hi good evening everyone today is April 9th 2024 this is the finance committee meeting it is 6:31 I'd like to call the meeting to order with a pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance pledge allegiance of the United it stands and justice for all this meeting is being held remotely in accordance with the governor of Massachusetts March 12 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law GLC 38 section 20 and on March 29th 2023 Governor Haley signed a supplemental 2023 budget Bill allowing remote meetings and hybrid meeting options for public bodies through March 31st 2025 this meeting is being recorded well hello again everyone it seems like uh we just just were together not too long ago um before we get started I just want to thank everyone for the enormous amount of time that we've all put in to reviewing all the Warren articles and I really appreciate all the conversations that everyone had and every every comment was so thoughtful and I think all however we voted doesn't matter but we were respectful to each other and we all articulated our views and I really really appreciate that so I just want to thank you all for that well the year say that you can have conducted consistently really wonderful meetings and some of them have been like hurting cats but you you've done a great job and and I just want to Oh thanks thank you I didn't realize my uh video was off um so tonight um I think the what I wanted to do is should be really quick um the final thing that needs to be done is there's a letter that goes in front of the warrant um which is really a a one-page kind of summary that probably not many people read um I wanted to pull last year's and kind of revise it I I almost think um the letter is nearly identical to the State of Affairs of what we talked about uh in last Year's budget and I'll be happy to send it after this meeting that maybe we can just take a a look at it and if you want to get back to me with your comments directly um it's really a state of affairs of you know we're we're in a structural deficit budgets are limited you know everything that we've been talking about so the only thing last year we talked about you know hey we have an override coming um so this year that can get excluded but I don't really have anything unique to say so that letter comes from the finance committee so you know we all should kind of make sure uh what is said uh you feel comfortable with but it should be pretty much the same as last year so I'll forward that afterwards and then if anyone has any comments then we can I can we can modify um Karen for those of us new be what is the in what is what's the intent of the letter is it to summar how we voted is it to what what's what is is it you know what's the intent of it yeah it's just um it's really just describing the fiscal budget as a high high level like what is the fiscal state of Westport okay um yeah I guess taking a look at that letter from last year yeah and if um yeah that would be that would be helpful to look at it's it's it's pretty generic it um I can TR right it's a hot level I get it I I get it but I didn't know if we were conveying like how we voted in general like what the feeling was when we how we voted on different articles what how we approached it right the how would the vote taken what what was the intent on every vote so I'm not sure but I'll take a look at the letter no I can I can read I can kind of highlight it really quick so it's last year said westport's been in an operating in a chronic structural deficit uh expenses outpacing revenue is a structural deficit the town has cut or limited its Personnel while increasing responsibilities postpone maintenance cut back on Services fail to adopt next Necessary Technology the town has not maintained recommended levels of the stabilization funding lacking available resources the town has not addressed many of its long-term capital needs including town properties and building needs and equipment then the next section is all major Revenue components are not keeping up with the demands for Town Services property taxes are constrained by proposition two and a half and previous overrides have been unsuccessful state aid which is local Aid growth has been limited local receipts are tied to economic conditions and Westport is limited ability to grow them there are few Sustainable New Revenue sources and the opport unities are limited and the third section is required expenses and assessments are increasing Westport faces growing demands to increase expenditures in all its Municipal Services the town must comply with additional required unfunded state and federal mandates inflation increases the cost of goods and services and raises compensation levels in order to compete the Departments are lacking resources to continue vital Services there are not sufficient revenues to support these needed expenditures virtually every department and all of westport's sector of General government public safety schools public works and Facilities Human Services culture and recreation are lacking the resources to adequately provide needed services to our town residents The Chronic deficit will continue in future years as we look ahead and this was last year so as we look ahead to 2025 the fiscal Outlook does not improve in fact the structural deficit grows each year Revenue continues to be limited and expenses are increased expense increases are dictated by growth inflation and other mandates that outpace available funds both the