e e e e e all right uh what happened hi leie hi we just disappeared here you disappeared what did I do wrong no I'm here yeah I know I hear you is everybody else there too no nobody else is here oh cuz I was trying to unmute us and all of a sudden I lost our picture so I'm going to I'm going to uh leave and come back sounds like I can see you perfectly so that's weird yeah no it's me it's operator error oh yeah there we are oh good it must have just been your settings oh must have just been this brain no it had to be the computer Leslie it's just us oh George is connect comes George hi George he's muted how's it going good oh there we go there we're visible looks like it's doing something outside think it was the ran most of the night yeah I think so that's what I heard up here sometimes it mixes though you know this time of year we've been getting little snow white things floating around yeah we had snow this morning when I woke up yep we had a snow snow I thought it was Frost well we had snow squall come through around 7:30 ah I was driving I well were you driving in shutesbury Leever from probably up here on the hill yeah it was nice to see especially because it wasn't building up it was so pretty yes will flaky at our end of town we were putting out our trash was our day for trash Oh and they picked up the town hall trash this week yay why have they been skipping they ski Town Hall last week it's like should I be texting April maybe how about Howard well Howard's the one who uh no notified us that we needed to and he said he'd keep checking so I'm less concerned about him than um I I can give April a call that great thank you it's only a minute off she'll probably say she's almost there how it's on this way C he's got his hi I have to hook up we don't see your picture yet yeah he's working no kidding we had to wait for Zoom to up upgrade us there he is here he is there I am everybody oh April yeah's on the phone with her right now Becky's calling we're tracking her down it's first meeting in daylight savings yeah it's nice we took a hike down to the quadin today I've never seen so much water in Quin really the spillway is Flowing the whole 400 feet of it is going over oh really yeah I believe it so that sounds like Niagara Falls places where we can usually walk and on one little road it's flooded so yeah water went right up over it what gate gate 16 when you take the road all the way South yeah all the way to the very end yeah you can walk over there's a little sand beach there and to get to the sand beach we had to walk through the woods cuz that corner that you go around was all underwater wow wow yeah we were shocked I've never ever seen that I've been hiking the Quin for 40 years there's an online chart I think it's online I think we're about 15 it maybe I'm wrong about that I forget how much is going actually going over the 400t spillway but enough to make a lot of noise you're talking about the good now Dam I I forgot to the spillway in shury the spillway yeah not the good know it's a dke right right yeah yeah it's a Spillway associated with the dam itself it's the place for the Overflow got it where is this where's the spillway uh if you go to Route n take Route n South out of the belter Town light there at 202 and maybe it's three miles on the left is The Visitor Center and you can walk across the dam and get to the spillway or you can keep going on route nine past the visitor center and take maybe after maybe two miles take a left in and be right there at the spillway that second left is after you crossed the Swift river right correct y okay yeah I know where that is yeah and somebody actually went there today I went there last Friday uh last Sunday it's a nice area and is April on yet yes I'm here I'm here I I I I was all I just hit the I forgot to hit the blue button that said join here I am okay okay okay so so we can start now let's start now uh I'm going to open the meeting uh present our board board members April Stein and George arvanitis chairman Howard spetner Town Administrator Becky torus and uh administrative assessor David Burgess um the first item on the agenda is to review and approve the minutes from the February 21st meeting uh has everybody had a chance to look at them yes okay okay are there any questions about them I I had a comment about item 12 item was recently not anticipated um the comment that the finance committee may need to use some assessor overlay surplus funds was it overlay surplus funds we were talking about or was it excess Levy capacity well I could put in minutes I put that in I don't know why because I thought it was overlay you were talking about but maybe I'm wrong well if we were talking about how to fund the budget and Becky correct me if if I'm mistaken but if we're talking about how to fund the budget we would we are definitely looking at a situation where we're going to be decreasing our excess Levy capacity and so that's I don't imagine that I would have put it in the context of the overlay so I think that needs to be changed that all right the original minutes had it as excess overlay and I thought why would he be telling saying that for assessors because that's not anything assessors would vote on and it's not related to you know the finance committee building a budget right right maybe what our assumption for the overlay may be but we always leave it at $40,000 right that's they could we could need to adjust that I