[Jennifer Keenan]: This is the Medford Historical Commission. Today is Monday, December 12. Right today as well. Yes. And let me just read our quick statement. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021, this meeting of the city of Medford historical commission will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so by using the zoom link provided for in the agenda. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted and public participation for this public hearing during this meeting shall be by remote means only. Okay, we have a somewhat light agenda so let's get going and hats are on in an hour so we'll see if we can be efficient here tonight. First up, we're taking a demolition application for 7 Hamlin Avenue. Commissioners, I sent around the application. It's in the Google Drive. So if you guys want to take a look and if somebody would like to make a motion.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: I will move to accept the application as to form. Although I think it's pretty weak on form, but also in substance, I think it's sort of interesting.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, thank you, Ed.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: second.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you. Okay so we have a motion on the table to accept the application for 7 him on Avenue with a second. I will go around for a roll call vote as they see people on my screen. Peter yes.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ryan.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yes. Okay, great. So we have accepted the application. Ryan, do we need a form for this?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes, so moved.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Thank you. So permission to spend $500 on a Form B to research the property at 7 Hamlin Avenue has been made and seconded.
[Doug Carr]: Can we pause here for one second? Yes, go ahead Doug. The construction engineer is saying the building is basically unsound. Do you know if that has gone to the building department?
[Jennifer Keenan]: I am not aware of that. And if there is something coming from building, um, I don't know about it.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Okay. Well, building stops, but yeah, but the fact is building can stop the music right away. If they do get it and do process it that way. Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: If we get something before our next meeting from the commissioner, you know, certainly we'll follow his lead on that, but in the meantime. will proceed as normal.
[Kit Collins]: And the engineering report actually is dated September 29th and it's addressed to the Medford building department.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, that doesn't necessarily mean anything because people get structural reports all the time and every structural report you'll ever see is going to say that the building is going to fall down imminently. So only the building commissioner can make that determination as far as we're concerned for demolition.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: And does the owner understand that?
[Jennifer Keenan]: They should. It's on our website and it's in our packet that we don't consider condition as part of our process.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Being told and understanding are two different things.
[Jennifer Keenan]: True. We have not been asked the question. And if we are, then I will certainly let them know. Okay so motion on the table to spend $500 for form B. That has been seconded Peter. Yes, this is for 7 Hamlin Avenue just to be clear.
[Adam Hurtubise]: And who who who made the motion and who seconded. Hey we're at least.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I made the motion and seconded thank you okay Peter your yes, yes, okay, Doug yes, and I Ryan.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And Kit.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, so we will proceed next month with a significance hearing for 7 Hamlin Avenue unless the building commissioner determines that this building needs to come down in the interim. I will keep you posted if anything changes with that, with regards to our agenda. But we'll have the form. Actually, Ryan, would John have time to do the form, even if the commissioner orders the building down?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. All right. So we'll get some photos at least and get some research on this.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, we want the form regardless.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, for sure. We definitely do. Okay, great. Okay, so we will pick this one up next month. 31 South Street, just to let you guys know that the legal ad didn't get run in time. So this one has been continued until January. So we will proceed next month with a preferably preserved hearing and make sure the legal ad runs and we'll get the sign posted for the neighbors on that property.
[Adam Hurtubise]: is madam chair. Yes, Ryan. Point of information. We were advised by K P law to remove the times on the agenda just to move things along so that people are expecting anything so our next agenda we should remove all the times on the agenda.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. No problem.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Thanks for letting me know that it did the owner come back at all about the delay or no.
[Jennifer Keenan]: No. Peter, can we make, I want to make sure that the minutes get noted about that time, what Ryan just said about the time change or the times on the agenda. Did they say why, Ryan? I'm just curious.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes, because if we put the times on there, we have to hold ourselves to them. Okay. So by removing them, people can make best efforts to attend the meeting, starting at the beginning and be prepared to speak when they're called upon.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I try to stick to them. But certainly, if there's more or less discussion, they can move quicker sometimes. OK, good to know. Okay, just wanted to talk about the 2022 annual report, which we need to actually compile. So Ryan, remind me if I'm mistaken, we usually take our, we have a template from last year, we have our demo delay cases, we have our site plan reviews and everything we've worked on, we typically compile it into the annual report.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Right, that goes to the mayor and then city council if they want to read it, but it's obligated to send it to the mayor. And, you know, we can start with the meeting minutes. That's easy enough. We just, you know, we summarize rather than a lot, you know, have to make people wait through our meeting minutes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, so looking for a volunteer to potentially start that report based on, we can use last year's as a template.
