all right welcome everybody to the Tuesday April 16th meeting of the Conway select board at 6:30 it will become the joint meeting of the select board and finance committee meeting is being recorded live on epcat and on zoom and for the town website it's good for any reason the zoom and the FCAT broadcast fail the meeting will still proceed live and in person so I call the meeting to order first item vote to approve the minutes of April those look good to me move to approve the minutes second all in favor I there are no warrants tonight meetings attended by select board members zero none since Wednesday when we l um I had very interesting couple of meetings with br and representatives from the Department of Revenue and division of local Services regarding the structure of how to bring in uh the the Festival of the hills within town government and um the long and the short of that is that there is a way and so that was you know you saw you I think I think we all saw last week the cor I don't know if you did or not um the correspondence from our town accountant Mike to the do uh representative our our representative and correspondent back saying you can't do it the way the way that the statute that we were that had been identified for us back in 2018 said to do it um which was to create a revolving fund have them deposit monies into the revolving fund and um and have that the committee be the scholarship fund pursu to that statute um basically uh you know Mike asked the right question and you know and basically that that statute will and the the revolving fund cannot be used for that statue and the purposes of the revolving funds are statutorily limited and and that is not one of the things you can use it for um and so what what we did is um called call and you know there was a couple of different ways Ronique had some good ideas about um different ways to proceed and we kept on getting Nos and then I sort of like okay let me take a couple steps back this is what we're trying to do and laid it all out um I mean the main point is that if they're a town committee then they don't have to purchase separate insurance they don't have to pay the police department to show up right they can just operate under all of the towns right the problem is the scholarship fund scholarship is setting up the financial mechanism both to run the festival and also to deal with the scholarship fund so it's a little so and and and it was tricky enough that the the gentleman that we were speaking with um was like I have my whole team here I got to hang up from you and we're going to we're going to brainstorm this and he's like I'm really in favor of what you're trying to do we're going to find out we're going to figure out a waywe and um and then we called back and we continue discussion for a while longer um where basically he's like okay this is a really clunky shortterm solution but you can do it and so um we're going to be finalizing that tomorrow in a meeting uh with the Town Council Etc so but that's a shortterm solution because the statutes are not really designed for what we're intending to do and so like a new statute so no what he's you know he's like what other towns have done and what you need to do for a long term solution is get a special Act of the legislation and that's that's that's Massachusetts you get a special Act of the legislation when you have something funky that's different and he's like that shouldn't be a problem but it we love our legislators we know we and we know from experience that that is a sixth month to minimum more like 9 month that's a year or year or year out um Natalie just sent us a new letter that said please plan these at least a year out yeah so um but that's the long-term solution so that we can do a revolving so we can simplify the whole thing Etc but the short-term solution is considerably clunkier but it is but it's going to work it's going to work it definitely should so that was you know and I think everybody did what they were supposed to do but I think like the the lesson as like the chief Executives of the town is to like when you're not getting the solution that you want to like keep pushing and keep asking it wasn't really pushing but we were we hadn't everybody asked the right questions but it turned out that the best thing to do wasn't really ask a question it was to State your problem and be um and like allow them to formulate the solution and to talk to the right person that had the authority to do that so um I don't know I like the way that the process works so um and what else was there there was there was another meeting as well yeah there were several yeah um I don't I don't know but um any public comments no unfinished business new business so um yeah we we have time I'm going to skip down to mail and uh the first is from our attorney and I will read this out loud um right anybody you have any problem that's okay to read this out as you know I've been practicing Municipal law in Franklin County for over 40 years I thoroughly enjoy my practice I believe that I provide excellent personal service to my clients the cost of my running my business and delivering the services that I provide have risen considerably therefore I want to inform you that commencing on July 1st 20124 I will be raising my fees which I note are currently $150 per hour I will be raising my fees to $190 per hour for all matters thank you great pleasure that so yeah um so that's the budget item we'd have to tweak right and um it's a little bit you know most of the towns almost all of the towns that she represents have already had their town meeting or are or have like long since closed warrants um so um what's our budget last year for is 11,000 um I think it hang on it's right in here legal um no last year was 10 23 we made it 11 because we thought we might need more so last sorry sorry last year was 11 this year was 10 we only have 10 in for next year so that definitely to be bumped up so I mean um on a personal L level she's delightful um and an iconic figure um but uh you know when when we were deciding who what Municipal Council to obtain after the untimely de eyes of our previous Municipal Council um the there were multiple options and um you know she came highly recommended by several other towns and she was also the least expensive and I don't know that we could say that anymore no we have to check around and that's you know it's a 20 something per increase so we need up the budget that much so what we SP on that's almost a 30% increase yeah what have we spent onal Council this year do we know well recently we've had more bills come in because um of the north time of the year well no North Poland bridge is this whole special separate project that has been and that's been yeah so the last couple of bills I've gotten have been up there we haven't gone over yet and it's close to the end of the fiscal year but and and we're going to be spending money on her tomorrow because she needs to draft the language to create a special Act of legislation plus reviewing the warrant and the Motions yeah and coming to town meeting and coming to town Mee so at what point do we need to decide whether we're going to well I mean we're kind of forc as a position because we like we didn't have councel we don't have a contract with her we have a month so it's a month-to-month agreement and she raises them on J 1st so um but there still are budget implications yeah I would say we put the money in the budget and then after town meeting you know when it's a little calmer yeah and I think just that act of like I mean we were in the position where we kind had to scramble the legal council like if we decide that we want new legal council I feel like that should be a very deliberate process of you know evaluating our current Council looking at other options and determin you know what's the price point and what level of service because I know I can call Donna anytime that she picks up the phone you know so um I don't but I I I never dealt with our previous SLE counil but yeah be one thing to manage a 10 to 