just AIC that sounds about right sounds like a good morning at is as it is 8:32 I will call to order the May 22nd Public Welfare subcommittee meeting the clerk will please call the RO present present president is anybody recording this meeting the purpose of this meeting is the fy2 budget hearings this meeting is to give each City department head the opportunity to present and discuss their budget with the subcommittee that the department is associated with in this case the public welfare committee we thank you for your efforts in in preparing the budget and your presence here this morning this year we do have a new format of the budget which includes a narrative from each department I found this personally to be very helpful as it provided us more information from each department I'd like to commend the mayor and the department heads for the efficient way in which the budget was compiled and presented to the council earlier this month as the information and explanations are very much appreciated this meeting will allow for us to ask any questions we may have um for the mayor and the department heads to address your budgetary needs the city council um is important as well for the people to know that we can only reduce the amount of a line item from the mayor's budget we are not allowed to increase it we will start with the first Department which is the golf Department Mr Frank good morning morning um I'll give you a quick update on membership and all things in regards to finance um the membership currently is around 670 members which is outstanding um I have to think that conservatively we'll have probably around 750 um as it stands right now we're about 162 ,000 in the good um Revenue versus expenses we can probably conservatively say um that that will end fiscal year with the next 5 weeks probably $2 $225,000 um which would add to our Surplus um of close to $900,000 um right now it's 620 um so because we're an Enterprise budget we try to be as conservative with everything as we can um and we're finding the last couple years that we've run into some infrastructure typ stuff um 100,000 of that split between this fiscal and probably the next fiscal um will go directly into the pump house um it's an aging pump house um but there's other things on the golf course that are basically exactly like that um we're looking to do some cart path projects um Building Maintenance um and overall upgrades to the course so it's all stuff that's going to cost money um but for the first time in a long time we have it um so I'm trying to think of any other one salaries and wages we know that um the pump house project we spoke about um and then we actually did a new golf cart lease a new 5year lease um and that's gone up one and a half almost 1 and 3/4 times so um just every expense is going up across the board so money in Money out um if I may Madam chairman so the um wages are just like the other non-union employees that we have a 3% cost of living adjustment built into the budget that's where you'll see a difference between the department requests that came in that when we put out the budget originally we said a 2% uh we increased that to a 3% to just try to make these positions a little more marketable uh and to show some value to our non-un employees as well uh additionally from that again this is an Enterprise fund so all the funds in here are not tax dollars their revenue collected by the golf course through mainly memberships and other sources uh so anything that they don't use in that fund just falls back to the fund in the end uh so unlike the other departments this is one that uh really is a a little bit more wiggle room that we have with this one here but it's great that we are making those Capital Improvements into the golf course and uh director Frank and his team have just been doing a really great job down over there getting things going and getting things up to where they need to be you answered my question on the golf course rental increase my only other question was on the vehicle supplies as of this year it was like an 8,000 and it's budgeted for for 35,000 yeah and that's just aging equipment you know it PRI prior to you know our our main objective was to get that Surplus at 500,000 we got to six um and that was with Band-Aids so now we're pulling the Band-Aids off and replacing and repairing things the right way um and just the cost of of repairs is it's bananas right now so um takes money yep I have no further questions c i i do um all right I'm just trying to look at this from what I remember 10 years ago golf pro is now an employee not an outside contractor correct okay and his staff and so there there it okay the Pro Shop we paying down okay labors um I think when I left there were four yeah so we have more and I'm talking about in regards to full-time benefited correct it's still four still four okay and then the clerk uh excuse me five we've added one more There is five There is five yeah C Antonia and then the clerk used to be shared with another is that still the case is that still SPL it's uh Christine in HR HR so H the the clerical in HR has split between the city and and the golf course the golf course okay thank you got it so dismissed you're dismissed thanks guys thank you good time thanks uh the senior center C counc on Aging uh thank you very much Madam chair we have the chair of the Council on Aging and the treasurer of the Council on Aging here with us since the director wasn't able to join us uh the senior center uh Department budget uh is pretty much level funded from last year aside from the 3% cost of living adjustment for the non-un employees uh that covers the non-un employees just the director uh the clerical staff is covered by the asme Union uh as well as the cilial staff is covered by the askme Union as well I happy to answer any questions that the committee has the director did provide his uh narrative uh that is included in this packet uh so that uh if there's any questions that you know he could have answered uh that was the goal with the narratives with each department right now is if you know we could try to pre-answer any questions that were there or clarify any of the reasonings behind the numbers rather than just show the numbers uh that that information is there for you but if there's any remaining questions we're still happy to answer those I had no questions um I know that we already voted for some of the um repairs or like the air condition stuff we already voted for um I was just um over you know interested to see some of the the items that you do need for your programming right um your wish list and um you know I I would I would love to see you get some of those and I would you know um especially you know how important a new Bingo board would be for you so I would love to see you put like a wish list out and probably you know seek out some funds some some donors like some sponsors maybe from the banks and stuff and other community organizations I would love to see some people step forward and assist you because your programs are just so important to our citizens and I I love everything that you do um and um you know whatever we can do as a council to help you know seek out some of those you know to me they're important they're they're really important items and they're they're not really expensive items um that I see that you need to offer you know your services to people um but I have no further questions the director's um narrative was pretty exhaustive explaining quite a bit it was several Pages um long so I think any kind of questions we may have had have been answered um and just kudos to both director and folks who helped there for all the great work you do you're welcome all set all set right all right I just want I just want to say thank you for supporting the senior center and all that we have terrific uh groups the place is full almost every day so it's really nice yeah I I just hear constant fabulous things and I can't wait till you move to a bigger better space with better parking one Flor one floor all one floor one floor exactly no acents thank you all right thank you thank you next up is the library [Applause] good morning Stephanie good morning and before we start I just want to say that I am a a member of the Library Association and I a director of the library okay and I am on the association thank you uh the libraries budget you'll see the narrative that uh director young uh submitted with her budget uh again a 3% cost of living