okay good evening it is June 18th 2024 at 6 o'clock and I'd like to uh open the board of selectman meeting um roll call please Jo Shan present chess deranian present and Teresa has submitted an email saying she would not attend tonight um let's all stand for a Pledge of Allegiance please Al justice for all thank all those that serve their country both past and present we appreciate your service all the First Responders uh tonight's meeting is being recorded and it will be uploaded at YouTube we're also live on Channel 9 um Chairman's additions and deletions I do have several additions I'm adding three minutes to the minutes that's 423 56 and 57 have those no because I I only printed all these out that we had here okay we just got those so I do not have those and I have not reviewed those you have not no but I'll be happy to review them if you have copy I do I'd be more than happy to do that while we start if you don't [Music] mind um Sabrina do you have copies of 423 56 and 57 minutes 23 five what five six and what here it is April last so 5.1 we should have um 39 319 42 416 423 56 and 57 okay I have reviewed the 39 319 the 42 and the 416 you give me one minute here I'll review these last three so you're aware Mr shank I did have um a couple Corrections that I've already talked with about so that's already been changed these yeah okay which were notat um I'll continue with the additions if that's okay with you okay go ahead I'd also like to add to 3.1 we did receive um another appointment for Michael BR I'd like to add to 3.3 we received today another reappointment for Susan jurin we'll add that to 3.3 the existing reappointments and I'd also like to add 4.8 that was a municipal funds transfer from the clk's office that we received this afternoon 4.8 yeah what is it Municipal funds transfer because the finance committee is meeting next week I want to make sure we pass it on the board so that they could have all of the transfers and do them all I am I am good Mr chair with 423 56 and 57 want these back so I will make a motion to approve the meeting minutes for 3924 31924 4224 41624 42324 and 5624 and 5724 so moved second any discussion all those in favor Jo shank yes thank you to supr for getting all those done yes I agree and if you don't mind can I a copy of those later just for my record thank you all right 2.1 605 The Joint meeting with the audit committee finance committee and auditor to disc discuss and review the fiscal year 23 Financial audit at this time I'd like to invite you both up at the table there so we have you have the the finance committee you don't have a quum absolutely you line Sam hey Don Josh oh Josh too thank you it so we I think [Music] show that show none video partici all right display anything or I guess three would be a for because we only get six members this is seven member board right it it's normally a seven member board but um with with um the ending of the term at the end of town meeting there's only six be told been told it was it was not the total number of the board but the active members at time I believe it's you're correct it's the number that are currently appointed so if somebody's just absent I yeah so Andrea and samon are absent um Mark Hy is no longer on the board his turn ended at the end meeting okay um and he was not seeking re appointment so that means we only have it's three it's still four it's intended to be we still need the four to get a form over 50% I think so yeah but if you're not voting on something tonight then it's yeah just we're not really voting so we make it do as session we' like some people to join us yes that's G to be a big play during announcements thank you we have one so I just wanted to have everybody here if you could just state your name a for the record and B we have uh I believe we have our accountant and um is it Tony I can't see Tony Tony Tony is the our auditor correct so you want to start J Bas fin John Ha fincom Melissa Dunn treasure collector Katie kazanin assistant Town accountant Jo shank Selman CH deranian selectman Ross Perry interim ta okay Tony go ahead I'm Tony roselli I am a partner with the town's auditing firm and Elizabeth Bret tanin Al righty so how do we want to do this whoever wants to start is do you have any other agenda items or we jumping right into the audit we're jumping right into the audit on this yeah okay up all right I guess I'm up um so uh I guess the easiest way way to do this is there is a report that I sent out uh it was labeled a governance report it's about a three-page letter and uh on the last two pages there's about nine or 10 actually 11 observations uh so I could quickly go through those observations um and uh real quick just on the financial end the town has um approximately 2.1 Mill ion in uh unassigned fund balance which is made up of your stabilization fund and your undesignated fund balance so 2.1 million included within that subset is about $1 uh4 million of various stabilization funds so about 1.4 million of various stabilization funds uh your overall fund balance dropped about $400,000 during the current year because you use some free cash about 1.2 million of free cash uh and you had a uh positive uh budget uh and uh and forecast revenue forecast of about 700,000 which netted about a 400,000 uh reduction so uh that's basically the highlights on the financial end um pretty much in line with what you expected um uh little little bit better on the forecast on revenues uh which which recaptured some of that free cash that you used during the year so um so so from my perspective you're right where uh I thought you would be and the unassigned fund balance represents about 10% of your uh your 2023 expenses about 10% so uh from a credit wory uh standpoint 15% or above is a tier one8 to 8 to 12% is a tier two so you're like in the tier two range uh in terms of where you're uh creditworthiness is on a financial reserve standpoint um so any questions on just some some of those financial highlights before I jump into the observations okay yeah so so the letter of that uh that we're required to write um to the it's basically addressed to the board of selectman um and in that we're required to let you know if we had any scope limitations which we didn't if we there were any Gap departures generally accepted accounting principle departures there were none uh were there any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies no uh were there any uh disagreements with management no so all the standard uh items uh that we need to check off were were part um so at the end of the letter uh we're required to highlight those items that we think we should be communicating to you so uh so I've got 11 items that are made up of um um some informational items and some that are actually like findings that should be uh corrected uh I did notice a large improvement over the prior year uh in terms of votes being recorded in terms of transfers being made properly in terms of uh just the overall record keeping and I think that was a function of having one um one set of eyes really on the GL this year as opposed to a few different accountants moving in and out in the in the prior year um I think uh Elizabeth you did like half of the prior year and uh I think Lai might have done the first half so um so I think um I think the GL uh aspects of The Ledger were much better this year so that's good news so um so let's go right through these comments uh first one's an informational comment uh Treasurer did a really nice job on investments um as you're probably all aware interest rates have really gone up nicely um negative if you're borrowing but positive if you have some excess money and you can invest it uh you can get probably four to 5% and we had pointed this out last year and it looks like the treasurer moved some money into better yielding uh bank accounts and uh we're just making a recommendation to keep on uh looking at that and keep on challenging your Banks to give you a a good interest rate uh which it looks like uh was happening during the year so that's good news um secondly uh this is just a reminder that I put in here for all my communities uh just continue to challenge your controls over cyber security um train your employees uh what are your controls uh the