Speakers labeled via automated voice-based diarization + AI name-matching against the city's official roster. Automated transcription can still mis-hear a name during fast speech (e.g. a rapid roll-call vote) -- clear near-misses are auto-corrected, but this is not manually verified line-by-line. Treat names as a strong best guess, not an official record.
[0:04] Chair: Okay, I'll call the meeting to order at 6-0-3. First item is to lift the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
[0:15] Select Board member: and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible,
[0:21] Highway/DPW representative: with liberty and justice for all.
[0:25] Chair: Okay. Points and bills signed? Yes.
[0:31] Select Board member: Approval of the agenda. I move to approve the October 7th, 2026 meeting agenda.
[0:36] Town staff/administrator: If I could, I'm sorry, we just received a resignation that I need to add. I'd like to add to that tonight if possible.
[0:42] Select Board member: Okay, then I move to approve the October 7th, 2026 agenda with the added resignation under
New Business
[0:49] Chair: New business number two.
[0:51] Select Board member: I've got a number two.
[0:55] Chair: Do I hear a second? Second. Seconded. Moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed?
[1:03] Select Board member: Minutes of the last meeting. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the September 30th meeting.
[1:11] Chair: Second that. Moved and seconded to approve September 30th. Any discussion? All in favor? All opposed? Administrator update.
[1:21] Town staff/administrator: So no update this week other than just letting the board know that the IT director has been working with town hall streams regarding the camera. We are aware of a minor issue that's kind of going in and out. They're actually meeting here tomorrow morning and replacing the camera, and then a lot of troubleshooting the last two weeks. So we're aware of it. Hopefully the replacement of the new camera tomorrow will solve it, but we just want to let you
[1:45] Select Board member: know that we're working on it. I'm sorry, what were the issues with it? It just seems to be
[1:48] Town staff/administrator: cutting in and out. Yes. Yeah, okay. Yeah, it drops the roof. So they've been trying a lot of different things, and that's where right now that's all for tonight. That's always
[2:02] Select Board member: was it all directly taped just not broadcast? Yes, exactly. Could you go on
[2:08] Town staff/administrator: that and watch the actual video? You shouldn't see that. Okay, thank you.
[2:15] Chair: Slight more update, Tom, Dave, Dan. I apologize for being out last week. I had
[2:24] Select Board member: some medical issues going on, but last week I was able to attend the recreation committee. They have a lot coming on. They set their date for their Christmas tree lighting, Sunday, December 6. A lot of great ideas coming up, so really excited that coming to fruition. Some people may have noticed that at the rec they finally have gotten a sign up, which I know many people very grateful. We've been very grateful to the house next door for their big white rocks as a location marker, but now hopefully Families will be able to find the rec field with that lovely beautiful sign with the rec director and committee because they're working hard on getting up and going. Games have started. I heard that this past weekend was a pretty successful weekend with some really good games. And then Mary Grant just reminded that their big fantastic pumpkin carving event is coming up Saturday, October 17th. It's probably one of the, I would say, the most successful and widely attended events of the year, so if you're interested, look out for information or to volunteer to help out in any way. Other than that, I have no other updates. Thank you. George, I don't have anything. Okay, if I could go back for a moment, I did want to, I wanted to mention one thing. I was looking through the AP warrants today and I noticed that the county tax, oh yeah, it was in there, six hundred thousand dollars, five, and I could, I had to go back and look at, but I recall when that was around 350 and I have it on the board that long, that it would almost double and I don't know if there's any end in sight here or not, but for a segment of government it feels okay to pass along that kind of increase to towns that are doing, trying to do their best to keep tax rates down and live within their budgets. I think is a real issue. Not quite sure what to do with it. One thing I would think about doing is contacting some of the local towns, Shapley, New Fields, whatever, and maybe asking the Commission to attend a meeting here or in some other town and explain to us what's going on with the budget and why is it increasing at that rate? I think we need to put some pressure on it. I also know that, because you and I, think, would have tried to attend one of the meetings, but by the time we got there, they pretty much just said the decisions had been made and we didn't really have much say. No, we didn't have much say. I know that sometimes we get notices that there are openings on their budget committee, and if anyone is interested in town, I'd just keep an eye out for that because there's opportunity for residents of Acton who are interested in that, who potentially can represent the town and go and say hey what is going on here and I know we've gotten them in the past. I don't know if we still get those, if they're still openings, but that's another opportunity for somebody who wants to be engaged and wants to add their perspective from our town or their financial expertise to that level of government to engage. See I'm not sure That I would myself want to try to influence this issue as a member of Commission. My guess is this issue is more deep-rooted in the Commission, and I don't think one person is going to change that. At least I don't think I out the ability to change it. But if you get assuming other towns share this concern, I can't imagine that they don't, that if you could bring them together and have an opportunity for the Commission to come in or Commissioner, I don't know who would be, assume they have a director of finance or there must be a
[6:16] Town staff/administrator: a commission chair, a chair member, board,
[6:19] Select Board member: come in and talk to us about it. And maybe there's something about this we don't understand, and I'd be happy to learn about that. But I don't think we should just accept this kind of increase.
[6:30] Town staff/administrator: Even the county commissioner that covers acting chaplain.
