##VIDEO ID:3cBU9rUTkpE## [Music] so it is um 601 we do have a quarum um couple of housekeeping items so this is the meeting of the Halifax finance committee it is being recorded by area 58 the committee members and attendance are Cheryl Burke Mike Bennett Frank Johnston Mike Retta and myself uh also Caitlyn esito as the secretary um all votes will be done by roll call as this is a video call and the recording will later be available on area 58 uh and it's Halifax Channel okay so uh just to kind of kick us off I want to say again I appreciate everybody's flexibility this week for moving it a day or two in uh and I appreciate everybody jumping on on such short notice so thank you very much um and we'll just Cody oh you look like you were going to say something that's all oh no sorry that's all right um so we'll just get right into the agenda items so our first agenda item is the approval of the finance committee committee meeting minutes from the 18th um they uh were sent out uh I think over the weekend for everybody to have a chance to review them if everyone's had a chance to read through them uh and if if there are any desired ads deletions or changes that would like to be done look good to me Jim yeah good okay I have a motion to approve the minutes from 11 thank you Cheryl roll call vote Cheryl yes Mike yes Frank yes for the minutes on 11:18 2024 very good Mike yes thank you sir and I'm a yes also so those all in favor and that will move those minutes are approved okay uh on to the second item so we were supposed to talk to uh Steve um but because we missed the Monday meeting um he can't make it this evening because he had other things planned obviously holidays and other items that he has that he wants to attend to so we are going to pencil him in for January 6th at this point which will be the first Monday back after the New Year um and uh you know we'll have him in to kind of chat about some of the items on his uh in his budget anybody have any questions no nope no good to go on that Jim Well we I'm just going to keep chasing that until we get the answ that we're looking for that's really all can do it's coming it's coming it was Christmas it's like a Christmas present meeting Steve actually Christmas is closer than the meeting with Steve yeah all right um okay so that's our second agenda item on to our third which is a review of the special town meeting articles um we put this in Frank you had brought it up at the last meeting to have this uh agenda item on here um so they uh I believe everybody should have received theirs in the mail I know I downloaded and printed mine once it was public uh and I did get mine in the mailbox I think Monday Monday afternoon so um I I have one question if if you guys don't mind me starting so and it's not really on the nbe articles I think we've beaten that horse a number of times um it's the it's the personal watercraft one I found a little bit curious now that's obviously you know somebody collected some signatures and this is what they want to do so the the only question that I have is if I'm a resident and I own a house on the lake and I have a personal watercraft I can't launch it from the back of my property how it's written right think the the way it's written it says shall only be launched from the two town-owned Town own boat ramps that makes no sense I I I tend to think that they they meant the only public places where it should be launched are from the town boat ramps but but again that's that's not what it says um yeah we've gotten a few questions on that and we have a a town meeting hopefully the um the individual that presented this to to us is there and able to answer that type of question yeah because I just thought that was a little odd and the only other thing I think on that from my just my opinion is I think instead of saying that the whatever sticker they get needs to be displayed it should be affixed to the device not just displayed on it yeah you know because I could buy a sticker and move it from one boat to another to another to another and as long as it's displayed then I'm I'm following the rules just my thought I'll open the floor for other question from a Reven standpoint to the town I'll I'll address this I believe probably to Cody um what's the fee going to be set out on those watercraft on an annualized basis you know I'm not sure Frank I mean to be frank with you um I I honestly don't know how we if this passes I don't know how we enforce it right we we don't have a police boat um we don't have I mean you guys know we don't have the financial flexibility within our budget to staff specific details right to enforce something like this at the ponds um that's kind of the biggest issue but then also there comes the concern of you know now you're talking about running a a program where you have to get stickers it doesn't sound like a lot but you know they say out of the police department okay so again that there's a monetary value to that we have to purchase the stickers who's going to actually process these you know my thought initially would be for us to put them on our online system we have a great online system that we could put them on there um and it require everyone to submit it on there which helps to some extent but then you still need someone to review those online make sure that you know they are a resident and then get those stickers out um and then I'm not super familiar with watercraft registration but how do you how do you confirm if we give them a sticker like Jim said to to put on their personal watercraft um how do we know it gets on to the one that they've that's theirs right