Select Board July 11, 2023
Updated about 20 hours ago
Select Board July 11, 2023
Captions
- Looks like we are all here. All right,
- So Megan, should I call
- us to order again? Okay.
- So good evening everyone,
- and welcome to the July 11th,
- 2023 meeting of the Wellesley
- Select Board.
- This meeting may be viewed
- by a live stream on Wellesley
- media.org and viewed on
- Comcast Channel eight
- and Verizon Channel 40.
- This is a Zoom meeting with the following
- members of the Wellesley Select Board
- present and participating remotely.
- And Mara Lonza, Tom Felder,
- Beth Sullivan Woods, Colette, o'
- Frank, and myself, Lisa Olney.
- So welcome everybody. Do we have
- anyone for citizen speak? Megan?
- We do not have anyone on the line
- for citizen speak. Okay, awesome.
- Everybody's outta town probably. Okay.
- So the first item is
- executive directors update.
- I'll just say quickly
- before Megan starts that,
- I'm just gonna note for the board that
- we're gonna be voting on the minutes at
- our next regular meeting.
- There were a number of substantive
- changes proposed to the previous draft,
- and just from a process standpoint,
- we're gonna reissue the original draft
- and any substantive changes should be
- proposed at our next meeting as
- amendments so that they can be clearly
- considered by the board. So, Megan,
- do you wanna proceed?
- Sure. I had a couple announcements that
- I wanted to make and then we just have
- a gift to accept. So with
- regards to announcements one,
- this Saturday, July 15th
- from nine 30 to four 30,
- be the wildest Grand Merchant
- Association's July jubilation.
- And so the road on Central Street
- will be closed during those that time.
- Lots of activities and events, we
- encourage everyone to check it out. Also,
- on Thursday,
- the Charles River Watershed Association
- will be hosting a walking tour along
- Fuller Brook, and as part of that,
- you can contact or, or
- join that it's at 10:00 AM
- and they'll go through the,
- how it recently restored the
- tributary to the Charles River.
- And then just a brief announcement from
- Health Department of Communications
- with our health director Lenny Zo, with
- the amount of rain and heat we've had,
- we just want to let people know that
- comes about discussing mosquitoes that
- our d pws out currently treating
- our catch patients with Larvicide.
- Timing of this treatment will give us
- effective coverage at least through
- August. In addition,
- we want to remind residents to empty
- any standing water on their property and
- take personal protective measures
- when outside, during dusk and dawn.
- So with the amount of rain we've had,
- when you have things outside buckets,
- et cetera, that you forget,
- just dump 'em out and that that helps
- keep our mosquito population down.
- So Lenny wanted me to
- just relay that for folks.
- And then we also had one
- vote of a gift acceptance.
- The Park Andry D division
- received a donation of labor from
- Hartney Graymont who celebrated Arbor
- Day by working on the Town Station Oak.
- The value of this was approximately
- $5,000. So we, we think,
- I actually went by the day
- people were working on it,
- and the Station Oak is our champion
- tree right in front of the post office.
- And it was pretty
- substantial work that they,
- they went and checked all the
- cabling and did substantial pruning.
- So thank you to them for that gift.
- So we would just need an
- acceptance of that from the board.
- And well, if there are no
- questions about the gift, Beth,
- could we have the motion please? Sure.
- Move to approve the gift from Hartney
- Graymont of services that included
- pruning, fertilizing,
- and checking the cabling of the Town
- Station Oak with an estimated value of
- $5,000.
- Second Amara. Aye.
- Beth Aye. Tom. Aye.
- Colette Aye. And I vote Aye as well.
- I think that's it, right, Megan?
- For the, for your update? Yes.
- And so next thing is we're gonna vote
- on the legal services agreement for
- pfas litigation.
- So Dave Cohen is joining us. Dave,
- do you wanna give the board just
- a brief update on this litigation?
- Sure thing. And and before I do
- that, I, I hope you don't mind,
- and if you wouldn't mind
- indulging me just to make a,
- a brief sat announcement to let the board
- and the community know that this past
- weekend,
- Paul de Phillips Park and Tree
- assistant superintendent passed away
- after a year long battle with cancer
- and we're all very saddened by it.
- And I just wanted to
- mention that and, you know,
- let Paul and his family know that, that
- we're thinking of, of him and them,
- and also Parks family here at Park
- and Tree, who I know is really,
- really thrilling from this. It's
- been a, it's been a tough haul,
- but Paul is finally at rest after
- a, a, a, a, a really strong fight.
- But he did pass away this weekend and
- so wanted to just make mention of that.
- So thank you for letting
- me share that. Thank.
- You Dave.
- I just hope you'll convey to his
- family how very sorry we are from the,
- from the select board we're our
- deepest sympathies to, to his family.
- I will do that. Thank.
- You. And to everyone, everyone at the
- D P W who worked with him as well.
- Of course.
- Appreciate that. Thank you.
- And Paul would want us to get right
- back to business. So, so regarding pfas,
- as, as you know, since the pfas
- issue emerged a couple years ago,
- we've been entertaining conversations
- with various law firms about getting
- involved in class action
- litigation related to pfas.
- And over, over the past
- couple years, we've,
- we've been through a few presentations
- and interviews with some different firms
- and we've finally come
- to the point where we,
- we are recommending to move forward
- with SL Environmental Law Group and
- Partners.
- And so we have an agreement
- for the board to consider that
- would have,
- have this law firm and their
- related firms represent Wellesley
- in any potential class action,
- legal action or civil actions that
- might take place related to pfas.
- And we would be joining more
- than a dozen Massachusetts
- communities.
- We'd be joining the state of Massachusetts
- among others and over a hundred other
- jurisdictions in, in the United
- States that have jumped on with,
- with this particular law
- group. And we've done some,
- some outreach and some reference
- checking and, and feel,
- feel good about entering into an
- agreement with, with this group.
- So we recommend favorable action from the,
- from the select board on this and happy
- to have any questions that you might
- have.
- Thank you, Dave.
- So I'll just mention for the benefit of
- the public that we did have a discussion
- of this in executive session,
- so a lot of the board's
- questions I think were answered,
- but if anyone has anything
- additional they'd like to say,
- now would be a good time. Okay.
- Thank you so much Dave.
- We really appreciate your pursuing
- this on behalf of the town.
- It's a matter of great
- concern to everyone and
- really glad that you're on top of this.
- Lisa, Lisa, if you don't mind,
- maybe it's also good to also
- maybe set expectations
- with folks that, you know,
- people might be hearing reports
- about lots of money that, that,
- that might be out there. And, and I,
- I think we wanna be conservative
- about our expectations here, that,
- that this is a low risk
- but potentially low reward.
- But we wanna make sure that if there are
- any settlements that we don't miss out
- on those opportunities.
- But there may not be millions of
- dollars coming our way on this,
- but whatever it is, we want to take
- advantage of that. And so this is,
- this will protect our
- interests in the event that,
- that any dollars do become available.
- Absolutely. Thank you. Okay. If,
- if the board has no further comments,
- we'll I'll ask for a motion please. Beth.
- Move to approve the legal
- services agreement for the pfas
- action litigation and to authorize
- executive director Megan job to sign on
- behalf of the town.
- Second Beth Aye. Tom Aye.
- Colette Aye. And Mara Aye.
- And I vote Aye as well.
- Thank you very much, Dave.
- Thank you all. Have a great night.
- You too.
- So we are going to move on to the
- interview and vote of the interim fire
- chief.
- Thanks Lisa. So with us
- tonight, in addition to the
- candidates is Brian Duggan,
- the town's consultant from
- Municipal Resources Inc.
- To assist the board with this
- process. And in addition is Chief pki.
- Chief PKI has been assisting me
- through this process for both the
- interim chief search as well as
- our PR initial fire chief search,
- which has led us here today. So with
- that, it would be my expectation,
- I'm gonna turn it over to Brian to give
- an introduction and then the board has a
- series of questions.
- I think we'll after Brian's introduction
- we'll turn it back to Lisa to,
- to start off the questions and then
- we can, we can take it from there.
- Okay. Thank you Megan.
- Can everyone hear me okay?
- Okay. Yes.
- Thank you. So again, as Megan said,
- w we've sort of navigated
- a path through a search and
- recruited and interviewed two candidates
- that are gonna come before the board
- tonight as potential interim fire chiefs.
- The first candidate is with
- us. Ready? Todd Germaine.
- So Todd, if you can hear me, why don't
- you turn your mic on and your video
- and we'll introduce him. So everybody.
- Hi there.
- Todd comes to us from
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
- where he served three years as
- fire chief and emergency manager.
- And in addition to that, he served
- eight years as Shift Commander.
- Prior to coming to you tonight,
- Todd has interviewed with us and
- with Megan and the chief on two
- occasions, once with us and
- once with our entire team,
- including Megan and the chief and
- was vetted through that process.
- So he survived us. So we're, we're
- hoping he can survive you as well.
- Todd is actually traveling.
- Todd, you're in London, correct?
- Glasgow, Scotland.
- So he is calling in quite
- remotely and with that I'm sure
- he'll say much more about his career
- history as we go through things.
- So I'll turn it over to the chair and
- then we'll follow up with questions
- afterwards. Lisa.
- Great. Thank you Brian. And thank you
- Chief lucky for being here as well.
- So what we thought we'd do is
- have the board members go around
- sort of picking your top priority
- questions from that great list that
- we got from Brian of suggested questions.
- And then if you have a follow-up question,
- you could go ahead with
- that and then we'll move on.
- And then if we still have
- time, hopefully we will,
- Megan can go through the
- remaining questions to the,
- to the extent that we're able,
- just a reminder that we'll be asking
- both candidates the same questions.
- So, so I will just start us off.
- There were so many great questions
- here. I, it was hard to choose, but I,
- I'd really be grateful to hear Todd,
- about your management style and how
- you would approach the need for change
- within the Wellesley fire department.
- Sure. First of all, hello to everybody
- and thanks for the opportunity to,
- to be here tonight. As far as
- my, my management style, I'm,
- I'm very much a democratic type
- of manager. I seek collaboration,
- I seek input from,
- from all stakeholders to the best
- that I can. I've had a, a pretty,
- pretty successful career both in, in as a,
- as a firefighter and,
- and a shift commander in my roles as union
- executives as well as on this side of
- the desk as a manager to be able to
- facilitate communication and
- collaboration between, you know,
- particularly labor and management. And
- that's, that's pretty much probably my,
- my biggest strength and what I bring,
- I think to the table in this situation.
- As far as, as affecting change,
- I'm not deeply familiar with the,
- with the issues within the
- Wellesley Fire Department,
- just sort of on the surface. Obviously
- there are some leading us to, you know,
- the conversation tonight. But
- as we figure out what those are,
- I think I have an ability to, to bring
- all sides to the table, so to speak,
- and, and, and find some,
- some common ground as far as
- affecting change. Again, you know, it,
- it starts at the top obviously,
- but you gotta get the
- middle management involved.
- You gotta get the middle
- management convinced that
- the changes for the better of
- them and the whole department.
- And I think, you know,
- that's for me the best place to
- start. And, and also, you know,
- from what I understand,
- there's a good opportunity now cause
- there's a lot of younger firefighters,
- a lot of younger generation
- coming through and they,
- and they're almost the
- majority. So I think, you know,
- the more you can get that group of
- people involved and and acceptable the
- change, the, the easier
- that change or the quicker,
- at least that change may come. So.
- Great. Well, thank you. So just to
- make sure I heard you correctly,
- you were saying your biggest strength
- was essentially bringing all sides to the
- table. Is that kind of.
- Yeah, I've had very good luck
- facilitating that communication with,
- you know, with the department I I
- worked in, there were two labor unions,
- one for the firefighters and
- one for the fire officers.
- And then of course you
- have the management.
- And even prior to being
- a chief in my role as,
- as leaders of, of those
- labor unions, I, I made a,
- a concerted effort to,
- to make sure that those lines of
- communication from that side to the
- management, you know, was always
- open and, and and facilitated.
- And then of course when I get on
- this on the other side of the desk,
- I carried through with that as well
- to make sure that those lines of
- communication were always
- there. And I think, you know,
- when you get all the stakeholders together
- and you get 'em all sort of looking
- in the, in the right direction,
- in the same direction and that's when
- things can positively change and you can
- actually make a difference.
- Awesome. Thank you very much.
- So can I see hands for
- who'd like to go next? Beth?
- Great. Nice to meet you Mr. Ger. Hi.
- Beth, nice to meet you.
- So you are coming from
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire, right?
- Which is correct, a little
- bit bigger of a department,
- correct.
- Little bit, not, not too much
- bigger but a little bit bigger.
- One additional station and
- a few more people per shift.
- So I'm wondering what are the differences
- that you see between your most
- recent position and the position of
- interim chief in the town of Wellesley?
- Well, I mean, the difference would be
- in, in my position in Portsmouth, I,
- you know, came up through the ranks.
- I was intimately familiar with the,
- with the department for,
- you know, 30 years and,
- and when became the chief, you know,
- I had all that internal knowledge,
- I had all that institutional
- knowledge and history.
- So obviously that would be a difference
- coming to Wellesley. And also I think,
- you know, from what I
- understand there would be a,
- a series of goals and objectives
- as, as, as prescribed by,
- I guess probably Megan and, and and
- the board to find, you know, to,
- to achieve or to, to accomplish
- in the time that I'm there.
- So I think it would be more
- short term planning and goal.
- Not that I wouldn't try to,
- to facilitate and try to try to move
- along some longer term, you know,
- goals and management while
- you're there. Cause you don't,
- you don't want someone in there for a
- year just to think about that one year.
- You still have to, as the fire
- chief, you still have to plan ahead.
- You still have to be looking,
- you know, at the horizon to,
- to make sure that things are moving
- forward in 2, 3, 5, 8 years. So, I mean,
- you know, as, as the chief
- in Portsmouth, you know,
- that was sort of my focus vision
- was that further, you know,
- outlook and we're here, I think I would
- have to concentrate as much, you know,
- on the shorter term of those goals
- and objectives, but also, you know,
- making sure the department moves
- forward in a, you know, in a,
- in a futuristic situ, you know, futuristic
- look as well. If that makes sense.
- Sorry, it's, it's almost
- midnight here, so.
- It's okay. So Lisa, did you
- wanna follow up now or wait? Yes,
- so now would be good. Okay.
- So I guess my follow up question
- is what is it about this
- position that has caused you to
- apply for it and be interested?
- To be honest, I was asked if I
- would be interested in in, in,
- in doing an interim stint
- here by the folks from mri.
- And honestly, I, I, you know,
- I've been just about nine
- months out from retirement,
- my wife and I did a lot of traveling
- over the winter and we're sort of,
- you know, in a, a little bit
- of a limbo state right now.
- So it actually worked out
- pretty nicely, you know,
- the offer that when it came through.
- So I mean, we're, you know, if we,
- if it happens that, that I get
- the position we'll be, you know,
- looking for a place, you know, right
- away down in that area to, to be,
- to move to for the time
- that I'm there. So that's,
- that's really what got me interested.
- And to be, I'll be honest, I I,
- I miss, you know,
- I miss I missed it a little bit and
- in having these interviews with,
- with I and, and with Megan and, and Chief
- Eck, you know, getting back into the,
- the thought of, of all this again,
- it's kinda exciting. So I'm,
- I'm looking forward to follow
- through with it if possible.
- Great. Thank you so much.
- Welcome.
- And Mara, thank you. And Todd,
- thank you so much for taking the time
- to meet with us today. You're welcome.
- So Lisa stole my question, so I
- have a different question. So how,
- I guess how do you communicate with,
- involve and motivate your staff and
- preserve the command structure within the
- organization?
- And I think it would be helpful to
- maybe if you had like maybe a specific
- example of a situation
- that you had to deal
- with and how you worked
- through it and were able
- how you were able to use
- your communication skills to
- work through the situation
- and at the end of the day, dealing
- with the difficult situation,
- still have a staff that was
- motivated and ready to Sure.
