##VIDEO ID:OoxqmR5JKWM## evening today is August 5th 2024 at 537 uh PM I'd like to call this meeting to order and a roll call please Jo Shan present CH deranian present Teresa is not going to be making it today it isn't excused would you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance please United States of America thank all those in service both pass and present and our First Responders thank you for your service this meeting is being recorded and it will be uploaded later uh to YouTube is anybody else recording there is a person in the audience that is recording uh one point4 Chairman's additions and deletions um I would like to add as 4.5 a brief discussion uh in regards to steart healthcare M the hospital I was gonna say but I wanted to make sure that we added it to the agenda um because there was some there was a new press release this this afternoon I don't know if you saw that or not I was going to suggest discuss and vote sending a letter to the governor concerning we'll talk about I just wanted to make sure it was on the agenda um 1.5 review and approv meeting minutes we're going to do all of that tomorrow um we have an abbreviated uh agenda tonight so we can get right to the topic so I do not have um 2.0 or 3.0 and we'll jump right into 4.1 discuss special meeting setup um I guess my questions uh for the both of you are do you want me to have a PowerPoint presentation on the meeting like we normally do would you put like motions on there yeah I put the Motions on the actually as you have it on the warrant I just put the the warrant motions up on the screen while we're voting on them well I would suggest we actually put the actual motion on the screen we can do that too because that there shouldn't be a wide discrepancy between the motion and the article but it's the motion that they vote on and I will have all those prepared prior to town meeia that I can give you and you can just okay that I can do um I mean maybe for some of the long ones like the ones that is state law that we're talking about we can say as printed at warrant and you can show I usually do that when my fingers start TI okay all right that I can do you okay with that Joe yes um so I I will ask um T cam if they could be gracious enough to set up the sound for us we'll do the uh PowerPoint uh we are going to be meeting beforehand so I'm going to keep that agenda as light as possible and only talk about the last minute St before the town meeting what time is that meeting the pre meeting usually do it at [Music] 6 and that's really so that we all have the same numbers when we go into to the town meeting we're all on the same page I don't think there's any other special thing we need to have as far as the meeting is concerned we need we don't need any handouts I don't think outside of part once we post WE Post we don't really to do any hand out well I did this quickly today for the finance committee um I don't know whether anybody will ask what the status of stabilization account is yeah maybe we should do this at Le have it ready I think that's a great idea really need to do I don't think we need to do anything with any other section of the budget that we've already approved right so we're on going to really go into the articles that we're going to or the sections of the budget that were in the articles that we're going to change yeah so we're going to talk just about the the line items that were changing not everything else that was done back in May okay works for me Jo um 4.2 discuss and vote special town meeting warrant articles School assessment and fiscal year 20 budget this we start off with Excuse me article one to see if the 10 will vot raise this is for $656 111 and that's for the badger meter that is the um the bad meter for meter Communication Service Unit used by the water department my assumption is this is this what ties it into Vadar this is this is a device that's on apparently every residential water meter that allows the water department to read that meter remotely so it was a cellular service type bill that got missed from FY 23 so it's part of the communication system for the majors right why would that be a town expense as opposed to I looked into taking out the water Enterprise fund and Katie said for various reasons it can't come out of there okay because it's already been appropriated and for $656 I guess I wasn't going to I'm just ask you that there's going to be questions that so I'd rather I need to be informed as well okay anything on that no um the finance committee reviewed it and they actually recommended this article do you want me to put in it's recommended by the selectman or is that assumed it's they're all recommended because it's selectman's warrant I don't think we've done that before okay it's just been recommended by the thank you for spelling you don't know how I got it wrong in the first place but you know you look at these things so many times and see it um okay so article two is a transfer through this one this is um a transfer from ambulance receipts into account to operate EMS town meeting approved 700,000 this article proposes to make 800,000 for an increase of 100,000 the amous receipts have done very well this year and my conversation with the chief indicate that they will continue to go up there's currently 95,000 in there from this year so this would be taking 800 out of that 9005 um I think he's on track to replenish this for future fire department needs but this is a source of Revenue the town has been using for years I don't know how many but for years it's just we're increasing the amount based on the balance that's in there this basically flows to the bottom line as far as reducing the deficit and discussion here oh yeah yeah and I just want to make this very clear here you know I mean on an average the ambulance while the ambulance Reserve receipt account was set up years and years and years ago for purchase and ambulances purchases and equipment we have been very blessed in this community that the fire department has been doing as good as they have with the