the the Cyber hacks are try to be one step ahead of everyone and they're they're in there doing crazy things and uh sometimes these employees are it's an employee era that's causing a lot of the problems like that Amazon gift card is not really free money so don't click on it those are the types of things that uh they try to fish you into uh in uh or or in the treasurer's office uh we need to make this transfer the town accountant has said we need to make this transfer to pay off this uh construction company and those are the types of things that you should have be aware of ahead of time uh of transactions that you basically should forbid I would never pay a construction company with a wire transfer uh believe it or not it has it has happened where um uh your cyber criminals come in and say hey um you know we we we want payment for our construction of services and they'll do a nice mimic of a invoice of some project you have going on and lo and behold $100,000 is gone um also they'll come in and freeze your system and then they'll expect some Ransom uh to let your system go back to normal so so these are the things that you should be aware of and I've had uh some of my clients have gone through what's called a cyber audit so um they'll actually come in an audit firm not not my audit firm but audit firms that are out there independently looking at uh your cyber networks that will Comm in to do an independent check of your it are all your firewalls in place do you have any vulnerabilities um you know are there uh areas where uh you know there's some holes in your system so um so if you have some funds uh and and that's something you you want to uh investigate I highly recommend it uh in this day and age uh next next question if nobody has any questions so far is on um just some fraud prevention controls what I like to see is the financial team which would be your town accountant your Treasurer uh out there're actually challenging the Departments that handle cash uh what do you have for reconciliation process within the department what do you have for a receipt process within the department how often do you turn over cash um where where do you hold the cash before you turn it over those sorts of things those sorts of controls are important to know about we don't dig to that level in our audit because we're doing a financial based audit of the general legedis so we don't go that deep um but we do ask these questions um do you folks do these little internal control reviews of these catch handling areas and and it's a good way to um keep everyone honest um you know in terms of uh the town's vigilance in this area okay next item is arper so uh this is just a reminder that by the end of this calendar year December 31st to 24 make sure you have every everything obligated and by obligated a purchase order commitment contract it's got to be very firm not just some plan hey we're gonna spend it this way um I don't want any of my towns getting clawed back from the government that they haven't done this properly so I'm putting this out there that just make sure that on December 31st at midnight everything's obligated you get another two years to spend it but just make sure it's obligated we working with a consultant for arpa funds so that'll that'll definitely be happening before the 31st excellent excellent because I know I know we haven't commend to do this audit like till after December so I just want to make sure that um you know we're putting out these reminders um to to you folks um okay the next uh few items dig into the um the first few informational observational type items these are these are the findings so beginning with item five um we saw that the so you use a third party for ambulance um they build uh the patient and they collect money uh from the patient and then they basically why that actually it's um it comes in directly to the town but the third party does a report uh on uh on what they build and collected so what I like to do or like to see is that the town's done a Reconciliation from what the third party uh and I I think it's Coastal that does you folks um what Coastal reports uh versus what's in the GL and what's collected in the GL I want to make sure that th those are in sync uh that was off about $80,000 um for this fiscal year so I just wanted to make sure that that I think it was timing um is is what happened at the end of the year uh something that got caught that didn't go until July or vice versa um but there should be a Reconciliation of that process and an adjustment made to the correct number and secondly on ambulance is we're still seeing that balance increase uh up to $630,000 which is another 15% higher than the prior year so um so we're making a suggestion that the fire chief take a look at you know what might be old there uh have some people who used the ambulance passed away moved away what are the chances of collecting uh some of this um the the medical medical receivables all late usually anyway just because of the very nature of collecting a NE a medical does it get denied by Insurance do you try to collect it from the patient so there's a there's a process there that sometimes delays it uh but this has gotten a little it's over 75% now that um your uh total balance is in the greater than six-month category so again just something out to for the fire chief to look at and see if you know some of these are just not collectible makes it easier to manage uh next uh is just a question I I just want to say real quick that this is for fiscal year 23 correct so yes and that's for the people who are listening at home because we are being televised I just wanted to make sure that everybody understood that because I know that that's been a focus of the fire department throughout uh fiscal year 24 um and and I know he has been right on top of that oh that's that's great that's great news thanks for that update so we'll expect to see uh some improvements in that area when we come out to do the 24 audit uh good news oh I hand there i' like to piggyback on that as well um Kitty and I work together as reconciliation place it is balanced now and we're reconciling monthly to the coastal reports for ambulance so for 24 is in place thank you super so hopefully we can take out a big eraser and eliminate that comment from next year's report and we and we CPAs don't like to use ER rases too much uh okay uh next comment um and these are basically some good practices uh in the treasur collector's office uh just to basically do a spreadsheet with your cash forecast what's your beginning cash uh what's coming in for the month what's going out for the month what's the ending cash and do like a 12-month projection what that helps you do is see what cash is available at the end of each month and if it's consistent if it's a consistent amount it would appear that it's excess cash that represents reserves that could be invested uh because you don't want to really invest your operating cash and tie it up uh in case you you need it so knowing how much you have at the end of each month and if it's a consistent amount it helps you invest better so that was just a um like I said a best practice type of comment um also notice that there's a lot of bank accounts that are uh uh that the office administers and a lot of those could be Consolidated just to make the process uh a little easier at the end of the year a little less management com and and lastly just a a number of minor minor variances Tony excuse me can we just make a comment on the number of bank accounts yeah hi Tony um so well the statement is true that we have a lot of bank accounts um my comment here is perhaps it could be expanded on this particular comment that um the treasury collector's office has already taken actions to rectify this situation I inherited in 23 say we had 30 Bank state bank accounts in 23 I closed 10 accounts um and I think I've got and I'm in the process of closing three or four more and I've evaluated each of the accounts for the reason that they exist there's a couple of them still researching like a CD or something but the rest are all have a specific purpose and a reason and a a good function so I wanted to comment on that that um I think that it's we could expand and say that we've