Good evening, Salem, and welcome to the town council meeting of March 2nd, 2026.

Please uh join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Lisa, will you lead us, please?

Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which he stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

So joining me this evening on my board to my far left is uh Council Stromalia.

Good evening.

To his right is Councillor Sweeney.

Good evening.

His right is Councillor Betancourt.

Good evening.

To his right is Council Bryant.

Good evening.

His right is the Vice Chair Jeff Hatch.

Good evening.

To my immediate right is the Secretary, Lisa Whithrow.

Good evening.

To her right is Councillor Pelletier.

Good evening, still.

And at the end on the right is Town Manager Joe Devine.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Okay, meeting minutes.

Okay.

First, I would like to make a motion to seal tonight's non-public sessions.

One, two, three, and four under 91A 32 MLDNA.

Second.

I have a motion and a second by Council Bryant.

Any questions?

All those in favor?

Unanimous.

Okay.

And then we've got a few of them tonight.

I would move the minutes from February 2nd, 2026, non-public number one.

Second.

Have a motion and second by Councillor Bryant.

All those in favor?

Unanimous.

I would move February 2nd, 2026, non-public number two.

Second.

I have a motion and second by Council Bryant.

All those in favor?

Unanimous.

I would move February 2nd, 2026, nonpublic number three.

Second.

I have a motion second by Councillor Bryant.

All those in favor?

Unanimous.

I would move February 2nd, 2026, non-public number four.

Second.

Motion and second by Council Bryant.

All those in favor?

Unanimous.

I would move February 9, 2026, non-public session number one.

Second.

I have a motion and second by Councillor Bryant.

All those in favor, unanimous.

I remove February 25th, 2026, non-public number one.

Second.

I have a motion second by Council Bryant.

All those in favor.

I have Councillor Abstaining.

I have one abstention.

Two abstentions.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

That's me.

So we have one, two, three, four, five, six to two.

Okay.

I am moving February 9, 2026, public session.

Second.

I have a motion second by Council Bryant.

All those in favor?

Unanimous.

And that's all.

Wonderful.

That was a lot.

Chairman Connements?

None.

Thank you.

Approval the chair.

Councillor Bryant.

At this time I move to approve the March 2nd, 2026 consent agenda.

Second.

I have a motion and a second by Council of Betancourt.

All those in favor?

Unanimous.

Oh, employee of the year recognition.

This is from the council, so from the council.

Okay.

So obviously, one of the things is as people should be aware.

During the year we had a lot of people who were honored from various departments throughout the town.

And the council sat down and we said, who do we think is the person that we think has really made an impact on the community and in their position?

And that person would be Creighton Brubaker.

So Creighton has been chosen as our employee of the year.

He serves as serves as staff liaison to a wide range of boards and committees, including the communications committee, conservation commission, depot village advisory committee, economic development committee, capital improvement program committee, and the 275th anniversary commission.

That alone.

Says a lot about the level of trust placed in him.

Wow.

You do a lot there, Creighton, don't you?

In addition to your regular role, right?

Um he has played a major role in several important planning efforts, including the Depot Village Plan and the Recreation Master Plan.

And he's currently working with the Conservation Commission on the open space plan, all of which help shape Salem's future.

One thing that consistently comes up in his nomination is how often committee members compliment Creighton for his responsiveness, professionalism, and willingness to help.

When someone needs information to support, Creighton delivers.

Supporting all departments with their websites and helping improve transparency and communication with residents through Town Hall Times and the town's social media presence.

He helped roll out public information for the town's new community choice aggregation program.

He recommended improvements to the capital improvement program process.

He prepared phasing recommendations recommendations for the depot village plan.

He uh initiated an expansion of economic revitalization zones for committee consideration.

And this recognition is extremely well deserved on behalf of the town council.

Congratulations, Creighton, and thank you for everything you do for the town.

We have a nice plaque for you.

You're very welcome.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Great and good job, buddy.

Congratulations.

Let's get ready for the picture, guys.

Here we go.

Oh great, you gotta come up with the case.

You're not getting away.

You're not getting away, pals.

Oops.

Wipe out the flags.

No, that's all right.

Should we separate?

Give them a little space between us.

Look good.

Just want everybody else.

