[Music] good evening everybody it is April 16th 6:30 p.m. uh we have a meeting of the board of appeals in the selectman's meeting room on 21 Main Street i' like to call the meeting to order can I get a motion to open I make a motion to open second we have a motion a second all in favor so moved um we do have uh meeting minutes from March 26 has everybody had a chance to look at that is there a motion motion to approve the minute second we have a motion to Second all in favor yeah I you have a question no unanimously approved um do we have any meeting mail or anything that uh we need to know before going on to new business um actually we have old business first us um case of Justin Lawrence I'm going to not go through it all because we're going to go through it after our new business um the engineer representing Mr Lawrence uh asked to postpone it for a little bit as he has a zba meeting in another town at the moment so we're going to move on to that as long as that's okay with you guys okay so on the new business we have uh case of Michael Ree of 17 Roseanne drive for Haven positioning the board for a special permit for a contract the yard at 177 n Lane request being made under the provisions of section 331d Mr representative good evening my name is Benjamin Reese I'm Michael's son uh helping him out with this tonight uh we run L which is a family-owned Construction business and we're here to petition the board tonight for a special permit to run a contractor's yard out of the property that we own at 177 e l uh we're looking to use that property it's in the ra residential district uh but it's close by to the business district that's at the corner of Middle Road in N Lane and we're looking to store our equipment there some piles of fill uh but not for retail sales or or uh any retail use just need for our own business use and we have all kinds of information on the property if the board have any questions about the size uh it's currently only 345 ft from the business district so it's close by uh we're up close next to that business district and so that stretch of the road is used by Aro Brothers J&R Plastics uh quality oil so it's a fairly busy commercial area of n Lane there's only 12 letter is in the 300 ft it's not a densely populated area uh and furthermore we've run this idea by the neighbors and we've not got an objection from the neighbors we actually have a letter here that I can present to the board with some signatures from Neighbors and their addresses saying that they're aware that we're here tonight and what we're looking for and that they have no objection to it so we don't anticipate that this will result in any agreed parties and we're asking for the board's consideration and approval okay um you've kind of nailed it on the head with uh everything I would say about the property it it definitely is in the residential uh District it's right across from the business Commercial District which is little separate than the business Village um the use you're asking for is allowed in the business Village district and of course the business Commercial is even more commercial um so I don't see an issue with it if it was across the street so I don't think it's detrimental to the neighborhood as they're saying um I think it can only be detrimental to the director buds so there who I'd like to petition you do have signatures from them saying they're okay with it um are there any here to speak onor again for or against thank you sir actually um do you want me to appr the point please yeah that'd be great more for clarification anything else evening all Robert roacha 20 ni Lane um I think I heard the answer I was looking for you said this is strictly for a actually I address through you since you're the chair um strictly for family business use yes that's what I'm hearing and I'm hearing it's for storage of their equipment and materials to be used by them only there'll be no sales service or any public use going in and out of there correct yeah we're not looking to have you know this isn't going to be a lawn and garden center with people in and out of there it's just for us your family vehicles your family business Vehicles that's it yes okay that's what I need to know thank you are you in support or against this in any way I'm fine with it you can you answer what I what I wanted to know no objections if that's what you want to know how can I ask a question please uh how long you guys own the property uh 14 years okay so you had it a while yeah it's 2010 14 years in August all right anybody else wants to speak and what's the use of the property is it just res a single family res can you tell them I I'm I'm assuming at 177 that um this 181 is a direct butter yeah there's no that's that's right there's no one there's no one what 79 it would be there direct the butter right Y and I don't see 175 here or someone on the other side did uh it's a vacon lot there's no house there okay that vac lot is a farm again I don't have a big issue with this my issue is that your direct but is aren't going to be put out in any way because again the trucking going up and down the street is already there from the other side of the street right um my other my only other concern having visited the site is um obviously you're there you you're you're running somewhat of a business now you have a lot of equipment there it's all stacked behind Hills and very nonvisible from the road is it going to remain that way yeah yep is it going to remain that way with the hills or you planting some trees there and cleaning that up or what is the I'd like to plant trees there and yeah I like the way you got it going there and it's real nice and all hidden y but it does take up a lot of the property so if you're starting to encroach more into that yeah I really and parking stuff on your neighbor's fences they might have an issue yeah I I have no need for that it's a small operation at my age I don't want it to be any bigger than it already is if anything I'm going to scale back not scale up you you you understand that a special permit is granted to you guys only it doesn't pass with if you build anything there it doesn't make it commercial proper and we're just allowing you to continue operations the way you're doing without disrupting your neighbors we're not giving you C blash to run any kind of thing you want no not what I'm looking for right yeah is there any other questions me if the neighbors are again it's I'm right the butter so I mean I have no I'm in for it talk to Mike about this and I'm 181 okay I'm I'm a trustee to 18 one so very good and I also own 2011 which is the next one over so we've had long conversations with them about this and I don't see any objections I'm all for it you're a direct about you own the land right up against 181 I'm the trustee did 181 thank you any other questions anybody want to move anyway I make a motion that we Grant him the special permit I'll second I I would I would just like to state that we're granting them the what they're asking for which is a um to be able to use their property the rear of the yard as a construction yard and remain the way it is nonabrasive to their neighbors out of sight yep that's my intent that's what we've done up until now I have no reason to change that definitely not we have a motion in a second all in favor unanimous thank you thank you thank you very much appreciate it with the package keep that I would just give him a minute for the paperwork and we'll move on to our next case oh over the phone and then you can sign this as well um so you think you the instructions I'm going submit with the cor's office tomorrow um there's a 20day appeal period and after that you to meet you to meet you thank you guys thank you thank you okay case number two this evening or our next case case number 2.24 0416 B case of Robert gonzal of 6 Pine Street who's petitioning the board for variance to allow a two family conversion on less than a 3,000 ft LT this request is being made under the provisions of section 334 B5 Mr bronal oh yeah I'm just looking for approval so I can put in addition an in-law apartments and my parents come in from the south we actually have a place to live the issue with it is on Pap you're not asking for an in-law apartment and the only way to allow a two family in town by conversion and you're constructing I don't see a way for us to allow it even if that was just the construction the issue is even if we wanted to allow the special permit you need a variance because you have less than 15,000 square feet and you need 30 to get approval for that special permit far two family so I don't know I don't uh I I want to hear from the rest of the board but it's it's also got border Health approval too on the system the septic system has border Health approval yeah I I I've got the septic design here and um this one thought he's going to plan on eliminating the bedroom in the house so you won't be have to increase the size of the system or anything he's eliminating the bedroom in the house and just adding it into the addition the which would be a two the thing is is you don't need our approval to put on the addition you can put an addition on your house you can add a bedroom to the house but what you're asking for is a two family and we don't have the authority to Grant it there's no Authority for us to Grant Construction of a two family which is what you're going to do and even if it was a two family conversion you're shot more than half the Lance so he's better off just put an addition on he's eliminating the bedroom anyway you can put the addition on right with the bedroom we we can't give you permission for a two family by law as far as I'm concerned because that just opens Pandora box there's nobody in town who doesn't want to put another unit on their house for income right you you don't you you don't nearly meet the qualifications for it so if we allow it we got to allow 7,000 of them next week um you can do what you want to do which is ADD a bedroom and have your dad live there you don't need us for that you need us so that you can put a separate meter and call it a two family and make it income property and I I I think it's a stretch for us because I know what's going to happen next week we were just told that that would be the better way to go instead of going with like an accessory building I think they call it the accessory apartment you could do and we could allow it the square footage of the property doesn't matter but you're only allowed 25% of the use and you're at about 50% you got a, 1500 foot house you want a 700 some OD sare foot apartment so it doesn't fall that's why you put it into this which again you can do down the road but you have to build it and sit on it for 2 years and use it for whatever you want and then come for permission they they don't want the construction of twoes right that's it's it's clearly against the bylaw it's not like there's a so puts in addition it can only be a bedroom can't have a kitchen in it and all that correct I that stuff it can't be its own unit yeah right yeah and again I um I'd like to see you have what you need for your family but every house in town would have two family and income and it's not what the residents want it's not what I want it's not the bylaws are set up to protect the residents and the values of their homes and our school system and public works and all the maintenance and wear and tail and it's just it's a it's a big ask because you're not asking for the special permit based on just an inlaw you well not it's that you don't even meet the requirements if it was already there because you have only 1500 ,000 square ft Which is less than half of what's required right totally understand it's it's it's if you had 25,000 sare ft it's a small variance and maybe the guys say well what's the difference if you build it or it's there but the difference in my head as being a former building inspector is if you got an old big house and you can cut off a piece it still looks like an old big house when you start to add additions on the other side of the house and now it's a it looks like a two family and it doesn't fit in with the rest of the houses in the neighborhood no totally understand yeah all right I appreciate it thank you but again I I think if you go back to the building inspector and say you want to put this bedroom on your house there's there's no problem right you can do that right but just has to the plan would have to be a little different then right I appreciate it and I'm not saying no I'm just that's just my opinion I I definitely want to hear the rest of the board and if you guys I don't make the Motions I just try to keep everything well I think it's clear you can't do the two you can't label as a two family we can't approve that yeah yeah I mean whether you come back or ask for a continuance and have it redrawn up and try a smaller in-law apartment is what he's saying if it wasn't wasn't so drastically out of the realm of what we can allow an in-law and it was close to the 25% you could get a small variant something like that but it's it's pretty far off it's everything's everything's more than 50% more so the size the lot size the the the fact that it's not there right so I would say if you ask for a continuance no it it if you want to buy another month's time or a month and a half or no I don't think we can continue because ask family you'd have to come back for inart which is a separate is it better that you would draw than we deny we we do have I mean in my opinion I think we have to deny this one but I'm I'm just one guy you guys can unless he withdraws it right you can withdraw your if he withdraws it then he doesn't have to wait to two years to too stiring right if you with draw your application then you can come back with any plan you want anytime you want right so that's what I was get I was trying to be yeah a little help I thank you guys for helping me out with that one otherwise you lock yourself in and you can't come back for two two years I want to do that no no something comes up definitely change that withdraw I need you to request the withdrawal of your application I withdraw the application okay all right thank you guys we accept your withdrawal thank you all right thank you all right [Music] guys um you guys want to check with Mr Deion see if he's ready to roll yeah and I don't know who gave you your advice on maybe you know get a different opinion from someone else that's more familiar town that helped you out you know somehow somewhere to get it I I think Mr B was trying to help you it just it's it was a stretch for us I totally other thank you it's the same thing that's one for you one for me and I'll file with the court tomorrow thank you guys thank you for your time thank you good night we're just uh going to take a quick break to see if Mr Deion can come in and wrap up his continu its case you want on the other while we'll give it him a minute I'll just uh explain that our next case is the continuance case 2.24 022b continuing to the case that Justin Lawrence of 23 Bert Street was put petitioning the board for 1,000 I'm sorry 5,199 ft variants from the minimum 4, 40,000 continuous Upland area [Music] 34,848 ft is provided to construct a single family dwelling on lamth street so when we looked at this um last week and last meeting and the one before um they had a proposed big Hammerhead at the corner there so it