this morning is uh we will call our meeting to order which we are doing right now public comments approval of meeting minutes from 220 227 and 36 appointments to the affordable housing committee and master plan implementation committee an oper relocation request um a proposed mou with gr and dustable establishment of a Paving donation fund and Topic's not reasonably anticipated um and then will join all right with that being said meeting is called to order we are recording and public comments do we have anybody in the public that wishes to speak about something that they would like to talk about all right hearing make sure that they know how to unmute I don't know we have any way to do that but there's nothing in the chat right there was nothing in the chat all right and um yeah so um public comments closed approval of meeting minutes 220 227 and 36 do we have them motion to approve or discussion I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from February 20th February 27th and March 6th as drafted second it all in favor I I I um appointments affordable housing committee and master plan implementation committee I don't have a lot of questions here other than I make a motion to approve the affordable housing committee and master plan implementation committee appointments has drafted the two so okay so we didn't do this whole committee before or are we just adding two new people I think if I if you have the packet printed out that Sue sent yeah it's got everybody there okay so we did the other two committees that's I guess I'm confusing those so I think we have we did we have a request for um if I'm wrong and she's with us right now Kelly escalada yes so she's being added to this committee right Jason so Kell Kelly is being added to the hey Kelly hey K Kelly Kelly's being added to the affordable housing committee um as a new member to the affordable housing committee the board created the master plan implementation committee with um with slots basically how the master plan identified the committee so with um you know representatives from a variety of different boards and committees so we included this on here just in case but um the way you could do it one of two ways you've already kind of defined the committee and the rep and the Committees that had representation on it so that in my mind could be sufficient to be honest with you if you want to you can appoint spec these specific members that have been recommended by the individual committees if that makes sense so it's up it's up to you we included it but you know I think you're fine either way to be honest Ken aren't you covering that affordable housing one so I'm on the yeah affordable housing but I don't see my name on the master plan implementation committee list you've already the board's already appointed you oh last meeting we appointed okay like House of Cards here yeah okay all the different committees so yeah I second the motion yeah we're good okay so H hang on for a second all right he hey Jason when I'm looking at the master plan implementation committee y um I've got Leo Catherine John O'Brien Joe Allan Chase and Davis Mike Martin but I do not see Karen on this list he was appointed previously this is this list right here correct he was he was appointed at your last meeting Ron okay so this is is our current members but not complete so it's our newest appointees are these okay so when my point with this discussion is we're going to have a motion to put Kelly onto affordable housing and then then are all these members the members that are going on master plan implementation th yes those are the representatives that have been selected from each board and committee that have um that are on that are to serve on the master plan implementation committee but at this point they're not on the committee because we haven't appointed them right right okay so we're going to have them we're going to need a motion here to appoint Kelly to the affordable housing committee and then we're going to need a second motion to add all these individuals to the master plan implementation committee or we could just do it as a motion of a point as Kieran said is appointing these the way the motion reads to yeah I don't I don't know that I don't have a I don't have the Motions with me they're not here but you want to revise your motion so my motion would be to appoint the affordable housing committee Cali escalada and then the seven names for the master plan implementation committee starting with Leo tomat Katherine UK John O'Brien Joe volchek Allan Chase an Davis and Mike Martin as drafted do we have a second second all in favor I I I Beauty okay moving along thank you Kelly Gonna Move Along here our Opera relocation purchase of pole pads oh I got to hear what pole pads are hopefully this is like a computer thing and not something that's going to sit on the ground so we no these are the what they used at the election yeah yeah so we allocated um just to let you know what the source of the funding is so we allocated 61 oh the I'm sorry the select board allocated $61,000 for a new police cruiser the the cruiser came in under that amount so there's 3,900 bucks approximately remaining in that allocation so what I'm asking the board to consider is to using that 3,200 of the 3900 available to support the purchase of these pole paths which were used for the first time in the presidential primary election um and so the pole pads are used to check in voters check out voters we they used them um for early voting they used them at you know on primary day [Music] um I don't know how to use them