##VIDEO ID:Mech1snk9sQ## good evening this is a meeting of the hamen select board and Board of Health being held in the townhouse Auditorium December 9th 2024 this meeting is being conducted in person and remotely using video conferencing technology please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible Li justice for all thank you is anyone recording the meeting other than ourselves it would be Christen Christen rivers from the wilam hamen times good evening Kristen uh the first item on our agenda is we have some minutes October 24th 2024 we talked about thoron Burgess schools as well that took a lot of time and then uh talking about building use policy and electronic voting on that's just before the town meeting motion to approve huh motion to approve which one October 24th not before the time me second all in favor okay this is November 4th minutes uh let's see we talked a little bit about the brush fires it's dry then it's wet now uh special town meeting talk about a special town meeting the town moderator was in to discuss plans for that uh with the building use requests again and some selectman reports motion to approve second all in favor thank you the next item is our state of the union and kind of budget kickoff we just finished one town meeting and here we are planning for another one which is really only five months and a few days away uh and I want to make a couple of comments first of all the moderator is considering implementing some changes in the procedure um so we can kind of speed things up to have a consent agenda and for routine items and for re for for goinging his reading of the article and just going straight to the motions and we'll try to implement electronic voting again uh I expect that this town meeting the annual to is going to be a large turnout similar to the recent fall town meeting and it's driven I think it be it's going to be driven by as expected as expected will be some large expenditure articles for municipal buildings on the warrant uh and as part of that as many of you know we've been having a we just opened up a discussion with advisory and department heads and other others about how we can prioritize those Municipal expenses and come up with a a coherent plan to move forward in the future uh I think there'll be some uh zoning uh there'll be some zoning things some citizens petitions and um we'll I believe the regional agree region will have amendments to offer for the regional agreement uh the select board is going to once again arrange for child care and enhanced audio and video I thought it worked pretty well the last time and the electronic voting I think starting off um this evening looking at our operations budget we're going to we're going to see increases in dispatch funding that grant that five-year Grant the first three years the state picked up everything the second year they picked up 50% I mean the fourth year they picked up 50% and the fifth year which is the last year they're picking up 25% so we're going to probably have a $30,000 increase in that uh you we we have to anticipate increased spending for insurance for cost of building so as long as we take over Thorton Burgess will have insurance for that building and other other maintenance and other things for that building as always an increasing anticipated increase in employee benefits health insurance and everything County Retirement in County Retirement increase in the county retirement uh we have some contracted uh some collective baring agreements that'll have some increases in them and then we'll have we'll have increased cost for fuel and lighting and maintenance at Thorton burges so then of course there's a special warrant articles I I mentioned uh later this evening the select board is going to discuss setting dates for opening and closing of the warrant and the budget deadlines as well as procedures for filing citizens petitions and the goal our goals there are three-fold we want to provide a clear procedure with firm deadlines for Citizens petition so we don't rot into what we've done the last couple of times uh we want to give the advisory committee and the and the planning board if they have to hold hearings plenty of time to get the hearings done before the town meeting and we want to get as much warrant and budget information out to the hands of the taxpayers early enough so they can have a good view be be informed for the advisory committee in the town meeting and and planning planning on appearing so with that said we'll begin so I guess what we'd like to see is kind of first 6 months of this fiscal year where you are what do you see as the challenges for next next six months when you need to and if you don't mind I'll I'll call in the superintendent ghouls first because he was kind enough to come over yes so typically I think that's a good plan but typically this is also looking atad to FY 26 as well so if they could touch on that so uh the first six months gra a microphone introduce them oh yeah introduce yourself John please turn just in case just in case uh two people don't know you or I'm not sure how to turn it on top B SL green is that it there you go so John Provo superintendent of schools responding to your prompts the first 6 months things have been trending um positively for us financially I would say probably the main hiccup that we ran into during that time period was the resignation of our associate superintendent for finance and operations we successfully concluded um our search for a successor and that person is in a transition period right now working with our interim business manager he will be taking over official full-time in January um looking at the next 6 months you know I I think that the the current fiscal year looks like it's in good shape I would just say for FY 26 we have greater um uncertainty than we do in a lot of years because we have contract negotiations going on and so um that will have some impacts question can I ask you about the solar absolutely go ahead so we did have a a situation a couple of weeks ago where the solar array on minog Regional stopped functioning they were able to determine it was a power inverter that had failed that system um I hate to bring up bad memories but similar to other systems um was original to the building and the company that um that built the equipment is no longer in existence however our staff was able to Source a part that was uh on a surplus shelf somewhere and get it installed so uh within approximately 2 and a half weeks they were um able to restore functioning of that of that array and it's now putting out uh electricity to the grid again you see any Capital things coming down the line for next budget I do um we actually are meeting Wednesday with um the the Budget Finance subcommittee specifically to talk about uh Capital costs some of the things that uh are on the list are deferred items that have been um on the list before you know we do have requests for uh for generators at buildings that don't have generators that's mainly just to protect the buildings um you may have heard recently in a nearby District they had two um buildings lose their heating capacity um and so you know we are in a similar situation if we were ever to lose electricity we would be in potentially a situation of you know being unable to heat the buildings and that's a potential danger we do have some other items that are related to safety um but I I think that uh I can say with respect to Green Meadows which is the school that I would imagine you'd have the most interest in in this group they probably have the newest Capital needs at this time um we do have some um some minor things that we're looking to do with parking lot Etc but um nothing major for Green Meadows how about the buses uh the buses are have not seen any Improvement we uh have reached out as you to the state for assistance emry Stronach who is uh senior uh associate commissioner basically has a expertise in operations has been dispatched to the lbpc to help with that I really think that the the situation is one of sort of Shifting our strategy from trying to increase recruiting to recruit to reducing the number of buses we were running um because I'm not sure that the recruiting is ever going to come through um so at the next school committee meeting we'll actually be talking about a two tier transport or three- tier transportation system um essentially if you have each of the buses going out making three runs instead of two runs you reduce the number of buses that you need so hopefully we can bring down the number of vehicles we running to match the current Workforce rather than trying to increase the workforce to um fill the current model which I I just don't know is going to be realistic will there be any calculations to longevity of a bus ride for a student I'm asking um the executive director to provide uh a full view of what the impacts would be in terms of what potential start and end times of schools would be what what bus rides would be and most importantly the financial impact you know I would expect that we would realize a savings if we're reducing the number of buses that are running um which might help us some of the uh Financial situations that I just alluded to for the next fiscal year Brian and I took a tour of green medals last year and there were a couple of capital needs that were brought forth that had things to do you basically a safety impact I don't want to get too deep into it but it did seem to make good sense to get done is that something you did mention that green medals you felt was at the bottom of the list in terms of Hardware upgrades if you will but it doesn't mean that it doesn't need attention correct are these things you think you would be bringing forward for the town to consider when I look at Capital requests I think that safety needs are number one um probably the second things are things that could uh lead to to bigger issues like the inability to heat your your buildings and potential freezing um there are a couple of safety uh improvements that could be made at Green Meadows and and could potentially be on the list but um I'm not I'm not certain whether those would be for this year or for the next fiscal year next fisc year the year after that okay and just to to follow up on that something like that would be only on the town correct so it seems like that would be kind of a call for us so I think a presentation look these are the cost we're not saying they have to be done this year but I think it's the board's decision whether or not to see if we fit it into our budget so I think knowing earlier rather than later you know are you guys willing to pay that that's on us so so we could have a similar type of meeting to the one that we have scheduled for Wednesday with wil Bram here either with you or with uh advisory depending on how you'd like to direct us okay and the meeting Wednesday is that uh Finance advisory and that strictly with wam I thought there was more of a general meeting with advisory as well we will have some reps from advisory there but um if you wanted to have a discussion just about Green Meadows I don't I don't know whether you would want to have that here or You' rather have me work through advisory or just do it through the context of that meeting that's coming up we I'm sure Brian can set something up okay else thank you you're welcome thank John joh you can go home though we can talk about you when you're gone okay on [Laughter] tape over view from Doug maybe cuz he's going to talk about the schedule coming out you Doug want to give us an overview on the schedule have you have one I know your clerical staff