welcome everybody to the Monday April 29th meeting of the Conway select board and at 6:30 it will be a joint meeting of the select board finance committee and Capital Improvements committee um this meeting is being recorded on FCAT and on Zoom for the town website if for any reason those recordings fail um the meeting will still proceed live and in person here on Academy Hill Road um first item on the agenda vote to approve the minutes of April 22nd and April 23rd um April 22nd was yeah emergency meeting yeah April 22nd was a very rare and very necessary emergency meeting um to discuss and vote on the sale of a burial plot in for Conway Conway Town Cemetery South par on Ring Road um that sale for numerous legal reasons had to be done that day um so we had an emergency meeting with no advance notice sorry um but sometimes that has to happen so um and the 23rd was of course our regular select board meeting um and I've Tak a look at both of those I'm okay with them meting move to approve the minutes of April 22nd and 23rd all in favor I I it's unanimous thank you um there are no warrants meetings attended by select board members um nonsense oh executive session yeah that was yeah um yes also same here and um I guess that's about it public comments anybody unfinished business none new business um since um since Julia Julia um all right well since the top I'm in no hurry at all so the um first item is to appoint Julia wasburn to the open space committee for a term ending June 30th 2026 Julia do you consent to that appointment I do gladly um and we we sort of have a tradition of um when somebody's joining a town committee for the first time we ask them to come and this this is a chance to explain to talk the the town camera everybody about who you are and what brings you town if you want you talk about whatever you want but okay great um well my name is Julia wasburn and um my husband and I moved to Conway in November um and uh we uh we left uh well my whole life I was spent in in and around Washington DC so we left the city and and came to heaven on Earth in Conway Massachusetts we live um at the end of New Hall Road um which as you may or may not know is a property that um used to belong to Emmy Hal and uh which she was not there over the past 5 years so we um we were so pleased to be able to purchase it and we love it it's so beautiful so we're just sort of working now to kind of get ourselves situ way to figure out what we got there and as a matter of fact we've been taking a permaculture course to figure out the rest way to manage the property um so uh I recently retired from a 35y year career with the National Park Service um and I uh trained as an environmental educator and Museum educator but turned resources manager turned park manager also worked for a bit at the policy level um and uh my last job within the park service was managing Rock Creek Park which is a large Urban Park that runs down the center of Washington it's a fabulous beautiful amazing place um I was so privileged to work there and that's the park I grew up in so it was nice to be there hard to leave um but we wanted to be in a place um where it was quieter and um and that we could have a piece of land to live on and my I have uh just been retraining as an aroma therapist and my business I have a I'm starting a new business my business partner and I recently back in November started a a business called um Willow Botanicals which is all natural fine perfumes and Aroma theapy um and we hope to incorporate permaculture into the way that we cultivate the plants where we get our essential oils and our medicines from um so it's all a new adventure and I heard about the open space committee from M McCoy uh and he's been kind enough to befriend us he used to live near where we used to live and I I heard what he was doing at the open space committee I said can I be part of that I I might have one or two things that I could offer and also I also feel strongly it's important to be civically engaged in the community where you live so this was a way for me to kind of put my toe in the water and get to know people and um provide some help especially with the South River Meadow um so I'm very excited to be here and really thrilled that you're making time for me on your agenda Janet Chase captures another I know she excellent person she gets them all she's a fireball she's wonderful I love I love Janet so U you know welcome to Conway that was a fantastic introduction to the town but like that just you're a um and uh yeah just um I'm Phil caner I'm the current chair of the select board this is Erica Goldman my esteemed colleag um to your right Bob Armstrong former select board member and select board chair now Capital Improvement committee um John from the finance committee this is uh from bronnie Blanchard Our Town Administrator and the assistant to the Town Administrator Adam um and our last but not least the town clerk or we have we have and you'll have to come see me too swear in and get paperwork that you need for this and bring my Raby certificate for my dog wow another dog in town too um and the Mt chair is U Chris so he's not here okay we'll be talking shortly by Zoom so um I'll make a motion to uh appoint Julia wasburn open space committee for term ending June 30th 2026 second all in favor I I it's unanimous y thank you so much appreciate it congratulations welcome thank you I'm going to sneak out unless you'd like me to listen in okay you're you're inv to listen I know I know I'm invited thank you all right nice to meet you all all right so next um next Lor's here try to treat our I was told to be here so I'm here did I that no okay so um come here you seen the the the letter myself and um so you know the reason I was I got here just a couple of minutes before 6 is because I was receiving a delegation from the historical commission um who did a drop in um and because I guess they saw this in oh well and and so um just for example and this is one of the biggest right here this is my these are these are just a few pages out of my retention schedule and one of those boxes that we found that they had taken that was in their area um one of the boxes that we had found that they had taken that was in their closet that box of annual reports to narrate what you're saying oh sorry but yes the box I me and you know what we're talking about nobody else does so the box with all of the Oldtown annual reports were taken out of the Vault with my permission and brought upstairs and locked into the historical commission's closet records retention state law requires that the town clerk keep these permanently um the box of cemetery commission information was also taken out of the Vault and brought up there along with multiple like two and a half three shelves worth of Old Town record books that were on the select board shelves which is minutes for meetings decisions made at you know select board meetings Town meetings minutes from the school committee minutes from this committee that committee these are the old when they used to handw write them in the ledgers they just cleaned off two and a half shelves worth of bind books and took them upstairs and again meeting minutes permanent meet agendas notices these these are all you know things that they're public record for one I can't make them available for somebody who's requesting something if I can't access them they're supposed to be in my care as the Keep The Keeper of the records and I can't take care of them if I don't have possession of them and you don't have a key though I it's there I I mean I do there I have access to the key but if somebody needs to come in and they want to see something do I want to dig out the key run up into the gymnasium go digging through their stuff to try and find the book or the box or the binder when it's supposed to be here in My Vault Under My Control yeah yeah did was was this removed because of the moisture issues in the vault or was it Lee suggested that they move their stuff out they took their stuff and then proceeded to start taking my stuff I was not here she wasn't paying attention because she was working and they were just carrying a armfuls of old bound books and I I when did that occur about a week half two weeks ago I'm I'm just I'm flabbergasted I'm I'm a little flabbergasted that they felt that that was okay to take those but they were old so they're all yeah so and you know the the way that I became part of this was that Monday morning when it was apparent that the town needed to sell a cemetery plot there was a specific form for