##VIDEO ID:gYgsEHA8ZC0## uh well it's 7:01 PM uh oh all right great Katie's on all right so I would like to call the mayard um finance committee meeting to order at 7:01 PM um my name is Jillian prast and I am the chair of the finance committee um I am trying to find I had the zoom script up and it disappeared all right um here we go so um as a preliminary matter um I would like to please permit per permit me to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me um finance committee members when I call your name please respond in the affirmative um Nathan yes Katie yes Mel yes Peter yes Nathaniel yes uh and Linda let me know she will be absent from tonight's meeting um and I have notes Jillian I'll be taken perfect thank you so much that was going to be my follow-up question um so as an introduction to our meeting tonight um good evening this is the open meeting of the manor finance committee meeting it is being conducted via Zoom um speakers in the agenda will be participating remotely and the chair may allow for the public to provide comment um the committee would like to hear public comments and if there is further further action that is required by the committee the chair um will add the matter as appropriate to a forthcoming agenda depending on the comment the committee May if they are able within the confines of open meeting law respond with information as to oppose to needing to deliberate on the matter please note that while an option for remote attendance and our participation is being provided as a courtesy to the public this um meeting and also public hearing will not be suspended um or terminated if technological problems interrupt the virtual br to individual attendees unless required by law accordingly Please be aware that other folks may be able to see you so please take care not to screen share your computer anything that you broadcast may be captured by this recording this meeting is being recorded and will be later posted to the YouTube wavm channel thank you for your support wavm so for the meeting materials all the meeting materials for bardocks um are are located on boarddocs um and um we recommend that the members and the public follow the agenda as posted on boarddocs uh unless I note otherwise um so for meeting business ground rules um we will now turn to the agenda but before we do please permit me to cover some ground rules for Effective and clear conduct of our business and to ensure accurate meeting minutes um I as the chair will introduce each speaker and topic on the agenda um after they conclude their remarks the chair will go down the line of members inviting each by name to ride any comment questions or motions please hold until your name is called further please remember to mute your phone or computer when you are not speaking please remember to speak clearly and in a way that helps generate accurate minutes for any response please wait until the chair yields the floor to you and state your name before speaking if members wish to engage in qually with other members please do throw through the chair taking care to identify yourself um and for items with public comment since this is a public hearing after the members have spoken the chair May afford public comment as follows the chair will first ask the member of the public who wishes to speak do please identify their name and address only once the chair has a list of all public commentators I will call on each by name and afford them a number of minutes for their comments um public comment for public hearings um will be accepted tonight on Zoom as there is not an imperson option um so that that is the remote meeting script that I have um all right and I do see that we have some other Town participants here as well um so Greg and Justine thanks for joining um are there any topics that you guys wanted to touch on before I launch into the public hearing no no okay no all right just double checking so um so the first one of the topics on our agenda I put a topic on our agenda before the public Hearing in case there are any last minute changes to the Articles so I'm not aware that there were any um or that we need to reconsider any of our votes or comments um but I will open the floor to the rest of fincom in case I did miss um anyone's concerns um on these articles as we currently voted on them in our last meetings it's sort of a formality to put that on our agenda just in case there's any late breaking Hot Topics um so if that's not the case um I will move on to the public hearing part um and I would like to apologize I still have a potato of a computer so that is why my camera is not on because once I share my screen to show you the um what we're going to be talking about if I also have my camera on it will die so um so I will share the topic here so this should be sharing um so this is the final warrant hopefully you can see it if you can't see it let me know um but there are eight articles um in the special town meeting warrant and we will go through them all tonight so the first article is um about the amending the town general fund budget so this is something that comes along at every special town meeting um generally there are some updated numbers that come along that are um nicely described in the sponsor comments about the collection of um the updated receipts uh and also a few other items from the different budgets and this is a change in the and each of the line items are detailed here the finance committee did um recommend um to update this um this did recommend this article as it updates um more accurate Financial forecasting as the year develops um and it proposes to decrease The Debt Service to reflect an updated funding scheme um for the green re School rest instruction so um and this is all also outlined in the sponsor comments as well so I will uh open the floor if there are any questions or discussion on this article um you can use the raise hand function on Zoom so I can know that you would wish to ask a question or to speak I'll give it a moment so I'm not currently seeing anyone um but members if I do miss someone please let me know all right if that's the case I will move on to article number two so article number number two is for the community preservation Reserve fund Appropriations um so the finance committee did recommend this article and the sponsors comments has a nice description of what the proposed acts are um for this article appropriation and the finance committee comments are here so um this is this is something that is not in our taxes per se um it's in the real estate taxes so it's separate from the general fund um from my understanding and this is charged um the CPA is charged with using this for projects that are appropriate for this use so in this article they're proposing to appropriate them towards the historic preservation fund um in particular for one um one project to move a watering truck this is a historic watering tra Memorial Park um and it would also facilitate the sale and development of the property and preserve this historic artifact um and the open space would propose to allocate the 86,000 um and some dollars here uh as you can see on the screen and this would be used to improve Ice House Landing um and this would be used in part to do things like add seaing signage and native plantings um as described in the sponsor comments so this is talking about these two Appropriations in particular are there any questions or comments on article number two all right I'm not seeing anyone use the raise hand function at this time um so I will move on to article number three so article number three is a debt appropriation um for mayor Public Schools alumni bleacher project um and this is asking for um as described in the comments the article itself and in the sponsor comments um to raise a certain number of money down here um where do here we go um so for funding the school bleacher project so the comments are that the finance committee did recommend um the article overall um there was some split voting but our majority was to recommend um there is some limited long-term rental scenarios were considered but it was not deemed a viable solution uh timing was considered most critical by the finance committee as delaying could increase the cost of construction as outlined in the sponsor comments um the bleachers have surpassed their useful lifespan and have failed inspections um and the town has since been R renting temporarily Bach bleachers um but this is not compliant in the long term so this proposed plan would include compliant bleachers bathrooms a contestant stand a Press Box and other site work as outlined in the comments from the sponsor the majority of the crops would go towards