let's do a roll call to establish quum start start at the end just say your name Richard Keys Richard Jean case Jean Erica Jacobson Vanessa Rosy awesome so we have a quorum and we will open the meeting at 705 and our first order of business is to review and approve the meeting minutes of the April 2nd meeting they are attached in draft form on I have another one I I have dig it out so Eric on this is just the on article 14 y at the end it says recommend 6-1-0 semicolon then there's an an so I don't know if that's all I think it just need scratch then y just a knit but it looks like something should have been got in with the end motion to approve accept second any other suggested arees so good yeah excellent good all those in favor of accepting I approved all right so that's that now public comment 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 topics raised during public comment but may choose the add the topic to a future agenda this agenda segment May will be limited to 15 minutes seeing no members of the public here this segment is closed I will now share written and email Communications since a our April 2nd meeting you will see attached to the agenda I handed out tonight is we received one communication from Steve manin who um was directed to contact us um via Jonathan who had just helped us with the camera his concern was regarding the finance Finance Financial committee meeting to my understanding they have not been historically live broadcast with the exception of joint select board and finance committee meetings this isn't a Crest I've fielded yet oh sorry that's the piece which now I don't know the second to have this one basically Steve man sent an email asking for a fincom meeting so he wants to see he contacted Jonathan we were not copied on that first one uh want to tune in to last incom meeting but Channel 9 was not carrying it live the deliberations about the budget and town meeting were of great interest although the meeting will eventually be posted that can take three to five business days Jonathan suggested that if the chair requested live broadcasting on Channel 9 might become a reality so please consider requesting a live broadcast of future meetings we have um uh we acknowledge receipt of this and sent an email back to Steve acknowledging the email BC seeing the rest of the committee so we wouldn't uh violate the open meeting law and we thanked him for his interest in wanting to watch our meetings live we did discuss it at the April 2nd meeting within the context of the ATM Warren articles and uh included a conversation with selector chair Alicia Greco we are sharing this note and suggestion at this meeting I told him we would sh share it here um and we are going to under we are actually going to investigate with um the town if it's if it's possible within technical human resource and budgetary means for FY 25 and I asked that if he might want to watch the meeting and once it was posted so we are already um jet has already been sent over to Tracy and to investigate how if possible doing that in fy2 now also in your packet we have a series of communications from Jack rybicki regarding the technical error that occurred with our April second meeting the first email that he sent was on Saturday April 6 and reports an issue with the audio where around the time that we were talking about article set 14 the zoning got cut off at after Frank spoke there was some audio overplaying and upon receiving this this was forwarded directly over to the Newberry it Department Jonathan and it was resolved by Sunday evening in a subsequent message about this subsequent but separate April 9 it's down a few it's in a different one about the technical recording because Mr Ry Vicki also reached out to Jonathan Temple and said I am fairly fluent in most Technologies with great resources parenthesis peeps available to me so please believe any explanation you present if I am not sure of it will be vetted through those sources what is perplexing is how our One camera One microphone recording went specific Rogue Ona for the record I made a point to record record the first two submitted version for my own records that version was firsted 2 days after the meeting and put up on YouTube Thursday evening the six by by timestamp the original recording was not posted until Sunday after citizen cons after concerned citizen relayed comment through fincom member Frank wicon the speaker affected for 13 minutes to fincom chair Erica Jacobson what is being asked what is a what is of directly is the technical reasoning behind such an audio only issue under the recording circumstances your time is appreciated most sincerely sincerely Jack rcky uh the explanation is that they were doing some analysis on it and the issue was not with the camera itself it is possible for cameras that have microphone Hardware built into the device to develop issues of an age related wear of internal components from regular use however that does not appear to be the cause of or contributor to the audio disruption in the recording at this time currently it appears that there was a software error in the program we used to convert the raw record recordings into a file format acceptable for YouTube and the Comcast TV system this error resulted in the audio for that segment of the finance Financial committee meeting effectively lost this is the first time we've encountered this error and it has revealed that our procedure for review prior to uploading the recordings has a weakness we'll be adjusting our approach to preload to review to better compensate as well as continuing to investigate the software error itself I apologize for any frustration or disruption this has caused now that is from Jonathan Temple the IT director I will at this point in time consider these communications complete the recording is up it is complete