me that I don't reate e e e e okay four minutes after five today Tuesday April 23rd 2024 select board meeting is called to order um public comments anybody with public comments or okay um item three approval of meeting minutes the April 9th and April 16th meetings um Leah did you want to make a change that I hear to something um there were a couple things one was a change in the second paragraph of the first item about three members of the advis board um changing it to discussing a municipal override this is from the April 16th meeting M right and then there was on the next page the last paragraph striking the last sentence starting with starting with she reiterated I didn't actually say that can you go back on the second paragraph thing y okay I'm lost here what is it that you want to say I want to remove um where is it read it three members support asking for a municipal override that wasn't what that wasn't correct asking should be struck in put discussing okay okay and got striking the last sentence of the last paragraph on the second page that goes into the third page the paragraph that starts Vice chair bban stated that we can find little ground so it ends with she shared that in her opinion picking and choosing what fund out of one money Bri bad okay next sentences so we can we get these approved with this modification yep so I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from April 9th 2024 and April 16 2024 with the corrections as stated second um second I second all in favor annual to meeting warrant Jason do you want to run through this worthouse or how would you like to do this sure have you all seen these is my guess my question I a few times already so I don't want to waste no but um um I've gone through it a few times myself maybe a new one a new one what did you get the tenis court in there yeah I think it's in here yep it's sort of broadly speaking rather than going into each individual one it's basically all CPA funds it is mostly yeah housekeeping yeah I think that's the emphasis that should be made very publicly aware as these are funds that have been set aside and are designated for specific renovation Rehabilitation and restoration type projects because I think in a year where we have very short money optically some of these don't they don't come off great in my opinion however to that point it is CPA money so the money has already been collected from search charge this is not affecting the tax rate of anybody Notting it doesn't affect the budget it is money we already have it's in a kitty right and it is matched by the state so this is the best tool that we have to be able to accomplish these things I hear you they wouldn't be done otherwise but I know what you're saying dun donut line that it's really hard to understand well then it needs to be broken down even more simply for them to understand because it's crucially important that they understand that it does not come off the budget and is not ined it is money they already have I mean I get you but Alan yeah when this comes out I'm well um it's important to point out that of the CPC funds some is State money and of course people don't want to know about how much uh and of course we have ranged in Max from four or five times dollar for dollar to down about 54 54 cents or something like that uh and I took the time to take the 18 years that we have been in this program and from what I can figure uh take the 18 years in po uh we have received 72 cents from the state for every dollar we have kicked in which is not a bad return because people may well say well count yeah but it's one sometimes it's less 72 cents on Aver so I think the question I've had standing in the line of Doug Donuts is do we have to have that that 3% search tra every year yes and you actually could vote at a town meeting because other towns have voted not to have the 3% SE charge and you could save people in their tax bills that right I hear you that's Devil's ADV here because it's a fair ask of and it's going to have to be discussed because by having the 3% is what allows us to get the largest distribution from the state and it it I mean this is all things that we would not be able to afford otherwise and we are still trying to function as a town and do things for the town and this is the best way that we can do it right now um there are options for people especially um senior citizens can go in and apply every year to get a reduction of the CPA S charge there are options for that um for those that are struggling but you know I think people are using I I know you're these are like the questions that like it's you know people I think Gren got rid of it one year in order to save their residents on I remember it was in one of Marina's posts on a page think she got they got rid of it one year to save on the taxes in lie of getting people to advocate for some other budgetary so and I support it and I I think they're important I was a part of the CPC for a couple years so I understand the value just like the Optics of it well then it needs to just be continually explained that it's do we have a list of everything that has been funded with CPC CPC money we can compile that it should it should be readily available yeah and there are things that many residents use yeah yeah that should be in print somewhere available yeah yeah it's on the website I you can all that yeah okay a know it yourselves and be able to refer people to it and C handy yeah it's just again I I support it but I just know are questions in the year where we're talking about layoffs we're going to spend $1.1 million on a building that doesn't really have use it's money that's already spent out of their pocket and it's um or like and it's not money that we could then distribute to the general fund it's but it's 3% you could take off A's tax bill and it may get them to pay more well it's a search charge it's not a tax it's a search charge of yeah yeah but on a $10,000 tax bill it's $300 less and that may be the difference between getting an override pass and not because that's $300 that would have been only four $450 increase for this coming year then and then so on and so on I don't it's it's an argument that bring it up absolutely I mean people are asking the questions we just have to answer the questions yeah but again I think they're all like I know the renovation of the wells at letter field is critical everyone uses that field one way or the other and yeah needs water see the grass when it doesn't have it but it's just something to be prepared for it the time being so the article 16 is that tennis court article I if you saw that in there yeah okay and they are mostly CPC articles and it it's procedural more than anything else I don't think we need to um unless I mean the invasive weed thing we kind of do that every year right we do the weeds every few years it's years I think yeah well this is little bit it's a different part of the pond and a different approach so it's a little bit different the same general concept of treating the weeds in the pond to continue to have its recreational use this is a chemical remediation that they're doing the last one was to sulfate or something like that it's a different chemical it's a different weed for article 16 was that in the mission of the larger family were there anything you have to be aware of that not I'm okay no didn't hold like the tennis courts thought of soccer field what happened to building The Pavilion at lafield thought they withdrew that application think it's still on the list just this is a higher priority right now yeah they didn't they didn't want but yeah all of a sudden