good evening it is according to my clock 7:02 I'm going to do a roll call to establish quum so please answer that you are here Joe Ali here Richard Keys here Jean case here Frank vonti here Vanessa Rossy here Patrick heeran here Erica Jacobson here so all seven members are present tonight and we are ready to open the meeting um first order of business is to review and approve our meeting minutes from the March 5th meeting which were attached to the agenda and would entertain a motion to accept the meeting minutes second any edits or [Music] discussion look good all those in favor accepting the meeting minutes I opposed all right approved okay so those first two things um to start the meeting tonight because we are going to be discussing the warrant for the annual town meeting there's a few special guests here tonight um who I'd like to recognize and make sure that we give approval to speak as needed um to inform our discussion tonight we in addition to Tracy who's part of our committee and non- voting member we have Alicia Greco select board chair Marshall jerson Capital planning chair Martha Taylor and Kristen grubs from the planning board and Lisa me Our Town Council and also Jeff if you wish I will also have select board member Walker Jeff Walker is here as well um and I just want to give a approval to let them speak as needed during the meeting so I don't know we need to take a vote or anything on that but the chair we're all dead recognize you all know who you are um and I expect you to just kind of talk as we ask questions and work there um I do want to review I tonight anticipating that we may have because this is a very important meeting of the finance committee where we go over the warrant articles tonight we will um we did as part of our public comment policy we are not only having public comment at the beginning of the meeting but also we have built it into agenda items however seeing no members of the public other than those individuals like already recognized I will read the public comment and then we'll start the meeting to receive oral Communications from members of the public members of the public May address the finance committee for up to 3 minutes the finance committee will not engage in discussion on topic rids during public comment but may choose to add the topic to a future agenda this agenda segment will be limited to 15 minutes also as part of our public comment the chair will share any written or email Communications received since our last meeting which was March 5th um attached to your packet are three correspondents two from Jack rycki and one from former um former select board member Geraldine heey they are all in regards to the warrant [Music] article number number 21 with the peg access and cable related fund so we will look at those letters and discuss as needed during that portion of the agenda so up seeing no public comment um Tracy we'll start with Town Administrator report and kind of a budget overview just a little anything we need to know business-wise so hopefully everyone's received a copy of the budget document if you have any specific questions I'm happy to entertain those um we have the presentation that that you received um is a balanced budget um I think went over all the special articles at our last meeting so you have an idea of what what's going to be before the voters finalizing the Appropriations booklet um and then you'll have that for review and I assume you're going to be taking your votes this evening we will be taking our votes this evening unless there's any reason to table an issue for unforeseen um just uh I'm pulling out for just reference this is a copy of the finance committee Appropriations booklet from last year's meeting there's typically a budget letter at the beginning of it that I will prepare and share with the um it's a letter to Newberry voters explaining what this budget what this booklet is about um and I will share this with the committee for approval before we publish um but what this is sent set up to do is to provide rationale um of all the finance committee um of all of the Appropriations on here and finance committee and at such time the select boards recomend uh votes to recommend not recommend each article as appropriate question of course has the board of selectman already taken its vote on these no no no they're voting next Tuesday they voted the they approved the warrant okay Warr the warrant yeah okay that they have not taken their votes to approve or not approved yet so those will be added later I believe that's next week's meeting [Music] so all right so any questions for Tracy before we begin I'm sure we will come through as we as as we discuss this evening um so um under the ATM warrant review I want to remind everyone the purpose of the ATM of the annual town meeting is to vote on the budget recommendations and bylaw changes for fiscal year 2025 which begins on July 1st 2024 the finance committee is required to make recommendation a town meeting on those articles that call for an appropriation or expenditure of funds to this end after the warrant articles are approved by the select board which they have been the finance committee reviews each article we will ask questions about funding sources timing estimates Etc and take a vote on each article our voter votes and rationals are then presented in the finance committee booklet that will be available for res for residents ahead of the annual town meeting process note is that our votes are recorded as yay nay and abstain in the back in the booklet for example a vote that says 4-2-1 would mean four V members voted to recommend two members don't recommend and one member abstained tonight we will have public comment accepted for each of the disne groupings of the Articles before the committee discusses each article article groupings have been made to allow for Relevant public comment and we will not be discussing or voting recommend or not recommend on the following articles one 2 4 15 16 17 18 19 and 22 um and as such there's no public comment on those articles at our meeting tonight again even though there's no members of the public we did did set up that members of the public May address the finance committee for up to 2 minutes per grouping this segment agenda segment will be limited to 10 minutes uh we note that the comments must be relevant to the agenda item and the chair May interrupt comments if they are not relevant to the agenda item in is this case the comments must be relevant to the Articles being discussed in each grouping so our grouping of articles are three and five and I think we can kind of take those we can start through and just start start at 3 since there's no public comment so also I made a note to myself and I forgot I do want to um call attention to um something that's on the back side of the of the cover of our budget books that we um received is an award that was the distinguished buz budget presentation Award presented to the town of Newberry for the fiscal year beginning July 1st 2023 um this speaks to how even Outsiders and F this is from the government Finance Finance Officers Association to show that we are extremely diligent and go above and beyond in our budgeting process so I have high confidence in our process and our processes and those individuals within our town that we employ to help us with this so thank you very much Tracy and to everyone on [Applause] staff is there a cash price I wish unfortunately cash prize is not in the budget do you see it anywhere all right so starting with article number three any um discussion on article three which is to fix the salaries and compensation of certain elective officers of the Town any questions or question any significant changes in any of these from last year no no the only um the only ones that that change are uh the Town Clerk and the tree W it's 2% which you see across the board for all non-represented employees no raises for the select board [Laughter] come any discussion or motion to recommend we need a motion any discussion questions all those in favor of recommending say I I I opposed none abstaining okay so we are 7 recommend all right article four is not one that the finance committee weighs in on so on to Biggie article five which is the um Appropriations for um the operating budget so entertain a motion to recommend motion to recommend second all right discussion questions this is balance right it is right now yes and this includes under the education portion includes the full assessment