- It's, I'm trying to, it's a lengthy one,
- but I'll try to trim it down for, for,
- for brevity here.
- We had a situation where we had
- a promotion to make for, for a,
- a lieutenant and there were only two
- people left on the promotion list.
- Policy dictated that I recommend to
- our board of fire commissioners, one,
- at least one person for the position.
- And in my estimation and the
- estimation of my shift commanders and
- some outside references that neither
- of these of these individuals should be
- promoted for, for lack of a better
- way to put it, for reasons of safety.
- And, and so being responsible for
- everyone in the department and,
- and having the final say, at least
- in my opinion, I had the final say.
- I chose not to positively
- recommend either one of them,
- but before I did that I brought each
- of them in, discussed, you know,
- the issues that I had and the, the ship
- commanders had with them and, you know,
- face-to-face with, you know, and said
- right up front, this is, you know,
- this is what I'm not going
- to do and what I'm gonna do.
- I brought their union presidents in and
- told 'em the same thing and, you know,
- the reasons that I was going
- to do so, and you know, I,
- I offered them sort of a
- threw of a way out of it.
- They chose not to take it, they
- chose to instead file a grievance,
- went to a lengthy arbitration
- over a year. But, you know,
- the whole, the whole time we had open
- communications, but I wasn't trying to,
- to subvert anybody. I wasn't
- trying to go around anybody or,
- or didn't do anything behind his
- back or, or anything like that.
- I wanted to make sure that they
- were upfront as to why one of the,
- the individuals actually took, you know,
- the advice that we gave him and pretty
- much turned himself around and to the
- point now he's actually sitting as the
- next person to be promoted up there from
- what I understand. And then the other
- person went the other way and, and,
- and oftentimes and repeatedly
- seems to prove, you know,
- that we did, we made the right
- decision, I think. But anyway,
- and in the end, we, we won the ar
- the city won the arbitration. They,
- they sided with, with myself, you know,
- making the right decision or had having
- the ability to make that decision.
- And you know, when it was all over,
- it was shortly before I retired and one
- month after the arbitration case came
- through, both unions voted to,
- to make me honorary lifetime
- members of their union.
- So I'm not sure how to take that,
- but seemed to work out on my end. So,
- but that, if that's a, if that's
- an example as to what I could,
- how I communicated, if,
- if that helps. Yeah.
- No, that's a great example. Thank you.
- And so it sounds like in that case you
- ended up with an employee who maybe was
- not very motivated and was maybe
- a little unhappy for that year.
- Was that a challenge that you had to
- deal with or is that something that was
- dealt with, you know, lower
- down the chain of command?
- It was dealt with more of
- the lower chain of command.
- This person was a bit of
- an outlier. So I don't,
- I don't know as if it really, it didn't
- really spread throughout the department,
- but you know, the other
- person who, you know,
- really just sort of turned around and,
- and became more involved and, you know,
- that that's that motivation, I
- mean, flipped him around, you know,
- and I think he,
- he was pretty upfront about not realizing
- that those were the reasons that were
- holding him up. And when he
- did realize it, you know,
- he did the right thing and, and
- he took and he took off with it.
- The other person unfortunately
- dug their heels in. But again,
- it didn't really affect anyone because
- everyone else in the department saw the
- same thing that we did. So.
- Okay. Well thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
- Tom.
- Thank you. And thank you for joining us,
- given the hour. We've had this experience
- with another member of our board too,
- and it's not,
- not easy and basically in a situation
- like this where you're interviewing,
- so we really appreciate it. The,
- the whole concept of an interim chief,
- I think has been interesting and seems
- to have grown organically out of our
- work with M R I and an evaluation of their
- sense along with our
- management team and chief pki
- about where the department
- needs to go as a result in the
- recommendation for a 12 month term.
- I think it puts a lot of
- pressure on organization and goal
- orientation in terms of what
- needs to be accomplished.
- So how would you work with the M R I
- team to determine progress on goals
- and objectives and support an
- officer development program?
- So from what I understand, again,
- there'll be goals and objectives and,
- and I think if it's not the plan,
- I would suggest the plan to be
- that we meet, if not, you know,
- monthly or quarterly to find out where
- we are at with those objectives with,
- with MRI and probably with
- Megan to find out, you know,
- to see where it is we're at, see how
- the, you know, how the progress is,
- is moving along. You know,
- really the first few months is gonna be
- me getting to know them and them getting
- to know me. To your
- earlier point, you know,
- I'm not really familiar with
- interim, an interim position.
- This is is a new thing for me.
- It doesn't really happen much,
- it doesn't seem to have happened
- much anyway in New Hampshire.
- I I actually know a couple of chiefs
- that have done it and spoken with them
- briefly as to, you know,
- process and so on. But
- I, I think that's, I think
- that's the plan is to,
- is to just be in constant contact. And
- I think I would be in a a, you know,
- a weekly or, or more than a few times
- a week communication with Megan,
- at least to begin with, to make
- sure that, you know, we're,
- we're headed in the right direction,
- that we're heading in
- the right direction and,
- and her eyes and in the eyes of the
- board for sure. You know, I think,
- you know, my goal is gonna
- be to, to find or, or to,
- I think from what I understand, there's,
- there's internal candidates that are
- capable of taking this position if given,
- you know, the opportunity to do so or
- perhaps you know, the right direction.
- And, you know, in my, in my years
- in the fire service, you know, I,
- I I believe that these, these le the
- leadership should come from within.
- I think it, I think it's best for the
- organization that, you know, that,
- that the leadership comes from within
- and moves their way up through.
- So as far as I'm concerned,
- my position here is,
- is gonna be to foster that and
- to, to, to make that happen.
- To find that person or,
- or that person's already identified
- and bring them along up through.
- I think that internal knowledge and
- that internal rise up through the
- ranks is what's best for the
- organization as a whole in the end.
- Thank you. Welcome.
- I think it's left to me the,
- the Scottish member of the board who
- has been in your position before.
- So I appreciate your, the middle
- of the night in my hometown.
- It, it's okay.
- It's so easy to stay up here cause it
- doesn't get dark till like 10 30, so.
- It does not, yeah, just try it
- in the middle of winter though,
- when it's dark at three
- in the afternoon. Yeah.
- No, no, I'm not gonna do that.
- Well, thank you for your time today
- and I appreciate your answers already.
- Some of my top questions
- have already been selected,
- so I would like to ask
- you to talk maybe about a
- deeper dive into your 90 day plan and
- what are some specific projects that
- you would like to collaborate with your
- staff to bring positive change
- to the Wellesley Fire Department?
- What are two top two examples of something
- you might focus on in the initial 90
- day period?
- Sure. Well, in addition to, you know,
- getting my bearings in Wellesley
- and within the department,
- certainly I would, you know, in the
- first week to 10 days, week to two weeks,
- I would want to meet with the
- command staff, my command staff.
- It was immediately below the
- chief. And then with the,
- the senior staff as far
- as the shift commanders,
- the deputies meet with the
- union presidents or president,
- I'm not sure how many unions
- have there meet with, you know,
- the union leadership and get everybody
- sort of at least face to face and,
- and try to, and try to get everyone on
- the same page to see which way, you know,
- which way we're gonna go from
- there. I think, you know,
- as far as as things we could
- do in the department, you know,
- a good exercise,
- which would be a good exercise
- for potential leaders in
- the department as well as good
- for the department is, you know,
- put together a a five-year plan
- if one doesn't exist already,
- which can be good not only, you
- know, in the, in the short term for,
- for the purposes that of the interim
- situation in the development of,
- of leadership, but also in the long
- term. You know, it can be used, you know,
- in years to come for planning and
- budgeting and so on, you know,
- that would help any department. And
- there's also there, there, you know,
- we've done self assessments before in
- our departments before where, you know,
- you sort of just gather all the, all the
- data and all the facts, you know, and,
- and put 'em into one document that sort
- of is a sort of a snapshot of where
- you're at now, where you
- have been and you know,
- where we look to go in the
- future in addition to, you know,
- that would be separate from like
- a five year, you know, planning,
- planning document outside of that. Or
- it could be a 10 year planning document,
- what what have you. But
- I just think, you know,
- I was thinking that earlier that that
- would be a good exercise or something to
- do again for, you know, the
- immediate situation that we're in,
- but also would benefit something that
- we could do that would also benefit the
- department to have on file
- anyway, you know, for the future.
- Thank you. And I'm gonna use as my
- follow up, I'm gonna ask you to ask,
- talk a little bit more about budgeting
- and what of experience you've had in
- trying to, you know, evaluate
- a, a department's budget,
- find where there might
- be gaps, like you said,
- build into a five-year plan. Tell us
- more about your experience with that.
- Experience with budgeting. You know,
- just, I, I don't, I would have to get,
- I would have to sit down with,
- with Megan for a couple hours
- to go over town budgeting.
- I'm not too familiar with,
- you know, how a town,
- especially Massachusetts
- would do that. I'm, you know,
- I'm sure it's something
- pick up easy enough.
- But as far as my budgeting experience
- with city budgets, you know,
- our budget cycle started in November,
- you know, or our October of, you know,
- the year to, to follow up for the
- July one beginning of the fiscal year.
- So our budget process were pretty long.
- It started with capital budget
- processing. I was able to actually,
- my first year as chief, I was
- able to find a way to stagger our,
- we had to replace two ladder
- trucks within a couple of years.
- I was able to evaluate one and get it to,
- to a position and get it refurb to a
- point where it could last long enough that
- we could purchase just
- one aerial truck for,
- to run first do for 10 years and then
- keep that other one reserved for 10 years,
- save the city, you know, a couple million
- dollars and spread out the cost of,
- you know, having two aerial ladder truck
- purchases within a couple years. So,
- I mean, it seems like there's
- always things we can find
- in gaps there. And then,
- you know, budgeting is always
- looking back to find out, you know,
- what you've spent before and
- you know, what, what you,
- what you can try to not
- spend the next time.
- We had around a nine and a half to
- $10 million budget when I left. So,
- and you know, and I think it's, if it's
- no different here, I'm sure you know,
- your personnel and, and the fixed
- costs are up in probably the high 80%,
- you know, early 90%. So, you know,
- your discretionary spending and things
- that you have a lot of room for is pretty
- small, but, you know, anything you
- can find in there is, is a savings.
- And you know, certainly that's, you
- know, that's what we always look forward,
- you know, look, look to do
- is find those savings in the,
- in the places that we can,
- that we have any control over.
- Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate
- your approach to smoothing out costs and,
- you know, appropriately budgeting
- for capital items. So thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Megan, do we,
- so I think we have a little
- more time, right? Yeah.
- It should be seven 20.
- The next candidate should be jumping on.
- Okay. So Megan, do you wanna just go
- through some of the other questions?
- Sure. Hold on.
- I'm just scrolling back
- up to my questions.
- What are some examples, Todd,
- of things that you could do to make this
- in intern position and intern internal
- mentorship a success.
- Again, without knowing a lot
- of the internal, you know,
- nuts and bolts of the
- situation, I guess from, if I'm,
- if I remember it correctly or if I get
- the sense that there are candidates or
- candidate internally that have, you know,
- a good look at being in this position,
- working just closely with,
- with that person or those
- people on a day-to-day basis.
- It's the best of my ability or the
- best of their ability depending on the
- schedule and the shift. And
- just, you know, to me, and,
- and, and I was, I did this in
- Portsmouth when I had a, a new,
- I had a assistant fire chief,
- my assistant fire chief retired.
- I had a new one come up through who
- was a shift captain at the time,
- which would be a deputy in your
- department. And you know, we,
- we worked together on a lot of things
- before that person even became the
- assistant chief so that they could
- seamlessly walk into that position when,
- you know, the other person retired. And
- that was just a matter of, you know,
- if I had, like, if I had a
- budget presentation to make
- or if I had, you know, a,
- a meeting, a commission
- meeting of some kind or a or,
- or a committee meeting to
- invite that person along,
- bring them into my office and, you know,
- work on a document together or work on a
- PowerPoint together just to get a sense
- of, you know, this is, this is what it
- is, this is what being a fire chief is.
- It's, you know, it's
- making this PowerPoint on,
- on this budget presentation or
- whatever. And or just bring,
- I brought 'em in and like, listen, here's,
- you know, here's our capital budget,
- here's our capital outlay. You know, what,
- what do you have for ideas? You know,
- I don't, I don't have all the
- answers. So I think, you know,
- if we identify that person and bring
- that, and I can do that with that person,
- that's how I would like
- to, to play this just,
- just to be as transparent and open as
- possible with this person and essentially,
- you know, not get to the point,
- but for lack of a better way to put
- it co-chief with this person and,
- and get the feel for whether they're
- getting the feel for it or not, or just,
- you know, I can say that, you know, if
- they, if they have an idea, I'd be like,
- well, yeah, I can see where that works,
- but I can tell you in this
- experience where it didn't work,
- maybe we need to tweak it a
- little bit to make it work into,
- into what your idea might
- be. Does that make sense?
- That's great. One other
- important factor is,
- I know having been chief that
- in a very visible location in
- the imports that where the
- firehouse happens to sit,
- you had significant engagement
- with the community. Yeah.
- So even in a one year interim
- position, what are some strategies or,
- or ways that you would be able to engage
- with the residents of the community and
- involve the community?
- Yeah, I mean to, to the
- extent that you can and,
- and I'm not sure what has already
- been, you know, done there or what,
- what happens now for community
- engagement. But you know, there's,
- there's always, you know,
- social clubs or senior
- citizen organizations or
- you know, the schools or obviously
- a good way to do it, just,
- just being out there,
- you know, if there's a,
- if there's an event going on that
- it's appropriate or, or even remotely,
- appropriate to have a firetruck at
- or a fire prevention person or myself
- or whatever to be at, then you have
- to be at those things, you know,
- I mean like touch a truck
- or type thing, you know,
- if there's something like that going
- on, you know, we should be there.
- The fire department should be there. I
- think, you know, and it's the matter of,
- you know, getting, I I, I
- was a proponent of, you know,
- if if the crew wants to go out and
- park the truck down on, you know,
- on the downtown and go walk over
- and get a coffee, coffee shop,
- then they should do that because,
- you know, it gets them out there.
- People ask them questions maybe, you know,
- they give directions to somebody
- and it's a positive impact,
- it's a positive experience there with
- the public. I'm all for that. And in,
- in the past they think, you know, in my
- experience anyway, we've had, you know,
- chiefs and, and leadership that, you know,
- that wasn't allowed and that was
- discouraged and, you know, it just,
- to me it just seemed
- counterintuitive to what you,
- what we do and why we're
- there. You're community. We're
- know, reach out and ask a question or
- you know, look at the truck, you know,
- if a kid gets a, i, you know, get a
- chance to step on a fire truck, you know,
- that's a positive experience. You know,
- the parents realize that. And, you know,
- anytime you can get good, good face
- value like that, you gotta do it.
- So I mean that's, those
- the kind of things that,
- at least that's my philosophy
- as far as that's concerned.
- Great. Thanks again. If you're good,
- I'll do the next two and then
- swap back to you. Great. Okay.
- So Todd, thinking about sort
- of things that guide you,
- what are three principles that would
- guide you as an interim chief and
- Wellesley, and why do they
- stand out based on your career,
- your life experience?
- Well, honesty and integrity
- and, and you know,
- just a good work ethic. I mean, you know,
- I guess I, I don't really know
- how else to put that. I mean,
- those are pretty obvious
- things that again, you know,
- be being honest with
- everyone and, and, and, and,
- and being able to establish
- that honesty, which,
- which leads to integrity in the
- department. Again, you know, that's,
- that's how I was a successful fire
- chief in Portsmouth. And you know,
- in know, well I guess, you know,
- well respected as I was there was,
- I was honest with everyone and, and
- then I did develop that integrity and,
- you know, and the work ethic is
- there as well. You know, be there,
- be there every day, be it
- all the functions, be it the
- things you need to be at,
- you know, and, and, and, and keep your
- face out there and, and, you know,
- just get dirty beside what you have to,
- you know, that's just part of the deal.
