you're welcome um before we start we'll read the um script provided Us by the governor for a remotely conducted meeting and as a preliminary matter I am Christ Sila the chair of the M select board permit me to confirm that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me everyone in the everyone that is anticipated tonight is in the room so we don't need to go through that um so good evening this meeting of the mayard select board is being cond conducted via Zoom speakers on the agenda will be participating remotely and the chair or the meeting manager may allow for the public to provide comments um the select board would like to hear public comments and if there is further action as required by this board the chair or the meeting manager will add the matter as appropriate to a forthcoming agenda depending on the comment the board May if we are able within the confines of the open meeting law respond with information as opposed to deliberate on the matter further please note that while an option for remote attendance and a participation is being provided as a courtesy to the public the meeting will not be suspended or terminated if technological problems interrupt the virtual broadcast to individual attendees unless otherwise required by law accordingly Please be aware that other people may be able to see you so please take care not to screen share your computer because anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording all of the materials for this meeting except any executive session material matal are available on board dos and we recommend that the members of the public follow the agenda as posted on board dos andless a chair otherwise notes um we will shortly be turning to the first item on the agenda but before we do so permit me to cover some ground rules for Effective and clear conduct of our business and to ensure accurate meeting minutes I will introduce each speaker on the agenda and after they conclude the remarks we will go down the line of members inviting each by name to provide any comment questions or motions please hold your questions until the end please remember to mute your phone or computer when you are not speaking please remember to speak clearly in a way that helps generate accurate minutes for any response please wait until the chair eldes the floor to you and stay before speaking members wish to engage in colloquy with other members please do so through the chair taking care to identify yourself for items with public comments after the members have spoken the chair May afford public comment as follow we will first ask the members of the public who wish to speak to identify themselves by the name and address only and once we have a list of public commentators we will call on each by name and afford three minutes for any comments public comment for open for public hearings will only be accepted in person for open me law now that all done the first item on our agenda is um the Pledge of Allegiance so if everyone could stand and join it for that we'll get into it flag the stand Nation indivis andice for all thank you all um okay are there any public comments online this evening okay any public comments in the room no okay we'll move on um judging by all the shiny stuff in the room I assume that you guys mostly are here for um the appointments of Officer Dev to Sergeant so we will skip to item number six on the agenda and get that done first so that you guys can all go home you're welcome to stay up you can stay anyone can stay but we we'll run through that quick good good evening Eric and Mike welcome thank you um here to present officer Eric deal for the promotion to the rank of Sergeant uh to be effective April 22nd 2024 um over the past couple months we had a promotional exam uh that was conducted by Ryan strates that used the uh Jeff uh manual and law enforcement Dimensions uh and then they had a rigorous all everybody who passed had a regular Sol they U Assessment Center cor so all achiev top score on both of those the test and's been with the m police B since 2006 uh Eric grew up in M when M schools who been around there is probably nobody more knowledgeable about people in town and everything been Eric over the years he's been a field training officer which has uh is very good uh for the knowledgeable and he uh really impacts that uh and it shows uh with how successful uh the new officers have been uh Eric for the past couple years has been the OIC which is uh the officer in charge of two shifts during the day fill where we don't have a sergeant this is a perfect U progression to Sant because during that time he can um practice TR but if he has questions usually there is a a senior supervisor there to to assist if he has any questions if he did it right did it wrong or to help him with that Pro progression because usually when you get trained uh you go to and he will be going through the midnight yeah that's that's the usual drawback of promotion you know you go you become low on that and you have to go to a you're not uh you to having to take the manh so um I'm here I have complete um confidence that he's going to do an excellent job and this is one of those things where uh he probably should have done this six seven years ago but he didn't want it and everything and then when he wanted it we topped everything and achieved it so I recommend him for motion does anybody have any um questions comments other than I remember when we were both we were both a little younger when my kids were younger so um anybody um have any questions for Eric I don't have a question so much as a comment that Eric you might remember being in my class A few years ago pleased to know that I've destroyed all those records yes I just it's being a teacher sometimes there's a lot of delayed gratification um but to see see you up here and to see a couple of other of your former School colleagues it's it's a great pleasure to see former students um achieving and doing well and and contributing to to what main is about but thank you interesting thing is over the the course of the long time of of Eric's career he's been one of the constants in in this building and in and in the police force so it's nice to see you uh stepping up into a different level of the um job congratulations with all that said um would anybody like to make a motion to make this official I will move to approve the pr of Officer Eric Deval Sergeant with an effective date of April 22nd 2024 authorizing approv second any further questions all those in favor congratulations ER is gonna have his father and then he will get one in tomorrow you want to do stand anywhere special to do it I love the confidence that you know the patch is already on does it still have the pin my son would never let me do that to him somebody can see you I we're only getting we have a lot of EMTs in here so we I gu do the evil mik do you guys want to come up and take the pictur there with all you whoever it's up to you out stand up behind than you 22 is that right I just fig right sticking around right um let's go back order three next consent agenda to the consent agenda if anyone would like to make a motion regard to that move to approve it a as presented fance to federal state local public health and safety guidance Au the sign is approved second okay do anybody have any questions about any of the U consent it uses of property Cemetery Deeds usual someone be a DAT 27 you can put me down for that I have it on my uh oh that's the same day as a little league parade but oh yeah is that a Saturday a Saturday yeah the parades on Saturday yeah you on a Sunday I know it is I think they have Sun oh all right um all right any further conversation about any of those items no all those in favor all right thank you very much we're on to on the agenda is acceptance from the tree committee donations tree committee donations the tree committee it's all about trees with me people every time you see me I'm talking about trees um so uh for the fifth year in a row um my wife and I would like to donate a tree to the town for Au day so this year we're donating a pagot dog would you go out in front of pound H here so it's all been approved by um J Center in the DPW it's been big sa we have the three tag so with your