15% increase cuz we could manage decreasing the amount of time for counil but 30% is you can't always though that's the problem things come up and you you never know what's going to happen so you don't know if this right is just right middle of the pack or whether well no we have a pretty good idea um I mean it's getting into the range of let's just say the other larger firms that have more Specialists with them and I understand a small firm I used to be a small business person overhead kills you you know um so so I totally understand and that there are several large firms that have the great majority of all towns that between the two of them have the great majority of all towns in the state and um and with specialists in every area Municipal everything so that's that's always been the competition mhm so what do you think should I put in 14,000 just to be safe for cover us that's going to be enough yeah yeah no more that I would think you know what's that going to do to the I mean not that much see let me see something real quick well no there's been some good the that again we're we're on a roll with late breaking budget news all in all in our favor um and there's recent budget news in that regard where the amount of uh free cash has is larger by by a considerable amount than what we thought 14 14 yeah that's the that's a 30% increase I think that sounds reason based on 11 you said 11 right 11 no I said 10 so we should make it 15 we we did it 11 last year because of all the 69 Main Street stuff that was going on 13 exactly for 30% obviously 13 I think 15 is a good good number given all the things that you guys said going on yeah I mean if we don't use it we don't if we don't use it it's just stay for job okay increase legal to 15 G you get a box of chocolate so um so there was and there was another item on mail which is a mystery to me I hope it's a nice surprise rather than unpleasant surprises yeah I'm confused by this one but yeah uh cute oh that's awesome honorary mascot of Conway no oh oh thank you is so cool so Co no past that's really cool I was hoping you'd all be a little more nervous for the end of the was that's awesome bless you than oh you yeah no and um yeah cool so I can I can review some of the um warrant changes that are not related to yeah let's do that well if it's a I don't know should we since it's a joint meeting we can't start Noti for 6:30 we can't start early okay great um yeah so let's see well actually this one might end up being by the finance committee the placeholder for festival the hills so it's a transfer station Revenue so really I guess it would only be that the community preservation committee sent me their um their article I haven't gotten the information updated from Lee yet but she'll send that to me um and then we have the citizens petition but I you know the actually I may have to change where the Festival of the hills is cuz that's going to have to be I know that won't have to be a bylaw change no but there will be a bylaw change with the revolving fund for the transfer station I'm babbling sorry yeah no the pl the bestes with the hills is not a by change it is a it is a vote to instruct your state representative to right but that would probably be acted the special special legislature which would be down by the citizens petition so that'll be that'll get moved to the end but I mean according to our conversation with the do there's no town there will be no need for a town moving vote that's what he said for for the for the clunky correct for the clunky in immediate P correct yeah y um so as always don't paying attention to the man behind the curtain um the article two that's just a placeholder um yeah gosh you know most of these in here are actually Financial at they really are uh one thing to let you know I had in here from last year and I can repeat this for other finance committee folks that they show up but um The shelburn Falls Paving note was well over 60,000 65 yeah and last year we paid it um out of free cash so I just this year threw it in as a free cash but it's not she Jan put it into her budget oh oh so we just gained we gain $65,000 yeah so if you look at the um one of the big Ledges that I gave you on the back side of this one that has the free cash balance cool you'll see that our ending balance is now 10 16835 low our taxes so that was some good news and the other thing I could discuss real quick um because this will have to come to us very soon I'm assuming we'll get it to it quickly but the board of assessors has voted to hire rrg and I forget what that stands for Consulting big consulting company right I just forget what the rrg stands for but as they're they're going to be getting a certain number of hours assessing instead of hiring the administrative assessor okay they're going to go with the firm and they're going to get a certain amount of time in the office and then the rest of it will be done behind the scenes they actually come out here or they going to do it all like by drawing no they're going to they're going to be in the office for certain hours but not all that many as far as I know and then um so they're covered for the end of this fiscal year but they're going to need to come back to you all by next week um to they she told me that they needed 40,000 and not the 39 that they had in there and of course it would change from a salary to a contracted services or whatever Mike deems it should be um so that will be a an uptick and a change so you save on benefits I'm sorry you save on benefits you do save on benefits speaking of which um is is that about the contract is it an annual contract or is it I believe it's going to have to be signed by the select board because it's a three-year of course they're always subject to appropriation but that's good to know always concern with these companies they give you a nice rate the first year sub years can clog over the head so what kind of presence will we have here in this building for for residents to I think it's a couple days a week and a few hours each day it's one of their staff that's going to come down yes correct okay be they will actually be beond premises so there will be there will be fixed fixed hours that's what that's my understanding okay so we have to get review The Proposal okay yeah yes and when I was going through the warrant I the my one question about article two is about the frontier the way that the frontier not old um because good Stu I I had thought that there was that this was the last year of Frontier Debt Service for the track and I didn't know where that was they they they moved that that was that that whole move was for with um Deerfield was to take it out of the capital assessment yeah um so but I I just I and I um before we finalize this could yeah to run this by shell and just make sure well she's the one who sent it to me I know I can this say this is what we're going with just make sure that it's okay yeah I think I already did that I can do okay if you already did that then forget it but that's what the wonder what they were going to pay it off entir came in and wanted them to maintain the Deb exclusion on it yeah yes exactly and so I thought it got put back um but it's it was that's okay yeah double check it yeah exactly exactly yeah because Council you have counsel school right yeah I had a question about article three because this was on the warrant last year is this something that we just have to do every year according to Donna it's one of those boiler plates that needs there so we just have to do it every year basically because you're setting the salaries every single year so we have to be given AU by to okay while we're waiting for 6:30 could encourage anybody watching residents to go on to the Conway website and fill out the residential groundwater survey so we can obtain data on those that are being affected or have been affected by the numerous floods and while you're filling out that survey your first instinct might be wow there's only a handful of questions what good information can they get but then you'll see there's