parks and wreck you know had a lot I had a big wish list yeah the wells came you know you need to how about we get the TS Bill and some of this other stuff before we start yeah know the Pavilion we could put a couple of those little popup tents because it is pretty hot out there yeah those work well you put away brand new use them yeah that was my only question you want to just Breeze through just or you we go I feel like we've covered them all except the municipal electrical aggregation that you were starting to look into that was a new one yeah uh do we need to make a motion on the warrants or you want me to I have question go ahead John the uh uh the last copy I saw the last draft I saw um did not have any detail for the housekeeping Artic for the you know uh $40,000 oh the distribution yeah well we don't know what usually it's in the motion not the article right yeah it's in the motion yeah so that will be in the motion we don't know if the match is going to be yeah right it's hard so we might I talked to the town accountant about that and he said that if we don't know we should just mirror I know when it's I know the matches is not going to be as much as it was for this pistal year from what from all signs point to that but he suggested we just use the same numbers and then if we have to modify it at some point we can modify or use on two language or something like that so yeah but that would be in the motion okay do you you go to Karen's question do you need us to motion this is appr yeah I see approve and sponsor relevant on articles okay yeah maybe for this last on CPC is like have a onepage PDF because I think we got some really good ones on the town website that say like this is what it is to leest point like why it's important for all of them for each one okay um so I'll move to approve the annual town meeting warrant and to sponsor articles 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 17 18 and 19 on the warrant to be presented to the residents of the town of dun school at the annual town meeting Monday May 13th second all in favor I save that date okay uh FY 25 operating budget so this is um so we've had a couple meetings about the 25 budget operating budget after the override fail so um I think you all know what my recommendation was so the question is um whether we want to go with that recommendation which was a combination of um scenario a call scenario Two Three or um or if you want to do something different or something in the middle whatever so what my what my recommendation does is allows us to thank you um reduce our lines of free to in a stronger position in future years um to withstand the storm so to speak because we know when like 26 if the school numbers hold at what they're projecting 9ish per um we're going to be in a difficult scenario once again so the more we can push off free cash um the more we can tighten our belts and um have some ability to rightsize some of our budget once we're able to pull off a free cash then we're just going to be in a better situation long term um and I think you know it's a fair discussion moving forward this is kind of outside this discuss this decision but moving forward I think it is a fair discussion on you know what are the growth numbers that we know we can withstand year over year and hold the line on the growth number because that is the only way we're going to be able to balance year over year so hold the line on the growth number anything beyond the growth number that we can actually afford is an override ask um and I think from a you know we talked about one of the goals of the select board this fiscal year which we're probably not gon to get to sadly but I think longterm um developing some like Financial policies that are in place that guide us through a buet process makes a lot makes a lot of sense um the other benefit of reducing our alliance of free cash is that it increases our free cash balance starting um uh you know for for future fiscal years so if we're able to increase our free cash balance um then we can do things outside of the CPA for instance that we actually can have reserves that are legitimate and we can actually have funds that can um fund Capital um because we do have cap capital needs right now as we all know so um I think that's a lot but I guess my main point is I think we need to be looking longterm at this problems because it is a long-term problem the only way to deal with it is to cut or increase revenues we tried to increase revenues we weren't successful now the alternative is to cut I think cutting makes sense um unfortunately um from a financial standpoint a budgetary standpoint and um again over time if we're able to get off free cash as a revenue source for our budget will be in a better position um so but again there's there's all sorts of things the board could do if they do if they don't feel comfortable with that operation because there are certainly operational impacts to do with that and I fully understand that I just worry about the long-term sustainability of of spending if we're if we add back anything um that's my biggest concern but if you but I completely understand the perspective of look we need to add back certain items because operationally they're they're critical to the town so those are the decisions we need to make tonight so I can start putting a budget together for now meeting no big deal [Music] no all right so we should be focusing on scenarios two and three just for the label land here front of us and school budgets been identified scenario yeah so we've given the school their their um oh we've the board has approved the assessment number for the schools okay so now the question is do we want to make the um do we want to make the reductions listed in scenario three I will mention just not that it's important but this number will change by $1 because the assessment schools there was a rounding error with the assessment for the school so increasing by $1 just but other than that Lally that was dollar ieder okay goes up a dollar unforgivable no um so um so the these the scenario 3 reductions in the amount of 164,165 those are essentially the recommendations because the override failed um however if you thought any of these were um so important that they could not be cut you can add them back and we'd increase free cash to pay for it see that's what we have to do would you tell me what's Library energy is that utilities yeah yeah okay all right um so one thought on free cash is like we don't have so much of it that it really matters and I hate saying that but like what's the point of it like our our Reserve is $330,000 if we put 100K in we only 430 which is still starting point Reserve is $300,000 for free for um stabilization stabilization yeah that's not our Reserve our reserves got like meeting to pull it out from stabilization you would yeah yeah so like though I totally get the value and the purpose of putting money in there like so what I'd say to that is if it it depends on how you're look at at so if you have a balance of if you're disciplined and you end up having a balance of what we have essentially year over year in free patch and you say we put a policy in place that says every year we're going to put 10% of our free C balance stabilization um it adds up and so if you if you're disciplined and you do it and you whatever the number I'm using 10% it could be 20% not and um you do that on an annual basis as a matter of policy it's you don't even think about it it's this is how we're using free cash and this is how it's going to be done period and of story the balance can be used for whatever we want