Good afternoon everyone. My name is Angela Mills. I work for the town manager. This is the first meeting of the budget coordinating group for 2026. We do not have quorum yet and I am acknowledging that this meeting is being recorded at this time. We will not
discuss anything of any substance and wait until we have quorum. Thank you. Hello Sarah. Hi everyone. Paul, can you hear me? It's an >> Yes. Yes. >> Do you want um me to pull in like
Shannon Bernaki is in the attendee room? Do you want her in the panelist room or do you want Sean and Shannon to sit in the attendee room? >> Both. Both come in. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Please. So I I think I have to start. I'm going to turn up the thing first, too. >> Yeah,
>> I I made the executive decision to start recording. >> Good. >> So, >> and I think Paul, you have to start, but I'm not sure we have a quorum yet. impact. That's a good point >> because there's I was just looking at the definition. The BCG consists of the
town manager, representatives of council, elementary, regional schools, and library. >> And I think that's eight total people right now. >> Mhm. >> So we have four >> and we have four. Does four is four a
majority of eight? I think we need one more. So, the only person who said they weren't going to come was um Austin and now was going to come and Laura Jane was going to come >> and Anna,
>> let me um I'll I'll text Laura Jane. >> Thank you. >> And Sarah, is Anna still representing the regional school committee? >> Say that again. >> Is Is Anna still representing the regional school committee? >> Yes. >> Sounds like Paul's up to date.
>> Yeah. I don't think I don't think that changed. Yeah. >> So, the only action item for today is really the um election of a chair, so that might not be able to happen. And I know Amber, you've got a time constraint at 1:00, I think.
>> Um I do I can be a little more flexible as it comes out. Um I think 1:30 would be the absolute limit. >> Okay. and Laura Jane had a similar constraint. >> Paul, do you want me to call Nat? >> Sure, that'd be great. Thank you.
Sh. Sorry. >> Just emailing you. >> Sorry. Yeah. I don't have your cell phone number. We'll have to write Oh, >> I'll send it to you. Okay. Thank you.
>> So now we have a quorum. >> Okay. So we should start. Does the committee want to go elect the chair or do you want to hold till we have a better representation of the membership? Do you
Well, we can decide just by consensus. I think >> I think we should wait unless >> Okay. And the only result is that then it's because I call the meeting it means I have to run this meeting. So hand it off. So but there's not a whole lot on
the agenda. >> So uh the and we'll keep an eye out for folks and actually so thank you all for coming. This is the budget coordinating group so know you're on the right flight. Um and so and and we have a Oh,
thank you for joining us, Lar Jen. Um so this is an information sharing venue. Um for especially for this meeting, there's no action items other than electing a chair and vice chair, but I think we're going to hold on electing those chair those positions unless this group says
we'd like to do it to today um maybe to the next meeting or whatever. Um the so that we just want to get some updates. I think Sean, you want to give updates on sort of health insurance and um where we are budget-wise because we have updated
budget projections that have been shared with the town's finance committee but not with this group. >> And do you have ability to share your screen, Sean? >> I don't yet. Could you make me a >> Yeah, >> co-hoster. >> All right. And thank you for being with us, Shannon, too.
All right. Can you see that on the screen? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, um, so the two updates, one, I think most folks have heard by now, but health insurance, uh, premium renewals came in better than previously projected. It doesn't impact these
numbers directly because the insurance is budgeted within each uh, department's operating budget, but it does make it does release uh, relieve some pressure on those operating budgets. So, previously we were anticipating an 18.5%
premium uh increase to our health insurance plans and then the actual renewal came in at 8.5. Um, and as Paul has said in other places, we had to give something up. The GLP1s uh was sort of covered in a more broad way previously that some of that's been pulled back is
part of how they got cost down. Um, and again, I always say it's weird that we feel good about a eight and a half percent increase. That used to be once upon a time really bad. That would have been a really uh, you know, uh, we would not have been happy about it. But now that's, you know, the new normal when it
comes to health insurance, at least for the last few years. >> So, that's the health insurance update. >> Let me just jump in on there for a second. So, and I'd note that the Hampshire group is going up 12.5% which is about that's for the some of our regional members have that increased um
whoever's in the Hampshire County group. >> Right. >> Time we considered joining or we were trying to join them and we decided not to. >> Sarah, >> yeah. Did GL dropping the GLP1 coverage is largely
responsible for that decrease or just because because that won't happen again next year. And I'm just wondering >> correct. So um so so there are a number of so blue cross stopped covering it for weight loss not for it's still available for diabetes and treatments like that.
>> Um and I think the GIC which is university has and other municipalities are in as well they dropped it as well. >> It accounts for about four to 5% of our it it's a very large uh cost. Um it's a very expensive drug that's widely used.
was the first time there's been a very expensive drug that's been widely used. So, um, and that was and when, you know, Maya had done a couple actuarial studies to determine, well, is there a long-term gain by having people on GEOP losing weight? People are definitely benefiting
from it. Um, and they could not come up through some several different um, accounting firms trying to figure out is this investment now a wise investment down the road? and they couldn't really come up with like a economic argument to
keep it. All right, so I'll keep going. Um, so we presented initial projections during the financial indicators presentation. Then we um finance committee asked us to come back and update them in February, which we did. So in on the revenue side, sorry, I'll start at the top. On the
revenue side, um we made a couple adjustments. One adjustment we made was we reduced our estimate for new growth. Um we typically used about 650,000. We dropped that a little bit and the main reason we dropped that was um two things. Our FY20 our current year new
growth came in below expectations. We had budgeted 650 and it came in at about 400,000. Um so our most recent experience was not positive. And then the fire at Olympia Place uh will have an impact on what we would have expected in next year's new growth. um likely
won't be there. So um maybe in a future year, depending on what happens at the site, but it was on track to potentially be in next year's new growth. Um so we dropped that a little bit. The other area we dropped um is investment income. We just kept that flat. We originally projected a $200,000 increase. We we're
keeping it flat. And again, just being uh cautious against building operating budgets on revenues that could go away very suddenly is what we're trying to avoid. Um, and so when we look at the history of interest uh, revenue and investment income, there's really been
this couple years where it's spiked. Um, some of that's related to having construction funds on hand. Some of that's related to interest rates actually being up. Um, but that can change very quickly. And so, um, we decided to keep that flat in our projections. Uh, another area we updated was state
aid. So, when we first did our projections, the governor's budget was not out. Um, but now it is. So, we put in the governor's budget figures. Um, chapter 70 had a very um small increase. Uh, the charter assessment reimbursement went up quite a bit, but this is always
one where it's a little bit of a double-edged sword. If the reimbursement goes up, it means the assessment and the cost, the tuition is also going up generally. Um, so there's a, you know, it sort of offsets a little bit with increased cost down below.
