I'm saying I want to all right good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the lunberg select board today is Tuesday April 2nd please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all in accordance with the requirements the meeting law please be advised that this meeting is being record orted and broadcast live over the lunberg public access channel on Facebook live on the public access Facebook page and we'll be uploaded to the lunenberg access YouTube channel after the meeting the agenda list 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 listed May in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law we're to begin this evening with public comments from the board do we have any public comments this evening from the board hearing none um do we have any public comments from the public Mr pasos and then M brazowski dat passo 56 Whiting Street um as I did at the last meeting um felt it prudent to make some public comment in regards to the uh article uh dealing with the historical commission um I'm aware that for the most part uh Town Council has come back with I believe a decision that kind of supports what I was hoping for and um I'm hoping that you guys will endorse um the alternate positions thank you thank you Mr passio hey I'm Laura brazowski 21 Francis AV I am on the school committee um I'm speaking as myself as I am not the chair the spokesperson um the amount that we put forward for the override is 94813 that is the total amount needed next year to level fund the schools minus the anticipated and already planned for Sr Cuts an override of $948,000 36 allows us to fund the schools next year without too many Cuts or disruptions to students education I want to say again I appreciate the arpa funding um I appreciate the creativity to the solution I appreciate Miss M's advocacy for us to get what we needed to fund the bare minimum I appreciate you guys advocacy to get us there and I appreciate the town manager's flexibility to get us the rest of the way thank you I appreciate the vocal commitments of support for the school for this board thank you the arpa money does not add to our appropriation bottom line it exists outside of the regular school department operational budget it's a Band-Aid to get us by this year it allows us to cover some one-time costs that typically are rolled into the operating budget now the override the override is for the total amount needed to get to a baseline level of current services this year minus the loss of the federal eser grants the school department has known the entire time that the eser grants would end and had planned for that so the school committee felt it appropriate to not include the eser money in an override and voted accordingly this is the blue Budget on the rainbow spreadsheet also called level service M assessor this is the amount that we Ed to factor the override ask the override would cover the school's operating budget and needs for fiscal year 25 the school committee will be discussing the arpa funding if the override passes at our Wednesday night meeting tomorrow night um I think it's been moved to zoom uh should the override pass Miss Lemieux outlined at Thursday night's finance committee meeting the school committee can return to the select board and asks to please reallocate the money to other non- reoccurring expenses at your discrep you may also resend all or part of the money at your discretion the arpa funds were given to the school as an emergency Band-Aid to get us through fiscal year 25 I have opinions um but I'm going to save those for our publicly posted meeting tomorrow night as is appropriate but I do want to add as a private citizen and a parent of children in this town who utilize the school system there is no perfect time for an override there's no perfect number there's no perfect way to do this there's no textbook there's no Playbook we are simply all me you everyone in this room citizens trying to find the best path forward as a community do not let pursuit of perfection get in the way of getting the job done do not allow lunberg to sit Frozen waiting for perfect opportunities that may never come I keep hearing from everyone on this board that they support the schools but support reporting this override is how you actually do that support the schools with your vote support the schools by actually helping support the schools thank you thank you do we have any other public comments from the public this evening we're looking at Zoom anything on Zoom seeing none any announcements this evening all right I'll make just a reminder uh I mentioned this previously to the board that um the boys and girls club uh will be hosting with um Mr Alonzo uh as the host are you smarter than a sixth grader and this is coming up on Friday uh April the 26th from 700 p.m. to 900 p.m. um so more information I'm sure will come out from the Boys and Girls Club I just want to make sure people have that on their radar if you haven't attended in the past you know it's a really fun event and uh likewise um if you um I'll make this later probably with more detail but we ALS have some cleanups that have been announced by The Parks Commission um around town and this is you know coming up really it's over the course of the month so if anyone in their neighborhood has any interest in assisting with doing some roadside cleanup picking up some trash um please please please uh go to the town website uh look underneath the park Commissioners uh feel free to reach out to them and uh be sure to sign up um so that way you can be counted for the row section row that you're going to take responsibility for um and if you you just want to just go out and do it um you know please do any Communications from other boards not aware of any I did want if I can go back to announcements sure thought um this was put out on social media and the town website about the fourth quarter tax bills I'll just read the notice due to an En counting system upgrade that occurred this fiscal year the town has encountered some technical errors while while generating the tax spell file for fourth quarter real EST State bills which we have been actively trying to resolve with our vendor as these errors were were still trying to be resolved at the end of last week tax bills did not get mailed out by March 31st as of today we anticipate the tax bill file will be sent to our printer this week and bills will be mailed out at the beginning of next week tax bills will be due 30 days after the date of mailing and as of today estimated time frame the tax bill due date is estimated to be May 13 2024 this would also push the date to file an abatement application with the board of assessors until that due date of uh May 13th um from the May 1st date thank you Mr chair I did I I think I saw something and maybe it's worth announcing that the the lunenberg water district which had a meeting plan for this Thursday can because of the upcoming weather cancel that is that correct that was only for Town staff and town and board and committee members and I did send that out through the townwide okay it wasn't okay wasn't the public okay thank you you're welcome all right any other announcements all right communication the boards seeing none all right we're going to go ahead to our appointments I think for the first time this year we're a little early um so we have a 710 toll booth fundraiser request for May 18th by the Turkey Hill Family Lions Club and do we have a representative from the Lions Club or representatives in attendance always good to see you hello how's everybody good yourself good thanks Karine scouton 116 Island Road Don Johnson 357 lancast rev um little confusion tonight about our appointment we know we're here def itely for the roadblock but we also had I thought I was on for the car show but because that was the original date but apparently I missed the second email and that's next week okay so so I guess she's on next week's agenda for uh off the top of my head I don't know but Heather may know off the top of her I know there is an appointment on next week um but Annie from the office will contact you to come okay good all right go ahead all right so um May 18th is the date that we're looking to do a roadblock again voluntary toll um as we've done in the past um we've contacted all of the relevant departments police fire um DPW Chris Ruth um Heather of course in this office uh everybody has replied with their blessing to go ahead um so all we needed to do was come before you um we know all the rules we've got the vest we've got the cones we've got the signs we know to stay out of the way of cars and not block the intersections um and nobody younger than 18 can be out in the road sounds like you've done this before yeah we have yeah and um we also asked to park our trailer um over on the back side of the Ritter and Mr Ruth said that was fine as long as it's not blocking the back way around the Ritter building um and that's to collect any food donations that come in for the pantry so we are here to ask for your just Town Center yes just Town Center yep okay any questions comments related to the request I have a comment May 18th is election day you should get a lot of traffic through town so good on WE purposely avoided town meeting day so that everybody will go to town meeting oh thank you yes all right is there a motion I would move that we approve the toll booth fundraiser request for May 18th by the Turkey Hill Family the allance club as presented second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I those opposed no congratulations we'll make sure we get all this stuff signed and you should be good to go thank you and we'll see you next week y nice to see you Cesar welcome back thank you Mar so next to our agenda we have two um one is a public hearing so we do need to wait till that time and then the other is a change of manager uh that's usually post similar to a PO on public hearing uh and so we need to wait for that time so we're going to look further down the agenda and come back to those appointments uh interviews appointments reappointments and resignations and the town manager has a request for us this evening so we'll go to the town manager just one moment headed my schedule we're going to come to the town manager report after that okay okay I'm asking the Boyer board to ratify the appointment of Stephanie Dondo tonight this is for the position of the part-time Administrative Assistant for the conservation department and Stephanie comes to lunenberg with over 10 years oficial experience in addition to private employment and administrative related experience she has experience with munus and open gov which is our online perming software both of which are used by the conservation department so this will be be a huge asset to that department um right off the bat and um Stephanie will be um ass it in this way to the department but as well as her previous Municipal experience and her organizational skills professionalism and um everything that she's bringing to the table from her prior work experience her references spoke to her uh organizational skills her personality and calm demeanor as well as professionalism so we're looking forward to Bringing Stephanie on board and the Conservation Commission chair and vice chair were also notified of this uh been in communication with them as we've had a lot of turnover in that office um making sure the staff is supported well okay thank you for that um and I know that we've had several um presentations um from Conservation Commission related to the importance of uh the different staff roles are there any questions to the town manager related to this request to ratify when could she