that that the the plot that has to be designated and it's a certain plot and there's a numerical designation and part of the problem was that this town hadn't sold the cemeter plot in years um the other part of the problem was the book that would record that or have some sort of numerical information was not in the vault and so Lori and I went up searched for that book and looked in the closet and they did have a lot of stuff in that closet um and I I didn't he just heard me start to go a little like yeah yeah because it's first thing I grabbed was one box and it was all the annual reports which are very clear are supposed to be in the clerk's fault in the clerk's fault under yeah and I'm supposed to keep those forever and whoever follows me and follows that person and the only ones I have left now are the 10 years I have in my file cabinet because they thought them they took them they took them all but did you wring them back down or no because I didn't I didn't want to do the same thing they did I didn't want to go into their locked closet and take things even though they're supposed to be down here I didn't want to do the same thing well if you need help Carri well I figured this I'm Happ to come this would be a more appropriate way of addressing it I mean so I I didn't want to I I just didn't feel comfortable doing that as angry as I am yeah um you know Lee the assessors refer to those books for um research on Oldtown roads discontinuances private drives all of those decisions are they're in those books and it and again a lot of the old committee minutes that were handwritten in the journals they took them they just took them all old street L which again T so sorry I'm a little No I um that it is a thing it is definitely a thing this is not an imaginary problem um and the you know I so they they they came by um the one who was doing the talking was lulia Stone and um the basically they feel that there's been a series of misunderstandings that have snowballed um um and that their request is that before the select board creates a policy that affects them um and the way they see it what they do that we either have a sit down with them and Lori um or that we um postpone the disc the discussion and voting this till next week so that they can all attend I mean I wasn't asking for anything more than a policy stating the records be kept in the vault in my office and not leave this building and be returned before I leave for the day I mean it it's a pretty simple like like it was before they went and took everything is they would come in when I was working I would open the vault for them and I they would go in and out of the Vault and sit at the table and do all their research and we'd put it all back and lock up the vault at the end of the day and then they just decided to take it so you you weren't there I was not there it was my day off so how did they get in Lee okay but did we have so we haven't had an official policy about this well I wouldn't personally I wouldn't think one needed you don't take another Department's stuff you know that should be just common courtesy so I really didn't think that a policy was necessary no I totally understand yeah I just so I I know from just from listening to them they do not feel they do not um feel that they took anything without permission I wasn't there to give him permission to take my stuff they they I I I understand that I'm I'm relaying what I was told um and that I I guess that that the other person in the office was giving permission and not to take their belongings not to take others now please note that two out of three two out of two and a half three shelves that they took those were all select books that was all your Department's books granted I'm the keeper of them but if you had to research back into things that happened earlier that the select board did they're gone what was the purpose of taking the records in the first place so their their statutory their statutory charge is to um they're the ones that designate historical landmarks and um do historical research on places um um the society does historical research on artifacts and things MH the commission is about places um and their feeling was that the whatever they removed from that was for that research purpose and they are are working on a thing about discontinued roads themselves something like that um but you know I I guess the takeaway from that from the lengthy conversation I had with him was that um you with with julus uh was that you know they they do not wish to have facts out there that tarnish them they they they feel that there's an explanation for everything and that they wish for a chance to discuss these things either privately with I'd be perfectly happy if they just brought them back well that I mean that that's that's all I he I'm was curious why we would why we needed to have records in in two separate places right was it for accessibility purposes was that I think in some cases aren't there like this the only copy of the record that exists the things I have in there yes the majority of it is the only right well well why would you move it out in the first place because I'm not always here to unlock so it's about accessibility to up until last year they the historic commission had a file cabinet in the room next joining us and um had all of their meetings there and um they were asked to go upstairs since they're space upstairs and also um I I hesitate to characterize anything and impune their um you know uh uh but you know that that um there there is a series you know that they there was a series of events leading up to up to me requesting that the lot be change yeah and I'm sure things were all done with the best of intentions and everything else I I I'm just curious you know why we would have this concept of retaining critical Town records whether they're under your control or not in separate locations and why wouldn't we keep them all that collected together in one secure location where everybody could have access right now they're in a location where only they have access some of the records their records that they properly should have they did take that yes they did take a lot of their records out but then that's fine but then they yes but then they just continued right right they kept on and there are it sounds to me that there are instances where there's information that is crossover right I mean it it could belong to the to the town but it also could fall under their purview as well well I mean are there there's not there's not you can't draw a bright line between some well they access it for for research purposes they they um they all belong to the town they right they all belong to the they belong to the town and but some are under your control most of them are the majority except for Town Administrator personnel and Counting are pretty much and it's just falls under the category of the town clerk is the keeper records um so can I offer another proceptive because I think a couple of things are h a couple of things are concurrent there's miscommunication issues obviously there seems to be process issues and to me in terms of the nature of these records this reminds me more of how you would operate if you were going to a research Library as opposed to a lending library when you go to a research Library you do not take anything out of the collection you check it out you sit in the room the librarian brings it to you you do your research and the librarian puts it back in into the collection it's not in circulation you can't check it out so from a communication standpoint there seems to be a fundamental uh you know they have a different view of how they should access these records so to I guess to Phil's point I mean I see the I see the uh the benefit of just having an open conversation with them to understand what made them act in the way that they did but just from my observation I do think there needs to be like a process and a policy well there are state laws that dictate that they're mine I'm not oh I know there State I mean I had asked for just just simple I mean I asked a policy to be put in place dictating that the record books finders be housed in the vault located in my office they're only be only to be removed by by me and they're not to leave the area well ever leave the building so I I understand that and I understand that there is a state law that supports these records but I think there's a middle piece that's missing is if if somebody has a legitimate uh need to know to to review those records it's it's how do they access