has been on it uh week for weeks yeah hold I'm waiting for the green light okay green light let go um know I don't have a schedule put together yet it seems like we just finished the budget process driving over here sign it again uh but I will put together a schedule similar to the previous years with some suggested dates those dates will have some flexibility obviously so if they don't work for people for whatever reason just let us know to work for people best we can um I will be um asking Lauren add to her master distribution L um yeah in addition to the schedule uh I'll put together go points which are similar to the previous years we be asking for level service level service being the same the same level of service currently being provided in terms of um ours is the the primary measure of the service if there's any deviation from that please make a note and that'll be in the budget sheet so on where it came from and what to be looking for uh if there are uh any variances any increases decreases in hours please make a note of that as well so that we know why we also ask that uh people not any capital or anticipated Capital whether they' be in the coming year or foreseeable future uh we like to have an early warning system that there are major expenses comingin the next couple years so that we can back CL into the discussions um we're going to ask that the salary lines um be kept at the current uh rate rather than put in a placeholder uh we haven't had any discussions advisor's had no discussions and obviously we've had no discussions with with either the accountant or the treasurer or select board as to what uh a c should look like so rather than put in a placeholder and generate numbers which end up just leading to confusion when we actually get to the the real adjustments please just carry the current salary forward at the current rate uh with the understanding that everybody's doing that and those will be adjusted prior to the recommendation for the final final budget um that's all I had unless anybody has any questions can on the salaries if there's a contracted agreement like you know collector B should they put that number in or the old number contracted yes if it's a known figure okay okay but if it's if it's a contract which is in in negotiation just keep the current current salary until we have it sold okay I think thank you Parks Rec will go this way Park Rick sure uh yeah so our current budget situation we're in great shape we are we look like we're going to be either below or at the budget line uh come June we don't have any big Capital expenditures coming between now and the end of fiscal 24 is that where we are or fiscal 25 um so things are looking good there um the things that we're going to be looking at going forward um the following fisal year will be we have to iron out what we need for maintenance over at twb should we make the move over there um there's going to be mowing extra mowing that we have to do so we may see an increase in service level for some of our maintenance staff um so that's going to be one of the hurdles that we have to discuss and figure out you know what we're going to need for hours for you know we also may need equipment for mowers and such to M back fields so as for sporting events so those are our big costs coming up uh we have a couple capital projects that we've been talking about um probably for next year would be some shade structures at the splash pad um like the M umbrellas to provide some shade town and also possibly doing a pickle ball court at Memorial Park so those are some Capal exp finishes that may be coming up we have to talk a little bit more about those board but that's what we have going on and yeah so otherwise questions I'll make one point I don't think that there's been a determination about who would be responsible for the mowing yeah so there might be an assumption on your part I'm just making sure we have to have to M socer stuff but I go back to my point no one says you're responsible for the mowing that's why we're just preparing for it though yeah right because it may be it may be a highway thing I mean certainly there's mowing in the area that has nothing to do with parks department yeah Mark and I talked a little bit about that actually so we we talked about possibly us mowing the back and then take care of the front sort of like they do with Memorial Park we take care of the ball fields and they take care of everything outside the ball field so we have had some discussions about it [Music] sure any building inspector commissioner thank you my budget's a chip shot it's it's level going to be the same poers if anything I mean it's actually a new code cycle but we we purchased books so we're in great shape uh moving forward for next year I don't really anticipate any great changes anything maybe the reimbursement for Miles might go up depending on that that's the IRS level right it's pretty tight is typical how many permits this year go for building over 300 building permits probably another 300 electrical pling new construction new construction I mean obviously all those houses on japing Etc yeah there's actually another larger house starting on cha we've actually erased two houses this year skipton's skipton's properties going down and then wor on a national grid property East meal Road got um no one ever know it was there was back in the field on their property but they just take it or taken that one down but I mean building wise we've been really good we still do all our regular inspections you know we just at restaurants and bars we just stay on top of I don't really see anything drastic in the future with regards to R iway so I feel pretty confident that the highway Department's uh budget uh fiscal year 25 budget um is on track uh trending on track for for this time of year about halfway through um I don't don't foresee any uh you know any um major expenditures [Music] um I'll just be keeping an eye on um you know service service fees for contractors those seem to be going up and up and up um and utility bill fees but I I think those are kind of stable right now um might even go down a little bit who knows but U I think currently we're we're in really good shape no new trucks other toys anything that could probably end up being another meeting in itself um because of some regulations that are only now trying to be enforced even though they were put in place in 2021 um basically they there two regulations uh carb act and then the heavy diesel on Theus act um couple weeks ago Brian and I had attended a like a workshop where they kind of went into detail both on the on the state side and then on our our private dealer side um you how this is going to affect um not only municipalities uh but anybody that drives a diesel truck um so for now for now uh Public Works snow moving equipment has been exempt uh for one year however nobody's really talking about what's going to happen after that again some regulations may change uh but nobody's nobody's really talking about that if if this were to go through it's going to it's going to have a huge impact on my Department uh the school the bus Department um and also hiring private contractors because these trucks are so expensive um and along everything that comes along with it um with them that those costs are going to be you know passed on to customers so I was told you know make this and and I'm serious we could I'd be happy to have another meeting um and kind of talk about what Brian and I learned that that seminar do they do they want to change it to Electric is that it correct they want to phase out and they're going to be going after the gas the gas powered and they want to eventually be going all diesel now in some cases you know it can it could make sense but um I don't know that um a lot of thorough thought was put into the exemptions currently they've exemp fire trucks um EMT diesel trucks and for some reason forestry equipment but they had completely overlooked Municipal uh vehicles uh even State Municipal vehicles um so and what'll happen is these trucks they're already very very hard to come by so um I think we're in good shape for the next couple years anyways to see where this all kind of goes I just it's it's quite amazing I mean the infrastructure and everything else that needs to be put in place is just um so but they're saying for ex for a quick example if you pave a mile road right now and it cost you 100,000 and then you know you hire a contractor to PVE a mile road cost 100,000 in like a couple years that same Mile Road will cost you 400,000 because it's just you know they're going to be passing those cost onto the so is there any effect to buying out of state will they not register in Massachusetts if you buy out of state's not they that question came up and and they were going to and correct me if I'm wrong Brian but there was a comment made that there's going to be act an actual language on the title after to being sold state or something like that or have to be yeah you have a sticker to be registered they don't need to have a certain sticker to be registered that it's whatever it is don't might be ways Mark in terms of equipment like you just said assuming this doesn't go through in the the rush to change everything to Electric goes away in your projected thing were there many vehicles in the next year or so that on your list to change over so I did have a dumb truck but it's an older it's our oldest one that I didn't want to update but I want to see what happens I mean that dump truck alone could end up being a a huge commodity you know um in a couple years it'll have more value on the resale Market well yeah for different applications sure um the other thing is um so still kind of waiting to see what happens with would possibly be looking for an extra piece of equipment to uh pile the parking lot um I considered a uh one of those mini articulating loaders with a a snow push box these are just thoughts I was thinking an extra shovel and an extra shovel yeah that too um but I kind of you know and like Dan mentioned too we had a brief conversation about possible Arrangements on on on a schedule over there nothing you know nothing just kind of a informal conversation about that uh whereas they could keep their playing fields at a at a certain height and groomed um you know while we would kind of do everything else but um so if if that were the case uh I would be due for a new lawnmower anyways I was going to go for one in in the fall but I still wanted to wait and see what was going to happen um um if that's the case we might upgrade just to a bigger size with a a Lea catchment system other than that other than that I think we're we're in in really good shape with our our trucks in equipment we did finally get our tractor in and that's been out on the road um working so uh that's a relief and your your Crews contract expires this year so we got to negotiate that yes sir Y and you too right mine as well yes does that new car Act and the diesal thing affect Machinery it will so it's going to affect everything yes and you know uh so there was a a gentleman there from Freightliner one of the biggest truck manufactur truck dealers in the area and they uh you know right now they they do have a model for that 26,000 gbw just the cabin chassis on is 450,000 just a cabin chassis the battery only lasts for 6 hours and you can only use it as a box you can either put a box on it for a box truck or or a flatbed um they haven't come up with the tech not the technology but a way to hook up a PTO system that can simultaneously run a sandard a plow perhaps a dump function it's it's just way