all right welcome everybody to the Wednesday April 10th meeting of the Conway select board at 6:30 or thereabouts um it will become a joint meeting with the Conway finance committee meeting is being recorded live on FCAT and on the owl on Zoom for the town website if for any reason these recordings seek to function the meeting will continue live and in person call the meeting to order first item vote to approve the minutes of March 25th in April 1st I looked over both they both look good I will make a motion to approve both meeting minutes I'll second that motion I just want to say Adam those Mee the minutes are really good they are it's a difficult thing to get good thank um yeah so all in favor I I Erica minutes okay thumbs up she can't hear you oh dear can you hear us Erica I cannot I can't hear anything okay you okay with the minutes did you get that how how could you you heard veronique right there well you Mumble I mumble I heard I didn't yeah I did bar was the first yeah um yes oh dear oh dear yes okay a reminder for us to speak up all right so there was a motion in a second for for both minutes all right all in favor yeah all in favor I we already voted okay very good it's unanimous so the warrants there's three warrants An accounts payable warrant in the amount of $79,500 a payroll warrant in the amount of $148,300 120 6 cents I did review all of these there's just nothing conversationally noteworthy about any of them they're just the most wrote and routine set of Warrant or we could ever hope to get I had one question and vernique answered it for me so there you go the you know which one the $1,000 for the oh right right $2,000 and it was parks and wck right parks and W yes y so um so I'm move to approve the three warrants second uh all in favor I I all right um uh meetings attended by select board members Griff we had an executive session we did I think that's I think that's it Erica a few weeks um yeah executive session yesterday and with that last week that we had the the the Bell's fairy Bridge with the m do yeah we were all at the barles fairy Mass D scoping meeting which lasted like an hour and a half two hours all I really wanted to find out was when are they going to start and when are they going to finish and at the very end of it they told us I don't know um so that was that was but there there was one person in there that kept on trying to say over and over again we're really going to do this as quick as we can we really need to get this done so I appreciated that um and well there were also like 40 people in that meeting so I felt like there were a lot of people with their eyes on this project for sure um um and and how much they were in they were looking forward to working on it the historic nature of the bridge and how beautiful the location was they were all just like this is a great project to be a part of so um and uh um veronique and I met with Tim forier and we saw him moving the bench today that was a fe that was really something else cuz all the those two companies that we had they couldn't move the bench it was um but it got moved and they cut the trees um and uh yeah so um public comment so the only item on new business well besides the review of the draft warrant which will take the balance of the evening is a discussion inoss vote on the gz a proposal for Hydraulic Engineering study in the Pine Hill upper Baptist Hill Baptist Hill and Emerson Hollow Road area um to be paid out of the 1.42 million uh supplemental State appropriation to the town Conway for flood related expenses um and Rosalie starvis is here from GZA and so is Nate um what was your last name Russell Russell sorry um Nate sitting right next to me I still forgot his um last name but um so I you know I I we saw the proposal um you have anything to just I guess talk about it a little bit and uh yeah man Roos and I are here we can answer any questions you might have about sort of what we think we're proposing to do and what the implications could be and obviously the the study is there intended to sort of figure try to help figure out how much water we have to deal with and what some options could be to help deal with that water that's coming off the hillside um you know it's a preliminary engineering study and coming up with some conceptual ideas for how to try to move water around in a way that would benefit the town or the the residents of that area who currently being affected I gr off and I will say we've been getting a lot of these types of calls in this last couple of years this is not and it's no it's no soless to someone who's dealing with this problem personally right but we this is not an uncommon situation it seems lately where there's a lot of water and it seems that it's showing up in places that perhaps in the past it hasn't or at least hasn't been observed right whether or not 40 years ago or 50 or 100 years ago there there were issues who knows but you know recently we're going through a period now we're seeing a lot more of this um you know sometimes it's hard to determine what is there's often no singular cause right it's often a whole combination of factors that got to this point and the solutions are often the same right it's not necessarily just one thing that we can do or or the town could do or a resident could do to address it it's it's a combination of things that we can try to implement as a as a collective poll to address it and mitigate as much as we can so I don't know if if you guys have any the town has any questions about what we're looking to do or if we can provide any more details that actually pulled up Lor's email but since she's here well what was in my email was a um landscape School of Design report from 1975 sure and like I've read The Proposal which we which I'm assuming is a contract with the town it's sign service so therefore the kinds of questions that I'm asking are kind of to some degree contractually related um so you have the end the study point from July and there were three major changes in the Baptist Tail Road area since the July floods and each of those changes alter the flow pattern of the water so if you only go by July you're already at a date and should this not be all the way the my sun pump has run steadily since December 18th it goes every 10 minutes and if not we've only like I like you can look at the rain flow map and we haven't hit the kinds of tropical rain at 2 in an hour density the the summer rainfall delivers to us I have no idea what's going to happen in my basement given that at what where we're at is and I'm ass like you know that data is pertinent to um how you do those hydraulic and hyic I have to go really slowly on those two words we abbreviate the H to make it easier the H the HH combo um so that so much so like I have a whole list here of of ideas that so speaking just sort ofs conditions today versus July or whatever so the intent would be to go out now and assess the current conditions so we'd be looking at what the conditions are today to to develop our network of so when we prepare this model right we look at the Hydra the hydrologic conditions that's the rainfall and runoff patterns and the hydraulic performance so where is that water ultimately getting to how's it being collected where is it concentrating is it getting to catch Basin and pipes is it flowing over land are there common discharge points is it overflow does it back up in certain ways and so we're going to attempt to model the existing Network as we understand it today and I'll be going out with Ron and his crew to identify where the existing pipes are where the cutch bations are trying to understand what the road I understands an been out there the road currently isn't in final condition right they cut it down they M and there some of BMS on the sides to keep the water in it currently and that's not the condition it's going to be and it's probably not the right condition to consider when we're looking at where we think water will end up it would be more of a final condition for the road being reconstructed repaved um but ultimately it's sort of to try to figure out again where the water's really going and then are there opportunities to affect change to that that would reduce you know are there pinch points you are there constrictions in the system and where are they and what can we do to try to alleviate that to the extent we can and move that water around are you only looking at storm water or are you looking at groundwater as well yeah so we are not currently proposing to do a hydrogeologic assessment it says in here there's a oh you're saying Hydro GE hydrog geologic so we that would be like installing groundwater Wells and monitoring the groundwater conditions over time that's not in our in our per because the problem on much of what's happening is actually ground at this point the groundwater uh table is so high that it's a groundwater in addition to storm water problem if you only look at storm water you don't understand what has what has happened at the seep plane level across the hill um that that comes down to River street from Baptist Hill so I like uh that's a like that's a pretty serious Omission I would think to not look at the groundwater um and there's a lot of help to look at the groundwater because the I've talked to more than one land owner and there are landscape School of Design maps for different parts of the Hill which can