[6:32] Select Board member: Yeah, I think that would be a good idea. That would be the first thing they would do. What would you think, Jennifer, you know all these town administrators, do you think this is something they would be interested in?
[6:40] Town staff/administrator: The select board, yeah.
[6:41] Select Board member: Yes, the select board members? I do, mm-hmm. How do you all feel about that? Am I getting much getting us in another pickle keep a little pressure on I just can't survive yeah it's been double digits every year that I've been here Well what gets me as a state tells us, you know, we can't raise our mill rate up a certain percentage a year, but a county taxer can do whatever they want. It doesn't even make any sense.
[7:19] Chair: I mean, they built that new training facility up there. I don't ever remember having any input on building one.
[7:26] Select Board member: We're just a piggy bank. Yeah. What's the training facility?
[7:29] Chair: I think it's a fire EMS training facility and an overall training facility.
[7:33] Town staff/administrator: Next to the sheriff's office.
[7:34] Chair: Yeah, right next to the sheriff's office. Yeah, we didn't know anything about that. Which I mean, we have Sanford Regional Technical School that has a Firefighter 1-2 program and EMT program, I don't understand why they needed this multi-million dollar building.
[7:50] Select Board member: Well, they can do that because nobody questions where the money's coming from, we just keep paying. General, do you think you could talk to some of the town administrators and get their sense of whether or not their selectmen would be interested in this? And if it's just acting, we're not gonna get anywhere. But if it's a half dozen towns, my guess is you could get their attention well I think you know it's just active I mean it shows other towns up someone's doing something I'm able and then later down the line yeah I don't want to get in confrontation with them I don't want to start out by just trying to understand why I'm pretty sure that most people in towns have no idea that the economy tax is going up like that and it really is affecting their own tax rates yeah look at the
[8:37] Town staff/administrator: the percentages come here okay thanks I'm the head to commit chair updates do we have any
[8:57] Highway/DPW representative: favorite company you see her yesterday and today I get Sam one road all reclaimed hopper roads all reclaimed they're out there firing sandboard road right now because we're going to pave that tomorrow with the hill and everything we don't want that staying open too long so as of right now the plan is they're going to come tomorrow pay your sandboard road hopefully that first and that could be either monday tuesday next week they'll be here to do opera road probably they'll probably find great hopper road monday and pay tuesday Wednesday right now as a plan so that's all I got right now. Is the whole road going to be shut down for the day? No, the road will be open. Do they use flaggers? Yeah, they had flaggers out there, yeah.
[9:43] Select Board member: Have you been down through there when they're working? I was there multiple times. They had some at the beginning in the end of the road but I mean it was a little chaotic.
[9:55] Highway/DPW representative: Yeah, we had some issues today up on Sam page Road There's too many flaggers in one spot at one time and then we had too many on one end of the road So we got them straight down. But yeah, I heard there was some issues yesterday morning This is off the road I'm talking about. Oh, I'm talking about yesterday morning out on Sam, Sanborn Road
[10:15] Select Board member: No, my truck waited 20 minutes to get out which I'll end this morning [Highway/DPW representative: This morning?] This morning. It wasn't that about
[10:24] Highway/DPW representative: But, yeah, I mean, I know this morning, yesterday there were some issues, and today there were some issues, but when I left San Pedro this afternoon, they were addressed, so I did relay that to Charlie.
[10:38] Select Board member: For instance, there were three or four of us waiting at the beginning of the upper road. And after a while they let us through. And it's not a big area that's being reclaimed here. And as we're driving down through, there were multiple trucks working the area, backing up, turning around, and cars were trying to figure out where the hell to go after they had already passed the flaggers. And it was just kind of a little chaotic situation.
[11:07] Highway/DPW representative: When I got down there this afternoon, there's three flagons up in the intersection of San Pedro. So I sent one of them halfway down the road. I said, why don't you go halfway down the road?
[11:16] Select Board member: Okay, there wasn't anyone then.
[11:17] Highway/DPW representative: Because we had a great, you know, they're trying to reclaim. They're trying to grade. They're trying to roll. And people are coming up the road just staring at everybody. So I'm like, why don't you go down the middle of the road and just guide cars up through you. So we don't have any issues. Okay, all right. I made my point. But that's the plan right now. So hopefully by tomorrow afternoon, Salem Water Road will be, the base will be on that top.
[11:41] Select Board member: Will they put the shoulders right down right after?
[11:43] Highway/DPW representative: When they put the surface on, they're going to.
[11:45] Select Board member: Are they going to put the shoulders down? When are they going to put the surface down?
[11:48] Highway/DPW representative: They're going to come, when they come back next week, they're going to put the surface on. And they got to do shoulders. Yeah, they got to do shoulders down. Yeah, that's, especially on that hill, that's what I'm concerned, so. But that's it right now, so that's it.
[11:59] Chair: You were talking about resurfacing San Page as well, right? Is that still happening? Yeah.
[12:04] Highway/DPW representative: As long as the weather stays good, we're going to resurface the loop on San Pedro, and they got to go to the Garden Road. So when they come back to do Hopper Road, that's what they're going to do, that all one shot got a road sandboard. So that's, that's the plan right now. Do we have many roads left to
[12:22] Select Board member: be reclaimed? Thank you.
