##VIDEO ID:XBPZ3gg9WPY## hello everyone uh welcome to this public hearing of CPA fiscal 26 presentations and meeting of the community preservation act committee on December 12th 2024 I'm calling the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. we're meeting via Zoom remotely uh as permitted by the town of Amerson State this meeting is being recorded and will appear appear on the town of amorist CPA uh CPA web page I'm going to call on people now to make sure that we can all hear you and you can be heard uh I'm Sam I'm just gonna go right around uh if you can just uh speak up when I call your name uh David pres Katie present Jason present Tim present Matt present Robin present Bob present okay so uh seems we all can be seen and heard and uh we do have to have a minute taker for every meeting is there a volunteer do so for this meeting you the Jeopardy music if I had an auctioneer's voice I'd be using it um I'll do it soon a peace sign May the force be with you K thank you so uh it looks like we're all here there are eight sitting members of our committee because we don't currently have a leaone from planning um and so uh we're good to go now this is uh and was listed uh publicly in The Gazette as well as on the Facebook page and elsewhere the town website as a public hearing uh public hearings are required for CPA and uh annually and for the budget allocations to provide an opportunity for any member of the community and public who wishes to speak on any projects it's distinct from regular meetings so I have opened this meeting and I'm going to pause and give the opportunity for any member of the public who wishes to make any comment regarding any of this year's project submittals um or CPA related to uh speak up you can so there are there is nobody in the um audience right now so I suggest we just start with approving our minutes and uh couple of discussion items and then and anybody joins us before that's done then we'll sort of reopen the public hearing and allow anybody to speak otherwise we'll we'll move on if nobody attends the chance that somebody might be seeking to call in or speak via chat uh I just like to check that to make sure there's no attendees so there's nobody there I'm not seeing either I'll give a last call for public comment on the CPA projects for fiscal year 26 and wait 30 seconds Sam someone comes in in 10 minutes are you closing comments or are you allowing people I may allow comments but not as a portion of the public hearing uh I I'll need to close the public Hearing in order to commence a regular meeting according that's what we did last year so uh I my bias is to enable members of the community and public to speak uh we all have an interest in what they anyone might have say uh depending on when it occurs so I try to be flexible with that as flexible as I can but uh seeing no members of the community and no one calling in or chats uh I'm going to go ahead and close this portion of the public hearing I don't believe we need a vote to do so but I'm not certain of that um hly do you have any familiarity if that's required all right so let's cover ourselves uh I move to close the public hearing uh is there a second Bob second uh second second I hear from Bob uh any discussion okay roll call vote I vote in favor I uh David Williams I Matt hi Robin hi Tim hi Bob hi Jason Hi Katie hi motion passes 8 to zero one absent assuming it was needed if it's an unnecessary motion we did it anyway uh so now will'll open the regular portion of the CPA meeting and the first item of any CPA meeting is public comment so is there any public comment I say we reserve that till later if any body joins yeah I'm just following the agenda we'll move it later nobody's here so um next item on our agenda is to approve any outstanding minutes there were a few submitt of minutes uh to the committee and I guess I'll go in order uh the first set of minutes was July 29th of 20 24 um would anyone uh any committee members wish to make any comments or requested edits on those minutes I submitted them so I don't have any uh suggestions okay if there are no comments on the minutes or suggested ediots uh we can vote to approve uh is there a motion to approve the minutes of July 29th 2024 so moved Robin yep is there a second I'll second uh any discussion no discussion so we'll move to a vote I'll commence the roll call vote I'll vote I David I Matt I Katie I'm abstaining Jason I will abstain Bob hi Tim obain Robin hi so the motion passes uh via yes Matt you voted in favor is that correct yeah I five five in favor three extensions one absent next set of minutes were from November 14th 2024 Bob were these your minutes of midds I believe is that correct uh yes okay very good thank you um any suggested edits or comments related to the minute of November 14th him uh a couple one if we could add the link to the recording on the top of the minutes as our you usual practice uh secondly I didn't at the bottom I didn't see that Bob had submitted so we need to have the submitted by Bob Saul and then the third my recollection is that that's the meeting that we voted on new officers but there was no reference to that in the minute I think we voted for officers on our first meeting which I believe was November 7th oh okay so that's why all right because we haven't gotten the November 2nd minutes yet okay got it thank you uh additional comments from any committee members i' have a minor comment which is throughout the uh uh written minutes I'd add a capital l to my name a universal name search with h MCL just make it capital never get a right sorry Sam H my grandmother and just got that into my head when I was young here's how you spend it capital L well go back and talk to her will you uh I I would if I had that ability but uh I'm afraid I can only do so on my dreams uh in terms of members absent I see a double question mark um and I guess I can communicate with you afterwards on that we had a member Lawrence critz but he had stepped away and I don't recall if it was in advance of this meeting or the subsequent I think it was prior to this meeting in which case we would have no members because there would have been a vacancy on the planning board but I can let you know um given these uh suggestions Bob of adding the link from the town website and a submitted buy uh removing the question mark and the capital L would you be able to make those edits and provide them again to Holly I sure will okay any other suggested edits or comments regarding the minutes of the 14th from any member okay so perhaps we could have a motion regarding the minutes I move the minutes be approved as amended tonight's meeting second that that would be Katie second uh any discussion no discussion so we can proceed to a vote uh roll call vote of members regarding approving the minutes of November 14th uh with edits as discussed in this meeting I'll vote I uh David I Matt I Katie hi Jason Hi Bob hi Tim hi Robin hi motion passes 8 to zero uh I misspoke previously when I said one one member absent uh on the previous notes Katie uh there is not a one member absent because we're lacking a member yes thank you MERS you got that right I got it wrong but uh I'm correcting myself M no I appreciate that for the recording thank you very good okay two sets of minutes the next is there a third set of minutes that were provided yes was a set of minutes from the meeting of November 21st 2024 uh like to open the floor for any comments or edit suggestions from committee members regarding those minutes Matt yeah this is super minor but um well the recording link just is XA so you can fix that um and then Matt uh Robin foran's name is not in MERS present I believe she was present okay uh I believe she was as well can who was the minute taker for I was uh Tim okay very good uh so there's the link there's Robin's name uh Tim fur uh Matt further comments uh no okay Tim I see your hand is raed oh yeah that I was going to say the same thing about I got the robin wrong but I was going to mention the link as well so we're all set okay any uh additional uh comments or edits from committee members regarding the minutes of November 21st not seeing any additional uh comments or raised hands uh I guess then uh we can seek to have a motion to approve the minutes of the 2 first would anyone like to make a motion I'll make a motion to approve as amended Jason was that you that was me okay we have an motion from Katie a second by Jason any discussion no discussion so we'll proceed to a roll call vote to approve the minutes of November 21st 2024 as amended in discussion uh I'll commence by voting I uh David I Matt I Katie I Jason I Bob I Tim hi Robin hi the motion passes 8 to zero so we are all set I believe with the minutes three sets and uh can I just make a quick suggest Holly do I need to redo the minutes and send them to you or can you just add Robin and we'll be done with it you're muted Holly sorry about that I said either way it doesn't matter if they're minor edits I can make them if there's more sub uh so the change was Robin was present and the link needs to be filled into what it supposed to be thanks so that'll be accomplished by Holly did I get that correct is that you do that prob won okay very good I thank you for clarifying the nature of the edit Corrections then okay um the next item on our agenda is to review finances um so like to invite Holly to communicate whatever makes sense from her perspective for us so there's just um the financials have not changed since the last meeting um at the last meeting I believe um we announced that we had um got the figure from the state we have actually got the money from the state so that is um the current the uh sorry the previous Financial is still the current one I'm trying to share my screen and not able to find it at the moment know what's going on yeah so the chart is in the packet um but we did um Sam had sent out an email I either yesterday or today uh regarding one of the projects the town of ammer M River baseball fields Dave Zac has announced that um they are looking to um reduce the amount of that as they make some other plans down the road for future changes so they've reduced the ask for the mil River baseball fields from 120,000 to 880,000 so that um project has been or that proposal has been reduced by 40,000 uh Sam and I also both recently received a communication from uh the emmer cemetery Association I can't remember the name Rebecca Rachel um saying that they Rebecca Rebecca um is saying that the emmer cemetery Association has um received a uh some additional fundraising in the amount of $10,000 so they are going to reduce their ask on that proposal by $110,000 as well so I have changed a couple of the numbers um paie would it be helpful if I shared my screen with the packet chart that you generated I think it might be beneficial I don't know why I having difficulties right now I'm gonna I'm gonna see if I can do it for my location if that's okay yeah I'll make you co-host as well so just in case something goes wrong again you should be able to share I believe this is the chart from the um that you had provided and you'll have to bear with me I can move my cursor up and down Andor increase or shrink the size but if you wanted to comment on this I think it might be helpful for those watching would you like me to I'm sorry you want me to comment on it yeah