tell you the geological conditions in a number of places as it may have existed between 1975 and 1995 um and um like that is really important to understand why the water moves in a storm in specific ways it's Clay you know and that's really different than for example the East Hampton furog uh guide to how to deal with storm water and flood because the town of eastampton is sand if I if I if I could just interject here that this issue of groundwater Rising seems to be a Statewide phenomenon yeah and on the town website I've posted a link to a survey that UMass amist and the state are asking residents to fill out so that they can get a sense of what's going on because this is it's everywhere it's not just yes I understand in this particular neighborhood so what I'm saying though is that to understand what the storm water is doing without paying attention to where the groundwater and that is a geograph a geological circumstance to a considerable degree if you don't pay attention to that part of it it's like missing half the picture so I I understand what you're saying yeah right and as currently in en Vision the scope we put together is specific to surface water right yeah if the town wanted we could discuss expanding that scope to include hydrogeologic valuation so that would viewing things like doing subsurface Explorations so do test forums and similar to better assess the local superficial geology right there are maps available I understand I'm a Geotech and engineer by trade the maps are very useful for Broad izations they aren't necessarily great to characterize brwater flow patterns in unique locations right in loc localities so to do something like that would definitely expand the scope of services and if that again if that's something the town would like to do we're very open to having that conversation and they aren't necessarily you can do one or the other or both and there's value in both right so there's information that you will gain if you ignore one or the other that's a problem I don't disagree that groundwater is a thing but for the time being you know the pressing the shortterm issue what can we readily change quickly what what from a standpoint of where can we affect change groundwater is a more difficult problem to tackle so in the short term if we're already reconstructing the drainage system in that area we can effect change now and Implement that during that construction phase so when they rep pave the road we can look at are enhancements that can be made to alleviate that portion of the issue will that solve all of the issues that you're you know and other residents are dealing with I can't say it will but it does it is something we can address in the short run and then we can work with you in the town to address other concerns and potentially if we do want to expand that scope to look at other considerations that could be impacting the residents and the just from the town point of view um the one of the hurdles to addressing groundwater through this particular study at this time is the source of funding that we're used because by a Department of Revenue opinion Al the we're limited to public uh infrastructure Public public you know um repairs to public property and in all things storm damage related but to include um engineering studies and storm water management infrastructure but um but it and I can see how where the two of those there there's an intersection of those those two topics well when you pour the water into from the from the roads into a field and The Field's groundwater is so high that it creates long range monthlong sort of a form of flooding to the it not simply the field but into the uh buildings yeah um and that to get rid of that to help the drainage of that water requires Crossing three other properties back to the road um at what point is it it just seems to me that it is both a um you have to understand something about both to understand how to solve one problem effectively well and I think that's what I was hoping to get out of the study that they are doing that to take a look at the current practices of where the Culver's drained to which historically had not been an issue but which since July are definitely an issue um and to come up with a better S better waste better storm water infrastructure than just discharging it onto a field so I mean that's that's what we were I know that's what I personally was hoping to get out of it just what what's the what can we build as a town what can we do as a town to make it better um and to you know to to to make the roads better so that the roads aren't destroyed as easily um and to make to make it so that when the roads when there's sheets of water passing over the roads there's places for the water to go besides into people's fields and homes so that's that's well I think I'll end up in fields the question is in what mode does it end up in the field and from one field to the next field or one Ravine to the next Ravine you know what does it do to geologically to the sides the soils the wells the Lees related um and those are all I want those all I would think to I didn't know but I'm at this is a question when you talk about non-public data or microcosm related data in the very end of the um uh contract um lots of people have their lot Point like who in the town if you want that kind of data who's the pointed appointed person to collect it is there a process in place by which the non public data gets to you in a timely fashion and um uh so that it can be compiled in an orderly way that you that it's not so last minute that well the thing is due and nobody had time to look at it sure so the one of the elements of the proposed scope includes a public Outreach component uh which would include meetings in a setting such as this probably not a select board may but maybe where specialized specific meeting to talk with any of the interested parties that would be advertised and the goal be to get everyone together so we can talk about the issues if you have that information going be sort of Call to Arms so to speak right bring us your data please bring us your data such that we can then have that and consider it as part of this overall assessment I would strongly urge that in that communication that some of the definitions of what you know wet and like in the UMass flood survey I asked a couple of not George but I asked a couple other neighbors if how they had filled that out and if their basements were simply like damper and wetter than usual they didn't think it qualified as flood related issue and it actually does because that's the groundwater being super high and creating dampness in a microcosm environment that didn't exist in the same way 10 15 years ago and it's a public education I don't think that the public understands a whole lot about what a dirt Fieldstone wet basement that doesn't have oldfashioned gravity drains like it used to um before leech Fields were built I I think that some of that public education really needs to be done and it would answer one of the questions that ronu brought up which is how do you share the process how do you make everybody feel that they come to understand some of what they can do because one of the big differences between up here and the water problems and in the valley is it's Clay and rock and not sand and it doesn't absorb so it sheets underneath so some of those issues will be addressed we hope if we get the next MVP Grant there will be a huge public education component to that there obviously will be public education and Outreach for this but it's more limited to that specific neighborhood okay but in future if we do get this grant it will be the whole town okay and she's referring to MVP I think the last public meeting that we went to where Rosalie and Nick were there at the grammar school at that point we were considering a d section something something Grant a 319 319 Grant and um for a bunch of different reasons we've since are focusing on an MVP Grant so that's why the terminology is different yeah I I get what the differences are what is your implementation period what is like it said it started something started in about two weeks if this was signed and approved but is there a a what is the report period once you start Ros can you speak to the to anticipated schedule's the C away no yeah they oh the yeah for so for this um initial study um you know we would get started as soon as possible um and you know I think it would take you know probably 3 months or so maybe to get through you know the the investigations and then the modeling um um I think that might be a reasonable time frame um and then the broader the broader study with the public Outreach component that um would go forward with an MVP Grant um I think we're looking at um a project that would be completed by the end of um next June I think is what we were targeting cuz the MVP Grant has either a one year you know a one fiscal year cycle or two fiscal year cycle and we're going to try to have this be a one-year cycle Grant is there a process if land owners have to act more quickly than that period in order to um address water issues on their property is there a process in place to do that no I think this is as as fast as we can move and we don't even know if we get the mdp Grant we won't know that for a while because the application isn't even due till I think it's the 26th of April so we won't