s
this I don’t think they actually
it all right good evening everybody I’d like to call a meeting to order if you’d like to join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance uned States
under God thank you everyone um thank you
first of all for coming tonight um tonight’s um meeting is all about a discussion that we’re all going to have
about private roads what is the town’s responsibility and also what you guys
have heard what you what kind of agreements have been made whether it be overly the neighbor’s fence or whether
it be with the public works department in Prior years prior administrations this is a fact finding meeting we’re not
going to solve the problem tonight letting you all know that you know right now we’re not going to solve this okay
expect it to be solved tonight it will not be solved tonight because what we want to do let me just finish what we
want to do is we want to gather information again from previous times previous years things that have happened
before we don’t know all of that the only thing we have and written down is a statute that was
passed in 2014 there’s copies of it up front if you’d like it that says that the town is required to make sure that
if anybody lives on a private road that we get there with Public Works to get the ambulance or the fired truck in to
see you and make sure that you are you are taken care of that’s it that’s the only thing we have in writing at this
point that says what our obligations are so I know that there have been many
conversations here here in town in years past with other administrations all
kinds of things about private roads and the maintenance of private roads so I really do I really really do want to
solve this and come up with some kind of conclusion that everybody can be happy with okay but at the same time there are
there are problems with these private roads in the equipment that we have to be able to even get in there in the first place so I would like to have a
good discussion what information inform that you guys have that you can share with us and then we will go back and
figure out what we can do and what everybody can afford to do because again this is affordability issue and I’ve
heard that you pay taxes just like everybody else you guys pay extra taxes you do not you pay the same tax that
anybody else pays you’re paying on the value of your home period and the value
of your home because they’re waterfront properties the value of your home is is is contingent on a lot of things if you
talk to the assessors office which I did prior to our meeting it’s on how many bedrooms you have how many fireplaces
you have how many bathrooms you have what kind of Road you live on where how close you are to water versus not water
water view not water view but it’s the value of your home and your value and your value is different because your
homes are different period you’re not paying an extra tax because you’re in an association not suggesting we are we’re
simp I understand that you are not sir but there are other people that are so I just want to what I’m trying to do is just put out stuff that I’ve heard that
gathered as far as information goes and then I do want to hear from every single one of you we want to hear from every
single one of you but again in regards to the association roads these are
private roads and therefore the maintenance of these roads is on those people who live in the associations the
associations some of them are defunct some of them are going some of them are not I understand that as well but we
want to come to conclusion again we’re not going to fix it tonight but I do want to hear from every one of you so
that being said said one of the things that I want to say first outright is the
notification that you all received was poor in regards to this some of you
didn’t receive anything I understand that and we are owning that we should
have notified every single one of you so we own that it was a mistake we are sorry and because of that we want to do
the best we can for at least this season so that if a big storm comes you’re going to get plowed out if an emergency
happens you’re going to get plowed out we are going to work with you desperately to make sure that we can get
through this winter season there little disruption even though this meeting is
going to be disruptive and I know it will be um we we want to we want to make it right for this year but we also want
to make it right going forward in years to come and it would be great if we could get something in writing that
everybody would be happy with that’s why I say that we’re not GNA get that tonight we’re not going to get written
material tonight to solve it but we do want to solve it and we do want to make you happy okay so this is not an adversarial
meeting this is information gathering and we’d love to get started so if you guys are okay with that we’d like to
keep it civil we’d like to again we want to get the information I’m writing it down and that’s what is most important
about this meeting tonight I hope you can all appreciate that and work with us okay so um there’s a mic here it
picks up our voices fine back there it will not pick your voices up so therefore anybody who’s back there will
have to come forward if you could please state your name and your address just so we know where you are and we will take your comments and we will take them if
you can keep your comments to about three minutes just so that everybody gets an opportunity to speak who wants
to and if you want to speak again by all means you can come up a second time but if that can be agreeable to everybody we
can get started it’s certainly agreeable to me I was just going to suggest that since Michelle is here maybe she could
just before the public comment give a a little bit of what led to this
decision because I’m sure the people are gonna have questions and just to piggy
back off of what Irene said yes I’ll just look
over I want to be the center of attent just to piggyback off of Irene she’s
absolutely correct in saying that you should have been notified now when I took this rooll on there’s been here say
there’s no public document that says we’re supposed to be plowing private
entities private roads I have never seen one if you have that tonight tonight is
the night that you’re supposed to bring that forward so we can see a copy of it so we can move forward to make a
decision we decided not to plow the private roads because we don’t do it for
all the private roads in town there are several private roads in town that we do not plow so with that being said that’s
why the decision was made what else did you want me to say oh no just I I thought that would come up
and I just thought it would save little time so again like Irene said it was poor communication on our part everyone
should have been notified properly um we were dealing with some things in our
department as you know um so those decisions were made kind of last minute um the last storm there was an ice
condition in the Moodus or the sipples hill I did send the plow guys out to sand and salt After the Storm the day
after um per my direction uh if we have the time to do so we will continue to do
that as well um but with that being said we have to concentrate on the public roads that we’re responsible for first
and then if we have the time moving forward for the rest of the season we will continue to do that as well so no
private currently correct we have however excuse meal Co no private roads
except for under my direction this past storm when we not Saturday the previous one it was icy on that Monday the 11th I
believe was the date um we did send somebody out the next day to uh provide s Anda for everybody can can you tell us
what date it this was that you met and with whom to decide that this wasn’t going to be we weren’t going to be plow
this is a discussion that I’ve had with Irene multiple times I can’t provide a date to you because this is a conversation approximately like I I
don’t I’m not months ago before the last contract this is a fact finding
discussion it was sometime in the fall in in the winter it was recently that we
discussed I don’t want to give you a date that’s false because I don’t remember did you have layoffs huh did
you have layoffs in your department we did yes I we were told there were no layoffs I I don’t know who told you but
the best way to get through this is one at a time people can have ask their questions and we can answer them as they
come up or fact finding find out information but going off all over is not going to be helpful to
so before you continue hold on one quick second before you continue we are not here to discuss the operations and or
personnel management of Public Works we are here no I’m serious we are here to discuss what can we do going forward and
how can we do it best that’s what we would saying that but to be clear the reason that we believe can I ask for you
to stand up and tell us your name and address my name is I just I would follow the rules of than the thing that you’re
asking thank you because I think I feel it your name and
your address my name is Marlene Tyson thank you Marlene I’ve lived out here since
1995 I’ve lived on Lake Hayward and now I live in mood
Estates I appreciate tonight the statement that the
communication been poor CU I too would have a lot of these specific questions
this woman just answered a question that I had from last year because I called
Butler who supposedly had a contract to plow back there I will say
honestly and openly I have been very frustrated and vocal with this presid
administration because where my property are fixed I can see right out and this
argument about a truck or the equipment can’t make it back there is false I even
took film of it so these folks know that they had some wonky stuff going on in
the public works the people don’t even want to look at me in church I’m not
talking about this individual but because they made claims it weren’t
true you got put sign on wood that you cut down cuz you know
so I currently want to leave town and there are obvious reasons because I
faced some racism back there some other stuff that we’re not going to expound on
here tonight I simply will say that part of me being here is I feel like I want to
bring a lawsuit against the town and other people because you you see this stuff you know what’s going on my
husband had a serious life-threatening uh several
instances there was a fire back there long after I moved in and the Very
people who I’m sorry are representative of maybe the KKK their house was the one
that I had to run and tell them they had a fire they were sleep and then the fire
department had a problem getting there so most of us have had some of this stuff going on so I appreciate tonight
the CL that we are going to go forward because I think last year after I called
Butler they said they didn’t have a contract trucks still came back there because unfortunately mudas States not
all the neighbors are nice to each other we have some cultural problems back