new building the bathrooms um and a confession scanned along with Associated site Works due to building cold the bleachers cannot be built Alone um and we did also note that we are concerned about the total debt service in mayard um and the burden to the taxpayers um and we would like to recognize that there are many important potential projects to be funded in the upcoming years this includes projects such as the Winter Street Garage storm waterer uh needs the golf course and the senior center improvements to name a few so um the town and boards and the Committees are holding regular meetings on these priorities and the town's people are encouraged to attend and make their voices heard um I think overall the finance committee recommended to bring this to the town as a way for them to vote um and voice how they would like to um address this um but we do recognize that it is one of the many priorities in the town so um I will open the floor to public comment here all right and I see um Justine you has raised your hand hi yes thanks Jillian uh no longer select remember so Justine St John to barani Circle um and I had a couple questions about this particular project because I I guess my question is why now as opposed to in the spring um I feel like we don't know we haven't even gotten a bill from the Green Meadow School an actual for the Green Meadow what the cost is going to be for our taxes for the Green Meadow School and so I'm not sure why there's a rush to put this on the um fall town meeting when it could go on the Spring Town Meeting where it looks like there's going to be other um other other you know um issues as well um because I just feel like you know we we've talked and and again it's because I just got off of the board but we've talked over the past you know at least six months about transparency and how the residents need to have an idea of what's going on and they need to see what's coming on and what's coming coming to them um but yet I can't find anything anywhere that this was actually talked about you know it's not on the it's not even on the town Facebook page it's not on news and notices it's not on the school's Facebook page so legitimately the only people who know about this are the hundred or so people that are actually paying attention and my concern is that it's going to pass and then in the spring you're going to have again something else come up so you're not going to have the benefit of looking at all of it holistically you're G to have to pick and choose and I think that that's I'm just curious what the finance committee's thoughts were on that sure thanks uh thanks for those comments um if you haven't yet seen them I did post also on board dos and I can screen share it as well updated estimates on tax impacts for the Green Meadow School um if that's of interest to you I can bring that up on the screen currently as as uh as we address some of the other questions sure sure okay so I will share jul go ahead uh just to be clear and Greg can you weigh in on this because I saw that this went out this is not the full impact of the green medal School correct this is less than half of the impact of the green medal school and more like maybe a third right right I mean the overall uh bonding I don't remember how many tens of millions of dollars that the I don't I don't want to miss be I don't want to mislead about what they it's someplace between 40 and 50 million sure and then and so you take out sort of tranches worth of bonding according to the size of right so I just don't want people to misunderstand that this is the impact of the school I thought the email could have had more context that this is a small portion of the bonding that we have to do for Green Meadow so I just want to be clear about that as we're putting it out yeah I think it's important that you're clear about that because I did not pick up on that from the email so um that is something good to point out so the school is not going to cost $247 per taxpayer it's GNA cost more yeah I think we ballparked at it six to 700 per taxpayer when it's fully done so and when so and so I'm just trying to understand it so and and again I haven't been paying attention for the last month or month or so but so it's going to be like the 24749 from what I can see that's that's to start and then as we go further into the project it's going to cost more yes we'll Bond more to cover more of the expense I mean we haven't incurred all the expense yet that's right and so but it's not clear to me about the timing like the pace that we take out more tranches worth of bonds I I don't I don't I don't know if it's every year you take out another 16 million or so up to the4 to $50 million I don't know or or maybe it's offset by a number of years I don't know I mean I would assume that you know whoever is building the school would want to be paid in full when the school's done so we probably have to bond for everything within the next few years correct uh well I mean paying for the bonds is a little different from from taking out the bonds it's we we sort of follow the bond Council advice and that's a lot of Market driven so I don't I couldn't say again like I can't speak to the timing of it but I will find out okay so so basically we so again so we really don't have a handle on how much money it's going to cost and then you know and I understand that this something I need to take up with the school committee but their their sponsors comments with transparency it says in addition to this Capital Project M PS is projecting an operating budget shortfall um impacting FY 26 so it sounds like from that it looks like they want something but they haven't said what and they haven't even promoted this part on their website to tell anybody that that's what they're asking for so again I go back to the fact that nobody knows this is coming so I would say that as the finance committee we can only vote on and recommend what's in front of us um so it's not really our it's not our role to put forth articles um it's our role to sort of act as uh information for the town voters so uh I cannot speak to why this is coming on this special town meeting uh in terms of timing that would be a good question for the school committee what was there any discussion with amongst the scho among amongst the fincom to push this to the spring I mean I understand that it cost it's going to cost a little bit more but it's not we're not talking about pushing at 25 years like the $4 million estimate either it's just like once it's six months uh Jullian can I respond a bit yes please um so I mean what you might say Justine makes sense um the issue is though we already delayed it from last spring um and basically you know each time we delay it the cost of the bleachers goes up and so and then as far as full information goes I don't know I don't know what to say about that because you know to some degree people don't pay that much attention until it's up for a vote uh or it's an issue of cost so you know the capital planning committee thought did a very good job of laying out the you know five or six projects that are out there and putting a yearly price tag on them um so that people know you know a $12 million Senior Center is going to cost I forget now and sorry if I'm slightly off but something like $250 per taxpayer the Winter Street Garage for 20 million is going to cost X and they put out a nice list so people have some chance to know that I don't I agree I'm not sure there's more than a 100 people that know it but we can't wait for the perfect scenario we you know need to move forward with some of this stuff because if not we're just paying rental money that were thrown out the window um so you know I I think that's some of what factored into the fincom thinking I don't know if other members have ISS something to say yeah I'd like to to add to that a bit as well that we definitely we did discuss um the essentially pushing it pushing it one out and it really came down to what Peter was saying that the escalation costs for construction have just been going up and up and up and which is very typical um and the way it appears is that this isn't a vote necessarily to do it now or later it's to do it now or at all effectively because if we can't do it we can't keep these temporary bleaches we can't keep going forward with this process we currently have so it came down to a vote of does the town want to have a bleacher system with the shout box and everything else included or not and so that's why we thought that you know financially speaking at Le I my interpretation of it financially speaking was while it is expensive and it does add to all the other projects that are going on out there