town departments and school of growing demands and are further challenged with recent High inflation this lack of funding means in addition to deficiencies in the operating budget the town must delay its routine maintenance and defer Capital expenditures the town is not able to address its long-term needs such as addressing long-term liabilities in long-term property needs nor able to fund the stabilization fund to recommended levels the town continues to rely on free cash which is one-time funds to support and balance the operating budget that's pretty much it nothing's changed we just changed the DAT that's what I'm all over like other than that other than that Mrs Lincoln how was the play yeah that's pretty sad it's exact I mean I don't know I don't know anything different to add so no I think what we said last year only add that you did the fiveyear plan and doesn't look any better yeah we could add that we could say that we're um the work we're working with the select board to develop a fiveyear capital operating plan and that's in the works but that's a great that's a great addition to add sorry Mr Le I didn't raise my hand no no go ahead we're freefor all now I just had a comment it really wasn't anything necessarily to do with this this letter but one of the most confusing parts for people General taxpayers in the town and I've got to admit it took me a while to get my head around it is the impact of new growth and the um the long-term effect of prop two and a half you know everybody looks at whether it is the economic development potential uh if this passes on Route Six or new houses on Sodom Road whatever it might be and people think that that money is just additive to the to the over all Budget on you know and it's it's it's not we know that we don't need to discuss that at length but may now that is that that is new revenue for new construction it is but but then it gets cooked into into the uh the next year into the levy so yes it is additive I I don't disagree with you but on the flip side it's not like there's a$1 million um uh amp an in that is is being you know put in the books and it's a you know $500,000 uh uh assessment that is automatically going into you know the the you know the pot all the time it I'm sorry to say it but that example is not right that it is the the the tax on new construction is new money the increase in value is simply redistributes among different people new construction is new money in addition to the prior it doesn't two and a half% doesn't apply I I misspoke but overall when it when it comes down to the the overall Revenue to the town does not increase it gets redistributed and and no that it does increase that is the exception it does increase with new construction period if you build if you build a $10 million HT in we get to add the tax value of that Hampton in that valuation the the value of that gets to be added to the tax roles to have increase to increase the levy based on that additional 10 million right you do get we still cannot increase yeah no we get to increase the tax so we had a levy of $50 million yeah we added that and the tax on that particular piece of property was $100,000 our new Levy is $1,100,000 because it's new construction the following year we start with 10 million1 100,000 so then it becomes additive and you can Compound on that new growth right so it's not a one shot deal attit but it does get redistributed throughout the town oh it just adds to well as the taxes do yeah right it what I mean what I mean potenti expens in terms of Housing and so forth the revenue same thing there a bunch of presidential houses they're new they add new Revenue but they bring with them additional expenses for surfacing those taxpayers but that's on the other side that's the expense side doesn't affect what we're talking about yeah okay the only thing that increases the levy is either an override a permanent override or um New Growth I mean a growth that's it right right so which leads me to uh so we have so last year I had done a 28 page memo that went through various aspects and I don't have any ability and time to do that again this year um and that kind of led into kind of providing some information to the general public in advance and then I did a PowerPoint presentation um so I'm I was talking to Steve Forest today and I said I'm not really sure if I want to do a presentation I'm not sure what anything new that we have to say but there are could be new people in the audience that haven't been there before so um I can do a very small presentation that really focuses on some of the key things um and maybe one of those is just explaining how the property tax works I had that schedule that I can add in there I think I also I also think the explanation of Al's favorite term free cash yeah I think I think that would just be a very you know basic primer on how free cash is create created it's like retained earnings you know on a on a balance sheet it's that excess cash or or net income net income so to speak that gets carried over from the following year and it's like that and it's like spending your savings account yeah I think Cindy is right that also we all know that the term is misleading it's free cash I found on the sidewalk when I walked into town meeting no but it's as she was explaining I think that's useful because that's one of the things I think people understand the least yeah and I think Karen last year the the the it needed to be a little bit more elaborate because we were talking