approvals we would love to donate I I have um my experience with dog Woods is that they don't necessarily like they they go through a little bit of stress when you plant them so in the first year they might look a little bit dad and then we'll come back the following year is that kind of your experience as well not this variety so this is Corner cell peripolia which is a Native dog wood so it's a little bit different it's not going to have that no is like an import basically not a native Dogwood so cornis Florida is the native Dogwood that gets like INF fros and some other diseases this is alterola that's a very different look the flowers more like a castle than it is like a black kind of FL it does really well a little bit Sal what color is flower white white have you seen the one over in front of the police station is it that tree is that that's beautiful right now I don't think it's oh it's flowering now in front of the yeah that's too early that's probably a magnolia I don't know really looks nice whatever that we did last FL we're kind of thinking about things that flow at different kind thanks um I will move to accept the proposed H Goa dogwood tree from the Mana tree Committee in celebration of Barbor day 2024 as presented okay all in favor thank you for the thank you both thank you and your wife thank you next we have a licensing couple licensing things right to see oh I've never are you Mr kimar all right very good could you introduce yourself and uh Jeff Kar so this is just this is just the the Comm vict isn't the LI or any that okay um welcome um does anybody have any questions for did you say you're looking to purchase it or you I am we're Clos it on okay all right so can we approve this before he owns it or is it like contingent on the purchase of sales I think that's a good question I think because he doesn't own it he wouldn't be the new owner like this this couldn't come into effect until he actually owns so you so I think it's I think it's okay but if you want you could specify that you know changeing something that okay I I was just curious I wasn't how that right okay will the menu change no menu is just stay exactly the same everything's the same just WEA yeah maybe if there for the time being you'll get to know me I'm there pretty the LI I assume the liquor license will follow they don't have liqu light they don't have liqu there at all did they used to I think may have one year okay I know I know um they had it over in on the side in the corner yeah at one point they G to put in a bar yeah B there Jimmy Morris okay all right so um would someone like to make a mo yeah I'll move to accept and approve the new common B life at roasted Peppers 55 Main Street mayard with new owner is Jeffrey kimbar authorizing use of digital signatures with approve second okay any further questions any questions for us okay all those in favor good luck thank you okay um I authorization Mr Jonathan Mr chair um we are this is kind of exciting actually it's it's really the first steps into the new elementary school this funding although this fund also does include um the purchas of bonds for the water treatment facility and so it's the bulk of this is is CH it's $22.5 million lot 30 year and ccel bid they got got there interest 39 really good news um says you don't have to read like the really really long scrip you just have to read the commotion St and then okay that's fantastic that's a good thing all right so so all we need to do is have somebody read the motion I move to approve votes as presented and prepared by Bond Council to approve the sale and issuance of the bonds give me a second second right um all those in favor all right thank you now there's a lot of material though so yeah and yeah very very good schol conations yeah all right um we need to sign this but it doesn't say what that's the warrant all right so on to um green star herbals which we discussed earlier executive session um great for the those in attendance and those around the world want just give us a oh very good 4 One in that so um when this when the Comm of Massachusetts was approaching how to license marijuana facilities um they had a proposal that there would be a relationship between the municipality and that marijuana establishment um that relationship is formalized through a host Community agreement in this case mayor is the host Community agre had the agreement to there's two facilities in town um one was initially known as green star that's what a lot of their legal documents still although the sign up front says Rise and then um the second one which we're not talking about tonight is um mthw spring but but green star opened first and um at 24 Main Street and they had a fiveyear host Community agreement guess what time time flies so here we are discussing it again we're joined this evening by attorney Liz lien with Town Council and Liz has been instrumental um in navigating the ins and outs of the very rapidly changing laws the state laws that are applicable to posten agreements in relation this relationship I was referring to um the state is um um a little less um well there there's not as much the way for talents anymore so for for those of you who are keeping score um uh the town had maximized its Authority in its original agreement agreement with both green star and and Wellspring um but the states really walk back how much the towns can negotiate with come particularly what's referred to is the community impact payment and U so that's been changed at the state level so we need to reflect that here at the Town level that's what was that's what was worked on so for the port's consideration this evening is the host Community agreement with green star so again that's different from the license that is the host Community which is kind of like the business relationship between the town okay all right um would anybody like to read that motion I move to approve the host Community agreement as presented with green star oh herbales you get it back uh no I lost continue I may a Massachusetts Corporation with a principal address of 325 West hiron Street Chicago Illinois 60654 for a recreational marijuana establishment located at 24 Main Street mayard Massachusetts authorizing use of digital signatures that propose okay um okay anybody have any further questions we had discussed this earlier and an objective session and this is um the agreement as presented to us by attorney lien who represents Us in these matters so does anyone have any questions for attorney lighten or in regards to the new HCA no okay all those in favor thank you thank you attorney Len for all your help thank you thank you stick around if you want [Laughter] oh a quick thank you thank you very much okay um next we're on to the um Summer Street disposition disposition fire station right this is just a brief followup to uh our discussion of last time right so this is Steve silver oh sorry sorry apolog Steve Silverstein uh executive director office of Municipal Services Town Mater uh and this is a followup from our our conversation of last time regarding the request for proposals there you go sorry uh regarding One Summer Street so specifically the select board had asked about uh the evaluation criteria um number eight and whether we could the town could include compatibility with downtown mayor's Cultural District and there was some issue with the verbiage so I spoke with Town Council and they revised it so that it now reads compatibility with downtown mayor's Cultural District it's established pursuant mgl CH 10 section 58 a so this RFP will put some uh f priority uh on whether or not the proposals Advanced by the developers include a cultural aspect um it's not necessary that the developer that the proposals have this aspect but they are weighted more heavily through the point system that we have in place through the the RFB so that is criteria eight the only other change is uh some amendments discussed earlier to uh criteria four which is the proposed purchase price I'll make those revisions and uh finalize with Town Council but other than that everything goes according to plan and this RFP can be advertised as of next week okay of course about Wednesday is the the deadline I believe or is it Thursday morning for