After approving the weekly town warrant of expenses the Board moved on to Public Comment.

Tina Hein recently met State Senate President Karen Spilka at the Holliston Grill to discuss traffic conditions in town. (The most recent traffic study data will be posted by Town Administrator Jeff Ritter tomorrow (Wed)). Also, Mrs. Hein will be holding office hours in room 14 of the Town Hall next Monday evening at 5:30 pm.

John Cronin noted yesterday’s Veterans Day observance and remarked that it his ‘favorite day of the year.’

Mark Ahronian wanted everyone to think about Tom Hayes who suffered a medical emergency during yesterday’s observance. He also wanted to note that Donald Bates also helped sponsor the Veterans’ luncheon. As a preview to a later agenda item, Ahronian highlighted the three criteria for consideration for the Select Board’s Humanitarian Award: Compassion, Consideration of others, and Caring.

Mr. Ritter provided the following updates:

• 3 applications for the Facilities Manager position have been received (the deadline is November 22nd.)
• Tomorrow (Wed) there will be a meeting with Beth Greenblatt regarding the solar panel project
• The town has applied for a grant from its insurance carrier to purchase protective equipment for our technology assets
• The library will be holding two forums (Nov 20 and Dec 4)
• Town Clerk, Liz Greendale, is conducting MA Open Meeting Law training for town committee / board members tomorrow (Wed)
• Sherborn and Holliston have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that splits a state grant of $50,000 equally between towns to support their Sustainability Coordinator positions.
• HPD will be hosting its 1st Annual Veterans’ Breakfast – Nov 20; 9:30 am
• The electronic speed sign has been removed from the corner of Washington and School and will be relocated to Pine and Washington where the 30 mph limit begins

Mr. Cronin asked Mr. Ritter about other signage that was approved at Town Meeting would be installed. Cronin also recommended that the annual personnel appraisal process should begin in January. Mr. Cronin has noted large trash items left curbside and wondered if Holliston has trash regulations to prevent such eyesores – if not, when can regulations be created / approved.

Next up was the Town’s Technology Director, Chris Meo’s update to the Board on network and hardware security. The primary goal is to prevent unauthorized access to the town’s systems. Mr. Meo highlighted three areas of security focus: Networks; Computers; and Users. He outlined the actions that are in place to prevent improper access. In the near future he will be proposing a Acceptable Use policy and an Incident Response policy.

Several pieces of business were approved by the Board:

• Meeting minutes from 10/28 and 11/4
• Donations to Sr Ctr ($400 collected at the checkout counter at the Superette); the Rail Trail ( a leaf blower valued at $250; and a bike repair station valued at $1,000)
• Christine Carosella was appointed to the Economic Development Committee
• School Committee Chair, Stacey Raffi, was appointed to the Traffic Advisory Committee
• Submission of the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Phase 2 application – due this Thursday
• To begin work on defining the scope of a Chief Financial Officer / Finance Director position. Mr. Cronin will form a working group with a target date for a draft job description by early 2020.

Then the 2019 Humanitarian Awards were announced. Mrs. Hein nominated Donna Kramer. Mr. Cronin nominated Christine Chabot. Mr. Ahronian nominated Matt Putvinski. Each candidate was introduced highlighting their Compassion, Consideration, and Caring for others. These nominees were unanimously approved by the Board.

All citizens have a chance to meet this year’s recipients and hear more about why they were selected at a reception to be held next Monday, November 18th at 6:00pm in the Upper Town Hall. Cake and coffee will be served.

The meeting adjourned at 8:42 pm. The next Board meeting is Monday, November 18th at 7:00 pm.