it's it was a problem 53 we're here the agenda is the same as it is online yeah meeting over just to let people know recording in progress okay I'm on unmute I just need a confirmation that someone can hear me oh I didn't get a confir I got a thumbs up from here thank you okay I'm going to call the student bracelet boord to order um we have zoom in hybrid tonight um so our agenda is public comment first at 5:35 uh 5:40 we're going to to review the minutes of our March 26th um then the select Board review of the concom regulation fees um followed by the Broadband request for inde defense feasible in feasible rate of use um agreement for long-term lease interconnect point with crown castle sub solution um review third draft of the town meeting Bo and the first review of our budget review appointment of the cemetery groundkeeper review state earmark documents review clean water trust uh contract review of the great Elementary School exterior trim and siding repairs um response to open meeting law complaint and then Town Ministry updates on past gasoline clean up and then we'll go into an executive St um is there anything that has jumped out on the last little bit since this was posted Becky or um I believe we have everything we're moving ahead as scheduled okay perfect all right um is there do you have anything Rita or Eric no okay all right then we'll move on to public comment is there anyone here that has public comment and we'll ask you to raise your hand I sharen uh go ahead sharen hi thank you can you hear me okay okay um I am confused about why there's a review of the concom regulation fees on the agenda because I it's my understanding that that's entirely in the jurisdiction of the concom and that also the concom has to have a public hear ing before it can vote on any changes in the regulations so um maybe I don't know why it's on the agenda but it just confused me this isn't uh anything to do with the regulations itself it's the setting of the fees um and as it's written what the select board is the one that approves the fees that are set forth by the conom they vote on it they've Kat we've reviewed them they voted on a second set so we're here to review that I it's my understanding that it's not up to the select board to determine the fees that it's in the regulations we we appr the fees we should we'll talk about it when we get to that point okay all right um moving is there any other public comments no okay uh let's move on to the minutes do I hear a motion to approve the limit from March 26 2024 no move want hear a second second I thought I thought one place where H was so I was matter we who we are yes sure all in favor I'm sorry I miss you're waiting all in favor I stalk make o you make me or the word okay all right so now we'll move on to the review of the new concom regulation fees um Becky can you now bring that up after can everyone see them we can um all right and um this is the second set of uh these were voted on I believe at their last meeting correct I don't have the date in my head um after they had come to the the select board and we had discussed their Fe the first time um asking them to lower these because there was reimbursement from uh the yes okay um so this is the second set of those did we want it run through them again or how do we feel about these well they were approved by the Conservation Commission right and so the select board has the approval Authority for fees and Becky is very a citation is it in the M laws yeah yeah okay so right for appointed boards and our tomcom is appointed Not Elected a number of people are getting very confused with a different set of rules for elected as opposed to appointed okay and these these were approved by the conservation so we have that citation we have their minutes of you that up on screen but you've already all right um so I make a motion that we approve the um New comcom regulation fees as submitted To Us by theet conservation okay do I hear second second all right all those in favor barl I st you perfect okay we'll go to um the the in iue inable right of I do not he so yeah he has you're running T so is there something you can pop in for an update on either of the things you want to update I um one thing um wna One update is um I had reached I know the AL had reached out to the energy committee regarding the the EV Chargers because it's an important piece of for the library um I just wanted there was the response from EAC was that uh the original Livingstone um proposal had been reemed that is not true I'm not sure where that information came from I haven't been able I was trying to reach Al slid Checker to talk to her about it but I didn't reach her um the I checked with Livingstone they have updated their proposal with no changes um so we still have that in hand if there is and um as the library is very much in need of this um I'd like to propose that we look more closely at it and I speak with the energy committee to see they have stated it's not a priority for them but it is a priority for the town so um we need to get it moving again um so I'd like to check with them to analyze where they stopped and what their concerns were about it and bring that forward to the select board and see if we have any other vendors that they have identified that we can get a proposal from my S is the B I just explain what I think their biggest concern was I believe the biggest concern was that um most people that have electric cars that live in town will charge their cars at their house they won't charge them at the library I mean in other words the the the electronic electric car charging stations are really more beneficial to people passing through town who are driving from Boston to Al here for some reason they say oh this pburg money they charge here but for people live in town if you have an electric car you probably charge it at home so the idea was that of all the ways of town could potentially spend money on electric vehicles or solar whatever that that was not the best way to do it that's that's that was their feeling I'm not sure I wouldn't agree with but that I can explain that's why the that but the librar the library wants it wants to have they want to have um and I think what they they're planning two one at a has to be at a handicap spot and one at a regular spot the the situate but there's typically one that is shared between two spots that we're looking into the the specifications of it to see if it can do what Their need is because they were going to put the other charger up here at town hall because each unit has services to vle so can we put this on I don't know at the next meeting if that's going to be too tight or the meeting after that can we go through the Livingstone proposal sure that'd be fine that' be great yeah I just didn't want it to just die given there's a currently right and they and the library had this kind of in their building they do have it in their building okay because they were aware of the original proposal and they thought that was being followed through I see okay all right so let's yeah let's do it yeah okay okay um maybe out theil what time is it it's uh 5:47 she's Ava yeah good to [Music] have hi G [Music] um for the great by you said that's a new one you think we'll have a number of more finance committee in person should I don't know I didn't actually we you can sit at the table because this will come follow you wherever you want okay I see Jim coming yeah I can answer any I can probably answer some questions if you have any questions about about the iru um before Gail gets online if that's helpful um we I read the thing I read the agreement but um maybe Jim if you could just give us a little background about why we're being asked to why New Salem wanted yes yes well the agreement allows us to connect um crown Castle uh which supplies Broadband um backbone internet to us all in shutesbury and also in Leverett and now it will be able to do that to um everyone in New Salem but in order to get to it well here's Gail she she she can tell you all about it hi ga she stilling on can you hear us G I can hear you yes hi I just want to make sure you're fully connected before we started talking so Jim was kind of jumping in we um Rita had asked if you could give us a rundown U we've read the The Proposal B of rundown for those that are on Zoom or in the room here absolutely so this is an iru it stands for indas right of use and it's a common agement between uh broadband and internet companies to allow use of their uh lines um so we already have a very similar agreement with Leverett and uh so we uh reach their uh uh Hut on on North lever Road for redundancy and they go through ours for redundancy for them and so this allows for more uh kind of Rob robustness and resiliency if our lines go down we have this really nice Circle protection that goes all the way back to Springfield um so um any anyway we we had one of these agreements already with Leverett this is a very similar agreement with New Salem uh one of the neat things about shutesbury is that on Pratt Corner Road We Touch um those high tension lines that um allow us a a separate connection to back hall back is how we reach the wider internet so it's this really valuable kind of geographic location that we have and so that's being used by