- And you know, those, I guess, you know,
- those are the, the principles. I mean,
- you know, I grew, I grew up in, in
- Northern New Hampshire, you know, and,
- you know, you know, dad made
- sure I worked for my dad.
- Any of you out there worked for
- your parents, you know, in the past.
- But it's not always easy. And, you
- know, one thing I learned was, you know,
- if you wanted a day's pay, put in a
- day's work. And I just, that's how I've,
- I've lived through my career and I think,
- you know, it's gotten me to where I,
- where I was or, you know,
- hope to be again someday.
- Okay, thank you.
- What would be your approach to a
- couple of issues? First of all,
- diversity in the Wellesley Fire Department
- and recruitment of new firefighters
- in a sort of very quickly
- changing job market.
- Yeah, we hit on the, you hit
- on the number one, you know,
- challenge of fire departments
- around the world right now is,
- is recruitment and retention and, and
- you know, to some extent diversity,
- just, there's an article in the
- globe today about, you know,
- hiring people on the cape,
- unable to hire fire firefighters to work
- in the departments that they, you know,
- or to live in the towns of the departments
- they work in. And you know, that's,
- that's common all over the place now,
- as, as housing becomes more expensive,
- you know, we, we had those
- issues in Portsmouth. Again,
- it's just a high rent area and you know,
- we weren't paid very well at the time.
- And so, you know, we really had to
- just put the word out for recruitment,
- you know, everywhere. Not just in the
- local papers or in the local, you know,
- trade magazine or whatever. You
- had to put it out everywhere.
- You had to bring everybody in and gotta
- the point where cold called people.
- And you know, also part of that is,
- you know, to improve diversity was to,
- is to get out with the
- publications that target, you know,
- the more diverse populations. And,
- you know, I'm happy to say that in my,
- in my time as the chief,
- we were recognized by the state of New
- Hampshire having the most gender diverse
- fire department in the state by having
- five female firefighters, you know, by,
- so by percentage. And it was only five,
- but we were the largest, you know,
- percentage in the state.
- And I'm also very proud of being
- able to promote the first female
- lieutenant in the history of our
- department and was able to mentor her and,
- and bring her to a point where,
- you know, she was, she became,
- she got first on the lieutenant's test
- and I was so happy to promote her. So,
- but as far as, you know, the recruitment
- stuff and retention, you know,
- the recruitment, you gotta get more, you
- know, the word out there and retention,
- you gotta, you know,
- obviously money's the number one thing
- that brings people in and keeps 'em
- there. But, you know, when
- you've exhausted that avenue,
- you gotta sort of add value to the, to
- the job. And you gotta make it a more,
- you know, pleasant place to work. The,
- the years and the days of, you know,
- tormenting, you know, the new
- firefighters and, you know, and,
- and that sort of thing is, is it's
- just, it's not acceptable anymore. And,
- and as far as I'm concerned, it needs
- to go by the wayside. If it hasn't yet,
- you know, you need to be able to
- positively reinforce, you know, these,
- these younger firefighters
- when they come in,
- they're a completely different generation.
- They think of a completely different
- way than we did when we came in.
- And I think, you know,
- when the leadership needs to spread
- that word to the middle management,
- to the captains or the, the
- lieutenants and the deputies, you know,
- to foster that relationship that, you
- know, these new firefighters need,
- need your help, they need your mentoring.
- You know, if they have questions,
- answer 'em, you know,
- don't just tell 'em to do something
- because you told 'em to do it. Just,
- ask 'em to do something and explain
- to them why you're asking to do that.
- And I think, you know, that goes a
- long way to retention. If they're,
- if they're happy there,
- then they'll stay there.
- Okay. And sort of a,
- a final follow up part of you
- mentioned there's a number of new
- firefighters, and that's
- certainly the case in Wellesley.
- How do you as chief prepare these
- new firefighters to sort of get
- ready for a changing future of
- the fire service in America?
- Be upfront with 'em. You
- know, tell 'em, you know,
- you gotta make sure they understand,
- you know, what the, what the job is. I,
- I hired I think a dozen firefighters
- in my time as chief in Portsmouth. And,
- and a few of them after a few
- months realized, you know,
- for whatever reason that this wasn't,
- this wasn't their thing. And you know,
- I didn't, if they came
- in and said, you know,
- we gave me a reason why they didn't
- think it was their thing, you know,
- I didn't encourage them to
- stay if they felt, you know,
- that strongly about it because, you
- know, I think at that point, if, if it's,
- if you don't like it now, it's
- not gonna get any better for you.
- So you gotta be honest with 'em. And
- you know, and unfortunately you do,
- you do lose a few that way. But, you
- know, in, in the interview process,
- bringing them in, you know, you really
- hammer home, you know, what the job is,
- what the, you know, what the commitments
- are and you know, and, and, and the,
- the risks involved. And, and,
- and then when they're, you know,
- when they're on the shift again, you
- gotta sort of, you gotta keep the,
- the line officers in the
- middle management, you
- know, on a, on a course of,
- you know,
- just better communication
- and better relationships
- with the younger firefighters
- so that, you know, they, it's their job
- to tell them and to explain to them,
- you know, what the job is and, and
- coach them and train them, you know,
- and bring them along. So again,
- just impress upon that, you know,
- those deputies and lieutenants
- that, you know, they, you, you're,
- you're there to help them, you're there
- for them. And, you know, I guess that's,
- that's how I would do that. You know,
- it's not something that the sheep is
- gonna go down and talk to every new
- firefighter on the floor, you know, and
- convince him to stay or not stay. Right.
- So.
- Okay. Thank you. Megan, you
- wanna take the next two?
- There's more.
- Just a few.
- So we maybe have time for, I'd say it's
- seven 17. Brian, what do you think? One,
- one more?
- Yeah, why don't we do one more.
- Cause we've done these out of
- order. I gotta look, hold on.
- So although this is a, you
- know, a a shorter stay,
- why don't you discuss how you've
- engaged with the other departments
- in, in Portsmouth and how you would go
- about engaging with the departments here.
- It's, it's through the other
- departments within the town chair.
- When I first became the chief, the,
- the manager of the city sort of sort of
- got the department heads in a position
- where they've sort of competed against
- each other. So, and then we had a
- change of, of leadership at the,
- at the city manager level. And,
- and then we had Covid and you know,
- we went from a position of sort of having
- our own little islands within the city
- everybody's on the same island and we
- better start figuring things out cause the
- water's rising, right? So we were able to,
- to have to collaborate together and
- have to get together and do things and,
- and that, you know, once, you know,
- COVID waned and, and, and started to end,
- we found that, you know,
- we had much better working
- relationships and things were, you know,
- just all of our, all of our
- situations were, were much,
- much better because we meshed
- together. We knew each other more,
- we knew each other better. And you
- know, we, we were just, especially with,
- you know, public works and PD and,
- and we worked a lot
- with our senior center,
- we with the senior citizens through
- the vaccine stuff. But, you know,
- as far as specific examples, you
- know, I'm not sure just every day,
- I mean every day situations
- we, you know, like our,
- our D P W handles the
- hydrants, so, you know, does,
- does the hydrants and we obviously,
- we use the hydrants all the time. So,
- you know, just being able to pick
- up the phone and say, Hey, listen,
- our guys are gonna be out
- training, you know, at, you know,
- on whatever avenue Richards Avenue
- today, you know, just, just so you know,
- we're gonna be flowing a few thousand
- gallons of water, whatever, you know,
- that that kind of stuff didn't exist
- before. We would just go do it.
- They'd find out about it, they'd
- get upset and we'd be like, Hey,
- we gotta do it. And now it's, you know,
- like, pick up the phone and talk to 'em.
- Just, you know, pick up and do it.
- And, you know, and obviously, you know,
- and our position, we, we, we deal with
- finance all the time in HR and you know,
- I I, I had no problem picking up the
- phone and, and calling HR and saying,
- listen, this is my situation. I need
- some help with this person, you know,
- help me out. And, and they're more
- than happy to help out. So I mean, I'm,
- I'm not afraid to pick up the phone
- and say, you know, I need this and,
- you know, anything I can do for
- you, let me know and I'll, I'll,
- I'll bend over backwards to make
- sure that I can, can do what I can.
- Okay, that's great. Thank
- you. And Todd, just a,
- a follow up to be clear with the
- board, I know you're traveling,
- when do you get back and when could you
- start? So the board understands that.
- So we're, we're due to come
- back after the, what's the day?
- The 12th of the 13th, I think
- of August. So, you know,
- anytime after that would be, would be
- best. I mean, we, I could move that up, I,
- if we had to, but you know, we,
- we could discuss that, I think,
- you know. Okay. If, if it came to it.
- Sounds good.
- Okay.
- And that's of August,
- by the way, so, yeah.
- Yeah.
- So Brian, it that's, that's it,
- right? We're gonna move on now and,
- and with great thanks to you, Todd,
- for joining us and
- particularly given the, the,
- the hour of the day or the hour
- of the night there in, in Glasgow.
- But thank you very much.
- We really appreciate it.
- It's been great to hear
- what you have to say.
- You're welcome. Very nice
- meeting you all. Thank you.
- And Todd, Dave or I will be back
- in touch with you as we go forward,
- so thank you. Obviously you're
- free to log off at this time.
- Okay, thank you. Good night folks. Bye.
- Good night.
- Okay, through the chair.
- Does the board wanna take a quick break
- or go right into the next candidate
- who is, is here?
- Yeah, I think we wanna go
- right into the next candidate.
- Okay. So I believe Dave Sore has
- joined us. Dave, if you can hear me,
- why don't you turn on your video and
- there we go. Good evening, how are you?
- Good, how you doing Brian? Good, good.
- So let me introduce you
- to the board once again.
- Dave has gone through a
- similar process as Todd.
- He's had two interviews for
- the purpose of screening.
- One with just Dave Houghton and myself,
- and then a second both with the,
- the chief and Megan and my team.
- So he's been vetted through that
- process and once again survive,
- Dave comes to you with 22 years
- experience as a mass fire chief,
- which can, can be important for a
- law and regulation. I know there,
- there were some things that
- Todd had mentioned on that,
- but 14 years in Weston as
- chief and eight years in sto.
- And I'm sure we're gonna hear from Dave
- much more about his career as we get
- going. So I'll turn it to
- the chair to start the,
- the questions and then Megan and I
- will pick up the questions after that.
- Thank you very much and and
- welcome Dave and thanks so much for
- joining us on this hot night. Thank you.
- So just a reminder to the board that
- we're gonna be asking the same questions
- that we asked before. So I
- will just go back to asking
- about your management style
- and how you would approach
- the need for change with the, within
- the Wellesley Fire department.
- Obviously any transition brings about
- a lot of change and so just interested
- in how, how you would approach that.
- Yeah, it does bring a lot when you have
- to do, when you have to make changes,
- I would probably take some, a
- little bit of time when they're,
- I've worked with people, I
- don't know them personally,
- but I've worked with Wellesley fire
- department, I kinda, I know the in,
- I know how they operate. So I
- would go in, do some evaluations,
- see, see what needs to
- be changed. I know a few,
- few things were discussed
- in the early interviews.
- Then you bring the changes to your command
- staff and to all the members of the
- department. I think I would try to
- meet with, with each one of the groups,
- explain to them what the changes
- are, why we're making the changes.
- I would take their feedback cuz again, I
- don't know everything there is to know,
- but at the end of the day it is
- my decision as to why, you know,
- we're going to make,
- make the changes that we're
- going to make and then then you,
- you implement the changes
- and you try to do it
- as smoothly as you can. I
- mean, some things are gonna go,
- I've had some things that went
- very well. They, the, you know,
- the transition was great. It wasn't an
- issue. There were other things that,
- you know, were an issue that we had
- to work out the bugs and, you know,
- I had to work with the union on some
- stuff and just continue to keep an open
- line and communication and be transparent
- as to what we're doing and why
- we're doing it.
- Great, thank you.
- So if you had to name your
- greatest strength, what,
- what would you say it it is in
- terms of your management style?
- I think my ability to get
- people to, to do what,
- what needs to be done. I like to,
- I have a really positive attitude.
- I lead by example. I'm
- compassionate. You know,
- I, I I had lunch with the guys I
- know and, and the females. I would,
- you know, I would listen to everybody,
- you know, get to know them as a person,
- get to, I built my trust with
- them so that they would, you know,
- they felt comfortable talking
- to me about things. And I,
- I think, aside from my fireground
- side of it, which I think is probably,
- I'm pretty, I'm very strong on
- the fire, on the fire side of it,
- the management in the station is,
- is my ability to read
- and work with people and
- get people all on the same page
- and going in the same direction.
- Thank you very much.
- So I am just looking to see who's
- next. Beth, I believe you were.
- Next. I am so welcome. Thank you.
- Thank you for joining us tonight.
- My question is, you've
- been in Weston a long time,
- so when you think about the
- differences between your most recent
- position in Weston and the position of
- interim chief in the town of Wellesley,
- how would you characterize
- the key differences.
- There? Really, honestly, there's
- not a whole lot of differences.
- Wellesley and Weston are very much alike.
- Wellesley is a little bit bigger cuz
- you're running, there's a 59, you know,
- person. We were 30, 36.
- We both had two stations run wise.
- We're a little bit busier than we were,
- but the cha the characteristics
- of the town and the job
- for the most part is pretty much
- the same. You know, it's the same.
- You have to get in, you have
- to get to know everybody.
- You've gotta get to what makes people
- tick, what you know, what what they do,
- what they like to do and
- things like that. But as,
- as far as Wellesley and Weston there,
- there's really not a big
- difference between the two.
- And as a follow-up,
- can you tell us what is it
- about this opportunity that has
- drawn you to apply and
- why are you interested?
- I retired last July with the
- intention of, I had been there,
- you know, for 22 years as the chief,
- 14 years in Weston. And there were,
- there were a lot of problems in Westin
- when I first got there, but we, we,
- it was in a really good
- place. I had mentored,
- we hired a deputy and I had brought him
- along to the point that he was ready
- take my position and we had
- brought somebody up that would,
- that would be able to fall into the
- deputy's position. We had people,
- when I first went there, we had nobody,
- people were not taking the exam
- to get promoted. When I left,
- I think there was, I
- forget the exact number,
- but if there was 15
- people that were eligible,
- like 12 of the people that
- were eligible took the exam.
- So there was,
- things were in a really good
- place and I did wanna touch base
- with, you know, a company like Brian's
- and do either interim Chiefing,
- whether it is in Massachusetts or
- not, but I, I just took a year,
- I had a couple surgeries on my shoulders.
- I had those fixed and this
- opportunity presented itself and
- it's a good opportunity. I know,
- I don't know all the, you know,
- the whole town of Wellesley,
- I can, you know, I,
- I don't know all the streets in it,
- but I'm pretty familiar with the town.
- I'm very familiar with the area,
- I'm very familiar with how things in this
- area work, all the chiefs in the area.
- So it just seemed like
- it was a really good fit.
- Great. Well thank you
- for your consideration.
- Thank you.
- And Mara, thank you Lisa.
- And thank you so much David
- for coming to this evening.
- Make yourself available for the board
- to meet you. Thank you for having me.
- So I'm wondering about
- communication and how,
- how do you communicate with,
- involve and motivate your staff
- and preserve the chain of command
- or the command structure within
- your organization, and maybe a,
- a specific example of a challenge that
- you faced with your staff and how you
- used your communication skills
- to resolve that challenge and,
- and at the end of the day,
- have a motivated staff,
- even though you had to deal
- with something difficult.
