##VIDEO ID:ADAoO8VqZeU## good evening welcome to the finance committee meeting of air Massachusetts on Thursday October 3rd 2024 at 6 p.m. in the air toown hall this is a hybrid meeting this meeting of the finance committee will be held in person at the location provided on this notice members of the public are welcome to attend this meeting in person please note that while an option for remote attendance Andor participation via Zoom is being provided as a courtesy to the public the meeting hearing will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems interrupt the virtual broadcast unless otherwise required by law members of a public with particular interest in a specific item on this agenda should make plans for in-person versus virtual attendance accordingly this meeting will be live on Zoom the public May access the proceedings by joining Zoom meeting ID 860 8777 1519 or by calling 92925 6099 for additional information about remote participation please contact Carly antonellis assistant Town manager at ATM a.m. us or 978 77282 to0 extension 100 prior to the meeting okay we call the meeting to order the first order of business is we have minutes from the September 19th meeting and September 25th meeting thank you Eric for preparing these any discussions changes there's a typo ah I do that on purpose see if anyone catches it there's uh what is it the last last line of the last meeting Bob is spelled OB that's the only thing I found oh okay bye I have made a correction okay any other comments questions I do actually know cuz I looked it up afterwards I just took a stab Dan Van scul Wick's name is spelled incorrectly if anyone cares to correct that okay we obviously to correct that we trusted you it's right on the September 19th minute okay okay I make sure that's noted okay um do we have a motion I like to make a motion to pass the September 19th and September 25th meeting minutes as amended Al second okay all those in favor I I I I I I Jim I I okay so the meetings minutes for the 19th and 25th of September are approved and we be submitted to the town clerk for posting okay um outside committee updates um there's uh just Bob you want to do a quick rate review update or um I wasn't prepared to but I will um so we met on uh Tuesday at 4: for the um rate rate Review Committee uh regarding transfer station fees and deficit it was approximately a um uh about a hold on one second I want to say it was about a $20,000 deficit we're at 300 excuse me we're at 308,000 uh $38,000 and the required amount was $322,000 so we had about a $3,000 shortfall because they had excluded the inclusion of the um bulk item stickers which was approximately $10,000 so um we had some dialogue about how um Dan had presented some alternatives for the uh to make up the deficit it that included multiple variations of in increasing the um permit rates um uh anywhere from uh increase the single permit rate to by $5 in recom other recommendations increase all the permits across the board by various amounts um uh so I can if you look through the meeting uh the presentation you'll see the various Alternatives the rate committee also had U some other suggested Alternatives um that we we um that were presented and are up for um investigation by Dan and he's going to report back in the next meeting right okay good thanks yeah I think the next meeting is going to be I'm looking on the calendar I don't know if they' in October sometimes and I think at that point they're we're finally they're going to vote on the uh new transfer station uh fees right yeah cuz that's due with the first right it's calendar year for the stickers right yes right yeah um and you you're supposed to buy them before the 1 so I think they tell you they start going on sale like November 1st or something yeah I I know it's going to be later in October the the the r review will meet one more that make the final decisions right there was a conflict with the um town meeting and or the election I'm sure not sure which but I can give you the date want to bear with me for a [Music] sec uh the fifth according to this oh uh November 5th then or November 5th that no that take it back excuse me October 15th oh okay right say November 5th doesn't sound quiet right right yeah there was one scheduled for the 5th but it's on October 15 yeah they haven't they haven't posted it just yet so yeah that's and that's when they final yep okay and I think the over correct me if I'm wrong Bob the the the the main takeaway was that we were going to hold and again this is up to the rate review but the impression I got was that it would hold on the bag correct rates and then work with the uh look at yeah there yeah if you're only 20 grand shy if you increased the bag rate like by a small amount you'd make that up fairly quickly yeah well they're the big issue was that apparently they're very high you know compared to surrounding bag rates yes so let let me throw this out there this would be a controversial topic we got got rid of senior discounts hey hey hey easy easy easy is yeah well there was some discuss well certainly they were they were talking about hey easy anyways there was some discussion about increasing the senior rate by $5 mhm and the second permit by $5 right um there weren't the second permit there probably aren't that many people with a second permit that's good qu good point so there's like 22 I believe something like that 129 Second permit you made $600 exactly what is the senior rate uh $60 that's for the year yes come out the permit the annual permit cost the do the seniors get a discount on the bags no no no so I don't know that it's increasing the senior one well depends how many senior permits there are right there's about I think I want to I go back and look at it but I want to say it was about 700 yeah 725 somewhere around there so you do five bucks that's three grand three four grand which is the really it was about we came out think that they when all said and done there's really about a $3,000 shortfall right and U there was some again shortfall is well to not take from retained earnings right exactly correct yeah but there is We There is a retained earnings um in that Enterprise fund correct yeah yeah there something to go through Robert was recommending that perhaps we could take it out of the uh General funds was it out of the general funds or was it out of the reserves no out of the the reserve fund yeah okay to make the deficit up yeah so so in any case yeah the the last the final decision will be made on October 15th Pauline is Raising her hand oh Pauline do you have a comment hello she's coming I do I'm trying to un mute I'm sorry with respect