the central register's so it's either it'll be either this week it'll either be next week or the week after that okay but great the release of an R do not require another vote on our Pat right all right well we look forward to seeing that out there getting the responses we hopeful this is an opportunity there's any l l Direction you want to give to my office Steve otherwise no thanks for thanks for all the hard work on it thank you very much thank you thank you all right let me guess that um Pilla and kada here for the sustainability committee hello good evening sorry to keep you waiting so long tonight yall can't see this [Music] so just talk we'll keep up yeah yeah we have a we have a problem with the the um we're missing a screen tonight so you guys just um you know tell us what you think is important what you read because we do have the report in front us so we can follow along um thanks for having us um I'm pris wheer and um we the sustainability committee has been meeting now for two years and done quite a bit of stuff and we just wanted to give you a quick update of what we're doing and get some feedback from you as to what you if there's anything else you want us to be doing or or if there's any um different direction you want to take um so instead of going through this full list I mean it's it's a four page list that just it we we divided our um well first I'll say that the our committee members are um Zanna Kramer or and green Meg Kine Lisa Berard and Sally Warner who it's an amazing group of people who do a lot of great stuff so I'm I'm I'm really proud to be working with them um and and we divided kind of our our sustainability T we broke it down into into six different priorities the first being the climate action plan and we've done some work with that and thanks to you we we were able to get the um to move forward with the MVP 2.0 program which we just had our first training last week and um there'll be a three-week training with with the new le on to move that project forward and the hope is in with is we'll get some input from the community and then we'll pick a plan a project that we can all work on that you guys agree with as well so um we did the survey for um in September and October we got really good you know response from that just sort of get people's in input about climate um change and then energy and resil resilience planning we did in November December at the library which was great um so we'll just continue that process um probably put a plan and priority two was our Greenhouse inventory um green meter has been helping us a lot with this and Amazon online too um this was we were doing a baseline greenhouse gas inventory to see what what what we're using in the community and figuring out where where our big uses are and how we how we address that and we'll continue to work on that and um narrow narrow down our um you know kind of what what we need to work on and and what what our bigger uses uses are and how we be have that's our four our third priority is the green medal school and we we were um we worked with the school committee and and provided comments and um pretty excited that we've got a design it's more energy and and hopefully more closer to Net Zero um so we'll continue to monitor that monitor that Pro progress and um see how that moves forward our fourth priority is way to management um we have a couple members of our committee who are on the solid waste and recycling task force with with Justin and are providing input there and and hopefully we'll come up with good results that they'll be presenting to you guys for recommendation for Waste handling and also um the dreamer did a um a waist audit at high school to try to figure out how much food we can divert from the the trash and and see if we can like you know get that conflicted somehow but well it's it's it's a process so we you know the AO the first step so we'll continue to keep an eye on that and and see we're also looking the group is also looking at trying to figure out what kind of complex programs with Talent can participate in like a lot of people do um black and so trying to figure out how how to make that more popular or or figure out a way to make that more Community Based um and then the uh fifth priority was the Community Choice aggregation um the good news is that uh the state did pass the regulation to make that process go faster we're in a position soon we'll be submitting stuff to Greg present to you to um to move that process forward where we we agree on some um educational uh pamphlets and things and then we do some kind of a public education and have a 30-day comment period for that so so we are moving forward with that whole community recreation program and um so you'll be seeing something more that you'll have to take action on pretty soon and then the last priority is our nature-based Solutions which is working with you know looking at tree supporting this tree tree planting and um working with the planning board and the plan and the town planner and the Conservation Commission to try to figure out ways that we can look at what our biolog say as far as how we develop things and see if we can do it better using um just making sure that we're keeping an eye on how much rain we're going to get and how much drought and all those things so so making sure that we're looking forward and providing recommendations to you guys going forward so those are the things that we're we're working on and if you guys have any questions or directions or thoughts um I just want to say thank you to your yourself to both of you and Dana Who's online as well and just thank you guys for all the hard work there's no men on your committee no males on your committee no with that okay but but thank you everybody for all the hard work and and being on the um school yes he has he has and so right so being on the green medal School building committee I am you know been familiar with you you know some of the things you guys have been doing and appreciate that as well um but I guess I have my only question would be for the fun of it being part of the committee the whole time type of thing what what do you think of the two like what are the two things you guys are happiest about that the two accomplishments that your group has had over like the you know several years that you've been a committee what are the two highlights for you guys as a committee what would you say like I think our first highlight and I think for me is is the green the Green Meadow School trying is is really trying to ask the right questions and move that forward so I think that that was a big a big push and um and I think getting the MVP 2.0 Grant and moving that forward and trying to get a plan I agree I also think the work that's done on the greenhouse gas inventory I think if we're going to meet some of our climate goals that the state is asking us to meet we need to know where we are and you know that work is going to be refined and includ probably I mean if you want it annual you know to see how we're progressing well then it'll form our climate plan action plan like what what it is that we need to do to try to you know as a community reduce our our greenhous gas emissions and be part of the here yeah just I just I just thought it would be interesting to hear what you guys thought the highlights of it and you know in appreciation of all of the other things that you know we don't see to highlight it's still just important so thank you guys again for all your um contributions does anybody else have any questions or comments with um Kate and or just a comment um there's an old saying be out there more frequently I think we should what think globally act locally and um I think your organization your group is probably the PR you know prime example of that because the action that we do here in mayard even though it's just a you know a pebble in the water it's going to impact it's going to have a global impact and help along the way so um you know some people think what can I do as an individual um and Chris's point about don't you have a mail on the committee well here's opportunity for people to show up and act in a way that can actually we have an influence not only on our community but really um because