okay great um good evening welcome to the April 23rd 2024 meeting of the Hatfield select board um I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order um and as usual I'll start by reading our public participation policy the Hatfield select board welcomes everyone to its meetings and all other public meetings of the town of Hatfield all regular and special meetings of the boards and Committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and shall conform to the open meeting l executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as prescribed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it is important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate during meetings at the select board an attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing from members of the community and conducting the required business of the Hatfield select board um we do have a couple of announcements um tonight first very very sadly um wanted to um you know recognize the passing of Maryanne Burke um Maryann is someone I've known personally for many years um but it's important to note that she was the first woman ever elected to the Hatfield select board and I think that was back in the 80s um and uh so and then there was I think only three I think I'm only the fifth woman actually ever elected um to the board but um Maryann was somebody most of us knew she was just lovely um I've been friends with all of her kids since we were all in high school and um and certainly bill and we all know and love Bill too so we just wanted to send um our condolences out to the family and make sure that the community um you know was aware of the loss of Maryanne um and then uh we have a a resignation to acknowledge um uh John wil senior is um resigning from a couple of things um Community preservation committee and field housing authority and he has over 51 years of service to the town of Hatfield in a variety of um different ways uh John has really given a lot to the community um and somebody who's very very knowledgeable um about Municipal workings and certainly the town of Hatfield specifically so we just want to thank um John for all his years of service and um recognize that res ation and and thank him and wish him well um for some some downtime that he very much deserves so uh that's all I have did you have anything I have n nothing else I'm good okay um so uh is anyone here for public forum are you here Peter for public forum I don't think so I'm here for the uh one day L I'm representing Amy who had a previous Comm gotcha okay so we'll get we'll get to you fairly quickly that's all I've got I I think you'll find we're pretty easy to get along with here um so we have two um items on the consent consent agenda and those would be the minutes of April 9th and April 10th I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes from April 9th and April 10th and which one ail you want to do them separately okay I'll make the motion that we approve the meeting minutes from April 9th 9th I second okay motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I'll make a motion that we accept the April 10th meeting minutes um he April 10th under uh topic one that where sworski stated that the building commission it should be in building com building inspector stated that since he does all the paperwork uh he didn't feel that the C for the inspectors was warranted so I'm not sure it was the building inspector that mentioned it and under override question one it says selectman jorski made a motion that we remove question one and pay for that under n sewers funding I think that just has to be rewarded I think that n has to come out that question want and pay for that under sewer funding and just take a andd out following that in the in this question one two page two over wide question one where it says and pay for that under and Sewer funding the word and should be taken out between under and Sewer funding oh you see that okay is that okay I'm I'm trying to remember what was question one um oh that was for the water and um the waste water the additional money for the um the Wastewater right yes so that that needs to be rewarded that's all yeah other than that I with those changes so what the board did was just you know um voted not to place that question on the on the warant on the May election yes we yeah we understand I'm just saying the wording is incorrect that's all so do you want to resubmit these or vote them with the changes what's best for you Marlene um because I'm going to abstain anyway that was the meeting I was sick yeah that's true yeah that that really should be rewarded that's all um we can yeah I'll talk to Karen about rewarding so we'll take those up at another meeting sure okay okay I I'll that with those changes I think we're just not going to take them up tonight they're going to make the changes and we'll do them another time that's fine do we need to do these executive session ones yeah the all settled that was all resolved yeah okay so I'll make a motion that we approve the April 9th 2024 executive session minutes a second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I thank you Karen very much um Marlin can I ask there was is this this is there was do I should I have said something during announcement so that no no so that's in addition to the memo that's already in your packet um labeled topic two for that 61a property all right I just wanted to you you never received a copy of the letter from the property owner and the copy of the map because I had forgot to give it to Karen okay so I think we're ready to get into posted business um our first um topic tonight is an application for a one-day liquor license for a fundraiser on behalf of Piner Valley Habitat for Humanity um this event will take place at RK miles on May 22nd from 6:00 to 8:00 pm so um Peter is here um representing um the folks um applying for the license Amy Landry is probably usually the face of the event she she was committed and asked me to just come sit in on a meeting sure um I assume you're working the event so that's why she's having y I'm on the committee in The Culinary uh I'm do the culinary consultant and bringing in the restaurants that are involved so excellent okay so um it looks like everything's in order um does anyone have any questions no no oh looks good great sounds like a nice event so I'll take a motion on that I'll make a motion to accept the one day Lial license as presented I'll second that motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I see we told you terrible good luck on this my 61st birthday let's get that on the record no um thank you thanks happy birthday happy birthday Peter have a good [Music] night okay okay topic two um is uh um owner notification to sell property that is currently in chapter 61a um so so the town has First Option the town right refusal right this is the Christmas tree farm um or north right um so they do not have a buyer yet for for the property but they wish to remove it from 60 so they want to remove it even before they find a buyer well I they're hoping to continue to see it maintained as a tree farm so and I would expect that it would stay in 61 I guess I'm just saying it seems like normally it's at the time of transfer so that it stays in 61a I'm kind of that's why I'm curious why they would do it early yeah I mean if if if it was me I would keep it until the time of transfer I mean and Phil there's no reason the town would be interested in this land yeah I sent out notification planning board would like to see it continue as a tree of course I think we'd all like to see it continue as a tree farm um and then because that's the other thing depending on who buys it in their intended purpose yeah if the town was interested we'd still have to have it um appraised and I I know that I I'm not I'm talking about if are the there's no roll back taxes if it's staying in chapter 61a so right now because we don't know what's going to happen to it wouldn't it kick in roll back taxes couldn't it it could yeah absolutely so that's why I'm curious why they were why they would do it now I don't know I'm not sure why they're doing it now it seemed a little early in the process because not knowing if it's going to stay in that means it has to come out so to come out you have to pay roll back taxes but if it was transferring to someone else who was going to keep it in 61a or do you pay roll back even if it stays in 61a I don't think so do no I don't I don't believe you I thought you wait a second you pay you don't pay roll back if it's like an arms length transfer out no I understand that but even if it's but I know like if if I sold it if I owned it and I sold it to certain relatives that's an arms length transfer there's no roll back I don't know about that I don't believe so I mean I guess they're just asking us to remove it it's not really frust yeah I I think basically the assessor let the property owner know that they would have to notify the select board but you know technically they have to notify the planning board board of assessors conservation s board and planning board and for any reason it doesn't stay they want it out of 61a the town would have the first right to right that's what they're asking us to that's right they're asking us like excise so right now they're sort of saying they're looking for a buyer to keep it the same so so that it stays in 61a that is correct and they would have to notify us if for any reason the buyer did not want it in 61a anyways well they have to notify the town regardless even if if they intend to to sell it and we still get the rate of first refusal correct that's right so yeah so we'll just have to wait and see on this well they're asking us to vote to maybe they want to be able to Market it as not in 61 I think they're just asking if the town would be interested I think basically that's what they want to know okay so they're not actually because there's nothing to sign to actually release all of that so I if none of I mean I can't see a reason why the town would be interested in that so I I don't think it needs a vote they just wanted to know I will communicate the property owner and let her know that um yeah the slick board hasn't taken any official action on it um and I'll ask her if if she has acquired a buyer okay okay yeah because normally they provide a document that you sign off on correct oh yeah yeah there's well there was nice of them to provide us their intention I think they just wanted to let the town know because it's nice to even public let the you know people know that they're interested in selling them okay um so we have appointments and resignations first is a resignation from Lyn loville from the local cultural Council um so we have to vote to accept that resignation there is no um appointment in in her place so that would leave a vacancy on the board so certainly if anyone out there is interested in um serving on the local cultural Council you could reach out out to Marlene or probably Elena in the town clerk's office and let them know but first we do have to accept this resignation I'll make the motion how we accept a resignation from Lyn level from the local cultural counsel motion made and seconded any further discussion all those in favor I I um we thank her um for her service we also have um a request here to appoint John sh how do I shivi um to the Recreation Commission um for a term of two years um that's great I know he has um young children that I'm sure are active in wreck um oh and he is a soccer coach at Willison so that's really great um so I I think this is terrific um I'll take a motion to appoint John there's how is is does that fill the commission now or is there still vacancies I believe there's still some vacancies but it's yes so I'll take a motion on that I'll make a motion that we appoint John chevi to the recreational commission for the term of two years until 2026 second motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I hi we thank John um for agreeing to come on board um next we have the DPW report um we have before us a water and sewer abatement didn't we discuss this at the last meeting you did we did but but we the request was to go back to the bare minimum and we said why wouldn't we look at pass bills and base it yeah okay so this is the average of the past four years okay that seems like a better way to do it then to go back to the lowest amount you could possibly be built so we want to be fair about this but yeah this isect okay I don't have any more questions on that it does seem like a more fair way to do it so I'll take a motion that's good I'll make the motion to Abate water charges in the amount of $212 54 and Abate the SE charges in the amount of 4248 for nine Prim Rose Path second motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I I topic five Marlene your Town Administrator report so the first item is the sa Park pavilion project Academy um Pavilion project update um so you have a copy of of the projected uh work over the month throughout the month of April and and early May um so the contractor ran into a problem with the existing peers out there under the concrete um so some adjustments have to be made they're just the contractor um kider is waiting on uh approval from a structural engineer before they continue the work um but anyway they uh still are on target to complete the tar U to complete the project the end of May they were originally they were looking at the beginning of May but um most of the work yeah will be completed in the next couple weeks or half of it anyway think they never this looks like it's going to go fast yeah I'm sure it will but still there's always something yeah okay well we appreciate the update from Kyer that's nice to be kept in the loop um so the administrative assistant vacancy yes I'm recommending Lori peard build the position and the board would vote to um sign off on for employee Personnel okay I War do that I'm sorry I got behind on signatures here I wasn't doing my duties so we just need a motion on that salary uh I'll make a motion that we accept like there only need one signature right oh yeah I'm sorry that's all that we accept the adjustment request and for the administrative assistant as presented thank you second motion made in second any further discussion um that's great to have be good to get that have that position filled there's one okay hang on Marlene I'm catching up here sorry take your time all right um so then we just have a notice that another pum firefighter EMT has been hired Max arvidson of Hadley that doesn't require a vote correct we just sign so that's great welcome to [Applause] ma um and then there's another one Jason Lael of wear another perdm firefighter paramedic no vote is required pardon us while we just Shuffle papers around so one is EMT and and Jason will Bell is the paramed [Applause] okay sorry that's my phone all right just shuffling everything around here okay okay um future discussion regarding status of town Financial officers yes I I would like to in the very near future have a conversation with the