October 21, 2025 – Surface Water Quality Committee – Video & Transcript
October 21, 2025 - Surface Water Quality Committee
So let's do a round of announcing our presence at 7.03 p.m.
And we'll get started.
Tom Klem present.
Hello, Carol Clam here.
Tom Largy, hi.
Steve Garone present.
Thanks, everyone.
All right, Tom, if you want to step out and get yourself a beverage or something, we can
leave a quorum.
Great. Thanks, everyone. Pardon me.
All right. The first order of business is approval of the minutes from 30 September, which I sent around. Yep. If anybody is, if everybody's okay with those, then I make a motion that we approve the minutes as sent for review.
Let me say it again. A motion to approve the minutes from 30 September. Is there a second?
Second. Thank you. And let's go around the room. Carol Plum, hi. Steve Garone, aye. Tom Klem, aye. Great. Thank you. All right. First item I have on here is Lake Chichewit. We had a couple follow-up items from the last meeting. The first was concerning water testing at Snakebrook, the Snakebrook part of Lake Chichewit. And Carol had referred to that historic report, the Linot, Lake Chichewit report. Lake Chichewit. Lake Chichewit. Yep. And I have not had a chance to look at that. And Carol, I don't know if you did. Was there any historical data in there, specifically phosphorus and nitrogen? Um, I looked at it, but that was like three weeks ago. Okay. So I cannot tell you right at the moment. Okay. Because that would be, well, that was certainly, well, and that's the Nolv report too. So I guess it's really kind of, my thought last time we spoke was if we had some historical data to compare to, that might be, that would certainly be useful to compare any new numbers that we get to. Yeah. No, to be honest, I really haven't had it. I mean, I looked at it briefly when I was looking for it for you, and then I haven't looked at it since. Okay. The only thing I tried to do is, um, I tried to go out there this afternoon to get down to see if I could pull up a water sample or the algae. And the banks are so steep that, let's put it this way, I'm not going to do it with my bad knee. I got down close enough to take pictures. And there's certainly like, um, algae and, um, the, along with the lily pads that are still left. So I can send you guys some of the photos, but a lot of the stuff seems to have sunk, but there's still a chunk of it left. So for what better or worse, um, I think it's going to require actually getting down there in a boat.
Unless we know some agile people that we want to send down that are like under the age of 20 or something. Um, cause clearly the fishermen have been down there. I mean, there's a path down there, but then it's, it's, you know how it's banked like it is near the embankment when you go into the bridge, it's all like that. So.
All right. Uh, so Tom, while you are away, we approved the minutes. Okay. So I'm going to put you down as an abstention on that one. Uh, let the people ponder at the mystery why Tom would abstain from the minutes. Uh, and so what we were talking about here was, um, last time we had talked about, uh, Lake Cachituit and Carol was talking about maybe doing some testing because of the, the, the plant growth and the algae she had seen there. And, uh, so she was going to say she tried to get down there, but it was a bit steep. Um, but you know, people are getting down there. So, um, you know, whether I, when she had sent around to the committee, the, the prior report that she had referred to, I had not looked at it. And it occurred to me that even if there had been say phosphorus and nitrogen testing back then, it would have been, it's over 10 years old. I want to say it's a 15 year old report. It might not be. It's from 2011. Oh, it's okay. So, you know, can I just tell you, can we amend the minutes so that Lake Cachituit is spelled correctly? Or can you just correct Lake Cachituit? You've got it down as line. Not, I knew there was something I meant to bring up. Okay. Just change the end for a C and I think we're all good. All right. Are you talking about Snake Park Cove? Yes. Yes. Okay.
Yeah. And so last time we were, Carol found this Linot report. Or no, I spell it as Linot. Is that correct? It's Lycott. I spell it Linot. Okay.
No. Yeah. Lycott was one of the direct predecessors of solitude. Okay. But yeah, we were talking about the possible, the value of doing testing down there. And this, this Lycott report is what Carol had seen. I don't know what data is in that report, but even if it was, even if it did have say phosphorus and nitrogen, it's 15 years old and they may not have tested in the same spot anyway. So still an open item as to whether we want to initiate any testing there. Actually, they did test in that cove. I know that much. Okay. Well, maybe there was some value in that. Okay. Let's leave that, let's leave that open. I'll, I'll look at that report. Carol, I apologize. I should have done that, but I just didn't have time.
All right. And the other thing I want to, so we'll continue that. discussion for our next meeting, excuse me. The other part of the, of the Lake Cachituit discussion was in the course of writing the annual committee report and looking at last year's report, we had discussed a year ago taking action or at least advising on actions needing to be taken on Lake Cachituit concerning yellow irises and purple loosestrife. And the action was for me to initiate the process through conservation. And what I learned from Emily Cuellar at the conservation office is that there is an order of conditions on Lake Cachituit. It's with the, it's, it's, it's with the state DCR. It was prepared by solitude. I assume that the, the OOC is in solitude's name. I've not looked it up yet, but it's three, two, two, nine, seven, two. I have not downloaded that from the registry yet. I assume I can get it there. Um, if not, I'll get it from Emily. So, uh, Carol, let me take as an action to get that document. It's, it's valid through next July. So we can review that. And if it does have anything about that, wasn't that just for treating, it was for treating like, um, nuisance weeds, like milfoil. They were aquatic.
Okay. So you may not, it may not be a broad permit for managing. Yeah. I'm looking for my, my list of, keep going. I'm going to try to find my permit list.
So yeah, don't wait. It's going to take me a little bit. Okay.
Oh, comment. Um, uh, I've spotted some, uh, yellow iris, uh, on, uh, around herd pond. Um, I don't think it's spread. Um, it's there, uh, several comps and that's all there is to it. I, uh, uh, yellow iris, uh, apparently, uh, it's difficult to eradicate. Uh, you've got to take it out by its roots and, uh, it's, uh, it's just there. And, uh, uh, I, uh, certainly wouldn't recommend doing anything about it on herd pond. Uh, I, uh, I don't know how widespread it is on Lake Conchituate. Uh, I have no idea, but. I think the first order of business is to, uh, look at this, this permit, the, both those plants, yellow iris and the purple loosestrife are not native. Um, so they can certainly be managed. I mean, we do have water chestnut, which is a native species. Um, so let's see what the contents of this, this permit are. Uh, and then, you know, we have contacts at solitude. We could certainly, when that comes up for renewal next year, we can talk, or I can take as action to talk to those guys and suggest they might make it more broad based unless it's, if it's as specific as Carol says it is. Well, there should have also been one for the town beach, right? That was the thing that we got into like a couple of years ago is there's one for pulling, for pulling aquatic weeds at the town beach that Catherine Brenna has. And I'm sorry, for some reason, I just can't locate that Excel file. You know, the one that I sent everybody that had, oh, maybe I can try it from the mail. So, yes, but Catherine Brenna and rec has an OOC for weed management at town beach. Yeah. Cause that's how they go in and managed it every year. They've been pulling it out of the, um, the, what do you want to call it? The bordered section that they use. Okay. And that's specifically what we care about. So, uh, let me track down that. No, no, no. The cove is outside of their, outside of the town beach part. Oh, they're only literally pulling within the barrier. Okay.
So with the, uh, okay, let me look, let's look at the, the 322972. I assume if it's Lake Kachituit and it's for the, it's on the state's behalf, I assume it could be for any part of Lake Kachituit. No, I think they're specific to what you're doing. So that's what I'm saying. What we were talking about is they were, remember when, um, Jack was saying that the people were having trouble swimming over from Saxonville. Jacksonville, right. And that, the, the, the, I forgot the man's name is going to, from the U S the Massachusetts, uh, DCR was going to come by and they treated it, but that was several years ago.
Okay.
But, um, that was the one thing. The last time I gave this a really good go is that it has to be specific.
All right. Let me, let me continue following up on that. I can be more specific. Like when I wrote to conservation, I just said Lake Kachituit, assuming it would be applicable to any part of the lake. So first order of business is to look at that permit and see what it covers. And if it's, um, the case that it's restricted to certain parts of Lake Kachituit, not this cove area in North Pond or restricted to certain kinds of plants that I can take as an action to find out who we need to work with, whether it's the state, make them aware. Just, just to have the, uh, the, the, the language built into the, uh, order of conditions to allow it. So not, I don't know if that would need to be a whole separate order. Maybe so, but let me, um, get more, um, information on these specific requests that we have pertain to, uh, the town beach area, North Pond area. All right.
I can't believe I can't find that.