adjustment for non-union employees all of them are non-union employees uh who work for the library uh the uh everything else is the same the books and periodical line item that's set for by uh regulation uh that has to be a certain percentage of the overall budget in order for the library to maintain its certifications uh and everything else is pretty much um General in the guidelines of what we had last year with it uh there were some changes that director young has recently made to the library that I think are moving the library in the direction that it needs to be going uh recently with uh making the library a fine free facility to make sure that it's a more Equitable uh location for members of the city and not having to worry about paying late fines and anything like that I think it's great um I was just telling Stephanie before we started here my office actually gets calls complimenting you know Stephanie on the work that she's done over there in the library as a whole and I think this the first time in the four years that I've been here that we've gotten that many calls over the span of Just 2 weeks um so I really think we're very lucky to have Stephanie and her team here in Garder and I couldn't be proud of the work that she's been doing thank you um there I make no secret that my first job in the city of gardener at 14 was at the library um and I'm a huge proponent I was just part of the focus group that they had um I think Stephanie is a breath of fresh air to our our library and the programming that she's offering I commend the Saturday preschool which I know Council J lais takes advantage of for parent at work during the week and I just I see nothing but positive things happening there and um over the next few years I'm just anxious to see all the the the new things that you will be offering um I know as part of that focus group that you were looking for funding to increase the hours of the library um and it's it's not happening in this budget but um in the future that's something that I would be a proponent for and I would really like to see happen because it is uh a great asset we have many people that can't you know Access Wi-Fi and it's a safe Center for a lot of people even just in the summer for to go somewhere for air conditioning and cool and just um you know my history with the the school department was we used it a lot of kids used it there for after school tutoring we used it there for our you know our pay tutors would is you know it's a nice um place for for them to meet people um so uh you know it it really is along with the golf course the senior center it's another great asset that we have and I just think our support of it is important and um I appreciate your narrative was excellent and I thank you for all you've done in your brief time with us already thank you councilor Brooks a yeah as you stated the program living there is fantastic um the events the you know Bluey came recently and a big we weren't able to go unfortunately 320 people in an hour and a half for and then the solar eclipse event was the massive amount of people across the Lawns everywhere so that was fantastic get ready for the summer reading kickoff what's that get ready for the summer reading I so it's it's a beautiful building it's funny to hear that it's now 20 years old um but that's it's brand new thank you for all the all the work thanks um like the high school yeah so the the only thing I I do want to bring up eventually the energy and utilities that one has been level funded over the last few few years and the cost is going up I'm going to be about $14,000 over budget on the energy and utilities this year um we are using state aid funds to balance the budget at the end of the year um and I sat down and talked to John Richard and he recommended that I um talk to procurement to see if we were able to get into the city's um energy saving uh program right through the electric bill which we weren't on so we're trying to see if we can get creative in any way to reduce that budget um but the state aid funds are something that I'm able to use for increased programming and I don't have a programming line item so I have to be creative of how we're going to pay for all this new programming although I think the city needs the programming that we're we're doing um so this year because of the utilities and of course the association pays for all the building maintenance and we're using the state aid through that we are basically using what we've earned this year and um as you talked about getting um some more open hours at the library hopefully next year I can put in for that um right now we're open 45 hours a week and a library our population the standard should be 50 hours a week so we're falling below that standard and because of that we're receiving less money in state aid um which is well explained in the um the documentation that I gave you so but I think we can do a lot with what we have this year and I think this budget is really helping and um the 3% increase is helping with the Staffing and and we're going to do the best that we can and hopefully next year we can be open on Saturdays it's it's really something that people are asking for through the um long range plan study that we're doing yeah um there was no discussion of the library being part of the solo project I was just thinking that as she was talking about seeing if that's something we can talk about we'd have to go through the association because they own the building and and have a discussion about that but that that could be an opportunity we we' have to see what that entails I think and and I have to say the uh relationship between the association and the city has always been a very positive one um and I think that's something that would would be really um something that we that should be looked into because that savings might very easily fund the five hours if you can find money for the you know to bring back savings to the city and and the buyback of of solar um to find to fund the 5 hours because to me the 5 hours I think is would be really cost efficient for the city to do as well it'd be cost efficient and you know you'd be putting in to the more Staffing which means more programming and more time for people there's there's so many and more money back from the state so you have to exactly you know so you have to figure that all out but that's I would that would be something to look into absolutely okay okay thank you for your time thank you ASL the airport good morning good morning um so Madam chair and counselors you'll see that this is a pretty level funded budget unfortunately and I say unfortunately because the work is there specifically for the airport director to be a full-time position if we have the money to do it um right now director uh I mean the director is working for 19 hours a week um for 40 hours worth of work in a 19 hour period um there's we are that is something that is on our long-term plan to see if we can bump that up to a full-time position at some point um but for now uh keeping it at 19 hours and everything else is pretty level funded from last year except for uh repairs and maintenance uh which really is you're just getting the upkeep of what we needed to do and what we put off for years and kind of the airport was kind of that one thing that just we didn't really put too much money into for a very long time until we needed to and now we're realizing we're trying to catch up to where we should have been a couple years ago uh and if there's any questions the director and I are happy to answer those I said a couple with the Telecommunications line vehicle supplies line a vehicle supplies line item um those seems historically have been higher than what's budgeted I is that's something that's going to a b made up for later on well it's probably something we'll take a look at when we do the supplemental budget but the city auditor B did that based off of trends that we have right now and spending Trends um this isn't the only Department that telecommunications uh was one of those that was reduced and probably we're going to just monitor throughout the fiscal year okay I just want to commend you for going after people who you know were past due and their rent for their hangers and stuff and that's um long overdue and it's it's too bad that it it went on so long I mean you know 20 years um you know and and stuff and I I just want to commend you for everything that you've done working I mean I want I don't