select board about um our current accounting um system how that working and you know the the treasure collector's position um but I did send the board an update this afternoon an email regarding the treasure collector position so oh you did it must have later this afternoon um but yes I I just think we you know need to have take a hard look at our fin Financial officers they're critical positions to they're really critical positions there's been a lot of turnover there aren't lot of people out there that are available to do this we certainly aren't paying competitive wages to um you know attract um you know the most competitive candidates and it is probably a good discussion to have and settle things up before you retire yeah I'm just I'm not comfortable with you know just where things are at so it's time to have that discussion well I would say maybe put it on an agenda right after town meeting that's what I was thinking yeah okay I appreciate the um being proactive on that to be so that looks like all of our agenda items until we um meet with know we could do topic eight oh what is that why is it way down there oh so that was put there um Ted so a couple weeks ago um I had talked to you about this bike tour fundraiser and the board had asked for additional information I have learned I just received it yesterday so um I was hoping to have the information by the time we posted the agenda but um I have received information but just thought I'll add it to the next meeting um but there will be two different groups of 20 people in each group okay going and they finalized the rout so I wanted to share that with you okay was this the one that we had some residents upset about last year that they didn't know that bikes were going to be going by their house oh I don't know well whatever we'll just make sure that we get plenty of information out that was some sort of tour going on oh yeah this is a farming this one's small if it's only two yeah it's on June 2nd so there's still some so there'll be plenty of time for us to discuss it at other meetings when we have more details right and get something out on social media so people know put on Facebook and the town's website okay yeah that would be great that's it that's all we have until um wow until 6:30 so we can take a break I guess okay did you need anything [Music] Phil I always need something so it's going to be a discussion maybe at a later meeting but we had some problems some big problems with uh with the rain water the other day last week last Friday where so the pump stations at Maple not at Maple Street at uh King Street and the pump station on ferry were running full pipe during the day which is shouldn't be happening because nobody's home it's supposed to be just so there's some pumps connected to the s to the sore line somewhere so looking at the by laws it's stated in the town bylaw that if you discharge groundwater into the sanitary seore it's a $50 fine and going forward for each infraction that you didn't connect it's another 50 a day so we have to I've talked today Cricket about it and we're going to do an inii smoke test up to where we think it's coming from we think it's a North half Road area that's what we think along with other places but that was the biggest concern uh so we're going to do a smoke test and you know I mean if we find that people are connected we're just going to I think it should come from the board of selectman being the sord Commissioners that you have to you know x amount a week two weeks to disconnect that sub pump out of the sanitary so why don't we get people a heads up now yeah they are not supposed to be doing that I just ask you if that's illegal you're treating you're treating groundwater you know it's a big cost between the pumps that the pump stations running as well as treatment at the seore plant I mean so then so just for the benefit of people at home so the sewer Department's aware that there's got to be some sump pumps that are draining into the sewer system they will be running tests to isolate where that's happening so anyone who might be doing that would be smart to disconnect um that piping and and and stop that because we will be instituting fines when we isolate um which homes or businesses are doing that I mean you know we spent all day Friday down there in Ferry you know I spent it with with the sore Department besides the flooding on Main Street that occurred that was due to the storm water system but that was a different an but down there on Ferry Street I mean the pumps were kicking on every minute which they should never do that they should never so this is something new we've had this just happened this just happened okay so somebody's just connected so this this just Happ now since our building inspectors our zoning officer can he issue a cease and assess well but it's not really a use of the property it's it's part of the bylaws though right and he is the zoning officer it's not part of the bylaws it's the DPW regulation it is it is a town bylaw zoning enforcement officer enforces zoning bylaws not Town bylaws it was a good time to start the discussion and give the people a heads up because I'm sure that if there's residents out there that know their system is hooked into the sanitary store line that the smartest thing we can do is unhook it so okay yeah let's give people warning and hopefully they'll just disconnect conduct the test and you know with the smoke test they they block a certain area off and they put the smoke in there and if it comes out the vent pipe of somebody's house you're pretty much poau okay yeah know okay so well it's good for residents to know those tests are going to be run I mean you know it's been an ongoing problem in other areas of town but this was just above and beyond we just the pumps just wouldn't shut off w so I mean you have a general idea where you think it is and you should I think it's a North halfeld Road area that's where we think from from Hatfield beef down down King Street that's where the problem is somewhere in there so I'm sure residents out there know if they are or they aren't right okay and it's new so it's somebody who's done it fairly recently I mean you know Kenny was getting alarm you know he was you know getting alarmed out in the middle of the night where there should be nobody using water and you know the pump the wells were full you know so people are pumping you know I mean with the groundw that was in the ground I mean people are pumping the water some some pumps don't kick off at all but that's all that okay well I think we should um just uh temporarily adjourn while we wait for our next agenda item because it includes the finance committee so we'll take a break take a break --------- okay welcome back um it's 6:30 so we're going to resume um the meeting now um scheduled item for 6:30 tonight was a joint meeting with the um finance committee and it is to finalize the um budget and the town meeting warrant darl do you have um a preference of which we review first uh let's let's go right to the budget I mean we we technically voted on a budget at the last meeting yes I know and I'm sorry I was not there that was okay yeah so but I also clearly understand that there's some changes in the school that we've got to figure out with um um voed has changed significantly so but um how do you want to do this Diana do you want they just go Page by page and if there's anything we need to review or discuss yeah we'll do it that way that that looks great I don't think there's anything on the first page so this is the um like basically the general government page this one looks like it's good to go I don't think there any anything big there so the next page which is Public Safety fire and ambulance has some highlighted um as I communicated to to both boards that I did add $33,000 to expenses um the chief had made this request in his submitted budget um but that's coming from ambulance receipts and and just so I can clarify we technically have two budgets so there is an override budget there's there's one budget and so yes this is this would be to both right so so it would be to both both the override budget and this budget that they we would be adding this the 3,000 no just to this one just to this one it gets it would be included in both because it's just coming from ambulance receipts it's not part of right but they're two separate documents anyway they're two separate documents but but you would still be adding the $3,000 in each budget right actual right oh no no no yeah clear yep yep thank you for clarifying you just um what is that for uh some of the the software that we use the every year the price goes up and it went more than what I originally quoted for so and our maintenance on our life P 15 and L also G as well motion we already voted on one so I don't know if we want that yeah let's let's wait until we get through any other changes yeah because we we may have we need to know the the number right right I just wonder if we want to vote on one at a time or separately only because I mean I are we going what if we don't approve of all of them you know what I mean oh yeah I since we already voted we had voted on it why not do it one at a time so now we know what's happening to the bottom line this would be bottom line neutral either way because it's coming right exactly so so yeah so so from the finance side I would entertain a motion to approve the additional $3,000 make a motion to approve the additional $3,000 from ambulance receipts is there a second yep I'll second it okay any discussion okay hearing none all in favor see please say I I any opposed nay okay motion carries we don't need to vote that okay no okay education education page um now we do have um Connor here and and Christie did you want to speak to the budget in general or just to this particular we are prepared to speak to the budget not specifically to the vocational schools issue that has arisen that's not something that coms through our budget um if you would like to hear from us on the budget we're happy to present as much or as little as you would like this evening I mean this is the last opportunity right for people to learn what increases are about before they're going to be asked to vote on a budget so I think if you're willing to do a presentation on you know the the increases in the budget I think that terms of what T Town's people need to know I think it's a good idea yeah are you guys okay with that I that's fine um and while they're getting set up come sit up forward up up front I do want to touch a little bit on the vog schools and tuition and so just for my understanding where where was it and where where is it going where was it this is where it was so in VOC V tuition and transportation right because it just went up right so the the current fiscal year is operating cost cost is 584,000 $722 250 257 257 so so I know we don't have it so that's quite a yeah quite a hike 307281 huh yes that's what we're talking about and so and if I can clarify just for towns people is some of this I assume is not students because you probably had a pretty good idea who was going in the first number but this is tuition increase there's a slight increase in tuition $4,400 per student upswing which would also include a transportation hike because I know our school Budget Transportation costs shot tremendously up and I think Transportation didn't change oh is the same for V transp Transportation V Transportation can you tell me again so the number that I'm looking at is the 584 976 right what we approved and what's the new number 722 250 right and that's a total tuition and transportation Transportation that's not because we're losing more students than you expected it's only $4,400 that's no no 4,400 per student I understand it's not I don't think it's a particular change in the number of students it's a change in the cost per student I believe the number of students change every year because the nth graders jump on and all of this is subject to who gets in and I don't think that's a known fact Factor we have 11 students currently who are applied for next year and that includes 8th to nth grade as well as a couple in the other grades um but some of them know they've got they I heard that so we should have that number I mean those notices went out I mean people were publishing it wait lists and things come and like that number doesn't get finalized start yeah I understand so it did so so from from the hard part is so we need an additional $137,200 the you know what we have in free cash so right now there's a a availability of 151,152 right and and so already in free cash we're using that for um snow snow and ice which is 100,000 Phil and this year's vocational tuition and transportation deficit of 11,180 okay and those are two typical uses for free cash every year yeah but this is a little different because it's just kicking the can down the road we usually don't use free cash for expenses that are just going to continue to go on and build so so yes that's very well stated and agreed and so I guess one of my questions for you guys is got any money kicking around yeah I mean I I don't see how this can just come from the town side of the budget there's no way can let us walk through so that the select board hears what we're asking for and what we have cut already so that you have that perspective before we start that conversation is that reasonable can I just I do have a question in the back so I just want him to be able to ask in case you can make sure you answer it so Luke Long Street 152 Pantry Road um the current number that was on the board the 586 or whatever um I'm just curious that number that was presented how many kids is that currently funding 584 976 how many kids is that currently funding to go locationally I I don't know off the top of my head um I know that next year we have 31 students um but just the so we can look at the numbers the numbers on our and calculators or whatever yeah is that for 26 kids is that for 12 kids is it for so I think what Conor say we don't know what the exact is for last year or what the budget was built for I can tell you Charter vocational collaborative students in 22 we had 31 that were out in 21 we had 32 I think we're talking about 31 that we know of for next year and you're asking for $2,000 this isn't the school budget this is the vocational school budget V increase their school their school cost per student $4,400 per child for next year yes then do does halfeld school get a choice to not send kids so if so so if you do the math with 31 it comes up pretty close to 137,000 with just the $4,400 but that's okay that's I'm not I'm just asking some people are going to ask that question kids that graduated from V so they'll cycle off and then there'll be some some new kids that cycle on you're expecting it to be Net Zero I don't have right now number students expect to graduate I know we have 11 who new students who have apply for next year um typically we have roughly the same number going com out but I don't know the number of expected graduates from scho yeah and and