##VIDEO ID:DZjjreNheME## okay we're recording thank you uh good evening it's November 18th 2024 it's a regular meeting of the Town Council from 5: to 5:30 6:30 we will be holding a reading period on the town manager's evaluation documents at 6:30 we will recess the regular meeting for a public forum on the FY 26 budget at 7 or soon thereafter as possible we will convene the public for on the supplemental budget Appropriations and the regular Town Council will meeting will resume following the two public forums at approximately 7:30 I'm not going to go through all the open meeting law stuff I'll do that later uh we do have a quorum of the council present I'm going to call the council meeting to order at 5:01 and I'm going to check if you're not on Zoom but you're in the room please just use your mic Patti and is absent at this point honor Devin goth present uh councelor is not here yet Lynn grimer is present councelor hanii present Bob hegner present councelor Lord is not here yet um Pam roone here councelor Ryan here Kathy Shane here Andy Steinberg present Jennifer to here and councelor Walker is not here yet I'm not going to interrupt the meeting to announce when people come I will note that when they arrive and I will um make sure that uh I note the time they arrive I just first of all very quickly want to thank all of you I'm sorry hi Alicia can you hear us yes I can thank you great thanks Alicia um I want to thank all the council for submitting your forms to me uh I'd like to take a time to F familiarize the members of the council with the documents that we have just posted they include the individual evaluations of the Town manager as submitted by each of the 13 counselors Hala if councelor Lord if you would just press your button and say present present thank you um ccer Lord is present um a compilation of all of the individual ratings and notice I said ratings and comments are now in one document that is the document that I would suggest you spend your time with because it has everything that's on individuals the final document is the first and I do mean first and I do mean the word draft of the Town manager's evaluation submitted to him by the Town Council through the president this is a document we will discuss later in the meeting as you are aware compiling and then summarizing all of this information can only be done by one person as that person I asked to following please check and make sure that when I transferred stuff from your evaluation to the composite document that I did everything correctly the second thing is we once we get started this evening I'll give you a deadline by which I want you to send me an only me changes to the document okay with that I just want to note that you're turn your screen off turn your sound off um the screen up front will say that we're in a reading session and um please go ahead e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e that's e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e in a few minutes we're going to recess the regular Council and move on to the public forum e Athena we're going to get ready to record at 6:30 we're recording the entire evening all in one oh that's right so we don't need to stop thank you those of you that are in the room are on the council on Zoom uh you should start putting your cameras back on and get your video ready and your voice coun I can thank you okay Andy you're ready okay Alicia are you there but you don't need to find it you don't okay good evening it is November 18th 2024 the regular meeting of the Town Council is in recess while we actually convene this public for on the FY 26 budget there is another form following this and if you plan to speak publicly about that that's a different sign up and then later if you plan to speak in general public comment that's yet a different sign up okay um the open meeting law allows us to continue holding meetings remotely without a quorum of the council physically present however we have more than a quorum in the room tonight um this meeting is accessible in real time by Zoom by phone and as a live broadcast on amoris media channel 9 and live stream given that we have a quorum of the council present I'm calling the November 18th public forum on the FY 26 budget to order at 631 everything okay Anna oh that was George oh wow Lynn Lynn point of order yes so I'm going to call the council to order and then ask you to call the finance committee to order thank you I will call upon each counselor by name please indicate that you are can hear us and we can hear you Pat d'angelus is absent Anna Devin goth present councelor ET present Lynn gur's present councelor hanii present Bob hegner present councelor Lord present pamaron I'm here councelor Ryan presid Kathy Shane here Andy Steinberg president Jennifer to here councelor Walker here thank you there's no chat room for this meeting if you have technical issues please make sure that Athena and I know and please use your raised hand button if you want to ask a question or make a comment there will be a public comment period during this public forum as it relates to the FY 26 budget there will be another public comment period during the next forum on the Appropriations outside the budget for fy2 and there will be a general public comment period during the regular meeting which will resume at approximately 7:30 upon completion of both forums with that we're going to move quickly to a brief presentation on the FY 26 budget uh Town manager Paul bakaman thank you Lynn and thank you all for being here I'm joined tonight by milis watski who is our finance director sorry most say always stumble um this is the public forum which is a of on our budget and we make a very brief presentation it's basically a subset of the presentation that we made um at the financial indicators Pro uh presentation on November 4th but we take a few slides out and we make that presentation because tonight really is about listening to the public and hearing um what you have to say what values you want to bring and the priorities that you want to bring um we used to do this forum in the spring and but a lot of the decisions were already made this is before decisions are made before the fin before the finance committee and the Town Council have issued their financial guidelines before we've really started getting getting into our budget so it's really an important time and appreciate everyone who's been here um this is a team approach you want to do the slides y Bob not to worry so this is a team approach so Melissa I mean I wanted to just call out Melissa she's been here about four months and she's already dug into a lot of this information on multiple levels so really appreciate the work that she has done and she's been working with our com controller H Holly Drake um and uh our treasur collector Jen Fountain and atheno Keith as well so uh is it's a real team effort and we look forward to talking to you and listening to you tonight um so the major challenges that we are fac I'm gonna pause for just a moment I forgot to ask Bob to call the finance meeting to order the I'm calling the finance committee uh to order all five counselors are present none of the uh resident members are present uh that's not true Bernie is Bernie's in the audience okay okay so we have checked on all the members thank you Paul please go ahead great thank you I'm so sorry go ahead he he is here he's in the meeting Bernie can you hear you're muted yes I can thank you thank you okay so this is a a summary of what we are talking about tonight we have major challenges facing the town and one of the challenges we have is that uh we have these major capital projects that we're working for towards we have pressure on taxpayers um we have new staff at both the schools and the town hall and you will hear this over and over that we are basically as a town a 3 to 4 per Community that's how much more money we get on a regular basis and it goes back for years we we generally are in the range of 3 to 4% our needs are much higher than that we recogn recognize that but that's we can only spend the money that we get um we also recognize the pressure that the economy has on our is placing on our taxpayers so our mission as staff is to encourage fiscal stability without and the idea being that if we don't have strong financial systems in place and financial uh um um uh resources nothing is possible so we really do need to maintain our fiscal discipline important accomplishments is that we do are in a very strong financial position this has been purposeful we've been working for years to get ourselves into a position where we will we are able to take on the major debt projects that we have coming up which are the school the library the police the fire and the um DPW that means that we have been shedding debt so that we can take on new debt we've been building up our reserves over time and we've been carving out space in our budget for Capital expenses um We are continuing to focus on growing our reserves and we have a approved fy2 budget plus a strategic partnership agreement with UMass U that was in last year um we have our solid Financial Foundation um we have we uh we have excellent financial management and you don't have to take my word for it you can look at what standard and pors or our bond rating agency says about us we have good Financial systems strong working relationships between the town and the schools and I talked about the team approach to to solving problems so next slide so what we're going to do now or Melissa is is this is the spreadsheet that we use throughout the course of the Year this shows our fy22 actual FY 23 actual FY 24 actual our fy2 budget and what we're projecting for fy2 six we start with revenues and we look look at all the different categories of the revenues and then the next sheet you see will be our expenditures and you'll see and we're always at this point we're early in the budget cycle so we usually have a deficit and that's not that that's not unusual that's sort of comment at this point in time so Melissa you want to walk through this sure so this is um the projection sheet that um like Paul said we will continue to show um every month or two to give updat on where we are in our projections uh like Paul stated we are fairly early on our projections and these are preliminary numbers um based on um kind of what we know right now we will have a lot more information in the beginning of the new year in January because by then we'll have um fully set our tax rate for this fiscal year um uh the the tax classification hearing was last meeting and so we are working on get generating those tax bills for a fiscal year and churing up those numbers and the new growth number will be um sust you know set and then we'll be able to build off of that going into future years um also in January we will get um information from the state on what our state aid will be and you know we are all hopeful that it will increase and that will help us move along and then we'll also have about six months history of what's happened so far in fiscal 25 so that we can better project um are more um fluctuating receipts like local receipts and U motor vehicle excise I do want to comment that this while our projections have not changed from two weeks ago the spreadsheet has been updated to reflect some feedback that we received from Council Members um and information we have on on the close out of the fourth quarter report is called that um Holly Drake prepared for us and so on the second sheet you'll see that the totals have changed and that we balanced them to the fourth quarter report and essentially the the lines that changed was how we reported transfers in from free cash um that happened last year so we just wanted to you know pull that to everyone's attention but it didn't really change the bottom line all just the way that we reported in a way that I hope is more understandable and will bring less questions so if you want to go to the next report you can see that we are still showing a deficit of uh around 300,000 that is um not uncommon at this time of year I don't anticipate that we will have any problem closing that Gap um it's just more of where do we close it from based on the more um upto-date information we'll have in a few months so uh this is um a slide that we did in the economic um or financial indicators presentation a few weeks ago and this um slide is really around the receipts that we receive that our reflection of economic growth in the community and honestly in our local and greater economy um and so these um these revenues that we look at that fluctuate um our building permits uh the new growth that I spoke of earlier this is new construction here in town if we have a new um business building come in or if there's a new apartment complex or or maybe even um several new homes a new cue saac what have you um and then a motor vehicle excise is a reflection of the economy you know we all buy new cars when we're feeling good right and so um then uh meals tax and hotel and motel tax are um we impacted greatly by um the pandemic and so they dropped in 20 and 21 but are starting to recover now um I will say that we were on a steady growth of um of the of these revenues until the pandemic where it dips slightly and then we've been recovering steadily since and there's sort of an anomaly in this scale because in 2023 there was a lot of um onetime money put into the budget um specifically for the um School building project that skews the percentage of the overall Revenue um in this area but the truth is that dollar for dollar it was on the rise which you can see in the next slide actually multitasking so here you can see that um the the largest um contributor to our um Revenue in the town is property taxes and you can see that it grows the most consistently um but is not keeping up very well with um inflation or what we call the constant dollar so you can see the the gap between the money that we receive and um inflation is it is not keeping up as well the other um state aid is keeping up fairly well although there is a gap there as well and the um local receipts which are um economy driven send tend to stay closer to um inflation because those numbers kind of Drive off of inflation numbers um but you can see the dip in um in that Revenue Source um in the pandemic and that we're slowly uh rising out of that but again that is the uh smallest contributor to our revenues in the town so it's back to me so we're in fy2 that's the fiscal year that began July 1 and ends June 30th of 2025 I and what we C the budget for this year went up 4% for uh the town the schools and all the entities and we have been able to maintain our investment in capital and sustainability but we have some significant challenges coming for towards us inflation everyone's recognizes the challenges of inflation um the regional assessment for the Regional School District is something that has to be an active conversation now and I I compliment the um superintendent for beginning that conversation very early in her tenure it's an important conversation um we have you've heard that health care costs are we're estimating are going up 133% it could go up more the our uh accountant person said it could be 10 to 15 % we'll know what that number is come January and that will we be able to lock those percentages in come January uh retirement and opad liabilities we are continue to have responsibilities to meet those liabilities uh and then we're also looking to grow the tax base to support them demand for new services so we get we we start uh as a revenue how much money do we have coming in from taxes and all the different sources the only way we get new taxes is by 2 and a half% over um what we're paying now plus any new growth New Growth is a new building going up a new swimming pool in someone's house a new deck in someone's house things like that that means that's new and that can be taxed and that's called new new growth next slide and so sort of the similar thing so as we look forward we're looking at continuing that expansion of the tax base because our needs exceed the money that we have coming into us across the board um we want we want maintain our commitment to reducing the town's carbon footprint we want to maintain our fiscal discipline so we can um be able to do those four capital projects um and again I recognize that our needs outweigh our resources and that there are always new initiatives that people want to take on and it's a very hard thing to say no when we don't have the funds for that so the way we're moving forward with that is to managers manage our resources frugally um you know make a prudent use of our reserves um and Main and encourage development in the town that meets our the the goals of the of the community so this is I just want to show you the budget map do you want to talk to this you want me to sure so talking about um the key upcoming dates for this budget year um we've already had the financial indicators presentation to the council the school committee the school committee and the Jones trustees tonight we're hearing from members of the public on the upcoming budget about their um wishes and priorities then the finance committee will begin to develop the council's budget guidelines that's when the council essentially tells the town manager what it would like to see in the upcoming budget so the uh it's great to see a lot of turnout tonight um because this is your opportunity to tell your elected leaders what you would like to see in the budget as they develop their budget guidelines um in December the finance committee will present those guidelines to the council for adoption there will be periods of public comment at those meetings as well and then the town manager will begin to develop the budget in the spring um The Joint Capital planning committee will convene and hear Capital plan uh Capital requests from departments and members of the public um I believe the capital request form is currently active so if any members of the public have an idea of something a capital request that they'd like to make of the town they can submit that online um and then we'll have once the budget is presented to the council we'll have a public hearing on that proposed budget uh the finance committee will conduct its review and uh and then the the council will take action on the budget in June of next year and I think this is sort of uh the opportunity for when people can be involved and it's starting today this is a perfect time to start communicating your your your goals your interests and your values to the Town Council and there's different ways to do that you can write to the Town Council you can write to the town manager um and then there's the public hearing next tonight and then back in May there'll be another public hearing there'll be a public hearing on capital projects as well in the spring of 2025 that concludes our report thank you uh we are going to move to public comment the and let me just mention at this point if you um would like to make public comment and you are in the room please on this issue please make sure that you would sign up with Athena who is over here if you're in the audience and you would like to make public comment on the fy2 26 I'm sorry budget please raise your hand now as Zoom audience for hands thanks Vince I'm sorry if you're on Zoom I have 13 in the room before we begin in public comment I just want to make sure that you all understand this is not the only way to make public comment to us and it is not the only time you can always email the council at town council.com you can submit general public comment at any time and counselors are totally available directly through their emails in some cases phone and through district meetings and any number of other ways um public comment um you said you have 13 up there that's correct and right now I have 10 and I'm going to hold it wait got one more coming in 12 13 okay just to prepare yourselves at this point we are going to have to limit public comment to two minutes uh given the number of people both in the audience in the town room and on Zoom uh public comment on matters within the jurisdiction of the Town Council residents are welcomed to express their views for up to two minutes the council will not engage in a dialogue or comment on matters raised during the general public comment public comments are not reflective of the opinions of the Town Council I also want to point out that the First Amendment broadly protects individual rights to address the government to speak and to express themselves including their right to say hateful and offensive things I am generally unable to shut those commenters down under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution unless their level of speech Falls within an exception articulated by the courts such as fighting words true threats to a particular individual harassment of a particular individual or incitement of imminent Lawless activity if a question exists as to whether a particular speaker is engaging in unprotected speech I must refer to the principles of freedom of speech where recognized speeches in the order in which they have signed out will begin with the room and when you come up make sure that the light is green on the thing and make sure you state your name and generally where you live in amest okay Rachel Hall please come up and if you would just make sure you speak close to the microphone so everyone can hear you thank you and can we have the timer up thanks for the smiles I'm nervous um I'm Rachel I you see her pronouns I live near here in ammer won't tell you my exact neighborhood um um I am a mom of two little nuggets age 9 and 11 and when we were deciding where to move in the Pioneer Valley I was told that the Amber spools are the best um for a variety of details and I won't go into it um and I'm really here um I put pants on I have a work meeting at 8 o'clock I worked all day there's a burger in the oven like I really didn't want to spend my night doing this necessarily not that I don't appreciate everyone who is but I'm really really here to just ask that we have a town budget that prioritizes the needs of our K through 12 population and that that is you know reflected throughout our financial um spending it's really really important to me and I know it's really important to a lot of kids um especially post pandemic to let our kids down now just feels heartbreaking so thank you all for your time and thank you for listening Rachel thank you for joining us um Julian Ramirez you in Zoom please enter the room state your name and generally where you live good evening my name is Julie mirez I live an ammer I'm the parent of two kids at Fort River um I'm here tonight to speak as someone who believes in the value of public education as a parent who's fed up with watching our schools suffer while this town continues to devalue it the budget cuts we've seen in recent years cuts to special programs and resources they're not just numbers on a page these cuts are hurting our children they're robbing our kids of opportunities they're taking away support from the most vulnerable usually the most marginalized students in our schools and what's worse there's an ongoing threat of more Cuts more programs at risk more resources Stripped Away and this has to stop listen to your community our children our teachers our staff deserve better better than what you're giving them right now they deserve schools that are properly funded not schools that are constantly left scraping for resources I want to express my support also for the coming up this program at Fort River this program isn't just about learning a second language it's about connecting our Spanish-speaking families to their children's education as an immigrant myself I can tell you firsthand how difficult it is to overcome the language barrier my own parents struggled to communicate with my school and they never felt fully involved in my education they never had a program like commun to help them this program is a Lifeline for families like mine it's a vital connection between the school and the community if you care about inclusivity you'll support it not just with words but with real funding there's a surplus in this town and it's time to stop making excuses that money should go to our schools not next year not in some long-term plan but now right now our kids are waiting teachers are waiting families are waiting thank you very much Julian thank you for joining us next we have Becca [Music] Watkins hi I'm Becca and I live in Echo Hill I have two kids in the Fort River School District uh like Rachel we moved here about two years ago and we chose Amherst because for many reasons and many reasons that I love uh but one of the reasons was because the public education system was supposed to be top match I've been pretty disappointed uh since we've moved here in our schools through no fault of the teachers um but in where we place our priorities uh I'm a product of public education I taught in public education and I would love to see my kids and everyone else's children benefit from the same so I'm asking you to to prioritize our schools when you consider the budget Becca thank you for joining us jna rega please enter the room state your name and where you live hello uh Jona reg District 1 Jonna your your volume is a little bit low can you speak closer to your microphone please Jona reggae district one how's that slightly better my son attended the Amherst schools from 1990 to 2003 can you hear me yes 12 and during that time Amherst had one of the best public school systems in the state On a par with Brookline people including my husband and I moved to Amherst because of both the high quality and the relative diversity of its school system with small classes Innovative and holistic teaching methods instruction in many language electives music and the Arts independent studies anything a student needed with advocacy there were resources to support it my parents also retired to Amherst in the 1990s and although they were on fixed incomes they never complained about supporting the school budget they felt responsible to do so on principle even though they personally didn't have children in the schools 20 years later my husband and I are retired and on a fixed income we no longer have a child in the Public Schools but I've watched wave after wave of cuts degrade our school system and although I'm glad my own son experienced the amher schools in their Heyday I'm saddened to see the situation as it is currently like my parents before me I still support funding to maintain the quality of our schools especially for the students most in need I supported the construction of the new school building even though it will drive up my already high taxes but a state-of-the-art building alone does not guarantee a good education without the teachers and support staff to provide it please prioritize our schools in the town manager budget guidelines for FY 26 include the full amount alloc allocated to the Regional Schools this year in the base for calculating next year's increase allocate as much money as possible to our schools this year and prioritize operating budgets over Surplus generation supporting our children's education time is up is more important thank you for joining us J uh Kathleen Mitchell hi my name is Kathleen Mitchell I'm a resident of District 5 um first I want to thank all of you for your recent state level advocacy regarding school funding um and for opposing the expansion of pbcc these are important