attention please I think we do have a quorum so I think we're going to get started now folks are standing up in the back there are seats down here in the front that's everybody has to have a seat please so if we run into not enough chairs and I think every seat we have about I'd say at least 10 chairs down here on the main floor so if you could please come down um we can open up the selectman's room if uh needed well yeah they they said you can yeah I mean there may be some uh okay all right there any other seats up in the balcony no okay all right uh Mr foli or David can you see the scouts about they helping with the [Music] microphones wherever he [Applause] went all right um room upstairs okay there's no more room upstairs okay Jessica Jessica if you want to let people know there's no more room upstairs and right and I think we're going to have to have people there's two more seats up here but we will probably need um to have use the oh some seats here okay anybody know where there's a seat let us know no one up here two there's two up in the balcony okay there are two all right [Music] um okay Kathy do we have a COR we do have a yeah was 23 yeah we okay and we we brought up some other chairs okay all right well folks there being a quorum present I hereby call this annual town meeting to order this 7th day of May 2024 okay few preliminary matters um I have asked that uh well actually I think we can get started with the scouts um and they can do their their duty to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance so um if the scouts these are scouts from Troop 10 I do want to make an announcement about the fact that troop 10 will be observing its 100th anniversary next year uh it's a troop a troop of Scouts which I know many uh towns and boys uh were proud to be in myself included and so with that I would uh ask uh scout master conden if he could have the boys come forward and put the flags up and lead us in the pledge all right pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right guys thank you very much I'll get your names later okay all right thank you Scouts Mr Conan um okay we have uh cable uh the meeting is being recorded uh tonight by towns and Community Access uh media and it's on Channel 9 I believe on cable um I'm John Barrett the town moderator uh to my right is Kathy spord the Town Clerk and the members of the board of Selectmen Dr Teresa moris Chaz seon deranian the chairman oh I'm sorry Joe shank uh it switched on me Joe shank and CH SE deranian the chairman of the board uh past uh Chaz is Town Council Adam Costa and uh Town Administrator Eric slagel uh members of the finance committee are seated to my right your left in the front here and we have uh don don Hayes is the chair I believe uh Sam Grant geraline bazus and Alicia Struthers no I'm sorry oh you switch that's right I switch you I'm sorry Melissa dunnett the town Treasurer yes and collector uh um okay basically the our rules of par parliamentary procedure is under town meeting time uh I'd ask that everyone uh if they want to speak that they uh raise their hand and be recognized before speaking when you're recognized please state your name and address um you could wait for a m microphone to get to you so that people back home can hear what you have to say uh please direct all your comments and questions to the moderator and I'll defer it for answers or other comments to whoever might have the answers because I don't have the answers on those things at least not most of them um a matter is finally voted tonight it may be reconsidered upon a majority vote if the motion to reconsider is made tonight if the meeting goes to a second night heaven for fend uh an article which has been voted on tonight would be reconsidered only Upon A 9/10 vote uh our votes are taken by eyes and nose Voice vote um if if I and I'll declare the vote as I hear it uh if I'm in doubt I'll ask for a show of hands and using the red pink cards that were handed out to all voters and based on that I hopefully will be able to tell who has a majority vote if not then we'll have to call the counters out and we'll count if you're confused about a situation on the floor uh or wish should make a a point of order you can interrupt the speaker and and announce point of order Mr moderator then wait until I recognize you and uh you can State your point of order while you feel that something uh isn't quite right uh with the process in meeting uh if there's a um something interfering with your ability to hear what's going on or uh some distraction uh then I'd ask you to rise to a point of privilege uh and uh then you can interrupt the speaker and I'll recognize you and then you can tell me what the problem is um as I think most people are aware uh one of the procedural uh mechanisms we have is a mo motion to move the question that means uh we are moving to cut off debate uh you have to be recognized to make the motion you can't just yell out move the question uh but if you're recognized and you want to move the question that's basically all you do uh we don't we frown on people making a speech and then at the end of the speech moving the question getting the last word in so try not to do do that most people won't do that um uh let's see I I ask everybody be courteous keep Applause to a minimum we want to get this done tonight I think uh well there are some people that like to come to town meeting all the time and stay here I know in uh I think uh Lexington they have a three-day long meeting so we could do that if you like no no no okay didn't think so um visitors may speak if there's no objection as a a standard rule if they have something um that's pertinent to the meeting that would be helpful for the meeting to make a decision uh it's it's my uh discretion to allow them to speak uh but um uh there has to be something that's on topic and pertinent uh under the charter uh the department heads are designated to speak for their Department issues okay I think next is is there a of the warrant thank you Mr moderator pursuant to the within warrant I have notified and warned the inhabitants of the town of Townsen by posting up attested copies of the same at Memorial Hall 272 Main Street at the center the West Townson reading room 264 deadly Road in West Townson the police Communication Center 70 Brookline Road and the Harbor Fire Station 41 Main Street and Harbor Church 80 Main Street in said Townsen at least 7 days before the date of the meeting as within directed Michelle do Constable of Townson thank you madam clerk uh we have one other procedural matter we have to deal with um and that is the appointment of a deputy moderator in case I can't fulfill my duties here tonight or at some other meeting uh so I would like to to ask for a vote of acclamation uh on my nomination of Gene Raha as Deputy moderator all those in favor please say I I those opposed say no the eyes have it that had to be Gan uh all right uh too bad Jean you're stuck all right I think we're ready actually now the little slate of hand here some some of you might not be familiar with this but we have convened the annual town meeting but is there a motion to recess the annual town meeting well our our practice has been we convene the annual town meeting and then we will recess it uh until we complete the warrant of the special town meeting so motion recess okay all those in favor say I I those opposed no the eyes have it okay I'm going to recess the annual town meeting and we have a quorum so is there a return of the warrant for the special town meeting Madame clerk thank you Mr moderator pursuant to the within warrant I have notified M the inhabitants of the town of Townsen by posting up attested copies of the same at Memorial Hall 272 Main Street at the center West towns and reading room 264 deadly Road in West Townsen police communications center 70 Brookline Road Harbor Fire Station 47 Main Street and Harbor Church 80 Main Street at least 14 days before the date of the meeting as within directed Constable of towns Michelle do all right thank you Madame clerk all right now I have to find my copy of the special here we go okay that brings us to the special town meeting first article to see if the town will vote to hear reports from boards committees or commissions or take any other action in relation there [Applause] to Is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote to hear the reports of boards committees or commissions okay second okay motions been made and seconded all those in favor say I I those opposed okay are there any reports to be presented okay that takes care of that one article two to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of $1,457 for the purpose of paying unbudgeted increases in the town's General Insurance costs or take any other action relation there to Mr moderator Mr shank I move that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of 12,45 $7 for the purpose of supplementing the fiscal year 23 General Insurance budget second motions made and seconded anything to be said any questions not hearing any oh miss Kell Veronica Cal meow Road um could you clarify FY 23 or FY 24 says 23 but it is 24 thank you okay anything else thank you Veronica uh all those in favor please say I I those opposed say no you guys have it unanimous article three to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of $5,000 for the purpose of funding a housing protocol for the Board of Health in case of residential condemnation or take any other action relation there too is there a motion yes I make a motion that we move that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of $5,000 for the purpose of funding a housing protocol for the Board of Health in case of residential condemnation motions made in second Ed anything to be said on the motion and if you folks and the rafters there uh if I don't see you just just pipe up what you can't hear me you can't hear me oh Mr moderator uh uh Cindy King one West Elm Street um I noticed on the finance committee uh recommendation list they do not recommend that we pass this and I'd like a little bit more information about the article myself before we actually vote on it okay thank you the question comes on the article three a little bit more about this is there someone that can answer that question Mr slel uh thank you Mr moderator through you to the body um this is our request that came from the Board of Health uh as a result of um concerns about uh the liability that the town faces if uh the Board of Health makes a a a recommendation and takes action to condemn a residential unit uh there is a legal requirement on the town um to uh take some steps to rehouse a person in a condemned residential unit uh the town has not as of yet set aside any funds in the past for this sort of uh residential condemnation so that was with a request of the Board of Health and the uh the board of selectman uh made the determination that it was reasonable enough to put forward to a town meeting to make a determination comments come on the motion Miss Cal Veronica Cal Meadow Road um I guess I'd like to know how much there is in free cash um because we usually free use free cash for onetime payments things that wouldn't normally be going in the budget and $5,000 doesn't seem like an unreasonable request for this sort of thing especially given the budget deficits that we're facing so how much do we have in free cash question comes on the article on the motion [Music] um uh so at at this time the free amount that's remaining after certified in the fall and uh the fall time meeting vote to pay bad bills is approximately uh $366,000 in free cash okay comments come on the question Miss Kell we've got a long night so I don't want to discourage you but it is $5,000 um no I I guess um I guess what I wanted to say is everything that's dollarwise in the special town meeting is coming out of that 366,000 correct okay thank you uh with the exception of one one article that's coming from ambulance receipts I believe that's article 10 article 10 is an ambulance receipts appropriation but the remainder of the special time meeting is coming from free cash okay good questions um good to know kind of in advance might save us a lot of time thank you Miss Kell um okay any other questions okay looks like we're ready to vote all those in favor the motion on article three please say I I those opposed say no no okay I think uh gonna get started early um all right we'll have to use the pink cards I think this time let's check it out um all those in favor of the motion on article three please raise the pink [Applause] cards okay all right take them down all those in opposition to the motion raise them okay is by majority passed okay uh article four to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of $22,000 for the purpose of supplementing the town click's election budget given the potential for increased elections in the current and upcoming fiscal years or take any other action in relation there to Is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of 22,000 for the purpose of supplementing the election budget in the current and upcoming fiscal Year's budgets second all right all those oh no sorry anything to be said getting ahead of myself here uh doesn't appear to be any questions so I guess we're ready to vote all those in favor the motion on article four please say I I those opposed say no the eyes have it Article Five to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or available funds in the treasury the sum of $5,000 for the purpose of Conservation Commission education Outreach and training or take any other action relation there too is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of $55,000 for the purpose of funding Conservation Commission education Outreach and training second motions made and seconded on Article Five anything to be said Miss Cal Veronica Cal meta Road could we have clarification on whether this is for the Commissioners or whether this is for the community so are we educating the Commissioners or are we educating the community with that $5,000 question comes on the motion on Article Five Mr slagel uh Mr M i through you uh this would be to educate the community [Applause] yes all right comments come on the Article Five anything to be said all right looks like we're ready to vote all those in favor please say I I those opposed say no oh I guess we'll have to do that again um all right all those in favor uh please raise your red cards or pink cards all right and those drop them and now those in opposition please raise your cards okay um that is a majority is affirmative yeah okay all right so we have a concern about too many people standing at the back of the hall um we're going to have to ask folks to go into the selectman's room where where you will be able to hear the meeting and um if you have any questions I understand we don't have intercommunications between that room and this Hall uh but you'll be able to see what's going on if you have a question or a comment uh ask you to uh notify the uh yeah Mr Rahal is going to go down there as the deputy moderator and I will check with him if there's any questions um but the person will have to come out here to get a microphone to uh pose their questions or comments so again you get oneor in okay yeah you want to go do that sorry good Jessica yeah okay um so I don't mean to inhibit anybody voting whichever way their heart you know desires but um this is a historic problem I guess usually it comes out okay but if we have people voting in the negative and they just loudly yell no and people in the affirmative are thinking well you know I think everybody's for this so I'll just say I then we're going to be doing the red cards all night and we might have to do that eventually anyway but um if you're for something let me hear you say it um okay we're just waiting for the deputy Moder to get moderator to get sworn in and then you can go to article six I think I can probably read it so just identify yourself article six to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or other available funds in the treasur the sum of $1,000 for the purpose of historic district commission training materials and supplies including signage or take any other action in relation there to mror Dr Morris I moved at the Town vote to transfer for free cash the sum of $1,000 for the purpose of funding historic district commission training materials and supplies including [Music] signage the Motions made there's a second okay motion maid seconded anything to be said questions I think we're ready to vote um and let's see now Jean if there's anybody in the select room that needs to say something have them come in and I think we're good all right um all right all those in favor of article six will oh all right you can hear [Music] us all right let me try that again Jean can you hear us can yes okay can you hear us I can hear you now yeah is there anybody in the selectman's room that wants to speak i b in but apparently you do not no so no okay all right all those in favor then of the motion on article six there no one who wishes to speak okay we heard you uh so we're going to vote all those in favor of article the motion on article six please say I I those opposed say no you guys have it article 7 to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of $5,000 for the purpose of paying workers compensation and or vfis injured on duty claims or take any other action in relation there to Is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of $5,000 for the purpose of paying workers compensation and or or the FIS insured on duty claims motions made and seconded anything to be said okay and uh Jean uh is there anyone in the slein room I'm going to just assume if there's unless you say something that there's no one that needs to needs to say something on an article all right so if you don't hear anything going on here let me know if there's somebody there that wants to say something okay silence is golden um all right all those in favor of the motion on article 7 we will do so but we understand that maybe way okay so that's the practice we'll do it's a little bit awkward doing this but uh we need the room all right see if the T well we did that part um all those in favor of the motion on article 7 please say I I those oppos say no eyes have it unanimous article 8 to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of $6,000 for the purpose of paying for CDL training for Highway Department staff or Tak any other action relation there too Mr moderator I move that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of $6,000 for the purpose of paying for CDL training for Highway Department staff second motion made and seconded anything to be said okay uh looks like we're ready to vote oh all right sorry Mr Grant we have a clarification exactly what they're talking about yeah it doesn't seem to be on Sam yeah clarification what they're to spend the money on okay me a lot of money CDL uh I don't understand it's not been clarified as to why the town or the employer has to pay for the CDL of other employes okay question comes on the motion why is the town paying for CDL training uh that Mr schel uh thank you Mr MRE through you to the body um as part of the collective bargaining uh agreement with the highway department and as a result of a significant um difficulty that the highway department is having in finding appropriately licensed truck drivers uh the uh the town negotiated with the highway department Union to to set aside a certain amount of money um uh to to fund uh CDL training for uh uh new truck drivers at the highway department um there is a stipulation that they have to stay with the high depart highway department for a certain amount of time and if they leave early they have to pay the town back for the training what if they got of time they have I believe it's three years okay comments come on the motion for article 8 anything else looks like uh Miss Kell Veronica celo Road um I have a question on that um if it's negotiated is this something that we need to set aside annually and if that's the case should it be in the annual budget as opposed to the special town meeting question comes on the article Mr slagel uh uh so the the answer to that is this is not something that would be done annually this is something done only at the kind of the will of the town when the town sets aside the money to hire someone or to to train someone it's not an annual thing we would anticipate that it would not happen um over the course of several years we we would only have one person that would be