##VIDEO ID:KNkL5q81SEo## e e okay being so 6:00 I'll call to order this November 18th 2024 select board meeting uh and notify everyone that Chancellor T media is broadcasting it live and also recording it for later viewing um if you will join me in a pledge of allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you so the first thing on our agenda this evening is a joint meeting with the planning board and I see most of them here and I understand that there is one on Zoom Paul yes M Jo us on Zoom he just turned his mic on um this uh this there is a a vacancy on the planning board um so we have we did receive three applications um I'll give each of the applicants an opportunity to make a brief statement the first one is Nancy arway I know she is away today but she did send us the application uh second one is Marcy comto is Marcy here okay if you want to come up to the microphone give you two minutes darn I don't know if I can keep on that hi I'm mie comtoise of 24 Hilder street I'm not used to being up here to speak like this um so yeah I found out about the um opening for the planning board and I figured I would apply for it over the last 13 plus plus months I've been attending multiple meetings in the town sort of learning more about it doing my own research on um a lot of the Town documents the Town rules guidelines regulations um I'm actually a full-time school teacher in L teaching science and social studies most of my knowledge of politics is actually teaching about it and actually using it to help the kids in my school understand it um I do serve on our schools instructional leadership team um as well as our School site Council which works with budgeting planning um working with um maintaining the staff that we need in order to run our school efficiently um so in being able to attend many conservation planning board meetings Board of Health meetings I figured this might be a great way to as moving into the town 12 years ago really get more involved in the town um and and seeing some of the things coming forward making sure the right projects are coming into the town to better grow and develop our town thank you okay thank you okay and we also have an application for from Joel Luna Joel you have two minutes hi Joel Luna um I really I'm not going to comment about my application I think this is the third time you've seen it so this is like deja vu all over again um I just wanted to say a few words about Paul McDougall um people come and go on the board sometimes uh they don't get notice and in this particular case I sat next to Paul as the associate member and um even though I thought he was a little crazy before I got on the board um Paul was very passionate and he cared very much about it and I appreciate very much the time and the effort that he put into the board uh he really he he will be missed because I felt like he made significant contributions to a number of the things that we talked about and we thought about and I just wanted to give a shout out to Paul uh for his service uh in this time and I'm sorry that he's gone um but in any case uh people come and go and they make decisions about whether they stay on or not for whatever reasons but he was deeply appreciated and so uh I just want to say thank you to Paul okay thank you okay and in in the advertisement for this uh position it did indicate that you it was not required that you submit an application ahead of time so if there's anybody here that would um like to apply um you can step to the microphone at this time is there anybody on Zoom that looks like they are okay all right so we have our three applicants um since we do have one person who is remote I'm going to do a roll call vote we'll start with the the planning board and the order that they're sitting in front of me here so we'll start with Mike raybeck that's a tough one there's some pretty good people here I'm going to vote for nway okay deardra I'm gonna vote for Joel I would like to state that I I'm torn because Nancy I feel has a lot to offer but um there will be sever this is a shortterm appointment through April and there will be several spots in April and Joel's been attending all the meetings doing a lot of work I think for continuity sake it makes sense okay Chris I vote for Joel okay Anita I vote for Joel okay John I vote for Joel Luna and I know we have Mike Walsh on Zoom H yes I'd like to vote for Joe Luna please okay um George Joe Luna P Joel Ain Joel Virginia Joel okay um and um I'm GNA vote for Nan and my reason is kind of uh What uh Deedra had said that this is a short-term appointment um and also something that that Nancy had and then tiway had noted in her email um if we if we were to elect her then we wouldn't have to now fill um another another position if Joel were to be the one selected um so anyway so that that concludes the voting but Joel is the new appointee to the planning board congratulations Joel and it has been noted there this this is only until the April uh 1 election um I'd encourage Marcy to you know continues to stay involved and uh um perhaps run for one of the the seats for the for the planning board that will be opening up um when will the when will the associate position be posted is um I'll I'll ask the chair is it necessary do you think for the next five months to have an associate member God yes I think it's helpful in the case that someone can't be present um I think that we've had associate members of late who have contributed a tremendous amount and really brought a lot to the board and um yeah I would like to have an associate okay so we'd have to go through the same process um so probably that uh appointment would be December 23rd the 16th you mean oh we have a 16th meeting I'm sorry the 23rd I'm sorry I'm just looking at yeah 23rd okay December 23rd which is the Monday before okay so we will advertise that okay okay and uh now I will take a a motion to adjourn the joint meeting I'll make a motion to adjourn the joint meeting second okay we have a motion in a second um I think since it's administrative we don't need to do a roll call vote all in favor thanks thanks planning board for coming and I'm sure we'll see you again we'll see you again next month thank you thank you all right so next on our agenda is public service announcements Arin okay the first Public Service Announcement we have is regarding the chumford annual holiday Prelude which will be held on Sunday December 1st um it will take place throughout the town center and the common from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. with the tree lighting at 5:00 p.m. and this year's Prelude will include the traditional horse drawn and tractor hay rides for the entire family free goodies Faceook painting and performances by various groups scattered throughout the center in common and um there will be so much to see sparkling lights happy faces and of course Santa admission to most of these events is free to the public but donations are gratefully accepted and we have another announcements regarding the north chelsford vinyl square common annual Tree Lighting Event which will be held Saturday December 7th at 400 p.m. and um volunteers are needed to assist with the setup and organizing the event and they are looking for volunteers for December 1 from 1: to 3: and after the setup all volunteers are invited to attend the Prelude event in the Town Center at 4: if you're interested in volunteering please contact Brian creamer at brianf creamer gmail.com [Applause] and next from the Board of Health we have an announcement regarding free and home flu vaccines for homebound residents if you your loved one finds it difficult to leave the house to get their flu shot you can call the chumford health department to schedule an inhome vaccination today at 978 25052 41 also from the health department we have a walk-in flu Clinic that's being held every Wednesday at the health department at 50 Bill rer Road uh this is from October 2nd through December 18th and it is open to anyone 19 years and older and high doses are available for those 65 and older again from the Board of Health we have a depression and anxiety support group um this will be held every 4th of the month from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the chelsford Center for the Arts registration is preferred but not required and the support group is available to individuals 18 years and older for more information you can call the health department at 978 25052 [Applause] 41 and an announcement from car soless um Social Services coordination is now available with car soless it's says we now offer navigation for essential Social Services like housing housing and food assistance this expands our mission to provide Equitable mental Healthcare 24/7 recognizing the link between well-being and social factors we're committed to helping individuals and families find the support they need regardless of their circumstances and to get connected to Social Services in your community you can call them at 88851535200 [Applause] and lastly we have an announcement from the Lowel Regional Transit Authority a temporary Fair free pilot program is commencing on December 1st 2024 and will continue through September 30th 2025 um and that's all I have okay thank you okay we're now at the public input part of our um agenda is there anybody here that would like to address the board on any topic okay is anybody on Zoom Paul no okay um we'll go right then to committee vacancies the following boards and committees have vacancies as of November 18th 2024 the CCA Town Hall advisory committee the clean energy and sustainability committee the commission on disabilities the Council on Aging board the Conservation Commission the culture Council the historic district commission the holiday decorating committee the parade committee the Personnel Board the public records advisory committee and the recycling committee if you are interested in serving on a Town border committee please complete an online application available on the town website or for more information you can contact the town manager's office at 978 one day beer and wine license uh to be um held at the um St Johnny Evangelist Church for Daniel o Kyrie would you like to come up to the microphone and tell us about your event good evening uh my name is Daniel ory um a registered nurse and I live in drait I am also the president of the African Catholic Community which is a group of um Catholics um from all over um all the African countries or most of the African countries Christmas remains a very significant celebration in um showing our gratitude um sharing with family and friends in the responsible way so that our kids can actually emulate and follow us so for every year we actually come and then request a one day um alcohol license that we the adults and those that are deemed capable can enjoy um a relaxing adult beverage of our choice um while you know keeping our strong values as responsible citizens so I put in applications on behalf of the community and I'm hoping that the town of um chensford would once again do as the honor and grant us the favor and we will not really abuse any privileges that may be associated with this okay does anybody have a question about this application okay we'll take a motion then I'll make a motion to approve the one-day beer and wine license for Danielle oery um for the Christmas party at um St John the Evangelist Church at 115 middlex Street for December 22nd 2024 thank you very much second a motion in a second all in favor thank you okay we are now to our continuing ation of the tax classification public hearing um Sam chase the chair of the board of assessors will give us an update good evening Madam chair members of the board Town manager Cohen uh for the record I'm Sam Chase Board of ass Assessor's chair uh speaking for the board at this hearing so um in continuation of the previous uh meeting the board had uh several requests and uh I thought that the easiest way to address those was simply to update the slide deck that we looked at last time so if uh Town manager could uh proceed to slide number 19 there we go that looks like it okay so the uh the question from the board was uh I believe it was uh board member Timmons who uh requested a breakdown uh within the residential uh property class she would like she wanted to see the value change from fiscal 24 to 25 in terms of percentage so I revised the slide to add the column on the extreme right so that gives you the breakdown in the sub residential classes so you can see reading across single family values increased 9/10 of a percent uh versus fiscal 24 and then you just read down you get the numbers you see that the commercial uh property classes uh were relatively flat slight decreases so hopefully that uh addresses that issue um the next uh request from the board was to uh let's go to slide 24 so we have a revised slide 24 and an additional slide 25 the request from the board was to take the uh initial uh slide 24 which uh purported to show the average tax increase in both uh residential and Commercial property uh versus the prior year and this would be the actual tax paid uh the problem is that when I when we did the first presentation we only took it down to the 120 split level so the request was to extend the table out to bring it up to the maximum Shift level at 150 which you will see on the additional slide 25 so you now have that data all the way up through the uh Shift level of 50 so I believe that addressed that issue the next request we uh we got if we go to slide 26 this is an additional slide new slide that I prepared to address the uh the issues the first question was uh we wanted to see a visual uh breakdown of the commercial uh property Parcels uh relative to Total parcel number and uh small commercial exemption eligible Parcels so we can see that on this slide and if you look down on the bottom of the slide on the leftand side there's the summary and I have to apologize the question came two weeks ago uh and I was speaking from memory I believe I said we had 402 Parcels well I was wrong it's actually 401 so I apologize for that but so we correct that on the slide but the number of uh scce eligible Parcels is in fact the 259 that I refence two weeks ago we still uh it comes out to 65% of the total so that answers that question now the uh the detail of the slide I believe answers selan Maloney's question and I believe the question was uh how much of the commercial property value is in fact uh in the small commercial uh eligible Parcels that was one question so you see that on the first line and then um I've given you some additional uh data to show you uh what the tax impact what the value impact is and also the tax impact so if you if you go over to the right hand side of the slide under value you can see those numbers so the first line you see that 99 