[Unidentified]: I'll help with that. OK, thanks, Doug. OK, and is there a deadline, Ryan, when we need to get it to the mayor? Nope, not that I know of.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, well, I think when the budget figures start being mumbled about, they actually started asking already. Which is a good thing. So we have to, Ryan, when did we have to give our, we need to get some preliminary numbers to Alicia.
[Adam Hurtubise]: That will depend on if they answer the question on how they're gonna roll the funding forward because we have been told basically that we need to allocate for what we're spending in the fiscal year. And there's an issue with the SMP, which I'll get to later. And so, but that may also impact other people. So we can talk about that a little bit later.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Yeah, I would say, I mean, personally, I would say, if we get the annual report done by the end of Q1. I think just more so we can get it off our plates because typically, you know, we'll start to get busier with permits and applications coming into the spring and summer when folks are getting their projects ready for the weather breaks. So I know, you know, between we took one application a couple months ago, we had one tonight. So, you know, certainly those set the tone for our future meetings in terms of what we're taking. So it might be, I think the sooner we can finish it, the better. And Doug, whatever I can, I can help too.
[Doug Carr]: Yeah, I, I need a deadline. So I'm not going to wait till the end of quarter one.
[Jennifer Keenan]: No, no. I mean, I didn't want to put any pressure. I mean, end of January would be great. Can we vote on it at the next meeting, but that might be a little aggressive.
[Unidentified]: Right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Maybe we can take each, take a section. We can look at it and I'll, you know, we can put, compile it. Okay. Ryan, you needed some reimbursement and reimbursements approved. Speaking of budget.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I have two small items. I had to mail the final report for the Massachusetts Historical Commission for the Winter Hill project, which is finally done. And that was a $9.35 expense. And I have an additional
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, hold on. You muted yourself.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Sorry, I have an additional expense for archival supplies, which brings the total to $75 and 18 cents. So moved.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Is there a second? Is that total for both? The $75.18, just so I'm clear.
[Adam Hurtubise]: It is. And just so everybody's clear, I'm not voting on this, obviously, because it's my reimbursement.
[Jennifer Keenan]: OK, motion has on the table and has been seconded to reimburse Ryan $75.18 for postage and archival supplies. Peter? Yes. Ed?
[Unidentified]: Yep.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Hit.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And I'll vote yes as well. And it looks like Doug dropped off, maybe by accident. So we'll just consider that a four zero vote to approve Ryan's expenditures.
[Unidentified]: I'm not sure what happened.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Maybe Doug's connection fell off. Okay. Moving on, last new item tonight, just to talk through 2023 officers, subcommittees, and our meeting dates. I emailed two documents to you all today. Why don't we do the meeting dates first? So sticking with our second Monday of the month schedule, except for October, which we typically bump back one week because of Columbus Day. if somebody wants to just double check the calendar dates. Otherwise, we should be in good shape for that.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Just so it's clear, we can schedule the Monday holiday date as part of the annual schedule without going through a vote in September. Because I know this year, because of the issue on foster court, we made a point of you know, getting everybody online with the date, you know, dealing with the Columbus Day date.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right. Well, yeah, we kind of talked through that, because do we want to meet on Columbus Day or that Tuesday instead of Monday, instead of bumping it back a week?
[Adam Hurtubise]: It's possible that we may want to meet twice that month. rather than try to cram in that week, or we could just meet that later in that week of people.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, it wouldn't be twice that month. It would just be instead of meeting.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean the the issues of 30, you know the 30th, you know that you know the issue has been without the consent of the. Applicant the 30 going going beyond 30 days, right?
[Adam Hurtubise]: So what we could do is we could. We could basically pace it out.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Let's see, the ninth would be Columbus Day.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So I guess the question, well, there's two questions. It's more of just, well, I guess it's not really. We can just say we're gonna meet a different day that week, and then we'll just, assuming we're meeting in person at some point, we'll have to just probably book a room somewhere that's out of our normal space.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, the alternative is is that we could always, you could always meet at the end of no, September, you could meet at the end of September. And then if you have something there, then that takes care of the jump in November. And then, you know, the next because that's moved up. You know, so you'd be meeting twice in September, that's all. And we could, we could always designate that meeting as like a demo only meeting. And if we don't need it, then we don't need it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I don't know. I'm up for discussion. What do you guys think? Would you rather just meet a different day that week or try to have a special meeting if we need to?
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: I would go with a special meeting because we don't know what the applications are going to look like. Again, the only reason why that's an issue is we were in a 30-day issue.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: My concern was we are not bound by the bylaw to meet Mondays every month. That's all I meant.
