Pittsfield Council Backs Food Sovereignty, CDBG Grant, Cameras and Cruiser

[0:20] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Good evening and welcome to the regular council meeting for October 6, 2026. I'd like to call the meeting to order and ask everybody to stand for the pledge of legion is. Thank you. Thank you to join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. Moving on to adoption of the minutes. I look for a motion from the council to adopt meeting minutes from August 25th then September 1st 2026. [1:09] Speaker B (unidentified): Make a motion to adopt the meeting minutes from August 25th 2026 and [1:14] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: September 1st 2027. Moved and seconded. Are there any questions or concerns regarding the meeting minutes from those two dates in the audience or council? Hearing none, I sense we're ready to vote. All those in favor of adopting the meeting minutes from August 25th and September 1st 2026 please signify by of saying aye. All those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Those meeting minutes have been adopted. Moving on to presentations tonight we have the town assessor here to present on the revaluation of the town. You know how are you? Good. I'll be [1:57] Assessor / Revaluation Official: brief but that's fine. So we finished the revaluation this year. The first time the town's been revalued at full comprehensive since the mid 90s near as I can tell. We had some of the cars we were working from when we meet with taxpayers had 1989 some old autographs and things like that. So we've been working from that a couple times over the years as our assessments started to fall outside of the minimum assessment standard. There's some factors applied but nothing really not a big full deep dive until this year. So prior to in beginning preparation to set the new values we took the town divide up in a section we visited everybody's house in the last four years to make sure everything was on everything on the face of the earth was in on our record any gaps or any new ways of assessing the individual items that we found we put that we implemented it. Now that took over four years. We input all the data changes we made. I sat down and looked at all sales in Pittsfield leading back to April 1st of 2023. Couple reasons for that is to get enough data points to draw a good conclusion and to see what the long-term trend is in the market here in town. From that, we had about 150 sales dating back that far, all types, 150 good sales. The only sales we look at are gonna be arm blank sales through a broker, unrelated parties. And so from that, we put in a new valuation for a land evaluation of the buildings. And in creating that, we would look at those 150 sales time and time again, start creating a method. And once we felt like the method was mirroring what these things were selling for, we went out and then applied that methodology to everybody. That's the uniformity that we're trying to do. It's based on market value this year, April 1st. And we come in at 95% over all those 150 sales with just what I was hoping to see. Going forward, we'll keep monitoring what the market's doing going forward. And now that we're using our assessing software to the fullest extent, all the sketches are in the software, all the pictures are in the software. Going forward, we need not wait any, maybe a handful of years before we decide to change values up or down whatever the market's telling us. So we sent out 2235 letters, one to every piece of property in town to their owner, letting them know revaluations done. We have a tax view based on last year's budget, which was the mill right we set for that was 13 9, an opportunity for everybody to come in and talk to us, to go through anything they have to office about. We said we met right here for a week. Last week we had 180 people come in roughly that week, and we talked about 190 properties. We and we've been to those started the commitment, which we did on well I did Sunday night for Monday, and a couple of my guys were here Monday meeting with more people. We probably met with another 20 maybe. So the response was good. It was shocking to some people, but we had the data to back it up, and I think everybody at least left fairly satisfied, or at least from that understanding how this process works and. Going forward, anybody who didn't make it in just like Monday will give everybody the same courtesy we did that week. Any small changes we have to make, we'll just have to issue an abatement. So our overlay with a little bit higher than normal just offset those abatements we may be giving out. So right, but we did set the mill rates, the mill rate of yes, the mill rate for the notices was estimated at 13.9. Then we sat down and did the budget, Jack and I, the mill rate is officially set at 14.5, so it's up. A bit, but that mostly comes down to the fact that we used last year's budget for the for the notices. Just for reference, the school was up 300 over 327,000 and the county was up almost 14,000, so that 341,000. All this difference in the net to be raised made sense when you go up six cents, six tenths of a mil. So yeah, and then Bill should hit the mail by Friday, we hope. [6:21] Speaker D (unidentified): All right, now excellent. Is there anything you need to add, want to add? Yeah, I just want to say [6:30] Town Manager / Administrative Official: it's been a long process and I've been, you know, kind of a part of it for about half of it, but they've certainly been busy as it's kind of come to a conclusion and was certainly busy the week that and that the hearings were held and they're going to come, should it be busy the rest of the year and there's a lot of work and, you know, and I appreciate how it's gone into [6:50] Speaker F (unidentified): the process and so it's, it's a lot. Thank you. Yeah, I have a question. You made a comment about [6:58] Speaker G (unidentified): So reaching 95% of something, what was that? [7:02] Assessor / Revaluation Official: The ratio between the assessed value and the sale prices. [7:07] Town Manager / Administrative Official: We shoot for 100. [7:09] Assessor / Revaluation Official: The state says we have to be between 70 and 110. So we go to 100 because it's just, we want to be a full value. And regardless of whatever race, if we were to a point where we wanted to be at something less than 100, we would have to go to 100 first to set everything in market value today and then [7:31] Speaker F (unidentified): relax it back if for whatever reason. Yep, excellent. Are there any questions from the [7:44] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: audience for Mr. Duplicy? Mike. Yes, thank you. Michael Chinkat, West Pittsfield. A couple [7:53] Speaker H (unidentified): I have a couple quick questions, I'll probably take a sentence or two, if you wouldn't mind answering for me. So you would mention going forward, be done at regular intervals. Did you define that every year you're going to do it, or when you choose to, or when the council directs, or what's going to trigger another one? When will it happen? It's mostly what the market's doing. [8:12] Assessor / Revaluation Official: You know, when the market was at its peak lately, we would see values increase 8-12% a year. year. So we would want to do it in a couple of years. The market slowed down considerably. We only see increases of maybe three to 5%. So it's really market dependent. [8:30] Speaker H (unidentified): Okay, so that will have to go with approval of the council, correct? Approval for the funding. Of course. Yeah. By way of the council. Right. Okay. Now you're saying if the market goes up, what if the market goes down? Is it a one way street or what? No, it's always a two way street. Okay. So if the market goes down, it can be revaluated to the lower? Yep. The lower rate, that's right. Okay. After the higher mill rate, of course, with more. Yes, exactly. [8:56] Assessor / Revaluation Official: The back in 08 when we had the crash, then we see a lot of properties that went down about an average of 15 percent. So right, so the two things you worry about is if the entire town got to go down by a constant, yes, the number is going to go up, there's going to be no change in tax burden. But if you had part of town that went down more than another part of town, you could have a case where even in the lowering market there would be a change in the tax burden. Some parts of town were down 10, some parts of town went down 20. So we always have to be aware of that. Right. Another question if I [9:31] Speaker H (unidentified): may now for the data, the backup, you would also mention that was just the market value. Is that the only thing that you used to value the properties? Yes. Okay. Is there some synopsis or a list, you know, based on this and this is why your property went up, is that available? If I would ask for that, would that be available? You mean, yeah, I mean, I to justify, because mine nearly doubled, to justify doubling my taxes, my taxes are kind of like an idea, you say the market, okay, that's one word that doesn't that doesn't go for me in my budget. Is there if do you have something, you said you have photos of every property, you have data on every property. If I asked for that, could you provide something by email or a shender too? So look at, here's your property, here's what we took for bullet points as to why increase and this point increased this much approximately, doesn't have any dollar value percent, is that available? Okay, what I, how would [10:35] Assessor / Revaluation Official: The best way to do it is we have a schedule set up for next week or the week after when the guys will be here. You can call up and get good employment, you can come in, we can call, and we can email [10:45] Speaker H (unidentified): to you. I work down in Auburn, so I don't know if I can do that, but I'll call you before you send my email. Thank you for that. Just a couple things. Now, you said hopefully the tax bill will be up this Friday. 8 will that change the due date when the taxes are due was probably a question for the council [11:06] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Yeah, so we knew the timeline of when the revel was going to complete and the hearings and so forth. So we set the due date for the first two days for November 19th. So the bills will be in process now. They should hit, I would expect them to hit the mailboxes by the end of the week, and then the first installment would be due November 19th. The second one would be [11:30] Speaker F (unidentified): the fourth Thursday in March, which was second. So now we have a budget year that goes from [11:38] Speaker H (unidentified): end of June, I mean beginning of July to June. What are the normal dates when those bills go out? [11:45] Town Manager / Administrative Official: If we didn't have a revaluation, normally we would be committing in early either early September or very late August, and we'd be putting the bills out in September for a end of with October due date. So we're set back probably three weeks. Okay, so it's a yearly thing still. Oh [12:05] Speaker H (unidentified): yeah, okay, but with your brave mountain too because of the extra that people are burdened with now [12:11] Town Manager / Administrative Official: What is it November and then probably March, right? Yeah, so when we changed the fiscal year from calendar to fiscal, it also implemented one tax amendment date but two due dates, and that just That just actually saves the taxpayer interest and actually costs us interest, but it saves the taxpayer interest because we only ask for half of it. But it used to be all due in October, and now we only ask for half of it in October, and then the other half of March. [12:39] Speaker H (unidentified): So is that broken half just for this revaluable? That's why I probably said it's just one time a year, so it's twice a year? Twice. Okay. All right. Thank you for that clarification. Just one more thing. I'm wondering, actually, I think it would be beneficial because you hear a lot of background noise, a lot of complaints, a lot of Facebook garbage, I call it. It's a wasteland out there. If something that the council would do, and I would highly recommend this, post something either by through their website or through Facebook or rolling thunder. Okay, we understand we went through this, the mill rate was here and now the mill rate's here 's how it benefits the town. We have our loans, we have our payments, everything gets easier to do. I'm willing to bet there's a vast majority of people in this town don't really understand the mill rate. They know the mill rate every thousand dollars That's what they're going to get charged for taxes. What difference does that make? Because all they're feeling right now, the hurt and the pain, myself included, of having paid more taxes. How is it going to benefit me as a taxpayer? I think it would be wise for the council to consider that, put that out there, because unless people ask for that specifically, they're not going to know. And then the, you know, I don't want to use word emails because that's that's kind of, you know, not a right, probably the best way to say it, but they don't understand. They just don't know. So I mean to help everybody, I mean because, you know, I've been on the house before, I still have some questions answered for him. So just suggestion if you would at least take it into consideration. So that's all I got. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. [14:15] Jim Dunphy, 172 Lemon Street, Pittsfield (public commenter): Yes sir, can you state your name and where you live? Jim Dunphy, 172 Lemon Street, Pittsfield. I'm just used to paying the taxes, you know. Is there any benefit to do that or is it is it going to just be split half and half with no extra cost if you do that? There's an extra cost if you do it. [14:33] Town Manager / Administrative Official: If you do split it and pay them, no, we only charge interest on the first installment if it's not paid by the first due date. So if the first installment is paid by the first two days, there's no interest occurring on the on the second part of it. So it doesn't cost anybody anything to wait [14:51] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: it until March to pay the later time. Okay, yeah, thank you. But you are no, you can't pay it all at one time and you if you feel like it budgeted that way. So yeah, right, they'll be happy to take. Is there anybody else in the audience that has any questions? Anybody, counsel? Good, appreciate all your hard work. No, it's a thankless process and but we appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you, Rob. Have a good night. Good to see you, Rob too. All right, we are moving on to public hearings tonight. We have one ordinance 2606. [15:41] Speaker B (unidentified): The full the Pittsfield Town Council hereby ordains to adopt the Town of Pittsfield. [15:45] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Look for a motion from the council. [15:54] Speaker B (unidentified): I'll make a motion we get stopped ordinance 2606. [15:59] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: We open it for a public hearing, for a public hearing. Yes, I'll say second. All right, ordinance 2606 is open for a public hearing. This is regarding the good sovereignty ordinance. Are there any questions, concerns, or comments from the audience? Mrs. Column. [16:21] Speaker B (unidentified): They're on the boot. [16:24] Public commenter / community member: We've got 16. Oh, that's fine. [16:28] Amanda, Moore Library Street (public commenter): Friday. I'm sick of the boot. [16:36] Public commenter / community member: So, first of all, thank you very much for taking this seriously after it was presented to you. I appreciate that. I just have a couple of things I'd like to be on record. As a member of this community and somebody who lives in the state of Maine, there's a couple of things I've heard a lot from people, both good, mostly good, some concerns, and I thought it would be useful to provide some comment on the record. So this ordinance, I think, is important to know, is about local choice and local control. Our law in Maine expressly allows municipalities to adopt these ordinances governing traditional foodways and direct consumer producer to consumer transactions. This isn't something that Pittsfield is inventing. The legislature has made it a state policy to preserve local food production, small family farms, self-reliance, rural economic development, and constitutional right to food. Maine's Constitution now recognizes a natural, inherent, and unalienable right to food. This includes growing, raising, producing, harvesting, and consuming food of one's choosing, while expressly respecting private property rights and natural resources. This protects the kinds of transactions that have been traditionally part of the communities like Pittsfield, including roadside stands, fundraisers, farmers markets, community social events, buying clubs, deliveries, CSA, herd share agreements, and other direct arrangements. I do understand that there is a concern about food safety, and I don't dismiss that. Licensing and inspection are important tools for reducing risk, but licensing and inspection do not guarantee that food cannot make someone sick. The better question is whether informed adults should be allowed to choose whether they want to purchase food directly from someone in their community. Plus, we have real world evidence from states that have already allowed much broader homemade food sales than we do in Maine. A public records study looked at seven states following homemade meals and other perishable foods. State agencies reported zero confirmed foodborne illnesses caused by food sold under these laws. That doesn't mean the risk is zero. It just means that the evidence doesn't support court, assuming that locally produced, unlicensed food is inherently unsafe. At the same time, outbreaks continue to occur within conventionally regulated food systems. Just this year, a multi-state salmonella outbreak linked to jalapeno peppers resulted in 488 reported illnesses and 65 hospitalizations across 34 states. 91% of the interviewed patients reported eating at Mexican-style restaurants before becoming ill, and we had a major outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce that was distributed commercially. More than 12,000 laboratory-confirmed cases were associated within a single multi-state outbreak. Those outbreaks aren't an argument against inspection. They demonstrate something much narrower. Inspection and licensing reduce risk, but they do not eliminate it. Food safety ultimately depends on safe growing, handling, preparation, and storage practices, whether the food comes from a large commercial operation or a neighbor's farm stand. Most importantly, this ordinance doesn't require anyone to buy the uninspected food. Someone who is only comfortable purchasing food through conventionally licensed and inspected systems remains free to do so. The ordinance protects the choice of another consumer who knows a local farmer or producer and chooses to produce, purchase directly from them. For me, what's at the heart of this food sovereignty is local control, informed consumer choice, supporting our farms and community traditions, and allowing Pittsfield residents to exercise rights Maine law already recognizes. In closing, I'd just like to say, I don't think that we have to choose between food safety and food freedom. We should value food safety while also recognizing that a government license is a tool for reducing risk, not a guarantee of safety, and that informed adults are capable of deciding where they obtain their food. And I'm happy to answer any questions. [21:09] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Is awesome. Any questions? Awesome. Thanks, Amanda. Appreciate that. Are there any other comments from the audience regarding good sovereignty ordinance? Anything from the council? Hearing none. Nice. Since we're ready to close ordinance 2606 from public here. Definitely. Anybody want to do that? All right. All those in favor of closing? Do we have to vote on that? [21:47] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): Sorry, I don't know this. Yeah, make a motion. Second level. [21:51] Speaker B (unidentified): Can I make a motion that would close ordinance 2606? [21:57] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: let's say move the executive all those in favor of closing ordinance 2606 from public hearing please signify by saying aye well suppose they may let's have it ordinance 2606 is closed from public hearing moving on to state of maine c d b g program economic development program grant application look for a motion is that a public that's public look for a motion to open that for public hearing [22:34] Speaker B (unidentified): Make a motion we open the state of Maine CDBG program we'll public here. Yep, a second. [22:43] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Moves on second. Jack, you want to speak on this? So the town has approached probably a couple months ago to if we would apply on behalf of one of our local businesses, Innovative Specialties, and to assist them. This is a business, basically a business assistance program to assist them with expansion of their business, excuse me. And these are, these are programs that the town's been involved with in the past, and I think the initial project that Nitro Trailer did involved a CDBG grant as well, back in the 2016, 2017, I think. So this is something that we're all pretty familiar with. This grant would allow the company to basically expand its product line, it into some additional trailer offerings. We have a representative from the business here that you can talk about what's, what's going on there. The application would be for a hundred thousand dollar grant. It was just the business and one of the requirements that go with hitting these is that there's job creation as a result of it, and so the businesses, a business would to be committing in this application to create for full-time jobs as part of this program. So I guess with that there's probably more that can be said about what's going on at Nitro Trailer. [24:32] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Sure, like this, yep. If you're here, I'm just pretty sure. Yeah, come on up. You can say your name and obviously you're part of a nice little trailer. [24:44] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): Yeah, my name's Ed Sullivan, and I am a, or was full-time, kind of retired, but that doesn't seem to be where I did. Chad Dow, the owner is, he keeps getting me involved with the projects I used to do all the time, but I've always been more than glad to help them out. So as you can imagine with the business atmosphere, the economy, what we've noticed over the last year, honestly probably 18 months, is that the shift in buying, retail customers are slacking off on the everyday cookie cutter trailers that we grew the business on rapidly, and now that has slowed down, but interestingly the trailers with more Customization, we've had more requests for those, and those people have money, so we're looking to increase that product line into more offerings, more models, more add-ons, more, you know, air conditioning, and just all the things that the race trailer market, Chad is an avid racer. And one reason he can't be here tonight. And so what we're seeking, the project is to increase the product line to go after that market that is the smart thing to do. It's not the only thing to do, but it's the smart move. And to do that, there's a pretty hefty outlay of funds that we've either got to borrow, which we'd rather save that for another expansion, but the total project is $300,000, 200 of which we're going to put in through the current profits and where we stand now. And we're seeking the 100,000 so that we can preserve the borrowing power should we potentially need to expand the actual facility. I've been working with Russell. We've determined that there's room there to expand, but before we can even think about that, we've got to make sure that we've got the product lines lined up and the customers, they're asking for them. And we can build one or two here and there right now, we've built some very really fancy expensive trailers, and everybody loves them, but to get into it we need that, we need to bring in the inventory, the raw materials, the components, the infrastructure within the current footprint of the of the business, so that we can, you know, like capture that market with some intent, so that's that's kind of where it's at, it's it's a minimum of four jobs, I mean historically we've we've done better than that, I believe the first Grant we got back in 2003 was 17. Was for like nine jobs, and you know we're way over, we were way over that in the first year that we moved into the building, I did all the hiring back at that time, so they're decent paying jobs, I