steps toward providing long-term relief for our Public Schools but what I want to ask tonight is whether the town of ammer is doing as much as it can for our public schools and especially our Regional Schools I think that parents are tired of hearing that the region is a separate municipality um for which the town feels minimally responsible our children do not cease to be ammer residents when they transition to the seventh grade and rhetoric and funding should reflect this fact we need our town officials to work cooperatively with school leadership to address the crisis facing our schools this goes beyond the annual percentage increase that requ and requires a more holistic view of funding as a community we are setting aside a large amount of tax money for Capital needs every year but comparatively little of this reaches our schools on an ongoing basis this year year 95% of jcpc funds went to the municipal expenditures adding $6 million to that side of the budget the town is using some of this money for regular Building Maintenance and routine replacement of it equipment but for the Regional Schools it appears that many of these same costs come out of the operating budget this imbalance should be examined and corrected our schools are at a Breaking Point which should be of great concern to all of us our town master master plan says that our schools are essential not just for our children but in order to maintain strong property values and an overall quality of life I hope that the FY 26 budget guidelines will reflect these values and priorities and that we can see a shift in tone when it comes to the Regional Schools thank you thank you for joining us Cathleen Marisol bonafed please enter the room state your name and generally where you live can you all hear me yes we can but please speak to the mic thank you sounds good apologies I'm in a public library um good good evening uh my name is mar S Pierce bony and I'm a resident of district one in ammer a member of Sunrise ammer and a senior at Ameris Regional High School I have spoken to this Council countless times to demand our school funding yet without Prevail I am appalled by our complete lack of prioritization of school funding in each Year's physical budget as our education the next gener A's education is fundamental to the Amish community as a high schooler and as an 18-year-old in the school system I have seen firsthand how the budget cuts have strained our staff and our quality education our guidance counselors are forced to take on more work and as we no longer have a long-term sub our teachers are forced to use their prep periods to look after a class at least once a week we have a desperate sounding announcement from the administration on the coverage of a class from a teacher who's supposed to be using that time to prepare and grade this is not how Education Works as well the cantes program of which my mother Works in at Fort River I have seen firsthand is crucial for students and empowering them in two languages of which helps their education and does not hurt their education despite what some may think as a Spanish speaker myself and this is also important for Access and accessibility in these meetings which we should have translation for and this is not how our education system works this is not how it should look like on behalf of Sunrise ammer and from my seven years in the ammer school district of which I will be graduating from this year I implore you to prioritize our school mending these cuts are detrimental thank you thank you for joining us Marisol J Bai can you hear me now yes we can all right great thank you good evening members of the community of council members and City staff U I'm delighted to be here my name is Ja badby I'm a new area resident in the amest pelum area um I'll start by saying that as the former Chief Financial Officer of a $400 million Revenue Agency I was extremely impressed to see uh the town's High credit rating and the very small percentage of revenues that go towards Debt Service it's a sign of prudent fiscal management and it's an opportunity for this community to reflect on its strategic priorities and what it wants to be I agree entirely with City staff that this town needs to diversify its economic base the reality is um three large institutions are tax exempt and therefore a large proportion of the budget falls on property taxes right and housing by the way is one of the largest Assets in in the average American family's portfolio in that context I'd urge you to consider the fact that many families like my own family of four biracial uh brown white two gorgeous little children don't say otherwise moved here because of the schools I'm too old to party with college kids to much great hair right others you have heard from have said the same I think it's a time and an opportunity for this Council this town and this staff to thoughtfully reflect on its priorities and to consider an investment in schools and investment in its economic Foundation an investment in its base an investment in doing exactly what staff are asking you to do which is diversify the base build a foundation for the future all of that starts with the schools when my family and I buy a house if you buy h i see the time um we will automatically raise property taxes right that will address that inflation adjusted property thing you want more folks like us thank you for your time thank you for joining us birdie please enter the room State your full name and where you live hello my name is birdie Newman I'm a resident of District 3 I'm commenting to colum the town government to prioritize the full funding of our schools and of the recommendations from Parts A and B of the community safety work group report for the upcoming fiscal year in particular I want to draw attention to the importance of a bipo l Youth Empowerment Center young people of color in Amor need a space where they are safe and comfortable to learn relax and build community in my mind this is particularly Salient as we approach a second Trump presidency additionally I am calling on the town government to move money out of policing initiatives to meet the needs of our community support our youth and develop unarmed responses to emergent situations will go a long way toward making our community safe without relying on surveillance and Punishment thank you so much thank you for joining us birdie Justa Smith please good night my name is jenta Smith I live on College College Street in ammer I am a Committee Member of the human rights committee um of the the town of ammer over the last year we have led community events to promote educate our community about the diversity of cultures that reside here in ammer these events have been well received by our residents with each successful event we are asked to sponsor more and this encompasses only one of our missions as a committee we are also a resource for people who have felt their human rights have been violated in this town and for organizations that seek volunteers and co-sponsorships to help address these issues in our community after our meeting last evening on November 16 2024 we identified that with the incoming presidential Administration and nearby instances of people with proper citizenship and undocumented status being at risk in our community of further violations of human rights um our load of projects both in amount and responsibility are going to increase and we need funding we currently have zero um in the budget and as partners with the Dei office and as you consider next year's budget we are asking for the town's financial support for both the Human Rights Commission and the Dei Dei office we are asking the downtown budget to support our committee and allocate around 5,000 to 7,000 for our committee budget as we prepare to help support local organizations by hosting information panels on immigration creating a Dei video for local businesses and local government bodies and hosting cultural events the remaining will be fundraised or donated into the HRC gift fund and with my remaining time the costs cover but are not limited to child care services and supplies decorations janitorial services translation services um and these costs range from as little as $250 to up to 7,000 Jessica thank you for your service on HRC and for joining us tonight Jinta Jinta I'm so sorry thank you uh for correcting me Alex Lopez please enter the room state your name and where you live hi my name is Alex Lopez uh I live on potwine Lane um and I've got three Crocker Farmers um I Echo what so many people have said already about why Amis wasn't attractive space for us to move to um it's why we're here in terms of Education in terms of diversity um one thing I wish people had warned me about before moving to ammer was this pattern of the Town Council continuously feeling very powerful when it's being presented its budget numbers and then claiming powerlessness when people ask them to make up the deficits that they've planned into that budget for our K through 12 schools and so this is not the first presentation that I've watched the budget be broken down into we have strong Capital reserves uh or we have strong reserves we have strong investments in capital um and we're going to continue doing things the way that we are and those strategies are working for us and then when people say those strategies aren't working for us namely they aren't working for our schools they aren't working for our kids they aren't working for the staff in there suddenly people are turning around and saying well there's nothing else we can do that nothing else we can do seems to be planned into the budget that nothing else we can do seems to be not only planned but then signed off on by you all when we turn around and give Paul baklan incredible reviews for the work that he's done executing the same budget year after year and so if we want to see different we need to do different I am incredibly proud of the community and teachers who went to ammer college and ask them to do different and to invest their billions of dollars in endowment funds into our K to2 relationship in their Shadow I was ashamed we were told I was ashamed when we were told that the Town Council couldn't negotiate with them because you couldn't do the work thank you for joining us Alex Lea mushak please hi my name is LAM shec I live in District 1 and I have two children in elementary school in ammer we are a town of Educators and those who value how education enriches our society my family moved to ammer specifically for the com anes program at Fort River not just for how it benefits my Palestinian Colombian children specifically but also because it provides a structure that Spanish speaking households can fully participate in and so communicates a broader commitment on the part of this community to include marginalized groups in the public life of our town I'd like to ask the council to consider what it will communicate if the town cannot find funds to support our schools when it did manage to find funds to send ammer police to violently suppress peaceful student protest movements at UMass this year resulting in the arrest of 130 ammer students and towns people none of whom were convicted of a crime on public land our taxes also subsidize it is in our community's interest to protect and Safeguard our most vulnerable populations as the town admirably stated in its renewed commitment to being a sanctuary Community amid the repression we know will escalate under a trump Administration I see fund allocation as directly connected to that commitment and I'd ask you to put your money where your mouth is in this area of censorship book Banning normalization of racist transphobic aist violence and rhetoric Even in our own backyards it is more important than ever that we Safeguard and support our Educators and the families who are most at risk from cuts to vital School Services thriving Public Schools aren't just important they are a Lifeline for many families I urge you to put our money where our values lie thank you for joining us uh Katie Dixon Gordon please enter the room hello can you hear me we can my name is Katie Dixon Gordon I live in District 5 of ammer I have two children who are or will be in Crocker Farm um and some of them might be in the background right now um I'm here to ask for the fiscal year 25 budget and future years's budgets to prioritize schools to um increase the base in the operating budget um and to include last year's additions as our base and to think creatively about other ways of providing support from schools including from the operating budget or the capital expenditures budget where we can um to help our students Thrive to make ammer a premier destination to show our priorities as a community and to en encourage people to continue to come here um where in a place where we will care about their children's education and and continue increasing property values I would like to also have amers consider diversifying its Revenue sources and to engage in full-throated negotiations uh potentially with our nonprofit institutions and to urgently pursue other creative sources to support our town um and its needs I appreciate the state level advocacy that you all are already doing to support our schools and our communities but our children cannot wait for state level action um and our our community deserves um a prioritizing of schools that matches our values thank you Katie thanks for joining us Jill brevik please come up hello my name is Jill brevik I'm in district one I'm the parent of two children um in the emis public schools there at Fort River I'm just here to voice my family's support for allocating as much money as possible to our schools this year and prioritizing our schools in next year's budget um strong and inclusive Public Schools benefit everyone I'm proud that our District offers the communes program so many families rely on this program as you heard from Julian Ramirez and others plain and simple without this program fewer families would Choice into the district and more families would Choice out when we first moved to ammer like many others have said tonight um we were excited that our children uh would be in good schools and have this opportunity to to join a program where they could gain language skills and uh be in a diverse environment but moreover we were excited about what having a program like this signifies what we thought it indicated about the values of this community as a whole now seeing regular controversy around continuing communes and fights over funding other honestly Baseline services like teachers the Arts Services for children with disabilities we have been regularly disappointed these things should be non-negotiable combined with the abysmal state of almost all of the school buildings makes me wonder how things were even allowed to get as bad as they are seemingly seemingly deep problems and non-stop turnover within the school administration uh not to mention incidents that have left us as parents of a non-binary child very unsettled our disappointment has just continued to grow um funding education benefits the entire Community without a doubt at this point I think many community members do not believe that our Representatives agree with this statement please do a better job of showing us that you do thank you thank you for joining us Jill Jennifer please enter the room State your full name and where you live hi my name is Jennifer Cali I live on woodlot Road in ammer uh I have a son in Fort River in fourth grade in the Common's program and I'm here simply to Echo what you have been hearing that our schools are in crisis they are in Decline they are no longer competitive I have neighbor after neighbor after neighbor choicing out of our school system and that will continue if we don't do something uh soon and and something significant I'm just asking you to prioritize our school as much as you possibly can in your budget decisions um with the recent election we are headed I think for very dark times and it is not business as usual it cannot be business as usual we have to the only thing that's really going to save us is education and we have to as a community come together and support our schools we need to get the schools to a place where our families want to stay and feel that the schools are meeting the needs of all of our students so I just ask that you allocate as much as possible and do whatever is in your power to help our schools prioritize our children and keep families in the district using our Public Schools thank you thanks for joining us Jennifer Vincent oconor please come up Vince I think you may have pushed the microphone button thank you um I was profoundly disappointed that after the meeting of November 4th that the town manager would open this meeting by another misstatement of the town's financial position we are not a 3 to 4% Community when for the last three years we have been running $5 million def um surpluses surpluses that are not an accident but coldly calculated misstatements of expected revenues and surpluses so to remedy this this multi-year misstatement that have adversely affected schools I ask the council to do this direct the manager to include in his May 1st 2025 budget the full amounts voted by both the ammer school committee and the ammer pelum regional school committee um the problem the council I don't care what the council does with the full amounts of the of the school committee budgets I do care that a single unelected person can stand in the way of the council voting for the school budgets proposed by the elected School committees the council and and there is just this yes the council can vote for the full full budgets after the manager budget comes out if he cuts them but in fact that is an illusion because to vote for those full budgets the council would need the time not a month and a half but would need the time to cut from the manager's budget in other areas so they could vote for the school budget that is why both School budgets full amounts need to be in the manager's budget by Direction shall direction of the council with the Clear impation Com it will be in subordination by the manager Ellen JG please enter the room stage your full name hello I'm Ellen jri gadera I am a resident of South ammer and have two Elementary age children at Crocker Farm um it is a wonderful school and we love staff and teachers there and our family like so many others um that you've heard tonight moved here in 2018 specifically because of the schools for our two kids that is hands down why we came here my husband went to high school here in the 80s and our nieces and nephews were here in the 2000s to present and we knew ammer was a town that valued education we were told it was the best one of the best in the state and we thought it was but what we are seeing over these past six seven years is that our schools are in steep serious Decline and one local professional we work with said to me what is going on in ammer at the school district it's a sinking ship this is the reputation that the town is gaining and has been since we moved here seven years ago we've watched as Cuts have been made again and again and each year families and School Employees are having to fight harder and high harder to keep the programs and staff that make our schools so wonderful special education teachers and Paras the elementary orchestra program the world languages program in our own experience um what used to be the job of two speech pathologists at our elementary school has turned into the job of one we've lost librarian Paris support in our elementary schools and our staff do more with less every year they are overloaded they deal with aging buildings they deal with mold and our children are losing more each year and we can't afford to lose any more so I implore you excuse me and sorry about the kids in the background um I implore you as Town counselors to please please prioritize education in our town budget um as others have asked in and thank youen time is up thank you for joining us algra Clark please come on up hi my name is alra Clark I am a resident of ammer I am a 2003 graduate of ammer regional Public High School school and I am also the co-chair of the community safety and social justice committee so I'm going to get that piece out first um the community safety social justice committee is asking that the Town Council put forward support for all of the cwg's recommendations from part A and Part B specifically to include a Youth Empowerment Center and a Multicultural Center um in terms of the school I Echo what many have said my son is in second grade at one of the elementary schools and we have seen Cuts after Cuts in the three years that we've been involved in the district um and I've been noticing that the cuts continually disproportionately affect our most marginalized students students with special education services students who were using the restorative justice ice programming in the high school and the middle school um as alternative to punishment and there are concerns about the impacts uh to the commes program which serves many multi-lingual Multicultural families and does create a great sense of community um there's concerns that there have been ilc positions cut or not filled the high school Spanish language teacher won't be filled again after January special education services are being contracted out the family center has been dispersed as well um and there's concern where where's where's the money going to come from for those services and I would ask that you include money from the Surplus to our schools and fund as much as you can thanks for joining us alra Kyle usak please enter the room thank you very much can you hear me yes uh first thank you all for for sitting here listening to us all and doing this important and challenging work public office is um not the most fun place to be in this politically fra time so I do respect and thank you for what you do um I'm currently uh a resident of District 2B um much like many others my family moved here during the pandemic um due to the reputation of the schools we knew that ammer had a reputation for being a vibrant hub for higher education um and with those values having been predominantly trickled down to the K through 12 ecosystem as well um it is very very sad to know not just here but to know and feel that that reputation is now under extreme duress frankly it's disappointing um and exhausting that we the citizens of Amis now need feel the need to beg for that reputation to continue as a current business executive I I I actually I know that budgets are fraught with difficult and calculated decisions I know this is not an easy job I know it's not as easy as a swipe of a pen um but I also know that budget decisions are a direct reflection of an organization's or in this case a Town's values um last year my family came to beg for the music and special educations programs not to be cut um and here we are again we're still begging for amers to uphold the Bedrock of its history and culture that of educational Excellence from a a strict Financial perspective this town is filled with young families families who are supporting the very property tax income stream that is so heavily repi relied upon in order to make up that inflation to revenue Gap we have to ensure that Amis remains a destination for young families and it's a destination where they can trust that the education is still placed as an important value again in politically Frau Times Like These I ask no I beg that you all prioritize giving the families of ammer a sense of reliability safety and an educational system that is high among your values please prioritize funding our schools thank you very much for your time thanks for joining us Kyle Nina manin please come on up Nina manin uh district one I have a child at the middle school now seventh grade and first um I understand that there are factors in state funding that have impacted our ability to fund our schools I understand that there are similarly changes in our demographics and I thank you guys for struggling to uh particularly work at the state level um that said I'm deeply concerned particularly over the past five years and what I see as an erosion on the part of town leadership to fight for excellence in our schools as the last speaker uh noted as a core Community value I felt that that was just reflected by the town manager in his presentation of our top concerns list in which the schools were not even listed as a concern um our I I know how hard this is I I feel the fatigue in dealing with our crumbling buildings with our complicated Regional system and with our passionate citizenry but please do not let that fatigue allow you to silo our complicated Regional system um please always allow our local and Regional leadership at the head of the table in discussions about finances and needs and not relegate the schools to a waiting area please include them in all conversations about town budgets and certainly in allocations of any available Town funds prioritize our schools in all conversations about allocations open proactive creative and above all deeply committed to finding ways for our community to represent the height of excellence in public education and work with school collaborat school administrators to collaborate on those Solutions so many of us have moved here for this uh please thank you for your continued stewardship and and wisdom thanks for joining us denina Lisa bfas please enter the room state your name and where you live hello can you hear me yes we can hi my name is Lisa Pierce Bonas the proud mother of mty Soul Pierce bonifas who spoke so articulately and much better than her mother could do after a day of work but I will do my best to to tell you um why I'm here to talk about why how important our students our schools are to our community I'm I feel that the schools have done especially the high school has done a wonderful job with my daughter because she's had dedicated teachers a plentiful group of creative artists and the Performing Arts programs and a robust Athletic program um all of that is because we have been dedicated Educators for a long time and have created those programs uh we moved here 18 years ago and I worked with a strong coalition of parents and teachers to create the Kam anes program we have now and I'm so proud of the fact that we are in its sixth year I am now an ESL teacher at that program and I work with the founding class who are fifth graders and I wish you could see them every day and see how they can speak in two languages and are just beautiful representa representatives of our town um I hope that you all will consider that program as something super important in our town and is bringing people into our town and we'll continue to have it after sixth grade I also need to let you know that as a teacher in in Fort River we are stretched to the to the hilt today I had to substitute for a teacher who was out with their daughter um who needed to go to a do a dentist appointment we do not have the subs we need in our school so they're pulling from our teachers who have a regular schedule with students who have to go into the class clroom and we also do not have the staff we need in the library the Paras in the library are super important to our schools I just want you to only have five seconds our programs and um to our committed staff as students thank you for joining us Georgia Malcolm please come up um dear members of the ammer Town Council I'm writing to express my deep concern regarding the