already been doing um work on this issue so it's a a work in progress okay no that that that that's excellent news so um you know we'll we'll obviously we'll take a look at that and uh and if we agree with that which it sounds like we will we can we can note that in the next uh report awesome yeah thank you Tony I did do a list of all the accounts and an explanation of what the accounts are being used for or were being used for and whether they're closed or to be closed so I can send that to you okay super yeah do it next year I'd love I'd love to see that thanks thank you okay the um next item Capital assets so back in uh 2021 when we were all young kids in in grade school the uh the gby came out and said you must inventory your fixed assets so everyone went out and got a consultant and uh did an inventory of fixed Assets in towns they they put you know a list of all your vehicles all your roads all your land that you own your buildings that you owned and and they put it into Excel and then they they valued it um so what we've noticed is like um you know if there was a a hulet packet that was inventoried in 2021 I would guess that that no longer exists if it would be an educated guess of mine so um so when I look when I look at your fixed asset list right now it does have a lot of those old items so I'd love to get a list out to somebody I don't know who would manage that process send it to the Departments and have them cross out the items you know like a 2001 police cruiser I'm sure got traded in somewhere along the ways uh but it's still being carried in the inventory role so I'd love to um have someone uh take charge of that we actually uh record the capital Assets in our software so Elizabeth or someone from the accountants office provides the uh the additions the new stuff for the year and we add it on but we also would need that what's no longer around what's gone so I'd love to uh get a more accurate um fixed asset um you know uh inventory list uh so so just let me know who's in Char who who you can place in charge of doing that and we can get the uh lists out that we have out to those out to that person who we pointing at we both look at each other and I will well we are doing that for Rolling Stock right now because we're signing up our insurance contract so we will be reviewing all Rolling Stock to be sure it's on or off the insured list and that probably transfer to the asset list yeah I was gonna say the easiest way to do it is look at what you've got on your insurance list and do a cross reference uh because your land is unless you sold some land that's going nowhere your buildings are going nowhere your roads you know unless you're you've improved them but those don't disappear it's mostly the equipment the vehicles so if you do a cross reference I think that's where you'll see um in those computers those old ones uh I doubt they exist so but you you can look at what's there that's old and um and whatnot um so uh that is the capital asset comment um the next comment is uh just good practice uh not sure if you've started this process we did have it as a finding last year um basically to to create a comprehensive internal control policy and procedure manual uh also with financial policiy so some something I'm sure you guys follow policies but something that's codified into one document so that when you have turnover uh someone can say Hey how do I do a warrant well let let me go look at how it's done in this town let me go look at how we process payroll let me go look at what controls are in place um and I know that's going to take a while uh to put together uh but there are great examples out there uh towns do have these working uh so the first thing I do is usually take a good one cut and paste Townsen into say Winchester and then go in and start reading it and say which one does not apply to Townsend and which one does so you can kind of cut and paste it that way and then at the end of the process you have a nice manual so um so hopefully somebody can put that on there uh on their to-do list and we can uh see some improvements in that area I do have a coup so Katie has a couple drafts already started so excellent yeah excellent I knew I could count on you Katie good job that was one of mine like can we have thanks so uh the next one and I think you probably have been doing some progress on this and this is one again that's going to require some time but there was a lot of stagnant um Revenue special Revenue balances so you establish a special revenue for a purpose you get a grant a gift a revolving fund and then you spend it and then there's always a little bit left over and it's either due to a coding error you coded an expense to the general fund instead of to the project or it's just forgotten about and then you have some turnover say there's some um gifts in the police department and you get a new police chief and the old police chief doesn't say by the way we've got 10 gifts you should keep an eye on we can spend out of there so these things get forgotten um there's about $300,000 uh worth of um of old items one of them is a debt premium account for $150,000 and uh really need to do some research on that because you may be able to use that to pay down debt or use it towards the project that it was intended I don't know when that when that even uh came into play if it was before 2016 you may be able to bring it in as Revenue if it was before 2016 that was when the municipal modernization act uh went into play which changed all the rules so it's would be good to research exactly when that premium happened it's $150,000 that's a big one uh the rest of them like I said $150,000 are multiple small items you know maybe four or 5,000 here or there um there's also three minor Capital project funds that have not had any activity in at least two years at total about $23,000 so you can repurpose those at a town meeting if you've got some little small projects you might want to do or at the uh authorization of the town uh chief executive officer which is typically the Town Administrator or select board if you choose uh you can use that to pay down debt so there's $23,000 you can use up to $50,000 a year to pay down debt so there $23,000 sitting there right now okay next next item is police details I know that um the police chief had started to look at some of these older balances that they really don't know much about so I said hey take a look at it research it probably need to write them off so I think that's an ongoing type of thing I the department is all over what the new stuff is that they build out but under the old Administration there's a bunch of receivables and um sometimes these things just lay there for years and years and years so um so I would recommend the police chief take a look at those uh if they haven't already and just debate them at this point uh if you can't find what it is or who it belongs to or who owes it uh and lastly uh the special Revenue chart of accounts uh love to see that configured to uh more appropriate unus reporting uh Katie has uh got a big smile there sorry have to giggle at that yes yes we're working on it we have um made progress and you'll see some of that little good good good good so with that comment that concludes my comments for the evening unless there's any uh further questions from anyone any other board no we're all good here Tony awesome you've been great thank you have a great rest of the night all right and we'll see you next year bye bye we'll see you next year right y bye bye everyone bye just want to thank everybody foring some of them concerns and we're moving forward and you're all doing a great job and every little bit that we can find and use will be very helpful finance committee would love to get that money as well as everybody wants a piece everyone wants a piece of that we're working on I'm talking about the the town budget yeah a budget I need it for a budget we we'll further on in the agenda yeah all right thank you everybody really appreciate that nice work Katie good job thank you very much all right see you later thanks for the chair problem I think we've got a little good team here yeah they've tightened a lot of things up Katie and talking about that's 23 and in 23 we knew a lot of