it is 7 o'clock and I'm going to call to order the March 18th 2024 meeting of the Norton finance committee take a quick attendance um Kevin not here yet Steve here Tracy here Sandy here Joe here B here Paul here Cody here Zach here Bonnie here I am here all right hello Mr units good evening good evening um before we get into the individual budgets or the agenda could we take a quick look at the um revenues and expenditures sheet that you sent us showing the 4% increases Mike sure I just want to have a quick discussion on this all right here it is um so M towards the bottom there you know where you show like The General government increase the school increase so for the spring um of 2023 we approved a 2% increase for the town side I think it was 1.9 um but then with the collective bargaining articles in the spring and the fall and you know the 1 million plus of supplements in the fall that actually ends up being a 7.7% increase correct um I don't know off the top of my head to be honest with you um so it was a 7.7% increase so I guess my question to you is like we're looking at 4.4 right now but if you have items that we typically be factoring into the budget in the fall like over time and different things that typically we we see every year that we wait to see what we get in free cash to factor into the budget in the fall can we be at least have a list of these items to kind of factor into our minds right now as we're looking at these percentage increases and your recommendations with your recommendations yes we can really see like an actual percentage increase because if we're going along in the spring thinking oh the town side's only going to get 2% when they're actually going to end up getting more for fy2 if we're going to be giving you know these supplemental operating budget items in the fall it'd be good for us to see that big picture now with your recommendations okay that makees sense yep and uh we H I met with uh the chair and vice chair of the select board and the chair and vice chair of the school committee and um the superintendent and we'll be looking at 3% for each of us so it'll be a little less 3% so right now it's saying like 800 what is it saying 850,000 from ambulance receipts can you foresee that that could increase I I do um we'll have to increase that we'll have to increase free cash and we'll have to talk about about using some stabilization and increasing the ambulance receipts using stabilization increasing free cash more than the 700,000 um would that still only bring us to the 3% across the board increase yes okay can you show us like can you send us that new Revenue expenditure sheet okay all right does anyone else have any questions on this yeah Madam chair yes s go ahead just a couple things um Mike I got the same the 7.7% that that Paul I got that's why I had asked you about why the you know the numbers my numbers were a little bit off when I was adding fall and spring um and you had explained it was because of the um the collective bargaining agreements correct correct and so I guess I'm wondering um you know that that if that 7.7 is really sustainable like we we've now increased our base um and you know made a huge jump last year in that in that um in the government you know General government side um is that going to be a big impact I would think this year as we start to look at now adding on to that that's that's why um you know in discussion with the Chiefs today they realize they may not be seeing all their overtime back this year and do you have any idea what the um total free cash is that we're going to end up spending I know we have um a good chunk left over I know last year was the highest year of free cash so are we going to be spending a lot of that down or what what's your estimate right now for how much free we have 1.7 million in free cash so we'll be looking at that this week to see what we can um put into capital and then uh what we'll have for the budget also yeah I think I think there's been a little bit of panic in in the I we already we know things are bad right but I think when when the message got out that we were going to be potentially not even level um level funding our budgets that you know certainly that caused a lot of panic and um that would be obviously catastrophic so we're I think that the sooner we can get out the message that that's that's not the case that we are going to be seeing increases certainly not level services but increases over what we had last year that would be that would be helpful yeah and like that fixed and shared number there that 20 million 9871 140 that do you foresee that increasing is that fix is that fixed right now um I believe that is set right now I don't I don't see that we'll have any changes all right you yes Zach I think so Mike if we use stabilization funds and I'm not sure what number you're thinking what's the plan to replenish it because I don't see the budgets uh changing unless you have you know something I out next year you know you're expecting additional revenues um how do you punish it are we just kicking the can down the road in the fall um I think what we're doing is last year we used quite a bit of money as you can see from the 1.9 in cash and the 707 in stabilization so this year we have to make somewhat of a correction and uh then next year we'll probably have to do the same I mean we're not going to be looking at budgets higher than 3% probably but you still have no way of replenishing the stabilization money used is what you're say well we will have some free cash so we can use some of that to put something back depending on how much we use and I assume even with the 3% increase that's now being announced um there's still going to be some layoffs whether it's on the school side Town side whatever it may be and as you mentioned in the past the town doesn't carry unemployment benefits so where is that figure into the budget um we have a line item for unemployment is that being increased um we I will look at it right now we haven't um and we'll look at I'll talk with the superintendent we'll see what we have for layoffs and um see if we have to increase that or we can wait until um October to see who doesn't get a job and still on unemployment Madam chair yes Cody Mike it sounds like you're assuming that all the cuts are going to be made at the school level has anyone from departments been made aware of potential Cuts they have because you only mentioned the schools that's why one no no I said I'll be meeting with the superintendent and we will discuss our cuts and layoffs okay sorry misunderstood yeah um my quick question too because I saw you responded um because I think it might have been Cody who asked about how we're investing the stabilization funds because opad looked like it was growing uh a quicker rate than stabilization in the account and then opab is we use The Prudent investor but not for stabilization can we use that for stabilization to we we can't we can't okay by law we're not allowed to oh okay all right yes Bill Mike um maybe it's just me um but I've been asking this easily for seven years and I keep getting yeah yeah we're working on it but you know where I come from we work with projections and we see a couple of years of what's coming down the pike versus this one year that we're seeing today and then out in the you know atmosphere here we talk about what might be happening after why can't we get projections that show me a couple of years that that builds in and you know here's our here's our labor costs these are what they're doing year in and year out based on what we've agreed on here are other costs that we know of here's our debt schedule oh it's going to go up oh it's gonna go down because we paid off stuff why is that so difficult to get we can do that for you for a couple years I've been asking for seven years we this isn't funny anymore we did it before I it wasn't that long ago wasn't seven years ago we did a very rudimentary um but you know you're asking us to make these decisions you're asking us as a town whether it's it's those who have been elected or those who volunteer to get out a message and educate Town's people I don't think we have the information to do that that's my personal opinion Madam chair yes Z can I just not to p on but can I just add to what Bill Bill said you my peeve is I hear as long as I know this committee is contractual obligations that's the keyword not only the town government but the school department is just as guilty uh of it contractual obligations so the school department goes into executive session the board of Selectmen go into executive session for subject of negotiating contracts and then somehow Abra Cabra they come up with 5% 6% with what basis only God knows what basis are they negotiating with when we're under prop two and a half that I will never understand we close the doors shut off the lights and it's almost like a back room deal on under executive session with money we don't have and then the next year Well contractual obligations they have steps at this how do you negotiate with money you don't have I it's beyond my comprehension and I've been running businesses about businesses since I was 25 years old and I got 100 people on my payroll if I ever ran a business like Municipal gun that runs I'd be