amount of runs and the Personnel we have and I get it you know they earned over $700,000 which is a huge amount an average they've been is I think 4 to 500,000 um this extra 100,000 they're taken and I have had conversations with Mr Shephard in regards to this and uh he has no issue whatsoever trying to help the community to try to get this budget balanced to do what we got well this is going back into the operating fund for the the fire department yes but it also means we'll take 100,000 less out of general fund to fund the fire department right so it's coming out of the fire department take one way or the other and and and and I'm okay with this and I think everyone else but you know the fire department if they come to us we just have to hopefully be very considerate saying look if they need another piece of medical equipment or something that we at least going to be able to consider they give it $800,000 out of that ambulance Reserve account that they used to buy and fund that stuff with without having to come to the town so I just want to make that very clear that you know it's Mr Shephard is 100% on board to help us because of the crisis we're in but he also want to say if something comes up they need a new piece of equipment to replace a hot monitor or whatever we have to really consider that would have been the money that they would have just purchased that stuff with and I'm okay with that that a fair statement Ross Yes with the clarification that they still have to come to town meeting to take funds out of amamos receipts for expense right it's it's but yes um article three yep article three is to reduce the the May um town meeting vote by $13,800 we proposing to do that by adjusting line one decreasing the line item for the Town Administrator salary by 6,000 so it will now read 129,000 to reduce line four um water selectman wages Auto auto allowance by 2,800 because the negotiated amount um is 2,000 reduce line 112 Mis Communications by 10,000 so that that now told is 5 ,000 and that's largely due to the work that you and others have done to put the fiber Wan in and reduce on-site Comcast charges and on-site um other equipment charges firewall so that's reducing the budget by 113,877 equipment by 95,000 bringing that line item to zero that was money that had been allocated for the lease of four new Cruisers the chief was hoping to order starting July one um Chief sardell has agreed that he could delay that order until this winter time when there's a special town meeting anticipated I think that we could easily fund that 95,000 out of free cash that would have been certified by them considering that free cash will get a boost this year from the sale of those two properties we can put this 95,000 back in in the budget so the chief is delaying the purchas and says he's okay with doing that or actually the lease for six or seven months well and and and I've had conversation last week and again today in depth with the chief a little bit he once again he's on board to try to help us but what he doesn't want to do is open up this lease thing again on the town floor for negotiations it's something that has to happen the way he's been doing it with the lease it's worked out for him the town with the maintenance and everything so if they go in and they start you know saying on the floor that oh gee we don't want to do that now times are tough that would get a little tough for him right and the whole the whole reason behind us asking to do this number one is that the the money from the sale of the properties was was assume earmarked I guess for that particular thing we didn't realize that we weren't going to have because of the the budget we didn't realize that we weren't going to have that money and this was actually the easiest thing to do I agree with you that going forward yes it will stay in the regular budget as it has been um but because of the issues with the the um education budget coming in as high as it has been um he is asking to do that again knowing that the sale of those properties was earmarked for the leases on this in the grand scheme of of what we were looking I also uh I guess I'll interject the conversations here is that we are looking in um future conversations in regards to the budget for a more of a fiveyear a three to five year and even a 10 year for some of the capital expense items to be able to make sure that when they do become due like this we are prepared more prepared for it than what we are this year I did not I personally didn't expect the budget to come in from the school as high as it did so having said that I I'm I'm okay with um article three okay article four to increase line item 500 for North middlex Regional School District by 69128 this is a number that I picked it represents about a 6% increase over the last year's budget it's also a number that if it flows through will balance the budget without us using stabilization so I picked this this number if the town votes this number 691 284 it's still considered a no vote on the assessment the school set us because they're asking for more than this number so a yes vote will only provide them with guidance it says if the school came back with a new assessment that matched this one they wouldn't need to continue going with a 112th budget two we wouldn't need to convene with this this be a third town meeting to balance the budget and we can move on so instead of putting in zero and saying we're not going to pay your assessment come back with another number I'm putting in a number that equates to 6% and still works and I get that and you know we're we're putting a number in the schools asking for a number that's absolutely out of control I mean we as a community can't afford it need in the other communities what they're asking for an increase however if we just put that number in there and we vote for it it's really if they don't accept it just a waste of everybody's time and we're gonna have to come back to another town meeting and I I think we got to have a better strategy than that not foll so we're putting Ross