Hey, hey, hey. Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to today's Cadam Finance Committee meeting. Today is February 10th, 2026. Please note this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly
hereafter for scheduled and on demand viewing on any smartphone or tablet device. If anyone else is recording the meeting, please including the use of AI note-taking apps, please notify the chair.
Seeing none, pursuant to Governor Healey's March 28th, 2025 signing of chapter 2 of the acts of 2025 extending certain COVID 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the
open meeting law general laws chapter 3A section 20 until June 30th, 2027. This meeting of the Chattam Finance Committee is being conducted in person and via remote participation. Every effort will be made to ensure that
the public can adequately access the proceedings as provided for in the order. A reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling the phone number
one area code 508-9454410. Conference ID is 9663706 637 pound sign or join the meeting via online Microsoft Teams through the link in the posted agenda. We will post a record of this meeting on the town's
website as soon as possible. Like to call the meeting to order beginning with a roll call. We have a number of our members who are participating remotely. Stephen Daniel is here remotely.
>> I am here. >> Yep. Okay. Andy Young, I'm here. Joanne Sprag >> here. >> Barbara Madison >> here. >> John Pablardo >> here. >> Kristen Andres >> here. >> Good. Tracy Shields >> here.
>> Tommy Don. I think Tommy is absent. And Eric Whitley >> here. >> Great. Terrific. We have a quorum and then we can commence. Carrie, you got the floor. >> Hi. Uh, good afternoon everyone. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. Um, today I'll be going over the operating and capital budgets for general government. Um, some reason this is not showing up, but I have Mark coming to my help. So, I don't see the notes on the side
either. Oh, that might help. >> This is how I get to be on TV. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, that's good. >> Let's do this. Thank you. >> So much better. Thank you, Mark. It >> is magic. We know.
>> Yes, >> definitely. Um, okay. So, general government and other undesated, which um will be employee benefits and the insurance and reserve funds and debt service. So, um general government makes
up uh 6% of the town's operating budget. Let me select the slide. That's not working. There we go. Uh, sorry. General government is 6% of the operating budget. Employee benefits is 12% of the operating budget. And then we
have um the reserve fund and the undistributed insurance line at 2% of the budget and debt service at 14%. So um general government consists of 10 departments, four other and two committees. We have the select board,
town manager, human resources, accounting, assessing, treasurer and collectors, information technology, town clerk, elections and sticker office. And then there's the town moderator, legal, audit, parking clerk, summer residence advisory committee, and the finance
committee. The budget for 2027 is 3.7 million which is 175,000 over 2026 or 4.89%. Um personnel services increased 106,000 and the operating expenses increased
68,000. As you all know, uh the salary lines are increased due to contractual increases, step increases, um and there might be some longevity increases in some of the departments. Um the town manager department increased 15,000, town human
resources at 8 point 8,900, accounting at 18,000, assessing um there was an retirement in the department. So um there is actually a savings in that department 5,600. Treasure collector um increased 11,000
it increased 27,000 town clerk 12,000 elections 18 there's going to be some elections this in 2027 coming up and the sticker office 640 that's 106,000 for salaries in the departments
>> uh could you speak a little closer to the microphone please not really well >> okay we'll do Gary, I have a quick question with regard to the assessing division. >> Yes, >> there's a reduction because of a retirement, but aren't they also
entertaining uh adding at least a part-time person to assist with residential tax exemption work? >> That is correct. So, in the assessing division with the retirement and the part-time person, there is still a savings of 5,600. >> This is net net of that.
>> Yes, net of that. Correct. You're welcome. Does anybody else have any other questions on the departments? >> Not right now. >> Okay. >> So, the expenses for the departments are human resources 7,500 and that's for the
employee engagement and boots which are contractual. Accounting division went up $500 for continuing education. Assessing division went up 1,600 for continuing education and meetings and dues. Um they have a new employee who's
going to be starting as well. Um and then they have um uh the increases to meetings and dues due to the also the new person starting. Um information technology increased 50,000 for software increases. Um they
pay for all software for the entire town. So it's they're the department that covers everybody's softwares. Um, then we have town clerk at $450 for operational supplies and elections
at $8,500 and that's for pole pads and maintenance of their um electronic pads as well. $68,550 for increases. Do you have any questions on that one?
>> No. Okay. So these are the departments that have been level funded for 2027. We have the Tom moderator, finance committee, select board, legal, audit, sub residence advisory committee, and the parking
clerk. All those departments or other have been um level funded for 2027. >> Go ahead, John. >> Carrie, the legal line, what where is the bulk of that money spent every year? Um, so we have town council, then we
have labor council that we pay for. Um, and then I think those are about it. Can't think of anything else that comes out of there. >> So that would include >> um issues with the airport.
>> Um, so sometimes the airport stuff comes out of it there, but sometimes they pay for their own illegal as well. It depends. Okay, Barbara. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, Carrie, the legal on legal again, the budget is
177,000. Is that for That's for town council, I think. >> And this year we've only spent like 71,000. So, is that that's build for the number of hours that he works for us, not he doesn't just get it, he has to work those hours and bills for those
hours, >> right? Yes. there's um hours that he does work for us and that we do get build for. Yes. >> So if we like this year if we don't if we don't spend all that money where does the excess go? Can that go to any of the other general government departments or
does it go to free cash? So um generally what happens if there's one department that's might be over say assessing went over um we can transfer and do a budget transfer between them but we um it's all general government so it kind of falls
under that whole like line item general government. Um if there is nobody else in general government government that needs a transfer of funds then um it will just close out
to free cash >> to free cash. Yeah. Yeah. So, at the end of the year, I'll look at like if there's anybody that needs to have like in March, I'll start looking at like if we need a budget transfer and if there's funds left over in legal, I can use them for another department in general
government or we can take those funds at town meeting or here at the fincom and do a budget transfer. >> Okay. Thanks, >> Stephen. You have your hand up. >> Yeah. Things you need, Carrie. I'm not sure you're going to be able to >> I can hear you.
>> Very well. >> Okay. Um, I'm reminded recently uh of a conversation the moderator had with you last autumn. Um, I'm sorry, last spring about increasing his expense line from
$50 to $100. >> Mhm. >> U, so I just want to raise uh raise that and see if that's something that you were able to execute on. >> Yeah. So, I haven't done that yet. um he typically turns back all of his money
for his salaries, but I can um I'm going to be going through all of the adjustments next week and I can certainly increase that $50 under there for his expense. >> That would be terrific. Thank you. >> You're welcome.