want to say working being paid part-time and doing a full-time job for everything you've done to get the grants and to redo the building you know in down at the airport we met there for you know our last meeting and I was really impressed ress cuz I saw it before um and the you know all the applications and everything that you've done and you know getting you know free equipment like a snowblower and I I really commend you and I really appreciate all the work you're putting in and I agree with the mayor that I mean you know if if the funds are there it should be a full-time position and hopefully that will happen in the future it should be yeah there really should be um a person there all the time and um for people coming in airplanes coming in and also for safety you know just uh to be able to call someone uh you know if if if something happens or or whatever and um if I could just say about the repairs we've done quite a bit but there's still quite a bit to do you know we want to uh we want to paint the outside of the building as you know it's metal and it's rusting and we we'd like to you know get that finished too and all the trim around the windows is rotted that has to be removed and put back um and painting right now was $75 again that's a very big task but um I I did share and I mentioned this to you before I did share it with the um Building Commissioner but um and the purchasing director the contact person when we had our mon Tech budget committee meeting he did say the superintendent to reach out to him in um he would look at doing some projects within the city of Gardner so maybe the window repair and stuff like that um wherever we can can seek out some some volunteer assistance might be helpful um and I think the airport would be a great place to start um so um but um I do you know the airport and the activities that you want to offer I mean as I said I'm dating myself but growing up the the airport was a very busy place for us to go down and and see things and I I would like to see that happen again yes and it could be a revenue maker for the city um the rents are low the lowest all around the area they could be raised you know we don't want to gouge people because it's a municipal airport but on the other hand um we don't want people to just store airplanes and things there we want them to actually use them in activity to be going on and uh so it could be a big Revenue maker for the city if we you know lifted it up a little and that takes time and effort to do exactly coun Brooks uh yes I I think that the airport can be a good asset for the city I think the challenge is in making it uh making the community feel like it's important um my experience maybe here but and and also in pitchburg is that in some respects the airport was considered a club and it was for a select group of people who had ples and so on and so on and I think the challenge in getting more money in a time when when money is going to be tight money is going to be tight for the next few years but to to have it is is to give the community a reason for putting money into it yep and it's not just about sh things that we can look at and we can't use but um having something that the community uh that builds a community and adds to the community thank you okay nothing else nothing else thank you thank you cable TV Mr JY good morning so uh as of the other departments the 3% cost living adjustment for the non-un employees that's all three employees in this department uh this is not an Enterprise account but it's a reserve account uh meaning that it's paid for by a fee that's attached on the bills of everyone who has a Comcast cable subscription in the city that money comes into the city it's put in a reserve account can only be used for funding cable operations uh and then anything they don't use falls back into the reserve account why it's they don't just call it an Enterprise account like basically what it is uh is state law um um but uh it is set it's set up the way it's set up uh that this is what we believe the operations of the department should be uh moving forward uh the director's narratives there uh it's pretty much a simple budget compared to how things have been in the past uh and the programming that GV has been doing has just continued to grow um and I'm very H very happy with the work that uh director JY and his team have been doing uh in getting the information out there to the public it's really been helpful I had no questions I had no questions I just thank you for all your programming love the increased of the winter sports broadcasting um and and everything your your um department does um I think you know um The Hub conference from wiring was a great is a great idea I don't know you know how extensive that would be but yeah I I I would have to get a quote on that when it comes through that's my future plan like if if we had had you know unlimited money that would have been a project cuz I do estimate that it would probably be around 40 50,000 cuz running the fiber through this building to run the cameras would be uh it was hard enough to get this one room rewired with the fiber so just cross through the spaces yeah what we're what I was thinking of doing was actually just building out the cameras there where there's a plugin for for the system out where it's in the hallway instead of having to run all the stuff on the floor but that's that's something we're definitely I'm going to over the next year I'm going to be looking at and and if we can we'll come back the next year if the monies are good we'll we'll move forward with that um one of the things I did want to point out that the mayor and I had looked at in the budget is the longevity account um I had put in one amount um and then the mayor had boosted it up and there was a little confusion we had had y um in Communications that the mayor thought I had left out a person and unfortunately this past year we Matt had moved on to another directorship of another station um very happy with the person uh shanee Brown that we have now he he's uh he's very good he's the one who's actually real gunhoo to get Sports going the plan is uh fall Sports as well football and soccer and things that are played on Watkins field um to be able to do that's where the 10,000 in the budget is hopefully going to buy a a new mini system for him to have at the school to be able to go out and do those Productions um as you notice we cut the budget U by $10,000 for the new equipment this year yeah um and uh actually we're currently looking at one thing we're actually trying it out for the Relay for Life we were lucky a a company that's over in devons called comrax is a Communications point-to-point Communications they use it for broadcasting from like the from the camera to the satellite trucks um to be able to have a thing mounted in our Rack in our TV station where we'll be able to broadcast where we have Internet um you know depending on the situation and one of the things we looked at was whether or not you know nothing's for sure yet because we don't own it but uh to be helps with Relay for Life it'll help with sports if we decide to go live with them down the road graduations help with graduate well we might even try that this year I don't know it depends on how a couple things work out with testing um and the other thing is it has the advantage that it has um as long as we have SIM cards um that it can actually be used on a cellular network back to the thing it is about $117,000 system to to purchase so that is not in this budget at this point I do have funds left in my new equipment budget this year and I'm trying to get it if we like how it is when we test it we may try to move forward with that before the end of this budget year um even if we have to buy the two main units and then go back and buy the cell components later so we're trying to improve where we can shoot from live as you read in the narrative too and as I've done with the other departments in all the Committees about where we could be working towards of some type of long-term plan understanding that we do have to live within our means and can only do we can with the money that we have um one of the things that the director Jos and I have talked about is the production Productions assistant line item right now it's a part-time position uh because again it's paid for only out of the cable funds uh so if you look at the meetings that are covered by GV are those meetings that are broadcasted on cable