mean I don't know how well that's holding upe now with the means testing David yeah at the moment it seems be holding fine okay great did you say George did you say that we're going to have to increase the excess Levy capacity well actually they would decrease increas the excess Levy capacity um in other words okay okay okay okay okay yeah yeah it's because the budget requests um there's been a lot of them this year there's the budget's really getting hit hard but but we we would still be in compliance with um prop two and a half oh yeah yes we have almost we have over $600,000 in excess Levy capacity and we wouldn't need to go for an override until we've used all of that up and when I talk okay the scale I'm talking about is less than 100,000 more than 20,000 right now we're still working on the budget so I can't give you an exact number okay it's not 600,000 it's not 600,000 yet okay but as we cover the whole region I'm sorry I do believe that what you said and that's why I put it in originally and then when I read it today I thought that's not right he would be talking about over with us so I'm going to change it back I will make that Amendment back in the draft minutes if that's thank you yes please yeah and I apologize oh no problem these minutes are great Leslie they are yes thank you so so just so I know the final minutes that we're going to improve uh improve approve um are they going to include how are they going to read that section what what are you actually going to write I just ripped up the old ones but I still have it in the computer so I guess it would say finance committee may need to use not to use some of Assessor's overlay funds surplus funds I'm not going to put that in I'm just going to say the finance Comm committee may be using some ex well I'll say decreasing the excess overlay you really need excess Levy capacity excess Levy capacity yeah I'm sorry and David's point is well taken but it was discussed at the meeting which is why but I hear you yeah David what do you needed a do say it again why do you need anything about the access capacity you know it has nothing to do with David's points has nothing to do with us so I just delete the whole yeah it's true it doesn't even need to be there I mean that's true but I I just if we're going to have it in the record I just want to be accurate yeah too I'm not opposed to taking it out of the record it's not the assessor since we okay anyway since we have to approve it somebody decide what we're approving just come up with a final version that we can actually okay I'll okay this thing that this thing that nobody is ever GNA read for the rest of Eternity what I don't know so I make motion to amend yeah I know I know that I get that but after they watch this YouTube video they're going to be dying to read right right there's even some people in the fincom that should understand did you make make George okay just to warn everybody I'm about to make just to warn everybody I'm about to make a unilateral decision so somebody like intervene okay you know can you hear me yeah yeah okay I'd like to make a motion that we strike the words um assessors overlay surplus funds and replace them with excess Levy capacity you don't actually have to make a motion she'll just do it and then we'll approve the final true but but I agree I agree with George and so does April right April agrees right yeah absolutely so we'll we'll approve them the minutes as amended yes that's right that's I move somebody El to move I move that we approve the minutes as amended second and I'll second and I'll third i v i i i Stein I Stein ey okay the motion passes yes um moving on to the next item of the agenda we're going to we need to review and approve the accountant reports um Leslie has provided us with seven accountant reports they have I believe J I'm wrong not seven yeah only three emails right um we have the January and February CPA um abatements January and February Automotive abatements February real estate abatements February exemptions and one February personal property abatement has everybody had a chance to look at those does anybody have any questions about them okay no and no questions okay I move that we approve the accountant reports I'll second okay I put in the minutes to use your signature stamps just you know send them to the accountant okay but we have we've already approved that at the last just to be clear we've already approved that at the last meeting okay more votes I need more eyes I think I need more eyes aride Stein ey thank you the motion passes okay we need to uh this next item on the agenda is to review and approve the second motor vehicle commitment which for for approximately $25,000 I have that right 254 9035 okay all right and um does anybody have any questions about that no okay I Mo we approve I'm sorry was the first commitment 19 8,000 about that I can get the book precis about that it was 190 something I might have saying that it was high but I as I pointed out at the previous meeting new vehicles are in the $50,000 range now where they used to be a lot less and so and there was one piece of heavy equipment privately owned that was $2,000 excise tax alone but these new vehicles people are getting between $500 and $1,000 excise tax bills in their first year so if you you know people need to know if they can't afford to pay high excise think twice about a new vehicle yeah another reason why we shouldn't raise the