there so we have some people and I just thought I read in the newspaper recently
that it’s against the law or whatever for me as an individual to purposely push snow ice where it makes
it dangerous after start melting especially if you know you’re not coming to clean it or fire so I just look
forward to us I think what happened in mudas States was very simple somewhere
along that icy weekend there was a small truck with a plow that came through
again the argument that the trucks can’t come back there is a false claim okay
thank you Marlene I appreciate your comments sir did you want to come
up you want Sue we we’ve had multiple meetings and
uh I’m an investigator by trade 36 years work for insurance companies and lawyers
and your name Susan Hollander uh 42 Dogwood Road we also own 58 shman vac
and 19 Eli Eli Chapman um I’m going to read something
off because as an investigator that handle litigation this is what I do
and this is what I know so I I appreciate your patience the East hatam
residents property owners and taxpayers of East hatam respectfully request that the town immediately reinstate the snow
removal services on private roads that the town has maintained for decades
specifically the town has continued this practice for over 46 years because they
felt and I quote morally obligated to plow the roads so emergency vehicles can
get in if they were needed end quote which we have and continue to rely upon
can I interrupt for one second I just want to know what roads you want to reinstate the snow removal the simple
well I speak for all of us I think anybody that lives in town so I I don’t want to speak for everybody I I I live
in Sipple Hill but we had a meeting the other day and everybody is in unison for
safety for our town and and I believe that you all are too exactly listed in the I’m going to show you I I got that
quote from an article that we had just so everybody knows where’s my oh here’s my package here’s our records okay just
we have good records all right we have a good town we have people that have lived here forever we have a lot of
witnesses the article that I’m going to give to you is from Middletown Press uh
dated March 11th 1978 which is almost 46 years ago and since then we have always
had our roads plowed and S since before 1946 you’ll see the article
um we have put the the town on notice in person VI via the town meeting of January 2nd
2025 and telephonically on January 6 2025 that the town has a legal and moral
duty to reinstate the longstanding policy to plow and sand our roads we
further advise that this breach of a Duty Contin to put our town residents and emergency responders at risk of
damages including injury or death that’s what I did as a job in investigator so I
I have gone to court many times um because the town had notice the town is
exposing its residence to punitive damages and increased liability costs via potential verdicts and legal
expenses the action and subsequent inaction of the town has been both
unreasonable foreseeable and preventable in my opin P I’m almost done the above requests for
an immediate relief and remedy to the manufactured crisis brought about by the cancellation of snow removal and sanding
of our roads because that’s what it is in the midst of winter season without notice were denied by first select man
haes we ask that you not do that and you declined Additionally the first
selectman denied knowing when there was a change in snow removal services provided to private roads who authorized
this change and if any staffing issues contributed to or resulted in the decision to stop providing snow removal
sanding Services via Town employees and or contractors for which there are
contracts with the town despite the statements from the first selectman advising that she was not aware of the
above and had actual and constructive notice the first selectman was not forthcoming about her supervisory role
of the very Department of Public Works who is responsible for this manufactured
crisis I’m not meaning this personal I I’m an investigator and this is what I do the first selectman’s solution to the
resident’s demand for Relief was met with a promise for a meeting to discuss and hopefully come up with a reasonable
solution to the private road maintenance problems that we are experiencing as a result of the town’s breach
duties we’re all here because you guys stopped that’s that’s why we’re here
it’s not a problem nothing nothing has changed for us we do the same thing we do every day nothing has
changed okay um the first elman’s solution to the resident’s demand for
Relief was met with a promise for the meeting uh the first elman’s solution is to place the burden appr proof that the
town has breached its duties on the residents when the first Elman has all of these records regarding the
cancellation of the plowing sanding of our roads the burden shouldn’t be on us
we didn’t change we didn’t do anything if the first selectman does not understand the legal definition and
ramifications of the grandfather clause anastole we strongly request that she
seek a legal opinion immediately regarding the liability exposures regarding her actions delays and failure
to act in your supervisory capacity when I managed attorneys I would many times
call them and say I want your legal opinion 15 minutes here are the facts what do you recommend we do you don’t
have to get something in writing recommend you do that I did that all the time okay and I’m just going to finish
by saying um we the private road residents Property Owners taxpayers demand again that the town remedy this
breach of Duty immediately a failure to do so will result in legal action to
enforce the town’s obligations to its residents for which we will seek reimbursement for all related costs and
expenses we had a meeting everybody is on board we are here because we don’t want to do that it will cost the town
which we are also taxpayers and I don’t know if we have a you know retention deductible for legal
expenses this is going to be very costly and we just want a save town and I don’t want anybody hurt but this is what I do
for a job what I did for a job and I I know lawyers we we have we have
potential meetings set up I don’t want to do that but I’m not going to we’re we are not going to stand for this so I
just wanted to give you a copy thank you and um I’ll also give you a copy of the
uh letter that was uh from your predecessor from 46 years ago which you
may not have had okay and I can give you
cop copy and if anybody else would like a copy you can email me and I would be
glad to send you a copy thank you very much for your time Susan thank you
let’s not clap for every person thank you I appreciate Susan being here and speaking you want to speak next I let me
do it real quick I I really Sue covered most everything I had name oh I’m sorry Steve Hollander 42 dog oh thank you
Steve uh the streets that you were asking about I believe they’re listed out in the teamster contract I don’t
know sure but I’m pretty sure they’re the association I know that they were
there was a contract I don’t know Michelle I I I should have sent you questions
ahead of time my I’m curious as to how much we’ve
paid every year to contractors to do this plowing who has it changed has it
the same people every year because frankly they did a great in my neighborhood whoever they were they’re awesome they they’ve changed since I’ve
been here and I’m only on my third winter they do a great job there there have been issues with contractors
historically the other lady said that she had problems I I got to say they’re
they’re historically there have been issues with contractors and missing roads not doing expectations that we
think are to held to um but they have changed and what we do is we go out to
bid we set a number and then we hire upon that price that we set well I I the
same thing we’ve done for the three years that Michelle’s been here and and when I’ve been here I believe that was
historical previous to me as well how it was hired well I think I I really I to
Echo what Sue said I think you should call the attorney and ask some for some because you you you guys the town
has created over decades a a standard of care and now all of a sudden it just got
yanked out in the middle of this winter we have no we have no way to we can’t fix it if we wanted to understood thank
you mum M States hi Eric thanks for being
here I working on this last year last year I came in ADV okay and our
conversation was on the roads uh a little bit slow progressing
uh number one I try to get Jim to find out if we really were
Association uh and I’m sorry where did you say you what is the states the stes okay thanks uh Jim wrote to the
state and never got a apply I do have documents from 1975 and some from the
50s about FL the last ones were they use as uh just ones because they it wasn’t
wasn’t reasonable to do it any other way uh and going back into history mudas
States was a beach club and the roads were shut down in the winter because
everybody was just in there for the summer uh then the Town changed it so
that people could live here long you know all the time right year round so that created an issue we moved in 25
years ago uh mood as States had a a group but we were getting about 20% at
the most participation we were taking that money to do put the roads into the roads and now of course people have
changed over majority wins we have no and just
because of the logistics of it you have 60 people in the neighborhood and you
can’t have say you plow in front of your house we’ll plow in front of ours it has to be all or everything and some of the
conversations we were having is we’re not when M the states are set up it’s
not a tax zone or whatever like I know some of the mood the other states you
collect money from we will as far as I’m con you can collect money to do my roads you
don’t have to own them but there is no other logical way of doing it thank you
thank you appreciate it hi hi Patrick Lacy 41 Dogwood ro hi
Patrick and I brought face to an email I brought couple copies of the
pages that were referenced by Steve Hollander okay
ands than thank
you come on up Alexis just so you can get closer to this mic here Alexis where
are you from um 106 Lakeside Drive okay
uh first of all to um the gentleman’s point about I’m a real estate AG in town and when I sell a lake property everyone
wants to know is there an association most of the associations are defunct now they don’t they there’s no president no
one collects fees so we just tell the people it’s it’s defunct so there’s no one to pay and so um to his point I
wanted to say that into your first point about the assessment so my house when the um I asked the assessor I went to
the appeal process where you appeal your taxes and he said to me I said how did my land double this is out this is
unbelievable I’m in real estate this is way too much he said oh will you have a water view now most of these private