because we can't use their staff to film something that's then not put on the cable TV show because then they're doing non-cable work on the cable subscribers dime for to benefit those that don't have a cable subscription uh so what we could do in the long term is see if we can uh subsidize a some of that with City funds to make that a full-time position that way that uh person in the department could do both City work and cable work and whether it's a meeting like this that's not going to air on the GV station but it's something that does get brought uh you know posted on the city's YouTube channel or in other means that way we can record those meetings that way but it's something we just simply can't do right now under the Emerson case and the other different regulations that control how you can use certain funds funds and you can't take cable funds to benefit non-cable users if it doesn't also benefit those cable users at the same time and the other thing that the mayor and I have been working on in conjunction with Comcast is uh the possibility of another channel that would be run by GV the college has their Channel um and then there's the possibility of a second Channel coming along um and if that was the case then we would definitely we' probably be building that channel into our strictly government Channel um separate the government the school and the local activities and at that point then we would really seriously need to talk about GV picking up a full that full person uh because we would be doing more meetings like these to be able to put on television if you picked up another channel would they give you more funding it does not it still is the same bills we have to operate you know we're still only getting the return and as people cut start to cut the cord we have not really seen the hitting it yet here yeah um but as people start to cut the cord and go to strictly streaming we do not get any part of uh internet revenues so it's strictly cable Revenue so as people cut the cord there's eventually will be less funding um for us but I have tried very hard in my you know couple decades of being here is to not over budget where we are um so that I could always leave money every year for continuing down the road so I was going to say that's a long-term dilemma for this operation is that is that as the people get off the cable and more fees collected for less there's actually a bill that's being worked on by mass access and and a few other organizations that do local access television um to petition uh for a bill for the state to actually include the internet charges um because of the streaming services because there are ways that I could probably with the right funding get stuff on if we had to go strictly internet based we could do that besides just YouTube um so I'm just want you to know where the situation is and the the revenue answer is going to come out of Boston it's not going to come correct correct correct it has to be changed in a lot the only other thing I is you noted that reconnecting with the school um for the and having students so so over the last few years uh I used to be a part-time co- teer um probably about 2 hours 3 hours of my day was spent in the uh in the classroom I used to have a coach teacher Mark kobal when the mayor was a student we used to do it um and unfortunately because of numbers of students signing up for the class instead of having a a 15 person number for the class we had 10 the class ended up being cut um and it just is never come back but uh principal buer and I have a pretty good working relationship and we were actually just talking about we've been talking about starting up some type of Club especially if Shane is going to start producing more and more Sports yeah do these cannot Sports aren't good to be done on robotic cameras they can't they don't move fast enough to stay with sports you need someone on a camera um so that's what he's hoping between using Andy and anytime he has left from his shooting meetings at night um to being able to get some students involved and teach them because we have a number of students that we worked with in the past who have gone on to work in the field and had very successful careers one of them is my biggest one who never even took the class but came and volunteered was Nate Haney who's over at Mount Wat had a career with ESPN andess and been on the sideline for Super Bowls had friends who I believe years ago the90s and they've been you know for the Red Sox and I think Chris jard up at the mountain as well was part of the program so councelor P Council W's uh son Brian went did work with us produced something for us during the summertime and then um went on to work and he works as an editor and and stuff in New York City now and and another one ended up going into Silicone Valley um um but he has learned how to be able to program for video with the stuff that he was doing one went on to be PR for the Red Sox um so you know I think it's it was an important class so we're trying to bring something back and if not at least get some type of club that that be great that works with it yeah thank you thank you thank you than you appreciate you yeah I'm going to move zba down to when we do planning board if that's sure all right um yeah veterans we'll do I'm going to do let the people here go first man and then we'll do green with Po and the rest of the all right y she's good morning good morning uh you'll see the budget here is pretty much level funded for last year aside from the 3% cost of living adjustment for uh the non-union staff uh the veterans benefit line item is one that we're going to be monitoring throughout the course of the fiscal year uh we're monitoring it currently for this fiscal year too um to see if there's any additional funds that have to be added there um that's one you never really know with what comes up each individual year because there's certain things that if a veteran who's a client uh makes more money due to certain reasons then they become ineligible for benefits but if they also go on VA benefits you can't double dip and VA benefits technically give more than ours so there's certain things there that we monitor throughout so that is a you know just something that we're going to continue to monitor to see how much we need um throughout the course of the year um and I'm sure director gabrilla uh can help explain anything else you have her narrative that's also in there that answers a lot of questions about what the operations of the department are like um as you all know we are unfortunately losing uh director gabrilla who soon be Deputy I there's too many words from there's so many it's deputy chief engagement officer for peer support and Outreach for the the real mouth for the Secretariat of Veterans Affairs at the new uh Governor's cabinet level uh Secretariat that was created so she'll be working for the Commonwealth uh assistant director hasselman has accepted the position of director uh so he'll be taking over on June 1st and we're going to be posting the assistant director of veteran services that director uh the both the director and the assistant director position by state law are required to be veterans themselves um and there's certain trainings that have to go with the positions too but I believe director hasselman will do fine in the job because director gabilla has really set the stage for a very successful Department um just done fantastic job in this role we are going to miss you thank you congratulations on your new uh new position of the state um the only question I have um is about the veteran benefits um my understanding is right that line item is for the our City veterans and not for the not for the the regional right the regional the other communities that's in that budget right so we have a separate budget for each Community that's in our district um with that town so um this veteran benefits is only just for gner thank you reason being is the reimbursement we receive comes through the cherry sheet process through the state budget um we get 75% back of what we spend on those uh so that goes directly to the community so that each Community will budget that in their own budget for their share of that cost uh the Veterans office here just helps manage and submit the bills for those departments okay thank you and and those communities pay us for the administrative support yes so the three s there's three three people in the office and the salaries are here that's 