find out until June whether or not we've been granted it and then we still have to sign the contracts and then get going so unfortunately sometimes government takes a while no I that but that's one of the reasons why um you know we we do have we do have a supplemental State appropriation that we do have latitude within the definition of what we can spend that's still fairly broad um and and it's what we're trying what my hope is that what they come up with are solutions that we can Implement ourselves as a town as much as possible without having to rely upon outside private contractors um so well as a private land owner I have to address something and that goes on in my property related to the drainage before the peak of the hurricane season to come and it will have implications for the entire drainage and um part of the reason why for like part of my property I haven't done anything is because I have not known what the town was going to do next in how they were going to put anything or not and like I said there were three changes since July that had drastically altered the water already but um I I you know you were raising your hand yeah I just so you you said there are three major changes to the roadway since July that were made can which what are those specifically uh Pine Hill was paved the road was stripped on upper Baptist Hill of its surface the um Culvert that is kitty corner between the [Music] North the northern eastmost part of the curve of our property the back uh to the West the Culvert was opened completely um and it had been blocked for all 40 Years of my living on the property where the catch Basin is no well there's another catch Basin that was opened about a year and a half two years ago that um created an outflow from the catch Basin and that flows both backwards onto our property and forward onto the forer property and those have all have like the the the outflow to the catch Basin is a year at least a year and a half two years old but all the other things the paving of Pine Hill Road the changing of the way they dug out a um a pretty good ditch along the side of it on the to the west side of it um they did open up one but under like from the old size size not the not a wider bigger one um you know they they addressed some of the pre-existing coverts but they didn't add any new coverts so the increase in the volume of the water is now faster than ever into the field our back field and then like I said the the there's a CT that was buried on the corner of the harded it it's on our property but but it's right at the corner of the um hearted property as well and then there's a gigantic pile of rock that helps direct the water um sitting from the paved Road sitting in the Basin on the edge of the Basin so that's also a little drainage Channel yeah so um so so my understanding Rosal Nate is that what you know for me the biggest takeaway of what the product that you're going to come up with is just a to-do list for us that we can hand to you know the various Town departments that can do the work that you know Based on data and science that what will help to solve the problem and that's kind of what we were looking that's kind of what I was looking for um and you know and because the reason that this area is being chosen to go first is because this is the area that has resulted in the most damage for the most people um and uh where we think uh a an expenditure could help both t the town roads and they're um and you know to to so they don't need to be repaired as often and um in helping the town roads and the town uh storm water management infrastructure for those roads it will have the wonderful side benefit of um helping the residents to avoid flooding as well so that's that's why this got picked first there are other parts of town that would be nice to address as well based on a criteria of a you know how many people can get helped at sort of um so that's yeah George you have any any questions no I'm just here to listen I have question um um so I was curious about the D part of this I know there were some unanswered questions sorry there are some unanswered questions in the fov report that was given to us in October okay about where the input and the output of various pipes were and they one of their recommendations was that die studies be done so it wasn't clear from reading your proposal are you guys going to be doing the die studies so we'll be working with the town to do some die tracing to try to verify hydraulic connections okay right so I know in that upper corner there's some question about where water goes right and so the simple explanation is we basically take D it's it's a fluorescent green the Dy that breaks down but you flow it in with a lot of water and you watch where it comes out and you can either see it because it is this bright green you know people you get complaints oh what's going on down by the river but it it breaks down pretty quickly and it's it's natural it's not a it's not toxic in that way um but you use lights to it glows you like a black light and so you could we can try to see where water is going if we put it in one spot where does it come out right and so that's one tool we use to try to trace that pathway um there are other options out there if we want to investigate something further there are cameras uh that can be deployed to actually fall through the system and take video of it as they go that's not something we have currently in our scope but if they we went to a juncture we're trying to figure out what's going on okay water's put it in here and it's coming out there but jeez we have no clue what's going on in the middle or why is it not coming out is the other question that sometimes come up well we board it in here and we're not seeing it here this is where it should come out and we can't find it somewhere else so where is it going that's when you we have a few vendors that we work with that can do that sort of Television inspection can I ask a question if you set up a wildlife Camp um along like a d uh fluid pathway that's going to come down the slope and then up through the ground because it'll start ponding in like you can time it in 6 hours um but that's what's happening is like it comes down the hill across the Sheep then it'll pop up ponding in about it takes about six hours time if you use the wildlife cam could you capture that with the die St something a wildlife cam is be taking a camera view are you are you talking about cameras going underground or cameras through through pipes through the pipes through the pipes ask through the sorry like one but little the same thing in my head trigger warning without I enjoy those yeah through the pipes I'm say so we're trying to look for places where there might be a claw a break in a pipe so you know why is the water not making it to where we think it should be based on what we understand should be the path away it's following no won't okay yeah the state came out when they were trying to understand the their drainage system on River Street Main Street sain Falls Road they had the chief plumber from the state of Massachusetts with the fancy camera system with the GPS everything they they were rolling that through yeah because you can like what I call it is like weeping like you can watch the hillside with water and um and then there's little there's the spots for the rivix and then there's what I'm describing where like exactly where it came in isn't clear it sheets about 6 feet away from a particular point and then it'll start bubbling up and it's not coming through pipes though it's coming through um dirt and silt and gravel and um and it's above a clay ledge so following pref seage path you think I'm sure it's the seage path that that like that's how you can you can literally identify it I mean um and then it'll overflow and and you know like you can it's totally mappable it's visible at this time of year I like later summer it'll be harder yeah um so the the other question they had was you know how how will this study be substantially different or um add to what the furog study had done because it s like they had done a pretty good job looking at all the different drainage and right so as I understand they they they started to map the various drainage networks and look at the likely contributing areas what we would be doing is sort of verifying that aspect of attempting to verify that so you know and adding to that data set and then preparing an actual hydrologic model for the system so we would be taking that information plugging into I think program uses swim but essentially a modeling software that looks at the topography the catchments the runoff characteristics models rainfall events models the runoff you know sort of coming down captured by the system and models the flow through the pipe so we can sort of look at um there's a lot of assumptions so this is not you know it's it's scientific but it's not perfect but we can and then we can calibrate that model based on the experience of people saying jeez you know when it rained last time we got 2 in and it overflowed here if we're not seeing in our model we can try to look at and say okay what's different in our model and try to calibrate that a little bit but but basically we're trying to assess the capacity of the system and where is the water going to go and and then if it is backing up in the drainage system then where