them and are they do they leave town hall or not leave town hall they should never leave town hall because the book can't be replaced but up until they remove them they they would come in in when I'm here and I'm here a lot and I would just open the vault for them and they would spread out on the conference table in there which more blending the research Library model yeah or they would come out here and they would either the two rooms and they would just okay do what they needed to do it sounds like we need a formal policy but Phil it sounds like you're saying that the historical commission would like to have an audience before we actually well we don't have the policy written anywhere so so you know that seems like in the time that we need to write the policy which would be we couldn't vote on it till next week anyway in that time we could out you know um in the meantime I'm very nervous because these are all out there in yeah right I'm just they're just out there I I us putting uh policies and procedures in place for the access to the town his records yeah and you again I I mean I never asked for this because I shouldn't have to I shouldn't no and that was the thing we were you know we needed to we needed to sell a a cemetery deed yeah well I knew they had taken it was a that was that was Catal thing government is always reactive not proactive I me honestly when I walked in the vault the Monday after they took the stuff I saw the empty shelves I knew they had taken it but there's was so many things going on I didn't have time to say okay what is missing and what do I have to do until we went I went into the Vault looking for the cemetery commission box of information and it was like oh that's not here either yeah can I can I make a suggestion do you think any of the Librarians at the field Library would help to have some insight as to how to set up this process well we're eliminating physical space and everything else but I think your analogy that it is a re a research library is is accurate um and that obviously shows that you have spent time in a research well doing research but but uh you know but that is that is how it works that makes sense I only suggested that to the extent that Librarians they're trained in library science you know that's what they do they have degrees in it and they may have insights as to how to create a workable processor around this not asking them to do it just to sort of support it in some can we do something so you can sleep this week I mean you know I mean yeah can we put another lock on the cabinet upstairs that you have the key well it's it's the the there is a lock on the closet not all of it's in the closet some of them is just on tables in their area you know that the big area they they house up there some of it's just out on those tables some of them is of your things yes some of it's just locked in that bring them down um I I don't want to make things worse I really don't I don't well I mean what you want is a formal policy about the management of town records or I like I said I'd be happy if I just got them back we had always I had always had the open door and that and I've always made it clear and they've used that that if I am here please come in and I'll open the vault go in and out get what you need do what you need I've you know I don't keep people from accessing the records I don't hoard them but I think we had AAL policy that would be you know like if you're not if there's a day that you're not here and anyone in the office has a question about someone coming in there'd be a policy to refer to which says you can't take a box out of here this is like this is how we deal with official public records if you want access to them so I could live with that yeah and you know and again yes that you just said the key word public records these are all public records and now I don't have them to answer public record requests right so it sounds like we need a policy but I think we probably need to have a agenda for next week yeah I'm sorry I know it's a busy time I just I if I had known that Lee was asking them to take you know to take their stuff out to protect it I would have come down and witnessed to make sure that only their stuff left I think I think a meeting would be a good thing I mean I should we have like even before we put this on I think it to be very well moderated because I'm I'm feeling very sensitive about doll situation it I know I know all of them and they're all they're all longtime Town residents and I know that but that doesn't and that doesn't make a difference that doesn't change that you know and I know Sarah feels that anything with the words historic deems it automatically the the property of the historical commission well I I would say I would argue that that analysis is easy to perform because you would just balance that assumption against the state law because the state law will Define what is a public record and if anybody whether it's a historical commissioner somebody else feels that they have an interest in that item and they believe it belongs to them they have to prove that it is an exception to the state law right I yes so were you suggesting that we have they have a private meeting not necessarily the select board first or well I mean I I think we need a policy we don't have anything before us like we have no formal policy to vote on right now so I guess I I don't know whether we all sit down outside of a select board meeting with the historical commission and you and work out a policy and then bring that to our next meeting meeting to vote on but I but I do I I think there needs to be a policy I think it would be a very good idea that if it came to a meeting between me and the historical commission that it would be a really good idea to do it turn one of these because it could get you know so next Monday well okay wa your money's on l just because I have the law behind the record com I think dra drafting of the policy proposed policy should be assigned to whom Lori and I can take care of that all right can I I mean you'll give me you'll give have right policy and we'll just do a draft and yeah and if we need to tweak it at the meeting I was going to say I didn't even pull mgls I just pulled Pages out of the State retention yeah right right you know and it should just be that any of those record books need to be in there that and they are one they are the only you know if something were to happen to those copies that's it it would be as devastating as when we had the fire and we lost a lot of our records it would be because they can't be replaced and I thought that's why they were in the vault because it's very Fireproof uhuh but they're not anymore so barque I was going to suggest that when you are drafting that with Lori what you would do is if Lori has the state record retentions are that is that a policy or a regulation these are I don't I mean it's the the municipal records retention schedule that okay so so there's the statute which is the enacted legislation and the what you just have is the process and the M meeting of the two would be well I think that's actually the legal you cannot get rid of your records no I know that I know that but it also is broken down by a lot of it's broken down by but generally generally enacted legislation just enacts the law and something like that is how to do it right so You' use both right yeah this is who is supposed to and for how long yeah okay that's two Mondays on try to get your first try to get your first let close schedule 6:3 that's fine thank you all right all right and then um just just to answer just for the sake of those among you that are interested we'll just briefly discuss um the one day liquor license for the senior prom on June 1st um and about the senior okay so I'm a senior I want to hear about the senior good so the as as you may or may not as you may or may not know um as you may or not know we we have a recipient this the second year in a row recipient of a mass and motion Grant from the State Office of Aging um and it's administered through furog we meet one the it's mostly the Council of Aging but also one member from the library one member from planning board and one member from um I forget what other committee and I represent the select board there um and as part of that Grant they give us $4,300 and something dollar we bought a lot of these chairs with that last year as well as tables and other thing the refrigerator of the new refrigerator um for the senior lunches it's bigger bigger etc etc so this year the decision was made