##VIDEO ID:TgCeDaQaPF0## e e e hi Becky hi Kathy how are you doing tonight I'm good how are you okay good the humidity's gone away but my crazy hair hasn't the only reason mine is smooth is because I went to the hairdresser this morning oh very nice very nice um this the hairdresser had something to do with this originally but it was not the concept hey roll with it what can you do yeah like whoa It's been a little well it's been over 90% humidity for a long time yes it has it has I guess it's getting better but I don't know well it's August storm clouds just Float by the windows all day long in August we yep one more [Music] thing so are you guys up for the rest of the summer I mean not up so now that is it how long have you been been year round residence uh 10 years now wow yeah 10 years this year it went like that wow yeah fast but we love it we love it good good good yeah I'm trying to make room on my there's this one little box that if I press that box the zoom crashes immediately gotta love technology gotta work around it it's like oh I know we've learned so much in the last four years haven't we we really have about things we never even thought about never yeah never thought we'd need to know definitely that right [Music] here for uh oh I lost the little thing I can't you jinxed yourself I know I did I should have kept my mouth shut where did it go well if it crashes you have time to get back on yeah that's true that's this would be the best time to crash right but usually I crash right in the middle of the meeting right when I'm supposed to talk about something of course yeah for for e e e happy have you been digging into all those documents Susie was telling you about yeah I started looking at them we were away last week in uh Washington State so I didn't do much of the reading then but I hope not no it was beautiful but you know I just started looking at them today actually oh cool there a lot to learn yeah if you have any questions don't hesitate to to call or ask me I will thank you hi Bob hey April hello good to see you guys what's that what have you got in your hand there Becky oh it's like aren't they beautiful it's called the stapling very handy tool it is especially when you don't want 20 pieces of paper to fly out of your hand oh come on I almost forgot we had a meeting tonight how did I well it's Monday right good good thing we have calendars and [Music] such [Music] yes ah Summer's going by too fast it always does when I was young like summer seemed to last forever like it was an eternity you know between the last day of school and June and first day of school was wow it just seemed like went on and on and on finally wait a minute school is g to be in couple weeks that it kind of exciting to go back yeah I did a lot more reading back then too yeah yeah yeah but I think as you get older maybe because you have so many experiences that time really accelerates and everything was new when you're a young person so it just took up a lot of space and time in your Consciousness I think you know but now everything is like well another summer yeah the Thunders shower I don't know and and time isn't I don't it's not linear I think that's my experience it's sort of you know it's now when it's 10 years ago it's kind of yeah yeah it gets more and more like that as you get as you get really then you start doing some time travel my mother did that she was was great you know in a way how old was she when she died 92 it's a good long life I used to think of that as old it's very old it's not so old well I've heard that your 70s are your you're young old and 80s you're middle old and 90s you're old old kind of yeah I like those Concepts I think it's kind of hard to deny I'm turned 75 this year that that's not old it's old it's old yeah the good news is I'm not gonna die young no it's too [Laughter] late it is yeah that's kind of interesting yeah have you guys Garden at all it was a terrible year for us gardening was because of all the damp you know a lot of fungus and mold and things you know things would Bloom and look beautiful and then um there would never be there wasn't a second blossoming no I got washed out pretty bad a lot of my uh broccoli just got fungus turned all black weird my weeds look great yeah do you yours is my weeds look great the weeds look they can handle it I I was having a war with slugs for a while and then I I I just I sort of given up on my own vegetable garden I have flowers but you know I I I'll go to farm Cent or Elaine poo will bring me she and John have one of the most amazing Gardens and she'll this time of year I'll get a zucchini the size of a small baby there's that so yeah in the farm stands and stuff H and we have good ones in our neck of the woods yes we did yeah know J everybody knows J and J Farms down in was down corn broccol was beautiful you know I said do you sprint goes we're not organic I said well yeah so you must it that's why it looks so nice doesn't have fungus she said yeah we're spending $50,000 on chemicals for our vegetables this year wow because of the mold and fungus problems wow 100,000 on the tobacco wow toac will pay for itself tobacco is like very susceptible to fungus I guess you know so they really had to spray it with all this weather but um yeah hopefully crop will come in because if it doesn't boy what a what a lot of money that is they've already had their problems and they do have problems yeah yeah but they have the best corn they have great corn they're nice people too they are very nice people part part of the fabric of our community yeah it's great that they they've you know they've resilient enough to uh be build and you know they're not getting milk cows again they were the last milking Farm in Amis yeah but they're not milk milkers again so I'm gonna call AJ because maybe he forgot too yeah here comes Susie fincom I like that name so there were two Zoom links two different ones oh really really oh H yeah so I was just sitting on something else and realized something was must be up so well you know what didn't make sense because the other one doesn't work right well it makes you sit there and say the