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Home My Public Portal AboutCrosby Property Advisory Committee -- 2023-08-27 Minutes MINUTES OF THE CROSBY PROPERTY COMMITTEE DATE: Thursday, August 27, 2023 TIME: 1:00 PM PLACE: Brewster Town Office Room A PARTICIPANTS: Diana Lamb (Chair), Cate O'Neill, Adam Kibbe, Rich- ard Archer, Andrew Evans, Peter Lombardi, Mark Flaherty Agenda Items 1. Call to Order - Chair Diana Lamb called the meeting to order at 1:01 PM. 2. Declaration of a Quorum - Diana declared that a quorum is pre- sent. 3. Meeting Participation Statement - Diana read the participation statement. 4. Recording Statement - Diana read the recording statement. 5. Approve Old Minutes - A motion to approve the July 2023 minutes as amended was made by Peter Lombardi and seconded. Approved unanimously. There were no public comments. 6. Discussion of fees a. Are the fees for weddings lower than the market? Our current practice is to charge separately for the day of the wedding and the extra time the day before. Maybe we should combine them. It is difficult to find comparable wedding venues. More research may be necessary - for both the fees and what is included. We need a better estimate of the hours Richard puts in for a wedding. Richard made a quick estimate of 6 to 8 hours on top of the the wedding itself. b. Peter is discussing with the town council the language used in the wedding contracts concerning insurance issues and the safety of the balcony. c. The town can't profit from the rentals. But how is this to be balanced with Richard's hours? According to municipal case law in Massachusetts the fees must be correlated with the town's expenses. What about wear and tear on the mansion? d. We need to look at the time we spend and the market rate. Then we triangulate to get the answer. It appears that we may be undercharging in both ways. e. We are bound by the old prices for three weddings next year where we already have contracts. f. Clean up time the next day needs to be included in the contracts. g. Who verifies that the caterers have insurance? Richard gets it and sends it to the town. 7. Potential of restroom cleaning by town staff h. The town facilities manager is responsible for several buildings. i. Cleaning the restrooms is required before and/or after the events. But the weddings are weekends and these folks work Monday- Friday. j. One thing that might help is to not run an Open House on the Sunday after a wedding. k. Or do we hire a cleaner and charge it to the client? If so, we need to include this in the contract language. We should get a quote from Merry Maids. They are coming for a one time September cleanup. 8. Property Manager's Report I. The Open Houses have been well attended. The numbers are similar to last year. m.Cottage turnovers going well. Minor repairs are needed. Most clients want to return the next year. n. Next year's cottage schedule appears to be even more full. o. The riding mower is being fixed. p. We received 72 new chairs and ten new tables and they have gotten compliments. We intend to get another 72 chairs and two more tables. We are considering the addition of a few high top cocktail tables. q. The September 16th wedding is going to be large. These clients are Netflix people and appear to be going to pull out all the stops. They need more setup time but in exchange they will provide us with a professionally made film of the mansion. r. Although we will not do a Haunted Mansion this November, we will do an immersive sit down Halloween/Magic/Circus show. It will have a Silly Spooky theme and last about 75 minutes. It will all happen in the reception hall rather than all over the mansion. There will be two or three performances over a weekend. Richard is coordinating the timing with other town events. The charge will be $12 like the haunted mansion last year. We need to cover the costs of performers. 7. Invitation of Friends to next committee meeting s. There will be a postseason meeting with the Friends to get their input. Everyone should be invited. 8. Friends of Crosby Report t. The Friends are very active. Bill Secours will have a 96th birthday celebration. 9. New Business - u. The town is having a Volunteer Fair and needs a few representatives from each committee. This is designed to let the community know what's going on. It will be Saturday, September 30 from 10 am to 12 noon followed by a meal for volunteers. RSVP to Diana Lamb. 10. Next Meeting - September 28, 2023 at 1 PM 11. Adjournment - A motion to adjourn was made by Cate O'Neill and seconded. It passed at about 2:01. Respectfully submitted, Mark Flaherty