for triton yes as presented in their letter as present in their letter yes is that the same number that was in the original not was it was down it's down about 300 the tratment traent assessment number for Newberry this year is 12, 22797 which is an increase um in our operating assessment of $799,990 or a 7.13% increase over last year and Essex and lar sort of estimates within that we haven't got final um we just received whitti ear okay it's about an $800 variance so we'll have to adjust that since the war was already posted um and Essex Tech is just an estimate we don't get their numbers until much later okay just so everybody know yep and Tracy you said earlier it's a two% increase for all non-represented employees correct okay [Music] any other any questions concerns I know that we have I've done a bunch of the looking through of the budget and the drafts earlier our debt service continues to go down at this point in time mam sureair it's worth mentioning to it that Debt Service declines um what's happening most of it is well I shouldn't say most of it a a good portion of it is um debt excluded and so the revenue goes away yeah as the debt declines and whatever ability we had to issue debt within the confines of Two and a Half is now gone so anything that you're going to be looking at in the future um for large expenditures something if we didn't have the ability to repair the hbac C system with free cash with available funds you'd be looking at going out for debt exclusion override for that and looking at the percentage increases has they're all very modest in terms of Public Works increasing by 0.6% MH any questions or comment before we move ahead on a vote all those voting to recommend I I I opposed none abstain none so 70 0 recommend moving right along um article 6 is $100,000 um to be added to the stabilization fund this is in keeping with increases over the past few years um we've keep this front and center because this is part of our savings account to and this is um $50,000 lower than last year Tracy what is the current barent Lance of stabilization fund before the transfer 21779 66 all right and do we have any um um do we have any we don't have any articles to this year at ATM taking money from stabilization no it's just so little funding in there so if we add $100,000 to this the balance after it would be 317 [Music] 798667330808 any entertain a motion so we can discuss Mo any questions you said it's 50,000 less this year we had appropriated 150,000 last year there have been some years we we put in more for um but it's been declin as other operating expenses are taking up some of the money we've been putting into our savings we're conscious of it but it's happening okay and it takes two 2/3 in and 2/3 out um right majority and oh majority 2/3 out yeah it's changed at town meeting me that did when did that change it's easier to put it in to be it always used to be um 2/3 and 2/3 out and then under Dev Vault Patrick it changeed to simple in 2/3 out then change back oh okay to 2/3 in 2/3 out and then under the municipal modernization act it changed back to simple in and 2/3 out yeah that makes sense this year next year we might want it the other way so important to note that no one can spend that money other than town meeting [Applause] correct and the $100,000 will be coming from operating okay any questions all those who would like to recommend I not recommend abstain okay recommend article 7 is um sum of $200,000 to fund their OPB liability other post employment benefits of which this again is the same amount as last year 200,000 um our trust fund balance is I'm guessing just over 1, 86,1 before this before so was that 1 million yeah be 1. 386 yep and right now Our obligation stands at about 6.3 million later on in the Articles you'll see that it's time for us to update it we have to have a new Actuarial valuation every couple of years so this would be the year we'd be doing it is there um is there like a projected or maybe this is what the Actuarial does but is there a projected like fat part of the ladder for there's a projected like we we expect I think 2052 to be fully funded but no you just um you just put in as much well that low that's that'll be a Perpetual like Chase the dragon thing I can't cuz that gone down in different years depending on what where interest rates are but do does the actual look at the average let's say the average age of and they say all right this is you're going to have a big retirement that's exactly three or four years so have they mentioned is to win that that that heavy obligation time comes the reason I'm asking with with a million bucks 1.3 oh in I mean if you all of a sudden get a rash of retirees then what we pay as we go right as we go it comes out of yeah right but we're coming up with these arbitr maybe not arbitrary but we're coming up with these numbers annually the 200,000 is this this we're coming up with that number we're coming up with that number based on available resources so at some point in time um you know at a time once our all of our facilities needs are addressed all of our equipment needs are addressed we're in a good position as we um certify our free cash the expectation is is you would move you know a million dollars into it you would move much more money into it but we're we had so many years of deferred maintenance um to play catchup on we basically spent the last 10 years trying to get ahead of um so do we have a projected year where the X access of available funds and the Y AIS of the reality of the number of retirees are like to cross and in which case how does that work are you then assessed thereafter I mean it's no longer a willingness thing it's a it's a need thing so we we're on pay as you go so in if you look at our Essex Regional retirement we're assessed annually and we pay as people retire so it's not like any specific year you're going to have a bigger payment for your um OPB the OPB is just estimate well the actuaries determine the amount that we will owe over time so this money gets put into a trust fund that we we actually hire someone to manage it um for us in the hopes of you know bringing in better returns than what we could do ourselves here are there any communities in Massachusetts that you know of that have fulfilled that obligation completely besides West besides before I left yeah there are a few I think daners is one of them if I'm not mistaken but there are a handful of them I mean there are some communities that put hardly anything correct I mean a as we have funds available my recommendation would be that we start moving larger balances in um we just haven't quite gotten there yet did we get a motion yet on that no no motion no so move second any other discussion or questions all those who would like to recommend this article I opposed abstain 700 recommend article 8 to see if the town will vote to trans for appropriate the sum of $80,000 from the receipts reserved cable Peg access Special Reserve fund for the support of Peg access service and programming you said 80 to paper say 8585 85 85 sorry 85,000 entertain a motion for us to disc I'll move it secondes all right any questions discussion what does this support this supports this supports the cable Tel all that the public educational and government home yep so programming in town in town this is in line with close to in line with what was done last year last year it was 95,000 this year is 85 based on actual based on actuals of what it cost to run that y okay Madam chair I know article um 21 is going to be discussing the potential to revoke that I don't know if that's something you want to do there here yeah do we want it to do everybody agree to let's talk about article 21 at the same time and we'll take so entertain a motion to discuss article 21 motion to include article 21 as pertinent article 8 excellent so article 21 is seeking to revoke the special Revenue fund F known as the peg access cable related Fund in which FR cable franchise fees and other cable related revenues for appropriation to support Peg access services and oversight and the renewal of the cable franchise agreement Instead This Special Reserve fund will cease as of fiscal year 2026 which begins on July 1 2025 at which time the balance from of the special Revenue fund at any future cable franchise fees and cable related Revenue will be deposited into the general fund which thereafter by appropriation support Peg access services and oversight and renewal of the cable franchise agreement