[Music] All right. Good afternoon. Today is Friday, September 12th, 2025. It's a meeting of the Krishna Board of Selectmen. Is a meeting to There's a
motion to call the meeting to order. >> So move. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> There's a reminder. Uh the meeting is being audio and video recorded. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, liberty, justice for all. >> All right. First item is we have two executive sessions and then we come in for standard business. Executive session number one under the mass general law
chapter 38 section 21A subsection two to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions of contract negotiations with non-UN personnel staffing and the chair so
declares the board will return to public session at the conclusion of the executive session. Is there a motion? >> So move second roll call vote. Mr. Gasper >> yes. >> Mr. Hley. >> Yes. How many? Yes. Executive session under Mass General Law Chapter 3A
section 21 subsection A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining staffing. An open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares and the board will return to public session at the conclusion of the executive session. Is
there is there a motion? >> So move second. >> All those in favor roll call vote. Mr. Gasper, >> yes. >> Mr. Hankley, >> yes. >> Yes. We will going into executive session. We're in executive session. Is there a motion to go back into open session? >> So move second.
>> All those in favor. >> Motion carries. Just going to take a couple things out of order before we get into the sewer and water rates. We had a discussion about filling what was Kathy Silva's uh position. Um it's clear that we got to carry out that function. You
know, um not the time to start messing with job descriptions and that type of stuff. So getting you know water rates and dealing with that is really important. So gentlemen uh what is the pleasure of the board? >> Make a motion to advertise the position as business manager.
>> Okay. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I so business manager DPW water and sewer just to give it >> correct. Yes sir. >> Uh favor. All right. Good. Good. Good. All right. Next item we've got is a
police assessment sent to RFQ. There was a long process that we had to go through, right, Mr. Kelly? And um now what if you can just walk us through that and then get into the bids? Uh this is an RFQ
uh for the assessment center for the police chief and uh actually the chair overie >> and the deputy chief. Uh the first
analysis is uh for the RFQ is of compliance and substantive as far as all the qualifications and a comparison thereof. And then there's a second
opening of all of the uh uh price figures. Okay. We mailed out 10. We had three that refused to even meet.
We have two that came in within the time frame for the uh RFQ. And of the two uh we the board went through did the matrix with staff for
the RFQ comparison of all of the qualifications and all of the uh various demands of the RFQ. Uh there is very little difference
between batch quest and jarro as far as uh their submission. Uh it came down to uh
whether there was uh a difference in uh the consensus scoring or the draft advertisement which are very minor points. So, it's I would say
they're 98% identical as far as their compar as far as their submissions. In fact, when you look at what they describe the exercises as being,
it's identical both submissions. >> Okay, very good. So, uh, and it's, uh, they comply with all of the demands of the civil service. >> Got it. Excellent.
>> All right. Well, I guess you go through these things. Open these up. This is quotes for assessment center services for the town of Aushnet. Price quotes. J. Perro. Okay. Then
>> J Parro $7,500. I'm assuming these are all the same, right? They got to multiple things. >> That's for you to mail back Christmas cuts. >> Yep. So we'll do that to M. Kelly. $7,500 for J Harrow. >> Before the board leaves, if they could initial
>> All right. And then this one is for badge quest. Okay. The bid for badge quest is for five candidates $5,944. If it goes to 6 to 10 candidates, it's $7,944. Badge quest.
All right. Uh, general motion. >> Mr. Mr. Chairman, I believe that I can make a motion to award the police chief and deputy chief's assessment center to badge quest. I'll >> second. All right. All those in favor?
Motion carries. Thank you gentlemen for uh your due diligence and also for uh agreeing to have this meeting so we can get this process moving for the men and women of men and women of the department. We said we were going to
move and we are doing that. Uh more to come so stay tuned. All right, we got that done now. What we've all been waiting for then water and sewer rates. Mr. Kelly, do we have to we have to initial everyone or just one? More than
one, right? >> Just the what? You have to initial the parro one and the uh badge quest one. Just one copy for the file. >> Okay. Which one's this one?
