thank you guys can every everybody please have a seat Jim okay we're going to continue with our agenda uh right now we're going to have a moment of silent meditation if everybody could just please stand since our last meeting two members of the dayon community have since passed our thoughts and condolences go out to their families Alfredo Ferry Adriano age 83 passed away on Wednesday March 6th he is survived by his wife marites also Al passing Horus Carpenter 81 of North D passed away on March 3rd he survived by his wife Sharon and he was a graduate of the first class at dayon reoboth Regional High School in 1961 thank you so number five under scheduled appointments is the uh unfortunately we're very late and I apologize for that is the poll hearing petition uh install one jointly owned pole on Chestnut Street uh to um the West I'm sorry um to install one new uh Jo pole 50 ft to the west of p3050 on Chesnut Street existing p3050 to be re numbered as P p31 do we have any anybody here from National Grid I believe were I believe we were supposed to but we do have superintendent Ferry here okay if anyone has any questions uh I have no questions no I don't have any questions Mr Hull the only question I have is Mr Ferry you're recommending that we approve this is there a motion on the floor Mr chairman like to make a motion to approve the installation of one jointly owned pole on Chestnut Street um a new J pole 50 to the west of p3050 Chestnut Street uh renumbered as pole 31 that there's a motion in a second question all those in favor I I and Peter Karen is an I uh Bristol Plymouth High School students certificates of recognition recognition for the work performed at the day and Public Library building project uh first before we start uh I want to thank Two Gentlemen in the audience here this evening who without their efforts uh we would nowhere be where we are with the library if at all and I want to thank Rono Connor and Ken Pico thank you very much guys we appreciate [Applause] it stands with all of you in full gratitude and appreciation we would like to express our deepest thanks for the incredible support and assistance you are providing and helping to build our new library you guys do tremendous work it is through your selfishlessly you have made a significant impact on our community members especially our children your efforts are immeasurable we are truly humbled by the generosity and commitment by each of you and each and every one of you once again thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your contributions your support you has transformed the vision of into reality and we are forever grateful for your kindness and generosity giving of your talents so at this point we're going to uh have uh read the children's names and give them a certificate of recognition so we're going to come down there and call each student out by name Mr Hall you have the list yes I do you read in a be outside certainly I believe the following students are from the electrical shop good good good good and again we want to thank you for all that you've done you you've really been a great Ambassador for Bristol Plymouth which is a very fine school at this time I would like to acknowledge and thank Harrison anslo Noah Asal Isaac bazula Sophia cabal Hannah Cabrera Chase calano Zamara Carrero Liliana Christensen Cameron Curtis Kendra Easter Day Brady Foria Malcolm giia Benelli Zachary janess Jax Olen Samantha Pacho Kayla r Jackson rupe Jadon Santiago Jay Lee Silva Mason Sylvia Logan Westgate Cameron Wilbur and Talon York again thank you that everyone was that carpentry well I haven't next carpentry shop cow Ava lyanna brager Matthew cabraal Jeffrey Crandle Cameron Cruz Justin d'angeles is e area Jason Francis Ariana LEC Owen Liden Saul Martinez Diaz Matthew poo NAA Rodriguez and Evan W students thank you teachers thank you for all that you've done to help them succeed and Excel we appreciate it and it's helped us greatly there is one other individual though that needs to be thanked who helped to coordinate and make this happen oh I'm sorry there's additional names I'm sorry also um in carpentry Ava Conrad Dylan decastro Ryan [Music] dunavan Justin duret Brian Foster Connor leaden Richard Oakes Jake sford and Jack vsberry as I started to say there's an individual here who goes about the business quite quietly and helping to coordinate projects for the town of dayon he's a member of the Bristol Plymouth school committee and a longtime servant of the town of dayon as a police officer at Dutra thank you for all that you've done your help has saved the town of dayon tremendous amount of money and it's also showcase what bristell Plymouth can do thank you may wish should move this way so not okay e e is uh acting police chief George Nichols Nichols I'm sorry review discuss and act appointment of George Nichols as chief of police for the town of dayon uh any discussion guys someone like to say anything Mr Nichols are you here how are you [Applause] sir much for uh for eight months ago when we uh knocked on your door and asked you to do just about the impossible uh we appreciate that that you stepped up uh it means a lot to the town it means a lot to the voter selectman and I know it means a lot to Mike um uh from the uh uh she b blank from Town Administrator sorry and uh again we appreciate what you did we um it's been quite the process to get you here as you're well aware and we are all proud of the fact that you are here and thankful for stepping up great uh I don't know if anybody has any questions uh this evening questions of you if either one of you I just want to ask one question why do you want to do this been my home for 20 years and uh proud to be here and I just want to be the next leader of the department and move it forward thank you so I would like a motion on the floor to appoint George as chief of police for the town of Dagon Mr chairman at this would like to make a motion to appoint George Nicholls as chief of police for the town of dayon and vote for approval I I and Peter Cameron is an I thank you George [Music] [Applause] uh George is now in the thick of things he uh first job is to uh help us with his budget which is not an easy task um the next on the agenda is Tom Ferry Highway superintendent and dalina rujo Dian Li Dian light Lions Club sponsor signs at Warner Boulevard and Broad Cove good evening I'm here with the D Lions not the superintendent so on behalf of the D Lions Club we're proposing to build two new entering dton signs with Planters below our thought process is to help small businesses in our town advertise locally the second would be to be ify the entrance of the town and finally a third a small income for the dyon Lions Club monthly the charge it for the monthly advertises would be $250 a month for all four signs an example is included in that your packet here it's very very similar like when you go over to Berkeley Bridge you see that type of sign welcome uh the first guidance sign would be as you went to dyon on Route 138 from Somerset in that large turnaround area right at the Town Line and the second the second sign would be right at the end of Warner buide and that that little island there that's surrounded with that curbing there you know take out that asphalt make it more of a green space okay afterwards it's very shallow so this will believe we this we believe this will benefit the town of dyon businesses in that town and the dyon Lions Club also beautifying sections of the town of dyon please consider this for as a request D you have anything you want to add no um I'm just kind of thinking that we had started this before Co okay um and kind of dropped the ball and then this spring when I advertised at the Berkeley Bridge sign I thought this is perfect for dyon sure and it will help the Lions Club so I told them that I would um maintain the signs I would change them every month as they do in Berkeley and um anybody who wants to um sign up it would be all small businesses or any business in dayon from dayon from dayon okay great and uh we're going to need some kind of agreement with Alliance club uh you can speak with Mike sometime this week if Mr Mullen had to stop in here first and present it before we went any further great uh Mr Hall do you have any questions actually just one question for Mr Agia Mr Agia I knew I just want to make sure that I hope not I just want for the record that the two signs are in total compliance with all zoning and town to requirements and building requirements yeah I will work with uh both Tom and darene to make sure that those signs do meet the minimum requirements both General and zoning bylaws and if there is any other approvals that are needed I'll make sure that they get those but it needs to start with the select one yeah are you concerned about oh I'm sorry I thought true no no oh okay I are you concerned about any traffic uh issues at all that maybe that should have gone to Tom but he's from on the alliance club tonight I would I would defer to Tom on that anyway so if Tom's okay with their location then I would be as well sure all right thank you you're welcome Nicole do you have any questions any questions um I was just I really love this one that's over on the um near the Berkeley bridge and I think this is a great idea um to get businesses out there um and I like how you asked about traffic because it's going to be so impactful that we're going to have people like stopping and looking at it so thank you this was a great idea thank you how much of the is going to cost um we haven't got that far yet because we wanted to make sure we had the okay before we put any more time into great um but Tom's going to get two quotes and then we have to present it to financially to the Lions uh Club Great okay well thank you for your efforts we appreciate that it's a great idea thank you okay is there a motion on the floor Mr chairman I'd like to make a motion this time to approve the dtan lion Lions Club request for sponsored signs on Wana Boulevard and bro broad Cove I'll second that there's a motion and a second on the floor any discussion all those in favor I I and Peter karon is an i we're going to go right into announcements please the Town Park can anyone hear me oh um the town parking ban no person shall Park a motor vehicle between the hours of 12 midnight to 6:00 a.m. on any street from November 1st of each year to April 1st of the following year police take notice the town of Dion Food Bank will be held next March 16th located at the Town Hall 979 Somerset abots in the lower level a notice of an opening on a waiting list the Taunton Gardens is pleased to announce that they will be accepting applications for the 1 two and three bedroom affordable income weight lists applications will be available from February 20th to March 19th to request an application by phone please call 508 822 2501 one um also a notice of affordable housing Lottery this is at Norton links in Norton Mass applications must be delivered or postmarked by May 7th 2024 at 2 p.m. for lottery information and applications call 617-7826 n00 extension 1 help support the James Briggs Garden the garden was established in 2021 and directly benefits the dayon community all produce is donated to the Lions Club Food Pantry in Lincoln Village residence we'd love to share um we'd love to have you join us whether you're a seasoned Gardener enjoy being outside or want to ensure the success of this community Initiative for more information you can either email Kevin Smith kith d-m mas.gov or myself um and melow d-m mas.gov and they are having a kickoff um on the day of the Easter egg hunt which is I believe is March um 23rd at 12:00 p.m. great thank you administrator's report uh yeah uh yeah thank you chairman um I'll be really brief um I just wanted to actually provide an update like on our annual audit um I like as I reported to the board earlier this year I like we went to uh oh we went our financial team went through a field audit process act actually the first four week of the calendar year this year uh like where we where we had our Auditors in uh we had to produce and follow up with different information requests that the Auditors had for us like also also based on our op like in our like in the Oppa spending that we've done over the last over last year and a half two years as well like we had to go through a process what is actually required by the federal government called a single audit uh like oh and I'm very pleased to say that this week uh we received in draft uh we received in draft form the uh like a like a like our a um audited financial statements uh we received our FY 23 management letter uh like and we also receive the results of a single audit which will come before the board at the next meeting uh can I just I just want to highlight that we have actually we received our clean we received our cleanist management letter [Music] um