Good. Okay. Okay, good afternoon everybody. Welcome to the February 12th, 2026 meeting of the Chattam Finance Committee. Uh I will start by reading the meeting notice. 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, including the use of AI note-taking apps, please notify the chair.
Seeing none, uh, pursuant to Governor Healey's March 28th, 2025 signing of chapter two of the acts of 2025 extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending
certain provisions of the open meeting law general 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 may do so by calling the phone number
18508 9454410 with a conference ID of 6907727688 pound sign or join the meeting online via m via 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. Uh, call the attendance starting now. Stephen Daniel, >> I am here but just barely.
>> Okay, >> thanks. >> Joanne Sprag >> here. >> Barbara Madison >> here. >> John Papardo >> here. >> Chris Andrews >> here. >> Tracy Shields >> here. Tommy Don,
you're you're on silent or mute >> here. >> Good. Thank you. Eric Wley >> here. >> Right. I'm Andy Young. I'm filling in for Stephen at this meeting. I'm here too. So, we certainly have a quorum
and uh we're ready to proceed. Carrie, >> Mr. Chair, >> excuse me. >> I'm going to interrupt for a second. Could I have about 30 seconds to explain to the taxpayers why I didn't want to vote on the information technologies budget? It'll take me just a few seconds.
>> I I feel I owe it to them. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> Uh for the past Keep it brief >> because the reason I wanted to wait and weigh this budget with other budgets was because for the last year the taxpayers have told us very clearly that the taxes
are high. So we've been trying to invent ways to lower taxes for certain groups of people. This budget uh the purchase of services was like 12 12 more than 12% increase. The overall increase for
information technology uh was that's way and above the uh the price of inflation the cost of inflation and and other barometers. And I thought when we're trying to provide all the
taxpayers, not just a few, with as low a tax rate as possible, that that was a budget that should be that I felt should be discussed and compared to other budgets before we voted on. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Thank you, Joanne. Carrie, if you
would please take over. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um so we have um the Monoy Regional School here today to go over their budget for FY2027. We have um community preservation articles that we'll be going over today
and also some airport articles. Um first will be Monoy Regional School Assessment for 2027 which is presented at 52,78,097 reflecting a $3.466 466 million increase or 7.4% from 2026.
Chadam's assessment which includes debt service is 11,979,723, an increase of $860,912, a 7.74% over the final FY2026 assessment. Um, I believe they might be going over some um
of their capital requests, borrowing for a the replacement of the middle school roof and um public education government funds a PEG request as well. Um, and we have the school business officer, Michael McMillan, here
and Dr. Scott Carpenter, the school superintendent as well to present to you their budget. Okay, >> welcome both of you. Good afternoon. Mike McMillan, school business manager. >> Scott Carpenter, school superintendent. So we're going to so we're giving you
the same presentation that was given to the school committee back in January and recently we also gave it to the Haritch select board so that everybody's on the same page and you know we are however you know there have been some changes uh since that was this budget's presented but we haven't got them to the school
committee yet. So that's literally happening tonight. So we are in a sort of period of flux at the moment and I'll highlight some of those changes. The biggest one obviously being health insurance which the rate was set yesterday. So that's going to make a big change to our budget figure and I'll
highlight that as you go as we go. But I just wanted to let you know we are still in a period of sort of the budget changing. And so the first part and that's this number over here in the right that was highlighted in red. It's highlighted in red and that Carrie just read out.
That's our increase a that the school committee approved and that's our 7% um a little over 7% on FY26 and how that breaks down into your assessment and that you know we highlighted down here the you have the
way the regional agreement works the assessment is broken down into the operating budget which is first local minimum contribution and then the operating assessment you have transportation capital and debt debts ly down a little bit from last
year because of the change to the high school debt payment. And then but then when you add back in the middle school project debt then that's what brings the entire budget and assessments to 8.4% 7%
for Haritch and 7.74% for Chadam. I mean and I do recognize you know just what was in your preamble when you were talking about the impact on taxpayers that this is significant increase in our budget and these are really what's
driving those increases. We just see across the board increased demands on expenditure. We've seen our property insurance is up. That is one of the things we've actually adjusted as I'll mention. We brought that down a little bit. Uh but we do see budget requests
which are really offset by reductions elsewhere. There's a staffing increases that's just steps and l you know contractual salary obligations to existing staff. $1.3 million in our health insurance and that number has been up incre they adjusted now and
that's an increase now of around $800,000 rather than $1.3 million. So that's a reduction of around4 to $500,000 which helps uh utilities. We're just seeing this huge increase in electrical costs in gas. I mean our gas, you know,
we're in we signed a contract with the town of Chattam in the town of Haritch and are, you know, looking at the history of our gas rates like they've doubled in the last few years and that's obviously having an impact as is and similar things happen with electrical costs and in construction projects and
I'll go into a little more detail on those in the coming slides. So we have, you know, we have made some adjustments to staffing as part of this budget. So our enrollment is going down as you know and we have been able to
make some reductions in the number of staff purely because of enrollment. So we're still providing the same levels of service to students. There's just fewer students. So that requires fewer teachers. That's particularly true in a Haritch Elementary School where the prek program that's a special education prek
program which is in Haritch Elementary School that is the numbers that we're seeing enrolling in that program have dropped substantially and so that's allowing us to make some reductions there and then other you know classroom teachers at Chattam and in the middle
school and at the high school but these are as I mentioned these are offset by some strategic adjustments to meet the needs of students and I've highlighted that these on this table. So these are the additions to the budget
that the principles have requested and that we've included and there are offset by reductions in staffing. Some of the you know there's you know variety of different things all designed to improve the experience of students in the classroom. There's a few positions
there's the positions at the bottom. We are looking at starting a new innovation career pathway program which would require hiring a new business teacher and that's offset by a reduction you saw earlier in this the previous slide and then also I mean so we're we have adding