to the transort station fees this is the ongoing discussion but as finance committee members you all realize we have approximately $2 million every year in free cash so the short P of 13,000 for the FY 25 transfer station should not be a problem we should not be increasing fees to Residents seniors or otherwise if we have almost $2 million in excess revenues I just want to share that with you I shared it with pter second earlier today good good to know good thank you you're welcome okay so that's where rate review is and then uh Capital planning hasn't uh we haven't had the first meeting yet on that and then the buy board there's no byy board yeah also not yet not yet so okay um so and then okay so the next three items are just things we talked about um last spring and want to circle around and um again this is I think just um nothing to be decided but just to make sure we have it on our radar and uh uh are looking at it um and aware of it as we go along uh the first the main one is the senior center and um on the information that's been distributed to the select board and um there was the senior center presentation um which is is pretty good but that you know that gets down to the dollars and cents of what is the final projected cost at this point just for constructing the building was $16 million okay yeah so and that's before they actually know as well I think we can probably assume it will be more than $116 million it's over more they haven't even tested the ground to see if it's actually feasible to build there actually do have to do all that first yeah actually I I um drove a byy there today I think I was mentioning I was driving to Best Buy in lemonster so I took the back road and um so it's there's a back entrance to DPW off of Bishop Street and that's essentially the basic property is is DPW property but yeah it's pretty pretty wooded and undeveloped so but uh yeah I think to maybe to Eric's explicit point we should keep a close eye on it right because there's even a and this memo even has a sample prop 2 and a half override Yeah question it seems to be moving a little bit faster than like okay I think I think the committee the Senior Center building committee needs to go back and have some more plans drawn or something I don't know how I could possibly recommend or think it's a good idea to build a to build a $16 million Senior Center we have a elementary school that's falling apart kids can't even use the bubblers but besid besides the point they also didn't say anything about how much it would cost to put everything in the building I mean we have to buy things to put in the building and how much it would cost in increased expenses to run this new building every year CU you're not going to go from this tiny Senior Center where we are now with hardly any staff to what they're proposing without increas ing without having to hire another janitor for a whole another big building as well as staff trainers this that the other thing it would be that would be a significant annual cost as well and I know they talked about how much more efficient it would be to bring in the food um with the um yeah kitchen what the what I'm looking for restaurant grade kitchen or whatever I can't I'm probably using the wrong term um commercial kitchen thank you Jen restaurant right uh commercial kitchen but you know then what would how many more it still would be an increased cost as well you could say the cost pral would go down but if we're serving then more people how much additional cost I there just I think needs to be much more numbers and like I said I think what they're proposed for the size of town that we have and the population uh I think there needs to be some alternative um propositions or proposals drawn up so I was looking at the the cover um page uh to the September 17th memo and one of the the talks about everything and then uh has the follow-up items and the four third bullet is refined cost estimates and borrowing strategies they're ready to put a shovel in the ground they're they're pretty much ready to go that's how that's how the committee feels it seems like right their committee feels um that's what sorry that's what I meant by they they seem ready I figured just being clear thank you very much I forgot where I read it it was one of those emails that um I think the estimate borrowing cost was like a two almost $300 per household per year and I don't know for how many years so I thought that you know we were debating about the storm Water Utility Fund and that actually cost less per year per household than the senior center would and and so I don't know how big it is to cost $16 million to build but I guess this St maybe expensive I mean I have read I know I read like a towns where they built new schools it cost like like you know I don't know a lot more I I guess like our high school renovation was like 4050 million I don't know but I thought the high school is much bigger so I I kind of Envision senior centor being just like the size of maybe two large houses or something but I don't know how big this is I I have read enough it's large it's two floors I I will say yeah yeah I know it's two floors but I mean the I I think using DPW property is a really good idea you know you don't have to buy land but still I don't know how big the place is and I don't know how big senior centers are in towns around us I know Harvard Senior Center is also kind of falling apart old house but I think they probably also are in the process of building new one so I don't know I I think it can be stated that what we currently have for a senior center is not really feasible and viable going forward for here for the long term something we're going to need something I don't want to make it sound like I'm just wholly against something being done it's not bad at all no I actually I did a two weeks ago I did a I stopped by and and did a very quick tour since it's essentially three it doesn't take long oh yeah it's it's really yeah it's really small yeah yeah so I I absolutely you know understand that and agree with that I just I just think I along those lines I well to piggyback on jyn's point about the storm water thing the storm water thing should continually make our taxes go down because it come now comes out of the general fund but the I agree with their premise of you can never build too big in a way right I don't agree with that you you don't never want to have to outgrow your facility but I I think you need to tone that down to like reality of that like $16 million for a town our size seems unfeasible in my opinion mhm right so the the borrowing costs and all that other stuff for it especially considering