You'll find it as soon as we move on to the next topic. Yes, I'm sure that's how it works. Right. Right. And that, that next topic. So that's, that's all for Lake, uh, Kachituit. Oops. Excuse me. Uh, okay. So Herd Pond, uh, last time we spoke, oh, there are two invoices before I get to the invoices. So last time, you know, we, we mentioned that work had been completed on Herd Pond, both the chemical treatment and the number of days for hand harvesting of the water chestnuts. And before the week we had met, uh, Jeff Castellani at Solitude was, had told Tom and I that that report would be coming the end of that week, that beginning of October. It hasn't been forthcoming. It hasn't been forthcoming. I sent him a note, uh, last week and there's been no response. So, uh, I need to, to follow up and ping those guys. Um, so I'll, I'll take that as an action. So Tom, I, yeah, so we need to push them, which is unusual because Jeff is usually pretty good about getting that report to us, isn't he? Yeah, absolutely, uh, although, um, uh, you know, solitude is, uh, nationwide now. And, um, so, uh, I think what happens to him is that, uh, uh, now there's a South and there are, uh, uh, uh, condominium complexes that have ponds and golf courses and on and on. And, um, um, I, um, it's, um, similar, uh, problems may be magnified quite a bit. They've got other plants down there. It's possible that, um, he's been paying attention down there. I, I simply can't, uh, say, but he's mentioned that, uh, kind of thing before. And it could be too, if that is the case and fade, you know, if they're getting payment from them is a bit, uh, less burdensome than getting paid from the town. And they may giving them their attention accordingly because they're getting paid more quickly for their work. So that's all speculation. So I'll, I'll follow up. I'll, I'll loop. I think I've only looped in Tanner cause he's been on the messages. So Tanner pool is assisted with the herbicide. I'll bring Keith in. I'll, um, you know, threaten to make actual phone calls if they don't give us a, an update. So I'll take that as an action to follow up with Jeff. It's unusual. He's been good the past few years getting us that report. Um, so let me take that as an action. Um, so do we have, how much money have we got left for the rest of our fiscal year, which ends in June 30th, 9th, 20, 26. Oh, I have not looked at our, at our budget. And again, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's cloudy for me because it seems like you can, uh, the money rolls over. So it seems like you can pull the money from wherever it may be. I've not looked at the, done a budget exercise, uh, in a while. So I think we're pretty much spent for, and you're talking about for 26. So that's the next six months. Yeah. I don't know. You were asking about the FY26. Well, I just want to know what money we've got in the budget. Cause like I said, the more, more of these meetings I listened to, the more it's going to be like, people are going to be chopping at each other with actual swords and knives, trying to get money out of the town. So the answer for everything is no, which reminds me, I didn't put this in the minutes I forgot, but we, we can, we can talk about this. This is relevant. So last time, uh, Carol, you brought up the idea of, could we, could we get CPC funding, uh, for, for water bodies? Uh, and the answer is no. I, I looked, I, uh, inquired of, uh, Susan Weinstein, who's on the, um, CPC, uh, chair, and she clarified that. No, when I was reading the guidelines, it says open areas, but unfortunately water does not count as open areas, open land areas. So that would be serious that that's the actual distinction in the legal term that open space is not considered. You can't have it on the side of the, well, we could just say that it was land for some of it, right? I mean, at least for hand pulling weeds and things, uh, in which, so I know we've talked about, uh, like on the Lake Itchituut part of it, if we said it's just mud and, you know, anyway, it's a thought. So she just said, no, the answer is no for open space. Well, I didn't go into plants in shallow muddy water versus plants on land or plants floating on the water. I suppose I had in mind plants floating on the water or in the water. So she, she said, no. So I can, I can go back and say, well, what if it's, what if you can stand in it and pull the plants out? See if that gets any more, uh, more, more clarity. And just because I did find that file, as soon as you said that I would find it, um, it's, it, the 3222-972 is for Lake Itchituate. Tom Flannery, um, from MassDCR was the applicant. Okay. And it just says land underwater body and waterways. All I've got for a note, but it was from May 31st, 2021.
So, but you said it ends next, um, August. I mean, next, next, next, next July. So it must've been extended to, to through 2026. So that one doesn't specify any kind of plant or any part of Lake Itchituate. It's just plants on the water or underwater. Well, um, you know, CPC funds, uh, it's also include, uh, recreation. And, um, I, I think that's got to be revisited in the, uh, future. We've gotten it in the past, uh, for water. These are things called circulators a number of years ago. Um, so they, they certainly do it. If we were to do any, uh, work on the, uh, mill pond in, um, uh, future years, we'd, uh, certainly, um, uh, look to, uh, CPC funds. I think that would be the only way it could be accomplished. And, uh, I, uh, I think, uh, that is probably just, uh, the interpretation of that person, uh, you talk to. Um, I think it could be, uh, interpreted more broadly. Okay.
Okay. Um, but the, the, the thing with that though, the deadline, I believe is November 5th, correct?
Uh, I don't recall. Let me bring it up. I thought that was the, I don't know if that's the application or for the thing. I think it is because it's been going on. Hang on. Keep going. Okay.
November 13th.
13th. Okay. I'm wrong. Okay. But your, your point is still correct that there's not much time to, to mess around.
Well, what would we ask for CPC funds for right now? I, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, generally it's for exceptional things. No, no, it's not. They just put it, you know, I guess I look at the, some of the stuff that people put in for, and I know conservation did put in for money, um, last year for like removing weeds and things like that. And they were fixing stuff up. So it doesn't have to be exceptional. Uh, and then, you know, especially for the open space stuff, as opposed to say like, you know, uh, the pool people are getting that $320,000, you know, for maintenance. Um, so it depends on which area you're in, but we could do something for open space. I just, I, I am thinking we're going to be fighting for money. So if we can come up with something that actually applies to what we're doing, that would be good. There were the, the probably the easiest, not easiest, that there were, we didn't specify one in particular. There are two things. One would be, uh, Procella core for Dudley pond, which we have some sense of from prior years, or it could be for, uh, urban clear cast on herd pond. Uh, because we could go for a boat land boat launch on Dudley, if you really, or even like if we added like for a, Hey, a boat launch on Sherman's bridge for heaven's sakes. I don't know. Um, I don't know how complete the plans have to be. Right.
And, but the money has to be, so if we, if it gets voted, uh, at the upcoming town meeting, it would have to be spent during FY 27. July 27, correct?
Is there a time limit on the, I would think it would start, right? Cause that would be in June of July of 27. I mean, July of 26 is fiscal year 27. Yeah. So, okay. So, well, we can worry about that later. I don't know if it has to be, maybe it has to be started and not used up, but, uh, that would carry us. Let's say we were to do that. We would have until, if it's FY 27, we'd have until June 30th of 2027 to spend the money.
So, but we know we've got the water chestnut problem on, on herd pond. So, um, let me take a crack at it. I don't know how much information is needed and, uh, I'll have limited bandwidth, but we can at least put it through and it's, you know, Carol, to your point is it's, it's, it's worth doing if it gets rejected either because it's out of scope of what CPC allows. And Tom, what you said is, is informative. That really clarifies that, you know, just it's not that cut and dried. And you've got that recreation element of CPC usage. So let's, uh, um, so let me. Yeah, I'm sorry. I do not have a lot of bandwidth until after November 14th myself. So that's the other reason I'm like, I'd like to, but I don't think I can do anything. So, okay. Well, let's, uh, let me propose a motion. And again, I don't know how, um, you know, how much I would be able to put in, but let me make a motion, uh, for the chair myself, uh, to submit, um, uh, an application for CPC funds for ClearCast treatment on HerdPond. Second. Oh, I second that. Okay. I'll give that one to Tom since he's our HerdPond expert. Uh, okay. And let's go around the virtual room and take a vote. Uh, Carol Plum, aye. Tom Largy, aye. Steve, you have to actually say it because people can't, oh, you're muted. In the meantime, Tom. You grown, aye. I muted myself because my phone rang and I forgot to unmute myself. All right. So let me give that a shot and we'll see, we'll see where it goes. So motion for ClearCast on HerdPond.
And we'll leave it at that. I don't know what the dollar amount would be, but I'll just, uh, I'll go for it. Thank you, everybody. But yeah, it's worth a shot.
So thank you for doing it. I'm offering. Yeah. I don't know what I'm volunteering myself for, but it'll be an education. All right. Uh, that was it for HerdPond. Oh, I'm sorry. It's not the end of HerdPond. Uh, there were two invoices that I had sent everybody and these were, uh, for HerdPond. Uh, one of these is, uh, for, looks like two days of hand pulling of water chestnuts on HerdPond for $2,400. The other one, uh, I guess they never sent this through previously. It's for, um, it says a one time, it says permitting. Uh, so, oh, I guess actually that was the permit they had to get before they did the, uh, the herbicide. Uh, so, uh, permitting for the ClearCast treatment on HerdPond, $300. Uh, so, uh, I'm going to put these both under one motion. So motion to approve the two invoices from, uh, solitude, one for two days of hand pulling of water chestnuts, $2,400. The second for permitting, uh, of ClearCast application on HerdPond for $300. Uh, do I have a second? Second. All right. And let's go on the virtual room. Uh, Carol, I, Carol Plum, I. Tom Largy, I. Pete Garron, I. Tom Klem, I. Thank you, everybody.