like I said lever right now and now L New Salem wants to use it too um and the problem is if you only have one connection to that wider internet if that goes down your whole network is down so by doing this ring protection you you just increase again the robustness and the resiliency of your network so New Salem wants to use this coming up from coyville Road up to um our Hut behind the town hall and then going down to Pratt corner so uh to do this they would just be using two strands of fiber we have plenty more we're not going to run out um and um so they're just riding on our existing lines this is not going to cost us um more maintenance fees or or or extra money they're all it's all Rand lines we have to maintain anyway um they are giving us as you can see in the contract uh an a a nice um uh payment for for use we did not get a payment from Leverett because it was a mutual agreement we're using some of their lines and they're using some of ours with New Salem they don't have anything to offer us we have no reason to use their line so it's not a mutual agreement uh and so this is why there's a financial benefit to Sho SP um they are we we did research about what are kind of market rate for this um and they are paying a bit lower than that but it's a hard thing to put value on because well nobody else wants it um they may in the future so we do have an kind of an escalator in that contract to allow for more uh money to be charged after the first 10 years um but um right now we don't have people like clamoring down our door to use our our rural Network um but uh anyway new is getting some grant money and so they're they're giving us some of this as well as an annual maintenance fee for uh the right to to use our lines um any questions um yeah I um I think there was some language in there that um protected shs fa if if if our lines went down and then therefore something happened where new Sal wasn't able to access the internet now if there was a problem in shsy that resulted a problem for New Salem it doesn't we don't get penalized absolutely yeah yeah great question yeah there's language in there to protect shuberry we we don't they can't um hold us uh responsible or liable for for any anything uh and any down uh downtime to their Network or something that happens to their their Network um it's also very low risk because if something is happening to their Network something's happening to our Network so there's no case in which we'd be like well we're just going to not fix that um because if they're down we're down um so uh yeah but Don Donna uh Town legal council did a full review of this and um and approved it as well as our MLP board thank you do you have any questions where do they connect now I mean is this a redundant line for them or is it a primary life uh this is this is going to be their their well it's up to them and how they want to use it but right now um they're using the MBI loal links as their primary back haul and their only back haul so connecting to crown castle would allow them this uh extra redundant connection to the wider internet cool okay okay are we ready to vote do I hear do I hear a motion yeah so I'll make a motion that um we approve the inable right of use agreement that the long-term Le the Internet connect interconnect point for toown Castle substation we have to say to the town of New Salem do we have to say to the town of New Salem I mean that's that's it's it's the agreement with the town on theale yes correct with the town on theale right I had to look up Inus yeah it's a fun it's a fun legal term it's a real it's a legal term I said oh was it was a tiell it must be indefensible okay so that's my motion to approve the do I hear a second second any further questions or discussion all in favor barl I make I and you need the signed right y by the three of us I do if you would do me a favor and after all of you signed and put the two copies in my mailbox I still need the MLP board to sign it and we're still waiting on a couple signatures there and then I'll I'll just I'll take care of it I'll get the other copy to New Salem and keep the other copy for our records um okay he there's one up in the the Box you left for me that has New Salem signatures on it right or did you not leave it sure they just sign a blank one or do we have the one with their signatures New Salem already signed there should be two copies of the contract in my mailbox New Salem has signed both of them okay we'll get both of them and sign both of them yeah thank you we do thank you thanks thanks Jim all right thanks all bye all right good night um still ahead of schedule we have the reverse riew the third draft of annual account meeting and budget and budget do you have cop I don't but I could could you make I'll need the original back my screen gets pretty we can do everything but the budget because so we're GNA do that with the pcom yeah yeah okay well the pcom is also voting their approval as we go through we're having to condense and combine um okay yeah they don't have to vote on okay and the B article two is still subject to change number two is still subject to change because the region not so at this point we should probably pass over sh screen couple yeah yeah okay we won't will we be able to get the votes of the parties that I well I'll P yeah watch uh hold on I got to move it to the right place give me a moment I have to share my screen but I've got two screens here we want to see that one and my zoom go screen to and now I need confirmation from someone who can see that on the screen Jim can you see that on the screen I know you now you can see yourself too but can you see that on the screen yes I can thank you I get people it takes a second to figure out just gonna look around make not is not among neither is okay there's four members and that's okay for they don't want to see themselves this is where having three screens would be perfect like all the participants on one we need another no we need another [Laughter] TV bigger than this I us leave three screens in my work life and so when you only have two you're like oh Mr the capital planning de donations anyway I just think that screen is so ridiculously large now it's like just so I can't screen share with AJ because you don't have your computer my drive here be able to pull anything else that you need or that we have yeah so if we saying we're going to pass over article two yeah could you just explain what the status is is that is that okay to start that discussion if you want to get into it yeah just briefly yeah I mean I can so article two being the regional yes okay yeah so I think it's fair to say this is this is hasn't been an ideal process this year so there have been two towns meetings as per our usual kind of cycle I think the second one was in February and at that time the superintendent presented a budget that increased the other three towns assessments to a level that represented 4% increases over there FY 24 budget and that was implementing this guard rail concept with come up in the last couple years um and that um for shry that budget resulted in a 2.52% increase from our FY 24 assessment that am to about 39,000 in change okay so that's where things stood after that meeting there was kind of broad consensus that that was workable but that cuts were going to like it was going to require a pretty significant amount of cut 1 1.7 point right exactly so superintendent I think worked with the school administrators and whoever else to determine what kinds of cuts to be made and it became clear that it was going to require I want to say 14 uh sta FTE reductions across the middle and the high school and I think it's fair to say that um once once it kind of sunk in what the implications of those cuts were there was a significant amount of public concern about that and the regional school committee I think developed some some pretty significant concerns about what that is going to mean for quality of educational experience for students and so they basically in a kind of a couple of meetings of really late in the process decided to reject that budget and asked the superintendent to produce a new budget that restored all of what they were referring to as the student facing um the student facing um cuts so those essentially those staff division which were teachers and parents um that budget we produced and that resulted in an 88.2% increase for all four and and um we can have a sort of long discussion about but uh the way in which our modified statutory method was implemented to get to that figure was different in I think a fundamental way just to get to that budget in a way that I think it's fair it doesn't sit great with the with the pcom and it's something that I think we're prepared to discuss with the other towns at a four towns meeting which has been scheduled for April soon so the timing on this is going to be really um less than ideal now I'll just tell you briefly feel like I'm to talk more than I wanted to but um that the fincom was not comfortable with two aspects of this budget that the region has passed um one is an 88.2% increase I think felt many if not all members like a pretty um untenable kind of size increase that that would have been a one that would have amounted to$ 128,000 um instead of 39 yeah um