about an override we were talking about you know this this year I think just a refresh refresher or whatever you want to yep agreed yep I agree too because the last two years I really did those memos really to prime prime everyone to understand the desperate situation that we're in so I think I'm a very small few slides I agree free cash and then a slide that will show how we're looking to use the free cash in all the warrant articles so we can show you know adding a 100,000 here and and that so I can we can do that sort of slide so and I I would I would be I would borrow a lot from you know this the as to how they explain some of these things I don't think you have to be NE necessarily you know individually creative and and work you know work too hard on your brain matter on this I mean I think no I already explained it in last year's presentation so it really it's already there so I can take last year's and just kind of scale it down to three or four slides so I think also emphasizing that freecash is shows up each year and there's no it's been a consistent but that's somewhat misleading because it depends upon what's happened at the prior year and there's no way to control it A or B really to to uh predict it other than past practice right and not guarantee of future results right right okay so I'll work on a little mini PowerPoint presentation for for town meeting that night of town meeting the one other thing that if we want to do um we could have an informational meeting like this say a week before town meeting that we invite the public to come do you want to come and ask questions about the budget a week before town meeting and we can be here to answer questions that's another option it doesn't need to be a full committee it could be I think I think it would probably be more advantageous to have the slides continually run on Westport TV maybe and and and so we don't have to really invite the public they can at their Leisure maybe watch it right I I did do that also one year I took the that same PowerPoint presentation and then I I narrated it um and then shot it over to TV so that it could can scream I'm not really sure I'm gonna have really time to do that um in advance I remember we did it one time at the high school and I think only there was only like a handful of people that showed up yeah well it it you're right Gary it was a colossal unfortunate but with with today's you know modern remote meeting like this there might be people that tune in for a half an hour to ask a question rather than come to yeah you know a physical space on Saturday morning and all of that do we have a Facebook I mean not that I'm promoting Facebook but I mean Facebook or the town website can we put stuff on there yeah I think if we decided to do an in info we could definitely put it on the town's website I'm sure we could either send the letter to the editor or I'm sure the shorelines would be happy to post you know a little article for us to say hey the finance committee is wants to hear from if you have questions I'm sure we can we can get it out in the paper and I'm sure we can get it on the Town's website and we can promote it on social media also if if we wanted to do that putting it on the website but I think that the response that we've ever gotten from any of these efforts to educate has been at least 2% and maybe zero I really don't think it's worth the effort to do all the things that are well intended I know but I don't really think it has any return I mean we're in a kind of a status quo mode here I mean you know it's really what do we do between now and the nextal year you know yeah I I'd like to say Karen I thought your responses on Facebook to the various websites that are following what we're doing and following the town were really in informational and I thought I thought you really struck a a leadership pose and and you know the more we can do that type of stuff I think will help the town overall yeah thank you yeah I I was trying to trying to respond and and not with any opinion just trying to help solid try to keep people on a factual nature um but I'd be willing to a week before town meeting to do it uh again it doesn't need to be a full committee if a few folks wanted to do it it may if nobody shows up in 10 minutes then it's over pretty quick yeah and be I wouldn't I wouldn't feel the need to prepare any material so it would be the warrant will already be posted in out so everyone should and could have access to it um the budget's going to be printed in there so everyone can see it so it would really be if someone had some questions yeah and I don't know if people do because they're not here right now either you know where where they part of my point right so you knowen I'm gonna interject here I agree with you I think that what we're doing is preaching to the same probably 20 people that loop around and loop around and they've already got their minds made up and I'm not sure that it is a good use of of your time and your energy uh what you know however limited you know it is to to do this you know when all said and done uh and I I I monitor Facebook all the time sometimes I throw a bomb sometimes I I re I respond and it's the same 10 or 15 people that are always um you know speaking not that they shouldn't be speaking but they've already got their information from a variety of different sources or at least they think they have so I kind of echo uh use com and and Duncan in the sense that you've you've been very thoughtful in doing