I've watched all I've lived through our roads a second whole time there we go all right so that closes that stream of Consciousness okay let's see okay so that's this one sorry I tried to put these in order because I try to keep track of like which days I acknowledge them the next is a from Jack Ricki is a public records request for the lower green Schoolhouse roof replacement it was made directly to Tracy and we were cced on his ask those public record requests are handled by the town not by the members of this committee and it was sat it was responded to by um Tracy and that it was based on an estimate between um provided to our DPW administrator let's see here that's this one there are a lot of back and forths on these this is there's actually I will oh my God I literally can't reading up from the bottom of this [Music] one at least you use both sides of the page what at least you use both sides of the page yeah yeah that is true which makes confus it's going to say we can afford one side dear God yeah so okay let's see if we can get to okay so the okay so he also made one all right because the these now the conversations get streamed here so let's see here he asked about the um roof replacement at the lower green then he sent the he received the information then he said um he then asked for a question that there was about 40K remaining in NES lock change funds vote at ATM several years ago let's not continue the suspect funding which then went to Tracy did respond that the project to change the Newber elementary school locks was completed in fy2020 the town accountants that there are no more funds available on that appropriation Jack sent back screenshots of reports taken from the year that we appropriated it and so there were a number of screenshots back and forth of the when the numbers were appropriated in fy21 the lock project was complete Tracy advises that Jack when the finance department is notified that a project is complete those funds are closed out to the general fund and become a pro component of next year's free cash this is how free cash works we we estimate how much something is going to cost the town votes it in this case voted it out of free cash we got the work done it came in less than what was appropriated that extra money goes back to free cash once it's complete standard operating procedure I expect this to go on because understanding the above is fiscal methodology what would be the current disposition SL status and future B of the 20K ATM voted in 2022 for the public safety gate at Wheeler book Brook Bridge thank you always for your time Jack Tracy has not responded to that that was addressed to Tracy that was addressed to Tracy okay so Tracy is on vacation we respond so I think [Music] we've those all of them I think I think that's all of them so those are all of the ones that we received for our policy we review them we acknowledge them we do talk about things and I actually will take into um um I will take Mr R Vicki's comments as part of something that I think we should cover during later in the agenda in terms of town meeting preparation um er you s one on the the roof yes the Bine that yeah that's the last page oh is not the last page page that one was yes we did respond to that as well that it was I think yeah the $100,000 for the oh and he's now oh wait a minute sorry there was one more it's the HVAC replacement has a outstanding records request to electronic copies of bids prices estimates or similar documents related to the proposed $2 million HVAC project NES submitted to town leadership so that one's also will be addressed by Tracy okay so in order to be presenting information that residents would like to see included in our finance committee's ATM presentation we will accept public comment for the Appropriations booklet and finance committee presentation we did set this um to receive oral Communications from members of the public the members of the public May address the finance committee for up to two minutes this agenda segment will be limited to 30 minutes please note the comments must be relevant to the agenda item and the chair May interrupt comments if they are not relevant to the agenda item note direct questions asked may be addressed during during our finance committee discussion or a theti meeting presentation we have no questions we've not received any questions via email and there are no members of the public here to ask questions so we'll move on to our next item of business which is um the finance committee Appropriations booklet and cover letter we actually um this is already all set it was reviewed independently combined edits were made and it will be posted um it's in the hands of town employees who are in charge of photocopying it making it to a PDF posting it on the website leading us to the last part of our business which is the finance committee presentation um for us to decide what should be covered by whom and kind of when in the flow of the annual town meeting so I had a draft repaired um did you send us a draft I didn't send you a draft I sent last year's because I was kind of the draft Yeah it was last year's it's last year's and I do have a copy of last year's printed out somewhere um but the presentation is typically the order is typically um a welcome to the town meeting and a run through of the warrant process and the role of town meeting kind of the what is the warrant who signs it so the whole process of Select Board sign select board determines what goes on it determines the order they vote it then it's posted then we go to town meeting and what's read on the floor are the Motions what's voted on or the Motions read on the floor so there might be some changes I know that this year um one of them is going to be moved to no action uh it's one of the zoning or the I think it's the cell tower one that one's since been