Right. It is 400 p.m. Tuesday, December 16th. It's a meeting of the Krishna Board of Select. There's a motion to call the meeting to order. So move. >> Second. All those in favor. >> Please rise. 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. >> With it being um one of the last meetings of the new year, we've got a
lot of uh issues on the table uh this evening. Uh most importantly, two most important ones are when talk about our current financial situation. Also, we have a uh Jesse Ellis, member of the school committee, is going to talk to us
about um air quality uh issues and also we'll be going over our liquor licenses amongst other things. But before we do that, we have a Verizon poll hearing. So, we need to open that up. Is there a motion to uh open up Verizon poll hearing? Keem road ke pole location.
This hearing is on the petition. That's on the petition. Job number 4 A0 Y3T from Verizon New England, Inc. and NStar Electric Company doing business as Eversource Energy, Keen Road, Keen Road.
Locate one JO Midspan pole 75 6 9 7 ft 6 in. >> No, that's the name. >> Oh, sorry. Sorry about that. 756 9 ft from its original location on the north side of Keen Road. The relocated pole
will be installed in line with approximately 162 feet west of the existing pole 756.5 and approximately 171 ft east of existing pole 75-5. Is there a motion to open up this
hearing? >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favors. Uh all those in favor I motion carries. Uh the petitioner. Yes. Please do it right from there. >> Oh okay. I didn't know if you need it on camera. Um, good afternoon. Uh, I am
Kate Rugman. I'm a consultant for Verizon. Um, if you need an address, it's 300 Unicorn Park Drive and that's Wburn, Mass 01801. And as I just stated, um, I was assigned the scope of work for Verizon. It is, as mentioned, um, on the
agenda. It's a joint own Verizon and Eversource pole. Um they're looking to relocate it um approximately 9 ft from its original location and it came in um as a customer request for Ever Source because they're redeveloping uh behind
there. I believe it's I want to say it might be five houses or something >> old drive, >> right? Um so this they needed it to to basically I think extend the driveway. Um and it's in line as it says with the other pole locations. Um, and that's why
we're here for a grand location from selectman. >> Is there anybody from the uh any butters? Anybody from the neighborhood? All of this was posted and >> you should have right. You should have the schematic of it. >> Yep. I don't see anybody. There's nobody here. Gentlemen, any thoughts? Mr.
Chairman, I make a motion to approve. >> I'll second. All those in favor? I motion carries. Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'll make a motion to close the public hearing, Mr. Chandler. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Hi. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item on the agenda is uh
we were notified by the town of Lakeville. Um, this is an appropriate uh request. Uh, I'm sorry, town of Fair Haven as circulating a letter to their uh to our legislative delegation talking
about um current state aid and the the importance of, you know, making sure municipalities are not having to automatically go to overrides um to fund operating costs. And so, it's
appropriate. We do have a meeting later on this evening on state of town finances. I did invite Representative Sylvia in Wlette who I believe will be here. But essentially Fe Haven is asking us to join other towns in sending a
letter uh you know uh asking for additional local aid and greater uh you know more help to the town. So Haven, Lakeville, others have uh have done the same. So with that said, gentlemen, it's a draft letter for your consideration if
you're okay with it. A motion to uh approve and send to our legislative delegation. >> So move second. >> All those in favor? >> I motion carries. We can give uh Rep. Sylvia that. Uh, next item is from the
town of Lakeville is that they voted at their meeting held on December 2nd, 2025, the Lakeville Select Board voted to approve the renewal of the contract with the town of Aushnet to utilize the Lakeville Animal Shelter for housing stray and surrender to Kushnet dogs for 2026.
I've attached two copies of the agreement. We review these note due to increased costs and inspections by the Mass Department of Agricultural Resources which required substantial repairs at the shelter. The select board has voted to assess each town that boards with Lake Hill shelter an annual
fee of $500 which is due by July 15th. Um this is renewal of a past agreement. Um any questions? >> Motion to approve, Mr. Chairman. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I car. >> Um next item, gentlemen. Um, I put on
the agenda as town council RFP. No action needed right now other than as we, you know, again, we're going to talk about town finances. You know, looking at past years of town council and those fees. Um, you know, I realize that we've
had a couple big ticket items that we've had to deal with that hopefully now on the way. But with that said, I know in years past, Mr. Casper when we were on the board in our first iteration um we've gone out we put out an RFP and and got some competition and I think when we
did that we were able to drive down some some prices but I think since um you know since that time I know there are a number of local firms who are providing town council to our surrounding neighbors and this is nothing against um
KP law I think they're great and they've got a lot of institutional memory knowledge about the town of Arushnet, but I do think it's at least worth going through that process and to see where where it plays out. Um, if that's something that the board feels is a good idea, we can then ask staff to develop
an RFP that we can issue at some point after the first of the year. Um, I think there's obviously some specific stuff that KP makes sense for, you know, like um, uh, you know, when it's negotiations or what have you, but again, there may
be other there maybe other expertise locally um that we might be able to tap into. So just your thoughts on >> I I don't have a problem with it. I think it's I think it's good business practice with the chairman to get it out there and every year we're supposed to
appoint council by the charter. So >> I have no problem doing that and put it out for an RP. I think it does warrant, they're not just rubber stamping their renewal and perhaps they get a little better rating moving forward in the future. >> All right, that stay consistent.
>> Could I have a motion to direct staff to develop an illegal RFP um for legal services? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Then we'll review next. >> Mr. Chairman, I think that we already have one on file from a couple years ago. we could just review that RFP and
see if it's um you know standardized that we can use it at this time as well. >> Fair enough. >> I believe we did one 3 years ago and it just didn't get any traction cuz we got busy with other things. I'm pretty sure we have a well drafted might just need a
date change. Okay. >> All right. Next item on the agenda is um looking at some of our fees starting off with the building department as part of our overall effort to sort of modernize and bring things up to uh current day
financial finances. Uh we never want to uh you know put a a burden on any of our uh residents. Um but we got to at least make sure that our fees schedule is in alignment with what it costs to provide the service. Uh, most notably, we've got
uh in our building department, local inspectors. We're paying them $30 an uh $30 a visit. Um, you know, I don't know that that's attractive uh in this day and age. It's the lowest in the area. So, I propose that we move that up to $50. Same with our electrical wire
inspector up to $50. And, uh, I believe we do have money in the budget to to do that midyear. And then moving forward, we would have that as part of our fee schedule. Um, and then in addition to that, the other application fees in the building department like roofing from
$75 to $85, siding from 75 to 85, window from 25 just a flat fee of $75, insulation 50 to 60, pellet wood stove from 100 to that that'll stay flat.
Chimney from 80 remains 80. Pools above ground 50 to 75. Pools in ground 100 to 125. Demolition of a whole house, $100 to $500. I know all that happens very often. Shed from 30 to over 350 square
feet from 30 to 60. Shed under 30 uh 350 ft. 40 bucks. Solar ground mounted 250 to 300. Solar roof mounted 200 to 2 and a4. Temporary signs, temporary signs from uh $50.
Uh signs as allowed 75 bucks. new dwelling from 40 cents per square foot. So, 50 cents per square foot and addition alteration 50 to 40 to 50. And then lastly, reinspection fee from 50 to 60.
Again, these are we try to be fair. Um don't necessarily have to be the most expensive in the area, but at least keep up with the cost of having to do business. So, Mr. Jim, just on one note, if there's anybody looks at the building department fees for solar ground mounted, solar roof mounted, those are
for residential only, not commercial. >> Correct. Good point. >> So motion to approve the list as presented. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I thank you, gentlemen. >> Mr. Chairman, if I may, um, after reviewing the initial supplied information, this still keeps
us underneath a lot of the surrounding towns. So, I just wanted to let people know that, you know, the building department put some real cognizant effort into making sure that they didn't, you know, really really push high fees on our local projects.
Um, all right. Next item is, uh, again, this is just this is much housekeeping. Uh, a town meeting approved um the town to go forward, the golf committee and the board select them to go forward with a clubhouse at the golf course. Um and
you know we did have a an exploratory committee that helped come forward with a recommendation. I think that was really um very very helpful in the process um to do that and you know there's a lot of talent there. But that said moving forward you know it's
clearly in the purview of the golf management committee. I think they're going to take ownership of that process moving forward and in working in conjunction with the board of selectmen who are ultimately ultimately responsible for everything that goes on at the golf course. Uh they say perception is reality, right? So
anything in town whether we're directly managing it on a day-to-day basis at the end of the day people look to the board of selectman for not so much the success but if there's anything going wrong. So with that said, um just wanted to get your thoughts, gentlemen, on you know
there's a lot of tal there were a lot of talent there are a lot of talented people who served on the exploratory committee and I know some have reached out about at least staying involved in the process as in an advisory capacity again not to supplant the golf management committee um but just want to
get your thoughts on that. I know Dave Flynn's here on behalf of the golf uh management committee just get your thoughts on how you feel about that but I would hate to see all that talent go to waste um because we might be able to to to leverage that. That was the point of having them involved. So before that
before we kick it over to Dave gentlemen thoughts I I don't have anything. I uh I think I said in that last meeting that I was fully confident with both the committees together that they'd come up with something that would be beneficial and uh I would defer to the golf management
committee. >> Yeah, I I you know we'll see what u Mr. Flynn as the chairman of the golf management committee asked as a recommendation but um I agree, Mr. Chairman. I think the exploratory committee has some talent to it. I think if we're going to do anything, we can
just reach out to the number of members and see who still has an interest in serving in an advisory capacity and see that maybe it's all of them, maybe it's a portion of them, whatever it may be. But um we definitely have some work to do um with the development committee and
if if so the exploratory committee on some internal design features that what we've seen before but need some improvement and tweaking. Um, but I look forward to getting that process moving as fast as we can um to get ourselves
some new clubhouse. Okay. I definitely agree with what you guys are saying. We appreciate the work that the facilities exploratory committee did and I I kind of foresee it as a good saying that now us as a golf management committee kind of own this project going forward but you're right if we
electrical we want to reach out to Doug if it's design if we want to reach out to Richard site work out to Jeff something like that any work that they feel that they can help us still continue with the suggestions from the work that they built on is certainly welcomed by us but I also do kind of see it as the comp management committee is
kind of like through the selectment and the people who are taking and going with it now and going forward with it and also just to comply as you probably already know about with the municipal public construction laws probably over one and a half million we have to hire an OPM
anyway so they would be like the real technical expertise to help weigh in as needed on certain things but certainly the local expertise the local field of our community what we want and their background is certainly more than welcome gentlemen
you can send out a joint email from the board and the golf management committee either from the you know Mr. Flynn and myself as the chairs to those advisory me those uh exploratory members just say hey look we'd like to ask your level of
interest to serve as an in an advisory capacity whoever signs up says they want to do it you're still part of the process and help out then we can sort of I think we'd have to formally still you know create an advisory committee of those people just way everything's above
board um be more ad hoc on pace ad hoc and um you get them to participate with you guys. >> Great. Um, what would be great Dave, if you in your with your committee, I don't know when you're meeting next.