it's a good thing for the town and if it's a good thing for the town then you know avoiding the escalation cost was more important than pushing another meeting and um Nathaniel I'll add to that because I agree we also discussed that in order to not be violating codes as we are now the cost of renting bleachers that are up to code with a bathroom with a sink or water makes it only that much more expensive in the meantime and even though those costs are unknown the projection that we used to show okay what if we rented for x amount of years versus you know funding the project that wasn't even considering the more expensive bleachers and so um that was added into it too I'd like to say it's not necessarily more expensive it would be required to be more expensive yeah it's not a choice we would have to go with the more expensive one right and I I understand that I I don't know can you hear me my my phone went kind of crazy um but again and I'm not saying that it's not not but again you said the capital planning committee put a put together something fantastic and I'm out of the loop now and I'm just a resident now and I know nothing about it I haven't seen it I haven't seen it anywhere you know it's not from I can tell it's not on the website it's not on like a main page of the website it's not something easy to find so how does the everyday resident know that there is a plan or or whatever or that all of this other stuff is going to hit us in you know in the spring I mean if you do if if this passes and then you have if the Enterprise fund passes for solid waste and recycling that's going to be an additional thing we're going to have to pay for as residents if the storm water Enterprise fund ends up passing that's going to be something additional that we're going to have to pass and that's not even counting everything else that we already know is coming down the pike so it's just how does the everyday resident know know any of this before um before we sort of jump into the transparency issue um I did want to add just one thing to sort of build on what Katie said was that I think certainly a part of the committee's reasoning was that um there is I think certainly some urgency in trying to remove oursel from the current situation where we're not in code we're not sort of compliant with a with the code and Ada uh and whatnot and um you know that creates sort of a whole a whole host of issues on its own like you know Li and whatever it might be so um just before we got into the transparency point I wanted to add that um as well Y no I'm I'm aware of of those issues because again I was on the board so I you know but we have been able to get through over the last few years and I'm not saying that we you know I'm not saying and again you're give you everybody will vote on it in in October and we'll find out but you know clearly the select board didn't feel comfortable enough to put it on a ballot um you know because there are still a lot of issues and a lot of questions surrounding it so um you know it's just obviously I care enough to to to come back and talk about it because I just want to make sure that I that I can continue to afford to live in this town and it just seems like there is less and less regard for that and I'm hoping that people do continue to take it into consideration and I think that's sort of what it comes down to as well and I think it's important that the town's people voice their vote um and what they would like to do with the tax base and the the money that comes out of their pockets because it's going to come down to a point where you're going to start choosing services and if you would like to receive certain services or not uh and my understanding I think as a couple members have already said is that we can't keep going in this um less than compliant manner um continuously so the option would be no bleachers at all there would be no seating at these events um and the school would like to provide the that for the bleachers for this uh experience and it's sort of a little bit of a snowball it's like well if you have bleachers and there's a certain number of seats you have to have a bathroom if you have to have a bathroom you're going to build a building so um and I think back comes down to what the towns people would like to do um no I I understand that and I hope and again I'll voice this at the at the school committee also is that I just hope that they take this into consideration when they if they decide to try to move forward with a with some kind of an override in the spring so yeah and I think they're trying to be thoughtful about it and not do it in big chunks because I think most of the people who use the field would like to also update the rest of the field as well which I think is something that's on the longer term plans in like you know five or 10 or more years um to do the rest of the field and some of the other facilities um doing at pecem mail might help um ease the burden I think if you did the whole facility at once it' be obviously very costly um but it is it's definitely something that we are thinking about as the finance committee uh and we're starting to do some future planning as well to try to plan out some of these um upcoming potential costs and when they might hit the books in the different years so trying to project out at least five years I think is the latest spreadsheet that is that right Nathan that's right okay yeah so um so it's definitely something we're thinking about and I would say in terms of your request of where you could find things like this The Joint board meetings are really great places to look at so on board docs you can look um particularly under the select board um they'll always have the joint meetings posted there and those the documents that are there that will include things like this Capital planning committee presentation that people were talking about in the meeting tonight um and the joint boards we're doing a lot of talking right now about priorities of the town and sort of the upcoming needs and I think that would be a really great place to look for um and to just keep informed of because I know there's a lot of different town committees and it's overwhelming um particularly you're well versed in town um the town politics I would say um maybe more so than some of the average residents but you know this will also be recorded and posted so if the other people who aren't as uh experienced might have questions that I would say that that's a really good place to start is these joint board meetings a lot of these types of documents will be posted there okay I'll take a look thank you thank you are there any other public comments questions on article uh what are we on three article number three all right I'm not hearing any public comments or questions so I will move on to article number four all right so article number four is transfer from water retained earnings um so you can read the comments from the sponsor to learn more about this um the finance committee did recommend this article um so passage of this article would allow the town to purchase Capital Equipment um so this would um maximize the efficiency within the the fleet um that so this is um supporting the operation and maintenance of the water distribution system so that's vital for our town um maintaining the fleet so the fleet of these vehicles to do and equipment to do that can be costly so um passage of this article would help because it would reduce the need for more vehicles in future years um and it would transfer um we also wanted to try to put in these articles about how much um the balance would be in these funds after this proposed transfer if it does pass as well to give you an idea um of that so th this will help with um specific equipment as the sponsor describes here so it will add additional capabilities to this truck which will help um maintain the water distribution system um so I will open the floor to any question or comment about article number four all right I am not hearing or seeing any public comments or questions about article number four so I will move to article number five so article number five is similar um but from a different Source here so this is transfer from Sue retained earnings so this will move this uh fund for Wastewater so the finance committee did recommend this article so passage of this article would allow the town to explore options for planning expanding and improving the wastewater treatment capabilities so um this is important so expansion and upgrades are important to meet not only current needs and regulations but also to some support growth for the town so some plant equipment is reaching its end of life um and this transfer will