So do you have an Excel budget spreadsheet somewhere? I do, uh, have one and we, we've talked about this before. I know there's a way to make it accessible to folks and I tried doing a Google thing, but it, it bounced back to a Google share. So I can certainly send it to everybody just to, and it's not complicated the way I do it. Uh, which I just think the easiest thing would be to share it on zoom, but you said it does not working. No, no, no. I can share it on zoom. I tried to, at one point I tried to do it as a, a Google doc and I just typed in everyone's town emails and it kicked me out. I don't know if there's a. No, you have to share it individually on that file name, like go into the file, have the file open and then share it individually with each of us. Is that what you were doing? Uh, no, I was, you can share it to multiple people. So I would go into Google docs. I would type in, or your four email, your, your email addresses and it should have given you an invite to that document, but it kicked, it kicked back. It was asking, it was saying these are not. All right. I'm going to make you go through it all, but I'll try it again, but certainly at the very least I can call it up here. I don't have it on this, on this laptop though. Yep. Thank you. All right. Uh, Dudley Pond. The only thing I put on here was what we had talked about last time, the extension of the order conditions. Uh, this is also my action. I got in touch with conservation. Uh, all I need to do, I say, all I need to do, I assume it's a light lift. Uh, they informed me that, uh, all I need to do is send them a letter requesting extension of the order of conditions. Um, as they, as Emily quoted back to me, as we had done last time, the last time it wasn't me, it was Lisa Newton. So, uh, I'll see if I can find that document, but I assume it's a straightforward request, but I will take care of that. Uh, conservation is meeting next week and they're meeting in the middle of November. So for one of those two, I will submit this letter and have them, uh, approve it. Well, I'll submit it for their approval. Hopefully they'll approve it. So I'll take, take that as an action, but just to update the committee on that, it's, um, it should be a pretty straightforward process. I know we've done it a number of times now. It doesn't seem to be any kind of a, a burden. So just this time it'll be me requesting the extension for another five years. So is that for 3, 2, 2, dash 0, 8, 5, 9. Yes. For Dudley Pond. Okay. Yeah.
Well, I've, I've seen it more as 8, 5, 9 and 0, so I don't know what the number is. I standardized it against all the things that I had. So they're all the ones that need zeros have zeros, but don't worry about it. I'm not going to worry about it. Believe me, that is the least of the things I'm worried about. I've learned from trying to get stuff out of state databases that if you don't use the right format, it doesn't go well. Anyway, go ahead. Sorry. Interrupt. That's right. So that is a, that's an ongoing action for me to, to pursue. All right. Well, that was, uh, that was it. Uh, topics not anticipated. If anybody has any, uh, Carol, you had sent, um, something about the waste, the Dudley Pond wastewater treatment group. I think that was just an FY. Do you want to speak to that at all? Well, my only thought was they're going out and they're, they're doing recon, right? They want to know if you can put it in there. I didn't know if you'd heard any more from your meeting of the actual task force. The task force meets next week. So we'll hear then. I've not gotten any communications other than our next meeting is next Monday. Tuesday or Tuesday. That's my day actually. So because that, I mean, maybe it has nothing to do with it, but that the fact that they're looking for a sewer main to run down Dudley road, I don't know. It just raised the flag saying, what is this? And I don't know what it is. Yeah. That first meeting we had a month ago, uh, was simply here are the options we are considering, um, to, to solve, to resolve the issue of this new system at the high school meeting. I think it's 10,000 gallons per day, which they can manage during the school year, but they can't manage it when school's not in session. So if they could tie in the neighborhood, they can meet that threshold. Yeah. But I was going to say, the other reason is Tata, Tata, I don't know if that's how you pronounce it. It's a Tata or Tata and Howard are the people who built the wastewater treatment plant at Andrew Ave. So that's, these are the people. So there, it's in their Dudley road, water main improvements project for engineering services for not to exceed a hundred thousand dollars. So I don't know if the water main itself is like been self-destructing or if it's part of your thing. So you can find out though, right? When you're at your meeting next week. Right. Yes.
And you said these, this company, this engineering firm built a small treatment plant at Andrew Road. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the one, that's a wastewater treatment facility that we have at town center. Okay.
I'll stop by and take a look. I'm curious how big this would be. And they're talking about putting one around here. I don't know how big this thing would look. Well, have you ever looked out behind X-Golf and Ace Hardware? There's a big bar looking building. It's like a two and a half story kind of thing. No, but that sounds bigger than the little neighborhood woods that we have. And that's treating, go ahead. I was going to say, it's not that big as things go. You know, it's certainly larger than the one, it's certainly larger than the one at the high school. Right. Yeah. So anyway, you can take a look. All right. There'll be more to talk about next time we meet. And speaking of meetings, so we can meet in December. We've got, you know, a month from now is Thanksgiving. People be away. What do people have as availability? Let's see. What were the first 17, 24, 26, 27. So Monday. Are you talking about November or December? December. Okay. So are people free the first week or maybe two of December? Monday, December 1st is the first day of the month. Steve, do you have a, this is, we're meeting Tuesday. Steve, is the ninth, the second or the ninth? Are either of those good for you? For meeting? Second, the, the, the ninth is the second Tuesday, which is. I would not like to do it on the ninth. Okay. Let's take it off the table. Or the third and the 10th. Those are Wednesdays. Can't, can't do Wednesdays. All right. So we're down to the, so let's start at the second. Second. I can get it. The second? I can do the second. Tom Largy, December 2nd. I'm entirely flexible. I have nothing in December, at least weekdays. Second looks okay. Excellent. Let's lock it down. So our next meeting will be Tuesday, December 2nd. Excuse me. All right. Cool. That was it. You know, sorry that some of these. Can I just mention a couple of things? Yes. Hold on. Okay. First, one of the things I was asked to do at the last meeting, you recall, I, I reported on the testing that went on in Dudley Pond. Yes. Just prior to the meeting. And we authorized the payment of the. 2,500. Yeah, for no, not for that, for the, I don't have the name of the company in front of me. Alpha Analytical. Yes, that's it. Thank you. Pending their providing us with a report. So I. Uh, no, that was, that was, that was, that was ARC, aquatic restoration. Right. Okay. And, um, I wrote to the two people that you mentioned and I haven't heard anything back. Okay. I, I did, I did talk to Alison about it. You know, she's, she's, uh, it's part of the group of what I call the renegades. Um, and, uh, she said that they often take a very long time to write reports to which I responded. One of them was done in the spring. So, um, I think I just have to call them directly. Okay. Well, so for more of an update on that. So we, we had, uh, made a approved a motion to not pay, uh, believe the second invoice till we got that report. And, uh, Kelsey in the town knew that I told her we were going to vote on approving that second invoice at our last meeting, uh, in September. And I, uh, don't believe I wrote to her, but she told, uh, Ken Gendron that both, uh, invoices will be paid as of last week. So the checks have, are apparently in the mail already. So unlike almost every time I get in, then we just have to now twist our arms to get reports out of them. Yeah. And I think that's, yeah. So we'll have to, I just find it amusing because, you know, it's so hard to get things paid almost every other time. And this time I didn't even give her an approval. Yeah. It's like, we have no leverage now. Well, we have no leverage. No, no. Take it tight. Take it entirely as a sign is like the whole town manager act thing is, is really working much better. And the people are there that are working better. It's nothing personal. Well, I didn't take it personally. I just thought it was amusing that it's such a struggle to get, you know, these small, and this is not, wasn't that so expensive, but every other time Kelsey is like, you know, did the committee approve it? I need to see it in the minutes. And this time it's like, Hey, Ken, check's in the mail. What if we said no? Oh, that's so you can't say no, no, no, but you trained her. Yep. Yep. I didn't even tell her. I, anyway, Ken's got his money, but yeah. So we'll, we'll get that. Well, so we'll, we'll lean on him. And, you know, we, he's given us the reports before, so, you know, and we just wanted to make sure we, we get that. The other, the other thing I was going to mention was that, um, you know, I, I continue to, uh, uh, be somewhat unhappy at, uh, the activities of some people around Dudley Pond who are doing good work. I mean, they're looking into things like, you know, what do we have to do for if we need another harvester and who's going to do the work and that kind of stuff, but they're not part of this committee. They're not part of anything in the town and they don't communicate very well, frankly. So, um, I, I got sort of an update from Bob Smith, um, uh, one of the renegades, uh, who's my neighbor. And, uh, I was like, okay, but who's, you know, how do I, how do we know about this? And what are you going to need from us? And so on. So he, he went to Alison and, and just before I got to this meeting, I saw that Alison sent me just a big dump of information. So, um, I'm going to send that along to everybody. And, uh, but I think we, you know, we really need to get on top of this. Um, and I'm not really sure how to do it. Um, because, uh, there's a lot of independent work going on that unfortunately, um, doesn't get communicated to us very well.
