good evening everyone today is Tuesday March 19th 2024 and welcome to the select board meeting this meeting hearing of the air select board will be held in person at the location provided on this notice members of the public are welcome to attend this in-person meeting 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 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 and channel 8 the public May access the proceedings by joining Zoom meeting ID number 897 980 0793 or by calling 92925 6099 for additional information about remote participation please contact Carly antonellis assistant Town manager at ATM a.m. us or 978 772-822-0151 with liberty and justice for allk you are there any amendments to tonight's agenda I don't have any I'll make a motion that the board approve the agenda as presented seconded all in favor I and chair says I and we have one announcement next Wednesday March 27th 2024 the town manager will hold the second public budget Forum on the third draft of the fy2 budget it will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will be held in person and Via Zoom okay all right all right anybody here for public input yes Pauline good evening uh Selman and town manager I have just a few comments I'll be very brief excuse me and I apologize for my cold which is why I'm not there okay so let me just say the following and then if you wish to discuss I'm happy to do so I don't listen to music very often not in my car or at home sometimes at work but the one place I always enjoyed it was at the transfer station the music playing there seemed to make everyone a little more pleasant more considerate and more polite apparently someone complained about the music and the radio was banned I don't know if it was one person or several who complained but I can tell you that more than 70 people the overwhelming majority of whom are air residents taxpayers and transfer station users reacted and or commented excuse me on social media that removing the radio was one of the most inan things this town has done I chose that word in in some of the other on not just for us but also for Andrew and Frank who are there 5 days a week both greet everyone who enters most by name and are always ready and willing to assist in any way in any weather they are by far the most well regarded and respected employees of the town of air undoubtedly playing music made their day more enjoyable too paraphrasing a great American songwriter we all went to the transfer station where we'd heard the music before excuse me but the man there said the music wouldn't play anymore do you believe in rock and roll can music save your mortal soul man I dig those RH of and blues something touched us deep inside I'm very sorry the day the music died I am here on behalf of of those 70 plus persons to ask what harm was caused by playing music and request that it be restored and if you will not do so please explain why in closing I'm sorry my dear friend Harvey flag is not here to help me collect 602 signatures you will recall we did that a few years ago but if doing so will have any influence on your decision we will attempt to do that thank you okay so just to clarify um I was on vacation and I did see the email um that came across and and I'm aware of the radio uh issue to my knowledge and I've seen nothing and nor any been told the board was not a part of that those were messages sent to the supervisor and I can only say based on that info which is all I got is that they had to make the decision at the time based on what they were receiving so that is the board's involvement in that decision I think that any decision should always be under review and that's all I got to be honest with you that's all I got um that's all I know and that's all I have um but thank you for your info and just so you know I believe it was 603 signatures back then you are correct I signed it when I presented it he collected 602 he didn't collect mine yeah so um so that's that's where it lays right at this moment um as far as the select board's involvement to it um and I I don't know what else to say except thank you for your input and as always things should just always be reviewed oh one last comment Madam chair and thank you for your comments I did I sent an email to Mr poman Miss anelis and Mr van schwick um and I did not intentionally copy the board because I didn't want to create a a um you know what I'm saying a discussion issue but I can certainly forward that to you and if you are saying that the board will review this decision I will accept that for the time being and I appreciate well I don't know to be honest with you I don't think I said that the board would review this decision I think I said that actually that all department heads um they need to make these decisions based on information that is being sent to them it has not reached the board's level it is under public input so don't misunderstand what I just said um so at that point I don't think the board is got enough info to make a decision to get involved D so that's where it stands as far as the select board at this time okay because I I don't have any of the other info as to why this decision wasn't being made fair enough fair enough but I believe when I contact with the town manager that should have been forwarded to the board for their um information but I will let you do as you need to do and I will keep in touch okay thank you anybody else Sarah yep Sarah with the 11 Gren Shirley Road I I don't really have a comment um I just before we sit through the water and sewer hearing I know I'm I'm not going to be able to like ask questions after but I was just want to comment about the process and the charts um when I went to the um storm water advisory commission Mee like committee meetings in November there was a nice Capital planning committee chart I think a consultant together and it was just really nice it had the capital the expenses and of course it's a small chart at this point cuz it's just you know it's like starting up um and I know that like I can't even imagine what the water and the sewer looks like but I did try to watch a couple of the rate reviews and um if there's anything like if there's any charts that I like can be connecting the dots to from the rate review process or like through this like it didn't really it it feels like it's kind of disconnected and it's not it's not you it's just like it's not this town's presentation it's like it's just me as a resident not really understanding um I know you might not appreciate might not even understand what I'm saying so I'm going to get up but I have a lot of interest in the water and sewer so Sarah I hope that when we do the hearing that all your questions will be clarified please feel free to raise your hand and and ask us to clarify on anything that that maybe might be confusing cuz honestly I sit on the committee and I get confused some days too so don't worry about it yes good evening my name is Michael paten I live at 42 westf Road about 100 to 150 ft from the corner of the building so I'm close this may or may not be appropriate to this meeting I'll try from a practical point of view 2 and2 million gallons of oil against are you excuse me are you talking about for the public hearing for the gas for the on the uh flammable and combustible liquids I'm talking about the katana um public hearing meeting right which we have have not formally started yet oh so let's no that's fine that's fine so we'll get the public hearing started and we'll do that part and then we'll open it up for comment okay but nice to see you we haven't seen you for a long time okay ready uh town of a vacation notice a public hearing air select board the air select board will be conducting an in-person and remote public hearing at 6m M on Tuesday March 19th 2024 regarding an application by J realy Corporation Juan NCO assessor map 17 partiel 21 air Massachusetts the applicant is seeking an amendment to a current flammable and combustible liquids gases and solids licens for the increased storage of up to 2,500,000 gallons of vegetable and olive oils in pursuant to Mass General law 148 section 13 applicant is currently licens for the storage of up to 2,800,000 gallons of vegetable and olive oils for zoom and call in information please contact ATM a.m. us or 978 77282 to0 extension 100 and I learned we don't have to do the rest okay okay so the representatives for this hearing original yes thank you y so I can give a little intro if you like uh so uh this is Dan bracket from uh Kat J realy Corporation um they're seeking an amendment they currently have a chapter 148 section 13 license they're looking to increase the um volume um of their storage uh the company is working with both the State Fire Marshals office and with our local police department so I know um Chief Johnson if you had any input on it if you wanted to even Madam sh can uh we've been working with them and uh we don't have any concerns at this point with the um Amendment to the quantity but we'll continue to work with them through the construction phase to um work with our state Partners to get their permitting done once that process has been completed but as of this time we have no concerns in the what's what's the current um capacity 2,800,000 3, 80,000 oh 2, 80,000 and you're trying to raise it to 2 mli Milli 2 and a half million two and okay yep all right okay now Mr patent it what would you what are your concerns Jesus St we had to we had to open the hearing yes I said my apologies okay I can understand some people others I can't Okay so we've we've opened it they they run to raise it to 2 and2 million gallons Okay this may or may not be appropriate stop me if it isn't I probably the closest house to the building 100 to 150 ft away from a practical point of view 22 million gallons against just over 200,000 doesn't matter okay it's a lot of oil my concern is that if anything was to happen and there was a fire okay it's going to be a big one it's going to spread south Southeast quite possibly across the road to me so my first personal concern is is is there sufficient Insurance in place to take care of property and so on which may well be damaged I have no connection with the soyer at all but because of its location any oil which came loose was on fire is going to run straight into the the soyer property and that's almost certainly going to go as well 15 million I have no idea houses there are several houses around two or 3 million so as I said my concern is is there adequate Insurance in place to compensate for any damage which may be caused may not be part of this meeting the second point and as I said I have no connection to Noya a little while ago they had some public hearings on contamination of the local super structure and so on uh to do with waste water I haven't heard anything for two or 3 months but if 2 million gallons of oil became loose it's going to run down it's going to run down past the uh corn um items uh it's certainly going to run over and further down towards the other buildings in that complex and it doesn't seem to me that there would be any real way way of stopping that short of a boundary wall around around the whole property to stop it running away uh I'm no expert in that field at all so the two are contamination if anything does happen and compensation for the people around it and otherwise I have no no real objection okay all right thank you thank you can you answer any of these concerns it can okay um so anything we do complies with law and all the all the laws and the building code and so forth um