ok i'd like to call the june twenty second two thousand and fifteen meeting of the light board to order my name is sam baghdadi on the chair and to my left is jim williams mark  has had a family emergency personnel and will not be here joining us tonight basically basically we have one main agenda item on our agenda today and that's review of belmont light and buyback tariff for emission free renewable generating facilities and basically we are holding this meeting as a result of a suggestion by jim on  a barrier to so residential solar installation and in the town so the current filed version of the tariff reference was in uncertainty which is the phase two policy that we were talking about with no clear guidance on how it would be applied to new or existing customers so the official filed policy in belmont now says something new is company coming it has a name phase two we don't know what that new policy will be and we don't know who will be affected by the new policy this is not favorable in terms of increasing solar adoption because it introduces uncertainty solar systems are expensive long term investments and this is akin to saying we suggest you put an item on your roof that costs tens of thousands of dollars and that you should expect a return on investment that is somewhere in between very good and very bad so the sooner we get this language out of that phase one tariff the greater chance we have of increasing solar adoption why do it now rather than later and i think this is the important part sam sammy because for years the opportunity to increase solar adoption in belmont has been subject to this uncertainty so sensed i think it was december of two thousand and eleven was when this tariff was put in place with the phase t imbedded in it and the small local solar installer that i'm familiar with sundberg bug who i used to get a bit on putting solar on my roof even though i'm not going to do it because i have a hip roof and i have this big tree that belongs to the city in front of my house but i was just interested in seeing comparing the difference as we did last time between phase one phase one and in phase t town and since their inception in two thousand and nine they've installed three customers in belmont for a total of one thousand kilowatts of solar in that time in cambridge they have thirty eight projects or three hundred fifty kilowatts of solar not cambridge is bigger but still arlington is twenty six projects one hundred fifty six kilowatts somerville is thirty one projects two hundred ten kilowatts in neighboring towns they're averaging adoption rates that are ten times what we've managed to get in belmont even in concord another municipal utility they have eighteen projects in one hundred kilowatts  on december thirty first of two thousand and sixteen which is about eighteen months from now the federal thirty percent tax credit is set to expire for residential systems all homeowners who want to effectively get thirty percent off the cost of the system need to have it installed by year end most solar companies run a two to three month backlog and that backlog is is going to build up in two thousand sixteen where solar is encouraged rather than discouraged it's totally reasonable to assume that sun bugs two thousand and sixteen installation q will be booked six months out by this time next year so in june of next year they're going to be though they'll be full and it's probably true of everyone else that means folks have twelve months now to sign up for solar and get the tax credit so as we discussed in the last meeting if we wait another sixty days for the new committee to review what's been done it would it could eliminate another two to three months of those twelve months and as i understood from walter's opinion we we don't have to you know i stand to be corrected jim you correct me if i'm wrong we don't have to have an approval from d p you change the rate we can change the rate as a municipal like company on our own and what this means is that to the point that we made last last week that i made last week if we simply take phase two out of the existing tariff we can do that on july first and then the committee can come back with whatever they want to do in we're done and what it allows us to do is to get this solar installation season started ok let me let me first comment by saying i think we are all in agreement that there is going to be a face to in the near future in new phase two and that is the work of the temporary net metering working advisory role that that we had appointed at our meeting last week so so you know eventually there is going to be a face to now presumably that phase two would not necessarily look like the face to all that's in the current that's contained in the current was proposed and on april twenty second you know we have rescinded it and in and brought it back from deep you know so what we did is we have postponed it you know endeavor for a further study thinking about is if we can so mention of face to all together to be suspended it's not an effect we're currently phase one but if we mention if we eliminate and delete any mention of face to my concern is does that set an unfair expectation to residence that if faced who was not coming at least the way it's drafted now there is a mention of a phase two in the existing tariff so everybody knows  two is coming we've suspended it and everybody knows it suspended and everybody knows that you know people now know that there's a working group that's going to be looking at this issue and my concern is if we eliminate mention of a face to it's sending a message that there may not even be a phase two and in the future and that's not what we've talked about at all that's my first concern let me mention my second concern my second concern is advice on what action we should take and you know walter went through the procedural history you know and and he did notice that you know within the last month or so we have done several filings with the department of public utilities you know notice that if a store was going to go into effect then we sent a notice shortly there after that face to has been canceled at this point has been  you know indefinitely halted and walter pointed out that according to mass general laws the be fixed schedule of prices for electricity which shall not be changed often are that's what the set it says meaning more often than once every three months and walter's concern was if we file yet another appointed a committee to look at this the best thing to do for now is just you know stay put and let the committee do its work and then once we have the final phase two tariff then we would do our advertising i know to take legal advice and and and i understand it but i do you know i understand what with the reasoning is so i am inclined to say why don't we just you know let the committee do its work at this point everybody knows that there's a modified face to coming and everybody knows that the current phase two as drafted has been suspended it's not taking effect until the committee does its business work and comes up with a  recommendation to us so you know my advices to take walter's advice and just let things fall out and you know we have fast track this committee so  you know maybe even if we will have a recommendation my hope is before the sixty  days i'm not an attorney yeah i've read walter's opinion i also you know jim has told me that that we probably should be embarrassed by you know the various filings and and the  dialogue that's taking place in town as i understand it this started last september so we've been at it for a year and one of the things i like to do whenever there's a controversy and i use this very successfully in my own career is you go in and take a look see what's happening try to find out the different viewpoints and i think i was optimistic in may that you know that we were very close to an agreement but you know they're just about this far apart and you can't get either side to move at that point so i am optimistic that this new committee will be able to fresh face and make  decision but in the meantime we're burning installation time and i'm told by people on the ground that it's this language in in the phase of one tariff which they use interchangeably with  rate that is that causes that uncertainty and so i also understand from authors write up that we don't have to go to the d p you we can set the rate on july first and you know it doesn't still have t thank you yeah so if we decide tonight hypothetically to do this as we discussed last week it is it is it factual that this can't go into effect until august first  and you know and just just to remind everybody the when that was drafted that's an integrated policy there's a lot of work involved with trying to take that apart dissect it it's just it's not worth the time and effort because the the the board has already suspended phase two so the customers in town you know we have to put that on our website that there will be you know it's retail net metering right now that's what that's what the board decided so it's you know a waste of rate payers money and we