##VIDEO ID:eersdwQei60## evening um my name is Kurt FR Kowski I'm chairman of the finance committee welcome to the finance committee meeting on Thursday November 7th 2024 at 6 PM in the air Town 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 inperson meeting please note that while an option for remote attendance and or 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 the 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 8777519121 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 going to call the meeting to order um the first um item on the agenda is review and approval of the October 17th meeting minutes um we don't have a copy of those for tonight's meeting so we will um make sure that we for our next meeting uh we will include uh approving the minutes of the October 17th meeting minutes at that time uh the next item is outside committee updates um Bob would you want to give us a quick rate review update yeah so we um uh the board of Selectmen approved the um waste U transfer station rates for fiscal year 2025 and um there was no changes as uh reported from the rate committee so everything Remains the Same no changes approved unanimously by the uh Board of selectman terrific okay all right um the other uh outside committee is the capital planning committee uh which I've been attending uh we had the second meeting for this year and uh at this point all the department heads have um submitted their um capital budget request and we've gotten the um first list of those and the other uh thing is that we're going be using uh the clear. goov program for uh Capital planning so in the past we would actually have a printed list of all the capital requests and as we went to each meeting we would go down those and make comments and changes as needed um and this time um what we saw is the on the clear got go program for Capital planning only um there is the actual list of the items so the capital planning committee members can go in and review those items and um so we're taking a step from the paper so but that was all that really was uh discussed at that meeting um and then there was um the capital planning committee will be meeting um two uh two times this month and two or three times in December uh to start getting uh reports from the various Department heads on their capital budget request so that's where we are with capital planning okay all right uh next item on the agenda is a department head report from our fire chief chief Tim Johnson evening Mr chair evening Chief welcome thank you for coming you're welcome [Applause] so what I did is I I come up with the four topics like as we start to build our budget here and that's du at the end of the year um we can pass those around it's just some preliminary if you need a couy and we can just go over them I'm not sure what you want to hear from each one but as you can see the first one there uh is just the operating budget and as you folks know um we received the safer Grant 3 years ago on FY 26 um that will come to an end and the town will you know have those firefighters all on board through the operating budget so that's the last that's the biggest chunk of our Opera I mean the the biggest thing that we'll be adding to the budget um it's slowly been built up from 96 the first year to 106 to18 don't call me on all those numbers we're going to end up around four for in change so this year will be depending on it can be broken down from 190 to 220 it depends those numbers fall cuz the contracts up and you know things like that so it'll end up being just over around $400,000 about 420 yeah so that's the biggest thing from the operating budget you know the biggest thing um did you have any questions on that I mean we've been prepared for this we you know as we've explained that through the budget process you know it it's fly been built up in the operating budget over the last uh couple years and you know when we take them on when that expires after the year three in that February you know so we'll take them on for that last yeah no I I remember this was you know this is just was discussed last year you know in our spring budget meetings and everything and then that the safer Grant was running out or ending I think is a better way to put it and um and then those firefighters would be yep all within the operating budget the following year yep so just a quick note I think the the what we're the idea of this um meeting tonight is just we just thought instead of waiting till once a year to get an update we thought why we do it you know twice a year and then we can just see where we are and no this is great we can give you some information about what's coming down the road and yeah you know not problem at all I think the word I use is Snapshot yeah and then the next thing you see there the uh the uh Collective baring agreement with the firefighters uh local is up uh June 30th so um they've sent a letter in the of intent to do um start negotiating that starts next week so um that'll be another part it's always a separate part of the uh omnius but it'll it'll be there as well you know and that Su whatever that may be just goes into our operating budget you know once we come to a mo MOA so go ahead sorry no please I was how long is their contract uh three years okay that's okay yep they've always been three years as long as I've been around Eric that's what I was going