meeting will start it it has it listed as at 6:30 so what happened is I originally had done it for August 5th yeah I think it accidentally and when I went back to check it tonight I was like wait a second that's no good that's gone I GNA call Jim hway and tell him that it's probably sitting at some anti chamber maybe you should call AJ maybe go on might I'll call AJ okay we know no George Kathy got here April got here yeah I just clicked on the link on the calendar I yeah because there's only one link on the calendar right but there I got the wrong link on um not directly off the calendar off the other thing so there were two two possibilities so what is is the other thing Susie you know the list of all the meetings that are but not in a calendar form in a listing form hi AJ are you coming to the meeting because we we had a a problem with the zoom R you you need it's the one that if you go to the calendar on the website you will get the right one okay thanks by um Tom C made it hi hi hi Tom we just discovered there's a there was an older link that had expired and it somehow confused oh I just went to the town website calendar and that okay that was fine we went to the town website too you had to go to the calendar not the listing yeah oh I don't even know what the listing means well hope it works out I'll mute myself now okay thank you the listing maybe I can figure out what's happening there but George said he wasn't going to make it tonight right right George is not um where Jim Hing is gonna gonna join us so I just good sounds like AJ is too oh yeah and AJ was still on his way it sounded like huh Susie do you know what that link was you had on the website um because there's meeting agendas but it's not there well on oh I can't find it Susie on the inbox I have a change and um at 535 there was one called change and then there's another one and and one of them lists two different um let me go back to that where is it where are you well now I'm looking at my email oh you got an email and then in in my email yeah so in the email there are two different Zoom links listed uh maybe three uh no two no there would have been oops here's AJ there are two different ones listed but we don't have to go into that where where am I here J Susie you can show me on my on your my computer sometime okay because I don't know what you're I don't know where everybody here we are hey AJ so sorry guys I'm running behind it's all right all right let's see so we've got uh are we waiting on anybody else or we've got no we're you're all here have you're now too okay right uh all right so should we deal with meeting um me uh minutes first from yeah July 16th all right so seems like a long time ago all right has everybody had a chance to review these I know it's a while any questions for I think Susie you did these minutes right these are our last set that doing um would you mind just doing one more no I told George I'd cover from from the bench all right sounds good thanks thank you I was panicking Short [Laughter] Straw all right uh anybody have any questions or uh just one question Susie yeah Bob on fincom assignments uh it says AJ cashew and George er and itis were nominated approved unan Le's Capital planning Representatives but I think that's not accurate me and um that's AJ I'm not sure I don't know how it ended up yep George got off and you are on uh actually no it's it's no no no it's the other it's George and Bob yeah right that was okay I'll edit that thank you thanks good catch B all right any other changes or suggestions all right uh I'll make a motion then to um approve the minutes from July 16th as amended I'll second I'll start it off Grove's eye uh Jim I think you're muted I was Hemingway I cashew I moer I Salvador I Stein I great all right uh next on the agenda is an update on the regional school committee budget process um no major updates other than just uh informing you all that um Susie has set up a meeting um with uh the new superintendent uh so Susie is she going by superintendent G am I saying that correctly I think it's Z I think XI is z okay got it that was like an abbreviated version of her last name is that right uh yeah but that's she's going by okay great well her last name is Herman okay got it and so she's going by Dr Z exi okay got it uh so Susie and I are gonna meet with uh Dr Z on Friday morning and um you know I thought it would be in addition to just letting you guys know that that that was going to be happening we talked about it at our last meeting um you know I just I thought it it you know I don't think we want to come into this meeting with like a heavy-handed agenda or you know of anything it's really more of a a kind of I think I don't know I would say our biggest goal here is to kind of develop a good sort of positive working relationship with her um and you know this is kind of a first step in that direction um you know I I do think we should inquire about sort of what what she um envisions as a kind of a budget like at least the start of a budget conversation um because I you know I think there there have been some suggestions that maybe that process want to start in August or late August and so I think other than just kind of checking in on um what what she's thinking in terms of a kind of first kickoff budget meeting with the four towns um you know I think it's really just an opportunity to yeah establish a relationship tell her a little bit about kind of our town um you know how we work because I think every town is a little bit different in terms of how we work um with the region on the budget um kind of answer questions and that's that's pretty much it but does any body have um any thoughts or anything they want to share just in connection with this upcoming meeting or something they think it's important for us to to communicate AJ yeah just just just to sort of echo what you mentioned but I think it's really important to you know tactfully Diplomat diplomatically point out that we had a lot of problems last year because of the way the budget uh was was formed and then altered and we really are trying to get ahead of that this year and appreciate