uh good evening it is May 7th 2024 at 6 o'clock this is the selectman's meeting um I'd like to call the meeting to order and a roll call please present shank chanian present please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance flages stands indivisible I want to thank those in service those past and present and our First Responders thank you very much for your service uh this meeting is being recorded and it will be uploaded to YouTube uh 1.4 chairman and deletions uh Teresa do you have any uh well it should be covered under the review but I do have uh a part of the capital plan I want to review the capital plan uh funding okay so that can be covered under 4.2 review the special annual warant articles it's already on there okay Joey no I'm good Eric okay .5 review and approve meeting minutes we don't have any um we're going to jump right into a public hearing uh those that are here for the public hearing we' need you to sign in if you mind don't mind um public hearing is an ordinance with the provisions on chapter 138 section 15a of the Massachusetts general laws a public hearing will be held on Tuesday May 7th 2024 at 6:05 in the selectman's chambers 272 Main Street towns and mass the purpose of the hearing is to act on the application by Gourmet House Inc for transfer of owner manager and uh entity name associated with all alcoholic beverages license for premises of 18 Main Street towns in Massachusetts 01469 doing business as Panda walk to hereby be operated by C Panda walk Inc alternately the public May access the meeting um and the zoom link is provided there and uh all citizens are encouraged to Present written or verbal um comments prior to or during the hearing uh this is in regards to the local license Authority chairman Vice chairman and Clerk and we are all present today this was published in the Sentinel and Enterprise on April 17th 2024 and April 24th 2024 references for the record the receipt of written materials submitted for the record um we had uh it looks like they there were a uh referral mandatory referral sent out how are you hi I'm J this is hi there in you're here for the alol beverage license yes y okay you want to come in and have a seat you come and have a seat and we'll have you sign in sure [Music] you guys you it's a little intimidating we don't bite really so we um I just opened the public hearing um and we are looking at now um anybody that has been sent out for request and then we'll ask you to speak on behalf of the your license change okay so I have the transfer application which has been okay um it's gone through with everything has been submitted um there is uh land use Department had no comment only one what was that and they had no comment as [Music] well and I assume police and fire were also notified and they had no no comments all right and they have gone through all of the proper proper listings okay um so you basically can address the board on what you'd like you know with you're you're putting for a transfer and you have anything to add to what you had in your application yeah we we don't have anything more to add except um this I just want to introduce you this is the manager and the owner of the uh the the restaurant Panda Pand okay nice to meet you sir and uh he has been the owner in a lot of restaurant which is IR which has been a 4.3 or 4.5 star rest like the custom F back good he's worked there for five years and then he he owns another restaurant in Noble which is also a beverage service full beverage service restaurant so the restaurant you I also is a full beverage rest so he's been pretty um St yeah okay it's he will be serving his wife and he will be serving as a Bor certified certified yeah let's see um Teresa Joe you have any questions I'm sure it's here but I just couldn't find it is there any change in the hours that you'll be serving alcohol or are they going to remain the same under the current L yeah the same the same actually last time last last time thank you I I don't have any questions anybody in the audience have any questions okay um so I will entertain a motion to close the public hearing show MO moved second any discussion on that all those in favor J say yes Jo shank yes CH Sean yes okay so the public hearing is closed um I just want to say that I know that Panda has been around for for a while and it's very well revered I mean it's it's nice to have that establishment here um the uh um I know that it's always talked about you know where you going and and I appreciate that that you're going to continue on in that location I think it's really important for the town but also um you know it's just it's a nice place to go and the Harbor Village is a nice nice area you know the whole complex is really nice yeah um so having said that um I'll entertain a motion to approve the uh application for name change so Mo second any discussion on that all those in favor yes yes [Music] yes okay you want me to motion for a transfer of owner manager and entity name change sh move so that would be amended for it um so um can you second motion to amend it and all those in favor you're all set you're all set set thank you very much good luck at the new Venture say hi to Ivy thank you all right so uh 3.1 um I'll entertain a motion to appoint John mcfaden as pum van driver to the towns and Senior Center with effective start date of 63 2024 so move second any discussion on that yeah I got all the paperwork so we're good to go as far as that's concerned okay so all those