to ask yep so that would be you know once they get an Mo MOA and it'll be effective July first and you know go on for three years to there what what's what's an m a memorandum of agreement so once they come to an agreement once it's financed um at town meeting then they you know then the contract sign is that the correct way Mr Town manager yes yep okay and then the last uh the third thing I should say is um last year um the deputy and I presented the call firefighter wages and last year um they voted to give the call department members each a dollar an hour um wage adjustment um so as the budget moves forward in the next couple months we'll see whether they want to move forward with that wage scale or if there's something else they may want to do so we'll just see how that works its way through um whether you know they do something nothing or keep it status quo but that certainly is something would like to move forward and it's not a large number what did you think like based on our call Department size now their current activity level it's somewhere between $6 and 8,000 annually yeah and the call Department membership is down but we're currently in the process of um we've gotten six applications so we anticipate all them will be able to come on board and currently we 12 on the roster we would say maybe four to six what we would consider active members where they right regularly show up so you know of course we'll have to get them trained but it'd be good to get some more members on board so are the qualif firefighters employees or they're paid paid hour by hour Yep they're all part-time employees they don't they don't fall under the union agreement no no no it's separate yeah yeah and they don't have any other benefits but the hourly wage yeah you know back decades ago was more less full-time staff and more call department now it's kind of you know tilted the other way but you know what happens is we have a somewhat of a robust call department and then they trickle off to full-time jobs elsewhere in the fire service and you know it takes a little bit time to replenish them and recruit people so or and I think we haven't heard about the grant yet we applied for our safer grant for the call department members that would pay for their training some equipment but I don't think we've we've heard back on that yet that was like around $104,000 before we hire them we'll make sure we are not eligible for that cuz then those members wouldn't be so it looks like most of the money is been awarded yeah you know government G them 30 days to accept so that I think that's what the we the time the delay is now they're waiting for all those agencies across the country to accept that money and then we'll get safer is if as if that yeah so that's similar to the safer grant that we hired those full-time members off of this is just for the call Department I think it's falls under Recruitment and attention for call departments you know you know throughout the country any questions on that one then the last one it's similar to what we covered maybe a few weeks ago when I popped in about the hospital um it's certainly something we'll have to take a look at as our overtime as we move forward knowing that the hospital you know isn't going to be a quick fix that it's going to be a period of time anywhere from a few months to maybe a couple years before um it potentially reopens so we'll certainly take a hard look at that as you are aware of we got um it's in the works we filled out the paperwork we're waiting to hear back from the state when we actually get they gave us some uh they call them grant money but it's 250,000 but it was only for Capital expenses so what we've done is we've we're going to take that money and create a uh paramedic vehicle where our paramedics if they're called to an out of town medical they're going to take that paramedic vehicle and leave the two ambulances behind so that two Medics would leave still and that's a non-transport vehicle um so we'll outfit that c and it'll take some of the pressure off we'll have two transport Vehicles back since as you know our distance to hospitals went from 12 to 16 to even more if you have to go to a you know a trauma facility or something like that um you know and at the same time you keep the members out of the service area so the four members that are on duty yesterday was a busy afternoon they either have both gone or one was coming and going so we had call back of off duty members I don't know probably four times yesterday afternoon and it's not an abundance of members but we get one two or three to come back which is good for us cuz it covers Us for that next emergency CU we have to do you know both fire and ambulance so they come back and cover the station in case that next uh emergency comes in um so that's certainly something that has increased if I remember the number I think last year was 130 we had like call backs and was certainly but but I think it's important that we're only a few months into this it's tough to even by say when the budget's do in December to get that great sample because when we build our budget we're always looking at numbers for the past fiscal year or calendar however we take a look at it so we'll have a short you know snapshot of it but we'll be able to you know at least have a good sample to you know see where we got to do or what we might have