start next Tuesday any additional questions or comments is there a motion I move to ratify the town manager's appointment of conservation Administrative Assistant Stephanie Dondo second all right any additional discussion all in favor please say I I I I didn't catch your vote on that r i oh okay I'm sorry and those oppos no all right the motion passes all right so please congratulate uh Stephanie on our behalf we certainly look forward to meeting with her at some point when we stop by the office and uh look forward to her coming on the team so do we thank you so we're going to go next to the um Town manager report to the town manager okay start with meetings events and other announce ments the annual town meeting is Saturday May 4th at 9:00 a.m. at the middle school high school auditorium and the annual Town election is Saturday May 18th 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the TC pasos building for board committee and commission vacancies there is one vacancy on the architectural preservation District commission one vacancy on the Council on Aging two associate vacancies on the green communities committee one member at large vacancy on the open space committee and one vacancy and the Personnel committee anyone interested in any of these positions can find the volunteer application form on the town website complete it and return it to the select board's office if you have any questions on the roles and responsibilities of the position please contact our office at 978-5860 extension1 144 for employment opportunities for the town we have a facility's custodian position for 40 hours a week land use director for 40 hours a week planning board Administrative Assistant for 36 hours a week seasonal Cemetery labors seasonal lifeguards and a temporary administrative assessing assistant for 32 hours a week information on each of these positions can be found on the website under job opportunities for bids and rfps we've received eight responses to the invitation for bids for the flat hill culbert project on March 27th and the bids are currently being reviewed the invitation for bids for cleaning services for Town buildings is being withdrawn as we are able to extend our contract terms with the current cleaning company until April TW 2025 under the same terms the request for proposals for data collection services for the assessing department for cyclical inspections for fiscal 25 through fiscal 27 are due April 8th an update on Municipal aggregation contract I worked with our energy broker to secure the rate for the municipal aggregation electricity Supply contract and that rate will be 12 cents uh 12.9 39 per kilowatt hour for 24 months with first point power and that will commence in November of 2024 there were two biders constellation and first point first point pricing was the lowest across the possible terms of 12 18 and 24 months and um this the reason behind only two suppliers is those the only two that bidon aggregations that are set up to serve the Unitil territory update on 925 Mass a which is one of my annual goals last Thursday we had a meeting with mass development BSC group Joe mlin of beta group that has been our Environmental consultant the facilities director and I to review possible conceptual plans for 925 massav the two options were maintaining the same footprint of the building if it were to be a renovation and the other option would be new construction we discussed the limitations of this parcel including space for parking and that since this is in the village District this would require two or three-story building the next step will be for Mass development and BC group to have an internal working meeting with myself The Building Commissioner the conservation administrator the facilities director the interim land new director the planning board chair and the epdc chairman to review any items that would need to be addressed during the permanent process uh for any changes to this parcel we are trying to schedule that meeting for next week and other related news to this parcel Joe mclin reported that the EPA has approved additional work to be done this year and this will include installing one more monitoring well and a couple of rounds of groundwater sampling Joe believes this puts the town in a good position to sell the property he thinks the results will be better now than the initial groundwater sampling results since the tanks and Asphalt in the area in question have been removed and has been raining a lot this year the groundwater contamination levels should be lower all right thank you are there any questions to the town manager related to the town manager report okay hearing none we're going to go to our first public hearing at 7:20 and I will ask the clerk if he will read the public hearing notice or at least the first half of it before you get to all the zoom stuff the lunenberg select board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday April 2nd 2024 at 7:20 p.m. in town hall 17 Main Street 2 floor Lunenburg to hear and discuss Board of registar vote relative to early in-person voting and vote to opt out of early voting by for local elections all right thank you Caesar Selman so the request before the town if we look at our drive so there's uh as we discussed last week and they did provide or two weeks ago I believe it was and they and and the risters did provide us some clarification so the the bottom line is U we're being asked to opt out of early voting by mail um and this is separate from the absentee ballots which are already permitted um this would B basically allow people to come and and again vote VIA mail and the second one doesn't really require an action um but it is simp it's more of an advisory that in order to opt in to early per early in-person voting that there would need to be at least two registar uh that recommend it and then the select board has to vote to also authorize it given that we did not have two regars make the recommendation there's no action for the board to take and so there will not be in-person early voting for Municipal elections so the request in front of us again is to opt out of uh voting by mail early so last year we did have inperson early voting right yes we vot do we know why they didn't vote to recommend that this year I don't think it was that wasn't for local election the early voting last year or was it we did have early voting for the municipal election yeah people could go to the clerk's office and vote or the the fall election no for the municipal election in May there was no explanation even with the letter they just wondering cuz I just remember a lot of people used that and asked me specifically about in-person voting early voting I mean and um voting by mail so I mean I know that it's important to a lot of people because people have lives and aren't always available on Election Day or that week of um so I just want to understand why they're making these recommendations they did say absentee voting in the office is available during regular office hours y so is that separate yes yeah absentee voting is different yeah okay so these were as I recall these were um in part kind of um pandemic related right and I don't know if the law itself preceded the pandemic but I as I understood it it was to provide people a uh socially distanced and safer way to conduct an election by providing more opportunity to vote prior to actual election day um you know so I misunderstood then absentee voting versus early inperson voting so that would basically be having like the polling location Open separately from election day essentially and sometimes they set up upstairs if it was on a Friday well thank you for that clarification so are there any um I know that we don't have anyone from the risters here with us um are there any comments thoughts before we make a motion all right get ready to say something I mean I'll speak to the issue I mean I I just my my thinking is that that I don't have a I'm inclined I mean I'm not strongly in favor or against here but I I am slightly more inclined to elect ow as many opportunities for voting as possible and so that is my inclination on this um so I don't know if that Sparks any discussion with I think it will and I I just want to clarify again for absentee voting that's available to anyone with doesn't matter why that they want to vote early or does it usually it's because they're not going to be available on Election Day right I'm not saying that you have to like have or something right okay you have to show your that makes me feel a little better about this but you know I'm I'm on the same page with Mr Franco here you know um so I don't know how I feel about it I'd like to hear how other members feel specifically about like voting by mail um you know just looking it up um you know we voted to allow this um or not us but the state did you know it was a bipartisan effort um 36 States in DC allow no excuse mail and voting um so I also am inclined to allow for as many options for local elections and people to participate in them but are any other thoughts on this I'm perfectly fine with the request as stated in the public hearing notice so am I yep me too okay okay is there a motion I move that we vote to opt out of early voting by mail for local elections and the same for early in-person voting as requested second any additional discussion all right uh as many as are in favor please say I I those oppose no no uh the motion passes okay we are going to hold tight for our 7:30 um and let's see what else can we hit we don't have any more anything for us to do um let's see if there's let's go through um and no minutes warrants any action items all right let's do some committee reports any committee reports the finance committee held their public hearing of the warrant articles last Thursday uh even outlasted me I could only get till 11:10 and I think it lasted past 11:30 um they will have another meeting this Thursday I think to go over their finance committee report for the town warrant and the board of assessors met last night and one of the big they talked about tax bills going out as the town manager has already said this evening they also they also talked about their warrant article about reducing the age requirement and also increasing the exemption and I guess in research there are some other exemptions and some other parameters that have not been adopted or not been adopted clearly that they are trying to remedy uh before town meeting uh but they are still going forward uh with the two items the two parameters that they I just mentioned reducing the age from 70 to 65 to qualify for the exemption and the uh the maximum from $750 to $1,000 but there were other items that they need address like what is the exemption qualification as far as income and have we adopted things like Cola that affect yearly what that exemption minimum is uh or maximum depending which way you're looking at it so uh it was a good discussion and they will be again trying to come up with answers to those questions for uh the annual town meeting if they don't those parameters may be held over and be brought forward in the November special town meeting I can add on to that if that's an appropriate time um which we can discuss later as well under the the warrant articles I met with the new principal assessor and the interim SL um Reena Sweezy who's um staying on until the end of May about this and I met with the chair of the board of assessors twice today and spoke with Town Council on this and we think a solution to that article in particular related to the income requirements in the asset um restrictions is to just reference as Allowed by Under the statute uh for those two things because