a math interventionist but and it's really taking an existing math teacher and changing their role so they're able to provide intervention to support students rather than teaching in the classroom. And we also have a we have a really large internship program and over
hundred students are out in the you know in businesses local businesses chataman haritch. It's a great experience for our students, but it's and it's run run by one person right now. And so we've included here a 0.5 FTE to provide admin
support for that person to make sure you know that we're doing all the necessary paperwork and everything's done. So those students are well supported in those placements. But that's a great program and that we would like to be able to continue to support it. So as I mentioned and as Carrie flagged
it, we do include a number of uh capital and maintenance items in this budget. We have a large capital project. We have a large capital plan. I mean we're finding that I mean we always should be investing in our buildings but the needs
seem to be increasing espec you know even like at the high school where that's now reaching sort of over 10 years old and refining equipment there needs to be replaced and continuing investment is required in Chattam and the middle school and in the Haritch Elementary School as well. So we do have
some continuing a project to replace flooring in Chattam and the middle school our network switches for our internet system. So our internet network uh obviously we rely heavily on the internet in our build in our classrooms
and so maintaining that system is essential. And then we have a couple of items related to lighting at the high school and those are really safety driven to ensure people can see where they're going and aren't tripping on steps. We're continuing our process of replacing rooftop units at Haritch Elementary School. And then there's just
a few other some student classroom and furniture curtain and we continue to contribute. We have a capital stabilization fund which we've been paying into every year. >> Joanne, you have a question. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um before we get much further, uh what you have a new
position in uh called restorative justice. Can you explain that that course to me and uh why it's a new this is a new addition. >> So so the concept of restorative justice is uh is one where you work with
students who have had some sort of transgression in the classroom or in the school and have them you have them uh find ways to sort of make amends that aren't suspension you know. So the state, you know, so the state actually
uh you know, sort of largely banned the pro you know the you know uh school districts from just unilaterally suspending students. uh you know and it's not that we can't suspend students
but we need to find modes of of you know making you know you know making uh uh you know this you know students that have you know broken the rules have you know have a learning experience. So the, you know, so the restorative
justice program is just somebody who's working with students who have, you know, have broken either classroom rule or school rule um and working with them before it gets to sort of a suspension situation. >> What makes me think that uh the
administration uh could handle that? The principal, assistant principal, so forth and so on, school nurse. Well, it's it's so administrators do do that. It's it was it was a role that was put in place, you
know. So, we you know, we're really working with teachers building wide, you know. So at so the restorative justice coordinator at the high school is actually working with teachers to go and help teachers with the skills to have
you have them work with kids before the behaviors get to the point that the students getting kicked out of the class and sent down, you know. So it's it's it's it's a support. It's definitely supporting the roles that administrators
have. But, you know, but at a high school, particularly with the enrollment that we currently have, if you have administrators that are doing that, then they're also not having time to go work enough with the teachers in terms of
improving the teaching and learning that's happening in the classroom. So, it was it's it's a it's a it's a role that supporting the uh you know, the administrators on that side. So, so that is a need that keeps growing. >> Well, I I
>> to have a program like that. I I I I think it when we came I I think society when we came out of COVID there was there was a lot of sort of dysfunction happening uh you know happening in you know in schools you know schools across
the country and you know so my hope is that this is a position that in time we can see you know we can see you know like the the culture you know the culture of the building and the the challenges that kids are having diminish
over time. Uh but what we've seen is, you know, we've had this in place now. This is the second the second full year and just the number of students that are being referred for some sort of disciplinary infraction with this in place has dropped dramatically in the
past year. >> Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah. >> And the position that that has been added is at the middle school to de expand the program there. >> I'm sorry, I didn't hear that. >> The position that's listed here is a
position at the middle school to expand a restorative justice program in the middle school as well. >> That was effective at the high school looking at, you know, sort of growing that same capacity at the middle school. Thank you. So this is our so a lot of our decisions
we mentioned particularly in relation to >> sorry I know we spent some time on this but it's interesting topic. So what I just understood you to say is so we already we already have one person in this role focused on the high school. >> They don't have any capacity that you've
looked at capacity for them to be at the middle school for. >> Right. So, so we have we the in the current year's budget, uh we have someone who is a support staff uh you know, so you know, so it's somebody who
doesn't have the depth of training in it. um you know so you know so this is you know in the draft that Michael's presenting here it's to go uh to have you know to replace a support staff
person with somebody who has more training you know so the person that we have at the high school is somebody who we've invested a lot of time and training in you know so they're sort of paid on a teachers pay scale so it's it's to kind of have it have the
position elevate to you to that level where they're they're actually going in and working with teachers and yeah and students as well. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Please proceed. >> So this just this is our enrollment projections for next year. So this is
based on the average change we see yeartoear. We then use that as a basis to determ you know to project where we might end up next year. And you know as I mentioned we are expecting this reduction that we've seen in enrollment recently to continue and we expect to be
down around 3% overall from this year's enrollment. And I mean I think some of the reductions were planned are not there they're the effect of two or three years of these reductions. So you can't necessarily reduce every year due to enrollment
because it depends where the enrollment is and if it's spread too far throughout the grade you're not really able to cut a whole position to reduce a whole position. But this year you know we've seen the cumulative effect of two or three years of reductions and that's why we're now able to make some of those reductions in staffing.