these these issues and we tightened them up in 24 um looking forward to the audit for next year because that's sh yeah we're in we're in really really good shape keep doing a good job it was nice to have a it was nice to have a good uh a good report at this time of year good review yes it was all right all right so I'm G to start with the U we're going to go right on to appointments unless you guys yeah that was the main focus today was the other report I just want to talk to the finance committee May for a second depending where all the election results boil out to yeah I'm anticipating working with you during July to come up with solutions to the budget problem yeah I plan to be well your meeting on the we're meeting next week um if you want I haven't put posted the agenda um it that's going to be mostly just doing internal transfers and that's quick so we can we can go through that we have an have an item with you following and we can have at least a start solutions by that we won't have any solutions but we can talk about a schedule and and plan it that at that point yeah we'll know we'll know more about what's going on after Friday of this we right um basic timing on it Ross and I have been meeting there's I would just like to have a strategic plan with all of us to so that we're we're attacking this with all brains yeah and and I think from from finance committee side would like to see more than just a onee shot is what's the when when we look at the budget policy it says we need that we should be presenting a fiveyear plan and what it looks like on a fiveyear plan somewhat easy to do with Excel and formulas to extrapolate some things out we need to see that that would be the piece that's important as we build the FY 25 what are we going to do with 26 and 27 when oper is is gone those numbers that we have in the budget for FY 25 today kind real because they're could being subsidized it's kind of like so as we prepare things and look at it we have to see it it's it's got to be visible to to the entire budget that's what we that's what we definitely want to be able to do it's not I don't want to uh uh Kick the Can down the road to use the term which I hate I want to be able to make sure that we have a strategic plan to be able to to deal with with what we need to for 26 at least and then three years four years down the road from now yeah because with everything we tried to do with 25 which was Z 0% increase on expense lines and just the um 4% salary increases it's kind of um I don't know that we we can hold the line I don't you know I don't I don't know that the budgets will be able to stand there but again that's looking at and and getting a final um variance report from Katie to see what the total uses are and goinging see if there's anything we can do um and maybe going back when people looking for new things and ads that we get a list of what what the ad items are and what cost estimated costs are so we look at reality what the line what the request is actually not not just putting a line and say increasing over what it was last year because we didn't with this actually see see that we have several different that uh seven several different programs or projects I guess is a better term for for us to be able to do that one is our building assessments um that'll give us an idea of what we're looking at with maintenance that we've always had a problem with we can't really in on that that'll give us a better idea of what we're looking at there um and we're asking for more input from the Departments too that's going to put us in a better shape to be able to start planing um we also have there's implementation of certain projects that are going to change the landscape of certain recurring monthly charges that we're not going to be paying out one of them would be the the the wi that we're putting in is going to eliminate several of the monthly charges so there's a lot that I think that we need to discuss so that we can plan it out according yeah and again with the capital planning this year of updating all the all the whs to the oabs the see the appropriate energy decreases in the future years and we have the the aggregation program as well that's another thing that I'm assuming that we're probably going to be jumping on I would assume by the end of the year wouldn't we yeah so that there's a lot of changes a lot of positive changes that I think are really going to affect our our bottom line I just want to thank finance committee everybody on it for doing such a great job it's a very hard job but we really we depend on you guys to help us and thank you for that and Andrew is on the line thank you and and Josh thank you for your your time and we're unfortunate we loing Josh he's moving out of time keep we need to get more people on here so Jerry you and I are gonna start knocking on door soon but I appreciate it all right all right thank you much you thanks so um we got yeah we've got minutes 15 minutes I think we can get right you ready I'm ready 31 I'm looking for a motion to reappoint Natalie Paul Gregory Smith Veronica Kell William cigan Michael Brown to the bylaw Review Committee with a term effective 7124 to 63026 shall move and I'll second that Mike Brown Manning right what's that Mike Brown's not on here you're adding that correct at the beginning yeah I missed it there all those in favor Jo shank yesan yes 3.2 reappoint Laura Dole to the cultural council with a term effective 7124 to 630 2027 so moved I'll second that any discussion all those in favor shank yes cherini yes 3.3 I'm going to go over uh afterwards so we'll come back to that one 3.4 reappoint James gates to the Conservation Commission with a term effective 7124 to 630 27 so moved and second any discussion no all those in favor Jo shank yes chanian yes 3.5 a motion to reappoint Veronica Kell George W Sullivan Mary Jane Churchville Carol hofus emene Hoff James gates to the open space and Recreation committee with a term effective 7124 to 630 2027 so moved second any discussion nope all those in favor Jo shank yesan yes 3.6 appoint Charles rossback to the agricultural commission with a term effective 61824 to 630 27 so moved second all those in favor shank yesan yes 3.7 reappoint Mary lero as Animal control officer with a term effective 7124 to 6:30 2025 so moved second any discussion no all those in favor shank yes tan yes 3.8 reappoint Kathleen spafford as the parking clerk with a term effective 7124 to 630 2025 so moved second any discussion no all those in favor tank yes deranian yes 3.9 um reappoint Lieutenant Christopher Peach Sergeant George REI Sergeant David Phillips Sergeant Jeffrey gues as the agents for the licensing Authority with a term effective 7124 to 63025 so moved second any discussion no all those in favor shank yesan yes 3.10 reappoint James pep sartel as chief of police Keeper of the lockup agent for the licensing Authority with a term effective 7124 to 630 2025 so moved second any discussion no all those in favor Joe shank yes Jerian yes 3.11 reappoint full-time Police Department officers um and there is a list so let's do it this way um I'll search a moot I I'll ask for a motion to reappoint full-time Police Department officers um as listed in the agenda sh moved second any discussion no all those in favor Joe shank yes yes [Music] yes 3.12 ask for a motion to reappoint building department personnel as uh listed in actually I'm going to read these because they're separate yeah uh so a motion to reappoint building department personnel as follows gas inspector and plumbing inspector Richard capis alternate gas inspector and Alternate plumbing inspector Gary Williams sealer of weights and measures Eric Alin wiring inspector Daniel cushin alternate wire wiring inspector Peter Mart uh alternate Building Commissioner Dana Barnes alternate building inspector Roland Bernier and Building Commissioner Robert garide for a three-year term effective 7124 to 630 2027 move second all any discussion no all those in favor shank yes yes deranian yes 3.13 reappoint fire department officers for a term effective 7124 to 630 2025 as listed in the agenda so move and second any discussion no all those in favor Jo shank yes ch I look for a motion to reappoint forcan and Judith cier to the Council