[Jennifer Keenan]: No, I think we can pick. We just have to meet every 30 days.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Right. I mean, we could set up like a provisional meeting for October 2nd or something.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. If we get somebody who's going to insist on within the 30 days, and we can get the numbers up in time.
[Jennifer Keenan]: That's not a bad idea.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah. I mean, that way we'd sort of have it penciled in, if you will, so people wouldn't.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, because if we can we just meet on the 2nd, or is that too long until November?
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: That creates a problem for November, then another 30 days.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So we just basically need a second backup date.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. And at the end of the day, there only needs to be a quorum. So if not, everybody can do it. We just need to have enough people to, to process whatever needs to be processed at that time.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So I guess the question is, do we want to do it? It would need to be sooner than the 16th then.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, we would have to set it up or give or take five weeks.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right. Hold on. Let's see. What are we?
[Unidentified]: I don't have this in front of me. Because September is... September 11th and November 13th. All right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So those are almost six. Those are pretty much smack 60 days. So we really just need. All right. So then do we want to say tentatively the second, so October 2nd, and then we can have our regular, so October 2nd for any.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Contingency meeting or something.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. I think, I mean, obviously if there was no application pending. Right. No application pending, we would vote to basically cancel the October 2nd meeting immediately. I mean, do we have to vote on significant on a 30 day schedule as well?
[Jennifer Keenan]: I think everything is within 30 days. So application to significance, significance to debt, you know, preferably preserved. Yeah. So, okay. So why don't we, so I will add in, we'll do a contingency meeting for October 2nd pending, you know, any, which would be demo business only. And then our regular meeting will just be the 16th as we normally do. Okay. Um, demo only if needed.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, perfect. And then once it gets closer, depend or maybe you know, if we're meeting again in person, maybe we can just do that one online for as a one off or we'll figure that out. It will get a space if we need to.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: What is what is the current timetable?
[Jennifer Keenan]: I think it's through March through March. I remember what Dennis told me before.
[Denis MacDougall]: It is it's through the end of March right now. And that we're, we're sort of expecting that they're Hopefully the new administration will just make it a permanent option. I'm sort of hopeful that it will happen, but we- Right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And then, you know, I guess at some point we should as a group decide, you know, I think the majority of us would like to be able to do both a hybrid and, you know, the in-person and online having, because our participation is greater.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: If the facilities will permit, you know, again, if the facilities will permit it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right. And that's the bigger challenge, making sure that the participation. Works. Right. And that screen sharing. And if someone's talking to us. In the room, can the people on zoom here at, I just want to make sure that. You know, we're doing right by both part, both parties and not, you know, So I guess, you know, TBD in terms of what the city says on that front, but. You know, if we need a room, we'll find a room. So it's usually not really an issue, especially if we have the date already booked. Do we need to, Ryan, do we need to vote on these, do you think? Are we good?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, no, I would vote on them just to set up.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you so well the dates as presented in the e-mail I sent around plus the addition of October 2nd as a contingency meeting for demo delay business if needed Ryan has made a motion on the table. Thank you add. Okay Peter.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes to approve the meeting dates plus October 2nd. Ryan.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And Doug?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Doug. So I will circulate an updated sheet for everybody. And Dennis, I'll send those to you so that we can get them on the calendar in one fell swoop, so that we don't have to worry about them not being posted, which is always exciting. Yes, Ryan, go ahead.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I'm glad that feature works. I was curious whether it did or didn't. On this note, should we set a date perhaps to have a public meeting as like a like one that's outside of our meeting that, and we can of course post it, but like, we can do all the fun things that we had talked about doing, like sharing history with the community and like having that map that we have in the library now to have people find their homes and date them and things like that. So like a meet your commissioners night, maybe something at the new library.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I'm not opposed to that. It's funny because just to give you guys on a little update, I should have put it on the agenda. Ryan and I were at the library last Monday putting away our files that were being held at the old library. And, you know, we have all nice new cabinets and everything's labeled and organized. And we spent what we thought was going to be a couple hours in the history room ended up being almost all day last Monday. And in the afternoon when we came back, there were some people in there working, and we ended up having the chance to show a couple people in there how to look up their forms on Macris and look up their property if it's there. We were able to look up the hard copy form that we had in the file just because the storage room was open, but able to show somebody how to use Macris and the information that's there. I think this is a great idea. I just, I don't know how we want to, we should probably well I'm sure Ryan you maybe have a little kind of outline in your head of what we want to do but I think it's a good idea. I think it's just how we, how do we want to execute it.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: We want to, with, with either community media or with the media tech kids at the book about this, because it would be something within there although at this point, because between coven and personnel changes I don't know anybody, I mean I don't really know anybody there anymore. My daughter graduated at my daughter was doing and she graduated.