in the three years that I've been here uh like we have uh we uh we have substantially cleaned up a lot of the comments that all like we had in all like 2020 2021 and 2022 um and it's been really a labor of love in terms of our whole financial team the treasure collector Al like in his office the town accountant and her office time clerk's office he assesses the police department as well and like I'm very very very proud of the fact that we have the that we do have such a clean management letter that we do like all also going through uh going through a single audit is is also much more grueling than our typical audit process as well I and I'm very happy to report and I'm very happy to report I'm very happy to report that I Auditors when they went back through and through the books like on how we procured and purchased the library the new library building how we how we have invested in our Public Safety telecommunications we have done that in line with we have done all that in line with procurement requirements and we have met all the rules and regs uh that the federal government does have through the APPA program so that is uh something that we work that takes up a lot of effort all the time to make sure what we're doing behind the scenes is on in compliance like a lot of people in town really don't see that effort on a dayto day uh like and I just wanted to highlight that because it speaks to the financial team that we have uh like can all I in the financial credibility that we have as well so I just wanted to thank you and share that with everybody tonight Mike I know it was a lot of work and and to get a clean report from them means a lot thank you uh moving on to selectman's reports uh unfortunately myself goes first go first and um the solid waste committee has not met uh we won't me until the end of the month the [Music] um uh other uh group that we have is the historical committee which they met last night I was not there but I'm going to make a motion that not a motion but uh suggestion that we no longer have a liaison for the historical committee they are well-run they're well organized and they have a full staff and they really don't need a selectman to assist them uh they come here often enough to give us an update so I'm going to uh suggest that we no longer meet with the historical committee I think one Karen's enough uh one is enough definitely it's more than enough uh Nicole do you have anything um yes I do and I apologize I have it on my phone and apparently my eyesight's not that good anymore um so a couple weeks ago we did have a power outage and I meant to mention this at our last meeting just to thank everyone for the work that they did to get that back up because it was um election day and it was I mean there's never a good time to lose power but that was definitely um not a great time and everyone got together and they got that figured out so thank you so much for that um this the commission on disabil met last week um we had a new portion of our meeting where we have members of the meeting give a report which ended up being extremely helpful um a member mentioned that um they really like at the Redemption Center in town um who they hire and what population they hire and they wanted to know how we could get more businesses indicted to go along the same lines um so we do have a guest speaker coming to our next meeting from um Cooperative Productions and she's going to speak to us about um hiring and um how we can help Dion businesses um hire um a more diverse Workforce um the library building committee met this week and we looked over the items we need and um would like to have for the building um they did a great job Mark um did a great job of putting all the items on a line list showing us what they already had um as well as things that he's from his old job he's going to be able to obtain and bring in um and also Al looking into how we can build um the shelving potentially using the schools so I thought that was really great um and also the um friends of the library are going to be um covering the cost for the interactive what do they call them white boards the the interactive boards I don't really I don't know what they are I've never seen them but um they're going to be covering that cost oh interactive smartboards oh interactive smartboards okay and that's all I have thank you Mr H last evening at the Dy H with regional school committee meeting in addition to the budget hearing um they set the date for the diony hob withth graduation for June 7th at it's a Friday evening at 6: p.m. in addition the school committee voted as we heard earlier this evening uh approved the lease to South Coast educational collaborative of five classrooms at the high school and three at Beck Middle School in raob for a total of $200,000 which is a big help in these Ty budget times also the school committee voted to place on the warrant or submit for approval uh a request be approved by the [Music] town voters at the June meeting of $45,000 phone e91 uh upgrades so that both the elementary and middle school e911 system are up to present day code and standards and in addition there was a significant contribution made to the D HTH Regional High School athletic program by cage club uh lacrosse boost this club of $9,000 tomorrow is High day you know the mathematical number 3.14 well assistant superintendent Fred Souza was able to convince Tablet Talk pies of Fall River to donate small pies to the students of dayon elementary school and the Palmer River School as part of the celebration of Pi Day which will probably take place in the math classrooms tomorrow in regards to the water district um couple points of note two outstanding longtime employees of the dayon water district will be retiring on March 15 Greg Olen and Melissa Rose each served in their capacities for over 12 years um I've had some dealings with Mr Olen uh as selectman and also person no and he's going to be a huge loss um he knows where the pipes are what type of pipes they are uh and where things are located underground so we want to reach out and thank both Greg and Melissa for the dedicated service to the people of dayon also the dayon water district um voted to approve the hiring of Jason Sor as the new treatment plant manager and lastly the water district wanted me to let people know that they have election coming up on May 20th and the deadline for applications is April 15 if anyone is interested in running for a day and Water District Board of commission Commissioners position they should submit inwriting um at the District water district office on Williams Street a letter of intent by April 15 the election will be May 20th thank you thank you Mr H uh the next exciting part of the evening is old business the uh FY 2025 budget update yes just really quick I think we Alec we spent a lot of our time going through generally the particular of where we are and planning for and planning for fy2 we do begin our joint meetings with the fin act uh we do believe we do begin those meetings next Thursday evening March 21st uh those will also continue in uh to the Tuesday and Thursday of the following week um I can and those I can those over those three meetings we expect to meet with most if not all departments um to uh to get they sense a better sense of their budget requests um what has been recommended I like and how we go forward from there in balancing it is as we have talked about our our planning for fy2 is uh like is probably the most challenging year we have faced in like a long while here um however you know like we in terms of what we're already doing to continue uh yet to continue planning and addressing the the challenges we have with what work on it almost every minute of every day uh you know just uh just like the school superintendent mentioned it's been dominating our time and efforts and like and even like and even anxieties at 2: and 3 in the morning as well so uh like it's budgeted all day all the time it seems lately but uh like oh yeah based on where we are I do expect the budget process I like really in Earnest we had I think a smoo and more predictable uh process planning for f 25 but this I'm sorry planning for fy2 24 but this year just based like on the challenges that we know uh that we know we're going to face going into FY 25 and how those how those very same challenges how those very same challenges and more will continue into FY 26 I do expect oh yeah really a pretty like a pretty a pretty busy rest of the budget process that will continue uh continue through the month of April uh like and hope and hopefully we have an ability to wrap everything up U like with a very strong balanced budget um that we have actually the board has at that time to place a recommendation along with the finr recommendation that will take us to that will take us to our June 10th 20 24 annual town meeting so as I mention we do have our work cut out for us we're already meeting oh yeah like meeting with different departments to evaluate the options that we have and yeah beginning next on beginning next Thursday evening we will turn that whole process into a very like into a very public process that will continue throughout the rest of the FY 25 planning process so Al any questions on that at all we are meeting with tcom at the same time yes nextday night and um in speaking with the superintendent I kind of mentioned about kicking the can down the road uh just to help us meet for this year uh meet the numbers for this year which is obviously was wrong uh and it is more important that we plan for the future not just for this coming year with that said um the BP assessment for this year is is what um the uh uh uh the BP uh the B P Capital assessment you know that like it's over and above enrollment we actually going into FY 25 based on the October 1st enrollment submited to Desi um the town of dyon actually has three less students attending BP this year um so actually based on based on BP's updated death based on BP's updated de schedule which as I mentioned earlier will begin ramping up in FY 26 rather than fy2 five um the the drop the drop in enrollment that we have that's act that's helping to shape uh the FY 25 budget process like is actually bringing that Capital datb assessment down from $254,000 in FY 24 um to I I want to say around $217,000 I actually an FY 25 because we like FY 20 FY 24 based on last year's enrollment uh we have a we have a budgeted Capital assessment amount of 254,000 how how based on what is actually uh what is required based on the debt schedule um that Capital dat assessment based on the uh drop by three in enrollment planning for fy2 will be 217,000 okay thank you uh under the new business uh nobody had any questions correct from Mr Hall I know we talk about it all the time uh Mr M you have any questions uh the next one I'm going to recluse myself on because I'm actually on that street fairly close to the land that they want to donate so Nicole if you could take over for me please so we're going to review discuss act letter um donation of one parcel of land by LS so what is it um this is why I didn't read all the names for on P um 10.7 Acres located off Maple Swamp Road um map 6 lot 11 and we do have uh we do have in the packet our correspondence from the Conservation Commission um they vote they recently voted uh to accept the parle and and to recommend the same to the board of selectman we do have the conservation agent along with the chairman of the Conservation Commission here so chairman digits and agent calonia Alec if you have an ability to come up and give an overview of the AL of the pastle what went into the commission's recommendation uh this pel of land is being donated to the Commission in the town by Lewis salhany who is uh the the estate manager for his uncle uh George and uh uh Stella El Haney okay it's 10.7 Acres uh it's behind Dr between uh New Street reob and maple Swamp Road it's approximately 10.7 acres and it abuts uh current conservation land this land is a combination of both wetlands and Uplands and certainly would be uh very satisfactory for the uh continuation of wildlife of of all kinds uh in this area the commission voted to accept this land pending uh selectman appr thank you did you have anything to add Lisa no just to say thank you to Louis Haney um for the gift of land as we know we don't make anymore so it's very uh we're very fortunate to receive a [Music] donation great thank you you guys thank you is there a motion Madam chairman at this time I would like to make a motion to accept the donation of one pass of land by LS L salhany 10.7 Acres located off of maple Swamp Road map 6 lot 11 I'll second that is there any discussion I'm then a vote I and I'm an I thank you thanks guys thank you um review discuss an act Public Health excellent Grant intermunicipal agreement between Northern Bristol Public Health Alliance communities yes oh yeah