Uh this slide we can just run over. This is just how the budget had changed since the first draft of it in December as we had made some changes to reflecting increasing demands. This information uh is a terrible slide so I apologize but you this is sort of
for your reference. This really just shows how the budget is changing by expenditure by so within the budget policy and the regional agreements. that says we have to give you this information in the last five years back broken down by this category. So this is
it I'm giving it to you. So however a much more helpful way I think to see it is in this chart and this looks at the same numbers but just in these charts. So you can see where the big changes have been and I mean I think uh so what this chart shows you is it has each of
the categories. So we have benefits and fixed charges, capital, central administration costs, debt and interest, maintenance of school plant, operation of school plant. So that's includes energy, other school services, programs with other districts which includes school choice and charter tuition and
out of district special education placements and then transportation and then instruction which includes all our classroom the positions. I have them over in this other little chart because it's on a different scale because if you put them all on the same scale, you can't really
see anything else apart from instruction because that is so much bigger than everything else. And I think I mean I think I think there's a couple of things to take away from this slide. The first is the impact there, the increase in benefits and fixed charges. So this is when we thought the increase might be 15%.
The Cape Cod Municipal Health Group voted yesterday and it's going to be an 8% increase. So that that blue bar is going to come down a little. I mean it's I mean 8% is still I mean it's funny because you come away from that meeting and you're like yes it's only 8%. But 8%
is a huge increase and that's way above inflation. It's way above our revenue. So you can see that it's starting to squeeze out other parts of our budget even at those increases and if it continues for multiple years that's going to have a long-term impact and what we're able to do. >> Barbara.
>> Thank you Mr. Chair. Um, Michael, to what do you contribute that significant in increase in transportation costs? I mean 140,000 seems huge to me. >> So it is. So we so transportation is so that's our transportation over here on the right and uh
we are so we've so really to be honest the in transportation is increasing in cost along with everything else. So cost of drivers, the cost of equipment and fuel is all up. In addition, we have we
struggle to get vendors to transport students. And so this is so really we have two types of transportation or indistrict transportation. So that's just when we're transporting students from home to Monoy schools. And we have that we contract with Cape Cod Collaborative to do that and it helps
keep our cost down because they're a nonprofit. And then we also trans we also have to contract to transport students to out of district placements. So that can be if a student require if we're not able to meet a student's needs in district particularly special education needs but
not only then we will you know we will contract with another school a private school normally or a collaborative school to provide to for to educate that child and then we'll have to transport them there and there aren't a lot of providers of transportation and often is
specialized transportation that's required. It might be a wheelchair or it might require additional staffing to go with that student. And so those costs have been going up year after year because there's limited provision. It's specialized care and we can't not do it.
So we're kind of we try and get quotes, but often there's only one vendor available and they have a, you know, so they're able to increase their rates and it's increasingly difficult for them to hire drivers. So that's seeing driver costs going up. So it's just kind of a knock-on effect of this. Our demand is
not going down or increasing, but supply is going down and that's driving up costs. >> Okay. Yeah. Thanks, >> Joanne. You had a question. >> You have a question. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um,
how much do we lose uh or how much do we have to pay for the number of school choice students we have now? And is it balanced by incoming school choice? What's the >> Yeah. So we are a net benefit of school choice. So we have more students coming
in through the school choice program to Monoy than going out to other districts. >> And what does each student bring with him or her as far as money? >> So financially it's between five and $6,000 per student. >> So they don't bring the whole charge of
what we call >> Yeah. the per pupil. No. So the state the state set the rate at $5,000 in 1993. >> That's I I know I helped do that and it seemed like a lot of money then like a good help then.
>> Yeah. So it's so it's 5 thou it's $5,000 plus any incremental cost if the child has special education needs for the cost of >> it's not nearly enough now in this economy but anyway thank you. It's not I would say however that you know the way
the superintendent has implemented the school choice program is that whenever we are accepting students because you know we have a lot we identify the number of school choice places that will accept and then we try to structure it so that we're only accepting students into to sort of fill. So if you imagine
if you have a classroom and you want you have 18 seats in that classroom, if we have a spare seat, we'll allow a school choice position to fill that seat and then your incremental cost is not the full per pupil cost because you're not adding a teacher or principal and really
it's just the instructional supplies. So in that situation, I think we are net benefit because the cost of adding that student is not $5,000 on average. We're very mindful to not bring in so many students that we have to add a teacher
>> because if you if you add a teacher >> and you have a you know that classroom that you've had to add is because you've let in another 18 children at $5,000 each. The $5,000 doesn't pay for the teacher salary in the benefits package
and likely a teaching assistant in that benefits package. Yeah. So, yeah. So, we manage school choice very differently than some other districts. >> Thank you. >> Uh, one other thing just a couple another thing to highlight here is this
programs with other districts. Uh, so that includes school choice. So, that's why when we are paying for students who are going out and that has been going down year on year. So we're keep and not only as an act not only in the actual number but as a percentage we're keeping more students in Monoy rather than going
out to other districts which is great. So that's a win for us. It also includes a charter tuition students which has actually dropped recently a in the last couple of years and it also includes students who attend out of district placements for special education reasons
I mentioned earlier in regards to transportation. And the reason it's gone down is actually because last year was a com combination of school choice going down, charter tuition going down, and we have an increase in the amount of uh reimbursement we're getting from the
state to help pay for those school choice. It's not school choice, the special education placements because it was so high last year. So, you know, it's a double-edged sword because I'd rather it wasn't high last year, but given it was so high last year, that's helped offset these costs this year.