a per there's a box a big long box where you can write as much as you want about your conditions and your circumstances and please go into detail there that's what they really value the the the information that they get this is for Cog is assembling all this information it was I thought it was UMass UMass it's it's been I mean I keep saying news articles about like that's an issue Statewide oh yeah I guess than having a drought but property neither is fine okay so if you can see that on the screen um not very well see if I can bigger from Shell okay this is from Shelly and um oh you don't you don't have I just want to let you see so this is for f FRS and that's exactly what I have in I hope it better be the total well it got the total right anyway yeah oh because the debt is put into the general okay so if you add the general fund plus the debt that's the 1654 697 Transportation 32 Capital 0 and the total is 1 168 7474 I can send this to you if you want you here okay so I was right there was a de but you just the way you did it was fold it into well I never yeah I never break it out but yeah I mean we can if you want to do that no I'm okay okay this is simple enough however you want to doesn't make any dude the budget's fine and it is coaster to do that that way right it's like totally okay I don't know why it would money is funable um and so the other thing has to be the the other thing just to let you know real quick is that um Jan had given me an update on the employee benefits line which is 970 I believe sorry 900 employee cost so that number is not reflected in the sheets you have but it's actually instead of the 787 228 it's 806 752 where you at oh uh all right 900 if you look at line 900 um so yeah there you go you're flipping it over properly no the warrant on your right hand you're yeah so look down for line 900 that says employee cost which is basically the health the benefits um the 787 228 is going up now to 80675 is that because of anticipating like a couple more employees going on health insurance too no this is the increase that we got for 8% MH yeah yeah and that that came in later afterward so so that I'll have that updated for the next one but yeah it's responsible for a significant part of our school increase too um and so too since um I can just explain at least the sheets that are in front of you what I did before we get into the so with the three Ledger sizes that you have in front of you one of them is the just the 4% Cola the other one is just the salary request increases and then the third one is is the recap which on the back has the free cash so hopefully that will be helpful tonight your decisions because the main I can't really get you absolute numbers until there are some decisions made because everything kind of shifts around depending 30 more seconds I got just pipped over to 6:30 now it's 6:30 I make a motion to call the finance committee order just call second all right all in favor um and then you want to approve the minutes for the I make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from finance committee April 10th second all in favor I April 10th minut yeah yeah thank you all three three are two exensions okay Roy said he's going to attend the meeting online hear Barking Dog yet he's waiting for his Lean Cuisine get the hear a Chim convient so which would you um prefer to start with the warrant or the budget budget I think the budget budget okay it's actually more on the budget than okay so last week you'd asked me to put together what it looked like for a 4% Cola which was midway between the two and six range that we had done before um range 3 four 5 and 6% [Music] so if you have them both in front of you actually if you've got the salary request and the 4% yeah I want to draw your attention to the line um right under 900 where it says total and on the cola sheet the 4% Cola it says um 1.38% and then on the salary request it says 3.12 just to the left of that those two numbers on the cola the 39661 and the 89797 so the reason I can't give you anything putting them together is difficult is because if someone one it's been the practice here that if somebody gets a salary increase that's larger than the cola they don't get cola on top of that right right so until I know what the finance committee and the select board has decided about the salary increases I can't give you a real good accounting of the cola do you see what I mean because yeah okay all right um in other words tonight you need to vote I'm sorry right well I'm I'm yeah in order for me to give you accurate information there's going to have to be a vote on the salary requests and the um and the cola and I the salaries won't be done until the end of this week right corre so at least if if everybody agreed on the cola that would be huge to know you know where where we're heading so that when we get the salary information I can actually give you accurate numbers anybody have any thoughts about the cola well I mean you know I there last last week there was some that advocated for 3 and 12% and some that advocated for 4% I would still I would just like to narrow the choices down to those two and how how about how about three and 3/4 well Alan Allan and I had spoken after the meeting and Alan was advocating 5% yeah 5% might work given where we are just that we didn't give an increase the year the year before and it was 8% for inflation so I we still have problems filling position to retain employees so we're definitely still behind the in terms of keeping up with the salaries in the region and we're talking about 5% there an increase of of what $1,500 $1,600 approximately um no more than that well 4% is article two with the cola 39,000 39 I thought we we talked about a 3% total is increased 30,000 bucks and then that's 3% so probably 10 G right hang on I've got it right here I just have to center it so you can actually see it thank you so this was the cola why that's um oops oh this is where we were the last time sorry but I didn't freeze the top pain that's right you have to go to view remember that window free Spin that's it window window please hang on a second okay freeze top row all right there we go why are you not going way too far down okay here we go um see that right okay so so this is the one I put in there you can see on the sheet it's the 35 um so 5% would be here that's what you'd be looking at yeah but those now we know that those numbers aren't we know that there's more we know that there's the employee benefit number numbering up and legal is going up correct yeah and that there's other salary numbers to plug in correct contractual salary numbers which will actually bring the cola number down yeah because that includ salaries that we're talking about increasing right above Cola so Cola will come down salaries will go up but the total percentage will go up you mean the red the bottom line there bottom line the yeah well hang on a second I tried to do this here let me oh let me freeze pain all right um oh no it's this one sorry oh gosh all right so this is where I tried to do that for you all was the last time to me the the in one more week we're going to have all the other number all the other pieces to the puzzle yeah we have the salary yeah we're going to have all the salary numbers and and and all the other with the salary this that's why I this this is what you all had requested before to put this is the best% with the salary correct 2.9 correct so you see the general fund goes up quite a bit but the still the overall percentage of the budget last year was 3.4 yeah and this is still 2.3 this does not include the contractual salaries though yes it does it does because itjust yeah I put them in so that you could have a I put in all the requests not to mention you recaptured $65,000 no we have more yeah but that doesn't affect yeah that's free cash that's that's just so you said it was 3.4 last year yeah correct what was the cola last year 3.39 sorry last year was 3% last year right right what was the cola last year two oh two no two and a half wasn't it or two it's