I mean they are the same financials that were presented in the last uh couple of meetings um you know again uh everything at this point for FY 26 has estimated as FY 26 has not started yet uh we estimate out our our revenues and our matches from the state uh to come up with a number then we have to take our debt service um previous projects that we have already allocated um and subtract that out and that gives us what we have remaining for an estimated um amount for FY 26 to give out um so these are the numbers that we're currently working with again you know there were a couple of recent changes when I can figure out how to share my screen and do that straw pole we'll get that can you confirm Paulie before we do that what the uh if I read this correctly what the current uh estimated available funds for our committee is uh to allocate towards these projects is it the one 65659 if you scroll down to the bottom Excuse me yes 1656 this number right here so 1,656 5948 is the uh estimate best best estimate of the current uh available funding for us to consider recommending for our slated projects at at present okay uh that's helpful to me to have that uh that number and I I'm sure we can use that as we proceed when we look at uhing deliberations so does anyone on the committee have any comments or questions for Holly relating to uh what she's communicated as a financial update I'm not seeing any hands so uh Holly thank you for bearing with me there and uh I think we can move to uh the spreadsheet you were referencing now I'm G to stop sharing my screen so we can try to share it at your location again and see if we're able to I think I got it now well these things happen it happens to me frequently with my computer they don't always line oh okay so you've got this in the spreadsheet itself oh there we go oh there's multiple tabs could this be en large slightly okay um if you hide the header you might be able to get a little bit more in there I'm working off a small screen so thank you me too I have a giant one at work and then I have this little one when I do this and it drives me insane um so this is the spreadsheet that we used to sort of you know calculate things out um and then the the uh starting with the straw pole and then I record the actual votes in here and um it it will sort of calculate out what we have available um down at the bottom as we go through and actually recommend things you'll you'll see the numbers change I think what you did what your suggestion from the previous cycle last year Holly was a very good one which is as we um provide our straw pole ratings and for those listening uh the straw pole ratings are not votes they're simply to provide a general indication for the purpose of uh assisting with discussions to give ourselves a general concept of how we feel about the different projects individual members CPA members may have their own uh methods for arriving at them uh I tend to uh look at the project uh in terms of favorability regardless of uh expense and then I adjust based on my opinion of the impact of the expense and available funds but as long as every member is internally consistent then we come up with a a reasonable uh rating sheet stop hole for discussion so that's what we're doing here and what we did last time Holly is we went member CPA member by member through all of the projects because that was the uh most logical and smoothest way of doing so so I think we should do that again um and we yes I see hand up Robin oh yeah I just um I don't know if now is the time to jump in but I just wanted to give an extremely quick report from the um last historical commission meeting we did review um all all four four projects um we sorry we approved all four projects you hear me okay I've got my headphones on okay okay um and uh we did um rank them in terms of priority with the stained glass windows being first Wildwood being second uh the mid-century survey being third and the fence being fourth so that's how the um historical commission stands and if anybody has any specific questions for me during discussion feel free to ask thank you Robin uh it's helpful to to hear the uh opinions and recommendations and or ratings from the historical commission so thank you for sharing that um I think it makes sense unless members have something else they'd like to raise at this moment for us to go through member by member ratings on the given projects ratings being from one to five um I don't recall Who provided the first ratings last year we're just going to go in the order that they're on my screen it'll be the easiest for me so if we it might not be fair to Matt who winds up going first every year we do it that way Matt do you object Matt says he's fine I think all yeah I'm okay I'm fine okay so development funds emmer housing I mean yeah Municipal housing TR okay four four three three three three um three four three four I didn't have particularly strong opinions this year you're sure those align correct just double check them as you go Matt since yeah I did rather quickly um go ahead Holly Jason would you like to go next please I suggest we name the project so number one ammer disable affordable housing trust uh you're on mute Jason sorry uh three one 4 3 3 3 3 4 5 four two thank you so much Robin are you ready I can read them off or you can just read off the numbers and go along with me if okay um uh I think I have them in the same order but amers housing uh five next one is the windows correct uh the Martin architect survey uh historical commission why don't you you read them off because I don't have them in the same order okay ammer historical commission Moder architect survey four four four yep traca stained glass windows five uh emmer uh Cemetery Association five uh town of emers North cemetery fence uh that is a three uh town of emmer wreck and conservation SS three uh M River baseball fields five more Memorial bath house five uh town of Emer trails and foot Bridges four cth Park accessibility four and town of amers parks equipment um that I not have um am I missing one $90,000 that's okay we can come back to you if you don't have it right here actually I actually don't have it on my list I apologize okay so that's the one that was um benches and Parks equipment for multiple um you know public spaces in town Parks so you can think on it and we'll get back thank you you want to do four or you want four that's fine okay yeah I don't want to rush you good okay Sam you're next uh amh HT I gave a three uh historical commission survey I gave a four I think we're in the wrong oh okay no we're in the right column I misread that um jca I gave a five the cemetery Association I gave a four North cemetery fence I gave a three Han of amor Recreation signs I gave a four Han ammer no River baseball fields I gave a three trails and bridges Etc uh I gave a four design of gr Park accessory improvements I gave a four and town of ammer parks and equipment I gave a four um I missed or we missed um war memorial bath house number eight Memorial bath house I gave a uh I gave a three although that's dollar based Sim you are up next if you're ready okay I excuse me I have these in the same order five three five 4 3 5 3 4 4 4 three and Holly what do the different colors me I I have no idea it's just they're color coded for the different numbers and it's just been in there forever somebody did that and fair enough it's easier to view this way I think it's just yeah I think it was just visual to to to show and I've not never changed it so I'm sure was the question about the colors yeah yeah the colors are a it's an automatic um it's called conditional formatting so it'll automatically highlight them so it's easier to see what's getting a thumbs up and what's a thumbs down yeah yeah uh so uh Bob you are up next uh four two three 2 two four four four I'm so boring four three and three okay so um and and like I they are up here on the screen for folks to just kind of review if I have mistyped anything but I'm hoping somebody will catch me as we go along so David Williams you are next starting with the Amish Municipal affordable housing trust uh po okay uh historical commission survey uh four uh jca stain glass windows four uh ammer Cemetery Association Farmhouse restoration uh three North cemetery fence um which the north North cemetery fence town of Emer five uh Recreation and conservation signs four no River baseball fields three uh war memorial bath house four trails and foot Bridges three uh graft Park accessibility four and T ofers Parks equipment or 0 okay um I have them in order Holly so starting with the portable Housing Trust at five 4 5 5 2 3 3 4 4 4 three right can we enlarge this Holly I so I just C that if you drag um the border between the screen and the um participants you can actually make it bigger on your own screen which helped me that's helpful to anybody actually no I I I have it as big as it will go right now on my screen yeah or you could just uh hide columns e FG and H and I or it seems like there some scroll I about you still be able to see the name so soone see this it's a lot of data that's might I think you could could shrink the names we'll get most of it right maybe we can slide the uh column D with all the project names and make it shorter yeah because we'll get it from the beginning of the project name we don't need to go all the way to theend I guess so is this like is this does this end up behind on my screen it's is is this a percentage viewing is there a way to make it like 10% larger at all is it not increasing on your screen because uh it looks like it just did now it just shrank that's that's larger that's that's good for me I'm not sure about others that's good or it was good I'm not sure where it went there we go so uh why don't we take a moment to look at these what what we whoops what we've done in past years is to uh invite members to have a brief one sentence comment on a given project if they wish as to why they made the ratings that they did um understand we all understand that these are just straw pole ratings to provide commentary but sometimes it's helpful for members to hear comments from others uh that might have some Salient point that might influence their their thoughts I think it's worthwhile to do so um and we can do it in a um you abbreviated fashion where we try to stick to just a summary as opposed to an extended uh conversation for the projects and we can go project by project or person by person I think it might make sense to go person by person but uh Holly are you saying something here here I'm not seeing you but I'm hearing someone I'm sorry I I would think that the that the probably the most efficient way to go through would be to go project by project let everybody anybody who wants to speak to a particular project speak to it and then go to the next project and then go to the next project let's do that let's go project by project uh with perhaps a one sentence commentary as to why a vote uh stle rating might have been what it was uh it's not required to make any comment but it can be informative sometimes so why don't we start W with the uh emis Municipal affordable housing trust development funds we can go left to right and then Matt's the first person again uh is that okay by you Matt I I think just anybody who would like to comment should just raise their hand and we'll just have the