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good afternoon everyone welcome to the February 25 meeting of the chadam finance committee pursu to Governor Healey's March 2923 signing of the acts of 23 extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting
law until March 31 2025 which is fast approaching this meeting of the chadam finance committee is being conducted in person and via remote participation every effort will be made to ensure the public can adequately access the proceedings is provided for in the order a reminded the persons who would like to
listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling 508 945 4410 again 508 945 4410 and enter enter conference ID 504
2858 pound sign 504 2858 pound sign or one may join the meeting online via Microsoft teams through the link in the posted agenda this is while this is a live broadcast and simal cast on chadam TV despite our best efforts we may not be able to provide realtime access we
will however post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible let's do a roll call see if we can welcome Tommy Don back to the house Tommy Don here super Barb Madison here John papalardo here Joan sprag here Andy
young here Christen Andress and Tracy Shields are not currently present uh Eric Whitley here the chair is present all right we are going to continue our work with a series of articles for town
meeting uh and I will therefore turn it over to Carrie to walk us through said articles starting with revolving funds uh yes thank you Mr chair so we have um revolving funds article elected officials article wood waste article and
and a peg access uh funds article and there's a couple of votes that we're going to be going over to that need to be done today or well that should be done at least um so most of these are um
annual town meeting articles so you're familiar with them um the revolving funds is an article to set the limits for um the airport revolving fund Basset house revolving fund inspectional services revolving fund recycling
revolving fund Marone station revolving fund and the waterways user revolver revolving fund um Carrie could you just take a minute before we tuck into the details of this just to remind our listening audience what a revolving fund is please so yeah so a revolving fund um
is a fund where the money doesn't like disappear and go away so we collect fees for programs or um in other cases there might be like rental leases that we collect money for and they go into a revolving fund we
spend them on a particular item expenditure in the case of the airport we collect leases or payments for the airport and then they go ahead and pay for their expenditures that they have for the airport out of their revolving fund um the funds stay in the revolving
fund we set a limit each year so the airport has $150,000 that they can expend no more than that um and the whole point of the article is to set the spending limit for each so it doesn't go over it can go over however
it has to be approved by um the select board and I believe the town manager okay terrific so can you just detail the funds and the stipulated spending limits yes so the airport
revolving fund the proposed limit is 150,000 for FY 2026 then we have the Basset house revolving fund at $8,000 inspectional Services revolving fund at 150,000 recycling revolving fund for
5,000 Marcone station revolving fund for 10,000 and the waterways user fee revolving fund at a million dollar which is unchanged from FY 2025 okay thank you
Carrie Barbara please thank you Mr chair um Carrie it seems so small but what is what is the recycling revolving fund for and how do you get money into that you know it is very small and there hasn't been any receipts or expenditures
the past couple years so I would have to look into it for you and get back to you on that oh well you're busy well I can I can definitely look into it for for you but there hasn't been much activity in this account for a a couple years it looks like so and the inspectional
servic revolving fund what what inspections are those obviously not the brand new one that we're going to be doing for the short-term rentals no uh no so the inspectional services revolving fund last year we actually increased the limit we used to put only
10% of the money um in there and now it's 30% um just for we pay part-time staff out of there for the inspections um and so let me see um it's for the issuance of all inspectional permits shall be credited to this fund
so 30% um the Community Development Department with the approval of the Town managers shall authorized to expend from this fund without further appropriation to defray the expenses associated with the approval of in inspectional permits including paying any wages or salaries
for full-time and costs of fringe benefits associated with the wages and said Pay so basically it's just the permits that we collect so 30 % that we charge goes into this fund to pay the
inspectional services okay thank you you're welcome okay Tommy please thank you Carrie the U faet house revolving fund that's the house up by 137 yes that's
correct is that does the chatter the Chamber of Commerce use that building yes do they pay anything yes uh $33,000 a year $3,000 a year mhm thank you you're welcome um and I have a definition of the recycling revolving
fund too um let's see all mone's received by the Department of Public Works from the sale of recycling bins compost bins rain barrels catch kitchen scrap buckets water saving devices blah blah blah um shall be credited to this
fund but I haven't seen anything come in so I have to look into it so I see our town manager on our call perhaps um but with zero receipts carrying zero expenditures for each each
of FY 24 and 25 and with an impressive balance of $785 two in said revolving fund would it make any sense to eliminate said revolving fund and simplify streamline whatever yeah we could probably look
into that honestly I'm I'm not really it's it's one of those things that probably is not getting used Much Anymore yeah it seems like the tail of a dead dog right exactly Andy please although I know at one point
there was activity there and it was because there were active volunteers who made a point of trying to sell things like rain barrels and so forth I I don't know if that'll reawaken or not I have no idea but uh Jill's on somebody from