pulled because new information came and that's they're not going to be pursuing that this year so things like that things can come off but things can't go on right that's usually the first part of the presentation the second part is typically a recap of the operating budget kind of where we ended up for revenues and what we are looking at for expenses and the percent changes from years before um and then in past years we've done a a little bit of a deeper dive on certain Financial articles that we believe need to be um looked at with a little bit more depth like last year we did a bid on the town hall as part of it um this year I actually would like to um show and I have the data and I wish I could bring up the presentation tonight um but I'd like to show the free cash cycle and explain how free cash works because because I think it's a big misconception is that free cash is a real thing in Municipal Finance we have to we have to account for it and then how that it's not free it's not cash it's unencumbered and it does but it kind of follows a cycle and I have a I have a a graph that shows from 2018 which is we adopted the financial principles Financial policies that are in our that we work with in 2017 and so what that has said is that we want to always maintain at least a million dollars in free cash so what it looks like is that the fall is it gets certified at the end of one fiscal year going into the next at town meeting we appropriate funds and then that remaining sits in free cash so this year we are looking at appropriating about $2.2 million but we're starting with a balance of3 $5,000 so that remaining will sit in free cash untouched unable to be spent and it will get added to and I can share this this is I do have this part on this is what the historical view of so this is the green is certified so in the fall what's certified what's spent at town meeting and then what what's remaining so it has there such a jump um there's a big jump um because in a couple of things happen so 20 between 2021 22 um they arper money so one of the big ways that things get crosed out to free cash is that if there's been an appropriation say we appropriate $50 million or good Lord um 50,000 I said 50,000 $50,000 for say turnout gear for the fire department but they're able to get a grant after town meeting says yes you can spend 50,000 they apply for a grant and now we only had to spend 35,000 that1 15,000 would go to free cash all the balances at the end of the fiscal year go go to free cash and it has to be certified by the state yes and that's why they you can't really do much with it until it is certified which is usually early fall yeah it's usually October get a number um so it includes whatever was already in there and then what gets thumped in so and it wasn't just AR that's like that's the right answer of course but this if you could see prior to 2018 this town has made in my opinion radical Rise From the Ashes from a fiscal management stand we years ago it was negative negative for it was negative for years many years yeah oh yeah yeah I believe it yeah it has been and uh over there since the last since we've had some decent in-house leadership really it's and and you know their economy and Rising home values of course and all those all those it has been a perfect storm of but but clearly fiscal management yeah since since Tracy came aboard and what have you it really has changed significant oh yes yeah uh in that time so there's a lot more green on the screen than there ever have been at you mhm the town actually is in excellent Financial shape that's yeah it makes it literally makes the job of this board very different from when I joined and Jean can tell stories from before that because we just to sit no I don't but that's the thing is that we have a rigor to it we when Tracy came in one of the big things was it like seriously just getting the accounts in order so that they actually lined up to what we were spending money on also this is going to sound counterintuitive but one of the things was that in when she arrived one of the things that was happening was that if there was say a department had money left over like they hadn't totally spent it as we got to the end of the fiscal year there'd be all these orders for things right because it was the thought that if we well we won't get the money next year if we don't spend it all this year and that that philosophy was changed it's let's be pragmatic let's order what we need that's not needlessly spend money we don't need to and that has been that that sort of philosophy change actually helps us we just have to maybe change somehow call it something different from so it's it's actually it's actually a real life I know but it's just that's volatile because of that you know yeah so that's one so that's what I'd like to offer is is I actually kind of want to offer up these slides if you guys haven't I think this is and also miss around too when I was on Capital planning the first year all right right the DPW building was condemned remember that and we one of the discussion was were CPC and I it was it was surreal because it was like well we have we can we could sell we have an extra plow a wood stove and a four-wheeler sell to pay for the doors that will come all the way to the ground that will make it to code so that the rats can't get in oh my it was a real it was a real thing we're not talking about the 50s we're talking about no I believe not that long ago those were real examples and there were some decisions made to sell town properties too which in hindsight was not a very good decision no now the Woodbridge School sold for $200,000 not worth 5 million or something yeah not that it was at the time but from not generating tax revenue to generate tax right it's a plus yeah so yeah so that's one of the things I was thinking of