if it is wrong or was voted incorrectly at the last town meeting which we found where they did some research and was found to be done in 2006 it doesn't one of the parameters doesn't match what's coming up in a igr informational um guidance Rel Le from do about those same thresholds that we're at least complying with the what's Allowed by the statute because it's uh doesn't seem that a cola is allowed under 41c there's a different chapter under 59 it's 41d that it would be allowed to adjust via uh for a cola so that's all I have planning board didn't meet yesterday uh now that I'm back in person and available during the day I'll start going to the MMO of massachusett Metropolitan planning Organization for normal people at home who don't know all these acronyms uh in Mark also I was um invited to participate in a task force on um Road fatalities and just Transit uh related safety so I guess there's no opposition to that I guess I can see what that is about and I think their uh first meeting is going to be sometime uh this month in ail is that through Mark um I think it's formed separately but they're getting people that are um associated with it so if you are willing to do it I am all for it okay oh that's it yeah to do the study not to be a statistics thank you for the clarification just want to make sure I like many of like most of you I've been to so many meetings over the last couple of weeks I forget which boards and committees I actually Lia to but I don't believe any that I Lia to met in the last week so I don't have any reports I don't know I have I have one um storm water task force task force met last week um and Bill Bernard presented um a first draft of what he imagined as being the the cost for setting up a storm water utility um and he was going to talk with Nick from CI and um um review the numbers with him and get some other ideas about how to set up a utility in terms of how to how to set the the rate or the bill um so we'll be following up on that next month um and school committee met last week as well um I wasn't there cuz I was at storm water um but I don't think they voted on the override number um just firm that up and meeting tomorrow okay all right thank you uh any other committee reports where we go to our 7:30 so all right I'm just trying to get the name of the applicant so we can pin them to the screen it looks like it's going to be um Robert um B Belo so whoever controls our back screen here yep there we go okay so next on our agenda U we're going to begin our public hearing uh and this is again for a change of man manager to Robert Scott Bido for alcohol license uh number 16- pk- 0636 uh for victory Distributors LLC doing businesses Hanford supermarket and Pharmacy uh number 8 388 located at 333 Massachusetts Avenue uh and again this is for our local Haniford which does sell alcohol so I I'm just looking to see if we have um Mr I do see Mr villo here with us excuse me m sorry so thank you Mr chairman so what and members of the board sorry this is attorney Sam Richard for the applicant thank you so what we can do is we're going to begin this and so the first order of business is for Mr Bido and I see you're represented by Council um to then State you know the reason why you are here in front of us tonight um why you are requesting a change of manager and then again uh and not again but if you can go over any kind of relevant experience uh related to this uh thank you Mr chairman and members of the board uh attorney Sam Richard on behalf of hanford's supermarket here to request the board Grant hanford's application for change of manager with me tonight is the proposed manager Robert Scott Bilo Mr pilo is a resident of lemonster Massachusetts he is a US citizen and is familiar with the rules and regulations related to the sale of alcohol beverages uh he has worked in the field for 40 years uh 20 of which at Under the Umbrella of hanford's and dating back another 20 With Victory the store that merged with Hannahs about 20 years ago he has extensive managerial experience having been a manager for 6 years including a prior hanford's that was licensed to sell alcohol that store experienced no violations during his tenure and hanford's respectfully requests the board to approve its application to change the manager of its license to Robert Scott Bido thank you all right so before we can proceed here uh we have in our notes um that as of last Friday that we had an outstanding sewer bill uh for the location in Lunenburg um and I'll just double check it was a third quarter sewer bill in the amount of 3,000 with the additional charges for it being late in the amount of $3,434 n was this satisfied today or uh yesterday speak Sam speaking of Mr Richard go ahead Scott yeah you can hear me this is the first time hearing about this so I would say that it was not satisfied CER yesterday that I'm aware of okay all right um so normally in this process all outstanding bills taxes everything owed to the town uh or town related departments need to be paid in full prior to us acting on request such as this um but we can probably make uh this we will still proceed uh with any questions the board may have although we may we'll I'll discuss with my colleagues uh what the next steps are would you mind just giving a little bit of Mr Richards noted that that you previously worked in other Hannafords would you mind just explaining which ones they were where in which you were a manager supervising the sale of alcohol yeah as a store manager I worked at the local Mass store um Hudson New Hampshire store uh that store did sell alcohol and the Lancaster Street store ler and now currently in lunenberg okay I think from previous conversations we're all aware of Hannaford's uh alcohol training program uh in which all cashiers and Baggers are trained you don't allow people under 18 to process the sale in which alcohol is a component uh we know that you guys uh rigidly C just about everyone who looks like they're under 40 um uh and and those of us who look like we are over 40 so it's pretty straightforward um are there any questions from the board related to um how Hanford will go about managing under the new manager uh alcohol sales I don't okay so the next question I think in front of us is what do we re do we continue this public hearing to a later date uh do we make a uh licensing approval that is contingent um what is the board what's in the board's pleasure does anybody have any payment history of hanford's is this an anomaly that they owe this money I mean they've been at that property since I've been here I think in town for like 30 years so I'm unaware of any history of past few months and I don't know that I don't I don't even know what if I mean let's just take the hypothetical if we don't approve this right now if they don't have a manager right now I don't even know what that does to their license unless we're willing to not continue their license until they pay this I mean I'd rather they paid it pretty quickly I would say that publicly but uh oh I'll get this pain tomorrow especially if it's going to impact the ability to sell alcohol I'm sure that that's a when I remember when I worked at Hanford alcohol sales were a significant part portion of the revenue stream um but that of course was 20 something years ago well what I would recommend to the board is that we would approve this and we we would ask that by the end of this week they show payment of this and let us know yeah we can review it next week's meeting yep confirm that they've paid is there a motion to that effect so moved any additional discussion so it should be pretty clear you have to second wait second second thank you so if you can understand Us in the room what we're saying is that uh we just there was just a motion to approve the license contended basically upon you providing proof of payment by the end of this week and then we will continue the public hearing to next week uh is to confirm that that was done but we will make the motion today just in case next week we need to state that it wasn't paid and then uh pursue something else then um but we're trusting that that this will be taken care of we have a motion and a second any additional discussion but just to clarify we're not doing anything with the license we do we just accepting the change of manager correct yes that with that one change in what you said yes that is the motion all right um as many are in favor please say I I those opposed no so the chain of manager is approved um again contended upon uh successful demonstrating proof of payment uh for the outstanding sewer bill by the end of the week this could be your first act as manager getting that pay thank you Mr chairman thank you members of the board thank you thank you for your time thank you all right okay let's go to uh old business discussion of fiscal year 24 budget fiscal year budget Capital plan annual T meeting warrant articles so I know that um we've all had some time to consider um the override question I think that many of us have taken the opportunity to uh provide right statements or make some notes for ourselves so before we begin the process of going through outstanding warant articles and final votes on recommendations um I would ask for the board at this time um if they're so inclined to provide any statements related to um upcoming vote recommendations specifically related to the override but it can also be broad to anything I have a statement I'll make um but I didn't know other members did first but the order doesn't matter okay so mine is in the form of a written statement because I still not good at just getting up here and speaking what's on my mind in an organized way so bear with me but I support the override first of all in terms of values I feel obligated to support public education the cuts that would happen without an override are too drastic for me to not support it I can't help but keep in mind during all of this that we live in the richest country in human history and the conversation we're having is whether we're going to fire a math teacher or a PE teacher which of those would be less bad in addition to all the other vital positions that would be cut when the conversation we should be having is about which programs and classes we want ad to make public education better this conversation is just too far away from where I think we should be as a community and the Investments we should be making in future generations to create a strong Innovative 21st century economy that's values and idealism and I get it I'm very idealistic my idealism tells me to support this override but I'm also very realistic the reality is also that we need this override I support a budget task force I think we can find efficiencies that will make an impact but efficiencies here and there will not address the root cause which is a structural disadvantage Rising costs are far outpacing the 25% annual increase we're limited by it's time for an override next year will only be worse if we're behind at the beginning of the budget season so what are we going to do are we going going to be here next year confronted with even worse Cuts first of all that would be terrible we should not be putting ourselves in that situation but also if you realize that this override is an uphill battle which I think we all do do you really think next year that we'll be able to pass an even bigger override it's not going to happen so this override is necessary it's also the most realistic ask to bring to voters we also have to consider the unintended consequences the cuts will reduce the quality of public education in town no override will also put us in a worse budget position moving forward but what