roads are with water so I feel we’re being discriminated against because the assessor said to me because you have a
water view simple as that now old Li because I
I go to other towns and I do sell real estate old lime they raised their assessments on people if just 80% but if
you live near the shore 100% so I think everyone should check their tax bill and see how much they got raised on their
land because most likely it was more than everyone else in town so I feel they’re discriminating against what
people have water views or live in a water Community thank you Alexis just so you know I did check with our assessors
and there is no add that’s what they told me he said because I have a water you Che with our town that’s was your
town that was I was fighting the the assessment of the town and that was the company you hired that I spoke to okay
the company that we hired it wasn’t well they’re representing you because you guys paid them so they they told me that
it doubled because I had so I’m sure I’m not the only one that did that
to anybody else come on who idea was it stop
plowing I believe we already answered that one it it was Michelle and I spoke in regards to how yep so it’s ours we
own that can you come up just so we can get you in up here and
your name and address Alicia darino 19 Sunny Heights of Moodus estate’s neighborhood thank you so um I’ll have
to my parents actually own the house or I should say have a mortgage on it and
when the house was purchased in about 2010 we had to in order to get the mortgage and insurance have a letter and
the previous president Kathy hug at the time went and had it saying that the
town would plow the roads for emergency Etc because was no association
so just so that you know but of course my concern is well what happens if the town weren’t to go and be doing that or
if there was some solution because what happens if can’t assure the home or the bage company finds out so just want to
yes so there’s a copy right there on the end of the table of the statute we are required by Statute to clear the road
for emergency vehicles and we do do that they’re also the roads the the public
works department is on the same radio frequency as 911 so that anytime that
there is an emergency in town whether it be a tree whether it be snow whatever it is our Public Works people are out there
immediately making sure that that uh you know any kind of emergency vehicle can get to you get to clear that tree so
that you can get out etc etc so as long as it’s not in wires and then unfortunately we have to wait for ever
source to show up clear if and when there’s an emergency in any one of these
Estates the first thing that’s going to happen is the fire department’s going to show up or the ambulance is going to
show up they’re going to get there and find a road obstructed by snow and now they have to wait for some
snow plow to show up and those seconds matter can I just can I just say
something about that it’s not just private roads that we ensure safety happens understand it’s private and and
M I understand that we are called if there’s if we’re going out and there’s a storm even if we’re in the middle of a
hurricane where there could be potential Road blockage throughout from trees or whatever we would be called and be in
conjunction with either the ambulance or the fire to ensure that they have access to you made the arbitrary and erroneous
decision to not remove the snow on our roads and you are now assuming that we
have somehow taken care of that those emergency vehicles are showing up and waiting for you to get there not that’s
what we’re trying to explain to you we how is that going to happen because when the call goes out to them we’re getting the same call how do you know that you
need to go address it because we know we’re not plowing the road of snow you
haven’t made the Assumption you’ve already told us that we’re responsible for it correct and and let it let let me
be clear that as private owners there’s several private roads in town where people are plowing and they’re managing
I don’t care about that I care about the fact that we have 46 years of precedent you have a contract with your DPW that
states that our roads are going to be taken care of that’s not what it states but oh it doesn’t does not state that no
I have a copy of it right here if you’d like to read it I read does not state that we are why is our association name
because when the contract was written the guys did not want work to be taken away from them by subcontractors so by
default you acknowledged in writing that you recognized that those roads had been and will be prowed by a contractor
supported by the town had been not will be but it was either a town employee or
a contractor that is always so I’m gonna stop all of you guys for one second and just say one thing okay if I live on
east side of Colchester turnpik and there’s a fire and there’s a
snowstorm at the same time when that fire Tru is being dispatched Public
Works is being dispatched to make sure that that firet truck can get to that fire on east side of Colchester Turnpike
same thing on Lakeside same thing on simple Hill so we’ve had fires in our association the fire department showed
up the police department there was nobody from DM DPW to make sure they could get to the house during a storm no
okay if there’s a 10 in 10inch storm the regular town roads you have
somebody every every time there’s an inch they come by and clean it not an inch it’s whatever it’s not 10 inches so
our snow policy is three to four inches is so three to four inches so if it’s snowing 12 Ines we’re going to have 12
Ines of snow on our private road that your that the snow plow has to come in
and just whack all of the sudden out of it it just in an emergency you’re counting on a lot of stuff going perfect
and you’re putting you’re putting both the uh emergency responders at risk you’re putting the residents of the town
at risk you’re putting the uh time frame for whoever needs that
care okay cut down we have somebody who’s standing up and getting ready to speak so let’s let him
speak my name is Mike Massie uh I live at 51 Davidson Road uh for those of you
who don’t know me I’m one of the employees that got laid off uh the question you should be asking is if they
don’t plow your residents and you have a fire on the next day when the employees
aren’t working how long it takes for them to call an employee in to um
respond to get their truck and then respond to your scene uh I’m going to
tell you it’s going to be the better part of an hour so um if you have a hill
that is slippery that the ambulance can’t get up because it hasn’t been plowed or sanded um and the ambulance
calls for an employee um it’s going to be about an hour so um they are correct
in saying that they try to dispatch um a Department of Public Works
truck for a fire call or an amulance call as long as they’re working um if
it’s the next day when they’re not working or two days later when they’re not working um you’re gonna be
so concern
[Applause] o’ my name is W hunt uh three Ward Road
I just want to piggy back on that quickly you didn’t say they would try to
be just the part Public Works would try to get to it you said when the call to
911 your Public Works is dispatched an emergency and they need
access yes we would Beed 91 call and you have people on hand we have we have
multiple gentlemen that serve in the fire department on our crew they get the call the same exact
time so what was just spoken do you believe that that’s accurate what Mike just said yeah so you’ll try if there’s
no nobody working that day you’re not a that is why I sent back somebody this
last storm when it was icy to have it sanded in plow because again you didn’t have knowledge thank you for and I sent
out a team and Butch went through there with a small truck and sanded and and made sure that the roads were accessible
that was after absolutely we got to stop from I don’t know we don’t even have your name yet
yeah you do oh we did you get it okay Mike Massie 1 Davidson wrote those you
who don’t know um I’m also a member of the fire department um there is no or
past practice there was no scheduled um an attempt to send a person
along with the AMS um the employees uh took it upon themselves to
do the best they can to get the fire truck or the amance to wherever the
residence was um but now there are only um four Town
Department of Public Works employees plowing all of your roads so um there is
no guarantee that they’re going to be anywhere near um where the call is
that’s right that’s incorrect statement Mike that’s there’s five count six is
the foreman can I ask a question sure are you you are are is that department
Union okay so when you is the is the teamsters filing a
grievance grievance about these two people is that really what’s going on here that has nothing to do with what
we’re discussing today there there is there is a grievance and it’s going to arbitration okay is that the reason the
town had to make a change in snow snow removal coverage absolutely not this
conversation we had last year and the first year I started because the former
Foreman as well also did not agree that we should be plowing private roads if we
were going to plow one private road we should be doing all of them none or all been doing it for 60 years like why you
got to stop this up and down okay I apologize all right well somebody else is already ready to speak I’ll speak
okay I’ll let him go it’s okay he’s my husband also for the gentleman um who
asked when this discussion was being had um I was uh laid off July 25th
and um the director had said before that time that she didn’t understand why
private roads were being plowed and U because I was on the fire department and everything I said it was
for emergency access and um their response was well we’re gonna have to stop that
so it came up in July before July before July 25th I’m not going to be able to
give you a date but before July 25th because I haven’t worked there since July 25
it was disgust I won’t come back
anymore Massie 51 Davidson wrote also um so again back to the beginning I want
you all to know this was brought up in August at the very first selectman’s meeting um as far as the services that
were going to be cut because of layoffs I brought up snow removal I brought up towns and what would happen to um during
a hurricane or during other weather events everyone stared at me I also went to the board of Finance because we were
told at that time it was Paving I heard a little bit of the meeting last week or the week before when it was maybe tree
work I’m a little confused I’ve been confused since August you should be too your tax dollars are not being well
managed we were not even three weeks into the new fiscal year and they were
already short money so if they can’t get the contractors to you which they’re not supposed to by contract but I don’t know
all those ins and outs but the fact is your money is not going where it should so I really hope people stay involved in
