Okay. Um, did you do any of the minutes? Oh, you couldn't because it was just me. No, you're not here. Okay. You All right. So, we have meeting minutes from the 31st and the second. No. No. March 31st and April 7th. That's
what I said. Yeah. Oh, you didn't? No. I wasn't paying attention. All right. It's not my job. Did you have a chance to read them over TV? Yes, I did. I I find them acceptable. All right. You want to make a motion?
Motion to approve the minutes of March 31st and April 7th as read. Uh second. All in favor? Hi. Oh, yeah. All right. Audience
participation, public comment. Come on down. Hi, I'm Paul. I live at 16 Land Road. Paul, and I just want to point out um you know about the battery storage. Yes. Um
Massachusetts is producing like 24% of its power that's coming from solar and the battery helps u make that more effective. And uh you know we all use drive cars or air flying airplanes. using a lot of fossil fuels and it's
important. Climate change is real. It's affecting us and I just think whatever we can do to help uh reduce that demand on on fossil fuels and the batteries I think are part of that process and uh from what I hear from the uh from the
uh conservation committee they they're doing asking the right questions and they have resources. is I hope there are resources provided to them so that they can get the right answers. Yeah. Because no way do we want to have something here that's going to somehow damage our our
water of all things. It's the most critical resource that we have here. So it sounds to me like they're asking the right questions. It's going to take a process and so I hope uh I hope we just be patient enough to get some of those answers and and the resources that they need. So yeah, absolutely. Thank you for
your comment. I appreciate it. Okay. Um, all right. We've got Highway. We I know you were gonna read to us. Um, Ray emailed something over. Yeah, Ray is currently at the conservation meeting down the hall. So, he sent me an email with some highway
department updates. So, this week's report from May 5th to May 12th. last week. Uh he was monitoring the work that was performed on Maple Lane, working with the board of health, making sure the contractor had the materials needed to complete the project for the highway
department, replacing the town's Culver, and correcting any issues for the future on Russell State intersection of Maple Lane. The highway department is going to finish the handwork once the board of health is completed and gives us the go-ahad. Um the highway department was
working on Hayden Road while the weather was good uh defining the ditches and cleaning up the intersection at the triangle of Hayden Road. Rainey and Ray submitted the post report for Gil Engineering which uh now
this is grant is closed and all invoicing is completed for the Beach Hill Road grant. In preparation for the rain they were expecting to receive at the end of the week. They had the crew cleaning covers and inspection of inlets and outlets. Uh they were very busy with
the rain and they did receive a large amount of water all over town. They kept up with the problem areas that were arising and executed the best plan to resolve the issues. Uh some problem roads that were addressed were Gibbs
Road, Birch Hill Road, Krooks Road, South Street, North and North Bford, which had the most issues with water runoff and drainage. Additionally, uh he pulled the guys from working on the
dirt roads. As of today, all the flags for the telephone poles have been replaced with the new flags and lanyards, and they are being installed throughout the town as of today for the upcoming Memorial Day. With the poor weather conditions heading our way, he
didn't want this to be a last minute thing. Thank you, Ray. Great. That answers the question about flack. Can I come up? Yeah. Before we get out. All right. Administrator, what do you have? So, I have been working to finalize uh
the agenda and the warrant for annual town meeting. I've worked with Jackie on this. Um there are some submissions from zoning as well as assessors as far as bylaws and we've been looking into some other bylaw updates that need to take
place. So, I've been working on that. Okay. Uh I sent the resolution that the board adopted last week to the DPU, the sighting board. um multiple state official offices, Mass D and Springfield Water Sewer. So, it's been sent via
email and we sent hard copies in the mail. Um I spoke at last week, Rudy Ka of 71 Chester Road came in. Uh he wanted to speak to me about the leftover millings at his property uh that are a
result of a water issue that took place a while ago. A while ago. Yeah. there was some damage that was done to his basement and he had submitted a claim with our insurance. Our insurance did go out and remediate the issues that were in the basement, but because the swath
of millings is considered a right of way, our insurance wasn't going to cover it. I've spoken briefly with TJ about it. We've seen it and uh obviously should be remedied. So the board needs to decide which department
is going to take the lead on remedying that and when it should be done by. So the millings are on their property, partly on their property, partly on the road. Okay. It's what they covered the
uh new pipe with when they replaced the broken pipe in front of their house. And by they you mean the water department? They being the water department. And they were left behind. And because of the ledge, they couldn't put the pipe 4 ft down. Uhhuh. So, it's
it's higher than it should be. Okay. But then they made a burn on the on the road onto their property. Uhhuh. And they used uh bad soil and and it's just all weeds and everything. Okay. And the grading,
they can't mow it. They can't do anything with it. Okay. and it's not uh pitched enough where it there's a a part of it that's valied toward the foundation of their house. Okay. So, why
and and that has to be all remedied? So, what would a fix require? I Well, they're they're going to have to take that BM down and put in good soil, you know, and that they got to go down at least six inches to get a good base and
then put lom on it. And they have to regrade the uh pitch of the uh slope going onto their lawn because it can't be mowed. I mean, it sounds to me like it would be water department. It's the water department created the problem.
Okay. Um, so then you need to know what department and when. Yeah, I need basically just wanted you guys to make a firm decision on it will be handled by the town and which department will handle it. Okay. Do you need a motion or
Yeah, that would be good for the minutes. What's the address? 71 Chester Road. So, I'd make a motion that the water department will repair the damage um caused to 71 North Chester Road um by their second language by their uh that
they had caused. Just somehow um make note that it was damage caused by the water department or you know water department repair or whatever. Um all in favor? I I thank you. Welcome. Um, this week I'll be meeting with PBPC to start
the phase one of the hazard mitigation plan update process. This has been like going on and on. Yeah, it is. Um, we will be meeting with them on Wednesday. Um, the plumbing upgrade at the post
office has been completed as approved by the board. So, the spot was installed. Okay. Uh we are waiting on AW9 from the vendor because it was not submitted. Um but Joanne has reached out and hopefully
he will get that to us quickly. Okay. Um, I am scheduled to meet with Leage Landscaping this week to finalize the scope of work and the agreement. And this agreement will will run until November if everybody's happy with their
leage lcscaping. Oh, okay. Um, I attended an uh hour ADA meeting and we went over what some of the priorities would be when we go to apply for the this year's um ADA grant
upgrades. Okay. Um, I met with Evan George after I met with the ADA committee. He is the grant compliance coordinator for the ADA grants. I had a brief conversation with him about, you know, what makes a favorable
application, you know, what can we do to make it make sure that we because we didn't really end on great terms last time with this grant. Um, we were awarded a grant that we didn't do anything with. So, with that being said,
um, he had said that including quotes for any work that we want done, okay, makes for a stronger application. So, I have a meeting with Nick Wers. He is uh a contractor who specializes in ADA upgrades. So, I'm I've submitted him a
copy of the building plans here and I'll be meeting with him, I believe, on Thursday to go over um what we would like to see upgraded and possibly obtain some quotes so that we can submit for the grant. Great. Um, Novvice, our IT provider, has
started implementing some of the security upgrades. Um, an email was sent to all employees letting them know that there's this new verification process. Uh, I then subsequently sent an email to all employees saying
because the verification process requires you to use your cell phone, if you are not comfortable using your cell phone or cannot for any reason, please just let me know. we can purchase what's called a key. So, you don't need to use your cell phone for this verification process. Um, to date, the only person
who's gotten back to me is Paul Martin. So, thank you, Mr. Martin. Um, what he gets for never getting behind that the I received um notice from the Blandford Historical Commission
regarding the gazebo. I thought I brought it with me. They didn't um regarding the gazebo uh and its disrepair. They really wanted to make it known to the board as the board are the trustees of the park. Um and then Ryan Stafford followed up with an email today
stating that um he is meeting with Home Depot on the 15th to see if they'll be able to assist in any way. Okay. Uh, and also last week I got a an email from Kristen Smitty to inform us that a new family has moved
to town with two children. Yeah. Who um are interested in attending. One is interested in attending Gateway, the other is interested in attending Westfield Vocational. Obviously, the deadline has been missed. I have uh spoken with finance about it. It's really difficult to sort of put a number
on that right now because we don't know which one they'll be accepted to. Yeah. and we don't have a finalized number for vocational schools anyway. Um, so I'm just I'm waiting for more details from Kristen. So I think if I remember correctly, we have to build it in the
budget and then that way it's the money. Last time that this happened and there was a deadline missed, the board did have to make a special vote. You will. So you can I guess according to Kristen's email, oops, I didn't bring thought I brought everything with me. I apologize. But
according to Kristen's email, this did happen in the past. And I guess the applications were denied and the state overruled that and said, "Nope, you still got to you still got to pick up the tuition." So when I remember Blameford dealing with it, it was
approved. Okay. But I don't remember it being denied. So, but either way, we either way. All right. I think that's it. That's it. Yep. All right. Um, Jennifer is not here with us tonight, so we don't have something that I wanted to ask and I I
meant to ask you earlier. Uh, have we gotten anywhere with the electrical for this building? Oh, so interestingly, um, I had a phone call from a woman who was doing a sur conducting a survey for the
OSD, which is the operational services division, and they run the website that has all the state contracts on it and all. So, if you if you are a vendor and you want to be on state contract, you have to meet certain criteria. Yeah. And so she was doing a survey on the vendors
that Blandford has used and you know what our you know experience with it was. Yeah. And I was honest when she had asked me about Elm Electric and I said I haven't really been able to get a response. Um we have you know a part
that's sitting in our gymnasium that was rather expensive. It's been there since December. Um I've reached out multiple times. I really haven't haven't gotten anywhere. Um, and then I got a phone call from our electrical inspector who left me a message saying that somebody
from Elm, I think, reached out to him and said, "Oh, we should have a meeting. We should sit down and talk." Oh, I wonder. So, I I don't know if there's a direct correlation there between the survey and the phone call. Um, but that's that's where we are. So, I will be doing my best. I'm going to get back
in touch with Nate and see more details on that. But, great. Wonderful. Yeah. Great. Good. All right. Um, okay. We've got some action items. A lot of appointments to make. Um, first we got to look at the payroll. Is this the one that we already
approved, Joan? We just need to motion it. Oh, no. Table it. Sorry. I I put it back on there because TJ didn't sign last week, but I got him. Okay. In the meantime, you can table it now. I see one in here. Is this different? Oh, this is just for Okay. That's sort of
Christina's pay. Yeah. Um, all right. So, motion to table um action item A. There a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I um I'll make a note here that was already done. So, I'm just wondering if I can do
these all at once. So, thank you. Motion to approve the following appointments all in one motion. Uh Raymond Hal to emergency management July 1st 2025 June 30 2026
Leon Ripley Agricultural Commission July 1st 2025 June 30th 2028 Matt Ripley assistant electrical inspector July 1st 2025 June 30 2026 Nathan Kowalsik electrical inspector July 1st 2025 June
30th 2026 Jennifer Dubiel Chester Bford police chief July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2026. Adam Dolby is fire chief. July 1st, 2025, June 30, 2026. Adam Dolby, emergency management for term.