definitely doing an overview of free cash to show that we are yes this year we are proposing spending $2 million out of it but we are still holding true it's actually this um it's fits within our financial management policy and it will take care of a lot of the issues that we need to deal with this year that we've you know we we do this and the ounts that we come up with one of the things we want to do is I was actually talking with Leslie Matthews about this earlier today was that so if the fire if the fire station floor we've estimated that through Capital planning through all of the different ways we've estimated it $60,000 does it mean that it's going to be 60,000 might be 55 again we'd rather estimate and then what we think it's going to cost us realistically so that we don't because all of a sudden if we if that comes at 80,000 we can't we have to have an we need to if we want to take money out of free cash we have to have another town meeting so we don't want to we don't want to Bare Bones the estimates on any of these things to the point that we can't actually then deal with them and pay for them yeah so if if there was a thought to say like well that $100,000 for the lower green seems too high let's not do it at that and then and someone you know says why don't we just say 20,000 because that's what my roof cost who and I'm not saying my roof I'm just saying as if someone like yes yep right that's where there's yeah it's like one of the few times where you know an estimate coming in high is actually not a bad thing it's makes you want to lean yeah in that yeah I I get it we still a goodding process right we still getting qualified bids um and hopefully we'll commence significantly under right right and again if there's a grant to be head for that that would be another place and again then this money was that appropriated out of free cash and would return to free cash which has to be voted on to take it off following year ex or in a special time meeting has to so it's it's controlled by town meeting it's not somebody here yeah so that's so I think that kind of going through this would be do you guys think this would be helpful to go through a town meeting it would for me but that's because I'm new so I don't know right so you so honestly you and you are both have a better finger on the pulse of uh any confusion or lack of understanding of the meaning of free cash from the people that you know so like if you say hey there's a need for this then there's a need for it I I feel from anecdotally from talking to people in the community that any any clarification about or you know kind of bear 's definitions or about procedure about is is useful is helpful most people don't understand right I mean to go back to the fact that we were all getting inated by phone calls and emails about about the like you know the cuts at NES or whatever people in the community don't understand that we don't actually have control over that so there basic um procedural things that their their misconceptions and I think would be helpful um because I I do think that sometimes tell me people launch right into like the issues with the you know yeah regulars well anything that brings more people from the fry to voting our voter turnout still sucks for years and I don't that I don't think we're unique in that as no but that's something I think we're actively trying to change I mean I can only I can't I know fortunately to bring at least a handful of people that have never been and and I will I will say this as someone who has done it bring both adults and the family and bring the kids they are welcome they can sit there I my kids have grown up going to these sometimes we've been able to get and I don't know um if it's possible if there's sometimes like a babysitting room that used to happen at NES but that's something we can see but that's that's but it's also one of those things that it's just really helpful to have two voting parents there both if it's dual if possible and it is completely Jr's son has come my kids have come for years um Cole's actually bummed that he's not home for it because he'd actually get to vote this year maybe we can talk after something because that I personally that would be helpful um and I know like I said a handful of people that are coming that have never been before have young children so if there was I I know transitioning over to Triton and not NES this year but so I don't know if that's it's easy to do but yeah we should that would be yeah absolutely yeah our voter turnout I actually just have the numbers from last year um article 17 last year which is voting money into the town hall account last year uh we had 499 people vote at that on that vote and 60% of the people there put money voted to put money into the town hall account and then by article 8 18 which was one vote later apparently 33 people left cuz we had 463 people vote and that was 53% in favor yes and 47 um not in favor and so that didn't fall it didn't meet the 2/3 majority to move the project forward that's another explanation that people need to understand is what which one required 23d yes or or the 4 there's one one's going to require 4 that's the pay they there's nothing coming out of stabilization so there's no 2/3 yeah it's a simple majority in 2/3 out um and we have we're adding $100,000 to that I think article 16 I was listening to the select board yes they said that was a 2/3 about somebody 16 oh Z no not zoning not zoning what is it it was the surface landfill including the five oh yeah that has to do with the um the solar yeah yeah but they said that one 17 and 18 were simple votes but that one was a 2/3 vote mhm so so Vanessa do you have any other thoughts of like what would be helpful like um for for tonight or for the town just for town meeting yeah um so I don't know if we if it's on the agenda to