just a two 2% I'm loening I'm thinking I'm not sure when we when did the town ever do more than a 3% Cola I'm not sure they have I I remember doing three and A2 really must have been once yeah I think it was that was it okay here in five definitely jumping up well what happens is that you know you don't give the raises and then all of a sudden you have to give a big one because your your salaries keep getting further and further behind the market that's it and so so at some point the chickens come home to roost so and and in the meantime you risk losing you know losing staff I think more than that though on a broader sense than that it you know we are making adjustments to numerous salaries to make them more in line with the with the market in addition to the cola um but the the whole point is with all of this the reasons that we do 2 and a half% the reasons why four years ago or whatever we did zero um and then the year after did two and a half times too um compensate you know is because when times are lean for the town budget we ask the employees to share the sacrifice when times are not going to say flush but but but you're you're arguing against yourself there aren't you because we're saying well we never go above 3% or you know historically it's to so when are the employees sharing in the what I was going what I was getting to what I was getting to um was was that that what if you can if we can be more generous and keep the total increase under 3% then that's like that's my you know that's what I was getting to um so um years ago that like because in the past that's the the reason we haven't been able to be more generous is because the budget just wouldn't allow us to be conservative about the total and the pandemic I mean we didn't know we're facing all kinds of uncertainty already onset of the pandemic yeah and and honestly the reason we are as flush as we are this year is because of the school budgets which is as we know more than schools are good there less school choice and kids people are students are staying within I mean these are all really important things well we have good and we were still able and we were still able to accommodate the capital requests and to keep you know keep them on track oh yeah so so yeah then I would I would advocate for 5% I think it makes sense time we have to go out and and hire someone and we're way behind the pce together like we had to clab it is a little tricky though a few years ago that colar and it's changed since but at that year there was no cost of living increase for Social Security right that was in 2020 I think right it wasn't in ancient history right no so you know it's I'm going to guess around the third of the towns about that stretch so you know there's a little bit there's a wrinkle in there you're asking people that aren't getting it to fund people that are and you know have 8% and 8% 2022 yeah ex that was in 22 we were really harsh and that was bad I I I feel like if the budget can support it we should do it yeah and you know and then and there will probably be another year where it can't right and there won't be you know but if we're in in a position where we can you know reward appreciate Town employees looks like Roy we have a Roy and poost The elusive so to Tom's Point 2015 2016 were basically zero for Social Security there a lot of years since then 2017 2 2018 3 2019 1.6 2020 1.3 here's where it picks up 2021 6 2022 8.7 2023 3.2 so that 2024 to right right so in in the last four years we're looking at what 17 something like that yeah it's a lot and of course the healthcare costs not just for the town but for the people in general in the workforce people leaving jobs for other jobs and we see twice twice the day yeah that's what we're facing it's it's where we are that's where we are yeah so um you know the parameters of the discussion are set and um I would say you know I'd be more confident postponing a decision until all the bar Ables are set but I think so you want so we'll soon 5% vot that next week I'll I'll work up another I mean well I mean I pretty much have it there I think it's nicer cleaner if you just see it all on one sheet exactly yeah exactly we can we can wear the at Targets on9 39 at 4% yeah be around 50 [Music] we already voted did I'm not on the finance commit okay so that's that and then um now some of the raises were contractural but some of them are not so I don't know do you want to leave those for next week too can I speak to the language of what you said before that if the cola or the the raise was higher than the cola then there would be no Cola I just want to make sure that we're not saying let's say we have a 5% Cola and they have a 4% raise oh yeah whichever is the two correct yeah yeah right but I think like for instance when I well I have to make sure that's true for the request I made for um but the transfer station I made sure it was above the 6% range i' given you so that should be yeah I'm just saying it should be whatever the greater yeah the greater you're absolutely correct not the two combined here's your raise thank you so much and everybody else gets 5% right yeah no we don't do that okay and we should actually make that AAL policy actually I don't know if it is I've never seen that introduced to writing but it's been an informal policy forever yeah it's in play manual thing I think probably maybe the personel look at there you go yeah that's actually a good one good point good point mhm um all right so um so and again just to going over the recap sheet we can see from this that we're actually really good shape here that's the one with at the top it says fy2 budget amounts to be raised so it gives you in the top it says all the amounts to raise and appropriate then there's all the war AR and um I mentioned earlier but I don't think everybody was here that uh I had put um the 65,000 it's like 65270 or something for the shelburn Falls Paving note I had put in as a free cash and it turns out Jan had put it in her budget so I was counting it twice in here so I was able to take it out of free cash which is why we're doing much better for free cash now and then if you you look down at the bottom where it says that's really important because that sets us up better for next year yeah and that's just a yeah that's when you can do good for this year and do good for next year that's a really good thing you can hope for more miracles in 25 there you go yeah right so that would be that would leave us with 106 835 left for free cash which is great and then if you look down the recap check um we used a very conservative number for New Growth this is what Mike recommended the 100,000 it may end up being more than that which will definitely go for next to our free cash for next year too but look at that excess Levy capacity I mean last year it was about half a million right now it's you know like 870,000 that's incredible that's hopefully no more really really wealthy people move into town and get more Cuts in chapter 791 yeah yeah or we get the state to change the formula yeah well that would be the miracle that would it would be yes am I holding my on the police warrant by warrant article cuz I was just going to say on on the police cruiser I reached out about the grant it's not available right now okay so um I had asked if there were other grants and I was told to click a link to get updates upates are there link for you oh Don did that as well right yeah CH told me he did that and also just so you know I hadn't realized this but um see a private Foundation gr that we looking state state yep so I reached out to the um office of Grants and research and oh good cuz their name was on the the the burn Jag Grant we were going for okay um and that's what she told me just to click the link and there'll be updates that are not sure if they're the will be even available next year or not oh so it's not a level funded kind of thing doesn't appear so it doesn't appear it's a year toe level funded Grant I did change the language on that article because I didn't realize until I spoke with Chief Bates