uh our unrestricted general government aid went up a decent amount and then the other areas uh were relatively flat. So overall we're projecting revenue increases of about 3.3% which is generally generally where we are somewhere between 2 and a half and 4% is
where we see our revenues growing um uh you know most years on the expenditure side. So, the finance committee uh their budget guidelines outlined what to do if uh revenue projections went up or if some of our
expense assumptions or expense projections went down and freed up some money. Um, and before I get to the operating budget, a couple other areas outside the operating budgets that uh improved, meaning freed up some money, is our retirement assessment. we were
projecting a 4% increase and it came in at less than 1% or about 1%. Um so that freed up a fair amount of funding and our state assessments while the charter tuition assessment went up. We saw a um
pretty big drop in our transportation our PBTA assessment and we followed up with them and the you know what we were told by PBTA is that we're kind of staying flat where other communities are increasing services and becoming a bigger um you know we're shrinking as a
percentage of the system. Um and therefore our assessment went down a little bit or actually went down quite a bit. Um so that's why state assessments where we originally were projecting a 3% increase actually is going they're projected to go down based on the governor's budget mostly because of that
uh PBTA assessment dropping. Uh so that freed up some funding and then budget guidelines from uh finance committee also said to keep OPED funding flat. We had originally projected a $50,000 increase. the uh the guidelines were to keep it flat at
600,000. So the the budget guidelines said if there is additional funding available first to invest um in the first year of a plan to improve fire and EMT staffing
um which I'll talk about in a second. So there was $200,000 added to the town operating budget to hire um at least two firefighters. Um, the next thing that the guidelines said was to include the
one-time funding in the base that the elementary schools received in FY26. So, the 269,74 was brought up and put into the base for calculating the FY27 percentage. And then the last step was then increase
everybody proportionally. Um, and so the essentially what this how this works is everyone got a 3.85% 85% increase. Um, and there's additional funding in there for uh the the two firefighters. Now, the funding for the two firefighters is
not coming from those revenues I just mentioned. We actually upped how much we're pulling from the ambulance fund. So, if you look, that's another area that changed. I forgot to mention, the ambulance fund, uh, which is there to support EMTs and and the work they do because they generate the, um, the money
that goes into this fund. uh we increased that by $200,000 after looking at that fund and talking about uh fee increases for next year uh billing increases for uh for ambulance rides. Um we felt comfortable raising that 200,000. So the additional funding
that's going into the town operating budget for those two firefighters is really from that source. Um which it really can only be used for that. And so that allowed us to get the numbers that you see on the screen um which is a you know a moderate
improvement on where they were uh when we first projected them back in November. >> Thank you Sean. So questions Anna. >> So my question is about interest estimations.
>> Sure. Um, one thing that I think Shannon is doing for us is using a rolling average to sort of project next year's anticipated interest. And so rather than
going all the way down to like what 500k when the previous year was over 2 million um that seems like a really drastic cut to me and really underestimating the actual amount of revenue that we're going to see from
interest is I understand that the market right now is really dicey. So, I do understand the desire to be somewhat cautious, but what do you think about using like a three or 5year rolling average on interest? >> Yeah. No, that's a good question and
this one definitely jumps out. So, I totally understand that. Um, the region is a little bit different in that they don't have the same type of funds or the the amount of funding that we have, right? They're not um the region isn't >> the region is still applies. It does. But what I'm saying is that the the
assumptions are different and that the the region doesn't have um borrowing for a new school for example that is in their bank accounts. They don't have borrowing for a new library that is in their bank accounts and additional funds for that. So what I want the the baseline and the types of funds that are
generating that interest are different between the region and the and the town. And so we did look and I can show this in a second. If you go back five years, you'll see that there were many years where our interest revenue was 100,000
to 300,000 and then one year it jumped up really sharply. Um, and that's when we started these construction projects and when interest rates started to go up a little bit. Um, so we can look at an average, but the worst thing we could do is think that this is going to stay when
there's pressure on interest rates uh to go down, build operating budgets based on that, and then have it drop. And then we're we have this huge hole that we have to to dig out of. What we can do with that funding and what I think we have been doing with that funding is it can help with capital, right? It can
help with capital projects, help um you know invest in roads, help invest in the middle school roof, right? That generates the free cash that then is being appropriated for capital projects. And I think that's a more appropriate use because again, in my opinion, at this point, these are funds that are not
reliable. So we shouldn't build build recurring expenses on these funds. we should kind of plan for onetime expenses. Maybe another year or two we feel differently, but I would say we're still relatively, you know, this is only maybe the third year where it's been elevated and it's during this time where
we've had these construction projects going on. And the other thing with these construction projects is that we've had delays in them too, right? So we haven't been spending money consistently throughout the projects. There was a delay in the school project. There's been a delay in the library project. So um so yeah so that's why we're being
cautious in in that front. >> I think the logic on that if I understand John Sean is that um it's it's interest rates that drives one thing but it's also how much money you have that you're drawing interest on and that it's been an unusual time because we've had two major capital, you know,
$und00 million school and a $45 million library. And so we borrow that money up front, we put it into the bank, we earn interest on it, >> and then that's what drives that number up and that's, you know, that's what's been happening. So it's the volume, it's the level of money we have invested
waiting to be spent on these projects. >> And the last thing I'll say is the 500,000 is elevated from where it used to be. So if you look at what we used to budget, and I can send these numbers out, it used to be, I think, 125,000 or somewhere in that range. The 500,000 is already elevated quite a bit from where
it was, you know, four or five years ago, >> but it will remain elevated by all anticipated means um for a few more years while we're still in a debt borrowing situation for a number of different reasons. >> Well, we expect to spend most of the
elementary school. So, the elementary school is going to open in >> uh the fall, right? So, we're going to spend most of that money um on the school uh between now and the fall. The library is anticipated to open in the spring of 2027. So, again, most of the
library funding we would anticipate being spent over the next 12 to, you know, 18 months. >> Okay, >> great. Thank you, Amber. >> Yes. Um I just want to repeat this back to make sure I understand. That's this
is how I learn. So, um, so what you said about the fact that we have the excess funding for operating, what you're saying is that, um, there's 200k that is set aside for the fire department to hire two more firefighters. >> And then you're saying, um, I I kind of
missed the part what you said about how much the elementary schools are getting, but then every other department will get it equitably, and that will be 4.85% increase instead of what we had originally budgeted. >> Yeah. Let me re that part's confusing cuz there's like different tiers. Let me say that one more time. Um, so everyone
is getting a 3.85% increase. >> When you say when you say everyone, who do you mean? >> Um, the library, the town, and the two school districts. Originally, when we projected in November, the 3.85% increase for the elementary
schools was really like a 2.85% 85% increase because the one-time funding wasn't included because it was at that time onetime funding um that was funded from a different source last year. >> So, we are now including we are now including that base.
