February 13, 2026 – Select Board – Video & Transcript
February 13, 2026 - Select Board
Good morning. Good morning, Carol Martin. As chair of the select board, I'm calling this morning's meeting to order in February 13 at 9 a.m.
This is a remote access only meeting. It will be recorded and it will be made available to the public on WACAM as soon as possible after the meeting.
The public, we are having an executive session this morning and the public will be excluded from the executive session portion of the meeting.
Pursuant to the Acts of 2025, this meeting will be conducted by a remote access in accordance with applicable law.
No in-person attendance by members of the public or the public will be permitted.
One may watch the meeting, though, or participate remotely with the link that can be found in the Wayland calendar found on the select board agenda.
When required by law or allowed by the chair, persons wishing to provide public comment or otherwise participate in the meeting may do so through the remote access link.
Public comment should be limited to two minutes per person.
This morning's agenda is obviously a call to order. Review the agenda, announcements, and public comment.
Approximately 9-10, we will enter into an executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 38, Section 21A-1,
to discuss the reputation, character, physical condition, or mental health rather than professional competence of an individual
or to discuss the discipline, dismissal of, or complaints or charges brought against a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual.
We will also review and approve the executive session minutes of January 14, 2026, with the intent to hold such minutes.
We will return to open session for a couple brief items.
One is to have a quick follow-up on the update of the proposed community mural project, community pool mural project,
and then we will review and approve the open session meetings of January 28, February 2,
and I don't believe February 9th, I'll reveal over 2026.
There are no topics, not reasonably anticipated, 48 hours in advance, and hopefully we will adjourn by 10 a.m.
I do want to note, although it's not going to happen this morning, that all agenda item times, if listed, are approximate.
However, items may not be discussed in the order of the times listed, and all topics may be subject to deliberation and vote.
So, with me in the room this morning here is Mr. Fay, Ms. Brinsley, and Mr. Whitney.
Mr. Levine is unable to join us this morning, and we are assisted by our town manager, Mr. McCall,
and our assistant town manager, Ms. Kelsey Powers-Furlett.
So, I believe we are also, no, I think I'm good.
Now, do we have any announcements for public, any announcements this morning?
Oh, sorry. Okay, great. Do we have any public comment?
Looks like it's just the WACAM broadcast. I don't see any members of the public here.
It doesn't appear that we have any public comment, so I will move on.
I move that the select board enter into executive session, A, pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A, Section 21A1,
to discuss the reputation, character, physical condition, or mental health, rather than professional competence, of an individual,
or to discuss the discipline, or dismissal of, or complaints, or charges brought against a public officer, employee, staff, member, or individual,
and, B, pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 30A, Section 21A7,
to review and approve the executive session minutes of January 14, 2026, with the intent to hold said minutes.
Is there a second to the motion to enter into executive session?
Second.
Thank you.
The chair declares that a public discussion of these matters may have a detrimental effect on the litigating, negotiating,
or bargaining position of the town.
So we will have a roll call vote.
Mr. Fay?
Yes.
Ms. Brinsley?
Yes.
Mr. Whitney?
Yes.
And myself?
Yes.
So that's 4-0.
The chair invites attendance by, excuse me.
Yes, Mr. McComb?
You're muted, please.
We're all remote, and I just, okay. I had to convey something to the assistant town manager. She's understood it. She got the message. It's about us going into executive session and leaving something on the screen for the public to know that we will come back. That's all taken care of, I guess. Okay. So the chair invites attendance by Michael McCall, town manager, Kelsey Powers-Purlett assistant, town manager, Kate Ryan, human resources director. The committee will rejoin the public meeting from executive session, and the meeting will return in approximately 30 minutes. And thank you for following up that we will be a screen here indicating such. All right. So everybody, we will see you in- Madam Chair, just to be clear, we will be returning to public session after executive session. Is that correct? Yes, that's what I've said. Great. Thank you. Well, if it didn't say it, I'm saying it again. We are returning. I did say it when we were at the agenda as well. So, all right. Are we all set to go? I will see you in executive session. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm going to call the select board back and to open session at 9.28 a.m. Everybody looks like they're here, so that's good. I have two quick other items to just finish off while we're here. And one is I wanted to do the follow-up on our discussion of the mural project at the community pool. We had a couple questions, you know, about how the fiscal agents would be handled, if some of the nonprofits that were on this committee could possibly be the fiscal agent for this project. And I reached out to the proponent who had contacted us and have been advised that they had a marketing meeting last week, felt there's a lot of work to be done, and felt it might be a low probability of actually receiving the grant, and had made a decision to pursue more of a fundraising campaign versus the grant. So, this topic is finished for our purposes of discussion. So, I just wanted to let everybody know that. Now, the minutes. We'll look at some minutes here. We've got minutes. Can I have a motion for the minutes, please?
Oops. Can anybody hear me? So, we're looking for, I'm looking for, well, I probably should have said, did anybody want to make any comments on my remarks about the follow-up on the pool? Otherwise, I'm going to the minutes. So, the minutes of January 28th, do we have a motion, please? I move approval of the minutes as amended. Okay. Second? Second.