about staff what about the uncertainty and stress that we'll be introducing to their work lives by showing them we don't value or support them and instead make their jobs even harder that will have a long lasting negative impact I know it's difficult to ask voters to pay more in taxes many of us are struggling with Rising costs and frankly a lot of residents just don't trust us enough to be willing to chip in more I recognize that this override would cost the average household in town $388 cents a week I'm not Wealthy by any means trust me but I can manage that and for me what an override would do for our town far outweighs that small increase I'm willing to chip in to invest in our future and I sincerely ask voters to consider supporting this as well thank you thank you do you want me to go say again do you want to go want me to go you you can rock paper scissors say what now she said rock paper scissors okay I I'll go you so I will um I also have pre prepared comments but I will also participate in uh I will issue extemporaneous comments as as the as the the dialogue progresses so my prepared statements this has been a long arduous and at times less than perfect process many have argued passionately on both sides of this issue and now the question of whether to recommend approval of the finalized override number is before the select board some new to the annual Town budgeting process have expressed frustration at what they see is indecisiveness or an unwillingness to commit to action but I know better I serve on this board and I know that this is a process that requires careful deliberation and consideration of numerous factors including the needs and interests of multiple constituencies and the impacts on others it also requires the select board to carefully weigh the inputs of the finance and school committees and I know that each member of this select board has studied this issue carefully has listened to people and the inputs of other boards and committees and each of us will reach his or her own conclusions or has it is not a simple question and I certainly appreciate how a reasonable person could come out on either side of this issue that said I announce my support for the override but with some reservations as I have previously stated was this put together too hastily does it account for needs of various Town departments going into the future I don't fully know the answers to these questions time will tell but we must of course decide now and we know that the need in the schools is pressing the school committee and the super and superintendent have made a compelling case in my opinion I have been at turns heartened and disheartened at various points throughout this process heartened by The Passion of people that stood up and advocated for what they thought is needed I appreciate that but I've also been disheartened by a lack of patience and a line of thinking that this is a simple issue to decide and perhaps most disturbingly on occasion calls for Less philosophizing that is anathema to me most of what I do in my public service is informed in some way by philosophy history or both and certainly that is the case here as I have previously mentioned while I have a son who grew up in town he never attended lunenberg public schools and yet my wife and I willingly and robustly support public school funding we supported the construction of the new school we support robust funding because these are societal interests that must transcend self-interest many have advanced arguments that appeal to self- and I understand that that's very pragmatic that is one critical way of getting the message through to people for example at some level arguments relative s to sustaining property values resonate and certainly appealing to people who have children in the schools the most direct self-interest resonates on a pragmatic level such arguments will Garner support but as I've stated previously many times my support is rooted primarily in philosophy My Philosophy is that we have a duty to educate the youth and provide what they need to secure their Futures additionally in no small measure securing their future secures our own future they are the future of the country and as we grow older we will need younger people to support a robust economy and sustained democracy and so despite the limited calls to refrain from philosophizing my decision is nearly entirely rooted in philosophy and not at all in direct self-interest from an historical perspective I am formed by people like John and Abigail Adams both of whom have been personal Heroes of mine since I was a boy growing up in New Jersey their views on public education are well documented it is no accident that in Massachusetts there exists a college scholarship program named after John and Abigail Adams it is aptly named precisely because of their belief in public education and so while I am not going to be hypercritical about the reasons why people might support the override I would ask those of whom for whom current self-interest is Paramount that in the future when you don't have children in the schools you find it within you to continue to support public education yes on more overarching philosophical grounds I make the same plea to those in the general public who do not currently have children in the schools you and I are identically situated in this Regard in order for this effort to succeed those in support must appeal to a broader audience than those who presently have children in the schools and those who see the indirect benefit to property values such appeals are necessary but possibly not sufficient in short there must be appeals to philosophy and values that's the the only way to achieve a unified coalition to support the override there must be appeals to the greater good it may well not succeed otherwise the voting block just might not be there and so while philosophy may seem abstract or removed from the Practical I argue quite the contrary very pragmatically appeals must be made to that kind of thinking in order to generate adequate support at some level the common good must trans self transcend self-interest and to my mind public education is on such a level of common good thank you Mr Franco okay so I've written a number of points um I'll start by saying I myself haven't decided how I'm going to vote come toown meeting and and at The Ballot Box I have gone back and forth over this for weeks I think I changed my mind three times on the drive over here tonight it's not black and white to me um I'll lay out some of the pros and cons and then and add some some details of why I think it's not black and white so the pros of the override are that the school gets the level service minus s budget that means it restores 10.3 FTE that were cut in the needs based budget and also increases or restores some supply lines the cons are we don't know if it's going to be enough to carry Beyond a year I've said more than once I think it's shortsighted I worry that there's going to be another override as early as next year um if inflation stays like it is prop 2 and a half we know it can't keep Pace um well in override past 2 years in a row too small ones a small one a big one one big one two big ones I don't know nobody knows the second con um in my opinion it doesn't address the needs in other Town departments in in fy2 we know that other departments in town need funding this year we paused the scheduled funding of the payment plans to give money to the school and for the second year in a row we paused the police department's 10year Staffing plan so we're starting to see you know alarm bells are going off we're we're hitting safety and you know this is a sign this is to me I think it's a warning sign that we likely will need another override people say well why didn't the Town come forward with a number well there wasn't time if we would do so it would be so irresponsible because we'd be making up a number the way towns have done this and I brought a prop here's West budget task force report 101 Pages this is double-sided they started in the spring spent 5 months this is the most comprehensive one I've seen um I've looked at Acton everyone has formed a task force they call it different things Financial task force Tricom committee um these cross town committee uh task force to look at at um at overrides and efficiencies and they spend anywhere from 5 months to a year to do it now well I think we should look for efficiencies I I think it was Mr manard that said at the at the public hearing you know the idea that we're going to come up with efficiencies a million dollars worth of efficiencies that's not going to happen doesn't mean we shouldn't try five digit six digigit anything right any efficiency we can gain is important the other thing I thought of was the override comes on the heels of this being a reeval reevaluation year I looked at the property taxes more than 800 homeowners about 20% of the residents have a double digit increase in property tax condos yeah are a big part of that but almost half are are non-c condos and I think a lot of these people don't even know what's coming someone in my neighborhood yesterday was totally unaware I looked up his taxes he's getting a 40% increase doesn't even know it's coming now I'm not saying that if someone's got such a big increase in their property tax they can't afford the override that you know what do I know that's their decision I don't know what their individual situation is but just knowing that just you know makes me worry the last thing is the override amount is larger than I expected I think a lot of people know I spent a lot of energy and time trying to to get to that needs based budget and I expressed two reasons for doing that one was to get the schools a doable budget for a year in case the override didn't pass the second reason was to get the override to the lowest number that we could to reduce the burden on the taxpayer so I was expecting the override amount to be in the $700,000 range and to be honest I was I was surprised when the number was was brought up by the 221,000 of arpa I understand the explanation that was given but I honestly I don't agree with it um primarily because 2third of that arpa money is is being used for onetime costs um I can see the 75,000 roughly that's going towards Chromebooks yeah that doesn't really sit well with me as being a use of arpa money so I'm willing you know I I can see that being included in the the override calculation because that is a recurring cost but you know being in the situation we're in you know I think using the arpa money we we have to do what we have to do in the situation so I've been a proponent of a comprehensive plan from the beginning um I'm not necessarily seeking Perfection I know we can't if Perfection is not attainable but I think we can do better um I don't know if we could pass an override this year come back again next year nobody knows it's a total guess I'm not even going to say if I think the override is going to pass this year or not because I don't know um if inflation stays like it is I'm I I really feel like this is not enough um to carry us for a few years I Googled inflation 20125 cuz my dad told me he heard that it was going to go down I didn't believe him so I Googled it myself and I did find a number of citations more uh saying that projecting that the inflation rate was going to go down after this year now I'm not saying I'm going to I would bet on that I mean you know we we're not even good at predicting the weather so you know these are predictions but I thought it was interesting no one's predicting the other way maybe it's just wishful thinking I don't know I tend to be a pessimist so I