>> It's Thursday. >> Oh, you are. Okay, great. I think if you can come up with just a rough project timeline for us to get our heads around like when do you think you'd want to see new like you know doors open you know
like if you can put those work from that point backwards and you know some important things that we have to hit benchmarks that we have to hit along the way you know whether it's like meeting the bond council you know whatever that is right I think I I would feel very comfortable with Mr. Asper working with
you guys on the financial aspect of the project, you know, on behalf of the board. I don't know if you're if you're down for that, Kevin, but I know that's what um I think that would be really good. And you know, I know Bob's strong on the hospitality side of it, you know, and every we all have our own strengths
and weaknesses. Um and so we'll be more than happy to help out in that regard um as well. So, um with that said, um I'm super excited, really excited for you guys. And I'd be remiss if I didn't call out to you and to Dana. I think the course is officially closed. Is that it?
Yes. Right. So, >> another banner year. I mean, uh, I spent a lot of time in there this year and, >> um, I saw Saturdays and Sundays and Fridays and events, packed events. Um, people always leaving with a smile on their face, really excited about the
course, really excited about the prospects of the clubhouse. I think the best is yet to come for us over there. And um one other thing though, I guess we've had some issues with some hunters out on the course. Um please don't do
that cuz we've got recreational uh people walking. It's basically like it's a park, right? Like and we wouldn't allow hunting in Pope Park. Um so we got to be careful about that. And >> we still have staff working there, too. >> Yeah. Staff out there. And it's it's really dangerous um you know this time
of year uh to be doing that type of activity. But for those in the community, it's a walkable trail. It's a park, right? You know, we encourage people to get out there and I know Neil, you you walk the the course as part of your exercise routine and uh which is
great. And um so that's that's another opportunity for people as well. >> Absolutely. >> In the offseason. So Mr. Jim, yeah, I I think we need to I I did see I think it was from the chief of police department something up on all things that we do need to look into that though because
it's, you know, recreation and things of the like and you know, it's for passive recreation. I I don't know. I understand we don't want hunters on the golf course, you know, um hunting on the golf course, but they also have to abide by a 500 foot from an
occupied dwelling and things of the like. is if they're that far away, um I don't know if technically we could stop that, right? So, I think there's things that we need to look into before we just tell people obviously on the grounds of the golf course, we don't want you
hunting or there anywhere near that, but there is a rule in place 500 ft from an occupied dwelling. So, I think we need to really look at that because passive recreation is passive recreation and passive. So I would air on in favor of
caution as opposed to >> I I d I don't think anybody's disputing that. Right. First and foremost, the board of selectment are responsible for the well-being and safety of our community and the people thereabouts, right? I'm not saying that. I just don't want to get into that, you know, what kind of contest with people saying you
can't do this, you can't do that. Um I think it's we I dealt with something years ago about hunting on conservation land, right? And they were wrong when they said you can't hunt on conservation land. you absolutely can hunt on conservation land. So, it's just a it's a can of worms. I don't think I want to
open up. I think we need to let people know absolutely no hunting um on the grounds, but if you're out in the woods and it's part of the land that we own and it's far enough away, I don't know if you can stop them is what I'm saying. So, I think that's something that we
need to look into. I know hunting season, I think muzzle load is still open, primitive is still open. Um, but we we definitely need to look into that and see what we can or can't do on that property before we tell people absolutely nothing. That's all that's all I'm saying.
>> We want people. >> But I absolutely will tell people you absolutely cannot hunt especially when the season's open, which we are still open like um bow and arrow, um shotgun season, the golf the golf club golf course is still open. So obviously we
don't want people in the woods shooting. Um, but most most hunters realize that there's people around and you're going to be 500 feet away and things of the like. >> The other night I was locking the gate and I saw a guy in the tree in that first recreational field that on the
access road. As I'm locking the gate, he's sitting there in a fluorescent vest up in the tree. Um, I didn't walk it off, but it's it's a danger zone. >> Yeah, I I get it. I'm not saying some hunters might not be vi might be
violating the rules. >> Yeah, it's 500 ft from the dwelling. It's 150 ft from road from a pave road. >> We we'll figure it out that >> and I and you know I I said so somebody made a comment to me and I'm like well
we have maintenance there pretty much year round, right? So you can't just say nobody's there. Our maintenance staff is there. So we I I we're responsible for our staff being there and god forbid we have somebody from maintenance out on the ninth hole and you know there goes
there goes the arrow or there goes the muzzle loader shot right so I mean it's just being >> plus too I was making a point that it's it's an uncomfortable position for our staff to be in if so and so is walking across he's got a rifle on his shoulder hey you can't be here but
>> it's a it's a testy situation you know what I mean so yes we should research Yeah, >> got it. >> Very good. Thanks. Thanks, gentlemen. Um, that's it. Great work. Keep it up. Um, look forward to hearing from you after your meeting this week and then,
uh, we'll get moving. If you feel like you need a a meeting with us, after the first of the year, just to get everybody on the same page, we're open for that. Um, but if not, uh, you know, get moving and, you know, check in periodically. I
think definitely in January just come back even just for a couple minutes to come up with that proposed timeline. >> Okay, that would be great. >> Just do that. That way you guys know and we can just keep moving, >> right? Mr. Chairman, if you want to work with the chairman of the golf management committee like you alluded to earlier about getting the exploratory committee
and figuring out who does want to be and who doesn't want to be on it, I'll do that. >> Um to keep them guys moving forward and Mr. Flynn, you know, you're obviously titled the golf management committee. So, you know, it is your say, the golf management committee say on what will be done now moving forward. Um, but again,
the exploratory committee does have a lot of great ideas and we have some people that have a lot of background and experience that can help out the golf management committee to say don't do that for this reason, right? Or don't do that because this is the expense associated with that. Right. Exactly. And that's where their their expertise
is going to help us out bring down cost. Right. Right. Absolutely. So, and then we just got to figure out that floor plan a little bit better concept >> cuz I still I still see the lounge area. >> All right. Very good. Thank you,
gentlemen. Appreciate it. >> Happy holidays. Thank you. >> You too. >> All right. Next item, gentlemen on the agenda is conservation commission. Again, another housekeeping laundry item. town meeting uh passed uh changing
the bylaw to uh change the number of conservation commission members from seven to five. Um so now's the time we've got to act on that if we decide that's what we want to do. Um like we went to town meeting to act on it. Um
but want to get your thoughts uh before I uh you know advance the issue. My inclination would be we've got seven members technically signed up. Couple are going to get cut. For me, it's
looking at attendance to quorum ability um the ability to to execute, you know, how they comport themselves. All of the above is going to be my standard. Um and you know, we'll see see what plays out. But if you're get your feedback on it,
do we want to, you know, ask everybody to just resubmit their intention to stay on the board? Um, I want to throw it out there for discussion. Mr. Chairman, if I may, um, I was in support of the five member board simply because we're having trouble finding people signing up for it
in the first place. And I know it wasn't amended to a bylaw. But my question, and I didn't think of this until recently, is if this isn't our charter, we can't really do anything about it until we have it approved by the >> I checked with the town clerk and she
says that's not the case. And she submitted I think she submitted to Jamie Van to Jamie Kelly. She said she submitted the bylaw that was approved and we were okay to move forward. So, >> okay. >> I mean, that was my number one concern. Just I wanted to verify that first. Um,
as it stands right now, we have a five member board. So, we can always ask for letters of interest, but it's ultimately comes down to our decision on who we appoint. >> If you want to chew on it for a little
bit and we can come back, but I, you know, I see people showing up, not showing up >> and, you know, it's a five member board by default. >> Yeah. I think I think my honest opinion is and I have zero problem doing this is reaching out to the people that are on
the board asking them if they're still interested and they plan on staying or resubmitting and then we can maybe throw it on the next meeting and say okay so and so said yes. If all of them say yes, we can figure it out from there. But if
there are members that decide that, you know, when they have turned this up, they were going to be done. >> Give them the chance to at least say, "Hey, you know, maybe this is too much time for me and give them an opportunity and then we can open it up to the public." >> Mr. Chairman, >> yeah, I I don't think that the board
would have put it as a proposal, a town meeting if we didn't mean that we wanted to get to five members, right? the problem and we need to look into it a little bit and see and I'll be with council tomorrow on a couple of different matters in town um that I'll be working on with council. So maybe I
could just ask him the question of appointments because they they're revolving appointments and last May or June we didn't appoint two but then like two more members have come up and then two more members come up the way they're staggered. I don't know if we can just
say you're out with your appointment hasn't come due yet. Right. The only two that have come up were the previous two in May June. Their terms had expired. So I guess right now they're kind of appointees at will. So I think that adds a little bit of a dynamic. I don't know
if the board of selectmen have the the I'll call it the legal right to just wipe them out if we wanted to wipe them out or we have to wait as appointments come up. So I I can look into that. >> You can do that and I'd like an they can put it as a written opinion because I I
view it as it's a reset. We changed the bylaw. You know, this was passed in like I think 1960s >> bylaw has been amended. So to me it's as if we're starting from scratch. But that's just my opinion. So if you can check with that 100%. Um again I'm just going to be real candid
over the last several years conservation commission I think has gotten become a little bit more stable but it's become it's been a pain point um for this town. Just look at the legal fees and you know it's my intention. I know yours as well but mine specifically is I've got 3 months left in this seat is to try to
clean up as much stuff as possible. And if it offends some people along the way then so be it. But you know that's the way it goes. And I don't think either one of you are afraid to offend anybody if it means getting things right, but >> happy to keep moving forward with that. So, uh, all right, sounds good. Thanks,
gentlemen. Sorry, I'm not uh I'm not scrolling Facebook and trying to do my stuff on uh looking at a menu. Yeah, an important important thing later on. >> All right. Library hour change. Got
that. Mr. Chairman, you can jump into that. So, scroll. >> Y. >> Uh, the current contract breaks the library employees into a separate group. Uh, we're still currently in the middle of negotiations for that, but one of the agreed upon changes to the contractors
for the library. They currently have a split holiday. So they have a half a day on one holiday and a half a day on another one. And essentially they asked if it would be possible if they just adopted that for this year. No modification of the contract. It does
align with the current contract and the agreed upon decision um from both the town and the union. Um, so I asked the library essentially to have the board of trustees make an official vote on it to refer it to the union to see what the
union would say, the union said this is fine as long as everybody that works at the library is okay with it. Ultimately, what it breaks down to is instead of having a half a day on Christmas Eve and a half a day on Good Friday, they wanted to have Christmas Eve off and work a
full day on Good Friday. That was the cons consensus from the library employees. Um, library board of trustees approved it. Union approved it and it comes to us and >> motion to approve. >> I'm okay with it. Second. >> All those in favor?