to spend some of that money on catering food and Beverages and music for a senior prom senior great IDE um and nobody nobody has to dress in it but there is live music there is we're voting on a beer and one it's and it's all at NOA the the some several Caterers are being engaged it's going to be really yes it is June 1st which is meeting day no no um yeah no it is but it's it's at night it's at night tell me well you know everybody's everybody's going to want age of 62 so my my son was invited to provide live music and he he desperately wanted to he's a very good musician he has a whole band behind him but he's graduating from high school that afternoon so he not he had to decline the invitation think um he was very disappointed so but so that's um I don't know it should be nothing like that has ever happened it'd be neat there there's the Caterers providing food for 90 people so that's what they going be get it's under the retunda is the caterer providing the bartenders um I I know I'm not so I um but I I believe so usually the people the party that supplies the bartenders has the insurance yeah that's all liability insurance everybody everybody yeah they they only solicited bids from people with insurance I know that um who who would Supply bartenders yes I so make sure you get a Certificate of Insurance all right all right see the coverage all right um and then the other the other thing invol um May 16th and I just want to let you all know about that too May yeah May 16th from 12 to2 also at the field Memorial Library is the um the the first ever thing as well the county is having the a meeting of all count all towns in the county with their uh councils of Aging um actually anybody involved in Elder Affairs in the county um anybody involved with elder Affairs in the county as well as the State Rep state representatives and uh State Office of Aging people as well they're having a function here at field Memorial and they're paying for the room and they're providing catering and everything too that's a lunch in but that's for the public that's that actually is for any elected official in con so or appointed in your case but uh um and if anybody would like to go I there is a registration I do have the registration um but that um many count many Conway rep the Council of agent people will be there and that Conway the field Library have an 88 complying bom they do the downstairs is the downstairs is adaa accessible and it's got a there is a new ground floor bathroom when they fixed up that meeting room downstairs there is a and then from that ground floor you can get onto the lift and get take the upstairs the lift is like my single favorite thing in no I know that that's a lift from 1904 it's like the second second oldest lift in the state it's the coolest thing yeah okay I'm going to make a motion um that we approve a one-day liquor license for beer and wine only for the Council on Aging field Memorial Library for the senior column on June 1st I'll second all in favor I I okay so um so with that 6:30 um warrant stuff warrant and more warrant yes well youve got call I call the finance committee finance committee meeting to order right and should review thee yeah the minutes from April 23rd I make a motion to review the to approve the uh finance committee meeting minutes of April 23rd second all in favor yeah I I 40 4 4 thank you and I call the Capital Improvements committee meeting to order second all in favor I open we have no minutes to approve today all right I don't know if Capital wanted to start because there so there's four articles for Capital to improve and then there's obviously article two for the select board and finance committee and then the select board has another five articles to approve and Chris should be able to zoom in about 7:15 okay so my first question is is I guess are these article numbers are they going to change no this is it this is it nothing's going to get Shi around vote to close the okay all right so Capital capitalist articles 9 10 8 9 10 11 8 9 10 11 actually did you want to close the any so the first thing I want to say to Roy and to Bob is none of this should be a surprise to any of us some of this is stuff that we that came up last year at town meeting and in particular the needs of the highway department the items that are new would be um the fire Tru uh request and the police cruiser all the other all the other items are Highway Department items and we've met with Chris Waldo and I have met with Don Bates regarding his need for a cruiser and also with the um fire department for their particular need so from my perspective none of this should come as a surprise I'm comfortable voting on this today because ultimately it's going to be up to the town I think what we're going to have to do at town meeting and this will fall on me and I'm fine doing it I'm going to take the same presentation that we had that I did last year the PowerPoint presentation going to update it add some additional information on it and just be prepared for some you know for some hard questions at town meeting like we always have for for uh Capital Improvements request so do either one of you want to discuss anything none of this should be surprising we met with Don yeah no there there's no surpris okay Ro's already voted on all of these anyway that's part of the finan yep yep all right so you want us to go through each one individually okay so article 8 Capital Improvements committee will vote to see if the town uh to approve the warrant for the town to transfer from free cash $100,000 to the firetruck stabilization fund as follows $100,000 to save for a new Rescue pumper expected to purchase in 2028 how many years are we into this so far this will be the third the third one okay yeah yeah I mean this won't be a surprise to the town either no no and again I think that you know the three of us here who've been living with this information the whole year what it's really going to be up to a town meeting is the story that we tell for the residents CU they're yeah some of this will be familiar to them and some of it some of it will be new so I would putting forth a motion to vote on article8 to approve in capital approv it's vote to approve well we we just vote to recommend vote to rec I me recommend we're not we're not approve it's on the warrant vote but but we got to we're going to say what the capital equipment recommendation so yes and this is ear this is e marked for the rescue pumper yes does that yeah does that mean it could change to something else for the fire department or not without a separate town meeting vot no because that's it's only specific to that request do I recommend a motion to recommend all in favor okay we approve well we're each doing our own recommendation it's not like this is not the Capital Equipment recommendation we would put down 3-0 3 yes 3- one abs and one ABS 3-0-1 I guess article no D1 is an exstension so it would be 3- and then paren parenthetical however you do it that that's great article N9 to see if the town will vote to transfer from free cash $100,000 for the perp purpose of a side entry exit rubber tire compact loader motion to recommend I recommend second we're 3 3 article 10 to see if the count the town will vote to transfer from free cash $100,000 for the purchase of a plow truck 1 ton four-door short bed six-cylinder diesel motion to recommend I recommend I recommend recommend 3 0 [Applause] article 11 to see if the town will vote to transfer $85,000 in capitalization or otherwise provide for a police cruiser including uplifting upfitting upfitting upfitting I'm sorry it is an uplifting thought I think he called it up uplifting I did a couple years ago and it seems to have stuck that's right bad habits so so the difference is getting this from stabilization not from free cash and that's what we've talked about many times already there's lots of that yeah yeah yes so I recommend recommend 3 well the the um your fourth member is due to zoom in in a half an hour okay do you want to Pro create a process that he could cast his vote as well or do you want him just to be noted noted as abent in the record at town meeting so I guess I would just keep our meeting open until he joins okay I don't know how long he's going to be able to stay he definitely wants to do article two he wants to be on record for article two but to stay for all the rest of yeah and he has a vote as the select board member already true correct but he couldn't make a capital no I get it I get it but you know I mean technically yeah he should have a vote