discussion on it I don't think we need to call on every single person if they don't wish to comment they simply don't raise their hand uh would anyone like to make com uh a comment as to why they uh rated AMA HT as they did uh I'll start and uh make a comment uh I'm in favor of the trust of what it does uh and the projects that they develop uh but I adjust my votes based on the volume of the request and the balance of existing funds uh within the um within the fund so I adjusted What Might Have Been a a vote down one based on the magnitude of the request not able to see others would anyone like to make a comment uh regarding Matt has his hand up why am I not seeing folks with their hands um how do you see the hands there Matt go ahead uh yeah if you it should be shown over the you have that shown on the yeah I scroll up and down I can see them now I got that Matt go ahead I see um so part of my thinking is balancing the the funds ACR balancing the grants across the different purposes this is the only request in community housing which is I think an important goal of um the uh CPA and um so that's part of the my thinking the other part is I feel that the affordable housing trust H has been able to um make good use of those funds to uh move projects forward in town uh Jason my comments are very similar to yours Sam in that uh it was a very large ask um nearly a third of the available funds for this fiscal year why would do support affordable housing I I do support a number of the other projects and with the number of projects that or number of applications that we've received and the amount for this one I um I downgraded it a little bit okay Robin yeah I'm just add to others comments that um I gave it a high ranking because vable housing in the town of ammer as Across the Nation is really one of the most pressing issues of our time and um it's hard for me to see anything more important than supporting affordable housing other comments anyone wishes to make um regarding their thoughts behind the vote the ratings excuse me okay uh why don't we move on to the next item which is the uh historical commission survey for modern architecture uh I'll commence I provided it a uh four I looked at the dollar amount and I thought to myself well that's uh not a large request and there is value uh in the surveys that get generated for this I see it as a very frugal uh approach uh with a specific budget so it's a tangible known project in hand and therefore I gave it a four Robin I see that your hand is raised yeah um so uh just for everybody on the um CPA committee um surveying the historic resources of the town of am is um a main responsibility of the historical commission we're actually uh part of our charge to maintain an updated um what we would call inventory which means uh providing documentation and records for the historical resour resources of the town and a lot of historic preservation went on in the 70s and 80s looking back towards things in the late 1800s um the uh early 1900s and mid um mid-century modern architecture has been um overlooked uh largely just due to the timing things come into survey as they get older and so um I just wanted to to make sure that people understood that this was um part of our job in the historical commission and that this is an area that is basically lacking in our current survey in our current survey of inventory thank you Robin Tim yes um Robin I didn't catch your priorities for the four historical ones the commission I didn't write that down can you repeat that yeah the um first priority would be the stained glass windows given their um their their uh risk of fracture uh the second would be the Wildwood house which is undergoing a sustained and really responsible preservation project the third would be the survey for the reasons that I just stated and then the fourth is the fence okay thanks I would like to just remind committee members if they want to chime in at any point in time and alter any of their their own ratings uh that happens frequently so feel free to raise your hand to do so um any other Committee Member comments regarding the AR Amis historical commission modern architecture survey not seeing any hands raised so we'll go to the next which is the jca uh historic preservation of stained glass Windows um Robin okay um so yeah uh We R like I said we rank this as a highest priority and I just wanted to note that um when I'm looking at and talking to people in the town about preservation projects I often try to direct them to other sources of um funding to see if CPA funds can be reduced if there's a potential for Grants elsewhere it's fair extremely uh difficult almost impossible for active um religious congregations to get funding elsewhere so that's why um this has such a high rating both due to the risk factor and the inability to really um seek up funds from another Grant Source thank you Robin uh Jason yes I I agree uh with what Robin said and that's part of my um determination and also it's it's a large ask for that Community the jca themselves if the windows were going to be preserved it's a large ass for their group and they're not um because they they took over a pre-existing building um you know it's not if they want if if if everybody agrees that those windows are worth saving then uh it should be on everybody you know the town not just the jca to do it just because they bought the building they didn't they didn't build those windows but they're they've been deemed to be historically important to the town and worth preservation thank you Jason uh Katie I would just add that to and build on both of those um comments from Robin and Jason to say that um it just there's an urgency that came through in that presentation um it I appreciate that the historical commission ranked it High um and you know I just I think the fact that they're also so um that they are raising money that they do have a significant amount of money that they they're putting towards this and they have a decent maintenance budget for things going forward it feels like um it's a good partnership thank you Katie Bob um given those comments I'll bump mine from a three to a four okay um I have a comment which is uh I gave it the rating I did based upon the risk factor affiliated with the lack of action uh the the urgency that Katie referenced and the the clarity of the historical nature and uh and I do appreciate the comments that Robin provided related to the historical commission rankings Jason I see that your hand is raised yeah I'd like to bump mine up from a four to a five the urgency was something I thought about but um as we're talking about it those things were in pretty bad shape and and need to be fixed quickly if they're going to be fixed at all okay any other comments from Members okay the next project on the list here next application is the amist cemetery Association Dickinson Farmhouse and you'll note uh on the spreadsheet that Holly has reduced the uh total of the request by $10,000 from the original ask they originally applied for 12,520 but uh Rebecca Frick uh informed Holly and myself uh the other the other week or the other day that they had had some private fundraising of $110,000 that they are contributing towards this project and uh communicated that reducing the requested budget would be viable so um like to ask ask committee members to share any comments they may have on this project uh Robin yep um so I just wanted to say in regards to this project that Rebecca Frick has really um been doing an exceptional job as a steward and archist and preservationist for this property and um hence my my high ranking there um I think it will be money well spent she's also we've had discussion s about um again applying to another outside Source the uh Massachusetts preservation project fund um which starts its application process I think in a few weeks um so there's the potential there um to have that ask reduced if she was if she's able to submit a successful application there but um uh she's been an excellent partner to work with and is a really great asset to this property and we're excited to see it go forward and it's Contin preservation thank you um comments from other committee members on the ammer cemetery Association Dickinson Farmhouse presentation Katie well I I just I thought the uh presentation was excellent and it's the second year um sort of come back around to us and been modified based on the work that's needed and modif um based on some fundraising so I again I appreciate the effort to partner um and and get these additional funds and it does feel U pressing maybe not as urgent as those stained glass windows falling out of their space but it does feel pressing to me I'll make the comment that the uh emmer the Dickinson farmhouse in Wildwood is a very accessible uh location for the community uh the town it may be a cemetery but the town is able to walk through it uh with some of the pathways that are there so it's a highly visible area including the building uh clearly historic and uh I also uh personally appreciate the uh reference and the communication from Rebecca regarding the uh internal fundraising that they've done uh and contributing towards this so uh that's my comment any other comments from committee members on this Kitty your hand is still raised no okay sorry taking notes also trying to raise my hand to lower it sorry about that it's a challenge um the next project on the list is the town of Amis Recreation signs and conservation signs uh I'd like to invite committee members to speak to this if they wish uh Robin sorry I thought we were on the fence the fence we skipped one Sam we're on the fence yeah we're on the fence North cemetery fence was yeah so I'm gonna I'm gonna hop over the fence and over the so any coms from the committee members regarding the north cemetery fence that is in fact what I raised my hand for okay so the north cemetery fence uh let's get into the weeds and boring and I'll try to make it simple um the uh historical commission discussed it um there's this question of a definition existing fence is not historic uh the remnants of the historic fence we don't have any representation of so we don't have a good way of identifying it but we do agree that a fence uh to protect and divide the cemetery from the road is an appropriate preservation activity so just to be clear this is not about a historic fence although historically there was a fence but about the preservation aspect of having a fence there um I gave it a 3.0 because um it doesn't seem to be particularly pressing there's no historic fabric that's at risk at this time the only other comment uh and then the 3.0 is in regard to um just funding priorities but if there was funding for it we would certainly support it the only caveat was that the um historic commission did ask we looked at the uh the commission looked at the uh proposed fence and um there was agreement among the members that um it was not what we would choose uh from a design perspective in relationship to the historic Cemetery that is there so we would ask that if the the fence project is funding funded that the commission gets an opportunity to weigh in on the design thank you Robin um comments from other committee members I'll make a comment Uh Oh Katie go ahead I just saw your hand thank you Sam um I thank you Robin I appreciated that differentiating I