>> Motion carries. >> All right. Next item is our annual license review. We got a little different approach. Try to get things a little bit more streamlined. Uh shout out to uh Margaret uh for her help jumping in uh
new to the job and getting things organized working with Jamie V. Um and so I think what we'll do is we'll try this this year is we'll weed out the the business entity and the address, the license that they're looking for. Um and
there's no uh there's nothing flagged there. Um and then obviously everything is always contingent upon um all the taxes and fire inspections being done. So let's give this a shot, gentlemen. If it gets a little bit confusing, uh just
let me know and we'll we'll slow it down. But first business entity is the American Legion at 71 Hope Street. They're applying for a common Vic, an all alcohol club, a restricted music and automatic amusements. They are in compliance with everything. Is there a motion to approve? >> So move second.
>> All those in favor? I motion carries. The next one is the VFW. Uh they are applying for a Common Vic all alcohol club restricted music automatic amusements. Um I believe there was one issue with the VFW
uh >> instruction. >> Yeah. So but the VFW we have a meeting scheduled at the on the 22nd, right, to deal with their issue with the ABC. >> So we can approve >> everything else. They have a fire inspection, right? >> Good morning. When's that? >> Thursday morning.
>> Thursday morning. Okay. So, we can approve uh contingent upon fire inspection uh being done and we'll take up the all alcohol license on the 22nd. >> Now, is that 28 Roosevelt Street? >> Yeah. 28 Roosevelt Street. Okay. Thank you. Motion to approve the common Vic
restricted music and the automatic amusements. >> So, move second. All those in favor. The next one is the Kushmet Valley Golf Course 685 Main Street Common Vic all alcohol license. Is there a motion to approve the
address? >> I just had it 685 Main Street. >> So moved. >> Second. All those in favor? Motion carries. Blue Lantern Cafe 605 Main Street Common Vic all alcohol license restricted music and automatic amusements. Motion to approve. Second.
All those in favor. Motion carries Blue Point. uh six Dayton Street and that is a common Vic all alcohol. A motion to approve. >> So move. >> Second. >> Those in favor. >> Motion carries. >> Captain's Place 162 South Main Street,
Common Vic, all alcohol restricted music. Uh subject to fire inspection. And that's going to be taking place Thursday. >> Thursday as well. Okay. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Motion carries. >> That's contingent. >> Yep. Yep. Uh, Sentry House, 107 South
Main Street, and that's a common Vic, all alcohol, and a restricted music. All those in favor? >> I I mean motion to approve. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I got me, Mr. Chair. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. My eyes are uh doing
tricks on me. The Country Whip, 1173 Main Street, and that's a common Vic. Um again, subject to all uh paperwork being submitted. >> Motion to approve um >> contingent on tax. >> Contingent on taxes.
>> Second. All those in favor. >> Kushnet crearyy and that is 264 Main Street and that's just a common Vic. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I Dunkin Donuts and that is just a common Vic.
>> Motion to approve. Uh just for note that's 150 South Main Street. >> Thank you. >> I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> I motion carries. >> Uh Seafood Hut and that's two South Main Street and that's a common Vic. >> Motion to approve. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. Cam's Cuisine and that's 132 Main Street. >> That should be corrected to 132 South Main Street. >> South Main Street. Okay. And that is a common thick, a all alcohol, and a
restricted music. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. Uh, >> all those in favor? >> I motion carries. >> All right. Rochelle's and that's 590 594 Main Street and that's a common Vic. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
>> I. Motion carries. The mill 156 South Main Street and that is a common vic. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? Motion carries. >> The Ponderosa 242 Robinson Road and that is a common Vic all alcohol restricted
music automatic amusements. >> Motion to approve contingent upon payment. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I motion carries. >> Riveren Cafe 7 and a half hill road. And that's a common vic all alcohol license
restricted music automatic amusements. Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? I. >> Motion carries. JT's pub 77 Sloum Street and that is Common Vic all alcohol restricted music automatic amusements.
>> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? >> Motion carries. New England Farms 158 Main Street. That is a Common Vic wine and malt package store. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor. Motion carries. Poke
Park, 122 Main Street. That is a common Vic. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? I. >> Motion carries. Silverbook Farms, 934 Main Street. That is a common Vic. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor?
>> I. Motion carries. Scuttlebutts, 590 South Main Street. That is a all alcohol package store. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Motion carries. Chucks Liquors 172 South Main Street. That is a all
alcohol package store license. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in >> favor. Motion carries. >> Discount Town Liquors One Middle Road. That is an all alcohol package store license. We do
>> see it. It's coming up. Oh, did I skip over that? Sorry about that. >> Uh we'll go back. We'll go to Bonville. Bonvilles and that's 142 South Main Street. All alcohol package store license. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Motion carries. Discount Liquors One
Middle Road. All alcohol package store. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Motion carries. >> Liquor Palace, 270 Main Street. That's an all alcohol package store. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor?
>> Motion carries. Here we go. New York bagel, 158 Main Street. That's a Common Vic. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? >> Motion carries. All right. We got Now, this is uh
>> all class twos. >> Yeah. All class twos. Repell Corp, >> 734 Main Street. That is a class two. >> Motion to approve. >> All those in favor? >> Second. All I >> motion carries.
Uh, Haze Street Auto Sales, three Haze Street. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? I. >> Motion carries. >> Ted's 308 Middle Road. >> Motion to approve. Class 2. >> Second. All those in favor?
>> I. Motion carries. South Coast Premium 127 South Main Street and contingent upon fees being paid. >> Motion to approve. Second. >> Contingent upon payment. >> Yep. All those in favor? >> Motion Par passes. Shamit auto.
>> Motion to approve. >> 118 South Main Street. Second. >> 118 South Main Street. Second. All those in favor. >> Motion. Carries. >> Murray's Auto Sales 75 Lambert Street
class two. Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor. >> Motion carries. Custom Auto Sales, 1416 South Main Street. Class 2. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor? I.
>> Motion carries. All right. So now class threes, rep welds, 734 Main Street. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. All those in favor. >> Motion carries. Raise sales and service for Morton Lane. >> Motion to approve.