subject to that training at a time so they would have to be here for at least three years okay comments come on the motion for article8 and uh Miss [Applause] bikas Jerry if you could try to use that and if not maybe Eric can share a microphone is it on yeah can you hear me now no let me try the other one try Okay the $6,000 what I'd like to know is how many people this actually covers and is it training for the CDL license or is it training on the vehicles a question comes on the motion Mr Sagel so this is an estimate that was provided to us by the highway department y this would be enough to a single person to obtain their CDL license wow okay thank you okay comments come on the motion on article 8 all right I think we're ready to vote um no question in the back there thank you hi sorry Judy Elvin Barker Hill Road um what happens if that person does not stay on for 3 years is there a separate vote for the $6,000 or are we recouping the money from that person to train a new person I have a CDL I know I got it many years ago but can you hold the mic up a little closer to your mou I I didn't spend $6,000 to get my CDL and I know it was many years ago but I just it seems like an exorbitant amount of money to spend on one person to get a CDL if you're also sharing it with a negotiated contract with the mass Highway Department okay comments come on the motion uh I think the question is just generally about why does it cost so much um yeah so so again just to clarify this isn't Mass Highway this is the town's Highway Department um uh you know if if the cost of a CDL is less than this all we're paying for is the cost to obtain your CDL uh we were um uh BAS on the experience of the highway superintendent and the staff uh and the members of the union and their representatives the $6,000 figure was what they came up with as the appropriate cost to obtain a CDL right now um if it costs less than that then that's what we would spend we're not writing a check to the person we are paying for their license okay comments come on the motion anything else to be said okay not hearing any from the selectman's room I think we're ready to vote all those in favor of the motion on article 8 please say I I those opposed say no the eyes have it article nine to see if the town will vote to appropriate from free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of $14,500 for the purpose of Contracting with a consultant to assist the bylaw Review Committee or take any other action in relation there to Is there a motion yes Mr moderate I moved at the Town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of 14,500 for the purpose of Contracting with a consultant to the to assist the bylaw Review Committee motion Maiden seconded uh anything to be said on this article um up in the balcony I guess Chris yeah this is Cindy King again um you know we're we're down to what nine articles and I'm getting concerned about all the money coming out of free cash um budget's tight this year it's going to be tighter next year when we get over to the annual town meeting I'd rather see some of this money um find its way over to the the general fund so that we'll have we won't be faced with more override again next year uh but specifically to this article um I followed a bit on some of the the committies that or the bylaw committee that we already have that was recommending this um I'm really thinking I mean it's probably a good idea to go over our bylaws but I really think it would be more beneficial to save that money and if our every single bylaw that we have is associated with a department or board or committee or employee who works within those bylaws and I think it would be more prudent and more financially feasible for us for our our our folks on the boards and committees if we can get people to volunteer for them to really look through the bylaws themselves and see what needs to be changed make the recommendations that they need to and and then come back and work with this we do have a bylaw committee that was just started and I think that it would be a lot cheaper if if our own people look at the work that they're working the the the bylaws that they're already working with and people that work with them they know what's wrong with them they know what needs to be changed or what isn't working or how things could be improved employees and and people love to give advice so I I think that uh it would be a lot cheaper we could save $14,000 by doing it that way thank you all right questions come on and comments come on the motion for article 9 any other comments Mr theion wait Bob wait for Mike please I'm Robert thean from 181 Pittsburg World um I oppose this uh uh article the town historically has had committees a planning board a zoning board board and now we have a bylaw Review Committee um the planning board currently is reviewing uh the appropriate articles that apply to the planning board the zoning board is reviewing the articles that the zoning bylaws that apply to zoning um the others are the general bylaws of the town and historically the town has always created their own uh I don't see the need why we need a consultant to do that um and then these bylaws when they draft them and prepare them are supposed to be reviewed for comments by other departments and compit and committee members and boards and the community at large and then you have the opportunity at a town meeting like this to change Vote or alter a bylaw that would be opposed so in that regard I don't think we need to exhaust These funds thank you comments come on the motion Mr malanson Todd M 79 clemon road kind of e 50/50 on it but what I would say is where the regulations are changing on a very annual or monthly basis it seems um that are very specific that have a lot of legal ramifications that um depending on the department it's in or the board it effects I don't think we have the um legal aspect to to as Citizens to make some of it so having someone look at it before we go through and waste the people's time it wouldn't be a bad idea to have someone look over it making sure we're going in the right direction that would be my only comment thank you okay comments come on the motion up in the balcony I think it's Mr nasala hi everybody uh Chris Noella South Harbor Road when they do these bylaws do they have to be reviewed by Council before they go out I think as a rule uh they would be yeah so why would we pay a consultant when we got attorneys to look at them and tell us if they're done right I don't know if uh you want me to feel that uh I mean the the T the Town Council would uh review him for a legal um uh uh form and uh make sure there's nothing U illegal about them but it might it be might be Beyond his baywi to know all the details about the regulations and that's why you might need an expert but I'll let Mr schel supplement that sure the the the one other response I would give is Town Council responds to changes that the town is already proposing to make this um consultant would be looking at the at the bylaws and proposing changes to the town so it's a proactive as opposed to a reactive response right thank you all right any other comments not seeing any I think we're ready to vote on article 9 all those in favor of the motion on article 9 please say I I I those opposed say no no the NOS have it article 10 to see the town will vote to appropriate from ambulance receipts or other available funds in the treasury the sum of 35,000 for the purpose of paying for the Fire Department emergency vehicle equipment or take any other action in relation there to Is there a motion Mr moderator um I move that the town vote to transfer from the ambulance receipts to the fire department new equipment line the sum of 35,000 for the purpose of paying for Fire Department emergency vehicle equipment okay motion's been made and seconded is there any uh comments uh Mr Shephard thank you Mr moderator as a chief of your department for Fire and EMS I would like to amend that motion if I may I would like the motion to read I move that the town vote to transfer from the ambulance Reserve receipt account the sum of $100,000 to support operating expenses for the purpose of supporting the operating in new equipment accounts okay okay the motion to amend the motion uh and seconded from 35,000 to 100,000 is there anything to be said on the amendment Mr moderator if you'd like I'd be happy to uh try to give you a thumbnail sketch why this is go ahead so is someone that always enjoys a brief meeting I don't want to add to that but tonight might be the night that I'm adding to your meeting as the uh chief of your department prior to covid we averaged around 900 calls a year uh 2023 rounded out at 1768 calls approximately five calls a day we have 61 dedicated Folks at fir fighter certified levels paramedics per DM paid call and um and some older folks that just support us we're dealing right now with a variety of mental health suicides deferred medical appointments that we generally don't usually see we're deal with trauma and a variety of uh fire medical emergencies at the same time I spoke to you about the volume of calls that we've had the good news is that with the folks that we have in our officer Corp and the supporting staff that we have within the department our ambulance Reserve receipt account which last year we gave $600,000 to the town to support our budget and uh also supported $100,000 to the P final payment our ambulance this year we're currently tracking ahead of the curve and we're expecting somewhere in the neighborhood of $815 to $850,000 in our ambulance Reserve receipt account so that doesn't necessarily come out of the treasury it comes out of receipts of services provided with the excessive calls that we've had when I approached Capital planning uh earlier this year I outlined a variety of is issues that we had and requested $120,000 I was on the Assumption with conversation that we had we would be supported at 70,000 with that we were able to buy a uh cardiac monitor for 30,000 in since that in the past 3 months it has gone up to 40,000 you might say what is the need of a cardiac monitor at uh 5:42 this afternoon we had one crew going to Ashby for structure fire to support the town of ashb at 611 we had an 81-year-old male here in the town of Townsen that had a code which means we went into kadak arrest um we rallied what we had for crew and we arrived on the scene to find that male in full AR rest not breathing and no happy the staff that we have is very talented and very aggressive they administered the uh the drugs innovated did all the aggressive work that we need to do backboarded the person put him in the back of the ambulance continued to stimulate his H mechanically and revived a pulse and a respiration out of him while he was still at the house not requiring a scoop and screw as we call it to get to a hospital where that level of care is that hot monitor that we use that is now out of um warranty if we did not have that we wouldn't be able to identify the sinus rhythm or the lack of Rhythm that he had and how to treat that patient by treating him aggressively we were able to restore that heartbeat we were able to make sure that we understood what his issue was called from the ambulance for a LifeLight air strike where he was picked up by helicopter today transferred into UMass and the best I knew while I was sitting down was still alive [Applause] so that is portion of the 70,000 that we'd hoped for the other portion was for jars of life we're currently operating in 1980s technology with a hydraulic system on our $850,000 ladder truck that to replace today will either be $1.5 or $2 million so we entered into an agreement purchased a used heavy rescue from another department in another state and it didn't have the hydraulic system so we decided to up upgrade we made a deal based on our assumptions and uh and that would be the an additional 33,000 the benefit of that is we were always Tethered to a truck to be able to do extrication any type of trauma anything that's in a house that RS aggressive tools whether it be Cutters spreaders Jacks now we can do it with batteries the 120,000 would be very helpful however this 33,000 we used it within the first few hours was that it was put in service to our mutual Aid communities there are not that many of them in the area and we're fortunate to have one so I don't want to to uh bore you all but I will also tell you that our department recognizes the current inflation that we've seen at 12 to 18% and it's difficult to cover it at a 2 and a half% um increase so last week myself uh neighboring communities the Ashby Chief Mike Buell the pepper Chief Brian boraman and myself spent the week on Capitol Hill lobbying with a legislative team to be able to try to generate and get attention to Townson one thing we know is if you don't go you'll get nothing but if you do go there is a possibility we don't know if we'll receive anything these requests do not come to you lighted and half-hearted but we hope that you'll support it my biggest concern is all the people that work for us to do their job to support all of you and maintain M this quality of life is that their mental health if they are given tools that are inadequate and they cannot do their job they begin to become defeated at losses and then we lose them so one way we can support them is to use that just remember that it's a big ask from 35 to 100 whether we got here through an Omission or some other reason the money is in our ambulance Reserve receipt account any support that you would give the the towns and Fire EMS department will be returned to you tenfold I am sure by the dedicated staff thank you comments come on the motion and Sir right in the front oh yeah we need a mic please up front sorry uh Brad Han One Brown Road um Chief Shepherd I want to thank you I think I speak for everybody here that says uh we couldn't be more thankful for what you provide and what your staff provides here to this uh community so thank you um couple things that you called out that that really resonated with me which seem like they're very similar to what our uh school board has been asking for as well is support mental health and it sounds like from an infrastructure standpoint this town really needs to uh really support you and your staff as well as the school to be able to uh make sure that the mental health of our of all those that support not only our children but the rest of this community are there um so I just want to thank you and that was just kind of something I picked up on was just the overwhelming um response about how we need to help fund what our providers are doing for us both from a school standpoint and from your uh department so I want to say thank you for everything you guys do for us comments come on the motion any other comments or questions and not hearing any from the selectman's room I think we're ready to vote oh yes that's right on the amendment thank you so we're voting on the amendment to amend the actual motion uh from 35,000 to 100,000 all those in favor of the motion to amend please say I I those opposed say no guys have it's unanimous now now we have to vote on the motion as amended all those in favor of the motion as amended please say I I those opposed say no the eyes have it all right article 11 to see if the town will vote to transfer from free cash or other available funds in the treasury the sum of 81,1 or any other sum for the purpose of of offsetting fiscal year 24 snow and ice deficits under the provisions of Massachusetts general laws chapter 44 section 31d or take any other action in relation there to Is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote to transfer from free cash the sum of $181,100 for the purpose of offsetting the fiscal year 24 snow and ice deficit motions made and seconded anything to be said and and uh think there may be some coil go ahead sir in the middle there uh Dave Walker from South Row road I don't remember this winter being that bad I'm just kind of curious how we ran a deficit when didn't seem like we needed that much snow and ice removal okay question comes on the motion why given the winter we had 181 deficit Mr slel so as folks who've been to these Town meetings over the last few years know um uh Townson regularly runs deficit in our son I um the cost of uh assault uh is has skyrocketed since covid unfortunately so last year the deficit was about $100,000 more than this um so even in a mild uh winter unfortunately the the the the amount that's set aside to fund snow and ice is not sufficient to pay for those bills we are allowed to run a deficit in snow and ice um under the Massachusetts general laws and Townson regularly does um there also was um additional costs if everybody remembers that snowstorm that came in uh at the beginning of April so we we're right around $150,000 in the in the deficit and then that snowstorm and the the kind of snow fighting that was required as a result of that pushed us up to the 181 that we are now okay comments come on the motion on article 11 anything else to be said seem we're ready to vote all those in favor up sorry back in the back there thank you hi Judy galin uh Barker Hill Road I was just wondering if you know that you're going to run a deficit each year because of the skyrocketing costs of ice purchase I mean uh salt purchases what is the actual budget that's set aside for snow and ice removal question comes on the practice of deficit spending I think uh is there any uh comments uh Mr slagel yes so we snow ice total for fy4 was $241,200 that is a was a $25,000 increase over FY 23 um uh and and obviously uh the cost to to do snow and ice um removal um for the the size of a town with town roads is like Townson has is significantly more than that again we're allowed by Master law to run that in a deficit and paay it off with free cash at the end of the year so that is the has been the general practice of the Town um for for many many many years are you saying that the the amount that's set aside on a yearly basis is only 25,000 no it's $241,000 $240 that's what set aside every year and we went over that by $180,000 correct is there a different salt provider that has salt cheaper no we the unfortunately no the the town buys salt through a state contract so that those contracts are already negotiated at the best rates that the state with all of its purchasing power can get so there is no cheaper provider of salt um for that's too bad thank you for clarifying all right comments come on the motion on article 11 I think we oh over here um um I actually have sorry Trisha moris ashim Mo from Edwood Road I have a question as to if you knew you were over the budget by $150,000 at the beginning of April why is the budget for 25 the same is the budget for 24 comment comes question comes on the motion again I think it goes to the confusion about why towns are allowed to deficit spend if you know it's going to be more than that I I'm going to venture to say that it has something to do with the idea that um we don't really know what kind of a winter we're going to have the state law does allow us to do this to deficit spend and that way we don't have to take money out of the budget in advance and hold it in the cas that we don't even need it um where you draw that line I think uh is that's above my Pace scale so I'll defer to Mr slagel if he wants to elaborate that was a perfect answer thank you I got a gold star all right I'm sorry if that doesn't does that help answer your question I mean it's it's kind of a practice the state does allow towns to do this so you don't have to take money out of your budget you have to pay that bill later on because and you hope that maybe you have a mild winter but um it's just a device to avoid having to come up with the money in advance any other questions okay I think we're ready to vote all those in favor of the article motion on article 11 please say I I those opposed say no no the eyes have it article 12 to see if the town will vote to authorize the board of selectman to enter into a 5-year contract with GW sha and Son Inc for trash and recycling services to include toter or take any other action in relation there to and I I do want to observe if I might Dr Morris that the there are two articles on this and I think the discussion will explain why there are two articles in this neighborhood so Dr moris sorry no problem Mr moderator thank you I moved at the Town vote to authorize the board of Selectmen to enter into a 5-year contract with GW shes and Sun Inc for trash and recycling service to include totas motions