e hey folks heyj sh hello everybody hey Bob Bob hey Bob good to know the volume's working oh good I just unmuted myself I can mute myself again but first of all congratulations George Becky yeah pretty congratulations to your mom Becky yay Celtics that was that was great my mom went nuts got some trouble yeah anybody go to the parade I didn't uh I got to see the the Nicks in the rearview mirror though for next year that's right we're uh we're fortifying def on the gas we're coming for you you are defin it's great yeah I made some good moves didn't they yeah that's right I forgot about that they're they're loaded right now so we'll see what happens you know it's all about being healthy in the in the playoffs if every team that's the fight yeah part of it is if not having a psychotic like Kyrie on your team helps too he was well behaved pretty much except he couldn't play in Boston yeah that's true our defense was just phenomenal I I think the Knicks are trying to copy the the formula you guys have uh created here we'll see how we'll see how that goes but all right it'll lead to some good game so I think we have everybody right I saw April on here before but yeah she dropped off I think it was technical difficulty all right so she'll be back on all right I'll call the bcom the order at 632 uh all right thanks everybody for arranging rearranging schedules to make this work um so why don't we start oh here's April why don't we start with uh minutes from May 28th and June 4th so we'll do May 28th first what's that date AJ May 28th I didn't have any changes on my end no look comments okay all right seeing none uh I'll make a motion to approve the May 28th minutes as has written at second okay George I out side Bob you're muted Groves I that me my I cashu ey oai is I think April might still be try to get in M Walt and I in the meantime oh we got six To None yeah good that's enough all right April I hope you're able to at least hear us but uh all right so uh why don't we look at the June 4th minutes and this was the joint meeting right uh no yeah that's right [Music] um April cannot unmute okay you cannot mute or show my C oh there she is okay okay okay yes got it great thank you April uh good to see April I don't we we just approve the minutes no and Ste Stein ey I heard I could hear it I just couldn't unmute I anyway here I am um okay so uh this was the um joint meeting to discuss the library um bid process and uh their I guess recommendation about how to fill the small Gap that existed so anyway any any comments about the minutes or questions about it well I just had one question um in in a under two recommended funding I thought the year mark was $250,000 is that true Becky oh it was always 200 okay all right my mistake never mind wishful thinking all right any other comments or questions about this i' I'd make a motion to uh pass the minut says currently edited and presented by Susie second all right roing ey cashew ey moer ey Stein ey well tonight all right great thanks Susie um okay so I guess next up we should talk a little bit about kind of committee structure and whatnot um so um I received an email from Paul Lions I tried to actually get in touch with him today just to see if there was any additional update because the last I had heard from him on um you know recruitment for our upcoming vacancy uh I'm G just pull up the date on that was June 88th so it's actually been a few weeks at that time he had only received a single inquiry um and [Music] um I don't know if anything has happened in the in the last couple weeks but I guess this is just one final sort of opportunity that everybody here has to get the word out to anybody that you think might be interested um if you can think of someone and they are interested I think time is kind of of the essence to put them in touch with with Paul because I think I think in theory he was planning to make an appointment by you know the end of the fiscal year which is days away so [Music] um yeah so and I when I put this agenda together I thought we would discuss committee assignments but that of course that should be like the first thing we do when we have um our new member so just we'll table that that part of this discussion but um did want to just give you an update um on that um I feel like I probably shouldn't yeah Paul did give me the name of the person who expressed interest but I'm not sure I probably should share that I don't know if he he didn't explicitly say whether they or not so I I think I'll I I don't think I'll mention the name um okay uh let's see next on the agenda uh was an update on the track high school track situation and so I imagine maybe some of you have been following this but um I think I have pretty upto-date information because I did get um a couple of emails from Anna um so here are the updates that I'm Ware of one is that both the amoris Town Council and the amoris CPC um have removed restrictions that were in place that had potentially limited the use of funds that had been previously allocated when you know this is like going back over a year ago now uh there was $900,000 of free cash funds from from the from the that the ammer Town Council had um allocated for the project and there were $800,000 of CPA funds that had been allocated by the ammer CPA but both of those had like a specific restriction some one of them I think was about um you know uh the north south orientation like they would only fund that type of project um and uh I think the other one had a restriction which was that it had to be a Turk field because that was the original concept that they the region had artificial tur right artificial correct yeah um that was that was a restriction that well that that it not not that it had to be artificial turp and not grass um so in any event both of those restrictions have been formally removed so that's a milon 700,000 that um was intended for the project that is available okay that's update One update two is that the Town Council I think in particular has really pushed the region to um pursue the project that has an internal grass field expands the number of lanes on the track obviously it's a new track and then but and also reorients it which was not what the the region had been putting forward because they were concerned about costs and whatnot because that is a more more expensive project but under I think some kind of urging from the town the region has approved a new project that they're calling I think they're calling it 3C although it's kind of comical they've gone through so many labels but so 3C is a a new track new Lane additional Lanes grass interior field and a nor north south orientation that's the project it's estimated at $4.1 million they are $932,000 short of that in terms of the funds that have been um you know allocated for the project so their strategy to move forward is they've identified $676,000 of project Elements which are calling ad alternates and these are sort of specific things that are part of the project but can be can be completed if funds additional funds become available so these include lighting that's like $350,000 gopost netting some fencing I think a concrete pad I don't know what they're they're there are sort of aspects of the project that can be I guess added on to it at a later date um I guess after the sort of main um you know new track new field or reorientation after all of that happens okay so that's their strategy for how to kind of move forward they're still they're still going to be short you know under $300,000 and the town has really urged them to seek CPA funding from Member towns so my understanding from Anna is that the region intends to resubmit I guess a CPA request that they made a while back and then withdrew in the amount of 84,000 in change and so I asked her if she thought that it was going to be that or was it going to be an expanded amount she thinks it's going to be that and it's initial amount so I guess there'll have to be some discussion baby Becky I don't know if you've been alerted to this at all but I don't know like what the funding schedule for our CPC is but this project has a fall 2025 expected completion date so that may mean that they need to get on a some kind of expert schedule not just for our town but I would think the the other towns as well so anyway I think we should just be aware that that's um that's probably G to be happening and I don't know that we have any other any role other than when it comes time to for there to be a warrant that gets voted on at town meeting or special town meeting I assume we'll usually we do our usual kind of vote on whether to recommend uh it or not but um other than that I don't think we have any particular go but anyway that's all the track updates I have Bob yeah I just want to ask you a question couple of questions about that uh first of all this seems like a very sketchy program being almost a million dollars short saying that certain integral parts of the project are going to be done later or you know like what the chalk lines or you know I mean the lights you know I mean come on they should have a budget to complete the project and that's really seems awful to to approach it this way we approved the project for how much money and this is this $950,000 more what are the what are the numbers comparatively of what the project was supposed to carry as an expense and before 3C evolved I think they were going to work within those numbers is that not true yeah I think that's that's true so I think the plan you know this is like you know it gets confusing right because there have been so many different plans that over the last few years but I guess what I would say is is as of you know maybe six eight weeks ago their plan was to put forward a project that was I think just over $3 million which they assuming these restrictions had been lifted right had sufficient funds allocated for and so that um that and I think that project was you know a new track a new interior grass field but it would not reorient the track and so I think they when they put forward that plan they got a lot of negative feedback from I think various parties but including lots of me lots of Town Council Members so um that's where I guess that I guess they're responding to that that critic ISM and they're trying to find a way to make the I think I don't I yeah to try to make the the project happen um in let just ask one one other question because this is what concerns me um I'm not I can't really recount the way this project evolved and how how and when we were in the process of approving it was quite a long time ago when we approved some uh some notion of this track and you know since then we've had all kinds of issues with you know the past of course but also it's gone into postco uh price pressures and so on but when are we going to be the Town Council of arist uh has decided to add on this $950,000 expense to the project but town shutesbury has supposed to pick up a portion of that H is not going to be consulted about it that that that that irks me frankly that's a lot of money and if this is going to be part of our CPA or CPC has to fund it I mean why should the reorientation of the track which has nothing to do with Recreation for our town why should that be part of what we fund that's very expensive that's adding a lot of expense so th this is like it seems really like so much is going on in Amber now ad Haw you know like not really sensibly sorted out and it's a little disturbing for my because this is a a very heavy Financial Pro burden put on these town on our towns so I I I find it really really hard to accept the way this process has has worked out not that I'm opposed to the track I'm not but it's not an orderly process in the least sense of the word you know okay uh Susie and Susie if you if you have a chance I feel like you probably are also familiar familiar with the logic behind the need to reorient the track if you could in addition to whatever question or comment you had if you could maybe give your understanding of that that might be helpful yeah I'm I'm really happy the projects reached this point and because people don't have a crystal ball they don't know all the things and the things they did know like their preference for artificial turf they got enough information to change their orientation on that and I'm proud that ammer as much as it's a difficult process down in amorist um got to another place the reorientation seems like a baseline to me the the having the the soccer teams um work on the infield Facing East and West and having one team at a disadvantage to be facing west in this after school games it was really important to me that they not reinvest in a bad idea so I'm really happy that they've pushed it over to achieving some of the very things that we asked for or wanted um or recommended and the f I think in order to understand the numbers um people on the fincom need to go back and look at the initial numbers that were put out there the fact is this has been time passing and so I expect things to change um but it sounds like they're working hard to keep it into CPA funding that people had already been apprised of so I find this to be as much as it's not um a straight line it represents people um at the Regional School taking in important information changing directions getting information dealing with realities that are right now and I am so relieved that they're not going to build a track facing the wrong direction and the other aspect of moving the track that way is that they would deal with the drainage better because they would be starting off in a different area so I feel like they've accomplished a lot of things in this proposal and I'm really happy that they got [Music] there