does it overflow to right what are the what are the next what are the spill over effects so that's the goal of of this that aspect of this work is to try to come with a model that then we can look at potential options to enhance the network or mitigate that issue right so is it as simple as making the pipes bigger right so so if the current pipes on the road are 12 in and we're seeing it's backing up on a regular basis for small storms does just putting a bigger pipe in make a difference well it makes a difference but is it the difference that we want it to make right so we would look at those options and what would feasible to do to to drive The Water Somewhere Else of course part of that is if we put the water somewhere else more quickly then we have to manage that right so just getting the water out really fast isn't always the only the right answer right so there's there's things we're going to have to look at and and that's sort of part of that discussion with the town as to what's what's feasible what's practic iCal and then there's the other piece what's permittable right so you can put the biggest pipe in the world you want in but if you're discharging a wetland causing erosion that's a problem so so it's not just the infrastructure it's also looking at you know the the surrounding area looking at the other constraints that may affect that ability to affect the change so that that that is why I asked the question about process for private land owners like this may be a long time but that because it's a government grant it's going to require but if you need to act before that period in order to preserve the um safety of a structure that you live in how what like how do we communicate and share knowledge in a way that um is useful for all yeah I was thinking about that too there already is uh I know veronique had put together an email list of the 27 homes or something like that and I think that that's a good start as a basis to communicate um and the um I mean you can even do things I mean I I was worked on as a communications director for when the Franklin Regional High School needed every single town to vote Yes like like you know I think that you there are ways to share documentation of what's going on and why it's so dangerous and difficult there's there's going to be nothing but faster water if we have four and 5 in rains um in a row it's not going to get slower down here and we it might because of what the state did between um Cindy and um Phil's house but from what my part of the Hill looked like it was a flowing river and um all I can tell you is that that river is faster now than it was and we haven't had the 4 to 5 in really dense it's in 2 hours it's coming down at Tropical biring speed well I I guess I would say what we're doing here is trying to move as quickly as we can to get this information information sharing will be part of the process of this work I mean I just think that that I find the that that the talk back and forth doesn't happen in my experience until the very last minute and that it would be really helpful to not leave that communication to 48 hours before the meeting that there might be really valuable dialogue that could go on and not wait till the last minute I know that everybody's time is extremely stressed impressed but that's true of everybody in every imaginable kind of way almost all the time um so I think that communication related to this stuff and the Gathering of documents could could be more um more formalized and and timed in such a way that it would guarantee that you got documents back that it would create a kind of understanding of the of the different terms being used across the larger population and we need that like I said the geological information of the 20 acres of the Hill exists in huge chunks already if the land owners who have those documents cooperate with you but you have to you have to really get them so I mean that is the task ahead I think but and the way to approach that as I see it is just sort of Step by Step ran wasn't built in a day just do you know and that that the furog study was a great place to start that identified a lot of the issue the furog study specifically called for this kind of study as the next step and um and then this study would allow us to begin to shovel in the ground like fixing stuff next step um but and between the completion of this study and where we're at right now this you know it would be a lot of communication there's because you and others have a lot of valuable information that could assist the engineers um in you know because the more information they have the better their decisions are informed um and the the better their recommendations are informed and I think you know that's what this is all about so I I I don't know I think I think this is a good thing I don't you know I'm I'm looking ahead I'm and you know with with work that has to be done in the next few months there is there is you know that is going to like that that I that I you know I'll share the data of what needs to be done like and you know there might be a better way to go about it I don't quite know what that better way would be but um but I also think that this is a good way to go about it I don't I don't know I try not to let the potential perfect be the enemy of the known good um so I don't uh you know I don't know I think I you know we put this on the agenda as a possible vote I kind of would like to just go ahead and vote I don't I mean it get it started we I I hear what Lori is saying too you know looking for recommendations to the homeowners to help because they can't wait a year for the work to be completed but I also know that's a challenge cuz each property probably has its own unique problems based on the property above or below the road you know is it right next to where Pine Hill is where all that water is sheeting down um and that's that's probably going to be a big challenge as far as communication I mean we can obviously do our part It's a good thing for Neighbors to talk with each other saying hey it's very important that you know that this is happening and provide the information that you have for the assessments as well especially in a neighborhood like Baptist well if this gets voted tonight I will certainly email it to the group so that everybody will be starting out right on the and we have Town me and I would suggest if they have like I would give a kind of list of what kind of documents can you that that a landowner private owner if they care to share with them with the town that would be useful for them to un get a grasp of where the geological information is just because some of it's really at the tip of the surface and E very easy to obtain but if you don't act if it you got to ask maybe we get currents and then yeah in the current there's you know somebody who has an in with recorder maybe no there there are a couple there's a couple homeowners in this group besides Lori that have accumulated valuable data over the years in the form of reports from the Conway landscape school and others that would be useful to the engineering team putting this together even knowing where the depth of a of all the wells are tells you where the ledge is because somebody might have like a 35 ft uh depth and somebody else might have 155 ft depth and they may not be very far from one another but it tells you where the ledge is so yeah for water tables is is there a drastic change between annually or is it how long does a water table take basically to go down if it's one wet year to a dry year I can really only tell you what I would suggest as a Geotech engineer which is the default answer it depends right so it's it's all it it it really depends right so it depends on the characteristics of the wers shed so some are going to respond more quickly some are going to respond more slowly and it depends on just how sear charge the system is versus how long the drop was before or what the prolonged length of a wet period is so there's a lot of factors that go into this I I live in Ashville I'm just up the road there's an old hand dug well at the bottom of my property that has not when I was I grew up next door to where I live now that would typically dry up in May June maybe July at the latest it Flo all winter it's still flowing the grass is still green at the bottom of that where it seeps out there and it you know when I was a kid we'd walk there' be bone dry in August and now it's can't mow it we had the four wetest months in like a 100 years right what was it I'm trying to remember when the um drought was that was like 3 years ago right it was short though it was very short yeah yeah it was like a little six to it's not a drought that like goes for years or six months it was like a few it was a six week period six to 8 week period so yeah I'm I'm aware of some of the conditions that folks in the area are battling um I have the benefit of being on the top of the hill and with a walkout basement and I I'm an engineer I made sure we had lots of drainage when we built the house so that I would never have to deal with a li basement because that was you know one of my one of my things um but where were you when I bought my house right but if you live at the bottom of the hill I live high up it's a different story I live high right but if you're if it's flat all around right yeah it's a SE I'm I'm on a hillside so there's