homeless and I'll get off my so box out um Mike just quick question try to remind me of the timeline for like the union contracts does that that happens before Springtown meeting correct is is it happening before we're getting your recommendations but the contracts are all settled now when does that usually happen though like those it some happened uh before the May town meeting and some happened before the October town meeting okay okay anyone else before we start to uh Del into these budgets that have way more than a 3% increase yes col just a a point on uh stabilization last year when we talked about you know pulling 700,000 to put into that it was a oneoff like there were unanticipated mandates coming from the state that that weren't foreseen and it was a oneoff bandid to try and help us get over that PP I don't think that there's any conversation that we're going to have tonight where I'm going to agree that we are pulling from stabilization fund for ongoing expenses like flat out I I'm there's a line in the saying we we should not be having discussions about funding ongoing expenses from non-recurring revenues there's no way that we should be talking about free cash no way should we should be talking about stabilization when we are talking about annual expenses and reoccurring budgets Madam chair yes Sandy I mean Cody I agree with the um the premise that that you know we we keep digging ourselves in a little bit deeper and deeper but I also don't think that we should go cold turkey on a free cash perspective where that's what we've been doing for so many years to now cut that out we would be looking at you know less than level funding um budgets being cut I think if we want to wean off and talk about you know policy um know bigger policy discussions I think that's something that that I would love to have a discussion about you know I know we have that sort of a draft of a financial policy but we never really Revisited that it would it would I think be helpful to revisit that um and to talk about weeding back but so I would be opposed to just cutting back and just cold turkey you know losing all that because that's we we've put ourselves into this position um I think it would be irresponsible to just cut it off now without any warning to any of the Departments or you know in one in one house sure yeah I agree with both of you a little bit like because you know we're looking with a school at least we know it would be 44 Cuts versus 2025 Cuts so just looking at what it would cost us in unemployment and then not knowing what cuts would have to be made on the town side too um we could it could end up costing us more money to not do this Band-Aid yes Cody yeah so just just to put a final point there are things built into these budgets that are oneoff lineups singular expenses for buying a new computer buying new phones buying new software but whatever that is if it's not a recurring expense that's where I see free cash should go towards those oneoff year byye things that are not necessarily reoccur coming I don't like seeing a budget where we are presented with something that we anticipate is going to be in the budget for the next year it is a one-time expense like we're opening the town hall so we need new computers if we need that needs to go to Capital or there needs to be a line item to pull that out say we're going to fund this from free cash we're going to make the request to P in free cash but we're not going to build in free cash because we built something into a budget that is not necessarily going to reoccur and next year it's just okay well we had some built in there so we're going to build in some more and build and and spend some more we don't have it and we shouldn't be taking one off non-recurring revenues to spend for recurring expenses that's that's the point I'm making there it's not necessarily that we're pulling all the free free cash spending out it needs to be the line item very specific that this is going to be funded from free cash and when we when we're talking about the budgets we are pulling out anything that is not anticipated the recurring expense so M mad chair yes Andy and Cody I don't I don't disagree with with the goal but we spent $2 million on our budget from free cash last year you you and that's for recurring expenses to cut that just completely this year down to zero I just don't think it's responsible I think you know cutting it back and again talking about what what the policy would be going forward and to kind of wean off that is fine but that's that's a huge number you're talking about catastrophic you know um where you're talking level funding never mind level Services level funding wouldn't happen um I don't see how you can how we can change that go complete 180 in one year I I think we need to have responsible conversations about what we have been funding from non-recurring revenue for recurring expenses we need to identify what we have paid for from free cash that are salaries or budgetary items that were added year overy year we need to identify those and looking at Cuts those need to be the person for cut pull those out we can still use free cash but we we cannot continue to fund recurring things from free cash is financially and fiscally irresponsible but that's what that to million dollar number is yeah but we we got figure out recurring right that's that's in our budget that doesn't that's not the capital one-offs that's recurring budget items so $2 million is what we spent almost last year and recurring expenses how much that was added in the fall um so the yeah the the um that's what that's what I think Paul's point was earlier right is this let's look at the big picture now Al together I think I have less of an issue of of spending um free cash again because that's I feel like where're it's just like the school spending school choice money they they have a debate every year and it's it's a tough decision um but I think that you know as long as I have the big picture all at once I'm a little more comfortable what I what I don't love is is as Paul referred to yes you know earlier um the fact that we're looking at one point 1.9% increase to a budget that suddenly blows up to 7.7% I mean that's you know that's a huge difference in my mind that that's not at all what I had the impression of in the spring that we were approving um so I think we need all the numbers all at once if there's things that are being deferred which we always defer over time police and fire if that's going to happen again you know to have those numbers up front and to factor those into the percentage increases now anyone else thoughts on free cash okay okay Mike to reserve fund transfer request y uh so we have a request um for $8,000 for the Animal control officer this would be um for his overtime and part-time account uh Brian still has his vacation time to take and the town accountant says he will not make it through the year um without a supplement anyone questions comments about the reserve fund transfer 8,000 for overtime for the dog officer Madam chair yes bill I think this is just a continuation of what we were just talking about out in that we set a budget you know what your budget is you're supposed to work to it I don't have a problem with the 8,000 you know in in the grand scheme of things it's it's it's almost a rounding error but it's the thought process that this is okay let's keep doing Madam chair yes Steve I Mike have a question first us I don't know he yeah no I was just going to say that's why um when I presented the budget earlier for animal control I mentioned that we were um upping the part-time salary for next year's budget um people want a 7 day a week Animal Control service so unfortunately we don't know when he someone's going to get called in at night or Saturday and Sunday I I myself would prefer five days a week 8:30 to 4:30 like everybody else but people want the service so they he gets called in who people yeah I residents in town would they rather have a teacher or a fox caught on a Saturday night like unfair so we we all have to work within the constraints of the prop two and a half right and sometimes the people may not get a dog officer on the weekend because of that so with that said my question Mike is going to be who has oversight of that budget who reviews it when it it gets to a certain level and and actually to push back and say there's no availability based on funding Etc um that's that's why we're here tonight because the town of C over reviewed the budget and told them he would not make it through to the end of the year based on uh what he's used so far for the call outs and the part-time person so with that said if we would have project out based on what our stats are how often would he say no going forward or would he have to shut down at certain month um he would the problem is he doesn't know when there's going to be um Strays or animals in the uh animal shelter so someone's got to be on on the weekends to go in and take care of those animals mam chair yes Cody if if there was a point where he was there was no money in his budget to staff and he had to do something with the dogs they euthanize the dogs they transfer the dogs I mean at at the end of the day there's if the money's not there he's got to find a solution