been made and seconded on article 12 is there any discussion yep sir that's uh is it Mr long has it I'm sorry what is it h h like Goldie h h okay thanks um Brown Road uh one Brown Road towns in uh my question not regarding this is just what's the cost associated with this um what are we looking from a yearly spend and my suggestion would be to can we potentially table this till after we figure out what is actually needed to budget for the um North Middle [Applause] sex okay Mr slel yeah so just as a a bit of clarification the reason why this article is on the warrant is because well there's two actual reasons the Board of Health wanted to get input from the town as to whether or not the town wanted to go with toter or continue the practice of not having toter um and also wanted to see whether or not that it was uh the town was willing to extend the uh Board of Health and board of Selectmen the authority to uh both negotiate and enter into a 5-year contract the specific costs of those contracts um um uh have not that the contract has not been awarded so we don't know the specific costs um uh the the uh GW Shaw and Son which is our current provider has put forward a proposal where the toter would be the the cost of the contract with the toter would be significantly less than the cost of the contract without the toter because they would be saving on a driver in the truck they don't they only have one driver instead of two um um uh but the specific cost as to the contract would be subject to negotiation by the Board of Health and then entering into the contract by the board of Salman so if you can get get so everybody can hear you you need the microphone um and uh please raise your hand so I can recognize you because there may be other people okay um what what do we typically pay on an annual basis what do we budget yearly for trash um again just looking at something that maybe we can table until after we talk about what the overall impact of potentially what an override is to to be able to help from the school and our kids comments come on the motion so in in FY 24 uh the uh trash contract was $755,000 um the uh the proposed increase whether there are to ERS are not is likely to be significantly more than that in the budget we have a placeholder for $825,000 that that that may not be sufficient to fund the full trash contract but that's the place order that's in the budget Mr shank thank you Mr moderator I address your question is why is it on the the warrant as far as I am concerned we as the board of selectman have to take in have all the Departments bring anything forward before we put articles and we give a deadline this article came from the Board of Health the last minute last second I don't support this one bit because we as the board of Selectmen have not had the opportunity to even review that new contract so you can vote whichever way you want but there's a lot more work needs to be done to this before we decide this one all right uh Miss Stockwell hi I just want to know what a totor is I this is a small town how many how do we really need toter in here all right question comes on the motion and I think Mr yeah so so uh by toter what we mean is a a trash can with an attached lid that that goes up in the air like that the the trucks that pick them up are driven by one individual and a claw reaches out from the side of the truck grabs the totter lifts it up over the truck to dump it in so you don't need an extra person on the back of the truck to throw the trash into the back of the truck so it's a it saves Manpower on the on the uh vendor side to have a have a toter uh Mr malanson Todd malanson 79 Clem Road I guess I have the question I have is why a five-year contract Department of Revenue guidelines suggests or strongly sujects a three-year contract with the option to extend but a 5-year contract is well outside of those guidelines it locks you into whatever it is now or or what they're projecting in their contract whereas if it's an extension you can renegotiate that fourth and fifth year but do is pretty specific about a three-year contract with two extensions so I'm just curious why it's a 5-year contract thank you Mr Nella Chris Noella South Harbor Road um I'm going to try and explain it to you the best I can at the time time I was the chair of the Board of Health and helped negotiate this the deal with the toter is and I'm against it is that it helps Shaws by having one man on a truck that they don't have to pay insurance for the second guy or anything else he would not negotiate with us to pick up the cost of the trash barrels he wants the town to do it and he wants every single person here to pay to get rid of your trash barrels I don't think it's a good idea it doesn't help us anyway the reason why we have a 5-year contract is because there is going to have to be a 2 and a half override for the trash we estimated the first year of the contract to go to $922,000 that's more than 25% of what we have we will have to have an override the next article will tell you that the trash contract will be without toter without the toter it will only cost us an extra $250,000 will save money and you won't have to pay to get rid of your own trash barrels the reason why Joe you don't have a contract is because I asked to do this for the town because I did not feel it right that the Board of Health shoved this up people's throats because it's going to be a 2 and a half override they needed to know why thank you uh okay maintain the decorum of the hall we get a lot of meeting to go through Miss Kell Veronica Cala Road um I support a three-year contract but not a 5-year contract because of the uncertainty with the town budget and the schools um I I agree that we the town the place where we get the largest chunk of money is the trash contract which means an alternative to an override for trash is that we all get a cessa fee for trash pickup um and if that's the case and it is true that to pay for trash with what's there's no contract yet so we don't know um I I think this could go out I think more negotiations need to be done before we know that so given that I support a three-year contract but not a five I support toor if that helps the trash um vendor but this this uh article is for five years with a specific vendor and um and to enclude toter so I guess I would say um that I would want the most to be for a three-year contract for trash and recycling services no vendor to include toter so can I make that as a motion if you want to make a motion to amend the motion you can do that well I would Mr Sagel you just if me so so just just to clarify the the Board of Health and the board of selectman have the authority to enter into a three-year contract without a yes without a town meeting vote that's something that's that the only reason it's here is is to see whether the town meeting is interested in in allowing the the boards to negotiate a five-year contract and so if there's no interest in negotiating a five-year contract I would suggest rather than amend you just say no okay but what about the toter you know I I I I would say no to five years but I would say yes to toor um because I do think that if if you look at what was proposed post um that was posted online on the town website it is less expensive with toter than without toter that is correct um and so so how do you vote I mean what's the just vote no to both of them um which puts you nowhere really um okay thank you all right [Music] so all right uh Miss King hi Cindy King again um I've been following The Saga of the trash contract for the months that the uh Board of Health has been trying to to work with Shaw uh and they've been struggling quite a bit to try to get this to something um The Five-Year is more to it stabilizes the contract we've we've had Shaws for probably third the better part of 35 years I think we went with Waste Management once and we went running back to Shaws pretty quick but um Shaz has done a really good job with us I'm not worried about having a five-year contract with the same company that's been providing us with excellent trash service for for all those years I'm not worried about that the numbers the dollar amounts it is uh it it is uh the numbers have been released the the the negotiated contract number been released uh I did get them on a public record the uh the 5year with with toter is about $892,000 without toter is about 929 um no with toter no I've got I've got folks anyway have to direct your question anyway it's cheaper with ERS than without so as Miss Kell said um she probably got the same public record I did that um but anyway the both regardless it's over $800,000 it is not they do not the the board of Selectmen have not budgeted either one the board of Selectmen I consider this a little bit of a bait and switch cuz the last few meetings with the board of Select hold on point of order well I want to just talk about what the plan is for us to pay a trash fee point of order all right that's a point ma'am you got to stop what's your point of order Mr moderator through you the article is addressing a five-year contract it has nothing to do with pricing on any contract because there is no contract we're discussing well I I think it's talking about entering into a contract with Shaw so I think Miss King's comments are in order so miss King please continue thank you and I'm sorry I'm saying things that people don't want to hear or it sounds a little bit rougher on the edges but this is a lot of money that we're we're talking about and you I know I've been living here for 42 years and I know how important trash is to us we have it's been a sacred cow you can shut down the whole town you can shut down the police department you can shut down the fire department you can shut down town hall as long as our trash is picked up I'm probably exaggerating but it's very important to us and we want the town to pay for our trash collection through our taxes and we want the best deal that we can possibly get having the 5-year contract doesn't bother me at all I I've looked at the the proposals that's that everybody's gone over and either one of them there's nothing funny in there except the cost which it's most the the cost of tipping fees because it costs you know sh isn't making millions on us like right now this is the cost of getting trash everything's gone up and it's going to be very expensive for us the five years stabilizes it and Shaw knows that they're going to be able to to purchase equipment and the that's going to cover the contract for towns and and we're able to look at a pricing for the basic pickup of trash for 5 years the last couple years in the contract that they're discussing is talking about the Tipping fees being market price because no one they don't get rid of the trash themselves they have to sell pay pay somebody else to take the trash from them and it's really just inflation has killed us all and they can't they can't set what the actual cost of the Tipping fees will be three after three years so that's the only thing that people that I've talked to have had a problem with but the toter the to over the course of 10 years will save us a lot of money because the town they're going to be when they purchase the totor every single one of us at our residents if we get Town trash right now we'll get Town track we'll get a couple of totter we'll get a 64 I think it unless they're not well any we'll get two totter we'll get one for trash one for recycling then they'll be owned by the town but it will cost cost us more to make that purchase you got to be recognized but miss King please if you can bring your I'm I'll finish up really fast the but it's the totor versus the non- toter which we're on the totor question so I want to make sure that it's it's stated that you know we spend we do a lot of things in the you know just looking at the money that's in front of us and not looking at the future if we purchase the toor yes Shaw has benefits cuz they have one last person on on the truck but we benefit because they're not going to charge us every year to pay for that person on the truck so we all benefit from having the totter and that's all I have to say thank you for listening to me okay everybody please maintain your composure here we're trying to get through this Mr shank move the [Music] question all right motion's been made to move the question that will cut off debate and bring us to vote on the article so all those in favor of moving the question please say I those opposed say no the eyes have it the question is before you um which is article 12 to see if the town will vote to authorize the selectman to enter into a 5-year contract and I'm going to go out on a limb here to ask is this in fact the rhor iCal question way written so that if this was approved there's still some discretion on the part of the selectman to enter into a contract it's not like it's it's it's not directory in other words the meeting could approve this and it's still subject to negotiation of a contract by the selectman and the board of heal right okay all right all right all those in favor of the motion on article 12 please say I I those opposed say no no no okay the nose have it Article 13 see if the town will vote to authorize the selectman to enter into a 5-year contract with GW Shon Sun Inc for trash and recycling services not to include to include toter or taking other action relation there too is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote authorize the board of Selectmen to enter into a 5-year contract with GW Shan's son Incorporated for trash and recycling services not to include toor toter okay motions been made and seconded on Article 13 and I'm going to ask if someone could before we get into lots of questions explain how this article relates to the last article and what it means yes so this article is relates to the last article in that if the town chooses to not have toter and that is their preferred option this would be the the time to vote for that that would be the the reason for this article I'm well all right is there any questions comments um yep gentlemen I guess with the the red card because I can Mike Mueller Tyler root very briefly is this this a sacred cow trash collection paid by the town why don't we just say hire your own trash collector in private they're setting [Applause] up okay comments come on the motion uh right next to Mr Mueller Mr moderator uh I've recognized this gentleman here Mr moderator yeah okay Mr Raa is a time delay do you have moderator do you have someone that wants to speak Jean there's a a tremendous time delay and we're not getting an opportunity to vote okay all right so uh uh I think we'll have to try the article this room is still on the prior motion okay point of order all right so you folks did not have an opportunity to vote on the last article okay our vote was not considered because you moved on [Music] [Music] I'm going to go [Music] out okay um I I think I I'd rather see if we could have them just come in Jean do you think we could have people all right all right I'm going to call a 5 minute recess [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] y for [Applause] [Music] I [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] okay folks uh everybody like everyone to take their seats we're going to try to [Applause] address all right all right everybody get back from the TV no more watching the Celtics um we're are going to try to get the folks in the selectman's room to into this room bringing their chairs and then I will entertain a motion to reconsider the vote on article 12 uh since apparently the folks in the selectman's room did not have the opportunity to vote because of the time delay I was unaware of the fact that the communications in this room were being delayed by about 20 seconds or so so we had voted before they even knew that we were voting so [Applause] um I was wondering where the mats were Karen the price of your seats just went [Applause] [Music] down there is one free chair up here too in the front see going in to get them all coming in yeah yeah we good okay all right all right I'm going to call the meeting back to order and given that fa Paw I'm going to look for a vote a motion to reconsider article 12 Mr M we reconsider article 12 good since you didn't get a chance to vote on it that's a good motion all right um all those got to check this just a majority all those in favor of voting to reconsider article 12 please say I I those opposed say no no the eyes have it all right we're we're we're back to article 12 now I'm going to particularly ask anyone who is in the selectman's room if they have any questions about article 12 any questions okay doesn't appear to be any well miss hell [Music] hi Kathy Hill Center Street I just want to make a clarification aren't we just voting to give the selectman authority to do a five-year contract if they choose as opposed to a three-year contract isn't that all we're voting on besides toter or not to question comes on the motion that's that's correct give the selectman the authority to enter into a 5-year contract for totes with totes now that's the article 12 that's article 12 Article 13 is without totes right so that's where you're getting your options here okay in terms of what you want to recommend to the Selectmen and the Board of Health all right uh uh Nate um n Mr French thank you Nathan French Brooklyn Street uh just a clarifying question so there are two motions would voting for yes for both of these give the Selectmen the option or the flexibility to choose between the two of them is that correct okay the uh Mr slel is nodding his head yes okay thank you all right any other questions Mr theion okay okay hold on a minute I'll get you next Mr Darion yeah 181 Pitsburg Road um because of the all the discussion on these two articles I would like to make a motion that we withdraw both articles and rephrase one to give the Selectmen the authority to negotiate contracts with totes or without totes for three years or for five years all right well I I think that without going through a lot of motions and amendments and everything that um voting in the affirmative on both effectively does the same thing is that correct it gives the selectman the authority to enter into a contract I think the thing that's may be somewhat confusing about this is that all you're doing is authorizing the selectman to enter into a five-year contract the the the the selectman still have the authority to negotiate the contract and they could enter into a three-year contract you the town meeting does not control the contracts this is just giving the selectman the authority to do a five-year contract Mr SE deranian to my understanding the reason why we need to have this article is because the selectman can only enter into a three-year contract per Mass law the fiveyear as I understand it was an option so that if we had toter it would spread the cost of the totter out for 5 years which would lower the cost correct we the board of Selectmen cannot enter into any contract over three years um we received uh this uh or these two articles actually an hour before we had to close the warrant and we had to make a decision on whether or not to put it on here this is why it's in the special and not in the annual uh and this is why there you know there is confusion we do not have a contract yet we do not have the the the the uh specifications of the contract we just have a recommendation from the Board of Health and we are still working with the Board of Health to come to an agreement on the contract okay comments come on the motion motions uh Mr verasco hi Mike verasco on School Street uh I would like to agree with the the uh the young men down there on the floor this is authorized to enter into I know you don't have a number there but it says you're going to sign the contract so I I am I'm going to be voting against it for now and you need to come back with an actual number for the contract for us all right comments come on the motion and again the point of this reconsideration is to get um the folks that were in the selectman's room opportunity to vote so uh Jo just a minute I got one hand up in the balcony I saw Mr Smith I believe thank you Kevin Smith um simple question you got it on hold it up close I think the battery went dead you got it you got it now uh simple simple question in our tax bill per resident per week uh what's trash costing us 15 20 bucks anybody give me that number approximately uh question comes on motion uh Mr Sean um we broke it down to uh $253 a year is that what it What was $73 