##VIDEO ID:undX21PLoLU## all right let's try this again in accordance with the requirements the open meeting law please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and will be will be found at the lunenberg access YouTube channel after the meeting to to view remotely from a computer use the link in the agenda from the telephone use the number in the agenda um the agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by the chair votes may be taken as a result of these discussions not all items May in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by open meeting law all right um do anybody have any public comments while I go shut the door to my office right no comments uh did everybody have a chance to review the minutes oh hold on I forgot about that part I could do it quickly now uh you want to do that at the end Tony I can quickly I think they're pretty short right we have CPA executive summary and then action items for next meeting we could take off C because this is the last meeting so we're down to just the executive summary in CPA I don't care which we take I did send out a second draft of the executive summary with edits from Renee and input from Ezekiel and Dr Gilson's documents um I did not order them I did not put them in an order of priority and I like put them in little tables so we can move them around easier we don't have to worry about like o shoot we we didn't get the whole thing um so I don't know if that's what we want to do we could do that and then talk about CPA or we could talk about CPA first um you want to approve the minutes I just I just scanned them oh sure quickly all right uh if everyone else is all set with the minutes um everybody else all set with the minutes all right um you want to take a roll call vote uh Renee oh to approve yeah I yeah Ezekiel hi Dr Gilson oh you're on mute I'm an excellent lip reader it looks like she said I yeah I did Carter I Dr Burnham I and v i to meeting minutes approved um all right so how do we want to tackle the two items that are left on the agenda now that we've determined there's no more meetings um how much of the CPA do we have to talk about I don't know I think we just put that on there because we weren't sure if we wanted to keep going one thing that we had left open was whether or not we were able to reach the person from the Historical Society sponsored it the last time I did not do that so I think I have a phone number okay um I got it from an Nelson uh who got it from someone at the Historical Society I think um but I haven't had a chance to contact her um I think the other thing was maybe the housing which I don't think I don't have an answer for but you know yeah that was the of this three buckets that's the one that I'm the least clear on but and looking at some of the stuff that you pointed out on the website and doing research a lot of communities are styed on the affordable housing component it seems like the one that's most difficult for communities to come to consensus on it's also the one where people like uh save the money let it build up and then do one big thing so and probably put the least amount the 10 10% the required 10% into that bucket yeah that's right think yeah I wonder if that could in anyway tie into the MBTA zoning down the road if could help if anything comes of that or I like the rental assistance but I don't know enough about it and by enough I mean anything Carter how does it typically work in other communities it tends to be either some small amount towards the rental assistance program that's not widespread but it tends more to be grants to developers uh who are developing affordable housing so uh in Templeton which is the most recent project I've worked on uh we have an old school that was put out for proposals they're putting 12 units into the school and another 38 are being built on the adjoining properties uh and the town is putting in 1.5 I believe it is million dollars to help write the cost of the construction down uh about 80% of those units will be affordable and 20% will be market rate it really works best in conjunction with a private developer there's not a lot the town can do on its own I mean I think the recommendation from from us is I think the CPA is definitely worth looking into um who can do that who can sponsor it bring It Forward I don't know in the past it was a historical Commission um just thinking about Marshall Park thinking about Municipal Building historical buildings involved in that we are going to be spending money on projects with or without CPA so with CPA I look at it as hey we can get some money towards those projects between Marshall Park and municipal buildings you're probably staring down 7 and half1 million easily in the next three or plus years and you've got to deal with these buildings yeah EXC and on top of that outside of CPA potentially eligible projects you've got schools staring you down you've got Turkey Hill that has got to be dealt with in terms of a going forward basis and TC pasos has got to be dealt with um yeah you know it's you got from a capital standpoint you got quite a bit on your plate that has and I'm not saying needs to be addressed I'm talking about approaching really almost catastrophic levels of impact upon the organization if we interpret the cautious speech of all Town managers we like in Straits with these buildings I probably say deep do but okay yeah is it normal for municipalities of this size to have so many buildings that are like in need of dire upkeep I I think you just had a Confluence of not dealing with the buildings with TC pasos having had one vision for it that didn't quite work and so now you've got and you got Town Hall piled on top of that and you got Turkey Hill coming together all at the same time and you got you got and Marshall Park coming together you've got five projects that each one by itself is is a major project and what to do with Brooks house uh yep and let's not forget though they look in great shape from the the outside you're starting to reach you know what 30 plus years on your public safety building how old is that I don't think it's that old yet but but they they age a lot faster than you people think Yeah Boy Scouts the at least the police side looked in really good shape they they did a lot they do a lot to keep it clean I mean it was in even the cells where the kids really wanted to get locked in and all the parents were like hey not bad but but you're reaching a point in which major systems will start to experience failure yeah yeah yeah did just out of curiosity did the e911 update that impacted the schools also impact the town uh I I believe so yes I'll check with I thought that was all about the phone system and the school right for the schools it definitely was um as an example for some of the 911 compliance laws um we would not have been compliant because the Turkey Hill Elementary did not have um phones in each of the classrooms something that's probably not um as big a challenge on the town side because if you have an office space or a desk you like we have a phone right there um I think the CPA is definitely something that needs to be pursued but I think it needs to be pursued um not with a single Champion if the historical commission pursued it last time but as a joint initiative and I think that it has to start uh with a real deep understanding of why it didn't get through either time uh you know you look at towns and and um they did quite a bit of work I mean it's watered down which is okay but it it it made it through they really it was only 1% It had a deep set of um EX itions on it um and that that's okay the the key thing was it made it through the Hoops so I know the two times it came before the town both times it was a 3% search charge when it was up in 2020 and because of everything else going on in 2020 was never brought to town town meeting um they had backed it down to a 1% but I think the exemptions the low income and the we're giving the first 100,000 uh value I think those were both in play but yeah I mean it it needs Champions and I I don't know where we can find that we can't even fill a Personnel committee I mean the list of vacancies volunteer vacancies is embarrassingly long at the moment but the open jobs are going down I know it's it's totally flipped it has totally flipped in the past since since the start of the year you know I think that if we had like we need somebody that has some Construction and building Acumen to explain why this would be helpful because I think if it's like the normal Coalition of lefties like people are gonna be like I don't want to pay more money but if if we had somebody who had some either building Acumen or Finance Acumen to be like look you're going to spend this money anyway you may as well get a discount you could spend a dollar or you could spend 70 cents and you'll get the exact same outcomes why not spend 70 cents um no yeah that was one of the points that Rebecca lantry raised um in one of in I think it was her select board presentation she talked about over the years projects have been done that would have qualified for CPA money and so we lost that money but she didn't I didn't find details on you know what have we done the past what did it cost us what could we you know have possibly if we were a CPA Community back then how much would that have reduced the burden you know estimate it kind of a retrospective what it would have saved residents and now looking forward to projects and estimate what we could save I mean the thing is you to qual to even be eligible to get 100% reimbursement you have to do the 3% search charge and you can the lowest you can have and and participate is 0.5% SE charge um and this most recent round the minimum match was 18% but if you were um taxing below the 3% rate yeah everybody got and then and then that's round one right right everybody all the CPA communities get whatever it's it was 18% um and then they go back for round then they go round two round three but you have to be 100 or 3% search charge yes to qualify for subsequent rounds so but hey if somebody told you I can guarantee you 10% return in a year would you take it yeah I'm straight I would I mean but how many people don't sign up for their full 401K well that could be because they can't for it either they they at least everyone I know always you know if you get a company match you at least want to contribute that amount so you get the full match you can get yeah yeah yeah yeah um and I mean I don't know what the lowest match has been with CPA communities they're up to 200 communities now and and that's why the um match has gone down over time yeah yeah and it's unpredictable because it depends they have to see how much money they have in the CAU every year and then that's what they have to disperse that year so it's it's variable but it's less variable than