her efforts to help us with that because I think that is something that's crucial for from our point of view and that she probably will hear from other people too but it wouldn't hurt just to make that that's a really big point I think for you to make that they need to work on that and deliver it quicker you know yep agreed I think that I was well put yeah uh April yeah I'm not sure I would do too much on that I think I I would um suggest that we as as four towns meet before December that you know that starting the process earlier you know given what happened last year I think we can avoid things if we were meeting September October yeah yeah how how aware is this new superintendent of what happened last year well I mean I believe that that she's already met with um representatives from the ammer Town Council you know and I think among the different parties that I think have a lot of concerns about how the process unfolded last year I think they're they're particularly uh they were particularly sort of irked by the process so I'm sure I'm sure that this will knows she's h something about it yeah Doug still there yeah Doug Doug the uh be the one that really would be the background I think you know yes and he's back which I think is good for for us he's back in his role as Financial director I think that's the title um Finance director for the district and I I just think it's it it's it it bodes well for us to not have him pulled in you know a thousand different directions this year here I think um you know he he's going to have a very important role in responding to lots of different ideas and suggestions about you know how the budget should be crafted and he's gonna yeah he's gonna have his work for him um but yeah I think I agree with everything that's been said I would say I I'm not inclined to say like I would say like not December but like yeah September I would I would I would like us to kind of get at least have so the be the first uh discussion before the end of September just because I I think um I just think the challenges are going to be really significant this year uh Susie do you know if she got that letter from the amoris council that we got uh I I imagine she did because I think they they actually formally voted um on that letter so I think it has been um you know it it it's it's an official sort of statement or communication from the Town Council and the I think I think it was Jo joint if I remember correctly it was kind of jointly sent from the Town Council and the finance committee um so I suspect she has yeah Kathy did you get that one I don't think so who did it come from So This was um this was a letter that the I think it it it originated within the ammer finance committee and then it it ended up being discussed and approved jointly by the finance committee and the ammer Town Council and it kind of lays out um a set of concerns about the budget process last year and and about the upcoming FY 26 budget and does some of the things we've been talking about with is recommending a much earlier uh uh start and uh in the fourtown collaboration on the budget um it's it's set a pretty I think what's going to be a difficult sort of Target to stick to which was I think two two essentially said like for FY 26 it recommended that the district plan on a No Greater an increase in the in Amorous assessment than 2% uh which 2.5 was it 2.5 yeah 2.5 I I can send you that Kathy so you should have that as running into this new year thank you are you gonna be able to meet in person or is this Zoom no in person oh good okay makes a big difference yeah huge um thank you for doing that yeah for what for what it's worth I I've just I've heard very positive I think early Impressions from a few different people that have had the opportunity to to meet with her so um I I've been encouraged by by kind of what what I've heard so far so anyway looking forward to that okay um anything else on the region so who will get to call do you think will be the superintendent that initiates the DAT first meeting is that who comes in uh the the the first fourtown meeting yeah I think it's um I think well it's it's it's either the superintendent or the finance director or the the regional school committee that I think I think I think it's officially right calendared as a school committee Mee um so they have to coordinate with the school committee right um so I suspect that I I haven't actually um I've got to look now that um I think I think they they have a pretty light meeting schedule over the summer the the regional school committee I have to look at when their posted meetings are but I suspect that they will make that that this will be an agenda item at one of their meetings I'll I'll keep it an eye on that um and I I I suspect in in discussing that they'll they'll set a potential date for a first meeting there is this subcommittee that um I think I shared with you a memo that they produced that that I think it it was also another positive sign there's a subcommittee of the region that's working on specifically on sort of budget sustainability and making a set of recommendations to the larger committee um and um I also have to check on when they are meeting and they they also in their initial memo to the committee recommended getting an early start so I I suspect that they're going to be bringing it up as well um so one thing I wanted to mention related to the the regional school committee is that I think some of you may have heard that there's there's been some I think updates and maybe a little more clarity on the track and field project um and so I it has some implications for our town because it sounds like um they I want to get my numbers right here uh so the total cost of the project is estimated now to be $4.4 million okay this is if you'll recall this is the version of the project that both reorients the track in uh the north south configuration am I getting that right Susie is it's north south configuration right and and and basically build you know installs a new grass internal field um so they um you know the the the funds that have been allocated so far for the project are let's