[Music] Today is Friday, September 26th. It's a meeting of the Accession Board of Selecmen. There's a motion to call the meeting to order. So move.
Second. All those in favor? Motion carries. As a reminder, this meeting will be audio and video recorded. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. All right. The purpose of this meeting is to set the fall town meeting warrant. We'll go over articles. So we'll do that. This seems a few that are proform but
we'll still nevertheless work through those. Article one is to settle payment for prior year bills and that totals $20,157. Your golf course staples stable staples
corgan electric air cleaning. There's a lot of cats and dogs here. Cleaning specialist legal KP Law soil board attorney lang Haven neighborhood news for Haven neighborhood news count buildings like her 500 bucks Tyler
technologies 5600 uh school 206 bucks board selectman 520 bucks again totaling 20,15761 Mr. Chairman the staff recommends that we fund this from free cash.
All right. So, I guess we'll go through these. If there's any holds, we'll just hold those and then come back. Is that what you guys want to do? Yeah, that works. All right. Uh, item number two is amend FY25 operating budget article 31 to see if
the town will vote to raise the appropriate transfer from free cash or otherwise provide sums of money to fund amended amounts in various accounts. see the table. They were previously voted on article 31 of the June 16, 2025
meeting. Uh this is sorry just going through the red stuff here. Um this was submitted by this article amend and reconciled budgets to expected balances.
FY26 budget contains items that require an adjustment based on final appropriation if approved. So this deals with the um planning board. Correct. Planning board and board of health. Mr. Chairman, planning board is requesting 9,430
for salaries for to augment previous salaries of a senior clerk. Board of Health is request uh well actually uh my office is requesting uh for Board of Health salary adjustment
to for a principal clerk be based on a reclassification that we did with ASM me and uh the town uh Mr. Hinckley was involved in that and that's for 3,520.
Can I ask for a hold on that, Mr. Chairman? Okay. Uh, I guess Mark's here, right, from the planning board. You know, Mark, when we had talked about this, um, you know, I agreed to suggest you put forward an article, the board would discuss it. We
we've gone back and forth. Um, we're still trying to get that department organized in principle. I think, you know, I don't necessarily have a problem with it, but I also respect the intent of the board last spring. Um, but if you want to make your case again, feel free to do that. I know the board has some
some reservations. You want to do it now? Yeah. All right. So, I don't want to waste waste anybody's time. Thank you. Uh, for the record, Mark Francois, uh, chairman Christian planning board. Um, just like you had
read, uh, we had the we had a clerk, a part-time clerk for the planning board. Uh, she left in February. Uh, the clerk's position was defunded, I guess you could say, for the spring meeting, um, I guess because of budget
cuts. We have gone back and forth. We've had department head meetings about trying to consolidate clerks. Uh I know that the ZBA's been consolidated with uh the building department and now we're
still in limbo. Uh right now the planning board has a part-time planner. We have no clerk uh and and we have a little bit of help going with um minutes but um basically after talking with department heads
after having all a lot of department head meetings it's just something that the planning department needs. We need a minimum of part-time clerk. That's all we're asking for is the same as we had in fiscal 25 uh budget. We have $4,000
some odd dollars in our budget right now. All we're going to need is another approximately 9,000 9,439 [Music] to get us to the end of this year. Um things were running good when we had our
part time and that's all I am requesting. Mr. Chairman, yeah. Um, after going back and forth through negotiations and multipleus and multiple pivots, I have to say that as of right now,
doing this could jeopardize and unwind an ask me contract that I'm at the final stages on. Um, originally when we discussed it, you have the the plan was to have the building clerk, Miss Walsh, take on the burden of the planning clerk
duties being in the same building. Um, with planning experience, with building experience, um, and I know we kind of pivoted to the ZBA aspect of it. Um, but that was temporary just to make sure anything didn't go into constructive approval. Um,
I have a couple candidates that have reached out in regards to the ZBA. I'm still sticking by what I said originally that Miss Walsh is more than capable of handling this and being in the same building, I don't see any problems with
the communication. Um, the the number one thing to echo what Select McGasper said at town meeting was if it doesn't work, we can reassess. And there was never a plan put in place for it to work. It wasn't tried.
And I think backpedaling at this point doesn't make sense. It's my personal opinion. Okay. I still think Miss Walsh can handle it without a problem. It I I understand what you're saying, but
it's very difficult. And as you would know, if there's a if there's a person in one office and there's a person in a completely different part of the building in another level, is it it's the the communication of being able to just talk to that
person, ask that person questions. Um there's a lot more that goes on with the the clerk for the planning department than just accepting permits. We've gone over this uh with department heads. Everybody kind of thinks it's, you know, the clerk just, oh, got a new permit. That's it. There's a lot of
communication that happens between the planner and the clerk for the board. It's it would be good and easier. Uh, it would just work better. It we've discussed with other planning other department heads and they all agreed that it would not work. I just left the
building department. It would not work having somebody in a different office. Not saying that she's not capable. Without a doubt, she's capable. Um, but to have her do planning, building, and ZBA, or now you're looking to maybe put
ZBA somewhere else, I it's not like we're asking for a lot of money. It's It's less than $10,000. There's There's between lots of funds and different budgets that you have, you can find $10,000 to get us by. It's not
like I'm It's an extravagant amount of money. And the planning department is the department that works on getting grants. It's the department that's going to change some zoning for so we can get some more commercial property so we can help this town get more uh commercial
income. If if if we don't get some help in that department, none of that happens. We're trying to finish the master plan right now. When we had the 2008 master plan, nothing got done. And if we don't get some help in that office, it's going to the same thing's going to happen.
Mr. Chairman, all due respect, I disagree and I'll disagree with what you just said. I was just in the building department for what you just said. I've had multiple conversations with our building commissioner and he is all for this. I've had multiple conversations with the clerk and she is all for this
and more than capable. Now, to be easier and you're saying it's not going to work and multiple department heads are saying it's not going to work. Multiple department heads have no say in what happens in this anyway. They wouldn't know it's not going to work unless we tried, which was the original agreement. At town meeting, select McGasper said to
you, "If it doesn't work, we can reassess and figure it out." How long is this going to take? She can be operational in 15 minutes, Mark. And from a room here to a room here, it's a phone, an email. She can take a
walk. We can put a sign on the door that says right away. So, if it's not about the money, why don't we just why can't we just do it? Because we're not following through on what we agreed on originally. It was discussed. We made the determination and the deal was we'll try it. If it doesn't
work, we'll reassess. And we haven't even Who's the person that decides if it's working or not working come spring meeting? Whoever happens to be in the town administrator's seat in correlation with the department heads involved in both. So, building and planning and then you can discuss it.