rate yeah well I'm in your Camp Vadar is our Communicator Vadar who's our Communicator between between the assessors and Ellen says that their system won't even uh accommodate it and they're not going to do anything until they get an igr on it and if they don't get an igr we're going to be calculating things out by hand and when I go to a bait that means that every time I Abate I'm going to have toate the main tax and then take that little search charge of and it'll be like 25 cents divided by 12 equals 2 cents it's going to be it sounds like fun so is are we finding that the total excise tax of the town's receiving is it significantly higher um last year's last year's came in at about 210,000 so this is 223 right now right and as George knows this is going this is not an assessor issue I'm just trying to no well we've been certainly think Rue our budget yeah right well but this number these two Comm that we've had so far the baits are going to offset a portion of those that's right I was just about to say of that 198 you're about to well you you just approved $10,000 worth just for the Shotsy exempt Vehicles yep that won't happen again but but so take a 10 off right so it's more like 198 and 15 darn oh people are still buying cars there'll still be more excise Bills going out as the year goes on right oh yeah people do buy new cars but they're just being surprised some of them can most people can handle it but some people it's a big surprise yeah understood okay okay and the next item on the agenda wait did we we approve this right did we already do the vote or not we did the vote right yeah I think we did well let's do it again aride Stein ey spay okay um the next item on the agenda is the write of first refusal request for parcel zw6 on January Hill Road um for any for those who don't know this is a part a property that was owned by um the conways both the husband and wife that it went into chapter 61 in Lo Network sorry um it went into chapter 61b in 1998 um it came out apparently in 2018 and um both the husband and wife are are are now gone and we've gotten a letter from I believe the estate's lawyer I'm sorry wife is still living okay we've gotten oh the wife is still living I'm sorry my mistake um and we've gotten a request from so I guess from the wife's lawyer that uh we release the lean on the property I I assume so they can sell it if they want to um the lean itself was sent um it was sent one right it was sent in the original batch of emails and does anybody have any questions about this so I just what is our role in this conversation I did go I did look at the property today on the maps it is a pretty big piece of property and it's all wooded it also looks like it's near a culdesac and that aeac on January uh could be extended I forget the name of the road but one of the roads that goes off it but what is our role who decides if the town really wants to buy a property it's out David will update you this point it doesn't matter if somebody leaves it out for a year and doesn't sign up for the we lose our right of first refusal and after five years we lose our roll back taxes since this one's been know since 2018 we don't have to do anything except release the lead okay someone has no rate of first Ral or um any roll back taxes but to answer question two I can send it again after the meeting but page 177 of the chapter 61 booklet which you may have seen before really describes exactly what David was saying in in Lay terms so you can follow it better yeah no I'm familiar that actually I do have a relative understanding of all that and I did look through that you sent it to us or gave us the links a few months back and I did scan through it there's a lot of detail I don't know how you do it myself but it's a lot but yeah thank you as I as I understand it our role strictly here is formal in other words we're not actually doing anything but if uh if they want to go if they want to sell the property at some point somebody's going to ask are there leans on this thing and they have to be able to provide a piece of paper from the registry of deeds saying that there's nothing on it yeah and they can't get they can't get the piece of paper unless we sign off on it that's my understanding of what's going on here that makes sense um so the has no interest there's no we don't have first we have we have no ability to do anything at this point we we have no power the owner's attorney mistakenly sent a right of first refusal letter to the select board that's how it all got started got it that's what I was curious about all the yeah he sent it to everyone because I know in the past we've had the opportunity and people have been interested and we somehow there was a mechanism it's the select board okay yeah yeah and actually in 2000 we did exercise our right of first refusal and bought the acreage down at Southbrook Conservation Area and I think that's the last time the town has made a such a yeah we took out a loan for that I think okay yeah great but just so this is straightforward well this and David David figur and lesie figured it out there was still a lean on the property and that was what hadn't been resolved um and that's why the lawyer assumed that it was still in chapter because the lean was still there um but I assume David andless they have taken care of the lean with the owner and you the the board has to vote to release it and then Howard will come in and uh notorized his