per quarter is what we broke it down to right yeah and that's based upon 3,100 homes okay comment comes on the or answer comes on the question Mr oh 24 bucks a month is that about right roughly we filled houses in different communities around this area Kevin I can't hear you I don't know if others can uh we build houses in different areas around the community different communities uh that don't have public trash pickup seems like those people are paying some of them are paying the 20 bucks a week 25 bucks a week to get rid of their trash privately uh it seems like we're getting a heck of a good deal out of Mr Shaw based on what it has been um the increase is sounds like it's for the toter correct no uh partially Mr SEL yeah so um the there would be an increase regardless of whether or not there were toter or not the increase is less with the toter no Chris it's with the I have the documents it's you you you're you're confused well I guess I can understand being being a bu cost of fuel cost diment fees and everything else obviously trash costs are going to go up more than obviously the 2 and half% I I just look at it as we we're arguing over something I we need to be arguing over it's it's it's still a great deal no matter how you look at it to get that trash picked up by the Shaws or or under this contract whether it was three years I I understand they can't do a 5-year contract but uh I I I don't know I feel like you just want to move this question forward and so we can get through the evening here thank you all right um hold um I didn't understand Mr Smith to move the question because uh you can't really have a speech about things and then move the question so I'm going to recognize someone else uh Mr matala move the question oh oh all right Mr Mata move the question and it's seconded so that's going to cut off debate if it's voted in the affirmative all those in favor of cutting off the debate please say I I those opposed say no the eyes have it okay so it is before you again article 12 to see whether or not the town would authorize the selectman to enter into a five-year contract for trash collection with totes toters all those in favor say I I those opposed say no no uh I think we're going to have to use the cards all right all those in favor of the motion raise your red pink cards okay all right we can put them down all those opposed please raise your cards okay we're going to have to count counters would you please come up [Music] yeah it was a sea of red both times Karen or pink or chrus whatever it is all right where's uh where's um Brian and uh okay hold on you guys know where you're counting okay why don't um why don't you guys why don't you do the balcony all right do the balcony all right and you guys downstairs yeah all right work together yeah all right okay folks we'll get through this uh all those in favor of the motion article 12 I don't they shouldn't be uh right there's no one in the selectman's chamber okay all right all those in favor of the motion on article 12 please stand up we're going to and raise your red guids I guess I don't [Music] know this might take a little while I should have probably brought up some more counters don't bring it to [Applause] Theo [Music] [Applause] for for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] folks if you will please continue to stand if you're voting for balcony can sit down [Music] okay okay all right everybody that voted for can sit down all those that want to vote no please stand up and it might help if you raise your cards for I don't know I might end up having to vote [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] okay okay [Applause] yep yep 123 okay all right folks the vote is 104 I and 123 no so the motion does not carry Article 13 go back to that I'll read it again see if the town will vote to authorize selectman to enter into 5-year contract GW sha and son for trash and recycling services not to include toter or taking any action relation there of relation there too um I guess just do the motion over again we were working on it but Mr moderator I move that the town vote to authorize the board of Selectmen to enter into a 5-year contract with GW Shan son Incorporated for trash and recycling services not to include toor okay all right motion been made and seconded I ask people to maintain the decorum of the hall and keep your talking among yourselves to a minimum while we conduct the business of the Town um all right motions made and seconded on Article 13 anything to be said Mr banson um I'll is there anybody that wants to speak because I think even though we've gone over and over with article 12 this might have other considerations that people want to address and I don't think it's a a point of order to it's in order to move the question at the very first uh sir yeah unless you want to move the question too uh no yasak banovski 16 Alisa Drive I would like to uh propose the same what was already proposed since I heard at the very beginning that the Board of Selectmen did not even have time to review the contracts therefore I would like to propose a motion to postpone this whole discussion until B of selectman actually has time to review it and propose maybe amended text take into account all the comments received during this meeting thank you all right if I'm going to try to refrain we need if that's a motion we need in writing so someone have an ability there to write that up Mr sedo I can't well I can't anything I want but but so I guess question our practice is we don't move the question on the the first thing unless if there's no debate and then we don't really need to move the question we can just vote but moving the question at the very beginning cuts off debate and I'm not going to allow the meeting to be operated in that way that cuts off debate before you even get a chance to debate it I understand that and but these two questions are very related and we've really had out and there's been a lot of yeah but people didn't have there it seems to me m Sano there were two options here and there may be some people who want to see a 5-year contract without the toter because it is presented that way so I even though we've had a general rambling discussion about the whole concept right now we've got a motion uh an additional motion so I appreciate what you saying to try to sort of wrap things up but um I think my my question is it's a actual motion that someone made and it's not but I ruled it out of order okay [Applause] okay get this motion okay the motion is to postpone discussion until the board of Selectmen have time to review the contracts and propose a revised text I is this to just during the duration of the meeting or until the next town meeting okay I think the simple motion there would be to to lay it on the table I'm going to check with Town Council on that or to take no action uh M Mr moderator laying it on the table would make it available to be taken from the table later in the same meeting if the intention is to take no action on it until some future town meeting at which time the select board may choose to place it on the warrant the appropriate motion would be to either table It generally or to indefinitely postpone it okay rather than just take no action or or or take no action different terminology used in different commities so we we have a number of different ways to address this um one one would be if the motion is simply defeated that selectman can always bring it back at the next time so uh but we have a motion that's been made and second to postpone um and uh I'm sorry get your name again on that yeah gonna have to I I'll get it I'll get it from you later um all right so the motion is to postpone the discussion on Article 13 until the bard of selectman have time to review the contracts and propose a revised text at the next meeting and that's been seconded right so I will cut it off a debate on this my article all right so this is debatable Miss Chapman when does the current contract uh question comes motion Mr slel thank you Mr moderator the current contracts end ends at the end of June all right all right so so if we don't do this now we can't do it later and we have no contract all right I think I think we need a little more explanation about what's going to happen if we vote to not authorize the select are we going to have our trash picked up or not so so the the effect of a of a no vote on both of these would mean the town would not be authorized to negotiate anything more than the regular three-year contract okay thank you all right so any other questions all right I think we are ready to vote and everyone is in this room all right I don't see anyone moving to okay all right good no questions although all those in favor of the motion on uh postponing the discussion on this article until the next town meeting please say I I those opposed say no no all right the nose habit all right so the main motion is before you whether or not to authorize the select to enter into a 5-year contract without totes all those in anything to be said further about that all right doesn't appear to be any all those in favor please say I I those opposed say no no no have it okay um article 14 to see if the town will vote to amend the towns and zoning bylaws do you guys want to talk or do you want me to read the article see if the town will vote to amend the towns and zoning bylaws to change the zoning of the property depicted on assessors map 6 block 11 lot zero having an address of 39 Greenville Road and the adjacent property depicted on assessor map 5 block 12 lot 0er and having an address of Greenville Road from industrial to residential or taking any action Rel relative there to Is there a motion Mr gusterson Mr moderator I mve that the town vote to amend the towns and zoning bylaws and accompanying zoning map to change the zoning of the property depicted on assessor map 6 block 11 lot 0er and having an address of 39 Greenville Road and the adjacent property depicted on assessors map 5 block 12 lot zero and having an address of Greenville Road from industrial to residential a the Motions been made and seconded is there anything to be said Mr slagel uh Mr I'd like to read the um planning board's recommendation into the record okay thank you um uh to the special town meeting for the record from the planning board uh subject zoning District amendments 39 and Z Greenville Road proposed change from industrial to residential in accordance with Mass general laws chapter 4A Section 5 the planning board held a public hearing on Monday May 6th 2024 to review a property owner petition for a zoning bylaw Amendment submitted as article 14 on the special town meeting May 7 2024 warrant the planning board ruled in 2010 that it was reluctant to sponsor future zoning District changes until a full review of all districts was undertaken therefore in light of any petition based requests being submitted the board encourages debate at the town meeting as to the merits and impacts of the article submitted regarding special town meeting warrant article number 14 the planning board has reviewed the merits of this proposal and unanimously recommends amending the bylaw for the following reasons number one the board finds that the intent and purpose of this amendment is consistent with the goals of the housing production plan indexed within the town's most recent Master Plan update number two the board finds that amending the zoning District designation from industrial to residential A3 is consistent with the surrounding residential neighborhood of single family homes number three the board finds that the uses listed in zoning bylaw section 145-164 the board finds that residential permitted uses in this location are aligned with the neighborhood and compatible with AB budding properties it finds further that the proposed change to residential use would not negatively impact Vistas nor would it have a negative impact on traffic number five if approved the total area of these sub subject two Parcels of land reson to residential consists of approximately 15.7 Acres the total land remaining in industrial zoning districts amounts to approximately 132 Acres the total remaining industrially zoned acres does not include the the recycling station the old dump nor does it include any other town-owned properties according to the report received from the Assessor's department number six in light of the fact that this amendment would allow residential development activities in an area lying over the town's aquafer the special permit granting Authority will exercise a high level of scrutiny when considering any permits within this area the planning board notes they have jurisdiction regarding any type of land disturbing activity that meets the major thre project threshold for storm water management permitting and the storm water agent has jurisdiction over projects meeting the minor permit threshold the Conservation Commission has jurisdiction over projects that's that impact surrounding wetlands and Water Resources as well as their respective buffers and finally number seven 39 and Zer Greenville Road were previously zoned residential A3 districts and the zoning was changed approximately 40 years ago through a town meeting process over the past 40 years there has been no industrial use of these two partials thank you Mr moderator okay thank you Mr slagel all right the you've heard the motion and the planning board report which is prerequisite for voting on this is there anything to be said looks like we're probably ready to vote all those in oh um Miss schiffren did you have a question um there's a mic right there sorry for the planning board last evening um we did decide that it was 3A so just to correct the warrant motion that was made it's not just a it's 3A for the uh yes a mhm residential 3A yes and it was in the report okay that Eric just read rather than residential a correct okay uh you want to make an amendment motion to amend that motion then if that's the correct designation of the area I think it refers to the fact that it's a 3 Acre required in Residence a but it's it's it's referred to as in the bylaw I'm not that familiar with it anymore it's referred to as residence 3A or okay um all [Applause] right not sure 35 Laur Woods Drive I believe it's referred to both if you look through the bylaws see yeah hold our mic up there Tom either residential a or 3A I believe depending on where you look in the bylaws it's it's the same thing um if there's any confusion we can amend it to say residential a or 3A maybe Town Council can uh weigh in on this I think maybe okay is I I I think the districts are residential a and residential B residential a requires three acres to put up a house residential B requires two only two acres so I think res sufficient without i' like to recognize [Music] um I get mic over the on the side there hi Jessica wow Jessica consalo Lan's coordinator for the town yes so that area is under the aquafer protection overlay so would be designated as R3 okay all right we take that as a friendly Amendment uh to that motion that says the district is residence R A3 all right all in favor well let me just ask all in favor of making that friendly Amendment say I I okay okay all those opposed say no okay good all right so now the main motion is to change the designation of this lot or these Lots from industrial to Residents uh residence A3 R3 okay all those in favor please say I I those opposed say no okay unanimous we got to get back into the habit of doing that okay next one is to see if the town will vote Article 15 to see if the town will vote to authorize the board of Selectmen to enter into a new 50-year lease agreement with the towns and Fire EMS relief Association for the old Harbor fire station located at 65 Main Street towns and Mass to include the land upon which the old Harbor fire station is located and on such other terms and conditions as the bard of Selectmen May deem appropriate or take any action in relation there to Mr Mara Mr Shang I move that the town vote to authorize the board of selectman to enter into a new lease agreement of up to 50 years with the towns and Fire EMS relief Association for the old Harbor fire station located at 65 Main Street towns in Mass to include the land upon which the old Hab fire station is located and on such other terms and conditions as the board of Selectmen May deem appropriate second motions made in seconded anything to be said all right I don't see any hands I think we're ready to vote all those in favor please say I I those opposed say no no the eyes have it article 16 of the town will vote authorize Board of Selectmen to enter into a new 50e lease agreement with the towns and Fire EMS relief Association for the old Central fire station located at 8 Elm Street towns of Mass to include the land upon which the old Central fire station is located and on such other terms and conditions as the selectman border of selectman May deem appropriate or take any action in relation there to motion yes Mr moderator I move the town vote to authorize the board of Selectmen to enter into a new lease agreement of up to 50 years with the towns and Fire EMS relief Association for the old Central fire station located at 8 Elm Street towns of Mass to include the land upon which the old Central fire station is located and on such are the terms and condition as the board of Selectmen May deem appropriate second motions made and seconded regarding the old Central fire station anything to be said not seeing any hands I guess we're ready to vote all those in favor please say I those opposed say no the eyes have it article 17 to see if the town will vote to authorize the voter selectman to convey a fee simple or lesser interest in the land and or buildings thereon known as in numbered 182 waren Road shown on assessor map 31 block 36 lot or in any portion or portions thereof together with any interest or perent there too on such terms and conditions as the board deems to be in the best interest of the town and to execute any and all agreements and documents to effectuate said conveyance to authorize the board to take any and all action deemed necessary or prudent in connection there with is there a motion Mr marger I move the town vote to authorize the board of Selectmen to convey a fee simple or lesser interest in the land and or buildings hereon known as number 182 Warren Road shown on assessors map 31 block 36 lot 0 or in any portion or portions thereof together with any interests um appropriate there too on such terms and conditions as the board deems to be in the best interest or interests of the town and to execute any and all agreements and documents to effectuate and conveyance and to authorize the board to take any and all actions deemed by it to be necessary or prudent in connection therewi okay motion's been made and seconded on article 17 and there is a hand up all right sir up in the balcony Mr moderator will Hackler 176 Warren Road just curious why as an abutter to this property I didn't got no notice of any action for this piece of property before tonight question comes on the motion from an butter about notice about the meeting about this Mr slel yeah so the the board is not taking any action this would be the town meeting authorizing the board to at some point in time in the future take action to uh uh you know convey either title or something Less in the parcel as the town regularly does with Parcels that are under its um either tax tital or or that they've purchased in the past okay question comes on the motion uh Mr verasco yes hi Mike verasco again wasn't this property put up for auction already and no one bid for it question comes on the motion did this already go up for auction no this part was not part of any auction okay any other questions all right appears we're ready to vote all those in favor the motion on article 17 please say I those opposed say no it's unanimous okay it's a motion to dissolve the special town meeting I can't make the motion to disolve second all right all those in favor please say I all right okay that brings us back to the annual town meeting and uh so we already opened this meeting and we're going to go right to the Articles um article one to see if the town will vote to authorize the selectman to appoint all Town Offices unless other Provisions are made by Mass General law or by Town chatter or by vote of the town or take any action other action in relation there to Is there a motion on article one is there a motion I move that the town vote to authorize the board of Selectmen to appoint all Town officers unless other