##VIDEO ID:xpz6CU4Sv5Q## e e e e 20th verse 2024 at 6:00 p.m. uh we are in person in Via Zoom at Oldtown Hall 1111 Somerset Avenue dayon Massachusetts this meeting is being recorded the listing of matters are those reasonably anticipated by the chair which may be discussed at the meeting not all items listed May in fact be discussed and other items listed not listed may also be brought for discussion to the extent permitted by law this uh was revised at 219 on Monday uh can we please have a call to order again I'm ni Melo present Dr Chico present and Peter Kon is present uh we uh just returned from executive session um but uh we're going to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and I'm just going to ask you to stand for uh just a couple minutes uh I mean uh half a minute or so because we lost two uh two residents this week I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all like I said we lost two residents this week and it's always so sad when we lose somebody but uh Roger do Roa in France uh I don't want to butcher their name but kinber something like that if somebody knows better um sorry thank you all right thank you for your time we're going to get right into um appointments the first one is Vincent Hebert this is a review discussion act Board of Health member appointment is uh Barbara coming this evening she was supposed to be here yes I thought she was okay let's um uh just uh table it for now I have some discussion on it if you don't mind oh sure if you wanted discuss it or we can table it when she gets here but it's up to you um I think it's just like for the board so discussion about this so when I saw this agenda posted I was expecting to see three names um cuz I sat through the interviews and there was three candidates so there was Jonathan Gail there was lonard Hull and there was Mr Heber and at that meeting um selectman Melo had her preferred candidate but it's my recollection that you didn't have a preferred candidate um so we tabled it until such time that we could you know sleep on it and come back to the table uh I had a conflict of interest so I couldn't vote right so now it's been quite a few weeks and there's only one name on the agenda so it's no reflection on any the candidates I think it's a reflection on the board I just I put myself in the candidate shoes they put their names out there they went through a a selection they went through an interview process with the board and then I F I would feel so bad when they open up that agenda to see their name not on it okay um it not to draw too harsh of a parallel but it reminds me of the police chief where our poor current chief was interviewing for the job and there was multiple candidates he found out by opening a press release from the town of dayon to find out that he was not going to be listed as a finalist this is exactly what happened with this candidate not only that it's been 7 weeks since the close of the appointment we've kicked this can down the road I feel like it was not handled properly and I I'm just I'm embarrassed that there's not three names on there my first like my first thought was perhaps they withdrew so I I reached out to them and neither one withdrew and I hate apologizing for the board of Selectmen when I didn't have something to do with it and I felt it was just I really hope it was an oversight if it wasn't oversight it wasn't just to the board our Administrative Office should have pointed it out too so so I think all around that this was a mistake and they they are ow apology at the least all right let's um let's table it until uh barara gets here to explain why it's just um an appointment of one member can I just um say real quick I was under the impression that one of the three had with Drew um I didn't receive a letter or anything but it was verbally told to me so I did not know that there was still three candidates I guess to I um not that it's an excuse no but but I thought we were down to one and and this one was being appointed we left that that there was three three members to be appointed so like let's say select M Melo in the last seven weeks changed her mind because you can't talk to her so you don't know what she knows or what she doesn't know if she came to this meeting tonight said you know what I changed my mind I really want one of the other candidates you're boxed in now to either pick this one or to postpone it yet again which would be a dis service to the Board of Health okay all right we're not going to postpone it but let's um I'll make them I'll make a motion to table this until um Barbara comes sure second okay motion made and seconded any discussion or any more discussion all those in favor I I um sharer hi you're up hi this is again a review discussion act annual appointment of election workers yeah so there is just a slight change in appointment protocol for election workers um and working up this year's appointment list I found that appointments must be affirmed by the board of Selectmen I did reach out also to the elections division um this is in accordance with the ACT um of mgl 54 votes Act of mgl 54 um section 12 I do have my list of appointments if uh uh we have it here we have it as just want to make sure we don't need to read the list because it's on file in the packet correct um so it's just basically a law that we have not followed or is it a law that's fairly new it I guess it was always um under the um town clerk's um right to appoint and so um before it was as long as they were appointed 3 weeks before um the elections that was always is fine um but then um we did get called out um by Patrick Higgins and he said that you know we were not following not we were in violation okay well we don't want to be in violation so um basically we're going to take your list and appoint them unless somebody has a concern sorry there be The Squeaky whe um so you cite in your letter chapter 54 section 12 first sh what they told me I appreciate all you do you're a chief election official and a separately elected official so I I hate to even bring up election things because but I just so it says the town shall make these appointments no early than July 15th and no later than August 15th so it's August August 2 first mhm um and then the law says if the selan failed to so that ship as Sal correct we didn't send the letter Y the the date has passed for us to appoint mhm so the law says if we fail the board of registrars appoints MH so if we were to follow this law as written like let's we we failed on that part it is what it is it's you could call a regiz meeting that would be to comply with this law so then the votes act um which what you refer to says the um six weeks prior and the 3 weeks prior so you know six weeks prior you could come back but we're two weeks out correct so I would say you could appoint now the temporary list yes and then go to your regist to do a permanent list based on this law and then next year we'll get the letter out well in time get it in time go through that process and then you come back and we would do a um the list per 54 section 12 is that are you okay with that yeah I'm fine with that okay so I don't think you have to do a regist meeting for this election because you can appoint I can appoint and then you would do one cuz we failed um part of this and then you could do one for your November election and then next year we'll follow this by sounds great are you okay with that I'm fine with that okay okay all right thank you and while I got you there um the votes act also talks about police details for elections so normally when you do the warrant we do that so I think under unanticipated business we could discuss do you have a um a number of police officers that you want for the primary correct I do I want two for the primary and for for um this the no November 5th so when we vote for the warrant I would suggest that we vote for the two details for your uh primary and then when you come back for the warrant for November we um if you're okay cuz you're the chief election official but give us how many police officers for November you okay with that yeah when you do your War sure okay okay I appreciate it thank you thank Youk you thank you thank you Mar for bringing that up okay so there's no reason to vote on it because she's going to um appoint them herself because we were in apparent violation which I had no no clue about um okay let's move on to um Bernie is he here on uh he just Ed this is going to be an update on the town administrative search br should hear you now uh Bernie yes hi how are you this is Peter Karen hi Peter sorry let me just get everything set up yeah sure are you ready are you ready for us I am yeah okay great thank let me um let me just share my uh my screen with you and uh you know give you an update on where we are with regards to the time administrative search uh and a tentative schedule moving forward I could um I need um I need to be able to share my screen I think that needs to be set up for me no yeah um on is it able uh Karen's working on it sorry I'm working on no that's me I think you can you can make him right here co-host yeah you can do it that way that's not him yeah that's not Buzz this should pop up on the bottom now thank you great thank you very much okay all right okay great thank you um thank you for allowing me to do this uh virtually I'm juggling a bunch of meetings tonight so uh this is very helpful I appreciate it but I did want to have this opportunity to um give you and the members of the community an update on where we are with regards to the the search and um if I could just very quickly I'll give you a uh a summary of sort of where we've been where we are uh as you know I was out there I believe on June 4th uh and I was engaged by the town uh we were engaged by the town on June 5th uh I got right to work uh meeting uh with the members of the board um through uh virtual meetings or through phone conversations uh we also uh worked with um the uh gathering information from uh the Departments uh as well as uh other information that was available through for us through uh various um websites and uh information gathering that we did uh and through that we developed a the community priorities and candidate attributes uh and we developed the position profile and I think I described when we were out there on the 4th uh that we see the profile as really important as for in terms of process that the town can use to uh of identify where you are now as opposed to where you were three years ago when you hired a Town Administrator uh the needs of the town have changed skills you're looking for may have changed uh it's it's a great sort of uh opportunity to Think Through uh you know what you need from a Town Administrator now and um we of course utilize it as a means of uh recruiting candidates as well as assessing cand candidates that that apply to the position we had the uh position profile that was uh accepted by the town uh and we moved immediately on June 25th right after we uh got the the go-ahead that we had uh gotten the information right uh we posted the position we began the active recruitment process of reaching out to uh individuals that uh we thought uh might be good candidates of the town uh and uh we could that we could have them apply for the job we posted the position at the nasby municipal Association we also distributed to various graduate programs and public administration not necessarily looking at the current students or the more recent graduates but in fact looking at the alumni of some of these graduate programs uh in public administration that might be interested in this position we also utilized our own database we have have approximately 400 people in our database um that we're that we uh keep in touch with uh and reach out with positions as they become available uh and let them know about the position uh and ask them if they're not interested in the position necessarily they can uh distribute it to someone else on our behalf uh that includes all of the managers and assistant managers uh administrators uh here in the state it also includes the the people that we we've been working with over the last decade uh that uh you know we're familiar with that are interested in becoming a town of Administrators and uh so we you know distributed to that far and wide we also um given the geog geographical nature of positions such as this uh and our knowledge of the uh the people that are out there uh potentially looking for a position like this or perhaps not looking for the position but that perhaps should be looking at a position like this we made specific Outreach to those people uh I would say we probably focused in on about two dozen people uh reaching out and you know urging them to consider the diing position to look at that um we had a deadline it was a soft deadline if you will of July 26th um when I say that um the nature of certain positions now is that you keep them open until filled uh and so we but we guaranteed a first review for people that had submitted their materials by July 26 uh in the end we received 12 applicants uh for this position uh a number of good quality applicants and people that we've worked with in the past uh as well as uh some new names for us uh that that we felt uh you know we had some some good candidates we had some good candidates that you know had great resumés in terms of of what they've done with their careers but they didn't necessarily um match uh what we had identified within the position profiles the skills and attributes that you're looking for um but from that we selected five candidates of the 12 we selected five uh for interviews and uh we had a professional panel uh myself uh Sharon flarity uh who I believe a number of you had spoken to during the process uh Sharon's background is uh as U is primarily in Communications and journalism particularly focusing in on journalism with the uh Municipal uh covering municipalities uh here in Massachusetts and we also utilize two former Town managers uh the former Town manager of Auburn and the former town uh administrator of Burlington but he also both had served in smaller communities as well uh and we they participated in the process of interviewing these candidates and our topics which I think you know the board when it conducts its interviews uh will do something similar you know we want to understand their careers from their perspective and why they're interested in the town of d uh and why they're interested in being Town Administrator there so we're want to get a feel for uh you know what they're they're looking to do um and how this this particular position matches in with the rest of their career we want to understand how much uh management experience they have uh and their leadership style uh as to how that fits in with uh with a system of of government the form of organization that dton has um clearly one of the more important aspects of the Town Administrator is uh financial management uh obviously you have you know Financial team in place there but it's crucial to have uh an ad administrator that understands how what budgets put together and how uh Municipal Finance is conducted you have a number of projects uh both physical as well as operational projects we want someone that understands uh how to execute carry those out Bring projects in on time and under budget um and uh deal with the complexities that may exists within an organization so uh you know we want to understand what what the experience has been in uh that regard um Economic Development and growth management that balance of how you promote development to reduce taxes within the town and create Revenue but also growth Management in terms of Planning and Development so that the character of the community is retained uh that a careful balance so we wanted to make sure that people had some background and understanding of that uh and then uh personnel management Labor Relations uh understanding uh the the how you recruit and hire people how you discipline people how you hold people accountable how you motivate people um and then you know nowadays it's it's become also important uh to have a Town Administrator that uh interacts with citizens uh and ensures that there's transparency of operations uh so we wanted their perspective on that and what they've done in that regard and at the end of the day the this uh the success of OT administrator really depends upon the partnership with the uh executive board the select board uh in the town of dayon and so we wanted to uh we discussed with each of them their their background with regards to uh how they would interact with select board communicate with the select board and uh have that