how off with it like oh oh yeah like this the IMA that proposed IMA uh between um what I call the northern Bristol Public Health Alli Public Health Alliance communities this whole initiative actually kicked off about over two and a half years ago now um between the town of dton um the city of tton the town of Berkeley the town of um north um North adaro ad the city of adaro as well like in the town in turn of hob with like we H we applied for uh what is called a public health Excellence Grant to help us really meet the needs in of the Board of Health that uh we in really every community in the state don't have don't have like really the funding ability um in a specializ stability to really do uh that yeah and that and that need uh was actually called out uh that need was called out by the state uh like in what uh was actually called the a blueprint for public health um that was actually published and released um in 2018 and 2019 uh this is one area oh this is one area this is one area of state government that my experience they they had a report uh they had a recommendation like and thankfully they have actually put the funding Resources with the m is um and so through the grant that we work to apply for through the grant that we worked to apply for 2 and a half years ago that Grant has led to additional resources um that are made available to the town of dton and the Board of Health through the northern Bristol Public through the northern Bristol Public Health Alliance uh like Nikki as a as a public health nurse has really been leading those efforts for the Board of Health oh oh oh essentially really over the last two and a half years uh like the IMA has been like a long time in the making like it also has been reviewed by Town Council like it's like it's also been approved and recommended for approval by the Board of Health as well can I just add to that yes so as you had mentioned that I had been overseeing it for the last um two and a half years I've been lucky enough that um I now have Jim is helping as well as the health agent um Heather has started to jump on the calls which has been great because it has been a big initiative um it's paid for a number of training for myself as the public health nurse as well as for Heather as the health agent um right now we're in the process of um going to scan items so the older items that we have um we're going to put them into a digital format and that's just a really great thing for the Department um it also is going to help with any staffing shortfalls that we have or any of these communities have so that we have a pool to pick from um if we don't have the staff that we need so it has been helpful um and it was um looked over by Council a couple months ago um so now we're just bringing it back after all the other towns had their councils look at it and now get the final say on it okay yes how much money has this generated for the town of D On The Board of Health have you been able to put a a dollar value on we I don't have that information here but I can follow up but be yep yeah I mean it seems to be a significant Grant and a significant help for the town of D but to put a dollar value on it I'd be really curious you know we talk about Services being provided and it is a savings to the taxpayer and those are services that a town that's cash strapped right now is able to provide to its citizens but the money is not coming from the taxpayers that is sign significant and I I'd like the taxpayers to know how the efforts of people like M Melo um Mr Mullen and the Board of Health how they've contributed to the savings to the taxpayer so you could get that number be appreciated thank you great I'm just going to accuse myself sure okay so uh review discussion act um any uh question discussion at all no okay uh is there a motion on the floor to approve Mr chairman I'd like to make a motion to approve the public health Excellence Grant intermunicipal agreement between Northern Bristol Public Health Alliance communities including the town of D okay I want to step down and second that all those in favor I Peter Karen is an I thank you um review discuss and act contract between the town of dayon and the sou South Eastern Regional planning and economic IC development housing production plan yes um like as I'll I like I like oh excuse me like as the board and the public may remember at the end of last at the end of the last calendar year the town was awarded a a $40,000 Community compact Grant to update uh to update our housing production plan um we we we sense the housing production plan as a town uh sense the housing production plan requirement was created and established actually back in 2008 we've always had uh we've always had like an updated housing production plan in every five years uh we have we've always worked to go through that process and um So based on the town being awarded uh that $40,000 Grant from the from the state back in the fall uhing at the end of and at the end of the last calendar year we did submit that Grant application together with sered like uh with the intent of working with sered as our consultant as they did uh and as they do with other efforts um oh yeah oh yeah like and what is proposed it's just a contract for that effort to uh to re oh oh yeah to really kick off in the coming months Mr M any questions no Mr Yes actually two one um um correct me if I'm wrong Mr Mullen but Southeast Regional plan and economic development district and their support of the town of dyon is one of a consultant and not as a policymaking or a policy enforcing board yes yes we like it's important it is critically important it's critically important that we Remain the again especially our boards Remain the policy the policy deciders here I can they just see very similar to what um the feedback they had and received in the economic development plan just as an example we were Al like as a town and through our boards and committees through the board selectman and also through the uh through the ddic the development industrial the D development industrial commission those those groups were the policy drivers here and the second question is is correct me if I'm wrong but the a grant is paying the $40,000 yes in the whole $40,000 yes the taxpayer is not being town of D and not being impacted by this is that correct that's 100% accurate thank you with that being said I'd like to make a motion to approve the contract yes sir you know recently we've had some discussion with Sur and and what they're pushing on our community can we just ask I'm sorry to speak in the mic thank you recently what stent has been proposing to our community is not what the residents and the taxpayers want what they what they really proposing is cluster housing conservation subdivisions um it's not good for the town uh you don't want these houses on top of one another we got a lot of storm water of regulations got in that um it's not what the people of the town of dayon want they present it to you they presented to us they presented to the open space committee I've attended all theirs and and what serent is pushing on us is coming from Beacon Hill it is not what the town of Dion wants I understand the policies but look at our subdivision regulations they want to work all around those okay and they want to rezone part of the Town um they want to get rid of our biggest industrial piece of land and make it spot zoning or whatever fits their criteria is little shops or restaurants on our most valuable piece of industrial land so I'm not a big fan of serpent um I understand the $40,000 is not going to cost a taxpayer anything but what they're going to push on us is not what the town of needs and I want that to be on the record thank you okay U Mr Hall you had something on the floor Mr chairman at this time I'd like to make a motion to approve the contract between the town of dayon in the Southeast Regional planning and economic development housing production plan I'll second that any discussion all those in favor I I and Peter Karen is an I thank you thank you thank you m Steward approval of the warrants please just a Mr chairman I would like to make a motion that the town of dayon pay the warrant of March 14 2024 article 38 a-24 11 16,3 $651 article 38 B-24 278,00 59275 article 38 c-24 $399 60 I'll second that any discussion all those in favor I I and Peter Karen is an I are there no acknowledgement so we're going to move right on to the correspondence and I don't have this in my packet does somebody else have it yes I do can you just uh read that ahead y please to the board of Selectmen this is to notify you of my resignation from the open space committee effective March 11th 2024 unfortunately I do not have the time available to devote to the committee with the thoroughness it deserves thank you Dan hey Higgins this will ultimately disband that group uh because there will no longer be a forum Mr chairman yep there is an individual who after April 6 is very much willing to serve on that committee okay I know him personally and I will be submitting an application once my term on the board of Selectmen ends and I would ask that both Nicole and yourself wait to remove this position or or not remove this position I see open space is very valuable in working with the other committees conservation ddic I had the pleasure of attending it was a long day the um house ways and means committee meeting and learned of two incredible things that other communities do with some of their open space land and one of them would generate funds for the town and I would if given the privilege by the board of Selectmen in my future endeavors um where I to try to make that happen Mr Reynolds our Treasurer is aware of uses for open space land that could generate some additional income okay and I would like to work with him and the other members of the open space to create a plan that we will present this town needs to generate some income and there are a couple POS posibilities that would do that using open space great thank you uh we're just accepting his letter we're not disbanding the group but uh thank you for uh offering to put your application in and uh that would give us back a BM so the open space can continue uh is there any public input well we have to accept this letter first oh okay I'm sorry just a second Mr Woods Mr Mr chairman I would like to make a motion that we accept with sincere appreciation and thanks the letter from Daniel Higgins and his resignation from the open space committee is there a second I'll second that any discussion all those in favor I I pet Karen is and I uh public input yes sir Mr STS Robert Woods 15h Street I'm this is the third time I've asked this question to the board uh uh yeah I'm know I'm curious if we're ever going to have a prop two and a half override Vote or a debt exclusion to pay for Bristol Plymouth High School and the yagi school for some reason we're dragging our feet I've asked you guys you know the last time I asked I said could you give me an answer at the next meeting that was a couple of months ago sure so I'm asking again um could you report back to the people and myself sure Mr because you know that's the question that's on the street oh yeah right that is going to be a big tax increase for everybody it will be so when are we going to do this Mike Mullen knows the answer I do okay okay Al like as I mentioned earlier like as I mentioned earlier we were planning Al and we all began planning for fy2 in August of of 20123 uh like in and we began planning for fy2 in August of 20 based on based on the fact that we that we understood at that time that the BP debt that we understood at that time the BP debt would begin ramping up in FY 25 like in the middle of October of 2023 we learned that that whole process in the capital debt assessment wouldn't begin act I like actually ramping up until FY 26 at that point I like we do based on the projections that we've all talked about that we all know um based on based on our ability to pay like and based on and based on where we are in terms of year-to-year Revenue increases that are very like we haven't had as we know any new growth uh like how local receipts have been flat at best um and in terms of what we have been projecting just as we talked about earlier Al like an fy20 5 at this point we're just projecting just projecting once we net out all of our local receipt revenues um at this point we're projecting out like an increase an increase a net increase out like at $50,000 in local receipts in one year um oh yeah so I do go back to actually at the end of February of uh 2022 2022 before the BP election the BP school project the BP school project election like in myself and the and the former Town accountant we wanted to be very clear in terms of oh oh yeah in terms of outlining the impacts and what I like if and what if that question um what if that question passed and hypothetically