and for people sitting here just remember these are two separate line items and right there's no way that you can move between the school does not have the ability to move between line items you know right right I'm just trying to justify but the budget is reduced by a certain amount it goes into the general fund that we're able to use to fund this with oh yeah so if if if potentially right I guess keeping in mind that we but I I believe and Sean I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt but we have an obligation right if our students apply and get accepted and want to go there we have an obligation to do that we don't have an obligation to use myth vocational we do have an obligation to provide vocational education it's yeah it's more complicated than that I mean you'd have to you'd have to find it's more complicated than that I don't have the law in front of me so you'd have to kind of look I'm not suggesting we don't do that because I think that for kids who make that decision it's really important to them it's it's a good choice for them right and this isn't where they want to be so I think it's also important though to I I'll let one more question but then really Qui does this mean that children who are currently eighth graders that are school choice children that we as that feel responsible for they're going to V if they got accepted or is they're sending Community responsility that's I just real sorry I mean also we should know that Smith vocational is not a Regional School right so we don't actually pay the full cost of what it costs we don't pay any Capital expenses at Smith vocation right so the building the equipment anything that's a capital cost we don't pay so the city of Northampton Bears all that cost on their own and in exchange for that they have controled the the trustees have control over the school because it's not a Regional School we don't have representation on it like that but we get a bargain I guess my my point is I'm just trying to understand the number so if you're saying that a $200,000 increase is not 200,000 137,000 137,000 is equal to $4,400 per student for 31 students yep if you run the numbers on that what's it currently cost so for if this budget's built for 31 students at 584 no it's yeah right yeah that's what you just said is currently it's going to cost what $9,000 to how many thousands of dollars does it cost oh I see you're trying to get at the current Fe right right so then we figure out what this percentage increase is to see yeah but I this number negotiable L it's like we can't exactly there it is what it is we have it's a it's an obligation we have to pay and the 584 has both transportation and tuition yes both both sides that so I I do but so Luke I get what you're asking um it's about $199,000 $19,000 so I do want to get back on track and let the school have a moment to run through um sure so and we appreciate that that's a really big change to absorb at this stage that's hard yes so while that increase request is quite significant um the schools are the public schools of Hatfield are looking for a much more modest increase we're seeking a 2 and a half% increase in town support which is an additional $149,300 or 9 A5 per. and to give some context to that we've seen meetings in Northampton speak to the fact that their level Services were an increase of 14 14% which might be part of the reason we're seeing those vote costs where they are and so while we're seeking an increase in town support the school budget in total is reduced so then if it's reduced then why do you need more money we we're going to walk you through that we're going to show you what so keep in mind level Services was at 567,000 more we're only asking for 149,000 more okay so you're going to get to what what's cut being cut and where the increases are driven from and so if you'll turn to page three um we did want to because this is one of the only opportunities we have to talk to Olive town to talk about there is a really positive impact from the investment we made last year we maintained two classes per grade level and six specials at the elementary school the Middle School model was maintained we continued to have small core classes JV Sports was maintained xblocks an advisory time at Smith Academy which is part of what helps build community and keep our students um we also continued our AP and elective offerings five out of eight of which would have been cut with the loss of four full-time Smith Academy staff had we not made that increase into the school's budget we were also able to add funding for psychologist at the elementary school for after school clubs and genius hour at the elementary a full-time music teacher at Smith Academy which one of our insights of like where we're losing students is to the Performing Art School we're adding more Performing Arts to help keep those kids with us Middle School sports came back elective classes came in without adding new teachers and we were able to reintroduce the French language program we made every effort to hire a Spanish language teacher at the elementary school but were not able to actually fill the job and so if you wondered what that got class the tides are really turning a year ago when we were here we lost a net of six students 23% between sixth and seventh grades this year we lost one we lost a student but it's a far cry from where we have been the past several years this year's kindergarten has seven more students than last year's kindergarten and since October 1st which is the date that all the numbers are recorded we've actually gained 13 students Choice students not all not all some moved choice and local yes so um the rising cost like all school districts we're seeing significant cost increases again for next year we have a new bus contract um that bid we had a single bid and it came in 42% above where the current costs are for the same routes that was a $46,000 increase we have contracted salary increases those are only at 2.6% but that's part of what we're um obligated to pay we have building maintenance contract for the elementary school which has had some ongoing issues there's an additional 21,000 and we have implemented a rotational equipment replacement because we have a whole lot of equipment in both buildings that is past its lifespan but instead of trying to replace it all at once we we're doing it in bits and pie pieces so that we have a rolling program also so that wouldn't hit any budget all at once again down the road um and we've taken sort of a new approach to budgeting for food service so the free free lunch program is continuing from the state um however and this isn't special to just us that doesn't actually cover all of our costs um we were able to cover that this year um but it hasn't historically been budgeted for we're budgeting for it this next year so we've added 25,000 to cover for food service in past um when families paid for lunches I I've seen us cover up to about a $42,000 deficit to cover food service costs so this is actually a good deal compared to where we have been in the past um with that said those are a lot of increases that are beyond our control there the bus contract if we put it out to bid could be worse in fact other districts we seeing much worse in terms of their new bus pricing so with that um increase of 567,000 we actually went back and said we need to make significant cuts and so our budget cuts out $721,000 we made 72 line item cuts to get to that the most notable we've restructured Administration saving us $107,000 so that um this budget would continue what we internally call our super principal model um where we have Dr Driscoll performing the duties of both principal of Smith Academy and superintendent um there is an an a some offset to that because we have a dean of students that moved into a role that didn't that hasn't existed in some years um but all that restructuring did make a significant savings we have Staffing tweaks that won't impact class sizes or offerings to the tune of 95,000 we anticipate a reduction of outside tuition through graduation which would be a savings of 30,000 we're looking at how we might scale down depending on the need for preschool um we're anticipating some retirements which always have some savings that go with them um and we rebuilt this budget from scratch which is the first time since I've been on the school committee I have seen that done and so it's based on past actuals and not past budgets and that may only have great meaning to the F my finance committee Partners but it is a significant um bit of transparency on the school district's part to really cut back to just the dollars we know we need and have known we needed in past budgets can I just stop you and backtrack a few things going back to the page the FY 25 Rising costs I just wanted to go through those a little bit so the bus contract I understand what you can do about that the contracted salary increases um that's it's a that's a big number and I will tell you though that other departments where there's a contractual pay increase or told to absorb it in their other um in their expenses and other line items um so I just want to point that out that on the town side there's been some budgets that have had to really be creative and make some cuts to be able to honor those contractual obligations furthermore the building maintenance contract why is that not part of the DPW what is that what are we talking about primarily here we're talking about grof par at the elementary school um we have had leaks since from my understanding since the uh school is basically built um and Ms have had become more significant in recent years we're not eligible yet for the um School building authority uh for those grants we're still a few years out from that we're hoping to get one um this will get to on the warrant these are not normally expenses that are built into a budget we have always absorbed these costs right the difference with this budget is that we we have built them in because we know from previous actual and previous years that they're coming um so in the past there had been a practice oh we'll take it from this line if we think we might not spend as much from this line we'll do that we did away with that we based this Budget on what we what we really anticipated we will need from each line and when we look at what we've spent in the past few years on uh HVAC HVAC and roof repairs are the two biggest biggests so so Diana I just want to go back so the contracted salary increases everybody in town in the budget to finance committee put together everybody gets a 2.6% increase I understand that and so so so I want to clarify that everybody everybody received that no matter who they are there were departments that elected to pay more out of above that and they they're taking that out of their budget but everybody got a 2.6% increase okay I I just have one question it doesn't pertain to the budget but you said the elementary school roof repairs and there's an article in here to put a solar system how does that affect with you need roof repairs and put in solar will they put in the Solar then a couple years you got to rip them off to put in the roof the so that thank you for that because that gets to the warrant question the reason we wanted that on the warrant is because we as we know that a grant is coming out this summer uh it's called The Green School Works Grant and it is specifically designed for schools that are that have aging roofs aging facilities that aren't quite to the 20 or 25 year mark or 30 however far the kcks it out um that could use some refurbishing of their specifically their roves to get them solar ready so the warrant is on to prepare us and and position us to apply for that Grant competitively no no that's great it's good question there's no guarantee that we will get it we just want to be incredibly prepared because my understanding of the grant is that it would pay for the replacement of the roof in addition to the solar panels it would be Mana fromen it would be you know a grant in millions of dollars which would be hugely beneficial um that work likely wouldn't get done until the following summer so we still have to deal with leaks at least you know even assuming if we get that Grant we would have still have to deal with the leaks through this year okay so I understand that but I I did think that typically all of those types of building maintenance things went through the building maintenance department no Phil no okay and then the not the equipment replacement the 54,000 that sounds like Capital stuff to me is it not how why is it not part of capital planning why is it being built into a budget well one there has not been a capital plan approved that would cover those costs for the past couple of years and this is a few units at a time instead of like all of them at once so the past when it's been a capital expenditure it's has been Big Blocks of equipment that like all the teachers computers might get replaced at once this is looking at doing a handful of things at a time so that we're using technology to the end of its life as it gasps for breath pleas so are these the are these the Chromebooks or are we talking about furniture what are we talking about in this this is there a few different areas the first is connectivity so our networks right now are they're aging out we um we have networks that are going to be going down over the next few years because they just passed their their usable life so these systematically replace part of that this year um we also have uh projectors in every almost every classroom in the district uh and we've lost about 10 of those this year that have needed replacing um and we're expecting to I mean the fact quite frankly that they have held on as long as they have is pretty miraculous um so we're expecting more of those to go down over the next few years so we're hoping to replace about 10 of those per year um to be able to to get through the next few years um and then start that cycle so every year we replace you know we have a plan to replace five a year every year for the the life so I mean John sits on the capital plan planning committee with me I mean these sound like you know there's a reason we do a capital plan and a reason why we sometimes fund things and sometimes we can't fund things but based on the dollar amount and the lifespan of these pieces of equipment that sounds like Capital not budget what did we do at Town Hall when we replaced the network equipment there was articles and stuff for that we built that into the budget built it into the budget and the same same you know but that's the tech that's the I mean the Chromebooks that kind of technology is built into the budget right that's part the Chromebook and specifically teacher laptops which are the teacher laptops are at the end of their life that that's included in here as well placing those systematically I mean I'm just gonna I I need to ask these questions because I truthfully I would rather they come out of the capital budget but I also Rec I also recognize that we need equipment