- I, I have an open door policy.
- I, I will, you know, let,
- people can come in, I can talk to people.
- They have a problem. They can bring,
- they can bring the problem to me. Depend,
- you know, depending on what it is,
- if it's a, if it's a small group problem,
- they have to follow the chain of
- command, and I make sure that,
- that I comu i will com I would
- communicate that as soon as I got there,
- that there was a command structure.
- You'd have to follow the,
- the chain of command. And then for, you
- know, for other, you know, other issues.
- Like I said, I had an open
- door policy. I did, I had to,
- I did have to work with my command
- staff because as we all know,
- sometimes I would put a memo out
- to change something, you know,
- and my shift captain would say he,
- he would be asked by his group, well,
- we're doing this because the
- chief said, so. I'm like, well,
- that's not the answer that
- you have to give them.
- You have to sell them on what you are
- doing. And they have to buy into it.
- And they have to be able to communicate
- down to the subordinates why we're doing
- it that they've bought in. And that,
- that way you can start to get
- buy in all the way down the line.
- So it starts at the top with me being
- able to talk to my direct supervisors who
- are going to go to the subordinates
- and explain to them what we're doing,
- why we're doing it, and how the
- message needs to be put out there.
- You can't just come out and say, well,
- the chief wants it done. Okay, well,
- why does the chief want it done? Well,
- just because he wants it done there,
- there has, they're gonna ask questions.
- There has to be a reason why.
- So thank you. So, just as a
- follow up can, do you have,
- can you share a specific example
- of a time when that didn't
- go so well and you had to
- work with maybe a particular member of
- your staff who was disappointed in the
- way the decision that you made and how
- you work them through that so that at the
- end of the day,
- they were motivated and ready to go back
- to work as a firefighter and do the job
- they needed to?
- I think one of the bigger ones when I
- first got there was the radio system.
- I was kind of told that they
- had a radio system that was very
- dysfunctional. I had
- to make it work. So we,
- we began the process with a vendor.
- We started working on things and I I,
- there was a few people there that were,
- They knew radios, but they
- weren't like radio technicians.
- So any change that I was making,
- there were always bumps along the way
- and things that had to be worked out.
- We went from, we took the
- bells out of the station,
- we went to a different alerting system,
- you know, thing, things like that.
- We took out the street boxes that, that
- did not go over big with the members,
- but I had to explain to them that,
- you know, this system is here.
- It's costing the town X
- amount of money. It is very,
- very rarely used today was
- cell phones and, you know,
- the modern technology.
- And I explained how the new system
- was gonna work as they were a little
- It was a mesh system that had repeater
- systems where you could get around the
- town and, and it took time and it,
- it just took continuing to work
- on the process and making sure
- that it got done and it was done
- properly. And it, it worked.
- It, but it took, it took
- time. And, you know,
- I don't take those things personal.
- It's, it's part of my job. I have,
- they have to be done. So,
- and we sold it and it worked
- and it worked out. Good.
- All right. Thank you so much, Tom.
- Thank you. And thank you for
- joining us tonight, David.
- As others have said before,
- me and I, you know, I,
- I appreciate the length of service that
- you've had in the chief's position.
- Certainly the concept of an interim
- chief here in Wellesley was not where we
- started at the beginning
- of this search process,
- but I think working closely with mri, it,
- it grew out of the interviews and
- the process that was underway and
- appears to be a good opportunity for
- us in terms of trying to understand
- and define and correct some of the
- issues that we perceive to be ongoing in
- the department. As a result,
- we anticipate an ongoing relationship
- with M R I that is really important
- to us in terms of a defined period
- of one year that we're trying to
- make this work and achieve
- very specific end results.
- So how would you work with the M R I
- team to determine progress on goals
- and objectives and support
- officer development
- so that we arrive at the end of this
- with the ability to go back and search
- for a permanent chief?
- my philosophy on the second part of your
- question is that basically everybody
- should know everybody else's
- job in the fire service. The,
- the firefighters should, they should be
- trained and they should know what their,
- their shift commanders do on a daily
- basis. They should be mentoring them,
- and I should be mentoring the
- people below me so that, you know,
- the, that they can get the message
- out to the people below that.
- I do understand that
- there are some candidate,
- you have some internal candidates
- that were very close in this process,
- but weren't quite there yet. And
- as I did when I was in Weston,
- I would work closely with those people
- and get them to where they need to be
- so that they can become a chief or
- a deputy wherever they want to go.
- The MRI team, we could meet this,
- we, this was talked about before,
- that they would lay out, you know,
- some goals and timelines and we would
- meet every couple months to go over
- whether how the process
- was going, how, you know,
- whether we were getting meeting the goals,
- whether the person or
- people that were in this,
- these positions were coming up to
- speed quick enough or if it was going
- to take longer, or did they need to
- go down and do ano another avenue. I.
- I think too, as a, as a sort
- of a follow up comment and,
- and question there, there's,
- there are not just the goals with regard
- to internal candidate development,
- but there are also goals in terms
- of sort of cultural change and
- overall departmental
- organization and operation. So I,
- I think it's very important that you
- anticipate working closely with M R I and
- with Megan
- in terms of trying to achieve
- th that half of the job as well
- over the next 12 months.
- And I, I just want to ask,
- I assume that you're aware of
- that and are need for that to
- happen as well?
- Yes. I mean there's, there are,
- there are issues in every department
- that you go to. And we had
- that pretty much had to change
- my first stint as chief,
- they really weren't a fire department.
- It was, it was a fire department,
- but it was the, you know,
- just the people that lived in town
- and they came and we actually built a,
- a fire department and I got the buy-in
- from the members that were on the
- department. They worked really
- closely with me to do that.
- When I went to the, when I took on
- my second job, there was, you know,
- there was some internal issues that were
- there that had to be addressed as far
- as getting the department up to The,
- not this century, but how, how
- you need to pass information down.
- It,
- it was something that the o
- the officers couldn't just hold
- the information close to their vessel
- that no one could take their job.
- It had to be passed down
- to the firefighters so that
- they could do the job when
- the officers were out and they'd be ready
- to do the job when the officers were
- out. I do, I guess I
- understand that there was some,
- there's some schooling, you know,
- there's issues with some, you know,
- going to school and things like that.
- That's something I would have to evaluate
- as to who has what for education.
- But they all should be at
- a, at a level, you know,
- they should all have their fire officer
- officer classes and things like that.
- So those,
- those are things that have to work with
- that I have to look into and see who
- has, who has what. I'd have to talk
- to Megan and see as far as money,
- what we have to spend to
- send these people to school,
- whether we need to cover them,
- not cover them, things like that.
- Thank you.
- Well ahead. Hi,
- thank you for coming and sharing
- your time with us tonight.
- So I wanted to ask a question, just taking
- a deeper dive into your 90 day plan.
- What are two specific projects that
- you would collaborate with the staff to
- bring positive change to the
- Wellesley, the fire department?
- If you can give us your top
- two items, that would be great.
- I think first I would like to just
- go in and meet with all of my,
- all the senior staff, all the, you know,
- the, the deputies and the lieutenants,
- the union president.
- I'd like to meet with all of the
- groups to get everybody to kind of,
- to just tell them what my vision is,
- what I'm there for, what I'm going to do,
- get what they are looking to get out
- of a fire department because they're,
- at the end of the day, they're
- the ones that they work there,
- you want to keep them there, you
- want them, you want them to be happy.
- So you've gotta, you've gotta create a
- work environment that they want to go to.
- So I need to know what that is that they,
- that they are looking for and what they
- feel is lacking in, in the department.
- And then, you know, work on,
- work on that short term
- and then maybe make on,
- take on a little longer of a
- goal period and set that up
- so that there is, there's,
- there's goals and objectives set for the
- future for the next person who's gonna
- come in after, after the, the year
- for them to follow and finish.
- And, and it also,
- it gives the firefighters and the
- officers something to strive for.
- Thank you. And just as a, a follow
- up, you did talk a little bit in our,
- and our last question about is there
- enough budget for training and education,
- things like that.
- Could you talk to us a little bit
- more about your experiencing with Bud,
- your experience in budgeting
- with the department and how,
- how you work with other
- departments in, in doing that?
- Yeah, I've done budget for 22 years.
- I've developed basically with, you
- know, with the help of the town,
- with the town manager, the town, the,
- the treasurer and the accountant. We
- would develop a budget. I would base,
- you know, my budget,
- there's a lot of variables in this job
- that you don't know about. You know,
- you can't predict how many
- buyers you're gonna have.
- We had callback on our department,
- so members would come back.
- So I can't, you can't predict that.
- So I had to go in and go back over and
- try to get, you know, a pretty good,
- a pretty good idea of how many times
- during the la over the last five years
- before I came, did this happen,
- what they were spending on training,
- who was getting the training. I looked
- at what needed to be done for training,
- broke it down into smaller, manageable
- pieces so I wasn't, you know,
- throwing everything at
- the town at one time,
- but trying to accomplish the same thing.
- See what we could do in-house as opposed
- to having to go out and either hire
- someone or bring someone
- from the outside in.
- We looked at, we set up,
- we had a 10 year capital
- replacement plan set with the town
- as far as, you know, all, all
- our pieces, our fire apparatus,
- our turnout gear was replaced every five
- years so that they had a set every so
- that every 10 years when it,
- it goes through its cycle,
- it can be disposed of properly.
- We set up a plan for our,
- the jaws of white, basically all large
- capital expend expenditures. We had,
- we had figured out for the
- future as to what was what,
- when we were gonna need to replace
- them, how much it was gonna be.
- And we tried to spread things out so it
- wasn't all happening at the same time.
- Okay, thank you. I really appreciate that.
- Yep, go ahead Megan. You're
- gonna go ahead. Yes. Yep.
- So thanks David. Good to see you
- again. Good to see you. And you,
- you touched on this a little bit already,
- but could you maybe go through a
- few examples of things that you,
- you've done in the past successfully
- or things that you potentially would
- implement here in,
- in the interim position for
- internal mentorship and you know,
- how you would make that a success?
- Yeah, it's, it would start obviously
- with me and you have to get
- the, you know, the officers that
- are, that are directly below you,
- you would need to work with them to make
- sure that the message that I'm sending
- out gets sent down to them.
- The training that we're doing gets
- sent down to them because as I,
- as I said before, they,
- everybody there should know what
- everybody else's job is. And yeah,
- you, you do need to go to school
- to, you know, to, to advance.
- But you should have a pretty
- good idea of how and what I do.
- The firefighters should know what the
- deputies do and that starts with me and
- getting out and talking to everybody and
- setting them up for the future and say,
- look, if you want to have a future
- here and you want to succeed,
- this is what you have to do. You have
- to do steps A, B, C, and D to do that.
- I know, I'd have to look at, you know,
- there's some people probably that are
- getting ready for retirement that may not,
- they may not, you know, need
- as much, not need, but they,
- but the schooling piece of it,
- it might be a little bit later
- in their career for that.
- So I'd have to find where,
- you know, who needs what and,
- and explain and work with them
- as to why they, why they need it.
- And set up a plan. And you know, this is,
- you need your associates degree for this,
- you need to have a bachelor's if you
- want to go on to try to be a deputy chief
- or a chief and, and make all and, and
- make all those things available to them.
- Not, you know, not bringing the
- college to them, but, you know,
- giving them the opportunity to go to
- the schools, to go to the fire academy,
- to go to the National Fire
- Academy and things like that.
- Great, thank you. As Interim
- chief, even though it's,
- it's for one year and, you know,
- how do you communicate with the residents
- and become involved in the community?
- And, and so that could be, I'll say,
- think about it sort of two ways.
- What have you done in the
- past and then, you know,
- what are some strategies you could do.
- This upcoming year?
- I think we tried to be very
- big in the community, you know,
- have a big presence in the
- community because people,
- they don't see you and if they don't see
- you, they don't know what you do there.
- So any town event that we could be at,
- somebody from the fire department was
- there, whether we ho we had an open house,
- which was a huge success.
- Every year we ran an open house and people
- would come and they'd get to see the
- trucks. They did ice an ice cream, social.
- And I would actually go out and scoop
- ice cream and my deputy would go out and
- we would, you know, we
- would do that. And any,
- we were involved with the COA heavily,
- I'd meet with them on a monthly basis.
- We would go over, you know,
- the people in the town that
- were in need in a crisis.
- And then I had a group of firefighters
- who actually went down and they,
- they taught classes for the coa. They
- taught cpr, they taught them fire safety.
- We were in the,
- the schools working with them real as
- close as we could be with them. You know,
- they're, they're,
- it's harder with the schools because
- they're so mandated on time and what they
- can do. But we worked
- around it and when, but I,
- I think any opportunity that you can
- put yourself out there in front of the
- people in the process, they
- can put a face, face and a,
- and a name to what you do, see
- what you do, ask you questions,
- find out what exactly the life of
- a firefighter or a fire chief is.
- It's only positive for the, for the,
- both the department and for the town.
- Great. Thank you Brian.
- Thank you Dave. What,
- what are three principles that
- would guide you as interim chief and
- Wellesley both looking at your
- career and life experience,
- and then why do these stand out?
- I would say honesty, integrity,
- and consistency. And there are
- three things. If you're not,
- if you're not honest and
- transparent with your people,
- you're never going to
- get buy-in from them.
- If you're not consistent with your people,
- you're never gonna get buy-in and
- integrity and honesty I guess go together.
- But they, they're gonna look at me as,
- as their leader as to what I do. And
- that's the cue that they're gonna take.
- And that's how they're gonna,
- that's how they're gonna act.
- If I come into work and
- I'm dressed, you know, I,
- my shoes are untied and I'm like, or
- anything like that, and they, if they,
- they see things like that,
- they think it's okay to do,
- that's what they're gonna
- do. So I need to start,
- I need to set the example of what I want
- them to do and how I want them to act.
- And the only way I'm gonna do
- that is to have their trust.
- Okay, thank you. And sort of the
- next question of the couple of parts.
- First of all,
- how do you approach diversity and
- recruitment of new firefighters
- considering the current labor.
- Market? It's, it's a
- challenge for everybody.
- Diversity we had, at one point we had
- three females firefighters working.
- One is a lieutenant one, one had to
- leave cuz she was a medic and we aren't,
- we aren't medic. So she
- left for that. It, it,
- it's really hard. But I, we,
- I was more fortunate I think where I was
- than it is in Wellesley because we had
- a small call department.
- So through word of mouth,
- through the younger me, through
- members on the department,
- they would get people in there.
- I had people that worked for the me
- for the fire academy. So there just,
- we had a big network. So we, we gotten
- a lot of people that applied. We,
- we made sure that their dedication,
- that we made them go
- through firefighter one,
- two before we actually appointed them.
- And if they were dedicated enough
- to spend the four months to do that,
- then that showed me that
- they have that, that they,
- that they've got a desire to be there.
- And then we would bring 'em in and
- they would do ride time with us.
- So we got to see them, see whether
- they were a fit in the station.
- Cause both you and I know 75 to
- 80% of the time is you're in the
- fire station and you can teach
- someone to be a fire firefighter,
- but you cannot teach them to be a person.
- And if they don't get along
- and work well with others,
- then it, it's gonna be, it's
- not gonna be a good match. So,
- so I, I was very fortunate in that. And
- I know Wellesley runs their own exam,
- so I would have to dive into the exam and
- get into people's backgrounds a little
- bit and see who's done
- what, you know, who, who's,
- who's kind of stood out,
- who's taken that step,
- who's gone out and got their emt,
- who's looked or tried to get in some
- places to get on a department where they
- could get sponsored for
- firefighter one, two,
- because that's just another notch in
- your belt to get hired. To get hired in,
- in the department.
- Okay, thank you. And sort of a
- follow up to that, Wellesley,
- as most departments has
- a lot of younger members,
- sort of, these folks need
- to be brought forward.