uh plus million dollar is the value of the small uh commercial uh parcels and that represents approximately 18 % of the total value of the commercial parcels and then you can just follow the numbers down you can see what the uh estimated tax would be now I had to use last year's tax rate so I had to do that in order to make the slide work so whatever the tax rate uh uh comes out to be then that's what it'll be but those are the numbers there so hopefully that addresses your questionman Maloney yes okay now um that's really I'm sorry uh well they do want to finish what whatever you have to say and then we'll yeah no that that does it so just uh I'll stay up here I'll answer any more board questions and if uh members of the public comment and they have questions through you madam chair I'll be happy to answer those questions too as you direct okay George you got a question Sam that that is that for 259 or that's for the whole 400 whatever right yes and and there 259 eligible eligible yes and only 142 take advantage of that is that what it is 140 I I don't have that number off the top of my head but I believe I believe we count those I believe they are uh they are getting the exemption now the 259 yeah okay thank okay any other questions from the board see yeah just a followup on that yes so does that mean on the slide that's up up there that the 1.53 3 million gets distributed amongst the remainder of the 401 Parcels if the small and the industrial Parcels yeah so it's it's spread out over all the commercial and all the industrial and remind me how many industrial Parcels do we have I think it's 218 thank you that sound right thank you next week I'll find out it was 219 and I'll have to come back and correct it okay any other questions okay this is a public hearing is there anybody in the room that would like to make any comments um or have any questions about uh about the tax classification okay I don't see any here Paul are there anybody no one on the zoom call okay um all right if there's no other questions we can close the public hearing and begin our discussion I'll make a motion to close the public hearing second okay we have a motion and a second to close the public hearing all in favor okay okay all right does anybody want to kick off the discussion about where we go with tax classification this year any volunteers George well it's never it's never an easy issue that's for sure and this year I think because of the way the prices I don't I know still don't understand that 0.9 but the prices of the residential but I guess that goes back the previous year or whatever but anyway uh you know we've we started at 127 now we're down at 120 and you know and but I've gotten a lot of calls regarding the taxes everybody complains about taxes both sides you know I mean sure and uh so and then there's some other things to be I guess considered and that's from the like the water department other bills that you know affect the residential people I guess the businesses as well with the I guess the Senate District is going to be putting in two new worlds and whatever like that so I know it's a very difficult situation and uh you know I mean I'm I'm open to suggestions I'd like to be fair to everybody nobody wants to hurt anybody but uh you know uh I don't know what I'd like to see it stay basically the way it is for another year or so and see what happens okay that any comments yeah um I'm a business owner in town for um purposes of discussion so um as a business owner in town um we do get hit with many commercial Fe fees that your average residential person does not get uh hit with for instance we pay commercial rates for water we pay commercial rates for sewer I have three people in my office I don't get exemptions because of the number of employees I have but I'm still a small Corporation I have two toilets and two sinks and I pay more than most people you know probably have a dozen houses um uh where my uh location is um we pay for things like um you know you you're required to put sewer in off your grinder pump goes which I have one I pay for that I don't get the services the residential does um so and that's not to to to cry poor mouth for the businesses but if I thought that we had more large corporations in town I could see keeping the shift where it is um but I think um you know everybody's suffering here to a certain degree not just residential homeowners I think the small business owners are are hurting a bit um um so through that I think um I'd like to start to move it back towards a more even uh consideration I think it might be too much of a stretch to jump and go back to 1.0 but I would be in favor of moving to uh 1.1 at this point in uh going from there okay Aron um I I'm not sure I'm on the fence always I and I've said in the past in theory I am kind of in favor of a flat tax um if we were to bump it down at all I think it should be very slow especially considering what's going on in the real estate market for the past handful of years um I'm not sure that I'm open to to bumping it down but I I might be slightly okay a little bit I don't know did you I didn't mean to cut you off I were you no okay thank you so um three years ago we started to look at the um the tax classification early in the year trying be ahead of the hearing and the board's intention at that time was to say do we want to adopt a certain strategy or not and we decided at that time that we did not want to because we didn't feel we could hold future boards to that um and because some members felt that we need to look at the data where it is in the moment so um I guess philosophically I kind of go back to looking at where the data is in the the moment regardless of how we got here I also um I also have in mind that from the federal tax reform in 2017 since 2018 our businesses got their tax rate cut federally from 35 to 21 and our residents didn't have that benefit um I truly appreciate everything that the businesses do we bring that up every year I agree with it 300% I think we also have to keep in mind that we have residents that volunteer tend to 20 to 40 plus hours a week which is thousands of hours a year and we don't bring that into our consideration when we say what are we going to do for the tax rate um so if I look at Paul could you go to slide 20 2 um in 2023 the board voted for a 1.20 levy split which was a residential factor of 9696 374 and if you look at 1.20 that's a levy split of 964 to get closer to the 0963 where we were last year year if you're thinking about parody year to year from a residential Factor standpoint which is what some municipalities do you'd have to you'd actually have to increase to 1.21 to keep that parody and said another way if you go to slide 24 Paul so if I look at the line for 1.20 and I look at the last column and then two columns to the left of that at 1.20 the residents are experiencing the way I'm reading this is a 2 and a half% increase from fiscal 24 and the businesses are experiencing only a 1.6% increase from the year before if you wanted to maintain some parody in that percentage increase again you wind up at the 1.21 where you see the Residence at 2.3% and the business is at 2.4% um I am if we decide to drop it I will just say I'm not in favor of dropping it a jump like 1.1 looking at that chart the same one that you're on at 1.1 that would wind up with the residences having their tax rate increased by 4.3% you know and and let's keep in mind their revenue is really what they can manage with their increase in income um and their the businesses wind up at minus 6.9% from last year so I don't think that um to me that's just not an equitable adjustment um so with that I'm leaning towards leaving it at the 1.2 I'm not in favor of going up to 1.21 to remain to keep the parody in the residential factor or the percentage um but I think leaving it at the 1.2 still puts the businesses at some at a slight advantage and I that's where I suggest we leave it okay um as as you mention every every year I I talk about all the the Partnerships that we have with the businesses so I won't say that again since it's already been said but um I guess I was looking at uh slide 20 which shows the um the percentage of uh um residential commercial industrial and personal overall and if you look at that from 2020 to 2025 the uh residential percentage of uh of Assets in the town has increased um almost uh almost three and a half% while commercial and Industrial has decreased which means if we leave it at the where it currently is we're basically penalizing commercial industrial even more because there are there are less basically there are less of them to pick up the what we're CL what the tax classification part that we would be shifting to the the the commercial and residential so I would uh I would like to see it go down somewhat um I I don't think I would want it to go down to 1.1 as as Pat mentioned um but I wouldn't mind seeing it go down to 1.15 1.16 somewhere in that range Pat can you explain you you said you said something about 3 and a half% with personel I'm just not seeing it on this chart what what are you on the residential on the residential 2020 it was it was 8 82.6 3% of the um the value of all the properties in the town was residential now it's 85% so the amount of the value of the Residential Properties has increased while the value of the commercial industrial has decreased so if we're making that shift then to me it sounds like you know we're we're shifting it to a smaller percentage of of uh the the structures B basically in town I mean that's how I look at it I mean maybe it can be can be uh interpreted differently but that's how I'm looking at it is that we're we're shifting more to a smaller percentage of the of the businesses of of what's here in town I think the residents pay about what 68% of the taxes U with the with the shift I I yeah believe that's what it is so anyway that's that's my thoughts on that um I think we you know we're trying to to shift more of the burden to the businesses um despite the fact that as we saw in slide 19 the uh the value of their of their investment basically has decreased while the value of um homes especially Condominiums and apartments has has increased dramatically may I say one other thing I'm struggling with so on on slide 16 um we had the if you look at the data slides of the communities that have a split were the lowest in this area but on slide 16 I struggle with this every year too where we're the 78th higher highest tax bill for residents in the state which it just seems like that's a high placed hold I struggle with I struggle with that too like part of that is because of the services that the town provides you know that other towns don't necessarily provide I think so are you saying that it's related to the fact that we exercise a 2 and a half% levy and other towns don't no that's not what I'm saying I'm saying we have a higher T you know if if somebody thinks that the 78th position is is a high tax rate when you consider what we get for services from the Town versus other towns that may not get some of those Services um you know I I don't there there's a lot more to it than just saying we're the 78th highest and that puts us in a high bracket you know I mean if you look at it and what we get for services and versus other towns um you know trash is picked up at our curb side um you know we have um Town water we have all the sewer services and all those all those things cost money so you know when you're I I there's just more to it my point was there's more to it than just the simple we're the 78th highest you know and yeah we are but you know you got to equate that into what you get for services I think too so and there's more to it just than than that simple well it relates to property value too yes right right and and if you look you know there's 251 communities and if you look you know west of of Wister that's where a lot of them are and they're all the you know in the 300 range we're 47th in population in the state of the 351 cities and towns okay I don't know that that that's not to say the tax rates related to population because the highest tax rates are the smallest towns the Weston the sherbons cares Dover but I think I think Pat's point was your PO your taxes depend on your level of services that are provided by the town as well as your property values correct yes that's the point I was trying so but and so why I say the population is the population is the type of community you are and so we're we're sort of we're not the rural most communities in M it's a 12,000 population or less we're not the rural community we're we're basically a suburban community Pat would you mind if we go back to slide 24 again sure just I want to just look at what you said in on that slide so you know if you if you even go to like 1.16 the residents are jumping up three and a 3 4% 3.2% over 3% and the businesses are going down to 1.8% compared to last year which I I'm only cons I'm concerned if you jump too far then you start getting that Whiplash effect right which is those that big of a leap if if the board wants to decrease it I'm just concerned about taking too big of a step function down because we'll start getting a similar effect as when we took too big of a step function up all at once but I mean if we go down it's going to go down for the businesses I mean that's a given I think I understand but I'm also looking at how much it's going up for the residents so you're jumping a percentage Point almost that's all okay um Ain do you have any other thoughts after hearing everyone else I agree I mean I agree I agree with everything you're saying that's if I were to agree to bump it down a little bit it would be minor but yeah I agree when we bumped it down before we went in like much smaller increments it was like I think the first year it was more significant but we went like from 1.2 to 1.19 it was like we ratcheted it down very slowly it go up it go up that's what I'm saying the year that it went up it went from 1 to 1.27 and then we we started ratcheting it down right yeah um I mean I I would be okay with uh 1.17 I'd like to see 1.15 I'm okay with the 1.17 that's a that's a half a percentage and the businesses get down by 6 I'd be okay with that George well I mean that's a little bit more than I want to go I mean I would have gone down a couple of points probably you know to 18 whatever 17 18 matter uh it does matter for some people I mean obviously but can you whatever you know you're not going to make everybody happy no matter what you do yeah you're not going to make there's no good answer for everybody can you accept 1.17 I think you're I think you're going to be out voted that's fine okay that's fine all right so um why don't we have a motion to that effect and we'll see where it goes do you have the language jar you want me