this conversation because I’ve been in it since August and again this has been
talked about yet no one is answering the questions and everyone in this room deserves answers thank you
[Applause]
he’ll do be M to flake Shores it’s going to be very brief I just want to get clarification there’s a lot of
discussion about emergencies let’s say that a day after a storm at 1 o’clock in the morning on a
Sunday if a town truck has to go in an emergency to get to an ambulance to
somebody’s home is he dispatched from his home does he have to go to the municipal garage then to go get a truck
or does he take it home with him so we waake the driver up hopefully he answers
he gets dressed starts his car up drives across town to get the vehicle and then he tries to get the vehicle over to the
ambulance that’s waiting there at the end of the street right and the ambulance driver gets dispatched to go to the house and then has to take the
fly car to the garage to get the ambulance and they come out the same time too and you think that’s a smooth
transition for an emergency situation no I really don’t to be honest I have a problem with it that’s not entirely I can’t hear you
I’m saying that’s not entirely true come on up she’s got to come up and talk from
the if you can come up I can we can hear
you um I’m Donna Marie and I have a couple properties in East hatam and pay
a lot of taxes and um if you take a look at all of us there’s only a few lucky
people here that are under 50 or 60 um it scares the hell out of us that
ambulance King come in I mean and we all know that if we live in mood’s States
we’re the last ones and we don’t mind if we don’t get plowed somebody here is not
going to make it and that’s what scares me that’s the liability so I’m sorry your name Faith
McMahon 8 States um so when you call the ambulance if it’s like a slip and fall
or something then yeah the town will get dispatched but if you call P atric can’t breathe having a heart attack they
dispatch from either Marboro or middle sex yes they do shaking your head I
shake my head at and the paramedic gets to your house before the town even gets there so what happens in that instance
when the paramedic is there and they can’t get down the roads because the town that you dispatched for the trucks
to come plow and the ambulance like paramedics arrive I don’t we called the ambulance for my son they were there in
15 minutes and the town arrived 15 minutes later with the ambulance and they traded him right on our front porch
so I don’t understand how’s that going to happen with the plows waiting it’s not
but every but I guys you have to be able to let them in though understood my son
would have died if all of us all of us are waiting for our roads to be plowed my road doesn’t I’m the first elment my
road doesn’t get plowed first everybody’s going to necessarily be in a situation where they’re waiting for the
plow to come right to their street they don’t we don’t have never coming to our
guys I’m just trying to be reasonable here even if we had an absolute full crew and we had 20 trucks we have 120
miles of owned roads by the town plus all these private roads and the private
Association roads so there is no way that everybody’s going to be plowed out at one o’clock in the afternoon it’s not
going to happen everybody is going to have to wait there is going to be situations where it doesn’t work out
smoothly in the 46 years that the roads have been plowed has there ever been a situation
where where an ambulance has had to wait for a plow to get there to get them in your street they’ve been has it
happen has it happened has it happened in the last 46 years been sand we are
going to continue the way we have been doing it we’ve already said that we’re going to make sure that the emergency
vehicles get in there we’re going to do the best we can okay I I think Liz is up
next and then you’re up after that I can speak on that as well while
I’m here um 84 Liz Rita 84 Shore Road um
I’m I just have a couple points first I’d like to know how many collectively how many streets were talking because I
didn’t know until after I moved onto the road that we are a private road um we have I’m right next door to Bashan
Cemetery which is you know now being renovated and everything but it seems more like a
public road because we have access to the boat launch and just find launching area is not a
priv we’re not we’re Shore Road so we you’re on the other right where bash
where the cemetery there’s quite a number of private roads I don’t know I don’t have the exact number but if you need that number I can get it back to
with that but with that um I am also one of your town Animal Control Officers um
Love Me Or Hate Me um but you know Irene because you are my
boss um our my shift runs from 400 PM until the following morning 8:00 am so
if a call comes in from TR K overnight of anything happening we cover three
towns not just east hatam east hatam is reimbursed by the other town that we one
of the other towns that we cover um I need to be able to respond
I can’t what about people who live I mean not everyone is retired in these
communities and needs to get to work in the morning I I personally am going to get that call you know at one o’clock in
the morning and I’ve gotten them before but what about everybody else that has to go to work in the morning and is
counting on the town to plow those roads um it’s important we count on it and you
have like the the road that I live on half of it’s seasonal half of it’s yearround we have a lot of elderly
people we can go out and and mow and clear but that is for a first respond
that’s going to slow down my response time and then ultimately that will come back to the town as well as with anybody
getting to work or where they need to be understood thank you thanks
Li to satisfy your need to know who I am Martha
Cohen 21 Lake New Road SLE Hill um gosh
first of all this is probably one of the most frustrating times that I’ve had in
these hadam which hopefully is saying something
um you guys stopped period taking care of a safety issue you
might want to send out your DPW Folks at the same time prevention is key here
these roads all of the roads I don’t know I don’t even know what determines a private road from a non-private road I
haven’t heard that definition yet every resident in this town has the
right to be able to have emergency services provided to them and if they can’t get to them the town takes on the
front of that situation prevention is key has there been an
exercise of not the DT DPW or even the fire department or even the ambulances
knowing like we do fire drills at school has there been exercises to see
if this is actually a viable solution to not plowing private
roads are you saving anything all of these people and many
others are at risk right now I I’m sorry I think that’s
unacceptable and add to that every single one of us who pay taxes paid for
those plowers paid for that sand pay the uh salaries of these crew and we’re
worried about them as well I don’t think a fire person or
ambulance person is going to stop trying to do their job in a day dangerous
situation that’s what they do and they’re damn proud of it and we should be proud of it they’ve got to get there
period and not be at personal risk to be able to do their job thank
you I am Sean toer 24 Berry Road we MST Lake Shores Association there’s a lot of
us here tonight and um something I just wanted to bring into consideration we’ve had mild Winters the last couple years
and um you know when you’re faced with three Ines of snow it’s you might not even need somebody to be there before a
ploud or before an ambulance or fire truck but when you’re dealing with you know six inches on an hour and you’ve
got two feet of snow coming in there’s no signs of it letting up and those roads haven’t been touched a plow truck
might not even do it you might need a loader and by the time that happens your uh emergency’s gone and that’s where the
seriousness lies in this if it’s not these mild Winters we’ve had where you can get lucky it’s when you get serious
snowfall and it’s truly an emergency and you need all hands on deck and you’re lucky if you get that one
emergency good point just as a point of of knowledge getting into Sipple Hill
there is no getting in there because of the two hills stand up tell you you
are quiet I’m Stephen we’ve already I’ve already introduce it so if you look at
something like Sipple Hills and I know there are we’ got a bunch of roads that are in discussion but Sipple Hill the
only two roads into that that that establishment require going up a fairly
Steep Hill so any any snow ice is a
problem and we as somebody else said we’ve got a bunch of seniors in the myself included right you’re putting us
at risk and that’s really why we’re upset said about this right it’s it’s
unnecessary risk to us and we pay your salaries we voted for you to be in
this okay some of us voted for you I didn’t either
but sorry it’s okay hi I’m from M States the only thing
that I want to say is something that we’ve all been watching TV over the past week seeing all the crap is going on out
there in Califoria California and the big thing right there is Public Safety
and like every that’s all everybody cares about is Public Safety um I
thought when when I heard what the policy was for coming in in case you know there was snow or whatever I’m
saying to myself well God forbid what if my husband who’s 77 years old if he um
happen to have a heart attack and we had a snowstorm two days ago and yet it’s
still crappy you know now how are you going to get somebody there to plow now when the emergency is coming in and then
I’m thinking to myself you know what what if somebody’s Grand kid is there and they’re choking on something and you
need somebody in their stat and yet what we have to wait for somebody to come to
plow the road I mean seriously I just it just blows my mind and I know that there
are several in here who have small grandchildren and elderly husbands but
um it’s a scary thing and I really think that if you equate it to looking at how
uh California is right now and and it’s just Public Safety and what they prioritized and that kind of thing and I
really think that’s where we’re at and as someone else said too that it’s already in our taxes and it’s something
that has been being done and so we don’t understand why it’s stopping
we’re already paying for the service and we do hope that it continues thank you
yeah my name is aligo 37 and uh I got two questions the first
is who was it your decision or whose decision was it to stop the
plowing I’ll take it it was my decision okay now is this meeting to convince you
to keep not plowing or is this to convince you to plow what what’s the
result what’s the bottom line to all of this yeah so again as I mentioned at the beginning of the meeting what I wanted
to do was to hear from the residents as to what they’ve become accustomed to yeah what roads have been plowed what
