e e e e good evening and welcome to this Thursday March 28th 2024 meeting of the finance committee like to call this meeting to order tonight we'll be p p uh following the published and posted agenda it will also be uh both in person and through Zoom our first item on the agenda this evening is the approval of minutes from March 21st 2024 someone had a chance to review them yes yes all right do I have a motion I make a motion that we accept the meeting minutes from uh March 24th at 21 as presented March 21 March 21 I second any discussion all those in favor I six in favor P all right moving right along we we have a review of the fiscal year uh 25 budget for the community preservation fund along with uh discussion of Articles 23 and 24 uh with us this evening um Linda was supposed to ah yeah I don't see her in the in the audience um Darlene if if you don't mind that would be fantastic with us as evening we have Darlene Lu here our town accountant good evening I'm just going to review over the um currently where we are with the the fiscal 20 for um budget for CPC I think everyone um I know I'd sent it out to Kathy and I hope the rest of the group did but everybody this afternoon they so the first page is always just all of the current projects that we have on the books um so we have the First Column is the brought forward balance from the previous year and then we have the next columns are the town meeting articles from last town meeting U from either spring or town meeting then we have any borrowings that we had and then the total budget then we have what's spent through this this report is through February the end of February um and then any I also break out a line item in there for for debt payments to actually see what what the debt is for those projects and then the available budget so at this at this point in time you can see there's um we had a balance brought over about $948,000 um we had town meeting articles that totaled $527,000 for the projects we borrow we I put a borrowing in there for the bond proceeds we haven't yet borrowed for that project we're um the finance team is in the midst of um doing that we'll be by June we'll be getting that money in and that was for the um cooler Farm the purchase of that farm um so in total of the total budget was like $5.6 Million worth of projects uh today we spent uh 4.6 uh 4.2 million of that um the bulk of that is the 4.1 million that we spent for the the farm um we've made $35,000 worth of debt payments so far leaving us $1.3 million available um so if anybody has any questions on these individual Lind is here just so you know behind oh she's here oh she's in Linda I'll let I'll let you do the other two projects I'll finish the finance and you can talk the projects um okay so I I'm going to bring our attention to um and for the purposes of discussion I'm going to make a motion I move that the finance committee recommend the removal of the line item 27873 historic building facade program in the amount of $100,000 and the sum be re reallocated to the historic available funds so someone could second that for me so that I could discuss what why I want to do that thank you um okay so I as we're well aware I've talked about this in the past this program was initiated I'm going to say four years ago there has been nobody interested applied for the program and um I don't see that it behooves the town to keep the $100,000 allocated for a nonviable project so I feel strongly that it should be that line item should be stricken and that money $100,000 should be made available um you know to be reallocated for a viable project under the category of um historic um I to be um transparent I was never proponent of this project I was in this very room room sitting in the second row when the gentleman from the state came and discussed this program you know was asked about this program and at that time he said it wasn't um appropriate and then the next uh round of projects it came back up and they said well we they you know rediscussed it anyway town meeting did pass it but nobody has um requested the funds and what the funds were for was for North chsr vinyl square for business owners to um put a awning outside of their house and so since no one has applied for it and since last year I was assured when meeting um that these monies were you know going to be reallocated uh that's why I made a specific motion that that would be our recommendation of the finance committee and and I would just say that since chelsford has been here and sent people you know to the conquered bridge I'm sure there's lots and lots of historic items and buildings in projects the $100,000 would um could aptly go to okay so Kathy I think the appropriate place for this actually to be brought would be in front of the community preservation committee they're in charge of the funds I understand your your position what we what you could do is during the time that we vote later on this evening you could either vote down uh the overall budget or you could vote vote and and explain why you're doing that um or vote down a pro a specific project this is part of the general funds and part of the general government budget I'm just saying that's why I said recommend I didn't say they have to do it I'm saying that that's our recommendation and also last year in my discussion both with the chairman and Darlene we talked about this and it said that yes that was going to happen so um it's now been four years of $100,000 sitting there earning interest so that's not bad but not being utilized for any purpose let me ask this question you th to Darlene or or to Linda has there been a need to use the $100,000 are we at at capacity for using funds within within the CPC no we're not at capacity using Linda if I'm sorry if you don't mind if you could come up because people in the audience can't hear you and I've notic other meetings people talk from the audience you just you just can't hear them um so Linda Prescott who's the chair of the uh Community preservation committee yes thank you um we're not at capacity you know with money there's no shortage we're in good shape but it is you know holding on to money that is not being used for 4 years the um the rules the you know for to get access to the money um is quite it's very defined it's very definitive and um I think people just don't want to get involved okay okay so nobody's really picked it up and Evan wants to hang on to it because he feels it's one of those things he can lure people into you know coming into business the the vinyl square or the Center Square but nobody's nobody's has has there any any discussion at your committee about removing this line or as you said is this something that you're hoping that would attract someone to come do this we haven't had a lot of discussion it was really heated when um and the man that came from the state was was Stewart and he is um the guy that actually got the ACT written and passed and uh there was a heat of discussion the historical um District to put it on their agenda to revisit it again before we recapture the funds again I'm not in control of that I don't know how if if if that is what CPC would like to see if the or CPC wants to read okay so I'm going to ask a pointed question who is it the entire conserv uh committee the preservation committee or Evan balansky who's in charge of that program it's Evan balansky but I'm not not of that I'm talking about the the entire committee gets to choose you know they vote on each of the items so it's should not just be Mr balansky saying the process would be having a vote by the historical commission yeah the um district is not involved with this and then um bringing it to the CPC and having an official vote but he's just one member he's one member okay right but um we T not to hold on to money that long that's not being used so so I guess if if it does go back then that's the purpose of this discussion so that's I I just think $100,000 could be utilized in other places in chelsford four years not one person has come forward it seems like it's dead and it should be addressed that's my point I agree so do you want would you like me to table it on the I can table my motion on on the condition that it is brought back to the other committees well just as a reminder if if you table your table your motion then we close the dies close it dies so maybe I don't want to table it okay thank you so uh we'll you know I'm happy to take a vote and see how other people feel on it so just for clarification this would be a non-binding vote as a recommendation on the specific item for them to go back to there as as a recommendation by the committee to them it would not affect the budget would effect I mean it really has no right it has no effect because you have the 100,000 but um but what I could do is edit my motion to say uh my recommendation is to remove it and uh would like it presented as a vote to the various boards how's that I think the only people that would really vote on it would be the CPC and the store commission that's what I meant by various boards the CC so you would like to make a vote that we recommend that they go do that yes it's certainly we can certainly do that it's non-binding they don't have to listen to it but it's it's I I can certainly call V I'm going to change that I want my motion to stay as as as that it is my recommendation you know that that's how I want it to be a recomend I just I just want to know just a little bit on the process um even if it if you want to resend the funds it has to be in Warren article so this would be on the fall town meeting we could do a resend so what the this the committee CPC would take a vote decide to resend it we would then have to have a warrant article this does have to be voted on because it was voted on as a project as an article at a particular town meeting it needs to go back to town meeting as a resend and that's would be we we're too late to do it for the Springtown meeting but we could do that definitely in the fall okay so I I have a question for Linda has there been any marketing for this program has there been any Evan Evan's been marketing it marketing it to the just to square is it open for both the center and the square center and because I you know I mean I'm looking at you know signs around the center and they I mean they're looking a little rougher on the edges some of them so supposed to be to actually improve the facade the whole facad it's more than just signs it's more than awnings it's um just improving the facade to make the building more appealable I I you know and um that's basically what it is also allow um building owners to um make their um front doors handicapped accessible you know it was that type of a thing um Evan doesn't like the look of north of vinyl square okay so he wants to concentrate it on on that he yeah and um but vinyl square likes it the way it is okay and it just wasn't enough of a lure to bring anybody in so it's interesting Bob's old coin shop which is now a a nail salon is recent recently redone and redoing their facade so that was not part of this that they didn't reach out to the town for funds no okay not once not once now we had one question from um the lawyer in the middle of the square and U he he inquired but that's as far as it went okay is there strict guidelines criteria is that what it is is that the preventative here um it requires architectural drawings oh I see you know a time limit it has to you get so far the drawings are approved that will give you money and then and you can um their benchmarks as you get into the project it has to be examined so that it does meet the uh plans okay do we have any um obligation to um let potential recipients know that it's going away I mean just before we vote make it go away no no well so D we we we would not be David we would not be taking this away we not we would just be making a recommendation that we think that they should do that there would be a vote by the historic commission that be a vote by CPC and then a warrant article to remove it so there'll be plenty of notice if this were to go away and it was notice the you know the PE the property owners were informed that's what I want property owners were informed yes they were yeah and uh so plenty notification has gone out thank you you're welcome so even if it goes away I believe that um a property owner could come back to us the CPC and ask for money for their piece of property as a separate potential article or article essentially well yeah request if they want you know they could probably do it that way because we do have precedents we've done it so they could probably you know come forward again okay so it's not really absolutely off the books but it is you know requesting that the money be turn back to them so is it our money to to uh reapo I mean if we take it out does it yes no no it goes into their fund to be for someone to come forward and say you know I want to do something to the World War I Monument or whatever historic project it would it would return to the historical Reserve right okay so and that money would be there then to then have another article or another project to be done so it's not use it or lose it in this very specific con no all it does is just it will just move it from the project back to where where it was voted from and that was I think the historical Reserve thank you any further discussion so we do have a motion on the table we're going to call a vote on that it's a motion to recommend that they yes we're clear Pam you have the the clear language of the motion want me to repeat it uh this is what I said for the purposes of discussion I'm going to make a motion I move that the finance committee recommend the removal of the line item 27873 historic bill buing facade program in the amount of $100,000 and that the sum be reallocated to Historic available funds is available is that cor to an available fund yes that's correct okay a second it's already second we've already had discussion you just just reting the article to make sure it's clear um so I'll I'll call a vote yes please thanks it's all right y all those in favor I I I all those against I'm abstaining I'm going to obain as well all right so we have five in favor two extensions all right I'm sorry please please continue with your presentation and I would like to say I think it's a great program well run has done lots and lots of things for the community so it has it really has I've actually sent um the um the head of uh CPC Stewart a list of all the when it start from the exception to what we've done now and he loves seeing that like what communities have done