- How do you prepare these folks for the
- change that's really inevitable in the
- American fire service?
- Try to explain, you know, talk
- to and explain to them what the,
- the fire service is, what
- it is, what it has evolved.
- It's not the same job as it was
- when you and I first started it.
- You're not going to fires every day
- anymore. I mean, most of our stuff is,
- is medical related and is,
- I can't think of the
- word, but it's, you know,
- it's that we're there to help
- the, whatever their problem is,
- we're there to help them. If, if
- they call the fire department,
- the people in the town of Wellsley,
- it may not be an emergency to us,
- but it is to them. So everything, so
- everybody gets treated with respect.
- Everyone gets treated the same way.
- And so that needs to be explained to
- the fire, to the young firefighters,
- what they're actually
- getting themselves into,
- what the future is going
- to be of the fire service.
- And it needs to start with
- the officers on the way down.
- When I first started it was completely
- different. The junior firefighter,
- you got the coffee, you
- cleaned the bathrooms, you
- did this, you did, you know,
- all these things. It's a
- different environment today.
- And these things have to be, you
- have, they have to be spread out.
- The junior firefighter can't be dumped
- everything on because they're gonna
- leave.
- They're gonna feel like they're being
- that it's just not gonna be fun for them
- and they're gonna want to go someplace
- that isn't, that is fun. So you have to,
- you have to change,
- basically you have to change the culture
- of a fire department and get them to
- understand that this is,
- this is how things are today.
- And you need to treat these people with
- the respect you need to guide them,
- you need to show them the way you need
- to show them what they need to do.
- There are very few fires today, so any
- kind of experience that you can get, any,
- you know,
- from a senior member who's been there
- and can talk about it with these young
- people and get them to
- understand, you know, what,
- what they need to do on calls, what they
- need to do on certain medical calls.
- Anything that you can do to
- get them to want to come to
- work is, is, and I'm not saying
- anything. I mean there's,
- there's obviously there's money, there's,
- there's a whole lot of different,
- I had people leaving, you
- know, for medic, you know,
- to go to Cambridge for
- money and things like that.
- But our turnover rate was pretty good
- because we made it a really good place for
- people to want to come
- to work. And that's what,
- that's what I strive for.
- Okay. So for the last question,
- I'll turn it over to Megan
- and then we'll close out.
- So the last question is, although
- you'll be the interim chief for a year,
- how would you collaborate with the
- wealthy departments or during your
- tenure? Tenure and set an example
- of relationships in the future?
- With the town departments or.
- Yeah, with the town departments.
- We tried very, we,
- we had really good relationship with the
- town departments in the town I was in
- because you know, the police department,
- basically our jobs are the same.
- I mean, we, we have a hose,
- they have a gun, but we're,
- we're there for the same thing. We're,
- we're there to take care of whatever
- needs that the people have within the
- towns. 90% of the calls that the police
- go on or we go on, we're together.
- So you have to get along
- with them. And we used to at,
- we used to have the, you know, the
- police come up and they'd have dinner,
- with the members in the station just
- because the more that you know about them,
- the more that they know
- about you and what you do,
- the better off you're gonna
- be. Our D P W department,
- we relied on them for
- everything in the wintertime,
- the roads to make sure
- that, you know, they,
- everything was open that we could
- get to where we, we had to get to.
- They were really good as far as if we
- needed some, Hey, we're going here,
- can you have, you know,
- the truck that was doing that particular
- part of town would make sure that we
- could get there if ahy, they
- took care of the hydrants.
- So we worked with them in the wintertime.
- We went out and shoveled the hydrants
- and they would go out with their machine
- and we worked together
- to make sure that they,
- they all get cleared within
- a timely manner. We would,
- we're on the M W R A, which you
- are as well. So you have to,
- at the end of the year, turn in how much
- water you use and what you used it for.
- So if we,
- we had a spot up in one of the cemeteries
- that was just kind of off in the back.
- It had a hydrant, it was a
- great place for us to train.
- We always let them know so that,
- so obviously if there was
- something going on in the cemetery,
- we weren't gonna interrupt them.
- They know that we were up there.
- They know that we're using the
- water and we could keep track of it.
- So it made his life a lot easier at the
- end of the year as to where that went.
- Schools, you know, we worked
- with them as far as, you know,
- on the Asher training
- and things like that.
- And we tried to work around
- them as much with fire safety,
- especially on the younger kids. You know,
- the older kids, it's a little harder.
- But you know, we, we worked
- with, so the relationship,
- we're all there for the same thing. We're
- all there for the people in Wellesley.
- At the end of the day, it, that's what,
- we're there for it for different reasons,
- but we all have to work together
- to make sure that that works.
- And as far as departments go,
- I mean I have a really good relationship
- with Metro Fire through all the chiefs.
- I've known them for the last 14 years.
- We built some really good running
- assignments with the cities.
- We're very fortunate that Wal Dam and
- Newton are right there. Cuz Weston is,
- Weston was small. If we had a
- fire, you know, we were running,
- we had six, sometimes seven
- guys go into it. We'd have to,
- we'd rely heavily on them and at
- the end, by the time, you know,
- they would send and do anything
- that we needed him to do.
- They'd send us whatever we needed.
- Newton was the same way I could pick
- up the phone and call the Boston
- commissioner cuz I'm, I added something
- that I did not know about. And,
- and he, you know, he'd answer
- the question. So there's,
- I I have a lot of those relationships
- already built outside of the department.
- I'd have to work, you know,
- obviously in and meet with all the
- department heads and see what their
- expectations of us are and what
- I'd be looking for outta them.
- But I never have had a problem
- with any department head.
- I think if you went back and if
- you asked my former employees,
- I think you'd find the same thing from
- them that I was pretty easy to work with.
- And I got along with pretty
- much everybody in the town, so.
- Great, thank you.
- Hope that, I hope that
- answered your question.
- It does, thank you.
- And Dave, just to be
- consistent as we close out,
- talk to the board about your
- timeline and availability.
- The only I have, I mean,
- the only thing I have is two days coming
- up in two weeks that I'm going up to
- Winni Psaki. Other than
- that, I'm, you know, I,
- I have like some, you know,
- follow up doctor appointments
- on my shoulder and things,
- but other than that, I,
- I can start whenever.
- Okay, sounds good.
- So what we'll do is Dave Houghton
- or I will follow up with you
- following this interview and I think
- that concludes it for the board
- tonight. So you can go ahead and
- log off and we'll be in touch.
- All right, well thank you very much.
- Thank you everybody for your time.
- Thank you very much for coming.
- Okay,
- so we are moving on to a discussion of
- the candidates and hopefully a vote.
- I I will just say, I,
- I think these are two really strong
- candidates and Brian and Megan and
- Chief,
- I really appreciate all the work that
- you did to bring them to us because I,
- this is a, a tough choice.
- We've got two really obviously
- very capable and experienced
- people who,
- who had a lot of great
- answers to our questions.
- So I'll just maybe ask if Brian,
- you wanna say anything or Jack,
- Megan and then open up to
- comments from the board.
- So it was our goal to give
- the board a choice of two
- individuals that could do the job. I I
- think they both have different strengths.
- You have Todd as someone
- that hasn't been a chief as
- long,
- but certainly has some very different
- labor route and comes from sort of a
- larger organization.
- A and then you have Chief Soar
- who is a well established,
- well-respected Massachusetts
- chief who offers a lot in a sort
- of a different way. So I think
- from Dave Houghton and myself,
- they're both very capable.
- We really look at it as it's a
- question of fit with the board
- and on a daily basis fit with
- Megan and the the chief. And,
- and I really think that they
- need to weigh in on that fit set.
- I mean, I'm happy to weigh in
- that we, I'll speak for myself.
- I thought we could definitely work with
- either candidate. I thought they both
- were just as, as candid and
- terrific in their responses with the
- chief and I as they were tonight publicly.
- I think they, we couldn't have
- asked for better candidates.
- We totally lucked out
- that they're, you know,
- willing to come back for a stint
- of service after many years of
- fire service. So I I I don't
- necessarily have a preference.
- I am very comfortable
- with either candidate.
- I think either one would be
- serve the town very well that
- I think in, they've both been very
- collaborative in speaking to other
- folks regarding them. It,
- so we've had very positive reviews. Jack,
- I don't know if you wanna add to that.
- No, I, I, I concur with you, me, Megan.
- I think the board has a tough decision
- because I think they're both very
- qualified. They're both,
- they're different and I
- think their approaches might
- be a little bit different,
- but at the end of the day, I, I think
- either one could get the job done and,
- and I could work with either one.
- So I, I guess I'll just open with my,
- my inclination and
- grateful to hear from
- others about their thoughts.
- But I do think I given
- the, as as Brian put it, the,
- the distinctions between
- the two candidates.
- I do wonder if a fresh,
- the fresh approach that the
- candidate from New Hampshire brings.
- It would be a really useful, I mean we're,
- we're gonna be undergoing
- a transition here.
- And I think my sense,
- my, I don't know, my,
- I guess just gut instinct was
- that he would bring a lot of fresh
- ideas and I think one of the things
- that we could really benefit from is,
- is a lot of experience with a
- different way of doing things.
- Not that we necessarily
- wanna do it that way,
- but that that person would
- bring kind of a different,
- a different take.
- And I think Chief Soar would also,
- obviously has worked in a number
- of different departments, but I,
- I'm guessing his experience has
- been by his own description,
- has been much closer to
- the Wellesley experience.
- And I feel like what we
- could really use right now is
- some more out of the box thinking.
- Not that Chief Sawer wouldn't
- be capable of doing that,
- but just by, by
- just from having worked in a different
- state and a different environment,
- there might be some really fresh ideas
- that that would be useful for our
- department to have and could really help
- create a a, a whole new
- culture. So I I that's,
- I'm sort of stumbling around here
- because it really is a very tough
- call, but I i, that,
- that's sort of what
- where my gut landed me.
- Anyone else?
- Beth?
- So I agree that both are
- very interesting candidates,
- so thank you Brian and your
- group. I think I netted out,
- not surprisingly, probably
- in a different place.
- So I look at our most important job as
- providing service to the community.
- And I think Mr.
- Soar is more familiar with
- our type of community.
- And what struck me is
- his confidence that yes,
- he's a collaborative leader, but at
- the end of the day he makes decisions,
- he gets buy-in and he
- leads the department at all
- levels through those choices
- and he holds the line.
- And I think that is, for me,
- very important in a chief.
- I want someone who, at the end of the day,
- the buck stops with them and they're
- going to own the decisions and they're not
- afraid of change.
- So it sounded to me like
- he has been on our journey
- of stepping into a department where
- the leadership isn't quite there
- yet,
- but that there was a pathway
- to get the members trained
- and give them the experience
- and that exposure.
- And so for me that that
- experience doing that was
- very, very compelling.
- And on the flip side,
- I think there's too
- many differences for me,
- although I, I was very
- impressed by Mr. Jermaine.
- He's from a different state,
- he's from a city and
- he's a relatively young
- y not young age wise, but less,
- less exposed to all the challenges
- that being a chief and holding
- the line have because he
- just did it for less time.
- And I feel like what we should be
- bringing to the community is that
- absolute surety that
- the chief has the
- experience to lead through
- decisions and lead
- through change. And so I,
- I feel more inclined toward Mr.
- Soer because I feel like he
- comes with that full package of
- what we need.
- Tom.
- You know, I,
- it was interesting to hear
- both of your comments just now,
- Lisa, I agree with a lot of what you said,
- but what I found myself wondering
- is whether you were describing
- a year from now the new chief
- and whether what we need over the
- next year is to right the ship
- and to get the essential
- department organized and
- squared away in a way that
- it is receptive and capable
- of moving forward with new ideas
- and outta the box thinking.
- And that led me to think that,
- that David might be a better
- fit because the sheer command
- presence, I, I think that's one of
- the big advantages that he had to me
- he understood how he needed to arrive
- at a decision that was right for a
- particular situation, but I think
- he has a command presence that,
- that Todd doesn't lack but
- didn't have to the same
- degree simply because of the number
- of years that they've been chief.
- And I I,
- I wonder if the number of
- years in services a chief I,
- I'm thinking that that does
- matter in this situation.
- And, and I'm, I'm also think wondering
- and, and this may be something
- that Brian would be able to comment on if,
- if there's a benefit to someone
- who's well known and respected
- within our fire community here,
- because inevitably what you see
- is the union and the individual
- firefighters have connections
- within that network and can go back
- out and say, should I listen to this
- guy or not? Is this guy a good guy?
- Is he somebody who's got
- the ability to do this job?
- And they're gonna get
- that kind of feedback.
- As I went through the interview with,
- as we went through the
- interview with Todd,
- and I mean this as a compliment to him,
- I wondered whether he really wants
- to be through with active duty
- or whether he might end
- up looking for a return
- perhaps in another state.
- I'm not at all familiar with the
- New Hampshire retirement laws,
- but the feeling I had is that he's
- not through with with that job.
- And I think David is through
- with being an active chief,
- but would bring a presence,
- a basis of knowledge
- and a and a skillset to
- the work as interim chief. That
- that's what attracted me to him.
- And Mar right,
- I wanna jump in before Colette so
- that Colette ends up having to be the
- tiebreaker here. No, cause I,
- I actually agree with
- everything everyone said.
- I I thought they were both
- great but both different.
- I guess what I'm,
- I'm struggling with is what do we
- need for an interim versus the next
- chief? And
- I did see feel that,
- that David would,
- would be a steady hand and bring so much
- to the community while he's here and,
- and if that's what we're looking
- for is the steady hand to,
- to just see us through the next
- year, I think he'd be amazing.
- And then I thought that
- the other candidate,
- I felt like he would come in and be,
- would see things differently, which
- is what you were saying, Lisa.
- And it is a different way of
- looking at it and it'd be different.
- And if that's what we're
- looking for in the interim,
- he's the one to bring that
- difference, I think. And so I,
- I see them both doing
- something great for Wellesley.
- It's really what, what
- do we want in this year?
- And I think one thing
- that really struck me
- about about,
- sorry about God, right? Yes.
- So I lose my names, is that
- he definitely saw that his main role was
- the mentorship and I really heard that
- in what he said.
- And so I saw him seeing this as a job.
- He was gonna come in and
- help and help bring the,
- the next generation along and get us
- really ready for a new transition a year
- from now, which I really appreciated.
- I'm certain that David
- could do that as well.
- So I I really think that
- they're both great and it's,
- I guess I would slightly
- lean towards Todd,
- but I could be convinced the other way.
- I do think they're both great
- and it's just different.
- It's, are we looking for a
- shift or a steadying is what,
- how I see this.
- Oh boy. So I did,
- this is a really, really difficult choice.
- This is probably one of the most difficult
- candidate selection processes I've
- ever been through because
- these are two amazing choices.
- You're being asked to choose almost it
- feels like between two good friends or
- you know, someone, both people
- that would be amazing for the job.
- So that's, that's on the,
- on the plus side for us.
- I think we're gonna commit to
- this in a very, very good place.
- When I started on paper and I I,
- I read all We have, I was really,
- the,
- the depth and breadth of the chief
- experience was really important to me.
- So I really was predisposed to Mr.
- Sore when I read on paper.
- And then of course the interviews they
- both interviewed amazingly and I was
- actually really struck by,
- although they're different
- people in different approaches,
- they gave a lot of very similar responses.
- They understand exactly what it is
- we need to do, where we need to go,
- what the steps are to get there. So I
- think we're gonna have the same approach.
- I'm so torn on this one because I
- completely agree with everything everyone
- said. One thing that kind of
- speaks to me a little bit is
- both our internal candidates
- and our new firefighters
- are young.
- And so having someone closer
- to them might in their
- sort of arc of life would, might,
- might help with the mentorship process.
- Whereas the, the gravity,
- the command presence,
- the this sort of agent experience that
- David brings is unquestionably there and
- is is very distinctive and
- very comforting for us.