haven’t if there was any gentleman agreements out there if there were any you know grandfathering Clauses that
were out there because we have nothing in our statutes by this town that says
that the town’s required to take care of private roads at the same time there is a statute that says in order it’s our
obligation moral or otherwise that we have to make sure that emergency services can get to you no matter where
you live so that’s here so we’re all we’re trying to do is number one
everybody’s upset and we want to have everybody have an opportunity to speak and number two to see what we can get for information now is this a money
thing are you doing this to save money and if we’re convincing you that we need it plowed you’re going
to spend the money well we’re go we have to if if you you guys want every single
Road in this town plowed like it has been things excuse me like it has been
it has been well no it hasn’t been because there are roads in town that are private that have not been plowed ever
we are not those people I understand that clearly but there are people that live on private roads that take have
their own plow service and they come in and they take care of their roads so what you’re saying now you didn’t make up your mind yet or is your mind already
made up we’re going to try to change it where are we with that
I have I have no idea you have no idea I I I don’t know what you’re asking you’re
asking me asking you you make a decision yet to not plow the roads anymore and
are we trying to convince you to keep doing that question no so the decision
has not been made yet to not plow your road to not that that decision has not
been made not not plowing your ropes okay well I think that decision’s been
made and then show up for two STS with ice I just have a well wa a
minute a let’s talk about let me just ask a question the first storm obviously was a storm if you want to call it a
storm it was a quarter inch of of quarter inch of snow and it froze instantaneously and it was a mess we
came out we sanded it afterwards the second not the first one the first one you did not respond to which is what got
us called to the first I we called you after the first one several of us did
and said any chance you guys are going to get out here today any chance we’re going to get plowed today the first
storm no response no response one response which said which said we don’t
do that okay we don’t plow that’s how I was not aware of the November storm I’m
gonna I’m gonna put I’m sorry it’s your job to be aware there have been 18 snow
events since for this year since 24 and 25 18 snow events
that in our town yes that first one that we called on looking for somebody to
come out and really sand um sheets of ice everywhere
everywhere find out you don’t do it that’s how we found out that the town
was no longer plowing or sanding our roads the second time that you’re
referring to what you’re calling the first time um no you didn’t come out
until several of us called and emailed and said we have to have it you need to
reinstate the plowing and sanding I just have a thought
here if for if this is a financial thing that the town of East Adam has something
like 120 miles of Roads 34 miles or 25 miles are dirt
roads we figured out how to plow those how many miles do you think I think it’s
three associations here are involved I can tell you it’s a mile in
circle in our association I’m guessing I’m guessing
upper res what do you guys called m a mile what mile and a half two miles
of roads I don’t I’m guessing across the lake for us is maybe maybe two miles of
road it’s more about the condition of the roads not so much to the roads we all know that there are plenty of roads
that are public roads that are in terrible condition and you guys figure out how to plow them we have 25 miles of
dirt roads took me 18 minutes to get across town to buy a Facebook Marketplace table I couldn’t believe it
so it’s a it’s a tough argument for us to swallow I can tell you up at our and I
think the same of um upper res those roads are actually in prettyy damn good
shape considering we’re working off of very little money we don’t have a taxing Authority
we rely on a small little dues to try to maintain the roads that we have up there
which the town refuses to help us with anyways so you guys could get the roads
up into better condition you refuse you’re stuck with what we’re able
to put together 72 private roads if we go and we fix one and the other 72
decide they’re liable they’re they expect the same condition it puts us in a very not asking we’re not asking you
to do it we’re saying you can’t use that as an excuse not to get your vehicles up there when you can we’re asking you to
do what you’ve been doing because that’s your responsibility contractors have complained since I have been here and
historically that the roads are in poor condition and it does damage to their vehicles did you go out and check them I have been to SI Hills I’ve been stat
photos driven them our roads are I have photos of the truck being backwards on
the same argument and the plows do damage to our roads we have 18 wheelers
com all over the place deliv you can’t tell me that you’ve got a problem with getting a little pickup truck I know
where those trucks are going to the back where there’s a there’s an electrician I’ve had conversations with him because
the trucks have problems turning the corner because the vegetation is overgrown so these conversations have
been going on for a couple of years it’s not those complaints have come into US
asking for did you come and discuss it with us I have spoken to several people in s Hills yes I even had a meeting
there was multiple someone came in he asked for millings I gave him a connection to get free millings I have
done what I could on our end down but could we just because we keep
talking about association association association the L where we lived is by
State Statute right yeah what do you mean it’s by their
Association is in the state statute for Lake Hayward what about M they taxing
Authority it’s it’s not tax states is nothing where on your own taxpayers over
there I think it was like 10 or so years ago this
defunk pay $30 don’t pay $30 it was always discussion about if you would
give up this much space well how can that vehicle go forward we just sound
like we’re dismissing okay well that’s an association okay you you guys over there are doing much better simple Hill
the ban folks I’m a resident at East hadam amen
and there’s not the discussion of just the snow what really gets me is I’m not
blaming you miss but over 95 a long time ago lack of accountability you see do the
trucks in town have GPS on them where are these trucks going how much time a lot of this LS
into this frustration so maybe maybe before all of this back and forth maybe
we need to sit down and talk you talk about finances over here and then okay
somebody got to die I got to Sue it’s kind of it’s repetitive here now it it
really is so what’s going to be the solution are we going to have another
meeting if it snow is 5 feet tomorrow should I call you from if it
snow is 5 feet tomorrow you have my word that we will make sure you’re plow out what if it’s an inch of Ice
tomorrow we’ll have to discuss that tomorrow but if you are plow five feet of snow we will be there so an inch of
ice is probably snow sir would you like to come over and talk sure uh my name is Michael
Su 21 Birch Road property owner is Moodus Lake Shores uh again I I’m repeating myself
from the meeting on January 2nd but we’ve been an association and we’ve been plowed for over 60 years I’ve been there
45 years and it was plowed a long time before I got there I have a friend in
the audience that’s been there 50 years and it’s been plowed a long time before him
there’s never ever been an issue nobody ever calls and says you haven’t gotten
to my roads yet what’s the problem we take it as you guys do it we accept the
fact that you do the roads we’re always told we were grandfathered in there’s a nice article in 1978 about it uh and I’m
sure there’s plenty more that she has documentation on but what’s the problem
the problem isn’t this emergency thing this is the problem that you’re just point blank not sanding not plowing you
made that decision it’s not poor communication on your part you just never communicated to anybody you just
didn’t show come on it’s enough enough there’s no reason and if you can’t
because you’re short-handed that’s fine we don’t mind being at the end or waiting or waiting but this last storm
you went out you only did sip you only did simple Hill you didn’t come to the other
ones never so I can show you the GPS routes of all
the well you’ve never come in our association I don’t know where I’m telling
you what road and well Pine Road Oak Road Pine and Oak yep to
start uh as far as you keep going on about private roads
we are all taxpayers in this town we pay our
taxes private roads are we don’t have our roads as I said before
gated people come in they drive in we don’t tell them to get out or anything
people use our roads ours too they’re not private and that and I’m speaking for the other Association too uh there
you can call them private what it is is we own the roads and we maintain whether
we’re collecting dues property taxes whatever we maintain
them to the best of our ability and we’re always striving to do better so you’re not giving us a
break because we’re maintaining roads but at the same time you’re not
giving us a break because you’re now not going to plow in sand it’s it has nothing to do with the
emergency yes okay so you’re going to take care of the emergency what if 5 days later and it’s still not
plowed and at the same time we could have had this discussion back in July or
August which still wouldn’t have made us happy but at least we might have been able to get contractors to do our roads
this winter you have an obligation to take care of the roads I don’t understand why
all of a sudden this is a problem your budgets of your budgets increase every
year or stay the same there shouldn’t be an issue use the money you’re not paying to maintain our roads from our taxes to
take care of plowing our roads and we’ll be
happy it’s okay hi I’m Lori dequilla 71 AP Gates
Road um I’m not on a private road and I do get plowed out but I’m here
representing par espcially East hatam Ambulance Association as well as uh the
people who live in on these private roads because I know what it’s like to be going out there in the middle of the
night in Slippery conditions to pick up people um our average response time is
12 minutes we are grateful to those Town employees who have heard on the radio
that there’s an emergency and who have tried to get ahead of us and plow out
sometimes they plow a driveway put sand and Ice uh sand and salt down on the ice so that we can get in and out of the
long driveways we know that in the um mudas EST States as an example which is
is my um heart place because my elderly aunt lives there and I know many of the