somebody from the recycling side of understood recent recent activity would suggest that so our town manager has joined us Hello Jill good afternoon welcome hi thank you Mr chair I would suggest that we we keep it on for this year and give us a chance to look
through it um look through um what is available for sale to make sure that there's still items for sale as well if we still want to do that so I would suggest keeping it and then next year we can um retire it if need yeah I wouldn't I wouldn't propose trying to kill it now but it might be something in the next
fiscal year to think about given activity and the fund just a thought further questions Andy please the inspectional services revolving fund um the wording that you read from was
kind of General it suggests that even the short-term rental inspection fee is going to go into that I I'm not sure but I'll look into it okay I mean if if so then the the payments that we anticipated for the
personnel and so forth could come right out of that fund too right but I mean just trying to keep track of I thought it was more for like um inspectional permits for like electrical and plumbing and those kinds of things more so than
um the short-term rentals but I I'll I'll look into it to I mean the the wording was more General as I recall so I that's all okay thanks Andy I just take a note note that Tracy Shields has joined us online hi Tracy
um okay so is there a motion to support the various revolving funds airport 150,000 pass it out 8 8,000 inspectional Services 150,000 recycling 5,000 Marone 10,000 waterways user fee $1
million so moved did the board of selectman recommend this thank you Andy so the ones that I'm going to be going over today that select board hasn't approved yet has not no so we are we allowed so I guess I can put these on for a different date of vote I just was going over them because I had
nothing else to really put on the agenda but can we not vote on them um question for the town manager perhaps I know what they like to do but for things like is there a rule that says we can't vote before the town before the select board let's see yeah what the heck
Barber I don't think your microphone was on Jill yeah I I don't think there's any risk that the select board will not place them on the board but if you want to postpone voting until you're doing your vote before the closing of the war
that's fine too but these aren't any new revolving funds or existing ones we can yeah so I guess it's not not a formal warrant article yet because it's not been placed on the warrant by the board so let's refrain from voting
then Okay g next so next thank you Jill thank you um this will probably be a quick meeting because we don't have too too much the airport was already part of that which was the
150,000 um so the next one is Peg access funds so this is a little bit different than what you're used to seeing so um the peg AIS is for public government and education and we get that we get a percentage from Comcast and each quarter
we get 5% of the sales that Comcast receives so it's not a ton of money but you know it's a little bit of money so each quarter we get that and each quarter it's put into each individual fund public government education um as
you aware we use the government fund runs for here and we for um just for this whole station to run this chadam TV chadam TV yes thank you chadam TV and then we used the educational funds for the school
department if they request any funds um last year we used them for their um their uh what were they building they were building that stage over at the yeah they had a new Sound Studio and right for the football field I think it
was we'll call it the football field um but anyways regardless the public part is currently sitting in a fund for the public and it's um mainly for um it's hold on one second I have it written down Cape
media Cape media is part of our group that does public access for the town of chadam um and they do um like interviews they'll do like recordings for people and stuff like that and they'll put it on their Channel um so we've been
collecting this money but we haven't had a contract with them and we're currently working on a contract I have it sent out to Our Town Council to review and go over um the amount that we see received in FY 2024 was $78,500 so that's going
to be going to Cape media and then every year this is going to be an annual article on there for them to receive their funds question be clear thetic o sorry I thought I hit the
button uh thank you Carrie the um just to be clear the proposed article does cite the $78,200 figure but did you say that all of that goes to cap media yes that's all of that's the public amount that we've
received in fy2020 24 has nothing to do with the government amount or the education amount it's completely separate okay so hence your reference to a new approach which is segregating this public money yeah from the others yes
okay further questions Tracy please oh Tracy where had where had these funds gone like last year for example there's they didn't go
anywhere okay what does that mean so but the 78,000 is just from this year's intake it's not an accumulation of what's been uh what's been gathered and hasn't been put out yet because the contract wasn't done correct it's money
that we received in FY 2024 and that we're going to be sending to them and we're going to be doing this it's the amount will change annually because it depends on the users from Comcast and the amount that we get from them but okay thank you Tracy does your dog
have any questions did the U board vote on this no this one hasn't been voted on either sorry all right I have ones that have been voted I'll tell you which ones all right okay we're just in discussion mode right now okay all right so we'll
table this for now let us know when we enter voting mode okay go smoke um so this is another annual one which is the fixed salaries for elected officials we have the moderator select board and um
each year so according to Mass General Law chapter 41 section 108 salaries and compensation of elected officers must be fixed annually by the vote of the town and at annual town meeting this is basically just approving their salaries it's going to be in the