[12:30] Highway/DPW representative: I wasn't gonna reclaim. Oh, you're not gonna do that? No, if I'm working on my budget right now, this coming year, I don't have any roads that I'm going to be reclaiming this year. I'm going to try to hold off, you know, another year or two more routine maintenance on it. Yeah, the next big section that we'd probably do would be up by the top is the hill up by the top that's going to need to be addressed, but I just feel this year is if I get Orchard Road done, I have a section up on Young's Ridge Road that is still a bit that's still a base that needs to be done by the Red School House going up on top of the hill that needs to be, I want to get that put away, get Orchard Road done, and I have a little spot on Garden Road I'd like to do. So I'd like to just do some maintenance payment and that side of town will pretty much be it will actually
[13:18] Select Board member: be a really good shape on that side of town. So what's the total amount we're spending on roads?
[13:22] Highway/DPW representative: Now this year's, if we do everything is done this year, it's four hundred and fifty three thousand dollars, just under special projects. That's correct. All right, it's foot, it's 453, it's a changes, is this year's. I think we can take that number down in the future. I, yeah, what would that, I, this year I don't think we're going to be there at all this year. I mean, we're going to be 200 probably, that's what I think, 250. I need a lot of the roads, you know, Young's Ridge, all, there's been a bunch of prep work done up there. I might have to go up there to do like I did all
[13:57] Select Board member: the hopper. Give me a week's worth of work real quick just to, but that's, that's part of your
[14:01] Highway/DPW representative: regular budget though, right? Well, we've looped all that. I mean, I can, or I can loop it into that. I mean, I don't, I mean, because usually if we go do a project, I mean, we usually have to work into it, but I mean, I can't. Oh, okay, so it's part of the project, that's how we've been doing it. But I mean, if we just want to go on the pavement instead, and then I just go up there, do what I need to do out of maintenance, I can't, I mean, there's not much to do really. I mean, we could talk about that when
[14:26] Chair: we get ready. I think, I think we wanted to know is a road was going to be everything. Well, yeah, if
[14:31] Highway/DPW representative: you're doing a project, right, you know, but if it's just, that's more or less just like buttoning that, I mean, like with the ditches, it just needs to be cleaned up going up through there. I mean, I mean, there's really not much to do. Orchard Road, there's really not much to do up there. We've been doing some work up there. Same thing, maybe like a couple days and we'd be all set up there. But yeah, this year, I'm not gonna do no reclaiming this year, so it's my plan. So my payment budget should be condensed down quite a bit. Cheers, that's all I have.
[15:05] Chair: Any other department head committee chairs?
[15:12] Joyce Bakshi, Finance Committee: Vice Chair, Morton Finance, Joyce Bakshi, just briefly, all of our members are now sworn in, so we have everybody. Our first meeting is going to be tomorrow night at 6 o'clock. It's mostly organizational, and we're going to go over some of our, how we start meetings, what we do, what we say, and how we go on. And just like to invite any one of you to come for that organizational meeting, so we're all on the same page, and we can go on forward. You're gonna be taking up the warrants tomorrow night too? Yes. Okay, Jennifer, am I taking up the warrants tomorrow night?
[16:00] Town staff/administrator: There'll be the well it's on the agenda, so once the ward approves it tonight, because I need that to happen first, there'll be full packets for both worn articles, everybody will be ready to go in the box. Perfect. As I understand that, Tom will be there to explain.
[16:15] Select Board member: Each article. Oh, thank you. Good, if that could be arranged at the beginning of the meeting, I would appreciate it. I don't think I need to be there for your organizational discussions unless you think I can be valued.
[16:30] Joyce Bakshi, Finance Committee: We're usually pretty quick. Okay. We're usually pretty quick. Okay, choice. And I'm pretty quick. And I'm gonna bring it home this year.
[16:43] Chair: Any other department have any good chairs? Okay, seeing none. Whole business, headbids.
[16:50] Town staff/administrator: All right, so we left this off that Will was gonna talk to the low bid, which was Curtis.
[16:57] Highway/DPW representative: Yeah, I had a conversation with Dick Curtis the other day and I also talked to him again today. I went there last week. He's got two piles of sand in there. He's got a pile of sand from last year and they have a new pile this year that they didn't screen it, which is a lot finer. There's none of that big rock in there. It's a lot better product than what we were gonna get. So I talked to him, like I said, twice and I told him if you can promise me that sand in that other pile, I don't have an issue with avoiding the lowest bed. And he told me that there's probably 2,000 yards right there right now, and they're gonna screen some more. He said, when he figured out what was gonna happen, they'll make some more up, and so we should have plenty. So my recommendation is we go with the lowest bedder. Okay.
[17:48] Select Board member: I'll make a motion. Would take Curtis, Excavations a little bit for the Santa 15 19.
[17:56] Highway/DPW representative: Oh, it's 15, it is 15 19. 15 19. Oh, I thought it was 15 19. Oh, I thought it was 15 25. Yeah, no, the other one was 1675.
[18:06] Town staff/administrator: Are you gonna call them? I'm gonna send them both letters. Okay. All right, sounds good. I'll second it.