to do with some of that overtime money but you would expect that for the next given that it's not a short fix for the hospital you would expect that next fiscal year would have a larger they have to be some kind of bump I would say to cover that cuz that's our short fix because we're not going to run out and be hiring 12 people so in the short term you know we can maybe we we have to cover the stage I we want to make sure people are there for one and it hopefully it's a short fix till you know the hospital um gets resolved and I'm very hopeful like the town manager I'm on the committee we hope that you know it slowly comes back to you know becoming open thank you and yeah it's also something else and you can chime in if you want we also look at the uh revolving fund for the ambulance so we know that we lose some of those ambulance calls meaning our ambulances are both on the road they're not back to take that next call so we well I say give them away but we call Mutual Aid so to some extent we don't know what the revenue will look like will it stay consistent it's been a little slow as you know the deputy does the billing for some reason the last few months like not just us just the region in general has been slow we know cold and flu Seasons coming and you know even as far as ltha they would tell you it's been a little slow we're not sure why good for the people that don't need it but so it's something you know it's a it's an overall like a yeah a higher view but it's something we'll have to see how the the revenues certainly they've been fine right now um I just did the monthly total and I think we took in $79 ,000 which is a big number but you know we we're getting that number for stuff we did you know in the summertime and stuff like that so those are the things that we'll keep an eye on certainly as we move forward both you know in regards to the hospital the overtime and see what that looks like and then of course you know well as always as everyone here especially town all the finance side they look at the revenues that keep coming in no it's it's too bad so that 250,000 for the you're going to be using since it's capital for an actual vehicle EMS infrastructure Improvement yep so what that does but it what I was you can't use even you can't use that even for wages nope not for wages correct it's only Capital Improvements but it did save the the town some money because what we're doing is we're we're getting a vehicle and we're outfitting that vehicle with two sets of paramedic um gear so perhaps you know if they go somewhere and they have to transport to Boston they can let that paramedic go with the transporting ambulance say they went to devans and then that vehicle come back and be available for another call with the equipment and the paramedic and and it does save cuz we're going to get out of that you know a couple monitors that are 50 something ,000 a piece we in capital we had a pickup truck on that thing we push that down the road a little bit cuz that pickup truck is the one you see chasing the ambulance on now now we'll just Chase it with that new vehicle so we don't need to replace that vehicle it'll be there for utility vehicle plowing in the snow so it does save you know for some for sure on Capital I mean it's $250,000 worth you know getting a vehicle and a lot of the paramedic equipment so it certainly has saved on that end I think I was just expressing that my disappointment that the state restricted that money like that yeah but you guys have been very resourceful we still push for that and certainly we'll leave it at that but I think yeah that would be hopefully the next step that they could go up with potentially they could use on labor hats off to you that's just a really neat way of working around yeah no I think that's a good stop Gap measure for now it'll help us get through this transition period whatever that may be um and certainly as months go by we we get more information in regards to the hospital but we I think this is a great adjustment for it it doesn't increase our labor we rely more on that off-duty Staffing and call department members to come back and that's the model we have for now and we'll just as always we'll keep an eye on it and see where it leads us just gives us that one more layer of flexibility to try to spread out that the four to seven people we have in the building to cover as many calls as we can yeah and what that does it gives us that great point that third like right now we have two ambulances that's that's all we got you know we have some BLS gear on the engine to take in that next call now we as long as we have a there we have three options you know we can get that advanced life support to the person in need you know in any one of those Vehicles as long as we can start it we can always wait for the ambulance to get there but we can so so it's a great thing that to add to it and and it doesn't come at as expense to the town yeah exactly great yeah that's all we got like I said that's a quick snapshot of it um certainly we fine tunea by the time you know the end of the calendar year comes around I I just I had one question when are we the um the new ladder truck that is dueing April of 26 yeah so we and and I and I we always knew that it was going to yeah so we just so the engine we ordered took 2 years and 7 months before we got it and it's in service of