at the time even though even though the residents even though the residents of D could not vote for it uh what that whole project and what absorbing that and what absorbing that whole Capital debt structure which will ramp up to approximately $900,000 would mean on our operational budget um and so from the end of so from the end of February 2022 from the end of February 2022 like we were clear then um that we didn't have an ability TOs all that Capital debt especially when it especially when it fully rimps up especially when it it fully ramps up to the $900,000 without having an opportunity to without having an opportunity to propose and consider a debt exclusion uh that oh that is what I that is what I said and presented at the end of February 202020 February 2022 oh yeah yeah nothing in my professional opinion has changed since then I I I don't know how we could possibly pay for it without a debt exclusion it's something I hate to bring up but right I you're talking $900,000 uh we can't cut that from the budget there's just no room there going to be a time where we need to make a vote right and it's going to be a time whether it's going to pass or it's going to fa correct and the town's people are going to either have to take it on the chin or bear with it exactly but the time you know people are curious because sure you know we're in tough Economic Times now yeah and people are wondering you know what Bill am I going to pay sure you know our taxes are increasing groceries are increasing the cost of cars if you want a new car today forget about it right um everything is going Skyhigh so you know people are trying to plan for their future young people are trying to buy homes people like myself of trying to retire you know we want to know what's going on can I stay Indi or should I move okay because a lot of people are considering that you know with the tax base going up and up there are a lot of communities that are a lot cheaper in taxes than the town of Titan you know uh everybody we have anybody move uh but you know I'm asking you the board of selectman I'm not asking the Town Administrator we heard his side y you know reach out to a couple other communities and see how they handle y because I think the town of dayon is the last town that has not voted on a 2 and a half override of exclusion and be one or two that I'm not quite sure of but right most of the communities I know of have already voted on this yes so they know where their futur is right okay if you're asking for a hard cut decision tonight obviously no I don't want an answer tonight but yeah you know please let's look into it and let the people know okay thank you very much thank you sir anybody else that wants to be heard go ahead sir I believe you folks all have copies of the material that I will just talk a little bit louder please I believe you all have copies of the mat that I handed out earlier y great thank you good evening and thank you for this opportunity to speak about paint stewardship Bill presently being being considered by our legislature my name is Tom Irwin and I live at 54 Central Avenue in Dalton Massachusetts and I'm a retired chemical engineer and primary care physician while I was a member of the Dalton waste management recycling committee we were facing the same daunting waste crisis that D Dion faces rapidly increasing hauling costs and tipping fees and looking for a solution after a careful study of ways to address this issue paint stewardship seemed like the perfect first step and after confirming was working well in other in the eyes of consumers and retailers in New York Vermont and Connecticut I became an advocate for this law tonight I'm respectfully requesting Dion's board consider passing a resolution in support of paint stewardship we obviously can't pass it tonight we'd have to put you on the agenda um which I'm sure you're well aware of yes procedure um but you've given us this as as the ability to read it and we will and I would suggest that uh you talk to Leanne at the Town Hall to get us get yourself on the agenda for I wouldn't say the next meeting but probably uh four weeks from now very good okay thank you sir thank you Mrs Gul Nancy gulat 631 great Terrace um just a comment on what the gentleman just said for the 18 years I served at MMA this has come repeatedly before our committee initially it was um oilbased paint and then it was uh water-based paint and the committee has always acted favorably on doing something about this and I have reported it every time it came up so it didn't come up during the last meetings this last year I served but it has been a Hot Topic and continues to be so uh at last reading MMA policy committee on energy and the environment did support this so just in in passing um on open the committee I just want to point out this is very very important in addition to the reasons that have been cited here when I brought back the idea of this town getting designation as a community compact cabinet town we only had to have one project but selectman Cronin Z graphus and I all decided we were going to do individual projects may have been the only community in the state that submitted three all that were approved and the open space committee was one of them so this is very important that that committee continue I'm not saying it would affect what we've already accomplished through Community compact grants all I'm saying is it was one of the three and we were recognized because we came up with three mine was stormw water education uh select Minag graphis was formation of the Agricultural commission which was unique in the state for a for one of the projects and the other one was the open space committee so this is just information to keep in mind so Mr Hull I'm glad you're not retiring retiring um a followup to what uh Mr wood said uh and I certainly understand his concern and this is only one item that they get involved with but I just want to make a statement that having worked with uh bill napalitano at serid up until he retired not on housing issues on environmental issues they were very active in helping us form the um Municipal vulnerabil vulnerability plan and the hazard mitigation plan and up to his point of retirement and with Personnel changes in Somerset we had a three- Town project that we thought we were going to be able to finish which related to identifying hazards in our community ities that we could work on together um so I just wanted to point out the the value of other services that we get from serid um relative to the debt exclusion having served on the uh finance committee for so many years there isn't a prayer for a two and a half override in this town we would never ever accept one when I was on the fin clom and I kind of doubt that they would do it now because it's a permanent tax increase uh our only option to fund both Aggie and BP are debt exclusions no one's talking about uh Aggie Aggie's been up and running and it's a much smaller debt so why hasn't that been brought to forward for a debt exclusion it was roughly 110 million they got roughly 50% so all of the communities in the county are on the hook for roughly 55 million maybe a little less this one should have been resolved years ago I mean it's built it's I think they've just entered their first class that's going to be their first fouryear class um I don't hear about that kind of money but when it was voted I expected we were going to do a debt exclusion on that one right away so we're talking debt exclusion why haven't we talked about Aggie and why can't we put that get it voted on get it done so we're just dealing with BP so when you're getting your information for Mr woods and other people in town um I think it's important because it doesn't get mentioned we're only talking about the real big one we have that debt to pay and it's substantially less because it's shared by so many communities in the county but it's an important one so uh add that I guess to the list just I would never support a two and a half uh we can't do it it's not fair to the town and um uh Deb exclusion is probably the best way and only way to go at this point because we could never absorb those cuts I agree with you that maybe the both should be combined or and and take the the hit now but um like I said I wouldn't go for two and a half the concern when BP passed was Aggie had already passed I represented the town of dayon when that vote was cast because in the county people don't vote for this it's the county rep from each Community with a weighted vote my concern was if they come together people should not think they can pick and choose these are two mortgages we got to pay but if there's any way we can get at least Aggy resolved I realize it's not as much money but you know debt is debt and even if the debt were were uh authorized through debt exclusion now we still have options relative to how we pay that so it's not like you write you got to start writing the mortgage check that's not the case we all know with bonded indebtedness it depends on when the actual bonding is done so I think it's important again I and I will add this request to Mr Woods give us information on what we're going to act on Aggie because it's that important great thank you Nancy anybody else that wants to be heard this evening okay we're going to um move on to minutes please Mr chairman I would like to make a motion to approve the board of Selectmen department head meeting minutes of February 7th 2024 I'll second that uh any discussion all those in favor I I Peter Karen is an i Mr chairman I would i' like to make a motion to approve the board of Selectmen regular meeting minutes of February 28th 2024 I'll second that any discussion all those in favor I I and Peter Cameron is an I I know you all having a good time but we have to move into executive session so unfortunately we have to ask you guys to leave uh because we have some other stuff we have to continue with uh Mr George can you stay here for please yes yeah if there could be a motion Mr chairman I would like to make a motion that we enter into executive session under Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 21 A2 to discuss strategy sessions and preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel or to conduct Collective baring bargaining sessions are contract negotiations with non-un Personnel a the police chief contract negotiations okay all those in favor I don't think there has to be a second it's just you have to do I have to ey sry yes yeah we'll call y i and Peter Ken is an I thank you guys thank --------- guys we're going to start if you ready Peter you ready okay okay this meeting from the uh town of Dion's Board of election board of selectman regular uh finance committee special meeting today is Wednesday March 13th at 5:30 p.m. in person at dayon Town Hall dayon Regional dayon reoboth Regional High School 2700 Regional Road North nighton Mass 02764 all right can we please stand for the uh Pledge of Allegiance oh he just going to open his meeting too right yeah so we can do that okay I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you are we going to have a call to order please uh good evening lonard Hall is present Nicole Melo present and Peter Karen present I I can chman V if you want to open the finom meeting we'll open the March 13th uh fincom meeting uh president Peter roach Andrew Horton r m bill okay I just want to mention that for the the record this meeting is being recorded uh there is no public input at this meeting uh this will be uh played on Channel 9 correct uh played on Channel 9 and or at youtube. uh www.youtube.com toown ofon Mr Rooney do you want to start you're welcome so i' like to take the opportunity to thank selor thank and both Town Administrator mull uh and Miss Amal for having us here tonight District I'm joined by the chair of the T School Comm Mr Aaron moris also we have several of our D school committee members here we have m coer m beros and Mr Jefferson and last but not least um we have our business administrative consultant uh from TMS Solutions Mr Brian um we do appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight uh usually these are celebratory opportunities for me to come before select um but I have to admit that uh tonight is going to have a little bit more of a of a somber tone um this is a troubling time financially for our district uh and across the Massachusetts before I start sharing the intricacies of our budget process I do have some thank yous um um I first of all would like to thank the residents of our two fine towns um especially the town of f uh your continued commitment to education is shaping the future not only of our students but also of our district uh to our school committee especially our budget subcommittee we are grateful for your guidance and understand the immense responsibility that you have to submit a re reasonable Legend Our Town leaders