with their monies it's been great um the next page of this so these are all the projects if anybody has any other questions before we go on is um where we are today with our revenues uh so we had a total commitment of $1.4 million almost $1.5 Million worth of commitments um then we do have some abatements that come up and then the revenue that's collected we've collected just a little over a million um so we have an open receivable right now of 392 that'll pretty that'll get um on this was in um in February so we'll have another round of uh revenues that will come in but before the end of the year um then you just see that we have other prior years open um they have just have small little balances um we we do end up collecting those um either through the tax collection or it ends up being leaned and we get the money through that way uh interest does UR on this fund so we've collected two uh 20,000 so far and then our state match we did receive that it's 295,000 472 it's decreased a little bit over the course of the years it's only because more communities are getting into C are joining CPC so the state match ends up going down when more communities join and then the last page is the it's all of our fund balances and where we are um the top half is the current projects that are open where you say it's this um c/f and the open space historic those are just the current projects then we have your the the reserve the undesignated and then the last three on the bottom of the 10 percenters the 10 perents that we put in um you'll be seeing that in the warrant articles that are be that are coming up for the spring is we put in the 10% um and then we actually draw down on those 10% on the debt [Music] that's where we are fiscally I will let to speak to the two articles that are coming up we um have a very quiet town meeting um as far as art request articles um we have two and they're both from the cemetery one is to um and I forget what's I didn't bring my paperwork and I don't remember what cemetery it is but it has to do with fencing what a fencing westel West chelsford okay fencing and the other one is um preservation of headstones in forefathers and David comes back about every other year and he has about a dozen stones that he would like to restore so um and we have probably one of the oldest cemeteries in the state and what's unique about ours is that it is untouched as in where those St were first put and where those Graves were nobody's moved them there was a in the um late 1800s they wanted those stones to light up like soldiers so they moved them here they moved ours never happened so um you know so it's there it is the way the cemetery is was originally laid out so those are the only two requests and it's 8,000 for the forefather's burial uh yes and then it's all and then for the uh the fencing it's hold on a second 60,000 y 60,000 and that will finish the um fencing for all the cemeteries that'll complete all all will be finished at that point Perfect all right any questions all right thank you very much appreciate it very much all right MO right along we have a review of the fiscal year 25 budget from the police department with us this evening is Chief Colin Spence good evening good evening it's a privilege to be before all of you tonight uh for those that do not know me I'm police chief Colin Spence I want to thank the finance committee for having me here I also want to thank chairperson Jim Clancy for the meeting a few weeks ago uh and your helpful guidance it is also an honor and privilege for me to represent such an outstanding group of police officers and employees we have at the police department as you will see from the presentation tonight we've made many changes at the police department to better serve our community just to go through our goals and objectives uh since I took over about eight months ago we made some changes as far as how we do things at the police department and following behind Chief spinny uh we built upon our community engagement Wellness initiatives in the unit through community events officer interactions and our clinician outreach program which I'm going to talk a little bit more about we are prioritizing employee Wellness training Recruitment and Retention uh our recruitment uh we are currently down like many departments we're trying to hire the town manager has let me hire as many as possible uh which has been very helpful uh We've increased police presence in the community utilizing community policing strategies and different initiatives to prevent crime focus on quality of life issues and we continue to prioritize Department Outreach and diversity initiatives the police Police Athletic League community resource dog program which is one of the most successful in the area uh police department internship program we just restarted that we have seven interns starting Monday elderly living Safe program and the police department Youth Academy we've enhanced traffic related programs to minimize motor vehicle violations reduce accidents facilitate traffic flow and enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety and we continue to work with our local and Regional Partners regarding school and workplace safety issues and we prioritize an Department's relationship with many federal state and local entities as many of you probably noticed we've increased our social media presence significantly through Instagram Twitter Facebook something called tips 411 which is something people can report tips to us and we just enhanced our Police Department website which will be rolled out to the public on Monday currently we have 70 total employees uh that consists of the chief deputy chief six lieutenants 10 sergeants 36 Patrol officers nine Public Safety dispatches three clerical support one licensed Clinic which is completely Grant funded for all her salary and benefits facility maintenance a fleet mechanic and animal control as far as our division uh the administrative division consists of the deputy and I and we have an investigative division which is this Lieutenant a sergeant and three detectives and one Sergeant who is our court prosecutor and then we have a special services division which has one lieutenant and we just recently formed something called the traffic and training unit with many of the changes facing policing training has to be a priority and we we have one of the best training programs in the area Sergeant nick zaminsky uh who's basically a use of force trainer uh is extremely important to our department as far as what he provides for training and the trainings he brings in and we also have one traffic and safety officer and then our community engagement and wellness off uh unit consists of five officers one Sergeant three school resource officers and one new position that I created Community engagement and social media rer and then we have the Patrol Division which consists of 38 offices which are four lieutenants 28 Patrol officers and six sergeants and as you can see we've changed a little bit as far as our organizational structure I know it's a little difficult to see um with the creation of the traffic and training unit in the community engagement and wellness unit now as far as the required trainings that we have which are changing yearly TR or informed policing hate crime training dealing with emotionally disturbed persons Crisis Intervention training one thing I would say the crisis intervention training we currently have over 85% of our offices have been through a 40-hour course it's one of the highest in the area that I've heard um but we basically just completed that yesterday uh we deescalation training which is extremely important in policing duty to intervene training uh we are purchasing taser 10 uh which is the newest deescalation tool which will be rolling out in approximately 2 months tactical training update and use of force training implicit bias training all officers have been through that interacting with special populations substance use disorder training and officer Wellness training now if we get to the Personnel costs excuse me I could ask some more questions about these required training yeah so interacting with special populations what do you mean by that uh it's all different populations as far as people with different disabilities uh could be somebody that is hot of hearing how do we communicate with that person could be somebody with a disability how autism would be one that would come to mind as far as how we so what What U I know you can't do 40 hours in two seconds but what kind of training is involved in that that one was an inservice training that every police officer had to go through it's an eight- hour training in dealing with different populations and they bring in different groups that represent the different populations as far as somebody that's autistic may not like touch somebody touching their wrists uh autism different things that we should be looking for when we're dealing with person that's great as far as our budget um it has gone up oh sorry as far as Personnel costs going up $278,800 increase from FY 24 uh majority is due to cost of living adjustments for non-union personnel and the Union contract adjustments I've asked for an increase in funding for Department overtime in the amount of $50,000 and the overtime drivers shift replacement staff education requirements special events and different deployments we have a significant amount of special events as most people know our exiler police force as part of police reform was significantly reduced so now I cannot use those volunteers so I have to pay officers to go to those various events and the other thing with the shortage of employees the overtime has gone up because we have to replace the shifts we cannot close can I ask a question did I I could be mistaken but did I see that some officers were in the reserves and then they they were called up yes and that is one of the it's not an issue we obviously support them and the town manager was great this year as far as making sure that they were compensated the difference between what the pay was in the town of trumpet and what they were getting in the military so the town made up that difference which was something that was the right thing to do and with those deployments though we have to replace them as they're out um several of them were on midnight the midnight shift which pretty much if somebody takes a night off you have to replace that person so is that replaced with overtime or is that new Personnel I mean so that obviously the job has to be it's primarily overtime because we're still back filling for other Personnel uh we've had a lot of retirements I'm sure everybody seen on our Facebook page we've had we have a lot of individuals that are over 30 years of the department and it's starting to take retirement so we've been doing a lot of hiring we had another promotion this morning of a lieutenant so we're looking forward to that all our changes will be in place by April 1st okay so I was just curious how that worked and um I'm pleased to hear that the town is so supportive yeah it it really has been great so now as far as the first few are supported by the contra track s uh those are not something I can really control as far as the clerical cost full-time um compensation the mechanic dispatch the overtime you'll see the overtime increase of $50,000 to 650,000 and then if we go down towards the bottom the physical training incentive and also the wellness bonus I needed to increase and the reason is we have a younger group of officers now and they're taking advantage of these different bonuses uh that in the past they hadn't and the new the newer offes have to go through the physical training and have to pass since 2012 so as older offers have left now we have more that are eligible for this bonus so I'm excuse me I'm sorry I'm new so I'm asking a lot of questions oh yeah AB what is a fitness goal like running in a certain time it's generally the academy standards that they have to meet so once a year we do it at the police department department they have certain standards that they have to do or run in a certain period of time they have to go uh hurdle over certain things in a certain period of time it's mandated by the state what they have to do and as soon as they pass that they are eligible for the bonus and this a done on a yearly basis yes they has to be done every year we usually do it in May once the weather gets a little better than tonight so thank you you're welcome now was as far as our expenses our expense costs have gone up about $888,000 and I'll talk about that in a second about 9.68% increase and the major ones vehicle maintenance as everybody probably knows from their own personal vehicles maintenance on vehicles is much more expensive uh so we did have to increase that by $10,000 the fuel I actually went down a little bit on because fuel prices have dropped since the budget from last year dues and subscriptions you'll see a a large increase there that is as we go more cloud-based in policing where everything is up to dat we have to pay uh for that every year it's a reoccurring cost it's not something that we can take inside the police department it changes so quickly um and as you'll see from past years we averaged FY 23 almost $65,000 so so that's why I went uh with $65,000 uh new equipment up about $10,000 and that is the same thing it's more expensive and the larger I went up $332,000 for replacement vehicles and Equipment the new cruises that we're getting are between $65 and $75,000 and that's with all the equipment you know everybody thinks it's just a vehicle it's everything that goes in it the radios lights everything um so as you'll see dues and subscriptions went up by up by about 45,000 new equipment 10,000 replacement Vehicles 32,000 and the total budget increase was $ 366,924 from FY 24 to fy2 now Animal Control falls under the police department also this is basically uh by the Personnel Board as far as what his pay is and then as far as expenses pretty much level from the year before exactly level actually now as far as our year end statistical data um there are some numbers here that I will key on as far as our calls for service went out up about 2% uh 37,39 3 our arrests are down about 5% uh traffic enforcement is down about 20% now one thing I would say is as much traffic enforcement as we try to do currently we are down a lot of employees uh so we just don't have the amount of free time that they can go out and do the traffic enforcement all the time we are working on that we've recently hired five officers uh we actually got two transfers