##VIDEO ID:eWX6uNaNfGA## e good evening good evening yes for well I guess there's AJ hi everyone hey hi hello all [Music] right okay great great Jim you're were able to join oh no you said you have to leave early tonight yeah that's right 7:30 I think we have we lost George wasn't he on here just well he was momentarily all right let's give him a minute here he comes again all right great that was painful all right so IPC problem had to reboot no worries all right so I'm going to call the finance committee to order at 6:35 October 15 um why don't we start with uh we have two sets of minutes um September 28th was the four towns meeting and we have um said notes that uh minutes sorry that uh George put together did folks have a chance to look at at that any questions or suggestions Bob oh you're muted Bob just on the second set of the meeting that I attended is that is it time to talk about that or uh why don't we just finish up with 928 no problem uh Susie um at that meeting I think at least two people mentioned that impact of charter schools um on the budget and I don't think it made it into the notes and I think it's a fact we should keep track of okay what would you like where do you think it should should go um I know it was I know ammer mentioned it in their follow up so I guess it could just go there I okay she talked about it a little bit but I think it's just a in the ammer part okay so um where it says so the LA the end of the ammer section um amount from ARP um um amist also mentioned the impacts yeah of school choice you said right no that it's the Charter One that's more I I actually have some details that she gave at the last school committee meet I don't know if she also shared this at the four town I wasn't there but the there are according to to the superintendent 94 students that um that uh we had to compensate the charter schools for and that total $2.3 million I I don't know if I wasn't at the meeting so I don't know if she gave any specifics but okay I don't think she was that specific all right but but but Amis also mentioned the impact of charter schools um and mentioned that that the impact of charter schools needs to be considered um needs to be uh I think they even referenced um talking to our legislators and Mindy D was there but I don't I don't know how specific it got well wasn't Charter School the one thing that Z said that she might consider suspending for a year choice choice there's two different things I know they're two different things I I always get them backwards yeah she did say suspend choice but also the negative impact of Charter the negative fiscal impact of Charter all right let me let me put that in there negative fiscal impact so uh am also emmer also mentioned that mentioned the negative impact of charter schools needs to be Revisited or reviewed or considered um kept kept in mind it's highly relevant yeah well any of those words we've got it we've got the placemark for it yeah ammer also mentioned the negative imp acts of charter schools on the budget on the budget period yeah needs to be what just on the budget needs to be on the budget no not needs to be just on the budget the negative impact of charter schools the budget got it got it okay sorry on the budget okay Amis also mentioned the negative impact the negative fiscal impacts of charter schools on the budget okay it's yep Jim yeah we're on the which set of meetings are we on is September 28th the four town the fourtown meeting George's okay not the October not the October 1 okay sorry right okay any other questions or suggestions it's a good start all right I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from September 28th as amended second AR Groves upate Hemingway I cashew abstain oos your I Salvador I uh April I think you're muted but I can read your lips so that uh passes five yes two absens okay and then now we can talk about um October 1st and I think Bob you had something just on the the last section there George in my copy the uh sentence just cuts off without yeah I the notice the same oh which sentence we will delay the and there's nothing there's 4 d thank you I'm sorry uh on oh I'm looking at the 28 other business letter D so y yeah give me one second I'm I'm bouncing around um I don't know what I was saying there superintendent resigned in person I think you were saying George we that it'll delay the appearance of the highway superintendent before us yes yes we will delay the right I I'll use your exact words appearance of the highway super intendant it's budget hearing budget meeting yeah yeah got catch thank you also 4 a needs to finish that first sentence the Aon for each department will reach out to the department heads regarding the budget meeting schedule sorry about that I'm going to say regarding their budget meeting schedule well I'll just leave it as B okay okay anything else on October 1st oh I I thought in um the first in section B I mean two in section two there was some discussion about choice and Charter and who pays and that needed to um get researched as questions rather than an open rather than just keep trying to discuss it where is this again which one so I would put it down in um um we followed up and maybe it would be like a new D we followed up on question about who pays Charter and choice um we we had a discussion going back and forth and I suggested that we didn't have enough information to resolve it and people would need to research what the questions would be but it was specifically about who pays for Charter and choice so you're saying uh where D is the committee members will draft questions you want me to insert a new row that says we need to follow we need to do what follow up yeah follow up on who who pays and how much do they pay for Charter and Choice Charter Schools and choice student Choice what is it what and for school choice okay let me read it to you um we need to follow up on who pays and how much do they pay for charter school and school choice for charter schools and school choice everybody's okay with that y even the committee members will draft questions for the superintendent is now become e yeah I speak up here uh my recollection of that discussion was we discussed about school choice issue I brought up my point of view on that subject which uh I won't repeat here but uh I think that AJ is a king the salic person here in our committee suggested that we draft questions to address to the superintendent about that issue so my recollection is that we were talking about choice and uh AJ decided or suggested that we draft some questions to present to this the uh superintendent about this issue because that's what we were discussing about was that she brought up the idea of a potential pause that she put it in according to what I was told in choice for the coming year I think for the coming year so uh we need to resolve what that would represent in terms of its impact on the budget and on Revenue Chapter 70 money for example so that I that's really what what should be represent that was what was spoken in my recollection and that AJ suggested that we draft questions about that issue so I think your statement as it stands indeed that we should draft questions for the superintendent represents pretty well what happened you know yeah I think it the that last sentence really is broader it because we also want to talk about after looking at the scenarios other questions we might have so Susie's inserting this line um above IT addresses directly the charter of schools and the school choice and then the one below it is the broader issues which can in incorporate and include you know what I mean that same thing so I think we're covered here Bob okay fine I mean right yeah fine yeah okay anybody else okay I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from October 1 as amended second over I Roes i m i cashew i moer r Salvador I Stein I okay right um motion passes unanimously um quick question um so I I think I'm might be a little confused about whether we are planning to proceed with the highway department on November 12th which is our original scheduled date I I thought I I thought I remember there was some discussion of delaying but then also some suggest suggestion that well let's just go ahead and um Bob have you had a chance Yes actually Steve I went to see him today I've been having a hard time hooking up with him because various reasons but so I drove up there today around just before his quitting time and actually was able