statement that you guys did vote to release and then you will go through the process of actually releasing it okay okay so I move that we release the lean I'll second okay I vote I over second and Stein I okay the motion passes um the next item on the agenda is that we need to discuss oh I'm sorry the next item on the agenda is to review and approve um chapter 61 61a and 61b certificates lesie do we have any yeah we have five new chapter 61 BS that not new straightforward renewals David's looked at them and they're just ready to have you folks say I can use your signature stamps and I'll put them in the mail okay does anybody have any questions about that no it sounds straightforward yes I agree okay okay okay so I move that uh that we approve these certificates and that we allow Leslie to use our signature stamps on them I'll second second okay I vote I and Stein I okay uh and now the next item on the agenda is personal property taxes on farm animals a discussion um David would you like to leave the discussion this has come about because Ellen has been curious about us not taxing people's horses there is a f manual excise ability to do this uh I've never done it I don't know anyone that D here that does it it's really set up for people who've got Stables with you know million dooll horses valuations and I wouldn't even know how to begin valuing a horse so we just been relying on the people telling us anyway as far as that goes the farm animal excise also covers things like chicken for every chicken every chicken is rued at five cents this is a really old statute so basically I'm asking you just to say we're not going to do it okay does anybody have any questions about farm animal excise taxes no okay sounds well thought out uh yes okay uh so and I'm guessing that David what you want is vote formal vote saying that we will not the T that we will not tan of shury will not tax farm animals right is that reason okay I move that we do not tax farm animals I'll second before we vote I want to ask question though what please um why does why did Ellen bring this up she's Ellen okay money money money money money yeah I appreciate that looking for Rue ni counts Ellen's philosophy doing personal property should T testing after people's snows the RV you know these RV things they right around on and it's just just senseless chicken T they're called at they're called ATVs ATVs yeah call the allterrain vehicles okay uh okay I'm ready okay I move that we do not tax farm animals can you imagine the abatements and I don't have my seconded somebody yeah we already did we seconded we already had I'll second again okay I'm sorry that's okay I vote I I Stein I okay um the motion passes thank you for that support don't want to see an abatement application for a chicken but it would be different in Hadley I would assume you know where there's large but yes and wend with the diamond Egg Farm that's right dollars of dollars of chickens it's got be there in the thanksgiving's G anyway okay anyway nobody brought up the oh yeah how much are the roosters no read B you want this day and age they better be the same value or gener going to comes to that well the other one yet to know what a neat K and the non- neat k a neat cow I don't know what it means heard of it is it the way they brush their hair or yeah that's part of the research involved realizing that the application for home homeowners does not include animals it's only the business form that lists you supposed to list your animals so it would mean that every person with a chicken in at their house would be filling out a business form each year form of list anyway yeah that's asking a lot okay so we have arrived at topics reasonably anticipated 48 hours in advance of meeting are there any so George we're not going to talk anything We're not gonna talk any further about um exess l so the Leslie told me the assessors have an overlay account and you might at some point the finance committee might want some money out of that am I right well we don't need to come to the Assessors for that no it's when we decide to put together present the revenue where it automatically happens and the assessors will actually do it when they're building the recap actually you do have to vote to take any money out of the overlay for Surplus it's a town Med noan for the the excess Levy capacity yeah that's no no no no no you don't vote for excess Levy capacity the overlay you when Kevin was here we voted a sum of money out of the overlay into the Assessor's expens is to have money available for the revalve and pay for some things but let David explain if there's an access if there's an access Levy in the overlay if the overlay is access and all the years are cleared off that money is basically free so use a board could take that money and vote it to go into the general um general account if you wanted to it's we usually did it Amur every three or four years the account would come along and say we' got three or $400,000 you're not there's no liability against so we can free it up you're not going to have numbers like that but that's what you would have you have to release it nobody else explains all that too and as D Gale our accountant really keeps back of us and let us know when there's something there so best to have um Gail the accountant give us the figures and and then the have the board of assessors look at what is available to transfer into a fund I mean into general f