partnership uh moving forward um out of that we have three finalists that we will be presenting uh to the board uh and we expect to be doing that within the next week I can't at this point give you their names uh I know that we're we're anxious to get those names out but we're still in the process of uh doing the background reviews uh those are underway uh doing the uh Corey checks those are uh we're expecting those should be in by the next in the next couple days uh but we're spending time talking to uh anywhere from four to five uh people um specific reference references of each one of these individuals we've done background checks Beyond these references these are people that they've given us generally but we're familiar with each one of the communities that these individuals work in uh and we've been doing some background checks beyond that uh but what we are doing right now is uh talking to the those references that they've provided us so that we can generate a report for you that summarizes what we've heard in terms of projects these people have worked on Style in which they operate uh and giving you more information that you can that will help you in uh interviewing these candidates evaluating these candidates and making a decision about these candidates and um uh I think I explained this from when I was out on the fourth uh we interviewed each one of these candidates for about 45 to 60 Minutes uh we've had discussions with them you know beyond those interviews uh but we end up spending more time talking to people who know these candidates who work with these candidates then we actually spend talking to the we'll have an opportunity to do that when we do the interviews with them but we want that background review done before we get to that point so that's what's taking place now I do want to talk about uh the written assignment uh tonight if we could but I will tell you about the candidates that we have they all have Municipal experience none have been Town administrators they in that regard uh the market is such that uh you're going to be looking at three candidates who I will say have been finalists in other communities we are familiar with each one of these candidates uh and their backgrounds and we've interacted with them uh but they have not necessarily been candidates in our searches uh but we have talked to them over the uh last uh number of months uh and a couple in one case beyond that uh and we're familiar with their work um but they come in with backgrounds in Municipal operations uh backgrounds in economic and Community Development they all understand Municipal Finance uh interestingly they've all been uh an elected official but they've also beyond that held positions in municipalities or for uh governmental entities that uh this is their career uh and it goes beyond just being uh having been an elected official uh we think it's important that each one of these people has the administrative managerial experience but interestingly each of them have been in the position of understanding the necessity of interacting with citizens and of implementing policies uh that so we think that that they bring a a a unique and interesting perspective to the to the table um we expect the finalist report will be issued to you by the end of next week that will list out the will provide you with their cover letters their resumés the summary of their background reports uh and their written assignment which I I want to get to in one second uh and then we expect that the interviews will take place the week of September 9th one of the candidates will be away that first week of September uh so we're looking at the interviews on September 9th and aoid selection um right after that um I'm happy to take any questions now that you might have regarding this but I do want to talk about that written assignment that we talked about when I was out there on June 4th okay you have any questions to call no Mark um I remember when we talked to par Paradigm Nicole s Mel had a really good point about um doing like a meet and greet I thought we did decide on that I thought that was like a go yes um so were we going to do a meet and greet with the candidates beforehand it wouldn't be I don't know if we can do that in a couple of different ways we can do it before your interviews um but I we've seen it done both ways uh it might be useful to do it before uh but I would also urge you to consider maybe doing it after your interview uh or or in conjunction the same at the same time but we can certainly work in a meet and greet as well we could do at the same time I think that makes a lot of sense like the same meeting maybe beforehand sure we could probably do something and I can I can work out a schedule on that um so that we and I guess I'll need to know from the board what time you can start your meeting uh but we can certainly uh I do recall that we talked briefly on the fourth about trying to do something like that but we could do something perhaps where we um have uh candidates uh come in interview with the board and then do a meet and greet uh before you go to the next candidate a meet and greet the last candidate and a meet and greet or um do it the other way whatever it really will depend upon when the board members are available to do the uh the interview what time you can stack I wouldn't suggest that you do interviews uh after uh 8:30 uh it's a very long day for everyone involved uh so if you could if we could try to do something um probably be getting at about 5 or 5:30 uh so that we can wrap up by uh you know 9 o' or thereabouts okay yeah we'll get back to you on the date that's okay yeah that's fine that's fine yep so um so with regards to the assignment I I have three topics I I I wanted to get a sense of the board of what you what you felt would be most useful to you um and so based upon what we you know I'd like it if we could tonight and I know you have a heavy agenda but if we could um choose one so that I can get this question out to them within the next day or two and say okay get us uh you know a written response to this of some you know no more than 500 words or or some you know something like that the first is uh and I thought that I actually thought of something like this when we were meeting that night on the 4th of trying to get the candidates to think about dyon specifically so identify a specific D Community characteristics that most appealing to them and have them explain how they would work to sustain that characteristic so if they're watching right now I'm not going to give an example of this I'll let them make this decision but have them talk about what it is about Dian as a community that they find healing and how they would work as a TI administrator to sustain that characteristic a second option that I would put out there is uh an explanation of their career in Municipal management to understand why and how this position right now aligns with their personal values uh related to municipal government and include a time of Pride that they can point to or success to in which they have served as a municipal official and a challenge in which a goal was not achievable include both what's worked what hasn't worked in their career and both times share how those situations were navigated and what they learned as a result of that and thirdly uh as an option describe a project or a process in which a fully collaborative approach to problem solving was utilized your form of government inditing requires a high degree of collaboration so we think that this should be useful telling us about how they've collaborated how they engaged others in addressing the issue at hand and what was the outcome those are some options that we've come up with but I'm open to other ideas as well Mark you had suggested about the writing sample was there a particular question that you I like the collaboration because I think it is such a heavily that position you have to collaborate with elected officials appointed boards uh you know and then you know everything yeah I like collaboration I would love to hear more about how they do that sure no that was the one I as well okay I think yes thank you great we'll we'll get them going on that and then um the great thing about I think the great thing about uh that particular question uh is that that then serves as a um U you know an example that you can then draw upon or we can draw upon in the interviewing process um so you know we can we can actually have that in front of you so you can see how they write but also understand how they operate uh and then use that for some of their question for some of the questions that we we send their way during the interview uh I should note that uh prior to or with your finalist report I will also include uh some draft questions uh with some suggestions on how we can do that interview process and we can and I'll also lay out the uh meet and greet uh process that we could we could use okay all right definitely all right questions or concerns Nicole Mark do you have all right Bernie thank you uh Jim do you want to add anything at this no no Mr chairman thank you okay great thank you all right thank you and I'll be I'll be sending that along and you'll have that uh as I say you should have that by the end of next week okay we'll get the date and time to you uh tomorrow all right great thank you and good luck with the rest of your meeting thank you all right thank you Mark hi sorry to keep you waiting up okay that's okay thank you you got some updates for us I do I do Sor a she's doing Karen you whiz Zoom whz think you're doing good give that to you thank you okay all right all right hello all right well thanks for inviting me to give this update um that's what I want to do right now I just want to talk about things that have been done and then where we're going and and you know for some of you maybe all of you may not have been in the building recently so you probably don't know what the interior looks like so I have some behind the scenes um Construction in action shots that that I want to share um so these are going to be pretty cool I think so here's here's a shot really no surprise here this this this is the building I want to actually show you there's three things I want to point out here or a couple things so one um this right here is going to be the main entrance um there's two access points for this main entrance one here and one here there's going to be stairs here and there's going to be stairs here with with an act the actual wheelchair ramp here this right here is is one egis this will be emergency exit only there will be no entry way through this one at all there's one additional entrance over here probably should have chosen a better photo but there's one over here with an existing wheelchair ramp that will be staff only um so the public entryways are going to be these two um right here there are two parking lots it's been decided this parking lot over here the smaller one is going to be the staff parking lot and the larger one is going to be the open to the general public of course if the Overflow flows in here we're not going to tow anybody that's that's not what we're all about so no need to worry about that so we say staff only but we're not we're not hard and fast on that um so now I want to get inside here and here we are so basically when you walk in this store here you're going to be in this area here and this is what it looks like right now um you know obviously a bit of a construction site but the plan for this is we're going to have a bookcase custom built to the wall right here um I couldn't order one because the curve is just it's so specific to this area I want it to look nice not just something that I bought that just got pigeon Hol in because we don't want the square peg round hole look we want it want it to look nice is going to be the first thing people see when they walk in so we want to take pride in that so we're going to have a nice bookcase right here um you maybe display of seasonal books that sort of thing these work shelves will obviously not be there and we're going to carpet this area so it's going to look really nice when you first walk in and then when you walk into the actual main building this is what you see right now um so we're going to have a few things going on here uh this carpet has actually been removed so I need an updated photo so we're going to actually have the circulation desk right over here to the right where his staff memb is going to be I mean obviously circulation desk going to have a table right here um with computer workstations and actually um you're sitting down you may not be able to see this but um select when you can see this on your tables there's this there's this right here comes up you can you can plug and you can plug right into that I ordered tables for that so we'll have power um and internet to those tables um we also have Wi-Fi so that's something we're looking forward so that's going to be pretty cool to the left is going to be the teen room and you can see the W's coat here that's a 4ot high W coat what we're going to do we're going to build out um a storefront with a 4 foot high uh matching the W coat the 4 foot high W coat and there going to be glass above that with a door um so it's not going to be an all glass wall into the teen room it's going going to look as if it was built into the building and was there really since the building was built and it's going to match exactly the Way's coat and it's going to be a really nice space uh for teens together young adults that's going to be cool so when Once you walk past the teen room on the left the circulation desk on the right the computer table on the right you're going to get to the stacks and there's going to be six rows of shelving now I want to talk about the shelving real quick this obviously is not the library but this is what the shelving is going to look like I want to zoom in real quick you'll see we have some metal shelves and then we had they're encased in sort of these end panels and canopy tops the reason we went with this um we had Grand plans of first we wanted to take the shelving from 395 Main Street um that was going to work for various reasons it wasn't enough um we needed we needed some more shelving then we thought maybe we'll have them built um that didn't work out um for budgetary reasons then we're going to order all wooden shelving that also for budgetary reasons didn't work out um the budget is what the budget is and you know we we stay within that it also didn't help that we had a $175,000 budget that was slashed in half for this um and became 87,500 so what we did we got a little creative how did that happen uh it was a state earmark um and it just yeah it got it got cut so you know um so that got so you know the budget is what the budget is and we it's our job to operate within that so we went with sort of a hybrid solution here and so we have existing shelves metal shelves I was able to secure a donation um from the New Bedford wailing museum for Library shelves they weren't using so we're able to get pretty much all of the metal shelves at no cost so the only cost we really incured with the bases and the the end panels and the canopy tops and so by doing that we're able to stay within Budget on ordering the shelving which which which we were the committee I'm speaking just for myself but I know the committee was very proud of that and I'm actually probably able to do that as well um and you look at we could have bought individual shelves and they're not individual they're not that expensive about aund $60 each but if you're talking a lot of shelves that's going to add up really quick especially with delivery so we were very fortunate um that the that donation came our way and we were able to secure that shelving I also want to point out I ordered a specific end panel here it's called a slatwall end panel and so what I've also ordered plastic Clips so we're going to have periodicals there so the six rows of shelving are going to also have periodical there so that's another way to save some space and I think that's really effective way to do it um so that's that's the main hall that that that was what it's going to look like so when you get past the shelving now I want you to take a this is the stage area here I want to I want to show you this real quick this is what it looks like now this was recently done this Wall's about 5T tall we're going to also going to have another wall here in front of the ramp so when you're looking you'll see just a wall here the reason we decided to do that is we got some feedback from committee members some staff and some some patrons that it would be sort of a