gave they had enough property to put in what's required for Frontage at the request of the neighbors they've redrawn it to get rid of that so it would be less detrimental to the wetlands and the neighborhood but shrinks their Frontage back to the existing 50 ft which was a buildable lot when it was originally designed however they lost the grandfathering on that because they own ajoining property so as much as it was always a buildable lot they've always paid taxes they had to go back to the draw board and make it buildable by adding area to get the 60,000 Square ft that's required so they've done that and now the issue is that they have Wetlands on the property so even though they have 60,000 Square ft they don't have the 40,000 Upland they got 348 almost 35,000 so they need a slight variance on the minimum Upland and they need a variance on the Frontage and again I we're only really considering that because it was kind of an agreement with the neighbor that that would be better for the property than asphalt the 50 Foot and having the hamhead so um you got anything from Mr dein uh he's still on the zoom meeting okay you guys want to represent yourself I let him know that uh we're ready for him's he going to be he knowledged it though so gave me a thumbs up because he has the new plan right shown like where the driveway would be I'm going to I'm going to jump over Mr Deion for a second and because I see Mr Allen in the back correct I didn't here um so again we we entertain this new draft as something that your lawyer was kind of pushing forward I don't see him here with you this evening are you still looking for this to be the way to move forward I am yeah I think that's I mean I think in our or at least in my mind you're the most important key to this this is passing through your area and although they had the frontage going the other way and had to you know probably move more conservation and stuff we were trying to listen to your plight and keeping a small narrow road there and minimizing the disturbance in the area so this new plan in front of us does that but I want to be certain that you're happy with it well I think what they're doing is all they can do so I'm not planing to argue with it okay because he want us to has he seen a copy does he want to see anything that they did you see it yes I have and again you were represented at the last meeting and and we definitely took into account that he was speaking on your behalf and was the one that kind of pushed um Mr Deion to change the plan to this mode so are you still being represented or at least you you I yeah he's here but he's he's happier with this plan than where you were last Mee him okay um like I said there's there's nothing more that they can do than they're doing as far as where that's going so in in my head they're doing what the neighbors want and they still have to go through conservation to have this approved right so um we just a stepping C together again with 35,000 ft Upland that's more Upland than almost every lot in that neighborhood and the frontage is 50 foot but it comes in and it it drastically just opens right up so um and again they can create the frontage that's necessary they were asked not to so I mean I'm I'm okay with the new lot pending uh you know the the neighbors are getting what they want and um that they can get through conservation which isn't our decision anyway so um are you guys ready to move on the variants or do you need more information from the engineer I do I think both parties are happy he's sitting yeah the main thing is m is you know as of right now M Allen doesn't have any objection to it like you said it's still going to go before conservation and everything else to correct to finalize the plan all we're saying is that we're with the 34,000 ft plan and we're okay with the 50 ft of Frontage yeah everything else is entirely the same way up there is there a motion I'll make a motion to accept the second we have a motion in a second and again before we vote any further discussion M Mr Holland do you again I I think where we came from last meeting to this meeting was mostly to make sure there was minimal impact in that area in front of your house are you satisfied I am okay thank you there's a motion of second all in favor I so moves thank you thank you appreciate I appreciate appreciate the neighbors working with each other that's all we want is for harmony okay um we do have a case for does he have to sign we do have a case for next month um there a little bit of conflict where our secretary will be away on the third uh Tuesday as everybody okay with May 28th the 4th Tuesday after Memorial Day Yeah Tuesday after Memorial okay it'll be May 28th 6:30 here in the selectman's room that's our next posted meeting without any further business you have a motion and a second all in favor we are J [Music] --------- [Music] [Music] welcome everyone this is the meeting of the board of Selectmen today is April 16 2024 it is 400 p.m. is there a motion to call the meeting to order so move second all those in favor I this meeting is being audio and video recorded please rise for Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible Liber and justice for all right gentlemen we're going to hold off on the minutes um to be approved we'll jump right down into new business we do have a a poll hearing at 5:00 M new business number one budget discussion Mr Kelly uh Mr chairman I'd like to combine that with the discussion on the warrant so I can do both now or we can that's fine we can jump right to it all right it's all part of same discussion right Yep this is draft three of the warant and as you can see the first article is accepting reports the second article might not be moved because it's just to fund deficit payments if there are any but we won't know until after May and the third is to see if there are any prior fiscal bills and we won't know that until after May the I've upped uh by $110,000 the cable related fund expenditures uh under advice from our prior uh technology person uh Nick monacello who also worked for them and was our accountant he advised that that uh should be uh 100,000 in salary and wages and 100,000 in general expenses this is all part of the consent agenda uh you see the various authorizations in the consent agenda uh they are all the same things for every year library to sell books for a dollar Etc article 11 I'm checking with I've got to check with conservation on there maximum allowable expense out of the revolving fund I've been advised by COA to increase it to 45,000 that's for trips there's a number of other trips that are scheduled it's not any cost to the town correct free cash uh I'm proposing that 81,0 301 brings us to where we need to be in the reserve fund for our health insurance uh 74787 7 is for a settlement of a court case with amiral butt bus company that's schools that's schools uh and uh I've put the next article in in case the schools need it it's an article that every year is in and it authorizes transfer funds from for special ed is that the Blank Spot on 14 no it's at the bottom of 14 yeah he means up the top top there up the top that was just I did a running total of free cash right there a blank of 14 though and that's what you just talked about special ed so I'm assuming yes the Blank Spot up top is Special Ed just blank it's no cost it come it's just allows them to transfer out of the sped Reserve but oh from the school department it's a reserve account yeah I know we've done it before in the past that's fine uh 145,000 is for the two requests from the fire department for the alarms receivers and the repeater 20,000 for the uh seniors and we'll change the rate to be appropriate with minimum wage yeah uh 30,000 is for the Youth service program I think it's one of the best things this board has ever done it's saved us some money and it's allowed a lot of uh your youth to be employed and to get gather uh in various uh areas of uh employment to uh and it's a good work ethic teacher and then 100,000 into the general fund stabilization that's I made a rough back of the envelope uh figuring for what the operating budget is and that'll uh take care bring us up to where we need to be Community preservation the article shows you the appropriation from the community uh preserv fund and then the reasons for the expenditures down below you have to authorize these amounts every year it doesn't mean that you have to spend them anything that's unspent goes into the undesignated reserve we have right now uh the authorizations for 176,000 and in the article and we have uh a request for 45886 it includes the administrative typical every year 13,000 Recreation and park 17,000 uh historic commission lawn Plane Museum fence the South Side so they've gotten to the other side previously but now it's the Southside turn Perry Hill Church National register nomination consultant that's to bring a consultant in to do all the paperwork on the national register for the Perry Hill Church then miscellaneous articles you have uh articles concerning the various collective bargaining agreements uh I'm requesting that uh we look at the excess overlay to fund some of the Retros and these I'll have definite figures by our next meeting uh also to see uh there's an article to vote to transfer from the capital expense stabilization fund and the water special Revenue fund for the slum Street project those are placeholders and there's also one for the SE Enterprise Reserve fund depending on which one you wanted to use and then there's also a article to authorize borrowing for any money that is necessary beyond that this is a placehold it's similar to what we have done with the ambulance in the past but we would have to do this to be in line for additional money from the county since we won't know until after July 1 what that amount is this will put us at least give us a parachute the article 25 just for the record Mr Kelly that's the water special Revenue fund not the sewer Enterprise fund it's a water Revenue fund article 25 sir you said sue Enterprise fund it's for the it's out of the water Revenue special Revenue fund I did both uh article 25 and 26 one is I left it wide open for the board to decide where they wanted to take it from all so you've got a water special Revenue fund and the sewer oh I see what you did yeah we didn't have any discussion be for the I just put them all in his placeholders for the board to decide where they want to do it [Music] understood and then Article 28 is to see if the town will vote to accept the provisions chapter 64 L and impose a local meals excise tax of 3 quarters of 1% the question is is the only town in the area that does not have it and it is a revenue Source exact figures we wouldn't know until we contact the Department of Revenue after we pass this could we get a modeling based on like you know we could ask if they'll give us I mean what worth anecdotally I've spoken to some of the restaurant in town and they understand the bigger picture that we have um here in town and you know there appears to be some support from that Community I think are you asking were you asking Dave for for like a modeling of what we thought it would bring in because I think when we looked at this a while back like just call it 17 or 18 I think that number was somewhere around 65 Grand so maybe 100 nowadays yeah I mean obviously food prices have gone up from 2017 right so I was going to say you probably might be closer to a one and a half times two times that number right so you could be right right around that 100 Grand Mark which is not insignificant at this point right we could call do and they would give us what the states revenue is their what they base their Neil's tax on right uh probably 2 years ago cuz they're never up to yeah whatever it is it would just be good to know that like if we go to a town meeting y we leas have that and then uh I put a mock budget in it's heavy it's too much because we're going to have to do a lot of cuts so the only thing I'll bring your attention to gentlemen is the bottom line number at the end right um it's basically four let you startop the pages one two three four the sixth page it's at the very end it says general fund total last year we spent for The Whole Town's budget [Music] $4,660.00 ious cutting in in certain areas as much as we can possibly do the difference between the two numbers that you're looking at is 23743 se8 I mentioned that number because it's it's extremely significant from what the town has spent year over-ear in the last foure average we average out roughly $1.2 million a year over year spending so this number is a 2X that number it's clearly not something that's manageable it's clearly not something that the taxpayers and residents of a cushion it can swallow um if you were approve this budget as presented um people's tax bills would go through the roof so I mentioned that because we're down to the wire so I think it's important I know I'll be spending the next few days with Mr Kelly going through the budgets and and looking at you know cuts and we have to look at revenues and things of the like but I think it would be a good idea for each one of you to sit with Mr and as much as we may not want to make certain cuts to budgets we don't have a choice cuz there's no way you can go to town meaning with that you don't even have the revenue to cover that and even if you did you can't spend that kind of money that's out of control so we got to come up we basically got $1.2 million that need to be cut to come in line with what we've average over the last four years and even that number is 50% higher than what we bring in in Revenue right so your normal Revenue stream for budgetary processes prop 2 and a half Levy increase in New Growth and we always right now we're bringing in 540 3,000 and prop 2 and a half Levy increase and we've always SE to use a number of roughly 250 and New Growth even though we have less New Growth this year so I've always said in the past years you have roughly 8 to 850 in Revenue to budget for but yet we continue to spend $1.2 million so it's unfortunate um we need to really get to work with the budgets and we're going to have to hammer out as much as we can on our side the school Department's doing everything they can on this side we have Mr palansky coming in from Old Colony for a little bit of a budget discussion with him to see if the he can offer up any more assistance with his budget um help help out the towns and we'll see where we end up with that conversation a little bit later in the meeting but we got a lot of work to do to get down to 1.2 1.3 say the least as I said this was a budget with too much fat and so but I wanted you folks to see what everybody requested Etc tough decisions will be made it's not going to be easy right it's never easy but yeah you know the old saying if it was easy everybody be doing it right so well it's a tough year when the state spending more on housing and taking care of illegal immigrants then they are taking care of the municipalities it's a shame really right but neither here or there we're stuck with the hand that we have and we we're just going to have to try to hammer out as much as we can and hopefully we'll get some cooperation more cooperation from Old Colony and we'll see where our local schools come in so you don't have anything else Mr Kelly none on that any other comments questions concerns around if