water can't build up at my house but it's just there's there's a lot of factors that affect that and it's it's hard to point like I said at the beginning it's very hard to point to one specific thing right that that led you led us to a point where we're dealing with the water now it's usually a culmination of years and years of small changes over time um you know historically historically there was a lot more active manipulation even of surface water right by farmers and others maintaining their fields to keep things dry uh maintaining ditches diversions all sort there's all sorts of things that have changed in New England over the last 100 200 years where places that used to be dry aren't dry anymore I think a part of that is just the changing buried land use so is it just more houses more driveways more impervious shedding more water that's probably part of it trange patter bapti the upper part of Baptist H hasn't changed in how long you think for housing houses probably 100 something years like the same there's no new houses it's all old houses nonetheless I think not understanding concerns about groundwater if this is if there's money to to fire Engineers to study what's happening on the surface that's a step ahead and and you ask had a question I question a statement which is let's charge ahead yeah yeah I agree I'm ready to so my the only looking at the so this the contract um I actually like the way the contract is set up it's a lump sum fee um it's 50 $6,300 set in six different tasks um and uh the I get my our principal point of contact would be Nate or Rosalie or both uh probably Rosalie as a day-to-day but you know given my proximity it is sometimes easier for me to like attend a meeting like this where it's rosal's in Connecticut so it's a bigger ask for her to come up but she's always willing to make accommodations especially she is for Conway she is yeah um and uh and who's the other uh fellow that signed this David Leon so David Leone is one of our senior uh H&H practitioners so he is a very experienced engineer performing hydraulic assessments hydrologic assessments so he's at GC we have a consultant reviewer process so all technical documents and proposals anything that provides an opinion or recommendations or proposals in this case that was a contractual obligation we have a senior technical person an expert if you will in the field that us review that so it's not just you know rosley is very capable I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent guy I can help like can figure things out but we want to make sure that when we're making a recommendation or finalizing a model that the last pass through at the qaqc is done by someone who can readily spot potentials errors or omissions data gaps or other things and there they're involved in the project not on a day-to-day basis but more as a senior advisory role so that's who David is in this case he's a he's a senior technical advisor to the the project team would he be um a site visitor I would say that's a probably was given his geographic location okay so um how about I make a motion for the chair to sign the G GZA prop proposal for Hydraulic Engineering study second all right all those in favor I I Eric noding your head in agreement I yeah okay I okay so that's unanimous and I will sign right now call the finance committee call it is it fixing sign the long signature well I have to fill out the date and title spell your name underneath your signature it's all the matter of public passport identif if I leave the billing if I leave the billing address blank then maybe they won't be able to send us all strategy I know where to find you if there's any other questions you know don't hesitate to call thank you thank you nice to meet you thank you Nate nice to me you thank you thank you Rosie right thank you all right I make a motion to call the finance committee meeting to order joint me with the honorable select the town of cond second second all right all in favor all in favor Roy you in favor of the meeting hi it's unanimous we can go all right now you need to uh approve the m i make a motion to approve the meeting minutes of the finance committee meeting of April 1st as presented second all in favor I all all right car your thank you where would everybody like to start draft warrant the whole I know which one it's all good news right six and one half dozen of the other well there are several decisions that need to be made for the budget I don't know if folks have had time to think about it but you need to think about the salary requests and the hold up um so how about we go through through ja war first let me ask you a question how soon are we going to know the final two pieces of the employee compensation puzzle which contractual puzzle when that that's not up to me that's up to the board how soon can we schedule how how soon can we schedule the next executive session to deal with the employee contracts that are still that we still have the two employee contract left and I would I would propose that we deal with them on the same evening and under in the belief that at least one of them would go within a half an hour maybe I'm pretty sure one of them will not go over yeah but um well there's how quickly can there's more than just those there's also um the final Highway there's also transfer station so there are other right well those are yeah but I I feel I see where you're going a level of certainty with those more well that those decisions I would based on these decisions would impact those decisions um and it'd be great so we well so this just comes to the point like maybe now's tonight's not the right night to make all of these salary decisions that is I guess my point well that's fine but this is why when we OB sorry let me share this um when the board and the finance committee asked me to come up with these options so that you could look at it is good to look at them so you know you've got article two here you've got article two with a cola that ranges from 2 to 6% you've got article two with just the salary requests and then you've got article two with the salary and cola correct so this so if anybody needs me to review any of that please let me know because I'm happy to which one are we looking at here that one honestly that's just the plain old right okay there's no Callas enhs of honestly in the warrant right now that's literally just a placeholder because I can't put anything in there for real that's fine that's fine y just for the purposes but that is just the straight article two with nothing else all right and straight article two with nothing else is a good is a fine looking article too may I ask you for one more thing I'm so sorry can we see the can we have on the next meeting a chart shown the prior years Cola back back backdating five years I can tell you four right now last year was two the one before was three the one before was five because it was 2 and A2 and 2 and a/2 the one before was zero and I think the one before was two I think that's I think that's right yeah Mr taking your Ginko PS I mean the historical view is a good view to look at also and then the national Cola race of course we can't security for what it's worth I never uh seen the cola be more than 3% here in Conway right and that's that's pretty much that's pretty much right and you know and the the like for this whole budget process up until three or four weeks ago um this was a really terrifying to to me it looked like it looked like we were going to be lucky to escape a double digit like straight Article 2 increase and uh and then you know when when the Tex School come in came in with a reduction when when uh uh you know Smith Smith voke didn't when no kids were going to Smith all of a sudden things just late broke our way and um when you know I I I would have approached this whole process in a Kinder gentler way um had had this current Outlook been apparent earlier well there's no way to know obviously but I will say this that Health um costs for employees are going up to 8% so and I think the fact that we've been three or less all these years is part of the reason why our town salaries are keep dropping in relation to other towns for what it's worth have we been nonaligned with other towns have other towns has been giving higher it depends on the town it's really or is there a quicker turnover because obviously you have turnover salaries change right I I know with respect to the other towns in Frontier because we talk about our budgets all the time and um they do much greater swings than we do they're much reader to do a zero and they're also reader to do a four or a five but um that that's so that's a different like we've always tried to do at least a two even in the worst of years and we've I I don't know in in six years in the select Bo we've never gone above a three even in the best of years and so there's something to be said for both but zeros are tough on people they really are um and and we haven't done and the one year when we had to do that we came back the next year and um did a we made up for it we made up for it but um but that's I i' I've always I've always felt it was unfair to balance your budget on employees but you know it's the flip side of that is that when we had all those years where inflation was at zero um you know we had like three or four years in a row where inflation was at zero we were still