[Jennifer Keenan]: It almost would be good, Ryan, if we could go to the TV studio, if they're allowing that and show, it's like more like an interview and a show and tell of like how to, how to look up things on macros.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Oh, I was, um, I was actually thinking, um, well, the library has wifi. I was actually thinking something in person where people can physically come say hello.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah. And then, um, I think an interactive workshop, bring your computer.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Right, right, right. And then I do think we should have just maybe a board retreat at some point too to just discuss goals and things like that. So again, that could be at the local history room where our archives are now so that we can talk about that too. And again, it can be posted now.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Why don't we do this? Why don't we kind of all have a deep thought about this? And because the other thing too, was that we wanted to, I know this has been on my list for a couple of years, sort of before COVID was, you know, getting out to Circle the Square and some of the events and having a table. And I know that kind of, we prepped a lot of materials and then, you know, Circle the Square got rained out and then it was COVID. And so I think just kind of looking at some of these things again, From a community standpoint, and where can we be visible and be out there to answer questions for people? I'd love to look at the calendar for the year. And say, okay, we're going to go to this event and we're going to go to this event and hear the. 2 people that are going to man the table here and here's 2 people that are going to man the table here. So that we already have it set and committed in our calendar. So maybe we can put that on the agenda for next month if folks want to look at the community events. You know, there's Tufts Community Day, there's Circle the Square, there's, you know, the Arts Festival that happened in the fall. So, you know, what do people like to go to? What have you been to in the past that you thought that you think could be a good fit for the commission? Where would we want to have a presence? And then in addition to those things, and then plan this night, and maybe if we had, you know, the two events and the night, or we do that night twice, maybe once in the beginning of the year, once towards the end of the year, that would be some nice kind of things out there in the community for us as a whole.
[Unidentified]: What do people think about that? Sounds good. I mean, one other idea is have like a booth at the farmers market or something. Yeah, that's a good I mean, again, I think we should talk through all these ideas and and see what what people want to do. I'm just all right.
[Doug Carr]: We'll do it the next meeting. Let's put on the agenda.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, that sounds good.
[Doug Carr]: We definitely need a calendar for the year. You know, I don't know if these events are scheduled a year in advance, but it's a great idea. We've done it before. We should do it again.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I think some of them definitely are. And if not, we probably have a general idea of when they're going to be. So I think we can probably get some, if not a hard date, get at least it'll be in June. And we know it will definitely be in June or a Saturday in June or whatever.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Approach the chamber about whether Clippership is going to come off again, approach.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Exactly.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Approach Carmichael, although I think Community Day is locked in. OK. Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: All right, that sounds great. Oh, we should come back to officers and subcommittee assignments. Are we voting? Does anybody want to run for an officer?
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Does anybody want to take over the job?
[Doug Carr]: This has all the, all the, all the thrill of a Soviet election in the.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Does anybody want to take over the job that Ryan forced me to take. What you're doing very well. Meeting. I told you, I love that I can be neutral. I think that that's a good position for me. No, in all seriousness, we have chair, vice chair. Peter's been acting secretary with Ed as backup.
[Kit Collins]: um you know we have some of these committees we don't have kit on anything officially i was just about to say that i mean you know if if this is like one of those opportunities for me to be elected you know i think that is the word i'm using yeah corralled slash I see openings on the website committee and the archives committee, where, where, where, where is the help most needed.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Both, I think you need both. Having somebody on the website that's more than just, it's very easy, it's WordPress, so anybody can do it. Having somebody there to have constant updates, like meeting summaries and sharing history and things like that is very helpful. And you can post date things. So like if we got a whole bunch of history, things that we wanted to share, you could just make a whole bunch of posts all at once and just have them roll out on a regular basis. Archives, Jen and I just got things organized. We're going to need to do some labeling and things like that and get like an inventory of what's in there. But and then there's more coming. I think that we have some files at City Hall that we still have to collect and now put in the regular archives, but that won't be a lot. So both of those would be great. And then, Jen, I'm going to say I would like to remove my name as representative to Medford Historical Society. Okay.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: I think, although, again, my time, particularly between May and October, can go crazy. One, we got a reply. I would be, you know, if I could, you know, depending on how much graphics work I would have to do, and I know it's WordPress, but still, we do have some concern for how it looks, and Abby did a good job with that. You know, I could work on the website again. I owed her a story for the book club, which I never actually wrote. which was actually, again, and if you will tolerate somebody who's who's interest go go from 18 that not 1890 to whenever 75 years runs out. You know, I mean that you know that that that's you know, again, that that's a far greater expertise and I have an architecture, obviously, but. There is some, as I said, the book club is the book club idea was something I was talking about Abby before the world went crazy and I had one piece I could write in the books actually still in the Medford Public Library.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Nice.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Or at least, I don't know. I don't know it was on the second floor now it was on the second floor, second floor locked up permanently, not, you know, because of the floor not because of the content.