operating budget though so they're already placed in there they just approving what they're going to be getting paid questions for Carri regarding fixing salaries the notable exception of the finance committee that's an easy one too all
right thank you Carrie next next is the wood waste Enterprise fund so this is another annual one we raise an appropriate $25,000 um and we have to get a approved for our Enterprise
fund um according to chapter 44 section 53f and a half um we raised an appropriate $25,000 but then in the lease we actually received $25,000 so it's it's basically kind of a
wash Andy had asked me what the balance is in there the fund balance the fund balance in the Enterprise fund is $414,000 and can you explain Carrie please for the listening audience the purpose of the wood waste revolving fund
Reclamation facility revolving F uh it's the Enterprise fund I'm sorry so it's a little bit different um it has its own balance sheet and everything so we it kind of follows the same as the general fund um so the wood waste right now gets
leased out by I think it was previously tww Nickerson y but I think there's it was transferred to a new owner in 2021 but still the lease doesn't expire until 2025 20129 um we
have um so this is for what monitoring yes monitoring stump dump and ultimate mediation or Reclamation of the site when the lease expires in 29 right and who it's
um I have it here Weston and Samson Weston and Samson we have a contract with them until 2029 and they actually do the monitoring of the stump dump and they take all the samples and everything to make sure everything's running okay over there um
and Greg gets Greg Burman director of Natural Resources he actually receives the um the information after it was already done so yeah so testing monitoring and ultimate remediation of the stump dump
yeah uh Carrie there's a form of a contract in our yeah I put that in there that's from um won and Samson just in case people had questions I wanted you to have it so you look at it and this is one to be clear this is the one that's been executed yes that's been executed y
great I look forward to reading that thank you MH all right another no action and where is this thing is this off of Martha Kendrick this dump dump is that where it is isn't
it off of one hill7 right ltw yeah yeah do any any anybody remember the old Egg farm that used to be up in mil Hill sure cool old place my question my question that I know Carrie can't answer is what the heck are we going to do with
all of our wood waste a polite term for things like tree branches and trees and stumps when this thing finally has to get closed and what are the police going to do for target practice too but I mean I'm not sure DP has actually addressed that question at
least we have any insights into what what happens in 2030 I have no idea okay uh is there 10 like Eric please um I know this I think this came up last year and in the
discussion and this is good that we have a little more information so the Weston Samson is paid 19,000 or whatever it is here of the lease revenue of the 25,000 coming in and then there's a building
fund of $400 whatever th000 is the expectation that that fund will pay for everything that'll be required in 2029 or is there some is that the purpose of the 400,000 it it's
just right so the money that we take in kind of just stays in here it stays in the fund so if they have exceeding expenditures they can pay them from here because they have the funds available I guess my my question is more so in 2029 or 2030 when this is no longer being
used for this and the lease has expired and we're not you know the the minimal income is that's coming in comes stop coming in the town is going to be on the hook to clean up this whole place is that the expectation I don't know I I guess but they can defitely use this
fund to pay for it yeah a little like OPB right can we calculate what that future cost is going to be so yeah but my my understanding historically from Alex is that that's the intended purpose of these monies is to remediate the site pay for the
monitoring and the testing but also ultimately to remediate will it actually pay for the entire cost I mean I think that yeah well to question who knows oh boy yeah no no no we have more years left
so all right thank you Carrie Waste Water Project expansion related borrowing okay so these are the ones that um the select board has already placed on the warrant and approved so
um sorry this contract let so it's for $32 million um oh I think I have coul first the center for active living on my list you want to do that one first so the center for active living um
is for the renovations for renovations and expansion um it's for $5,000 I mean sorry $5 million of free cash is what we'll be using for this article um the select board has
unanimously approved this article as well did I put it in there do you have that one okay I know you guys saw this last week so do you guys want to discuss it a little bit first or do you w
to I want don't you give us a quick flyby for the benefit not only the committee but the public who may be watching so the center for active living is for um an FY 2026 article um for
expansions and Renovations for um uh I don't it's Stony Hill Road right correct um yep and the amount that they have come to the estimated amount of the project for all Renovations is $4.9 million um the article is requesting 5
million um so there will be uh an additional $50,000 left over just in case of contingencies or whatever that's not a lot but it's still there um this has been an ongoing thing in town as you all know past you know there's been a
couple of articles that have gone to town meeting um and I think that this is something that is going to be very helpful for the for the building itself
it it's come to its full expansion that they've they've so what was explained during the meeting last week with Leah and Terry she doesn't have enough space for um her for the participants for the rooms
and such in the and they're hitting their heads on the roof because of well they try not to have their heads head on the roof so so ultimately though this I mean this is essentially a bit of a compromise after the defeat three times
of the proposed article yes meeting for you know8 to 11 plus million dollars this is sort of a compromised approach to and we'll give them the rehabilitating existing facility expanding it somewhat not