what you're doing but I'm just not sure that the additive effect of having a meeting and doing PowerPoint and everything else is is going to move the needle yeah it's very hard to engage people that's the issue well I I think along those same lines following what what Al was saying you know that it does seem to be you know a regular uh group of people just by virtue of invitation if they if they follow these meetings and they watch the recordings of this on YouTube I I kind of track this our numbers go up and down anywhere from you know maybe 19 or so people that have viewed it and maybe that's me watching it three times because I wanted to catch something and I had to stop and I had to go go back to it again or well I watch it four times so that's probably the whole committee so uh you know so the numbers vary anywhere from you know 19 to maybe 35 so um you know just by virtue of invitation here that if you know if if there are you know if there are things that people you know want to know about that that feel that they don't have the information reach out I mean give them uh you know the um fincom email address if they wanted to uh send an email to us to ask some questions if we get questions we're happy to answer them I mean it it we've never we've never denied anyone access it's always hard to know who's out there and who's listening and what they want to know you know we're not mind readers so we're here we're here every Tuesday and um we rarely get live visitors that come and watch us but they some people do watch uh the the recording of it um but our meeting has always been open but and no one ever shows so you know if you posted a meeting saying you know come and ask questions I'm not sure that anyone would show either yeah yeah you watch I watch other committee meetings and you know a lot of times they reference the finance committee so there are people that watch whether or not they they go and comment I mean that's another thing but they you know if you watch watch this last select board meeting um you know there was a gentleman that stood up and said he you know he heard us talk about the the project the s project water s project and you know he got he gets a lot of information from the finance committee so even though they don't directly talk to us they they do listen I think they are watching these meetings which is good yeah along along those same veins I told Karen today that you know in the in the course of my travels over the last week I was impressed and quite frankly surprised the amount of um uh you know I'll use a common phrase you know street cred the finance committee has gotten over the last week based on our vote in the very public display of that that was posted by shorelines uh you know which is fine I I don't I don't have any problem with it you know I I didn't vote with the majority and I'll stand by that and and I'm I I have no issue with that at all um but I was very impressed I mean even today speaking with a woman who I was making an appointment to get our our septic system you know emptied right and so then she starts talking about the whole Route Six thing she did not know I was a member of the of the finance committee and she starts talking she said oh well you know if the finance committee you know has questions about it then you know I C certainly seriously will think twice about the so and I was getting that in different places in in various conversations so um I think that um we have to I I think we have to understand that we you know we do carry that credibility and it's important people do pay attention to what we say they may not come to our meetings directly but I think they do pay attention to our opinions and and the process that we go through uh and that's important because um like I said I was very impressed over the past week how many people referenced um the work that the finance did and and our vote that we took last week so I think it's yeah it's important too that you know we stay independent from what other committees and other individuals may want us to feel or want us to speak I that we stay independent as much as we can and I think that's what the What the residents expect right so um just whoever might be watching or listening to this meeting so um if we if anybody has any questions and wants to reach the finance committee they're on the town's website you can go to the finance committee's page and it there's a little section there that says send us an email uh or the email is fincom Westport do- mass.com um is our email address and then you can send that and that that will actually get forwarded to every member of our committee all at once so um that's how someone can reach us if they need to and certainly if they have don't even can't find that they can certainly call town hall or and somebody will Point them in the direction to get in touch with us so if somebody has a question about something um I'm happy to help try to answer it as best I can so um people can reach out that way too Ken if if if you don't mind after we finish this meeting what I might might do is if if with with approval from the board is to is to put what you just said on Facebook with the link so that it's you know easier for people whether it whether it's uh Westport mass.gov or um you know give them your your home address so they can uh yeah absolutely and and fincom has a Facebook page so I can post that on there too and then great everyone can share it too so um just so you know if somebody needs to reach out um