my question I think I I rated this um lower because it didn't feel um particularly pressing and also I appreciate the idea of separating it from the road but we have other cemeteries that don't have a fence in front separating it from busy streets so I just you know it felt like are we going to do that for all of them is this what was the priority here and it just um I wasn't sure it was that high of a priority um for the town and I wasn't totally sure but that's what I was reading um uh through the presentation and so then I thought based on the fact that we have we don't have enough money then I would I would um I would rate it lower so that's why there's a two thank you Katie uh other committee members with uh comments regarding their ratings on the North cemetery fence um I'll make a comment uh for me uh I was uncertain regarding the historic nature of the fence I recall previous presentation I looked at this application and in terms of the protective capacity of the fence as opposed to the historic nature I do however uh I I think Robin's comments regarding discussions from the historical commission uh have relevance uh and uh the desire to have input regarding a fence selection is significant and it seems to make sense to have additional discussion there but the budgetary requirements and uh uncertain of the specific historic nature of the fence affected my rating if there's any other members I'm not seeing any uh yes David um a couple of things uh I'm going to start with the proposals the requests I think the individuals um who submitted them did a very good job in presenting their um requests to the committee uh I would say that the individuals who um came to speak on behalf of the um particular proposal did a very good job willing to go back and get additional information and also had the support of um of the town in their presentation uh I think as I look at the requests that we have and also at the ratings that we have that we have um a very good presentation that was given to us as a committee and I know all of us have some concerns it's just like if you notice the north cemetery fence I rated that a five because I look at it every day and it's falling down um and that was one little personal piece in there but overall I think you have a very good very good presentations were made and support um for the request for funds thanks uh thank you David appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the presentations um other committee members any comments okay the next item on the list I believe is the town of amorist recreation and conservation signs uh I'd like to invite committee members to speak regarding this uh application requests or rather their own uh thoughts in their straw pole ratings Tim I see that your hand is raised yes uh I'm the only five and uh the reason for that is I'm a real big sign guy I really think signs add to the um class if you will of a town look at the new town signs for the entrance Etc Etc so I think new appropriate consistent signs would be very very helpful in the town what I question is when we get down to the nitty-gritty is the 100,000 I don't know whether they can do a job of say if we only gave them 50 or 75 or whatever it is so I'm willing to consider that we might get some input on the from David uh Zac or what not in terms of what can they live with what can they not is it better to go peace meal and do some Sides Now others later or is it critical that we do them all at one time so in terms of the need I think it's great the cost question regarding the overall totals and the budgetary decisions we're going to have to make thank you Tim uh Jason yeah I uh I I agree with Tim I think that signage is important and it has a gives the overall good aesthetic to the town um I have the same concern that the dollar amount is pretty high is there a priority list that they can give us um or some way to reduce the the dollar value that was that was my primary um motivation and not ranking it higher is just it's a I think it can probably be peac Meed over a few years as opposed to you know done right now thank you Jason uh other committee members uh I'd like to comment on this one I have a I share Tim's thoughts in terms of the value of signs uh and we have as a committee made requests of the town to improve the signage related to CPA funded projects and I've seen some of the uh the presence and the the uh impact that the signs can make at some of the parks such as gr Park and Kendrick Park uh and a big portion of this proposal is to improve signage on some of the kiosks on some of the primary locations and I I do think those are valuable in terms of uh the public uh seeing what this particular Park might be as well as the references to CPA funding that are included and they're also seeking to fund uh signage for other aspects of trails uh they made it clear in their presentation that it was going to be much more than a single year project because there's so much to do uh I thought of a higher rating but I also recognized our uh budgetary concerns there four I gave it the four that I did comments from others regarding the signage okay uh mil River baseball fields and electric dugouts this uh we received a communication which I sent to you today from received the other day from Dave Zac to reduce their initial request of 120,000 down down to 80,000 so they have reduced their project request by $40,000 one3 uh so I'd like to invite committee members if they wish to make any comments uh regarding their thoughts in providing their straw fold ratings Robin um just seeing that I'm an outlier here i' be happy to hear from anybody um on uh why their three or four ratings were what they chose uh Jason I I rated it as a three because it's really only used by I believe a relatively small group of people people playing baseball and sitting in the dugouts um you know if you're a person in town and you go to the park and you sit in the dugouts then I guess it's nice um but you know it's not signage I think is benefits the whole town There's a number of other things here and number of other projects that I think have wider benefit to the town and uh this it's nice it was reduced by 40,000 but it's still a good chunk of change uh Tim yeah can someone refresh me this now was reduced my understanding from David is to not do the Dugout but still do the electrical and I don't recall exactly what the electrical was supposed to do can someone briefly tell me yeah I can I can give you a little color on what happened there okay so the original proposal was to build dugouts at both fields and run um electrical to both fields and then um when with discussion between the town and the head of amamos baseball who are the primary that's amamos Youth Baseball the primary users of the facility ummer Youth Baseball said that they only needed the dugouts in one of the fields so that's why the the current The Proposal with 880,000 is the electrical to both fields and the dugouts at one field oh okay and what what's the electrical do um it allows them to plug in a scoreboard and a PA or something like that I guess thank you Matt Tim further comments no sorry I just removing my hand thanks uh Katie um so Robin you were asking sort of what you know the outliers um and I I think I I think Jason was the one who said you know sort of how widely you you know when you're when you have limited amount of funds so like what are you you know how are you determining where is the money going to go the further so that was one piece for me um but actually what I was really thinking of is um you know if they're going to come back with a request for the dugouts or a Dugout I guess I don't know um next year could they just simply fold this in um you know they've been without the electrical so far could they just fold it in and and come in next year you know that that just it just felt like there wasn't as much urgency here and um maybe less um widespread use limited use thanks Bob um yes with the outliner theme I will continue uh and I I guess I just think back to the and won't go on too long about this but the implications of the financial crisis is they've sort of rippled through the town over time and it it's involved a lot of deferred maintenance for our um recreational facilities that have has been we've been trying to catch up with it for years and it just seemed to me that $80,000 to start to check something off the list especially when you look at the next item on this list at 750 seems like an easy thing to allocate to get this done something that has been postponed for two decades maybe so I'm just seeing a small amount with some big um impacts on a important Recreational facility thank you Bob Katie your hand is still raised do you have something to add okay um I my I'll make a comment my three was uh rated prior to taking into consideration the um funding adjustment uh although I'm a I'm a big fan of supporting all of the uh ammer sports leagues uh because they impact our youth in such a positive way in the whole Community um a lot of my struggles regarding ratings relate to the overall budget and where we can gain funds or not I I I think it's great that all these different applications come before us uh and sometimes it's a challenge how to uh allocate and or meet the needs uh but I'm going to change my three on the baseball fields to a four for the straw poles uh if you can paully uh based on uh the impact of the uh low request from the applicant how he gets that we start the next one you able to do that Holly I think Holly is uh having there's some sort of sign here not sure what's going on I think we can continue our discussion uh for this purpose to the next item which is the town of ammer war memorial bath house uh request um like to invite committee members to speak to the war memorial Bath House request in their straw pole rating related to that uh Jason yeah I give this a four I think it's a project that or I think something needs to be done with the bath house um and it's important to have facilities um presumably all year round for the field the track and field we know we're going to be getting a new back and field um I am concerned about the dollar value or you know the dollar ask it's a it's a very big ask and I'm also concerned about the previous I'm kind of in this sunk cost fallacy here I think and that a good bit of money has already been spent and I I I tend to think that the town has a problem with doing studies or a downtown design thing and spending a of money on something and then it never coming to fruition and that money having just been wasted um and I I wouldn't want to see that happen with this project because as I understand a a good chunk of money has already been spent on some things for it and I do think it's important I will say however um I would like to know some more details about the financials of War Memorial Pool itself I understand it is not a money-making thing and I don't necessarily believe that it has to make profit but um it's one thing if it's losing $5,000 a year it's another thing if it's losing $150,000 a year um so I'm a little concerned about that but overall I do think it's it's a good project that needs to happen but it is a large ask right now thank you Jason um Matt yeah so my concern here is that about the amount of money rather than giving any money um it's a big ask on top of the 750 we