You can all see me.

Thank you.

If you can see me, you're good to go.

Super.

All right, great.

So this you're the first employee of the year.

This will be hung in the town hall.

So congratulations.

Fantastic.

Very nice.

Glad I had to do that in the microphone.

Okay.

Okay.

First read.

I don't have a do you have something for us to read?

It's just a first read, so you don't have to read the resolution.

So Mr.

Devine.

So this is the first read for resolution 2026-07, which is discussion on the policy on attendance for boards, committees, and commissions.

This is something the council was looking for several meetings ago.

So we've had staff kind of draft this policy.

Assistant town manager Colleen Mayo is here to speak to that.

I would invite her up.

Hello, Miss Mayo.

Okay.

So as uh town manager stated, the council did ask for staff to take a look at um drafting a policy regarding um attendance of boards and committees.

We have um prepared something and have put together this draft uh policy and procedure memorandum that um set some expectations for participation um on the appointed boards and committees.

Um the the big bullet points that we've included here are just um that members are expected to attend and actively participate, and we really set a um threshold here in terms of absences where unless they're extenuating circumstances or prior approval from the chair of that border committee, um any regular member who's absent for three consecutive meetings or greater than 50 percent of the meetings in a calendar year um will be recommended by the chair of that committee to the council for um for removal.

So this policy, and and we're here for to get some feedback um as well tonight to see if the council has any questions.

This is really um we're not trying to be punitive, we're just trying to set a standard because I we find that the boards and committees are really going to be most successful when we have members who are able to participate, be actively engaged, and it can be a challenge for quorum and other um things, and just trying to move the activities of a board forward if we have extended absenteeism.

So this is something that if a recommendation is made to the council, the council can review and consider, and you can review if there are extenuating circumstances before making a decision on removal.

The policy does also just include um uh a direction from the council that the um the bylaws or the rules of procedure for those appointed boards and committees be updated in order to reflect the policy.

So again, this would not apply to the planning board, the zoning board, or the budget committee.

Um, those boards do actually currently have their own um within their bylaws this the same three meeting and 50 percent threshold is what's in the planning board and zoning board bylaws.

The budget committee um has slightly different language based on RSA 32 um and theirs is based on four consecutive meetings, but um, we're trying to um come up with something that um can apply consistently to boards and committees in the town.

Thank you.

Happy answering questions.

Council Beck and Court.

So I was just going to say that I reviewed the policy, and I think it strikes a good balance.

I appreciate the fact that all of these positions are volunteer positions, so we can't expect perfect attendance all the time.

But we also want to guard against individuals who just lose interest and then just stop participating.

At the same time, I appreciate the fact that there are, I guess, guardrails or safeguards by having the chair approve the absences so that we're not throwing people off of boards who are working through a health condition that eventually will resolve and they'll get better and they'll be able to get back involved, but they just need to be away for an extended period of time.

So I thought you thread the needle very well with the policy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments for Ms.

Mayo?

Council Bryant.

Madam Chair, at this time I moved to the Salem Town Council.

Hereby recognizes March 2nd, 2026.

As the first reading for consideration of resolution number 2026-07 to consider a proposed policy on attendance for boards, committees, and commissions.

We hereby recommend a second reading to be scheduled for March 16th, 2026.

Second.

I have a motion of second by Councillor Whitrow.

Any discussion?

Seeing none of those in favor, unanimous.

Thank you.

New business.

First up is going to be from the community development department, which is to accept a $550 grant from the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, better known as LCIP.

Um included in your package with a memo from community development program manager Crane Rubiker.

Hi.

I just wanted to thank you all for the uh nomination earlier.

I appreciate it and pleasure to work with you all.

Um so this is a uh acceptance of a 550 LCIP grant.

The town got a grant several years ago for the acquisition of some more land in the town forest each year.

We monitor that and in return LCIP gives us about 550 dollars each year.

So this is just to be deposited into the conservation fund for that.

So very nice, Council Bryant.

Madam Chair, at this time I move in accordance with RSA 36-A colon 4 that the town council authorizes with gratitude the conservation commission to accept a donation of 550 dollars from the land and community heritage investment program, otherwise known as LCIP, with such donation being deposited into the conservation fund.