>> Second. All those in favor? I. Motion carries. Lakeok Auto Research and Development >> 1256. >> 12. Yep. 1256 Main Street. >> Motion to approve. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I motion carries. Fred's Collision 36
Sloum Street. >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> All those in favor? Motion carries. Um, all right. Again, thank you Margaret for pulling this together for us. And just one added uh item is, you know, Margaret worked the phones and called a number of
people uh to ask them to come in. And I know all three of us are out there talking to our license holders. Um I think it's important for us. They're all busy trying to businesses and the more business friendly we can be with that kind of stuff, um I think it's a good
thing for everybody. Um all right, Mr. chair. Yes, just just for anybody in town with licenses that is listening, um if you hear this, update contact information if you have it. Um sometimes
it gets lost in the mix and uh Margaret and I spent some time going through some contact list trying to find appropriate contacts for people and uh there's been a couple changeovers of ownership in the past couple of years. So, anybody feels the need, stop by town hall and uh
update phone numbers and mailing addresses if it's separate from the address system. >> Right. All right. Uh, next item is Jesse Ellis from the school committee. Um, last week met with Mr. Ellis and Paul
Bailey, superintendent to talk about the current state of play regarding air quality. Um, there's been some new changing dynamics. I know Mr. Hinckley is is really involved with sort of our quasi point person um on that issue. Um
but with that said u you know I offered up to Mr. Ellis uh in the school department Dr. to come in and sort of frame the issue of where things are and what's what's different uh than before. So uh floor is yours.
>> Okay. So, uh, first and foremost, uh, thank you, Chairman WAR and select board for having me up, uh, just to give both you and the town an update on where we stand in terms of the, um, air quality improvement project at the Hushn
Elementary School. Um, I have, uh, some kind of basic slides here. Obviously, we're not set up to be able to share those at the moment. However, I can certainly provide them after the fact um, unless there's way connect. >> Can we plug in? There's no HDMI cable on this, so it' have to be USB. It's It's There's not a tremendous amount of
information here, so I wouldn't I wouldn't worry too much about it. >> So, essentially, the process has been ongoing for a number of years at this point. Um, most recently, there was a public information
session on April 16th of this year. um where the school the school committee at that time and administration along with the uh select board and some other town administration presented the proposal that had been arrived at uh by train
which is the um engineering company that had been selected after uh the bidding and vetting process to put together a solution to the mold issue and overall air quality at the elementary school. Um the uh proposal was based on an
investment grade audit which train uh handled on their own. We did have vetted by Beth Greenblat who is an independent um consultant um that went over the plans and we worked in consultation with Eversource with regards to rebates and
uh the state with regards to some grant money. Uh there haven't been any changes to the proposal that was put forth at the April 16th meeting. Um the funding uh funding source that had been decided on by the school committee and the town
was to pursue a Prop 2 and a half uh debt override to fund the 20-year bond on the project. Um obviously the town elections uh came and went. Uh that Prop 2 and a half override was not approved by the residents of the town. Um at that
point conversations continued with uh regards to moving the project forward, determining a funding source and there were meetings that I personally was not privy to. Uh they came before my election to the school department or our school committee and also I just
recently was nominated as the uh air quality improvement project liaison to the town. >> Congratulations. >> Yeah, I know. Lucky me, right? So, um, that nomination just occurred not at this most recent school committee meeting, but the prior meeting. Um, I
spent some time prior to this past meeting getting involved in researching where we stand with the project. And one of the things that was discovered um, not by myself, but uh, although uh, to his uh, great credit in his conversations with Train um, determined
that there were some problems with the proposal uh, as it was presented to the town. uh back at the information session. Um essentially the original proposal was to attack the project in not necessarily a couple of different
phases but in three different methods that would all come together in a single scope of work. Those included um air quality purification and dehumidification as well as upgrades to the building management system, ventilation duct ceiling uh and a number
of other things. that was the the lion share of the project. It accounted for about $4.1 million uh of the presented $4.2 million uh overall project cost. Um that that involves the replacement of significant number of equipment uh
significant number of pieces of equipment uh along with a lot of other individual pieces of the puzzle that would be fairly difficult to enact on their own. Um the second portion of the project was the building envelope uh and air fil air air infiltration
improvements. Uh that accounted for about $251,000 worth of the overall project cost. Uh that included um helping to literally seal the building envelope um the exterior and prevent exterior air infiltration uh or at least mitigate
exterior air infiltration uh to the best of our ability. And that was actually to take place at both uh AES and Ford. Um like I said, that accounted for about $251,000. Um for anybody who's not familiar with building envelope, it's essentially the equivalent of, you know, fixing drafty
windows, drafty doors, uh ways that uh air from the outside of the building and moisture from the outside of the building can infiltrate into the building. Uh there was also the school uh cafeteria, refrigerator, and freezer replacement. um that was something that
was going to account for about $500,000 worth of overall project costs and that would also include both uh the elementary and board middle schools. Um that has been an ongoing issue for some time. Um and it was convenient that we
were able to work with a contractor for the overall scope of the project that would also be able to handle the refrigerator and freezer replacement at the same time. Uh but those are essentially the the three major segments of the project. We've got the building envelope,
the cafe refrigerator and freezer replacements, and then the the vast vast majority of it is all involved in the dehumidification, air air purification, and building management system upgrades. So, the originally proposed project costs were 4.2 million. Um, we were
looking at getting a $500,000 green communities grant uh due to the the nature of the project. And then there was also an estimate of about $200,000 in rebates from uh Eversource. It's tough to get a hard number on what the
Eversource reimbursement uh rebates would or rebates would be cuz that's essentially gauged after the fact based on improvements to uh building efficiency. Uh but the the rough estimate was about 200,000. Not a hard number though. Um that left out of the
4.2 million about three and a half million um at the responsibility of the town. Uh that would be handled via a 20-year bond to finance the project. Uh there are detailed breakdowns on what the difference is between the principal and the interest that were included in
the April 16th presentation that's still available in in Boltzer. Um on October 28th, uh Train received guidance that the proposed solution um to maintain a significant portion of the
existing infrastructure in the building, including air handling equipment and other related equipment. Um would not be compatible with the scope of the project. if procurement of those um pieces of equipment and procurement of refrigerant and some other related uh
project costs weren't completed um by the end of this year. So we're talking before January 1st of 26. Um obviously that came very late in the game. Um essentially what it meant was they you know they received that guidance. Um the
guidance specifically was that the existing air handling equipment and a large subset of the other existing equipment could not be used with the proposed um existing project scope unless a large segment of that equipment
were manufactured and or imported to the US before the end of this year. um that basically created a situation where there was really no fulfillment timeline for train to source that equipment uh in a timely fashion to be able to get it
into the states before the project um moved into the next year. So we're talking before January 1st. To Aldo's immense credit, um he he worked with Train to try and find alternative solutions to procuring the equipment. Unfortunately, because of the late, you
know, how late in the game we were, we're talking like learning it essentially two months before the end of the year that they were going to have to procure a very large amount of uh product. It just wasn't feasible. Uh that there was no way that it was going to happen. So, the only way that Train
is able to um modify or the the the proposal that Train had was essentially to modify the original scope of work. Uh before I get into that, I'm just going to read a little bit of information uh straight from the Environmental Protection AY's uh guidance uh related
to the AIM Act. Uh that was a federal uh law that was passed some time ago. Uh and it's related specifically to the phaseown of hydrofluorocarbons. I did have to practice saying that a few times. um and the restrictions of use of hydrofluorocarbons under that aim act
for refrigerant um systems moving forward. So the environmental protection ay's uh guidance that that was uh instituted December 12th and put into place January 13th of this year states that um the US environmental protection
agency is amending a provision of the 2023 technology transition uh regulations promulgated under the American Innovations and Manufacturing Act of 2020. The action provides until January 1st, 2027 for the installation
of certain new variable refrigerant flow, air conditioning, and heat pump systems which use components manufactured in the United States or imported into the United States prior to January 1st, 2026, provided that the systems use components manufactured in the United States or
imported into the United States prior to January 2026. the original scope of the project um was the cost was kept down because there was a significant amount of the existing infrastructure that according to the
original uh guidance from the EPA would still be able to be used along with the new systems that are going to be installed on October 28th. Uh guidance was received by train that that would no longer be an option unless all necessary uh systems had been procured and
imported before the end of this year. Um so next we're going to kind of go over essentially um steps that have been taken so far to date. We're also going to go over projected cost increases of the project as it stands. Uh there'll be
an opportunity for some uh basic questions from the board or anybody else present. Um essentially getting us to where we're at right now. Just to reiterate some of the steps the school's taken. Um, the school after the
mole was reported, I believe that it was in 2023. Correct me if I'm wrong. Is that accurate, Dr. Thank you. Um, the school was uh cleaned. There was a professional cleaning company brought in uh Serapo, I believe it was, uh to
handle mold remediation and removal. Um they also disposed of a significant amount of uh chairs, rugs, bulletin boards, basically anything that was determined to be not recoverable. Um you know getting mold into upholstery is
obviously a big issue and sometimes it's quite difficult to get rid of that. So rather than just cleaning it and putting it in storage, uh the decision was made to uh dispose of a significant amount of that. Uh we also uh went through a process of water uh roof water
infiltration patching. Uh so that involved a lot of capping of pipes, repairing damage to uh the roof to help prevent an excess amount of water from infiltrating into the building from rainwater condensation, snow, that kind of thing. Um there was also installation
of temporary uh portable dehumidifiers that have been placed in essentially every building in the room. I think right now there's 63 or 65 of those units that are running uh 24/7. Uh they run quite a bit more obviously during hot and humid weather, though a lot less this time of year, but long story short,
there's about 63 of those units in use currently. Um there were also some minor repairs made to the heating system and ventilation. Uh those have either been completed or are underway. Um, biggest reasons for that are that moderating the
temperature in the building and doing the school's best to make sure that the temperature is as consistent as possible from room to room and area to area as well as making sure that there's adequate ventilation uh are both steps that can be taken to help reduce the likelihood of of mold growth. Um, and
like I said before, any unneeded furniture, equipment and supplies have been removed or disposed of. Uh there was also this is not part of the um preparation that I had here but I do believe there were also air purifiers
installed uh in the same number of rooms. We have roughly the same number of air purifiers as we have fires right. Um so timeline of the overall uh project um in June 24 uh the investment grade
audit was uh put underway. Um October 24 train completed the investment grade audit and entered into contract negotiation. Um April 25 the uh um what do you call April 25 we had the public information
session and the debt exclusion uh vote at town ballot. Uh that vote ultimately was not approved by the residents uh and failed to um procure funding for the project. Uh project did not go away at that time. Work continued to be put
into finding avenues to secure funding either from u the state additional grant money and reviewing the scope of project to see if any changes could be made to reduce the overall cost uh while still delivering equivalent results.