okay Jim Walton yeah AJ when you were reviewing the project you talked about an accelerated timeline and I think you said what they looking to finish in the fall of 25 correct so I think they um yeah they they want the new track installed and to be used by teams and community members for fall 20 uh 25 yeah okay so given that what what what what do you think that might mean as far as timing for getting you mentioned warrants and whatnot yeah so I I um I'm assuming that um if they need well I guess I'm assuming that they they are going to need to do a like a CPA Quest that's kind of off the typical cycle right I mean it doesn't it it just makes uh it would seem to me that like if we don't actually get to vote on this until our town meeting in the spring and I mean maybe I'm wrong about that but I I would assume that they have to do some kind of a make some kind of a request that's off the normal cycle but yeah something that would be something that would a decision would have to made what sometime prior to the annual town meeting I would think so if if those are funds that are needed for the project and they're expecting to complete it by you know September 2025 it would seem seem critical that they have that looks like looks like Becky had some looks like Becky had some input on this I I'm afraid I only have questions sorry AJ so at this point um they haven't given us a date of when they the CPC requests I'm just trying to figure out because I I emailed Rita because she's on CPC and you know so she would be involved yeah making a decision whether or not and so I had when I first heard you I thought you said that they would probably try to do a CPC request in the fall yeah I think so I this is fairly um fast moving because this was I think they just vot voted to approve this path on at their meeting on Tuesday this week so um I I meant to find I will find there's a memo that Doug Slaughter had um presented to the regional school committee for discussion at this last meeting on Tuesday I will I will pull that and I'll share it um but it it it definitely mentions that they are that they intend to make requests for CPA funds from Member towns as recommended by the Amber Town Council it doesn't it didn't specify a time frame though but I think there was some mention of potentially I think they used the term off cycle requests so to me that that suggests yeah like fall um they be doing that uh Jim hemway yeah some time ago there was some question about whether we could we shutesbury could use CPA money to fund a project in ammer has that really been settled um is that legal or whatever because because that there was a time in which there was some question about whether that was even possible or not well we we we fund quite a bit of stuff in ammer I mean because we're we're a member of that Reg school I don't see I mean we have funded buildings how would funding a track be any different with CPA money not with CPA money but with um with our own money with appropriated money I I'm just yeah but aren aren't we GNA use CPA money to try you know to pay for this I that's what I yeah and and is that is that all right um or legal or does that fall within the CP PA guidelines that's because like there was some question about that some time ago yeah but I think the question was raised but as a member of a Regional School it is an appropriate allocation and I will if you want me to I'm pretty sure Rita had answered that question already I can go back and see if I can because there's that and then there is the skyrocketing um costs to do with capital capital work that Capital funding that needs to be done on you know all all these buildings and everything else I mean you know you've seen the graph it just goes up like this uh beginning next year and the year following and um I'm just wondering where all this money is going to come [Music] from so I I did mention to an that when she had given me this heads up and uh I mean I probably should have consulted you guys first but uh I I told her that um that I didn't think there was G to be a much of an appetite for um funding requests from shutesbury outside of the CPA process for this just given the significant you know Capital needs that have been presented so I think she gets that and I haven't heard I don't I'm I'm not expecting there to be any requests for additional funding from shets spury other than a CPA request which obviously that the C you know rcpc will determine whether that's the good use of those funds or not so I haven't heard nor do I expect there to be any other requests for funds for the project from from our uh Susie there was a question raised and answered about using CPA money um for this project and I believe the question was around Turf but I can't remember but what I do remember is the upshot of it was there was no barrier for shoots Berry to use CPA money in this project um but Jim can maybe look back at minutes and see if that's captured somewhere and there there was an initial outline that ammer uh School commit or the regional office Drew up about funding and um again those numbers are out there we can people can look them up um but I think one of the initial part possibilities was shuberry using some of the money that was being returned by the region that had done for excess and deficiency funds but that was just a possibility so it wasn't it wasn't how it funded the bottom line totally so there are n there's there's history here and partly as a notetaker I know archives can provide a lot of answers but we also are moving along and so what they are proposing now compared to what they proposed in the past sounds like they're trying to keep within those guidelines even with a project that has some um inflation and other aspects added to it but I believe the effort is being made to keep this project possible and moving forward which I feel along with all the other Capital need needs this is an important one because it helps us be a um attractive option for public schools and there has been a lot of effort in charter schools and choice schools to not be here I am supporting having a track program um and doing this investment because this is this project is really long delayed so here we are and I feel like we have a good project in front of us uh the only other thing I wanted to mention is that just in case anybody was thinking that these cost estimates are the old you know estimates when we first learned about this project they're not there's there's a a landscape architecture consulting firm called SLR that's been working with um the region this spring to revise all of these cost estimates and and design so um so these the the the the numbers have at least been updated this this spring so in case anybody was might be concerned that like we were talking about a you know a budget that was based on the numbers from a couple years ago these have