to talk with him for 20 minutes and uh we're gonna meet tomorrow and I think we'll do some preliminary work on just U uh drafting out his budget uh okay but I'm not sure we'll have it ready uh for the 12th but I think we'll have something for the 12th you know okay so I'm I'm going to I'm not going to change the schedule for now but you know you're it sounds like you're planning to have a more detailed uh uh meeting with him tomorrow so why don't you shoot me an email if you have any concerns about keeping him on the schedule for the 12th after that I'll do that I I I have extracted what I thought were all the relevant documents in the budget from last year and this year's expense report and uh I think that those will help us you know rough something out so we'll work on it tomorrow but we'll work on it you know we'll talk to I'll talk to Becky if she's available and uh we'll try to get something together that that's coherent and it represents roughly what he's gonna what he needs or what he wants okay okay sounds great thanks okay next up um I thought I'd just share a brief update from the last Regional committee meeting which was on October 8th and uh I didn't hear the whole meeting but I listened to the portion where they debriefed the four towns meeting and had a sort of follow-up discussion on um kind of restructuring um I think the most important points to share is that I think there was there's generally strong support for the work the superintendent is doing to address the budget deficit um and I did not hear a lot of push back from the committee about the concept the main concept of of restructuring the school as a 712 um school um there is a lot of enthusiasm for this conversation this discussion about kind of needing to the district needing to um develop programs that are going to attract some of the students that are leaving the district right now for charter schools there there was a discussion about what the superintendent is referring just been calling the charter gap which is this this roughly 90 4 students who are leaving the district for charter schools and and that is essentially losing uh the district $2.3 million and so I think there's a lot of enthusiasm for this idea of an innovation school that could eventually be housed in the current middle school and the idea that that might compete with some of the families that were losing to Charter Schools um the superintendent is working with uh the uh I guess Jesse has an office of school redesign to um plan uh develop a plan for what it would require and what it would look like to do this 712 transition and then also to talk about some of these other um sort of more longer term con ceps um one of which is around um kind of more intensive collaboration with local higher ed programs um this might look like a kind of program that would allow students to graduate emmer Regional High School with an associates degree would be um you know maybe something akin to um like the IB the uh diplomas that some folks might may be familiar with um the only other sort of interesting detail I think was that that she was asked if there was any plan to um pause the Middle School principal search because there is an open search right now um and her response is that no they're moving forward with that search and I this wasn't said but I presumably this that that is because this idea of school restructuring right now is still an idea is not something that is um you know close to sort of being a uh a formal like having a formal decision made about that so I think for the interim they they for for now they're they're keeping that search open uh um I think that's I think those were the kind of main de oh and the other thing was um there was talk about okay well what's the next step uh and um the chair of the committee um said they they were thinking the first week in weekend in December was likely going to be the next four towns meeting that they didn't sort of formally like make that decision or vote on that or anything but that that that is sounding like the plan for the next uh four towns meeting okay uh Susie two questions one there's some other group that's been meeting I it has an acronym I don't or it has like Budget Group yeah a budget group is are they uh do we have any information from what they're working on well I think this my understanding is that this nine I'm sorry this 712 idea came out of um a meeting that of that group uh I I wish I remember the acronym too it's it's like a bunch of coordinating group or something that involves yeah involves the superintendent I think a subset of the regional school committee and then I think some folks from an like maybe the the um Amis fincom F finance committee I think uh yeah and it's like a budget coordinating group of some kind and I believe they met in between like the the previous the the regional school committee prior to the four towns meeting sort of in between those two meetings this group met and then all of a sudden at the for towns meeting we you know we saw a fairly detailed discussion of this 712 concept which was not discussed at the at the the prior Regional school committee meeting so I think it kind of developed out of that that group's meeting and the other thing I wondered about is in the newspaper which you can't always believe um there was mentioned that a sprinkler system $3 to4 million would be needed in the high school and that that had come out of a discussion in 2019 about um merging the schools do we is that being opened up at all I think it's um I think the superintendent I I do recall I guess there was a study that because there was a at least an earlier uh look at a 712 um School model and there was some work done and yeah I think there there was some reference to some infrastructure changes that maybe it was the sprinkler system so I think it's all sort of there's no answer right now it's all sort of part of her team's work right now to to learn what would actually be required to to make this change okay so I'm sure between now and the next four towns meeting there's going to be some more discussion about the feasibility of actually doing this for FY 26 okay any other questions about Regional School stuff okay um next on the agenda is um just kind of prepare ing for uh Town manager transition so oh actually say again I I apologize go ahead George yeah um I I would like to go back to this previous issue I I didn't realize you were it was called update but in our last meeting we talked about putting together questions for the superintendent and you didn't mention anything about that yeah yeah should we talk about that yeah sure uh I I think so what I think think we should do and I'm curious if folks have other ideas is I think we should draft a set of questions and any requests that we have um in advance of that next four towns meeting and I think um I would like to maybe schedual a meeting with the superintendent and maybe one or two other folks from committee um to discuss those questions with with her so you know it's October 15th if we think you know if we're looking at a a four towns meeting um I think potentially is it like December 6th or something like that let's see what was that first Saturday 7th December 7th so um I don't know if we're prepared to brainstorm some questions tonight but um I think one thought would be for our next meeting we could like each of us could spend some time like drafting any topics or questions that we want to discuss with the superintendent um and we can kind of share that at our next meeting and actually produce draft a list of questions that would be one way to go um if folks actually have specific questions they can articulate now I mean I certainly up for for writing him down and getting that process started Bob I just wanted to bring up again uh the issue of school choice which is one that I uh have been interested in for some time and the idea that she made this uh statement that she was considering a pause uh in school choice but we didn't hear any word on that from your uh your your account of the last meeting so I'm just curious to know what her intentions are what the possible ramifications are in terms of restructuring the school uh if Choice students were paused as she put it or eliminated because it really would be a factor and so we need to hear has to say about that so I don't know if that's the right way to formulate the question but that's my interest no I think that's good uh okay and April yeah I was wondering