fishbowl effect if we just had sort of glass with people looking into the children's section so what we decided to do um we split the difference is we have a small wall now someone who is a little bit maybe two inches taller than me can actually see over that wall and out into the main hall um but if you're in the main hall you won't be able to see into the children's section you can see the tops of the shelving so you'll know that it is a children's section there's something going on in there um but it eliminates the Fishbowl effect which came up in in conversation with with Patron staff and and some committee members so we're actually going to use it for shelving and I want to talk about shelving real quick not to lab the point if we were to just take shelving and on our opening day we move in and every single shelf is full that'd be great um but that means we also run out of space immediately when we open which which will be bad because we're building this Library not only for the next couple years but for many many years into the future so what I did we basically have 1330 um linear feet of books and so if we hit that number we can house the entire Library we want to go above and beyond that so we can house library for the future with future um Acquisitions and all that and so the shelving arrangement we have here especially with shelving in front of the stage allows for almost 1,700 linear feet um which is more than the 1330 we needed to hit so that's that's really good um so when you walk into a library and you see some empty shelves that's actually a very good thing that means that library is healthy and they can afford to take in Acquisitions for the future and no one comes to selectman asking for more money for a new liver that's not going to happen we're planning for the future so that does not happen and I can say we successfully are going to do that awesome so you walk up the ramp or the stairs whichever and you go through this door here and you're going to see this this is where the children's librarian's desk is going to be and you've entered the children's room um and you take a step to your right and this is the entire children's room here um for the most part we're going to have tables chairs activities closer on this way we're going to have wall shelving here and then we're going to have two freestanding units here we're going to get rid of this stuff obviously we're not going to make it an opst course for the children that's you know it sounds fun looks danger sounds fun but but it it might not be um the best you know practice to do um so there's going to be two freestanding shelving units and I want to point this out real quick the um the end panels are going to be slightly different for the children's section so in in the main hall we had six rows we had six runs of shelving so we were able to use um slat walls that looked that looked like this which sort of set um sort of set Dimensions here for the children's section we went we went we decided to go or I decided to go I decided to go this route with um the entire end panel being slat walled so we can fill it um we only have two of them free singon that's what the space can provide and so I wanted to make sure I Ma I maximize the space here and for children maybe some may not be tall enough maybe this is too tall for some children um so I wanted to make it so that it could be adjustable and accommodate for for sizes of pretty much all the children who are going to use the children's section um that's the CH you continue to walk through the children's section you come to this area here this is the behind the scenes staff only room there will be two desks here and two workstations one for a cataloger and one for the library director's desk so I'm and also going be file cabinets here um and a table here for workspace if I'm pay you know paying bills have sensitive payroll documents this will not be accessible to the general public this would be staff only or I would keep you know like I said said um Bills payroll documents anything sensitive that I don't want to to get out in the general public that things that should not be in the general public and kept for staff only will be in this spot here there's also another room here this is the reading room we're going to call the reading room there's going to be a staff desk here there's going to be a bookcase here and there's going to be scrims for the windows I want to mention real quick I say scrims I really mean solar Shades I I should have pointed this out so here you can see the sun is shining right in through here these are east and west facing windows and we're going to have shelving lined up along here so the books are going to be exposed to the east and west facing windows we want to take care of the books um collection care is a is a priority of ours so I ordered these solar Shades that are going to go on these windows and they cut down on 97% of UV light and what what they are they're basically they're a mesh shade you can see out but it's going to block the harmful sunrays coming in so we're actually we're taking we're going to fit all the books but we're also going to take care of the books as well um that's the name of our game and we're doing the same thing in this room here this is not the table that's going to be there I ordered a table the exact kind of table that's going to be in the main hall with the power um like I Illustrated here same table that you'll have internet access I ordered a darker shade darker scrim here so it'll be a softer light for this room um so it'll be a nice place to sit think do do some some private work this right here this is non-led based paint it was painted fairly recently so we're going to restore this fireplace to its original bread so it's going to be a really really nice looking feel to this room and it's I think it's going to be a space people are going to want to want to sit and be in and there's one more space so if you go up to the children's section and you're here instead of taking you right into the children's section there's a door over here I didn't get in the shot this is going to be the door into the program room and this is what it looks like right now the floor was actually raised there's some more to be rate uh this wall here essentially bisects the room this is moving as close to the door as allowable by code so we'll open up the entire room the floor has been raised and this is going to be the we're calling the program room there's going to be activities in here but there's also going to be a space it's going to be a community space for meetings um I know this particular space is used quite frequently for meetings and on on some nights during the week it can be impossible to book with all the Committees and sort of meetings taking place here but this will be a space open to the community to have a meeting if you can't find a space it'll be bookable it'll be on our calendar um you go ahead and book and if you're on the calendar for this space you've got it um so that that can be another space that someone can use um for basically any sort of sort of gathering and that is the tour of the library right now um I do want to acknowledge that coaches our building committee Kent Pico and Ron o Conor are here yes are here um I know it's not public input but if they think I missed anything I I may respectfully ask if they have anything to say to to to jump in if if that if that's okay by all means okay yeah I don't think you missed anything oh thank you I just want to talk about the committee y sure sure appoint can you let yes thank you you've appointed a great committee Nicole's on the committee as you know and it's a very active committee we've been meeting weekly uh for the past couple of months and the uh Library trustees have joined us so we have a joint meeting our weekly and they're very interested in providing a excellent library for the residents of of D I want to give a big Shout Out To The Man Behind me he doing a great job as you know he walked into we already started the process and he walked into our new library and he's helped us out a lot so thank you very much Mark thank you that's the only thing I like to say thank you thank you much the same to say uh but one thing Mark Mark mentioned the the donation or the gift of the shelving from the new whing Museum uh he he didn't mention the other gift that we received received from the New Bedford whing Museum and that was Mark that's where Mark came from with experience in moving the library um we've got a wonderful committee so thank you for uh appointing the people who are very dedicated and engaged to this work um on addition of acknowledging Mark as the library director uh Building Commissioner Jim agar uh Ada coordinator Jonathan Gail uh past uh Town Administrator Mike Mullen and interim uh administrator uh Jim purcel all been you know we've got this critical mass we got the planet aligning to make this happen got a great committee dedicated trustees or meeting weekly we decided to do those combined meetings of the the building committee and the trustees so that we don't get stuck on something you know so we don't have to okay trustees have to vote on this it'll take another week for us we're all there we're all making decisions together so that things are moving as quickly as as possible so we've got the the brilliant planning uh of a mark the the knowledge and experience of the building trade with with Jim and Jonathan's passion about um accessibility we're getting all the pieces together so the town gets the library deserves that we've been talking about for many years so I thank you for the appointment of the committee that's doing great work thank you thank you if I could just say something about the committee um like they had said I mean they're meeting weekly it's a lot and they're not they're not short meetings um some of them are very lengthy so I mean this group I'd love to get them together and get something else pushed forward because um they're really working hard they're doing great work so I really appreciate it you guys we appreciate it very much too you know often we say thank you and sometimes it's just not enough but uh really uh I know it's going to be something the town's going to be very proud of and it's going to get a lot of use and the residents are going to be happy and and that's all because of of of you guys and and thank you yes R I should my not on my phone I'm not accustom doing this but sure the BP we just talk oh that's right that's right yeah I'm sorry I'd be remissed to see I I knew they'd point out something I forgot to say um so we've just started phase two um really of the construction so this right here that I showed you um is part of the phase two but the phase one components was actually completed um by the BP students so you can see the ramp they constructed the stairs they did a lot of the electrical um electrical department electrical program um did a lot of the wiring especially in the basement so um there's a lot of stuff a lot of work they did um very good work that they did um which was able to which will show which is showing right here and it's a lot of stuff that we don't have to take out to bid or have a contractor um do because they they did it themselves and it was very high quality work so we're very grateful and thankful for the work that they did sure yeah thank you for work happen there every day uh ye yes um there was a bit of a pause after the BP students um wrapped up their work on their contract and after their school year ended um we were waiting on plans from the architect but once we got those plans um we have a contractor Plan B Construction is on a contract he started work uh last week okay and so there's pretty much work every Monday through Friday they're they're now going on for the last um starting last week and I anticipate that being the case all the way right up right up through sure maybe not in the dead of winter depending how it goes but but we can get work in we're we're going to do that okay thank you do you have a um timeline for yeah that's a great question so um the most recent timeline that I have right now is that I may get occupancy um in August at some point maybe um that that that's based on preliminary conversations with Building Commissioner Jim aiar if I get occupancy in August that that would be ideal um August correct yes yes yes August 2025 sorry okay um if I get occupancy in August that would be ideal because then I could start to move 395 Main Street over there while keeping the two locations open um and I don't want to close in the summer that's that's the busiest time we got a lot of programs going on um and then with that model When September hits then I'll close both locations um and move them into the new space um assuming that with August I would have moved a good chunk if not all of 395 over there already so that would be the smoothest most efficient move in my mind if occupancy comes earlier even better if occupancy comes later um we would shut down as soon as we get occupancy if it comes in September 1st we shut down then if we get it in September 15th we'll shut down then we may be shut down longer um but we'll be moving more during that time so we're looking maybe fall 2025 right now um there was a time when I was saying we could be moving in early 2025 I don't mind saying that it's always good to be aspirational especially with the construction project um yeah the aspirations maybe don't play out in reality CU things can I mean things happen life gets in the way it happens um but I don't mind saying this aspirational timeline as the timeline it's it it just feels more realistic because it has an actual month attached to it instead of just a beginning of which can be fairly amorphous and can move so I feel confident saying that August give or take a little bit maybe when I could get occupancy and then we could open shortly thereafter awesome thank you well thank thank you just one more thing you're an excellent presenter so thank you for that presentation and coming out tonight thanks for v um and all of our library staff wonderful as is our building committee and Library Board of Trustees but I just want to say every time I have a conversation with someone in town hall and it's about the library it kind of always ends that Mark is doing a really good job and we're lucky to have him so thank you for you and what you do thanks for joining our community appreciate that thank you thank you thanks thank you um Ron are you going to talk about hiring the mark are you going to continue yes yes I I'm sorry yep okay so I just real quick I want to talk about I have a staff member that is going out on approved medical leave um at some point in supposed to be either August or September I think it's going to be September um and given the current situation where we have two space is open we're in the process of filling a full-time position that is currently vacant and which by the way we're going to start interviews on that really soon really shortly um we could be in a position where we have to maintain current Library workflows uh two spaces with only two full-timers and one part-time non-union who has a hard cap um at at under 20 hours per week so I what I did was I proposed to the trustees um hiring a temporary um part-time Technical Services librarian um to fill in and I I broke it down budget wise for the trustees and I'm going to break it down here essentially um so I I I can go over the document um if you have any questions about it but what this does it breaks down but money that is allocated towards the current staff um what will be allocated towards the staff to be hired um that would be the full-time position that would be hired at some point in September and the temporary Technical Services librarian and it shows I have a remaining balance of just north of $6,000 um to take on this position um so it would not be any stress it would be no additional fund with no additional um budgetary constraints we wouldn't be going over budget it fits in the current budget um and so trust recommended that to move forward with this and I'm here before you now saying that doing this would be good for the library because we could maintain Library processes and keep the two space is open but also that maybe just as important that it fits in the current budget and we would not be going over budget to do this okay right that's always good yeah I think a little bit more than good that's that's always great so the library trustees are separately elected so they have their own budget are you just looking for basically a um so they would be the ones who they they have voted on on on this