so if they request one as a resident we we give it to them um I guess if we got their a copy of their registration like we would do with a vehicle you know if we were to do it with a vehicle i' okay you need to submit a copy of your registration and then your sticker number would correspond with your license plate that's way that way there you can't switch it right so we we probably have to look through something like that with a watercraft but again now this is all it's not just handing these things out someone is having to review these make sure that they're a reg uh a resident of Halifax reviewing the personal watercraft registration and then assigning a sticker number and then either letting people know these are available or mailing them out um so it's it there's some concerns on our end um if it does pass but those are the two two biggest ones just enforceability and then how we implement this without additional Staffing you know the cost of the stickers it's minimal I mean a couple a dollar or two per sticker but the the the time depending on the volume of these could be could be large and we don't have Staffing it would end up probably being overtime for existing Staffing which again that's that's a big expense um yeah that's where it's kind of getting at Cody is whatever fee is designed for the sticker needs to cover whatever group or department or to manage that because there is a lot to do with that at least initially get it set up and stuff you know um as far as enforcement goes you're right you bring up a good point there but that bridg to be crossed when the time comes I guess um you know but as many complaints as we've had as the town has had over the last couple of Summers down at the Lakes you know this is the start of get something down there to it's the beginning of something to try to manage it you know right yeah all right so we really don't know how we're going to or how we're going to price the cost of the the the stickers then or the licensing agreement or whatever that may be no no I we I can't yeah we haven't even begun to figure out what that would be and it just goes to like I I have no clue what volume we would even be talking about um so I the data is really hard for us to begin to project because we really don't have any data to start with right so that makes it quite challenging uh at least initially I I don't know where we'd go with this one if it passes we'll we'll do everything we can to make it work you know if town meeting wants it to go through but I you know I don't know I don't know logistically how how it would work um and and even Chief sh is on here but and speaking with him I just he's he's work working on a proposal for um enforcement you know what that cost would be but it's it's not going to be cheap yeah I would think that it it may not you know may not even have a system in place for this by the time summer starts I mean this there's a lot of moving pieces a lot of moving Parts is just a lot to consider it's not a simple case you know so I I I wonder if it's even going to be ready for this year which I'm sure that's what they're all hoping for is that this should be in place for the it' be nicer on the lake which is great but I I don't think that we'd have enough time to do that yeah since we're in budget season we're going to want to it does approve in a couple of weeks then we're going to know that some Department's going to need to have funding available to them to operate this type of um operation Operation yeah yeah you know and that the the bigest concern I see with that again I think with our online system we have some of the tools in place that it it could work um and it could work somewhat efficiently but you I think the way that this is written um the permit is to be I think it says something about the police department it's supposed to issued by Halifax Police Department issu issued by the Halifax Police Department if that's what the bylaw says we're supposed to follow the bylaw if it passes in this fashion which means our police department has to be the one to issue it and in who right so our police officers don't really have the time to be sitting desk duty to do these things you know we don't have a we don't have a desk officer all of our Patrol men are in the field patrolling right um and you know the administrative staff there is already kind of at their limits we get like 100 public records requests a week so it's not something where I can just say oh okay you know you guys start taking this on there'll be some costs associated with the stickers um or it's even like okay Ju Just take this on and we'll have to pay this person a little bit more you're looking at literally having to bring in Staffing if the existing Staffing isn't interested in overtime which again I don't even know how you do that you find someone who's maybe wants to work five hours a week while we permit it to process these it's it just again in theory I think it's it it's uh valuable and I get where people their concerns are um I just don't know if this is the best way for us to go about it from the town side and how we can effectively do this couple of couple of comments if you'll indulge me for a second and I have no horse on the race either way I don't own a personal craft and I don't live on the water just just talking this out from the from the other side thinking about this as we're talking um as a as a first step towards deter hering Outsiders from abusing beach the beach and the and the water right because I I think that the people that are worried about this think it's Outsiders that are coming into yeah the two the two