today that it includes up upfitting as opposed to the uplifting I put previous yeah so it includes the upfitting the the amount that he gave oh good yeah cuz a base is these Cruisers the vehicle only it's only $50,000 it's all up did you want to do any voting on these tonight you knock them out of the way or did on article two stuff want yeah I can a skip article two yeah yeah save the best for and I'm not we're not ready for the capital capital um Vehicles either okay oh none of the capitals I I would like to have firmer numbers not just a flat here's 100,000 oh um so I I I need to work on that some more sorry well you could do four five six and seven yeah they all kind of go together package all right so I should make a motion Finance Comm SEL go after sure you you were you want to vote on a few of these yeah the other problem that I'm presenting is that I was supposed to look further into the phone system upgrade at the school and I was going to bug Roy over there about that too um I did not reach out any reason at all not to do it then that's okay it's all right all right so um on ver uh number five Article Five just do a vote on Article Five to see if the town will vote to transfer and if and if anybody has any reason that they would like to hold off for a week that's fine with me to speak up wasn't Article Five in support of four was that no separate one is existing and one is going to be brand now surveillance system agree to that all right so vote to transfer 20,000 from the cony grammar school stabilization fund for a video surveillance system for the cony Grammar School so does the finance committee need to vote first you should vote first so I make a motion to vote to transf for $20,000 from the Conway grammar school stabilization fund anyone second five for video surveillance Eon econ article five second second all favor I Tom have you I five all right for the select board same motion second all in favor I I it's unanimous so how much is now School stabilization fund 225 225 change should be somewhere sheets somewhere article six all right article six to see if the town will vote to transfer $17,700 from the Conway grammar school stabilization fund to provide Min splits for the Conway grammar school make a motion second all in favor 5 all right and before we make the same motion for the select board I'll just just read read out the note because this is important for this article that these funds were earlier rebated to the town after the last purchase of Mini Splits last year but had to revert to the general fund so this would in effect be a reimbursement to the school for the rebate that they secured exactly so I I was running we we need to reord this article or if we can just put that explanation in like the study guide yeah I can take that out we just put that in the how about both it's a good yeah I mean instead instead of to provide re the schol for make a des because it is a reimbursement it's like it's not like it is but we're taking it out of the capital stabilization so I don't know if that language would be as clean yeah I don't know whether it matters I mean it'll be in like the you know I think in the Warr light we War right we can just say it's essentially serving as a revolving thing right we're getting I mean it's I just I just don't know whether we need to actually change the language of the warrant article or if it's enough to just put it in the easier you might have confusing where people okay so same same motion for the select board then second um all in favor I I I unanimous so you got to skip seven because we don't know what the amount is going to be yet yep okay um so 789 we can do we can do eight yeah we can do eight y oh yeah okay good all right article eight to see if the town will vote to transfer from free cash $100,000 for the TR fire truck stabilization fund as follows far depart in $100,000 to save for a new Rescue pumper expected purchase of 2028 or take any action relative there to I make a motion car a second second what's your motion he just made the motion all in favor I I carries 5 thank you same motion for the select Board second all in favor I I I unanimous on the 12 article 12 to see if the town will vote to transfer from free cash $50,000 to the general stabilization fund I make a motion anyone sh a second second all in favor which which article 12 12 I repeat it you're moving so fast I am I'll repeat it article 12 to see if the time will vote to transfer from free cash $50,000 to the general stabilization fund motion second all in favor I I I carries five same motion for the select Board second all in favor I I 13 Article 13 to see if the town will vot to transfer from free cash $100,000 to the ambulance stabilization fund towards the purchase of a new ambulance I make a motion anyone car a second second all in favor I same motion put SL Board second all in favor I I unanimous I said I too but was very quiet so nobody heard thanks for clarifying that everything yes uh um 14 yeah article 14 seems really straight up article 14 know if you want me to slow no no I I can type it in John is the fastest Hest in public article 14 to see if the town vote to transfer $36,800 Department operational expenses or take any action relative thet and make a motion anyone car a second all in favor I I carries five all thank you same motion for the select Board second all in favor I I unanimous so I didn't get um to change the word so we'll skip over 15 and we we we definitely want that's one of my favorite articles yeah well we were going to take out WellMed all I all I was going to say was you take out there two A's for AA just one for a preliminary study by an energy consultant and you know that's all you can do for changing it it's up to you I a name an actual name would be even better no but we can't attach a name to it like but they they have they have one but what if something happen sir I don't think we want v i the there this was their original language from the committee so you know just to I you know we I wouldn't want to put the name of any yeah actual firm that we're going to contract with and even like well vetted I mean just this is what they're asking for they want to contract with with the consultants and honestly I I still have questions about this um so you know is this is this going to save us money yes yes yeah we're going to it'll pay for itself within four years I mean we're pretty sure from what we've seen but we have to do an actual study to like the study will help determine what the savings could be right but we know we won't know until we have the study done just like the transfer station but we can guess and the guess on the transfer station was very accurate was very close and I'm Hing the same on this as well yeah the other towns who done this work and realize those cost savings so I can't imagine that day after week after week looking at the corporate speak of this one has just gotten me more and more nervous cost optimized solution is just a phrase that I just have an allergy to I think and I but um what's the annual bill it varies because of the season I want to say 6,9 ,000 I thought it was I thought it was 8,000 yeah I think it waser to in that range depends on the month you multiply it from really you have to take the whole year because they vary by I mean savings no no no no so what this study is going to do is to number one absolutely verify that we have all the street lights in town that they say we do yeah and then look at the cost savings for changing the fixtures to LED which we would have to purp and correct and install and maintain correct but the sustainability committee is planning and is already talking to the green community's grant program about getting grant funding to help with that phase of it so what we're hoping is that you know we get this study done and they tell us basically exactly what we need to do to to yeah maximize our or reduce our costs um we did have a meeting with um Chief Bates and uh Ron to discuss which areas in town they thought we might be able to get rid of some of our street