Is the Dudley Pond Association still donating money to the town for work to be done or are they changing their mind about that? No, they aren't changing their mind, but that, that information comes from this committee to relay to the DPA, but I've not gotten that information from the, from public works in, in, in years. Yeah, because you're not, but that's, that's kind of my point. The public works is, is working with people who have nothing to do with this committee. So, um, I mean, I know it sounds like a complaint, which it, it really isn't. I just want to make sure that, you know, we play the role that we're supposed to be playing. And, and, uh, I guess we have to, we have to make sure that we're involved in all those discussions and make it clear, you know, I mean, you know, the board of selectments. Who would you want to talk to? Do you want to go right to Tom Holder or do you want to go to whoever is actually doing the work on the pond through the DBW? Well, well, well, both, but those two entities are talking to each other and that, that works on a day-to-day basis because, you know, that they own the budget and they maintain the harvester and the people that are working, the harvester are working with them directly. That's fine. So who is it in the town? Do you know? Who is what? Who's doing the, who's doing the work from the town side? Like who came and hauled the harvester out? The DBW. No, no. Who, who, the DBW is a department. Oh, I can't tell you. I can't tell you. I don't know. Well, that should be fairly simple to find out. I know. That's, I'm sure that's probably with, with either Allison or Bob Smith or somebody like that. They'll like, they'll, Allison will probably say, Hey, let's bring the, the harvester out. So that's the first place. I mean, all we have to, should be able to do is call Tom Holder because we don't know further down the line who it is and say, Hey, right. Right. And he and I talked early in the season, but that was because I was hearing things and I just needed to know what, what was happening in reality. And I would like to see. Isn't somebody named Jason is the mechanic. Is he still there? Is it Jason? Jared? Don't know. It was Jason. He's, he's left apparently. Okay. Yeah. He was, he was the mechanic working on the harvester. Yep. Anyway. I think the person to lay down lines of communication with on that side is at least Tom Holder, right? Yeah. I would, I think the path of least resistance is to work with the DPA. Steve, you and I are both members. You know, I've, whenever I write to DPW, I never get a response. You know, I never write. I just show up. Well, I'm not going to be showing up in your office. The last time, the last time I wanted information, I called Holder directly and he called me back. So I, you know, I didn't have an issue with that. You know, the, the, the DPA, how do I put this? The DPA is not quite really on top of almost anything at this point. They're getting better, but they have been, their, their real value in the last few years has been as a source of funds to your point, Carol. But that's, that's basically it. But they're also running the harvester, right? I mean, we're paying to have them run the harvester, not the DPA, but people from the DPA, right? Well, they happen to be members of the DPA, but the DPA manages nothing. But yeah, the, the, the people operating the harvester are members of the DPA. I'm a member of the DPA, but I don't run the harvester. So what we need is a process chart, right? I mean, what we're missing is an organizational process chart. You're absolutely right. But, but what I'm, what I'm telling you is that there, there is a number of people who have nothing to do with this committee or the town, uh, who, and some of them don't even do any work with the DPA, who are basically going out and talking to companies and try to make arrangements. And I know when this happened the last time, um, they, they basically worked with the DPA to throw money at the town to buy the harvester. This committee really had nothing to do with that. Um, that was absolutely true. Yeah. So that's kind of what I'm pointing out. Yeah. You know, I don't necessarily have a problem with that because if they go through us, we're the middlemen and those guys are really actively engaged with the DPA and working with the town. So I don't really mind if they're doing that stuff because I know that it's, you know, Allison's on top of managing the weeds as is Bob and Norm with the equipment. So it's actually, you know, kind of an efficient way of doing it. Um, and you know, if we're as, but we should certainly be aware of these activities, the reports and so on, but they're, they, as you say, Steve, they're, they're getting stuff done. If they have to go through this committee, uh, it's not going to be as fluid as it is now. So I, I, you know, I personally don't mind that they're, they're taking the lead on this stuff because it is the straightest line between two points. So, but some of the comments that come back from them are we we're doing this because you guys aren't doing it, but then they don't work to enable us to do it because they're off doing their thing and not communicating. Yeah. So if that's part of their motivation that we are quote unquote, not doing it, uh, it certainly doesn't help that we're not even brought into these discussions. And there was a case where the DPA was so tightly interwoven with the, with the surface water quality committee, I guess when Mike was, but even then I don't recall, but yeah, I don't recall DPA, you know, being intimately involved in, in surface water quality activities. Maybe Mike made that more fluid than it is now, but I think it's not fair to say that we're not supporting them. Um, I think it's more, they're just used to doing things on their own and it's maybe been forgotten or it's easy to say, well, we have to do it cause you guys don't. So I would say the, the path to begin with is, uh, not necessarily DPW, but, uh, with, with members of the DPA. Uh, and if they, if there's a perception that we're not doing it. Yeah. Well, you know what? I mean, I would go to their meetings, but they're on Monday nights and it's like, no, that's not going to work. Right. So for me anyway. So if it's a matter of showing up in a meeting and asking questions, I guess at some point I could bail and just show up at a meeting, but, um, right. I mean, there's nothing stopping us from walking over and asking questions. Right. Right. What are you doing on Sunday, Carol?
I don't know. I know I'm, I'm, I will be doing a lot of things because two of our people are on vacation. The reason why I'm asking is because the DPA has two major meetings a year with the membership and the fall one is on Sunday at the COA building. I am probably going to be in New York city, so I'm not going to be there. Tom, I don't know if you're going to go. I'll be there. Okay. So, um, you know, if you want a full report on what they're up to, that'd be a good place to go.
Sorry. I've been doing back-to-back weekends for Whalen things and hoping to do something around the house. So I don't know if I feel up to it, I'll go. So, okay. Well, I'll be there anyways. They'll, they'll feed you for free.
Well, that's not the sense of anymore. It's a, it's a dinner meeting. Yeah. Anyway. So let me, let me raise that point at the meeting, Steve. Um, and let me hear some of this directly because it's, it's, you know, I'm not feeling there's a lot of interaction anyways. And, you know, so for them to say, we're not doing it, I think it's not necessarily, sorry, necessarily fair, especially when Norm was involved a lot with getting that first harvester when he was on the committee last time, this committee. But he's, yeah, but he's not on the committee anymore. Well, no, but the point being that, you know, if quote unquote, we're not doing it. I mean, Norm was integral in getting that harvester the first time and he was part of this committee doing that. So let me, let me, let me be clear though. What I heard that from people who are not on the DPA board. Oh, okay. Well, we wouldn't walk in with that message. Okay. And I, and I, well, it's from five to seven on Sunday. So. Yeah. And I, so that's, that's a good point because it's the people who, it's one of the group that complains a lot, but doesn't really engage in doing a lot of work with the DPA. Kind of. Yeah. All right. Fair enough. But let me talk to, you know, the Bobs and the Allisons and the Norm's at the meeting on Sunday. Okay. Thank you, Steve. Uh, okay. If there's nothing else, uh, I will make a motion to adjourn. Are there any other comments or questions? Is there anything that we're thinking about? We should be thinking about now calendar wise for next year, besides the budget, besides the NOIs. So we've covered it, right? Budget and NOIs. So you're talking about things you want to do that we don't have to pay for?
Budget is everything. Yeah. And we, the NOIs, the NOIs, we, uh, I'll get more clarity on the Lake and Chichuil one. Um, well, maybe I was going to say, we should just come up with a giant wish list so that we have a wish list. If like we had unlimited funds, what would we do? And then see if we can't find some grants or get practice at writing grants. Cause I think everyone's going to be writing for grants. I mean, not town grants, but like real world outside, you know, come save your waterways kind of grants. Yeah. Uh, one more thing I will, uh, you know, as, as we all know, Jack has resigned his seat. That was a month ago. So the, I'll check up with the town and or Carol Martin, because that's the, the, presumably that opening has been posted. It's been more than two weeks. So we should be able to bring a fifth member on board if that is in fact the case. So I'll follow up on the status of that announcement of the open seat. And if there's been no takers, then I'll reach out to, um, Larry Kiernan that. Okay. Contacted a while ago. All right. I'll take that action too. All right. So you're going to make a motion to adjourn motion. Do you want to make the motion or shall I make the motion here? I make a motion to adjourn. I will second that motion. Okay. Let's go around the room. Tom Klem, aye. Tom Klem, aye.
