##VIDEO ID:CZuhP_dBUG4## all right po join we let them know you are here oh there you are assessor's office entered the waiting room I'm in admitting now I'm wondering am I wondering here you come I'm GNA join with computer audio I see you I'm here hi so I'm gonna make you the host but it doesn't mean anything yes it means that you're in charge and you can make other people co-host which you want to do when George gets to the meeting I do that under not screen so if you more you find participant okay so when George show up like me so you can practice on me okay but you are already those oh no you made okay so the host make co-host yeah you want yes there's a second except and then you did it okay so I watches people come and then I invite them um you want to make sure what I'm going to do is m and if it's giving you feedback be Qui so right now I have an able waiting room and that's why you had to wait and I didn't yeah you waited I'm just letting you know that so we can turn off in AEL waiting room um but I don't really want to do it an hour ahead okay because people could come in so all I have to do is just click on it and that's going whoops now let's go back enable oh you had it you turned it back on now I think I did yeah yeah yeah perfect okay so about 6:15 or 620 I'll enable the waiting room no actually enabling the waiting room is keeping people from coming in without you letting them in so okay if click it it turns it off and they can just enter and then they can just flow right in and want it so I recognize who's coming and ask him if I don't know him right okay let's make sure that's no you want to leave it click for now that's very un yeah got it yeah okay so when I see people it that they'll be up here or where's the waiting room well it could be up here or it's up here oh okay but there'll be a split bar and they'll be like separate or they'll be up here they'll pop up here in the waiting room okay so you can just click on them if I uh if you left the meeting you could come back as I could invite you in right just what it looks like see look at this little leave I go out the barn door right through the e mute me can't you just go to shoot spray. and and then go to meetings and then calar okay because I don't want to come back in as the host right that's why I'm suggesting just go or I can do it over there on the other computer you got okay so tonight is Wednesday at 6:30 I'm it's going around Rebecca Tores just showed up ask uh I did I'm here did you let oh oh you must have I didn't invite you you click on my name it lets me in oh that's what happened yeah oh that's easy okay so now you're going to just leave well just say something to me unmute yourself no you're muted here I'm not M anymore okay perfect have yeah yep we're good want to do it one more time all right I won't click on you I it's fine it's fine are you sure yeah it was right there yeah you did perfect well okay and when George comes it's going to be these three dots that'll make him the co-host yeah yeah we'll go over there um oh or was it no it wasn't it was over here yeah so what'll happen it it'll really be up oh mute no cancel don't do that here I'll do it there and now down here it was more and well we don't have anybody to make co-host now but that's where I found it stacked up you'll see them Y and then you just click on okay and this is where I found make co-host but since there's nobody here this you want me to try it again how much time have you got okay e [Music] there you are and I want to see what happened I didn't do anything you just come in the door enable waiting maybe it's got to be because I was a host it's because I'm a co-host oh I've disabled it yeah okay can you make me not a co-host probably let's youve enable no I haven't you have disabled oh but I want the waiting room no I want the waiting room enable waiting room okay now Rebecca Taurus make host remove co-host but well that I hope that doesn't do it forever it'll be fine remove coost okay so now I'm not the co-host but I but I can make you one so write by your name that's easy allow to record local files and the rename we use like when um we're downstairs in the meeting room Melissa will put who's in the room instead of you know Melissa Rita Eric or or something like that and if a telephone number if you would come in as a telephone number I could write in yes you could rename as a name perfect got that and then the other things put you back in the way that's great I hadn't used that before well now you know how to do it oh I'm gonna remove that's good that's good that's important you know how to do it yeah it is there you are that's great now you're back in and make coost rame you could just I think being a co-host was why I skipped the enabled waiting room okay well right now you're not ask to unmute what happens if I do that so you get a message on your computer yes I would like you to unmute ha unmute and I'm unmuted yay hey this is great remember we used to have to hold up the sign this is good all right good leslee's in charge George gets here and yeah everything is good so I'm going to leave that I'm just gonna I need to leave like through the door you're gone good and I will put this over here and get back to my mini project that turned into that I managed to turn into a maxi project hello it's good to see you all ready for your vacation he's got to do our time sheets we were just I was the host and then she became out I muted her C oh am backat e is EX out now oh e to iig want to I can't reply that's everything going on with you rep e you [Music] you play e e make any progress e e h I am ad should b57 P 48 thank you if you need me or you need more just let me know okay not thank you e e again no for e e get one AEG [Music] okay yeah stay warm get your Cofe if you want that's what I came backward if you don't want it it can stay there and sorry if we burned your ears off I could I wasn't listening I couldn't hear believe me I I knew the voices were pretty excited but that's all I have no idea what you were talking about and I wasn't trying to listen I know oh that beautiful red leak tree over there yeah they it's been good foliage this year as far as I'm concerned it really has [Music] do you know who Dan Carson is Daniel Thornton is relative to Thornton by any slight chance no Daniel thoron sold his property you know Carson thoron on West F well Daniel sold to him and looks like it just sold this part never mind keep going puzzle bye drive carefully you don't want to get in that speed trap 531 2006 e e okay so Daniel says that to okay and then a HS to Daniel six 52 so this H to of seet map P parcel 88 that's the wrong one where's p88 or maybe it isn't to long let's check