Somerset Selectmen - June 18, 2026

.

session at the Somerset Public Library Kuchenata Community Room 1464 County Street Somerset Massachusetts this meeting is being recorded first item is Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation unto God indivisible with liberty and justice for all To God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for

all. Okay, next item is citizens' input, which is limited to items listed as new business on the agenda.

Okay, next is minutes of the Selectman meeting. Proposed vote to waive the reading of the May 6th, May 14th, May 21st, 2026 meetings of the Board of Selectman and approve as circulated. So moved. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Next is a license So moved. Second. continued from our meeting of June 6, 2026 upon the application of Barass Meat Market, 1118 County Street, Somerset,

Massachusetts, for a common vicular license for outdoor seating.

We do not have a representative of the company. I don't know if you want to... I do not have a representative of the company. I don't know if you want to push this off to our next meeting, which will be next week, or if you want to discuss and vote without a representative. I don't have any problems voting tonight. I was out of town when this came up last, so I wasn't

able to look at it. I mean, do I think it's – I don't know why they would really want this. They don't have a kitchen.

They're really not producing food to be eaten on premises, but I'm not – They're really not producing food to be eaten on premises, but I'm not going to stand in the way of somebody wanting to potentially make a buck somehow. Alan, I did hear your concerns about the potential for, you know, the mallards seeding, commingling with any potential seeding they had there. I was under the impression that this

was going to be further on the other side, but it's not. It very well could be commingled. My question is, is that a major problem for the members of this board? How many, you know, what are we potentially opening ourselves up to there? But I don't have strong feelings either way at this point.

So I did look up today to see if there was a Massachusetts law, as I think I stated last week. Let's see if there was a Massachusetts law. As I think I stated last week, or the last meeting, you know, this originally started post -COVID when there were restrictions on seating that were put in place for restaurants. You know, everyone needed to be socially distanced. And so

they said, hey, we're going to temporarily allow you restaurants to add outdoor seating.

In 2024, effective April 1st of 2024, they More effective April 1st of 2024, they updated, this is Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A, Section 3B, and under A, as used in this section, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meetings. Commission is defined as the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission, established

by Section 70 of Chapter 10, Outdoor Table Service, Restaurant Service, that includes food prepared on -site and under the food establishment permit issued by a municipal authority pursuant to 105 CMR 590 that is served to seated diners outside of a restaurant building envelope, whether on a sidewalk, patio, deck, lawn, parking area, other outdoor space. So,

I mean, that seems to limit the ability of a local board to add outdoor seating to restaurant service that includes prepared food on site, which, again, the representative from Barras said that, you know, if one of his friends stopped by and wanted to get a chicken croquette and eat it at the table, or if one of his employees wanted to take their break out there, this seems... very limited

to restaurant, and to my knowledge, the Board of Selectmen haven't approved, during my time on the board, anything other than a restaurant to be able to have outdoor table operation. So would a coffee shop be considered a restaurant? So the coffee shop, so it does include alcohol as well.

And it gets into that.

So notwithstanding the provision of this chapter, any special permit variants or other approval...issued thereunder, or any general or special law to the contrary, a city or town may approve a request for the expansion of outdoor table service, including the description of the licensed premises as described in Section C, or an extension of an earlier grant approval. Before such approval, the Mayor,

Board of Selectmen, Select Board, or other Executive Officer, as established by Charter or Special Act, shall establish... the process for approving such requests. Such process shall not be required to comply with the notice and publication provision of section 11. An approval under this section may be exercised immediately upon filing of a notice with the city or town clerk without complying

with any otherwise applicable recording or certification requirements.