[18:13] Chair: Okay, move the second. They'll go with Curtis Excavation for our winter sand at fifteen dollars and nineteen cents a yard. It's been moved to second in discussion. Go for a vote on favor.
[18:26] Select Board member: All opposed. Very good. Metal bid. Hey Will, how many yards do you typically use?
[18:34] Highway/DPW representative: Last year we went through about probably almost four thousand yards. I've got sheds. Thank you, that's because it's always empty. Yep.
[18:45] Select Board member: We do the local service, so.
[18:52] Town staff/administrator: Okay. Metal bits. Metal bits. So first, before we get into the metal bits, I do need to point out that last week when I was reviewing the bids, I inadvertently read Punsky's wrong, so I just want to start by clarifying that. Punsky, I said I think a couple of times, no tin cans. And what it actually said was that they will now accept tin cans, so I apologize to Jim, apologize to the board. It had nothing to do with the numbers, those don't change, but I just, I read it wrong. So here they are. All right, so the spreadsheets that I handed out, there's a couple extra there, just compares one to the other. So essentially the rental, Punski, this is based on 30-day rental, Punski's $60 a rental, CIA is 50 a month for rental. The per load haul fee is 400 per load for Punsky, it is 200 for CIA. How much will the companies pay the town per ton? I remember there was some discussion on this last week as well, because the up two wasn't in CIA's. I did speak to Sean and he confirmed that it was no less than $85 a ton, and he did give me that in writing to clarify that. So Ponsky pays the town $70 per ton. CIA pays $85 per ton. Both companies will allow tin cans to go in the metal. And then the transportation superintendent did some averaging for us. It's approximately three times a month when you average winter and summer. So based on taking metal out of there three times a month at the current haul load, based on 12 months, Punskies, it would cost the town $15,120. CIA, it would cost the town $7,800. The revenue based on 130 ton, which is what we put in the original bid,. Based on Punsky paying $70 a ton at 130, that would bring us a revenue of $9,100. CIA at 85, it would bring the town a revenue of $11,050. So now essentially you need to take the hauling and less the revenue to figure out where you're at. So Punsky's hauling was $15,120 minus the revenue of $9,100. It gives you a negative of $6,020 that it will cost you to haul that off. CIA, the hauling was 7 800, revenue was 11 050, so you would have a profit of
[21:39] Select Board member: 3 250. Okay, 9270 different. Okay.
[21:52] Chair: What's the wishes for the board? We have Punskies and CIA, don't
[21:59] Select Board member: think, I think it's a huge surprise that we've saved $9,000. That would see it, that would be my plan. Okay, I agree. Who was it that, Ed, did you manage this process?
[22:19] Chair: Not entirely, I mean, we did this one as a void.
[22:22] Town staff/administrator: That award approved, the bid.
[22:24] Select Board member: Well, it's a great result. Ended up saving a significant amount of money. May turn an expense into a revenue. Yeah, revenue, I think that's wonderful. So I'd like to make a motion to award the business to CIA Salvage. I'll second that.
[22:41] Chair: Okay, move to second it to go with CIA Salvage for our scrap metal. Any further discussion from the board?
[22:49] Town staff/administrator: I'll just add that it needs to be contingent on the insurance and workers' comp and all that. I was put in the bid by just insurance contingent on that.
[22:57] Chair: Okay. Call for a vote. All in favor? Discussion. I already did discussion. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Well, I wasn't sure if we were done. Discussion. Discussion. Discussing.
[23:09] Select Board member: I guess we weren't. Before we do it, what about the book morning is going to start. Yeah, I was going to ask you that. What do you guys want to do?
[23:18] Chair: What's the wishes of the board on that? I mean, do you want to give him some notice?
[23:23] Select Board member: Well, I guess a two-week notice would be fine.
[23:27] Chair: Okay. Is that okay with the board? It's comfortable to have. Okay. Do you have two weeks? That's fair. Okay. Any further discussion? No, thank you. Okay. Call for a vote. All in favor of C.I.A.? All opposed?
[23:43] Select Board member: Thank you all that worked on that. Yeah. Good job. Good job, Ed. Okay. Okay. Okay.
[23:53] Chair: Now, special town meeting warrant.
[24:01] Town staff/administrator: Draft being passed around to you. We'll just go through it. So in the name of the town, in the name of the state of Maine, you're hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of the town of Acton qualified to vote in town affairs to assemble at the Acton Town Hall at 35 H Road. Is why we read it aloud on October 28th 2026 at 6 p.m. To vote on the following so article 1 will be to choose a moderator for said meeting article 2 to see if the town will vote to appropriate 199,000 from the unassigned fund balance for the purchase of land located at tax map 229 long 52 article 3 to see if the town will vote to appropriate up to thirty two thousand sixty four dollars and seventy two cents from you guys we didn't really talk last week about where you wanted that to come from is that going to be the unsigned fund balance as well So from the unsigned fund balance for the installation of a concrete pad at the transfer station estimate is based on twenty five hundred for the conduit $64.90 for the concrete and $23,074.72 for the excavation. So I guess I need you to decide if that sounds the way you want it and I'll make those changes. I'd like to see you make motions on them tonight if you want.
[25:25] Chair: Okay. Feelings on the board? Does it look appropriate?