Provisions are made by Mass General law by Town Charter or by vote of the Town motions made and seconded anything to be said it's fairly article okay all those in favor please say I those opposed say no you eyes have it article two see if the town will vote to hear accept reports of any committees boards commissions Etc or take any other action in relation there to there's a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote to accept the reports of all the Committees boards commissions Etc as written in the annual report motion made and seconded anything to be said not seeing any I think we're ready to vote all those in favor please say I I those opposed say no the eyes have it article three to see if the town will vote pursuant to the provisions of General Law chapter 44 section 53e and a half and in accordance with chapter 104 of the town's General bylaws to authorize the following fiscal year 2025 spending limits for the following revolving funds and uh they are as printed they they are as printed in the warrant all right is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote pursuit to the provisions of Massachusetts general laws chapter 44 section 53e half and in accordance with chapter 104 of the towns in general bylaws to authorize the following fiscal year 25 spending limits for the following revolving funds okay motion's been made yeah I think you should probably list the funds that you want me to list them yeah recycling 33,000 Recreation programs 100,000 facilities maintenance 4,000 Cemetery 30,000 fire alarm 4,000 Animal Care Program 1,000 Fire EMS 5,000 police 880,000 conservation 20,000 Fire EMS 10,000 Firearms licensing 6,000 public records request 1,000 detail Cruiser fees [Applause] 2,000 and motions made and seconded I think I heard a second second okay thanks uh anything to be said fairly stock article all right all those in favor please say I those oppos say no it's unanimous all right now we get to the good one see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate transfer and transfer from available funds in the treasury such some that may be necessary to defay the charges and expenses of the town for fiscal year 2025 pursuant to a detailed budget totaling 28 milon 33,6 187 or any other sum on line 797 or take any other action in relation there too is there a motion and so this is the budget so so Mr monor just to make a point the the the that number is a different number that's going to be in the motion and a different number that's in the budget that's printed in the warrant so uh the motion will be for a lower number just so [Applause] okay Mr moderator I move the town vote to raise an appropriate and transfer from available funds in the treasury the sum necessary to defray the charges and expenses of the town for fiscal year 2025 pursuant to a detailed budget totaling 26,5 44,5 4 per line 797 on the budget as printed in the handout as follows transfer from Title 5 mwp purpose for debt repayment $115,000 West towns and reading room operate the West towns and reading room 19,000 ambulance receipts reserved operate EMS 700,000 water Enterprise water department overhead [Music] 381,000 overlay General operating budget 20,000 uh to raise an appropriate the functional segments General government 1,874 585 Public Safety 4,163 722 education $1 14,814 milon 81,0 979 highways and streets 8862 Solid Waste 8396 64 Human Services 5489 45 culture and recreation 5 555,000 2 Debt Service 394,161 1829 with a grand total of 26,5 4 26 m5442 54 second okay motion's been made and seconded now our practice is to go through the budget by its different sections uh and to ask if there's any questions about those sections if there are we'll hold that until we can come back to discuss it um so I'm going to go through the uh General government budget if people take a moment to look look that over it starts on I guess page three of the warrant and goes on to line 23 253 line 253 yeah followed by the lines 253 [Music] okay everyone had time to review General government any questions okay all right so the total for General government is 1,874 585 I guess all those in favor say I those opposed okay next section is Public Safety begins on the next page 497 to 497 to item number 497 and proposed is a budget amount total of 4,163 722 [Music] okay all right Miss Stockwell all right if you follow the the numbers on the left hand side of the page of the budget I'm sorry I can't hear you without the microphone yeah um I don't line 255 starts police and goes through until you get to 497 for the total okay any questions on Public Safety all right looks like we're ready to vote on Public Safety 4,637 122 all those in favor say I I those opposed okay uh education the next section St that's on $499 and the total is 14, 81,9 180 okay we got some questions here so yep uh Randy Rush 60 Turner wrote I'm also a school committee member um just wondering why uh the number that is in here is not the full assessment that the school district has assessed the town and as I understand it if the town does not vote on that full amount it's a no vote question comes on the motion did uh you get that Eric yes sure so as as folks will remember back on March 19th uh town meeting we had we had a special town meeting meeting at which time the town took an appropriation vote authorizing an override to fund the difference between the level funded school budget from last year and any difference in the assessment so that appropriation vote is good for 90 days with a 990 days we have to have an affirmative vote at a ballot in order to pass the override so um there is an override vote scheduled for June 11th within the 90 days from March 19th um so that override appropriation from March 19th is what makes up the difference between the uh school budget that's in the budget now and the assessments that were sent by North uh nooba Valley and North Middle sex question comes on the motion um I think uh Mr um M Chapman [Applause] thank you Karen Chapman Main Street also uh Noob bch go committee I'm a little confused so if I make a motion to add that does that mean anything question comes on the motion if I made a motion to add nooba Tex number that was zeroed out what will that that do well right now there's a there's that number is already added via the appropriation vote in March n on March 19th well we voted yes at town meeting yes but then we voted no at the ballot but we're allowed to have another ballot vote within 90 days all right so if if there was a motion to add it to the the budget here without an override it would there's no there's no money to fund it the the the budget would be out of balance so even if I added it that affirmative vote from before doesn't count I mean that's what we voted on before was this number the I I think that town meeting vote was contingent on an override the override didn't pass Mr moderator if I could Mr Council so that's that's correct so um so the thing with overrides is it's a it's a two-step process as you're aware the function of town meeting is to appropriate the funds it can either appropriate those funds once the ballot vote occurs when those funds become available or it can appropriate those funds in advance contingent upon the passage of the ballot vote you opted for option two you did that at the March 19th special town meeting the ballot question failed you have the ability to go back to the ballot an additional time or additional times within 90 days of the contingent appropriation um if you were to attempt to amend the budget that's before you on the floor tonight you need to identify the source of funding so to add a number to the expenditure you need to find a source for that expenditure that Source doesn't exist that Source was proposed to be the proposition to and a half override and that appropriation has in fact already occurred through a town meeting vote but it also requires B ballot authorization which you haven't yet been able to receive okay so the next vote will be the second chance and if that's no it's no okay thank you um Miss Kelly so just so we're clear um Kelly Kelly five tourus Lane so this goes to a second vote and if the vote comes up no again the schools are going to receive receive a 0% increase and the towns are not looking to offset or what happens if we approve the entire Town's budget and the second ballot override fails the towns get a 0% increase not even 2 and a half% increase nothing so so the the way the budget is set up now if the if the override fails that is one of three no votes for the school budget for North Middle sex it would require Two Towns to vote no for North middlex budget to fail um if it did it would go back to the school department to have to come up with an an amended budget and if it passes with two what happens to Townsen then then the board of Select would have to make a determination as to whether or not to come back can amend the the voted Town budget to make cuts to try and fund the the whatever the difference is between this the previously funded school budget and what they end up saying the school budget is but the town is offering 0% in this budget as the budget stands right now the town is offering the school system 0% increase the the way the budget is right now the balance of the increase would come from an override yes so the cost of everything is falling on the school system and the town is not taking any share of the burden there's no portion of the Town budget because you're taking the entire 2 and half% tax increase that we're getting for this year and giving it all to the town and 0% is going to the schools so not a single penny from the increase of 2 and half % is going to go to the schools it's the town is taking it all and we have to be okay with that that that the town's making no cuts to even offer the towns a fair share of a 2 and a half% question comes on the motion so the I understand your question the answer is there's no way the town could make sufficient cuts to come up with sufficient funding to meet the requirements that the school put in their last budget so there would be requirement for an override regardless um so the the the board of selectman made the determination to have the override be for the full amount of the schools increase and an effort to to maintain Town services and give the town the option to maintain full School Services via an override yes if that doesn't succeed the town will have to come back and make a determination as to what their next steps are so you would then cut the town budget if to to find a spot in the middle to offer the town some type of increase in all likelihood there would have to be some sort of cuts or additional revenue or some other determinations made as to how to fund the difference between what the schools are asking for and what the the town currently has available yes is it possible on the floor to ask that the amount of money say for trash to go directly to the schools can a motion be made for that I'm I'm sorry Kelly I I don't understand what I'm just asking where we're talking about trash being expensive and it's $9,000 and while none of us want to private pay other towns within our district Ashby peppol they private pay can we reallocate the money from trash at $900,000 and offer that to the schools come up with some type of solution on the town floor so at the current time the the full school budget has been appropriated by town meeting already in March with it with the override vote that so town meeting has already made an appropriation that would satisfy all of the increase that the that the schools are looking for contingent on an override if that failed at a subsequent town meeting where there it had to be a determination around a budget you could you know or at a board of selectman meeting where they're determining what kind of cuts they could make you could certainly bring forward that as a proposal to you know as a way to remedy the cut right now there's no need to to do that because because the town's taking the entire 2 and a half increase has already okay uh Miss King thank you uh Cindy King again um I'm right there with Kelly Kelly um the um I'm I'm horrified that we zerob balance the schools that we're level funding them and saying okay you know we don't want to give you anything more than last year we're not only not going to give you an override but we're we're going to basically cut their budget I think that the board of Selectmen are they're the ones that set the budget and they've known this all of this time that the the large amount of money that the schools even need is certainly not a level funded number the cuts would be prehistoric and we we know and we've known for a couple of years that these the increases are coming and coming and coming and I think it's just rude to have put it into the uh budget like this and I think it would be prudent to for that the town should have established Cuts in the budget to make an attempt at trying to meet some of our bills rather than putting it all on the schools um I I supported the first override and it didn't pass in April but that's how the town voted and our history in going to the ballot with overrides is okay we already said no once the next time they you the town usually increases the number of people that come out and more people come out to vote no again one year we did it three times for some reason I I I don't anticipate that it's going to do any better in June I think it would have only been fair for for the budget that we've been presented with here should have had Cuts in it rather than being it's mean to put to level fund the schools especially I mean North m i mean I support both the School departments I'm not saying anything negative towards North Middle SE I mean they got the biggest school they got the biggest budget but I mean to even put what Karen said you know with nishoba I'm sure she's shocked because it's only 200 something thousand that they need it and we no you're not going to get that either we're going to go to override or nothing and then when the override doesn't pass you're going to throw it back at the schools again and say well we're not cutting our budget because we need all our money we need you to cut it again and there select the last few sement meetings have been talking about go well they're going to have to go to a 112 budget and I I don't we we need to make cuts and I I do encourage it since we're at this point making amendments on the floor to this whole budget to make sure we can fund the schools all right comments come on the motion M Mr shank Joe I saw Joe's hand up first I I want to address Cindy here for a few minutes first of all this is not about us against you people we're here to try to do the best and I think we have to do what we need to do to take care of the kids and do what we need to do unfortunately we don't have an extra $2 million or $1.7 million and what we did to try to make it so it wouldn't be so bad is we broke up to nooba and North middlex so we could at least have a chance to take in maybe nooba passes we have to fund the nober we have to fund the school but there's only so much money that we can do I mean we can cut the town Services if that's the school came back to us with a $300,000 difference for all three communities from what they originally came so roughly 130,000 maybe for the town of Town's in and then you break up the other two towns out of 1.4 million to come down to 130 we still still don't have that $1.3 million so we're hoping that back in front of the the town let them make that decision let them choose to override or not if they vote down the override that's their PR privilege and prerogative however then it will come back to the boards to school committees rework their their budgets they're running a type budget we understand that we're running a tight budget however we're not here us against them this is about what we the board have to do to do the best we can for everybody if somebody's got a money tree growing out back I'd love to pick it uh Mr SE deranian thank you Mr moderator through you um Miss King I appreciate your your thoughts on this um but I would just like to speak as a resident um of the the town uh we have a lot going on uh in regards to not only the schools but we have a recreation department that handles a lot we have a Council on Aging which is busting at the seams right now that has a huge budget as well um I personally don't appreciate the US versus them we are a community we provide services for all our our residents here and I I just don't like the the US versus them we need the school systems to educate our children number one but that also helps us with our our our house valuations uh it keeps things in line and in Balance um we're not doing anything uh you know to to get us versus them we need to come to an agreement the the last proposal from the school committee was $130,000 with the town out of two uh $1.6 million that's just a drop in in in in the bucket what we're looking for and we've already appropriated what they had asked for originally what we're trying to do if it's not coming through on an override if the school comes down on their on their ask we're more than willing to to go to bat for it but I I I just don't don't think that that pitting one Department against the other is is is fair um we need the school just like we need the Council on Aging just like we need the recreation department uh we have other uh you know departments within the town that operate on a Sho string budget as well all right we're more than willing to work but this is the best way that we feel right now that we can do this once we have a vote in regards to the override to continue with the process that'll allow the school to come down on their budget and then we can we can move [Applause] accordingly all right comments come on the motion uh in the balcony hi my name is DECA scolio I'm at seven Beach Street in Townsen I also am a school teacher in the North Middle sex Regional School District yeah is that on okay can you hear me now okay sorry I live at um seven Beach Street I'm Deca scolio I'm a third grade teacher in the North Middle sex Regional School District my husband and I researched where we should live when we decided that we would have a family we came to townend because the school district had an excellent reputation townend was a beautiful Community we've been here since 2002 every year that I've lived here it has always been the schools have to cut something the schools have to we're so sorry we love our community but school system I'm sorry you just have to do with less we are bursting at the themes in the schools my son graduated luckily because there is a dedicated staff there I wasn't working in the school system during the majority of his education I can't take any credit for his education that he got he goes to RPI in Troy New York which is a very difficult school to get into he did that during Co that's all because of the dedicated staff that you have working in this community and for your children and your future if you continue to cut the budget on the back of the school you're basically biting the hand that feeds you the school system is providing services for our youth for our community if you want to see your beautiful Community Still Loving itself and taking care of its Community you have to start with the young we do a lot to bring the seniors into our school system we do a lot of donating into the community for homeless students that live in our community we do a lot for mental health for the people in the community when will you as a supportive Community loving board do something for the schools and for the children and the youth Townsend is no longer one of the places where we would recommend people to move to because the schools just are not being supported it is not fair to children who deserve all of the support so they can have a positive and successful future the staff that you have working in the district District are trying their best trying to stay hopeful trying to stay positive Mr Morgan has bent over backwards trying to do things he's been reaching out to the um state to the federal government trying to find extra Revenue everyone is saying that there's no money available unfortunately we are Regional School District so we are not able to get some funding that is available to other single Community School Systems I'm just disheartened because my vision of growing old in this community isn't the vision that I'm foreseeing in the future I appreciate everything that Sterilite has done for this community when are we going to charge