if um we had discussed having the uh finance office uh look at the five-year rolling look look at the budget in under the modified statutory five-year rolling average and just get a sense of what that's going to look like and I don't not sure if that has happened but that I think that's an important thing to have yeah and just my slight sort of twist on that April is that I I was gonna um because I I had made a suggestion that we actually have them utilize the bottom line number that they shared in that slide deck it was the one model that actually produced um that didn't didn't produce a deficit um and uh if we have them use that total assessment as the starting point and then actually apply the modified statutory method and see what that would produce yeah for each town without any guard rails just to get a look what that that would look yeah uh George um yeah so for questions April's question for sure I also was going to ask if they could calculate the uh scenario of keeping the 6% within the base with a 0% increase um because ammer keeps saying they don't want the base but what if we kept the base and we just didn't increase the budget what what would that number be for the assessment Okay so so I mean would that mean literally the same budget as last as fy2 not necessarily the same budget the same assessments right okay so it I think it's important it could be a baseline um yep but I also think amers keeps insisting on not having the zero percentage it after the meeting I wish you it occurred to me when we were there it that was the one scenario they didn't show yeah everybody's thinking increases but why not just keep the base and not change it I think we need to see what that looks like I think that's one question I want to have um the other question I wanted to have I think is important um I'm just going to spreadsheet here because I I crunched those numbers that I know you got everybody did not want to see but I crunched them anyways because I was curious how things looked um and the other questions that came to my mind were um calculating the assessment schedule using the modified statory yeah got that um calculating what would have happened if we went that back to fiscal 24 and we increased it by 2 and a half% we could see what two 25 would have been like with 2 and a half% for each town and then carried that on and did another 2.5% for fiscal 26 I'd be curious to see what everybody's assessment would look like again I think a benchmark something to compare whatever they do to and I also think we should do the same thing with 3.5% because last year didn't amers come out with guidance of 3.5% so you know Amis is talking about what they can afford to do and what they can't afford to do but if we had done the increases the way they wanted to in the last years I mean do we want to ask that question I'm not even sure we do but I'm throwing it out there for us to kind of think about I guess I mean George would the point of that be to illustrate how much larger the deficit would be um yes okay yeah yeah I think so yeah I think it's but if because what if in some of these scenarios Amis number actually went down or was lower than these benchmarks then we should all talk about at least coming up to that number so I guess I don't know what it's going to look like I think if we use the two and a half one year and three and a half the next year which is what I did on the spreadsheet I'm looking at we would see an increase for ammer based on the statutory method roughly of using last year's assessment we would see emis getting actually a decrease and so I just think we can set a new minimum potentially budget amount or assessment amount by doing this I I'm sorry if I'm not articulating it well but I do think it would be a good Benchmark to see if we considered if we could just visualize as we look at these numbers what would things have looked like if we had these regular increases and if you know if you all think I'm off the wall and it's not a good idea I'm fine with it okay so I think I think one of our sort of questions or requests is going to be can we can we look at some new models some new scenarios um one of and so it may be two or three that we're asking to see so um I think we've got the start of a list of some of those that that that we might ask them to work up for us um Susie and then Bob um so George when you talked about what would it look like with this um if FY 26 was with the 6% base and no increase but you also I think we also want to have always looking at as modified statutory um every single one yes every one of them so and so you you didn't mention that or I didn't hear you mention that but that I didn't but yes that's what I think we need to keep um pushing forward in the view it may not end up there but it it should be um all the scenarios I mean we had talked last meeting all the scenarios not just the one that came out with not a deficit as what does it look like with the 100 um 100% modified statutory I will put that on all these questions in the minutes so if I may I have four questions so far what are the superintendent intentions for school's Choice um we'd like them to calculate the assessment for the scenarios using the modified statutory method which is a 5-year rolling average uh we'd like them to produce a scenario of keeping 6% within the base with zero increase 0% increase or zero increase using the modified statutory method and would you like me to include calculate assessment for each town with annual 2.5 increases from fiscal 24 to 25 and 26 using the modified statutory yeah let's let's keep that in for now and then okay when it you know we'll see how we'll see what our question list looks like um you know after our next meeting and then decide if we want to keep it uh Bob yes so I just want to say I absolutely agree with what Susie and George has said about making sure that this modified statutory method is at the top of our concerns uh that the superintendent should understand uh because it it got sort of Lost in the shuffle last year and we want to bring it right back to the four so but the other thing I want to point out is that you know it's somewhat confusing to hear all these different methodologies to arrive at what the budget should be for this year uh with you know 2% disregarding the base or using part of it as a base or just it what is the ask what is the budget going to be we have to determine what that number is and then divide it by using the statutory method of assessment so I don't know if the all the scenarios that were painted by the superintendent or are helpful what how much is it going to go up if it all from 2000 say let's just say last year was an anomaly year what's the budget going to be this year that's what we need to know that's what what going to be acceptable to the town of amris ultimately is the big question last year they stretched it from Two and a half to three and a half as you said George but I don't think we can count that as their offer that was their negotiating position before they finally just caved so I don't know if we could count that as an offer you know really but what number are they going to support can we find that out at this meeting I I don't know if the superintendent would know that uh no that sounds like a question for Amis right yeah probably it's a question for am yeah they start anyway where they going to start yeah and depends on who you ask in am right it's not it's not like it's it's there's always a clear consensus they want to do certainly the St the statutory you know the the statutory method we support we have to make sure we we express that strongly and explicitly so yes and I do think we have their generally speaking I think we have ammer support in at least like not abandoning that and and and looking at how that how that plays out um in these different these different models what about the question of guardrail so that's another thing that kind of confuses that syst you know yeah my feeling is is we should totally like put away the guard rails concept right now and then until we like and then and then possibly I'm not saying we should but like at some point when we have clarity about sort of what the budget looks like and kind of what the total looks like and how the modified statutory method what its implications are for each of the towns then if there needs to be a discussion about guard rails we can have it right end game end game endgame exactly not like starting from this