100% of the salaries yes and the other communities don't pay any of that salary directly they pay it through the city guard correct but the money that we getting from the other municipalities does not go towards these three salaries we did we have not increased these three salaries with the extra work that they're doing correct that's something that we need which is the problem which is the problem question which which is is was fearful of why we'd be losing such an excellent veterans director is because we're not paying them enough and um and I think the salary survey just supported that she's the lowest paid person I believe in City Hall and um for departments for the Departments and um and and and it's true I think we have to look if we're going to have these agreements with other municipalities that the people who are taking on the work need to be compensated appropriately um but your narrative was fabulous about the increased amount of veterans claims that your your department is doing it just supports the need of you know not only the services of the veterans depart you know agency and department for services but um you know how valuable um it is to have you know confident people in that department and you know and what the needs of um our area veterans are but I just I I can't say enough of you know um in your brief time here how much you've done and and how much you know we appreciate your efforts um and that we need to continue to you know to fund our veterans department and um and in in in many Department roles consistency is important but I think with veterans and you know what they've experienced to they form a relationship with the people in your department and as they're starting their claims and and they they form an attachment um that I think this is one Department that we need to be aware of that we need to to to you know get people who are going to want to stay and be able to stay so that they can um they can afford to live so um but I thank you for your service and your your budget as I said was very well done thank you thank anybody else any else thank you so much I'd also like just like to say that um Corey has my full confidence in this position and I think he's going to be phenomenal we're very fortunate he's choosing to stay yes we are very lucky and don't forget us yeah no not at all you guys are stuck with me forever now [Applause] so I was CBA is a building commission yes Building Commissioner good morning Tom good morning Madam chair counil morning morning um this is pretty much a flatline budget from last year um unlike the other cost of living adjustments this one the uh the board and commission salaries are set by a different portion of the compensation ordinance um you'll notice that the electeds are uh exhibits a b and d and the non-un employees are exhibit e uh the Commissioners in exhibit D I had to think of uh C excuse me the letter that I missed um so there's hasn't been a change to that in a couple years and everything else is pretty much flatlined or uh if there were any reductions uh with it was by $100 it's based off of current spending [Applause] Trends and then there would be an adjustment if we raised if we raise that rate in the sa in that ordinance or raise raise the number of people on the board from three to there would be yes from 3 to five yeah but this is this is based on three that's based on three we put up a supplemental budget if that ordinance passes but we have to fund what the ordinance is currently at yeah but it was it's it's a minimal change very minimal very minimal I think it's it is I I would say i' say it's it's a fairly minimal change uh as mayor stated currently um we're budgeted for um the board uh both full-time members and Alternate members at $22,900 um I'm hopeful that uh we'll move Council will will vote on the second second round we'll go to Second printing for the additional two members we'll have to do a supplemental budget for an additional $1,500 uh to cover their salaries um the overall spending Trend that we have for professional development travel is is down um it's where you see the reduction of $100 um our office supplies tend to be fairly low as well um if we increase the the two members we'll have to look at um providing training for them as well I'm confident that we can use that existing funds between both of those line items uh to provide the appropriate training to to the board members uh the communications historically goes over budget uh we've been last several fiscal years we budgeted it at $33,000 FY 23 we spent $541 um that is a difficult line item to to fund in general um simply because we don't know how many cases we'll have so it can fluctuate um pretty drastically throughout the year think of the advertising the the ad it does it pay for the advertising and you know common common theme that you're hearing from from all departments is costs have gone up um costs for advertising have gone up uh again and for everything that we spend spend money on they go up um but we've always had money that we've been able to move and and you know supplement that account at the end of the fiscal year uh members get paid a stifen of $750 a year so that would be the increase would be for two members that way the chair gets compensated $1,000 and the alternates get compensated at $200 my only question was about the addition of two so was had nothing else um I just have a question on your wish list proposal for New City Hall like equipment for 25,000 can you give me an example of what a wish list item would be so for City Hall equipment um under 25,000 so uh which list would be uh additional roof repairs um upgrades to heating systems uh we've done some upgrades in City Hall Annex um we also have to look at we have an extremely dated heating system here in the main building uh so we have to look at uh how we're going to address that air conditioning Etc oh okay I have no other questions all right thank you planning board good morning good morning morning um you'll notice that this is pretty much Flatline from last year the agents salary and wages is split between planning board and Conservation Commission uh that's a 3% cost of living adjustment for that position just like all other non-un employees the board's salary and wages is set like Again by that other the ordinance that's there uh so that hasn't had a change so that is Flatline from last year uh reduction in repairs and maintenance uh just based off of current spending Trends uh same thing with professional development and travel by $6 um just to I guess a little bit here a little bit we we said we were going to cut 3% of all on salary from um each department and that's where that came from with a small budget like this it a couple dollars here and there but Happ answer about ni and Diamond the planning planning agent is that a part-time position full time it's fulltime it's combined with the conservation agent so okay split between conservation and planning corre 50% here 50% there any questions I didn't have any question I didn't have any questions do you have any questions on this well very straight forward it was very straightforward all right thank you great thank you appreciate you um so we'll go back up to Greenwood pool yep okay uh you'll notice some changes here just based off of minimum wage Trends um the reduction in the part-time lifeguards salary and wages is based off of our current Staffing levels uh and what we have here the request was to add a couple more lifeguards based off of what we're seeing in terms of demand for use of the pool and what our staffle levels are this is more realistic for what we actually have and have been spending based off of our historical Trends uh you'll see in fiscal 24 we really only spent $34,000 uh on salaries at the for lifeguards um everything else is pretty much level funded from last year or it follows uh the spending trends that we have minor equipment we just replaced that filter so there's less repairs that need to be made that's why that had a small decrease of 200 you $250 uh aside from that uh things are again just following the trends that we currently have um I just had a couple questions um with the you talked about the lifeguards and stuff um is there going to be any possibility of increasing any pool hours on weekends uh probably not in this budget but it is something that we're looking at for next year's um one of the reasons is not in this budget aside from funding is that the demolition of the