said that we're putting 69,000 well mean the total for that line is 13 million adding yeah we're adding because we're still that number is still a lot lower than what they're asking so I guess we're hoping that they're going to accept it they've been they've been notified of this number yeah so they have opportunity to be able to discuss and vote on whether or not they're okay with that number or not but if they don't accept it then we're right back at square one right correct and we start this whole Gambit over again if asby also votes no then you're right then then their their budget has been rejected they have 30 days to come back with a new number they're scheduled to have their school committee meet two days after town meeting I was assuming it was to discuss the results of the two Town [Music] votes they could come back with a different number on August 22nd in which case then you're right then we start this process over again we have 45 days to schedule a town meeting I'm trying to avoid that by saying a number that reflects we understand their costs have gone up we've told them we can't pay the full assessment here's a number that could work that we work that we for towns in but this also provides Ash which is really the other town that has the vote um because you have to have two agreeing vote pe's already approved it correct so this provided Ash what we're looking at which then when you work the numbers will give them an idea of what approximately their assessment will be and they can figure out if they can are they doing the same thing sending I think I I don't know that I think what they're doing is voting no just voting no on the budget um when I talk to the the North Middle sex business manager she she figures that to make make that number for 691 assessment work for us they would have to reduce almost a half a million dollars from their overall budget and so okay that's so Mr should probably not take that extra 30,000 he's taken and save everywhere he can um I'm just going to leave it at that I'm looking at their assessment numb what we have to manage have toage and how they spend it line by line I've sort of said that if I wanted to do school budgets I'd be working for the school department and I get that but you know here we are as a community struggling we're trying to put everything together the best we can we're trying to steal from Peter to PayPal you know I mean it's going to be some tough decisions that have to be made and I think I just hate to see it go through this again in another 45 days well that's that's why I gave a number yeah and and I I also I mean that opened the door drill for me to be able to say that um we have been working with the other Town administrators and the chairs of the board of selectman we have been meeting on a on a regular basis um so that we have a unified voice um to the school district to say this is what we can afford um we are um believing that being proactive is going to be the best way so that we can develop a 26 budget that's more realistic than than what it was um I will say that this year's or the 2025 budget conversations were we did have more yes we did have more advanced conversations um but having a conversation and having um uh an understanding before the budgets actually came out are two different things and when the budget came out with that first assessment from the school it was way out of whack than what we said and um we were saying that we were closer to to 3 and a half to 6% is is where the town would be able to to work with them and we did Express that with Eric in November I think October we we kind of alluded to you know roughly those those numbers but we were very very clear leading up to um their vote on their budget so when that budget came in I was actually kind of surprised because it seemed like everything that we had been contributing in regards to the conversation was not yeah they just blew it up so uh again this year um we we decided that we meaning Ashby and and peol and and me as the chair decided we're going to have conversations leading up to the budget so that we are going in with all three with a very clear understanding that this is what we can afford based upon our revenues and we've we've even projected them out a few years didn't we um in our last Mee yes and I me with the other two Town administrators and we are sending them a letter I think it's going out today telling them that this is what the town's constraints are but been two and a half and New Growth we can barely get a 3% increase in Revenue we can't have budgets that are more than that and then if you if they increase their this year's budget by more than that next year we have a problem so that's aot I'm not trying to throw a monkey run I just want to get it all out to everybody too I'm saying just get it on the floor so we get there that everyone's aware so are you doing that I'm doing I'm okay with that using that 691 284 okay I mean I think it's it's it's a big I mean we've been crunching for months now so um okay Article Five is somewhat in the same vein this is for M votch Technical High School so we would increase their line by 248,000 n and then is also a line for exempt debt that goes up by 38,9 129 yeah so that the number so it's 248 248 209 is that's the number based upon the amount of students that the students we have no choice on that and that's well that's the assessment they sent us that has been voted by majority of schools yeah so unlike North Middle sex where maybe two other three towns can vote it down this is come and gone we're just now reflecting in the budget what it needs what it is yeah and that's once again the amount of children that coming from towns and going to nooba we are responsible to pay that debt and that's what it comes and I am so happy to see more people taking up the trades because that's what we need yeah there's uh um Dr pigeon was um very hopeful that the enrollment is going to continue they have school choice but they're not allowed they're not allow they just don't have the ability to have somebody