>> Yeah, exactly. Okay, got it. >> So, if you average out the what you see for the elementary schools and then the one time number which is like a negative if if you average that out it comes out to a 3.85% increase for the schools. So, basically everyone is getting a 3.85% increase. Um the only difference is
there's 200,000 for the two firefighters in the town budget coming from the ambulance fund. >> Okay. So what what is the the 4.85 and the 4.5? >> So the 4.85 it looks bigger because it's it's including that onetime funding relative to the base last year that
didn't have the 26974. So if you see the the 26974 that's now rolled into the 2949 up above. So, it looks like a bigger percentage increase, but you really got to add those two rows together. Um,
for for FY27, it averages out to a 3.85% increase for the school elementary schools. I can it's a way this was kind of put together last year where we separated out the one-time funding but um now that onetime funding is in the base.
So ne future year increases will be based on that higher starting point. >> Okay. >> Yes. I think Sean just said it, but I want to be sure so I can tell other people. So,
you put the 269704 into you added that to FY26 um before then grossing >> 3.5. Okay. Y fine. Thank you. Um now the
firefighters the 200 extra 200,000 are you going to do that then on an ongoing basis? every year you going to pull 200k from the ambulance fund for these positions or they'll have to be absorbed. >> So the ambulance fund will support at the level that with the additional
200,000 coming out of it. So we look at our ambulance fund and we look at revenues again we have some control over our revenues because we set the billing rates. Um now some of the billing that comes out of the ambulance fund is paid by Medicare which we don't control. So we might have a billing rate but Medicare is going to pay what it pays.
Um and so if we say do a 5% increase, we won't realize a 5% increase for that reason. But um so we would keep the funding at the 3.2 going forward to support those positions. And there might be, you know, there's going to be a long a bigger conversation. You know, we're
working on a multipleear plan around fire and EMT staffing. This is really sort of the first year piece related to the budget guidelines from finance committee. >> Okay. You said 3.2. What was the 3.2? >> Uh so the 3.2 two is if you look at this other financing sources um the amount
that's getting pulled from >> oh okay million not percent okay >> no no sorry yeah 3.2 2 million. >> Okay. >> Okay. Laura Jane, >> hi. Sorry I was late. Um, just curious
about this ambulance fund. Doesn't that hurt the ambulances? I guess I don't really fully understand why we would be taking money out of one critical service to fund another critical service. >> No. So, this is actually supporting the
ambulance. This is supporting EMTs or to hire additional EMTs. So the funding so the funding is generated for the ambulance fund by the basically the trips that EMTs take to bring folks to the hospital back and forth. Um that goes into a fund and then every year we
appropriate some amount of money out of that fund to support um the budget and really to support the the EMTs that are um in our budget. Right. And so what we're saying is we're going to increase that a little bit in order to hire two additional EMTs.
>> EMTs/firefighters. >> Yeah. Yeah. Most of our >> almost all of our positions are hybrid. >> And so this is not capital funds that pay for the the actual vehicles. >> No, when we look at that's a good question. So when we look at that fund, this is not so we look at how much is
getting brought in each year and we plan for that. We we do know that roughly every other year we're going to need to buy an ambulance and that ambulance comes out of this fund as well. And so this is not we make sure that there's a sufficient buffer there so that we can also pay for the ambulances as well and replace them. So the two things
ambulance fund pays for is primarily is supporting staffing and replacing the ambulances um every other year. So, I apologize for the remedial questions because really really new to me, but what is the uh expected um
income from UMass and the other schools that use our ambulances? Do they how much do they pay us for? >> Yeah, so that goes into our ambulance fund. We get about 700,000 um from UMass and we get about I want to
say 250,000ish from Ammerst College and those both go into the ambulance fund. >> And is that enough? >> Um that's what's in our last strategic partnership agreement. Um so for UMass that's coming to an end pretty soon. Um it was a big increase on what they were
giving us previously. what um you know whether it's enough I think is a discussion and a ongoing conversation but >> it's never enough >> it's never enough but um but they in our last strategic partnership agreement they increased what they were giving us annually by um you know nearly doubled
it and they also bought us an ambulance or they in the process of buying us an ambulance so um their contributions went up quite a bit um in the last agreement again which is coming up for new conversations in the next couple years. Thank you.