Great. Thanks, everyone. Pardon me.
All right. The first order of business is approval of the minutes from 30 September, which I sent around. Yep. If anybody is, if everybody's okay with those, then I make a motion that we approve the minutes as sent for review.
Let me say it again. A motion to approve the minutes from 30 September. Is there a second?
Second. Thank you. And let's go around the room. Carol Plum, hi. Steve Garone, aye. Tom Klem, aye. Great. Thank you. All right. First item I have on here is Lake Chichewit. We had a couple follow-up items from the last meeting. The first was concerning water testing at Snakebrook, the Snakebrook part of Lake Chichewit. And Carol had referred to that historic report, the Linot, Lake Chichewit report. Lake Chichewit. Lake Chichewit. Yep. And I have not had a chance to look at that. And Carol, I don't know if you did. Was there any historical data in there, specifically phosphorus and nitrogen? Um, I looked at it, but that was like three weeks ago. Okay. So I cannot tell you right at the moment. Okay. Because that would be, well, that was certainly, well, and that's the Nolv report too. So I guess it's really kind of, my thought last time we spoke was if we had some historical data to compare to, that might be, that would certainly be useful to compare any new numbers that we get to. Yeah. No, to be honest, I really haven't had it. I mean, I looked at it briefly when I was looking for it for you, and then I haven't looked at it since. Okay. The only thing I tried to do is, um, I tried to go out there this afternoon to get down to see if I could pull up a water sample or the algae. And the banks are so steep that, let's put it this way, I'm not going to do it with my bad knee. I got down close enough to take pictures. And there's certainly like, um, algae and, um, the, along with the lily pads that are still left. So I can send you guys some of the photos, but a lot of the stuff seems to have sunk, but there's still a chunk of it left. So for what better or worse, um, I think it's going to require actually getting down there in a boat.
Unless we know some agile people that we want to send down that are like under the age of 20 or something. Um, cause clearly the fishermen have been down there. I mean, there's a path down there, but then it's, it's, you know how it's banked like it is near the embankment when you go into the bridge, it's all like that. So.
All right. Uh, so Tom, while you are away, we approved the minutes. Okay. So I'm going to put you down as an abstention on that one. Uh, let the people ponder at the mystery why Tom would abstain from the minutes. Uh, and so what we were talking about here was, um, last time we had talked about, uh, Lake Cachituit and Carol was talking about maybe doing some testing because of the, the, the plant growth and the algae she had seen there. And, uh, so she was going to say she tried to get down there, but it was a bit steep. Um, but you know, people are getting down there. So, um, you know, whether I, when she had sent around to the committee, the, the prior report that she had referred to, I had not looked at it. And it occurred to me that even if there had been say phosphorus and nitrogen testing back then, it would have been, it's over 10 years old. I want to say it's a 15 year old report. It might not be. It's from 2011. Oh, it's okay. So, you know, can I just tell you, can we amend the minutes so that Lake Cachituit is spelled correctly? Or can you just correct Lake Cachituit? You've got it down as line. Not, I knew there was something I meant to bring up. Okay. Just change the end for a C and I think we're all good. All right. Are you talking about Snake Park Cove? Yes. Yes. Okay.
Yeah. And so last time we were, Carol found this Linot report. Or no, I spell it as Linot. Is that correct? It's Lycott. I spell it Linot. Okay.
No. Yeah. Lycott was one of the direct predecessors of solitude. Okay. But yeah, we were talking about the possible, the value of doing testing down there. And this, this Lycott report is what Carol had seen. I don't know what data is in that report, but even if it was, even if it did have say phosphorus and nitrogen, it's 15 years old and they may not have tested in the same spot anyway. So still an open item as to whether we want to initiate any testing there. Actually, they did test in that cove. I know that much. Okay. Well, maybe there was some value in that. Okay. Let's leave that, let's leave that open. I'll, I'll look at that report. Carol, I apologize. I should have done that, but I just didn't have time.
All right. And the other thing I want to, so we'll continue that. discussion for our next meeting, excuse me. The other part of the, of the Lake Cachituit discussion was in the course of writing the annual committee report and looking at last year's report, we had discussed a year ago taking action or at least advising on actions needing to be taken on Lake Cachituit concerning yellow irises and purple loosestrife. And the action was for me to initiate the process through conservation. And what I learned from Emily Cuellar at the conservation office is that there is an order of conditions on Lake Cachituit. It's with the, it's, it's, it's with the state DCR. It was prepared by solitude. I assume that the, the OOC is in solitude's name. I've not looked it up yet, but it's three, two, two, nine, seven, two. I have not downloaded that from the registry yet. I assume I can get it there. Um, if not, I'll get it from Emily. So, uh, Carol, let me take as an action to get that document. It's, it's valid through next July. So we can review that. And if it does have anything about that, wasn't that just for treating, it was for treating like, um, nuisance weeds, like milfoil. They were aquatic.
Okay. So you may not, it may not be a broad permit for managing. Yeah. I'm looking for my, my list of, keep going. I'm going to try to find my permit list.
So yeah, don't wait. It's going to take me a little bit. Okay.
Oh, comment. Um, uh, I've spotted some, uh, yellow iris, uh, on, uh, around herd pond. Um, I don't think it's spread. Um, it's there, uh, several comps and that's all there is to it. I, uh, uh, yellow iris, uh, apparently, uh, it's difficult to eradicate. Uh, you've got to take it out by its roots and, uh, it's, uh, it's just there. And, uh, uh, I, uh, certainly wouldn't recommend doing anything about it on herd pond. Uh, I, uh, I don't know how widespread it is on Lake Conchituate. Uh, I have no idea, but. I think the first order of business is to, uh, look at this, this permit, the, both those plants, yellow iris and the purple loosestrife are not native. Um, so they can certainly be managed. I mean, we do have water chestnut, which is a native species. Um, so let's see what the contents of this, this permit are. Uh, and then, you know, we have contacts at solitude. We could certainly, when that comes up for renewal next year, we can talk, or I can take as action to talk to those guys and suggest they might make it more broad based unless it's, if it's as specific as Carol says it is. Well, there should have also been one for the town beach, right? That was the thing that we got into like a couple of years ago is there's one for pulling, for pulling aquatic weeds at the town beach that Catherine Brenna has. And I'm sorry, for some reason, I just can't locate that Excel file. You know, the one that I sent everybody that had, oh, maybe I can try it from the mail. So, yes, but Catherine Brenna and rec has an OOC for weed management at town beach. Yeah. Cause that's how they go in and managed it every year. They've been pulling it out of the, um, the, what do you want to call it? The bordered section that they use. Okay. And that's specifically what we care about. So, uh, let me track down that. No, no, no. The cove is outside of their, outside of the town beach part. Oh, they're only literally pulling within the barrier. Okay.
So with the, uh, okay, let me look, let's look at the, the 322972. I assume if it's Lake Kachituit and it's for the, it's on the state's behalf, I assume it could be for any part of Lake Kachituit. No, I think they're specific to what you're doing. So that's what I'm saying. What we were talking about is they were, remember when, um, Jack was saying that the people were having trouble swimming over from Saxonville. Jacksonville, right. And that, the, the, the, I forgot the man's name is going to, from the U S the Massachusetts, uh, DCR was going to come by and they treated it, but that was several years ago.
Okay.
But, um, that was the one thing. The last time I gave this a really good go is that it has to be specific.
All right. Let me, let me continue following up on that. I can be more specific. Like when I wrote to conservation, I just said Lake Kachituit, assuming it would be applicable to any part of the lake. So first order of business is to look at that permit and see what it covers. And if it's, um, the case that it's restricted to certain parts of Lake Kachituit, not this cove area in North Pond or restricted to certain kinds of plants that I can take as an action to find out who we need to work with, whether it's the state, make them aware. Just, just to have the, uh, the, the, the language built into the, uh, order of conditions to allow it. So not, I don't know if that would need to be a whole separate order. Maybe so, but let me, um, get more, um, information on these specific requests that we have pertain to, uh, the town beach area, North Pond area. All right.
I can't believe I can't find that.