to do it or do you want you have to we're going to make we're going to do three motions okay this is the first one and you have to read the residential Factor do you want me to do it would you do mine for the first time thank you I'll make a motion that the select board adopt oops sorry I'm on the wrong slide 96 997 I'll make a motion that the select board adopt a residential factor of 0.96 997 M which is a levy shift of 1.17 for fiscal year 2025 we usually do the open space motion separately yes we do them all separate period okay do we have a second I'll second motion okay we have a motion in a second um all in favor opposed okay it's a 41 vote thank you very much so the second motion we have to make is whether or not we want an open space discount okay I don't know if you want to ask if there's any discussion yeah do you want anybody have any discussion about the open space discount that's usually an automatic what does it entail Sam that was slide um the open space discount uh you would be voting to exempt um I believe up to 35% of the value for open space property and typically the board has not adopted that and I think um the reason the board has not adopted that is because that would create a shift within the residential class so if you if you adopt an open space um exemption it means that the balance of your residential uh property are going to pay higher more tax and I think that's traditionally why the board has not adopted that exemption okay thank you can I can I ask a question who's typically paying the property taxes on the Open Spaces in town I mean a lot of them are owned by the town no the the owners of non non-exempt this is private property private property open space Oh so the is it vacant Lots is that primarily what constitutes open space okay thank you thank you are we going to keep the small business exemption next vote okay I'm sorry yep okay so do we have a motion for the open space I make a motion not to adopt an open space discount for the fiscal year 2025 period I'll second the motion okay we have a motion in a second all in favor any opposed okay 5 Z so go back to the residential exemption this is the next one we have to do and that's the same thing uh if you adopt a residential exemption you will create a higher tax situation for um most of your Residential Properties that do not qualify for the exemption so that that is a shift again within the residential class and this is one that we typically do not it's never been done never been done so any any questions on residential exemption and I'll take a motion I make a motion that the select board not adopt a residential exemption for fiscal year 2025 I'll second the motion okay we're Motion in a second all in favor I okay 5 Z and the small business exam emption any questions on we we have typically held it at the 10% I would be in favor of that it can't go any higher well we can go lower if we want lower a million dollars in 10s employees correct I'll make a motion that the select board adopt a small commercial exemption for fiscal year 2025 to apply to the commercial property class at a rate of 10% I'll second the motion okay we Motion in a second all in favor opposed okay 4 41 right thank you thanks Sam I think that's all you need from us I think that's all we need uh we will get together with the town account and we'll record that vote and then we'll submit it to the do and we should be all set thank you very much thank you okay next we have revised development agreements for 55 Princeton Street to comply with the state's NBTA zoning requirements Paul you want to tell us about this yeah um thank you madam chair as as you may recall notes when the town adopted the um MBTA zoning last winter to comply with the um State's requirements for uh MBTA density housing at that time of discussion at 255 prinson Street we knew we would that the town would have to go back and revisit the development agreement that was that was approved by the community for that project in order to make it eligible for the MBTA zoning requirements um as anticipated our community development director EV balansky he submitted the materials to the state as the board's aware our zoning bylaw was approved by the state and and Attorney General's office for for the MBTA zoning uh and so the last step is to submit the submitt to the executive office of housing livable communities for MBTA zoning compliance uh back in April council at the time submitted um a letter to um the property owners at 255 Princeton Street being um the chood Housing Authority which is developing the 54 affordable units and the uh traml Crow residential which is developing the balance of the 396 units of which six are affordable um the discussion began back in April um after the town meeting vote um and discussions have continued and continued to this date in your packet this evening we have the sign agreement that's completed with language reviewed and approved by Town Council to modify the choice uh Champs at Housing Authority uh affordable housing units um so what I provided for you and it's a lot of documents is the original development agreement and the amended First Amendment an assumption of the development agreement and that's been signed by the Housing Authority approved by Council and so the most straightforward way would be for the board to vote to approve the development agreement as presented uh and reviewed by Council and signed by um by uh by the de by the choice which is technically is called um s SGC um so that will put those units and basically what it does is it it un encumbers for technical purposes for MBTA zoning um because remember the MTA zoning was not a 40b or an affordable housing development it's a housing production vehicle and so by signing this development agreement it takes the words from shells to May um but the good news is is it's signed and the pro and as we discussed at the time the project is in process um and so this basically will see compliance without achieving any meaningful agreement from for the project so that's completed for you this evening from SGC I don't if you want me to pause here or or if you want me to explain the traml crow one they are two distinct property owners and properties so my inclination is to stop here and basically say we've you know with the assistance of council um we've we've we have an amended First Amendment an assumption of the development agreement uh that's been executed by um the choice uh entity which is SGC uh for the board's approval this evening and so the appropriate thing would be for the board to move to approve and sign the the First Amendment and Assumption of development agreement between umw yeah I'm sorry it's um changed ex exactly but it's I'm sorry it was for yeah it's very how they call their entity now is u u UWM residences limited partnership which was the SGC development Partners right that's why it's an assumption an amendment too because and you're going to hear this in the next one they keep changing these entities names but the bottom line is we have the we have the original agreement now this amends it um solely the for the material change of compliance with MBTA zoning but no change in other words The Entity out there umw is going to construct the 54 senior housing units um as as was presented to town meeting okay does anybody have any questions for Paul about the the first um Amendment this went through Council right this went through Council yes for both sides their Council reviewed it approved it and they signed it and then our council's uh kPa has approved it uh and and recommends it in its legal form so they're doing their own construction yes yes and we don't have a date for that yet but we're hoping it's within the next you know year or so they do they have their financing there he's awaiting the final release of funds by the by the Commonwealth thank you any other questions okay Aon Do you have a um so it's to approve and sign the agreement right well the yeah the first amend or just the amendment the First Amendment and Assumption of development so it's just the first amendment in the town um I will make a motion to approve the First Amendment to an assumption of development agreement uh with umw residences limited partnership um as presented a motion and a second all in [Music] favor thank you the second piece and the larger piece of the project is the uh market rate units and six affordable units uh at 255 prinson Street this is now traml Crow is how we we Comm refer to it the entity is now Maple multif family land SE LP so basically um what's happened here is the development agreement was signed February 2022 um and you know that was signed and it was notorized um again last you know at the beginning of the last of this current year uh it was it was signed development agreement it was signed with Maple it signed with Maple they're now chmf exactly so back in 2022 so basically what's happened now is similarly working with Council we sent the development agreement the town redlined it from our Council uh over to to Mark baransky who's continues to be the representative of the entity that's developing this now and as you can see with the cross outs and and red lines um they they they're they now have a different corporate name you know with a bunch of initials and so forth the the short story this evening is is we don't have final resolution of this I spoke to Mark baransky last Friday he basically ask the for the board's patience and Indulgence and and and I think the hope and expectation is is I'll come back in two weeks and we'll have this resolved um and um you know and that would still leave us time we have to we have a deadline of December 31st to submit this to the state um this would be the final piece of that submitt um so again not for a lack of effort by Council Evan blans our community development director or me it's the problem is is you're dealing with uh investors and and corporate entities and so it isn't Mark bransky who doesn't know and isn't familiar and isn't trying to resolve this it's just you're just dealing with you know investment entities so Mark um ask you know ask for your patience and and again I hope to return back here in two weeks with final resolution he's been in discussions as best he can um with the investment entity and we hope to have this uh final piece to you um two weeks from this evening at your next regly scheduled meeting do so do you have any idea what the obstacles might be if yes anything significant yes it always comes the key word is investors um and in fact I I I would I met had lunch with some of the N Nim Cog officials today um what's gone on here is and and the board's aware of this too to some extent because we saw this people they went through a prolonged uh permitting process not with the town but with the meepa the massach Environmental Protection act review uh which I think exceeded their expectations in time and cost um and so I think that sort of is sort of what the issue is I I basically formed them well that's not the town's issue we weren we weren't involved with the meeper review and quite frankly you know the town is fulfilled it's it's uh its responsibilities including as most recently is trying to assist last week at two weeks ago at the last meeting when you allowed them to you know install went to propane for heating to you know facilitate the ongoing construction so and Mark agrees Mark has no concerns and understands the good faith and efforts that the town has made and so forth It's just he's asking for our patients as he's trying to work this through the entities that that hold the asset so what has happened happened is is yeah there's been a sale of the original Pera to another entity within the traml crow establishment and that's sort of what's what's causing the hiccup but he expects that um you know we'll have this resolved and and again nothing like a deadline to move people um so that's that's where we're at and um you know obviously you know it didn't necessitate there isn't an issue with the town that you know Mark Mark should be here and saying hey you know let's let's work this out you know I've shown you the red lines um you know I I I think In fairness it's you know rather than you know get further into it I think it's just let's let's give it two more weeks and see if we can come back with the final agreement um we did receive agreement today from the bank entity and the bank has no issues with the modifications that the town's proposing but again the bank just a finance her um you know it's this this is this is the reality of corporate finance um just like any other entity that you know takes assets and is looking for returns yeah I mean Paul I I support what you're doing and I appreciate that Mark just need wants a couple more weeks to work it I think the red lines that KP law did are in line with what Paul Hy negot kind of negotiated in principle um I I'm just appalled at the content change that they're trying to push through in their favor I'll just say that yeah I I think it's totally inappropriate and thank you for pushing back on it yeah and and and I don't I I think Mark's very cautious doesn't want to destroy Goodwill and so I kind of said to him Mark I'm not gonna at your request I'm not going to go into the details of the hangup but but you know hopefully in two weeks you know there have been I can tell you there have been discussions and things floated back that have been you know punted when they've been presented because it just you know it's um I just told him that probably wouldn't be it wouldn't it wouldn't be acceptable although I don't make the final call I said I kind of get a sense of the community's feeling on this this things um the problem is is it's it's when you that's the issue of you're dealing with corporate as opposed to individuals is everyone looks for leverage everyone looks for what you know what you want my signature well what do I get for giving you my signature kind of a mentality and and again Mark's Mark understands uh and and uh and the project is going well and in terms of what's out there and so again he just asked for two more weeks to see if we can resolve this in the beginning didn't TR cross say they were going to use their own money for this particular project yes they did yeah that they would be here for a minimum of five years and and and Mark says it's the same thing it's just another apparently the traml crow entity is more than one entity and so so it's kind of you know a distinction without a difference in other words it you know the the people who signed the original development agreement and and in fact even if you go back to the documents the agreement that was notorized by the discussions that um Paul havy had signed back in April they understood it was going to be no material change um so I I agree that you know I'm disappointed