don't believe them um but if it were to go down maybe this this override would be enough and there's a lot of ifs a lot a lot of ifs um so if you can't tell I'm still wrestling with this um in my own mind um I I think it's far from a black and white situation Mr chair can I just add some background information real quick regarding inflation I wrote this down just in case it came up so in 2021 the inflation rate was at 7% in 2022 was at 6.5% 2023 was at 2.7% and so far this year it's at 2.3% so it has gone down and hopefully this override will just be a adjustment to account for the inflation that hopefully is behind us so I just wanted to point that out thank you you done sure I don't want to talk you about I just wanted to know uh I am finishing my 17th year on this board and two years before that on the finance committee so I've been intimate with the town budget and finances for many years um as is noted many times during this discussion over the past six weeks eight weeks the last override operational override as opposed to a debt exclusion override that passed was in 1992 so obviously they don't come along very frequently and they don't pass very frequently there's been two attempts since then I was uh a proponent of both of those over the years and both of those failed for various reasons I will say that over that course of time that probably no this may be one of the toughest decisions I've had to made support or not support the override uh I have come to a conclusion but I will explain how I got there before I State the conclusion first of all I've been very clear that prop two and a half builds in a structural unsustainability into every Municipal budget every municipality uh inflation we've had a great run until the pandemic of inflation being around 2 to 3% for many many years but before then back in the in the you know early 2000s uh and then with the uh financial crisis of 2008 we've had years where it was very high and we had certain components of our budget like health insurance we're going up 8 to 10% a year year on year so the way I look at prop 2 and a half is that every municipality will be faced with a time when they have to pass an operational over right it is it is not really an option to have a sustainable budget without doing it however because it's not easy to pass certainly in our town not easy to pass other towns may may find it easier uh it have to be carefully planned and the things that you have to plan are first of all A needs assessment like what are the needs across every Department in town why do we have those needs and then we can get to okay what absolutely needs to be addressed what can wait potentially and what is definitely a would like to have instead of a need to have all of that data that needs to be collected to make that analysis takes one thing that this override request didn't have and that's time my colleague goes over the report from Westford 101-page report they started their their task force the financial task force or override task force back last spring uh gron the same thing started it in the late summer of last year and gave time so they can analyze this in the end you're asking people taxpayers to fund more and I think it is not unjustified or inappropriate for a taxpayer who was going to be asked to vote for this to say a what is it going for what other options have you looked at and most importantly how long will this last how long will this override last till we get to the next one the last one they said lasted 30 years now you could argue that that was way too long I would argue that that we've had to make adjustments along the way and partially we are now is because we didn't pass one of the earlier ones but it's a fair question that needs an answer and if somebody says well I don't know I don't even know if it's going to last past next year because last year nobody said we were going to be in know 1 million I mean when we started this and heard about this in January the numbers range from 1.2 to 1.9 million dollar below a level service budget no one said that everybody was like well how did we get to this so if you didn't know that was coming up and you can't answer the question will the override that you're asking for last more than one year before you're looking at it again that's going to give people pause and that is one of the biggest problems I have with where we are now I am a a full supporter of member M's task force just like the other towns did once this came forward uh I was not the one who pitched it she certainly gets all the credit for that but I am certainly a big supporter of that that's that would be what would needed uh to address the fact of other My some of my colleagues and some people who were supporting in the other meetings that you know I want to be sure that I support public education I I would be hardpressed to find people even who would vote against the override who wouldn't say that they are for public education I don't think the question is are our residents for public education I think the question is a can they some people can they personally afford it or B are the people that we're giving money to good stewards of the money that's probably a a a higher bar question and if you come with them and you don't know the answer to how long this is going to last I think that starts answering in the absence of of data supporting anything otherwise it supplies them with the answer of okay are you good stewards if you didn't know this was coming last year how can you predict that it's not going to come next year and so that is the problem uh on the other side of the token because it's hard to come by and hard to get these passed certainly getting too past if we don't have enough is another problem but that problem is before us like this question is going to be on the ballot we have already agreed it's on the ballot so whether it passes or fails to pass another one or to to launch another one regardless of Reason even makes it in my estimation and with historical reference even less likely to pass so with all of this going on I would say that I certainly don't want the perfect or even the better to be an obstacle to the good I can certainly say that this the money that's asked for in the override is certainly needed uh it's needed in the larger scope of than just the schools it's needed because again the town needs to raise more money to make the pie bigger it's not that we're funding our schools at less of a percentage it's that that other other towns that have K through 12 schools for instance they fund their Towns at the same percentage of the pie chart that we do it's just that they have a bigger pie and so there's no doubt that this money is needed the fact that it's not comprehensive enough I don't want to get in the way of the fact that I think it's needed so with that logic I will support this uh it's not the way I would have wanted this to happen uh but the money is certainly needed and will not be put to bad use uh it just may be insufficient and that is unfortunate because then I think we have really going to the well a second time would be uh not really an option I mean obviously the option of putting on the ballot is always there but to reasonably expect it to be passed would not be there so for all those reasons I will support the current override with that background thank you Mr Alonzo sure I just want to say that this is not an easy issue and everything uh uh that Miss mki and Mr Alonzo said has been a major concern of mine as well a a a a major fear of mine is that we have a pressing need for it and that's why mainly I'm supporting it but this was done in a on a very short Runway and I am concerned that if it passes it's not going to be sufficient and that's going to cause problems in the future and so like I said I support it but with the reservations stated I have a prepared statement and I will read it and try not to deviate too much in 2019 when I became a member of this board uh I anticipated many things within the realm of a town executive body but all things dealing with public education is not my forte and it's not under the purview of the select board I have no relevant experience or specialized education in administering a school system and I am neither skilled nor trained to work in a school or serve as a member of the school committee I deduce that I am in the same position as the overwhelming majority of taxpayers and residents so I have taken seriously my duty to provide a recommendation on the warrant that advises or recommends to others how to vote at town meeting on the override after many conversations meetings and careful deliberation I have not moved enough for my initial reaction to this request and will vote to recommend disapproval of an override although I will not be at town meeting I will vote against this request at the ballot nonetheless I believe that the elected members of the school committee superintendent and parents have clearly articulated the need for additional funds and the negative impacts on the school system and children should this override fail while it won't necessarily be a parade of horribles it will be a tough go several Educators or administrators will be laid off and services will be reduced as such many parents and teachers are legitimately concerned about whether the school department will be able to deliver the quality of Education that they expect to help ensure that children in town have the best opportunity to succeed in life I believe that everyone supports the education of children and everyone values and depends on public education I have said previously and repeatedly that I am a graduate of lunberg high school and that I credit the lunburg school system with providing a high enough foundation for me to build off of successfully and I want our town to continue to invest in the education of children for generations to come government requires all of us to balance competing interests and for me this override is not about values it is about money this override is not asking the public at large for any theoretical or philosophical contribution to what we think the school department should be doing it is simply asking me and every other taxpayer to provide somewhere between 175 and a year Forever on top of the already expected annual tax increase our town will need to borrow money to fix and build buildings and at some point in the near future an override may be necessary health insurance trash collection utility costs exceed the 2 and a half% the town is able to raise our employees can't keep up with inflation if tax collection doesn't approach historic and astronomical inflation at some point soon there will be a reckoning but I and many other taxpayers would prefer to see an effort that considers consolidating resources across departments and looks for efficiencies in it Human Resources landscaping services snow removal and facility maintenance prior to contributing more money to our local government beyond what it is allowed to take each and every day kids learn in a Collaborative Learning environment the department of Elementary and secondary education requires our schools to teach students to Value multiple perspectives and build connections and they say that through education children will quote find joy in learning pursue their interests and use Innovative thinking to approach opportunities and solve challenges including those previously unseen so I need us collectively to take the same approach to this concern before I can support a greater contribution from the fruits of my labor beyond what is otherwise expected so I think we all said many of the same things tonight and had many of the same concerns so let's