in our classrooms and I understand but what we wouldn't accept from another department putting capital items in their budget just because they couldn't get them through the capital plan is my point there's a reason we have a process okay so those were my questions on that page I'm sorry and I'm I'm the next one I don't have any questions on so moving on to page six um you know we've spoke a little bit about the that we've sort of philosophically budgeted from a different standpoint that started at scratch and built up um it lacks the flexibility that some prior School budgets have had as a as a result by the close of this year we're looking at around $156,000 of unbudgeted leaves of absence within schools and his 2023 was not cheaper and this year we're only able to manage that without coming back and asking town for help because we couldn't fill all the staff openings that we had and we restructured Administration mid year which found some savings prior my understanding is that the committee and superintendent would come back to town finance and ask for help and we're just recognizing that we should plan for some of this it's while the details and the specifics aren't known the fact that it will occur is planable and so we've added in $85,000 for leave of absence and that's really our only cushion in this budget like I said we built it up using what we knew we would we would pull from each line um and so this this 85,000 that's our that's that's that all that cushion that is now put into one spot one and one one cushion and cushion for something that will come it's not we just don't know where when so if you turn to page seven um I also we just wanted to be really upfront about our school choice budget so historically we've had a very healthy school choice fund um but since 2018 we have been spending down our available school choice dollars to help offset the cost of schools um the fiscal 25 budget takes and spends what we anticipate what desie has forecasted is our preliminary posted tuition funds we're we're budgeting in 99% of that at this point so based school choice dollars are always based on the school choice you have this year is the dollars you get for next year so it's always off by a bit so we're anticip we've budgeted for 620,000 in our current budget to come from school choice dollars as a comparison the current year we had $827,000 of school choice monies included um part of that 180,000 was the end of the balance of our school choice revolving fund and again we've been spending that down from 2018 on a little bit at a time but we certainly weren't going to come and ask and support an override if we hadn't also spent what we could spend out of those dollars so Choice dollars a year ago were s that were new dollars were 647 th000 while we are 9% down in Choice fun versus the prior year a year ago we lost 28% in Choice funding so again while it's not where we want to see it and where we're working to get it to turn around and we have reason to believe that it will we're seeing the tide turn so to be 9% down in that funding versus 28% down in that funding from a year before I think is a good State it's going in the right direction and we need to keep working on it so I just want to clarify so total enrollment from this school year to last school year is up because you said you lost a student but then you said you gained 13 we're saying we're up 13 from when we documented with the state on October 1st total enrollment is down down this year not as far down as it had been the year before okay so so it's down so I thought you said you only lost one student so it's down she only lost they only lost one student in a transition from sixth grade to seventh grade in that key year that okay so overall enrollment we lost how many students in fiscal in this fiscal year get to it later I'll double check if we don't I'll come back Diana and find it for you drawing down on the school choice funds since 2018 that's at the same time that there was a lot of extra covid money flowing into School departments and then needs based on Co were going up and so those extra um arpa dollars were were necessary to meet needs yes okay yeah s for dollars for us so um if you look at the bottom of page 7 I just wanted to visualize what we're talking about as a difference so the dark purple line is fiscal 24 the line below that you see the additional cost increases is yellow you see over to the far right where we've cut the difference in town spending is that little white box that's 149,000 the difference in the total budget is just short of 154 so that's the magnitude of the change of the budget is that those bars are proportional and if it doesn't show up as well as I wish it did but you'll see the Shaded area is the funds that we get from school choice and grants so I see with the little Chevrons yep okay so the difference there is mostly our choice funding but we're looking to build that back okay so as we work to do more with less the cuts that we've proposed Ed are really we're working to make sure that they're as far away from the classroom as possible because we really need to maintain our offerings it's key that we don't cut more because we're still working to build back enrollment both in Choice students who bring tuition with them and to keep our residents which also helps the town budget because it will save on outgoing tuitions nearer level services will include maintaining small class sizes which is key to the district plan maintaining a preschool offering keeping the number and diversity of electives at Smith Academy expanding Sports offerings to include middle school teams whenever possible maintaining software that's available to students maintaining technical support continuing rigorous professional development for staff and adding two new electives through semester course offerings without a staff increase page nine documents where we are um looking for Staffing current versus proposed and you'll see that it cuts a teaching position and it cuts some um educational support professional roles cut it administrator so you're basing this on Five new elementary students and 20 new Smith Academy students we're looking for that kind of growth but the costs don't change depending on that growth we need to maintain the classes and the offerings for the students we have but I think we're saying we see opportunity and we've seen a really strong interest in school choice as we put it out this spring one thing compared to last year is um you know we we uh we had we had the applicants that we were hoping for we had 40 40 plus applicants for school choice last year we um what we didn't do is we didn't get a commitment from those applicants and we weren't able to until we had that the final um the final budget from the town we weren't able to say you know you you're guarante the spot because we didn't know if we were going to have to go back and and cut those positions which would have significantly impacted our ability to F school choice um this year we you know we're within the classes that we're we're seeking here we're able to grow we also have changed our practice so that when we accept students for school choice after the school committee votes we we give them that acceptance and ask for a commitment within two weeks so by the 30th of uh April we should know with with pretty good certainty how many St of the 31 students that had already applied for next school year are accepted and accepted is that time frame um in line with other districts so it's not going to it is okay it wasn't previously and last year we couldn't fix it because we couldn't make a commitment until we knew we had a place to put them okay so but so still if I'm reading this if you know you're losing about 11 potentially let's say 10 students to voke and you're projecting 150 you're you're actually really projecting a gain of 30 students because you've got a loss of 10 that's ambitious and how many did we gain last year we gained eight or nine before and 13 C and so we have changed our policies both to pull it up earlier both to pull up the schedule so that we are getting them in and getting acceptances earlier um but also to change to allow for a rolling admission so that we're taking students midy year because if students are moving we we want to catch them then because we can keep them so um the next slide is just another way to look at that budget depending on sort of what how folks need to see it and where those funds are coming from um again it's while the choice dollars aren't where we want we're we're getting into position um Behind The Numbers Chapter 70 is not expected to see significant changes unfortunately we're looking at maybe $30 per student um there's you know the notable differences all of our sr3 dollars are now spent we were probably on we spent more s dollars earlier than some districts um and Chapter 70 budgets haven't kept pace particularly with the fiscal realities of rural districts so and so I'm curious what are you hearing about projections with the new fair share Amendment and the filtering to education on that because um that's where it's supposed to go we haven't heard that it's coming to K12 as uh in specifically to communities like otheros it's one of the challenges and I don't know exactly what you're talking about out but when you know we are a fairly affluent community and any of the affluent communities they're not going to get this money is and that that's the problem with Chapter 70 I don't see Chapter 70 going up to to communities such as ours is that accurate that's accurate a lot of that um a lot of that has been from what I understand the the state budget has been allocated to hiring as well some of it is but not all of it we did take a look at if there was no increase in funding a zero budget um and the kind of cuts that it would require if you level funded the school department um we would be back into the conversation that we had a year ago when we were looking at if the override didn't pass not quite as dire but similar conversations we would be losing an additional two to three staff we would have to cut multiple AP classes we would lose academic electives we would lose the Middle School model which honestly is one of the gems of our district um and we would lose some Key Elementary specials and you would lose those things because of losing the two to three staff members that's correct okay because there's nowhere else to cut the budget other than 75% of our budget goes to salaries there has been some question about the district's future and if the override helped and and we want to make sure that we're making sure people understand that that had a huge impact to help us rightsize our budget and invest for growth and there's some indicators that we think are really key that folks should understand where they consider that schools are vibrant and have a good future um we can look at school choice Trends some enrollment history compared to current numbers the alternative costs and our academic performance and offerings so on the school choice front while we're down we're still ahead of the curve and that's key so in 22 we lost 17 Choice students in 23 we lost 24 Choice students in 24 we only lost eight our current Choice student population is 26% of our en enrollment which is still up from our 20-year average of 22% it's also a higher share of choice students than many districts around um Frontier has been holding steady in their number of choice students but their overall enrollment has been dropping so they have a higher percentage than we do at this point um Hadley is one of the only places we've seen gaining in Choice um it's still not quite the percentage of enrollment and they have been marketing and and that's no notable Northampton is dropping about 10 Choice kids per year it's only about 7% of their enrollment Pioneer is down to 48 kids coming in that's 8% and 40 going out Mohawk Trail is at 13 ammer at nine and Holio at 3% so when you say nor is dropping are they making the decision to not accept or they're not getting the choice kids St and then um in it so these Choice students for the fiscal years you list fy22 2 3 and 24 and those numbers that's strictly choice not that doesn't include voke do you know the voke numbers for those three years not on this page but let's see if we get there because I think it might be in the appendix so the next bit of data I'm not I'm not going to try and read all of it to you but I want to show you what it looks like so that you're understanding the the Deep Dives we're going in to make sure that we understand what's going on with our enrollment and our budgets so we did an analysis this year of 30 years of enrollment by grade and so what you see is tracking those classes from kindergarten all the way through um it looks at shifting enrollment every year grade byg grade it looks at a cumulative shift for 19 years um and it let us see Trends where we're gaining and losing students by grade and we broke it out to look at 30 year 20 year 10 five in the past twoe averages and highlighted the outliers which you're going to see on page 17 so what we know is there's always a loss before a 9th particularly because they haded devoke which we understand and we don't discourage students from going to voke the loss before sixth grade is particular to the past two years it's not unprecedented but it's significant especially when it's been back toback and we've done a deep dive into that and much of that is because those students are looking to go to middle school as opposed to State Elementary um over the course of the history the percentage of loss is greater at hes than at Smith Academy um the decline isn't from losing our students it's primarily a shift in the overall population there's just fewer kids and that's not particular to Hatfield when we factor out the last two years and look back at the previous decade classes on average gained seven students between kindergarten and graduation and the the exceptions have been those um the class of 23 they moved right they had a greater percentage moving before 9th grade and the class of 24 they had eight that moved out before 9th grade but they also lost some before 10th and they lost a little cohort at kindergarten kindergarten numbers also speak to the district's potential the past 20 years we've averaged 26 enrolled in kindergarten the current classes at HS average 25 students in kindergarten so if we can get them in and keep them there's no reason that we won't continue um be able to continue to thrive in the district so um just a heads up sort of Shifting Gears about um if we didn't spend our education dollars locally um right now our education spending is on par for the state as a percentage of total budget so if you look at all the municipalities across the state and you take an average of what their percent spending on education is it's where we are they're right it's 50% across we're at 51 if you look regionally and you look at districts that are most similar to us I've grabbed those on on um the next page with numbers cut off sorry um you'll