the concerns about leaks or spills um all of our buildings are constructed in such a way that all the oil is contained within the building um the current project or any of the tank Farms that we've built right have to comply to a couple things one is is that if there's a spill you have to be able to have containment of at least one of the largest containers so the idea is that it's unlikely that multiple containers are going to fail um so this is in the code and we um so we we have sufficient containment in all of our tank Farms including the one that we're building um in addition to that you have to have enough area within that space so when the gentleman talks about a you know a wall wall there's a wall around the tank farm there's a wall around the building um it's maybe not readily Apparent from the outside but there is and so the other thing that we have to contain is that so in the event of a fire right a tank could fail um but also what happens when there's a fire is the sprinklers put water right so then they fill up that area with water so we have to meet a not only have enough space to contain one full one of the largest containers which is you know 29,000 gallons but we also have to have enough space to contain at least 20 minutes of the sprinklers running um and that's that's what the code is and we and we have um and we always look to have more containment in that so through our plan um it's PE is reviewing it it's being constructed under those principles and therefore if there is anything spills there we've we've followed all regulations to keep it contained um concerning uh compensation for any event of an emergency or fire um we don't have insurance policies for a neighboring um anyone for for NOOA any of our neighbors um just as we don't I live in a house and I don't have insurance for my neighbors at home either um however um you know we we are we are a good corporate citizen we've been in air for many years many of you guys have know us and work with us um I would be um I'd be very surprised that if there was a catastrophic failure that we would just walk away um we're we're here it's a 100 year old over 100 year old company we've been in air since 1994 um we're we're not going anywhere and um we we uh if it if it helps anyone we don't have any more land so we're not building anything else that's good um you know and to that end we part of this is uh you know we recently moved down the street from 3 NCO to 90 NCO um and that's again to help support the business okay I don't know if that adequately answers the questions okay all right Mr Patton did you hear that a little bit um so they have adequate spr sprinklers okay so that if there was a fire um and the and the sprinklers would run for at least 20 minutes so they had and they and maybe more so they have that and as far as compensation um these companies don't have like insurance for the neighbors just like you wouldn't have an insurance for your neighbor um if something happened to your house so that's that's what he said so okay yes Chief so as Dan said though I think it should be rest assured Life Safety is Paramount to not only that company to the town we're down there at minimum say once a year if not a couple times a year to do inspections along with their group they keep up with their annual sprinkler test they offer us any training and anything that goes on they're at the Forefront of making sure that we know about it it gets rectified and following all the rules so but they're very inviting and like I said we I completely agree with Dan Life Safety is Paramount to them mhm okay okay yes Pauline sorry to interrupt again but I I'm Blown Away by the fact that um the applicant is saying they have no insurance for the neighbors and I put Neighbors in parenthesis I believe uh Chief Johnson you might be the only one in the room who remembers when we negotiated the Lorden oil uh build on pitchburg road the town is protected the town of air is protected to two uh 10 million for any Escape of oil or other Hazard um as a result of their operation and I am sure con spia has a similar liability policy that provides coverage for the town of air which includes its residents and I speak as a former ins Insurance liability expert for 40 something years so if you don't have in in place an agreement that the town of air is an additional insured on containing spers liability policy you need to talk to Mark rich and make sure something like that is is involved before you agree to this um expansion because that should be part of the process without thinking and and when the town of air is covered its residents are covered yep okay um okay to be perfectly honest um I made an assumption that we don't have any insurance um I can take it back to the owners and get clarification on that um you know I I came with a prepared to answer a lot of questions but was you weren't ready for that one I wasn't prepared to answer questions about insurance so Carly and Madam chair I just want to say from my perspective in the town manager's office I deal with uh most of the town's Insurance uh requirements any license agreement we've had uh between both parties they've always provided an adequate um Certificate of Insurance as required by a contract I believe the insurance requirements I'm not sure but I would believe they' be covered in this stat statute um of what what is required well the fact that you've been here for so long it I you have to we've had some type of an agreement already and we just don't know the details at this particular second so this is amendment so that we you know when we had we have the same insurance that we had when we had 2,800,000 gallons so that hasn't changed um but yeah I'm happy to go back to the owners and get clarification on what insurance we have and what that may or may not cover um you know to put some perspective on 2 and5 million gallons it sounds like a lot of oil right um and it is a lot of oil it shouldn't be understated um but that um supplies our plant or all of us right who who consume the oil and basically we supply all of New England um for 2 and 1/2 weeks so you know 2 and 1/2 million gallons seems like a lot of oil but in 2 and a half weeks it's all gone okay um I just stay right there okay yes Pauline Madam chair a $2 million insurance policy suggests to me that it's a uh primary liability policy there should also be an excess policy which is what I was speaking of regarding Lorden Len's access policy was 10 million Ken spia given its size should have a at least that and I would encourage the town manager's office to obtain copies if they don't have them there's no State requirement to have insurance for such things that name the town or individuals as additional Insurance the entities themselves need insurance but hopefully the town of air has been protected can spia has been a good corporate citizen I just was concerned when the gentleman said they didn't have insurance because that can't possibly be the case okay yeah so we'll get proof of insurance in to the town and can we can we hold it over till next meeting do you mind coming back on April 2nd no that yeah that just that way all the questions have been answered everything's up front and everything problem uh you'll be right at the beginning of the meeting and no problem at all it'll be boom boom get the info I was not prepared to answer you know what saw a lot of questions coming I didn't see that one myself so but that's the question you should always be prepared for the question that never think to ask so so yeah so why don't we um just hold this over until April 2nd and that way all questions are are answered and everyone feels comfortable oh Robert I just going to say did make a motion oh yeah so make a motion for to come back okay um so I'll make a motion that the board reschedule the public hearing for Contin or continue the public public hearing for April 2nd or April 2nd meeting 2024 seconded all those in favor I and chair says I so thank you very much um for your willingness to do all this yeah no problem okay all right so this will be back on April 2nd okay all right for the next one yeah hang on a sec let me get to that page wait a minute Dan I'll hang on to these if that's okay the original and then we'll get it squared away at the next meeting problem at all okay thank you y are you ready yep okay uh town of air notice of public hearing air select board fiscal year 2025 Water and Sewer rates the air select board will be conducting an in-person and remote public hearing on Tuesday March 19th 2024 at 6:05 p.m. the select board in their legal capacity as the town's Water and Sewer Commissioners will hear the report and recommendations of the town's rate Review Committee take public comments and consider approval and Adoption of the fiscal year 2025 Water and Sewer rates Zoom meeting ID is 8979 8793 and the call-in number is 92925 6099 for more information please contact ATM a.m. us or 978 772 8220 extension 100 okay so here welcome to the public hearing for the water and sewer rates Dan Kim hey hi good evening Madam chair I'm take it away all right um yeah so rip I'm here Daman SC DPW director Kim Abraham Water and Sewer superintendent and we're uh we're providing a presentation for the rate Review Committee on the Water and Sewer rates um so we'll get into a little background now here's the agenda we'll get into the committee members and our rate review process kind of an overview of the water and wastewater infrastructure regulatory requirements that are um um you know applicable to both Water and Wastewater um our water and SE rate model and the recommendation for the water and sewer rates and impacts on a typical bill so rate Review Committee members select board member Janice Livingston Mr Andy Loven citizen rep Mr Bob France finance committee I know Kurt is in the crowd today for the finance committee uh myself Kimberly Barbara Tierney also on zoom and Robert P on Town manager the current uh members so the goals of today's meeting are to set the water in the sewer rates for fy2 so that's starting July 1 of this year um just a background air air DPW Water and Wastewater so DPW provides drinking water and collection treats waste water for the citizens and businesses so a lot of this you're just kind of out of sight out of mind you don't see it going on but very important infrastructure um you we're focused on at 24 hours a day we do have you know significant flows there's industries that run three shifts so it doesn't really stop um so you know some of the main goals maintain and protect our Drinking Water Supplies treat water to meet regulatory standards uh I don't want to go through the whole list but in the interested time but um there's a lot involved in in maintaining these systems and meeting regulatory requirements it's a little background on Air's water system originally it was constructed in 1895 and you can see the original pumping station in the picture to your right right now we're serving 3,370 customer accounts um providing water for domestic use commercial use and Fire Protection there's 50 mil of pipe five public water supply Wells and two treatment plants which do have pfast treatment uh fully operational and also two water storage tanks so some uh issues with the water system um aging pipes are a big concern and you know we're tackling this and thankfully through the capital planning committee every year we're doing water Replacements um there's been numerous breaks and dirty water complaints that we address and uh and work with u people on uh numerous dead end