already allocated last year um and uh I could say more when we get into more detailed discussion maybe but that's my primary concern is is whether or not to give the 4750 thank you Matt well others wishing to make comment on the war memorial bath house I'll make a comment uh I gave it a three uh due to the size of the ask um I am in favor of this central location and I in favor of the I see the need for this uh heavily utilized ized pool uh by many community members uh the the dollar amount is a lot given our current budget constraints and I saw uh future needs for this but I also saw that there was in the presentation there is a minimal required dollar amount in order to maximize the potential for the grants for which these would be matching funds uh so I would be in favor of meeting that required minimum amount which is not minimal to uh enable and leverage the CPA funding through Park grants and others and we can talk about that later that may have been uh what Matt was referring to as well I speculate uh Katie um I I just I wondered about Debt Service and is this allowed for that um you know can we can we you know use Debt Service as for some or part or all of this um to help um attend to the sort of big Financial ask I mean I agree that it is a huge ask we've already um made an investment but I really think this is a very important animportant project talk about depreciate you know some things that have been put um put aside for years back to um Bob's comment you know just um really needing attention um and it's a highly visible highly used um piece of property that um I think would benefit many many people so I I I'm in favor for that that those reasons and the mat um the match Leverage potential as well as what Sam just described thank you Katie Holly would you like to comment on the capacity for funds to be used for uh for Debt Service bonding for the war memorial bath house I believe we did that previously but I'd like to rely upon Holly's uh knowledge so I mean yes Debt Service is um is an ailable funding op option for the CPA committee but in going back let's see if I can quickly and going back and and looking at the debts uh service that we have already um authorized it's just something you need to take careful consideration on because once we authorize that debt we have to pay it we we can't decide not to so that takes away from your um availability to fund other projects very first thing so it is definitely an available funding source something that you need to just you know weigh the pros and cons of very carefully because it just means that there's going to be less for the next five to 10 years to give away while we pay for that project um and you know again we can recommend debt but the way that the debt gets um bundled and sold is not something that we can control um that is up to the treasurer on how the debt is is um whether it's a five-year debt or a 10-year debt we can certainly make recommendations Town Council can certainly make recommendations Etc on how we want to fund it but it is it it's just you need to remember that that just means there's that much less that we would be able to to um give away for the next 5 to 10 years depending on how that gets um allocated out that debt so yes it is an option it is an option that I just would advise folks to think about carefully um we do have um the last year of the Kendrick park playground uh which would free up an additional $36,000 I don't not sure how well you guys can see the debt down here in those figures let me pull it up a little bigger um but that this is what we have currently authorized and You' just be adding more to that we will lose this $36,000 for FY 27 these projects are in there the rest of the projects are really just at the beginning many of them have not even started yet so that number is just going to continue to rise and so I just would caution um just would caution folks about that thank you Holly um Katie your hand still raised do you have yeah I Holly I mean could a portion instead of 750 but you know 200 be part of you know be used Deb service um absolutely it it would be a little messy to write Council orders but we could certainly do that if if we had if we had enough cash to cover everything but you know 200 300 400,000 of it we wanted to do partial cash partial debt that is an option abolutely I just wanted to ask that thank you and I appreciate the reminder you know we can't just uh take away all of our money for the future I mean we could that wouldn't be a great it wouldn't be a yeah right that would be done no I appreciate that thank thank you Katie any other comments regarding one's straw pole ratings for the War Memorial Pool uh Tim I see your hand is raised yes I did have a comment I was uh uncomfortable in the finances of this thing uh in the presentations and I don't know if it's possible for someone to make a return visit to us or outline it in paper but I just don't really quite understand whether 750 is the correct number I know the process is to leverage State funding how much of that 750 we approved last year I just don't know if that's the right number and whether my concern is this big number but uh I'd like to have a little bit better understanding before we finalize a vote on this uh I have a thought Tim Might you uh phrase that uh what you said in a succinct question and send it such that we could make the request of the applicant for clarity uh regarding what you're asking sure I'll send that I could send that to you and yeah I mean we have the ability to inquire further from applicants if we feel the need to and if there's uh uncertainty from your perspective on the ask I I don't know I'm not looking at the application at present it's possible some of the information that you're seeking is in there I don't know uh but if you want to review that presentation then send a question and I would be glad to uh I believe it was Amy Who U submitted this okay I'd have to review those things too to be honest with you and I don't have that easily in front of me right now but that's my recollection in the past I understand so you know if if there's something that you would like to ask further after looking it over i'' be glad to provide it I think it's if you have that question it's likely a good question for other committee members or something that we may or may not have missed paully could you put the um spreadsheet back up if you're able to please um thank you uh Matt I see that your hand is raised yeah I just want to add a little clarification I think uh for Tim it seems to me that committee members are requesting two types of information one type on the actual uh Capital cost of the project like how much is it going to cost to replace the bath house and how much funds do we have to supply from CPA and how much is we seeking from other sources and then Jason and maybe some other people also seem to be asking for information sort of on the usage how the how the bath house is use Usage Now I sit on the recreation committee so I hear probably more about it than than anyone else here does um and I have to say from what I've heard um looking at it just from the revenue and costs uh doesn't necessarily um represent all of the information um that is obviously part of the information is how much does it cost to run it and how much direct revenue does it receive the other uh part is all of the um the camps the summer camps for children in the town and that run at the in that area at the schools there and they make heavy use of that facility thank thank you Matt uh further comments regarding one's uh ratings on the various uh in this case the war memorial bath house uh Jason I see that your hand is raised yeah thank you Sam um I I also would like to know um is this the last ask I believe in their packet it's at 4 million so I assume they'll be coming back with another ask my understanding is they're going to ask the town capital budget for for the last any additional money so if we and this is a question that potentially they can bring back to us or an answer they can potentially bring back to us it was 7 750 last year 750 this year that would be 1.5 right and that's a match assuming it's a 1.5 match that's 3 million and then they'll ask capital for the additional million that's my understanding of what they're thinking right now of course everything is subject to change okay yeah and my note showed the the need for the match was 1.1 not 1.5 and I there was a disconnect so those are the kind of questions but I can see if I can phrase something to send to them thank I saw to my understanding was that the need for the the minimum need for the match was 450 from the presentation I could be wrong and as Matt says things may be subject to change but Jason my understanding separate from my uh matching question is that they recognize that there is a need at least in their initial presentation uh to meet that need with future funds from some Source Matt indicates Capital which may be correct but uh let's move on to uh the next project or comments unless there's any other committee members that we take a look who wish to comment on the war memorial rating that they gave I've not seen hands so the next project is trails and foot Bridges if any member would like to comment on their ratings of the trails and foot Bridges uh request which is uh 150,000 well I'll make a comment uh I gave it a four because I'm a strong believer and strong user a heavy user of the trails and foot bridges in town and they're I think they made a very good case for the magnitude of the backlog of projects that they faced uh if one walks down the bike path as an example you'll see the constant maintenance required regarding the to keep the Beavers Bay and some of the others so I feel it's a worthy project and uh uh therefore I gave it a four and we have to wrestle with funding uh as we go further so thank you uh any anyone else on the committee would like to make a comment on this I see Jason go ahead Jason yeah thank you Sam I gave it a five um similar Reasons I'm me and my family were heavy users I have young kids um they love going on the bridges and the um elevated paths um but we were we were at the Larch Hill Conservation Area I think the day the weekend prior to the meeting where they gave the presentation and um that that particular foot bridge is in really bad shape um there's loose boards there is um I would probably think that's one of the highest priority foot Bridges and it's accessible but in the condition that it's in right now I don't know if something were to happen with somebody that's uh you know has has limited Mobility it would be a real problem and if somebody gets hurt on one of those bridges I think that that would also be a really big problem so maintenance in my opinion is uh is incredibly necessary for those foot Bridges especially large Hill um I'm sure there's others that are potentially just as bad but I had just been at that one so um it was fresh in my mind but yeah it's extremely important and the and the the trails they get used a lot and being on the Conservation Commission we hear a lot about the trails we see a lot about the projects that go on to uh uh repair some of the foot Bridges and things like that and just over the since the pandemic uh foot traffic on the trails and bridges has increased a great deal uh thank you Jason Holly let me