on Capital but we we know what his vote will be he's being very efficient yes I'm just you know I did I did pose that question and it is that's the way it has to be well Roy's stuck here and um if you're willing to stick around I mean we could wait we could wait a little while till he comes he's going to zoom right until he they still have they would have whatever Rush all right all right I mean you a preference Alan where you'd like to start uh you want to start with the well how do you want B how do you want to start the uh article to I I suggest we start there but in terms of developing the background maybe share more talk about the F the cola all that just so people people understand too yeah the first of which is um I needed to let you know well we had our last this this has all been last minute so I'm still a tad nervous just because I haven't had a lot of time to anyway so the last bit of the last number I got was on Friday night and then bless Jan she did the cola check for me today I need to let you know that on the warrant um the only number that changed sorry the number that changed for the ambulance went from 36088 to 36646 once you added in the 5% Cola because the way that article Works in Article 2 it's always 25,000 that's taken out and the balance will be so sorry the other article you're going to look at will be uh there's the Ang it would be article 14 is the one that changed what did that change from into it changed from well I can see what it's to 36088 okay so it might not be bad to revote that because the number changed okay so I I just want to just recap the reason we had not voted on this in the prior meeting is because we were waiting for finalization of several of the salary Lins correct um and we got those resolved I understand did we did okay great um and we resolved the snow and ice overtime budget did okay I with Ron and I got the numbers that took out the overtime so so we we should be good in good shape from the salary perspec the Ducks are officially in order yeah that sounds great and then uh we we concluded that we were in agreement on a 5% call right and I did go through each of the raises and make sure that the 5% would not have taken them above what the raise was and the raises were all above right what the 5% would have great so the the uh increases in the uh salaries and are reflected could you maybe put that up on on the screen oh let me see be in a spreadsheet right so you have to look at all theil where I have the latest one yeah it's not going to be reflected the one I have on here I'm sorry I didn't email it to myself but I can't do it from here oh wait a minute what am I doing I sent it to you yes you did yeah I was going to offer email it back to you if you want to me long day already whatever whatever did I send it to you prob like 9:00 this morning or 10:00 okay uh 12:06 1206 BL you all right thank you so share my screen somebody all right now uh sorry which part of this did you want to look at well just look review the uh for for police and then any other well I can go into each their individual budgets if you want me to do that um which might make sense but everything highlighted in blue is a is a wages line that's that's affected by right yeah right um all the salaries and and that are Co of either Cola or 5% whatever right so for instance here with treasure what I did was I had um just put in the formula that it was this times 1.05 you can I don't know can you see that it's see so you see this formula up here yeah yeah yeah I'm sorry it's really tiny um so that's what I did with all of these and um okay so it's all FY 24 plus plus 5% it's it's plus 5% if there wasn't a specific raise there was a specific raise which was Town Administration um um transfer station Highway snow and ice police yeah those were the five all right okay so yeah so I took away all all that other stuff and then um found a way to go through these quickly which is so nice so when you come to article two everything that's in here is this is just the amount of the cola raay right 5% so is this one um that actually didn't get cola I highlighted it because it's wages but that was added in this actually has the additional th000 for the police detail and then it was raised to 6,000 um police wages because of the contract and there's also Cola on that one as well for the hourly fire was all um Cola Highway was all Cola snow and ice was all Cola transfer station was r Board of Health was Cola um and so as you can see this came to well you have it in front of you but for our general fund it was a pretty hefty percentage this year it wasn't quite 5% but boy was it you know Hefty and we were able to do that because if you look further down you can see that and this year I I finally remember to put in the total for all the schools as well so you can see the percentage it went up this year of all the schools was only 1.75 um which is a pretty low jump for all the schools because we've got 33,000 here um less and 52,000 so it's $85,000 less right off the bat so the total increase for the schools I must have on a different one was 70,000 uh ver can I ask a question yeah I'm not sure if this applies or not um we had the the motion in the Personnel committee meeting uh to clarify application of cola for Jan remember that where we had there there were two motions one was employees who work regular hours and are paid an hourly rate or annual fixed salary or eligible Oh you mean versus stien sorry yeah c yeah right that didn't get voted by the board the select board so we weren't able to incorporate the changes any changes with stipended salary this year we'll have to so Jan can't apply this policy not this year not this year okay Personnel committee clarified that only employees who work regular hours and are paid in you know PID either hourly or annual rate are eligible for Cola and other committees are not eligible for Cola yeah right but clearly you've applied the cola to to all to everybody I I don't I don't recall the select board voting on that no I'd like to take an is a look at that there's there's like a list of things yeah that we should yeah you know so that yeah so we clarified that for Jan that was back on March 27th yeah but that's that clearly that kind of slipped under the radar here didn't yeah I don't think it has a huge impact on on the budget but year it does complicate things on her side now it does um and and I agree that it's a really important discussion to have I think it might make sense for us to have um maybe later in the Sumit early in the fall to go over it by each position and just all understand exactly which position it's affecting and how yeah but but that's definitely something the board would have to vote on to to make the change yeah it's it's a worthy discussion and I'm glad that the Personnel committee took that on um May I just make a comment I think for the uh meeting somebody or bodies um should be prepared to justify that 5% because that you know that is an outsized number for what we've traditionally done and somebody should just have a list of reasons or maybe just in case it comes up because it's it's not spelled out in the warrant right I mean there's no question but I think it would be a useful idea so it can't be made because I'm okay to to to that end the the answer to that question is the number in red in the bottom right of that MH spreadsheet right there and it's you know we did that because we could um so that's is is that what you're going to say yeah because we set out we set out with this process with a fiscal goal which was to keep the overall increasing assessments to under 3% and um you know we were able to achieve that goal and and that's despite the fact that overall the the the number that it is I'm not going to say concerning the the number that it it's almost remarkable that because total Municipal spending non School Municipal spending the increase was 4.86 and uh normally that would be reflected in much lower Co Cola payments in general unst and and you know stress all the way around right um in in this case uh be be because of some late breaking things that that broke our way um you and I'll just focus on this Smith V you know normally we have at least one sometimes two yeah residents Smith we don't know until April whether we're going to have a Smith B student the next year and so and when we don't have one that is a savings to the town of between 50 and $60,000 just one each kid so um that's huge and then the Franklin Tech reduction in students reduction in assessment um the the overall um you know