it would be um both of those scenarios okay hopefully he could transfer them but if he couldn't he would have to euthanize them or he just doesn't respond to the call um that's what we've worked hard now with um the dispatch and with the police department to limit the calls so that they're only critical calls if a if a dog's running down the street and it's not bothering anybody don't call somebody in on the weekend to get the dog but if there's a dog bite situation or something like that then they have to come in M CH yeah C Mike is that is that a state mandate position no so it is not a critical service that has to be provided by any it it's a needed position I wouldn't say you know but it's a critical position anyone else questions on this Reserve transfer hey do we want to entertain a motion to recommend this Reserve transfer not recommend I forget it's been a year what do I say mad chair yes Joe I make a motion that we um approve a transfer request for the dog officer of $8,000 to account 001 29251 0 approve can think of okay Motion in a second to approve the $8,000 Reserve fund transfer okay going for the vote Kevin oh Steve no Trace Trace TR no Sandy no Joe no bill no Paul no Cody no Zach no Bonnie no um and myself I am also a no even though I'm a dog lover and it's hard okay and no next we have um the Town Clerk and in the town clerk's office um we have two full-time staff and one part-time staff person and as you can see the uh part-time staff person was not there for a full year last year so that's the difference between the 11,684 and the $2,295 in in her expenses there was a slight increase um seminars and conferences or training for one of the staff people and um most of the other items uh were the same dues and memberships is up a little bit and then on elections there's one large increase um that is because of the presidential election this year so last year it was $122,000 and this year here the town clerk is looking for $22,000 for this the elections that I line atem Mike may I say something sure just also on the state election class we that also includes the September primary that is via State re and senat is so that that election is included in that also thank you Lucia do you have anything else to add thank you I have a quick question the the part you said there was a part-time position that wasn't there a full year last year was that a newly added position last spring Mike Lucia um Lucia can talk more on it but that position was in her department for a number of years and it just hadn't been filled so then it wasn't budgeted for correct Lua um it wasn't budgeted for but this this is obviously I think you all know a very crucial year um with all the elections and we have to have the help there we we have to have the help I'm sorry but we do there's so much involved with mail and ballots and we're going to get slammed with Excuse me just over 15,000 voters compared to four years ago um four years ago we mailed out over 8,000 ballots um and that is not just mailing out a ballot that is um checking and getting them into the state system and keeping track of them when they come back and double checking make sure everything is correct wonderful job about the library voting um that that's going to happen one week for September and two weeks for the presidential and obviously you need staff in there run it efficiently State we're on deadlines also Mike can I ask you quickly could you just reduce the um percentage of this document we can't see the whole thing on our screen to do that y there you go thank you thank you Lucia anyone to have any questions for Michael Lucia about this budget Madam chair yes um just to go back to that parttime maybe I misheard it it was or was not part of the budget in years past it was part of the budget um FY 23 it was not budgeted and fy22 sure yes Cody if I'm wrong here Mike but this was one of those positions that was funded from free cash in the fall correct um one other thing um for Lucia um um do you do you have any guidance or expectation on the amount of mailing voting obviously four years ago we were in the middle of the the pandemic yes I mean do you expect the levels this year are going to be on par with that like four years ago there people um it it's going to be on par I I have no doubt about that um people have gotten used to the mail and ballots now and it's a huge convenience for them um there's also in all honesty people with the way the world is now there are people who fear going to the polls for safety purposes um we get that we get comments about that and I'll tell you I anticipate excuse me that there's going to be very close cl to the 15,000 registered voters of of ballots between election and ballots going out and I'm going to I'm going to guess 7 to 8,000 a mail in ballots was this position um on the budget in 2020 um no I used um I used a lot of my pole workers and I think you would probably find that across me to pay the PO workers to come in and was more than what we're paying a part-timer um and also not just elections but we talking about the census and there's 9,000 census that we we mail out and those individually have to go into the system the state system and changes that letter of changes being made um the volume is picking up with um vote with U by the records uh it's a it's a very busy office uh Joe I think you had a question around the same time Cody jumped in I did uh hi Lua how how are you oh how are you good um so I just want to get a little reminder SL clarification on the state election cost the the 22,000 totally understand that but what's going into that I I I seem to remember past years we had a postage column or maybe that was in another budget but is that is is a lot of that 22,000 postage or is it something else um there there's no I think there's a separate postage budget Mike yes okay um but still can you kind of just give us a little bit of a breakdown of the of what the 22 will get us so so the the time the time for um mailing the ballots um when you're meing them you're also dealing with the regular daily activities so we're in there Saturdays and Sundays getting those ballots out and as they returned we're checking them in um you're talking about Staffing the live early voting um which I get my poll workers in there to do the staff there's no way the staff can do it with the volume um we're on the computers with the state um you've got the library voting staff and then we have the advaned processing um when you get all those ballots with the the live early voting and the vote by mail we're allowed to advance process so when the deadline hits um for the mail and accepting mail and ballots we're running those ballots through on separate machines at Town Hall which we're allowed to if we did them all at the polls then we're going to be there probably till 3: or 4 in the morning um and you're talking about workers who start at 6:30 in the morning that there's going to be a very shortage of help to go through those hours um so we do the advanced processing and a crew comes in and does the advanced processing on all of those okay got it thank you did I say the L voting too yeah be a we voting for the primary and then there's going to be two weeks straight of Library voting presidential okay yeah just wanted to make sure that was clear for myself and everyone else so thanks else okay hearing nothing Lucia you are out of the hot seat okay thank you so much a great night bye and then next is conservation um in the conservation department there's two full-time staff people uh so their Sal you have their salary salary line item and then in their expenses um the one of the increases was in U maintenance of conservation areas and another one's in Professional Services and a slight increase in uniform [Music] allowance Mike you said this was too full time I'm sorry madam chair yes Bonnie that last my day um like you said this is two full-time positions yeah the um conservation agent and an administrative staff person gotcha thank you anyone else have any questions on this budget I'm sure yes Cody um just curious what goes into the maintenance and conservation areas when the past it's been you know a fraction of that amount that's request yeah so the main thing it all depends on the weather conditions uh I know one year we had a lot of trees come down um so it's really really clearing the paths um after the winter and um also uh maintaining uh Camp e to three is another expense for that so Mike I assume because we've only spent 1800 so far this year they're like waiting for nicer weather to spend down that line at right right uh like later in this spring Madam chair yes Andy um because I know at the beginning when we first um purchased E3 there was talk about um renting out and and using some of that income um you know to rent out to to other groups to help offset some of the cost for maintenance has that is that happened is that um is that potentially happening that John is working on that this year uh he hopes to have uh some groups that'll rent that out hey anything else sure Cody think I heard I think that may Paul Steve um just question on what Professional Services entails yeah so uh Professional Services or any help that um the Conservation Commission will need if um they have uh to call in an expert