spent thirty thousand dollars more than thirty thousand was close to fifty thousand dollars since december on this issue on the indecisive this interview remind everybody you know you've been negotiating with the same people for well over a year and the same folks got together and agreed to back in december on a policy that we spent thirty thousand dollars to implement the program ok and you know got all the way up to april until there was a new slack when hired or elected we want to call it and elected ok and pattern look bad and wasted our resources and we lost an employee as a result you know so i don't know how much more pain and suffering you want to put on the department for something that really to be honest with you it's pretty simple to understand what phase one metering like we've had since two thousand and eleven well i mean that the way i look at jim is that i think the department is ok and i think you've you've done a good job of building it up and putting it together and i don't think this policy problem is at the department level the problem is you know between so we're advocates and people who think differently and so my concern is not so much for the solar advocates per se the people i'm thinking about are the people in belmont who would like to have solar in have not been able to to make the decision because of the uncertainty of phase two not the actuality of the one that was withdrawn the other point is that i'm not sure that the policy that was submitted to the d p you and then rescinded i don't know whether that would count there was not a policy the policy was adopted ok for the but i don't know if that would count as a as a rate submission or not probably not if it were my agency it wouldn't but we got us at that right really when it comes down to my position ok because i only take direction from the boy ok for what i do with the days i make decisions because somebody has to make it a big thing that i see with this whole issue i don't care if it's a policy issue or not you got to make a decision and you got to stick with it you made a decision december and you knew turned around you backed off  frustrated can you tell me to do something then you change your mind ok let's continue to do that you know but we're again we're we're you know i'm not so concerned about the department because i think you're ok and i think the department's ok ok and i think that i think you guys are doing a good job i think you know attrition happens you know people get upset people decide to change jobs career management picks and i'm just not concerned about the light department or you because i think you're doing you're doing a good job i think the biggest risk for the white department is the substation project and i think you would agree with me on that i don't disagree with that and so my concern is about the five hundred people in my estimate who in the absence of having face to language in the face one tariff probably would have made a decision for her so if if we can find a way to fix that i think we should ok and and let me take the discussion back and let me say we found a way to fix it that's what we appointed the committee and we're not going to let this drag for six months i mean we've we've made that we've given the committee a short fuse within which to take action so my recommendation is let's keep you know let's listen to our legal counsel let's keep things on hold as it is today residents know that right now we have fewer phase one net metering and that's not you know that that is that is not going to change and until we have heard back from our working group and listen to their recommendations and implement a modified face to  policy can you offer an obvious first deadline instead of sixty days so that there's no doubt that so that there's no difference between the two the two positions in other words if you if if somebody hypothetically argues let's take the language out and be done with it because you know we don't think two days is going to come true but you can't affect that change until august first you know that five six weeks from now all of the people but you know certain certainly those that i've spoken with i've communicated that we want this done so and you know and i'm hoping they come for us by the end of july and he's going to give us an update of where they're at so  i think we're only weeks apart is what i'm trying to say we're only weeks apart so we are going in the right direction which is really the important big picture big picture here so  but so what it what about an obvious first target ok i as long as it's a target date i i agree i mean we want to get this done as soon as possible but but if they come to was august seventh or or you know august fourteenth you know remember they're volunteers they're people who are busy and have day jobs so certainly i think that's something you know like i said those members i spoke to i said by the end of july i would like would like something so so i i think were of the same mindset and i you know as as was the feeling at town meeting i don't like to look at volunteers and say you shall do this by this time but i will tell them we would like to have a report from you you know by the end of july so bearing in my you know bearing in mind that we have we working with busy people with people who are experts in the area i mean how does the process work with regard to all of us first rate change so in other words let's let's say that this committee because of the summer schedule or whatever you know they decide that they're going to need ninety or one hundred twenty days which in my opinion really each into this and you know that's not the intent of a bill that lots of let's just assume that happens can we can we agree that if they don't have a face to it by august first that will will strike the language jim i can't do that without the third member here you know that i think the third member not here but but what i suggest is let's meet again by the end of july we can ask the committee to come in before i give us an update i agree we're very close i think ok i i i see their exercise as building upon the work that's been done in the past you know so so that would be we don't have anything they said well we had a good discussion mr chairman you know as want to add one thing  you know we could do i think in in in the best interest of the community yet right in saying these customers that are interested in getting you know entering into an agreement as we wave it we could probably put some sort of a communication piece together and put it on the website i think you know to be an idea and you know maybe maybe jim maybe you and i could meet with some of the soul of providers that are interested in coming to town and maybe lay it out because i mean you know back in the beginning of  then we started on developing those two thousand love and soul policy also worked very closely with roger colton and andy green and that was because of the don't want hill school and we were very proactive and very innovative in and in  that they don't let tell its people you know you don't need to take a vote tonight on on what's on the table you're going to talk to the committee sammy yes and we're going to target our august first yet we've already sent them notices that have been appointed so that that we did with and one or two days of their appointment ok so we'll see what they come up with and worst case  think a communication piece and then you're going on vacation when i'll be gone for the first two weeks in july so we have to do that over the next the communication piece few days just you know a lot of work and work on that so that's something not that i mean that that will probably help the customers to have a better understanding of because they may not read the meeting minutes but you know they may not know what's going on and what the board's decided but i mean so no vote tonight did not get my comments to that and i apologize i will get them to you ok so i had some revisions to the minutes ok so far it's i make a motion we adjourn second thank you we will resume again in a thank you ok i would like to call the meeting of the board of selectmen of monday june twenty second two thousand and fifteen to order we have a very busy agenda tonight you know running through the agenda quickly we have a discussion on a sidewalk maintenance contract maintaining and fixing up our sidewalks we have a rise and petition to install some some cable laying we have a discussion related to and entertainment license application which would be something new for belmont we have a public hearing at seven thirty on a beer and wine retail liquor license application of arts art specialties l l c and then we have a discussion on eight sixty three concord ave and we have a discussion on the taxi rate and belmont and into a taxi company that also wants to open belmont and then we have administrators report and some executive some some executive session matters so that said i am going to begin with questions from town residents ok paul roberts thank you paul roberts town meeting member precinct eight gentlemen i have a petition