previously and they voted they voted it was unanimous yes so it's my say it's basically just for the clerical contract we just have to give our seal of approval too is that basically it I I I think tonight uh uh Mr Pico is in in acknowledgement by the uh by the board because this is a temp it wouldn't be a union uh position if it were a union position I might say that it is indeed an action item because your party to the to the CBA but in this case I think um you know Mark is pretty good on his feet and he's got vacancy issues and uh and he has the plan to fill it in and nice so awesome yeah okay very good yes well thank you thank you you thanks so I'd make a motion to accept the um letter dated August 15th um as presented to hire a temporary clerical staff member for the library I'll second that motion made and seconded any more discussion all those in favor I I uh Peter Kon I thank you Mar thank you thank you great job thank you very much um you got free air time here Mark you want to talk about your golf tournament and I would love to I would love to talk about the golf tournament um so the friends of the Dion Public Library having their second annual golf tournament last year um they raised $10,000 for the library based off this golf tournament and I'd like to I'd like to I mean how would that look if I come in and then we raise less money for it we we so we have to we have to top that we have to top that just for I mean for the library but but no I mean in all seriousness um the goal is to top that um if you if you golf or if you know any golfers it's going to be at Hazelton the date I oh did I write it down 23rd September 15 15th September 15th um 11:00 there's if you're not a golfer there's also a dinner after from what I hear is going to be good spread of North End Italian food so if you don't want to golf don't like golfing but still want to support the library um you can always you can take a dinner only ticket and that you're welcome to do that as well um but that that's that's what's going on there I hope to see many people there I'm not a golfer myself but I'm going to be entering you may want to show up just to uh just to see that um so that that that that should be pretty fun um believe me I I say that with a huge smile that should be fun um seeing me golf but but seriousness please um support the library let's see if we can top the $10,000 mark from last year um and thank you for the free air time thank Youk you thank you thanks for having me tonight oh thank you for coming thank you Mr chairman I feel like I should start a round of applause or something I know job that was quite a show Mark maybe not uh Lynn you're up okay well good evening Mr chairman good evening board um I was here I guess it might have been two years ago um with my colleague uh Margaret mlan Margaret is actually the um Municipal adviser to the town of dayon as well as uh Bist Plymouth uh vocational um but she decided to go on vacation and so you've got me tonight which is fine because I've been speaking to a lot of communities uh since the last time we've met um with the Vocational School the impact of um the school particularly Debt Service uh that it has on the member communities um so this is not anything new to me it's um um I actually I work with diamond over in um Fall River who is in the process uh Tri County uh also as well with their member communities and of course understanding before I get into my presentation that um when we take a look at our member communities not everybody fits in the same Dynamic not everybody has the same demographics not everybody has the same population not everybody has the same wealth um in in their communities and other factors um obviously um you know diverse economic um Revenue sources all that kind of stuff so Margaret and I course I'm familiar with dayon I've worked with dayon raob Regional School District as well as the town of raob um so my presentation to dayon tonight is really about fiscal uh syst stainability okay and we take a look and these are numbers that are factual numbers it's not something that we're making up um but I did want to give you an overview now that um the school project has passed right before two years ago we were hypothetical right um and now it's real um and so I'll go on to um Karen the next and um again my background is I've been doing Municipal Finance for over 30 5 years I'm a graduate of Wheaten College in Norton Massachusetts and I have a master's degree in public administration from suffk University I am also a series 50 licensed Municipal advisor and again I think I have over my career has issued over 700 million in municipal bonds primarily through the state of Massachusetts um administrator I actually you know you're saying that and um I didn't want to say this but I'm thinking to myself when um I was like the only finance person at suffk in my class and most of the people were um town you know want to be Town administrators or they were Town administrators and uh the day I graduated I actually looked at the Town admin the uh Town manager over in an Tucket who was also a um a friend of mine at Wheaten College we both so we both graduated from two schools together and I looked at her and I said Libby two years it took me to realize this is not what I wanted to I think I'll stay on the finance side of things but uh Never Say Never okay so um so that's so that's my little background um so I'm going to tell you what you already know is that um the special special election occurred the project has been voted uh was through a districtwide election which means that uh maybe the town of dayon did not approve it in the majority but here's the project and now we have to find a way to pay for it so Bristol Plymouth as you know you're out there and you've been following this it's a $35 million project it is being Grant funded to the mass School building authority which has committed about 125.5 million to the project uh through their funding agreement and that also includes um msba did acknowledge uh within the last year year that these projects particularly particularly these vocational school districts um the cost is just enormous um than you would for a regular High School um obviously because the programs that are included in it and the fact that most of these um vocational school districts really haven't done major Capital Improvements to their building since they were built in the you know some of them in the early 70s so it seems like we're having a flux of these vocals now right everything's hitting at the same time everywhere throughout the state it seems um and and in an environment that we've seen escalating cost right I mean this is like a perfect storm you know maybe not very perfect but you know we've seen the cost escalation we all we're all uh experiencing that so these projects are very very expensive but knowing that msba did go back and they did make some allowances um to a lot of these VOC ational school districts in some of the Regional School Districts to increase the uh Grant reimbursement um for the square footage so um I believe that is factored in to that 125.5 million um that msba will be contributing to the eligible project cost of of the school so that looks like for the member towns that leaves us with the $180 million bill um that we've got to fund between the member towns dyon the share is estimated right now between 25 and $27 million of the project and this is based on the student population of currently it's 112 students or 8.10% of the enrollment in the district um obviously that could change too but that's what we have and that's the number that we're basing some of our analysis tonight on um the district has been issuing short-term notes um for the last year or so to get the cash flow on this project um obviously Bristol Plymouth has not been in the municipal Market um for a number of years so what we usually do is issue some short-term debt it gets them out into the market um you know the underwriters who buy the paper get to know who they are and get to kind of you know get into their financial situation and the situation of the member communities um and also we didn't want to go out to the bond market ahead of time without knowing the true cost um you know you don't want to permanently Finance bonds if you know you all your contracts are are not good that you haven't gone over budget and I do have to say Margaret did when our talking she um told me that the project is under budget so um what I am presenting to you tonight in this last bullet is we're estimating that the Dion share is going to be roughly um 910,000 a year incl that includes principle and interest okay um and this is and this is and this is the worst this is the worst case scenario okay and this is okay we are we are looking at one um you know there's estimates of what the market is right now as far as interest rates okay I think we all been watching to see what the FED is going to do um you know what happens with the elections and all these other variables that may come into play as far as um uh interest rates in the market uh there's also uh the federal government has Grant programs under the uh infrastructure act uh for is that me yes you know I'm sorry that is Taylor Swift on my phone and that's my husband calling me and he should know better um but taste sorry sorry still a kid at heart you know um so this is the worst case in air you can throw that person through the window JY if you'd like um uh so this is like I said this is the worst case scenario that we're looking at we're hoping it does come um obviously the the district is expected to issue 120 million in permanent fin uh permanent Bonds in February of 2025 okay so what that means for the district is fiscal 2026 all member communities will be taken the full hit of principle and interest on the first of the financing for this 12 20 million um and that is scheduled to be a 30-year Bond okay um like I said they're looking at Grants uh nothing has been um in stone yet but I know that the district is looking at every any Revenue Source they can to try to ease the burden of this very costly project but in the end it's it's costly right we all know it's a big number um you know but we'll take anything we can to reduce it so that's that's where we're at as far as the district coming and this is kind of a um leads into the budget for the town of dayon in fiscal 26 to take on let's say it is $900,000 of Debt Service the board has uh put on the November election ballot a question for a debt exclusion um and uh I'm going to just describe what that is because sometimes terminology gets mixed up um and when people bring they say operating um overrides Capital exclusions debt exclusion so I thought I would just kind of briefly before we go into Dion's numbers um just give you a quick explanation of of what these ter what the terminology is um overrides um when a town goes and passes an override that is a permanent increase into the tax levy of the Town um as we all know in Massachusetts we are bound in the limits of prop 2 and a half so we have to live we can't just keep raising taxes we have to live within that two and a half um an override allows the town to exceed that Levy limit and that becomes permanent that's not what we're looking to do for the BP project but just so people when they say are we going for an override no you're not going for an override you are not looking to increase the levy of the Town permanently okay and again I'm going to if you have questions please raise your hand um other than that I just feel like a talking head up here as we go through but if something is out there and you really want to raise your hand before I go on um you know please um so instances of overrides what I see with communities doing is um you know if it's for salary for staff for Budget all right ongoing budget things um that you're going to have to pay for you need to pay for in your budget now a and going forward okay um and then we have capital and the next page capital and debt exclusions so Capital exclusion is if um say you have a fleet of police cruises you want to be one and done and you're going to raise um that money for one year for that Capital purchase okay it's one year it's done you know and it's usually ear Mark to where Pacific usually um equipment uh and then you have debt exclusions and that's where uh the voters are going to be looking at in November when they make their decisions of whether they want a debt exclude um the BP assessment Debt Service uh from the um prop 2 and A2 the debt exclusion goes away once the bonds are matured so it's only for the life of the issue of the bonds um it is taxed over and above the town's um tax levy uh it goes on with the assessors have a de1 form so the town is able to raise the debt service for that particular particular year over and above the tax levy to pay for The Debt Service on the bonds does anybody have any questions on that does the um dead exclusion have to be for the full about you can put it on for a portion portion of it um you can um see what will happen is the assessor's office along with conjunction with the treasurer's office files what they call it the de1 form you may be familiar with it and that's where you basically pick up all that excess of your debt exclusion the debt that you have outstanding now for the police station uh your assessments that you currently have for the outstanding Dion rovi Regional School District projects um that were done years ago that are still not matured uh those all go on the de1 form and you can put a portion of it on on the debt exclusion okay okay two quick questions for I'll ask them both so maybe you can answer at the same time if the first the first question is if the percentage values change and they are changing for the number of students that are going to DP for example let's just say in 2030 becomes um goes from I 110 or something let's say it goes 230 and the percentage go higher does that change the debt exclusion that was locked in in 26 no see when you go for a debt exclusion the the question does not have a number attached to it the question on a ballot uh on a an exclusion ballot basically will say do you um you know do you vote in the affirmative um to exclude The Debt Service on the you know Bristol Plymouth Vocational School District the assessment to the town of D to the town of dyon so it doesn't a number on there it's just you are agreeing that whatever that assessment is so if you do have an increase in enrollment okay when the district will send a a a capital and an operating assessment letter to the town after their budget gets passed whereby the town knows what they need to budget for and the assessor will know what number to put on the de1 form so if there is a fluctuation in that percentage allocation of Debt Service it gets picked up on on as part of the exclusion okay so that number May fluctuate like you you know um and then my second question was with the exclusion where does that is that primarily from residential tax base is it any corporate tax base it's the full full taxes that it uh it's we have a breakdown of the residential here in the um but it's yeah it's it's part of all your tax levy so I know you have a split tax rate I if I believe correctly between your um your your um commercial industrial and uh residential so it's not just the residents that pay it's it's it's part of the whole tax levy is that does that have a breakdown based on residential versus commercial versus Cor the value for res um we did do one just for residents because usual you know your commercial entities some people just you know don't have the vote but they're going to get the the the assessment in their taxes but we do have one for the residential where we've carved out that valuation so you can take a look at it from a residential standpoint sir did you have a yes based on what you just said how the V November know how much it's going to cost them for this project based on the fluctuation of all these numbers how will the voters have a real understanding of how much it's going to cost them I believe the district is putting forth a um you know a a impact analysis they may have I'm sure they've run um a couple of schedules in the past to show I mean are you going to get an exact number I I mean as far as what your your impact is going to be are you're going to get a you're going to get a ballpark number basically on the best assumptions of what what do we think the 120 million out in the Market's going to look like right what interest rate that's going to look like so what that debt service is going to look like okay um and like I said that this number here is a worst case