very fiscally responsive responsible budgets by the grammar school and Frontier so this this was one where lots of times it's the town sacrificing for the Scholastic Excellence this is one I'm not going to say sacrificing but because the Smith the absence of a student going to Smith isn't necessarily a sacrifice um it's that inflow versus outflow is much great exactly and and so well we've had this discussion before uh every year about justifying the cost of living adjustment and even when it was making it 2 and 1 12% versus 2% and we've had years where it's been zero that was all we could afford and but I mean but I appreciate Roy saying five sounds like a big number and I don't think the answer should be because we had the money you know and what and what we the way we made it appear okay in the past was we looked at what are the two numbers of what would it be if we made it 3% compared to 5% and it was nearly nothing I I mean you know it was sort of that's true too it's a really small amount of to make it 5% as opposed to a maybe 3% that's a that's a that's a very accurate and truthful and and well but that's a good number to have ready to talk about it tell you the other point I I wanted to make though is that I fly expect a town meeting people are going to go individually through these line items and pick them apart and in particular a lot of these salaries where they're ending up were discussed in Personnel committee so I fully expect the personnel committee to be prepared to answer questions about when somebody looks at Highway wages there somebody's going to ask a question about why it ended up the way it is there's no Cola in in the highway but there right because they all received pay increases right above 5% but what I'm trying I guess the point I'm trying to make is people are just going to do a simple Apples to Apples they're going to look at the number and then they're going to look at the the increase and they're going to want a justification for it so a town meeting the chair of the Personnel committee I fully expect to be I have to sit up front and be prepared to take those questions because all of this was discussed in as in Personnel committee much of this was discussed in Personnel Committee in the last four well there were two two contracts that weren't so well yeah we only yeah we we only work we only focused on salary and hourly employees not contract employees and then the other the other part of that too is that you know for we I don't know with the last few years when the amounts that we were able to offer um in cost of living adjustments to our town employees did not keep Pace with neighboring town we did not and we're non and and every year as the spread between what the other towns were offering and what we were offering we we became less and less competitive and so this it's it you know it's an effort to um catch back up catch back up to some extent but and and it's it's also an acknowledgement that um the the specific circumstances that blessed us this year with regard to the overall inputs and outputs and the fact that we were able to get under 3% um it are unlikely to all line up in our favor again oh um especially next year I mean not not just in you know two years in a row the frontier in capito and com grammar school the they can tighten up one year it is it's it's very difficult to do that for them um multiple years in a row as as pertains to us we have certain fundings for the U Conway grammar school that'll go away next year the eser grant goes away the school goes away that's $50,000 exactly exactly and so so part of this for me you know and how I got to 5% is um the just the well-grounded suspicion that next year we would not be able to offer that even if we wanted to so um yeah yeah it's a good year STS were that pass must have Roy what you just well I I put it out there just because put it out there gave us a chance to practice yeah thanks so I have no further questions or issues anyone else no but are we waiting for Chris well we can go ahead as a finance Comm we're still we still got 10 as a finance committee we can go ahead and make a uh yeah a motion to approve as presented all right so is that your motion I make a motion to approve article two as presented at 12:06 p.m. today by the uh Town Administrator uh second the finance Comm any a second second second all in favor i i i y okay all right 40 40 okay I can't hear Tom he hee quiet over there four 40 with one absence fun you have 132 vote just encapsulates like just months of hard this is Article 2 is so hard to put together there's so many moving pieces it's so are why do the finance committee always AG the select board we never challenge anyone didn't used to be that way well I remember back back in the days yeah after about 80 iterations we finally came to Grand it's good it's TI tight budg yeah yeah small small I mean my thought would be the sherff that would be an I'm going to between now in the next couple of weeks draft up the uh report from the finance committee for the town meeting is that uh we're conserv estimating growth at 100,000 and it should be well above that and our free cash position that we're assuming here is going to be at $136 or $7,000 I think it is the left over is 1066 thank you and it should be greater than that and we have a buffer yeah so we're we're in good our Levy limit is over almost $800,000 and last year was like 400 40,000 or something like that excess yeah yeah can I pivot and just ask a kind of a question that just occurred to me since we're we're waiting for Chris I remember at December town meeting somebody asked a question was it was it this about the historical commission I can't remember but nobody from the commission was there to answer the question at Town preservation I don't remember what it was the person asking the the person at December time that asked a lot of questions was from the historical commission yeah but there was nobody who it was a conservation who was on the conservation who could could sort of speak substantively to the warrant so I was just going to suggest that if you're on anybody who's on a Town board or committee that has any interest in some of this stuff they better show up a town meeting so they can answer questions that's always good advice and we try to share that um with people there's yeah sometimes there's things that happen you know um there was one year in particular that the finance team the assess neither the assessor nor the T Treasurer tax collector was able to be at town meeting and I remember in particular that note to sell try not to let that happen again yeah but um sometimes things just happen in people's lives and they just can't make no no I know that but that's why I said that's why when you started talking about some of the wage line you know the stuff the Personnel committee's already spoken about it's like I'm prepared to stand up at town meeting and you know discuss anything that we recommended so actually well good while finan is here we will have a couple of year and Line to Line transfers that requires both finance and select board so I didn't know if you wanted to schedule another joint meeting at some point to they dominous amounts you want to wait we we have until uh June 30 to do this right actually Mike told me today July 15th you know just wanted to make sure that was on your push it out because invariably some other things might come up well for end of year Line to Line hopefully not but yeah hope is not playing yeah I got you though yeah [Music] okay we're talking this amounts like I think the two transfers in the aggregate are not even $4,000 we have like do we have any additional business tonight no but you want to be around for uh well that that's you do I'm just going to suggest do you want to close the meeting the finance committee meeting want to Pi up a vote take consent do you want to close out the want to close out a finance commit meeting you want to wait for your select he going to do I don't know going to vote on he's going to vote they're going to vote on article two a cal committee right no article two is the operating basic the operating that's what we just voted on we did we did yeah we did our business tonight that's why I'm asking what do you want you want want to still stay here representing I got to stay here for 4 inste [Music] of does the elementary school have a landline that's a good question yeah sure then how come they can't call 911 do the handset didn't is that what Chris said yeah so um should be discussing this yeah these are these are