you know some people that uh have raised several concerns in the past about uh buying a fire truck that for a fifth of the cost that lasts a couple decades and protects the town from oh how much is the fire TR and individuals from burning and dying it was like 2 to 3 million 2 and 1 half 3 million something like that for the new fire truck which is expensive that is no that's a lot of money certainly I wouldn't have guessed that for a new fire truck I had no concept well that was that was what the uh that was the ladder truck too truck right right but just as far as like you know nothing ever gets cheaper right right and it's that's only that was just a couple million and people were raising concerns about you know what that does to the debt level on the town and burden on taxpayers and here we are considering 16 million or you got to give something up MH right you can have your $16 million Shing Senter but you got to give something up for the next 15 years for the J debt exclusion right so yeah um so I was just making some quick notes and just maybe this is something that we can share with um the senior center work group is that um I just made and elaborate on these Eric and and and Andy and Bob um a clear picture of cost I was just trying to summ that would that be that' be total cost right there but there's like broken down to several things right the there's there's pre-construction costs which are probably not insignificant right you're doing your soil studies you're doing your you know whatever analysis you got to do the turtle study and all that other stuff of what's going on through there and it's going to take hundreds of thousands of dollars in X number of years probably yeah um right I don't I don't know if concom has uh looked at it yet but right they always have something to say yeah and they well that's actually part of their these are the on their furth follow-ups is uh um environmental site assessment habitat assessment it makes you feel like you should almost do that stuff first right because if there's a endangered Turtle Crossing that you can't violate why spend A4 million dollars doing sample analysis and whatever yeah and actually that's the first bullet on this is that you know all of the site uh review I'd like a comparison too between what they proposed a year ago with the community center that was you know Family Center on one side and Senior Center on the other side so we had Dual Purpose to I I I have I I know it was it didn't get very far so I have no idea what the scope that was all the say prony Park signs right CU theyy part but like so we went from that to this what's the what's the comparison what would the cost have been how large was that building I think there's the key is is is the building size because the the what happened with the first go around was that the location is what uh we ran into problems with in other words that we didn't want it we were going to take use some Peroni Park land and that wasn't accept acceptable so the whole whole thing just went away recept who well that's that's my point is if you had a if you did have a community center right you you want something you can walk to from downtown I would assume for everybody I know they did say it was kind of a community center but like how's how's a kid out of high school you know it was if I remember I think it it was like two Wings essentially right like kind of shaped like I don't make it the same building have the young kids hang out with the old people people that's always a good thing for society and the town in general which is kind of what I'd rather have right but sure I'm not sure that that's out of scope I don't know what that that's what the seniors are looking for I'm not saying they don't want the kids around I'm not say suggesting that I'm just saying I I don't know that that's what they're trying to me that's a better cell right I agree that the the council and aging director is running this initiative right so that's what she she's concerning herself with but my argument would be you could make a community argument of if it's available for community space for whatever reason then that is a better argument for a larger space than anything else so yeah I'm with you on I think that they would you know be open to um the community for other uses but I still don't think that the community n needs that bigger space and they said that there's going to be one rle that will be able to kind of like host 100 people the capacity is like about 100 people I don't really know the town hall the upstairs that gr heart that can hold way more than 100 people right or maybe the gr heart isn't you know appropriate for some you know function I don't know but I don't I mean do we have a lot of needs for a room that you know can hold 100 people I I I guess you know I remember last time when they gave the presentation that you know they was was saying that you know you can never build something too big like things will always grow but um it's not it seem to me that I agree with you I'm kind of leaning towards a you know just shrinking the sze a little bit it's not true that the population just continues to I mean our general population but the Baby Boomers are a different demographic every generation past them has been smaller cons continually gen Z just passed yes there's there's there's a you know kind of creeps back up again it's a but it's not like we're just going to continue to have more and more and more and a larger population percentage population people move to town we a would become attractive to seniors because actually I think in the last probably 10 20 years the new population moving into air probably are actually there are there are a lot of younger professionals but there are also older people who move out of you know Cambridge and like or from Harvard into air where you know taxes are less or Mr chair yeah yes this is Carly I just wanted to just highlight a couple points we actually over 60 population is the fastest growing um demographic in the town of air right now um second the all the pre-work that that's being done with the senior center you know surveys and all of the work with the consultant is actually being paid for right now U by a grant the town was successful in getting a $300,000 Grant from the state um that and we also are using arpa money um that was approved by the select board that's doing some you know some of the due diligence work now and then I just wanted to address like a comparison with like the concept of that community Center we never got that far um we we wouldn't have anything to compare it to it was only a concept plan um this you know we're getting