pool we're still waiting for that funding from the Commonwealth right now so we don't know if it's going to be happening yet um when it does one of the things we're going to have to weigh out is do we demo the building during the summer or do we wait until after the swimming season is done um so it's one of those that we have to weigh out to see if there's going to be any impacts in terms of uh dust and debris and just general construction and noises with people who are utilizing the pool so it's one of those we have to uh weigh out there so that's why we didn't really look at any hours changes this summer but it's probably going to be something we're looking at uh in the longer term because it is a service that we do provide for the city as this is May is it realistic to think that the demolition could occur before in August in August okay and I think and I think boys would just love to be standing at the pool watching the building come down yeah having been one yeah um my other question which I I had brought this up to you last year is um I think um besides the overall condition of the upside buildings which I know is being looked at with the capital Improvement fund to me that I think is a priority because they are just falling apart um and but the outside the storage of the chemicals yes um last year when I did a tour they were actually sticking outside of a building a garage with one of those flimsy um orange fences around here um you know I I also think that the city needs to be looking at a separate shed or some better way of storing them because it's not safe it's it's not the way they should be stored especially with the amount of people around there it's towards the splash park um and so I just you know whether it's however it has to be done whether it has to be you know um a separate shed has to be purchased or something that that's the securing of the chemicals um as well as the overall pool maintenance is something that needs to become more of a to me is a priority even the cleaning of the bathrooms and stuff um um because it is I don't wanted to see it get in any worse shape than it already is in because it's not right now I went by last night even like the outside it's just it just doesn't look good and it's just we it it it just really needs some some attention and um so whether it be extending the hours or just you know going in you know um we have a lot of volunteers to do a lot of things um and even you know if that if that has to be something that has to be concentrated on but right now it really needs some Focus um but that's that's just my concern because I don't want to see anything worse happen to our to the the asset of the pool that we have yeah um biggest question we get every year the repairs have been made at the splash park it is scheduled to be open this year yeah great I had no other questions thank you all right so we'll go right into the disabilities commission which is Falls on under the same offices right now correct yes okay uh per the city ordinances this does fall under the human resources department it's actually both in the job description that the council had approved back several years ago for the position of HR director that uh that position is the city's Ada coordinator so that would require an ordinance change and a vote to change the job description of the council if that was to be done uh but as probably one of the biggest budgets we have in the uh City's budget here at $500 total uh with 200 uh 250,00 excuse me $250 got to get used to that in these budgets for professional development travel and $250 for office supplies really hasn't been much that's been spent out of these traditionally but it's small enough that we didn't make any cuts to this department um I have no questions I just think it's important for people to realize uh who may be watching this meeting that we do have a new human resource director um who's new to this position Amanda Morris and so the disabilities commission you know has not met in quite a while um and they do have a commission now so has she gets her feet on the ground hopefully they'll be um meeting shortly um so uh it is an important commission to the city um and um they do have value so hopefully they'll be reorganizing soon this budget and I was just going to say the reason you you do the smaller small amount is just as the placeholder to say it's okay there's a little bit of money there it's okay to spend if we need to spend if they come back and and there's a couple of commissions like this if they would come back and say well we have this bigger project we want money we deal with those issues but but a little if you budget it at zero then they can't spend it all which means we would have to they would have to get an appropriation to BU letter it yeah which do make sense y I'm all right with this thank you uh the next one is Recreation Department thank you uh very much Madam chair uh so the recreation department is the biggest increase that we have in the city's budget this year mainly due to increased Staffing levels for the Department uh you'll see uh in the information that's provided uh that really is based off of the trends that we have in current enrollment in our uh City's Recreation Department the uh Staffing levels that you see there add additional staff because now we have uh enough uh I guess participants in the city summer camp program that we have two sites one at Garden high school and one at Gardner Elementary School that way they can meet at the athletic field in the middle uh for their programming uh we also have enough that so that excuse me that means we have to require two different site managers one for the high school and one for uh Gardner Elementary School and additional staff at both because we have close to 300 kids participating in the program so you have to have a certain ratio of number of students per staff members just for general terms uh one of the additional things that's added this year is a part-time nurse reason being for that is last year we ran into issues where a parent would drop off off a student be like oh well here's my student's EpiPen here's the medications they have to take for their allergies and without a nurse on site we cannot administer medication to a student one because of our liability insurance but two then it's on the city if the student doesn't take the medication or it's taken wrong or we can't find it and things of that nature so there's a part-time nurse in there and then the administrative assistant that you see in the narrative is not a clerical staff member it's actually additional student AED counselor who's learning how to basically process paperwork and work on time sheets and things like that for the other counselors that are there uh so I guess I it's more business and administrative training for a counselor if you would say and just giving a fancy title to a student intern uh who's going to be helping out with the recreation department over the summer but this is the biggest increase this is a department we actually even cut uh and the main reason for that is we have to meet those minimum Staffing ratios for student to staff any questions have any questions no no you know I think we had a presentation earlier this year with from Mr for yeah on on what he had done and what he was planning to do I was impressed I was not aware of all that's going on and I think this this I think that the mayor is right in that this is something that um has potential and we need to spend a little more money on it to make it make it work it's for the Youth in this community and and uh should be done so I'm I have no questions just a one of the few programs that we offer to our our youth and it's a great summer program that replaces our playground program that we had decades ago uh when when some of us are growing up and it's much needed um and I he hear nothing but great things and I have to preface by saying it's not just an athletic program there are many teachers that volunteer and do different programs they do a stem project they do arts projects they do um music things so it's not just athletic focused um and they also receive meals during the this program they breakfast and lunch um so it's money extremely well appropriated and um I commend director Fort and his staff for everything they do for this program um so and I have no further questions we pay I me it's going to pay dividends going forward it's keeping kids active and S a community here in Gardner