Pursuant to subsection B, a local authority may grant Pursuant to subsection B, approval for a change in the description of the licensed premises for the purpose of permitting outdoor alcohol service, which I believe you're talking about society and they do have alcohol service, as the local licensing authority deems reasonable and

proper and may issue an amended license to existing license The license to existing license holders without further review or approval from the commission prior to issuance upon approval of the amended license, the local licensing authority shall provide notice of amended license.

amended license to the commission, nothing in this section shall prevent the commission from exercising the commission enforcement authority over the amended license, nor limit any appeals. that can be submitted to the commission pursuant to section 67 of chapter 138. So that was a lot of words. One thing that I keyed in on pretty early is an expansion of seating,

correct? So having not read this myself, I immediately keyed on, all right, is this their sole seating area? There's no seating inside. Right, so I believe that they're not expanding. They're making this their sole seating area. But again, restaurant service that includes food prepared on -site under a food establishment permit issued by a municipal authority pursuant to 105 cmr 590

that is served to seated diners again they that's what i'm saying so yeah they don't number one they're not a restaurant they're a market right so i don't think that they would qualify under these circumstances right i mean listen i mean if that's if both my five second review of listening to what you're saying so that's what i'm saying if both of you want to take a look

at yes you know i would like the additional we can defer this Yeah, yes.

Yeah, I would like the additional. We can defer this to our next meeting. So this is Mass General Law 40A, Section 3. You can look at anything else.

You know, I'll follow up with Tim or the building inspector to see what license they have and whether that qualifies to this as well. are they actually applying for a common victual license, which they are? so that would cover one aspect of it, because by definition, that's what a victualer is, is somebody that serves food or drink. So, I just don't understand how you can serve food or drink if you're

not preparing it there, if you don't have a kitchen or whatever. And that was my concern last week. And I think it makes sense to provide another opportunity for the owner. to be here at our next meeting. And then for both of you to be able to review this, Mr. Hucci, if you can just email the other board members this section of Mass General Law so they have it.

And I'll follow up with Tim Turner, the health agent and or the building inspector on the license that they have. and then we can see if that qualifies for outdoor dining. And then we can see if that qualifies for.

Okay, so new business discussing act on committee assignment votes.

So we had a list here of the annual one year appointments.

all right sorry so committee assignments is in our packets so currently cable access TV is Alan Seed is Jamison Souza, which will have to be replaced.

SRTA is Todd Costa. Serpent is Richard Pierce, which we've already voted him for fiscal year 27, which will start July 1st. Bristol County Advisory Board is Alan Smith. Tax Incremental Finance Board is only when needed.

Community Preservation Committee is Todd Costa, already voted for 2027. Community Preservation Committee member at large is Tim Turner, and the Somerset Health Plan Group is Todd Costa.

So I don't know if anybody wants to change any of these assignments. We obviously have one open assignment on SEED.

Well, it took me about a year to get up to date on most of these things. I'd be happy to continue serving.

I mean, SRTA, that's just a riveting appointment in and of itself.

If somebody else wants to take that one, then I wouldn't be opposed to it.

I haven't yet even served as a member of the Community Preservation Committee.

Obviously, served as a member. my appointment is going through next year. So SEED is the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation. You know, we have Tim Turner, who is the Community Preservation Committee member at large. The Selectman appointment is already Todd Costa. The Somerset Health Plan Group, I think it makes sense for it to be Todd Koster as a retiree on the plan. makes sense for it to be Todd Costa.

So the only ones that are currently filled by a member of the Board of Selecting is Bristol County Advisory Board, which I would like to continue to serve on that. I pushed back quite a bit last year on the amount of spending that that Board was doing. you know, where the board meeting will be coming up in a couple of months and definitely interested to

see because I did push to have them cut back this year from where in fiscal 27 from where they are and we're in fiscal 26. So, you know, trying to, you know, when we look at the possible impacts on taxation, you know, there's the spending that we do within the town, but then there's, you know, the assessment that we have with the state, and then there's this Bristol County

that we get our share of the assessment for that, our share of the assessment for Diamond, for Bristol Aggie. So, when Bristol County, you know, increases their spending by 8%, our share of that spending goes up by 8%, which means that's less money available to the departments within the towns. less money available to the departments within the town. So I would like to stay on that

one. I would like to stay on cable access just because I pushed back quite a bit on that group when that contract was coming up for renewal because I thought there was improvements. I think we've made some really good progress with the SATB. I think it's moving in a good direction, so I'd like to continue to work on that, but happy to hear if anybody wants to consider anything different. direction so I'd like to

continue to work.