I think some of this stuff is very very important to the Future the of the back in do you have any um and also thank you very much for for all of your work um being the fact that you're a newly is for committee um and it doesn't seem like out of all the town out of all the select board positions that we do appoint you don't really have a Town department liais on is that something that um do you think hinders you in any way um because I just feel like because then there's there's I'm concerned about the lack of town building support for what you're doing and that you might be doing some of the stuff in a Val but I'm not sure so I want to make sure I actually think that we touched so many departments so we actually reached out to them we've been talking to Bill M we talked to Julie I mean one thing I fail to to mention item number six one thing that when we were talking to the bill and Julia um was that we that our storm water and our Wetlands bylaws do not really deal with climate change as much as they should and there's other communities that have advanced those and we should just look at those and he said I don't have the time to do that but can you look at it and so we said sure So let's you know as a group you know some of us have some some background in that and and helping to bring that together um we also looked at the overlay district for C of Mills and provided some comments on that and talked to them dur said where can we help the most you know where what are the gaps that you guys are missing that we should we should try to you know if we have the talent to to provide some that research or whatever can we do that so and then we've been working with Justin on the waste was diversion and and free stuff so I think I think the truth is we have to talk to everybody um in order to kind of figure out how how to make some of these changes because they're all they're kind of you know it's it's the whole town it's not just one department or another so so um the good thing is that we've gotten access and people are willing to talk to us which is great and you guys are supporting us which is even better so I me as an appointed grou group from from the select board I think that that you know carried some weight too so we're appreciating that you you think this is important okay thank um first of all thank you again publicly I I've been to a number of your meetings as you know and it's always been educational for me to to listen into the conversations feeling much more informed than I was a year ago um one of the issues that concerns me in the long run of course is that fundamentally this is going to be about changing people's behavior which as we know is not always easy um and doing that in the face of uh cost issues that that will jump into people's faces when when looking at this so you know sustainability it's it's about environment it's also about um finance and and C so uh I I I know that this is something that's on your minds anyway but just to reinforce that the the selling point is going to be to help people understand uh the in in on some things uh waste management is one that comes to mind that costs up front are likely to to increase on some things um but the cost of not doing anything is going to be even more uh so I'm speaking to people who already know that but I I feel like that's going to be part of the the Big Challenge in the next sort of two three four years or so as some of these issues um get even closer to action taking place right but uh yeah again thank you for for all of your work and look forward to continued involvement um T we all just mentioned I I was happy um looking a little further down the list to see the um State progress on the Community Choice aggregation line to go forward um so I'm very excited to see that as as an upcoming accomplishment as weing forward of the next steps of that um on the nature-based solutions I know in addition to what we talked about with storm water there's coming state regulations there so I know you already are but I encourage you to keep a a tight um Communication channel up with your conservation agent adust in the DPW to the Conservation Commission um to to make sure that we're staying on top of those coming changes as community and that ties into what Mike just said about the balance of those and the financial aspect and the communication aspect and and all of those pieces need to work together in as much Harmony we can get them to work together so looking looking forward to seeing that that coming conversation how that plays out um more generally I'm just very excited to to do what you guys have accomplished in the last few years I know uh SP a lot of time and actually the slightly expanded cohort and we lend to have World um a lot of interactions um for for a committee in two years it's an impressive book of work that you've delivered uh and it's been the result of a lot of hard work a lot of brain power some dis agreements um but I think we A Better Community for it and so I'm very happy to see you come here at this this interval and present all those accomplishments and next steps and good luck and we got your back here we go thanks all right well thank you very much have a good evening you too we're on to the um annual time meeting warrants but before we get to the warrants um based on the conversation that we had with um budget oh in the budget first skip right over the budget oh sorry I one Le two all right so go ahead we'll get to the get for the next conversation after all right um a little bit of news a little bit of pitch so uh the news is the houseway and me have house wave and Means Committee has submitted their cherry sheet which is this sort of overview what local um localities towns school districts can expect um from the state budget however it is only one of multiple versions of the state budget but what the house says in the end I CR numbers $62,000 over what the governor had closed in January however um usually the town does not adjust and by the town does not adjust the budget proposal going into annual Town based on the houses because we don't really know when that's going to come in the first place and then we don't know what we don't know how it's all going to take on the end and generally my understanding is the governor is usually the most conservative and then the house and Senator a little bit more um we just end up more money by the end of the so that's why I I recomend don't make any adjustments to the general fund because of what the houseold f says although it is good news good um going on though uh I do recommend some changes Al although like if even if you don't make any changes to the general fund budget as as is what item number 13A says you we'll be fine but that being said listening to superintendent po the other day at the select board meeting and he got to the budget and I it broke my ears because that was not the number that I had used based on the conversation I had with back in December which I wrote my my draft to you all in January on to the tune of $3,799 meaning that's to the positive like I he had conservatively projected what the assessment might be and then at the end big PR numbers was lower than what they had told us that's good so now again you don't have to do anything you could go to town meeting in annual town meeting and not change budget based on what I'm about to tell you or you can or you can accept the changes based on what I'm about to tell you so you don't I have also drafted the general fund warrant article to reflect on about tell you but you could you could just keep it as is as to what you sol cor my recommendations though are of what to do $73,000 um put the health insurance budget back to back to the $120,000 over what the what my health had recommended right because I I i' recommended the board that you bring it down to in order to compensate for our liability insurance but I'm saying just keep it this use $88,000 we put it back towards um spend or not but you know allocate 7500 towards um the capital planning module for Clear glove which is something you know so clear glove is the online budgeting platform we've been using for the operating fund for the last two cycles um but the capital plan committee really want to