[Jennifer Keenan]: I mean, I have zero knowledge on how to update the website. So if there's a couple people besides Ryan that know how to do it, I think the more people that know how to do it, the better.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: I know a little about WordPress, if you show me where the keys are and we can talk about it.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, that's Ryan can do a tutorial. So I think Ryan, if you want to set up tutorial for Ed and kit, because I think, you know, just keeping the agendas there and the media and, and I know like Abby would do a recap after our meeting where we don't have formal minutes approved until the following month, but just a quick update, like this is what happened last night. These were the votes, you know,
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: The idea, again, one more mention, X applications have been filed, even though that does cause a good deal of trouble. X did or did not pass significance, et cetera, et cetera.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right. I mean, you can see the previous updates that she would do, just a super quick update, just in case folks are wondering. And now, certainly, that our meetings are recorded and people can go back to them. Because I think I don't know if there's a link up there to like Medford community media where the meetings are so that might There it should yeah, so I will leave it if kit and ed you guys want to Plan a time to power with Ryan. He can give you a lesson on that. I will put And I'll put you and kit down under the website and then Kid, I'll put you on archives with Jess, if that's cool. Yep. And then does somebody want to be an official representative to the Historical Society?
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Because... How many meetings are they having right now?
[Jennifer Keenan]: I don't even know. Ryan, do you know? Like, what did you have to do with that?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I didn't do anything, I don't think, with it. But I've just become... They were... they were doing all their building projects. So I don't know if they were even meeting or doing anything with COVID. I heard that they were just starting in-person meetings once again. I think Ben was more active in dealing with them. He was the last one. So mainly it's just communicating with them maybe once a year and just seeing what their projects are and what's going on and how we can collaborate.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I actually think that whoever would like to do this, if somebody wants to reach out to the Historical Society and maybe just go talk to them, report back at one of the next couple of meetings, and then, yeah, like what's on their agenda so that we can work together. Because, you know, they co-sponsored the event. Wasn't that them with Doug with your talk with M-Belt?
[Doug Carr]: Yes, it was.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And that was a great night. And, you know, we were talking, I think I was talking with a couple folks that night from this society about like, where can we work, at least help them promote events. And if we do a collab combined event, you know, the more it's more, you know, pushes on our social media, especially to for Mbelt, you know, it was kind of talking to them about the more kind of cross pollination we have. the better and the more elevation and the more views we all get.
[Doug Carr]: I agree. I don't think it's, it's not like the CPC. When I volunteered to be the liaison for CPC, I knew I was signing up for like 14 meetings a year and other things, but this is more about communication. It's probably, I would guess quarterly would be fine, whatever they want, obviously, but I don't, it's not attending every one of their meetings for sure.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Presuming John Anderson has stayed in charge for a while, he's been to a couple of our meetings, usually with something germane to John. So there's a little bit of interface, but not much. And I don't know, I have no idea who else is there besides Joe. I mean, my last real contact was, no, how can I forget his name? Jay Griffin? Jay, yeah. It's a while ago. No, yeah, yeah. But I mean, you know, we had worked, we had actually dropped off some stuff there and we had, You know, again, he was my neighbor.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So of course, yeah, do you have time to maybe just at least touch base with them initially and see I can I can.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: If you give me a week and promise me that I that I will not. If it will promise me I'll be not but be bothered by my Chris Donovan on a constant basis. If he decides to take them up, take them over so.
[Jennifer Keenan]: If we could at least reach out to them and find out what the deal is for next year, and then we can talk a little bit more next meeting about who is the best fit for that.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: I can certainly email John. I think he realizes I'm on the commission. I haven't talked to him in years. OK. Let me see. And ping me on it on Monday. OK. I can do that. OK, yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, perfect.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Point of clarification.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yes, Ryan, go ahead.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Doug, do you know when your term expires for CPC? Do we have to renew you this year?