on Aging for a term effective 630 2024 to 6:30 27 so moved second any discussion no all those in favor Joe shank yes chanian yes 3.15 uh look for an motion to appoint reappoint Alice Brothers to the counts cultural Council for a term effective 63024 to 6:30 27 so moved second discussion no all those in favor Frank yes yes okay we do have some time all right so we're gonna go back to um 3.3 oops yes yes did that right foran y14 right y yep and for y we did so I I I wanted to have a discussion uh in regards to um an appointment for for the historic district commission um it was brought to my attention um and uh I did get a phone call from the state ethics Commission in regards to the makeup of that and um I did the research I had sent in the information that the um ethics commission had asked me to I was asked to review the charter and take a closer look at what was going on um I haven't really had time to research it um fully at this particular time uh but according to uh our Charter our Charter says that the makeup of the historic district commission should be uh two individuals that were nominated from the Historic Society one member is uh an AI which is an architect one member should be on the board of realtors uh in members not on the Historic Society the uh we also received um this afternoon uh an additional reappointment um but that came in after we had already solidified the the agenda but uh what I wanted to do uh with the board is to talk about um the way the way this is I I would feel more comfortable to be able to talk with Town Council I've I've had conversations with the Town Administrator on the the way it stands now is we could um address the reappointment or we could take this up at our next meeting after I've done the research on it next meeting yeah I think we should especially where everything's up in the air and we should maybe figure out how we have to abide by the charter so whatever that makeup is of the charter then that's what they should come forward with and we should vote on that so I make a motion we we table until the next meeting and the district come forward per the chatter with the Personnel that are required on the chatter so I have two individuals I guess that are up for reappointment and there's two members that are that would still be current after the end of this month both of those individuals are currently Historic Society members and District his um historic district commission members so we need clarification on exactly what the charter has says because if if um if one of the two that are up for reappointment um get appointed that means that there would be um three members that that are on both the Historic Society in on the district commission so I want to get clarification uh from Town Council in regards to that but I just want to be sensitive only because the ethics commission told us to take a look at it Jerry I'm one of those and I have done yeah no I I understand that I understand that but this is more for the charter um the charter is is what we need to look at I need to have Adam look at it as well yes I understand that and I don't think it has anything to do with the disclosure it has to do with the charter the the makeup of it makeup of the Char yeah because the charter states that there's two two members that are appoint or that are nominated from the Historic Society one is an architect the other is a is a realtor and then three members not on the Historic Society um and one of those members of the three members should be on should be actually living in the historic district that's what the charter says that it's supposed to be that's how the charter is made up [Music] okay so I don't think we really need to vote we can just move this to to the next to July 2nd whatever you got the information we get the information you're GNA follow up on that for us R your deal perfect okay I have with state that I have to finish so the so we clarified what we just said we're going to you're going to work with the state to clarify exactly what personnel should be on per a ch right and that's how we're going to work all right I'm fine with that so if we can put that on July 2 please and thank you so um I guess we can talk this will duve tail into the next one anyway 4.1 is a mandatory planning board referral for 108 FF Road did you have a chance Joe to take did lck to it put my planning board hat on for that I'm not planning board but lot to review and figure out even actually to try to figure out exactly what a piece of property was so the mandatory referral um was sent to us by the planning board uh they will be having a public hearing on Monday July 8th uh 2024 at 6:45 p.m. um in the select Chambers uh and also on Zoom it looks like um but this is for property on um 108 pitchburg Road uh the proposed project involves the construction of three new 2unit residential buildings and the conversion of a single family home into a 2un residential building Additionally the project um includes Associated utilities storm water management infrastructure driveways and outdoor recreation areas the property is located at 108 pitchburg Road identified cessor map 16 block 42 l0 within both the ra and RB zoning districts so I have looked at at the the project my my thought is to to unless you have some things in there that stuck up to you but I thought um is using the same as we've done on other ones that there are several components to this application and the select board trusts the expertise of the planning board the select board thanks the planning board for all of their efforts yeah because I I I could and answer some of their questions and I think that's why we have the planning board and leave it up to them yeah well I've also looked at some of the other comments from the other the other departments and their spot on with what what I saw and and as a select selectman and like let them do their thing a motion on that well if you're in agreement with what I just read I can read it again I can just sign it I'm in agreement we're good okay so the comment that I'm putting is there are several components to this application in the select board trust the expertise of the planning board the select board thanks the planning board for all of their effort few minutes how about that I guess yeah we three minutes the amended minutes SO3 the review of the amended meeting dates that's a re a redo uh we just wanted to make sure that we had on the record the three dates that we had changed so they're in red on that so uh the meeting dates would the changes are 91024 and 92424 and 11224 and those are taken into consideration other obligations or uh HS I'm good with that but if you're good with that I'm good with that you want to make a motion I make a motion to approve the updated minute dates meeting dates meeting dates and the three are 9 10 24 9 24 24 11 12 24 second all those in favor shank yes contract we're gonna go back I see Lori I see Carol anybody else on the planning board there we're waiting for Andrew Shephard I'm gonna give him a call all right I'll keep eye out when he comes in we'll jump back over okay thank [Music] you well we can go we can do the the the insurance contract yeah it's all it's all set we just I think we we wanted to verify that all the things are included and we've done that yeah and we've already signed it so we're good to go right y so there's nothing to vote on because we approved it the last time um 4.4 review and amend uh mon twoip pass control contract Ross want to give us what you it's couple me ago the board voted to approve that meeting that contract pending verification that the contract wasn't wanted I've done some research and and the police department was not looking to cut their frequency of service which is what we S held it up for to see if that was the case and it looks like they're using appropriate methods in Road control so I don't see any reason why can't be approved and sent in and I've talked to Kim from NPC and told him where we are now it's back to the original quote everything's moving forward and have we already signed an approv this I believe I think we the the contract that was presented to us has been signed and and I'm okay with this and that's the same one that we're going back to the