render renderings and elevations for much more detailed work in this set of plans um than we ever got that far for uh when we were thinking a community center okay and I just uh you know there is room um as JY said we are um you know building it with that in mind that if we need a community space um that we're able to use this building at night in addition to the town hall Etc so thank you yeah thank you Carly uh because uh on that last Point um Dr petroy did mention um I asked her about the uh use Community use and she mentioned that that is something to be consider considered um in the planning and everything well can I Well I this was more of an afterthought right like her job is not to be a community center person she's the counsel an aging person right so when I say when when I with with an investment disis I'm sorry you know we look at it and we've been looking at it for probably God it's been 3 to four years now but I mean the concept was floated out there um obviously people didn't like it of doing a community center with a senior center at foni Park so we listened and we uh adapted and it was decided to go forward with the senior center only plan on on countown property sure but that comes at a cost the the other I mean there's just the entire plans in general too like there's a library proposed in there we we have a library we have a library that's fairly quiet too it's not like children are running around and there's baseballs being thrown back and forth and you can't read quietly or find a nice place to sit or or whatever there there's just several things in there that I felt where like let's put every single thing we could possibly want in this which I understand that as well but I feel is then you know is room for isn't that negotiation 101 right of like well we'll put the library in the gym and all that stuff and then we'll take those things out and then we still get everything that we actually wanted so just to uh sort of summarize and uh when I started to do this is uh and again fincom as looking at the financial aspects again this is a big Financial aspect uh but um would uh like the senior centers group and um again maybe we can in next meeting we can further fine-tune and say say to them uh but what I'm hearing General is a clear clear picture of total cost which I think is going to be coming together and ongoing cost after it's built um and then the other thing I'm hearing is the size and scope of the building do we need it this big do we need all of these things so these are things that the and I'm this uh again I'm going to sort of throw this out Carly U I know you're listening it is that they hopefully they are already on you know considering all of this and stuff so and then um so paen has a question yes paie thank you Kurt um thank you Andrew for recognizing me not a question so much as a comment has any member of finance committee attended a senior center committee review meeting I don't know it's a very long meeting name but has any of you attended any of those I don't I don't go to the meetings yeah I I have I've missed one and Carly please chime in um the there's been no discussion about making it a community center which you all have just talked about and the price keeps going up and up and up it was originally 12 now it's 14 now it's 16 I would encourage at least one of your members to participate because they're moving forward to um Carly help me here at least preparing something for spring town meeting in April 2025 yeah we're hoping to have sorry Pauline we're so hoping to have obviously the cost these are just estimates at this time but our uh consultant that we have has recently built several senior centers in Massachusetts and certainly the cost is um High uh but unfortunately it's it's not uh uncommon post pandemic this is what we're everyone seeing increases in the construction industry but again this is initial planning there still is a public process that needs to happen um and you know we're going to look at every aspect of it and you know what we can do we don't want to short you know sell ourselves short not build something big enough you know to save a little money at first and then 5 years from now say oh we really should have built this figure um so you know everyone's reviewing that and there'll certainly be a public process for folks to weigh in during you know prior to that that meeting vot it seem it just seems here we are you know beginning of October and all this stuff while we've have town meeting in April it's not discussed until the end of March like it's essentially all finalized in the next couple of months cuz then you start with the warrant articles and putting everything together and it all gets in there well before town meeting and it seem it seems like this is being pushed very quickly whereas we had we had a lot of we had a lot of me um Town meetings or you know Dan was very open to having things for storm water utility that again wasn't anything new we were it is new but as far as we're not taxing something new or creating something new like we're just moving the fin financing to another specific arm there was a lot done on that and studied done and here it's just let's let's get this on Town town meeting for April it seems Quicken we'll come let me let if I can Circle back to you in a few moments Paul we're going to okay throw some thoughts out here yeah I I agree with you to a to a point but I think the um but I think the uh uh that's what we're here for right is to we have a position and we have to try and not we have to voice our opinion right and then it's up eventually it's it'll be down to a vote but we we do have a say and I think I I agree with your mostly agree with your stance on this one that it needs to be looked at more precisely and I do I do watch the or read the the meeting stuff so okay um I don't know what the meetings actually are I assume they're during the day because they're all retired um so let me again uh don't forget Pauline sorry oh yeah Pauline I'll Circle back to you um and I may answer may may touch on what you're you might be bringing up so um so U if you can uh please bear with us um so what I'm what I'm thinking is then we're we've got a meeting in two weeks is um I can put together again uh we need uh fincom is suggest and um to the senior center working group you know make sure we have a clear picture of cost what are the ongoing costs is this the appropriate size um and again these things are may have already been addressed or will be addressed but these are as you you men Andrew things that we can make our opinion known and and and um can we get Barbara to do a workout on the the