lights because we have so many compared to other towns and um how many is like many 6484 something no we have 64 and Ashfield has was it eight or 18 I think it's 18 and has like 113 or something anyway we have a lot say so the consensus with our chief of police and Highway superintendent was that well Route 116 if there's a sidewalk there should be a light and if there's a dangerous intersection or a crosswalk there should be a light um but basically what we need is the study to be done to give us the options that we can yeah go with uh what other towns have done this shelburn shelburn is in the middle of doing it right now doing it now yeah yeah you know they're pure town but they they have they have more like they must have more lik of red 100 something but they but they're the they're potentially saving an enormous amount of money oh yeah by by owning those polls instead of paying you know rent to every and you know I know I I wanted to do that you know this this has been my thing that we have too many street lights for a very long time I I do disagree with the with the assertion that wherever there's a sidewalk you need all the existing lights I think some of them are pretty close together together and overlap and it's not necessary to have one every 20 ft um so I you know I don't well those are things that can be discussed yeah yeah as we get information from the study and and beautifying a town doesn't always just include flowers you see during the day yeah if we have we could use more of them too though but also the the real they look good but we're going to eventually like if we were to if we were to own our own street lights instead of like basically renting from ever Source we would have control over this we would save a lot of money every year and light pollution put caps on we'll push the light down we'll see more stars I know in C certain States that's been the environmentalist have said that Mor Hampton had that squat we put LEDs in about affecting Wildlife but we just but I my big thing is like we're not paying urce we'll we'll those we'll them but then of course that doesn't mean that we have to maintain them and one of the things that was looking into was um joining with sorry Jo joining with other towns on a maintenance contract for somebody who would yeah so to try to realize some savings there as well so I mean you know I I I like I like the idea of changing the phrase to provide a cost optimized solution to save the town money and use use less electricity there you go that just switch it from corporate spe to what we're actually doing to provide savings and savings reduce our carbon reduce the carbon foot there we go there yeah Green con that sounds like corporate green certainly is that's why I like it okay just save money let's just say save M that's that's too corporate okay so we'll vote on this next week with re word it what yeah we'll reward it I thank you let make sure attorney McNichols agrees with the corporate spee that sounds like a [Music] [Music] bir so article 16 may end up actually going into the bylaw section because this the transfer station revenues fund was not included in our original because you know you you you have to put all these revolving funds now in your bylaw and say what's your limits are and the first time you do it you have to talk about what the uses are and who's in charge of it and all that kind of stuff which we did with the ones in article 17 but we have not done with the transfer station revenues yet so that will probably get moved and I'll have to get the language from um so that'll probably be in the bylaws because it has to be a bylaw change okay and then but we could vote on um article 17 which came right from mik yeah and those are revolving funds correct and all this as a matter of fact the the U Municipal empowerment act that they're trying to pass if it passes they're going to try to do away with having to even do this every year and the only time you would have to put it on your warrant is if you Chang the spending limit but for now we still have to vote on the limits they've changed okay so I'll I'll read article 17 to see if the town will vote to authorize a following fiscal year 25 expenditure limits for the town of cono revolving funds pursuant to mgl code 44 section 53 A2 and the town of Conway bylaw up to $5,000 from the Medicare revolving fund up to $6,000 from the dog licenses fund up to $10,000 from the newsletter revolving fund and up to $20,000 from the Conway youth sports program revolving fund or take any action relative there to Second all in favor I thank you same motion for the select board second in favor unanimous was this was this last year I'm sorry I'm I I'm going through the the warrant light and I don't did we have this on the warrant last year because I don't it might have been it well is it I think it was in the by okay so all right yeah the Medica revolving from I think was broken all right I just want to make sure that 18 we're good with um yes this came from our town accountant as well and so what this is doing is allowing us originally there's been a lot of confusion over the opioid fund and where to put the money and how to deal with it so originally they told us to put it in a stabilization fund so now they're saying no you can put it in a special Revenue fund per this mgl and it'll just make it easier for us to deal with so this is revoking putting it having put it in the stabilization fund and putting it into a special Revenue fund instead just happy that we answered the mail and the emails about this and actually got these funds be amazed at how many towns thought it was either junk mail or just didn't even send in the form and are not participating in this but basically this is the state has changed the way that they want us to account for this money okay that's correct what'll actually be less work for our treas yeah it'll be less work for everybody and and it also deals well yeah it'll it'll just make it easier for us to actually access the funds as well and my understanding is that it's a select word decision so you know it'll come out of the special Revenue fund per the select board's decision take money out with the vote on this article now as far as Finance Comm so article 18 to see if the town vote to revoke the opioid selling stabilization fund and transfer any dedicated funds to the opioid Sullivan special Revenue fund as for the Massachusetts general laws chapter 44 section 53 Clause 4 and as authorized by the Department of Revenue division of local Services director of accounts or take any other action relative th too anyone car a second second all in favor I I 5 thank you same motion for the select Board second all in favor I I I um so with Article 19 I just want to let you know that our Treasurer said this is usually submitted by the finance committee yeah okay it say so yeah it does now what I don't we've been doing 20,000 for for years yeah yeah and that we're doing there are there are some towns are doing 10,000 20,000 actually sense yeah yeah Article 19 to see if the town will vote to transfer $20,000 from free cash into the OPB other employees other post employment benefits trust fund or take any action relative there too car second all in favor I I same motion for the select Board second all in favor I I 20 20 Mak article 20 see if the town will vote to transfer $1,755 from free cash to the general fund for partial Debt Service for the highway garage facility or take any action relative there too want to get a second second all in favor I I is there any reason why general fund capitalize I I I just maybe I missed discussion on this so we're going from free cash to the general fund isn't the general fund Free Cash General stabilization fund stabilization fund it just says general f General stabilization stabilization General I I mean I can capitalize it if you want okay yeah okay so should we revote on the article 20 the general stabilization fund I'm I'm sorry general fund general fund or general stabilization that no it's going to the general fund oh general fund