think we projected 20 to 24 dollars, because of the customization part of this, you know, we'll be looking for those people that have more skills, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, but we also have the training programs and good people, that our core people are very talented, and no matter how many people we throw at them, they some people come and ago, but we have a excellent floor group of people to throw at this project, and yeah, so that 's kind of where we're at, it's it's kind of simple, we're just looking for that bridge between the 200 and the total of the 300, yeah, so but it's going to be used for [30:03] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: For that part of the project, all right, any questions from the audience regarding the grant application? And yeah, Mike? Yes, just one quick one, thank you, President. Excellent news. [30:19] Speaker H (unidentified): I was here when you guys were going, probably over here, yeah, it's just amazing how you guys have done. Quick question, you had mentioned possibly four positions with this grant. When do you anticipate to see that? Do you have a scheduled item? Do you have to do more building and what not? [30:40] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): That's potential in the future. Maybe it's short-term, maybe it's long-term. It'll all depend on how quick we can get this grant money and put the wheels in motion for that, those raw materials that you can't really do it in any earnest way because you know it takes longer to get the components because of the, you know, the pipeline, and you know we're diligently working on quantity purchases for, you know, everything from air conditioners to either the, you know, even the raw materials, the aluminum and the rest of the components that it takes to build a trailer, axles, tires, everything. We're constantly working on better bulk buying. But if we don't have that initial thrust of raw materials on site, we can't really put it out there to the dealers and say, okay, you've asked for it, here it is, and not be able were produced that would be very bad, right? So it's kind of, you know, it's an investment in growth. You anticipate probably before the end of the year? Yeah, I think, you know, we're hiring all the time, so it's, it's a matter of, you know, what we're, we're looking for skilled people, especially we don't turn down still people. Some of the, some of those people making, you know, considerably more than what we proposed here, but we want, you know, we want to be realistic because those people are having fun, but you know that's on jobs that they're settled into, so but yeah. [32:35] Speaker H (unidentified): Thank you, Major, and congratulations on this great new job. [32:39] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): Yeah, he's done a great job. [32:43] Speaker G (unidentified): But I got a couple questions. Sure. One is, so the inventory, is that different than the regular standard inventories? This is other kind of specialty. It is. [32:54] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): Is some of it will be and, some of it will just be the influx of the basic materials we use now because we're expecting that those additional orders to come in and everything one thing just keeps feeding the other, so it's the foundation for growth. Oh, that's great. Yeah. [33:19] Speaker G (unidentified): Yeah, my only other question is, I guess I don't understand how the grant works. Maybe this is just for my own education. Are you applying to the for the grant through the town or the town applying [33:31] Town Manager / Administrative Official: for it? Just exactly what's the what how does how do you get the money? So the community development block grants get granted to towns, okay, but depending on the program and depending on what the what the use of it is, this is for business assistance basically. They thought the economic development program but we can make it available to a business that's you know doing certain things. In this particular case they have to meet a job creation threshold, so for the hundred thousand dollars that this program offers the minimum would be three jobs, but they've committed to four jobs, you know, so that's that's the key thesis that the job creation has to happen and we will verify that you know that it does happen and that's you know just part of [34:15] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: the process. Okay great, thank you. Excellent, are there any other questions? No [34:25] Speaker B (unidentified): question, we'll just say I think your organization is doing great things and I'm really glad to see the growth. [34:30] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): Yeah, it's it's pretty exciting. I don't know if anybody really expected it to do what it did, but I was quite happy it did. Yeah I did, yeah I did, yeah I was in the same business. Yeah, so it's it's doable. I think we've got some you know some competitors in the areas everybody may know and the key for us is quality and that's what that's why we're getting the demand. That's right, and I mean people come to us and say well why don't you build this and why don't you know that Docs and this and that. Chad's focused on trailers, yep, that's [35:18] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: what he wants to grow. You're doing great. Perfect, thank you. Thank you very much, appreciate that. All right, I look for a motion from the council to close the CD a BG program discussion from public [35:33] Speaker B (unidentified): hearing. I'm not sure we closed the data means cdbg program public fair. I'm sorry, moved and seconded. [35:41] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: All those in favor of closing that from public hearing please signify by saying aye. All those opposed today, it is closed from public hearing. Moving on to reports. Yeah, the temp and nutritional gravity is the solidity. Yeah, I don't blame them. Yeah, thank you, have a good night. [36:03] Speaker F (unidentified): Take care. Okay, few things, so regarding 135 main street that's been a recurring topic. [36:16] Town Manager / Administrative Official: We did have our engineer attempt to get on site and get inside the building. We were not allowed to do that, and so the engineer was only able to make exterior observations, and we're still pursuing getting access to the interior so that our engineer can kind of finish what we've set them out to do. In the meantime, we have received photos of some work they have done on the roof. It is basically a covering of what was open, but it's it's not a new roof, and it didn't address any of the brick wall. And the failing bricks on that wall, so we still just need to, you know, assess the condition of building at this point. I think I mentioned the last meeting that the towns forester was tentatively scheduled to be here tonight talk to us about the harvest. We push that ahead to the next meeting, and so and I think we'll have a little bit more information at that time as to how we may be able to coordinate the next piece of harvesting with the work we're doing at the airport in terms of the. Removal of the obstacles, we're going to have all that data, and you talked about combining a harvest with that work and basically be some cost savings there to do it that way. So we expect to see them in November, but again if anybody's not been down to the el tomah trail, they really spent a lot of effort, a lot of time cleaning that up and really, you know, keeping it a nice trail throughout through all of that. The honeywell project they we keep talking about, there was actually a pre-construction. Meeting here this afternoon. They 're supposed to start next Monday, and it's late in the season to be starting on the sewer project, so we do anticipate they'll be temporary trench paving that'll have to be redone in the spring. That's a state road, so that's going to have to just pass the state specifications on now that's how that's done, and the state is scheduled to come in and do some type of an overlay on that next season, so that's why we did want to get in and out of there before they do. It so we're not dealing with any trench pavement long term. Birchwood is progressing pretty much the way we expected. They do expect to have all the utility worth done this fall, the drainage and the drainage work done, and they do expect to get the pavement binder down. They do want to wait until spring to do the surface in case there's anything they got to get back into over the winter, examining the settles, anything that comes up. They can deal with it and then get the surface put on. And then that'll be probably a better finished product if you give it a little bit of time before the surface goes on. So that's that plan. I did get notification from the DOT that on the North Main Street project they're going to have, we've actually seen that the signalized lane closure, they're going to do, apparently they're going to do some light work, and so they're going to have a signal line instead of having fighters, they'll have that signalized one lane going off. They're expected for the next couple of weeks. I wasn't able to get an update on when that is expected to be done. I know it was originally intended to be to be done this fall, and you know I'll try to find out if that schedule is set back a whole lot or not. You might have got a postcard about a housing survey that's being done, and that's part of the housing study that we're having done. It's been grant funded, and we're getting it done through a consultant through KV Collar. We have that survey, a link up on our website and our Facebook page, and they're basically gathering data to do a housing needs assessment that's going to really drill into, you know, what we have, what we don't have, what the economics are like for housing and Piss Field and kind of overall in this area, and that's a lot of data that's going to go really directly into our department's plan that we'll be moving into in 2027. So if you do have the opportunity to fill that out, that's going to be very useful data. And the last thing on my list is Donna Lambert has let me know that she's looking ahead to retirement as of this upcoming January. She does plan to leave her position and retire, and we'll have her through January 22nd. And obviously she'll be missed, and just say she's not going far. She'll be easy to find, and you may still see her around the library a little bit. [Speaker B (unidentified): But so well,] she I think must be retired, but not completely away. Yeah, the business. [41:59] Speaker D (unidentified): So yeah, so all set, that's it, awesome. Thank you, Jack. [42:06] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Department head reports are in the packages and on the website. If anybody wants to review those, we will move on to old business. There's none. New business, Nicole, please read resolution 2676. Look for a motion [42:31] Speaker H (unidentified): from the council. Make a motion that we adopt resolution 26 to have 77. Moved in. [42:38] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Second. If are there any questions or concerns comments regarding resolution 2676? Good sovereignty words? Anything on the council? Hearing none, since we're ready to vote, all those in favor of resolution 2676 be signified by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. Ayes have it, resolution 2676 passes. Moving on to resolution 2676, I would look so that's 77 here, so I'll look for a motion from the council to waive the reading of the CVBG program grant application. Make a motion that we adopt resolution 2677 and waive the reading. I'll go on below. Thank you. Second. Is there any questions or concerns from the audience regarding resolution 2677? Anything from the council? Hearing no nice, since we're ready to vote, all those in favor of resolution 2677 please signify by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. I just have it, resolution 2677 passes. Moving on to resolution 2678, Nicole, result of the town [44:04] Speaker B (unidentified): council approved and authorized the town manager to sign a commission agreement for the grant and aid program for the department of conservation bill products and lean snowmobile program for an estimated project of eighty eight thousand seven minutes forty four dollars and sixty four cents to improve the snowmobile trails for the drift bus to the snowmobile project. Look for a [44:24] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: motion from the council. Make a motion we approve resolution 26-78. Moved and seconded, Jack do [44:33] Speaker D (unidentified): Do you want to speak to this? [44:37] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Yeah, so this is an annual program that the Snowmobile Club has been involved with. And what we do is we pledge the snowmobile registration fees that we collect, which is the town share, which I think is around like $1,500 a year or something like that. Then that leverages the state funding to basically reimburse the Stoneville Club for the 80% of the cost of repair. [45:16] Jim Dunphy, 172 Lemon Street, Pittsfield (public commenter): They typically will cut that amount, and I don't know what they use for formula to cut that stock within four this year. But then if when they'll say okay we're going to prove you for this amount and if we meet that amount we get we'll get 70 percent of that. Yeah okay and we get 70 because we go into Pittsfield Brandon Detroit if it was just Pittsfield I think it's 60 percent time. Yep that's illegal. Yeah good any [45:49] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: questions from the audience? Any questions from the cats? Very nice that's we're ready to vote. All those in favor of resolution 2678 please signify for saying aye. All those opposing a eyes, resolution 2678 passes. Moving on to resolution 2679, Nicole [46:11] Speaker B (unidentified): We'll start with the town council and stuff. Refugee trail restoration. [46:16] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: That's what look for a motion from the council. [46:21] Speaker H (unidentified): Well, we have a motion that we prove resolution 26. No, I'm sorry, open for discussion resolution 2670. [46:32] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Seconded Jack. Did you want to explain? [46:34] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Yeah. So this is a project that we've got a grant for through the State to improve a mile of the rest. And basically what we have is a mile where the town has to be a part of it with some income contribution. But we have a stockpile of reclaimed material. And so our part of it is to basically just trim the brush on the sides of it and provide the reclaimed material for like the mud holes. And then basically the contractor comes in and supplies and spreads and compacts three inches of gravel on the surface of the trail for the mile and so we and we specced out a mile at seven feet width so we got bids back and the we're gonna put seven bids back the low bidder was Ari Parity from Newport. The second low bidder was TFCC Sand and Gravel in Clinton. The second low bidder specified that their proposal was to do 10 feet of width wherever they could get 10 feet of width and they just specified you know that price and they would could get 10 feet of width wherever they could and the our a proposal was the way we put it out there is seven feet and that was 43 987. I did reach out to both of those bidders and asked if they would just kind of specify if there was a price difference between eight feet nine feet and ten feet and then I might be able to compare if there was you know differences in those different widths between the two bidders TFCC just kind of restated that for 47.5 they would do eight feet nine feet or ten feet re parity did not submit any bid alternates and they just let their bid standards as a little bit 43 987 But only for the 70, but It's for the 70 right they didn't provide me all the alternatives for different woods. And so you know this is a case where the council can look at a little bit, or you can, you know, judge the best bid. And that's really going to be the decision of the council. So, what we have in terms of the grant is $50,000. So both of these bids come in within our grant budget. The, our, share of it is, basically a $20,000 in kind, which we can move with, you know, the,, the brush cutting piece of it and the, reclaim, and, deliver on the reclaim so we can meet our part of it. And so and so either bidder is within our ability even you know to cover with the grant funds I'm [50:15] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Not a snowmobiler or a trail rider, but I assume 10 feet wide is better than seven feet wide, well, for passing and for right, four feet wide, right, yeah. And the $3,500, yeah, you guys are the stone builders of the group, so, I mean, I think it would make sense for the next $3,500. [50:45] Speaker B (unidentified): Yeah. You're saying, yeah. [50:47] Speaker D (unidentified): Yeah, and it still falls under the grant money. [50:51] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Exactly. Yeah, no money out of our pocket, so I think it would make sense. And you gave the opportunity to a little bitter to provide alternate bids and they did not. We talked about $2,700 difference for $3,500, whatever it is, it's everything, $3,500, yeah, but anyway, so I mean I'd be in favor of the TFCC sand and gravel for $4,500. That sound good? Is there any questions or comments from the audience regarding that? I would, yeah, can you amend resolution point 47? What's the point 47, 500 for TFCC standing grab, I'd [51:50] Speaker H (unidentified): like to amend the motion to reflect the rule resolution 26-79 nine to reflect awarding to TFCC sand and ground gravel out of Clinton in the amount of [52:07] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: forty seven thousand five million. Second, moved and seconded. All those in favor of resolution 2679 as amended, please signify by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. Eyes have it. Resolution 2679 nine passes. Moving on to resolution 2680, Nicole, the county council seven demolition, the blank [52:34] Speaker B (unidentified): and the amount of blank for the assessment and the vagant work at 331 Somerset Avenue [52:40] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: for a motion from the council. Make a motion that we open resolution 2680 for discussion. Moved and seconded. [52:52] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Jack, do you want to speak on this briefly? So trying to move ahead with Somerset Avenue, we know we have asbestos siding on the exterior, so we issued an RFP for the assessment and abatement of hazardous building materials at 231 Somerset Avenue. So that we can get that all taken care of, and then just deal with the actual demolition of the structure as a separate thing without any abatement parts of it. So when I issued the RFP it didn't take me long to realize that it really was too broad, because when you say, assess and abate has just built materials, you're really saying you know everything exterior, interior, you know lead paint inside, which doesn't need to be addressed in terms of the demo and the fact that the building's dangerous. And so when our engineer went in there and tried to do the structural assessment they didn't stay in there any longer than they had to because there's, there's issues going on in there which just makes it problematic to put anybody inside to do any type of debating work anyways. So I issued a clarification on the bid spec to say we're only talking about the outside of the building, and we need to basically have you look at the outside and assess whether or not there's any asbestos containing materials in the siding, the roof, window framing and glazing I guess can have asbestos components if it's old enough, and then anything else that might be on the exterior. So I issued that clarification out there. I had 2 companies respond. We had a county of England and Lakeside, and I got those 2 bids submitted. When I ran them over, it was pretty clear that Lakeside didn't get the update, because the update basically said you got to kind of divide out those four categories, and you know which includes the test and then removal if it's present. And so I went back and looked and it went to the company, but it didn't go to the same person that was preparing the bid. The original one went to somebody, and then the update went to somebody, but the person preparing the bid. So I had one, I had one bid at the time of the bid opening that basically checked all the boxes, which was from county abatement. Lakeside did after the fact basically submitted a late did, that's basically what they did. What they did is they took their original bid price and they just divided it across those things. So I do have numbers from Lakeside, it's tended to the numbers that I have are technically late, but the reason why, and so to give you guys all the information, Lakeside would be low if we went with them. They said for siding materials, if they're present, to evade those would be 12,000. Roofing materials, if they're present, asbestos containing, to evade those would be 12,000. Any other window materials would be 1500. So that was Lakeside's itemization, and it was basically their original number broken out into those categories. County abatement was what we had in the bid to have on 16, we had a free siding president and it has to be abated 13-5 for the roofing, four for the windows. So those are all the numbers, and I think that you know we can really go either way. I think they submitted a link. Yeah, I mean technically Lakeside's was late and it didn't, we didn't come you know with the information that we requested initially, so that is true and [57:11] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: do you have any experience with either one of these [57:15] Town Manager / Administrative Official: I do have experience with county abatements. They did some projects for us in Dover. They were very good. They were timeline showed up when they said they would, and they said they were gonna get done. And I can't think of anything that you know one sideways on that I don't have any direct experience with one side. type so i think you know as far as county maven goes would you put these on their work [57:50] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): okay i mean [57:53] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: i think they submitted a late bid and so you well i would say they were null and void at that point and you just go with the other bit [58:11] Speaker G (unidentified): my opinion and again we're only gonna and we're only gonna pay for what gets [58:15] Town Manager / Administrative Official: tested positive for i would be surprised if there's anything in the windows possibility the roof we don't know it looks like they're there are various sections of the roof so you know some of the sun obviously will everything and what's the deciding pretty [58:38] Ed Sullivan (retired public works official): clear a grand difference well the [58:43] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: fact that you have experience with county abatement and they've they did a good job for you that holds some weight for me but i think it's irrelevant based [58:57] Town Manager / Administrative Official: on the late bid but i would i would go with county abatement just as they were able to be responsive in the time frame that we had and that's not i think it's a good precedent just to stick that way but i think too and also and this time we have to i mean i also appreciate the lakeside and i was willing to you know try to give us all the information that they had as well so we could so we could know that but i think that going forward i would absolutely keep both of them on the bid list plus the others that were on the bid list that might have been too busy to [59:38] Speaker F (unidentified): to respond as well but i think it's perfect jack's recommendation yep i agree with that but what [59:50] Speaker D (unidentified): do you guys think pete are you good with that or yeah no [59:56] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: wishes all right are there any questions concerns comments from the audience yes sir state your name and [1:00:04] Speaker M (unidentified): i'm right yep thanks last meeting yeah i believe didn't you say that the quote was forty thousand dollars remove the asbestos and the last one was tomorrow's house was eight thousand dollars [1:00:20] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Yeah, because the way we did it is we, were getting bids from demolition contractors. It was, they were going to hire subcontractors to do the abatement, so you had the markup of all your general contractors subbing out the abatement work, and we skipped that part of it, and we just went straight to the abatement contractors