people that are elderly that live there um we know that we need to have sand and
salt on those roads we can probably get there before a town truck nowadays with
the decreased work crew and like somebody else had mentioned if it happens after the storm
is over like what Michelle reference to um going out on the 11th disciples Hill
Estates if we had had a a call a cardiac arrest at 2 o’clock that morning and you
lived on one of those Hills there we would not have been able to access you we might what we would do is we get out
of the ambulance with our big heavy bag and our flashlight and run to get to
where you are thank you who knows how long that would take the paramedic response that
comes from Marble clinic and middle sex Hospital is excellent but they’re going to have a long drive in a bad storm and
then they’re going to get there and not be able to help we need them to start IVs and give cardiac meds in an
emergency okay this is the reason why we have to keep these roads
clear we’re in emergency services we’re all about preparedness and we don’t see that
happening here we don’t see that there’s any preparedness for this contingency how are we going to access people I keep
hearing asking for documentation of an agreement previous Selectmen have maintained the agreement
said that they had um an ethical and moral responsibility to be serving these
areas to keeping the roads passable for us understanding that if you don’t plow
8 in the snow two days later we can’t get in and then it’s too late to try to
get a plow in there if it’s frozen solid I don’t know of any documentation
I only have the word of previous Selectmen so what good is the word of
the
town just a quick question you asked for documentation where do we provide it we
go home we go looking through our fing where we you have anything I’m happy to
take it you can drop it off at the selman’s office yeah hello my name is Paul dapkus 35
Pine Road mutus Lake Shores I wanted to say that uh one winter event we had in
2024 we had an initial complaint that it was difficult on icy conditions for
children to get to the bus stop to get onto the school bus that’s kind of where it started in our Comm Community um
there’s been a lot of talk about elderly and different seasonal um situations
where people are living but I wanted to make a point that first thing in the morning at 5 six o’clock in the morning
when kids are getting up putting their backpacks on making their way to the school bus that’s a concern
too um as a as a resident of mutas Lake Shores I could tell you that we maintain
our own roads we hire contractors ourselves we we have put a sizable
amount of money into our roads and if the town actually wanted to come in and take a look at least our primary roads
throughout our community if they call them anything less
than passible I would take offense
um I also wanted to just give you a suggestion that next week I recommend we
assemble in a larger area I do think there’s going to be more people and as you can see there is an inadequate
amount of seating uh for people because some have already left too but I know
for a fact I just based on the emotions and how much people are trying to
uh connect themselves to this issue that I think we’re going to need
to assemble in a larger area thank you thank you thanks for speaking
anyone else is
everybody Mary Beth morai one L View Road um so after our meeting last week
which there are definitely some dis discrepancies of what you said then and what you said now I went through the
meeting I can share it with you if You’ like I don’t need to say what it is but I mean there are things that you said
you didn’t talk about it before you said you didn’t know who made the decision you said it twice during that meeting and now evidently you’ve been talk well
I’m trying to take responsibility because ultimately it last it lasts here right guys so I’m I’m happy to to say to
say to us last time that you didn’t have conversations with her makes it a little bit more difficult for us to be trusting
just I’m just say it’s fine I have l people every day so if I if I misspoke I
apologize that you misspoke to someone who is in charge of making the decision that was the question I I wasn’t gonna I
mean that’s fine I’m I’m just trying you forgot that then that’s a whole another question
what’s um so I went through a really lot of our old notes all right I’m not going
to hand them to you I spent many many many hours doing it you can do your own
homework too there newspaper articles their Association minutes that have to
be um given to the state I think that they’re I I think I’m not no no I’m
wrong on that anyway this road situation comes up
every eight or nine years or something like that and you it’s all you see the
roads the roads the roads the roads the roads and every eight or nine years
Selectmen have decided that it’s their obligation to continue to to provide
this service to this all the associations that have had this service
given to us since at least 60 years ago the one that really struck me the
most that I found was um I think I told somebody I can’t remember what the the
first selectman’s name was Ferrari Ferrar so a lot of people here probably know that so he was going to get a legal
um look into it legally and get an opinion and all of that and then he came back and he said I’m not going to do
that because no matter what they say I feel legal I feel morally obligated to
all of these people who have had these services for as long as they’ve lived here to not take that away from them
that they’ve done nothing to have that taken away from them I think that it would be good
information to have I don’t know where to get it is exactly how much you’re saving by not doing our
roads I think that that’s good I did also I mean I I’m it’s I’m glad to hear
I guess that U Laurel Cove isn’t getting plowed because I heard that they were so as long I’m glad to hear that we’re not
just being picked out by the few associations that aren’t doing it um I’d also like to understand a little bit at
the end of the contract that we saw signed that it says where the where the contracted snow plowers are going to
plow and it names the association so to me I I understood that that this is where we’re going to use our contracted
people so I don’t know if this is because um there were no you couldn’t
have contracted people until like the end of this month if that’s a reason that actually makes a little sense to me
but you still should have let us know and provide Emergency Services when we
can’t probably go out and get them at last and I think that’s about it thank you
[Applause]
patricky 41 Dogwood wrote um it seems to me that one of the issues we talking about is funding money right is that is
that true might do I understand thatly money hear you okay hear you um
so I see on the public works there deline on it for snow removal okay and now for that what happens for instance
we we budg how do we how do we come up with that figure um I think it’s historically you
know what we’ve spent over the course of the last what is it 10 years and we say we average it because we don’t know
dayto day month to month you know whether we get snow or we don’t you know as somebody mentioned earlier the past
two years we’ve had um little to no snow right and we’ve thrown that snow dollars after the fact after the season into the
trees so I mean this is what we do is we kind of go back and forth with the money is as far as that was my next question
is what happens to the money if you have if you have a mild winter what happens to the money perhaps we roll it over into the following year other thing okay
um now I want to piggy back on we had the G with the butterscotch vest and then we we had some other people talking
about you know the the age of the people here yeah okay we’re talking about funding okay so now my thing is is it
looks to me that the U Board of Education part of the budget is the largest correct correct I haven’t had I
haven’t had child in the education system in this town for 20 years a show of hands how many people have children
in the high school in the school in the system so maybe we transfer the money that we’re spending on education to the
public work side I mean we talk to people our our governments are talking about giving vouchers to students so
they can go to different schools how about if we work out a plan that we can take the money that we spend on
education that we don’t use right unforunately you can’t do that
but I love that idea well how about why can’t we because it’s government that’s why well education the education budget
is separate it’s um the board of Finance gives them x amount of dollars a year and whatever monies they don’t use goes
into a reserve fund and that’s just the way it’s been set up the reserve fund res that over to the public right I love
it Department the town honestly and I will I will put myself out there to say
that the town does definitely need more for roads for road maintenance we’re
we’ve got a road study going on right now that we’re going to you know start identifying the priorities of the roads as to which ones need to be reclaimed
we’ve we’ve been doing the best we can as far as reclaiming the roads with the monies that we’re given but when it comes down to the board of Finance the
board of Finance Cuts us and cuts Board of Ed but they can’t cut a lot of Board of Ed Board of Ed has a situation where
once they get um unless they get and Mary Beth you probably know only because I think you’re the only board person in
the room but I know it’s so oh you have okay but there’s a certain amount of if we get less enrollment in the schools
and it has to be a certain percentage like it has to be a good amount before we can decrease the budget for education
in this town and that’s every town that’s across the that’s across the state for state you know Department of
Education so the education budget is is a is a world onto its own it’s nothing
we can touch as a town and yet when um you know budget cuts come along they cut a little bit out of of Education you
know when the board of board of finance and then they do a lot of cutting in our town budget and it’s very frustrating
but I would love to be able to do what you may you may have saw in the email thread that I had with Gary
me me about the you know the fairness to the taxpayer what’s the fairness here
we’re spending to put other people’s kids to school so there you go you know what I’m
saying so how how do we work this out right and hon honestly you know I hope
you understand that you do want to work this out we’re not here
to Sure uh we have you know we’re talking about snow in the winter we have
a problem all year rning our roads and because we can’t collect dues I mean
every else can I’m gonna stop you there for one second why can’t you because we
don’t have an association there’s nothing to force anybody to do it the association was never start an
association there is no vice president there’s no president there’s no Treasurer can you all I mean collectively you’re all in the room