So in November 25, so that was uh November 1st I believe uh Kushna public schools was informed by train of a change to um uh what what's the word I'm looking for? Uh change of guidance
regarding existing uh EPA regulations. Uh and then those regulations necessitate that by December 31st refrigerant and equipment uh must be manufactured domestically or imported u by this date. And through December 31st,
2026. Equipment must be installed in order to meet uh those EPA regulations. Overall increase of cost. Um unfortunately, you know, it's never going to be the bearer of bad news, but because the timeline for procuring that
equipment was was really not feasible. Um the only option the train has presented to this point has been a projected increase of cost of the project which would include replacement of any of the now deemed incompatible air handling equipment to the tune of an
additional 2 and a half $2.5 million. Uh that's just an estimate. Um re-evaluating those um proposed figures is a very lengthy process and they did their best to give a ballpark estimate. could be a little lower, could be a little higher, but two and a half they
feel is is a safe number. Um that uh that 2 and a.5 million is due to the updated guidance on EPA regulations necessitating the replacement of a large segment of the existing equipment. Uh in anticipated uh project inflation costs
uh are 2.5 million over the existing proposed 4.2 million from 2 years ago. um that would increase the projected cost of the project as it stands to 7 million approximately. So obviously that's a pretty big nut
unfortunately. Um we already struggled to secure funding for the proposed 4.2 million. So trying to find funding for a $7 million project is a whole another ball of wax. Um, again to all those credit, he has also
entered into conversation with the town's investment banker firm to look at the feasibility of a short-term funding solution that would allow us to get the project started before the rebates come in and then saving the
rebate money that we received from grants and Eversource um to help pay down the cost of the project in the long term. That's a little more technical than I'm comfortable getting into right now, but it involves a two-year ban uh for the initial uh a portion of the initial project cost. That's something
that he's in much better position to discuss with the select board and the uh finance committee than I am. So, I won't speak at length to that. Um essentially, that's that's where we stand right now. Um I don't have a specific course of action that we're looking to pursue.
It's very early in the game. Um there's a lot of things to consider in terms of the effectiveness of the different aspects of the proposed project, what we can move forward on in a phased approach and what we cannot. Ultimately, there's going to be a big segment of the project
that really can't be phased. Um just the nature of the beast when you're replacing big segments of uh equipment. Um >> any questions from the >> No, I I mean you know when we met like I said the
you know I got off you time right access and to get the message out. I think >> you know >> we run the risk of price tag validating a project and I don't think that's a good practice. It's you know it's an important thing to keep in mind
but also you've got to address a need. Right. And so I think that should be the the guiding principle in this effort. Um obviously if there's a way to do it in a more affordable way that's our fiduciary responsibility, right? And uh so you
said it's early in the game just the mechanics of it. We got town meeting and you know there's other there's other steps in the process but I commend you for bringing it to our attention now. not saying, well, you know, it's the holidays. We'll need to deal with this.
We'll kick the can down the road. So, um, you know, we'll just keep feeding this information and finance committee, uh, who are going to be really important stakeholders in this process. And, um, you know, I don't know, gentlemen, you
have thoughts on this, Bob, you've been really involved. And, you know, I appreciate all those leaning in. Um, you know, still relatively new to the position, but jumping in and saying to Paula, I appreciate it. Dr. Bailey and to the school committee. I know this is an important issue and I know you're
going to put your your heart and soul into getting it right, whatever that means. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think you know there are avenues forward um but they're really unclear right now. So I wouldn't be comfortable speaking to any of them. That's really going to take consultation
with the town, consultation with uh legal, you know, the town's legal counsel uh and of course determining what the best use of funds is going to be. Um, you know, ultimately what we're looking at is a solution to
reduce the indoor humidity and moderate the temperature within the building. Um, I have a lot of thoughts on the band-aid solution that we have in place. Um, I do personally feel that the project as it was presented would be a solution, not a band-aid fix. Um, that's something that
can certainly be discussed in other meetings. So, I'm sure that if there's opportunity, there would uh be a great idea to have some more public information sessions, but we'll determine what the best course of action moving forward is. I know I've already met with Selectman Hinckley. He's the liazison for the project from the town side. Uh met with with Dave. Sorry,
Kevin. This is the first time you get to hear about it. Either way, I can. Um but I'm I'm not on the docket for the 5:00 meeting, but I am going to be available. If anybody has any questions beforehand or afterwards, feel please feel free to ask. >> Yeah. And again, this is like the first
step. I just want to at least get the issue out there. There's going to be multiple sessions, I'm sure, being hosted at the department. So, um, today's tonight's not the night to solve the problem, but I know Bob, as courtesy of you, you've been really involved in this thing. Want to give me the opportunity to
>> Yeah. Um, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Ellis reached out to sit down to get me up to speed yesterday. um which really gave us some insight on the EPA guidelines and trying to understand um we're looking into currently to see if
there's any possible exemptions or ability to have any hardship >> push the timeline out >> situation that will push the timeline out. Um but I have a really good working relationship with Miss Durellis and we're going to put our heads together
and jump in and um we'll schedule some meetings with Dr. Bailey and Aldo and figure it out. Um, hearing more feedback as this process went on. I know it got a little bit into the weeds in earlier in
the year. Um, but we did get some confirmation about some clarity on the process and the functionality of the system and how it would fix the problem. Um, but I think between myself and Mr. Ellis and the school admin and this
board, we can figure this out, but like Mr. Ellis said, it's still very early. I mean, I was just informed of it this yesterday. Um, so I don't really have much to speak on other than the fact that I don't understand why an air handler can't be reused because it has
no VOCC's are, you know, it has no chemicals inside of an air handler. So, I I want to get some guidance on that before I speak on it. Anyway, just to get narrow it down. I'd like to get back in on the trade as well. Um, and see if
there's any other options for equipment that does have enough of a American backed or imported assembled situation that we can figure this out and go from there. Right. Trains facilities located in Mexico. That's why they keep talking
about importing, right? It's an American company made um in Mexico. So, that's why they talk about import. So I I I would caution the school committee yourself, Mr. Ellis, on you know, we're talking about an escalator now of
probably 33% addition to that project cost. And if the 72% of the people said no at 4 million, how many percentage of the people you think is going to say no to 7 million for the exact same system? Right. So I think you know the the stage approach is something that I would love
to have a conversation with you and the rest of the school committee on is how can we do it in stages without those big numbers being hit at us. Right. We we the board of selecting uh responsible for all town buildings. So we the board of selecting will do whatever we can to
make sure that we have adequate buildings in our community at a reasonable cost and that we can we can afford and the the towns people can afford. So, and before anyone goes out for a 2-year and you start talking about bands, the one thing we won't do is
bandaid a project. So, when you ban something, you're not going to go out and put us in a hole where we're trapped now at a penny half a million dollars or a million dollars and say, "Well, we have no choice now because we've done this and that led to this without the taxpayers voting it." Right? So, before
we do any kind of banning, that's a whole dialogue. You can come back. >> Yeah. That's why I said I'm not comfortable speaking to the nuts and bolts of that aspect of the proposal. >> So, I think >> just it's just an option. >> Doing it in stages is the best bet and maybe maybe there's other options out
the other train telling us what we need to do. >> Yeah. I mean, at this point, all options are open and it's it's to Dave's point, it's it's going to take some time to review the options as they stand and potentially consider new ones. Um,
there's just a lot of unknowns. a big concern. I think Mr. Inkley and I were at that meeting with you folks when you weren't on the school committee at that point at the uh Fort Middle School. We had that meeting. Um it's it's basically you're asking people to borrow and pay for something for 20 years for a system
that might last 10 or 15 years, right? That's the problem with that system, right? There's no And I asked what's the warranty is, you know, can we get some extended thing and it I don't even think it went out to 20 years. So, you got to be conscientious of that, right? You wouldn't go out and buy something for your household and finance it for 20
years if it's only got a 10 year shelf life, right? That's just that's ignorant, right? So, we need to look at all of that stuff and try to figure things out and see what we actually need and not what we want. >> That's where we're at, right? So, we can figure it out. >> Thank you, Mr. Dallas. I appreciate you
coming in. uh um we do have another meeting and so again this was informational to get the issue back out on the table and we appreciate you uh doing that. >> Of course. >> Gentlemen, I'm going to ask just for a brief brief recess uh we to get our uh
tech stuff set up, but we do have an all hands on deck meeting with our department heads, members of the finance committee just to kind of paint the picture of the town finances where we are as we go into the budget season. This way there's there's no questions, right? We I shouldn't say there's always
going to be questions, but there's no question about where we stand on things and how we plan to uh to tackle them. So, that said, uh can I get a brief uh 10-minute recess to get our text set up? >> So, move second. >> All those in favor? >> I have a motion to call the meeting back
to order. >> So, move second. >> All those in favor? Great. Thank you all for uh being here as we sort of formally kick off the budget process after the first of the year. We the board we wanted to bring in all of our department
heads and finance committee members and uh important stakeholders to just give you a snapshot of what's going on with town finances. I think it's actually despite the actual numbers, um I think there's a good story to tell is that all of you in this room are
really the backbone of this community. Um keeping things running on a day-to-day basis. Some of it's glorious and for some of it's it's behind the scenes and some residents have no idea who you are or what you do. We wanted to
make sure that we brought you here today to to recognize uh the work that you do and thank you for um you know keeping things moving and you know whether you're I always management is tough if you're a department head or a you know an elected official or an appointed
official ultimately people uh look to you not necessarily when things go great but when things go wrong and that's that's you know where that responsibility comes in and I've had a chance to work with pretty much all of you in this room and the one thing that
is the common thread is that there isn't a person in this room who's unwilling to accept the responsibility when things go bad. Um so for that thank you very much. I think that's uh uh a really uh great
great um characteristic to have. Couple folks in the room that I want to recognize. our state representatives, uh, Mark Sylvia and Steve Wlette are here. Um, asked them on short notice to come up to to to come and listen to our presentation. So, they will keep us in mind, uh, when they're walking the halls
of of Beacon Hill. Uh, so, thank you for that. You guys are always here and we really appreciate it. Um, couple unsung heroes. Um, uh, Jamie Kelly, who's who's playing hurt. He's on the injured reserve list. He had a a knee replacement, but he's still been working
to to help things move in the right direction. Um, and in Jamie V, who is our assistant uh town accountant, but has really become a Swiss Army knife over the last uh couple months to keep things moving as well. So, before we do
that, um, just want to set the foundation of where we're at um, right now. So leading up to the budget process, um there's some things that we have to do foundationally in order to get ready to go into a budget, right? Is
that the board works with the finance team and the finance committee to file a tax recap and certify with the do Mr. Gasper was really a big piece of that and then also work with the board of assessors um that elected body and Kelly
Costa in that department to get our tax classific class classification hearing and and vote to set the tax rate and then get certified with the do. So we can't start diving into the budget until we get all of these things in place and
again a lot of moving pieces over the last couple months. Um but to get that done in a timely manner uh is really really important. Um and with that said, we can't run government, town government without the taxpayer.