I have a motion of second by counselor with row discussion.

All those in favor, unanimous, thank you.

Okay.

And while Crane's here, while he's here, while he's here, we're gonna have him do a quick development department economic development committee updates for CART from Eva and a couple of other things.

So we could go with it.

Uh hello again.

Um, so uh the economic development committee has been meeting over the past several months.

Kind of wanted to just provide an update kind of from the staff perspective as well as from the EDC perspective on some public transportation items and some of the EDC efforts that happened over the last year or so.

Uh so on the agenda tonight uh is some just some information about CART, the new MEVA service.

Um, the EDC did a transportation survey, as well as some of the efforts of the committee.

Uh on the next slide.

So starting with CART, just a little bit of background information as to what CART is.

So in 2006, um, CART was established uh as a nonprofit organization, I believe.

Uh it's called the Greater Dairy Salem Cart Service.

This is for public transportation for residents of Salem as well as dairy, uh, Londonderry, Chester, and Hampstead are also currently members of CART.

Uh, there were several more towns at one point that were in the service area in 2019.

The nonprofit merged with the Manchester Transit Authority, otherwise known as the MTA for the operations of CART.

Uh what services they primarily provide for the town is the Salem Shopper Shuttle, which is a free service for residents.

It goes to different senior and affordable housing complexes as well as like grocery stores, things like that for them to shop.

And that's free for Salem residents Monday, Wednesday, Friday uh mornings.

The information for that shuttle is on the website uh as well.

Residents of Salem can call uh the cart number and they can get a on-demand bus service anywhere in the five cart towns uh for two dollars per rider per trip.

Uh this last slide says Salem receives it's actually should be should say cart receives uh federal funding, substantial uh funding for service uh for the cart service.

Uh so the funding structure of CART is primarily uh funded by the federal transit authority.

So for operational functions, uh that's about a 50-50 split between FTA and other sources of funding for capital projects.

There's specific FTA funding where they can access 80-20, so 80% from the federal government, 20% uh from other sources.

Uh FTA funding of this nature has to flow through a transportation entity.

So Manchester Transit Authority is that entity for us.

Um, for example, they can go through like Nashua Transit Authority or Lowell Transit Authority.

It can't go directly to uh towns and communities.

Um we gain uh good level of service for what we pay in dues.

I think we pay about 48-49,000 right now.

Um I'm on the the board of CART and we try to leverage money in uh fiscal fiscally responsible way through different state and federal means.

Uh as far as the service that we receive, all there's five CART buses, I believe.

All of them are ADA friendly and accessible for mobile people with mobility issues.

Another benefit of being under the CART service is kind of the economies of scale.

So we with MTA, our buses are housed there at the same with the Manchester service.

So we have the shared benefit of the overhead purchasing capital.

So for example, if we're buying buses, we kind of just go with MTA's price, which theoretically lowers the cost rather than us going out and buying one bus, they buy they buy five buses at a time, for example, and that helps kind of lower our costs as well as their fuel costs, we use their contract insurance maintenance, etc.

Above and beyond uh the cart service, uh the lot over the last few years, MTA has we've had a good relationship with them.

They put in the Salem Express route, so none of Salem taxpayer dollars goes towards the functioning of that route.

That was one of the highlighted things in the state plan was to put uh stop in Tuscan, exit five London Dairy, which is the parking ride, and then to downtown Manchester.

And then I'll talk about MIVA in a second, but uh MTA is actively coordinating with MIVA to synchronize the services, so it's not uh there's not a gap uh for for our residents.

Uh some of the statistics of the ridership um are on the board.

I believe for the prior years it had been ticking up at a positive direction.

Uh there were 3700 in fiscal year 24, fiscal year 25, there were 3400, and then on our current level of trajectory, we're gonna have about 4,000 for fiscal year 26.

Um the next slide, we're gonna talk a little bit about MIVA.

So MIVA um transit, this kind of started with the economic development kit committee uh wanting to discuss different areas of the master plan.

So in summer 2025, they began discussing public transportation options such as CART or MIVA.

Uh in discussions with Miva.

Um we've found out that Mass General Brigham is has actually in the past been interested in bringing bus service to them uh at Tuscan.