use this the full um the full package of the capital planning module and that comes out cost and then um I also recommend it's never really hurts it's always good idea to continue to have uh money set aside for personnel costs and if the board keeps in mind I recommended a change to my recommendation for free cash to to not set aside personal personal Contracting from free cash so I just want to make sure there's a hefty reserves I also included an executive content where we're sitting with budgeting for personal C so if you if you look at that you can see that but um and then um oh and then lastly I this is one I'm most excited about $50,000 for its capital projects which is generic so um we've done it uh a couple years in the past we're able to put money more than $50,000 but we're able to put money aside so this is another opportunity I just you know if we can see it we could and $50,000 I I think I would defer to what the capital planning committee might recommend as to what how they might be spent the capital planning committee um is seeking some sort of like um generic funding amount so that they could have it on hand if the time arises later um particularly know if there's a matching Grant towards the capital item they would like to have M side so I haven't I haven't asked the capital planning committee how they felt about $50,000 putting aside for Cle projects operating fund I haven't asked them if I gave them $50,000 how they spend I'll just note on that last Point they've advocated for this multiple times of the budget subcommittee meeting I think the reasoning it's solid to have a generic fund to help in particular the colid is to pursue those Grant um funding opportunity so by having it flexible when the grants come up especially this time of year way away from the budget cycle that can help them out a lot so um no I have very little doubt that we're the capital committee will be happy with that change if they weren't to utilize that fund say you created a capital planning what set time and they don't utilize it during the year where does that default at the end of the year can't cover it's not tied and I guess I just want us to be mindful of building up three Cash to be like this huge bucket at the end the next year or any year um you know the days of million dollars in free cash um is probably behind it but um the you know I just don't like the idea of huge amounts of free cash that means over taxation entally no I I don't agree but I I also don't want to be reliant on yeah so this is this is a step in that direction um yeah we yeah we're just and we're not atypical like towns our size are smaller are relying on free cash it's just typical to build up your reserves otherwise like you're not reserves but so um this is that what would be the difference between I guess it's just the the availability and the uh the swiftness to which it can actually add versus putting it into a reserve fund um like a capital the swiftness is exactly what to call out with forine it supposed to that that the expedition of being able to utilize the money yeah yeah yeah I I again I don't know maybe the capital plan committees is like oh $50,000 I know exactly I that money tomorrow they might already have it in mind because there was as they point out there's millions of dollars in back Capital nothing but like the in capital S of like demand so $50,000 kind of dro the bucket but yeah understand just want to know David if we didn't have that amount of free cash we used that free cash for our Capital planning right for a lot of capital is so we you know really ran that in and have more accurate forecast what have you we would need to increase that Capital funding somewhere else so I I don't think that we're we need to over taxation that way I think we're we're using that freeat wisely through our allocations uh during our town meeting process um that we would need to find another way to cover those Capital expens if we didn't okay anything else in the budget no that was it so if if you don't if you don't have any further questions on it that that conversation leads into 13A because within 13A includes the the sort of like the edits if you will to the by 25 general fund budget recommendation that I made earlier it captures what I just said um so if you accept if you approve the warrant you you improve what I just recommend I just have one question about the CLI up subscription yeah um is it something that once it's purchased and used we get dependent on and it's really hard to give up in the event that hard to uh hard to come by next year and I'm presuming that's a onee subscription that is one- year subscription but we're not currently using it so so the um we do subscribe to the operating module I don't know if that's the correct terminology but we we we do our operating budget more and more we've kind of been shifting it's transitioning towards less Reliance on just Excel spreadsheets at Naz towards an online budgeting which allows for the Departments to submit online and then I can just see it all almost real time as opposed to Excel spreadsheets where they give me something and then upload okay so the capital in the first couple of two because we have a relatively fresh and new capital planning committee and figur out so the first year or two it was self FRS and then but they have some really smart people on there and they saw hey now that you have operating budget playar you get it's like you know it's a it's for free but like they're like by the way we'll give you the basic free version of the capital planning Community module and then and they were using that too but they they supplement it with their Exel Bri and so they they've asked me month and month and month ago if if we could figure out funding scheme to to subscribe towards the whole Capital planing module they want to move away they want to do everything online which makes also a lot of sense just for the deliberation they can kind of see it all together you know one and then the um so the Departments have already made the conversion where they they submit their Capital requests on cler as opposed to the past it was like was like yeah you had to submit a thing and then someone had to type it all took all time so this is a step in that direction I and I and I what I hope is it would lend itself towards you know the greater picture of capital planning and and um yeah something and I'm really grateful for the capital planning committee to take like they're kind of aggressive about it this is the direction they want to go be more sophisticated thank you okay so the um looking at the draft and last year I did not sign it I did sign it this year but looking at the draft because it didn't occur to me that I was signing it last year okay um but basically what we just signed was something but we don't know we don't have a final draft of what we signed again right well because there's there was a couple questions on like one in the in the draft you're looking at right now um Greg did a great job of P lighting that we don't know what time to start is you know like if we you know which is because it's in the opposite order on this agenda right so whater was just about to bring up is something um has been discussed in the past I'm using this as one point of example why the draft is the draft because the start time might change if there's going to be a there's going to be a state of the town or we want to call it forehand that's going to change special notice of Voters a lot of a lot of the changes might come to the draft is because we don't have the finance committee confence so that's not atypical either it's rare that we get the comments and the recommendations before we go to print it's just such as the timing of of when we get the Articles and then they review okay but so basically though what we're approving tonight and this is again it goes back to what I said before and I know that we've done it in the past but it's it's one of those things so we're approving we're voting to approve something that we actually haven't seen and won't see until it's done I I would I would push back a little my understanding was your your disappointment in the years past have been there have been articles that have been presented