pipes those cause water quality problems so we have projects to to you know limit those dead ends especially newer projectss that come in um we mentioned past contamination in allive air Wells treatment construction has been completed for those so the water is fully treated um and as we mentioned drinking water is highly regulated require special licenses For The Operators U testing and Reporting and there's over 100 water quality parameters we test for air air is one of the first in the nation with past treatment so um these are a new regulated group of containments as of a few years ago so far the total cost is about 11.5 million um for these these treatment plants should note The Grove pond plant was fully funded through the Army for construction um in Spec Pond we had a mass DP low interest loan um with principal forgiveness as well the Grove pond plant this is one of the two PE uh fast treatment plants at the Grove Pond this was completed October 2020 treats approximately 40% of the town's water supply at this time um past is removed to non-detect levels similarly spec Pond treatment plant the past treatment completed in July of 2022 it also had Roofing electrical upgrades to the existing uh treatment plant and pasas is treated there to non-detect levels uh want to put a couple couple slides in on on water supply issues as um you know most residents we've had calls of concerns with why are we having water bands every summer so what's going on is uh the pfast treatment system at the Grove pond plant you know being one of the first in the nation we have one of the first treatments it's reducing the amount of water the town can pump through that plant so I put a graphic on here where our water it comes from our water supply raw water goes through green sand treatment this is what we had before p treatment water supply to green sand treatment and then it went out into our system to our distribution up to our storage tanks fills the storage tanks so then when there's high demand those storage tanks drop down especially if there was a fire so on we used to be able to treat 1 1.5 million gallons per day so now with past treatment installed we have an extra item in the past treatment train so we got water supply from the wells green sand treatment now we push through past treatment and we're only pushing out .78 million gallons per day or about 780,000 gallons per day as opposed to the 1.5 million so we've reduced our pumping capacity by about 49% um there is a solution for that so we'll get into that in these next two slides the in the short term we've increased pumping at the spec pond water treatment plant to make up some of the deficit we've worked with the industry and thanks to them um to reduce industrial consumption recommended the outdoor water restrictions um ured emergency water interconnections with devans and Littleton are ready if we really needed them and we've began design of the long-term solution so the long-term solution um because of the the issue it's related to infrastructure of the water system and not due to lack of water supply that the wells can provide there's an engineering solution it's called a clear well storage tank so what this clear well storage tank will do it will improve pumping capacity to near free pfest treatment volumes and it'll also at the same time act as additional storage for our water system what this gets installed immediately Downstream of the treatment plant itself and it creates a a barrier between the distribution system and the treatment system so we don't have to fight against the distribution system pressure as we pump into it so it allows us to pump more through our treatment system um the goal is to have the construction completed prior to Spring 2025 when we get the high demand season in 2025 I'll actually have some more info on my um my agenda later okay the air sewer system originally original system constructed in 1945 it includes 34 mil of gravity sewer 3 and a half miles of forest Mains 19 pump stations significant number of pump stations and and tertiary wastewater treatment that essentially means secondary treatment uh with UV disinfection uh we do have our sludge truck to Rhode Island it's costly that's one of our most costly items um uh air sewer infrastructure issues so the wastewater treatment plant has to meet strict water quality standards um we're in the middle of our 10-year Improvement Capital program for the 44y old plant um plant operation requires dozens of pump motors and mechanical equipment and these are costly to operate and maintain lots of energy they consume lots of Maintenance and Contin continuing repairs to our aging sewer pipe and many of you have probably seen the trucks out on Sandy Pond Road um they're doing Rehab on our sewer line on that that trunk line there very important project um upgrades completed to date at the plant I won't go through all of these but our latest upgrade was mainly operational which included our um gravity belt thickener and so what that does it actually um creates higher solids in our our sludge so we don't have to truck as much so it's costing us a little less so it's helping reduce our costs for our Sledge hauling okay back to the Water Division the budget so these are the uh water division budget from FY 23 the actual final numbers um FY 24 the budget and then FY 25 the budget so um we can see the the minor increase contractual increase with wages um expenses as well as we go forward and regular debt and these are all within the FY 25 current uh draft 2 budget so these are numbers pulled from there but the total is about 2.6 million slightly higher than FY 24 for fy2 uh this is a pi graph breakdown of where the budget kind of lands so regular debt is about a third of the budget wages about 20% almost when expenses about 27% uh the rest under Capital purchases and indirect costs and operating Reserve Water Division Capital plan the 5-year plan um so just for fy2 a few projects coming up annual water main rehab which we do annually obviously admit spec Pond well 3 pumping station and transmission main so this is a project we're hoping comes to fruition we're currently seeking a new public water supply well Source out near the spec Pond area um gak media replacement what that is it's the granular activated carbon for spec Pon past treatment and we're going to have to start doing that as that past gets exhausted as well as uh some vehicles and some other items but I won't get too into the the future Capital um but we do take into account the 5year capital and the operating budgets into our water and sewer rates Wastewater division budget similarly um fy2 23 24 and 25 budgets and you can see a slight decrease uh in this um FY 25 budget at this time it's due to some debt coming off of the books mainly and some of our expenses uh dropping especially with the gravity belt thickener which I mentioned uh similarly the py graph breakdown I won't get into all the numbers but uh debt is one of the higher numbers and Wastewater Capital similar to water these are these are taken into account into our water and sewer rate development um and the wastewater treatment plant upgrades which were mentioned before are in here final two year uh two years of those FY 25 FY 27 are shown in here um as well as what we call inflow infiltration repairs that's the collection system rehab work like you're seeing out on Sandy Pond Road okay into the ratee model so the town updated its water and sewer ratee model for FY 2024 with tell us so for this year in FY 2025 the town was trained on updating it so Barbara Kimberly myself worked with them and got assistance where needed to update the model for the rate Review Committee and a summary of the model is presented next so what this graph here shows projected water cash flows with no rate increases so if the uh if the town was to vote no rate increases each year for the water um budget you would see that our Revenue would start dipping below our expenses at about FY 26 and so on so we'd start running a deficit um which would just be in a year a little over a year because we're going into fy2 so when you start going down in FY 26 you're talking about a little over a year we're starting to lose money so similarly um here's a graph of the water cash flows with the recommended rate increase which is 2% which is the same increase the town um voted last year so that would give you your Revenue here in the Gray Line an increase getting us through about FY 29 FY 28 till you start having some expenses above the um above the revenues so at that time you know every year we're going to be reviewing this and taking into account our expenses and making sure that um we we develop the proper uh rate increases to cover that and not get a shock so if we went forward with without any rate increases the water fund balance basically the Savings in water would by FY 32 almost be equal to this target line what this red target line is it's one year of Revenue requirements so you like to have some safety in your savings um the you know one of the industry fre standards is to have one year of savings obviously having more would is advantageous the new in the New England area about the the average or the median is about 464 days of retained earnings in water funds so um you know there's some markers there that the committee takes into consideration similarly water um rate with or excuse me water fund balance with the recommended rate increase and you can see the the healthy balances sort of staying level around the 5 million Mark um through FY 32 I should say it's kind of hard to have a crystal ball out 10 years to FY 32 we do look that far out but really the first 5 years we have a better handal on based out because we know which capital we're pretty much looking at and operating budgets wouldn't significantly change we would hope um with factors of increase uh sewer sewer wise um so cash flow with sewer if there were no rate increases we'd be looking at immediately our expenses are greater than our revenue and we'd be uh starting to have quite a deficit as time moves on so the recommended rate increase for sewer which is 5% shows our Revenue line here and that keeps us just above our expenses um as we head off and as you head toward years 7 8 9 10 um it gets a little it's you know harder to see that I mentioned the crystal ball but it gets a little um the expenses are higher than the revenues so here's the sewer fund balance so if we were to have no rate increases we'd almost immediately have to use funds from our retained earnings to supplement that and we'd lose them and we'd actually end up in the negative after a handful of years now with the recommended rate increase here's that Target of 365 days of Revenue we're staying above that line up around 3 million 3 and a half million and then as we get toward later years obviously the crystal ball it's a little murkier we get closer to the line um following slides contain the FY 25 Water and Sewer rates as recommended by the rate Review Committee so quarterly minimum proposed rates these are minimum charges if no water flows through a meter and a quarter there is a minimum charge administrative charge so these would increase 2% so 1020 to 1040 uh sewer the same 1050 to 1103 this is residential proposed water rates per 100 cubic foot um with the proposed increase the current rate and I should say we have te there are tiers set up for based on the amount of water used the the step increases between 1 2 and three they're 3,000 cubic feet so if you used 3500 cubic feet you'd be in step two that's