March 28, 2022

“MADAM CHAIR, I MOVE TO JOINTLY REAPPOINT THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS TO THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE FOR THE TERMS AND POSITIONS STATED BELOW: (TWO VACANCIES - ROLL CALL) DAVID O' NEIL, MEMBER - THROUGH MARCH 3, 2024 THOMAS OLLILA, ASSOCIATE MEMBER - THROUGH MAY 3, 2024 MOTION BY: MR. STUTO SECONDED BY: MR. O'LEARY VOTED: MRS. MANUPELLI -DAVID O'NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA MR. WALLNER -DAVID O' NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA MR. O'LEARY -DAVID O'NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA MR. STUTO -DAVID O'NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA MRS. GONZALEZ - DAVID O'NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA MR. PEARCE- DAVID O' NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA MR. HAYDEN- DAVID O'NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA MR. RUDLOFF- DAVID O'NEIL, THOMAS OLLILA Next order of business. FY 2023 Departmental Budget Hearings (continued) Hillview Commission budget report was presented by Mr. Francis Hachey & Ms. Karen Moberg and can be found on Page 4. Also in attendance via zoom were Mr. Stack and Mr. Hemme. Mr. Pulver said he sees a line that says payment in lieu of taxes and LUC is all zeroed out and if that was intended to be that way for an ongoing basis. Mr. O'Leary & Mr. Hashey answered yes. Ms. Hurlbut said that they understand that for the time being until some project get completed payment in lieu of taxes will be zero. Elizabeth Rourke said that the Capital within the Capital plan was outside the operating budget and the capital plan will be addressed then. Mr. O'Leary announced that there will be new tenants at the Hillview and he thanked the commission for their work in this respect. He added that they need to continue to invest in this property so it will continue to return to the community tenfold. Mr. Hashey is looking forward to the new tenants. Chair Manupelli said it will be nice to resume town events there. Mr. Kelliher asked if there was an assumption in the budget of the revenue from the tenants and he would like to see the impact of that. Ms. Moberg said the lease was signed after the budget was submitted but the tenant will be taking over utilities immediately and paying $3500/mo. starting in August and 3% revenue share after the first year and they leased it for 5 years. Treasurer/Collector budget report was presented by Maryann MacKay and can be found on Page 75. No questions. Assessor's budget report was presented by Deb Carbone and can be found on Page 70. No questions, Information Technology budget report was presented by Elizabeth Rourke and can be found on Page 83. No questions. Chair Manupelli said that the towns needs to shore up some staffing and expand the IT department moving forward as Delphi was meant to be temporary. Ms. Rourke agreed with the need to add a staff members but were unable due to budget constraints. Finance/Accounting budget report was presented by Elizabeth Rourke and can be found on Page 58. No questions. Chair Manupelli added that Ms. Rourke wears many hats and noted her appreciation of that. Public Safety Administration, Page 87, Public Services Administration, Page 304, Town Administrator, Page 36, Select Board, Page 30, Town Counsel budget report can be found on Page 26 and was presented by Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto. No questions. Chair Manupelli added that Mr. Gilleberto also works around the clock and appreciates all his efforts as well. Next order of business. FY 2023 Revenue/Expense Plan Update Ms. Elizabeth Rourke continued with a slideshow. Chair Manupelli asked in regards to the 48K being an annual number for the new Northeast Metro Tech Vocational School Ms. Rourke said in FY23 49K range. FY24 same 49K range and FY25 and beyond up to 271K No Questions from Finance Committee. There was a Brief recess at 9:28 Next order of business. Brief Update on Proposed Rail Trail Project Mr. Wallner gave history on how this project feasibility study began. Sept 2016 Mr. Wallner meets Sarah W at Apple Fest while manning an SSAT booth and Sarah tells him about the trails. He followed-up with the Town Planner and they start to explore trail maps. In April 2017 Phil Hertz gets involved. He offers to give Mr. Wallner a bike tour of the trail. Phil is a long time resident of NR and is a Project Manager and now consultant in his professional life. What Mr. Wallner saw was amazing. What Mr. Wallner also learned is that our town has no access to our own trails. Lynnfield formally considered it trespassing to access our trail through their town. In May 2017 Phil then joins LUC. The rail trail appears as a project for the 1" time, and has been on their public agenda ever since. In Oct 2018 Phil and the LUC goes to town meeting to request $55K to conduct a feasibility study. Town approves and Phil subsequently gets a grant for $45K from DCR. Cost to the town. $10K. This was well publicized at the time. Feb 2021 Phil, the consultant and Mr. Wallner meet with MA DOT but encounter some major problems. A lack of a terminus, plus a lack of connectivity to other towns threatens the feasibility of this project. But then surprisingly, in. Nov 2021 Lynnfield has a major change of heart and is now proposing Willis Woods a new rec area in Lynnfield with access being offered to N. Reading, Middleton and Peabody. This is a major breakthrough and gets MA DOT excited about the project again. Mr. Wallner notes that the Transcript did a great job of advertising the Willis Woods public meeting and the subsequent results including a significant section of the article devoted to Phil updating the readers to where the project was at and the direction it was taking. Mr. Wailner also added that he has been reporting on these milestones during public sessions throughout his tenure on the Select Board and especially over the last few months. Meanwhile, LUC continues to post this project on their public agenda at almost every meeting..” (Motion: Stuto, second: O'Leary)

Read it in the official minutes, page 3 (PDF)