but this is how we're going to use it um you'd be surprised and don't forget too like if our our side of the bu the town side of the budget isn't so big that we need $3 million in reserve yeah um we what we have now is certainly inadequate there's no question about that but um you know our side of the budget is 4 million so if you look at it that way because the regional school district has their own right Em which they are responsible for and control so if you look at it that way and say okay we should have what 10 12% of our of our budget of our Municipal of our Municipal budget right you can get you can get there and then you can actually I mean we're talking about I'll use this as an example we're talking about five station that was estimated at $250,000 worth of um improvements we can't even think about right now there's no way there's nothing but if we have a million dollar in Free Cash Plus a healthy stabilization fund guess what you can write the check we can do it so if you're looking at it with a lens of it's going to be a you know who cares if we have 600 or 400 in free cash I totally agree who does care but if you're being disciplined with how you're using it and you're actually putting them in places where they can make a difference longterm it really matters so then okay so with that ideology then like do we know can we forecast any Capital expenses that are coming next year and what we know is going to be an even more dire budget situation than this year that we can get ahead of so in our cab like if we knew we needed a police cruiser for next year like or a quad or ATV whatever it is like and like we know it's going to cost 40K yeah should we be buying it as a capital this year because again next year is going to be it's fundamentally be worse than this year we already know that and like to to to siphon away 125 150k into free into stabilization I don't know but it prevents having to ask for dead exclusions for things that we would need which would then be bumping up people's tax bill you know it's just oh we're not we're not putting anything in stabilization we're not doing that we haven't put money in stabilization in 10 years right I mean I wish we were 401K orth Ira I do it's the same concept oh I know again like I get it I just think it mean we're running out of options in order to have people keep telling us to but I mean get lost in traffic with voting no on things so like I'm trying to find ways to avoid doing that any I I I but we're setting ourselves up by doing this to be in a better position so that we wouldn't have to be asking for overrides and debt exclusion for things that we may need for Capital if we have the buffer to be able to take care of them we've been very lucky to have ARA money that we were able to get some stuff with yeah um if we had had money enough into stabilization then and the arpa didn't happen we would have been able to use that to do it so yeah so we have for 26 right now we have projected $2.9 million Capital needs um but don't forget these aren't all funded through the levy these are funded through a lot of the projects that we just went over through warrant CPA so you know the union buildings on here right now I have um Town Hall HB unit because we were told that one of them needs to be replaced police cruiser second phase of the police station window replacement project is on here um is that a green communities thing perhaps no that's a capital ask year for 20,000 y we have buil yeah what's that I can stick my finger through the W oh you can tell what the weather is beautiful we have build building repairs in the fire station um although those so you know we have done that so we've projected a lot of the capital needs joint grass Brook um we're hoping to do some anyway we' made some projections but this is kind of a document that changes a lot over time so some of these priorities will be pushed out we'll get other opportunities to funding opportunities then maybe we'll push some of these um closer you know so it it it this is a a lot of these are just just projections that will change based on priority and funding capability really yeah but um but we do have we have projections out through 28 I believe um yeah okay yeah I I'm just trying to find ways to say yes to things we don't have a lot of good we don't have any growth so I mean magicall maybe maybe I'm looking at it wrong incorrectly but I'm kind of I'm pretty optimistic about this I mean I think we are kind of hit we're hitting us right now but I think it's going I think we're on a path to go back up but it's going to take like a couple years of okay we gotta grin and bar yeah and um and make you know some tough disciplined decisions financially so that we can rather than rely so heavily on this free cash number that isn't guaranteed year over- year you kind of hold your F you know fingers crossed that we're going to generate enough to balance the next year we're able to write that and we're able to be be thoughtful around how we use that money when we're able to increase the balance yeah cuz we will be able to when we're able to increase that balance I think you know we'll be able to like I said you know find some room in the budget hopefully because we don't have to worry about free cash year over year and we'll be able to start that process with a healthy free cash balance that we're able to leverage against yeah sorry I one on the appr so what do you need from us ER I'm sorry the police officer position that's the ninth position right yeah oh yeah yeah yes yes you're not losing in position that's that's the well I guess I'll jump in and of this list of the scenario three the one thing that I would like to see brought back would be the perdm firefighter sorry I mean we there was a fire today and there was one guy two fires two fires one guy yeah a lot to do too yeah everything else on there I you know obviously they're important but I think for town Safety aspect this is one of the more important ones that's that's there we can work that into the budget net would we draw on something else then on this list based on the amended number would you turn Highway down more than 20K for pavement or how how would we get do you think or just find it I mean what you could do is add it and then rather than reducing free cash by 164 969 you're reducing free cash by whatever that l number is me see 118 145 118 145 145 we've been operating sorry we were operating with the two pums but as we know and an expected that the the donation that was given to support that second firefighter we knew it was just one and done one and done and certainly even if that were to be offered again and I've heard nothing to that to that nature at all it's not something that I again would be entirely comfortable accepting again because it's a really bad practice it's well I mean it's a bad practice financially but in terms of giving away money like that I guess it's pretty common to find that but I know but that's not this is a it's a legitimate position that the town needs and it should be solid in our budget it shouldn't be coming from a philanthropist supporting an employee in the town it just doesn't make sense to me now that I don't appreciate it because it kept that person on for this year but we're not getting that gift again and that will put us actually down so you okay that but yeah I think I'd also say like again we have this is me looking at the top one Town Administrator training and though I appreciate you trying to take a hit on your own budget like Jason is one of our full-time employees and I think the training of that office is something that should