come into that school they have to take who's applying for it um which is which is I think really good number one number two is that there 44 students from Townson and based upon the graduations for the last couple of years for graduates um especially from Townsen um graduated with honors and they've graduated with um basically jobs in in or Andor College already to go with scholarships so that's awesome good job for everybody article six is to add an expense line under Solid Waste this will become line 572 this is to add it for 25,000 raise an appropriate and this will cover the expenses to run the fee collection for the trash uh process um it's made up of $844 in staff increased time not increased number of people so it's increasing their hours and it's six 16,560 for invoicing software mailing those type of modules that you have to add to our existing package so 16550 for billing right I'd say yeah and 8440 for staff 80 extra hours not additional bodies so we don't pick up any additional benefits out of that costs out of that okay um that was you know it's down from my original guess of 50,000 it's down to 25 Melissa has been working really hard to help develop the system um I'm have I'm starting a weekly work group that will be meeting tomorrow at 1 I don't know if there's a select minute is available to join us on that but that's to work out the mechanics of how the fee structure will work and the way have did I put that on the agenda for tomorrow um because if I didn't can you remind me to add that the way ipate starting that is what what process we have to put in place to do this people can ask questions about how will this work and how will that work when we get the questions then it's somewhat easy to go through and just pick them off and come up with the answers but my goal is to have this system up and running um prior to October 1 what's not in this warrant but is in the budget is the assumption that we're going to collect $550,000 in trash fee revenues between well now and end of June that's 550 out of the 822 that's in the trash contract okay as far as I'm concerned to people voted they made it very clear this town is split 5050 if that contract is $800,000 the town of towns and the resident should pay that $800,000 I don't want to put $550 and then steal from different accounts Fire Department police department lowering different things so that the people voted I'm not I do not feel comfortable doing 550 it's got to it's got to be whatever the trash cost us because if we don't take the full amount we're still pay in some of that trash and I don't buy that so there's two pieces we can we can divide the total bill the 822 by all the residents and collect it over nine months or figure out we've already lost July and August and maybe September so we're only going to collect nine months so it be three we got to pay the $800,000 we're paying it so that's coming out of tax revenue so I'm okay if the board is of advertising the 822 over the remaining months remaining households and then the bills is according yes yes the Bill W up obviously being higher than if it was just nine months worth of their collecting but when I have those numbers for you you can you can make I just want to make sure DLS is in agreement ah thank you that was my next we we talked to do um last week and when they close out the town and do the recap they want to see that the revenue that we have received to that date if it advertises over to June 30th will equal whatever the number is we're estimating right so if our I don't know I'll pick a number if our collections at that point are 75,000 and they advertise that over the number months and say well you only that's 400,000 they won't let us count that if our collections are 150,000 or something they'll say oh that times the number of remaining months equals the number they're okay with that so my suggestion is we keep in the budget the 550 the board could determine what that rate is and whether we aim for collecting the 550 or aim for collecting the 822 when I when I have that those numbers for you I think you can then say yes to one number and no to the other and I think we click the 822 I just feel this has been a long road long struggle people have said cut cut cut okay it's been loud and clear as far as I'm concerned I've had enough people come to my office and express their opinion we're the only community in the area that's paying for trash if it cost us 800,000 the town's people have to pay the 800 that's it just done they voted that way would have been much easier and much cheaper to have the override pass and we're going have moved on much better so I'm sure there's going to be people upset oh we got to pay this extra money it was voted on if you didn't come out and vote shame on you if you came out and vote and the vote failed the override then we as a board have to do what's right for the community they spoke charge the town for the $880,000 for the budget for track and not decimate the rest of these budgets so I'm in agreeance as long as we have the um we satisfy the requirements of DLS yes so I would suggest that we keep the 550 in the budget as a revenue Source now not the 800 because I don't know that we I don't believe we can collect physically we collect that much but if you're okay we'll budget the 550 we'll advertise the bill over the whole year not just the remaining nine months and collect a cour and and see what it comes out as long as people know they got to pay for the trash and I'm I'm good with that I'm fine but I'm not not going to steal from other departments that are working hard to try to get where they are you know everybody wants us to cut cut cut slash everything well the town still has to run um this is to raise an appropriate um $13,200 this is for the remainder of a lease for Caterpillar loader that should actually come forward as a capital request this year and somehow it got missed um and overlooked so this is the second one that was missed in capital I think leases can be tough because you're paying for it over multiple years