The final thing I just say is, you know, almost all the bars are going up and that's, you know, it used to be like a few years ago you'd feel like, you know, something would go up a little, but something else would be down and you'd kind of have this, you know, so you could manage forward, but it just seems right now everything's going up. you know all our costs are increasing
supplies and salaries and contract services and I think that's the why our percentage increase is so high and then this is just some more summary information uh around you know our estimates for what we expect enrollment to be as I said we're expecting that to
go down we do have built in this reduction in our staff FTE uh our we this is a forecast for our foundation enrollment which is also going down and that's all the students who live in either town and attend public any public school not just Monoy and then we have
all total expenditure that includes non general funds that includes grants and we've seen that going down. So at the moment you know one question we've been asked is if we what we're expecting for federal grants because obviously that's a big portion of a you know the
revenue we received to help offset our costs and there's been a lot of uh uncertainty around federal grants in the last couple of years. So at the moment we've we have sort of assumed that we're going to continue receiving the grants that we have received in the last few years and we'll just keep watching to
see what happens. The biggest issue for us really would be you know so we have two main grants. One is the title grants which is to improve instruction in the classroom and the other one is special education related. So if the special education that's IDA
or 240 you hear that been spoken about sometimes but if that grant was cut that would be that would be really hard for us to accommodate because a lot of the services are provided and paid for through their grant are legally required you know it's related to students education plans and so being able to we
would have to continue providing those services legally even if the funds went away for them. So for now we're just assuming they're going to keep coming. Michael, are are some of these grants I mean, are they federal funds being passed through the state? >> Yeah, they all are. Yeah, >> they all are. >> They're all passed through the state. Yeah.
>> So, the decline, to put it mildly >> in the federal department of education might affect that. >> Yeah, that's our worry >> to put it mildly. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yes. John, please. >> Staying on the grant question, have you
modeled what happens? >> Yeah. I mean, uh, yes. I mean, a little bit. It depends. It's really hard to tell because if it's a huge cut, then it'll be all bets will be off. We'll have to really look at all our options in order to continue to
provide services. We know that some reductions we'll be able to accommodate by just reducing the services that are provided using those grants. It really depends on the scale and the nature of the cuts in which grants are cut. So we have done some exploratory work internally.
Yes, I guess is the short answer. >> Got it. >> The numbers that are presented in our packet and we're reviewing today assume the grants continue. >> Assume the grants continue. Yeah. >> Are those grants reimbursements or do you get those at the top of a given year?
>> You get them. Well, so they're reimbursements in that you you get approved. So you at the start of the year you they apply to the state and they are uh once it's awarded then you
you know so we say for example we submit a grant application it says we're going to you know pay for this contract services and they approve it and then once you sub you pay for the contract services you request the state and you get reimbured for it. So once you've received once you have confirmation of your award you're good to go and you can
spend that money. So we'll know, you know, we will know before we spend the money if we're getting it. >> That's helpful. >> What What percentage of the overall budget is derived from these grants? The two federal bins you described?
>> Uh I would say it's about I want to say about two about 2% of our total expenditure. And then the last couple of slight the last couple of rows there are the assessments which are also modeled here
which is why I just skipped over them. Uh so this is a slightly complicated chart but it's if you start with the FY20 and 21. So this is basically the town of Chattam's assessment is in blue and the town of sorry the town of Haritch's assessment is in blue and the
town of Chattams is in orange. And for the first few years it's straightforward and you can see uh how they were changing chat actually went down slightly. And then this going forward from FY23 we have both the old methodology because
this is when we changed methodology. So you still have in the blue and the green the blue and the orange is the old methodology and in this sort of I don't know what color you would call that burnt red and brown is the new methodology. And so you could that was just you know the purpose is just to see
the impact of the change in the regional agreement on assessments going forward. And so that's when we said that elementary schools would be assessed to each town. So Chattam pays for the town for the Chattam Elementary School and Haritch pays for Haritch Elementary School and that's had a significant
impact on the budget and it was originally around $700,000 and that impact has grown as uh as cost you know for a number of reasons including costs at Chattam Elementary School increasing above trend. So you can just see the
ongoing impact of that change to the regional agreement. A difference of almost $1.5 million between the two. >> So between the two method I looked at it and between the two methodologies for Chattam taxpayers there's about a million and a half dollar difference
between the two. Is that is it fair to say that's because we're carrying the elementary school and the cost of the elementary school is driving a big portion of that? >> Yes. >> Yeah. And it's and it's it's it's really it's both towns are paying for their own elementary school and it's it's really,
you know, we could say the premium for having having an elementary school that is so small. Um it's it's it's just purely sort of an economics economy of scale. Chattam Elementary, I think next year, will only have two
grade levels that will have more than one classroom at each grade level, you know. So, when we started 13 years ago, Chattam Elementary had three classrooms every grade level. And it's it's gotten, you know, to the to the point that's
almost onethird the size that it was 13, you know, 13 years ago. Haritch Elementary has has shrunk. You know, both towns are losing enrollment, but it's just Haritch Elementary now has about four sections per grade level instead of what once was six sections
per grade level. So, they've both they've both gotten smaller. It's just, you know, one's gotten about 2/3 smaller and the other's gotten about one-third smaller. >> So, u just a couple more slides. this. So when we presented this last
time, we were still things some numbers we didn't know yet. So that as I mentioned a couple times now, health insurance is now at 8%. Uh we do we also we have a increasing number of retirees as well happening because we're a relatively young district. We're still
adding to our retiree pool. So we are adding the number of retirees and so that's increasing above the a percentage increase in the rates. So our overall increase in health insurance is slightly above or will be above the 8% increase in rates. Uh property insurance we're
now at a 10% increase. We've obviously have all the collective bargain agreements currently are in place and we have agreed upon cost of living increases. Uh our administrators and non-UN staff get the co same increase as our uh
teacher contract staffing. I have included some retirements, you know, estimated retirement and turnover savings. And then we do have, you know, we mentioned a charter school and school choice enrollment revenue and expenditure. We have some estimates based on that. And if you know, if those
estimates are improved, we'll update the figures as we go. State aid. So, we do have state aid and I'll go into that in a moment. Now, excess and deficiency, we have reduced. So excess and deficiency that's the amount of money we receive.