borrowing options um I they I know there was one number in there but is is there a different is there a 15year note and a 30-year note is there a well I'm sure she could if if they want to put it on town meeting for April they would have to have those numers I want I want it before no I know so what I'm saying is I think like she could at least get something yeah even if it's not you know rates will change 20% I think is fine right that's okay so so I just added to the list then again uh just to re clear picture of cost ongoing cost is this the appropriate size um could we ask like more detail on financing could we ask Dr patrai to come like at the whatever maybe not the next one in two weeks but the beginning of November just to give her time to do this since she actually has a another job as well like well I think if this would be more aply addressed towards the I think what I'm foreing is that we have another meeting in two weeks we can put together I'll put together these bullet points and we can do a final discussion and say Senior Center board and I think that's who Senior Center planning board is working group is this is who we should address it to um and then here's are things to are you considering and our suggestions and observations um and uh and I think it would be good to invite them back as well like we invite you to come back to discuss or talk to us so and then once we do that then we can get a feel for where they are in their process and do have they've gotten address those things and stuff and then we can um uh depending on where they are can we get some sort of um update in I'm guessing if we let them know the end of octo you know SEC third week in October the second week or maybe the first week of November the third week of November or first week of December because I'm just thinking of Thanksgiving can I uh you want to recognize Pauline first or um priority okay all right and yeah so go ahead B so um uh Carly I have a question are there any state funds being uh applied to the construction of the facility or is it simply for the study yeah eventually that's the plan will uh there's limited funds but we're in a good position where we got the planning money the 300,000 okay um from the state so yes when we we can't apply yet it's way too early with estimates and whatnot um but we will we are 100% planning on looking at state grants yes is there any study or is there any recommendation to put it out to private developers to develop the facility and then lease back would the town consider that no there's no been no talk about that yet so in my experience as a contractor uh typically uh state funded projects cost double what they really should cost because of the mandated prevailing wage law and um that doesn't apply to private developers so in that case you could reduce the cost construction cost by half and um uh a developer could you know lease back to the community including maintenance Etc um at a much lower annual rate yeah we could certainly look into it but I I want to say and just you know Massachusetts procurement laws as they are and they're very stringent I don't think that type of arrangement is likely allowed but we can we definitely look into it and it's a good point yeah I know I know that they do allow it because I I was a bidder on um the uh Massachusetts state um supplementary um server um facility um which I propose the building in uh Fort Dev and uh I was second bitter and there was no and I wasn't obligated to to uh build by uh using a prevailing rate so that's a okay yeah we'll look into it I'll certainly mention it to Robert and Katie for sure that you guys discussed it tonight right and and again well Carly I'm just sort of making this board points that we we'll sort of crystallize and and review and and have available and Bob I just added outside funding and private development and Lease back and U thank you very much Bob for bringing that out that's that's a very you know that's an excellent one yeah so um so what I would like to do and Paul Wayne I haven't forgotten about you um is sort of I think we've made a good start and really good start and really good observations and points and uh I think we're doing our job make people aware um and I I do want to throw out that this the the senior center again in my short span here of being on involved with fincom and stuff uh I sort of started as the original plan that was going to be a Peroni Park was presented and then sort of uh fell apart for for lack of better words um but I think the overarching thing that I've seen is that the senior center is a very important thing for the residents of air in general I think there is a a very strong feeling that Senior Center is uh wanted needed and is um uh a worthwhile investment for the town that's that's the feeling that I've I've picked up from various meetings I've gone to and everything and um like um and like I I said I did I'll throw this out see paulan I'm not forgetting about you um is that I stop by the senior center it's that's fun to do and if if you're if you time it right you can play kage uh that's dangerous they they've got too they play too often I just get my butt kicked I don't want to open myself up to that and I did drive by Bish the bishop roadside today so uh that was is interesting and then I was wondering would uh I'll just throw this out as as we have availability and things maybe we can stop uh you know individually stop in at one of the uh Senior Center planning Community Committee car what would be the right term for that uh senior cator it's it's a long one but it's the senior sight selection slash building committee okay that's why I was having trouble remembering that so yeah so an acronym yeah so we uh one of us can individually we should stop in at at the senior center committee car you know when the next one is that's what I'm trying to look up but it's it's not letting they just met last night they've been meeting when like every other Wednesday night um at 6:00 they don't meet during the day it's at night because there's um a lot of volunteers from you know Town members that work out of town during the day so okay so then I don't have in front of me when the next one is but we can certainly find out and I can email that over to K but generally they're Wednesdays at 6 or not every Wednesday but that's the date of the week on Wednesday yeah yep so far that's how they've been doing it okay great great so um so for next meeting I'll just get uh sort of put together more formal list of the topics that we've put up and um and then individually we can try to stop in at the uh Senior Center committee meetings uh Pauline uh didn't forget