be I feel it should be fundamental in keeping that office stabilized you know because we can do a pretty easy equation to sort of see what the TA position is bringing into the town and I think keeping our our knife sharp here is an is a smart investment more than anything else like and it shouldn't come out of his own pocket you know and stuff like that but would you looking to restore the full amount or just change that 1,000 number yeah like split you know make it 2500 make it something to give again because there are opportunities that t go and they collaborate amongst each other and they share ideas and I don't want our own ta and our office in our town to miss out on those opportunities and he is pretty resourceful you'd be able to find a way to spend the money but so now what does that do to us I'm going the wrong way you want to add back $1,500 yeah I mean I understand Karen's approach is are there any of these any of this training directly tied to any certifications that you have I mean the one one certif hour stuff like that the one certification that has expired which I don't like which I would like to get back is my mcppo you should have I hav been a to get that do we all right because do we need that don't we need that in the town you don't need it um you should have it yeah you definitely should have it and suit went through the first um training as well modules yeah but you should have that but I wouldn't like to renew that I mean I can't renew it now because it's lasts so you start I have to start over and 2500 work cover that um yeah and the cost of the what's the cost of that on an annual annual was it that that ticket that license has got expensive it's good for four I think it's good for four years four five years and what's that fee for the TR it's no for the license oh no no they don't give no no it's just the trans you complete the class the yeah yeah I want to say there four classes and there I think there's also like the small Towners Association we're not we're not members of Stam I we we opt it out of it years ago know that that's his decision yeah you I would advocate for making that 2500 to support the mcpo certification but after that we're not going to have any more ads cuz already we're in the it's we deficit right but then you know I look at Highway Paving and I know those guys work very hard but we reduce that budget from 67 to 47 which is 20K like but there is chapter money for them right so then like could we bring it down even more to to reduce it to offset these ads yeah okay I like that idea you know what what I wouldn't recommend it but why because you don't want to tell Mike Martin no no that's not a tax that's not but there there are years when that number was 35 like that their Paving number was 35k yeah it's been down to 25k at one point in time we've built that back up we built it yeah I mean we we we we peeled it back we needed the revenue for other things I get it I hear you yeah I know I mean at one point in time we didn't paint the stripes on the road for a year remember that one yeah but everyone drove slower oh they were on the wrong side of the road slades are great it's like Kramer on I mean if you if you made that number make it 67 to to 40 so that's 7K back at us I don't know or even 45 and it covers the the [Music] I would quick work of it I like yeah 16645 I would just do what I like what Karen's saying I mean Paving is not these the purchasing certification in my opinion were we to have a violation of chapter 149 they're going to come look for that certification we're not going to have a violation I'm just saying but they could yeah right yeah so I mean because you're you're you're significant aware of 149 as well as I am because I'm on the outside looking in but I I think that most tons have a purchasing agent that is correct credentials okay correct we don't let's you're the guy let's put some money into it get your credentialing back and and and take it out of Paving because that credentialing is good for four years right so and you got no reoccurring license fee like my licenses I got to pay them every year um so you you're you're free and clear to do that and which you know you got all those numbers worked out we're not going to add any more to it let's just do that Jason so that we've at least got so at 1500 to training MH to make it 2500 add this back at the per DM back and then reduce so reduce the 47,000 amended budget by an additional 15 is that what you're saying yeah [Music] yeah so that's 445 going into that Paving budget then right is that right no no a little less than [Music] that 4 okay I go yeah okay so that's the so if you're doing that it's 118 [Music] 145 [Music] 49 468 824 all right so [Applause] maybe we can start selling the car washers out front can no we can't because of the m page on it but all right so we're just change around our compant once the wells are working at large field a motion to yeah he we're just fixing the numbers open number go ahead um we're not paying close attention we're doing scenario 2 we are but we're making a couple of modifications to it we're doing a combination of scenario 2 and scenario a little bit out of scenario three okay so not going to meeting with with a choice we just you know this is what it is yeah yeah so you um so the total amount if you add back to 46 for the perm 13 m177 47 okay so that 13,060 number will change to be 13,17 747 any change [Music] 35 seconds okay so I'll read a motion or I'll make a motion to approve the T un do you have the motion there right because there's some other [Applause] verbi it's on the back of that yeah it's right right in the front page right right in the front page [Applause] of right you have the modified number y move to recommend the town's fiscal year 2025 operating budget with a total expenditure of 13,17 747 th000 funding the gr and duno Regional School District at an assessment of $7 million 9 162157 to presented to the residents of the town of D the annual town meeting should be Monday May 13 2024 that says Tuesday yeah it's Monday thank you is that actually the 13th yeah yeah okay um second with that all in favor all okay y thank you all right our upating budget uh uh Municipal electric electricity aggregation very you need us to you need time we need to approve that yeah so it is on the warrant very very briefly um I think I don't know first three months of me being here this was discussed when rate natural grid rates went through the roof and we had T we talked at that point the board talked at that point about options help and one option was this Municipal igation program and um oh gosh I don't know for the last several months I've um I've been chasing chasing Consultants there's a small group of Consultants that does work on this um and so I there's a small there's a small group of Consultants that um that does work helps communities go through this program um essentially in a nutshell what it does it kind of harnesses the purchasing power of your community yeah it's all so it allows you to P purchase and um and I don't know like 100 I think 170ish communities on the col done this generally speaking um with very positive results in terms of saving um users customers money and also um providing for um some renewable kind of green options that people that people like that's what we're buir program but essentially what it does is National Grid is still going to going to supply and deliver the electricity it just allows communities to uh bid the source of where the electricity is coming from um ideally at a low price and a more stable price so in order for us to even look at