and you got to remember to bring that Capital number forward for the subsequent years um maybe there's a way to improve that because if you sign a lease you're kind of locked into paying the subsequent years right versus a purchas a one-time cash you know our Capital Improvement plan knows how to handle one-time funds so if we are in our development of this fiveyear plan this is something that needs to be caught in because those are the kinds of things that that really kind of make trip us up yep well so this is correcting that so we can pay for that lease article eight is money coming back I'm have found and going through with all the departments $18,750 in previously allocated warrant articles where their work is done there's still money left over they don't need any more money so this is come back article number may have changed since all right let me yeah okay so I'm sorry just give me a minute you want a new C no yeah yeah you got a new one so there versions that are coming out that changed quite rapidly the last day or so well yeah I printed this just this morning just so you know and I printed this before I came here because I knew that they were going to be changed okay that's good I'm good with that all right so I I do want to take this this time to actually thank you Ross for going through this because these are things that I wanted to do before we even got the budget rolling this year to look at what what these um these are we just got caught up in all of the um changing the the guard so to speak so thank you for at least I thank you for all the work that you put into it I'll second that I just want to make sure that you understand that you recognize that thank you but this is $18,750 that will basically flow through to to reducing the deficit at the don't want it back and um I had an article and there was I think I came up like 20 or Katie came up 26 articles and I went through each department head um I had a pretty good number in there for it was left over from the charter I talked to the chair of the charter committee said yeah all the work is done but the town clerk correctly pointed out that we actually have to codify the Charter when it comes out as the cost of printing and yeah getting it codified so that my it went away but um article n is voting to accept provisions of Mass General law that allow us to um pay another ,000 to The treasur Collector when she is completed her training and get gets certified as a treasure collector she's still taking this course so this won't happen until the FY 26 budget so it has no impact on this year's budget um and I think it's appropriate to recognize when people have taken extra training and certification because all that benefits the town to have a certified treasur collector we did this when I was here three years ago for the town clerk she got her certification and iance committee seemed okay with that they said they just wanted it to show up as a separate line item in their budget full disclosure is that her contract is coming up so I want to make sure that we're compensating for what she's well and she will have the certification come next year's budget so others will have no bearing on this year's budget but we're just doing it so when it comes up it's there it's except it says in the description Joe on the end cost will be in the fisc year 26 budget yeah article 10 is to accept an easement at 94 fitzburg street or fitzburg road um and and to pay $4,000 for it this was a town drainage system that was plugged up and apparently causing ponding on the road when they went to fix it they found it was plugged but you can't discharge town Road water onto private land the developer was there and agreed to running a pipe across this property to take care of the drainage um so we need an easement to for that pipe and for ongoing maintenance and to partially offset his cost we'll put in $4,000 to pay for that but this clears up a street problem uh apparently the $4,000 was negotiated before I got here between town and developer did we do the work or he had it done I think he had it done yeah and we're just paying this question yeah we got to do what we got to do yeah but that will close that item yeah perfect want minute article 11 if the the current deficit as as I calculated so 123,000 265 123 265 if that if all of these articles pass then we need some more money I'm suggesting it comes from stabilization um stabilization and I can show you what it's been CH already stabilization is healthy at 1.3 million um I would propose that the town plan to replenish the money they take this town meeting plus the 95,000 for the cruises take that out of free cash once it's been certified um my understanding is you'd be having a December special town meeting to do some of that and maybe some zoning changes and whatnot um because the town is fortunate to have some one-time sale of some property free cash will get bolstered up I believe that you could pay this offset this that we do this August and the police cruisers and still have sort of the annual amount of money left in free cash to do capital projects with or whatever you want to do next May snow and ice and other things and I want to go back about these pieces of property that were sold I mean when we were originally talking about those properties we were going to try to set start setting aside so especially when the water department sells we try to set up a Insurance Fund for retired employees so we can retain our employees in town so I just want to make sure we at least keep moving forward I know we're using up the money on the two properties but we have that water department that hopefully will sell that you know we can at least be looking at that with the selectman's goals that we that we submitted yes that's where that is going to yeah the um the old water department there out once that gets sold that will be the seed money for I just wantan to just keep it out there so you know at least people know we're still we haven't forgot about it we just got to wait for the right time for it yep I'm good with