original correct Y no changes I'm good with that I'm with that yeah vote to approve and send the contract back to um okay as originally subed so moved second discussion move all those in favor shank yesan yes want see that Mr Andrew is here how are you sir oh you're playing on the fire department tonight aren't you yes he is nice and cool so I'm good yeah I'm good you look good thank you Andrew thank you Carol for making this happen thank you Lori for for showing up well it's difficult because we had somebody who unfortunately had a death in the family that couldn't make the meeting so and even our associate member um is ill and couldn't make the meeting so this is it thank you guys I'd like to call The Joint meeting or well I'll call this portion and then I'd like to discuss about how we do this um maybe Ross can answer a question um I'd like to call The Joint meeting of the select board well and the excuse me joint meeting with the select Board of the planning of the towns and planning board at 7:02 PM your time could I have a roll call vote please Carol hofus present Andrew Shepard present Laura shiff present and Beth Beth are admin who's our backbone here right hand is also with us thank you Beth you're already call to order we or do you call The Joint again um no we're we're already in session we we already were in session okay um one point1 on our agenda um is basically deleted this evening because our app applicant uh has withdrawn his application and we also have another application that has come in and true to the way Chaz has been he wants to get more people involved so that a few are not doing everything which really helpful um so that is not on the agenda and I don't have to vote on that that right we don't have to vote on that withdrawal right all the all the paperwork was submitted by the planning board the so the board was aware of all of it okay um and then number two i' I'd like to entertain well I don't know why we have to motion again but um the planning board has approved uh Lance n to be appointed to fill the vac can seat the full seat of the planning board member um to expire next annual town meeting in April of 2025 Mr chair Lance actually called me today he had to go into wer he felt bad that he's not here tonight he just wanted to mention that he had a coast guard inspection that he could not get out of but he really appreciates you know the opportunity to come back you just wanted to make that clear okay he also did call me and apologized and one also told me that he called you so that was good um so how do you want to do this do we motion again yeah so we make a motion and then we will all vote okay both boards at the same time correct okay then I'll entertain a motion to appoint Lance Smith n h as a member of the planning board term effective immediately to expire at the next annual Town election April 2025 I move and is there a second okay second any further discussion hearing none I'll take a roll call vote again from everyone Carol hopis yes shepher yes Laura Sheffer yes Jo shank yes J ceran yes okay we'll let Lance know to go get sworn in and come on board immediately now always get another uniform to get inspected yes um so just a question because sometimes it is like touch and go if we're going to have a joint meeting and so the questions for Ross um if the planning board has moved already moved an appointment to the board of Selectmen why do we have to have a quorum to meet with you again to formally have them appointed by you I mean we've had other situations and I've been in the seat um where we have met and I just brought forward the motion that came from my board it's a it's a joint appointment and each member of the individual boards has a vote so if your committee had voted two to one for this name to come forward and then the select one vote it could be three to two I guess against it or not to appoint that person or vice versa so it's individual members that vote tonight okay I I just tell you that it was an unanimous appointment yes from our board and ours and hours okay so um okay we'll we'll truck on I want to thank everybody on the board for all your work hard work it's a tough job a thankless job but thank you for it okay I will entertain a motion to journ The Joint meeting of the planning board and the board of Selectmen at 407 your time 7 70707 oh it's 407 here sorry your time your motion and I heard a second as well yeah roll call vote Carol Hoff says yes [Music] Andrew Andrew yes FL Shi yes shank yes yes have a good night every good night everybody good night very much all right I may hang on you're just not gonna see me all right thank you um all right 4.5 uh vote on fiscal year 25 bid recommendations and notice of bid awards for the highway department so this was an interesting one because I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about reclaiming and crack sealing and all of this kind of stuff a lot of work that we had to pay for yes we'll pay for it we'll pay for it so so this was a duly posted advertised bid that actually Eric and um Jimmy had worked on yeah and we had bid opening on the 10th and we had a good response from you know multiple vendors um which is always encouraging because I think you end up with Ben a pricing that way so Jimmy has tallied them up and made his recommendations you want me to read through those for you or you want to take a motion to approve I I don't I was sitting here while they did the bid and I I actually understood it more than I did before before I ever thought through the bed I will say that it was an interesting process and and several people actually came for the bid so it was really I'll just make a motion that we accept Jim Smith's uh proposals for the bid for Milling of the existing road service re recation vitimus asphalt wait a minute sorry it's million of existing Road Services PJ Albert won that one okay oh all right for a$ doll 91 that's in place yeah Reclamation Was Won by Murray pav for $329 in place okay the tumorous asphalt Was Won by PJ keine for 8989 a ton in place and $80 a ton fov so it's a case of whether we haven't put it down or whether we go and get it ourselves okay crack ceiling uh Was Won by Superior coating at$ 33 33 C 33 yes 33 cents 33 cents in place so moved any discussion all in favor Jo shank yes good job from the highway department as usual yep all right 4.6 starting date for a special town meeting here we go here we go now we're in it well when we talked last we moved from July to poal August 19th and 20th because that's seem to actually fit Town Council moderator and town clerk's availability suggested that we might have a better chance getting a quorum if we say September [Music] date I always think so people are kids are back in school people are around I that was one of my concerns with those dates that we're not going to have airum we're going to waste a lot of people's time so I I I think that's a smart thing to do it in September uh so the question is we want to do it on a Monday like we normally do Monday night so does anybody know Sabrina when does school starting September you know your when the ks aren't there that's when it starts yeah well we go the second week which is the week starting Monday the 9th go back right to before Labor Day for Labor Day would be in Labor Day second the second yeah but they go right back before that so yeah week after yeah so let's do the week after for why don't we do the nth guess people are away on the Labor Day so we can tentatively set the nth and the 10th and we need to check with the Town Clerk and the town moderator and the assistant Town moderator nine 10 and more importantly ad 10 to leave doing September 10th you said nth and then if we need to go over the 10th gr and maybe I won't be be push out far enough you'll be here no we will definitely have a SE that was I'll save seat for you if you want to go back you're always welcome so I will check with moderator Town Council and town clerk y for September 9th or or 10 well September 9th and if it runs over so just gota be aware I think that'll also give us some time to be able to um put together some of the other articles that are being proposed I do know that a couple of the Committees may have something put on this as well so give