That's a bit like town's free cash. So we have a similar fund. It's basically what money we have left over and every year we use a portion of that to offset the assessments. So last year we used a million. This year we're using $800,000. >> Joy. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm sorry to take up so much of your time. There's so much
to cover here. >> But one of the reasons I ask this is all >> uh a lot of this is out of our hands. Yeah, >> the insurance and that I guess that's the reason I chose the the uh adding of
of a new staff member uh with uh the insurance the health insurance benefits and all the benefits. >> So, it makes me wonder if you're trying to uh keep your budget as low as possible
>> when there's so many factors you can't control, that's one you can control. and why not why wouldn't you work with this administrative staff you have but I'm I'm not questioning that any that was just a question in my mind thank you
>> there'll be a lot more on that when we get to the end of the presentation I don't want to spoil the punchline yet >> um and so and a minimum local contribution which is we now have those figures and that's part of the state aid number so that's the end of the slides
that you received However, I added a couple of slides where I've updated those figures just for your information. So, I we have the budget number uh we have reduced so with the updated information we have on health insurance
and a couple other smaller things but primarily bud health insurance is allowing us to reduce $489,000 off of the pres the budget we just presented. And so that gets that means the overall increase from FY26 will be
just over 6% instead of 7.04. So this these numbers haven't actually you know these haven't been approved by school committee yet. So these are literally like hot off the press. So, we just wanted you to have the kind of most upto-date information and when we will go to school committee and I'm sure we're and you know we'll talk about in a
moment a uh you know what what's going to happen next but we can we will have you know once we finalize this number and we have an updated number approved by school committee you know we'll pres we'll share that with Carrie and you know we
can come back and give you an update on what else if anything else has changed. So the other things just we did get the state numbers back and they were unfortunately not super helpful. The chapter 70 was slightly below what I'd
estimated it to be. It was $20,000 lower than we were expecting. So it's now an overall increase of 3.95%. Transportation is down. That's we received reimbursement from the state for some transportation costs that was
lower than we budget expected. excess and deficiency. We've not that's not changed, but that is $200,000 less than it was in FY26 because you know the reserve funds you can only use once. So we been we increased it to a million last year and we have less to draw on
this year and so we reduced the amount we're drawing. And then the the assessments though would also be down really due to the health insurance change. We see this reduction in uh Harbitch's assessment of $250,000 and Chattams of almost $90,000. That gets
those percentage changes to 7.7% or almost 7%. >> Michael, a quick question on the state grant or yeah, not the grant, the state reimbursement for >> um in placement of school choice
students. Is there any action to try to increase the amount that's paid? >> Well, I mean the so the it's all based on enrollment and as our enrollment is going So there's a couple it's all enrollment. I mean it is a
and it is to do with the demographics of your enrollment as well. So low-inccome students and special education students and English learner students uh all attract a slightly higher reimbur reimbursement rate or funding rate. But overall, because our enrollment is going
down, every year when they recalculate our aid, it's less than it was the year before. And there's a provision called a hold harmless provision. That means they just have they just sort of fund us at the same level as the year before because they don't want it to be less. And then they give us an extra per pupil
allowance of like $70 a student. So that's the form. So the biggest problem for us is our enrollment is going down. So every year when they do that calculation again, that's why the number comes down. you know there is a lot of you know at the state level there's pro there's pressure you know to try and
increase uh money for districts but it's all coming from the same state budget and there's and you know there's a lot of pressure on the state budget from a number of places and they did have a student opportunity act recently where they did increase uh uh state funding for schools but a lot of it went to
schools with really high low income and so we really didn't see much of that at all. Thank you. >> So, so this is where we're at and as you can imagine this is this particularly
for Haritch. The town of Harwitch shared with us their budget for the town and right now they're carrying for the schools an assessment increase of 4.71 or 4.7%. So you know where we're at right now. So we've done our budget and we've sort of
started chatting with both towns and the town of Harage have said there's this huge gap between what you're asking for and what we are able to fund and the size of that gap is uh that's what this slide tries to
show. So I've got the top table is really the assessments where we are right now with assessments. This is that assessment I just outlined. uh the increase over FY26 a percentage increase but the four you know that 4.7% number
that we got from the town of Haritch in this table below if we back into that that shows in the difference you know because it's because of the way the regional agreement works it's hard for us it's not as simple for us to we can't just cut Haritch's assessment we're
going to have to cut the budget and let that all flow through and that will affect both towns assessments and So if we kind of do go through that process in order to get to a 4.7% increase for her which means you know reduction to would mean a reduction to then chatam's
assessment as well and the total decrease in our budget would be around $1.2 2 million. >> And I think part of the punchline here is, you know, the the budget that we presented uh with the school committee that the school committee voted on is a
reduced staff level service budget to go in and cut out, you know, $1.2 million from a school district budget that is so personnel intensive.