been um refreshed okay Bob yeah so a couple things one uh I was the person or at least one of the people that raised the issue of using that source of funds for this project because I personally have been very critical about the way the concepts behind the original uh design or implementation of the CPA Act of was for open space affordable housing and historic restoration that that somehow evolved into the idea of like an Athletic Facility uh which just doesn't really meet to my way of thinking the original intent of the law and after all this is a ctax on our Recreation is instrumental Recreation is one of the other things I'm not going to go in the argument I disagree with that okay Recreation it is no Recreation is written things Recreation is not Athletics at Regional School but anyway can have that argument later but I want to point out to AJ which you didn't mention and Becky didn't mention that if it does get recommended by the rcpc it still has to be approved by our town meeting so I don't know what that does to the time frames involved here but that's a necessary component of this process as far as I understand it is that true Becky yeah we'd have to hold special town meeting if this was to go forward and we have a couple other issues that are waiting for a special town meeting that will probably end up being earlier in the fall than um going into winter as we've done in the last couple of years okay anything else on the the track yeah sorry George I see your yeah no that's all right yeah I first of all it's we all know it's true that it's going to be off cycle for the requests to go to the CPC because it's usually January is when their deadline is for submissions December or January and then they usually make the decision in February March roughly you know and then they can get the warrant article done so there's no question that the region is going to have to come to them early but it is up to the CPC to figure out a if it it can even be done and they're going to have to analyze whether it should be done my question one question I have Becky do you know what the balance in our CPC fund account is right now I assume it's more than $884,000 oh yeah yeah H yeah you know we really haven't been spending out of that fund and you know one of the things I like about the CPC it's an alternative way to pay for some capital projects in our town without you know it's already being funded by the taxpayer and seeing what I've seen and knowing what I know about the condition of the track and how it's impacting the Reg school I don't think it's unreasonable to look at this as a possible way of funding it and it does again the CPC will decide if it's appropriate or not um and we can certainly address how we fund projects in this town and what we think of this one it sounds like we all have different opinions but I'm very supportive of this because this this track project has been going on and going on and it has to be resolved and it would be a crime not to do it right not to reorientate orient the field I'm glad we're going to grass and we're we're probably not going to have the astro turf um or artificial turf so you know let's see what the CPC says and then let's have our debate but I I I support this use of it and I think we have a lot of money in the CPC fund and we haven't been spending it they're not getting big requests there's no vision for any of the other things that I'm seeing so why not use this money now okay all right I I did while while we were just talking here I found that memo so I'm just forwarding it to everybody so this is again this was the memo that Doug had Doug Slaughter had uh shared with the regional school committee included the the uh language that they voted on um okay so why don't we um ship gears uh I guess I don't I don't have a lot to say about it but I think uh everybody should have received a letter that I shared that I think some of you probably had already seen but um this is um this was a letter that the Town Council I think it came out of the finance committee and then the Town Council voted to prove it um but it's a letter to the the region about the Regional School budgeting process for FY 26 um yeah I don't think there's anything particularly new here other than you know urging them to work on a much different timeline for the budget for this coming year I think I think that's a good idea idea and I think we should be prepared to I guess have collaborative discussions with the other towns and with the region on a much earlier time frame this year um than than we have just given everything that's that's happened here um and you know I think there's there are some questions here about right how are they going to calculate increases like what what are they going to include what going to be included in the base when they when when the region gives us estimates of you know how you know what what percent increases they're recommending for towns and then what base is used for estimating guard rails like there's going to be a lot of there's there's some there's definitely some issues here so anyway um just wanted to see if folks had questions comments about I see George and then Bob yeah so I saw that the school committee um was setting up an ad hoc committee to do a deep dive in the budget to try to find I I was looking at this letter I didn't see that's not referenced in this letter right I just skimmed it real fast because I just thought but um that that's also going on and so that has to play a part into it into the whole process as far as the base goes yeah it can get pretty complicated if we're not careful but I isn't the reality we go back to the method that we always use and everybody's number will be what it is and then we'll see what the increase is I don't I hope we don't over complicate this I mean what we did was certainly unconventional this year but when it comes to presenting the budget for the first time you know the first duration I hope that they use the five-year rolling statutory yeah and see what everybody's numbers look like I know ammer is saying that they're not going to be able to give guidance above 2 and a half% next year that's what they're initially said I saw that in the paper today so well it's going to be tough next year yeah um yeah and just on that ad on that committee um I think I think we may have mentioned this at the last meeting but there was actually an idea to create uh kind of a com a committee of that would be co-chaired by the Town manager and the superintendent did did we talk about this at our last meeting I can't remember uh okay so there there was a proposal that the region actually voted down which was which which was presented by Irv rhs um and that would have created a committee again that yeah that was chaired by the town manager and the the new incoming superintendent and would include representation from the