or take any other action there too so should we do a quick review of what 21 is asking us to do sure so so we established um there were there are two ways to account for you can just have these fees go directly into the general fund and establish a line item just like we have um um DPW salary and wages DPW expenses you'd have Peg access programming salary and wages and expenses Etc you'd have it right in your line item operating budget at the time um we had a very active media committee and we had a gentleman named Richard Hendrickson and a young man named Caleb Noble um who were interested in moving a 501c3 forward so at that point in time it made sense for us to petition to meeting to ask them rather than account for it just in the general fund that we would hold all those funds separate in a special revenue account and it would be used for that purpose did you clarify what time it was was that 2012 I want to say 2016 2015 2016 yeah I think 2016 um so for all those years those funds have been accumulating in that account and the article that we had just um discussed article 8 that's our annual appropriation to set the wages and expenses for the operation um you know since that time there has not been the formation of a 501c3 and I think we began talking about that back in 2011 um so I didn't know if it made sense to continue holding those funds separately now know if if you should revoke that status if town meeting should vote to revoke that status but there's a concern that hey this $900,000 that was meant for this kind of programming we want to make sure that that funding stays committed for its intended purpose subsequent to this action at June 30th recording everybody get home yes one issue vaness I think got one but maybe Tracy Tracy that guy good evening it is according to my clock 7:02 I'm going to do a roll call to establish Quorum so please answer that you are picture so are there actually are there actually three options there is that what you're saying two but isn't but isn't it isn't option one everything to free cash done isn't option two everything to free cash put ear marked or or cordoned off for p access or option three is do nothing but additional revenues go to is so is that technically it could be three but but the third op part of the second option if you revoke it so option two you vote to revoke it then in the next year you would have to um vote those funds from free cash in a special article because they they won't close out until June 30th so April unless you did something with them you have to do that perpetually you have to do that in perpetu annually every year uh you you just do it that one year because the the balance of the 900,000 is sitting in that account now um you you could let it close to free cash and then you could use it to um I don't know to fund window replacements of the elementary school or something along those lines there's nothing that says you have to use it for that but not not your you could you could appropriate it for other um legal Municipal purposes but you sit here do here you can to sit wherever wherever you're comfortable so thank you m chair for those of you I haven't met Lisa me Town Council um so the the statute requires that if you close out the fund special Revenue fund that anything that's left in the fund goes back reverts to the general fund which is what Tracy is saying so there's there's not a choice right now if you close it out once that becomes available when your budget is closed out at the end of June 30 2025 then in next year's budget as Tracy's saying you can appropriate it tell can appropriate it that's the only way to use those funds to an account that holds it for those purposes moving forward if you want to count but you don't have to so certainly there is some you know there's some discussion about generally not just here about well is that the right thing to do but when this was all set up in 2015 that it was clear that that's what had to happen and that's what do requires so in 2015 the statute said you can set up an Enterprise fund fund or special Revenue fund if you want to fund like a 501c3 or or separate entity you can do it in those two ways or you could just have it go to the general fund every year you could just have done that from the beginning um but usually and uh municipalities that want to establish 501c we C3 will put it into an Enterprise fund or put it into a special Revenue fund um and then if it doesn't happen it goes in and you appropriate the money every year to support your peg access however you need to do it in your annual budget okay thank you what what's the revenue annual approximately um 60 to 175,000 a year um it it has declined slightly um not as much as I thought it it may but I I think the expectation is people um move towards alternative streaming opportunities that we would see it continue to decline but there should be some money coming from Verizon Verizon no so that's a stream it's internet that's internet that's internet so right so there this is a big dispute right now between Verizon AT&T Comcast Warner Brothers um because they because they have to have licenses to come into communities and then they have to pay pay these fees back to of course they don't pay them they come from the subscribers that then go back to the community um but Verizon comes in and has they have a lot of places newb report parts of Newbury and you you know you replace with a fiber optic cable internet access and you do streaming and you get rid of your cable and the $320 month bill or whatever it is right and you replace it with your $45 bill and they don't have to give any money of that to the m local municipality so there's a movement of foot between local carriers and actually um a lot of attorneys that represent a lot of these 501 c3s I know this because I'm actually negotiating to communities right now about legislation that would change that I don't know that's going to be a big battle that's way above all of our pay grate um so right now those services are replacing cable services which why is why you're going to slowly see those fees come down but the but Verizon has they've laid infrastructure that fiber was laid a dozen years ago does doesn't matter they're streaming it's internet access it's not access interesting which Essen all anyone uses concast for anyway well not anyone but you're using it for internet access most people not don't have cast cable anymore it's a really unlevel playing ground but Horizon's got to work around in install in your home your phone right yeah right it's sitting there right you pay a little more and you got so that's that's that's legislative action lobbying groups and stuff like that uh right now this money's coming in you're going to slowly see it go down but not much and um while there is some discussion you know certainly the the cable licensing agreement uh requires the 5% or whatever it is on each bill to go towards supporting cable um Peg access um you're doing that to the extent you can it there's a little discrepancy between that and the state statute so you have to follow the state statute so if you bring it in for Peg access which is what you do and then there it's you know it's a little more than you need okay so you still supporting Peg access which is what you're required to do and capital infrastructure things like that so if you were to take the $900,000 next year is if that's what it is um and put it in appropriate it for that inine item to be used you know moving forward however you're going to use it you infrastructure Capital expansion they'll have it there if we don't do anything it just kicks it down the road to next year right there's no the money keep it just sit there it it would keep building up because as see you just said 160 to 175 yet our actual expenses on it are running about 85,000 so we are we do have a surplus correct and I think one of the things that I have two thoughts on this one is that for a town of 6,000 people we don't seem to have a strong need for a robust cable TV station and infrastructure and salaries and things to support that at this point in time I don't haven't seen a need at least you might address that maybe sure so the history behind what the peg access channel is or money the way it's the way it started is back in 2011 I was involved in the media committee that's how I actually got involved in local government and I I I strongly believe that Sunshine kills mold and at that time there was no um our the boards and committee