Lakes right and and using it not a nice way that if there and similar to our I might be back and forth a bit so indulge me um similar to our trash stickers for the recycling bins recycling uh station right if I go to the recycle center and I ask for a sticker they don't put on my car make sure what car I have is my car with my license plate in my registration they give me a sticker and I put it on my car and I can go back to the recycle center and do my business right and pay the fees and whatever right if the people on the pond are for this thinking it will at least deter never mind enforcement at this point it will deter if we put signs up maybe some signage if you're out here without a sticker you will be fined or could be fined so if the thought is the deterrent Outsiders and there's a fee involved that people that live on the pond that have watercrafts or people in town that want have watercraft personal watercrafts want to use the pond they would hopefully treat them with the care that we want them to as a town and at least it might be a first step in deterring outside or from showing up with their with their jet skis and causing Havoc so whatever fee that would takeen I I like the online system as well I don't believe this should go through the police department at all clearly they have better things and more important things to do than issue stickers for anything but if there's a way to do it through the online system that a person that lives in Halifax can obtain a sticker for their watercraft to go on the pond and I believe it should be from their house or their public docks personally not the public docks if I live there I wouldn't want to drive around the corner to launch my boat ex then I don't think that some PRS of this might not be valuable if we can put some signage up that says without a sticker you will be you could be fined so maybe there's that deterrent and that helps short and if there's a longer term uh way to enforce it that makes sense financially then that can be down the road just a thought yeah with a deterrent like that it's not going to last long I mean people are going to realize that there's no enforcement and they just do it what they do yeah it unless you enforce something it's not going to carry any weight true one other thing to note too um in speaking with legal counil you know at its surface the bylaw is legal but there are a few um if approved we have to submit it to the division of law enforcement of the Department of Fisheries wildlife and environmental law enforcement so basically the head of the Massachusetts environmental police and then they would actually have to sign off on it giving they okay and then we also would need the okay from the office of uh fishing and boting access because we have that Public Access boat ramp um they would have to give the okay and then also we would have to publish it uh in a newspaper after it's approved and and if challenged whoever put the um the article together would have to provide a rational basis for excluding non-resident personal watercraft that basically the Attorney General would have to um perceive as being conceivable for the grounds for the town to exclude non-residents so the we've asked if we can submit it ahead of time to get an answer we haven't heard back that they'll provide us with any um determination but I and and I did let the the petitioners know that too that it's just because this pass the town meeting there's a couple more steps that this would have to go through and we don't know where that lands Cody could I and Jim I um it's EJ I apologize I I am present I was about 10 minutes late I got on um so for anything that I have missed I apologize um Cody just like sort of a I guess a a a process question for you some of these things that are being discussed right now a lot of what you just said as far as things maybe having to be submitted to the attor attorney general for their approval um shouldn't some of those things be flushed out before it's even voted on at town meeting the state won't allow it really yeah so you have to submit the approved bylaw and that's when they'll actually act on it so you so you present the approved bylaw from the town and if the attorney General's office um decides to disallow anything on there what's what's the course from there does it go have to go back to town meeting with revisions yeah so if there were certain aspects of it that they just said you know this isn't allowed the aspects that were allowable could could move forward um but yeah if you if if they came back and said hey we're not going to allow this at all then it's something that could be brought back to town meeting um for town meeting to determine in the future it's we we re I did reach out to um the the fishing and boating access board and ask them if they can provide feedback um and basically and as far as the Attorney General's review of these things they basically tell you work with your Town Council who should be able to tell you if it's something that's legal and which we did you know our town counsil said we're confident this is legal but there are some hurdles that you have to submit once approved and there's they won't review it until it's been a approved article at a town meeting yeah because it's it's just the way it's the way it's drawn out the reason why I asked is it be because it seems like we're doing a lot of the um I don't know it just it seems like it's it's backwards from what I'm used to I guess is my point where we're we're doing the feasibil feasibility study after the approval comes in versus the other but if that's just policy that's just