e e e e e e e e e e where is this 522 ft e e e e e e e ch e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e sh e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e how are you here I guess I better start paying attention I'm good how are you I'm fine and Sandy yeah she's taking an Naish from a long day yeah tell her when you can that I think of her always I will okay just W to see how this new medication Works she's any side effect from it you know yeah um I I'm looking through all my notes trying to see um whether Becky said Tuesday the 29th or Wednesday the 30th do you have a knowledge of which it is Wednesday Wednesday's not the 30th Wednesday is the 27th uh what what day today 16th Ellen's joining us tonight today is the 16th and uh I I thought Becky had said maybe Ellen knows either on I actually think it was the Wednesday night the 20 uh the 30th what that's what I thought too and I'm so used to them from my history of the meeting on the Tuesdays that uh well we can check out with her tomorrow sure yeah you mentioned to me today that it was the 30th the 30th 30th thank you I got to write that down in big bowl of letters because I didn't know which day Wednesday the 30th and the time was going to be 615 I believe I can get that from Becky though we look could you look just on the uh agenda on it on this when you when you go to sign in you know it's got the agenda and you click on it and see on the computer not posted yet oh okay uh but there's plenty of time oh yeah weeks posting um did you get my did you get my email yes I answered you and said it I got a look here come s i hello hello hi Howard hi aril hey nice to see [Music] people Becky what have you been trapped in your house alone me yeah you just decid to see people no I'm at work it's it's nice to see friendly people never mind never mind and you're getting yourself in deeper and deeper that's not Howard good to see people I gota let George in here is he knocking Becky's M making sure everybody's okay here so I'm gonna just say we're okay who's I told her I'd text her and let her know we were okay and then of course I forgot to text her and let her know we're okay oh we're going to miss her anyway George hello hi George sorry I'm late no problem me you're right on time it's only 629 oh okay good I'm right on time early sorry I wasn't early earlier just so everybody knows Becky instructed me to make George the co-host I don't know why but I think we're all here but I guess you're watching the uh waiting room maybe George and if someone comes you let in will yep I will keep an eye on it as soon as I figure out where that is um I assume that I probably get a notice if somebody's knocking at the door the door yeah that's probably what it is yeah okay she's not coming no she's not she told me she wasn't oh okay she so I think we could start the meeting Howard I think it's 6:30 6:31 maybe I got him muted can I unmute him yeah he's muted you should be able to maybe that's me I have no idea I think either of us could do it let me just looking at a thing he's okay okay I just did it right you did it I'm unmuted okay so I'm gonna open the meeting and in attendance are uh board members uh George Arvin Nittis and April Stein chairman Howard spner assessor clerk Leslie Bracebridge and Ellen are you the tax collector yes I am Town collector Town Ellen McKay Our Town collector um and David I'm sorry don't forget David's here oh I'm sorry and and administrative assessor David Burgess I only see four I only see four people on at a time on my thing um the first item on the agenda is to review and approve the minutes from the September 11th meeting uh has everybody had a chance to review those in any questions or comments about them okay good uh just Leslie thank you for that summary of the uh the affordable housing act that was very helpful um I'm I move that we accept the that we accept and approve the minutes from the September 11th meeting do I have a second okay I vote Ian I okay the motion passes uh this the next item on the agenda is to review and approve the accountant reports um we have one accountant report it's the September motor vehicle abatement report there were five of them um anybody have any comments or questions about those them straight board okay um I move that we accept and approve those the accountant report I'll second that okay I vote I over I okay the motion passes the uh next item on the agenda is to review and approve the fifth motor vehicle excise tax commitment it is for uh Leslie want to read us the number 6,000 something right $ 6,588 okay does anybody have any questions or comments about that well while Ellen's here I just want to asken how are we doing with um excise tax collections is it too early to ask for oh this is fiscal 20 we're no calendar 24th the uh T car taxes are on a calendar year not a fiscal year oh okay which is even more complicated right because you have one half of one year and another half of the other year in our Revenue estimates for the budget yeah I I don't even know what your Revenue estimate for excise was for this yeah okay yeah okay it's not a relevant question because this is 24 it's because the big season if I'm not mistaken is going to be in beginning of 2025 is when the the large volume of bills go the commitment one is uh is the big commitment you let past year as I recall it's about 170,000 and I'm winging it by off the top of my head yeah well that's certainly r scale okay it was huge okay yeah actually we're up to what 2,200 bills which is very high we had about 1,800 in that first commitment which I kind of went whoa that's a lot we had 800 households right wow that's almost triple that's like one well but you got to realize this also includes things like trailers we got people let have three or four trailers registered yeah and motorcycles too right yeah yeah you probably got people with multiple motorcycles as oh I've got somebody that collects them yeah right no I'm not surpris colle them I think he's got 10 of them yep all registered okay well I'll ask this question again in February okay yeah please do um you know early March okay okay so uh I move that we approve and accept the fifth motor vehicle excise tax commitment I second i v i I say Stein I okay the next item on the agenda are to review and approve for signature stamps the chapter 61 61a and 61b renewal applications um Leslie how many of what kind do we have we have uh two chapter 61 forestry 10year renewals we we have one 61a annual renewal but a being agriculture or horiculture and then we have five 61b Recreation they're all checked and reviewed against their leans and the um vision and they're ready to go with your approval okay any any questions