July 1st, 2025, June 30th, 2026. Adam Dolby Forest Warden July 1st, 2025, June 30, 2026. All in favor? I. All right. Um so we are
Did you have something George or not to question who is chairperson of the uh emergency management committee? Who's in charge of the whole operation if the emergency occurs? We don't have a chairperson if you full committee. What happens when there's an
emergency? Um thank you for your question. All right. Thank you for your question. Um, all right. We are going to new business and I would I would like to switch because I know finance committee has a long um list. So, I'm going to switch and have George. So, a motion to go new
business be first. Um, but I do have something to Is there a second? Sorry. Second. All in favor? I I um I do have something um first and this not just related to George that we've have a couple of going on in town. I just wanted to
um to read um where am I? So, first we wanted to acknowledge um the community effort in town is fantastic. We have so many people in town who are willing to help and volunteer and do it on a regular
basis. I mean, I'm sure we would love some more volunteers for Wreck. Um but it's that sort of energy, I think, um that makes what it is. Um however, recently we've had some issues. It's been brought to our attention um that
there's been some instances where individuals have been um working on town property um assessing buildings, engaging activities um under an assumption of authority that they don't hold. And while we appreciate that intent, we want to make sure um that
there is permission granted beforehand. Um the reason being that we have to protect the town's finances um and there being um legal financial responsibilities, liabilities um with people working on town property without
authority. Um so going forward um no individual may perform work, access town buildings or act in official capacity without prior written authorization from the select board. Um, we know we're a small town. We have
limited resources and we do appreciate again the volunteer and value the surface, but the willingness to contribute must be coordinated, transparent, and properly approved. Um, unfortunately, it sort of opens up Pandora's box to people just doing things on town property um that they
don't have written authorization for, like putting up a fence, for example. Um, so we're asking that residents work with us instead of around us. Um, if there's anything that residents see, and this is important, Mary, um, that needs to be brought to our attention. Um, or
if they have a skill or idea, you know, we're welcome to listening to it so they can, um, get on the agenda to speak with us. Um, and then there's ma there's some mass general laws that refer to the reason um that this is important and I
can give those to Mary if you want them after. Yes, thank you. All right. Um, that being said, George, do you want to come on down? I know that you are on the agenda. Thank you. I've got two sets
of agendas going. Hope that's homework is homework. color printer and everything, huh? Oh, yeah. This is do this for you. Is that for me,
George? Absolutely. Thanks. All right. What do you got for us, George? Okay. First, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to spearhead this project with the park. It all began a year ago last fall when I came in to express my concern about the
dilapidated condition of the park and the uh old town hall. And then last spring he confronted me with the challenge of chairing the restoration of the town hall and the bsentennial park.
And uh I've firm believer that if you speak up about something you have to be willing to take responsibility for correcting it. And so that started this whole process which is yet to be completed. Um, I've learned more than I ever
expected to in this process and I think it hopefully in the long run it will help the town considerably as we move forward. Um, what I did first of all was realized from uh what was available at the time that
there wasn't money available to paint the town hall, the old town hall and to renovate the bicesentennial park. um that there was supposedly limited amount of money available and um we had to look
elsewhere for the funds. So grants were written, grant proposals were written and we succeeded in getting about $6,500 to $7,000 in donations and and uh grants from Home Depot and a couple other sources. Um, as you know, part of that
Home Depot uh grant was their involvement because they don't give money without involvement. So, we had at least 14 people from various Home Depot show up that day to help with the renovation as well as over a period of three weeks, we
had almost 40 town folks involved at one degree or another. Um, we spent the vast majority of the money. There's a little bit held in reserves because of the advice we had gotten to keep it for the spring uh when
the finishing touches needed to be taken uh on the plantings and the maintenance and the fertilization and the clean uh planting of new bulbs and things like that which we have a few dollars left to
do that. Um what concerned me as this process passed along was where the money is for um the parks maintenance in the future and what has happened in the past. So I sent a couple of requests for
information to the town clerk who was very very limited in what she could provide me in terms of documentation of previous spending and how the money had been managed from the original 7,000 plus that had been given by Winterford Arms at the time the park was created.
So I spent some time doing some research and what you have in front of you is a copy of that research. The p the first page is a summarization because I didn't know how much backup you wanted. But what's behind it is the first layer of backup which I then have about 14 other
pages of backup information that I have found. So what I'd like to do um tonight because I think it's really important as we lay down some short-term and long-term plans for the park is that we look at the situation in the past and what has happened. Because as I dug into
this situation, I became very aware that things were a skew, very seriously a skew. And it all started out with the uh park being deed over to the town by Winterford Arms and it being accepted at the town meeting back in 1975.
Um the selectman also received about the same time a $7,500 grant from Winterford Arms and the um special fund was set up for that to be in prep in uh
prepar What term am I looking for perpetual perpetual perpetual thank you for in perpetual care perpetuity perpetuity is a good word too. Thank you. in per perpetuity. Um and that the interest
from that money be used for the regular ongoing maintenance of the time of the park. So what I was able to find out was that that money was handled by the treasurer at the time of the town and
was invested and in 1982 the selectman um authorized the treasure. There was very little information from um 77 to 79 about the park at all in any of the town annual
reports. But in 82 the treasurer went to the selectman who authorized them to or authorized the uh treasurer to take the money that was in perpetual accounts of waroko savings account and place it in a
CD account and at that time they identified the amount of money as 21,72 plus change and they invested it 8 8.65% 65% three uh threeyear CD that matured
and it was rolled over again in 85 which had came to maturity in ' 87 at which time there was $6,754.33 in the account of which the part $20,000 principal was supposed to
be held for reinvestment and not and per for per perpetuity and not for spent. There's no interest received in ' 86 or 87. In 80 and 90, um the town report acknowledged receiving
$5,878 in interest from those investments. The principal at the time was reported in the town report of 91 of $31,947. Skip ahead a little bit to 93 and the principal had grown to
$36,259 and change. By 2002, the principal was $45,383. Then in 2012, the town reported that there was only 5,000 there was, excuse me, there was
$53,35 in the account. Mhm. But from 2012 to 2022, things changed. and I haven't been able to dig out all the information on it yet, but the amount was dropped to
$14,500 in the non-expendable portion of the money and there was $9,230 in the expendable portion of the money. Then by 2024 there was
$15,553 in a non-expendable amount and in an expendable amount there was $7,427. Now if you look at the period of time from June of 2012 where there was over $53,000 in the account to June of 2024
uh there was less than 23,000 a loss of $30,000. We cannot account or I cannot account for what happened to that $30,000. And I think that needs to be found. It's a serious situation. I don't know where it is. I don't know how it could be
tracked. Um but I think that money, if you look at it as an investment loss, it probably has compounded itself several times during that period of time. So that you're looking at a loss of much much greater than 23,000 or $30,000. And I think this is something
that needs to be investigated and and documented very carefully. Um there was very little documentation if any of how money was spent during that whole period of time to from 1976 to date. There's not in the town reports. I requested
information from the uh town clerk about expenditures and she was unable to give me any documentation of any significant uh expenditures for the past years since 1975 of what money has been spent for. Okay. Um so that that documentation of
what money was spent for, what was available and u how we move forward with what money may be available um I think needs to be addressed very quickly because that would be a determining factor in terms of budget for the future and how much could be done at the park
to upgrade it with the things that need to be upgraded now. I.e. the fence needs to be placed. It's a liability. the top wrongs on some of the fencing and brought it through. The uh stone work needs to be updated in spots and things like that. So, there's several projects
that have been clearly identified that need to be done in the very near future, but without knowing how much capital money is there and how much interest is producing and how it's invested, it's just a shot in the dark. So what what the way I'm looking at it
now, we have to go back to the treasurer or the accountant to go back sit down with the bank and find out what what if there were withdrawals or and who and all that. Right. So
that's going to be detective worker. That's right. You need a forensic auditor to really do a thorough job what's happened to that money. Um it is you know in my opinion a sizable amount of money. So it's you know not something you can just wink at and say goodbye to.
Uh to to go along hand in hand with that is the policy in uh Blandford's uh financial policy manual. I call your attention to the last page where it says reporting requirements. On a quarterly basis, a report shall be prepared by the
treasur and distributed to the board of selectman, town administrator, finance and advisory committee. Uh the report will include the following information as a minimum. A listing of the individual accounts and individual securities held at the end of the
reporting period. a listing of short-term investment portfolio and security type and maturity to ensure compliance with the diversification and maturity guidelines established by the diversification section of the IPS.
Summaries of the income earned on a monthly basis and year-to-ate basis. The degree of compliance with the tenants set forth in the IPS. Um, this policy has been in existence for several years and as far as my inquiry, I've not been
able to get a copy of it and I have no idea why it isn't being done. So, that was mandated by the state previously. It is no longer mandated. So, it's not something that we do. So, we don't have those reports to give to you. Then this hasn't changed. Um, but I can um I can
tell that you've done a ton of work, George, and a ton of research and it is much appreciated. um our accountant and treasurer are working on making sure that um all the funds are accounted. Obviously, it's a big project. Um but at
the moment, I mean, we're unable to speak to something that happened two decades ago right now. There's currently $8,000 uh to spend. Just over 8,000 I think 8,400 to spend in the account. Um
and a landscaper has been hired. That's the principal or the interest. That's the interest to spend. And how much is in the principal? I don't know that number right now. Okay. Um, so it's somewhere between 14 and 15,000. Okay. So, we still don't know where that
30,000 is missing. Well, no. That's investigated now. Um, what is is there something next that you had on the agenda for sure? Um, the other I just would be curious to see if the other policies have been set aside in regarding the investments of the town.
of money because one of the policies clearly states that under investments that the treasurer will separately maintain all long-term accounts in order to proportion interest and any realization of unrealized gains or losses at all trust funds under the
treasur's control unless otherwise directed by the donor. Um do we have that information available? I do not know off the top of my head. Okay. because I think that's critical to know not just about the arms account but for other accounts in town which was a whole
other suffer in an automobile accident so she's kind of been uh sidetracked so I I think you know out of courtesy we'll give her the information and see if she can play catchup but again if it's a report that is not
mandated anymore it will not be something we have you know then this policy needs to be updated because as far as I know it's being handed out by the town to people who want it. So that's available.