see Neighbors that are regionalized including Sunderland and Deerfield field are spending 59% of their budgets on education and one of the things that we can point to is regionalization were cheaper our neighbors would be saving and that's not the case when we look at districts that are in our neighborhood and similar in size to us across the state the comparative Town average spending for education is 52% but like local communities hyper local ones like grany and H are very low at 38% and 45 but yeah you're saying at 38% had is attracting a lot of that's their spending that's because their overall spending is quite high it's not that they're spending less per student so if you go to the next page you'll see the spending per pupil Hadley is still spending more per pupil than us yeah they have a split tax rate in Hadley sure a massive tax base yeah yeah yeah I get it local just clarifying and so that's why we're kind of looking at Big grouped averages um and then also at a per student basis so I would like to commend us that our our investment in our students and our kids between 21 and 22 so the last the Desy data that comes out that gives Apples to Apples that factors in all spending on education and looks at cost per pupil um it doesn't keep up with it's laggy right so the last year we have is 22 a year ago when we came and shared this data our spending per pupil was in the bottom 6% of the state and in 22 in part because of Esser spending but other Investments we've made we're now in the bottom 35% of the state um our neighbors are in the top third so um in particular Regional districts if we were spending what it cost to send kids to Frontier with the number of our students we'd be looking at almost an additional million dollars you mean our students that live in town if we every student that we would be required to pay for by law we would be looking at close to a million dollar I I really think Dr drll gets to present the academic accomplishments sure so the last page here is um this is just kind of a a comparison to surrounding districts because I think it speaks to what we do and what we do well um you know we we could talk about the colleges and universities that our students go to they they go to very competitive very good colleges and universities we routinely hear when they come back that um freshman year was easier than senior year which was great we like to hear that um but this is what the state uses to kind of to to assess schools um they use they use mcast 10th grade mcast is a graduation requirement it's also kind of the culmination of a lot of work that's gone in um from younger grades up through up through High School have through high school anyway um and so you can see the these are um the percentages of Hatfield students who scored either um exceeding expectations or meeting expectations which are kind of the two um two highest passing for categories of mcast um you can see we do well Ela math and science which are the assessed uh subjects 83% in ela math 72% in science um comparatively you can see where other um area towns districts score and then what the difference is and so we're routinely scoring um double digits higher in those categories than we are uh than some neighbors with the exception of um Northampton who's who's two point higher than us in SES um in 10th Grade so that's you know I think you know sometimes we hear um we we we hear things about the schools that that you know they may not be preparing they may you know here kids these days don't know X Y or z um but they do you know we're we're seeing we're seeing success and and I think these are the kinds of um bits of data and information that are starting to catch on and folks are realizing that one they're getting an incredible value um as a taxpayer for the education that we provide but that we're serving our students really well and I think we're you know one of the things we're here today is to say we can't we can't cut from this um and that we have faith that with continuing at the level we're asking we can continue to see some growth that will only help ongoing future budgets okay I have a I have one just quick question that I should have asked before um and then I know there's a couple questions we do have to keep it kind of brief um but I just want to go back so the food I just want to understand this the Food Service you're asking for part of this increase is $225,000 additional so that is to keep lunch free for all students or are so St Curr for for all students their reimbursement rate um what they provide for student for lunches that we we we sell have students plug their number in um doesn't cover the cost of providing those lunches so those though they have the free lunch program the reimbursement doesn't quite cover that if we sold 40 more lunches per day we would get closer so that deficit is based on that so every every year historically if I'm correct they there has food service has really kind of run a bit of a deficit and when they P when when families bought those lunches we ran an even bigger deficit oh yeah I know and so so but currently students do no one pays for lunch correct correct okay and that's that's guaranteed by by the state okay um now this would again this this comes to that question of rebuilding this budget we saw that we would we we we could pretty much expect this kind of deficit yearly uh in the past it had been from you know X Y andz places to make sure that it's covered at the end of the year um this just it really moves what had been done in the past and puts it in that line so we say we know we are expecting this cost we've budgeted for that cost um so we're not we're not stuck in a position towards the end where we need to find um $25,000 to cover cover a deficit um so thank you for this was you know thoughtful and obviously a lot of work um and sort of looking at things from different angles so we can really have a picture of it I guess I'm you know I hear the enrollment numbers but then I also hear you know that we have classes that have like and I don't mean classes I mean full grades that have I don't know I I can't remember but ridiculously no low numbers like nine or 17 or something like that what's the smallest grade size right now we have uh we have one grade size of 17 17 okay so that was and is that the ninth grade no that's not the nth grade what grade is it that is right now I believe that's 11th grade 11th grade okay so that's after attrition of of the voke and maybe some private school and 10 Choice yeah okay I I I will take a couple of quick questions um because we do have to get through the rest of the budget mine are all pretty much um just for myself and also other towns people who have kind of been murmured about the $50,000 is that was appropriated last year for the Spanish teacher where does that end up going if we didn't hire it it it went into the leave of absents that were unbudgeted so so it's still available no so so this year we have had a and every year we have um staff who are need to go out on surgery they may be an attorney Le um and historically that has not been been something that has been align in the budget that has been a okay uh we get notice that someone's going to have surgery not for four months uh we need to to cover that cost so if it was if it was hired out I would we we would not have been able to back come back cost Associated that I'm sorry are the substitutes to replace the teachers like said asking this for numerous of come up in conversation kind of the the channel for it yeah so so for reference um like you said we had about $156,000 of legal absences that came up this year which was a significant amount um and so you know because of that we and because we hadn't hired for for that position um we also restructured Administration to make sure that we were able to absorve those costs without coming back to the T in just speaking that same thing happens in most budgets throughout the year there's things that don't get spent especially now because hiring is not reliable like maybe it once was and so all those things actually is what generates the free cash if you didn't have any of those things your free cash number would be zero right but it's the question that has come up is that the position hasn't hir out you know if there was $156,000 essentially deficit right like what would have happened at that point and I think that's a lot of things that the general Town people don't necessarily understand right but everyone sees that part of article was a $50,000 Elementary Spanish teacher that ultimately never got hired correct right so that's one of the things and then um I know a big thing that's touching for a lot of people is that you know you know that 11th grade class that has 177 kids like the state ratio for student to teacher ratio is 15 and a half or 15 and a half one so you could easily need that class with one teacher and we can save on a Sabbath you know there's Ts that could be made you could you could do that however you'd have to pay that person after you laid them off because you don't you're not paying into the unemployment insurance trust the Way businesses are so you would have to fund their unemployment okay how long for until they got another job or for as long as their unemployment lasted yeah so it doesn't seem to really any money normally in the first year you have to go beyond right but I mean it's safe to say that the 11th grade class have been there for a while it's like the 10th grade class probably also had 19 Kids and that's still acceptable under the state so if you keep pushing it back like if the C had been made prior it's still you know what I'm saying so like yes you could keep kicking the down the road I just wouldn't use I mean I wouldn't necessarily use what's acceptable to the state as a metric what's acceptable well if we did we'd have to cut about what two3 million out of the budget I mean that's the foundation what the state deems acceptable would not leave you with a school district and and no one there is no one doing that I I think the the other thing that's just kind of important to remember Luke is at that level at grade levels 10 and 12 you're not talking about one classroom like they have in um you know in in second grade third grade fourth grade they're moving around and they're going to biology and they're going to all these other places yeah I I mean I get what you're saying but it's not quite the same as a grade school gr class correct is we have you know we have classes per each grade level and those same teachers who teach nth grade teach 11th grade who teach 10th grade teach 12th grade so it's not like you know if you have a science teacher that is uh in your building and they're you know one of the classes that they're certain is 11th grade AP biology we'll say um if you if you take that and you say okay we're going to uh the way to do that is to to reduce teachers part time and that's then then we get the question okay we have we had this teacher hired at 6 and point8 we we then become an uncompetitive place for people to to work um and we we run the risk of really cutting off our nose despite our face because when we when we can't when we don't fill those positions um then or we don't have full-time teachers we we don't have the best teachers for our students uh and we don't have we don't have the vibr offerings that we're able to have right now so while while we could do that we could we could reduce it to you know the four core classes uh and and really just a very small handful of electives and get through and said we're we're teaching you know we're we're teaching English one two 3 four we're not going to do a English we're not going to do journalism um we at that point we we don't Inuit any school choice students and we we continue to get into that um that that down cycle we also see our local students choicing Elsewhere for places that have more vibrant offerings is that something as a town people we can ask to see those numbers run because it's a conversation that maybe ultimately needs to be had and and you're very welcome to come to school committee meetings because we do have those conversations and we do have those conversations in school finance subcommittee and watching numerous amount them and no one is really out there asking the question come ask question I am right now I'm here right now ask question and we're and we're answering if you want to see the numbers broken down please continue to come see us yeah we won't have the time to get into that tonight I don't expect us to get into it I just think it's a conversation that needs to be had and since this is a numbers conversation it really something that should come up and it's a conversation that needs to be had at some point we funded $740,000 into the school system last year to fund all these elective hes and the play this year has like 12 kids in it there's half the JB teams aren't fun there's no one to play on and yet we're still finding the coaching positions for them if the team isn't there there isn't a stifen for that spot those teams have benefits we had Middle School MJB JB teams up the only team we haven't had JB for this year is uh softball as well as uh girls soccer and field because we never really had JB teams for them but the other teams have been we were also able to add back Middle School sports so there I know I just want to ask one more thing I do want to move on because we have a lot of other budget things to get to but there I thought that part of the override funding was also um having us have a computer science Focus so that we were attracting Choice kids and we have added on that front Okay and our continuing those courses so we're not looking at so the very last page of your book looks at the 2425 course offerings for Smith Academy because I I I think there's I I often find um locals in particular alumni surprised at what is happening at Smith Academy I mean just the number of things that you can do and take and learn pleasantly surprised b i think we ever went back to the rollment numbers from last year this year I know you had asked a question we thought we H it later that came back up this year sure oober we'll look for it I do know we did get to it I mean I'll let you speak to it so the number from desie we would add 13 at this point no no last school year so years 22 23 and then 23 24 in add October is the number yes the the number in here is the current year and the proposed year fin next we don't have that number in here I believe we were down about I want to say 18 students this year after the 13 prior prior yeah I thought it said we lost one in that one grade we lost one in that key grade numbers from last year was 352 322 when we started in October I know a few but that was and that's on page 29 if you're we did and it wasn't as bad as the previous year okay so we're okay so the enrollment is still down it's just not nearly as down as where it had been so again the analogies for that are kind so we didn't it didn't come up it just didn't go go down down as far it went down just not as far as it