have been in convers with me about this since the fall uh the Selectmen the town administrators The Advisory finance committee and others have taken a bested interest getting through this together sends a strong message to our students our staff and our families speaking of advisory Finance I'd like to thank um suen for taking the responsibility of being the chair of advisory Finance uh to be honest we kind of went into it a little bit blind because there weren't really any historical cont that we were able to be given from advisory Finance but um through the budget subcommittee and through um advice from TMS Solutions I think we ended up Landing um a pretty good synergistic relationship between advisory finance and uh the district our union leaders have also been a valuable uh part of this uh process as we navigate uh what is a GM of our ver our staff members tremendous amount of credit as well being in education today is difficult and no matter what the role is in the school district we appreciate our staff members for igniting the fire of learning as we shape the future of our students and our district um last but not least I'd like to thank my district leadership team uh from the central office to the building leaders uh we truly have an outstanding group of Administrators that are living our district at this time um as I said at the outset this is a Som for us um I do not relish having to present this information to you um staff and resources are being decimated in school district e e modify the governor's budget which is currently an Abomination this process has been both inclusive and transparent sadly uh in central office we've not focused on much of anything since December because we've had so much work to do to be able to get to a reasonable uh budget proposal to our school committee um I am very grateful to the constituencies that are um listed here and once again uh I want to thank the advisory finance committee for helping us find our way um as we have reinstituted that that group um as you will see here our increase uh is in line with prior years uh the dramatic difference from the past two years is the decreased Revenue that we are working with this year um last night we had our budget hearing uh I want to thank um select and Paul for being there and I think some of you were also in the audience um I have a bit of good news uh the the presentation that I made to the community and to the school committee last night uh was a budget of 4.24% but hot off the presses uh the school committee last night had the wisdom to contract with the South Coast educational collaborative on two lease agreements that are worth $200,000 in tuition waiters so with the proportionate benefits to each town I am very proud to say that as of this moment we are now below 4% uh we are at 3.84% and the town of dyon's assessment went down roughly $90,000 in building our budget as is the case with most districts we start from a place of providing level services everyone should probably be aware but level does not necessarily mean equal contractual raises annual price increases and inflation are all factors when we took FY 24's $4 49.9 million budget and put in all of the factors to get us to level Services it was an increase of an astronomical 16.6% and we know that this type of increase was not going to be palatable to either of our towns nor to our school Comm and so we immediately went to work as you will see in this chart we employed various strategies to land where we are today um just a couple of examples we went back to um certain spending lines in the buildings and we went to FY 23 actuals uh what I mean by that is uh this District kind of had a little bit of a lazy approach to funding some of their building lines so for example example postage might be listed as $2,500 year after year after year um and we have slowly but surely moved away from postage with digital report cards online newsletters the use of social media and so we went back and we found that in some schools instead of spending $2,500 um on postage we were spending less than ,000 and so um Mr Hyde and I uh went through with our budget manager who are primarily our principles in our buildings and we cut back to the last tangible numbers that we had which were the fi23 actuals uh that helped us significantly uh we also went to work on refining some contracts uh we had some pretty um pretty high number uh high dollar contracts with some of our uh technology vendors we ended up uh hiring a new director of instructional technology back in January and um he came in with the wealth of experience and had a lot of recommendations as to how we could sharpen our pencil uh if you will and we were able to cut quite a bit out of the budget uh with his influence and then also we went through the the traditional um right sizing and Rift discussions um a few weeks ago I presented a budget to the school committee the preliminary budget um at 4.23% uh and then again as I said as of today we are at 3.84% there are some very relevant factors um including an unexpected increase in insurance premiums we originally thought that we were safe approximating an increase of 6.5% but unfortunately we underestimated it and just after the preliminary presentation we were informed by the insurance company that our increase was going to be 7.95% which translates to $155,000 um there has been talk in the community um that the district needs to do its part and uh I've listed a couple of bullets here uh first of all um we have already stripped $1.1 million out of the budget in terms of uh security and Technology contracts uh we are also pursuing an expensive phone system upgrade that is required for safety purposes um we're going to do that through the town warrant process and the school committee is to be commended for leaving no stone on turn as alternate sources of revenue are being pursued and in evidence last night's leases to the South Coast educational collaborative but last but not least uh we have had to right siize nearly $1.5 million in salary and benefits by cutting 21 positions I would say we've done our yesterday uh we provided an assessment worksheet and I know that this is uh very small print um and this is now out of date considering that the school committee's decision last night uh to bring in $200,000 from the lease agreements um I am not immune to the fact that these assessments are still very high um but we have a responsibility myself my team and the school committee uh to build a budget that is fiscally responsible from our perspective at the beginning I mentioned that there are three significant factors that are dealing we're dealing with this year and any one of which in isolation could hamper us uh but in tandem they are crippled they have the impact of a sledgehammer to be quite Frank however we're going to get through this together um so instead of hammers we're going to try to view them simply as the first factor is the one that is absolutely unconscionable to me the governor's budget is giving us $140,000 Less in transportation transportation reimbursements for Regional School Districts was supposed to be an incentive for districts to regionalize Transportation costs are skyrocketing and for us to be given $140,000 less than what we were given last year uh to me is very tonee on behalf of the governor's Administration we only received $70,000 more in Chapter 70 Aid which was the minimum uh $30 per child that the state uh could provide to us so therefore we were starting $70,000 in the whole from just State revenues last year I'm going to get a little closer to my slide here um so on this slide you'll notice that um these are Statewide funding revenues um in 2024 um the State Transportation was 88 million uh the Chapter 70 uh was uh 872 million this year the the governor's proposal is decreasing Transportation by 10% um it's down about $9.3 million and Chapter 70 is up only 2.19% and uh we've all heard the dreaded I word inflation um just some round numbers here 9% inflation in 2022 4% INF inflation in 2023 and projections for 2024 at a minimum of 3% yet Chapter 70 goes up 2.9 2.19% Statewide DRS Chapter 70 went up by 1 half of 1% even though our enrollment went up now not a significant increase in enrollment but still um is baffling to me how we can have more students in the district and the state is giving us less money I I I I'm still waiting for somebody to explain that to me this has to promote uh a call to action the second hurdle is our special education costs and while while this money is well spent on the town's children with special needs we cannot hide from the fact that the 2-year increase in special education cost is up nearly 20% our projected special education budget is $4 million higher B fy4 this accounts for 26.4% of the entire fy2 budget in our district to give you some context on Transportation I ask you to look at these Transportation figures the number of general education students far outnumbers the number of special education students but the exorbitant Transportation cost for both is almost equal and again if you put gas in your car recently you know that Transportation costs are going up our transportation contracts are going up and yet the state has seen uh their way to $140,000 Less in transportation the third factor is the expiration of the eser funds um Esser funds more commonly known around some school districts as Co money uh the past two budgets that we have had um really are have been largely artificial uh because as you see in the green row uh we've had as much of uh as much as an additional 2.5% of funding from um those S grants are expiring um very soon the positions that we funded with Esser uh make up a half a million dollars in salary and benefits these positions either have to be cut or they have to be traded for something else in the existing budget uh Sr grants were very limited in their scope we spent funds on eight positions and we've decided to only keep two of those positions for next year last year I inherited a district that was overstaffed there was no annual exercise of matching staff to current enrolement and this makes me the bad guy in terms of reducing class sizes that were very low in many cases because you'll see here salaries make up 54% of our budget so it stands to reason that any time you make a cut over 50% of that cut needs to come from salaries and benefits in the time that I've been here the school committee has charged me with running our district effectively and efficiently and to that end I have an obligation to be sure that Staffing meets the student need therefore we were able to find some efficiencies this year however I think it is important for me to note that we have gone through this exercise now two years in a row and we are starting to get perilously close to class sizes and case loads that I am not comfortable with I am hoping that there will be an opportunity for our state legislators to make a difference this is a chart of reductions per building or per Department um as you will see there are cases where we had retirements that we chose not to backfill um I've broken it down for you building by building in the teachers union uh there were 16 positions that were cut from the uh current budget and two positions were added back from the esa budget those were in the teacher contract uh so the total number of teaching positions that we are cutting is 14 uh fortunately um three of those are four of those are retirements so we mitigating at least the impact on people and their families PA of professionals uh we cut two positions from s but we are adding two positions uh based on some student needs so the net for the parent professionals is zero uh we're cutting U one central office secretarial position uh that was in Esser um and then we're also cutting two custodial positions um a half at each of our elementary and middle school buildings and then um as far as uh contracted service employees we cut 3.5 positions to give you the context of the cuts being proportional uh here are the number of cuts based on employees per category as you'll see uh we're cutting about 5% of our teachers union staff we're cutting over 8% of our custodial staff 5% of secretar and 5% of our um contractual staff again it's it's 20.5 positions um which again is devastating for us in terms of impacts um I am very fortunate that the school committee placed tremendous trust in me and um in my staff uh especially my principles in terms of being able to mitigate these impacts uh and again to be clear they're work of efficiencies uh based on low class sizes that we started to chip away at last year um and then we continued through this year um but as you'll see we cut the central office regist our position uh we will have to restructure responsibilities in consultation with the secretarial Union same thing goes with the cuts in the uh custodial Union um our cuts at D