it's not here but again I I realize that it's you know it's not just the case of Mark you know walking into somebody's office and just saying hey you know this is the deal yeah and I think he's he's he he uh he again he appreciates the the what's happened out here uh and uh and again he just asked for two more weeks to bring it to closure any other questions about that no okay all right we'll go on to the next one which still has to do with 255 prin and Street yeah this one this is yeah another esoteric strange thing this this is not a public way utility meaning the select board you're granting a right away at a national grid to do work in the public right of way this has to do with the National Grid installing utilities for the choice housing units in 255 prinson Street and the reason that the town has to sign off in this is because by virtue of your affordable housing restriction um you're you're you're you're a party of Interest so they they're looking for the town to sign off for National Grids records keeping and so forth to sign off on the um the this development um I'm sorry this development of of underground utilities on the site so again this has been vetted by Council um and working again you know W with with the community development director there's no concerns what's being proposed here it's just the board has the formal act to sign the um utility easements because of the fact that we're a party of interest for the development so it's it's as simple as that um that's why there's no one here from National Grid on on the screen or in the room and so forth is because it's not in the town right away it's just because we're a party of Interest we have to sign basically I'm going sign a release you know for them to uh perform this work okay any questions we're a party of interest cuz it's in our town no we're party of V interest because we hold the housing affordable housing restriction on the sorry yeah okay any other questions about this then we'll take a motion I will make a motion to approve the utility easement for 255 Princeton Street parcel number two as presented second okay we have a motion in a second all in favor okay 5 Z all right a bit of wood okay yeah just one one bit award for you this evening this has to do with the sewer manhole lining project um that was um approved at fall annual town meeting um this is for the rehabilitation of 200 manholes that have been identified as having infiltration DPW issued bid documents for this four bids were received the lowest bid and the lowest qualified bid was by national water main cleaning company from Canton Mass um and their bid amount was 478,000 $100 um the project budget is 650 so this Falls within the project budget and as you can see the second lowest bidder was 516 1,890 by in situ form which is another you know experienced vendor and then you can see then you get you know the high bid of 1.34 million so again we're recommending the bid award to National water main cleaning company $478,500 for the sewer manhole Rehabilitation okay any questions about this bit of wood not we'll take a motion I'll make a motion to approve the town manager bid award for the sewer manhole lining project to National water main cleaning company in the amount of 4 78,500 second okay we have Motion in a second all in favor okay Z okay time manager reports all right uh I apologize this tonight I'm not going to be brief often times I'll be brief but you know meeting's gone on but you've only been here an hour so I apologize if I take the next hour of your time the first one and this is good news um this is the massachus school building authority this is the enrollment um study for the uh in this case certification for the Parker Middle School uh building project um part of that whole eligibility phase is is is an enrollment determination um and as the board may be aware they were sort of three scenarios that that are going to be studied in this project which will really kick off in February and this is sort of one of the last pieces to this one one component being a grade five and six School replicating what's there now second one would be a four to six school which is kind of the the the horse that's chelp with is dancing at this point and then the third component is a 5 through eight uh school which is obviously the largest option and so the base enrollments have been have been reviewed um by msba that followed the work that the school committee did when they they hired um desie to do an analysis on enrollment um and the good news is and and Dr Lang presented this to the school committee uh last week um because what has to happen is the chair of the school committee signs off the superintendent and and then I would sign off on behalf of the Town um and Dr Lane explained to the school committee that he was quite pleased with the state um proposed enrollment certification from the msba because it was slightly higher than was being advocated and requested by the school committee through its Desi work um so therefore you know this Dr Lang and the school committee are comfortable with this basically what this is going to mean cut it in succinctly is when they do a grade five and six enrollment configuration for those two grades it's going to be 930 students capacity for a school when they do a 4 through six study for CER enrollment uh it would be 1390 student school and then when they look at the option of a 5 through eight uh configuration be 1885 students so basically you know that's um is what's being certified by the the town in conjunction with the state's request um and so again upon the unanimous recommendation of the school committee the superintendent and myself I just wanted to share this with the board before I before I submit it you know back to the state which I'll do tomorrow morning U but again it's a it's a notable effort a part of this uh eligibility phase that we've now uh have the enrollment certification which is a a critical piece um as we move forward why it was helpful is is when we had those discussions they only they not only looked at our recent Trends but we also told them well we've got these products out under construction in the future such as 255 prinson Street and so forth and so I will commend the state as they do listen and you know they did we were on a zoom call we have Dr Lang was able to provide his analysis to them that was came from desie and so forth so this is this is a a good outcome um because the biggest concern in any Community is you're going to build a school and it's going to be too small the day you open it and the big concern from the state level is they don't want to build schools over capacity because they have limited funding so this is a good outcome I don't know if the board has any concerns or comments but I I think um you know we we couldn't have asked uh again this sort of not only met but slightly exceeded the expectations for this project I I was part of those meetings and and I am very pleased I mean we went you know on the 56 enrollment projections we went from 8:45 to 9:30 1275 to 1390 on the 4 through six so they they've been they went up from they went up from what we projected which is the right thing to do so they they built in their metrics around our understanding what Paul just said that um you know we alerted them to the fact that 255 Princeton and so on so and you know to go from 1,700 students on the 5 to8 to 1885 so they they've done a good job here this is um surprising actually okay all right great thank you um so again we'll keep you updated as I as I mentioned earlier at this this point we've submitted everything to the state in in advance of the December 31st deadline um the last piece aside from this was the uh maintenance effort and DPW Christine Clancy that's all been submitted so we we're basically in good place and similarly even though this was a later thing at fall town meeting for the schematic design study I've submitted the certified vote of the Fall town meeting uh as well as the you know acceptance of the terms as I discussed at last meeting so for msba projects we're we're on time and in compliance and uh I imagine after the first of the year again we're told in February we'll get the green light to do feasibility for the park school project and I think after the around the first of the year we'll also get assigned a developer who work with this um permanent building committee uh and Dr Lang and myself to uh Advance the schematic design for the um for the uh the roof um project uh which we again to anticipate will be completed by summer of 25 brought to town meeting for funding in Fall of next fall and then constructed in summer of 26 so again things are are moving on time um next item I have under my report is the um um goal status report uh select boy Town manager goal status report basically it's been over three months since even you know since towards the end of the summer when the board adopted it's um its goals and so you we're intended to provide a quarterly update um again I know there's a lot we have a lot of goals um I'll I'll go through them this is meant to be a discussion so don't hesitate and interrupt me but I don't also don't want to prolong things but the first item on it was fiscal management and visibility uh the board wanted early notification of financial issues and I think I think I and and John and and our financial team Dar and others we we've noed the board as information has come in unfortunately it's not been good information but we've notified you you know so when we got the notification from middlex County Retirement System of the the two-year Actuarial valuation and assessment um months ago we provided that to you more recently the the the disappointing news on health insurance premiums for retirees and upcoming for active employees um the electricity cost increase um and uh you know John did present a five-year Financial forecast at fall town meeting and obviously in advance of the um tri board meeting on December 9th which is 3 weeks from tonight later this evening I'll be presenting a uh summary of the major Financial issues which I've also shared with the finance committee and school committee in advance of that meeting and I anticipate coming two weeks from today with more information for you in advance of the meeting on the December 9th so again the early notification on financial issues we we've done the best we could obviously with with the approval of the tax rate and the new growth and everything else that sort of solidified our Revenue numbers um to the point now where we have a very strong handle on the revenue side and obviously departments have submitted all their budget requests um in accordance with the October 31st deadline uh and we'll get into that later on the town side in terms of grant opportunities again we've we've we've been able to obtain some as they become available I mentioned earlier about the msba accelerated repair program for the South Row School schematic design we also received the 60,000 uh housing Choice Grant award for the vinyl square traffic improvements and $26,000 for Municipal Road Safety Grant through the police department and then last week on Friday I got word and I'll report it formally at the next meeting because I missed this agenda the DPW director Clancy got a workplace safety Grant um for for her employees so again you know we we're seizing and and grabbing opportunities for um that come before us and I'm also working with cleaning energy and sustainability on a joint application with the town of Bara for a uh energy advocate for the Two Towns uh through the Mass Save uh funding program under legislative funding opportunities well since we've we've met the legisl has been out of formal session except for one day last week uh but there really have not been any opportunities for the town to obtain additional legislative funding um that obviously will come up in the spring as of developing the FY 26 state budget uh and I'll remind the board two weeks from tonight um you will have your periodic semiannual meeting with the legislative delegation I have confirmations at this point from all the reps with the exception of Representative Elliott uh who I haven't heard from so you may have the whole delegation here um in terms of the three reps in the senator um the other another issue was reconsidering marijuana in terms of the fiscal components a couple meetings ago I provided for you the um cannabis local excise collections for the neighboring Comm communities uh I projected conservatively about I think I used to we 200,000 I think it's probably 300,000 is is a more realistic effort I had discussions today with um the Nim Cog managers and the area meaning tingbo tuxbury um B RKA um who and LOL who have cannabis facilities for retail I also spent an hour on the phone last week with Council regarding cannabis here's here's the reality um now that we're eight years after the implementation of the law uh by the voters on on cannabis sales um the days of the de host Community agreements and the wealth to the communities from host Community Agreements are all gone um and talking to places like tingbo and and and chury and so forth you no longer get you know sort of you know what's it worth to you to develop you know to allow for a cannabis license in your community so basically where the money comes from right now is the excise tax so similar to the fact how the town has an excise tax for meals as well as lodging meaning hotel rooms the towns adopt a 3% excise tax on marijuana retail sales and a community that's the 300,000 that I'm speaking of um that's the revenue Stream So in speaking of council I said well given the the the town status where we were a no vote Community back in 2016 what do we have to do given our current bylaws and our current uh zoning you know zoning in general uh and so forth and the simple answer is what the town would have to do if you wanted to allow for retail cannabis sales is you'd have to it's all town meeting it's all based out of town meeting town meeting and I think it would be a bundle quite frankly in other words you take three articles and do a consent agenda take them together one is you you'd vote a up to 3% but everybody does 3% cannabis excise tax second part of that would be you'd amend your general bylaw which prohibits all marijuana you know uh facilities in the community and change that to you know with the exception of retail sales if that's all the board wanted to do um meaning retail sales not consumption meaning just retail sales you know the places that you sell it you don't consume on premises because the state hasn't gotten into the canab you know smoke shops or you know meaning consumption places and I don't think anybody's talking that uh and then the third one would be the zoning component because the town modified its use