or comments about them no okay I move that we uh approve accept and approve for signature stamps uh the chapter 61 61a and 61b renewal applications I'll second that okay i v i and all the accompanying paperwork that you know the the notices that they've been approved and that sort of thing it should have set it on the agenda and didn't me for stamps that's what there yeah okay F I vote I I I okay the motion passes um the next item on the agenda is a new application for uh 3abc status for 45 Schoolhouse Road um for anybody who doesn't know 3abc status means that uh a nonprofit tax exempt I believe um I'm wondering if I put that on prematurely um no no you're good we not we need we need to make a decision on this before the classification okay okay um why I asked is because um seems like they always have to submit their federal income tax form and this was just set up at the the Commonwealth of Mass on July 1 I believe and I don't know I I I really bow to you David I have no idea but I was raking acorns this morning and I thought sounds like fun oh it was that's when these things occur to me so I'm taking David kind of by surprise here all right uh if they were if they fighted with us before July 1 we have to act on it because that's the date uh from what I can see from reading all the paperwork Unfortunately they do qualify um yeah so it's just a matter of getting you to sign off on it and said if you agree yeah I I really don't like these small ABC's that there's no real accountability for they just can get them with a drop of a hat uh but this one seems to met crossed all the tees and everything else so it it's while I might not like it it seems legitimate yeah I wanted to speak to that actually um to be okay to be okay a couple of things to begin with for anybody who doesn't know um the land is owned by I think Allison Cunningham Sweeney and she's running uh claims to be running a goat farm there as uh and she's also teaching people how to raise goats and so it's an educational Enterprise and uh That's the basis for the nonprofit right um one thing I'm wondering is the the the certificate of incorp the incorporation uh paperwork that Leslie sent us that's dated uh 2014 seems old um does anybody know why we're only seeing it now I'm sorry I thought it was 24 it it said 2014 yes the the paperwork that there's two different things there's what you showed me yesterday when I was in the office and that was a there was a I don't remember what it was but it said 2024 yeah or possibly 2023 but but the paperwork that you sent us the thing that was with Bill Gavin's signature on it or Bill Gavin signing off on it that's 2014 and it's it's 20 I thought it was a misprint first and then it's all over the place there's a lot of 2014 on there so apparently it's been going on for a long time I know she's been striving to become uh similar to she's told me over the years she was striving to become just like Sirius and it seemed like could be a decade that she's been striving okay but I I I'm I'm in the same boat as how Howard here I mean is there a way to confirm I'm at the website right now the Secretary of State and I'm looking to see if there's a way to confirm um that that's still in force that that document we're looking at that says it's a 503c is still active Okay we're not the 503c it's a 180 Corporation oh okay so we should be get through the corporations book it's still going it should be in there you can also go online to the Secretary of State's Corporation list and put it in and see what comes up and see all her filings because if if she became a corporation in 14 she should have been filing right along right well that's what I did Ellen and that's what I said the assessors so why is this coming before us now just because the first time and I need you to sign it okay I'm sorry David I didn't understand I'm sorry sorry because it's the first time it's applied we need you to uh I need the board to sign off on it right but but nobody knows why she hasn't applied until now unless you didn't fin unless you didn't feel the uh property wasn't ready she was people or whatever you can be 18 Corporation and not necessarily getting the p real estate unless you're ready to do it okay okay and so what is the value do we have any idea based on what documents we have in front of us I'm just give me one second here I should have sent you the field card D I'm grabbing it right now it's um yeah I'm wondering how much revenue we're talking about here it does she had it in she had it in chapter 61 B so the different she had um five of the 8 and 61b not not a not agriculture not agriculture I thank you power you are absolutely right okay agriculture so the um assessed value with 61a apologize was 545 660 go ahead wow no nothing that's I'm doing the math in my head that's a lot of money $9,000 yeah but I mean as long as he qualifies there's another thing we can do about it yeah said I'm I I'm looking at the same document on the Secretary of State's I did find them and it's the same document that Leslie they found and it says it right there nonprofit corporation okay a situation where we could engage in in a pilot with them as a nonprofit the way we do I I asked Becky if she had any recollection or knowledge about how Sirius and temos got into pilot programs and she didn't it precedes her too she said what we could do is once we have a new Town Administrator sit down with that person with the the New Town Administrator and the owner and talk with her about it but there's absolutely no reason why she has to agree to it that's correct I think with Sirius may my and it's just out of my head that they had children in the school and there was Services other community Ser other Municipal services but but they're strictly voluntary is that right David yes they are any Pilots voluntary okay yeah their website doesn't have a lot of information whose website uh Living Arts Farm okay yeah I'm just looking at it to see you know try to get some greater understanding of of what they are and what they do and how big their operation really is is it you know substance over form here I'm not seeing much substantive but like David said you know our hands are tied right yeah now she raises goats it'd be interesting to find out from the um what is it the the person that handles wild livestock for the town how many goats she has yeah the animal officer yeah whatever it's yeah I mean it's curious to me that you know pretty much everybody who's listed as an officer or director is the same person except for two people at the bottom you know um yeah that's not uncommon small corporations yeah you to think that people could just avoid paying property taxes by doing something like this