Elementary School mean that class sizes will go from an average of 18 to an average of 20 um at dyon Middle School uh Cuts in the unified arts department will mean that those class sizes go from an average of 14 to 19 um and then at our High School uh we are cutting uh three general education positions one in social studies one in science one in math um and we're also cutting the high school librarian position the the impact of those varies uh the high school is currently going through their course selection process um but again the trust we plac in the high school principal and her department heads I have a high level of confidence that we will still have manageable class sizes in those departments after uh the right sizing at this time I'm I can live with the impacts uh I would like lower class sizes but I believe that we're still in a place where learning can thrive in closing I'd like to say that I completely understand the impact that the increase has On Your Capacity as a town but we have cut and cut and cut last year it was middle school music and it was Middle School Spanish this year it's other unified Arts last night at the budget hearing it was heart-wrenching to listen to students talk about losing mentors losing electives the financial crisis is now tur turning us against one another in the district we worked so hard to reinvigorate this District culture and last night when I said it was crippling it was not an exaggeration we now have to navigate the understandable infighting that is taking place teachers want administrators cut how come we're not cutting parent professionals the teacher next door has a projection screen how come I'm not getting one the union president suggested that we cut an assistant principal at the High School our high school is one of the significant reasons why we are in financial trouble trying to rebuild this high school is going to require as robust of a team as possible it's like turning a battleship but we have the right team to be able to do that in addition to losing students at the high school it's costing the towns twice because we're not getting the Chapter 70 reimbursement and you're having to pay out of district tuitions for them to go to our regional locational technical competitors competitors I might add that are not suffering from any of these crippling Financial conditions so more than ever we need a robust High School staff and I stand by the fact that I would rather increase a few classes from 15 to 18 students to 20 to 22 students rather than having one assistant principal at a high school trying to be responsible for the discipline and the operation of the school and here's the most compelling fact about the notion of cutting an assistant principal almost every teacher in this District makes more money per day than an assistant principal does our assistant principles most of them make less than $100,000 many of our teachers are in the 80 to 90 to $100,000 ra range they earn that money they work very hard for it but to give you the context of the comparison of an assistant principal versus a teacher it's negligible financially but it is grandiose in terms of the responsibilities and the culture of the building I want to thank Mr Hall um for his presence at the hearing last night and he spoke passionately about a call to action um I shared with the selectman and uh with the Town Administrator um a statement today from the Massachusetts Association of school superintendents um at least they are behind us from the standpoint of trying to get our legislators to understand that this is a critical issue as districts go we are in purgatory um our chair of the department said last night we're not considered Rural and we're not qualified for student Opportunity Act funding our legislators need to hear us on Monday our principles and our assistant superintendent had to call in human beings that are vital to our schools and tell them that their life as they know it in Dr expires in 99 days and others who have taught in buildings for 10 15 20 years are being forced to bump someone in another position at another school several people spoke at the hearing last night about fundraising I was very impressed to hear about your library project I'm a huge proponent of fundraising however we are operating with a threadbear staff as it is we do not have the bandwidth to run major fundraising at this time and not to be flipping we're not getting it done with bake sales and car washes the school committee charges me with an immense responsibility to create a district environment that is both efficient and effective having substantial Cuts two years in a row we are getting perilously close to not being effective I do believe that there is hope I believe this district is on the cusp of a Renaissance the towns are collaborate um when I had to share the the the devastating news about how high the assessments were rith asked for D to be on the call so that we could all talk together that right there is a huge step in terms of the Renaissance of this District the school committee has a unified focus when I when I was applying for this job I had people telling me Oh my goodness that school committee man they they hate each other they're this this school committee supports what we do they always agree with one another but they have a unified focus in terms of improving our district and I'm proud to work for that um our district leadership team is as good as any that I've ever worked on and I've been in administration for 25 years uh we just we just need a little help to get past this crisis uh I do not envy you I know that your talent is taxed um but our kids deserve it so thank you you want to start Mr R thank you for your kind words thank you for your passion and your commitment to your teachers and your students this was a twofold problem and one of the the the problems you spoke eloquently about the lack of support from the state okay and as I said last night and I'm going to do it at this time I will be making a motion to ask the board of Selectmen to write that letter which I will now explain the governor's budget is not the end of the process we have a very powerful supporter who represents our district her name is Patrick Patricia Hadad she is the vice chair of the house Ways and Means Committee and I would strongly urge the members of the board of Selectmen as well as members of the school committee to reach out to her to ask during their house budget negotiations that she advocate for additional funding for Chapter 70 currently the governor's budget has a meager increase of $35 per student for Chapter 70 funding the Massachusetts municipal Association which the members of the board of selectman belong as well as Mr Mullen are recommending an increase of $100 per student be added to the budget as the house negotiates a final budget with the Senate and that's where the house Ways and Means Committee plays a huge role in the negotiations between the house and the Senate with that being said I would like at this time to make a motion that the board of Selectmen through Town Administrator Mullen send a letter to the Massachusetts house Ways and Means Committee and to the governor's office one denouncing the $35 per student increase and asking that the house weighs and means and the Senate and House support the MMA proposal for $100 per student increase to Chapter 70 funding I second there's a second on the floor um any discussion all those in favor I I and Peter karon is an I thank you Mr Hall the second part has to do with something that I experienced seven years in a row as an educator during the days of prop two and a half and I know you're under a contractual obligation to send out those letters but I'm hoping your union and your school committee will also take action to help what we're doing here this evening to reach out to the legislature so that those colleagues can come back to di as I did you know one of the things that's frustrating and when I was an educator it was April 15th the letters went out by sending out letters this early you run the risk of good people leaving and and that's something I'm hoping what additional funding can be avoided but I also have a concern dayon has a older population and with that a lot of people people on fixed incomes and we have an obligation to the taxpayers as well as the students and staff with that being said and strongly supporting education which although it may not appear by my advocacy for the taxpayers you have made correct me if I'm wrong about 1.4 million in budget cuts over million Cuts salar should those 2.5 million in Cuts be returned to you by an increase of state aid would the school district agree to return any surplus above that back to the towns so that they can adequately meet their needs that is something I would ask school committee to think about because here's the problem I have and this is not something that just came about a couple weeks ago Mr Mullen presented in January I believe it was potential Cuts because he had warned us that we were in tight fiscal times one of the numbers that scared me was $190,000 in public safety cuts which would impact our seniors and the public well-being of all citizens in the town of day a month ago Mr Mullen said that the budget presented by the school committee and what the town of dayon felt they could afford was different by $800,000 a month ago I asked the school committee to sharpen its pencil Mr Mullen sharpened his and he was able to make 300,000 additional dollars and cuts on the town side yet no additional Cuts were made on the school side I heard last evening the head of the teachers union talk about the assistant principal but I also am aware that two additional administrative positions were added to the high school this year as as well as a sports program and I don't say that lightly and I'm not strongly advocating that believe me but tough times Force us to make tough decisions what I'm asking again as I asked once before before the budget is finalized is that we see how we can sit down we and maybe that deficit of now has been reduced to 410,000 based on from what I heard last night the South Coast collaborative did that we could work to reduce that deficit even more we understand the pain that the school district is facing but we too on the town side of facing pain and as I said in January there is a need for all departments all of us to share that pain thank you thank you Mr Mike you want to say something yeah just if I could like I just want to clarify like if like I just want to try to clarify like a few things out because we do have a lot of information about like figures and numbers out there right now and oh you know like I like I really want to begin by thanking superintendent Rooney the last like like over the last year and a half we I like I like we have worked together we uh like like at least once a week we're talking either like like either in a meeting over the phone about the fisical challenges uh like about the fiscal challenges that are facing both the town and the district and I mean like I oh yeah like I think all along the information that the superintendent uh like in his administrative team in the school committee has been sharing so the town so the town in the school district to continue to operate based on having all the same information at the same time has been very helpful and I just want to thank you Bill um just in terms of what just in terms of how we have been planning for FY for fiscal year 2025 uh like we began planning for fy2 in August like of 2023 at the time when we began planning in August we um based on the information that we had at the time based on the information we had at the time from BP out in August of 20123 we expected based on the information we had available for the debt assessment for the C Deb assessment for for the BP for the P excuse me for the BP School building project to to begin really ramping up uh like an FY 25 and that is why like at the end of August in the end of August and September we begin um all all like all like actually assessing um our essentially our ability like our ability to really absorb the additional for like $400,000 like in capital assessments that that time would be assessed um that would be assessed to the town like an FY 25 I like I believe I like I believe like in mid October we heard from BP that the debt schedule had been adjusted I in the timeline Al like in the timeline for BP um the timeline for the entire BP debt assessment to really ramp up would begin actually like an FY 25 rather than FY 26 so that did so that what so what that essentially did is given us a little bit of more breathing room to be able to oh to be able to plan forward accordingly so like with that I I said we continue planning for like fy20 L5 Bas on what we anticipated of but based on what we based on what we anticipated to be I like our available increases