they certainly can ask questions it doesn't need to just be in this meeting so um especially since we may not be really having any more from now until then um I don't think we need to have another meeting right between now and town meting you feel so odd to me but um no more no more Tuesday nights my only suggestion we have historically posted one before the town meeting right right just in case right then we can at least cancel it right yes normally for for those that are new here so we right you're absolutely right Hugh we always meet is it a half hour or an hour before 10wn meeting before meeting in case something comes up and in case there's something that that we need to discuss or change uh we want to just touch base um and just to remind uh everyone and there again some of you are new so Steve fors always encourages the finance committee to help speak at town meeting so um the position that the finance committee has taken we should be able to defend and why we chose why we voted the way that we did um and so you know there's some there certainly are some articles that were not unanimous and if we're going to H represent the finance committee and if we're going to go up to the mic and discuss it we would be discussing the finance committee's recommendations certainly anybody who can go up as a resident any one of us can go up as a resident so if you have an opposing position to what the finance committee took the only recommendation is to disclose hello I'm on the finance committee but I'm not speaking on behalf of the finance committee I'm speaking as me as a resident and then say whatever you want so anybody can do any of that um but in terms of you know Cindy and I are going to be up on the table so we both have mics it's not always easy Steve doesn't see us you know sometimes I'm trying to flag him to get in q but he doesn't even necessarily know that we're trying to get in que so camon remember you're behind him yeah hard for him to say you have to make noise or so drop something I have called G Steve and then he's looking around the whole room but again and and it's important for for residents to hear from someone else not just from myself or Cindy so everyone has a perspective so feel free to uh if questions come up feel free to um make yourself available if you can um so that's all I have to say on town meeting um so we do need to review and approve our minutes would be helpful and these these two minutes that we so does anyone have anything else before I move on on town meeting or any questions or okay I would advise getting there early because uh I think there's going to be a big crowd this uh town meeting I would suspect um but so if you want a place to park get there early and bring a gallon of coffee with [Laughter] you uh all right so okay so the the sets of we have three sets of minutes to approve the I just want to make sure in the back is the chart of what we think everyone's votes for I want to make sure everyone has reviewed the own and you're comfortable because it was really hard to to you know to be part of the meeting and take the notes and hopefully everyone's had a chance to look at your own um your own votes and that that everything's okay so hopefully everyone did that and we did a good job with that so I can um what minutes could someone help me with the dates of the minutes that we have to do tonight we had March 26th we have April 2nd which was last week we had March 26th and what was we had an earlier date think it was the nth 19th March 19th okay thank you um do uh anyone want to make a motion for the 19th so moved second thank you uh any discussion on those at all okay roll call thank you brown I Duncan Duncan you're un mut D laot I thank you Hugh H Morton I Michelle M and I Gary Gary yes and Karen Ral I thank you all right so now we have the meetings of March 26th and that's the that was our first set of recommendations for the the easier right um so that any any motion on on to accept make a motion to approve thank you second thank you any discussions all right Alie Cindy Cindy Brown I Duncan law I Hugh Hugh Morton I Michelle Michelle Lando I Gary Gary yes thank you and Karen Rouse I all right the last set of minutes that we have is the April 2nd minutes in um again the chart is in there as well which is cumulative for all our minutes all our all our recommendations so any discussion Karen did you address one of the members had had questioned the vote uh and we and the and the and the recording cut off at that vote were we able to recapture that what vote was that uh I believe it was Al had you know wasn't sure that his vote was recorded correctly on was it article like 42 or 43 something like that and when you go back and listen to the recording it stops just before that oh well Al probably remembers what his vot was right right so we we had it on the chart incorrectly and you were and you were going to have Jess check to see or you sent a you sent an email actually to Valerie to see if it could be fixed well I was I I I I'll I'll weigh in and I I wasn't necessarily questioning my vote it was questioning you know I I it was late late in the game and and and on and on but but what I would like to say if we can modify is that I will defer to the majority of of that in because I I can you know two plus weeks uh prior to it's it's I can't remember what anymore what my vote might have been it was so I think when you so I think we were talking about article 43 and 44 and so right right I think the three people