Okay, moving ahead. Um when we look at what has been accomplished the past year, we are at a point with the park that we have finally gotten the water in. Um, we need to develop a a program for maintenance
because of the need for a lot of the plantings to be watered on a regular basis this summer. We need to come up with a plan to We've hired a landscaper. Well, that's good. So, that is all taken care of. The landscaper needs to be advised about what supplies are still
available and what recommendations are from Home Depot in terms of the materials that were provided as well as the planning. So part of the scope and sequence would be that the the landscaper is knowledgeable of those things as well. Okay. So yeah, and just to clarify, there was no appointment um
and I don't mean this and to be rude in any way. There was no appointment of you as a chair of anything at any point. What do you volunteered and it was helpful but the project is over. Okay. So it's been completed. There's water
the we have a landscaper bsentennial is being managed. Okay. And can I see the contract that has been developed with landscape? Um once the contract is completed, you can request that. Absolutely. When it's signed or when it's finished in season when it's
completed and signed. Yeah. Okay. Which will be when it's done. Yeah, it's worth imagine. If you were listening earlier, I am meeting with him this week to get all of the appropriate paperwork from him, including his W9, his insurance, and he will sign the
agreement for the work to be done until the end of November. And if the board is pleased with his performance, we will discuss keeping him on for longer. But I didn't want to enter into any lengthy contract without seeing the quality of the work.
Do you want any kind of input on what needs to be done or are you just gonna wing it? I'm George, that's kind of No, I'm not winging anything. I'm serious. I'm serious because he's a landscape shared professional landscaper. Okay. But landscapers need to know what
they're beginning with and what's available for them to use. He's visited the site. He's assessed it, I think. Okay. And he knows what materials are left and he knows what in the basement to use and he has programmed understood with all the plants. Correct. Yep. Oh, good. Okay. Thank you. Do you have
anything else for us, George? Um, no. I'll be waiting to hear back on the forensic work on the Well, when if you want to request something, but as of now, we're not we don't have anything to get back to you. No one's going to be getting back to you. So, no one is going to look into the finances. No, that is
something that our treasurer and accountant are working on, but no one is getting back to you with that information. Can I request that somebody gets back to me when they find out what happened to this money? You can. It's not going to be anytime. It's not. Yeah, it's not going to be. So, finding that historical information and knowing what
our treasur and accountant are are working on right now. Um, and that one of our um one of them has a daughter that's just in an accident. the other one is undergoing some serious medical conditions. That is not a top priority right now. It will not be anytime soon.
So, I would ask that you not request something soon because it's, you know, it's just going to take time away from the dayto-day important things that are happening. Three months be a reasonable time. George, I don't know. You're pushing. Yeah. When the information is found, it
will be provided to the public. Absolutely. No one they it's it's a priority but it's not a top priority right now. Okay. Thank you for your time. All right. All right. We got a lot to do with
budget. Are these all of our These are not our budget papers here, are they? Yeah. I gave it to you. There's a packet. This this packet. Yeah. You're welcome. Thank you. Okay.
All right. So, first thing we're going to start with is explaining what's in the packet. So, if you take your little paper clip off Oh, no. Yes, I do.
Um, I provided crib notes. Crib notes, nothing fancy. Nothing fancy. Just something for you to doodle on or whatever if you have any questions to yourself or whatever as we go through this. Okay. Okay. So, we are
going to start the discussion with water. Oh, good. So, we're Yes. May I be excused? Yes, you may. Really? I can't take notes for this. So, yeah. Can I go home? You made me excuse. Nothing personal, guys.
They've worked so hard on all these numbers. Shut that. I feel so I feel so terrible. I don't think I should stay here. I feel your mouth pain. That's fine. All right, let's start out with water. I
will go through this fairly quickly, but stop me as we're going through as we have questions. Questions. Okay. Thank you. Oh, you needed these. Hold on. We while you're talking, TJ and I just have to sign other things. I apologize. Don't worry.
I need a stamp. Go ahead. I won't leave. You don't want to? No. I got to learn how to script. Yeah, mine's a good script. While you got to work on that takes practice helps when
you have to change your last name through your life. You're about Close to pause. No, that's okay. I I should have signed them earlier. All right. Here you go. Thank you guys. Thank you, Dian. Have a good
night. All right. Okay. the team on the thickcon team met with water a couple of times and uh uh Brad was there I think um Brad was there for the second meeting first meeting was with Gordon just want to go through the budget okay um so a
couple of things happened I want to start at least I don't want to go too far back but FY25 okay there was a transfer that occurred by the accounting team this would have been Eric's team of $87,554 from the general fund into
Waters fund why that transfer was made. We think it was because they felt that they didn't have enough revenue to pay the expenses that were outlined. Okay. So, it came from the town account into wire. Okay. And we'll talk about how we're going to
get that money back in a few minutes. Okay. That was one thing. In reality, we don't see the account for, you know, I did analysis to say what is FY25 going to look like and we went through that. We think they're going to be fine in
FY25. Okay. But the expense lines seem to be over inflated. Meaning what I'm seeing in reality that's coming through for FY25 is far less than what is in the budget. Right. The projected budget. Right. Right. Right. For FY25. So did
they seem to be spending at the end of the year? Like is that if they could adjust it, you know, for FY25? They didn't want to do that. So, we're just going to keep watching it into April and May and June and see how they close and
see if um it's been a trend of Yeah, that's because I know we've had um departments in the past that would typically suddenly want to spend it more at the end of the year and rather than actually um they can't afford to do that. I mean,
they need to tighten up expenses. So, okay. Um, that's just we want to make sure, you know, we approached it with we want to make sure that you guys, you know, have you're not sitting in a deficit situation. You're in a surplus situation, right? So, going on to
FY26. Now, we know that there's water lean tax title revenues that we don't have in here yet. That has to come Sarah at the end of the year. So, there may be some upside on the revenue side on that. Um, and to ensure if you look at the
first page, the first page that's in your packet where it says uh the enterprise water budget and the first line is revenue. This is the all the top line revenue for water. Mhm. Um the uh in order for FY26, which is on the far
right, yeah, to um pay the expenses that we have outlined in the next page, we're going to have to transfer $56,000 from the retained earnings from Waters retained earnings from Waters retained earnings and another $35,000 from
stabilization. Um and I already checked with accounting. Kelly's in agreement with this. Um because again I think the expenses may be over inflated but you got to have the revenue to pay those expenses regardless in your budget.
Right. So they haven't brought in enough to cover the expenses the expenses. Understood. Okay. Any questions you guys or anything you want to add? Jackie just maybe I know it's in her notes here but that will almost completely if I'm
correct deplete their retained earnings. Yes. Depleted stabilization. They've got $159,000 in there. So there is some wiggle room still. So you're just taking 35 from that. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um so top line
762,000 you know will be what? From a revenue and other funds transferred in. Okay. Okay. Yep. Any questions? We go to the following page. Um, it lays out the salaries. The salaries are staying in line with what
we agreed to, which is no more than 2 and a half%. Mhm. Um, they do have some, even though it doesn't show here, um, one of the couple of the salaries were being paid from a grant this year.
Um, so the budgeted number of 40,000 will still be there, but they're getting some of that money from a grant. I don't have all the grand information but that's what we found out because just t take as example this is how confusing this has become the salary
wages for the water super superintendent um are coming in around I'm I'm projecting $18,000 will show up on the expenditure report which means part of that money that was paid to him was through a grant for this year this year
and I just to add I'm not interrupt No, no, go ahead. Um, it was paid out of the incorrect grant account because there was a grant account for expenses and a grant account for salaries and labor. Okay. And he was putting
whomever not placing any blame, but the money was coming out of the wrong account. So, that's will that be correct? One thing and Kelly is aware of it. She's trying to figure out how how to correct that. And then I think just another thing that should be discussed is what what as a board what is your
understanding of the water superintendent's weekly hours? I believe it's stated as 20 hours a week. Is that correct? His initial the initial job description for water superintendent is not to exceed 19 hours a week. Okay.
We've been seeing time sheets come in at 25 hours a week, 20 hours a week, you know, just all over the place. So, I think that's something that you need to keep in mind. I don't know if at if at any time there was a discussion whether it was with the
board, the water commission, whomever to adjust that to uh what Bford would consider a full-time position because if you're at 25 hours a week, that's would be considered full-time, eligible for benefits and all of that. 19. Okay. When the job was posted, it
was up to 19. So, just keep that keep that in mind. And are they budgeting for 19 hours a week or are they budgeting for over 19 hours a week? I guess I'm calculating 22 or 23 hours a week. So, so right off the bat, they're budgeting
for more than the job. But they're what he's doing is putting in all the overtime in those buckets. Like in most cases, you put overtime separate as a separate line. He adds it to the overall time and a half overtime. I don't know.
Five and a half. I don't believe the number is time and a half in in the in the thought of like, oh, it's extra money per hour. Yeah. But it's, you know, getting paid for additional hours that you're not contracted to. I understand. I have to admit last year I didn't dig as deep as I did this year
with the rest of the team looking at this. So, we're just finding these this is just an odd thing. the salary stuff has to be okay. But it is what it is. We've got the number. This is what the number they budgeted. Yeah. Which is 183,000.
Okay. Up from 179. So then you go down to the regular, you know, water expenses, utilities, chemicals, etc. Um there is an increase there. Not much. Um there was a uh they need the four heaters are needed. So they went on
water maintenance from 20,000 to 24,000. they needed to reduce their expenses even to come in with the fact that we were adding the uh the monies from the retained earnings whatnot it still needed to reduce in
order to be okay for the year. So he agreed um the team agreed to reduce their capital expense line of from 95,000 to 50,000. Okay, just to be clear that's not a normal capital expense line. I talked to accounting about it.
It's basically kind of a splash fund is the way she referred to it for them to use at their disposal. Um, so we're gonna change that naming convention next year to change it to something more realistic. So he takes money, the department takes money out of there to
fund different things that they're doing without having to come through for approval, but it's not planned for an advance. Correct. And to have, you know, $95,000 in an account where that's a lot of money in an account where you're tell
Well, and we we we had that discussion with the with the water department and said we got to get this straightened out. So, just curious, do we know what's been sent so far in this out of this fiscal year? Uh, I do. You don't have I think it's I want to say it's around
30,000 maybe. Yeah. So, it's way over understood. Yeah. Okay. So, going further along. So, you could see on the total expenditures line 259 from last year to 218 that it has to do with the
fact that we're reducing some of the things. So, um then we get into the loans that are for water that everybody's aware of. These are not new loans. Um they were I was a bit you know surprised myself frankly because I did
didn't really get into it last year. Um but from a principal standpoint for the four loans that were taken out earlier they they're still owing $2.8 million on the principal and again um on the
um interest the total is 1.4. So, you know, you're talking 4 something million for this loan that still is outstanding. And the first loan won't be paid off until 2042.