had gone before significantly I would I would actually have something about those very simple chart about those numbers ready for town meeting because I think people will have specific questions about that that in our presentation for it's a fair question yeah for Town's people to ask so okay your required net School spending would be$ 4,39 something, which one versus seven so you'd have to cut the budget in half if you went with this there's a lot of questions tonight's not the night work you guys have a thousand things to go through but a lot of questions that have been skirted around and really not I don't feel after watching meetings from home and being present for them that are 100% answered because one of the things answered the other day was if we did academic enrollment to Frontier it's going to cost us a lot more money well yes desie requires us to pay for school choice children to also go Frontier but if we were actually to ask the question for regionalization Frontier we are only required to pay for the students of half field from rate 7 through 12 and I think that that is a general statement that number wise that we should be looking at as a town where does that come from there was a meeting recently no no where do the if you regionalized where does that come from if Hatfield schools district was to regionalize or high school to Frontier yes you pay a portion because you have to pay into their system but we are not responsible for the school choice children that also come here and go to Frontier also off the top of my head I don't know I've read the Mater I work for a school for 3 years and all I'm saying is academic enrollment you 100% you do tuition enrollment yes we're responsible for our school choice kids 100% hands down but School regionalization we're responsible for our half resident students not all the kids that get sent here looking regionalized Frontier is not looking regaliz looking regaliz Northampton there's no schools looking to regionalize at this point I'm just saying whatever that's not what the statute says to me I mean Happ sit down and read through it but it's it's not what our lawyer has said it's not what desie says either to talk to them yeah but yeah and it's way outside the scope what we should be talking about tonight so um I do I do appreciate this very thorough um yeah information that's um we appreciate that so um and I appreciate that people have come in with questions tonight and and I'm sure I think it's fair to assume that there'll be more um of them at town meeting okay so public works okay but we did not we but we did not decide we didn't make any decisions on this 137,000 okay didn't have that thank you we haven't figured out how to fund that do we want to go back to that after we get through the other things let's let's go forward and go back to that we're we've got a few things percolating nobody's gonna like them but you gotta come with right so we're going to talk we're only going to talk about where there's changes in here on this document Public Work public works there hasn't been any changes so Public Works is no change no change Health and Human Services no change they're they're not highlighted in yellow yeah right nothing has changed since last last nothing has changed since the last meeting there's certainly changes in how much money is being appropriated to to to those we a final budget tonight right because if you know I mean you look at at you know Public Works I mean you know sure some of those some of those numbers went up just like the school numbers went up about from the last budget meeting so that we can finalize a budget and move on to the warrant okay so I'm I'm just saying in a yes there's been changes in the budget but we're not going to go through that line by line again tonight correct okay so then if I'm correct the next change I see is a highlighted under Enterprise funds returned earnings and that's on the Water and Sewer Enterprise fund debt issue correct right here 36,000 just wanted to make sure that you all know that um the last time we looked at this it was um it was 36,000 what was it it was uh 36,000 I'm sorry 33836 and it should be 36922 and that was there right over here in the um FY 25 expense but the number here so taxation was picking up part of it it shouldn't have been because it's all coming from retained earnings okay so that's the interest that's the only change there but it doesn't affect it does okay so then if I'm understanding this correct darl the only number we need to deal with is this 137 vot I also like to go back to General government and talk about transferring moving $4,700 from the administrative wages to the planning boards wages what's up what are we moving I would like to move $4,700 from the Town Administrator wages so I'm reducing hours in a in a position and add $4,700 to the planning board salary line for the assistant planner that's the position that was Gerard that position would be reduced a little right to allow for more hours for the Planner yeah Marlene's offering that out of her budget okay I mean it's we don't need it yeah I mean because I thought we were having difficulty hiring you know the hiring folks as it was right reduction in hours hours it's hours not wages right but some people I mean we just hired somebody for the position so okay you're okay with that I mean I don't have a problem with that if Marlene's willing to take it out of her budget yeah okay do we want to take a break because really we just have to get to this 137 right wait for Daryl to come back Take Five e e e e so we're we're back on Daryl um before we go and talk about the 137 for the voke Ed there is another um change here it doesn't affect the bottom line because Marlin can can speak to it but it's the um what did you say the cable and then what's this storm water TV studio the cable TV studio I'd like to add an additional um 30,000 so it would be 133 500 that comes from does right but it yeah it's a change that you should know about but it just comes out of cable so you're okay with that and then Marlene there's also this FY 2025 storm water Asset Management plan phase one project it says arpa funds with a question Mark right so well you know we have to vote on on the um on these plans pursuing to an article on the warrant obviously um there's been discussion um we couldn't fund it from water and sewer Enterprise because for storm water um what is this storm water Asset Management plan Phil we got a break $500,000 that's and three categories are what the town's contribution is into the grant Grant's over almost 600,000 okay so and so two of them can be done through Enterprise funds but the um storm water Asset Management one doesn't qualify for that so that one we were suggesting maybe pay that just the 27,000 funds the arpa funds yeah that's you guys can do that right yeah okay I don't know guys yeah that's great it's it's a you know it's a small investment for an no and and thank you Phil for the explanation that's great so now so Marlene you'll make all those notes on there so now we're just back to the $137,200 right so do you want to do you want to talk about your idea I mean there's there's several way well well we can cut things we could there's money in in in free cash we can use that the school would have to in order that would get us through this year the school would have to understand that that's not a long-term solution that we we would have to figure out going forward how to come up with that money uh the other we could reduce it somewhat if we cut across the board 2% of expenses not including retirement Insurance health insurance those you're talking about cutting all other departments to fund that no I haven't finished my S oh sorry so you could cut that you know 2% out of what I would call uh optional expenses not the things you can't cut like Insurance uh and then you know if you took the school back to the 142,000 which is the 2.6% instead of 149 or whatever it is you know that would bring it down to 42,000 you bring it down by $42,000 roughly something like that I just got a another question just talking out of the box there's that on page four of their presentation there's that rotating equipment replacement for 54,000 whether we should be looking at arpa for that amount or whether we should not use arpa for anything else I know we've been holding back ARA that's re I mean whether we's the deadline to spend it this year this year there may we're waiting on some there may be a you know sewer Pro a route five related um significant um the only thing about the 54,000 in their presentation that I would say is just that like when I was on Capital planning these were exactly the kind of things that we were saying well that should be built into your budget and then someone goes and builds it into their budget and we say oh well you shouldn't have built that into budget you know like I mean that came up around the um chome that came up around the fire uh turnout gear it came up around the Chromebooks like because those things really aren't Capital expenses those are every they wear out over time and have to be replaced all the time right to safety yeah so I mean like I don't know like we kept them in the reason you know like at times we decided to have them on Capital at times we decided we wanted them built into budgets so I don't know just so just um in I'm sorry just say that again so exactly where did you say you you would recommend you I'm I'm if you went I just went through all the expense lines that are not on the page of health insurance retirement so school would get a 2% cut we well I haven't gotten there yet we would cut the they would get cut back some amount I mean if you brought them to the 142,000 that would be 2.6% that's instead of 149,000 or whatever so that would just be a 2.6% salary increase which is what everyone else is getting but you'd be saying that all the Departments would have to suffer for the school basically right I'm I'm not really I don't think that's a fair way to well I mean I mean I Bill we have to pay I'm re reason I'm saying that is every year we've always given to the schools and the other departments have stayed within their budget or worked hard to stay within their budget we've increased other budgets other budgets have increased where expenses are unavoidable like utilities and and software you know packages and things like that they're not going up for anything that is not completely un avoidable that's been made clear through this to be we just didn't highlight the% of bills that we've been facing the last few years so I mean that's in here too but is the solar live now yes and we still have had tremendous utility hikes you guys have how much money solar's been saving right now yeah what's that the cost of electricity is going up I understand that but at least is being offset by a a solar array no not it's being offset it's not being offset to the being upset be even higher than they are we are seeing significant increases so right now we got the option of 2% except for all the budgets or free cash which would be kicking the game you still have to do both you're not you'd have to take some from free you're not you couldn't do you couldn't do everything I mean I mean honestly if we went through every expense Budget on actuals this year what do you think the chances are that every single one of them is spent down to the penny I can tell you it's not because there wouldn't be free cash right you know like every single expense line is not spent down to the penny so if all the budgets are going to be hit you're under your proposal you'd hit 2% would the school also get the 2% hit they would have have to take some cut yes but why would it be if it's it's if it's because it's not 2% it's just expenses okay so 2% of their expenses and 2% of all other department I'm I'm that's what I'm asking if we're going to hit expenses at 2% would it also be the school's expenses uh it would be some of it so it wouldn't be it wouldn't be 2% no because I well first of all I can't calculate it because I don't know what their expenses are versus salaries I know it's roughly 75% right and in your proposal you know you're talking about cutting the from 149,000 down to 142,000 so they would be taking a $9,000 cut I guess if it comes down to cutting expense lines I would rather see it come from fair from free cash just don't think we can cut all our budgets that much for next year I think you're kind of doing the same thing but y right yeah it's not it's not ideal I mean we we did this two years ago when we did this for the fire an ambulance we we've two years May three I can't they all run into each other but you you remember we we funded them out of free cash because we had money to do it and we knew the following year last year we had to come up with the money so you know and we did there could be offet with some and we did come up with the money maybe there would be some offsets with you're talking about upcoming retirements if the roof project goes and you don't have those that cost that's in there that you're trying we could have new growth I mean we could try to deal with it next year uh yeah well we would have to we would have to deal with it we would deal with it yeah we would it's not how I would normally ever suggest doing it but I just cannot ask our departments to cut 2% no and we we're just trying to come up with options you know I mean things to think about and yet is it not fair to all the other departments maybe not but we all together kind of have to work together right so can't the school just stay in their budget why why does all the other what does that mean why does why do all the other department have to take cut you're not even to apply the same so explain what that means what does it me you said $137,000 vocational is not part of I don't pertain to the school by let's let's just use the number 2% for the expense yeah right but you're not exploring making the school also cut their expense line by 2% why we are exploring making the school cut their expense line why can't we just make school stay within the budget like why why can't they take make the cuts out of their own we're making the budget right now that's the you know what he's saying Sean you know what I'm saying Sean no I don't yes you do why can't the school find another place to get 157 $37,000 out of their that department that is not in Marina that $337,000 is not there directly pertains to the education of the students within this District so you every towns person can look at it and say it's applied to the school system it doesn't affect the way it doesn't affect the way the roads are cloud in the DPW and the sewer and the water doesn't affect your Ury Services it doesn't affect any other department other than the budget of the school system to educate those kids every other department has to stay within the bounds that they're projected to other than the school we keep spilling huge amounts of money as taxpayers into the school system this the school doesn't control the budget it's been locational I don't know you're