allocation of the Emmer's um Surplus and to urge you to consider invested investing a significant portion of these funds into our public schools emmer has long prided itself on being Progressive inclusive and socially just Community but the gap between these values and the current state of our public education system is widen it ammer claims to embrace diversity and social justice but these principles are not reflected in the actions taken with regard to our schools as the student body becomes more diverse the resources available to these students are shrinking class sizes are growing teaching positions are being eliminated and crucial student supports are disappearing these are not just numbers they are children who need a chance to overcome the generation and systemic disadvantages they face Equity is not just a buzzword it is a commitment to providing resources where they're most needed the most vulnerable students in our community many of whom come from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds deserve the tools and support to succeed but with every passing year we Ser schools decline it is disheartening to witness how these students are left without the resources that would give them a fair shot at breaken the cycles of disadvantage some members of This Town Council are fortunate enough to have the financial means to send their children to private schools an option that many offer Public School families simply cannot afford the question must be asked why is this happening why are our Public Schools no longer seen as good enough rech research shows that when schools and neighborhood become more diverse they often lose resources more affluent and predominantly white schools continue to receive greater investment you only have another second while the schools that serve our most valuable population are left to struggle this is not just I I would really like I'm I'm the president of the union and I'm speaking on behalf we have negotiations coming up and like um list has said before we're stretch thin so if I would like another 15 seconds please please go ahead research shows that when schools and neighborhood become more diverse they often lose resources more affluent and predominantly white schools continue to receive greater investment while the schools that served our most vulnerable populations are left to struggle this is not just disappointing it is a reflection of the systemic inequities that pervade our society and that ammer is sadly not immune to ammer for all its talk of social justice must reflect on whether its actions truly match its words the current state of our Public Schools is a clear contradiction to the values this St claims to uphold I urge to invest the surplus funds where they're most needed in our schools particular programs that support our most vulnerable students without this investment we're failing to provide the childr with the opportunities they deserve thank you for joining us I just I just have to say I'm sorry you know someone mentioned about not keeping up with inflation I mean I don't know what you expect the teachers and the parents to do 13% last year for medical 13% and we get like a 2% raise I mean seriously people are stretched in are stretched in we need to invest the money in schools uh excuse me thank you we do not demonstrate during Council meetings thank you Ethan todis whiteall white Hill please enter the room hi can you all hear me yes we can hi um my name is Ethan todis white Hill I live on Dana Street in District 3A and emmer um I just want to add my voice to the chorus of um concerned parents asking you to prioritize their Public Schools I have two children Elementary age in Crocker farm and as they look up towards the middle school and high school in particular I'm I'm worried about what it's going to be like what their experience is going to be like up there um as uh I I moved to ammer uh just last year but previously I lived in shy for almost 10 years and I attended um the the sort of the regional school budget meetings there and I saw firsthand uh how this complicated system kind of just leaves everyone pointing fingers at each other and saying who's going to fund it who's going to step up you know and and just more focused on making sure everyone else is paying their fair share than uh than stepping up and supporting our students in the way that they deserve and so I know it's super complicated I know it's hard to to prioritize uh uh and and figure out how to better fund those schools in that program but I urge you all to dig deep and and and and and do everything you can um uh to to prioritize our school particularly the middle and and high schools um uh specifically I'd like you to include the full amount allocated to the Regional Schools as the base for calcul next year's increase and allocate as much money as possible to our schools prioritize operating budgets over Surplus generation uh thank you so much I appreciate all the difficult work you all do um and I and I hope you'll hear this plea from our from our Collective population and do things start doing things a little differently um and and reverse the decline that everyone is highlighted thank you so much thank you for joining us Ethan have Leonard come on up good evening um my name is Deb Leonard I live in District Five I'm a member of the Amber school committee and the regional school committee but I speak on behalf of myself and I do not represent any of the any of the Committees I sit on um when I first joined the the school committee I went to several of these uh Association uh meetings and one of the things that stuck in our heads as new members and I say ours and I just said I wasn't going to speak for in my head is a statement that uh your budget is your policy statement and so when I look at the uh the Surplus and the allocations of the Surplus it's it's neither going directly to savings nor um being expended it's a it's an amalgam of both and none of them are are um none of those expenditures at least the the recommended ones by the town manager reflect the needs of the schools as did none of the millions of dollars of previous surpluses for the many years I went back so I'd like to read some statements from the from the budget book and I'm going to run out of time but I'm going to start with 25 the FY 25 budget add on several key assumptions before most being that residents desire the continuation of our current high level of services this encompasses robust schools comprehensive Public Safety full operational water and sewer and many of these other um budgets repres make the same kinds of statements so either please write the schools into the financial guidelines or take the schools out of those statements thank you very much thanks for joining us Deb Margaret Sawyer please enter the room state your name and where you live please go ahead Margaret we can't hear you you may have a microphone issue on your end it looks like you're unmuted um Lynn I think maybe we should move to the next person and come back to Margaret thank you anybody else in the in the town room do you want to move to the next person on Zoom yes Amber kenel Martin please enter the room state your name and where you live we do have one more person in the room okay thank you okay hi um my name is Amber cono Martin um I live in District Two um I have two children in the Amber Public Schools so I specifically have a child Nam Kaman and I do Echo um everyone who's has spoken support of Kam NES um up to this point it's a wonderful program um my child is in third grade has been there since kindergarten um we are native Spanish speakers in my family and he's really had the chance to um learn and grow in two languages and to share that knowledge and that growth with his um his classmates um it's a wonderful program something I really value um another thing I really value is our educators um and I think it's truly a shame um that our last contract negotiations um we couldn't even offer our Educators a decent um cost of living increase um despite the fact that there was plenty of free cash um that time around as well and like many parents who've been here for a while I've seen round after round of budget cuts to the schools proposed budget cuts to the schools um I was here to talk to when we lost our par of Educators in the library um and so I am I'm here tonight again to ask you to prioritize the school budgets um I also would ask you to prioritize um the regional the high school budget um the high school and the middle school um allocate as much money as you can to the schools of this um this free cash um and also include the amount that was allocated to the Regional Schools this year and next year's um calculations for the budget for the base calculations um I believe that when we are creating School budgets we should start with how much money do we need to run the schools that our children deserve and that's how much money we need for our budget and it's not cutting it down cutting it down every year to what we quote unquote think that we can afford as a community because we know it's not what we can afford it's what we choose to fund and I Know This Town Council is very often choosing to fund things besides the schools because if not we wouldn't have all this free cash at the end of the year where was that money I'm I'm almost finished where was that money when we were asking for the school budget for this year where was that free cash thank you thank you for joining us Amber Angelica Bernal uh good evening my name is Nel Bernal District who and I'm here on behalf of the special education parent Council CPAC to urge you as many others have to prioritize education in your B budget allocations our schools are in crisis we remain yes a growing Community but as you've heard from one person after another our schools are in Decline and Decay our playgrounds are structurally inadequate especially for our students with special needs our children our staff and teachers are dealing with leaky roofs and mold it's beyond an embarrassment it's irresponsible for students with special needs the problems are even more dire we are running many programs on less staff than in previous years students with wheelchairs do do not have accessible playgrounds attrition is high for many of our special education staff leading to a lack in the administration of critical services such as physical such as speech therapy in the Middle School this year movement rooms that provide critical services and therapies for our students remain inadequate with outdated equipment such that many of us many of us parents and teachers themselves have have to purchase equipment the general perception is that our special education programs are of high quality and I'm here to tell you that that's unfounded there is this belief that programs are so great that students are somehow choosing into uh be in this District in fact many of us the reality on the ground is that we're choosing to place we're looking to place our children out of District meanwhile special education programs remain scape coded time and again as the reason for rising cost our special education programming has long been in crisis and needs more not less Investments for a town which we pay such high property satx this situation is appalling and many families are in Flight we are concerned even with the new public education uh building that we're going to continue to be dealing with this we are a community made Strong by family and children and we urge you to please prioritize this like many have said these are our values and I would be remiss as a political science Professor not to say that given the current changes that are coming with the Trump Administration we are looking to you our local officials to be the bwork of our democracy and to uphold a key Democratic value which is a high quality education thank you thank you for joining us uh please thank you uh Luke con please enter the room hello can you hear me yes thank you um it has been uh a number of years since I've had children in the system um but I have to say that I hope that all of you who have children recognize the precious resource that our children are every society completely depends on the education and well-being of its children because they're the ones who come along after us and take care of things in when we're too old to do it ourselves that is the greatest resource we have now I also recognize that the town will never never have enough money to do everything that we want especially in a town where so much of the the property is not taxed not available for taxation but the point is that given that we don't have enough money to do everything we have to set our priorities straight children are our greatest resource children need to be at the top of the list of priorities as is often said education the way we fund education is a reflection of the fact that children can't vote if they could I wonder what the Town Council would look like thank you thank you for your comments Arley please enter the room state your name and where you live we are going to end when we get to Margaret Sawyer hello can you hear me we can um I was looking at the packet today and I saw your wonderful letters to the state about the funding um issues unfair to our town and trying to remedy those and but I was struck that the case being made is that though the population of the schools are declining um you know we still need the funding and it again just in hearing people talking about the budget and where we decide to put money whether free or not is the reflection of our values I thought well isn't it interesting that the library uh is making the case we need more space for children and teens and again I just wonder the people who are planning the you're the planner of the town you have one part of the Town saying uh we have less children and we can put two elementary schools into one because of that and then on the other hand but we have to build this huge thing for more space for children and teens it's I don't understand the people responsible for planning how you justify these things in your mind um and for the parents and stuff you know the library's getting a lot of money so we see some of the values of this town thank you thanks for joining us uh Issa Aslam please enter the room and I please correct your name if I have mispronounced it hi sorry this is my son's Zoom account uh my name is Ria ammed and I am in District 2 I'm the proud parent of two Fort River gante students one in second grade and one in fourth grade and I want to express my strong support against any further budget cuts to our schools like many families have already said we moved to ammer because of its reputation for high quality primary and secondary public educations and because of the gantes program we're a mult multilingual F family and while we don't speak Spanish at home attending this program and being in this environment with others like them who speak another language at home have family overseas has been significant in helping them feel at home especially during these polarized times programs like gantes also diversify the teachers in the ammer public schools my children have been taught by people who look like them and share similar life experiences nowhere else could I imagine they would have the experience that is truly transformative truly representative of what ammer claims to value in terms of diversity and social justice we are losing students year after year to those who are choicing out of our district ginan provides an incredible alternative to competitor dual language Charter programs instead of cutting critical programs we need to figure out how to expand programs that represent who we are as a community I am left to wonder why in a town that Prides itself on being home to three great universities our primary schools are falling apart physically and have been for years we've been promised a new Elementary School we've been hearing about it since before my children were born the middle school has a roof that is crumbling yet we are expected to trust that this town will do what is right and prioritize what it values most and what happens inside the school even though year after year the only thing that remains constant is that the school budgets are continuing to be cut as a community that Prides itself truly on education we seem to have forgotten about the youngest and most impressionable and vulnerable of of our residents many of whom are still overcoming challenges posed by covid and living in a world filled with anxiety and stress it's now to it is now time to prioritize them do not take away from our children please stop deprioritizing our kids thank you thank you for joining us Ronnie Parker please enter the room state your name and where you live um hi I'm uh Ronnie Parker I live in District 4 um I I'm very distressed to hear about the struggles around our school budget um I don't have any children in our school system I probably won't in the future but I feel compelled to speak because if there's one critical government service that we cannot let fall it is our schools all I've heard in the three years that I've been here about the schools is the budget cuts and it doesn't it's sort of unbelievable to me schools connect us in ways that no other institution does they connect children who speak different languages come from different cultures have different abilities to each other and they do the same for the families in my mind schools are the foundation of community and I don't I really honestly don't understand why there are so many budget cuts so I'm here to say please please please give the schools their budget give them the opportunity to perform as well as they can and I mean the programs like commantis but also the U Educators themselves um I had one other comment but it was not about education should I do it now or wait till later it should be for later thank you okay thank you very much that's it if it's for the FY 25 budget you do it now no it's not okay thank you I 26 budget fy2 I'm sorry it is it is okay please go ahead okay I'm speaking now as the co-chair of the Human Rights Commission in that capacity I spoke at this meeting last month and noted that I did not know our budget today I'm here to say that I do now know our budget and it is zero we proposed a three-pronged multi-year strategy of awareness raising data Gathering and building accountability over a few years but now we're called on additionally to remind and reiterate that every resident in ammer whether documented or not has rights human rights and rights under us law we're working intensively to create materials and resources in multiple languages that will inform everyone about those rights to succeed and reaching Amorous residents who need this information we need funds our budget ultimately reflect our values that would be the case for Education as others have pointed out as well as for human rights let's not say that human human rights is a zero for amorist I hope you will consider an appropriate our small budget request thank you thank you Margaret Sawyer please enter the room okay Margaret you're unmuted please go ahead you can hear me yes we can but please speak to your mic thank you um so it is wonderful to see you all again and I am grateful that you all take our commentary and that you're working so hard and also it is true that this is becoming an annual you know every year we're doing this um I wanted to point out that the the fact that we come back to this every year that there's these huge fears about the budget and the budget is made in such a way that it becomes almost brinksmanship right until the very end and then um money is found is felt every day among Educators people are constantly afraid that their jobs are going to be lost that they should be looking someplace else it's felt in the schools and um I just wanted to point that out that it's not as if the school moves along peacefully while we all talk about the budget and then at the last minute everybody resolves to the budget what what what it stands um and actually these conversations affect daily life too I also I'm grateful that we conservatively budget that's important to be conservative but when one's conservative and then there's a surplus that Surplus needs to go back to funding those places that we were too conservative right if you're too conservative and you get a surplus that needs to fill in those gaps and I'm concerned that that isn't happening um I think our town often wants too many things we have too many desires um I am personally really glad that the library budget came in as it did and that they're going to be able to build but I was concerned all along that it's really hard to have something that is um historical and perfectly perfectly historical and perfectly green and affordable and I'm concerned that sometimes we are striving for so many ideals that we're losing track of our goal and I think our goal is the schools thank you for joining Margaret thank you I want to note that over the time period that we've been in this public forum we've had somewhere around 50 to 55 people in the zoom room um given that there's no other comments on this particular public forum I'm going to um make a motion to I actually I'm going to ask the finance committee to adjourn for the public this public for no they can stay convened for both okay and we don't have to adjourn either this public forum this public forum is adjourned is there a second second thank you um Patti Angelus is absent Anna delin gothier I uh councelor ET I uh Lyn griesmer is and I councelor hanii hi count um Bob hegner hi councelor Lord hi Pam roone yes councelor Ryan hi Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes okay this public forum is adjourned we're going to take a 10-minute Break um and we will reconvene at 810 thank you at that point you'll hold the public forum on the supplemental budget Appropriations and then the regular meeting will reconvene thank you please unmute please mute your mics and your picture thank you e e e e e e e e e e e for e e please get ready to reconvene e e please turn your videos back on when you return thank you ham is back fr's back Jennifer's back okay I have to wait one more minute um good evening it's still November 18th and we're now moving on to our next uh public forum this is the public forum on Appropriations outside the budget I want to just mention that the finance committee is already in session and the Town Council um is being called to order for the purposes of this form at 810 I am not going to go through all of what I've gone through before I'm going to quickly state that this public form is on the financial orders that were presented to us at the last meeting they have since gone to the finance committee and at before we can before we adjourn the public form we will ask the finance committee to decide whether or not they stand with their existing votes uh from the other day so with that in mind um are there any public comments with regard to the financial orders if you would like to speak and you're in the audience make sure you have signed up with Athena if you are in the zoom room please raise your hand now this is regarding the financial orders for Appropriations outside the budget I see two people Athena v o Conor please come up um did you want to do two or three minutes um uh I'm going to stick to two minutes for the whole evening at this point we have just got too much else to do thank you thank you so please proceed specifically I'm here to speak about asking the council not to place uh any money in the capital reserve fund um the other Appropriations I do not have an opinion on it seemed to me that they're perfectly um reasonable the reason I asked you not to appropriate that money to the capital reserve fund is because the budget priorities that we have um and visited have been visited upon the town are not only profoundly misogynist they are disrespectful of children their parents and Educators um the money has gone the Surplus have been generated for number of years money has gone to uh to departments supervised by the town manager and Prof and staffed primarily by men we just had a public hearing and quite frankly I'm sure that none of you it did not escape a single Council member's attention about who spoke to the school budget by gender please do not vote by a majority to put Out Of Reach of the council Out Of Reach of the council majority the accomp the the substantial amount of money that was included in the Surplus that only one person last May really should have known about it and did not either tell this Council the public the press or the parents of this town instead said exactly the opposite we don't have the money when anyone who is a town manager absolutely knew what Revenue your time is up numbers could have been thank you Deb Leonard please come up hi uh de District 5 I'm going to skip all the I do not speak to schol committee stuff and just uh speak to the uh the recommended Appropriations out of budget I I just want to point out that um what I was trying to say earlier in the evening not all of the Surplus is going to savings and not all of it is being used for um current items in the budget it's it's a mixture and I get Whiplash uh yes we're saving yes we have money no we don't I I also had the same issue with some of the the numbers that I've been looking at too late too early 3.4% 4.5% I just would like some clarity I understand these are complex issues we're not asking or I'm not asking for them to be entirely resolved but um there's got to be some space for some of the needs of the region to um be met within this um within this Surplus and I would point out as I have that there have been prior surpluses which haven't addressed the needs of the region as well it just takes one of you all to vote to postpone these things um these these the Surplus the free cash was certified very end of October um the the the memo hit the packet November 1st it's November 18th I'm still not really sure what the rush is um if there's a reason to vote these things before the end of the calendar year I would like to know what that is but um it's a lot of money and it can be used now for things that the region needs now and um again not asking for all of it but I'm asking you to to consider as you have in fincom rethinking some of these decisions thank you for your comments um there's no further comments at this point uh I'm going to um first of all ask the finance committee if you would consult with your members well yes um we do have to um take up again our recommendation for uh appropriation and transfer order FY 255c which is $200,000 to purchase uh sidewalk equipment we got an update from the superintendent of Public Works saying that they could live with a $140,000 um uh purchase uh appropriation so I think the thing on the table now is whether we want to um go ahead with what the 200,000 reduce it to 140,000 or just um say no those are the three choices we have right now so um if there's someone from Kathy you w to yeah I might have missed an email Bob when you said they gave us an updated number did they also um there had been a statement that this equipment could be used for something other than plowing sidewalks so implying in the spring summer or fall could be used did they give us any sense of what other uses they would have for this uh piece of equipment the the from what I could GA the the memo is a little confusing but from what I can gather um the machine that was $200,000 um has a universal quick hitch attachment