the stock market Carter do you think that the like one of the things that I always look for as a lawyer when I'm trying to like break up a statute or you know find some loophole is like why is this law the way it is and it seems to me that the the the state and the federal government permit municipalities to tax in one way and basically only one way and in order to get people to do these things Massachusetts state law has created an exception for municipalities to raise funds if they use them in these specific directed ways and so like the CPA is really just a way of the state incentivizing municipalities to invest responsibly it's not it's like you have one tax lever unless you do these other things we want you to do and if you don't do them then you're stuck like we are right now with only one tax lover I mean is that a like is that a grossly simplified but correct way of viewing it or is that wrong the state is constantly Under Pressure to try to deliver additional money to cities and towns yeah they have the same fiscal pressures upon them as we do though they have many more Avenues to pursue so for three major areas preservation of land affordable housing preservation of our historical assets they determined they wanted to make that money available and they tied it to the registry of deeds monies um the state itself does not put any money into this program it all comes from the additional fees that you pay at the registry of deeds how they came to determine on these specific programs whether they decided Well it's coming from Deeds it's coming from land it's coming from housing so maybe that's where we'll put our emphasis I honestly don't know because this I mean you know the first couple years this program was around there were fewer than 25 communities that adopted it it'd be interesting see which of those communities still does it uh all of them that is a good point of reference if all of the first communities to do it still do it then it must be worthwhile like they would have gotten out because once you once you like pass through your you know obligatory window you don't have to reup if you don't want to right no you can withdraw after so if they didn't withdraw there must be a reason why well as just just said you know minimum you're going to get is a roughly 20% Payback and then if you're in the 3% bracket you might move up as high as 60% depending upon the um or 100 there were towns got 100% match this year yes yes so I mean that's the the data is out there to to like really break it down look at what communities how often how long and all that but the other way I look at this is we're every transaction you buy a car all those fees that come along with every property sale right and I think I don't even know if it's buying a cart but we're paying these fees to the state this is our money we're giving the state shouldn't we try to get some of that back we're paying in every property transaction that occurs in lunenberg and is recorded in the registry of deeds in Worcester has a fee attached to it that goes into this fund is it only property or Car Sales also have a state fee no not Car Sales okay um yeah I don't think they register the ucc's at the registry of deeds so I'm gonna say I'm gonna it's only at the registry of deeds yeah that's where it's that's what it's associated with I mean I guess I have to ask does the community Community understand it's going you know Tony you talk about all these projects the town is going to have to pay for is the community RIT llarge understanding of that I mean do they really accept and know that because if they don't if that's your premise you're never going to sell this right right right that's right I don't think they do Renee I mean like I don't think so I I think people who go to town meeting maybe yeah yeah but the parents at Turkey may but they'll be moving their kids on to another building at some point Townson had a big PR campaign around it education kind of campaign and it was a close vote it was very close yeah but percentage wise it wasn't like 55% to 45% was it was like 500 votes or something right was that right I don't remember yeah well it was defeated 6040 both times 2002 and 2007 can I ask a question when it was defeated is it like the normal group of lefties versus the normal group of conservatives and it just broke down that way and then there were people in the middle I mean I feel like I feel like we have to recognize that we are any fundamental different political era than we were even 10 years ago and if we if we approach it from the perspective of Orthodox leftist politics and Orthodox right-wing politics I think it's doomed to fail because it's it you know like we can call it a search charge but people are going to pay more money to the government and everybody calls out a tax so if we say I view it as a savings account for the town eligible projects but like the enemies of the CPA are going to be like the town's raising our taxes or at the minimum at just asking for more anytime you go and ask for more people I mean it's gonna happen yeah we're gonna come with the storm water utility guess what the Rain Tax yeah right right the death tax I think that the key is to explain like what carger said which is Weir if you don't understand this here is the primer we have to upgrade these buildings and upgrade the park they are not functioning we have already planned on paying that amount of money here is a way to defray the cost and if like you know like I here is here is a way to keep Boston that suck money sucking machine from giving your money to Newton and Brooklyn and conquered and fill in the blanks we're going to keep some of that money right here in town yeah for the 200 communities that are already in CPA y yep yep yep yep but I I think what we can do is you know bring it back say hey it's time to get serious and look at this again who's going to take it up I don't know because I think even let's let's run the timeline I think even if it went to annual town meeting it and got pass then it would go to ballot in the November election and that's the fastest it could happen and so we're talking a year from now so we wouldn't get a match that year it would be so two years from now we might get some CPA money that's a fastest TCP isn't going to last two years well TCP would not be an eligible use no no but the money we put there we're going to be taking away from somewhere else right yeah if you're left with Brooks house you got Town Hall you've got Ritter you've got Marshall Park there is plenty on your plate that could be a use of this money would um let's say that instead of getting rid of Turkey Hill we wanted to like uh retrofit it would Turkey Hill qualify because it's old it's it's it's not old but it's it is old but I don't think it's going to qualify as as historic unless it's the get your dad to to qualify unless it's the first use of clay brick in in lunenberg yeah maybe he can find some reason some oh believe my dad wants to retrofit that building so badly he's like I've i' I've asked him a couple times if he' volunteered to be the project manager and he's like no no no my mom is like no no don't do that I I I don't know maybe maybe Burnham can you know bury an arrowead or something on the site we can I no it's not old enough um and the other thing that's worth noting too is the T well so this this is a good and a bad thing the the expenditure of the CPA money the project has to be approved by town meeting so the town has to approve the use of the CPA funds and we know how hard it is to get this town to approve anything so it's possible we could have money and have a project and then Town say no and then we have to wait till the next meeting whatever town meeting you know that like some of the plans have been in place for so long that the town will approve them like if we can get CPA funding for redoing town hall and redoing the Ritter building I I think those plans have been floated long enough that they would get I mean they're going to happen like I said happen one way or the other may as well get the money back you know the funny thing is um Renee I found in my career that if I tell somebody you're going to pay for a project with taxation it's like oh my God but if you tell them you're taking it from a grant or from a reserve fund or from free cash or some other such Source it's oh okay fine they think it's free money not all money is viewed equally by the taxpayer yeah yeah and there is no such thing as free money but eie that with CPA I mean we're not talking like it's not like oh the CPA money is gonna fund the whole project I mean we're not we're talking what six six figures at the most yeah at least yeah yeah 's projections were 100,000 uh $150,000 I mean it's not for a year yeah and that's assuming 100% match is it I think my number is had it at 60 not at a okay with any exemptions or I don't know I mean they're more ballpark what seen from the website many many towns end up accumulating it for a couple of years before they're able to undertake any major project you know there might be a small $20,000 here to the local Land Trust 15,000 to the historical commission um those kinds of things but most communities do end up accumulating it I just thought of another one we need to expand North Cemetery but that I don't know if that would qualify uh preservation of The Monuments um and some of those kinds of features probably would qualify acquisition of land for expansion would not well I think we own the land it's just the work to clear it right yeah that that would not that would not qualify but once again there's no there's no shortage of projects no I'm more worried about the time than the the the lack of projects I feel like because there are so few lovers that we have access to we got to figure out how to make this one work I mean we've only got two I think the split tax rate is going to be hard to implement and incredibly hard to make Fair whereas the CPA has enough exemptions that we could do the thing that Mr Pao said at our very first meeting which was figure out a way to do all of these things equitably and the CPA with the the major exemptions it allows for does that I don't think we get anywhere else I I certainly don't think we get that much Equity from the split tax rate in fact like I like if it was if I was Voting I would probably not support a split tax rate because it just it paints with too broad a brush whereas the CPA is much more nuanced in its approach setting aside the goals that it has I think the way in which the the search charge would be charged is more equitable so like it is a very tempting thing for municipalities that have no levers and at the same time it is much more Equitable than the other the one other lever we have which is the split tax rate and again the town is in charge of deciding how that money is ultimately