to you on the first on the night that you also asked to approve the warrants I I made a deliberate action with all the department heads not to have it happen which I believe I accomplished yes that and that that is true but I I was looking when I was looking at it it's okay so this is a draft and whatever so it could change because I I don't know because I'm approving it but I don't know what it's going to look like because I don't have the I don't have the final copy in front of me because the board generally doesn't approve the sponsor comments or the or I'm sorry the um the fin committee comments over the committee recommendations I don't even edit it I did it in my first year and I got my hand slap so like I like I take word for what they give me and I put it in there you preferred you I understand that it doesn't make sense and and I guess moving forward it w't it does it doesn't matter I guess but um I just feel like if you're if if if we are responsible for approving a warrant and signing it that we should have the final copy of what we're approving when we approve it as opposed to something that could change I guess I guess that's no well we will We I guess the question is will we meet again before it goes to prce no no because they wait until May 13th which is not according to your regular SCH youd have a special meaning but I clear right now even when we're can get the finance comme recommendations that's that's part the C of the issue to solve the them problem we need the finance Comm recommendations and those are and there's Charter timelines and some of this ties back in state law that prevent what you're asking for so I understand your frustration about not understanding the finance comments on them but it's well and it's not that I don't understand it it's more that I just feel like it and again it I guess it's semantics but if I'm signing if I'm if I'm approving a copy of something and I signed it saying this is what I'm approving and then it changes then what's the validity of me signing the thing that I said I was approving because it's Chang so aside from the fincom comments and recommendations it right they are they are um nothing will change U well no I I don't want to say nothing so I want to I want to point out um my account accountant just had a baby so he he is he is going to double check the numbers for me one more time but I I'm pretty confident in that and then the second thing is the back and forth with uh Town moderator and town counsel about how some of the boats should go but again that's like kind of standard every year there's a little bit of back and forth between the moderator and Council so and I don't usually stick my neck in because I kind of let them figure it out and then um you don't mean the order of the articles but no that's all from dick but we kind of go with what he says no it's like U two3 vote verus majority yeah and then um that's Town meetings but I think I think what I'm hearing is to answer your question first is that the legality so like we already had Town Council first of all Town Council kind of looks at the article's PC right so so whether it be a zoning article or otherwise or I'll I'll write an article and I do the best I can but I ask coun did I do this right and then they they it yes or no um and then we gave it to council saying like this is this is what we got if we put it all together this is what you got and then um so baring any last minute changes on Council which I don't I can't I can't perceive because because you seen it go to print but I I I don't so I have confidence otherwise I would have asked you to proove this because I'm asking you to improve the language like the legal language and and those articles that follow well so I mean we can we can resolve the time issue right now because the time is is either going to be 7 or 6:30 if we as a group decide that we want to make a half hour presentation on the state of the town which is something that was suggested at the the February budget hearing in the fire station somebody had made the suggestion that that would be a good thing to do dick followed up with me on it a couple days later we ran into each other and we just had a conversation and he said yeah he's happy to let that take place before the meeting at 6 6:30 if we want to do it so do we want to do a state of the Town address at 6:30 on the night of the town meeting and if we do then this becomes 6:30 if we don't it stays at 7 my thoughts on the presentation are that there's so much activity with people coming in and whatever there would be very little attention in the presentation people come in they greet people they do things they it just would not be uh conducive to a valuable presentation for the people that it's intended to be valuable for um that's my thought um on the larger issue of what we are approving I'm comfortable in approving the warrant as presented with the understanding that the um all we're really missing from the way I understand Greg's comments are finance committee comments with and without maybe there's a question mark in there I think that was highlighted that might you know the two-thirds whatever uh and we have no authority over what the finance committee comments are anyway so I'm not concerned about what the finance committee might say I may not like it but it's not I don't have authority to tell them what to write and I can't vote no on what they're putting in there unless something egregious I guess um so I'm fine with voting on the uh to approve the the warrant uh and to the question of U timing of the start of the meeting I would say leave it at 7 start the meeting if we want to have a state of the Town presentation in the future that it should be done at a separate meeting entirely focused on that probably done around the time of the finance committee um uh you know whatever you call it when they review the war we can we can simply put something in with the warrants like other groups have done every year or we could do something we don't have to we don't have to change the time of the meeting we can just do a a flyer or call separate meeting that's fine my my question would be I and I agree um at least for the first one that you know a flyer would suffice as far as you know not a flyer but information a printed not a printed something yes um that someone can take home and then you know go back online find more information if they want or whatever my concern would be who is putting that together and what the message is like what is the state of town and do we have time to develop that in the next three weeks um yes you do yes excellent I think I think I think if we I don't I think we do I think we're of unified on where we've been what the big changes are coming and what what we're looking at for the big changes down the road that if you want to mentally prepare the town for I think there's Great Value to doing I think a presentation would be valuable understanding David's concerns about um the audience you know not paying attention um so I feel lean into that I don't think converting that to you know public hearing or something well it's just not going to get the same audience so have a by default a huge audience there who is an audience of people interested in what's happening in town so it's an opportunity to have a conversation with the people who care most about this town and the past set up I think would would be for of us as a board now if we wanted to do that in print um instead of a presentation for the time concerns I think that that's another opportunity we can explore um shifing to Justine's question I I think the five of us can find a message to put in there at some length I don't think this needs to be a a major Magna card aized document um I think you know a single pager even a 15minute presentation you know could could suffice for this and if you you me a couple bullet points I will put it together or you know bring it back to the next meeting whatever the case may be okay um I wonder if I wonder if a um a document for this one makes sense and then fully develop something for the special comedi in the fall which is a little less hectic typically and then maybe maybe that's the start of it it's this is the beginning and then in the