anybody needs any clarification on the TIC warrant articles please give me a bu I am glad that we uh up the revolving fund for the Council on agent so that we can our new directors planning on a lot of new programs and things of the like and at the again like you said Mr Kelly it's nothing out of Taxation right it's money that they raise that they're able to put into the revolving account to be able to move forward and spend it on our seniors and do nice things for the seniors take them on day trips and things of the like that's all that revolving funds there to do correct so it's a great it's a great thing for us seniors and there uh in my report when we get to it I'll talk about there some other programs and we're also looking at having our see if there can be some programs that the seniors can access that is part of our health insurance program just don't make the budget go up anymore okay we got to go the other way if we got to go down a significant no ready only only blowing yeah we'll we'll we'll have to we'll figure out what we can do you don't have anything else then Mr Kelly so I'm going to jump right over to uh number two we did the budget discussion we followed up on the warrant it's all part of the same package I'm going to jump into number two Golf Course um Dana's put some seasonal workers um requesting some seasonal workers and a change to green fees um I had a quick conversation with d that he's got some new software in there he's loaded in the new rates um the golf committee actually voted the new rates um I spoke with him on the phone a week ago yesterday and told him I didn't have any problem with it the board just needs to put it through a motion to approve his new rates he said we're still very competitive in the marketplace um he feels very confident about the new rates so is there a motion to approve the new Green fee rates so move second all those in favor gentlemen I'm going to recuse myself from the next conversation very good and then we have uh I would like to submit these candidates for consideration of employment at the kushan River Valley Golf Course um and uh for bad boy positions they will assist us great le as we are very busy we can utilize young ambitious individuals to give our customers the best experience possible and he's got two individuals here also for weekend STA and Rangers and I spoke with him again today and he said I found it very strange he doesn't think that he can remember a time where he's had in years that he's had individuals that would volunteer for weekend stars and ranges so um he's pretty excited to have those as well it's all within the current budget not the new Budget moving forward but the current budget that we're in is a little bit of uh scrambling around where how long we have people working for as young adults at the golf course so he's just he's going to have them work 5 and 1/2 6 hours in and dismiss them and you bring in the other one I thought it's a great idea to broaden the pool of young individuals that we have over there and give more people opportunity so with that said I would need a motion to appoint Noah Martino as Bag Boy Nathan wner as bad boy Jacob wner as bad boy so move I'll second that all those in favor all and for the weekend St of Rangers he's got Jeffrey Schuster and Antonio de maderas motion to appoint Jeffrey Schuster and Antonio deers is weekend starter Rangers I'll second that all those in favor all right Mr Kelly can you notify Dana to let him know um do whatever paperwork they need to uh get out there and start working all right the golf course has officially opened um for business and I'm glad that we've gotten some weather to cooperate rate um obviously the better the weather is the better the season will go um hopefully the more Revenue we can make from the golf course next we have four Reserve fund transfers the first being from the town clerk's office folding machine no longer works and has become obsolete the folding machine will increase efficiency with annual mailings and elections and she's requesting the amount of $1,295 is there a motion to approve so move second all those in favor the second one we have is Selman publication of three additional reports was delayed over the last few fiscal years has caused this additional expense for this fiscal year these reports have been completed in fiscal 24 and therefore I need additional funding to print and that amount is in the amount of 8,350 motion to approve so moves second all those in favor the next one comes from the police station the police phone system crashed and resulted in the need of immediate technical support prior to determination of the need for a new system this new system will support the police department and be able to connect to the phones at Town Hall that amount is $ 58499 is a motion to approve so moved second all that makes us all on the same system they're not on a separate system anymore no on that dial up now look the next one it the previous email provider can no longer provide this services with this new provider the town will be provided with enhanced services this cost brings this this cost brings this organization to8 $746 in the fiscal year budget will need this to be accounted for and that amount is $1,694 and10 their motion to approve second all those in favor anybody adjust this F525 appropriately okay all right number four letter of resignation please allow this letter to serve as official notification my resignation from the beautification committee while I love arranging the greens and the barrels in the center of town and assis the historical committee with various projects the beautification committee has always served in the town as humblest of ways planting weeding and simply sprucing up the town although that committee is no longer something I can commit to I look forward to for continuing to serve my town Britney Patell is a motion to accept resignation so move second all those in favor next we have a letter of in address from Chris di aruo dear Board of selectman and finance committee members I am writing to express my strong interest in serving on our town finance committee as a dedicated resident invested in the welfare and prosperity of our community I am eager to contribute my skills and expertise to ensure sound financial management and responsible fiscal policies for our town with a blended background in healthc care through a bachelor's degree in science nuring and a master's degree in Business Administration I bring a solid foundation of knowledge and commitment to serving the public having professional background to serving our community throughout our local Health Care Systems with direct patient care and on a leadership level over the last decade I have demonstrated a strong analytical ability attention to detail and collaborative approach to problem solving all of which are essential qualities for Effective committee work and ultimately our community furthermore I believe my passion for Community engagement my desire to make a positive impact align closely with those who want to see our town continue to succeed I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to work alongside fellow committee members and town officials to address Financial challenges prioritize budgetary allocations and promote transparency and accountability and financial decision- making I am confident that my skills experience and dedication make me well suited to serve on the town's finance committee I'm eager to contribute my efforts to support the financial well-being of our town thank you for considering my application I look forward to the possibility of discussing how I can contribute to the committee further warrs chrisy aruo gentlemen I'll full disclosure this is an individual that's um I happen to know friendly with my son my son Kevin so um again I can easily recuse myself on the vote um I don't really need to be part of it but I don't think there's any kind of a conflict there but just saying to keep things open and transparent you give a stamp of approval as him as a candidate this this he's he's unb say he's good then I'm good he's an unbelievable young man he's um extremely intelligent I think he' be a great addition to the fincom we've been shot a member for quite some time and trying to find somebody of this magnitude I think he'll be a great addition motion to app Point second all those in favor hi congratulations um Cy can you reach out he's got a phone number here can you please reach out to Chris and let him know that he needs to go see the town clerk yes they got to get sworn in right call Members been a while all right thank you very much I believe they it's a finance committee now yeah just one been a long time been a long time since we've had a full fincom so that's great stuff storm water bylaw I'm going to move around a little bit um until we get to 5:00 for uphole hearing we're going might have to take a little break in recess but we'll jump right over to storm water bylaw Mr Kelly has gone through the storm water bylaw um it's been brought to my attention that Mr Kelly set up a meeting with the chairman of planning Mark Francois the chairman of Board of Health Dave de vinion and chairman of Conservation Commission Ryan rendes they met via a zoom meeting to discuss um the changes to the bylaw I think they put in um some great input into the changes in the bylaw um there was a very little from what we've seen in the past um I don't think I have anything to change there one issue Mr chairman there is one issue Mr Kelly page 14 okay U I'm just looking because I thought I okay so let me stop at page 10 of 17 all right um it says in red on page 10 of 17 gentlemen right where it says form matter with the arrow point and it says um any action uh by the agent must be ratified by the storm water authority within 15 days um I'm just asking is 15 an appropriate amount of time because they usually meet every two weeks and if something falls out is 15 good enough do we want to change it to 21 I don't know 15 was the minimum that they originally said 14 I advise 15 for being the minimum if the board wants to go to 30 let ask you this I think that's too long if if somebody puts a cease in the cyst we don't want an applicant hanging out for a month for decision I'm fine with the 15 I just we usually try to give a little more time from what we've done in the past with our discussion so it rang a little belt to me saying hey we might want to talk about that that's they they said 14 I said 15 15 is I'm fine with that I don't know if we wanted to go to 21 I'm fine with the 15 days as long as it can happen right y yeah it's got to it say it needs to be ratified the only other thing Mr Kelly I know that I'm I'm I'm 99% sure you made the change to what the word protest would be there you change the word to appeal same page 10 on number four yeah if you go down a little bit further it says file a protest that needs to be changed to appeal right it is not in my version it's not second protest no the protest the where if you look protest it's got a line through it no down below there another one right below it it uses the word that that you scribbled out so I said well maybe we need to change that to appeal too four lines down go down a little bit further right after your word appeal like three sentences down one two three it says if the amount due is not received by the expiration of the time in which to file a protest or within 30 days that should be appeal appeal okay boss thank you I'm paying attention four four sets P what page did you oh hold on minut what page did you want me to jump to 14 14 14 okay what's up that b number one yeah second sentence I don't know what it means Mr Deion didn't know what it meant Mr Francois didn't know what it meant Mr uh rindes didn't know what it meant I don't know so that was my we need to have Town Council and even I talked to Kevin McHugh our ms4 Jamie we need to check with the language on that because I said what the heck there's adoption of this byw yeah but I checked with them after your conversation and I said can you parse it for me to explain it I'm not an engineer this was in the old BW and he said but not the B not of this adoption of this B yeah but he said that he will see in other bylaws of other towns he thinks is clearer language and so that the one sentence we have to work on on this yeah he did he did say that he got this from other bylaws though and I was I said the same thing I I mean I get what totally confused I I I do get I guess what it's saying it's just it would be better for it to be a little clearer in like in like normal terms right the problem is for anrs and backlots it doesn't make sense and he agreed so that's why we're looking at yeah I think this is more to show if you have two pieces of property two separate pieces of property that are under the 40,000 square ft owned by the same person people could use that as a way to bypass the storm water permit so in other words I think this is just to protect us from offering a permit that doesn't need a storm water perit so they can actually develop two pieces of property that would exceed the 40,000 but it's there's got to be better language there's got to be better language than that yeah not only that is well depends on what zoning V of appeals does right because they do approve Lots smaller than 60,000 for the buildable lot size in the town of aush other than the business Village district is 60,000 Square ft right so the zon of more Fields has granted um variances from the 60 if it if it fits in the you know the neighborhood kind of thing right I think they're looking at one right now to be honest with you um and doing that so it's kind of and it it probably could come up we look and see we got to get this moving though because we need to get I I'm I've got a meeting uh coming up in with planning board tomorrow talk about yeah we well we need we need Kevin McHugh to see if he can come up with better language than this and try to be this is the one that I think I I mentioned I referenced Last Time gentleman about being a little bit more builder friend not Builder friendly homeowner friendly right is where you don't want to have somebody um and I think both you and I are aware of an individual in town retired police officer he was building a couple houses on his own little um pel of land you know Family Estate and he went through the ringer um over storm water and you're on your own little compound type thing and it's a family I don't think I'm going to build a house for my kid and have them drown me out right so I think it's more about that is trying to be a little bit more home owner friendly versus you know developer so y I think that's that I think that's the goal of that try to get that but I don't think that that does it and I talked to Town Council and the advice is to uh amend the uh the article should be to amend the whole by yeah yep it pretty much is a rewrite and then if you jump to page 17 of 17 um they they did some good work the three chairman did some good work um we just got to check with Council to make sure we can do what we're doing with the mention of lar skill y right um but they did some good work on section two minimum design criteria um in number c they changed it from 4T to 2 ft ground mhm um from separation of groundwater and then down below it says anything five Lots or or greater needs to keep the 4 feet separation from