here signed by five hundred fourteen residents and i wonder if i could present it to the board please couple brief comments because i think i've made my opinions known but i period before you this evening to present you each with a copy of a petition that was circulated both online and in paper form here in town it was first circulated around two weeks ago and has garnered five hundred fourteen signatures to date as well as comments from many petitioners i'd like to quickly just read you the text of the petition and then speak briefly as i believe there are many other citizens here many of them signatories of this petition who also wish to address the board i'd also ask respectfully that you take the time this evening to hear from those who have come to speak to you about the changes to the town center reconstruction plan as you know i requested a place on the agenda this evening but were not on the agenda so i ask that you make time available now to hear the supporters of the town green i understand your schedule is quite full in fact i believe that i am one of the citizens with business before you this evening mr conway and i will sit down with you later to seek permission to run the end you will damn chart from and memorial five k so i fully appreciate you've got a busy schedule and at some point i'm on it the petition is entitled restore green space to belmont center and it was posted on the website change dot org the text the petition is as follows in a sparsely attended special hearing in may twenty eighth belmont's board of selection selectman acted unilaterally and without notice voting to throw out a plan for the reconstruction of belmont center the blueprint for work that had already begun in the town center the blueprint known as plan a is a product of years of study and public meetings by the town's traffic advisory committee and adds much needed green space to the center of town are ever faced with opposition from a small group of voters voters the board suddenly abandoned that plan and the express wishes of town meeting with which authorized two point eight million to fund the project in november this petition asked board of selectmen respectfully to reverse her decision and allow work to go forward on plan there by respecting the work of the traffic advisory committee the wishes of town meeting and the voting public let me just say that i and all of the people here both pro and con respect the difficulties that you face in your role as selectman you need to balance the needs of competing constituencies within belmont and that is not an easy job but in responding to those needs you also need to be mindful of the wishes of the entire community as expressed through our elected representatives on town meeting through public hearings and through the various committees that help bear the work of government you also must be respectful of the long tradition of cooperation transparency and honesty that characterize the interactions between the board of selectmen town meeting and the other branches of government in the case of the belmont center reconstruction project i believe you acted in haste responding to the demands of a few petitioners you lost sight of the wishes of the many i ask that you respectfully to reverse a decision you made at your may twenty eighth meeting respect the tradition of cooperation and transparency in belmont top government and restore the town green feature to the belmont reconstruction project thank you very much and again i believe that there are other citizens who want to speak to this issue see people who support the petition and i see people here who do not support the petition and if i would open up the mike to everybody we wouldn't leave here tonight so i think you have summarized your position adequately and i think i think the board of selectmen you know all a response is there anything you want to say jammed or you know we've we you know as chair i've been trying to spread responsibility to other board members and i kind of asked him to serve as the spokesman on this issue is there anything you well while i can understand a difference of opinion in terms of the the decision itself i don't share the opinion expressed by paul concerning the process and i believe the process was  correct in each and every sense of its conduct and it's difficult to say that a petition that has two hundred signatures controls  discussion which then means that a small group controls the the agenda of the outcome because that is in fact the way town meeting and the way the general the town's general bylaws work in fact  i become a student of the town meeting form government and the general bylaws and you can actually impact the outcome of town meeting with just one person which  i did on the last town meeting by asking for reconsideration of article nine that had to do with the solar vote the solar motion that was made by  jones to postpone that article indefinitely so one person can actually influence the way the town government works and i think that it's designed that way and i think it's purposeful so i don't man down state where you want me to stand ok please please no discussion unless you're recognized by the chair so i'm going to say what i just said again i think words like sparsely attended that it works that way abandoned i don't see how any process was abandoned by by following the process lost sight of the the traditions i think it's it's perfectly within the tradition to comply with the bylaws so i personally have no problem with the process and if people have a problem with the process what you're doing is you're indicting the town meeting process you're you're talking about the town moderator you're talking about the town clerk you're saying that the entire government somehow conspired to bring about this this thing that you disagree with now again i respect your right to disagree with it but but your description of this description of the process is is in my opinion silly so i'm going to stop there ok thank you for your comments jim i want to next you know it as i look back and i've seen what's been going on the last few days it is so apparent to me that there is so much miscommunication going on and what i want to go and you know misinformation miscommunication i don't want to you know set the record straight and you know describe didn't describe to you what what you know what went  on you're going to hear a theme ok and or you're going to hear something mentioned several times you know people have come to me in the last several days and said why are you keeping the green as it is others have come up to me and said why you eliminating the green in the center of town the fact of the matter is the green is not staying the same and it's not being eliminated it's going to be enlarged forty three percent it will be forty three percent bigger than what you see out there today but again you're going to hear this in my recount of what happened ok at its meeting on may twenty eighth the board of selectmen held a public discussion about one small area of the belmont center construction project namely the design of the area and green in front of the belmont savings bank the meeting was widely publicized a notice was sent to all by the town clerk at our request to all town meeting members two weeks before the meeting was held indeed the meeting was very well attended i estimate about eighty people were present at that meeting and a lively discussion that lasted one and a half hours some town meeting members and residents spoke in favor of reconfiguring the area in front of the bank and some spoke against it there was a clear split of opinion and the board held the board heard both sides some of the very same people here tonight were also present at our meeting on may twenty eighth based on what the board heard that evening the board decided unanimously that it would be best for a belmont center if there was and narrower drive in front of the bank and for parallel parking spaces in addition the new green space would be enlarged it becomes forty three percent larger than the existing green space the board felt that th reconfiguration was a better design for the following reasons the three parking spaces on the previous design presented a potentially dangerous traffic situation and we heard that concern from several residents the four new power allowed spaces are better accessible to customers of other businesses within the center the traffic in belmont center during rush hour is very congested and the drive in front of the bank offers better traffic circulation and better relief but most importantly what i think guided the board in its decision the board acted out of concern for the safety of our seniors that drive in front of the bank would provide a safe drop off for those who are elderly or handicapped and want access to the bank that change was requested by some members of the council on aging again the green will be forty three percent larger i watch it and all that the board for me respects the town meeting process and would never take action contrary to how a meeting thought at the town meeting held on november seventeenth