[25:33] Select Board member: Personally, I think these look great. Okay. I think with the piece of property, the board, if it gets approved, I think we should organize an effort by the board to consider what to do with that property and, you know, try to resolve that. I think there are some ideas that have already been floated and that seem to have some merit, but I think we need to, I wouldn't just assume that we're gonna sit on it. We certainly can and there's nothing wrong with that, but it's an opportunity and we ought to think about how, whether or not we wanna do something now to take advantage of that or do something in the near term. Is there something there where we have a public hearing? Maybe we'll get some input from the- I think that'd be great.
[26:23] Town staff/administrator: And so there won't be a public hearing before the town meeting because it's an open town meeting so you're not required to. Oh, okay. Open town meeting is considered the public hearing. I mean, we certainly could next week. It's not required, but it probably wouldn't hurt. But you're definitely going to get that question at the open town meeting.
[26:39] Select Board member: Right, yeah, they're going to want to know.
[26:41] Town staff/administrator: They're already asking, yeah. Do you think, I mean, we could, I'm sorry, Tom. So today's the 7th. I mean, we've got two Wednesdays before it. Do you want to have a public hearing?
[26:51] Select Board member: We can open up the next meeting like we do with all the alcohol things and have a little public hearing right before it. We could.
[26:58] Town staff/administrator: Would you want to do it maybe on the 21st just so I have time
[27:00] Select Board member: to put it in the newspaper? I'd rather push it back so we have time to talk about it.
[27:03] Town staff/administrator: The next Wednesday we'll never make the paper, it's neither.
[27:05] Select Board member: Yeah, I'd be able to hold. I think it's a pretty big thing to get people's perspectives and inputs in just here. Because that was my number one concern with this, was making sure we had some idea. So I agree with what Tom was saying, just a general idea. We don't have to nail it down, but I think people should have an idea of what we're thinking about because it will be an opportunity. I know I've been I've been thinking about it and I've mentioned it to a few people here you know when you're driving to Shapley and you see that little park there it helps to create a town center and you know and then we're talking about buying playground equipment. It could go at the rec field. It could go there. The memorial could go there. I just think it could be a nice entrance to the town. I have no idea what to spend on that, but I think we need ideas like that. I don't think anyone's ready to think about building another building at this stage. No, but the process was big enough that if we decided to in the future there would be room for growth for that to happen, but doing something with it that wouldn't be excessively expensive i think would be a good idea that's good yeah i wasn't thinking of that 's you know it's 4.3 acres i don't know how much of that is buildable probably most of it most of it you got a little pond over there, but I mean I think I mentioned that when we were talking about it was because it's got a little pond out there. You know, we don't have a gathering area other, you know, we got Mary Grant, something like that. We don't have a gathering area where, you know, active African have some sort of like activity like Shapley has their Shapley Day or whatever you know, it doesn't mean that we have to put a million building on it. No. Honestly, at the end of the day, it's an area that we could use like just what Tom said, you know, make it a park area, even if you go, I like the idea of the play area, you know. I think the playground equipment would get more use there. You know, it's a center of town. That's right, yeah. But I'm not saying, you know, I'm not saying it's done or anything, but the thing is, too, is this is an opportunity that may never come. Because after it's gone, it's gone. Right.
[29:35] Chair: Somebody else is going to build a building there.
[29:37] Select Board member: Yeah. Oh, no, I know they are. Yeah, I know they are.
[29:41] Chair: So if we, yeah, keeping it open space if you will and picturesque and yeah, we need it in there
[29:48] Select Board member: isn't it looked at when I look in it's, you know, yeah, it's not going to take a lot. I've
[29:53] Chair: heard that, you know, it drops off a little I think, but yeah, we probably wouldn't go back that far, but you might go back and open the pond area up, you know, like that be nice. I mean, ideally it'd be wonderful if you're going to mow it first before we bought it and see what it looks like. But we know pretty much what it looks like and we know what can be done
[30:12] Select Board member: So it's a lot of usable there's a lot of just a lot of cleanup really. And I mean it sounds like a lot of money. Unfortunately, I mean once again for land I was crazy. Yeah, if we you know, even if somebody else bought it later on down the road one. So it's gonna be a lot more money that right. It's not gonna get any cheaper. Yeah, and If we let this go by we may miss up around you won't get the opportunity again.
[30:35] Town staff/administrator: While you're talking about the land, we did move forward with company St. Germain out of New York. You saw the email. They provided three different phase ones, if you will. One is very basic and one is quite detailed. Tom and I reviewed them. The only difference between number two and three, other than the $1,700, was in-person review of the municipal files and interviews with the code officer and fire department. So, you know, we thought that, yeah, we could say that we sent them everything we had from the town. So, they are working on that. The report will be issued.
[31:11] Select Board member: How much was that, like $22,000?
[31:13] Town staff/administrator: $2,000, okay. So, we will have that before the special town meeting. [Chair: Okay, good,.] But everywhere that we dug, I mean, our records go way back, age and myself, before O'Donnell's, but Brightside Records that we have in-house, if you remember our previous assessing company, about 23, 25 years back, there's nothing in the code files, anything with the land that we can find. So we didn't expect anything to come from it, but certainly a good idea. So we'll have it soon.
[31:40] Select Board member: That's perfect. And that was two weeks?