spent right right I think it has to stay on our list of potentials uh that are submitted as part of this report I don't know as you can really go much deeper than that at this point in time can why while we're still on the subject of values what do you think that the the changing the method in which the town warrant is delivered how much do you think that would save you mentioned it I just didn't write down the number around 7500 bucks I mean it's not huge but in the grand scheme of things every dollar is really important why waste money why waste why waste anything any amount the other thing is it will also allow for a more realistic accounting by the individual government boards because we will have the health insurance rate right now uh in order [Music] to get that report out in a timely manner in a coherent fashion that in involves everyone you must have the final votes by 25 days before the meeting so close on health insurance I mean we barely made it this year this past year on health insurance Dr buram when did those numbers come in I think they came in early mid February might have been early February and we had like a couple of meetings where we basically delayed voting on the final budget because we were waiting for those numbers so if we could have like even two more weeks it would have been really helpful um anybody else want to keep talking about the CPA all right let's move on to the next thing which is the executive summary so I sent it out this morning uh I changed the format I had uploaded and made all of uh Rene's changes to my terrible grammar and I reorganized the the recommendations and proposals I also footnoted where I could where things were said so if somebody reads the executive summary they can go back and look at uh you know which uh budget task Force session this was set in or whatever um so the way that I broke it down was they're now listed they have the recommendation number and then the title who needs to get noticed the estimated value um when the thing was talked about again so people could go back and watch the recommended langu recommendation language and then the reason why and I did that for every proposal that we had some of them I was not sure on the budget task for session like I could not find the one where Anna Lockwood referen the solar on the Oldtown dump site I went and looked at me minutes I looked up my notes I just couldn't find it so it's still mark it a public comment it was a public comment yeah I wanted to know I don't yeah I couldn't do it but most of them I got on all of them all all of those things but they're not in order and so I thought it might be helpful for finance committee and for select board and anybody else who's looking at it for us to put them in order the only two that I had in any order was number one the targeted diagnostic audit because I think we've all agreed that we need that and number two the investment consolidation and Implement and prudent investor rule because that's already been voted on by the town so those are already set we like one is a consensus of of this group and then the other is an action item given to the from town meeting so it's like those both have got to be on there um I didn't put any order beyond that so like if if anybody wants to shout out like I think CPA should be number three because it's one of the very few things that we can do that would raise six figures I mean none of the other ones are even close other than the grants for the uh HVAC system and the uh the split tax rate yeah and I think the CPA has a tighter timeline it's more realistic than a split tax rate oh yeah I I just can't imagine the split tax rate ever going I mean that just seems like too much well you were able to see the chart at the most recent tax classification hearing when you even by moving it just I think the first Factor was 15% uh you know the the residential rate went down by a few percentage points under 100 bucks on the sample property if I remember right um and the spike the increase on the commercial side really really outweighed it you just I do have a question for Izzy if I might Izzy the um um prudent investment fund will will work well with your your trust funds and hopefully boost those a little bit um but have we in recent past looked at or taken out our uh entire cash flow portfolio to see what any banks might do for us and you know similar to the uh Mass Municipal depository Trust that I do not know I don't believe it's been done recently I know I had talked to one of our banks about updating our financial investment policy yeah and as soon as the new town manager comes aboard we can we can tackle that headon because that's uh in my view that needs to be updated ASAP I I I agree with you um I think that I I can't quantify it um and you always have to remember that yes when the interest rate goes up sometimes your compensating balances and your bank fees go up also um but I I think that that is something the town really needs to look at uh and I know nobody wants to hear it but I've mentioned looking at the um the MSW right up through and including potentially going out of the business uh which would not be favored well but it is a six figure savings to the community so what is that going out of the municipal Solid Waste business you're paying oh the the trash side of the house is paying its its own that's that's not the issue uh it's the subsidy on the recycling side of the house that's costing you uh bunnies um I can't remember EX exactly but I think it's on the 150,000 and upside so are people going to say well we just don't recycle anymore just send everything to trash sure is that one possible response well y but then they have to buy bags at 350 a piece and uh your operating margin on the MSW side goes up as an environmentalist I think it's horrible yeah yeah as somebody look looking for the pennies I think it's wonderful but if we look down the road to the cart system doing away with bags because that seems like a lot of companies aren't going to be a lot of vendors won't be offering that right um but right now you are subsidizing the program you know you can say the MS yes it's an Enterprise fund and the MS side MSW side is izy do you recall what that number was at all by any chance I thr off the top of my head I'm looking for it now yeah is that in the document Tony I don't not like it is right I thought I saw it at one of the versions uh oh here it is Town trash and recycling programs on page 12 um so we're set on the one and two priorities right so with the trash be number three oh wait I can't hear Tony I said I think CPA has got to be number three we gotta have that I think the trash one can go lower in the ranking because you have a three-year contract oh yeah you've got an 18month window before you really have to get serious about looking at that but you know how slow things move three years it's like I've come I've come to learn the lunenberg way I joined School five years ago actually LPS and my son left before the air conditioner arrived as you know I struggle with that going slow approach well I do too I don't have the the patience for I find government very frustrating at times so if okay so I'm just I had to print this out so CPA's three yeah uh I mean the Brooks house lease is supposed to be something that's on the to-do list right yeah yep it's on there um so I don't um maybe the split tax rate is last what do you think oh split track's got to be last there's no way that's gonna work yeah I don't know how many we have but I'm just gonna put one 16 are there 16 that's good we got a lot of recommendations and some of these are just loow hanging fruit yeah I mean some are easy they don't they're not you know they're for or five- digigit potential savings but hey from a from a timeline where would you put this idea of looking um I I guess the reason I'm asking is we just did this recently up here uh and it'll probably increase our investment yield by two and a half percentage points uh which when we float $30 million through will probably be about $250,000 a year what kind of timeline do you think the finance team could as you say you know someone's New Town manager got to be there get settled in there's budget there's town meeting there's certainly plenty of irons in the fire what what might be a realistic priority um I think that would be an absolute priority um I want to say to Target the FY 26 budget timeline because it's probably one of the lowest cost things to look at but with a relatively high yield by comparison to the cost and time to look at it exactly and it's um the town had already you know voted for the pr investment rule rule so that obstacle is already out out of the way and you don't I mean one of the challenge I had up here was I had an in town you know local bank you don't have that down there I think they're all aren't they all basically Fitchburg lemonster or larger Banks you don't have a small Hometown Bank there do you oh what's Main Street well Main Street Bank by I'm not sure exactly where their home yeah offices some some towns have a you know small local what bank you're talking about nothing here is that small Main Street Bank by the post office yeah but I mean that compared to the bank Carter is referencing Main Street Bank is like a Titan so Carter you saying that this recommendation number two the investment consolidation and the implementation of The Prudent investor rule should be one well what already done you knocked it off yeah well by a vote but I mean we still have the investment cons I mean there's still decisions to be made I would view them I would view them separately because the prudent investor rule impacts only your trust funds um a new investment policy and potentially seeking quotes um on banking services completely separate um and that will take some putting together a a package and getting Banks to actually look on it and I mean it's close to being a bid if you will investor the investment people come they did not make it seem like it was that complex now maybe that's because that's how they make their money they operate completely differently from the way um the finance team has to operate they're taking all your trust funds and they're investing them in one bulk and then apportioning it across the range of funds that you have I don't know how many funds is he has but um he's got multiple different funds and he has to keep balances in many of them is compensating balances in order to uh not incur banking fees yeah I I don't mean to speak for you I he please correct me here he's nodding his head though you're absolutely correct Carter um in order to consolidate you know you're we do absolutely have to go out to bed I think at this point um having a single Bank um they only streamlines all the processes we had talked about previously within Finance but also um we could probably