help have a clear plan um for this water treatment plant so um this is um we also wanted to give information on what the balance of this is um if this passes um and we wanted to note this is estimated um so this is before the yearly um do which is Department of Revenue certification but it is it should be around this balance and that's why it is estimated in our comments so I will open the floor to questions about article number five right I am not seeing any questions or comments for article number five um so I will move to article number six so this is acquisition of sewer utility easements um so this talks about easements um for this um and the finance committee did recommend so let's see where are our comments our comments start here so this article gives the select board authority to acquire easements if they are needed for the sewer pump station either by gift purchase or eminent domain at the addresses as described in this article um any funding needed to pay for these easements is contained within the current budget so um that will not necessarily need to be raised um I'm doing a little head twisting here so I can figure out how to rotate this if people would like to see the map um but it's basically along the asbet river and in the article this map outlines the small areas of the easement that would be necessary um for this sewer part um so I will open the floor to any question questions comments about article number six all right I am not seeing any questions or comments about article number six so I will move on to article number seven so this is adoption of the Enterprise fund for solid waste and recycling service program um so the finance committee um did recommend this article so you can see our comments here so this article would establish the option but not obligation to create an Enterprise fund under the control of select board for supporting the waste and recycling program our current waste contract is ending soon so it's ending in June of 2025 so having this option could allow for additional competitive trash and or recycling program options as addressed in the sponsor comments um so I will open the floor for questions or comments about AR article number seven all right um I see Justine you have your hand raised I do sorry Justine St John two bar circle I was just curious I realized that this is just the adoption of the option for it um but do you know if there is any uh plan of when that would go into effect so would we all have to start paying for crash Services starting June jul if it goes forward starting July of 25 or would we still have another year or so of having it included in our taxes um my understanding is that our current like trash CT collection contract expires at the end of this current fiscal year so some new plan some new contract will be effective on July 1 of next year and this would give the select board the option to you have an Enterprise fund be part of that new Arrangement um so that that's my understanding from um our last meeting so so we'll be able to because I know like right now Greg correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's like I don't know 400 500 $600,000 of the general operating goes towards trash and recycling so is the anticipation that that none of that money will be available for the trash and recycling program in July of 25 and it will just be the Enterprise fund that would be standing it up supporting it I don't want to chime in if I I supposed to so Madam chair do you want me to speak yes please yeah okay I understand your question Justine I do not believe that there's going to be any change come July 1 we just don't even have time to implement that that far so I would my expectation would be at some point though in fy2 we may transition away from stickers towards this enterprising model and then that but I I don't I don't believe it would be July 1 that's not my expectation it would be sort of phased I was actually trying to get onto the website to look up the PowerPoint presentation that I've gotten from the trash and waste um Solid Waste and Recycling task force that did that put together because I was trying to see if they had like an approximate expectation like a timing expectation so I'm going to look which by the way I've I've already put I've put the draft powerpoint online already so if you want to see what's on there you can um but it's just the PowerPoint so it may not get into that level detail so I'll I'll check and then maybe I'll look back at the presentation they gave the selectboard again I was say that is this a this is a different presentation than what they gave to the select board it's probably just an a bridge version of what they gave to the select board but they they um I don't recall even from the selectboard if they had pinpointed like a date and time or like to your question specifically like when might you start seeing like the bill bills that might start coming out right um I think I think in order to like be like fully vetted just like we do with the water sewer Enterprise accounts there might have to be some analysis done and then a proposal and a rate hearing so that as you know like that takes time and then it would be sort of seasonal so I'm as from a budget standpoint I'm expecting the same ratio that we see now so the same the same which which was your question like currently what we're subsidizing and then that would probably be trans you know like I I'm expecting that for FY 25 but um that you know like we're early in the budget cycle so that's what I have in my expectation wise maybe maybe the task force will tell me otherwise and maybe there maybe they haven't really gone that far down the road because they're waiting to see if this even passes right so uh let me see what I can look up okay all right thank you that's all thanks all right are there any other questions or comments um for article number seven all right I'm not seeing any of questions or comments for article number seven um so I will move on to article number eight um so this is a home rule petition so it is a request it's a special legislation for a liquor license at the mayard corner store um so this sort of describes what is being requested um the finance committee recommended um so basically the legislator issues liquor licenses based on the ratio of the population passage of this article would allow the select board to ask for an additional license um for the sale of alcoholic beverages to be drunk off the premise at the mayard corner store located at 49 walmont street so it's a request for an additional look license um are there any public questions or comments about article number eight all right I'm not seeing any hands raised um or any other questions um this is the last article that is on the warrant um so we've gone through all the special town meeting warrant articles um and our comments and recommendations are there any other public questions or comments on the special town meeting or STM uh as it currently stands Madam chair can I can I speak um quickly I know I'm not a member of the public so if you'd rather me not talk I won't um no I mean you're you're welcome to talk um I was just going to see if um does it does it retain to the STM because I could close the public hearing or it does because it okay so I looked back at the September 4th uh select board meeting to see the PowerPoint presentation that the solid Wast and recycling task force gave towards the end of the slides it says um um the task force proposal for the Enterprise fund is not seeking funding or program model changes at this time for our proposed program model we intend to recommend a phased in approach that in that initially does not change the general fund versus Revenue allocation again that's not clear because maybe maybe not initially but maybe it shifts over I'm not sure and then the recommended timeline the next slide says um we're requesting the warrant to create an Enterprise fund that will allow time to pursue a new trash and recycling collection contract that will take effect in July 1st 2 our program recommendations will be will be proposed when they have been fully developed including a workable economic model so they don't they don't know yet they're that's not that's not and I would say um that as as you nicely pointed out this is also outlined in the sponsor comments so they talk about how it will be phased in potentially um you know and and and you know the select board would be covering it as you nicely explained all right so that's the sponsor comments thank you I don't know how to make it all fit on one page okay all right are there any other um questions or comments about the special town meeting articles all right I am