and uh and then we're we're also not happy about the way in which the sment method has been kind of um I don't know what the word is it's been it's been sort of jiggered in a way that I think IGN yeah it's not particularly fair to our our town I think um anded to abandon the regional it's it's what the superintendent will say is that he used the same method as a starting point but then ultimately imposed a 8.2% guard rail that all four t i which basically meant that the the magnitude of the change from the February to the April Regional School budget is more significant for sberry than it is for for the other three towns yeah so um with the finance committee did at our last meeting is we we sort of recognized that okay the cuts are going to be painful as they were um as they were planned as of the February budget we recognize that the the budget Pro probably needs more of an increase than that budget allowed for we think the 8.2% is not workable we came up with a compromise which would result in a 6% increase for our town and that's what's in the draft budget that Becky has sh and part of the thinking here is that in terms of process we we we feel strongly that the 8.2% proposed budget is going to need to be modified by the time towns vote on it and by the time emmer Town Council votes on it we don't think there's um support for it brought support for across all town and so what that's going to mean is that that that we're probably we think at this April 20th town uh fourtown meeting we're probably going to caucus and celebrate with other towns and come up with a compromise somewhere between that February budget and this um March budget what I've been calling it and to article two yeah I mean that's a 20 as we can't change the warant right after the 20th I mean if the four times of meeting on the our town meeting is on the 27th yeah so I think there's a couple of scenarios and Becky could could speak to this go ahead so one would be that if if we have some consensus coming out of that four towns meeting that results in a budget increase for our town that's less than 6% or is 6% um I think we have some confident that we could amend the article on the town floor the budget the budget article um right but not this one um because the the the regional school committee will not will not vote on new motions before before our meeting that would be ask question yeah well we know we can we can M budget amend a budget downloads so on the budget amendment we know we can change the total budget to something lower to the expens [Music] can we not change if the only change between this method that's here now in what pockets on the 20th is perform would we be able to change that we potentially can amend that on okay so we G talk to Paul about because he has to if we're amending well see this we're I apologize this because it was changing so much this is last year the new one say 8% it say 88.2% say 4% now so if we were to lower the 8.2 to 6% we believe that Amendment would be accepted by the moderators and then if all the towns did that potentially the school might still have a budget but we're not legally sure are we I fix and the other thing is you know the the am Town Council is not going to vote on their budget the regional until April 29th after after we've met so there's always and there's always I think going to be some risk involved in that we may amend the budget and potentially article two here at our town meeting and I don't know something happens between that point and what the Town Council votes on I believe the school committee when they took that vote that is the vote that has to be met for the budgets to be legal by all three town at least three towns have to vote the budgeted number that the school committee set so this all might be a waste of time because it might be that if we don't if everybody doesn't vote the 8.2 it's going to be thrown out any can I provide some context for my vote on the committee first of all I think that uh it was outrageous to school committee Ed this process and put everybody in in a real fix you know secondly I think that uh I don't support the 8.2 I don't support actually I mean AJ made an argument that I went along with it and the reason I went along with it was because I believe that Amis will not accept it Amis is the big dog in this we all know they're gonna they're meeting and they're going to determine how much they're willing to pay and when they make that determination that will determine out really ultimately and I think it's going to be more like po something like that if that because this money doesn't grow on trees we all know they have a lot of other demands on their finances other than this and I don't think they're happy about the way this would hand either so that's my guess and and I don't think and my other consideration as a member of the finance committee is that this draft budget includes a u a factor called the excess Levy capacity which brings our tax increase over 2 and a half% which I don't I I I really work with the rest of the committee we all work on reducing that number as much as we could and this that will bring it back over uh if it was back down to five or four I think even five Georgia had dra up the scenario it would be back down to zero so uh again uh as I'm only guessing but I'm fairly confident it's a good bet that ammer the 6% increase in the budget so same coun yeah yeah and they're Financial team so we'll see what happens we can't even plan because we don't have really a procedurally we end up umang amending on our floor that should be 6% pange and then um the Town Council and other factors approve something different does that make this automatically a no we're not agreeing I believe so yeah yeah so this one article has to be approved by10 four1 and it has to be the same article for all yeah we know the other and the article that's written now doesn't match the numbers they gave us right the article is and I think I think the whole thing yeah we may end up coming back at awn so would we yeah potentially have to have another getting to it yeah well so that I think the the procedure would be to hold open the the annual town meeting um we would return continue the meeting at a later date presumably after whatever I said the 2019th or whenever the ammer Town Council voted on theirs um to resolve um this I yeah art the article two and uh the budget the regional school budget if we hold it open things that we passed will still be in effect just that one piece we're not we're Notting any other right everything but the budget wouldn't be settled is Paul here I I saw is he has he been in on all of this I do have a question about keeping it open if we keep the meeting open the war articles were advertised before the meeting we keep the meeting open it's the same War article what is keeping the meeting open to do can we add a new war article in the middle of all this we just might know a different Amendment we might be able to make on the one that's already there and while I have before just one other thing I did want to mention I think AJ you may have said it but the beauty of the 6% is whatever to readed on and B the same will be all pretty much think it's not going to be more than 60% but whatever happens on April 20th we're in a good position cover it M lower so I guess AJ did say that but yeah I mean we were sort of proceeding on this assumption which is that it um we can amend these warrants in a downward Direction on the floor without Pro you with support from the moderator but a significant increase would be a problem um so that's why we had to sort of find a number that we both sort of felt reasonably comfortable with if it if it were to end up there um and but that yeah that gave us a little bit of room to to to come down um that's what ends up getting a GRE from and the 6% number is two faes assess uh portion of the assessment as the full budget that the school committee pass and our 6% would be our statutory assessment Fe the other towns are not likely to be able to meet their um statutory assessment feces quite like 12% 16% over 20 no 16 12 and then 7.33 they're not likely to meet their assessment but we have voted on meeting our assessment at % with no G rail noise and the other thing I wanted to say about the point we are using next fact $3,000 on a 7.2 million budget and we also went to time meeting last year with a budget that required the use of excess L capacity balance and that didn't happen when the assessors were done through I'm sorry yeah the ass we done setting the tax rate our L capacity grew we did not use any of that and we Revenue estimates that are considered so the 15,000 is not likely to happen even in but again it's me Rel all go ahead Paul Lian you listening I I am I am here but the the sound quality is really difficult and I don't know if it's just me but I you know I've been trying to follow this as best I can but it's difficult okay just yeah speak up um will you able to follow that discussion at all I about article two I believe I was so I I think the issue is that the what now is a 4% figure uh towards the end of that article uh could be as high as eight or maybe six uh but it might have to be amended on to meeting floor is is that the gist of it it currently um because they we thought the