that voted the same on the Nay is what I have in this chart Al so I have you for article 43 and 44 was a nay and a nay refresh my memory on article 43 and 44 if you so 43 I believe was the special education establishing no I think those are the zoning articles aren't they no no 43 no you're right you're right you're right you're right I'm sorry you're right you're right that's okay um article 43 was to establish the special education fund and then the next article was to move some funds from a previous article to to fund this speci to a capital expenditure and and I think at the time if I remember correctly uh my my thought was we can't we can't find money to support the regular Capital uh the stabilization fund or whatever so how are we going to find money to to continue to fund this I don't have a particular issue at all with the concept of it but I'm not sure that I have you know enough information to uh uh figure out how we're going to do this on a long-term basis so that's okay so we're just confirming whatever vote you said we just want to confirm what it was I'm just gonna stick with what whatever I I did at the time okay okay right here you remind me we were not sure about the authority they think we asked about I'm not don't remember getting an answer right correct I I I have since during the course of the week I asked the town accountant and she had because you'll remember Nicole left the meeting before we talked about this and uh I had some other um Personnel Board issues uh to talk with her about and I asked her about that and she said that she was going to check uh with the town admin ministrator I then did talk with Jim on another matter before he left he's away this week um and he said that he thought that it was fine that he thought that KP law signed off on all of it but he would certainly double check with them but now he's away this week so we don't we don't have an answer is the short answer we don't have an answer okay well that would be if if something changed we could make them on the floor we would change our motion if if we come to that so um that's right votes because we don't know what we're doing right so the minutes are seem okay uh what will get printed in the art in the warrant is really going to be our votes nine to no nine to zero or it doesn't list who voted what it just lists the the names but the minutes will reflect everything so um if everyone's okay with the minutes here in the chart then I would entertain a motion to um so moved so moved second thank you so much um I lost you guys sorry we're still here um H I know my screen's not I'll find you one second um Cindy do you want to do the roll call while I S to a absolutely Ellie ell Ellie's I uh I'm gonna go based on who I can see here right now Duncan l dunin law I Michelle Orlando Michelle Orlando I you Morton you Morton I uh Gary carero yes Karen Rose I thank you Cindy Brown I thank you okay so um I do have something to discuss that comes up in less than 48 hours notice and we just received an open meeting law uh violation today and oops I'm calling up the wrong thing um so that's been circulated to everyone um I will be happy to speak with um Jim Hartnett to um look for some direction on how to answer some of those questions that were on there I think that's a good idea Karen okay I agree with that I also suggest after that that a letter to the attorney general acknowledging we've received it but in essence remind them that this is a very uh inconsequential claim is that something we can do to not have to waste time dealing with it is that their jurisdiction great I think I I I don't want to I don't want to to overstate this but this is just this is just nitpicking uh exactly yeah so okay so thank you so I'm trying to so after I read the the open meeting law violation and then I reread our minutes there was just a I could we could use just a slight more clarity in our minutes and I'm trying to call get it called up on the screen so that we can review my edits and potentially reapo them and all right Aon while you're doing that just let me say this is not a Judicial proceding there is such a thing as a vexatious litig which is a Court's way of saying we've had enough of this person and we're not gonna you can't file anything more We're not gonna pay any attention to you now that's this guy does not rise to that level but the Attorney General can certainly do that sort of thing we understand where this is coming from great thank you Hugh um so some of the some of the some of the comment that was made and we don't need to belabor uh the the comment here but was that it made it appear that we were having a department meeting with the school and we didn't post that on our agenda um and so when I read the reread our minutes what we should have said in the minutes and what I I have highlighted in yellow so these are the minutes that have already been approved and I'm asking for us to consider the edits right now and then reapproved one was department meetings in a um so we should be clear that we did not hold a department budget meeting with the school uh on March 12th um what we did was we met with the select board chair in Jim hartnet to review the select board's fiscal 25 budget and the items that we were discussing were particularly the school budget in the town uh engineer so we weren't having budget meetings did I did our agenda reflect that we were meeting with the select board our agenda reflected fiscal 25 budget discussions okay which that uh and we didn't