table and again had you know prohibited it in all zones of the town so you'd have to modify your zoning bylaw to what areas of the Town bylaw would you um would you allow cannabis sales to take place uh as you know the town has a number of business districts and you know you know there were exemp there were Provisions in the law similar to package stores you know you can't have it within 500 ft of church or School nobody's going there we're not going there um so that's basically what town meeting would have to do and then the other component is we'd have to conform like all the communities are with the permanent requirements of the Cannabis Control Commission similar to what the state does with MBTA zoning and and with what they'll soon do with adus they have a model bylaw and model regulations uh on on and and really what it comes down to is how are you going to choose which V you know who you're because when you open up licensing the reason that people operate cannabis facilities is there's money to be made okay and the reason that they're taking place is the return from an investor meaning the lease for that space of real estate wherever it is is greater or significant enough for a cannabis facility as you know as opposed to an Autopart store whatever else you would use in that facility so what it really comes down to what the state's trying to do and if you've read some of the stuff most recently it's the whole idea of social equity and so forth how are you going to allow that the the final component and again if the board this is the discussion because if the board wants to go there we're going to bring Council in and have more detailed discussions uh and perhaps even discussions with the planning board but the other component is is that with the town want to limit the number of licenses um you can you can limit the licenses um you know um terms of the number you have just like we have a limit on how many all alcoholic beverage uh Licor stol licenses we have the number of cannabis cannot exceed that but you could actually re reduce that to to a lesser amount um so that would be another component is is now one could say the market will take care of that um but but that is another thing the board could do um so those are the components so Where I Leave You at this point this evening is the marijuana um enti is out there if the town wants to use it um given that there's now an 8-year history of Licensing in the Commonwealth and experience and if so this is how you'd go about it meaning town meeting votes uh and discussions with Council regarding the licensing uh process as well as perhaps discussions with the planning board uh in terms of the zoning component so I'll stop right there if there's anything questions you have or or any if you want this on a further agenda or what have you but that's where we are with this goal at this point in time what I remind you is is town meeting warrant you're going to be signing that in February um for the April town meeting um so if we're going to work on this you really need to get going on this because you really want to have you really just want Town Council doing legal review in early February not trying to you know wrestle this this issue you know uh at this you know um you know at the last minute so how would you first of all you need some support from this board to say yes we want to go ahead and look at this closer yeah if you got that or if we got that tonight then so there's a zoning component that needs to be part of this if we did it I mean where do you where do you start well it's a question of whether the board wants to do it I am not as manager I mean I can put articles on the warrant I'm not putting an article on the warrant the select board can can and you can direct me to work with councel um and you can or cannot in include the planning board now my sense is I would include the planning board since they're sort of seen as a zoning experts in the community but if the board said yes you know we want to pursue this Paul schedule or the chair could do it schedule some discussion a joint meeting with the planning board and Council to further discuss this and explore this that would be the next step if the board says no we're not going there thank you for for looking into it you know not we're good here then we just move on but the goal was to reconsider it I I I provided you the information so the next step would be basically a direction from this board is this something that you want to invest time with over the next few months or maybe your time frame isn't the same uh as Springtown meeting now let's let's be realistic even if this were adopted at Springtown meeting you probably wouldn't see cannabis facility in the town till probably 2026 anyway because remember you got to have a process of of of the bylaw being approved by the attorney general which again isn't a problem but it takes 90 days and then you're going to have this whole licensing procedure which will take months and then once the license is issued then they're going to have to get their Investments get their place you know it's like anything else it it it doesn't just happen overnight so this isn't going to solve the FY 26 budget but it's probably something that's going to affect the town's revenues in 27 28 so for example Turks brury was a community similar to chelsford um that is sort of taking a revisit and now pursuing this they've issued licenses but again they've not at this point they haven't received revenue and and that's a testament to the fact that it's not like a six-month process it's really a 12 to 18mon process before you um you see this become effective in terms of you know approval by the town licensing process selection them you know defining getting the permits retrofitting getting approval and then Ultimate Sales well this this was not on on our agenda tonight for disc part of the goals update so right so what I was going to suggest is maybe we put it on our agenda for for December 23rd for just for this board to decide if we want to move forward and if so then in early January we can have a joint meeting with the planning board and Town Council but I I don't know you know like I said are are we having meetings before the 23rd just next a second so but that's a pretty busy meeting as it is well I guess my alternate thought would be to put it on that agenda because if we do want to open up discussions with the planning board they're going to be here on the 23rd for it to fill the vacancy and and if if anybody or if the majority of the two boards wants to move forward waiting till January is kind of late unless you are not doing it for Springtown meeting that's my only thought I think if you're going to wait for a joint meeting in January then by definition we're saying we are not going to do something for Springtown meeting which may be okay it's unfortunate that the um item couple of bullets down we didn't talk about ahead of time as far as the you know some of the um operating budget concerns that we have coming up but um you know if we don't start looking for Revenue sources right here and right now yeah can we just do it when the planning board's here well okay well then I I think I think I think rather than planned to have the discussion on the planning board my suggestion was if people have the capacity for a longer meeting on the third have the discussion then and that way if we decide we want to go forward in any form whether it's exploratory or guns blazing we could just ask the planning board to stay on December 23rd yeah I mean that that that makes sense and but I you know I would expect that our discussion on on December 2nd would be short just do you want to go forward or not you know not not with any details I don't discussion and I appreciate you don't want to have that tonight because it wasn't really the purpose of this right this is just a goals update not necessarily yeah yeah but we've already had some lengthy discussion on it so I think we could do it pretty quickly all right so that's what we'll do okay okay we say yes then we'll ask the planning board to stay around Paul in preparation for that meeting could we maybe just get an updated memo for you for the from you from the December meeting summarizing what you just said yeah and and I think I've asked Council if they can give me what of an outline as well so thank you I'll get i'll get a memo on that okay um and then the last thing under fiscal management visibility is collective bargaining we've already commenced bargaining with the police commanding officers lieutenants Union and we've got meeting scheduled for next month with the library and police Superior officers Union and expect the um police patrol and dispatches will be shortly thereafter uh under arpa funding um Christine Clancy has been rep before you repeatedly with periodic requests for the allocation of the balance of the OPA funding in advance of the December 31st deadline you call the last meeting she presented you with multiple projects so that we don't we don't fall short in terms of we don't want to leave any dollars on the table um and again her monthly progress reports on the procurement and and expenditures on the Opera projects have been timely she'll be here at your next meeting um and I can tell you I mean documents are going through even as as recently as today I was signing work including the um the advance of the study on the sewer connection uh analysis for connecting to MW so that is moving and and again I I can't uh overstress the amount of effort and commitment that that Christine and the DPW folks have had because most of these Opera projects have been DPW uh on process improvements the Gap analysis um the major coordinated effort has on going between the health department DPW and Community Development on the groundwater protection processes and regulations um they're working not only with other Town departments and the water districts and and they've got a consultant on board so that is a major undertaking and also a major consideration in terms of what we're we're dealing with with a number of these development projects in terms of the coordination of groundwater protection with p and other concerns um and we'll provide you with a quarterly update as this work unfolds uh and then you know the call is out there at to other department in terms of other projects but that's really been the major one thus far um on Gap analysis on sewer storm water drainage um inflow reductions um as we awarded this evening the the the efforts to remove the infiltration of the manholes uh that's been procured and that work will be scheduled the reserve capacity uh dpws continues to manage that program um with the mwa options as I just mentioned a few moments ago we we've uh We've engaged a consultant it's Weston and Samson has done done this work they're going to do this work for the cost connection to the mwa sewer um for regional cooperation again is is discussions are ongoing with Nim Cog and neighboring towns for additional sewer treatment capacity but obviously there there's not much movement there which is why we continue those discussions but also pursuing the long-term M MW option in terms of infiltration uh residential and Municipal the DPW did conduct a pilot smoke testing program um to identify sources of infiltration and illegal connections um the the the testing program worked the pilot program worked it just unfor for didn't reveal much in terms of listic connections what it mostly revealed was was poor Plumbing components and some commercial establishments um but again with the DPW has the now experience and we'll continue to do um periodic um uh analysis of infiltration and the cameraing stuff is fantastic that's really been helpful in terms of uh of the uh an work out there and identifying areas and then infrastructure maintenance um the most Rec Rec the Force main work on Progress Avenue was funded at fall toown meeting and The Works continuing on the upgrade to the Kensington Road sewer pump station infrastructure roads and sidewalks uh as Christine reported they've completed 10 miles of roadway surfacing and 1.8 miles of sidewalk construction as she elaborated at the fall annual town meeting under article one um mot did install the sidewalk along tingor Road from vinyl square to Williamsburg um and then we obtained funding at town meeting for an additional $2.5 million for the upcoming 2025 construction season and Christine will be in uh to present a roadway and sidewalk construction plan uh at one of your upcoming meetings right after the first of the year for those discussions on utilities um we we've uh engaged Verizon through the assistance of Town Council Rick Holland of KP law has been the point person for KP LA on this issue um we had had a meeting with them just over a month ago and they agreed to revisit the underground utilities through the center as you basically go down Central Square from the phase one that's completed so basically going from the town common where it ended uh by the intersection of Littleton Road uh and and North Road going straight through the center of the community to to the library um what what what Verizon is analyzing right now and we hope to have for you perhaps as soon as next month but if not it'll certainly be January what would that cost with today's technology uh and then also how do we fund that in terms of the search charge so there's two issues here one is the search charge we know the land lines is a major constraint but the other one is is given the now changes in technology um is it as massive as a project as it would have been a decade ago in terms of you know the conversion to land lines and the technology on trunk lines so that's where it is um we were scheduled they have a meeting last week a follow-up meeting and the the town and and Verizon agreed to uh provide a little more time for Verizon to finish its analysis so I I put hope to have some information for you again perhaps next month but certainly by January um focus areas 54 richson road again Paul McKinley was here with his updates on the past monitoring uh and the upgrades to the treatment system will take place to meet the new pfast regulations uh Warren pole conservation restriction um basically way this sits is the conservation commit Carl Bishop has sent a final document to the land trust and has asked for a response by the end of this month uh which is basically just over you know less than two weeks away um and so again we hope to have that resolved and sent to the state um um hopefully by the beginning of the year um traffic major issues Traffic Safety advisory committee continues to meet we we we meet monthly we met we met as recently as this morning uh virtually uh and we brought issues um to the select board as needed some of these things are are really do happen and for the