in favor you say mo yes shank yes six R yes on 3.2 appoint Andrew Spinelli as heavy equipment operator to the highway department with effective start date of 56 2024 second any discussion Jim is very excited about this to get another person on here so he can get to doing what he needs to do all those in favor J say mo yes yeser uh 3.3 appoint Robert garide as part-time Building Commissioner with effective start date of 56 2024 here you want to address that before we do a motion yes so um as I think folks recall uh since last summer we were looking for a Building Commissioner um we made the determination the board made the determination that they were going to uh hire Mr gide as an outside vendor um uh on a kind of trial basis um and um we mutually made the determination that uh it made more sense for him to come on board as an actual employee as opposed to a vendor so this is really kind of a mechanical piece of switching him from a vendor so his vendor contract has been terminated and now he's a would be just a regular employee so this does this require the addition of benefits that you didn't have as end yeah he is waving all benefits he's waving yeah he's um according to the offer of employment is 23 hours per week and he's waving benefits any W benefits does that include waiver of unemployment insurance I don't think that's wable thank but he wouldn't have that as a vendor as a vendor you'd have to provide I just I just want to say since she's been on I think the building Department's mov forward in a great way things are moving from it's are done so that's really good I'm always happy when you don't hear something so you assume it's going fine so yeah it seems to be working out really well so he he he he felt like this would make more sense mechanically as a vendor he just gets a check and has to deal with the taxes himself and Social Security himself if he comes known as an employee then we take out all the taxes Social Security from his check and this doesn't changes what we've had set up before it's all the same yeah no it's yeah it's gonna gonna basically be status quo on on the ground stuff it's just need to be an employee as supposed to okay so I will entertain the motion to appoint Robert Garside as part-time Building Commissioner with effective start datea 56 2024 so moved second any further discussion all those in favor tanian yes 3.4 appoint uh I'll entertain a motion to appoint Everett Smith as summer water intern to the water department with effective start date of 513 2024 so moved second discussion there's two so he has two summer Insurance good they going need to help any further discussion on that all those in favor say yes chess in this 3.5 app Point Julia Holt as summer water intern to the water department with effective start date of 513 2024 so mov second discussion these these I would assume are out of the the water Enterprise account yes these are P all those in favor yes yes yes okay uh 4.1 discuss review fiscal year 25 omnius budget so this um Mr chair was put on in the event that we we're going to make additional changes today to the budget that weren contemplated yesterday I don't think there's a need for us to make any other changes just to be clear to folks the um the budget that is going before the town meeting tonight is um a budget that level funds the school budget the school the two School budgets for nishoba Tech and North middlex Regional School District the same amounts from last year we're relying on the appropriation vote that was taken on March 19th to appropriate the remaining amount from an override ballot question to balance the the school the two School budgets um that override vote as the board knows but for folks who may be watching is is scheduled for June 11th Tuesday June 11th for the override the override um so that's the that's the I just I want to be very clear on this the the budget that is going in front of town vote today tonight um has the school budget as a as a zero um increase increase um but we are the town will be voting on that budget tonight um and as far as um what happens with that particular budget is that we are going for the override for that school budget um if it increases they are um are they is this contingent upon the vote in June before they come back to us or can they come back to us previous to that they they could come back to us previous to that but it wouldn't change the vote the ballot questions have already been submitted to the we have to submit those ballot questions 35 days before the date of the of the the vote and so those were submitted to the clerk yesterday today is 35 days before the the vote so uh if the school department came back with an amended budget amount between now and then it wouldn't be reflected in the override vote so any changes on a line by line basis would put the the budget out of balance is what I'm trying to get yeah so so right now the budget is in Balance based on the overrides um uh if there were changes to the school department budget that increased those amounts um right now we don't have Revenue to support other than the overized revenue to support those those requests so absent right we don't have we don't currently have Revenue set aside to just to fund the the two school budget request so the bard of Selectmen are only following protal call it's not like we're trying to do another prop two and a half override to the town because we want it correct no this is a result of the the the first override failed as