them some time to I'm collecting a short list 4.7 uh discuss vote on warrant dates so how do figure out those dates now right so we should post probably I plan to post on by August 23rd that's more than 14 days check for the right that I that's open the Tom July Monday July 29th close it [Music] on Friday August 9th it's two weeks open at 7:29 open yep and then what was it August what that gives us perfect two weeks before we'd have to post it so I think that would work that should be plent times to and we can confirm the dates at our next meeting just that you found everybody right they're all on page with it y I'm good with that we'll just be happy to put this in the bed yeah well we'll get it done sooner or later we'll get it there all right we need a motion on that sure we haven't voted it yet we just we' targeted pending clarification so we vot next week next meeting we know that everybody can make it if we V it now just committ right uh 4.8 uh this was the addition to this was a request to transfer um this is a request for transfer for Appropriations this is to be transferred I just have numbers here I don't have the I don't have the account name but I have the numbers those are town clerk right yes so I'll um entertain a motion to approve a municipal fund transfer from account count 00-01 D 160- 53- z0000 z- z0000 to be transferred from one I'm sorry to we transferred from 001 d162 d534 000000000000 as it printed in the agenda is it printed in the agenda no it's sorry I try the transfer amount is $1,562 127 no that's the balance remaining I apologize the amount requested is $977 70 cents so move second any questions nope um I'll just say that the amount requested is to be used for General code updates has been requested then the policy uh then this goes to um the finance committee and their meeting next week okay all those in favor shank yes yes yes meting all of us were killing a lot of trees 5.0 Opera projects is there any I just I want to say that Ross and I are going to be sitting down with shortly to go over what we have as far as what the allocations are um KD and I have been talking with individuals to find out what funds they have and in what years they're going to allocate them from so that we can update the spreadsheet so we know what is what then we can talk about it we allocate funding the auditor suggestion will have all that encumbered by the end of yeah we have to we've been talking about that anyway yeah 5.1 administrator updates and reports he's passing out papers some people say need to have a hard copy actually so the first item is is an update on the pest control we talked about about already we've approved that the board approved sending that invoice as regionally planned um the trash contract is still getting ready to be sent out and I got into the prevailing wage system and they sent me the prevailing wages that we have to send out to Shaw as part of that um I've had a couple conversations on 94 fitzburg Road this is a small development in there that when they started digging they found that there was a plugged drainage pipe from the town which they didn't know existed so therefore it wasn't in their Wetlands calculations through work that Eric had done and then Town Cil meeting with their um attorney they've agreed that the highway department would divide the pipe since we had some around the developer would bury the pipe in the appropriate place and it would drain across his property out back towards Wetlands um the next step on that is that his the develop engineer will do a notice of intent noi but since it's really a town drainage issue highway department and land use will help Champion that through conservation to get that noi approved then we have to secure an easement from the owner to allow us to run the pipe through his property and and to maintain it so their owner seems to be aimable to doing that we talked about and I guess Eric had negotiated that we would pay them $4,000 to acquire this easement and to sort of replenish what they spent an extra money to deal with a town problem so this is drainage the town didn't know existed the developer didn't know existed we found that found it when apparently the road fill up with water and they uncovered this drainage dis went right into private property so this looks like an amenable solution I talked to Adam today he is going to talk to the developers attorney and put in writing what we've all agreed to the developer's attorney will write the easement and when he gets that easement Adam will help write the warrant language to appropriately put that in town media for a vote to accept the easement and potentially to pay the $4,000 for their cost think we can take that out of ARA funds so it won't be directly out of general fund so how we come up with the 4,000 is that covered we need to check that first yes it's no we need to check that that was sort of the Segway from your previous comment about checking Balan right so a 4,000 negotiable it sounds like projects already 90% done I do believe it's sounds like it was it has been negotiated but it could be a lot more since we're basically dumping Street drainage onto private property um and the developers put in a lot of money in the engineering of it and the installation of the pipe So Mean Street drains that are all over the roads everywhere and that they just drained into properties you know so I'm good with it if if that's our solution to make it easy then we just move on yeah Adam feels that both parties are partially responsible for this product well that's what I'm saying I work together and getting it done um it could have been a lot worse and it sounds like the both parties worked m compromise so I'm good with good I'm good with it yeah I'm good but that's going to be a potential warrant articles just to approve that eement in in the funding if it's if the funding turns out to be arer that doesn't need to be in the warrant arle specifically but that that's not going to hold up his project by any means is it I don't think so I mean they're anxious to get it done so well that's what I mean so what do we need to do I mean they can do all the piping they can do everything I think they've done the piping all the way up to the flood planes flood okay and then observation will get in so once they get the noi then they get the permission to run further into the RS well let's do whatever we can to make it happen because this is no time to find there's a problem when the Project's almost done understood and that's what we're working on all right um my last update is regarding the fire contract and we'll discuss that when we go into executive session um the budget um depending upon what happens with the um the override election um we'll be looking at relooking at the FY 25 budget and that's what mention the finance committee talking to them I want to look at revenues I've had conversations with Katie about what revenues we can accurately anticipate as well as work with Chaz and What expenses we need to cut but I expect that'll be keeping us busy and probably have an update in this not like we haven't been working on it 247 already thank you for have work guys I do want to just throw in the um where we are with the uh the override process um the uh the clerk has individuals have taken out papers for a recount um they have until Friday at 5 o'l I believe to return them with um all of the criteria involved in uh you know signatures and all of that um we have to wait until that process happens or doesn't happen depending upon how you look at it um I know that the clerk has met with the um registrars today they've come up with their plan of action so if the if it's if those papers are returned um those signatures have to be certified then they have to set a date for the recount so the clerk is on that but uh I do want to say that I have the utmost respect for the clerk's office Kathy has done a fabulous job with this whole uh process being able to put it all together get the timing down plus working with us um getting the the special town meeting scheduled in and and you know there's a lot of moving parts and the it's it's really nice to see that um all departments have been very uh flexible in what we need to do so it's truly a a team