And Jen uh Jen Grant, our tech uh tax uh collector, treasur collector. She's got going to give you a little peak behind the hood. I think this is a really good story to tell and a really important one. look at what our tax look at what our
residents are doing. So Jen, if you want to speak to that because again, we have to have good fundamentals, good process in place before we can start thinking about how we're going to spend the money. And again, not glit, not glamorous, not glitzy, but gl uh Jen and
her team and Tanya who's jumped in there and Karen uh doing a great job on a day-to-day basis. So Jen, if you want to give us your your report. >> Sure. Thank you all for having us. Um, so our collections are extremely well at this time. Like you see just on the
preliminary, we're at 99.71 for personal property, 96.66 on the real estate. So overall, that's great. The new tax bills for the actuals are going to go out the end of December. We just finished train today, so the residents will get their
tax bills probably the week after Christmas. our online deposits are increasing. So we um are trying to modernize, streamline, make everything more efficient and from 2024 to 2025 we added
67.8% of increase by people paying online. We now accept PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay I believe. Um not 100% confident on that. And then we are trying to work with other departments to expand. So, our the DPW can now you can
now pay the recycling items online, show your receipt, so people don't have to come to the town hall to pay for those items. And we're working with other departments, building pay permits online, town clerk, we're hoping to get that up and running as well. So, without my team, I want to give a huge shout
out. We have an amazing team. the teamwork that we have with the accountants office and everyone in town hall. You guys just make everyone's lives easier easier for the treasure collector's office. >> Thanks, Jen. Again, think about that. 99.71%
of our residents are paying their taxes. They're showing up quarterly. They're doing their job. If we were chasing people to pay their tax bill and spending time and resources to do that, then we can't provide the
services that they're paying for. So to the taxpayers of the Kushnet, thank you for doing that. We're trying to make it easier, right? Because as we um as things progress, we can get people to go online and and use technology
um to help lighten the load. We've got a we have a skeleton crew. We really do, you know, and we don't have a we're not bursting at the seams with a lot of staff. Um we're doing the best we can. So, if we can use technology to lighten the load on our employees, I think
that's always a good thing. So, again, thank you to the residents of Kushnet uh for stepping up and in and participating in this process and and being good stewards of the town. Um, with that said, I'll turn it over to to Jamie
Kelly who's going to just kind of talk about again the mechanics of how we get into a budget. We've got to do we look at forecasting and operational budget and you know what makes it up, what makes up a budget and the budget process
and then Jamie V will actually get into the numbers of that and then that'll give us an idea of what we're looking at as we go into uh the budget season. So, with that said, we'll turn it over to Jamie Kelly if we can pull him up uh on
TV. Good evening. >> One second, Jamie. You're not quite there. Yeah, there we go. >> All right. Good evening. Uh Mr. Chairman, if I may, uh a bit of personal privilege. I'd like to thank everyone
for their well wishes after my surgery. And uh if I don't see any of you, I want to wish you happy Hanukkah, merry Christmas, and happy holidays. Uh but now to the business at hand. Uh
when we start the budget process, we have to know how much money we're going to spend. And that means we have to forecast our revenue. Uh it's an a exercise where we go through to see
our capacity in providing services, funding projects and paying our debts. We also have to correct our past estimates. So we make sure we have the proper bases to develop our new
estimates. And we have to figure out the impact of the budgetary decisions uh visa v the revenue and visa v uh what
services we must provide to this uh taxpayers. Uh it's fairly simple. There are four major sources of revenue. The major source is the tax levy. It's
approximately 60%. We have to determine that. It's very formulaic. Uh the finance team, especially the assessor's office, gets us the data and
we put it together and we determine how much the tax levy's going to bring in. We have to then estimate the state aid which is aid to education and general government aid and we that goes from the
uh governor's house one budget through the house of representatives and then the senate to determine what the state's going to assist us with. And then we have to estimate our local
receipts. Local receipts are everything from motor vehicle excise tax to the fees we collect to uh the money we make in investments for on the town accounts.
And then there are minor other sources of revenue that we use to balance the budget. Uh we have a number of concerns based on the economy and the impact of uh the
economy on new growth uh on sources of revenue. And so at that point we then deliver our estimates to the policy makers. They determine the budget
priorities and guidelines. That's the board of selection for the town side and the school committee for the school side. You then drill down and set departmental budgets.
you identify if there are any budgetary surpluses or shortfalls uh from past years. So you know no pitfalls to fall into and if there's
anything potentially that you can do to take a budgetary surplus, spend it in this fiscal year so you do not have to spend it in next fiscal year. And then you uh project long-term
cost of such things as uh collective bargaining. You project your debt service. You project your fixed cost and you develop a consensus on those projections and you
go into uh developing the municipal budget. So there are priorities you look at prior to determining costs to services or personnel. They are your legally
mandated costs. Uh are we at that page? I do not see the uh right now the presentation on my screen. >> Yeah, Jamie. I think we've Yeah, we've gone We've done a really good job of
teeing up the mechanics of the budget and how we put together the budget. I think people have a good understanding of that. Um, if you have anything else to add, if not, I'm going to turn it over to Jamie V who can share with us like what we actually have in the way of
revenue, what we spent so far, and talk about some other uh best practices. So, it's just a just because of the optics of it with you zooming in. I'd like to transition over to Jamie if that's other Jamie if that's okay. >> Uh that's fine. I Mr. Mr. Chairman, I
just would like to uh echo your compliments to the finance team. Uh our principal assessor, our treasurer, collector, assistant treasurer, collector, and our assistant accountant.
Uh they helped me before I left for my uh sick leave on surgery. uh teeing up all these things and that's why you're seeing the tax bills going
out in a timely manner and a number of the things that had to be done with the department of revenue uh prior to that it is because of their hard work and their cooperation working as a team. So I just want to compliment them.
>> Yeah. Great. Thank you again Jamie. I think you know a testament for you uh to you you're um people like to work for you and I think the fact that everybody's rallied around this uh around this effort here collectively is a testament to you and uh your your
teamwork as well. So thank you very much and appreciate all you're doing for the town uh in this capacity. So, uh, with that said, turn it over to Jamie V, who we'll get into the numbers, um, and talk about kind of what we we're actually dealing with and what we're looking at.
I'm just going to put a little bit of more meat on the bones that Jamie uh, described. Jamie, don't go anywhere. All right. >> I'm not leaving. >> Oh, we might be able to keep your face up there while we go through it.
You want that? Uh, >> I don't I I don't >> We don't want us to see We We don't want us to see you drink it. All right, get them off the screen. >> This is kind of where Je >> Yeah, I can hear you. >> Glad you can.
So on this slide Jamie's where am I operational? All right. These are just the slides Jamie just ran through the school budgeting. Um you know like you said school debt contractual collective bargaining
employee you know pension cost of services personnel goods you know I know we just reviewed that stabilization appropriations. what you know every town meeting we try and put money away you know for accounts or you know rainy day
funds if something happens we have the backup there um capital budgets so looking at like chapter 90 capital assets we've talked Dave Warren and I doing like a capital project you know fiveyear plan u maybe
working with departments what are your infrastructure what are your needs for vehicles technology updates needs, you know, let's start doing a plan 5 years old, seeing, you know, so we know what we need to start funding for the future.