um as I always State we talk about the recreation department it's close to my heart um with my grandfather being the recreation director in town many years ago um and director for has done a fantastic job in creating these programs expanding offerings um whether it's the summer program or it's the um weekly athletic programs um Council Mac mentioned you know it's not just Sports though during the summer there's you know things like that you know they're they're running Gardens as well they're doing nature walks over at duns and um learning about um doing science type activities so um I can't say enough about the program and I hope to hopefully we continue to fund it and expand it I will say just as a clerical note um the way these departments are split up is actually done by the council rules that each uh Department falls under each you know different committee uh Recreation is one that's actually cross-listed under both public service and public welfare mainly because we changed it this year in the budget to reflect a different name um that there was a recreation and then Municipal Recreation and historical butd that's why you see now parks and playgrounds replac the other Recreation line item in the budget to try to clarify but that wasn't changed in the council rules because that's a a council prerogative where the budget's a executive prerogative so I think that's something that might need to be looked at just for clarification sake uh if the rules ever get amended or looked at uh in the long run uh but that's why it's in there twice uh is because the DPW before we had the recreation department had a recreation subset which is where they made all the improvements to the different parks and playgrounds and Christmas lights and everything else throughout the city that um we changed it in the budget document that I think it needs to be just change other places as a housekeeping matter thank you um I do want to mention when we did meet um at the library and um director Fort was there one of the suggestions I made is um when I was growing up under Council Journal 's grandfather's um Recreation program that we did do field trips it was the first time you know you went to fway park and things I did make a suggestion that through the um Williams Rockwell trust that he possibly put in and thing maybe take a group of the older kids on a like to grow socks or something not all the younger kids but some of the older ones and put in for some money because the one thing I found in in especially being a teacher some of these kids it's really exciting to get them out of gardener for the first time and to get them to other things and I think that's one of the things that that those funds are for um and it doesn't have to be the the entire group of 400 but just something especially to um to you know they like it's kind of like that Disney trip for the you know those once every four years for those kids to work towards for their last year of of summer camp um so I just I just wanted to um mention that um while you mentioned fway Park just to throw that plug out there that on Saturday July 6th at 4 p.m. is the gardener Fitchburg lemster takeover day of Polar Park in Worcester for the WX uh so we are having a special Garden uh City day down there too so that might be something we work into it but we're still working out the logistics potentially on that great you know so um the next we'll just fall into is the youth commission um which really doesn't it's is down as a, budget yes it's a we're hoping I'm I'm working with getting some people as applicants for the Youth commission this year it's I don't know why this has been one of the ones it's almost like pulling teeth to try to get things going um but um movies in the park is something that they used to do I'd love to see that back especially now that we have the new projector and sound system in Perry Auditorium that we have a rain location for a movie in the park if we can't go in the park because it's there um so there's certain things that we are looking at what used to be paid for out of this is the rights to the movies that we show um and different other programming that could be done through the youth commission uh so that's something that we're going to be looking at in the current fiscal year but just like the disability commission we have to put a little seed money into it too so that we have some money there so that if these programs do start up again we don't have to come back and ask for an appropriation for every nickel and dime that get spent for that purpose great no I think it's I I I'm glad to see still see it there and I would love to also um because per Auditorium does give you an option if it was the itrain or something um but I'd honestly love to see a like around the holiday times some type of like Christmas movie just as a family event in Perry Auditorium where the gardener Cinemas already does the Polar Express for their showings can we do something like that here just something like that just get something going so that you know families have something to do and for their younger children in the area um historic commission um again um it's just a line item of office supplies yeah there again just to keep things uh going they are getting more active uh now particularly with the New Waterford Community Center seeing if they can create an archive mainly because we needed a place to put all the garden News archives uh former mayor former city clerk Alan Elli have been extremely involved in that uh Mr Elli has a plan to do a full database on the historical artifacts that we have for the city uh and once that's set up not just the garden News archives going through the vaults here that are already overcrowded in City Hall to see what documents could be moved to locations to one free up space for the city park but two find documents that we don't even know that we have in this building uh so it's going to be one of those I think it's going to be something that in the greater expenses they'll probably come back for a onetime capital expense where shelving or something like that once they're there but they're not at that point yet so we're just maintaining the budget what it is and then we come back for uh some type of either free cash appropriation or something like that for those one time of cost expenses um and I just want to mention because I did mention this to director Davis for the airport um there and this was just survival at the school department um at the high school when we ever needed a conference table or chairs we tapped into businesses that were either replacing their um their furniture or businesses that were relocating um and that's where we got all our free furniture um cuz we couldn't afford Stables um they're very expensive um so I I did ask her to you know kind of put out a plea out there because a lot of these Banks and and companies um are are replacing things filing cabinets and stuff and they're they're looking to get rid of things then you know give things away and that's a great way to get shelving filing cabinets um and things because she was looking for a conference table down for the um airport um and free is great um and uh you know we can always find people with pickup trucks stuff to go pick things up and same thing with anything at the senior center um you know there you know we were very when Simplex closed it was like a gold mine of of office equipment um you know and there used to be a used office furniture store up in in in Jaffrey where we used to get a lot of things as well um but I just want to put that out there that um if anybody's looking to get rid of things there's a lot of offices within the city that or you know or or departments or the senior center that could make use of gently used office equipment and Furniture um and that would be put to Great use um so um don't ever throw something out that could possibly be refurbished um lastly I just want to include this because it was in our welfare commission budget is we did receive a copy of the Bon Tech budget um which is pretty much for information purposes only but it was part of our packet um we we did have a presentation uh from Monte Tech in March on on March 26 I believe um and it was presented by uh superintendent um uh Tom Brown and the um business uh manager um Tammy case and I just want to make sure that you know that it is part of the welfare department um and this will is available online if anybody's interested in it um as well