05locally.

37:06And then, um,

37:08streets and sidewalks, chapter 127,

37:11sections 19 and 20.

37:13Um,

37:15that subsection of chapter 127, I'll

37:18just point out, specifically says is

37:20intended as an interim control on the

37:22construction of public roads pending the

37:24completion and implementation of the

37:26Nantucket plan, that which was done

37:28around 2000.

37:30It reflects the policy that Nantucket's

37:32road system

37:33should not be expanded to accommodate

37:35traffic growth on the island until a

37:36plan is adopted to deal with such

37:38growth. Work already under contract and

37:40roads required by the planning board for

37:42subdivisions are not affected by the

37:44article.

37:45So, this was approved via article 75 in

37:481997.

37:50I think we could probably all agree a

37:51lot has changed on the island with

37:53traffic and growth since 1997. A lot of

37:55different plans have been approved.

37:58There's the comprehensive plan around

37:592000, the 2009 master plan, now the 2026

38:03master plan. We've adopted numerous

38:05long-range transportation plans, capital

38:08improvement plans, and I think the

38:09message that I hear or heard from the

38:12current board or members of the board at

38:14one of your recent sit meetings is that

38:16you're interested in trying to solve the

38:17traffic problems. And some of the things

38:19in in really limit that.

38:22So, it's that I think we should take a

38:23look at and see if there are um changes

38:26that can be made.

38:28>> Great. Thank you.

38:29Any Bobby?

38:30>> Uh

38:31just a quick question, Lisa, cuz I don't

38:33even know if this

38:34falls under zoning or not, but I'm going

38:36to ask it. When someone has a building

38:38that

38:39they want to either

38:41give away

38:42it

38:43and if not, they can't give it away, it

38:45gets torn down, right? Is that Do we

38:47have a bylaw that says they have to try

38:49to Is there a minimum or maximum amount

38:51of time, minimum amount of time they

38:52have to try to give that building away

38:54before they can tear it down?

38:55>> Yes, so that is in zoning, it's the

38:57demolition delay bylaw. It was recently

39:00sort of comprehensively amended by town

39:02meeting. So, I don't know the dates and

39:04stuff off the top of my head like I used

39:05to. Um but it's for residential reuse

39:08only. So, it doesn't apply to something

39:10that's not a dwelling and it doesn't

39:11apply to commercial. So, it doesn't

39:13apply to play sheds or garages or

39:15outbuildings, it's just dwelling units.

39:17>> Okay. What I would like to see, I don't

39:19know if we can do this or not, is

39:22say Matt's got a building and he wants

39:25to try to get rid of it. And he tries to

39:27give it away and he can't. No one wants

39:28it. It's too big or it's just too old or

39:30whatever.

39:31I'd like to see before he get it go say,

39:34whatever the date is, on December 1st,

39:36he can tear it down because no one wants

39:37it. I would like to see at least a

39:392-week, ideally maybe 3-week add-on to

39:43give the fire department a chance to

39:45train on these buildings.

39:47Every fire department on the mainland

39:48can go to the academy and they can

39:50practice spending roofs and crawling

39:52through buildings and doing searches. We

39:54don't have that here. We did it on the

39:56old Downey flake building. I remember

39:57watching all the guys up there and I

39:59talked to them all afterwards and they

40:01said it was

40:02a huge for them because they just don't,

40:04you know, they don't they don't get to

40:06practice it in a slow motion. When

40:08there's a fire and they're trying to put

40:09a ladder on the roof and vent that roof

40:11and, you know, they got their tanks on,

40:13adrenaline, and smoke, and everything

40:14else. If If could just add a few weeks

40:16to each one of these buildings, it would

40:18give the the chiefs a chance to set up

40:21drills and these guys could go through

40:22these buildings. They're going to get

40:23torn down anyway, so let them cut them

40:25up, but I don't know if we have to do

40:26that as a bylaw.

40:29>> We've looked into that before. It was a

40:30while ago. I I can't remember like what

40:33the issue was, but I'm happy to look

40:35into it again.

40:36We And and work with the fire department

40:38on that.

40:38>> A win-win for everyone if we could do

40:40that.

40:40>> Definitely.

40:42See if that's an option.

40:43>> Uh um just

40:45>> Yes. Let me just

40:46>> Just on that particular item, maybe with

40:48respect to the additional time to be

40:50added before

40:51instead of automatically requiring

40:54additional time,

40:56the fire department could do an

40:57assessment of the building

40:58>> See if it's worth doing it.

40:59>> to see if it's worth doing it. So then

41:01>> There may be a way to word it and have

41:03that happen as opposed to cuz not every

41:05building might be worth

41:06>> we can't use that building for that

41:08then."

41:09All right, I'll I'll reach out to the

41:10fire chief and see

41:12what the options are there cuz I do

41:13remember looking at this before for all

41:16the details.

41:19>> Mary Longacre

41:21and then Tom Barrett after.

41:24>> Thank you. So um I I appreciate the

41:26opportunity for the fire department to

41:28practice and get better at their job. I

41:30think that's a great idea, but we also

41:33have um

41:35just interest [clears throat] in the

41:36community about being able to reuse

41:39materials from a structure, so it's not

41:41torn down, um but if you burn it, then

41:45there's there's no way to reuse the

41:46materials, so I would hope that

41:49>> They wouldn't light on fire, Mary.

41:50>> Yeah, Mary. Yeah, Mary, his I think he's

41:52talking about uh they're not going to

41:53burn them down.

41:54>> They're They're going to go through and

41:56they're going to

41:57practice searches and cut holes in roofs

42:00and not not not light anything on fire.

42:04>> That's good to know cuz I was I was

42:06seeing fire.

42:07>> Yeah, I

42:08don't know them.

42:08>> fire

42:10Okay.

42:11>> Ray might want fire, but

42:13I would say

42:14then

42:16if if we're looking at additional

42:17opportunities for buildings that are not

42:20wanted, that we also look at material

42:23reuse at the same time. It just is an

42:26opportunity to get two things done at

42:28once if we're looking to make changes.

42:30Thank you.

42:31>> And I know that Remain is working on a

42:33materials reuse campaign, so anyway,

42:36that's another topic. Throwing it in. Go

42:37down a

42:40>> Is there anyone else online?

42:42No, all right. Tom, do you have a

42:43comment?

42:48>> Well, speaking of fires,

42:52I just I looked for the packet online. I

42:55couldn't find it. I guess the link's not

42:57there, but anyway,

42:59speaking of fires, the

43:00your

43:02the veranda fire.

43:04Downtown has fireproof or fire resistant

43:07shingles, and now there's word she just

43:10said that we're going to take that out

43:11as a bylaw because the the state doesn't

43:14require something.

43:16We need fireproof We need fire resistant

43:18shingles out here big time. We We

43:21We were so lucky on the veranda. If they

43:24we had wind, that fire would have ripped

43:26right across town. We don't have

43:28resources. We don't have abilities. So,

43:30we should as a town go to the state and

43:33request it as a law through the

43:36statehouse that we have to have it. We

43:39shouldn't just say, "Oh, well, the state

43:40doesn't require it, so we don't do it."

43:42And then makes it cheaper for builders.

43:44They should be required for fire

43:46resistant shingles because one day we're

43:49going to have a massive fire here, and

43:50we're not going to have the resources.

43:52And that fire's going to rip right

43:54through this town, and we all know it,

43:56and the day's going to happen, and I

43:57hate to think about it, but we have to

44:00be prepared. I remember being on the

44:03patio at lunch at the Brotherhood and

44:05looking up in the rainstorm, and the

44:06water was pouring through the roof

44:08because of all the embers that came from

44:09the the the

44:11veranda. And all those downtown shingles

44:13are all fire resistant. If those embers

44:15had landed on roofs, maybe more houses

44:18would have burnt down there. Just

44:19saying. Thank you.

44:20>> Thank you, Tom.

44:22Is that where you Is that Is he correct

44:24in his assumption?

44:25>> I I just maybe want to clarify what I

44:26said. I I'm not suggesting that fire

44:30retardant shingles not be

44:32required, but they're required in

44:34certain situations under the building

44:35code. And I'm not a building code

44:36official, so I don't want to get into

44:37details. We can have the building

44:39commissioner come if you guys want to

44:40get into that.

44:41>> I'm sure it'll be debated every

44:43>> My understanding is that the arbitrary

44:46districts that we have are the issue.

44:49>> Right.

44:49>> And so when a decision comes forward and

44:51they're required, they'll be required.

44:52It's just the way we've gone about it.

44:54>> So what you're saying is they still may

44:56be required downtown because of

44:57separation and danger and everything

44:59else.

45:00>> Right.

45:00>> Okay.

45:01>> I I That would be good.

45:02>> I mean, I get what Tom is saying 100%.

45:04So, you know, if like if it's a wood

45:06roof and it's downtown or it's in the

45:08Corcoran Center, if it's not in the

45:10building code,

45:11which I'm sure we'll debate this heavily

45:13when we get to the point before it comes

45:15to town meeting and maybe even on town

45:17meeting floor, maybe we do need to go

45:19and ask for home rule petition because

45:20of the density in the situation that we

45:22have here. Um I can't remember off the

45:24top of my head what is in the code. I

45:26know that

45:28we have it in the our historic

45:29districts. That's our map, but I think

45:32it's something to do with the proximity

45:33to the house the building next to you as

45:35to what is required for a fire

45:36retardant, but

45:38um

45:39I agree with you, Tom. I get it. I get

45:41what you're saying. Yeah.