maximize our return and potentially minimizes some of the accounting functions that have to be done exactly there's no transfer between Banks so what I'm hearing is we should break out this single what's listed as recommendation number two into two yeah I got that I've done it already okay all right I'm doing it live are you doing this live yeah are you sharing because I didn't okay I printed out a hard copy I can't update your hard copy I thought you were that good Tony no I didn't know you so you're not you're not sharing right I'm I'm looking at screen okay if you go to the link I sent you earlier this morning though you can see It'll update it live oh okay okay I thought it used to be Thursday night was must C TB right right uh Carter you said that the investment consolidation and could uh or The Prudent investor rule could generate how much money on The Prudent investor I think it could generate up to an additional percentage point on your return Izzy what do you think um I think in the recommendations I put in the the dollar I could be wrong yeah yeah you did you broke him out and uh you said The Prudent investor rule would be between 15 and 25,000 and the consolidation would be 5 to 10,000 Carter you said 250,000 I like I feel like an Auctioneer but I like the higher number well you know some of them I just pull out of my tailpipe Tony no I'm telling you that we have about a $30 million up here that washes through um with balances that approximate at any given point in time close to 10 million and that the consolidation we were offered today uh which uses a similar um sweep account to what in Massachusetts would be the mmdt Massachusetts Municipal depository trust um at this point in time would probably yield us an additional $250,000 on our 30 million a year yes we have got to do that nothing else is even close to that amount of money you you may not be able to I mean it's you're you're in a different state you got different rules um I don't know how close to the we run a larger fund balance up here um whereas you keep yours much of yours in stabilization and Reserve funds that are over on The Prudent investor uh here it's act it's kept in real life cash it's not segregated so these numbers don't necessarily apply other than the example I'm giving you absolutely the I do believe you know in terms of the hanging low hanging fruit I do believe this is one of the potentially lower hanging fruit okay so then we'll make that number two Implement PR investment Rule and number three will be investment consolidation well maybe investment consolidation should be two it's or even one remember remember it's not necessarily Investments it's simply it's it's your savings account and your checking account so what do we call it as the account consolidation uh consolidating uh Town funds I mean Tony that that should be number one that's like no cost with greatest potential of return yeah eie does that sound right yes like do you think it has it has potential for the biggest return of all of these um the potential is absolutely there um I may have low balled it just I tend to be more conservative than most most people but um you know the potential is absolutely there um you know I just the amount of accounts that are open is astronomical um I think if we consolidate you know the max the monthly savings Alone um yeah so these are bank accounts not to be confused with the accounting codes the multiple um I think it Tony you mentioned it in the the problems right um yeah there were two many the complex financials yeah we had a brief conversation about that the other day and I think is he's absolutely uh on the right track uh as to where he's headed in terms of the chart of accounts I think that uh the schools will be pickled tank with this thing I I really think he's on the right the right path we talked about um in terms of that chart of accounts also um uh you know I showed is he one way but I think he's got a better way frankly of track in all of our capital projects it's very difficult uh to track those right now so I I think you got a guy that's absolutely on the right path here is that worth capturing in the recommendations um and within the recommendations I would say um to reorganize the chart of accounts um in order to streamline uh there are just too many uh not the fun codes but down to the object level and the or level there's just too many accounts they need to be stre streamlined so for example every Department would have four or five accounts to work from instead of 10 to 15 anything that improves workflow I mean you know when you have this level of accounting you have to do you basically have two choices hire more people which we know nobody wants to do or improve workflow and I'm convinced that the Char of accounts will help you improve workflow it'll also help um I think previously somebody had mentioned uh speaker that we had our guest to U streamline the reporting process from departments so you would have the same reports from all the different departments just the numbers would be different the accounts would all be the same um select board or fincom or whoever would understand because they would all be the same reports whether it's the school department DPW or whomever how much that would project like what would you project the savings on that to be it's hard to put a dollar value on that um it more of a hourly Time Savings for the staff um which which then get to work on projects that are not getting to right now exactly yeah it's a it's a quality it's it's really hard yeah to put a dollar amount but it's just it's just best practice I mean it's it's an efficiency gain standardization better understanding it helps with if we have turnover of staff I mean I can imagine all kinds of those kinds of benefits that are you can't quantitate with a dollar amount is that fair to say yie I I agree I agree you'd spend more money on a time trying to figure it out with a Time study than it's worth so or what do we call that I should standardize and improve workflow for Town finances and then the recommendation language is Implement standardized Department reporting and consolidate Town chart of accounts uh sounds perfect to me so what number did you put that one at it is still floating and waiting for a number ah that again is no cost I mean no it's it's time right effort but not a dollar amount cost yeah it does take time to put it all together and um yeah I don't want to minimize that but I mean as far as like we don't have to open the checkbook is he is he's buried I mean we gotta recognize uh where the staff are I mean truthfully if you're going to include putting the transfer station or the landfill out to bid to potentially see if someone's interested in it that's a relative low effort to do yeah all right so we have in order we have uh consolidate Town accounts two is targeted diagnostic three is Implement prudent investor rule four is review viability of CPA and then the only other one we have a consensus on is putting the uh split tax rate last one of the ones that Izzy pointed out as being a pretty substantial savings is the green grants for the hvac's um Dr buram can you talk a little bit about what happened for the phase one like we we've submitted the money for the grant have we been approved no so we submitted for phase two of our project which we know we won't have fully funded if we are awarded the grant um but we won't know until spring um I believe April uh if we have been awarded um grant funding for that did we get grant funding for phase one no that was funded through capital okay and so we're gonna spend this money anyway if we get the grants it's between $100,000 and $150,000 I think the grant was more than that upwards of a quarter two and a quarter okay all right yep go I think that's got to be number five because that's a big chunk of change you know some of these things are different they're a one-time cost savings right they say for a one-time project and others like prudent they're they're are more ongoing kind of let me indicate that well relative to like a solar relative to the um the green communities uh grant that that could potentially um be multiple Cycles uh going years forward that could help us get these projects fully completed in multiple phases over years without the town having to put Capital money into any of the projects Dr Gilson is that fair to say Yes um and I think what's critical was we really were not eligible for phase one for Grants because we had designed that project just for air conditioning and phase two of the project in uh we put in we had to put in specific controllers that linked phase one with phase two and they allowed um for the for the heating potential to be optimal and also for the cooling potential to be optimal so that is the reason for the excess cost um at $483,000 for the total project but it in turn made us eligible for the grant funding otherwise we would have just had well right now we still do um air conditioning is a part of phase one of the project I mean the the units are there the heating can be utilized it's just not tied into the system in an energy efficient cost savings way uh way correct but it will be when we initiate phase two I'm noting all of these is not recurring or non-recurring and there's savings as opposed to increased Revenue yeah yeah yeah yeah so it's either recurring or non-recurring and then revenue or savings so do we want to put the HVAC as number five because if we get if we get three of those that's $750,000 in savings currently have plans for two more phases at LPS and one phase at at Turkey Hill which would be a total of uh three quers of a million dollars in savings and since we're doing it anyway like whether or not we make it the recommendation we're the school district going to so right yeah it's going forward it's it's already in progress right yeah yeah like planned um Dr B we have to let the schools deteriorate to be eligible for uh maintenance Improvement Grants from the uh School building assistance Bureau trying to figure out if the school costs are eligible from that entity is insanely complex like I don't think the person who runs that entity could tell us what the qualifications are I me Dr Burnham we talked about this at a number of school meetings it it is is a like France kofka himself would be proud of how Byzantine their rule system is it's awful me what was the thing that we were talking about before well it's difficult to to plan um as an example uh information is just coming out now relative to the next cycle of um eligibility for Accelerated repair projects um which is great but you I couldn't Factor any of that into our 10year Capital planning because we didn't have any vision for what was going to be eligible for the next year to five out you it's just it the information doesn't sync up with they do much