directly to get that part of all done. And then I think that once it's all abated, the town could participate in the demolition and probably get the most savings on that part of the project. And we were looking at, we were looking at proposals over a hundred thousand dollars that I think we're going to see significantly less when we're all said and done. Thank you, sir. Any other question? [1:01:12] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Okay, you want to amend your resolution total? What's the total price? Sorry, 33. Yep, 33 500. And it's going to County Abatement out of Bangor, Maine. Yeah, all right, perfect. [1:01:36] Speaker H (unidentified): I'd like to amend my original motion resolution 2680 to be approved to accept the Biblical County Abatement from Banglore Million the amount of thirty three thousand five hundred dollars for the assessment and abatement work at twenty two thirty from [1:01:53] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: the Summer Center. Moved and seconded. All those in favor of resolution 2680 as amended, please signify by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. I just have it, resolution 2680 passes as a minute. Moving on to resolution 2681, McCall result of town council accept the bid from blank [1:02:17] Speaker B (unidentified): in the amount of blank for building demolition yard 121 Favor Street. So I'm going to look for [1:02:23] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: a motion from the council to table this at this time. Well, that's, that's probably my recommendation. [1:02:32] Town Manager / Administrative Official: You could put it out, they could put the resolution out for discussion. Okay, yeah. [1:02:38] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: I look for a motion from the council on resolution 2681. So why wouldn't we just make the motion to take a look for now? Okay, well, I don't know, just open it and then we go make a motion that we open resolution 2681 for discussion. Yeah, well, executive so [1:02:59] Town Manager / Administrative Official: yeah, there's a recommendation from my attorney. Yeah, I spent a little bit of time talking with Times attorney about the, this property and that its status is a tax-applied property in this very procedural for us to get rid of tax-applied property, and one of the, one of the issues is that the building itself would be the dangerous building, but it's been primarily because of the mold infestation inside. It's uninhabitable and it's dangerous to inhabit it for that reason, but we haven't concluded that It's structurally dangerous in terms of any type of collapse or any type of compromise structurally, and because of that, we don't recommend proceeding with actually removing the structure at this time, given the procedures that we have to go through when we're dealing with tax-acquired property. So I would table it, not move forward with a demolition, and just try to come up with a way to handle Davis Street and the most cost-effective way for the town as a tax-acquired property and just kind of go from [1:04:20] Amanda, Moore Library Street (public commenter): there. Good, yes, Amanda. Thank you, Colin. Moore Library Street. Couldn't you, instead of tabling [1:04:30] Public commenter / community member: it, if the lawyer is recommending not demolition because of the stuff that happens, couldn't you make a motion and then just not pass it and then it goes away and doesn't sit on old business forever? Just a question about that process and why it would need to be handled if the [1:04:46] Amanda, Moore Library Street (public commenter): the end vote isn't to demolish in the end. That would be another way to do it, just yeah, just [1:04:52] Town Manager / Administrative Official: vote down the motion, say right. Or it's only really been open for discussion anyway. There's not a [1:04:57] Speaker D (unidentified): there's nothing, there's a motion on the floor to pass it. Would we, so what we would we consider doing [1:05:05] Speaker H (unidentified): an abatement process? Would we want to open bids up for that to get rid of? Just I'd want a lawyer [1:05:12] Town Manager / Administrative Official: lawyer to tell us what they want us to do. I think that would be the next step is we would, we would need to assess the condition of the building, there's anything going on besides the mold, and if it just came down to needing to address that, addressing it, and then we'd have, then we'd have the procedural part of it as a taxpayer property, have to put it up for sale, and then we could reimburse ourselves upon the sale of that property to reimburse ourselves for all the back taxes, the cost of remediation, all of that, and then if there is any difference between the sale price and what we're owed, that would go back to the former owner there. So that's kind of procedurally what Glory will have us do, and so it very well could be coming back as an assessment and abatement project. I [1:06:18] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: mean my thought is if it's structurally standing and not you know a dangerous building as far as structural goes knows if you secure the building and nobody can get into it doesn't hurt to sit on it for the time being just because we don't have an open checkbook when it comes to all these different buildings that need to be torn down and we've got quite a few on our plate right now and I don't think I think we're over like the budget for removing of buildings at this point anyway so to just keep going this and none of us even knew that building was an issue, so I'm, I'm in paper just not doing anything with it right now, but so [1:07:21] Speaker D (unidentified): what would our next step [1:07:22] Speaker H (unidentified): be if we were to do, who would we send in there to look at the boat, Russell, or would we bring in some sort of home inspection, we [1:07:34] Town Manager / Administrative Official: need to find somebody that could probably do some testing and sampling, maybe I could get it into the brownfields program, and then you'd have gone, you'd be doing the same level of testing that, you know, we've done like with the theater, we got the theater, when we owned it we got the theater in the brownfields program, they went in and assessed for all the hazardous materials in there, so if we could get that in the brownfields, the next round of brownfields assessments, that'd be perfect, then they would give us every detail of what's going on in there, and what is the next round about [1:08:09] Speaker H (unidentified): yeah, I guess so, moving towards the end goal of getting rid of the property, right [1:08:13] Town Manager / Administrative Official: so Katie Codd sort of slides for assessment, yeah, whatever that needs to be, they'll get funders and they can open up for them around, and I'm thinking, you know, maybe that's going to be in the first part of 2027, and get, you know, just far down the road, there's two fires in the road, yeah [1:08:32] Speaker B (unidentified): I'm comfortable with that too, and I think that's a really good plan [1:08:34] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: amend the resolution to, so I think Amanda's had a good recommendation, right, so we amend the resolution to enter this into the brownfield, I don't think we know for sure yet, yeah,, flow looks consistent, yeah, I mean you can amend what's existed just [1:08:52] Speaker H (unidentified): make a motion to work on just and just vote it down, that way if it doesn't become a brownfield, Yeah, I just didn't want to be holding up all that. Yeah, I mean it's gonna want to be holding up progress. [1:09:03] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: If we another, you know, if he's gonna work on it the next month, and we didn't do anything. Why would we just sit on a per month against, but right? But if you're fine with just voting it down, I would just vote it down. Okay, that sounds excellent. [1:09:20] Speaker H (unidentified): So I'm in the motion to take action. To approve, yep, okay, so I'm in motion 2680, two one, thank you, 2680, I hope that right, that is the reason to approve and award blank in the amount of the landing on Davis Street breakdown. I don't even know how to say that because I don't know, we know what you're [1:09:51] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: But we don't even know how we would, well, you have to award it to the lowest bidder if we didn't have any, but we're all saying there's all kinds of bids right here. All right, all those in favor of Resolution 2681, please signify by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. Mays have it, Resolution 2681 is the natural turnover, that was easy resolution, it's not usually no business with counseling, Resolution 2682 in the phone [1:10:40] Speaker B (unidentified): Them results of the council appear for financing the pencil for the Freightliner file truck and [1:10:47] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Standard body from Anderson Bay, look for a motion from the council. Make a motion that we approve Resolution 2682. Second. Moved and seconded, Jack, this is just, yeah, the financing for the truck [1:11:01] Town Manager / Administrative Official: That we, yeah, approved, right, yep, and that's all set up, new body sandblasted, painted and ready to [1:11:09] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Go, ready, rip, ready to move for snow a couple months. All right, are there any questions from the audience regarding Resolution 2682? Questions from the council? Only concern is this [1:11:26] Speaker H (unidentified): Won't be a bad truck in a year from now, right? The worst, the worst purchase we ever made, all that [1:11:31] Town Manager / Administrative Official: That stuff that we or something. Yeah. [1:11:34] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: But that's all I'm just about to know. I got it down. Well, it's not stirring. [1:11:40] Speaker H (unidentified): You got this move. Mark this meeting. Yeah, he's got the [1:11:44] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Elephant, the memory of an elephant. So he's the elephant of a memory. It's been a long day. We're moving on. Yeah, all of the paper, Resolution 2682, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All those opposed say nay. Ayes have it. Resolution 2682 passes. Moving on to Resolution 2683, at full. [1:12:08] Speaker B (unidentified): It's all those that count down to approve the purchase and financing of police equipment. [1:12:14] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Look for a motion from the council. Make a motion that we approve Resolution 2683. Second. Moved and seconded. Jack? So, [1:12:23] Town Manager / Administrative Official:, cheaper nets have a little bit of time to kind of, assess, various things, within the department. One thing right off the bat is, we do not have,, cruiser cameras or body cameras, you know, that are operational that are in service that are, able to be supported anymore. We've been able to use some of that equipment that's been handed down from other departments, but that's no longer viable for us to use. And so we think it is a priority to try to get both the body cams and cruiser cams set up. And so the department has had an opportunity to test the lens lock I believe it is and then there's the Axion system that they're I think most familiar with and they were they were able to kind of rule out the lens lock based on their experience with it and some of the features with it and kind of zero in on axion but I'll let cheaper that kind of talk about kind of what goes into to that and what we need and what we're really looking for there thank you yeah so [1:13:54] Police Department representative: We've done some research like jack has said lens lot we actually did a 30-day trial with them wasn't a bad program the biggest drawback we saw was an eight-hour battery life which doesn't seem like much but when you're pulling 12 hour shifts or maybe some more times just after you're pulling 12 16 hour shifts you have to make that mental memory of replacing the battery right so if you're in the middle of a middle of a scene or you forget to change the battery and you lose it then it's pretty Much canoeing you're sitting on your best so we decided that we ruled it out with that and I actually talked with some other departments that have it and their dissatisfaction with it and their dissatisfaction with like the support services side of it so we ruled that out So the Axon