exactly right fion that we're gonna that we're gonna have a guard rail that everybody is going to basically going to cap everybody and we're all going to be subject to that same same guard rail um Susie um I think that the idea that we get a budget from them um is not going to happen until people wrestle with the kinds of cuts that that will make so she didn't she didn't Peg a budget she did Peg some numbers showing different kinds of cuts um and then in the paper which uh take with a grain of salt Mandy Joe hanii um questioned Paul Bachman's initial uh outlining of things where he is saying 2.5% increases for each of the areas of the budget and she said in or it was said in the paper that she questioned that shuberry doesn't do a 2.5% increase across every budget that's not how we do it and if you don't do it that way then you make decisions about where the revenue funds you have are going to go and so I feel like Amis does make a choice um and when they say we can't go above 2.5 or you know it's because they have a model that they're working with and she was beginning to question it um I think we should look at what kind of services a budget will provide and do our best to support the services that we think will help keep ammer schools thriving and not in the death spiral of charter schools sucking people out so I I think that our decision isn't going to be based on a p particular percentage given our whole uh looking at our whole budget and I don't think ammer should do that either but we don't get to tell them what to do and I do think when they do that when they decide every every area of government should get a 2.5% increase to keep it equal or fair or I don't know what their language is that's their choice and I I'm not it's not the kind of choices we've [Music] made okay anybody else all right I think we should continue this again at our next meeting and like potentially add to this list of of questions and and so um George do you feel like you you've got it sounds like you've got it pretty well captured in your minutes yeah the four the four that I had read right off earlier all right so I think everybody should do some more thinking about this between now and our next meeting and you know [Music] um we could um I mean like I might ask I'll probably I would probably add the infrastructure question like what infra infrastructure changes might be required to do this realignment um I suspect they're already thinking about that but but you know we want to make sure that that uh that's part of the conversation but anyway so we'll we'll we'll look at this again at our next meeting and then I'll um I'll try to schedule something in November with the uh superintendent and I don't recall the name of the the interim Finance director I wonder Susie you know her name or Becky I think it's Shannon is it Shannon okay don't know her last name though okay and she also talked to at the meeting talked to a woman named Katie and I think they're a pair in the central office all right I think they should be part of that meeting if possible okay all right anything else on school finances okay all right so next topic is um Town manager transition so for folks who haven't heard Becky's gonna be uh Becky can I uh is this official news or it's um inching closer I still haven't I haven't put in my resignation yet just because I haven't signed the contract but the contract's getting very close so almost there all right well first of all early congratulations I know it's not totally wrapped up and finalized but it sounds like uh um it sounds like you you're gonna have uh a cool and interesting new opportunity and uh in Sunderland is that right uh yes um so we need to talk about obviously this TR transition because we rely so much on your um kind of knowledge and and information and um so I think there are a few things for us to discuss tonight um one is just a short-term kind of immediate request that um was communicated to me by Rita from the select board so I think there at least as of my conversation with her which was about four or five days ago there is a tentative plan to to hire a part-time uh kind of temporary uh consultant like Town manager consultant to support um the town and apparently from what I understand maybe Becky you you have knowledge about this there there's there's sort of a a small group of of kind of retired Town managers that exist and that it's not like you know this is kind of one of the things that um some some folks who have that background and expertise do from time to time so um I think the select board is looking to potentially hire a person with Town manager experience to support our town as a on a Consulting basis to kind of man help us manage um our operations until there's a um a new permanent uh you know replacement manager now that presents a couple of issues for fincom one is that that person if they're able to find a person and hire them and uh and um retain them um that there will uh inevitably be some overlap with Becky's remaining time in the role I think and that might be because there's actually an interest in having that person overlap with with Becky and do do some sort of like information kind of sharing and handing off of things but also because I think I think Becky you have AC crude um benefit time and I think from what I from what was shared with me that that benefit could kind of carry you on the payroll through through sometime in January or so so there I don't know if that's she's not quite right okay but in any event I think the the the and that's not how it works either AJ Okay so I guess what was communicated to me is that there may be a request from the select board for a fincom transfer to help support this plan so that we can hire a a consultant that that is going to overlap with with Becky right so um um and that uh obviously we would that would present a problem in terms of that budget line so I told Rita that at our next I told her when our next meeting was and um she's going to attend that meeting and I told her that we would just need the details for that meeting of kind of what what is the plan like have they hired somebody what is that person's rate are they going to be a part-time working on a part-time basis how many hours what what is the ask um as far as a fincom transfer because I think they are going to she thought that they was they were likely to have some kind of a have a warrant article at our special town meeting um that would um potentially um address this as well but you know that that there may be a gap right before that special town meeting comes and when we need to start paying this consultant so anyway everybody should be prepared to hear about a fincom transfer request from SE select board at our next meeting to to discuss this need um George did you have a question about that yeah I I have a comment about that um remember our our fincom Reserve fund is is not real strong it's we knocked $20,000 out of it and when I look at other towns budgets ours is pretty small relative to the total um there if this person is hired on a Consulting basis on a part-time basis then there may be money in the town administrator's budget line already especially if there's a long vacancy so I you know I don't necessarily I'm not saying the plan is not a good plan and we shouldn't be using Reserve fund I think it's premature to be talking about it and I'm not sure we can really have good numbers for that so trying to race to get it done for the special town meeting I'm not sure is appropriate okay Bob yeah just want to say uh on that subject I believe that the our Reserve is too has too few dollars in it in the first place I think that we under underfunded that line and I really don't think I think we should actually augment it no matter what at this point because it it be we' be more prepared to deal with any contingency that comes along including the one described here so I think we should put a article at the town meeting to provide some more funding on that line for fincom because again I think this just shows that we're underfunded it so why not put the money in there it's not money that we have to spend but it gives us the ability to deal with this kind of contingency going forward so I don't know if the rest of the committee supports that but I think that's the right thing to do um Becky if if the fincom did want to sponsor a warrant article to um transfer some funds into our fincom Reserve account what what would be the deadline and um the sort