>> Any other questions for Carrie on this slide? No. Okay, Carrie, keep going. >> Okay, I put this slide together. This shows the department budgets for each of the department. Um, it's also on your handout, but I just thought it would be
um, you know, for viewing. Um, select boards at 2450, town managers at 658,000, human resources at 258,000, accounting at 430,000,
assessing at 365,000, treasure collector at 285,000, it at one Excuse me, Mr. Chair, I'd like to interrupt for just a moment. Yep. >> Carrie, when you're going down this list, uh,
>> are there no increases or you just >> No, these are just the department budgets, the total amounts of salaries and expenses. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. I don't have to go through the whole list. I just figured if you wanted to see it all. >> I was just looking for the >> amount of increase or decrease.
>> Nope, we already went over those. >> Yep. >> What? >> That was the previous slide that we just went over. That shows the increases. >> These are the increases for the expenses. Yep. 68,550. >> And that percentage works out to
>> percentage of increase. >> So the increases to the budget are 4.8 uh 4 what was it? >> 4.89 for all the increases for general government. Here's the slide.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Okay. Go ahead, Gary. >> Okay. Let me just get to where I was. I'll skip by that last one. Okay. So, the library assessments, this is another department. Um this is um the Eldridge Public Library has proposed
their assessment of $71,244. Um they are level funded this year. South Chattam Libraries proposed their assessment for 2027 at 13,500. They increased their budget $500 for FY2027.
Um, as far as the Eldridge Public Library, Mass General Law states that in any given year, in order for a library to be certified for state aid to public libraries, a municipality must appropriate an amount of at least equal to the average of the previous three
years. Three years, municipal appropriations increase by 2.5%. In FY2027, the town's contribution, if approved, will exceed this requirement. While Elridge Public Library employees
are not town employees, the town pays for the employer percentage of at least 65 to 70% of health insurance premiums for Eldidge Public Libraries. Um the town is also responsible for the building maintenance through the facilities department which in the past
has been budgeted at 25,000 for the purpose of the uh maintenance. Do you have any questions on the library? >> I do. Go ahead. Um thanks Mr. Chair. So on that um benefit piece that the town pays for, is
that included in this or is that so it's baked into that and then you take it out? Okay. >> Yeah. There um >> um I highlighted this one, the veterans um because I just got the assessment the other day. So, it actually just slightly
increased by um $1,147 to what I had estimated. Um so, the veteran services is at $154,000 right now um with an increase of $24,642 over 2026.
Their assessment is $74,550 and their benefits is budgeted at 80,000. >> Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Again, please go ahead. >> And uh What caused the increase in the veterans benefits?
>> There are um I can't remember how many veterans we have in town. We have like 48 veterans I believe something around there, but the benefits are like their health care and stuff that we pay for like the prescriptions and stuff. Prescriptions have gone up. Um we also pay for some
other items for veterans. Um but we've seen it increase over the years. As the assessments have been increases, so have the benefits been increasing. >> Does there increase uh similar to the the other departments increases the
percentage? I'm I'm thinking I'm got in the back of my head this whole time the overall increase in the budget 7 something%. >> No, it's not that high. >> What is it? Um, with education it's five
point oh I have to five 5 point something I can't remember the exact amount but the overall budget was a 5% increase. >> Okay, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um, the other departments over there,
the public ceremonies, other public events, Chattam band and the railroad museum were all level funded for 2027. Um, this is going over the employee benefits. They're budgeted at $7,913,990 for 2027. That's an increase of uh
744,290 compared to 2026. So, we have workers compensation under this line. Um, it's up we went up $5,000. Um, we have Medicare employer share, which
is, um, the portion that the town pays for Medicare on payroll, um, up 20,000. Police injury um is up $2,775. Uh, retirement assessment, we haven't
gotten this assessment yet. I'm still waiting for it from Barnstable County. Um, this is a I have an 6% estimate currently in there. Um, which is an increase of 186,000 and I'm hoping that we'll have the assessment within the
next couple weeks. Um, and then health insurance, I believe they're going to be voting on um either this week or next week. They're going to be voting on health insurance. So, this is also an estimate right now um up 529,000 and um I think I told you guys
previously that the medex has gone up 19% and then we're estimating 12% for regular health insurance increases. >> Go ahead, John. >> Carrie, could you go back a slide? Got it. >> What What drives up the retirement assessment? Is that just the number of
people entering retirement or >> No. So the retirement assessment is actually based on the people that are actively working right now. So it's all salary based. So as our salaries increase, the retirement pension increases as well. >> So that's the town's contribution.
>> That's the town employees retirement. >> Correct. Yep. >> And it used to be back in the day, I think it was like 8% you used to pay into retirement. Now it's at 11% that people everybody pay into 9% plus 2%
above anything over 30,000. >> Go ahead, Eric. Uh thank you. So on the health insurance as it sneaks over $4 million. So what is our process on that? Are we I know I'm sure there's quite a process to it, but do we only have do we
have any options as we continue to grow exponentially like that for other ways to to receive that or to maybe find a way to >> stabil stabilize it even? Yeah. So, I believe there is a new uh chair
for um we're in the municipal um oh god, it's a group. I can't even think of it right now. Just kind of like quit. But anyways, Cape Cod Municipal Health Group. Thank you. Um and so they have a
new like member that's going to be going out to bid for different um insuranceances. So, next year they'll do that. Um, I have talked about maybe looking into different ways that we could save money with insurance, but I think like there's other towns that have gone to like Maya
insurance, but they're also dealing with the same increases that we're doing that we're facing. Um, so they're I think their Medicare had gone up 19% or even higher than that. Um,
and there's other there's, you know, we could look into being self-insured if that's an option, but you know, you got to have a lot of people in there. And I don't know if that's it. The tough part is is that it's the health insurance increases are across the board. It's not just our town facing
it. It's every community in Massachusetts is facing these increases. And a lot of it has to do with those the GLP1s which is driving the insurance right now. prescriptions and that kind of stuff. >> Go ahead, Barbara.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um Carrie, I'm remembering I think pay as you go, OPB, does that come out of the retirement assessment? >> No, it comes out of somewhere else. Yeah.
So, the OPE is a savings for people that are already retired for their health insurance. So if something something happens to the town, the people that have already retired basically they they can still receive their benefits, >> right? So we've got I think our
liability right now is somewhere north of 10 million and we've got about 7 million there. >> Yep. >> And we're contributing another 700,000 this year. >> Uh Yep. That's the 150. >> That's the surplus that's on uh the real estate taxes. Yep. But I I thought I
heard at some point in the past that there was some kind of pay as you go so that we were trying to match what the OPED increased liability each year would be with current payments. Is that what we're doing with the one and a half% and the 150? >> Yeah. Okay. Thanks.
>> You're welcome. >> Okay. Other questions for carry on health insurance particularly? I mean, at one point I thought the Kai Municipal Health Insurance Group was looking at a sh a self- insurance plan, but I I don't think they followed through on that.