system that can be used with a loader bucket loading Forks AER system grapple loading system sweeper broom as well as straight snow plow angled plow and snow blower so it can be used for various uh purposes um I don't know they they talked about uh he talked about um the whacker and the tool cat um but doesn't say that they what they can be used for other than f um so the answer to number one currently has the msv is the most expensive and designed for snow removal with limited other season usage so they the cheaper models it looks like they're only good for snow removal they're not good for anything else so that's may I also mention that you have the opportunity to take this back to the finance committee if you don't want to vote tonight I I I I think we need to discuss this more before we're prepared to vote on it you have two hands up well okay uh councelor hanii actually Kathy you still have your hand up then it was just stuck up while I read the councelor hanii is a member of the finance committee yeah um I think the memo that I just saw in the packet now when Bob mentioned it um indicates that the 200,000 would pay for a tool cat that is on par with the Wacker that we currently have and that those uses that are mentioned in answer number one are the summer uses and the year- round uses um loading Forks loader buckets augur systems grapple loading systems sweeper broom that's that's not winter use right there that's the rest of the uses we were asking questions for um I believe his at least pricing it seems like the 140 would be the tool cat instead of the Wacker but it's a less powerful one with those same uses Anna at this point I'm going to stick to finance committee people I had a general process question about what was happening right now okay I thank you for asking that so the finance committee voted for four of the five Financial orders at their meeting on Friday they requested additional information on the sidewalk and at that point that information has been provided and so during this meeting since the finance committee is in session they have the opportunity to decide if they're going to change their votes on anything else or vote for this I understand um my question is if the finance committee chooses to take this back to the finance committee should the rest of us consider it struck from the agenda and if we had questions regarding this should we then wait and send them to the finance committee chair or wait until it comes back if the finance committee does not vote on this and takes it back to the finance committee we'll take it off the agenda tonight great and we should send questions to Bob assuming that they will be discussing it thank you uh Andy as a member of the finance committee yes uh we have a meeting on Friday I believe and uh it's still time if it's not on the agenda to add it back to the agenda um I would suggest that we do that and come back on and ask the council to postpone action on this one order until December 2nd I think that it is not a good use of the council time to have a committee meeting in the middle of a council meeting okay yeah I I think that's her and there's no other objections from the finance committee okay I have I'm sorry I have another process question yes so if this is something so if when we discuss free cash um and and then request the supplemental budget Appropriations from free cash uh I if removing one of them may impact the decision of how the remainder of free cash is spent should we be pulling all of them so that we can look at them as one big picture versus doing one at a time in this way point of order Lynn right now we're in a public forum on these supplemental budget Appropriations finance committee has remained convened so that they can either reaffirm or amend their vote on the appropriation orders this discussion should um wait until the regular council meeting resumes and these are up for discussion okay but if this impacts the rest of it at this matter the decision point is for finance committee to reaffirm or amend their um recommendations on the orders and it sounds like they've chosen not to make a recommendation on this um snowplow order so but they're not amending it either they're totally they're pulling it back so that's the third option is to pull it back if the finance committee doesn't make a recommendation then the the council can't act on it right so it would come off the agenda there's no option for the council to act on it at this point there is an option for the council to act on the other orders and you can discuss that during the when the regular meeting reconvenes so right now Bob you should share this portion of the meeting because it's a finance committee discussion on those appropriation orders yeah I Andy do you have any comments no I think that Athena has correctly pointed out a process question right I think that the uh question that um another counselor has asked is an appropriate question and later in the me in the actual meeting and I think that uh either the finance director or the town manager probably can answer that pretty quickly okay um councelor hanii you have your name hand up I move to adjourn the special meeting of the finance committee thank you I second that you can't you're not I can't I'm not a finance Committee Member Bob find second please Bob should chair this part your chair please find a second is there a second second okay um C we'll vote then does is there any other discussion motions to adjourn are not discussable okay is Bernie is Bernie still with us no he's not okay all right so I I'll just go around uh the room I vote I councelor hanii I Kathy yes uh Alicia C Walker sorry um and Andy yes okay so the vote is unanimous to adjourn the finance committee we okay I move to adjourn the public forum on the supplemental budget Appropriations is there a second second thank you um we're going to move to a vote on a Devin gothier hi Council rete I Lyn grimer is an i councelor hanck i Bob hegner I councelor Lord I Pam Bry yes councelor Ryan hi Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg hi Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes and Patti Angeles is absent thank you we're going to now go back to the regular Town council meeting and in light of the hour I'm going to make some adjustments in the agenda first of all I'm going to dispense with announcements they're in your agenda second of all when we get to [Music] item I've already removed 6B from the agenda I'm also now going to remove eight B from the agenda and in both instances ask that if you have comments you forward them to me as soon as possible and I'll remind you of that with an email in the next 24 hours point of information with one of them isn't one of them being automatically referred to go so shouldn't all comments go to the go chair 6B is automatically referred to go so that yes the call comments should go to go 8B is still in my hand so please comments on that to me okay um I want to just have one other consultation quickly and that is I know there was a serious desire to act on the proposal to establish the school zones is there still that urgency or can that wait till December 2nd could you uh clarify who you're asking is it me are you asking me actually a TSO that's what I thought so I wasn't sure if you're asking sponsors or TSO I know we wanted to do it as fast as we can okay I'll leave it on let's just see where we are okay okay um so I'm going to a also add if you will the council orders to the consent agenda okay is there any objection to that there Council orders Financial the financial Council orders yes I object to that okay then we will do them individually all right so we um need to do public comment for this regular council meeting are there any people who would like to make public comment with relationship to this regular council meeting I have one yes v o Conor okay and there is one in the audience we're confining to two minutes because that's what we've used all evening thank you Vince o Conor um one75 Summer Street Apartment 12 um I'm actually coming forward to make the statement I made that I plan to make on November 4th until I heard the Financial discussions but it is also Financial um I just want to say to the council a a reduction in the expenses for the library of $2 to3 million that results in a bid of $7 million less by a previous bidder is an invitation to disaster in terms of change order in fact the chair of the library trustees himself in public has said oh we'll take care of all this with change order that's really an abuse of the bidding process it creates a dangerous situation whereby if the anticipated by various things5 to10 million in change orders comes to this Council you will then have a you be faced with a choice of either button H holding the project and leaving it sitting there half done or having have your arm Twisted to vote a bunch of change orders and pay for a bunch of change orders that you knew beforehand were anticipated and we're going to put you way over the amount of Mone that you did please make it clear to whoever is responsible for letting this project go forward that that is not a good choice that the that this town should be faced with and it will be faced with if this project goes forward thank you for your comment Jeremy Anderson please enter the room state your name and where you live yeah hi uh Jeremy Anderson 34 High Point Drive in amorist I know it's late I'll be quick just wanted to thank the council for bringing up the school zone motion for the high school and the middle school I thank TSO for the incredible work they did and and as well as the superintendent of Public Works the engineer Town engineer and really this is a great way that we can start making our our community safer and addressing some of the pressing needs for our schools so thank you all for staying late and for bringing this up tonight thank you your comments we're going to move to let me just make sure we have no hearings tonight we're going to move to the consent agenda the following items were selected because they were seemed to be routine listen carefully because I've removed some items from the printed set of motions um if you want to remove an item please stay so after I go through the first list and then that does not require a second uh to move the following items and printed motions there under and approve those items as a single unit 6A adoption of proclamation recognizing small business Saturday and Shop local week 2024 8A request to legislators to refile home rural petition H 677 an act relative to imple to the implementation of the charter for the town city known as the town of amest H 3734 an act establishing of real estate transfer fee upon the transfer of property in the city known as the town of amrest and H 3840 and act authorizing extending local voting rights for lawful per lawful permit residents residing in the city known as the town of amest um 9A one to two approval of board manager appointments for the board of license Commissioners Amanda Robertson for a term to expire June 30th 2027 that and Kurt sunde for a term to expire June 30 2026 cultural Council Duke Kim for a term to expire June 30 2026 and approval of minutes September 28th 2024 special meeting minutes for towns meeting October 7th 2024 regular meeting minutes October 21st 2024 regular meeting minutes are there any requests for removal was that a motion that was a motion thank you is there a second thank you seeing no hands I'm going to move to a vote councelor ete I Lyn grimer is an i councelor hanii i Bob hegner I councelor Lord I Pam Rooney yes councelor Ryan I Kathy Shan yes Andy Steinberg hi Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes councelor Ang d'angelus is absent uh Anna Dev and Goth I it's [Music] unanimous um I'm going to ask to uh councelor Rooney to read the last portion of the small business Saturday in chop local you do not have it thank you we're going to dispense with the reading of that thank you we're going to move on to um presentations and discussions and this is the financial planning for the four major capital projects and I'm going to refer to town manager Paul Bachman and finance Finance director Melissa said wats Thank You Lynn and we have a presentation for you this is a um project that Melissa took on when she started here just a few months ago and has been working on it and just a lot of credit to her for moving this forward um let go to the next slide when you're ready I assume these slides will go into our packet at this time yes yes thank you yeah so this presentation is in response to the council's goal of of establishing making progress on the major Capital Investments uh consistent with the council's votes and we talk about the elementary school building the Jones Library building uh the uh Central Fire EMS station and the Department of Public Works um and so we're going to talk about each one of those things we going go to the next slide we'll try to be efficient for you because I know you you've been here a long time already so what we will do in this presentation explain the planning model outline the changing economic conditions over the past year and why we're presenting what we're presenting update our current modeling options and then share next steps and some actual recommendations including locations and um sort of a financing model with you I don't expect you to act on anything tonight but I we do have a request to you act in the very near future next slide so and this is where we'll go fast so the elementary school we all are aware we went out to bid we received three bids all were under our Target budget uh those three bids have been all have been challenged at least two of them have been and that process is with the attorney general who is well aware of our need to expedite this process we've heard from them today but they have not given us a our our attorney reached out to them to ask them for an estimate of when they would render a decision they said they did not know so um this is uh important for us to move forward uh so the funding sources are in place with the debt exclusion the msba Grant and and the capital stabilization fund so that that project is moving forward and quite frankly this does not actually impact us because it's debt excluded it doesn't impact what we're going to present to you tonight okay Jones Library we received two bids one was under our budget um that that um bid is being reviewed in light of other permitting things that we need in order to ensure that we receive the funding for the for the project um as you know we've got $15.8 million from the town has been allocated uh there's an mblc Grant and other funding including CPA money which is also Town funds and state and federals but this project is not awarded yet but it's at the award stage so it could once we're ready to um make sure everything is in line and and everything is established that project could move forward so that's that project was is carried in our model at $15.8 million um the next is the um the Fire EMS station we say Fire EMS for real very purposely because it is most of our calls that come into the fire department are really Emergency Medical Services calls so we have to build a facility that accommodates both fire engines Fire Equipment Plus EMS services like ambulances we have talked with you previously and are recommending the preferred location being Hickory Ridge which is a piece of land in South ammer that the town purchased there is buildable uh space at the front on West pomoy that can accommodate this facility um what we would like to do with this project to move it forward is to update the feasibility study um and to uh move it forward into design in engineering the reason this is important is that we control the site and because we own it uh there is no procurement for a location or anything like that so as we look at this I'm looking at the the path of leas to resistance in fact so having site control is an important piece of that it's also a very good location because it does serve uh South amest well and also if you think about it most most of our calls or ambulance calls most those calls go to Coley Dickinson hospital um and half of the ride time for those calls is going to the hospital or coming back from the hospital to the station there it's easier to get to this location because they can cut through Bay Road they don't have to stay on Route 9 or Rocky Hill Road to get back to the station so there's some advantages to this and when we did the heat analysis which which identified where the um calls were coming from it's within the range of the heat analysis in terms of response time and the next one is the uh Public Works facility um this also is in dire need of a new building and what we are recommending and that the proposal is that our preferred location is to utilize the existing site and on South Pleasant Street this goes along with the same um strategy of site control we don't have to go out and find sites we have done extensive work on identifying sites we've shown you some of the options in the past um we've done due diligence on some of the sites um and none of them have really proved uh to be um sustainable in through our process we've done an RFP for sites it's just very challenging and many of you have actually said why don't we just keep it where it is and the reason we don't keep it totally we it is is because the site that it's located on is an excellent site but it's not very big so the strategy would be to have multiple sites uh our original goal walking into this was to have one site where the entire DPW uh Workforce could be gathered in one location um because there are a lot of efficiencies of that of scale and also management for doing that this um so we're going to sacrifice that in order to move this project forward because the building is in such dire need we will use ruon which is a site of a piece of land that the town owns and utilizes by the DPW off of Pulpit Hill Road currently for as an auxiliary site so to use for um storage which is what we use it for now um to use it for lay down space and um I didn't realize a lot of people don't know what lay down space is lay down space is when you are going to do a water sewer project you order a bunch of pipes but you're not going to need it for two months but it gets delivered you need a place to put the stuff and so there's a lot of land area where you can put stuff um we would also look to put um equipment up there that isn't in immediate use like uh in the winter we would use put summer equipment up there in the summer we would put winter equipment up there that's not on a daily basis being trucked in and out of the space we would also uh utilize space at the Atkin treatment facility and the wastewater treatment facility for the people who work at those um at those in those areas right now uh water works out of the current DPW so we we would disperse some of our staff uh we would also continue to utilize the site at the reg at that's adjacent to the Regional High School for our tree and grounds Department um so we will have multiple locations multiple smaller locations instead of one larger location um so the next steps for this is again to utilize um establish a building committee and to start with the design and Engineering next SL so were you gonna do this one I will okay go yeah um okay so I'm just gonna lay out some of the assumptions we've made um for constructing these models um and um a financing plan going forward so um first we'll talk about the elementary school as you all know this is a 99 million doll project um it is um subsidized by a couple of subsidized it has matching funds from um msba grant for a good portion of the project and the council um approved a transfer of $5 million of Reserve fund to help mitigate the um excluded debt which is the primary source of paying for the town share of this property so for the um for the purpose of looking at this long-term plan this um project Falls outside of our um Capital allocation of tax um of the tax levy so um it's important to acknowledge it because it is a um taxpayer project but um for the purpose of planning within the um percentage of the tax levy that we're going to go forward with the other three projects we um it doesn't it doesn't impact that directly um secondly the uh Jones Library uh project uh is a $46 million project the town share has been set at uh 15.8 million um it is has matching fronts from the um Massachusetts library board and the um and then they have significant amount of um private fundraising and other Grant um matched by the trustees so that for this project we are only considering for inside the capital allocation of Levy the 15.8 million the rest of the project is funded from other sources outside of that the DPW uh facility um as Paul mentioned we're looking at a phased approach for this um we've currently are looking at a budget of 35 million for the total project um this is a smaller budget than what um the DPW had previously looked at to have all of the DPW facility at one site um we are hopeful that um with some of the modeling that has been done that this is reasonable I I can't say if it is or it's not we really need to to look at it because the site the um feasibility studies that were done for DPW were done um at other locations um the fire station uh we've put a budget in for that of $30 million um as Paul mentioned we are looking at the Hickory Ridge site which would mean that we um do not need to procure a site which is nice or do we have to manage um swing space like we do with the DPW site because that can be built and um stand up the $30 million um budget is based on um there's a recent comparable in um Williamstown where they built a um Net Zero uh fire station for uh$ 22.5 million so we thought that that was a good car comparable however that fire station does not have emergency medical service so we needed to add something on ours to sort of hope that that could fit within the model I think Paul mentioned earlier that we recognize that these budgets may not meet all the needs or wants of these departments but we thought that this was a good place to start and this was the amount that quite honestly I could make work so um moving on um so a big part of this process um has been going on for many years um and is based on um establishing a capital stabilization reserve and um maintaining that Reserve to draw down over a number of years to um fund these projects with um as minimal impact to the operating budget as possible so um you established the capitalization uh St the capital stabilization Reserve balance in 2023 at um 9 million dollar um in that same year we did remove um $5 million to put towards one of the other projects um but that money has been taken out of capital reserve and is sitting with the project for the school building um Elementary School building then um we added some more um reserves in 2024 and right now before you um is another request to add more to the capital stabilization reserve of 3.9 million which um um is waiting for um Council approval if that um transfer should be approved the balance in the capital stabilization would be $1.6 million this is important because um these numbers are used to um pres are presented in the model um next slide I guess so um again the assumptions uh $30 million for the Fire EMS station 35 million for the public work facilities um 15.8 million for the library I used um 20-year debt for the library um because it was a smaller dollar amount and it could be um shortened in its length um it has a slow slightly lower interest rate of 4% and the um the other two projects I've put on 30-year um debt um to help um stretch out the um impact on our budget and they have a slightly higher interest rate of 4 and a half% that was recently updated and provided to me from our financial advisor at UniBank who help us with our bonding I created um four models for us to consider um the first is um a decrease in capital um we currently are at 10.5% of the um Levy in the operating budget for Capital spending this would decrease it to just 10% um all of the assumptions are I should say being the beginning all of the assumptions assume that we have continued Capital beyond the borrowing for these projects um and the already issued debt that we are obligated to pay um an additional $3 million a year for our ongoing um Capital needs such as new vehicles fire trucks repairs to buildings roofs Etc um so the first is to decrease the capital allocation um that would re um use $15.5 million of our reserves which is slightly more than we have available right now in the capital stabilization regular stabilization is there um but you know it's more than we have in the reserves so the second um option is uh completely identical to the first option it just leaves the capital percentage of the levy funding at 10.5% it um has um it has an 11 million point2 use of the reserves over the pro um over the course of the project to maintain our Capital funding within the um set aside percentage of the levy the third option is a delayed start so I should say that in this option when we look at the um modeling that the delayed start um has the the DPW and fire stations project starting two years later than all the other um projects and so for that I have built in um a escalator for cost of 5% a year for both of those projects and the fourth option point of order sorry to interrupt you can we get the the translation or whatever moved up so we can see that fourth option yeah so the um fourth option is the large cash option and um honestly I put this one in there because in the original um presentations that I was reviewing from Sha manano there was an all cash option for the fire station so this would be to um fund cash of $20 million towards the fire station and only borrow the 10 million um and maintaining the uh 3 million a year of ongoing capital and the 10.5% of Levy um and it of course uses the most cash because that's the option um so um I guess the next slide Okay so I need my notes so looking at this first model um the existing debt is uh the green um and so that's any existing debt we currently have or something that it's authorized that we are probably going to borrow for in the future that um you know might come on in the next year or two might not be in this year but we've already authorized it we're already in process of procuring those items the um red is for the fire um EMS stations the gray um is the 35 million for the DPW facilities the purple is the library and the um orange polka dots are um ongoing capital of 3 million a year so again this takes you know $15.5 million of um our Capital reserves oh and the black line kind of below zero there is where we're pulling the amount out of capital stabilization to maintain the um capital investment from the levy to under the um 10% in this case because this is the lower um tax levy allocation option and so the black line as it rises is our tax levy going up with two and a half and new growth and then the um the amounts of the yellow over the top or the orange that is the ongoing Capital that needs to be subsidized directly from the um the the cap the capital um the C Capital stabilization fund will bring that so that we're only using the that 10% of the levy in this model so all of these um diagrams are the same in that way um but this is the option where we reduce the percentage of the levy um I and then the second model is um the maintaining the same um Capital um allocation of 10.5 and um you can see again that we're going to use um the