not seeing any um so I would um make a motion to close the public hearing but continue on with the normal finance committee meeting at 7:47 p.m. do I have a second I think we we close to vote we vote to close the public hearing yes okay all right do I have a second I will second oh got it I'll I'll second the motion to close the public hearing okay so we have made a motion we've made a second is there any further comments or discussions all right I'm not seeing any so this will be a vote to close the public hearing but continue on with the finance committee meeting as regular um Katie yes n yes Peter yes yes Nathan yes all right I am also a yes um so we have voted to close the public hearing um so the public hearing is closed we will move on to our next agenda topic then um so I will pull up this so our next our next topic is um F planning discussions so um it's very nice um that you're here Greg because I was just going to we were going to talk about um the updated future planning so the spreadsheet that um you Nathan has been uh kindly leading the charge on and I just wanted to touch in and um touch point on the progress there and if you need any additional or updated information from this year if I could help facilitate that Greg's here so we're cutting the step out I guess I think Nathan as um asked me the right questions like he he wanted more I'm sorry Nathan I'm speaking for you but you you you asked the right questions you want to see the account um budget that makes sense so I I already forward that to the town account and saying if I could get that oh and debt you wanted debt too so yes but it all it all should come out we used this pl we use this financing accounting software called um soft right so like it kind of looks a little weird the first time you look at it but um so I don't know if if if if I get just like this you know digitally thick if you will stack of accounts I don't know if that's what I'll give you because that that may not be too helpful to you but I'll take a look at what he can give me I I usually ask for all that in the near future as I go through the reg regular budget cycle but I get it printed out and it's huge so we'll see what we I think I know exactly what you're asking excellent well thank you um and Jill I I must have forgotten that this was coming up or didn't didn't realize um I don't have anything in particular plan to present I haven't really worked on it in the last month so I don't have new updates but um the current status is like I I need to update it still with FY 25's like account specific information because right now it's still projecting from uh last year and I need to work on the debt to make sure that that's accounted for correctly because that doesn't grow in the same way as the other other accounts can be planned for um and that's something I kind of need to like manually like fill out going forward and I just haven't really gotten that information yet I've gotten like some yeah so yeah the the answer is uh um I'm hoping that Greg will be able to send me some some info on the on the debt and on the current account status and I'm hoping to work on it this next week awesome thanks so much all right um so I think um in terms of future future planning I think that's that's really great I think it's really helpful the model that you've built it's like that sweet spot between overview and also details so it's much appreciated the effort that you're taking to generate it um actually I guess one more comment on that uh so I'm still I'm particularly kind confused about how Green Meadow debt comes into it um from because like last meeting the this year's budget it got amended down how much was being spent which made me sort of rethink about how the future planning was calculating like The Debt Service of the Town um but based on Peter's comments at the beginning of this meeting about the uh the tax impact and it being based on the initial Bond of like $15 million or so and the additional bonds would happen later I'm wondering if like I should we should be expecting The Debt Service ratio to go up in a year or two or three or four whenever additional bonds are are uh taken um and yeah I guess do we have any sense of what that would look like Greg that's one of the questions I just asked the treasury collector based on tonight's meeting I don't I don't I don't know I mean either way we need we're we had to adjust what we were expecting for debt just to prepare for this annual town meeting like we like red reducing the appropriation so um it's a good question I mean like because as you're kind of noting debt is so Project Specific it's it doesn't follow Trends so um I'm not sure I can't speak to it but I any information I get from the treasur collector's office I'll send it your way as well as the capital planning committee they're they're looking for the same information so it kind of Lins up um because like I said those numbers are very specific even when I get them from the treasure collection's office I have to be very careful about inputting them like like each individual kind of like you just alluded to each individual number for each IND project like because projects are 20 years worth or 15 or 30 so it's a lot but but I I I believe we can get that for you I just have to make sure I they get it to me and I give it to you awesome thanks Greg awesome um yeah so I think that's sort of uh the meet of our agenda tonight and we're going to move on to the routine agenda next unless there's future planning topics all right um so I do have two meeting two past meetings the meeting meeting minutes of August 26th um to approve and also uh September 9th so I'll start with the 26th meeting for us to approve here so uh these are the meeting minutes from August 26th um so in this meeting we were going over there view of the special town meeting articles this is back when they were not numbered they had letters uh and they're also in a slightly different order which is why the notes might be a little confusing right now because we went over it in a different order tonight with numbers uh and this is also maybe potentially important for the current notes Katie uh we haven't done any transfers yet this year so thank you that yeah um are there any questions comments or updates to the meeting minutes for August 26 I will make a motion to approve the minutes for August 26 I'll second all right we got a motion we got a second do we have any further comments or discussion no all right I'll take a roll call vote Nathan yes Mel yes Katie yes Peter yes Nathaniel yes I am also a yes so the meeting minutes uh from August have been approved I will bring up the meeting minutes from September 9th next all right uh o uh hopefully that's big I don't know why it's not making itself bigger on my screen um these are the meeting minutes from September 9th this is when we had um the solid waste uh recycling task force uh and uh Jus it's not Justice it's Justin um Justin uh from the Department of Public Works so we reviewed the special town meeting articles once again uh and the particular focus of this meeting was talking about the DPW articles so learning more about and this is when the Articles had numbers so learning more about article seven and the water and sewer transfers um in article seven right at the page break at the top of the next page uh the sense because the town's contracts for hauling and tipping waser expire I'm not is I don't know if that's a typo or uh is tipping a um like a a term for Waste Management or uh I can answer that really quick tipping is tipping is when um it gets taken to the receiver of wherever it's being called to so it's the I I mean it's like a verb it's like tipping the truck into um so we take it to incinerator so it's um it's actually so like we have a regional um like there's a bunch of governments in local governments that have a regional deal facilitated through the state with it's called wheelator is the name of this vendor that's just the incinerator so it's it's a separate contract that we pay to tip it into the incinerator cool thank you so much yeah so so should say waste instead of waster yeah I fat fingered that one while I moved the cursor thanks for that e should that be at 10:55 p.m. those were late meetings yeah really late all right um are there any other uh questions comments or potential typos that I might have missed like I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from September 9th I'll second all right so we got a motion in a second um do we have any further comments or discussion no all right uh so I will take a roll call vote Nathan yes Mel yes Katie yes Peter yes Nathaniel yes I am also a yes so we have approved the meeting