groundw or or or mounding they need to Mound right or or the solar Fields correct so I think that's really good advice cuz it's you know it's difficult but you need some remember I brought it up with Kevin mugh some freaking separation from groundw because of the one that flooded everybody out I don't believe they did that engineering properly even though it went through it was all done through planning in the previous years mhm but I think that touches base pretty well um and protects the the residents so I think it's pretty pretty good work right there we just need some clarification Jamie on 14 of 17 right right but everything else everything else looks good all right nice to have that done yep um I got some time so any other questions comments on the storm water bylaw no okay we're going to jump right over to the mo MOA M pois it's already something that we've discussed in the past Mr Kelly added some language um subject to appropriation then on number four um and then subject to appropriation by tal me which all of our um salaries need to be approved by town meeting so oh number number nine Jamie termination first sentence I don't know if you're having a party or who's having a party but it says the term of disagreement may be terminated by my party by either party right any party any party for any reason right so if you want to just well if it's a party it's got to be at your house Dave's got a pool summertime so um gentlemen are you good with this yep okay motion second all those in favor all okay very good so that beats that go plow attendance we just keep jumping around this uh was necessary Mr chairman the uh interim accountant had an issue with the uh docu not with the program but with the documents that were used uh that the plow drivers or the contractors signed versus the actual motion that was made so we put together a motion that will cover all the concerns and not have us flagged by the auditor it seems very wordy but uh we just I decided to belt and suspenders are better than having them come back at us later I agree we can't afford to lose any of our plow drivers so I I appreciate that um Mr inkley you want to you have it yep I mve to amend Andor replace the motion made on September 26 2023 concerning P attendance bonus for snowplow drivers by offering in addition to an incentive of $5 above the mass doot base rate a perfect attendance of $1,000 bonus for every contractual snowplow driver whether working independently or for a contractor to be paid for at the end of the snowplow season with the understanding that a contractor may be paid for each truck in other words more than one bonus a bonus for each truck with perfect attendance there a second second all those in favor I thank you gentlemen all right so that checks off that all right we got 15 minutes before we have to our public hearing I think uh C administrator's report oh sure you want to do that now Mr Kelly sure I can get that done in 15 okay boss all right uh the town planner you saw the M MOA uh the assistant Town accountant we're having discussions whether we go full-time part-time technology administrator we just received a resume of an individual who is a retiree that is interested in the position Town accountant uh we received a resume that uh we're doing an interview on on Thursday that looks promising uh full-time custodian we do not have any uh contract uh custodial Services anymore for uh all our buildings accept the police station I'm asking that we hire a custodian for the end of the fiscal year and then the beginning of next year and that'll fill our Gap conservation agent we have no one applying for the part-time or the full-time uh full-time planner SLC conservation but we've entered discussions with other communities to do a similar situation with the town planner can if can we expedite that conversation because I know there's some frustration amongst the conservation um committee it's very difficult for those working people to be you know doing site visits and complaints during the day so if we can't maybe we had to just run another parttime ad on MMA throw it out there again as in a good faith attempt it's only 50 bucks or 30 bucks whatever it is for an get it out there and see what see if we have anything going so we can have a good faith attempt I don't I don't want to lose committee members over aggravation and frustration I think that's pretty much where we're starting to enter that Tipping Point um and I think it's very unfair to our committee members that that strains being put on them so if we can get an advertisement out ASAP for a conservation agent part time see what we get if we get anything at least we're making a good attempt to try to fill that position not we could be talking with other communities to see if we can use this for now I also uh uh have an appointment to go up and talk to uh Jeff Walker up at serid and see if since they owe us some staff time whether we could get a staff person on a project by project basis for some of the major projects at the yeah that's fine we we we need somebody part time though no matter what we've all agreed as when we had a a meeting in the past this board and the chairman of all the other we all agree we need at least a part-time conservation agent it's very difficult when the phone's ringing you have the secretary up there she can't she can't take on that additional responsibility the Chairman's out of town working a lot you just can't get to sites in time we need some we need somebody to be able to pick up the phone make the phone call and get out there and I mean it's you know the money's there it's we can't go any any lower than a part-time position right we've already cut it from a fulltime to a part-time so please advertise okay treasure collector the FY 23 tax title notices have been mailed are are being mailed the 22nd tax takings will be May 6 23 Parcels the amount is 49,00 motor vehicle second commitment that's newly registered will be is mailed April 12th the value is approximately 210,000 that's what we have in delinquents no that's the new the new purchases oh new purchases that's the amount so there's new excise tax being committed to be sent out for that collection I get you okay the books have been reconciled through March the audit is scheduled with the publishing date of June 30th and we will be meeting with Hilltop with the school department on the HVAC issues and the impact on B Bonding okay COA building the 40,000 earmark water heater bathroom fixtures Plumbing 165 the walls were removed the Plumbing's installed our maintenance staff are going down to do the fix the sheetrock that the plumbers uh ripped out and that will all be accomplished the only thing left on the door are the touch plate and the electricity and that is Mr caran and Lucas will be taking care of that hopefully we'll have some good weather in a row and we'll be able to do it roof Cutters and downspouts we have a proposal of 8100 and so we should be able to do that is a the New Bedford fear Haven a cushion at public health nurse wants to run a diabetic education program uh meetings week first weekly then monthly at our COA uh I've also talked to our health insurance because there's a big Push by our health insurer for our workers on diabetic and they might be able to provide this program with uh their uh handouts Etc that type of thing documentation so it would be nice to have the two working together and the COA board is reviewing the building use policy which is very out of date MH uh Public Works to Lane I've talked to the our insurance uh guy uh agent and our work is comp insurance will attach for our DPW workers if and when we're repairing to the LAN in Fair Haven M so we just wanted to make sure and cover that and give them notice uh the budget we've talked about uh and you can see some of the increases and budget Busters there and that's my report okay I think number seven Regional that 55 Buck has got to go yeah that's tough with that deficit of 1.4 million it's that 55 $55 even though it's an assessment we'll get there what again all right so that's that can I make 15 minutes no huh I thinkig you would but no it's all right part of yeah off for two years well I'm losing my voice I had to yell at somebody for an hour today okay right talk slowly about select announcements I guess yeah how slow do you want me to talk oh I can see care a couple minutes a clar but D is there anything on the selectman's announcements while we I I got a couple you do yeah all right mostly pertaining to the same the same stuff um I got to hang out with the Eagle Scouts once again um last weekend and uh it was a really nice ceremony it was nice to see three young men um get obtain the highest rank you can in scouting um lots of people were there R Schmid joined us it was a good time and um they're already possibly going to have five others going up for a review in the next year so um Mr Cody and the rest of the administration of the troop 11 do a really fine job at producing a very good group of Fine Young gentlemen and every one of them was respectful and you could tell that they really put some dedication into scouting and their community so I just want to share that it was a good time I brought my my kids with us with me and uh they were a little confused on why people wear wearing uniforms but they had a good time they had a good time so it was it was a nice experience good anything else no so let me just take a minute I'm I'm going to actually we'll go back to the warrant review old business number four there's um this discussion we haven't had a lot of it out there we've talked about it in the past about slokum Street project um in funding we got a lot of oper money we're looking for more if we if it's available from Opa funding and we also discussed because of the cost of the project um talking to rep Strauss um and rep Schmid on releasing the transportation one I think it's 1.5 million in transportation Bond bill that's been sitting there since 2015 if you wouldn't mind selectman won't I know you have a great relationship with both of our reps if you wouldn't mind um you know getting in touch with them see if we can have some more money while we're at it whatever whatever we can but I Jamie was trying to get them both in and sometimes it's difficult to get them both in if if you could reach out to to the um two offices and see what they can do about sure getting that money released for us um it would be nice um to show the town residents that we've we have this much money and I know that we're going to be asking for a decent amount of money from the infrastructure fund as well if we need to use it right but if we can get that 1.5 released and on top of the OPA funding that we have perhaps that we we're going to ask for a big amount from the infrastructure fund but if we don't need to use it we can then go back and return it right without using it so do we do we have like upto-date engineering plans as of yet from woodwood and Cur yeah this going out they're trying to get it out to bid so that we can know a better idea of what the actual project cost is going to come in for bid I can uh I I'll coordinate with you and the staff's on that if you could certain it'll work with him and get that going that conversation going I just got a lot of things on doing right now we've wrapped up some uh under selects announcements I'll go back underneath of that real quick and Mr Kelly and I and Town Council have wrapped up negotiations with United Steel Workers so we're just waiting for a mo a good copy to come from I think we might be getting that from Town Council tomorrow on the next day for review we'll pass that on to the Union as well I talked to him today and he's said by close of business tomorrow so um looks to be a pretty good contract for for the town hopefully we'll be able to get something um done before town meeting with that I don't think it'll be a huge cost that's for sure with a couple years forward we'll talk about it once we get a copy of it right we'll do something in executive session to discuss that so be it as it may as chairman of the board selectman I will declare at 5:00 p.m. we have a Verizon hearing proposed request for permission to install one Joe Pole to be labeled 18215 do25 on the east side of wing Lane which will be approximately 365 subtly from the center line of pagot Street the new pole will be installed in line with in approximately 87 feet south of the existing pole 18215 and approximately 84 North of existing pole 182 SL 15.5 the installation of this poll is being requested by other source to support the existing poll line leading to their property at 101 Wing Lane correction from the agenda it says Wing Street it's Wing Lane we have anyone sir I David toam with science engineering representing Verizon on this okay we also have a repr representative from Verizon if you have questions about double polls that's why I was asked to be here so I'm happy to take those questions if you want to is that identify well well U we're going to we're in a poll hearing right now so Jamie do we have to open a whole the hearing yes is there a motion to open the poll hearing so move second all those in favor okay now the hearing is technically open for discussion so we'll discuss the poll setting first sir you want to come to the podium please right here sure announce who you are and who you representing yep I'm David toam with signed engineering representing Verizon um you just read the petition I thank you uh I have the same would if you'd like me to read it I will no sir okay we have a little map yeah it looks like uh what if those dotted lines are property lines it looks like it's outside of a property line I don't think this's I don't know if anybody's at 62 Wing Lane I am you are at 62 Wing Lane okay um let this gentleman just explain why the poll I don't have a naap on my letter so oh you want mine sure yeah you going have this one that' be great so you can check out where the pole is I where it is yeah there is a steak out there I can show well a p25 or something can we have it from the right there just let explain and the one on either side Circle the existing down and I live on 67 wingland right across the street don't okay all I'm right next to the uh okay I I'll I'll ask for a but's comment and once I'm done with this gentleman okay so I'm sorry sir um I did make a site visit verify that the measurements are correct um we are setting the pole because it's our poll set area for urce um after we set the pole Ur is on their way I don't know what they engineered out there but if you if you've been through the neighborhood everything's been upgraded all the poles to uh 50 Footers I was there the other day actually yeah um the 50 Footers tell me that they're probably upgrading the voltage maybe because of the Solon I think it's because of the substation that's out there on Wing Lan yeah there's an awful lot of work going on out there as you know yep and they have a substation on the right side of the wing road yeah so um it's a very routine upgrade as far as I can see good all right thank you the butters any question questions comments concerns no actually I'm I it was it's supposed to be something about um extra safety down there what you suppose uh initially going to do there it it will give them more Road clearance with the high voltage lines Road clearance yeah it's taller pole tall the 50ft poles they putting