so I so I know personally in the crowd of people that have like young children n there's there's still a vast majority of people that don't understand what's going on with the with the the cuts that you know the stem cuts and all that stuff so I I think I I definitely think going into that would be helpful and um if if we can um Brian will be there Brian will be there yeah okay yeah I assumed he he he would probably be the one to address he can be anything related to the school budget it just comes to us yeah um but I just meant also like maybe very briefly touch on the procedural aspect of of that like what H what happens next what happens next so yes yeah absolutely I think that's a good part is that we I think we can talk about that cuz education and I will tell you these slides that CU reason I didn't send this is cu I like kind of work on this in like peace meal fashion when I'm in between like other stuff for work and that's not our town but I'm hoping to get a picture of our town um um is that your draft or is that last year this is my draft I need to change up the colors if I do that if I do that same presentation again I might lose it yeah okay it's 10 years old what what suggestions do you have um do we should we address I did a little research on because we've heard this about taxes you know the issue of taxes Y and I did a little research on just the neighboring communities here MH and in every case the town of Newberg has a lowest tax rate it also has one of the highest values in terms of homes it also has one of the highest incomes in the tense surrounding communities I mean it's and that's in 2024 so it's pretty pretty recent I don't know whether that's some whether some of that information in the in the dialogue needs to be incorporated or not um but we've got it I mean it's um I can uh let me look at it before I the average tax bill is the percentage of the income in Newbury is 8.6 the next lowest as a percentage of income is 12.2 and it goes up to Asbury at 21% wow it also relates the value of the house as well you know value of the single family homes I mean newes is not taxing anywhere Beyond its means in fact in some ways the people who wrote the letters about education made a very good statement we're not spending enough on education I was just going to say are not and we have not been for a long time how do how do we compare on education spending is a percentage of overall Revenue byis all those counts I think we're all around 50 points how do we compare in terms of Education spending as a percentage of overall Revenue to those towns I think they're all around 50 points oh it could be but Nu at one time was 70 yeah I mean the shift is has occurred part of it is because my own my own opinion is when you have a Regional School District you have three communities and very often there there is not necessarily stated but uh there is a it's sort of to go to the lowest common denominator who can who is having the most trouble and how can we make it possible for them to pay so that over years and years and years that's been sort of the approach whether stated or not and after so many years you run behind not just hundreds of thousands but Millions I it's it's a dead combination right because you have what you just stated as presum presumably as you know as as one in the con column is very much in the Pro column for lots of other people right that is like well it's a system of checks and balances it keeps from going crazy because not by Design but we have a populace that we have so many empty nests we have so many um yeah so many people say well I don't even get tras right so uh yeah my my mill rate may be low but my valuation through the roof and aside from the plowed Road and hopefully getting a policeman at at all hours of the evening what else am I really buying here and that there's there's a very prevailing attitude that and not saying it's right or wrong I'm just saying I think they enjoy the regionalization of the school district because of that because it yeah it does it perpetually to the it's always Bottom Dollar yeah which is you know of course coming to a day Reckoning with fact that our high school is yes crumbling right uh that's to say nothing of curriculum and in programs and everything else that's just to talk about a physical envelope um which you would like to think wouldn't happen otherwise but lot of these municipalities are terrible maintaining things in general cuz it's like you know it's like if you buy a fancy boat you say well it's going to cost me 4% of the value of this boat to maintain this vessel every year do we spend even 1% in in maintenance and and valuation on the overall value of the building probably not and I think all the municipal Builder say you have to play on three and a half points [Music] annually yeah never anywhere that no no not at all I'll never forget when they opened Triton the guy that came and speak at the opening made that very point he said this this building you need to set as side I I can't remember the number but what people went like this when he said that yeah he was absolutely right this was back in 1971 yep yep it's not a it needs to be done my other I guess if if Brian's going to be there obviously he be a address this as well but I mean I assume maybe there'll also be some general comment made about the the the um application that failed this year the yeah we can definitely we can get the stra statement on that of like this is what are planning on I yeah I can get that again maybe like a really like a one sentence overview of how that because I cannot tell you the vast spectrum of rumors that I've heard in about everything from people saying like it's great our new high school is getting built to to um to like oh I think you know I heard that it didn't you know we didn't get approv and we'll never get you