extensively um at roughly half the price of where we last were question Joan please and thank you Mr chairman and when you drive into the transfer station and you see the brand new building going up there and how
quickly it went up it does make me wonder at least why it's taken us so long to come to grips with funding uh a building that's so important for our seniors so important for chadam to show
to the rest of the world that we do care for all of our citizens in chadam and that we are able to finally have our own daycare for uh dementia patients and patients who need to come uh for uh
relief and to give the the care tenders at home relief this has been a long time coming the price to me is Right compared to the millions and millions we are spending on other points of chadam to
make it uh look good and keep up with the future so I'm very much in favor of this I think it's well presented it's uh well considered and well done and certainly worth the money thank you Mr chair thank you Joan other comments
Barbara please I think we could be the last town on Cape Cod finally to to a senior center um I remember in 1987 when the bank opened its um when we opened our branch in Yarmouth we had a we sold hot dogs there for five cents we donated
all of our five senses to the yarma senior C Center who were collecting money to open at that point 1987 well maybe if you done about time maybe if You' done that in Chad and we'd have a senior center by now unfortunately the brand is already here I appreciate your comment Barbara
thank you uh comments or questions uh Carrie the only question I have I'm supportive of this article I think that uh that all the stakeholders involved in this process have done a good job and trying to listen to town meeting and the the voters over the last
several drips to the plate the only question I have and I've got it for the transfer station article as well is we seem to compare up potentially perilously close to the estimates with these authorizations where it the estimates at what
4.95 million we're authorizing five so if we're off by 5% 10% were out of luck for another year they did add um some other contingencies in here as well I I understand we we're
carrying contingencies but I I guess I just wonder and it's too late since the select board's already voted on this and we have an article that's being presented to us if on a going forward basis having a little bit more of a buffer than $50,000 on a $5 million project might not be prudent because if we miss and it
comes back a year from now it's going to be more than $5 million right so just from a budgeting and finance perspective yes something I think this town might want to think about and maybe we put that in our report so okay this has been voted on
yes the select board fully supported this okay so and just a summary carry of the free cash balance we've got 11 C 11.2 million now yes this is going to be five out of that balance in addition to the 3 million for the transfer
station and what the 2 roughly $2.6 million for Capital project requests that's correct going to be funded from free cash as well so we're smoking through that fund will Le us with about $600,000 yep
okay um motion to support the $5 million expenditure for the Council on Aging facility so moved second thank you in favor Tommy yes Barbara yes John yes Joanne yes Andy yes
Tracy yes Eric yes chers in favor eight to nothing thank you Carrie thank you so the next one that we have the select board has also um unanimous approved this one for $32 million for
the capital Wastewater project expansion this is a borrowing um uh the request is for $32 million um there's a $2 million um for set aside
for the first phase of the grinder pump purchases within here that is not eligible for um the Clean Water trust um funds that we received so the basically $30 million will be we have already been approved for from
clean water trust for this which is a 0% interest um we typically also receive um subsidies and stuff like that so it reduces our our bond um when we receive those for these but we wouldn't know that
until next year probably so okay comments questions Eric please so I know we had the presentation at a previous meeting on this and was um a lot of detail on that I I don't remember
having I know they mentioned it but the full discussion on what the grinder pump proposal was I think maybe they're waiting to hear from the selectman on what that what that was going to be so what ultimately was decided on what that means and who's going to have access to
those pumps and all that any incid in that carry or I noticed that DEA Castro one of our select board members has a up Dean Dean welcome you're muted
Dean hi Mr chairman thank you I just thought I'd try to respond to Eric's question um the select board has voted um a policy on grinder pumps I think two weeks ago um and basically um we um made a determination
for the initial acquisition and installation only and not the issue of Maintenance which is being left for future consideration but the the select board agreed to that the town would purchase the pumps and install the
pumps and I'm sorry that the town would purchase the pumps and provide a uh but not install them the town would not own them the town would um uh commit ownership to the property owner uh who
was compelled to um um install a sewer connection via a grinder pump um whether it's a low on a low press um system that the town has determined to put into the street or whether by virtue of the Topography of
your property or the distance from the sewer M uh you had to have a grinder pump in order to to connect to a gravity system so the town will buy the pumps but the the um ownership will evolve to
the property owner this the town will not install them the town however will provide a payment of initially of um $2,000 per property owner to assist with the installation
cost and that would uh increase over time by I think about 3% there's a chart I don't have it with me um Indy but I mean I could pull it if I if you need need to need more information but there would be an annual
uh incremental cost designed to um account for the increases in cost of living so there's um so the town buys the pump pays for the purchase of the pump the property owner installs the pump and gets $2,000 toward that uh