Mr. Chairman. Mhm. I agree with everything Mr. Inkley just said and I don't think I need to say too much more. We did signed two months ago a memorandum of agreement to make our building department clerk the planning
board clerk. That was an ongoing negotiations with Mr. Hinckley and the town administrator. It was agreed upon by the union and the employee to do the job. I was just told last week by the building inspector, we haven't even tried to see if it would work. Period. I
told you this before, Mark, and I'm adamant about what I said. If I make a promise, I will not break that promise. We didn't even try it. And I said to them, well, if we didn't try it, how do we know it's not going to work? All I'm saying is, and I told that to the town residents, and I'm not going to backtrack on town residents when I speak
to them and we get their approval to do something and approve a budget. What I'm trying to say is, as Mr. Inkley said, put the ball in motion. Let's see what the defaults are, if at all any. We come back to the table. That's that planning board, that building department clerk, planning board clerk will speak to us
and say, "I'm overwhelmed." Whatever it may be. This is the problem. We sit down, the board can sit down, discuss it, try to figure out the problem, if we can fix the problem or not. If it doesn't happen, we go back to um Springtown meeting and get the appropriation for 19 and 1 half hour clerk. Period.
So right now I'm 100% in agreement with Mr. Inkley. He he negotiated his butt off with ASME to get this to work. We signed an MOA and that MOA was basically t taken thrown in the garbage and said we don't care what that MOA says. We're moving in our own direction. I can't see
that happening. Okay. So can on camera can we come to an agreement that Lori is up and going within the next couple of weeks? 100%. Thank you. And then we reassess
in two months, 3 months as two complete boards, not you know two people outside without planning boards input like this was like this originally happened without any planning board input. We reassess and then we have enough time to readjust when spring
meeting comes. What we're going to do is we're going to be assessing every 30 days is the way I would like to see this go, right? We talk to the employees, see what's going on, see what inefficiencies we may have, work with this board to correct those inefficiencies if possible. And if not,
Mark, we reassess as best we can. It's not going to work. We then we can tell the residents it's not going to work for these these reasons. And we're asking for at that point it'll be a reinstatement because I think we left with let's call it five grand. I think your original budget for a clerk was 20 grand. It'll be $15,000, not the nine
and change. The reason it's nine and change now is because partial of the year has gone by and you will have to fill that vacancy. That's why you're seeing less than 10 grand, but it's really going to be an appropriation of $15,000 additional dollars. And and I I told you this before, give me a good reason why it didn't work, but we
haven't even tried it. That's the problem. And and what we need to do is make sure that the town planner and that clerk are working cohesively together to make sure it works. And if it can't work, then I would expect the opinion from both of those two individuals to tell us why it's not working and let us
try to figure out a way that it can work. And if that doesn't work, 15 grand reinstatement part-time clerks back in the planning board office. I'll tell you that right now. And it will be a board decision in the spring. But I just told you what my my perception would be on that clerk's position at that point.
Okay. Two weeks. You have my word on that, Mark. Thank you. facilitated within two weeks. I agree with Mr. Gasper about reviewing every 30 days to make sure it's going smoothly and I stand behind what you said and
what I've said. If it doesn't work, we will make it right. Good. Bob, I would ask that when we do this, you know, talk to Lori about having her some physical space in that department. Yeah, I mean nothing says that she has to be tethered to the
building department four four walls, you know, like if she sets up a spot in the planning board and if people have building, they can go up there and vanish from the planning board, right? She doesn't have to be stuck in that department. I have no problem setting up some time to sit down
and figure out strategically what is the most efficient way to do this in regards to staffing when the planner's here, when Lor's in different positions. Um, and I'll sit down with both the planning board and the building department to come up with a plan.
Sounds good. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would make a motion to strike the planning board request for $9,439 from article 2. Okay. Second. Those in favor. Mr. Chairman, the other one. Is that one sticking around?
Mr. chairman. Then the bottom line would be 3,520 and the staff would ask that that come from free cash. All right. A motion just I make that motion. Okay. Second. All those in favor motion carries.
Um gentlemen, uh point of order, Mr. Chairman, um if we're going to make motions individually, we did not make a motion for article one. Right. I was going to come back to that one. Actually, you uh you've got the staff recommendation. Motion to approve. Motion to approve
article one. We'll just do it that way like all those in favor. All right. Let's just do this. Let's go through each one. Approve each one. Yep. Sorry. If we if we hold that or in discussion, right? Right. Yep. All right. Article three, amend FY 2025
capital budget. Article 22 at town meeting June 16, 2025 to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate transfer from free cash or available funds or otherwise provide sums of money to fund amended amounts in various accounts. See the attached
table. This is for 9,000 for accounts on aging uh HVAC. Um this is an increase because of uh the
original uh amount was 40,000 that was bid 9 months ago. All the vendors have come back. Y uh the increase is um asking for $9,000.
We've talked to the vendors. They have various blaming various things that have happened on the national level. Mr. Jim, to sum it all up, there's five different units inside the council on agent building for heating and air conditioning. Um, and when they went in
to look at the original units that they thought they were going to do, they came up with a recommendation to work on all five and replace all five. So, the bid came in a bit higher, and that's all it is is a $9,000 supplement to get that job done. Yep. Next one is for uh town buildings.
uh install upgrade fire alarm for parting ways building not to exceed 7,000. Next is a request for police cruiser uh looking to do one at 85 grand uh DPW street sweeper an additional $4,000
uh to what was already appropriated bringing the grand total of $105,000. Um Mr. Chairman. Yes. So, I'm looking at my older warrant um for discussion. I know that Mr. Kelly's presented a newer version, which I'm
working off of my older version because the police department did make a request for an unmarked cruiser and then two police cruisers. So, there's a couple of different versions of what amount of money free cash we're going to be spending at town
meeting. And it's obviously the amount is troubling, but again talking to and there's a letter in the back of this about two police cruisers. I think the unmarked cruiser can wait, but there is concern about two cruisers versus one
cruiser. So at that point, I just want to mention that to the board and make sure that the board's okay with just doing one versus two. There's other one of the two year year u waiting period. So, I'm just bringing that up for the board's conversation. We can go with one
um or two cruises. It's entirely up to the board. But the original the original request was three, one unmarked, right? So, in years past, if I remember correctly, and I don't know how much money's tied up for the school roof with the solar stuff. I think we had we bought some
cruisers out of that solar fund. So there's not we we have we have something in here for an article for I think that's the ambulance one the 52,000 uh for solar what's left over in solar revenue
that would be if you wanted to uh pay off the uh school roof ban Oh that's right. So there's there's 52,000 left in the solar capital fund, Mr. chairman and we're using that as a supplemental to to free up a little bit
of free cash. So, there's a couple different versions that are going on here. Um yesterday when we were sitting down, you're either going to spend 125 for 509, you know what I mean? Um with the ambulance and two cruises being funded, right?