Uh and ADC discussed potential uh grant opportunities for that, and then Miva, which is uh Merrimack Valley Transit Services down to Massachusetts.

They apply for a Mass DOT connectivity grant that's funded all through the state of Massachusetts.

So no uh Salem New Hampshire taxpayers are paying for that service for this first pilot year.

Um and that was awarded to Miva, and as a part of this grant, they're extending their services up through Methuen up to Salem uh and to Tuscan Village.

Uh the target start date is April 2026.

Uh the level of service for the grant is for a year and for a fixed route uh seven days a week.

There's a handout that was passed out earlier with some of that information.

And the stops that are proposed are MGB at Tuscan as well as the other stop at Tuscan where uh MTA stops.

So if you want to get off, get off a Miva bus, get on an MTA bus and go up to Manchester or wherever you want to go, you can do that as well as stops in Methuen, and then for the residents, um you can also go to the Lawrence T stop and connect to the MBTA there.

Uh again, no Salem taxpayers dollars are a part of this initial year for the grant uh program.

Uh I'm happy to answer any questions for Miva.

We also have the the director of MIVA here.

Happy to uh have them go up too.

Thank you.

Counselor With Row.

So I actually have two questions.

One on Miva, one on CAT.

So I'll start with Meva.

So there's no taxpayer funding for this pilot year, but then what?

Uh we would have to explore what what that looks like.

Um I'm not sure if there's a proposal for beyond this initial year.

Uh and I don't know how further discretionary grants come from Mass DOT uh NOAA from Miva may be able to do that.

I just want to make sure we're not locked into anything after like you know, it's great this year, but then next year we're gonna have smacked with a big bill.

Like I just want to make sure we're not locked in.

No, we're there's no contract, there's nothing, nothing of that sort.

We're not locked into anything.

Okay, can I ask my question?

Please go ahead.

So with CAT, you I mean, there's a it seems like there's a ton of federal funding that goes into that.

Salem pays 45,000 ish per year.

Does that ever get subsidized with all the funding?

Because correct me if I'm wrong, but CAD is no longer nonprofit, so now it's a for profit government agency or for profit or government agency.

I don't know which one it is.

It's a government.

Okay.

So when we're paying the same amount, no matter what funding they get, so that never gets offset in any way.

Cart you I mean there's a it seems like there's a ton of federal funding that goes into that Salem pays forty five thousand ish per year does that ever get subsidized with all the funding because correct me if I'm wrong but COD is no longer nonprofit so now it's a for-profit government agency or for profit or government agency I don't know which one it is it's a government okay so when we're paying the same amount no matter what funding they get so that never gets offset in any way so the the amount of money that is paid to CART is up to the council in the budgetary process um the over the last decade or so I believe the the the dues have been relatively level funded um there's no contract per se that says Salem has to increase this um it it's a it's a budgetary decision but as they get more federal funding does our amount ever go down um no it's I mean it just seems like with all that funding that should be something we're looking at because this all you know 8020 and you know we should be looking it gives we oh Joe and in speaking to CART in the past I believe that federal funding is already why we're getting a reduced they consider what we're paying at the 45 thousand dollars a reduced rate already if we were funding it fully without the federal funding we'd be over 1400 is what they would be looking for from funding from the town if I may so yeah based based on what based on actual accounts of trips and cost per trip or is it just that's what they would charge?

My understanding is based off of actual trips and the costs and and the breakdown of what it costs them to provide Salem with this service and I I uh I know you're on there so if I may sure go ahead so CART previously around the COVID era used a lot of one time federal funds to maintain operations without having the member towns increase their dues and if they were to keep the services at the same level going forward we'd still have that 5050 federal match but then our our dues would have to go up to maintain the same service that we had because they use that one time money to just maintain the operations and that's what helped suppress our dues from going up I think it's been since 2012 since any of the towns were asked to increase anything that they paid towards CART that 5050 match goes towards the operational expenses the 80 20 is any is for any one time capital expenses so they could go out today and buy a new bus for 20% and the federal government under existing programs would fund 80% of it federal funds being what they are who knows what they're gonna be in a year from now so I know CART is working on making it so that we can continue existing at the existing dues rates it's just going to mean service changes for the for the towns that are involved in it and I think I think reexamining what towns are paying what some of the towns started paying it when they were small London dairies doubled basically since the dues were set for London dairy and so I think there's a it's a a bigger conversation going on as to what happens there.