meetings in the town of newy weren't being recorded weren't being broadcast we had nothing um so unless you were able to come in and watch a meeting you didn't know what was happening um I worked hard with the media committee and in 2015 I ran from a seat on the board and I left the media committee and I came on to the select board but it was always Our Hope um as a media committee um and when I got on the board that a 501c3 model would Sprout up in town and grow um similar to the Salsbury model um um I know you've received some correspondence um that quite frankly is inaccurate and that's one of the reasons why I'm here tonight is to try to set the record straight um back in 20 July um the history here um so back in 20 I have meeting minutes here from from November 9th 2011 um one of the first meetings that I attended as a media committee um we want to complete the programming in phases phase one was government access at Town Hall and phase two was expansion to include Community programing so we did have somewhat of an active media committee we had this gentleman Richard Hendrickson who has since moved away from town that was instrumental working with Tracy to purchased all the equipment to get our Public Access government at least the government he's running um Richard moved um the last time that we appointed a media committee any any members on the media committee was on our May 28th 2019 um it was um July 23rd sorry I'm out of order that's not July 24th 2018 uh we did our fiscal 19 uh FIS 19 appointments a motion was made by select jerson seconded by selectman Walker and voted unanimously to appoint Robin Williams and Joe MCD to the media commit for that year um Mr McDonna didn't take his appointment never signed the book and the committee therefore was never never formed um one person does not a committee make so since we did not have a media committee I went back to look at our select board meeting notes again meeting minutes and back in May 28th of 2019 we had a discussion about a media committee as board and if you just let read this to you really quick these this is right from the records uh selectwoman Greco proposed the idea of forming a media Committee of residents that would serve as an autonomous committee and not as a branch or extension of the town's government the committee would advise the board of selectman hire consultants and advise the public access content for programming for the town of Newber she proposed a part-time employee be hired to work with Triton School District to schedule new's education channel to reach out to to other schools such as Whittier and Essex Northshore which serve the Triton District to have school committee meetings um be air the media committee should continue to implement all that the board all board and committee meetings of new Rie recorded and aired on the public access station as charged by the seel select then I read the current charge of the media committee uh select person jerson suggested adding to the charge to assist all government functions in broadcasting and recording their meetings then selectman Walker noted the current language of the charge allows a media committee to include and coordinate public programming he stated it's asking a lot for committee to hire a town employee select woman Greco stated the person would not be a town employee but a consultant uh Mr Walker suggested starting a 501c3 as other towns do which may offer the autonomy a Greco desires he know salsbury's model was working well a Recco replied that the current that currently the town has no City media committee or cable advisory committee and that was a concern to me Jeff Walker noted that the town has an employee a production operations specialist that has oversight to programming and production if the goal of what I was a Greco is proposing is different that needs to be thoroughly fleshed out a reca replied that she would like to reach out to Lance W wisnoski I believe you say it of Salsbury Community TV and media center and ask him to consult with the selectman about the process and what they have in Salsbury both a Greco and M Doyle reiterated that all meetings held by the town should be recorded and aired and they are not Jr Colby noted the transparency initiative and community outreach policy implemented by the selectman on February 28th 2017 requiring that all board and committee meetings be recorded and broadcasted and remark that the policy currently isn't being followed by three boards and committees so that was back in May of 2019 was when we held that discussion and we put a call out for a media committee and they just they just haven't come um then again on ficia question yeah would you would you categorize your initial uh Charter let's say of what it is you wanted to do if you were to look at it today from above M would you categorize that as having been completed no I wanted a robust 501c3 similar to the sber model well but wasn't wasn't the charter for the robust 501c3 Sol to to make sure that all of our meetings and everything were televised and accessible to anyone one who wanted to watch them even if they couldn't be here physically that pce that piece was was met I would prefer to have them all live streamed like now they're recorded and then uploaded later I mean if we had had like I don't know if they ever go to Sal Salsbury when there's a meeting there someone shows up in their room turns it on and it's sced live over the cable TV that was kind of my My Hope okay um but without volunteers it just never it never grew up um on July 23rd of 2019 we had Lance of Salsbury Community TV media center located in salby town hall come to the select board and he explained a discussion and the history of the for formation of the nonprofit discussion included uh what he felt were the benefits of operating independent Peg um and answering questions proposed by the board then we had Michael rodinger which is a director who's the director of engineering of unique media systems in Boon mass and that's a company responsible for the construction of cable facilities in numerous towns and cities throughout New England explained and discussed the pros and cons of the operation of an independent nonprofit Peg Access Center um and a peg Access Center operated by your municipality um this discussion again included so we looked at the 501c3 model and we looked at the municipal model and still since the money was held aside in the special Revenue fund The Hope was always that there would be people volunteer and we put a call out occasionally but it it just never grew so at this point I think the municipal having it a municipal model having the line come into the our operating budget honestly I think it gives it a better chance of of taking off and growing I think that's my just to my opinion yeah there's no re I'm sorry guys do you think there is still an appetite on the part of the board of Selectmen to do that what's that to fulfill the vision as you had have just portray High consultant in other words in other words in other words if we move 900,000 into free cash can we expect that there may be a recommendation from the board of s Elman to use those funds to do exactly where you're some of those funds to create a 501c3 Municipal model Municipal model just oper I do I think that just yeah I do it feels like a circular argument like we don't have enough money to do this but we want like but we need yeah it's just it's like well I think there's two different things so the 501c3 model doesn't put the burden on the municipality right there's an independent body that does it it's funded through an Enterprise fund and you fund it but you're not you know they they have to report to you you have a contract with them they have to report to you you have to get an annual budget and all of those things but they are responsible for operating it and growing it right so that's that's the 50133 model the municipal model is it becomes a department of the town which is a whole different baileywick right and so I think that those are the to from a management perspective that's an issue that you all need to talk about but um those are the two sure but aren't we already there yes I mean you've already achieved more than I think more than half of the heavy lifting of that you wanted to achieve that correct part of which is is was just by sheer virtue of accessibility of Technology correct right you know you don't need uh you know when this was first conceived 2011 2012 it's a much bigger undertaking