yeah I can say that on her uh last year's application for 61a uh she described one two acres as being in blueberries pear Peach Apple mberry herbs and peas and 5 acres in pasture land and their total income is 675 now my understanding and I I can be corrected for sure is that next year when she applies well she'll be applying in the spring for FY 26 correct me if I'm wrong 25 26 27 26 26 I thought they okay can I get that clarified I thought that the I was told Yesterday by somebody that the this December 1 deadline that we're looking that we're coming up to chapter 61b now we're talking about when she reapplies for 3abc she has to file an application every year and with that she has to show the income if I'm not mistaken or she has to show something just a file 90 is that what it's called 990 or 990n for the 3 ABC Uh I can look at someone else's right now but at that point that will be some substantive uh information George okay yeah but I'm looking online I can see it the the form yes by March for us there's not much we we there's not much we can do about this it's it's all above board and signed off on it's an annual application well we can always we can't always deny it letter tiets Tov but do we want to this first year or wait until we don't get enough information well I have it prefer to wait for the next year to see what we have what you put into filings yeah yeah I mean at this point I don't have anything that you know any evidence to refute this okay then we do need a vote on it then okay so just to clarify we we do have to approve these things okay that's it doesn't go through without our approval right okay but we have we can just go with what the state has done the state has already approved it the state has made it a nonprofit okay but it's pretty obvious the state doesn't have any direct evidence hasn't hasn't looked at what she's actually doing nobody from the state came out there to check out the property no it's all on paper it's all on paper well I will say that and Ellen can confirms that we did have an individual checking on her status about a year ago or was it just the spring Ellen I can't remember when he was here twice but I don't think he was State I thought he was Federal I thought he was Federal too and he didn't indicate that he was he wasn't checking on that there were other things and he didn't tell us what yeah I was going to say he was Federal he didn't tell us what but he did want to know anything we had on her property so I don't know in retrospect you know at the time I was quite suspect and in retrospect I wondered if well maybe they do do an official inspection you know checking of Records before they move forward I doubt it I don't think he was from that kind of an agency okay so it's sort of up to us right how much how much we want to you know how concerned we want to be about whether or not this is a legitimate operation or not it's kind of hard we can just we can just sign off on it and forget about it or not and it's up to us yeah okay um so now that okay now that we've sort of laid out that issue it sounds to me like David you're recommending that um we not do that we not we not come down hard this year basically this year I'm Reon you should approve it this year we and then next year we can like start getting serious about going over for inspections and looking it over and seeing whether or not this is really on the level correct okay I can go for that I can do that as long as we don't put it off forever so would approving it now be just it's uh that it's just too we can't don't have enough time to inspect it is that the problem or we're just GNA see how it goes for a year I think we would like to see what her income is for the first year and what she actually does okay because I'm sort of I mean one of the things I wonder about apparently the educational part of this is important like she doesn't she doesn't just become a nonprofit because she's got a farm she has to be teaching people and training and so on and so forth right and that's something that I'm a little skeptical about well when I went to the website you would think that if she was trying to attract people to her operation there'd be a lot more information and there's I didn't see anything no there's really nothing but if starting up then in the coming year she should have it no yeah no that's that's reasonable she's been doing this apparently I mean since 2014 yeah and I think there was there was something about the educational stuff being in the original filings as I recall all right I I really don't have any problem denying it and then file with us again and talk to her some more about it because we can always Grant it as an abatement not a problem so you're sort of back you're changing well loud if you look at the names on it one of them's an attorney yeah Will Flanders he used to live in yeah he did long time ago yeah I'm sure I'm sure that he helped her put it together yeah so I mean either way it's not going to hurt us we can hold it and deny it now and then aate it later if we have to so basically we would want to ask her for more information um yeah I'm quite content to call Will and ask what's going on and what what kind of information can she provide that would well she's G you know as George points out there should be at least something to show that they're recruiting uh students and what they're doing and is the property being used to uh house the students because at least serious and teos have housing on the property for the students or whatever they're doing so [Music] it's I think as as we've talked about it I've changed my mind and I think we should deny them yeah it's worth $596,000 that's 9,000 in Revenue you said yeah just yeah do we want to actually deny it now or do we want to ask for more information and withhold I would prefer you with deny it we move forward with the hearing I'm sorry move forward with the Bing process okay fine fine fine got it um okay so voice comes to wor they'll get an abatement right okay so if if we are going to do that and so are are we going to ask for more information now or we we will we will get more information we bring it back to a future board meeting okay well I'm sorry we will simple question do we need do we need now to talk about what information we're going to ask of her do we need to decide that now no good okay okay that was easy um I move that we uh deny I'm sorry I have to look at what I'm denying here okay I move that we deny the new application for 3abc status for 45 Schoolhouse Road I'll second okay I vote IUS I inste I okay Leslie you need any uh input as to have that letter gets written or not you want to just go for it I will refer to David I think form online I