on uh an issue that they have it's also used um if John is looking at having a dam removed um helping apply for grants for that so the engineers can develop uh the cost estimate on that then that that's more or less what he would use it for so he gets Consultants to write grants he doesn't do it himself um he would do it but he also needs uh the backup information that the engineers would have to develop and was it Steve did you have a question or was it Paul I'm good I'm good thank you okay okay I think that might be it for [Music] conservation next is plan in the planning department there hopefully is two people uh planning director and a full-time administrative staff can you just make this duck a little smaller too sure um so there's the planning director and uh a full-time admin staff and then the expenses um we took out the 5,000 in educational assistance that was in agreement with a previous planner we had um so we don't have that in the budget this year yes Zach I think so we don't have a planner so I assume a lot of this is going to be turned back from this year's budget yes hopefully we'll have have one in there for next year's budget Madam chair yes bu Mike do we currently have an admin yes so what's been expended so far the 225 is to pay the admin correct and what are they able to do I mean obviously I'm not looking for a blowby blow of their day but without having a planner what are they able to handle as ad so more or less administrative cost uh task so if someone submits a form a or they submit a subdivision plan um taking that in processing it and setting everything up for the meetings for the planning board okay okay thank you in minutes also I just wanted to uh clarify they're working 40 hours full-time weekly um yes 37.5 gotcha thank you I think that was Bill did you pip up yes okay thank you um Mike um I know how hard it is to to fill an open position I've been trying for months [Music] um but if the position is open why are we giving it a pay increase um well we're just trying to keep up with what the market is out there we just had a salary survey done recently and for a planner it was 86,000 to 1125 I I guess I'm more sympathetic when there's an actual body there than just an open position I thank you y Madam chair yes Joe um Mike remind us again how many towns are looking for planners right now so right now there's 26 listed uh in the MMA site we we advertised there we advertise on a planning site there's another organization called planners in a pinch and we've tried them and now we're started reaching out to current planners hate to do it but to see if we can uh oh from another town soach there was to just point out like it's it's been open for a long time for a very good reason and if we don't have a competitive pay rate we're not going to get one right matter of fact if I can Madam chair the uh the planner we had um was making where he is 86,000 and he got a $113,000 raise he was coming he was coming to us and then where he worked they offered him a $113,000 raise so he stayed he didn't come all right well well maybe this is our year we'll find keep our figers crust anyone else with the planning budget like a modest 1.5% increase we can work with that all right he zoning [Music] zoning let me get the zoning up uh a big budget of 300 uh just for any office supplies or any advertising they may have to do it's a great um I think I probably say every year we we're lucky to have uh a zoning board um the chair is very professional and um you know most people on town probably don't even know what they do and uh he they do a great job okay any questions on this $300 for our zoning board okay hearing none all right next we have Highway excuse me uh just to go over the highway budget [Music] um so the high way has 13 full-time employees and two part-time summer employees and the new item you see there is um DPW director and that was uh something that the uh residents voted on to uh Institute a DPW director so uh the the highway department would take 14% of that cost um it's all based on the water budget the soore budget and the highway budget and 14% of that cost would be Highway and the rest would be water and soore and down the bottom we also put in DPW director expenses um which total 50,000 I believe it was and 7,000 of that would be Highway um based on the same percentage um I know that uh Jared has increased a couple line items um due to the cost of materials going up Road materials he increased from 20,000 to 30,000 and uh surface treatment from roads from 13,000 to 177,000 and I know Jared is on if uh you have any questions hi Jared how you doing you have anything to add uh just to maybe clarify on some of the increases um we've noticed uh B fault has went up considerably compared to some of the other items um paint for line painting um also just an increase in work that we plan to do over this year and next there's been some failing coverts um one on West H is that um just ate up about $10,000 in my budget so it could be surprise expenses that I just want to get ahead of and be proactive about some of the infrastructure um Mike the DPW director line item so is that something we have to implement this year we have to hire for it based on what we passed a town meeting wasn't it just to kind of ex that the town wanted to explore the idea um you know it's I put it it's in the first run of numbers obviously ly um and it's a discussion item that you know we'll have to uh look through and see Madam chair yes Andy um Mike or Jared do um do you know have the negotiations at all um with the two unions happened any be negotiations or discussions I know that was one of the um things that would have to happen first before we could merge the two departments um have those discussions happened at all yet or um are we still waiting on that still waiting on that that has not happened okay so I mean I I'm anticipating that that's going to take a little bit of time so we wouldn't have the two in the near future we're not going to have these two um departments merged necessarily is that a correct assumption correct and then sorry the other question I had was are there have we looked into any Financial savings that that we can possibly have with combining the two departments um I don't know that you'll see a lot of financial savings because I don't think you're going to be able to reduce the number of employees um the only area I could see and Jared can speak if he wants would be snow plowing um but I don't see um a lot yeah I can add that um snowplowing you probably would see some savings um as far as hiring subcontractors you wouldn't need as many um also there might be some overlap between some of the equipment for certain jobs but I mean' been a to quantify it yet anyone else questions Joe um looking at the cemetery wages what accounts for the 211% increase so the person that's in charge of the cemeteries is in a new position within the union um just so I don't have the figures in front of me but sary's almost doubled in the past two years it's kind of taken a life of its own uh the previous person in charge had almost no record keeping or pretty rudimentary record keeping and um just to you know keep someone in that position and pay them for the work they're doing that position was created in the union and that that c the most of it along with the two somal positions thank you madam CH yes I don't know who that was is that Jared if you are you going to be maintaining that rail trail too is that been put on your planate as well uh I don't know if it's been in official capacity but I don't see any other way it would probably be maintained by the highway it will be and when somebody uh passes and they buy a plot where's that where the funds go for that the town's General uh yes hey any questions all right he nothing thank you Jared Jared you have the one of the big budget coming up oh snow removal how could we forget I don't have the snow and ice there we go uh Stone ice $80,000 only spent 15 this year huh Jared do you know what the number is the final number well I shouldn't say final should I shouldn't have said that but the number right now I do believe it's slightly over maybe a few grand I don't have the exact figure though okay oh right because that's only through December okay yeah we had that one little slush storm don't jinx us Mike I know I should I should April Fool's Day storm yeah there storm coming this weekend also CH in too I think most of that was the vehicle repair we've been having a hard time with some of the older plow trucks do you have um new trucks in the capital request in the capital this year Jared uh we do hey anyone else have questions about snow and ice okay that's it Jared thank next is Council on Aging and this is um one budget where um a position was added um I know that uh Beth has right now a uh part-time administrative person who is funded through the budget and also was funded through Opera um and she also has a part-time Outreach counselor and what uh Beth is looking to do um with the in the new building is would be herself full-time administrative staff person and um a full-time program coordinator is Beth with us tonight yes I'm here hi Beth how are you I'm good thank you how are you good uh Mike again could you uh make the percentage smaller