know everything in between so basic basic understanding of that would be helpful to Let Brian know I will yeah cuz I'm actually I'm going to be over there for the alt assessment meeting on Thursday so I'll get some time with him I'll ask him about that you know I'm sure I mean he has all the information he has yeah he and he can and it comes from the horse's mouth yeah yeah yeah vaness is right the budgeting budgeting School budgeting is a bit of a black box not intentionally that's right um you know not not have a whole I have a whole presentation not in tionally but it just is and well but I mean even even if there's a basic understanding like people basically understand that we applied a and it got rejected right but then like I was talking to somebody just last weekend person whose kids are young and she was saying you know she was just trying to do the math in her head about when her CH if her children would go to a new or refurbished Triton at any point and nobody knows how to do that math I mean we don't know the answer is we don't know but like we we kind of have some idea more than I do have I do have the I I do know that Brian can give us a written like he can write it out for us and we and he can read it or we can read it um and it actually is probably a really like that might just be good for him to send another reminder out to all the towns as they're going into town meeting here we are with the Triton project as because I know I'm I'm not on that dist list because I don't have kids um in the district anymore anymore so but I think that would be really helpful to say where we stand now because we have put in another application we'll probably hear in December whether or not we're and if this happens this is what we're doing and if not then this is what happens or then we if this is the larger conversation but I think that's really big and I think also the as you just said the school funding being a black box it's it's it's nutty making and I've spent way too much time in this but I have a whole like present a whole like kind of thought process because the the the formula being the two-step process what Jan just said about those numbers about our tax rate our percent of income uh taxes as a percent of income the value of our homes all of that has led to why we have to pay more for Education this year as a percentage in the town because this year so the operating assessment the amount that's split between the three towns is based on the minimum local contribution and the above minimum so the percentage of doll by and that's split by the percentage of enrollment so the historical pattern is that when you look at that over the last five years Salsbury always pays the greatest share Newberry pays the least and rowy kind of Falls somewhere in the middle that's just kind of like over the historical pattern when you take those numbers the problem is this minimum local contribution and I oh do I I might have this one here oh I might not I don't know if I have this one no this one's the one that I can't get to um but the big problem is that the minimum local contribution numbers in real dollars has not increased over the years it Taps out at around $21,000 $21 million the this year it's really not greatly changed since 2008 in 2008 minimum local contribution was 82% of our operating budget and now it only accounts for 58% of it leaning that remaining 42% to get split between the towns by their percentage enrollment now our enrollment over that same period of time has dropped precipitously I think knows these pictures um so and what we do each year for that that second calculation is we take the total number of students and so for this year it's 2,156 students in the district Newberry accounts for 28.6 uh rally 32.8 and Salsbury 38 38.5 so then that's how we split that lab that other piece so what happened this year is what happens is that that minimum local contribution number is widely unpredictable you don't know what that mlc is going to be each year it gets told To Us by the state in January so we can't even know in like October what it's going to be so this year newberry's difference is ours went up our total minimum local contribution between the three towns was went up by 5.5% newberries went up by 7.9% rowy went up by 5.7 and salsbury's went up by 3.7% so that same percentage increase overall doesn't hit the towns the same way so this year we're the ones couple years ago it was um so last yeah two years ago it was rally rally saw theirs go up from 23 to from FY 23 to 24 by $500,000 and ours went up in real dollars went up from it went up uh close to $300,000 so that's really what ends up we have that no predictability so we can't even like think ahead that way so that's a really big problem is that so we got hit hard this year and that's the zero sum of it is that it only just gets distributed between the three towns you're not you're not going to use that you're get lost in no exactly this is for this but I think the bigger problem is that this nothing nothing changes the fact that our state we get no we don't know State funding like our state funding is as a proportion is dismal yeah that if I read your initial statement your question correctly though it seems like you and your colleagues have budgeted questions at the actual operational terms why do things get cut whatever and that is I would think that a really um you know reasonably suent but bulleted list of questions to Brian yeah well in advance of the meeting saying you know we don't need a special presentation but could you address these issues at time or something to that fact would be would best satisfy there I think it's probably the uh a little bit of crunch time right I think it's it probably would there isn't going to be a special meeting for that presumably but that would be the best way to get those questions