45:42>> Yeah.

45:43>> I I don't want to sound like I'm

45:44discouraging fire shingles. That's

45:46That's not what I

45:47>> I agree, but I think

45:49I think we should expand it a little

45:50bit. I mean, if you're on a 5,000 square

45:53foot lot and you have a 5,000 next to

45:55you and a 5,000 next to you, that should

45:57be required. I mean, we're creating all

45:58this new zoning by down by up-zoning or

46:02down-zoning, depending on which person

46:04you talk to,

46:05um

46:06we're we're putting everybody on the

46:08postage stamps. That That should be

46:10required to have fireproof or

46:12fire-resistant shingles. So, maybe we

46:14should expand that a little bit.

46:15>> Well, we might we will we have to look

46:16into it. We may We already That may be

46:18required. And so, and that will be

46:20understood when we get to the article, I

46:22would assume.

46:24Um Anyone else on these?

46:26>> Not on the zoning. I I have a couple,

46:28Libby, that came up at SHAB yesterday

46:31that uh

46:32they wanted to resubmit. So, one is a

46:36resubmittal, and I Dave Franzel brought

46:38this up. He was on SHAB before I was on

46:40SHAB, but it

46:41SHAB has a unique problem. So,

46:45because we're an elected board,

46:48you can't

46:49My so We have two scallopers on the

46:51board, myself and Jim Sherlin. Because

46:53we're an elected board, we can't be

46:55given

46:57waivers to vote on things that have We

46:59have financial interests in because

47:01we're elected. If we were an appointed

47:02board, like we appoint all the other

47:04boards, we we could go ahead and vote on

47:06them.

47:08So, whenever we have anything to do with

47:10scalloping, we have to recuse. Um

47:13there was an I guess Dave said at one

47:15point we put in a home rule petition

47:17that went through the legislature to

47:19amend it so that we you could have

47:22experts on this board and still be

47:23elected. And it got all the way to the

47:25governor's desk, and at the time, I

47:27don't know who the governor was. I think

47:28it was um it had been Charlie Baker.

47:30Charlie, for whatever reason, it it did

47:32expire. He never signed the the home

47:34rule petition.

47:35Dave would like to see and the members

47:37of SHAB would like to see that

47:38resubmitted because every time we have a

47:40scallop issue now,

47:42uh Jim and I recuse. So, um

47:45So, that was the one. The second one

47:48was um

47:50the no-wake buoys in the channel one. We

47:53want to move them farther out to try to

47:55slow the high-speed ferries down to

47:59um

48:00we're

48:01we're pretty confident that the wakes in

48:03the high speed ferries are causing

48:06a degradation to the eelgrass along

48:07Halibut Avenue and and in the horseshoe.

48:09So, we want to push the buoys farther

48:11out. I I thought that we could just do

48:13it, but Dave says he thinks it needs a a

48:15town a charter change or town meeting

48:19vote. So, those were the two that came

48:21up at Shab yesterday.

48:25>> Yeah, that's interesting on the wake.

48:27>> Yeah, for some reason Dave thought it

48:29was a bylaw that where they where

48:31they're placed. So, we want to move them

48:32out about another 150 yards.

48:34>> Yeah. Yeah, and you can tell when they

48:36when they they where they slow down and

48:38it's pretty we're pretty close by the

48:39time they Yeah.

48:42>> Okay.

48:43Any other comments?

48:44>> Matt?

48:45>> Yep.

48:46>> It's Brooke. I wanted to ask Bobby um

48:49uh through you

48:52does Shab have an opinion on whether

48:53that board should may continue to be an

48:56elected board or not cuz that may be

48:57another

48:59avenue to solve the dilemma.

49:01>> It came up and they were very adamant

49:04that they want to still be elected.

49:06>> Okay,

49:07that's fine.

49:09Just thought I'd ask.

49:10>> Yeah, I asked the same question cuz I

49:12said it would simplify things, but they

49:15all felt comfortable or they felt

49:17they felt better about being elected by

49:19the voters than just being appointed.

49:22>> Okay, thank you.

49:24Any other comments on this?

49:27>> Yeah, I'll I'll look into those two um

49:31items.

49:33Okay, so a couple updates about home

49:35rule petitions.

49:36Uh the Community Housing Bank. So, as as

49:40I've noted here in this

49:42document

49:44all of our current

49:46pending home rule petitions, if they are

49:48not enacted by December 31st, 2026, will

49:52expire. So, we will have to re-vote them

49:53at town meeting. So, we will you won't

49:55need to take real hard action on these

49:58until then. And what which point we'll

50:00know if they've passed or not. However,

50:03just so you know what might be coming,

50:05the uh community housing bank is

50:07recommended for resubmittal.

50:11The sewer act amendment, I just struck

50:12that out there cuz that has actually

50:14been enacted. The government study

50:16committee recommendations, that's the

50:19uh petition that's

50:20has the 25 signature issue I mentioned

50:22earlier. It's pending governor sign-off.

50:25The And these are things you will have

50:27to decide on at some point, whether to

50:29resubmit or not. The fertilizer ban,

50:31that's gone through a couple of town

50:32meetings. It hasn't moved anywhere in

50:34the legislature, but it would need to be

50:36renewed.

50:38Uh real uh real estate commands that I

50:40had listed on here for 35 Grove Lane,

50:41that's a transfer uh property from town

50:44to land bank. That has been enacted. The

50:46planning commission enabling act and

50:48amendments, they were approved at the

50:50last year's town meeting, 2026.

50:52Have not been enacted acted upon yet. In

50:54fact, Leslie and I were talking today,

50:55we don't even think there's a bill

50:57number yet. Pension obligation bonds,

50:59these I I mistakenly inadvertently

51:03overlooked putting this on the list last

51:04week, so I've just added it. That still

51:06hasn't been enacted after several town

51:08meetings.

51:09And there is a new uh item that I asked

51:12the housing director to be here for to

51:14to briefly summarize, to authorize the

51:17town to issue general obligation bonds

51:18for general housing purposes. This has

51:20come up with a couple of housing

51:22projects and it's been a real issue, and

51:24the advice is to seek a home rule

51:25petition, but

51:27you might explain.

51:28>> Yeah. Thank you. Kristy Ferrantella, the

51:30municipal housing director. Um so, as

51:33you're aware, town meeting has

51:34authorized uh several funding options

51:37for affordable housing and borrowing. Um

51:40we've been able to use this to acquire

51:42land and to do pro- and to do projects

51:44to date, and what we've run into

51:45recently is some of the challenges under

51:48state law. Um, Mass General Law chapter

51:5144 section 7 lays out what a

51:54municipality can borrow for. So, we can

51:56borrow, you know, for a wide variety of

51:59things and we can borrow to acquire

52:01property and we can borrow to build on

52:04that acquired property, but we cannot,

52:06um, just borrow for general affordable

52:09housing projects. And the recent example

52:12where this came up was at the project

52:15we're working with Housing Nantucket on

52:167 Dooley Court. And when looking at the

52:19whole project, the town could buy 7

52:22Dooley Court and issue an RFP and have

52:24somebody like Housing Nantucket respond

52:27to that RFP and then, um,

52:29go on and do the construction or the

52:30town could do the construction itself.

52:32We were trying to take the town out of

52:34that equation and the public procurement

52:35laws. And if you do that, then we can

52:39only participate by participating at the

52:41amount of the affordable housing

52:42restriction.

52:44So, it's

52:45it complicates it that we can't

52:46contribute what we'd like to contribute

52:48to a project to make it financially

52:49feasible. We can only contribute for the

52:52interest in real property, which is

52:53defined as an affordable housing

52:55restriction.

52:56And so, as costs get more expensive on

52:58Nantucket or there's other opportunities

53:00and partners to work with, we want to be

53:01able to be flexible like the CPC where

53:03you can help in different programs like

53:05there's rental assistance through the

53:07CPC and there's other ways that CPA

53:09funds can be used for housing and that

53:11same general law doesn't apply in in

53:14general affordable housing terms. Um, so

53:16what we've done is we've been working

53:17with Senator Cyr's team for the last

53:20year really exploring if other towns

53:22were having this problem. Boston's

53:24actually brought this up almost a decade

53:25ago that all other

53:27states have the issue have the allowance

53:30to issue a general obligation bond for

53:32general housing purposes. Um, but

53:34Massachusetts doesn't. So, we tried to

53:36get it enacted through the seasonal

53:37communities, um,

53:39legislation. So, we're still working

53:41that avenue at the state, but we wanted

53:43to put in a placeholder for a home rule

53:46petition that we would basically ask to

53:47amend

53:49the

53:50chapter 44 section 7 to allow general

53:52purposes so that we could do

53:54construction loans or anything else with

53:56private developers to help create

53:58affordable housing.

53:59and attainable housing.

54:02>> Okay. Thank you, Christie. Any

54:04questions?