see $1.5 million from the four towns which we've you know already been assessed when this first project first um you know when there was the first get authorization vote so that's going back not two years I think um Plus 900k from ammer uh free cash that they allocated plus $957,000 of ammer CPA funds that were authorized or has already been authorized for this project uh so let me see what that gets I must have done something wrong with my calculator here AJ um Doug has been talking to our CP a CPC committee and I think he's looking for 134,000 or 136 I'm not sure the exact number yeah so that's what I had heard as well um they so they're they are gonna ask uh ammer for another $800,000 I don't know if that's coming from CPA another CPA request um and then they're they've they're under a lot of they've gotten a lot of um I think push back from the Town Council to ask for additional funds from the four towns the um the other towns and so they that was one of the things I wanted to just make sure we in this committee were aware that there was going to be I had 136,000 as sound right then um that they are planning to request from shutesbury um a CPA request and I think there was some discussion of like could they could they could this be allocated um at like a a special town meeting so that I was wondering Becky if there was I know we have a town meeting coming up but like there's no way that our DPA could consider this request in time for the the special town meeting that's already been scheduled right that no not for that one we're planning a second special town meeting um before Thanksgiving okay in November okay and that's what the um the CPC is shooting for okay got and do you know if they actually have submitted a request or they've just talked to um they may just I actually they're meeting CPC is meeting on the 22nd so I think they're on the agenda for the 22nd okay all right that's good I just wanted to make sure that they yeah that Doug has been in communication with me and I moved him on to um Matteo pangallo the chair of CPC and he's been working with um Mato okay that's great good okay and they're going to be I think think they're doing similar requests from Leverett in the amount of 176,000 and from pelum in the amount of 999,000 so um I think that I think uh I think that should kind of close the gap because right now they only have about $3.4 million allocated for the project and as I mentioned it's it's estimated right now to be 4.4 million so they're like a million short okay um any questions about track stuff yeah just one question a yeah let's there's uh there's still some uh unknowns here we don't know if the four towns were going to approve this every one of the towns has a process that has to uh be completed right I mean we have to vote on this no it was already approved wasn't it CPC you're talking about the additional CPC uh we approved a certain amount we we didn't approve the the amended version so I'm just saying what happens if any number any one of those towns bus okay so if they can't raise and I'm gonna make an assumption here if they can't raise enough funds to get from where they are right now which is three roughly 3.4 million to 4.4 million there are a number of features of the project that they had already sort of identified as um they had a term for it that it's like a alternate list alterate list yeah so these are things like lights um I think some maybe some of the bleachers there was like a list of um features that could be added to the project if funding was available and could be removed from the project if it's not available so I think I guess to directly answer your question if if they can't get approval for these additional requests um they're probably going to have to pull some of those items from that alternate uh feature list um and and remove them from the project got it thanks I think fencing was another one grass the grass is part of the core problem so that's that's not that's not a an alternate feature Susie do you know if in those numbers one of them is the fundraised number or is that just considered part of ammer contribution that is uh that is a good question uh because there I think I think I might be missing that uh that number which if I remember do you remember what the amount was so there was I want to say it was in the like $200,000 range or something like that this is what the the hurricane boosters had raised um it ended up coming in at at a smaller number because some of the commitments that were made were um were assuming an artificial turf and so people had the option of resending their you know proposed cont contribution once the project changed but um I don't think I'm including that um do you maybe when we're down there or before we go down there we can ask Doug if he has a spreadsheet on this so that we get the numbers laned up a little bit Yeah I I'll send that email to them okay that sounds good yeah and they I as far as I know they are they they are not good to do any more fundraising for the project I think they they they were quite I think unhappy about sort of the the developments um and the kind of when the project shifted uh so they essentially you know kind of stop fit closed out their their campaign um okay uh I think that's it on the track uh let's see um so I think Susie I think you I think you mentioned to me that the Personnel committee um or the select board I can't remember who it was asked for a fincom representative or a negotiation team can you fill us in on on that yeah so at the last I think it was the last one uh select board meeting um the Personnel Board C uh came to explain their recommendation that um the process of negotiating the Town Administrator contract had been only being done in executive session with select board members and um Personnel Board recom oh there's a Personnel board's two of us two of them we we as a we as a matter of course on the Personnel Board followup on department head um contract negotiation and found that that it seemed like the process with the Town Administrator had come to a a halt and um that's a concern it's also a concern that the the typical