addressed like at the you're talking about the the weeds level like the actual specifics why would this be cut over this or why would that why would this be and I don't want I don't know if it's entirely appropriate no it's I mean if you know but it's totally approprate I yes I can put something cuz that's the part that I think it's is is the blackest part of the Black Box I think cuz the the operational questions is everybody has their own things that they feel are important some um there was a woman I forgot her name but I think she works for Google and she she wrote a she wrote a really compelling plea about not cutting stem and whatever like those are the types of people that that's great like that's start but like ask those specific questions why why this versus another thing and and get get an actual answer to those questions another huge factor is um the increase in costs for special education which I support holy but if you're educ if your cost for if you crack it you'll see that special education costs over the years go like this and that and the regular budget tends to do this in other words if there's a million dollars and every year it it goes up 2% but special education goes up 10% then the other piece SP is the Doomsday Machine yeah of and it's not funded as well as it should be no no there's some circuit breaker money and stuff like that but it's still not funded it has there's you know there's a cottage industry and and making sure that you know an increased number of out placements and things like that they oh oh God yeah I have to tell you one of my experiences it cost a million dollars for one child for there 12 years he was in school we had there was million dollar there was there have been times in the last couple years where there's definitely been that has been that has been a reality that based on where the Family Residence is there was someone that was there was a temporary residence here M that would have had a million dollar sign so that's and you know it's not that it's you shouldn't do it you should do it but it's just the resources it's again the state funding for something that we is the burden is put back on the towns and that's a lot of what we're dealing with both in our own operating budget and the school budget is that the because we fall into this area we're not one of the high need schools we don't get when they when extra money is DED out by the state it doesn't proportionately hit us that's a big part of it too what they I selling like marijuana no you guys be SP money you guys need money uh um all these other things it's like we never see yeah it's it's lip service say if you look at the the Triton budget the final one that came up there's a nice overview right at the beginning on the budget process oh I I know yeah oh you saw it okay yeah I mean it's true like there's all this documentation and but I don't know if it you know it doesn't necessarily get read by the jly how how does this all affect my child to some extent yeah yeah right it's a lot it's it's all it's different perspectives on all these numbers all the perspectives really are valid because everybody's at a different point in the life I'm going to be an MP Min next year I'd like to think it wouldn't change my perspective that much but realistically of course it does you know because you go from thinking about the average cost of Education per pupil for your town to writing hundreds of thousand dollars in college tuition and and like I that's that's going to change your perspective you know um but it doesn't mean that those concerns that I had two years prior are any less valid to everyone who Ste his kids in in the school district um yeah it's it's and I you know and neest living out on the island or you know saying my taxes through the roof and I don't you know I get plow roads like their perspective is valid it's different from mine and different from yours but it is valid a lot of those empty nesters that haven't had kids in school for 20 something years they the schools are just like they were 20 years ago and all the special education y requirements that come down from the state hear another story about 43 kids in the class or whatever y yep all right there was former a former fincon member who kept asking me if the big question he kept asking me is like are you do your kids feel safe going to tr and I was like I don't don't know what Triton was like when your kids were there but I don't that like that's not really that wasn't really high on my like things that I was like worried about about Triton like no Larry kept asking me that I was like I don't get that like that's never been a conversation but everybody has a different a different perspective my kids had a great schooling right anything about Municipal priority anything anything else that we I mean articles where we expect we might get some questions so article I think the ones we're going to get questions on are well there's always um so education this is also the part two is that education is going to be in um it's part of a blanket it's part of article five which is the whole operating budget so when that passes the education budget for Newberry passes um we're the first town meeting out of the three towns if the budget passes in two towns and fails in the third the third town still has to Pony up and pay so even if we through some craziness somebody said hold on this and to decrease it and it but I don't think that'll happen um I haven't heard that we aren't supporting this it's not likely it'll likely pass y um and then it passes rally salsbury's going to pass it too like that's but it's the 2/3 2/3 of the towns and then the last ones have to Pony up um six and seven seem to be easy I think I think where it's going to get where there'll be questions is around um Article 13 the free cash s somewhere and they're