54:05>> Yeah, no, I'd just like to see the list

54:07of what other communities have done and

54:09you know what that applies to cuz it

54:10sounds like the list is pretty long

54:12about what that can be used for.

54:14>> For other states that have been able to

54:15use it.

54:16>> Yeah.

54:17>> Sure.

54:18>> Good.

54:20All right, Libby, next.

54:22>> Okay.

54:23>> [sighs and gasps]

54:25>> Next, real estate related, I added and

54:28this is kind of a work in progress.

54:31I added the highlighted items there,

54:32easement conveyance to the national

54:34grid. There were about seven and and I

54:36need to

54:37review some articles that the real

54:39estate um manager sent me today. I have

54:42not done that yet.

54:44And then financial and or ballot

54:46questions, not This is These have all

54:47been on here. They were on outline

54:49number one. I struck the operating

54:51override for the sewer enterprise fund

54:52given the discussion of um a couple

54:54weeks ago. And I added school central

54:57office improvements question mark

54:59because we don't exactly know how that

55:01will be funded. Um and there may be

55:03existing capital

55:06articles to reappropriate and or free

55:07cash, but it is unknown at this moment.

55:10So, I just tacked it on here so we

55:11wouldn't

55:12lose track of it.

55:14And we have prior year uh

55:16reappropriations pending.

55:18So, that's

55:18>> Chris

55:19>> That's all we have now and you're get

55:21you'll get another one of these with

55:22some updates in 2 weeks.

55:25And I think unless you all I I it is

55:28very helpful to get direction from you

55:30as to yes, we want to move forward or

55:32no, we definitively, absolutely do not

55:35because I do need to start drafting some

55:37of these and I don't want to waste a

55:38whole bunch of time drafting something

55:39and then you say oh yeah we don't want

55:41to do that anymore.

55:42Or oh wait we did want to do that. So so

55:46it's good to get some direction as

55:48soon as possible. But so far that's

55:51where we are.

55:52>> Are there any more board thoughts,

55:54comments on this?

55:55>> I was just going to say I was going to

55:57say exactly what Libby asked like do we

55:59want to set a deadline for these debt

56:01exclusions?

56:02I know where I stand on them.

56:04So.

56:07>> Well you you will have a deadline

56:10in January.

56:11>> Yeah.

56:11>> But we didn't want to create work for

56:13you that you don't want to do is what is

56:15how I was thinking about it.

56:16>> Well um

56:17it's not that I don't want to do it.

56:18>> to well that you shouldn't have to do I

56:20shouldn't.

56:21>> That um there are a lot of things to do.

56:24Um but technically you do have a little

56:26time. And you don't have to it's not

56:30that big of a deal

56:31to add or take off

56:33ballot questions because those are

56:35pretty easy to write and with the

56:36wording of them.

56:37>> have the amount of money on them.

56:38>> Right.

56:38>> home rule petitions, those kind of

56:40things, right?

56:41>> Yeah. Yeah.

56:43>> Okay. And I have just one comment on the

56:46state change the the the whole idea that

56:49by changing the rules and allowing

56:51duplexes and third second dwellings and

56:53third dwellings and fourth dwellings and

56:54etc. etc. is going to

56:57create housing out here is

56:59I think it's a faulty idea and it's and

57:01it's forcing us to you know add density

57:05even though we've already you know add

57:06units and add density even though we've

57:08already done that.

57:09And

57:11and it and

57:12we're not charging enough. So everything

57:14we're adding we're losing money. You

57:16know we're we've got a structural

57:17problem with our finances

57:20and and it's because of what's happening

57:22and it's what's been happening for 30

57:24years and so I I think the state

57:26imposing that on us now

57:28it's troubling to me. So I I when the

57:31planning board looks at it, they really

57:32drill into what the impact will be and

57:35is there a way, you know, do we

57:37you know, do we take away some of the

57:38stuff we already have because they've

57:39added something on, sort of like we did

57:41with tertiaries, you know, and I know

57:43that they're talking about that, but I

57:46hope we drill down into it and

57:47understand it because

57:49I I think

57:51it's it's going to cost us a lot of, you

57:53know,

57:54a lot of character and a lot of money

57:58and it and it it might not

58:00give us really help us. So, anyway, just

58:03a general comment.

58:04>> Can I ask you about that?

58:05>> Yeah.

58:05>> I get it on the character, 100% totally.

58:08But, what do you mean about losing the

58:09money?

58:10>> I I think what happened when they start

58:13forcing us to, you know, sort of

58:15uh you know, sort of pick a large lots

58:18out in the hinterlands, if all of a

58:20sudden we've got to service those and we

58:21have to put things in because they want

58:24there you know, you have to have a

58:25duplex if you want it and you have to

58:26have this and that, then all of a sudden

58:28we've got to you know, either bring

58:30services there, big

58:32bring bigger roads, you know, it's sort

58:34of and start spending, you know, and and

58:37those things don't happen

58:39uh like what you each house that you

58:40build, you you don't get a little extra

58:43money and then you have a pile of money.

58:45It you you build you build you build and

58:46then all of a sudden you have a big

58:48expense. It's like look at the school,

58:50you know, you don't get a little bit of

58:52you don't build, you know, 10% of the

58:54administrative building every year, you

58:56go on for 20 years and then you have to

58:58build an administrative building. And so

59:00you get these and you get these big

59:02expenses that are due and I think that's

59:04what we we've dealt with it a lot of

59:07ways by, you know, deferring it as long

59:09as we could, but now we're at the point

59:11where we can't defer a lot of these

59:13things anymore. And and how and now

59:16we're stuck trying to figure how we're

59:17going to pay for it. And I think it's a

59:19structural problem and it's you know,

59:22anyway.

59:23>> Yeah.

59:24>> So.

59:24>> Thank you.

59:25>> Yeah.

59:25>> I just want to understand that better.

59:27>> Campbell, do you have a comment?

59:29>> I do. I almost forgot what it was

59:31because I was so wrapped up in what you

59:33were talking about from the state cuz I

59:35have really had a um

59:38just in my own mind and working through

59:40things, I have not appreciated the

59:43state's approach to downward pressure on

59:46communities throughout with what seems

59:49to me to be very little

59:52forethought as to how this is going to

59:54affect

59:56uh communities throughout the state.

59:59They just like seem to think up here,

1:00:01okay, and it'll rain down and everything

1:00:03will be good and I can check my box

1:00:07and everybody else now has to worry

1:00:09about it. So, I really have not

1:00:10supported any

1:00:12motions that the state has made on that.

1:00:15Um and I forgot

1:00:17because of that I forgot what I was

1:00:19going to say. Um oh, I know. So, in the

1:00:22home rule petitions, I know there's one

1:00:24that's been fairly contentious with the

1:00:26NP and EDC over the years and we have

1:00:28passed things and um they have been

1:00:34uh

1:00:36not passed and so then we'll put

1:00:38something else up and I think the last

1:00:39thing we put up is the one that's coming

1:00:42up pending for this year and I'm just

1:00:45wondering if um

1:00:48what the thoughts are on that one with

1:00:50the NP and EDC and whether there should

1:00:52be

1:00:53um citizens petition that's

1:00:55you know, where we should be alert to

1:00:57that and and submit that uh home rule

1:01:02petition

1:01:04again for

1:01:05uh the coming warrant. Did that come

1:01:08out? Did anybody You got that? Okay.

1:01:10Thank you.

1:01:10>> we got it.

1:01:14All right.

1:01:15Amy?

1:01:16>> Amy Eldridge, I just wanted to kind of

1:01:19tag him off Campbell. I'm I'm really sad

1:01:21at the hard work that Nantucket has done

1:01:24with tertiary dwellings and everything

1:01:27and then all of a sudden the ADU thing

1:01:29came down and that was kind of a

1:01:30nightmare. And now we have this zoning

1:01:32thing where we've we've

1:01:34we've kind of set the standard for the

1:01:35state, but the state's not looking at us

1:01:38or the Cape or the Vineyard and going,

1:01:39"Hey, kudos. We love what you did. We're

1:01:41going to take your plan and we're going

1:01:42to run." No, we're just going to dump a

1:01:44whole general

1:01:46thing on you that then messes up the

1:01:48hard work that we've done as a community

1:01:50to

1:01:52put in place

1:01:53affordable housing and dwellings for our

1:01:56children to live in in our yards. Now

1:01:58you now you now you're like

1:02:00densifying areas that shouldn't be that

1:02:03dense by allowing potential

1:02:06last year with the ADU thing, four

1:02:09dwellings on certain-sized lots. And I

1:02:12think that we get

1:02:16we get

1:02:17taken advantage of for all the good work

1:02:19that the community does in this area

1:02:22because the state neglects to look

1:02:25at what communities are already doing

1:02:27and we're being penalized for the good

1:02:28work that we do. So, I think that

1:02:31it would behoove us to,

1:02:33you know,

1:02:35call the state and say, "Listen, like we

1:02:37we're already doing this. You're

1:02:38creating a huge debacle for us

1:02:42by adding these on and not looking at

1:02:43the communities by

1:02:45town by town by town by town because

1:02:48there are towns that aren't doing

1:02:49anything, but we're in a position where

1:02:51we don't have the land, we don't have

1:02:52the space, and this comes out and it

1:02:54looks like it's a free for all for

1:02:55building. And so,

1:02:57like Matt said, how do we then afford

1:03:00to have We're going to have to have 150

1:03:02firefighters and 200 police officers

1:03:05because now we're going to end up with

1:03:0750,000 people living here year-round?