now um go through where we are on these warrant articles the ones we have not voted on and let's proceed with making recommendations so let goe and pull it up all right so we're going to look at the draft booklet and we'll go in order there is that what you recommend yes all right and start at D all right all right did we change the order yet from last week the order has remained the same okay there's a couple there changes within them W so we're going to go through the ones we' have not voted on D to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds a sum of money for payment of Prior your expenses or take any other action relativ L to do we have that dollar amount we do not so I would recommend that one be deferred I recommend for the board to defer any additional discussion all in favor please say I I those oppose no the board is deferring d e to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate borrow a transfer from available funds a sum of money for the fiscal year 25 Capital plan is appearing in the capital planning committee report take any other action relative there to um we I know that we do have those numbers um we do not this is the budget adjustment article for the current year so we do not have those up this time so I'd recommend that one move that we defer to town meeting second all right I have a question so the the finance committee was able to recommend approval without having that number they defer they deferred is deferred am looking at the wrong one yeah thank you I'm looking at F all right um that's not what I read I read F but I I did not read E I read F so let me read e just see if the town will vote to transfer from available funds all sums of money necessary to amend the amounts voted for the town's FIS year 24 budget under article 7 of the May 20 of the May 6th 2023 annual town meeting and Article 1 of the November 14th 2023 special town meeting take any other action relative there too we have a motion in a second to defer any additional discussion all in favor please say I I I those oppos no we are deferring F so this is related to the capital plan I so like we have a dollar amount for the C uh would you just remind the board what that amount is 1 million $37,988 borrow a transfer from available funds that amount of money for the FIS year 25 Capital plan as appearing the capital planning committee report or taking either action relative there to Is there a motion to recommend I move that we recommend approval second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I I those oppose no board recommends approval 5 to zero g uh do we have a dollar amount here 44 m243 49119 and this is related to the overall budget to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds the sum of money uh to defra the charges and expenses of the for the town for fisc year 2025 and to fix the salaries and compensation of all elected officials of the Town any other and any other item included in the budget of the Town manager or take any other action relative there to do we have a motion to approve recommend approve motion to recommend approval second all right any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I I those oppose no board recommends approval 5 to zero H this is related to the override to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate $948,000 ballot question or take any other action relative there to is there a motion to recommend and move that the board recommend approval second any additional discussion do we want to discuss this anymore does anyone want to discuss this anymore I I would just simply just note that that uh not to argue in favor or against just the fact that you heard every member of this select board speak and we all considered the same factors that's how difficult this this decision is and I over the last two to three weeks I was actually on the other side of this thing some of the time it it's not a simple question I think Miss M's comments uh uh convey that strenuously and look it I I can easily appreciate how somebody could be undecided somebody could be on the opposite side of this issue that I am that's all I want to say about it it's not yeah I would add that um you know I I understand the concern and I think we've all said it um for me there's an additional question which is beyond is the money needed it it is for me it is also is this the most efficient efficient way to spend the money um and and my answer to that is no I'm I'm very concerned about the amount of property owners as selectman imy noted who are going to be receiving a notable tax increase um I'm concerned about these seniors who live in our community who can't afford it I'm concerned about the um different families um who aren't of you know um High means and who will you know have some challenges here and generally I you know I don't comment on much of what the school department does other than vocalizing my support for them you know but it's not lost on me that our school does um our school department is not succeeding at preparing kids to not go to college in other words the kids who aren't going to college I think in large part they're being left behind so if if the override was asking for $948,000 woodworking um you know engage in the state program that Senator Cronin has presented which is helping train students to provide them with middle class jobs then I would absolutely support it um but to continue the status quo you know my opinion generally I don't have one but since in this case I am being asked to continue the status quo uh it is a no and a and and it's a pretty firm no from me are there any other discussion I have two additional comments one I think if we didn't get to the needs based budget this would be an easier and obvious decision second with respect to the arpa money and how it factors into the override even if that arpa money were to come back to the town at this point it the tax impact remains and and that's that sticks with me too well I will add one only because now two members have mentioned this I will mention it in the other regard mik I try to resolve these questions being put to us of whether I think they're good for the town with a capital T we're asking voters and I think every voter will vote at their own economics whether they want to I certainly feel for people on fixed income I've mentioned that I've worked hard to create exceptions and exclusions and abatements for them but and people who are you know have tighter budgets than others but I'm not deciding for them what their situations are they decide for them I'm just being asked to decide do I think the town is is the is the money warranted and I am convinced that the money is warranted my problem is that I don't think we've had enough time to judge just how much is warranted beyond the question of the number we're being asked and that's so we we have laser focus on a department and I think that is the the weakness of the question before us but there's no doubt in my mind that the town needs the money yeah I agree there's town the the town needs the money it's don't know if it's enough and are we going to get a second shot on goal I don't know we have a motion and a second to recommend approval any other discussion all right all in favor please say I I I those oppose no no no the motion uh the select board recommends approval 3 to2 I this is to see if the town will vote to amend the code of LUN Chapter 70 entire salary admin I'm not going to read the whole thing we already done this one uh yeah that's right thanks Jay thank you uh this is to see of the town this is also related to the salary admin plan this is the amounts and do you have an update from the town manager on the amounts I know we have a grid yes the board was provided the impact grids previously and the information related to this article the total cost including Enterprise employees for fiscal 24 was 1014 5869 excluding Enterprise employees it's 89,000 700 sorry $ 77161 for fiscal 25 the total cost including Enterprise employees is125 764 and. 36 and excluding Enterprise employees it's $110 $948 and 87 this is one of the reasons that the budget had to be amended for my preliminary recommendation all right chair I would move that we recommend approval of article J second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I I those oppose no select board's unanimous and recommending approval okay uh so there was a modification in this this is the sick leave so there was a modification to the the underlying portion the addition of the last sentence so um just to read it so what this says is if an employee becomes a parent with or without giving birth uh such as or example being the uh because the employees spouse gives birth to a baby or the employee adopts a child employees May access up to 8 weeks which is 40 days of sick Lea all other and this is the addition all other available acred time such as vacation and personal time must be exhausted first however employees are able to retain up to one week of vacation or personal time for use during the fiscal year and uh I did speak with um the HR Director assistant Town manager on this so I will provide additional clarification so one of the things and one of the questions we asked last week or yeah last week was how does time accumulate and the answer is well it accumulates monthly however it is deposited annually so although that time may add up it shows up and is available for use on July the 1st of every fiscal year so there then becomes a disadvantage to an employee who happens to have a baby around the new fiscal year um because if you had that child in let's say um February you may still have a week left of vacation on on the books for you you could burn through that week of vacation time and then your other time is provided on July the first but if you are that person who is on sick leave around end of June beginning of Janu or let's say beginning of July uh and you have a child somewhere around July 1st uh you will have to burn through all of your vacation time and not have the opportunity to take a day off until the following year in July and so what this change basically or at least a um vacation day so what this change does is and and vacation time does not carry over from fiscal year to fiscal year so with this change does is it is it accommodates that no matter when your child is born in the calendar year that she will not be significantly disadvantaged by providing employees to retain up to one week of vacation time after exhausting all other time off so I support the change I think it's critical that hey I I see I don't have children I've seen many of my friends have kids we all know that to go a year without taking time off after a kid is really hard to ask and if the and if the you know staff accumulate the time you know my preference would be that you know we allow them to utilize the time so I move to recommend approval of K second any additional discussion yes oh go Ahad so I I have question first of all to the point that the chair made about the change I mean yeah nobody's at the disadvantage it's a voluntary program so you know the rules the rules are the rules and so I'm not worried about anybody deem disadvantaged what I am worried about is that the finance committee thought this has no direct Financial impact and I'm like if a person decides to take four eight weeks of sick leave I'm assuming that we need to potentially hire somebody to do their job if they take four weeks so how could that have I mean I would ask through you Mr chair to the town manager is this really have no direct Financial impact I think it would have an impact if we were so would I so would any reasonable person so I'm not understanding