Um I mean, look, I doing things different ways. It reduces the amount of free cash we're spending this time around. Remember, there's roughly 1.9 million available. But no matter what scenario you use, we're going to be spending somewhere around
1.356 million. Here's the thing. I mean, in principle, I don't like putting off. If we need cruisers, that's something we know we're always going to need. And you just you're constantly chasing your tail and playing catchup. I mean, you know, as far as the funding
goes, free cash, you're going to pay now or pay later. and move forward with two cruisers. But that's just me. Mr. Chairman, if I may, um after some conversations with um some people in the inside understanding why they request these
cruisers, I I I have to feel the same way. I think two cruisers now or one now, one later comes out in a wash. Um, I'd be okay with doing the two cruisers now just to get that department
operational and it will actually eventually lower their maintenance costs as well simply because they'll actually be able to let these vehicles rest and and cycle through appropriately. Mhm. I'd be okay with two cruisers. I I think we can hold off on the unmarked finale
though as as well. Um, all right. That's fine. Just as while we're talking about this, I don't want to cause any confusion, but it's fresh in my mind as we're bringing it up. Jamie Lynn, maybe you can if you can get with the police department. I think it would be good cuz we put some stuff
in the contract regarding details and admin fees. From what I'm understanding, just anecdotally, I see more of our police officers doing the details, which in turn allows us to keep those admin fees versus the I'm just curious as to
what that number is. And you know, not that it's going to pay for cruisers, but I just think maybe as a policy that money that's generated there would we should make a point to put towards capital, you know, capital expenditures like this. Again, that's just I'm just
thinking out loud, but I think it would be good to I don't want to we can still go with free cash, but I just think it's good to take a look at that. Mr. Chairman. Yeah. So, basically, your idea is well suited. um the administrative fees I believe
somewhere around the $50,000 mark um and obviously climbing, right? So that money is and eventually those fees go into the um free cash at the end of the year. That's where it goes. So it's basically functioning the way you're saying um it is part of how we get derived free cash.
So it is technically doing what it's supposed to do in a sense, but most people don't understand what you just said. So I'm glad that you did mention that so that people know we are collecting from details administrative fees which is then technically subsidizing a cruiser almost a cruiser a
year. Right. So and the reason why we're doing this for everybody at home is because of budget constraints. In the past 2 years we had to remove two cruisers from the budget and that was 150 and now two cruisers are 170. So looking to So what's that number now?
$190,000 bottom line figure. It's $170,000 for the cruise, Mr. Kelly. And that's outfitted. That is correct. It's roughly $85,000. The total for the article. No. So, we ain't done. The chairman is still going through the article. We just
stopped at cruises. He hasn't finished all the other capital items. Mr. So, I'll adjust that number at the end, Mr. Chairman. So, we're striking the one unmarked police cruiser and we're keeping two cruisers in that article.
All right. Next is uh additional 4,000 for the street sweeper. That's uh additional funds needed to purchase to replace present equipment in disrepair. I hope that's not for the new one we purchased. You want to take it or you want me to try?
Uh when we Somebody hit something. I only changed the amount at town meeting. The original amount requested was 275.
The amount that we budgeted was 270. Uh in the amended article, the price came in at 274. Got it. Okay. So really
we we we right I don't think we did a good enough Mr. Manad wasn't at the meeting, right? And I don't think we did a good enough job communicating with them. This is the X amount of budget that we have. He just went ahead and said, "Okay, this is the number and have a nice day. If if it was to be would have called the company up and try to renegotiate the price, saying
this is the allotment of money we have. Can you do it for 270 that didn't take place $4,000 in the GM?" Right. Okay. I mean, that's unfortunately that's the shame of public procurement because the vendors know how much you have in the
can and that's what they're going to charge you, you know? I mean, that's that's the thing that sucks about it. But it is what it is. All right, next item. So, that what does that bring our grand total to? uh with the addition of cruiser
uh the second cruiser 190 190 190 and there was a request for a station. So hold on we ain't done with this article cuz right now with the cruisers being taken out you're at 2011 250 but you didn't talk about the pump station.
Oh yeah. Okay. Yep. A request put in for a pump station. It was Mr. Chairman. Yeah. The reality of it is is several years back we thought through Woodward Cing that we would be able to use those pump stations for residents as well going up
Peckham Road and along Meadow Road. They were put in 25 30 years ago, whatever it was. Um you remember several years back um I made a gallon effort to use $100,000 out of retained earnings from sewer enterprise fund and then I proved to Woodward Current that crap doesn't
roll uphill. So we would never be able to tie in any residents because the pipe goes uphill from the schools. So then we went back to town meeting. We got the $100,000 to put back into sewer retained earnings because it's not fair for the sewer users to be paying for a sewer pumping station that none of them are
using. So this bill came in and I they were trying to take it from sewer enterprise fund and getting that bill paid. And I said it's absolutely not coming out of sewer enterprise fund because we don't have any sewer users in that system. That is a whole that's a school pumping station. Those two
pumping stations belong to the school. It's their responsibility. They just got a new $17 million budget. Whatever it is, $167 million budget. They returned last year I think somewhere in the realm of $300,000. Don't tell me you can't find $12,000 to
for your repairs of your sewer pumping stations, which by the way, our DDW did most of the work. So, you know, I I think it's it's a slap in the face when you return that much money and then you're asking us to pay $1,250
to repair a sewer pump station. All right. Fair enough. So, I think that's so minus that number now comes to the 190, Mr. Chairman, on article 3. Right. Is there a motion to approve article
three? Free cash for 190k. So move second favor. Article four receive the town will vote to transfer previously appropriated funds for article 10 of the special town meeting
from September 30th, 2024 in the amount of $20,199 to complete the equipping and necessary modifications to a new fire engine included but not limited to new portable radios, technology, so on so forth. Thought I saw the fire chief here.