don't know this is the first one I've ever been involved in they don't come up very often okay yeah we can we can sort that that's I think the Department of Revenue likely has a form a denial form oh yeah or process or something yeah okay yeah well let us know if there's anything we can do okay okay just as a um just for informational purposes I'm going to mention that um when I first came on the board we were dealing with Kevin was the assessor we were dealing with this kind of stuff Kevin was fairly active um in terms of going for inspections I remember he and Leslie went over to Syria spent some time there just looking at all over he went over I did not go you did not go okay I wasn't invited NOP you went to it was the the um the agreements had not been reworked in years and so Becky and Kevin worked on serious and I believe they worked on OS though I'm still not certain I've seen the updated temos I was on the select board when that when they did that I remember that I don't going to serus or it's t for both I think that was exploring both of them and I was there another one in town yeah there is uh Camp Anderson is that the one you're thinking of no no that that's just tax exempt but I did go up to was another one Kevin and it wasn't uh Kevin had trouble walking so we we did not look at anything really we just talked to the person from the Cars um but serious Becky and Kevin went and a new agreement was created and it's in effect and temos I'm not real clear on that I'd have to check in with Becky but still that's more to do with pilots and we're just talking about 3abc our other three ABCs are of course Camp Anderson which is a religious organization so that's pretty straightforward and then castal Land Trust which we we understand to be a 501c3 and they send us a half inch of federal tax forms every year to show their status but this is much smaller operation David David on the uh on those other ones the renewals should we be voting on those every year no those are pilots there in place the the select Bo have agreed on the pilots or no the three ABCs are brought forward every year though for your yeah okay three ABCs okay okay um the next item on the agenda is the um I'm sorry next item on the agenda is to uh updates on the mean tested exemption I assume that's a review of the select board meeting which uh I wasn't there can David do you want to do that for us tell us what happened sure they agree they decided to do a 50% this year uh we did put we did tell them that there was a 50 that the board was choosing between 50 and 75% and had not made a recommendation and in the long run they decided to stay with the same amount last year okay dollar dollarwise not percentage ways wasn't it 100% last year it was 100% for a th000 and this year's 50% 3,000 yeah because of the uh increase in the uh yeah circuit breaker okay that's everything we need to know about that yeah okay okay fine um the next item on the agenda are updates for uh FY for Sting the tax rate for fy2 um in including preparations for the classification hearing Again David what do we need to know well basically we we are going to have it in nearly November but we've decided not to have it in the 28th of October at 6:15 and I will prepare all the um 30th third Leslie tell 30th is what Becky told me is it 30 sorry 30 is a Monday 29 Tuesday and 30 is a Wednesday and all over the place but so so the 30th 30th at 6:15 and that's a Time certain so that's when we will do it and I will send all the same classification documents that I sent you last year for review before then um and I don't you mean it only be a 10-minute meeting really to decide what they're going to do and I can't we will be have a split tax rate the same as last year and the think that will be 1599 and 16001 oh so just said Cur out of curiosity do they have that that split tax rate between uh residential and commercial no within the residential class the people that have the the tax rates for residential class up been 1601 but the people that will um we'll see the benefit of a lower value the qu for the means tested then they would have their value will be adjusted rather than the tax amount okay but the split rate the split rate it's it's it's split between residential and everything else right uh yeah yes okay and that's something that gets voted on at the classification hearing the select board has to approve that yeah okay okay thanks um and again that that's everything that's that's okay okay and the 30th is a Wednesday I got that right yeah and the select board's doing it on a Wednesday this time okay um I thought they have to have their meetings on Tuesdays am I wrong they don't have to they they typically do but sometimes they there's a conflict well I think that the uh Finance committee's meeting on the 29th okay so that's why they moved it okay and and then it was getting into Halloween and it's all confusing yeah Halloween I can't mess with okay right national holiday if you haven't noticed driving down the street right right giant skeletons we always do it the fth of November if you want do we do Halloween in the middle of town because I'm way out here and I don't see any Halloween action at all yeah I think there's a truck or treat going on where the people show up with their cars I think the library I saw that in one of the library newsletters also block off a good chunk of lever Road um or have it highly policed and slow slow okay okay okay I should come and watch that it sounds like fun yeah from West pum Road up to town hall there's a lot of trick-or-treaters on the street that's far that's a lot cider and donuts at the fire station yes always okay okay I gotta make got clear the date okay okay um the next item on the agenda is the um future host for assessor Zoom meetings because Becky is leaving um sounds to me like the problem's already solved am I right I don't know that it's solved when we were talking and putting this on the agenda um we assumed Becky would be here and Advising us this is working fine for tonight but she said that there may be a new Zoom account that we will share with Personnel Board and one other board I forget what it was um and George I don't know how comfortable you feel with hosting it I I I don't understand the details exactly this certainly what I did was not much well I mean somebody needs training I'm sure any one of us could do it and I'm right I'm willing to do it but I think um I think a couple of us should be trained I think it's training but this is a big issue that's not just our issue I mean this is an issue for every committee so I hope that the select board and Becky are working out some sort of a plan to enable everybody to be able to run meetings