towns and um and that that committee was going to be tasked with making recommendations for how to create a more sustainable budget um moving forward and and that that I think there was some concerns about that um and ultimately the committee voted that down and I think in its place they've they're creating I think their own internal committee to sort of study the budget sustainability problem issue um so I think that's how they're dealing with it okay um Bob yeah U I read the uh the letter before our meeting and uh just to maybe clarify what George said I'm not sure that he understood what they were talking about when they were talking about base what they were saying is that they they're granting a 6% increase in last year's f 24 budget to 25 but they don't want that new level to be considered to be the base for next year's increase and that's an important U very difficult stipulation to enforce and you know it it what what becomes clear is you know since I've been on this committee I heard from wise men like George arantis that you don't use temporary funding such as operate Esser to fund your uh your budget and that's what AMS the region has been doing and we're doing it again this year and this is considered to be really bad practice not very credential and leads to problems and we are in the midst of a problem created by unwise uh you know inability to deal with the politics and the issues that presented to us I'm not advocating one way or the other I'm simply saying as I was trying to say earlier that I think we have to have a orderly process which is reasonable and is practical and this kind of funding mechanism is leads to problems and we see we see that clearly now so next year if they do start with a budget that's based on the 24 figures then what's going to happen to the school budget what's gonna happen to the regional it's a mess it's a total cluster blank you know so uh and it's happening it's happening it it we we have to avoid that kind of thing in our own budgeting but also in our Regional School participation so yeah I welcome uh that we're going to be we could participate in earlier uh discussions to address this problem because it's a thorny issue and it's going to take some major uh massaging to try to get through it you know so I hope that we can meet during the summer with other principles I did have a long discussion with Andy Steinberg in town and know he knows all about this he he knows that that uh you know there's structural issues in the school which have to be directly uh discussed openly candidly you know that they just sent out those numbers 29% decrease in enrollment over the last 14 years that's a significant decrease so you know anyway there's a lots I've been trying to raise a lot of these issues myself in our committee but I think we're going to have to as members of the region address all this stuff and come up with the the best solution that we can all agree on but it's not going to be easy and the base will you know George the Bas I don't know how the base could not be what we ended up with this year but we'll see uh Jim Walton yeah I agree with Bob it's not going to be easy I always agree with you Bob right well when you think when your head screwed on tight you do um yeah I I think all all of this all of this discussion um it it leads to Sho SPS could have to be very well organized going into these sessions prob starting this fall whenever I would hope that they push for earli in the fall rather than later because like you all say this there's some pretty thorny issues here there's a lot on the table and you've got a lot of new leadership at the school the You' got all kinds of people at the at at the top at the top position on down uh they're going to be trying to digest all of this um and here we are we're talking about guard rails and formulas and whatnot and we need to make sure we've got we've done our homework and we are prepared for these meetings and pushing what we believe is the right position uh for for shutesbury you know whether it's guideline whether it's uh guard rails or it's formulas or or whatever or how to address some of these more fundamental core problems so it's going to take a lot of organiz maybe the finance committee is the key part of that is the is the is the point person with the uh with the select board and and the people from the school um but it's gonna I think that's this probably the biggest challenge for the year going forward at least thinking right now of what what we're faced with this is probably the big one is sorting out what is is this what is the next budget going to look like for the the regional Regional School yeah uh George yeah um as far as the base goes yeah I I'm afraid everybody's just gonna play around with that make up all these excuses and numbers that we just have to stick to the formula and see where it brings us but this is this is a problem that's been coming and we've all kind of seen it but we didn't talk about it because Co came in and gave us a lot of money to kind of help us with a problem that's been brewing and we just let it slide and we're not the only ones every town did and I think in the back of our minds we thought Revenue was going to be the solution from the state that is Chapter 70 was going to come in at some point and it's just not happening this problem is due to a number of factors it's salaries are going up faster than inflation sped costs relative to the number of students even though the population is down 25 % over 15 years sped costs keep rising at a much faster rate and so I I don't see how we can maintain the school the way it is without new Revenue the we can put together a million committees when they go through and they dig unless the school can come up with a new way of educating the students that costs less money there's going to have to be Cuts I just don't see it any other way I agree with everybody this is the biggest issue we're facing next year Year and God bless those people I mean whatever those people who are going to take on that challenge I just don't see a way out of this without new [Music] Revenue um Becky i s your hand shoed up there yeah goe um today I was at a small town administrators meeting and the guest speaker was Kim Driscoll the lieutenant governor um and we had a legisl update and there is um she did outline that uh they are clear that there are problems with Chapter 70 that the larger more urban areas did get a huge bump um but for the minimum um you know most of the towns that just get the minimum Aid P you know um two or three times different the MMA legislative person he was you know acting like it was a big victory to um to get $110 per student um as our chapter 78 for this year our only increase and so I did I did speak up um so I asked Kim you know I just wanted her to be clear what that amount of money really was meaning for small