on this document sure do you have anything to add yeah um yeah I just want to say that um right now our we are definitely underst staffed in the small building that we have right now and going to the larger facility um we're definitely going to need more assistance so this is a a vital position in my opinion um I have seen over the last few years that 75% of my work has been um human services so that's helping those most in need in our community those are our families and um our seniors and caretakers who need assistance um I've also been writing a lot of Grants so it just this fiscal year alone I've raised over $70,000 that has really supported the work of the senior center um if you look at my budget none of my programming is on there so I get all that from Grants and volunteers and and um being creative with some of the class fees that we have so basically we really need increased people and then um you know a lot of the um expenses um were kind of a guess because I don't know what the new building is going to be Mike and I work together a little bit on that trying to come up with best guesstimates as what the electricity and water and stuff like that will be so so two items there the purchase of services um that is for cleaning of the building so right now we're going from an 1100 square foot building to an 11,000 square foot building so that we we're going out to bid soon for from that uh so that's a as Beth said that's what is our best guess um the electricity um we had a consultant look at that and the new building will be all electric so that's why uh it's 17,500 and the natural gas is reduced because um where they are now that was the heat was natural gas it will be electric now and the um natural gas will be um just for the generator in the kitchen in the kitchen right but be just clarification on the staff um there was a part-time admin I think Mike said funded um half through the budget and half through half through arpa grants correct and that position is can has to be 100% funded by the budget now going forward is that correct and you want it to be a full-time position so right now she's working full-time um half of her hours are 18 from the town and the bound um is with the arpa funding so yes so that arpa funding though like I said is going to go away and be spent and now it will have to be 100% funded by the budget yes and then you said add a part-time Outreach no U we have a part-time Outreach currently um we need to add a a full-time program coordinator program coordinator okay I that and the other part-time is a van driver part-time van driver and the van was purchased with arpa money with arpo funding right and and you know we haven't been able to utilize the van because we don't have the Staffing to take on the transportation coordination piece so that's part of the program coordinator's role as well so I know you mentioned that you're utilizing some volunteers for your programming yeah I you know we I remember you mentioning to us I think at a meeting back in 2021 eons ago that in order to because I think someone asked you you know when the new building becomes a thing and you know how are we going to pay for that you know the increase in programming and services that will come with the new building and you mentioned about like 35 volunteers that you had yep that would come back yeah we I mean right now we're using um over 35 volunteers right now to run the I mean right now I have a satellite location at the VFW we're trying to build up our programming um to get ready for the new building and right now my bingo program the opening and closing of the BFW that's all being done um either by senior workof people or um volunteers and those people will be coming with us to the new center there are certain things that volunteers can't do um a lot of the Human Service work we do is confidential um we're helping people with getting vital services and needs met and we really I mean that needs to be a staff person who understands confidentiality and things like that Madam chair yes Sandy to follow up on that um Beth I think you we' also talked about at some of those public meetings um renting out the the COA space in the in the evenings to try to bring some money in is that still the plan um do we do we have any idea of how much income that could bring in I have no idea to be honest with you that is something that you know Mike and I need to discuss I think it's definitely a possibility um again we need to look at the logistics of that I know um somebody from the football team reached out to me and I I think it would be great for people to use this Bas um but we need to find I mean we don't have a janitor so who's going to open the door and lock the door this is a multi-million our beautiful new facility that we want to make sure that um we treat it well and we you know make it nice for everybody for a long time so we need to make sure we have just systems in place to make it work but yes um that's something that we can look at I'd like to take a look I know the schools rent out some of their stuff I'd like to look at their structure I honestly haven't had the time to even think about that yet yeah I mean Beth right now I see this looks like a 56% increase in your budget and Mike's talking about you know us only really having like a 3% increase for everyone's budgets this year um what's that going to mean for your department I have no idea this isn't a discussion that we had before um I don't know what it means I mean what I do know is I know the services we offer to those most in need in the community are vital services um I don't I don't know what that means Madam chair yes Sandy a question from Mike again I going back to all those public hearings and we talked about you know what the increases would be um in terms of cleaning costs and and heating and all that um and we were looking like a couple thousand in cleaning and maintenance costs of been increase and maybe five or six in Heating and then we were also looking at a decrease um in the Town Hall heating because the um would be more efficient than than what we are you know working with right now um and so I thought overall it was going to be a net you know a decrease and that decrease in our cost for especially for the heating is that still the case I mean can we hold I know that the town hall the senior center is coming on first before the the town hall but is that a possibility excuse me where um that could offset the costs yeah um I I see um will REO reduce tur uh heating costs from 5,000 to 2,000 um the problem at the Town Hall is they're not tearing down the town hall building now so we got to look at um some expenses there to keep the heat on Madam chair yes Phil um Mike repair Maintenance building van 20,000 MH it's a new building what what are we repairing um I think uh with Beth's intent there was most of that would be fraud the van itself didn't we purchase it we did what are we repairing then if it hasn't been used what what are we repairing right we we'll overiew that sure yes Cody um I know Mike you said you you reduced the the heating from 5,000 2000 but that's not exactly true because the increase in electricity it's costing more to keep the same the new building because it's an electric heat um I'm just looking at at you know just by the Numbers the increase in the electricity U from 5,000 to 17,500 that is like over 6% inre in so is there a point where we have any type of discussion about whether or not servicing the the people that utilize the services from Council on Aging whether it is beneficial to them for us to utilize a space that we cannot afford to up keep and maintain and properly said so you were kind of breaking up there Cody um what was the final question the final question is is there is there a discussion or is there uh any consideration for whether or not it makes sense to to service the the clientele from the council and agent from this new facility can't afford to up keep the facility in other words why are we if we can't afford to to utilize the space it's going to cost us more than we have in the budget then do we need to have a discussion about whether we're utilizing space until such time as we have the funds to actually well right now we're budgeting for it so I I think what I didn't I did not say that B all budgets would only be increased 3% I said the town budget total would only be increased 3% M chair yes Kevin I mean I think we're all picking at the symptoms of the same disease which is the department heads aren't I mean it feels like there's a fundamental disconnect between the departmental budgets and the town Financial strategy I.E this budget is in presentation form we picked up some cost saving opportunities knowing the cost to Town the budget's tight and none of them have been I would say thoroughly explored yet and I'm not saying that's people have time constraints I get it a budget that's tripling over three years almost there's a fundamental disconnect in how these budgets are built at Department level versus the overall Town Financial landscape the budgets as presented by the department heads or what the department heads feel they need to operate their budget then I go through the budgets and I let them know what we have available to fund the budget so you know