between 3 and 6,000 just for example but the uh increases step one it's 6 cents increase step two 8 cents step three 9 cents and the conservation rate is uh also 9 cents proposed sewer rates similarly with a 5% increase step one goes up 46 cents step two 53 cents and step 360 cents so looking on an impact on an average air resident if you had a a quarterly usage bill of 1,000 cubic feet this would be the impact to that bill um FY proposed quarterly FY 24 3130 quarterly this should say sorry this should say FY 25 oh something wrong there sorry proposed corly this one should say FY 25 the First Column sorry so it would be 3130 currently 3070 an increase of $2 or 60 C quarterly $240 annually if it was sewer the proposed FY 25 sorry for that uh issue 9680 an increase of 460 compared to last year uh an annual increase of $184 so total annual increase of $20.80 to your average 1,000 cubic foot bill so the rate Review Committee recommends uh the select board vote to increase Water and Sewer rates as proposed by the the r Review Committee effective July I don't if this is an old presentation effective July 1st 2024 this is should be July 1st 2025 no no oh sorry right I'm throwing off on the 254 but it that date will turn into FY 25 I'm yeah got my head's going haywire doing the 25s and 24s I apologize um so the increase summary of the recommendation 2% um for water July 1st 2024 sewer rates 5% effective July 1st 2024 um and I just want to also mention some future considerations the rate Review Committee is uh thinking about is uh the tiered rate system um for next year the F or next year the FY 26 Water and Sewer rate review uh that next fiscal year review that rate Review Committee will do is going to look at these tiers in more detail and see if there should be any adjustments to those um that could benefit the town and make more sense for the the residents of the town so just want adding a fourth tier instead of having the three tier adding like a fourth tier you want to go back to no I thought you're going to go to one oh just leave it on that one that's the recommendation so I know if there's any if anyone else from the committee wants to add anything but that was the presentation and I appreciate the time okay so as you can see um um as a kind of a reminder to anyone is that um whenever we've had this P hearing we have at times said like especially with water no rate increase and we did that one year P happened and it was $6 million we were scrambling for before the Army finally gave us the money back so you know we're we're kind of cautious on that it's also important to understand that when we review it annually um you know we might be saying 2% and 5% this year but next year who knows not making promises just using conversation could be two and three um that the the numbers are always changing because we're not trying to gouge but we are trying to keep you know a healthy balance so that if there was an emergency we can take care of it right away before we're all crying so that that's the plan so um that's what we you know would like to do so with that do you have any questions I don't very well done easy to understand does anybody have any questions actually I do have a question it it'd be better it be a little bit easier because then you're near the microphone and people can hear you give the DPW superintend there space um I um so when you have a rate review when you have a rate hearing like water sewer other rates you go you don't don't you just file the decision like we've talked I think I've asked a question about this and then at town meeting like what's the representation of like this hearing and like what's is there is it the budget book go ahead so Madam chair um so a couple things to Sarah's question so the select board um are the water and sewer Commissioners so they set the water rates you what you see in the in the town meeting warrant under the Enterprise article you'll see the water Enterprise and the sewer Enterprise which is the budgets for the for the um upcoming FY 25 cycle which is subject to town meeting approval but these rates are to generate that income if you will to funded oh and sorry um the way it works so like so town meeting can't like overrule this board but we can we can approve the rest right town meeting is required to approve the budget for the water Enterprise in the sewer Enterprise just as town meeting must approve the whole budget but the setting of the rates is legally um is the purview of the select board so I'm jumping in very deep um the other question I had to ask was the dlta grant process is that represented there's no cost in that so that's not represented in the water budget right the dlta um that's a technical assistance yeah for which project um usually those are Project Specific um I think I'm going to I'm not really sure I think I'm just going to back up here so thank you okay and anytime anybody else okay well I'm on the committee so I obviously feel okay with I'm good with it so I will make a motion that the select board vote to increase Water and Sewer rates as proposed by the rate committee effective July 1st 2024 second it all those in favor I chair says I and that's been approved and I will make a motion that the board adjourn from public hearing for the fiscal year 25 water and SE rates close it close it close close it don't adjourn close to the public hearing sorry um seconded all those all those in favor I versus I public hearing is now closed okay oh my God I still don't know doing all right so Dan you're up again okay okay I'll try to be brief in the interest of time Carly is the first item okay so DPW um agenda the first item on the agenda is change order one um Pulpit Rock drainage and pathway Improvement project so this was designed in house it's located at the intersection of Third Street and Marshall Street the area is known as Pulpit Rock it's basically a connection point to the community garden from the the Third Street neighborhood area um and what it is it's a a storm water rain Garden or bior retention cell in in technical terms and so a CH there's a change order here for the project um to replace some failed railings on the foot Bridge Crossing Grove pond in that area and also to raise the height of a hydrant in the work area um it's a great project designed in it's almost finished it's been Hydro seated if you get a chance go check it out looks really good so thank you to Matt the town engineer um so I'd recommend approval for change order one here for the pulpit Rock drain engine pathway improvements for $1 15,25 um including the time extension it's for Signature by the chair okay I have no questions I don't either so I'll make a motion that the board approve change order number one for the pulpit Rock drainage and pathway improvements project in the amount to $5,250 and including the time extension for Signature by the chair seconded all in favor I chair says I okay good okay the second item so in my memo you would have seen a memo from mrpc so they are at the M it's the Metropolitan planning organization the town of a is within and it's the uh the Main Street Rec construction tip project uh that this item is about and so it's the time of year where the uh MO is reviewing its programming of projects for the tip so East Main Street went through this process got program got constructed ultimately um so comment period is open right now um to submit comments in for in support of these projects so I'm asking the board to to write a letter to support the Main Street tip project um a letter to the mo and just just kind of a brief overview um the we we've been working with mass do and we finally got approval last year um for the design justification some exemptions we had for the bike Lanes um and now we're conducting what's called a road safety audit and intersection control evaluation for the components of of the street which is required by mot as part of the design so our current schedule to be more brief in in late 2024 late this year we'd expect 25% design submission by mid 2025 would be the what's called 25% design public hearing with public input I'd say before that we have a separate local public input hearing before the 25% design submission that'll happen and then 2026 would be ready to advertise so so right now the the mo is looking at programming 2028 in 2029 years so we'd be looking at getting into one of those um if Fortune has it a sometimes projects drop off so like for example there's a project in next year's programming in in our Mo that may not be able to be ready to go to bid so another project will fill in that place so it's all about our project Readiness so we really just got to keep moving along with the project so so that's currently where the Main Street tip project is um another note mot has commented to the mo and mo in support of our project being programmed so um a huge plus but I think um getting any support we can especially the boards would be great so I don't have an issue with that nope um so make a motion that the board um approve a support letter for the Main Street reconstruction project as presented second it all in favor hi J says hi all right great okay okay brief update on the stormw utility advisory work group um so last month in late February Stephanie cavino did provide a presentation on storm water and climate resiliency and that'll be up on apac's website and also the stormw utility's website soon once it's um um ready um you know she gave a great presentation it's I'd say it's good for a lay person understanding she started out you the basics of a watershed what is a watershed storm water where does it go where does It ultimately go what does it impact and also the impacts of climate change we're facing so it is a pretty good presentation um the work group members uh also uh select few of them presented kind of an informational to several boards just as Outreach to spread the word in town hey the storm utility work group is doing this here's why um so there were five boards that they went to concom fincom CPC Board of Health and planning board um so looking forward there's going to be further discussion on the rate development um regulations SL ACC credit policy and further Outreach so that's the next meeting it's actually tomorrow it's up on the town calendar and a hybrid meeting as well if anyone wants to attend um and also there'll be some more coming out on social media I would say from the group so that's the brief update of what's what the work group has been doing lately so APAC has probably posted that video so could you add the link to the storm water it actually I checked it's not ready yet check today wow get thought of my perview um well um when it is could are you going to populate it to that page yeah definitely all right okay well thank you very much um any questions no no okay be looking for that link okay uh water supply update um so it's kind of the water supplies but been very similar to our previous winter months where there's been you know few breaks for the facilities the spec Pond treatment plant and the Grove pond plant um spec Pond probably getting less rest than Grove Pond Grove Pond was got a few days of rest in Spec Pond just several hours at times so really running the systems pretty especially spec Pon pretty hard um we are able to keep up with demand at this time of year with the you know without um the high summer demands and so so I'd say just in brief I we have a lot in the memo but um there's no recommend recommended changes at any time to the existing water use restrictions for the the