>> I don't know. I know that there's like I said um Michael McMillan, he's the um our business officer for our schools. >> Um he's actually the one that's going to be like I think he I don't know what his title is. I'll call him the president or
something. They elected him in anyways. And um so he's going to look and see if there's some ways that we can save some money on our health insurance. So >> all right, thank you. Other questions for Carrie on this? No. Okay,
keep going. >> Okay, undistributed insurance. This is our uh where we have our general liability insurance. Um so the insurance have costs have increased over the years. Um estimated increases for 2027 are roughly
around 13%. Well, 12%. Um so we have watercraft, vehicle insurance, cyber security, flood insurance, property liability insurance, and we have excess liability insurance.
Um all of these um with an increase of 12.32%. That's an increase of $138,000. um we don't usually get our um our budgets or should I say assessment or information from our insurance
company until after we set the budget which is typically May and June when I receive information from our insurance company on what it is. So, this is definitely an assessment, but um I mean an estimate, but however, there's still some items that are lingering out there that we haven't been where that I'm
waiting for the it to kick in on the insurance like um Mil Pond, pump station, and then we have the 90 Bridge Street, the new building, the the boat house that will be coming on on our insurance. So, every time we build something new or add new property or
a new vehicle, our insurance is going to go up. >> Tracy, you have a question. Your hand is up. >> Oh, yes. Sorry, I kind of forgot that it was. It was actually about the stepping back a second about the health insurance piece and just a comment more than
anything in terms of how radically increased my own health insurance has been. I'm guessing that across the board, the risk assessment for insurance companies in terms of their anticipated um expenditures with people coming off
of the subsidized health insurance and then maybe just going to the hospital is going to increase their rates and so they're they're building that in ahead of time, paying for the rest of that. So, my guess is that there's not a whole lot that can be done about health
insurance increases. >> Yep. >> Right. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you, Tracy. You can put your hand down now. There you go. All right. Cool. >> All right, Carrie. >> And then we have the reserve fund. Uh
the reserve fund budget is level funded for um FY2027. Um, the current budget for 26 is $100,000 and we're going to budget the same for FY2027. And then we have our um general fund
debt service at 8.9 million, principal at 7 million, interest at 8 1.8 million, and then we have um short-term interest at 150,000. Um I forgot to include um bond payment as well which we usually
pay out of the short-term interest. So there's we budget 100,000 for short-term interest and 50,000 for bond payments. Um and then we have our capital requests for um we have the town managers consulting and engineering at 75,000
this year. And then we have um information technology um land management assessment and GIS at 45,000 town computer technology equipment at 50. Chattam TV equipment at 30,000 annual camera upgrades at 25,000
annual maintenance and access controls at 10,000 HVAC HVAC system software upgrades at 100,000 and police department server upgrade at 80,000. And I have um Craig Row, our director of IT here to go over all of
these capital requests with you. I think this can be minimized and then I have the budget right here. >> Oh, cool. >> Oh, it's not displaying. It's okay. We can just go by this. Um, good afternoon.
and I'm Craig Row, director of information technologies. So, I just want to run you through some of the capital requests here. Um, land management assessment and GIS. That's um basically a fund that we sub or we take
out for any uh GIS needs that we have. We're working on a project now. Previously, the town had funded a $50,000 capital appropriation to take all of our GIS layers and put them into a new system. We're about probably a
quarter of the way through that. I'm just getting final proposals. Um, and this will allow us to finish off a few of the things at the at the tail end outside of the capital appropriation. This also includes some licensing for
our EZRI software which runs us roughly about uh $15,000 a year. Um computer technology hardware that's laptops, uh printers, switches, etc. wherever we need them
around town. Chattam TV equipment is any of the microphones, cameras, etc. that Mark and his staff um need on an ongoing basis. um annual camera upgrades. So, as you may be aware, the town made a pretty
substantial investment over the years in um uh cameras around town, specifically in all public egress areas, uh entrances to buildings, any of the town buildings. We have cameras on the entrances to buildings in the public egress areas.
None of the cameras are in uh staff workspaces, but anywhere where the public can interact. um more of a a liability thing. Just making sure you know slips, trips, and falls. We've had a couple of incidents where people have fallen maybe down at the fish pier and
we have it on camera and we just send it to our insurance provider um the community center occasionally people playing pickle ball or something or one of the students or the um participants, the young participants, they get hurt.
um we want to make sure that they're you know that we have a record for the town of exactly what's happened and usually the interaction there is we'll get reported an issue if an ambulance comes then uh Carrie will get notified by the community center carrier will ask me to
pull up the video we'll capture the video retain it and if the insurance company needs it we have it so um it's a pretty big investment um we do have them at our public works buildings around our police and fire stations in the event that you know we have expensive
equipment, a lot of vehicle, a lot of traffic. So, um it's a good investment for the town. Um so, what we do is we'll upgrade some cameras here and there. They get to kind of end of life after, you know, five to six years depending on what cameras they are. Um access
controls, as you probably see, we have uh cards to get into the buildings. Um, a lot of that is relatively stable. It's that when we have an issue, for example, this building, we have uh door strikes. I don't know if you've seen them, the
door strikes to get into the building. The um the motor for the access control is built into the door strike. We're changing them all over and the in the actual door. We're changing them all over to actually be in the door jam rather than in the strike. So that
they're long got a lot more longer lifespan of them rather than you know every time someone hits it it just that little thin wire gets worse and then what happens is these doors are you know obviously they're professional grade type doors. So, replacing a bar and
doing that, it's about $1,500. But once we get all the electrified jams where, you know, it's a cost of doing business. You know, we it's not like at home where I can put a new door on for 500 bucks. This is, you know, these doors are are relatively um expensive.