>> That's badge quest. That's apparel. Good. I'm done. There you go. I don't know what all of this stuff is. >> These are the extra copies. So, >> okay. Right. >> I give you those envelopes. >> Yep. >> Y start with a water. >> Um
I'm going to recommend um number four on that one. Increase of 50 cents. Um, and that's kind of due to we just got a 46 cent increase from the city of New and just want to preface before we get into this.
Unfortunately, we're at the mercy of the city of New Bedford, right? So, the water rates that we get that we have to implement is because we get our water source from New Bedford. Um, and I just want make sure it's perfectly clear that people know that, right?
All right, Mr. Gasper, I know you're any thoughts. >> No, I mean it it on you just said water, right? And you want to go with option number four, >> correct? Which is a 50 cent increase. >> Yeah. On each what Mr. Mina just alluded to is correct. The city did go up 46
cents. Their their increases have been quite exorbitant over the last several years actually. Um and the board's been able to manage alongside of the DPW, water, sewer department to manage um that rate increase as best we can, but
um you know, we don't have much wiggle room when it comes to rate increase. So, we got to kind of stay in parallel, that minimum in parallel. And then any additional fixed cost to the budget, we have to offset that by rate increase as well. So, we've been managing the budget as far as fixed costs, I would say,
pretty damn well over the years. Um and we're going to continue to half increase. We we tried not to >> we examining the budget year over year to see what we can do to try to hold back that increase on our side, but it's tough. >> So, we we mail these out, right? The
bills go out by a separate vendor. >> Correct. >> So, if we want to put a letter in or something explaining, you know, can we do that? Is that can we put some message at the bottom of it that you know due to the city would you
like the letter that New Bedford sent us increasing the rights >> something I mean something like that I just feel like to let the residents know that this is why some type of explanation if it's the copy of the letter that the city of New Bedford put in we can put something on there or if
it's on the bill whatever it is but I think >> that would make sense. as long as it doesn't increase the postage, >> right? >> And that's another question, too. I know we use a different vendor from what we do our tax bills and all of our other
mailings, you know, at some point, do we want to look into how we can just a single source? I would imagine that >> we are looking into that. Okay. We now we use the deputy collector does the excise bills. Tax bills are a separate
and uh the uh DPW water and sewer go out under separate vendors. But even if we do the uh uh bills with the same vendor, it would uh have to still be separate
line items. >> That's true. If you can negotiate a better, I don't know. Again, it's worth looking at. Maybe you can negotiate a better. >> Yeah, we we were doing the analysis when we looked at this. >> Okay, >> good. Fair enough. All right. Uh, next is sewer. >> Yep. Okay, that one.
>> Do we have to make an actual motion? >> Yeah. Make a motion to accept Mr. Manard's recommendation on option four on the water, an increase of 50 cents. A >> second. All those in favor. >> On all tiers. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I motion carries.
Okay. Um on the sewer, um steering towards option one, which is also a 50 cent increase on sewer. And again, New Beth, New Bethic had a uh 22 cent increase on that this year. So
cover that as well. So sewer is a little bit different because of the we only run like a third of our water users are on sewer. We have roughly a thousand sewer users. We have just over 3,000 water users. So of course when it looks when you're looking
at the equation, the increases are a little bit greater. And we did have some additional fixed costs and indirect costs when it come to the sewer fund. Um and I I put myself a note when I was going over all this stuff and then I sat with Mr. Man and make sure that everything was going good. I mean, for
every $12,000 increase, roughly $12,000 increase in fixed costs, the budget the the rate has to go up 20 cents. So, it's it it is a doozy, but again, it is it's what we can do. It's the best that we can do. Um, and the city went up 23 cents on their rate. So, yeah, we're
going up a little bit more than than that, but we did there are some fixed costs in the budget that we have to capture. The only way to do that is through rate. So, we will be doing a better, you know, I talked to Dan and I talked to Jamie Lynard, assistant town. I said, "We we really got to look at this and start scrutinizing it because
of what the city has been doing to us, right? Um, and following that right along." So, we'll do I think I have enough confidence this year we'll do a really good job and exploring all budget line items and scrutinize everything as much as we can. Hopefully, next year we'll have a a good grasp on what we're doing.