but they use they they work great apparently and they're much more um efficient um uh in user friendly L and um yeah and they also I think one of the huge benefits is at the end of the night it's an easier like uploading of um you know all of the data and all the results and all that so it's it's pretty cool said it worked great so she was very pleased with it Bren did a lot of work kind of training up all the uh ins Su did a lot of work and training up a of the election day workers to be able to use these and work it seemed to work seamlessly so um you know we could use budgeted funds to purchase us if that was the will of the board but we do have the arpa funds available and um I think it's a good use of arpa funds and and would alleviate some of the pressure in our operating budget if if you agree yeah so let me ask this question so I think that I'm looking at at the invoice from LHS Associates with is this thing right here yep okay and there's $3,200 here are there other expenses associated with these things that we need to provide for like a service or maintenance contract or you know someone had to load some software on this thing is that how is that is this number all inclusive of everything we need to have for the time being but I do think there will be um much less than this but um just similar to LHS when they come out and service um our other election um equipment there um there is likely to be some annual routine um cost but nothing that can't be covered by our our existing operating budget okay and then and then lastly because I'm just looking at this there were we bought two of these things right yes and so what happens if one of them stops working is that my qu my point with this question is do we have any redundancy because if one of these things stops working then the inbound election workers are only going to be down to one pad right the redund I think the redundancy would have to be going back to old school you know just paper and Pen exactly that is want to buy a third one run for the back yeah yeah that is what I'm saying okay y so I actually I I like that point because of how you know chaotic the you know presidential election that's coming up could be I don't disagree with sort of having a having one in in The Dugout here in case something happens because we don't want to be that town that all of a sudden would back the paper but you know is that what they're 1600 a piece no they're 12 they're 12275 yeah and then there's um a thermal printer that they bought which I think is probably a and that may be another issue because thermal printers are like I don't know they're not around I guess my point with this is I think we should pay this bill Jason but I think you have enough leftover money I would I I would encourage it's not just my decision but I would encourage having some redundancy here and and I don't know what they use the printer for I I I don't I mean I don't know what you're printing but whatever they're printing they need it obviously but my rece yeah it's just a very small receipt for the check-in they just put it in a little filing cabinet that way um if anything happens they have all of the paper copies of who they checked in what ballot they got it's like the receipt you get at you know like Not Your Average Joe's they'll print it out right in front of you to say all right you paid you $100 for dinner that it's like the quick one you get off the machine so does it print the tally too like it would um the whole voting tally I would assume oh no it doesn't no that's a whole separate thing never mind no yeah it just uploads okay yeah hopefully it ties out with the people who signed in and the number of ballots that you got yeah so I'm not opposed to getting a third one just out of being extra careful yeah well I'll talk to Bren and um and get her take on it report back to the board and try to identify additional arpa funds um in order to pay pay for them I think there is some flexibility in other allocations that have been previously approved so we might be able to um find some additional funds through arpa to do that if uh after talking to Bren that makes that makes sense but um I think that's a good point let me uh let me do a little research on that and get back to you to the board on that that make sense yeah of the invoice we have in front of us so yeah let's approve that and then um Jay I mean if they drop one of these things on the floor and the the green fra on it we're screwed we're screwed gotcha and so I like the idea of having um and so the outbound poll Checker right so person comes in they sign in they get a ballot they vote and then on their way out they have to sign out again and then put the ballot into the into the um into the machine right so there isn't a I'm sorry there's there is not a checkout process proc anymore okay so all they do when they're done is just insert their ballot into the machine and that's it that's fine Beauty so do we have a motion to approve I will make a uh move to reallocate $3,200 from the previously approved arpa allocation uh to purchase new police cruiser to fund new pole pads for the elections come on Kieran have another sip of coffee dude come on good that perfect second I did I read that correctly Bailey all in favor I see you at two o'clock in the morning when I'm writing writing offers and writing up houses so guys will be fast asleep all right next on our list is the proposed mou with gr industrial Regional School District Mr Jason okay so you may remember at um at during the budget process at one of the Regional School District um I'm sorry