installation cost and the reason for the $2,000 is that when you install a grinder pump there's an electrical component to it that is not um um involved when you don't have to have a grinder pump and there were um varying
estimates of what the electrical component cost and um on average it appeared to be about $2,000 looking at other towns so that's essentially what it is and the reason it doesn't qualify for uh the low interest interest loans
um this expenditure this $2 million which is the first two years because there were I think 240 um property owners that will be subject to grinder pumps in the first two years um 120 have already connected and I think another 120 are expected um
the reason it doesn't qualify is that under under the state rules the town would have to um continue to own and and maintain um the pumps uh and we've chosen not to do that I'm sorry for that
long long-winded explanation but there was a lot back and forth um between the water andur advisory committee and the select board with also input from some um affected property owners and the summer residents advisory committee I
hope that's helpful happy to answer any further questions I think that help Dean i i as you talking I was thinking to myself I should probably recuse myself because I am going to require a grinder pump so I'm going to take the opportunity to hand the meeting over to our vice chair Andy young to further any
conversation and a vote in support of this and I will slip off the d a little bit right I don't I don't know I don't know about anyone else but this is a little
confusing to me we're voting for the continuance of our sewer program which we're used to voting for and understand it but what I'm understanding from Dean's conversation that that within the 32
million will be the money for grinder pumps yes but part but that part of them the 32 million is not going to be authorized at a lower interest rate like
the rest of the 32 million because of certain circumstances and H and I I'm wondering I think this is this is good for the town because of the sewer will
profit every everyone in town but I'm wondering about the people who've already paid for the grinder pumps oh I I should let me finish I've got more than that who've already paid for the grinder pumps and the the
citizens who are paying for the sewer but uh will never and Al so be paying their share of this 30 $32 million but also be paying for the share of the people who are
getting the grinder prompts free that that seems like a lot of questions to ask that have been rolled all into a$ 32 million request and I I just want to make sure all of those questions have
been addressed from my point of view Dean do you care to pick up some of that sure yeah I'll just try to try to answer which JN was addressing um the those who have already paid um and installed their grinder pumps uh they
will also retroactively be compensated the um uh for the payment of their grinder pumps in that same amount of money $2,000 um and um as
well um the the cost of of the pump that they that they purchased um that is the the details of that have not been fully um uh sorted out I I don't know whether the sewer division is
going to look for um receipts um um payment documentation I'm not sure how that's going to work but the intention of the select board in the policy that we adopted was that those who have already paid for the grinder pump and
paid for the installation would get this same benefit as as those going forward your second question is a broader question um it it goes back to the whole issue of um how to fund the sewer project back in which was discussed back
in 200920 admittedly this um grinder pup issue which was which was discussed and there's there's some representation in the documentation uh of of those discussions back then that the town
would that the town would pay for the acquisition and the installation of the grinder pumps um which is an argument that was made by the summer residence committee and and some Property Owners um but the the level of detail was never
really sorted out uh and no policy was ever really put in place until just recently um but the understanding um was that the entire sewer project benefits the whole town because of the um uh removal of
nitrogen and the Improvement in the environment and therefore um although this is an additional charge that has only recently um risen to the point of resolution um it's it's part of the the
overall sewer project so I know that's you know I I I people can argue it either way um and and the addition of grinder pumps as part of the expenditure um is is is new because it's
the first time it's been put forward you I don't know if I I don't really have anything further to say in response to Joan's just let me follow up with one more question and how do you how do you handle the um the part that's
not receiving the the 2% interest or the lower interest from the from the grinder part what how do we separate that in the loan I I think I would leave that to Carrie to answer it's more of a financial
question y I can so um when we present the article at town meeting and then it gets approved and it goes on the ballot because it has to go on a ballot and get approved we then send it to our financial advisers they put it on a list and then um when we also will get
approved for the Clean Water trust monies right they'll give us $30 million so that will automatically come off so the $2 million I'll have to go out and get a general Bond obligation for okay so it will be listed separately well it'll be listed all together but I will
see it separately on the spreadsheet that I get from the financial advisers okay thank you that answers that and just one more quick comment Mr chair uh that I don't think this committee has had a chance to discuss the final
problem of the whole um sphere of taxpayers and I agree with what Dean said about originally we agreed that the whole town would profit from having the sore problem and even though it's it's a high price to pay we decided that
everyone would would be involved with supporting it but this is a new addition to that and I just didn't don't think we've had the chance to discuss that and do we still feel the same about those who don't have to have the gr the
grinder pump still supporting the whole sewer uh installation including grinder pumps for the people who need them thank you barbar you're up and then Tracy thank you Mr Vice chair um do we