Joe? I mean, Mr. Costa, if you're not interested in SRTA, I'd be interested in that and possibly the seed. Okay, that works.

All right, so the list would be Cable Access Television, Alan Smith, Economic Development, Todd Costa, SEED, Joe Bandaric, SRTA, Joe Bandaric, Serpent is already decided and voted on by Richard Pierce, Bristol County Advisory, Alan Smith. Community Preservation has already been voted on previously. That'll be Todd Costa for Fiscal 27. community preservation

committee member at large will be Timothy Turner and Somerset health plan group will be Todd Costa. Somebody wants to motion that list is red. So moved.

Second. All those in favor. Aye. Aye. Okay. Joe, Alan. I said thank you both. Yeah. This is the annual appointments, so we'll talk about the one -year appointments first.

These are the town physician, Dr. Christopher Quinn, town nurse, Desiree Harding, town undertaker, William Hathaway, emergency management director is Chief Jameson Barrows, our field driver is our highway superintendent, Christopher Simons, wiring inspector is David Tavares, Assistant wiring inspector is George Gauthier.

Wire inspector alternate is George Ferrara. Forrest Warden is Chief Jameson Barrows. Inspector of Animal and Dogs is Lisa White. Tobacco Control Coordinator is Jennifer Doe Texara.

Any discussion? Just a question, have we reached out to all of these people? Are they interested in continuing to serve or were their names just brought forward? I think the town employees, I don't, I'm not sure. Well, that was going to be my next, that was going to be my next, question as far as all of these, do all of these people, I answer to the town administrator

or, I mean, in a certain case, like the emergency management director, it's part of Chief Barris's job to be the emergency management director.

You know, Forest Warden, I think kind of, you know, dovetails into that just because of potential forest fires. You know, again, inspector of animals, that's a shared position that we have with the town of Swansea. So, you know, because it's a paid position, unless they give us notice that they're resigning from that position, they're typically, you know, in that position. Tobacco Control Coordinator, I believe, is

the state, Mark? If I recall correctly. Bristol County, I believe. Bristol County? Okay. But I mean, typically, you know, my experience in talking with Paula in past years, I didn't ask the question this year, is that they do reach out to verify that everybody is still interested. Bristol County? Okay.

I'll make a motion that we vote to approve the one -year appointments for the period of 7 -1 -2026. through 6 -30 -27, as listed for the town physician, town nurse, town undertaker, emergency management director, field driver, wire inspector, assistant wire inspector, alternate, forest warden, inspector of animals, dog officer, tobacco control officer, and citizens for citizens. Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Okay, next is the 2026 through 2029. These are three -year appointments. We've got the Zoning Board of Appeals, Bernie Miranda, Bernard Miranda Historical Commission, Mary Beth Rue Larson, Norman J. Larson, Conservation Commission, John V. Costa, Rene Driscoll, and Patrick McDonald. Okay, next is the 2026.

my level of you know I I'm a little bit frustrated with this particular portion of these appointments like you said these other ones are mostly town employees these are appointments to boards or commissions that are under the purview of the board of selectmen you know my main problem is is that we do not have a process other than essentially rubber stamping reappointments to these commissions and um you know

shame on me because i brought this up last year but yet i didn't have the forethought to say these are coming up again this year so we need to reach out or bring this up earlier and say hey listen there are annual appointments coming up is anyone else interested in serving on these things because I don't think these positions should be lifetime appointments. because i don't think these positions should Okay.

And they shouldn't be rolled over year in and year out. I did speak with Mr. Alucci today about this, and we were brainstorming on how we could possibly get past this. I know you were adamantly opposed to a policy on this. I don't think we discussed a policy on this. To my recollection, I think there was a policy that you wanted to create on something else that I was not in favor

of. that I was not. But so, I mean, there's a couple of things, right?