scenario what happens in the bond market particularly on a large issuance of 100 20 million an underwriter comes in with what we call a premium all right and that's a cash that's basically cash to the town and it lowers the true interest cost of the bond so that's how Underwriters bid they play with this called a this premium to kind uh kind of um and like I said it's cash up it's cash to the town and um so they use this to lower the true interest cost on the bonds bonds are awarded on the lowest true interest cost so on the day of the sale now Margaret will be doing that when she sells these 120 million for Bristol Plymouth there's going to be a premium on on that it could be a couple of million dollars the state statute for premiums in Massachusetts mandates that you take the premium the day of the sale and you resize the bonds with with that premium to a lower amount okay so I if it's 120 it's probably going to come in less and I know the interest rates that are being projected are on a conservative basis um so it's not like it's going you know we've we've looked at it you know looking at the market of where it is um you know where we think it may go um and we've built in an estimated interest rate but that rate on those bonds is conservative thank you is that Jim did you have anything else did you I did not okay the other thing too is to remember that um when we do issue Bonds in the market it's a standard that we have an 8-year call on bonds so if uh rates should go significantly downward um we have the ability to refinance them um so that's usually an 8-year what we call an 8-year call after the eth year we take a look and if there is a present value savings um on the bonds we will refinance them good so to date we've had um four Town member towns that have already voted to exclude um their Capital assessment from uh Bristol Plymouth uh Berkeley Bridgewater free free toown in bobeth so far have um gone to their member uh to their constituents and have voted to uh exclude their assessment did did any of those towns vote no for the uh RAM did vote no uh whether they haven't voted yet they have not voted yes yet um the first vote came in it was a no um they and whether they go back or not um I work with ROM so we want to so that's kind of a top view now let's let's get in and let's take a look as I say we take the Deep dive into um what this means particularly for the for the um the town of dyon this a little pie chart here sorry it's hard to read but it is basically a breakout of the FY 25 budget without the uh Plymouth uh without the uh excuse me the uh the school uh Bristol Plymouth um coming into play and I just want you to think of this pie because I always say to people it's when you're talking about um obviously the budgets in Massachusetts and and the provisions are prop two and a half so everybody right all your departments all your have a piece of the pie okay part of your budget if one slice increases right something has to decrease right because the pie isn't going to get any bigger right and you know to raise you know prop 2 and A2 it doesn't give you a lot of extra Revenue to fit in um the excess Debt Service that we're talking about so and this is without a debt exclusion so I always say keep your just keep that in mind as we move forward in this presentation of of what this means as far as this p is what you're getting basically on what you're collecting in tax is what you're collecting on your Levy and this is how you've allocated all of these um expenses if you will that's in town so we're going to get into the budgetary impact um and this is off these numbers are off of actually the um Department of Revenue um the town's primary Levy uh worksheets and their uh recap sheets that they file uh with the Department of Revenue uh to set their tax rate so the number I really want to hone in to you is we we have got the you have basically I'll walk you through it the property tax okay and this is on the prop 2 and A2 uh your base is basically your PR your your prior year Levy limit so in you can see the correlation of fiscal 23 the levy limit there of 20, 807 carries over up to the primary Levy limit at the beginning of the um column in in fiscal 2024 and then you add to that your um if there's any amended growth which you did not have in 2024 and then the allowable 2 and 1 12% increase um that's your prop 2 and A2 number that brings you to 520,000 I'm I'm in fiscal 24 right now and then any new growth gets added in and then they add in your debt exclusions and then they um and then they add in what you need to um what your maximum allowable Levy is I wish I had probably that should have been bigger CU nobody understands what I'm saying here um and then the town does a recap of you know what they're going to raise for the tax levy okay um what they look at what revenues are coming in from the state from local receipts um and the difference between the maximum allowable Levy and the raise and appropriate on taxes is what we call an excess Levy capacity so in fiscal 24 the town had roughly 141 300,000 in excess Levy capacity which means that they didn't tax to the to the Limit they could have they basically left 141,000 that they didn't raise um through taxation right you're going okay so now we come into the 25 budget where we are the same process again right the the prior years um number from the levy limit gets put into the 21 budget you go through um all your your new growth gets added in um your 2 and a half% increase that's allowed by prop 2 and A2 uh you add in your debt exclusions and then you factor in what your tax rate is going to be for fiscal 2025 um what you're going to raise and appropriate through taxes and in fiscal 2025 we now have excess Levy capacity of $148,300 okay I know it's a lot of numbers going through here but you're going to see what my I want you to remember this 148,000 uh 313 number because that's going to flow in when we look at what's going to happen in 2026 as I stated and that's when the BP full p&i Debt Service comes in okay okay so if we go in and this is with the school debt okay and it assumes no enrollment changes um we've had to make some um estimated um assumptions if you will of what's going to happen in 2026 but we do know the maximum allowable Levy limit is going to carry over from 2025 and what we end up with is and again we've made some ass uh some assumptions right we've made um some new growth assumptions for 2026 we've made some Revenue assumptions um and obviously expenditure assumptions but we've also made the Assumption where what we're seeing all across not just Massachusetts but the whole country is that the expenditure columns are getting larger than the revenue columns okay um revenues are basically flat I can tell you this this past year um in all the 35 plus years that I've been working in this business I have had never seen so many communities that are going for operating overrides those are what we talked about before permanently you know increasing the tax levy um and it's because there's a lot of pressures a lot of school pressures right uh cost of schools cost of Transportation cost of students you know cost of uh you know special ed cost of you know school choice and that's just the general cost that we all know it's the cost of heating buildings it's the cost of putting gas in your vehicles um and then we look at the revenue side and revenues basically um local receipts are not as robust as they used to be okay I mean um so you we're keeping that in mind when we're making these assumptions for what's going to happen in 2026 I don't know if you wanted to add anything to that if you wanted me to keep going anybody any questions so we went through that same process of Levy of Levy limits New Growth all this stuff adding in um you know the debt exclusions you know what the town is needs to raise on its tax levy um we did that all the same math for fiscal 2026 so we came out with this is before we added in the BP Debt Service um we talked about that excess Levy capacity and we our assumptions put us at about 383,000 that there would be extra Levy capacity um that the town had not you know tax to its full uh allowable Levy maximum allowable Levy and then we added in a $910,000 Debt Service payment in fiscal 26 we are in now in the red $526,000 that where does that come from and so I get back to the thing back to the pie chart if you will is where do you take that 526,000 if it's not debt excluded it has to be part of that pie somewhere and that pie is not getting any bigger um so it puts a strain on the town to basically say all right we have 526,000 we need to we have to make the debt service payment um and if it's something we have to that debt service is paying within our Levy because it's not debt excluded we have to find a way to come up with either 526,000 of additional Revenue that's going to come in for the next 30 Years or you have to you know look at your expenditure sheet it's an awful lot to try to cut it's um it's it's it's it's a big it's a big number it's um there there's I you know what do you do with 300 million in you know the member communities and we all know this is pretty much a rural other than Taunton in uh in Middleboro there's not a lot of diverse tax base no um and again I mean two years ago we had this hyp pathetical and I'm coming back now now at least we can walk through some numbers um and I know this handout is going to be up on the website maybe Jim that for people to understand because I'm talking a lot of numbers and I I just know um some people glass over and I'm sure people watching this in home is saying I have no idea what the hell she's talking about so yes I I at a minimum but uh we'll be discussing with the board the next steps tonight I tonight was the um the lack of a better term the problem statement yeah okay and where do we go from here there's 76 days from today yep to November 5th and so there's so I'll continue on so that's our you know looking at BP and then you asked her about the um tax impact the residential so I do have a worksheet here that breaks out um based on um the fiscal 2024 uh valuations uh 2025 is not out yet um but it does uh give you an estimated uh interest rate impact bottom line I I we like to use 100,000 as a multiplier because everybody's sitting here for a home value okay can quick do the math for their own for their own personal uh valuations so as far as a Bristol Plymouth Debt Service on 910,000 okay um you'd be looking at a house a 100,000 per 100,000 you'd be looking at about $56 per 100,000 that's and I'm talking this is what the impact would be on a debt exclusion okay um I think uh we also ran it on the impact of an average single family um we we're using a Cess value on that is about 455,000 and that would be about 254 Round Up 255 uh $255 a year for the increase on an average single family and I'll stop there if you have any questions on that but that just sir is on the residential we we didn't add in anything on the the what the commercial impact is uh because it's the residence that's going to be going and voting this so to wrap it up as I you know and more of a forward when you're looking at the considerations of how do we absorb this um BP debt into um into the town's budget going forward you need to look at what's coming up and what you may be looking at down the road got the we have the library um fire fire station is in discussion um you've got the Main Street reconstruction project project that you'll be looking at and I know that um d uh Dion Rehobeth the school district has been accepted into the eligibility um period with uh Mass School building authority for a new um dayon middle school so some of those things again there's other Capital that's coming up uh and how you absorb that within your tax levy um on top of the BP is is as you can see is really going to strain um the budget in in the town of um town of dyon can you for that the figure that you just gave um to stretch it a little bit further that 900 plus th000 is that open to is that expected to Hold Steady let's assume that is the figure m is that going to hold steady for years no once the bonds are issued once that like I said and we're we're basing this on the 120 million um I I think in my presentation at the beginning said we could we're looking at basically 180 total um but this 120 basically we look at a cash flow right the cash flow for the project what's needed um you also have to take into consideration um IRS spending um so you don't get into any Arbitrage situations um of you know what cons what are the needs cash flow needs for that project say for the next two years 120 million so that's a majority obviously of the financing that's going to be done for the district um we do hold out a little um because uh towards the end because we don't know what the final Mass School building authority Grant is going to be so we don't do any permanently we don't we permanently Finance the last trench of bonds after the msba has concluded their audit because their language is they only reimburse based on eligible project cost so when this final audit comes out we we won't Bond the final dis the um District share until that audit is out we know exactly what the district um final share is going to be so the reason I'm asking you that question is because if you if you do the basic math um what you're getting at over 30 years I'm using your 255 figure but if you approximately so over 30 years per per household on one level that comes out to roughly about 7600 $7,600 over the over 30 years over 30 years but if you make adjustments for inflation and this figure would to hold steady and you're looking at an inflation rate otherwise for examp up to 2.5% per year then that real value is actually lower correct really 7600 2800 3,000 whatever it might come out to we don't know but over that 30-year period once it's readjusted for inflation well those numbers are not going to change okay that once that debt service is once in February that sells that's day of sale in 2025 when they go to the market that debt service schedule is set in stone rates go up you know rates go up or whatever that is not going to change the only way it is going to change is if rates go lower and we can grab present value savings and we can refinance it and we're not going to refinance it for more we're going to only if we can reduce it so that is set in stone that 30 that 30-year schedule is going to be based on a level Debt Service so that's why I can say you know it comes out to not basically 910,000 a year on a level Debt Service thank you that is any other questions or anybody have Ty Jim did I miss anything that you wanted me to bring up or not not tonight I think the um you know I guess in the end it's it it's it it's going to be tough on the town's budget when you look at the numbers and you know you make the assumptions and I think we pretty conservative and what we were estimating for 2026 um that it's going to be tough to obsorb that into the budget and that's the message and even if there are fluctuations based on market conditions and uh uh uh in uh Bottom Line Construction costs uh and things like that uh these are rep they are nevertheless representative figures you know um uh they're as close to to being right on point as as we can get under the present circumstances but they are representative representative numbers and I think the you know what's been what's been demonstrated here this is just math um you know they are our present circumstances these are the representative costs here's the math there is a levy you know the the levies you know capacity deficit um you know begins in um in fiscal 26 um unless I mean we talked about this excess Levy capacity again to your point and that just means that basically the town has not taxed to its maximum Levy that it could have um and even when we were a little conservative and we had a higher number excess Levy capacity for 2026 once as you saw once we threw in The Debt Service we were we were underwater by uh over $500,000 so as as I said Mr chairman earlier you know tonight is the problem statement there 76 days between now and uh in the election day um let's set our Compass points however the board so directs we we shall do okay well thank you for that presentation thank you very much uh I IED that you one of you have any more questions so just moving forward um I kind of have a vision for how we want to get as much information to the voters so this was so super helpful if people want to do a deep dive and look into into things um so what I would like to see is a page dedicated on either the bard of selectman part of the website or the town administrative