without relying on one person I I am in full agreement with that and uh this she so far she or Grace have been the ones to assign the meeting ID in the codes the the passcodes and it seems to me you know Becky's was is always here but she told me that Grace would be doing that and Grace is not always here she's she's a part-time person has a lot of other responsibilities so I'm in agreement with you George that it would be very nice if we even all of us it can't be that hard to I don't and maybe because Becky's been balancing who what are the Committees that need to meet on this one night that so that by getting an extra account that if assessors are only sharing with Personnel Board and maybe it's finance committee I don't know that that would that would free up a lot of space but I think she mentioned that right now there's a policy that only Town employees can take that that role that would have to well one we're all Town employees uh payroll employees right all right well you're all paid yes that's right that's right for this committee I don't get paid for the other committees we have to pay to be on the finance committee we have to pay taxes yeah but that's what it was on the agenda because I thought Becky would be here and she'd be able to explain it and uh whatever came up might have been sudden she didn't tell me and it's not for me to know or my concern but she came right in here and uh made actually what she did was she signed in made me the co-host and then I removed her as a co-host so I did not learn anything tonight oh okay okay okay okay yeah I I think probably the real work is going to be setting up the accounts for people to use training will be important too I have a feeling it's not that many steps I think mostly it's going to be setting up people with the authorization yeah use the account always assumed that the reason so few people are authorized was just so that there wouldn't be conflicts between meeting dates and times and people I think we're bumping up against how this you know some of the challenges of having Becky leave yeah well is it a CH though or will it open some doors so that there can be more flexibility to have a meeting it could be an opportunity for sure that's right there's no um there is a reason not to have simultaneous meetings because people can only attend one at a time that's a good point yeah but that's the case whether it's in person or Zoom we used to use up to five rooms some nights with meetings yeah if you look at the calendar there's many meetings every night yeah just few days too few days is what the problem days in very many committees and Boards yes exactly I think for tonight we'll just put waiting for uh Becky and select board to give us more information right would it make sense for us to communicate directly with the select board you know to put this in an email do the select board and Becky just sort of probably a good idea yeah sort of to document that what we're trying to do I'm not yeah I'm not sure yeah well Becky will not be working for the town of shutesbury presumably on our next meeting so it does have to be resolved what's her does anybody know her Rend date November 12th I'm sorry I thought it was 12 somewhere in there I'm sorry again please I yeah is it the 12th I thought she told me the E thought it was the 12th but maybe the E I'm not sure yeah she wanted to be here through the election and so the Friday of the 8th I thought but maybe it's the 12th yeah but either way it's right around then right around before we meet definitely by the 15th okay okay fine um Monday's a holiday so it's the same whether it's Friday the 8th or Tuesday the 12th oh that's right good November 11th it's only one day difference right yeah so I just I know this isn't part of this meeting but I'm just I'm curious how are how our town employees managing with this um transition I mean is it is it causing panic is it how I think what's going to happen from what I have been told is that Rita is involved in trying to find a proam Town Administrator there are some Town administrators that are retired and that come into towns just to cover while the town goes out and finds a a full-time permanent person and actually that is what uh one of the people is the one that Becky is replacing as a full-time permanent person in Sunderland they have a temp right now and what are his plans exactly well what do you mean his it's a her a her what are I'm sorry what are her plants well oh I have no idea maybe this young this woman I guess wants to back off now she's tired and she wants to take some time what I read in the paper there other ones I'm sure around in the paper when when they talked about Becky being offered the job this woman said yeah I'm looking forward to getting a break from this so know how viable she will be a candidate well I don't think it's necessarily her but that's there are others there are definitely others mentioned one or two that she's thinks they're going to pursue so I know there's some out there and we know that there are other people that applied in Hatfield and in Sunderland and in Deerfield for the assistant job so there are people out there looking um whether any of them wants to do a part-time gig while we're doing our search I don't know also important to have some overlap with Becky you know yeah good luck with that it would be nice that's not gonna happen I'm afraid the clock is ticking on that I know ironic when I first moved to town we had a circuit Rider so oh I remember that remember that oh God yes I think relative to the board of assessors we've got a strong administrative assessor we are going to continue our work our biggest need you know the select board will have to work this out and with the finance committee it's a big deal but for our discussion here I do not see that we are going to have a big problem they're going to have to solve the meeting problem or we'll be meeting in person which isn't the end of the world and as I say I'm so grateful for David to be here because when we did not have David I was leaning heavily on Becky but I don't need that anymore yeah that's great that's I think the finance end of the town is is in good shape no matter what that's right because you know we all work together really really well and you're all incredibly experienced you all that's it well yeah our board our board is the stabil and most trained that we've had forever we got Finance exactly Decades of experience we've got a select board member previous we've got Howard who's been on the Assessors for the long time has been all around the finance area bouncing around in different positions so I don't think a letter is necessarily critical April you could compose something