Notes for Tue, June 3 2025

Agenda Items
5:00 p.m. Call Meeting to Order, Review Agenda, Review Minutes: 5/20/25
Public Comment
6:00 p.m. Appointment: Tax Collector and Treasurer to discuss regulations & timing of tax liens/takings

• Normally the tax collector gives homeowners a year to comply.
• If we accelerate tax collecting to before July 1 , then there would be hundreds of letters to send out.
• As of Nov 1, the state has added more posting requirements. 
• A compressed schedule would cause a lot of work for not much difference in free cash.
• September could be a good time for Bette to do the tax taking notices.
• Once there is a lien on a property, it goes immediately to the treasurer.
• SB voted to move demand notices up to 4 months after the tax due date.
• SB voted  to increase the demand fees from $10 to $25 effective July 1 2026.

7:00 p.m. Appointment: Hilltown Youth Performing Arts
[It is the Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre (HYRT) which offers camps and recovery programming for the town's young people and the community  that is negotiating rents. Representatives for HYRT were Board Members Laura Iveson and Jonathan Diamond, and ardent supporter, Judith Roberts, former director of the Literacy Project.]

• HYRT paid $6000  to cover Jan, Feb, and March at the meeting.
• HYRT has been seeking many grants for programs.  Some grants do not come until the summer.
• One HYRT board member feels that the value of the program justifies asking for minimal payment or no fee at all. [ As a municipality, I don't believe the Town can donate space.]
• HYRT would like to continue to use rooms if there is no response to the RFP.
• In consideration for the contribution HYRT has made to the town and hilltown youth, the SB proposed a  reduced rent going forward until the August performance. 
• Not clear but I think this is the current plan: 
  • To pay $500 per month for April, May, and June for 3 rooms which was paid at the meeting. HYRT to free one room by July 1. 
  • To pay $500 in July and August for 2 rooms and gym storage closet and stage area (depending on response to the RFP).  
  • Going to the block system as of June 4 for the shared space.  
  • Have  the right to shared space thru July and August plus current storage. 
  • I don't think there was a vote.
• There may be some changes based on any responses to the RFP.

[Excerpts from subsequent feedback provided by an HYRT board member. ]

• The $6,000 paid on 6/3/25 by Hilltown Youth Recovery Theatre (HYRT) to the Town of Heath, brought the total HYRT has paid in rent to the town of Heath to $90,000 over 3 years and 3 months. 
• HYRT agreed to a $30,000 lease 3 years ago because the Axion Corporation, a real estate and cannabis company from MI, entered into an Host Community Agreement (HCA) with the town that would be paid to HYRT to cover the rent. 
• The BOS, initially, negotiated an HCA for $20,000 but I asked Axion’s CEO if they could increase their contribution to $30,000 as I knew the town was wanting to generate $30,000 in rents to help with the utilities and overhead. Axion agreed to the increase.
• In 2024, In an effort to make the rent more sustainable without the HCA and thus possible for the program to remain in Heath, HYRT requested the rent be reduced from $30,000 to $20,000 and then reduced again to $15,000 the following year. 
• The BOS voted to reduce our rent from $30,000 per year to $24,000 (or $2,500 to $2000). Robyn, suggested HYRT track our building use during the coming year so we could revisit our request in 2025.  
• During those deliberations in 2024, HYRT asked the town to advertise the space as we felt we were paying considerably above market value but they said they were not permitted to do this. 
• Last summer, the town’s attorney informed the BOS that their lease with HYRT was improper, it needed to be a “license”. The town spent 6 months trying to sort out how to license the space so they could be in compliance. 
• During that 6 months period, HYRT was without a lease but continued to pay the full rent without one. 
• In January 2025, our current lease expired, and HYRT was still without a new one. HYRT assumed they would be negotiating a new agreement that would be retroactive to January, which, given our last deliberations and based on the data we collected on our building use, we were hoping would be reduced again. 
• In a meeting with the BOS on 2/11/25, HYRT was informed that, as a result of moving from the lease to the licensing process, an RFP would be circulated no later than April. In the same meeting, the BOS agreed that March would be HYRT’s last rent payment to the town prior to the RFP posted no later than April and gave HYRT additional time to make it. 
• The BOS put the RFP process on hold until after the ATM.  
• On 5/27 HYRT received an invoice from the BOS for $12,000, the implication being that HYRT was expected to continue paying $2000 per month until the RFP was sent out, which ignored nearly everything agreed to in the meeting on 2/11. This is what resulted in the meeting earlier this week. 
• In both the 2/11 and 6/3 meetings, HYRT board chair Laura Iveson was present. So was one of HYRT’s consultants, Judith Roberts, former director of the Literacy Project, who said the Literacy project paid 1/3 less for an entire floor in Greenfield. 
• Both advocated strongly for a rent reduction and that HYRT, a nonprofit that benefits the town and its young people and their families, was paying well above market value. The licensing agreements and RFP will allow the BOS to find out what the space is actually, worth (i.e., what individuals and/or other entities will pay). 
• Board chair, Laura, asked the BOS not to leave rooms empty for two months while our free summer programs were in full sail and the RFP process was playing out. The $1,500 paid on 6/11 was for April, May, and June when the BOS was supposed to have put the RFP out to bid but wasn’t able to meet their deadline.

Other Business
Facilities repair report
Sawyer Hall Generator—review quotes with vote possible.

• Need further clarification on quotes from Palmieri and Kingsley.  Will to also contact Current Electric.   
• Options for generators are Generac or Kohler depending on contractor chosen.

RFP for Rental Spaces

• Went over the additions to the document and verified the RFP is ready to go.

Homeowner Paul Lemelin well water issue 

• The homeowner at 133 Branch Hill Road which is near the salt shed has a salt contamination issue with a new well he is digging. He is currently using spring water.  
• The SB will be contacting the person the homeowner is working with and Bill Lattrell to gather information to find the best solution.

Annual Appointments

• SB reviewed list of appointments with only definite change is Transfer Station Attendant.

Mail 

• Some topics already covered above.
• Notice of open house for Sheila Litchfield retiring as MLP manager (Broadband).
• Letter of resignation from the Veterans Memorial Committee as their task is complete.​
• Letter from resident regarding town meeting attendance, also stating civic classes are taught FCT school, and a thank you to Robyn for reading the Memorial Day Proclamation from the governor.
• Letter from Parks & Rec member wishing to clean up  structures and debris from the Jacobs ball field.