system is like a Cadillac system of all the systems out there. They're the best to know. Several departments use them, spoke with them. They have all the great reviews to say about them. So that's why we think they're kind of like leading the way of where we're going. There's another one called, I can't remember the name of it, Jack. It's right there, isn't it? GTAC? GTAC. GTAC. And we just had a Zoom meeting with their account staff and sales staff, and they're coming up next week to demo with Corporal Lowell, myself, and Jack's going to be involved just to see what they can demo for us and show us. But at the end of the day, Axon is the same system that's integrated with the district attorney's office. So we transfer reports through a portal. They have the Axon justice system already there. So it makes sense there. Plus, before me, before I got hired at Cheap, we purchased the Taser 10, the Taser electric conductive weapons, and that's an excellent product. So again, that integrates right with the camera. So you go release your Taser, safety's off, the camera comes on instant, and it actually activates other cameras within a certain distance, I don't know what that number is. So you get several different viewpoints of a of a use of force. So we're having we're really I mean honestly really need some type of system. You look at like most complaints against police also 93% are expunged with video backup or video proof that there was no wrongdoing by the officer. And you think about lawsuits, liability, and the cost of this system over a five-year period, it's far less than settling one lawsuit at the basic rate. So you look at those numbers and those type of liabilities. And officer safety, it's something that I think that's an immediate need. I don't know any departments that don't have them. I think it's just great for, it's going to be good for the department. It's just a professional improvement, and I think it'll work out well. [1:16:48] Speaker B (unidentified): Excellent. Well, what I see is kind of the standard now, too. And like everything you see, the people aren't recording their cell phones. [1:16:59] Police Department representative: So it seems to me that 's a right. And you know, that camera you get, you get an unedited version, right? Yeah, there's no way for us to edit it once you start. that once you push a button, it's on until you're done. So you get the full picture of the event, not just someone's snapshot of a cell phone, which you don't know if that's the whole event, halfway through, towards the end. Right. And, you know, honestly, district attorney's office, first thing they're wondering is, did you have any video or audio footage? They're looking for that because it's just, yeah, it just kind of hammers down a really solid case for them. If they go to prosecute, it's a great tool to, you know, [1:17:35] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Know yield convictions for them and for us. Okay, so this is, this resolution has multiple aspects to it, but we'll focus on this one first. Are there any questions for Bernie? Mr. Bernett, Chief Bernett. Yeah, sorry, excuse me. Yeah, no, yeah, Mr. Bernett. Chief Burnett. Yeah, sorry, Chief Burnett. No, sorry. It's coming up. Any questions for Chief Burnett? Council, any questions on that aspect? Like, it's kind of a no-brainer. [1:18:15] Speaker B (unidentified): I'm surprised we don't have to be honest with you. [1:18:17] Police Department representative: Well, and just to hit off on Jack's, Skellington Police Department went to Lenslock, which they in turn do not like, so I'm glad we decided not to. To, they gave us their whole system, the watch guard system, and they work for a while, and then they're so antiquated, they just, they're no longer really serviceable, viable for us to use. So we have a bunch of it just sitting in a closet, doesn't work. So yeah, so be nice to get our own system. [1:18:44] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Yes, it is excellent. And then Jack, do you want to speak, or Chief Burnett, do you want to? I don't want to struggle with that. Would you like to speak to the second half of this resolution regarding the cruiser? [1:19:03] Town Manager / Administrative Official: What's the second? I'll refer to Jess first. I'll just keep this in the notes part of it. So yeah, it's in the notes. So the secondary cruiser was taken out of service. Just, there was, there were some issues, and the inspection was coming up, and then we had looked at, and it was an estimate of between seven and eight thousand dollars to get it to pass inspection. I don't know the whole long list of things that they came up with, but that seemed to be quite a bit to spend on cruiser that's definitely the highest mileage. Yeah, just shy of [1:19:40] Police Department representative: hundred and seventy thousand on it. So yeah, it's, you know, it's serviceable life for sure. So [1:19:47] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Yeah, it goes a hundred and, yeah, hundred seventy thousand miles on it. So the, we had talked about in the budget process wanting to skip this year in terms of buying a cruiser, and then we had initially had in the budget a kind of a partial cost of a cruiser that we were going to get next year, but the idea was that we were going to need one next year, and that we would just, we would finance it next year, and so, but we didn't expect to be down a cruiser right now, and so what the proposal is that we Can basically get a new cruiser, be it 2027. We would need to get a radar unit for it because we don't have radar units, operational radar units, for all the cruisers. The two primaries we have radar units for. The third one we would need to purchase, and the other two cruisers we're working on a good brand to try to get those covered. But this would also need a, would also need a radar unit. But the idea would be is to structure the financing so we're not going to get a, we're not going to get a payment until next year which we knew we were going to get a payment next year anyways so we can have it in the budget next year but it's basically just structuring it so we don't pay anything for it but we 're going to get the cruiser sooner rather than later and you know get the radar unit in it and then we don't have to rack up the miles on some of the other ones that we didn't want to be wrecking the miles up on so that's kind of the yeah so do you have [1:21:33] Speaker B (unidentified): something in mind, or do you have to go out and get, you know, how usually we look at the information [1:21:37] Police Department representative: Sure, not the truck or the car. Yeah, so I went out and I got bids from Work Heights and, but Barney's never get back to me because Work normally is the winner on every bet. They run the volume of the state for cruises, they hide, they buy high volume, and no one ever beats them on a quote. So they actually were the lowest bidder, considering one of the other dealerships had a 2025 SUV brand new, so it's a two-year-old model. I thought, hey, we might get a, might get a few grand off it. It was actually more expensive than Cork's 2027 bit. So kind of a no-brainer. It's a brand new 27 SUV. I know we have two trucks, and I know there's some angst about some of that, but I think the SUV is a really good quality all-around cruiser for in-town. Be able to get around tighter corners and turn around and to stop violators, that the SUV is really the way to go, and it's, it's a little, it's a little cheaper than the pickup trucks. So we have two pickup trucks, they are a very good tool, but I feel the SUV is also very, you know, useful too, and will suit us fine like the other two we have. So we did, I've been to Quark Work, and we also did for a, obviously there's an outfit fee, yeah, to fit it through the cage and all the, all the components you need to go with it for a cruiser, and you want to speak to that [1:23:03] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Jack I'm going to continue on there well I just know that who you've got a quote from so you're familiar with it's done on the state police cruisers and has a really good track record with it they do and you can kind of sometimes be all over the place with up fits on cruisers in terms of the timeline it takes to get them back and issues you might have yeah so the really [1:23:27] Police Department representative: the really, I guess, desirable part of that quote from them was we're gonna, we're gonna use what they use. We're not gonna get a new light bar. I mean, it's a six, it's at least a six year old light bar, so we're kind of just, we're kind of playing a little gamble there because a new light bar is a couple thousand dollars. We can save a couple thousand by putting the one we have that works on the new cruiser. We'll take that risk, but it's an electronic piece of equipment that's six to seven years old that lives in the elements, so we always kind of worry about that thing failing and then we're back in square one buying a new light bar. But that and the cage for prisoner transport, they believe will fit in the 27, so instead of buying a new cage and same with like the storage boxes and back for us to store our gear, keep us secure. They feel like they're okay. It'll fit. So we try to shave that price down as much as we can to save. The other caveat of that is this company will, it doesn't sound like much, but when you're a small department, they actually come and pick up your new cruiser and the old cruiser, bring it back, do all the upfitting. They do all the transportation, which doesn't sound like much, but when you're looking for someone to go down to either Yankee or to Winslow or somewhere else to get work done, you got to take two guys or two officers out of the game to facilitate to and from so they [1:24:43] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: do all that, they do all that. Yep, so for the 3 000 this year and then the 41 4 35 38 for the following year, it gets you, it gets us the axon system and so, and does it also get you the cruiser [1:25:02] Town Manager / Administrative Official: them all? No, that's separate. So that and that would be financing through axon. That would get us the axon system and the, if we were to test the camera system next week and find that the other vendor is viable and we could be satisfied with that, then we could come in lower than axon and you know we would just be like not to exceed this, but we'd be, we'd be significantly under axon if this other system is able to test out with it on the cruiser piece, the cruiser, the outfit and the radar unit That would be, we'd go to Andro Interest Carbon Bank, who does our banking and structures those leases, you know, how we need them in terms of payment timing. We'd go to them and we need to be authorized to finance sixty eight thousand five hundred for the cruise of the outfit and the radar. [1:25:58] Speaker F (unidentified): Sixty eighty five, well, will that be on next? I would have, I would have the [1:26:07] Town Manager / Administrative Official: interstate and financing on the next agenda. Okay, if you authorize us to move ahead with the basic cruiser purchase and the outfit purchase, then the financing piece would be [1:26:20] Speaker H (unidentified): coming to us at the next meeting. Okay, so can we, are we able to just, why wouldn't we want to just separate these, just vote on the portion that we know about tonight and wait for until the next meeting to have all the information on the other? See [1:26:41] Speaker B (unidentified): which way they want to go, you mean? Yeah. [1:26:43] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: I mean, if, are we just approving the purchase they prefer, right? You're more or less approving the dollar amount and they can, so if you either want to, yeah, I mean, I don't think any of us [1:26:57] Town Manager / Administrative Official: to exceed it, right, and the camera would just come in less if it could go, and then they choose the [1:27:03] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: one that they prefer. Okay, so we're just, okay, yeah, system apple to apple, I think the cheaper one, but [1:27:12] Speaker H (unidentified): I didn't know how precise we needed. Right, well, how long are you going to be down? [1:27:18] Police Department representative: Increasing, we're currently down one now, yeah, and until we get a new one we'll be down every month potentially, yeah. I mean, I don't believe the new 27 models come until sometime in November to