[31:43] Town staff/administrator: Yeah, one to two weeks, but they're expediting it for us. They're actually visiting it this week. Wonderful.
[31:49] Select Board member: Do you want to get any discussion about this before we move on?
[31:52] Chair: We could, yeah, anyone from the public have any discussion on this, like to come out and speak?
[31:59] Town staff/administrator: anything the Finance Committee wants to see for the meeting tomorrow night.
[32:10] Select Board member: we've always worked more in finance just a question on having the access from the route 9 side how difficult is it to get a curb access you've got access off. atrode and off 109 yeah you got 94 feet on atrode I don't believe there will be an issue there all it needs a lot of sight you've got plenty a lot of sites flat. no whether or not it has to be i assume we wouldn't have 109 access that we would rather have it on nature i would rather have an atrium. because it's you know it's a less than 94 feet meets all our setback. Requirements, 94 feet, is there's more than that on each road. We don't have, we don't have a setback requirement for our driveway. I've never heard of one, anyways. It's most of the time what happens, you need, you've got setbacks for like a building, a lot, right? I mean, road frontage for a driveway, I mean, you can have a 10-foot driveway as long as you stay within that, I mean, you're whatever your property line is. So is it, is it sight lines? That's us, I sight, meaning eyesight, how far you can see this way. In that way, I forget how many. 250 feet, you already put it by the code enforcement, it's not an issue, right? No, I know. It's not, anyways, because you know when I was a road commissioner, you know, I'd have to go out and.
[33:32] Town staff/administrator: Tell people where they quit driving, and he doesn't do driveways, does he do driver's license, code office? No, well, I just want to tell you, we didn't put that, we didn't ask him anything, we.
[33:41] Select Board member: Don't have a driver, but what he'll do is he'll tell the road commissioner to go out and tell them what to put in front of her, okay? So but, and we've got access off Atrium and 109. There you go, I forget what the access, what's the first, 290 something, isn't it? Yeah, 390 or something like that. That's quite a lot. Yeah, so I mean, there's access for wherever we want. We're good there.
[34:05] Chair: Yeah, I would assume if you're going to do off the Atrium,
[34:08] Select Board member: You'd move it down. You want it the closest way?
[34:10] Chair: Yeah, closest, yeah, away from the intersection. Okay, anyone else in the public? Okay, I guess next off, we need a vote on the warm animal.
[34:24] Town staff/administrator: So I'm going to do Article Two first, make a recommendation.
[34:28] Select Board member: I'll make a motion to approve Article Two as written.
[34:33] Chair: Do I hear a second? Second. Move to second it to approve Article Two as written. Any further discussion?
[34:39] Town staff/administrator: You want to say anything about the plan or it's coming back to the Phase One plan?
[34:44] Select Board member: As long as the site review comes back positive, yes. Now you want us to do that? So I'll make a motion to approve Article 2 as written on contingent of the, what do you call that plan? Phase 1. Phase 1 plan. Clean. Clean. Clean.
[35:06] Chair: Clean. Clean. Clean. Okay. Do we have a second on that? Positive. Okay. I'll second that one. Okay. Good. Pretty much have all the discussion? I think that does it. Okay. Call for a vote. All in favor? All opposed? Okay. Okay, Article 3.
[35:25] Select Board member: Do we have to make that amendment of adding the financial fund balance?
[35:29] Town staff/administrator: Yeah, that will be in there, from which it's signed. Okay. Yeah, I got a few typos put in up here. So, to see if the town will go to appropriate 32064.72 from the unassigned fund balance for the installation of a concrete pad at the transfer station. And I listed out the estimate just so people can see it clearly.
[35:48] Select Board member: Now this is going to be a special town meeting. Correct. And I'm not sure the public really knows that much about why we're doing this project. Is that a fair statement? Probably. We know. If they follow through. But it's a real public safety issue. This is a life safety issue. That's why the transfer station's seen as blocked off for a reason. They ought to know that the demo boxes are out there. They may not know why they're not doing it.
[36:18] Chair: Yeah so the wall where the demos containers were has collapsed for various reasons. One, it was made out of railroad ties and they only have a life of 20 years or so and they're about nine so that wall is collapsed. The containers can't go there. It's a safety issue trying to fill the containers looking down the road. Our plan or our thought is to add a second msw compactor at some point in time so by rebuilding the wall putting the new concrete pad in it'll all be prepped so when we decide or when the town decides that yes we want to do that with the new compactor and have a second one all the groundwork will be done. We've got to do three quarters of it anyway for the replacing the wall and putting a concrete pad into the demo containers. This will all be done and that side of it will be over so that's kind of the skinny on what we're trying to do. So yeah it's all it's an improvement of what we have and it's a look to the future. Yeah so we have the article we've had a second on it I believe oh go for the motion okay yeah it opened up the discussion now public discussion on it
[38:00] Joyce Bakshi, Finance Committee: What's the cost on the retaining walls? I don't think I heard it in there. We're
[38:06] Town staff/administrator: We're not putting them up. We're just doing the jersey barriers for now, right? Or you mean, or the blocks? It's here. It's part of the excavations. Yes.
[38:15] Chair: So you want me to reword that? Part of the $23,000 is the blocks.