Sorry, I'm trying to see from here to there really not that easy. So again Jamie briefed on this the revenue sources we have the tax levy comes in state you know state aid the
increase is about a half% to 1% per year local receipts it all fluctuates depending on what's going on you know new construction you know for permit fees and ambulances and whatever else that we've got coming
in you know we use it to balance balance the budget for the most part. >> I I'll drive it for you. >> Okay. >> Well, I know. I'm trying to like >> There we go. All right. >> All right.
>> So, um, no Jamie had prepped these slides, so just FYI, trying to move through the flow here. we have reviewed it. So this kind of gives you the year to date is based on November amounts um where we stood you know the new
growth was just certified um with the tax when we set the tax rate for the 1924 the unused levy capacity 116,000 you know so we have the 154 for abatements which is you know real estate
abatements personal property we've got the exemptions the veterans exemptions the the exemptions. They're all tied in there. >> Next slide. >> Yep. This kind of gives you where those
numbers come from. So you have the tax levy, you know, where it's large percentage of the revenue for the town. you know, 60 to 61 to 64% of the town's revenue is based there. You get new
growth. You don't know what it's going to be every year depending on what the construction is. Um, like again, get the baitments. Um, the heroes exemption, which is new. Bob Pinkley was just letting me know
that that's, you know, come down the pipeline, which could be a huge hit for this town. in good way for you know ones that deserve it. Um we have the solar funds the school.
All right. So the chapter seven you know the state local aid same same idea. So we get the state funding. Hey, can we got to slow down like I feel like Jamie's talked about a lot of these things like these are these are the
things that we're on the hook for and this is what this goes into the budgeting process. Right? So these are sort of the mandates that we have to work through and these are the things that in a kind way that are keeping us up at night. Right? So it's like we've
got operational day-to-day but this is just to give you an idea of these are some things that you know mosquito control air pollution uh RMV non-renewable search charges regional transit they're not you know readily
available it's not like DPW stuff it's not schools it's not conservation commission these are things that we have to take care of on behalf of you know not only a Christian resident But overall,
so this is, you know, again to our representatives, state aid is, it's not really keeping up with inflation. It's not keeping up with the services that we need to provide. I think we got a little bit silly during COVID where we got pumped in with a lot of one-time funds
and we felt good about it. And I think we're in a, you know, in a in a in a mindset of let's just get through this. But that's all now starting to to to come to roost. Um so, you know, to our elected delegation, we're not looking
for a handout. We're not looking for um anything other than helping, you know, the the taxpayers when they're send when they're paying their state tax, their state income tax. um that's above and beyond your local property taxes and
excise taxes. We're hoping to see more of what we're sending uh up to Boston. Um again, these are some other pieces of the uh equation um that we're dealing with. And you know, this is one that that sticks out is that most recently we
had a vote old colony. I you know, people that I talked to, it failed miserably. It wasn't necessarily because of people didn't think there was a need. It was how we going to pay for it. And a big piece of the missing piece of the equation is the reimbursement for new
construction is woefully inadequate. Woefully inadequate. And you know, I'm we're hoping that there is legislation that will that looks to address that that disparity um to build a to build any school for that matter like should be shouldn't be based on whether you're
a rich town or or a poorer town. It should be across the board, right? And and put the money if we're going to talk the talk of millionaires tax and education, put it into new infrastructure. I think that's what we need. Um, again, these are some other uh
Jamie, sorry to jump in there. We can >> switch seats. Again, we're just sharing with you the the what we're working on. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Sorry. >> So, again, like the license and permits.
Um, today we actually just voted to increase the building ones. We'll be working on updating the rest of the permits for the town, you know, coming up, you know, for the local receipts. Um, again, economy driven for the new construction, what's going on for new
growth and permits. It's all I mean, you never know what it's going to be each year, right? >> Right. I'll turn it back over to you. Uh so Janet spoke in regards to the local receipts and you know the revenue
that we've received and how coming in really good paying their bills which is great. Um so we have the local option for the meals tax which about 100,000. I know we have the solar tax is about 153,000 that
we get for that you know but we try and you know you never know what it's going to be. So we budget 75 to 80% you know of previous actuals. In 2022 the finance team at the time you know
review the investments and had chosen to invest in a better situation than the money was sitting in the bank. We received over a million dollars in interest since
then. Um, permit fees, you know, again, the fees that we're reviewing, trying to keep everything up to date, so we're not way behind or below other towns, but more current. So these numbers here are based on the
November again um that we had put together. In general, we're doing really good with numbers. I just ran them again today and we're about, you know, everything's pretty much 50%. You know, since we're 6 months in, so
we're in line where we should be. Same with the expenses, but So we can get the revenue from the EMS which you know which is a significant amount we use to fund you know budget we used to you know purchase new equipment
we've got the water surplus that we use um FY 2526 the do offset for the so indirect funds kind of back charging for golf and the enterprise sewer accounts
for pensions, insurance, you know, that way we kind of recoup it in the general fund. That way they're paying their own. I just want to highlight. So, you we talked about back charging um you know for the golf course stuff.
Is it a huge help to the budget? Not necessarily, but when we're looking for pennies, it's the important piece of it. And also it's just a matter of tightening up all of our process, right? If you got one loose end here, one loose
end there, one loose end there, and then you get a bunch of loose ends. So one of the things that the finance team and the board of selectman are really committed to is making sure that we're trying to tie up as many loose ends as possible. So then when we go into the budget process, the integrity of that process
is there, right? And so again, it may not be visible. It may not be glitzy or or glamorous, but those things do that up. And if you start stacking all of those efficiencies, then at least you can look people in the eye and say, "We're doing this the right way." And
then but the money is the money. >> So this is, you know, again kind of just reiterating, you know, the new growth. You know, it's not expected, but it's pretty consistent. The state aid has a minimal, you know, 5 to 1% increase. You
know, conservative on the local receipt because you don't know what they're going to be. You just kind of, you know, guesstimate for most of them. You know, feeds and permits questionable. And then the investments, you know, you don't know what the percentages that you're going to get.
So, these are our obligations, things that, you know, we need to pay. employee benefits, you know, so we're, you know, expecting an increase of 80,000 in pension, you know, between the insuranceances, you're looking about, you know, almost 500,000. Collective
bargaining bargaining about 500,000, you know, then you don't know what the general education, you know, between the high, you know, the Kushnet schools, the high schools, the vocational schools. We're not sure exactly what those increases will be for the next year, but
it's something that we need to, >> but we know right with our obligated increases, we're at over a million bucks. New growth, what are we saying? Between 600 and 800,000, right? >> Yeah. You got roughly $800,000 between
uh 192 and new growth in, you know, five roughly 580 and 11 increase, the two and a half levy increase. something that's pretty consistent year over year. >> And the thing is I I think we've got to, you know, work as a town and just in
general like we can't throw shade on these things, pension costs. I think it's very very convenient to like say, well, we got rising pension, we got all this stuff. Yeah, it's reality, but there's people behind that, right? There people who are carrying out services. There are people doing the job on a day-to-day basis. We we live in a
civilized society. We try to do the best we can for the taxpayers and but there there is a cost to that, right? And so I think as a town if we can demonstrate what we're delivering, you know, how we're spending that money, what people are getting for it, um then that's
always should be our mission, right? If we're spending something, we should show a deliverable for it. And sometimes with town government, it's not like building a school or building a park. You can say, "Hey, my tax I can see that, right? You can see that. But when you've got
people that you've got to fund, we need people to run to run the town. And if we don't have that, then we don't have a town, right? And that's not a fun place to be. But these are the this this one, you know, we'll call that a budget buster. It's a service, right? Some other towns
do it differently. Um but the town of Aushnet has been really committed. The one thing that taxpayers can see is they can see that their trash and recyclables are getting picked up weekly. Recyclables every every other week I
guess, right? Um and so that's something that the residents of Aush have said we want to see our tax dollars go to that. That's an important service that we carry out, but it's a challenge. Um you know, the contract's going to be up. we're going to go out to to bid on that
and do what we can to drive down. But that's what that costs on a yearly basis, you know, and water. Again, not everybody's on water, but that's an increased cost that people are faced with. Unfortunately, we're at the bad of the city of New Bedford. Um, we have a lot of people who
are on well, who on their own private septic, so they don't see that. Um, but there are a number of residents who who have that, you know, have that yearly obligation. um utilities, technologies, legal fees, and we're trying to drive those down. Hopefully, you could drive
those down. >> Uh Jamie, sorry, you jump in there. >> That's fine. >> So, you know, things you don't want to you don't want to use the free cash for the operating budget. It's, you know, one time. You don't know what it's going
to be. It's not ideal for the operating um prioritizing. You get the articles any remaining funds we try to you know use if you know depending you know resend the article and reappropriate the funds for other items. You got CPC funds
you know which is great so you can you know allocate them for certain items that are needed in town. You get stabilization funds, long-term bonds and bonds and the enterprise retain earnings. So the concerns the income you know the
economy is down interest you know high interest rate impacts the construction so there's you know lower new growth lower building the solar arrays um the connective problems we're waiting for the substations to be completed so we can get some of these solar stations
online the um decrease in student population it's lower than previous years so the chapter 70 fund is lower. Again, onetime fixes. Free cash is not a fix. You don't want onetime money. New sources of
revenue, you know, the cannabis, you know, expand economic development, you know, no impact, no immediate impact, three to five year adoptions. >> So, just again, those are like concepts people have talked about it. You know, do we have cannabis? Do we not have cannabis? There's things that as a town
we've got to consider. I don't know if it's on the horizon or not, but we got to start thinking about are there new sources of revenue we can try and bring in. So, just to kind of sum all this stuff up and we'll turn it over to Thank you, Jamie. >> Um, so, you know, how do we plan to get
there? I think we talked about always looking for a better way to build the mouse trap. Can we be more efficient? Can we use technology? Um, you know, can we be creative? you look at a lot of folks who are sharing a town planner, right? I think you're going to see a lot
of towns um they're going to have dedicated public servants who are going to be retiring and that's going to create gaps and openings and um you know we I think you'll see more discussion with other municipalities and can we
share services um we got to look at that again small thing low key but legal RFPs if there are other things when it comes to procurement that we can look at um but as I mentioned before we've got a backbone in this town. It's our finance committee. If you look collectively, not
to make anybody feel old, has over a hundred years of combined municipal experience, right? I mean, I'm not talking about people's age. I'm talking about the time that they've spent. So, you've been on the finance committee what, 20 years? Don't close. >> 16.