>> Any Sarah? >> Yeah, a random question um about pilot. Are we part of the conversations or maybe it's it's happening at the legislature to rethink how pilot is
calculated? I'd love to see it see the like some of the UMass buildings taxed because they're like the dorms. It's the sleeping is not part of the
education, right? It's just sleeping living there >> like public private partnership. >> No, no, no. That's not what I'm thinking of. Sorry. But but Paul, what is it? How are we involved? How is Ammerst involved, if at all, in trying to make
that better for the town? >> Mandy Joe, do you want to Is that why you have your hands up? I'm guessing uh it's not, but I will answer that um first. Um yeah, so uh Lynn Greamemer from the council is is working on
creating a coalition throughout the state to do some advocacy around the pilot commission and their work. that commission has not sort of it it's in the middle of getting set up so it has not started its work yet. Um Senator Kmerford is on that commission. Uh we do
not know the representative that will be on it because it was going to be Natalie BL but she is no longer a representative. So so we're not sure who the rep will be on the commission or who the other members are. But um so Lynn is is working on gathering data. She has
reached out to a professor at UMass uh who has found some interns to help with the data gathering and all to work to try and form that coalition to make some headway hopefully into the the pilot commission's work on reooking at that
formula to not just be valuation of stateowned land, the land itself, but also to have that formula consider what is on top of the land and the uses on top of the land, including the buildings. and the number of visitors that come. So, so we as a council, we've
got someone >> doing that in the background right now. Um, and and monitoring it and trying to find that coalition of the 29 uh towns and municipalities that have universities, colleges, community
colleges, state universities, UMass systems on in their towns. So, we're working on it from council. >> Great. And is there is that commission do they have a deadline for making a recommendation or report? >> Senator Comverse said since it has not
actually started its work yet I the the legislation may have had a deadline but but she indicated that that she fully expects because it's been delayed in starting that that date will >> slip >> flip you know slip a little bit longer so that they still have adequate time to
do their work. But we don't have more update than that right now because it hasn't had its first meeting. >> Thank you. >> And just to add to that, Mandy, before you go to your next um so we we met with uh the senator and representative yesterday and this is one of the major topics that we talked about and so with
the senator being on up on being on the commission, she was very well aware of it. The other thing is um in our strategic partnership agreement with the university, we negotiated in a uh a commitment from them to lobby with us at the state house to increase the pilot money coming into towns and cities and
towns so that they're they don't want it coming out of their pocket, but they will support us getting more money into the pilot program. >> So we're allies for the moment >> for this particular thing. Yes. >> Yes. >> Until further. All right. Okay. Yes,
>> Mandy Joe, you had your hand up on something else. >> Yeah, I had a question about the um the state uh retirement assessment. Um is the almost It's not quite level, but but
in dollar amounts it seems level in the scheme of things at a $58,000 increase uh this year. Is that based more on just when we counted uh employees, numbers of employees like it was a couple years ago when we were basically level or is this
more of a seeing a a adjustment because of the actuarial standards and where we're going to fully fund it? >> Yeah, I'd say all of the above. So the way the retirement assessment works is they get aggregate salaries of Hampshire
County eligible employees every October from every town in the system and that's how they aortion the assessment. So it you know we could be at a low point with our salaries or um and another town could be adding a bunch of positions and that would drop our percentage. It could
be vice versa where we've added some positions and other towns have you know made reductions and that would increase our percentage. Um, so that's a a factor every year is how what big we are relative to other towns. Um, but in general the the funds needed every year
is starting to slow down. Um, they've reduced the annual increases. Um, it used to be, you know, close to 9 10% every year. They reduce it down to 4% and now it's it's starting to scale back even more. So um so they they are in this like almost fully funded phase over
the next um you know 7 years where I think we'll see these increases maybe not always this low and I know last year was pretty low um but I would expect to see them in the sub 5% range which is much better than where it was for many many years where it was always like 7 8
9%. Um did that answer your question? >> Thank you. And I just mentioned that uh Sean is an elected representative to the board of the retirement system. So he gets all the inside information. >> Yeah, public meeting. So you're welcome to go. We have never had a member of the
public, but uh you are welcome to go. >> Other questions, comments? Okay. So the next thing on the agenda is to look at free cash and excess and deficiency. So Sean, you want to talk about free cash? >> Well, I mean this is up to Shannon. I did Shannon and I did speak and I don't
know Shannon are you I think school budget updates were on here as well. >> You want to do school budget? Okay, that'd be great. >> If Shannon's ready, I think Shannon she and I spoke and we were going to each do kind of a high level update. >> Okay. Yeah, I think I messed that up. Okay, Shannon. >> Okay. Am I able to share my screen?
>> Yes, you will be. Okay. >> You got it? >> Yes. Um, so I just took the Oh, I don't know where everybody went. >> Oh, we're here and we can see what you're sharing. >> Okay. Um, so I took uh information from
our last presentation to Amherst School Committee and just did a a quick little tidbit of what's going on. Um, and then the same for the region. So, at our last meeting, I believe it was was it last Tuesday, the 24th? I don't remember. Um
we presented the consolidation of staffing that's happening um when we close the two buildings, move into Amethyst Brook, and then have uh Chestnut Street Academy along with Cracker Farm. So, we began putting together um what that will look like in
terms of staffing and what efficiencies we might have because of that. Um, but this is was also subject to change based on the students that decide to go to their established school rather than their reszoned school because that
option was given to them. Um and so we did have a survey go out and we received um most of the most uh responses back uh and we're now working on with that information refining this further. Um
in terms of our budget, our health insurance um as you all know was uh down to 8.5%. We still have school choice applied circuit breaker some UMass fund and Amherst College fund. We're in our second year of our transportation
and the uh staffing plan that we submitted on the page before um has a net savings of 797,000. Um but that's subject to change again as we're refining with um the updated
information from the surveys and um just continued discussions that we've been having last week and this week. Um so it's not finalized and with that information uh we put that into the operating budget from just just
to look at it as a very high level of where that leaves us in terms of a reduction. At the time that I had presented this to Amherst school committee we did not have the update of the um 3.85 or um 4.85 with the 1%
included in the base. So that's not reflected on here and we haven't made that presentation to school committee. So I wasn't prepared to present that today. Um but with the savings or and the efficiencies from the consolidation
um at the 3 and 12% it was um 573,000 still remained in a deficit. Um moving along really quick to region. Um the region budget again health insurance
went down to 8 1.5%. Um we removed the contracted maintenance for the track and fields from um the operating budget as the town of Amhurst is graciously going to help support um funding that for the first year or two. Um there was an
increase that I made to our charter assessment based on the preliminary estimates that were posted on Desi. I still have not received the actuals. um for Q2 on the DESI security portal. They have not been updated and I've been reaching out about that. Um we have
850,000 of school choice applied and um our circuit breaker and IDA funds have already been accounted for in this budget. And with that um operating budget at the bottom here, 39.9
million, we plug that into the top of our revenue sheet. Um and it would well I'll go through this first. We have our operating budget at the top, our estimate for chapter 70, transportation reimbursement, Medicaid reimbursement,
um charter reimbursement. We've increased the increase interest revenue as Anna was mentioning earlier and an increase to our END um because we are at the top of the scale of the max we can have in the END. So it's in our best interest to increase more for the
operating budget at this time. Um and then we have the assessments down here for the town. Um which would result in a reduction of 1.143 uh 1.1 million. And this um this graph
and the last one I had on the budget hearing docs for the regional school committee which was postponed to March 10th. Um but the documents were already public for a while now. So that's why I included those although I have not presented to the school committee on
this yet. So I just want to make sure everybody's aware of that. Um and I don't intend in this meeting to go through the um budget uh adjustments and additions and reductions but I um wanted to show that we had already started to
work towards that deficit. If it's under budget adjustments it's a change in funding source not a reduction. Um budget additions are an ad and then budget reductions are down here below. Um, so that's my quick update and I'm
happy to answer questions and Sarah, I know you patiently had your hand up. >> Thanks. Sarah, >> yeah, I just wanted to um emphasize that the Ammeris school committee, what what Shannon was showing is not a draft budget. We have not yet received a draft
budget at a like draft pre-draft. >> Yeah, very high level. >> Very, very high level. Way above my level. But yes, so uh soon soon we'll have to get the draft budget. >> Yes. So Oh, sorry. Can I just add one
more thing? >> Yeah. Um so just so everybody on the call is aware, um March 10th is the regional school committee budget hearing and March 17th is the Amherst School Committee budget hearing. Um we anticipate that the documents for the
Amherst budget hearing will be posted by March 10th, 7 days prior. Um and the regional budget hearing documents are already posted. >> And in this four towns meeting, Shannon, >> um that is March 14th.