20042. So, from a that's the the loans that were taken out a long time ago, you know, like yeah, the USDA loans. The only thing they could do differently there possibly is to refinance them and bring down the That was my question. I know there was talk about that, but to
yeah to refinance it, I did sit in on a meeting with uh Henry, who's the USDA, I guess, representative for all of this. There's no way to just refinance. You have to take out another loan. Yeah, that's what I thought. And it would roll
into this new loan with a lower interest rate, but it would require you to borrow more money and Yeah. Okay. to look at it to be sure. I mean, yeah, again, you'd have to do the numbers on it because right now, if I remember correctly. Um,
it's these some of these USDA loans are at like a 6% interest rate, which is like crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, it might make sense. I don't know. That's something somebody else to decide. Yeah. Well, really the water department should take care of their own finances and work
with Treasury and figure out what's the best possible way to bring that down and but but not extend the loan forever. No, uh you have to consider what projects do they have planned for the future. I know
uh they have they had mentioned that redoing the pipe here on Russell State Road and the one going down 23 because they're all old pipes are over 100 years old. Yes. And would it would it then be
prudent for them to do take out a larger loan to cover those expenditures? Well, I think we should take that as one of the followup because there's a lot of questions about what we really should be doing. I think Yeah. I mean, you got to
you're you're talking about $4.2 million already in debt with an additional 700,000. I mean, the the Scatal loan was 1.1 million, but I think at the end it's going to be 700,000. So, another 700,000 for that. That is not even being charged
yet. They haven't gotten their first bill for that. In FY27, there's gonna be another $47,000 bill that has to be paid and if they default the town's responses. Absolutely. It's guaranteed by the child.
Um, so anyway, so that's I I just want to make sure that everybody's educated on what the loans are that are outstanding. If you go to the next page, we have the transfer to the general fund of the 70,740, which is the indirect
costs. Um, the team still seems feel strongly that they're being charged too much. And I said, "Okay, next year." The water commissioners feel that they're being paid too much. Okay. I thought you meant that no, they're being charged to
us. Um this is for as you know all the stuff that they spend with the town. Um the 70 I explained to them that this year the town has been paying 32 they paid
$32,000 the town did towards the water bills. Okay. So in effect that part of this 70,000 as a wash and then really what they're being charged is 40ome,000. Um, I'm more than happy to look at that
next year, you know, after we get through all this and say next year we'll address it. Um, because there's not enough time to do it this year and do a real thorough job as to what they really are. And when we've looked at it deeply, it actually always ends up turning out that we should be charging them more.
So, I mean, I would advise them to Yep. So, mention that go up, right? from a transfer to water stabilization. You know, it's always per it's always an important thing to save for the future. Right. Right. They don't have the money this year to save for the future based
on what we're seeing. So, we're not putting anything in stabilization. Remember when I talked about the 87,000 at the beginning? Yep. They have to pay that back to the town. Yep. So, in F FY26, we'll transfer another $44,000 out
of their account into the town to take part of it, and then the next year, we'll take the rest. Okay. At the end of the day, they should be in a surplus of around $7,600 based on this, which is tight.
Yeah. Which again, I think we're seeing over inflated numbers in some cases. Yeah. Do you guys have anything you want to add? No. Okay. Okay. Now, I want to just briefly touch on some challenges, risks that we
need to address in in water. Okay. Once again, one of the service clauses hasn't paid their bill yet. So, not something that we should find out in the meeting. It should just be part of our process. They're following up on that now. So,
why does this keep getting missed? Do we know what's falling? There's a my guess is we had this discussion and and Brad um said that we they had to they need to look at doing something different about collections. What what uh even though collection sits
in Treasury, Treasury just puts a lean on the house if they're not paying. They're not sending Dunning notices. They're not sending, you know, hey, come in and make a payment plan. They're not doing stuff like that. from my understanding and from water's
understanding. So, water needs to put that plan together as to how they're going to, you know, collect money. Now, if they collected the money that is owed, they may not have any problem, right? But, um, the I what I'll be
requesting from Sarah is a delinquency. I don't want to know names. I don't want to know anything like that. I just want to know what are the numbers. Yeah. What's the aging on those numbers? Okay. Because in reality, if people haven't paid, if people are going
beyond like a year, let's say, the town should be putting money aside to pay that debt because eventually it's going to come up and we're going to from an accounting standpoint, you have to write it off. Well, I thought that uh
according according to uh the contracts uh with the turnpike like McDonald's and Circle K and that they pay rent to the turnpike and the turnpike in return is supposed to be
responsible for any delinquent bills, right? So why should we our water department be writing off when they if they follow the contracts with the term I don't think you would ever write that off. I'm
talking about generally the rest of the population that's not paying individuals. Individuals. Yeah. Right. That the turnpike is going to pay. It's just a matter of being on top of them and making sure that they pay when they're supposed to. Um that's something that we could talk
to Treasury about. I believe they do they do they do interest. Yeah, they tried to charge us interest. So yeah. So the other thing about the turnpike that I think is a risk is and we've talked about this, we all think
this is a risk is the turnpike is rumor has it no one has any real facts is going to shut down for a period of time and um redo the ter redo the service. That's
the rumor. Nobody knows any facts. I did call said up to two years it would be down. It could be down. Could be down. But again, we're not seeing anything. We're just hearing, right? And we asked Lord and I I actually sent him a note and said, "Have you been there? Have you talked to those guys? Are you getting in
there to find out what's going on?" And they're not letting him in supposedly. Okay. So, it needs to be a senior person going there and saying, "Look, you know, the town is we need this revenue." Right now Gordon's under the impression and he
may be 100% right which is that you know they paid a good portion of the debt that I just talked about right in their water bill. It's very poss which is around their water bill is $410,000
a year between the two of them. So it's very possible that they'll still pay that debt. He thinks they will but we can't go on we think we have to go on facts. Can we invite someone to a select board meeting to ask for but I still
feel that's the water commission's role. So maybe invite someone to a water commissioner. Yes. SL we could do a water selectboard meeting. Can we do that as a followup? Yeah, let's do that. Okay. Now the other thing that has nothing to do with water but does have
to do with our other stuff that we'll talk about is remember they pay a meal tax too. Yeah. if they're not doing meals anymore, we get about $40,000 a year in meal tax. Now, that's part of the store, country store, too, but it's
probably minimal compared to the service plaza, right? But that's I mean, the difference between the water department having any budget. I mean, that's like half their budget. Understood. Yeah. But do do we get a portion of gas tax on
that, too? Don't nothing. I don't know. Oh, gas. I thought I thought the state had passed something where the towns could tax a gas tax port. Yeah. Do you remember that at all
in your but you know, let's we we need to pay very strong attention to what's going on out there in the plaza because it really supports the town, right, quite a bit.
touch. So that's that's it for water. Any questions on water? So many. Well, look, I think you guys are going in the right direction with the fact that you're going to have department meetings and these types of questions can come up and be required to come back
with an answer. Yeah. Right. So, okay, let's go on. Let's do broadband next. Okay, much more beautiful picture. Um, in terms of revenue, you can see there's three pages here for broadband in your package.
Um, you know, revenue is coming in on plan. Um, they will need we will need to move $55,000 from retained earnings to their account this year. Okay. Um, they have $345,000 in retained earnings, so
they're doing pretty good. Okay. considering they don't have pet count overhead. They don't have any voice really. Um, as you know in broadband the expenditures really are around the infrastructure that supports broadband
in the town, right? So we spend, you can see it there, $376,000 just in the infrastructure. So you have Whip City Fiber that manages it for us, but we still have to pay, you know, maintenance and all that stuff,
which did go up a little bit. They do have a debt of uh of a loan of 197,000 for the year. Their total debt is a million 90. Okay. Um but what's
different about them? They get $107,000 a year from Cath 2 money from the state from that original grant. For the next seven years, they're going to get so that's 700,000 of it right there. Fantastic. Right. Okay.
So, I mean, my take is that there's nothing to be concerned about with them. Yeah. Um, we will put more money into stabilization this year for them. 25,000. um they are they have 130,000 in
stabilization right now um and we'll look at their you know at the end of the year now that I understand these two enterprise accounts a lot better we do as a collective team we didn't nearly know a lot about them is we'll look at how did we end the year
right this is just budget we don't ever look at well how did we end the year was it better was it worse um so I think it's important for for us to lay that out and see why are the expenses going up, what's driving it, right? Yeah, that might be good to have a select board
meeting too just to touch base. Sure. July, August. Sure. or whatever you guys at the end of the day you know they'll have a surplus which is good that you know um there was discussion about wanting to
pay down more of the debt with retained earnings and we suggested no don't do that at this point because you have to have the money sitting there in case your expenses go up plus we have that the cap to funding right
any questions No. Okay. And broadband has agreed to what this is. Okay. They're also Did water agree to what that? Yep. Okay. Okay. So now the general fund the general
fund fun stuff, right? Okay. So we can either if you want to start with revenue, topline revenue, we can do that. Um, so this one here. No,
actually, uh, let's see. This one say Yeah, that's what I have. Yes. Yes. So, this is a synopsis of what is in the package. Okay. Um, as far Let me just go to the bottom
line. I think we should do that and then we'll go through the Where is my other page? I thought I had another page. Oh, you can't see it. Yeah, you can't see the numbers. Yeah, you can't see the numbers. So, at the bottom of this, it basically net zero because you've got
your debits and your credits, you know, your revenue and your expenses. And at the end of the day, it should net zero. And it does. Okay. Um, there is 300 and I don't know the number right off hand, but it's around
$350,000 left in free cash from this year. So, that's good. Okay, let's go to the next page. Revenue topline revenue is looking very strong. You know, we didn't have to
increase taxes or anything this year, so that's good. Um, we are well within our rights around the tax levy. There's a certain amount that you could you could charge in taxes and we are way below that. Okay. Okay. So, we're about
$630,000 that we don't charge, which is good. Um, as you go through this package, if you go to page two, it starts talking about all the different places that we get revenue from. the Cherry Street, uh,
the Cherry Sheet, the state receipts, the local receipts. Um, as I went through previous months on the local receipts, it just seemed like they were the forecast of what was going to happen
was higher than what I thought. So, I kind of reduced them a little bit. Okay. Um, I'm not going to go through line by line unless you guys want to go through. Um, veterans benefits. Any reason why it's zero? Is that just how it is? That's the
way it is on the cherry on the Yeah. I'm sure there's still the veterans line that we have get the $10,000 from the state. Okay. Right. Okay. So, to go through all these fees and stuff is kind of Yeah. Okay.