have an idea today of how much these grinder pumps cost and how many people we think in the town are going to have to have them if I could answer Andy please go ahead yeah Barbara the
um the retail cost of these pumps is is in the order of $10,000 a piece that's not installations that's just the equipment um and uh the town uh will negotiate uh and should be able to get a
commitment for purchasing them at about $7,000 currently I mean the prices will go up over time obviously um and the um we will also attempt I think it's in
the policy that we adopted to um attempt to get a fiveyear warranty on these as well but it's about $7,000 I'm carrying water here for the for the water sewer department but I'm going best on on memory I'm leaz onto
the water and sewer committee and an Ryan is a member of that committee and um I just wanted to say I know you have others that want to speak I know Tracy wants to speak uh that um there is a phase two to the Sewer project which includes those areas that perhaps may
never be sewered may never have to be sewered but it's still part of the original plan and I I I want to say I um I have followed this grinder pump issue for about two years with the water and sewer committee and that
committee was very reluctant I think to um have the town underwrite the full cost of purchase and installation um and ultimately a compromise was a compromise proposal was reached and and the committee supported it but um there are
arguments on both sides so I leave at that thank you D Barbara do you have any so so we do we have any idea how many Parcels of property are going to require these grinder pumps um yeah I I think uh well
immediately it'll be um I I think it's about a thousand I ultimately I think you're right somewhere around that and that includes that includes not just there were as I said there were two types of
property that will require grinder pump one is where the town puts a low pressure system in a low pressure main on the street because the elevation of the street is so low um you need I'm sorry so high you need a a grinder pump
to to Mo move the material up through the pipes uh or if you're on a gravity Street uh your property happens to be lower than Street or um is pretty far away from the street so
you might need a grinder pump so most of those thousand people I think 600 or so um are people that are going to have to have a grinder pump some of them already have because the town chose to put a low pressure system in but it's about a thousand thanks
thank you Dean all right Tracy please um thank you Mr chair a couple of questions um that math seems of to I mean so if how do we think that 2 million is going to cover a
thousand of these if if we if they cost 7,000 is one is one question because initially before you said the Thousand I was going to say do we really have a do we have a degree of confidence that that this will actually cover it all or we going to have to come back in and get
more and then I guess my other question is is more generally is the idea for the town to pay for these and and the additional and the 2,000 for the specialized installation to try and make it a a Level Playing Field with folks
that don't happen to live on a on a parcel so that everyone's you know paying to get hooked up but it's not uh it's not an exorbitant amount for properties that would need a grinder pump such that we wouldn't want them to
not connect because of that additional cost well the I'm trying to remember your first question I was looking for some maturity when you asked it could you sure how do we how did we come up with the $2 million amount if is that really
GNA cover enough to buy all those pumps the two the two million is uh for the first two years this is like a 30y year I was looking for the long do you happen to have those carries that material there's a there's a chart
that was put together by the by the um Sewer Department um and it extends out about 30 years and the first two years will cost about 2 million because that is um that is uh reflects two about 240
properties so it's not all thousand of them in the first two years and then there's this a much lesser number each in each of the subsequent I'll say 28 years it could be off with a with an um incremental increase to allow for in
inflation or the cost of living on the um $7,000 amount and the $22,000 amount um and um your second question if you could sort of more generally does is is
the intent here to sort of create some parity in that folks that don't live in a par on a parcel that needs a grinder pump still have to pay for the installation and so it sort of equalizes the paying the town paying for the pump
and the 2,000 for the specialized installation should shake out to what other folks are paying for just a basic installation that's what yes that's what drove it it wasn't so much harity I I think you're the first one to use that word um we've been using the word word
Equity uh not and I say Equity is not equality because you can have differing uh hookup costs uh even among gravity um connecting people I you know I in my own case I I spent in
2006 um about $116,000 to connect to a gravity um to make gravity connection that involves a lot you know re-plumbing the house redirecting the plumbing I had to up my neighbor's private PVE Street
put in a manhole which is no longer required but you but others who were um who live right off the town way it might have cost three or 4,000 so there's no way we're ever going to come up
with um an equalization as between those who have to have a grinder pump and those who do not we know that everybody is required to connect um when the order comes uh regardless of how you
you connect and so we looked at when I say we the Committees the select board the staff what significant cost is there when you have to have a grinder pump that those who don't have a have have have a
grinder pump uh incur and the the the principal part is the electrical cost the electrical connection um now on the other side of it if you have a grinder pump um your piping it doesn't have to go as deeply
into the ground as you do with a gravity system so there is a larger cost on the gravity side um for the excav excavation piece but we tried to come up with the S would tried to come up with some sort