Like when I look at this, we typically don't have a ton of demand for these volunteer positions. You know, the Historical Commission, I mean, Mary Beth and John Larson. I mean, again, personally, I wouldn't want to replace either one of those two. people. And that's our prerogative, right? You know, I mean, you know, Bernie's been serving, Miranda's been serving on zoning

for a number of years. Same thing. We're in the middle of, you know, hearings for Flatiron, not the time that I would make a change. And somebody like, you know, Chairman Catarat, I mean, with like 18 years experience on that board, I would never want, you know, to replace him. I mean, as long as he's willing to serve in that role, I would keep him. Again, I'm happy to talk about and consider a way to potentially

look at, you know, other candidates for some of these jobs or some of these positions. to replace him. I mean, as long as he's willing to serve in that role.

I don't, you know, as of today, we don't have that. So, you know, if you want to work with Mr. Alucci on something and then, you know, we can put it on a future agenda. I don't, you know, as of today, we don't have.

Can we give interim appointments? I wouldn't. You wouldn't? I mean, again, I blame myself because I brought this up last year and I wasn't thinking about this and then all of a sudden it's in my packet on Tuesday. but I do recall seeing talent bank applications for at least some of But I do recall seeing. these positions, but yet there were at least one of these positions I specifically recall seeing

a talent bank application. And I just think that there needs to be a process that so -and -so submitted a talent bank application for this position.

It needs to be somehow in the forethought that when one of these things come up, we bring people in and they all One of these things come up, you know, we bring people in and, you know, they all or they send us a letter saying, you know, this is why I want it. This is what I've done while I'm here. This is why I want to stay. And I think this is

what I have to offer, like you said, with Chairman Cadaret or Mr. Miranda or any other member. And then again, it's our prerogative to, you know, to appoint or not reappoint. But I just don't like the fact that it seems like it's been on autopilot for a long time. um and maybe that's just because nobody you know the the it hasn't been these positions

aren't highly sought after but i do know that as we are facing and our community is changing with economic development wise and and different you know uh controversial uh projects that come up that um you know there may be people that come up that, you know, there may be people that can bring a different perspective or a balance to a board or whatever.

I just like the, I take each one of these appointments, you know, with a lot of responsibility and I just don't want to be the broker stamp. So I know we have some alternates for the zoning board, that's correct, right? Do we have alternates for historical commission and conservation commission? because I have an idea about this.

I don't believe this. I don't believe there's all limits for that. Honestly, I'm not even sure that the numbers on those certain commissions are capped. Okay. And we would have to go back and look into our bylaws, but I'm not sure there is a cap on a number of people that can serve on the historical commission. So, I mean, the only thing I see is just like the zoning board, it's nice

to see people kind of were in these boards before they jump into them as well. yeah and typically that's the way it's worked um you know on zoning that you start off you know you're an alternate um because they take one of the alternates and when they have an opening they move them into the three voting members um and you know so you you do get an opportunity to

learn learn the role you know the other the other concern about going in and you know replacing um somebody and it's You know, replacing somebody and it's not, you know, conservation or zoning is, you know, two areas, not historical commission, but two areas where it would have concerns, right? Like you have a potential controversial project and somebody

is in this seat who says, or a couple of people are in this seat who say, hey, you know what, that person's not going to vote the way. I think they should be voting. So I'm going to replace that person and get them off the board so the vote goes the way I want the vote to go.

And that part of it would be concerning to me. Because as soon as you say, hey, we've got an opening on the zoning board, we've got an opening on the Conservation Commission in this controversial project before either one of them, now you're going to get people who We get people who are for or against that project who are going to want to throw their hat in the ring to get on the

board so that hopefully they can steer the project the way they feel it should be steered. are for or against that project. I see your point. You're only one of three people. I'm one of three people, so it takes two people to agree on something like that. I do feel that by virtue of running for a position on this board that... I think for a position on this board that the voters have empowered me to

act in a way that I feel is best for the overall community. And if they don't like that, then they're not going to vote for me the next time.