minutes of September 9th um so those are all of the meeting minutes that I have for voting tonight um some additional topic that is that so the next topic is update from chair and members um so I did want to give an update so there is potentially going to be our next quad board meeting so this will be a hybrid meeting so this will be similar as the past quad board meetings between the select board Capcom School community all the all the different people we had like last time um the two proposed dates are October 29th or November 12th and I was wondering if either of those dates are like noo dates for people on the committee basically I wanted to make sure we would have a potential Quorum either are those would be fine for me okay so um I'm in the same boat okay know that's sort of where I am too so um all right so I'm G to close that it um so in addition to that I did also have an update I wanted to let you know about uh and I posted this on the board dos um there is the community needs Health assessment survey that's still out and I've seen some signs up around in town center about it too but um this is out um and I just as another way uh to encourage people to take the survey um who might be watching this this recording there's also a link you can learn more about what this survey is and why it's important but has to do with um Public Health funding for certain initiatives is my understanding based on the the questions that are answered so just wanted to give that a plug um and what else is in the meeting minutes here so uh where is it so I also wanted to bring up the select board reached out to us so we got a correspondence from the select board um they would like to put out a policy statement for the upcoming budget so um and they would like to see if we have any feedback on this um I don't know Peter if you've had any experience with them asking such a thing in the past but um it seems pretty standard to me usually every year they asked this is when they're asking they're starting to put together the budget for FY 26 so it'll be requesting in the departmental budget request to um sort of keep it level funded um I mean I I I kind of feel like this is sort of what the policy is every year um but I did want to just flag that and see if anyone on the committee had any questions comments or recommendations on this Peter have they ever done this before have they asked you about this asked about so this is a draft policy they're asking for comments yes or okay sorry I faded for second um no I don't believe they have before but so yeah I mean my feeling would be we're going to have to see how the budget develops I don't think there's anything wrong with this statement but as far as Inc trying to weigh in to say something different than this it seems way too early that we would have any information to do that so I think they're reaching out to us because in the town Charter it says finance committee should be consulted before the board issues the statement oh all right good for them um yeah I don't know I I don't know that I would have anything to add to it okay so to give you an idea of how the how it's going to work too for the fiscal year FY 26 the operating capital budget requests submissions will be due on Friday November 1st November 2024 which is like really soon so um so the capital budget request they'll get EX they'll get submitted to the Capcom the capital planning committee um that's sort of expedited now through the clear go system um or otherwise it'll like go to the the ta's office and then the other step is um operating requests now will also be submitted via cleargov for any changes so they'll be like the capital and then the other bucket will be the operating uh and they're all currently going through cleargov so um so and there so this is basically the policy statement they would like to issue and they just wanted to see if we have any feedback and I mean I think I think it was pretty reasonable I didn't really have a I didn't personally as one member have any feedback but I wanted to bring it up and see if anyone else felt differently right I'm hearing hearing not not any feedback um Peter do you think we need to vote on this to recommend it I don't really no I've never seen anything like this and um I'll thank them for uh asking us for our input and I'll get back to them and say we considered it and it's early to really make budget calls right now but we agree with the I'll think of a better word but we agree with the messaging or the theme of of the the memo I think that's good yeah okay all right so that's that um so the only other topic that I had was that I did want to let the board know that the comment period has been extended for an additional 30 days so this is to the week of October 21st for the unfriendly 40b housing application so if the finance committee did want to make a public comment as a board we would be able to do that um our next meeting is October 14th so if that's something we do want to um make a public comment about or um what do they call it make a a statement about um we can do that um and I would recommend if we'd like to do that we do that at our next meeting on October 14th uh and I could also invite bill mener or someone from the I don't know if it's the planning board or the Housing Authority I forget what and it or he might do both but um he did also send us a bunch of information about what is 40b housing um and those sorts of things um I looked we also got information at I think it was either our last meeting or the meeting before our last meeting about um what other towns what kind of statements other towns have made as boards for similar um quote unquote unfriendly 40b applications um and I've looked through them in the surrounding towns none of them had a finance committee meeting uh a finance committee make a public statement it was all generally like the planning or the zoning board uh as well as like the select board uh that doesn't mean we can't do it um I just did want to state that we don't have to make a comment it's not required as a board so I wanted to take people's temperature and see how you feel I'm happy to next meeting I have a bunch of questions I think related to it that might involve some coordination with uh other I guess the town departments um but yeah I'm not sure I'd one rule it out just yet because I think we definitely all can make contributions to the public comment as individuals too so that's also an option I would like for us to make it common as a committee but I'm not sure if we have like one more meeting between now and the deadline I'm not sure how we get the information and discussion and we draft a draft a for an official statement and submit it yeah yeah that that's um that's also my concern but I think now we've gotten the 30-day extension so I don't think we can get another extension yeah I I would say I'm certainly somewhere between I don't think we should rule out comment and we should make a comment because it it seems like there's like some pretty big it's like obviously an important issue especially with like you know do we even have sort of the the sort of the physical like ability to do it with like the the requisite infrastructure and stuff so I would say I'm sort of between um those two positions at the moment so I would say if we feel like as a committee we want to make a comment we could dedicate so and I also want to like let you be aware the 7th is obviously the special town meeting so there's that meeting and then the 14th is currently scheduled our next meeting because we meet every second and fourth Monday so we're going to have meetings three weeks in a row too so um like sorry Jillian and I'm sorry I missed this earlier when you were talking about it um the 14th um I think counts as a state holiday still and really the town clerk has heavily discouraged us meeting on a state holiday and it particularly comes up around um this October holiday because it tends to be not highly observed by others but I think it is an official state holiday and okay um the town I tried to do a meeting and the town clerk while not being able to site why it was illegal but heavily discouraged it so all right um so we may need to check that before we proceed with October 14th all right don't get us off for work so that didn't even register so all right great I will ask um if we can't meet on the 14th then that that would be awkward we could meet on a different day during the week but that wouldn't be a month M day I don't know what people schedules are like um all right so I'll get clarity about that is it worth people you know giving an initial I I'm not even sure what our statement would be and I'm I'm you know seeing