right but they control the budget within their other line items right so you're saying so basically the argument would be then that because some outside party decided to raise rates on a on the town y we should take that out of the school budget as opposed to anything else yes okay that's reasonable argument I guess it's not I don't share your opinion on it you don't have to great it's an opinion of a lot of towns people wonderful and not just the people sitting on the board y regardless we have to come up with a plan of how we're going to present this budget to town meeting I personally think that the 137 should come from free cash it's not I I I'm surprising myself to be honest even that I'm suggesting that because I don't normally um like to do that I cannot I do not want to ask our budgets to cut 2% we went through these with a fine tooth comb year after year they have just gone by with no no increases no increases they're continuing to do this I just can't I can't do it there but but Diana let's let's be fair there have been increases I mean there's been increases in departments we have we have we've funded other so I get a little frustrated when you bring that up because fireing ambulance we have met their needs there that has gone up if you look at the budgets that would be an exception it's a lar increase over three years than any department has ever gotten in the history of down and and in 30 years and even DPW DPW goes up when costs when when their costs go up every year so but again it's C like they're saying electricity and things like that I mean it's not you know I I just I don't want to ask departments to cut 2% than the rest of the employees in town There's a contractual and there's I'm sure contractual things so so I just think you have to be really careful when you say that everybody's been flatlined for for all these years but I'm saying expenses and fills um line are also uncontrollable things like utilities and fuel costs and things like that okay but so let's make a comparison so when the tuition at Smith vocational goes up that's that's an outside increase when the Tipping fees at the transfer station go up that's an outside increase that's a contractor raising the rates right right so we don't then take all that money out of the DPW budget we find money spread around town even though it's related to the DPW just like if there was an electricity cost increase you know we don't go out and measure everyone's electricity and cut each budget telling you I don't want to cut our budgets anymore I like you know for this particular instance and like I say it surprises no one more than me that I'm saying I think we should do it with free cash and we will have to deal with this next year but there's other things that could also change maybe for the positive and not leave us in such a predicament we don't know what V trans what what it will be next year um you're optimistic about Choice numbers it could be a much different scenario next year I mean I understand you have no control over that cost I mean that's that's outside your cost and I I do understand that if we do free cash we're sort of kicking the can down the road because we could have a number even higher next year that we got to pay unless the school's Choice kids come in but at the same token we're always cutting cutting cutting so I mean trying to sit here and try to look at everything objectively I mean free cash is right now one option unless we take some money out of arpa for the I think we need to equip cost and I don't know if that's worth it because we're trying to save that because of 5 and 10 in case we have that overrun so I mean we're going to pay for when when do you have to when when's the deadline on the arpa spending do we know December 31st so this year but I mean and I you know that 54,000 I don't I don't think that's an appropriate use for our arpa because arpa is more of a real one-time use so all right so then and the only alternatives are 2% cut or free cash well those aren't the Alternatives I there's the alternatives are I mean if you wanted to really make up the 137,000 you have to cut a lot more than that you'd have to get in the salary somewhere I mean that you know right the alternative is the only alternative I'm proposing is you want to offset some of the free cash that you're going to have to use yeah cuz your number not we still have no free cash that that's not right I mean if you want to free cash number is what 151 whole different 15 151 and it would be 137 of it right right right but if you if you if you wanted to reduce that down to no free cash you'd have to cut a lot more than that oh yeah it would be more than 2% and we would be cutting salaries yeah you'd have to cut I mean that's what I'm saying the it is the the the cuts and the pain would be so deep and I I'm I just yeah you'd have to cut like like 10 or 12% just out of expenses to to get yeah to leave salaries alone to get there to leave salaries alone so that $151,000 in free cash is that accounting for the $100,000 that we have to leave as a balance 2 yeah 262 295 what and what is what is the arpa number right now and what we could potentially need for five and 10 I don't know if I brought that with me I thought it was at about 214,000 left the last so we just authorized use of some money and I think it brought it down to 214 and we could potentially need all of that if not more for five and 10 okay so I don't think arpa is an option I think it's oh no free cash yeah or Cuts guys we have no choice John what are you thinking I mean for transparency purposes where would the school if did it directly from the school where would the school cut that money from that that would come from um that would come from salaries basally theist right get basically three uh three fulltime so people that are watching this can hear that yeah I mean that's actually almost the same amount you have on that zero um which it it's two to three people and then it tells the implications of that a big CH if not a lot of AP classes academic electives the Middle School Model Elementary specials yeah on you don't know what that means that essentially means keeping the middle school not being merged with the high school essentially in a academic and obviously they're in the same location students um you know theyve really developed that over a number of years and it would it would essentially dissolve that capability but mostly based on schedule needs yeah which isn't area where we're potentially losing people already yes yeah it's our it's our weakest point is going from six to new spot and so we would essentially be sacrificing um our local students who I mean if we count just the current students who are enrolled I think the increase we're looking for about $450 per student versus the $4,400 increase for the handful of students at vote it would just drive more kids to vote and and truth and then when vog hikes come in and we have more students and those hikes are larger there's no flexibility at the Town level to adjust for anything because it's what it is here it's just a bill that comes in that you have no and also I just want to add to Sean's point that if we were to to cut three people um it so it comes out of the school budget but then we pay the unemployment just out of another line yeah I mean if you kind of look at it as from a business standpoint though if your business isn't making enough Revenue to support the amount of staff that you have you get rid of STA and I grew up in this town I went through the school system I went on to college I did very well for myself I am very involved in this community so you're not going to find someone who's probably more involved at my age and getting rid of people isn't something that I really take lightly but when you look at the model that the school is running off of and continuing have to come back for more and more money and huge amounts of money and yet every year we're still going over budget or there's a line item that still needs extra funding out of free cash you're asking other departments to make cuts for it's a failing business essentially is what it is and so at some point it's time to trip that and does that maybe mean that some Services get caught it does unfortunately and yes it might mean that more kids want to go to vocational school but that also means that you have then in turn have less kids enrolled which means you need less teachers and if that's the way that the school system is progressing it gets us into that snowball effect of a conversation that no one wants to have we're not going to get into it but if you look at the school system as a business it's not generating Revenue at all and every year it's over budget and they're coming back and asking for more going into an Ask looking for more and more and more and it's not it's not fair to the town's people as taxpayers first of all and it's also not fair to all the other departments it's it's just not it's pretty challenging L to look at anything we do in town as a business right because we it just doesn't function like a business any and and I don't care if you can you let me talk please I don't care if you talk about the school the DPW the fire department any Department if you ran it like a business you absolutely would not run it that way you know that as well as you would be out of business because you can't compete towns are and cities are completely different yes but when you look at the overall projected spending of a certain Department over the past 10 years and how how many times they've had to come back and ask for more money and more money two over rides this that I mean what do you mean two over rides two and a half over rides like the amount of money that this town has spent on specifically the school system and not generated any results the enrollment isn't up it's down the only enrollment increase that we're seeing is 13 kids in kindergarten because quite honestly I have friends who have kids they send their kids to kindergarten as early as they can because it's cheaper than child care but we're not seeing enrollment on the high school end of it right we're not seeing it right because your population of school age children keeps going down right and we keep as taxpayers we keep funding all of these different amenities within our school system and keeping all of the teachers that we currently have and we're not attracting more students so maybe instead of asking everybody else to trim the fat maybe the school system is the one who needs to start thinking about starting to trim the F we we did trim so if you paid attention we turn 7 almost $77,000 of what our increased cost like we cut more than our increased costs so we covered all of our cost increases and then cut more so that all we were asking for is what town can legally increase rates by was two and a half% so I I do appreciate that there have been years of late where schools have asked for a little bit more um but we haven't come in the deficit where we've asked for offsets we haven't spent beyond our budgets we just have costs that are going up that we don't have 100% control over and so we've had to come back we've cut what we can cut because we have to be good fiscal stewards I get that and we've done that this year and so we we aren't asking for level Services we're asking for Less we're saying to the town we're going to provide less we're going to do it a rically as we can so that we don't hurt our chances for growth and this is every department when fuel costs go up and we have to put more money in the fuel line we don't go around and a portion it out to all right well how much is the DPW using in the loader how much is the fire department using in the fire truck and we have to incre it doesn't show up in that budget but we still have to increase the cost right just likewise all the other departments are facing the same increased cost with electricity you know water distribution all that everyone's except no it's it's not how's it not because we because some of those lines come out of General lines in the town budget they're not specific the the the fire department is not paying the electric bill for the station it's coming out of a general thing in the budget it's not specifically a portion to each department like that right and I think there also to that school does pay for its electric cost right so I just let me just reain this in because we're getting into a lot of sort of the philosophical points of all of this and I get it and it's important for people to air this out but we also have to solve this problem tonight make a decision we still have to go through a whole warrant and some of these discussions maybe are for Town floor um but I think we need to get back to making some decisions deciding what we're going to do and then going through the warant and unfortunately every town in this whole area is going through these same discussions they have the same all the towns have the same problems right because everybody has the same problem which is you're getting older and older and older and not younger and younger and younger and so you're going to have declining enrollment and not only are you going to have declining enrollment but now you're competing for those school choice students which are getting smaller with a bunch of other towns that also have declining enrollment who are trying to get those same smaller and smaller and smaller number of people so we would be foolish to think that we're going to be able to go on forever attracting more and more and more school choice students that simply won't happen because you're going to run out of a pool eventually the pool is getting smaller I think that's kind of Luke's point and if you're having a you should be also Al than having declining staff after a certain amount of time we've given it we've given it a shot we've tried to with the override offer the services and it's it's quite honestly it's not really working it's not and so maybe it's time to start thinning the her I guess you would say and and we have recognized in this proposal that there are Staffing Cuts so that's part of the plan that's part of how we got our budget so again I we've got to ring this in we have to figure out what we're going to do to fund this 137 281 so you're suggesting free cash what are you gonna do me personally I'm suggesting free cash and like I said it surprises no one more than me that I'm suggesting that because I don't like to do that but I think that I think having yeah yeah do something so it's really for us to decide at this point in time um and I just threw out like do we want to meet next week and chat about it or we ready to make a decision tonight I'm okay to make a decision tonight okay don't we have to sign the warrant tonight Marlene next Thursday is the latest and next Thursday next Tuesday but next Tuesday is the latest you can sign yeah but the budget yeah the budget we've Chang to the budget right before Town town meeting so there's there there's always flexibility there so unless G to take the time and go through more I don't know I don't