too but it's a it's a huge concern kind of buzzing re kind of just wait and see but at least want to bring that up to anybody else that has a fleet because what do they say too Brian like in another year or two they want to start they want to start auditing um businesses municipalities to make sure that they're rotating their fleets out for p and it's um it's concerning and that's gas too um at some point that'll be gas fleets too thank you John are you here for okay we'll get we'll get the M do Eva far as collector and CLK goes we're in good shape um on the other hand elections probably looking for money this year to uh got because we've got one more election in fiscal 25 and we really got slammed with the elections with early voting that just is we really get some kick back from the state not re reimbursement some I'm sorry reimbursement reimbursement from the state um but they don't cover any of the expense for mailing or anything and we're talking about 97 cents a buck of Pop Just maing that's not anything else involved not need man or anything and that's there's a lot behind those things um but the good news is in fiscal 26 we cut that budget the other oh yeah because you don't have election beic all right Board of Health um bad news is postage is going up don't know yeah and I don't know what's going to happen after that um I heard there's going to be one more rate increase as well I don't know um so we may have to I don't know if we'll make it to the end of the year with with postage transfer station I can't really predict what's going to happen as far as the recycling goes I gave the sheets to John for you to look at for the mer what the price is now it's the first five months um arene is projecting that that the um rebate on the is going to go up I've heard it before too oh Seal's worth $10 a pound and then you turn around the next day it's oh you're gonna pay $10 a pound for seal so I I don't know I really do um you may go down in salary by April you do no we're happy with what we have I think we we can extend that out we're good no no we can extend it out we're good we took a vote of the board yeah they rehired um I will say that Arlene is pretty experienced and her her projections been good in the past maybe it is an opportunity though if there is more value in recyclables to look around other companies and see if there is another option uh it just means that with the value in them we're not going to be kicking in as much that is if we were paying $90 a ton to get it out and we were getting 50 now we're going to be getting 7 for it's are only out $20 right but who's to say that company XYZ doesn't have a better deal and they're going to pay us $100 and we'll actually make money on murf so I think it's worth kicking the tires and seeing what's out there we have plenty of time because the contract isn't quite up so I think there's opportunity there to that type of thing uh the transfer station budget Enterprise fund clip has been a magician in keeping it going for many years I think he actually kicks in his own money to balance the books thank you Cliff um but uh same thing I think the biggest impact to the health department going forward is a potential retirement happening and we're efforting a change in that U we are also looking into a commercial um Title Five for for twb um hard to find somebody big sister real big sister I think Gary gave us some input at that at the meeting you had yeah I asked Lori and Lor went over and looked at it with the plans and everything she said she couldn't do it at all they would have to hire a f firm so she she is calling a couple of f for us okay you mean there's septic tank specialist by size yes commercial versus a smaller system don't they all work the same way no they don't it's how many pumping Chambers they have how many um what kind of pumping Chambers it is uh yeah there's a lot to it I would imagine you probably don't have that many big buildings that aren't already connected to a town sewer or something like that so it's probably Fair unusual to see them still out connected to a field that aren't in industrial district small towns in Western MH you know other than that okay chief evening uh we seem to be okay right now um we'll have to keep an eye on our budget um as we move into the next six months the first six months been okay uh we did sign in the new contract as of July and there's some uh areas in there that uh could uh take away of our excess that we've had as we move towards the year um so there's there's some concerns there a couple unforeseen situations that we're dealing with now that could uh take away even more of our access than we have in our budget um moving forward for uh our we actually first six months we had hired our new Reserve officer he actually ended up resigning from us um he uh didn't feel the fit wanted to continue to stay at Western New England and uh get back into what the sheriff's department was story for uh the other one that we had hired previous year had gone out in medical immediately and um he's got come back and the expectations he's probably not going to come back he's been hoping and trying trying to keep up with training and stuff like that through our department another department he was working with um so that's a concern with we're down to like four active reserve officers that are filling in for our uh full-timers when they go on vacation uh we've been exhausting our 40-hour week uh with our full-timers and and uh some of full-time I do get it um are at a much higher increased pay um due to negotiations we had so there are definitely some concerns for me as we get towards the next six months um going into the newer uh fiscal year uh I'd like to look at more training towards um working together with the fire department um Cs and EMS it's called an alert training um and we're they're starting to do this training around area communities um I think very very beneficial to our officers if we ever to get into a situation of a active shooter situation um definitely costly because you you know you want everybody trained uh it's a 16-hour class that you go to um State please come in um along with other area uh departments and they trade up your officers uh to the highest level that we can train so I definitely think we'd like to go that route so I'd be looking to add more in our training um possibly our Cruisers are starting to get up there I know we we said last time we wanted to see how long we could go before we start to get into any type of uh issues with mechanical problems uh as Mark brought up we may be affected in the near future too as a hybrid Cruiser as being a gas model but we're we're up around our 70,000 mile Mark um you know usually for good trade-ins and stuff we usually try to hit that 100,000 Mark so it's something that I'd probably be looking to try to add something another Cruiser to get into our yearly or alternating years of getting Cruisers uh again I'll still look to maybe do new Firearms um our Firearms now are coming on an 8-year-old Mark which is our our handgun uh we did replace our um our rifle but the 9mm is definitely a weapon of of choice that is surrounding communities and efficient definitely um cost effective for the ammunition that we use compared to our 45s uh and um just just a allaround better weapon uh compared to our 8-year-old 45 that we carry um possible not confirmed but I may have a retirement that I might be looking at in in in July of a longtime officer um but uh that's always on a back burner uh I communicate regularly with the uh officer but uh I'm not really sure if we're going to go past July or not um and uh that's that's kind of it in the nutshell best bests at all no we're we're we're doing fine right now with yeah we haven't had any issues I got that reimbursement right after we had had that meeting um so uh yeah just the state reimbursed us and we're just waiting to put in for any noes that we have to so I think I might have been fell back and they became pre- to to the meeting the other thing Mr accountant do you have anything to account for um books are balanced it's all we need to know next now um our revenues are running well ahead of our expenditures so our tax Collections and other revenues are more than matching our expend pardon me or expenditures okay so that's kind of like a thing I like to keep an eye on and any you see anybody in danger yet of running out of money and the I don't think so you know it's pretty hard this time of year yeah there's still everybody's you know when you look at the percentages there's still a large percentage of of funds in their accounts balancing and there's nobody in danger of over over spending right now right so we're we're we're I think I think the town right now financially is in good shape that's good to hear any new books lots of new books um hi everyone I um just got an email today to say that we are certified with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners which is always good news um I go through a process each year to meet the criteria it's a lot of financial reports and they basically want to know absolutely everything about the library um especially the financial so we get um some awards for different things there's a lot of letters the Lig the Meg the NRC but the um bottom line is we use that money for technology so it's great to have um and we're anticipating using that like I use it a little bit each year to replace computers and copers um we've never done them all at once so it's kind of a staggered process so it's really nice to have that money available to keep everything um up to date our budget is right on track um our staffing is awesome we have a great staff we had a huge party in this room and the rodford reading room on Saturday because Santa and Mrs Claus were here so it was a a wonderful turnout for that that's always a event for us um our circulation is up from last year um especially ebooks those are um very impressive the amount of ebooks that are checked out um each month and um other than that I think we're just cruising right along with uh lots of new books we have to spend a certain amount of our budget um it's right at 19.5% of our operating budget to be certified with the state um so I have the really tough job of making sure I spend all that money um and we did it again so that's good thank you how about your windows you get those windows installed I don't know what happened with those windows Library windows we heard they're in not not in the building but we heard that the contractor received them recently so we need to schedule the time for those okay great thanks I'm the rookie so I'll defer okay uh we anticipate having a level service budget next year as well um the only increases we usually have on an annual basis are our Consultants uh software support and stuff like that that we need and our expense line and that's usually contingent on the type of mandatory training that we must have for the the two uh employees that we have been there other than that though I don't think we're going to see much in a way of increase and it's pretty much average through the [Music] year um ior surpris one thing I did want to talk about was potentially getting more permanent support for Joan clerical health if we we have public hearings that happen really reg and ongoing so for all those have oh we have the temp help line we've talked before about using that for additional help I know but it's hard to get somebody then choose to train them they stop somebody else start you want to per person I don't know support the everybody in building how about how about how many how's your hearing schedule