better at building new schools than they do of maintaining what we have so that that's that's I think our biggest challenge I mean they know how they work and they they would explain that they have a a method of how they approach all of this it just doesn't sync up in a way that allows us to forward looking planning and fully planful about timeline and what types of um funding mechanisms are available and which ones we would want to pursue and um you know having that be helpful to the capital plan committee as an example as as they're taking a look at the big picture and all of the asks from all of the different departments um it's just it's hard it's hard right because it it makes us feel I'll speak for myself I guess makes me feel like we're always tap dancing and we don't know what we're doing when in fact I can't tell you in advance what is coming down the road that that might make us eligible had I had vision for that we might have made different recommendations and and different plans um so it is very frustrating uh from my perspective for it to be an annual thing that they decide December and January get there they've changed the rules to go in a different direction and even though they've released now the types of projects that would be eligible for this next cycle there's no information relative to what the reimbursement rate is going to be and that's also information that people in town would like to have as we make decisions about whether or not we're pursuing something right because the town has to put the money up front and they'd like to know how much they're getting back and I cannot tell them because they don't they don't set that rate at the same time that they set the list of uh eligible projects gotta thank you it's just I I think that you know trying to incorporate like something like that if we were to make a recommendation about how to pursue those kind of things here for the school district by the time we get to the point where we're voting on what it would be all the rules would be different the reimbursement rate would be different it's just it it is not a userfriendly process and given the pace at which the town of lunenberg has decided to proceed on things it's essentially something that we could only do at the superintendent level like it's not like select board could vote and say do this that'd be great and then the rules change and the vote is kind of meaningless so I think that unlike with the green Grant where you can have more concrete information and concrete predictions doing something with the schools like that is just going to be really difficult um all right so there are a bunch of things on the list that are all sort of similar so uh installing solar panels on the school and installing solar panels on the town dump those do seem like they would generate real money it's just it's something that is that takes a lot more planning and so like they're not as pressing in terms of return on investment like they're not going to give us our money back as quick as these the top five things and so they're more money than others but they're not something that would be actualized as quickly so I would I think that maybe we for six and seven we'd want to put the two the two proposed solar projects the school parking lot and the town dump does that make sense let me just say that to me there's a difference because depending upon how you want to approach the landfill if you think that the town itself is going to construct the solar panels and then run it out on the landfill no that takes a long time if you're simply going to I say simply there's a little more to it than that put together a request for proposals that let's devel developers know you've got this land uh that you are interested in leasing out uh for the development of solar Fields that's actually something that can be put together relatively easily and could be ready for the fall town meeting uh so that you uh take you either you can do it in a couple ways you can get permission to do this at the annual town meeting then you put the lease out um and you proceed from there and at the fall town meeting you seek the special legislation or you simply go ahead and do it and then you get all the approvals at the fall town meeting assuming you get some proposers on it so that that is not nearly as complex is actually um getting solar panels uh installed uh and then trying to run it yourself so I'm I'm not sure which Direction you've gone in and truthfully keeping track of how much monies you should get off those panels man that's proving to be an accounting issue by itself because you get credits you don't get real you don't get real cash and you don't get cash credits knocked off your bill it's something's wrong I'm seeing myself in the school superintendent agree on way too many things not the way it normally runs on the two sides of the house welcome to lunenberg you think Carter that the the lease on the solar uh lease for solar on the town dump that one is relatively low hanging fruit compared to the school district building one themselves the town building one yeah I mean I I would put that you know about the same level of effort with the same potential return as as looking at the investment side it's some staff time to put a package together okay get it out in the marketplace yeah yeah I don't know it's it's for us to decide though which route to go true so I I mean I view these I was thinking Tony that the two solar items I'm looking to to group a bunch of Revenue generating recommendations next so the two solar panels the Brooks house and the chapter 90 roads those four yeah um I would with the you know chapter in that order actually because that would be the order I think of the potential funds we could get from those efforts um and then I actually was I had marked the consolidation of town and school snow removal and ground maintenance is second loss oh I was not sure if we had actually decided that I had that my ring oh okay okay because it didn't seem like there was a a strong likelihood of of it may be more trouble than it's worth for what I don't think it's there's a strong likelihood of of saving money I don't I don't even think that there's a strong likelihood of improved efficiency in operations either yeah I listed as a proposal that we talked about but not something that we recommended doing but I can change that well and the only the only and and things can change with time right the only thing I was thinking about was if we got a Outsource contracted snow removal and and we decided to use you know we got a deal because we went with one contractor like like all my neighbors you know we get the same plow guy or same same guy to cut our grass and we we get a discount because he makes one trip you know and it's done so instead of if if we Outsource to two two different vendors that may not make sense but the school currently is not Outsourcing you know the town of Franklin under Jeff nutting um Consolidated all everything um I don't know how well it's worked it would be interesting to find out um schools everything uh over a million square feet of building space um now you don't necessarily save money because you end up paying a joint uh facility superintendent more money and the money that you do save is then poured into I don't want to call them underlings but spaces so there's a real world example that's not that far away uh that um might be worth having some conversations with um yeah so I would leave it on the list but I I had it second to last whatever number we're up to now we might be up to 17 now I don't know that will make 17 okay um so where does that leave us with payroll and purch order streamlining warrant delivery and the two health insurance items and then the so do we want to put oh trash we actually have a couple more uh Renee we have increase fees on Town side and school side man uh reevaluate School solar contracts and then uh the the streamlining stuff and warrant delivery I have the increase see bees I had them way down okay just cuz I'm looking to but that would be one of the last levers it's in the falls into the category of you know increasing paxes and everything else but yeah yeah i' rather find that money without having people having to open up their wallet so maybe we should do the the workflow and the elimination of duplicate processes as the next two because those are free is that the workflow is the payroll and po streamlining yes okay all right and what's the two health insurance ones uh changing High deductible buying somebody out and then offering the high deductible Health Plan oh those you might want to the the high deductible that's governed by the PEC right yeah so there's another abbreviation for you to add sounds good so list would they also PC stand for employee committee I believe I guess the first two I did not the last one yeah are they also involved in the health insurance buyouts yes okay do we want to put those as as uh 10 and 11 the two Healthcare ones I I think so tell me if this is wrong um the health insurance buyout that's something that should be relatively easy to implement right like you don't have to get anybody to uh approve it I haven't seen it referenced in any of the cbas I seem to recall we did vote on it at the PC no no it was just maybe a vote at select board maybe it wasn't required but you know saying is it's always good to have a vote even for a recommendation thing about the buyout is It just strikes me as like this is just math right like somebody can sit down and say what what's the in what incentives do we need to have to buy somebody out and have it still make Financial sense like there's a there's like a unlike with a lot of these there's like a number you could just sit down and do math and say if we offer a buy out of X we're going to get this many people it's going to save this amount of money I think you're right is it easy I mean it sounds easy for us on a committee to say this but Ezekiel is it easy for us to say make this happen like is it that easy or is it going to be more complex um I believe as long as the PEC is on board I don't see why there would be an issue but I think um the collective bargaining units may need to weigh in and not necessarily approve I'm not sure to be honest yeah I that's why I had consult town in place so that would that work um I think the stumbling block to start with is a philosophical one how do you opt out of a plan if you were never in it there's a belief that uh in many communities I'm not I haven't looked at all of them certainly by any stretch of the imagination um but there is a belief that people should pick a plan when they join up with you otherwise you're simply giving people who have access to Insurance other ways a pay RIS right but I mean I think that this is so common in the private sector that like everybody kind of