this in pursue it Tom meeting has to authorize us to do so so that's the first step and there is an article on the warrant um I saw that that was just approved to do that um I've finally got in touch with a consultant who is interested in working with the count cable um there were a couple that I reach out to that weren't because of our size um the size the the it's obviously a small community so financially there some um it's just not as attractive as some the large communities um but this consultant has been great we've discussed this now three or four times he actually provided these slides for me just as um so I figured I'd share them with you um as kind of background and um the only the only um variance I guess with with the consultant is he's kind of exess that in order to make this worthwhile for on the consultant side um they could pay it at the back end um it's kind of their they're um kind of at their own risk initially until you enter into a source contract and then um you get they get paid whatever per kilow hour whatever um typically I'm not sure what the base rate is but there is a base rate for this these type of services for community of our size in order for it to make make it worthwhile for them they're going to have to increase the base R basically in order to do work here um so as long as residents are saving money that's okay with that in my opinion I guess that's okay with me as long as where uh residents at the end are going to say on it so um that's a deal he provide he the consultant um I talked to is has been and is working with the town of Peppo right now okay and has been working with them for the last two years I reached out to peo to get a sense of what um their experiences then with this consultant was very POS feedback is very positive so that made you know that made me feel good about it and um it doesn't when not TI to do anything I mean if we go through the whole process and we bid it out and we look at the rates and we say that's doesn't make sense to do or it's not as attractive as we thought it was going to be we're not committed to anything all this all this vote um all the to meeting vote is to allow us to look at it and um in pursue it um at any point at any time we can decide not to move forward it's an exploratory request right yes I mean my only comment about this is that and some of you may know this but there was an aggregation company known as Enon is that what they did yeah didn't know that and I was heavily involved in a couple of deals with them and it hurts it's not use them yeah well I mean I just want to be careful that that we not get step I mean if if if electric bills if the town hall electric bill is going to come in and the town hall electric bill is being paid to the aggregator I would start to get fuzzy over that because that's exactly how we get into this with Enron we were paying bills to Enron and Enron was paying transmission distribution and generation and taxes right that's the and what they were doing was putting the money in the bank and forg getting about paying the bills and got it got into the well over a billion dollars in in in claims right i' just be cautious with that because that in in my own personal career that is still I I I could still wake up at night thinking about how the problems we have trying to get utilities from not being turned off to a 40 story office building and so I would I'm always kind okay watch out for that and so that's all but I think this is a I think it's a great idea might as well find out and I think it's good for the town's people pepp I don't I knew Perle was working on it because I talked to a bunch of people on per and if this guy is the same guy that you're right they're we and I think I I think he was or is involved with Westford or westford's considering taking him on board West has the program in place do they already have in place okay actually it's it I tried to use I reached out to folks who did West I don't think we're big enough they weren't they actually you know what in F they they referred me to this person okay well I think it's a great thing for us at least to dig into it good story it's a way that President save money it's a way that people feeling it on the tax bill obviously and they we've heard but you know they think about that so this is a way that we can help offset C in in another way yeah outside of the tax bill that receive so ideally I mean it's a process it takes time I I was told that prol is in is close to two years into this and they haven't been they haven't even put out the RFP yet so it's it's a process it takes time um it's pretty it's heavy heavily regulated at the state level so it's a it's it's going to take time to do it but um I don't know Ian I think it's worthwhile if I can save folks some Mon it's an opt out program an offel program yes okay cool look forward to discussing that Tom since it's in the town meeting War you don't need us tonight to do anything question yeah Johny um is is not interested in so I I can tell you gron is a municipal and Municipal electric companies don't participate in Energy rebates so if you wanted to put like a heat pump in in dustable National Grid will give you you know money to put that heat pump in based on the energy rating the utilities the Municipal Utilities none of them do that not not not gron not Littleton not Wakefield not reading not PD none of them do they're all munis but their electric pills are substantially less than you know what you would get out of um National Grid and so they look at it it's like the high school right the high school could use a lighting renovation but gotten electrics they're not going to pay for that none of them do that it's the meat and potatoes behind it is they're they consumer owned they they're grotten electric is owned by the taxpayers in groten so I guess askable to sign up for that Ron Michael would love to take and sell all the utility to gron but gron the estate regulations because I think it'd be a good thing for us and gron electric light would provide power to the town of dble just like you know my daughter lives in lynfield and it's PE Municipal light and so we could you could it's just it would take a lot of State regulation to make that work just I'm just kind of giving you a little bit of The Upside on that but I would love it we could take the polls the trans formers a wire and sell it to Bron and dustable would become a Gren light customer and that would in my mind would be sweet but it's just it's not the way it is yeah they may not want yeah okay anything else um item seven going to move on here if we know anything else item seven or uh number seven is to um uh letter of agreement dle police Union holiday and personal buyback we did the same thing last year we didn't do it for personal B we did you sure 100% yeah we did I I don't remember I'm trying to go back to negotiations about the the usage of personal days but if we did it last year I guess the precence we did it doesn't I mean we we don't I mean it's up to the board but we did last last for yeah for this Festival I um we did allow both holiday person bu that and I mean I know we know the reason ch's here too the reason yeah we got a couple guys on like whatever you call it the they're reaching a point where they're going to get another week but they're getting it so close to the end of the fiscal that they'll never be able to use it in time so so is this something we have to do every year or is this going to set this as a standard going forward we don't have no we don't have every year we we we would vote on it you would it's it's for that fiscal year