fall yeah I don't I I agree it's an opportunity wasted if get people get people used to it in the fall that okay so starting in the fall but moving forward every town meeting we're going to have an update of some we just do one that's lowkey now and see how we feel about it afterwards we put our th in and see what the feedback is um and go from there because what one of the perceived deficiencies in the town that I hear a lot is the absence of of what used to be called The Beacon villager um that people would pick up so my own thought is that I'm not sure that it was necessarily as fully informative as people might remember but but having said that um I think something of this nature uh could go a long way to us being proactive about trying to be informed it is one of our goals of course to try to be more informative and if that includes trying to lay out um where we see the town moving in in the next two three five years and I think that that's really valuable I thought the beacon was informative and even well but even when you may have disagreed with that was information to me like oh that's part of the story that's part of the narrative that's there so that that was more valuable than the same thing through Facebook I think today you that chair in front of stanely the first one and the second R back that's where that's where Mark used to sit Mark was the recorded for the beacon on more than one occasion when we were leaving the room we used to tell Mark the meeting's over we would wake him up we were Le that was his spot but anyways yeah there was there was a lot of good information in the beacon yeah was I wish we had I wish we had that outlet still but Mar Mark was funny so we aligned on a short printed I think so yeah and getting it done certainly how we get it done yeah I had points right now I can compile them and put them in sign for the next meeting if that's I think the highlights the water the potential MW stuff you know all the DPW stuff all the um I don't even want to say the number that the um Capital planning committee has you know shared with us at the number of you know things that are out there bleachers you know more water things um the Center Road was and recycling yeah there a lot of ITW yeah yeah oh yeah you could almost just go through each of the Departments or each of the yeah and some reference yeah um it's Stu you want to make what's the takeway like they're not going to remember you just Ratt and I actually I I think I think I think part of it will come from from the the the group at your table you know what what are some of the things that are taking place what are the things that are in movement what are the things that are you going on that you know we might not be as in tune to as some people think we might be you know some there's there's things happening behind the scenes that we might not be aware ofed I don't think there's much going on behind the scenes but like I I I uh I I get interested when I go I went to the eclipse um and I and I'm not as public as y'all are right but when people see the jacket get so um and people were asking me about art space and um yeah I don't know so like it's always interesting be like what people are kind of like it's it's often surface and I so then you have to ask yourself okay so do we address the surface or do we tell people what they don't know which is like DPW gra is getting up there or we got to fix the water we got I don't know that that's my question what is the takeway you want you want to like answer their questions or do you want to answer the questions they made know they should be asking so time bit I think what I'm developing a list of the build well but no joke those are major Financial considerations and so those end up being some of the big drivers um you know old and new so I mean yeah I guess the schools moving forward you know School moving forward I think people are also G proba some people at least are going to want to know what is the town doing to um generate future growth is is growth what what town want um and you know looking at the actions of the economic development committee and what they're doing to um to boost the revenue side come because otherwise we'll be in danger of putting out well we need this we need that we need the other and what people might see is a big shocking without um the the efforts that have been made to address that on the positive side fits into the growth conversation and one of the V that yeah right all right before we leave do we want do we want to um do we want to approve the warrant before we get to far did you have El anything else that people want me to incorporate into this set that hasn't been mentioned right now I have ideas but I sh yeah I have to think about I'll think about it I don't off the top of my head we'll get it Pages noid not to do with the warant do with the budget discussion we've had prior which sort of Mer merged into or morphed into the warrant rule um I was intrigued by the email today relative to Peg access fund and the substantial amount of money that is reflected towards or deflected or whatever the term you want to use to the schols out of that out of that money versus what in pound yeah um and my question is more of a I think it's I think it's captured in the uh budget line item yeah material but is it made clear that in in essence the town's Peg money that we are seeing from our participation in the various uh um uh table contracts that we have go to the school right and that's addition funds that don't get recognized by the residents or our school committee relative to um money that we are providing at budget committee meetings the school committee members do our appropriately were or maybe still be appropriately nervous especially when we didn't know Verizon was going so they would say like okay so what are we going to do we're not going to get these hundreds of thousands of dollars anymore and and over the years um there's been deliberate effort of my proposals of here acceptance and being a corporation to not have as much go towards the T to deliberately shift towards I agree with that I think David's talking about the acknowledgement yeah that's what I'm yeah yeah I like I like it so um so one it's been acknowledged through you know if anyone pays attention to the February 12th joint budget committee you'll you you know we we go over that little bit W just um and then you know I like to do a little PowerPoint for you all right so when you're stand up there on the stage you can see the power and I think we do some major highlights like you know budget things and even if we had it in the past we do it now we say like you're you know article so and so is the general fund here's some big takeaways we do a lot of contracts we do a lot of this and that health insurance is stabilized whatever we can also point out hey this what it's like 94% goes towards schools to support that we can say that and so you'll have the PowerPoint you'll have your script that's generally where we kind of get into the we s about the and not even that's not it's like surface level it's not like you're voting on this this is what you're voting on that's usually what we kind of stick is and I think that when I when IID asked for some kind of an update it was more and again because I happen to see things in other towns um and it's more that and I guess this would I I guess this request at this point would go to the school through the school committee okay is to kind of see what they do with that money other than fund a position like so Peg helps fund the wavm program so what M what did they do to improve wavm with the money they got today like this this year or something like that I I think that's kind of what I was or like what are their goals for the program or like you know treat it like almost like an Enterprise fund or something else like okay this is what you have this is you know we're giving you this money every year what what are your goals to accomplish um but again that might be something that that's outside of what we do and it I mean we can ask if if they want to do something like that but I just I thought it was really interesting because I'd never seen Peg presented that way and I thought it really kind of made