process has been contracts are negotiated with a repres representative from each of the three committees that's just I don't think it's a policy but that's how we have done it in the past um and and just wanting to you know bring that to light uh with the select board and recommending that we you know the select board can do what they choose absolutely they're the hiring Authority um but to to recommend um that um somebody from both a representative from both the finance committee and uh Personnel Board be part of the negotiation so so I understand that they have approved that is that my understanding or are open to that yes I think that's how the meeting ended okay all right all right so then I think the the implication for us is we should we should identify by somebody who's willing to um serve on that negotiation team right Bob I would I would volunteer to be on that okay all right so we've got one volunteer anybody else have an interest in that April yeah I don't have an interest but I would like to recommend that George not just because he's not here but but that he be part of that that would be my recommendation so I guess one question I have for you is has the Personnel uh board already identified somebody okay um no we we're meeting on the 22nd is our next meeting and we will identify somebody at that point okay got it so um so this is just a thought um oh Kathy am I too new to be involved in such a negotiation or no no you're also a member of the Personnel Board so that's another Avenue right right potentially but yes and since George is not on the Personnel Board now he could represent the fincom and Kathy could represent the pur board if if that's how it can work to make one point about that folks that is that the Personnel Board uh did develop this did they not develop this contract or this recommend no we've had nothing to do with this contract this is that's what I was saying normally it's a representative from three committees go ahead I mean we were represented in the last Contracting cycle but have had no input or contact through this one and it it's not a you know I I think it's time to open up the conversation yeah um okay yeah Bob did you have something I just think I'd be a good good person to do it I think I objective and not uh we're all friends here we all know each other very well but think I could do a good job on that committee all right I I would be just if I could chime in just my my thought was that um Kathy that you're your professional background would I think would make you particularly well suited to um you know being part of a group that was working on this so I'm wondering if would it be overkill for um I mean obviously the Personnel Board maybe they could we could encourage them to to uh to you know um nominate so George is not part of that committee but maybe they could nominate Kathy and the fincom like would it be overkill for us to have two fincom members like Bob and George on this that that is that did they specifically ask for one representative that wasn't approved by the select board okay I know this they can go back to them as a request that's not what they approved and I understand this is a hard decision and you know I I think in some ways there's no bad choice you know I think Kathy absolutely I mean we can talk about this at our next meeting and I think your expertise is it's pretty obvious yeah you know it's all over your yourself um I guess I this is hard because I have respect for both George and tremendous amount of respect um well I wonder I wonder if since it's been such a long process and it's gotten nowhere if a brand new fresh perspective might be the the thing that helps get it get it resolved and over the Finish Line yeah but George hasn't been involved in the process neither is Bob and neither have you it it will there's only the select board has been involved in the process so far and that what the um Personnel Board was recommending that it include the process that's been used before a fincom a per board and a select board member and the advantage of that is that the there's three people who can talk to each other because they're not on the same committee um and it's a process that's worked before and been used before so that's this point yeah and I'm not sure I you know it and it is not a policy you know and maybe maybe that should be looked at given this I think it was on the books as a policy when Penny Kim was on and it's one of the ones that um did not you know it it got lost because of the old computers but it was ay I believe okay well I think it makes sense I um well I know I I'm I'm I'm thinking that like I I would rather maybe not sort of like take the risk of that the Personnel Board wouldn't just choose Kathy and so I'm thinking maybe I might be inclined to just uh make a motion to to request Kathy to kind of represent us on on this Committee just um just because I I feel like if if if if we you know like I don't want to just assume that that the Personnel Board is gonna you know would with selector I have no idea like who else is interested in this responsibility on on the committee this is hard because we haven't gone through that process and I I think I would imagine that Kathy would be likely but we certainly have not talked about it as a committee you know it's you know it cross my mind is the perfect choice yeah um so that would put the Personnel Board into in a position of you know we've we've got some we have other members who absolutely could become part of it you know George has just been part of this process so many times and I understand he's not here so that makes it even more challenging um I find it rather odd and a little disappointing to say the least that I'm being I'm being cut out of this and I'm taking notes here it's I don't understand why you would object to my participation in this AJ and but and I've been on this committee for nine years yeah that's that's that's a little upsetting to me tell you the truth some who's already on the Personnel committee you're recommending that take this job so fine okay but Bob you've already done the police Union negotiation I've done the