questions that you know to discuss security vulnerabilities in your own School in open meeting is is just not not a recommended practice not not best practices okay um but could me later doesn't a school have a landline if they do the school has a a landline at in central office that is the number when you call that is just like the town has a landline that's the number that you call can so I have a question by when do I need to have the uh separate isue by when do we need to have the finance committee report to you and draft what's your ideal um I just we just need to make copies for meting it doesn't have to go to the printer not going into the oh no we do that internally that internally oh good the warrant and the annual report go to the printers yeah um and when's the annual report I haven't gotten I haven't been nudged by uh the town administrative assistant assistant wait he didn't have he didn't have to have his annual reporting yet if you didn't it's get it's getting ready to go so you better take up in the morning if you wanted all right all right that means I can type it up in the morning too good good good hasn't been sent down yet well in that case i' I've got my homework tomorrow all right it's pretty much ready to go oh jeez I must Mr remail sorry that well I think with that I better call the meeting to join the meeting I make a motion to adjourn second all in favor all right thank you go home WR report yeah to write a report report you don't need to because you well I thought we were going to have the meeting about um um the retention policy the restorage of Records I guess we don't we don't we don't need fin there's also a warrant date we have to meet [Music] information want to vote without absent vote the remaining votes that we have has anybody heard from Chris well yeah he texted me and said um it would probably be closer to 7:15 but you don't need him to close the warrant CL the window just noticed it getting chiler uh move to close the in preparation for annual town meeting June 1 uh second the most figed out how to do it all in favor I I it's unanimous the warrant is closed excellent thank you oh yeah of usually you're up there yeah oh I figured i' the one for they were both Woodland's partnership so it was confusing but the one oh the one that in the bottom says the town Conway is no known for its gorgeous Woodlands that's the one that was unanticipated all right so we have um just a couple of letters in support for Deerfield the one that's on the warrant is deer for Deerfield river water set Association application for Deerfield River Wild and Scenic River feasibility study which has as a TW goal of increasing Economic Development and enhancing Forest stewardship um this this is a a grant I believe what was the town Le no it wasn't no it was Charon and I know you some of the river towns north north and west to us were the ones doing this doesn't matter um yeah it's a whole Woodlands yeah partnership um yeah there but but we so that that's up we're signing a letter in support of someone else's Grant because it's a regional Grant right yeah I read that letter move that we sign the letter in support National wild scen National wild Scenic River designation for the Natalie talk to us about this so yeah remember and I'll second that motion all in favor I I unanimous some and then there's another uh request that we support another Town's Grant um uh this is not this is not listed on the agenda but it is it just came in and it has to go out so it's on the items not anticipated within 48 Hours of the meeting um and that is the New England forestry Foundation proposal um to study the 21 Town Town regions emercy response capabilities as it relates to Forest land tourism Municipal Financial sustainability and the role that ecosystem Services might play in remediating these challenges and identifying potential Solutions um U so yeah and uh I'll just note that the concluding paragraph states that the town of Conway is known for its gorgeous Woodlands Wild light and waterways and we're grateful for the opportunity to further articulate what our rural municipality requires in attention and support so I make a motion to uh support that grant that I just discussed the 21 Town regions emergency response capabilities that I set forth um second all in favor I I it's unanimous I don't know if he's going to be able to stay or not for the other ones you but you want to hang on he can 28 29 30 31 32 yeah I mean at least it'll be his choice whether he wants to be marked as absent in the war or not Goa um so I guess the only other thing was the public safety bids right and that also I would think he wanted so take or just leave dead air while we converse amongst ourselves yeah so to anybody watching this I apologize for the uh lack of activity U the dead air or whatever you want to call it the we are waiting for the third member of the select board Chris Waldo um to zoom in the fourth member of the and the fourth member of the capital Improvement committee and it's because we are taking all these final votes on SE on different Warren articles um asked for the chance to to vote to vote and if he does if he's not able to cast his vote tonight he will be marked on the warrant at that is all the residents read at town meeting as being absent so um want to do my Town Administrator update oh yes okay excellent okay that was Adam's idea good good one Adam because I'm very I'm very pleased to be able to oh he's trying to join sorry I don't see him there's nobody in the waiting room is he in the waiting room everybody has to go in the waiting room um anyway so I'm really excited that um the MVP Grant got submitted on Friday for $63,600 um a good portion of that was for doing um public infrastructure storm water repairs up in the pin hill neighborhood piggy backing off that because the board has already um approved and hired GZA to do the Hydraulic Engineering um I've asked the fhog to help me with a community onetop Grant a strap Grant um for fixing shelburn Falls roads where the two rivers come down and the culs have blown out multiple times and I know runs down a li to fix it but because the Hydraulic Engineering is happening that that will tell us what's happening down Emerson Hollow and that affects shelburn Falls Road um so Megan roads of the fur clog put in an expression of interest for the town today um for that Grant and the application opens May 6th and closes June 5th so hoping that the Hydraulic Engineering from GZA will be able to um inform our Grant application so and that one's potentially $2 million because doing those are extremely expensive um yeah well I mean who knows if we will'll get them they're very competitive but it's it is a major artery for the town so I think we have a lot going for us um especially with all the prep work and I still don't see will any of that beef up the bank along the South River and the Shel FS Road well I mean the road is yeah falling into the river we met with um with um nrcs and talk to the um emergency watered protect engineers and all they were really going to do was put some RI wrap in there I don't know um and in all honesty the amount of time it would have taken to get all the permitting and everything that they would have had to do through contractors it just easier if Ron does it himself so um I know he'll he'll be getting to that at some point but and we have that problem in several areas right along Sheldon Falls Road in the South River so I mean that that's something that would definitely be good to look at overall and there's several more areas that that's going to be a problem within another bad storm or two and that's along the shels road or or yeah yes so um and then um the uh Regional Resource Group rrg they um the assessor's office is Contracting with them now to become the administrative assessor Le's old position um I think her last day is tomorrow and and so we met uh Steve Casey today who will be the person that was sent from rrg to help in the assessor's office really nice guy I think it'll work out great the hours haven't been completely set yet but we're looking at probably Wednesday afternoon because their meetings are on Wednesday and then Thursday morning so it'll be about eight hours of public time then uh what else our arpa was submitted our arpa reporting uh that's that's really pretty much all I need toate talk about the Vault expect you be around oh oh okay yes so it we we did have moisture coming into the Vault and it's been affecting some of our records oh okay sorry hang on a second I need Emil the