doing two and two and you know two and a half three each year now inflation is not zero um but the but it's it's the math that the town works on is just different than the inflation the national inflation rate it's you know it's based on what our new growth is and what the growth in Municipal revenue is and those are GM numbers um so just to show you this is tab that has everything the salary requests and the cola and the highest it would go this is right here this column is at a 6% Cola so the highest the general fund goes is still under 4% and the total is still under well under three so the total we're talking about for the total dollar amount increases see this is really not that high when you look at it that way at 6% $29,000 for the entire yeah Town that's the cola part but that's not the uh that's not the new salary Sal that's but that would be based on existing current salary L but that's in here that's the salary requests are included in here okay gotcha all right yeah so sorry they're included in this line right here so that's what I'm saying it's a pretty Rosy picture yeah and this is not taking into account any new growth we have 100,000 we can do as a baseline for correct right so you have the recap in front of you that shows y that so the right of those of those four squares the right one is six then the one that you're on right now is 5432 yeah let me see if I can do this a little better for you by can I just format the wait a minute conditional window freeze P where is it window freeze P I know I just can't I thought that was like a dance that you're I do time and I can't find it right now fre spr go to that's right the song is my head exactly let me show you something do you mind no you can drive sorry I'm going to go here and then show more commands we're going to add it oh it's up there somewhere it's just being by The Zo it's not there yeah it is look it's not here it would show here if it was it's a Google thing I do it all the time oh you do do it all I do it all the time that's what I'm saying I know it's in there somewhere probably under view same band under view yeah it's under look under view there it is thank you okay so there you go prob get paid the big bucks right John that's right two committees window yeah all right stop that wrong way whatever that that's clear clear enough okay so in line 76 which is the salary line the general fund line that includes all the all the salaries requested salaries requested salaries or you've applied you've applied the cola to anybody that is not requested an increase in salary correct correct yes if they've got a if if you get a salary increase you don't get the coal on top of it right right um I'm just trying to find one of the lines here so that I can show oh you know what you know what I'm sorry I take this back I'm going to have to redo this one because I had to do a lot of fussing with this and I haven't been able to with the plain one but that I I know it's not going to change much more than than that it's just to give you an idea of how yeah and and I can tell you if I go back to this one that uh this portion of it uh Phil what's the uh what's the call of that the school district is giving um this is the third year of the contract and there it's uh 2.0 yeah two with the 3% step how much 2.0 with a c plus a 3% and a 3% step not for everybody that's the average though um and skewed towards the 15 to 20 year veterans but um and there's longevity and yeah um just so you know this line right here that's yellow I said this number will change because this is the additional for um employee benefits but I didn't I didn't want to make Jan do all four of those spreadsheets until we had a cola percentage that I could work with sure so and and these were all based just so you know on a on a um four anyway what it's worth I think two would be rather stingy um and I if it was me I I would uh you know I I'd like to see a 3 and a qu 3 and 1 12% and I'll tell you why because even though this we're looking backwards we're looking in the rearview mirror uh if I mean they you know folks are faced with cost of things now and in the coming year so I mean it it seems like uh you know we're we're we're not looking at 0% anymore uh we're not that much over 2 and a half as much as they're making a big deal about the the numbers today but um I I think it's Pennywise and pound foolish to to be you know to to not showing employees that U you know we're we're we're not looking out for them as best we can that's just my opinion yeah I actually agree with Roy on the 3 and a half% I was thinking about that myself actually me too 2.35 is a Col for Social Security yeah it was like 8% last year yeah 8% last year yeah but you know of course last year we didn't give that much so if you're trying to my my feeling on this I I feel strongly about 4% I fig figure there's not that much difference between three and a half and 4% if you're looking at the raw dollars here you're really splitting hairs I mean you're talking about $1,000 for the entire budget based on based on these figures yeah yeah that's why that's why I wanted see the when verik was saying she wants to run those figures again and that's I think that just seems like I thought there'd be a greater dollar spread between those but um but um I could be wrong I'm wrong a lot lately but so should I come back with um a a single sheet that shows 4% uh yeah we have already helpful if you do that look at the numbers because something uh intuitively something doesn't seem to look at the numbers what about in situations like with the the recommendations from the um Personnel committee for the highway department um employees right those are recommendations to the select board for the select board to take into consideration when you and we did finalize the report I don't know if they was shared with you took it out a draft on Monday night I haven't done thate to we made the revisions to it well that's why I'm I'm wondering like we're looking at you know the change at all we just change we cleaned up the language in it right yeah so cuz cuz right now the the the CDL driver commercial drivers are um that was included in Ron's salary request okay that's what that's what this is this is the department head salary request okay no no no the so the the San annual salary requests let me go back to [Music] um okay oops all right all right so oh I know I had to take it out of here I'm sorry and it was in his original Quest so that's when I had to right but then we asked you to take it out so we can look at home yeah so it it is in the in the one with the sell get working with this so much you know I get confused all right so you can see this is the jump right here and this is the highway request which includes the 21 and the 27 and his right so that was in his original ask that was what was in there so I took it out of the oh okay you just cut basically cut it out one okay I cut it out from the major tabs in the in the Omnibus yeah and then just added it in on this spreadsheet so just to kind of keep it clean so so that number is actually higher than what personel has recommended so far because we haven't made a recommendation on the superintendent yet correct yeah correct okay so I'll come back what was the reason for the Board of Health big increase again the wages on Board of Health that they're up 48% oh because what happened last year was we had accidentally put in for Lor's time in two different budgets and so it got taken out of the Board of Health but now it's back in the Board of Health so basically if you can see it's pretty much what it was the prior year right those to 22 and then 23 so it's it looks like a huge jump but it's really so so we we'll get a cleaner yeah warrant uh Article 2 yes or or at least on the bus that makes it really clear about let's make sure the calculations are all yeah so you want to see let me know what you want to see do you want to see a I want to article two with 4% Cola only no or article two with the salary increases see this is where it gets a little tricky well is okay so I guess my first question is is the board going to go with the the recommendations of the Personnel committee for the those two Highway Department line items uh I you know I within we haven't personally my own personal feelings is that this is with with the numbers that we are at I was okay with the department heads recommendations MH um and as a place to start and um I think the Personnel committee's numbers were pretty in line with that yeah and that you know we can you know and but but that when we do rather than do like PE I wanted like some parts of the Personnel committee work product like the the U uh job descriptions to do you know as they come off the press let's bring them into the fold right but the the Sal the salary stuff would make sense to just deal with it all at once rather than um whatever so that when that you know year salary review is going to take some time for all the Departments and that maybe next year might be the time to really bring that into the process but for now what we're dealing with the recommendations of the department heads which I think um are in line with what the committee was thinking about to a great extent anyway um and I'm just trying to make it easy for barque to get us what we need we want if we're saying yes do the numbers with the with the highway department