the board knows and I hope folks are aware um it was contemplated that if that failed the school would go back and revisit their budget and come back with a an alternate number um the board had and its wisdom set up another date in case that alternate number was not something that could be funded within the town's current Levy and revenues the number that came back was something that we made the determination was not we were not able to fund absent an override and so we went forward with a a vote to put another override on on the ballot but that's what we'd have to do the only other option would be to try and cut from our from the town side you know 11 and a half million dollar budget we'd have to cut $1.7 million from that town budget in order to make it Balan and if we the town continues to have an override question and the override fails the uh schools will end up eventually having to work on one2 of last year's budget so the more if it fails the more longer it fails the more pressure the school has to decrease their budget well I as to the pressure part that's that's in their heads but I would say that as of July 1 if there's not a passed budget then there would be um on a a 112th budget and then as of December 1st if there's not a past budget the budget is set by the commissioner of of desie so um I don't know what the record is of the commissioner coming in and how those budgets are chosen whether they rely on the 112th budget or whether they come in at a at higher numbers and that's one 12th of last year one 12th of the last year so so we are going into to the meeting tonight with a balance budget I mean that's that's what we and there will be an appropriation of last year's budget amount so we would be able to fund the 112 budget based on the so just I think we should make it very clear that the school did come back with a revised budget correct but the amount was a little over $300,000 they reduced all three towns correct and that personally is just to me it's ludicrous I mean that's a little over $100,000 per Town yeah $140,000 for Town some got reduced why why insult intelligence of the town's people so and again I I I'm taking this um this approach to it I I don't think that it's it's not an us against them kind of thing we are a community the school is part of the whole um just like a recreation department is taking care of um you know the the the children of the town the senior center is taking care of the the other end of the town you know um I just think we need to act as a community and figure out what we you know what we need to do um there were several options that were available um we have um uh I hate to use this term but there is a disaster plan you know if we need to to fund it we have um several ideas it's not going to be pretty um I've also had conversations with the finance committee in regards to to uh if we go there um we're going to work very closely with the finance committee I'm hoping the finance committee will work with us and we'll see what we can do to be able to provide the services for our community but also you know if we have to if we have to um cut certain things we're going to have to cut certain things you know and it's we're not at that stage you know we we're coming into the town meeting with a with a balanced budget as we stand right now um and we'll go from there I think that's the most appropriate way to look at it and my understanding is that both other towns are scheduling their override votes for similar times as to when our override vote is scheduled in as and and Pepa um so you know there I think everybody's operating on generally the same timeline as to when there'll be some final deter or when there'll be the next determination for the schools to know whether or not their their budget is approved and it's a lot of money we're talking about and that's that's the reason why we're at work we're at the place that we're at is you know it's not a couple hundred, dolls it's it's over a million dollars that we need to do it and that's a drastic cut on either end you know so um I just think we need to come together again as a community and see what we need to do to to kind of write the write the ship and and continue to move forward um I'm also going to give a plug to the fact that um I had asked for some figures today I should have asked for it earlier but um there are millions of dollars that we got last year in Grants um to fund a lot of different things so we have been over the past three years uh we have been um very uh aggressive and looking for U grants looking for uh a lot of uh monies outside or even assistance outside rather than to to fund them um and I just feel that uh you know we're very lucky to be where we're at right now um there are other communities that are faced with what we're being faced with but in a much greater scale um some towns are looking at $3 million worth of deficits that they're going to have to make up um so you know it's I still am kind of staggered by the amount of money that we are however there are other people that are in a much worse situation than we are I was just K the other note is the the other kind of minor change the the amount that was being held in the budget for the building Comm commissioner um has been reduced and so there was like about $122,000 reduction in the total budget for the building department based on um uh finalizing the his move over to a from a vendor to a employee once that was became clear that that's we were doing