policy I was curious that's all part of it EJ to is this is a petitioned article so it's not something that um an official board or Committee of the town is putting together where it's been vetted along the way you know council's been involved throughout the process we've tried to get as much feedback from State agencies so with a petitioned article however it's written we have to put it on the warrant um again in essence of trying to make sure we're prepared a time meeting I I try to get as much feedback as far as if if it does pass is it going to accomplish What the residents you know think that they're voting on but it's yeah if the state doesn't want to give us that feedback um they don't have to until it's an approved and then submitted to them formally yeah that's the other reason why I asked the question as well because there are portions of this that seem like they make it more difficult for the residents then in some in some aspects of it not all of it but um thanks for that I appreciate the answer no problem all right anybody have any other questions regarding the agenda articles and I mean for those who didn't follow the news Kingston approved theirs in their special Town yeah I saw that yeah I saw that we approved Oz last night too at the town meeting who did Bill H BR H BR approved theirs oh they did unanimous vote yeah yeah yeah I guess they what they were saying is it can be whatever you put out now can be always be changed added it as long as you're in compliance you're not g to get sued so you say they voted unanimously yeah because of the they felt there be well the thing was they're being bullied by the state everyone knows that but they rely on grants heavily and they're afraid to lose all these grants lot of these grants go to Desi and stuff so it's going to hurt the schools too yeah right well it's up to the voters you know at the end of the day give them a product to uh look at you know approve or disapprove and they have the option to do that and that's what the bylaw committee did laid it out and it's for them to say one way or the other you know all right well if there are no other questions for this specific agenda item we will close that out and move on to the next uh the next item would be the start uh discussing a discussing a start date for the first inperson meetings um so I was thinking potentially the 20th of January which gives everybody kind of six weeks to kind of get that into their into their Diaries and make sure that you know nothing else is in the way uh in order for them to do that if anybody has you know again it's just my it's just a suggestion I'm certainly willing to do whatever the committee would like to do uh other than that but that's that's that was my thought what was the DAT again 20th the 20th of January that's U Martin Luther King day okay I guess not that day scratch CH you had something or was that what you were gonna say that's what I was gonna say I'm down with that Jim all right so uh February 3rd sounds good yeah that work for everybody yeah good yeahor the road we'll be well into the budgets by then anyhow with the Departments and so that's going to actually work out pretty good yep all right February it is 2025 so we have to what we going to hold them in the selectman meeting room uh Pro I would say uh yeah yeah I think so that's the one right next to your office right Cody it is yeah as long as there's availability we'll um we'll schedule it we'll we'll get that done and it depends to if it's it's going to be a Hot Topic and we expect a large crowd we'll move it to the Great Hall but so how do we just just procedurally does that something that Katie works with someone at Town Hall to reserve that room or is that something we work with you yeah know Katie can send an email over to our town clerk's office okay um and you can there's a um like a usage form and just she can put the dates in and they'll reserve the room for us okay all right very good okay so two three all right thank you sir okay uh that'll be a close on that specific one if no one has any objections we will will move on to the next one uh which would be committee liaison updates um I haven't heard from either the town other Town Clinton or Kingston finance committee members or committee chairs regarding us kind of getting together and collaborating on the school uh the Silver Lake Regional School budget as of yet um I shot them out another email but I think holidays and other things you know I think everybody who's worked around this time of year knows that the next weeks are dead weeks and nobody's really going to respond to kind of like anything until after the first so if I get something back uh EJ obviously I'll Loop you in on that um and uh you know we can we can work it together from from that point okay um that said have we gotten K Cody have you heard anything from the schools are they ready for talking about budgets in January um you know how's that kind of situated at this point uh yes so they will be ready in January they their plan is to have a preliminary budget um to all the school committees at their January meetings so I anticipate we will get that you know soon soon thereafter um I previously had mentioned a joint meeting um of all the towns School committees and you know to discuss budget and the financial teams uh was scheduled for the 12th of December at the request of Kingston and climon um that's been pushed to January 16th 16th I believe yeah so um and the reason for that is is I think climton and Kingston were looking to have more of a um an idea of their financial picture for fiscal 26 so um you know they