blank you got this could you [Music] email he just he needs the link he say the link on the site isn't working for can he just call about the speaker I guess I could you can call into the zoom too right yeah anyway so um I was looking for somebody to help us with this and rather than go straight to remediation and pay an awful lot of money I found out from a friend of mine who's a Board of Health director that phph does these kinds of Investigation so we have Mike FY coming from the Department of Public Health on Friday and is going to be looking at you know this as water damage and we'll be giving us recommendations on how to alleviate the problem and how to take care of it so it's coming in the floor in there it's not coming in the floor it's coming through the concrete it's coming through the walls oh sorry I've got him here okay hi Chris I have no clue what's going on we hear you that's strange I've had Zoom issues I I do apologize anyway you're here now woohoo all right do you want me to just take care of capital so that you guys can finish Chris can you hear me it's Phyllis I sure can so Capital Improvements is here it's Roy myself and Bob we recommended 3 on all of the four Capital Improvement articles for the warrant but we wanted to give you an opportunity to either to make your recommendation or not you know since you're member of the committee I would like to follow up the same recommendations I did with select board member and approve all three as well okay so that's four and0 for all of them great for all four yes thank you all right so I can adjourn our meeting and then you guys okay so I'm going to adjourn the uh Capital Improvements committee second adjourned thank you Chris thanks Chris thank you improvements committee and just so you know Chris they held they held their vote open for an extra half an hour for you well it's a courtesy just so you know just so you know hour will never get back in our life yeah because otherwise you know that the warrant would say that you were absent so um want that there you go so um and and the same reason we actually have held you know we we haven't voted the select court has not voted on the remaining items uh for the select board for the same reason because we figured if you want to be marked as absent on the town meeting warrant that should be your choice not something we impose on you um but uh so so I you know I I don't know if you've gotten to take a chance of the all new and improved Article 2 that came out at 12 this afternoon I do I have it in front of me and um yeah do you have any you have any uh questions or comments or are you ready to vote on it I'm ready to vote on it it hit that arbitrary number we wanted I am ready to vote all right so on behalf of the select board all those in favor of article two as currently constituted I I I it's unanimous actually we didn't have a second that wasn't a proper motion second all right by I all right it's unanimous um and then we had a couple other votes so we haven't done yet 28 through 30 yeah 28 which was the revolving fund by law um and we're adding a revolving fund for the transfer station um to be authorized to spend from the fund is the Town Administrator um fees charges of receipts credited the fund will be incom to the transfer station from fees charged for materials deposited at the transfer station expenses payable from the fund are expenses related to the administration of the transfer station restrictions or conditions on expenses payable um there's a limit of $10,000 for the fiscal year and it is to be uh to be operational for fiscal year 2025 and subsequent years um so um I make a motion that we approve Article 28 second all in favor I I do and article 29 is um the bylaw for the associate I'm sorry article 29 is a revision to our bylaws regarding associate members and um it's to be read in conjunction with article 30 because article 30 illuminates it um article 29 provides that um it already provides that only Comm a resident shall be allowed to serve as voting members of boards committees or commissions um it adds the following new language however appointed associate members of town boards will be allowed to serve and vote whether Town residents or not and then article 30 um and I'm just explaining we'll vote on these separately but article 30 um is u a revision to the bylaw Town bylaws section 62 planning board and Zoning Board of Appeals and it includes a new first sentence and that first sentence reads the planning board shall consist of five elected members and one appointed associate member which board shall act on all matters within its jurisdiction under this bylaw in chapter 48 of the general laws in the man prescribed by the said law and by this bylaw so um and my own explanation here is that the state law currently allows for planning boards and zoning boards of appeals to have associate members that vote um if there's a bylaw allowing them to do so well actually it doesn't need to be a bylaw allowing but in Conway's example uh circumstance we had a bylaw that didn't allow them to do so so we're amending the article 29 seeks to amend the general bylaw and then article 62 is the specific reference that would I'm sorry article 30 section 62 of the bylaw thank you would allow the uh zoning the Zoning Board of and the planning board to utilize the state law that allows them to have an appointed uh associate member so that's not a town resident right and because only the planning board and the zba have associate members like effectively this only applies to those too that is correct at this point okay that is correct there's no other Town committees that have associate members and um at this point I don't see that the I doubt that this current select board would be inclined to create that so that's so I move to approve um article 29 and article 30 got one at a time oh okay article 29 as written I'll second all in favor i i n two I oppose this article okay 2 one gotcha um so article 30 um same motion as written I vote that we approve I'll second all in favor I I it's 21 okay and um article 31 so this ISS the Festival of the hills article I'm sorry yeah yeah the 31 and 32 are yeah 31 is the Festival of the hills legis piece of leg home rule legislation that we're asking the state to do on our behalf and 32 is amending the bylaw to create a festival of the hills committee for the town so um I move um that we approve article 31 as written authorizing request all in favor I I I that's unanimous and and article 32 to make the festival the hills committee by uh uh a town committee by by by law um I move to approve article 32 as written second all in favor I I that's unanimous and and article 33 the citizens petition we don't have to make recomendation citizens petition all right so I make a motion to weit we we didn't close the warrant did we y the war we did all right yeah we earlier the one vote we took Without You Chris was to to close the Warr was to close the warrant yeah that's a good all right oh we're done that and then umf public safy oh yeah so the we have to discuss the public safety building bids um my inclination would be to make a motion make a motion to reject the bids um that we have received does anybody have anything they'd like to add to that or discuss I talked with vque about this so I'm fully aware of why we would need to do that so there's no opposition yeah I just want to clarify for the public who may be watching is that the way that the bids came in we at this point don't feel like we have the funds to pay for the public safety building in the way that we had anticipated correct right so I'll move to reject the public safety building bids second all in favor I I I tanous we hope we can have another crack at it um and is that anything else no all right so um any select board member comments or concerns that need to be addressed f for now um the announcement we already made the announcement about June 1st the from 5: to 8 is the senior prom but prior to that is town meeting prior to that June yeah June 1st 10 a.m. is town meeting um and then May 16th 12 to2 is the senior uh countywide senior lunching at the field Memorial Library there's a whole bunch of other things too but those the announcements I'm making and our next meeting is May 6th which is one week from tonight yay same that time same that in this location chel and we'll see yall then thank you everybody motion to return motion to return second all in favor I I it's unanimous thank you for dialing in Chris take care yeah you all have a good night you too take care thanks