that you know there's there's a lot of and the reason why I believe that we're moving in the right direction um we need to do the um pavement management plan we need to have that conversation moving forward um that is something that our new ta is going to help us out with um there are there has been some planning and decisions made previous to to this board um that some of those have not come to fruition and I really do believe that we need to move those forward part of it is we need to um constrain the amount of drainage to the budget number one and number two is look at ways for increasing Revenue in the towns that along with working with um our state representative and working with our state senator uh there are opportunities that we are looking for we're in current discussions on several different ways in which we can start enhancing our our revenues without losing things and that has to do with the agricultural commission getting back up and running uh making sure that uh the tourism is there uh arts and and the Arts Council has also been talking with us in regards to helping us out with what's going on in the historic district and other opportunities that are available for 10 so in order to keep all of this thing all of these things going that's why we need to make sure that we have a better planning system than what we've had in the past and I think we should consider ourselves blessed because I don't think there's very many communities around us at all that because of the professionalism and expertise that the paramedics are supplying out there to communities to bring that Revenue stream into our budget and that's you know I mean it's unheard of to have $800,000 be turned back in the general fund we'll talk more about that in 4.5 and that's really good I agree so using the the school's assessment number that came from July 10th where the 123,000 short I'm proposing to use stabilization is that is The Bard okay with that I can maybe I should wait to tell you the finance committee hasn't voted but they have major aiter if I mentioned using stabilization so I'm sure they're not happy with doing I don't think anybody's happy with it but we're not happy with it but the question is is that approach Canna be acceptable if we have to do that not really but I I I mean you and I have had this disc discussion I don't know how many times I I 100% agree with the finance committee that using stabilization for you know that is really for one-time funds we're also in a situation where we were we were handed a 133% income increase in somebody's budget that we didn't expect so 123,000 is a lot less than what you know I was assuming that we were going to be asking I think we've paired it down quite a bit y I also feel that um that is something that we can replenish with what we have coming in the known Revenue that we have coming in the unfortunate is you can't put something out unless it's certified so so roughly how much will we have Ross if we do use that out of the stabilization how much would be left in there about approximately I think there was 115 at the end of July I mean at the end of June that disappears from free cash until it's recertified so it's not like I can I can't use existing free cash because it goes away July 1 until the next certification but there's roughly 115 um what was the sale price of the of those two parses well I don't know the exact number I thought it was like 270 or something total well one was the cross from me was what 160 or something right it was 270 total roughly and then the other one was 200 so so I'm being very conservative I thought it was over over three but that's okay 270 I'm being very so that 270 I'm suggest we use 218 the 123 for the balance of the budget the 95 for the police cruisers 218 out of 270 so there's still a net return to free cash the town's free cash has been three to $500 a year depending upon budgets and everything else 3 to 500,000 yes sorry three to 500,000 dollars won't make it so I mean I I think the town will have its usual free cash to do what we need things yeah um and I think by putting it back hopefully that will reduce people's aent about using free cash to I mean using free C using stabilization or free cash to balance a budget is not a hurt a lot of a lot of towns do this so we're not doing something unusual it it's just what that we need to do for the times I believe this is the only alternative which is why I'm proposing this if the matches the number that I put in the warrant there's no need to use stabilization yeah hopefully they're going to come to their senses and take care of everybody we need well there's a lot you know the the there's a lot that's going on both Statewide and and regionally um that it it's still very much in the in the mix um State money is still there's still questions on what's approved what's not approved um there are um there are things that have been approved for the school budget that with their current ask um that means that they're going to be getting additional funding from the state that we can't figure into but they're still asking for the same amount you know what I mean so there's a lot of so for us asking for the 6% really is not it's I think it's very much in line with where we're at and what we can afford that's fair and and the the state and whatever the state has decided on the budget and whatever comes down the pike um should be U shared equally and I I want to make sure that that does get shared equally and not you know and having said that um the other the other side of the point is that because of the override vote and the override being voted no the school then has now started to um assume charges for certain things and increases increasing charges for certain things where the the burden is being on the the parents who have kids in school and you know if because the town had voted down the override I don't feel that the burden needs to all go on the individuals in town that have kids in school I agree have no other other polite way to say that that we we all are in the same community