so um other than that if anybody has anything further uh just because the school department also falls under the welfare committee I just want to throw this out there as well I know we had the school budget presentation earlier this week uh one of the things that we talked about there was how other districts across the Commonwealth are feeling the heat of increased cost of Education uh from increases in minimum net School spending as a result of the student Opportunity Act to other different cost increases that are there uh since that presentation that we had the town of Oxbridge and the town of winchington have both had their annual Town meetings where they voted to not appropriate the funding for the school department for the next fiscal year so those two municipalities uh if you go on the news are now facing not just layoffs but trying to figure out how to fund the schools completely in the next school year because they just voted no on the school budgets that are there so now the those two towns are trying to scramble though that's just a small snippet of the picture that's happening that other places in the state that again we aren't having here in Garder because we were able to plan for that that doesn't mean our costs aren't going up that doesn't mean that uh expenses aren't there for us to pay for but I mean the the headline for Oxbridge yesterday was that they're laying off all School Employees unless they find something but Massachusetts has a thing in the constitution for the Commonwealth that students are entitled to a free public education so they're really scrambling to find that there um as are several other communities in Massachusetts so while we are you know cautiously optimistic for the year that is something that we're going to be having to continue to look at moving forward as cost increase and minim minimum required spending goes up uh that it's something that we look at in the long run and I think it's important that that was we were presented a level Services budget correct um because the school department is still in contract negotiations correct so the actual budget amount is still not set that is correct and the C and people need to be aware of that that it's still is being negotiated that's all I have thank you you absolutely can come on up I got halfway to my office and realized gosh I had more I had more I had clarification um so a couple things I know that we're I I heard you uh referen the the pool uh we have some building code has some guidelines for storage of chemicals and Equipment um whoever the pool director is or whoever that's going to fall under um we will absolutely work on trying to square that facility away and do it with with the minimal cost um so any assistance that the building department can provide to to other City departments um we're willing to do so um you had a question about a wish list item of $25,000 um for City Hall so in addition to some heating systems um we're all fully aware that um the DPW is understaffed uh by 14 employees is is what what the last number that I heard um DPW currently provides exterior maintenance of city hall for us um specifically to the grounds whether it's mowing grass sharing of the shrubs plowing the snow um the in addition to heating systems and interior uh costs there there is a uh specific piece of equipment that we would like to buy um there's ongoing talks every ongoing talks about potentially adding um cust a third uh custodian that can possibly handle the exterior grounds um what specifically that looks like um we're still in the beginning stages of that if we were able to acquire um uh and again there are multiple manufacturers that can that we can use a multi-purpose piece of equipment that would allow us to do several things it would allow us to clean up the snow um around the entrances and around the parking areas uh it would allow us to also um plow the front sidewalks and walkways uh so when we get that real heavy wet snow we can we can better care for the sidewalks for the entranceways um being a multi-purpose unit it would also allow us to to do all of our own lawn maintenance um when DPW comes here they spend several hours here a week uh so it really does uh put an extensive burden on their resources those resources could be better used elsewhere in the city if we can handle all that maintenance in house uh I I think it's going to be beneficial to the city overall um one of the things that uh commissioner zupa uh brought up that I feel like is also worth mentioning you heard me say earlier that you know an aspect was in the job description and ordinance change change to the job description would have to be made uh one of the items that's currently been referred to finance committee uh was a change to the um part one of the city code the administrative legislation that is the section of the city code that currently controls all departments and boards and commissions of the city in some departments the department head's job description is codified in ordinance uh in other departments it's not it just says the director uh position exists please see job description on file with the Human Resources Director and on better Le language than how I just Cliff noted it right now um one of the things we like to do is get the job descriptions out of the ordinance that way we have more flexibility right now because if we were to move to change who oversees the greenard pool which right now is the Human Resources Director it would require an ordinance change if we were to not and then a vote of the city council to change the job description because there's also an ordinance that says the city council has to approve job descriptions in the city uh so it's one of those things that that ordinance that's there is to clean things up and not just make it more easy to find things by putting all departments in one chapter and making Department sections of that chapter same things with the boards of commissions but also clean up and make things a lot more efficient for us to be able to handle the day-to-day operations by taking set job descriptions that were made in the early 2000s out of the ordinance code itself and making it so that we can make those changes uh rather than having to go through a full two vote process for an ordinance change and then come back for a third vote for the changing the job description to mirror the vote that was just done to change the ordinance um just coming up with the job descriptions and having those be a simple um I guess more streamlined vote with the council process so that's one of the things that reasons why that larger ordinance amendment has been put forward can I just ask about so winter maintenance um so the custodial staff of City Hall yes do they shovel the steps salt they do yeah so we have you don't have a snowblower we we have a snowblower yeah so so we have a maintenance supervisor and then a custodian so um both of them and they're also now um doing more down at Waterford Street school so our maintenance supervisor is now essentially the the clerk of the works for for Waterford street so he's um kind of The Keeper of the keys he's allowing the contractors in those coordinations are going through him um fantastic job Phil is doing a wonderful job with that um what they do is they have a snowball so they're on call um they come in they do all the snow removal um the the main thing that they don't do is all the the lawn care and and maintenance so they also perform basic maintenance stud inside City Hall so General custodial work um some maintenance stuff that falls W within their scope anything major we usually use contractors um we have a snowblower again snow blowers depending on the type of snow you get really should be plowed in instead of instead of snow blowed and if we can have a multi-purpose machine that allows them to plow snow blow and mow The Lawns um it it's going to increase safety around city hall in general and a lot and again aot want to do everything here and decrease the burden on on another city Department the way it was described to me as the history major who went to law school and this goes over his head it's as a tracted with a bunch of different attachments on it depending on what we're looking at esss yeah yeah thank you that's support to yes thank you all right thank you thank you take care anything else anything else I have nothing else move to journe Second all those in favor I I I thank you very very much thank you John thank you I just