- We would know we'd be, we'd
- be in a very steady hand.
- It's hard because he also brings a
- knowledge of the area and the culture
- and the, the neighboring towns and the
- people he'd been working with. But I,
- I do think I lean towards
- Mr. Soar in the end.
- I would be happy to go with either,
- but I think that's where I'm leaning
- just from a perspective of a little
- bit of an outside perspective
- because we are,
- we are seeking that as part of the
- mentorship for not only the leadership,
- but it will also help with the
- younger generation. So that's,
- that's where I'm leaning.
- Did you Mr. Jermaine,
- sorry, Mr. Jermaine. Sorry,
- did I under duress in the moment probably
- said the wrong word, but Mr. Jermaine,
- I think, yeah, that's what I'm waiting.
- Yeah, I i it's, it's hard not to,
- for every argument for one, there's
- a counter argument for the other.
- It's hard not to, not
- to be doing that in in,
- at least I'm finding that in my
- head. But I, I will just say I think,
- I do think to your point Ann Mara,
- about sort of what is the
- goal here for this year. I,
- I think it's more than a steady
- hand I would say. I mean I,
- I think we do have some
- changes that that need to
- happen and,
- and this mentorship is
- obviously a major goal.
- So I I would, that's,
- that's sort of what the way I'm thinking
- about what's going to happen over the
- course of this year. I'm sorry
- Tom, did you have your hand up?
- Well, I, I did because it, it,
- I think it's important that people,
- that there have been several people
- who have used the term steady hand and
- I, I'm, I'm trying to sort of share
- my thinking so that people can,
- can not just tell me whether they
- disagree, but help me sort of refine it.
- And to me there's an attraction to
- a steady hand in terms of what I
- think has to happen over the next
- year in that I don't think we
- have a problem fighting fires. I I,
- my understanding is that our
- personnel are very good in the job
- of fighting fires. And
- so I wonder if that,
- if that steady hand, if
- it's in the right person,
- means that there is a consistency within
- which they are able to identify the
- kinds of problems we have and fix
- them and that that's where the command
- presence comes from. I'm,
- I'm a bit concerned that
- Todd as a person who
- is younger but who has
- less command experience
- won't have that same
- advantage. And I'm not sure,
- while he has some different thinking
- that he has a basis of knowledge with
- which to move forward in effective
- ways with that new thinking,
- I, I think that's,
- that's an advantage too.
- So my comments would be very different
- if we were interviewing these two as
- a permanent chief, but I
- just wonder if over the,
- over the next year there isn't
- a benefit to that significant
- experience that David brings to the table.
- Beth? So yeah,
- and thank you first for to everyone for
- their comments cuz I do think this is
- both very important and also
- a very difficult choice.
- I think the other reason
- I am inclined toward Mr.
- Soar is that a year is not a lot of time.
- And when I think about the,
- the number of things that
- when you take on a new role,
- learning the community
- learning, the state learning,
- the department and mentoring
- seemed to me to be,
- if we can knock a few o off,
- we're giving our interim a higher amount
- of time to focus on the things that
- set us up long term. So
- if the community is known,
- the network in the state is known,
- the the kind of the area is understood,
- then for me it allows more,
- more opportunity to focus on the
- department as opposed to focus
- on everything else.
- That is it doing all the
- other parts of being a
- chief will take less, less time.
- So that's part of what I looked at
- in terms of prioritizing because
- if we're bringing someone in that maybe
- doesn't have all those boxes checked,
- but they're here for a longer time,
- I think that's a different choice.
- But we're looking for
- a year. And so for me,
- I, I would like
- some of the skillsets or some
- of the inherent knowledge
- to be in place when the
- person starts. And I,
- Brian maybe can comment on that, but that,
- that's one of the things in addition to
- what Tom so eloquently put as command
- presence I think was also
- going on in my choice. Set.
- Any other comments?
- Yeah, I just, I just wanted to
- sort of, I I, I completely, I hear,
- you know, both Tom and
- Beth's comments here,
- but I,
- but I just want to note that the
- department itself knows the community,
- knows the town, knows the
- networks. We have that.
- And so I'm just trying to
- balance between, you know,
- what we have and what we're looking to
- add to this department in the next 12
- months.
- Yeah, I think that's a really
- good point. I I think that's,
- that's well said. I, I feel like
- those are the things that we have,
- we have a strong department
- that can, you know,
- preserve safety and, and do its
- job very effectively in the town.
- I'm thinking more in terms of what
- we don't have and that we need. And
- to me that's sort of
- the fresh approach and
- a perspective from other departments and,
- and how they do things differently
- in other places that could really
- help us leap ahead over
- the course of this year
- in terms of becoming a more
- state-of-the-art department,
- which is kind of where I
- would like to see us go.
- So that's what's persuasive to me about
- sort of the outside candidate
- and Mara.
- so now everything everyone says I
- agree with and it shifts my perspective
- and then I shift back. So
- I completely agree with Colette saying
- that we have so much already in our
- department,
- but that also made me think about
- the fact that this person's gonna
- walk in and not have a lot
- of time to get things done.
- And so I'm thinking about who is
- going to be trusted more quickly
- and maybe they're familiar
- would have a better impact or a more
- chance for an impact in this one year
- because
- he would walk in and already
- just because of the familiarity
- Weston is right next door
- and that command presence and
- his years of experience that he
- would,
- he would walk in maybe having that
- respect without having to do much.
- He just is right. Whereas, you know,
- the other candidate might have to work
- harder to earn that respect and that time
- that it would take in that department
- to get that is time that might get
- wasted in this very short year. So
- I'm, now I'm shifting because I i
- I really think that it is important to
- get as much done as possible in this,
- in that short period of time. And I
- mean obviously we're not, it isn't,
- we haven't said it's calendar year,
- you know, August 12th to August 12th,
- but there is something to be said
- about a person that could walk in and
- immediately
- just walk into being the Wellesley fire
- chief even on an interim basis without
- really any concerns whatsoever, I don't
- think from anyone in the department.
- But, you know, I wish I, I'm not that
- I've talked to anybody in the department,
- but now I'm starting to think that way.
- Jack.
- Can we ask, I, I don't know
- how much Brian can add to this,
- but I'm interested in his perspective.
- So again, I think,
- I feel the board's pain here that
- this is a very difficult decision.
- We strobe to give you a tough choice and,
- and I think between Dave
- and I that have done this,
- we see some of the same advantages and
- disadvantages that you have pointed out,
- whether it's familiarity with metro
- fire in the network. Ultimately
- we're trying to give the department
- an opportunity to grow and,
- and to sort of grow toward
- where the fire service is
- going in the future. Either
- one is capable of doing that.
- I really balance the
- outside perspective benefit
- with being an established
- mass chief as about equal.
- So chief I'm gonna sort of defer to,
- it's really the board's
- difficult decision.
- Either one of them could do a great job
- and, and that's how we vetted them. And,
- and to be honest with you,
- Dave and I had some of the same
- discussions that you're having,
- which one would be better? And
- I think we also had it with the,
- the chief and Megan as well.
- So I know I'm not adding
- a lens of clarity here,
- but I I think either one is fine for
- what you're trying to accomplish.
- They may do it in a different way,
- but I think the, the department,
- as long as the,
- the department embraces the
- interim chief and the opportunity
- to grow has a real springboard forward
- here and it can be very positive
- as long as it's looked at in that way.
- Okay.
- Well I I'm not sure.
- I'm not sure any, I I, does anyone have
- anything they, they really wanna add?
- Are we ready to, are people
- pretty much talked out?
- Ann Mara, you look like you're sort
- of on the verge of saying something.
- I just, I just wanna
- clarify, did, did everybody,
- so I I did think their leadership
- styles were, were very different,
- right? And I just wanna make sure
- that I was seeing that properly that,
- that Mr. Jermaine is a,
- is a little bit more of a,
- he used the word Democratic, right?
- So it's, I might say collaborative,
- although he didn't use that.
- He said Democratic where I
- really felt like Chief Soar is
- very much, he, he is the chief.
- So it's a little more of a
- top-down approach and I told him,
- is that what everybody else picked
- up? Cuz it's Yes. Misunderstand that.
- Yeah, Collin and did you pick up
- that as well? Yeah, yeah. I mean the,
- I those were the notes I took. Yeah.
- I think that's an excellent point. Ammar,
- you, you're looking at Todd,
- Mr. Jermaine, chief Jermaine as
- maybe his approach and is more
- win over people over the course of time
- as opposed to Chief Soar who
- would come in and
- through his presence
- kind of lead direct, you know, right away.
- I, I I think there's an
- advantage of someone who's not,
- not, not that they're not
- concerned, but somebody who
- is more
- willing to do it their way instead of you,
- you can collaborate to a certain extent.
- I'm not sure how much this department,
- the fire department needs
- that collaboration. I think
- both will collaborate,
- but there's something to be said for
- somebody to come in and say, Hey look,
- this is the way it's gonna be and you
- don't like it, talk to me about it.
- But at the end of the day, that's what
- it's gonna be. Not here to make friends.
- I I'm I'm here to, you
- know, get the job done. I
- they're both great
- candidates. I like 'em both.
- Okay, well, so we lost Dan Mara.
- I mean I I I really feel that too,
- that they're both great candidates.
- I hear a very strong
- argument for Chief Sar.
- I'd be very comfortable with
- him as, as our selection
- and I'm happy to go with that.
- As would I, Lisa, like
- I said at the beginning,
- we are in great hands with either of
- these choices or just absolutely they're
- just different and I'm, I'm,
- I'm very comfortable with either choice
- and either choice would have my full
- support.
- Okay. Would.
- You like a motion, Lisa?
- Well, I'm, I'm feel a little Ann Mara
- is on the phone. I just wanna make sure.
- I'm, I'm so sorry that was like a little
- family emergency, but I'm, I'm back.
- I apologize for that.
- I was just saying that both Colette
- and I were just saying we'd be very
- comfortable with the selection
- of Chief Soar. So, you know,
- I I think we're we're, we've
- reached a consensus here.
- Yeah, I mean that's
- where we're netting out.
- I I think they're both great so I would
- completely support the board if that's
- the direction.
- Okay. So yes, I think we need a motion.
- Okay. Move to appoint Mr.
- David Soar as interim fire chief and
- Wellsey subject to a successful contract
- negotiation.
- And do we put a time start or.
- I think it would be contingent upon
- the contract and their availability.
- Okay, great.
- Second.
- Aye and Beth.
- Aye.
- Tom Aye and I vote Aye as well.
- Okay. That was a tough one, but Brian,
- thank you very much. It was a,
- a really fascinating conversation
- with both candidates and I
- know we're, we're gonna
- be in very good hands.
- Okay. And we'll follow up and inform both
- candidates and take it from there with
- Megan. So thank you very much for tonight.
- Thank you. Thank.
- Lisa. I apologize but I just have to
- step out for two more minutes so I,
- I know you'll move on,
- but I'll be right back.
- Okay. All right.
- So next item is discuss and
- vote the PSI recommendation with
- regard to the Wellesley College
- Health and Counseling Center.
- So thank you.
- We have Michelle Mahu from Wellesley
- College here along with Justin Mosca,
- who is the V H B engineer on the project.
- Good to see you again Justin. He, he's
- done some ful work over the years,
- so the project has been submitted
- for a project of significant impact.
- I can have Justin give you a brief
- overview of the project, but, or Michelle,
- but just as a reminder,
- so the select board's role in
- this is the select board issues,
- a recommendation to the
- permit granting authority,
- the planning board with
- regards to traffic,
- both signalize and unsign
- lines intersections,
- as well as sidewalk evaluations
- as part of the pedestrian bike and
- safety evaluations.
- So the board has received
- the application. I had a,
- initially a draft
- recommendation I have sent
- given this project largely
- does not trigger many of the
- components of the PSI
- traffic because it's a,
- it's actually a reduction
- in square footage and we,
- we can go through that briefly. I
- did have beta engineering just do a,
- a brief peer review on this and the,
- the board didn't really see
- it cuz it, but it was tan,
- got back to me just through
- an email that, you know, they,
- they had no issues with
- traffic, no issues with parking,
- construction, traffic. They had
- a few questions on Sidewalk,
- which we can address as part of the
- discussion. And, and so with that,
- maybe Justin I'll just have you
- give, you know, a or Michelle,
- whoever would like to proceed
- with just a very brief
- overview of the project the board has
- received the, the full PSI application.
- Yep. No, certainly I'll, I'll
- keep it high level and just,
- just walk you through and orient.
- Let me share my screen real quick.
- Please comes through.
- So thank you for having us again.
- Just having listened to the last one,
- I need to just point out that I don't
- envy your position on having to make that
- vote. So hopefully this
- one will be easier for you.
- So we are hopefully most, most folks
- are familiar with Wealthy College,
- Route 1 1 35 Central Street is up on
- sort of the top of the map that you're
- seeing here and Route 16 Washington
- Street is kind of on the,
- on the southeast border, the of
- the college with Lake Waban on the,
- to the Southwest.
- So everything you see sort of between
- that triangle as Wellesley College.
- The project that we're
- proposing is kind of,
- sort of smacked out in the
- middle of, of the property.
- It's over by the science center and
- it's a replacement of Simpson Hall,
- which is this building right
- here. So it's actually gotten a,
- it's attached to Simpson Cottage with it,
- which is an older structure and
- that Simpson Cottage is staying.
- But as I zoom back out, so
- you can see the campus again,
- you can kind of see how it's how
- it's in the middle of the property.
- And that's important, you know, we'll
- talk about that a little bit later.
- But just because we're not making any
- changes to connections to the municipal
- infrastructure for
- College Road, like where,
- where you actually access the college,
- the project itself, as Megan mentioned,
- it's a reduction in square footage.
- The existing Simpson Hall that,
- that I had circled is a
- 19,000 square foot structure.
- The building that's gonna be going in
- is a new health and counseling center,
- and that is 11,000 square feet.
- So the health services are current or
- were currently, that doesn't make sense.
- They were in Simpson
- Hall previously. They're,
- they've been temporarily moved to
- the college club to make way for this
- demolition. And then the health services
- will move back into this facility.
- The health services are run by Newton
- Wellesley Hospital for the college.
- So essentially these are programs
- and staff and students that are all
- present in the college already.
- It's not a growth in at any kind in
- student population or staff population.
- And we're not impacting any parking
- spaces. And it will temporarily,
- they'll need to be laid
- downs for construction,
- but ultimately everything around
- the building stays the same.
- So we're not creating any parking spaces
- or removing any parking spaces as part
- of the project. And we're
- not, again, changing any,
- any connections to the, to
- route 16 or to route 1 35.
- That is probably the
- majority of the summary.
- I think that we can open discussion.
- I guess the only other thing I'd
- mention is we did get comments from the
- municipal light,
- municipal light plant fire department
- and engineering light plant and fire
- department had no issue with this.
- Engineering had a few comments that
- they just requested that we provide some
- supplemental information, which we've
- done today. So everyone seems to be,
- to be on board. So again, no growth
- and it's a reduction in square footage,
- so it's really not a traffic
- generating project. So.
- So the only thing, Lisa, I I just
- wanted to clarify on the sidewalk.
- So typically for P S I,
- we would look at the adjoining
- sidewalks within 600 feet.
- So obviously with the college
- campuses it's a little bit unique.
- So Justin actually went above and beyond
- and really did an evaluation on the
- exterior of the parcel
- of the campus along 1 35,
- basically circumnavigating
- most of the, you know,
- three quarters of the site looking
- at 1 35 along lessen road down to
- Washington Street. He did an
- evaluation of all those sidewalks.