So, at the end of the day, it's 5 million. Okay. Yeah. Which is around 473,000 more than the prior year. Okay. Okay. Let's go through the expenses because this is where it gets more into the detail.
Okay. We're going to need your opinion on a couple things for sure. Um, couple things. We went with the merit increase of two and a half percent as the standard that the town has always done, right? Um, but I did share with
the team we wanted to see I wanted to see what the world is doing around merits, right? Or what the country is doing around merits, I should say. For Massachusetts um state, it's around 4%.
Okay. Uh the feds are given around 4.3%. This was interesting. Our governor is getting 10%. Our state lawmakers are getting 11%. Wow. The cola is
2.2%. And the na national average is 4.1. Okay. Um I have an opinion on it. I'm going to I'll just give you the opinion and you guys can jump in there. We're a small town, right? We try to keep these
expenses low, but it's also a retention issue when you don't give raises that are in line with others. So, just bear that in mind as we move on, okay? In the future, okay? We don't give
um outside of what I've seen with Rey, we don't do merit increases. We do point blank everybody gets the same. That's something we may want to look at in the future. Do we want to give merit increases to other people? and make it a range. Well, we kind of did that with
Nicole. No, was looking for money and we gave it to her. Yeah, but that was for you guys. That was for going full time, right? Still got a two and a half%, but she went full time. Um, but there have been others that have come and said, you know, 2 and a half%
isn't going to do it for the person that works for me, right? And well, I did with Joanne, right, for example. But I think if you know if you're you have to come to the table with reasons and proof and and why
and justify it, right? Not just I think this person should get this or they should should get that. If you can come to the table, which I I felt like I did and I had presented it to you guys as well as you guys. If you can justify it and show that it's, you know, well, why
why why should a government legislature get 11%. I don't I'm just saying, you know, that would be my argument right off the bat. What the hell did you do that I didn't I did my I agree with you. I just meant in the
confines of of what we have control over. Um I agree with you that you know I mean in reality you should have a range that says you could get zero if you're not doing what? If you're not performing. If you're not performing you get zero. Sorry, you don't get two and a half%.
It's just the managing all of that that becomes an issue for a small town I think too. It's the what the managing all of that may the managing of all that. But we did recently do the um the big project we had the funding for to look at um the callin center. Yeah. The
callin center the rates. So that was some place last year I believe. So most of our position should have been last year fairly. That was two years ago already. Was it two years ago? Yeah. So I guess the concern is if we only increase at 2.5, how long until we are
again behind and then have to make a big jump as opposed to 4% a year. And I'm not even saying that two and a half's bad. I mean two and a half is fine if it's if that's your middle, right? But if there should be what you don't want, which we have had where people come in
and say we want 10%, we want 5%, we want 6%. You really have to say you have to stay within this box. You only get so much. Yeah. If they're performing at 4 and a half%, what is it that makes them better than the person that's performing at 2 and a half%. That's the problem with the
merit system. I mean, you you have you have your lay person, he's hired, he's supporting his family and that and he's his job is to dig a ditch. Okay. How does he earn merit by digging
a ditch? big digging mortgages. No, I mean, you know, I don't understand the merits of this. Let me let me just I'll just briefly explain we'll move on. You have really good workers. Yeah. That can dig a ditch and do other things. Then
you have workers that only dig a ditch. Can't do anything else. Just dig a ditch. That's that's the average. Then you have people that can go above and beyond. That's the merit system where it says, "Okay, Jackie, you dig a ditch for a living, but were you able to do these
other things that puts Jackie a little bit different than Joe, let's say, right? That's really the way it's supposed to work. But at some point cuz years ago we went through this at a job that I worked and they when they they
would call you and you had to uh you know they would interview you and say well you know your work is at such and such a level and like uh you do excellent work and six months later you go in for
re-evaluation and you're excellent. third time you go in, well, now you're average because you're you're you're average is excellent. So, it's it's a downhill slope for the worker. All right. Once once a highway worker gets
all his endorsements, there's no more incentive, right? And there's no more merit. So, I mean, at some point, this has to be addressed. Yeah. But let's I mean, I I don't didn't mean to push this off. Well, no. It's
just this is my pet peeve with marriages. I know that and and I understand it's totally understand. Okay, let's let's move on. So, this um budget should look and feel the same as
it always has. No big changes. I just cleaned it up in different spots and we kind of took some stuff out and put that stuff in. Um, from a general fund standpoint, okay, what's in the general
fund? All of the stipens we kept flat. Didn't change any stipens. They're all the same. Now, Dave Hopson did tell me that PBPC is looking at stipens in the general area doing a study on them. Okay. So, maybe next year we'll look at
that, but this year they're all flat. Okay. Fine. Perfect. Selectport budget. We didn't do anything different there. Yeah. Um, you did approve uh the secretary's increase that's in there. Okay. The town administrator, we put the two and a half%. That could be more,
that could be less. It just, you know, we just have to put a plug in of some sort at this point because I know she's under contract and that goes works differently, right? The finance committee, you know, a couple hundred bucks, but we don't really spend any money. The reserve we
left at 45,000. Um, I looked that up and it and it could be anywhere from 5 to 7% of your budget, but we leave it at 45. Okay. The accountant is one of the things that is driving some of the increases that
we're seeing. Um, the general fund went up 69,000, right? Um, but with the new accountant that went up a little bit. Yeah. Right. 23,000. public buildings or I'm sorry
audit went up 5,000 of which we're going to audit the water department right administratively as well as the other things that we've talked about the that was a free service the art public buildings if you go to the next
page town of seven really didn't change that much public buildings going to the next page um went up 7,000 it expenses actually went down which is good and the reason for that is because
Christina got some work done this year with them so we don't have to carry that expense in the new year where are you lost I'm sorry I'm on page two of nine page two of nine okay okay
you okay no what line so we line it goes those I have treasure collector town council town clerk on that page. Yeah, right. Okay. Is that right? That's what I've got. Yeah, that's what I've got, too. Okay. Well, let's go down the page. I'll I'll not do
my cry notes. Okay. So, the assessors were pretty well flat. Yes. Okay. Okay. The Treasury Department, we all know went up a little bit. Yep. Okay. So, they went from 96 to 126.
Um the challenge that we have there is that um Sarah had come to us for an increase for Sue and for Joanne and the increase was quite substantial and we turned around and gave it two and
a half% instead for both. Okay. The whole thing with Sue and Joanne needs to needs further discussion because it's really not Sarah's budget. It's the budget. So, it's coming out of
It's not coming out of the money that we pay to Sarah. It's coming out of a separate line item. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Okay. Mhm. So, even though she asked for more money, right, we're we're bringing it down to two and a half%.
And you're talking about the second line item there, both of them. Salaries, wages, whatever. The one that says 11,881 and 17,821, that's 2% of last year. Okay. Okay.
What has Sarah commented on this? Has she seen that? Um recommended. Yeah. Go ahead. Well, during our when we had our contract negotiation with Sarah, Yeah. She had made some comments at the time about
um that she felt that because some people had seen other employees get raises even though she had asked for her employees to get a raise and they didn't. Um she her her concern it's a
gray area, right? Because they aren't Sarah isn't their boss, right? They work for the town. Yeah. They don't work for Mass Munan. Yeah. So, but when there if you're sitting in that office and doing that job in your mind because Sarah's training you and you're reporting to
Sarah, Sarah's your boss. Yeah. But unfortunately, that's where the gray area is because Sarah isn't technically their boss. She's not in charge of their salary or what they do or don't get paid. And from my understanding in conversations that I've had that
historically she has asked for uh for example just using it as an example Sue to have a raise rate and Sue got the standard 2 and a half% other employees no names being mentioned got more and I think that that other employees in
different departments in different departments excuse me yes to be clear different departments um received more and I and I think that had caused a little bit of an issue Um, understandably so. A big issue. I'm trying to be diplomatic about it. She's not their boss. She's asking, right? So,
this is this who is their boss. This is the gray area. This is where, you know, she got a big hit increase. Why doesn't she pay her employ? And then Joan. So, she pays for Derek. She pays Derek.
She's on she's on loan to Sarah, right? Joanne and Sue. the job that she post that was posted when she applied for it. It's a real job. But those other positions that received a large increase were in what that position was in the
water department and that was not something that the select board was aware of or had any so that was it was unfair and I understand the frustration but it was not something that the town had planned for. That was a water department issue. Um so I
understand the frustration but that really was out of our hands. Right. But what what this has done though is surfaced the need to address the Sue and Joanne. Yes. Challenge of reporting. Who do they report? They they need to have an advocate, right? We're not the people
that these guys should be coming to and saying, "Give me a raise." That's not the finance committee's job. We don't we don't know anything about what they do. Anybody that comes in here and says, "Well, I think I you know, I think I should give Sally 10% increase." were
like, "Well, Sarah advocates for them, correct? Sarah advocates for them, but then was told to come back to us." So, all I'm saying is we put in two and a half% for vote. Yes. Okay.
Okay. Which as town employees is what we did across the board. So, I mean, that's Yeah. So, I just wanted you to know. Okay. Um Okay. So if you keep going on the next line is log expenses are going up slightly to 5,000.
Okay. Okay. We already talked about treasury. Go a little bit further down and we are into town clerk. Yep. And things were fairly flat there. Okay. Go to page
three. Um election expenses. The request was 7,336. We reduced it down to 5,000. The reason being is last year um it had gone up from around 5,000, a
little bit less to 7,000 because this FY25 was the national election. We had purchased the machine for 7,000. So the team felt we should reduce that back to where it was at least. Nice try, though.
um salaries and wages under Dick Gates uh conservation commission. Um there was an approval that was done. This was you guys were in on this. I got this one on the from Chris Christina Dick had asked
to bring it up from 10,000 to 13,000 and I guess you guys approved that. Yeah, when it was originally when that position was originally posted, there was a range and uh Nick was at the lower end of the range, but because of the
need for the new conservation agent with what we're facing with BS and all of those other things, Dick had, and I had talked to you guys about this, but I just want everybody in the room to be aware. Dick had asked that the it could he offer the higher end of the range and
so we now have a conservation agent, which is good. Um so that explains that. Okay. Okay. Planning board is flat. Um zoning and appeals is flat. Data processing. Um it is going
from 76,000 down to 55,000. Talk to Christina. Love that. Feel comfortable with that. Um the public buildings is a challenge because I think you know we're going to see some expenses there. Is that where we're
building in that position we talked about or of a I mean we h we haven't we haven't really done that Jackie we've talked about it I think even as a finance we talked about it I had said I had met with the select board
and one of our biggest challenges is the lack of uh maintenance program for buildings green spaces town owned properties I just don't know how to, you know, budget for that. Like,
are we going to find one company that is that can do I think we run into problems when it's peace meal and then you don't know who's doing what and it's like absolutely. So, a plan does need to be put in place. We have talked about it.