police as far as the amount of people people who've had an opportunity to deal with any contracts you already did one and others haven't oh I'm just saying that you spread the work around and I don't think that it's right for you to be speaking up on this issue Becky to tell you the truth so okay again you know and I did had no problem doing the least as you know it worked out I was very Cooperative with the other members of the board including yourself so agree with that that's not that wasn't the issue I just said you already spent a lot of work on a contract this year that was my only comment so Bob my my suggestion has absolutely nothing to do with a desire to pass you over anything it was really I just was thinking about a kind of unique set of skills and kind of professional background that Kathy brings to her role in the finance committee and I just seem like an obvious choice to serve on a committee that's gonna um you know responsible for negotiating an important you know Personnel contract um so it was entirely about thinking that she has a kind of unique set of skills that would probably bring a lot to that group so that that's that's why I was making that suggestion had nothing to do with my you know I'm sure you would do a great job uh and I'm sure you have a valuable make valuable contributions to this group I'm just trying to think about what what would be a great a good role for her in particular and I I also think that the Personnel Board has certainly other members who are perfectly would be have not done this kind of thing before or or are open to it so I think it would not be it's it's nice it's nice to have that you know the level of expert that Kathy brings and a sense of neutrality that is I think it would be wonderful from either board but if if it's from this board then the Personnel Board will certainly find a representative not to worry you know that I think it's important not to that we need to move forward on this um is there has is there an initial like what's the time for this are they are they expecting to meet with this expanded negotiating committee like soon this month or is is there any sense of when what the timing of this might be I'll say no okay that wasn't meeting that was not my sense no nor mine and the per board's not meeting till the 2 second you said right nothing will be happening until after that right all right one thought um could we potentially kick this Kick the Can down the road until after the Personnel committee has selected their representative I see what you know there's if there was a meeting coming up in the next week or so absolutely not on one hand I think having the committee formed sooner is better than later but if let's yeah I don't think any huge harm would be done you know we will meet but the Personnel Board will meet in a week little more than a week and the next fincom meeting would be when so I'm thinking probably so the 2 uh we gotta get back on track right so the yeah it probably will be September 3D uh last next six and 14 right our meeting was going to be on the 6th oh wait uh am I looking six and 14 the 20th I think you're SC it up Susie you know we were supposed to meet on the 6th of September August 6th right 620 right um right then it's um so I guess I was just saying AJ said the third right yeah so our options for next meeting are right we could either meet next week on the 20th but I think that's going to be too soon I don't think we're going to have much of an agenda and the Personnel Board will not have met by then or the 3 September 3D know the problem actually as we're talking about the problem is that sort of leaves this open for nearly another month yeah and that's not good for the town yeah okay in my opinion you know and and the select board may or may not act on it you know quickly but at least to have that option I think would be better all right I don't want to uh volunteer for this if I don't have support of the committee so I'm going to withdraw my my uh motion or whatever it was called I'm not I'm not interested in doing this okay all right so I think that I wanna um I have my hand up I want to reiterate that George's experience of being on the Personnel Board for many years gives him a perspective about how people make decisions what kind of information they can gather what kinds of um thoughts they have and so that's why I still think that George um could work from the fincom and Kathy could work from the pur board if the pur board chooses her and they would probably choose her because she's got that background yeah I can't speak for everybody but yeah I agree all right do you want to make a motion to that uh yeah I nominate George arvanitas to be the fincom rep for the uh Town Administrator negotiations that the select board is involved in I'll second that okay so we've got a motion a second any other comments all right uh George you're kicking us off today right yeah George g stain from this let me just I'll make a brief comment I think it's very important when conducting this kind of a of a review of a town employee since we all are live in a small town and we're and we're all friends and neighbors that we try to maintain uh an objective ity and not have the same old people rotated through reviewing each other which I fear is what's happened in the past on this Committee in town politics and I don't like it is it sort of a there's a there's a it's going to be everybody being too friendly and too chummy does not work for the benefit of the taxpayer which after all is the finance committee's mandate to to represent the taxpayer not the town employees and not any other person that's our goal and that's why we have to maintain that perspective and when you're friends with somebody it's hard so people would generally being friends with somebody would recuse themselves from being in that position because they know they would have divided loyalties so I I think I could provide that kind of uh perspective on this committee I'm withdrawing because I don't like the the what I consider to be the favoritism towards people that have done this over and over again as you pointed out uh it's