yes than now you can make it we had the head brought in and everything now you can make it part of the I I think you call the IT director the it director's job and it's it's just it's it's it's more a line item of his or her responsibility for her job and and I guess been listening to what the that's why I asked you about the goals I mean whatever the objectives of the 501c3 are pretty close uh just going from a recorded model to a live model wouldn't be too big a deal um and there doesn't seem to be I'm not familiar with with salsbury's um whatever the broadcast in terms of other other material other content but yeah they have saly talks they come in and you have people you know they might do a cooking show you know that kind of stuff yeah um currently we do run a municipal model because if we didn't have that we would have nothing yes so all this is doing we're asking you to do what's before you is just to make the accounting look like it does which is what it really is yeah which is it sounds like it sounds like there's maybe a misunderstanding with the public about that but also that that it would effectively be as you're saying the same if we appropriate it the next year like there seems like there's just a lack of awareness I guess of that or misunderstanding all that you got 900,000 to start up whatever and then you got 160 170,000 to operate it annually if if that's I can't think of anything that would cost you 900k no I don't no I don't think it would I'm just saying I'm sorry very live futuris and I'll be honest with you I I I attend MMA meetings and one of the we just the last meeting we just had they were disc um it was a Senator foret what ti was from they have proposed legislation up to put a tax and you might be aware of this a tax um um digital like Hulu and Netflix Digital streaming and have that money directed to Cable act yeah so this is the this is the it's all the streaming services yeah all the streaming services because there some communities that have viant Peg asses you know Boston is one y put's one Melrose is one they have and they are slowly losing their money and so it's going to come back to the municipality to support an operation that it's also an issue of control you have control right you do hear now yeah so anyways that's why I thank you madam chair for putting me on the agenda I just wanted to to explain where we were why we're here today to to Frank's point the the live access that's sort of the last big hurdle or is there something more than that you need body you need help to come in now one thing that we did do also was um we have an an arrangement and Tracy can speak to this with Triton to have an internship for two students to come and actually do that kind of stuff if they're interested in in doing video programming a paid internship a paid internship out of like access to do some of these live boardings we don't have any anybody to do that to to Frank's point about the technology too I mean in and this is the the limited amount of experience I have with any of this is at Tron and in the last since I started calling games at Triton in 2016 maybe we went from the games are recorded and uploaded on YouTube to they're live now which is frightening when you're calling a game but that jump was gradual but it wasn't it could not it could not have cost $900,000 you would have noticed that I think budget had been there so whatever the technology is I hav sest idea that takes you from this to L cannot be that difficult and that program has become huge at Triton now so there's the opport give them the opportunity to bring students in for that and I think they would jump out and there's a lot of students now that are I mean they broadcast almost every single um they live broadcast almost every single sporting event now how many people are involved over there it's I mean it takes two or three camera people per if it's like a basketball game or a ball game or football um it takes two or three people working on cameras and somebody running the you know being the director and then depending on how many people you want commentating in the booth so it could be a crew of six or seven kids for a game or skeleton crew of like quality of filming on these now most of it is a is an iPhone on a tripod for cameras and it would be more like one person here there's no no need to circulate cameras around the road be just one person turn the equipment is important the quality of the equipment yes and we'll have plenty of money death grade equipment it's just how much you want to invest in that would be facility there were a lot of questions I think it's already done I think you're already there it's just a matter of L making it we're there as far as we can be in rent rented space in rented space that's the other piece is that investment in a more fun right the time the old's funded you'll have a new town hall I do want to um uh so we did have two letters from Jack rycki and one from Jerry heie um Jerry Hees didn't really have a question it just said that her late husband was interested in this um and had some her own opinions but there's no question in her letter there was an allegation in her letter about the contract requiring a media committee that's not true yes no there there's the cable advisory committee that has to be put together but they only have to be put together during the renegotiation of the license so the cable advisory committee is not an ongoing committee it is is a committee that is terminous with the negotiation of the license so when that comes up again there will be another committee so we are not in any violation of committee good um the other question or somewhat rambling question I could figure out from this letter is the first one was [Music] blah um sorry the first one the first one is I asking if our town leaders or Town Council have reviewed the matter as laid out for this is a legitimate citizen concern and reason for calling for such oversight of review of law as it applies to funding Maneuvers as proposed by leadership I think that's asking has Town Council looked at this yes Town Council has looked at it closely reviewed all the igrs on it which are the governmental bulletins from the Department of Revenue as well as the statutes and the town is proposing to do it exactly the way the statute requires and do requires excellent and point of clarification the language is this is that's in support of public educational or governmental access Cable Television services not dedicated to public education and government which are nouns when they're used it um the argument here I believe is that we can only use this for public we can use this for public education and government and I believe it's a misreading of what where they are used as adjectives to be in support of public educational or governmental access Cable Television services there's a misunderstanding that Peg means that it can be used for public education in government no only for Access correct adjectives on the access through the cable correct got it good so what we are doing is fully in compliant with the law what is being proposed here is fully compliant with the law as a method because this has been established for more than 3 years the town meeting body which established this can now vote to un establish and the law requires that the money that that's left go into the general fund okay period there's like that's not even a question I think we had a motion in a second already yes which one would we like to vote on first so 8 2 eight then 21 yeah all those in favor of recommending article8 I don't see that you had a motion oh do we Okay Some Mo number eight motion on eight okay second all those in favor of recommending article 8 say I I I opposed abstaining zero so 70 to recommend on article 8 I would entertain a notion on article 21 as well motion so move second Z second any further discussion or thoughts all those who would like to recommend article 21 say I I those opposed none abstaining none 700 to recommend article 21 all right moving on here we go article nine entertain a motion to recommend the following Enterprise uh revolving funds Recreation revolving fund and Municipal waterways Improvement and maintenance fund second second any discuss entertain a motion to all those in favor to recommend I opposed abstain zero so 70000 recommend um article 10 is uh raise an appropriate of transfer from evolable sums the for to operate the ambulance Enterprise um purchases you'll see some further on further on