There is money that was voted to be put aside um for this building specifically. I think it was building assessment. the building assessment. Oh, yeah. That we didn't use. Um, how much was that? It's 50,000. It's 50. Yeah. So, I think that
if we can all sort of put our collectively put our heads together and and figure out a maintenance program for the town. I think that Are you thinking hiring a company or hiring an individual? I think it could go either way. I think
we have to really see what is out there, what's available to us, what we can afford. I don't want the town to be paying money for services that aren't really helping us too much right now. But we've definitely realized it is a much needed position. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah. For sure. And there's a lot of
things slipping through the cracks. Yeah, there is. So to answer your question, that hasn't really been built in here, but we do know that there is funding in other accounts that if we put our heads together and come up with a plan, the money is there that we can get the ball
rolling on some sort of Right. And we would have to lay out what money are we spending already, right? That would go into that, right? You know, so there's we just have that homework hasn't been done yet, right? That's um I'm assuming there would be
some kind of a job description, correct? Yeah. So, if it's an individual, there would be a posted job description. If it's a vendor, right, that does like multiple services, there would be a scope of work. It would, you know, a bid process type of thing. Okay. Yeah. And there are companies out there to Sure.
So, it's not in here. Okay. Now, that doesn't mean that that's a future. We're not all aware that their finances are available somewhere and when we get there. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Uh, the town reports,
no big change there really. Just be excuse me. Okay. You guys still with me? All right. Public safety, police department is increasing. Now, that may be less because we never got a response back from then, right? I'm still
waiting. I put 3% in there if I hadn't heard. Still waiting to hear back from I want to call him Chester. Yeah. I I always want to call him Chester. Is it Don? Don. Yeah. Don Chester.
Uh I have not received the his the signed copy of the umou for for shared services. I mean we had that meeting months ago. Shocking. Um so the um so I put in the 3% just in case.
It could be less. Um, I can reach out to um John I can't be I'm not going to say his last name right on the Chester select board and let him know that we're not getting what we need from Chester. He will be on top of that. Just add it to
my list. Okay. Sorry. The next large increase is really with the fire department. Um, from talking to Adam, he says that the equipment cost and repairs are increasing substantially. Okay? There's no, let's just say there's not
presentation or anything that says that, but that's what he's saying. Now, he originally asked for, I guess, yeah, the 79,000. Yeah, that's a very large increase.
Um, somehow or another we've got to get people to start. It's not, you know, we're a small town, but it's not really a small town in some cases when you see the money that's being spent. Yeah. So, you know, we're looking for some data to back that. What's that? You're looking for data to back that. We're looking for
something. And I'm not always seeing it. Okay. Right. So, um, we would want to, you know, just keep on top of that. That's a lot of money. Okay. Right. He did come in and ask for the 20,000 that you guys approved for the training
program. Yep. Again, no data to back it up. And and I would just like to say, does he have a plan? Like, okay, so it's approved, but what is the plan? How it works? How it works? Yeah. you know, is he going to
get it all set up with with the accountant and treasurer to make sure that somebody's getting their check? You know, how is it working is my question. I haven't seen a plan. Let's put him on an agenda and ask him for that information
for both of them. Yeah. Yeah. Um we'll keep it in the budget. You can keep it in the budget. Doesn't mean he's spending it because at this point it's going to the floor. it'll be voted on and then if it goes through so it would be a meeting after annual um and just
ask them to come to select board and just provide some data um on both of those and then information on the plan for training again that could be one of the department meeting things correct yeah right yeah that's a good point um
ambulance went down what oh we also need a right Um, building inspector Jason did not come in. He did. Did he come in? Yep. He requested a 3%
increase. His actual that we put was 2 and a half%. So, pretty close. You want to keep it at 2 and a half%. He requested three. And your thought is because we're keeping with our standard. Yeah, then 2.5 is fine. That's fine. Is
that fine with you? That's fine. Okay. All right. Next page. All right. Now, we're down to civil defense. Now, this I'm gonna have Kelly remove it. It was on there, but I'm not sure why. I don't think we have
a budget for civil defense. Okay. On there last year, but emergency management basically, but it is something you guys want to think about. Is there something that you need for emergency management? Whether it's training, whether it's, you know, what's
that team coming up with, right? Is this water? No. $100 for the water that we had to bring into town. Didn't we have an emergency management trailer filled with stuff? I don't know. It used to be out front here.
Well, you guys have to tell me whether or not, you know, not right now. I I We don't have anything. Um, but I think going forward it's definitely something to think about and see if I mean a team training would be great. It's just that we switch positions so often. Yeah. And
also Maya offers a lot of free training as far as emergency management stuff. Maybe there doesn't want to create a budget that we don't need. No, no, no. You know, we got enough going on. Yeah. Um, animal control flat
forestry. Uh, forestry. Forestry is Mark, right? Yeah. Mhm. Did he come in? Yeah. Yes. This year he came in last year. Last year. Okay. Because he didn't come in last year, he didn't get his 20,000 for a removal. Mhm. This year he came in and he asked for 40. Mhm. We're
giving him 20. Okay. You good with that? I mean, what did he have to support it? Did he have nothing? His So, his reasoning is, well, I didn't get the 20 I was supposed to get last year, so give me 40 this year. But I I don't if we don't have data to
back up. What is Well, it's the ash tree. It's the invasive species that data in terms of like there are this many trees and it's going to cost this much. No. Yeah. There's Yeah. Then the 20 is fine. Operationally, there needs to be a plan, right? Right. Um the
regional and vocational. Um as Christina said, we didn't have actual vocationals yet. Okay. Um but you know, we're close. We we bumped it up a little bit. So we should be there there. Um it went from 1.5 million to 1.6 million maybe a
little bit less. Right. Okay. 1.569162. Are we funding or is it just So gate So that's just gateway. Gateway is dead on accurate. Um that number from gateways. Uh the vocational ones are different. Um
um are we funding the um education stabilization? Is that somewhere else? Stabilization. Yeah, somewhere else. All right. So then going down to construction maintenance which is our highway. Okay. Um highway. What is driving the increase
with highway? Um fuel increases we talked about the other day. Very concerned about that. I'm still very concerned about that. you know, um I went through the data,
the signin sheets, remember we did that last year, we did it this year. Um I'm not seeing any indication why this is going up. All of the what they do is they sign in for fuel now. Yeah.
And when I went through that packet, there wasn't a break. In other words, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and the dates were lined up and everything. Mhm. Why would they be over $13,000? And it didn't cost us more than last
year. We didn't use fuel than last year. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This is definitely more than last year. That cost a quarter's worth of fuel. When Ray came in, he said because he's got the guys out on the road more. However, that's only been three months. Yeah. But that's
not that shouldn't be is money helping this, right? Right. I don't know. and he'll be gone, right? Well, no, this isn't No, this is FY26. So, No, it is not 26. Yeah. Um I don't know. All I'm saying is we
need to get our our the fuel consumption is up or the price for the fuel price is not up. No, we it's off of a contract. So, we the price that we pay is locked in. It's the consumption that is for some reason.
Yeah. Have we built in anything to fund um upgrading the system for better? We haven't we haven't gotten quotes or anything for that yet. If you want to put something in stabilization, we could do that at the end. That would be capital
expenditure, right? And that would be something Did Highway submit any capital? Uh yes. Okay. So, but that might be something to add to the list, right? But until then, we need to do something just to just, you know, look, it may not
be anything. It could be that they are out there more, but $12,000 in fuel that they just asked for is a lot of money because next three months. So anyway, Mary has Oh, Mary, there's there's no
breakdown on the salaries for highway, but yet there are breakdowns for other departments. They're in their charts. They're in here in their union. So, they're um meaning I have all the breakdowns for them. Do you would you want to see them here? Is that what
you're asking? Yeah. It's a little different. With the union, you usually don't put that stuff out, but Yeah. I mean, you you can see Yeah, you can see the You have the contract, don't you? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't think it needs to be in here. I mean, doesn't need to be in here. It's there.
It's available. Public knowledge. Well, if somebody asks from the floor town meeting or the mini town meeting answer, I have it so I can put it in there. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Um, we are going to put I did put
$43,000 in there for the certifications. So, if the highway guys do get certified, guys and gals, if there were gals in there, Yeah. Um, that we have the money in there for that because they would get a a bump from the contract. So that's in the the salary.
That's in the budget. Yes. Great. It's not the money to pay for the certification. It's the money should they get the certific doors again? I feel like we buy new garage doors every year. Where's that? Sorry. I feel like that's on tangent, but we're constantly buying
garage doors. Yeah. No, no. I've obviously haven't even been here a full year, but I have seen that where just recently I think it was last year was the garage doors in a ramp or something. There was an issue with that because we just bought garage door. Now they didn't we do garage doors
on the fire department also. I don't know. I believe when I saw it was under highway. It was it's been highway. I feel like this is the third round but okay because I know they had a problem at the fire department. I don't they got lots of problems. I don't recall one at the
highway department. Okay. Sorry. Again, that's a great question to put on your department meeting. Yeah. Right. Um the only thing I wanted to point out that was a little bit concerning. Mhm. With the um even though on the budget itself
the snow and ice removal we didn't increase because Rainey had said no, leave it flat. Mhm. Because they can go over on that account. Yeah. Right. That doesn't mean that they can just go crazy. go crazy. Yeah, he's that account
is $56,000 over budget right now. And that's includes labor. I'm sorry. For high for for winter. Yeah, possible. I'm just telling you. No, I know. I'm not questioning you. I just I'm just
Somebody posted something incorrectly. Was that because Oh, I think that they had explained that they did there when got in there. Nothing was stocked. Yeah, I know. Nothing was stocked. So, they did have to like restock everything. Um, but
56,000 you're saying? Yeah, that's a lot. Does that include labor, too? What's that? Does that include labor? It shouldn't. That's just sand. So, there's winter highway fuel, winter, highway plows, blades, nuts, bolts, winter
highway sand, and salt, and then a different line item for winter snow ice labor. So anytime you're paying a person, it has to be a different account. Here it is. I mean, it says no and ice removal 56,000.
So he is just saying 30,000 in the highway plow blades nuts and bolts, 26,000 in salt and sand over. Well, basically the state's going to ask you why. Yeah, that's basically what's going to happen. And I don't know why.