He was He just He just ran out the door. Right. So, this was an old article that we got approved at town meeting in the amount of $49,999. Mr. Chairman, he's expended roughly $29,800. Now, his request is to amend that
article so that it changes the reading and he can with the new um fire apparatus that he ordered. he wants to do some modifications um to that to the cab in the brand new fire truck. So, he's looking to take the remainder balance of that old article and use it on the brand new fire
apparatus that we bought to equip with certain equipment and do some work inside the cabin that doesn't come as a stock feature. No additional money is correct. There's no additional money. Motion to approve. Second. Those favors.
All right. Article five, resend article 11 borrowing for an advanced life support ambulance to see if the town will vote to resend the unused borrowing authorization from article 11 of the special town meeting from September 30th, 2024 on the amount of 600,000 for
purchase and equipping an ALS ambulance for the Kushnik Fire and EMS department. Mr. Kelly, this that's just a that's just a resending of the article because the next article is going to touch on how we're going to actually do it. There's a motion to approve
second. All those in favor? Article six, funding the purchase purchase of ALS ambulance in place of article 11 September town meeting 30 uh September 30th, 2024 to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate transfer from
available funds file for accept and expend grants into or matching funds provided by grants or or otherwise provide a sum of sums or sums of money not to exceed 47,000 to purchase and equip and an advanced life report ambulance for the Christian
fire and EMS. Take any other action explanation. Upon resetting the previous authorized borrowing for the ambulance, the board of selectments is proposing to utilize 375. Mr. Chairman, uh I'd like the board to discuss these two figures.
Okay, I'm just reading it. So, is this not accurate what I'm reading or? Uh I think it's something that the board has to discuss. These were put in as you see in a different color as placeholders. Okay. Discuss it now or
Yes. What are we discussing then? So you just you Sorry, Mr. Chairman. The county got interrupted when you were reading. So the so to be clear to the folks at home, the amount now is not to exceed $475,000
to purchase and equip an advanced life support ambulance for the Kushner Fire EMS department. I don't take any other action relative there, too. So I apologize, but it wasn't me that interrupted. But just for the record for the people at home, it's $475. The last one we
rescended was for the amount of $600,000. Less money. I mean less money. Okay. So, now we have to discuss the finance how we're going to fund the 475. Do you have a recommendation because we went back and forth. We went back and
forth. Uh and I think uh that's why I put those placeholders in it when discussing it with Mr. Gaspa. The focus is on
making sure the EMS retain earnings account is not depleted beyond an an
unsafe level. And I think uh Mr. Gasper has the final figures that uh when he convinced me not to look at July
1 through this period uh and looked at exactly because even though that's in we can't count it the next three quarters that it's going to be the same looking at what's currently there
uh We I depleted my figures to that 830,000 and now it's the board's decision on where they want to go. Uh reminding the board that 550,000 is used to balance the budget.
Uh I would defer to Mr. Gaspar on his figures because Mr. Chairman, we spent hours talking about it yesterday. Mr. Chairman. Okay. Okay. Go ahead. So,
Mr. Kelly and the finance team, we were kind of throwing numbers around, but if you read the explanation, what we currently have in EMS reserve receipt account is $819,000. So, that's the number I try to work off of. As Mr. Mr. Kelly alluded to, that
would bring us if we use 200,000 from EMS reserve receipt account, it would bring our balance down to $619,000. And Mr. Kelly just alluded to, we use $550,000 a year to balance the budget,
the operating budget. So when I see 619, I know 550 and I know Mr. Kelly just mentioned it's a revenue EMS is a revenue account and I get it that we've generated 220 in the first three months.
I the comment that I made to Mr. Kelly and the finance team is when you stop looking at revenues and you stop borrowing against future revenues, it it becomes extremely dangerous when you stop having that as your practice. I'm a
money in the in the bank kind of guy. Um, and don't spend beyond your means. So, at that point, I'm just a little bit alarmed. I'm not trying to alarm anybody. I'm not saying we're not going to make the same kind of revenue. FIMS is doing a great job with revenue. The
problem is we never know if that revenue is going to go down year over year, right? It's all about reim fed Medicaid reimbursements and all of that stuff. So, um, and how many ambulance rides we're given. Okay. So, it's an unknown.
I'm comfortable, and again, this is a board decision, not my decision. And I'm just throwing different scenarios out there. Um, without depleting all the free cash is to use $275,000 in free cash and $200,000 from EMS
reserve receipt account. Before it was flipped by the the chief, I wish he was here, but before we we discussed this several months ago with Mr. Kelly, it was to take out 275 from the MS reserve receipt accounts and 200 from free cash.
Okay. I mean, you can do it either way. It just So, this one's here, this 375 and 100. That's We shouldn't be paying attention to that or Correct. You could pay attention to any numbers that you want to pay attention to. This is a board decision on how we do it. I'm
just trying to balance everything that we have. And you know, this this just because we have money in the bank. It's certain sometimes we just you're getting too far ahead of your skis and you're spending money at an exorbitant rate that you can't keep up that run rate of
expenditures and I get concerned about that and we're doing this without any debt exclusion. The board's got a great track record of doing this. Um I'm just trying to be as fiscally responsible as we can as a board to make those decisions for the future of the town. Right. So I mean I
think whenever we we have to make a a financial decision you got to assess the risk right like what's the risk correct and I tend to agree with you like you know with the with the reserves I mean if we've got money in free cash like
I would on the side of more utilize more free cash less from reserves um and then it becomes a conversation about what that number is you know I mean it's a one-time expenditure it's not like it's going to you know bodies and personnel which you know we all say
is a no no right capital um I don't know you know I mean uh if we were to go with 375 free cash and 100 out of EMS reserves what does that do to the does that put us in peril it
kind of kills all you ain't leaving much for the future you're not leaving a lot of free cash for fall fall spring spring sorry yep And uh I think the staff's target knowing that
we have all these expenditures that we have to do the staff's target was between leave between 400 and 500,000 in okay let's
so we can play see how it plays out right I don't I don't know I don't know your thoughts Mr. Inkley on I just don't want to kill all the free cash cuz we don't know what's coming for the spring and leaving 3 400 cuz that's basically what we would be leaving three
or 400 on the table. Yeah, correct Mr. Chairman if I may. Um I have a tendency to agree with that not knowing what's going to come in the spring. I mean like the chairman said it's onetime expenses so it's you know at least it's known now but I also don't
want to deplete everything before the spring. I'd be on the side of the 275 free cash 200 EMS reserve. I'll second that. I Okay, you know, we're discussing free cash and we're going to go into a budget season,
but this is for like, you know, all departments. We we can't have what happened at town meeting this past spring with people going after free cash to fund operating operating. That's we just can't do it. Well, that was that was you
want to talk about that real quick? No, no. I just want to put it out there like because we're talking we're doing hard work on free cash and making some really, you know, tough decisions and for the betterment of the town and to to go in, you know, with a crash helmet on,
you know, do something different, I think is is wrong. So, this is an example of like we just don't oh, let's just do this, right? You know, and I think, Mr. Jam it, if I may, I think that actually brings up a good point. You know, whether you question it in the moment or not, so when it happens, it happens. But then you go
forward, looking forward couple months later, and we see that it didn't actually have to happen and and you realize that just because you disagree with us, we're doing our honest effort to make the best possible practice for the town. And it turns out that we did
actually do the right thing. It just didn't make sense. And I I think it's it's good to note that I don't like to toot my own horn, but I think together the three of us work pretty well to make sure that we make educated, responsible decisions to better off the town.