most notable one you remember Mill Road with the sight lines and the Crossway we we anticipate that that project is going to be implemented before the end of this calendar year meaning the next few weeks uh in terms of you know moving forward on that project the last component will be the actual painting of the crosswalks but we've got the the uh the beacons you know the rectangular flashing beacons for crosswalk safety the the speed hump and everything like that so they're doing it now aren't they yeah exactly that's what I'm saying so you know so even though you know they don't get forgotten and they're like oh yeah yeah they're they're moving on uh and again we hope to have that completed and even something minor that again we didn't come in before the board but we heard um from the north chelon Congregational Church about a crosswalk on Shaw Street you know because you remember what the parking lot is for the church it's halfway up the block or little ways up the block and now they have a child care there right that was the one that b the B the Ling yeah so that actually should also be in effect um before the snow falls um so we're fortunate to have the extended weather for the season but these projects are moving along um and again as as issues come up um that warrant the board's votes and actions will bring you to them for example we're still studying the traffic pattern by the legion you know because of the parking lot the legion parking lot and this roadway there so again we continue to because that's a safety concern as well as an issue with the legion's ownership of that property so Ro you me yeah exactly so we're again we're still um working on those issues so um speed boards are still out there and they will be prob for a couple more weeks you know um they don't work well in the cold weather or the not sunny days because they're solar powered but we are responding to ongoing concerns um the Central Square parcel um again the board knows this we you know we looked into that uh we did an environmental site assessment and basically upon the advice of council um I've notified Global that the town will not be pursuing the acquisition of that par will due to avoid any potential liability to the town tree planting Christine Clancy is across the hallway again meeting with the tree committee for its monthly meetings um they do anticipate planting about $30,000 of trees prior to the end of this fiscal year um Consolidated Regional Services I I mentioned that we're working with Nim Cog to explore Regional Services um and and I mentioned about the mass save Grant with Bara unfortunately as in the case of of the um seal of weights and measures sometimes the regional component is isn't able to be achieved but we keep exploring that uh options and and will as um the fiscal conditions warranted uh strategic plan that's uh you know moving into a very critical state the next two days tomorrow um the Strategic plan steering committee is going to be meeting with the consultant to De develop the plan based upon the community inputs from the surveys and and Community meetings that have been held and then on Wednesday that input from the steering committee in terms of aspirations and targets will then be worked with the department heads to look at action items and implementation tasks um so that's active we I we anticipate having a draft of the plan uh for the steering committee uh first draft in December and then I think a draft out to the community after the holidays uh again in meeting the timeline um you know for spring completion of this project so it's it's moving on on time and certainly on budget um boards and committee initiatives fire station study committee we all know what happened there with the results of the election um two weeks ago um the the efforts by the study committee to obtain favorable votes at town meeting and at the state election um the prent building committee uh discussed this at their meeting last week and um we expect uh procurement documents but design of selection we'll probably be issued um after the holidays um the idea the expectation is is 2025 will be design development and procurement of that project for construction to start as anticipated in the funding estimate for calendar year 2026 uh open space and Recreation the open space and Recreation uh Plan update is nearing finalization uh there is an emphasis on accessibility at open space levels there's also discussion of a implementation committee for that so again in the weeks ahead you'll be seeing the open space and Recreation um director Clancy's been on that one and you know obviously our conservation agent and Conservation Commission clean energy and sustainability I mentioned about the uh energy efficiency grant that we're doing with Bara but earlier a few months ago we I also helped the committee promote a Energy Efficiency program for small businesses in the communities um so again we're working on their efforts I know correspondence went today to the superintendent of schools um regarding a bi electric vehicles policy for the school department uh one that we'll also have to adopt again as part of the Green community certification um and then MBTA zoning we talked about this earlier this evening about the uh completing the revisions to the development agreements um for the submitt uh to the state a housing production Plan update you know George is working on that one and with the assistance of nim Cog and that revision I think will be ready in the next few months for the housing affordable housing Master Plan update um adu's housing planning board there's a meeting that's scheduled this Wednesday evening in the this room um the law becomes effective on February 2nd 2025 so it's only a couple months away from becoming law we're awaiting the promulgation of regulations and guidance from the executive office of housing livable communities when I spoke to Jenny rate the Nim Cog executive director today uh when we had our meeting here with the other managers she expected those those to be coming out within a matter of hopefully days but real soon um so again we're moving on the Adu uh the other thing to note is uh when it does go to town meeting for bylaw modifications because our current bylaw is non-compliant it only requires a majority vote under the state law to amend the Adu um zoning Paul do you do you envision that a April to meeting or a fall or a special town meeting when it's ready or um I have are you hoping for April I'm hoping for April but it could be a special in other words if I think two things are going to happen one there'll be a discussion this Wednesday night between the planning board and the board of appeals hopefully they'll get a direction um and also if those regulations um and guidelines come out from uh executive office of housing livable communities I think much like we did with the MBTA zoning it would warrant um a special town meeting hopefully February 2nd um to so that we could have got reasonable regulations in place even if they haven't been approved by the Attorney General I think that would give the town standing to say well look you know the law says you have to have reasonable regulations these here's what the town of chelsford has done in conformance with the guidance from Executive offices housing livable communities and you know in accordance with the state law I think that would give the direction that's needed so when somebody walks in on February 2nd says I want my permit for an Adu we have something um I guess that will become clear in the next few weeks um in the absence of that again it's just going to it become a legal questionable what's reasonable regulations um so we'll see but so anyway um I'm hopeful that this will you know get traction uh and I think it is important enough um that it may warrant a town meeting if if that's what it takes um 40b save Haven um Evan bansky has really been the point person on this about trying to get the state's approval for the affordable housing units that could bring us back to the 10% with the new census account and that means like units that the planning board has approved months ago for like meeting house uh Road the the ones the ones over at Dalton Road and North Road um getting the problem is the state's backlogged uh and they're underresourced and these aren't are not high priority items um so we keep working on it obviously you know we we we cannot submit the ones for the 54 units at 255 Princeton street because there's no building permit pulled that's why these other efforts are so critical and that's why we're dealing with the projects that you see before the board of appeals such as marose Avenue um and the applications that we've received over at Crosby Lane and um 243 rivon um so but we're doing everything we can because we're within a handful of units of of at 10% which is another reason why we were also pushing traml Crow to get you know get those units so anyway because those are under construction so anyway that is ongoing uh with the assistance of council it's not just Evan doing it it's also Council helping to push these things along how many pending projects do we have that haven't been approved umon Street Princeton Street uh we we if you look at our subsidized housing inventory we don't have the ones for Dalton and North Road uh we don't have the ones for meeting house again those are like a handful of units but those handful make up the short all um and yeah so the problem is is you the the local and action projects which is what these are they don't get the same priority or the same movement as you would under a 40b so for example if the if the um board of appeals approves marose Avenue then that would get you know that would get like immediate action by the state and get counted on the Shi the the PIP the backlog is greater you know to get the sign offs local is Believe It or Not yeah believe it or not yes yeah so anyway that's what's happening there msba I talked about earlier so I won't repeat myself on that one um 20 250th birthday as the board knows we sought unsuccessfully funding in the 2025 uh fiscal year grant program and we're awaiting further opportunities for 2026 um basically most of the effort on 2025 and coordination right now is going to the April this April of 25 event in inton and conquered and the communities in between Arlington as well um so again we'll look for those opportunities and then Senior set are expanded inclusiveness um select board member Virginia Crockett Timmons and I met with the Council on Aging chair Bob Schneider and age friendly chair Fred brusso and senior senat director Deb serani um about increasing the inclusiveness at the senior center for those 60 plus and age uh to make it more inclusive for men and people of different cultures and uh we will be meeting again uh at you know trying to further this effort that seems to be the around the consensus of the inclusiveness is is you know how we don't want to lose the senior center component meaning the age demographic up there meaning they don't want to open up to a community center but the whole one of the senses there seem to be commonality on is how do we get more men involved and also different cultures you know the UN unrepresented classes of the community out there so we'll continue that progress I don't know anything want no I think you covered it and I we talked about um maybe having Deb come to to just give the board a status update and put some context around it after the new year sometime uh volunteer appreciation uh I've been working with the chair to develop a plan to recognize outstanding volunteers the sense seems to be to to Target the annual volunteer Fair that's held every March uh and that would be a good forum to encourage new volunteers as well as and recent ones that to keep them in the fold but also recognize you know you sort of got a good captive audience there uh and to promote the volunteer appreciation policy updates I think this is sort of in the months ahead the Town Council uh appointment process and the town manager hiring process timeline um and that and then the last one is the charter update uh again this a little more timely more immediate is is if you want to uh change the language regarding committees which I think was the celebrations committee if I remember right then we really need to um get an article together for spring annual town meeting on that so okay so that concludes the goals update um so you we thank you for your patience with that um depart department fee study uh and adjustments this sort of also follows from the goals about looking at how we're assessing fees I'll be this is an abbreviated memo and I'll be concise on it the short answer answer is we've looked around at all of our fees across our departments and we've made some adjustments where necessary the bottom line is most of our fees were at market and those that we've moved up similar to what you did with the licensing when we talked about them here they aren't going to bring a lot of Revenue now the big question is you know so for example I'll just sort of walk through these the assessor's office only has one fee a butter list um no changes there semetary Department raises their rates almost annually they last did one within the past March uh DPW looks at um fees for road openings and so forth um the analysis there was basically our fees are about what other communities are charging that are similar to us meaning the tubes the baras the you know even look beyond that um fire department looked at 35 fees and again nothing was warranted um Health Department uh approved increases to 19 permit fees including you know swimming pools well modifications again of that 19 fees the expected Revenue increase is $6,200 Select board we talked about that with the licensing here we think we generated 16,700 in Revenue again nothing at the senior center other than they building rental and custodial fees which is almost like a revolving fund so it doesn't generate Revenue to the town town clerk looked at it's 31 fees and um basically made some minor tweaks you know which will amount to roughly $1,400 in Revenue um I've also looked at the least license agreements that we have for our agricultural on Town owned land like Sunny metal Farm Sheen farm and so forth so we we pushed those up um again reflecting the market um so that's sort of where we're at now the big question is are we ahead of the curve meaning given the fiscal constraints that cities and towns in are they going to move to advance fees in the next few months um and so that I don't have the answer for and I don't have the answer as to whether we should be doing that in the next few months saying hey look if prices have gone up 20% in the last four years you know three or four should we be you know not only basically being at Market should we be sort of