for our next meeting if we're having trouble but I think they've got to solve the meeting problem or we'll be meeting in person that wouldn't be the end of the world for us that I'll meet up here for a while I'll just point out that you know for the last several meetings Becky's basically said nothing the whole time so you know right but she's been hosting it she's the one Zoom right yeah I didn't speak through there'll be a solution to that I spoke to Grace about hosting and she said that um she is she has this hand out it's got seven or eight steps on it she gives it to you takes you 15 minutes to learn she basically said it's nothing you know so it'll be fine I may have just walked into the hosting job but still my husband actually hosts because we have we have a family Zoom once a month and he's done other things too for other groups you know that were involved with you know he hosts and it can't be that hard it's no seriously I didn't mean it that way but you know he's not no of course not of course no basically you open Zoom you schedule a meeting and you send the link to everybody and you invite people and they all get exactly exactly that's exactly what you do okay fine and then the only time we get into trouble is when they want to share screens I think the only the only real issue will be is we have to use the town account I'm assuming we have the town account because we're conducting Town business so we need to have access to that account to load account and create the meeting that could be the issue and maybe that's why they want to set up another account for a certain group because that way it would be better to monitor who's using it when and it will get us cluttered with a lot of people having the same account trying to set things up it may make a lot of sense yeah can you imagine if we all logging in here and there was another group logging into to the same login and they're trying to hold their meeting could be chaos yes okay you guys don't want to be on the finance committee already I didn't hear you April just thank you for the reality check about in fact this this particular board is we're we're fine we are fine and that's really I'm not taking notes right now because I don't feel it's pertinent to our agenda yeah okay you're right you guys you are fine the whole Finance group is in good shape yes I agree Treasurer collector 10 item on the agenda okay uh the next item is topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours in advance of the meeting are there any that's what we were just discussing well uh well we that was zo Zoom meetings wasn't okay and and the only thing I would say only because I promised it David's already reviewed it and taken care of it in my mind but the the zba chairman who's not he's got a lot of Municipal experience but he's pushing uh a z there's a month delay on a zba public hearing for Russ Greco to put a small Garage on his property within the setback and I guess the letter of the law is you have to notify each board so David already said we have no need he do what David if I quote him with his exact words is he doesn't care if he puts the garage on the roof of the house but so I'm just letting you know if you have any concerns but you shouldn't from the Assessor's perspective but I promised I would get back to John Thompson in P immediately and let him know the assessors don't care if they put no I'm not gonna do that no you're not gonna say that but I just want to let you know you have been asked if you have any concerns about R Greco putting a garage in the setback area can we start taxing it that's that's my concern that yeah that's yep so I if that happens again I'll just refer to David and send it along but since I promised I told him we'd have to wait for our meeting and I just want you to know that it's all taken care of but I'm letting you know okay okay the one I would like to ask is my the my usual question where are we on the tax setting that's what we just discussed George tax the 20 whatever whatever dat the month we're doing it what okay yeah no actually I have a specific question and that is do you have the numbers from the state I know the Cherry sheets are done but the um payment L of taxes the governor had I read given additional $1.5 million in payment of Le of taxes and I've been going to the pilot website and they haven't published the 25 numbers yet and I'm just wondering if if you have the information for the DCR property not yet but I will I mean that that's a separate one that we'll be dealing with as a bill but we will get that velent okay and you can't set the tax rate until you do is that correct no no no we we set we do DCR after we set the tax rate so that's not a problem oh so if the DCR number turns out being higher than was expected with that lower the amount we need to raise from the levy uh it's a pilot going to come in for 25 so it'll be the next year you're going to get you're not going to get it in this year's budget oh I see so you already know the year you already know the amount for this year Well close yes oh okay close enough for uh government that's what this is yeah well you know because some of us are getting pretty excited about the 1.5 million and I was looking at how much DCR pays out in Pilot money and how much we were getting and it looked like you know it could be a substantial increase for us in the next fiscal year all right well I had have not heard of it that yet but I will take a look at it I'm hopeful I I I I don't know okay thank you I appreciate that I could add in one little thing that um if we get an email I'll forward it along right away but the what I was going to add in which is not not really strong information when I was at the Warwick assessor clerk Round Table the president of the association who's very active and very strong she was saying that this they're trying to put together a coalition of assessors because western Mass towns are not reimbursed at the same rate it's done by the the value of the Ellen you're nodding your head it sounds like maybe yeah I knew they I i' read that they are not I any beyond that I don't know why they're not but it's typical George shouldn't get to his toes too high it might be tilted towards Eastern communities I know that talking to Aon Saunders and reading in the paper that there's been a lot of talk about pilot test um not being Equitable to the Western part of the state right and and I know that eron has been pursuing it for his communities the DCR is separate from the M State own land that's a different one the state own land is definitely set up to go towards the eastern part of the state but DCR is mostly out this way so we are getting a good good kick of that that's