So, you know, there's this old thing, you know, elections have consequences type thing. And I think to a certain appointed positions generally reflect the ideals and values of the person. the deals and and and and values of the person uh or the board making the appointment um if you know the chief of police's contract is up or whatever you know if the board doesn't feel that the chief of

police or any other department has isn't doing a good job then what are we talking about they removed okay um so the so he i i 100 disagree with that i mean these positions should I 100 % disagree with that. I mean, these positions should not be political. not No position should be political, particularly the chief or the fire chief or whatever it is. But again, you're saying, hey, I got elected and so these boards

should reflect the values of the person that got elected. I mean, I don't believe that that's the case. I think they're appointed to their roles to do a job on that. appointed their roles to do a job on that board. And the zoning board has bylaws that they have to follow. The Conservation Commission has to follow mass general laws. So to say, hey, you know what? Every time there's an election,

there's the potential of flipping these boards, I think is really not beneficial to the residents of this town. Well, that's why they stagger the terms otherwise they'd all be up for appointment at the same time what if you don't like the job that a person is doing what if you think a person is is is you know not upholding their responsibilities so that becomes political

because you're a political person appointing that but again to me it's the chairman of that committee's responsibility to say hey you know what this person's not doing the job it's my preference to not be reappointed I disagree 100 % because what happens if there's an activist so what happens if you have a person on a commission or whatever that is pro -business we need to generate tax money no matter what it's you

know this is what we need to do and you know I'm gonna try to find out a way that we're gonna get this this going to try to find out a way that we're going to get this particular project pushed through regardless I don't want that person sitting there just like I don't want a person that would that would come before us and say I'm absolutely gonna pose anything that has

to do with this or anything that has to do with that or you have to have an open mind right and you have to be willing to look at these different things it's me as a member of the Board of Selectmen it's my prerogative to vote on the person that I think best represents the town and, you know, aligns with the philosophy that I believe. I don't believe that economic development is the

A number one priority for every single solitary thing or whatever it is. And I'm just using that as a way to drive home my point, but that's how I feel. on my point but that's how I feel I you know we get elected and the law puts appointments in our prerogative we appoint department heads all the time we appoint people that are going to do or what we think are going

to do with number one is in the best interest of the town and not going to be completely contrary to something that you believe in so so if we have employees that are contracted employees in the town. So should we do the same thing? Their contract's up, we should advertise the position? Well, certainly if you don't like the job that they're doing. Well, if you don't like

the job that they're doing, you should have been having those discussions right along.

So, I mean, unfortunately, from last year to this year, nothing has been done to change where we are. and I'm going to take blame for that I could have thought that there was a And I'm going to take blame for this. lot of pushback the last time that I brought this up and I'll go back and look to see what my proposal was the last time they that this came up um

but at this point I'm not going to hold anything up I just wanted to make my point and if we're if this moves us in a positive direction then I'm happy Jeff so um Mr. Costa makes some good points however um Mr. Costa makes some good points. However, we are kind of at the point where we have to make a decision on this. I would definitely support listening to Mr. Costa in the future if you want

to come up with some kind of plan to review the talent bank a few months ahead of time. And as a board, we can come up with if that's appropriate. But today, I think we're where we're at with this. We are at where we're at. So and again, I kicked myself in the pants because I was talking about. setting reminders and, you know,

outlook. You know, this is coming up in a couple of months. Be sure to, and shame on me for not having done that. But I'm happy. I said my piece. Potentially we can move forward and look at different options. So I'm perfectly happy and would be happy to second any motion. I'll make that motion. um you don't have to uh you don't have to read i'm not i'm gonna i'm gonna

make a motion to You don't have to, you don't have to read. I'm not, I'm going to. uh i'm gonna make a motion to uh accept the 2026 2029 annual appointments of free positions as as written second all those in favor aye aye aye okay next is the 2026 2027 Again, the list was published on the town website, so we don't have to read through the whole list of all these people. Any

discussion? So this one baffles me because these are contract employees that are actually paid and can't be terminated without cause, but yet we have to go through and reappoint them every year. We couldn't unappoint them if we wanted to because they would have cause. I'm not quite sure where this is. You know, cause, I'm not quite sure where this even comes from. I just know that. Requirement

of Mass General Law. Yeah, I know, and I just don't understand why. I mean, I was in the position of putting these things forward all the time. I just think it's silly because we couldn't not appoint them if we wanted to. So I'll make a motion to approve the list as published.