- The only comments we
- potentially could have,
- and I think this map is
- super helpful, Justin,
- cause it leads exactly to my
- comment is that, you know,
- when in Justin's analysis and in the
- review by beta, it was just that,
- there are a few intersections
- that you could focus on as a
- recommendation to the planning
- board to add the ADA ramping
- to it,
- which would be largely at
- 1 35 in the college drive,
- or potentially at
- the pedestrian signalization at Washington
- Street. But given the,
- the significant area distance to 600 feet,
- typically we're looking at that within
- the particular RightWay to the 600
- feet immediately adjoining the land.
- So that it's pretty far
- away. W it was the comment,
- it's certainly something we
- could highlight for planning
- if the board so chose,
- but I think it's a little greater
- than P s I initially intends
- because this is the college campus that
- has a parcel of significant acreage.
- So I just wanted to raise that point.
- And then the only other thing
- that we can clarify, Justin,
- is that part of the
- application, and Michelle,
- we notice some inconsistencies
- with regards to the services
- provided by the M W
- R T A.
- So they have ramped up some of their
- services in terms of our access to some
- public transportation, which
- is just an improvement.
- So that's even above and beyond what
- we, we currently have. And so, you know,
- offline we can maybe set up a meeting
- to just educate the college on,
- on the new services that M W R T A
- has as well as the fact that M B T A
- is now on a clock face schedule
- for the commuter rail services. So,
- so that's just an additional
- improvement actually in terms of
- exterior transportation in
- the immediate vicinity. So,
- you know, happy to answer
- questions from the board,
- but I did just wanna call and
- the map is really helpful.
- So if that's something we wanted
- to forward to the recommendation,
- it would really be looking at
- adding and the board's aware of the,
- the a d a plates that we've had
- on actually a large lot of our
- psis in more recent time because
- it's been a change in infrastructure
- requirement. So as soon
- as the road's touched,
- which we actually don't have
- jurisdiction necessarily,
- we'd need mass co t approval for the,
- the section on 1 35 1 Route 1 35,
- which is under Mass cot
- jurisdiction or Washington Street.
- But, you know, so that's
- just one potential.
- If we were gonna put any recommendation
- in it would be to add those, I think.
- And, and let me just, I can tell you the,
- my apologies, my.
- Yeah, and those just while you're,
- while you're looking that up too,
- I was doing a takeoff, so like the,
- from our project to the end
- of College road where that
- meets 1 35 just for, for reference,
- it's about 2300 feet away.
- Yeah. So when you make, when
- you mention that 600 foot right,
- we're only really looking at that
- because the property is that big.
- We're we're really dead, dead set
- in the middle of the property.
- And I think the other one was about 1300
- somewhere that range just to route 16.
- Yeah, it was closer to 1300 feet.
- Yeah. So I mean the, the
- three intersection, if,
- if we were gonna make a recommendation,
- they were looking at Western Road,
- at Central College Road, at Central
- and College Road at Washington,
- those three particular locations.
- But I just note the difference,
- the distance, excuse me to
- Justin's point, it it's,
- what are those instances too,
- where the information was provided?
- So we were gonna do the review.
- Hola, did you have a question?
- Did, so I, I did notice the,
- the curb reveals and that comment,
- and I did recently take a,
- a little bit of a walk
- in Walsey Square with a
- a, a young student I've been working
- with on mobility who does have mobility
- impairments and vision
- impairments. And, you know,
- the conversation that I
- had with him was at the,
- the bright markers are really helpful.
- So, you know, there, there is a,
- a need and a use for them. But one
- of the things I wanted to ask about,
- on page three of seven,
- third paragraph to the bottom,
- it's talking about Central
- Street and College Road.
- And there it's saying it's observed that
- there was a ramp on the eastern side
- that has a noticeable curb reveal on
- the roadway that's not convenient for
- travel by a wheelchair. Can you explain
- that more to me, Megan? What kind of,
- what are we talking about and what are
- the alternatives for someone who is
- traveling by a wheelchair
- in that area or that,
- that jumped out to me as being different
- from the other items that were raised?
- Sorry, what what street? I'm sorry,
- Colette, I might have an image of it.
- Central Street and College Road.
- I street side of college road.
- I have, I have an, I have an
- image that I can project If you,
- if you could stop sharing for one moment,
- which might just clarify that
- this is an image that Beta had
- just had, oh sorry, is it up?
- So this is college road at Central.
- So this is that area where it's
- the, the curb comes to grade.
- Sorry, I'll just see if I can, I can't
- really shift it. You can see sort of the,
- to the northern section as well,
- rather than having the a d
- you know how it tends to be
- a three square sort of down
- with the, with the plate.
- But I I I think it was saying that
- that curb reveal was more troublesome
- than the other areas that
- they were identifying.
- And so I'm wondering if
- that should be elevated.
- There is certainly,
- there's a, a lip there.
- It looks like I can
- steal the screen again.
- Try again Justin. Sorry. Yep.
- You can see it in, in street view the,
- the lip that's there. So I think there,
- there were certainly some
- deficiencies, you know,
- a few deficiencies that were noted
- in the sidewalk inventory that
- would be better served being
- fixed. I think the, you know,
- the question is, is it part of
- this project and should it be,
- you know, should it be part of this
- project? Cause I don't know, you know,
- if that's necessarily
- related. I think that's up to,
- I'm assuming that's up to the board
- to, to decide. But that's the,
- that's the image there. You can
- kind of see the, the drop off. Yep.
- Yeah, if I could, if I could just
- jump in really quickly. You know,
- we're super committed to accessibility
- on campus. We've done our own,
- we've been improving accessibility
- both in buildings and site pathways and
- parking lots across campus. So I'm,
- I'm just really interested and thankful
- to hear some of these comments because
- we have a means to definitely
- address some of these things.
- like I'm not sure this project has to
- be the means to get to the ends here.
- So I'm super interested in
- continued conversation and hearing
- some of this seems like kind of low
- hanging fruit and I think it's something
- that like, I'm surprised I,
- I would've loved to have addressed
- this like before this project. So I'm,
- I'm super open to it.
- I just dunno like that,
- that this project should be the vehicle
- in which we're trying to a approach and,
- and handle these things. And I'm happy
- if that's the way you deem it necessary.
- But I, I just, I'm like,
- I'm super interested and I think we have
- some ways to address some of these low
- hanging fruit issues. So it's,
- it's helpful feedback. Thank you
- Tom.
- I, I honestly, I wanna be sure
- I'm not missing something.
- We have a building in the middle
- of a college campus that is
- going to get smaller for the
- same use and it seems to me a
- greatly disproportionate
- conversation here going on about,
- I I don't, I don't know why
- we haven't taken the vote.
- I I I think that, that
- Michelle is, is right.
- I I think if we just go to the college
- and talk to 'em about a few issues like
- this, that they would be responsive. But
- to me this is a no-brainer. I, i, I don't,
- I I wanna make sure I'm
- not missing something.
- So, so that's why I'm calling
- it out with the fact that we,
- Justin did,
- it's sort of like too
- much information and,
- and the best way possible he went
- above and beyond and really did
- the whole parcel. So, so we looked at it,
- but that's why I said the map is
- actually really helpful. So, I mean,
- it's something that, again,
- I totally agree we can work with
- the college on in in the future.
- I was just raising it
- because we, we did have it
- modestly peer review because there's
- not a whole lot to look at to the exact
- point that you, you said Tom,
- so we did just note a
- couple deficiencies that
- are there that could be a recommendation
- if the board wanted to add them.
- And we are just the
- recommendation body and the,
- and the planning board
- would be the ultimate
- permit grant authority. But I, I
- don't disagree with you at all,
- but I felt it from a transparency
- standpoint to raise it.
- Yeah, I I think it's really useful to
- have those things highlighted. I don't,
- I don't know that we're necessarily
- planning, you know, I don't think Tom,
- that we're, we're delaying a vote.
- I, I didn't mean to say that
- I, I, that was, you know,
- I was trying to sort of make a point and
- I I didn't mean there's always room for
- discussion, you know, according to
- what the Burke board wants to raise.
- And, and I don't mean to suggest
- otherwise, but I, I'm reminded
- about the discussion about handicapped
- curb cuts in the Honeywell school
- and when I was on the school building
- committee and the controversy that rose
- and the expense that was added
- to that project. Well beyond,
- I think what the scope should
- have been for the work.
- So ag again, i,
- I certainly don't in any way mean to
- suggest any disrespect for the amount of
- deliberation the board
- wishes to put into this, but,
- but I just think that, that the,
- the college is demonstrating a
- willingness to engage in these kinds of
- conversations. I think they are important.
- I think that is a good example of
- a curb cut that ought to be fixed.
- But I don't think we wanna set a precedent
- that will attach to a project like
- this.
- Beth.
- So first I think this is a really
- exciting project and I'm glad to see the
- investment in a health center on campus.
- And I,
- I think I generally agree with Tom that
- it would be nice to improve the curb
- cuts. I, I don't have a problem
- pointing it out to planning, but I,
- I don't see it as
- kind of fundamental to
- moving this project forward.
- My question really is
- about the 33 parking spaces
- and is I, I guess I wondered
- when the curb cut thing came up.
- Is that because you're
- moving the parking spaces
- across the street from the campus?
- the 33 was actually just a combination
- of the parking that's out there around
- the building today.
- And it was a temporary impact because we
- don't know where construction layout's
- gonna be. We gotta work
- with the contractor.
- Those are temporary spaces that would
- be relocated and they'd be absorbed into
- the, into the college.
- There's no plan to do anything
- outside the limits of the college.
- And that's just knowing
- that the contractor's gonna
- need to lay down somewhere.
- So as soon as the building's
- back in the permanent condition,
- those spaces are right back to what
- they are today. But there's actually,
- there's contractor parking
- on the campus. There's,
- we've done parking studies in the
- past and there's usually, you know,
- a surplus of spaces of somewhere in
- around on the range of 10% of the,
- the parking capacity overall,
- which is, well, more than the,
- the 33 spaces there. So we're not,
- we're not anticipating any issue with,
- with parking.
- Okay. I,
- I know one of the things we always hear
- is there's no parking for the residents
- that want to, you know,
- those few spots that are kind
- catches catch can for people who
- wanna walk the lake. And so I.
- Yeah, this wouldn't be in that of the
- lake would be protected. Yeah. Okay.
- Super. Thank you so much.
- So congratulations on this.
- Yeah, I, I think we, we
- probably ready for a vote I,
- or for a motion anyway. I,
- I will just say I do think it's
- important to highlight these
- accessibility issues for the college. I,
- I personally don't think they need to be
- in the form of any kind of requirement,
- but I, I think, I mean, I'm grateful
- to Justin I for raising this. I think,
- you know, we're,
- we're all developing greater
- sensitivity to accessibility issues and,
- and I'm sure the college
- is way more sensitive than,
- than anybody else on this issue,
- knowing that you have a diversity of
- students on your campus and are trying to
- accommodate them. Yeah.
- Can I just, before you take the vote,
- just let you know that we've worked
- for two years with the Massachusetts
- Architectural Access Board.
- We've implemented a memorandum of
- understanding with them for an accessible
- housing plan on our campus.
- It's an approach to our campus
- that provides all the accessibility
- that you would find, but it spreads
- it out throughout the campus,
- throughout our entire portfolio. So
- it was a two year planning effort.
- It's a 10 year buildup plan that's just
- for our residence halls. As I mentioned,
- we have an entire accessibility
- upgrade effort through the campus
- roadways and parking. So again,
- I want you to tell you all,
- like we're extremely committed to this
- and really appreciate and love hearing
- these areas that could
- make big impact, you know,
- in small ways and we'd love to do it. My,
- my concern is that particularly with
- the timing that would be needed with,
- with Route 1 35 in the state, if,
- if any recommendation goes forward to
- have to do this as part of this project,
- it's gonna kill this project
- and we'd love to do this work.
- I have no objection to it.
- I think the timing alone and we
- have means we have resources,
- we have accessibility funds, particularly
- for these kinds of efforts. So I'm,
- I'm really thankful for
- hearing what they are. Again,
- I just don't think the
- this project is the means,
- the right means to get this kind of
- stuff done. And I fear that. Yeah.
- I think we're in agreement
- there, Michelle. So I, yeah,
- nobody's suggesting at this point that
- these be made requirements for this
- project. I, I,
- my only suggestion was just that we
- transmit this information to you in some
- way so that you can be working on it,
- on whatever timeline seems appropriate.
- But I I don't think it should
- hold up this project personally.
- I don't think anybody on the
- board is saying that. Right. Okay.
- And somebody can, can
- contradict me if they want.
- Okay. Yes. Ready for the
- motion. Thank you, Beth.
- Move to approve the recommendation
- to the planning board,
- subject to any modifications
- approved by the second
- Colette. Aye Tom? Aye.
- Beth Aye. And Mara Aye.
- And I vote Aye as well.
- Okay. Thank you very much. Thank
- you. Thank you Justin. Thank you.
- Thank you Michelle for
- being here. Thank you. Aye,
- okay, I've lost my agenda now.
- Can somebody tell me what's
- next? The union contracts.
- Union contracts, thank you.
- But my fan seems to have
- reordered my papers here. Yes.
- So we have both the library, oops, sorry,
- just rolling here.
- The Wealthy Free Library Staff
- Association and the Wealthy Free Library.
- I just wanna get the name
- right. Supervisors Association.
- We have,
- they are identical in format except
- for they are two distinct unions.
- And this agreement would be
- for a three year term under
- this agreement,
- we would be adding Juneteenth as
- we've done with all of the unions.
- We would be establishing a
- new cost of living adjustment,
- 4% in f y 24,
- 3% in f y 25, 3% in f y 26.
- In addition to that,
- sorry, I'm just scrolling.
- We would eliminate in
- f y 25, I'm sorry,
- in f y 26,
- the 15 cent differential
- for employees that
- exist in a, a contract,
- a portion of a contract.
- We would also we're agreeing
- to modify the definition of
- grievance.
- We're allowing for additional
- executive meeting with council and for,
- for the union members.
- And in addition to that,
- we would be creating a
- new longevity schedule.
- Prior years the library didn't
- have longevity and until 15 years,
- which was inconsistent with the
- majority of our other unions,
- which commenced the 10 years,
- we would commence the 10 years and
- establish a new pay schedule for
- that, which would also be inclusive
- of our part-time employees.
- And so, sorry, I'm just scrolling up.
- The f f y 24 settlement costs
- for this would be inclusive
- of five F M D employees
- who are in this union.
- But because they're custodians under
- the jurisdiction of the facilities
- director, total cost out is $97,458.
- I also would just note that
- the, the library associations,
- it is very unique in terms
- of the budgeting for the
- library that any expense,
- personal or expense has to also include
- a component for materials costs.
- And so this is also inclusive
- of 13% increase of material
- costs towards the library.
- And so we'd be looking for the
- board's approval to enter into the
- memorandum memorandum of understanding
- for this tentative agreement for both
- unions.
- I'll just mention for the benefit of
- the public that this is also a subject
- we've discussed exhaustively
- on more than one occasion
- in executive session.
- So I'm not sure that there are
- any questions or comments from,
- from the board at this point. But if
- there are, please raise your hand.
- Okay. May we have the motion please, Beth?
- Move to approve the memorandum
- of understanding with the
- Wellesley Free Library
- Staff Association and the Wellesley
- Free Library Supervisor Association
- as
- included in our Friday night
- mail and outlined by Ms. Job.
- Second. Beth Aye. Ann Mara.
- Aye. Colette Aye. Tom? Aye. And aye.
- Vote as well. Okay. I found my agenda.
- Next item is to discuss the draft policy
- on a subcommittee policy. So Megan,
- I don't know if you wanna introduce that.
- Sure. Hold on. Let me just
- pull up my notes here.
- But so Colette and I had been discussing,
- Colette had actually done a, a, a
- fairly substantial review of, hey,
- here's the policies and we really should
- be going back and evaluating some of
- them. One, just because of
- the duration of time and two,
- as as we continue to
- evaluate emerging trends in
- for our financial policies.