I may maybe I mean it was a long meeting in defense of the fincom so I just don't understand how this I'd love to know what the impact is and also at the at the finance committee meeting somebody brought up some interesting points because the way it's written they talk about a birth of a child that maybe your spouse gives birth but then it talks about adopting a child and somebody says well what if you adopt somebody who's 15 years old do you still get to acclimate to them for 40 days I mean there are a lot of questions that are known here in this wording I understand the intent and I'm for the initial the general intent but I'd want this language to be paralleled or at least equivalent to what other other unions have so we're offering the same things and I don't know if we've done that does this language appear in other it it greatly exceeds it greatly exceeds what is currently in Union Union agreements I think the language says if an employee becomes a parent with or without giving birth and that is specifically spells out that if a parent adopts a 15-year-old that they are entitled to the same amount of time off but is that what we're intending I believe that is what is the intent think so okay I I don't I don't think that was the intent by the way I think the intent was if you adopted an infant but that that's me reading into it uh but that being said if the is new language a it's going to have a direct Financial impact I want to know what the impact is and second of all if this is above and beyond then we know how this goes because then the unions are going to get above and beyond then it'll have a big in financial impact so I'd like to know what that Financial impact is before I get to vote on this personally and I don't know if we can quantify what that is cuz it's new and we wouldn't even have any idea how many people would partake in this so if I can offer his comic um I think that you know we have you know Family Medical Leave Act Right and and that entitles employees to take off x amount of time unpaid now Massachusetts can I correct that yeah no our policy with FMLA you have to use your time your benefit time while you're out on FMLA and there's obviously criteria to qualify for f however if you do not have that that time accumulated you're entitled to that time off unpaid correct correct and so you know the other side of this is that Massachusetts recently has recognized that that becomes an unfair burden that the families you know who who there are many families who cannot afford to go 12 weeks without pay there are many families who you know may have it may only have a week or two of sick time and cannot afford to go the time they need off without pay and so the state has remedied this problem by creating Paid Family Medical Leave Act and the the issue is that municipalities are naturally excluded unless we opt in so everyone in Massachusetts minus people who work for municipalities already has access to 8 weeks or plus of paid time off for the birth of a child and for a whole host of other reasons but in our town we've opted out of that and and we actually have on the books that they specifically cannot use sick time for the birth of a child so not only are we at a far distance away from what the federal government and state have done but we actually have a Prohibition against using sick time for the purpose of a birth of a child and so what this is doing is deleting that language and replacing it with an allowance that to me is consistent with the state law uh it's not opting us in and therefore forcing us to incur the cost cost but it's saying to an employee if you have accumulated the time cuz keep in mind they can already take up to 12 weeks off anyway whether or not they have the time accumulated or not all this is doing is allowing them to be paid for a portion of that time uh that is basically up to 8 weeks so I don't I don't have then a conflict with the law CU if someone tomorrow's out for 12 weeks there's a financial impact on that you know but so for this this isn't changing reality this is just allowing the employee to get paid while they're out of work for a very specific reason so I have enough information to make a recommendation tonight can I just make one other um for FMLA to qualify for that reason there would need to be a medical reason so and I just want to clarify the amount of time you can take out right so someone if your spouse has if me as an employe um my spouse had not a baby yes your husband had a baby um then um I wouldn't qualify for FMLA leave unless there was a medical where I was taken care of um a family member with a medical need during that time does that make sense it does I mean what this does is it's adding in spouses and understanding that child rear in and having a child is not a one gend just make the distinction between FMLA um and taking sick leave for this purpose and all I'm saying it's not always going to overlap if we're going to have discussions that well you know we should look at efficiencies and everything and we're not going to vote as a board and people on this vote voted against an over if you're going to do that we are asked to be stewards of the town in a financial sense I cannot do that if I don't know what the financial impact is and it doesn't have no Financial impact I disagree with the finance committee and so I cannot make a decision but philosophically if I'm going to use you know Mr Franco's philosoph philosophy point of view yeah of course I'm for it I think everybody should have all the things they want they should be able to raise families you know regardless of all that I'm for all that but those things cost money and people pay that money and before I ask people to pay that money I just want to make sure that in my my mind it is a Equitable across all of our unions because that's what's going to happen if one group gets something that's above what somebody else gets in the next cycle of contracts it's going to be across all of them I need to know what that is so whether I feel it's appropriate or not from a philosophy point of view from a financial point of view I have a fiduciary responsibility to the town in order to make a recommendation which is what this question tonight is and so I don't know that I have enough information to answer that question so I I I'm okay with deferring what I would say is we have to start somewhere I mean we don't do our contract negotiations all at the same time they come out in in you know several multi- years so we may not get to another contract for a couple different years you know but this provides an opportunity to set a baseline standard that we can then utilize when it comes to again uh our contract negotiations and again just to be clear that all this is doing is changing the current prohibition to allow employees to utilize the time they have already earned understood and we wouldn't necessarily hire someone to like attempt to fill in for those eight weeks correct right I guess's job is and and many employees I would suspect would not take all the time off um especially if you're in a role where your job can't be easily backfilled like a department head um type role where you can't have a easy backfill that you may make a personal decision that hey I only need four weeks I only need three weeks I only need six cuz all this work is building and waiting um but it gives people that flexibility to be paid in the event that they do need that time so that raises interesting question I do these eight weeks have to be consecutive cuz I know with PF paid family medical leave I had someone in my group his wife had a baby he they between the two of them kind of inter leave their 12 weeks a leave cuz he didn't want to take three month chunk off of work it take him forever to you know dig himself out so they kind of did you know 3 weeks they alternated is can this be this doesn't have to be 8 weeks 40 days consecutive right doesn't say it doesn't say I think that there's an opportunity um for you know uh policies to further clarify what the bylaw allows for to answer that question that maybe doesn't need to be in a bylaw maybe a flexible answer and to clarify by policy but we have a request to defer here um I know that generally we go with one request to defer we all defer are we all in agreement with deferring yes yeah fine all right is there let's I move to defer second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I those oppos no passes L see if the town would vote to raise I think the next one is o thank you yep yep o yeah um this is to see if the town will voote and rais an appropr do we have a number here for the S Enterprise 1,712 4987 see at the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds that amount of money to operate the sore Enterprise fund for fisc year 25 take any action relative there too recommend the board board approve recommend approval second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I those oppose no motion passes that was O next is q and uh we have a dollar amount for the solid waste 500,000 and this is one of the ones that was amended as well well on the budget side it was amended in the Omnibus budget but this is the Enterprise um we looked at revenues anticipated revenues for that we've had a history of and so that has been increased and we're supplementing that with 100,000 from retained earnings for a total of 500,000 okay all right so we're on I think Q correct yes so to see if this town vote to raise and appropriate or transfer from avable funds uh $500,000 to operate the solid waste disposal program Enterprise fund for FIS year 25 or take any other action relative th to I move to recommend approval of article Q additional discussion all in favor please say I I I those oppose no uh select board's unanimous and recommending approval R uh do we have that number for the water 45,000 see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate $45,000 um excuse me raise an appropriate or transfer from available funds $45,000 to operate the water Enterprise fund for fiscal year 25 take any other action relative there too recommend approval second any additional discussion all in favor please say I I those oppos no select board recom unanimous and recommending approval of article r s and do we have the number for Peg 8,843 and3 okay see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate or transfer from a available funds um the amount of money the town managers noted um to fund the fisc year 25 public educational government access Enterprise operating in capital budgets or take any other action relative there to recommend approval second an additional discussion all in favor please say I I I those oppos no select unanimous Reckoning approval of s uh next is U this one um I wanted to bring to the board's attention that I would recommend removal of this article after speaking with the chair of the board um and they are looking more into the different exemptions and the history of them it's kind of convoluted so at this point we' recommend a approve a removal of this article and take it up in the the fall while they have time to research it more thoroughly this is related to additional real estate exemptions for taxpayers yes and that is one thing that um is inaccurate um 595c and a half wouldn't be what we would want to um be looking for doing in the end result as well this is that provisional law adds for the additional exemptions beyond what the town does so would they be look this is what they discuss potentially putting back on in November um not this particular one but what they really want to do they need to to look more into the history of the different exemptions and the amounts that were