setting the market that that that I don't have an answer for you this evening but that would be the next step um you know at this point in time what about building department fees same thing think his his per his building fees are are he felt it was fine and talking to the Building Commissioner is that our our construction fees he felt was was reasonable and it wasn't as he didn't feel that that like people were getting a a break uh in chord from the $10 a, on a commercial yeah I mean I mean it's not Boston rates but it's not you know but it's not but there's a lot of times I'm paying 22 25,000 now you know and Towns close to here you know of more of a commercial nature but um I'm surprised that and we and that's and that's the other part is we don't have a lot of commercial development either that's that's been part of the issue is is we don't have you know I mean it's that that's that's the most development we've had in recent years pivots around residential or institutional so for example 255 Princeton Street you know was is is residential there will be a significant fee if they ever build that child care facility on North Road I know that's controversial but there is a sizable fee with that um that's really what tends to drive our fees is is is the residential development usually multif family or institutional fees when you know where we're pretty much built out we're not seeing you know major permit fees in the commercial sector the last one we had was they pul when they pulled the permits for their liquor store on North Road right right yeah and that hasn't been forgotten either supposedly they're doing a a phase two environmental is what we've heard that the bank was looking for there um but so that's not off our radar either about you know the renewal process and they have paid the fee um but they haven't put a shovel in the ground but that's the latest we heard is that they were um they were doing a phase two environmental for that site next to Princeton station all right so that that brings us to the uh sort of the main event which is the fiscal 25 operating budget Financial Outlook uh in anticipation of the tri board meeting three weeks from tonight um I basically updated and Revisited the analysis I did last February where we saw we saw that we were going to hit the wall financially and again I won't read to you all the slides but I think there's some things I want I put in here and I want you to see because I think it shows you the difficulty that we as the budget assemblers have in terms of trying to assemble a budget uh for the community so uh again when we were back in February the budgetary shortfall is projected at 1.8 million based on the departmental submit submissions for level service it's one it's 2.5 plus additional funding for um collective bargaining agreements with the town unionized employees meaning General government um meaning the three police unions the dispatch Union firefighters Union and the library Union those are the general government unionized employees I am working to confirm numbers with those three department heads me the police chief Fire Chief and Library director so that we know what that number is because we have to have it in our mind as we move forward um what's going on at the state level the state gave its report last week they were 1% below their Benchmark for their Statewide Revenue collections for the current fiscal year um next month is the state's big month next in in a matter of about a month the state will have its November revenues Collections and they will hold hearings at the state house where they bring in Mass taxpayers the Department of Revenue others to set a agreement on what the budget Target is for the state re for the upcoming fiscal year anticipated be somewhere around 3% um plus or minus a half a percent either way um so that's a big number that we'll know because that's going to set the Benchmark for the governor and the legislatures work um any other thing to point out is these issues aren't just chub related as I said I was in discussions with my colleagues in the nimcon community today you know towns we not you know this is these issues and you'll see aren't ched issues they're are communities issues they're being felt in communities like Westford uh where they're not contemplating an override at this year or in pep Ru and um so again um the issue all comes down to inflation inflation inflation um the backlog of capital Improvement projects and our limited Revenue base from local Aid in the property tax this is these are the drivers as you look ahead in terms of it's about 8.4 million the big thing is our biggest driver and our biggest component in the town is the school budget um the request from Dr Lane that was used in the financial forecast at fall toown meeting was 3.5 million or 4.74% health insurance that's based on what we've seen now for the calend year 25 Medicare supplement pay cost as well as a 10% increase in the um uh active plans which it due on the fiscal year in July 1 middle sex retirement the 8.38 is a real number based on the Actuarial valuation we have a number for General government employee compensation overall we have a number for non-excluded Debt Service which is a fixed cost that's our outstanding debt uh our Solid Waste and Recycling which is contractual uh nooba Tech which is around a 4% based on our assessment the good news is for nooba Tech um our enrollment is as of October 1st this year was down but the district's enrollment was up so that means that we won't be getting a bump just due to the fact that relative to the other communities it is going to cre a challenge for Westford and Peril which were the communities that grode the other side of that wave Medicare taxes based on your payroll and gas and electricity Supply um again just looking at the current year what drives the school department budget well it's a labor organization so the majority of those costs as highlighted there are due to cost of living increases that are in the existing contracts as well as um Step increases the lanes I.E how they change depending upon the degree whether it's bachelor's M Master's uh Graduate Studies or you know doctorate uh and early retirement incentives um this is where we started getting into the numbers this is what we've provided over the last three years in the school department you can see the increases have been around 4.5% um terms of a medium where you know last year was 4.5 the year before was 4.74 the year before that was 3.84 dollar-wise you can see it's been around 3.2 million the last two years so the 3.5 million given that they're going to have a new labor agreement is not out of the realm for level Services um you know and it's not just labor it's also regular and special education transportation and education costs I don't know many of you may have seen the globe Stories the last few days about you know what we know is the driving costs of special education services uh health insurance again as I mentioned increases are expected to continue at Double digigit levels um it's not only that but also the enrollment changes we're our number of retirees are increasing almost to about a thousand retirees on the town system um not counting teachers um as well as people electing onto our plans so that's why you say well why is it 12.66% $1 million more we so we got to we're going to pay $13 million to Middle sex for the retirement assessment 8.38% more for the upcoming budget the next year they've already told us for because they do it every two-year Actuarial at 6.57 or $860,000 I mean we've got to pay this um Personnel again based on a 2 and a half% annual increase in the compensation schedules for non-union employees it's around a 3% because again similar to School employees and other employees you get not only the cola but you also get a if you're not at the top up of of your lane you you also go up a step because of your years of experience um so again you're around $800,000 there um Debt Service this is fixed um we we got to budget you know additional funds for the year ahead um that's based upon um actual Debt Service so you know it's great that we do the high school kitchen the McCarthy School kitchen the annual capital plans Meeting those requirements as is wise as as a entity and a municipality but the end result is that rolls into your debt service and you can see it drops back down barring nothing unforeseen this doesn't include the fire stations because that's excluded debt so this is non-excluded debt uh solid waste recycling again those are contractual obligations with multi-year contracts with inflation increases so again you're needing 165,000 or so next year um and then the showa tech I'm using 4% um about $160,000 increase um again that that varies depending upon our enrollment levels you can see last year we were 4.6% um so I'm I'm I'm and speaking to the superintendent I told her I'm using 4% she will be at the tri board meeting I said look when I know they're early on their budget stage uh they do have an agreement with your teachers union for the upcoming session um so I I told her I said you know don't be surprised you show up and using a 4% number it's just because I have to use something um but I think based on experience um that's probably not out of line last year has said 4.6 3.49 the year before uh Medicare um same thing that's based on payroll and the reason I do the three-year look back and also threeyear looks ahead is trying to show that this generally isn't like a one-year problem this is a systemic problem uh natural gas uh again on less than a month our carent threee electricity Supply contract expires as I reported to the board the rate increase for electric for electricity Supply increases by 37.4% so it's gonna I think it's going to be about $30,000 for electricity um for the town budget and if a natural gas is probably another 20,000 um that contract doesn't expire till the end of June and I'm waiting for drill baby drill before we um procure that contract so we'll um we we're expect we we if it's a mild winter and everything else works well and things settle down in the world it's you know we'll hope that we'll get a better price um as we near the end of that contract rather than moving on that today um so again you add up those numbers that's where I said the 8.4 or 5.82% um you look on the revenue side we spent a lot of time tonight about the property tax you know whether it's residential commercial whatever the bottom line is the property tax funds 3/4 plus of our operating budget if that's if that's constrained by 2 and a half% so we're allowed a $3 million increase and we Project New Growth at 2 million state aid roughly 3% is 590,000 local receipts 375 so we got 6 million so you can see where this is going if my last slide was 8.4 and we're at six you can see we can see where where we're Landing but just to walk you through and I think it's helpful because part of what I'm looking for at the meeting of the tribe board is is agreement or understanding or direction if if people feel that you know we're being either overly optimistic or overly pessimistic um let us know for example the 2 and a half% is a mathematical calculation as I said it's $3 million you take what our base is now into the state cap of proposition two and a half that's a mathematical number what varies is the new growth due to construction as you can see highlighted in the red that's the development to 250 High Princeton Street um we we close new growth on June 30th we know that project won't be completed in six months from now June 30th but we anticipate based on everything we've heard and have seen out there that it will be done by 27 that project was is supposed to raise a million dollars in property tax revenue you remember those discussions with the town so we're using $2 million for new growth in the next two years well why two million because look where we've been 1.54 for this year the last year was 1.5 you know same thing going back 1.4 you know 1 point you know so the bottom line is using 1.5 is not unrealistic I don't believe given what we've seen in recent years and as we said here just in an earlier discussion we're not seeing a lot of development out there uh and it's not just Chelson when I talked to my peers it's not like they're building all kinds of commercial development in tuxbury or other places either um and again so that's right now we're using 2 million as a number so again you add the three million and two and a half allowed increase the two million in growth that gives you the 5.09 million or the 4.12% increase state aid Revenue big numbers there we got 21 million in state aid from the state 21.8 million but the big component of that is Chapter 70 which is 2third of that at 14.68% 21 million so that's why we highlight them and focus on them as you can see you know we go to the next slide this is this is where these things have coming from when you look at where we've been we were at 14.6 the year before was 14.1 we had that anomaly the 2.18 million uh as a result of the implementation of of the um school funding law um but the discussions that have been at the school committee everything we've seen is that that's an anomaly it's not going to appear so the conservative thing is is 3% going forward the other thing is even if you say it's going to be 4% or 5% it's not going to push that number up significantly um here we were in fiscal 25 where they funded $104 per student for chelsford um it went up roughly $500,000 assuming the state's going to have problems you know they they're going to fund the education funding law because they have to but they may not be able to do the additional funding so that's why we settled that 3% um in terms of unre that's for the uh Chapter 70 you can see those numbers there and again for the unrestricted Aid same thing that's been pretty constant last couple years 3.2 3.0 you know so 3% is realistic again that's been targeted by the um as the increase in the state overall budget of 3% so it's 188,00 ,000 so you then look at the net state aid now again it's not just the gross it's also the assessments from the state you can see those change over time so we're using a 3% it gives us roughly about $600,000 in state aid and then the last main component is local receipts 12.6 million um motor vehicle is roughly half of that 5.9 um and you can the other one is permits um and you'll see the next slide I sort of look at who are the major contributors under the local receipts um and also I wanted to show you how these things fluctuate um motor vehicle excise being our largest one you know that has grown you can see it was it was stagnant from 22 to 23 at 5.7 prior to that it was 5.3 and 5.3 last year was 6.1 we won't know the reality of this till this Jan January but what we saw thus far the first six months of this fiscal