>> Why? Okay. And that's at 9 9:00 a.m. at the middle school. >> Yes. >> Good. Manny Joe. >> Yeah. Um Shannon, I was just wondering or or maybe um Anna, who's the regional
rep here, when does the region actually have to vote its budget based on the four towns meetings and the timing before that? So, relative to when the first hearing is, what what's the date that the budget needs voted?
>> Um I don't know it off the top of my head, but I know it's in an email between Sarah Bess and I. Um, and I just have to cuz we I physically counted the days um based on the estimate of the um town meetings.
>> Definitely in March is March. >> March 25th. >> Yeah. >> Quick turnaround. >> Yeah. I was curious because it's normally sometime in like midish March. So I was curious what that was. It's like
>> I think it's like 60 days or something like I can't remember if it's 45 or 60 days but the reality is we have to have it voted by March 20 oh is is shootsbury the first one.
Um yeah anyway I think it's March 25th. Yeah, there was a posting error or a in the for the hearing. So that's why it didn't happen. >> We were going to have one, but now we're having one on the 10th.
So that it's still happening. It's just happening a little bit later than we had wanted it to happen. Um it turns out that posting it on boards is not adequate and we have to post it in the newspaper, too. Yeah, there's so many different places
you have to post. Yeah. Okay. Other questions for Shannon? Anything else want anything else you want to share? Shannon, we're good. >> Um, no, not at this time. But I would encourage everybody that can attend to
watch the budget hearing meetings. >> Could I just ask one other thing? Sure. or or just to ask Shannon, I I understand it, but in case people are looking at this and and don't necessarily understand the difference on on that regional document you showed,
you had a assessment required number and then you had a additional use of END number which is sort of new this year. Um can you can you talk about that difference and what the plan is going forward with those two um in terms of the differences in money but also bases
or budgets and and and all of that. Does that make does that question make sense? >> Yep. I understand. Um so because at the end of fiscal year 25 uh our END was certified and it was above the amount
the maximum amount of 5% that we could have in END. Um that was partly due to our interest revenue being significantly higher um than what was originally projected for the revenue. Um, we had to
take a vote. Well, I had to present the option to the regional school committee to vote whether to um reduce the FY26 assessments of the towns or to um reduce the FY27 assessments of the town. And I
had recommended that we do it for FY27 um and not alter FY26 at that this point. um it would be a smoother process. And so so when you looked at that sheet um I could just share this
again really quick. Um so when you look at this sheet down here at the bottom uh where it says Amherst and Lever Shootsbury these are the assessments. This is will be the base in here, but those bases will be reduced in
proportion. Um the amount that's over is $151,000. So um Amherst will ultimately pay $120,000 less than this. And then same with Palum, Lever, and Shootsbury. Pelum is 8,000, Lever at 11,000,
Shootsbury 12,000. Um, so this I don't anticipate that next year we would have this. So it's a one-time thing because of our END um being over the 5%. >> Thank you.
>> Good. Any other comments, questions? Um, since we're on, do you want to just mention what is your balance in END now? Shannon, I think you have >> um so the maximum we can have it's it's just about 1.8 million. The number
changes every year because it depends on what your operating budget is um for that year and it also takes into account the the um budget. So for when I certify FY26 um END it'll take in consideration FY26 information and the FY27 operating
budget. Um, so right now as of FY25 it was 1.8. We were just over the 1.8 by 151,000. Um, so if you were to take that out just say we have 1.8. We are using um 880
to support the operating budget for FY26. 280,000 of that 880 is a contingency if we um needed to use it. For instance, if um we were going to be over budget for
any reason in the book possible, we could use that. Um if we don't, then that'll also roll back into our END. So that's why we call it a contingency. For FY27, we are planning to use um 1,80,000
of END just because we're already approach at that cap that we want to utilize some of that. So, um if we have 1.8 and and next year we're using 1 um 1.80,000
um it's like you know 900,000 in there but the so any overage how let me just speak to this really quick. Anytime um when you look at our revenue sheet and we have the transportation reimbursement, the Medicaid reimbursement, the charter, the interest
um we budget a specific amount. So how do how does the END account build? It builds if the transportation reimbursement comes in higher than um the reimbursement it or vice versa if the reimbursement is lower than what we
budgeted then um you know there would be nothing rolling into the into the END and instead that would um we'd be having to use money to support the budget because of that. And then same thing for for all of the different revenue sources that are listed on there. So, it's hard to tell you an exact number in the
moment. >> Um, but the exact number we get is when we certify it. >> Got it. Yes. Understood. Okay. Andy, John, >> so if I I I want to word this slightly differently and tell me if I'm wrong on how END builds. END also builds when the
revenues you have in general, including the assessments the towns pay are higher in a fiscal year than the expenses you actually paid in your budget. Is that correct? >> Um, I don't know that it's correct by
saying the town's assessments are included in that. Um, we ha we receive an an exact amount of the town's assessment and we we support it's I guess that's kind of a tricky way
to put it. So, um, say the budget just for a quick number, our budget is $1,000 and that includes all of our revenue, all of all of the town's assessments. Um, and we had $100 that was our
contingency of END, and we wanted to make sure that $100 rolls into END. We would want our budget to come under um at $900 and that hundred rolls in. But um I don't think it would be an accurate
way to say that anything that the town pays rolls into that. >> I I guess let me reword it. If your budget is $1,000, that means your expense budget is $1,000, say, even if it includes a 100 contingency. But if you actually in an actual year spend
$800, 200 goes into END then. Is that correct? >> Oh, I guess yes, I see what you're saying. Yes, then. Yeah. So, yes. >> Okay. >> Good.