Regional school committee meetings Town manager Gren and I attended uh requesting the school committee to consider one phasing out the use of end and also phasing out the kindergarten fee rather than doing it all in fiscal year 25 and so at that meeting they agreed to do that but there were a couple members of the committee that also wanted um in order to do that they wanted anou to be signed by the school committee town of Gren town of Dunstable essentially agreeing to um what was discussed and so the chair of the school committee sent um a draft mou um outlining what they thought or what they wanted us to agree to which you have um which basically reduces o from 25 to 27 reduces end use 5,25 250 and 26 and0 and 27 to support the operating budget and then reduces the um kindergarten fee over that same period of time that's essentially what this mou wants us to agree to um I do want to point out um and you probably saw that as part of theou that they drafted I also had comments um which I offered at the end of the document and if you want I can go through some of that with you does that are you okay with that yep yeah is that is that what you have in red yes that's that's exactly right okay so I put some um I had some if not that this is um you know if we're going to agree to that they should agree to this but these are some thoughts at least on um what I think are some reasonable um items to consider when considering theou that that the school committee offered one is we we're agreeing if if the the town decides to support this mou it would be agreeing to phase out end over that threeyear period as you know we're trying to do on the town side we're trying to do the same thing with free cash over that period of time and we're only reducing it by 100 each year which will not get us to zero but I think it's fair to say that's any reduction in free cash is also going to impact our ability to pay so if if we're going to agree to their reduction in andd I do think it's fair to ask them to agree you bet um in support our effort to reduce our Reliance on free cash so that was one I think that's a fair ask and um I think we all know that both practices aren't um advisable so or sustainable frankly so that's the first item um the second item essentially says we're both asking for an override both towns of gron and dunable if the override passes you're not going to exceed what the override is um so what you you're you're going to have to and I don't think that's unreasonable either and that's been that's been discussed um in public session and even I think at the last Forum this was discussed but I think it's fair to memorialize the fact that if an override passes we're all going to stay within the parameters of the override and not come back next year in two years and say oh we can't make this work we need another override so that's that's the second um provision that I added um so I also the next piece of this essentially says that if the override passes in FY 28 all of us will stay um our increases in expenses will not exceed our growth in revenue and if the override fails that won't start in FY 28 it needs to start in FY 25 so that basically says that you know if our Revenue grows 3 and half % year-over-year um both the town and the school district will need to stay within those spending parameters um I think that's great a suggest that's another suggested um provision we can consider the last piece is starting an FY 28 um if they're able to reduce their D um funds to what this stipulates then in FY 28 what we'd be asking them to commit to is using 50% of their certified end funds to offset our Capital assessment um which is a legitimate use as you know a legitimate one-time y expense matched with onetime Revenue um so and at that point they should have been able to build up a healthy eend balance to be able to sustain that to sustain this yeah and then this last thing just just in case anything goes really really sideways I just put that a majority of the parties could wave or modify if um if necessary sorry so that those were my um those my were my thoughts after reading the the the draft that was shared with us um and so I think it's fair I I appreciate you doing this Jason because it's it's really really important and it it's really highlighting the situation that we're in and the schools need to they need to work with us they need to work with both towns to the best that they can in order to allow us to continue to pay for the schools so we all know we just can't keep doing this so I think you know I didn't mean to interrupt I I was just going to say I think that you know we're we're all we're working we've all submitted a budget that is contingent upon an override and we're seeking the override because we we understand the need but if it doesn't pass I think we all need to agree that decimating one side or the other isn't going to isn't going to work so you know having some parameters on spending um I think you know if this is an Avenue that can that we can start the conversation about that it it might be an opportunity to do that should there be a clause about you like I know we have that new superintendent coming in like are we holding ourselves to a certain expectation in the event that they want to go a different route like in in decreasing spending with the budget but you know well this doesn't limit the any decrease to the budget okay I think if anything it's it's making the point to the new superintendent it's like look we still have a serious problem no matter who's here it's not who's running the school it's the way the