which is a big thing for us because they come in they don't have to go through the academy they're fully trained when they come in and I'm happy to report um two of those individuals um a bilingual bilingual for us is is Big A lot of times we have to call different apartment in now we won't have to do that if they work in the shift so it's a great addition for us uh motor vehicle accidents are up about 32% medical calls about 14% I'll skip over some of these uh residential and Commercial breaking and enterings are down about 50% domestics are down about 25% um motor vehicle brakes are up about 55% but the actual thefts are down about 11% and that is because a lot of the Technologies they can get into the car but they can't take the car so I think we're starting to see that uh our overdoses are up 133% we've had two fatal fraud reports are up 43% if you've noticed now one of the things that we're concentrating on we started to teach classes at a lot of the senior citizen facilities in town we've done three so far on internet and phone fraud uh that's one of the things I had two officers that were trained in it so they can basically go and teach about it because we're seeing our elderly population is being targeted at an alarming rate and that's why we're seeing it go up so much so much higher when do you want the Elder like when this happens do you want them to contact you because like my mother like it's happened to my mother a couple of times I my some my boss his parents actually lost money yeah um like is this something that when this happens they should be contacting the police so you can we we always encourage that um some people don't want you know don't want to but we always encourage that because if something happens 5 years down the road it's nice to have that police report to be able to say Hey listen I reported to the police at this time this card was used on you know two months later and you can use it you know it it actually helps you so even like when they call and they say hey I'm your grandson and I'm in jail and I need you to get $25,000 and bring it to the like I've like that's been we see a like I've heard about we usually want that reported um normally and the big thing for us is a lot of times we may use that information uh we did have somebody that we actually ended up arresting that that's what they were doing okay uh we got one of the couriers so normally it's not the per it's a person that picks up the they're not the caller they're a courier they're told to go to this address pick this up and you know so basically that's how it normally happens but that can later be used as evidence in in in any any subsequent trial your exactly yeah because they normally coming from the same people and believe it or not everybody thinks it's somebody overseas usually somebody around that's around here that has to know something about that person so we encourage people to report it as far as shoplifting that's up 144% oh my god um which which is something that I think is a little result of more people going out um since everything has been changing and obviously with the economy there have been some issues so it has gone up significantly um for us as far as our foot patrols and property checks uh 17,46 3 that just shows the activity that the offices are encouraged to go out walk around buildings go to the schools walk around um and I added a new one this year that wasn't on last year uh clinician response or followup so we have a full-time clinician that's part of our Wellness unit and last year alone she did 432 either responded to the scene or followed up with a phone call or something along those lines so it's pretty significant program for us it is Grant funded uh we you know are reimbursed every month uh but it's a very important program for us so we're going to look to expand that further are a lot of those repeat um followup I know followup obviously would be for the same individual but a lot are there multiple times during a year that that clinician would be talking to the same person same family yes in a lot of situations they know each other by first name okay uh we always send the clinician with an officer uh whenever uh she is dealing with anybody okay so we always have an officer present thank you and just to follow us on uh all the social media we're really trying to push things out it's very effective for us and as I said our new website launches officially on Monday so check the link it's dead now it's what now it doesn't work now well it goes live Monday yeah it goes live Monday yeah it's a whole L I know they've been I know they've been working on it it was I was on it earlier I know they make what I got is a notice is saying this is not legal in your system to go go to this place oh I think that's an internal yeah that's an internal that that that's that's a security a security certificate for your particular browser is saying that this hasn't been gone live yet the certificate's not there it's not letting you go through that's probably what's happening okay good to do and I'm here for any questions I welcome any questions um do you find that everyone is receptive to going for more training I think this generation yes I do I I think and I think training is extremely important we have a beautiful training facility that we're trying to bring different groups in because normally when you bring a different group in uh like there something called the FBI leader program which is very Advanced as far as training our officers I've been through uh 3 weeks of it and it's one of those things that if we have them here we get free seats in the training ah so it works out pretty well $800 a person now um years ago like 10 I took uh rad training from the Burlington Police with my daughters yes with my daughter um do you ever going to offer anything like that it's interesting you ask that because we are looking at that now we just got all the the school department believe it or not bought all the equipment last year um and we're looking at getting that program back up and running it we stopped doing it preco just before co co messed a lot of things yeah yeah yeah because I I it was very actually said to my daughter if you ever attacked and you hurt somebody when the police officer says how did you learn that you say well your brothers your brothers and brothers and sisters in the law in Burlington taught me how to do this it's a very it's a great program no no she she she's a whopping 411 and the two officers who their attacked her in full tactical protect gear uh picked her up which was always one of my fears because she's like 92 pounds um but fortunately she at the time was a soccer player and kicked so hard that she kicked through the padding and the guy dropped her oh well that's good that's what we want to see well we don't want to see that but you know you know but it's good to have that that I really think that it's a very worthy thing especially for young women yeah and we'll be pushing A lot of that out through the website as far as signups there's actually going to be something for anybody with any kind of disability in the home that you can actually go on to the website and fill out a form that goes to the police department it goes to dispatch so if we get a call to your home we're going to know what possible disability might somebody might be hot of hearing isn't going to hear the front door or if there's a key somewhere if there's some some different issue somebody might be in a wheelchair it could be a host of different things and that's going to all be available through the website Co so and it is a do com not a.org or a okay yes Chief I have a question please regarding your clinici you mentioned that you get a reimbursement every month uh via a grant do you expect this grant to be renewed every year how would you how would you absorb this person's costs I I think we would talk about that I would talk with the town manager as far as that goes if it came to that but I don't see it going away honestly I think with the state of Department of Mental Health that's who uh funds it I I think just with what they're trying to do it saves money from the hospitals because we can basically treat the person on seen and one thing with having our own clinician 24 hours a day well actually we have her Monday through Friday 8 to 4: but as part of that program somebody's always on call so if we have a call we can go on an iPad and go right to a clinician and if the clinician's out somewhere they'll come to the scene or we can do it through the iPad excellent it really is a great program for us and going to expand as far as we can that's also shared service with the Board of Health correct uh we do have we do share a a a clinician with the Board of Health that's a little bit different a little bit different okay yeah that's different as far as primarily she's working at the Board of Health okay so this clinician is assigned to us perfect so thank you any other questions no thank you Chief okay thank you very much for having me thank you moving along this evening we have a review of article 26 MBTA zoning um article and with us this evening we have Chris lavali he's a member of the chor planning board let me pull up your presentation Chris there we go Zing fqs is that the document so Jim this morning I sent you the FAQs as well did you get those okay great um those have been distributed to the to the group as well okay great um so today I'm going to be talking about our uh MBTA zoning uh proposal for town meeting um it is uh a topic that we continue to discuss in the planning board uh meetings um we had a meeting last night about it and uh had to update some of these slides and we'll talk about that um later on in the slides all right so the state has designated 177 communities um in the scope of this law uh they are MBTA communities or MBTA adjacent communities in general uh we talk about MBTA communities but I want to make sure that people understand that we are an adjacent community and not one of those direct NBTA communities um we are adjacent because L and B Raa are the uh primary MBTA communities near us and we are adjacent to them so we're considered an adjacent Community um this is a zoning um this is a zoning uh law that requires us to implement zoning and not actually build the units um and it requires us to implement zoning uh that allows uh building by right and I'll get to that in a little bit so a lot of people are wondering why the state is doing this um myself included um they're trying it's an attempt to make uh more housing in the state um for seniors that want downsizing to address the housing crisis to encourage um uh production of different sizes and to really address that middle missing middle housing uh and to encourage the use of public transportation uh which is why they're really focusing it near bus and train stations okay next slide so what are the requirements um so an NBTA Community um or adjacent Community has to create at least one zoning District um typically an overlay uh similar to the other overlays that we have in town that follow some general guidelines set by the state uh and these guidelines um some of which are listed here uh there are a lot of guidelines which I didn't list but these are the main ones it does not again I want to emphasize um there's a misconception out there right now that requires us to build the units and it does not it only requires us to zone for them um the state is not going to control this land after uh it is only a zoning overlay that we're creating it's similar to other sections of state law uh 40a uh some of the uh other zoning guidelines that we have to follow as we develop zoning in our town excuse me Jim somebody from nimc is trying to get in on the Z somebody's trying to participate just a minute inter thank youp want me keep going please continue yeah um while these multif family units are permitted by right um it won't require any special permits in the zones um it's the projects will still be required to undergo all of our other uh regulations in place storm water uh sewer Title 5 um Conservation Commission review if near Wetlands uh it will require our site plan review um so it will still require all of those uh reviews of the plans okay next one could I ask a mo a question the note at the bottom with the aster yes um so that's related to the density and the capacity so we have to Zone at least 50 acres where we could put 10% of chelmsford's housing stock and that comes out to about uh 1477 units um and so what we did was we so the modeling that they used assumes that there's no units already there um so it's not like the zones that we're picking will be um zoned for 1,400 additional units it assumes that there's no units there and that's the capacity that we're Zoning for at 15 units per acre okay thank you yep so this is the missing middle uh that they're looking at uh if for this from the state um as a planning board our strategy was to focus on the lower half of that uh so we really look at lower density units we're not looking for the high-rise buildings or not looking for five-story buildings um we're really Zoning for the smaller uh lowest density we can possibly get um with these overlays which is the 15 units per acre so our strategy going into this uh we spent a lot of time trying to figure out our strategy we really wanted to minimize the negative impacts um decrease any commercial impacts uh try and stay away from heavy commercial areas so we didn't lose potentially lose those commercial uh developments we wanted to really look at um areas that would favor longer term uh development instead of short-term development um because we know that our current infrastructure cannot take uh any more development uh in in the short term um we also looked at the UMass uh area um because that zoning overlay was already created with MBTA zoning in mind uh so we wanted to utilize that and we wanted to look at areas that were as developed um as possible because we wanted to minimize the likelihood of it being developed in the short term um we also looked at condo associations uh because the likelihood of those being developed in the short term is even less than a single owner so the planning board process that we followed started in June where we work started working with ncog uh to get help on the process interpret the state requirements uh look at our modeling uh understanding the new law um and then brainstorming potential areas in July um ncog has been a tremendous asset in helping us navigate this process and doing a lot of the technical modeling we needed uh to take a look at what uh areas