Sterilite the tax bracket that they should be in instead of charging them as a residential dwelling maybe we should look at get their tax code maybe we should have them foot some of the bill for this beautiful Community I feel like I'm starting to ramble and I'm sorry but I'm just disheartened I've been here for over 20 years and I'm becoming less and less hopeful about the bright future that you could have you have a beautiful high school but because we aren't funding things in the school district we have families that are saying oh our children aren't going to be in school tomorrow because we have plans to go and visit private schools we're looking at school choice around the community that's depressing that is not what I want for my son I don't foresee my my son wanting to raise a family here he is a bright boy you have a lot of bright graduates what do they have to look forward to to stay here set roots and continue to keep the community vibe in a healthy Community it's up to you to help us that's all I can say okay thank you for listening um all right folks folks if we're we're going to take up a lot of time with Applause we're going to be here till midnight and I don't think we want to do that uh M Stockwell okay Mr moderator I'm confused because I'm looking at this budget and it does have um 11.8% increase in the uh the revenue for North Middle sex assessment for the year um and also for the Sher it is um 26.5% increase so I don't know where people think that they're getting zero funded am I wrong please correct me [Applause] all right hold on folks um I I think I'm not sure what copy you have Julia but on I see the the total on line 506 looks as though there is a 0.8% decrease in the school budget yeah I'm I'm not sure the that's the number that includes the override amount with if the override had passed if the override if the override passes okay in June if if it passes in June that's what would happen Okay Miss rush I'm still just a little bit confused with uh our budget had gone down not a tremendous amount but it did go down so the vote uh for the number of what would go on to the override or how much the entire budget was that voted in March is not what it is now does that not need to be disclosed to everybody about what they are voting for how much they're voting for um all you have here in the budget that was presented tonight is what the town has put in your budget but there's nothing here telling anybody about how much the override vote will be for question comes on the motion or on the budget other um get a moment there so the the um ballot questions in June the first ballot question will be for uh to fund nooba Valley Technical High School $287,100 question two will be to fund North Middle sex Regional School District for 1, 320,3 Via override okay uh Mr Han so a couple of things uh Brad H from uh Brown Road couple things I'd like to address um Chaz with all due respect it's hard not to feel like it's us vers them when my kids are going into the school district and I look at this and I see very little funding to them all right so from that standpoint it's very hard to do that Additionally you know I I'd like to make a a suggestion that maybe we put the solid waste as part of the override with the school budget so that way not only the kids if they lose out everybody has something to lose in this if we can't come up with this because right now it's the kids that are losing not anybody else in the town and that's the part that I have a hard time when you say hey it's not US versus them no it absolutely is because if you start cutting pair of professionals that means class sizes go up you take kindergartens from 4 down to 2 two or from 3 to two that that's painful and then what are we going to do when we have this MBTA coming up at what point do we either look at this and say all right what caused these issues or do we look forward and say how do we fix what's coming down the pipeline because all I see is growth coming from this community and we've heard from our um fire chief that infrastructure needs the funding I look at this you know our poor Highway Department they're not getting much our Public Safety they need more our our resources need more I don't understand how we're ever going to come out of this until we actually fix the underlying issue which whatever that is and then how are we going to be able to move forward so to be honest with you when you say it's not US versus them right now my kids are the only ones taking the frunt of this nobody else come on come Ono uh right in the back back there Ram yep that gentleman with the red shirt Ryan Fitzpatrick 6 Walnut Street um quick question is it possible to put like the breakdown on the override question as far as like what the average cost per household would be instead of the the bulk rate so people could better understand what their the tax increase would be per month um question comes on the motion I'm not sure do you understand that question Eric I gu Mr moderator yeah I'm not sure I'm the most qualified to answer the question but I'll take a crack at it uh so so the the question that's um before the body is U an amendment or potential Amendment or consideration of the educational line item in the Omnibus budget the the override is not before the body so that was something that was discussed at the prior special town meeting back in March and there was that breakdown provided in terms of additional costs I don't know that we have any of that information available tonight because it wasn't the sort of information that related directly to the article that's before the body this is part of the budget the override again is not incorporated into what's presently before the body this is the budget exclusive of the override question or the additional appropriation that would accompany it okay I'm not sure if that does that answer your question okay could you rephrase it because I I okay all right Miss Kell what happens if we vote no to the education budget that's on the on the floor if you vote no on the current education budget um then then you're voting nothing for the education budget yeah so Mr slagel yeah so that that would mean there would be zero dollars going toward both nooba Tech and north middlex and that would mean that there' be no appropriation come July 1 if there there needs to be if they go to you know 112th budgeting or anything like that we just mean that the town is saying there's we're not providing any money towards the schools all right so what are the Selectmen going to do if um we vote Yes for this it's a level funded zero budget and the override does not pass what happens Mr [Applause] shank well that's a really good question so the problem we're going to have if it override doesn't pass then it's going to be in front of the board of Selectmen and the three of us are going to have to make some real serious decisions of what we're going to do can there be Cuts absolutely we will have to cut a lot of services that are out there we're not sure exactly which ones that will get cut I guess the biggest question here is people vote at town meeting to take and do certain things then when it comes time to get a vote everybody comes out at a Woodwork and votes against it I mean we've got to fund the schools we've got to take care of the kids but if anybody's got great ideas how we can come up with $1.7 million I am all ears I'll listen to anybody to figure how we're going to get it but we don't have 1.7 million but we have to come up with it somewhere so several people made some suggestions maybe we eliminate the trash that's almost a million dollars pick up and pay well those will be all the options that are going to be on the table we will have to cut Services Highway fire police I don't believe that's the right thing to do we are already under staffed and everybody in this community wants the service they've got and I understand that but we can't come up with Miracles here so I'm m one more question so we voted General government we just said okay here it is and it you know and we're going to vote everything else and there it is what happens when we voted we've said yes this is okay and now you can go around with without the town saying anything and lay off fire police Library Senior Center town hall is that what happens even though we have voted for right now we've said yeah this is all cool we're cool with this Mr yeah just just to make a quick point of clarification um if the override fails the first thing that happens is we have to make a determination as to whether the overrides in Ashby and peol pass or fail and their budget passes or fails because if two towns vote no then it goes back to the school department to have to have an amended school budget but assuming we're in the worst case scenario which is I think what you're talking about which is we have to come up with that money um there would have to be an amended budget passed by town meeting to make those cuts so the border of selectman would could not on their own make cuts to the services that town meeting has already voted without coming back to town meeting and saying we have to cut $200,000 from fire and $200,000 from police and $100,000 from Highway th those budget cuts would have to be approved by town meeting in order for us to reach a balanced budget there are some things that the board could do without coming to town meeting like potentially impose additional fees like a trash fee but if they wanted to to cut trash and solid waste was voted as a yes they would have to come back and amend the budget to remove that $825,000 that's in the budget for trash services and the town meeting would have to approve that uh okay um I'm sorry um gentleman here I'm sorry yasik yes moosi 16 Alysa Drive um I like to paying taxes just like about anybody else or maybe less but I would like to share with all of you few numbers this is public domain these numbers can be found in uh minutes or or reports uh although for at least one example I did get personal permission so example one our town clerk her salary in 2019 was $ 67,8 189 this year it's 76,2 one so simple math tells you that over 5 years our town clerk got an increase of 12.24% now that may sound good to some of you however during the same five years our federal government in a form of cola and if you don't know what it is it's cost of living adjustment which is what people re who are retired like me get as increase in Social Security over the same time frame that increase was 22 27% just take these numbers slowly in her salary increased by uh 12.24% cost of living during the same time went up by 2227 per. so simple conclusion in 2019 our town clerk got just about 10% pay C that's what it is now if this would be me I would have a comment and that comment would be totally unsuitable for printing and I can assure you that I would be out of this job as soon as I could so that's the reality now it's an example it's not just our town clerk it's most if not all the people in the town that we higher and they run business for us example number two education in 2019 the budget was 13, 41,000 926 this year it's $1,918 837 this is over this time frame 5 years 11.3% increase simple Mass over the same time just to remind you cost of living went up 22. 27% so right now our education is in big hole just about 11% lower in 2019 than it was in 2019 we proposed although it's not yet granted right we proposed additional increase for 2025 of 10.9% if that was to pass we would barely get even with the cost of living increase as of this year but not next year because we are already projecting additional 4% increase so just want you to think about these numbers I would like you to take this message draw conclusions for yourself and maybe talk to your neighbors talk to your friends and see what is it that we really should do when the time comes to vote in June thank you let come on the motion all right Miss Hill oh Mike Kathy Hill C Street I'm not good at public speaking but I agree with our gentlemen here uh these comments about the schools and our kids totally valid totally necessary but not here they need to be out in the town getting to the people who voted no last time we all probably everyone in this room or just about everyone in this room probably already does support it that's not enough we need to get this word out to the town I work for the town I totally get what the last guy was saying um I didn't know some of the stuff that was going on with the schools I only just found out about it so so the word is not getting out about what the schools need what the repercussions are going to be if they don't get it none of that is getting out there so that's not here at this meeting it's going to not going to do anything to keep talking about it here needs to get out okay get the word out Miss King Cindy King again I apologize to those who don't want to hear what I'm the motion I'm about to make I move that we amend item line item 500 the North Middle sex School District assessment and increase that number by $1 million $100 and line 501 I'm sorry 52 we increase it by the amount I don't know the number the amount that the uh noova Tech had uh originally asked for $287,000 second the motion's been made to amend the school budget and we need that in writing and right we need to identify what where you going to cut the budget they'll have to do that oh yeah I didn't get his name but I just wrote on yeah oh a uh [Music] um yeah I don't know I couldn't make it out no as long as you've got the record yeah okay [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Mr moderator test test test Mr [Applause] moderator hold on um all right I guess uh we can engage in some further discussion while the motion is being proposed but bear in mind that we have a motion that's been made and seconded um now Teresa you said there was someone waving up on the balcony up there okay Mr moderator it's Carol Carol Wright all right Mrs Warren Road um I was just wondering uh is is it true that if we pass an override the new Total is the base of the uh budget for the following year question comes on the motion I believe that is true right Mr slel yes when you pass an override you're changing the T you're adding additional money to the tax levy and then following year your tax levy is based on your prior year's tax levy plus 2 and a half% okay um well the problem legald then have to return the town the tax to balance your so it's dangerous to do it's also no all right hold on hold on no more debate I'll give and I'll read the motion but all right the the motion is to move to amend line 500 to 13,435 477 and line 5502 to 1,365 1832 and I believe it was second um the cler had to step out for a minute so you read that again please yep I move to amend line 500 to 13,435 477 and line 502 to 1,365 1832 made by Cindy King now I just just observe the fact that if we raise the budget otherwise set that money has to come from someplace so uh Town Council just advised me that we we could leave to without a balanced budget but it would mean we would have to come back for a town meeting to balance the budget at a later date um so um it's better it's more prudent to try to balance the budget here and now uh and to do that we would either have to if this motion passes we would have to take cuts from someplace else Mr Costa uh thank you Mr moderator through you I just want to raise an additional point of clarification as it relates to the education funding and uh the override question in the associated appropriation so the appropriation already passed at special town meeting so that appropriation is not a general appropriation it was an earmark marked appropriation for education so if you go to The Ballot Box in June and you pass the ballot question those funds have already been appropriated to education so if you choose tonight to adopt an amendment such as this your result the result is an unbalanced budget but be that as it may and you appropriate an additional $1.4 million plus or minus to education and then those funds having already been appropriated by special town meeting are validated further funding at at the over at The Ballot Box through the override you now have an additional 1.4 sent to the school so you would need to return to town meeting to reappropriate this from from education back to General government so that it could be used to fix all the cuts that you'd have to make in order to accommodate this funding so I just want to address some of those technicalities so that the body understands the challenges that exist when you take a balanced budget and you start moving money around without a funding source and with an appropriation that has already occurred at a prior special town meeting thank you Mr moderator thank you Mr C all right question comes on the motion to amend the budget Miss king um thank you I want to just explain why I made this motion the way I did um I made it I I know it's a lot but what I'm asking we is that we fund the schools they need we need we need to fund the schools and I'm asking that yes that the town budget absorb the school budget we already said no to the override but that doesn't take away from the fact that the schools need the money so I'm what I'm asking and I know it's an impossible task for you know it's 10:00 at night it's it's an impossible task for us to adjust the budget tonight what I'm asking is that we suspend the conversation about the budget and yes extend it to another night give the board of selectman another chance to go back through this budget and say what are we going to cut because they wouldn't do it before I want us to actually we've already said yes we said in March we wanted to fund the schools and it didn't make it through the the second part of the override process in April but I feel strongly based on the Applause that has been coming when we've talked about the schools and supporting the schools that the people in this room want to fund the schools and do not insulted by the the the level funded and to say it was appropriated March is is not really true because we're going to not the the override is not going to pass in June nobody in the right mind would believe that the override is going to pass in June we're going to have to either not fund the schools at all or not or or make Cuts in the town and and split the difference somehow with the schools and making the motion of these large numbers it is I mean n shch because of the large number of schools that are in the district we're going to be we're going to get that number anyway you already know that it should have been in our budget because the other towns are going to pass the budget North Middle sex the number I put in there was less than their their last number but I'm throwing it out there back to them that maybe you know that's not that much off that they might be able to return with a lower number later on anyway but budgeting enough will cover the schools but we I'm putting it back to the board of Selectmen to go back back through the entire budget and present us with a better budget we've it's 10:00 at night already we're probably getting through the rest of the Articles might be hard we're not even halfway through the the budget but to suspend the the talk on the budget at some point tonight and not not you know not have a balanced budget and let the board of Select come back with a better budget than what they presented us with tonight thank you okay uh ma'am up in the back in the first in the main hall here hi all right sorry I'll get you Judy kin now Barker Hill Road so we went to the peppol meeting last night my kids are in the North Middle sex School District I have another daughter who's goes to nooba there's a large representation of students here there's teachers there's principles there's a lot of people that are invested in the school system itself because it's the future of this town and we're playing with the the the the future of these kids that let me also say I have a traumatic brain injury and it's hard for me to come up with words I wrote down a couple things that were discussed at the meeting last night at peil first of all Ashby already passed the override peil did not so it comes down to towns in whether we vote Yes it's going to pass the override if we vote no it will not pass the override but by passing the override you're passing along an increase in taxes to people who may be on a fixed budget that makes them leave the town and Town's in because they can't afford to stay here anymore also um not passing the override cuts about 40 teachers and paraprofessionals from the school