1:03:09Like it's just crazy that like we try to

1:03:11do all these things to help our

1:03:13community and now we're being,

1:03:16you know, caught up in all these new

1:03:17government rules because we kind of get

1:03:20forgotten cuz we're 30 miles out to sea

1:03:22and they don't apply to us. Thank you.

1:03:24>> All right, thank you. I just want to

1:03:27you're all chirping at the wrong people.

1:03:30If you don't like what the state's

1:03:31doing, call your state representatives.

1:03:34You can stand up here in a soapbox and

1:03:36you can complain about what the state's

1:03:37doing to us. We have to live with what

1:03:39the state does.

1:03:41And we can't do anything about it. So,

1:03:43call

1:03:44your congressman and call your state

1:03:46representative and at them cuz

1:03:49they're the ones that don't listen to

1:03:51us.

1:03:52We don't like these rules any more than

1:03:53you do, but there's nothing we can do

1:03:55about them. So,

1:03:57we're just going to have to live with

1:03:58them. We can try to change our zoning

1:04:01and bylaws to

1:04:03take the least amount of

1:04:06abuse out of these rules, but these

1:04:08rules are coming down and we can't do

1:04:10anything about it.

1:04:11So.

1:04:12>> That's what I was going to say. The The

1:04:13only thing we can do is amend ours to

1:04:15reflect that.

1:04:16>> Exactly.

1:04:16>> And which is what we're trying to do.

1:04:18>> Exactly.

1:04:18>> And we've got to do it quickly because

1:04:20then it's grandfathered and then you've

1:04:22got it. So.

1:04:23>> These politicians are running for

1:04:24election. They don't care about towns,

1:04:26they care about votes and they think

1:04:27this is what gets them votes. So, this

1:04:29is the reality of the world.

1:04:31Doesn't matter whether it's state,

1:04:33federal

1:04:34or in some cases even local. That's just

1:04:36how it works.

1:04:37>> Can we move on to here?

1:04:39>> May I say something?

1:04:40>> Sorry, Don. Go.

1:04:42>> Um I was actually go- going to echo

1:04:44Bobby in a slightly different way that

1:04:47we potentially as a board should write

1:04:50some

1:04:52additional letters to our

1:04:53representatives and

1:04:56lobby for a carve-out for the islands,

1:04:59possibly the Cape and the islands

1:05:01to have some kind of an opt-in or

1:05:05allowances for us to put restrictions or

1:05:07guardrails on some of these provisions

1:05:10that apply very differently to us than

1:05:12they do

1:05:14to towns in Central Massachusetts.

1:05:18>> And

1:05:19>> That's a good suggestion, Don.

1:05:21>> Can I add, Matt? Um um yes, adding our

1:05:24collective voice on the board, but I can

1:05:26tell you that um

1:05:29I have spoken to our representatives

1:05:31myself and expressed my dismay about

1:05:34these things and um

1:05:37there is

1:05:38solid work happening around the season

1:05:40with the seasonal communities

1:05:41designation to create the carve-outs

1:05:44that Don's talking about, and I want to

1:05:46give some credit to Meg Trudell in the

1:05:49planning uh office, our deputy planning

1:05:51director, as our representative on the

1:05:53seasonal communities

1:05:54uh working groups with the state. She

1:05:57has been advocating on our behalf, and

1:06:01there are things coming. Um

1:06:04allowances for us to put year-round

1:06:06restrictions on ADUs.

1:06:08Um

1:06:09And when the duplex bylaw came across my

1:06:12bow, the first thing I did was arrange a

1:06:14meeting between Meg and

1:06:16um

1:06:16Senator Sears' legisla- now um

1:06:20she's the lawyer, Meg Rubera, who uh I I

1:06:23don't know her title currently in Julian

1:06:26Sears' office, but there are just to to

1:06:29to um

1:06:30let the community know, there are

1:06:32conversations happening between

1:06:33Nantucket and the legislature.

1:06:36And to add to Bobby's point, adding your

1:06:39individual voices in that advocacy

1:06:42is valuable. You know, the our

1:06:44legislators will hear from want to hear

1:06:48from not just the five of us and Meg and

1:06:51the and the planning department, but

1:06:52from from the community at large. So,

1:06:54take what you're saying now and stick it

1:06:57in an email to to our uh senator and our

1:07:02I I think they are advocating for us

1:07:05um

1:07:06in an environment where there there are

1:07:08351 communities represented in the

1:07:11legislature and we do get forgotten and

1:07:15I think the seasonal communities has

1:07:17given us a new voice and we are trying

1:07:19to use it to the greatest extent

1:07:20possible. So, um, fear not, we are

1:07:24working on it, all of us in our own ways

1:07:26as well as, um,

1:07:28you know, asking you to do your part

1:07:30individually and I'm speaking to the

1:07:31community at large.

1:07:33>> All right, thank you, Brooke.

1:07:35>> Charity has her

1:07:36>> Charity, would you Charity Benz?

1:07:42>> Yeah, uh, thank you very much. Uh, I

1:07:44think all of your,

1:07:46um,

1:07:49hopeful suggestions

1:07:52do you credit,

1:07:54but I have to say I don't think

1:07:55anybody's going to have much sympathy

1:07:57for Nantucket and whatever you

1:08:01can do

1:08:03locally

1:08:05to try to ameliorate

1:08:07uh, the pounding we're going to get

1:08:11would be very good. Thank you. Bye.

1:08:13>> All right, thank you.

1:08:16All right.

1:08:17All right.

1:08:18Can we move on to the deer?

1:08:20All right.

1:08:22All right, discussion regarding deer

1:08:24population in the town of Nantucket's

1:08:26role in management efforts and

1:08:27associated public health and economic

1:08:30concerns.

1:08:32>> Uh, just to give a a tiny little intro

1:08:34about this. Um,

1:08:35myself, the health director and the

1:08:37board of health chair met a little bit

1:08:39about this and I've talked with a couple

1:08:41of others of you about it. There's been

1:08:43some articles in the paper about efforts

1:08:45and

1:08:46I

1:08:47I think that I've also kind of heard

1:08:49from some citizens that they don't

1:08:51they're not quite feeling like there's a

1:08:53a town group that they can go to to

1:08:56express concerns, share ideas, find out

1:08:59what we can and can't do with the deer

1:09:02population and there are also obviously

1:09:04economic concerns in addition to public

1:09:06health concerns. So, we were discussing

1:09:08perhaps the Board of Health could

1:09:11establish a group or become part of an

1:09:13existing group that can share

1:09:15information publicly about

1:09:18what efforts are underway, what can and

1:09:20can't be done, who's doing what, that

1:09:23sort of thing so that there's a very

1:09:24transparent and clear understanding in

1:09:27the community about

1:09:30again, really what we can and can't do.

1:09:31This is very much largely regulated by

1:09:33the state. This town can't do a lot on

1:09:36its own. Um, there are some efforts

1:09:38underway which I think probably people

1:09:41know about. I don't know if the entire

1:09:43community is very familiar with them.

1:09:45But, I think this might come up in a on

1:09:48an upcoming Board of Health agenda. And

1:09:50so, I just thought in conjunction with

1:09:53the chair and vice chair that it might

1:09:54be good for the board to have a um

1:09:57some input or feedback on

1:10:00what sort of group to get together or

1:10:02join that might already be doing

1:10:03something.

1:10:05>> And just for people to know, the Board

1:10:06of Health has sent all the restaurants

1:10:09information on alpha-gal alpha

1:10:11the alpha tick

1:10:13uh

1:10:14the alpha-gal and how you deal with it.

1:10:16How how to as a restaurant how to

1:10:19segregate and clean your

1:10:21utensils and make sure that you don't

1:10:23have meat touching other things, etc.

1:10:26Because, you know, and on the Vineyard

1:10:27it is a lot worse already than it is

1:10:29here. And the Vineyard menus have things

1:10:33that are alpha tick proof.

1:10:34So, so people can eat at the

1:10:36restaurants. And so, you know, it's

1:10:37starting here and I think you know, but

1:10:40they're and they're already sending out

1:10:42information on it.

1:10:44Which is interesting.

1:10:47Yeah, Brooke.

1:10:49Do you have a comment, Brooke?

1:10:51>> Uh yeah, I wanted to

1:10:53I said uh quite a bit about this when we

1:10:55first talked about it. Um

1:10:58recently, uh there there's an extensive

1:11:01effort to increase um

1:11:05to foster increased hunting and uh deer

1:11:08population reduction that's been going

1:11:10on for quite some time

1:11:12uh in collaboration between um

1:11:15the conservation

1:11:17organizations, Land Bank Conservation

1:11:18Foundation, um all of the land owners in

1:11:22that sphere, um in coordination with um

1:11:26representatives from MassWildlife,

1:11:29um Act Deer is a new organization that

1:11:32is um

1:11:33helping coordinate this effort. Uh so so

1:11:37there's a lot of work happening and

1:11:38there regular meetings happening where I

1:11:41think what's missing is the

1:11:43communication through

1:11:45um to ensure that that the town, as it

1:11:49were, um is aware of tracking and, you

1:11:54know, sort of keeping track of all of

1:11:56those efforts that are happening in the

1:11:57private sector in conjunction with the

1:11:59regulations at the state level, right?