had asked if we were okay with it in Halifax and in order to have a productive meeting I think you know whatever whatever works for them as long as we're not pushing it too late I want it to be as productive as possible so it made sense makesense um so I'll remind everyone as we get closer but just wanted to let you know that that's been changed yeah and then um Jim and EJ we'll look to start meeting with them um probably monthly similar like we did last year at Jim um we'll look to have you to have have those meetings probably um in January and we'll meet with them obviously we'll have these public meetings but behind the scenes to work through some of these things in January February March and probably April as we you know finalize everything sure certainly makes sense yep very good any other updates from the committee team okay very good so we will close the Le liaison update agenda item moving to correspondent or as may arise I don't have anything for this specific section um so we're going to open it to the floor Katie you have your hand I yeah I just have a quick question do we have to take um a vote for recommendations on these articles good good point Katie you don't have to the the finance committee doesn't have to so basically you have three options Jim you guys can vote to recommend an article you can vote to not recommend it or you can say the finance committee didn't take any action right didn't take any AC so I was um so as part of next meeting planning I was we were you know going to I was going to see if we wanted or or ask to meet uh 30 minutes before the special town meeting so like we did last year uh at in The Faculty Lounge uh at six o'clock and I think at that point we should have we should have that will be the pointed discussion as to whether we recommend or not recommend these articles okay it's at that point now good point Katie thanks for bringing that up anything else under anyone else correspondent as may arise we have everybody here full quarm if anybody has anything you want to discuss with the committee I I have a a question that I I Cody it's probably for you it's definitely for you um and it it's slipped my mind I know it's come up before but the the traffic study down by Cumberland Farms um what is that funded for this fiscal year traffic study down by cand Farms did I not see something about a traffic study that or or or does this have to do with Thorndike is that what I'm thinking about you're probably think Thorndike they got a okay it might have been Thorndike um we did some traffic counts in that area recently but didn't do a full study um there's a there was a study um Pine Street we did a study of that intersection Pine Street intersection that looked at um traffic counts in there but I don't think we've done it the town hasn't done designated one for that intersection at near celin Farms okay so so what happens to the results of those Cody did they go to just the highway department and percolate or what so traffic counts yeah because there's typically a reason that we request a traffic count um so that would typically just go to that data would the Pine Street um intersection study we um we had a presentation on before the selectman maybe going back probably a year um and there were some recommendations we had one of the well the the biggest recommendation was to do a engineering study basically um of which the board approved some arpa funding for um our our Highway Department hasn't been able to identify an engineer to undertake that um study so we're we're trying to um work with our Highway Department to to identify an engineer to take next steps and then they've also there's some recommendations that are um a little bit uh they don't cost quite as much that that we're looking to implement so there's High Department's looking to put in like an island there um that there was something as simple as lower the stop sign they thought the stop sign was a little bit too high so different things like that but usually they're um they're public and we we um will take the action that we can on those as they come in is this coming out of Pine Street on to 106 yeah yeah there they had a big accident there I think a couple they should move the stop sign over to the left it's way over to the right you can't see it coming up Chief shs might have something to add on it see yes so I just wanted to um in response to AJ's question I believe the study that he's referring to was the um the uh traffic um study that uh all Colony put together um oh from the whole corridor from the whole Corridor and part of that part of their planning for uh you know upgrade that um 106 corridor from from from the U you know the Country Club Boulevard all the way you know to to the intersection and um and then from um the uh cumber Farms you know 58 and then to uh linoln Street they placed counters there to see and uh and then we'll just have to wait to see what the um that's in also in reference to uh decreasing the um speed limit there um spot of their study to 25 miles hour through the corridor so I think that what the the one that EJ was referring thanks Chief yeah thank you Chief I I do think that sounds that sounds familiar I I was curious as whether or not it was going to include the the actual light cycles that are down there and I don't think that this is probably a conversation for the finance committee as a whole but um yeah it's just it's it's just painful down there and there there needs to be something that can be done for that so so Steve vid um they did install new cameras at the intersection um that are going to that are supposed supposedly