of uh number that would be a proxy for for Equity or to use your term parody so that was the intent okay and then just a quick followup so by my math it's at least going to be about 9 million to get all
thousand people hooked up plus their 2,000 I'm I'm still here I'm just looking for the um rer pump stuff sorry I was looking to to I do share the sentiment that Joanne sort of expressed
as to why this couldn't be separated out and and discussed as its own article well it could be I suppose um you know it's not the way it was presented to the select board and I suppose we could have requested it
elsewh forgive the disembodied voice here um I cannot find my Grinders from stuff but there is if I may Dean and Tracy I mean my understanding of the comprehensive Wastewater management plan is you know this is only another step
there are more steps there are more um debt issues that are going to be expected over the next 20 or 30 years to be able to complete the sewage plan and you know it makes a certain amount of sense to not reserve for everybody's
grinder pump that's possible over the next 30 Years and one issue instead deal with the ones that have been installed the ones that are contemplated in this next twoe roll out um and just leave it at that for now I think that's my
opinion Eric did you yes sorry Eric did you want to say something I do have a question but did Dean have something to add Dean did you have something yeah I was just going to say I and you can certainly defer a vote on this today and and
Rob failey to come back and talk with you answer these questions better than I can but uh you're right Andy um this first two million is for the first couple years and um we we'll be coming back for further borrowings over the
years every five or six seven years we come in with looking for a larger a large um borrowing request to be approved by town meeting and I would assume we would include grinder pump costs as part of the plan the estimate as I said of the whole town who might
who who are expected to need grinder pumps is about a th it was originally 1,200 um as as as estimated back in 2009 or 10 and it's about a th000 now to the best they can determine of course you never really know fully until you get into the
different streets and locations okay okay Eric thanks um might be some detail that you might not be might not know Dean but um of the 240 that are proposed to be in this first phase of this um how many of
those are already installed that they that they're still trying to figure out what the what the compensation would be I was surprised to hear that it was 120 I had thought it was anywhere between 30 to 60 but uh in meetings that
I had and in public representation made by um Rob phy it's 120 that have already connected so there so there's still going to be a formula that's developed for that I understood that you said that and yeah the details yes yeah yes um and then so
there we're talking about from this $2 million expenditure whatever that ends up being presumably half of it um roughly half um and then the other 120 that are are in this this phase um is
the expectation that the town would purchase all of those together to get that that discounted rate and if they do what are they going to do with them and where are they going to keep them yes uh the town would negotiate and purchase this and it's based on that
that in that information is based on Research that's been done by the town staff and others um and there they they would have a plan of where the town would
um actually physically acquire these in in in stages they wouldn't you wouldn't have one big lot with 120 grinder pumps you might have um I don't know how many but it would be considerably less considerably fewer than that so you
would you would not get them all in one lump some you would try to work it so that you would acquire them on an as needed basis from the from the uh the seller thank you right thanks Eric um John you know okay great I just have one
more thing and um nobody ever said this was going to be easy when we first started this years ago but uh Carrie every year I've mentioned uh a state um tax credit for a
mandated connection and I always mention schedule Z because that's the one I used I think back in 2011 it's changed I looked it up today and I will bring in a copy next week I was busy today it's called schedule
SC and uh sewer connection is uh is underneath that and I will bring in a copy because for the people who are paying for their SE I I got back my over four years a very good tax credit for
the amount that we spent connecting to the seore and the instructions are all that so I'll bring the instructions and a copy of the schedule okay Thursday I I've got it already out it's on my desk but I'll bring it in okay great thank
you good information Joan thank you that'd be great other questions on this article no up oh Tracy I keep oh TR sorry Tracy please one more sort of question or
comment I guess why I am considering the cost in totality is that we're going to be committing to this so like if we if we if we go ahead and reimburse the 120 and purchase the other 120 it wouldn't be fair if in the future we don't
provide them to everyone so by initiating this process we are we are committing to paying whatever it ends up costing in later years for all say thousand properties right because if we're going
to do it for some then it means that we're do it for everyone down the road just to clarify uh yes you're correct um and I can also find the agenda that went to the select board for the grinder pumps for the policy for you if that
helps as well thanks you're welcome can I Andy can I just add in in response in that response to Tracy's question I think effectively we are Tracy making that commitment um but the policy um as I
said we've had this in we've had a sewer program in place for 15 years but no policy and um some folks like some residence committee said oh well it was in the original cost uh the numbers that
a certain amount of money was going to be allotted for the acquisition and installation of grinder pumps and that was a commitment by the town um and uh I that was done in 2009 and I'm not sure
that I reach um that I myself um found that uh as compelling as some others might have um and so it's we needed to have a policy in place and if a future select board decides they want to change that policy then that policy could be