Yeah Lisa and just on this on the same topic the um the service the towns that they service sounds like it went down dramatically too so that must mean employees went down vehicles went down so is that being taken into effect and looked at for our benefit as well I know it's being taken into effect but I also know that there are a lot of hard costs with it right like the one bus and the one driver cost them a lot and then it scales pretty well to expand it to other places but it's it's tough to shrink down that was one of the conversations we were having with how can we shrink it down to you know from five days a week to three days a week are you really saving that much money because you still have to pay the the bus driver you still got to have the bus maintained so looking at how you can actually scale yeah the insurance is a is a whole other thing with it how you can scale down the service in a way that actually saves money rather than just cutting the service without a reciprocal savings present.

So it's a it's a fun time.

Council Hatch I'm just gonna you know I remember the old days of when I was an activist not a council activist active acting up yeah same thing with me so we used to argue about this during the deliberative session and we were always told that the amount of money that was being asked for us for the cart was based on our population is that not the case I believe it is I believe it is it there was some sort of formula and I believe it is somewhat based on population because uh the for the dues uh Salem does about a third dairy is a third and then London dairy chest uh Chester Hampstead there to collectively a third okay of the dues all right and I got another question if you don't mind this one's about meaver and he may want to come down and answer this one is I I'm under the impression this has been going on from Haveral Plastile for some time now.

Noah come down please join a body if you could introduce yourself that'd be great good evening men members of the council I I came in here saying well we have the support of the employee of the year doesn't hurt.

I I came in here saying, well, we have the support of the employee of the year.

Doesn't hurt.

My name is Noah Berger.

I am the administrator for Miva Transit, so we are one of uh 15 regional transit authorities just south of the border.

Welcome.

Thank you.

What's your question?

So is this currently happening from Hayrol or Lawrence through all the way to Plastal, correct?

Yes.

So that's been a long time.

A shorter distance than then we're going into Haverle, but yes.

And for a number of years, I believe.

Yes, it probably about uh five or six years now.

It is Plastal charging you uh being charged anything at this point?

It is not.

Okay.

I see them over there all the time.

Right.

Market basket in Walmart.

I see them over there all the time.

Yeah.

A lot of people use it.

So it's it's worked out there.

Uh you know, I don't anticipate a fee, but you know, I'm not going to guarantee anything.

But I think we let's let's concentrate on what's going to happen now versus what's going to happen two years from now, a year from now.

I want to get the people in an uproar.

Council Bettencourt.

No, and that question dovetails with the point that I wanted to make, which is whether it's cart, whether it's the nonprofits, whether it's whatever we're talking about, the numbers have to make sense.

And so on the one hand, this is kind of a Massachusetts-driven service, and you know, they love taxes so they can fund all their things.

So maybe we never get a bill.

But I would assume that you guys will keep numbers in terms of how many rides uh that either come to generate from, go back from Salem, so that in the event wherever asked to chip in terms of whether or not we want to continue the service, we'll have numbers that we can determine whether or not it's something that's worthwhile.

Yes, we hit we have what's called automatic passenger counters on on each of our vehicles, which uh which tracks uh ridership as well as other things.

Uh and so that is our our bread and butter.

And if I can reassure the council, um when I when I assume this position now um almost five years ago, uh I went to each of the cities and towns in my district, and started by saying, I am not going for your wallet.

I am going for the state's wallet.

I am going for the for the federal government's wallet.

And if the business community wants to to work with me, and and now that we have this great relationship with uh with with Creighton, I I'm confident that they will see the benefit of that as well.

But I I do not want to have the conversation is as to comparing Meva to a special ed teacher, comparing Miva to a fire engine or a police cruiser, because those those are our lose-lose arguments.

So that's that's not what our plan is here.

Uh we're certainly working with the state, and by the way, the state um the grant that that Creighton referred to, the the connectivity, for the first time in its history, not only funded this this initiative, but also gave uh funding to our our our sister agency Lowell uh Regional Transit Authority to connect to Nashua and uh uh CERTA the the South Coast uh um uh transit authority to connect to Rhode Island.