and we need to share the same burden and and that means that if if um you know we we have to budget and we have to balance it some ways um this is this is how I think at least how we're working out the best way to do it um I should as a footnote the the governor voted the FY 25 state budget last week the new numbers have percolated through and Townsen picked up $555 more in state aid which I put right in spreadsheet it looked like the schools number Chapter 70 money didn't increase any but but there's Transportation money there's there's a lot of pieces to that that I know that they're giving additional I when I talked to the business manager I asked her that if they if the state's payment to the school increases I hoped that they would pass that on as a reduced assessment to the town versus adding programs back she said our school committee hasn't met but she thought that it would come back directly to the town as reduce assessment if they get more money very good job Ros thank you um if it's okay a vote from the board to approve the warrant so I can get corrected with the proper spelling of the Chairman's name and then post it tomorrow I make a motion we sign and approve the war second further discussion all those in favor J Han yes CH tanian yes thank you easy that was what took you so long that you just need that one last page sure yeah and can I you want to put it in the date or can I put it in the date you can put the date today is five the fifth day fifth day August so I'll entertain a motion to well I'll make a I can't make a motion I'll entertain a motion to review and sign the special town meeting warrant which we just did right yes so we're all set with that review and okay I'll make um entertain a motion to review and sign warrants what State primary election 2024 I make a motion to review and sign the warrant for the state primary election 2024 second doing both tonight allows us to use the conable once once send twice we have to sign that yeah I have it here any further discussion on that all those in shank we got through that is good 4.5 nishoba Valley discussion for food healthare um I have had um several conversations with several people in regards to that um so Ross you want excuse me you want to say what you had to say in regards to that and then we can fill in well I've talked to Chief as probably others have um the Sher Valley Medical Center receives about 16,000 emergeny room visits a year with their emminent closing um sometimes this month one that means other hospitals have to be able to pick up roughly 16,000 um er visits which may not easily happen um it means first of all there's going to be employees and some of them may be residents of towns and that be out of work thousand or there'll be businesses that Supply to them that will lose business so there's going to be an economic impact but to the point is the chief says that if they can't go to the Scher and have to reroute to other hospitals it could add as a minimum half an hour longer time in an ambulance which further verifies the need for our Advanced life support when I just saw the chief in a training session a month ago they have almost the same equipment as emergency room in the ambulance so our folks will be getting good care but they're 30 minutes for away from the hospital which is not good he thinks that because of the backlog of these hospitals it could be another hour and a half for the aimless to make a round trip to someplace else other than uh the Scher Valley he says if they go to Emerson and Conquer he says that's almost a three-hour loss by the time they get through the process in there so he's very concerned about being able to serve the public with without the hospital the suggestion is that the board send a letter to the governor highlighting these concerns you know obviously the economic impact on businesses and residents but really the medical impact of not being able to get to a good failly quickly and I was going to suggest the board vote to have one of you maybe with my help write a letter versus bringing a letter back in in two weeks or three weeks that we send a letter to the governor saying we're highly concerned and we want something done I think we should you know I mean Chaz CH if you'd like to or Ross if you had time I would support you know either one of you write it get it done and send it um I personally have been very active with Margaret Scarsdale our representative in regards to this issue um there was [Music] a her and I have been in contct Communication in regards to uh this particular issue um she did speak in front of legislature in regards to this which I put my own name to so she does have towns and's back when it comes to that um she has been very active with that Senator cronin's office has been very active with that um I get basically weekly updates from the both of them in regards to what what and where we are in the process so um I just want to be clear that we have been we the town have been active in the conversation in regards to it the second thing that um I just want to bring to to our attention is that um there was an article in the newspaper today in regards to apparently well let me back up the governor said that you know she wanted to see all five those hospitals within steart being picked up in order for this this the state to assist in some of the funding to pay the the the turnaround time from The Old Company to the new company which the state has voted that in their budget they've also I mean well they voted to to pay employees or I don't know how they're working fund it for a Monon or something so they they've already made that vote to do that it was my understanding that when Mary was asked um if she received bids for it she said that she and it was televised that she got bids for all of the the properties then we have this news that all but Carney hospital and the Sha have been picked up uh there there was a company that put in a bed for all of the companies um that was overlooked and that was that was denied so that is being looked at in regards to the