1:12:01So so the mechanisms for reduction of

1:12:04the deer population really rest in the

1:12:07hands of property owners in conjunction

1:12:09with permanent from the state, um but

1:12:12the coordination of information about

1:12:15hunting and inclu- that this includes

1:12:17the um venison um program, Hunters Share

1:12:20the Harvest, and I believe that the uh

1:12:25program has received half of the number

1:12:28of deer they received the full

1:12:30program last year. So the rate is

1:12:33accelerating in terms of that program,

1:12:35but we all pretty much understand that

1:12:38um

1:12:40there's probably mechanisms to increase

1:12:42of the take and the and therefore the

1:12:44population reduction. So so I'm thinking

1:12:48where does it sit? There's a public

1:12:50health component of this, obviously,

1:12:52with tick-borne diseases and um um

1:12:56and there's, you know, what I would

1:12:58refer to as the economic consequences,

1:13:00which definitely don't fall under the

1:13:02health department or the Board of

1:13:03Health, and that would be, you know,

1:13:05damage to landscape, um

1:13:07collisions with deer, you know, vehicle

1:13:10damage, um injury related to deer

1:13:13collisions.

1:13:14Um

1:13:17but I would love, you know, Bobby,

1:13:19you're sort of well-suited to this

1:13:21because of your

1:13:22um role on the Board of Health and as a

1:13:26hunter on Nantucket, you know, to

1:13:31maybe guide us in what's the best way to

1:13:34either bring a subset of a very large

1:13:36group that's working on this project to

1:13:38meet with the town so that that transfer

1:13:41of information about all what they're

1:13:43doing comes through and then and then we

1:13:46at the select board level can get

1:13:48regular updates on what's happening and

1:13:52therefore communicate through to the

1:13:53public. Um while the town itself doesn't

1:13:57necessarily have a role in deer herd

1:13:59reduction, that we're keeping track of

1:14:01it and we're doing, you know, we're

1:14:03engaging in it from a public health

1:14:04perspective, but also um

1:14:07facilitating the dissemination of

1:14:09information about the efforts that are

1:14:11happening. So, I'm not sure what the

1:14:12best mechanism is. Bobby, maybe I'm I'm

1:14:15asking you um what you think in terms of

1:14:18the Board of Health or or you

1:14:19personally. Sorry to put you on the

1:14:21spot.

1:14:22>> All right, Bobby, do you want to

1:14:23>> Um

1:14:24Well,

1:14:25yeah, um

1:14:27you know,

1:14:29we have the hunters here to thin the

1:14:31deer herd, and now that we have the

1:14:32process in place to take the venison, so

1:14:35it doesn't get wasted, it's not a matter

1:14:38of

1:14:40um

1:14:41lack of I guess the issue is not the

1:14:44hunters or having hunters. The issue is

1:14:47access to where the deer really are. Um

1:14:51you know, the

1:14:52the open spaces behind

1:14:55the Conservation Foundation land, the

1:14:56land bank land, those areas get hunted

1:14:58pretty heavily.

1:15:00Um and the deer herd in those areas, I

1:15:02bet if you went in there it was far less

1:15:04than what you would think it would be.

1:15:07Um Middle Moors is a perfect example.

1:15:10You know, we take

1:15:11the group of guys that I have with hunt

1:15:13we take 50 deer out of there in the

1:15:15first week of shotgun season. If you go

1:15:17out there, I don't think you have

1:15:19seven or eight deer per acre. But if you

1:15:22drive down the Polpis Road, the entire

1:15:25left side of the Polpis Road from the

1:15:27from the lumber yard all the way to the

1:15:30golf course is unhuntable. It's all

1:15:32posted land.

1:15:33You have big tracts of land like the

1:15:36Audubon land,

1:15:37uh the Linda Loring Foundation, they're

1:15:40all posted, unhunted.

1:15:43Um

1:15:44and then you have all the land along

1:15:46Cliff Road on either side, Bram Point.

1:15:49Um there are deer The deer have They've

1:15:53domesticated themselves. You know, you

1:15:55when I leave here tonight, I'll see

1:15:56probably three between here and the

1:15:58rotary.

1:15:59Um

1:16:00but those deer can be hunted. All it

1:16:03takes is a homeowner to give a hunter

1:16:05permission and with archery equipment,

1:16:08it's very safe to hunt in close

1:16:10proximity to homes.

1:16:11Um

1:16:12so it's just a matter of getting

1:16:16homeowners to give permission to a

1:16:17hunter and connecting the hunter with

1:16:18that piece of property. The

1:16:21Um the first step I think is to just

1:16:23uh I'm going to

1:16:25get a hold of Officer Wright this week

1:16:27and

1:16:27get him

1:16:29with him to write a generic permission

1:16:31slip

1:16:32that we can maybe put on our website

1:16:36through the Board of Health that people

1:16:37can download and then they can

1:16:39they can fill it out, they can get the

1:16:41hunter to sign it, and then they have

1:16:43permission to hunt in that property.

1:16:44Squance, it's another area, you know,

1:16:46the the deer are the bulk of these deer

1:16:48or a lot of these deer are in the areas

1:16:50where the houses are, and we know with

1:16:51our with our three-acre zoning in the

1:16:54outlying areas, you can't really go in

1:16:56there and hunt with a gun, but you can

1:16:58go sit in somebody's backyard and shoot

1:16:59a deer. I mean, and then the deer can be

1:17:02donated to the

1:17:03to the processing plant and and be used

1:17:05as food. So, I mean, there's lots of

1:17:08hunters like myself that after you shoot

1:17:10one or two deer, you don't want to hunt

1:17:11anymore because you you just can't use

1:17:13the meat, but I'll I'll shoot them and

1:17:14I'll give them to the pantry and and

1:17:16they get and it helps to keep the

1:17:18population down.

1:17:19>> Yeah. So, so so far the rate of hunting

1:17:23is not going to reduce the deer

1:17:26population at the at the pace we need

1:17:28to. Just

1:17:29But, Bobby, don't reinvent the wheel.

1:17:31This group that has been meeting, that's

1:17:34coordinated by the Land Bank every

1:17:35Friday, is already working on efforts

1:17:38just like this. So, this is exactly a

1:17:40case in point of us being aware of what

1:17:43efforts are happening around the exact

1:17:46same thing you're talking about, which

1:17:47is

1:17:48um

1:17:50is

1:17:51landowner permission for hunting.

1:17:53Um so, it's already being worked on, so

1:17:55I don't want to I don't want to start

1:17:57anything new. So, that's why I think

1:17:59it's important that we connect with that

1:18:01group that's already meeting and learn

1:18:04about what they're doing um already, and

1:18:08we can amplify their work

1:18:11through the through this board.

1:18:13Um

1:18:14rather than rather than trying to take

1:18:18an an another independent initiative.

1:18:21So, um

1:18:24that's that's

1:18:26There's tons of work being done on this

1:18:28already.

1:18:29>> All right. Thank you, Brooke. We've got

1:18:31a couple of people in the public

1:18:33that we'd like to speak, I believe.

1:18:35>> Um Thomas Beretta, I agree with Bobby in

1:18:37regard. Um, one thing we could do as a

1:18:40town, we spend a lot of money on other

1:18:41stuff, maybe do a midnight flight over

1:18:44the island with infrared and see where

1:18:46the pockets of deer are, so that we have

1:18:49a real actionable map to say, "Listen,

1:18:52this is kind of where they bed down and

1:18:54this is kind of where they are they

1:18:55are." I know they migrate. That's one

1:18:57thing. The other thing is, I've talked

1:18:59to a lot of people that are hunters and

1:19:01they say they want to go out to the

1:19:03lands to go hunt, but they're afraid to

1:19:05because there's too many walkers and

1:19:06there's no designated areas of like on

1:19:09Tuesday, this area we could go hunting

1:19:11cuz there's not going to be walkers that

1:19:13we have to really worry about because

1:19:15it's going to be a closed area.

1:19:17Um, that's one thing that everybody

1:19:19keeps saying is,

1:19:20"I'd love to go, but we've got all these

1:19:22trails all over and next thing you know,

1:19:24you're you're walking and there's

1:19:26somebody coming around the corner cuz

1:19:27you can't see them cuz the the shrubs

1:19:30and they don't feel safe to hunt because

1:19:33there's so many open areas and if there

1:19:35was a way that the big land owners could

1:19:37say, "Hey, on Tuesday, there's no

1:19:39walking in this area." Maybe there'd be

1:19:41more people going out to hunt. So.

1:19:43>> Yeah, thank you.

1:19:47Yeah.

1:19:48>> Mike Legan. Um, I'm a hunter. I've been

1:19:50hunting here for at least 50 years.