able to reduce that amount so that's also change anything else on that no for what Teresa was talking about that's part of the Omnibus budget isn't it no that's part of the annual warrant okay so we can go then if we're all set on 4.1 we can jump to 4.2 um just a quickly dispos of the special there hasn't been any um uh edits to the special since we discussed it yesterday so we're still going we um the only and I think the only edit we made yesterday was a correction to the Stone ice deficit line so that will the vote will will reflect the accurate amount of the S ice deficit after that last store um and then on the annual warrant I think that the Teresa had something that she want to bring up so um we originally I just want to look at potentially making a a motion to amend article 9 which currently we have at um uh borrow borrowing 472 700 at actually just so that you know the Aline line one and two police an emergency those are coming against the capital fund technically it's a borrow but that's where coming from and the the two dump trucks we see as getting a um those would be uh we would get a loan for those possibly even a lease type of vehicle but in the process of doing this we had a request from the fire Department to equipped an emergency vehicle for $120,000 that's what they uh presented to Capital plan uh Capital planning came back that we uh we could only approve $70,000 uh that went to the finance committee the finance committee also agreed to that so we voted to present to The Bard's Selectmen to finance only $70,000 of that $120,000 that they had requested so from that the fire chief went to take the additional monies out of Reserve fund to $35,000 but he's still looking for $70,000 for various cardiac equipment he's going to was uh going to tell us a little bit more it's not just a boat it's not it's not a $770,000 boat but various equipment that he feels that this truck was needed we I guess during the vote I don't remember that it that way but I guess you're saying that we you decided that that you know between the fire trucks and everything else that we would have to look to fund this uh excuse me equi this emergency vehicle at a later date uh I didn't remember that way so I wanted to bring it back to the board maybe have the chief answer some questions about what that $70,000 for what what is that equipment because it's not a boat per se and see if we can get that back on the agenda I remember that conversation and I remember us talking about that and I remember um that we had made comments that it was um because of what we had funded with the fire department before that we weren't going to vote on it and I don't think we voted on that I don't remember voting on The 70,000 in the when we were talking about the capital plan um did we go back and look at that there did did we I didn't pull up the video no I didn't have a chance to do that so I'm going under the assumption that because it fell off that you the board voted you know initially not to um fund that portion even though as the capital plan and finance had presented that did to be funded but now knowing more that we have more because I didn't have the details about exactly what that equipment was and it was being presented as like for the vote and that's not it it's much more that that equipment that truck needs especially since it is cardiac related equipment joys of Life those type of things that we could reconsider that at this time so why you saying that just because of the way it was presented it may not have been clear as it was yeah and that's why I was hoping the chief could be able to be here to answer more of your questions but away I think he got a call there an actual an actual call but I do know that some of the equipment like includes like I said kodiac pieces uh Jo of white uh that is all in the 120,000 I know he's talking about taking 35 from uh ambulance in the special right and that's from his M part well I think I think that he was hoping to fund a portion of the in in the I think in the chief's mind he had needed just $120,000 to equip the bu the truck the new truck the new truck and so he was gonna try to get $35,000 worth of ambulance receipts in this fiscal year to to do part of the equipment and then request the remainder through did the finance committee talk about that special warrant for the capital it was the March 7th meeting I just have the minutes from that that we did present to the finance the capital and they did vote to approve the 70,000 was yeah there was a Fifth Line on there, just 70 I don't think there's any question that the fincom approved what the capital planning committee had brought forward I'm just checking everything I want to be very clear that I've checked all the boxes and not be accused of not yeah so I don't think there's any I don't think there's any question as to whether or not that step happened but obviously as the members of the board know it's the board of Selectmen that decides what ultimately gets put on the capital plan for the warrant and so that that that's the final step so at that time finance committee didn't have a problem with that being on the C we did not part [Applause] [Music] of and we are we are actually in good shape on that as far as financially for that so right and on the uh article it shows all items are against borrow but that's not how we presented it either as he said the first two items were against Capital stabilization and on in the side to you directly Jerry this is