what's that how's your hearing schedule Maddie do you think there's a possibility of Kibby Lane this year here is it all dependent on the developer it's all dependent on the developer wait ever thought am could you take it when am in a domain you have to have an overriding public interest and we've had this conversation before and it would just say the town it is a private road but there's not much more the town would be doing if it was a Town Road you plow it it's maintained pretty much the same as every other Road in town so the school bus picks up the kids it just be nice to actually have the sign in front you know but it's the oldest project we've ever had in town and I know you I'm just your son surprised that nobody's been after it's they they plow the street they do a hell of a job there the school bus goes all the way down there's no problem I mean it's treated the way a regular right Town accepted Ro is treated right so what do we need to do with it accept it well it needs to be presented to accept it right and there's a bit of a not too deep in it there's a bit of a legal background to it yeah between and they can't get in tou with the K family property that we can't take action to there was a note up there someone was asking for Maddie to speak up speak up as to what she first talked about did you give can you give I got it thanks that was about the Help The Help yeah okay all right it was about it was about the the permanent help Maddie it was just um asking for permanent help or joy for administrative duties for planning board but you were also saying you thought that if there was a permanent Town Hall employee that could dedicate X number of hours towards planning that might be a solution as well right just somebody that's train floer sure all right other than that we're working on um battery energy storage systems bylaw and updating our apartment accessory dwelling units for right and that Shing going to be a thing because of the open period between February and potentially the town meeting that is a bit of a wild west at that point now in the in the economic devel in the economic development Bond bill that the governor just signed there's a section in there about so that says that the town has to have all permits approved of solar within 12 months it's a new thing I I'll have to send it to you and if they don't do it the state will come in and do it so fast at doing things right yeah so the question is that when you say the permit has to be approved does that mean that it has to go through all the whole process the whole everybody the concom planning building inspector storm water in 12 months pretty aggressive I going to say pretty ambitious little bit I'll send I'll send I'll send a copy or anything else Cemetery Ally hi hi um so our Cemetery commission General funds um is looking good um we've actually had 28% more interments this year know if that's necessarily good news or not Don would say business is not dying that's what you're saying I know um I'm actually uh we've been working on a um survey of the commissions in hon County to make sure that we're charging an appropriate amount compared to other towns and I'm also doing some surveys regarding the vendor fees we pay for opening and closing Graves um we want to make sure that we're fair to our vendors um the one thing the one area that um I do see to be changing um for the coming year our uh landscaping company that Mo has let us know that there will be a cost of living increase but they haven't told us what it is yet so we're just holding on that and we've also um began fertilizing the cemeteries so that was something that was not included in Prior years um we did send that out for bid but we sent it out for bid in the highest part of landscaping season and we only got one bid back so I'm hoping if I can send that out for bid now when landscapers are a little less busy maybe I can get a better bid for that um but that did come in it quite a bit um the other thing the other area is um we don't have a secretary so we do have a surplus in our secretarial clerical fund okay thank you Water Commission John John plaster Water Commission um we are proceeding we have got one pit down last week before the called basically for the subs and call it's electrical and and other items inside the building this Thursday we'll be getting the final bids for the construction of the building and the main installation of main so that is that'll be coming Thursday we'll hopefully be able to award that proceed we want to get this in the works signed by the before the end of the year just to retain some financing that's out there far as operating expenses for the coming year we probably won't be inline at least till June it be earliest and I would anticipate that it's going to our operating expenses are probably going to double because we're going to have more houses we have to read all the new installations now will have a radio RF meter so they don't have to go in twice a year only once a year to do the backf float testing so uh that's where we are right now any questions no okay I'll give a quick report from the COA Becky wasn't able to be here uh at this point a lot of their funding comes from some of the state grants the 3C grants right now they are holding firm but as Doug will remember this wouldn't be the first time that the state has cut the grant halfway through the year just like they not member cut the cherry sheet halfway through the year and I don't think we're really hearing positive news from the state that they're in a good financial situation they're not no so they're not making any noise about next year's and much like I'm sure John provos said uh they have no no crystal ball that tells them what next year's budget is going to bring they don't anticipated decrease that's really not happened but an increase that would keep Pace with infl doesn't seem to be on the horizon for Elder Services just the thing the Mas quick I'm sorry and I think I heard from Ed the fire unfortunately Ed is uh under the weather tonight Brian might have a report on the fire department U just just quickly the master plan uh committee is plowing ahead through chapters we got one what you got one chapter left one and a half chapters left one and a half and then um the plan then would be we send it back to the to the consultant they'll make our chanels revisions answer our questions have another draft to look at it and keep working on hopefully we'll have something by town meeting what di on oh the treasurer Mr pulo you're on there you on M really hello hello um I don't really have much to report U my department isn't directly related to a lot of expenses um our cash flow is in pretty good situation this is traditionally the worst time of year for us for cash flow um it doesn't get better for about another six weeks and we're really in a better position than I than than I've seen before so we don't we won't have to do any um any short-term borrowing or borrowing from internal borrowing to to get through we seem to be in pretty good shape thank you ran um a lot of the stuff that I'll be working on the next six months has already been mentioned um uh one of the things that we hope to do is finally get the fire station generator installed we we have money we have uh uh well the contract with the electrician will be signed hopefully tomorrow um and we hopefully get going we likely have a kickoff meeting with uh Mark Ed the electrician uh the engineer and myself on Monday to get that finally going and started um uh planning for twb in townhouse there was a meeting this past week about uh how do we come to decisions about those uh different buildings so we'll be doing a lot of work on that we'll be helping a lot with the water district Expansion Project bids are due next Thursday as John had mentioned mentioned and then we'll be uh we'll be pushing that out pretty hard um one thing that wasn't mentioned so we've been working behind the scenes on a new website that will hopefully roll out um sometime in February and uh looking to the next fiscal year um it was uh there's a new ambulance contract that needs to be negotiated I believe um any again any cost operation or Capital cost associated with twb if that's uh the way that the town decides to go and um additional town meeting costs um if so the the AV setup and the electronic voting those there's costs associated with both of those that aren't typically budgeted so if those are things that we would like to continue to use there's going to be costs associated with that moving forward um and also in terms of Staffing um there's been a ongoing request for conservation agent um and I imagine that will probably come back up again um but otherwise I think it's uh it'll be fairly similar to fy2 obviously we had the increase in employee benefits that we funded at the uh special town meeting I think that those will need to carry forward so that's about it anything else yes boiler today again locked out had to call BG again to come in um I had to leave and Brian talked to them and they said they're not really sure what's going on with it they're going to talk to the manufacturer and get back to us whatever whether it's the motherboard whatever you call boiler or whatever they're going to try and figure it out and get us too seems to be working pretty good right now that's they all day long I tried to catch up like an ice yeah now God people are missing is conservation I think yeah conservation that's see thank you everyone for attending and uh got another six months [Applause] want have a tax rate discussion 12 can I hang around for this well tax rate discussions on the agenda are you guys close you're still mulling over the data the data is in you have the data that well are you ready to call final tax rting sorry you've got a projected tax rate you were supposed you were supposed to have a discussion after well that's what we're okay if we if we turn that loose number hey Doug stay we're talking tax [Music] rate dick still on put the dick still on yeah all right so I'll I'll start you sent a an email out or your Department sent an email out that was saying after all the paperwork was done there was a possibility to say it that the average tax bill would see a about 8% in 8.51 8.51 increase average single family tax right and had some conversations with Doug and maybe I just don't understand as much of the inner workings or whatever I just cannot make the 8 point 5% increase work in my mind agreed okay and you might be like I don't know why because I know we talked about the Water Project impacting the tax rate but then we took the first year payment for the Water Project we took out of stabilization so that wouldn't have an impact and then I just don't see the budget having gone up 8% if I look at what we appropriated nothing in the fall affected the budget because we paid for it all in free cash so what we passed in May 2024 I didn't see 8% higher than May 2023 and that's where I got an issue now I know there's a obviously tax rate doesn't mean anything because values go up so to me what matters is the average tax bill for somebody who did honestly no value increase their house that house was worth the average number last year no addition on it no new garage no nothing it would be responsible for the increase in the budget to go up on their average tax bill and why is that going up 8 plus per. should the treasurer be at this meeting he's onine want to bring them on ask him that question dick okay dick the I'm not sure that's really a question for my job but my best analysis is that the we had a extreme increase in values on Residential