uh will not be a level service budget and you know you know so tonight when we're doing our you know so tonight's the annual budget hearing and part of the conversation you know I'll have is
is just how tenuous it is to go keep families with you in a climate of intense school choice competition um if you're having to potentially touch programs, you know. So, so we have
behind the scenes been spending a lot of time with the administration looking at where in the budget, you know, can we potentially cut, you know, you know, and and you know, like looking at, you know, some of the, you know, some of the
capital items that Michael was showing and saying, okay, what what capital items can we potentially hold off on? What, you know, what technology items can we hold off on? you know, do we potentially touch more reserves? But at the end of the day, you we still have to
go look at, you know, what staffing positions could we potentially touch that doesn't, you know, that, you know, that won't impact, you know, the the programs that, you know, that students and families h you
know, feel so near and dear to them. So, we'll have to to back into that number. will likely have to look at uh restructuring the administration and doing cuts at central office, doing some other, you know, some other uh staff
reductions. Uh looking at the principal wish list, the requests the principles have and saying, "Okay, which what are the ones that are most important?" Yeah. in terms of in terms of instruction intervention or the strategic plan to fund and and defer some of the others
you know defer the capital projects just say okay which ones are really safety related the IT projects there's one project that is really crucial in terms of network security and reliability and then additional resources but I fully understand that everything
in this column in that column is just kicking a can down you know down the roads So, next Thursday when we go to Haritch's finance committee, you know, the conversation that Michael and I will have is, you know, like as a town, do you at some point say, "Okay, we we
don't want to kick this can completely down the road, you know, which is just creating just a big fiscal cliff looming out there." you know, do you, you know, package, you know, for, you know, you know, for the taxpayers and voters and,
you know, in Harwitch, you know, here's this this list of, you know, of things that are in that in that budget that, you know, that are important. They don't, you know, they're they're ones that aren't staffing. So, they're, you know, they're they're things that would
be more, we'll call them one time, you know, onetime costs, but do you, you know, do you package those? and uh and and look at, you know, do you have some sort of override to support that piece of a school district budget? But, you know, but my worry, you know, my worry
becomes, you know, that 4.7 if that's what Harit's Haritch's maximum is is, you know, significantly off of what we could say is level services. and uh you know and that's you know that's really I think the first time in the 13 years
that we've been monway that we're really kind of bumping up against uh you know that that impact level services >> I think it's worth just saying we don't know for sure how big the gap's going to be so we're just at the start of the conversation we hope it won't be that
large >> Eric um I'm I'm sure they're going to come looking for something from us too but that that's not really the reason I chimed in. So the 4.7 did they give some indication of how they came up with that number? Was
it just what they what they think they can afford and still fund the rest of their budget or >> So I I at least uh when I looked at the interim town managers January 12th uh you know sort of present
you know budget presentation and recommendations that uh to the select board. It looks like that's that's what the town of Haritch's overall wherewithal. So the you know on the town side of the budget it was going up by
4.7% and use that same use that same number for the you know for the school district you know for the school district increase. So it seems at least you know from you know from my you know initial look that that's what they see as their wherewithal for what they can
sustain as an increase. >> Joanne you had a question. >> Thank you Mr. Chair. And uh your job is to present what you think is best for your school system. On the other hand, when we look at the whole budget, we have to think about uh what can our
taxpayers pay and if we ask more than they can afford to pay, then we have to create programs for those who can't afford to pay what we've said is our tax rate. So, we have that's our our big decision to make and our problem and
your problem is to present the best you can for our school children >> and that's and that's what we've tried to do. So, you know, so you know, Michael spent the better part of the last hour presenting obvious presenting >> very well done >> level service >> and I'm the one that's you know the
bearer of the bad news that you know that to back into a 4.7 means that we have to be really strategic about where do you go in and and cut or you know you know defer cost um to you know to make
sure that the the students are getting what they need and that the families are getting the services that they need from the school district. >> Tracy, >> thank you, Mr. Chair. I think I'm confused on some of the mechanics here.
I mean, for Haritch to say that they're that they're hard and fast on 4.7 when they they have the ability to increase their their tax rate to
compensate for what their budget needs to be. Are they saying that they are incapable of raising their tax rate to meet the needs? And what does that mean? Where does that leave us in terms of our
commitment to each other as a school district? Is one bound by another's limitations? Um, and the only choice we then have is to make up the difference or cut cut it the same. Um I is there
some language to which we're we're connected with that and has this happened before where one town is refusing to discuss meeting the needs of the requested budget? >> I I I would say they haven't refused to
discuss. Michael and I last was it Monday or Tuesday presented at the Harish select board meeting and you know presented the budget and I was I just chimed in at the end because it it went over really well um for the select board and but I I said do understand and this
was before the health insurance numbers came in. I said do understand you know this is 1.5 million above your number and with health insurance numbers coming in more favorably it's down to 1.2. too. But, you know, but it's still, you know,
magical thinking that that I can go land this plane and have it and and look people in the eye and say, "Oh, yeah, this is still level services, you So it's it's trying to do the best to have the services as you know covered as best we can but we will have to go and look
at you know what you know what sort of programs might or you know or what sort of staffing might need to get reduced and try to have it not impact programs >> and Carrie and then Barbara.