interrupt for a moment I saw that we had one attendee and eight panelists and one attendees and I'm thinking that Bob may have accidentally dropped out and resigned in uh I don't than you seem to have the capacity to bring the attendee into the meeting I'm wondering if you might be able to look at that um so we're uh talking about our ratings on the trails and foot Bridges I'd like to ask if any other committee members have a comment that they' or two they'd like to make on the trails and foot Bridges application not seeing any hands raised next item yes same oh I'm sorry yes Matt um yeah I just just echoing Jason's comments also this is another area where there's a lot of um deferred maintenance and um that that is you know backlog of deferred maintenance that is required and uh also you know 150 Mi of Trails um there's safety issue there's also as I'm sure Jason's well aware um like some of the improvements is also to to to prevent erosion and um uh degradation of wetlands things like that as well um yeah there's just there's just a lot to be done with trials and foot Bridges thank you Matt any other uh comments or thoughts from committee members on the foot Bridges and trails Bob I see your back did you uh depart yeah yeah sorry sorry sorry about that the wind is blowing my internet connection around I think um well I I heard Jason's comments about great well we're glad you're we can see you back in the meeting room this money is is is very very big say that again please I interrupted you can you hear me Bob it may be that you've uh gotten cut off again so um why don't we continue to the next item on our list and we can revisit if someone wishes to make a comment as we go forward on one of these prior um projects the next one is the town of Amis grath Park accessibility uh application uh request of $100,000 like to invite members to make any comment that they have in regards to their rating raise your hand if you'd have something you'd like to say well I'll make a comment um I think our parks in town are a great asset for the community uh I know firsthand that gr Park as well as others are heavily utilized uh and I think accessibility is very important uh for those who would want to be able to get to a location uh but are frustrated by lack of access um now the Pavilion the lower Pavilion uh is down quite a hill there so it would be a challenge for somebody who has Mobility challenges to get there potentially and I also see the safety issue uh regarding the sidewalks in the parking lot Ral Park I've always paid attention as I drive in and back out of there but if you frequent that location uh you would you may see what I saw which is uh a need or a benefit Potential from uh some of the items that the accessibility uh design plan hopes to address comments from others okay and then we have the parks and Equipment uh request for $90,000 I'd like to invite committee members to um make any comments they wish uh regarding their ratings on these uh Matt yeah I just fail this $90,000 goes a long way um the as we've see some of the newer parks that have been renovated recently um there's a lot of people using them a lot of people using those benches um I think uh if we put in durable and and good um benches and trash cans and things like that it will a lot of people will use them it will um increase the the visual appeal of uh the the our Recreation areas um I just think $90,000 goes a long way in terms of improving the town thank you Matt Jason I uh I certainly agree with you Matt that if we put them in they will certainly be used um I frequent a number of the parks here and and trash cans benches are great my pretty much my sole reason is the line item cost that they gave us uh $4,000 for a bench one bench is a ridiculously high number to me that doesn't include the installation of it that's just a bench and I think $90,000 I don't think $90,000 is a particularly big ask I just think that um I would like to see either a quote or something because I think that $4,000 is a lot of money for a bench and there tables and everything I just think that uh the money could go a lot further if maybe uh some some some competitive quotes were received or or in some way I just I think that's a lot of money for each line item thank you Jason uh comments from other committee members looks like Bob may have uh had a connection issue again uh Tim yes um I always struggle with uh my ability to decide what's best when more experts if you will have made these requests and there are let's see 1 two 3 four five six seven town of amorist requests totaling 1.3 million so I don't know if it's appropriate but I think it is to ask Dave zomac and his staff to come back and tell us we can't spend that entire 1.3 because we have to cut almost 500,000 so how would they prioritize what would they think uh would they give all the money to the parks equipment and not as much to the trails or vice versa I mean I hesitate to make that decision because I don't know what's best uh I have some opinions but maybe there are more people who deal with this St in and day out could give us some opinion so if it's appropriate I would like to see what the town feels uh in terms of their priorities and how they might um reduce some of their requests based on those priorities thank you Tim um it certainly has been helpful in Prior years to feedback from the town uh and I think it's occurred uh quite constructively at least for the last two cycles possibly prior to it's always a challenge and I'm sure it's a challenge for the town staff as well because there's all kinds of great projects that folks want to get done uh not all of these proposals are specific from the town of amor so there's the additional challenge that we face but uh it can be helpful or rather it has been helpful in past Cycles to inquire as to whether or not any uh if a lower amount of a proposal uh could still be beneficial even if not the full amount uh and the town of ammer certainly has a large uh slate of projects and there's a couple of other projects here as well application excuse me that have large dollar amounts on them uh there's the amh indicial affordable housing trust uh fund and there's the jca uh and there is the um Amer Cemetery Association the historical commission is a very very modest uh request of 15,000 so let me uh any other questions or comment ments related to the parks and equipment from committee members I have a uh comment on it which is I I agree with Matt uh that uh the concept of replacing and improving benches and the equipment can have a really significant impact in the the usability of the facilities as an as side I'd like to see the parks and Equipment include water fountains throughout uh various places of town for bicyclists but that's something for the town to consider on all the different factors that might be involved with that another time in a different uh proposal so uh but I value uh the request and the uh impact it can make whatever the dollar amount might be so uh we've gone through uh the various projects to have brief commentary which I think is helpful to all of us to hear if others have anything they wish to say um I'm not seeking I I'd like for us to get out on time today or earlier in previous years we've gone over and we've slated the time between now and 8 um but I do think it it makes sense uh as Tim requested or asked or suggested to inquire uh as to whether or not there might be uh the capacity for um a different prioritization or delineation of prioritization of projects Andor reduced funding and um we certainly can inquire that of the Town although Holly would it be through Dave that we might make those requests that's what we've done in the past or through you in conjunction with Dave or what what would you who might be appropriate uh we could probably communicate between now and then uh and get feedback from the uh town do you have any thoughts on that Holly yes I mean the the proposals are are basically all from I'm having a hard time hearing you I'm sorry I'm sorry the proposals are basically all from uh the conservation planning area in the DPW so Dave um will likely coordinate um you know a discussion okay excuse me excuse me sorry so Dave I can uh request from Dave tomorrow that he uh you know coordinate a discussion between um all of the parties for the uh town of amers projects and um you know bring some information back to us um we so we are scheduled to meet next Thursday okay so I I hope that he could get us next Thursday some answers by then yep now can you confirm for me uh I see all the different projects most start with TOA town of amrest although the first project we discussed is titled amest Municipal affordable housing trust uh is that a project that uh would inquiries Dave would discuss as well or is that a distinct entity um so they are a separate entity they are um they are a part of the town but also separate so his um his staff he has um some folks that work under him that are the liais on to the uh affordable housing trust um I think currently Nate Malloy um so he can whatever questions we have for them he can um help us to answer or forward to the the right folks for us to get answers to those questions as well if Tim um wants to get that info to us was it Tim I think that had a question on that I can't remember uh Tim had a question regarding the general funding uh it's a strongly rated proposal by the committee although I know in years past there's been some smaller dollar amounts but it's a tough you know they have a tough uh I wouldn't mind personally hearing if uh there's any um leeway from their perspective in their request uh so that's my posture and one member of the committee though uh I I bring I inquire or or raise that topic because there's two very large dollar amount requests here for 750 and for 500 um and I think it could be beneficial for the committee to have feedback from any of them I don't know what other committee members think about that uh the the committee can always vote to recommend uh aside from that but uh that's my thoughts on it I don't think it would hurt if there's dollar amounts to be saved from any particular location as we try to meet the need because we'll have a challenge as a committee in terms of how to make determinations on all these funds uh and all these requests and Katie had a very uh interesting thought from my perspective uh in terms of potential um bonding for a lower amount that's one Avenue so I'm speaking but I'd like to hear from other committee members uh Matt I see your hand is raised is it yeah I was just going to say last year Dave zch came back with a proposal about the OS Municipal affordable housing trust as well as adjusting the proposals for the town of amost so he he he that was in coming back in his uh recommendation okay so uh that thank you Matt uh that's my recollection as well um Tim I see that your hand is raised yeah um so in terms of our process is it next week we're going to do the voting and is that our last scheduled meeting well um the the process currently we do have a meeting next week and right the last scheduled currently if we did not complete it at that time I think it would likely be require us to go into the new year given the holiday weeks uh there's not the um there's not a specific urgent deadline we've always sought to accomplish things prior to the holidays uh from