um going to help help that traffic through there um basically it's going to um monitor the vehicles approaching in inter intersection and then uh communicate with with the the the lights um you know further west to to get those things moving along um which was the kind of the cheaper uh option than um to have the pads um on the intersection itself which would mean you know ripping on the intersection placing the uh those um electronic pads those uh that work on the weight of the vehicles so that camera is in in place um what it's difficult now is because Stop and Shop closing and that light being on on flash it kind of actually helps the traffic there you know but it's uh that intersection needs some major rebuilding and I don't for see it it being done anytime soon you know with the especially with the way the finances are and stuff like that right yeah yeah CU I was I was actually I went that way to the Hansen train station yesterday the day before and there were five cars in front of me and I was at the Walmart Set of Lights the Walmart set of lights turned red on me twice in five five cars length and nobody was coming out of Walmart during that entire time or coming from the other from the C Cafe Plaza right the light was just constantly changing red there was no other activity in either direction yeah yeah definitely that needs to be uh I mean it's been been an ongoing issue uh hopefully we'll you know be addressed sometime down the down the road yeah but we'll see thanks Chief yeah you're welcome very good co good stuff thanks everybody appreciate it any other questions comments queries save rounds all right so we'll close out that item and move on to public participation any public participation uh for the finance committee yeah Jim the only thing I I want to add I I came in late on the conversation you guys had with the um with the personal watercraft yes and um I think um you know you guys brought a lot of great points and I totally agreement what Cody mentioned about the uh the issues down there um I think if this article passes at Town Hall I mean at town meeting which would you know is the likelihood that it did it well I don't think the uh the state is going to uh allow us to us to restrict use to just residents only I mean the states uh you know Mantra is to open up more access points for people to utilize recreational facilities not uh restrict them so um especially with with 58 being uh you know a b state bo ramp we're going to be very hard pressed to have you know I'm not even talking about the enforcement thing because that's a total different uh subject matter but just the the U not the legality well I guess the legalities because like like Cody says it meets the legal requirements the article itself the way it's written but this the other two agencies or three agencies that are going to be involved um are going to see this as a as very restrictive for people using you know public facilities and I I I think they're going to shut it down that's just my opinion no it certainly sounds like they will if they're going to start denying without some type of rational basis appreciate the feedback and the information Chief it's good stuff yeah just on the on the back end of that then is it worth us I know we'll talk about our recommendations one way the other on that the night of the meeting earlier which is great the kind of consideration that we take into like what if this passes what the expense is for us the deal with it after the fact once it passes as to our recommendation if we have a feeling this won't pass because of the state regulations which I I believe as well do we think about that as far as how we recommended or don't when it comes to that point based on what the future cost could be for us to try to make this work based on the way it's written well that's you know go ahead well I mean I think I think I think Cody might might have mentioned it that when I came in um you know we are going to have a a proposal at uh the May time meeting to kind of educate the residents on what it would cost for us to have a Bo a boat on the water uh for two or two months or or or or you know or three months and uh enforce the the boarding laws not just for for the personal watercraft and also the the other um you know usages of of the uh the Lakes uh we're talking about you know overtime on on weekends um you know it just and you know it's hot that the to justify that cost when all these all departments are being asked to cut you know provide a 10% budget cut you know so but I mean I we'll present it to the town and uh and then let the voters decide I mean there's no way we're going to be able to to to work through without a you know an override or or or some much deeper cuts that uh and I think for you know the the the use of of of of the the ponds you know or the lakes for two Monon period it's you know it's difficult difficult to justify in my opinion right yeah yep yep yeah makes sense it does it does so I think I just I think the the the net of that Mike is once you know there's really not much we can do until it passes because you know the level of effort it would take to evaluate that and do any kind of reasonable assessment you know in advance of it not passing would be kind of you know kind of moot at that point so we'd probably have to dive into that if it does pass then it has then it has to go through the process that that Cody's already mentioned and then on top of that if it gets kicked back you know the petitioner could create amendments that would you know kind of you know would have to go back through the process again so you know it's I'm