situation we're in yeah okay all right next item ah out of town Sewer Service connection application is Chris on the zoom or is he here oh yeah all great you want to come up Chris yeah all right so I'll give a I'll give a brief overview but joining me is Chris Tula you say it yeah and he's from GPI he's from the proponents um he's the proponent engineer and so where's my notes sorry have a lot tonight um here we go so in in October of 2023 um the town Robert and myself were approached by the owner of 186 to 192 Littleton Road requesting to connect to sewer and kyly I think it' be it would be helpful if you can get up my as it possible get my memo up uh yes it's not on those um you don't have that on your um what you email me earlier no okay we could just put up the site plan just to kind of show everyone where this is is it this one yeah yep okay I just opened that so give me one second okay an engineering plan I'm used to looking at this but a lot of people probably aren't um this is at the intersection of Willow Road and Air Road just over the air Border in Littleton that's where the gas station is located and so what they're in short they're looking to connect to sewer in air where's the nearest sewer in air it's way down uh will way down but it's down Willow Road by Long View Circle just past Bennett's Brook it's not shown on this plan um the reason they are here is in October 2023 the town was approached by6 to 192 Littleton Road inquiring about connecting to sewer and so those properties you could actually see them on here they're those lots across the Street within the limits of air this no you want me to hold the mouse yeah Drive can't see that yeah it's hard to see so here's the Town Line 186 and 192 he owns all of these properties here um in their mobile homes so he was looking to connect those to sewer asked where the nearest sewer was like you know we reviewed with him it's it's down the street um near Long View Circle as we mentioned so he currently has a plan in place to connect to the town sewer there um he's going to be submitting to us for the the sewer application for that and as part of that project he would bring a sewer probably across the front of his lots and bring it into Willow Road and then bring it down to the town's con uh existing sewer at Long View Circle um that's advantageous for the town because now there will be a sewer line on Willow Road whoops that some of the properties here existing residential could connect to this is all summarized in the memo when my select board member um so the reason we are here is because we received an outof Town sewer application at and kind of stepping back we started working with the gas station property in December January of um 2023 2024 on um their um request to potentially tie in out of town sewer um so we started working with them we received the out of town sewer application it's been submitted um and as part of that application it has to go through these oh here's the application uh the application has to get um water and sewer availability approval review by the town engineer and also um a public hearing schedule and select board approval there's also some general information which requires um that the sub application be submitted 90 days prior to town meeting an application fee submitted to town management office ET ET so you'll see in my memo that I recommend for this application it's a gas station it's pretty um straightforward and simple it doesn't require a 90-day review and in fact we've been working with the applicant outside the 90 days so I would recommend to wave that 90day requirement in this in this application um and based on the Water and Sewer availability excuse me not water and sewer just sewer availability only they're only requesting to tie into sewer um I did provide some information in my memo that the town does have sewer to support this it's been factored into our future capacities and our devans agreement with the excess we we uh grab from devans as Reserve um so in dpw's opinion I'd recommend the board um move this to to town meeting so you the board would wave the 90-day application submission requirement which was omitted as an oversight you know on the town's part I'll get on my part um and also allow this application to move forward to town meeting um and then the board at its perview if they would like they could have a public hearing as as is noted in our application form that could happen in April or um or they could also wave that but I think that's a a good summary anything else Robert I don't know if you want to add anything Chris M chair u m board for the record Chris chamula I'm a professional engineer with Greenman Peterson um yeah I mean Dan did a great job uh kind of explaining everything um just for the board's knowledge obviously uh We've uh permitted the entire site through the town of Littleton um the truck uh the truck parking area which is actually across the street uh where Dan was saying we actually came uh before the U air planning board just to kind of give a heads up of hey you know a portion of the property is being redeveloped um in the town of air we've um got all up all up permits all approval through the town of Littleton um and we're still working with with do on the dropy access permits I think we're about 90% there at this point um like Dan said you know back in late December we kind of found out hey there's a potential to tie in to sewer obviously tying into the sewer line is a lot better than having an an on-site septic system which we were going through that through those approval processes as well uh this would just afford US the luxury of tying into the sewer um it's about 1220 gallons per day um it's all pretty much gravity all the way out to um across the street little small little Pump Station it'll tie into the um the other plans that that are being developed uh you know for the other property so it's pretty straightforward uh I would say okay so you said the benefit to the town is that that would open up um sewer for other residents in that area yeah there's I think five or six Residential Properties in the area I find my memo so they're they're currently on septic so this would enable them to tie in if they so chose yes and I know of actually one of them that did have a bad percolation test recently and is and was asking about tying into sewer so it is needed in that area as well so it would be in a sense we would maybe be doing it anyways um for a resident anyways yeah it's potential all right okay also just so along those lines in your memo when it says um the new sewer M would be installed by um at the owner's expense is that include all the way down little okay so that whole thing that would all be on it's all every bonus is on the own y um I guess my other question is like project completion um like I I think personally I'm in favor of waving the 90 days and the public hearing because it has to go to town meeting so if you were to have to come back in April though that would put you at the October warrant is that yeah from a delay you significantly from so I'm I'm here I'm obviously here for Energy North the gas station proponent I'm not sure the schedule of the other applicant for their sewer connection um with the roadway work that Mast do is doing up there what it would do is essentially mot is probably going to put a moratorium on the road so we wouldn't be able to do any work for I believe maybe 5 years that's typical moratorium timeline um my client is looking to um get the get the project under construction a lot sooner than that they they were thinking about uh possibly fall construction uh they're actually if they were delayed in any on-site construction they would actually um propose to build any of the roadway improvements within the RightWay so they don't have to rip up the road repave do all that you know all of that okay so you wouldn't be ready for um Springtown meeting anyways because that's April 2 well if we prove it today it would make the warrant well I'm just I'm just making sure that they're ready that's why I was asking the question we we are absolutely on board with you know working with Dan and and town staff to be on for the uh for the April town meeting okay all right there there is no way you should wait the public hearing I mean the public hearing is process and I'll be very upset if you do I mean let them you can go wave the 90 days but at least have a public hearing where I couldn't believe that I just heard that like just I recommend you leave have the public hearing it's water and sewer literally I was just in my car with the zoom on I ran back across I saw her run across yeah just please don't leave the public hearing that's all I have to say Okay um Pauline M chair Sarah is absolutely right and thank you Sarah for being first on that do not wave a public hearing for the public to participate I concede maybe Sarah and I will be the only ones there but at leasts to the process and it's a I'm sorry to say it this way it's a defense to the board you held the public hearing nobody appeared nobody questioned I have mixed feelings about this I'm sorry that the memo is missing um from tonight's presentation but this is only sewers so I'm not terribly concerned because this particular project if I'm understanding it correctly should lower our C the to airs cost to convey anything to De but don't wave the public here please is it this the memo in the packet yes okay so the Memo's in the packet but we we couldn't we don't have it on the screen yeah okay thank you yeah that's what yeah so we looking around uh page 58 on the packet yeah it was it was a small package but thank you okay um so quick question can you man well no no never mind I've already answered my own question um you have a public hearing you're not going to make Spring Town Meeting you'll make fall town meeting because we can't do the twoe notice can they do the twoe notice in time yeah yeah okay well if you can do the twoe notice in time then you can have a public hearing and be on Springtown meeting yeah so Madam chair there are a couple of options they you could have the public hearing the board next meets on April 2nd or April 19th I mean you could even have it on April 19th so as long as we got it posted to I mean April 16th April 16th y you could have it on April 16th so worst case scenario it goes on the on the warrant because we're approving the warrant on the first meeting right yes and then we have the public hearing on the 16th yeah and we just say it town meeting hey you know we had the public hearing this was the results of the public hearing yes all right and if I could just on the two weeks 2 weeks is standard for uh zoning relief pursuant to Massachusetts at general 40a not everything needs a newspaper so do we have um what's that a bu where are the is that a regulation then the out of town connection or policy does it State what the advertisement requirement stay it's it's actually an attachment to our sewer regulations so it's not really tied to we I mean we can still get it in the newspaper I'm happy to do that but I just want to be clear that that's I for this particular instance I don't think that's actually a requirement okay I agree all right so the recommendation is to have the public hearing on the 16th during our board meeting mhm and you could Madam chair as you mentioned the warrant article can still be approved the explanatory note can even have the April 16th public hearing and you're good I can get on board with that yeah so that waves the 90 days but not the public hearing that's