Okay. Um, Sean, anything else you want to add before we go to comments? >> Um, do you want me to do free cash real quick? >> Yeah. Yeah, please. >> So, pre-cache works very similar to how END works and it's a similar process where Shane and I both have to submit all this information to the state and
get it certified and I'm sure Shannon, you know, is equally frustrated filling out all the spreadsheets every year and making sure well different spreadsheets tie out to each other and matches our accounting system. So, um, very similar process, but, uh, we finished FY25
with $10.2 million of free cash. Um, that, as you guys just discussed, comes from both the revenue side of the budget and the expense side of the budget. And a big chunk of that 10.2 was from the close out of ARPA, which was about $4 million of it, just spending out the
remaining ARPA funds, um, which we knew would go to free cash. and some of that ARPA money had already been spent um because there was an appropriation the year before for um the bang center to do renovations to that space. So, of that 10.2 million, there's an order in front
of the council right now um to appropriate everything essentially that's above 5% and to keep 5% in free cash, which is consistent with our our financial policies. And uh so the appropriation that's in front request that's in front
of the council is to move some money to opioids opioid settlements related to what we get what we received um and and reimbursements. Um to move some money into a reparation stabilization fund. The big one is to uh I think where we're at right now is to appropriate $1.6
million for the middle school roof and to appropriate $2.7 million um to roads and sidewalks. And then there's another appropriation, as Shannon mentioned, for maintenance of new fields at the high school. Um, and then there's a youth empowerment piece
of money that we're leaving aside for now until until there's a plan to spend it. Um, so that gets us the a remaining free cash balance when everything is said and done of about 5.2 million, which is roughly 5% of our operating budget.
>> Thank you, Sarah. >> Yeah. Um, so the I would say the school committees are learning more about free cash and um I mean I'm here for Ammeris, not the
region, but certainly very much support um everything Ammeris does for the region in particular with free cash, but I I I always feel as a committee member behind the eightball on the free cash and like by the time I hear about it,
it's like too late to almost too late to propose anything. So, I'm wondering whether >> um what this what the state certifies for free cash is close to what you think
it's going to be when you submit all your spreadsheets. And if that is the case, perhaps the town could give the school committees a heads up is like, look, if it's certified, we think there might be this much
above the 5% or, you know, or whatever that might be available, so start thinking, but no promises. I think that would be really helpful. >> Yeah. Um, and I'll let Paul speak to this. I'm trying to frame this. I don't
want to it's not like it's not like CPA money or joint capital planning committee where there's like give us all the requests right that's not generally how free cash has been handled there's there's our financial policies say keep free cash at 5% if there's anything
above that 5% bring it to general stabilization and keep that at 10% if there's anything above 10% bring it to uh capital stabilization which we're building up to help support a new fire station and possibly the DPW Um and really what the the town manager brings
forward to the uh the council are deviations from that those sort of steps, right? And it's usually deviations to further a a stated goal of the council. So usually roads is really the big one, roads, right? This year, you know, we knew about the field
situation and conversations with the schools, right? So we um so that one's a little bit unique this year. Um, but I wouldn't say it's um it's not like a request window where uh we solicit requests for how to use free cash. There is sort of a a approach to it and then I
think if the town manager year to year decides whether he's going to recommend something to address a specific goal of the council. >> Yeah. >> May I respond Paul? >> Uh is that okay Sarah? Do I
>> uh I so I I understand I understand that. I think um I think it would still be nice to be able to ask because I feel like other requests do come forward and I totally understand that that that
council might say or the town manager sorry we've got our you know we've got our we already said what we wanted >> but we've also been told and now speaking a you know particularly as Ammerst that hey if you have unexpected cap and maybe this is a different part
of money. You got unexpected capital needs come up during the year, come talk to us. Like, so maybe these are different processes, but um >> yeah, I I guess that piece if if there's emergencies that pop up during the year,
definitely. That's what that's why we keep the 5% in free cash is for midyear emergencies. Um >> I can't remember. I I want to say there might have been an appropriation once upon a time from free cash working with the town for a boiler at one of the
schools that um when I was in the schools that uh died unexpectedly. Um I know there's been appropriations for like the station road bridge from free cash when that bridge kind of so that's really what that 5% is for and um $5 million sounds like a lot of money but
these things add up pretty quickly like that bridge I think was $2 millionish alone. Um so yeah emergency emergencies especially you know particularly at the elementary school level at the regional school it's a different process but at the elementary school level if there's an emergency that pops up then uh and I
think we generally do discuss those things but I'll restate it now so that it's clear. >> Yeah. So and I think we should say about the elementary school because that's where free cash comes from. Laura Janis is on this topic or should I go to Mandy Joe to
Mandy Joe? >> Yeah. No, I just want it was on this topic, but then you should you should go next. >> Well, no, Mandy, Joe, go for it and then I'll say >> Yeah. No, I just wanted to expand on Sean's based on my service on finance committee the last two years where the
budget guidelines from the council to the manager have started including you know if we do guidelines for FY you know the ones we passed in in December were for FY27 but they actually addressed the FY
the the next year's free cash one. So the the the and and because this free cash was certified so late, they kind of addressed this one too. And so those we're starting to address if there's free cash after free cash is certified, here's how we would like you to
distribute it, Paul. And in that this year in December, those budget guidelines from the council actually said in not necessarily directly to free cash, but actually did say, "Hey, if the school committee, regional school committee potentially asks for
additional funding for the middle school auditorium roof, can you know be prepared to bring us a financial order?" That could be from the certified free cash and in fact and you know, in some sense if the school committee asks for it. So, if you're looking for timing on
when to potentially say, "Hey, council manager, how how how do we get involved in distributing free cash or or onto that?" When the council is discussing its budget guidelines, commenting on the that guideline and
that portion of the guideline that says, "Here's what we want you to do with free cash certified if there's anything excess after these four things." is a great time to start the school committee coming in and saying maybe you could put this into that distribution because that's really where we put send it to
roads or or or do this with it. So that would be a good time for contributing to that conversation is during the council's budget guidelines discussion for the next guideline year because that's what Paul has been the last couple of years looking to when he's
proposed those financial orders. So, just to reinforce that that we we pay very close attention to the town the town council's budget um guidelines and try to align everything with those. Sometimes there's an unusual thing like we when the uh fields came up, you know,
because we saw that was a new ad and we really needed to figure out how to address that. So, okay, Laura Jane, thank you for your patience. >> Yeah. Um, so I guess I'm just wondering, um, since there's going to be $5 million
in free cash, which is way more than 5% of the 10 million. Um, because right, you were saying you have to hold 5% of the 10 million back. >> It's 5% of our operating budget, which is 100 million. >> Okay. So, you have to hold 100 million
back. >> No, no, >> no. Oh, the so the total free cash was 10 million which is roughly 10% of our operating budget. Um we've brought forward appropriation requests to spend about half of that um or transfer about
half of that which will leave 5 million which is 5% of the operating budget. >> So that 5 million is protected and not touchable. >> It's there as a reserve like I said for mid-year emergencies that may pop up.