All righty. All those in favor, it's going to be Bill? Yes. Anne? Yes. Tom?
Yes. Anne-Carroll, yes. Motion passes. Yes. Got it. Minutes of February 2nd. Does anybody have any? I need a motion for those, please. Move approval of the minutes as amended. Thank you. Have a second, please. Second. Okay. We'll give that to Anne. How's that sound? Does anybody have any edits on this? I do think I would like to suggest that under A3, where we talk about the articles, and then we talk about Article W, when we had Brian come in. I think a big issue here for us was that we had asked Brian, or the finance director, his recommendation on this article, and then he responded that he was not in favor, and the general consensus of the board was to pass over this at a future meeting. And otherwise, I think I'm good. Anybody else have any edits? All right. Let's have a roll call vote. Bill? Yes. Tom?
Oops, I've lost. Anne? Yes. I'll vote, too, now, while we're waiting for Tom. Carol?
Hi, Tom. We're voting on the minutes of February 2nd. Yes. Thank you. So that's going to be 4-0 already. As I said, I have no topics. I'll have a motion to adjourn at 9.32 a.m., and I will thank everybody profusely for rearranging the schedules to be here this morning for this important one-topic meeting, essentially. We'll let the board be adjourned. The meeting be adjourned. Thank you. Second? Second. Thank you. All those in favor? Tom? Yes. Thank you. Anne? Yes. Bill? Yes. Carol? Yes. Thank you. I will see you all on the 23rd. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
You're muted, please.
We're all remote, and I just, okay. I had to convey something to the assistant town manager. She's understood it. She got the message. It's about us going into executive session and leaving something on the screen for the public to know that we will come back. That's all taken care of, I guess. Okay. So the chair invites attendance by Michael McCall, town manager, Kelsey Powers-Purlett assistant, town manager, Kate Ryan, human resources director. The committee will rejoin the public meeting from executive session, and the meeting will return in approximately 30 minutes. And thank you for following up that we will be a screen here indicating such. All right. So everybody, we will see you in- Madam Chair, just to be clear, we will be returning to public session after executive session. Is that correct? Yes, that's what I've said. Great. Thank you. Well, if it didn't say it, I'm saying it again. We are returning. I did say it when we were at the agenda as well. So, all right. Are we all set to go? I will see you in executive session. Thank you. Thank you. And I'm going to call the select board back and to open session at 9.28 a.m. Everybody looks like they're here, so that's good. I have two quick other items to just finish off while we're here. And one is I wanted to do the follow-up on our discussion of the mural project at the community pool. We had a couple questions, you know, about how the fiscal agents would be handled, if some of the nonprofits that were on this committee could possibly be the fiscal agent for this project. And I reached out to the proponent who had contacted us and have been advised that they had a marketing meeting last week, felt there's a lot of work to be done, and felt it might be a low probability of actually receiving the grant, and had made a decision to pursue more of a fundraising campaign versus the grant. So, this topic is finished for our purposes of discussion. So, I just wanted to let everybody know that. Now, the minutes. We'll look at some minutes here. We've got minutes. Can I have a motion for the minutes, please?
Oops. Can anybody hear me? So, we're looking for, I'm looking for, well, I probably should have said, did anybody want to make any comments on my remarks about the follow-up on the pool? Otherwise, I'm going to the minutes. So, the minutes of January 28th, do we have a motion, please? I move approval of the minutes as amended. Okay. Second? Second.
All righty. All those in favor, it's going to be Bill? Yes. Anne? Yes. Tom?
Yes. Anne-Carroll, yes. Motion passes. Yes. Got it. Minutes of February 2nd. Does anybody have any? I need a motion for those, please. Move approval of the minutes as amended. Thank you. Have a second, please. Second. Okay. We'll give that to Anne. How's that sound? Does anybody have any edits on this? I do think I would like to suggest that under A3, where we talk about the articles, and then we talk about Article W, when we had Brian come in. I think a big issue here for us was that we had asked Brian, or the finance director, his recommendation on this article, and then he responded that he was not in favor, and the general consensus of the board was to pass over this at a future meeting. And otherwise, I think I'm good. Anybody else have any edits? All right. Let's have a roll call vote. Bill? Yes. Tom?
Oops, I've lost. Anne? Yes. I'll vote, too, now, while we're waiting for Tom. Carol?
Hi, Tom. We're voting on the minutes of February 2nd. Yes. Thank you. So that's going to be 4-0 already. As I said, I have no topics. I'll have a motion to adjourn at 9.32 a.m., and I will thank everybody profusely for rearranging the schedules to be here this morning for this important one-topic meeting, essentially. We'll let the board be adjourned. The meeting be adjourned. Thank you. Second? Second. Thank you. All those in favor? Tom? Yes. Thank you. Anne? Yes. Bill? Yes. Carol? Yes. Thank you. I will see you all on the 23rd. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.