part of the website um where folks can go to research what a data exclusion looks like for D so this would be one of the documents on there um so I'd like to see this hopefully tomorrow on the website uh on like I said either Board of selectman or Town Administrator and link to the homepage so that way there folks can go ahead and research it and at our I think moving forward at our next two meetings there's a couple more things that I think the voters will need one a simple onepage sheet like what a yes vote means or what a no vote means um cuz the way that question this phrase could be confusing to a voter so just um Berkeley put out a um a one-page summary of of what a yes and a no vote and it kind of it's just to help educate voters because you might walk into the polls thinking a yes vote means something and we get it wrong so just a onepage summary would be nice on the website and our town administ pre prior Town Administrator Mullen did a presentation on If This Were to fail and we took every Department um and we spread the debt evenly what each Department's cut would have to make so it' be nice to have an updated version of that so that would be harder to do than the one page so I'm thinking if at our next meeting we had the one-page summary to discuss and then at our following meeting we had an updated version of that presentation I don't know if it's the town accountant or unit uh financial advisers can help us with that but that would be really illustrative not only to the the public to see what um what that would look like for our departments but also for our departments to plan and advocate for themselves to know hey if this fails I have to I'm going to be looking at a so much of a budget cut you know in FY 26 so that would be nice not only for our departments but for the public and I was thinking for the month of October if we could have um a Highway East signs that basically point the that says we're having a dead exclusion and points the the public to call town hall or look at the website cuz some some folks aren't watching our meetings or looking at the website and they're not going to they're not going to know what that means so we can catch folks on the road and one last thought this PowerPoint could we distribute it to um to have it like on the con of the tax collector the assessors select selectman's office um Council and aging if they'd accept it maybe Lincoln Village if they would want some police station fire station just anywhere we're serving the residents like I I just want to make sure if folks so choose they have access to this information because we want to educate as many V this as we possibly can I said a lot no it's okay it's all good um my only concern would be there's a lot of um numbers as well as um language that the average person might not understand and uh we have to simplify it somehow in as great as this presentation was or certainly very knowledgeable she is as she is uh it's it's going to be a lot for any one person to digest yes uh I wonder if there should be some kind of um the biggest thing is going to be the impact on what each household is going to pay I I think that's what they're the number one concern agree and to say that if you have a house that's for every $100,000 that your house is worth this is what's going to be is going to be the most important information that's out there yes so um with that said we should have that as well as some kind of key that um will explain what a what a maximum Levy is uh some of these terms that she's put in her slide presentation because people aren going to not everybody's going to understand what what a levy is I think the um if I may Mr chairman um I think the earlier suggestion about a uh about a one-page um you know a page full of bullet points you know what this uh what a yes and what a vote what a no uh a a vote would mean um present it in a mature fashion not in in alarming fashion but uh but just stating the facts yeah it would certain certainly be a distillation of you know the presentation that we heard tonight uh but hopefully in um you know in simpler truthful terms you we can start working on that great thank you thanks Mark is that um something that we no I don't think it requires V okay we're all in agreement like okay that's something that um would that be something that you think you guys can hear like the is would that work for next meeting do you think we'd be able to get that one page I think so and do you think it's uh you guys would be able just to make a page tomorrow on the dayon website like just to create just a one page that we can just link this PowerPoint to for folks to link the PowerPoint yeah yeah yeah consider that done okay and at the same time could we do a Facebook um announcement with the presentation as well just so folks could just click right you know on social media and have access to it as well and lastly is that something that you guys do you guys think you could distribute this PowerPoint to those departments yeah okay I just thank you I appreciate that we had a u through you Mr chairman uh we had a department heads meeting a week or two ago and um uh I didn't uh I didn't hand these out to the department heads but um we did we did discuss uh a number of things including uh uh including the debt exclusion question uh I didn't want to hand it out uh uh uh to staff other than the ones you know like Serena who helped us uh uh with the presentation before you got a chance to you know the board got a chance to see it in in public so uh so we'll be waiting on that everyone will get it in fact I I do know that at least at least one department head saw as part of our meeting package you know they accessed it uh uh late this afternoon uh and and pulled it down already so nice uh but that was just a selectman's meeting package but we'll we'll spread it around cool cool awesome thank you okay could we take the um I just gonna say that oh yeah go ahead a motion to take the Board of Health appointment to um can we take a and b as well of new BU as of old business so that all stff together okay I'll second that well it's just going to be before the town report Town Administration report and the suus report because the first thing would come up would be the nurse and the health agent appointment so when barara is here oh I'm sorry the last time I saw you you had left um oh I was just outside I had a phone call Health sure um so if you want to take it now that's fine you can do that all right I'll make that motion sure I'll second that uh motion made in second any discussion all those in favor I I okay so we're taking this out of order before the announcements Barbara can you come up for a second we have some questions for for you and um I know you want to talk about the uh nurse and the health agent could we do the appointment first sure yeah why we we do that um Mark had a concern and and I'll let him express it to you um well I really felt like it was for the board and the administrative staff that work for the board of slman I didn't feel like it was a concern with Barbara no but just so she is aware of what the concern was um all right so my concern was that we at our last meeting the board of selectman meeting the the boards and I had to abstain there there just wasn't an agreement on who they were going to choose for the um the member the Board of Health member and I was surprised to see when this agenda was posted that there was only one member on there and I I used a parallel to past um issues that the board of selectman have had all three members should have been on there um because none have withdrawn their membership uh their applications for the Board of Health so simply as to not boxing any so my colleague Selman Melo my point was that when this is made which is approved by the chair it should have been caught that none of the three members withdrew and not knowing what selectman Melo if something has changed in the past month we don't want to box this box Us in to have one candidate all three should have still been on there because have not having a selection committee and simply doing an interview and an open meeting of the board of Selectmen the only way to to disqualify someone would be by vote of the board or for them to withdraw seeing as though neither one of those things happened all three names should have so I was just saying had really nothing to do with you it was a procedural thing for the board I just want to prevent this from happening in the future because this is the second time it's happened in a quart in the past quarter in a short period of time um and I want us to get it write the next time simply put okay you know that's all but it really didn't have I wasn't aware of it nobody notified me of it so and I'm fine with the administrative staff we were under the oppression that someone withdrew so was I yeah I was I I missed the last meeting in as far as I was concerned there were two candidates one was appointed and now we're appointing the second one but was recommended so we're just bringing forth the second recommended right that that's why I that's generally how we operate know why you wanted or they expected three names no losing something in the translation I guess we interviewed three people right okay right we interviewed three people but two were recommended me and barara had different two were recommended one of those two dropped out and then the third one wasn't recommended so he just wasn't put on there because it wasn't correct does that make does am I that's the way I see it that's the way I see it as well um okay so two were recommended so why isn't the second one on there cuz he dropped out or at least I were two seats there were two seats the impression that they dropped out there were two seats available Mark so a resignation is done in writing you're right it should have been so under the impression makes it's like well they're not resigning they just withdrew their name was there a phone call made to any member of the board of slman that someone withdrew there was yes who me if you just said that I would have just left all of the alone that's a resignation sure I guess no it wasn't done in writing uh I guess like I said something was Lost in Translation here okay that's cuz I called all the other two candidates and both said they didn't they didn't drop out I I wouldn't have put you all through of this I called both candidates that's all right and I asked that did you withdraw both told me no it's better to be safe than sorry Mark and you you made a good point and I mean it should have been in writing though that that we could all see it um right that would be nice in the packet too so we can all be on the same page and I did I did reach out to I think every member in that office and that was not relate to me you know before I come up here I didn't waste I wasted I talked about it the board of selectman's office uh not to throw you guys under the bus I appreciate what you did but I Tred to do my due diligence and research before I walk into a meeting it just wasn't expressed to me okay that's all all right uh we have to move on um we have to appoint Vincent Hebert uh this is a review discussion act Board of Health member appointment uh so that we can get a full board in and move on with the Board of Health I'd like to make a motion to appoint um Vincent Hebert um for Board of Health member um I'm going to step down as chair and second that so motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I I sorry about that sir thank you for coming and thank you apologize I didn't realize that they needed me for you to be here and I did have something in North dayon for the Board of Health that I had to take care of it was just a courtesy bber and we should have told you we just felt like you already had items on here why not wait for you that's that's fine I'm just sorry that I made him wait all night long no it was in us um thank you okay we're still into Old business so um we're going to do the the uh job description for the town nurse while you're here uh instead of bringing you back up can I make that quick just because I think it is fine as is do um other than the only thing that was crossed out that I would put back on and it was probably because I didn't maybe clarify it on there um complete foundations course within one year higher on train it's the site that um the Health Department is supposed to train on and they have to have that within one year it's not what they do in nursing school okay it's different that's um the blue blint that was put out okay I I misunderstood that totally and I understand why you would so if we could just add on train to that and then they would be able to explain to them that this is a site that those employees use to complete these trainings but everything else thank you Nicole realized it was separate I had looked it up and they said it's 101 on nursing the first semester this is what they teach and I'm like why would they we learn if they were ourn but no thank you very much I appreciate that if everyone's I'll make a motion on this um I'll make a motion that we approve the job description for the town nurse second motion made in second that any discussion all those in favor I I Mr chairman it's understood that they'll be just at one change yes with that one change sorry and now the health agent um before we continue with um appointing there's differences of opinion Mark about the hours I was not here when um the 35 hours was discussed but I understand you wanted 35 hours as opposed to the 25 hours and I didn't know why so the board do the board agree so it's it's a board decision now um and so first of all the the appropriated money for that position is $53,500 most candidates just starting out in the profession it's negotiable so if we had a you know a candidate more qualified we can certainly um go to special and ask for more but I think for someone starting out it's reasonable two um when it was discussed at town meeting on the future of the Board of Health that was part of the message that was shared with the body and the the body of town meeting is a hire of that of the board of Select and that was received with a standing ovation when we said that we were going to have a fulltime Health agent and upon the health agent proving themselves we'd go back to the town's people and make it a department head level position that was a vision shared with the town's people and uh they did vote to change the structure of the Board of Health so this would be the first step and also when you try to attract the best candidate for the job you're not going to attract the best candidate if it's part-time we don't want to share our health agent with another town if it's 25 hours a week you're still paying full-time benefits but you're going to probably have to either share them or you know it's going to be a stepping stone position because they can't be um it's 25 hours a week they're going to be looking for something full-time 35 hours a week is full-time um if it was appropriate 53,55 that would be an hourly salary of $29.40 that's a good starting salary for for someone starting out um I don't believe in two bites of the Apple we've already discussed it at a board of selectman meeting it was voted on that rationel was already shared at the last border of selectman meeting you weren't in attendance but no no two bites of the Apple we already voted on it now we've held this position up for another four weeks so that we could discuss this again I'm sorry I didn't make the meeting but we already discussed it um I I it was under my impression that I heard the great line that the Board of Health would like the 25 is that correct um actually we've um when I was talking with um James did you give them the runoff sheets about the pricing and what we will be over do they have them I I have it that you gave me copy we've gotone to 28 just as an example raising from 25 to 28 that's 7 hours a day which is pretty close to full-time um and and thank you if we go with 4117 which is the going price and I mean $417 an hour is cheap because most agents are making between 60 70 and up so 4117 28 hours we will have enough money at the end of the budget if we go to 35 hours which is 8 and A4 hours per day because there's only a 4- day week we'll be over budget by $12,900 and then next year if we go with $ 4117 for 28 hours we will be over budget by $643 if we go with the 35 hours we'll be over budget by 2,424 I'd love to have a full-time person there but I I don't know where the money's coming from we've gone forward backwards everywhere around and we've worked on it um the office manager and I have worked on it a lot and we just can't