your any some other comments on the senior center yes Kurt thank you so much been waiting patiently and you've discussed most of what I wanted to share but I would like to encourage and ask Carly how it could happen that a member of the fincom be appointed to this Senior Center committee since we are now in the millions and millions of dollars the price keeps going up and I'll just leave it at that I've only missed one meeting of the committee um and I there's been no Public Presentation and I'm happy to know that at least it isn't on the October 28th um town meeting War but we're at 16 million now and I'm sure it's going to go up from there uh there's no defined or definite presentation and from members of the committee I've spoken with privately there's no Final Solution so it would be helpful to have a member of your committee heard on the senior center site selection building committee it's a very long meeting name and that's what I really wanted to share with you all tonight I have missed only one meeting and it's challenging um and Eric I'm appreciative all all your comments tonight so I just want to share that with you thank you thank you thank you Paul Wayne so that's that's a good point we'll take that um under consideration that's be another we can discuss on our next meeting that's one last question where's the last thing the they want to put the borrowing on the spring war is that that's what it sounded I think um the impression that I have gotten is I can just leave that floated Into The Ether we get clarification but that sounds wild if that's true that's what I that's what I was saying like how quickly it's moving yeah okay we we'll move on I think that comes from this the was the second memo uh from Robert which has the procedural process for debt exclusion and he put in there what the actual process is for getting it on um how to get the financing set up which is again going to be one of our questions more detail on financing and eventually then that ends up at town meeting 2/3 vote and um that's right here the next meeting next normal cycle on going to from um Robert's MMO is April 20 20 28 2025 town meeting so um I think he just put all this in here this is what needs to be done and by the way the next town meeting is April 28th 2025 but yeah that's there's a lot to be done looking at I thought we were going to discuss more about this but um yeah the actual financing but uh as uh I think this is where our discussion has been good there's a lot to be done before we get to the financing step and then as you're just noting boy that pushes it real tight up against April 28 that's what I was saying that it does it's not decided in mid April it's decided Well beforehand to get it already and officially in the moment yeah good all right all right okay um I think we'll move on to the last excuse me the next two topics and in the um in I in the fact that I can't talk anymore no in the interest of time um I'm just going to get really just give a quick updates on the next two topics um the first is department head reports and um I did we talked about having department heads giving us sort of a midyear update in other words instead of waiting until February and March and of her um so uh I talked to Robert about that and he said that um the department heads are aware of that and are willing to do that um so we would just uh need to let um him know what department and when we would like to have them uh uh do a presentation to us and my overall feeling was that this is sort of okay we're half you're halfway through your year how are you doing um how are you doing on any projects you did have done any projects new things coming up in the next year or so that we should be aware of that's what I was thinking that a department head report would be what other ideas do we have oh I question yeah no I'm totally with that the only thing is if it's October and that starts in November and then it's kind of Christmas and then it's kind of January which is kind of that time anyway mhm so so maybe we should go ahead and ask for somebody to stop by next meeting should we just start earlier well no okay maybe next um October 3 plus 14 I'm just throwing it out there right I feel like February and the actual budget process will come around very quickly mhm yeah whenever cuz it Doesn't I mean yeah we're just sort of looking for some updates they don't they don't need a 15 slide deck PowerPoint the OV stuff right um right so yeah yeah yeah so yeah again so maybe a 10 15 hey this is uh police chief fire chief um DPW who do we want as tribute so yeah that's that's so we request someone for next October 7 you want to ask for a volunteer yeah why don't we do why don't we do that just to get invol or at least a couple like say Hey you know or one of these people available cuz if we say you know we'd like the police chief to come and you know like maybe he's just not available then or something maybe if we say like you know could one of these people be available and then maybe one would their schedule would work out better than another one okay so why I go ahead and just ask Robert if he can schedule someone for octo our next meeting on October 17th is anyone were interested in or no you just I would be helpful for Robert if you if the committee specify who they want thank you car and we just have to give them a couple you know couple weeks notice we can have our department heads available that's no problem okay um I'm going to throw out police chief because fire chief he's been actually doing a lot of updates because of the ambulance thing um and uh and Dan has been doing lots of updates so sold okay so then fire chief Okay police ch Chief oh my gosh all right so we'll ask to see if we can have police chief he also had the most interesting budget last time I think cuz he he was shy staff mhm okay okay so October 17th meeting asked Robert if we can have the police chief to a uh a midyear update so to speak yeah just to be clear that's like we don't need a full slideshow it's just like a quick like how are things going sort of thing like last time we talked you were short three guys and we were overrun by traffic downtown and exactly yeah so yeah okay good good um so any other comments on that Jin paen also maybe the town government because the four parts the the big U budgets beside the city departments we talk about the town government the Town Hall that's that's also a big part oh I don't know who should do that maybe rber I don't know who but we should also learn what's going on in time okay good point all right so then maybe next time not I don't know if we want both of them in the same meeting but okay