All right, Mr. Chief, looks like you just got yourself an ambulance. Good job. Good luck. So, uh we were just talking about the ambulance and how we're going to fund it. So, we're looking at
money out of free a combo platter of free cash and then EMS reserves. And there was 275 out of free cash, 200 out of EMS reserves and um you know, we'll just keep watching that uh watching the numbers. All right. Very good. Is that that's good with you?
Mhm. Cuz we just talked about the levels, right, of what's remaining in in your EMS reserve receipt. I know it's a revenue account. I know that money's going, but we don't know what the rest of the year is going to look like, right? And we talked about 550 being used for the operating budget. You know the whole
scenario, we talked about it. So the board just made the decision as Mr. Chairman just said 275 free cash 200 EMS reserve receipt. The next one is this. I guess this is you, right? For uh see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate transfer
from free cash transfer from available funds file for accept and expend grants or matching funds provided by grants for otherwise provided sum of money not to exceed 35,000 for the purchase of a new radio system repeater. The repeater for
the EMA DPW radio frequency commonly referred to as government channel is in need of an upgrade due to age and poor performance. the upgrades to our radio system will cap off a complete upgrade of all the emergency services radio systems in town of Kushland. Uh correct. Uh last year, Mr. Chairman,
uh we had an article uh fiscal 24 maybe. Um and we upgraded all the radio equipment uh repeaters and and such for the fire department uh frequency. Um PD just went through their upgrade not that long ago um with their collaboration
with uh Metapo Haven. This is the last one that we have in town. Um it was extremely difficult um communicating during uh Apple Peach Parade uh between the weather and the condition of the repeater and the age of the repeater. It
just it was uh was a nightmare to try to communicate. So, this will complete everything that we need and carry the town uh and our emergency services well into the future. Sounds good. U Mr. Chairman, if I may, the way I look at it, if that's the case during Apple
Beach, I think $35,000 in order to protect the health and safety of our community and having all the equipment is well worth it. Yeah. Motion to approve uh to take out free cash. Second.
All those in favor? All right. All right. Thanks. Uh, I think that's it, right? You, Chief, uh, there was one more. Um, we took care of that the the resending of the article 49999 and then
redirecting some of that money for the new fire apparatus for equipment and cabin fixtures. Correct. It's all set. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Next one. Approve asks me collective bargaining agreement. Mr. Engle, this is your baby. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Um, at at the
moment, we are waiting for one final response from the union. Um, but it's looking moving swimmingly. Um, I would ask that it is placed on the town meeting warrant and I will have an updated fully redline copy for you within the next week.
Awesome. This involves no additional funds. Gotcha. All right. Motion to approve article 8. Second. All those in favor? Motion carries. All right. Article nine to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate transfer from free cash or
transfer from available funds a sum of 625,000 to fund FY24 and FY25 health insurance claims and excessive premiums. Sodicle will fund any past claims of deficits as a result of the unexpected costs of catastrophic cases past IBNR
runout claims and associated litigation costs with the town to prosecute the case. Mr. Kelly, this is your baby. Yes. Uh Mr. Chairman, uh we are in litigation with the MSHG
over this. Uh there is a there were catastrophic cases uh they're contesting our IBNR run out that we actually paid. Uh we've
retained an attorney. The attorney advises that we put this sum aside. Uh he's not saying that it would be this amount but he said this could be the
maximum amount if all things go against us. He's not advising that but he wants to go to court to show that we have put this money aside in good faith and that we are going forward with our
litigation. Got it. So we may not even we don't know the amount. We have an independent auditor going through the books. Uh MSHG hasn't presented us with
their independent audit. Uh in addition uh in the health insurance field, it takes up to 6 months for all of the billings to come in from the doctors and the pharmaceuticals
and then it takes an additional 6 months for pharmaceutical rebates and stop-loss insurance payments. Uh this is uh uh on advice of council. Okay.
To show our good faith and to keep our claims against MSHG valid. All right. It's a motion to approve. So moved. Second. All in favor? I. Great. Uh motion passes. Next article is
part of our conservation commission reform efforts. It is to reduce the number of the commission from seven to five. We've talked about this before. It's, you know,
it's the right thing to do. Um, is there a motion? Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor? I uh while I got you, gentlemen, while we're talking concomd I'll be sitting in on some interviews next week with some potential
applicants. Excellent. Um, and then in addition, uh, we've asked Chance Perks, who is the conservation agent in New Bedford. He's agreed he's coming in, I think it's Monday, uh, or Tuesday, one of these days this week, to sit down with Joanne to help get that office
organized and look at best practices and just he's going to do an assessment on how things are done over there. Hopefully, we can tap into his technical expertise. So, this is going to be, you know, an evolving project, but hopefully we can get it done and uh get things
squared away over there. So, anyway, Mr. Chairman, that's that's good to hear. Um, I'm glad Chance is willing to work with us. Uh, he's he's a straight shooter and he really enjoys his job, so I think that would be a benefit to that department. Good. All right. Next article is article
number 11. is for clubhouse uh golf course clubhouse borrowing to see if the town will vote to transfer from the golf enterprise reserve fund. Trans transfer from the golf enterprise reser retained earnings fund. Transfer from golf enterprise earnings. Transfer from available funds. Borrow, file for,
accept, and expend grants into or matching funds provided by grants or otherwise provide a sum or sums of money not to exceed $3.5 million or design to design, engineer, construct, purchase, equip a golf course, clubhouse, and
legal expenses or take any other action relative there too. This gives us the maximum flexibility uh to fund this project. um you know the what I was most concerned about and I think the board and you guys on the committee was the
not to exceed number you know and I think what you've put forward is livable um obviously we want to drive down costs being as creative as possible um with either in-house staff or whatever I'm less concerned about I'm more concerned about the number less concerned how we
get there so I think this gives us as much flexibility to tap into existing funds do bands. I know Kevin's put a lot of work into this. So, I'll turn this over to you and Jamie to to talk about that me, you know, the funding mechanism.