some stuff on Facebook or whatever that gives me pause but I'm not sure I'm really want be you know in a statement that's I would assume is opposing the development um but I don't even know if people are thinking oh yeah we want to weigh in for it or we want to weigh in against it or um and I also I mean I'm not sure it's worth all that much effort I hate to say it but I don't think it carries a lot of weight so I wouldn't I don't know that we should obsess over this um or go crazy trying to figure out a statement um you know if the project qualifies the state board's going to approve it no matter what we say so right and my my opinion as one member is that I'm not sure what additional information we can have that is new or different than what would be in like the planning and the zoning board notes um and the select board notes um like they're they're gonna mention things like the infrastructure and and other items as well so I'm not sure what I would I'm trying to think of what we would add that is novel and not just similar I don't think it has to be novel but I think if they if they're encouraging people as Citizens to come forward and like like each additional like citizen voicing something is Meaningful even if they're saying the same thing and I think it's similarly meaningful if multiple committees are submitting statements okay but you I me just as one member I mean the typical infrastructure impact that is cited by towns is the impact on the school system and my general feeling is our school system is shrinking and we could in fact use more kids in the mayor school system um you know I know there all water issues but they're not going to be able to build it until we get the water so um that's you know they can't build it without water that's not necessarily true actually they uh we were told that they could actually if they put in Wells then they're not tying into our water system and they could actually just build it starting whenever it gets approved as long as they aren't impacting our level of water which I thought was very interesting to learn that as long as they solve infrastructure issues in the themselves then they're good to go we still need the sewer capacity not septic yeah I if may I make a public comment as an individual I'm sorry I know I'm not a Committee Member here but do you mind if I make a quick comment Julian no I don't mind you're you're on the um which committee are you on again sorry I Capcom yeah I'm on Capcom but I'll speak on just H behalf as my own person I know I'm a Capcom member as well but we talk about all these things on Capital planning so it's it's obviously important in all these things um but we're kind of in the same boat it sounds like as you all is like how do you um as a committee discuss these topics I which is uh difficult and tricky you know within our own purview and like we we talk about a lot it's like you know how how do we solve these issues I think Nathaniel is you know one of the things we've talked about in this past a little bit is just like if someone were to go away from infrastructure it makes it hard for us to make a comment because it's like okay well if we're we're talking about the the water the sewer infrastructure it becomes you know unique in the sense that if they're not tapping into our water sewer it's like ah you know do we do we have something to say there um or if they say well wait until it's developed it's again it's it uh becomes a tricky situation with the optionality involved with these types of projects um so it is certainly um you know we we see this often in a sense that there's other projects in town permits that come through that we are we not that we're privy to just on emails but again it's it's just um it's difficult to Source through the information from the standpoint of like how does this really impact us as a committee if that makes versus individuals where we all have our own opinions and I'm sure you all do uh too so it's kind of like one of those like how do we think about it all situations does that make sense to anyone it made sense to me so thanks for weighing in yeah and that's that's exactly what I'm struggling with I'm not as a committee I'm not exactly sure what we would weigh in on other than you know it would be great for the growth of our community to have more growth uh I know there's all the challenges with the infrastructure and the like um but I can kind of see it both ways and I think like Peter said there there's a state board a committee I forget what um the acronym is escaping me that reviews all of these requests to do do the 40b housing and will grant them or not based on well research information so yeah and is important to note that they won't to my knowledge again they won't approve that at 40b if it is to utilize a town in a way the town cannot sustain uh under reasonable circumstances it's not this entire process is not meant to you know be able to force or allow a developer to just show up and be like hey you know you have a thousand people worth of capacity we're going to put 880,000 people here have fun it doesn't work like that like the state will say absolutely not um but if they solve it on their own then it becomes an entirely different conversation yep all right so I think my action items are to see if we can even have a meeting on the 14th and I will get back to the committee are there any other questions or comments on that topic all right um my last update is that I am did want to share with you that we're having the MMA which is the Massachusetts Municipal Association um they're going to be hosting a legislative breakfast here in Maynard uh on October 18th so um I forwarded that information to you if you would like to attend um there's a RSVP link I think it's I think it was in sanctuary or something or one of the Town downtown buildings um so that is that is my updates um are there any other updates from other members of the committee on liaison or other topics that you want to touch on tonight I did have um a couple of questions um just for the liaison stuff um do do we know if there are recordings available um of the economic development committee meetings I I didn't seem to find them on um wavm I am not aware they are recorded um I believe that they're only in person okay which is why it was challenging to um I tried to do I was I tried to be a Lea on to the committee in the past uh and and it met on uh I don't even remember it was like in the morning when I had to go to work like it was like midday so um so that was challenging but um I haven't actually heard back from Armand yet so maybe I should send an email to great and ask if they might be taking a break during the summer session but I yeah it's now the fall well that was that was my understanding as well um and but I believe there there was I'm like complet almost completely sure there was a meeting in September um because people were like confirming their attendance and I I was not able to attend since I was at work um so um that's why I was asking if there was like a recording I could review um the minutes also were not sent with that initial email so I I can also follow up with Arman myself but I just thought I would ask you if you were aware if there are recordings or not as well I am not aware that there are recordings okay gotcha um I did want to ask as well actually um a couple of meetings ago or maybe the last meeting um you sent out some stuff about the um uh the annual finance committee trainings in Sharon Massachusetts um I was wondering is that like something you guys like go to or um when I first joined I think I went the first year I joined um but I have not attended since um it is not a requirement uh it is an opportunity I believe we also have a very small spcom budget that could potentially pay whatever the entrance fee is right um I would have to ask from clarification from Greg because I don't remember what how much that is okay but I I think when I went I didn't have to personally pay for it so okay so if that's of Interest let me know I think you have to register by a certain date I don't remember by when but it says in the email right I mean I would say if the if multiple members of the committee are like interested in going to that then I would certainly um like to attend um just as like a new member sort of finding my my feet and all that but um if it's something if it's not something you guys usually do then I'd be okay with that too okay I did find while I was cleaning up my filing cabinet when I first joined I got a CD ROM with the the finance committee policies um and other recommendations on there so when I first joined it was like how to be a good finar member so um I don't even