of process for for doing that um I would need it before the 22nd the select board is going to review um actually is it the 22nd yeah I I think we're going to go through the warrant on the 22nd but the final review will be on the 30th of November I mean October October 30th in we hope to post it on the 31st okay like if you can think about it tonight I don't know how much you want to ask that would be best okay um all right so if we wanted to do this we should we should have a discussion now and actually vote on um a specific specific language um so Bob yeah just I'm gonna just propose uh without making a motion right now $25,000 into into that line uh I don't know if that's the right number whether people think that's too too much too little but I think 25k yeah so the current balance is 55 grand yeah bringing it up to 80 isn't it I can tell you real quick it's 55 George you got yeah okay and and we reduced our we reduced it contribution by 20 right yeah uh Susie I would like to hear from Becky about the process I don't know enough about the process before we come up with numbers so the questions on the table would be what she might talk about for timeline and what she might know about ta's Consulting and what if any will benefits um be impacted that we need to think about and those benefits it also might apply to Steve okay um so let's do this let's let's continue with the town manager transition discussion and then when we wrap that up let's come back to this topic of whether we want to sponsor a an article to um inject some funds into our transfer uh our Fon transfer account okay um yeah Becky what can you share with us um well first of all Rita did talk to me about this a little bit and the thing she had a real hard time um with conceptually was that when when these things occur like last year Tim hunting left um after September 30th well well he had a vacation pay accured he had you know significant amount from the year before and what he earned that year because you you can carry forward up to four weeks he was making six weeks a year but he carried forward four and left in the first quarter that vacation is paid out when the person leaves so say that was $88,000 that was paid out on that day um then we had we hired a new highway Superintendent at the end of the year um I think because there was a difference in salaries between those two the new highway superintendent I believe made a little bit less there was only a small need to make an adjustment in my situation like I'll be leaving um November 12th I'm sorry November 8 and so it should be you know I'll be about 35% into the budget maybe about that much I think that's close I'm sorry I'm not looking at the latest one so at that point if you hire somebody part-time and Rita was indicating it's kind of their intention to take their time and redo uh the job description have um Personnel work with Personnel Board and a lawyer to do that and then um go out to bid so it say it could be up to three months of somebody part-time so then you have the balance of that so that'll be what George about $188,000 now is building up in the account um not getting spent so we'll have a push yeah so so they'll be back and forth that you know it'll be close it but the other issue that Rita brought up was their intention um that it's a competitive ta market right now and she's also planning to have Reserve to increase the wage um and that's part of her thinking um I think she was talking about going up about $10,000 um or being making sure to have the availability to do that negotiating yeah Bob I just want to say it sounds to me like we need to hear from the select board what their plan is yeah before we know exactly what kind of money we need and we right that's what I'm trying to indicate to you that she threw out a lot of different variables but most of them aren't immediate like you know you won't so say for some reason that new person um fell from heaven and you paid him $100,000 you don't need that okay first of all it's going to be pro-rated and you won't need that much um and there'll be a savings so it's going to be it's one of those things like you said Bob that trying to solve it now might not make a lot of sense I agree you might not have a problem in the end although um you might because of the the vacation benefit being paid out as well right but your point is that even in that scenario it's it's something that wouldn't start to um like really spend down the line uh until closer to the end of later in the in the the fiscal year and and you also had the advantage of um a town meeting the end of April what we used to do in a situation where we were having trouble with the the current Year's budget is we'd have a current year town meeting you know maybe just one item on um at N9 o'clock and then start the full um town meeting at 9:30 so there's there's a number of ways to work around this problem like Bob and George and everybody was figuring out so I don't know how clear you know yeah no that's that's helpful okay so um AJ I have to leave okay thanks Jim along everyone good night J thank you one last word AJ I just go ahead Bob we'll know better when we meet the select board yeah that'll be before the deadline for putting in a request or so that that works in all ways we'll have better information we'll be able to make a better decision in that regard right well that's the problem is I I don't think that would be right because if if we're not meeting until um what is it the 29th 29th not of October what's what's the deadline but don't we meet can't we be on the select board agenda on the 22nd that's a good idea yeah you could be on there and then the October you meet on the 29th the Final close out for the warrant is the 30th right okay so you got a couple swings at it okay so um what's the kind of view among the committee members would it be worth us getting on the select board's agenda on the 22nd to discuss a potential warrant article to transfer some funds into our fincom Reserve account so I see some heads knocking anybody anybody feel like that's not necessary at this point all right Susie I wonder what information we'll need from the select board which they they because of open meeting law they'll just be discussing this but maybe they need to have some specifics or some plan a and or B so that when we go there we're working on numbers not um the beginning of a process Becky um but the only numbers you'll be able to work on are the interim salary person because potential you know until they really negotiate a contract with the final person that's going to be your biggest number and your biggest unknown but I guess to to speak to Bob's Original Point here like this request extends beyond the town manager issue right I mean like we we have a concern that's been articulated by some that the the account is is is running too low right now to just to deal with any number of emergencies that might rear their head this year right so like the point is is is not so much about like we need to increase the fincom reserve account for this specific reason it's kind of for for um just to be prepared for any number of things that might come up is that right Bob yeah I think I think just to swing around back to my original position that you just brought uh swung around to I think we should just vote tonight to to uh to request an in additional augmentation of our of our line so we're ready for anything obviously we're not going to spend it if we don't have to would that mean $220,000 Bob just to restore it to where it well I was gonna say 25 just because we're mixing our things here because I just the person who's taking the minutes we're talking about the Town Administrator transition and we decided AJ to move this to this conversation to after that conversation exactly yeah so so on the just um all right so on the town manager transition um I'm gonna Circle back with with Rita and just recap this discussion and tell and one of the things I'll say is that I think that there was there's kind of General view that we don't need to do a transfer at this pro at this time right now that there may be a need to do something depending on how all these variables play out but there's not a sense of urgency to do it right now um but we would like to kind of hear from them and know what their what their plan is so I I'm G to ask her to come to the next meeting just to just to share whatever information she can about what that plan is um yeah no I'm forgot to