given over the years right but that but they're looking to get that for the November special yes okay as clarification and I'm asking this question really to Mr Alonzo I know that motions don't hurt um but um given that we actually I've answered my own question at our last meeting we accepted all of the Articles so we do need to move move to remove it okay by the way just for further reference I mean the discussion to discuss whether we should remove is longer than just making a motion to remove it I was curious about process of to remove but I remember that we did I I move to remove article U from the second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I I those opposed no RS all our numbering now we've removed o u all right v um to see if the town will vote um this is presented by the board of assessors to see if the town will vote to amend the vote of article 33 of the May 6th 2006 annual town meeting to decrease the age of the exemption Allowed by Master Jal Law chapter 59 section 541 C from age 70 to age 65 to amend the reimbursement amount up to 100% of the exemption and further to adjust the income and asset limits according to the statute or take any other action relative there to I move to recommend approval of article V second any additional discussion this is this is includes the two things so that the reimbursement up to 100% goes from the 750 to a th000 correct okay thank you I just wanted to make sure all right we have a motion in second and this is again recommend approval of V all in favor please say I I I those opposed no the board's unanimous and v um we I believe deferred on we recommend approval of w we def um let me get to X we did not vote on x all right so this is the uh submitted by the select board related to historical commission powers and duties um is there a motion to recommend well first is there a language in here that includes alternate members since we've been talking a lot about that no okay that is in the packet where was um see after reading Town council's email I will say that uh although I agree that it might uh proactively clarify I would I would argue if he was here I would argue that the omission of it does clarify that again this article was meant to codify what we have already been doing and have been doing for 45 years so you know I I don't have I as one member don't have any inclination to add alternate members uh I don't I don't speak for anybody else obviously on the board but I I don't see any reason why we would aside from the fact that the statute says we could we may but I don't see any reason why we would I I think that if board's requested and we have the ability to do it um well the board hasn't requested the commission hasn't request that I am aware of I thought we received a communication from the chair of the historical commission asking for the appointment of an alterate I I didn't see anything have you SE seen anything I I do recall see I didn't I didn't see any email was okay well so I think I think that's because he thought they were alternates so I think the first question is um we have this article we submitted it um my understanding Mr Lonzo is that you were correct that that this codifies what the practice has been for a while um as you said over four decades I think the first question is do we want to remove it uh and float it through the historical commission and come back in the fall um or do we want to submit it as is so what would happen if we remove it based on we if we remove it then that gives us you know basic these 6 months to modify it again or come back and have a conversation and say look we don't like alternates and let's just put it in as presented initially why wouldn't we codify it and then if you didn't like it you could change it special time meeting I mean why enact why I I I I would be inclined not to enact something uh if we anticipate immediately changing it well it's enacted already I mean we are doing it everything in here we're doing well this doesn't introduce anything new yeah yeah all it does is put it in the bylaws because we don't have it in the bylaws and we had to look through count I I had to look through countless town meeting warrants to find out the answer which I preferred somebody 20 years from now not having to do again all right if if those are the only two choices we're talking about doing either removing it or keeping it on and voting it on it as is if we vote on it as is then keep it on there vote to recommend approval there's still the opportunity for a floor amend amendment to be made to add alternates at town meeting correct correct so why why short circuit that why not leave that opportunity open I I mean the my understanding is that the historical commission hasn't had the opportunity to even review this um not that that's necessary cuz it's not but I think is a courtesy it may be something that we may want to do and again uh it is a change from what is currently allowed maybe it wasn't practiced for 40 years doesn't mean it wasn't allowed for 40 years um Let me let me make this about as quick as we can um I'm move to to remove article X from the warrant there's not a second so we're not removing it I move to recommend approval of article X second any additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I I I those oppose no no select board recommends approval of article X4 to1 why um so Y and Z I believe we deferred yes yes and uh did I just want to make sure that's everything that's everything right okay all right so we have all of that um I want to take advantage of the early evening here and not dig into bylaws if that's okay with the majority of the board I don't think anyone conversation tonight anyway I got to say I was kind of looking forward to it myself but you know no you weren't all right um current business voting on The override ballot question to be submitted uh to the town clerk for the May 18th Annual Town election uh and so we have this language in here and let me just pull it up so the annual Town election ballot question um to the clerk do you want to read this sure May 18th well you just read that part shall the town of lunenberg be allowed to assess an additional 948 136,000 hold on let me start over $948,000 in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of funding the lunenberg public school department for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2024 yes or no all right um I move to add the override ballot question uh to the ballot and to submit to the town clerk for the May 18th Annual Town election second discussion all right um does this need to be a roll call vote I think it does um so let's just do this a roll call vote this could to be a roll call vote selectman imy hi selectman Alonzo select nuo selectman Franco and an i for myself okay upcoming meetings the select board is meeting again on April the 9th April the 20 excuse me April the 9th that's next week we are taking a break on April the 16th and then we will again be meeting on April the 23rd April the 30th uh and then we will have town meeting shortly thereafter and Lou you're getting to the end of the road here um as a reminder I I recall that Mr Alonzo is not going to be available on the 9th uncertain so I may not get here I will be returning back from from a trip on that day and depending on I'll be driving so depending on traffic I may get here I may not okay um any other members absent over the course of the next couple meetings 23rd 23rd that's right so that's an m key all right and I've made the board aware that I will be absent uh for the meeting first meeting in May all right excellent public comments do I have any public comments this evening from the town manager none thank you any public comments from the board the public is next to oh I'm sorry any public comments from the public from the public Mr pasos dat Paso 56 wedding Street um you're unwillingness at this point to add the alternates uh to the article I understand your uh I don't agree with your uh position on it but uh I understand where you're coming from um but it speaks to a a very big or bigger underlying problem that we have with our Charter and our bws and that is even though we just went through a BW review what last year I believe it was within the last two years definitely there are things in there that bylaws have changed over the years and to my knowledge nobody's picked up on the fact that we accepted a bylaw that's now obsolete in Mass General law and that hasn't been vetted we have that in place all over our bws and all over our charer it's a mess every time we try to codify or try to sort out how we're supposed to be doing it there's contradictions everywhere so uh you you didn't read the decision or the information that uh Town Council had for this uh issue this evening but the my understanding is that the alternates were added to the Mass General law paragraph in 2014 so it's obvious nobody's looked at that since 2014 to compare it to what we accepted and what we have on our books but I would just to your point I mean that doesn't make it obsolete as with the OPB one any any that gets changed doesn't if they change it if you adopt it under that level it doesn't change and the alternates in this case they added in 2014 and it said you may so it's not even a requirement it's just a May so I would agree with your point that the bylaw review did not happen thoroughly enough I 100% agree with you in this case it wasn't obsolete like our the way we adopted it is so legitimate and the manner in which we did it is still legitimate and it's still in force it just it offered there were changes that offered us more options if we wanted to but doesn't negate or void what we had in place I agree okay thank you you have any other public comments from the public all right any public comments from the board I I will say that I want to thank my colleagues for sharing their opinions on a very difficult decision and I can certainly you know respect all their positions they got to and for the reasons they got there it has been you know a long road I'm sure it will continue to be a long road because we're still a month away from town meeting I'm sure this is not going to go away and I don't think discussion is over I think we'll hear it from other people but I want to thank all my colleagues on this board for sharing that thank you likewise same here something um I know I say this often and much that reasonable people disagree and i' I found that um you know the same people can hear the same information and come to different results and I think that as you said Mr Lonzo that you know we all I think did a great job of consuming the information looking for the information digging into the details and it's why we have multimember boards is because we can come to different results looking at looking at the same thing and when we find that that we cannot reasonably disagree it is often because someone is being unreasonable um and so it is good I think a function of this board for us to cons consider these types of things um and come to different conclusions I want to thank the board for um all your work this evening want to thank the town manager as always for being here uh and thank the public for tuning in to this week's uh version of The L selectboard meeting um we again will be meeting next week on the 9th and then we will not be meeting during uh school vacation week April 16th and again we will resume meeting on April the 23rd uh I move to adjourn second an additional discussion all right all in favor please say I I those oppose no all right the time is now 9 excuse me 8:56 and the select board is adjourned to those at home have a wonderful evening and we'll see you next week