a a nice fit with other Town committees and Pro processes but it's not mandated I think that uh that would be the Hope Tim that we could meet next week but I do believe in terms of a process what I what I'd like to confirm at this point I think this makes sense uh is for Holly for you to confirm again the Gap analysis that we have that excuse me the funding Gap that we have uh and I think you said it at the start of this meeting it was 500 some odd thousand that's the current differential between the ask and the available funds uh and if your spreadsheet if an image of that spreadsheet of the ratings could be shared with our committee members uh in advance of next week so we can just kind of look it over uh with the the single chart that shows the projects and the ratings I think that uh it certainly won't be it won't hurt for committee members to be able to see that uh and Tim your suggestion uh I think is a a very valuable one uh or or very uh you know Wise one that we see what Dave uh Andor the town staff come back with Holly and I I think it makes sense as Matt said Holly for uh to inquire of the affordable trust as well um and then in terms of the process question that you asked him we can come back tomorrow we'll have a next Thursday we'll have the spreadsheet with all the projects I'd ask that individual committee members think about what we're facing but it is apt to be influenced by what we hear back from the town uh but we can think about our own prioritizations of how we might seek to fill things if there's an issue which projects do we really think we can fund fully or or partially uh and hopefully uh get to votes uh next next week Tim and possibly conclude I'm optimistic that we can do so uh that's my response to your question right no I understand that my part of my question was um we are going to have to make some significant Cuts probably 400 plus thousand in Cuts uh and uh the majority of that has got to come from the Town Projects um assuming that we are going to approve those that have got high ratings today like the stained glass windows and the uh the Housing Trust and so forth U so yeah okay I think that Dave I don't know if he's listening to this but he understands that that was part of the today but he had a uh another meeting he's presenting the Leverett with the track and field right okay thanks so thank you Tim Katie I see that your hand is raised um thank you SIM can I maybe make a suggestion that if we're going to get information about the War Memorial Pool in terms of the questions that Matt and Jason asked and The Debt Service suggestion idea um as well as the prioritization as we've been discussing if it's humanly possible which it might not be to get us that information in advance and I think we'd be able to be pretty efficient if we have the you know if the committee members each have the chance to review that in advance and kind of get a sense of how that um affects their votes or in terms of how that might affect the amount of money they might um allocate I realize that having someone to answer some questions might be necessary but I just I wondered if that might be a request we could make uh I I certainly have the intent if uh Tim reviews the pool and discovers uh he's correct in his uh in some of the the missing information uh regarding future funding uh that I would gladly send that to uh Amy uh and CC Town staff Holly and Dave um in terms of bonding debt I think we have our answer already regarding that question from Holly in that it's something that can be done but it should be thought of carefully uh and we did receive I don't know if it was during the meeting or prior to the presentation numbers regarding the usages of of the uh pool um I don't recall the budgetary uh specifics in that um that's distinct kind of from the proposal request of uh what are the dollar amounts that are being sought as opposed to information regarding how one views the uh the the benefit of the project there's a distinction between I see this as a good project versus where's the going to come from but uh yes uh Katie those that's a good suggestion and we can make that inquiry and I I think uh it would be hopeful that we would get it back in my based on past years and I think you you've been participatory in the previous years uh the town staff has been pretty good uh at coming back with us uh whether was Sean uh uh Dave and Holly uh they've been very uh cognizant of the process that we're going through so uh timely yes absolutely I think that was the essence of your question and I tend to run on too much so let me stop talking hly I see your hand is raised well Jason if you can let Jason ex excuse me my image is off Jason it doesn't matter to me if you if Hol if what were you GNA say was pertinent to the last question then um well what I think I would be the most helpful to me is if somebody could just clarify to me exactly what we want what I am requesting so I'm requesting a prior prioritization of the Town Projects which is the most and and and and then and also opportunities to reduce obviously and same with the municipal affordable housing trust opportunity to reduce what would what would you know they think would be a good number but I'm I'm a little bit unclear on on the questions that I'm going to be requesting um regarding the bath house so I'm going to need someone to just help me clarify that so I can try to get you answers as quickly as possible because ktie is correct I'd like to get them to folks in advance of the meeting so we're not wasting time reading through um answers so just please clarify that so I can get it as quickly as efficiently as possible yeah sorry to jump jump in here but my intent with the bath house was 750 is a big number in fact it's the biggest number that we have here and I just need a greater assurity that that's a correct number if they if it's really 700 well we've picked up 50 uh I don't want to go into our decisions with a guess that it's 750 I want to know whether at 7:50 uh so that was my intent um that's for the the bath house all the others as I said if you take all the other projects and say we we approve every other project except the town of Amber projects that's 810,000 right there the town of Amber projects are 1.3 we have to cut 400 and some thousand so I would hate to say well okay we'll not spend 150 for the trails because we think the signs are more appropriate or the gra part access is more appropriate then the town says wait a wait a minute we don't agree with that we would rather have the gr Park so that's that's what I meant in terms of priority see I don't know how you phrase that right I I understand I I I I'm sorry okay I understand the prioritization the one in the bath house is just um there was also some questions about utilization and numbers and revenues is are those questions that we want to have answered for the next me as well because those would need to be somebody would need to guide me on those ones okay I would specifically like those questions answered I have asked I asked for them when they gave the original presentation and they came back with like usage and revenue but they did not come back with costs and I'll just maybe clarify my concern is again $750,000 being a big ask 750 being given last year knowing there that there's an additional million out there if they get the full 1.5 million uh match if there if the if the pool itself is losing $100,000 a year to me that's a big problem to spend $4 million on a project or just say this year to to to Grant seven $150,000 to a project that where its main use as the bath house for the pool in seven years is going to lose the amount of money they're asking for right that's my big concern is that if it's losing so much money that within 10 years the money that is has been granted to them is going to be lost that's that to me is a problem and I you know I do want to stress I understand and I don't think that this necessarily needs to be a profit making uh thing but there does have to be some serious conversation around loss and what's worth what it's worth I would also specifically aside from the bath house I'd like to know from the town if they were to cut 20% from each one of their asks would there still be a project so with the bath house if they cut 20% of the cost are they still going to be able to get match matching funds and you know with the signage and everything like signage is great but it's not in my opinion it's not um there's no time sensitivity to that I think the trails have time sensitivity to them uh the bath house may have time sensitivity to it the benches and all the Park equipment I don't believe is time sensitive either so if those could be peace meal if they could cut 20% off of each one of their asks would there still be a project there thank you Jason um Holly from what I gather from hearing the the comments is that uh regarding the bath house the question is is their budget request the 750 their their project application request still 750 or might it be lower and distinct from that uh I would say what's the dollar amount and I think it's 450 that would provide them the capacity uh to maximize or leverage their um uh matching funds request and I think she addressed it but it wouldn't hurt to receive feedback uh Jason what I would say regarding your comment is uh I hear you um Town staff has been pretty uh uh aware of the situation that committee members face and if you see some of the prior meetings you may see if you go to the videos You'll see some of the feedback that we receive uh which has been quite helpful uh and there's different aspects of the financial questions um so I think we'll we will be in a better situation as a committee if we get answers to the questions uh that we've asked but more importantly from Holly of the pool but more importantly regarding the uh prioritization of town uh Mo uh projects and they do factor in not necessarily 20% across the board but we'll hear what they have to say I agree with Tim that you know it's hard for us to guess where their rankings are I would make a a separate comment which is that the pool and other Town services are not uh I I would use the term uh budgetary expenses as opposed to Pro profit uh because these are services for the Greater Community without the uh intent to be run for a profit business these are services that town residents utilize whether it be Elders whether it be accessibility whether it be kids so just from a phraseology standpoint i' I've got the accounting business background I'd call it uh service budgetary expense but I understand what you're you're asking but I I I do think and I've been uh new in the committee many years ago but other members here have been and uh it has been very helpful to get the feedback uh from our questions and that puts us in a good position as a committee to deliberate uh based on uh what we have before us uh so thank you for raising your your commentaries and uh regarding not just the pool but others uh Katie you've had your hand up for quite a while uh thank thank you for your patience oh Bob's ahead of me oh Bob is ahead of you I'm sorry Bob um I I'm not not sure I am but thank you Katie because I've been cutting in and out for a number of reasons here sorry about that um just it it's I'm trying to make Holly's job easier only because translating this discussion to the powers