You'll find it as soon as we move on to the next topic. Yes, I'm sure that's how it works. Right. Right. And that, that next topic. So that's, that's all for Lake, uh, Kachituit. Oops. Excuse me. Uh, okay. So Herd Pond, uh, last time we spoke, oh, there are two invoices before I get to the invoices. So last time, you know, we, we mentioned that work had been completed on Herd Pond, both the chemical treatment and the number of days for hand harvesting of the water chestnuts. And before the week we had met, uh, Jeff Castellani at Solitude was, had told Tom and I that that report would be coming the end of that week, that beginning of October. It hasn't been forthcoming. It hasn't been forthcoming. I sent him a note, uh, last week and there's been no response. So, uh, I need to, to follow up and ping those guys. Um, so I'll, I'll take that as an action. So Tom, I, yeah, so we need to push them, which is unusual because Jeff is usually pretty good about getting that report to us, isn't he? Yeah, absolutely, uh, although, um, uh, you know, solitude is, uh, nationwide now. And, um, so, uh, I think what happens to him is that, uh, uh, now there's a South and there are, uh, uh, uh, condominium complexes that have ponds and golf courses and on and on. And, um, um, I, um, it's, um, similar, uh, problems may be magnified quite a bit. They've got other plants down there. It's possible that, um, he's been paying attention down there. I, I simply can't, uh, say, but he's mentioned that, uh, kind of thing before. And it could be too, if that is the case and fade, you know, if they're getting payment from them is a bit, uh, less burdensome than getting paid from the town. And they may giving them their attention accordingly because they're getting paid more quickly for their work. So that's all speculation. So I'll, I'll follow up. I'll, I'll loop. I think I've only looped in Tanner cause he's been on the messages. So Tanner pool is assisted with the herbicide. I'll bring Keith in. I'll, um, you know, threaten to make actual phone calls if they don't give us a, an update. So I'll take that as an action to follow up with Jeff. It's unusual. He's been good the past few years getting us that report. Um, so let me take that as an action. Um, so do we have, how much money have we got left for the rest of our fiscal year, which ends in June 30th, 9th, 20, 26. Oh, I have not looked at our, at our budget. And again, it's, it's, uh, it's, it's cloudy for me because it seems like you can, uh, the money rolls over. So it seems like you can pull the money from wherever it may be. I've not looked at the, done a budget exercise, uh, in a while. So I think we're pretty much spent for, and you're talking about for 26. So that's the next six months. Yeah. I don't know. You were asking about the FY26. Well, I just want to know what money we've got in the budget. Cause like I said, the more, more of these meetings I listened to, the more it's going to be like, people are going to be chopping at each other with actual swords and knives, trying to get money out of the town. So the answer for everything is no, which reminds me, I didn't put this in the minutes I forgot, but we, we can, we can talk about this. This is relevant. So last time, uh, Carol, you brought up the idea of, could we, could we get CPC funding, uh, for, for water bodies? Uh, and the answer is no. I, I looked, I, uh, inquired of, uh, Susan Weinstein, who's on the, um, CPC, uh, chair, and she clarified that. No, when I was reading the guidelines, it says open areas, but unfortunately water does not count as open areas, open land areas. So that would be serious that that's the actual distinction in the legal term that open space is not considered. You can't have it on the side of the, well, we could just say that it was land for some of it, right? I mean, at least for hand pulling weeds and things, uh, in which, so I know we've talked about, uh, like on the Lake Itchituut part of it, if we said it's just mud and, you know, anyway, it's a thought. So she just said, no, the answer is no for open space. Well, I didn't go into plants in shallow muddy water versus plants on land or plants floating on the water. I suppose I had in mind plants floating on the water or in the water. So she, she said, no. So I can, I can go back and say, well, what if it's, what if you can stand in it and pull the plants out? See if that gets any more, uh, more, more clarity. And just because I did find that file, as soon as you said that I would find it, um, it's, it, the 3222-972 is for Lake Itchituate. Tom Flannery, um, from MassDCR was the applicant. Okay. And it just says land underwater body and waterways. All I've got for a note, but it was from May 31st, 2021.
So, but you said it ends next, um, August. I mean, next, next, next, next July. So it must've been extended to, to through 2026. So that one doesn't specify any kind of plant or any part of Lake Itchituate. It's just plants on the water or underwater. Well, um, you know, CPC funds, uh, it's also include, uh, recreation. And, um, I, I think that's got to be revisited in the, uh, future. We've gotten it in the past, uh, for water. These are things called circulators a number of years ago. Um, so they, they certainly do it. If we were to do any, uh, work on the, uh, mill pond in, um, uh, future years, we'd, uh, certainly, um, uh, look to, uh, CPC funds. I think that would be the only way it could be accomplished. And, uh, I, uh, I think, uh, that is probably just, uh, the interpretation of that person, uh, you talk to. Um, I think it could be, uh, interpreted more broadly. Okay.
Okay. Um, but the, the, the thing with that though, the deadline, I believe is November 5th, correct?
Uh, I don't recall. Let me bring it up. I thought that was the, I don't know if that's the application or for the thing. I think it is because it's been going on. Hang on. Keep going. Okay.
November 13th.
13th. Okay. I'm wrong. Okay. But your, your point is still correct that there's not much time to, to mess around.
Well, what would we ask for CPC funds for right now? I, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, generally it's for exceptional things. No, no, it's not. They just put it, you know, I guess I look at the, some of the stuff that people put in for, and I know conservation did put in for money, um, last year for like removing weeds and things like that. And they were fixing stuff up. So it doesn't have to be exceptional. Uh, and then, you know, especially for the open space stuff, as opposed to say like, you know, uh, the pool people are getting that $320,000, you know, for maintenance. Um, so it depends on which area you're in, but we could do something for open space. I just, I, I am thinking we're going to be fighting for money. So if we can come up with something that actually applies to what we're doing, that would be good. There were the, the probably the easiest, not easiest, that there were, we didn't specify one in particular. There are two things. One would be, uh, Procella core for Dudley pond, which we have some sense of from prior years, or it could be for, uh, urban clear cast on herd pond. Uh, because we could go for a boat land boat launch on Dudley, if you really, or even like if we added like for a, Hey, a boat launch on Sherman's bridge for heaven's sakes. I don't know. Um, I don't know how complete the plans have to be. Right.
And, but the money has to be, so if we, if it gets voted, uh, at the upcoming town meeting, it would have to be spent during FY 27. July 27, correct?
Is there a time limit on the, I would think it would start, right? Cause that would be in June of July of 27. I mean, July of 26 is fiscal year 27. Yeah. So, okay. So, well, we can worry about that later. I don't know if it has to be, maybe it has to be started and not used up, but, uh, that would carry us. Let's say we were to do that. We would have until, if it's FY 27, we'd have until June 30th of 2027 to spend the money.
So, but we know we've got the water chestnut problem on, on herd pond. So, um, let me take a crack at it. I don't know how much information is needed and, uh, I'll have limited bandwidth, but we can at least put it through and it's, you know, Carol, to your point is it's, it's, it's worth doing if it gets rejected either because it's out of scope of what CPC allows. And Tom, what you said is, is informative. That really clarifies that, you know, just it's not that cut and dried. And you've got that recreation element of CPC usage. So let's, uh, um, so let me. Yeah, I'm sorry. I do not have a lot of bandwidth until after November 14th myself. So that's the other reason I'm like, I'd like to, but I don't think I can do anything. So, okay. Well, let's, uh, let me propose a motion. And again, I don't know how, um, you know, how much I would be able to put in, but let me make a motion, uh, for the chair myself, uh, to submit, um, uh, an application for CPC funds for ClearCast treatment on HerdPond. Second. Oh, I second that. Okay. I'll give that one to Tom since he's our HerdPond expert. Uh, okay. And let's go around the virtual room and take a vote. Uh, Carol Plum, aye. Tom Largy, aye. Steve, you have to actually say it because people can't, oh, you're muted. In the meantime, Tom. You grown, aye. I muted myself because my phone rang and I forgot to unmute myself. All right. So let me give that a shot and we'll see, we'll see where it goes. So motion for ClearCast on HerdPond.
And we'll leave it at that. I don't know what the dollar amount would be, but I'll just, uh, I'll go for it. Thank you, everybody. But yeah, it's worth a shot.
So thank you for doing it. I'm offering. Yeah. I don't know what I'm volunteering myself for, but it'll be an education. All right. Uh, that was it for HerdPond. Oh, I'm sorry. It's not the end of HerdPond. Uh, there were two invoices that I had sent everybody and these were, uh, for HerdPond. Uh, one of these is, uh, for, looks like two days of hand pulling of water chestnuts on HerdPond for $2,400. The other one, uh, I guess they never sent this through previously. It's for, um, it says a one time, it says permitting. Uh, so, oh, I guess actually that was the permit they had to get before they did the, uh, the herbicide. Uh, so, uh, permitting for the ClearCast treatment on HerdPond, $300. Uh, so, uh, I'm going to put these both under one motion. So motion to approve the two invoices from, uh, solitude, one for two days of hand pulling of water chestnuts, $2,400. The second for permitting, uh, of ClearCast application on HerdPond for $300. Uh, do I have a second? Second. All right. And let's go on the virtual room. Uh, Carol, I, Carol Plum, I. Tom Largy, I. Pete Garron, I. Tom Klem, I. Thank you, everybody.