effort and I I appreciate it I just wanted to take your time for us to thank them for that I tell you she's being very very diligent in being sure that the process is handled exactly the way it's supposed to every ballot is being tabulated every ball is expected all of them have been locked up and secure so nothing's happened to him the nighted election till do the rec perfect um 5.2 reports from board Liaisons [Music] um I have been diligent with with mine I have nothing really to report Joe what about you no I I don't really have anything to report from the last time you know everybody just got the concerns about the override the budgets and we just got to just keep moving on till we figure out where we stand with the budgets so that's you know that's all we can do y sir uh announcements and Communications um I do have a couple um I have been working very closely with representative Scar's office on a couple of um committees and collaborations um she is a been a good uh resource for us in helping us move forward with finding funding uh if we needed uh we needed assistance with the Department of Transportation um she's pushed some um they pushed but she's communicated with certain areas of the state and and they were acting much more quickly than normal uh but as part of the um small business and Community Development that I've been working with uh along with the Townsen um business administration uh we're also working with peil and hash and Bron she is having a u for the first middle sex District that's Ashby lenberg towns in peil dunable and broton she's pleased to announce that the Joint Committee will bring Its listening tour to her District um and talk in regards to uh how um our area is going to be bringing um new business into the area uh what we need to do or what suggestions it is from um The Joint Committee from the state the state legislatures that are coming in uh this is going to be on June 24th from 2 to 4 this is going to be held at the gron Hill Music Center and um she's inviting Business Leaders and town officials from the region to discuss their experiences and idea on how the state legislature can assist a rural community to realize its economic potential I have been talking with um representative scar sales about what our um ideas are uh with our our goals for for 25 um and this fits in with exactly what um they they want to he from the town so want to go it's open up to to any of us that that want to go um I just think it's a great opportunity that she has a a great talent for bringing the right people together to talk about things she does um there's a letter from the Conservation Commission um that um cons Conservation Commission sent to the board of Selectmen they asked me to read this um they're writing to express their sincere gratitude to the select board for your unwavering support and submission of Article 5 to see if the town will vote to appropriate and free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of 5,000 for the purpose of Conservation Commission education Outreach and training and um they're uh their understanding that it's an important for all boards to work together um and I appreciate that they took the time out of their busy schedule to write us a letter so I appreciate it from the Conservation Commission um and this is for Teresa you and I and the work that we've we've been doing with them so I appreciate that um there is a central Massachusetts brownsfield Round Table to be held on Tuesday June 25th from 8:30 A.M to 12 o'clock at the Fitchburg legislative building and that's in Fitchburg Mass and they're asking to learn about bronzefield funding Technical Resources and opportunities for uh teaming and networking in regards to any brownsfield um this is in conjunction with mass D Mass development mrpc City of Pittsburgh see that yeah that's very important session I don't want to read that whoops um there's also I just wanted to to talk about uh the fiscal year budget conference committee uh beginning deliberations uh this came out uh yesterday I got an email from the state um there are several um very very important um legislations that are coming in the uh unrestricted General General government Aid the ugga account has been everybody's been talking about it but the Senate appropriated 1.3 billion for the unrestricted General government Aid account um and that's something that's going to assist the cities and towns in regards to um a lot of vital infrastructure especially with our roads that's something that I've been as I said to to in a former meeting that we had any anytime I hear infrastructure and Roads I'm all over this has an opportunity for us to get some more money in regards to getting roads paved and stuff in town so I have put uh together a letter that I had sent to representative scar steel and several of these to say you know we are we need the money for the roads and whatever we Town Zone needs to to to be able to get these funds um there's also rural school aid um there is uh several disaster re relief and resiliency fund um which is something that uh for instance Fitchburg I don't know if you heard but fit had applied for um funds for the flooding that they had and they were turned down by the federal government um but this is a disaster relief and resiliency fund for the state that would have been able to help them out much more readily than the federal government Chapter 70 is another thing the funding for schools is a task force and they're going to fund that um to look into the smaller towns because it seems like we never get a fair share of whatever we're supposed to do so these are all things things that I have talked with um representative Scarsdale and senator conin in regards to um so that we definitely have a voice and what's going on anything from you Joe no no I'm good is there do you have I'm not in sh point though is something I can pull up uh decisions from p uh the Conservation Commission thanks bring to see Qui do when because I'm I'm H almost there okay so we have this is uh a Conservation Commission this is a please find the order of conditions issued to the town towns by the Townson Conservation Commission this is in regards to two Capricorn Lane in Townsen this is for an addition and a deck installation even busy just this is another decision yeah this is another decision for 49 Edwards Road is for a project that involves the installation of a, 1500 and a 1,000g septic tank eaching has been approved a little lost on that I don't think we've ever really dealt with those things that doing that something different now that just keep us updated okay right that's good please find the attached order of conditions determination of applicability for the above properties which is on Saunders Road Capricorn Lane 49 Edwards Road like I just mentioned and 198 Main Street so those are the decisions that been made so they're basically a priz the board of a lot going on very good doing a good job with getting them in and getting them finished up and moved on there is a yeah which we haven't we haven't um been notified of some of you so it's nice to be able to see that they're going through we must have had a busy meeting that last week let me tell you last one this is this one for five sers Road this is for order of conditions approval of work that they did erosion and sedimentation control barriers and that kind of stuff which has been cool so that all the bring that all right very good glad for the update next meeting is going to be July 2nd 2024 at 6m as I mentioned I'm going to be on vacation that week correct um want me to do your report yeah depending from what you and I come up with for agenda next week I may I'm arrive with somebody to to get here or not so okay um 5.5 review and sign I'll entertain a motion to review and sign payroll and those payable warrants out session so moved second all those in favor shank yesan yes and I move or I'll entertain a motion to enter into executive session pursuing to General Law chapter 3A section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares and he does and this is in regards to the fire Union negotiations and to uh adjourn in executive session so moved I'll second that discussion no all those in favor shank yes yes thank you everybody