out there those are I know the 50 they put the poles out there yeah normally they're 45s because of the increased voltage they need the um they need the clearance me if you notice if you notice down halfway Road and then down Wing I was just down in the neighborhood your neighborhood I was just there literally a few days ago um by the solar fields and I went down to the power station um and I was checking things out you notice they've already lined the road with higher poles this is an additional support pole that will go in between those two poles right um it's probably too much of a distance between those two pole settings and they're putting up a third in between it's like 87 feet apart right it's for support so it's only for support there ain't going to be no no Verizon towers going on over there or anything like that right how about lighting in that neighborhood lighting is very terrible over there at the end because yeah but that's nothing to do with that no I I know yeah so I don't have lighting I we have a lot of complaints PL in a lot of different places and it's very difficult for us to continue setting lamps on poles where they not not normally there um just we usually set lights on we usually put that in front of the Safety Committee and we'll usually do it at an intersection um or a dangerous curve right and that's pretty much all we'll set we we live there we what would the last two at the at the End of the Street well there's the houses in the woods there but there's a lot of people a lot of hanging around over there syringes out there there's all kinds out there because it's totally dark out there and it's Horizon it's Horizon property it should be L up I mean urce urce own urce owns the substation Castle yes right and I I get what you're alluding to is the people are going down that little side road Y and then they're hanging out over there they hanging out everywhere over there well uh they have a little side road they goes down uh before the uh the solar family was on the left side on the right side is just a road that goes all the way into the substate and everybody goes in there they do whatever they want they dump they do all kinds of stuff in the beginning when all that was uh started with that they were supposed to put a fence around it in the front and all that and uh EP so they put so they put a there's fening around the solar race that's not the solar race problem you open feel that where the people are where the people can get into should if if if there's people hanging out there maybe we should call the police department that many times I'm tired of that went out there and KCK them out of that's my job but it's it's a it's a problem but there's no cameras I know I talked to the solar people long time ago and I asked him about putting a camera he says he's going to put a camera but he's not done that yet so I don't know I call they said they were going to put cameras up but I camera anywhere I'm surprised uce I'm surprised uce doesn't have cameras on this substation you would think you would want that well yeah and and it was so dark there that uh one time they were doing some work there and I talked to the people from everus that were doing the work about putting the light up where the bru p uh Sola is on the right side next to my house at 67 and uh 3 days later there was a light put up right in the end there but from there on there's nothing it's just totally dark people do whatever they want out there they're racing up and down the street in the middle of the night midnight whatever uh but you know again it's we're sick of calling the cops can't you can't by the by the time the cops get there they're gone nothing happens not wor talking about again no it is worth talking about because we never did we never came to the meetings we never talked about it we just let them do whatever they wanted there it's always a mess you go out there and you pick up all the r around there because people are hanging around you pick up the needles pick up the needles I'm the bad Lady of wing l no you're you're a good lady because we never came here but now I'm here I I'm just curious about this whole thing and I'm kind of Hope makes us a little bit safer which would be nice you know we can have a conversation with other source and see if they can put another light down by their entrance lighting is very important another lighting for them yes because we have a we the good news is the town of M cushion has a good relationship whatever so so like the old commercial Anthony yeah like I said when we do too we see them we we're good with them I ask about the light they said it's nothing we can do the town B with the lighting on the streets then all of a the town owns the town Town owns no the town doesn't own any poles oh they that's why they're here asking permission to put a poll in oh I who pays who pays for the elect the uh we we own the town of owns the street lamps that's it that's what I want Street Lamp I know the problem is we we need to stop talking because it's not on the agenda know so I was just trying to be curious to answer your questions and I'm just going to end with this the problem is is once I do something for one person I get a hundred other people beating down the door asking for a Street Lamp near their house yeah but guess what we live no no I I I get what you're saying I'm just saying as soon as we put one over by y another 100 people are going to come beat down the door and say hey I need a lamp over here we've already had that request from us and we there's a policy that the town has where if we're going to set a new lamp it's usually at a curve a dangerous curve or at an intersection when there's no lighting that's pretty much all we do so I can have a conversation with ever source and see if they would want to put up a lamp over by their Entrance Road um maybe that'll deter the people that are doing what they're doing but if there's a lamp by your house there's probably only not even a quad there's probably I'm going to say 1500 ft from where your property is to whereever source's entrance is on the right hand side I don't know if another lamp 1500 ft is going to stop these people from doing what they're doing other than you'll be able to see them from your window yeah and at the end of at the end where it goes into the stations they have a gate there ever has a gate there so that gate so that gate that you're talking about is not urce that's PJ King's gate oh it is there's no gate the only fencing Urus has is around the substation right that's in the back the gate when you go into that road off to the right and you look to the left and you're going to see a giant cement pillar behind the gate that's the entrance to the high tension lines for PJ keing that's PJ keating's property Urus has an easement going down the high tension lines all the way through but that gate belongs and that fencing belongs to PJ keting okay okay sorry thank you no problem no problem all right so is there a motion to approve the poll setting as presented so moved second all those in favor thank you you're welcome sir okay good evening Michelle chano Verizon government Affairs um so I know there were some questions regarding some double polls in the town so I'm happy to so again we've beaten up urce as much as we can and only to find out that all of their equipment's been transferred off of poles right I know there's a lot of problems in a lot of municipalities across the Commonwealth with double polls I spoke with Anthony from urce today and he told me that all the poles that are being set down haway Road and I even think Wing Road that ain't good for like two years out that projects and you're already and you're already out there setting polls when they're not ready to go so it's it's kind of you Verizon's out there setting polls two years in advance when they ain't going to do anything with those poles for another two years so those polls now tells me those polls are going to sit there for two years or year and a half the problem that the vo really has in the past is all the poles there's one right outside of here Main Street and the bottom of the poll's cut off right at a kid's face height right M and you left it there strapped to the other pole okay that's unacceptable it's a safety issue okay you have that same practice going on on Middle Road bir Street I've named it before the uce it's um ber street is a side street off Middle Road there's two poles right at the bottom of my neighborhood that are the same thing been strapped up there for God knows how long probably a year um and then there's one on Cox Street in N Lane that's been sitting stagnant chopped off as well um for like a year I think anybody would say a year 6 months even is too long for a pole to be sitting strapped up like that right and when I drive by the poles after we've given evur to run around at that Podium I've driven around after to confirm that we were being told the truth and we are because all of ur's equipment has been moved to the new pole and the only thing that's sitting on the old pole is Verizon and Comcast so that's a major problem for the town and the town's people we get a lot of complaints about double poles taking down our lamp and leaving it on the ground somebody steals it we out that cost and things of the like we would just like a better line of communication from Verizon to say there's a lamp on this pole contact the town we'll be in town on XYZ day figure out when you can get your contractor to come and remove the lamp we'll set it on the ground let him reset it on onto the poll um I I don't think the town's being unreasonable when we're asking you to get rid of a pole that's a danger to our people that's been sitting there for well over a year even 6 months is too long if ever Source gets their equipment moved over I don't see why Verizon can't do the same within a reasonable amount of time sure um can I start to answer some of your questions you I just wanted to give you the of our complaints and what we've been dealing with we've never had an opportunity to have somebody from Verizon to listen to our complaints we just beat up on urce so it's nice of you to come in and yeah chat with us well thank you and and I always look for open lines of communication with all the communities that I interact with um I can send you a double poll report every month if that's something that you want to see So currently there's 104 double polls that we have listed in our database which is um called engines which is the national joint utilities notification database so in that every time we place a poll we put it in this database eversource is always the first to go to transfer their lines on the primary and the secondary then there are some attaches in between could be fire alarm it could be some sort of other fiber you have open Cape Etc then it's Comcast and then lastly it's Verizon so Verizon's always the last to transfer and when we're the last to transfer we remove the double pole I will address the cut and kicks with my construction Department because they should not be doing it in an unsafe manner it should be high enough up that it would not uh be in the way when anybody walks by so I will review that with them um so right now in the database with the 90 with the 104 double poles there's 94 of them that ever Source has not said that they've completed so they're sitting in their bucket uh waiting for them to it looks to us to transfer the service I was hoping they would actually be there cuz I hate to throw a fellow utility under the bus right you know we can kind of he said you were going to do it of course he did right and I said I'm not going to allow that to happen because they've been very good to us it just it's it's very frustrating where it's everybody's finger point right absolutely if it's if it's Verizon's poll I would assume that it would be your responsibility to the other utilities out there to move the wires or cables or whatever it may be so that you can remove that pole yeah so the the Jo when you were talking about the Jo pole they're all jointly owned Verizon and everu own these poles all together the two of us so we have equal responsibility it happens that in a cush net Verizon sets and removes the Old Poles in some areas it's eversource that sets the poles and they remove the Old Poles so we have a difference you know with all of our electric utilities on how we work that in our in our methods and procedures so um for us you know we're waiting for everyone and I agree with you a year two years is too long uh we do the work as we get the orders from eversource so if they've put in these orders and they've sent us the information to then create the jobs to go out and do these polls and add them to where they're doing their jobs we are putting them in as we're receiving the orders so if ever Source has something two years out then I would hope that they would tell us and say hey don't do half the way first that job's going to be you know in 2026 we would know that but as far as we know we're just doing the jobs as they're received um because they need the work done so that's what we have been doing for our engineering and construction departments okay Mr chairman yes sir uh you said 94 out of 104 are currently marked not completed by eversource is that a portal so it's yeah it is it's a DAT it's a uh a website and I can send um you know uh so Mr Kelly reach out to Anthony and say hey have you guys update the portal here um CU if it's just a simple Communication Breakdown this could be resolved pretty quickly yeah absolutely yeah and I I have the report in email and I can forward it to you when I get back to the office and you'll have the report and see where all the streets are where everything is and I've marked off you know you'll it's by alphabetical order there are codes in there but I put a little key in there so and I do that with other municipalities too and if it's something you want to see on a monthly or quarterly basis to see where your double polls are and the town I'm happy to do that as well we have several we have several hundred now double poles in a town of ausnet hathway Road Wing Road Main Street they're all blowing all the way down Main Street last time I talked to my wiring inspector was probably two months ago um and he's the one that told me he said Kevin you don't only have a couple of dozen polls double polls anymore you literally have a couple hundred double polls now I mean if that person wants to contact me as well if there are ones that we've met um I'm happy to work with them if he tells me the streets and I'll have my for and go out and um did you did you MK down roughly 170 Middle Road there's two poles right there the Birch Street Middle Road I have was right here y the Street n Lane one those are right off the top there's some further down Middle Road as well but those are the ones that just I mean that's where I live on that side of town although I drive everywhere in the town of aush and it just be imposs possible for me to log everyone no I absolutely understand and and normally they kind of go in a route right if there's if they're doing an upgrade we we normally know the down here on this side of town it is the other side of town it's just random poles that have' been hit by a car right right an accident and they've been sitting there for a year I mean I I can't even and other source has