two thousand and fourteen town meeting was presented with  concept plan of the belmont center improvements and it was approved and town meeting approved the appropriation of funds based on the concept that was presented it was represented to town meeting that there would be additional design changes to the concept plan one of the concepts that was presented to town meeting is that the green space in front of the savings bank would be enlarged under the new configuration under the reconfiguration the new space again will be forty three percent larger than the current green space so we are getting a lot more green space the reconfiguration of the green space is very isolated it will not affect any other aspect of the belmont cent project just to place things in perspective the area in front of the bank affects only about one and a half percent and of the total area of the belmont center project in addition the change will have a nominal effect on the cost of the project the board's vote was unanimous this is what the board thinks is best for belmont to reopen the discussion would become a battle of competing petitions and that in my mind is not good governance for our town i know many of you want to speak ok we do have a full agenda this is this is under questions from town residents i think paul roberts gave a good summary what i would suggest to you is please e mail us your comments and we would have been happy then then please mr hall here you are out of order the meeting the meeting is back in order next next on our agenda sidewalk maintenance contract discussion and vote david is is someone from d here i can do ok why don't you why don't you give us a summary ok so mr chair is you aware there was a two hundred thousand dollars appropriation voted during the budget process every year plays we are trying to conduct a meeting and please we are trying to conduct a meeting marianne ok i'm sorry please continue so when we have an allocation of funds we go out to bid for the sidewalk work which includes the concrete and any particular curbing that may be necessary or handicapped accessible curbs and the access panel that goes at the cross walks so we went out to bid and we had it was advertised and basically we received five good responses to our package the good news is that the estimated cost for the streets that i listed in your package for the next phase of sidewalk of repair and replacement i came in at one hundred thirty three thousand dollars which is below the two hundred thousand dollars budget that was allocated on the plane would be to implement the streets that i've listed and then if there  thirty six thousand and bids that were in between so the recommendation by the public works department is to accept the bill as submitted and award it to saka and sons for one thirty three six twenty bed was about one hundred thirty three hundred thirty four thousand so what would happen to the savings i mean that's additional money we could use so what will happen to their sidewalks so as i noted that basically clearly we have a listing of sidewalks that need to be repaired longer than both our arms so what would happen is we can do change orders to the contract to include some more streets if it permits itself during the construction season but again because these are appropriate to capital funds capital funds get to rollover so whatever the balance is in the account of the two hundred thousand dollars basically will sit there and be able to be used the following construction cycle will go to bid again so basically the savings will sit in the capital budget and roll over so it would be difficult to repair more sidewalks this construction season because we've already gone up to bed on our list right but we can do amendments this contract up to twenty five percent if we have the wherewithal to do that and basically the good news is we based upon the streets that were listed public works came up with the estimates of linear feet in the in the except in so basically as i said we had some bids exceeded the two hundred thousand dollars we were fortunate to have a that came in at one thirty three so the good news is will have say we'll have the net savings in the capital budget to continue to do streets sidewalks rather in the future and then and then another question now each you know four concrete sidewalks a dollar fifty per square foot is what they say they priced it on but that was considerably less than the than the other bettors and in fact in fact in two thousand and fifteen the price bed was four dollars and seventy five cents per square foot this lot better came in at a dollar fifty per square foot at a considerable difference i think what happens is if you look at the quantity  is a fairly small quantity so basically the bulk of the work basically is the actual concrete sidewalks and all these these different items are fairly small items in comparison to the total bed so again the contractor takes a look at what his vendors may be able to provide him in basically bills and into the overall price and again we've had this friend who's done working time before so basically there's a comfort level and again he has some of the contract has been so obviously there's no  morse in his part to basically guarantee the prices that he sell to so you're saying we have experience with the contractor and the contractor is reliable and there is a performance bond as well as as well  embedded bond which means that if he does exceed his bed the bond covers us ok ok ok you've answered my questions jen one of my questions was you know the contractor that that's been answered we've recently had trouble not at the town level but on the state work on trip over road with the sidewalks disintegrating after they've been installed do we in then i understood in our conversations that there's a sealant that can be put on the sidewalks to prevent salt to get to this level of detail but we also don't want to see these sidewalks deteriorate it well how are you handling the you know the seasonality and the deterioration doing no whether it's the material is of the soul of what is a couple things in this as part of the public works process basically we have supervisors who supervise the construction of the forms when the concrete is poured it's their supervised then and then basically when they are settled in the curing process takes place they're inspected again in addition to that there's a year process where basically if workmanship appears to not of a quality that was bid out we can basically require the contractor to come back into replacement again i think that this is managed by public works and basically experience of basically doing the monitoring and again we if in fact there any defects that become apparent they will out have them do the work ok then let me ask a different way the last time these guys work for us did their sidewalks deteriorate not to my knowledge ok and then we also received excess money well i mean i mean would you would you want to comment would you prefer more sidewalk repair we don't we don't lose all right yet we don't lose the two hundred thousand dollars basically the good news is is that the savings from going through the bid process allows us to do more sidewalks either in this cycle or in future cycles yeah and the issue is what basically work that into the process again there's do we have to do anything formal or no you don't know and we can just say it happened under state law you can do a change or up to twenty five percent ok so you'll do that for us we've already had that conversation public works based upon the scheduling base the work to be done the phase in and ok i'm sure i make a motion please make a motion mr chairman and make a motion that  it is ok next next and i know we're running i know we're running behind but pharazyn petition for rutledge road and claremont road is there someone here from horizon ok and you know we did get a memo from glen clancy who is our community development director and he basically recommends approval of the petition my understanding is those roads are in need of you know are not in the best shape anyways so it's not the case that they were recently paved and they're being they're being dug up to put cables you know i don't have a problem with the petition any comments  ok then motion to approve the petition oh i'm sorry residents any comments yeah any comments from residents ok can you go to the mike place the comments ok installation of one four inch conduit ok ok let's let's move on to the discussion related entertainment license application allen our town clerk so missed the chair as a clerk approaches the table  think you microphone is off public and private property who have expressed an interest during the summer months or other times of the year where they would like to have some entertainment at their businesses whether it may be in belmont center with a business that may want to have that certain part of the evening  folks playing guitar playing some music and so alan through her good efforts and working with us has created an entertainment license application that basically will be used