Mr. Chairman, I I did spend a couple of days with the finance team, a few hours each day with the finance team, Mr. Kelly, going through this and again, y'all reading off a newly revised article and I talked to Mr. Kelly on the phone yesterday. Um because of the way
the old article was written, we didn't have engineering and legal expenses in there, but that's been added. I thought I heard something. And design. Yep. And design and all that stuff. Right. So we we encapsulate all of that. What what the committee needs to do now moving forward. We encapsulate everything that
needs to be done so they can continue moving this project forward. Right. wid dialogue with the board of selectment because we've talked about concerns about the design and I know they did their best putting something forward to get us to this point to get do this. So to at least get the appropriation
and the funding from town meeting now and then we can spend time with the golf management committee talking about the designing the floor plan and all that that can come at any given point. All this is doing is authorizing the board of selectmen to sign on behalf of the
golf enterprise fund for funding sources and keep engineering moving forward. Um, we did in the amount of $3.5 million. I did do some research on what golf has in retained earnings because I'm a
stickler with I don't like high debt payments. I don't like putting I wouldn't want to put the golf enterprise fund under unnecessary financial pressure as we seen some 10 years ago. So, um I know Mr. Flynn put out an email. I looked that over real quick
this morning, came in last night or whatever. Um and then we've run some numbers ourselves. So, my recommendation would be for the the same amount the $3.5 million understanding we have 2 $2.25 25 million
in retained earnings. I ran the numbers on a band for $2.25 million taking $1.25 million out of retained earnings. So that would mean that now we would borrow if we needed to borrow 2.25 million and we got some schedules here and I did do
it on a 5-year plan. Um I know Mr. Flynn threw out the whole number on his plan. Um the interest on his was seven years. the interest on a 5year band. If you were to do the 2.25 million on a 5year band, the cumulative interest after five
years would be 225. On Mr. Flynn's schedule, the 7 years for the 3.5, you'd be paying $490,000 in interest. That's a difference of $265,000 just in interest. So, my recommendation
to the board, to the town, would be take 1.25 25 out of retained earnings. That leaves them with $1 million current in the bank in retained earnings. And we can ban up to 2.25 million to get us to
the 3.5. And this is a 5-year plan. But what I didn't know about bands, I've learned a lot in the last couple of days, and I spoke to some outside people as well, financial people as well, because I really wanted to do a deep dive. Mr. Kelly's got a really good handle on the ban stuff, but
and I didn't have this conversation with Mr. Kelly, we don't need to ban the whole amount right out of the gate. So, we have 1.25 in retained earnings through this borrowing to get us a 3.5. We've met the objective of the committees, 3.5. What we don't need to
do, and we have that to spend right away, right out of the gate. When we go through this process, if we need a million bucks, you can then just go and ban a million. This is a debt schedule on 2.25 million going for the whole thing out of sounds like a home equity. It's what it is, right? So, and Mr.
Kelly, if I if I speak wrong on a band, I'm not the professional. You're the one that introduced bands to the town of a cushion. You know, I I said to him yesterday, we do we've done so many damn bands, I feel like I'm in a band. Um, but anyways, I I think some people might
have a difference of opinion, but I have a strong opinion of this. My finance team agreed with with what I proposed because of the amount of interest. We just we ran this scenario on 2.25 and my interest payments way lower than Mr. Flynn's and I know Mr. Flynn was going after the 3.5 and not going after money
out of retained earnings. You absolutely need to take money from retained earnings to save on this project. And and and that balloon payment was in over the $600,000 mark. We've never paid a principle and interest on that golf course over $600,000. So this payment, if you were to go
straight out of the gate, your maximum payment in year 1 is $517,000. Still a number that's uncomfortable, but again, if we have our 1.25 keeps engineering all that stuff going forward, we can all figure out what we want to do. You stop digging into that
money first. We need a million bucks, we go out and ban. The nice thing about bands is instead of bonding. Once you bond, you're screwed. You're fixed. You're stuck in that deal for 5 years, 10 years, with bands, we can go in and just grab whatever money we need. We don't need to necessarily, the way this plan was laid out, the 2.25, the
remainder of the 3.5, grab all that money at once and pay that exorbitant interest on it. And what happens with that 2.25? You don't use it in year one. When you go to reband, you basically give that money, whatever was unspent, back to the company. They do all their paperwork. they charge you another five
grand. That's another additional cost of bands, but it's it's way it's worth it. And they just give you back whatever money was unspent. So I'm like, well then that's when I picked up the phone. I started talking to people and I talked to Mr. Kelly and I'm like, well, if that's the case, then I don't need 2.25
out of the gate. We can we can incrementally do this year after year after year and and we can just and and you don't want to do that because you don't have that new clubhouse generating that free cash flow anymore, right? So once we get to that, we'll be in really good shape. We do have the current state
of what we have. I would I think the board would like to have this project done in my opinion as fast as possible. Agreed. I I don't need to do all the other stuff, but I think there's been an appetite. I know by the chairman, you've
had a strong appetite about getting a clubhouse. I've had a strong appetite. Mr. Inkley, you've demonstrated said you've been on the board. Get a clubhouse. what it can do for the community. I I don't want to not have an article for the golf course come fall town meeting. I think we owe it to the committee and we owe it to ourselves and
the people of the community to say we're ready to go. Granted, first draft that was presented to the board, things are going to be changed. It's okay. This is what we're going to do and this is the max amount we're going to spend. So, I I I know Mr. Flynn's not here so I
don't want to keep talking for him. I just looked at his plan um paying a lot more in interest and borrowing the 3.5. My recommendation to the board is pull $1.25 million from retained earnings. You leave them a comfortable $1 million um for anything unforeseen issues that
may happen at the golf course in future work and we move forward with this project at $3.5 million. Yeah, I think you know this article gives us as much flexibility to do it. You know, theoretically, if you bring in a a nice facility, you should be making
more money. You know, at some point you might have to look at price adjustments for round of golf as well, right? Like, you know, I think we're I think we we I think we I don't want to say because we don't have such a great facility, I think we've been smart about how we
approach what we charge, right? But I think if you're providing an A+ experience, then you can charge an A+, you know, come up with a pricing schedule that's maximizes that. So, I think it's great.