- And so as part of that,
- we started reviewing how other towns
- and departments handle the creation
- of policies. And the school
- committee CRE has created,
- the Wealthy school committee has created
- a policy subcommittee to then manage
- that for both review of existing policies
- as well as for the creation of new
- We did a little bit of research and
- also identified several select board
- policies of the similar nature and
- wanted to start the conversation with the
- board as to whether the, the town
- would wanna consider the creation.
- So it's a policy for a subcommittee
- policy for a subcommittee on
- policies
- so that we can start essentially
- a systematic review of our,
- of our policies and then have it
- in place on a continual basis.
- And, you know,
- as we continue to explore different
- initiatives and with the eye and lens of
- d e i,
- it's something that we really sh would
- be encouraging many departments to look
- at that you,
- we really need to be looking at all
- of our PO policies with a new lens.
- And so there's many policies
- we just, we haven't looked,
- looked at in many years
- or aren't following. And,
- and so perhaps it's either you have to
- revert to following it or we really,
- our new systematic approach
- is more appropriate.
- So we just wanted to begin to broach
- the subject with the board. Collette,
- I don't know if you wanna
- add anything to that.
- That's, that's pretty much,
- you know, where I came from,
- we had been doing some policy
- work and as we went through
- some things recently, for example,
- when we were looking at
- our investment policy,
- I read through the policy and noted it
- had a note in there to be reviewed on a
- regular basis. And I thought
- that was important to pick up.
- We recently a adjusted a
- number of policies for public
- comment and there's gonna
- be some more revisions coming out on
- that. And it made me sort of think about,
- well, what are we doing
- with our other policies?
- And so I read through the policy
- handbook in preparation for our
- retreat and noticed that there
- was a lot of policy work done in
- maybe 2018, something like that. But,
- you know, given covid and other items
- that's maybe taken a little bit of a hold.
- So this is a good time for
- us to look at that again,
- but find a more systematic
- approach to it to be just more eff
- efficient and effective and making sure
- that we do it on a systematic basis and
- have a a, a way to make it a bit
- of an easier lift for the board.
- So that was really the
- genesis of this project.
- Yeah, I I I support this idea.
- I think being systematic about
- it would be really helpful.
- I know it has come up in conversation
- over the past year, you know,
- various policies that we
- needed to look at, at again or,
- you know, things we've talked where we
- talked about creating a new policy. It,
- it, it definitely is worth having.
- I I think it's worth having a,
- a slightly more streamlined
- process so that there's a,
- that we have a starting point, you know,
- that's how I view the subcommittee as
- creating some kind of starting point so
- that then the board can move forward,
- make whatever changes they
- want, hold public hearings.
- But, you know,
- the a a little bit of a headstart
- has been given to the board and,
- and furthermore, the idea of tracking
- all of the policies so that we know,
- particularly the ones that
- we use a lot, ought to get a,
- a pretty systematic review so
- that we know they aren't just,
- we aren't, we're rethinking
- them in the context of,
- of current events and current conditions.
- And it was helpful to talk with,
- I talked with two members of the policy
- subcommittee on our school committee to
- see, you know, how how do you come to the
- notion of what you're going to review.
- And it's driven by a number of things.
- And that's what I included in
- the documents in our packet.
- But it's either a policy we use a lot
- or it's something that you see coming
- because of your,
- your industry body is telling you you
- should really think about policies for
- library materials, for example.
- Or it's a policy that they,
- they know that they might
- not be complying with.
- So they want to look at it and see does
- it need to be changed or do we need to
- change our policies to deal
- with that? Or it's an interest,
- a matter of interest to the community
- and they feel that someone in the
- community has brought it to
- them for review and address.
- So that to me was really helpful because
- this is something they've had in place
- for quite some time and you know, they,
- they work on it on an ongoing basis.
- So, one thing I just
- wanna add, I I did put in
- under the applicability that I,
- I think there might be a policy that the
- whole board wants to work on together,
- you know, that it, and you know,
- there might be a situation
- where something comes up and,
- and so I think it's important that we
- have that as an exception that, you know,
- the whole select board might say,
- actually we all wanna
- participate somehow. I,
- I guess it would have to be in a public
- meeting in the drafting of a policy or
- at least the, the early discussions
- of the drafting of a policy.
- I can certainly imagine that happening. So
- that was just one little
- addition that I made. Tom.
- I certainly support this idea and I
- want to thank Megan and Colette and
- particularly Colette for I understand
- to be the very detailed look at the
- policies that she undertook.
- You know, I think that,
- that we may need to prioritize the
- order in which we look at these,
- but I I think we have not done this
- in so long that a really comprehensive
- look at all our policies is
- necessary.
- Whether it's as simple as selectman
- to select board or as complicated as
- ensuring that we have an understanding
- and incorporate court decisions recently
- on the public's right to
- comment to us and our,
- the restrictions on our
- ability to impose guidelines on
- public speak.
- These are all things that I think we
- need to go back and think through.
- There may be new policies
- as you pointed out,
- and some that can be streamlined by being
- combined as someone pointed out as we
- did with some of our alcohol policy.
- So I think it's a great opportunity
- coming out of covid with increased public
- participation, going back to
- in-person meetings, just in general,
- I think an increase in the sort of
- energy and town government that it's a,
- a perfect time to be looking at
- this and I certainly support this.
- Any other thoughts? Ann Mara?
- Yeah, so I,
- I really appreciate the idea of going
- back through all our policies and I think
- that most of our boards do have some kind
- of process for going through policies
- on an annual basis. So I
- appreciate this thought here.
- I guess my, my question is,
- I guess I'm a little bit
- frustrated because, you know,
- I've now been on this board for
- two years and you know, we have,
- there are a lot of really important
- things that we need to be working on and
- this is the first time I've ever heard
- of creating a subcommittee and I think
- there are other things that
- are important that we should be
- spending more time on.
- And we have an entire retreat coming
- up that we're gonna talk about policy.
- So I would've loved to have taken this
- time at this meeting to talk about
- something more important to me and to the,
- I think to the town and, and we don't
- ever use that time in these meetings.
- So I I I do think policies are important,
- but there are means for getting work
- done. They're not the work of the board,
- they're just the means.
- And I'm gonna quote Albert Einstein
- who said bureaucracy is the death of
- achievement. I would like
- these meetings, our meetings,
- our public meetings to have more
- meat to them and talk about things
- that are more important. I mean,
- right now 50% of people in Massachusetts
- ha pay more than 30% of their
- income in rent. I mean,
- we have a real housing problem and
- we have a community that doesn't
- understand that because we
- don't talk about it as a board.
- We talk about it individually, we talk
- about it in the housing task force,
- but we don't really share
- with the community the
- challenges that our residents
- and the rest of Massachusetts are facing.
- And I think we need to talk
- about this on a regular basis.
- We need to bring it to people's attention.
- So I I appreciate doing this in
- a subcommittee. Yeah, go for it.
- I don't wanna be on it,
- but I do wanna approve policies
- once the subcommittee works on them.
- I just would rather,
- we were talking about this at the retreat
- that we set up to talk about policies
- and we're using this time for something
- different. That's my only thought.
- Okay. Any further comments?
- All right. Could I just clarify,
- we're talking about a policy that
- all policies are reviewed by a designated
- set of select board
- members in a subcommittee,
- which is a public session,
- right? Yeah. This is a public,
- a public body that meets
- and takes minutes Yeah.
- And does it in a more
- systematic way than what,
- and I, I really appreciate Colette
- going through and doing the,
- the thorough inventory of our policies.
- I thought, and I, so I guess
- it's, the question is, I think,
- do we wanna change our procedure,
- which our normal procedure,
- as long as I've been on the board,
- is that when an issue arises
- where either the policy needs to
- be looked at or we need a new policy,
- someone works on it and designated
- to a standing committee. So this
- would be our only standing committee,
- our standing subgroup, is that right?
- And they would get all the policies.
- Yeah. So the idea is that any policy
- that was being reviewed, well I,
- I think there are two major
- functions of the subcommittee.
- One is when it comes up that we
- need a new one, a new policy,
- the subcommittee would draft it and
- the other function would be to track
- the current policies just
- to make sure they're,
- they're getting a fresh look periodically,
- they're not just sort
- of sitting on a shelf.
- And you know,
- in particular the policies that
- govern some of our core functions like
- our, our financial policies,
- those would obviously be I, and I mean,
- I will just say that in the course
- of the time I've been on the board,
- we've enacted several,
- a number of new policies
- always with the sort of caveat
- that we'll revisit this policy down the
- road and sort of see how it's going.
- And, and we actually don't have
- a mechanism for doing that. So I,
- I think it's, it's just a very helpful
- Mechanism really to, to make sure that,
- that we are doing that and that we're
- visiting things that revisiting things
- that we thought were made sense to
- make sure that once they're in place,
- they actually do. So that's,
- that's the idea. But it, it's two
- members of the board is what we're,
- what the policy is proposing.
- Okay. Well we can certainly, we, you know,
- generally the board likes to have a
- couple of discussions of things before we
- vote. So we can certainly pick
- it back up at the retreat.
- And if no one has anything else to say,
- I will adjourn the meeting. Do
- we have a town hall update? Yeah,
- we have one more update. Oh, I
- beg your pardon. That's right. I,
- I'm looking at the, I'm not looking at
- the adjusted agenda, so sorry about that.
- So I think, and, and Megan, you
- know, may have some comments too.
- We had an opportunity, well
- first of all, let me go back. I,
- I think everyone's aware
- that with regard to a,
- a tour of town hall for safety reasons,
- the contractor has made it
- clear that that has to wait.
- The central staircase is
- being demolished and it really
- is not an environment which anyone
- can go in except for the contractors.
- They will let us know when,
- when that's no longer the issue
- and we can arrange for a tour.
- The principles of Schwartz Silver
- responsible for the job had a chance
- to go through the
- building with our owners,
- project manager Glenn Remick,
- to discuss a number of
- the deficiencies in the,
- in the building and to
- reconsider or to consider
- a new, some of the solutions that
- we had considered originally.
- And they have gone through
- with a preliminary report on
- recommendations that they would make with
- regard to things like the woodwork and
- the finish on the, on the wood, on some
- of the irregularities of the brick,
- if not the changes in
- color and discoloration,
- different brick that was used
- to close up arch doorways for
- example. And we're
- working through, not we,
- but they are P V C and F M
- D are working through with
- Schwartz silver, what will be a,
- a report that P B C will
- consider use of basis to look at
- further changes that need to be made in
- the project and how we're solving some
- of these problems.
- One interesting thing that came up was
- the case and the weights and measures
- and we all remember sort of
- what we went through discovering
- exactly what that was and
- it's it's purpose as an item
- in, in Wellesley,
- one of the discussions we had
- was where to relocate that,
- where locate that in the, in the building.
- It's not as simple as just putting it
- back where it was not only because it
- really isn't consistent with
- the feel of that, of that lobby,
- but it would require
- not insignificant additional
- work to shore up that location
- because of the weight of that cabinet.
- So one consideration is,
- is two different items.
- One is to see whether we
- can perhaps from C P C seek
- funds to refinish that
- cabinet and to bring it back
- in terms of what it looks,
- what its exterior looks like.
- And the other is to look for
- a location on the lower level
- in a location where there would be some
- ability to highlight that cabinet as
- something that you saw when
- you went in on that level to
- visit one of those departments.
- So that would not present the
- problem of having to shore up
- the support because it would be on
- a level that could handle the weight
- of that, of that case.
- So I know that we had,
- the board was engaged in how we
- handled a lot of items that were
- in town hall.
- This is certainly an important
- one in terms of the town and
- I just wanted to raise for the,
- for the board an awareness of
- what we were looking at with that
- particular item in particular
- and the potential for it to
- be improved in terms of its external
- appearance and to be located safely
- in a highlighted area on the lower level.
- So Tom, you'll bring that
- back to us to discuss later?
- Yes. Yeah, we, we will, once there is a,
- we, we shouldn't be too long,
- but once there's an awareness of sort
- of what the best area would be on the
- lower level because some work will have
- to be done in order to create the space
- for it, we'll bring that back
- with regard to the
- improvements or changes
- in the scope of the actual
- work on the interior. You know,
- a budget will have to be developed
- and of course this is a P V C project,
- so that'll be a discussion
- that P V C will be having about
- the scope of any or changes
- in the scope of the work,
- what the implications are,
- how that weighs against the
- contingencies that we have in place
- and whether these are advisable
- and whether they would
- ultimately be approved by
- P B C.
- Can I just ask you in
- case anyone inquires,
- why is the floor not able to handle
- something it's been handling for so
- long?
- It, it hasn't, correct
- me if I'm wrong Megan,
- but there was evidence that
- there was a significant support
- underneath that cabinet
- where it sat in the lobby.
- So the issue where it sat, so there
- was a support and there was a,
- a different platform that the weight
- was distributed on underneath that when
- they removed it, there's holes on the,
- a hole on the floor that has to be
- removed and it's part of where it was
- previously located
- as part of the new H V A C system.
- And so if we were gonna put
- it back at that location, it,
- which is not opportune based upon
- the design we would have to remove
- and I forget what type of
- equipment it is that, that.
- That's enough of an answer cuz we're
- changing something else. Structure.
- Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Because when we removed
- that platform, as you might recall,
- you know, that didn't match the tile
- floor. And so when we removed that,
- that those are some of the things
- that we found and that was being
- converted anyway because
- of the H B C. But,
- so there continues to be a hole there
- that we're, we're actually working on.
- But Megan and I were sensitive to the
- discussion that took place when this all
- of these items in town hall came
- up and we wanted to be sure that we
- brought this one right back to the
- board and that you were all aware of the
- discussions and,
- and possible relocation and
- outcome for this particular item.
- And that in,
- in considering this we're I think trying
- to demonstrate that we value the item.
- We're just trying to figure out a
- way to put it back in town hall in
- good shape in a place that doesn't
- require a significant additional expense
- in terms of support.
- and I guess the other thought is too is
- it sort of came to me in a discussion
- of, well if we did wanna
- refurbish it, it's historic,
- we could maybe seek
- some funds from cpc it,
- would the board be amenable to me at
- least starting that conversation with,
- with cpc? I.
- I I certainly would Megan.
- Cause I get the sense from
- listening to their discussions,
- especially around the historic
- opportunities they have that they would
- like to have more opportunities to fund
- items in that area. So if it's a good fit,
- I would certainly be interested in at
- least asking them if they would like to
- join with us on that.
- I I.
- Hope if we do, I, sorry,
- I would be remiss if I didn't say
- that we have not talked to them yet,
- so I don't want anyone from C P C
- listening and thinking that there's any
- assumption that they will fund it
- or presumption that they should.
- That's why Megan's saying, can we at
- least have a preliminary conversation?
- I, I would just suggest if we're gonna
- do that, that the funds also include
- some, you know,
- a little bit of research and a plaque
- that describes what the thing is because I
- know it, it wa you know,
- wa wasn't until we talked about it that
- I had any idea what those things were or
- the historical significance of
- them or anything else. So I,
- if we're going to go to the
- trouble of refurbishing it,
- maybe C P C would give just enough
- money to provide a little research and
- composition of something that
- could educate the public.
- And the building of the,
- the, I forget his title, Mr.
- Waitson measures gave us a very nice
- writeup at the time that we could probably
- build off of.
- He, he did actually, that
- was very quick, very.
- Helpful. I mean he,
- he had done a little historical
- overview that was pretty excellent.
- So Megan as the CPC liaison,
- I can work with you on that.
- Terrific. And I think Abby had
- actually, I will look at my recollection
- was that she had preliminary started
- like mapping out some, some of that.
- So I'll do
- to find out someone to get a cost
- estimate, so that'd be great. Anmar.
- Thank you.
- Okay. Am I forgetting anything else?
- No. Okay. And so now we are adjourned.
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