it you know it made it real made it you know and I I'd like I personally would like to see selectboard meetings back on live television versus oh okay versus whatever the hell Facebook Facebook where you know that's that's why we have Peg is to have this type of thing broadcast and every other community does it I I watch it but ours doesn't we have to we have to go digging through Facebook and you know an 80-year-old in town that might want to know what's going on talk to talk about you know things they're probably more likely to have cable than they are to have Facebook okay okay did the um did the broadcast stop during the pandemic was that yeah sto that's when we stopped right we because we went all online for a period time and during that time I had Mark Manan who was a w with the consultant and they rigged this um they made it HD they rigged the cameras to be able to work um but it was the transition was still like one we were so relying on someone sitting so like the kids weren't even going to school so we couldn't even get it was difficult to kind of get them to like commit to Staffing here and then um so anyways then this solution came up I think we did a fantastic job at at carrying ourselves through the pmic I think we're Beyond and I think we should be to um utilizing some Peg money to pay for the students that's what it takes they live so that people have access to their government are other like um our school committee meetings on W no nothing so like what is WM doing if you're not seeing that stuff on pet it's loud music and uh and some advertisement that doesn't change I can all right want to proove the warrant at some point do we have any other questions about the warrant itself anybody like to make a motion in regards to the warrant yeah if I can find it I will move to approve the warrant for annual town meeting 2024 as presented and authorized use digital signatures if approved any further conversation and discussion of question all those in favor all right so now B we already took care of senior center committee I was on at the last meeting um Jeff was oh yeah you right you quoted in there but anyway um so I you there stuff you want you want to tell ahead um and we also did um we also thinking about um another another working group yes another there are working groups in that committee I just SP one and um blanking is an fq no that was already done all right Finance yeah so here's the list I mean here's the list of the working group they're they're the um um prior research documentation working group FAQ working group Finance working group and then there's a working group forting Cent visitations to coordinate those but there's a lot in there sh's got them running my my take away some the the interesting conversations me somebody who's not been attending who was attending the one meeting but on the finance update Josh Morris presented uh kind of an option analysis to the full group about um going forward and read the minutes there but they're targeting uh fall special town meeting and they're looking at a lease as opposed to Capital options seem to be the direction the group was going so that that was interesting to me not um have we don't have a place so the other we don't have a place I understand what you're saying and I agree that's what that's where they're focusing and I keep hearing that and and um Jos and Jack Jack Jack mckain least least least least least where's the property Jack presumably they have that place well so the the the other part of the conversation that followed that was you know getting R about the number and making sure that they could defend that number in terms of what the mill had presented I think that's the location that is in their mind now would the Old Mill location that they had identified earlier it's two years old the other part of the conversation was to to go back and reevaluate that number and to make sure it passed muster with all the kind of questions that we would have that we did have when when some of those proposals were out there so that's how to do that and to set up a you know to make sure that they're looking into those numbers and reevaluating the other part of so those were the two parts that were and they're yeah she was just she's still calling um focus group together for information request information we wouldn't see the result of that yeah CBS yeah Mar cribs yeah so that's that but the green metal nothing much going on there other than behind the scenes stuff that um the OEM are working on I think there's a meeting on Mond yeah there's one coming up yeah right there that's CL there's only one correspondence it from exity our our Council didn't didn't go to bat for for me on getting rid of hang picks up our yeah they get the loud music with the never changing advertis like where the hell is this town it's more fun when it's not labeled because you sit there and watch it for about 15 minutes before you can figure out where they're from we want to approve correspondence a move to accept and approve correspondence a as sh second all in favor all right minutes CH jump on the gun say was extra minutes other two this time no we only have the one one okay we move to approve accept and approve the meeting minutes of April 2nd 2024 shown authorized use of digital signatures at approv second all in favor so have we voted on March 19th yet no that's not okay I for oh that's me you uh pretty short this time but a lot of great pictures so I had a really great time at the eclipse was wonderful a great picture that was St so but it was fun and uh I didn't know what to expect so I I got out there and it was packed and I did not know that many people didn't have work on a Monday afternoon but it it was um it was great and the library put on such a good show um and and Mr Mark of course he the celebrity and it was kind of a I would it not though personally I didn't put that much Credence into it it was an astronomical yeah astronomical event that I was like great but I got out there and I felt I felt booed it was I went by and it was a lot of people lot of people like an hour beforehand and then I I watch very very impressed and it's very M like they come out I I appreciate it um and I think that's tol I don't have anything for the chair report U members report Jeff just want to I had an opportunity to store to for the fire station um with with Mike and the chief uh been a bit over year since I had toward it initially um so in addition to seeing the new the new mezanine and having the chief explain you know what it will allow in terms of training opportunities for our fire department that an overview everything from the April that we talked about a few weeks ago to um some of the um uh small touches that have been added over the last year that I didn't get to see so it's it's been impressive to see them settle into their new home in addition to seeing their new home and and the training visit team so thank you for the for doing that and for an explanation in depth um everything that's going on fire station and but the opportunity provide us that I was getting a bit worried at one point that she might have us practice jumping out the window yes yes yeah fortunately she still has denying my request to slide down the just being you know how you can get hurt sling them that's why exactly is there one still in the old building there was never I don't know D yeah quick question um I noticed that um and God knows who ordered them the but there are now 3 at the football field that an anticipation of graduation because I'm una aware of anything that goes on that needs to have 300 seat capacity why are we spending the money if we don't field the bring sport I mean not the foot they don't FR anything they do the track oh track and field for season anyways so I thought your question was like why 300 you're saying like why the timing and I think it's just because we got it for the season oh okay yeah so this are they bringing in more graduation I think I'm not sure okay that's it you get more than 300 think a track and field yes that's a very big program y Mike uh nothing in of what others have already mentioned all right so anybody like to make a motion to adjourn I move toour okay all in favor next meeting is May