So there is a recognition that for those of us in local government, in state government, we're very aware where the borders are.

But the reality is for if I say normal people, uh they don't care where the that the town lines, where the state lines are.

They just want to get to where their job might be, where they're where where the the cheapest shopping might be, where their medical facility might be, where their friends and family might be, and don't talk to me about how oh I'm sorry, I can't cross state lines, which is what we always used to say.

This was the number one uh request, quite frankly, from from folks on both sides of the border, and we're happy to be able to deliver it.

Thank you.

Councilor Betancourt.

Uh not a question for the gentleman, but really a comment, I guess for us, which is it'll be interesting to see how this plays out and potentially a discussion in the future as to whether or not we want to begin to to merge some of these services, find some savings and efficiency.

Right.

I agree.

Yeah.

Any other questions uh Mr.

Bergen?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Great.

I got a couple questions for you though.

Thank you.

Well, the Lisa asked my the main ones.

But so you showed some pick you showed some numbers in your in your presentation.

Were those all numbers uh that pertain just to Salem?

Uh for the ridership or for the Yes, for the ridership.

Yes, that's just the three years that you showed for the ridership.

That's just Salem.

Okay.

That's what I wanted.

I I was curious.

I just want everybody to know every time you were saying we buy a bus, we buy, they know it's cart.

Yes.

Yeah.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

I just don't want them thinking we're buying by you know we're buying buses and we're doing this and we're doing that.

So I just want to make sure everybody realizes that it isn't Salem that's buying this stuff, that it is actually CART that's buying all this wonderful stuff.

Thank you, Craight.

Any questions?

Any other questions of Creighton?

Great job.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay.

Here she comes.

Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the council.

My name is Bianca Carlson and I live at 8 Joanna Road here in Salem.

I'm here tonight speaking on behalf of the Economic Development Committee, but I also have the privilege of serving on the planning board.

From December of 2023 until April of 2025, I was also the vice chair of the Master Plan Steering Committee, which is a subcommittee of the planning board who was tasked to update our master plan, which hadn't been comprehensively updated in over 20 years.

Over the course of a year and a half, the Master Plan Steering Committee worked to update our master plan alongside our consultant and engage in extensive community outreach efforts.

In April of 2025, the planning board adopted our updated master plan, which was a year and a half long process with extensive community outreach efforts.

Through that process, we heard that housing, transportation, and connectivity were more were important goals of residents of the town of Salem.

Over this past summer, the economic development committee worked to review the updated master plan and decided to pick an area of focus, which we chose as transportation.

We discussed what services we currently have available and want to determine ways to improve our existing transportation options here in town.

Salem is a very car-dependent community, and with that comes concerns related to traffic and congestion on our major thoroughfares.

The economic development committee launched a transportation survey in November of 2025 and closed that survey in December.

Joe, if you can go to the next slide.

Another question was if public transportation were available, what times a day would you most likely use it?

The majority of respondents said weekends, weekdays between 5 to 8 p.m.

in mornings from 7 to 10 a.m.

Next slide.

The last question I'm sharing with you tonight from the survey was are there any other questions?

Um any other suggestions or comments about uh transportation here in Salem?

30% suggested expansion of public transit, 16% suggested uh pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and safety improvements, 16% were opposed to improvements, um, and 16 and 11% suggested an in-town shuttle and improved local connectivity.

What we found through the survey was that traffic and congestion was a pain point for residents, as well as limited options for transportation that don't include a personal vehicle.

Uh we also learned through the survey that the largest barriers were convenience and coverage.

Residents feel that the current options don't align with where they need to go or when they need to get there.

The hope is that with the launch of the one-year pilot program with MIVA, that we can learn if public transportation would be a benefit to the residents of Salem as well at if as well as if it in fact helps from an economic development perspective by giving employers and employees in the region access to employment opportunities that they don't currently have access to.

Um at this time I want to take a moment to ask if any members of the council or public have any questions about the survey itself.

Questions?

No, I'm good.

Um Joe, if you can hop to the next slide.

Um before I wrap up the presentation, I also wanted to take a quick moment to summarize all the achievements the economic development committee has had in the past year.

Um after the adoption of the master plan in April, we determined the area of focus within the master plan, which I had um outlined before.