relocated all their wires right so I don't know where that everyone in between right so if they're stuck in between and there's a a crown castle and exet uh a municipal fire light any of those things hold up the entire process so but I'm happy to work with you and get those resolved and especially the ones that are the cuton kicks that are um you know unsafe uh I'll work back with my format Mr Kelly now only uh work with us if it's anything to do with the town like an alarm system or especially the street lights because the contractors seem to take those down leave them on the uh sidewalk or the side of the road and never notify us that the work's being done in the polls sure I would if you could and after this meeting we can have a conversation I can come back for a meeting if you would provide the right contact numbers for my folks when they go out to do the work to make a call and say uh that we're here or we're going to do this poll in two days we're on the road there's a light on it we have a separate cont the contract that does uh light our lamp settings when something like this occurs so I would think that we would need 48 hours notice he can't just take one of his guys off the crew and say okay they're coming tomorrow get off this job and go over there but I think as a curious thing if we gave him 48 hours notice um he could call somebody and say I need you to be in town with a bucket truck to throw the lamp swap the lamp I mean normally we don't remove the street lights unless it's an accident or something happened to the pole and that's when they end up right because we would then have a bucket for street light and the contractor to go in and transfer the street light um as part of the entire transfer process so um if that's not happening then we need to make sure that they have access to the database we would s that it's you are urce would not touch our lamp we we shouldn't be unless it's an accident and something's fallen and then normally what would happen is they would pull it down tape it around I would like for you to touch the lamp and put it back on the PO so we don't have to pay for unfortunately we can't do that but yes so normally the the the street light contractors they will have a designation in engines and then they should be notified that they are next to go so it's kind of you know Mr Kelly is there a protocol ever source is the top you're the bottom and there's all these yeah so it's usually street light usually street light space if you look at it is usually after electric so after eversource transfers street light transfers and then we'll have you know the other spaces I don't know if you have any Municipal fiber or fire alarm catv then Verizon's the lowest but do you give notice to all of those folks we give you notice as you're next to go you get an email notification and you usually have 30 days to move your lines uh or before good s there are a number of you've got the street light but we do have Town fiber optics and we be good to know all of it at once instead of contacting us because it takes us a while to get our contractors to go out there so well you said it takes 30 days but it's been 365 days I agree there people don't always there's no communication coming to the town of aush it that's the problem exactly and I and I I will take that back but when it's sitting in a bucket of eversource for 385 days no one else is going to get notification until that completes so it gets stuck in a certain bucket and I'm not sure if your contractors that do your street lights and those that do Municipal fiber are the same people usually they're two different email addresses but they would each have a considerable amount of a 30-day time Tove but if you also let us know that way we could sure get on them yeah and if I I'll send you the reports and then you'll be able to see what is going to be next uh to go in those buckets and where they are and we can have your contact information yeah actually you should already have it I've been corresponding um with Sydney and um that's how I got involved in this so well she didn't say anything to us so it's her fault it's not ever's fault anymore it's Cindy's fault okay but anyways as long as we have your contact now um we appreciate your time and coming in and listening to it no you're welcome I appreciate you inviting me to to do this I think it's important that we're involved in that link of communications right absolutely absolutely and if there's any meetings that you want to have with eversource here too and I'm happy to do that as well again I don't want to throw anyone under the bus it's definitely oh we can have Anthony come in and you come in and what what's the past Anthony what about Comcast where are they in this conversation nine that they had to transfer so they they're not joint poll owners they are attaches okay and we have a good relationship I mean normally what happens is Comcast is pretty good to like start moving the ball so once they're done that's when we'll get them so we have one in our bucket right now Comcast has nine so what would happen is when they complete their nine we'll say oh we have 10 now that we can transfer and remove double poles invol we've spoken with you we've spoken with Anthony you know was uh comast thir the third leg in the stool that we've got to uh I have to be honest they they aren't holding anything by by these reports they're not hold anything so they seem to be pretty timely right we contact you and put it with all of them thanks I appreciate the opportunity very good thank you thank you very much right takes care of that by 6 right 630 so the last thing we have on our agenda um request to have Mr pansky Sarah Griffith is here and my name is Shirley Burke on the chair I'm sorry I I remembered your first name Shirley but I just phased out the last name Shirley Burke y um she's been with OC she's been with OC for a long time how many years Shirley come well to be honest with you uh I'm advancing age I can't remember how many terms it is so I think I'm about to start my fourth so I'm beginning my 10th year been it's been a it's been a long time it's been a long time but it's enjoyable work sure so Aaron thank you for coming back in for some followup um I I just I look at the packet right and I as much as I thought I knew about o colony's budget process I got confused so I just have a couple of questions um paining to the budget because we just we discussed our budgets and we're still $1.4 million in the whole and obviously your increase it's i'llbe it not dramatically substantial it's substantial compared to past year so I the question that I you have something 2.4 no it's not 2.4 it's 1.4 over what we really have well it depends on how you want to look at it so when I when I look at your budget and I say hm it's up 500 correct me if I'm wrong too please it's up 9,436 right I'd have to check the number but I'll take your word for it the I'm only using the difference from last year 9436 is what I have yep okay okay so which isn't bad being a Regional School right but then I if I go to assessments the total fiscal year 25 assessment the assessments are up $587,000 so I just simply on this that one particular matter I said to myself how can that be if the budget's up 506 how can assessments exceed the budget right so I guess we'll start with that one question and see if we can get some clarification sure um so can you stand at the podium please sure for the people on camera Sarah sure yes absolutely can I just see where yeah just I took notes and differentials just so we' have one year on the next Okay so so when you're talking about the increase in assessment can you tell me which which section of the assessment sheet that you're speaking about yeah so it's the total fiscal year 25 assessments so one two 3 four five the six line item down on your budget breakdown for Town assessments it says total fiscal year 25 assessment and that equals the difference between that number and last year's number is 587 so how is the budget up 506 but the assessments exceed the budget number so it doesn't it wouldn't make much sense if you just looking at it from my binoculars you would think 506 and then evenly distribute that amongst the percentages of the five member towns so something else is impa in that assessment sure it's O Colon's Revenue so um Old Colony as a Regional School District we use the statutory method for assessment so the first application to our budget our total budget is any state aid that we will receive so Chapter 70 chapter 71 and any non-resident tuition that we receive and transportation reimbursement okay so the major flux in our revenue for this year is that is our last last year we our last year using um free Town tuition so we're not receiving non-resident tuition anymore so our Revenue o colonies Revenue if everything was level funded as it is is down about $400,000 it's I'm sorry our Revenue stream old colonies Revenue state aid is down from last year $400,000 okay so right from the beginning before we even talk about an increase into our budget our Revenue has decreased as a school district so we apply minimum local contribution at that point I remember Town's minimum local contribution is $6.8 million in total our minimum local contribution districtwide Our member Town's contribution to education is up $56,000 that is a little bit more than halfway down that page there are two lines one is assessment variance and the other one is minimum contribution variance yeah so the fiscal year 2024 minimum contribution that's what the state says that you need to spend correct right so as a whole districtwide we're up 56,000 um and statutary method for assessment starts with minimum local contribution okay so if you look at that number sticking with that minimum contribution sure and you look at the fiscal year 2024 assessments mhm it's $1.95 million or worth minimum minimum spending right so um for Regional School Districts the statutory requirement um is shows at the the top of the page the additional contribution and excess of minimum local contribution without transportation and equipment or capital in debt is $754,000 where is that 7 that is the line all the way over to the right oh that's the cumulative balance of all three all five member channel that is really what's remaining in our budget that if we were going to talk about excess over a minimum contribution Transportation debt Capital that would be the number that we would be talking about so when we talk about a cola an excess of 2% contractual obligations and contracts that we have with vendors that's where the remain of that above minimum local contribution six okay so because we wouldn't cut the transportation or the capital debt out of O colony's budget it's all built into your budget right right and it it's not included as part of that minimum local contribution that's an excess of minimum local contribution Transportation specifically because we receive our regional transportation reimbursement which you see applied directly to the budget as a revenue Source the following year so it's not included in minimum Lo but when you do your budget it's included you have $970,000 in your in your transportation yes and then every year the state changes what your reimbursement is right yes it's so in fiscal year 2021 you have 96% reimbursement 22 you had 90% reimbursement last year 2023 you received 795 reimbursement yes and you see those funds apply directly to the budget on the first page of the sheet can you can you point me to that sure number so reimbursement so on each one of the um packet yeah down at the bottom under funds applied Chapter 70 funding is directly off of the cherry sheet it's the governor's number for Chapter 70 the next one is school choice sending which is funds that we have to pay for students to attend chapter 74 programs at other schools that are not Colony that live in the member towns chapter 71 funding is right now off of the cherry sheet which is the governor's numbers for chapter 71 that's Regional Transportation reimbursement and then you will see the transportation fund offset which is the EXs o Colony received over budget last year being applied to the fy2 budget that is perion law that's so that 350 that's where I was getting a little screwed up okay so I looked at the chapter 71 and I and I was trying to reason with myself saying then that's what the that's the 79 close enough to the 79.5% reimbursement you're applying from last year to this year so the chapter 71 funding line that line is is next year's estimated reimbursement we have not received that money yet so this fiscal year will receive those funds so it's so that 671 you're saying is next year so you're just it's a it's that's that's right it's just a GU estimation right right I just read to you the different reimbursements and they're all over the map right so did we did really good in 21 and 22 but then they chopped you out the knees and said hey is you know 15% roughly 15% less reimbursement on Transportation so yall looking at when you put it when I guess who calculates the chapter 71 okay it's an estimate it's an estimate I know all right so it's from from your perspective or the school's perspective well it's actually straight off of our end of year report so if you go to our end of year report and you go to our uh uh schedule 7 you will see old colony's actual expenses that is the that's where the number comes from to estimate what the following years Transportation reimbursement will be when I started in 2014 common practice was to use 60% it moved up a little bit we started using 70% yeah it I really don't think that it's in anyone's best interest to use more than 70% at this time so we have used that as our philosophy building the budget however if we receive an excess of 70% the Mass General Law requires that we use those funds to directly offset the operating budget in the following fisal year and that is what that $350,000 is ah and so next year when we receive our chapter 71 if we receive funding and excess of budget that closes directly to the revolving account and then Ed is used the following fiscal year to help offset the budget BAS that's that that's so that 350 is basically what you have carried in the revolving from from the excess percentages because you or or the school committee and yourself and the superintendent say like we do in the town with Revenue numbers there's certain revenues that we're not happy with exceeding a certain threshold we just I just got done talking about this at a joint meeting right and say it's dangerous if you get to certain level of doing that so you have that same practice where you say % is the dead cut off line so right now we're looking at a million dollar let's just round up it's 970 but it's a million bucks so you're anticipating again reimburse 700 Grand next year just about yes absolutely right that's 70% roughly just the rationale for this advocacy on behalf of a kushit sent to a senator uh to advocate for a bill as recently as yesterday that fully funds Regional Transportation but I want you to know that we're doing everything we can behind the scenes to Advocate on behalf of all of our member towns because if Regal Transportation goes up the reimbursement there's a huge benefit to everybody sure so I just want you to see the email that we yeah no so now I get the philosophy that you have a methodology where you say the same