grouped by um they're group they're all free cash article they're all coming from free cash which is why they're all put together in one yeah that's a big grouping I do know that we are going to there'll be a separate action to move the um the $499 bill because that has to that subject to our 4it vot the rest of these are all simple majority um so I think in parts of this um the if there's questions about the floor replacement or the turnout gear I believe that we will be looking to our new fire chief to discuss those and those needs I believe that Marshall or Capital planning will likely talk to the library roof Library projects and the elementary school projects and then the lower green Schoolhouse roof replacement will be spoken to by the historical Commission but I will verify that 14 is not likely I don't I am not I don't think we should weigh in I think that the best is a planning board one we took a position or made our rationale but this is really on the planning board yeah to to make that um and 15 is the one I believe is not going to be there's going to be no um no actions going to be taken on 15 that's the cell tower one that's the cell tower one that one's not going forward at this point in time Road for year or so this is a different one it was because of the placement of one of the towers by Triton there was some so it's getting further study they were going to put one many years ago very in a similar this one was going by the town Town garage right wasn't it the C Tower no this one's going by Tron oh it is okay think that's one there might be one by the Town garage too but there's two thought yeah there's one that's going by traon that then they decid to there was a school committee meeting the night after the warrant got voted and some people brought some information there and so everybody decided to pull back and revisit later the one near conspiracy or something that say what was that like the 3G conspiracy that affect us as well 3G causes [Music] Co um and then I think the only other one is article 21 to bring at least a handful people that have never been and and I will I will say this as someone who has done it bring both adults and the family and bring the kids they are welcome they can sit there I my kids have grown up going to these sometimes we've been able to get and I don't know um if it's possible if there's sometimes like a babysitting room that used to happen at NES but that's something we can see but that's that's but it's also been one of those things that it's just really to have two voting parents there both if it's dual if possible and it is completely Jr's son has come my kids have come for years um Cole's actually bummed that he's not home for it because he'd actually get to vote this year maybe we can talk after something because that I personally that would be helpful um and I know like I said a handful of people that are coming that have never been before have young children so if there was I I know we're transitioning to Triton and not NES this year but so I don't know if that's it's easy yeah we should that would be yeah absolutely yeah our voter turnout I actually just have the numbers from last year um article 17 last year which is voting money into the town hall account last year uh we had 499 people vote at that on that vote and 60% of the people there put money voted to put money into the town hall account and then by article 18 which was one vote later apparently 33 people left because we had 463 people vote and that was 53% in favor yes and 47 um not in favor and so that didn't fall it didn't meet the 2/3 majority to move the project forward that's another explanation that people need to understand is what which one requir two thirds yes or or the fourth one's going to require 4 that's the pay they there's nothing coming out of stabilization so there's no two3 yeah it's a simple majority in the peg axis article 21 um Dana and Leslie said no okay yeah and then I think they all said no on the dog correct they wanted to do some updates during during the town meeting yeah because I didn't like something I they could get it f and then uh so there was another 19 there was a one no that was Dana yeah was 19 oh that's the one about the finance committee and capital planning yep but I think I think we've got a good outline yeah um in order to keep us to fewer meeting I don't think we need to meet again I actually the next our next meeting we're going to post a meeting for 6:30 um uh the night of town meeting mostly because if all of us are together in a group and we don't have a meeting posted we can be called in violation of the open meeting law and there is sometimes a last minute thing that we might need to talk about or whatever so it just means that when we get there we sit down and we can talk to one another post meeting means we meet that's we meet earlier we just yeah we post the meeting and then we can get there got it okay so I talk I could have talked to grud and she was I was going to be checking people in she's four oh okay yeah then that's fine CU you'll be there as long as you're there as long as you're there that's fine we just need to cover ourselves so that if we talk to One Another We're not in violation because anytime we can't none of us we can't get together in a group of four of us ever outside of here without [Laughter] drink that's like kind of one of the things so um I'm willing to do a draft and then send it around and have people comment and incorporate comments okay if that works works great okay um yeah so anybody wants a copy of this that I did it's you can pull it right off Department of Revenue the tax tax information you just print it out awesome thank you give you a picture all right I am any old business all right I will entertain a motion to adjourn so move second all those in favor I I meeting adjourned at 808