>> Great. Um, I guess while we're on the subject of sewer, I know past boards have talked about it and Kevin, you were a big advocate of the the CWMP. Is that what it's called? >> That's correct. >> Um, just in passing, I think probably all of us at some point have talked to
our colleagues in F Haven. Um, you know, if that's worth at some point a conversation about tapping into their sewer at the town line. um there's opportunity for development in that area, whatever. So, I don't know. It's
just maybe worth the conversation. >> Mr. Chairman, >> yeah, >> back in the old days, I'll call it Yeah. Locino days, we we did have an interesting party that bought a parcel of land down here and we
were we did explore going with um for Haven. We did talk to him. I mean, it's it's worth the conversation. That was probably a decade ago. It's probably worth another conversation with them. Um just because of the the ledge that you're going down this way, you're going to hit a lot of it out in front of the quarry. So that's kind of like a hamper
in that line going down. Um so it be it should we should probably have that conversation to see what's up. But the reason back then was because of the system, the accounting system and the muna system. They the mua system couldn't handle doing two different
things with two different rates. We might we might >> I remember doing something the rates are actually more expensive back then did that it was more to go to Haven than it was at that time >> at that time again that was so so the
city the city we get a good rate a decent rate from the city they can't do to us what they do with water which is an arbitrary number you know command of the index the way they bang us they can't do that because we're tied to the city of New Beth and we have been since the early 70s through a federal grant that we applied for and they use the
town of Ausha to jointly file for that grant. So, we're tied like believe legally to that whatever they charge for their rate, they have to charge us for our rate because we were tied at the hip back then with that federal grant. Um, and I have some information on that somewhere. I know I
have that as well, but um that history on that stuff, but it still warrants possibly a good conversation with Haven to see what's up. I mean, I think that, you know, trying to get through that ledge is there's a lot. >> I mean, there's a way to do like I mean,
I would stink for those residents, but if you went from beyond the ledge. >> No, that's what I'm saying. So, if you came in from if we went the other route, you now you'd be coming from the favored line and you'd be working your way. So, there's ledge everywhere, right? The problem is is the I I know for a fact
>> there's a massive swath of it. That's why sewer stopped back a long time ago down there was a pigot or pen broke or whatever it is. Okay. >> Um it stopped there for that reason because there's just massive when we did the last phase up in here the the village area. We hit a lot of ledge. They had to come back. The board of
public works at that time had to come back. It wasn't a big increase but there was an increase because of the way they did the borings and it seemed like they did it all in the valleys and not at the peaks. Um but whatever they found a lot more ledge. So it going back to that earlier thing Mr. W. It probably definitely warrants a conversation. We
can go talk to New Buffett. Dan, you could probably just do something quick. Reach out to the director over there, say, "Hey, what are your sewer rates, right? You can't play with water because there's no way you'd shut down the system and redesign the system because you can't do that cuz you would have what the city would call
crosscontamination in the system. They'd never allow that. But sewer, you can dead end it and run it in loops and and that might work too." So, you know, we'll have to figure that out. >> We So, we're doing uh I'm just thinking cuz we have so much going on. And I don't want to be all over the place, but
maybe after once we get through town meeting and all that stuff, you know, see if we can get maybe a joint meeting with the selectman over there in Fair Haven, they're elected DPW, you know, Brian Watton's been we've worked with him on some other issues. They're really good, you know, at Tudel Lane and just
do like a powout, you know, like get they've had some turnover on the board with town administrators just get together either here or at the council on aging and uh because there may be some stuff that, you know, we should brainstorm about that might warrant. You know, I mean, I this week, last week, I
put Charlie Murphy in touch with I3 broadband and they're really excited about that and, you know, because of the Haven, it makes it the more towns we get involved with that stuff, uh, the better it is. So anyway, um maybe just so we stay focused on what we have in front of
us, which is town meeting coming up in November, we can put this on our to-do list, start talking about some of these bigger picture things. >> Absolutely. >> All right. >> Okay. Cool. All right. Well, thanks, Dan. >> So, do we did we do a motion to adopt the sewer rate? >> Motion to approve option one on the
sewer rate and increase of 50 cents. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I motion passes. >> All tiers. Right. All >> correct. All right. Uh uh I think that is it and so our next meeting will be on the 23rd
gentlemen under announcements today sir I >> motion to so move >> second all those in favor All right.
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