[38:20] Town staff/administrator: What can we call that, David, instead of just excavation? Because the blocks are in there.
[38:24] Chair: Excavation and retaining wall?
[38:27] Town staff/administrator: Excavation and retaining wall? No.
[38:29] Highway/DPW representative: So yeah, so.
[38:30] Select Board member: Excavation and retaining wall is the most appropriate.
[38:32] Joyce Bakshi, Finance Committee: That is part of the $23,000.
[38:33] Select Board member: And retention wall, that's what it should. So we, you know, maybe we ought to amend that. I think it should say that true. So I'll make a motion to approve article 3 to see if the town will vote to appropriate up to thirty two thousand sixty four seventy two from the unassigned fund balance for the installation of a concrete pad and retention wall at the
[39:02] Town staff/administrator: transfer station. And then down there where it says estimate, we're going to put that 23 is excavation and retaining wall or blocks or what do you want it to say? Retention wall.
[39:17] Select Board member: Should be excavation and materials. That would be the easiest way to do it because you've got everything all included at that point.
[39:26] Chair: Okay, your motion has been rescinded? Okay, all motions have been rescinded. We're working on emotions, that's okay. I was gonna cover it. Okay, so we have the motion on article 3. We've had a second on article 3. Any further discussion? Call for a vote. All in favor? Opposed? This is a good idea.
[39:53] Select Board member: Yeah, like you said, it kills two birds with one stone. Yeah. Yeah. If it doesn't pass the limits, it's all set up for what it is.
[40:00] Chair: Yeah, it's going to be what it is anyway. So really, the only thing we're adding is the conduit. So, yeah, and that won't go bad. So, okay. So we're all set with the special town meeting warrant. Should we sign it?
[40:19] Select Board member: We don't sign this now, do we?
[40:21] Chair: No, I'll just sign it. We still have to make a new one.
[40:23] Town staff/administrator: We have to put it up and get the recommendations. Okay. Okay.
[40:26] Chair: Okay, new business. Morton Finance Committee Liaison.
[40:31] Town staff/administrator: So we need to appoint one going into the new season.
[40:33] Chair: That's based on the ordinance. Based on the ordinance. Do I hear someone making a motion or make an appointment for it?
[40:40] Select Board member: I want the Finance Committee to come up and pick one. Oh. That would be interesting.
[40:48] Town staff/administrator: I'm going to vote my secret ballot. I'm going to vote my secret ballot. That would be so cool.
[40:53] Select Board member: I don't think so. Because I know they're not going to love me, so I'm safe.
[40:58] Chair: I'll make a motion to report, never mind.
[41:02] Joyce Bakshi, Finance Committee: Please don't forget, we're going to meet with you guys. Yep. Oh, I know, I know.
[41:07] Chair: Yep. Yeah, we're going to work on all this together, so. Right. The liaison is just kind of a contact person, so. OK, do I hear anybody that wants to be the liaison or?
[41:19] Select Board member: Nominations. Or nominations? I make a motion to nominate Tom.
[41:23] Chair: Do I hear a second? I'll second that. Moved and seconded to nominate Tom McGurney as a liaison to the Warren Finance Committee.
[41:31] Select Board member: Do you accept the nomination? I accept. Well, vote on it. Don't ask him. Vote on it and say, no, I don't want it. If I were to tell me and someone gets up and says, no, I reject it, he can do the same thing, right? No. Be good.
[41:48] Chair: Okay. It's been moved and seconded for Tom McGernan to be the liaison to the Foreign Finance Committee. Any further discussion? No. Call for a vote. All in favor? All opposed? Thanks a lot. He voted for himself. Thank you, Tom.
[42:03] Town staff/administrator: Okay. Resignation. So, dear Jennifer, please accept this letter as my formal notice of my resignation from my position as the superintendent for the Town of Acton Transfer Station, effective 10-30-2026. I appreciate the opportunities and experiences I've had during my time working here. I'm grateful for the support and the professional relationships I've developed during my employment as well as meeting so many residents of Acton. I will do my best to ensure a smooth transition before my departure and will assist in any training or transfer is Transferring of responsibilities. Thank you for the opportunity to be a department head and we should continue success.
[42:40] Select Board member: I want to thank John for doing. Yes, he's done a pretty good job. Yes, and it's tough coming in changes and this and that. He did a really nice job for us. I'm sorry to see him leave.
[42:53] Chair: Yes, I was hoping it was going to be a longer tenure.
[42:58] Select Board member: Definitely seen his passion and his care for the town and trying to put his best foot forward in doing what he thinks is best for the town, which is highly appreciated.
[43:06] Town staff/administrator: He wanted me to share that it was just personal reasons, nothing to do with the town, board, staff, anything,
[43:11] Select Board member: just personal reasons.
[43:13] Chair: Okay, do I hear a motion to accept the resignation?
[43:15] Select Board member: I have a motion to accept the resignation.
[43:19] Chair: To accept the resignation of John Rogo from the transportation superintendent. Any further discussion? All for a vote, all in favor? All opposed?
[43:31] Select Board member: Pending policy. Do we have to do anything to initiate a search for this?
[43:36] Town staff/administrator: No, I'll start it. Okay. I mean, unless you wanted to, of course, I'll listen. Okay. Yeah.