yeah hourly rates that we propose yeah that makes it easier for you so then you can just assume that that that's done right well no because then I have to back out the request for run well but that hasn't been discussed I know but it was in there because that was the request so that means I'll have to do a third third iteration yeah when do we need to have a final we have to get this budget Article 2 especially voted on by when uh the 22 is supposed to be the vote out ail 22nd Warr we gave ourselves an extra just in case we but the 22nd would really be good if we can hit that Target okay all right and by then you'll have deliberated on supered position salary uh and U trying to think of all the other things that could affect Article 2 um well it's basically the request so we have uh the town might request the police department request the highway request and my request for the transfer station those are the four that need to be all right discussed and the outside of that the other other hourly wage positions then we're looking at the cola of you know 4% 5% 3% whatever yeah so is that helpful for you in terms of giving you parameters clear as much I'll come back next week with the with the 4% Cola Erica and Chris are you available within the next week to do an executive session um I yeah any any dates in particular um no I think I'm generally free [Music] evenings next week I'm good next week next Monday is Patriots Day I have a meeting Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday we don't need you there excuse me okay we do um so we're looking at the 16 well the 16th is the select board that's already that's already our meeting so we have to look we we would have to wait again with the select board the 17th Wednesday well the 17th is the Personnel committee meeting at 5:30 M all right um actually we're already out of this week it has to be next week it's Wednesday evening we couldn't do this we couldn't do Friday um it would be Saturday or next week we can eat the Saturday I'm talking about the 17th I know you are but the the idea the the the Hope was that we could have the 16th be a more Pro productive thing if we had all of the numbers finalized before then but we're not going to no because he is just joking just joking I could do it if if you guys are available on um Thursday the 18th I do have another meeting but I can just not go that one I'm available on the 18th Erica the 18th yeah the 18th works there's a school committee that night oh dear there is 16 oh no was that just scheduled in the past day because April is our joint meeting I mean they have to reschedule it because we didn't have a quorum just Conway the other three towns no this was one that was says last Touch by me so this is what I pulled off probably two months ago to put on our calendar just to for yeah um there's no regularly scheduled school committee meeting so you want to do in April in April besides the 6th which was the yesterday um or the night whatever yesterday night uh but now that you said that I'm all nervous so I don't know well I I wouldn't have made it up I know you would have made it up if you if you would have made it up it would have been funnier or more interesting I must have put it there for a reason I know um so tentatively the 18th is there another day that we could pick just in case it is a school committee well Monday's the holiday Tuesday is your regular meeting Wednesday is the Personnel committee yeah Thursday Thursday sustainability but that one I could is it Friday just in case we got to do it I could do Friday Friday's okay for me I can do it I can do the Thursday if we can Friday if we can't all right what time Friday yeah Friday is nobody's choice but um but it's got to be done before that Monday I thought that was executive session ex s yeah these are executive sessions to finalize the last two contracts so we're on so we're on track to meet again with the finance committee on the 22nd of April is that our next meeting is the 16th for the finance committee with the finance committee we we haven't discussed the the warrant yeah do you want to go through the warrant or you I mean the warrant is always let's go through all the article three and Beyond let's yeah let's let's finish look at the money look at the money articles but just so you know the next two meetings with Finance the joint with select board and finance are April 6 Tuesday April 16th and Monday April 22nd and the 22nd we're expected to vote on these we're hoping to vote if push comes to shove we 29th yes yeah yeah y all right um that's at 6:30 on the 16th yes thank you so article three is boilet point this is our lawyer's favorite article y um article four is the school phone system five is the video school video surveillance system and six is the Mini Splits for the school which is um their money or the money that our money which is their money which is our money again so I have a question regarding the uh Capital Improvement the uh phone system was there any further no I still have to do that oh okay yeah I have a lot to do and just so you know this is reflecting what you had recommended which I like that it be cleaner that we do each of these three coming straight from cap um school and then I just added them up and we're transferring 53,000 from Shuffle yeah did the shuffle and that's the that's the purpose of that Capital the the grammar school stabilization count and that's yeah so these three all go together yeah actually the four four five six four yeah and then seven is to re re up the the fund y okay fire truck is straightforward um I would just add some language it says per expected purchase in 2028 as opposed to just 2028 okay sure just clarify for people remember people sure we're not the only ones reading this so article 9 10 and 11 I still need to get actual like closer numbers to actual cost that's on me also so I have four articles ending my review so you can you can uh change it to the maximum of whatever these numbers are you up to well we have to no we have to vote a solid number we can't say well we can vote it to be up to a maximum of 100,000 no no we're transferring from free cash we need we need a solid number to transfer well yeah that yeah right yeah we can we can vot it so that you can work it around that I think let me look into that whether you can do the not to exceed I don't see why you four couldn't yeah I think we say not to exceed instead of up two but check with the legal council to see what the proper same artical 10 yeah so what are we taking out of the general stabilization fund out of General stabilization nothing but we're putting 50,000 in yeah I wanted to put more in because if you see that little side note says Target is 5% of the budget which it would be $3 47,3 adding in 50 we're only getting it up to 200 so that's what m Mika has advocated for that it's one of the DLS best practices yeah absolutely that's educate me on what is the general stabilization versus you know the capital stabilization honestly we haven't used General stabilization since I've been here I guess I might call it kind of more not a rainy day fund but it's kind of like our that's exactly what it is yeah I mean you have to have town meeting two3 vote to take money out of it but it's nice to have your little bank account that you know that's just for the DS recommends it you low less than 3% and more than 5% appropriate por of yeah um okay so that goes article 12 13 15 14 you've done 15 is just the last year of paying our Paving note for shelburn Falls Road yeah 16 is the study um the sustainability through it in a speedy way go you go was that a do it or don't do it no Do It Go Go goow you down waiting for all right all right you're right we're modeling good behavior for me okay so that article 16 was put forth by the sustainability committee um hopefully it will be then this is their recommendation to the select board so hopefully the select board will yeah you can probably take out well vetted yeah that's a good idea okay I think it just raises more questions yeah exactly yeah thank you okay darn it I wanted a poorly V in one okay great um and so and the idea behind that is just to get a a a serious survey and inventory of everything we've got in town and start giving us some ideas of what savings we could get if we got rid of certain street lights so actually that language might be fine tuned even more that's not a that's fine with yeah whatever that language doesn't scream out please support me cost optimized solution yes yes let's do some more J um so and and Town Council does have this in our hands too okay um article 17 is just our annual one and actually part of the uh municipal uh empowerment act that they're talking about is to um not have to do this every year unless the limit changes but right now we have to confirm the Limit Oh and that's all we're doing is just confirming the limits yeah and you know what I may have to add one in here I think I need to add in transfer station I got to ask him about that again okay we've already I mean the finance committee has already been discussed yeah it's great medic involving fund all Li um article 18 the opioid one this is we did vote as a town to put it into a stabilization fund because that's how it was recommended to us originally now they've changed their mind instead it should said it should go into a special Revenue fund because then it's