work, so by the time they get them in and get them ready to push out to consumers or municipalities, I imagine it'll be probably into December. Yeah, we're looking at the new year I think, before we ever get anything on the road. Yeah, so it's, you know, we're good with what we have. I just, I worry if we go another car down, we're gonna have to start doing some magic wand stuff to try to figure it out. So, and that's part of the deal is like, you know, you may see a car sitting behind the PD, but it's not because it's not me and you, it's just part of the fact that we go down, we gotta have something to back us up with. [1:28:10] Speaker B (unidentified): Quick question too, when you said some of the cars don't have radar systems, what does that mean? [1:28:16] Amanda, Moore Library Street (public commenter): Yeah, so the vehicles, but they don't have radar, so we have five, we have five cruisers. [1:28:23] Police Department representative: And all five had radars of them now. Two of the cruisers have newer Stalker units, which are really good. Right there, they're, they're a really good, valuable, excellent radar unit. They work really well. The other three, I tried researching, I couldn't even get a hold of companies called Decatur that were the other two radar units, and they were discontinued in 2019. So these units are, I'm, I'm assuming, well, one of the units, deal, if you're a former Chief Bickmore, one of the units have an Ellsworth PD tag on it. That's how it came from Ellsworth with former Chief Bickmore there. They have to be 25, 30 year old units. So they're beyond their serviceable life. And then we have another one that's a 20, it was manufactured in 15. So that's 11, 12 year old unit that's- [1:29:13] Speaker B (unidentified): So it's not working. I'm not totally out of an element here, but what are the- [1:29:18] Police Department representative: So what we're planning on is cost of one is right around 3000 to replace one. And that's part of the bid with the new cruiser. The other two that we're looking to replace, I'm working on a grant with Bureau Highway Safety right now, a speed enforcement grant, where they grant us speed enforcement to do extra details. Part of the grant is you can request radars. So I'm working that angle with that grant now. Hopefully the state will purchase two new radars for us to go in our primary units and [1:29:48] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: that would get us where we need to be, but that's only purchasing one. That does not seem like a good [1:29:57] Police Department representative: Yeah, so I mean, it's, it's, it's, yeah, long time coming, I believe. Yeah, we updated so [1:30:03] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: All right, so how does, I mean, I guess we can just approve this as it reads [1:30:15] Town Manager / Administrative Official: You could, right, if you admit it, if you amended the motion to just say just as police equipment right now, yeah, police equipment including body cameras and cruiser cameras not to exceed and a cruiser with the outfit I'm not to exceed and then put those two [1:30:38] Speaker F (unidentified): numbers in there so [1:30:43] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Apple would be not to exceed the Axon numbers, which would be three thousand dollars down and forty one thousand four thirty five nine. So we didn't know [1:30:55] Police Department representative: Yeah, so it's totaled 170 over five years, so that's easier for you. Yeah, all right, Craig [1:31:02] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Good luck, I don't know what's the easier way, 170 over five years. Yes, 168 741. All right, so [1:31:17] Speaker H (unidentified): Oh, amend the motion and motion resolution 2683 to reflect camera here, both body and cruiser, not to exceed a hold of 168 thousand seven forty one fifty two, and the purchase of a cruiser, what was that again, 61 68.5, 68.5, the purchase of an upfitted cruiser not to exceed 68 500 [1:31:58] Speaker F (unidentified): Which will include the rate, which will include the rate argument. Yep. Second. [1:32:05] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Any questions or concerns from the audience? [1:32:11] Speaker M (unidentified): Yeah, good work. How long has the town been financing equipment purchases? I can imagine that we have to finance our police cruises. I mean, we need to support the police department, obviously, but I can't imagine the town, you don't raise enough taxes to support the police department so they have the equipment that they needed. It, but you have to go out and finance it. I don't believe it. You can't imagine. Well, it wasn't, it [1:32:48] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: wasn't approved for this budget season. Oh, and it's nothing we knew about until right now. Okay, Chief Burnett just brought it up to us. I can't imagine that you haven't got a surplus built in the budget. Well, we might, but we're not budget I've ever seen that didn't have a surplus in it. Yeah, but we're not just going to willy-nilly start spending our surplus because we feel like it. Like, why wouldn't we cost you the finance [1:33:20] Speaker M (unidentified): not the money. If you've got a surplus, you should be able to use it and support the police department, not go out and finance it. At least I want to support [1:33:29] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: the police department one way or another, so whatever. [1:33:35] Speaker M (unidentified): Doesn't make much sense. All right. [1:33:41] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: any other comments since we're ready to vote all those in favor of resolution 2683 as amended please signify by saying aye all those opposed say nay eyes have it resolution 2683 passes moving on to ah thank you chief burnett appreciate that i'll work on calling you by the professional name that's my bad I'll remind my yeah that's my bad when we [1:34:13] Speaker B (unidentified): under resolution 2684 Nicole for most from the council make a motion we [1:34:27] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: approve resolution 2684. Moved and seconded. It's pretty self-explanatory. Are there any questions regarding resolution 2684 from the audience or the council? Hearing none, assess. We're ready to vote. All those in favor of resolution 2684, please signify by saying aye. All those opposed, in a, I just have a. Resolution 2684 passes. Moving on to resolution 2685, the call we [1:35:03] Speaker B (unidentified): start the public hearing on November 18th, 26. Yep, we'll just thank myself that the town council here by our games of the chapter 2, the federal systems ordinance, the fantasies A through H be rescinded and the new appendices A through H be adopted. There are five, there are five announcements for the period of October 1st, 2026 to September 30th. [1:35:28] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: 2027. Look for a motion from the council. Make a motion we adopt resolution 2685. Second. Moved and seconded. Any questions from the audience or the council regarding resolution 2685? Hearing none, that's where we vote. All those in favor resolution 2685, please signify by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. I just have it resolution 2685. That is moving on to resolution 2686. [1:36:04] Speaker B (unidentified): Sorry, no, stop at the town council appointment as warden and Tina Ferris, Hillary Mubar, Brittany Metivier, and Michelle Weeks as deputy wardens for the November 3rd 2026 state general election in the fiscal MSAB 53 election. Look for a motion from the council. [1:36:22] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: I think the motion we approve resolution 2686. Second. We've been seconded. Are there any questions from the audience or the council regarding 2686? Hearing nine, I sense we're ready to vote. All those in favor of resolution 2686, please signify by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. I just have it resolution 2686 passes. Moving on to resolution 2687 McCall. We're talking about the [1:36:51] Speaker B (unidentified): town council approved the opening of absentee ballots on the hour for the state general election municipal or necessary with 53 election to be held on November 3rd 2026. [1:37:01] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Look for a motion from the council. Make a motion we did not resolution 2687. Second. Move consecutive. Are there any questions from the audience or the capital regarding resolution 2687? [1:37:17] Speaker F (unidentified): What does that mean on the hour? Yeah, I'm just gonna ask that it's on the [1:37:21] Amanda, Moore Library Street (public commenter): hour like we go back seven eight nine ten every hour the opening. Absolutely balance on the hour every other credit. Yeah, because you never know when you're gonna get it, so you just basically [1:37:34] Town Manager / Administrative Official: process and then put in the voting machine that you know throughout the day so that you don't have four hundred that you gotta start feeding through at eight o'clock. You just start [1:37:44] Speaker F (unidentified): doing it all day. These are the absentee balance. Yep, those [1:37:50] Speaker G (unidentified): come in earlier, so you have to wait until November fair to account for it, huh? Well, [1:38:00] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: is that a legal thing? I'm sure it is. Sure she knows. I trust her too. [1:38:12] Speaker B (unidentified): I would trust her before me. [1:38:19] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Any other questions? You know, since we're ready to vote, all those in favor of resolution 2687, please signify by saying aye. All those opposed say nay. I just have it resolution 2687 passes. Moving on to item number 10, discussion items. All the comments tonight. [1:38:43] Speaker B (unidentified): Thank you, pal. How come you had to think about my name? [1:38:47] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: I have to think about everything. [1:38:50] Police Department representative: It's a real struggle, man. [1:38:53] Public commenter / community member: I'd like to start on a light note. Thank you so much to the Council, to the clerk, Nicole, and the town lawyer for all of the help with the ordinance for sovereignty. sovereignty. I'm really excited that 's going through. That's going to help a lot of people in this community. Normally, I refrain from bringing anything forward in my role as a state representative because I like the separation of state and local. And the only reason I'm here before you today in that role is because of the amount of constituents that have reached out to me about this concern. And I just want to make sure that it's put before the council so that it's known and it's not done by hearsay. So I'd like to raise a concern that has been brought to me by several constituents regarding the recent school construction referendum. People generally knew that the vote was coming and the date was being passed around the community. The concern was that residents were having difficulty finding the basic information they needed to actually participate. They could not readily find where they were supposed to vote, what hours the polls were open, or even the actual questions they were being asked to vote on, even shortly before the election. The election was not listed on the town's online calendar. I know that because I checked because I was trying to find out when I could come in and vote. I understand that posting requirements under Maine law in the town's broader communication with residents are two different issues. Maine law does require election notices containing information such as the date, polling location, polling hours, and referendum questions. I'm not suggesting without further information that those statutory requirements were not met, but for something as significant as approving new school with long-term implications for communities and taxpayers in the district, I think we should expect this information to be easy for residents to find. People shouldn't have to rely on the word of mouth to learn that the polls are open, where they need to go, or exactly where they are being, what they are being asked to approve, regardless of whether The minimum statutory posting requirements were satisfied. I hope we can look at this experience and all of the concerns being brought forward by citizens of Pittsfield to make sure that future elections are communicated