Um, and so it kind of stays there and it's only available from the time that free cash is certified until the end of the fiscal year and then it has to get reertified again. Um, but it's it's there it could it's there for appropriation, but our financial policies sort of put it there for emergency situations or unexpected
needs. So unexpected needs um include things like oh we're going to have to make major cuts to the district or the >> so it's not a it's not a recurring revenue source >> right. No, I I that again I guess I'm
just wondering like >> I know you said it doesn't seem like a lot of money, but it it is a significant amount of money, especially when we're comparing it to like how much money the school district is behind in our you know, it's not level funded if we have to cut 1.8% or whatever 1.8 million. Um
which I know is not the total that we're actually going to have to cut, but it's close. And so I'm wondering about things like that Bridget has brought up before like putting in solar fields at the Ammerst schools um so that we can defay
utility costs down the road for the town and for the district, right? Which are the same thing, right? I mean, I know people talk about the district like it's separate from the town, but really, you know, Ammerst is the Emer schools and the region are all part of the town. So,
it's like they aren't really as separate as we talk about sometimes. I'm just wondering about like, can we do something like that? Can can we suggest, you know, a $2 million investment in capital to get solar fields put in at all of the parking lots across the
Ammerst schools? >> So, it's so that's a good question. So, first the first thing I would um lightly push back on is that the region and the town are very they are separate. Um, the region is a separate standalone entity,
has its own bank accounts, its own tax ID number. It really is owned by all four towns. Um, and its budget is supported by all four towns. And um, so I know it's physically located in Ammerst, but it is separate from the
town in every way possible. um you know whereas where >> the fact that except for the fact that every resident who has children who send their school children to the Emer schools that is part of the schools. So like I understand that you're talking about fiscally but like really these
things should not be thought of as separate in the same way that we think of them separately because they are used by Ammeris residents in the same way that like the roads are used by Ammeris residents. So I just would I mean we can I know we don't have >> I guess what I would say is it was a
partnership that was agreed to by four towns and Ammerst um wanting to so I won't go down there. I I you know like I I was concerned about the roof and the town paying all of it and not because ultimately that reduces long-term I think how much
funding is available for the region and that's not a good thing for the region. Um, but to your other question, so I wouldn't um I wouldn't recommend a project like that coming out of the 5% because I think it's important to have that safety net in case something pops up during the year to what um Mandy Joe
said about when budget guidelines are set, that might be the time to raise something like that um to come out of the excess because every year we generally have some excess. It's not guaranteed, but um you know, the past several years we've had excess. So,
but what I'll say is, you know, and this is just me as finance director, right? And Shannon probably feels the same way at times, there's a lot of requests on how to spend this these funds, right? We have a fire station, we have a a public works facility, uh we have roads. Um and
so the more you know, there once upon a time there were senior center uh was raised as a need, right? And so it just the council will need to give clear guidance to the town manager on how to, you know, the priorities for the funding. >> Great.
>> Okay, Lar Jane. >> Okay, Amber. >> Yeah, I just had a question that's going to be really quick actually um as I'm trying to learn about the town finances and the various accounts we have. So the the excess five million in free cash,
like what account will that sit in for the year? Like just in, you know, if we need to. >> Yeah. So, so free cash is just it's another way of like saying undesated fund balance. So, it's the undesated fund balance of our general fund, which is accounting speak for our general
fund. It's um like the it's not appropriated. Um but again, it gets it's only available from the time free cash is certified, which is usually earlier than it was this year, um until June 30th. And then from June 30th until we reertify it, it's not available. Um, so we really have this window every year,
usually November, December, where we look at these supplemental appropriations. >> And the in the general fund, is there additional money in the general fund? Like what's the balance of our general fund? Just generally speaking, >> the general fund is where all the budgets live, right? So that's where all these operating budgets that that um
those expenses that I showed you on that on that projection sheet, that is the general fund. Um, so this is really the only other piece of the general fund is the free cash. I see. Okay. Thank you. Do you mean like is it in a bank account like sitting in a bank account? >> Yeah, it's not it's not like a fund and
fund in the same sense of like the stabilization fund or the general um or the capital stabilization fund or revolving funds like it's not a separate fund number in that way is it's our general fund. Um, but it is it's in our bank accounts the same way other money is. >> But but we track it every year and it
you know so Sarah >> So I have a question about the the window that Sean just mentioned. It's unclear because um and I Anna doesn't mind. I put my regional hat on for the moment. um
if if all four towns are going to contribute to let's say a capital project um the the calendars are all out of sync like if if if town council has to decide how to
dispose or whether to dispose of some excess free cash let's say by end of January the other and we were we're running ran into this with the middle school roof.
The other towns literally cannot afford to call a special town meeting to to decide whether they want to participate in that. They could decide at their annual their springtown meetings. So, I'm wondering
like is it really ever feasible, this roof thing aside, thank you again. Um, for the region to say we're going to come out all four towns with this special capital request, Ammerst, we'd
like to, you know, your free cash for it or but the town, the other towns, we're not going to hear from them one way or another. Is that ever going to work out? Is that >> Yeah, I mean, it could. Um, so I don't I'm guessing the other towns are not certifying their free cash before their
fall town meeting. So, um, but they could. So, generally capital projects go through the regional agreement in the way that that specifies. But assuming we wanted to do something you different using free cash, the council doesn't like we generally act on free cash in
October, November, December because that's right after it gets certified. Um, if the council wanted to and the town manager wanted to It could that vote could happen in May. Um or it could happen in April. Um and the and the and the smaller the the
other towns could take it up at their spring town meeting um from their free cash because by that point they should have their free cash certified and be considering different orders. >> I think the thing if I jump here Sarah is that we really want to have one capital project process a year and
that's when we should be when aligned with our town annual budgets our ann when the annual town meetings are. Yeah. And then um and then this other these other funds and it's you know the council has also told us to be tighter with our projections. So we anticipate
that those numbers will be smaller in the future because um that's been a directive to the council to create more money like what Sean just announced. We can have additional funds coming in. >> Right. So maybe this won't happen again or just because the roof project is underway. Well, I think I think again
it's the time to weigh in is during the financial guidelines and that's th those are done after the uh financial indicators report is done in November >> and so that's I think November December is really the time frame to be engaged and we'll have a sense of where our free
cash is going to be and so I think that's that's a really active time to be thought thinking about things that we should be considering or the council should be considering in its guidelines. >> Thank you Anna. I just wanted to mention that not all towns have a fall town meeting.