for future applications that will also allow again at folks who apply for entertainment license especially for outdoor basically need to make sure they comply with the noise bylaws and make sure that when it goes through the approval process through the police department health department community and basically issues around tobacco alcohol noise or animals and the like are all paid attention to before the application comes before the board similar to what we do now with their other applications that basically the sign offs occur by the the respective departments for approval so that when you get it basically it's gone through that process and so i think that we've  receiving inquiries from various businesses the other issue at hand is basically what to charge for this purpose it isn't necessarily all uniform in some cases it may be a one time event where folks may want to do an outdoor entertainment or in the like and there's a twenty five dollars fee that's been recommended and then the case of a local business which i think is belmont cafe they would probably like to do something more consistent during the summer months and basically do several of these  and if it was simply a the same kind of event with the same hours in the same type of music that basically we would charge them a blanket fee of one hundred dollars i think this is really a recommendation to the board to accept that kind of fee structure and understand that they will see more of these entertainment type of licenses coming before them because it has been of interest to some of our businesses do you want to supplement that you're just a moment i know you're trying to catch up  house and in belmont there really are only the three kinds of motion pictures exhibition lodging house and comdex lawyers are eligible to do this so i have been asked if a church wanted to do entertainment would they require a license the answer is no they're a business to which they were be trying to incorporate this entertainment into their routine business it's already licensed so this year is a little bit unusual because we're going to get started hopefully this year and it is as they said i'm required by state law and it is issued locally  our hope is that the businesses will do it very much like we now do outdoor dining and if someone's applying for common victual or a motion picture that the perhaps will incorporate that at the same time so we're not having several license process sees it goes from january through december thirty first to that he set by the state law so the price of the action i'm asking for you today is to follow the normal licensing procedure in terms of reviews but also to add this entertainment license as part of a part of belmont is able to issue and oversee i would like to recommend those two prices that david said and that's after a bit of research for similar like communities around the com while twenty five dollars for a single event safety very specific about what items i'm sure you've read the application that i provided to you for one hundred dollars for a year or season which of the case may be and just to clarify would david said it's actually not that they're using the same musicians it's actually that the requirements that they put forth in terms of amplification or visual aids or dancing by patrons dancing by you know what show that they are those from mit if you meet the exact same categories of responsibility with that the fire department said it would be interested in ok so so just a couple small questions alan yes so if i'm doing a birthday party for my child in my backyard and i bring and a clown or an entertainer and i would not need a license you know because i'm not a licensed business ok and my other question was this would apply to outdoor even though outdoor was the example it would apply to endure to correct if they're a sentiment for example correct for example with the cinema and they have not approached me but if the cinema which is granted a license by the board of selectmen for an exhibition of motion pictures should decide that they want to show have a  question i had is you want to create this new license which i support i think it's a great idea and it does provide the oversight that's currently lacking so so if we don't adopt this license then it's a no man's land businesses can just switch it has been yes and the state law actually does exist saying that we you will be issuing these kinds of licenses so the fact that we haven't had an application or attention to it  just means that we aren't necessarily doing the health safety oversight that we need to do and it also doesn't mean that people have been coming forth with this before so this is something that we have been approached by two to three actually have been approached by two separate vendors and they're quite interested in seeing if they can do it for this summer and i know that puts extra pressure on the board and so the part i would love to recommend other than my fees is that perhaps i don't know what your schedule is for meeting over the summer but if you would be willing to allow mr carroll to oversee that just for this period until your resume your normal schedule and then we can a corporate into next year's licensing as well and the other interesting through legal counsel is basically this covers public and private property yes george hall from my understanding  has reviewed the application and participated in terms of its applicability and advised us as well as all of the town departments that have contributed as well so the application that you received is a result of all of that ok well thank you good work  but they do come before the board of selectmen as far as i know to get permission to use pace and park which is a puppet wouldn't fall into this was not licensed and then you know i personally think that the cafe location has been a tough restaurant would be the applicants would be provided with all of the noise bylaws the animal bylaws the alcoholic beverage all of those different kinds of things and presumably the folks from community development if they felt that there were people who are residential butter's particularly they always have the right to notify and if you choose or not to grant a license there actually is a public hearing process that's incorporated into the state law so those folks would certainly be heard and their opinions could be judged to be relevant particular restaurant doesn't have a liquor license to you know no i don't think so because not in then since i was on floyd's committee on revenue opportunities yes i'm trying so if i want to do it for one night it cost me twenty five dollars right if i do it for a year cost me a hundred right so why don't i get my license for a year well so if you get it for your year you are only allowed to do the same kind of activity multiple times and it is actually exactly what we're seeing from other communities as well it's not necessarily big revenue generator it is to get them into the fold in terms of oversight really for public safety and health so that they make sure they have the right restroom facilities or they have the white right wiring where they have are paying attention to each gresson occupancy which we wouldn't necessarily have immediate oversight of so it's not really a big revenue generator that way it encourages people to do it on a regular who are right want to do it and it encourages them to do that because right prices low but then that brings them into the system right and people you know some of the other communities that experience more of summer seasonal such as falmouth or nantucket they really feel that this creates a more vibrant city center and your encourages people to be out and about and then the idea of delegating july basically there's some interest in trying to do this in the summer months so rather than having folks wait some period of time before the next elections meeting if in fact a business received all the approvals from the political departments and pay the fee basically for this interim period basically because then it would be folded into the renewal process for the upcoming calendar year process or are you aware of anything that would say that we couldn't delegated to the town administrator on a permanent basis i don't generally i'm in favor of delegation wherever possible because i don't think we pay enough attention to the big pictures in the big picture of the what i consider to be the largest risks that are facing the just because of time so i fully support that idea of delegation mr jermyn ok now on interesting ellen you said if it's a different activity then they need a no license plates for each type of activity yes so i said one business the board would basically vote couple things they have the authority now to do so basically think the vote would be to institute a fee schedule as proposed which would be a twenty five dollars per event fee and one hundred dollars blanket fee for fifty three of the same relations doesn't exist at this then a second motion voted that for licenses because it's the summer season for licenses submitted in the immediate future that we would