um the capital stabilization ation to draw down against it to keep um our allocation of capital in the budget under that amount um or I believe it it it worked out to the line gets really low in the outgoing years but it's usually between eight and 12 years for all of these models that we would have to continue to draw down on the capital stabilization so in the third model this model um is delay um in the projects and so this is much easier to fit into the model as our um tax revenue grows however I believe that there are significant risks with this model because of the increase in cost and um the unknowns of um honestly I don't know what interest rates are going to do in two years never mind five or six so um you know it's unknown and then also we have to recognize that both of these buildings are in severe disrepair and so any emergency that might come up between now and the time that we get going on their new projects would have to be funded from somewhere and so you know where where does that where do those funds come from and in the fourth model um this is the uh cash option it um it's obviously the easiest to do um for um the debt um but it is um and it and it is honestly the least expensive it is the one that makes me the most nervous um because I believe that the amount of flexibility we have in doing this is very low and um we wouldn't be able to respond to a um an emergency if it happened but if circumstances changed and we all of a all of a sudden found ourselves with extra $20 million laying around then you know maybe this is an option I don't know so uh the things to consider are of course the urgency of the projects and to move forward quickly because of rising costs and the continued M maintenance of our current infrastructure and the unknown of interest rates um the other uh major thing to consider is the capital um that we've um we need to our our capital reserve was was set aside for this project so we should move forward with doing these projects with that money if that if that was the purpose of them and that we need to maintain our reserves so that in the event that there's an an anticipated expense or um loss of residue we can still um react to that um you know um then we just need to make a balance between our operating and capital and um in these models we're trying to lay out to maintain our current um spending split for Capital and operating at that 10 and a half percent which is you know honestly what I'm hoping for and um and then um to allow us a more more flexibility to adapt to economic changes and we just need to recognize um that these are estimates and um there are lots of variables that could come up as we dig into the um feasibilities of these projects and our budgets so again this is the comparison um I'm going to say that um that you know I the urgency is really important I think um and so um that's why three of the models have us moving forward as quickly as possible I think that the um impact of the High um use of reserves is would NE negatively impact our bond rating and put us um in a position where we would be less flexible to um navigate a change if it to come up um you can see that the capital um other Capital spending is even and that you know obviously the cost um goes down um with how fast you do the project and um and how much cash you can put into it so um I would say that um that I would given those four models if I was to make a recommendation that you know model two is the preferred model from my opinion I guess and um because it gives us the most flexibility as the um fits in with our plan and um doesn't it doesn't put us at risk for um the delay in services or big um reductions in um our reserves um and so the next steps is that we need to consider these four models um how much we want to commit to our ongoing Capital as the percentage of the levy and if we are um if if we're going to accept this if we're going to establish the sites and um establish those building committees to move forward okay Paul anything so yeah just to note that we're in order to move this forward the last bullet and the what we're hoping for the council to do and I know again not looking for a decision tonight but that you have it on your agenda to discuss in an active way so we have talked about locations in the past to see if you're comfortable with those locations that we get the commitment from the council that yes these are the two locations or the approach to locations that we want and then you know after I assume it there be conversation at finance committee or here that we go through the financing plan you have different four different models that you settle on a financing plan so we can start making decisions along those lines as well in terms of the financial guidelines okay so I'd like to start with clarifying questions Kathy what kind of question should you say clarifying in other words do you have questions where you don't understand what was presented uh I understand what was presented but I don't understand the numbers underneath them so can I ask those questions yes okay so I'm I'm going to start with uh the Jones Library assumption um your financing just 15.8 million if we also have to go out for 46 million and we're short 7 million when we do that we had some estimates a year ago on what short-term financing would cost us over the first couple years do you have that in your model there is there's there's no accommodation for anything except the 15.8 in this model okay so the modeling so I would recommend you do something to adjust we we had a line for short-term bands that was on the low side but I don't know how best to do that but it doesn't look like we'll start with all the money committed and so we'll we'll have more than just the 15.8 for our share so that's just that's just a question on that line so I'll go for my second question for DPW I I like this I should start with terrific and I think the decisions you're asking for Mak sense so on the DPW does your rough estimate for total include the fact that you are going to have to phase it because you're building on site and what we heard as a description of that um what a few months ago is temporary headquarters for staff while you're knocking down building does that 35 include that it tries to um it it tries to but again I'm not an architect or someone no sure I'm just saying that you think the building might be 30 and you've got another 5 million or something that you've uh jiggered with what they um what the numbers I did see were for much larger facility and then they had some um smaller you know minimum needs um numbers um that were between 28 and 18 however they were for a completely different site so I mean they're just they're just not concrete enough to go on but it made me feel like in a perfect world you know um so um is it enough to do the um the staging I don't know but I mean that's really why we need to dig into and part of this was designing around what was possible um given the constraints of our budget um that's fine and I I just wanted to ask that because I think um it it will involve more than the cost of construction and it and the best way to get into it is quick feasibility on are we knocking the whole building down and rebuilding on the site or or what are we doing so yeah so I think the plan is to knock the whole building down and rebuild on the site um but there will be permanent temporary uh permanent storage space at the the ruon site and maybe some additional um dispersement of staff to their specialty areas such as the water and waste waterer treatment PL okay so then I I'll go to fire station then I have one final while so fire do they need all the property developable property on that site and if they don't um could we develop it sell it do something that would help finance that so I I don't I and you don't have to answer right now so they need acres and we've got we've been told six or seven um so I don't know the specifics of the Acres my understanding is that it's the Frontage that the um fire station would be placed on and um I'm I also understand that there um the backside of the um Hickory Ridge is being used by the planting conservation and stuff right so so we did do a fit test to see if the fire station could fit there and there would be other additional property that could be developed however the town chose to to do it yeah the exist the the estimate for a fire station has always been third uh three acres how many acres three three so so about half of what we've been told were the front Acres that were developable yeah so about okay um then my last question is on the reserves that we can draw and in addition to the capital stabilization fund we have a general stabilization fund and at one point when your predecessor was trying to show where we had at least some wiggle room we said could we live with less than 10% in general stabilization fund and the answer was yes but not less than x so can at some point can we be talking about we've got another 10 million in that fund yeah so so there is 10 million in that fund well 9.9 um currently and um and so yeah for some of these models we could dip into that um so the structure that I you know walked into when we came in here is that we were trying to keep that 10% um I I mean certainly it could be used temporarily and then maybe built back up over time but the the uh impact of that is that you um reduce um your bond rating because your not as secure um for an emergency so that's why um with the the heavily heavily use of the reserved one that's the one that makes me the most nervous the one um where we use a portion of that um Regular stabilization you know maybe we go down a year or two and then we're able to bring it back over the course of you know us fitting these projects in so I I think I'll turn it over to others but I just want to say that with that modeling and when you mentioned the Williams Town one Williams put 5 million doll into their fire stations so when you said it would be nice to have a bit more money we thinking in terms of some of what we're doing in guidelines a big a big ask on some of this might make some sense thanks thank you uh Andy yeah hi first of all thank you for the presentation and for the work you did to create it uh but one question that I had was U uh we have the Regional Schools when they ask for Capital um contribution from the member communities um our contribution comes out of the 10 and a half% and in recent as recent as a year ago there were fairly substantial uh projections of need for the Regional School tools for its capital and uh I was wondering if you had uh factored that into your thinking at all so it it's in their um it's in our our projections like we always have the number from them and so um it's it would be um included in the 10% so if they're going to go up substantially on that then we'd have to we'd have to fit it in our $3 million additional Capital but I also think that it's um part of their um Regular appropriation to us like they just sort of tell us what they what they need I I don't it's not factored in here any differently than any outstanding debt that we currently have an obligation for so if they don't have an open obligation for it and they haven't told us about it it's not in here so if they were to tell us tomorrow they need $10 million we would have to adjust Andy further questions I think I'll save it for the finance committee got it uh councelor hanaki so two um on top of Andy's question regarding outstanding debt is it correct to say that that outstanding debt line is only anything that's already been obligated not estimated outstanding debt and that all estimated debt needs to fit into the 3 million column such that if we had to buy a fire truck again for $1.5 million that that debt would come out of the3 million or the estimated um region Debt Service or assessment for their Debt Service which is estimated in the next two years in our current capital budgets to go up to 800,000 that that additional 400 comes out of the 3 million so the estimated debt on already authorized but on issued debt that we are currently using is in here um but there wasn't a lot of it you know most of it I mean because most of our authorized unissued debt is not in the general fund and of course these are just general fund projects so um the um so it is in there but if if like I like I said with you know if if we were to find out tomorrow that we need some emergency large project that is part of that 10% it would change these numbers it would have to come out of that 3 million but if we have already authorized it the modeling that was done and I can't take credit for it before I got here included estimated debt for stuff that we haven't yet borrowed for but we know is coming so I guess I'm getting confused between haven't yet borrowed for but know is coming is that unauthorized that we know is coming AKA region stuff or future ambulances or so it has to be authorized to this model outside of the 3 million okay thank you um the auxiliary improvements that would be going to um the water treatment facility and the sewer treatment facility are those estimated within this or are those intended to be paid for out of um water and sewer fees I believe the were um so I was hoping that it would be in the uh 35 million and um temporary space it was more of a temporary fix rather than a full-time fix you know those improvements so that's supposed to be but any like it was they would we would we need to accommodate people and there are some water people at the the DPW um building right now so so one of the challenges of a multiple site is that it's more expensive in some ways because you have to have the same kind of locker facilities and things like that at multiple sites and so that's it's not a great model for us to move forward but given the difficulty of identifying a site that accommodates all of DPW so and then the other challenge we have quite honestly is that we backed in and way backed into these numbers so what could we afford so many times we start projects and say what do we want and we sort of build a model around what we want and then we find out that we can't afford what we want and it becomes much more challenging so we were what we wanted to do on these two projects is to say we have a budget for what we can afford to buy and that's how we're going to move forward on these things so can I ask why water and sewer funds would not be used as a portion of debt for paying for DPW or any improvements that relate to Water and Sewer uses since the Enterprise fund should yeah they they C they certainly could um and um I me there's a lot of water insur debt that we we coming pretty in the very near future so it's going to be a balancing act for the council in terms of setting your water and sewer rates to support whatever we put onto that debt but there we don't have a firm answer for that is really the answer anything else councelor hanak all right um Cameron thank you uh I just wanted to make sure I understood the the three million per year in other Capital funds is that number all debt or is that simply the the the rest of the money the remainder of the money that we have available for every other Capital request for those 10 years either either or so it would be either new debt that we don't know about today so um or it would be cash Capital um to purchase a cruiser uh something like that and so I would say that in order to um you may find that in those years because that is a small amount of cash capital for the town and you know Holly did look at me kind of funny when I said three but that was all I could fit that we maybe borrow for things that we've never borrowed before in order to sort of get us through those really challenging years um it's an option because it's not built into the model it's just I'm just saying we have to think about how we do this without harming ourselves because in comparison we would typically look at 10.5% for Capital needs and and so this is a dramatic reduction in that well so this is the 10.5 built into mostly debt and then leaving a little bit for for changes right yeah right so um couple of things and again thank you for this presentation very helpful um I just want to make a a comment about Hickory Ridge so Hickory Ridge was purchased a number of years ago it was um uh people were solicited for ideas for a master plan and I it it's just feels a little ironic it's not I'm saying not that it's a bad idea but it's a little ironic that we still don't really have a master plan yet we're citing a facility there and I had hoped to see at least some options of this is the acreage that we feel we could you know sell or develop for house in this is the acreage that might be appropriate for a central facility like fire station um so again we're sort of backing into this thing completely um that said uh it well that's that's my general come about the master plan um I I am not opposed to having some of the DPW facilities uh distributed I think that makes a whole lot of sense it's not obviously Optimum but it certainly makes sense and I think it presents us with a with a more realistic cost for everything overall in that approach so thank you Jennifer Yes um well thank you for the presentation I I even I think I followed it I am I'm not an economist I appreciate that so I have really basic questions um at the last meet council meeting um it was said that we wanted the plan was to pay for DPW building in cash no or the fire station one of them fire station so the fire station um in one of the previous modelings that was done um the fire station was to be paid for in cash and at that time that fire station was estimated at $20 million so that's why I presented the fourth option with a $2 million cash and then $10 million of financing because I was trying to keep that comparable um for the group um then you had uh talked about the phased approach does that um also is that the same as starting the fire station and DPW two years after the other two capital projects so so the um so 2025 the school is already been started and we're already incurring cost um and the first uh debt exclusion will hit um hit the tax bills already this year here so then the library we have scheduled for for next year will we make that I don't know but that was the schedule so we kept to that and then um the thought process for me was to have the DPW go third um in 2027 and the first debt payment in 2027 starting work in 2026 that project has to go in phases because the building needs to come down so first we need to set up some satellite spaces find places for people to go while we take the building down um and then the final one in 2028 um would hit the debt so starting in 2027 the fire station that will not be as slow as the DPW because because if we agree on the um site of Hickory Ridge we could start construction on that as soon as we had a project that was viable um and we wouldn't have to move people around they could stay where they are until that project was complete so we could have four buildings built by 2030 well I mean I don't know our track record is not so good but what are we generally so sometimes constituents ask I mean what are we generally looking at for I mean that's the Hope because the longer we put it out the more cost rise as you know you received this presentation two years ago and The Prost costs have already escalate but at the same time two of the projects have stalled so we're just waiting on the developers but I figure the sooner that we get going um the the sooner we can come um to that outcome and and to these hurdles that we we're going to meet with every building project and and and have the time to overcome them so yeah that's the Hope thank you councelor Lord um thank you for this presentation and thank you Andy for bringing up the Regional School Capital issues because I know I heard from a lot of our constitues around the roof and there was a pool incident but um I'm going to ask a question because I'm new to this Bond stuff and um finances I don't know how often we get rated in our bond but I noticed the fourth option if we would save $37 million because it would be 118 so I'm like is having a double A+ Bond more valuable than that $37 million uh no um but um but um the that that savings is because we don't have to borrow and that implies that we have the cash and so the other risk to our not just our bond rating is that that would basically wipe out all of our Reserves at this current time and I just I would be worried about doing that because what if something came up with the schools and we needed to react to it we need to have the that um that other stabilization available so that we can react to something that is important other questions councelor Lord okay um I'm going to pa um I haven't had opportunity yet to ask a few questions okay um for the uh in either of these did you I assume the feasibility update it would be in the operating budget not in the capital budget so we have feasibility money already so so we do have an appropriation for both DPW and fire feasibility work feasibility and schematic and Engineering yes okay okay fine thank you I want that was in our previous Capital the council had previously appropriate borrowing authorization for that and we have ample funds to get moving on it right away thank you um the word feasibility was one not the word I would have used I would have used schematic that's why I asked yeah I think the actual Council order um we have uh 1.7 million for DPW and 1.4 for fire that's plenty for both it's then the order is design and Engineering is what the uh did I didn't hear clearly did you say that this cost includes temporary workout space for DPW I'm unsure okay be because because I think that the number is well the DPW would tell you that the number is low so you know um the whole is that we can build a building um in similar cost to the fire station that is smaller than their original wants and that additional funds would be needed to do the um the temporary and swing space because the project is not as big as as the original design okay um how much does model for take from the reserves the general reserves all of it because it's $23 million that's the only way you can get to that number okay scrap that one uh okay and um I I'll come back to my others because it really has to deal with uh referral to the finance committee and uh coming back to the council for a decision on sites so I'll go back to other counselors that have not that have additional questions and P Rooney thank you I had a question question on sites so I see that that we're requested by December 2 to to confirm uh locations if we are going to do that can we please get diagrams and sort of not not schematic drawings but at least diagrams of what's going where and well ahead so we actually have a chance to read it before the meeting if we're supposed to vote on it on December 2 it's and it's again it's a little ironic after waiting for five years that we have two weeks to to make AIS so so I will say that um in the um in the presentation that um there that's a rendering of the fire station at Hickory Ridge I'm not sure where that came from da Zach provided that to me earlier today um but the I know that all the work that was done for DPW to date was to on another site that what that feasibility was is that it that it couldn't go there and that we had to find a different site so I don't think we have any sort of look of what this alternative but the what what what has been learned so far is that the um that the DPW site the only available sites are the properties that we've already identified being the current location and the Ron site can I follow up please please um so if we could at least get a sense of even if it's just bullets of what functions are probably going to go to which site uh so that we at least have a sense of what your distribution is trying to accomplish um and even if there's a list of equipment that is being want needs to be stored or needs to be housed can be outdoors I mean just they've got to have something on a back of a napkin somewhere for for that kind of breakout if if I may the one of the council's goals for the town manager for this year was to uh bring to the council a request to set a location and that's what this is intended to do um so the the the more specific details about each of those locations will'll get into once the councelor appoints once the town manager appoints building committee members um and then they'll begin to get more into the details of those sites and functions and equip where equipment is going and so forth so at this point we're just asking for the council's okay to move forward with those locations would having a little bit of that information would be very helpful in sure if we are supposed to agree to a site that's all it's it's the idea in this is um to move the project forward as the council has set established as a goal we can give you the inform we have some information on some of that stuff but the more detailed analysis of the equip the things that you're asking for Pam is about the equipment and things like that that's a more detailed analysis I think that the building committee would really work on it's just more like can we get started in this direction is really what the question is is this an approach that you're going to be okay with Kathy okay I'll follow up on this first on on the feasibility money um it's I I do remember voting on it what I don't know Paul is that sitting like there's an authorization but we haven't drawn on it there's an authorization but we haven't gone out and incurred debt on it we need to incur debt on it and is that already in the debt model yeah so it's okay it's in the debt model it's in the debt model it's it's in the debt model so if I looked you know we we've got a 10-year uh Debt Service model and DPW is in with a big number but I didn't never see whether the Fe I'm you don't have to answer it right now but I'm just trying to figure out whether on top of the 35 we've got another X for feasibility or that does that include no it's in the um debt model as existing debt because it's authorized unissued so it's in that blue line area is I I'll be pretty simple if we have X we have about $20 million in reserves right now as far as I know but I know we also have five tucked away for the schools so there's another five is there another amount of money tucked away or is everything to do with DPW and fire are going to become Deb so including feasibility we authorized it but we haven't spent it you may need to show the graph up so the the Articles previously authorized um are not included in the so for the DPW they're not included in the 35 they're an additional 2 million but that 2 million is part of what is projected as um authorized but unissued debt Okay so we've already it's in the debt service line Contin Debt Service then I wanted to follow up on I mean I can double check Paul because we had long so I think what what Melissa is saying is that in that that checkered area that's already the the $2 million or $1.7 million is already counted in there and also I would be careful about saying we have got $5 million laying around the five the council has allocated the $5 million for the school project that's spoken for unless you'd make a change of your decision I didn't mean five million I mean it's it's sitting in a it's real money sitting in a reserve which is why you show it being pulled out of a capital stabilization as opposed to we have to borrow it yes we have to borrow it so I'm pretty and it is shown