system that cuts out part of our special education department it makes class sizes be 30 plus students not to get personal but what one of my daughters was in a a substantially separate classroom from the second grade until the 10th grade when we lost our special needs teacher and a new one was not hired and it was suggested to me to put her into a mainstream classroom so she would get some sort of Education instead of glorified babysitting by teachers who on their off period were sitting with the special needs kids in the substantially separate classroom and that was from two years ago and now we're talking about cutting 40 more teachers how how many par professionals ma'am I I I understand there's a lot of stories that need to be said but there's a lot of people that still want to speak I think you're getting repetitious about the yes I apologize the situation just saying that Ashby passed it pepp didn't it's up to townz in you're you're making people move out of the Town by increasing towns and taxes that's all okay I know M SE deranian had his stand up earlier so Chaz thank you Mr moderator through you I'm I I apologize I there's also mention of $2 million that was spent to uh consultation firm to advise uh the three towns uh towns in pep Peril and Ashby $2 million was spent to consultation firm to decide where to put a new Public Safety complex so it's kind of odd that you know a $2 million budget is our deficit and $2 million was spent to a consultation firm for a public safety complex that cost $40 million that's never going to be built that's all thank you Mr SE deranian uh Mr M are you looking to have that question that was just posed answered cuz I was going to make a comment um I I don't know if someone wants to answer that question I've never heard about a $2 million study for a public safety complex we got a brand new police station a brand new fire station so uh I don't know where that comes from if somebody can answer that that'd be fine yeah I think there's some confusion there was a the town of peil put forward a public safety complex last year that they may have done some Consulting at in the town of ppro as to the placement of that Public Safety complex that Public Safety complex was going to house the regional um 911 Center that Townson is a part of but Townsen didn't towns didn't spend any money on a on a peils public safety building consultant that would that's a town of peppol issue okay thank you that clarifies that thank you um Mr sex Duran thank you Mr moderator through you um I I am V vly opposed to this amendment because that puts us grossly out of out of budget um I'm going to be a little more clear actually more sustin than I was before um when I said that it's not us against them it's us as a community and as much as I personally don't like my taxes going up what this all revolves around is that we all have to be able to understand that you know cutting from either budget both the school or the town is not going to allow us to provide the C the town to provide the services that we have been known to to provide for you or the school be able to do that so what I am saying is that the community has to get together and approve the override so that we all can get funded properly so that we all can continue in doing the services that we provide for everybody right now so in in the the amendment only puts us more out of balance and it actually creates much more work for volunteers uh to be able to piece together something that really can be rectified very simply by voting yes on the override in June okay comments come on the mo motion to amend Mr malanson Todd molans 79 Clem Road everybody knows I've been a big support of the Town um uh in the schools I'm going to say that has to be the most irresponsible amendment of uh ever heard where do you cut $1.4 million from this budget police we're in an epidemic and op o excuse me opioid epidemic you heard Chief shepher tell you the amount of services that they're having to expend on all of our communities you we've got people that work here that have taken a pay cut to stay here to work for us we have trouble keeping people because we don't pay enough now I voted for the override I spoke for it that's when we do that not at here you cut the police in an opioid epidemic excuse me I stutter then where does that leave you where does that leave the chief or the officers I just came I work for a community you don't mind direct your comments to the chair I work for a community that lost a police officer that was stretched I've been through that they both need to get funded but we're not going to do it here on the floor you're not going to do it by demanding that they go back in a day or two days and take $ 1.4 million out of a municipal budget that is absolutely irresponsible though you want to do it do it at The Ballot Box on June 1st 6 whatever that date is but you get out and you talk to your neighbors you explain to them what's going to happen if they vote [Music] no your property values are based on what your schools can do what your community services are we've been our property values have ex gone up exponentially over the last few years your tax rate has actually gone down per thousand so at some point the metal meets the meat and you got to make the decision but it can't be here because we can't cut $1.4 million out of a municial budget I've been going through it you've got police officers firefighters um General people that work you do your day-to-day so so I just I am aggravated that someone who's supposed to have done been involved in town government would propose something as dangerous as this and illc conceived that's about it thanks comments come on the motion and um hold hold the Applause please um all right so we have the motion before us and okay up on the balcony I think you may have to go over oh all right just half override necessary for the town government itself instead of just question motion that so to answer the first part of the question the cut over from FY 24 to fy2 is July 1st so that's the point at which the current fiscal year stops the last day of June and the next f starts first day of July um the the problem with your proposal is that the appropriation vote and the ballot questions for prop two and a half the prop two and a half override on June 11th are for the schools only and specifically and so it if that money if that if that for some reason does get approved it would appropriate extra money to the schools it would not appropriate money to the town and so as Town Council mentioned it would require us to come back have a subsequent town meeting and reallocate the budget to undo the cuts that would have to be done tonight to to to balance the [Applause] budget comments come on the motion Miss uh SK what is it okay I was wondering um I saw Mr Morgan he had his hand up for a while he's the superintendent I didn't know if he wanted to add to the conversation or help give a little bit of ins it to some of the things I know that we all have different stories about um the school but I think he's an expert he might have some light to shed on this uh could we recognize him well certainly I think the Mr Morgan is the superintendent of schools and I think he would be entitled to speak if he chose to do so thank you so I did just want to make a quick clarification from last night so Ashby is not pass the budget Ashby is going to an override peppol did pass the budget last night not contingent on an override but they will require an override vote uh because they do have an unbalanced budget now uh so pepp did pass Ashby is going to an override vote just to clarify that uh happy to answer any questions as far as what this might mean to the school district I will say that it's unfortunate that all of this is happening now because on May 15th we will have to let our staff know if they will have jobs or not next year um some of them are by Statute some are by contract uh in quite honesty some don't have to know until June 15 15th but I cannot wait until June 15th to let staff know whether or not they have a job because they won't be able to find anything at that point in time I will say what certainly scary about this is that if we do end up having to lay off in in the vicinity of 40 staff it's more likely than not that all 40 of those staff will find gainful employment elsewhere because there's a tremendous amount of jobs out there right now and the amount of licensed teachers that are available the pipeline's not there so school districts are having to hire teachers on what's called an emergency license we have very few teachers in this District that are on emergency licenses so anyone in this District that gets riffed by reduction in force on May 15th which is a week away is likely going to be lost to another district and we will have a very difficult time again through no fault of anyone it's just the way the timing works out with this backfilling those positions because the pipeline is essentially dry not just here nationally with teachers much like police and fire there's just not a pipeline there anymore but happy to address any questions anyone has answer questions to the best of my ability if you haven't all right thank you Mr Morgan comments come on the motion to amend the school's budget and I try to recognize some different people here because yep my name is Ashley Kelly I live at 5 tourus Lane my mother spoke earlier um the phrasing of the school committee and the school budget having to be decreased has been baffling to me tonight I've been it's been an intriguing phrase to me in fact when all of the programs I've been a part of at North Middle sex I graduated back in June class of 2023 I'm at North I'm at uh UMass Lowel on high honors right now and um all of the after school programs that I've been a part of and the in school programs the Arts departments the stem departments the language program I currently am taking upper level classes because of the AP testing that the funding given to the schools will allow me to take as a student I am doing all of these things there and the fact that they are currently operating right now on Cut budgets already we used to have a massive language Department according to the AP Spanish teacher and now we have two languages offered to all of the students we used to have ASL we used to have mandarin we used to have Latin now we only have Spanish and French and they're cutting the AP Spanish program in the upcoming year I just would like to know why we are asking the schools to cut their budgets when it's going to cause children in college who are going to college to have gaps on their transcript in terms of extracurricular activities and things they can bring to the table languages will help you in your future careers I'm going to biology and I'm currently getting offers from multiple Labs as a freshman because I took Spanish I'm just wondering why we're asking the schools to cut if this override does not go through questions come on the motion as far as cutting I I think that that's something that maybe Mr Morgan could could address but uh unfortunately the town doesn't have the ability to cut the school budget the school budget is set by the school and then the town has to fund it somehow and if this is where we get a problem when we don't have enough money to fund everything so um I don't know if Mr Morgan you want to address that or sure I can try to address um some of the reductions that are that are coming and I do want to point out I know if if you don't might mind I'd like to if you could explain why those cuts have to be made particularly there in the language programs yeah and and just generally I mean the the par professionals uh what what has been done to cut other costs I know you spoke earlier the last town meeting about Transportation sure something we don't have a control over but it it's I see the buses going down the street every day empty sure and there there's something that should be done there admittedly it's probably going to be on a Statewide level that we need our legislators to change the law but anyway I had to vent a little bit there because I been here a long time sure and I I I'll try I I did have something to present tonight um which would have explained a lot of this but I'll just try to do as much as I can for memory so we have a 2 and a half tax levy every year and unfortunately we do have things every single year that put us behind the eightball things that are beyond our control health insurance 7.78% increase on that this year way above the 2 and a half% our collective bargaining agreements our individual contracts when you're looking at colas and salary schedules they all hover in the 5% range which is quite low when compared to other school districts in the area uh special education Transportation 5% increase increase our yellow bus transportation 10% I do realize that we have some buses that are not full we have some that are that are partially full but as I've explained before we we have cut buses previously and the buses that we have now are the are the buses that we are required to have to get the kids to school on time we have to run a three- tier system and it doesn't matter if we drop to two because we're still paying the bus drivers for a full day's work or else they won't have bus drivers so bus driver bus drivers get a full day's work cutting from a three- tier to a two-tier is not going to save us money we've tried cutting from a large bus to a half bus is not going to save us money it is the same exact price there are no Cuts there and what's Difficult about the buses is that we only get one bid and we're not different from any other Town most towns get one bid so this year debus came in at a 14% increase we got them down to 10 to be honest with you they didn't have to go to 10 but they did they could have they could have stuck with 14 and we would have had to have paid that uh it's a challenge because Regional Schools have to have to provide a seat for every student on the bus whether they take the bus or not any student that lives 2 miles away from school must have a seat on the bus we did try cross cross saving measures this year we sent out a survey to families asking families to opt out and quite honestly um you know that could present us with problems because a family can change their mind at any time and we have to within a reasonable am amount of time be able to Pivot and give them a seat on the bus and in some cases there may not be one but that did not help because we've only gotten literally on one hand families that have come back and said that we will opt out of buses I'm sure all of the families that are in this room the parents that are in this room the students that are in this room see the lines outside of Spalding outside of Hawthorne Brook and outside the high school every day and I can assure you that in Peppo they're worse the lines are much much worse if I had to guess I would say probably a third of our students are being driven to school but families aren't opting out of it because on a bad weather day or if someone's sick they like to have that option of having a seat for their child on the bus um so again the bus the bus driver the the the budget drivers are a challenge for us I will say that that we don't overspend as I said The Last 5 Years a 2.89% budget increase that's been the average I don't think anyone can compare to us in the state with that over the last 5 years this year we're higher but this year again pretty much like we do every single year we're going to if we close the books today we are 1 4 million in the black but that money goes back to the towns into the end account if we spend that money it will have negative repercussions on our Budget moving forward so we're not spending everything that we get we're very very careful with the money but our expenses have skyrocketed since CO as I explained in at the March town meeting I think it was March or April we've had to add 20 positions in special education and English language learner education those are not optional positions to add the Fally and state mandated if we don't add them we we risk um being having our funding taken away we risk having to pay for compensatory Services which would be far more expensive and increased legal fees will be far more expensive than hiring the staff I can assure you of that potentially having to play students out of District at a higher cost so again this comes at a a really difficult time um we are not properly funded uh you know the House of Representatives came in and gave us an extra $300,000 I did hear from the Senate today they gave us an extra $188,000 that's not closing the Gap the state is not fulfilling its promise with Regional Schools Regional Schools are supposed to have their transportation paid for at 100% if they gave us 100% we would be asking instead of a $3 million override or a $3 million need total for us down to a $1 million override it means $2 million to US that extra 20% that they're not covering and that's something that they should cover if they're going to mandate it K to 12 comprehensives only have to only have to provide transportation K to 6 and I think it's a challenge and I will say you know we've reached out I i' I've dealt with the solicitor general the state auditor our Representatives our Senators the problem is is that it's going to be extremely difficult for Regional Schools to be properly funded because the single Standalone school districts chumford Westford Ora they outnumber us and they don't want to see us get more funding than we already do because they want some of that funding as well so it's a challenge but I will say that I certainly you know I deal pretty pretty frequently with um representative Scarsdale Senator Cronin um they are very responsive working very hard to try to try to help us out but again it's an uphill battle for them because they are outnumbered we are outnumbered all right just just real quick sorry as far as reductions go question now you can't raise you have to have a point of order you you can't raise a a a motion to move the question on a point of order so Mr Morgan if you can finish sure I just wanted to say as as far as reductions go we're really looking at potentially reducing in in in the range of 30 to 40 staff potentially after school activities potentially closing a building to um to close that Gap that's it okay all right I think I answered Mr well Mr verasco move the question on the okay all right motions been made to move the question and seconded on the amendment all those in favor of the motion to amend the budget and schools and education uh um do you have the motion Kathy again would be um oh I'm sorry right move the question right I was getting to the motion all those in favor mooving the question say I I those opposed say no okay the uh the motion then is to move to amend line 500 to 13,435 477 in line 502 to 1,365 832 all those in favor please say I all those opposed say no no okay the nose have it any other uh comments on schools M Stockwell hi I just would like you the uh lawyer to go over what proposition two and a half is um because I heard that if we do vote an override then then after that override is done it goes back to two and a half% that's not my understanding of what an override is once an override is done that's it it stays at that level whatever that level may be all right comment comes on a question prop two and a half um I don't know Town Council can try to address that uh Mr moderator I can try and do so so um proposition two and a half allows the community to raise its Levy limit Beyond 2 and a half% of the prior Year's Levy once that Levy has been raised you've now established a new Levy limit and so in subsequent years the 25% is calculated as a b bis of the prior Year's Levy limit which had been raised under proposition 2 and a half override vote so it is a permanent increase in your Levy limit and you might you might be familiar with the term debt exclusion debt exclusion is is also arises under proposition two and a half a debt exclusion is different because it's particular to a project and once the project is completed and paid for the de exclusion expires but a proposition to and half override is a permanent increase in your Levy limit correct so that the idea is that the override is an adjustment to your budget it's a permanent adjustment to your budget okay uh Mr Han um I just have one quick question um can you help me understand why the schools are the subject of the two and a half override and not anything else up here how did it come down to hey we're