We then reviewed our um current CART service and explored outreach opportunities and marketing initiatives for CART.

We then launched the transportation survey to better understand the needs of the community.

Uh we explored potential alternatives for public transportation services, which is what ultimately led us to forming a relationship with MEVA.

Um, and we also expanded our economic revitalization zones and held an informational session for residents with the NHBEA to spread word about the expanded program.

You can go to the next slide.

Um and then the last thing I just wanted to show you was the specific section within the master plan that we use is our area focus, which was the recommendation to improve our town connectors and to explore feasibility of enhanced transit services.

Counselor Hatch.

Not a question, but I just want to thank you for bringing this forward and you create and the rest of the economic development committee.

I mean, I think this is going to be a good thing for Salem.

And you know, there's no harm in at least trying.

Exactly.

Right.

That's that's the whole point.

Um, we've and that's what we were sort of trying to do here is we're doing the one year pilot.

If it works, it works.

If it doesn't, no harm, no foul.

Right.

It's um it's a service that is going along the public route but stopping into the private ways.

So we're not you know increasing traffic on the public roadways by by bringing the bus.

If anything, it would be taking you know it traffic away because it's more people condensed into one vehicle.

Um, and the reality is these are probably people who would already be coming to town, um, but may not be able to do so as frequently as they would like because perhaps they don't have access to public transportation or it's just not convenient for them for whatever reason.

Um but yeah, I I think it's a really great program, and we'll be able to see in a few months after launch if it's if it's useful or not, and we can go from there.

So I'll just say that when I was a child, living in Salem, and my grandmother would watch us periodically.

We would get the bus from Common Street in Lawrence, and it would drop us off on Route 97 and North Main Street.

And the other thing was they always came up and down 28.

They stopped at almost every grocery store on 28 when I was a kid.

Yeah, it was a great service.

You know, brought a lot of people into the community, brought a lot of people in to purchase and leave.

It was really a a great thing back then.

You know, and then obviously it stopped, but yeah, I I do remember those days.

Hudson Bus Line.

Yep, Hudson Best Line.

Council Bettencourt.

So just very quickly, I let go uh counselor Hatch and saying I think this is a worthwhile experiment, pilot project, but more broadly, I just want to say I appreciate the work of you and your colleagues in finding your footing with regard to the economic development committee.

There's been a bit of a history of that concept in town, some iterations of it really struggled to figure out where they fit in and what projects to pursue, and I really appreciate the fact that this current group has really come together and and found uh a good place to be to bring forward some substantive proposals that uh are gonna hopefully benefit the community.

Yeah, absolutely.

Council Sweeney.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just off of that last point.

If I can just make the pitch to the rest of the council, if you have areas that you think economic development should look into, I think the committee is is open to pursuing any other items that we've done.

And I know we're setting up some different vehicles for economic development, but I think the more work they like to work.

So that's great.

Let's put them to work.

We love these volunteers.

Yeah, we certainly do.

Absolutely.

Council Pelletia.

Yeah, thank you very much here.

I'd like to say that this is long overdue.

This should have been had this should have happened a long time ago.

And it might be a nice new experience for the younger generation that never had the experience like Kathy and I had.

We used to go to Racket Store in downtown Ezekiel Street, you remember?

Exactly.

And uh and this may be something a new new experience for uh a lot many people that may enjoy this and benefit from this.

So very good.

Thank you for your work.

I agree.

And um, I guess one last thing is it's definitely not um it's not a uh perfect proposal because it doesn't get you through all of the areas of town, right?

But um it at least gets you from from one end of North and South Broadway, or really South Broadway to the other.

Um, and you know, allows us to be able to get throughout the region a bit easier.

It's a start.

It's a start.

It's a start.

Yeah, absolutely.

And you know, if it if it proves to be a uh bust in a year, which I hope that it's not.

If it is, then it is, and um, if it's success, then we can certainly explore you know where we go from there.

I think it's gonna be successful myself.

I really do.

I think it's gonna be very successful.

Yeah.

So we're planning to launch it on uh April 6th, I believe, is the start date.

Um so thank you.

Awesome.

And it's very much free for uh for riders as well as um, I believe Creighton had had said.