Properties and the other large component of our tax base personal property apparently depreciates every year so when you're comp like bills the increase in the levy When You Subtract out the part that is absorbed by New Growth was 5.3% originally I thought it was going to be five but the um s ended up adding a little more to the overlay so it h three the 3/10 of percent so it seems to be a matter of strictly evaluations and the way that new growth is treated on personal property is is kind of confusing to me we had a $23 million New Growth figure on personal property and yet the per total personal property value only went up 20 billion it actually went up less than the new growth but apparently there's quite a bit of depreciation in those bills which means they're not carrying as much of the water as they used to um John you said that the Water Project didn't have an effect on the tax rate and that's not true we decided if you remember at a meeting a couple of three weeks ago to put um was it 400 or 450,000 of the water project onto this year's tax rate in addition to the 650 that we took that we did with um stabilization no I mean that's where Doug and I had the conversation we thought the only thing was going to tax rate was the amount that we took out of stabilization not the extra 450 I don't well you want to go back and look at the tape that certainly wasn't that I understand that de so we're not borrowing the entire water district project in one fiscal year we're you're going over several years with it right so forgive me I'm quoting from memory here I don't have my work computer in front of me um the total Project's $35 million a million out of a grant 650 out of um out of stabilization 450 on this year's tax rate and I think that made it a $1.4 million borrowing I think that's the numbers I gave you I think so y that works y okay and we have to to do that all one year no we're doing we we decided to pay to do 450 and borrow 1.4 million so the goal would be to try to get the Water Project paid off in I don't know three to five years if we're lucky so I don't think I wasn't in the discussions with you and advisory I think we were presented with the six something you took out of stabilization was going to go against the 450 on the tax rate not separately taking another bite on the borrowing well I I would go back and look at the tape John because I just agree wholeheartedly okay but going back to and this goes back to my other point there you talk about the values you talk about the increase in New Growth and all that is good for the value of the community I go back to the average tax bill going up 8% and the reason it goes up 8% is because we're spending 8% more money and is the 8% % more money because of the the majority of it is the borrowing for the Water Project not because of the budget the borrowing for the W or the the money that we're not borrowing for the Water Project more appropriately the 450,000 uh would be about 3% there it is so so so the budget would have gone up 5% over 5% without the water project yes no the average single family tax bill would go up 5% without the water budget the assessment would probably only go up 3% maybe the the actual tax increase across the board that's not how I read your email if and this is where we're talking different things we're collecting X number Dollar because we appropriated X number of dollars and if the average tax bill is going up 8 plus% that's the average it's not in my mind related to the value it's the average tax bill whether you my house did nothing your house put on a garage whatever the average tax bill acrossing is getting eight plus more per. we had a budget of correct me 15 million 15$ 15 million 16 so we needed 16 1.3 so 8% is 1. $3 million roughly 166 okay $1.4 million we did not spend $1.4 million extra in the last budget year done did we I so John if I added it right it was about 800 or 900 yeah the additional spending probably so that's where I can't get or maybe it's the terminology Bob and that could be part of it as well but I'm saying the person who had the house on Main Street that was worth $350,000 roughly the average and did nothing to it their bill is going to go up 8% the way it is right now the numbers are right now 8 half% I don't know I have a tough time wrapping my head around and Doug I don't know if you've got a better sense of it no I'm I I don't I can't connect the numbers in in my my analysis of it um my understanding was that the overall increase to the tax in the town everything is going to be a little over 5% which if I understand correctly is still the case I don't understand how we're residential is 85% of the our tax base how we end up with a 3% um because the assessments on residential went up more quickly went up higher than on the commercial industrial and personal side um the skew doesn't seem to make sense it doesn't correlate well the increases are given to us the only increase in commercial and Industrial is in land value not buildings I think it was 4% for commercial and 2% for industrial yeah I believe and please I'm working out of old memory 4% yeah 4% and 2% for industrial um I think if I might that was the increase on those one was 4.2 on the land and the other one was that helps that helps explain it because it's 11 % increase on the residential so I mean there's a there's a pretty significant disparity those valuations so I think if I understood just just listening and please um I think your statement was that 600,000 came from stabilization through the water but also um to what dick said another 450 was added all right hey out of the out of the money Brian right so if you take if you take that 450 that's that's the whole new growth true so we have a water project that was CR three and a half right three and a half we're going to get a million for a grant we need two and a half and out of that two and a half we're going to go ahead and pay off 1.1 in the first year yeah I'm not questioning what you did did with the water I'm just saying that's what the way I understand in Dick's really good with numbers and understanding future needs and stuff and his point is like don't keep pushing off you may need that money later I got but is knocking off 1.1 in the first year of a two and a half too much to balance against the increase in the tax thing is that an opportunity for discussion there if we took six something out of stabilization do we only put two something on the tax rate and because you really you do that you still knocked it down by a third in the first year and a three-year project isn't really out of sight John if I may yep it it's really hard to take credit for the 650 because that came from old money from stabilization and if in using your example of using 650 and a couple hundred thousand on the tax rate here that is not a predictor of what we can do in the future because that 650 is a oneshot deal we might be able to take a little more out of stabilization but you know after we've decided that it was perfectly safe to take 650 out of stabilization now we're left with you know how long are we going to take to pay off the water project that people voted for and so $200,000 you know you're talking about 10 years at that rate to pay it off why I didn't say 200 every year and your point to bring your point further yes if you only do 200 the first year and now you want to do the second third of 800 it's a huge jump the second year right so going from four to 8 the second year doesn't look as bad or it doesn't jump up as bad but it still goes back to where it's a heck of a jump for a year honestly except for the water done we did not have a huge huge thing and we have things coming forward well we had about a 5% increase 5.7 I think perc increase in the budget was is that right Doug does that sound right four 4.7 47 okay 47 on the operating budget does that include does that include what we added it at the fall I believe it does yes it does well add the no not the fall no because you add nothing in the fall you apply yeah right we we had an adjustment to the to the green sheets um that I took into account calculating that 4.7% increase 4.7 is the operating budget from last year to this year yeah doesn't include the the extra 100,000 that we put into employee benefits at the last year right but again that was out of the free cash and then you took the leftover the 600 to mitigate the 4.7 it yeah but it that there really doesn't matter in the end John on that it's still part of the operating budget and you know the otherwise the free cash number would have just gone to reducing the tax rate you have to include that 100,000 in our operating budget increase no for next year I understand that but Don you want to take a crack of this no no corra I think the only thing I'm hearing is because valuations went up the taxes up exactly well they they would go up any because because of the increase in the valuations this year it's increasing everything else in succession right but if the bills are going up 8% across the board whether you valued or not you're collecting 8% more money see that's the problem we're not the problem is that that that's the average tax bill going up 8.5 that's the average single family home tax bill right it doesn't as as as uh as Bob was just saying there Phill whoever that that the commercial bills didn't go up the the personal properties went down that's 20% of our base between those two so the 8.5 is making up for the shortfall in the other ones exactly right yes when when you take the our total Levy this year to last year and you take out the new the money that should be covered by new growth grow it's a 5.3% increase so we need double the tax on ever Source okay get on it yeah can you do that change their values that sub station is worth 100 million I'm telling else that there because I'm not happy no I know evaluation all right weal so the board has determined that they don't understand but thank you for your input so maybe the discussion down the road is split tax rate yes which I brought up I kept asking about but we didn't want to do that because it would hurt some of the small businesses and commercial property owners and so what I mean the problem I mean I think it's a discussion we're having but I'm not sure that that's the solution I think at its core this is the result of inflation inflation drove up these values you know artificially right yeah ske doing the assessment of the tax burden on our residents right it's shifting it to the res Residential Properties yes okay and thank you thank you thank you thanks thanks thank you guys for staying thank you guys for staying Water Commission connections water district connections John you want to come up we can't hear you back there so 20 minut yeah [Applause] his they still don't get it things I don't understand 40 minutes behind schedule H 40 minutes faster uhhuh all right go ahead what are we going to do here with water connections what are we deciding you want to start John you want me to start yeah go ahead start I'll fill in so i' sent out three things to the board and board as in the Board of Health same board so we have all of the addresses that are testing currently testing right yeah I think you have this spreadsheet that was sent out when uh last week hopefully you got it if not here so you have it in your packet now these are the listing this is the listing of all the addresses that are tested green are those addresses that are already connected um and the white are the ones that have our testing but there are no detections for posos so this is speaking posos only the orangish brownish ones uh tannish ones those are