delegate the responsibility of granting  delegation of the authority to grant entertainment licenses to david hale ok but until so next to a new period i behind but but but we're catching up public hearing on application of art specialties l l c for a wine and beer retail liquor license at three sixty nine pro said genya j e n ok ok please if you could if you could give us a summary sure so we'd like to get our wine and beer license for our specialty shop we've been open about three months with three sixty nine trip hello road just right across the street from the movie theater we sell one hundred different kinds of cheese forty different kinds of tea a ton of different spices next we'll be getting coffee produce and we'd like to sell wine and beer as well our customers have been asking us for constantly and we think it would just be really a really nice compliment to what we're already selling ok ok so currently you serve more may specialty items ok so cheeses right and i was there actually yesterday and  i met our tour and i saw you sell cheeses and pickles and spices and the and and really gore may special great hype foods and so you think wine and maybe craft beer right would be  supplement to that you know as as a person who grew up in that area though resides in that area you know i am impressed that the store is helping to clean up the area i think i think it is a good addition to the community i am going to first ask you a couple of questions on parking deliveries can you do any of that deliveries from the back or do you anticipate deliveries being done from the front of the far has been really cooperative in terms of getting there really early in the morning so that we're not you know holding up traffic chewing up parking spots yeah  ok my other question is do you see yourself selling lottery tickets or tobacco products no and no thirty packs a budweiser now so we would probably make that a condition of your license that's fine as we have with with with other establishments that's been a concern to us jim what i'm going to do is let me just read a letter from the superintendent of schools you know apparently the property that you are located and although i'm not sure of the school the store necessarily does but the property the way it's measured does is within five hundred feet of the edge of the daniel bottler school playground so that being said the superintendent has weighed and and he says i am writing in regards to the application for a beer for wine and beer retail license at three sixty nine three seventy one propeller road a dress lies within the five hundred fifty i think should be five hundred feet zone of the buffer school in an attempt to remain consistent with past applications generally i am not in support of such a stab assurance near our schools given that this property is directly on the line of this boundary i would leave this decision to the board of selectmen who have jurisdiction over such matters respectfully submitted john failand superintendent of schools jim do you have any  is an excellent superintendent and for that reason he had to send us the letter but as he points out it's on the other the line and i believe from what my wife and i saw in the store  that beer and wine license would really compliment your situation and i have no objection and in fact i strongly supported you know we did have an applicant that was more within the five hundred forty five is long but across the street and i think that the other side of the propeller world where your located is very different from the side that's closest to the daniel i see the side that you are located again as being very different location and area and like i said i see your store helping to clean up the area so you know i agree with you i think this is the kind of establishment that mine when we when we considered other with other applications for the retail license i'm going i'm going to ask any comments from people in the audience moved to belmont last year we're at fourteen our street and this is exactly the kind of store that we wanted in waverly square we moved from the city we have two small kids who will attend  school in a few years and i think that you know looking at the waverly square area and the potential for revitalization this is the kind of story that offers that kind of gateway if you have something that is big and gastron then you're hoping that other maybe restaurants or other stores like this will come through so we really want to see this store succeed in iran from work to make this statement thanks so much ok thank you  is that you don't have neon signs that say beer and wine and you don't have it flaunting in the windows and that's what we tried to do in belmont center and you drive through you'll understand so i help the selectmen and future times there i mean it's nice to have inside yeah i mean they showed me the area where they're going to relocate the wine and the craft beer and literally it's a few shelves you're not talking about you know shelves and shelves and i could i could see the deliveries that being the case i mean i could see it's like any other delivery they don't like the cheese deliveries and it's like the the spice would imagine because i went and i pictured myself you know someone going and picking up some cheese and you know some salami and some gore may items and oh nice to have a bottle of wine right now you know you know with that so compared to some of ok any other comments for or against and support or not ok i have one more question what about training for a for employees which one of you would be example and you know under age drinking you lose the license and that's you know a plant ok ok i mean you want to discuss among ourselves i mean i know what i'm favorable products in the windows at a problem for you that's not it because it would ruin the wind anyway so i think that's a good suggestion does that cover your suggestion yes yes right you have to dental for yourself ok one second and then and then another condition would be of course proper training for employees proper courses and training for employees and we said no lottery not tobacco sales someone now that you have to dinner fire so i'm frank frazier precinct seven and i go through that area quite a bit and do business with the stores there particularly n g c computers anyway  that's all regulated by law i mean it's very heavily regulated but he does like to get a special like one day permit to do tastings and yes i think that's really on them i'm just now i'm sorry just before i forget and we do have a petition from a lot of our neighborhood folks saying ok point if you can you can submit that for the record show and make a motion short mr chairman and make a motion that we have the barely within the five hundred feet of the bottler school we have to make a specific finding that that determination that the premises are not that trick detrimental to the by the superintendent and if you look at the circle you know it's within a few few feet and i question whether the establishment is within five hundred feet i think it's the edgy or it's it's just on the beer and wine at the premises are not detrimental to the education and spiritual activities of the school that is within them that is within the buffer so you can say so in favor ok you can vote no and and i will i will tell the applicant the gentleman the gentleman sitting right there mr and mrs ok you know the couple have the best fresh k ok next item on our agenda is discussion related to eight sixty three card concord ave application withdrawal ok and i can i can i can give us a quick summary you know people may recall the applicant was acting as as the board of survey he has his attorney send sent a letter requesting withdrawal of his application so i think all we need to do ok acting as the application so again i think that really it's a moot point at this point if you think you need to go into as a board a survey you can but i think this is there's nothing before the board of survey based upon this application so i was no motion required o ok thank you you look out of belmont has been operating in the town of belmont for thirty eight plus years they've been providing quality service to the town's residents have a have consistently been there when the town has asked for compromise or concessions they have a number of different cab stands in the town that they have given back to the town to use for parking spaces  here before you this evening to ask for a rate increase due to escalating costs associated with the operation of the business we will last before this board eight years ago i believe it was and haven't had a rate increase since that time currently the rate is a dollar sixty which is what they call the drop rate which is the starting rate upon entering a taxi with a rate per mile of three dollars and twenty cents waiting time is twenty four dollars per hour where respectfully requesting that the board permit the rates to be increased to a drop rate of one point nine zero and a rate per mile of four dollars with a waiting time increase t twenty eight dollars per hour that is consistent with