the town budget increased by 6 point something perc when all the town departments submitted their budgets and now it's my job to go through all these budgets to bring everything down to a 3% increase for the town and so wouldn't you want those Department budgets be picked clean of savings opportunities before they come forth I mean as opposed to just uh aspirational I would put it no because um people in if there's a disconnect between the revenue coming in and an aspirational budget like I for Liv I for a living plan budgets six factories around the world and one of the baselines is what's Revenue going to grow with and if it's variable labor it flexes a certain percent with Revenue changes fixed don't there's got to be some kind of connect otherwise your revenue and your costs are just going to be completely disconnected so when the Departments submit these budgets they submit what they feel they need to operate that's why the town budget originally was 6% increase in the school budget was 12.9% increase I don't think the schools thought in any way that we were going to be able to fund a 12.9% increase and I don't think there's any way we're funding a 6% increase for the town but that's a way that the town's people see what departments need Madam chair yes Andy um just a couple questions first I do I know I do appreciate you know that Beth is advocating for her Department I think that's you know she's doing her job for doing a fantastic job of advocating for the Department then I think we we would expect her to let us know what what the needs are to um that even if we if they get cut you know these are the things that that we are choosing not to pay as a town right that um because we you know continue to to refuse to increase taxes and you know anything else like that um but the the question I do have is that is there a uh do you know what that the number would be for a level Services budget um what would you know did was was that ever calculated in this this was my attempt at a level service budget we're moving again we're moving to a building that's five times the size that we're in now we are anticipating that the number of people we serve is going to increase three bold that is statistically what has has been seen across the state for um people opening up new senior centers we're also seeing our senior population growing um right now we're at over 4,800 seniors that was from the 2020 um census you know where I have over 1,500 unique users that's unduplicated seniors that are walking through the door and we're doing this with one full-time per or two full-time people and a part-time person um this was my best attempt to look at a new building that's huge way bigger than what we have now our little one room Schoolhouse and it's looking at how do we staff it so people can be serviced safely um and it was my best attempt at looking at the figures that we got from the architect to sort of project what the um expenses are going to be for like heat and things like that um yeah like I said I I do appreciate you know I think you wouldn't be doing your job if you didn't advocate for for you know what what your department needs and and what the folks I know you do a fantastic job um with all the volunteers that you have um it's you know it's it's it's tough when when we can't necessarily you know afford to to pay for what our town needs um and I don't think that's anything you know against against you and the work that you're doing so I do want to let you know that we appreciate everything you do I know that the the seniors appreciate you as well and I just want to reiterate the work that we do isn't just for seniors we're also the dep Department of Human Services and I think that gets overlooked a lot um while we were on this meeting I was texting with somebody who is on the brink of being homeless so my work doesn't stop um and it's for the whole town it's not just seniors we love you live and the seniors love you thank you Peter M chair yes Zach I think so yeah I've already you know I'm sitting here listening to all this and everybody's has their own feelings and and what we should be doing but I think you know I look at this in my view my opinion is the largest population in town she's looking for 312,000 it's about one1 of 1% of the budget the counties decid the priorities out this is the money we have what are the priorities you know for me I said it colest times on this committee to protect our life and property first education then everything else but I'm not sure that's us we should be setting that priority the board of Selectmen a what but this is the dollars we have we can all bicker and now splitting years here and there but we need to said what are the priorities what what are the musts has what are we going to let go of I mean this VI you know is going to get us no way that's what it sounds like to me at the moment well I don't think we're bickering Zach I think that we're just trying to get our thoughts and thoughts out there about this process um at the end of the day it sounds like there's going to be a 3% increase average for the townside budget so someone's going to be recommending a priority Mikel put that forth I guess the priorities because 3% average some will be bigger some will be smaller and then it's going to be our job to then recommend either go with Mike's recommendations or come up with our own um and that's what we'll be putting in front of the town's people at town meeting chair yes Cody just a a question to Mike on on PR and how how are you determining where where we are allocating budget where if you're creating new positions where other departments are seeing drastic Cuts Like how where are you taking your direction or is it just it's you or is the select board making a recommendation of where they think that you know there should be priorities how is that prioritization process worked out so I review all the budgets and then I set the priorities based on what the town's people uh wanted and one of the things people wanted was a new Senior Center and I don't think they want a new Senior Center that wasn't staffed so obviously this is a priority so when you're listening directly to the town's people and if they call you and voice where they think the priority should be then you'll take that into account it'll take be taken into account and I think Zach said you know you've got public safety education and and you have to take care of the seniors uh because they're the largest growing population in town so mam chair yes Kevin I just Mike I think that's a slippery slope because I me the question becomes what don't the town people want like there's nothing in this budget that a department head is going to say they don't want this it's just in here yeah well I let Mike finish his thought NOP go ahead J uh so the the two new positions that we're looking at the the program coordinator and the administrative assistant where are we in the hiring process for that we haven't started we have to make sure we have the funding got it um and remind me when we expect the building to go online um I'm hoping that we're in there by July um April is a date that they're supposed to be substantially complete and uh after substantial completion there'll be some things they still have to do so um I'm hoping by June or July would these positions ones that we funded out of free cash um these positions aren't funded right now right now we have okay y yes Madam chair yes though um Mike this is probably G to be a a two-part comment [Music] um but I think it's a reoccurring theme in that when these buildings were proposed I know we initially asked what's it going to take you know what are you going to need in these new expanded buildings so you know I'm going to assume we're not going to have a lot of these in the future but it would probably be helpful to actually think it fully through and not build it and then come back and say oh now that we built it we're going to need X Y and Z we we probably should have thought that through in the beginning the only thing that wasn't thought wasn't completely was Staffing we weren't sure we what uh Beth would need everything else was as I said we we hired a consultant to uh work on the electrical and the gas expenses um we figured on what the maintenance uh cleaning costs would be um so for staing though oh sorry well my my second point was somewhere during this discussion um you made a comment that oh by the way the Old Town Hall isn't going away again wasn't that part of the pitch for the new town hall was oh by the way this old wickety thing goes away and we don't have to worry about it so the the change of oh now we're going to to keep it that's an expense to the town and and it it it just kind of gets thrown at us like oh by the way we've made this decision that was a deis I don't think everybody's thought process was oh it's still going to be there it was supposed to be gone and the expense of maintaining it was supposed to be gone now it's you yes Zach Mike I'll help you answer this one this this was a decision by the building committee to save the tax pay his money the building fund has a surplus and they want to get it done as cheaply as possible and save the money I believe Mike correct me if I'm wrong they got a couple million dollars