So do you have an Excel budget spreadsheet somewhere? I do, uh, have one and we, we've talked about this before. I know there's a way to make it accessible to folks and I tried doing a Google thing, but it, it bounced back to a Google share. So I can certainly send it to everybody just to, and it's not complicated the way I do it. Uh, which I just think the easiest thing would be to share it on zoom, but you said it does not working. No, no, no. I can share it on zoom. I tried to, at one point I tried to do it as a, a Google doc and I just typed in everyone's town emails and it kicked me out. I don't know if there's a. No, you have to share it individually on that file name, like go into the file, have the file open and then share it individually with each of us. Is that what you were doing? Uh, no, I was, you can share it to multiple people. So I would go into Google docs. I would type in, or your four email, your, your email addresses and it should have given you an invite to that document, but it kicked, it kicked back. It was asking, it was saying these are not. All right. I'm going to make you go through it all, but I'll try it again, but certainly at the very least I can call it up here. I don't have it on this, on this laptop though. Yep. Thank you. All right. Uh, Dudley Pond. The only thing I put on here was what we had talked about last time, the extension of the order conditions. Uh, this is also my action. I got in touch with conservation. Uh, all I need to do, I say, all I need to do, I assume it's a light lift. Uh, they informed me that, uh, all I need to do is send them a letter requesting extension of the order of conditions. Um, as they, as Emily quoted back to me, as we had done last time, the last time it wasn't me, it was Lisa Newton. So, uh, I'll see if I can find that document, but I assume it's a straightforward request, but I will take care of that. Uh, conservation is meeting next week and they're meeting in the middle of November. So for one of those two, I will submit this letter and have them, uh, approve it. Well, I'll submit it for their approval. Hopefully they'll approve it. So I'll take, take that as an action, but just to update the committee on that, it's, um, it should be a pretty straightforward process. I know we've done it a number of times now. It doesn't seem to be any kind of a, a burden. So just this time it'll be me requesting the extension for another five years. So is that for 3, 2, 2, dash 0, 8, 5, 9. Yes. For Dudley Pond. Okay. Yeah.
Well, I've, I've seen it more as 8, 5, 9 and 0, so I don't know what the number is. I standardized it against all the things that I had. So they're all the ones that need zeros have zeros, but don't worry about it. I'm not going to worry about it. Believe me, that is the least of the things I'm worried about. I've learned from trying to get stuff out of state databases that if you don't use the right format, it doesn't go well. Anyway, go ahead. Sorry. Interrupt. That's right. So that is a, that's an ongoing action for me to, to pursue. All right. Well, that was, uh, that was it. Uh, topics not anticipated. If anybody has any, uh, Carol, you had sent, um, something about the waste, the Dudley Pond wastewater treatment group. I think that was just an FY. Do you want to speak to that at all? Well, my only thought was they're going out and they're, they're doing recon, right? They want to know if you can put it in there. I didn't know if you'd heard any more from your meeting of the actual task force. The task force meets next week. So we'll hear then. I've not gotten any communications other than our next meeting is next Monday. Tuesday or Tuesday. That's my day actually. So because that, I mean, maybe it has nothing to do with it, but that the fact that they're looking for a sewer main to run down Dudley road, I don't know. It just raised the flag saying, what is this? And I don't know what it is. Yeah. That first meeting we had a month ago, uh, was simply here are the options we are considering, um, to, to solve, to resolve the issue of this new system at the high school meeting. I think it's 10,000 gallons per day, which they can manage during the school year, but they can't manage it when school's not in session. So if they could tie in the neighborhood, they can meet that threshold. Yeah. But I was going to say, the other reason is Tata, Tata, I don't know if that's how you pronounce it. It's a Tata or Tata and Howard are the people who built the wastewater treatment plant at Andrew Ave. So that's, these are the people. So there, it's in their Dudley road, water main improvements project for engineering services for not to exceed a hundred thousand dollars. So I don't know if the water main itself is like been self-destructing or if it's part of your thing. So you can find out though, right? When you're at your meeting next week. Right. Yes.
And you said these, this company, this engineering firm built a small treatment plant at Andrew Road. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the one, that's a wastewater treatment facility that we have at town center. Okay.
I'll stop by and take a look. I'm curious how big this would be. And they're talking about putting one around here. I don't know how big this thing would look. Well, have you ever looked out behind X-Golf and Ace Hardware? There's a big bar looking building. It's like a two and a half story kind of thing. No, but that sounds bigger than the little neighborhood woods that we have. And that's treating, go ahead. I was going to say, it's not that big as things go. You know, it's certainly larger than the one, it's certainly larger than the one at the high school. Right. Yeah. So anyway, you can take a look. All right. There'll be more to talk about next time we meet. And speaking of meetings, so we can meet in December. We've got, you know, a month from now is Thanksgiving. People be away. What do people have as availability? Let's see. What were the first 17, 24, 26, 27. So Monday. Are you talking about November or December? December. Okay. So are people free the first week or maybe two of December? Monday, December 1st is the first day of the month. Steve, do you have a, this is, we're meeting Tuesday. Steve, is the ninth, the second or the ninth? Are either of those good for you? For meeting? Second, the, the, the ninth is the second Tuesday, which is. I would not like to do it on the ninth. Okay. Let's take it off the table. Or the third and the 10th. Those are Wednesdays. Can't, can't do Wednesdays. All right. So we're down to the, so let's start at the second. Second. I can get it. The second? I can do the second. Tom Largy, December 2nd. I'm entirely flexible. I have nothing in December, at least weekdays. Second looks okay. Excellent. Let's lock it down. So our next meeting will be Tuesday, December 2nd. Excuse me. All right. Cool. That was it. You know, sorry that some of these. Can I just mention a couple of things? Yes. Hold on. Okay. First, one of the things I was asked to do at the last meeting, you recall, I, I reported on the testing that went on in Dudley Pond. Yes. Just prior to the meeting. And we authorized the payment of the. 2,500. Yeah, for no, not for that, for the, I don't have the name of the company in front of me. Alpha Analytical. Yes, that's it. Thank you. Pending their providing us with a report. So I. Uh, no, that was, that was, that was, that was ARC, aquatic restoration. Right. Okay. And, um, I wrote to the two people that you mentioned and I haven't heard anything back. Okay. I, I did, I did talk to Alison about it. You know, she's, she's, uh, it's part of the group of what I call the renegades. Um, and, uh, she said that they often take a very long time to write reports to which I responded. One of them was done in the spring. So, um, I think I just have to call them directly. Okay. Well, so for more of an update on that. So we, we had, uh, made a approved a motion to not pay, uh, believe the second invoice till we got that report. And, uh, Kelsey in the town knew that I told her we were going to vote on approving that second invoice at our last meeting, uh, in September. And I, uh, don't believe I wrote to her, but she told, uh, Ken Gendron that both, uh, invoices will be paid as of last week. So the checks have, are apparently in the mail already. So unlike almost every time I get in, then we just have to now twist our arms to get reports out of them. Yeah. And I think that's, yeah. So we'll have to, I just find it amusing because, you know, it's so hard to get things paid almost every other time. And this time I didn't even give her an approval. Yeah. It's like, we have no leverage now. Well, we have no leverage. No, no. Take it tight. Take it entirely as a sign is like the whole town manager act thing is, is really working much better. And the people are there that are working better. It's nothing personal. Well, I didn't take it personally. I just thought it was amusing that it's such a struggle to get, you know, these small, and this is not, wasn't that so expensive, but every other time Kelsey is like, you know, did the committee approve it? I need to see it in the minutes. And this time it's like, Hey, Ken, check's in the mail. What if we said no? Oh, that's so you can't say no, no, no, but you trained her. Yep. Yep. I didn't even tell her. I, anyway, Ken's got his money, but yeah. So we'll, we'll get that. Well, so we'll, we'll lean on him. And, you know, we, he's given us the reports before, so, you know, and we just wanted to make sure we, we get that. The other, the other thing I was going to mention was that, um, you know, I, I continue to, uh, uh, be somewhat unhappy at, uh, the activities of some people around Dudley Pond who are doing good work. I mean, they're looking into things like, you know, what do we have to do for if we need another harvester and who's going to do the work and that kind of stuff, but they're not part of this committee. They're not part of anything in the town and they don't communicate very well, frankly. So, um, I, I got sort of an update from Bob Smith, um, uh, one of the renegades, uh, who's my neighbor. And, uh, I was like, okay, but who's, you know, how do I, how do we know about this? And what are you going to need from us? And so on. So he, he went to Alison and, and just before I got to this meeting, I saw that Alison sent me just a big dump of information. So, um, I'm going to send that along to everybody. And, uh, but I think we, you know, we really need to get on top of this. Um, and I'm not really sure how to do it. Um, because, uh, there's a lot of independent work going on that unfortunately, um, doesn't get communicated to us very well.