[43:45] Chair: Okay. Pending policy. We have policies, pending projects, parking lot.
[43:52] Town staff/administrator: Oh, I did, yeah, I sent that over to Sabego, sorry, and they were happy to do just this somatic design that we talked about. Okay. The parking lot, so I said they'd start working on it right away.
[44:01] Select Board member: Okay. I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you say that again?
[44:03] Town staff/administrator: The Sabego, remember they offer us three different steps and we chose to do just the design for the 2000 or 2500, and they accepted it and said we'd start on it right away.
[44:13] Select Board member: Will they be able to give us a rough estimate? I think so. Good. I think so.
[44:18] Town staff/administrator: Yeah. I think we need that. Yeah. Start with a design that you like and then we'll give you some numbers.
[44:23] Select Board member: It's just a very preliminary estimate based on a preliminary design.
[44:28] Chair: Yeah. Then we have Town Hall Backing Lot and we have Town Hall Memorial Grounds. So they're all kind of in the works. The other thing we asked, I think last week, was to look into the other property down here on the H road. Yes.
[44:42] Town staff/administrator: Yes. You asked me for a list of all the Town of Acton properties, which I have, and I'm working on getting an appraisal for it. That's how it left.
[44:49] Chair: Okay. That's exactly. Who's doing the appraisal?
[44:52] Town staff/administrator: I'm deciding, Jay. I see. We're working on, we've got a couple different companies that are going to do it. So we're having to set up a contract to see what they offer and what's in the town's best interest.
[45:01] Select Board member: Okay. All right. Great.
[45:03] Chair: Public comment. Anyone from the public have anything they'd like to bring up? Don't be sorry. That's why we have these times.
[45:16] Select Board member: As far as the transfer station, I'm sorry to hear John really design, I don't think the world of them. But the bigger picture, does that site present unique situations that are going to restrict the expansion in the future? And I think the improvements you're doing are necessary, but do you have an estimate of how much capacity that adds and how long it'll service as the location for the transfer station? You're talking about where the new pad's going? Yeah, that whole site. Is it going to meet the needs of the town long term as a transfer station location or are you going to have the town outgrow that location? You know, the way I think about it is we're open three days a week and if we needed if there was more throughput there you could make that five days a week and so it has excess capacity already it's just not being used and so but I think the point at some point when we're got a population of 15,000 that's not going to work right but the point I think we go for the warrant it would be helpful to have an idea that the improvements you're doing to the transfer station should provide adequate capacity to take you for X amount of estimated use well I honestly think the whole idea of what we're doing right now is actually going to help more because we're talking about putting that extra compact that 's going to you know make it a lot more accessible for a lot more people at the same time so I would think that would help. Oh, absolutely. I think, I think would be well served to have that information available when the public comes in to vote on this to say that this should, this should meet our needs for this. 32,000 is not to improve the transfer station per se right now, it's to fix, right, this is the problem it's up there, which is, has nothing to do with gas right now. Right now we're not, we're, this is, we're, the walls are going up right now, or fix something that come, we got broken by one of the trucks pulling something up, broke the wall down, the wall fell, the wall came down. It was tender to begin with, so we figure instead of just putting a bandage on it, we're going to fix it, we're going to fix it, right, we're going to prepare. It's not going to cost a whole lot more to make it so that it's prepped for the next step. Right. So if you're going to spend the money to allow you to take the next step, does it make sense to let the public know that this is part of a longer project and that project would allow us to provide transportation services expected for? Yeah, obviously, that will be discussed at the public. This money is just to fix this.
[48:27] Town staff/administrator: Right, even if they weren't talking about ever getting a second compactor or expanding or anything, you've got a lot of valid good points to bring up if they take the next step. And even if we never get that second compactor, this has to be done for safety and the way the wall fell in.
[48:41] Select Board member: We're trying to kill two birds with one stone. Where the demo bins are now at the end of the parking lot, well, they shouldn't be there. And that's really making a mess. They should be over by the wall
[48:54] Chair: they can, okay, yeah, once the war goes in the demos will go back to where they normally work, they'll all be back safe and sound and done, and then if we, if we do take the next step, that'll be another year or two hopefully. That's
[49:14] Select Board member: really what the devil is going to come up, right, we go to the next call factor, that's what we really have to, yeah, is this, I think it's good for the public to know that this is part of, it's addressing an immediate problem today, but it's also setting you up to take the next step. It is, exactly.
[49:32] Chair: To increase the longevity of the existing.
[49:34] Select Board member: And it kind of goes along with the plan that we have been submitted by Sebago, too.
[49:38] Chair: Yes, it does, it's all part of it, yeah. We hadn't anticipated having to do this wall right now. We were kind of hoping to do a whole revamp at one time.
[49:49] Select Board member: Well, that's what's confusing to me. That's what I was hearing, and then all of a sudden
[49:53] Chair: now it's in pieces. Yeah, no, it's, it was, it was forced upon us. We should have some pictures because of the wall being damaged. So perfect, yeah, thank you. Any other public comment? Once, twice, going three times. So do I hear a motion to adjourn? I move to adjourn at 6:53 p.m. Move the second to adjourn. All in favor? All opposed? Good night everyone, thank you.