in revenue and all as we've seen as we have seen over the last few years our increases in Revenue have actually been negligible um iting for FY 25 the only revenues the only revenues that we have been actually really able to guarantee will increase would be a prop two and a half revenues I can I can also about $175,000 in New Growth which net out Al which net out really to be an increase of about $730,000 like all that of that seven all that $730,000 based on what the DI assessment increases have come in over the last few years we had been projecting H we had uh we had been projecting an assessment increase I like of about $450,500 and so that is that at the time our that at the time had been how we had been planning and projecting oh like oh yeah oh yeah can actually really from the beginning trying to trying to guarantee that of that of those $730,000 like in New revenues that we right off the top based on our commitment to education um based right off the top we would dedicate allo had an ability as a town to dedicate about 70% of those revenues to a DI increase uh like as a superintendant mentioned that all changed when Alec when we heard about the Chapter 70 revenues and ohing what oh what actually we heard and learned at the end of last month that uh rather than approximately half a million dollar assessment increase we um Bas based on all the reasons the superintendent outlined oh yeah we had to anticipate uh we had to anticipate uh what until tonight had been had been an assessment increase of $1.3 million now it's down to about 1.2 So based on uh based on our available uh based on based on our available revenues you know that actually has created a delta in our ability to fund our Dr School assessment of about now 700 actually 7 about $700,000 um uh uh what we what we have worked at Town account and I um have tried to do over the last two weeks is go back oh KS go back and look at revenues um oh yeah like I mean like and again we're really tapped in my opinion to the wall in terms of what how in terms of how how high we are projecting some of our revenues how high we are projecting some of our revenues however we did act Al we have Al we found we have we have found um to have an ability uh to actually try to increase our building permit revenues by $35,000 uh like also in our Auto excise we have like looking at our Trends and prior years we all oh yeah oh yeah like we have determined that we have an ability to raise that Revenue by almost $100,000 going in um almost $100,000 going into FY 25 that I like is about like $50,000 more than we initially anticipated I like and then what we had walked back from a few years ago based like on the fact that we were over projecting our ambulance for line um uh uh uh oh we also determined that we have an ability right now to increase our Reliance on the ambulance uh to increase our Reliance on the ambulance fund by about by about 75,000 so that has actually like we haven't actually like identified any uh Cuts yet but like I want to be clear like the Delta oh the Delta that the Delta that we've already begin to try to close has been based on like adjustments and revenues and H and thankfully we have had an ability to do that but like even with the updates how however even with the updates tonight I I I even with the updates even with the updates out tonight I'm projecting that we still have an operational deficit going into to a FY 25 that we need to close to have a balanced budget to the tune like of approximately $450,000 right now and so I kind of wanted to like lay that out you there oh like so everyone had information about kind of where we begin like in this process as well last August and where we are now today uh like in the work we do have really in my opinion cut out for us all like in the next eight weeks or so still with that Mr chairman um there that's where we are like on the town house oh oh yeah like on the town side and trying to absorb b share oh yeah I can share in the challenge that both the district and the town have in this thank you Mike um Mr Rooney thank you very much for your passionate speech uh it was well present presented and I understand and I think everyone everyone up here understands uh what you're up against uh we both share the same problem lack of Revenue and expense uh I I you have an unbelievable job trying to cut expenses as well as maintaining a a environment that you can keep students uh let them learn at the appropriate uh rate that they should be learning at here uh an additional problem of trying to uh have extra enrollment coming from keeping the kids here and we appreciate that like I said we both share the same problem one of the things I want to ask is have you maxed out on your income from Chapter 70 as far as you're concerned or do you think the state is going to come back with more funds I mean I I would venture to say that because this is a Statewide problem I think um you know as select M Hall mentioned house Ways and Means Committee has they they have a lot of stroke um I I I think that we're going to see an increase okay I I don't but I I don't have a all something is better than nothing absolutely uh one of our biggest concerns is our Cuts have uh are going to have an impact on the town uh like I said our our revenue is is fixed and unless somebody else to cut their budgets we have to make a balance budget as you as well I'm not questioning the your judgment on them I I don't know it back and forth like you do but I do know our budget back and forth look breath it every day day goes by that we're not talking about how to how to close our with that said you're one of the bigger expenses for our town uh actually the largest expense for our town and we have to look to you as well as some of our other loger departments what you can give us back at this stage I'm sure you've done as much cutting as you can what we're asking is is there just a little bit more that you can give us one of the things you mentioned is class size um not going back to when I was in school but 18 doesn't sound too begin with I'm not sure what your teachers are used to but is there a possibility that you could look at that class eyes and say for one year we have to do more than what we're doing again that's I don't know your budget but we're hoping that maybe that's an area you can look at and possibly cut it's not something that we're asking for permanently but certainly this year where we can you can help us make our our numbers need and I understand where you're coming from my only fear is is that this isn't going to be a oneyear thing um and I'm I'm afraid that if again you know not only 21 Cuts resulting in over 1.5 million in salary benefits but also we stripped 1.1 million out of Technology resources security upgrades pencils you know um Post-it notes um we were not lazy I'm not saying anybody's accusing us of being lazy in our budget but you know um I I think sometimes it's just easy to get lazy in terms of budgeting and we understood the significance um so therefore you know to keep using the term sharpen and a pencil we're down to the Eraser yes uh like us but but what I will say is that you know I heard our community last night I I heard our school committee last night I've already had a couple of school committee members reach out about some individual meetings we by all means between now and March 26th when the school committee will ultimately make the decision on what is their budget um we we'll by all means try to find any any efficiencies that we can I just I I am getting I I also have a responsibility to our families in terms of providing um a quality learning environment for their kids um and and we are getting perilously close to class sizes that start to concern me okay and we do have contractual limits sure absolutely I know you have to live by those just this the way we live by our our agreements as well um what about administrators is there any room there I mean um the administrative budget has seemed to have increased not this year uh more rapidly than the enr uh has demonstrated there there as already noted there were two new positions thank you um as already noted there were two new positions that were um created at central office um one of them is a treasur gr writer position uh the other is a human resources manager um human resources manager we were uh we were Contracting Services that were costing more than what it would cost to have with salary and benefits the school committee had the wisdom to bring that position on as an FTE um and and other new position was treasur great riter I'm I I was asked by the school committee last night to um get back to them with an assessment of the the value of those positions so that is something that in my discussions with the school committee we certainly we'll certainly look at but um and again every a little bit helps but not going to not going to move the needles or that no I understand that uh it's just we can't move on either either and um like I said being the largest of our expenses it's an area that we as a town have to look at uh like Mr H said unfortunately we're not a cash town uh you have a lot of senior citizens who live on fix some who have no choice but to either cut their food budget uh because they can't cut the taxes or whatever lack of entertainment they might do um not lack whatever entertainment might come from but they don't have a lot of room to their budgets either and like said all just seem to be in the same Bo with no obvious way to get out of it it it is a credit to to all of your leadership that you have a town where people don't want to move you I commend you for that but you're absolutely right we are uh we're all feeling this uh this crisis yeah well the position of treasure combin how much ,000,000 and the assistant principal the high school 95 and you propos the hiring of a certified athletic director last evening at $100,000 how much of an increase is that well should I say is it an increase what you about $15,000 thank you Mr Jefferson we'll get to you in a minute okay uh we want to give to the finance then we can uh take questions thank you you made a comment earlier regarding getting close to the point of not being effective any you just elaborate 30 seconds on that I know um there are there are some people that believe that the smaller the class size the better the instruction is and I don't I don't subscribe to that I think can you use the microphone the microphone's not working the microphone's not thank you um do you want me to speak somewhere else maybe in the center okay sorry uh it's okay um I don't subscribe to fact that you know for every child to take away the instruction gets that much better um obviously a teacher wants to try to provide his much individual attention over the course of class period um but the contractual obligations that we have are those numbers are there for a reason it's not just an arbitrary number that a teacher doesn't want to have more than 26 in the class um and you know we are in some cases at the high school probably going to be getting you know closer to those mid 20s um and at the elementary level there is research that shows that the smaller the class sizes the better again we don't need classes of 10 or 12 uh I I think we can get by with 20 but we're we're at that Mr Ry one of one of the questions I have is uh looking at the per student cost and with the high school being a combination of high school funding and administration it makes it a little harder what is out of out of the money that's allocated into the high school line what is the breakout between high school and administration what is the breakout of admin versus High School costs on on the high school line ad vers High School costs yes okay I know you you had mentioned uh just mentioned about going up against up to the 26 and I know you I see uh we look at where class sizes used to be versus where class sizes are now in the Freshman Class of 138 students um looking at next year's looking at the eighth grade class for this year at 197 in total I could I'm imagine that next year is not going to be a similar number here in high school in that you know overall we're going to be looking at a high school of close to 600 students versus the days when they used to be 900 students 2017 we're around a th yeah yeah that yeah so gu one of two things either we've got more coming just from natural regression or Ian the other issu is then that hits us on the back end as well because these students are going somewh right and you know from 2017 to 2022 when the enrollment and the high school started dropping there should have been compensatory staff modications this did not happen um I arrived in 2022 school committee that was one of the charges that the school committee gave me um we started that process last year we Contin continue that process can I ask a followup question on that there's a