all those who would like to recommend I I oppose or not recommend abstain zero 70 recommend okay so article 11 and 12 go together this is article 11 is giving and I don't think we have can't if I think we have to recommend on this one or not this allows the select board to enter into a uh lease purchasing financing agreement to allow for article 12 to be um executed correct in article 12 is to use to um recommend the town vote to transfer from the ambulance free cash free enterprise free cash the sum of 146 046 um to fund the lease of a fully equipped ambulance and to purchase a power load stretcher I'd entertain a motion to recommend [Music] both discussion all those in favor of recommending both articles 11 and 12 say I seven opposed none abstain none 70 recommend all right Article 13 to vote to transfer the sum free cash for a of 2,21 17,49 for specific Pur purposes outlined below these are written in the warrant fire station rep uh floor replacement I'm not going to go through and read all of these they are written out in the warrant um entertain a motion to recommend so we have discussion I'll move second were these not to exceed numbers on some of them is that how they're put on Yep they're all not to exceed okay yeah we don't we don't actually think it's going to cost $100,000 to put a rof fund I was Sayer based on the estimates so that it's going to be um either wooden or our recommendation we prefer to see it it's it's a plastic material but it's architecturally significant to that that time um and based on the estimates we expect we'll have to go out to bid naturally but these are the estimates that we received and that's not even understanding what's under underneath it structurally if there's any repairs necessary Frank you and I could do it I son put a b public construction yeah all right so as a point of order on this Marshall do you want to just kind of talk us through how these items were identified and how the dollar notes were well in a general sense or yep uh a lot of these things well these all if they're Capital came before the capital planning committee and we had uh the representatives from DPW police uh and the fire department come and speak to us on each one of these uh there there's been a little bit of change between what they presented and what you're getting right now and I Frank exactly the same thing that little roof 100,000 but uh they explained that they did not want to uh do something that was going to be modern they wanted to do something that was going to be period and they were going to look for a composite uh that would last a long time U I had some experience with those composits and they really are good and they do last a very long time um if you want to go through each one if by bit I can do that um but we do have some some significant U pieces that are the probably the highlights uh the Newbury Elementary School HVAC system is one of them that is uh be spread over two years at about a million dollars a year um we went back and said well if we're doing something that's a hybrid system in other words using natural gas and using the atmosphere for heating and cooling could we do the whole thing with the geother Al uh system uh turns out and they went back and looked at it the geothermal system would cost about four times as much it just doesn't pay that's about 7 to8 million for geothermal yeah it just doesn't pay oh although in looking at this and looking at the repairs to the roof one of the things that uh came up is the age of this building and the building is actually looking to be in pretty good shape and it's 74 years old so they do last if you do take care of them um building Elementary School New round school Park yes round school park right yeah yeah stuff has been added since I was going to say I was there that quite 70 years ago I I actually read about the building of that school it was so uh interesting that it was carried in the New York Times as a as a very Innovative school at the time and let's see We've Got U library roof that will be a metal roof uh which would give us a lot of lot of Life on that on that particular building but that is 650,000 and that's a one time that's not spread over years that's a one and done okay is the H system the only one on this list that's is the is the new is the NES HVAC the only one that would be spread over multiple years no uh newb H is two years uh we've been having uh the elementary school roof go for several years and it's got three more years to to go for completion so that has been a pretty significant outlay to uh to do that room and just because I know it has been um there's been some talk that people think that the the library oh excuse me the elementary school roof replacement is being done by a roofing company yes yes correct yes yeah there have been some Frank not doing that no that is it is not being done by our own DPW that is being done by a roofing contractor that we've correct worked with yes okay thank you that that's also going according to that that original schedule the original like 10 or 12 year plan right it's just that obviously the numbers get yeah we did we did um building envelope studies quite a few years ago and that identified a lot of things that had to be done on different buildings in the town and new Elementary was one the other other things that uh are significant fire department is looking to replace uh engine 9 that also came out of a study that was done several years ago on the equipment that we have in the fire department uh a lot of that is is older equipment I can tell you that some of that old equipment did in fact break down on the way to fires um so while they have kept it up as well as they can it gets to a certain point where it needs to be replaced um any other the the police police department Cruiser is a is [Music] a a standard almost like a standard entry we do one a year and that's in the operating budget well this year actually um we do replace one a year and they're they're generally on a three-year rotation that we had an accident in January during the floods um so we that vehicle is going to be replaced completely by our insurance company it was to with a new vehicle so you won't see them okay but normally yes every year Y and then there was one other thing there were tasers for the police department but uh they were looking for a grant for that they got it and the I know the one that came up last year is the Morgan AV fire station floor replacement at 60,000 and that seems to be a realistic estimate on that it's well when we got it it was 25 to 50 depending on what they found underneath the floor which is always you know okay we're we're doing some of that in our company now when you dig underneath that's where all the trouble starts you find things that you never would have guessed and so you we're doing something we found two tanks whoever put those they'll have to raise the roof so I'm sorry I don't know this but what's the number in the parentheses at the end of each one of the okay the number in parentheses there is a voting system that is on the capital planning committee bylaw for Newber which indicates is it a replacement is it something new is it going to increase decrease costs things like that so we we give it a rating uh and that's so if you were looking at this and saying which ones are most important the higher numbers would be the most critical ratings lower numbers less critical and is there a ceiling to those numbers like 50 highest okay right thanks and it's not unusual to see those it items that are related to Public Safety or public health jump yeah pretty quickly up into the higher readings I just have a question that's not for Marshall but for maybe Lisa but I know in the past unpaid bills require four fths majority if as part of this is it still a simple majority um if it's an unpaid bill it's a four fifths majority but how is it in the warrant yeah so so that unpaid bill is a 4 fths majority right okay so that's that's Sal bill is it that's not what there it's part of Article 13 right right y yeah you might want to move that second right cuz then you would jeopardize the move it separately yeah yeah so have two motions out of that two motions okay all right and we can just say is the difference to V okay we special town meeting it' be 910 Marshall what's the wait time to get a fire engine now a couple of years yeah yeah and we don't have a fire engine on this year's we do we do we do yeah it's funded in the operating in the operating budget