understands that it's not an opt out it's a bribe right like we are bribing people not to use our insurance yeah I was like okay I don't care if it's if if it's a bribe as long as it saves money and everybody still gets health insurance I don't know I don't know any private employer that doesn't try to disincentivize people from using their healthare so I I I think that like sticking to the rules as they were it's clearly not enough and even if we adjust the job if we just change the amount that will be PL that will save us some money but I do think that we should just be upfront with people and be like this is a bribe not to use our insurance if you can get insurance elsewhere here's some money thanks a lot you know like if you need somebody with like a really thick Italian accent to say it's a bribe I'm happy to say it's a bribe but for everyone that that opts out there's probably you know another family where the town's insurance is better than the spouses so they become a plus one right no one's going to take the bribe to take uh a lesser health insurance plan they're really willing to uh roll the dice the quality of the health plans that you offer and the relatively low contribution rate that you ask for um is I believe a factor in your competitive package I think that benefit is becoming more and more valued in the private sector everywhere then it was you know when I entered the workforce for sure a lot of changes in the last five years oh yeah it's only been five of course yeah when you're 20s and 30s you think you're going to live forever you don't worry so much about health insurance um did we get all of them Tony I'm G to go back back here there there's a couple more that we got to rank um so after the health insurance stuff I have the freebies the improve workflow and reduce duplicative work um because those are just basically like you know free free entirely free um and then we have like this scrum of weird stuff the two increasing of fees can consolidation of school solar contracts uh the school the solar uh on school lot and then um the warrant delivery thing with trash following at the end oh should okay wait I thought the solar on school lot was going in with the solar on the landfill arter said that they were different I mean they're different but I mean like uh sequential back to back do you think Carter and Ezekiel do you think it's fair to put them there it sounded like from what Carter was saying us building them is way more difficult well I think it's a different set of challenges I don't know Dr Burnham do you know how those were installed on your buildings now so um it from from what we can gather there were there was an installation of one on one building that's contracted with one vendor uh who was actually bought out by another vendor and then the panels that were on a different building are through a different vendor with a contract um the contract terms were're still trying to nail down one of them was a 20-year contract I believe um but to your point earlier um it's all in net metering credits and these credits aren't just oh here to the lunenberg public schools is a whole bunch of net metering credits apply them as you see fit they're very specific to where they're applied um which is not necessarily always the most beneficial um we might be sitting on a pile of net metering credits for one building while we have bills that we can't apply any of that to for a different building um so um we're actually taking a a closer look at the original contract uh because we're coming near the end of the term and um we have to make some decisions about moving forward um relative to whether or not we purchase the panels which I I I don't think that that's I mean I could be wrong somebody might have a different opinion and convince me otherwise but I I'm not sure that that's the best way forward because then we have to maintain them uh and when their useful life is done we will have to dispose of them I'm not sure that that's the optimal way for us to go um but we may be able to uh re-engage in shorter term contracts with the with the company that uh we're currently contracted with to continue to generate some net met net metering credits on that so as I think about you know what what the benefit might be to having us construct canopies over the parking lots I mean I guess it's all in the way that you um structure the contract as to uh how where and when that benefits the um the operational costs of the entire District um it's something that we would have to look at but I I I would prefer I would prefer if if that project actually generated Revenue um because then we could apply that more broadly to our operating budget but I I don't I don't know that that is or isn't an option but um it's not the way that things had been structured with the two previous um projects involving solar panel I mean we've had George Woodbury working on this for close to four months now I mean he's not fulltime but getting it all sorted out is um messy ideally if you could get somebody to lease the land and pay you some factor of whatever amount of electricity they're selling and I don't know that you can it's neat it's clean here here's your you know check for $1,200 for last month and we sold a bajillion kilowatts at a tenth of a penny per bajillion and here's your check you know right and then you can decide where to best apply that money if yes if you could find somebody to do that uh and I'm not I'm not a solar expert by any means but if you could find somebody who would engage with you that way um the administra of it is uh relatively self- policing you get the check it goes into your Revenue accounts uh and now just like we add up what we're going to get from ambulance fees cell tower rentals everything else it becomes a revenue stream and ideally that's what I would prefer to see for the school side too if we if we had another project I just don't know that that's feasible I I'd be kidding if I told you I knew for certain it was um I I just think it's worth the try I don't think it's I think it's within our skill set frankly the net metering approach is beyond my skill set and honestly from what we've seen so far it hasn't been the optimal benefit to to the school department nor not neither side of the Town neither side of the house I don't think has um received the benefits that were anticipated can't hear you Tony said it seems like a scan if there that many people trying to get rich Qui it always is a scam they've been out there now for long enough that I'm hoping that there are more options and you can negotiate a deal where like you said you can lease like like Acton children museum they put all of these solar canopies in their parking lot I don't know what their agreement is RI did it a long time ago in Framingham yeah um but I was working under the assumption that that's the type of agreement we'd be looking for a revenue generating setup that agree if if we could do something like that I think that that's definitely worth looking at that's why I had it prioritized both of them the town dump and the school Park Lot sequential so that that has been changed so there are one two three four things left on ranked and they are the two fee increases for Town and school side the warrant delivery and then the town trash and review of town trash and recycling my personal opinion is that the review of the fee schedules has to happen every single year you should set up a schedule maybe one year it's the school department the next year it's it's Public Safety the next year it's building permits they need to be put on a schedule um and codified so that when the budget guidance goes out you know the town manager saying it and don't forget this is the year that you are due to deliver your Revenue survey and your proposals otherwise they get they get they get thrown off to the side because there's so many other things and Renee do you recall how long it was Chief Sullivan had said since they looked at the ambulance fees it was a long time and same thing when uh Brian gingr brought the uh the building permit and uh you know license fees it had been quite a few years um so I read this you know increase Town fees and create I think that increased Town fees I would it's more it's more driven by the review process and whether I would say review Town fees yeah if it's if an increase is valid at that time um then so be it but I I don't Tony maybe we take the increased Town fees out and just review them um which kind of implies well they'll be increased as needed I think the key for for the review um like when we look at things on our side it's to make sure that we're not losing right like it's not costing us more to operate um with a facility rental let's say um we don't want to be renting the facility and incurring the cost our budget right for for the renter like we've got to make sure that we're at least covering our cost with what we charge for the rental of the facility so that the school department budget isn't subsidizing you know outside users of the facility to you know come in and get a really good deal yeah can we get more kids on the bus if you put a toll booth up and uh the morning and in the evening weren't hear when this happened but I'm just telling you right now do not mess with the buses it was a disaster it was years talking I'm just talking about getting the getting the kids onto the buses the challenge is it would cost us more in busing we had we had plans for all sorts of craziness like police escorts during busing so like no Tony that reminds me busing did your little poison pill bill is that the one that's being I think so okay nice knowing you yeah I have like 45 bus drivers with uh with those big te- handled nut wrenches in my driveway next next week or something well we'll find out soon enough if all that chatter has had any impact because we put the the transportation bid out we'll see if we get more than one bid H my money's on no we're getting one bid yeah unless if that bill passes then yes but uh um so should we C should we in could we uh combine the review of both the town and school fees into a single recommendation or do you think it makes sense to keep them separate the only reason I kept them separate is because the amount of funds that would be generated by the different fees is substantial so like the town fees make would make substantially more money if they were increased yeah yeah so like mushing them together would create a difficulty on the part of the reader figuring out how much they're worth so like the town one is obviously worth more but it's a lower percentage increase than the school one the other thing is in the school one we always the policy subcommittee always ties fees to uh the students um what's it called the lunch po the uh free lunch status the town doesn't have anything like that so it would be