website through the state that shows um teachers but number of Educators by year and it's wrong because from your slide you guys are at 263 now in terms of terms of teachers union members yeah that yeah so that's basically the number of teachers okay you said right sizing started last year do you remember how many Cuts have we had last year uh 7 okay so roughly would have been 270 last year in probably about this a similar number than the couple of years before then okay yeah the state has 218 23 so yeah not the only thing that I can say is you know teachers UN members include nurses they include occupational therapist speech therapists I don't know if that number that you saw is Pur classroom teachers but but I trust our with the lease my final question for you with the lease are we where we've got a special education company here now does that save us anything in transportation or any other costs besides the 200,000 Revenue it will um it the students that live in either of our towns that are um placed in and out of District placements with the South Coast collaborative uh they'll still have to be transported from their residents to either the high school or to Beck with um but that we don't have I don't have a it's not more than a half dozen students so um you I I don't know what the realization of Transportation saf is going to be but it is a sa maybe not not necessarily significant I don't think it's going to add to save the teacher job finally one more question what is Unified Arts unified Arts um so we have the core classes you know of math science English Reading Writing arithmetic type thing um but then you've got um you've got music you've got art you've got fys you've got Library science you've got stem you've got computer Essentials those are the classes that um the kids cycle through to not only give them a more robust experience but also give the teachers an opportunity to have their prep perod of the Comm planning time so you mentioned in the slide that unified arts class sizes is do you have what the DMS class size don't reg the math English what those class sizes are uh I can get that for I don't have okay probably looking at 20s so if I the chair to answer your question High School is roughly just under $15 million on central office is just about 10 million central office does consist of prek contr 12 Services uh our technology department our facilities Department the business office superent office all employee benefits pre to 12 all retiree benefits prek to 12 and insurances um such as um work etc but we break all those numbers down for you you can do it in a sortable format if you like and access to every thank you I haven't heard it mentioned this evening but I think it's important to know what the school committee did do and especially f is the question has as I'm surprised how much money was used to help soften the blow to the tax PID and that number I'm correct me if I'm wrong Mr was $750,000 that's correct um we we mentioned last night that even though our accounting firm um suggested that we use $500,000 um I made the decision to propose to the school committee that we use 750 um when I was hired there was some criticism of the district in terms of how much end was every single year and The Logical question of why did you ask us for so much when you ended up returning so much um I'm very proud of the fact that we've tried to um be as prudent in our budgeting as possible so that we would not have significant endd but um you know our our uh submission for andd was approximately 1.1 million um we're getting the sense from uh the Auditors and such that it'll come it'll come in probably slightly less than 1 million and um the school committee chair mentioned um on February 27th I think he reiterated it last night that um you know it's not optimal to be using as much end as what we're currently thank you thank you Mr think you get a break for a minute um we're going going to open up the meeting to this uh school committee that is here and I know Mr Jefferson you had your hand up would you like to go first yeah I'm going to come up and speak as a sure resident individual txp so guess uh couple things a little frustration I'm going to come across so first the reminder is as a regional district your purview is you guys are supposed to be discussing an assessment not line items in the budget and these same conversations have happened year after year with reob and it's unfortunate that people have been paying attention in the last 10 years the tables have turned now re hobi you know they've recovered and for some reason Dion now is can't pay and I understand I'm a taxpayer in Dion we're getting CER but you know the school district last year the year before we gave a significant turn back to both member towns and as we're sitting here talking about we need a hump just to get by this year the town should be sitting on a lot of money that was turned back to me and last year for the district so that I encourage people to consider to get by the one year hopefully things get better probably not because we know how everything's going we're losing kids to BP Bristol agon you know we're sitting here asking our regional district to cut are you guys going to Bristol Agy and Bristol Plymouth asking them to cut no because you know you're going to have to pay it and unfortunately the reminder we saw the infighting that has happened in the last few years between the two towns and we are trying to recover and I don't want to see what happened in years past where we're pitting pitting the town of dyon's public services against the town of D and with regional Services because ultimately the regional districts are set up to protect the education of the kids so push comes to shove if dton says we don't want to push the regional assessment we're going to probably likely go through the process we did a few years ago and go through a tech meeting we never got to but ultimately T HTH would love nothing when they TI pay for the assessment that they're saying they can't so I strongly encourage if we're $300,000 $400,000 off we've been worse in the years past with the towns hold with where they were 1.4 million and we did you know 333 where they cut their Town Services 3 million they came into their end three I'm sorry 300,000 we came into some and then also um they use their but they cut their the thing is we've caught and as a parent and as like Mr Rooney said there's the more we keep destroying this District the worse it's going to get for the town and the town unfortunately as I've asked many times we don't even have a plan how we're going to fund the BP project that we're forced to pay for so I I was not happy this year as many people when we open our tax bills because of years of paying for you know different debt exclusion through free cash but I get the pain but the thing is somehow we got to figure out how do we invest to recover this district and get kids back into the district so we ultimately save the town money every kid that we lose to BP in Bristol Agy significantly hurts the bigger problem so I would strongly recommend if we can find out how to find free cash that was turned back um Clos the Gap this year and as someone pointed out last night unfortunately none of us can plan for the future because it's so volatile every year we just keep hitting the wall Hing by next year and it's getting worse and worse where parents in town are you know upset when Cuts get made at the schools and the thing is many of you know you get a town meeting where parents get involved because they're hearing you know these teachers are getting it just creates one side versus the other and we got to figure out how to prevent that this year because I don't want to hit town against School services but you know I'm here and I'm going to advocate for the school services so strongly encourage if you know whatever can be done to close that yeah you know we we try and do it so sure thank you sir the other school are here do you have anything El you like to ask okay yes so thank you to the chair um Mr Hall I do really hope that uh your motion to write this letter to um the budgeting authorities of the St inre the student age um to $100 per pupil would it would be fruitful um our current enrollment this year which is what our the next year's budget or next year's chapter 7 based off is uh 2549 students and the minimum state aid uh reimbursement is $30 per student which is a total of $76,000 if what you said well you proposed the MMA proposes come to pass of $100 per student that would be about 255,000 so that would be a great impact in in reducing uh the deficits that we're looking at as I was sitting and listening I looked through some uh emails that come I get through from the mass Association School committees and they um have a section about the Commonwealth fudging season um and just looking at headlines we're looking at Darth is looking at staff Cuts wayth is cutting 2 half million Norton 2 St Cuts Triton Regional is looking at staff Cuts Framingham they're are working on a budget with less St than they expected Franklin has A10 million budget deficit and look at a 10% increase wman Hanson is talking about an override and the school uh school committee is saying it's not for us um so it's it's out there in a regional also they they Whittle theirs down much like us to a less than 4% increase but had to do with with staff US um I wanted to come up here and just support Mr Rooney uh we have walked through this entire budget process with him very closely I'm on the budget subcommittee myself um and every step of the way hearing what has to be done and what we're looking at um not only this year but year uh I share his um Rance to cut further um and also you know I understand from side that you know you're talking about using end next year we're probably not going to have $750,000 of available to use um and free cash on the town side like uh Mr Jefferson said we went through that on H side for several years and it eventually ended up in a two and a half override because eventually that money is no longer going to be there but when you build budgets with those Ty of monies at are one time they have they get bu the budget they have to be there so it's it's a rock and a hard place I told Mr Rooney earlier in the season that it's not so much a fiscal clip it's a fiscal brick wall that we're facing uh so we're all in a very difficult situation um and one last thing the a $450,000 deficit on one town on on your side it's a regional it's a regional district you can't just like say we're going to cut $450,000 from B's Ed there has to be a commensurate reductional reduction on the side and that would be well over million dollars cut cutting from what our where our budget stands right now and that's just untenable so I just wanted as the school committee chair want to supp superintendent school comme all right thank you very much good evening and thank you once again for hosting us um this evening thank you your presentation SCH members that are here in business person as well just I'll be very brief thank you to all of you and all the D residents for your previous support as well as what you're telling us today um and I wish that Mr H was present last evening some of you may have been in to tell with these lights um but to hear the parents who are also residents of our town speaking passionately about exactly what we've been discussing the fact that we are losing students to other schools because we continue to C whether it be the unified Arts which for some students are so very important academics Sports whatever the case may be and they were passionate and they were looking for hope it was really challenging to and L to one parent after another come up to us and address the school committee and say we need hope what do you have to offer us and me as you would say the same thing it's a state issue it's many districts throughout the state and my response yesterday to that was as difficult and as ridiculous almost as it sounds in a way it's that it's many districts because we can write those letters that Mr Hull is suggesting that we write and if town and City and town and City continue to write those letters then hopefully at the state level they hear us so thank you thank you yes sir I want the school committee and the people to understand that I'm not advocating that the $450,000 shortfall be carryed totally by the school department that is not what I'm asking for is you join other departments that are going to come under the same rigor as the school department has come under this evening and ask them to also make Cs and to also share the pain as well thank you okay is there toour some I would recommend the journey and then the B just recommend a quick minute recess before you go into your thre men res somebody found keys out there I just want to announce it H everybody top come in have a seat move