article was um badly written um I hadn't swapped it out because we were hoping for a corrected one um the the amount is going to be 8.2% straight across they're not using they're just doing a straight 88.2% for every town that's what the warrant article will include 8.2% yes okay and then on town meeting floor we might have better information and it might be uh change to something lower than that okay um yeah but we might need so if we had to wait until the after the 29th which we could wait till the following Saturday potentially after amers meets and both there number um how would we could we continue the meeting and hold open the budget vot article uh yeah that should not be a problem I mean many towns have their their town meeting over a number of different nights and they just continue it from from night to night so yeah that would not be a problem who else it next the only other I I think proposal um and I think it's what Leverett is going to do is that they are pulling I think we're not totally sure the logic of this but they're basically pulling out the regional assessment out of their budget and dealing with it as a separate article and so they're their their budget their main budget article is essentially be their Town's budget minus their their Regional assessment and then they're they're going to treat that other assessment separately I think part of that was because there was um disagreement I'm not sure I know from on the fincom I'm not sure about the select board about whether to recommend the um you know passing the uh Regional assessment at the 8.2% amount so I think that's that's what that's how they're handling it so would that make sense for us to do I mean I there's some logic in doing that right because then you could pass the you could pass the full budget and you then you just have the school yeah budget done at a I'd like to hear what Paul's thoughts are because I think it when you take a piece out of the budget the budget kind of falls apart I mean you can it's just but like the tax rate is right is going to be driven there gonna be a factor in tax so yeah I think part part of the problem is that it's I think as a as a citizen of the town you might feel like wait what am I what am I looking at here what am I contemplating this is a budget it looks like a budget looks like the budget I look at every year but it's missing and holding open the meeting I mean it's sort of doing the same thing but in a more logical way yeah yeah and I think also that you know we we had town meeting the last couple years much later than the state and we survived it so extending the meeting to another session doesn't seem to really be threat to any our finances and it keeps the structure the budget H so we're not plus I'll be back be back he he was he told us he's missing meeeting yeah I thought it was gonna be just a perform a meeting I it was gonna be so exciting they're all this be done before lunch yeah okay should we go is there other should we go through other you um you guys need to vote on all the Articles did you call the immed order uh no I should do that um so I think I saw yeah I think I see enough fincom members in the zoom so I'm gonna call the finance committee to order at 623 so so how how are we going to do this procedure wise are we it's like the select board going to vote on a warrant and then us or are we just dealing they only have to vote on the warrant okay got it all right so we're gonna hold off on two right uh this point um oh I [Music] see sure so Becky um just wherever I see Finance committees that's my clue that we need to vote Yes on whether to recommend that okay so um article three uh will set salary compensation uh contain so I'll make a motion to uh recommend approval of Jim Jim Jim Walton see your hand up yeah yeah AJ I um yeah thanks I I joined at 6 um can you just comment on who's who's who from fincom is present uh in in person all right or do we have the whole committee maybe you don't I say this Jim and myself on on Zoom do you are the other five members all present yes they are yes they are okay all right thanks first and second three yeah uh I usually I usually start with George but he walked down okay I'm seconding way I cashew eye your eye Stein ey won ey all right Geor when he comes back right now that's six all right [Music] um article four uh authorize the treasur to enter into compensating balance agreements so I'll make a motion to recommend for the finance committee to recommend approval of article four Ro Heming way ey cashew ey your ey Stein ey Walton ey Article Five to see the town will vote to allow the select Bo to appli for accept and expend state federal and other grants which do not require a town appropriation or take any other action I'll second Susie uh the motion all [Music] second reming Yi cashew I your Stein Walton I all right uh article six to see if the town will approve the appointment pursuant to mgl chapter of Katherine Hilton as Board of Health administrative consultant while also serving as an elected official On The Board of Health all make motion to recommend approval of article six second Groves I Heming y i cashew ey close your eyes Ste ey Walton [Music] I article 7 to see if the town will approve the appointment pursuant to mgl chapter 268 blah blah blah of Walter tibits as Cemetery groundskeeper while also serving as an elected official on the cemer commission I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article seven second I mingyi cashew ey ey Stein ey Walton ey these are in order and and George is making cop oh okay wonder what happen search party article eight to see if the town will vote to adopt as a town of sheety General bylaw uh 225 CMR 22 and 2 three entitled specialized energy code for the purpose of regulating the design and construction of buildings for the effective use of energy and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to the entirety of 225 CMR 22 and 23 all right so I'll make a motion to approve to recommend approval of article 8 um second but I'd like a discussion did that have public hearing did they have their public hearing on this they did yes they did have an information session but there will be another one at the the budget hearing we're going to go back through it as well so and this has Financial impact on people who are uh trying to build and shoot per corre correct yeah and that hasn't and this is an um extension of the current stretch code um this is they're calling it a yeah additional a it's called a specialty code a specialty energy code and it's um it adds to it and once you adopt it it will automatically adopt you until 2050 so this is the key point this decision making point if you're going to say yes you're committed for the next decades so it's some riew and consideration right we haven't discussed this in the committee meeting so I think make a note of that I'm going to be opposed to this because I'm a builder and I read the I read the the details of the what email is today and I was not in favor of the original and I've worked in towns of a stretch communities those it are not and I find it a lot of the U the regulations to be not really smart I mean they're just unted a lot of it's untested my my view and uh it's also more expensive for people to to do something with their house so um whenever we vote I'm going be against it quick question is it essential that we as a committee vote on this tonight or is this something we can have to vote to I don't is that impct can we vote I mean that's what I I want to vote because I don't feel like I've heard enough discussion in town just I didn't go to the first hearing and I don't know how this is how people are feeling about it in town so I've learned thing okay that's an option hey look was back hey um George and April we're looking at article but we're we're recognizing that we haven't had a opportunity to discuss this at all um in our committee so I think you can I mean I think and the select board's done this before we've chosen not to vote on an article to put our our sponsorship or whatever on it I think but they're required by Statute I mean by their this doesn't have any Financial things it does have Financial impact no but I at and it's what financial implications for the so but you can make you know if you don't want to vote tonight then we can you can make a comment on CH meeting for it's just yeah because you're not in a position to to vote or do what I think Susie said she's doing herself which is abstaining from the vote um so have a recorded vote okay um so we'll make a motion we vote on this if we all abstain that doesn't I'm not gonna I'm not known for my absence I think I would rather have a chance to discuss rather than stain right now yes so I guess I'm not entirely [Music] clear that's an option um all right so I I think uh I mean if if we're we're required by Statute to vote by your bylaw Yeah by our bylaw I see um I think we'll probably we have to do a vote I think there's nothing that prevents us from having a discussion about this at our next meeting and making a comment on the floor that says we've had a more extensive discussion about this and this is our current okay all right let's do that then um second Bob's motion okay George back so George we're voting on article whether to