ones that have detex May 24th I've asked M the for August 24 testing results my original question was and John and I had discussions about this was who should we be hooking who should we make an offer for the town to hook up that was our original question in further discussions that John and I had today in Jam was part of it is that the testing isn't limited to posos these addresses are except for nine of these these these addresses are are are tested um um for other chemicals contaminates the voc's so the only way that we relieve ourselves of those testing costs or if the private well is no longer used for drinking water um so our original original thought when John and I were talking about this was you know could we just hook up those who have posos detections but the answer to that is no because it won't save us on testing cost because it'll still be required to test except for about six of those addresses nine uh so there's nine that were added in January 2024 to test for for posos only three of those have have detections for posos so that means there's there's six that in theory we don't necessarily have to hook up but um so that was really the question is who do we make this initial offer to to hook up and that's the discussion that we wanted to have I guess I was leaning towards everybody on the list um we can make that offer obviously there's going to be some people who don't want to hook up and there's different questions associated with that um but that's that's the reason why we wanted to put this on the agenda so the money the money that the town uh voted for in the money Tom that's the hook of everybody that is we hooked of everybody right y that's correct okay but the question you also have is like some people don't want to be hooked up and does that mean we have to keep paying the cost to test them I mean do do they have that option I I think that was a question we had for D MH was when we had our water discussion meetings was if these people don't want to be hooked up when we're offering to hook them up to remediate a contaminant concern do they now need to sign a waiver absolving the town of any liability because they don't want to be part of the solution right and then at that point are they responsible for the testing or we forced to offer the other solution of filtering which would be enormously expensive we need to offer a solution and we're offering a solution right but are we obligated to offer no I solution I don't think so I think we have to come up with the solution we have the solution which is a district expansion the town is voted for the solution the town is voted for the solution if a resident doesn't want to be part of the solution then I feel like they need to sign a I agree with is this something we can get you know Dan has moved down unfortunately to another job and I think Tom is now maybe taking over can we get them to give us the definitive answer they are loath to do so on occasion right saw that yeah they like to give guidance the last we heard was we we didn't have any guidance from them on that yeah but that would be my recommendation one of the ideas we floated was if they have no detection does that we kind of answer that ourselves that the problem still exist they're not affected by it but the problem is still up corre the hill so it's kind of a board of health issue and if someone decides they don't want to hook up and take part of a solution uh we're not liable on my opinion but that's up to the lawyer lawyers to make that because in d's eyes was either we test and filter or find an alternate water source true but then they sell the place a year later and the new owner says no I want to be hooked up well that would be on their D disclosure sure it be nice to get something from DP is or reaching out for another one of those meetings we had John did um did you send something out Dan to Dan yeah he said Dan's not there oh that's right yeah but he said no he just moved to he would still I emailed and Tom Tom Spate yeah um so if somebody refuses to install what we would do in terms of the project is we would we would probably install a uh we would tap the main install a stub and put a curb stop for future connections I think um but so the question becomes in what happens testing aside what whether whether we have to do it or not um the theory is that the town is a L liable for the contamination because it comes from the landfill now people could have no detects now but because because the water cycle and groundwater they could have the Texs in the future um and the question is what's the liability of the town at that point um I think we absolve that by hooking all the connections up right yeah we'll have difficulty I mean if you have in my opinion the Board of Health has the ability to to to for people who don't have portable water to order them to get portable water whether infiltration or system but for those who have no detects I don't know what Authority the town has to force them to hook up um and I I don't think that we can say well just to just so we can be relieved of these testing costs you have to hook up um I I I don't think the Board of Health has that that was the initial solution from D was to provide everyone whether they had detex or not that was their original Direction so that's what we were kind of basing all this determination off it was the direction from the dup well maybe that's the lest symptom that you you gave us direction to hook all these people up we're prepared to do that what do we do if someone doesn't want to hook up well they also drew a pretty wide district and I think you know we have now have data of like two testing Cycles showing there is absolutely nothing is there an opportunity to go back and say look maybe you took the pencil too far you see nothing here I mean where where does it end you know your four houses down scanic Road from any detection at all and is it when do we get a chance to lobby for can you bring it in a bit I think that's that conversation you reach out to Dan he's going to put you in touch with the right person yeah so so we're really talking about the Second Step here is is no it's F pH B connections well once someone makes a decision that they don't want to hook up my initial question is who do we make the offer to and it sounds like that the answer to that is everybody yeah the question is who does this letter go to and we're going to send it out to everybody and the cards are going to fall where they might I mean we already know likely one person doesn't want to hook up um and that'll be the second question but if the answer is that we're going to send this letter out to everybody to offer them to hook up then then we have our answer for tonight and we can move forward with that to and if they sell the house owners where do where they stand right who's going to put it in the deed I think that's a disclosure and then they're still obliga now to pay for the water too on under the contract right yeah yes they are they would be at that point the new people yeah okay so that that gives us that allows us to go through the next step it gets us information that we need in terms of when we're analyzing the bid so that's good house next door is paying now right yeah yeah all right town meeting discussion so this is town meeting discussion about setting the date an early date for opening closing and what time is this can we ask the Town Administrator to come back with a suggested calendar that we can review okay murf contract extension you have one I think I discussed that uh Brian's got pretty good data on it um I still would like to suggest that we kick the tires a bit and see what else is out there can we got his suggestions right here okay but I mean same thing you know I've also heard there are other places oh you got your what what other but the murf contract can we I mean do that isn't that a regional thing if we want to sign up for or we want to like sell what company AV and they're going to offer us 150 a ton I wonder what's out there that's all that just the recycling yeah just recycling back in the day you remember you used to make decent money yeah are we going to be able to bring that to the same place though or they going to have to pick it up local or they're still going to pick it up that that might four weeks five four weeks five weeks it sounds good start special for the four weeks prior to what are we doing here this is the previous one yeah those are my suggestions all right the schedules and then there's a process for Citizens petitions underneath um the Springtown meeting that date is set by our our general bylaws I'm suggesting that that we could fix a uh the board could fix through this policy that they set a date in in the fall as to when there's going to be a recurring town meeting a special town meeting and then obviously the board can call a special town meeting or be required to call a special town meeting any time okay does one week give the board of regist enough time to certify signatures they did this last one within okay three or four days is there any overriding Authority for citizens of that they can bring in at any time under mgl or something or there are they Bound by our closing date I think they're Bound by our closing dat they're Bound by our closing date they are bound by the closing date um but if you have the required numbers of signatures they're Bound by the closing date for that town meeting right they can still call special they could still call another they can do 200 route if they want they have the required number of signatures yes I was trying to set a a schedu yeah no I think it's good BR yeah and again we always have the opportunity to open and close for an emergency if we wanted to you know to remove an article to tweak an article or whatever so if we close if we close the warn four weeks PR of town meeting that's a like April 1st yeah I think you got to move I think you got to move it to March 1st eight weeks yeah eight weeks yeah well well the problem some of these you got like the okay for instance you heard from planning they're going to have two or three things by the time they get the public hearing on and stuff like that now you're now you're saying well we'll close we'll allow placeholders so they can no no what I'm what I'm saying is that what I'm saying is for the warrant articles eight weeks you know March 1st March 1st because they could still this is what they want on the town meeting Warrant Where I'm saying placeholders and they can sell TB yes yeah okay still there because there's time because I one of the things I hear all the time is people say you know I didn't even know this was going to be on the warrant I got this yesterday and you know what I mean I'm looking at I I go to the town meeting and I get the warrant I go to the town meeting and the The Advisory committees is in the Conor making their recommendation we don't know what you know can we 5 weeks no I like the idea of the warrant though um the I think the board can set we can set that I think the board can set that it's on Deadline I mean like we do two steps like Don said 8 weeks to close the warrant four weeks final language something like that well I noticed I notic in wilham the way they wrote the wilham bylaw the procedure on this is February 1st for money article mhm March 1st for non- money articles mhm you know and you know and they don't have their town meeting until the same time we do right but do they they don't say button it down they say look get it in no they and then no they say this closing date of the of the warrant is February 1st for money articles no I got that but I'm