to be might be challenging it just seems to me that it's clear that like happened last year having Dave come and talk about the town's priorities directly is a very helpful process in terms of getting some of these numbers more refined and as I recall last year and maybe I'm misremembering this he came with a reprioritization with when it came to some of the housing dollars and some of the bigger dollars on the projects and that really helped us kind of narrow down what we needed to give the T thank you Bob and my remembering is the same as yours uh regarding the previous year Katie are you still looking to make comment or have you removed your hand well both yeah no I um I'm just conscious of time but I um Jason your question about um you know sort of Revenue and losing money I'm I mean it's an interesting question question and I just feel like that question could be asked about the trails it could be asked about any number of things that even aren't charged you know uh you know gra park or you know they we there's charged for you know reserving space there and but I just think pretty much everything's a losing game you know because it's there's an sort of a it's not a business model where there's a revenue to even come close to except for tax revenue uh to cover what we're doing so just I my question is whether or not that's um how helpful that'll be to get that information if we don't get it for all everything and then I'm thinking then it doesn't make sense to do it on all things and so maybe I'm just raising the question of whether or not I don't think that's something we should ask collie to do that was my um reaction to that because I appreciate what Bob's saying is like we have to be as clear as we can so it's easy for her to translate it backwards or up the chain thank you Katie yeah that seems Jason I see your hand is raised yeah so Katie do you want my respon is that just sort of a general open-ended question or my well I'll just give it was my opinion of that we shouldn't ask that question unless we're asking for all but you certainly can respond absolutely yeah the the reason that I would like to know that information about the pool as opposed to something like gra park or the trails is that there's continuous operation expenses for the pool and I would like to know like is is the is the revenue that comes in at the very least covering like lifeguards or like is it is it just going to continuously be like this where it's losing large where where the ex where the where the government services expenditure is larger each year than um you know the revenues which we think we know it is but then is the ask going to be keep is there always going to be something wrong the pool's going to leak one year you know something's going to happen there's always going to be something where that thing needs in my opinion it's just going to need large sums of money because it's old and it needs maintenance and the bath house is older and it needs maintenance and um that's that's what I'm curious about is that and and the reason I'd like to know specific about the pool is because the operating expenses are continuous but the pool itself is only open for two months out of the year so if it's only open for two months out of the year as opposed to gra Park the trails all those things really are used year round uh by by many many people in the in the community and again I want to stress I do not in any way believe that the pool needs to be a profit making uh Venture I I agree it doesn't need to make profit but at a certain point I think the if it's a very large expenditure each year that does need to be addressed and I'm not even saying necessarily that this is the group to address it uh but when we're being asked for a very large sum of money to look when there's a lot of other projects and we know we're going to be asked for more um it's something that I I just want to raise as a concern and you know uh this is a place where I feel that I'm empowered to raise that concern thank you Jason Matt I see your hand is raised yeah just echoing this discussion um I agree with Katie it's like impossible to try and say you know it's not losing money or losing money or making money but one another way to think about it is is the amount of money we're spending per users I mean to Jason's point if it's only open two months a year how many people are really using it so are we spending $100,000 for you know 100 people to use it or are we spending $100,000 for 10,000 person days of use or something like that you know it's a it's a it's a it's a big difference so I think uh from my understanding a lot of the usage is actually not charged at the gate um whether it's through the camps or whether it's through um coupons that are given to lwi income families in town but I think the the relevant metrics here is is the operating expenses and the um the the the number of visits you know people per day times the number of days I'd like to add to your comment Matt which is that uh the bath house now this is if it comes to fruition uh is slated to be aspects of it available to areas beyond the pool uh it's Central in the community area there's the baseball fields there's even the high school fields so I think it's going to be a challenge to uh get those metrics I agree with Katie's comments uh that all of the various public facilities and usages have all sorts of uh time frames and I don't think it makes sense for us to seek cost accounting uh which is how I would describe it for all the different Avenues uh I do think though U Holly in response to your question uh asking the uh applicants regarding the pool and Dave with the others that if we got in the pool to come back with uh any adjustment to the ask from the applicant standpoint and then with Dave's input Dave and your input uh specifically the dollar amount that would enable them to maximize The Leverage potential of uh um grants uh and separately if they have operating expenses that uh relate to um just general budget as opposed to cost accounting that they could share that would be fine but I do worry about the committee getting too involved in the uh manua of a Costa County of a particular facility uh but I do hear Jason's uh anal itical mindset uh an approach to looking at it but I I'll just say that I think we will have a much better uh awareness of the situation and the gaps that we may face and ultimately it comes down to judgments of committee members when we better situation when we get responses from uh a town prioritization um I do not want to run on too long here um and I don't think we really need to have a vote uh related to what we're seeking to request from the town um not and I'd like to call on Holly and hopefully uh come to a point where we can uh uh so I would just like to offer to Jason if you would like to um give me a call tomorrow or pop me an email tomorrow and I can just make sure that I'm capturing the questions that you would like to see answered succinctly or give you know send me an email with the questions you would like to see answered succinctly I just want to I want to be as efficient as I can not get answers are not what you're looking for I completely understand where you're coming from but I just want to make sure that I forward those on to folks the the um the correct way so pop me an email give me a call and I will just kind of work with you to make sure that I'm getting the questions you are asking answer properly the other questions I'm pretty clear on Dave Z is pretty clear on where we would be going with that but I I just want to make sure that I'm capturing what you're looking to do and I'd happy to work with you to get to get that done thank you Holly I'm willing to I don't need to know the operating expenses if if the rest of the group is fine with where we're at I don't need to know that information that's completely if that's what you'd like we can we can do it thank you Holly uh Tim yeah it just occurred to me hey sorry uh because I know we want to to adjourn but uh I I recall there was some discussion about town having two pools and I don't know what the volume or the the uh numbers that use the what is it the mil River Pool versus the other one are the War Memorial Pool and maybe it's an access question too maybe people who don't have cars and are more in town it's fair for them to have pool access with a more Memorial where they would have difficulties getting up to M River but if the town's going to put in like if I recall the total project of that whole bath house pool was like four million including the matching and the state funds and so forth I me that's a big number and as the town do we really want to do that what with all the other needs are in town so how do you fold that into discussion too I don't know I I would suggest that we can contemplate those questions that you're raising uh at our next meeting okay great we have the feedback and I would also my recollection is that we received from Amy via Ray harp I believe usage numbers of uh summertime usage numbers regarding both pools if I'm we can reach out I'll look at I'll look at what I found and see if I can locate it and send it to you Tim uh in terms of the questions though Holly again it's the summary from Dave regarding the Town Projects as well as the affordable trust in terms of flexibility Andor prioritization where things might be reduced and regarding the pool uh is the 750 request still there or might they lower it distinct from that what would be the uh for me what would be the uh minimum what they must have if they seek to maximize The Leverage it'd be a good data point from from my perspective uh and um I guess that's I guess that's it so uh I realize we're running on a bit although I've tried to be a little quicker than prior years and actually we are we're 15 minutes over instead of 45 so thanks to Holly for uh keeping things running smoothly in terms of uh the financial questions and uh again thank you to the committee members for the uh questions that have been asked and for um trying to keep us on level but again we'll meet the plan is to meet next Thursday hopefully we'll have as a committee additional information between now and then uh Holly if you can send us the uh spreadsheet with the um project ratings and and also confirm the current dollar Gap although I don't you know we'll we'll get feedback from Dave on that anyway and we should plan between now and then to look over what we've talked about and be ready to to uh hopefully wrap hopefully wrap things up next week although we're not going to rush it we'll be deliberate and uh so without that unless someone has something else to say uh I'm getting ready to adjourn the meeting I'm looking to see if any members have their hands raised prior to that like to thank you all for your patience and uh I think we've made great progress and I look forward to next week meeting where we can come to some clarity for our committee and for all the applicants as well so thank you all much very much I will adjourn the meeting at 8:16 PM good evening thank you thanks Sim thank you thanks good night good night if you need anything else for me Holly just let me know so I'll probably just um draft some questions and then get your opinion before I'd just like to send them out as soon as possible so we can get them sounds great thank you so much for your assist