only it's the liability we're carrying in the PTO and it would be a real deterrent to morale if we said we're not going to compensate them for their 10 days they weren't able to take vacation because they're short staffed really say I mean not [Music] double right it's a it's one of those it makes sense on both sides yeah no it's fine personal days are just like tricky I know like the corporate world or even higher education personal days are like the first ones you should use as you take off I know they're so busy and so down you know short staff and they can't but because personal days really shouldn't be paid out no they want you to take them and the my my boss would get cranky at me if we had personal days of cruded right she would but I mean we did it last year and those guys are working their butts off anyway so most of it's vacation for the guys that have that have been here L you know that have four or five weeks vacation can't use it yeah it's too expensive to take the time I will move to authorize the chair of the select board to sign a side letter of agreement related to Holiday and personal buyback with the town's police Union atba Local 7 as presented that includes vacation than holiday and personal days this is I'm [Music] sorry holiday and personal days vacation is not in there do we need to add that right so we're going to modify the motion to include um I will put the word acred vacation yeah let me reread that okay I'll move to authorize the chair of the select board to sign a letter of a to sign a side letter of agreement related to ACR vacation holiday and personal time with buyback by the town to the town's police Union New England PBA local second all in favor I okay chugging along Town administrators report probably nothing on that wow you like that he's sitting there he didn't even he didn't even make a frown just noed right I'll be know about the town hall boiler issue that we're dealing with now so once again leaked into the office space um is awesome so we're trying to fix that now uh had a kickoff meeting with Bo and Tanner on um oil tner for joint crass Brook cul replacement we're going to organize an internal kickoff with staff conom um beginning of may talk about the CPA projects um fire chief vehicle we're hoping within the next month or two they'll have the new vehicle um select for newsletter I think it's in good shape to go the only question now unless there's additional comments or feedback no I thought on the select board letter Turtle the only thing we might consider I good I we might consider goes back to what Allan was talking about which is some sort of Correspondence that relates to the use of um CPC funds I don't know whether we can include that in there because he Allan's right that potentially some of them would raise their hand and oh what have we done what's it for how does it work I don't know Jason whether or not we can add some you know some sort of brief narrative in there and you know don't get you don't get overly wory with it because people will get blurry dyed over basic works of it yeah this what it is here's how long we've been in it this is what we've done Union bu you know some of the projects that are in the future some of the ones we've just completed we have the project for at least for this warrant we have the projects listed in the new yeah they're already there or a QR code to the site that these guys were talking about because we're going to print some out right well yeah that's our next discussion too yeah what the QR code no no the printing whether this becomes the standard you could do a hand out from the database the CP database all the projects yeah I'll see if I can find that I can work with you on this a little bit Jason I'm not sure if you can get on there or not but let me know if we can okay I feel like it is just on the you can access it's possible that there's just a a way to get on there but the database I have to I have to sign in oh okay the database when I do when I you know put in the projects for yeah okay all right I can that year but there may be there may be some other type of uh way to okay access you know each Town's right accomplishments right yeah yeah and stress how much is this is State money yeah the match right and why that 3% is so significant and because it allows us to collect that on the rebound from the state so I I I think we might want to just put something in there and fluff and buff it up so that we're at least prepared it's not it's not it's not necessarily just a burden on taxpayer there was a kickback from the state which is driven by our percentage right that's how correct and so you know it's we've gotten I I don't I mean I don't have these numbers in my head but we've gotten some pretty good money out of that Kickback from the state we have right and we've done a lot of good stuff with it yeah beprice when be surprise there's there's 2.5 million in the in the CP the CPA account now that that includes everything all everything that's been voted and uh you know it's there's we between of course you know I don't know half and half what you say 70 something per from the state so a good portion of that is from the state but you know that's that's all told what's currently tied up with projects and not I yeah so i' just be careful with some of that because when you put the $2.5 Million number out there oh yeah absolutely yeah yeah you have to be specific for example how much High Street conservation restriction proposal um which um would be taking um 296 or 294 I think it is something like that from CBC 42% of that be State money 58 in other words 123,000 will be State not 58% sou land you know that we all say you don't get that instead but at the CPC 123 would be State money 171 would be Town money so between the state self-help and the state CPC contribution you left with 171 unable tax for that 53 acre conservation restri you know it's good deal looks pretty good when you look at it that way that's all I would do is just spend some time try to socialize that a little bit in but I wouldn't put too much information it'll go well we can rearrange um so the next thing is do we want to do the oh yeah the printing of it and mail to every household again personally I think it's a good idea I think people appreciate it what was the quote 308 so for the printing yeah for color or black and white do you know because I col it's going to be color that's what he did last time yeah I inadvertently got an invoice from DS graphics for DRL their last newsletter that they sent out which was black and white and was 174 for 2500 yeah um it was done a little differently so I set that up yeah I just yeah so if it's $38 a quarter that includes the mailing right no mail like 270 600 bucks yeah quarter say $2,500 a year i''s say it's I mean at this point it it it is absolutely it's working you definitely can gauge that by talking to different people who say well I read it and you know I I it's half the battle it is half the battle I think it's worth doing it's I mean again I'm happy to pay for it contribute paying for it it's important enough to me to do that yeah I I I don't want to be here writing checks to pay this out every I hear you either just I mean I like to see that we have funds to push this out that way you want to do it we do it that's all I think it's it's important I like the communication level people you know the next thing we could do is just go to people's houses sit with them and read it I mean I don't know what else to say I'll take I'll take First Watch no I mean it's it's not so someone can see you when were you going to tell us this and