bankruptcy and all that kind of stuff so there was a bid for all of the companies to be picked out so there still is all the hospitals yeah all the hospitals sorry so there is still a question on what what's what's going to go on and how they're going to do it or whatever um and that's I had a conversation with uh you two very important individuals in regards to this situation before I came here tonight that are saying that we're still not really sure outside of what the impact is going to be I believe there's a a safety factor involved in this as well that there are we are an agent community so there's a lot of individuals who who are in a on in that population that is not a comfortable feeling knowing that you're going to take another hour to get to a hospital because they rely on Thea most of our seniors here go to Thea correct I personally have a doctor that's up there and I've actually worked with the doctor in in my professional field and there's a lot of towns and residents that go up there for normal treatments um that go up for physicals they do a lot of physicals for kids and in sports and all of that they have special time frames that they you know they do bulk physicals and all that kind of stuff so there's a lot it's not just you know our our Public Safety here it does it it goes into the community the suggestion that uh Margaret had suggested to everybody in her speech to the legislature is everybody needs to get on the phone and you know reach out to the governor's office um but I will definitely put something together if you want both of you don't mind I I'll put it in of Ross put it put it together I'm okay with whatever don't wait you know two more weeks as soon as you put it together and whatever but send it out I appreciate that I just want to let everybody know I know there's a little bit of talk in town that we the board haven't been transparent to take in be dealing with this yourself myself and I don't know anyone else but I've had many conversations with different people in regards to this with Margaret and stuff and uh we are doing the best we can so I mean we're not out there to be seen doing things but there's a lot of stuff in the back room that we have to deal with conversations we have with people so we are doing with the individuals that I that I have talked to I have said that it's better to send off an email or or you know if call the office or however you need to do it I'd be much it's much easier to call the office and ask us questions send an email to me I I answer as many emails as I possibly can um you know rather than post you know a silly thing on Facebook or whatever let's if you got questions bring it to us you know I I'm not afraid to to answer any of those questions but we have been working really diligently send the letters to the governor um and copy um Margaret SC Scarsdale and Senator crony correct and I just for the record child just you hit the nail on the head them emails come in or they people on not emails but posting on Facebook and all that I don't personally ever respond not because I'm ignoring anybody but I always appreciate when I see you respond as a chair that's the right thing to do anything else on that just give us some money right um so 5.0 we have nothing in AR Town Administrator update um most of which we've covered the budget um trash frees Ste hospital I got an update today from the folks at good energy these are our consultants in the community electricity aggregation project um they said it was good news bad news I'm um the Department of Public Utilities has been revising their guidelines for how they will handle towns requesting to do an aggregation they've been doing it painfully for about nine months the department is finally after a lot of a lot of input agreed to the new guidelines but then they turned around and said that everybody that had previously applied had to reapply under the new guidelines uh we applied I came out and talked to the board back in April yeah to finalize our plan to send in in April um so good energy will have towns and's plan redone to the new guidelines by the end of this week to go in next week okay they interpret that as good news because part of the guidelines state that the dpu has 120 days to process these plants so maybe we're in the queue and the clock is ticking um my understanding is the dpu was way behind and there's a big backlog so maybe the fact that they now have to fit fit a timeline we'll hear something but I I want you to know that that project is still on the burner it's still moving still moving and I hope that in the fall I can come give you an update that where we actually are it has not been forgotten well I think it's a good news it's moving forward let's put it that and you're gonna stay on as uh I would like to to sign a new contract with the town to help to continue support the community aggregation project but we' have to bring that into a meeting right okay yeah right we don't want to let you go yet Ros no and I'm offering to be available as a sort of separate contract separate work to as a Town Administrator consultant if there's things that Nelson would like help with but I think that's a discussion between the board and Nelson yeah on what should be done or not done with that but anyway I want the electrical aggregation to come forward and I'm still working that that is all I have for today my life has been budgets and town meeting so mine too so now it's all over just got to wait for it there's a little bit of work between now and then but yes uh 523 announcements and Communications I do not have anything deal with it tomorrow oh can deal with that tomorrow oh that's just that's just gonna go out oh all right I got you going out all right I'm sorry 5.4 next meeting is going to be tomorrow night uh 8 6 at 6: pm. and I'll entertain a motion to review and sign payroll and Bill's payable warrants out of session so moved second that all those in favor shank yes cherini yes make a motion wej second that motion discussion all those in favor Jo shank yes deranian yes [Music]