>> 16. I know Doc Buché close to 20. I mean, you've got a number of folks who have been at this for an awful long time, which I think is really helpful. Uh, sometimes, you know, being at it a long time isn't great. You get a little stale and a little rusty, but I think
when it comes to finances, institutional knowledge and institutional memory is really important, especially as you're integrating newer people, right? got new newer members on the finance committee who can challenge the process, but I think it's really important to have that
institutional knowledge and we're really lucky to have that. Um, a transparent budget process uh is is critical um to know where every every single penny is and that's not just not that's not just when you're coming in to ask the money, ask for the money during the budget
process. That's a 365day proposition. It's knowing when the money is being spent. Are there any trend lines? Are things being spent at the end of the year, in the middle of the year? Being able to forecast, having that level of transparency is really important, not only when you're asking for the money,
but once you get the money and how you spend it when you have it. Uh, we talked about, you know, establishing a capital expense planning process. That's not that's nothing new. I know Kevin's talked about that, Bob's talked about that over the years, but really just
putting it out there to ensure that we do that. Um, again, can't use one-time money for operational costs. And lastly, always think creatively to solve problems. If there's a way to do it better, I know we've got sometimes challenges with the union and so on and
so forth, but as if we can maintain level of communication with the department heads and uh the employees to understand the mission. We're here to serve the residents. It's not our It's not my money. I mean, I guess technically it's our money because we're
all taxpayers, but it's really more than the people in this room and we have to guard it as if it is our own money um and spend it appropriately and treat it accordingly. Um and that's to be creative, right? We don't I don't think
any of us run our households the way we did 10 years ago, 20 years ago. We got to think created any of this stuff. So, I think we can do it. You know, I'm excited about the team that's in place. We've had some challenges, but I'm confident that um the people that are
here in this room will continue to deliver the services um and and provide a great product for those 99.7% people who are showing up three quarterly to fund this town. So, with
that said, um I don't know, gentlemen, if you have any my colleagues on the board. Again, I always go back to like when the you know what hits the fan, it's people are calling Bob, they're calling Kevin. Um so, gentlemen, thoughts?
>> Yeah, I would I would just caution you with um Mr. Kelly did his best looking at what numbers we have revenue numbers um possibly to change the numbers that he used there. As far as a deficit, as you can see, we're
looking at $450 to a half a million dollars worth of deficit now. And that doesn't include any increase from Old Colony, any increase yet from our local schools, um, and any of the other operational budgets that we have that would require an increase. So, um,
again, it it's same discussion that we've had years over years and decades over decades. Um, it's getting more difficult, right? And I I keep I don't know. I look at $800, $900,000 in revenue and I say I don't really know if we have a revenue problem or we have a
spending problem, right? And I think that's really what we need to look at and have that discussion is maybe we just need to stop spending so much instead of, you know, asking for more revenue because the reality of it is there's no magic wand that's going to bring in any magic number that anybody's
going to be satisfied with. I could I could bring in a half a million dollars worth of revenue and one year it's going to be gone and the next year everybody's going to come back and say I need another half a million dollars. I need another million dollars. It's just not reality anymore. And the costs are are
pretty exorbitant. you've seen healthcare pensions um pension costs are going up and I don't think the way the pension system's been changed for you know they're trying to be fully funded with a target date of 2035 I asked why one
generation's paying for it um the pay as you go was working out pretty well we say stay up to date with what we owe on the pay as you go and we were doing pretty well I guess everybody elected officials and everybody was getting up a pension just once they're guaranteed that they're not they're going to have
that pension in the end. And I say good luck because I don't I don't see how that system sustainable at the rate that it's at, right? Um health care costs through the roof. Um it's burden and it doesn't only burden us on our financial side, it's also burdening our town
employees, right? So they're 60/40 split. So we're seeing the bigger cost of health insurance the town is to fund that. But you also have that impact on the employee and some of the employees just can't afford that increase and some of those increases are pretty exorbitant
to an employee, right? And they just can't afford it. Um, so it's it's something that we all need to I think government needs to do a better job. I think Obamacare back in the day really really hurt healthcare and the cost of healthcare. I I I would hope the federal government would look at that and try
their best to work, you know, party lines. Don't give a damn if you're a Republican or a Democrat. do something and fix the problem. We know there's a problem there. Fix the damn problem on behalf of the people of America. Um don't keep fighting back and forth because that's getting us nowhere. It's gotten us nowhere since Obamacare was
put in and all the subsidies. So I would urge, you know, our elected officials, not only in the state, but in the federal government to start working together instead of fighting all the time and getting nothing done. I I think it's really that time that people come
together and really start working on the province because America has an affordability crisis. It's not just an aush affordability crisis. It's America's affordability crisis. Um and I think it's a damn shame that you know we got to talk Democrat Republican all the
time or independents and all that stuff. That that's that's that should be long gone in politics, man. We're all human beings. we all need to work together um for the common good of all of us people in the United States of America. Um so with that, we do our best at our local
level that we've been doing. I commend everybody that's on the team. Um I think we need to do I know that we've done a good job trying to to work together. I think we could always strive to do a better job of working together. Um, I
always tell people whether on appointed um committees or elected committees, aren't we all here for one common goal, for the betterment of this community? That's really what we're all here to do. Um, so we should be working towards that common goal to give people what they deserve when they pay their tax bill,
right? I'm surely not happy paying a tax bill. I'm surely not happy about throwing an extra thousand dollars on my tax bill. But sometimes you got to do what you got to do. Um, and if if the cause is needed, that's what we shall do. Um, but I mean, we the answer is not
just keep taxing people to the max. It's really not the answer. We we need to stop figuring out solutions to these bigger problems because we can't keep up with the pace of the problem. And and I hate to say it, but it's going to hurt a lot of people if we continue down the same damn path that we've been on. So, I
I would just I urge everybody when you go vote for, you know, your elected officials, whether it's state and federal and everything else, just consider that when you're doing it, don't look at the letter on the side of your name. Um, do what you believe that that person's going to do the best job
in representing you as an individual and not worry about a D or an R or an I. I think that's a bigger problem in America. >> Great. Well, um, I think you both Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think you pull hit the nail on the head quite a bit. So,
I'm not going to elaborate too much more, but I'd like to mirror what Select McGasper just said about a revenue versus expense problem. So, in this particular process, I've been actively trying to work on a host
community agreement for a cannabis. And if you notice from the slide, it says benefits in 3 to 5 years. So even if we come up with something, we reszone, we do all this, by the time we get to that three, five, three to five year mark,
the needs for those revenues are going to be more than what we take in anyway. So, I think it's really important to reiterate that we could always use more revenue, but without cutting expenses and trying to find cheaper ways to do
things, without losing services is really important. So being creative, little things like allowing collections online for the DPW, you know, that increased revenue coming into the town just because people didn't
want to go to town hall pay for something to drop it off at the town park. You know, little things like that. We we're striving to make it easier for the residents, but also maintain budget processes. And I commend everybody in this room for
being a part of this team. It's It's tough. And I also would like to thank both members of this board um that have worked. I think we've worked pretty well together. Whether we've uh wanted to bounce each other off the wall every once in a while, um I'm still proud to
sit next to both of you. So, I appreciate that. And Mr. Kelly over there, he's not asleep. >> Um All right. Well, look, it's the holiday season. Did you Yeah, please. I just want to um hope you can hear me. I just want to thank all the department
heads for all their hard work and working with me with the little changes that I try to tweak in, you know, with invoices and warrants and, you know, taking over your utility bills and spreadsheets and everything else. I just want to say thank you for all your
cooperation and getting things to us timely so we can get the bills paid and get everything out the door. So, I just want to say thank you. Um, it's the holiday season and so, uh, if you guys want to join us, the board, we've got a little spread at Cams and if
anybody who's here would like to join us to, uh, have some food and shoot the BS, we'd love to have you. And, uh, we'll be heading over there shortly and after this. So, with that said, gentlemen, there's no wins announcements. >> Yeah, Slackman's announcements. Come on. So, I just want to wish um everyone, all
my employee, all our employees first and foremost a merry Christmas, a happy healthy new year, and to everybody at home a a merry Christmas and a happy healthy new year. Um I think the most important part of that sentence is a healthy new year, right? Um you can't
buy your health. So, do your best to take care of yourself, all your loved ones, your family members. Cherish it while you have it. um cuz someday you won't have it. And I speak from experience. So um it's tough sometimes, but just love the family and and cherish
the time that you have with your family members when you do have them. So merry Christmas. Happy New Year. >> Same. >> Same thing. All right. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moves. All in favor? Great. Thank you.