saying the other ones there again I'm saying plan's going to come to us with the battery storage bylaw right and they say look we're going to have that on the thing they tell us long beforehand but we're having the public hearing on it gosh third week of March that's fine you'll have the final language you know plenty of time yeah but that's in that's the same thing it's already decided it's Article 5 the final language will be you're right that makes sense with something like you said you know the public hearing thing just you know well what happens with the now is we have advisory has the public hearing 2 weeks before M they we you know it's just not enough time people don't you know I I just don't think no I think that double thing again defin it for we're closing the warrants maybe a placeholder is there but the final language must be within four weeks of the town meeting right okay because we can't be likeah you know can you adjust that so you want that to say eight weeks yeah for which weeks to close March 1st close final language April 1st oh April 2 April let's not open ourselves up there okay all right April 1 and murf we're going to do what what are we doing with murf that's the same for let me talk to leene and just uh meet her yeah fire brand yeah she's good at this say I would have to yeah let bring it back next week see if we just I'm going to pick our brain see if there's better money deal for us when do we have when we have that goes towards the Enterprise fund and we can use a little extra cash there when do we have to sign the murf thing oh what did they say it March I thought you said March name arene mhm the deadline to sign this contract extension is December 31st 2024 okay let me reach out for tomorrow December 31st all right so we got to that'll be the 23rd we have to put it back on when I'm meeting the 16th okay Municipal Building improvements so we can I think they all should be the same color the rec is that what you meant right the recap with that is that we just a group of us met and discussed the prioritization and we went through the assessments and that type of thing so we're moving forward now we're meeting again after the first year y weather closing policy so I sent out so I've been trying to find what weather closing policy is and I the only two things that I could find was weather closing policy from 2002 and then something that seemed more recent a suggestion from from John to the the board at the time to adopt something similar to Wilbraham um but there was nothing there's no other documents that I could find okay tried to merge the wilham policy with the 2002 policy Don may recall this because Bob took it over yeah and I had a problem with that because it goes back to he's not in town and Bob is a great guy and what all that but it should be either the chair of the board like he did this week in consultation with the highway superintendent the police chief Brian I don't expect you to close the town hall from where you are because that could be totally different from what we're seeing here yeah this this he may Don may direct you send the message out but I think the call comes from the chair yeah I I don't have that this week um we consulted with uh Highway superintendent and the police chief to get their opinions as to uh how the roads were and they suggested that there'd be a delayed opening and so don I communicated after that and we decided to delay it if we want to change that to B sweat booing the morning any do you go to bed I do I do sleep right now sleep in most of the meetings sleep with his eyes open and talking um they're but again uh again confirm the list because I know that Becky reached out to me and she wasn't on a couple other people why don't we just change uh select board chair with Town Administrator okay and we'll go for there again the idea is that we'll reach out to the highway superintendent and the chief of police yeah usually have the best the road conditions best ideas about the road conditions a yearly entertainment licenses Che I have three la casabella oh no we asked to have the DAT confirmed from last week for last year yeah right and we did that copies are behind each one of what you last year were there any differences one or two differ of hours okay last year last year for casabella it was um Thursday Friday Saturday 6:00 to 10 indoors and 6: to 8:30 outdoors and Thursdays weather permitting I guess and here they just say effective hours Friday Saturdays 4: to 10:00 p.m. indoors so they cut the hours down they cut the days and no outdoor anymore no no outdoor okay to approve cadella all in favor I okay and for Laina let's see effective hours Thursday Saturday 6:00 to 10 this is last year indoors Thursday through Saturday 7 to9 Outdoors July and August only mosquito season and they have Friday Saturday 7:00 p.m. to 10 which is an hour longer indoor in uh indoors or on patio SE so they had s to nine last year and then when they want to go 7 to 10 July and August well I mean we did say it's really not a residential neighborhood so it really doesn't affect anybody around there I mean the only problem we have with the outdoor C Bells CU it was colon of Village across the street that was all yeah 10:00 I don't know I can't stay up that late I don't care Craig do matter to you okay are you going to make a motion or not that was Craig start motion to approve second all in favor I okay great horse great horse last year was outdoor entertainment poolside until 900 p.m. doesn't say the time of year that would be the hockey man over we get on that pond indoor indoor entertainment 12 to p.m. to 12: a.m. with doors closed and they're requesting outdoor entertainment till 900 p.m. they don't say poolside outoor entertainment till 900 PM so could they be like on the 16th te or something Monday through Saturday extension Court Monday through Saturday it's the same thing okay same thing for great horse CU last year all in favor okay thank you and then we got the Sunday one Sunday one for great oh we got the Sunday one a funny shape the there want the the sideway oh yeah this is for great horse live music on Sundays 12: to 8:00 p.m. I sign that last time and this is the Live recorded music and dancing that's extra isn't it dancing is dancing on a Sunday [Laughter] same time same time all right and this is so this one got an endorsement from the chief of police yes okay subject to that endorsement I'll make a motion to approve do we have any complaints last year on Sunday no we there's nothing listed here the chief has included a log but it's for luch for a few those are L yeah second on favor okay got sign the all right now and that's the last of licenses the year right Lauren okay thank you now we have a conservation restriction approval for Minard trust what time is it approve this is just what what is this no this is just a personal one on my land um in 2013 or 14 I purchased um Charles Charlie Belo passed away and I purchased is 37 Acre Farm and have on the east side of South Row going up right yeah yeah so um I've gone through um selling part of it putting conservation restrictions on it and it's there's a state grant called the conservation uh cltc uh conservation land tax credit so I get some money back um and so this grant um really doesn't have anything to do with the town per se it's the it's our land my husband myself personal land and the minog land trust conservation restrictions on it the reason that I have to come before the select board and get your signature is because conservation restrictions are permanent and in case you wanted to have a you know eminent domain and build a fire station or something but since this land is long way to go I don't think it would be be suitable okay let me ask you this I'm okay with it because it's your land yeah two years from now Ken says you know what I'm going to follow the Red Sox wherever they go and you guys move then this goes with this is permanent whoever buys our house that's my point so maybe they say you know what we don't want this restriction anymore then they then then don't buy the land so is there any that's my question is there any way to remove it uh no it would have to go before the state legislature it can be removed but it's extremely difficult so they're meant to be in perpetuity they're attached to the deed whoever buys it will find the de find a restriction attached to the de so they can't build on it or anything so they can't build on or anything I mean it would be very difficult to build on this land anyhow because it's behind land that already has a conservation restriction on if you want to pass around this part that shows the map up so it requires the legisl it would yes yes but happen but it's rare yes the the point of a conservation restriction is to permanently protect that's too small for me if you put it up on the screen all right it's your land yeah so so that is why it's abing the current conservation yes so there's land right behind my house um when we first bought the house we had 15 Acres then we bought eight Acres next to it on on the north side and put conservation restrictions on on most of that and so this is behind that so they never do and it's connected they never do CRS that are timed they're always permanent there's never like a 15-year conservation search or something no the whole point is to yeah I mean I mean they don't do it on all land it has to have it has to have environmental significance so this makes a huge like quor right refresh my memory which is the one that has the current restriction um this is B at the top so yeah so if you look to uh so there's restrictions to the right of it I don't own that land well actually I I do own that land now but I don't intend to own it forong so this could the the the part that's grayed out has constrictions restrictions on it and it's not grayed out but to the left left of it um most of that land also has restrictions on it with the exception of a small area around my house okay let me take that back uh you own it but you don't plan it owning it for long yeah I mean which which parcel uh it's an 88 acre parcel that um is it D on the map here yeah I I have to get my glasses but I don't have them with me so so D has has the restriction on yeah they already have restrictions on it so which you signed off on I got saying to my point yeah you don't plan honestly who's going to want it no it would be very very it turns out that land that is the most important for conservation and is the least important for for building a development it's steep slopes well know I'm just saying you're saying you don't hope to own it for long but I'm like well who's going to want to buy it well it's going to it would be connected to some Frontage locks I still own some Frontage on um South Road so this herd or a type that's an offset yeah yeah okay well let's fair enough yeah so so somebody who wanted to have a lot there are people out there who want to have lots of land they want to ride their horse or whatever want to go hunting so they can still hunt on the land and stuff yes yes yes hunting is a lot all right we have a motion good motion to approve the conservation restriction as requested second all in favor I AG what am I signing back your way Sherry this is smart come at almost 8:00 it works a lot better if you come at 6 you never yeah we would had pictures we would looking Craig could have us drone up looking over the property do we have something to sign yeah there's this there's a signature page and then I I don't mean to babble at you but this is a painful process to go through the state and get it approved and we submitted the this