1:19:53And I was with the land bank doing the

1:19:54deer damage permit last year and it was

1:19:57a success a little bit. We had our

1:19:58bumps, but like everything else, it's

1:20:00new, so we're trying different stuff.

1:20:03The biggest part is like they said, it

1:20:04open up there's all this land.

1:20:07All this land's

1:20:08you know, posted and that's where all

1:20:10the deer are.

1:20:11And you're not going to get rid of these

1:20:13deer, believe me. They're down at

1:20:15jetties, they're in town, they're here,

1:20:17they're everywhere. So, to get rid of

1:20:20them, you're not going to do it. No

1:20:21matter how much you try, how much money

1:20:23you put in, it's not going to happen.

1:20:26This progress of donating the deer has

1:20:28got a lot of people going out and

1:20:30shooting more deer than they would ever

1:20:31would because they could donate them.

1:20:33So, that was one huge thing. The land

1:20:36bank is unbelievable. I work with them.

1:20:39They're listening to the hunters.

1:20:41They really want to get this thing done.

1:20:43We're trying I'm trying to get them and

1:20:44the conservation together

1:20:46to have a meeting, maybe with for the

1:20:48town,

1:20:49and and discuss all the problems that

1:20:51we're having. But,

1:20:53to get rid of all the deer, you're never

1:20:55going to do it. I don't care what you

1:20:56think. It's not going to happen. It's to

1:20:59open up the land

1:21:01And the state is trying to limit Well,

1:21:04actually, soften the laws.

1:21:07They are supposed to be voting on, I

1:21:08think, in November. I was talking to

1:21:09Sergeant Wright.

1:21:11Lesson with a bow, we can be 100 ft from

1:21:13a house that was 150.

1:21:16Removing that you have to have a permit

1:21:18to use a crossbow. So, it'd be crossbow

1:21:20be legal for everybody.

1:21:21Um and some other things. The deer

1:21:23damage permit, they're starting the

1:21:25state is actually starting to let big

1:21:27property owners have these permits now.

1:21:30Before, they weren't. So, it's another

1:21:32thing they're trying to do.

1:21:34Um but, that's all I have to say. Thank

1:21:36you.

1:21:37>> Yeah, I'll just make a comment. He's

1:21:39100% right. When hunting season starts,

1:21:41the deer come into Coffin Park and Cliff

1:21:43Road. You know, there's probably, you

1:21:45know, five or 10 in the summer, but this

1:21:47time of year, there's like 20 deer.

1:21:49They're not stupid.

1:21:50>> No, I pulled in like I after our meeting

1:21:51last week, I pulled in my backyard, and

1:21:54Brooke and and uh Libby have been

1:21:56talking about it. There was a deer

1:21:57sleeping in my backyard. I got out of my

1:21:59car, and he rustled up, and you know,

1:22:01and walked by me like, "You can

1:22:04>> You just This is a multi-year problem.

1:22:07We're not going to do this all in one

1:22:08season. And this the fact that they've

1:22:10already harvested 50

1:22:12is is huge, and

1:22:15deer season normally ends here on

1:22:16December 31st. Deer season this year

1:22:18goes to the end of February.

1:22:20January and February,

1:22:22when

1:22:23there is not a lot of food, these deer

1:22:25are much easier to hunt. The brush is

1:22:27down. You're And you're going to see a

1:22:29lot more deer killed here this year. And

1:22:31if you kill an extra 150 200 this year,

1:22:34and you do that again next year, before

1:22:36you know it, the herd gets back down to

1:22:38a manageable number. Um and Thomas, we

1:22:41did do an flyover when we were on the

1:22:43When I was on the board with Matt, we

1:22:44did it on a snow-covered day, and we got

1:22:47a pretty good count. And

1:22:49like I said, you'd be amazed. Most of

1:22:51the pockets of these deer were in the

1:22:53areas where the dwellings are. I mean,

1:22:55the deer aren't stupid. They're going to

1:22:57go as far as they have to. You know,

1:22:59they If there's plenty of food in the

1:23:00Matt's yard, they're only going to go

1:23:01100 yards to Matt's yard and lay down.

1:23:03There's There's five to seven living in

1:23:05the in the little swamp behind Hatches.

1:23:07I see them every morning on the way to

1:23:09the boat. And they just

1:23:11they just go in there and they lay down

1:23:13for the day, and then they come out and

1:23:14they feed all night. They love the apple

1:23:16tree over by the old island home. They

1:23:18eat every apple in that tree, so.

1:23:21>> So, Matt?

1:23:22>> Yes.

1:23:23>> I mean, I think the reason I wanted this

1:23:25on the agenda tonight was to figure out

1:23:27what role is the town playing

1:23:31in keeping track of these efforts and

1:23:34help it and like how do we make a plan

1:23:37for us to be engaged in this on an

1:23:39ongoing basis? It has to have somebody

1:23:42assigned to it. I guess is is what what

1:23:45I'm groping for is is where does the

1:23:47responsibility rest? Because there is

1:23:50this great coordinated effort happening

1:23:53already.

1:23:54And I don't want to duplicate effort, so

1:23:57how do

1:23:58Who Who Where in town administration and

1:24:02and town leadership does

1:24:05engagement and reporting back on that

1:24:09process live? Is really the question

1:24:13I had putting this on the agenda.

1:24:17>> Do we want to hear any any of the

1:24:19public? We We don't want to hear from

1:24:21the staff before or to Would you like to

1:24:23speak? Yeah.

1:24:25>> Yeah, and just let's sort of answer that

1:24:27and then we'll come back.

1:24:28>> Okay. Um Joe Watson, uh director of

1:24:30public health.

1:24:31Um so, as you can imagine, since I

1:24:34joined the town in August, tick-borne

1:24:35illness has been

1:24:37I like a number one topic of

1:24:39conversation with pretty much everyone

1:24:41that I've been talking to, whether it's

1:24:43other town staff,

1:24:45members of different boards, or

1:24:47um members of the public, for example,

1:24:49at the Nantucket Cottage Hospital Health

1:24:51Fair.

1:24:52Um

1:24:54and I have been having conversations,

1:24:56for example, with Brooke and Libby, um

1:24:59and

1:25:00um

1:25:01with the Board of Health chair about

1:25:03what

1:25:04the health department's role is in that.

1:25:07Um

1:25:08and as Brooke pointed out, there's a lot

1:25:11of activity happening on the island, and

1:25:15um and I really appreciate Brooke's

1:25:17point about

1:25:19there are some things that are going to

1:25:21be town functions. Like the the private

1:25:24organizations are going to be able to do

1:25:27many, many of the things, and every now

1:25:29and then they're actually going to need

1:25:30the town, for example, to be the

1:25:33organization that's corresponding with

1:25:35the state or with some other official

1:25:38organization. Um I'm really happy to see

1:25:41this conversation happening. Um

1:25:45I have expressed concerns, um especially

1:25:48to Libby, about

1:25:51we as the health department are

1:25:53enthusiastic about doing whatever we can

1:25:55and whatever we have the capacity for to

1:25:57support on the public health side, um

1:25:59but I have expressed concerns about, you

1:26:02know, the economic impact of the deer

1:26:03population

1:26:05not really being within our scope, um

1:26:08and then also

1:26:10things like

1:26:12wildlife management, like land access,

1:26:16like they have a downstream effect on

1:26:19tick-borne illness, um

1:26:21but they're not obviously something that

1:26:24I would have the expertise or

1:26:27the staff to be able to really

1:26:31do meaningful work on. Um so, I'm going

1:26:33to be really, really like happy and

1:26:35interested to hear where this

1:26:36conversation ends up. Um but that's my

1:26:38perspective from the health department

1:26:40side.

1:26:41>> Great. Thank you.

1:26:45>> The Eldridge, um

1:26:48I have a family member that's been

1:26:49battling alpha-gal for 2 years, and it's

1:26:51absolutely excruciating to think about

1:26:53the things in your everyday life

1:26:56that you can't use. Like having to find

1:26:58a compounding pharmacy

1:27:00because you're allergic to the hooved

1:27:03material used in gel caps on Tylenol and

1:27:05your daily supplements.

1:27:08Um

1:27:09granulated sugar can be covered in dried

1:27:12up beef tallow to keep it from clumping.

1:27:15It uses an anti-clumping agent.

1:27:18Um

1:27:19so, it's incredibly distressing. Um but

1:27:22I also don't want to blame the deer

1:27:24for

1:27:25lone star tick. I mean, it got here

1:27:27somehow.

1:27:29The deer aren't hopping on the ferry.

1:27:31People are bringing their dogs. Things

1:27:32are coming from all over the world.

1:27:34But we have rabbits. We have birds. We

1:27:37have rodents.

1:27:39There are other sources for this

1:27:42traveling the island the way that it

1:27:43has. And so, I don't want the deer to

1:27:46become the victim, you know, the the

1:27:48criminals or the villains in this whole

1:27:51tick disease scenario because that's not

1:27:54the only way that it's here.