towns and in our town it means that our $3,000 a year moved up to $9,000 the year and it's just a spit in the bucket it's not addressing any you know we've got you know un um at at our elementary level we have an unsettled Union budget and there's no money in that budget to give them you know what can you give them and without increases coming and revenue being generated from from somewhere for our educational needs it's it's not going to be good you know everybody was talking about it you know some people are talking about going off the cliff in two or three years with their schools you know one Town's closing their Police Department another is you know closing their school it's the money has to be found a revenue source to more appropriately fund education and it's the puzzle because we do have declining enrollments but each child the needs of children have have exper Ed as a result of Co it feels like even though it's over it's lingering but anyway that's my My Hope for the day is that someday they solve this problem but they are the lieutenant governor said they are putting together a task force now they're not waiting good good so that was good to uh Susie M as we watch across the valley we're going to see different um responses um to pretty much the same pickle um and we have different uh situations that we can respond with it looks like um some towns are going to enact a override or propose an override some people are trying to put it into the nov member slot when a lot of towns people are going to be coming out for the federal vote um I don't think we are at all in that place but we are going to watch how other people manage this that's another way to create revenue and um I think it's I think it's clear that um because we didn't do level funding for several years I think Steve said either nine or 12 we are behind and even though we've had a population drop we have different needs in school it's very significant to me um and schools are labor intensive and right now labor is trying to recover from some of the um stagnation and meet inflation so it I'm interested to watch how other towns are doing it what capacities we have in our town and again we said at the all boards meeting people need to be talking to their legislators all the time and I do think I mean let's see it's coming up on um Aaron coming out to Shotsy but I definitely have seen more in the news like Becky reflected that um the federal legis state legislators are paying attention it's not Nimble but this is a pretty urgent situation so there's a there's different answers for different communities but we're all sort of under the same gun and watching and learning from how other towns are handling it I think is very important rather than pointing fingers and doing a Blame [Music] Game Jim yeah I actually have some of the same thoughts as as Susie our region is is not unique in the challenges uh we are facing that's going on all over these types of pressures and and and challenges and not unique and and I and I think maybe there is a lot that can be gained from just maybe seeing how how how are how are what are some of the solutions out there that other regions or school districts or whatever are coming to and what can we maybe uh maybe there's some nuggets out there that we can and learn and gain but I know we talk about the revenue side I'm not sure what we can count on or not count on but I wouldn't I think we'd have to have a plan B that assuming that we don't have a lot of extra Revenue coming in to save the day yeah and I think that that letter really does um I mean some sometimes is sort of reading between the lines but it's it's B they're asking for a real comprehensive review of the expense budget as well and I think they're they're really asking the region to review programming EXP expenses and and make some conclusions about the kind of relative value of these things so I think what it means for us is um you know we should be prepared for some discussion to happen as early as August and um I wasn't even sure when the new superintendent was coming on board then I I looked it up and it looks like July 1 is yeah her start date so um so that's good to to know that she will be here this summer to if if hopefully if this if if there's a four towns meeting um anyway uh Jim hyway is your uh have we seen or have towns like like ours seen any benefit at all from this millionair tax which of course promised roads would be fixed up and schools would benefit enormously by it I I know I know we sort of discussed that before but what happened all that money has kind of disappeared from what I understand has been an increase in Road funding through the state there has been but not school but schools haven't really high you're right school funding but not for minimum Aid towns so the urban areas and less wealthy community ities have received significant amounts of increases we are spending more that the state is spending more on education than they have ever spent before but we're not seeing it the minimum pounds are not seeing it we're getting but you know they went from $40 a child to $110 a child and that's the only thing we are getting and that's true for about 50% of the cities and towns uh April mute you're on mute mute I I was wondering I was thinking another way for us to be proactive would be to invite the new superintendent to one of our meetings and just to sort of get some sense from her and so she gets a sense from us because I think I think our committee really um came up with a lot of good ideas that helped the region through this most recent budget crisis you know we we really I think in many ways spearheaded you know some of the changes that um at least got us to where we are now but I I wonder if if having her come to one of our meetings would be a way to just introduce her to who we are and you know and maybe do it jointly with the other small towns um something to that effect an interesting idea yeah uh Susie lot of the money uh there was a big Initiative for community colleges so it did go to education but not at our level and it's not like community colleges had been well supported so this was this is where it went it didn't disappear it didn't go to us that much all right um okay so I'm look we're going to be talking about this probably pretty much every meeting we have this year so uh let's keep you know let's keep listening and talking about it and um you know I think if there if there does become an opportunity to for some a subset of us to participate if there's an if there's some kind of committee formed uh like with other towns I don't think there's anything in place right now but you know we should think about um you know who's interested in in participating in that okay uh I think we've got for the rest of our meeting I think we've got a bunch of like close out and transfer request things to deal with