Second. All those in favor. Aye. Okay, 2026 -2027 Fire Department. one -year appointments. Any discussion?

Okay, if somebody wants to make a motion to approve the list as published. I'll make a motion to approve the 2026 -2027 Fire Department one -year appointments as written.

Second. All those in favor? Aye.

Okay, next is the 2026 -2027 Constable Civil Process one -year appointments. Okay. Again, the list was published. The appointments are subject to appointees submitting a current bond to the town administrator's office. Any discussion?

I'll just ask that all of those bonds have been submitted. I don't know. I'll follow up on that. Okay, we can just make the appointments a subject to, so, yeah, so I'll make a motion that we approve the following one year appointments for constables to serve civil process contingent upon their submitting a current bond to the town administrator's office. We can just make the appointments a subject.

Second. All those in favor. Aye.

Okay. Next is discuss an act on a vote to declare a 2012 International 7300 vehicle identification number IHTWAARXDH323086 as surplus property pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 30B Section 16A and Article 21 Surplus Equipment By -Law. Okay, next is discuss an act on a vote to declare.

Article 21, surplus equipment by -law. Mr. Iolucci, any information on this?

I'd just like to use the vehicle where insurance is not completely gone. Which department?

Highway. I'll make a motion. Is this the one that the frame is rusted out as well? I don't know if it's one of the... I think it is one and the same, the one that completely failed us. Yep. Okay.

that we declare the vehicle as described, surplus property.

Okay, I have nothing under other. Anyone else? I have no topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair, 48 hours in advance of the meeting. Town administrator updates? I've done this evening, sir. I have a reminder. Okay, so I want to remind everyone that may be listening from home that we have the day of our town -wide celebration of the 250th anniversary is fast approaching.

We will be having the drone show and loads of entertainment coming up next Saturday, the 27th.

The festivities will be divided. um the festivities will be divided well the festivities will take place at Slade's Farm Park um throughout the day we're going to have at least 12 to 15 food vendors um from both local and out of town they're providing a wide variety of food it'll be something for everyone um we'll also be having um entertainment all day long um Entertainment all day long, starting with the Swansea

Community Band, then performances by Cat and Jimmy and Ethan Lazaro, and then culminating with the headliner, The Singing Trooper.

I may have said this already a couple of times, The Singing Trooper is regionally known. He played at major venues, including Fenway and the Half Shell, as well as Gillette Stadium. He puts on a fantastic show. He's going on starting at 7 and he's going to be performing a two -hour show for us all the way until the kickoff of the drone show. And then at

9 p.m. we're going to have the drone show which will consist of over 200 drones because fundraising has been going so swimmingly.

I'd like to thank the many sponsors that we've had. like to thank the many.

We were able to add another 50 drones to it. It's going to bring it to a spectacular level. It's going to be accompanied by music.

So if you're watching from Slade's Farm Park, you'll hear music that's going to be provided there. And we're also recommending another viewing area is the lower section of Chikmashan Field. Here's the lower section of Chickmashan Field, and we will have speakers and the music will be there as well. So I've seen the storyboard, I've watched part of the show because that was all sent to us

for review, and I wanted to stop halfway through because I didn't want to spoil it. Although you cannot get even one -tenth of an idea looking at it on a computer screen as to what it actually translates into the sky.

because we're told this is going to take up the entire sky and it actually turns so that it's viewable in different areas and you know the music because i saw it first without it and then when you add the music that just takes it up at another notch and you know it can be moving it's patriotic themed um you know obviously salute to our country but also saluting and recognizing our soldiers and our first responders

who are vital to, you know, our fabric of life. So I encourage people to come out and attend. You can go to Somerset 250 on the Facebook page. They'll be listing we have off -site parking.