the preview of the board but that's but that's what we're talking about right now the 90 days but have still have the public hearing and then okay and the 90 days Madam chair as you know is really in the DPW director spoke to that is really for the DPW to do their work is the main reason for the 90 day okay and you've completed that correct yeah so it would be to wave the 90 set the hearing for the 16th and this is all subject to town meeting approval and the applicant knows that if town meeting doesn't approve it that's right that's right so and public hearing could go great and town meeting could go sure and when is town meeting again I'm sorry um it is the fourth Monday of April 22nd the 22nd I said the 24th no idea what day it is are you sure I thought it was the 25th that was last year um good thing it's on my calendar remind me um so okay so I think that's the plan how do I word this uh you would say make a motion to wave the 90day uh requirement but to schedule a public hearing on April 16 at 6:05 p.m. and I have to also approve it are we sure it's the 16th for the okay yes can it all be one motion yes all right I'll make a motion that the board approve the outof town water Wastewater service connection application with the caveat that the 90day hearing requirement is waved and the board will hold a public hearing at their April 16th meeting seconded all those in favor I and the chair says I all right so the public hearing will be on the 16th thank Youk okay good all right thank you all right well thanks all right oh and that was just one more yeah I do have one more item I'll try to be brief we ready okay stop saying you're going to try to be Bri because it's not going well all right don't say I'll be one um quick project update DPW kind of our major projects the Sandy Pond complete Street project sorry uh so that project is to install um bike Lanes sidewalk on Sandy Pond Snak Hill Road intersection out to Patriot Way that is going to be bid um advertised for bid tomorrow and in April we'd expect to have a contract as long as the bids come in sufficiently and that'll be slated for construction this construction season so there'll be more public information available once construction is planned for the residents out there okay next one kitty Junction playground I'm trying not to steal any of Jeff's Thunder it's his project he has DPW support on it on March 11th the playground equipment arrived so that's stock fil over there big announcement yeah yeah yeah um and the exciting yep contractor is planning to mobilize on Monday the 25th and it's it's a three-month project plus or minus so depending on how things go but uh but we're moving forward okay very excited um Grove pond clear well so um that's the project mentioned earlier in the the sewer water and sewer rate committee meeting essentially to improve the pumping at Grove Pond um so the design contracted was design contract was executed with the Army the funds for that so we have funding from the Army for the design um we're currently procuring the pumps now so the designer has actually size the clear well and understands the size of the pumps is because there's a long lead time on the pumps in order to keep things moving we'll procure the pumps now before we even go out to bid for construction um design will continue and like I mentioned we're aiming to be on um online with a system by 2025 is high demand so this year it won't be online but unfortunately um some of the big hurdles we may encounter could be there are some reviews required by the Army and D as the process goes along so those could be some things um that we uh we have to try to fight through to keep this moving so and the last one the West Main Street Bridge don't teas your favorite don't tease me this has been going on for a few years now don't tease me about this shovels hitting the ground right I'll be serious so actually you might have seen today there was somebody on site uh conducting ground penetrating radar so they were out there doing that so really what's been holding back putting this out to bid is unfinished utility coordination so the utilities out there are typical water sewer drain gast distribution but there's also a gas transmission line so high press 8 in line gas regulator station Verizon has 12 underground conduits and then we have all of our overhead and the coordination of these utilities was never completed as part as the previous design so as we work with these companies we've been finding issues in having to change our design in fact you know adjusting our  to be 4T further south for example um so to make a long long story short we were ready to we had a bid date set up of February 15th excuse 14th Valentine's Day you know keep it Ser but um we did find out that we we did not have a good location on Verizon's conduit so we did the subsurface utility which you did see going on today and there's been some previous subsurface utility work done as well um to locate their duck Bank um to make sure that it doesn't interfere with our our sheet piles that are going to go in so what we have to do is to start construction is the first thing we'll do is install sheep piles and their big huge piles vertically go into the ground and they demarcate and give support to the the the first phase we're going to work on the South Side um actually know the the north side and so the Verizon conduit with the UN unknown um you know not knowing exactly where that is if we got out there and start driving sheet piles we could encounter the rise and conduit it would stop our work we'd have a Contractor on with 6 months of delays while Verizon came out to move their conduit so doing this subsurface utility expiration is kind of a a good proactive move in my opinion rather than have a Contractor on site get charged delays um we find out where this is now spend a small amount of money on exploration so so when does Verizon show up what's that when does Verizon show up to do their part what so Verizon So based on the subsurface utility results um it's looking like Verizon will have to create what's called a utility bridge and so they're probably going to have to do that um Pro they can do that I'd say probably late next year we can start doing our work now even though variz based on the current um location of the utility Ducks so if everything turns out okay with these other utility Explorations um we anticipate having a a bid advertisement of May 1st and then the bids will be opened in in late May so and so the construction it's highly the phases are dependent on the trans gas transmission main it can't be shut down during the winter so what can happen though is our contractor can work in the winter and Nashville G gas can work in the winter because they have to install a new permanent pipe along the side of our Bridge so they can install a dry pipe and this can all happen during the winter of this coming year um so it really won't affect us in the L run because initially we were going to just stop in the fall ver GD would get in do their work and we'd kind of have a winter shut down but um so in the long run I don't think the February 14th versus bidding at the beginning of May is going to have a substantial impact just because of that that National Greek gas main so what they would do is they'd install their dry pipe first thing next spring they would um tie into that do their shut down after the winter heating months are over so it's very complex you not repairing the bridge this year no we are it would still start the work would start you know we we'd have a Contractor on board late May and then we would get going 24 yeah of this yeah of 24 um there was some good that was the bad news this bridge has been we've been talking about this bridge for like five years yeah that was the bad news um some also kind of just administrative news of it is there is an easement required where the bridge is going the bridge was always on a little bit of private property and with the gas going along the edge of the bridge we need to get an easement so there'll be a town meeting warrant article for that and we're working with the owners on that um and then the good news is Lori Tran's office was successful in getting the town $700,000 for the project that is a big deal that great yeah so Washington actually pulled through so we do have that and we have a 100,000 excuse me a million dollars worth of mass do grants for the project too on top of the 700 good job that's the good news okay I hate this and with good news exactly all right sorry to take so much time but that's what I have okay thanks all right thank you all right I hate to say this but I need 2 minutes okay thank you everyone Hi Chief how are you good evening what you got I'm on okay so I'm going to repeat what we've heard I'm going to be very brief on this um so I just want to give a quick update on the uh status of the two new bylaws that were amend or two bylaws that were amended at last General town meeting in October uh in uh early February we got notice uh the uh from the Attorney General's office that the two bylaws were reviewed and approved and um we are currently uh working under the uh article 3 which is the chapter 130 dogs um which has been very successful um and within the first uh to uh the two months we've uh achieved over 3/4 of the registrations that we had for the entire year for the uh 2023 so there was a lot of Outreach done by the um by the town clerk's office that really you know pushed that forward so we're we're very happy about that so uh that's very successful article going forward um what I really wanted to talk about tonight was uh article four which is the transient Merchants bylaw um that was approved that was approved that amended oh yeah oh gloating a little bit yeah um so it was approved but um one of the things that we uh we have to do uh the the the board has to do is um set the fees um for that so as we move forward um we and we start to put these things into play we just got to get the fees uh put uh put in play so when I first brought brought this up to the uh select board um we had these fees uh at uh talked about then those fees haven't changed so what I'm recommending is an application and investigation fee for a transient Merchant to be $25 um that's over and above uh any fingerprinting fees that the state charges um and then the permit duration fee which is as you'll see one day for $5 one week for 25 one month for 50 and one year for 100 which would be pro-rated um if they uh don't get it in January um so what I'm looking for is the select board to uh to review those uh recommendations and uh either approve or or amend them I have no questions me neither I'll make a motion that the board um approve the fees associated with the application and duration of transient Merchant permits as presented second all those in favor I chair says I and just a quick update we do have a uh on the not on the website yet but we've already designed when we start pushing this out the way that the residents can sign up for the no solicitation list so it's going to be a simple simple online form that's going to be Street uh uh number street name and then their name just in case we need to follow up with any uh anything in the future so that's all I have on those two any questions by anybody nope good job thank you very much thank you Robert Madam chair members of the board good evening um under the administrative um update just a couple of quick things it's basically as it is every year all things budget in town meeting uh preparation uh between now and