so Becky maybe we can start with I think you told me about at least two different transfer requests that we need to talk about tonight one for the drilling and then one for gasoline is that right right right um so so I need about $8,000 for um Diesel and unlet gas um I think to get it to pay what I have on hand and then the other issue is um we have had a Resurgence of um activity at the fire station regarding the gasoline um and at this point to um try to determine the furthest EX ENT of um the the area we need to put in two new wells we did find a second well um that is saving us from having to do three Wells but um to put in the two new wells on at 60 lever we also will need to we have a quote from the consultant who will be writing the reports and directing the activity we'll need to drill the two Wells and then there'll be multiple um rounds of testing um the contaminated soil so the total cost that we're looking for is $14,300 and that's for the drilling the two Wells does that also include the subsequent testing that's going to need to be done testing all the all the reporting all the work with a consultant um throughout this process through August to get in um mandated reports to D okay um why don't we see if there are any questions on the um fire station um remediation work so does anybody have any questions or comments about that nope got to do it Bob we have test we have test Wells there then they just they do periodic testing of the wells they've detected this uh substance in the wells is that what's happening yes we have um I think it's in a total of about 11 wells around the fire station um we did find and then we found the one that's right across the street we found the one that was in um 60 leverett's yard we now need to do one at the end the far end of their yard and to the South so we need to drill more Wells yes we need to drill two more Wells more yes thank you yeah that's something we have to do okay any other questions all right I will make a motion to uh transfer $144,300 from fincom Reserves for the purpose of drilling and testing at the fire station was it 143 or 148 14,300 14,300 y second okay Bob seconded and uh any further discussion all right let's start to vote ey Ro ey I Cas I moer I Stein ey Walton I okay uh and then Becky you said we need um $8,000 for um fuel bills okay all right uh any questions yeah Becky these are bills that you have in hand now for fuel that we've already used is that what it is okay how much is it 8,000 after after this 8,000 we're going to end up with free cash uh I'm sorry our fincom Reserve after the 143 is 26,000 and after the eight we'll be down to 18,000 do we have other what's the extent of the damage as far as all the other budget items Becky um we know the report I'm looking at um there's no other negatives uh for the last report that was run uh we still so at this point in time um I don't have anything else open but I do have a stack of bills that will be going in over the weekend um and and receiving them from all the Departments so um in early July we'll review the final balances that balance you gave us is that something current after the five requests that we processed recently right so so yeah I've been keeping running balance I know AJ you have too um it corresponds to what I'm looking at what you have okay yeah yeah so so right now be with after the 143 we're at $26,500 it will be $18,000 in15 1478 what option do we have we have to pay the bills yeah this is how we have to this is the best way to fund it right yeah it's right here yeah yeah I just I was just more concerned about you know what's the rest of it look like but you know we're gonna have if we run out we can still do line at and transfers right with the select board Mo mostly I just want everybody to be aware of the numbers that's George I'm a little behind you but uh I'm getting $1,144 is that what you have y in 78 cents okay y all right uh Jim Walton the uh the over on this is it really is it driven by higher costs or is it higher usage or or some combination well uh cost impacted the fuel this year um and the usage is increasing because we um for half the Year we're now back to uh three Highway um Highway workers so vehicles are getting used more often and we now have three full-time officers in the police department for a good part of the year so we are using more more fuel with a more stabilized Staffing okay so given that do we think we're covered with this new fiscal year that we're going into for uh from a budget from a budget perspective we didn't we're GNA have these we're going to have these higher Staffing for this fiscal year right and yep uh we did makees in year I can't remember exactly but I know we were we knew we were having trouble and we made an adjustment into fuel all right so we added $6,000 this year yep um we were at 40,000 and FY 24 and our fy2 budget includes 46,000 and we made a transfer this year once already right for 3,000 looks like on May 28th I see a line item for it y so now we're we're going to be 11,000 over budget well wait George I have uh yep you're right May 28 yeah May 28th right so we are 11,000 over a budget for fiscal year 24 right that's over 25% and just thinking about this in Broad terms we had a we had a pretty mild winter so you know is it enter anybody else's mind that maybe people shouldn't be driving around so much I mean this is like that's a lot of money it's a maybe maybe we don't have to drive so much I mean that's one way to change the number uh the fuel prices haven't been gone up 26% that's for sure so it has to be more miles and you know it's just something that occurs to me what if it was my budget that's what I one of the things I would think about that's for sure I'm I'm equally concerned that about the budget but I I guess I'm more concerned about whether we have adequate funding in place for this coming year and maybe we should be making some plans to in the event that we're going to exceed budget and be proactive about it I mean I don't like the idea of having our police or or our road crews or whatever not doing as much work um to save gas um I don't think that's the right solution I think we need to have people out there being productive and and doing their jobs well one thing I'll say just is that this is always blown my mind is that police never ever turn their car off you know chrisen was giving us the specs on the vehicles that she owns and she gave the engine hours and the mileage and the engine hours are incredible long uh compared to the mileage because and I don't get it these cars don't have a problem starting do they I mean like turn the key boom it starts why do they have to be running all the time I mean like I don't get that I never did and I still don't they polluting the atmosphere they're burning gasoline so it's true every time you see a stop police car seems like they're