Did we stock up at salt and sand at the end of this event? We bought sand and salt earlier when uh um what's his name? Dave. Dave. Yeah. Thank
we buy that. No, I think that was a stock up that Dave did. Yeah. I don't think we're on contract for something. I mean, I don't want to take off. They order us. Sorry, I don't want to take us off track this year. Okay. But what I'm saying is that
we can't assume another 56,000 next year. Correct. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, so the problem was corrected this year. If it was corrected this year and they don't have to Right. So, you really need to keep So, we have to keep an eye on it because, you know, it's not something so
they should be well stocked this year. Yeah. But this is another for next year. I'm throwing out another example. I see 62. She said it's broken down. It was 30 and one and 2. Oh, all right. Yeah. Okay. Oh, all right. Yeah. This is
another example of and I remember of no real plan. Correct. Right. When someone comes in and says, "I need money." I get it. You can go over, but how far
can you go over? Right. especially in this account because this is the only account you can go over, right? And so this year there's three hands in that pot of highway supers. So hopefully next year with one we're going to start to
see some consistency in there. We just got to make sure Ry knows that he can't go that this is not a regular thing. Yeah. Okay. So, so the total highways uh snow and ice removal was 109,000
this year. Yeah, that No, this is for next year. Correct. But this year, we're at like 70 because this is what was budgeted, not what was spent, right? Okay. All right. Sorry. Go ahead. Continue. Okay.
So, I don't get any complaints from my customer. I, you know, I've heard that before. You complain, you know where you're going. On page seven, BO is pretty much the same. Okay. Right. Um, the uh tipping costs have gone up a
little bit. Then we have the nurse. Yeah. Marget Yes. Margaret was looking for she requested 3,000
versus her normal which would have been I I don't know if she's stipened or what she is. Anybody know? I don't think she knew. Well, she's listed as salaries wages but I can but I don't know if she submits hours like Yeah, I'm not sure
but let me see. So, she went up 14%. No, we don't. We're increasing it to two and a half%. That's it. Yeah, but it's minimal amount. It's like $300. It's a minimal amount. Yeah. A lot of these are minimal amounts, but we're keeping them all. Yeah. No. 2.5. Yeah. Okay. Agreed.
Um veterans benefits. Again, there's the 10,000. Um I've been doing, you know, working with the finance team for now what, almost three years, and I've never seen a dime come out of that account. Well, that's because they've all aged out. Is that what So, is are they Well,
I guess that's a question for another day, but are they receiving their benefits? I What I can explain to you has how it's been explained to me is that every municipality is given this set amount of money and then in our
case, it's Joe Henning who is appointed, you know, to oversee this. Yeah. And if a veteran in town has an emergency need, a fuel bill, a medical bill, something of that nature, that's what that money is for. That's right. So, I guess people
aren't applying. Either people aren't apply I can't speak to No, I think that's right. Okay. But my other question would be do they know? Do they know is Joe Henning making this knowledge available? Because I think if people knew that they would be applying
for fuel assistance and medical bill I mean that's I don't know that I can't speak to all I know because that is what that is for and there's very strict reporting done with that money because it comes from the state. So my question would be what is um Joe doing to make
this department level maybe question he did not did he show well he's stipened so he would stay the same anyway and that 10,000 is nothing we have any control over
okay we ready to move on y recreation salaries for this is again a combined number here for salaries Do you want that broken out for library too? Who makes what? Yeah, I I would
think so. Okay. And that was approved. The increase was approved for Nicole to go to a full-time employee. Correct. Status, right? Will the library be open more with her going full-time? Yes. More hours. Good.
Um, so that's that. Okay. Okay. Joanne being down on her recreation budget. What? Okay. 4,000. And the Memorial Day budget stays the same. The historical
uh commission um is going up slightly. They need to complete inventory with PBPC or risk not getting grants. So, okay. So, they're up. So, they need a little bit of money there. Okay. Um, employee benefits are definitely
going up 10%. Yeah. So, that went from 339 to 387. Okay. Okay. Insurance bonds, we didn't get the actual number yet, but I'm estimating 6%. Okay. No. And we did
get the number because it was estimated based on Maya. Okay. Okay. So the total uh liability at this point for expenses is 4.7
million. Okay. Um and usually you do a calculation for just subtracting away at Okay. Go to the next page. These are all the transfers. We have to fund OPED. Yep. Remember we got to get up to what 150,000 I think it
was. We put 50 in the slot this year. So, we'll do this one more year probably. Yes. Um, we put the library uh request of 185,000 in that was requested a couple weeks ago meeting.
We're staying with um I don't know what a stabilization just the I think that's the general stabilization. Yeah, I do too. General fund um building stabilization, education stabilization. Um, and last year you
could see the transfer there for the 87,000 that we talked about and coming back or no. Okay, that's it. Looks fantastic. Any questions? No. Thank you guys for all the work you did.
On the council on aging, I asked Margaret what her salary was several weeks ago and she said she was getting $4,600. And this says I don't know. That's what she came in.
Maybe she meant at that point that she was at $4,300 when you talked to her. I don't know cuz that's money the council on aging gets comes directly from the
state. Yeah. For a person over 60 years old. And then we we have money in the budget for 27. So this is she must be getting money from the state too probably.
No, she has a grant. Well, it's not a grant. She Yeah. So we had talked about this. I think you remember Mary. Yeah. So I don't know that she uses any of that money to pay herself. No, she doesn't. No, she can't. She They're very specific about what she can use for the
use. Yeah. the stage of that. Yes. Right. Yep. Maybe she just was didn't want to tell you how much she makes. Mary. Well, I suggested that she asked for 16,000 for the year. Oh, Mary. In your dreams, Mary. Thanks, Mary.
Okay. So, the last page I put in, which really isn't capital, right? Yeah. You know, the finance committee has never looked at capital budgeting as being their responsibility. That was always done by
the TA. Okay. Um, so in the past, I have no clue what Chris Dunn had done with you guys when it came to capital budgeting, but Christina and I had spoke and we have the capital budget that was put together
by I don't know who they were. Uh, from what I can tell in the past, Chris sort of farmed this out and obviously sat down with whoever the whoever it was. It may have been PBPC, I'm not quite sure, but of something of to that nature. And
the capital plan that was put together was set to cover is it 2024 to 2028? Yeah. So, within that capital plan, it lays out things. I don't it mo maybe in
list of priority I'm not 100% sure but it's just things large expenses right that that the town needs could improve upon or should budget for moving forward right we have checked some of those things off the list since this plan has
been put together other things we have not and this is most have been pushed most have been pushed so what I did is I took what was in that plan added what people are looking for, okay, this year.
Some of them are repeats. They were already in the plan. So, it just demonstrates we're pushing things out, right? So, um there are a couple things that I think we do want to talk about that should go in. Okay. Okay. One is
the $10,000 for the cabinet. The fireproof cabinet. For what? For the fireproof cabinet. For where? For our clerk's office. Well, I'm let I'm bringing it up because they have come in with $30,000 a couple
years ago and they keep going down and down and trying to consolidate as much as they can. Okay. So, that's up to you, but we need to determine if we're going to do that. So, that's something you guys need to talk about. Okay. Um I think the other thing was Didn't
you ask We agreed that they do need that. Yeah, we do agree. Yes. Our recommendation is to do that, right? Okay. So, we've come down from the What was your first? Well, there was $10,000. There's I believe that they're $10,000 a
piece and there you wanted three. That's what the capital plan had said. I'll just tell you that. So, that may have been a mistake. So you're just looking for the under $10,000 depending on which vendor we use whether it's WC Mason or Staples or we go we cannot buy direct
from the vendor. We have to go through a third party. This is a small writing and my contact so I apologize. Do you want my readers? No they don't work with my contacts Jackie.
So that's which where is that under on here? Um, is it up? No. Second page. Second page. Oh, okay. Town clerk. I see it. Down from 30 to 10. Got it. Right. Okay. Grant funding or free cash is the
question, right? I Here's where I'm at with this. After going through it and kind of understanding what's in there, you guys need to absorb this and decide what you want to do, right? And that may mean putting more money into stabilization so we could use it. Um,
and by absorb you means this document that basically says these are all the things that are on the list. So, I'm looking at the capital plan for
2026 at this point request or no that I'm looking at capital plan middle because that's what's you're recommending. Bless you. Bless you. Thank you. The middle. I'm looking at the middle. Well, I remember I took some from what
was in the capital plan that was put together and then others were people requested this year. Okay. Because I'm not I noticed for example like for water those that didn't carry over to the to the capital plan are like those 1875 and
17 are those things that you're not recommending. We didn't go through this to recommend any of you. So, right. I'm just think what is the difference between the capital plan request and then the bill? The capital plan request is what folks came in with their documents to us.
Okay. And said this is what we need for 2026. The capital plan was what was in the formal capital plan put together. Okay. And so the actual plan's not done because we have to correct. Oh, correct. I understand. And I would just caution
that going through the capital plan myself was giving me just a lot of anxiety because because a lot of this is really wishful thinking like oh grants grants grants grants this the capital plan is not going to be fully funded by
grants right uh so okay you know how you want you guys need to talk amongst yourselves and decide this I will say I just want to point out for You guys, you'll see the 400,000 here for this um engine.
Now, not last year, but the year before, um it was an article at town meeting, and it was voted on and approved for the treasurer to pursue a loan in the amount of $400,000 for this
specific I believe they call it a pumper, if I remember. The reason Adam hadn't moved forward with it when it was voted on at the time was because it was unclear what direction the fire department was going in. Yeah. If he if there is no new fire department build,
he would have to order a custom fire pumper to be able to fit into the garage, which costs significantly more. So, because when it was voted on, he wasn't sure what type of truck they would need, they it never moved forward with a borrowing. Yeah. But I spoke with
the attorney and I spoke with Kelly and since it was voted on, it's still you don't have to revote on it. So it doesn't have to be another article. Um but so when you see it here, just know that you know that's a borrow and it's that's a borrowing that has already been
voted on. Right. Right. He needs to know pretty quick because he made it appear as though you know it takes there's a long buying one. So, he's got to decide.