not a bad one the other one the way they do yeah I have I have as far back as on Marlin and BR was in the do I fought about this that's 15 20 years on on a basis of the size for the size of the communities uh wend gets more money per site than Amer did and they've got the students there you so it's a really really bad formula and so that has to be looked at and then the other one is there's the bill about the Quin and they're also trying to provide more money to the communities that have properties at the quaven so there might be some opportunities for us to supplement our taxes there you know and lower our tax bills really now did you last we month talk about the business with the registry and unregistered Vehicles didn't there's nothing there's nothing there is something new on it okay let me let me brief you if you didn't know the registry had created a policy that anyone that had a suspended or revoked registration would not get an excise tax bill instead they would be giving it to the towns to Bill his personal property the only problem with that there were lots of problems with that one of which is let's say they get a personal property tax bill and during the year they they end up you know handling the business that caused them to lose their registration and therefore they got they registered their car now they have two bills they cannot get an abatement on either one of them so it was a big problem and uh nobody at the registry apparently thought about that so I was in a executive board meeting with the mass collector treasurers yesterday and they indicated that they had met both our uh representative that handles legislation and the one for the maao and apparently at least one of our members and I probably one of your members also met with the registar and let the registry know of all the problems that that the way they were going to do it just didn't work and at that point he backed off so it may it's gone for a while maybe permanently we hope and apparently it was one person that complained to one person and that that caused the whole problem yeah isn't that something but anyway and it was going to be absolutely impossible we had no idea of how they were going to determine if they were going to tell us the values that we were to use on personal what about the towns that exempt the first 5,000 or 10,000 of value from personal property tax what about the towns that don't have a policy on on taxing um unregistered cars I mean there's all these problems that they had no clue on because they never talked to the collectives all they did deal for a little while with the assessors on it but never any one of the rest of us and it's not a problem for us because it's not going to happen at present well we hope it's not going to happen permanently but we don't know that we just know he's backed off because that was one of these things we didn't even know when it was going to start whether it's going to start with the next calendar year or when we had no clue and of course it means changes to you know uh our systems and everything else it was going to be a nightmare so anyway so so as of now anybody who owns an unregistered car in shsb they don't pay taxes on it right no no no that was what he wanted to do they would pay personal property tax if it was still on their land no right now if you don't if you have an unregistered car and it was regist because it was suspended by the registry for what ever reason then you do get an excise tax as long as that registration exists okay so if you notice you have a year a date of expiration of your registration right so let's say your registration is is in 2000 expires in 2026 okay well then even if no matter what happens if you lost your registration in 25 for something you would still get a 26 Bill be assuming it was during the year that it expired so yeah you would still get a bill okay okay okay and there's no Reon go ahead and from what I can tell there's no reason to change that system you're right exactly right right right problem if they did it was a huge problem yeah and it means double taxation for the person just out of curiosity did it change the tax that was paid or was it just we don't know because we don't yeah would have changed the amount 15 it's about 15 or 20,000 people throughout the state that this would affect that's all out of the millions that are registered but uh it would you know it would affect maybe the amount they pay because we don't know what they're going to do with the personal property assuming it the personal property being based on the tax rate then yes it would affect it because right now the car is value is taxed at $25 a th000 got it our tax rate is only going to be whatever a thousand much less and our personal property rate is the same as our real estate rate okay didn't know okay okay uh it was just so just to brief you okay the only reason we knew about it was thank goodness for uh Lesley's friend that's a president of that uh of her of her group because she sent out a very interesting letter with bullet points and that's how I found out and I shipped it off to my people who knew nothing about it so it was really a shock when we saw it oh and Not only was it like poorly thought out but nobody bothered to tell anybody about okay hypothetical planning stage it wasn't no it wasn't that was the problem it was going to be a policy change and that was the problem I mean and so it didn't have to go through legislature or anybody yes okay Massachusetts okay when will we have to have the next meeting after the tax classification hearing do we have more more more responsibilities David uh no because the board will be able to do all the signings remotely we'll get them sign off that's not a problem well we don't need meetings for that no uh so when do we want to have the next meeting I I'm I mean what you use three four weeks do you want to wait until um after November and you'll have the November you have more account is this true if we wait until December 1st does that mean you have more accountant reports you can sort of group those all yeah B yes yeah that time yes uh so what are we we're in October want to do the first week in December sure what is that no idea um December 4th yeah or yeah the 11 is taken from me DEC huh December fourth's fine for me that works for me yeah it works for me fine for me okay okay our next meeting is on Wednesday December the 4th 630 at 6:30 um anything else anybody I'm good okay I move that we aurn second I vote I I hi the meeting is here thank you for letting me come in and visit with you oh thank you for coming Ellen I learned a lot I really appreciate it um I'm serious uh thanks a lot okay yeah have a good night everybody everyone