in Surplus from the two and a half over right right yeah and the cost to demo the building I think was 875,000 so so so Bill on that that's something to take up with the board of selectman who I think has ultimate authority over them I'm not sure I I think how that works but they've decided no we're going to save the $2 million to the taxpayers and we're not going to do it whether they have that Authority or not I don't know and I agree with everything you said bill that's what we voted for well hold on that let me see if I heard you correctly you said there's a two million surplus from the debt exclusion for the project and correct and Mike correct me if I'm saying anything wrong they they don't want to spend the money they want to come in way under budget and not tear the building down that's the last I've heard of it and I haven't followed the last few meetings of the uh of the uh a building committee but they do have the money to do that and can that only be used for building purposes it can't be used correct you can't be turned back or anything like that to free it would never be charged you would never see it on your tax base if they don't they never be charged you want to clean any of that up has anybody run the again what's it going to cost to maintain it to heat it to ensure it yeah I mean we've we' got a building that we wanted to to take offline because it wasn't safe it had s serious efficiency problems serious you know structural challenges I can't see the the the wisdom of keeping that building up and and P to maintain I just have a quick question about the Staffing Beth so you you said that you know with this bigger building we're going to I guess have more seniors coming um more members from the community you said you could utilize volunteers to a certain extent um so with the bigger building I foresee you know more seniors want wanting to utilize the programs within the building but not necessarily maybe things that would have to do with like confidential information um so I don't know if that would increase necessarily so possibly more volunteers could be used for the in programs so what what I'm looking for is somebody to help plan the programs so as I mentioned before about 75% of my work is doing Human Service work it's meeting one-on-one with people in crisis um the remaining 25% of my time I am scrambling to come up with programs and activities um to put for our seniors and I like to keep a balance of physical fitness educational programs and social opportunities so I'm it and I've been flying by the seat of my pants for many years making all this work um and none of my staff have the luxury of lunch breaks and things like that we we are stretched right now in this tiny building when I work currently I keep my door open so I can keep one ear what's going on at the front desk I have a um a monitor where I can see what's going on in the big room while I'm meeting with people in the new facility my office is going to be in a corner the building is huge I'm not going to be able to have my eyes on everything so we are going to need you know we're going we're going to need more staff um most senior senses have between six and seven full-time staff members they have directors they have assistant directors they had program coordinators they have two full-time Outreach workers and they have at least one or two clerks and a transportation coordinator and somebody to run the kitchen when I created this budget and when I asked for the staff honestly I was looking for what we need and jokingly I said to Mike I said Mike we need this staff or they better put make my walls out of rubber because we're at the breaking point at the senior center um come in I I encourage any of you guys to come in on one of the days and it's people are like wow this place is nuts it is we're really busy all the time so asking for what did I ask for one and a half people um compared to what the other senior centers have around us it's what we need it's not what we want so thank you yeah Beth I hear you I I work at a nonprofit organization we serve 25,000 people a year um I definitely understand what it's like we have a food pantry we have a homelessness prevention program and we also have a mental health Counseling Center and oh nice I know what it's like to be stretched thin with a very small staff um I currently coordinate and oversee 135 volunteers that carry out our programs day after day and it works well because we have to stay within our budget constraints um right but who's gonna I mean but who's gonna um supervise these volunteers you know you do but I'm talking in a in a senior center a we well when you when we're looking at but how many staff do you have I mean we're looking at we have one program manager for each program so we we have two full-time people one of them being paid out of oper and a part-time Outreach worker I mean I don't I'm just saying I understand what it's like we have 25,000 people we serve you're talking about possibly 4,000 seniors in Norton um so I get that it's it's a lot to deal with I know it's hard to deal with volunteers um I understand what that's like as well but I guess I'm just trying to understand more about the amount of time it's going to take doing things that volunte could do or maybe that way you can spend all of your time doing the um Human Services aspect of dealing with the confidential information and writing the grants I mean I I brought in over $770,000 this year alone this fiscal year alone in Grants that help the people in our community um I don't know I'm I'm stretched I'm tired I get it you need help anyone else have questions for Beth Senor on many occasions Beth I will um sorry chair yes Cody Beth I will I will throw this out there because it has been opposed to the um school committee Pie in the Sky ask for what you want if we're talking about override the very specific number to fully fce staff that beautiful building we have so that you don't need rubber walls and you have all the support you need thank you I'd like I'd like to see that number because I'd like to see that number in an overate discussion that number would be bigger than what we have here so that's that's what okay would love to see that because I'd love for this town to be what everybody wants to be and everybody says they want it to be and we just need to know what the price tag is what they said I work on that thank you anyone else okay thank you so much Beth thank you so much thank you and last but not least the veterans department and in the veterans department you have uh the veteran services officer and one part-time um administrative assistant position and um as far as expenses uh the expenses have remained um level actually dropped a little bit from the previous year and then veterans benefits 200,000 um obviously um stelle doesn't know what who's going to come in and need assistance so that's a variable number uh we do receive 75% reimbursement from the state for um anything that uh is spent out of that fund for benefits under chapter 151 still if I said and I I Estelle does a great job and also in Simpson uh uh I know would love to have her fulltime um she does a great job chapter 115 that's one anyone have questions for Estelle hi Estelle thank you hello want to add anything um no I I feel like we're level you know the increases in salaries are just contractual and we're just moving forward with what we have anyone have any questions yes um that was me Joe yes uh Mike the you said we get 75 of% of the veterans benefits back that goes into the general fund not back into this budget right right and estel's done a great job in document and everything so we've never had a year where we didn't save our 75% excellent right anyone else hey Memorial invents yeah get to that and Memorial invents um $2,000 the same as last year and um Estelle has uh overseas this budget and this would be for any expenses um that come about for any of the parades and also uh I believe a St purchases Flags um out of the this fund also that is correct for the town I should say Town flight polls the REITs during the holiday season that's that's is that donated what the REITs the REITs yeah the cemetery yes that's reached Across America and cheered by Pat Tarantino um we raised the funds through donations um from businesses and community and that covers all of the cost a lovely program yes all right any other questions for stal so you run the greatest veterans service in the town of nor and you do a good job keeping our V occupied right thank you pet thank you Estelle you're welcome thank you hey Mike that's it it's everything for tonight when will we start reviewing warrant articles um we can start that at the next meeting do some of the uh usual ones okay Madam chair yes Cody I just had one one question that we didn't that I still have it was in huge the traic as well um who has the authority to not tear down the building when the funds were approved by town for the override including tearing down the building like where did that Authority come from and is that something that we can revisit whoever made that decision yeah it definitely can be Revisited be a discussion between the select board and the uh building committee so the so the planning board or the sorry the select board the select