The other thing again I like to confuse issues but since you're here you know how we operate the clubhouse you know I think the golf management committee has to seriously look at okay do you put it out to bid you know for a private entity to run the the food and beverage
operation because I don't know as a town we we can be in the business of running a restaurant you know that's not our thing Dana and the team does all you can just to get golfers to golf and if the two are separate it and you know I think that could be an opportunity for us
where it's you get a fixed fixed payment and a percentage of whatever it is um and there's probably some really great hospitality entities in the area that would that would would love to do something like that you know so just be as flexible and open to suggestions as possible as you look at this new uh this
new chapter I think it's going to be really exciting for us um and uh you know appreciative of the work you've done Kevin and same when I say Right. It's not I, but you know, there's been a lot of work. It's a we thing, right? It's a It's a lot of work behind
the scenes and you guys are on the front lines every day. So, thank you. Appreciate it. All right. So, is there a motion to approve article 11? Article 11 recommended funding with using 1.25 million in retained earnings and whatever the borrowing is
where it is 2.25 in borrowing cost. And again, that's our that's our discretion. Well, you don't have to get that prescriptive in the article, do you? Because No, it'll be in the motion, right? No, no, no. Yeah. Yeah. The the motion the motion will dictate the terms of
where financing is coming from. Once we get that, we're free and clear to be able to allow the committee to continue moving forward, continue dialogue with engineers, continue planning and having discussions with the board way ahead of time so things aren't being thrown at us
at the last minute and saying digest that and hurry up and give me a recommendation. I mean, I think it's the how we're going to end up with the greatest product in this town is with this board and that golf management committee having real dialogue over the over the next several months, whatever
it is year, and really figuring out what best is suited at that clubhouse for that clubhouse in this town. Bottom line is we're going forward with the article. Now, it's up to you to talk to as many of residents who care about the golf course and get them to town meeting. So, it's a motion to approve the article.
So moved. Second. All those in favor, Mr. Chairman. Yes. Uh just to fill in uh to remind the board, bands are the under the board's authority. At any point you can instruct the
treasurer collector. Uh also to remind the board uh fiscal 26 your uh large payment on the uh bond issue. It goes
down for fiscal 27 and it goes substantially down to for fiscal 28 for the original purchase bond that was extended. Uh and uh I was called to the
board's attention uh the finance team uh Jamie Velasquez, Jen Durant, they worked very hard on this with Mr. Gasper to go through all of the scenarios
that came up with this and I I hardly endorse this one. It's a very good scenario for the town. Okay. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, if I may, just to echo what you said the other night at the meeting for anybody listening at home,
this is not 3.5 million or 2.25 paid for by taxation. This is an enterprise fund that would be self-funded. The band payment would be paid from earnings from the golf course. So, this will not affect taxation. Right. Thank you. All right. Next,
article 12 to see if the town will vote to raise the appropriate transfer from free cash, transfer from the special capital expenditure fund from solar tax revenue or transfer from available funds a sum of $295,000 or take any other action relative to
special capital expenditure fund from solar tax revenue was created was created in 2013 to pay for specific capital expenditures such as school roof project. Funding for this legislatively created fund is earmarked for solar tax revenue. The final payment of this
anticip anticipatory note will eliminate any future interest payments and relieve the town of the costs of converting the ban to a regular bond borrowing instrument. It is the intent of the board of selectman to retire the ban through the use of free cash or funding
in the special capital expenditure fund from the solar tax revenue 52,648 bucks. Mr. Chairman. Yes. Uh yes, we did it.
Yeah. Once we once we once we once once we get this if if long as town meaning approves this article when I said we did it we made a commitment to the taxpayers somewhere in 2020 I think it was 21 and I think it
might have been 19 when this dialogue started about this roof and there was 50% like 52% reimbured by MSBA and we said we're going to fund our share from solar tax revenue and free cash to get rid of that payment and not put that
$1.3 million of debt as a debt exclusion and raise taxes on the taxpayers of Ausha. So when I say we did it, we did it. So this is the final payment. It's done and over with. That $1.3 million is gone. It's it's nice to get rid of debt
and it's nice to be able to tell the taxpayers and the people, this is what our plan is. This is what we're going to do. They believe in us to to do it and we executed it. And I and I'll be honest, I think it was geniusly executed. So, sounds good.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, I'm I'll make a motion to approve article 12 in the amount of $295,000, $242,352 from free cash and the remaining 52,648
from special capital expenditure solo. Can you give me that first figure? Yes, sir. The first figure is $242,352 from free cash and the remaining of the $295 would come from the solar capital
expenditure fund tax revenue of $52,648. I'll second it. All in favor? I. Next. Article 13. I guess you got done one. Now you got another one. uh funding repairs to the elementary school roof and gymnasium.
Uh to see if the of the ban repayment. Is that right? Uh no. Okay. All right. To see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate borrow transfer from free cash or transfer from available funds a sum of $150,000 to take any other action therein. Is there a motion? Uh this for they get they need
some repairs to the roof over there. So, Mr. Mr. Chairman, if I may, um, originally when you gentlemen solved the first problem of the the main roof, this smaller roof that's a lower level roof, uh, right outside of the gym that
actually houses the gym closet, um, has had some issues and that roof was never redone. Um, so with everything else that's going on with the school, we want to take care of the problem that we can right now while we still work. We're actively working on trying to come to a
solution on the the main part of the problem, but this would be a big chunk of it. There is some water penetration in that um which I'm sure probably contributes to the problem. It does. And I had asked um Dr. Bailey and Aldo to put together
a fund an amount to get this handled and um this should be more than enough to cover repairing, replacing, fixing any part of that gym roof. Okay. Great. I'd like to just take an opportunity to thank Select Hinckley for his hard work with the school. Um, you know, the
teachers, the school business administration, Mr. Hinckley spends an exorbitant amount of time trying to stay on top of this issue. It's been a pressing issue for the town. I'm glad that he's taken that um responsibility on and I know he's continuing to work with everybody, all the parties
involved. So, kudos to Mr. Inkley and thank you, Mr. Inkley, for your efforts. Thank you. We do have some some future repairs to do there. We need to make sure we take care of that. So, yep, I've e reference. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you. And I appreciate you guys um letting me tackle
this. Um I do have a vested interest in the schools. I want to make sure and I'm continually in constant dialogue trying to come to a resolution and figure this out. Sounds good. Thank you. All right. Do we need a motion to approve? So move. Second. All those in favor from free
cash. So, Mr. Kelly, we got two others or Bob, you got something on uh paper streets or something? Uh, yes. I would like to add an article if it's okay with you, gentlemen. Mr. Kelly, do you need to do anything with
14 and 15 before I do that? Uh, you can do that and then we'll return to 14 and 15. Perfect. Um, so gentlemen, we've had a couple of requests to discontinue some paper streets. Mhm. um
two requests total. So if it's at the pleasure of the board, I would like to propose article 16 as to see if the town will vote to discontinue as a public way. Those portions of Conduit Street more or less
depicted on town assessors maps and described as follows. Number one between Darling Street and Meadow Lane is bounded by assessors map 24 lots 14 A 15T and 15 Y. Number two between Meadow Lane and Westland Street is bounded by
assessor's map 24 lots 12 D, 12E, 13E, and 14H. In number three, the entirety of Beacon Street, bounded by assessors map 15, lots 243,
246, and 574, and further to authorize the board of selectmen to convey and release such interest in land as a town may hold in said discontinued portions upon such terms and conditions as the board deems appropriate, or take any other action thereon or in relation thereto.
Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Is there a second? Second. Hi. All right. Good. All right. We got 14 and 15. This is just cleanup articles.
Uh Mr. Chairman, I'll take 15 first. It's to amend the CPC article we passed in the spring. uh we're going to keep the standard uh percentages in the various categories,
but we also put a dollar amount in that. And uh now uh since CPC is collecting more money cuz house values have increased, uh we need to increase that value.
Right. So, while you're on that subject, I mean, look, I think we all agree that CPC is an awesome thing, right? But by the same token, as you just said, right now, we're we're collecting more money because of house values. I mean, should
we have a discussion about can we cap that, you know, like as a town and say, look, you know, we kind of know what the projects we have. I don't know. It just feels like, you know, if we're at the 2023
standard versus a 2025, you know, are we going to really hurt the town from a project standpoint? Sometimes I feel like we, you know, we look for projects. Yeah. I don't know. Just Mr. Chairman, um I have actually a lot of conversation about this lately and
I'm sure there's a lot more information than I need to dive into. Um, but CPC is a great program. Essentially, it's a search charge. So, it's a tax on a tax basically. And the state allows you to
go up to 3%. I believe we're at 1.5. I think if we had a we we have a little room to work with. I think we could actually functionally lower that which will give a little bit of relief to the taxpayers. it's not going to be like enough to go out and buy a car, but you know,
we're all watching assessed values go through the roof and tax bills go through the roof and you you can spend so much time explaining to people we're doing the best we can with what we have, but when people see their tax bills go up and see their services stay kind of level, I I
think it's a very honest discussion we could have where if we lowered it, we'd still be taking in the same money on a lower percentage as we were when CPC was adopted, right? That's the point, right? And you don't really sacrifice anything in the dollar terms of it and you can
still put through projects that make sense. I mean, we've done some great projects, but like with anything, you know, like if it's if it takes time to get there, if it's a saving, you know, if it's year three, you're going to save up three years on the recreational side to do a big project.
Um, I think we should look at that for sure. What's the mechanics of that? Is that a town meeting vote or is that a I believe it would be a town meeting vote and very possibly certification by do. I would think that's probably an article for the spring. Agree.
Okay. Is that it is it is definitely a town meeting vote. We voted CPA in 2004 in this town. So however however you institute something into the town i.e. CPA was done by town meeting. In order to change
it, it requires a town meeting vote as well. So, it would be an amendment to that article of the 1.5 to that's when the rate was set or curious as to who sets the rate. Tom sets the rate. Yeah, the town meeting sets the rate and
do then approves the uh collection of the funds. Can we run the numbers on what it would look like if we did it if we reduced it to 1%.5% just to see what the savings would be for you know the average homeowner? That's a simple simple calculation I can
pull from with Miss Costco. Yeah. It's just it's just based on the value of property right so CPA was if your house is worth $400,000 in that clause the first $100,000 is exempt. So now you're based at 1.5 is based on your 300,000 of valuation. So, it's easy
enough to pull in. She pulls it in at 1.5. Then you just take that number and put 1% and pull the number in and see what the what the what the revenue number is. And again, I think both of you guys just touched on that's why I just keeping my mouth shut. But home prices have gone up exorbitantly, right?
And I know it's I think Mr. Hingley said per quarter it might be 15 bucks or 20 bucks, but 15 or 20 bucks to some people is a lot of money. Mhm. I mean, here's the deal, right? I mean, I don't know what the numbers would be, but if it if it ends up covering somebody's excise tax on their vehicle,
then that's worth it, right? Like, you know, something like that. I don't know. Most most excise taxes bills after the 60 depreciation is probably sitting around the 60 buck mark. So, if you save 15 bucks a quarter on CPC, there's your 60 bucks for excise tax.
Yep. So, math works. All right. What was the next one? Uh the next one is uh talking to our consultant. He advised we amend the water department revenue figures we
filed. I'm still in discussions with him. Uh I'm going to actually have staff and uh others in the discussion with him because uh
uh I think I have a disagreement on the necessity for this article. but he is our expert with do and I'm going to ask that if it is nec if it is deemed
necessary by do and our consultant we include the article in the warrant otherwise it'll be and then we can pass over it if we decide okay sounds good motion so move
second in favor And the mot did we make a motion to approve the CPC? Oh, I don't think we did. So motion to approve. What was that? Article 14. 15. Motion to approve article 15 as well. Mr. Chairman. Second. All those in favor. Motion carries.
I think we're good. And I'm going to venture to guess this is probably like the best shape we've been in when it comes to uh going to a fall town meeting. This will hopefully get us on the right path to then start doing like tax rates and all that stuff, right? Yep. Um
uh Mr. Chairman, I'd like to uh congratulate the board and none of the articles were raised and appropriate and you do not have to uh touch the uh
excess levy capacity that you established in the spring. And Mr. Casper then doesn't have to tell me I stole some of his money.
It's already gone down. Just saying. I watch them like that'll be enough of that. Well, that that determines tax rate on on the people, right? And the board's objective is try to keep do the best to keep that down as much as we can. And that was that's a way to do it.
All right. There's a motion to adjurnn. So move. Second. All those in favor? I motion carries. Great. [Music]