changed um I think it would be a difficult thing for them to do but uh certainly principles of equity um enter in and um um the legality of all these things you know which would would potentially have to be challenged
if the town decided not to honor a commitment like that going forward Tracy any followup no no that's good thank you all right Jan well the the word important word is mandated and um we haven't
suffered from the state mandate but the state has mandated some of our talent with the new having the people having to build a new septic system that's expensive too but it's being mandated by the state and a mandated sewer
connection means whether whatever you have to do to connect to the sewer and when we voted to have townwide sewer and then mandate the connections this is what we're going to have to deal with so we're causing our
residents to have to pay a certain amount to tie into the sewer system and we're mandating that they do it so it's I guess it is our responsibility to keep dividing it up amongst all the taxpayers
which is not always uh yes it's it's not always attractive let's say do do we have other questions comments um I have a general question Carrie you did say
the slard voted in favor of this article uh yes they did were the fives up um yes I believe it was yeah it was four because I I don't think Cory was there okay I think he I think he was there for this one oh somebody wasn't
there oh maybe Shen maybe at least we at least we know they did vote and that it was in favor was it was a unanimous vote Yes it was okay all right thank you all right well um he no other questions I don't see anybody else on line does
anybody care to make a motion that we would vote to support approval of this article so move Tommy's made it anybody second second second John and Joanne you're in a tie a tight race there
be right um all right all those in favor should say I I I I'm sorry I need to I forgot I had to poll everybody all right and and I should also note that uh chairman Daniel has recused himself from
this discussion and from the vote um all right Eric Whitley uh yes Joanne yes Barbara yes Tommy yes uh chair votes I John yes and
Tracy yes okay all right so it's unanimous all right it's good thank you Andy it's a heav you left but interesting discussion thank you guys thank you uh Carrie I
think that may be it right that's everything so today we should I think start scheduling votes sort of two things on my mind one is just to start ticking off votes on departmental budgets and other things that have been presented to us always like to have some
time for consideration and marination certainly will be in advance of any vote uh following a motion in a second we'll obviously have the opportunity to ask questions again and U tuck into some of these things so maybe you and I put our heads together on what what and when um
I do know what do we got for Thursday um Thursday let's see more articles more articles um right we have more than that though for for votes on warrant
articles just no they're going be they're going to be presenting car's going to be presenting more articles for us to consider and prospectively vote on if the select board is yes though they're mostly um I sent you guys the agenda the other day yeah well that's okay um we can
online um but why don't you and I think about other votes we can start knocking down yeah I tried to bring in all the these were the only ones that um the select board had voted on that you guys haven't voted on um it's it gets hard because
their meetings are only once a week where you guys have your meetings twice a week so um um so it gets a little tough so we'll probably have like one meeting theot but Dean if there's anything you can do to accelerate your voting we'll be grateful
I think the next votes are going to be operating and the 5e Capital yep because they'll yeah that's the kind of stuff I really want to start tucking into yeah um th Thursday what you have listen car is General bylaw Amendment storm water management General bylaw Amendment
allowing the finance committee to serve as members of advisory and ad hoc committees also a new home roll petition to allow associate members of the Conservation Commission the power to vote in the case of an absence of voting member oh the thickly settled 25 Ms be
limit yep I haven't gotten any documents or any paperwork or anything on on this so as soon as I get it I'll well we're also going to have the police chief and the fire chief weigh in on that and then we have open-ended vote on
articles yeah we could so I could I could um bring the two that they'll vote on tonight yeah that'd be great for Thursday um most of those I think I guess of those four all of them were are citizen petition articles
um so um the other thing I want to think about and actually start working on for a variety of reasons is a report for the warrant um which you know involves kind of a lot of just kind of budgetary
review I'm sure everybody remembers I typically use the same form just apprising the taxpayers of kind of all the financial implications of the proposed uh articles and then we have our topics of note conversation a lot of that is predicated
on our initial report to the select board but as we work to finalize that thing or develop that report for the warrant uh obviously I want to hear ideas from the committee and discussion from the committee about other topics of note quote unquote that would be helpful
my intent is is pending a couple things just to try to start working on that in the next few days or week Andy please you getting a flow of minutes yeah
um not a flow it's more sort of a per a periodic injection um an's an's been monitoring our meetings from afar um and uh but we've probably it was probably been a month or five weeks since I last got a
some some minutes but um as as ever she's in a super job and what she delivers so um all right anything further from anyone Carrie no I don't have anything else
okay thank you uh I'll take a motion to adjourn second thank you Tracy yes that's a little more enthusiastic John yes Andy yes Tommy yes Barb yes Joan yes Eric yes chair says
yes thank you guys very much appreciate it thank you Carrie thank you what are you guys going to do with your free time e