we could use for this zoning then in early September we an uh did the analysis of the modeling narrowed down the list to UMass West and and uh ups and 110 uh multif family area so we had um public input sessions uh for those areas that we were looking at uh to get public input see if we're on the right track get any additional um thoughts and ideas we're also looking for additional areas that we hadn't thought of yet in those uh and those public meetings the next slide in o oober we gathered those areas um we also looked for additional input from the various Town committees boards and departments uh we then narrowed it down to two areas that we finally selected November um and then started to uh focus on the zoning itself we decided to base the MBTA zoning on the current multif family zoning bylaws that we have now as well as the ums West overlay District that was developed um so the MBTA zoning mimics those um those zoning guidelines as much as we could then we started Drafting and revising and we continued to do Outreach up until town meeting so the next slide start showing the districts that we have reviewed um I'm not going to go through every single one of these um but we looked across town at various areas uh we looked at commercial areas we looked at um the hotel properties in Rison we looked at uh UPS Turnpike and B RKA um we also received a letter from Davis company offering the riverneck property uh as a possible site so we did look at that uh in our due diligence and we ultimately selected if you go to the next slide uh UMass West area uh that includes three Parcels uh the UMass West Campus as well as the two uh multif family development condo areas and then the 110 West um multif Family area uh with 10 Parcels containing seven multif family condo developments and so this is the diagram of the UMass West area that we've selected uh in the top uh you'll see the ums West Campus and in the lower left and right you'll see the two um windamir and Meadowwood uh areas so in the modeling um we had to look at gross uh acreage developable Acres um we looked at what modeling we could get for a gross density um and this site uh taken in total does give us a unit capacity of just over a th000 units um for some perspective we also added the current units and potential new units so that if it ever does get built um it wouldn't be adding a th000 units to the town it would only be adding 521 units in total so that's the other reason why we looked at built out areas because the the net gain um of units to the town would be l so the UMass West District um also includes an age restricted uh age restricted developments um and then uh as well as um the choice housing we'll get to that in a minute the 110 District um is shown here uh we wanted to keep the uh District as small as possible so you will see that the um woodrest Condo Association um only some of the parcels there are included uh one parcel is excluded um that was not initially intended uh it was just to keep the uh size as low as possible while still meeting the requirements um but we also feel that that is also uh an advantage um because it it would help uh keep the condo association together um so we're looking at 110 here yep in the the left left spot there where it says Littleton Road okay so is that the bank is that Enterprise Bank yeah and then woodrest yes that includes uh Enterprise uh ledge view wood crest in Fox Hunt in the far right one is that a a different um or is that all woodrest is wood that's all woodrest oh but they're not so those six buildings are woodrest and we've included four of the six they're three separate properties uh yeah three separate properties and the two two buildings in the upper right hand that aren't in the dark yellow those are the two that are excluded is that yeah okay yeah those are the two from wood crust excluded and I'm sorry if I missed what was the reasoning for excluding those two um part of it was just controlling how big the the um Zone was we didn't want to make it too big um but at the same time um we realized after that that might be an advantage um because it's unlikely that the condo association would ever agreed to sell only half of the or a portion of the units and not all of it so when you mean mean s you're saying someone would come along buy all the condo owners out and build even even more dense hous yeah so the only way that this could get built is if a developer comes in um offers to buy up all of those units at market value and then demolishes them all and then builds up new units with a higher slightly higher density and the the developers um would likely end up losing money off of that how many units did you say how many units are totally so next slide in in this District um yep we have a unit capacity of 477 units uh 211 are currently there and so it would be 266 additional within that yellow y so someone could sell Enterprise Bank there and build 15 units on that property is that what I'm potentially yeah okay so it's all on that side of 110 okay yep all right next slide so this gives a little bit of an indication of uh what the guideline requirements are um so 1477 uh units is what is required uh for the zoning minimum area of 50 acres that would give a density of almost 30 units per acre um and we really wanted to stay much lower than that so that's why we went to uh close to 100 acres um unfortunately it gives a modeling of a higher um number of units so 1,500 units but it does bring down the density of uh the units to about 15 per acre MH and because we're modeling um after our current our current multif family um zoning these are the um current architecture that we see at uh Glenbrook woodrest and Fox Hunt um and this is what we would strive to continue um modeling these zones after if if they were to be uh any projects coming before us for them so just to highlight some of the bylaw um it's a long uh text uh so I just wanted to highlight some of the um requir ments in our bylaw um some of the concerns that folks have um are addressed here uh so again maximum density of 15 units per acre we do limit the buildings to three stories um not five or any High higher um we would only allow um up to 24 units in any single building um and not more than six uh units from a single entrance um it allows townhouse and medium Multiplex style buildings we want varying architecture in our zoning um and we've also included the requirements for open space recreational areas uh as well as uh covered bicycle storage um or integrated storage if it's a larger building so these are the slides I've added uh since last night um yeah I watched those of you who did not watch the planning board last night so the pre-adoption review from uh the e eohc um what's that stand for executive office of Housing and livable communities yes um so it's the state agency that is uh working with towns to um get compliance so initially we had an email um from them on March 6th uh that gave us some preliminary information um most of those issues that they saw with our uh bylaw were pretty minor uh minor edits that we took care of in the March 13th meeting um small updates uh one was even a check box that we added to the um uh form that we filled out uh we did the one I did want to mention is the last bullet um the exemption from all special permit requirements um unfortunately that exemption also does include an exemption from the aquifer Protection District um but after some discussion in the planning board um meeting we're and after looking at our site plan review bylaws any of the storm water um issues that we would be addressing in the aquafer Protection District are also addressed in our storm water um components of the site plan review uh so removing that um uh aquafer protection uh special permit does not uh impact what we would be looking for in these projects the subsequent email that we received from them on March 18th um addressed another more significant concern uh that they had with the UMass West um development agreement uh between the town and the developer uh their feeling was that that uh letter conflicts with the compliance model because it brings the capacity of that site below the 77 units um that we would be required to put in or required to zone for uh in order to meet compliance the affordability um component of that developer agreement also um at 15% exceeds what we currently have in the byaw at 10% um we are looking to continue with a feasibility study that will allow us to increase that to 15% uh but that still is pending right now and we're not sure when that will actually um be able to take place and be put into that bylaw um so right now it's at 10% um but we have every intention on increasing that to 15 um when we can and that so right now that that developer agreement does um conflict with that 10% and then the age restriction in the developer agreement um does directly conflict with the zoning um requirements so the the issue that the the state has presented us is that because this is an agreement between the town and the developer um they're seeing it as essentially an end around around the um zoning bylaw requirements um so after some discussion last night at the planning board um the recommendation uh to bring it to the select board to recommend that we amend the developer agreement um to remove these restrictions uh because the developments are well underway um and the um and the regulatory agreement paperwork has been filed with the state and is expected to be approved within a few months um we do see that the risk of something happening where these restrictions can be altered is pretty low excuse me so what you're saying is even though you're going to propose that you're proposing to go to the select board to amend the agreement with the builder you've see that there's a lot low probability that the Builder would agree to those no there based on discussions that we had we think the developer would be amenable to those changes I I would think so too because it gives them higher density but the we're thinking that the there's a low probability that these would actually be any changes would happen to the development because the development's already been permitted it's already been planned um the plans have been drawn up building has started and the um the agreements with the state for uh the regulatory agreements the paperwork has already been filed and we're expecting that those to be approved in a couple months so so you Chang the agree I going try to summarize here I'm sorry so change the agreement however we don't think the end result is going to be that that development is actually going to change correct okay correct they've got they've gotten financing they yes they have but they have gotten permits but where where are we in the in the building process and permits are amendable within three years so I mean it it's it's possible we're talking 77 additional units that we need in density in that area that concerns me because we spent a long time uh going over the UMass uh West property I live very close to that uh there was a lot of discussion about traffic there's a lot of discussion about an impact on schools a lot of discussion about various different items and if we're now making a change and taking protections out of that developer agreement which was worked on for quite some time um to allow for additional 77 units in that area and we're saying well they're unlikely to build it that concerns me yeah I know um there there were a lot of concerns last night as well um we looked at other options we discussed other options the only other option um would be to add another subdistrict with additional um units and that way you would not be able to proceed at this town meeting you'd have to go to either special or to or to fall town meeting you're concerned about the deadline however are you also concerned about the ability to get this past a town meeting yep and I I just I mean I understand the that they just got back to us the on the 18th with these additional concerns and and Town Council just for the record Town Council did reach out to them and speak to them in the beginning of this process and talk to them about um the developer agreement that we had and how we were proceeding and you know while they did not get you know no or yes they kind of just kind of it's easy not to give a straight answer if you can been how you're going to address it later on yeah so how many buildings would 77 units be I mean that seems vast to me I I have no idea yeah of course I mean it be another at least another bill there it would be probably three because we would our bylaws uh permit up to 24 units in a single building is there buildable land enough for that to to to allow for people to just move around and breathe and park and I don't think so I there's some conservation restrictions in there um so they simply want to change the law so that we could potentially add the 77 but there's really not enough build buildable land to do it one option we did look at yesterday um was adding additional um acreage on the other subdistrict uh to make up for that difference um but the ncog folks felt that that would be seen um it would be seen unfavorably by uh the state and it would probably also get rejected because then it's obvious that we're trying to limit actual building yes even we're how what percentage of the town is actually built at this point I mean we're what % built up I mean at certain point in time the state has to recognize the fact that we don't have the space to build right that we don't have the yes so many acres and the whole like UMass West like what's really annoying is the whole UMass West got sold to town meeting was it was going like we worked with the state at that time right with the RS that we knew we that they were heading down right and so the density at the time that they were was like 13 units per square foot that changed to 15 units per square foot I completely understand what the thought process was by the by the planb and I completely supported the thought process yeah like The Whole Town's process like we all went into town meetings saying oh this is a development project this will we got the MBTA Community coming down the pike this would could count toward it my my concern is that if we start looking at another Zone at this point it would raise a flag I think with the state if we didn't select an area that is buildable in the short term um what area would that be riverneck River Neck okay well up UPS where the uh is it 119 2011 the Old Mercury buildings is that what you're referring to yes and since Davis wasn't able to do their last that would