okay so it's not in this article okay did you pay salt bill it's not a salt Bill huh it's a job no we had the Sal vendor was like hung out to dry for years wait for I think they waited two and a half years told do bup for years it was the tree it was always the tree or bill for years oh my God yeah so fny right any other questions or discussion about any of these items uh all those in favor of recommending Article 13 I opposed abstain Zer so 70000 recommend okay next up article 14 which we have Martha and Kristen here to talk about the MBTA community's multif family overlay District um one of the reasons that we are considering this this does not involve an expenditure or an appropriation yet through discussions with my voice of wisdom over here who Jean who has guided us through many votes and these recommendations is that there is is a financial component to this in which case we are want to weigh in and discuss it so I will entertain a motion to um recommend or not recommend so that we can discuss and then also include second excellent so Martha and Kristen I know you've had a number of public hearings and you've come and sat before us as well and I understand that there aren't a few um information or question and answer sessions planned between now and town meeting for voters and residents to come in I think for in my view on this one is that the reason that I believe that we have a role to recommend or not recommend on this is that there is two Financial applications one being that if we are in non-compliance we would be losing out on grant money that historically was about 1.7 million over the past 10 years and those are grants for not just discretionary or nice toab they are grants for things that we need to have and when we deal with such a tight budget any sort of grant funding is duly appreciated such as for the tasers um second piece of it is if we are not in compliance by December 31st of 2025 we can be facing litigation or legal action in which case we're going to be spending some money I think with legal um fees so I think in that case we are Duty bound to have I feel it's my duty to look out for the town's money overall that we should be in compliance with this so that's that's where I'm at is that we should come into compliance and I'm open to discussions from anyone or questions that people may have um I I think there's an additional financial application which is not as easily Quantified in the immediate term and that is when you read the verbage behind why we've been given this ultimatum which is what it is um you know it's it's it's that we all need to do our part with the housing crisis in this state that's facing the state and and uh and towns that have a commuter rail through them have a responsibility to do some sort of initiative like this uh and one of the things that caught me in the verbiage was you know it should be to encourage uh uh uh youing children what have you and and so while it is more difficult to quantify and it requires a longer term view I do not see where you know I I don't I I as a taxpayer in this town I I don't have a housing crisis I have a Triton falling apart crisis I have an elementary school that needs work the for to operate the ambulance Enterprise um overflow gets cled out to their Enterprise free cash which then gets used for ambulance purchases equipment purchases you'll see some further on further on all those who would like to recommend I oppose or not recommend abstain zero 700 recommend okay so article 11 and 12 go together this is article 11 is given and I don't think we have can't remember if I think we have to recommend on this one or not this allows the select board to enter into a uh lease purchasing financing agreement to allow for article 12 to be um executed correct in article 12 is to use to um recommend the town vote to transfer from the ambulance free cash free enterprise free cash the sum of 146 046 um to fund the lease of a fully equipped ambulance and to purchase a power load stretcher I'd entertain a motion to recommend both [Music] discussion all those in favor of recommending both articles 11 and 12 say I I I seven opposed none abstain none 70 recommend all right Article 13 to vote to transfer for the sum free cash for a of 2,274 199 for specific Pur purposes outlined below these are written in the warrant fire station report uh for replacement I'm not going to go through and read all of these they are written out in the warrant um entertain a motion to recommend so we can have discussion I'll move second these not to exceed numbers on some of them is that how they're put up Yep they're all not to okay we don't we don't actually think it's going to cost $100,000 to put a rof fund I say ler on the estimates so that it's going to be um either wooden or at our recommendation we prefer to see it it's it's a plastic material but it's architecturally significant to that that time um and based on the estimates we expect we'll have to go out to bid naturally but these are the estimates that we received and that's not even understanding what's under underneath it structurally if there's any repairs necessary Frank you and I could do it I was son put public construction all right so as a point of order on this Marshall do you want to just kind of talk us through how these items were identified and how the dollar Nots were well in a general sense or yep uh a lot of these things well these all if their Capital came before for the capital planning committee and we had uh the representatives from DPW police uh and the fire department come and speak to us on each one of these uh there there's been a little bit of change between what they presented and what you're getting right now and I Frank exactly the same thing that little roof 100 but they explained that they did not want to uh do something that was going to be modern they wanted to do something that was going to be period and they were going to look for a composite uh that would last a long time U I had some experience with those composits and they really are good and they do last a very long time um if you want to go through each one if I bet I can do that um but we do have some some significant U pieces that are the probably the highlights uh the Newbury Elementary School HVAC system is one of them that is uh we spread over two years at about a million dollars a year um we went back and said well if we're doing something that's a hybrid system system in other words using natural gas and using the atmosphere for heating and cooling could we do the whole thing with the geothermal uh system uh turns out and they went back and looked at it the geothermal system would cost about four times as much it just doesn't pay that's about 7 to8 million for geothermal yeah it just doesn't pay although in looking at this and looking at the repairs to the roof one of the things that uh came up is the age of this building and the building is actually looking to be in pretty good shape and it's 74 years old so they do last if you do take care of them um which new Elementary School round school Park yes around school park right yeah yeah stuff has been added since then I was going to say I was there not quite 70 years ago I I actually read about the building of that school it was so uh interesting that it was carried in the New York Times as a as a very Innovative school at the time and let's see We've Got U library roof that will be a metal roof uh which would give us a lot of lot of Life on that on that particular building but that is 650,000 and that's a one time that's not spread over years that's a one and done okay is the HVAC system the only one on this list that's is the is the new is the NES HVAC the only one that would be spread over multiple years no uh newb HVAC is two years uh we've been having uh the elementary school roof go for several years and it's got three more years to go for completion so that has been a pretty significant outlay to to do that roof and just because I know it has been um there's been some talk that people think that the the library oh excuse me the elementary school roof replac is being done by a roofing company yes yes correct yes yeah there have been some Frank is not doing that one no that is it is not being done by her own DPW that is being done by a roofing contractor that we've correct worked with yes okay thank you that that's also going according to the that original schedule that original like 10 or 12 year plan right it's just that obviously the numers get yeah we did