thing Mr Kelly and I were just doing several months back looking at Revenue stream saying everybody wants more money and we say there's a certain level where we're not just not comfortable breaching that threshold because we never know what that revenue is going to be and if we give 80% in the following year you have a 10% shot fall guess who's piggy back in that the taxpayers right so we're conservative but people don't like us being conservative but you really have to be because you're actually protecting the taxpayers of the Town by not letting them spend too much right and you you have the same exact approach to transportation and cuz I noticed last year you applied 150 last year yes the transportation fund offset so that's where I was getting screwed up I'm looking at that and I'm saying how did we do a buck 50 last year in the transportation fund offset right and then this year we're we're allocating 350 it's because of that revolving fund you it's it's a a buffer that's there to say we anticipate X Y and Z right for reimbursement if we don't come up we can go into revolving fund and offset that money so do requires us to build a balanced budget just like they require the town too and this is one of the things that gets audited when we have our end done in the fall our access and deficiency calculation done they want to see what to do budget what was your actual what was your excess and specifically Regional Transportation reimbursement our philosophy as a district even though we contract the vendor and pay the bill the reimbursement goes directly back to member towns via an offset of Revenue prior to assessment M so yes your methodology is exactly that if we were to short fund Regional Transportation reimbursement we would have to have a conversation among the budget subcommittee when those funds were short and as to how we were going to we can't have an unbalanced budget just like you can so do would come in and say how are you how are you planning on funding your shortfall in Regional Transportation yeah exactly excellent that's and so again right now where we're at yes it's massive right I mean honestly I've been doing this for a long time and and when I see the town's budget deficit this year I express concern amongst my colleagues just a little while ago is how the hell are we going to collapse that right and get us back down to a reasonable amount of expenditure we've been spending roughly 1.2 year over year and even that's questionable in my mind right because of the other revenue streams that we keep using and now we're looking at 2.4 million over what we spent last year right just it can't happen we don't so every dollar matters to us right now whether it's 20 grand 50 Grand whatever it may be and I get the whole we got more students staying in the population and we're finally done weeding out the uh you know the we when I was doing it back in 2005 to 10 I was a leison for old colon for five years for fincom um we always counted on that Revenue stream from Freetown right and it was always like a couple of grand more than what all of our member towns were paying roughly give it take a few bucks but that's what it was and it was kind of it was helpful for the budget process we're in the last year of kicking that out of out of the pool and we're stuck with what we have the the only other thing that we got there's like I don't know if it's a school nutritionist that's inside the budget for like 70 grand it's can I ask why that's our food service director can you put that don't you have a revolving fund for that you get reimbursed from the state like our local schools do so our um Grant funded lunch program when I started at the school district in 2014 was operating in the negative uh did not have the ability to fund the director's salary so the director's salary is an our operating budget if it got to a point and now we are in a healthy place where we were operating at a safe um Surplus we could potentially fund her salary but as of right now that would not be just because I know everything everything that's in that school lunch revolving account gets reimbursed from the state including the meals right not everything no not everything you have to make sure your school lunch program is operating at a profit so you you get your um lunches you know reimbursable lunches paid for but not not everything is considered reimbursable for the school lunch program you only receive the the base funding for the number of um meals that you sell all of your operating costs have to fall within that so you can't can't um operate your school lunch program and a deficit or the general fund has to fund it just because some of the conversations I've had with other people from other districts they say they have that school like a lunch revolving we do have AOL and the meals of reimburse and they've gotten actually so much money in it that they're buying a new cafeteria equipment and things of the like with that kind of money we have a small Surplus at this time but we do not have a surplus that could safely fund the director's salary year after year not at this time right right if we did we would incorporate it into the lunch program other school districts I've worked for it's been able to pay for the director salary and it's been able to operate at a profit but if the program operates at a loss it gets charged to the general fund mhm okay so Aaron I guess my last Harr is going to be is we' got some new Revenue numbers from the state right yes and we were fortunate to get a little bit of extra money for o Colony not like y'all let us asking for for transportation but it's an additional 4,922 which I year would be almost 14,000 bucks you talking about the house the boat at the house level yeah yeah so I I I mean it it's 14,000 bucks that we could use so I don't know if there's anything that you folks could do and take a look at that number and maybe come back to your member town and saying hey we've done maybe you can do something else somewhere else and try to squeeze the dime a little bit more I know it's tough but we're at a point in a cushion and I think a lot of municipalities are I don't think there's any more blood to squeeze out of a rock and any little bit will help and that's all I'm asking for and I appreciate you folks coming in and doing that explanation and bringing my mindset back to all of this cuz I have old paperwork as you know I have one over here from 2012 um and I go back to my notes and I'm just I just went Bonkers Sunday night after I went came home from a a birthday party and I literally spent three and 1 half four hours looking at this from Old Colony and I just I just went crazy doing it I I mean I I got overwhelmed with just looking at things and I said you know what it's good that we're going to have them back in have a little bit of dialogue I think it's good for the fincom I'm sure they're going to watch this as well I think it's good for Mr Kelly and the board members to really understand everything that's going on I'm I'm very involved in numbers and I don't like when I look at a number and I don't understand that number um I like to just I'm analytical right I want to break everything out figure I don't I want to understand exactly what it is and and I think you did a great job helping me understand that um and I think to to the folks at home as well that you know look at things and say I think we have to think about it in not just for this year but also next year because the perspectus for next year is similar or even more Bleak that's what's on that's what's coming way so it's real we try to keep our finger on the pulse I want to reassure you that every time we come to the table our goal is a transparency B research right which is why I sent some numbers out ahead of time because we don't come to the table and throw numbers out uh randomly last year we had a much higher increase to be quite honest from a percentage standpoint but when we ran the numbers and saw the comps we felt comfortable running those numbers this year we ran the comps ahead of time I sit on the Old Colony Round Table of superintendant I sent a survey out I got feedback we wanted to come to you from an educated perspective um the same thing held true in negotiations we sent out information and gathered information from 48 different towns uh from all of our member towns from municipalities Jamie gave us all of the municipal information we needed from Acushnet because we wanted to make sure we never want to be the highest right right it's kind of off philosophy too right and we and and we really didn't want to be the lowest because the teachers just came out of a 221 right and so our negotiations um as you may have read on signs locally um weren't always easy and we got to a place where we felt we did the right thing for our teachers and simultaneously tried to do the right thing for our towns sure so I just want you to know that a lot goes into the process behind the scenes we appreciate the opportunity to provide additional clarification and we will continue to do everything we can on behalf of all of our member talk it's just it's just been this year has been I mean you want to talk about a level of depression right you'll just we I look at the numbers I spent a lot of time last night as well looking at the budget numbers and I I don't know what the answer is going to be I mean I I have some ideas to squeeze some of that blood out of the rock but trying to find you know a million for I I don't know I don't I I don't know what to say town the town's people and the taxpayers got their hands full June 3rd at town meeting right um they're the ultimate decision makers um we got to figure it out I do appreciate the efforts that the school and the school committee makes in three points 67 including your insurance costs I think is a pretty pretty good job thank you you know I also want you to know we consider everybody Partners in this process so when we went when we met with the fincom and when we create those numbers we're looking to try and get that number low out of the gate so that it never feels like a back and forth because our goal is to to say is this is this palatable and if someone says no Then our goal is to pull that number down before we ever get to you because that's really important it should never be you know well let's just pull it a little bit more let's just pull it a little bit more that's not really the answer the answer is where can we get it so that it feels palatable for everyone and that's why there's the research and the dialogue too so I appreciate it just one more question Sarah can I just add to your comment about the funding and state aid once the budget is complete at the state level whatever the Final Chapter 70 spreadsheet is that will be the funding for Chapter 70 for the school district and so if that equals lesser assessment we will recertify the Lesser assessment obviously if we have another Revenue stream whether it's $40,000 or $10,000 we will apply whatever revenues we can apply to this this budget that you see here so I just want you to know that if the state ends up if we ends up getting more Chapter 70 funding if Final Chapter 70 is complete and that is the funding amount we will recertify assessments lower absolutely and it will be based on this assessment sheet that you see here in front of you so if that house number sticks right your number drops that house number if the Senate comes in lower than the host number your number drops again right we just don't know right now because of where they of course we would I got excited for $14,000 s what do you want me to say I mean really I get excited for $14,000 it's it's 14 Grand right in in in the grand scheme of things it's sad that we have to sit here and talk about $14,000 right but it's not $14,000 it's $1.4 million for us right so like I said every dollar right now matters because that 14 Grand could be a full-time person being cut to a part-time person in this town right um and that's what that's where we're at unfortunately and I think the same thing is going to happen with School departments right you just can't you just can't keep going at the rate we're going right as good of a job as we're doing I'd like to think so anyway this does is that breaking point and I think we're pretty damn close to the end where tough decisions are going to be made it it's it's unfortunate but I don't know what else to say about it really I wish I had better answers right I wish I had the Power Ball for a billion dollars that just went out and you know I could give you you know all your Capital needs and say he take this off the backs of all the communities for the next five years right leave them alone so that one last question that I do have the the um the capital I guess it's transportation and Equipment no Capital debt and spending yes right that number mhm um it's gone it's gone up Yes actually I'm sorry fixed charges on the first page 2,562 th000 and and I noticed a long time ago 12 years ago okay fiscal year 2012 was 1.22 4 oh yeah so it's it's basically doubled yeah what is the fixed Insurance fixed charges Insurance those are Insurance programs Insurance payroll taxes um retirement yeah retirement assessment yes yeah five that's a 5,000 series for Desi accounting so State Pension assessment insurance and we actually in that last year that one year um for our teachers left the Gateway Health Group to join a different group and um lower our insurance costs as well because we were looking at a huge in insurance I got that written down in my 2012 sheet it say sub total employee benefits yes and then we're a percentage of that number yes right yes Debt Service Debt Service is separate is is there if if did we do something with debt with you folks like I think we did something yeah so is that inside the budget yes ah how long is that debt do did paid off soon this is the last this budget is the last year of our bond and capital lease so wait a minute is there any way we know what the town of a cushion piece of that pie is is there any way for us to fund that differently than in the budget like free cash we could just say we can give you whatever the portion of it is that's inside the budget I would have to check the Master General law but I believe a Kush could pay for the capital lease however they want it to pay for the capital lease it's actually a capital lease how much is it uh it's it's the bigger piece of this so about uh 400,000 about 125,000 is the bond the bond you all have to pay the same way but the capital lease might be able to be removed and I can check Mass General law I can actually check with bom Council announc so does that all come off the books this year like this is our last year after this budget FY 25 budget yeah those payments will be complete that lease thing that you just talked about 4 lease the balloon and then you talked about a bond for a bond yes 125 is 125 the town of aush sh no 125 is the total payment and then this 400 grand total payment that's just a chunk of money total payment for Old Colony so you're seeing Oh so our percentage would be 35% of that uh that's what that's is hold on okay so were Capital comparable to those numb yeah yeah the numbers that are on the spreadsheet were roughly 34% okay so let's just call us 40% for this Bond thing I mean leish thing four 4 * 4 is 160 Grand right so it's a little bit less than 160 Grand yeah yeah