sure it's I'm sure it's an elongated process as most things politically are um so I don't you know that's something we'll have to deal with if it does pass yeah now my only concern not comment I thought was the the cost of us if we were to recommend it yeah the cost from recommending it and it passing in town to getting it to next levels to get approved never mind if it got approved that whole part I understand expense is great but do we in our recommendation do we take into account whatever it cost if we recommend it they vote Yes yeah what it cost to get to the state levels to there must be some expense to our town right to get it to that level right we would have to put that present it and all that kind of stuff right so that I would think would be enough for us to consider I'll I'll try to put something together Mike um some sort of estimate I don't know how accurate it's going to be but with the I can with the data that I can pull together I will try to get you a best estimate what that what what I anticipate it could cost us yeah and I think what what Chief just said as far as know you you're asking other departments to make a 10% budget cut across the board right going into this it's obvious given what we know about the proposal already that there are going to be significant costs associated with it so whatever those costs are reg regardless of how big or small they are they're they're going to be an increase on the budget right right and from from where we sit Mike to to your point how do we make that we at least for me personally I can't make that recommendation that we that we pass it for that reason alone because we know what we're up against this coming year from a fiscal standpoint so it's it's not responsible for us to take on the add added burden because we we know that's and Cody this is what I was going to with my feasibility question because if we could have all of those answers upfront it would make it a lot easier to to talk through this um but because there's so many variables it's for me it's a no-brainer that um uh at this point in time we can't do it I I will note too that um Chief shavs and I have talked about this at Great length um and you know our goal over the next couple of months is to develop a plan kind of for the beach and in the ponds again with the resources that we have I I think um our thoughts are if if we just get a little more involved and come up with a plan and some signage and so on and so forth certainly not going to mitigate all the um concerns that we heard from our residents over the this past summer but I do think with just appropriate management it it should greatly help those things and I did let the petitioners know that as well that that you know we we're looking to take a more a little more of an active approach um you know the particularly Chief shobs and deputy chief better um and myself as as much as I can to support to try to come up with a plan um and so deputy chief Benner and chief shs are working on putting something together now all right all good stuff great questions and appreciate the feedback from everybody um so if no one has anything else in the public participation section we will close that item out and move on to next meeting planning um again as I said earlier I think uh so I'm looking at the 16th uh 30 minutes prior to the special town meeting we'll meet at the elementary school uh in the faculty Lounge as we did before we'll discuss and um recommend not recommend or just take no action on the town meeting articles uh that way we're prepared when we go into the meeting itself as to where we stand as a committee sounds good sound good everybody yeah sounds good yes indeed y all right all righty uh with that if there are no further comments or questions uh we one thing Jim sir so budgets are due um next week next Friday so with that I was hoping each of you could send me um a couple blocks of time the first couple weeks of January that you'd be available and I can start to schedule those meetings um with our departments so whenever you get a chance just shoot me you know a couple different blocks of time within the first few weeks of January that you would be available and um we'll look to to get those on the on the books and then as soon as I get all the budgets in I'll start making sending out those emails providing you with all that information and um making the connections that would be great any any feedback from the department heads uh like they're going to be late they're going to be on time they're not going to do it at all um well I can tell you that um as I kind of enforced last year I've told everyone deadlines are deadlines if I don't have your budget by the deadline I will be submitting your budget for you and nobody wants me to submit their budget very but um no we've actually gotten in quite a few already uh everyone's doing a really good job I think it really helped that we did this the 10% exercise last year too because going into this year most of our departments are are pretty comfortable with it and um the budgets that we've gotten in so far actually everyone's done a really good job um with it so okay very good thank you sir appreciate that okay with that um if there is nothing else I have a motion to adjourn the meeting so move second thank you Bill thank you Mike roll call vote Cheryl yes Mike Bennett yes Grant yes to adjourn the meeting please EJ yes sir Bill yes Mr Rett yes sir and I a yes as well so the meeting is adjourned it is 648 so thank you all again for your flexibility and thank you for joining and we'll see you on the 16th night everybody good night [Music]