right now for those fol here no we’re not we have a large Association believe me I’ve been
volunteering in this St Forever on missions I mean as I I started with Jim on this before okay uh we were
collecting $40 of we can’t collect I don’t see any reason why the the town
can’t figure out how much it cost us to do our roads and give a separ separate bill to us for
our individual people in the in other words if everybody in the association was giving $40 if you could collect it
why can’t the town collect it and use that money to do the roads so you’re asking it can the town start an
association for you well no I want I want you can apply a a separate it’s still
Administration Administration tax or something I mean you’d still have to administer it who I mean because we
we’ve been this this this we’ve been our roads I mean we we’ve had it where you can’t even pass down our roads last year
you know you you end up having to bail us out we rather not be bailed out
they’re dangerous thank you I get it yeah I lost my front end on my car
$2,000 because of the road and we live around the corner like a cliff there’s a
lot of older people living in our area our Single Ladies they can’t we could me
and him could fix the roads in front of our house the other people don’t have that luxury they don’t know how to do that
and they they they got no no money to do it you know you retire you live on a fixed income there you know we are
all dependent on you guys to fix this problem but when I get an any like I
said I voted for you a bunch of times and now I’m having second thoughts where
I made a mistake I’m a Republican I I would I would never vote for a
Democrat but we get our Ro CL we will are you if it means that that he’s they
G to deliver a road for us I’m Fort hi guys I’m sabr Summit I live on 23
Woodland Road in mud States um IRA and Carol and a bunch of other us of here
are part of M States I think what Ira is trying to say is there is no Charter or
nothing legally in M the states that has any legal precedent to force any of us
to pay fees so unfortunately I can’t just say hey
you’re moving in let me make you pay fees because we have nothing on the
books the last uh articles that were made were 1948 and they’re uh filed with
the town are egregious they actually have the n-word in them that people of
color cannot not live in our association so you can see that these rules from
1948 are completely null and void and again they have nothing to say there’s no precedence that you have to have an
association there’s no actually Association and that you have to pay dues to take care of the roads
so I just don’t understand how legally any of us in in M the states can force
one another to even pay you can’t you have to simple Hill has a we we are an
association we do ask for dues but we have no way of enforcing it all we can
do is when it gets to some value that makes it worthwhile put a lean against the property and when it sells if it
ever sells we hopefully collect it we can’t even put a lean on anybody so I I
have been on an a condo association for many years and served on a board and we had similar issues where people were not
paying and he’s absolutely correct you can put a lean but there’s nothing you can do to to take that money unless the
property is sold or foreclosed on in auction to receive the money back so it is a difficult situation and all you’re
going to get is the participants of the people that are probably in this room today that are willing to participate so
I do like empathize I do and I understand where you’re coming from
there are definitely people that are very involved in Moodus and simples Hill I’ve heard from both of them so I hear
what you’re saying but the only way to make this move forward is to come
together and figure out a way where you where the people who are willing to come together are to to enforce what you need
to do I I I hear what you’re saying but I this gentleman just said it well we
pay taxes we pay taxes just like somebody who lives on M lane or Colchester per turn bike yeah there is
no reason we should not be able to get the same kind of snowplow service ideally road service but we would at
minimum want our citizens and our our members and our people in the association safe we’re not asking them
to fix the roads yeah what we’re asking to do is just so emergency vehicles can have access if they need it we fix our
own roads we make sure they’re passable we make sure that the trucks can get down there but we need someone to clear
the roads so that have an ambulance a fire department anybody can get down there if there’s an emergency we pay the
same taxes as somebody that lives I I live on Smith Road but but I’m in Laurel C Laurel Co
Association actually Smith Road is a little worse than what we have down down in lural Co that’s right but what we’re
asking is that if we’re paying the same taxes as everybody else let us have the same Services as everybody else that’s
all that’s all we’re asking y I think it just needs to be fair and Equitable for everyone and that’s the only thing that
I’m saying so we don’t have a problem yeah but there are 72 private roads so to be fair and equable we would have
priv between these three associations you’ve probably got 65 of them and maybe three or four miles 60 or 70 years have
they been grandfathered in like I mean I don’t know the legal she knows more about the legal legality of
grandfathering but I you know I think that um I have something that is
important I think there may be a storm this weekend so are you able to right Now
call a contractor in to be able to do our roads if there’s a storm this weekend if we need to call a contractor
and we have them on standby yes okay thank you I just wanted to let everyone know there’s 30 more people watching at
least online too so we repres bigger group than what you
see sir I I didn’t catch your name St Bar 14 sunny high did you say Stan or
Dan Stan SD an thank you so just hold on one second if you
don’t mind um do you have anything to say da I I again this is a fact a fact
Gathering uh discussion for me as well I didn’t know any of this was happening
until I received emails in late December um so I at this point
I I’m listening to your concerns I’m listening to your you tell me the
history y’all have lived there you know what happened better than I do um so at
this point I am personally I am still gathering information because I I was unaware that this was the situation
until again late December when it was brought to my attention can just hold on time I just
this is a board of selectman meeting as well so I just want to make sure that the board has opportunity to speak but you’re next I promise if we if we had a
okay you’re go now if we were if we were forced to plow our own roads
uh is it possible to make those the payments tax
deductible they’ve tried they’ they’ve tried to get like a tax uh rebate
through through the history that I’ve looked at yeah it’s like the same thing happens every like every decade we don’t
have to do that the town has to do that they have to continue to do it and when I said about the legal opinion I was
talking about your actions to stop this that’s where you the 15minute conversation you know we stopped it
after this you could say just became aware of it you know they presented this
article and you know and they’re going to tell you I believe that you should continue to do
that Eric anything so yeah thank you everybody for showing up um like
Tanya weren’t aware not to throw Michelle under the
bus but it’s something that we not involved in the day-to-day as Selman we
our perview could be to decide this this road as as I understand I talk to two
past uh Public Works directors that went back to I think Mr
blasik um they’ve always done it it’s been again kind of the agreement between
Selectmen and the associations to to continue um I wrote a letter back to Mr
Hunt um he actually asked um personally I don’t necessarily agree with
it um I’m just going to be transparent about that I look at taxpayer dollars um
we paid for a sewer down in East Adam I don’t get to use it that was a lot of money yeah we pay for it too exactly so
hold on this I’m not trying to create an argument here I just want you to hear me out I’m being transparent I’m not starting an argument with anybody that’s
the way and I’m going to put it out there um why I have do have a question
why do we make contractors or developers bring roads up to standards that makes sense I would mind
paying a little bit to fix the road so I don’t have to pay $2,000 for another PR
and again these are thoughts that I came up listening to everybody these are these are I’m being devil’s advocate
here um so these are questions also in the
discussions that I had with the public works directors um it was indicated that
in the past road maintenance was done not necessarily as it was their
responsibility but basically it was an again Gentleman’s Agreement hey could
you fix the can you run the greater through here can you do this or that the one thing that I thought was pretty
unique was if they needed maintenance or materials brought
in there was agreement to give the association the same price as the town
would get yes very often I saw that documentation the to with
us it hasn’t been accepted in the last few years but it we have histo his
historical prior to the last five 10 years the 10 years we’ve been here 12 years we’ve been fighting and asking the
town every year to help either give us give us the equipment give us the people
we’ll pay for the material we and we’ve been flatly rejected across the board well I’m I’m
aware that the town has gone in and brought either material or has done a
it’s it’s in our records very good working relationship since I’ve been here I can say that I
know that the town has gone and and done various different things now who knows
which street or where or what Association or whatever and it’s not everybody okay um but there has been
materials there has been work done on the private roads um because of we wanted to be sure that to your point
that a fire truck could get in there if they needed to there was a lake in the middle of one of the roads we tried to fix that we brought in material we fixed
that so there are times where we are in there fixing things that we’re technically not supposed to be doing
because they’re private roads that being said we’re not here to not do it it’s just we’re trying to get again we’re
trying to get the information we’re trying to see what you know we can find out from all of you as well as for
example um Mr Dale has talked to previous you know uh um Public Works
directors and what they have done in in previous years so and I appreciate the information that all of you have brought
forth this today too but go ahead I’m sorry so just again to having some experience with plowing snow pat down by
you it’s tough there’s a lot of those Corners that the roads are are you know