on -site is going to be limited as well as there will be parking restrictions in the area. the parking restrictions in the area of the event so you know if you're trying to park on site you might want to get there early otherwise go to the page find out the locations for the shuttle parking we're going to have two large shuttles and one handicapped shuttle shuttling

visitors see if I can get through it without forgetting from the Somerset middle school the south Middle School, South School, Somerset Town Hall slash Old Town Hall parking lots and the COA. George, you know this probably better than I am.

Did I forget anything? I think I, oh, and South Complex. So they'll be running every 15 minutes, picking people up and dropping them off, so consider that. And again, if you want to reference it, it'll all be on the Facebook page, so I'd like to actually put a link up on the website this week, because we're going to be pushing this hard so that, you know, it can be brought, if people

go to our website, they can bring them to the Facebook page or someplace else.

And again, if you want to reference it, it'll all be on the Facebook.

But Heather could still use more volunteers, especially Friday, to set up, and any students can use them as their community service hours, and they can sign up. on the website also so yes we have a volunteer sign up page I'm not sure where that's published though because that's not my thing but we'll put all this out and remind people as they go forward swag is still available I know members of

the organizing committee will be out at all clairs this weekend all clairs also is has a setup in Eau Claire's also has a setup inside where you can buy it at any time, but they'll be out at Eau Claire's on Father's Day, I believe, which is pretty hardcore. And the swag is also available at Rogers Restaurant and at Somerset Grill. And if for some reason you're in town hall and

you want to pick up something, Mr. Turner also has some there and he'd be happy to. I think Mr. Turner also has some there and he'd be happy to sell you. But shirts, water bottles, hats, you know, all of this is going to offset the costs associated with this. We're very, very hopeful that the impact to this is going to be, the taxpayer

is going to be minimal. So, again, thank you to all the very, very generous, you know, platinum sponsors. We have three platinum sponsors that donated $5,000 each, as well as many lower tier sponsors. So thank you to everybody. Volunteers, it's not too late. Check the Facebook page. There'll be a link there to show you where you can go up. Yes, we are going

to be doing some decorating down at the venue on Friday evening. So I think I delayed the meeting enough.

nothing new to you mr smith or mr relucci um we um identified a couple of problems with the I've identified a couple of problems with the road on Robur Street. It is a dirt road according to the town and paperwork. It is a paper road. I've tried as much help I can with it. I feel the bridge is not safe. It is not meant to

be that way. I don't even think the houses were supposed to be given a certificate of occupancy until the road was properly built. That was never done. I know we're going back. to 1995. I have also putting paperwork to back up exactly what I'm saying right here. I'm happy to prove it to you and show it to you. I also left the pile of this paperwork with Pam at the town

hall. Me and Mark have had conversations this week. He had talked to counsel and the recommendation was go to the attorney general's office as well as possibly local news to go after the previous it's possibly local news to go after the previous owner of the road right now and again i have the tax paperwork the owner of the road owes two hundred and twelve thousand dollars in back taxes on

that parcel of land um currently unpaid um i have to make you all aware of this because i do not want to be the one sitting in that seat when someone gets killed on that road Okay, and that's the point of me being up here, but if Channel 12 starts bothering you or Channel 10 or the Attorney General Office is calling, I do not want to be a surprise. okay and that's the point of

me being up here but if channel

Obviously, this is no fault of you. I'm not pointing a finger at anybody on the board. It's just so no one's taken by surprise with the actions I'm taking right now to make the road safer and possibly get it paved and accepted as a town road eventually. That is the end goal. All other efforts have been exhausted at this time. So now there's nothing else to do but

go after the, if we can, or if I can, I should say the trust that owns the road. It changed trust a couple of times. I think I located the proper trust. So that's what I have the attorney general's office looking into now to possibly get some resolution on this. on this. But again, it's to make sure that no one's taken by surprise and nothing happens in But again, it's to make

sure that no one's taken by surprise. the interim. And so when I first got elected, you reached out to me. Yes, sir. I put a considerable amount of time into digging into all the minutes of the meetings for the houses that were built on that part of Roebridge Street that you live on.