know that it's I don't know where we're going to find you know we're not going to find $137,000 I mean we could but it wouldn't be pretty so so I would entertain a motion to increase the voke school tuition and transportation by $137,200 use our free cash which has an availability we which is currently 151,50 I'll make that motion okay there's a motion do I have a second I second that so you're using all of the free cash that's left well is that free cash is 151 they use 1377 okay 281 okay I misunderstood you no I'm sorry Marlin it's all right okay any other any further discussion uh hearing none all in favor say I I any oppose nay motion carries we have a budget until the next Crisis comes okay right things always go up so I want to move right along to the warrant um we as usual we go through article by article um some are quicker than others so article one is just to um set the ctions for the following week included on that is um ballot question one um which is the funding for the fire department any comments questions yeah um the next articles are all sort of just the um sort of housekeeping ones do you want to go through them individually I mean one is to allow us to apply for an accept grants no no enter into com compensating balance agreement um chapter 90 chapter 90 snow and ice snow snow and ice will come out of free cash that's right and that's already been calculated in there yep um no more V transportation we just went through that one yeah that's current year V okay so now we're getting into um the lease agreement on the photocopier for Town Hall anybody have anything on that fiveyear lease agreement for the postage meter at town hall because it's in excess of three years we have to vote the right rate was cheaper with a fiveyear lease right and then um article nine is to authorize the select board with the approval of the school committee to lease all or a portion of the roof the elementary school this would be the um proposed solar project correct and that would just be if we were ultimately approved so this is just getting ready for if we were abity this any questions on that what oh can we advance this so is are people at home able to see this thank you Bob um article 10 is um the Enterprise fund article that's also kind of just housekeeping and boilerplate everybody good on that one um this is the override budget 11 is the override question um for the um fire and ambulance department um is Elena still here Elena I know I've had a couple people reach out about if they'll be able to be like a secret ballot on that question will you have that capability there okay and I mean that just somebody I don't know if they'll actually ask but people have asked me yeah okay I do know that there are towns people interested in that um Bob has a question pardon Bob has I'm sorry Bob I we're still kind moving we have a dollar figure for that one and I guess I also asked I was at the previous meeting I thought we were doing two questions and it looks like there's only one right so I I didn't I never got an answer all I heard was that there was only one question going to the ballot but I also one question going on the ballot 66,000 okay and the previous week that I was at the meeting it seemed like we were going to let the residents make the choice of which way they wanted to go and that's not on there I take it I only see the one there was I guess it was I wasn't there it was a discussion when I was sick you guys would have to speak to there was decision to only put one question for it I guess I mean if you want me to speak to it as far as the other two questions we there was a lot of concerns there was a lot of concerns and there was not enough of answers so it's something that has to be researched a little bit more and gotten more information about how it affects everything that's why we decided to only have that one question on the ballot and that is it is specifically Bob an additional $66,000 for the purpose of funding Personnel in the fire ambulance department so that is the increase in salaries for the current funding structure or excuse me Staffing structure right so it maintains the 16 hours that you currently do and it gives you the ability to um I know there's you know to have someone to offset some of your hours which I know is a challenge and then to pay paramedics and and people more so you're more competitive and the other one I'm sorry sitting in the corner the reason we just felt there we needed more information on it that's a a lot more research we didn't think we could answer all the questions everybody would have about it like what what if it passed like is there more expenses to go with it that kind of thing I I think there are more expenses but we don't have the answers to that it's it's not just as simple as adding Personnel there's more to it than that and I don't think we had the answers to that okay um article 12 is revolving funds that's one that's always on there as well um article 13 is to fund the um multimedia conference room on the second floor that is funding that comes through the cable Enterprise right um article 14 um is um that's the additional money for that's the additional money and that would be borrowing for um the additional costs of that um project up at the Wastewater the intent is to pay it through the fees right right um Article 15 is um again this is part of what Phil was talking about that Asset Management um project Phil if you want to speak to these specifically I know you just said it but there's there's a grant we're getting so our portion is small it's like $27,000 or something right the portion is that we would that the town has the fund is 27 and Phil you'll be able to speak to that so Town people understand it's really not 227,000 correct okay um and then we get into the CPA articles um do you want to go through those individually um there's um the first one is just see if the town will vote to it's the budget yeah it's their it's their budget want to correct the budget and then um okay right I see what you're saying um they have to spend 10% of their reserves so Article 19 would be um uh CPA work in the cemetery all of these are CPA funding not taxation yeah $7,000 7,000 and then article 20 is 29825 um dollar to preserve um the facade belfree and clock enclosures of the historic town clock um article 21 um is um $196,900 and that would be for what we're calling the day Pond project again all coming out of CPA funding y um article 22 is 185 898 um and this is to document assess condition clean remove store excuse me restore and prepare a summary of the cutter Farm Museum contents again a CPA project article 23 um is 12,500 from Community preservation open space Reserve account um and 12,500 from budgeted Reserve what is this oh this is to create a historic walking tour so there's two different funding sources for this one am I reading this right what is budgeted budgeted Reserve but are they both CPA funds okay all all CPA okay just different accounts um article 24 is a home R petition and it is um regarding the use of golf carts on public ways in town um really that's something we would be working on um trying to make sure that people can still use them but that they're safe and they're um you know subject to some of the same rules of the road of and we understand it we have to pass this and then it goes to the state state has to pass it so it's just a first step it would then have to go through a full legislative process anyone ever gotten one of these PS we're cutting edge I would say so um so I would urge towns people to maybe read the provisions of that ahead of time I mean I would urge them to read the provisions of all of these things um and then we get into zoning bylaws um these are um some of these proposed changes are quite extensive yes somewhat complicated I know that we will have people there from planning board um to discuss these but again these are things that um towns people should really make sure they're going online reading looking at this warrant once's once it's posted reading through these so they can um really understand would you like to just mention what each of those amendments are it refers to the first two 25 open space yeah that's yeah to amend the open space development one is to amend open space development again a lot of um lot of language in there and then I'm just waiting to get to the other one here not looking too how far down is it page 27 yeah okay it's there there's a lot to people should really um and 27 um is another um would be another change to the zoning bylaws and this pertains to accessory dwelling units um making them um allowing them in town um and and I can tell you that the Commonwealth is pushing for communities to allow these adus um is this like mother-in-law apartment yeah it would be like an it would be what you'd call an an in-law apartment yeah right um and so it's part of what the administration is hoping will start to alleviate some of the housing problem problems that we're experiencing in all of the communities across the state and I think that there's and I um I don't know if it's specifically stated but I know it's specifically not to be used for Airbnb and I don't know about in the language in this one um but I know in the Statewide they're hoping that those Aus are not used for Airbnb Airbnb is part of the problem that we're having with housing just curiously how do we enforce that I I I that's a question for the administ no no no I'm not I'm not asking that in a philosophical sense I know how you can enforce it I because I've been involved in that business before you know uh there are towns that go through you know all of the websites and find out who's doing it I'm just curious if it would be Our intention to do that and and would someone do that you know what I mean because there are definitely places that do that that go through each and every and we do have some properties in town that have Airbnb um units in our if I'm not mistaken the town already does allow for it's just the amendment here is that make they don't necessarily have to be attached to the house they can be detached from the actual house I want to say there's already or three and the planning for can speak more on the town already does allow for I'm just thinking in terms of if you're trying to prevent that there there are places that like if you listed your property on Airbnb the next day the town hall would be calling to find out if you have a business permit for example and did you pay your fee for that business permit yeah so they know you're doing it you know right well you can't do it secretly no you can't it's online but if nobody's looking you know that's right um okay so article 27 um this one is a little confusing to me um I who would speak to this would this be Bill who who's gonna speak to this article yeah that's a good question um actually it's the how did it get on here town of weighty so weighty asked us to put it on asked us to put it on so this is for property that is owned by the city of Northampton but a portion of that property is in buet on here is that up by the reservoir oh no that's not Phil you have an idea I sent I sent you the map oh it's number 10 you know what it is Luke that that concrete head wall some where it touches weightly in haydenville Road you know what they're talking about oh that must be here I was going to say by by a quadros right up there okay yeah so who put the article on here waitley had asked us so would they be able to send someone to speak to this I mean we'd have to allow them to speak on Town four expect that they would be sending people will have questions really it it's to yeah so I would maybe give them a head I still have questions that I'm waiting to get a response requiring by gift purchase or Hatfield the town of Hatfield is we didn't ask to a permanent easement for the purpose of a concrete head wall in stone Outlet protection shown on some some parcel okay well we figure out where it is that's all I don't know where it is to be able to speak to that so by the way the budget article was number 10 number 10 so okay well is there anybody have any can we vote this tonight um or does anybody have any yeah we'll we'll we'll we'll meet before town meeting or before Marlene knows and we'll go through them and we'll when do you have to print when do you have to print by uh the warrant has to be posted no later than next week right but the warrant just the war usually you have in in the Articles whether you're recommending right so that would have to be done so I I need to post it I believe it's next um next wedes next Wednesday Thursday or do we want I don't know up to you guys I'll do whatever because if they don't have their recommendations tonight we don't vote it Marlene the select board you can we can still vote it yeah it would just be posted when it gets right when the town meeting warrant gets posted their recommendations would not be in there meeting but when I prepare the hand out for town meeting which they essentially get a copy of this that we can vote this tonight just because I'm not here you can vote the warrant yeah you can vote yeah not not looking yeah this that's happened before I think where we just go to meeting and the hand out says recommended or not recomended right yeah it doesn't have to be on we have posted the warrant in the past without your recommendations yeah and but we will We assure you guys and the town's people that we will have recommendations by okay okay so we need to vote um so the finance committee doesn't vote the warrant just to sel so if you are comfortable with the warrant as it stands then we should vote that night so that we can get this signed and posted while I'm still here that's fine I'm okay with it so I'll need a motion your motion is what to accept the warrant as presented I'll second that motion go okay did I make it I guess I made it so a motion's made and seconded any further discussion no all those in favor I I Marlene thank you for your work on this warrant you are welcome okay and just quickly um the uh arpa balance it's 275 283 I think it was 214 so that's what's um unobligated right now is there anything else or can we adjourn oh sorry I question never mind answer myself I was I was going to suggest that maybe we could maybe since we have to spend the ARA money by the end of the year we could use the arpa money to fund the $137,000 deficit and not touch the free cash and just let it roll forward and then use it if we had to fund the rout five project but I'm guessing that that would not be in timely enough yeah it would that would be yeah yeah it just the AR is more like for a one time thing which is what this well right but basically we just be swapping right yeah yeah so since it's time limited cash just keeps rolling forever and ever if you don't spend it yeah right anything else we're good I'll make a motion to adjourn any further questions any further discussion Ed you have to sign all of them okay you have to sign all of them all those in favor there should be six there yes thank you thank you finance committee very much