year we had increases in the first quarter of the year and then the most recent one was a decrease over a prior year subsequent commitments what that's suggesting is is that we may have passed the peak on Motor Vehicle excise growth and I think you're seeing that because you're seeing some of the manufacturers slow production at some of the plants you're also seeing a you're also seeing the shortage of used cars sort of that's been eviscerated now and also you're able to actually buy below sticker price whereas a few years ago remember you were at the dealership you were paying above sticker so again we think that the because of the squeeze on the consumer that motor vehicle excise you know it isn't just sort of a rocket ship up continuously same thing with licensing and permits this is more interesting one we got 3.46 Million last year the year before we had 1.6 1.8 and then 3.2 so question is is this this came from the UMass um West Campus development this one was the other Housing Development back in 21 so without anything high in the future that's why we budget 1.85 because when you take in a million plus on a permit it's not going to happen again um same thing with investment income that's tied to the borrowing rate or the interest rate savings rate and you can just see how this thing bounces all over the place to we collected 948 th000 last fiscal year the year before that was half that amount uh and then the year before that when interest rates were really at the bottom was was a negative number because you had to Mark the market so we see that interest rates are declining so that's why you say well why you only have a half million dollars uh in Revenue estimates when last year you collected 948 that's because the FED keeps cutting the interest rates which are the Securities that the town invests its assets in rooms excise um again seen some steady growth in recent years on that we'll have to see what happened you know what could help us there the Rison I'm told that they maybe open this summer in terms of the hotel to you the Hilton brand that's going there so that maybe we we can get something there although the flip side is is you know how much longer will the state basically be utilizing the uh Best Western site um so we'll see but that so there's some possibilities there um and then penalties of Interest have been pretty constant the last few years so that's why I give the historic stuff because it helps give a perspective on on how do you draw this estimate um so again we we're looking at around $400,000 uh from that um so when you total all that up as I mentioned it's around 6 million uh and then when you look at the the difference that's where your $2.4 million shortfall from the 8.4 to the 6 million uh and then you know it there's a shortfall all going out less dire in 27 but then more nmy in 28 um and then again this this was the anomaly as I pointed out in the Chapter 70 funding um so again what's none of these things are chwi specific you know the other communities are dealing with the Retirement Board the health insurance labor costs uh and so forth uh cost of Capital Equipment you know cost of contracted services um so the key message is is it's very clear at this point in day we're not going to be able to provide a level service budget for the upcoming fiscal year even at full Levy capacity so what what's going to happen is is people will be paying the 2 and a half% plus increase in the levy um and getting less for it um be you know there's just no way around that um so that now that's that's the that's the scenario that we're at I'll come back with some additional analys in two weeks and then have a discussion in three weeks and again my goal with the leave there is hopefully a consensus on Revenue targets I've shared this presentation electronically with the school committee members finance committee members uh and department heads so they at least have a sense of what we're dealing at um and um you know it's it's it's going to be a uh challenging uh Financial Time Again The Simple Solution is 2 and a half% doesn't work work when your costs are rising above 2 and a half% in the aggregate it's real simple um and um I think even those communities you know that as we've seen that we thought had the ability to go to the voters like Westford weren't able to do it for an operational override and even those communities like L that have the levy capacity I think there's a realistic constraint and how much they can raise taxes even with um so I think that's what we're heading into so so that's where where we are with that um so next thing on my report real now wrapping up real quick is on double polls the news is is it's the same but it's still favorably trending the number of and I apologize for the um presentation in the left column that sort of the the lack of the reference and column with the bottom line is there were 70 double pole tickets open um during the month of October which was a increase of two from the 68 at the end of September so so the good that sense is well the double polls are staying constant but the good news is there were 15 polls added uh in in O in October above the 10 that were added in September So that obviously accounts for the increase but more importantly the number of poles that are moving down the connection in terms of removal is still trending very favorably a month ago Comcast said 38 double poles that they were next to go on on that number dropped to 23 at the end of October and then com Verizon which is the last one to move their number was six at the end of of September by the end of October that had increased to 28 so basically the polls are dropping down meaning the work on the polls literally is going down to Verizon so when I received this report um two weeks ago from National Grid I immediately reached out to Comcast again and Verizon and said look the winter weather conditions are coming you know can you please get some additional attention on these double polls um because you know we want to push these out um you know because we don't know when conditions will come in I reive positive response continuing from Comcast which we saw brought some down in in uh September uh and also from Verizon so the good news is I'm hoping to come to you uh next month and say Hey you know we've really have cut this total aggregate number down uh as well as continuing to progress on their removal uh of the double pole so um the best news is is Verizon I'm sorry National Grid which is first in line you can see there there I'm sorry you can't see but I can tell you the um number of National Grid is only eight so yeah it's an increase from the five that was in September where they were first to go but where there were five extra double polls in the month you know in terms of new Open tickets National Grid is staying on this at least in our case so that's good news and uh we'll I'll continue to update you on the progress on that and then the last thing under my report is um pertains to the Community Action Program committee um the last member of the committee moved out of town um and we've been advertising this for months um and so very similar to what we recently did with the Roberts field committee given the lack of Citizen interest on this uh and and the lack of projects I mean in the last seven years there only been seven applications that have been funded so it's one a year it's a $10,000 uh annual funding amount I know the program's been around since the late 90s but I think we can accomplish this with the community preservation fund you know open space uh conservation land fund as well as the Public Works facilities budget if something were to come up that you know we're open space Improvement so and given the fiscal condition you know I I just you know I know the 10,000 isn't going to matter in the town's aggregate operating budget but I think the simple thing is at this point in time is to um seek your formal approval for the dissolution of the Community Action Program committee uh again there's no active members there's no active interest and not a lot of uh in terms of serving on the committee and not a lot of interest in the program at this point in time so um what how much how what are the funds remaining in that account for this year it's close to $10,000 I don't think we've approved anything this year so if if it's not if it wasn't spent last year it went in into free cash yeah that closes out every fiscal year so there's yeah it's not like we've got a year you know multiple year Surplus no it's about $10,000 and the other question is I know um in the past and I don't know if it's been recently it would be Scouts that would come for that for matching funds where do you anticipate that you know we probably steer them to the community preservation committee U because they do have a small capital what they call a conservation land fund that they could fund small projects like that that was the whole point of why town meeting replenishes that fund particularly is four small projects so we're not going to go to town meeting saying could you fund this $4,000 project that was why they put in funding in that account um so I think we could handle it that way for if if it's for conservation type lands which is most of our open space lands if it if it's something you know beyond that like I said I would look towards DPW and say hey can we help these people out in terms of goods and services but yeah I mean we love the scouting issue we're not trying to you know not support the scouts but I don't have a committee and if there's no committee then it just Falls to me and I don't want to be the holder of a you know it just it just seems to me that it it's just time so okay and and you need a a motion to to dissolve the Community Action Program Comm that way Town manager appointed yeah yeah um I will make a motion to authorize the town manager um to in the dissolution of the Community Action Program committee second yep that sounds good okay we have a motion in a second all in favor thank you thank you all right we have a couple sets of meeting minutes um first is October 28th anybody have any updates or correction to that if not we can take a motion I'll make a motion to approve the select board regular meeting minutes of October 208th 2024 as presented that's okay Pat was not here can somebody else second that I'll second okay we have a motion in a second all in favor Iain one abstain okay all right the minutes are November 4th anybody have any corrections edits to that we'll take a motion I'll make a motion to approve the select board regular meeting minutes of November 4th 2024 is presented second a motion in second all in favor uh all right okay the aison reports George that's it okay Pat um just quickly um finally um we'll see some action up at the nor chelsford fire station um there um the contractor that's responsible for replacing the siding at no cost to the town has filed for permits the end of the last week uh we understand that all of the materials are in their yard and I know that Jose our Building Commissioner and and the uh entity that um did the work um have been talking today we expect the permit to be issued in the next day or two and work to begin uh hopefully within the next week or so and then uh we expect it to take about three weeks to complete okay thank you um uh as Paul noted during his presentations the planning board is meeting on Wednesday uh they're having actually two work sessions one is to talk about the housing bomb Bill related to the adus or the accessory dwelling units and the second one is their beginning their review of the Route 129 business amenity overlays District zoning bylaws to see if there's anything that they want to bring forward for modification um um the vinyl square strategic action plan committee has a meeting planned on December 10th which will um include discussion with DPW regarding the 25% do designed submission Milestone so if anyone's interested in that I encourage you to join and um there was usually also a zoom link and then the uh from the agef friendly committee if you're not aware their five-year progress report was reviewed by the AARP Massachusetts and uh they gave the H friendly committee some um High compliments for the quality of that report and now it's going on to review at the national level so the national level approval will mean that chelsford can renew their membership in their network of h-f friendly States and communities with a ARP um and I think Paul covered everything else so that's it oh I got one more from the North chelsford Water District uh if residents in that District received a letter regarding um the lead service line replacement program or lead service line replacement program uh there are some service lines where there may be some unknown materials and they're encouraging the residents to um just set up a 5 minute or less inspection with the uh water department so that um they can address any particular material issues okay um all right as everybody knows next week is Thanksgiving so um Good Luck to the football team they're playing the r on Thanksgiving morning in chelsford so should be a good game and hopefully they they will do well and other than that I wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving and and see you in December just a closing Coming Attractions next meeting uh in two weeks on December 2nd we have the state reps and Senator as I mentioned earlier also for the board and the communities awareness the second meeting in December on the 23rd is was scheduled for the financial audit presentation and the opad Pres audit presentation they're usually done in conjunction with each other on so that that's schedule for the 23rd of December so that'll sort of round out our year so just do we have topics for the legislator uh I don't know what you um I think it's sort of it's it's sort of a new session we don't have any home we don't have any um home rule petitions or local initiatives I think it's more going to be what do they for see coming now that we've seen the results of the election uh and what's coming in the future uh in terms of fiscally I think in terms of housing I think is going to continue to be a priority for the legislature and so forth so I think it really would be more of a discussion in terms of uh you know what what do we foresee happening in the the uh the upcoming session um you know they pretty much have wrapped up what they're going to do with last week's action ter of Economic Development Bill and um Energy bill and so forth so thank you if if anybody has anything specific they want them to address if you want to let me know and I'll pass that on to them so they're aware that we have questions so all right with that about a motion I'll make a motion to adjourn second all in favor I before you leave if you can sign e e e