But that's still his job to come in and say, "Yeah, we got to make a decision." So, we do we have to have a good idea about this before the annual town meeting or not because this is spending that we will do out of free cash once we know what our free
cash is, right? Okay. So, this is not something we need to know before Well, it depends. and you're you may have to vote on a potential borrowing, right? So, we don't have enough. So, say you want to tell the the highway department, yeah, you can have
$225,000 for a John Deere greater. The the source of it listed here is a non-excluded debt. So you So you need us to to if if we want a warrant article on
the um if we want something on the warrant. Yes. Even if you're funding it with free cash, still got to be on the warrant. Got it. Okay. So then we do need to look through this. Um I mean I want it all. You're not going to get it. I know. I
know. I just mean Santa Claus died. Oh. recorded, TJ. Um, let's step back for a second, though, because you also have the challenge of you've got loans that are going to, you know, we've got the library, we're thinking about, yeah,
firehouse we're thinking about. We've got these things that may come up this year. So, before you go off and make more loans for more stuff, you got to know what your strategic plan is. Correct. Right. Yeah. So, if there isn't
anything, my suggestion would be if there isn't anything earthshattering, it has to be done ASAP. I wouldn't put it on the warrant this time. So, what's the 328 for the That was in the original um
plan. Uhhuh. And that was an assumption that whoever put that plan together said a month the yearly payment would be for firehouse if it were correct. So that is excluded debt, USDA community facilities fund,
CBDG. So a lot of sources are just they were just throwing things out there. It could be from here. It could be from there, right? Not to mention where they came up in 328,000. Yeah, that's an $43. Yeah. 28 32.
So you know if you went down Yeah. fire is needy. So that the 200,000 you're seeing next to Yeah. the 400 there. Yeah. I don't know what that necessarily is for. I can
tell you. Oh, no. The brush vehicle is already up there. Okay, never mind. I don't What's the additional 200 for? Is it additional? You know what it You know what? It's not additional. It was our He asked for it again. Okay. and it was in the original plan. Okay. So, we Yeah,
you can disregard that. Disregard that one. Yeah. Um I mean, I'd have to go back through these myself and say if there's some things like uh TJ, didn't you ask for a new mower or something for 5,000?
You know, there's things that we could do for things that are broken down, you know, that we're not talking hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I wouldn't jump to ask for borrowing for hundreds of thousands of dollars at this point until you know
what you want to do. I do think that this in conversations I had, I'm sorry, I No, no, interrupt. No, I was growling at the water department. Um I I do believe there and Mary correct me if I'm wrong. I'm going to refer to you your
expertise on this. Um the 185 for library the raise and appropriate and I I believe I've spoken with Dave about that. I think it that does need to be on this warrant. Correct. Yes. Right. Yeah. Right. We agreed on that. Okay. Okay. So
that will go on and the 10,000 for the the cabinet is going to be something we can look at out of free cash. So that would need to go on it still go. It will go. Yeah. Yeah. But it will be less.
Um what what happened with the uh Nope. Don't ask about the vault. Don't ask about the vault. No, not at this time of night. Uhuh. I'm talking about the vault. Too expensive. Okay, I'll put you in the vault.
You've been trying for years. I don't know. Ke really what how much money did you need for the It was a little confusing when I was reading your notes like what you need to buy a new Yeah. What I what we do is we uh as as
the uh mowers right get get on in years like we have one mower now that has 14,000 hours on it and uh they usually recommend changing them around 10,000 hours. So, we're trying to get the most
out of it. And uh the cost of the mowers now are uh getting way up there. And uh the $5,000 will buy us. Do we need to put that on the warrant? I I don't think so because
usually what we do when we buy equipment, we use a Tiffany account. And uh Okay. All right. And there's uh an expendable amount of interest that we can use without touching the principal. Okay. So that's what we've been doing
for the past 20 something years. All right. I would like to talk about water really quick. This is the final thing. Okay. Just before we do, those are the only two things we're going to put on the warrant. I'm assuming so. We just said the library and the cabinet,
right? Because the 400,000 for the truck was already out of warrant. And anything else we can if we do a special town meeting we can do something out of free cash right in month. Okay. Sorry. Go ahead. Water. All right. So what water has brought up here was
they have their list of you can see I've got the notes here where it says state grant state grant etc. etc. Most of these grants are refundable grants. So that means that they have to have the money up front right paid and put away. What they need to do is they
need to set up the account with the accountant in advance, right? And as it's been explained to me, Kelly said that as long as she has all of the paperwork that outlines the grant, the
repayment schedule, all of that, a reimburseable grant can be spent in the deficit. And once as long as they are responsible and putting in for their reimbursements correctly and documenting it
correctly once that money comes back reimburse you have to show that you've paid it right I guess is my point here. So because you have to have the money up front is what I'm saying. Yeah. Right. Well yeah not the full amount. No I
understand not the full amount. It might be 50,000. It might be 10,000. might be whatever, right? But they don't have the money, right, to do that. That is correct. So, until they until we really understand what's happening, we can't have a real good
discussion about how much money they can put in that account. So, I would not at this point in time, I wouldn't recommend that the town front that much is what I'm saying until we know what's going on. Yeah. And a lot of the the grants that you agree with that. Yeah. like this
$350,000 above ground storage water tank. This $350,000 is just a study. Okay. That's just a study. Mhm. So, the actual project itself is a few million
dollars. By the time you guys get get to where you're comfortable either doing a borrowing or raising taxes to pay for this, that $350,000 study is going to be obsolete. Yeah. So, they really need to be reigned in
on, you know, what they're doing, what their timelines are. You know, there has to be a full plan before you're jumping in and spending x amount of money and time and everything else. um because it's wasteful. So, well, I'm
hoping that the two audits that we do are going to help us to really get an idea what's going on um so that we can start to better track that. Okay. Doesn't look like there were a lot of changes. So, it sounds like we're in agreement on all everything for budget.
Sounds like it. So, they'll ask Dave will ask us that on the floor. Approval agreement agreement. Um, that's good. I just have one quick question. It has something to do with budget, but last
year we had a problem with the septic uh leech field and we were supposed to have that mold. Have we contracted someone to mold that? Oh, DJ, I'm so glad you asked. Um, I actually Was there any official
meeting? I actually had somebody come up and give me quotes and um then you told somebody it was okay for them to go mow it and somebody else I did. So So don't do that again. Oh yeah. So So we do have someone that's going to
mow. Well, I was I was going to have somebody mow it, but but um it You already got mowed this year, too? No, I don't know about this year. I haven't I haven't been up there this year. Yeah, I'll I'll take a ride off. I'll take care of it. No, I can
certainly ask Well, we can get someone to bid on it. Okay. All right. I'll do that, too. No, no, I because I know that that it's particular equipment that can go over because it's stone and um Yeah. Yeah. Well, we we had Ryan bid on it last year, I
think. I I don't know who bid on it. I know uh Mike and I went up there. We cut cut all those trees out. Okay. Uh-huh. No, no, no. This is last year what we did and we we we chewed it up. We planted grass and that. We just wanted,
you know, I just want it to be mowed so that we don't get into that situation again with the roots going into. Will you reach out for bids for that? I can. Does Doug not do that? No. Because he he mows that though, doesn't he?
Yeah, he does the leech field. I will. Ryan Bangal would be a good person to reach out. Okay. Um I think he bid on it last year. Okay. But then Mike did it. And where does that money come from in the budget? Town hall maint.
Yeah, that would be town hall. It's the town hall mowing line which is typically underfunded because around this time of year there starts to be a lot of mowing and then all of a sudden we get hit May, June and then we're real close. So it is that well Jackie and I had spoken about
possibly having a account where um we put money aside that is specifically for town owned property emergencies. So if it's something that we unfortunately could not see coming
but needs to be addressed there does need to be some language around what constitutes an emergency like a storm cleanup situation damage. Well, we have like MIMA and stuff for that. Um, but I'm talking about, you know, what do we do if part of the roof caves in or
starts leaking. You know, we don't have a large we would have to go to town meeting and take money out of free cash and it's a big process, right? So, um I mean I think that we we we still have to talk about it, but we had a brief conversation and I think that it would be something where it's a nominal amount
of money, not nothing crazy, and that any decision to be made to be spent out of that account would be between the finance committee and the select board. Mhm. And so that if something comes up where we need to hire a vendor quickly or we need to address something that we haven't addressed,
number one, we would know that for the next year moving forward, hey, we need to budget for this, right? Because this is something that could come up. Um, and number two, we would be able to address it in this fiscal year without having to spend the money and the time going to special town meeting just to get approval, spend it out of freakout.
Isn't reserve supposed to be for emergencies only? Reserve is supposed to be for emergencies 14. Yes. Which this would fall into that. So we have the ability to increase the reserve number. That's true. 5 to 7% of the budget. We could do
that. So if we needed to, you know, that would make that would ensure that we're keeping to the same rules that we already have for the reserve. We cannot you know I'm just going to caution too. Don't replenish the reserve. that that
kind of pro that that you know it's hard to track then after well not only that it's there for that purpose to say this is what you said you were gonna you know budgets are budgets budget don't mid year we only yeah you know use it wisely
for only emergencies that's it and then leave whatever that's right if something comes you know I mean do you agree with that yes I'm the one who complained about it yes m Oh, question. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Just don't forget you've got your mini
town meeting coming. Yes. A week from today, right? I don't want to look at that's why we did this tonight. Okay. Reserve too. Uh is that's going to change the numbers. Weren't you talking about something
specifically that you wanted to cover with the reserve? I don't know. I thought what's the reserve? Oh, well, so my my my only concern is that reserve when I say emergency and I said we would have to talk about what constitutes an emergency, right? Reserve is very
uh they're like no it's got to be an emergency type of thing, right? If that corner of that roof case it's not an e it's not it's not like the death is not an emergency. I know that we had some things come up this year that were just they were very much unforeseen and we had to take care of them. I just don't
want to blur the lines of Well, it's already blurred. You remember the skating ring? Did we take something out of reserve for that? Oh, yeah. And I was like, what? Why? Um, well, we have this week to decide. Okay.
because I got to reach well, you know, the numbers kind of add up on themselves, but yeah, let us know what's currently budgeted for reserve 45 45 and then what we can go up to and we can go up to what we recommend quite a bit. We'll never reach the ceiling of what we
can go up to, but it can be increased. It's a question of what you want to do with it, right? And I don't want it to become a slush fund. I don't want people to say, "Oh, we have that." So that's what it is now. Yes. But to reuse reserve, we still need the
select board and the finance to approve. Correct. Yeah. So, I mean, it's we still have Oh, there's cautions in place for sure. Well, and with budgeting, no is no, right? We have to just stick with no is no, unless it's an emergency. Yeah. We're not taking out of reserve. Mary,
did you have a question? Uh just wanted to let you know that to provide for extraordinary or unforeseen expenditures, a city or town may before the date when the tax rate is fixed include in the appropriations for such fiscal year as a reserve fund not
exceeding 3% of the tax levy. 3%. What's the date on that? Emergency manual which I assume you will emergency. Oh. Oh, yeah. Front to back. Front to back. So, should we turn? Yeah, please.
Patience. 823. Oh, I know. Thank you. Was she hard to hear still? Was Christina hard to hear? Is that what you're saying? I just want more than anybody else. Was that it, Corbin?
Thank you. All right.