raise my hand but sort of piggybacking on what Susie had said um maybe the process would include us being on the uh agenda for the next select board meeting to hear it in that way rather than to have yeah that um so I think so I think we are mixing up a couple things I thought that the idea of getting on the agenda for October 22nd select board meeting because if we do want to sponsor a warrant article that that's that's when they're taking that's when they're having their preliminary discussion about laying out the warrant articles for the special town meeting so I think I think the the the the reason to go to the select board on the 22nd would be to say hey we want to include a warrant article at the upcoming special town meeting to transfer some additional funds to our fincom account so that so that's kind of a separate issue it it may potentially help us with if we do have a gap on the town manager line but it's not you know but it's it's it's a bigger scope than that Bob yeah I just please bear with me but I just want to go back to my original point which was it does no harm for us to vote tonight to increase that line we then we're covered the select board's business to sort out all these other details we're not going to really participate in that they're going to I don't think that we're going to have anything to do with it they're going to figure this out but we're going to be prepared to handle the financial impact of it if it's something that we have to deal with so why not just say tonight we want to ask for $25,000 and then we have it because I think the line as I said before I think the line was underfunded the first place so let's just augment it now and then we're we could participate to the degree that select board would like us to but we're ready financially to deal with whatever comes of it whatever Susie i' like to make a motion that we uh support this $25,000 augmentation so so Bob I guess the point is is could you just hold that for a few minutes because I want us to wrap up this town manager transition topic and then we're gonna discuss the fincom reserve account issue and then I think we'll have a vote on um a potential Warren article so Susie so I I feel like what Becky said is there's a ring along a timeline where events will happen and I don't I'm fine with um making a transfer to augment the fincom reserve but it's important not to see that as the defining of that'll take care of things it will be more comfortable for us but because we may end up being um as things play out um we might need to be prepared for the annual meeting to have a warrant article to help wrap up FY 25 as it plays out because we don't know how it will play out so it's important not to see this as a done deal with the 25,000 into fincom Reserve but if people want to feel more comfortable doing that that's that can be the vote uh George well I'm more comfortable with having that conversation in our next agenda item if you will uh and debate with Bob talk with Bob and everybody else about that $225,000 meet with the select board on the 22nd and whatever comes out of that meeting if there's the need for fincom Reserve funds we should add it to whatever number we come up with in our conversation I see what you're saying that yeah that I think that's a good idea so you're saying if separate and apart from whatever we vote on momentarily um whatever in whatever requests we're going to make if at the select board there's some plan that's discussed that has an additional Financial requirement attached to it that we add that to whatever amount we agree on tonight okay yeah to the extent that the TA budget does not cover it yeah okay because as Becky pointed out there's going to be a vacancy Gap in the budget there's going to be a period when if this person is working part-time we're not paying them at the level that we were paying Becky and so but we be paying them more than you're paying Becky well yeah but if they're part-time you know 20 hours a week maybe not that's the thing right we we need the details from from that that's right that's that's the real we don't that that makes some logical sense but I have I don't know anything about this the what is the market for these you know Consulting Town manag may maybe it you know it's it's limited yeah right um okay so I think I think so I I I think we've got some some clarity on this um this issue one other thing to mention though is that I believe um Rita mention that there's some effort underway to like put together some kind of a spreadsheet or some kind of document Becky you might be able to share information about this to just kind of capture some important information that right now sort of resid in your brain and is going to is going to be pretty critical to you know the the work of running this town and so um when she mentioned that it occurred to me that hey maybe the fincom should should if if we have specific I don't know um specific requests or information that we kind of rely on Becky for which obviously there's quite a bit um that we want to make sure gets captured in whatever this document that uh the select board is going to be working on we we ought to mention you know we we ought to come to them and say hey these are some things you should include on it um April yeah I was just wondering if part of the discussion with this transition with the Town Administrator might be would we be able to or would Becky be willing to act as a consultant to us you know when we do hire somebody new to to sort of help with that transition yeah um she can be town she lives here she could yeah I mean Becky I don't know if you if you can speak to this at all but does your a do do you see that as a possibility at all does you would your would your new employer allow you to do that or I mean is there will make sure to ask them okay I can ask them tomorrow okay yeah in case it's needed that it's possible yeah Becky I know where you live we all got your number she may change it yeah would and you know how often I'm at home and not at work right Bob um so no I'm glad you asked that April that's that that would be like obviously potentially really useful for us to have some access to you after you've actually made the transition so and not as a volunteer right uh Susie and I wondered Becky if you know um anything about the calendar in Sunderland like we know we're having a special town meeting on November 19th so um I'm sure that your job in Sunderland will keep you busy do you know if they have a fall um special town meeting it has has not been scheduled yay so we'll I guess I'll be finding out if we need to schedule one pretty you know over coming up yeah you'll be busy there yeah yes yeah that's true man I I'm hoping I'm hoping I have a um well I just want you guys to know this fincom I think is remarkable you guys are amazing and I really appreciate I feel like I have an All-Star team here and my fears of walking away in Prior years are not there this year um so I just want you guys to know that I have all the confidence in the world in you guys thanks Becky and obviously we really appreciate you um obvious you know you're to to say uh your integral to our work I mean it's like an understatement you um how many times in any random bcom meeting do we turn to you to say hey can you clue Us in to what's happening here or there um I mean and that's you know to be frank I mean that's like that's part of my you know just like nervousness like okay well there's just so much that we asked Becky for um and uh um so I'm sure it's all gonna work out fine we'll be okay I do have a little bit of anxiety about like think thinking about what it would be like to do our work without um you know without having you uh be a part of our regular meetings and and workflow so but April had a great idea tonight so may maybe there will be a way for us to kind of tap into your um knowledge expertise you know periodically if if need be Susie and our Reliance on Becky is also in every department so as we go into our budgeting season we have to understand that there are people who will not have Becky to support them in the same way and we have to be um patient and accept that this is where we are in the process and eventually we will have another Town Administrator and we will get support but this doesn't just affect us this affects all the departments in town yeah no good point Susan it does I think it does have implications for our work as that we do as liaison to the different departments