course we got it in August I think it was in service in August maybe right at the beginning of September but that took 2 years and 7 months it was originally scheduled like for the fall of last year and it got pushed out to January or February and we finally got it in the summertime cuz there was L was originally for the fall fall of 25 pushed it they pushed it all the way back through July or August and threw a little bit of complaining against forward yeah they put it actually in October of 26 and I we rifled off this nice letter how we've been a long you know customer since like 1988 and they got it moved back to the original date so you know and the answers are there's some labor issues in that they're made in Okala Florida but a lot of it is and the best way to explain it is if the company orders 30 engines from say cumins they're getting like 22 of them so it they kind of have to reset and say okay which ones we going to start building then so you know there is certainly labor on their end most likely but um we still have those shortfalls of them getting the stuff all day cuz they don't start production till like everything like that's there to get going on it so if you order that truck to today they would tell you three years yeah three years is what they're saying yeah yep it's crazy yeah used to get them I know how can you you know like think down the road yeah that's crazy apparently the yeah the is steady right the yeah the ambulan was the same way we ordered that and they were saying it would be uh April or June or 26 same thing we ordered the ambulance that's why we have to before this used to be you'd get them in 9 to 12 months once you ordered them you'd get them you know before the the next fiscal year you know in some case ambulance was real quick but that was two years once we ordered so that's why we got to come here you know get that Capital stuff early you're not borrowing the money you're just getting you know the you know it it's just crazy to have to do that it'll be the same thing with our air packs this year we'll need the authorization in the spring we probably won't place the order until March of 26 just waiting for the but I have to have the ability to place it as soon as it becomes available to get your place in line we had a hand raised okay well that's do we have any other questions for the chief no he's just yes um it's uh going to open it to the any public questions to for the chief Sarah I can you hear me yes okay I just a question I I saw one of the job ads this week I think for the firefighter position do the fire is it can you confirm for me that I understand what I read it's it's a 24hour schedule and then 72 off that's correct yep and is that the same for the paramedics uh yep that that would be the paramedics so you work 24hour shift on Monday and you do back like say if you work Monday you do back on Friday yes they work 24 on 72 off okay thank you so much you're welcome thank you anyone else okay well good thank you very much no problem at all thank I'm going keep you posted as anything else pops up on the state side okay all right um again thank you very much Chief and deputy chief um the next item on the agenda was our of the financial reports um unfortunately Barbara tyranny the finance um correct me what is the correct title finance manager finance manager isn't here to to join us um but we did get copies from the last meeting then I think we just got a copy of October's so um did anyone it what I'm going to suggest is that we wait uh till next meeting when we have barara here so we we can ask questions and um and then use the time to start looking closer at the reports and stuff I mean I've glanced at them and everything stuff so um are there any other questions oh Robert said he if we had any other no I think it makes sense to wait yeah okay all right we're good so we uh we'll wait till U our next meeting um which is the next item on the agenda so um let me get my handy dandy calendar open here which is going to consist of me getting my computer off caps locked there we go okay so our next meeting then would be Thursday November 21st at 6: p.m. um Robert uh may I ask do you know if maybe Dan from DPW could join us yep what was the date no uh Thursday November 21st 6: PM y okay okay good so then we for our agenda department head report then um I'm going to make a note now again we'll confirm before I put the final agenda that it would be Dan DPW department head report okay and then hope uh we'll have Barbara do the financial reports and everything okay um anything else okay um I'm going to open it again are there any other public comments Ma it's paie oh okay hi Paulie just um I do this at almost everybody else's meetings as well and I'm glad rocker's there but if you have documents that you are going to review during the meeting would you please attach them to your agenda okay yes I know the chief presented several things excuse me I don't have any questions about his Department I know it too well but um anything else that is being discussed at the meeting should be available to anyone who is attending the meeting okay very good thanks so much good thank you Paul okay uh anyone else can you tell Max okay uh if there's nothing else no other business I move to uh adjourn the meeting second and all those in favor hi 6:30 6:30 very good meeting is adjourned as of 6:30 p.m.