be fourness but okay like I have a crazy question doesn't this have to have some sort of bus or something something come near it no I mean not not not in an adjacent Community the way that they the way that they describe adjacent communities in this law is any community that borders a community that has service so because we border B Raa and LOL we are considered an adjacent Community it means we have a lower requirement as far as units it means we have a different deadline as far as this law is concerned that's why you're seeing Milton going forward with their issues and and their lawsuit and I actually just in the paper to they have now filed their answer and and brought their counter claims in in this action um the problem remains is yeah I agree we don't have that service in our tan and yet we're still being beholden to this particular requirement that is once again an unfunded mandate uh from a from a from a state that quite frankly has never given us a good percentage of State funds back yeah no kidding right um so the Mercury site would be a big enough thing to have a extremely dense four buildings right no no no it's a pretty small lot no it's small it's small and work there it's a pretty small lot it's a small lot the only place that could we could present is UPS UPS is one lot is over 100 acres um would give us isn't ups at UPS mean I don't yes yes and Kath again our town is very built up right but that would be a zone that would that you could but okay so that's actually going with the same principle that if you did UPS it's going with the same principle that there is already something on that site so in fact you're zoning it for the probability that it could it could eventually be used for that but right now there's a facility there that would limit that yes and those of us who live in East Chumps would probably would want more would rather have the housing than those tractor trailers that we're looking at but that's a whole another story um however UPS the likelihood of that so the way we had done it this way is condo associations it's already built the there's a financial barrier for anybody to come in buy something up tear it down and rebuild something so that was almost I don't want to say zero but zero right um UPS is a corporation they can decide tomorrow oh let's sell this and let's go I don't know down to Burlington or go up to nashwa right like they we have no control when and how long they will be there so that was a concern I just noticed Kelly from um ncog is on as well so if we do have specific questions for ncog I did if I mayel I would like to clarify something um and it was it's that there are part of the reason why there are 177 communities that are subject to this law is because pretty much every single one of those 177 communities is largely built up to one reason or to one density or another um none of these individual communities have large tracks of land where there could be an intense amount of housing produced all at one time so what the state is looking for and what we're seeing in a lot of communities that are successfully passing this is that they are looking at areas that would eventually over time either in the near Mid or long term be redeveloped now one strategy of doing this is one that the planning board has pursued which is to look at developments um that are extremely unlikely to ever be sold and redeveloped because of the difficulty in in aggregating all of those properties and and then the financial hurdle to redevelop them there are other strategies that other communities have looked at which is looking at like sound centers or the the parcels that are immediately next to sound Town centers like places that they would want to put those districts that would maybe overtime encourage Revel so there's not only one approach to doing this and the state is not looking necessarily for communities to be providing large vacant lands of immediately developable property um but just that trying to look at opportunities for where you would want to encourage Redevelopment So to that point um as we were discussing some of the areas in the planning board we did come up with some of the areas that we were talking about that we did want to see redeveloped um but the feeling was that we wanted to redevelop them and rezone them on our terms and not with zoning that was State controlled that may change in the in the future um so some good did come out of this process we did Identify some areas that the planning board does want to go back to um and take a look at the zoning to uh do a little bit more encouraging of of Redevelopment um but not we felt it was not applicable through this I want to go back to the 110 and the two buildings that are excluded if you included those two buildings how does that affect your I mean you're in the same complex and now you've you've included the other two buildings does that help meet your numbers we did talk about that um and Kelly correct me if I'm wrong but the feeling was that that still would be be uh looked unfavorably by the state um because we would still artificially be inflating one area that's unlikely to be developed because we've got the restrictions in the other area so are so so we are looking at how that would adjust the the breakdown um of of making of like how if that would bring you into maybe what has been referred to as paper compliance um and one of our planners is is calculating that out right now our caution was that before going too far down to bringing a warrant article to town meeting we would want to make sure that that was run by the Department of Housing um executive office of Housing and liable communities to understand whether they would have any objections to that and how concrete are these responses for from the the from the executive office uh and how sure are we going to be that once we've said okay we think we're going to be in compliance here 6 months down the road we're being told oh sorry you're we're not going to consider that to be in compliance what is the possibility that happening because it sounds like we've spent some time we've submitted this and then now has come back and said oh well too too bad so sorry we don't think that's going to fit uh because there's a restriction that's been quite frankly not an end around but a development agreement was put into place multiple years ago after a long process so the state is looking and and and we've seen this in Westford we've seen this in other communities that we're working with we're working with seven communities in the northern middle sex region on compliance the state is looking particularly close at Parcels that have a high unit capacity um because anybody any Community that's proposing perhaps one or two Parcels that contain you know 30 to 50% of the total unit capacity they just want to make sure that that's a legitimate thing and so in a situ a like this where they have been made aware of a development agreement that effectively limits the capacity at to a level that is below what the the law requires that draws their attention um the other thing that they have offered is and the reason why the zoning the draft zoning was submitted to hlc is because they offered a 90-day review and that 90-day review gets as probably as close as a guarantee to understanding whether the zoning is compliant in advance of town a town meeting vote because the one thing you don't want to do is bring something to town meeting have town meeting approve it you go through the political capital of having town meeting approve something and then only to find out that you now have zoning that allows for something by right but is not compliant with the law and so we did submit that we feel very confident that if if the issues that have been raised by hlc are addressed we feel confident that should the zoning then be approved by town meeting it would be compliant um this is basically just an internal review process and it gives us some assurances that what would go forward would be compliance so Chris are we concerned that this we have this we had this update on the 18th and now we're going to town meeting historically controversial articles like this especially when they've been presented by the planning board have not been successful where we have a change coming uh to the plan very very very close to the to the the article uh being presented town meeting is there concern about proceeding this way with what we currently have yes um and we did discuss that last night um we're still considering um what our options are um and we wanted to wait till we meet with the select board um to discuss it with them okay uh but we didn't want to stop the process we wanted to keep it moving so that if we decide that we want to continue on at this town meeting um we're able to um but we are still keeping all our options open from holding it off till fall town meeting to potentially a special town meeting um and then if you did the special fall are you still within the time parameters of the state's requirements yes we have till the end of the year um to do this so if we wait the challenge the challenge that we're going to face at any town meeting um with this zoning is that it'll be very difficult to understand why people are voting it down if it does get voted down it could be that they didn't like the bylaw language it could be that they didn't like the areas either one or both of the areas that we selected or it could be that they disagree with the state doing this and are voting no in principle so without knowing how to address and and how many people are voting negative for either one of those reasons it's going to be very difficult for the planning board to figure out how to bring It Forward a second time um to get it passed and when we do bring it forward a second time it has to be a different it came for the same one within the same period of time I understand um so you're hoping for healthy discussion at the town meeting if it is voted down yes yeah which I'm sure you'll get I kind I just want to go back to the 77 units and the west campus so the risk there there would be that you're setting it up for possible 77 extra units which we really don't think can fit in there which we think the state will say that's bogus is that basically the general drift of the situation no my understanding from Chris and correct me if I'm wrong is that in fact the removal of the current density restriction in the agreement with the developer would increase the available density and therefore the Poss there would be a possibility that that could be built there but not not necessarily will be built there okay and I don't know enough about that site to know how likely it is that they can squeeze in another 77 units that seems and they also have ready the people in that neighborhood are like you know having troubles with the the construction and the volume and all that stuff lot more trees came down that we thought were going to come down where are we with that site how Paul if you can provide an update like how where you're closer to it or Jim I'm real close yeah yeah how like you know what's been poured what hasn't been poured how much have they they're in the process of of uh they've leveling topography they've completely taken down all the buildings and raised them they they've taken down a trees to the tree line of the wetlands um they're in the process I believe of starting to lay where foundations would go they remember they also have to put in a sewer treatment plant as well so that that process has to go in and they have to they put that facility in and then lay the lines for that as well because we had the issue with capacity for sewer as part of the part of the agreement for them building there they had to build their own treatment facility on site um so that but they're well they've started that process but nothing has been poured I don't believe anything's been poured so like if we move this to a special town meeting you know maybe in the summer that might affect the ability for them to adjust and amend and like if we can get that stuff poured they start build like then it becomes a little bit harder for them to actually they they they yeah yeah that would take quite some that would qu that would take quite some time so they might they might that might disincentivize them from doing that um but there's no guarantee that it will right but I think I think it' be I you know my person like I think some of us on the plan like it's again it's the going in front of town meeting right and presenting this and having these like it's makes it uncomfortable for people to say yes to it right but I think if we go and we wait a little bit of time and I'm just talking out loud here and stuff is already poured and it's hard right then you're like okay I got it this is a paper we're just fixing this on paper I got it cuz the likelihood of this now them backtracking and waiting and having to go for more approvals and changing the found now it becomes less I'm not not as concerned about the regulatory agreements those are going to continue those are going to get executed I'm not concerned about that it's it's the it's the the additional potential units that does that does concern me a little B more can the state Force us to find room there I'm sorry maybe knows obviously if town meeting were're to approve the bylaw we have to submit a bylaw for to the attorney general for approval within you know 60 days after the town meeting and then the town the Attorney General's office has 90 days to act on the bylaw but we have to submit to the end of the calendar year to the state for um MBTA zoning bylaw approval right so could there be a situation where the town meeting approved the bylaw it's submitted to the attorney general for a review and approval but if the regulatory agreement isn't amended until a later date in the year at which time it's then submitted for to compliance with the MBTA zoning bylaw wouldn't that ACH would that achieve the same result of the delay in terms of the connect because if the town doesn't do it then it it's not in compliance so nobody can build because it's not in compliance with the MBTA bylaw do you see what I'm saying other words there's a there's a distinction between town meeting approval and attorney general approval of a zoning ACT versus the deadline for the submission Paul you're saying that uh holding off on a on on making the change to the regulatory agreement until until such time as there's been a review by the by the submitted approved bylaw to the Attorney General's office at which time we'd be further along in the proc process there would