going to put that as the main focus of what's going to get funded through um by no way shape or form am I even insinuating cutting Public Safety fire I want to make that clear but I'm just curious as to why we would CL why would we group just kids as to the people that are at the mercy of Us coming up with this two and a half override quite frankly Mr Han I think that's been asked and answered but Mr Sagel if you can elaborate on that I mean I think it's been explained that they've they've tried to cut the town budget but you know go ahead if you [Applause] could okay fair enough all right Mr slel right so so to be blunt it was based on the amount of the increase in the schools there was no way that we could fund that entire amount even with drastic cuts on this on the town side and so the you know uh the difference between a $1.4 million override for North Middle sex and say we cut say we said we need $200,000 for some Town side and $1.2 million override for for North middlex it is it it didn't seem to be really sufficient for purposes of segregating it on the ballot um um it it was it's very clear based on the amount of of um of uh uh of increase that the school needs um that we we've known for a very long time that we're going to need an override to fund that school and it it it given that that is the main driver for the the requirement for an override that's why we made the determination that that was going to be the the subject of the override that's the board of Select level all right uh Miss [Applause] Rush thank you I just want to say that there's some students there very very patient students that have been wanting to uh address the town meeting and I was wondering if they could go ahead and talk no no no they are they are towns and residents I believe I'm I'm going to I'll put it to the the meeting because it's it's quarter of 11 now I think we understand where the students are coming from I don't think you know I don't want to deprive them of a voice here but it's quarter of 11 and we still have the rest of the budget to get through and about 12 more articles so um I'll put it to the vote uh all those in favor of letting the students uh speak and I'm going to put a time limit on if this passes of one minute a person um all those in favor of allowing the students to speak who are residents of the town but um not yet registered voters all those in favor say I I those opposed say no no the eyes have it all right um who wants to okay what's your point we we are still on the school budget educ education yeah all right who wants to speak get my [Applause] microphone state your name and where you live my name is Madison Rous I live on 33 Shirley Road and I'm a high school senior I'm 18 years old um I am one of many students who have come here today to express our worries about the school and the students might become without a strong budget the number that we have gotten is that the school needs roughly $3 million without the increase of the school budget to get this money the school will have to massively cut costs and programs this will include but not limited to higher class sizes buying teachers and no after school activities in these speeches we will mainly be talking about the extracurriculars for as we are just students we that that is a the most of our expertise but we but we also want to make sure that we don't ignore the problems that will arise with without the without the override first class size without the budget passing classes class sizes K through 8 will be anywhere between 27 to 32 students that is a minimum of 27 students try to imagine being one adult taking care of 27 kindergarteners for roughly eight hours a day five five days a week you will have to make sure that they get the resources they need and make sure that they will be properly educated that is an almost impossible task and it's only minimum amount of students teach teachers could have up to 32 in all classes K through 8 this will hurt education and enrichment in in each student for it's impossible for one teacher to be able to properly educate that many children it is very important for our future that each student has the ability to properly attend to attended to and the big classes class sizes will severely hurt the that ability also we live in a school choice District without the budget override many will be tempted to school choice to different schools and do that do off after school school activities and good class sizes this could DET this could this will be detrimental to North Middle Texas's future many will school choice to to schools out out of district and which will severely hurt North Middle Schools I would like to bring was oh sorry we also understand that there are people out there who don't have children in the district and there are people here who who who are on a fixed income we do not blame you for originally voting against the override but we want you to come here as m of the community to try to convince you present our points and concerns and to show how much these programs mean to us in our future we come here today because of that it is important to us to try to support the school budget to get the votes for the override and show how much it means to us as you make your final decision on this budget remember all the students you see and all the and all those who could not make it tonight especially those who cannot vote the decision that you make is is the Forefront of the future of this town's kids all right Madison I let you run over a little bit because I'm trying to keep this short so anybody else that want to speak and keep it short please sorry Shannon Kelly five Taurus Lane so hello my name is Shannon Kelly and I've also come here today to speak about the importance of uh supporting the school budget I have been a member of the North Middle six Community since I was 4 years old I'm currently 16 now and I have partaken in multiple Sports enrolled at NM cheerleading I do track currently and I'm also um used to be part of the theater Department all the theaters that we've all Loved Mama Mia Beauty and the Beast all this will be taken away from these students these Bright Young students and this will severely like detriment our College opportunities and our futures you can not take this away from us these are very very important and honestly I can't imagine a life at NM without without ex extracurriculars nysl Nola Service Learning how do you expect us to get real life experiences without the all these factors we like this is the time where we make friends where we like I'm sorry um where we um connect with our teachers where our all of our teachers Mo they this is our main source of connecting this is where these teachers these burnt out teachers over and over again you you can't cut this from us this these are very very important to us and you how I'm sorry I just it gets me very emotional that's all thank you okay all right I I think everybody understands you know the uh difficulty this presents for students and certainly I don't think anybody's not mindful of that but uh I think your points have been well made but anybody else that wants to comment all right well either either one of you why the student go first uh Keenan franois uh to Proctor um we all came here today we we have stuff written out but as Mr moderator you've put us on a time limit I will try to give you an AED version um here at I am a junior at the high school um I'm the national social studies Honor Society vice president student council treasurer I'm the Color Guard Captain um and I participate in a multitude of other activities as does everybody here uh we are all very involved students in this community and we we came out here you know to show that we We Care um everything that we do is because of the teachers um the in the teachers in this District the failure if this budget does not pass we are losing 30 teachers who have been teaching us for the past over a decade 12 years 13 years for some of us this is a very critical time that we're in and we need to understand the real impact of what we are voting on or of what you all are voting on today is you can say that you're not uh you were trying to balance this budget and uh education uh is still important um but what this vote is on is whether 30 teachers will have a job next week in reality that's what this is um and I think everybody should know that is what you are voting for um I see numerous teachers in the crowd here who I've had Ashley Brady um Tara laier um Caitlyn stepinsky was here um all of these teachers have been invaluable to me um in my uh educational career um and I think it's important that all of you here know that these are the people that are educating your children your grandchildren and they are unmatched uh to anybody else around thank you thank you comments come on the motion gentlemen there did you want to speak hi Mike Kelly five tus Lane um I think this is a question for the police department so if we theoretically eliminate most of the after school activities and with the high school being in Townsen there's no job opportunities for most of these teenagers here what's going to happen when a flood of teenagers comes out of the high school and there's no place for them to go I think that's aoral question that be difficult for the entire yeah and I would I would understand what your the change in your budget would be next year to deal with you know more officers and so forth because these teenagers aren't going to go anywhere they're just going to hang out a hand for a parking lot or they're going to cause problems because they have nothing else to do you certainly have I think it is something of a rhetorical question but uh thank you Chief and thank you for the question um all right I think we have to move on um on the budget here because uh we need to get this work done um I'm sorry Michelle B 18 within drive I'll just make this quick I work in the district I'm also co-chair of CPAC which is special education parents advisory Council I love all these kids and all the the promotion they're talking about their schools and the extracurricular but I want to get to Basics the kids classroom sizes are going to go up to potentially 32 kids at a class collect correct me if I'm wrong Mr Morgan do we even have space for that many kids in a classroom at Spalding baram brook ntis or haam Brook so where are we going to put these kids think about that now I raise this question everyone here and yourself included because I think the general response of everyone here is that we're in support of the education but two things have to happen as you're hearing these people talk you are elected officials and I realize you're volunteers and we thank you for your service have to show the community that you have an education prerogative there has to be a movement in that board going forward forward that's showing there is going to be an increase in the budget year after year because as inflation goes education is just as important as safety as waste as everything else and when you don't change that number it's a slap in the face to everybody here who's talking about it second I've been preaching to everybody I know I have parents calling parents and we're doing everything we humanly possibly can to get the word out I've even talked on Facebook as politely as I can to some of the Knuckleheads pardon my French that live in this town and don't want to hear it but we need everyone's help to communicate this message and maybe it's as simple as writing it on the ballot these kids will have 32 people in a classroom we don't have space for 32 kids in a classroom and putting down the realities so that these people who don't want to take the time to get themselves educated and are showing up at the polls realize the real world effects of what's going to happen and now we're just talking general Egg kids I'm going to get my soap box about my kids the kids they have the world already you know one more challenge than everybody else they have to work harder to do everything else that comes natural to you and me now put them in a classroom with 32 kids and don't even get me started on how they're bouncing off the walls now because Summer is weeks away and behaviors are high how are you setting up these kids to get a quality education so I would like all of you to leave here and think about everything that everyone has said but think about how you are going to communicate this message to the people of your community who can vote to make sure that they understand this is not a joke there is no rainy Daye fun coming it's not going to be a surprise I was just kidding and none of this is getting cut education is just as important as any other line I number up there if not more and we all have to make it our effort to get this word out to everyone thank you comments come on the motion all right I I think we have to go move on to the rest of the budget um all those in favor I think we have to vote then on the education Bud budget as it is before us so I'm going to ask for a a vote on the school budget uh the total being 14, 81,9 180 all those in favor say I hi those opposed say no okay Highway unanimous Highway and is on items line items 508 through uh 563 um any comments questions all right I think you can vote on Highway all those in favor of the highway budget please say I I those opposed say no okay next next item is solid waste lines 565 through no I'm wait a minute what am I doing here am I doing wait a minute education highway I I I don't know usually we we'd have a more Consolidated one right we wouldn't be doing Highway each one of these would we yeah okay solid Solid Waste I'm sorry Solid Waste is the next section and [Applause] 565 through 577 anything to be said On Solid Waste all right all those the budget for the solid waste is 8396 64 all those in favor say I I those opposed say no no the eyes have it um cem let's see the next section is 688 goes starts with ceter Parx through 688 which is Human Services right goes from 579 through six yeah 66 688 total is 5489 45 anything to be said about human Services all those in favor say I I those opposed say no all right the eyes have it uh next is I think it's culture and recreation it's not spelled out in the budget unfortunately separately [Music] um yeah up up to 7:37 from begins at 6 688 through 737 the total budget for culture and recreation of $555,500 anything to be said all right all those in favor say I okay those opposed no and the eyes have it the next is Debt Service I think which is line 739 through 757 757 of a total of [Music] 394,161 5 759 and ending at line 795 the total on insurances is $2,479 1829 anything to be said okay all those in favor say I I those opposed say no eyes have it all right so final vote on the total budget there's been no changes or amendments adopted the total is 26,5 44,45 all right all those in favor say I I opposed the guys have it all right that concludes the budget portion of and there is one other vote under Article 5 which I'm not sure we have to to take pass over that I move that we pass over Article Five okay all right okay that all those in favor say I those opposed no the eyes have it article six see if the town will vote to fix salaries and compensation of all elected officers of the town as provided by Mass General Law chapter 41 section 108 as amended and appropriating this warrant or take any other action relation there to two it's a motion Mr moderate I move the town vote to fix the salaries and compensation of all elected officers of the town as provided by Massachusetts General Law chapter 41 section 108 as amended and as appropriated in the warrant okay motions made and seconded any questions comments looks like we can vote all those in favor of the motion on article six say I I those opposed unanimous article 7 to see if the town will vote to appropriate the sum of 262,144 or any other sum from the water Enterprise revenues to operate the water department for fiscal year 2025 in order to fund the cost of intermunicipal expenses that 381,000 in the general fund or take any other action relation there to is a motion yes Mr moderator I move that the town vote to appropriate the sum of 2,621 se4 from the water expense fund revenues to operate the water department for fiscal year 2025 and to fund the cost of interm mutual expenses that of 8 3,081 excuse 381,000 60 651 of the sum to be appropriated in the general fund motion made and seconded uh anything to be said I take it Mike you're just standing there for okay um stretch just stretching okay oh okay um who is it where okay Miss messing thank you Mr moderator Heidi messing Proctor Road um why are we funding some of the water department fiscal year from the general fund is that to cover the town's use of water question comes on the motion yeah so that's actually the other way around those funds are going from the water department to the town to supplement the services that we provide the water department uh so to pay for their their portions of the health care that we pay for for their portions of insurance you know for uh property and vehicle insurance that the town pays for the water department is is paying us back okay thanks anything else to be said on article 7 all right ready to vote all those in favor say I I those oppos say say no the eyes have it unanimous article 8 uh to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate uh Etc the sum of $472,500 for funding the fiscal 25 Capital plan as voted by the capital planning committee as detailed below it's as appears in the warrant correct yes okay all right is there a motion Mr moderator I move that the town vote to borrow the sum of 472,000 for the purpose of funding the fiscal year 25 Capital plan as voted by the capital planning committee and detailed as follows police for records management 35,000 Energy building energy retrofit [Music] 77,78 180,000 each totaling 47 7 2,700 okay motion comes motion made and seconded on Capital Finance articles reques a 2/3 vote any questions all right all those in favor of article the motion on article 8 please say I I those opposed say no the eyes have it article 9 to see if the town will vote to accept the provisions of General Law chapter 44 section 54b to allow the town trust funds to be invested in accordance with the general Law chapter 203c so-called prudent investor rule or take other action in relation there too Mr moderator I move that the town vote to accept the provisions of Massachusetts General Law chapter 44 section 54b to allow Town trust funds to be invested in accordance with m m assachusetts General Law chapter 203c the so-called prudent investment investors rule any comments about this questions Mr verasco it's not that simple no I I think it is I I think it is um most our town Treasurer sorry Melissa [Applause] you hi I'm Melissa dunet treasur tax collector so The Prudent investment um is simply a allowing us to invest in a more Diversified manner currently the law Mass General law says we can invest our trust funds stabilization Etc only in um 10 categories 10 10 investment areas this gives us the opportunity if we so choose to just expand that list of where we can invest good enough you're welcome okay any other questions I think we're ready to vote all those in favor please say I those opposed say no the eyes have it unanimous article nine what's your point of order have quum all right question the Quorum I'm not sure if we still have quotum and if we don't uh it's past 11 I I believe uh it may be difficult to continue all right so if the Quorum is question um I think we we do have to uh do a count so counters if we still have the counters um come forward it's too bad because it' be nice if we could finish this up tonight otherwise we have to come back another night since we lost so many people from earlier tonight let's see one 10 four five [Applause] six for for okay are you sure we don't have 75 you all come up with 70 say again not stage well there five here 75 okay we have a quorum oh well so you didn't [Music] Todd what are you leaving for count you trust us you TR count V well there was some disparity because some counters didn't count the stage stage five all right so we're still short okay what's the plan well we're going to lose it now anyway right well that's uh Thursday night yeah we'll have to adjourn to Thursday night at 7 o'clock as or all right is there a [Music] motion all right all those in favor say I I those opposed guys have it [Applause] yeah well that's all right you you have the right to do it I hope you come tomorrow Thursday night and I hope we get