that we're not even the chat that's going around through some of the sites we're not getting that stone thrown at us in the last few months so that's my gauge of it and it's there absolutely have been some people that have said oh no when are you going to tell us that that's what I wanted to say well I I'll get it next month and come and sit in your house we'll read and we'll go through it with that one onone but I can't story time at the yeah something like that Library story time so the efficacy is pretty good I think loud speaker te time at the band The so interesting only at all the reserve fund yeah is it still 30 in there we tapped it no there it's not 30 but there's so you could we could take a transfer from Reserve to pay for this it's not like we don't have any money yeah and the budgets are running pretty good right now based on what she pushed out last week right so I don't anticipate hits into that Reserve F because those budgets are performing on their own without needing anything I just ask okay yeah we're going to need some year on transfers to True up some lines so y okay sounds good um all right so I'll work with you on writing something up with that and then we can push this out hopefully by the end of the week yeah sounds good okay um all right tennis court we got two bids the low bit was from Longo Landscaping um $3,875 so um that is one of the articles on the warrant for um for supplemental funding in order CPC it's CPC CPC funds in order to look forward with that so let me ask this question because you went for an RFP I right and long goes at 300K you had other biders one another one who was it Belco Landscaping $489,000 $489 so he's way out but is this going to be a performance and payment Bond um or a labor materials Bond I think there's a pretty sure that's just a performance and does Tony Longo know that yes second let me just this is for two Tennis Courts at ler field three three even though the usage of the other ones is fundamentally low like know Pi I hear you but like people work till 5:00 p.m. most days and you're left with two hours of sunlight for two months out of the year for people to use tennis courts and we're going to spend $300,000 on something people well this this there already been money voted by the town to go towards this project so they're already expecting I know it's just like and we still have the ones over here that are falling apart right because those didn't get ripped up they didn't get ripped up no and I've never seen anybody use all well they're thinking may be using it for a deck hockey place they use they use it in the summertime it's PR win give me a break people people use it in the summer time it's people don't use the softball field to spend money be I suspect more people will be using the tennis courts at ler field because of the ease and the convenience and accessib cou EK well last time I played tennis I ended up having surgery on many really not my game but all right Al I I want to see him there I challenge you to a duel of tennis there's he know that I think there'll be more use if it's put in a place where you can actually go and Park tell he understand we spent all this money on softball fields I you better off doing a wild he's gonna red flag that do that too oh no we work in town all the time you guys will he's going to try and get around then you're left with two hours to it casualty or's he that but I'm just telling I know I'm extremely well you know about this right you know and that are being used and but nobody's use our Jesus they don't get us and like I know one of the priv they don't they don't have the tennis just like [Applause] that's I mean again this is I know but like it just it looks people are well then people need to understand CPC because they're different things I hear yeah could we use it for restoring historic roadways CPC money use it for what restoring historic roadway what are those let's find some cre storing historic roadways would be ripping up the pavement and making dirt do that that's probably better than what they are right now I like my road just I give you Ste number yeah and people aren't necessarily happy with the way the state is using its money in like this rainy day yeah whatever I can get it to it just hey this is such a okay it's it's a deal okay you can't you can't play the ponies you know you can't uh you know you you can't put your money in the bank and get 50% return you know it's it's a deal and these are all projects that benefit the town and benefit everybody in the town so yeah I'm sure there's going to be some people who are not going to be happy because uh you know we can't spend the money on uh on you know education but you you know you can't have it all spend on History restore some textbooks okay so you're going to move along here with your yeah EV charging thing whatever is next we have we have an RFP for electric charging electric vehicle charging stations that's out at the town of peol it was a site visit um I think last week had a huge yeah that one's cool it's a good idea like I think 15 15 people showed up yeah proposal to do May 9th so we'll see how that goes that's being paid for as well a by a state ear mark That's not local funds are we putting in two there yeah yeah away from the spaces um I worked with both and um Davis and um Carol bacon I met with them and they kind of um selected okay with the best location for them yeah so I we good there as well um police station floor is complete we had a growth mindset training um last week which was which was great I thought Maya provides those free of charge um we've engaged the divisional local services on the do to help us kind of build the organization for the regional treasur collector um so theyve come in Andrew is working closely with them now on um just everything from the better defining the structure better defining staff roles better defining schedules and all all of that um it's going well but I think it's a lot for one person and um and Andrew's doing a great job but he's new to a role like this so Tak it on two communities was a lot so um so I'm excited to have DLS good that's great as a resource for Andrew to kind of help him make sure kind of long-term operational success for the office um Sue put in a grant submitted a Grant application um with mass cultural Council for $2500 um to fund we um through the 350th process we Sol a lot of interest in the events and activities that they organize so we put in a grant for um to have kind of a block party type of event in this area um so we'll see if we get it but um if we do that that could be lots of fun yeah and um I put money in there for the detail that's what 25 music to your ears and um and just FYI we're um we're coordinating a walk through now know for annual town meeting across the street we're looking at the cafeteria potentially to have the um the meeting rather than the gym the schools have kind of been encouraging us for for since I've been here at least to look at the C because it's better outfitted with technology um and they seem to think that it can fit about the same amount of people I think a little less but um so anyway just FYI that's happening and where um have they have a proper screen and not a yeah like a real Square du a real screen yeah yeah that's one of the reasons I think and I think the um a the sound is is better too usually for the performances it's pretty good so it's like it's the right setup but yeah yeah so we'll we'll see just but just FYI and that's it I had a couple things on topics not regally anticipated by the chair um so if you know of anybody who would be able to