running yeah they're always running always I went to the state police Barra in conquer because they have a house out front of their eoin Barracks that looked exactly like the house I owned in pelum and I wanted to look inside it so I went down to their building in the back where they hang out and there's all these police cars parked out front all running so I went inside and these guys 10 guys turned away from the TV they were watching and gave me a dirty look all in unison and uh you know really awfully dirty look like what are you doing here buddy that's not shoots SP though let's not no but I'm just saying there was 10 cars running and 10 men watching TV but anyway the TV doesn't go it was cable but still uh uh anyway though it blew my mind that they had the cars running it did they did Becky um I do when there is idling taking place and a park car I do bring it up to the chief they work at only doing it in ex you know when during the winter you know they can't have them icing up as they are the only one um to respond for an emergency but when it's you know when the weather is good there is no reason for it and but we do have issues we had a bad battery you know where he had to idle it in between or else he had to stop and jump it for you know until they got that repaired so they come up with those situations but overall they do do a much better job of turning off their vehicles um when when it's reasonable for them to do so okay any other questions about this transfer request all right uh so I'll make a motion to transfer $88,000 from bcom Reserves to the fuel line I'll second that all right uh George r i m i cashew I moer I Stein I Walton I and Becky um that that's the last right I mean I assume you have all of the bills on fuel that we're going to have for FY we might not we might have some more not sure all right so we might actually be more than 11k we yeah hopefully not okay all right um any other transfer requests that we need to discuss tonight that was it right that was it for tonight and then okay and then is there any other um FY 24 closeout issues for us to discuss or anything um not till we get everything all the final bills in okay got it get the bulk of those in before the next meeting I hope okay got it all right um any committee updates or news that uh anybody wants to share okay yeah there's been nothing at the personnel board we haven't met all right Susie the school committee uh met last week um in they have hired the new principal for sces she's coming down from Winchendon and um the school committee um saw that she was hired at um 110 110 th um, so they needed a Rec they needed to acknowledge at five why is this number not working out for me yeah 5,000 more than was allocated in the principal's salary um the process is that the superintendent does the hiring and that superintendent was uh the interim superintendent and she was looking at what um the principal was paid in winchington and what is in the marketplace right now for principles and so the contract was drawn up drawn up at 110,000 and that was acknowledged and they expect to um meet that within the budget that they have Susie one of the I think it might have been for the superintendent right one one of the budget lines was actually reduced at town meeting right was that the superintendent seller yep and so I think our reduction was $2,000 and that was you know one portion of the incoming superintendent salary coming in lower got it so this this $5,000 is above what um was previously in place under Jackie it was what was it was what was written to the budget was why am I coming up with a funny number ah geez I've gone through this number before let me look at my folder but the bottom line is the school said whatever it is there going to absorb it they're going to manage it yeah yeah 105 was written into the fy2 budget got it and um and the contract will sign for 110 okay all right um and the school Union is meeting again on July 1 does that look like to be close to the end okay um Jim Walton your last meeting tonight oh you're muted you're muted but you can stay [Laughter] muted yeah I guess okay unless you call another one in the next few days uh well I'm sure we all want to thank you for just years of um really valuable service to the committee uh I I so appreciate your um your temperament your thoughtfulness and and uh you just been a great colleague so um thank you and uh thanks for being previous chair also and um you know you can still come to our meetings every once in a while as a member of the public and chime in but yeah know really really appreciate everything every all your work you have such a a nice way to to talk about you know just share your thoughts and you're very clear and concise and um I haven't been I've only been on the me the committee with you for a year but I really am going to miss your your wisdom and I don't know what you're going to do on Tuesday nights but you'll figure it out yeah well AJ AJ April really really appreciate your comments really really thoughtful wisdom I don't usually hear that too often but take it this is all recorded right share it with share it with the family yeah no I really I really enjoyed working with you all too and who knows I'm I'm still in town here and who knows I get back on here at some point or in some way working with the town I've it's been a really great experience for me and uh hopefully I've been able to give back a little bit um yeah AJ continue your good work uh leading the team I know you guys got some pretty exciting challenges coming forward I think particularly the region um but you guys are you guys are up for it you're up for the challenge and uh have a great have a great uh next fiscal year and look for look forward to running into you all yes you too Jim all right thank you all right uh anything else before we uh say goodbye for the night do we have a plan for a next meeting yeah we should make one let's see uh so um what about the 16th that's the that's the off day right that's not select boards night uh July 16th right that's perfect okay does that work for folks yes yes okay all right so next meeting Tuesday the 16th and I think hopefully we'll have um a new member and um I think I'm other things we'll we'll just we'll do all of our you know assignments for the upcoming year that uh we'll make those decisions uh on the 16th okay I'll have things ready for closing yeah great okay good night everybody good night good night we need to vote to to adjourn I can't yes we're supposed to I I want one more vote yeah so I'll make a motion to adjourn our meeting second all right George have ni ey Roes ey amingo ey cashew ey I almost forgot moer ey Stein I and for the last time for the last time Walton says I go appreciate it all the best have a great have a great next year you all right take care Jim take care all right bye everyone bye bye I