[Doug Carr]: Let me check. Hold on. I don't think it's this year, but I could be wrong. Let me check.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Based on the city's information. It was. I told them I would do it again. Okay. You're doing CPC again.
[Doug Carr]: Right.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Okay, yeah. We should be the ones to reappoint you to that seat.
[Doug Carr]: Okay, they eliminated the middleman and asked me directly. Let's take a motion on that.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, yeah, I will. I will move to reappoint Doug Carr to the CPC board. Seconded.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you. Okay, motion on the table to appoint Doug Carr to the CPC board. As the rep for the metaphors historical commission has been made and seconded Ryan.
[Unidentified]: Yes, Peter. Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ed. Yep. Kit. Yes. And Doug.
[Doug Carr]: Yes. Giving away $2 million is the best job ever.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Right. You can vote for yourself.
[Doug Carr]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, good. All right. So otherwise, no changes to anything except the website and archives. And then Ed will report back on Historical Society next month, and then we'll kind of make a decision on that.
[Unidentified]: That works. We need to vote on anything else for that Ryan, you think are we good?
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think we're well. Is the basic slate staying the same? Yes. I make a motion to approve the basic slate.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: So our successors are seconded with a friendly amendment to our successors are elected and qualified.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, motion to keep the slate of officers the same for 2023. I guess I won't, I don't know, Ryan, are you voting?
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes, in this case, it's a condition of necessity because you wouldn't have enough for a quorum, so yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Peter?
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ed?
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yes, consistent with Robert's rules.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Kit? Yes. and Doug.
[Unidentified]: Oh, yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay, great. All right. Um, does anybody else have any new business for tonight?
[Doug Carr]: I have an update on 130 Boston Ave. If anyone wants to see some before and after photos, if you've been by all this, I think I can share right?
[Jennifer Keenan]: You should be able to share. Yes. Oh, wait, hold on.
[Doug Carr]: No.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, hold on. I can make you co host. Maybe I can't. Dennis, can you make, there you go. You should be able to now.
[Unidentified]: All right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: It looks good.
[Unidentified]: I've been, as I drive by it, I've been seeing the changes. Hold on a second. Okay.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ryan went there too, I think, last week.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I ride my bike past there occasionally. They had some nice looking shingles and stuff on there.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, the outside is looking real nice now.
[Unidentified]: Oh, yeah. Can you see it? Yeah.
[Doug Carr]: All right, so this is obviously the one from before. I took this this morning. And I would say, you know, there's actually some reasonably good attempt to recreate things that were missing and reinterpret things. I obviously think the giant dorm with the small window is not the greatest look in the world. It's just seems really odd. But there is some level of detail here. I think overall, it's actually not bad. I think it's getting there.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Is that the stairwell, that dormer?
[Doug Carr]: I'm not sure.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, that's the sole reason why they put that in.
[Doug Carr]: Okay, I have one from the other side too, which is not as far along. But you can kind of see they, they can this night really nice to hear because they needed a much bigger one and they extended this one much further up. But I presume the white banding will continue and the color, you know, if you were, if you walk by five, 10 years ago, walk by a year from now, you might not notice it's that different. I mean, it's obviously been updated, windows have been moved around, they've been modernized, but it's, you know, it's not what I would do, but it's not, I think it's acceptable.
[Jennifer Keenan]: But I also think that like what was there is completely recognizable and that, It's a good thing.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I mean, the saw they preserved well, I think. The side of a lot, I'm not, again, the back of the house, but still.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Look, they actually put the diagonals up there.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: They did.
[Adam Hurtubise]: That's awesome.
[Doug Carr]: They tried. I think it was a good faith effort. It's not perfect, but there's something to be said.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, just to let everybody know Jim, the owner, developer, and all of the neighbors. I can't speak for Doug but neighbors that I talked to the day that I passed by are really proud of this project so I think it's a good example of how the, you know, we can get some things out of it and balance that with water preservation development, and, you know, just to show that preservation is not the enemy here that we can. get nice streetscapes and nice looking buildings with perfectly modern maintenance-free materials. This is entirely ASEC. The only thing that's wood on this building are the diagonal pieces because the company wouldn't warranty them, so they had to go with a cedar product.