it's not the right way to go so that's the last thing I'll say on it okay I'm gonna vote I'm gonna abstain on that vote okay Jen nay okay cashew yes moer yes Salvador yes in Stein I okay all right so I um I'm really hoping the Personnel Board uh selects you Kathy so hopefully that this works out I'm a little nervous just sure of assuming that's gonna be how this plays out okay um so we have our um our representative and U I'm sure we'll hear about this uh in upcoming meetings all right uh see okay I think next up we have um an expense report that was sent recently uh I think August 9th so if I can share my screen uh second AJ sorry no problem okay one second so um Kathy I think this will be the first time that you're looking um or that that you're reviewing an expense report as part of our meeting but this is something we do I wouldn't say every meeting but kind of every couple of meetings um uh Becky shares with us um uh periodically uh updated expense report s and the and I I'll just share the most recent version um on the screen right now now I'm hoping I think what you're so this is this is the very first uh run of the new fiscal year okay got it all right uh yep so it's fy2 start date July 1st through August 15th although I think you ran this if I'm not mistaken it was August 9th is that it yeah so yeah yeah look at the bottom here August 8th all right this is basically July one through August 8th so Kathy just um just explain this so this comes from the accounting system the that the uh the town uses um every line in this expense report um corresponds to a line in our you know budget that we um that the town approved uh at last town meeting and um we have an allocated line which is you know our obviously our budget amount for each of these lines and then we see um kind of the amount expended and then a current balance is this third column and the last column just gives us percentage of the that line that has been spent to date so that's how to kind of read this and so it's a little it's a little hard to make much of this this early in the fiscal year but the you know we what we typically do is we'll take a few minutes and we'll go through the the expense report we'll identify lines that look like they're um trending towards you know maxing out before the end of the fiscal year or that may be significantly underspent and um you know that those kinds of issues might generate some questions for Becky Becky usually has you know kind of a couple of uh lines that she has some sort of important context or background information to share and so that's just kind of part of our sort of regular process so um and I think one of the things you'll notice in this first expense report I'm trying to think of a good example is that um like this might be a good one here the assessor computer maintenance so some of these lines that are like already spent 100% you know are things that you know like are subscription based kind of expenses that get paid you know at the beginning of the year for example or a contract that gets paid at the beginning of the year and so um you know that's not it's not a concern that this is at 100 100% it's just refers to kind of that the billing cycle for that particular line all right did did anybody have any uh questions or concerns about any lines in the expense report that they wanted to bring up we'll just just got to scroll through this uh Bob the only thing I'll say is that when I somehow in my mind I always put the heading on top of the list of individual expenses in my mind so I get I have to constantly check myself with this format because if you look at buildings for example it looks like it's underneath zoning boards appealed to my way of thinking uh and so it's just comment it's not this is the way it is I'll have to make an adjustment but it's not easy yeah so like to Bob's point this this these headers that are bolded actually correspond to the the the lines that fall above it so just even though they're called headers they're Footers yeah I mean if you kind of look in between the lines I think that's another Maybe got it okay um Becky you didn't have any particular I just got a text from Becky that her computer crashed oh okay oh yeah see her here yeah we do see that the fire station mitigation overspent yeah because that's a problem yeah so we're already I don't see why it's overspent what is that item for they have a gas leak from a tank that was underground and they have been um they are under D orders to figure out what the extent of the problem is and then to get into mitigation so just Becky just texted she is updating her zoom on her computer trying to get updates got it all right so we should ask her about this line when she's back on here she comes all right are you able to zoom that a little bigger yeah sure uh yeah that helps okay Becky we had um so far just one question and that is the about the fire station mitigation line which looks like it's um overspent Now by $3,400 uh could you give a little information about that oh do we lose her again oh boy could have sworn I just saw her okay no I think she's G she's back where she okay sorry my uh my main computer started doing Zoom updates ah no worries and it's still going all right um I don't know if you heard me uh but we you said you had a question but I couldn't see it um just came back all right it's about the fire station mitigation line which looks like uh is already um overspent by almost $3,400 I think uh in part that's that should we have a $114,000 line that should have come out of I'll have there's two we've got um there's another fund for mitigation I'll talk to Gail about that tomorrow I think what was supposed to come out of the the new one that the fincom funded for the wells the new wells um around the fire station got put in the wrong account it should have come out of the $14,000 um quote that we had been given by Ty and bond okay which should be yeah so that get corrected do you know off the top of your head what line that that should have come that should have come under or come out it would have been in the F it would not be in the main budget it would be in