be less of a concern of there being any additional units being currently built on that property right no you could do that modification of the uh into the fall so we enter a game of chicken and still have a and still have a time to go go to town meeting if there was an issue right I'm thinking yeah I think that's it's a proverbial game of chicken yeah it's it's basically saying you know because as I pointed out it's not an easy transition because if you're doing that project you you you not only got Financial issues in terms of your lenders but You' ALS have to go through I believe you have to go through an amendment to your meeper approval which we know took quite some time and then you and then you you would have to beyond that then also have to modify your your package treatment plant which we know took quite a considerable amount of time and have the land and space to do all that stuff so it's not as easy to Pivot as I think you could see so there might be a there might I'm saying is the distinction between town meeting action versus the middle of the bylaw for compliance so Chris you mentioned that there's a that you're you is the meeting I don't think it's been posted yet there's a but there there's a plan to have a joint meeting with the planning board and the and the select board regarding the development agreement is that we had suggested that uh last night and Evan was going to reach out to uh the chair to try and set that up for the next okay well they're both sitting there so maybe they can talk oh she's not theair oh not the chair that's right I apologize I didn't see Evan behind me EV here keeping an eye on you majority vote a town meeting for for the zoning yeah it's not a 2/3 votes majority yeah um was there legal council last there last night here for this conversation and what was their General Bird's ey view of the situation he he felt um he felt that the changes to the developers agreement for the affordability and age restriction should not be an issue um because of the regulatory agreements um he did say that because of the sensitivity of the area um it might be difficult for the change in units um but he did acknowledge that the likelihood of it actually happening is pretty low um because of all of the issues that they would have to go through to Pivot um but he did acknowledge the sensitivity of that area and the agreements with the neighbors so if the state knows that why would they continue to push this area why would they continue to push the regulatory change why wouldn't they just make us go find something else I mean because ultimately that area would never they're not pushing the area we chose that right like and town meaning chose it back when we did it so that's why so we're choosing that area because it was already but they're they're choosing to to say that we're not complying because the rules now are it's the density has changed from when we first when we first adopted that when that developer first came came in and they first passed the law We There were guidelines out of there but they weren't defined it was the developer agreement um limits it to third um 13 units per acre um whereas the states asking us to increase that to okay got it that's the differ excellent that's the difference between the two that's it okay got it mhm and you know and again it kind of goes got goes back to do we go in front of town meeting tried to explain all of this exactly and again even though the whole intent of us as Town Medan approving UMass West two years ago was because we wanted it to be counted MH um it just feels I get it like I understand it and then if we they say no to us then what do we do I think if I would lived in Precinct one two or three I'd be hard put to vote in favor of the even small Poss I'm just talking out of my personal perspective if I lived in that neighborhood and I was a representative of one two or three Precinct and there was even a remote possibility that 77 other units were already going to we going to come into an already what I'm seeing as events property I'd have a very hard time voting for it that's just my mhm especially since was sold to as this was the answer to that problem as a as a as a as a Precinct to president and representative I could I could Echo what you're saying yeah um and while I agree with everything that was said I'm wondering how much that's going to change between this town meeting and the time that we now would have to do a special town meeting or fall town meeting how much more I know it's going to be more certain but is that going to be enough certainty to comfort the people so Chris can we can we talk about and I and and and maybe Kelly can jump in if if necessary uh the ramifications of not submitting on time Kelly so um so I think the real ramifications and not the proposed ramifications in I'm sorry the real ramifications and not proposed ramifications that the Attorney General is looking for through her through the lawsuit so what would be the actual current ramifications well I guess it depends on what grants the town is currently receiving so if the town has applied for or received is in the process of working on a massworks grant like any kind of any of those big grants um I know that um Evan has calculated that the town has received I think a million dollars in funding in the last last fiscal year from some of these Grant sources so so those Grant sources would no longer be available to the town so there would be potentially and again it depends on I I don't know that for certain what you've gone after right now but those would be that you would lose access to that grant funding until such time as the zoning would be approved can is there any opportunity for us to I don't know kind of push back the state um because again we went in this with good faith effort two years ago to get ahead of this um I they could watch our town manyi presentations you Mass West this is we're trying to do this we're trying to do that yeah they don't care quite frankly which is the most frustrating part about it so from what I'm hearing tonight I don't think this is ready for a recommendation later on this evening from our board because you even have plan you're planning on having a discussion with the select board um sometime in the next couple weeks yeah I think the meeting that we are expecting to talk to them is I think the eth the eth um and and Chris do you have any expectations as to what will come out of that meeting with the select board what what's going to change question we don't know get up that crystal ball Sam I think part of it too you know again is like moving this forward getting more people's feedback right because you know last night we were seven eight people yep um no we're seven more right like it's really just trying to like talk this through with as many stakeholders as we can um the only other thing of doing a special town meeting it would give us more time to do Outreach and and kind of again just like we were doing Outreach now this is a change yes but this is why we don't think this is going you know you Mass westal change does give us more chances to do the Outreach and to get people comfortable versus trying to spring it on them this Springtown meeting I think the thing is you people whether they I think people are going to want a little more information like it's not necessarily like you know more time to prepare them and you still have less information I mean like there seems to be tooo many moving variables here yeah and that's my concern we don't know the answer from the state or the boards or whatever the you know whether they're going to change it and whether they would after it's changed would the state approve it so it seems like the state is saying you have to do this by a deadline but we're not going to give you the information you need well I think like Kelly said the the state has already given us the things that they want to see and that 90-day um review period was intended to be here's all the feedback that what we encountered though is that the their preliminary email that they initially sent us did not include the issue about the developer agreement um and that was just sprung at us on us yeah just before the last don't you for that and I understand that was just wrong I I I watched the entire meeting last I watched all of these meetings actually it would have been nice for them to tell us in that initial um email or even before that because they knew that this developer agreement existed Town Council approached them about it so why didn't they what what do you think we don't know again that's a crystal ball we're talking about here yeah it just doesn't seem so my but my concern is that if we delay it we're not we don't have it it's not like we can delay it a year we're delaying it by months well we we can it's just there there are consequences we in order to meet the deadline to take the special town meeting Paul can you remind can you remind me what what the average cost of a special town meeting is I know I'm sorry I put this it's not it's not it's not the cost of a special Town election which gets everybody on true special town meeting is probably couple thousand at best I mean it's really a nominal cost we own the facility um you know there's not much utility cost to use the facility it's just basically you know Gathering the police details and work you know checkin workers and other stuff for it so it really is a trivial cost is there concern about the availability of Representatives at a special time meeting well yeah you don't want to be doing this after school lets out or or or before Labor Day so I think your wind your window is really the you know the third week of June you actually the second week of June this year uh or until after Labor Day you it's not it's not going to be well accepted if you try to do this uh in the middle of the summer when people were away traveling vacationing and otherwise so and should and should the um this article as presented without change be voted down by town meeting uh how much of a change in the article would we need to see in order for it to be represented in a different format uh to to the town the planning board has the authority to reconsider an article what what that two-year restriction is is on an outside party who brings an article the planning board can refuse to uh make any you know accept the article for consideration but that the plan has to write to wave their own article for reconsideration or or revote within that 2-year period that people talk about it so we're not concerned about that that's not a concern okay that's what I thought thank you so one of my concerns with having that that special uh town meeting that's not the special town meeting if if we're doing it before summer is not going to buy us much time um and how much more certainty are people going to have in that short window mhm then we're left with fall town meeting and if that doesn't pass at fall town meeting um then we start getting into some well really difficult special yes and because a special town meeting he's talking about prior to prior to letting school out a special town meeting can be can be called with the proper notification at any time during the year so we're not saying that if we don't have a special time meeting in June we can't have one have to wait till October and end of October no we're saying a special town meeting could be called in August September even early October it's that that that I think we're adding a false change there if we're wanting to do that Outreach and the education and more um discussion um with this change it's going to be hard to do that in the summer okay and I don't think that would get us many additional support much about moving the needle between that then and there so I do like the idea though because of what Paul had said is if we prove the article which is a big f um we don't change the development agreement until we need to because when I asked Town Council last night about this he said we had to do it within 30 days yeah had to submit to submit the article submit the article to attorney general to the attorney general but that's just them approving the zoning but is that is that potentially going to is the non-compliance going to be an issue that the Attorney General is going to be looking at with this specific zoning article she seems to be pretty litigious so possibly and that would be my concern with sending this to the attorney general after town meeting without some guarantee that we'll be we said we're were going to change it we didn't say one I think the reviews are independent but but even if it weren't the town meeting approves it in June the attorney R reject exit you come back in October with the same article without the Restriction done that's done in October is Tom meting going to go against itself and say oh we don't like it now because you removed the Restriction that you said you were going to remove people are fickle no but I'm saying is I think the reviews are independent but logically it wouldn't that that shouldn't occur that youve approved it in in in in uh the end of April saying that we're going to remove the Restriction now we've removed the Restriction because the Attorney General said we had to now now you're not going to approve it that that's not it's not logical that would happen What so so what they have in that instance is you have a vote without the change being made you submitted it within the 60-day requirement but you've waited to do that and if they reject it you simply go to fall and say okay got the same article and now we're changing the agreement we're going to submit before the deadline y um so uh we're s you know we're eight nine months further down the road they've spent the money spent the money drawn done the foundation now it's not changing we take off our restrict yeah I think waiting as long as possible and seeing okay fine tell us we have to get it done when we'll get it done before our deadline but there's a deadline for reason doesn't mean we have to have it submitted and changed prior to that deadline it means deadline can I ask another question so last night I'm sorry I didn't watch the meeting um was there a consensus among the planning board are they somewhat flx as a group I mean not flx but you know are they as you know what's what's happening with the planning board in of itself so after a lot of discussion and frustration um I think we're all aligned with the path forward but we're we're at different levels of certainty and comfort with the path forward I think that's where everyone's differing and so the the United path forward