[Doug Carr]: What I would add to that is I think the original discussions had entirely vinyl siding in this. None of this would look like this if they hadn't and spend the money, you know, because vinyl siding is just going to be horizontal, simple, you know, generic vanilla. And there's clearly an attempt here to do something a little bit better. What I would say the lesson learned for me is that, you know, we should try to pay attention to some of these details. I don't remember, Brian, if we tried to influence, you know, I know that we're going to extend these dormers, but there's a few things that in retrospect we probably could have bought a little bit more for on the massing and some of the details that Peter here and Brian often pick up in our views but I just have forgotten the process was such a long process but.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think you should pull up the, we did make an attempt to save some things. This is not the final design. It's close. It's very close to the final design. There were some internal changes that they made that impacted the exterior. And we did try for bigger windows on the dormers on the other side and things like that. So, you know, there was an attempt made. It's not 100% to plan, but you know, things change. Like I would love to see, a window over here. I think that's a missed opportunity. But, you know, I think personally, whoever, it's a single unit. So whoever buys this, I the first thing I would do is put in a window there.
[Kit Collins]: So is it is it is it a two family at this point?
[Unidentified]: No, no, it's a single family. It's too small. It's a really compact little building.
[Jennifer Keenan]: That's the north side, too. So you're not getting direct sunlight on that side anyway.
[Doug Carr]: No, it's just the proportions just look, I mean.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, I agree.
[Doug Carr]: A little insane, but again, there's nothing to prevent you from putting a bigger window here, I don't think.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Or at least another one. Or two or three more at this scale.
[Doug Carr]: Something. Anyway, I'll stop sharing.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Doug. That was great to see. And I hope everyone's happy. I know we're happy, I hope the owner's happy, and I hope whoever ultimately buys that house is happy with the way that it looks. It's a great house, it's a great location, so they will do.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Manning Street, they've done most of what we asked them to do, although they were going great guns, and they seem to have stopped. I don't know why. They have most of the siding on the project, but they haven't completed the front porches. And it's been like that for like three or four weeks, so I don't know what's going on.
[Jennifer Keenan]: We should also keep an eye out for 28 Grove Street. So that home just sold. It was definitely, there was a hole in the roof and the garage is collapsing. There were definitely things ordered by the commissioner there from a safety standpoint. The agents had to put fencing around it and it looks like it just closed. They've cut all the, Front shrubs were so overgrown, they were taller than the porch roof. So we did get an email from some of the neighbors that they're worried because it's a 13,000 square foot lot, although it's single family zoned. You know, I mean, now that they've cleared out the front shrubs, you can see this beautiful stone foundation under the porch. So we'll see if, you know, I'm sure there'll be a permit soon for that to start working on it. So we'll see what they wanna do there.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Only other update I have, I noticed that the Otis Carriage House had been torn down. but I didn't see anything new going in yet. See anything on that, Ryan?
[Unidentified]: No, but I can check tomorrow.
[Adam Hurtubise]: They were parking there where the garage was or carriage house was. Yeah, the carriage house also is gone. I should check Magoon because the carriage house there is gone.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Well, I was surprised over the weekend that there, you know, again, a house which not, which was not under restriction in a different town, which was sold on October 28th. The bulldozers were there yesterday. So they're still doing work, you know, at least the knockdown phase has still got weather to work with.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah. Well, that might've come to a screeching halt last night. So with the snow and it's cold now, so, um, Okay, does anybody have anything else in terms of demo delay, future, past, upcoming, since we've kind of moved on to old business? And okay, permits have been light, so not too much action there with regards to Anything coming in or anything that we need to be worried about CPA projects was just trying to get all the billing squared away. Ryan, do you want to update everybody on the billing and the budget and everything that's going to be taking place.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, so. We had a very difficult time trying to get an answer out of financial on how to handle the survey and planning grant. What happened was that $2,000 was charged to the account and John Clemson couldn't get paid out of the remainder of the PO. So we had to come up with some money that came out of this year's budget because the bottom line is, so out of that, we finally got John paid after like six and a half months of going back and forth. additional problem came to light that the financial director said that if we don't spend financial city's budget money by the end of the fiscal year it really does dry up. So that created a problem for the survey and planning grant this year because now we have two survey and planning grants relying on the same financial allocation in our budget. So I have MHC, Mass Historical Commission, looking into whether or not that meets the requirement of their grant. And if it doesn't, then that means that we have to very quickly come up with the money from basically the last year's budget that dried up when John didn't use it because he is backlogged because of COVID. So that's creating a multitude of problems, but we're working through it. We finally got the survey and planning grants basically contracted, but because of this issue, the contractor won't sign the proposal knowing that there's two items relying on one line item budget and the potential for it to disappear. So we're just kind of working through those problems. In terms of CPC stuff. We did award the project I think to the contractor for the wall, but I have not heard anything from procurement so we're just waiting to see if the contractor moves forward with that I don't, it's been six months since they put their estimate their bid in so I don't even know if it's. relevant or legal anymore. So we'll have to see. And to be perfectly honest, if we have to go back and rebid that project after bidding three times, I think I would respectfully tap out on that point and let somebody take it from there. So, so there's a, it just seems like it's taking a ridiculous amount of time. No, let me rephrase that. It's taking an unacceptable amount of time to get even the basic things done or even getting basic answers. So it's extremely frustrating. And I would, I would hope that the, you know, the city, I appreciate Dennis and Teresa planning and development office because they work overtime for me, but a lot of times they can't even get the answers. So,