meet with the select board as a whole so we met with a representative of this of that so um so these are the ETS that I have um so again we recapped our where we stood with the school budget this was not new information that we were discussing the first time this was a recap so I wanted to add to the minutes that it's a recap from previous meetings um then Nancy staning cross the school committee chair did attend the meeting it wasn't she attended on her own accord it wasn't a scheduled budget meeting with the school committee where they came in and did a presentation so Nancy was in the meeting made some comments and we noted that in the minutes um so I'm hoping if we can add this in just to clarify that we did not hold a school committee budget meeting on March 12th and that might help some clarification yeah let's just move to approve okay I would appreciate that you know I think I think it's interesting so to just to discuss those edits I mean I think one of the items that were brought that was brought up in the complaint was that um you know we had a discussion about the town engineer position it was the Town Administrator that brought it up I mean we have no control over items that our discussion with the overall budget we don't know what he was going to talk about he could have been talking about um you know changing the the the manager at the at the at the transfer station I mean we would have no way of knowing what types of things in advance they would want to discuss so the the the entity that filed the the complaint on this issue cited that one thing that we discussed the town engineer and that people would have been interested perhaps in knowing that in advance we didn't know that in advance necessarily because it it according to the minutes there the Town Administrator you know discussed that so um anyway I mean that's that it's always hard for us to know what's gonna what's gonna you know be be asked of us or what someone wants to discuss so um we we can't we can't do it in advance we didn't have Department presentations but we did have on our posting that we're discussing the fiscal 25 budget and that could be anything that could be Revenue that could be anything and so you know our conversations were I believe appropriate on the Absolut posting our minutes might have been a little confusing to make it seem like we were holding a meeting so did someone second the motion yes thank you any other discussion if not we will reapproved minutes of March 12th with those edits in yellow as amended yeah thank you uh Al Al Le I Cindy Cindy Brown I Duncan Duncan law I Hugh two more than I Michelle Karen I wasn't at that meeting I should abstain okay thank you Gary uh yes thank you and Karen R I thank you all right I don't think we got anything else right so next meeting is our town meeting um half an hour before so that is what's the date on that may I should know that may seven I believe all right I would suggest that maybe that clarification you've been talking about goes into the letter to the attorney general when it goes because that's saying that this is a waste of everybody's time oh definitely we'll definitely put it that in and and I'll I might reach out to Hugh Hugh with with some guidance so I appreciate it if you're available yeah yeah I I I would I would because you know I I I hate to use the word but I will because I'm probably going to get chastised for it it it it borders on harassment at this point in time in in my opinion there's there's there's an individual that that has nothing but time on his or her hands that is nitpicking uh insignificant insignificant things that that are happening not only in Westport but I'm guessing be in some other towns so I I just I just think we we have bigger fish to fry than to to you know be responding all the time to the to these uh letters inuendos and everything else now I think you rais extra very good point that I have thought of that this guy is harassing a lot of people it isn't just us and from the attorney general standpoint it's not helping his constituency I.E the towns getting their work done efficiently right to watch they you know they use the term you know they were Watchdog operations so they you know they nitpick at at things but but he he he finds or that firm finds correct things to nitpick at I mean they they're not incorrect I mean you know we don't significant it's the difference corre so yeah let's let's end let's end let's end this I just want to say I you know whatever we do I try to be the most transparent person in the world and so if there's an opportunity to make sure our postings are more applicable in in accordance even if it's above and Beyond what's necessary I'm happy to do that so happy to make sure the minutes are clear whatever we need to do um we need to stay transparent which we are that means um making a couple of edits I you for that Kar yeah but we don't want to have to do twice the work to appease someone who is not raising anything important to anybody so that's no appreciate that yeah absolutely you're the perfect person for the I agree yes thank you years prce has never tell anybody anything because it's all confidential other end of the spectrum all right anything else before we wrap it up no I'm gonna make a to adjourn so that we can enjoy the rest of the day please do second second second thank you all right Al Al's ey of course Cindy Cindy Brown I Duncan Duncan law i h you Wharton I Michelle shando I Gary yes and car RS I thank you everyone