on that slide with the withdraw I'm being we put a pot of money here here and here but in the case of the feasibility studies we intend to borrow it we've just already included so then on Andy's this is for finance too but the expectation that the high school roof and the Middle School are now seriously in trouble and one is in the acceleration program I'd like if we can to show what that does to that other $3 million I'm just worried about what the other three will need to cover for several years with this when Jennifer said we could have all these buildings in five years we and I'm thinking except we won't have any roads any cars and any roofs you know I would like to know that there you know just to because they're not in any of our Capital plan right now they don't they're not in our Capital plan because they have not provided that um I mean I know we know but I I only looked at what has already been authorized by uh this Council and and by the school committees and to my knowledge they have an authorized uh debt for um their their Capital needs as of yet I may be wrong about that but the information I have um so yes you're right that and and we talked about that earlier the $3 million is a very small number um but that is all that is left of that 10.5 and so we have to balance our priorities of how we fund our operating with how we fund capital and the more projects we put in here the harder it becomes so I I mean I just didn't think that that there was any um need or appetite to move that allocation any higher and believe me I tried to make it a higher number and I just couldn't do it yeah and I know this was also the tension in the earlier model so I I appreciate and I'm I'm mainly thinking that DPW we have to get moving on it so I'm not stalling on it but fire might need to come later if we need the flexibility for that other Capital that we can't just drain things because we need it for um so so it's just a thinking of where where we have to be thinking of um might be later right yeah so the only um you know and so there is that delayed model um which makes doing this easier but it doesn't account for the other projects that come in it come in its way um and so I'd also just you know the the situation in those buildings are are not great um and um so the question becomes at what point did they have a large repair that needs to be fixed right away that cost millions of dollars and we didn't move forward on this project those are the the decisions that we have to make councelor hanii so councelor Lord made an observation I made which is if you go with option four you save Mill millions of dollars for our taxpayers that could in theory go somewhere else if we can do something with it right um but I know it's risky um we will be asked later tonight to allocate that 3.9 million to the capital stabilization fund out of a surplus in FY 24 of nearly six million um if we go with your recommended model model two but by the time we need to borrow money for fire or DP I guess fire in yeah because fire three years three years we've added another 12 million to the capital stabilization fund because we're added 3 million every year after that could we then yes would that be part of that flexibility that that we could have that that we can take a model now that works now with the money that's there but every year at the end of the years we see what surpluses we have add to that three million on whatever um or change to a different model because there's more Surplus so that's my first question absolutely and so the the um committing to the fourth model is risky today and doesn't give us the flexibility to change committing to models um two or or even one gives us a little more flexibility I would say two more than one because we're continuing to add more to that capital and be more flexible for our um surprises or surprises that we know about you know like so and just to add to that I think that's the reason this is timely is that you are also having the conversation at the finance committee on your financial guidel lines and I know you have talked about being tighter on your on the projections is there a way to be tighter that we produce less um Surplus and so I think there's a you know if if if that's also a drive that the council would like to see a finer tune on what those um revenues look like or what those expenses are that will impact what reserves come out so my next question on these long part s the black line is capital allocations and the blue line is net capital costs based on the projections you've made which means the difference between the blue line and the black line that's not filled in would actually be Capital that you could spend so if we're looking at model 2 by 2037 is there'd be a little bit more in there and by 2038 there'd be a little bit more by 2043 I know we're looking way out here now there'd be even more um well right so that the the the tension point of having to use the reserves in order to keep us under that line lasts between eight and 10 years and of course with the fourth model where we pay where we have less debt it comes quicker that we have room to to increase that that 3 million but that 3 million would hold for however long it takes us to sort of use that um that draw down and get us out of the where're over the line gotcha and if I look at each of these models briefly that ongoing Capital polka dot section seems to actually get bigger every year so is the 3 million3 million plus inflation adjusted because it appears that those especially like if you look at 2046 to 2057 the bottom of the polka on model 2 seems to be staying in the same spot but the top of it seems to be going up so you know I I didn't think that it it was um but I I could look at the model again I I thought that it stays level but I see what you're saying thank you um so before we make a motion to refer to finance committee um I want to make a couple other observations this model assumes we're going ahead with the library it does and yet we may not but the reality is we're going to spend at least that much money to repair the library so taking the library out of here does not all of a sudden create a huge cash flow yeah because I think then we would have a different problem you know to solve which is the maintenance of that building uh similar to um any of the other projects you know the maintenance of the current fire station the maintenance of the current DPW building um so that and I I would say too that um the advantage of both the school and the library project is that they were able to secure other funds that make the overall cost of their projects um less significant in these models because of the matching funds that they were able to acquire fire and could we um or should we be available to acquire similar types of funds for DPW or fire then we would be in a much better situation but at this time I don't know of any programs for that sticking to the library it is also my understanding that based on our Mo MOA that we have with the library that by a certain year I believe it's 2026 they have to secure the balance of the money owed to us not at the town's expense that is my recollection of the mo MOA and George you showed us that last time it's also linked to completion of construction and so construction is later that date is later so no we don't get all the money in 26 which would be really nice if we don't get yes one way or the other but what I am saying is the securing of the balance is on the library at the end not us the other piece is um I just want to mention two things positive this does not take into account a possibility of a wonderful gift it does not like we have seen from other towns and one of the things that has happened in those other towns is that they have involved those institutions in the planning and so I want to make sure that as we go forward we involve our highered institutions in the planning because that may incentivize them to come forward with some money the other thing it does hasn't take into account is the fact that we have two rep our representative and our Senator both along with the mass Municipal Association have already said that one of their biggest priorities this year even though they are slimming down their priorities is a municipal building Bond municipal building authority that would cover other buildings besides libraries and schools and so there may be some ways in which we could receive relief down the road and I don't want to lose sight of those I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we should be advocating for those I don't want to lose sight of the fact of the role in the council in advocating for those and I they have been mentioned in ongoing conversations with both uh representative Dom and Senator Comerford um with that I think what we need is a motion to refer to the finance committee I don't know that the finance committee is actually the committee for the site but I don't see what other committee it would go to so somebody want to try a motion well I guess my question is what's getting referred and well the model and then a recommendation to come back on which one of the which one of the models the one two three or four so we we imagine that would be a question that would be addressed in the B budget guidelines in which case we don't need a referral to finance committee okay if you wanted to take up the question of solidifying the locations along with the budget guidelines which might make sense then we can hold that to December 16 until instead of December 2 I think we need some questions from people our discussion on that yes is that acceptable that all rests with Finance um I'm not sure that the finance committee can make a decision on citing I agree with that right I think the council that that's a council decision I don't think there's a committee to refer it to but the the qu Point you're making Athena and Paul is that the issue first of all of the borrowing I mean the uh reserve of 10.5 versus lower that's rest with finance committee to recommend and the issue of the model could be uh wrapped into the financial guidelines yeah I mean it's already but not this presentation but the financial guidelines has always touched on those four building projects to begin with so I've made some notes about as I redraft those guidelines tomorrow um to talk about the models so that draft some language related to that thanks does finance committee have any further questions then about how they see all this because we're kind of we're not referring it to you but we're assuming we're going to see some reflection of this back in the guidelines comfortable got it George so on December 2nd we will still be presented with a decision related to sighting yes thank Kathy I'm just going to volunteer to send my questions in writing to you because I am going to miss one of the finance committee meetings before we're supposed to do this in Council I'm going to be I know I know in a place that does not have internet some of us are envious um okay thank you are there any other questions on this Melissa thank you you have done a absolutely terrific job of filling in a huge hole in a conversation that this Council has been having for a long time with your coming back with your coming on board we're now able to continue that conversation and thank you for putting all the effort you did into making this presentation tonight thanks okay um me find my agenda yeah yeah I had my hand up oh I'm sorry Andy the one thing that I think that might be help for for the council discussion is that some committee um at least make inquiry of the staff leadership and invite others from the staff of the affected departments on location and plan for their comments so that they can be um reflected is information available for discussion of site location fill um awkward making assumptions that this has support of either the line staff or the management staff of the key departments that we're talking about so we work through our department heads and this has been vetted through our department heads nobody's super happy about everything and I can guarantee that uh it's either at the size the SC the scope or the scale um everybody has an ideal situation but this is the the project this is the the model that we can move forward on and they I think the uh initiative of getting a new building outweighs most everything you talked to different staff members they're all over they're different all over the map but you know what this is I think what's important is for our department heads to be the ones that say this this will work for our department if there are more specific questions that counselors have about the sites that um we can try and answer before the next meeting if you would send those on and can look for answers before the second okay thank you we're going to move on to 8C it's a proposal to establish school zones at amest Regional Middle School and amest Regional High School I'm going to put a motion on the floor seek a second and then go to TSO for a report the motion is to establish a school zone for the amist Regional Middle School with two parentheses 2 20 M hour school zone signs installed one on South side of chesten street for eastbound traffic and one on the east side of High Street for Northbound traffic with school zone pavement markings in accordance with the manual of uniform traffic control devices and the Massachusetts amendments to this manual is there a second Lorde second Lord second uh I Andy is it you or George that's speaking to this I think I'm the one who's speaking to it it would be pretty brief because we provided the report from the committee which has the maps included that were prepared uh at on behalf of the committee by uh the department of uh Public Works DPW um I my my reflection on this though is that at the last meeting that it was voted for referral because of two concerns that we wanted to address um and uh in particular one was uh to confirm that we can site a uh schools Zone um and particularly on triangle Street whether that was uh permissible under law regulations and the manual uh and second one was uh whether uh there was a desire from from at least one counselor that there'd be more specificity about what changes to the public way were than um was in the original suggestion and U so we took that very seriously and uh with the cooperation of the department we really were able to move it very fast um and uh consistent with the uh process used to establish a school zone the last time this happened uh back when it was done for the Fort River School when there was no school zones at the Fort River School um it uh started with um the department asking it's engineer who happened to be Jason skills then and is Jason skills now to um investigate and uh make a presentation which um he did very quickly and very thoroughly and uh so I uh want to take this opportunity to recognize uh uh Jason and Gilford for having done this quality work in an accelerated time um the last thing that I wanted to note was that there was also a question about the hours in which the school zone would be effective and for the reason stated in the uh committee report we don't include that in the proposed motion and don't and our suggesting that the it is not really not a question for the council that um the existence of the school zone affects the public way and is an effect uh decision of the council but the the timing uh is subject to change on a fairly fre uh frequent basis as needs come there is no precedent in any of the elementary schools of um The Keeper of the public way whether it have been the select board or the council having done so so that um we um adhered for um all of those reasons to not include that aspect of it in this proposal of the uh DPW staff Jason in particular is attempting to consult with schools to establish times but we suggest that that be done administratively by the town manager in consultation with the superintendent of Public Works so that's the committee report thank you and I would I just want to note that we have two motions for this the first one we we already made in seconded is for the middle school are there any further questions councelor hanii it's unclear in the report you had a statement that was a sentence that was embedded within the time issue that you just address that the school superintendent had not responded to DB W's inquiry was that inquiry just about times or was that about the need for school zones completely sorry it's not okay I was just about the question of times the uh I think that the schools were supportive of having school zones established but the timing at which the uh lights are uh Flash and therefore they become effective was not uh responded to and that's U the aspect was referred to thank you Anna uh I apologize I I did read the memo I'm trying to reckon with not having the times in the motion but the Massachusetts uniform B code says that they have to have the times um or at least say like when children are present and so will it have any sort of verbage on there or I'm I'm a little sorry and I apologize I'm trying to flip between three things just to settle it before it goes to a vote but maybe you can answer me faster than I can flip between tabs so are you waiting to see about the times and how is that then not out of alignment with what the um traffic code requires Andy well Al Al I can say is what I said before that we don't have a presedent for it it was not done with Ford river which was 2017 and the last time we established a school zone it has not been objected to it has been assumed that um the uh timing would be an effective question to be determined by the um uh administrative staff along with the superintendent U and uh you know there their days that there's uh schools not session there days that schools are in session for part of a day but not an entire day there days when there's activities that go on later and uh think that for uh practical reasons that if we can give flexibility to the uh when that's operational it makes sense for all concern uh Lynn if I may I spoke with the superintendent about this question and he said that the like Andy just said it's variable and that we're able to modify it based on the school schedule so that's something that would be modified on a routine basis okay I think where my confusions coming in is that it the times can be modified but it it says it has to be posted on the sign and it makes sense that that didn't happen for Fort River Andy because it was updated in 2022 and so I'm just trying to figure out where if it's if it if I'm misinterpreting it and Athena if you're saying Guilford was said it doesn't need to be on the sign um because it also says it needs to be uh if there's flashing beacons the municipality has to keep those written on file so I'm just I'm I'm kind of match everything up if we're not putting the hours on the sign yet we yeah the motion itself says in accordance with the manual of uniform traffic control devices in Massachusetts amendments to this manual so those are part of the manual the motion would say you have to follow that right but if if TSO didn't establish those or write them the signs won't go up until the school committee decides on them no no staff would carry that out in accordance with the traffic manual like the motion says so uh if the council approves this motion then the DPW superintendent will make sure that the sign is posted in accordance with the amendments to the manual I'm just trying to figure out what the sign's gonna say um because it'll say what the manual says but the manual says that we have it's just once you decide the hours the sign has to say the hours so the hours will it will say the school hours it it's a it it can say there's options that's why I'm that's why I'm wondering right so the options are either you set the hours and you have to put them on there and each each municipality can set the hours or it can say um it will say flashing when school is in session or when children are present or school days and and so I'm just trying to again like I'm trying to figure out what the sign's going to say because it we have options there according to the code all of them would be in accordance with the code but who's deciding that option so my understanding was that like Andy mentioned we didn't have an opportunity to speak with school staff and ask ask for their preference um if this moot motion is approved then the DPW superintendent would do that before printing those signs and posting them if the council feels strongly about the exact words on the signs then you could postpone the vote on this Mo motion and or you could amend the motion to include a specific Choice I'm not proposing pulling it or amending it necessarily I just wanted confirmation that one of those terms would be used and that the schools would be um I think after our discussion with the council last time that the schools would be the entity determining what which uh verbage is used yes Andy the answer is yes Jason's map indicates when you look at the map itself the signs will say it begins school zone 20 miles per hour with applicable hours so I don't you know I think we can confirm with either Jason or or um Gilford after he's back guilford's uh out of town at the moment um what he exact what the exact expectations are of what goes on the signs but I think that the uh um intent was that they would be applicable hours in other words the whenever the uh Town manager agrees with the superintendent of schools the it's necessary and has a support of you know whoever he thinks is appropriate any further questions honor no I hope that the town manager in conversation with the superintendent will keep in mind the before school programs and after school sports as part of that discussion as I'm sure the superintendent will okay are there any other questions at all then we're going to if not we're going to move to a vote on the first motion which is the one that we we've made and seconded will begin with councelor i ly grimer and I councelor hanii hi Bob hegner I L councelor Lord hi Pam Ro yes councelor Ryan hi Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes uh that's absent and Anna Devon goth here hi it's your name unanimous the second motion to Esta and I seek a second to establish a school zone for the Ameris Regional High School with two in parentheses 2 20 M hour z school zone signs installed one on the north side of triangle Street for southbound traffic and one on the south side of triangle Street for Northeast bound traffic with school zone Pavements pavement markings in accordance with a manual of uniform traffic control devices and the Massachusetts amendments to this manual is there second second Dublin goth there thank you are there any other questions or comments yes councelor hanaki did TSO have any discussion about putting school zone signs on Grace Street maton Street um or the five sections of maton street that there are there's like five of them um or Taylor Street uh yes uh the superintendent of Public Works uh Mr Bing indicated that uh there was not sufficient traffic on any of those streets that would um warrant um a school zone and that that was the conclusion that he had reached in consultation with uh Mr SKS did they talk to the school superintendent about that because gry street is where the buses come up from Main Street to enter the high school bir drop off that's where they turn from gry Street onto matun did they talk to the superintendent about just triangle or any of the other locations I'm not sure if they did or not I mean they they did their they looked at from the traffic engineer point of view and where is the traffic and where these flashing lights would go is there any anything to prevent us from adding those at a future date no okay any other questions or comments moving to a vote I begin with myself M and I councelor hanii hi Bob hagner hi councelor Lord hi Pam Rooney yes councelor Ryme hi Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer toab yes councelor Walker yes Patti Angeles is absent hna Devon gothier I councelor ate I it's unanimous all right we're going to now move to the financial orders um and I I just want to ask chair of Finance before we move are there any of these you feel you need to speak to specifically with regard to any these perhaps the one on um the um wasti hauler okay so we we talked to well actually the TSO committee talked to Gilford uh about that and um he's he clarified that in fact we only need at this point in time a consultant to help write the RFP and and look at the results and he thought 75,000 was the right number for that um we discussed that we might need Outreach further we might need some help with Outreach further but we we don't know whether we're going to recommend going forward with it or not depends on the RFP results of the RFP so we couldn't really there wasn't any point to um authorizing that at the moment we believe it should just the the difference should the 50,000 difference should just stay in in in free cash for now okay okay all right so we're going to begin with these motions um having a held a public forum on November 18th with a recommendation by the finance committee to adopt appropriation and transfer order FY 25-12 a in order appropriating for from free cash to the stabilization fund for reparations and capital in prints as shown in page 14 of the motion sheet is there a second Shane second are there any questions or comments seeing none I'm going to move to vote councelor hanii hi Bob hegner hi councelor Lord nay Pam Rooney yes councelor Ryan hi Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes Pat Angels is absent Anna Dev gothier I councelor ete I and ly grimer is an i the votes 11 in favor one opposed and one absent moving to the next one having held a public forum on November 18th with a recommendation by the finance committee to adopt appropriation and transfer order FY 25- 05b and Order appropriating funds for a portion of the town of amer's capital program- roads and sidewalk repairs as shown on page 15 of the motion sheet is there a second second okay are there questions Anna it's also of a question more of a statement I I'm struggling with the these allocations and I after the presentation last week and knowing that there was fun there were funds returned from the the schools into this General pot that we're reallocating um I have questions about processes in terms of whether the schools put forward requests for th that funding um so that's kind of strain one that's more of the process question for this but I have to say with this I I would like to see a minimum of um and and it pertains I'm picking on this one particularly but I'd like to see a minimum of 56,0 821 and honestly I would like to see this entire sum from the surplus funds re allocated uh to the schools we don't have the master plan for roads and sidewalks uh that we've been waiting for and I know that costs have Skyrocket on on these but we've upped that funding significantly in past budgets uh there was one and a half million in fy2 specifically for for roads and sidewalks and to be honest with you I'd rather have our school buses driving over potholes to schools that are healthy and functional than driving over really smooth roads to a Workforce of teachers that's crumbling and fewer options and unhealthy spaces to learn in so I can't support this amount of funding for roads and sidewalks without allocating a significant amount to the schools from uh the surplus funds that we have okay councelor hanaki so I've been