is that you would go for the Builder to do the exception with the possibility which you find to be a very small possibility that it could entail 72 other units 70 or whatever7 77 that seems weely units because he would have to also upgrade his uh poop management oh his sore it depends on the on the current Capac that's basically what your pass forward is the differing opinions is that timing of the town meeting vote I see we're not really sure if we want to do it this town meeting special town meeting fall town meeting we're still wrestling with that timing and quite frankly the people in charge of the agreement with the private developer are is the select board and so the select board has to have that conversation decide whether or not they want to proceed that way and then would have to go and make the adjustment to the to that agreement and again the developers not going to say no because it's just taking less restrictions off of them Never Say Never because the way this thing whole thing has been that's true they could say you know what we're happy with that agreement we don't want to change it it's unilateral so you guys can't yeah um so was a was a representative from the select board at your meeting last night and did they offer any and did whomever was was possibly there offer any thoughts in the conversation she was there um but but she did not offer um thoughts because she did not want to speak for the board they have not had a discussion on that in that capacity and therefore pres I didn't know if she if the person Virginia uh added to the conversation or ask questions or she was certainly taking a lot of notes okay any other further discussion any questions for Chris any questions for our ncog representative well I guess can I ask what your thoughts are about their path that they they perceive who when you're saying your thoughts are you speaking to Kelly or to Chris I'm talking to the lady here Kelly from ncog Kelly hi yeah so I'm sorry can you clarify the question so uh Chris has articulated that as a board they've they've gone forward on this path of um having the Builder uh except to change with the very remote possibility that there could be an extra 77 units built there and I was wondering what your perception of that forward path is sure um well I guess I don't know enough about the proposal that is under construction right now to really know what could possibly change I mean I do know that once you go through design and you have a certain sewer capacity that you're designing on site it may be a little bit more challenging to change that um but again I can't really speak to that because I don't have that information in front of me what I do know is that um hlc on our call with them was seemed as though if the development agreement was amended in order to not restrict the capacity in the way that it currently does so it would basically by by unlocking that you would basically have any development on that site subject to the zoning um so it would still have a capacity it would just be a slightly higher capacity it seemed that if that is amended and if the select board is amendable to amending it then the zoning would be in compliance okay all right any further questions just want to summarize so the if the developer can develop to the 15 but may decide not to but they're all okay because it's develop the zoning says 15 correct yeah good luck with that at town meeting yeah I could go anywhere good evening Evan blansky director of Community Development if if you recall um tremal Crow could have proposed 15 units an acre they voluntarily proposed it at 30 13 units at anchor the the zoning that the planning board and town meeting was contemplating was always going to be 15 units an acre by right uh yes but there was a lot of discussion and a lot of compromise between tral Crow and the town and the community that came to speak to that so I think to blanketly say that they could have done that that's great but would that would that have led to that actually getting a development agreement in place and approve of of of how we're proceeding currently so I think it's I mean it's it's nice to say that that would have happened but I don't think we can blank the original proposal was 13 units per acre there was no negotiation on density it's just the more we talk about it I think the more um the more logistically and the the unknown the concerns related to the unknown or the the the likelihood that TRL Crow would take action on modifying their Pro their proposal I think that becomes clearer and I think uh what Paul suggested is exactly what I suggested last night at planning board stay the course in between now and um May May 1st or 2nd town meeting as planning wood talks to fincom talks to select board they can further articulate their uh their strategy and explain in a much more detailed Manner and in intelligent manner related to the the likelihood of a risk and the unknown and I think that's exactly what's going on here the more we talk about it uh you know the more in Focus the level of that that small uh to no risk comes becomes clearer I think that's I think that's pretty critical here are there limitations to what if they really could construct there I mean there's the storage facility that they going to build is that yeah I mean my understand my understanding my understanding is that the the wastewater treatment plant that they designed and had approved by D is designed for the The Proposal the specific proposal it wasn't there's not excess capacity that's in that system that's my point right there's a variety of variety of developer constraints never mind physically trying to find a location for a another building Foundation I mean what's the real risk that they'd want to build another 77 units think you'd really have to ask them well I think we should what I'm suggesting is they could have built it 50 units an acre so maybe that's the next but that's a good point maybe that's the next step we we meet with the select board if they're agreeable to going down this path because we still have to talk to them find out if they're agreeable and then maybe we talk to because we still have to the developer two still has to agree to this right yep so then we have to talk to them they have to come to the conversation no matter what right so then the plan board goes to them or EV can go to them and we get a conversation with them and they say we're good with it with it as is then we can go to town meeting and said okay we spoke to them with much more certainty and and answers to those questions that are going to come up during town meeting yes let me ask you another question is there any water restriction in that area in terms of additional capacity so that's a great question another example where their permit with the uh North chump stre water district is very specific spefic there was significant off offsite mitigation required as well as capacity impact fees so so again adding 70 units that requires them to go back to Chum DPW requires them to go back to uh Chum water district and they're going to be paying additional capacity impact fees never mind the stretch code and all the other costs associated with making a modification could we could even make difficult if we wanted to could we not I'm sorry what no but that brings to mind the other issue one of the reasons they pulled the building permits for all of the units at this time is they did not want to be subject to the July one stretch code correct stretch code because that is a significant financial impact on the project to meet those new energy requirements yeah so if we're not amending this agreement until after that a good point July one I think that's an great incentive not to do so exactly yeah good point okay okay all right I think it all boils down to as it stands right now there's still a few answers that need to be ironed and I think I don't think we'll be voting on this later this evening uh but we'll certainly um delay our vote until such time as we're able to do so um any other questions for our presenter or for our n representative representative thanks for doing it all right Chris thank you very much Kelly thank you very much for being here thank you have a good evening you as well goes unpl no good deed goes unpl all right that's for sure um we had on the agenda review of article 27 which is the citizens petition to um vote basically against what we was just presented um the almost argued for her anyway well I cross my mind it didn't it yeah um she I I I have communicated with her she's unable to come this evening um and it asked the 11th or the night of town meeting or some other time in between um given that I don't we we I don't think we intend to vote on the other vote article this evening I think delaying that to a future date for you she would like the ability to speak on it uh I think is is is something that we will do um right now we have an opportunity for public comment uh we usually have this end of the meeting but we before voting our recommendations always allow for a public comment at this time is there anyone who' like to speak in public comment before we proceed do we have a new business we don't have a new business on this do yes I'm going to join you no uh then I I would actually entertain a motion for a five minute recess before we begin our voting so so moved all right all in favor all right five minute recess get some water probably not bad e e e e e e e e e e e e back okay all right all right we're back from our session a break break in our session and so now in our agenda is our time to review discuss and vote on recommendations for the fiscal year 24 25 budget in springtime meeing warrant articles so let me bring up the current articles here there you go find there you go okay so our first article is uh simply a report of town officers we we take no action on that and we go to article two do we have a motion I make a motion to recommend approve of article two as written second second okay thank you all right discussion hearing none all those in favor I any ner abstentions seven in favor article three I make a motion to recommend approval of article three to for the town to raise and appropriate $4 m3777 to fund the town's fiscal year 2025 assessment to the nooba Valley Technical School District I second it discussion got to go home tonight in line with previous years good presentation excellent presentation any further discussion all those in favor I any ner abstentions hearing none s in [Applause] favor article four I make a motion to recommend approval of article 4 for the town to raise and appropriate 73 million $880,000 to defay charges for the operations of the Chelmsford public schools for the fiscal period July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 second discussion hearing none all those in favor I I I seven in favor no extensions are nay uh Article Five I make a motion to recommend approval of Article 5 General government fiscal year 2025 operating budget as written unless you'd like me to read it no do a second second you can you can choose Pam I'm not sure who came first I don't care discussion hearing none all those in favor I I any n extensions none seven in favor article six I make a motion to recommend approval of article six finance committee Reserve fund that the town raised and appropriate $400,000 to be used as Reserve fund at the discretion of the finance committee for fiscal year 2025 as provided in general laws chapter 40 section 6 second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any n or abstentions seven in favor article seven I make a motion to recommend approval of article 7 fiscal year 25 capital budget appropriate 5,883 42 for the following capital projects as written second discussion nothing here that should be coming off and a lot more that should be on here if we had the available funds heing no further discussion all those in favor faor I any n exensions no seven in favor article [Applause] eight I'm getting there yeah me too okay I make a motion to recommend approval of article 8 Parker Middle School feasibility study as written a second second discussion I'm I'm gonna Asain because I don't know what's happening um so they when superintendent was here they didn't have the number but now that's that's the the number yes yes 1.8 million feasibility study and it's the first step in the in the well the first step was application and acceptance but now the next step uh in in the msba Pro process yeah is there any detail to the number I mean with would can can have something where I would know where the million 8 is all about Fin yes Dr Lang reached out to the msba he and I were on a conference call with the MB msba this uh late this morning regarding the the feasibility study and the project eligibility status this number is a solid estimate based upon the cost of of relative Pro relative recent projects as well as the expectation of what it's going to take to do the study for the town of chelsford and our reimbursement rate will be just over 52% for this cost um at this time so so yes it's it's a number that the msba seemed comfortable with uh J was comfortable with in talk in terms of like I said reaching out to other communities who have recently done studies um and it's a conservative number Dave we I the last thing we want to do is have to come back and ask for more money to do this um but the but it will not be contracted with until calendar year 25 so what'll happen is is we will we will be before the msba in February of 25 uh and then following that meeting of the msba we would then we would then contract with a project uh manager and then contract with the state as a partner to do the designer selection um and then they don't contemplate a vote prior to we till there will not be a vote they've told us prior to July of 2026 um see probably looking perhaps at fall town meeting in 2026 for a vote so it's out there but it's the best projection on what we see for these projects in terms of time frame yes did you say now would are they going to reimburse us 52% of even if it fails if we go do the feasibility study and the town says we're not doing this we will get reimbursed 5 just over 52% so basically this is really 900,000 at the end of the day cost of the Town yes okay cu the Bor it'll be borrowed as does it have to be done right this second or is there any time it has it has to be done by the end of the calendar year just like the msba zoning my only reason is interest rates might be going down we we're not going no no no make it clear we're not going to borrow this money until next year we have to have the vote