Following a closed-door Executive Session, the Select Board invited in the public to conduct its October 7, 2019 meeting.

During public comment, Select Board Chair Mark Ahronian thanked his fellow Board members for their diligence and tremendous amount of hard work put in to create the draft Town Meeting Warrant.

Next up was the Public Hearing postponed from last week’s meeting. The hearing was related to a request by Eversource to install 121 feet of conduit to service a new building at 56 Boynton Road. Seen below is Christine Crosby representing Eversource at the hearing. The Board approved the plan.

The next item was a Petition Article for inclusion on the October Town Meeting Warrant. Carrie Marsh Loscocco and Andrew Horton spoke passionately about their concerns regarding how the 2020 school start times will negatively impact student safety in the pre-dawn hours. The Board advised the petitioners to reach out directly to the school committee – and attend the School Start Time public forum to seek common ground.

Town Planner Karen Sherman spoke on behalf of herself and DPW Director Sean Reese regarding two Warrant articles related to wastewater management. After some clarifying questions from the Board the members voted to approve the articles for the October Town Meeting Warrant.

The Board members had, prior to the meeting, reviewed the listing of Capital requests and prioritized the list. Following discussion among the members who shared their rationales for selecting the key items on the list, it was agreed that Mr. Cronin would combine the three lists using a weighted rubric to deliver a list on behalf of the Board to the Finance Committee at their October 8th meeting.

Administrative actions included: approving previous meetings’ minutes, waiving the usage fee for the Veterans Luncheon, one day liquor license, approving the charter for the Traffic Advisory Committee, added Faye Hale as a member of the 9 Green Street Committee, approved new no truck parking signs for installation on Cross Street to provide access for rail trail users.

Last but not least, the Board approved 22 articles for inclusion in the October Town Meeting Warrant. The Board will convene at 8:00 AM this Thursday to review the document one more time and sign the Warrant as required by statute.