1:27:56Um

1:27:58I suffer from

1:28:00allergic reactions to the nymph of a

1:28:04lone star tick. It creates a red,

1:28:06painful

1:28:08rash. I

1:28:10Usually like around my ankles. If I walk

1:28:12through my yard, I'll have it if they're

1:28:13on your socks. You don't even know

1:28:15they're on you till you break out with a

1:28:17rash and I went to the walking clinic 2

1:28:20years ago to find out that

1:28:22the doctor there had been treating

1:28:23several people from the land bank and

1:28:25the conservation that work in the middle

1:28:26Moors

1:28:27with it all over their bodies as they're

1:28:30out working and trying to maintain the

1:28:32middle Moors area. And so I think that

1:28:34it's something that we need to look at

1:28:36as a whole that it's not just the deer

1:28:38and how are we going to

1:28:40deal with the actual illness itself when

1:28:43there's multiple sources. Thank you.

1:28:45>> Great. Thank you.

1:28:48>> Mike Reagan, Bobby I talked to

1:28:51Sergeant Wright and the early muzzle

1:28:53loading, I think they got 40.

1:28:55And then last year I think

1:28:58the February or January, February hunt

1:29:00was around 300 extra deer. So that it we

1:29:04have been

1:29:05knocking the herd down, but it's just

1:29:08the warm weather

1:29:09with no snow

1:29:10they've got plenty to eat, plenty to

1:29:12hide. It's just they're just re you

1:29:14know, reproducing quicker than we can

1:29:15shoot them.

1:29:17So I it's going to be a long process,

1:29:19but the state is opening up all these

1:29:21extra seasons for us to shoot them.

1:29:24Um

1:29:26I mean we can just do as much as we can.

1:29:27I mean

1:29:28opening up the land and having these

1:29:30special seasons

1:29:32it's going to take a while, but it'll

1:29:33knock them down a little bit. Thank you.

1:29:35>> Right. Thank you.

1:29:36>> Brooke

1:29:37Do

1:29:38>> Yeah.

1:29:38>> Um did you say that the the land bank is

1:29:41having weekly meetings on this or they

1:29:43have a group of that gets together on

1:29:45this?

1:29:45>> Yep.

1:29:46Yep.

1:29:47>> say that's probably a good place to

1:29:48start. I mean

1:29:50the land bank is really it I consider

1:29:53them part of the town and they have

1:29:55they have the land management people

1:29:57there. I mean maybe they could

1:30:00you know, give us an update

1:30:02on a monthly basis or something or we

1:30:05could

1:30:06>> have a board of health representative

1:30:08>> Yeah.

1:30:08>> Yeah, somebody from natural resources.

1:30:10>> Yeah, some someone could

1:30:13be part of those meetings at least to

1:30:14know what's going on and could be, you

1:30:16know, if we could do anything to help

1:30:18them, but

1:30:18>> Brooke, do you have any suggestions on

1:30:20how to do this? You brought the article.

1:30:23>> Can I ask one more question to Brooke?

1:30:24>> Oh, yeah. And Jill has a question.

1:30:27>> Brooke, are they having any discussions

1:30:29beyond hunting because it does sound

1:30:31like what we're hearing is hunting is

1:30:32not going to solve this problem and we

1:30:34keep reading that and seeing that

1:30:36um in other communities, too. So, do

1:30:38they talk beyond that?

1:30:41>> Uh there are no

1:30:43uh financially viable other

1:30:46methodologies other than

1:30:49hunting deer.

1:30:50That is the way to manage the herd.

1:30:53That is the consensus. What I mean by

1:30:55the hunting at the rate we've been

1:30:57hunting with

1:30:58uh

1:30:59um

1:31:00without doing the things that everybody

1:31:02has recommended, getting more access to

1:31:04land, all of the things. It's about

1:31:06increasing the hunt, not using other

1:31:09methodologies. And and I don't I don't

1:31:11want to, you know, spend a lot of time

1:31:13on the details, but

1:31:15people talk about birth control, they

1:31:16talk about all kinds of things. Those

1:31:18are not financially viable

1:31:20um relative to increase take through

1:31:23hunting.

1:31:24Um so so I think that there's two ways

1:31:28to go in my mind as to what to do.

1:31:30Either either the town creates a task

1:31:34force

1:31:35that includes people who are attending

1:31:37these regular meetings that are

1:31:39happening already

1:31:41and that that includes, you know, public

1:31:44health, natural resources, etc. You

1:31:46know, it's more work, more meetings um

1:31:49and and the work of this private sector

1:31:52work group gets brought into the town's

1:31:55task force on

1:31:57um

1:31:59herd management for lack of better word,

1:32:01phrase, or

1:32:03we identify

1:32:06someone to attend those meetings

1:32:09and report back. It's the who is really

1:32:12the question. Where does the

1:32:13responsibility

1:32:15lie? Um

1:32:17because it does crop It's It's

1:32:19interdepartmental, right? It's public

1:32:21health, it's natural resources, it's you

1:32:22know, it's it's it's a bunch of

1:32:24different things. So, I I don't really

1:32:26know what the answer is. I don't want to

1:32:28make work, but I also want to make sure

1:32:31that we are tracking

1:32:34what is what is actually being really

1:32:36effectively executed in the in the

1:32:38private sector now,

1:32:40um and figure out where the you know,

1:32:42monitoring the crossover to town.

1:32:45Um

1:32:46>> I'll do the job.

1:32:46>> responsibilities or abilities to help.

1:32:49>> I'll do it.

1:32:51>> That's what I was hoping would happen.

1:32:53>> hunter on the board. I'm on the board of

1:32:55health, and I'll, you know,

1:32:59as long as I have time, but yeah, um

1:33:02just point me into who I should talk to.

1:33:05Send me a text or an email, and I'll

1:33:07I'll That way I can report to this

1:33:09board. I can report to our board,

1:33:12Joe, and

1:33:13we can go from there. But it it's

1:33:15definitely a private

1:33:16public It's not, you know, we can

1:33:20you know, I just I don't want to dwell

1:33:22in this, and but I've been hunting here

1:33:24since I was 10 years old,

1:33:26and

1:33:27I shot my first deer when I was 15, and

1:33:30back then you were allowed one deer per

1:33:32year.

1:33:33And you hunted weeks to kill that one

1:33:36deer.

1:33:37But

1:33:38everywhere around the island

1:33:41was open space that you could go in and

1:33:44hunt. And as we developed more

1:33:46buildings, we took away more land, and

1:33:49the deer were still there, but because

1:33:51we weren't thinning them each year, they

1:33:52just continued to multiply. We can get

1:33:55back to a to a manageable number, but

1:33:57it's it's going to take time. It's going

1:33:58to take a few years. It's not going to

1:34:00be like, "Hey, we shot

1:34:021,500 deer this year and next year

1:34:04there's only going to be 500." Mike's

1:34:05right. I mean, they do have

1:34:07you know, a couple fawns every year and

1:34:10so we have to, you know, it's a work in

1:34:12progress.

1:34:13>> Yeah, I watched the

1:34:15>> Oh, sorry.

1:34:16>> No, I was going to say I think the thing

1:34:17that has changed is that is the level of

1:34:22concern

1:34:24around tick-borne disease and

1:34:27and property damage.

1:34:29And I I think there there is a cultural

1:34:31shift in how people are thinking about

1:34:34herd management that allows room for

1:34:36creative ideas

1:34:38that are now being explored and

1:34:40implemented in different ways. And so I

1:34:43I mean, I think I can people may not be

1:34:45aware. There are now dumpsters

1:34:49available in various locations around

1:34:51the island for hunters to and the

1:34:54distribution of what's called a gut bag

1:34:57so that hunters are not leaving the

1:35:00their dressing their deer and not

1:35:02leaving the remains out in the field.

1:35:05They are being they they have now have

1:35:07the resource of getting a bag to contain

1:35:09that and a and a dumpster that's

1:35:11available 24 hours a day. One of the

1:35:13issues that was raised by this group was

1:35:15before you had to go to the to the

1:35:17Madaket Road to the dump during

1:35:21business hours that the dump was open.

1:35:23Well, that's no longer the case because

1:35:24now there's

1:35:25dumpsters available uh 24 hours a day,

1:35:28so hunters can get to one close to where

1:35:30they are and get back and you know, so

1:35:32there's already really successful

1:35:33programming in place. So, Bobby, thank

1:35:35you very much for I I tried to volunteer

1:35:37you earlier. You didn't take the bait

1:35:39until now, but thank you. Um and I think

1:35:42that's

1:35:43>> Well,

1:35:44>> I think that's a great start.

1:35:46>> I mean, what you just said on TV,

1:35:50Mhm. a hunter and I did not know about

1:35:52that. So, those are the kind of things

1:35:54that

1:35:55the guys that do hunt need to know

1:35:57because that's 90% of it. Like,

1:36:00the last night I went hunting and I had

1:36:01to go off island next day and I didn't

1:36:03shoot the deer because I'm like, I don't

1:36:05want to deal with this tonight and I'll

1:36:06be here up till midnight and then I got

1:36:07to leave this carcass in a barrel

1:36:10because I'm going on the morning boat.

1:36:11So, if I knew I had a place to dump it

1:36:13that night, I would have

1:36:14you know, there there's one deer that

1:36:16would have wouldn't be running around

1:36:18right now in the

1:36:19>> Bobby, you're going to love being part

1:36:20of this group. One One of the ideas is

1:36:24refrigeration. So, hunters can store a

1:36:28deer in a refrigerated locker

1:36:30uh

1:36:31for a period Like, there's they have

1:36:32some really amazing ideas and I can't

1:36:34wait for you to join them and report

1:36:36back. Thank you.