so then so then that so we're going to have police chief for um October 17th and the next three that would be up would be fire DPW and Town Hall yeah okay all righty very good any other comments no okay uh next item is uh financial reporting um I know uh I discussed this with Robert uh earlier this week again the idea of getting um what I would call and again I'm just this is what I threw out if if you folks can elaborate on that is that sort of a monthly snapshot of um of a financial report and one idea I had would be um where are we as far as the budget uh and U the other idea I had is what are our current balances um in you know I think one thing that always comes up is how much you know this is what we have in a reserve fund and it just gets thrown out and it's sort of nebulous and maybe if we get included in the the a monthly report would be budget snapshot and balances I would love to have a a discussion with you know Robert and Andor Carly or whoever would be pertinent about the um the stabilization funds Reserve funds and stuff like that like what is the goal what are we building towards what is or you know you know what I mean like what's what level are we trying to cover in an emergency or whatnot just inflation is a heck of a thing right so that always needs to go up but yeah it is so would would that be part of a monthly report or maybe just a special special session I mean like no and like yeah I don't think that specifically needs to be part of the monthly report but just in general like just as a something that would be good for that's a good idea okay so a presentation on if you're saving for a new couch right eventually you buy the couch exactly so a presentation on if you can just report U repeat I'm making some notes Reserve fund stabilization fund stabilization funds because it's it's hard because like everything the town does is really case in point we're discussing a senior center we can't save up enough for a senior center any way you could building a new fire station or school or anything like it would just be so much money so what what is the go you start saving now right you build the senior center today and start saving for the next for the next one which is maybe the thing to do right okay I don't know how many people would be up for that it's hard enough people get Twitchy about storm water utility which is essentially sort of like saving up for the big projects yeah but it saves the money and right that's an easier sell right because it's the like well you're you'll get a fee but that should come out of the general budget and we still be able to maintain the storm water so you won't need as D exclusion yeah but it's always risky when you trust the government to spend and save money wisely for a future project you here for Eric I know I'm just saying if has anyone ever heard of Social Security some of us are well here the government is very local so yes I know just but in general the more power trust that Dan and his crew are are responsible but I feel like the senior center saying I mean I just really hope that we can kind of somehow lower the cost you know somewhere I just I I mean so I'm very interested in Bob's idea of somehow you know involving private developers as possible Builders if we can loow you know construction cost cuz you know I like I said the beginning I forgot where I read it now but someone there was an estimate that the annual cost was like per household was about $300 like 280 something and and so and as Pauline said that you know this is a ese cost so when the builders finally build the after cost will only go out so so it will get really expensive so if we can you know make that cost lower and also I don't really know if we want to be known as the town that attracts seniors if we get more and more seniors then we should consider um you know eliminating all at least it's a good point just as far as the future of the to you know the transfer station sticker and and and then because people were also talking about senior discount for their storm W utility you know if we have a I think currently we have maybe 20 25% of the Town population seniors and so if they all get discounts you know that's a big hit to the tal Finance well sounds like we have a whole meeting to talk about it yeah yeah that's that's good good good topics so just to finish this so financial reporting um so what I'll ask is um Robert it would be Barbara who would be uh and um you know I think she probably already I mean I know that they have Department had monthly reports are already being published and again maybe there and I don't want to have her go out and reinvent the wheel when there stuff probably already there um so maybe for next meeting she could just uh she and Robert can just have some here's here's you asked for a monthly report uh and I just put here budget Trends uh the idea you know here's here's how we're the budgets is looking as of this month mhm okay and then uh I'm going to throw out the idea of balances also shouldn't that come out in those reports every month what's that the month is the spend up to that date for that year right so that is already being done I guess you just have to look for it on those spreadsheets cuz it's not updated in Yugo yeah well that that's what I think yeah I think the information is there it just would be nice to have it in a again for us a high level you know here's here's a high level snapshot of everything you know instead of having us to dig through clear gov and everything like that that's what it's called clear gov yeah and then we can just uh she can like roll it up to a so I I I was going to say I hate to go backwards but something you just said just triggered a thought in my mind as far as department heads and whatnot I think school committee should be higher up on that list of people that we meet with because which one of like department heads and what school committee there's two well the thing is that we can't quite control School commit uh school budget because job I think that's one thing they said I well you sure can right yeah we voted on everything we could control everything we vote uh but I understand what you're saying school I their budget is discussed separately I I forgot the details I know but so my point was that you mentioned Andrew the you know uh the police chief and his um budget and he was missing people and whatnot it's it's a little bit more complicated and involved than maybe you know a couple of the other departments or something and I feel like there's been you know changes we talk about increase in costs and everything else and how were things fairing versus what we proposed and how are