find it I mean it's for 28 hours 7 7 hours a day and it's 40 that would be top 4117 we don't know who we're getting back uh who's going to apply and what they can do if they can do everything that's required which is a lot then they get the 417 but that's after we choose someone and the Selectmen have a written letter with them as to price compared to um what they're available to do so in the in the health agent job description there is no salary posted no so it's negotiable so we are leaving it to see what applicants we can get so we have we have a range yes the board of Selectmen at our last meeting wants to give you your department a full-time person so we can best serve the public well this is pretty full-time it's 7 hours what's full-time 25 hours a week so we're not going 28 28 is 7 hours a day 74 21 28 4 days so I mean you why are you walking about 1 hour a day I don't believe you get we discussed this and you weren't at the meeting and Peter was no I was sick I couldn't come I'm sorry sorry Sor you what we we met about this and we discussed it and neither one of you were here I I have to say though I barar wasn't here and now I feel uncomfortable that I probably shouldn't have made that motion without here here and that's my mistake I take that you know I think if you want something from the board you should be here and I know you are sick so I'm not giving you a hard time for being sick uh you can submit correspondence to the board you can call the selectman's office and have them write us an email saying I'm I'm concerned or whatever this this was all black and white and to sit here and say you're taking two bites of the Apple because we want to talk about all I asked you was a simple question why' you want 35 hours the town's people wanted it we had a standing ovation from the town's people people me and said they didn't fully understand and that they maybe didn't make the best decision so I mean so what we're going to do is we are going to appoint the bard of Health agent this evening uh point the job description if the Board of Health wants 24 hours uh and um I don't know how you feel Nicole she want 2 28 hours I'm sorry not 24 28 hours then and it's not stressing our budget then I think it should be 28 hours I agree but you have to be aware last year our budget for this year actually was stripped $22,000 because of the direct his position right and I understand and I I believe that the way it's going now is fantastic it's working out and you guys know how much I've been working free for the town free four to five hours a day never mind on the weekends never mind like coming in here tonight I had a phone call get to North dyon this and that is going on I am doing my share of helping this town to the value of 7,000 okay I'm not charging you guys anything now let's come forward stop arguing about this we're trying to get this board together we're trying to get everybody working and physically I've told you guys I can't keep going this way I can't okay we're trying to solve it in in we're very close to good great um other than that there's one thing that's crossed out can I mention that I'd like not crossed out sure um the assists with and manage if needed um grants for the Board of Health is necessary it is very important for the actual employees to be involved in the grants because a lot of it pertains to what they do on a daily basis um and it would have been helpful in the past um have the health agents involved it doesn't mean they have to take over everything and it does say is needed so it still be discretion by the board um wait no never mind take that back you added it somewhere else down below I just wanted to co get it together so it be I did see that earlier and then I forgot that's all I did I didn't honestly there was nothing else that's as such and participates in local and Regional emergencies they just had local and we're in Regional so I just tried to find places where it would be a and if or buts um that's all I wasn't being picky I was just trying to make it will you do have contain a motion yes I'll make a motion to accept this job description with the 28 hours per week is there a second I'm going to step down as chair and second that motion all in favor I opposed no okay and I'm going I so 28 hours a week with this uh job description that you say 20 or 28 28 okay thank you I did say at the last meeting that um there are so many issues facing the Board of Health there are so many Y and solid waste is a huge one um having a full-time agent to work on grants and look at you know we had a fantastic uh agent when I was fully employed by the town of D and they were working on bringing in Grants and getting programs to us that you know if you get like let's say a um a comp postpile at the transfer station you get so many points if you recycle propane tanks you get so many points you get grants like if we had someone in that office full-time 35 hours a week um so you're saying you're working four or five hours a day if we had that person taking off things off of your shoulder and being able to Ser I be continuing doing that believe a to serve our residents um fulltime uh I think that their position would more than pay for themselves and it's it's needed for the Board of Health and that was just really the direction so I'm outnumbered and that's fine and I see it's perceived as arguing but I'm advocating for a segment of di I'm advocating for everybody this is my view so I just don't want to be minimized for expressing my views I'm not trying to be trying to minimize you I I deeply respect every member of this board and the Board of Health is working so hard to move forward I'm not trying to hold a process I was actually trying to give you guys more resources to do your job and do it to the best of your ability so I'm I'm advocating for I just want to finish my thoughts I'm advocating for the people of dayon I think we could have done it within our budget I really do I think we could have got somebody in um there some people have to enter government somehow not everyone enters government as a distinguished and um with a career they got to start off somewhere and um I think we could have found someone at 35 hours for that price I respect the um I respect you know the position and I support you know the will of the board and um I totally support you guys but don't minimize me for having a difference of opinion uh may I speak to Solid Waste please sure um it's going up it has gone up $33,000 a month for disposal that's now it could go up next month 5,000 I don't know if everybody in town knows but the budget for the transfer station is the responsibility of the Board of Health and we've got to come up with that money and as far having a shed meeting on the 9th of September Solid Waste in Board of Health we're not ready for it we haven't got the me Members the quality members that we want um and um I think that's a little too soon let us have our first me asked for pardon I think it was Elizabeth who asked for yeah well I think way too soon we we're going to go in one area we've got plans I've looked into a lot of it a lot of different methods we can make some money um and not cut anything from the town or not raise prices again um same with the bags we're trying we're trying to find ways and grants um I I've been looking on a lot of Grants believe me and you know I say 4 to five hours a day but then on weekends I'm doing it at night I'm doing it I'm constantly doing it and uh trying to find ways to improve and not at a money thing either but the we can't do anything about the cost at the other end like I said $3,000 a month just last month it went up 3,000 they don't know where it's going to stop next month might be five the month after might be six might be seven might be eight and we can't keep spending this money this way we have to watch the future and I understand where you're coming from I want somebody that can walk right in and pay $41 an hour and I don't have to be this and oh do this and do that which James said we don't have to worry because you're going to be there to help them right is that right James and what did I say I cannot do it okay I cannot do it you won't have to be okay thank you James but no um I'm not a babysitter I have been for two and a half months but we're making great Headway we are we are it's Leaps and Bounds over where we were but I just want you all to know that we tried and if we could have done that we would have believe me we would have we want high end too are we all set yes thank you thank youa did you have something to say um I just want toy that the transfer station Department 435 is actually managed under Tom okay right yep thank you but the budget is under Tom I thought it was water Heth is it transfer station the transfer station is Tom all that money yes then why are they keep why do I keep signing for the the slips I have not seen you sign for Department 435 you sign for Department 433 waste collection I'll we had transfer station got their own budget oh I'm sorry about that so where it's divided it's crazy but um okay I'll make a motion that we go back to announcements and follow on um Main Street oh sorry do we have to and all that no um we're just back to okay the agenda the Main Street construction project is a comprehensive initiative undertaken by the dayon highway department to upgrade critical infrastructure along Main Street a heavily traveled Road in town the project is divided into three phases with the first phase completed in 2023 and the Final Phase expected to be completed by 2026 this project aims to replace the water M and improve the storm water drainage and add and resurface sidewalks from Williams extending to Route 138 you can find more details on the town's website under news flash the town of Dion food bank will be held next um September 21st 20124 and it's located at the lower level of town hall okay uh we have public input at this point does anybody have anything to say I have some uh sure thank you um I just want to read one email into the record um from lean good afternoon Mark Peter and Jim reviewed the August Board of selectman meeting schedule and when Nicole will be out on the 14th for vacation a decision on the new Board of Health member cannot be made this led to a serious discussion about the agenda and whether or not we needed two meetings in August Peter suggested having one meeting for the month of August similar to what planning and zoning boards do and would and we would have on the 21st thereby canceling the 14th and 28th meeting does this work via schedule I called Leanne and I said it doesn't it doesn't work I'm um I I would like to move the Board of Health forward and um if Nicole can't be there I I you know I I still want to move forward and basically I believe she queried the board and it was tough too bad uh it was a no so this meeting is scheduled as a regular meeting of August 21st it's not a regular meeting it's a special meeting a regular meeting we voted on our meeting schedule it was voted on by the board and we can't take motions outside of a meeting to I understand Corum issues if we have a Corum issue you can't have a meeting but you can't through an email say we're not going to have a meeting on the 14th and the 28th it's bad practice and it's not fair to your colleagues um so my whole campaign to the town's people of dayon was I'm going to bring a de exclusion vote to the people of dayon they're asking for it we're going to do it and that was scheduled for the 14th of August and instead because we canceled that meeting it's crammed in to this long agenda where we haven't even got to any any um we still just pass the announcements if we had two meetings in um the month of August we'd have a shorter agenda and um we we just get through these things so I just find that that wasn't fair I think that um vacations come uh on planned overnight and we voted on a meeting schedule so just I just want if you can't make a meeting just bring it up in the meeting so that we can discuss it I wasn't trying when I went back to the um administrative staff I said you know what if they can just vote on the board of health I'll get off their case uh which was also I I'm told it was a no and now we just have this long agenda so I'm just looking for are we have a meeting on the 28th like we voted and if we're not can we please alert the public to what our new meeting schedule is because if you go online and you look at our meeting schedule that we voted on it's different than what's going on today and it's I don't like how it was handled thank you I'm just going to say that I did make my known vacation my One Vacation a year known to the board the moment I made it um so yeah we don't make our vacations long in advance cuz we're disorganized um but other than that I let them know right away and I said it was fine to have a meeting without me though I did know that we were not going to be able to vote on the um on you could vote on the nurse thing you could vote on the other thing with me and I know you couldn't vote on the other but I'm sorry I'm not going to apologize for going on one vacation and missing one meeting since I've been selectman do we noted okay um public input uh yes so you have your first Kevin Smith 1147 sen Street uh quick on the debt exclusion thing uh I just something for everybody to keep in mind is at the end of the day our taxes are going up whether we like it or not so I like the thought process of showing how it's going to affect our budget um I hope that the board take we we have lived through the uh budget process um just trying to get to a point of a zerob based budget this year was a struggle without absorbing that debt so um I hope that the board takes a unified front in pushing for the debt exclusion because I think it's absurd to if your taxes are going up anyway why would we cut valuable positions for our town where we're already hurting so I kind of hope that that's the message moving forward um and then one thing I would like to ask of you if you don't mind when we get out of announcements is is if you could take the donation from the Ala family out of order sure just because I I believe they're still on Zoom um and they've been there for a little bit so I don't if if you don't yeah I just shot them a text to see if they would jump back on just since it's for them and not you Kevin I appreciate we can do that thank you Mr Hull just one quick request before it goes to the voters could the board of Selectmen hold a public forum prior to the vote to discuss the debt exclusion to answer questions that the public may have to finalize the best the town can what the numbers are going to look like my concern is if there is uncertainty on the information that's presented and it makes a decision I know the questions are yes or no but if the information is inconclusive you may not get the vote that you want or need and with that also being said we talked about this last year of explaining in detail what those cuts would look like if it was a no vote thank you okay thank you thanks anyone else at this point okay um are they on are they on I did shoot them a text to see I guess we'll just continue until you come if you don't mind keep an sure Jim do you want to stop while we're waiting for them to come back on uh sure thank you Mr chairman I just have a a couple of items three or four items to report um uh to follow up on the uh on the Main Street project uh uh update the materials bid opening is scheduled for here tomorrow uh uh tomorrow afternoon at uh at 2:00 so at least in procurement terms and uh and things like that uh I don't know what the outcome of that is going to be tomorrow but um certainly at your next meeting uh some contract awards are likely to be uh requested as an action item and um I think all the obstacles to you know to getting a start yeah um at least um money ones and and and bureaucratic ones uh all those things you know will be cleared uh uh by then so uh so that's advancing um just without comment on any of the details I just want to let the board know that um uh you know you do have a contract ratification on uh on tonight's agenda already but the last of the uh unsettled contracts the firefighter contract negotiations uh I think soan melow I would agree they appear to be back in full swing now um so you know there was a you know we stalled a little bit during the transition uh uh period but um the last of the contracts I assure you you know are um uh are back in full swing um we have sent uh long form contracts to two outfits uh one is Hill lero Corporation for the fire station feasibility study um so um we expect uh assigned a contract back from them and