a a u it is we talked about the jaws of life this is this is a different one yes it's not the one that that you and I correct correct the one that's that would have come in way too late correct correct I just didn't have time to send it to sorry um so procedurally how do you want to do this so procedurally there would be a motion to amend the capital plan article 8 to read from 472 700 to 5 42700 which now includes item five as a borrow item for $70,000 so I and if the board chose to do that I I printed out the amended motion an amended motion that we made on the floor we should make the total borrow up to 5 42,700 but again those first two items a little over 100,000 is coming out of it's still I I still say it's borrow but it's coming out of the capital uh stabilization we're not going for for to borrow addition yeah one and two y so um I'll um I'll entertain a motion to um to accept this amendment second just a question can we raise the value of I don't like that we can down so question that was my understanding why we needed to do it before it became a motion on the FL what's the value of the amendment 7,000 and What's the total amount of the capital plan4 and the being addal was already in the plan or is it it was in the plan that was approved by the capital planning committee and was it in the warant article I'm less concerned about the dollar amount so I I I appreciate the the comment that you can you can go down but you can't go up that is sort of the the rule of thumb but it's not a strict rule it's a question of scope so this is your rose in another town meeting over the weekend and the question was you know 14,000 in the scope of a half a million dollar wine item is his his demands um that's a lot different than 15,000 in the context of a half a million dollar line which is you know whatever 20% um but it concerns me that the item wasn't even within the capital plan warrant article now you're writing an entirely different item because the question is from a notice perspective would the public with an individual that review the warrant in advance received the copy at home it online have sufficient knowledge of what might be voted upon that if they had an interest they attempting and they would have had no knowledge this particular topic was within the potential capital capital planning commit it's not in the war so that's that would be my concern From scho perspective ultimately it's a question for the moderator they would have had knowledge of it if they had been like attending the finance committee and that because they were in the capital plan so saw that one it just right the last it was also brought up in a selectman's meeting we took the item out of it because we thought it was something different than what it was but you took the item before the wor was was posted it really becomes an issue from a notice perspective it's I get if you were that involved you should have attended the should have attended not me but from a from a a scope perspective it's going to be the four corners of and that's it so I don't any issue with your voting it subject to the moderator ruling in an order because it's really a moderator call before it's mind if he looks to me I would Express these concerns but it's his joke so would you amend your motion to subject this to the approval of the moderator so so do you want me to do it okay I'd like to move that the town vote to borrow the sum of 5,400 excuse me 500 400 $2,700 for the purpose of funding fiscal year 22 Capital plan as voted by the planning committee and the details that follow as if True by subject to the appr subject to the approve of the Town moderator motion made seconded any further discussion all those in favor Teresa a yes yes so I will bring this up with John before we get involved so he can think about it maybe ask Adam we let him know that we have to substit substitute motion like to do it but Town Council says it's up to him as to whether or not believes it's scope the scope um 4.2 special annual warrant articles we didn't really have any changes to any of those um checked all the PowerPoint and all the numbers on that are the same this year so good to go on that so I'll move on to 5.1 next meeting is going to be 5212 24 at 6m and I'll entertain a motion to adjourn can I just ask of the 526 meeting is that whether we're going to uh come up with a criterium for town administrator is that on the agenda criteria to do the search committee the search committee I thought you said we were going to 521 521 not again I don't understand what you mean by Criterion we're establishing we're meeting with the search committee we're meeting we're meeting to establish the search correct we're establishing and handing off everything to them I thought you yeah that's a good question because I thought you said said we were going to come up with giving them like sort of check boxes of what we were looking for no we in in uh in SharePoint there if if you look in SharePoint there is a search committee and it outlines exactly what the search committee does or is tasked to do so if you want to make any changes to that then we can do that meeting it's all it's all outlined in there so we use the same criteria that we did last time when we hired ER but there is criteria that we have responsibility it was already established okay thank you absolutely great we still have to have a motion to a chair second make it way quicker than most people he can't make the motion all those in favor a yes yes