So, um, as far as budgets go, there is a maximum levy that you can tax to without going for an override. And I think that's what a lot of communities are facing with the increases in their budgets because we can only tax up to a
certain amount of money unless it's a Prop 2 and a half, meaning a borrowing that gets approved as Prop 2 and a half, a capital exclusion that gets approved. And this is above your levy. So, you have borrowings that you can have above your levy. You can have capital exclusions above your levy. And then
there's overrides. And overrides seem to be a common thing now because we're bound to that Prop 2 and a half of a maximum levy. And the budgets are growing faster than what the town's growth is growing. So, I think that's part of the reason for Harwitch in
saying this is what we can afford without having to go for an override. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. You're welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so if I'm understanding, Haritch has said 4.7, but that isn't necessarily hard and fast. Like you're speaking to the Haritch
Finance Committee tomorrow night, right? >> Uh, next Thursday. >> Next Thursday. So maybe you can convince them to have some sway with the select board, >> right? >> We can hope. >> Thanks. And presumably the regional
agreement says something about an irreconcilable difference if it comes to that. >> I don't mean to ask you to speak to it necessarily. I you know again I you know one of the one of the things that I will
be sharing tonight at at our school committee meeting uh I I'll I'll be actually doing a little a little forward uh before Michael's uh budget hearing to to really talk about some of the great successes that the school district has
had over the 13 years that I've been there because this will be my last budget hearing uh you know for us and and I think One of the things that we can be really proud of as a district is when I when I came here 13 years ago, there were so many children that were
leaving our our town schools both in Chadam and in Harwitch for charter schools and for school districts elsewhere. And you know, we you know, we have you know, we have essentially seen no change in the loss to charter
schools. And one might say, well, that's not a huge improvement. But what what has changed since regionalization is is that Sturis doubled its size from 425 students to, you know, to 850 and
Lighthouse Charter School moved into East Haritch. And despite that happening, we've seen slightly fewer kids heading off to charter than, you know, than when regionalization was being, you know, contemplated. You know, when you look at
at the finances that we've saved, you know, you by not heading off to charter schools, like we we have a mere fraction, a third of the kids head off to charter from Monoy compared to either of the two school districts on each side of us. and and that saves $2 million is
staying with us here. But, you know, but when parents are worried about their schools, they make decisions for their kids, you know, like and and it it doesn't take much for families to go and say, "Okay, we're going to go head al
head elsewhere." You know, the same thing with school choice to other districts. you know, it was, you know, you know, there was close to one in five kids were heading off to another to other school districts and that has dropped by three quarters, you
know. So, you know, so those again, you know, that's, you know, just even at $5,000 a piece, that's that's over $1.2 million that's staying with us rather than, you know, heading off to you heading off to other districts. And I think that's it's you know it's not just
a financial thing at the end of the day. It's it's just a town you know I think families really there's a lot more pride in the local schools than I think existed when we you know when we started and we want to keep that that going and
not see us you know not see us go backwards and have to try to claw those claw families back. >> Thank you Scott. Uh Stephen you have your hand up online. >> I do. Thanks, Andy. Um, I wonder if there's
merit in the committee um taking a vote in support or I guess in support of the the incremental 1.2 if we just formally want to go on the record. Uh so it can be noted to our counterparts in Harowitz
and to the Harvard select board and the Har manager that as far as the Chattam Finance Committee is concerned uh there's a greater longer term risk to backsliding uh given kind of all the the accomplishments that Scott and Michael
just referenced. Now I'll I'll defer to you on your role as acting chair, but >> um committee members, what you feel like doing or do you want to hear the rest of >> Scott? I'm inclined to agree with
Stephen that it that to set send a message along with them as they go to present to Haritch that um that the Cadam Finance Committee let them know whether or not the Chadam Chadam Finance Committee is on board with what they're
proposing. >> Barbara, you're nodding. Uh are you making a motion to that effect? >> Yes. I move that the Cadam Finance Committee um it is it preliminary it should I say
>> I presume so Stephen I has his hand up again maybe he wants to clarify >> I I failed to lower from uh my previous rates but um I would second Tracy's motion >> I guess I didn't really complete it so
I'm just going to say preliminary approval of the Monoy region school district's budget. >> Sounds pretty fair, Eric. >> Um, so just some comments on the motion. So I I, you know, I'm supportive of sending a message with these gentlemen
to their to their other um discussions. Um, I think we can do that without the language that you just used as far as, you know, because I think there's a lot to be discussed. I think there's regardless there's going to be some changes. I I mean I don't I don't think
that they're they're going to show up and they say Chadam Spannence Committee thinks it's great and everyone's just going to run run and say that's good. So So I think we need to be cautious on how we structure the motion, you know, you know that that that indicates, you know,
for my opinion our support of the concept and the support of of the of a level level funding of uh I mean a level services concept. Um um but I think I think the way that I heard your motion, it's kind of supporting what we have in front of us
now, which I'm not even sure I do completely. So, >> yes, I agree. I was reaching a bit for what the verbiage should be. >> Tracy, why don't you just, you know, withdraw your motion and with Steven's >> I withdraw the motion. I'm gonna let John or Eric come up with them.
>> I'm not going to make a motion, but um actually I'd like to um ask Carrie or someone else who can sort of crystal ball what's going to happen between now and town meeting. Who who ultimately is this going to be a discussion at the select
board levels before we end up voting at town meeting? >> Yeah. Yes. So we'll we'll be going back to to the Harish select board and we have as yet to go to the Cadam select board >> and then the district had the districts are votes on the final budget on March
12th. I mean it doesn't mean it can't change after that but that's supposed to be you know our final approved budget. >> Yeah. I mean I think you guys have done a a great job describing um you know this the acceleration of our
structural budget, right? and the complications, the limitations that you have to make moves. Um I think this is part of the problem that um both of our communities in the broader county are dealing with. >> Yeah.
>> Um this isn't unique. Um our community made a significant investment in the infrastructure and in moving towards regionalization. Um there's clearly more problems on the horizon. I did a little bit of modeling
and thinking about if this current rate of growth in terms of expense continues, how quickly we're going to fall off that cliff. >> Yeah. >> You referenced. >> Um, you know, our community can probably absorb a 3 to 5% uh increase year-over-year.
Um, but right now uh this is outpacing our tax revenues and so on and so forth. So you know if we keep seeing 7% >> plus start thinking about capital investment and maintenance of our infrastructure
um that compounds on the debt service side too. So >> y >> um but in theory I I'm supportive of saying um we've re at least as one member of the finance committee we've received this this news. We're not happy
with it, but um to say the least, but uh um we we really hope that um our counterparts in the region um can find a way for us to move forward another year. And I would as a taxpayer
in Chadam, I would really want to see my community and Haritch sit down and figure out some other things that can be done to offset these costs. Stephen, Stephen, your hand is okay. >> Yeah. Thanks, Handy. Um, I wonder if
um, acknowledging the points that Eric and John have made, if a motion to um, have a best efforts to mitigate the adverse consequences of contemplated budget cuts would be more palatable to
the committee rather than just a flat de facto, you know, bring the 1.2 back. >> Joanne, you have something to say? >> Yes. Uh, Mr. Chair, thank you. This is a preliminary budget that we're hearing.