if anything it might all gotten used up when Kevin was here because he did use it for a couple of different things I thinkale told me within the last three months there is there is some money there I think there's around 30 ,000 I could be totally off but I think there is money available through those funds that's good to know so every year when we do the budget do we allocate more money to the overlay fund to our overlay fund it gets 40,000 a year 40,000 isn't that the amount 40,000 a year that's what we' used and the rules on the overlay changed before I retired so it want be 2018 or 2019 it used to be you could only take money that was on the overlay to pay off money from that outstanding bills from that year the overlay has now become a cumulative so it's one amount so say we had a tax bill from 2019 but there was no money in that line we could still pay it off from there from the general account now it's just it's just considered one account not separate years okay and the and a question that I have is if if hypothetically we wanted to move money from our overlay account to pay for General expenses of the town to move the money in that way is that something that we could do that the board could do or would would it would it require a town meeting vote it wouldn't require would know that right no come along and say where this money short we can take some money out overlay and the board could release it as I said usually goes into the general fund it can be specific if you want but it normally just goes into the general fund I only said it because Becky said something earlier about requiring a town meeting vote here um moving overlay into a specific account yeah so I think it's when so the the assessors can release the funds and then you decide what you want to do with it yes I think that's the second step so only town meeting can assign to a specific account but there's no way of using the money without assigning it to a specific account right right am except if it just flowed to free then it would still require a vote to use at some point town meeting vote Yes yeah okay so we so we we the the board releases the money but that's the but that's the only thing we do and then it's available for anything but the town the town meeting has to approve whatever it gets used for the town meeting has to approve it I got that right unless it's used for one of the assessors accounts David like so if if the assessors want to use the 30,000 left in overlay uh for a reval coming up can they move it into their your own Ral account or that has to happen through town meeting one thing has to have two time meeting we just no we just can't take money out of other kind we can release that money but we can't take money out of it okay except for a b we can't use it okay yeah so it's a two process the the assessors are the Guardians and then town meeting has to take action to spend it yeah it sounds like it'd be a conflict of interest if the assessor's office could say we're going to take the uh excess overlay and use it we're gonna buy some property yeah right oh you guys know what the good properties are all the chickens we could have up here and uh as I sorry and as I understand it George has told us that in fact we're we're probably not going to be asked to release any money that the money can come from someplace else I got that right no yeah my conver I never down this road at all I wasn't talking about this I my only words I've ever used is excess Levy capacity different conversation first place yeah it's completely conversation minutes and then yet today I thought can that be why would he be telling us that it's yes it's telephone Fusion happens telephone yeah B Zuma phone zum phone so I like that I never heard that term I just made it up it's a good one it's a good one okay so Zuma phobe okay keep trying I know okay okay so okay so at this point we uh we do not have any topics that need to be discussed and we only need to set the next meeting date um Leslie should we go for four weeks or six weeks what do you want to do David is by Boston he says six oh good David says six weeks okay the quiet time of year okay and that bring okay and today is what is today the 20th so April's four weeks is the May 1 17th May this works for me May 1 may may how do Becky feel about on May first Becky's gonna be it's meeting post town meeting okay yeah yeah so I I appreciate that more than the week up town meeting for sure sounds good yeah that should work and I'm going to just after David approves the uh chapter certificates I'm going to just send them out and tell you at the next meeting that we've sent them out if there's questions we'll save them for you but I got to get those out at this office okay yeah sounds good okay do we need a did we vote on that or do we need a vote on the 61 BS I can't remember we you did vote it I think is we did vote it okay fine you actually remember that's great okay um um okay uh we're done yes okay I'll move to a journ okay second that I second okay I vote I AR I and Stein I short and sweet okay everybody thank you thank you Leslie and David thank you so much thank you for all you do absolutely thank you guys thank you very much yeah she's pretty thank youo we only have one little thing okay I appreciate it you're see you on Mayday okay yes adios I am not dancing right mayol but it is the first day of spring so that's good to go from first day of spring to May Day beautiful