application in April um there's a deadline or I lose up my money by December 31st and they finally approved it has to go back they made Corrections we approve the corrections then it has to get signed so I'm hoping that tonight's signature will be good sometimes they'll they'll do something like they'll say no you can't sign it first the secretary of the environment signs it so I may have to come back and get a new signature in a week or two I don't know you go the 23rd and that's it the 2 and that's it okay so so hopefully um I might I might need a new one um just to if they they might accept tonight's signature I'm just trying to get everything done because after I get all the signatures I've got it go down to the registry of deeds and record so it's uh time is laen there's only one here only one copies right more than one no I can just I don't want to ask you this but I'm going to ask you anyhow but please keep it short are we anywhere on North Road oh wait a mean yes we bought the land and we we we will be back at the May meeting to uh do the money part to yeah the money's been approved to just to V so yeah we bought the land and can you did flip we're in the process of that it's with the lawyer the houses on the right and the parking on the left now we don't you don't need that heard no no we went back to the original oh you did great that's even better okay that down there anyways yeah we we went actually the original plan because I didn't want to have to come back and do a whole new thing no no I'm much happier with the parking on the right that sounds Co so we went right back to the original so it's all the same as it was we just considered that because we felt we should consider it a lot of people said to us why don't it this way so we we toyed with it but we ended up that toy away great thank you thanks Sher all right thank you so um Wednesday we have a planning board meeting there is one public hearing so there will be a zoom session and Brian do we have one of our 12 Zoom operators set up or says yes Lauren's doing it no Lauren says you have somebody lined up have all right great what are they look the hearing on a minor minor thing I think say uh accessory building yeah uh we had a meeting of the Senior Center building committee today and really they're looking for direction um obviously as you know Gary and John attended your meeting last week for the select board meeting talk about municipal buildings as a whole but they're really looking for you know do you want us in are we still you know we're still getting paid n I'm kid um uh is there still a need for us my opinion well the need hasn't gone away it's how we accomplish the goal is really the question the work they've done analyzing the goals and stuff like that and the needs is good stuff it is no different than the fire department stuff like that uh they're looking for direction from the the uh select board as to their role going forward do they keep refining it do they keep looking for different funding sources do they try and they said look anything you do for funding is obviously going to be good for your cause well we know the town has spoken returns to the Twice first time they got 65% I mean it was a majority but second time it was an overwhelming minority it didn't pass I understand that I'm just saying people are saying you know whichever so but the right the bottom line is last time it only got 38% for whatever reason you can second you can money more that whatever it failed right right they're looking for what does the select board want us to do going forward okay and this is part of that discussion we're having with all the all the municipal buildings understand that but they want to know is there still a committee I say it is until we tell them no right right they continue there's no need to meet every week no they don't have to meet every week sir I'm still trying to understand if the if is there a need for the committee still I mean that's I mean it's not on that the topic for discussion tonight so it's really kind of a move point so I think it's need for because I mean they're talking about they want to do more fundraising they've got a couple people and I think you know this this is melan who has done a lot of fundraising you know I think that's what one of the things they heard was that can we get more funding is the state out there look go back out there you know no different than sharping the pencil you come back in you know and I think if there's if there's still active committee I just don't think there's any direction from the board at this time for them to take a charge do you think the well the original charge was to look at what's needed for the senior center for the next 25 years right and then we hadn't revised that for just immediate needs we didn't revise that for immediate needs we told them to simplify the project right right simplify it like C it down the 25 year thing is still there I mean we're not going to simplify then go back in 5 years and put another my point is I think the point excuse me Drake I think the point that they missed and that I think a lot of people at the town meeting was they don't believe that they need that that that need that they keep talking about which is storage space and Foot Care translates to $6 million I think they do believe if you need a new roof we could do a new roof but they keep saying we have the we do these programs which they're doing and we need room for blood pressure and foot care and storage and people just can't wrap their head around $6 million when they think there's other options you the message didn't get articulate correctly they they didn't say look at we want to have this new program you know that we think is going to bring in 50 people or 40 people or something or or the state is mandating that we do you know I don't know whatever yeah I guess my point was we gave them a direction we revised the direction it didn't pass currently there's no direction from the board of Select or the select board right so go back to my original question then are you telling them to disband or not well I say if they want to still search for funding and get together and you know the building still needs you know like Donald say on a roof maybe there's other things that they can do as a committee at the moment without looking for a renovation project understand are they a committee or not are they still our committee yes I yeah there still committee but I would say we don't have a a charge for them at the moment then I would invite Gary to come in and look for direction for the bo at some point in the future maybe after the first after the first right okay and of course he'll still be involved in the general thing about the other things exactly yeah all right ran or do you have something yep water B are due Thursday I'll after water BDS are due Thursday uh the ambulance has been sold and transferred to the Palmer fire district as of earlier this week um website so uh two items there's going to be uh MV MVP made as part of the grant that production me that those those filming filming around town is going to be uh September 16th and 17th and um the will be times in January from January 14th to the 16th that um for the new website uh people who are going to be site administrators there'll be trainings for those individuals uh and then there'll also be individual trainings for people who we anticipate will need to learn how to use the website but on a much reduced scale posting agendas and minutes and things like that so um that'll that'll come out in January website should roll out uh sometime the new website should roll out sometime in February and um there was an email sent to the board and myself for uh a school budget meeting on the January 28th that something that everybody can do or is that something we should respond favorably to no it's what we annual thing really theual I liked your response you know like if we just watch the video from The Last Five Years sometimes we Zoom so should I should I respond yes yes we're eager when was that again 28 January 28 eager Brian make sure you express how eager we are janary 28th I can send a frowny face was it just a Emoji 28 yeah so I'll respond you oh no Brian no no exclamation marks we know how much we like those those get quite strange sometimes when it's not so great news and there's like but anyways um sorry anything else to come before the board yes uh fire station fire station building committee met ago met with the architect they reviewed the tekon and the mital reports and all the assessments that were done with the community um we kind of gave them a little bit of a direction and said hey you know we felt some of the other plans were there was no happy medium Middle Ground anywhere so we gave them the option to look at remodeling 19 North Road and then I said just for fun what would it cost to put in a new building you know as a secondary you know if land wasn't the question you know what would it just cost for comparison sake a new building versus a remodel so part of the thing I know I mentioned before I remember this a few months ago I was talking about you know if we were just talking about expanding I said why don't we take down the building the part to the right build two bigger Bays there those would be the larger apparatus now because Don's concern when he back to the oosha thing is about the separation in the aisles so now in the middle two bays you use the smaller apparatus the brush truck Etc and build two bigger Bays that give you the oan separation for the tanker and engine one I think that was Ed's kind of idea originally was to come off with two bays off to the right so there are is that the direction we're going now well we gave them the ideas and they're going to see what fits within the model the blueprint obviously making sure everything's up to code legal stuff like that well the biggest thing you know talk about why this is going so slow honestly ambulance held it back they really did speaking of ambulance I had inquired if action would be interested in storing within the town's buildings rather than renting a building and I believe Brian had said the email saying that they would be open to discussions so maybe that could save on some so that's the use for this building they're going to park the amulance here here yeah it's just all options on the table to see you know if we can eliminate a cost funding for them there does it help us elwise and then you're putting you know your First Responders together in it was a design for a garage at one point that I came across that anything else to C before the board I do want to thank uh the staff for great tree lighting this last weekend Lauren Jane Craig you know I think was a pretty darn good job and looking forward to a a great holiday season if that's the correct way to say it Mr chair I believe Christmas is appropriate well Merry Christmas to all of you coming up Christmas and with that I'll move to a journ second all in favor hi hi you to right out of here I'm sorry Dad do you have something else believe in the tax rate how's thaton working good I was more confused afterwards I think you heard the budget's back I'm sorry 15 203 something like that the taxx rate drop goes down valuation it's a whatever that thing's called pulum pivot thing yeah whatever right so simple machine so I mean that's how much we're saying we're going to raise as a as a that's the difference this is our tax that's how much we need to raise based on adding $1.1 million these are just a couple of the Water Project on to the taxy but we take 650 off of that cuz that's coming from stabilization