recommend approval of article 8 I think some of us are going to abstain because we don't feel like we have sufficient that opportunity to study this or discuss it but we do have to take a vote tonight so yes so do you want to kick off our vote I understand Ro nay Hemingway nay cash you obstain obain then be the numbers will beain Walton [Music] abstains can we uh can we make sure we have that on our agenda for next meeting and would there be someone there that can fill us in on the background and details there is there is the recording of that that um piece that they did earlier on the website if you wanted to watch through yeah if you go to eex website they also have some charts in there that um show kind of the the impact yeah I was just looking at that if I were to reach out to somebody I with Michael or yeah Michael here all right yeah I I'll I'll certainly try to get him at our next meeting and if that's not possible I'll send an email with link to that that recording all right um I'll move on article n to see if the town will vote to adopt chapter 138 section 33b or the sheety Athletic Club to sell liquor at 10 a. on Saturdays and Sundays or take any other action uh I'll make a motion to [Music] approve sorry to recommend approve question second uh Jim's got a question yeah yeah does this I'm not clear it how this why the finance committee's role is on this one this one is on the edge for sure I'm sorry say that I couldn't quite hear you impct to a business it's on the edge but it doesn't impact the business yeah I just I'm sorry I some people it's really hard to hear some people go ahead speak it impacts a business in town so there's financial implications it's definitely yeah yeah I understand that okay all right thanks all right George Road I heing white I cashew I mo i Ste I Walton I uh article 10 to see if the town will vote to amend the town revolving fund bylaws to add a cemetery commission res revolving fund with a spending limit of $2,000 to be spent on cremations burials by contractors and groundskeeping work source of funds to come from cremation and burial fees with only Cemetery Commissioners having access to the revolving funds all right so I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 10 second thank can you give me some background on this one like why are we setting up the revolving font now um partially because um Walter has been on the commission for a very long time there are two or three newer members who have realized that Walter does a lot of work as rounds keeper yeah um and they want they don't feel they feel that a it's excessive he does maintenance on equipment he does a lot of work he sets up all the cations he sets up all the funerals and so they wanted to establish the fund the revolving fund so that they can be able to pay him and they already collect fees what has been happening in the past which I won't go into details is is not the best practice um so they're upping their practice by making sure all the fees are deposited into the town and then when they need to use get a you know a new blade on the lawnmower then it'll come out of the evolving fund so they'll have all that hasn't existed it has not existed okay the fees have been going directly to the you know like the the contractor who dug the hole or or the other person so they're trying to up the game and make it more professional thank you very much was a little confused in when I first read this with the spending limit of 2,000 to be spent on cremations it's like is that that sounds like somehow the town is Creations burials by contractors and grounds keeping work so if somebody got cremated what is that part they have to bury they they do plots okay and they have to prepare the plots they do the ashes do go in a hole right I yes that was that was it's a little unclear in says CR not or burials might be brought enough to cover noun for CR CR that sentence does whatever left over Ash all those factors are required to be included and there's like five factors Donna reviewed this article for me but the information is paid for by the deceased family whatever Ro Ming way I cashew iure I Stein I wton abstain yes uh article 11 to see if the town will vote to approve annual spending limits for FY 20 25 for revolving funds established in the town bylaws uh to authorize revolving funds for certain Town departments for we've got a table are any of those changed from okay so so the addition I will be adding um Donna said I could add the cemetery this year as long as the warrant article to create a is uh discussion I'll make a motion to approve to recommend approv second yeah a question yeah Jim AJ yep go ahead Jim yeah um I'm just um I'm just maybe maybe I just need some clarity on this um why why wouldn't these be somewhat of part of a budget part of the budget process as opposed to a warrant because they're revolving funds so we have departments that have established fees like the electrical inspector who collects a set amount of fees from all the building electrical work that's done in town that money goes into the resolving fund we can't budget for it we don't know how much he's going to do how much the fees that will be collected but it's a mechanism whereby we don't have to appropriate the These funds that the town utilizes in um doing Services because it's pulling in fees and using the fees to pay for um their programs we've had them for decades this is not new Jim and Jim I don't know if you heard the earlier comment the these spending limits are um are unchanged from last year last year okay yeah thanks and that maybe that's part of the issue is is the uh the and and Paul alluded to this earlier the the sound at least from the room is is challenging it's hard to pick up on a lot of the a lot of the discussion we just have to remember to look at the ARL Pro speaking look at this Gro ey meming way ey cashew ey your ey Stein ey Walton ey um Becky are we are we voting on article 12 says potential requests um I think it's helpful if you do and if it goes away it goes away but um so potentially it's a second request to the Clean Water trust for additional funds um we have we have expended the 50 for this year um I will have expended it by the end of the year and our responsibilities will not be completed um they're continuous at this point so we will need additional funding it would be a source that we would get some relief as far as um um principal um reduction from this from the loan um this is our only opportunity at this point to get reduced funding from p and um I have gotten a quote from Jeffrey Arps for around $100,000 about $105,000 for the upcoming 2025 year um so this might we're hoping that other laies are reduced it might be more prudent to raise this number but at this point I think if we can move ahead with this number um it would benefit the towns to have flexibility enough uh in our borrowing to to continue our service um to the community I ask you a question how confident are you that this funding this loan program is going to continue for fy2 oh I'm totally confident so we we're probably going to go that yeah I think this just a backup plan no this allows us to it allows us to apply for it yes it allows us so this prerequisite for yeah yeah this is the first this is the vote that is required you know to to get the fund I understand just very briefly what do you see in the Horizon here is there anything visible the end of this visible well if it keeps moving fast enough it might go Le or amers then we won't we won't be here anymore but I see now talk about the a problem yeah you think it might move downhill it is moving downhill it did take decades before Lees it went from the fire station to my house and now to George house really that's pretty slow no my house upill all can I can I oh I just had a question about um the language to vote to appropriate a sum of money but it's borrowing is is borrowing this is the Clean Water trust statute and that's I went over it Donald looked at it again today and her only concern was the phrase up to up to not to exceed not to exceed she was concerned that that that terminology is no longer acceptable at the AG's office so that was her concern about it but the yeah this is the same that we voted last time last year in January I didn't what word what she want there you said not to exceed is not acceptable by the AG's office you either Dr you have to speak to um yeah she said just her preference was to drop it I told her this came from clean water trust and she said oh leave it I have a question for the fincom has the first $150,000 borrowing been Incorporated in the budget yet no not pay um it's a remarkably slow process we uh the select board will be signing four documents tonight oh I'm getting confused that's the ear Mark but it's still a very slow process so it's not in our no it is not in the borrowing yet George so do we know what the annual Debt Service will be when it starts 10 years the interest um they originally said zero interest 15 $155,000 the part that I'm concerned about is they said there would BEP forgiveness and I was quoted 20% when I talked to um Ty and bond looked us up on their chart their standing chart and it shows us at 10% um so I think they have might have I have to check in with Maria and ask her if we can expect a 20 