Uh HVAC system software. So, currently we have five buildings around town that have um HVAC controls. So, basically, there's a little computer panel within the building that controls the HVAC. So, in the event that um if someone's not
here or there's an issue with the boiler, we can remotely access that. So, Rich and his staff over at facilities, they can if there's an issue, they can look on the computer. It's going to tell them exactly what's going on with air conditioning, heating within the
building, pumps. So, we needed to currently our system is probably about 10 15 years old. So, we need to upgrade all of those panels. They run about $20,000 and they probably have a lifespan of realistically five years with the
technology. We've gone with a little bit better product, so hopefully we'll get a lot longer out of it. Um, and then the police department server. the police department run their they have an in-house server that runs their IMC software which is their whole police
suite record management system and everything. Um that was at end of life this past year. So we're upgrading that and that's uh two new servers. They'll be put in play. Uh we don't deal with that. We their police department have a
contractor who deals specifically with police department software. So that's where uh that's basically the our capital requests. Anyone has any questions? Yeah, >> John, >> the annual camera upgrade, how many
cameras get upgraded for 25,000? >> Uh depending on the camera, um as you'll see, there's one in the corner there. They run about $800,600 to $800. So I try to currently we're in
the process of upgrading some of the uh water treatment plant. We did have a large capital appropriation. Some of those cameras are $2 and $3,000. We have a camera at the fish pier which is $7,000. So just depending on on the kind
of where we are um better resolution. I'm trying to upgrade the egress cameras a little bit quicker just because of resolution and better access so that in the event that if we ever need to see who's coming into a building or uh you
know the fish pier um we upgraded the cameras a few years ago. We probably should think about maybe putting a little bit better camera in being that we do have that set of stairs and it's a it's kind of a hot spot for slip, strips, and falls etc. So, but yeah, I I
would average out probably, you know, anywhere from five to 10 cameras by the time we pay for people to put them in. We have about 150 cameras townwide. So, and the majority of them are similar
to that one. You know, I don't need to upgrade that for probably another 5 to 10 years, but there are certain ones that we really should be looking at. And um so this is an annual $25,000 roughly to just cycle through those cameras.
>> Yeah. And if we don't use it this year, then you know, we'll it'll carry forward as a capital appropriation. And then I'm hoping to kind of put the cameras on and I've spoken with Carrie about it as maybe depending on how much we use each year, maybe if we don't use the full
budget this year, maybe what we'll do is we'll skip a year and then we'll come back every other year for an appropriation. And we're talking about possibly jumping between the um access control and the camera systems like maybe every other year funding it as
needed. Just the problem is that when specifically with the access control when the door breaks and we don't have any money, we can't get into the building. So, we have to eently fund it. So, you know, this year I don't think we've spent a ton of our capital on the
access controls. That's why we decreased it down to 10,000. >> So, go ahead, John. Um, I think this might be, you might be the right guy to ask, but have we made investments in the community to guard against cyber attack
or having our systems stolen and held hostage for ransom? >> Yep. So, on the town side, um, we've made a large investment in cyber security. All of our desktops, u, Ryan Dharm, who's the network manager or the
IT manager, has done an amazing job. He's very focused on the IT on the cyber security side. We did have a breach um maybe eight nine months ago on an older server that we had. Um it had got an
issue with it caused a bit of a filter down effect. Um there was a ransom on it but we didn't we it was an old server. We had all the data we removed it. All of our we house only two servers on site
within town and that's our video servers and the police department server but that's a separate um network over there. So we have made pretty substantial investments. Primarily we're making investments in training. The biggest
issue with cyber security is not some person in another country hacking in. It's a staff member opening up their email, clicking on something, and then it just run like a plague throughout the network. So, we spent some time, we're
doing um cyber security training for all staff. So, every staff member gets sent some um and it's actually pretty cool. They get sent an email and it could be just random and we test to see whether they click and open it. And when they
open it, a little popup says, "Hey, this is part of the cyber training. Please be aware." And then we make a log of, you know, what staff members and where we need to put resources towards training. And some of them are incredibly
detailed. You would think it's come from Microsoft or Sun or whoever. So um we are making a large investment in the uh town staff because that's our biggest fault point is staff clicking on something not being aware and then
having a problem with that. Uh on the desktops we also separate out our network. So we have the highest level of um defender on the desktops and that's part of one of the reasons why our annual software costs have gone up is
you know and Carrie had mentioned the insurance on cyber security. We are really trying to cut that insurance cost down by putting in these mitigations and the insurance companies love them. They want to see every employee go through
some type of training and there's usually a like a 10-minute video that they watch and says, you know, this is what to look for and this is what you should be aware of. So, we are investing in it. >> Other questions, John? That I I see
Stephen, you want to you have your hand up. Go ahead. >> Try to croak on another one. Um, Craig, what is the state of play on the upgrade to the town's financial software? >> Yep. Do you have a slide for that one? >> Yeah,
>> I'll have Carrie just change out the slide. >> There we go. >> All right. So, Carrie and I could probably tag team this. Um, we came to to to this board and the select board
last year requesting $150,000 for a financial management system upgrade. Taking our old somewhat antiquated VDAR system and upgrading it to a new system. We spent uh probably six months looking
at other software providers. We had three essentially four solid providers that gave us prices. We ended up falling on a company called Tyler Technology, formerly Munis. So,
where we are now is we're coming back for another $400,000 for um to complete the whole process. This is a multi-year process. this year so far. We we signed the contract with
the software company and that uh began on January 1st. We contracted out a um an accountant uh who I was familiar with, Carrie was familiar with to rebuild the town's
chart of accounts. And Carrie can probably speak on that more than I can, but there was some inherent problems with the current chart of accounts. So now he's come in and he's done a complete redesign of the chart of accounts um to to help benefit Carrie
and the software and everyone in town. Um so currently he's in the process of finishing that. Uh uh at the end of this week we will actually have the software installed in an environment where we can
begin to start to look at the certain elements of it. What we've done is we've broken it out into three phases. The first phase is uh general accounting which is general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable and
purchasing. >> This phase will begin July 1. We wanted to put it together so that we start off the new fiscal year with a completely new system. We are moving some data over some vendor accounts and etc. But we
wanted to start off on July 1 and say, "Okay, everybody's using the new system now." The bulk of our staff use the system for purchasing and tracking their accounts. A couple of departments do payables etc. But primarily it's using
their um checking what their balances are, where the checks have been paid to vendors and purchasing. So that's the phase one. The next phase is utility billing which will begin around November. We're hoping to do live runs
of utility billing sometime probably the first may maybe sometime around March or April of next year where we will generate our utility billing bills out of the new software. And then
the last phase is tax billing which is a really heavy lift. So, we're going to start that process sometime in January, and we're hoping to run our October tax bills in the new Muna system directly out of there. So, it's kind of a
three-year three-year process, which, you know, it it's just how we have to do it. I can't turn around and say, "Oh, hey, we really need to get these tax bills done." And then have a problem. I know you all won't be happy if we send out the wrong tax bill. Maybe if it's
lower, you might be happy, but if it's higher, you won't be happy. So, we need to really make sure that we've got it all in place. >> Um, and we also applied for a grant for this software, but we haven't heard back yet. And we I don't know any amount if we do receive the grant, it will be
offset by that. >> That's helpful. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Yep. >> And we did go with the Allaart, the best system out there. So, I think we are the town will be I I think we're going to see massive savings in time with staff,
specifically on Car's staff end, but also on the end user end when the fire chief needs to find out if a bill's been paid. He just goes on and it pops up and it says he paid Joe Smith or fire whatever we need to do. So, I think we're going to see massive savings in
time as well. questions for either. No, I've got a brief one. When you talk about utility billing, I assume you mean water and sewer. >> Yes. Yeah, it's correct. >> Okay. Is that what because we have a contracted water
operator, you know, what's their interaction with the system? >> They do the meter readings and that's where it kind of ends. They do meter readings. They do inspections on uh irrigation backflow testing, but they will continue to do their readings as
per status quo. It's just taking the readings, bringing them into our Neptune software, and instead of going into Vadar, it goes into Munis. So, there won't be a massive amount of lift on the um on the Violia, who is our contractor
side. It's going to be more on our DPW stuff. Instead of going into VA, they're going to go into Munus. >> Okay. All right. So, so the outside contractor will not have direct access. >> No. >> No. And they don't right now either with Vadar. >> Okay. Just >> Yeah.
>> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. They have access to the readings, but they don't have any access to the to the billing. So, they can tell how much >> has flown through the the uh meter, but outside of that, they don't know anything about whose bill it is
>> by by doing the test emails. It it's looking for, you know, see whether employees have been properly trained to resist spear fishing. Um, but have you ever thought about having a white hat do a test after you get all this set up?
>> Having an independent company do a test on We do the the company sends out test emails all the time. Is that what you're referring to or Yep. Yep. Now, all of our staff at least once a month, they get a try and catch you email.
>> Okay. >> And we're at less than I think the last time Ryan had told me of about 150 emails, there was only like three or four that actually clicked on something. >> But, as I said, they're getting extremely sophisticated.
>> Oh, yes. We're all We're all getting it. Yeah, >> John. >> So, with this request, this $400,000 request, um, and you explain the multi-year roll out or integration of the new system, the new software into
our systems. Can we anticipate uh a budget request for training coming up or is this include training on the new software? >> That includes training. >> Okay. >> Yep. Yep. This includes training. And just so that you're aware, when we buy
software like this, um, it drives me nuts, but we are now paying for two financial management software >> and we're going to have to pay for it until for one year. We have to pay our VDAR contract. Our contract is up next
year with them. That's why we're pushing everything to get it done. Um, but yes, we are paying two sets of maintenance. Thank you. I think any more questions on this? No. All right. >> Thank you, Craig. >> Thanks so much.
>> Oh, wait a minute. Barbara, what do you >> Craig, before you go? Um, I didn't have a question on this, but I did have a question. Um, in your prior year accomplishments, you talked about a more advanced and helpful chatbot for the site. >> Did that did that you were looking into
it or working on it? Did it come to fruition? >> Yeah. Um, if I can just get out of this screen here. >> Just hit escape. >> Yep. As you can see, the IT gu is not good with presentations. >> Carrie would be happy.
>> I had noticed that. >> This is not displaying. >> There's a display, but it's um >> Mark's coming. >> Oh, yep. I'll get it teeded up while Mark's on
his way over. >> Sometimes I just need to be standing close. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I can't remember what button it was. It was something. Oh, yeah. See? >> Oh, there you go. Perfect. >> Maybe. Let's not speak too soon. >> Oh, there you go. Great.
>> So, um, we do have this and I'm working on getting I talked with our vendor about it. You wouldn't know it, but it's down here. So I'm working on with our vendor on making this more prominent. But when you click on this, this is a
Cadam AI bot. So we've developed this AI technology in the background that looks at all of our town of Chadam specific website and any documents that we find um that are public documents within our
meeting minutes. Um, so I'll I'll show you a bit of a a test here. So, um, uh, >> so you can actually ask specific questions. I know some other sites that I've been on, even for banks and things,
they'll say you'll click on their chat bot and up will come a series of questions that you can click on, but you can't ask the question you want to because it's not in the in the queue. >> So, this here starts to go through. This will give us a list of all of our
members. So, I just did uh you know, finance committee members, list of members. This gives us a list of all the all the members. >> This is old. >> Yep. So, what it does, it'll start to propagate. This here is a
composition of the 25 meeting. Um let's see here. These are different types of links that we have. Oh, one didn't show up. This must be a a meeting packet for the from February 5th, 2026. You can get
extremely granular with this. Um, let me uh I'm trying to think of something. Uh, did the um Oh, >> typo again, but it should bring up. So,
this here, uh, yep, the sefell mentioned this. Pick up any mentions in any meeting minutes relating to the sefell. Um, and then you should be able to scroll through these links here. Uh, I I can't give you great examples, but this
is the new chatbot, and it'll be it's extremely Yes. here 2000's room increased $5 million placeholder for seafoul. These here are all things that pop up relating to finance committee and the seafll. It's pretty detailed. Um you
can look at meeting minutes. You know you could type in in April of 2008 was there a meeting? I can't think of anything off the top of my head but it is in here. It's intuitive. It's now learning. So, as you make as people make a request, it starts to learn what the
most common requests are. >> Um, you know, I was working on a um sewer connection. This will bring up anything related to sewer connection orders within town. And
it'll go back years into town meeting. it'll go back uh you know here's the regulations. So yes, we have built it. Um we're in the process of continuing to increase it. Yep. >> Great. >> It's a really cool tool. The problem is
is that it's not really visible when you're on the town's main page. >> Yeah. I actually went on today to to look at it and I couldn't find it. >> Yeah. And and we're working on that. Um, but this will also start to get into town things like um it'll start to look
at permits pulled for specific properties like 25 Main Street or 100 Main Street, whatever the number is. You'll be able to pull up information and it'll start to look at are there permits pulled for this property and it'll get really granular into our town information.
>> Great. It is in the process and we are working on it. >> Thanks, Craig. >> Great. >> John, how far back will it search? how how deep is how how old of a material can it pull? >> So, meeting minutes um I believe we go
back digitized meeting minutes to 2008 I believe. So, it'll go back as far as 2008. There are some other meeting minutes prior to that um that we're working on with this AI uh contractor to scan through and pull out key things.
So, it's going to go back as definitely to 2008. Prior to that, it it could be subjective depending on what you're requesting. That's the big one is the meeting minutes of prior years. >> Yep.
>> Cool. Great. >> Thank you. >> Let's see if I can get back. >> Yes. >> Go right to the slide. There you go. >> Cool. >> Oh, there we go. Um, for some reason that does not look right.
There we go. Um, and I was thinking about one of your questions you asked, Eric, about the library and if they pay for their own health insurance. The employees pay for their portion of their health insurance, but the town in that budget that I had
up there, we pay for their their 65 or 70%, whatever it is, their portion. >> No, that's that's how I understood what Yeah. Thank you. >> Um, okay. Does anybody have any questions on anything that we already discussed or can are you good with all
that? Okay. Um, so I have a few articles that we'll go be going over. Some of these are just um annual articles that get voted on each year. Um, this particular article, this consolidated revolving funds. Um,
I added the airport revolving fund onto this because usually it's voted on separately. I don't know what your thoughts are on that, but I added it in here and I increased the amount from 150 to 200,000 because we're getting close to the amount and um it's really hard
for them to keep at that 150 threshold. Um so um I increased it to 200,000. It would give them a little bit more leeway on their expenses. Um, and also I added in the Ryder's Cove Respit adult
Supportive Day program onto this at 50,000. That was one that was voted on last year. Um, so that's also under this article. So I'm interested to know what your thoughts are on that.