school is being run that is what is apparently you know in part causing the the increase granted I know there are fixed costs and whatnot that you know this probably no matter who is in charge is going to be able to address but um this is this isn't saying don't spend less than you know than this amount this is like don't spend more yeah so yeah because I you know I believe that that new the new superintendent supposedly was like oh I never go outside the 4% yeah budget guidelines which well then good this can hold him to it bring it on Ian he can say whatever he wants right and let's see it in action and if this is providing a guideline to stand behind his words then even better yeah he should choose his words soft and sweet yes very very carefully yeah okay so I I like Jason let me ask this question the the the the concept of this and as an instrument how did this get is this you or is this them or how how'd you get to this point well so they um I think one of one of the members if my memory is correct I don't want to misstate this but if my memory is correct it was um Brian um LeBlanc LeBlanc um I think at the meeting he said that he wanted anou to stipulate an agreement of on both the phased red uction of the end Reliance in the kindergarten fee and I think that was his his way of saying let's not continue to fight about this each year if we agree that these are goals that we should be trying to reach and so I the initial concept came from the school committee the initial document um was a product of the school committee which was sent by the uh school committee chair and um so these mod but the modifications that I just reviewed are mine okay and so the red right the all your comments in the in red are currently not adopted into the overall agreement you're proposing those correct yeah okay and the Escape Clause that last sentence which is the escape Clause right um I I think that is is perfect just the way it is because that's one thing I was looking for but so I think at this point um our board will vote this through as it's presented and then you guys are going to make that a final document but in the meantime gron dunable and gron need to agree to this language as being incorporated into the document right that's right that's right what what what I would do from here if the board uh supports it I would let both the school committee know and um Town manager grottino and um and share with them the modified draft and then let them consider it from from there I mean I I have no issue with any of this I don't Le it kieron no I think it's great yeah my one last question is um we don't State anything about capping the and D fund right so we're going to continue to push into it even though their Reliance on using it is going to be decreased now the end fund is kept by Statute to a percentage of their budget they can't their budget keeps going up yeah but what happens is it's a percentage you can't there you know desie has a stipulation that says your e and fund cannot ever be any more than this amount of money remember going through this before with this issue it's not it it can't get as fat as you want it it it has a limit to it that's right right but that's a recommendation but if they're going to keep funding it if we're going to keep having you know they're going to keep asking for $500,000 a year into the E and fund we're going to keep having that as a that's two you know let's say 100K for our budget for something they're not going to have any usage for well we would expect that the end would then be used for Capital costs so that we don't have to keep doing either debt exclusions or asking overrides for Capital that's what I would expect the end should be used for going forward and then you know any other emergencies that arise so there is a you're right Ron there is a cap I and I don't remember it off the top of my head I could find it if you want to give me a minute but there is a cap on the overall uh balance you can carry and end is exactly like our free cash so it's not something you fund it's it's exactly how free cash is generated but but just on the school side so it's Revenue over expectations and expenditures under what was budgeted so those essentially those two combined make up the end um and and the carried over balance so you carry over the balance plus those two things which is essentially what the certified balance is annually so um so that's gotten really like it it gotten quite large over time and and Reliance on it had increased and we kept funding something that we they knew was their safety net fund basically sort of like our free cash like we knew it was going to bail us out so trying to avoid just funding something that it's going to be excess in the end I know you can't really predict it but but if it if it were to get to the point where it's hitting that cap then we just wouldn't fund it if they weren't spending the money that's right and we're hitting the cap then they they can't ask us to put in that 100,000 if it's over the cap they would have to reduce the assessment right okay we've been we've been through that before and you know this isn't this is the first time that we're memorializing this to this extent but back Leah you were around when Tony bent was the superintendent and the business and finance manager was a guy out of tingor and he made a mathematical error of I don't know 450,000 remember that yeah yeah yeah yep and they needed that end fund for that and so that was the only time that's the only time in all the years I can remember where they actually needed their end for something