yeah because this is this is for um uh this is the partial debt and it's part of of our treasurers paying off the note and years ago when yeah when when the highway garage facility when this was the loan was done it was voted at that time to take some of it from free cash every year fund to keep level payments every year but that's go but this money from free cash is going into the general fund for Jan to pay it out of The Debt Service to go okay yeah all right am I missing something so there was a fund set up for this no it's going into her general fund account which would be because to me it reads like it's going from free cash to free cash no because it's going to the general funds so like you know for instance whenever you do um you can have a special account that it goes to like when we did the mosquito thing it went from free cash into an account that's under the select board $5,000 for mosquito that's in you know okay so it's so this going into that account this would be under 710 probably under Debt Service okay as part of it right this is our fourth year of doing this yeah I believe so well sure not that I'm counting so I make a a motion I here a second fa all in favor I I now we did this because it was going to result in having a level annual debt payment which for budget and planning purposes makes a lot yeah absolutely so same motion for the select Board second all in [Music] favor um article 21 is is boiler plate every year it's it could be every three years but we're always nervous that we're going to forget on the third year so we just throw it in every year all right it requires finance committee votes so article 21 to see if the town will vote to authorize the transfer and collector to enter into compensating balance agreements for fiscal year 2025 as permitted by massachusett General law code chapter 44 section 53f or take any other action relative there too a second explanation compensating balances would be anything requires a compensating balance to negotiate debt or whatever it's basically allowing them to do their jobs we just have to put the legal language in here to to do it this is something that gets voted every year yes yeah General Council General counsil advised that we we have this warrant article every year it doesn't give us the authorization for any specific action under that but just the have the ability to negotiate anyone car second second all in [Music] favor thank you I don't remember this suay being every year was on last year on last year that was I think we we added it last year didn't yeah because Council for the first time because Council doie dictate from from East so you guys were 5 right y Hawaii same MO for this like word second I I um article 22 just to let you know this went every other year it's been 5,000 they went up to 6,000 this time I'm assuming for the reason all of them do is because costs go up have no choice basically article 22 to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate transfer from available funds or otherwise provide 6,000 as a partial contribution for a future evaluation work or take any action relative thet anyone care to second second second all all in favor I I I five thank you same motion for the bo second I all in favor I ious 23 article 23 article 23 you see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate transfer from available funds or otherwise provide $2,920 to the field library to help ensure its accreditation or take any action relative there too any here a second all in favor I I I five o thank you same motion that second I I all in favor I prob one of the best values in town yes seriously it really is you they're having a take a take a look and see what Deerfield Sunderland weighty all pay for their librar I don't want 120 140 just like absolutely lucky lucky lucky you Source bless um article 24 I still think the wording on this one is is clunky first sentence in particular just seems duplicative in too much and not really I don't well the question is do you feel it's the right time to resend this or do you want to leave it on the books that's totally up to you I just didn't want to forget that it was on the books so it's still on the books like we are still at Liberty to borrow up to $1.5 million specific to the spe specific to and people even even after you can know resend it people are still going to think that you're going to do it it's I I would rather resend can we reference the specific article number from the town it's in there it's right there sentence but it says recent article of the December 9th it doesn't say below the and just to remind everybody during our last town meeting when we talked about the approval for this article the prior article uh we did state that if we receive the M the funds that we would not use the money from so I think it should we should resent Y and I I actually you know to to to be really be clear I like adding a few extra descriptive words besides re sin cancel and nullify um just because people don't get what Rin means you that you're just saying that it's as if it never happened um but um I took this from a former warrant directly from another maybe you can be more specific in the war light about what the word ring means well we can yeah exactly we can we can do that the warrant but and it might make sense to the below described article three might make sense in that first sentence because it does read it does read clunky when you just say resend article of the you know everything reads clunky on the warrant I think that's where we have to just explain this means that we are not at Liberty to borrow $1.5 million which we were previously that's that's what the vote was that that allowed us to borrow up to 1.5 and you know I probably should have clarified not all these been well I haven't gotten back from Town Council so some of this wording she may be tweaking and of course I'll come back to you and say you know to you confirm whatever but um I can suggest is what we borrow with the understanding that we would be you know paid for back by the state so and essentially it's a bridge loan so if you want to talk about it make it to a bridge loan original thought it was going to be a bridge loan anywhere and we didn't we didn't know so as long as this since since we voters approved this warrant article like we are still at Liberty to borrow $1.5 million tonight as we speak exactly so so we should resend that vote because we're planning to do that correct we have been made whole by the state exactly we have more than made whole we ah that was horrible we could have done more twice as l so should we vote on article 24 tonight I think we should okay article 24 see if the town will vote to resend article of the December 9th 2023 special town meeting which was to pay for the cost of Road repair after the July floods or take any action relative there to the second second all in favor yeah and uh same motion for this second all in favor I I it's unanimous may I have a just a question on article 25 before finance committee gets into it um so I'm just a little confused and I see that we submitted it but um this was a Donna special okay I think this was this was on the warrant last we had it last year my question to hers do we need to have it again this year my question is because if was a town if I was you know just a a citizen in there reading this I'd be very confused because are we talking about fully funded grants or match grants just any grants Any Grant because most grants are reimbursed if it's a match Grant then we need to ask for the match like okay so that's that's my question I shouldn't be expending any Town money well us to the money so this is how we explained it say do not acquire require Town appropriation allows the select board to purs any and all grants that don't explicitly require a town meeting Vote or appropriation of town right okay got it so this be reimbursable because most state grants these days unfortunately are yeah I I like if we we did do this last year it makes no sense that we have to do this this year well that's why