>> Do we have thoughts on that? Do you >> I want to know what your thoughts are on me putting the airport revolving fund under this consolidated revolving funds. >> Mr. Chair >> Tracy, I see you. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it's a
fantastic idea to put the airport revolving funds in this category. Okay. Because the less attention we draw to the word airport, the less controversial it it it is unnecessarily made to be is
my opinion. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Tracy. >> Stephen, did you have your hand up? Well, in in a manner of speaking, I think um Carrie and I have spoken about this
uh and I'm supportive of the move as well of all both moves. The first to bump the number from 150 to 200 >> uh and in embedded in the standing roster of revolving funds we tend to move um at a time. So support on both
fronts >> and having it in this article means that it's coming from funds that are being derived from the airport. Right. >> Correct. So all of these um revolving funds all seven of them receive money
and the expenditure amount for the year has to get voted on at town meeting which is basically their their limit of spending. Okay. >> Um you have a question. >> Yes. on the uh writer's cove respit which is a new one. >> Yep. >> Does that funding come from the town or
from the the money paid by the uh people uh using that? >> Yep. Yep. Which >> it's paid by the people fees from the individuals. Okay. The programs. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome.
>> Others. John, go ahead. the recycling revolving fund. $5,000. >> Yeah, that doesn't usually get used. >> What What's it for? >> Um I think it's an old one that's just sitting there, but I think it was previously for recycling at the transfer
station, I think. I don't I don't know. I'll have to look into it for you. >> I'm just I look at it because I'm it's a small amount. And number two, I know that uh transfer station fees are being discussed right now,
>> right? But nothing this, let me look at the article. I don't think this uh fund even gets used um >> when the town was the little blue. >> Go ahead. It might have been the town
was distributing or making available the little blue tubs to put your recycling material in. >> Kristen, you have your hand up. >> Yes. I I I believe historically that goes back to when we started Cadam
Recycles ago. And I think Stephen is correct. uh probably to help with the blue bins and any other kind of signage or um outreach materials for uh encouraging recycling.
So I think it it does have a history. >> All right. Okay. Thank you, Kristen. Other questions on this? >> Guess the question is whether it has a future. >> Don't know. I don't think we're >> I don't think it does. It's just um I
feel like it's just kind of like been lingering there. I have to look into what receipts went in there in 2025. I don't even know if they were should have went in there. $16. >> So, sounds like maybe it should you'll look at it and it might just disappear from this and not be necessary, right?
Or I don't know if we have to you decide that, but >> right technically we have to vote the expenditures. So, if something does get expended from there um so this is just our way of >> is there money there's money in the account? Correct. There is there's $800
in there. >> The offset limit is 5,000 here. >> Yeah. So, it I think obviously it used to get used, but it's it's clearly not being used anymore. >> Yeah. And is the It's not on this list and maybe it's on your next slide, but is the wood waste recycling.
>> Oh, yeah. I'll get to that. >> I'll wait for that then. >> Yep. All right. So, let's move on. Thank you for your uh information on this. Oh, yeah. I want to go down to the waterway user fee. >> Yep. Um, I think in a previous meeting we had, I think it was Tracy that asked about waterway user fee
dollars being applied to dredging. >> Yeah. >> Um, do you know if that conversation is taken root anywhere else or is being considered? I know you came back and said that your read of the establishing language for
the fund didn't seem to indicate that dredging itself was an acceptable expenditure for the fund. >> Correct. I think if we wanted to spend it on dredging, we would have to go back to town meeting and get it voted on that we could spend it on dredging. But my um
what I read and I think Greg sent out some information. Did you guys Did you guys get it? I didn't. >> I I'll I'll I'll find the email. >> Oh, you did, Tracy. Okay. I'll um >> Yeah, I got a thorough response from Greg indicating that it the language is
it's specifically not for dredging. Um and that it wouldn't do go very even if that were to change, it wouldn't go very far to assist with dredging. and that the intention of the waterways fund is
separate from the necessity of dredging because dredging is a community benefit in general other than just for the waterway users. That was the gist of of that explanation and response.
>> There some Orleans waterway users who come through this way. I don't need to get into a debate about it, but um I think we have a you know we we have an ongoing dredging demand or or a request um arguably people that are paying the
waterway user fee to rely on dredging >> um as a way to use the waters of the town. Um and additionally we have other issues such as icing. Um I know that we haven't had icing happening in the harbors the past 5 to 10 years, but it
does appear that we're back into a different decal cycle. >> Yeah. >> Um and that was a a question I came in today to ask you Carrie is how does a town deal with its snow removal? Um, and it does it make sense to have a
conversation about a fund, whether it's a revolving fund or or um an enterprise fund or some other construct to deal with snow removal, icing, and dredging because those are natural issues um that
um happen in varying amounts year-over-year. But I would bet that we're always going to need to pull from this particular fund if we were to establish it to deal with at least one of those three, if not all three, year-over-year.
>> Um, so as far as well, we have the snow and ice budget that we budget every year. Um, if the town wanted to create a fund, we could create a fund for the snow and ice and etc. But um it would have to be funded each year
because there would be no fees going into it. So these types of funds like these revolving funds, they're they're user fees going into there to pay for the services. Um and then you have an enterprise fund which is something that you just mentioned which is basically
self-supporting. So again, you have user fees going into there to support the fund. So, if we created some type of line item for snow and ice or um unexpended ice that we need to take care
of in the ocean, um it would just have to be appropriated at town meeting every year to a specific account line. It's not that it can't be done, but you can do that. Um there is the reserve fund that you guys are in control of which is
for unexpended unforeseen expenditures you know that um I will probably be coming to you for some items that have come up this year. Um so there is that but I mean it's
definitely something that we could think about. I mean, I raised the I raised the ice issue. I mean, in the past in talking with our harbor master, you know, he's made it clear like we used to have Coast Guard capacity here that had they had a vessel here that could break up ice and
we no longer have that because the town lost its designation and the Coast Guard >> change the assets it leaves in town. >> Okay. Um, you know, we're fortunate, I guess, because Robert Bau right now is the contractor working on the Bridge Street
project, and they have uh necessarily need to get access to that that site. So, by necessity, they're going to bring their little tug in and do the work. But, >> I I think we should have a convers somebody needs to have a conversation. You know, it's probably more of a policy
decision, not a finance committee decision. But, >> yeah. Um, we're going to be we're going to be in the situation, I believe, for several years, and we should have a solution to deal with it. >> Yep. Yep.