thinking the same thing while I supported this in finance um in the last six years on the council there have been many counselors that have pushed for roads and sidewalks and spending on roads and sidewalks almost in front of anything else and I've never been comfortable with it I've gone along with it I there are some roads in town that are crap but um to me the roads are not in as dire a situation as many people paint them um and after looking at our fy2 allocations in capital it is striking to me that and I'm going to exclude the region and talk about the region in a different breath but that of the four or 5 million that was allocated in fy2 capital through jcpc very little of it actually went to the elementary schools um given the split of operating budgets between the three or four functional areas the capital split doesn't always seem as sort of near split like that I'm going to talk about the region a little bit because I think there's a misunderstanding from from a number of people in town about how region um Capital spending works the regional school committee has to make a vote on their capital allocations and then only if they vote does it come to the four towns to say yay or nay and so while the Region's Capital allocation and our budget out of that five or so million is only about 400,000 we've in my time on the council not said no to a request from the regional school committee regarding Capital other than as it relates to asttr turfer Turf on a track I'm sorry to have to qualify that but but beyond the track we've always said yes to whatever the region has asked for for Capital and so if people are frustrated with regional Capital spending they really do need to start with the Regional School District not with us um but that being said I think it's time we wait to allocate a million dollars to Capital spending outside of the capital um stabilization fund to see if the regional school committee or the ammer school committee have cap Capital needs that could be used and better support our town Beyond roads and sidewalks because I don't think the roads and sidewalks are as dire as some of the needs that may not have been asked for by the school committees or that maybe have been asked for by the school committees but because of how the jcpc report and requests come through the manager we don't know how those um advocacies have been working and may not have had as much advocacy within town to jcpc as they may be needed so I want to wait on this one leave it in free cash and come back to it so I'm going to vote no to keep it in free cash basically to in hopes that we will be able to come back to it in a month or two Kathy Shane of course it would have been nice to have more of this discussion in the finance committee but um I'm on jcpc and there were no requests for schools for the current year there are a few for Crocker Farm going out in spaces um but they weren't made as urgent so they weren't they weren't buying for the budget we have so so if we decided to decrease this and push this into a capital budget I would like to say it's for the schools to come to us so what you're both act saying is some part of capital so we're in fact if we're keeping the 10.5 we're adding another million or another something because if you look backwards what we've done with the Surplus at the end of the year we did put a million dollars into track and field out of surplus we put it'll be more than a million to track and field from our community preservation act funds emmer Community pres so it's not that there's nothing been going in there weren't any Capital requests from Regional that were big like that as you've just said we need to have those requests the big request for the elementary school was to build a new school and that's a $99 million project it's been funded in a different way but the other school pieces have been some it some different pieces they've all been approved so if the intent is to move more of it into school Capital we need Capital proposals so I would be comfortable with lowering this not by all of it but maybe half of it and saying it's in addition to the 10.5 earmarked for schools to come we're going to have a surplus in the current fiscal year unless something goes crazy with our revenues because the same revenues that were under predicted that gave us the Surplus this year are also for FY 25 so there will be a surplus the end of when we at fourth quarter a year from now so I don't know how to Grapple with the absence of capital proposals from schools with the desire to spend some of the money on schools but I'm willing to do a there's an extra amount of money schools come in and if Crocker's roof so Crocker's roof the hbac system are the two big ones sitting on it if the hbac system is ready to get redesigned let's do it you know and and move it onto the do it list rather than the future list which is the way it was presented to us and anyone who wants to see these you can see them out in the years but it wasn't that they were moved off a list they just weren't even on the list of requests Andy well couple things one is I would make no assumptions about what's going to happen in the next fiscal year that we're currently planning for there have been so many changes on the federal level and U it is going to um come down to States and localities in all sorts of unpredictable ways so I would not um I would suggest not projecting that we're going to have some kind of large Surplus um at the end of the year that we haven't even developed a budget yet for um so I I know we're talking about the current one but there have been people who have made a couple comments about oh gee we're going to get a bunch of money again next year I don't think that we can make that assumption and that's the only Point that's the reason that I made that point uh but the second thing is that uh I I Ur on roads I Ur two things one is that I urge all of you to um raise your hand if you've heard from any of your constituents that they really are happy with our roads and sidewalks and um if nobody's raising their hand I'm going to make an assumption but um the other thing that we're going to have to Grapple with is that um I'm not um saying that TSO is going to recommend the specific proposal for Southeast Street um in front of the new elementary school um we're not even close to making that determination and uh I think we've heard a lot of uh reasons uh that have been presented to us as to why this is um an important project but may not be the right solution uh but one of the things that we do know is that there is going to have to be a solution that the school was built um at the decision of the building committee at the best location that it determined appropriate for the school and they have come up with a spectacular um proposal for building a school in that location but the one thing that was not addressed in their deliberations was the question of what we're going to do about uh essentially doubling the size of the school and getting the school buses and the um parent and staff cars in and out of there on a regular basis particularly when it coincides with morning rush time as people are trying to get to UMass and uh so we do know that something is fairly significant is going to have to be done there and we have no apparent funding for that so that is going to come out in the end from um Town Capital funds and is going to drain what we can do in the future for roads I suggest that we do as much as the roads as we can and Mr moring has indicated that uh if this money is allocated that there will be no problem getting it into a contract for this next year councilor Ry so we've taken $500,000 out of our capital budget for Road and so one of the reasons I was pleased by this is that at least would help make up that um I think it we clearly see the need I'd be sympathetic to um using some of this Surplus for Capital needs related to the Regional Schools if we actually had some kind of request um but we don't we have a real genuine need for roads and sidewalks um and we have 500,000 just been removed so I would urge to keep this uh as it is Anna so just to confirm um does the region come the region does not come to jcpc so just the elementary schools come to jcpc so that would explain why no Regional stuff comes to jcpc and then you know I mean jcpc has seen requests from the elementary schools mostly Crocker as the other ones have deferred it for for so long because they're hoping for that new building um but we also in our jcpc report talked about how there's $6 million of anticipated expenditures for Crocker between fiscal year 27 and 29 we talk about how we might fund those um or how they might be funded from external sources but we know they're coming so and and Andy to answer your question I haven't asked people the question of do you think our roads are great but what I have heard a lot from my constituents is they're prioritizing the schools over everything else right now and they want me to do the same as their representation I think it's really unfortunate that we've set up the schools against the roads because they're different constituents in our in many ways but more importantly I had the privilege of listening into the FI finance committee this last Friday and I heard some really really outstanding suggestions for where we might find money so that we could give the schools more money in the upcoming budget those particularly came from councelor hanii and also councelor Shane and so I really felt like that was going in the right direction when we when we decide not to continue to invest in our roads I'm not happy about having not having a fiveyear plan either but when we decide to not continue to invest on our roads we ALS so continue to not listen to a whole another segment of our population who is complaining all the time about our roads so I'm I don't see this as a this or that I see this as continue on that wonderful conversation in finance committee that you were having last Friday and continue to invest in our roads so that we can now book for next spring because the money is there because if the money isn't there we can't book for next spring so I'm I just don't like saying roads or schools I think there's plans out there that can come to both fra I'm sorry CER I'd just like to say that uh from the residents who speak to me a lot more are concerned about the roads and they are roads that are quite d and a lot of people drive on these roads bike on these roads walk on these roads where cars get to Swerve because of the roads I do welcome a conversation where we establish priorities for things that are concrete and so there is space to consider between the roads and the schools but I think we should pay attention to our roads um councelor Ryan oh actually Anna you have your hand up yeah so gosh that argument just really frustrated me Lynn they're not different constituents everybody uses the roads at most point at many points many people have used the schools we are not deciding to not invest in our roads we have done significant investments in our roads and sidewalks this year we saw parents coming out with dinner in the oven tonight we saw parents with their kids in the background talking to them while they sat in our meeting and made public comment for the first time many of them I would like us to I'm really glad that people had innovative ways to fund the schools super excited about it can't wait to hear them what if we also spent some time thinking about innovative ways to fund roads and sidewalks we cannot just rely on the squeakiest wheels and that's where we put our money we need to consider that folks who cannot come to these meetings or seek us out all the time or know how to reach us that just because they're not talking to us doesn't mean they do not have needs we cannot just address the people we hear from because they know how to squeak louder that's not to say their needs are not real that's not to say that roads and sidewalks aren't important but we know that the constituents who are most deeply affected by our schools are not the ones who have the opportunity to reach out to us as much as the folks who are not impacted by our schools so I just want us to consider when we use this madeup metric of how many people talk to us in district meetings or how many people can come to public comment this is not a true measure we need to listen to the priorities and take that in but we also need to think about who we're not hearing from and why and what they care about GE uh councelor Ryan I'm reluctant to use one-time money to address what are systemic problems if we were in fact talking about Capital needs and maybe that's what's being understood then I would have a different view but um the issues that have been raised uh in public comment this evening and other venues deal with long-term systemic issues and spending of these kinds of monies that are available by chance every year perhaps or not is not the wise use of those funds so I'm wondering in this discussion that was held in the finance committee whether these uh exciting new ways of helping to address the systemic issues in our schools involve the use of one-time funds I would imagine they didn't um so again my objection is not roads and sidewalk versus schools it's the proper use of this kind of money um and with the schools the issue is a systemic one it needs to be addressed and hopefully we'll find ways to address it um but this is not the way to do it Pam thank you um I could support holding off on this million dollars of Road money the school the the Regional School time to make an actual request um if if it worked in this manner we make a contribution toward a capital contribution uh toward the school system if that allowed them to then free up money for operations in some other manner um I would agree with George that I don't really want to be paying for um ongoing operations with guesstimated money I know we've had a surplus the last couple of years um is there any way that the school if if we vote voted no tonight on the on the particular $1 million does that give the school time to uh come forward with a request and and is that even a logical tradeoff within the school system I'm looking at I'm looking at the finance people and the town manager for that I'm not sure what your question is if if we uh if the school came to us and Regional School came to us and said we need $500,000 for uh physical physical plant maintenance and we provided that $500,000 which allowed them to then turn around and go to their operations and say okay we've covered this this uh Capital need uh we're going to free up money for our teachers and let them do the math within their bounds so typically this Regional School District makes a recommendation at the at a four towns meeting and they make their presentation during their budget process on what their Capital needs are for multiple years and then those for communities go back to their authorizing bodies which is the Town Council in our community or in the town or the town uh meetings in the other three towns and get Appropriations from those committees based on a plan of action of um what I think you're referencing is like would the town make a gift to the Regional School District that would be a gift they could do with it however they would like to use it for but I think that needs to start with an appropriation request from the town manager at this point Point Pam was there further questions okay Jennifer yeah I'm kind of picking continuing that please speak to um continuing that line of questions but so if we were to split the difference since we reduced what was um appropriated for roads and sidewalks I believe last year by $500,000 so we AU authorized $5,000 from the free cash for roads and sidewalks and then were to give the other $5,000 as a gift to the regional schools for something like repairing the getting rid of the mold in the middle school or towards the a new roof in the Middle School which we're always hearing is in dire which it is in dire condition is is that an option I mean when we give a gift we can give it for a specific reason or we could or they could ask discuss and I guess that's what I'm wondering can we split the difference and give it as a gift to the Regional Schools so the question before the council is whether you want to appropriate a million dollars to roads or not that's the only question that's before the council um if you were I mean there are a million needs in our community if you want to put money into a roof the DPW is waiting for a roof there's a million things that we could put money into the question before you tonight and the only thing that's on the agenda is a million dollars for roads or not it's a it's a or you could lower the amount um which is within your purview but that's really what the question is okay um are there any other so the the motion on the floor is about approp appropriation and transfer order FY 25- 05b it's on page 15 of the motion sheet that motion's been been made and seconded are there any further comments Alicia um thank you Lynn so I think I am having a difficult time processing my thoughts around what is being discussed right now um because I think a lot of things can be true at one time and I think that that's the case here um and so I really appreciate um Anna's reflection and and wanting to Pivot here in response to some of the overwhelming comments that we heard today at our budget forum and I think that that feels very appropriate uh for me right now as well to to really be responsive to what we're hearing in terms of the needs in our community and to at least give more time to think about ways that we could address these things whether or not it ends up being not voting to pursue money for repairs to roads and sidewalks then so be it um and I also know that our roads and sidewalks also need repair um and so I also don't like this idea of thinking that we have to take one or from the other um and I think Jennifer's suggestion of wanting Paul to consider and look into the possibility of presenting us with other options here um is a real possibility um and so I think that this is something that I supported at the finance level and I I do want to see some kind of investment in our roads and sidewalks but I do think that right now I'm prepared to vote no in the hopes that the town manager might consider an alter like proposing an alternative option to us where we might not have to pick one or the other or I know that's not what we're being asked to do but that's what the conversation has turned into and so can we consider other options at this point okay so the motion on the table is for the financial order the financial order which is on the motion sheets on page 16 is for million dollar to roads and sidewalks during this discussion there's been a variety of options thrown out but no motions one of the options thrown out is to reduce that number by 500,000 that would require a motion to reduce it and then we would then have to vote on the transfer order if we want something else to happen we don't have a financial order for anything else to happen so um at this point the motion on on the table is for the million dollars councelor ET I'd like to call the question okay the questions been called I'll second that thank you um we're going to vote the question's been called we move to a vote to the question being called um we're voting on whether to call the question or not this is on the question or not this is a vote to end debate yeah end debate exactly no question can be asked Bob hegner no no um I'm sorry clarify clarifying question so I don't it's clarifying or substantive but does that mean this million dollars goes away or comes back to us in we first of all vote on whether to end debate if we end debate we then move immediately to the question the motion that's on the table is the million dollars for roads and sidewalks then we continue to debate during which time somebody can offer an motion to amend okay does that does that clear it for everybody okay uh we start with i councel Lord hi Pam roone no councelor Ryan no Kathy Shane so I'm clear I'm voting to end debate now yes yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer to no councelor Walker yes Anna dein goth I councelor ET I Lyn grimer is an i councelor hanii i Bob hegner I okay we move immediately to the question the question is um whether or not to authorize to adopt appropriation and transfer order FY 2505b and Order appropriating funds for a portion of the town of Amber Capital program roads sidewalk repair any further question excuse me we just moved to the question okay uh in this case we begin with counselor I'm sorry pamon no councelor Ryan hi Kathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer to no councelor Walker no Anor Dev gothier no councelor I then gmer is an i councelor hanii no Bob hegner I councelor Lord Nay it's six to6 that's a failing vote it's a failing vote thank you okay that one fails we're skipping over the next one which is the issue of the sidewalk uh equipment and we're moving on to the motion to amend appropriation and transer Order uh FY 25-5 d and Order appropriating funds for a portion of the town of Amber Capital program waste huler study by reducing the appropriation from 125,000 to 75,000 is there a second second thank you is there anything else we need to discuss on this one okay yes quick question and that is if it reduces from 150 to to 75 or whatever the the difference is what happens to the difference that uh is um freed up stays in free cash it goes to it stays in free cash which means right okay any further questions right then we're going to start with councelor Ryan hi Kathy Shane tell me which one we're voting on right now we're voting on the money to we're voting to reduce the amount of the financial order for the waste huler from 125 yes yes Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer Tob yes councelor Walker yes Anna Devin goth i councelor r i Lyn grimer and I councelor hanii I Bob hegner I counselor Lord I Pam roone I okay that reduces it and so now the next thing we're going to do is actually vote the 75 okay so having held a public forum on November 18th with a recommendation by the finance committee to adopt appropriation and transfer order FY 25- 05d and Order appropriating funds for a portion of the town of ammer ammer capital program waste hauler study as shown on page 17 of the motion she sheet and amended by the redu reducing the appropriation amount to 75,000 is there a second second motion's been made and seconded are there further questions councelor Ryan am I voting yes I started last time okay I'll start with council with Kathy Shane think I'm mixing it up yes keeping you awake Kathy yes Andy yes um Jennifer Yes councelor Walker yes Anor Devon gothier I councelor ET I Lynn grimer I councelor hanii [Music] I Bob hegner hi councelor Lord I Pam Rooney yes councelor Ryan hi that one's unanimous okay having held a public forum on on November 18th with a recommendation by the finance committee to adopt appropriation and transfer order FY 25-16 I mean 16a and Order appropriated from freecash to the opioid settlement special Revenue fund is shown on page 18 of the motion sheet is there a second second are there any questions seeing none then in this case I believe I begin with Andy Steinberg yes Jennifer to yes councelor Walker yes Pat Angels is absent Ela Deon gothier I councelor ET I ly gasmer's and I councelor hanii I Bob hegner I councelor Lord I Pam broney yes councelor Ryan hi Kathy Shane yes it's unanimous 12 in favor and one absent okay we now move to the town manager evaluation um we can do this in a number of ways but let me suggest one way that we do it and that is that we have a conversation that stays at a high level and that you send me any edits Andor recommended changes and I will set a deadline for that and I bring it back to you as a next draft on December 2nd okay are there comments at this time see none okay P roone I would like to acknowledge the hard work of the staff and the town manager in accomplishing everything that gets done in this town on an annual basis so thank you counselor hanak um I think it was much better written than last year so I'm going to start with that so thank you because I know I was kind of hard on you Lynn last year um so thank you for for your care this year um the distribution of ratings by goal within counselor is really hard to interpret and read so I don't know I I understand what you're going for yeah I understand what you're going for but I want if there's a better way to do it um so I I would just ask that you think about that um and the only thing I was trying to show is that um people just rate things differently it's not for any other reason than to say you know some people just basically say it's this versus this and other people say it's this versus this I it was a way of stressing that point I actually considered not including this table okay and I I'm more than glad to eliminate it I could go either way um two other comments the first one is a couple places in here there's the use of um I or me I would get rid of those where a council I know it's probably from a cutpaste from comments but there were just a couple of them that just seem inappropriate and then the very first sentence um I know it's nitpicky but it reads the Town manager exceeded Town counselor's expectations in all but that's not actually accurate um because exceeded is commendable not satisfactory or commendable so it needs to say met or exceeded thank you or met because exceeded is met but exceeded is not accurate thank you all right are there any other comments Kathy um I'll just I've got a couple I went through in the time we had I actually read all 13 of our things pretty fast so there are a few places where I think you've pulled from only one or two but missed a place where seven or eight people said a similar things so I'll just flag those um yes and then Mandy's on the first sentence I'm not sure one of the goals infrastructure was even a majority manding so yes I was going to do met or exceeds what maybe on 12 out of 13 so I'll just double check my math on that I will check on that one one as well so I think infrastructure didn't meet the okay meet that so but but for the rest when I went through it it looked accurate just and in terms of the staggered bar by counselor which was no M so microscopic I couldn't read it I'm not sure it's worth doing so I I guess I'd Rich recommend deleting it and then saying counselor's opin counselor scores varied a lot and had some interesting variations C Bas and then do the link to the whole set of them okay all right anything else yes uh Bob hegner you had your hand up okay yeah sorry I just can't hear Bob on Zoom I'm sorry uh I for the third paragraph I would say seven or eight counselors rated the town manager cuz I had like 8.5 8.5 right 7.67 and seven in the four when I counted them up so I would just make that minor change fine I I will have to say when people have given me three point you know they basically I mean I had to come up with judgment calls and that frankly is one of the reasons why the one goal that's now in question is a judgment call so it's because of 3333 and 33 and you can continue it out um Bob was there anything else okay no that's all thank you thank you Andy yeah it's a fairly minor point but it's actually a factual question on page seven you refer to uh the University Drive area as a Village Center and actually under the master plan it's not it is not a Village