I'm I have my question let's hold off on that and just see I I there's a couple of things here that are just a finality we Des this like we have to do this every year so but I don't there it I don't see why the I understand why some of the other things you have to do every year I don't understand there it this doesn't reference any statute it doesn't reference anything there's no there's no or date or date but also if we have if we do have these warrant articles that we for whatever reason we have to vote on every year just as a formality let's just put them all together at one yeah so that we can get that out of the way either at the beginning or at the end idea either way either way we skip it so those are good that's a good point to it so maybe attorney M Nicholas see if there's any particular mass of General law statute that this complies with there isn't otherwise it'd be cited yeah um 26 obviously not ready um 27 I'm glad it's the finance committee going first because you get to read this not us but that also seems like a formality yeah same thing with 28 so and these are yeah these are straight from and these are ready to go these are straight from Town Council yeah yeah and it reads that way yeah so I have to read the whole article 208 I don't think you need to 27 I'll go that's that's happen 34 of money yeah do the whole fraction even though it's all 0 for whatever reason article 27 see the town will vote to authorize this elect board to acquire by purchase gift imminent domain or otherwise for general public way purposes a permanent easement consisting of 2,119 square ft of land more or less for the purpose of rip rra placement and environmental restoration a permanent easement consisting of 82 Square ft of land more or less for the purpose of overhead utility easement and a permanent easement consisting of 50 square ft of land more or less for the purpose of overhead utility easement and a temporary easement consisting of 11,545 square ft of land more or less for the purpose of grading Environmental Protection SL restoration and temporary overhead Hilty work all on the westly side of North Poland low town of Conway Frankton County Massachusetts from De J Craven and Willis D Bernett heirs in devices of the estate of Josephine Elber I'm not going to read the doet number for the north Poland Road over Poland Brook Bridge replacement Bridge number c-2 -004 said land is more cifically shown as parcel D1 P2 P1 te1 on a set of plans to recorded in titled even plan of land north Poland over Poland book con Massachusetts prepared by Green International Foles Incorporated dated November 20th 2023 and as amended said plans are also filed at the town of Conway Town Clerk or think any other Vote or vote simulation be to anyone car a second is there a Dollar second no is there a dollar amount associated with this there was he read it weren't you paying attention put the two articles no those are square feet there's no dollar amount oh you're right yeah no because tax ourselves the E are donated and yeah they donated correct so we what they get oh there's no they're donated they're donated they're very kindly donated well there kind of easement not I'm sorry I mean when they put power lines in it had easements the people who granted the easement got power brought to the uh home and returned the utility got the easement back in the 19 40s and 50s so usually there's a quid pro well all I can tell you is that the donation forms have been duly filled out and notified or verified so cool yeah okay and this this this short circuits the amount of time that it takes to do this work by a lot yes and um and that's one of the things they're grateful for they're the neighbors um neighbors and there you know I did just pursu to this and as well as the next so I guess did you vote no we have a second all in favor hi why anal said yes all right we we'll wait for a second because um until we have our un but I did get to speak with Bill Bernett this week um and this is related to all of this that there is a slope on this stream on the stream that is we we've seen the pictures that severe erosion a worrying level of trees falling over etc etc it is really important that um we get the state to do something about that and uh well he did report that this that they did a site survey M which is they usually don't do that if they're not planning on doing something about it so um as just like one of the things that we could do to express so our gratitude for these is to just to send a letter to the state saying would could would you please do this to take care of the slope the the erosion do the Rip r um we have the pictures we have the pictures Etc we have Nick Miller's commentary on the the stuff and they know about it already but let's just jog their memory and see if we can get a firm commitment um to take care of it that's the one thing that they're really worried about and with good reason when you saw the when you looked at that Aros and I know Sol I'm the one who sent the pictures to I know I know I know so let's get a let's get a follow it's it's I think it's like one of those categories of the least we could do the thing yes but the concern with that is that I don't know who would be doing the work and natural heritage would be there's a lot of moving pieces to this so I can do my best to keep helping moving along exactly exactly exactly that's what we want so um yeah back to back to article 27 same motion for the select board all in favor I I I it's unanimous with this one all you need to do is read the partial numbers right yeah yeah I think I'll do that Article 28 this right the parcels P3 P4 pu5 te3 and te4 anyone car a second second second all in favor I same motion for the select Board second all in favor I it's unanimous 29 uh can't do 29 I think we're Finance commit we're [Music] done we be excused when we our table go watch your car in the other room oh thank you Mommy I make motion for the fin Comm toour and just we're meeting Tuesday of next week here Tuesday Tuesday has all the makings have a closed the warrant day too so yeah let's we're uh this is this has been l this year origin we don't say that all the there no more new capital [Music] Improvement no moreal yeah I need to no but no more new proposals can be accepted for C year 25 Capal is correct request we ar going to there's not yeah there's not going to be any new capital requests to the best of my knowledge but until the warrant closes the warrant's open so didn't because didn't didn't the request perod officially end do it end this week um Capital we didn't set a date I asked everybody to get them into me by January yeah well we're going to close the warrant the 29th the end of this month well the war originally was supposed to be closed tonight yeah but we built in We Built Well no that's that's voting out the that's different you can close so that you can say we will not accept so we can still get a yeah until the board decides to close the warrant people can still and originally the date was be just see everybody [Music] next so we don't have anybody andw 48 hours no Town Administrator update not this week um select board anything mail we talked about announcements the next meeting is when's ouru session 19th Friday Friday the 19th at 5 5 o' and um and the next select board meeting which will also be a finance committee joint meeting is Tuesday April 23rd 6:00 why are we not doing that Monday for my uh Alan oh okay yeah I'm sorry tomorrow's meeting tomorrow meet is um the zoom well Donna will be dialing with zoom the rest of it is like the finance team just getting all the clunky wrestle the hill stuff set up wait we oh no no I thought that was an executive session no on Friday session is Friday Friday the 19th oh sorry I had it on the actual other participants in the meeting there so um that's when they're available both yes yes okay in the hopes that well thanks for ruining my weekend one you can zoom in if you need to and zoom in where were you going to go yeah yeah um so with that a motion to adjourn second all in favor I