clearly and visibly so that everybody who wants to participate has a meaningful opportunity to do so. And so I just wanted to make sure that was brought out and I'm doing what I let people know I was going to do. So not questioning anything except that I do know that I couldn't even find the information and so that was a challenge. Let people strongly disagree. I had even posted and asked questions on the school referendum page asking in the chat thing asking for what the questions were and what the hours were and it wasn't until the day of the election I received a response. So it was really it's whether or not anything was done improperly or anything like that is not what I am saying. What I'm saying is that it was a challenge to try to find the information and I have probably had 200 phone calls about it so and that's just Pittsfield that does not include the people from Vernon who have reached out to me. So I just wanted to bring that to the council's attention so that it's known for future reference. We will obviously not be voting on another new school for a very long time because we have been waiting 20 years for this one. So thank you very much and I appreciate everything that all of you do to support our team. Awesome thank you Amanda [1:42:27] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Are there any other comments from the audience this evening? Yes Michael Chica. Yes sir Michael [1:42:34] Speaker H (unidentified): Chica silly pawn road. There's only two times where I will take an open mic one is at a meeting one's karaoke but you know music plan sold I will spare you all my wilting voice. So just a couple of quick items comments questions I didn't mention the last council meeting about a sign for the Sydney Pond Road for the ATV access. Let me guess it's not there correct? Okay well not that I'm keeping account but not with you including the other town managers the support time has been brought up so I Wonder if we get that, especially to mark the, yeah, just a sign of an ATV with a green circle around it saying it's okay to drive along the road. Now my neighbor up the road's several, not several times, a couple times been approached by a warden because he'll go from the end of Sibley Pond Road to the boat landing across the bridge, and I've been up and down there a couple times myself, well within the speed limits of my head. That's okay if you, if you [1:43:35] Speaker G (unidentified): Oh, Chief, I didn't know you were out back there. [1:43:46] Speaker H (unidentified): So, just another comment. I am inspired to see that we have action taken on these decrepit properties, especially on Sunset Avenue. It's been something that's been there for a long time. Everyone here has been there for a long time. We know that's been kind of a thorn on our side of her under a saddle so to have action being taken is well worth it and this discussion we had before that is going to cost money we're almost going to cost money but then the point counterpoint was if you had probably next to that property would you like to have that it was a terrific time to ignore you 're paying taxes for a property yet the neighbor has this kind of thing so it is being noticed so thank you for that i understand the pain And, you know, my tax bill kind of, as I said, there's a double up of that evaluation, but I knew it was coming. You know, it's not a complaint, it's just a plain statement that, you know, the feedback has been, people just don't understand what, that's all about. They just see the bill there. And, you know, it may kind of segue into what Representative Calamore had mentioned about, you know, the communications, and you are right, I look for things on the calendar, their website is not there. I know there's a lot of stuff put on Facebook, especially about the school referendum. That's probably not the best source of information for a town like us. I mean, we have a website that's terrific. Not a website, but Facebook presence. I just asked you to just look into that a little bit more. I keep that up to date because I know it is up to date. So thank you very much for all your work. I appreciate the discussions that we all have, and once again I understand the job that you all have, so it was greatly appreciated. It is being noticed, people have mentioned it to me, so thank you, appreciate it, and no, I'm not coming back. [1:45:43] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: I know it's what you think. Thank you, Mike. Oh, I'm, yes, please say your name. [1:45:53] Public commenter (Spring Road resident): Where you live? Yeah, I live on Spring Road. I haven't been in this council chamber probably for 57 years, so I mean, welcome back. I'm impressed. I just, you know, I was sitting up there and we came primarily to, we talked to the chief, which was a great thing, you know. He's got a problem on the Spring Road. I think we've got a problem all over Pittsfield that he's trying to address, and we're very appreciative of that. But I'm a non-profit consultant and I'm a federal grant reviewer and I've been listening to all the small things and they're big things for a small community that you guys are doing, and I think it's a, it's sad that you don't have all, we used to have, I mean, standing room only to come and hear what you guys were doing. And I just set up back and I thought, oh, isn't that nice, they're going to do this and they're going to do that, they're going to do this. And oftentimes in the newspaper or on Facebook, you know, there's a lot of itching that goes along and that's part of the territory, but we don't get to hear those little things that you guys are doing. So I'm always one to step up and say, you know, it's nice to say you do a good job, but I'm also on the back end saying, you know, we could do a little bit better. And you know, I just, I just kind of wanted to say that. And you know, as an old person, that's, I never thought I'd say that, but you know, we've been around a long time, we've seen Pittsville come and we've seen Pittsville go and we've seen a lot of changes and hopefully it's nice to hear good things going on that we can get it back on a good track again. So I just wanted to say that and thank you and please do something about the traffic on [1:47:46] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: the Spring. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Are there any other comments? Yes, Mr. Wright. [1:47:55] Speaker M (unidentified): Let me achieve it up and give you all those accolades. That's a difference between her and me, but however, I do agree with what she said, and I commend you for doing the job that you're doing. But I'd like to be a pain in your butt, and I believe it was on the town's Facebook page that said the town was going to, the state was going to put signs on the Spring Road. Okay, well, it's been two months ago and they're not there yet. And from my understanding, all you have to do is have your highway department go to Augusta and pick them up. I don't think that's very hard to do. You know, you put a guy in a truck and you send him to Augusta to get him. And I don't think it should take two months, it should take a day, okay? And the highway crew should be able to put them up, probably might take them two days, but it certainly can be done. And so I guess what I'm going to know is, I'm asking you why hasn't it been done? [1:49:16] Town Manager / Administrative Official: Any comments? Well, what I can tell you is that we ordered the signs, we're told that they're going to be delivered Friday, and then we'll have them and we can put them up, and we can put them up in way less than a day. Okay, that's awesome. So they're going to be delivered to you, don't [1:49:32] Speaker F (unidentified): even have to go pick them up. Yep, I don't even, I don't know, I don't know if we started going [1:49:38] Town Manager / Administrative Official: anywhere to pick them up, but we'll be able to get them on Friday. That's what we're doing to [1:49:43] Speaker M (unidentified): get them on price. So I, so I can expect them maybe to be at Monday? [1:49:48] Town Manager / Administrative Official: I'm not gonna, I won't promise it because we're close, we're closed Monday and I can't, I can't [1:49:54] Speaker H (unidentified): so much. Yeah, it's people's day, so it's just a Saturday. Okay. [1:50:11] Police Department representative: Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't two months ago that we did this. I, today's my two-month anniversary, so [1:50:21] Speaker M (unidentified): it just happened before I was hired. So I think the nine-year-old height, we talked about that. [1:50:27] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Well, it had to be, it had to be assessed by the state, the state had to, yeah, so dictate what that speed would be, and now that the state's done their job, yeah, we're [1:50:38] Police Department representative: actively doing our thing. Yeah, it's been a couple of weeks and like we said, we talked earlier about the speed, the signs are going up where they're going to be located. One's going to be right by the pond as soon as you turn on Spring Road, the other is going to be just over the Pittsfield field Palmer line in Pittsfield on the Spring Road, and then the state also recommended curve warning signs by the shop curve, and those are also coming as well. And I've, I've spoke with Jerry from the town and once he gets the signs, we're going to go out the system with lights so they can get their corners set up safely and whatnot. So we are working on, as soon as we get the signs, they have to order, that's how it works now, they're easier for [1:51:15] Speaker M (unidentified): Order and have to give them. I do appreciate that, the police department. I've seen him on the road several times, and that's going to see, and hopefully that will continue and keep on doing the great work that you do. Thank you, we love it, appreciate it. I hope, I hope you don't have to finance the signs. [1:51:52] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Just to let you. So in the in the department report for the police department in June, they had 46 traffic stops. In July, 61, and in August they had 129. [1:52:22] Police Department representative: No, but there's been, there's been a quite an increase in traffic, and you know, one of the things that is that a staff meeting with our, with the officers, we weren't full staff. We are now, we just hired a new police officer who's on his own working, but I did lay out patrol expectations, and that was a certain amount of traffic stops per shift. Whether you run a ticket or not is incumbent on the officer, that's discretionary enforcement, but my performance expectation was four to six stops a shift at least. In between let calls or you get a domestic violence case or an OUI, you're done for hours. those cases nowadays probably 30 years ago where you lock them up throw them in jail write the note on the back of the ticket and go back at it 's now it's it's like it's like testifying in a murder case it's they you have to be so detailed and intricate that the ds office won't accept anything so you have to be very you know some of those cases take you hours now which they didn't in the past so man hours get not by that much they have performance expectations they've been doing on it as he has as the mayor just said, and the increase in traffic enforcement and [1:53:32] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: discretionary importance on that, so you can deputize Mr. Wright and he can patrol [1:53:58] Speaker F (unidentified): It's not fine if you're on your own radar. [1:54:04] Speaker M (unidentified): Okay, you know that, right? [1:54:05] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: Right? Well, let them borrow it. I kid. Yeah, we've heard the concern and they're on it. [1:54:15] Speaker M (unidentified): 5,800 cows a week, cattle that run. [1:54:19] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: That's a lot. 5,800 cows a week. [1:54:22] Public commenter (Spring Road resident): You can't go to your mailbox without getting blown away. [1:54:26] Police Department representative: Yeah. Unfortunately, I can't enforce who goes and not goes on the road. You've got people going south. If it's a big truck, we're all over it. [1:54:32] Council Chair / Presiding Officer: But if it's right, all right, Pete, closing comments, all set, awesome, Craig, good, Nate, offset the diet, you're good, and I am gonna be good too. I look for a motion to adjourn.