one of the um they used to be fund 30 funds right okay got it down below all right so that's just an accounting thing [Music] uh any other questions or comments all right that's it okay so um I think so it sounds like that that issue will get resolved probably in the next uh report we get okay so it doesn't sound like there's any other questions on the expense report we stop sharing we will note that um The Reserve fund is now $55,000 not $775,000 yeah right okay um all right that's those are all the agenda items that I had um is there anything else that folks wanted to discuss before I think I think the next meeting is going to fall on Election Day is that right primary election day is that the third yeah I think so we can't meet you can't meet on the third so we would and and on our next meeting we would begin discussing the um letter to send out to departments and some of the things we've learned in the past and how we want to look at that so rather than pushing it later I wonder if we want to push it soon um um so the other change the select board made is they are not meeting on August 27th oh they're not okay they are not um they move that to August 22nd which is just another problem with the Personnel Board got it but you guys could have that um August 27 so then we should definitely meet on the 27th I I yeah the only reason I had picked the third is I assume that uh yeah and I yeah I had to look at the calendar right okay so um so we'll plan to meet on the 27th get back on our regular Tuesday night schedule every other Tuesday night um so I think what we'll do at that meeting is we'll have an update um from our meeting with with Susie and my meeting with the superintendent uh when is the the CPC meet you gave that date ear 22nd 22nd so there might be some news coming out of that um for us to discuss I assume our only role on that is going to be to recommend you know make make a recommendation on the associate um the associated warrant article for um whenever that's going to come up at at uh a special town meeting sounds like a November um okay and then AJ I'm sorry AJ part of the CPC process is also if if there's any committees that support a specific project they often will you know submit a letter of support um I see okay so that would be a possibility if if the finance committee were to vote support of their project okay so maybe what I'll do is um I will between the this next CPC meeting and the 27th I'll reach out to Mato and see if you know if he what what he might need for or want from the fincom in terms of feedback or letter of support and then we can talk about that on the 27th um and then I think I think we can also then start to we can look at our our budget requests letter and discuss any you know changes we want to make to that um to that letter and the uh corresponding budget request form so Kathy kind of our our budget process begins with a letter that we sent to all the department heads requesting a proposed budget for FY 26 and then a corresponding budget form that they fill out and you know it includes their allocated amounts in for Budget year 25 a proposed amount for 26 and then a comments field so that they can explain if you know if there's um a different amount they're requesting for for this year uh okay so we'll talk about that at uh anything else that folks can think of that we want to talk about uh at our next meeting um by then I should there was um movement in the elementary school Union contract okay and um a lot of movement it might be that they have agreement full agreement it had not yet gone back to the school Union um but by that time we should have word if it's um settled and should have some numbers that's great okay good good to hear okay anything else for us to discuss tonight before we adjourn Bob yeah I would like to ask Becky uh there's a special town meeting on Thursday this week for that one item and it says on the town website fincom approved unanimously I just wonder when did we approve this what what's that about okay so this this Warren article is a repeat from annual town meeting what happened was there was a procedural problem it was the debt article for pasas the $150,000 loan and it it because it was debt it required a two-thirds vote um the moderator statement was clear majority um and he did not take a vote so we had no count he didn't take a count yeah we didn't take account I apologize we didn't take account so now we have to repeat the whole darn thing and we voted it and it doesn't change it at all except that the procedure was in error the same article yeah yeah it's the same article so I I assume that that you guys wouldn't have changed your vote well have to vote again I don't think I think that you're right so I just wasn't clear on that so thank you yeah no and hopefully not too many people show up because it's at Town Hall and Grace is worried we're going to get hordes of people and they won't fit what um what's your expectation like in terms of fincom representation I would really appreciate if you could muster a majority okay yeah and I think if we were to get a lot of people um we move outside okay without changing the location got it okay so it's Thursday at 6: PM is that right yep yes okay I I I should be able to make it myself I I can make it and I can wait wait wait wait wait wait wait it's Wednesday oh Wednesday no no it's Thursday Thursday you're right it is Thursday 15 15th right okay all right thank you guys I'm I'm assuming maybe this is a mistake but we're pro we're probably looking at like a short all right speed meeting figure it could be over in three minutes three to five minutes a land record that would never happen they don't need to tell us where the bathrooms are we just keep going all right and the Quorum for a town meeting is nine so I think we're gonna do it yeah all right sounds good um okay anything else all right I'll make a a motion to adjourn our meeting we'll meet next on the 27 great second thank you a thank youone roll call bye all right Bob I heard yes and Jim yeah I Cas you I Mo your I Salvador I Stein i al righty okay very good great thank you everybody bye bye bye bye