>> Um, most towns have a spring town meeting. Some towns have a fall town meeting. I I'd say all towns have a spring town meeting or summer town meeting. So somewhere between April and May, I think is generally the case. I
think most of them are in May right now. Mhm. >> Not all towns have an additional town meeting. And I think Shootsbury just voted to have uh a a December town meeting annually. >> So, we will be having two town meetings,
but I believe Leverett does not. They only have one and I don't know about Pelum. So, just to put that out there, a fall town meeting is not on the books necessarily. >> That's good to know. Thank you, Manny Joe. I'm sorry I have to go. I'm so sorry.
>> Okay. No, thank you for giving us extra time. >> Okay. Bye. I think this conversation highlights the importance of in particular the regional school committee thinking ahead about its capital and really looking at its capital allocation
that it puts forth within its budget for annual town meeting because it even something like the middle school roof could have been foreseen and included in that request back now in making the request for this this
coming July say although maybe that would be too late. But, you know, thinking about those things ahead of time because the towns may operate differently and even did
when when Ammerst didn't have a town council. We always had at least two town meetings a year, an annual and a special fall and even if others didn't. And so I think that's something that's important for the regional school committee to take into consideration is the fact that
the four towns that are part of the region do operate on slightly different timelines with slightly different willingnesses to potentially consider calling special town meetings or not. I if I'm I'm I might not be I might be
mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that any the region can pass borrowing at any time and and the towns then have 60 days to decide whether to reject it. But after 60 days, if they have not rejected
it, it is adopted. which means the towns don't actually have to call a special town meeting if they want to accept that borrowing because it's it's pocket acce accepted without a formal rejection. And so planning ahead for those cases is
something that we as a town try to do with our financial guidelines and our budget guidelines looking forward and saying, "Hey, what's coming up in the next year? Here's what we'd like to see you use that free cash for." And and I think it's important for all four elected bodies that are represented
here, although the the librarian mi mi missed this one today, but to to look at those capitals not just two months in advance, not just six months in advance, but more than a year in advance and say what are we going to need in the next year and how do we especially for a
region put that into our capital plan for the annual town meetings. >> I think that's a really good point. I think Sarah, so I think the things that you're bringing up or that that members of this school committee are bringing up about solar panels, which all all make sense is the I think it really needs to
be part of our process to think about, you know, because there are W or maybe L. J brought that up um a win-win situation there in terms of but it it is really something that um should be in our normal budget process. >> I I think we may have made the region
may creating trouble. Well, the difference is the free cash, asking for free cash versus passing a borrowing. I mean, those are really really different. And Mandy Joe's correct about the the borrowing route,
but going for free cash, there's that's that's where there's no easy mechanism or ready mechanism for involving all four towns. So, so maybe that's just not a thing we ought to be thinking about very very much. So
>> yeah, I mean I I we you know as the financial officers, I think Shannon and Sean would agree, we're trying to drive we the best thing is to have everything accounted for and looked at and considered at the same time. So every we're not prioritizing one thing because we took it out of turn. Everything's on
the table. We can see what we can afford and then here's the next in place. Uh which is what the council did with their budget guidelines. They said if you have more money, here's how we want you to allocate it. U which is what we've done. Anna, >> so I think there is some movement to
reopen the regional agreement >> and massively update it because it hasn't been re looked at for many decades. Um, and there's language in the regional agreement that just like no longer
applies because you're the time the Ammersttown government has changed and many other things within the regional agreement that are just outdated. Um, one thing that we might consider moving forward is how the different four
towns are expected to deal with free cash >> and if you know if there's free cash a mechanism for funneling at least some of that excess free cash into the regional school system and not just into the town
systems. Um because if if the if the idea is to sort of aortion a small a percentage of free cash into various different pots and not just one pot then being able to aortion a small amount of that free cash directly into the
regional budget would be could be very helpful. I think that Shootsy's guidance generally funnels all free cash into capital stabilization and so it would be a longer conversation about
how to handle free cash but it is possible to think about that for adjustments to the regional agreement. >> I mean I think the re I think the regional agreement should be we've been asking that since the charter changed and so but it is time to do it. You're
right and I you know I know the attorneys looked at it town's attorney has looked at it as well and so they're making some adjustments to it but I think thinking about how well for the region it's END how that money is is it gets redistributed is is a valuable thing to put could be put in that that
um agreement as well. So okay so nobody from the library here um uh the then we don't if there's anything so we we usually call these means when there's a change and so what's been changed was
the stuff that you know health insurance and the new projection if we have any other changes um that have that will happen in the budget and between and we don't anticipate any there's nothing new unless the state does something massively out of whack with what where we are, but
they are usually acting after we've approve all approved our budgets. Um, so if there will, we'll we will call a a um a budget a BCG meeting. Oh, I'm sorry, Amber. Go ahead. >> I was just going to say goodbye. I have to run to my next meeting.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Y >> um >> can I can I quickly ask um you said we should postpone electing a chair. Um, what is the advantage of postponing and
when do you propose to do that? >> That's a good question. So, we we chose not to do that when because there were so few people on the on the call and we had nobody totally. Yeah, that's that makes sense. >> And so, um, so at the time being, so under the our charter, I called the I called the meeting to order and then the
first item on it was to elect a chair. So, I think next time we have one uh that um >> sounds great. Okay. Um, public comment. Members of the public are able to uh make comments. Is there anybody in the public who would like to make a comment
up to three minutes? You can do that by raising your hand. We have two members of the public who are present. I don't see any hands raised. Um, topics not reasonably anticipated. I don't have any. Does anybody else have any that they would like to bring up? Okay. Then
I would entertain a motion to adjurnn or I'll make the motion to adjurnn at >> second. >> Second. Okay. Mandy Joe. >> Hi. >> Sarah. >> I >> Anna. >> I >> Well, not a quorum.
>> We adjourned when Amber left. >> Thank you all. Take care everyone. Bye.