think I have a CD drive anymore so I was trying to figure out if I could somehow get the files off of there and send them to the new people or post them on board dos um but that's something I'll have to maybe ask Greg about that's that's like a mayard fincom thing I don't think it was I'm I don't know if it was a mayor fincom thing it might have been something to do did you give me that Peter I don't remember who gave it to me yeah I think I I I think I threw one out when I was cleaning up my office but um it's so it's the association of town finance committees that put it out um under it's a I think it's a group under MMA um yeah I feel like there must be a new version too so I was like I don't know how useful this I don't even know 2017 version or however old is but all right uh any other updates oh you have it um if you just Google Association of town finance committees it comes up under MMA and there's a finance committee handbook that they talk about that's um that is what was on that CD wrong I don't I don't know if you just get it I we are members of this so if it turns you know we may have to figure out how to get the you know people membership information so they you know if it's required to download this yeah looks like you have to pay for it I yeah we should be able to get that for no money I'll figure it out with Greg all right um do any other members have any other updates tonight this isn't so much an update as uh I I sent you Jillian uh something a couple weeks ago that you might have forwarded around um and it's it's some sort of like AI website that it seems like it it reads like the transcripts from the wavm um like postings and has like it like has like summaries of meetings in town uh I was searching I was like Googling for something that we talked about at a previous meeting and then that this like summary of a meeting I had just been in came up um and yeah it was interesting uh I'm not I mean obviously it's AI so like big caveat that it might not really understand what it's looking at it might U misrepresent things so it shouldn't be relied on but I found it to be a pretty accessible way to like look at some like select board meetings and see oh what were they talking about um on this day and oh there's like links to the wavm like recording so you know the paragraph uh seemed like a topic I was interested in I could go right to that and like listen to the you know the half hour 40 minute like conversation and see what was actually going on um so yeah that might that might be useful for some of us um I don't know so strange new digital world yes thank you for um remembering about that I did let uh Greg know about it so at least the town offices would know about it um but I forgot to put it on my one note as a topic today so thanks for bringing that up all right any other members have any other topics no all right um so our last topic is the future agenda planning so our next meeting is October 7th so that is the special town meeting I will post a quorum notice um Greg let me know that I should put it for half an hour before the meeting starts so I should say that it'll start at 6:30 uh the actual meeting starts at 7 pm so this will be held at the school um so this is not a remote or hybrid uh meeting so I wanted to reach out to see if Katie will be in attendance um I will to okay so will you be able to take over responsibilities of running from the the finance side from our committee side got it because I will not be in attendance um so that is great and much appreciated so basically at this meeting you'll they'll probably just point at you and ask you uh as in past meetings to say recommend or not recommend and then I don't think you have to read the full comment um because it'll be in the printed warrant that everyone had access to so I'm not aware that there will be any last meeting last minute changes to articles on the floor um but it's always a possibility but there there was a organizing meeting today um just to talk about it zoom and they were basically just talking about setting up the space in the different rooms and things like that and the babysitting Services they're going to motion potentially to move the water and sewer retained articles as like one thing together um but they think since there's eight articles it will be pretty um hopefully straightforward meeting like our public hearing list okay um and I will get clarity if we're allowed to meet on October 14th or not um if we are not um are next meeting we usually meet on the 2 and the fourth so um potentially our next meeting would be on October 28th um so would people be comfortable skipping a meeting after the special town meeting uh until the TW and if we're not allowed to meet on the 14th and just meeting on the 28th instead so potentially the day before a joint board meeting um would it be wise to have had a meeting at least like a week before that in case there's anything comes up that we should be planning for like I I don't want to be right yeah that's what I wanted to so we could meet on the 21st uh if the 14th is not allowed yeah I think that makes sense people are open to that yeah okay and then we could cancel the 28th meeting or just not have it if the if they decide to do the joint meeting on October 29th yes all right so I will make a note of that October 21 all right okay so um so I would say that at the next meeting either on the 14th or the 21st we potentially make a topic about the future planning Nathan what do you think would that be enough time to do a little playing around the spreadsheet cheet yeah definitely at least um I I I got some information from Capcom that I I haven't really taken time to like dig into an interpret um so even if I don't hear from Greg I should have some I have enough to like do a little bit more work on it for the next meeting okay great um I I'm not aware of any like pressing topics besides um besides that so like uh future planning and then the other topic could be the The Joint board meeting um are there any other topics or guest speakers that we would like to invite to talk about other other things as well I'm not it's pretty there's a little bit of a low usually after a town meeting oh um oh meeting I I would like to add an agenda item of like uh maybe what can we do more for like like public education just because of like Justine's like question like right at the beginning is like how do we how can like I as a community member who's like not involved in this anymore like keep aware of it and I feel like that's kind of like part of the mission statement of fincom um so I'd like to at least have like conversation about what we might be able to do funny enough I was just thinking the same thing Nathan I was wondering if maybe your AI website that you found if we look at how it summarizes our meetings because I mean I know that as a regular remember I I mean I'm having trouble keeping up with just the the school committee meetings for the um for the new school being built and that's my literally my field of expertise and it's still a lot of time and effort but you know a quick summary I can read on certain topics all of a sudden that sounds doable so I'm wondering if maybe looking into how that is you know how accurate it is and how it is parsing our meetings then maybe it might be something that we could push more about how to build tools than I do I me push the existing tool but like I don't even know if we're allowed to do that but yeah like I'm I'm hesitant to give like a full throated like recommend to just take it and like put it out there um like I think it's yeah I mean but it is I mean I am finding it like really useful as like a source to what happened to the s meeting and like a refresher on what happened at our own fincom meeting and have linked to the video for more information um i' just be a little bit more hesitant about putting like a stamp of approval on something computer generated you know and throwing it out there but at the same time I like I like what you're saying okay I'll put that as a topic um any other potential topics or would we like to entertain emotions since we had such a long meeting last time to close the meeting I uh move to um adjourn is that the word I will second the motion adjourn at 8:37 PM great all right we've had a made a motioned and we've had a seconded any further questions comments or discussions no all right so I'll take a roll call vote to adjourn Nathan yes Mel yes Katie yes Peter yes Daniel yes I am also a yes thank you everyone for your hard work and these past couple weeks to make the SPM stuff come together so um we will have our next meeting on at the STM have a good night see you guys all soon have a good night bye