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yeah, well, it's going to be interesting to see what happens with the budget.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yeah, yeah, because part of the question is, if that money really does dry up and we need to roll it forward because it hasn't been spent, that means budgets that normally are perceived as stable will just be fluctuating up and down because that money's basically moving forward into that fiscal year. So it may look like the commission, for example, is going from a $30,000 budget to like a $45,000 budget. But in reality, we're just taking the previous year's 20,000 or whatever and adding it to the new budget next year. So, and that should be that that's either going to be consistent for all the boards, or it's not going to happen at all and they'll come up with some other solution I'm not versed in municipal finance so I don't know what they're going to come up with but I've. You know, out of the November 4 meeting that we had with the financial department and the mayor's office. One of the things that the financial office promise was a policy in place on how to move that move money forward or not or how to deal with multi multi year projects because this is not just a commission issue, obviously capital projects can go on for multiple years and. you know, we're not the only ones with projects that span both years. So, you know, they've got to have something in place. And I just, I just don't know what it is. And I just don't know if I'm asking the right questions, but I'm doing my best to pry.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, all we can do is, you know, tell them this is how things work. And they're gonna say, they're gonna say, yeah, that's fine. Or no, it's not. And it's, you know, it's out of our hands in that respect. So I think they're gonna have, you know, obviously they'll be having big budget talks very soon to figure out what they're gonna do with the shortfall.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I guess the bottom line is we can't make a decision on our budget until we have an answer on how to do that. So, you know, cause that will depend on what our ask is.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Well, to some degree it may then put in for put in for the more money and say, if, if based on what we've been told, you know, this is what we are going to need. So you either need to figure out a way to roll it, or this is what's going to happen in order to meet the, the, what we do every year.
[Unidentified]: Yeah.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And then maybe somebody will pay attention and give us an answer at that point.
[Unidentified]: I, yeah, I would hope so.
[Jennifer Keenan]: So we can, we can, you know, we can get on the phone with Alicia and get guidance from her too. So she's been great in the past about helping us. Okay. Um, does anybody have anything else for tonight before we move on to minutes? No. Okay. Um, Peter sent around the meeting minutes for November. So I'll take a motion to approve when someone's ready.
[Unidentified]: Motion to approve the meeting minutes. Thank you Doug. Second.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Thank you, Kit. Okay, motion on the table to approve the November meeting minutes has been seconded. Ryan.
[Adam Hurtubise]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Peter.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Ed. Yep. Okay. Yes. And Doug.
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. If no one has anything else, I will take a motion to adjourn. It's 756.
[Doug Carr]: I guess.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Oh, hold on.
[Doug Carr]: I think we talked about the next meeting we're talking about planning the year a little bit more planning the dates, but also just any other goals people should bring to that media would they just think about. You know, what we've done in the last 5 years, most of you've been on this kit. for quite some time, you know, what's doable and what we can do. So I think this is a good time to kind of step back and think, how are we doing and what can we do better? If there's anything we want to change in our processes, in our protocols, communication. I mean, I think the relation with the city has gotten better and better over the years. I feel like we're in a good place now, but is there, you know, room for improvement there with the new commissioner? Are there any other players we need to talk to?
[Unidentified]: That kind of thing.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great idea. Thank you.
[Adam Hurtubise]: I think folks should just look back at our annual reports and see what the progress is that we've made, because there's a ton of progress. We've built a good board here.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And they're all on the website.
[Adam Hurtubise]: They are all on the website.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Great.
[Doug Carr]: Very good. Thank you all. See you Wednesday, right?
[Jennifer Keenan]: Yes. Well, we have motion to adjourn.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Motion to adjourn because whatever happens on Wednesday is not a meeting for public meeting. Right.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Okay. Motion to adjourn. Ryan.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Peter. Yes. Ed.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yes. See you Wednesday.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Kit.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: And Doug.
[MCM00001222_SPEAKER_04]: Yes.
[Jennifer Keenan]: Have a good night, everybody. Adios.
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