board was the was the authority that ruled not to tear down the building no it was the permanent building committee so they made the recommendations but it's the the select board that ultimately they report to well yeah I wouldn't say I don't know whether they they until the budget gets further along I don't think um you know it really was a item that came up between the select board and the building committee but as we get further along in the building will know whether there's going to be a need for any more of those contingency funds but has has the decision been made as far as like when when the construction schedule is planned out the game chart is planned out within that planning there is no tearing down the existing building right now the last decision of the building committee um made several months ago was not to tear it down so that's something that'll have to be Revisited than you y in the past Madam chair yes F go ahead I still G to point a building for um and I'm not sure if anybody else sanding attending meetings for b as well so my understanding I believe from from Dina's own language was that um the permanent building committee serves at the pleasure of the select board and so they do oversee it um but they sort of empowered the permanent building committee to make decisions however also uh we had a fincom representative there to be able to relay information back to this board um also just to streamline communication and I that was also the case with school committee and that was ALS because there's often building projects that have to do with the school committee and of course there was when um the new facility was being built the high school and so I'm not sure that there's a school committee person still on or attending meetings um and also um someone from the select board I believe Jack attended for a while I believe Steve HBY might have been the newer person I'm not sure he still is anyway there was um he's still attending yes so um he will be aware and hopefully informing the rest of the board about sort of keeping them updated so that information kind of flows both ways um if needed and so it should be that you know they're aware of what's going on that may not be the case to know that this um is what's happening for um the building or that the building is uh is not scheduled to be or planned to be torn down anymore um so I just wanted to mention that because there was some question that you had about Cody about that M chair yes Paul so Mike my understanding is that there was a a um a chance of the buildings are going to be way over cost so they did some cost cutting in um saving measures when they built the buildings and came in far under what they expected but wasn't the funding for the town hall always part of the building committee to tear that down and I think it's a slap to the people if it doesn't get called down and that's what we voted on I thought that's what the discussion was right out of the gate that that was just unsafe to keep up and really should be you looked at and they would ask for you to bring that back up at the s in a strong way and try to go ahead and move that forward I can understand removing that from from the budget if we were going over budget but to hear that we're going to be under budget and the cost to tear down that is well within the amount we are under budget that the town approved is about the stupidest thing ever it just it doesn't make any sense we we gave the voters gave the approval to spend up to that amount including the tearing down in that building and now we're saying we're going to save you money by not tearing down the building even though you told us that that's what you want and and part of that Cody also is got to be to solidify the uh wall between the Old Town Hall and the and Lupa of the building as well and again if the funding's there let's get it done and not Niel D the project yep I agree right because now we'll have to have add into the budget maintaining that building and we don't have the money for that or down the road caring it down any yeah yes Zach not only I I think I could be wrong on this the engineered around leaving that building up so the whole plan you know they have the layout there has been engineered leaving the building up so I'm not sure you know what what is entailed at this at this at this Jun we'll follow up with the building committee thanks on that same note what was the plan this might have been discussed last year what was the plan with the old Senior Center is that going be torn down or sold um it can't be sold because um that property there's the senior center there's the school garage where they their equipment there's another shed behind there that's used to store equipment for the highway department and the salt sheds there right so um it the property can't be sold so uh right now there are some uh nonprofit groups looking at utilizing the building and maintaining it um until we decide what we want to do with the property we rent it out um we possibly could rent the building we can't sell it I noticed that it's missing a lot of shingles [Music] word anyone else have questions comments for Mike before we look at the minutes that I sent you all that I'm sure you all reviewed okay thank you all right Mike thank you so much see you next week or Thursday Thursday Thursday I'll be there Thursday for the meeting taking notes as always thank you Peter okay minutes from March 4th so the first thing I noticed I was very confused because the attendance was based on March 11th's attendance it looked like so I tried to um fix it I hope I got it right so I had on March 4th this was our like very short meeting it was like a half an hour meeting I had Kevin myself Tracy Sandy Joe Bill were you at that one yes I thought so um Paul Cody Zach and Bonnie and I only had Steve as absent that correct it's almost like those names should have a question mark in it in the minutes the way you said it with Andy bill that was I wasn't sure I think maybe came lat or so um I I was there he was there okay so yeah so it seemed like the attendance though like basically mimics mimics the meeting from last Monday um so I'll have her fix that uh anything else anyone saw in these short minutes Madam chair yeah I don't know if it's worth a big deal but there was a couple places where schools referring to the department I guess was capitalized I don't know if that's necessary or not that was all I found though all right I'll go and fix those that was in the draft warrant section um paragraph four and five okay thank you anything else do someone want to make a motion to approve the minutes as amended M chair yes Joe I make a motion to approve the the minutes for the March 4th 2024 meeting as amended second right uh roll call Kevin yes Steve Dan Trace yes Sandy yes Joe yes Bill yes Paul yes Cody yes Zach yes Bonnie yes I two yes nine yes one abstain okay Thursday we have a joint meeting you saw my email with the select board and school committee um um at the community room in the Norton Public Library at 7 o'clock it is an in-person meeting there is going to be a link for a live stream but I believe it's webinar format um so not zoom like this to be able to participate in the meeting um in an easy way I would think so let me know if you cannot make it um but yeah well are we allowed to send questions via prox text message text message not [Music] me um I don't know can are we allowed to do that like participate remotely through somebody else Madam CH yes Zach well Cody we're in an open meeting right now if you got something that you want brought up mention it that's a good idea yeah we can I can't I can't ask the questions on the presentation I have I wish I could no yeah definitely just share questions and we can we can pose them on Thursday okay anyone have anything else or does anyone want to make a motion to adjourn I just have one question um I know in the email we got the financials the latest fin financials for the school committee but the email has expired is there a way we can get that information printed for Thursday's meeting the email that went today the email today it was an email that I don't know her name the business manager sent with the financials and balance of accounts okay the email expired you said yeah it looks like it's not available any longer so latest financial report you need okay if we can get that in print for Thursday evening it would be great it's now I get it short notice okay and it looks like I can pick up the packets that they emailed today it looks like I can pick them up printed packets for you all it looked like they were going to have copies for all of us so I will run by town hall and pick those up um and H those out on Thursday so you all don't have to print it out thank you sure yes I believe that pack was the same one that I was given at the school committee meeting here T night it look like it I think it was yeah you're right okay anyone else yes Joe I make a motion that we adjourn the March 18th 2024 meeting of the finance committee well I'll begin preparing the charges against Mr please okay was there a second to Second all right all right um okay roll call to adjourn Kevin yes yes Tracy yes Sandy yes Joe yes Bill yes Cody yes [Music] Miss oh my God and I yes we are Jour k