So exciting.

Well thanks, guys.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Polling I was announcing.

Yep.

So next on the agenda is going to be letting everybody know March 10th, we do have a town election uh where you'll be voting on the town's budget and the school budget.

Um polling locations are open 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

Um again we've changed some of the polling locations.

So if you're not sure where you're supposed to be voting, go on the town website and and find that.

It'll also be located at the town clerk's office if you come down and want to find that information out.

And if you happen to go to the community center, which would have been your old location, we're actually going to have QR codes and somebody there directing you on where to go so that we make sure you get to the right spot.

So the four polling locations are the Woodbury Middle School, North Salem, uh Fifth School, and Barron School.

Uh councillor Bryant.

Just real quick, uh Mr.

Devine.

I travel Main Street every morning and every afternoon, and that parking lot at the Woodbury is full.

Completely full.

So I would assume somebody's talked to them about moving the cars back across the street for the moderator has had conversations with the school district about this.

Fantastic.

Because otherwise everybody would be walking across the street and nobody would go.

Okay, so I need volunteers to do to uh check this.

So I have Fisk.

I'll do I'll do Woodbury, sure.

Woodbury.

Take my school.

Perfect.

Darren, that's my school too.

My school too.

Well I'll take the North Salem school, I guess, since it's the furthest away from my house.

I'd take it, but I'm on the ballot so you can do it now.

Okay.

Perfect.

That's what we got.

And just so people are aware, if they're interested in the returns as they come back, we're actually doing it at the town hall this year.

As a we used to do it at the senior center, and obviously that's not a location this year.

And rather than tying up the schools later, we've decided to go back to the town hall.

So all the returns will be coming to town hall, and that's what we'll be doing everything.

Very good.

So it'll be the nightly meeting room.

It's good to know.

Good to know.

Okay, town managers report.

So I didn't I didn't do a PowerPoint tonight.

Figure we just kind of get through this.

Thank you.

Um just a quick update for the council.

We did have our um 2026 charitable gaming host community community fees.

We had our dates already.

Um we received 45,980 dollars from that.

Um so if you remember back in September, we are we got 44,375.

Um so we're almost 90,000 from charitable gaming over the past two years, which is great.

Um we have not allocated, and something that staff is going to be bringing to the council is kind of decide how we want to spend these funds, what do we want to do with them, um, and kind of bring some ideas to the council on on how we think we should be moving forward.

Um, I I don't think it should just be going to um the fund balance.

I think we need to have a purpose on how we're using this so people understand and how we're giving back to the community with these host fees.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Um I I touched briefly on town meeting, but just so people are aware, if they go on the website, everything's up there.

The sample ballots are located up there.

Um you can get the voter's guide.

The annual report will be posted up there as of tomorrow, so people can look at that.

So if you hop on the website, you'll be able to get all that information.

If you want to get a voter's guide ahead of time, we will have them available at the town manager's office and down at the town clerk's office.

And you can also come in and get a copy of the town report if you're interested in that at both of those locations.

Um we did do a 2026 residence survey.

I spoke about this back in January.

We opened it for the month of February.

We received 316 response, which is a little bit better than I thought, watching some of the other surveys the town has done.

Um so in either the second March meeting or the first meeting of April, we're bringing a presentation to you, kind of letting you know what people kind of said.

I can echo what Bianca said that one of the major concerns is congestion that came out of this, with the exception of taxes, which we know people are never happy with taxes.

But um congestion was definitely one of them, and then increasing public infrastructure with sidewalk improvements and roads was another big one.

So we'll bring that for everybody.

Um, if people are looking for jobs, and we have the rec department has summer employment opportunities.

So if you have a high school student who might be looking for something, it's a great opportunity for them to come and work.

Applications are on our website.

You can come down to town hall and fill out an application.

And then summer camp registrations are open as well.

So if people are looking for summer camp through the rec, uh those applications are available on my rec.

Uh or you can come down to the senior center and fill one out.

And that's what I have for the council tonight.

Very good.

I'm still at 7 43.

Do I so next meeting is March 16th, April 6th, April 20th.

Do we have a motion to adjourn?

Yes, you do.

Motion second, all those in favor, unanimous.

Nicely done.

I got it.