like we're going to have to do a little bit more intensive just like handholding and encouraging uh because they're not going to be necessarily hearing from you know a town manager saying hey what's going on with your budget and so yeah um so we should all be prepared to do a little bit more of that um kind of work obviously let's be friendly and nice about it but we are going to have to kind of have more contact than I think we were NE we would in a normal year uh George yeah I agree with that I am I'm certainly willing to do more um in the areas I can um and along with what Susie said I think um the regional school and the P issues in this town are Becky's not being here is really going to be hard for us I think Becky the support you've given us with the regional school and the strength that I've received working with you going into the Regional School conversations it's been huge your knowledge and your history has just been amazing amazing um and um I just back to the point about Becky's availability to help us remember Becky goes to hate to talk about you in third person um all kinds of meetings tell me to turn off my screen all kinds of committees all the time I find it hard to believe that Becky is gonna have much time for us because she's going to be asked to do the same thing in the town of Sunderland so I don't think we can count it I'm hopeful that you can Becky and I'm only work Saturdays and Sundays because that's might be the time that if we can coax her into it that she can help us yeah and I did want to tell everybody in the committee that um I won't be able to attend meetings of the 22nd or the 29th so I'm I'm basically traveling starting on Sunday and I'm going to be gone for two straight weeks and I'm going to be in different time zone very far away so um I'm really not going to be around for any of these things to happen and so this is going to be my last meeting with Becky on the finance committee so Becky unbelievable incredible I've learned so much from you and my knowledge here in municipal government I I give you credit for most of it and um it's been a pleasure working with you I hope I'll see you around town and um if you ever have any questions and I can help you with anything while you're working in Sunderland I'm happy to volunteer a little time for Sunderland if if I can help you thank you George and I will I will do whatever I can to help you know I will help here in the fincom shury fincom very think okay thank you all right so I think we've got um a plan we do need to um vote on a potential warrant article request um so Bob would you would you be able to make a a motion connected to your earlier sort of suggestion that we can vote on tonight yeah I think I'd like to just make a motion that we support uh an article that would provide the fincom reserves with an additional $25,000 from freash okay all right I'll second that uh motion and Becky um I just want to raise this issue we are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have free cash certified uh prior to the 19th um there was um One account that was um the account and had to go back and get resolved that has held us up to this point um free cash will be submitted I believe the beginning of next week um so I just that being the case Bob I just was thinking maybe if necessary make a contingency to possibly use stabilization if it's required at that time i' say modify this uh motion by saying use free cash or stabilization funds to provide $25,000 to the fincom reserve perfect thank you good okay and I'll second the amended motion George um so I'm inevent about this because we went into this year knowing that we were lowering this amount and we went to the town and we requested that they approve a budget with $55,000 now annual town meeting is over and we're increasing the budget by 50 by $25,000 um I'm not saying it's not a good idea I think it is a good idea because I think our finon Reserve should have never been decreased but In the Heat of the Moment up against the tax Lev the way we were we did um I will share with everybody as well that the board of assessors have been in conversation with well I'm on the board of assessors and we have discovered that our new growth number is $660,000 higher than we thought it would be so that means our tax rate is not going to go up to the extent or our single family tax bill is not going to go up to the extent ENT that we were presenting to everybody at town because we give the worst case scenario and our worst case scenario was basically the tax Reven increasing by 2.5% that's not going to happen unless there's some crazy thing that went on elsewhere and we already know that our chapter our uh Chapter 70 well actually our state aid came in about $7,300 higher as well than what we used to balance the budget and I'm hopeful that there are other things so um just wanted to throw that piece of information let everybody out know so I'm inevent I think I will support this because of the new growth and the fact that um our tax bills will be better than we thought they were this year George if I may let just a point of clarification for me since if we're going to transfer funds from reserves into our line for the fincom reserve that's not increasing the budget is it it's a transfer no it's not no it's not but still you know I don't think it's true that we're increasing the budget we'll still get a chance I didn't say we were no I wasn't implying that we were I was just talking about the elements that I'm thinking about when I'm thinking about this okay I just wanted to be clear on that because I was little yes yes Su I'm trying to understand George if an alternative to taking this out of free cash or stabilization is to put it in under the levy are you saying that because the levy is not being um is not going to end up being as increased as we thought we could also ask this to come out of the tax levy I think it's too late to touch the tax levy I'm just say you can't touch it the recap is in process and classification hearing to set the tax rate is scheduled for uh the 30th of October so not the only thing I'm saying is I'm standing on principal saying listen we committed to the town that we could run this town in fiscal 25 with $55,000 in reserve funds and now we're changing that just in general we're not doing that anymore and we haven't had any request for spinc Comm Reserve funds yet we haven't resolved what the transition is going to cost us so why are we doing this I'm not arguing with you Bob because I think I don't just for the record I'm not arguing with you because I think it's too low but Optics point of view from an Optics point of view yeah but George George things changed I mean we have more New Growth Revenue than we had expected so you know we were working on one set of facts and the facts have actually changed so I I think that gives more Credence to our decision to increase it it's a good argument and and we have two important roles that have are going to have Transitions and we're not exactly sure what financial implications might come with with that as well right uh Susie I just want to check in is there an impact from Steve leaving in terms of paying out vacation or whatever benefit yes there was there was a significant it was about $8,000 and once um the select board um does address the new highway superintendent um contract and payment um which should go back to the day that they actually um voted to hire him contingent on a negotiation so that will you know that will probably be an overage that will have to be resolved at the end of the year and that's what can happen too is it can be resolved at the end of the year by a line to line transfer um you know it it there's a lot of ways to approach it okay all right any other discussion about this motion all right let's go ahead and and vote uh so just again there's a motion on the floor to transfer $225,000 from either free cash or stabilization to the fincom reserve account side Ro uh cash youi moer I Salvador I and Stein I okay AJ if I may yeah please D just for the minutes so the way I'm gonna frame this for the minutes is I'm basically going to say that we agreed because um I'm going to frame it in that we voted a lower fincom Reserve at Town meeting because in the tax Lev was in anticipated be 22 and a half% increase now that new growth will be much higher we're comfortable doing this I I'll come up with different language but right that's basically what we're doing this y because