>> Stephen, you had something. >> I was just going to make the observation that uh the Coast Guard in Nucket uh has been doing their harbor clearing this year, but to John's point, I guess we don't have that capacity here any longer.
That was it. >> Okay. >> Gotcha. All right. Further. No. Okay. >> Okay. >> Moving on. >> Moving on. So, a couple more articles. Um, the fixed salaries, elected officials. This is another one that gets
v voted on each year. It's to set the amount. Um, the actual appropriation gets voted in the operating budget. This is just to set their or fix their appropriation for their salaries for the moderator and the select board. I
actually I see a typo I need to fix before this goes to town meeting. Um this one right here is a article for the recision of some of the borrowing. Um I had put two articles
in the staff report. It's actually three articles um that will be need to be voted on and rescended. Uh so we have the um annual town meeting of May of 2006 for article 10 well and pump station at 560,000.
Um annual town meeting of 2009, article 14 wastewater treatment facility at 99,893. And then there's um the annual town meeting of May of 2012 for article 13 water manes for 478,185.
Um so those are currently very old borrowings that are just sitting on our books and they just need to come off. >> Joanne, >> thank you. Message here. And when you say that's when they come off, where do they go? >> They basically
>> fun what? They don't go any. So, it's money that we haven't borrowed yet. So, they're unissued amounts. So, say we went to town meeting for a million dollars and we only spent 500,000 and the other 500,000 sitting there unissued
to get it off of our like >> Yeah. written. Yeah. It's nothing that we've actually >> It expands your ability again to borrow essentially. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Okay. OPED. >> It's like a cleaning of the house
basically. Uh one, um so this is the OPED one. This is uh we already kind of talked about this a little bit. Um another one annual article. It's for $150,000. Um typically we have used in the past
overlay uh surplus to fund the 150, but this year we're going to be using free cash to fund this. And the reason is we need the overlay in the overlay account just in case for future liabilities that we might
incur. Um does anybody have any questions about this annual one? No. >> Okay. >> And then here is the the one that Eric was talking about the wood waste enterprise fund. Um, this is the actual
only technical enterprise fund that we have in town. Um, it has previously been voted on at $25,000 in the past, but the contract for Weston and Samson has increased um to 38,000. And there's also a need to
survey the the land and do some surveys. So, we need to appropriate at least $50,000 in there for 2027. It's basically just using the fund the the money that comes in from the lease
or from the rental. It's already got fund balance in there of 478 or something like that, $1,000. So, we'll be using that money to fund it. >> How much longer does the lease live? Um, I believe it's good until 2029.
I have to look. I don't think I have it in front of me, Andy. >> Okay, >> I'll have to go back and look. Wait, hold on one second. I have some emails here. Uh yeah, it says the lease expires in uh December 31st of 2029.
>> I know that one of the concerns was that, you know, when the lease expires, you know, will is D going to require that we go through the closure process >> and no longer have a wood waste recycling place >> correct
>> in town. um which has implications for you know the cost of hauling any wood waste >> right >> okay >> yep >> fun
see Kristen >> I just wondered um Carrie if you'd clarify what the survey was I have an inkling but just for everybody else's >> um >> so we all understand >> I believe it's of the groundwater.
>> Oh, it's not a property line survey. >> Um, I don't think so. I can find out for you. I'll I'll get the actual um what the survey is from Greg. I thought it was of the groundwater, but maybe I'm
mistaken. >> I'll ask. >> Okay. and get you that information >> because I know there were some property bound issues way back when and so I wondered if that um you know the limits of where the uh facility is supposed to be versus our
conservation land. >> Oh, okay. >> Accountable land. >> Okay. Yep. I'll find that out for you most definitely. >> Okay. Thanks. >> You're welcome. >> Thanks. Other questions on this item? No, doesn't look like it. >> That is my last item. Now, I don't know
if you guys want to do a um preliminary vote on any of the articles that we went over or if you want to wait. Um I >> Stephen, you're still on there, right? >> Yeah, I'm here. >> Okay. Uh,
so I do speak with Carrie uh and with Jill about the prospect of provisional votes and you guys probably remember uh last spring. Um we were kind of ahead of the select board on a number
of articles and uh we used the sort of the tool of a provisional vote >> um that would spring or springing vote that would become effective uh once the select board decided to put an article on the warrant uh and my thought was
that we start clearing out some of this underbrush uh and get get these things provisionally approved uh for such time when this uh in all likelihood we'll put these things on a warrant. So I'm happy to have a conversation
about that, but I feel uh it's certainly within our purview based on my conversations with Jill and Carrie for us to do that. >> Quickly, Carrie, has the select board voted on these? >> No. Um,
they have not voted on these ones that I just went over with you. They, uh, will be seeing them tonight at the meeting tonight. Um, so it's up to you guys if you want to vote on them now, if you want to vote on
them on Thursday when I when when we have our meeting on Thursday. >> Grad. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, in my opinion, I prefer not to vote on these articles yet until we've completed our survey of the budget. And I'm beginning
to get a little concerned because everything looks wonderful that we've seen all the new improvements and and what we're expecting. Uh not to forget that already we have a couple of uh ventures to help
our taxpayers like there's a fund now for a a taxpayer or taxpayers that might be uh physically unable to pay their taxes. So we've set that up. We're looking to set up the uh residential tax
exemption which uh exempts will would exe exempt some taxpayers from uh the whole uh uh bill and in my estimation we should be thinking about all the taxpayers
and uh and I'm looking at uh the kind of increase overall uh Carrie said 5% I was looking for everything. It seemed to be to me more like 7%. But even five or 7% when the rate of inflation is like 2.7%
and supposed to go lower next year. I I I think we should put more thought into uh the expenses that we can spend that will afford us the ability if we want to
lower taxes for all of our taxpayers. And I I think we should consider that whole picture before we start voting on uh any of these articles. Thank you, Mr. Chair. >> Thank you. And others want to weigh in
on this. >> Doesn't sound like it. Oh, go ahead, Eric. >> Um, so I agree with most of what Joe Joan said. uh to one thing I think the just to be clear just so in case someone's listening they don't get confused my understanding of the residential tax exception is it's a
reduction in in certain category of people's t um property taxes so you the way you projected it they would be a complete elimination so I just want to make sure that doesn't get out there as a as >> No my my objection is Mr. Chair, go ahead.