surrounding communities there are a number of different communities that we can give you examples for the rate per mile for instance in arlington is four dollars in burlington it's four dollars cambridge which a you know obviously a larger city and has more to draw from it's three dollars and sixty cents in medford it's four dollars and forty cents we submit to you that the rate increase is  modest increase as i said we haven't had an increase in eight years and as everybody knows the cost of doing business has substantially increased within that time period fuel insurance don't say fuel it's gone down it's gone down but  not over the eight yes it's gone up out with it with insurance costs the way that they are stiffer competition the way that it is these unregulated livery services coming in it's really put a financial through ninety two we gave up parking worked with this board for handicapped parking we've always been a front of the board have never had a problem and in all those years never was never a complain in the same area in the arena where we're competing we have people coming into this community from watertown earlier than lexington belmont taxi service can't solicit business so that means they can't advertise they can't have mr chairman yeah this business and i've been around this but yes i've been here for near forty years my father before me have to world war two my grandfather before happened to your business as a result of hoover up to the mr williams yes our business is off twenty five to thirty five percent but i have to say that the belmont residents pretty loyal when they ride there's a mandate on what is up what's already out there but there's also a cease and desist order for all vehicles who are not regulated so the problem leverage is do not regulate and they can just pretty much to as they please for example this rate increase is to probably increase it to the airport four to five dollars on an average basis well documented go for less money but bear in mind our insurance premiums are set by the calm of the mass and we pay an awful lot of premium for taxi insurance to nonpayment they're not going to pay because the person who was driving a passenger vehicle past your place that hit us that was working for had no insurance so now we change the person down the person lives in method i'm going to mention streets because the newspapers have it and addresses but in method out of second or third law floods that you can never find so this is what we're putting up with that's just one of many things so david do we have regulations that address this kind of service about actually in the next step in the next agenda item attached to a packet was the list of regulations that belmont has issued with regard to taxi cabs but what about the drivers  to the meter drop of one ninety and the rate per mile be increased to four dollars per mile in the waiting time be increased to twenty eight dollars per hour ok i second the motion to approve the requested  so if you could just speak to the mike because there are people at home wondering what you're saying elizabeth pugh i'm just rising to say that our family has used this taxi company for the entire time we've lived in belmont and then they've been in business and they they have always been on time any time we have called airport longer distance shorter distance safety for our  hundred ninety four very experienced i know the business in and out and i will provide a good service for the town the belmont ok a was made in brookline with the clerk's office and it was approved but i think that taxi has to be garage in belmont to be a belmont taxi  my i think we've had the conversation regulation no i think we've had the conversation with the applicant clearly the board can approve the license but as we go through the process of the other departments whether it's the police or the health department  your business address can be exactly can be in brooklyn and exactly right ok that's exactly what our regulations say that the taxi cab has to be garage and belmont right so for you to operate parked the car at your home and solicit business in belmont i'm not sure that complies with our regulations and you know misunderstanding i mean otherwise otherwise you're you know you'll get a taxi cabs you know all over the state applying to solicit business in belmont where did you get the idea of coming to belmont to provide taxi service given the had clearly know about that so you're talking about the brooklyn clerk not the belmont clerk both of them spoke to reach over the fall and that but again i think you're talking about different one is a business license the other is a taxicab license ok so for business to define a business certificated i think you're fine but to request a taxi license from us you need to review the regulations and make sure that you comply do you know the regulations you want the car to be garaged and belmont but  what we want it's what our buy hust that's what the bylaws state and i think you need to review those and make sure you comply and what we will do is we can continue the hearing for you while you but you need to comply with the taxicab regulations in town different laws from ok yeah when you provide them with a copy they have it so are not administrator will give you a copy yeah cab in belmont you're not going to raj it here and you want to proceed we well but you're going to be denied because you don't comply with our regulations so i'm giving you what i would really regulations ok so i'm giving you an opportunity to go back ok look at the regulations and come back and tell us how you comply and then we can act on your application so basically the tower would what wanting to get an office i think you need to look at the dva which central has done successfully in brookline versus filing for a business license in belmont for a taxi to do business here so there's two things and they're two different things so you have fully accomplished  of five by the brookline town clerk but you haven't yet fulfilled the requirements of the regulations that allow you to get the business license here and that means that perhaps you could come up with an arrangement with  someone a commercial business that has an actual parking space we do have a livery a livery licenses that do that so they could garage their vehicles on site in belmont to comply with the regulations that's what these gentlemen are telling so this means i would have to get an office space no no a garage raj or a parking space and you have more than one vehicle just one i'm going to say you're operating out of your house right there so you'd have to park it in front of your house is what it amounts to exactly you know so that's not going to work for the taxi license that works for the d b a but it doesn't work for the taxi license because the end we you know we're not making the rule up this is the way the rules are it's on our  we extend the to continue to continue the consideration of the taxi business license application from sandro mathy to our next regularly scheduled meeting is there some kind of next town administrator is your for mr chair i don't know if you want to go out because i know that there are some folks in the audience who are looking to have the dan sharpen road race approved but ok let's do the way they don't have is that a separate  years go to the foundation for belmont education and their innovative teacher and he should've and basically the money that we raise through the ron phones extracurricular to training for teachers in addition to an i pad program that they have implemented in the high schools a lot of every every stance that we raise through the race goes directly into that initiative and in the last two years we raised over forty thousand dollars for the schools and for the program and i'm here just to ask the town's permission to host the race again and as i say the first sunday in october and it's a five k race which is through the streets of belmont which up around burbank school the general school and around the high school and then we have a smaller race for making one change this year we're changing from a one mile race to a two kilometer race which is about one point two five miles but it's it's directly in response to our own concerns and also the police's concerns working with the police around a star that we had for the one mile race it was a little it was on concord so we've actually moved the start on the finish back to the high school track of to make it much more much safer for the participants of the race and a a change that we had to change the distance so we settled on that that's the only change from the last two years ok well i think you've got a process down and you're working on it and it's evolving and you're working with the police and   and that's that meal or basically you've appointed myron to the logan airport advisory committee report has created its own advisory committee so basically what we are asking is cuny advisory committee which dovetails into his current activities on the logan community advisory committee and basically they're looking for this affirmation by