they’re tough um I wouldn’t want to hit some of those walls with a plow um so again to I can see where maybe the
feedback from our even from our our Public Works guys that they don’t want to put a plow on there I mean you’re
going to be eating the steering wheel so again not a given excuses I mean you got
to slow down take your time so forth um at this point I’m I still think we
should be continuing on doing what the way we’ve always done it um and then
bring this to the table during times when the service is not needed um again
that’s I’m speaking from my gut um I agree wholeheartedly with
Eric y were told by one of the contractors
that we had some of the better roles of the association so just so again that was I just happen to be down your way we
do a lot of work on we did a bunch of we spent a bunch of money on them last year we we continue to do it but you know
with what you got to do out of your pocket it’s kind of tough I get it thanks y one thing just
um two things actually when we work on our own roads we are lit literally we
are out there with shovels and putting dirt in um dirt in rock that we get from
the U quy so I mean we are there are some of us that will come up even on
just one little road and we’ll chip in we’ll go get a truckload and we’re out there and we’re manually trying to keep our roads up to snu that’s one thing the
other thing was that um I think Ira had mentioned it earlier that uh Moodus Estates in particular we were more like
a beach club that was original which meant that it was all the summer stuff
so as time went on and houses started to convert and they became year round I
mean it was zoned and sanctioned by the town that this was happening now all of a sudden where you’re saying here okay
here’s the bag it’s yours well wait a minute now we didn’t change the zoning you guys changed the zoning so you know
there it’s just it’s a lot of M you know so again every Administration kind
of we basically get what the past past administrations have done like you said
40 some odd years ago in kind of thing and one of the
things was that um Ira had spoken to Jim dendis and something about wait can the town take our roads over you know and he
said um no they would have there’s no way they could bring them up to standard or whatever ever and a lot of that has
to do with that the roads were narrow and people own that private property so how are you going to encroach on that
and you know there’s all kinds of look it’s complicated the one thing
also too being Playing devil’s advocate that I’m thinking of do you guys as far as the associations have private beaches
do you have um amenities for your associations we have we have a beach and
a so again not again I’m not trying to start an argument but if I can’t use that beach because I don’t live there
you could use I’m a taxpayer use ours we own everybody comes in anyway get I get
it you can’t use my private property either I get it I can’t use yours but
they use the roads we have a lot of people on our roads that don’t belong in our association just walking you can
throw me
Gates on our neighborhoods they’re all open it’s not like we’re High pollut neighborhoods Well we’d appreciate a
response as soon as possible because I would like to just say one thing this is a request for some information to be
provided next Tuesday could we have the exact figures that were used to pay the
contractors for the last three years for the associations the what we are calling private roads could we have those
figures presented and could we also see a budget Brandy other taxpayer dollars
usage in that that sense just just in a Layman’s way transparency I can give you details on
contractors for the time that I have been here documents uh I say lack there
of a lot of documents have been destroyed over the years or missing so whatever I have I can give gez even
there’s a seven year you’re supposed I am very aware of document retention laws
but I am just telling you what I walked into and what I have access to so about two years I can definitely give you the
last two years absolutely laer and you show up and you don’t have your records we’re you’re GNA get
slammed and and you’re absolutely right but there’s nothing we can do we literally know of a situation where
something do we’re hoping you do it there is something you can do and we hope you do it we absolutely will do why
don’t you hire this this guy that got laid off and put him in charge of the roads and get him
and that’s how he’s in charge of just the r all the r right he needs a job but
we need somebody to fix the problem that’s the right there yeah she doesn’t like that guy or his wife unfortunately
sorry I love you guys oh I bet you do we love you too Irene thank you Ruth it’s always good to
see you she she doesn’t do that then the next election she won’t be here either we got a new new person you know
everyone’s talking at once no one can hear each other and I think uh is it Stephen I think you had something else
you wanted to say before we i’ just like to do make wrap this up with a couple
things I think the request for the the the funding the money spent on snow
removal is great but it doesn’t it doesn’t have it needs an offsetting conversation
about the money that’s not being spent on road maintenance because we’re taking care of those roads so if we can get the
average cost of per mile or something of road maintenance C Road road maintenance
for this the town that gives us some perspective are we costing you or we spend we saving you I I think there were
there were two other things and then one that’s a little bit side sidetracked but
I think we are headed towards a lawsuit somebody is going to die we some
we G to pay for it because that’s tax doll and they a going to pay for it
we’re just begging you to be realistic go speak to the town attorneys make sure
because this is this is a disaster waiting to happen and that’s really our bottom line okay and the numbers needed
to do these things that’s good documents so we can go forward to the next Finance because that’s what we want at the end
of the day we want safe roads it’s a beautiful Town yeah and I and I would
ask that everybody when you when we go through budget season please be as vocal as you are tonight in regards to budgets
I will be there we really need your support to go
to the town and ask for additional funds for our road maintenance and private and
public roads we need it we desperately need it and the more money we get obviously the more we can help with the
private roads so it it it truly is it’s it’s so difficult we’re actually looking
at probably going out and bonding for a road Reclamation program for the next 20
years so we’re waiting for the road study to come back that’s going to give us our priority roads but also every day
you know snow clearing tree trimming all of that is expensive it is it’s
expensive no matter whether we have four guys or six guys or eight guys or 12 guys we still need the money in order to
do the job is that study that road study does that include the so-called private
roads that will not no see that I just want to say we are citizens of East
hatam just like everybody else I had no say in making it private I don’t even
know what it means to be private I have a house I’ve been living there 20 years allowing is come in so the decision to
have these private roads was in the 40s right in the 30s so and and I don’t know
if was even thought it as being a problem so it’s really the town’s problem that we’re talking about this
problem you have people who if there becomes a sow snowstorm they can’t leave
their house I mean that’s all there is to it whether it’s an emergency or not I can’t get out of my house that’s East
Adam’s problem you don’t want to have hundreds of people that can’t get out of their house when there is a storm and so
we have to think of it as a bigger problem not just us against you and you
don’t want do it we want you to do it but that it’s a problem for all of us that there people who need this service
and have had it and it’s suddenly gone away and it’s just very very very
difficult for us understand thank you I didn’t catch your name oh my name is x n
i a thank you one more thing culture
culture is where a house burned down because they couldn’t get the fire engine into
it so we excavated we took all the
crap thanks Dad burn no matter what there was a
younger woman say again this was a selectman’s meeting this is a selectman’s meeting so
that we can all be here what are you discontinuing tomorrow night’s meeting not not in regards to the private road
discussion we’ll have that next Tuesday same time 5 o’ here I get that but now
are you saying that because so you’re still going to meet tomorrow night at 7 o’clock correct yep another business we
have another agenda that’s been posted for that is is this matter on that agenda no
no we wanted to give this a separate extra attention so that’s why we set up this meeting just for private roads and
next week’s meeting is just for private roads that’s one subject that demands the attention that it deserves right now
so that’s why we be a conversation about plowing and sanding I don’t what is a
private road what what defines a private road to um why why why is that the topic
of conversation that you’re labeling this as a private roads conversation this is
about plowing and sanding all the roads throughout the
town no matter what period so I want excuse me I want to say something about
that because I said as real estate agents I read Deeds all the time there are a few roads in East tiam that are
newer that if you read your deed it says that they you have to pay for part of the maintenance and you have to plow
with with the other people on your private road most of these roads we’re talking about have been around since the 40s and 50s no one knew what a private
road is they’re not private roads they’re not private your private associations where your deed says what
you have to do is the new the newer subdivisions or the newer roads not
these ones from the 40s and we’re talking about mutus Lake stores Mish where I live on Lakeside every all these
other places if you read those deeds it has stuff like I said no one other than know the Caucasian case Caucasian race
can buy a house here so these private roads the town is not defining them correctly if your deed says you’re on a
private road when you buy your house your lawyer says this is the deed restrictions you can’t do this this and this and you have to do this so This
definition of private roads is wrong you guys call Private Road not right description of what’s going on more
public people going on private roads than than private property on it’s crazy
more trucks going up our little road flying up there
building if anything happens this weekend we will plow we will sand you’ll you’ll be fine demand a job D
somebody the RO next week Tuesday happy thank you all for coming
appreciate it very much you need a motion I’ll make the motion I I move to adjourn