or higher or not they said it could be as high as 40% so I think we're a small project for them they're typically dealing in millions of dollars so if we were to borrow you know to raises to 200,000 you know that wouldn't make a difference in there you know how they look at us they're we're smaller and we might I believe we'll still get a higher principal reimbursement I [Music] mean I think so I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 12 I'll second I Ro i m way I cashew I I Stein ey Walton I all right um so Article 13 is our budget article to see if the town will vote so are we gonna hold on that's me oh gota I'll be right back hold on I got in apparently but go ahead I'll put it back up in a second so I guess I have a question uh since since our budget is up in the air at this point are we I think it's I think it's it's still coming through like a train a ro train so it's I mean the numbers of what we're going to ask are kind of up in the air um actually I the more since I I only got jeffy's budget um I think it was yesterday um I really think we need to go 200,000 would be my recommendation okay oh I see on on the but I think it's we need to move ahead but if 150 is more palatable to people then that's we just I didn't understand my question was about the next article which is the budget Article 13 and so my question is does it does it make sense for us to vote on this knowing that we're likely to make some sign changes okay yeah all right so to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate transfer from available funds borrow or otherwise provide a sum of money to meet Town expenses including operations Capital salaries and school expenses of$ 7,278 78 by raising the sum of 7,11 177,000 looks like there's a typ okay so there this article I'm afraid I had to I updated after I got things out by Friday so today this is amended to include $70,000 of free cash so we're by by raising the sum of 7,117 th000 subtracting the 70 453 and transferring $70,000 from free cash and 20,42 from the septic betterment fund because you guys added the use of $770,000 of free cash to create the budget so that had to be Amed it's still equals 7,207 yes um okay so yeah so are there questions or is there discussion I just I feel like I'm G to obstain on this because of the lack of information that we have and I think that that's important to me that I for something to recommend something that's got so many question marks so I'm not going to vote against it because I think we over it together right we understand what we have formed the consensus around but there so so much missing from the equation that I can't support it and I do I am concerned uh about the tax rate and and this is the regional school budget and the our school budget are two driving that tax rate up so I'm going toate call the vot and then I think you're identifying so many unanswered questions but it's really one budget that's the unanswered and what we voted was to put in 6% so we feel that we are prepared to meet um the budget and it's pretty likely that it might go down from there so in that reason I feel like we've prepared for this situation really uh any any other discussion or questions Yeah question yep yeah and maybe maybe Susie answered it I I'm not quite sure do this includes a 6% increase for the regional correct Regional School yep it's the 6% that we voted on in the last meeting doesn't that include the 8% no I thought you said you put that in the I had put it in that's what now it's at that point I think we had like $49,000 of exity it and this is also this is the budget that we voted and approved last week correct uh so Jim just make sure you heard that it is it does include the region at 6 point Sorry 6% and I think we should you know we did come to consensus and we had the conversation and this is the budget that we come up with in this at this moment because we have all the with all the information we have that's what we have and it will be amended but I see no reason not to approve it it might not and no it will probably be amended but it's the best information we have and we've also drawn A Line in the Sand if you will we've set the percentage that we're willing to increase for the reg budget and that's going to send a message to the other Town go and so by approving this budget we'll see that any other questions comments all right over 9 side grows abstain I understand your arguments Hemingway abstain as well ASU I CL your I I Walton [Music] I extensions okay um so now we're coming into yeah we're up to there's no 14 here yeah it's bad [Music] luck so I'm wondering we've the fincom has voted on our our proposal for how these Capital items want to be funded can I treat them as a group right now for the purpose well we know I don't know so I just want to correct one thing because that one of the updates is the building committee renovation fund is 40,000 in total and this was we're only asking for 30,000 from free cash we're trying building 10,000 into the appropriated budget so this that number is 30,000 yeah and then year by year increasing 10,000 appropriated next year so does anybody from the fincom have an objection to be basically treating these capital projects as a group not I all but the gravel road which is stabilization okay yeah St all right so let's do um what I have is Article 15 to Article 19 um these are our Capital proposed capital projects they include uh $40,000 for the building committee renovation 30 yeah 30 for the building committee renovation fund 12,000 for security sorry for body cameras for the police department $7,595 for a new Cruiser for the the police department um $4,500 for a new storage unit for the highway department and $225,000 for a new generator and propane tank for the highway department and the finance committee considered options for funding those and we voted I think unanimously for all of them to utilize free cash reserves to fund those projects if they are to pass so I will make a motion to recommend approval of Articles 15 through 19 I'll second any discussion Groves I eming way I cashew I closure ey SP ey Walton ey um so article 20 to see if the town will vote to transfer from Capital stabilization $112,000 for additional funds for materials to rebuild portions of gravel roads or take any other action so um this is the one Capital project that we proposed funding through uh a source other than free cash and that is our Capital stabilization funds this is an item that was originally included in the highway Department's proposed operating budget and we encouraged Steve to bring this to the capital planning committee because we see it as capital Improvement and he need to do that Capital planning voted to approve that and so I'll make a motion to recommend approval of article 20 second yes question yeah um requires food vote um Capital stabilization spending the governor recently signed a bill a change did it get signed I don't know I think I think it begins July 1 but I'm not sure okay so there's change yeah yeah Governor that was part of the budget Governor I heard well the baker spoke to it was a pet peeve he's he I guess he was proactive in his own community and zoning bylaws kept Fairing and he get so mad about it he got the law heing this change well I a it's a SP yeah second any other discussion side Groves I mingy I cashy ey Mo your ey I Walton I okay and the correction there is Highway not school yes yes sponsor yeah okay um article 21 to see if town sheb will vote to act on the recommendation of the community preservation Committee of the fiscal year 2025 budget to transfer from the preservation front estimated annual revenues the sums of $6,000 to open space and Recreation $6,000 totor preservation $6,000 to community housing and $35,000 to the fy2 community preservation fund so can we do 21 and 22 yeah that's a good idea uh article 22 is to see if the town sheets Barry will vote to appropriate $2,500 from fiscal year 25 Community preservation fund estim annual revenues for necessary and proper administrative and operational expenses of the sheety community preservation committe all right so I'll make a motion to recommend approval of Articles 21 and 22 no second per for discussion Ro I Hemingway i cashu i moer i Stein I Walton I uh article 23 to see if the town will vote to appropriate the sum of [Music] I Heming y i cashew I mo i Ste I Walton I just the the last ones are the um bills of Prior all right so articles 24 and 25 relate to uh prior fiscal year bills that need to be paid they require four fifths majority votes I'll make a motion to recommend approval of Articles 24 25 second need a discussion George Aran grov I Ming way I cashy ey Mo ey F ey Walton I hey thanks everybody is that it yeah right [Laughter] just the way it's going to be from now on your hard work sounds it's a lot of fun ready to yes yeah so uh I'll make a motion to adjourn the finance committee second side Ro ey heavy way ey cash ey Mo ey ey Walton I all right when are you meeting again uh we are meeting so the 16 and then the four town meeting is on the 20th birth my husband S have a good night [Music] all um do we have to V anything we do we have to v on it but as a whole not as a individual bye George your way yes will thank thank you thank you all right now do I hear