difficult to merge them without it having having it be much more complicated than it is so the the last ones that we have unranked are the warrant and the trash I feel like we need to squeeze the trash in somewhere higher higher yeah I don't know where um after the healthc care plans uh I don't know or before or after health care plans I don't know what do you guys think I'd say right before after the chapter 90 yeah if it's if it's before the health care plan it's after chapter 90 yeah or it could go before chapter 90 I mean it it would have a bigger return potential return than chapter 90 I believe all right right because we're we're just talking about there's like about six miles of Roads maybe and I don't know what the calculation is but but that's just me talking how much do you think this is worth if they if the town votes to get rid of recycling um I don't know izy were you able to find that number uh the recycling itself is 250 ,000 but then how do we recycle what's the option what's the alternative you go out of business they buy bags and throw everything away no I mean it's it's it is a option I'm not saying it's the right option for lunenberg but going out of business is an option and it's one of the few options where you can go out of the business and there are multiple people in the private sector who would pick your business up Harvey is still in town they don't have the town contract anymore oh yeah we have Harvey here in the Woodlands yeah yeah cassella is there Shaw's there uh Waste Management's there you have multiple vendors in town now not very green of but like why is the town paying for this because the cost you would have to charge on the pay you throw program would go have to go up to cover it yeah and it's a service see it comes down to our residents going to want to give up that service and take it on their own to to find it and and handle it and manage it it's you know if you want you don't want to pay okay then you give up services if you want to keep the services then you're going to have to pay and yeah that's true of all services right the end of the day you find some more Revenue you find a way to save some money or you find some modest improvements in workflow I mean there's only so many things you can do yeah now Izzy did put in the budget a new printing press but the feds at you know told me I had to take it out they won't let them print those $100 bills like he wanted to just plant some money trees they rejected when I wanted to put my face on them we do have a couple Money Trees over in the school department office I know unfortun find that movie I'm gonna find that movie and send the link out to everybody there's a money tree on the way up to Carter's office too no joke it's right in the hallway there let me know when they bloom I put the um consolidation of town and snow uh and school snow removal I put that below the split tax rate for recommendation number 21 maybe put it above split tax rate okay the money I think split tax rate is deadlines it's I'll send this link out to everybody but it's a 1950 I'm almost embarrassed that I can remember this it's a 1952 film I did not see it in its original viewing in the in the theaters however it grows on trees okay love love love love if there was a money tree but I can tell you from personal experience from my client who had a treasury plate that he stole and then kept in his his trunk of his car and he parked illegally at a uh outlet mall he got caught because he parked in a handicap spot that treasury plate would have printed all the money he needed and he got he got caught by parking in the handicap spot I was just like oh this is the worst what do you mean to buy stuff of the out that mall if you have a treasury plate go to town it it was it was a very hard thing to explain to the judge was the charge criminal stupidity uh the charge was uh uh counterfeit production of US currency which carries like a gigantic mandatory minimum he was in big trouble I was like it it could not have been worth it to get your your you know cheaper than average SA Smith Avenue purse you could have probably just made it up some other way and to save about 20 feet in walking from a uh legal parking spot un unbelievable I was just like oh geez we're doomed that's Karma yeah it was pretty crazy I have uh 22 recommendations and it ends with the split tax rate I'm going to go through real quick and uh do the order um so we have uh consolidated Town accounts uh targeted uh diagnostic audit which is a cost uh Implement prudent investor rule number four is review viability of CPA number five is the green grants for the HVAC number six is lease on uh Oldtown dump for solar number oh number seven is the parallel one for school school solar Lot Number Eight is the Brooks house lease number nine is the review Talent trash recycling program number 10 is the chapter 90 funding number 11 is the high deductible health care plan number 12 is the health insurance buyouts number 13 is the payroll and purchase order stream Ling number 15 is the standardized workflow and improve Town efficiencies number uh uh 14 number 15 is the solar contract review solar contract for school number 16 is the create regular review process for school fees number uh 17 is the send thing for the town number 18 is changing the warrant delivery method and then 19 is the school um consolidate town and school snow removal and then 20 is the split tax right so we have 20 not 21 nice um Tony 16 and 17 have the same title they both say school fees 16 17 yeah thank you thank you thank you all right uh I think that's it I I I have to fill in these last two using the same format but I can do that because we've moved everything around a bunch but I I do have one question um we have uh had a very nice bump in free cash this year I think I notified the the board of that um if there's a year in which to ask for money to do some sort of targeted diagnostic got it um I I think this is it because of the uh amount of free cash we're staring down I'm not sure frankly what to Target that at I I I don't have enough real knowledge and I'm not sure how to uh really guesstimate I mean it would be a total wag I couldn't even get it down to a swag uh number but how can we get a number around that as we start to draw together the annual town meeting warrant I he any any idea I could do some research I could probably find some numbers to be honest I don't think that's really particularly hard to find we can also put out not a hard RFP but maybe RFQ to get some numbers and then use those for the um budget making it clear that this the award of a contract would be subject to appropriation uh yes so it' be more just to you know you put out RFQ to get the numbers from various firms in line and you just put in in the you know the language in the RFQ that's subject to appropriate at how meeting correct would it be targeted at some specific accounts that were identified when you and Renee went through the the the revenues um I'd have to take a look but yeah we can absolutely do that okay well where's the memo that Dr Gilson and aie oh I had it open now I don't does anybody have it open it was last meeting right H here Staffing technology payment time timelines process mapping interde departmental communication right where those the target areas for the audit yes I don't know if that memo could be used in an RFQ get an idea or if you had to be more specific like Carter so with specific accounts um for RFQ you keep it we keep it more broad um when you put out the actual RFP for the proposals to come in you have to Target what accounts exactly where to look for but um for the rfu you would keep that more open and you you it's just a solicit solicitation for for you know the cost Bud task force documents going to live once we're finished using them are we going to host them somewhere shouldn't they be on the website somewhere yeah all of them well not all of them I mean the minutes are but like for example the recommendations yeah I think should be out there I agree and that's why I I made a big slide deck pulling out the various data that was kind of behind all these recommendations because I I think someone like Chris Menard might and Jay who's on now they might want to look into the the data behind the recommendations a little bit um I think something like that could could go on the we could also post something like that on along with the minutes too I suppose um we could we could also post that on our district website um maybe affiliated with the um the business office page okay I think we have a budget task force site I remember I think Cara created one because the charter was put there I think the membership was put there it's probably out of date now um but yeah it's our we we have a web page on the yeah on the boards of commissions yeah so we could we could link it there I think we just have to send it to Cara right Carter can put it up exactly but I don't want I don't want to send those slides out till till you guys have because I I tried to Bullet some summary points and I S Dr Gilson I saw you added some right or Dr bur I don't know one of you both of you thank you um so I pasted them onto my the copy I have um in PowerPoint because the Google when I download open it in Google Drive it's weird like the formatting is all really um but eie I wanted well before I ask you Tony do we need anything more in the the executive summary document the word document do you think I got a couple things to fill in because we created new categories but I think everything is done I think Tony I think it did fantast I think it's awesome I hope it's useful I think it is extremely useful um but not not that I'm biased um eie the the miscellaneous non-recurring you sent the spreadsheet out but I don't understand it like is that does that explain where these monies are so on the spreadsheet um it's more of uh information for the committee because uh you know the comments for the 300,000 missing um if you look in 2012 you'll see a premium sale on bonds bands for 157,000 and there's also a supplemental tax for new construction that happened to be the same year so that brought up the miscellaneous now recurring up that's at 300,000 but in the subsequent year that's just not there so that's where the drop off is in 2012 yeah getting all popups um but when I look at I thought it was it hold on can I share yeah um wait who's the host Tony disabled Tony you disabled my screen sharing see there we go okay thank you um uh what is this system private window picker I don't even know what that means whatever um so this is 2015 we're at about a million and then it drops to to 200,000 and it you know hovers between there and 400,000 for the next 7 years so 2012 we're still up here what you these F smart growth Grant does anyone know [Music] so you're looking at 2015 that's where