Is the Dudley Pond Association still donating money to the town for work to be done or are they changing their mind about that? No, they aren't changing their mind, but that, that information comes from this committee to relay to the DPA, but I've not gotten that information from the, from public works in, in, in years. Yeah, because you're not, but that's, that's kind of my point. The public works is, is working with people who have nothing to do with this committee. So, um, I mean, I know it sounds like a complaint, which it, it really isn't. I just want to make sure that, you know, we play the role that we're supposed to be playing. And, and, uh, I guess we have to, we have to make sure that we're involved in all those discussions and make it clear, you know, I mean, you know, the board of selectments. Who would you want to talk to? Do you want to go right to Tom Holder or do you want to go to whoever is actually doing the work on the pond through the DBW? Well, well, well, both, but those two entities are talking to each other and that, that works on a day-to-day basis because, you know, that they own the budget and they maintain the harvester and the people that are working, the harvester are working with them directly. That's fine. So who is it in the town? Do you know? Who is what? Who's doing the, who's doing the work from the town side? Like who came and hauled the harvester out? The DBW. No, no. Who, who, the DBW is a department. Oh, I can't tell you. I can't tell you. I don't know. Well, that should be fairly simple to find out. I know. That's, I'm sure that's probably with, with either Allison or Bob Smith or somebody like that. They'll like, they'll, Allison will probably say, Hey, let's bring the, the harvester out. So that's the first place. I mean, all we have to, should be able to do is call Tom Holder because we don't know further down the line who it is and say, Hey, right. Right. And he and I talked early in the season, but that was because I was hearing things and I just needed to know what, what was happening in reality. And I would like to see. Isn't somebody named Jason is the mechanic. Is he still there? Is it Jason? Jared? Don't know. It was Jason. He's, he's left apparently. Okay. Yeah. He was, he was the mechanic working on the harvester. Yep. Anyway. I think the person to lay down lines of communication with on that side is at least Tom Holder, right? Yeah. I would, I think the path of least resistance is to work with the DPA. Steve, you and I are both members. You know, I've, whenever I write to DPW, I never get a response. You know, I never write. I just show up. Well, I'm not going to be showing up in your office. The last time, the last time I wanted information, I called Holder directly and he called me back. So I, you know, I didn't have an issue with that. You know, the, the, the DPA, how do I put this? The DPA is not quite really on top of almost anything at this point. They're getting better, but they have been, their, their real value in the last few years has been as a source of funds to your point, Carol. But that's, that's basically it. But they're also running the harvester, right? I mean, we're paying to have them run the harvester, not the DPA, but people from the DPA, right? Well, they happen to be members of the DPA, but the DPA manages nothing. But yeah, the, the, the people operating the harvester are members of the DPA. I'm a member of the DPA, but I don't run the harvester. So what we need is a process chart, right? I mean, what we're missing is an organizational process chart. You're absolutely right. But, but what I'm, what I'm telling you is that there, there is a number of people who have nothing to do with this committee or the town, uh, who, and some of them don't even do any work with the DPA, who are basically going out and talking to companies and try to make arrangements. And I know when this happened the last time, um, they, they basically worked with the DPA to throw money at the town to buy the harvester. This committee really had nothing to do with that. Um, that was absolutely true. Yeah. So that's kind of what I'm pointing out. Yeah. You know, I don't necessarily have a problem with that because if they go through us, we're the middlemen and those guys are really actively engaged with the DPA and working with the town. So I don't really mind if they're doing that stuff because I know that it's, you know, Allison's on top of managing the weeds as is Bob and Norm with the equipment. So it's actually, you know, kind of an efficient way of doing it. Um, and you know, if we're as, but we should certainly be aware of these activities, the reports and so on, but they're, they, as you say, Steve, they're, they're getting stuff done. If they have to go through this committee, uh, it's not going to be as fluid as it is now. So I, I, you know, I personally don't mind that they're, they're taking the lead on this stuff because it is the straightest line between two points. So, but some of the comments that come back from them are we we're doing this because you guys aren't doing it, but then they don't work to enable us to do it because they're off doing their thing and not communicating. Yeah. So if that's part of their motivation that we are quote unquote, not doing it, uh, it certainly doesn't help that we're not even brought into these discussions. And there was a case where the DPA was so tightly interwoven with the, with the surface water quality committee, I guess when Mike was, but even then I don't recall, but yeah, I don't recall DPA, you know, being intimately involved in, in surface water quality activities. Maybe Mike made that more fluid than it is now, but I think it's not fair to say that we're not supporting them. Um, I think it's more, they're just used to doing things on their own and it's maybe been forgotten or it's easy to say, well, we have to do it cause you guys don't. So I would say the, the path to begin with is, uh, not necessarily DPW, but, uh, with, with members of the DPA. Uh, and if they, if there's a perception that we're not doing it. Yeah. Well, you know what? I mean, I would go to their meetings, but they're on Monday nights and it's like, no, that's not going to work. Right. So for me anyway. So if it's a matter of showing up in a meeting and asking questions, I guess at some point I could bail and just show up at a meeting, but, um, right. I mean, there's nothing stopping us from walking over and asking questions. Right. Right. What are you doing on Sunday, Carol?
I don't know. I know I'm, I'm, I will be doing a lot of things because two of our people are on vacation. The reason why I'm asking is because the DPA has two major meetings a year with the membership and the fall one is on Sunday at the COA building. I am probably going to be in New York city, so I'm not going to be there. Tom, I don't know if you're going to go. I'll be there. Okay. So, um, you know, if you want a full report on what they're up to, that'd be a good place to go.
Sorry. I've been doing back-to-back weekends for Whalen things and hoping to do something around the house. So I don't know if I feel up to it, I'll go. So, okay. Well, I'll be there anyways. They'll, they'll feed you for free.
Well, that's not the sense of anymore. It's a, it's a dinner meeting. Yeah. Anyway. So let me, let me raise that point at the meeting, Steve. Um, and let me hear some of this directly because it's, it's, you know, I'm not feeling there's a lot of interaction anyways. And, you know, so for them to say, we're not doing it, I think it's not necessarily, sorry, necessarily fair, especially when Norm was involved a lot with getting that first harvester when he was on the committee last time, this committee. But he's, yeah, but he's not on the committee anymore. Well, no, but the point being that, you know, if quote unquote, we're not doing it. I mean, Norm was integral in getting that harvester the first time and he was part of this committee doing that. So let me, let me, let me be clear though. What I heard that from people who are not on the DPA board. Oh, okay. Well, we wouldn't walk in with that message. Okay. And I, and I, well, it's from five to seven on Sunday. So. Yeah. And I, so that's, that's a good point because it's the people who, it's one of the group that complains a lot, but doesn't really engage in doing a lot of work with the DPA. Kind of. Yeah. All right. Fair enough. But let me talk to, you know, the Bobs and the Allisons and the Norm's at the meeting on Sunday. Okay. Thank you, Steve. Uh, okay. If there's nothing else, uh, I will make a motion to adjourn. Are there any other comments or questions? Is there anything that we're thinking about? We should be thinking about now calendar wise for next year, besides the budget, besides the NOIs. So we've covered it, right? Budget and NOIs. So you're talking about things you want to do that we don't have to pay for?
Budget is everything. Yeah. And we, the NOIs, the NOIs, we, uh, I'll get more clarity on the Lake and Chichuil one. Um, well, maybe I was going to say, we should just come up with a giant wish list so that we have a wish list. If like we had unlimited funds, what would we do? And then see if we can't find some grants or get practice at writing grants. Cause I think everyone's going to be writing for grants. I mean, not town grants, but like real world outside, you know, come save your waterways kind of grants. Yeah. Uh, one more thing I will, uh, you know, as, as we all know, Jack has resigned his seat. That was a month ago. So the, I'll check up with the town and or Carol Martin, because that's the, the, presumably that opening has been posted. It's been more than two weeks. So we should be able to bring a fifth member on board if that is in fact the case. So I'll follow up on the status of that announcement of the open seat. And if there's been no takers, then I'll reach out to, um, Larry Kiernan that. Okay. Contacted a while ago. All right. I'll take that action too. All right. So you're going to make a motion to adjourn motion. Do you want to make the motion or shall I make the motion here? I make a motion to adjourn. I will second that motion. Okay. Let's go around the room. Tom Klem, aye. Tom Klem, aye.