do do I hear a motion for the select board to approve the town meeting warn it for 2024 I'm I'm just still confused about article two yeah if we're not not if we're not voting on it how is it going to be on the warrant or when is the decision going to be made about whether or not articles who on the Warr well I think you should I think you should vote on I anticipate there will be an article there it's we hesitated because it it was the 8.2 and they didn't combine with the right number they the 8.2 works out to the number with I mean what is it 36 million and then the other numbers are like $2 million less anyway I think we have to but I I guess my understanding my my understanding was that we leave the 8.2 in and then we can go down from there okay so we can so we so we have it in at 8 8.2 okay right yeah is that that are you guys guys yeah okay okay and then the only other article was 12 yeah where they voted the finance committee recommended 150,000 oh they recommended the number that was that was there so we would go with that but that we would put it in as 150 and keep our fingers crossed that that's sufficient yeah and when it's not we're G have to figure out our plan right okay um I don't think there were any other articles that um where there was a question right those it was pretty Solid Ground everywhere except those two on article 27 it's a sponsor select Bo is that are we sponsor I guess we're sponsoring it just in a sense of we've never talked about what ask oh it's the it's the energy that e isn't that e yeah that wouldn't be us they brought it board um it's because it's a general bylaw right isn't that that was the reason this means we're sponsoring meaning we want to bring it up to the vote or yes that we're we're not necess sponsoring yet that is to say we're not necessarily kind we not have our name on other by before I think Michael wrote that in and I cop um but we can change that to e yeah it really it was theirs right yeah and while we're at number once on that that's where the shoots very still on I know you seen it somewhere this is all yeah you guys unfortunately I sent the updated thing today but you guys are looking at the one that wasn't appr okay that's fine except for the latest okay just she got two good three [Music] okay I will make a motion um to approve the uh the warrant as presented and amended this this evening second okay all those in favor barl I ster I make you I'm sorry okay so now we have the uh grounds keeper for the cemetery commission I don't see Walter sorry what was Walter the cemetery commission Cemetery grounder reiew appointment do I know know who it is and I can give the information but I don't see um but I think he would like us to move it okay he his appointment is Carl so Carl was here yes he was he had to duck off he just T um so anyway so Carl Walter and Carl Met in Carl met with the entire um um Cemetery commission and they approved unly to hire him as grounds keeper uh to help Walter with the um information uh about Carl he has extensive ground keeping and Landscaping and soil Management training um about 25 years he was a landscaper owned his own company for a while worked for mulle companies um to the Stockbridge School of Agriculture um for hard and such so he's worked with stones ston stone Scapes and such so he understands the care of different types of stones um trained with all of the equipment that is there at the cemetery if you have any other questions I will abstain from voting on this because I know this person very well so I will abstain from this so I just want to make sure I have ler okay um so I make a motion that that we appoint Carl lounder as the cemetery groundskeeper second right all favor Carol I stalker I make pie of put in the all right um next is ear marks documents for signature these are all in regard to the 200 when we first applied we hadn't um completed the the the project um and there was a different set of papers to fill out but now because we completed that one project and it's split now between um this is the school roof so we got the ear Mark and we we used um a portion of it we only used $69,000 of it so we're using the balance of it for the trim and painting the repair the exterior work to the school which had been estimated at 148,000 um but we now have a bid for $100,001 is our um low bidder our low qualified bidder we had a bidder for 56,000 who added negative 40,000 for the alternate um and we believe he misunderstood um the alternate and how it fit so that bid is being rejected and that leaves the new bidder um Santos painting at $100,000 so our earmark funds are dependent on signatures to these documents we have a settlement to the lease document and we have um the authorized signatory for the Commonwealth contract but these were all in our packet packet yeah yeah confusing everyone I'm sorry and that's the Commonwealth contract for 200,000 and here's an addendum that does not need to be signed but really helps you understand the importance of all these um so we're not going to sign right now because I want to make sure we're signing on the right line because I know it's happened before we on the wrong line um we're gonna pack it all back up in here okay so these all go back into the state I have to send them back to Joseph Arrington and they they assure that we're getting that the town gets the full amount of the air par yeah okay at this point it's going to the money was drawn of the executive office of Economic Development that's that was just the okay so I'll make a motion that um the SLI board uh execute the state earmark documents for the um $200,000 second so second all right all those in favor farell I stalker I may P O'Neal I and we basically covered the C water trust in conversations but but what are are there documents well that was I was going to go back to what Jeffrey had it's What Jeffrey presented last time are the documents that if we were going to review it in detail again to explain why we would have to pay that amount I just wrote documents because I was trying to figure out how to put the picture together I see okay all right um okay and then we have in the packet that is the um item that shows the bid this is in preparation for the contract it's um from Gail and Associates I didn't see it can you put it up well how about you guys look at the What's the title of the title of the a 40671 shot very bid summary letter there [Music] go I must have missed it okay [Music] yeah see how how odd the cat bid is but the others and the the engineers and building committee had assumed there should not be much cost in um making the change that they had recommended which was using a sheet of PBC on cover the edges instead of using individual blocks because they were concerned about the number of joints yeah the horizontal vertical joints it reduced the number of joints dramatically by changing it without as without too much cost different so Gail and Associates um they review the bids and make sure that the contractors are okay that they meet all of the requirements in this letter they go through they do may have not themselves worked with this contractor they did have two good reference calls back okay um which they they review in the letter um so that makes them feel satisfactory there it is two of the Santos five references return bails correspondence generally the references were positive the favorable results okay all right good um so you need us to vote on the approval of the contract yes that would be great then you could sign it it will be for $100,001 okay so I'll make a motion to approve the contract for um Santos s pain painting um for the uh Elementary School exterior trim siding repair surface preparation and painting second okay those in favor frell I ster ey than you so thank you very much okay all right okay so last item not sure if I got this in there you did scrolling through it um so this was a an open meeting complaint about um our executive minutes um for the 1028 that detail isn't in there no that not um saying that we had we had um not conducted a review of the minutes and released them to the public so I had um contacted Donna about it and she had told me that because these fell under exemption um that they were not uh to be they could not they could we could decide not to release them to the public because it was a Personnel related so I responded to the request um appropriately with Donna's guidance um and then the you got the open meeting request Grace did look at my response and did say that she found we had not violated an open or open records um that it is when there's executive minutes it is up to the chair or in this case co-chairs can individually read through them and and review them and decide if they go forward and that's what I had done um so we felt felt in the law and it does fall still under that exemption foras yes so just remind me that the process here um so we respond to the um within 10 business days we have to respond that's what this letter will do it goes to the a copy goes to the AG's office and the other copy goes to Amanda Al okay all right do you do you need anything from us on this sign on signatures okay maybe this one you could sign okay this was not okay um and now we are going on to uh Town Administrator updates so the Le the Le