theop looking okay yeah 26 these are FY okay 2016 so I can let me um pull some data from 2015 and 2016 to see exactly where that drop is because I can pull in the data that was reported to DLS specifically that's where these numbers would come from um the ones I was looking at um specifically was the sale on Bonds in 2012 okay but um there are other categories that goes in there when you're doing the reporting to DLS okay but um let me look at 2015 16 I'll definitely get back to I'll do that tomorrow all right so FY 2016 2016 is really calendar year 2015 for the most part right starts in July of 2015 well it's split yeah yeah it's half and half yeah yeah um yeah and it stayed I just I have no idea and then I think the other one that that popped up eie was the Medicaid reimbursement maybe did we see that one was reduced a little bit I don't have a separate chart for that but it's buried in the DLS chart could you send me that one slide separ and also when you the Medicaid piece yeah that one I'm not so sure I think I have that I think that popped up in a spread I'll pull it out of DLS I have too many spreadsheets it'll be faster if I just do a fresh DLS search because I can pull the detail pretty quickly okay um yeah I feel like there's there's so much information in DS and so many different ways to get to it and to visualize it it's very I I really went down to Rabbit Hole yesterday so Renee you said you saw an increase in the Medicaid no I thought it went down I thought and I don't know I don't remember the year I thought it went away let me see if I still have that tab open I was doing uh I have to go to the 351 and it gets broken down to different levels I've noticed in DLS um let's see another all and receive SE types oh yeah so here I can pull it up right now Medicaid reimbursement let's see if my memory is correct for me all right so here's Medicaid reimbursement it went to zero it's not even listed before 2014 I don't know did it not exist that that's not accurate that's yeah that doesn't make sense yeah that I I don't think that's accurate at all we've been bringing in so I mean how am I supposed to get am I not we in the last several years we've been bringing in somewhere in the in the ballpark of about 100,000 each year so where's it getting booked this is also where I'm pulling this from is this am I is this bad day am I not looking in the right place or doing the right I mean this local receipts this is all under local receipt no this is the right place but I now I'm not trusting the data after the Medicare we need that Financial I mean see this is this is you know someone who doesn't do this for a living just trying to look at data and finding out that the data I find is not right because even before here look it's like here's a million then it drops in half then it Peaks up and it stays up around a million then it plummets so this is like how I got you know most of the data on these on these slides all of this you know ranking towns this was the other one that popped up the health insurance our increase we're way way up I can tell you that we had a we had an email in October uh to be sure that everybody knew uh to anticipate the releasee of the funds for for the um for the Medicaid claiming so I'm not sure that we get those I want to say quarterly so I'm not sure what what's happening with that data but that's not consistent with what I would have expected yeah yeah that that doesn't make any sense at all is there another place to look for this I mean especially in the last handful of years because we added the kinds of staff that would be providing services that would be eligible so um those that does not make sense to me maybe it's not maybe um CU where's the other graph um this is all under the local receipt all these I mean these are only there's even more categories in this and a lot of them like cannabis is in there and there's a lot of others that lunenberg has zero but I don't know eie if there's another place I should look or way to pull this out I don't I don't know let me spend some time tomorrow I'll I'll I'll dig in deep and see what I can find because this is this is uh is not okay if the revenue's dropping off and it's not accurate I don't I don't just so you guys know too well I got emails from Dr Burnham and as yesterday um because I sent a a question I didn't expect to answer yesterday but he gave me one um let's see the EXP oh no it's Revenue I think it's no it's expenditure yeah this one and then as he sent me what what exactly is included in intergovernmental assessments um because we're we're way up there um and all of these fall into that category but now I I pulled this information up you know the same way so now I'm questioning everything um yeah I don't know I think this just means we need somebody to take a look at our books well see where do we have that audit that's at number two all right I think we are set we have everything um ranked I will fill in the the missing stuff because we moved things around and created a couple new categories um when is the presentation at the select board tomorrow um it's early up let me get the agenda open Tony and do I have to I don't have to recuse myself or anything right this is just a okay almost there folks Tony you won't be there Thursday right I I'm uh I'm doing basketball practice for fourth graders that sounds like fun I started every night this week yeah so do we yeah um it's it's stirred up there's a real quick introduction of the count new Council on Aging director John petron's 10 15 minutes on the town manager screening committee and then we can uh ask the chair to flip you Tony with okay the fy2 24 year end so so if I get there at like seven o'clock I should be fine oh start if you get there if you get there at 7:15 720 you'll be fine okay good that works yeah um so what's how do you want to do this T what's up because I'll I'll unless eie wants to do it but present a fincom on Thursday the same pres same update we can send them the document ahead of time right yeah I I I'll I'll get this done either tonight depending on the status of showers and uh uh or tomorrow morning I'll have it before before noon for sure okay I mean I can I can talk to F K I'm going to be at the meeting anyway okay I mean I was planning on going to eie so I'll be there okay we can we can just do it together then Tony can't be there okay and we should send it to Chris Menard too Tony okay I will does he have the same does he have a lunenberg email address he does uh lunenberg go yeah okay um and what do you guys want me to do with the PowerPoint do you want me to sit on it until you can look at the I mean most of it I pulled from you know yeah previous meetings including Dr Gilson's presentation so if you agree with the summary slides like the section breaks I think yeah I I don't I don't typically use a PowerPoint when I talk so no I just want to I I don't plan on on I mean pulling it up fincom I think might ask question all right you know I just want to have the data available and I want them to have it okay I don't think select board will get I who knows I I'm not gonna say anything I'm happy to answer all the questions to be like I have no idea so I'm gonna throw a wrinkle into this whole um situation because I know that um Tony you were really excited that tonight was the last meeting but there'll be minutes from tonight's meeting there'll be minutes from tomorrow's joint meeting and there'll be minutes from Thursday's joint meeting only if we have a quorum then it won't be a joint we post it as a joint in case there's a quorum so no one else go I'm not I'm not revisiting this issue from the master planning Carter can I stay home um the select board could provide you Tony with their minutes and you can cut and paste out of that and the finance committee could do the same okay so there we'll still we'll still have to convene to accept approve the the minutes correct well I earned two out of the three shirts I can't get all three that's fine if it's like five minutes yeah that could be a quick yeah all right is so are you guys okay if I send the slides to Chris if you want to look at it tomorrow let me know okay make sure I didn't make a m any mistakes or well yeah um and I'll I'll wait and I'll send them out to Chris uh after sh board tomorrow probably so um thought on me submitting a revised agenda for Thursday night that includes approval of minutes so we before we adjourn after our update we could just vote vote the minute Tuesday's minutes yeah we could do that we can't vote on Thursday's minutes or none wait there probably won't be minutes from Tuesday's meeting yet unless you write them I can tell you there won minut okay because there won't be select board minut because for us I just have to capture the the general gist of the presentation yeah she's trying to make sure she doesn't have to write it on her whiteboard you know that's fine I guess we'll have a will we have a quorum Thursday who's going okay Dr Gilson are you plan on dialing in okay so we will have a quorum I don't know if Carter we lost Carter um I don't know if he's going Thursday yeah I I think he may because we're going over start of the budget process oh I I I don't want to speak for him since you said up but um you may be there okay yeah all right that sounds good I see a light at the end of the tunnel yeah I think we're almost done anything else we need to talk about any public comments no public comments then I'll just say publicly thank you Tony thank you everybody thank you for doing this thank you again at select board yeah I'm just super glad somebody took the initiative because I think that like this was really needed and hopefully by doing it in a different format than the other towns we can actually have an impact we'll see I think it's going to be a bumpy road you know what some of these are just like no-brainers right I think we have hard substantial substantial things to to base upon and move forward I think this this has been great work to be honest considering we we only met really it's been five months like exactly yeah five months such a short period of time it's been a lot of work so yeah it has been a lot of work you guys have done a ton and as you you have a lot of work ahead I know still this is only the start well there's a very very abbreviated version of um minutes I'll have to throw in the time we adjourn um but they're in the folder um so I can amend tomorrow night's uh revise tomorrow night's agenda to include approval of minutes and we can approve uh minutes from this evening if you would like doesn't matter I mean we're going to have to have one additional meeting for Thursdays anyway so whatever's easiest whatever you guys prefer doesn't matter to me all right well we'll talk about it see you guys tomorrow yeah see you all have a good night good night good night bye