easier for us to much better yeah makes a lot of sense yep so um then there's the transferring of $20,000 to OPB we've been doing this every year yeah I don't know if anybody wants to discuss at some point the amounts and I I have that on the list here so right now we have just shy of 130,000 it would be just shy of 150,000 after town meeting you want to recommend what's our auditor recommend I you know what with that one I mean it's like a million dollars or something no no that's that's a total liability that's you mean how much we have what's the auditor recommend our balance that's something in the annual audit that 20 grand a year they they the last time there was empty discussion 20,000 a year was adequate you we should review that we'll never we'll never have an auditor say it's good because you know theoretically the actuar liability is multitude higher yeah okay then we've got the partial debt for the highway garage facility straight forward um I don't I think we have to do this every year it's supposed to be I think every threee article 21 but we just do it every year because we don't want to forget that it's the third year we have to do it it's also Town counil y um the reval article 22 went from 5,000 to 6,000 this year they save every year because on the reval year then they have a big pot of money so they just put aside a certain amount every year field library that goes up a minuscule amount every year it's kind of like the minimum that they need to is the absolute abute minimum to the penny yeah article 24 I put in there it's not something we have to do right right now but I didn't want to forget um which is because at special town meeting U the town voted to borrow yeah and at some point it doesn't have to be now but at some point we have to we may want well we're going to want to vote to resend that or borrow or borrow but so that's up to you know you all I just wanted to not forget about that well what what is there a sunset on the uh approval from the state got to be a termination point a sunset on the approval the disaster relief what is money money use it or lose it is there a deadline no got to be on the disaster relief no they just they gave us that and said use it for this purpose we'll discuss it next year at this time the check cleared already okay it's in the bank 25 I have to see if we actually still need to have that in there that I'm hoping was just a oneoff I thought we voted on no that was a Town Council thing too if she wants that in there all right yeah I just didn't know if it was every year or she okay so 26 and 27 are articles submitted by Town Council relative to the north Poland Bridge yeah we have not gotten anything from the community preservation committee yet however they got to come up they have approved the pickle ball courts and amounts 150,000 so I put that in there and then there is a Citizens petition that was submitted and validated M um I love it so and that's actually that's that it's not actually that very famously um buckin did that a few years ago gave 16y olds the right to vote during this meeting there was like all these 16-year-olds that came and said we want to vote a town meeting and how many actually showed up never never a single oneic I was talking to you about this like a couple months ago so I'm so glad someone did this because that was something that I was it's really cool yeah you mentioned it in one of the select word meetings and then all of a sudden Lor gave me I was like schools improveed their civic programs and really if all the towns the five to I don't think 18yar olds are smart enough to vote no they are they are there's a lot of interesting you know there's a lot of interesting rationale for for doing it you know I was following I read this today I was like oh that's kind of interesting and I need your reaction like wait are you really want 16y olds voting and then it's like it's all Municipal and you know what you need you need engagement and it gives a good excuse for the schools to develop their Civics programs I was thinking and you know go to me it's like a no-brainer get them involved early well one of the things I've had and it's it's a lowrisk maneuver well there's student council and my thought is you get to vote in town election you vote in student council Kristen Gordon and I have talked about about the idea of having a mock town meeting at the grammar school run by the kids and maybe getting our moderator and they'd come up with their own articles and just kind of because that is an awesome idea Our Town business takes place in their you know what if we I keep thinking if I were 16 and I went to town meeting I'd never go to another one except that we gave out cookies and you know two years ago it's always about well we used to have a bake sale I don't know we should mandate the PTO have a b sale all right so I this looks fine to me I mean as is some some tweaking it be tweak by town and then we'll see we'll see about the P the hills inclusion whether that so we are okay that's something we're dealing and I are dealing with in the next okay um and immediate future what is since that's coming under the umbrella of the town again if possible if possible we're trying to get over the legal there's there's a final bump in the road thank you do thank you Department of Revenue um and we're seeing what how we can navigate that all right is it possible for the to move the the meeting on the 22nd to uh the 23rd I might have a problem making that meeting I I have to be there it's mother day that week or do it have to do the 22nd 22 Yeah April 22nd April April 22nd yeah it's the Monday so Tuesday I don't know what does the calendar look like on it's just conservation on the 23rd so they can meet over there okay Erica are you free on the 23rd instead um I believe so let me yes I'm available Roy can you be available on the 23rd uh what what uh I've lost my video here but we're talking April 23rd Tuesday right yeah just just give me a minute here I'll tell you that would be the final approval of it thank you thanks thank you very much andr Phil thank you all great well that was the easiest switching that would be the final that would be the day of final approval of all things town meeting B yes um so that um all right so 6:30 for you guys thank you thank you very much well actually that's up to you if you want to make it just because that's the final if you want to start at six and just go through all the and because you're going to be voting on all the articles I mean that's up to you when you want to start that we should still do it that an hour guy you never know what's going to come up between now and then it always seems to be something and that's true on that note while I I do appreciate that we allow a lot of time for public input um there's others here who are waiting excessively for their meeting to start and I think tighter adherence to the time frame would be most appreciated yeah Roger that um yeah this was a big deal though but yeah I know I I understand I understand but you know at some point you know it's like town meeting the moderators got to say okay we've had enough commentary here let's let's move this forward on that note I make a motion to rejourn the finance committee second all in favor I I thank you thanks Roy okay take care every thanks thank you very much all right for the select board do we have anything not anticipated where no the Town Administrator update we've all read um it's a fine update it is a fine update don't need to give a short shrift um but uh onto the select board member comments concerned do you anything you want to add to that go come it was a good update okay I'll go through that we'll go through the highlights real quick okay that's okay don't had an mvv planning committee meeting um the the bar fa Bridge thing the Council of Aging picked up the owl the liad the 25 iPads for the for the uh um for the lottery the sustainabil ability committee submitted their warrant article and uh met met about the memorial bench um and Go's weekly meeting Miss Sean Cronin from do um discussion of the municipal empowerment act and you went to Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro in Irving where you could ask questions about procurement there see you rolled on that one I did did um uh mail we have a letter from Keith Morris the environmentalist uh the environmental um uh about the rail the railroad spraying pesticide along the railroad as BL railroad division for the birkar and Eastern railroad um and seeing as it was sent to us and there's one railroad going through town we kind of know where that is that's in the Bartles fa fery General vicinity and then across right along the river spread that stuff right on the river and they they listed the name brand of the ptici herbicides aquanot open sight Polaris AC and MSO xra and it will be applied by a track mounted rail truck and uh yeah to control nuisance vegetation in the ballast portion of the railroad right away and around switches and signals so really that's actually probably not that bad of an idea um uh um announcements we our next meeting is April 16 which is here which would be next Tuesday Tuesday happy Patriots Day to everybody yes Monday is a Pat is the Massachusetts own holiday because we need our own holiday and uh with that motion to adjourn second um all in favor Erica I I it's unanimous thank you everybody