a start uh uh on the uh on the project uh and we've also sent a long form contract out to Weston and Samson uh this is an arpa funed uh project for Ms stormw water ms4 compliance Services um so uh so that's out the um uh uh out of the gate and um uh uh finally the at the last meeting I I uh shared with you the announcement that the town got a cyber security um a grant uh were in possession of the onboarding documents and we're processing those now so um if it necessitates action at the next meeting uh so be it if it's something that we can handle uh uh uh in house uh we'll do that but we will advise you uh under the town administrator's report at the uh at the next meeting I'm not sure which way that one's going to go but uh but we're on boarding that Grant and that's it um any more discussion about bonding the Main Street project well we did get from uh uh Lyn Foster uh Lyn Foster's partner Margaret mlan uh a debt schedule I did share it with you some time ago but um that um uh and we had a number of scenarios 5 10 15 20 years uh uh $3 million was the estimated uh uh portion of the Main Street uh uh sidewalk uh reconstruction and Road resurfacing uh that is um uh you know that's out there on the horizon a bit uh uh the storm water stuff you know Tom Ferry his you know he said weather is you know for for the second phase of the project weather could well be a factor uh you know in the amount of time that it uh that it takes and uh any other special circumstances if a CET washes out up in the Northwest Quadrant of town you know we're going to have to devote our resources up there so things are going to be um he expects it to go to construction Seasons actually okay I think it would be a miracle so anyway you know that said um we may be looking a little too far ahead if we're talking about financing you know the side walk in uh uh in Road surfacing thing yeah okay so that's a ways off but we did get a peek at what the numbers would be thank you uh slman reports I think we have oh the here yeah okay this is going to go under acknowledgements it's a letter to Kevin Smith of the Parks and Recreation Commission regarding a donation of $20,000 from Dave and K Aliva uh are you guys there y mut they're muted here thank you hi no thank you very much that's uh that's unbelievable I uh that I think that's the largest donation from a a residence that we've had uh since I've been around for 30 some odd years but um it's fabulous for what you do and the Parks and Recreation does a great job for us and this is going to go a long way helping uh helping with that have anything Nico no did you want to speak Kevin yeah I yeah absolutely so good evening again everyone and good evening uh Dave and Kate thanks for joining us um if you don't mind I'd like to read their letter so it's read into the record um dear town of Dian Board of Selectmen we are pleased to contribute a $20,000 donation to The Parks and Rec Recreation Department of the town of dayon Massachusetts in memory of David's late Father Michael Al alera originally from Somerset Mike was a dayon resident for over 30 years he was committed to community service through organizations such as dayon schools PTO Boy Scout Troop 45 Dion baseball league and numerous fund fundraising activities for those in need Mike suffered from a physical disability since childhood which limited his ability to walk long distances or stand for extended periods of time although the these limitations did not Define his life they were important part of his story we would love to see some of the funds used to improve accessibility for others with physical limitations additionally Mike was the life of the party and loved being surrounded by many friends and family creating or improving spaces for the Gathering areas of the community playground would also be a great honor to his legacy we look forward to your partnership and allocating these funds where you feel they will have the greatest impact sincerely Dave and Kate olera um just to piggy back quickly off of what chairman Karen already said is um we do from time to time receive donations and um this is I think by far the largest donation that I know Parks and Rec has ever received um and while we appreciate the smallest ones this one is going to have such a Major Impact in what we're we're able to do for this community um being a small town you know finan Cal limitations are are pretty tight so um we'll be able to make a huge huge difference with this Con uh contribution so we can't thank you enough for that um and for thinking of us um when trying to memorialize your father um we thank him also for his time that he dedicated to our community and um one thing that I did just I want to share with the board is I did pledge to to Dave and Kate that as as we plan something for the use of this funds is I'm to actively engage um Dave and Kate and make sure that we do something that's done in in Michael's likeness so that way I want them to be part of the process not just take it and run with it so we're working on some things and we're going to put together a couple different um ideas and then engage them and move forward so I just again thank you guys so so much because this this is going to be a a massive impact for and Parks just so you know to parks and recck we've been moving towards you know accessibility and incl inclusion has been on the Forefront of uh kind of our mission so seeing um the way that you worded this and how you like would like to see the funds allocated is is huge for us and it means a lot for us so thank you again that's a great letter thank you it um very unselfish of you to to do that and to think of the town uh again thank you very much thank you so much thank you so much for thinking of us thank you thank you thanks I do I don't know if you can it's under acknowledgements but I do think we need to make a motion to accept the Don you do yes I'd like to make a motion to accept the donation of $20,000 from Dave and Kate Ola I'll second that motion me seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I thank you Kevin for uh thanks for taking okay um s reports he Nicole um all I wanted to mention was I just wanted to mention the folks um that I saw and the ones that maybe I didn't see at the pan Mass challenge that were helping out the moment I got there Tom Ferry was there with his favorite signs he likes to tote around town um the Ed duer was there volunteering his time to keep everyone safe um the chief of police was out there directing traffic with the biggest smile on his face um I also want to thank um the chief um the fire chief from Middleboro Chief Thompson he had his water truck at the event um and he also supplied the water as well cuz he was aware of the struggles that we have with Dayan that we might not be that thrilled that they're spraying the riders with our water um so that was excellent because there was a lot of folks that had to go out um du the heat so thank you to everyone and anyone that I didn't see thank you for volunteering at that event sure that's all I have okay Mark not today thank what else okay uh then we move to Old business please um cons uh Conservation Commission update on end of year transfer resolution are you doing it no there's a letter in the there's a letter in your meeting packet Mr Mr chairman should we accept it do we have to accept that check that or we just okay but the matter has been resolved with repayment to the town um we did the town nurse and the health agent so now on to new business for review discussion act the warrant for the the warrant for the 2024 State primary I'd like to make a motion to sign the warrant for the 2024 State primary and to assign two police details for the uh State primary a second that motion made is seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I uh special Tom meeting proposed schedule this is again a review discussion act we have it here in front of us any questions was the um Town moderator and town clerk made aware of the schedule already um not the schedule but they are made aware of the date sorry the date of the town meeting and that works for them yes okay Town cork participated in the in the meeting re resetting the the dates thank you okay is there motion on the floor motion to accept the town meeting schedule as special town meeting schedule as presented second that motion made in seconded any more discussion all those in favor I I I uh again review discuss and act the ratification of the 911 dis dispatches memorum memorandum of understanding which we have in front of us too which we talked about uh so we just uh uh ratifying the contract uh so I'd like to make a motion to ratify the 911 dispatches memorandum of understanding I'll second that motion made seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I Mr chairman May um maybe I maybe I uh I blanked out for a moment did you um did you open the special time meeting war no no oh okay we did not o sorry it opens today motion to open the special town meeting warrant I'll second that motion M second any discussion all those in favor I I and just one comment on that um we just had a long presentation on the uh de Deb exclusion that's going on the November bot so I just asked departments when you're submitting things to the board of Selectmen it's not a wish list wish list things can go on the annual special is for things that were unplanned it should not be things that we want excellent um thank you for the vote Mr chairman 911 dispatches you did that we did that one representative of the school committee for a purpose of collective bargaining appointment uh by the board of Selectmen um Mr chairman is uh the 1993 education reform uh uh act uh among uh many other things uh uh provided for uh Municipal representation um uh during school collective bargaining uh uh uh negotiations and so I think there's a letter uh uh in here uh uh requesting a uh as someone from the town and it's my belief that a member of the board uh may have an interest in that I'm not sure exactly they want us to attend the August 27th meeting I believe which is like I think they sent us email on August 20th so that gives us like 7 days notice in this um this bargaining representative it says no less than 21 days before collective bargaining negotiations this the school district is supposed to notify either the chairman of the board of Selectmen or the Town Administrator so they didn't really give us that much notice on it no doesn't really fit in my schedule okay you're not compelled to you're not compelled to participate to represent no we don't have to participate no you're not you're not compelled to do that I think we should advertise just for um maybe to someone in town hall or sure to someone that does business with us a lot that may want to serve on it do you think we could just post it for for like a week and we can just yeah absolutely at our next meeting we can discuss it okay let's do that can you take care of that Forest care I'd make that motion I'll second it motion made and seconded any discussion all those in favor I I a request to appoint James a to the St water committee I thought he was on that I know I'm confused it was an over I I he is I think it lapsed and I'll make a motion to um appoint Jame agard of the stor water committee second motion made seconded any discussion all those in favor I I a request to appoint Abel Mariano as voting member of the Conservation Commission uh we interviewed this gentleman once before correct he was here I think he was yeah he was a non- voting and what's now he become now he's going to be a voting member um I don't feel the need that he have to be here like we request um I don't know how you guys feel about that we've already talked to him I agree with you m I'm fine with that I'd make that motion to appoint AEL Mariano as a voting member of the Conservation Commission I'll second that motion May seconded any discussion all those in favor I I uh I uh acknowledgements we've already done the letter to to Kevin Smith from the uh oliv erors a letter from the chief uh McGee uh the new member for uh to the call personel Personnel ranks Andrew Spelman Chief sent that letter you should have in your packet it is there yep thank you welcome Andrew Spelman definitely okay is there a motion on the floor motion to accept the um letter and place on file I'll second that motion made second all those in favor I I uh letter from Lor Hill resigning from the Conservation Commission motion to accept with thanks and appreciation I'll second that motion made in seconded any discussion all those in favor I I uh then we get into the warrants uh you have those yes um I make a motion to pay the warrants paid August 1st 2024 5 a-25 and the amount of $2,726 2 5 B-25 in the amount of $510,300 17755 6B 25 in the amount of $331,900 6 c-25 and the amount of 8,595 55 6 d-25 in the amount of 1,668 1897 38 warrants paid by August 15 2024 78 -25 in the amount of $4,547.43 4 warrants paid by August 22nd 2024 8 a-25 in the amount of 11635 548 8 B-25 in the amount of $156,800 63 I'll second that motion made in seconded any more discussion all those in favor I I I interrupt the public input again I I one more thing sure I just want to just back back up to my what I said earlier I wasn't attacking you for taking a vacation I take one vacation I I had one vacation the past two years and I totally believe you said at the last meeting but we still would had a quum i just felt out of the loop I was kind of just caught by a surprise and I'm just advocating I'd rather have shorter meetings than longer and I just I I'm still unclear on whether or not we're going to have a meeting on the 28th and I just want the board to know I'm I might have come off strong at this meeting I'm just advocating for myself sure and I I think you guys are doing a good job okay um as is the front office staff Mr P absolutely discuss the 28 what does the agenda look like right now sure I there wasn't much on at the end of the day when I was here uh was it Tuesday we had in an attempt to resolve um a a board of health issues specifically job descriptions okay and the need to get the health agents one out of the gate a suggestion was made by um by a board board member that why don't we just get together in a joint meeting with the with the Board of Health and so we floated that uh you know a joint meeting of the of the Selectmen in the in the Board of Health to you know to get that over with and um uh so we began shopping around a you know a a 28th a a meeting date you manag that uh uh Mr chairman by uh uh directing uh uh staff to make sure that the health agent job description was a matter discussed here tonight so it would not necessitate a joint meeting on the 28th okay so that's what the talk about the 28th was as a possible uh uh meeting date we had um but I don't believe I discussed this with any of you but we were considering um uh the status of the Town administrative search uh uh stuff is a is another possible uh uh discussion item on the 28th given you know they're right there at the uh at the end line of the uh uh of some of the vetting of the uh uh candidates but um they are nevertheless within one week's time of their contract and schedule which is you know really pretty good right um so there were some um you know there were some discussions uh staff's head spin uh over trying to coordinate you know some of these things and um uh you know they don't always bear fruit um you know we raise possibilities and things if you think it's confusing for you it's pretty confusing for my front office help too okay uh where are we with the compensation for the front office staff that's scheduled for your next meeting at the request at the request of the front office staff so then why don't we have a meeting we requested it be um put to the 11th oh you requested the 11th oh I'm sorry y okay so we we just all my point is we have it on our meeting schedule we voted on I just think we should vote not to have it if we we're not going to have it I agree that's my point so um if there's nothing on the agenda then I don't see a reason to have one okay so uh is there a motion on the floor please I'll put that in the form of a motion I'll second that motion made in seconded any discussion all those in favor I I um minutes please I make a motion to approve the board of selectman regular meeting minutes of July 10th 2024 seconded any discussion all those in favor I I I I'd make a motion to approve the board of selectman regular minutes of July 24th 20124 I'll second that motion made in second any discussion all those in favor I I I'll make a motion to adjourn second motion made second any discussion all those in favor I I e