To your point, Roebridge Street is a paper road Uber Street is a paper road.

Per the planning board meetings, it could never be paved again. And that is incorrect information. They could not add, and again, that's why the driveways have to be gravel driveways, because you could not add additional impervious surface over the roofs that were put on the homes, which added impervious surface to the road. There's no drainage system on it. And again, you know, it's its

own property. And again, it's owned privately. It's not the only street in Somerset that's owned privately. There's multiple streets that are. And again, I understand there's back taxes, but again, there's not really a benefit to the town taking the road for back taxes. You know, when we took the gas station for back taxes, we started the process of taking the gas. station for back taxes. They owed $300

,000 in back taxes. We could sell the gas station if they didn't pay the back taxes, and ultimately they sold their property in order to not lose more than $300,000. But I understand your frustration. The frustration is not about the road not being paved or the back taxes. The frustration is safety for everybody. okay I'm up here raising a safety concern because when something

happens I don't want to be the one to sit back and say I told you so that is my major concern here again I had worked and gotten a price to have somebody you know inspect the bridge per Massachusetts general law we cannot spend taxpayer money on private property and it's private property that I gave you on private property and it's private property. I gave you the information. It was a fairly small amount of

money, you know, to be able to get the bridge inspected to see if the bridge was structurally safe or not. You know, unfortunately, like I said, you know, and I was even like, look, this is, you know, I believe it was $650 to get the inspection done. I'm like, isn't there a way, you know, the then town administrator, Richard Brown, and he's like, no, there's just not a way, you know, through

Massachusetts law that we can do that. work. So, you know, I understand the concerns about the safety. I'm just letting you all know as the board, my next course of action to try to get resolution.

That's all I'm trying to do. I'm not saying come fix my road. I'm not saying inspect the bridge. All that is in the past. I have to go after the person in charge of the trust now. whom I've called more than once. Correct.

And that person has hung the phone up and said, talk to my lawyer. I have no idea who a lawyer is. It'd be nice if I had a name.

It'd be great. So now the only thing I can do is take this route.

Hopefully this works to get resolution. Hopefully the trust says who it was prepared by or the attorney general's office can tell you the attorney who prepared the trust. that's what i'm trying for now okay and you're going to That's what I'm praying for now. be in for some type of legal challenge right you're going to have to sue them i mean the town can't take on the responsibility for the the homeowners

to file any type of lawsuit or we're certainly not going to take um you know and can't take responsibility to you know rebuild the road that we don't know and i understand that it's just when the houses were built the plan to build the houses, according to the paperwork, which I've showed Mr. Smith before, were not supposed to be occupied until the road was built appropriately.

How that got by and everybody got certificate of occupancies, that's neither hand nor there.

I can sit there and argue that point all day long. All I can tell you is that bridge was meant for probably tractor traffic back in the day. or probably tractor traffic back in the day when it was farmland and not house, right? So, again, it's just putting you all on notice so nobody is taken back and no one says, hey, why don't you come talk

to us and tell us before we went. It's just a notifying thing because, unfortunately, this is the route we have to take to get resolution because, like you said, we can't spend taxpayer dollars on anything. thing i get it it's a private road paper road now we have to go after the trust it's a very I get it. It's a private road, paper road. Now we have. large

trust um and i believe all realtors just dumped their um property into this i don't think so um not based on anything i looked at but okay um but again i'm going to try to take this route and see if there's any of a resolution but again it's yeah i appreciate you letting us know and you know, if Channel 10 calls me, I'll expect the call. you know if channel 10 calls me Thanks. Yeah.

Anyone else? I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

I just don't think that this is a good thing. They talk about clean energy, and I don't even understand why this is here.