the board so that they understand that he's been myron thank you for your work i am going to skip around board of selectmen meeting schedule july through december might my only comment was you know i i assume our staff look through the schedule to make sure we don't conflict with any holidays or i think what we do we've gotten some feedback from mr williams and we've got your reports and under that there's a sup topic confirmation of light board and lab appointments what we did is we met as a light board last week and we made it to a new two two appointments to m lab the municipal light at visor reboard and we did so in our capacity as as the light board there is some ambiguity on whether we make we should make the on m lab with the terms of ashley brown and bob forrester expiring on june thirtieth so steve and ralph would step in as far as full members in their place and then we talk as a light board about advertising to open alternate positions to m lab so that you know the idea is we want new people we want new ideas we have learned that there's a lot of people that you know very interested and like department issues in town that said i do want to thank ashley brown and bob forrester they have served on am glad for ten years which is a considerable amount of time and and i do thank them for you know taking time out of their personal life and should be confirmed by the warders looks like because there is a draft charge which which i think you and i have both seen right on and laps purpose it's a graph and selectmen acting as a light board but it doesn't have those words so it's gotten suspenders but so this is the this document is hasn't been approved yet boy  we've seen it against several years old ok it's my understanding we've seen it it's in part the draft and not having done the research looking through the minutes to see if it was ever municipal light advisory board purpose and you know i'm always curious about where these things come from because it's absolutely clear that the light board is responsible and accountable for the like to partner in belmar well at and lab is supposed to be advising the like and like board on and on technical matters right you know but but there's no question that the like board is responsible and accountable for the li the like to part with yes david do you do you know what happened you know i mean i know it's before your time but do you have any idea i i don't i don't think there is much of a on the trail so from from formally adopted and then if it wasn't formally adopted then we need to know what's in place no because there must be something in place if i i if it has not been adopted then i agree with you but it may be that there's nothing in place but that's what we need additional information the town clerk the right person or the town council i think that when she's there she's the record keeper of the town but the town clerk is the official record keeper of minutes  d like so basically she has all the minutes of been provided so basically the request would be to just give her approximate time frame to see if she can research if that was actually taken up by the  subject to the conditions that somebody took with a town clerk who's going to do them well i don't think their appointment is subject to the condition they were appointed for a three year term ok but we will also we don't have tha fine right so that stands as stated and i would second the motion to appoint steve jones as full members of m lab for a three year term commencing july first two thousand and fifteen  a more hands off approach with respect to the governance of the like department and i think this life board ok this board of selectmen acting as a light board wants to get more involved with that with the like department and i think that's important and it's something that we all the residents and the voters in belmont absolute nevertheless lab can offer valuable advice to us you know on on on technical basically the week's worth of that went through without incident and all the plane that has taken place previous to that paid off and basically with regard to the public safety services and the other departments were involved and other agencies that were collaborating with were able to coordinate the event successfully and again phyllis marshall was the point person for the town and that's why i can gradually over it because i think traffic was managed well and then on site who basically were sworn in on thursday after completing a twenty six week training through the boston police academy and we received high marks from our cadets and it was police officers in addition to that again we should acknowledge the fact that one of our officers last week traffic officers map annoyed basically made a traffic stop and the time was able to make an arrest that basically when the car was stopped basically the officer investigated and found that there was five to six pounds of marijuana one hundred fifteen thousand dollars with the cash is confiscated so i'll just want to get all of the good works of our belmont police department in making our streets more safe taskforce implementation committee and for the other post employment study group that is formed by the board so works up to an applications those who are interested go on a web page and smell the electronic application in addition to that  commission economic development of eyes or a committee education scholarship committee energy committee historic district commission housing trust human rights commission permanent audit committee planning board propping casualty and and riser committee recreation registrar of voters shade tree committee traffic advisory committee vision twenty one water advisory board in c b s so basically we have accepting applications for those interests and that typically the practices the board will receive those applications and then start making appointments sometime and the middle of the year with summertime ok in addition to that  the massachusetts department of any real energy resources has issued the opportunity for miss apologies to apply for miscible energy technical assistance grants there's a pool of three hundred fifty thousand dollars a single applicant may receive up to twelve thousand five hundred for him in a simple energy technical assistance grant as i have mentioned basically there is an interest in something for this grant opportunities with regard to using those funds state funds if awarded to do a analysis of the possibility of revisiting the us solar panel demonstration project at the wellington school in basically having the technical analysis done so that we can make a determination of the project should continue and again the superintendent and i have spoken to basically clearly if in fact we receive technical assistance before any decisions are made it would be a community process with the wellington community involving the school community in addition planning board board of selectmen like  steps may may not be so with that the application process is this week so i would respect we asked the board authorize me to basically work with our facilities apartment and try to complete the application so it can be submitted ok so that is a state grant to do some engineering analysis and alice's ok just so basically the way it would work is we would get a grant and we would choose a consultant to help us do  analysis ok but that will not in any way foreclose further community dialogue absolutely not whether solar panels will be located you know on the wellington school absolutely correct  although our facilities director gerry boyle has been working with them but that is still an ongoing issue so so you know hopefully that that analysis will make  not mutually exclusive you know they're not i would that would be the purpose to make sure that whatever roadmap is designed for presentation that we would be able to perform the analysis to not make any problems worse ok so more information is better because it will contribute to the community dialogue yes is what i'm hearing ok i don't have a problem if you don't know i don't have a problem i always think that's the case because you can conduct a feasibility study and just i'd not to do it just as you can conduct feasibility study and then decide to do it i also understand that john failing is a supporter of solar and applications on the school buildings and they were able to put solar panels on all of their buildings  although i understand that that will be the opportunity in belmont so it certainly makes sense to take all of the wellington so i make a motion we approved the  exchange lease or value of real property if the chair declares that an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the public body cushing village ok sammy baghdadi i  jim williams hi mr chairman i make a motion that we go into executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel sandy baghdadi guy jim williams mr chairman i make of a motion that we go into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body in the chair so declares with regard to minuteman ok sa so we will conclude after our executive session thank you