help with Memorial Day planning and and like assistance with that group um we're pretty low on numbers um and there's not a huge budget but we're just sort of myself Joe Dean Pete everheart and I think John CR was going to help a little bit and so was John Gahan but sort of kind of running on fumes for that group so if you know any veterans or anybody who's interested have them get in touch with jodan um and again if you know any veterans to come and be present that day would really be useful because we have seven or eight last year it was a really nice day but it's sort of getting tough to pull on people to come and attend that day um but I think the town puts on a pretty good parade um the other one was should we be having a candidates T night because we have two we a couple chairs a couple seats up for competition right just one just one not the conable one or was that no that's that's two okay so John gall stopped in Monday I don't know Jason if he had a chance to speak with you but no he was going to be reaching out to Rafi and Christina okay to see if there was an appetite to do that um to do a candidate's night um he asked if they could do it here versus the library um so I told him I help him with whatever he need so he was going to get back to him okay cool um and then we haven't heard anything on the cell tower right we're just sort of waiting on I was kind of waiting on just so I didn't have two at the same time I was waiting for tennis courts to yeah so tennis courts was just uh was due last Monday okay yeah yeah I saw the thing you thrown out yeah someone asked me about the blue bins did we ever do we have to revisit that one at some point no she's going to have them moved okay yeah um and then is there anything we should be aware of I know there's been some emails about the Brattle project is that like a next meeting it's not scheduled for anything right now I know where we were haven't check any today so I mean the their move is on Brattle right now so they've sent us um which I sent out a Revis well not a Revis they rejected something a version of um in LDA so uh the question is you know how do we want to move forward from here [Music] really so if it's in our all Park I guess we should St no well we we have it though right yeah so we have to review it and then yeah sign or say sign one of the other or Revis he is he asked to come and I mean just today he asked today I mean I think we want to have an open discussion with them because at this point that that package that we got was sent to us but it's not been it's not available for public consumption yet I mean people may want to see it yeah I mean well is it on our website no no what the the draft LDA yeah no no no no but I mean it's public record you know I have it so we should have our ducks in a row in terms of what we want out of it before I mean in part of the evolution that it gets to online sort of public appetite it should be the select board advocated for XYZ right and then public give us your feedback I'm not sure I can't remember the whole process we had laid out but I'm not sure where the public has say really say I of course they need to be they can know what's going on but there's not a point where the public votes on this that's true it's public record but it's it's there's yeah public is not involved in the decision process really well I mean in as much as I mean there was a 60-day process where there were multiple public meetings and public hearings to hear from people to help shape the ultimate um you know U recommendations for an LBA and provide feedback to the developer and kind of those venues um and we've received feedback from Individual boards and committees as requested so we have that and so you know in that way they had you know they had opportunity to kind of you know provide that feedback um which I think was kind of intentional on from the board and I worked out and um following the last meeting the board discussed this the idea was that the town administrator's office and the the develop the proponents of project would kind of at least start that process of okay what what's the framework of an agreement what might that look like for then the board to to consider and review and consider and so that process is kind of happened okay um I initially um sent out like and and these are just I mean these are my ideas so it's got to be fully vetted yeah but I sent out um some some fra a framework for an agreement and they reviewed it in respond it couple weeks ago now maybe yeah I'm trying to think been about two weeks yeah probably around there I think and so we have something back from them now as a response which incorporates most but not all um of what I sent them so but we haven't discussed what we want as a board so right so maybe we take that as on our next what they agre to and then we sort of roll it all up and see where it goes and I don't know whether that should be an executive session or not you can negotiate with them in executive session but if you want to have a strategy session on negotiating with them I believe that's permissive but I would want to check on that just to make sure I believe that would be permiss let's find out that that is your understanding is mine as well that we need to discuss our strategies and that would be an executive session so I think we need to sit and have that discussion and get this thing off the dime and moving forward because it's been you know and what happens is when you put distance between it people forget M yeah and time I worry about the time know I think we we wrote that like policy or that guide parameters I'm like oh as soon as we pass that 60 days I don't we don't make a doesn't hurt us but it's just like we kind of wrote it and then well that was for them to be able to follow it through follow it through and meet with all departments so there was it's not like there's a penalty on either yeah Ian and they did it and they provided it and then essentially it's been up to them at this point yeah I mean the next step the step after that process was let's start to engage in discussions on an LBA which we did and like I think it was two maybe three weeks ago we got we got a draft back from them okay so it it hasn't been us I'm not saying anyone's been dragging their feet I don't think that's the case but it's not like we we on our end haven't like dropped the ball on anything we've been busy I mean the town's had a lot going on so I totally but it's also you know what they I mean they've haven't been really Speedy on yeah they were but yeah maybe it's just next time we strategize a bit about it and yeah see what we think so yeah y as exciting as the blue pins so where the blue pins go Highway garage actually on the where where jodan used to park his car out there not not really on the right side facing yeah facing the street going to be parallel to the street the veteran office right that right where the school bus Parks no not back there a little close to the street okay and the guy that is owns those he's going to be responsible for moving them he doesn't he was going to have Tully do it with the loader but the guy wants to do his own thing so I think that's going to happen the next couple of weeks they going to put a sign up saying where they've been relocated to I haven't we haven't talked that to yet but people use them do people use them a lot yeah could to throw things away we can put some sandwich boards sign where they are where to go several sandwich boards in the basement down there there's plenty of them love those motion to favor second on the fav all any work on the project behind the post