other than funding them their budget so I I I like this I I'm I the whole concept of it is is really neat um and I would ask that we U motion this through for Jason to uh solidify these additional comments incorporate them into the document um and then we can uh execute it I I think it's I've I've read through it a few times and I think it it's it's perfect it it it certainly um in in my view I think it puts some controls on some of this and um yeah I think it's a great idea yeah one quick question just it's just a not even grammar but what is the approved by BNF budget and finance so that but that's that's them everything up all right so yeah yeah all right I I'll make a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding as described U for Our Town Administrator second all in favor I I I okay moving along item seven item seven is the establishment what someone just triggered my Google hey Google stop mind your own business down Google okay Google stop singing bet [Laughter] Midler all right so we're looking to establish a Paving fund um I I I do know some of the background behind this this had to do with National Grids placement or replacement of a natural gas line um and then we asked them to not pave the road Jason can you elaborate on why we did that and what we're going to use with this money yeah that's it it was um Kemp Street apparently that um Dave Tully worked with National Grid on and um rather than repaving they've um given us a donation of about $70,000 and to make sure that um to make sure that the money is set aside for the purposes of Paving which is the intent of the of the funds um the town accountant recommended that we create this um this donation account where it can where it can sit so um and to be used for Paving in the future and so the use of that money is going to be at the so discretion of the road Commissioners yeah yeah sort of like chapter 90 funds basically it would be very similar to chapter 90 although you wouldn't have the restrictions of chapter 90 so you could use it for smaller you know segments of road if they wanted to I haven't been up there for a while Karen is that street in bad shape they all are well I know but what specifically this one after the excavation work was done with the gas line yeah I mean does the thing need to be are we putting the 70 grand in a kitty and the road needs to be paved and we're not going to spend it on that we're going to spend it on something else I don't know yeah for my money I would be putting money into Depot Street because of how bad parts of Depot are but it's the the potholes make people drive slower so so be it they they do it's not yeah I don't I don't the the funding is isn't restricted for just Kemp Street it's for Paving so it doesn't necessarily need to be used on Kemp Street and I truthfully I don't know what the high highway Department's plans are for the funds other than to be used for payement yeah and they are good about organizing buckets of money and then you doing a large rip of road if you will um you they've been pretty strategic with that um you know the I don't know how they make decisions on which roads get selected when and you know how they are evaluated from that perspective you know they evaluate them and sort of rank them and go through the list yeah we just got notification of our chapter 9 alment that I think I shared with you 181 right yeah it's like 180 yeah right around there y so he'll have what $250,000 in his chapter 90 fund when we put this money up although this is going to be in a different bucket right and subject to a different set of of decision criteria plus plus they'll have $250,000 to spend on Paving well plus the budgeted funds yeah absolutely so but that actually if they have that money obvious these guys have work that they have to do it's less money that we have to budget for them so it's actually a plus and they don't have to come back to us and you know I mean granted at the run I feel like you don't have control over this money because they are the road commission and they have their own autonomy which I completely understand but at the same time it's less 70 grand that's they're going to come and ask us for we have to increase their budget for so my only point with this discussion is that you know to kieran's point that you know there's a lot of roads in town that are in really I mean there's parts Depot Street that a gra that's becoming a gravel road it just is well there's some well there's Maple Street near me there's french Court there near me I mean they're all these little roads so I I don't think it's money wasted no matter where they no but but I would like to see them use it for Paving rather than brush cutting or you know buying some piece of equipment that oh they just did that so they've got that covered I get no well they bought they bought a sander for the back of the old uh rescue truck for I don't know $18,000 so I don't know I I'm okay so okay we beat this into the ground do we have a motion to approve yes I'll move I'll move to approve the creation of a Paving donation fund and accept a donation from National Grid for the purposes of Paving in the amount of $7,250 second and notice that that motion includes that this money has to use be for Paving run so yeah okay yeah we'll amend that okay so we have a motion we have a second all in favor I I I all right I gotta jump off guys unless there's something no I think if we don't have um anybody have anything else that we need to talk about right now Ken motion to adjourn so move all in favor I all right thanks guys thank you see you y e