I'm not going to be here to to talk about the minutes in the next meeting okay okay great um all right so Becky um we've we've got so we've now voted to um put forth this warrant article so I think that does mean that we'll need to attend the October 22nd uh select board meeting so I think I'll need to post a fincom meeting for that night as well right s okay um and then is there anything else that um that do do I need to communicate something to the select board or do you have the information you need from us um I think so okay all right so good and I'll just um I'm getting back to Rita about um the interim person and those issues so I'll just okay I'll what happen tonight in with that information perfect warant article and add the warrant article to the warrant okay and I'll post the meeting for the 22nd so anybody who's able to attend the uh select board meeting on the 22nd should uh so we can um answer any questions they have about uh about that warrant article or and also hear the discussion about town manager transition okay Susie so in terms of process don't we have a minute here that George can use to submit as the warrant article is that how you how it goes we yeah you can just send the minutes and I can go off based off of that okay I'll send to you Becky perfect okay super um um I AJ I know this isn't um this is not a bcom issue but when the finance committee go go to the select board meeting they will have a quorum of the Personnel Board there um so I I just want you guys to be mindful of that I think what has to happen I'm GNA post a Personnel board meeting just just in case cover everybody we don't you know we don't love all the open meeting law violation so we'll post that as well but I just want you guys to be mindful and make sure sure um that that happens too maybe if when I'm not here uh April and Kathy if you'll let Peg know that you need her to post a meeting for your fincom attendance and she'll she'll understand I think after that letter we we got okay great all right great um okay uh the only other thing I had on the agenda was um reviewing the latest expense report I had hoped to have some time to look at it for tonight's meeting and did not actually ran late so I don't know if it's worth talking about Bob did you I just want to ask Becky about the uh the 275% on the uh Beast the gas remediation at the fire station um that one is um mixed up between lines yeah I'm pretty sure um there's another fund with available money for the gasoline so that money is there in that F from town meeting I believe it is yep okay but I'm gonna ask a question my mouse got off of my computer and onto my iPad and I can't get it back the cursor they know anything about that just throw it back s because they go from screen to screen what's that I think Melissa just kind of pushes it and it been try to do that where it goes right off to the left I think or the right left or right okay let's see oh that it's back thanks good that was P I was panicking see what are we gonna do when you leave Becky can't I was just gonna say that what are we gonna do without her just another example thank you all right did um did folks want to look at the expense report or should we table that for next meeting table it wa till we get a new one okay yeah all right so um let's make sure to to cover that at our next meeting and we'll potentially have a an updated um expense report so well I yeah question Becky would you be able to provide a um Gail with AJ's email address so that when she produces these she can just send them to AJ directly yes for distribution to the rest of us yeah yeah and you when you say the next meeting are you talking about the 29th one correct yes but it's the 22nd for the select board meeting and we'll get a time from them yes yes okay okay are there any other topics or uh update I don't know if anybody's on any other committees that have met any any other business for us to take care of to it oh one thing is that the school committee doesn't the 21st date doesn't work out for them um and I can't remember now why but um so we had them for January 21st yep should we maybe do February 4th and swap them with that sounds good to me I'll they're having a meeting on Thursday I'll I'll run that by them all right so I'm going to tentatively change them to February 4th and I'm going to move the collector and accountant to the 25st so you gonna send that out to The Collector and accountant yeah who's who's there liaison is that you to be George it's AJ now it's AJ yeah I I I'll do that yeah so so just for the minutes what are the dates from so moving them from January what 21st yeah the elementary school January 21st to now is meeting February 4th and then the other way around with the others okay I got it yeah so please what dat have we meeting the highway department is that December 12th is that what you said November 12 yeah and I'll I'll circulate um this this uh latest schedule I always put the date that was last uh updated so that this will be labeled October 15 uh okay so I'll I'll email have ready to schedule this see have it you know one thought that just occurs to me on this expense report business is once once Becky has left I kind of feel like the the way we do expense report reviews is not going to be terribly useful it's usually like we look at a line here or there so I'm wondering if do we think there's any chance that we could have Gail like obviously not come every fincom meeting but would it would it be possible to have her like maybe every couple of meetings come for you know 20 minutes and you know um um if we specific question is that does that seem appropriate Becky I think it can be but U depending if the person I'm thinking of is available to be the interim okay you might have somebody who can help you a little bit okay all right so we don't have to make a decision about that now but that that might be one option so that we can continue to kind of have some useful process for reviewing these expense reports not we could also uh write it down write down flags and send it to them I'm not sure they have to attend a meeting with us but we need we can say this is a question and they can come up with some information yeah okay yeah that's another thought George and if it get and if it's really complicated or there's a tremendous number of things then we could ask them to prepare something for us and come to one of our meetings yeah right yeah no that that that sounds right okay great uh so don't see any hands for any other business right so Susie I just want to mention George I'll take the minutes for the 22nd and the 29th okay thank you um and I'll forward the minutes from tonight to you and to AJ so when you folks are meeting and you make your dra your amendments to it as you will um then you'll have it you can just send it along to Grace once it's been amended okay sounds good okay so I will uh make a motion to adjourn our meeting make that grov ey cashew i moer i tador i Stein I you're gonna miss us Becky I know it I took a picture oh you can always come to the meetings I don't know well can you actually become get appointed as a fincom member maybe someday oh oh yeah I you could even run AJ you gonna be able to get the links together for us for the next meeting uh so I can't do the you mean posting the zoom links for for the meetings I I can't I don't think I can do that right no it has to be Grace So Grace is gonna we're gonna have to work that out because I do all of them um I do about half and Grace does the other half maybe more yeah that's a Time wide issue for all commit and well we also have we try to keep the accounts under employees so the land use Clerk and the admin secretary so the admin secretary will be picking up potentially until they get a u a new ta and but we also have a new land use clerk so those a number of committees are in good shape um and um I'll talk to Grace about how we deal with well I have a feeling I'll just ask AJ to do it yeah I'm I'm happy to do that if if if um I can talk to it she has the rule about the it being an employee but yeah I could give you I could give you a dollar dollar but I will I'll certainly post a meeting a thing meeting for the 22nd and I'll try get it set up so you can be the one um okay doing the link I'll talk to gr and let you know okay perfect all right thanks everybody good night all right good night good night good night have a good trip George come back oh he's already halfway gone that be F good night good night