fire chief has gotten thean from the Colin Center to study regionalization and he has invited uh shuberry pel I'm sorry shy Wendell and New Salem and he just emailed this week and scheduled a meeting for May 1 for the town administrators and the fire chiefs to have an initial round of discussion and sharing of information so pretty important for you guys to know yep and then the other one I just want to be sure I think I might have forwarded it but Donna over the last year has been working to um for the library to get release of the funds in the library trust and she has gotten U the permission to that um the funds can be released and used for the library building project that came through on April 7 so they had found um in on the libraries we have they go through the history um of the library because they review the original um feed it was a request of William and spere in 1932 for the trust and that's what um they are allowing the release and use uh of those funds by the library so that's important we need to V on pull out okay no just an update and um again the other thing I'm trying to get done is um the de grant for engineering for the deadly bill over in conjunction with the work that's being done by my updates well probably mention that our police chief is now grandmother oh wow um so Becky I just had a few things that I thought we could that I wanted to mention for the next meeting I thought this was appropriate time um so the first is the Conservation Commission appointment and um I thought that it would be um appropriate to um I know we had a recommendation from the Conservation Commission and I wanted to invite see if we could invite all three candidates to come to see if um since the select board makes the recommendation so invite all three candidates to come to our next meeting makes the appointment makes the appointment Sor than I'm getting a little tired it's getting close to my bedtime um makes the appointment I had a call from Bob Douglas tonight and I told him I that we were moving it to the next right agenda and he thanked me for calling him back and I told him i' let him know what time okay it would be on the next agenda okay great so we'll do that for all three and then another thing is I know and Eric you were sort of taking the lead on the lake wola storm water what well um yeah the lake wola um lwac and sort of associated people are interested in like whether or not they can be there is a way do a to get any grant money that would take care of road projects a water projects Rel roads um that both town and Lake OA could share that money I don't know if there's I know that this question going on for decades this is is that an MVP could that be an MVP potentially that was the first MVP that sailed was attempting to do storm water at lakea um because that's the one tool or the one Avenue that supports private Public Partnerships that's the only one basically that's the one that has currently has money yeah yeah um but I'm sure there's something else out there I know that Mark had discussed with Grace what you know the difference between a subcommittee or a task force um maybe if they yeah the MVP is the one to Target we've kind of got we're hoping to do the douly C out of that too um can we at least meet with can we meet with them or what I mean what do they trying to figure out how to create the group to meet yeah the question is should should does a select board appoint does a select board appoint somebody's buddies to be on a committee to study this or we just have a t ad hoc Task Force study it or how how do we study it's related to the town even an adoc yeah force would have to be appointed right I mean if they want to see that's the problem there's a strong concy in the association that feels the town should upgrade all the roads for the association around the lake and they want us to fund it right um that's been the fight for 25 years sure um and it comes up every new select board member that joins back gets attacked by this April went through it um everybody goes through it um she held them off but that's we're trying to get to a point where we can try to do some good work with available funds if I know one person that was interested in this topic at the lake um had written grants in New York City and who's very skilled at it it would be great to have these people working together you know um sure I I think the MVP is the only answer to your first question but you know this you know I'm sure there's other answers out there I mean Maryann finds grants in the oddest places so well so it sounds like we should we should have Mark at least Mark rivers and other people come to the next meeting and just say what they want us to do I don't there's no reason I can't see any reason not to appoint a committee if they want to have a committee investigate you know what I mean it's not it's not it's not giving you know a million dollars to a nonprofit or a private organization right right but if they want to that would great so we can put that on the agenda oh okay good I told Eric when I just couldn't f it on here was yeah great okay great yeah that's why I told him the 23rd but we're in the midst of I didn't know you did because I don't talk to them ask me if I did that I was trying to keep you uh focused on everything else that you had to do tonight god um and then the emergency management team we talked about that the last time I have a meeting and um it's been busy we haven't had one although I really think we need that so do we want to do it after town meeting my hope is you'll wait till May okay just because it would help us get through meeting in a more healthy way yeah so could we get that on the book oh well yeah and Lenny's Lenny's been he's gotten himself activated on the um code red system worked on that on Friday and he had never you know Kristen had her passwords and stuff but Lenny hadn't gotten them yet so got that all done traditionally these are Monday night meetings that res Walter used to have okay I know this is kind of a one so we could probably is there a night that works you Thursday's drill night um Monday maybe on an off Tuesday yeah yeah I we have one in May right after town meeting when we'll skip some yeah first Tuesday the first Tuesday after town meeting do it the first that is no it's the no May 30th calar yeah May 1 is Wednesday and first is a Wednesday Dr LS are Thursdays um the one thing that Walter finally relented on he would hold them we managed to hit every Monday holiday yeah it was because it was the third Monday that's just gets old I mean that away your holiday so um why don't we what well why don't we try what about how are Wednesdays for everybody Wednesdays are okay how about Wednesday May 1 mayday mayday I make that's a perfect time I could make a seven o' meeting on M because assessors building committee Tuesday said that um because you can't make the yeah I mean that either one Tuesday or well what happens I mean hopefully right now we're past snow right right so and and not thunderstorms yet right that doesn't happen until June or after based on history um so why don't we try the yes why don't we try the sixth week of the six 10 maybe um we have a tentative select board on the 7th would that Wednesday the seventh the eth is yeah y shoot for that they've been at 6:30 traditionally held in the fire station on the second floor never been on fire on the second floor be first you haven't lived so that the target may maybe they'll bring back all the couches Lenny took to to the dunk no that's fine those were okay um 58 that's what I'm saying yeah at 6:30ish or something that we say 6:45 or 7 just I always have to shut down the businesse by 6:30 but if I have to get down there 645 645 would be in person okay was good remember don't block waiting we have to kick you out yes we're now going into executive session I pce paper thank you for coming so we will be our next will be to convene into a executive session for reason number three which is to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on a bargaining or litigation position of the public body and the chair also declares of the cases threatening litigation so do uh we vot to go into executive session Jo I he and not to return to regular open S I move that we go into executive session for reason number three second okay um all those in favor we have to do a roll call vote Carl I stalker excuse me stalker I make O'Neal not to return and okay um I see a hand up Amanda we're heading into an executive session at the moment yeah I I just had a quick question about that I just wondered if you could give any more detail about what this is about at all no you usually do with regular uh you know ongoing litigation you say who it's with I just wondered if you could say anything the uh the the reason actually describes everything that that needs to be said at the moment so no we won't be able to okay thank you all right so we do have to ask anyone to leave who's not here hey Brian hey um you before s um can I quickly send you the link yeah uh Zoom does that work or just put you on speaker okay Ryan can you hear us I can hear you hi hi [Music] Brian yeah okay I think we are now out of that's scary hang on well we don't need anyone in right we're gonna close down this meeting that's correct