>> My objection is for a certain group of people and I consider fair taxes to be universal to all taxpayers and to work out something where one taxpayer isn't favored above another. That's the the main idea whether it's uh no matter what the amount is if
>> I I I agree and I I we welcome that the finance committee being able to comment on that whole process I think would be great. We mean that may happen eventually, but um I was just trying to clarify what I understood you said on that piece of it. Um and I think on the
voting on them now I I do differ. I I think there's some efficiency to some of these articles which I think would be which are likely to be um fairly routine um that if we get them off the off the board as they as they come up as opposed to having to bring them back up and
think about them again and and come through them. So, I think the way the chair, my opinion is the way the chair is proposing it that we if we voted on them now and then, you know, with with the stipulation that the the select board put them or is going to put them on the uh on the um town meeting agenda,
I'm I'm personally okay with that. So, just I do differ there. So, >> to be clear, you got >> I'm Oh, sorry, Tracy. >> Yes. Hi. I I agree with Eric in that
Certainly of what we've seen today, there are items that there's no controversy about or that are level funded like you know the town salaries and things like that that just as a house cleaning endeavor just to go ahead
and vote on as much as we can that isn't doesn't involve any increase or any um controversy of any kind. Just get them out of the way. >> I I agree with that. the >> the ones that stay the same year after
year. Sure. >> I mean, what we have, let's be clear, >> go ahead, Stephen. >> Well, I was going to just say, look, why don't we just go through them and if they're controversial, we uh we can stand out,
>> but I think I concur. Obviously, with the trying to get some of these things taken care of. And just as a as a side note, the taxation aid uh fund uh which is being overseen by the taxation aid committee
has raised 21 gifts in the amount of $2250. So >> thank you, Stephen. Okay, >> ju just to be clear, I mean, I believe we're only talking about voting on the articles
that were proposed to us, including the consolidated revolving funds, fixed salaries, elected officials, recision of borrowing, OPED, and wood waste reclamation facility fund. Right. >> That's the idea.
>> Yep. Those are fine. Yep. >> Those are the annual ones. >> Okay. Oh, and there's the child care voucher one. >> Okay. Childcare voucher. >> Yep. That's another one that's an annual one as well. >> Okay. I mean, I I think it'd be proper,
you know, at least try for um you know, a consent vote on as the package for all of them. All right. I mean, I think why not? >> Okay. >> I mean, somebody want >> vote against the ones I I don't >> Okay. But if somebody if somebody wants
to move it as move them as a package please. >> I I move the annual articles as a package uh for approval. >> Okay. Great. Is there a second to that? >> Second.
>> Second. >> Does anybody object to any one of the articles hearing? None. Then let's call a vote on it. Those in favor of the motion, please say I. Pardon me. That's right. I have >> a roll call.
>> The joys of roll call. Okay. Uh Stephen Daniel >> support. >> Okay. Andy Young support. Joanne Sprag. >> I Madison >> I. >> John Pelardo. >> Hi. >> I
>> Eric Whitley. >> Uh yes. >> Right. Tommy Don is absent. So, you know, everybody who's attending was in favor of that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I that helps because it it's the
calendar is starting to get very short. >> You got to go through lots of things quickly. >> Andy, just for the sake of clarity, does that slate include the childcare voucher program? >> Right. And the financial software, do you want to wait on those or do you want
to vote on those? What I believe I heard was that the chalk came in. Barbara had brought that up. >> I did. >> All right. The financial software was not explicitly mentioned. So, we need to talk about that. >> Okay.
>> I think that would be proper, wouldn't you, Stephen? >> It would. >> Okay. I think we've got a proposal for the update in the financial software. Um, we've had a pretty extensive presentation on it. We had an
opportunity to ask plenty of questions. Uh, does anybody want to move finance committee recommendation of approval on that subject to the select board vote to put it on the warrant? >> I'll move that. >> Okay. Second.
>> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. Good. Thank you. Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll do another roll call. So, this is going to be for the financial software. Okay. Uh, Stephen Daniel
>> Okay. Andy Young is supporting Dance Sprag. >> I'm not ready to vote, Mr. Chair. Whether that's a no vote, I don't know, but I won't vote on that right now. >> Okay. So, abstain >> at best. >> Uh, Barbara Madison,
>> I. John Pavardo. >> Hi. >> Uh Kristen Andre, >> yes. >> Tracy Shields, >> I. >> Tommy Don is absent. Eric Whitley, >> yes. >> All right.
Okay. Finance committee recommends approval of that article. Um I think that was it. I believe. >> I think so. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. So, Carrie, do you have something else
to prepare have us work on at the moment? >> Nope. >> I have something else. >> Okay. What do you got? >> Um, like I said, the calendar is coming really short. On February
17th that evening, we are expected to present our comments statement of our thoughts on uh the budget to the select board. Um in
the past, Stephen Daniel has done a stellar job writing it up. Um but as always he needs our collect our comments and suggestions you know preferably in a direct email to him
all right to incorporate into it. We do have a meeting scheduled for the afternoon of February 17th. Um, at which time we could vote on it or perhaps we could do it on Thursday at
our Thursday meeting coming up in a couple of days if the statement has already been prepared. But I'm I'm not sure how this is going to shake out. Um, Stephen, you can't talk, but you can sure as heck think. I'm right. Uh,
>> um, yeah, I've I've given that I've been battling this pneumonia, I've not u had a lot of time to focus on this report. Um, so yes, I I absolutely would welcome input from everybody. The
one thing that uh has come to my attention is the snow and ice budget uh that I asked about last week and the data that uh Kerry provided in response to that question. Um you know I think a lot of what we've seen is is largely structural
um service contracts and staff increases salary increas program salary increases um as as is often the case. It's going to be some of the big ticket capital uh items, standalone warrant items that are
going to drive a lot of the spending. Um um so uh I again just reiterate, send me whatever thoughts and ideas you have. Please do not copy the entire group and as I typically do and sort of assess and
kind of weigh how many people are weighing in on one point or another and we'll just again this is our preliminary to be clear this is our preliminary >> indications to the slack board but um Andy's correct we're running out of time and um given everything that's going on
in my world I could use your help >> all right so we can catch up on that um Thursday and you know see if there's anything there or if need be we can wait to our meeting on Tuesday afternoon a week.
>> Agreed. >> That would be not preferable. >> Agreed. >> Okay, cool. All right, everybody. What do you think? Anything else we need to do? Doesn't sound like it. Is there a motion to adjurnn?
>> Second. >> Good. Uh those in favor of the motion to adjurnn. Steven >> support. >> Good. I support Giants Brag. >> Yes. >> Barbara Madison, >> yes. >> John Papalardo, >> yes.
>> Christine Andrews, >> yes. >> Tracy Shields, >> yes. >> Tommy Don is absent. Eric Whitley, >> yes. >> Okay, great. We are ajourned. Thank you so much. >> Thanks everybody. >> And we'll see you all
on Thursday.