leading up to April 22nd I just want to again reiterate the second public budget form will be on March 27th at 6: p.m. we will be sending draft three of the budget to the select board in the fincom this Friday March 22nd and also post it to the budget uh web page and as the board is aware draft three is what we'll be using for the form and draft three is generally the pretty much the final the final version um on and I'll talk about the town meeting warrant um under under under one of my other items in terms of the budget process update which is item number two everything remains on schedule with respect to the budget calendar set by the board um again budget Forum you'll have draft three um this Friday uh and I think we're in in good shape as we as we move through the budget process my third and fourth items sort of um tie together there are two um proposed funding plans um for consideration um by the board um for your approval the first one has to do with 71 Sandy Pond Road so as the board is aware um the price purchase price is $700,000 for 71 Sandy Pond Road that is of course contingent upon town meeting approval uh which we'll talk about in a minute when we talk about the warrant and there are two funding uh pieces the first funding piece is $350,000 from CPA funding under the open space category and on March 6th the CPC voted favorably after the public hearing to re amend 350,000 uh subject to town meeting uh approval the balance is 350,000 is to come from town funds and um the buy board uh did meet on the 14th and talk um extensively about this and um what we're recommending is for the 350,000 on the town funds is that 100,000 be authorized from the funds by the select board and 250,000 be authorized from the udag subject to replenishment by a future town meeting why we selected those uh numbers um just so the board is aware the current um ARA fund balance of the town is approximately 424,000 there's still some projects that are underway we are seeing increasingly um great pressure to commit this money sooner than later than the December 31st 2024 deadline because there is a lot of federal chatter about claring back um these funds as the board knows we can't encumber These funds or carry these funds over uh Carly and I participated in a call with the congresswoman's office last week where they stressed this too that and as did the town Auditors to miss terney who I believe is on the call as well is if you can get your Opera wrapped up sooner than later that would be better and checking with DPW all of those major projects are done so what we're proposing for your consideration for the town piece on the town funds is 100,000 from arpa 250,000 from udeg to be replenished at a future town meeting the udag fund balance as of March 14th is over 3.1 million there are no outstanding projects that need to be replenished so that's an accurate uh figure and as I mentioned the current Opera fund balance as of March 14th is about 423,000 n00 and again the buy board um discussed this at length on the 14th um and that was sort of the recommendation for the board's consideration and then we'll talk about the warrant article at the board so again this whole purchase is contingent upon town meeting approval and Town Council has has designed one article uh which we'll get to the article will contain three things one is the authorization piece which is required it will contain the approval of the CPA funding of 350,000 and then it will reference the boards um because both the arpa and the udag authorization is under the select board it does not require uh town meeting approval additionally by using um again the especially the oper piece on this there's not a direct of course it's all taxpayer it's all Public Funding but it's not a direct you know local um impact and we discussed at length um you know the town does have $1.6 million in free cash but what we'll talk about in a minute there are some other um preferred uh uses for that so that's the the the recommendation and um it sort of ties into the next item under number four which is the which is the um the uh Minute Man Anda Health invoice so I don't know if you want me to talk about that one and then then Circle back um go ahead go ahead okay so there is always in every budget process unfortunately there's always um an 11th Hour surprise fortunately it's not the 11th hour and fortunately um we have the resources to address this um why don't I Carly can you just pull up the the arpa fund presentation real quick so the as the board is aware the town um I have a okay uh let's go to the sorry this right here so as the board is aware the town began the process of um changing health insurance proactively back in August of 2023 the IAC convened we began the process of of potentially leaving in October of 2023 on recommendation of the insurance advisory committee this board authorized the town's intent to leave the minute man AA Health Group in December of 2023 unbeknownst at the time I think that Air's decision Rec made others sort of follow suit other towns began to leave and as we've discussed the reason for leaving is the year aftere significant increases um in concerns of sustainability the minute man to showa Health Group voted to dissolve by June 30th of 2024 from December until just recently and you have the bill we just recently got the bill you have in your packet is when the Minutemen nooba Health Group dissolves per its agreement each of the remaining member units are responsible for a portion of what is called their runout claims so in other words on June 30th of 2024 there's still going to be claims after that that have to be funded so each town has to pay is is assessed a portion for their run out claims over about a 30-month 30-month period from June 30th at the end of those 30 months assuming each Town's assessment ideally would cover it what's left in their Reserve fund would then go back to the towns so there is a chance of a small amount of money 3 years from now coming back to the town however because of the disolution this bill of $310,500 has to be paid by June 30th of 2024 that would not have been our preference it' be better if it was an FY 25 um bill that we could uh budget for um Barbara and Amanda and I have discovered that there are some towns that are members of the minut manova health group that have had to either reopen their warrants or we're going to have to have some type of special town meeting to fund this bill so what we looked at with the buy board and discussed again is this bill has to be paid um it was unforeseen and unexpected so next so yeah so one proposal which was not favor able would be to pay the whole thing out of free cash subject to a vote of town meeting so there's 1.6 million in free cash however if we do this we won't be able to forward fund the pension which we've been doing at 300,000 which has had significant um savings so this was not very popular proposal two which ended up being the sort of consensus of of the Bible board is to pay the whole amount from arpa so you could pay this whole amount from arpa as well as the 100,000 towards 71 Sandy Pond and we will still have a small balance left until December 31st of of 2024 small balance by paying all of this out of arpa you can see the remaining balance and that's assuming about 13 113,000 that's including if you did the 100,000 to 71 Sandy Pawn by paying it out of arpa we don't touch the towns free cash we don't also raise it on the tax levy which we wouldn't do which would impact locally and uh Mr fow the chair of the fincom had brought a up a good point at the by board where the Opera funds were originally American Recovery Act funds for impacts from covid it granted its overall health insurance but it would be a way to sort of address that so the proposal the consensus was on to pay it from arpa and then the next one just so we discussed so the other piece um that was proposed um by Barbara proposal 3 would be to pay a portion of it from arpa 2,512 and we believe conservatively that we could absorb another 100,000 through the health insurance budget but there's not a high level of certainty there and so that's one risk and the second risk is we would have to access the rft uh Reserve fund for any balance um we also looked at the reserve fund as the boards with is $175,000 in the reserve fund right now which wouldn't cover the whole bill and we still have to get to the end of the year so again trying to show all of the thought process and and trying to look at the whole picture the feeling became that proposal two um was preferable to to proposal number three could you go back up bro yeah so to conclude um sort of with the recommendation for the board's uh consideration looking uh recommending two things one is your um consideration to authorize paying the minute man nooba Health desillusion invoice in the amount of 310,000 from arpa and then the second is on the funding proposal for 7170 71 Sandy Pond Road is to authorize 100,000 from arpa and 250,000 from udeg subject to Future replenishment that'll total to 350 ,000 it's contingent on town meeting approving the acquisition as well as the CPA funding so if we do 100,000 towards Sandy pwn Road out of arpa we're still going to we're going to end up with a balance of 13,000 388 right yes so why not just throw all that towards sandy1 pondy Road pondy pond it's a new Street to yeah I mean I think there was a lot of discussion and and part of it was and you know it's the purview of the board is maybe where we still have um what about eight almost 8 to 9 months left in the year that could be you know that amount and then even if they clot back it's only $113,000 excuse me I'm not giving back $113,000 I don't want to either but it's better than so 400,000 well my point being is that if we did the 113 uh you know um then what we need to do from udeg goes down a little bit which means future replenishment goes down a little more now that I mean and it's not that much more but it it is a little bit because you figure um gez the last time we had to keep replenishing we did it was like a few Town meetings where we did like 50 grand um each town meeting to replenish right you know so I would I would assume we'd probably do about 50 uh Grand for a few meetings to replenish the udag again maybe we'd go up to 75 depending um but you know that would just lower it a little bit so that's that's my thought yeah I mean Madam chair to to your point uh that the board could definitely um I I think that the solid thing is the authorization to pay this unforeseen bill from Opera at the 310,000 and then that leaves um estimated 11 13, 378 um you could apply the say 113 instead of the 100 and then you would shave off from the 250 23 yeah I mean it's not that much but we might as well I mean we only got like 13$ 13,388 we might as well go ahead and throw it towards um it would be 130 yeah it' be 137 from udeg yeah yeah which you know yeah that ends up being a big deal over the years so um I could support that yeah I mean I think yeah I do think both plans are I think I think the used they area for the unforeseen bill so yeah I do but I can get behind using up the balance too the 13,000 all right Pauline thank you madam chair um I have no objection to any decision you tonight based on these funds but I'm I'm a little curious having attended the by board meeting the other day um Robert The Proposal number three for M and Thea um Miss Tierney suggested the town could absorb $100,000 based on its current health insurance budget and therefore only would need about 210 from arpa leaving 