we did um building envelope studies quite a few years ago and that had identified a lot of things that had to be done on different buildings in the town and new Elementary was one the other other things that uh are significant fire department is looking to replace uh engine 9 that all also came out of a study that was done several years ago on the equipment that we have in the fire department uh a lot of that is is older equipment I can tell you that some of that old equipment did in fact break down on the way to fires um so while they have kept it up as well as they can it gets to a certain point point where it needs to be replaced um any other the the police police department Cruiser is a is [Music] a a standard almost like a standard entry we do one a year and that's in the operating budget well this year actually um we do replace one a year and they're they're generally on a three-year rotation that we have an accident in January during the floods um so we that vehicle is going to be replaced completely by our insurance company it was total with a new vehicle so you won't see it on this okay but normally yes every year okay and there was one other thing there were tasers for the police department but uh they are looking for a grant for that they got it and the know the one that came up last year is the Morgan a fire station floor replacement at 60,000 and that seems to be a realistic estimate on that it's well when we got it it was 25 to 50 depending on what they found underneath the floor which is always you know okay we're we're doing some of that in our company now when you dig underneath that's where all the trouble starts it goes to public infrastructure for economic development and so if the town wanted and it it's a significant amount of money I know I'm working with the town right now with over three years are getting $10.5 million a year right so depending on where you are and what you want to do if that something happened that you wanted to use Mass Works money that would not be available so it's not just necessarily and again I'm trying to paint the whole picture so you have all the facts it's not just necessarily the money that you have received in the past it's what you're going to give up in the future any other questions or further discussion so with that I'll will take uh please raise your hand or say I if you want to recommend I I opposed opposed abstain zero 6 one zero vote to recommend so six recommend one no one zero obain Thank you Lisa um all right we are not weighing in on 15 or 16 or 17 or 18 [Applause] 419 last one is article 20 which is to vote to dismantle an existing Newbury Improvement trust voted at town meeting October 25th 2005 um and the remaining assets be transferred to the town and held by the select board for such purposes they were received by the trust um and Tracy can you remind us the approximate amount of this trust is about $4,000 $4,000 okay I'll move seconds discuss the family that originally supported this trust is in favor of this article they brought it to us they brought it to us okay any other questions vote to recommend I I oppose Z abstain zero 70 Z to recommend and we already discussed 21 and we do not comment on 22 nice job TR thank you we will work on the booklet I will write the letter and put it forth to the board here the only other remaining items on our agenda that was a quick um under old business new business um I did want to report back from the district Communications committee meeting that was held last week at that meeting which Mr Walker was there as well um there was a lively discussion regarding the um this year's budget cycle and a feeling of a little bit of push and pull with the budget and where we ended up between the three towns and there was a movement made to reinvigorate the alternative alternative assessment committee with a slightly different Charter this time the last time the alternative assessment committee was with which Alicia and I were both part of it was to create a kind of circuit breaker type in case of emergency type of assessment and after many days and modelings of different ways we agreed that there was no we couldn't find one that was palatable to all three communities to even bring forward to the committee because of the way that the two-step formula works at the meeting the DCC meeting it's talking about how about looking at a simple alternative assessment based on a 5-year rolling average on enrollment so instead of a twep formula doing something that is totally just based on percentage enrollment of the students based over five years so a working group was established um select board member Leslie Matthews was in attendance and was in support of this so I asked her to join me as a representative and she will be sitting on that with um I believe Ronnie Lee from Salsbury and I don't remember who the rally people are Chris and Chris yes Sher the first meeting of that will be H held on April 18th and if Patrick or Richard if anyone else wants to serve I kind of got stuck volunteering myself and then um because I'm a bit of a geek with numbers and visualizations I've already created a working document on what a 5-year rolling average would look like so we have some working sessions to talk about the big thing we all we do know and I think is really important for anything to address any alternative assessment is not going to address our overall funding where our state portion is not it's it's it's just not it does not keep up with inflation does not keep up with the operating budget and changing needs um so that's not going to be solved by it but maybe there's a way that the three towns could think of a different way so there is a working group established for that and we'll be meeting later in April and we're going to have more fun with formulas if anyone has any questions or don't let me know and I'll I will let you know it's a rolling average is not new to try we had a rolling average time it's an interesting proposal um has pros and cons it would allow us to project it would allow us to know things earlier it eliminates this kind of thing yeah that the is what we saw this year where um our minimum local contribution was saw a stark escalation two years ago it was rally that saw an escalation of their minimum local contribution coupled with an enrollment gap an enrollment jump so they got a double Wham the problem I think my own opinion it's a zero some game there's the same amount of money and every year it's going to be two towns one or two towns are going to see more or less one town so it's always going to be a two un you can step on a you know a nickel and let it spit out two diam I don't see how well and newberry's case this year it wasn't enrollments that were driving it so we wouldn't have seen any relief anywhere even if we had a rolling average right generally the rolling average over years you go back and look you'll see that it's yeah I don't know why they I don't even know how they had the authority to abandon it I I don't know how do they have the authority to to do it because that was the initial that was the initial um agreement way back during the regionalization yeah it we're talking 1969 or 70 they didn't go the route of root Wittier yeah so the rolling average right now over the past 10 years our percent enrollment newberries averaged 29 to 31% Row's averaged 31 to 33% and salsbury's averaged 36 to 39% Newberry and rallies have been trending slightly down over the past five years with ra with Salsbury trending slightly up but when I say slightly it's like not even full percentage points it's pretty standard over the last um five years won't you just run into the same bias which is if I'm at the top of that rolling average I don't want to go with the rolling average that's yeah that's why yes because because in order to change it it has to get brought to all three town meetings and pass all three town meetings which again it's it's a losing battle it's yeah I think it's kind of a like said I I I've spent some time visualizing it I've laid out some things I'm going to share it with that group and then that group will decide whether or not to even bring it back to the we're going to we'll bring it back to the DCC and then decide whether or not it's something to look at because three is a terrible number to have to arrive a vote it's it is it's yeah so it's there's more to come on that but I I think with that we are through all of our agenda items it is 8:44 and I would motion toour all those in favor