things looking I feel like the schools would be a department where that could change a lot of variability and whatnot where you don't know the things all right so I've just added that to the list then fire DPW Town Hall school committee again maybe they uh Dr I can never remember his namea Rena thank you just just give you know either give us a or stop in and give us a again I think what we're looking for is a 10 15 minute hey how you doing here's how we're doing here's things that have happened and here's things are on the radar they also didn't accurately plan for the loss of covid funding last year right which is what hit the town so it's something that we can look at ahead of time yeah I don't know if they didn't plan for it by mistake or didn't care to plan for it well we can we can ask him yeah everything related to the school is so easily politically charged it's kind of often very difficult to discuss I feel you got a hand rais okay um Pauline you have a comment two comments now at first was only related to storm water something I heard Jin say Jin is there a senior discount for the storm water assment not per se but you can apply you know I'm not I don't want to say sen but anybody can apply for for uh you know kind of credit and then you have to go through a fa rigorous process according to the regulation that's written now to to to do that but seniors certainly can you know apply for that credit nothing in the most recent documents and I'm not questioning what you're saying but I'm I'm not using the correct term I'm I'm pretty sure they did not use the term senior discount no in the regulation that that the draft regulation that they have been discussing there was definitely way so you can apply for credit and then during the meetings they had talked about you know how about you know people who can't afford it and then they said you know I I I I can I can give you I can give an update on that particular topic and I'm not going to fight this right now this committee but I've read all of it and the only entities entitled to any kind of credit are the sius yes Pauline I I will address that just a minute so and then your second your second question second matter I'd like to take up is the school budget the technical schools particularly um the regional the Regional School District it's an assessment there's no input from the town it's yes or no sure but we can vote no yes that's what I mean by vote we can vote no so right it's just simply yes or no whether it's air Shirley Regional or the show valy technical um we have no say on how they arrange or prepare their budget and that's NE not necessarily a bad thing but it's a yes or no and that's been the case for maybe 10 years now since we regionalized yeah that's please please look into that storm water I am really concerned okay okay so um so to address your two uh comments um so again I was going to uh ask Robert to have the police chief join our meeting on the 17th and then we were looking to have fire DPW town hall and I'll discuss the idea of having the school committees uh stopping in just giving us an update we'll throw that at uh so and uh keeping in mind what you were saying and and I was sort of had that in the back of my mind also is that we are sort of once removed from the budget process there but it's still we still uh do get presentations from them so absolutely and I'm not not just I'm not suggesting not but we don't have input on their budget we just say yes or no correct and then as far as the storm water um the uh Jen what your I think what you're referring to is that there is credits are available um um depending upon the uh circumstances of the uh that can be applied for so that is addressed in the storm water utility um plan uh and stuff like that and again that and then there's a regulation so so that the along with the the war article I don't know but if the uh one article passes then there will be the town will draft the regulations and in their regulation there is a very substantial SE about applying credit it's not easy but um individual households can apply for credit what individual individual households and businesses can apply for the right and again that will be part of the final storm water regulations that are are put together and then as far as I just would throw this out a the discount on a senior discount on a storm water that would be part of the rate review setting uh when the actual uh Rat would be set for this storm water utility Enterprise fund and that would be done by the rate Review Committee and select board so that's there's nothing set in stone on wouldn't it need to be in the regulations that you could offer a senior discount I this feels like a non-issue yeah I know I I just say got brought up and now there's confusion can we just move on it sounds like there's no senior discount you can apply for credits if there's for some remediation and if you're don't can't afford it yep that sounds good sorry Mr chair I'm just this shair y'all need to read the warrant article there are no senior discounts you must comply with EPA regulations for any kind of credit and the only credits so far available are for the significant industrial users not for seniors not for residents not for seniors Carly help me with this well I think we this um I hear I hear what you're saying and I think uh again this is uh we've got sort of off uh track here uh the main takeaway is that these are things that will be um determined as the as the regulations are put together finance committee is responsible to advise the residents and the taxpayers you are our Watchdogs if you all don't understand the regulations I am sorry but please learn them and understand them before October 28th because this while not overly you could defend us the resident it is something nobody understands Pauline we're we're all set thank you for your input as I mentioned the regulations will be uh put together and we will be aware of that and stay on top we're done we're done absolutely we're done thank you just put on mute okay very good uh schedule the next meeting which is going to be October 17th Thursday at 6:00 p.m. and we've got a senior Setter we're going to sort of finalize a list of things to be looked at um police chief and uh presentation and um more details on a uh fin uh Financial monthly report so okay um I think we are all set the ex last on the agenda is public comments we'll throw that out one more time anything anything not covered okay very good uh I believe we've covered everything do we have a motion motion to adjourn second all those in favor I I I good thank you the meeting is adjourned as of 7:16 p.m. thank you good night