Center and I think under the master plan map it might even be encompassed within the down within the downtown Zone because that's a circle when you look at the map and the master plan but I think that needs to be checked before that's assumed great thank you uh counc uh Pam roon I just had a quick question on the on the numbers um of on the top line of your of your tallies how do you get a 8.5 or a 7.5 because several counselors came in with things like 0 five and they came in with two x's so I assigned them I I would read through then I would assign them 5050 or in one case one counselor said four this way and two that way so I said 80% and 20% that's one reason why I want you to check and tell me what you want ass signed for those percentages thank you that answers my question okay um Jennifer I'm looking at you well that's one reason I look forward to the next agenda item where you set the goals and the format for next year because they're so spare it within one category that it's hard it's impossible to give one but I just also want to is there so you did a great job but there a couple typos so how please send those to me okay okay and I will tell you I did spell check on this thing spell and grammar you you e it didn't pick it up okay it did not pick it up Andy and I just had this conversation earlier he's had the same problem with spell and grammar check lately too it doesn't work okay um counselor Lord you had your hand up it was going to be a quick edit that I'll email you okay so this is what I need you to do track change send it to me I would like to receive it if at all possible by the end of the day on Wednesday because I really don't want to spend my Thanksgiving doing this okay are there any other questions or comments I I don't think I have it in Word sorry I'll send it to you in word it's in it's in word on the I will send it to you in word Thena you put the word version of this in with all the others right yeah I think I put it in word and SharePoint I'm shint okay don't worry I'll send it to you with reminder get it to me by Co Wednesday okay um are there any other questions or comments seeing none we're going to move on Anna you want to talk about next year there will be no decimal points allowed thank you you're welcome all right so um I wanted to talk through this because it was a very late ad to your packet but in the packet there was a uh colorful chart that go has been working with to draft out the 10 manager goals for 2025 um and I wanted to walk through the goal areas this is where go has been focused thus far um and we are now going to be shifting our focus into the objectives and action items in our coming meetings um thank you to everyone who sent me feedback on the prior uh list and um I'm hoping I'm just going to say this my goal is that by bringing repeated iterations to this Council that I will encapsulate your feedback as we go through and when we get to that final discussion there won't be major foundational shakeups that's my goal just going to name that now that means you have to give me your feedback throughout this process please don't save it till the end I will be very sad so and if that's what you want there are plenty other ways to make that happen um so goal sorry it's late I'm I'm tired goal area uh many of these stayed the same but what go ended up doing was consolidating several of them that felt redundant uh as a reminder goal area is the biggest broadest picture of what we're focusing on so we are going so far with climate action stayed the same community health and safety stays the same I'm focusing just on the purple column right now uh economic Vitality housing affordability those are all the same racial equity and social justice all the same then we started to consolidate a bit more so the first mega category N I don't like that first Consolidated category is Administration and Leadership this is a combination of the prior categories including personnel management and finance this is really what go was thinking about was the um sorry that line shouldn't be bold is it still bold in there yeah it shouldn't be bold in there but that's my bad um this is really the town manager doing the work of managing the town right this is the managing the people um and uh the the workforce and the financial health of the town so Administration and Leadership administering the duties of the town and then the next combo category is infrastructure management maintenance and land stewardship so this was a combination of the prior categories uh including infrastructure and capital projects um you know we know that our capital projects are critical and very important and what giobal was discussing is that breaking them out into their own goal area isn't necessarily helping in terms of getting them to be they aren't their own Big Goal area that's part of our infrastructure it's part of our our Capital development so we added those in together uh and then lastly the last combination was community and strategic relationships and this brought together Community engagement relationship with the council and relationship with higher ed so these three areas yeah the three management goals this really is us trying to encapsulate the man the executive part of the Town manager's job right so working with the with the residents working with the council um keeping our buildings functional and our fleets moving and uh not financially tanking the town so those are those are my initial proposed names for the categories but we landed on this so within those go did start discussing let me pause there actually we will talk about the blue column in a second but just for goal areas I'd like to see if there's any feedback on these uh specifically the Consolidated ones or if there's anything that you're like we don't need economic Vitality anymore take it out uh any any feedback on the goal areas thus far I am not scroll Athena could you scroll up to the top and this is in the packet uh now as well Kathy I applaud the effort to get to fewer total so I think I think it's a great idea that you've gotten to fewer total so my request as you continue to work with this is that Within these categories make sure they're really distinct because if I'll take a couple examples community health and safety and later on uh race race and ethnic race and discrimination had some similar actions underneath them so if they're not distinct enough combine them you know in terms of whatever comes on the action item uh similarly in economic Vitality it had a lot of housing in it so I found myself looking at housing under that one and housing again under housing so you know just make do a similar it goes in once not twice uh because housing clearly is part of Vitality so I don't care where it goes but but don't have similar actions so that would be my request in doing this then the very last one if you go to the very bottom um your consolidation I like consolidation the word on uh very very last one keep going there community and strategic relationships I think when it comes to the university Amis college and Hampshire College we're looking for money not just getting along well so you know in terms of Investments uh so it's the wording on this one on our not not the piece but just good relationships that we collaborate and we communicate it's strategic you know strategic Partnerships that yield results for the town um so just try to figure out some way of wording that and I think what you meant to do with the last one is similar it's we're looking for changes in state policy that will help the town so this is the executive and the legislature working together to get resources for the town so it's not just policy leader but it's you see see what I'm saying you know that are you talking about in the blue the bo the blues assistant support the council and providing policy leadership developing revising it it there's there's a piece in this in that the goals were actually again to be focused on areas that would really help the town so just I like the combination but just make sure each of those three is distinct and focused thank you um any other feedback focusing per ideally first on the uh purple anything else on pink purple whatever I don't see any other hands okay so then the blue so go didn't get all the way through blue and so I want to just kind of reiterate that these are very much in pencil um and not everything has been pulled over yet I don't want anyone to read this and think we're only pitching one thing in some of these categories or nothing in some of these categories so um we pulled over some of the objectives just from the um from the last version um and the ones that I want to focus on and I'm going to look to my folks who are at go at our last meeting I actually Athena if it's okay I'd like to work from the bottom up um and thank you uh because these are the ones we really we talked about the most so if we can start with community and strategic relationships one thing that go is working it's a loose guideline but we're seeking to have no more than three objectives per um goal area if one needs to have more we can have that discussion but as a as kind of our guidelines that's what we're seeking to to try to hit um and this you know we've got three here focusing on um supporting the council building relationship or developing positive relationships uh with the uh the colleges um and then we have uh policy leaders ship with the council so we haven't articulated necessarily the community engagement aspect of this yet we know that's on the docket too but again knowing this is in pencil would love to hear thoughts just firstly on community and strategic relationships just to keep my head on straight thanks councelor hanii so this was the one that stuck out to me in that you combined Community um Community engagement into this and then didn't really talk about it yet it's not but what also struck me was two of the objectives related directly to the council and so to me that seemed like both of them could be combined into one if especially if you're STI sticking to try to stick to three one is Council objective one is higher ed objective and one is community engagement objective seems to make sense to me thank you Bob hegner yeah I was going to make the same point that I I didn't see residents or community at all in here and we just need to put it in somewhere absolutely thank you Jennifer was I agree with what Bob just said and also with Kathy you know really a large part of the Strategic partnership with the ammer college in UMass does is related to financial support I let's just cut to the chase um yeah so even like to address areas of mutual concern yes but what's our concern it feels like we I don't know that the institutions see it as Mutual concern it is they okay Anna no thank you um if that's it for that one the couple more that we did get to uh infrastructure management maintenance and land stewardship um again these are kind of keeping this broad we had maintain and manage the town's capital and public assets uh and make progress on major capital building Investments consistent with Council votes please scroll up thank you sorry um and and I want to be clear on this one because there was a lot in the old goals and there were a lot of things listed here that were more of action items um I think one of them was talking about Surplus property one was you know uh presenting a financing plan those are all action items and so these were the these were the two bigger picture outcomes that we um were working working on and you got room for one more if you if you see it but any feedback on these ones I see no hands excellent I mean not excellent always welcome your feedback sorry um okay Administration and Leadership so we got please scroll up we've got four in here um they average outfall I promise so um effectively oh this was one we had a lot of discussion about and Mandy I'm I'm seeing if you've already raised your hand okay uh because there were a lot of really specific references to sections of the charter in the last set of goals and what we tried to do here was say look do your job as it's outlined in the home R Charter we tried to really Zoom it out a little bit and the reason was I think George raised this I want to give George credit for this um George raised the point of the Town manager goals are a really helpful tool to use when we communicate with the public about what we're working on uh and and what the council does and what the town is working on really um and we want this to be readable if folks would like to reference the home RO Charter they can go back and look for the um operations of the town and the role of the Town manager in it um we felt that it got a little bit muddied up when we started referencing specific sections uh and then and we didn't want to leave anything out um then the next part we had here was maintain essential Municipal services and improve the delivery of services to restaurants restaurants I'm hungry I think uh residents and businesses I have so many snacks uh so this was a combination of two last time there was one that said maintain services and then one that said improve Service delivery um and so we worked that into two we would like them to not get worse is the idea um or sorry we went them the services to be maintained but improve the delivery of them where possible um Foster proactive anti-racist culture throughout all Town departments and uh effectively supervise and manage the town's Workforce to improve cooperation and coordination across departments to ensure the town's strong financial and fiscal health I think there's one more in the next oh it got broken up that's that's actually one one box it's once I think it's one box you don't think so are there any comments it might be two box ignore that sorry that is it's a separate one we have four five it's not pencil pencil um this one was really all about continue to give us balanced budgets we appreciate those that kind of thing um the fiduciary responsibility to the town sorry I was confused it will be a full sentence by the time it's done I promise okay no comments I'm trying to read Pam oh sorry Pam I was not clear in that conversation going back and forth if the if the um Financial the one we can't see it's its own it's its own box that was my mistake I think they are very I think they're quite separate and I wouldn't really want to see them mashed into the improved cooperation and coordination across Department they're just two different things it it was meant to be part of leadership and what Pam is saying she want would like to see it separated out yeah a fourth a fourth objective I'm going to make uh a note to have the discussion with go to confirm the way it was and to that that Pam noted to separate it out um okay as a searon thank you anything else give me one second to type that note councelor hanii move your hand up yeah with that fourth one um the way it reads are you re the effectively supervise and manage the town's Workforce to improve cooperation and coordination amongst depart across departments um I don't think that's the only thing we want the manager to do in supervising and managing the workforce so I think that's too specific as the objective at least I don't want him just to supervise and manage solely to improve cooperation and coordination um I I I want some other things in there too so I think that second half of that is a bit too specific for the objective okay thank you um you have your hand up still okay so the other areas we have not go I'm looking at you we have not really delved Dove we have not really discussed at length um we've pulled over uh from from prior uh from prior versions but we did cut a bit so um I don't necessarily want to go through these bit by bit with the c full counsil but would welcome typed uh emailed feedback um go will be continuing our discussion on this on Thursday so if you have this is the we're slowly moving objectives over from the um last year's goals so if you don't like anything that's penciled in here uh or you would like to see something else please tell me before Thursday um and I'm going to turn to my other go members to see if my tired brain missed something big no okay thank you um that'll do it so hopefully we'll come back to you again soon with uh some more full sentences in the objectives and a bit and we will also be meeting with Paul or I will at some point Paul will be um connecting with us to make sure that what we're bringing to the council is feasible um that's our a key priority as well okay thank you um we've done appointments we're going to move on to any Council uh any committee or liais on reports CRC Pam uh yes that there will be a meeting on 11:26 and that is a the opening of the public hearing for the University Drive overlay it will be immediately continued to December 3 um the meeting on the 11:26 will continue on as the solar bylaw I want to make note that we put the meeting time on 11:26 for 6: pm and I just want to double check with all the members because that's what the Public Notices and um it's 6 o'clock not 6:30 I've already said I can't make it if it's going to be a full meeting you said it was going to be longer than 10 minutes and I can only do 10 to 15 minutes so I won't be there so it's too late to change it back to a normal 6:30 time period because I've already uh noticed the meeting for 6: PM so let's be clear you have to notice that hearing for six o'clock the hearing's already been published for 6:05 the meeting is posted for 6 o' do you have a quorum for that night I believe so okay then you can convene the hearing and continue on okay um anything else okay uh Elementary School building committee anything Cathy uh well we met really briefly on Friday we might have been a historic brief time to hear an update that there is no update um however one of the things that's happening is we're maintaining that early sight package that uh investment will be ready to have the school built and you heard earlier that Paul still has no news when the AG is going to decide I mean I think one thing on this is that all three bids were below the budget we set um so hopefully when a decision comes we can move quickly the the only other thing to know is that Paul shared what we our attorney gave to the AG in terms of uh additional information that was requested and I've shared that with the committee right uh Bob Finance yeah the finance committee met the last two Fridays and I sent a report it's in the packet of of what happened um we're going to meet again this Friday uh we're going to focus on the guidelines and I guess we have to clean up the the the snow snow plow situation so uh um anyway um I think those are the the main things that we're going to focus on Anna you have a question um it's okay it's just a statement uh but it is for finance I I really do hope the finance committee will prioritize the schools and consider recommending a higher allocation as discussing um budget guidelines uh recommending a higher allocation go to the schools this year I think that a lot of our Council in reflecting on our Council discussions a lot of our conversation has felt like we are attributing much of this to planning and um or or a la a perceived lack of planning or something like that and and I just I don't think that anyone on this council is is thinking that that is the only reason right I think that that's just been a dominant narrative for some reason uh and the the bigger reality here is that towns across the state are grappling with this and really deeply deeply struggling uh and I I just would like to share my thought with the finance committee members as you go into these budget guidelines that we as a municipality have an opportunity to meet this moment like we have met other moments in the past and with the creation of other departments and changing budgets for that uh we have an opportunity to meet this moment and support our schools and I hope that the budget guidelines will reflect that Kathy I would just respond to that uh look closely at the various forecasts and figure out where we get the money from because that's exactly what we started to say you know if it was instead of three something more if if the one-time gift wasn't a gift it went on to the base each of those raises those lines and we can't have a deficit so trying to look at how how do we do that so that that's that's the um uh and these are guidelines you know so we have to figure out some instructions that achieve that thank you uh go anything else on uh go is meeting on Thursday right yeah Thursday um and we will continue our discussion on the town manager's goals we also will be um work working on the 2025 Human Rights Day Proclamation and the uh Proclamation that was referred to us today regarding the expansion of the uh uh opposing the expansion of the Pioneer Valley Chinese immersion school so if you have thoughts on um either of those remember go is just looking for clarity consistency and actionability uh otherwise just you can tell us how much you appreciate us that's fine thank you uh Jones Library Pam and Paul there will be a meting tomorrow for the Jones Library building committee uh there are a flurry of invoices to be paid for uh Services during the value engineering phase that uh that went they went through prior to the bid and I'm hoping that there will be a pretty robust conversation about the next steps for the historic preservation act section 106 and how it gets addressed uh coming quickly okay um I just need to note that um Alicia left the meeting at uh 10:54 okay uh are there any questions for Pam uh Andy TSO well you have the TSO oh I'm sorry Jennifer you had your hand up so maybe I should wait till the town manager maybe yeah okay I okay question about the Jones great uh TSO Andy uh you saw the TSO report of the last two meetings and so unless you have questions about that I will uh not go any further into that subject because uh but there is one thing and that is that uh as you know the most difficult assignment that you have given to us probably because the most difficult one that was given to the council was the uh Fort River location School the uh proposal for revising traffic between uh Maine and uh College streets and uh we were as I have previously reported uh trying to organize a joint meeting with uh Transportation advisory committee and the disability access advisory committee of three committees um and and uh Guilford was going to not only be president himself and with his staff but he was going to try and include the um representative of the firm that helped that advised them on the design and the likely date is now uh December 12 I believe at either 5:00 P PM or 6 PM uh that has had the greatest uh uh degree of uh positive response from all three committees um and uh so I'm trying to finalize that but I wanted to alert the entire Council to it and uh I think you have to uh um advise the uh president as to whether it needs to be um a meeting of the entire Council in addition to the three committees um I uh not the one who makes that decision what date is that uh December 12th is that that's right this aena December 12th at what time either five or 6 and it's a joint meeting of p and daac trans advisory and disability access advisor and TSO it's going to be a hybrid meeting so that it'll be um in person for anybody who can attend and uh we're going to make accommodations uh for those members of any of the Committees who cannot attend in person um unless the chair of TSO would like it to be a committee of the whole I don't necessarily see it unless there are so many people who would like to go from the council and if they do then we'll make it a committee of the whole you can also sit in the audience or not so I'm not seeing overwhelming so it sounds to me like it's going to be just a joint meeting okay [Music] um any leaon reports Town manager report Paul sure so as you enter your seventh hour of this meeting and breakfast will be served um thank you I did just have one thing I want to mention to the counselors is that when you go home tonight you may Smell Smoke there's a large brush fire at UMass between Orchard Hill and Main in the main UMass campus about two acres were involved so it's contained but uh they'll go back to the site but it's still smoldering so they'll go back to the site tomorrow to keep working on it but just so you know what's going on are questions of the Town manager Jennifer um yes I had a question the um please speak yeah the transmitter we got today about uh an extension being requested of the mblc you could just speak to that sure so um the mblc one of their conditions said they wanted to use have us sign a contract by 1231 which is not going to happen happen um so we've asked for a three-month extension just to give us more time my question had been I I was confused then are we um will the contractors be asked to hold their quotes because they've been asked to hold it till the end of the calendar year the no the contractors uh the due date for the contractors to hold their quotes is in January mid January so that's that was in the in the bid documents itself so if we need to go beyond that date they would be asked to hold their bids any further questions Jennifer and so and just to be clear we we went the three months just because just be safe we don't want to keep going back to them we could have asked for 30 days thought it's just as good to ask for three months make sure we have it all in place so it's to wait till the 106 review is complete that's that's a piece of it yes are there any further questions uh I sent you awn man oh you Town managers I sent you a president's report if you have questions you can either raise them now or write me about them um I did reformat it um and so and then with that I'm going to go on just future agenda items we on the December 2nd we do the state of the town we receive the other annual reports I've already started receiving them requested them about a month ago um and then we have resolutions we will be looking looking at the CPA appropriation for the track and field um we might be looking at Enterprise fund Appropriations um vote on any other Appropriations that Finance May recommend budget guidelines Town manager goals finalize the evaluation memo the roundabout for AMD Drive um the 225 calendar and um we will have an executive session where we will discuss Town manager compensation are there any other questions it's too much um with that are there any counsel comments Bob I just want to say uh thank the uh the town manager for sending out the memo today on the uh speed limits in town but I've already gotten a lot of requests to lower speed limits so I'm just throwing this out to the council if anybody hears of specific roads that people want let me know and I'll put them all together in one request and then we can make a request to the town manager to the superintendent of Public Works to see whether we could get uh changes in in speed limits that beyond the ones that because the map shows what the default speed limits are for Road roads other than well the specific speed limits for roads other than the default ones are there any other Council comments then I make a motion to adjourn I seek a second second dou go there thank you we move to a vote Jennifer Tob yes councelor Walker's absent Pat deangeles is absent honor Devin goth here hi councelor ete hi Lynn grimer is an i councelor hanii hi Bob hegner I councelor Lord hi Pam Rooney yes councelor Ryme hi nathy Shane yes Andy Steinberg yes the meeting's adjourned it's 11:23