2133 in a balance how it's distributed to me doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't impact our tax bill but um I you just said something that caught my eer and we don't know what the final cost will be for Min in the Sha did I hear that correct what uh through the chair so on number three which was opposed through the process we estimate that we could absorb potentially 100,000 from the health insurance budget but as barara explained there's a lot of moving Parts with the health insurance budget though we have a high level of confidence there is a chance that if it wasn't the full 100,000 we would then have to go to the reserve fund so there's a level of uncertainty and I think that's why the feeling um from the by board was to just use the arpa on that and Madam chair I know Barbara is on the call I maybe I missed something that she would want to add Barbara I hi Robert thank you so yes Amanda and I did an analysis of the insurance account um prior to the executive bbard meeting and given the invoices so far and the expected estimated invoices we felt that we could absorb 100,000 and that if something unforeseen does happen between now and year end that changes that it is within our Reserve fund transfer account so if if there was another unforeseen or you that we could still transfer the funds and make up that 100,000 somehow um does that is that what you were asking PA not exactly but um I'll take that as a answer because I want to follow up what is the current balance in the reserve fund and can the reserve fund absorb any additional cost over the 310 $512,000 sure fund transfer is $1 175,000 and as of right now there's 175,000 so it actually it could afford I'm sorry it could absorb any additional over the $100,000 that's current in the insurance budget but Madam chair I want to point out we still have to get to June 30th and next week something could hit the town that we need the 175,000 from the rft absolutely I understand that and I'm not trying to throw a wrench into this believe me I'm just trying to allocate the funds as best as possible because I hope Madam chair a point of order first of all public input is over this is under my report that's number one number two the characterization that these funds are not being properly in the town's best interest is an insult to me professionally to the finance manager into this board so I respectfully I appreciate Miss Conley's comments she can put them on the Community page where she likes to put them we are way over time it's highly out of order and inappropriate highly out of I of order trying to do I wholly support everything you are trying to do you just said that you were all right everybody take a breath please okay let's all take a breath as a taxpayer I wholly support the recommendations I just had a question and if Mr P BR can't handle my questions I will direct them to you in the future thank you and good night okay um so I just all right so let me see if I understand everything I feel like this been a lot thrown at me um so we're talking about we got the bill for the 310,000 and we're talking about paying the whole thing out of the arpa which would leave us still about 113,000 and the original recommendation was 100,000 for Sandy Pond notice I said that right that time and this time and and I my recommendation is to use all of the remaining arpa for Sandy Pond Road which will reduce the udag which if approved at town meeting and we get to purchase the property would then reduce the future replenishment everybody good yep and right now we have 175,000 in reserve funds that haven't been used yet and hopefully knock on some wood won't won't be needed everybody good F okay so what are we doing Sean I am in favor of your plan to increase it to 113,000 and then leave the um funding in the dissolution the way it is I don't think running the risk of having to use Reserve funds is worth it okay so we're going to do the 310 pay the bill yes and hope we don't get another bill that's my concern cuz they have they don't disillusion until June 30th right and then all of a sudden you get this slate bill I mean that's what always happens with x-rays and everything like that 6 months later and then you got to remember like what was that x-ray for so um so just to clarify so the um 100,000 is going to go to Sandy Pond and then the remaining arpa balent or I'm sorry okay so the 113,000 I forgot I chair yeah it would be respectfully the first motion would be $310,500 from arpa towards 71 Sandy Pond 113 113 113 sorry 113,000 from arpa what about the 388 I that's why I was going to suggest saying the remaining arpa balance that way we get rid of it all there you go so 113 388 so the remaining balance of 113 388 be held for sanding 71 Sandy Pond Road all right yeah and then go ahead okay so now we got to do math 236 612 it is no [Laughter] 13, so be would' be 113,000 388 is the our proportion okay and 136 6112 136 612 would be the udag portion subject to Future replenishment by town meeting did you get all that y okay just you can say so moved I got it so moved seconded all is in favor I and the chair says I motion's approved all right thank you very much everyone and boy we finally have emptied out that arpa I must say I think we've done a wonderful job with this arpa funk definitely we used it you know some people they were throwing some towns they just threw all this big money and it didn't have nothing and you look at what they bought and it was like why did you do that so it just seems strange but anyways Okay so the last item the board has the draft ATM warrant in your packet of course the select board uh with the fincom will be reviewing and improving that at APR on April 2nd um unless there's any questions from the board I'll just do a quick highlight on a couple of things you have the warrant just the new things as opposed of the standard articles two and three will be the union contracts Patrol and disp bch respectfully we're just verifying those numbers and there will be a presentation as there always is um on town meeting on the impacts article four is the budget which we'll have draft three this Friday also will be a presentation as there always is on the budget at town meeting Article Five is the asrsd school assessment article six is nooba Valley Technical High School and as has been stated before the schools each superintendent will make a brief presentation on the fy2 budgets for town meeting articles 7 through 10 of the Enterprise funds the reason the numbers aren't in there as the note says the finance man just verifying um those numbers um article 11 and 12 are the capital uh projects um 11 is the borrow 12 is the transfer all of the presentations are available on the capital web page and the budget web page and generally through the moderator from town meeting there are there are brief presentations on the projects Article 13 would be the OPB article with the 300,000 165,000 would come from meals tax and 135,000 from free cash article 14 would be to forward fund the pension as we've been doing the last several Cycles at 300,000 Article 15 would create the opioid settlement special Revenue fund um as the board knows we're in various settlements as we get the funds what was happening is it would revert to free cash that's what the 7,942 the article creates the special fund which will allow the town to access these funds without going to town meeting but you can only use the funds for very specific um purposes and that would be the balance there article 16 uh and there'll be a presentation and more information um on that article 16 is the revolving funds article as each year the the amounts have to be set by a town meeting article 17 is the first year borrowing which Barbara's calculating article 18 is the Aquatic weed control it's they raised the price it it went down it was normally 30,000 oh yeah for some reason I was thinking 15 I don't know why Article 19 is the firefighters matching Grant article 20 is the CPA article 21 is the CPA uh article 20 is the community preservation General article each year this the CPA is the CPC is approving these fund approving these articles at a public hearing on March 25th article 21 seeks to transfer the funds from the old fire station project which is not going to happen with these CPA funds putting them back in their category article 22 is 150,000 from CPA um for Habitat for Humanity to construct a habitat home behind Town Hall here on Newton Street article 23 was the one I mentioned this is the acquisition of 71 Sandy Pond Road um as written by Town Council attorney Mark Rich um the town meeting authority to purchase it so town meeting has to approve that um which which is a 2/3 vote and then in that contain in that article is also the town meeting approval of the 350,000 in CPA funds then article 24 through 27 there's four zoning bylaw amendments um the board has received a presentation previously um from the town planner the town planning the planning board held a public hearing on March 12th voted favorably at town meeting board is required to report on them and they'll be a presentation at town meeting Article 28 as the DPW director mentioned this evening is the West Main Street Bridge easements there are two abutments that are go into private property that we need easements for uh you will see in the draft warrant article when it was put together there's a spot for a dollar amount in talking with the DPW director the project will be able to absorb those costs that's a standard out so we won't have to transfer or use you know Town funds on that and there are 28 articles right now there's one more that I'm aware of that has to do with the senior tax workof program which would increase the limits um we'll have that for you on the 2 it's relatively straightforward and as I mentioned the deadline is March 29th at noon for any warrant articles or citizens uh petitions through the town clerk so you said there's one more article we believe there's one more isn't there two the one oh yes two for for the sewer hookup thank you yep yes in light of tonight there'll be the there'll be so that will put us at 30 that we know this the sewer okay and the senior tax workof which the it's a positive thing it can increase the the threshold that people can do um unless there's any questions from the board um that um con concludes my report Madam chair okay I have no questions have no warrant questions thank you robbert all right so I saw nothing under new business there select board member questions nope did that change NOP okay good didn't change on me um the meeting minute I wasn't here I didn't notice anything SP wrong um you I don't have a problem okay I'll make a motion that the board approve the meeting minutes from March 6 2024 as presented seconded all those in favor I and chair says I so the meeting minutes are approved sorry I just need to get to where I know it's not written on this topic which one um the three oh yeah yeah here you want mine yes so there's the first part and then just page over all right so I'll make a motion that the board um move into executive session pursuant to M General Law chapter 30A section 21A exemption two uh finance manager personal service contract exemption two DPW director personal service contract exemption three police chief personal service contract and exemption for a ratification of dispatch contract um memo of understanding and not to and to adjourn from executive session second all in favor John I Shar says I thank you very much everyone have a good evening we are now in executive session