of approval okay no we're not we're not going to borrow money now at 5% when a year from now could be 4% so this money this money would not be borrowed until probably June of 2025 than a year from thank God we have that AAA rating cuz we get good job good point fantastic this is when it's important when the interest rates are high this is when it really counts I tried to borrow some money saying I was from town of J so I wanted did you tell me you were on the oh Jim I made the motion nobody seconded a second no one seconded nobody second I look at that okay discussion I think we just had it well we we had a question we had a question during the motion we've had a second now we can discuss our our positions on it I hope um that everything goes smoothly and that in my lifetime there's a brand new school in chumford that's all I'm going to say maybe of my kids will go through the school who knows would that be great it would be great my grandkids would I'm not sure it's going to happen might be grandkids yeah um I'll be dead I could be too who knows there's no guarantees here Chase Middle School I like it something that's it it is yeah well you know you should do it Dave for you yeah I I mean I mean this is a long this this has been a long time coming yeah yeah um so I can't see not voting to at least take that next step yes great absolutely yes before the state decides to stop funding 50% on these school projects I think we better get um the question is is it pulling the fourth graders what happens so like right now 7th eth is one so there's a so so answer that question so there's a study uh the stud's going to determine whether or not it's a five it's a 56 and whether or not to pull fourth grade out of the Four elementary schools to to make it a 456 but I believe the the the anticipation is to keep McCarthy as a as a 78 um regardless of what happens here yeah we the the feasibility requires to explore all options and the three possible options of the two that he described 56 replace simple replacement of Parker 56 456 meaning pull the fourth grade out of the elementary schools or 5 through eight which which me then Surplus McCarthy for use which is not not gonna happen no but those but but we have to do those three exercises yeah any further discussion hearing none all those in favor I I any needs or abstentions abstention I just don't understand it well enough sure uh six in favor one abstention and just as a note you don't have to say why you're abstaining care that's a beauty of exemption I just started I didn't I was I'm letting you know but happy happy to understand why uh article 9 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 9 fiscal year 2025 sewer Enterprise fund operating budget as written second any discussion hearing none all those in favor I I any n or abstentions hearing none someone in favor article 10 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 10 Ken Kensington Road sewer pump station as written second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any extensions none seven in favor article 11 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 11 sewer flush truck as am as written second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any ner abstentions seven in favor article 12 I make a motion to recommend approval article 12 fiscal year 2025 storm water management Enterprise fund as written second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any n abstentions none s in favor Article 13 I make a motion to recommend approval approval of Article 13 storm water camera truck as written second discussion just for the record that's 340,000 for the purchase M all in favor any needs or abstentions hearing none seven in favor article 14 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 14 fiscal year 2025 Forum ice rank Enterprise fund uh that the town appropriate appropriate $65,000 in expenses to operate the chelsford Forum ice rink Enterprise fund for fiscal year 2025 and that $65,000 be raised from chelsford Forum ice rank Enterprise fund revenues second discussion hearing none all those in favor any a abstentions none seven in favor Article 15 I make a motion to recommend approval of Article 15 fiscal year 2025 Peg access and cable related Enterprise fund as written for the total of $583,500 second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any abstentions no seven in favor article six uh 16 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 16 fiscal year 25 Peg access television computer servers and Equipment as written second discussion just for the record it's 39,2 uh for the computer server camcorder package and T telecommunication equipment and it's 18,500 for the um retain earnings for the purchase of cameras microphones encoders and tele telecommunications equipment all those in favor I any ner extensions hearing none seven in favor article 17 make a motion to recommend approval of article 17 fiscal year 2025 golf golf course Enterprise fund operating budget the town appropriate $30,000 in expenses to operate the golf course Enterprise for fiscal year 2025 and that $30,000 be raised from Golf Course Enterprise revenues second discussion hearing none all those in favor any ner abstentions seven in favor article 18 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 18 annual appropriation of departmental revolving funds do you want me to as presented as presented second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any needs or extensions none Sub in favor Article 19 I make a motion to recommend approval of Article 19 19 Cemetery Improvement and Development Fund the town to transfer $60,000 from the sale of Graves and lots to cemetery Improvement and Development Fund second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any n or extenstions seven in favor article 20 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 20 Community Action Program fund that the town raised an appropriate $10,000 to fund the Community Action Pro program established under article 12 of the warrant for for the warrant for the April 29th 1996 spring annual town meeting to provide matching funds to community Improvement projects undertaken by individuals and or organizations within the town of Chums second discussion have we seen an increase in in in um or do we know if we've seen an increase in in applications again into this program I know that there was a a lull during during Co it's been quiet it's been relatively quiet relatively quiet okay all right I think reaching back out to the the scouts and things like that I think because I know that was a big funding when I was around big funding for that okay you can reach out to the the um chairman of that commit sure just see if there's been any Outreach to different groups and organizations that that this is really is a helpful fund for things like that all right any further discussion hearing none all those in favor I any abstentions seven in favor typing extraordinar loud sorry article 21 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 21 property valuation services for the town to transfer $80,000 from overlay Surplus to fund property valuation Services pertaining to the town of chelsford fiscal year 2026 5-year property valuation certification by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue second discussion hearing none all those in favor I one exension six in favor one exstension article 22 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 22 Community preservation fund fiscal year 25 Debt Service admin expenses and reserves as written second discussion hearing none all those in favor I I I any maor extensions seven in favor article 23 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 23 Community preservation fund forefathers Cemetery headstone preservation for the town to transfer $8,000 from the community preservation fund General reserve for the preservation of headstones at forfa Cemetery second discussion hearing none all those in favor I any or extensions seven in favor article 24 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 24 Community preservation fund West chelwood Cemetery post and rail fence for the town to transfer $40,000 from the community preservation fund General reserve for the purchase and installation of a post and rail fence at the West chelsford Cemetery second discussion hearing none all those in favor I laser extensions so in favor article 25 I make a motion to recommend approval of article 25 effective military services on salary seniority and leave allowances of town employees that the town accept the provisions of Massachusetts General Law chapter 33 section 59 regarding the effect of military service on salary seniority and leave allowances of town employees second discussion I just want to make sure I understand it this means if somebody is called to service it's they continue ACR seniority because it wasn't their big idea to be called into service yes oh then I'm all for it any further discussion all those in favor I any needs or abstentions hearing none seven in favor uh all right article 26 I believe we're taking no action on unless someone would like to take action and make a motion I I think it's a premature at this point same with article 27 so that brings us to the end of the articles in budget for this uh Springtime meeting let's move next in our agenda to uh the review of the reporting schedule so we do have two articles which we do not have a recommendation on currently um oh that says uh Paul fall annual town meeting you just want to update that last slide save the date save the date yeah um yeah so we as the town meeting is going to be April 28th no 29th 29th yeah Monday the 29th um um I we typically have it the week before or earlier or more advanced for our reporting um we certainly want to have everything done for the pre-own meeting which is the Wednesday preceding town meeting um but let's talk about briefly about articles 26 and 27 um so I think the intention what we're heard is is it's April 8th potentially for for a meeting and then further discussion after that I don't know when that when the plan board will feel comfortable that they have a presentable article so I think that's kind of in the air for us right now and given the fact that we do have a reporting schedule I think it's a wait and see but in but plan on posting a meeting for the night of town meeting to to vote on those two articles we're having a pre-own meeting so the pre-own meeting is is a presentation it's it's it's the town manager session if you will okay and I would recommend anyone that is that is a a um a representative in the town especially new Representatives attend that meeting There's an opportunity to ask questions to go through all the Articles it's a very good presentation that's given by the proponents of different articles and mainly the town um and it it's an opportunity to get more information in preparation for making a vote at town meeting um so for people that still don't know about it or attend it's it's it's a great resource that that's offered by Town manager and um his staff to really make sure that we're prepared to make our votes on town meeting and really to help help possibly streamline the process the night at town meeting um so we definitely want to have our our handbook ready before that uh so as far as the Articles 26 27 are concerned we might be able to call a meeting between now and then depending on where we land as far as a presentable article so if we're meeting on the 8th with the select board the planning board plan board is meeting on the eth with the select board we could at that meeting decide where we're going to go whether or not we would want to come in here on the 11th right to present yes theoretically that would give us enough time for us to post for the fincom I would yes the two the Tuesday prior is posting for for for our Thursday night meeting so that would theoretically give us enough time to post for that night so we could potentially hold that as a date let's hold it as a date and we'll let you the planning board will let us let guys and it is it's a second it's a second Thursday in in the month so it's not going to conf conflict with the uh board of appeals which is good um Reserve just so you know um when we met with Dr Lang he said if we were ever in as far as in our rooms we could meet in certainly meet in his yes yeah uh so yeah we'll Reserve here uh I think we can still I don't think if there's anything in the room that evening because we' when I initially reached out i' I'd asked for I think this room to be preserved for the 11th just in case we needed it okay um so and I'll uh reach back out to Tele media Kurt you make note um that uh we'll at least get the the zoom information inform ready so that we have it available to go on the 11th so let's hold that as a tentative date at 6:30 for those two articles and then um those if we meet that night we could theoretically get that that vote into the book it'd be a tight tight crunch but it would still allow us the opportunity to get our two notes on that as long as everything else is done ahead of time Pam yeah the only issue would be what you want to put in the letter because I can easily put in the you can put that stuff yeah no I I think would give us like I think two days maybe to get that information in um but I think it's doable especially if it's just those two articles we're dealing with so um let's hold that right now um but we'll plan on um Pam when you whenever you're whenever the rest of it's ready you can send it out to us uh I'll put some my sites on next week get we're starting to work on the on the letter uh there were no non-unanimous votes and I say non because there are a couple extensions but they don't count toward the total um so I don't anticipate any needing any comment on why someone voted a certain way on the Articles we just voted on uh but if you'd like to contribute I will definitely accept any any language you'd like to like like to add to the to the letter um and then we'll recirculate that and get that together um so the 11th will hold as a as a as a Target and then knowing that if we can do the 11th then we may have to hold a town meet uh a meeting at the senior center prior to town meeting um I don't like to do that but it is an option uh so that's discussion of plans for upcoming meeting as well any any further public comment seeing none in the room and none on the zoom room I will there there's no press I I I was going to take it off I still haven't done it uh I will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor hi have a good night can I sign this blue e