1:36:38>> Well, that's that's good. I I watched

1:36:40Charlie Waters interviewed Robert Young

1:36:42and one of the comments with this was

1:36:44interesting is they're about 10 years

1:36:46older than Bobby and I. You know, so

1:36:48they were talking about uh

1:36:51some you know, some of the I think it

1:36:52was

1:36:53uh Mrs. Mary who was up on the cliff and

1:36:55how they she when she was interviewed,

1:36:58she they said, "What was the biggest

1:36:59change back in you know, the day?" And

1:37:01she said, "It's the

1:37:03uh scrub oak."

1:37:05The island used to be bare and there was

1:37:07no scrub oak. You could see from one

1:37:09side of the island to the other. And so,

1:37:11there was nowhere for the deer to hide.

1:37:14And so, you know, we've got the scrub

1:37:16oak and and the brush has completely

1:37:19changed island. It's It's really true. I

1:37:21When we were kids, there was nothing

1:37:24between sort of fairgrounds and

1:37:25Surfside. There were no houses. And

1:37:27there was and you could look down Polpis

1:37:29and see for miles. And and so, that's

1:37:32one aspect. The other is that people are

1:37:36now outfitting their houses with like

1:37:40you know, deer food. You know, they're

1:37:41they're putting millions of dollars

1:37:43worth of landscaping in that the deer,

1:37:45you know, will eat. And so, you know, so

1:37:48we're we're making a food source, and so

1:37:50people are now and and we talked about

1:37:52this when we talked about the uh cattle

1:37:55grates. So, now people are completely

1:37:58encompassing their whole property, so

1:38:00the deer can't get in. But that means

1:38:03that the deer have put more pressure on

1:38:05the neighbors, and more pressure

1:38:06elsewhere. There more deer closer to the

1:38:08road than they used to be, and they're

1:38:10going in different patterns. And so,

1:38:12there's a lot to this. As people are

1:38:13protecting, you know, their own

1:38:15property, it's pushing the problem out

1:38:18even further, and it's making it more

1:38:20dangerous even closer to town and even

1:38:22in town. So, there's a there's a lot to

1:38:25this that we has to be drilled down

1:38:26into. Some communities deal with it, you

1:38:29know, they don't they don't allow you to

1:38:32completely cordon off your entire

1:38:34property. You have to do it so many feet

1:38:35in or so many feet around your house or

1:38:37your garden, but we haven't really

1:38:40looked at it. We haven't looked at it

1:38:42from a zoning or a building perspective.

1:38:44We've just looked at it. So, so there's

1:38:46things that have to be dealt with,

1:38:48Bobby.

1:38:48>> A deer's diet is nitrogen-based.

1:38:51It can smell nitrogen.

1:38:53And that's what they come to. So, when

1:38:55someone fertilizes, the deer will come

1:38:58to the property.

1:38:59The deer will walk by your hostas or

1:39:03tulip or whatever

1:39:0410 days in a row.

1:39:06And when that bud's just about to open,

1:39:08that's when it has the highest level

1:39:10nitrogen, and that's when it'll eat it

1:39:11to the ground.

1:39:12>> Yeah.

1:39:13That makes sense.

1:39:15>> Don't fertilize, the deer won't come in

1:39:17the yard.

1:39:18Better for the harbor, too. Win-win.

1:39:21>> Yeah.

1:39:21>> But they're still going to they I didn't

1:39:23fertilize, they still ate my everything.

1:39:25They ate all my hostas, but

1:39:27>> All right. Is there anyone else on this?

1:39:32>> See any other hands?

1:39:32>> All right.

1:39:34So, we are done with the deer. Thank

1:39:36you, Bobby. Uh

1:39:38committee reports?

1:39:40>> Um

1:39:41>> Any comments?

1:39:42>> We had SHAB meeting. It went really

1:39:44well. We talked about the two articles

1:39:45Libby and um

1:39:47the dive surveys came back. It looks

1:39:49like it's going to be a

1:39:52very good scallop season. Um shab has

1:39:55our natural resources and shab mostly

1:39:58natural resources and um

1:40:00our shellfish uh hatchery manager Tara

1:40:04uh

1:40:05we're going to ask for um to be put on

1:40:07the agenda for the fourth

1:40:09to um I think they're going to come in

1:40:12and ask for the ability to do what they

1:40:14did last year to uh change the box limit

1:40:17through the discretion of natural

1:40:19resources and not have to come here and

1:40:21and do it. Um but I would not be

1:40:23surprised if after a week or two of the

1:40:25season we go to six boxes because it

1:40:27looks like we are very fortunate. We

1:40:29have a good scallop set this year and

1:40:32there's quite a bit of seed for next

1:40:33year. Uh better than last year. Um the

1:40:37vineyard is in not in such good shape as

1:40:40we are. They actually are delaying the

1:40:43start of their season because their

1:40:45adult scallops have not we're are just

1:40:47spatting now which normally they do in

1:40:49July. Um

1:40:51their water temperature had something to

1:40:52do with it I'm sure. And I don't think

1:40:54they have much of a set on the cape so

1:40:56it should bow well for our fishermen to

1:40:58get a decent price this year.

1:40:59>> And if they can do it if and the more we

1:41:02get it early before the holidays that's

1:41:03the big season isn't it?

1:41:04>> Yeah, so that's why we're looking at

1:41:07potentially raising it after we want to

1:41:09see how it goes after the first week and

1:41:11see how many guys are fishing and you

1:41:13know what it

1:41:14>> Yeah, estimate it. Yeah.

1:41:15>> Yeah, they do uh I think

1:41:18I think Tara told me they do 31 dive

1:41:20transects but there's also areas that

1:41:22they haven't so after the guys have

1:41:24fished for a few days and get a better

1:41:25feel for what's there.

1:41:27>> All right.

1:41:27Don or Burke do you have any

1:41:30committee reports?

1:41:34>> All right.

1:41:34>> No.

1:41:35>> Okay.

1:41:36>> Motion to adjourn.

1:41:37>> Well, we one other comment

1:41:38>> Oops,

1:41:38>> sorry.

1:41:39>> Oh.

1:41:39>> I have just one comment on chapter 91.

1:41:42We talked about chapter 91 and doing

1:41:44something with the harbor and you know,

1:41:46and being able to get oil down there.

1:41:49The other thing what if we do look at it

1:41:51is the downtown lot. Uh it is the it's

1:41:55it's a supposed to be a public lot

1:41:57downtown in front of the Stop & Shop

1:41:59down there. It is public, but it's not

1:42:02enforced and it's completely full. And

1:42:05I've had a lot of complaints from

1:42:06people, you know, downtown businesses

1:42:08are being impacted. The Stop & Shop

1:42:10downtown's being impacted. So, if we're

1:42:12going to look at chapter 91, we should

1:42:13look you know, we should be looking at

1:42:16is there a way that we can ask NHR to

1:42:18enforce that and to have some turnover

1:42:20down there. It's important for the

1:42:22downtown businesses. It's important for

1:42:24the vitality of the downtown and it's

1:42:27what the chapter 91 license was

1:42:29expecting. It wasn't a long-term lot

1:42:31that's full of cars constant.

1:42:34>> lot.

1:42:35>> Yeah, well, tow it or enforce it enforce

1:42:37the 2 hours, whatever it is. So, I just

1:42:39think if we're looking at chapter 91,

1:42:41that should be on the radar.

1:42:43>> Just just a quick thought because

1:42:45>> do it quick cuz we're getting ready to

1:42:47go.

1:42:47>> I I happen to shop at the downtown Stop

1:42:50& Shop all the time. Well, not all the

1:42:52time, but that is my store. Um

1:42:54and this time of year, you're going to

1:42:56have trucks and vans and things in there

1:42:59for a week, 2 weeks. I really for the

1:43:02highline. So, I really think that that

1:43:05maybe they should be looking at that lot

1:43:08that's used in the summer as a valet lot

1:43:10to start having some of the highline

1:43:13go there because it's really unfair to

1:43:16everyone that uses the downtown. Thanks.

1:43:19Have a good evening.

1:43:20>> And and the the big one I would check is

1:43:22after a big snowstorm, you can go

1:43:23through and for a week or so, you can

1:43:25see which cars move and which don't by

1:43:27which have snow. And a lot of them never

1:43:29move.

1:43:30All All So, move to adjourn. I I'm

1:43:33What's that?

1:43:33>> We have executive session.

1:43:37>> Adjourn to executive session, not to

1:43:38return to open session.

1:43:39>> For the purposes outlined in the agenda.

1:43:42>> And Bobby did it.

1:43:44>> And I'm seconding.

1:43:44>> Jill seconded it. All right.

1:43:46>> Good job. You said that well.

1:43:47>> Brooke?

1:43:48>> I.

1:43:49>> All right.

1:43:51Don?

1:43:51>> I.

1:43:52>> Bobby?

1:43:53>> I.

1:43:53>> Jill?

1:43:54>> I.

1:43:54>> And I vote I.