so if we I have to check I'll have to check so the if you could because if that helps the town of a cush it pay in a one one lump sum and get that off our portion of our assessment to bring down our budget so we're up call it 515 right from the previous year okay so if that brings that number down now and takes off that we'll just call it 150ish and that would put us down to you know 380 370 you're not WR that's a big big change it's a game changer different funding source for you right that's what so I just have to check on Sat method for assessment on that please let me check on that I'm sorry Sarah I have to check on statutory method for assessment because you are part of our regional agreement and our regional agreement speaks to the statutory method for assessment so I would just want to double check with that but um yes Capital leases are not voted by Our member towns the way that a debt is it is not debt I'd really love to know the answers that has sooner rather than later we only have a couple of weeks left and if that's an option for the town of aush to do it I think that's a discussion this Board needs to have yeah be real beneficial that would be extremely beneficial right because now we rid ourselves of that and we know next year we don't have that built into the budget anymore right yeah I don't know what the budget from a planning perspective what that line we've been told don't let that line dip to too much because you want to carry a certain level of debt of debt yes yeah but it's you just said it's disappearing right so he is retiring don't go there don't be sneaky and say I'm going to go get more debt it's not sneaky but it's the building project forthcoming we don't know what how we'll be advised but that is a lease it's not yes sir that's why I'm saying these words to you because I know that you know what that means yes um um I just want to be careful we we have had many meetings where we've talked about this this debt and with us talking about a potential building project and acquiring more debt the wave and fluctuation of let's say a dip in your assessment and then an increase in assessment I I I understand but not all me we need a dip we're in a time where we need some dip now the debt is coming off no matter what anyway you have no control over there unless you create more debt in the next year is what you're saying right all I'm yeah right all I'm saying is I don't know what the building project will bring and so I don't want to make a promise here and say there's something disappearing that let me let me rephrase Aaron so that I can be clear right so forget about the debt because we know we can't pay that off and and I know that there's talk about it being paid off but then we might get more debt right right we talk about the lease we're talking about the lease that that would be a kick yeah forget about the debt let's you got I understand keeping it inside of a budget so that you w have that massive fluctuation the lease is a game changer sure if there's one year left if we have the ability to pay out in a cash advance it's out of a budgetary right yeah I don't know that I don't know that how you have to do it for you guys can work together so so that that actually potentially might be what has to be done which is that all of the Town administrators would get together and talk about whether or not they were all on the same page for payment for the capital lease for the last year right because if there's a uniformity why why why can't why so why couldn't we just say I don't like being linked to all these other towns because they they hold I don't want them holding the first stram I know it's BS quite honestly I I'll be honest with you it's BS you know why because the town of a kushna and Lakeville are better than 60% of your budget we should have the ruling decide the deciding factor on that thing instead of oh I need a third town when their assessments went down to say hey we're not happy with something right that's it shouldn't be that way it should be the majority wins not oh guess what I'm out of poison my assessment went down so yeah of course I'm happy with your budget screw you a cushion it right that's the mentality the FP I hear what you're saying I think the flip of that is we've always tried to be collaborative in the way we do bring all the players to the table a I get it but I don't I don't like somebody else saying no I want out and not like you just said with the other Town administrators we should be able to say if that's if that portion of money maybe we're going to get creative on our own side and we're going to say that if that's the case we're going to pay for it this way and supplement that number this way because it's only a one time thing but it's a paid debt some of that's just the law right like we we can only do what we're allowed to do no I I I totally get it but if just explore the options see if it's an option for us to do it right and if it's not then we now it opened up a conversation for us to say maybe we're not going to use XYZ for that fund and we're going to put it towards the budget and pay for that lease to get out of that debt it's a pay down debt so I don't need to tell the DOI I need to figure out a way to pay it back CU it's already paid off have a nice day oh yeah we're getting creative thank you so much Sarah for coming in well hey you're welcome we got to do what we got to do you for but anyway thank you so much for coming in Shirley it's a pleasure seeing you Mr palanski as always thank you very much for coming in and clarifying some questions and whatever you could do to hammer the number let's do it do our best and hopefully are uh hopefully letter makes it to uh some reasonable Folks up at the State House thank you s thank than have a two minute session right executive session you don't want I came up with the plane we're going to talk Thursday morning all right just make sure I get a number from who no a number of the exact number we still going to Executive session right Steel Workers no it's just ask me no oh so that's your this was sorry I read the wrong one sorry no he's got a bunch of different ones for Friday all right I Friday Friday that so anyways gentlemen um is it's far down to the wre we are we gave Town Administrator some opportunity to try to figure things out with the fincom but we have a massive budget deficit right and I'm going to try to sit down with the Town Administrator look at some revenues look at the budget individual budgets but um there's a lot of work to be done on the budget side I'm confident Mr Kelly and I can um can work some magic but I don't think we're capable of working all the magic so I would just ask that if you would look at some of the budgets um yourself and you know put some concentration on obviously the bigger ones that we have the smaller ones that we have they're mostly even y so there's nothing really left there had to cut so I would just ask that you put some consideration into looking at the budgets and saying with Mr Kelly he'll give you new updated budgets based on Department ads and say you know we we need to do x y and z y um and put give them some input cuz close the business Thursday I should be able to have I'm going to try I'm going to be here tomorrow with Mr Kelly working through some numbers and some budgets and things but it's not it's not going to happen just tomorrow um I was going to try to schedule a meeting for Monday at 11:00 to do budgets I don't know if we're going to have this hammer out we we we could get I'll spend the rest of the week with you not that you want to spend it with me I don't want to really spend it with you but this is extremely important right we could get rid of a lot of the budgets we know are not going to change all right so is is you have available Monday at 11:00 to do next just budgets nothing else no other BS is going on the agenda I'm shut Mr Kelly down we're only discussing budgets we're going to hammer through as much as Mr Kelly and I can Hammer through as individuals I would like to get the one ones that we can hammer out together by Friday so you folks can have it for the weekend just give have a quick Passover understand the ones that we can maybe we'll nail everyone but some of the bigger ones five budgets six budgets and then we'll take those up on Monday if we can get to it and figure this out if not we're going to scramble we're going to do what we need to do but we need to we need to do our po we just asked Mr palansky and I think that the team you know Old Colony after getting this verification will say that you know I've been I've been doing Old Colony budgets for a long time they've they've I know it's a big increase up here is because of the additional students in the phase out and all that stuff but they're doing everything they can now that they answered my questions about Transportation I get it a lot better now that they are allocating a percentage of it so be that as it may they're going to try to do whatever they can do to help the situation out and with as far as the town of Christ's assessment that's great we need to do what we need to do with our own budgets and then really it comes down to the local school department seeing what they can possibly do with their budget um and plug some different numbers in and see where the the end number comes up but at 2.4 million over last year we don't have that Revenue there's no way we could spend that kind of money we'll kill the taxpayers um it's tough enough spending 1.2 million Year over-year let alone anything above that number so so couple things I've looked at the budget I've got a list of things that I think could hit The Cutting Room floor I'll talk to Jamie about that please I was glad to see well I'm not a tax guy I'm glad to see the the meals tax at least up for consideration but I think there's one other piece of this that we've got to really consider is the solar pilots and I know we've got a number of them online we've talked about it I think that's a piece of the puzzle and Kevin You' you've been a leader on this you know as far as making sure that the depreciation ass depreciating Revenue doesn't make its way into the operating budget but the pilot for the pilots for the next 20 years we would have a fixed line a fixed schedule right and Bob you know this better than anybody now and I think with your sight lines to that if we've got projects that are close to being permited that AR putting us in Jeopardy environmentally like we know that ones that are we don't want that used against us right but if we know that there are projects that are up and running soon that don't deal with uh forestry cutting that are really simple and are safe I think we might want to look at a couple of those to bring in a fixed Revenue stream again we need to sell our soul down but if it's it might be the time to look at that and I think if that's a piece of that puzzle that we we're not we got we got we the one thing that we have going to our advantage and I I agree we talked about the pilo thing and and I'm 100% on board if you if even if you did a couple of them the future ones right and we still have the other ones although I'll say it you blow out a lot of Forestry for somebody else to make a lot of money because I've run reports on the first two in the town of a kushit okay and the amount of Revenue over a 20-year period that this town makes you basically put in two house lots and you'll accumulate the same amount of Revenue over the same 20 years that's sad y consider what kind of money these people are making or the land owners making on the lease they make more money than what the municipality makes they're blowing out all that forestry in some cases not all cases some Open Fields right great but to Dave's point I think we need to at least have that chapter open and did we ever a did we adopt something in the past about Pilots I thought we did already yeah we went to town meeting to give us the ability to negotiate we we have the the mechanism to do it you know I would say r jump if it's a solar project that is got flooding issues then we're not talking to you not you will not benefit from that opportunity right right right right but if it's somebody on got it you know yeah and then we got money in the bank to pay off the school roof right that was a big that's a big chunk we're going to do something in the fall with that to pay the before we reband we're going to pay off 400 Grand maybe use some free cash cuz we talked about that as a board before you were here Mr Kelly that we'd use some free cash to pay that number down as well and bring bring it down I think with that Revenue the other Revenue sources we have in Solar Ray we'll still be able to pay that band right as we wean down that amount into Dave's point you get a couple of the new ones if they're decent Revenue you do the 20 25 year pilot right and you just what that it just puts a fixed rate for 20 years creates a fixed tax bill for that for 20 years so you don't have that variable is what we're saying you get a depreciating schedule as it goes and uh after town meeting we should start to look at the fee schedules because we're a lot lower than every town around and that goes for every board and every committee that has permanent fee schedules and the other the other thing that I'll go on selectman's announcements is speaking of solar we got all this energy stuff that we get the rate increase that we're getting and all this other stuff and maybe you could take a look at the fire department what the contract is the deal is and how we can use that if we can use credits from them for other buildings CU I'm not familiar with all of that stuff but a lot a lot of interesting ways to deal with solar credit so without seeing the contract I won't speak on what the setup is but happy to look at but you're in that game now so you probably be the best person to do that Bob and if you could on on behalf of the board is take a look at that see what's going on with that credits how they going to be applied to other municipal buildings um we need to be as creative as we can especally esally the way energy bills are going and Dave thank you very much for going to have that conversation with rep Strauss and rep Schmid with Mr Kelly and see the transportation Bond bill I can say on behalf of the the residents at slokum Street it would be a crying shame if we can't get that road accomplished via this go around is a lot of money that's out there in Opera in the transportation Bond Bill and hopefully you show up at town meeting and support that road project see you know you've been looking for it for 30 years um it would be nice to get a project like that and beautify that area of town along with other things that we still need to get done so Monday 11:00 we have Friday as well right we got we got some executive sessions on Friday um to deal with Mr Kelly and an open session and maybe an open session grievance if the individual so chooses um we'll leave it up to that individual open or executive and so the next meeting will be Monday at 11: a.m. just budgets nothing else budgets budgets and I'll see you tomorrow all right and then following that meeting it'll be Tuesday April 30th but hopefully we'll be wrapping all of this stuff up so with no further business tonight is there a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all those in favor I than [Music] [Music] [Music]