Uh it hasn't gone before the finance committee in Harwitch or the selectman. I don't think it's up to us to tell the selectman or the of Haritch or the finance committee of Haritch what to do
about their own budget. So, I'm I'm not going to vote for this because I'm waiting to see what the final budget presentation is. And I think it's it's uh confusing for us to try and tell the other town what to do. And I think it's
confusing for our taxpayers to vote on something that may not be presented uh three weeks from now. So, I I whatever we're whatever this motion is, I'm against it. tracing. >> Well, there's currently no motion,
>> right? >> But if someone were to put a motion forward, perhaps language of more like the Cadam Finance Committee supports the idea of level services. >> I have a problem with that. Anybody else
>> or not at all? >> Is there a second? >> I'll second for discussion. >> Okay, good. Any further discussion? We support the idea of level services. All right. Hearing none, those in favor of that motion say I.
All right. Oh, I have to do roll call. I keep forgetting that bureaucratic necessity. Okay. >> What was it? >> That doesn't bind us to saying we support a number or not. Just the concept. Right. >> Right. Right. So, the idea that we're
supporting a level services budget. Um but the final number is still to come. >> Yes, John. >> Um before before you call the role, I just if I could ask one more question. You today I did my homework based on the January numbers
>> came in with some ideas. Today you came in and presented new numbers hot off the press that >> made things slightly better. >> Yeah. Do you anticipate anything else happening between now and our town meetings that could again make things slightly better >> or do you see things potentially making
them worse? >> No, I don't they I don't think it'll make them worse. I think it might get slightly better. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. So, I'll go ahead and call on the role. Um Stephen Daniel, >> I'm supportive.
>> Uh Joanne Sprag, >> no. >> Okay. Robert Madison, >> yes. >> John Peplardo, >> yes. >> Christristen Andres, >> yes. >> Tracy Shields, >> yes.
>> Tommy Don, >> Tommy, you still there? You're on mute. Oh, maybe not. All right, Eric Whitley. >> Um, yes. All right. Unless Tommy turns on his mic, we'll count him as a
sub abstain. Okay. All right. So, the motion and chair votes I the motion prevails. Um, it's not a very strong or factual thing you can do, but you know, >> I'm taking if you if you choose to.
There's no reason in the world you can't pass that message along to other people. >> Okay. >> Whoever they may be. >> Well, we appreciate your support. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> We have two I have two other articles Carrie just mentioned. I don't have slides on it, but maybe I can speak to them quickly. >> Please.
>> One. So, one is the replacement of the roof at the middle school. So we have, as you know, we're currently have a project going going to replace the siding and we have also been accepted into the Massachusetts School Building Authorities program for replacing the
roof. So that is, you know, there's basically two phases for that. The first is that it's called the feasibility study. the design and we've completed the first phase and that's been submitted to the MSBA's board who's meeting in a a week and a half and then
to approve that design and then we move into construction. So the total project I'm sorry I don't have the numbers right here but it's around 11.8 $8 million as a total but project budget and the reimbursement from the MSBA for to the
district would be around three and a little and some change million leaving the total cost to the district of around 8 million but it's not final yet and there's a long way to go until we get the construction but in theory that's the maximum the a maximum grant from the MSBA and hopefully the maximum for the project because it does include a
contingency and so on. So this our phase now is that we will be submitting but the we can't move forward with the project until we have approval to borrow the funds a the funds to pay for it. So we get MSBA approval and then hopefully go to town meeting in the spring to get
approval for the district to borrow the funds to do that project and once if accepted so the the cost of borrowing would be reflected in the assessment. So it's not additional costs. It'll be included in those figures you see at the moment. It's not, you know, the project
won't re start until April of next year. So a year and a half, a year and a couple months from now. And the first debt payments won't really hit us until FY28. But when when they do, you'll see it in the assessment. So it's not in addition to what we've already presented. But we just need your approval and town team's
approval to borrow the funds. So literally just borrow the funds. So that's one. >> So we I don't see an article in front. >> We don't have the article. So >> we have an article yet still needs to go to >> going to school committee tonight. >> Right. And
>> then it'll come to you. >> Okay. And a capital planning committee for both towns. Is that right? >> Yes. Yes. I think so. It's >> What was that? >> We don't have a capital planning committee. >> Okay. >> It's you guys and the select board.
>> Okay. We'll come back. >> And then the other one is the so the we have a TV studio at the high school and occasionally we request funds from the PEG cable access fund to help offset those costs. And we have a equipment
refreshment project. So we're going to request a total of $60,000. So I think it breaks down to like $20,000 roughly from the Chattam. But, you know, I just want since we're here, I just thought I'd give you an overview. That's also going to school committee tonight and
then I'll pres it to Carrie with the details and we can come back and discuss. >> Yep. Go ahead. >> Just for clarification for everyone. So, the the way the pro these kind of projects are aortioned between the towns. Could you just define that
please? So the so the the the this roof project as I say it will be part of the budget and it it'll be assessed as part of the debt within the project which is based on a three-year foundation enrollment average. So basically the share between the two towns is
determined by the share of the total foundation enrollment of the two towns and it works out around 72 to 28 or 73 you know in that neighborhood to Haritch and 25 to 26 27 to Chattam >> and the roof project will get state
funding to help >> to offset a little over a third of the project >> and the way the regional agreement works is it's recal the amount paid by each town is recalculated did every year updated with the new uh foundation enrollment numbers. Then the the PEG
cable access funds are a little different because it's not part of the budget. You know, the the town has a separate fund for that and we use there's kind of it's not it's not been very consistent, but we're we're using essentially whatever the if those items were in the budget, the way they'd be
assessed, that's how we're assessing it. So most of it it's high school operating. So that's district operating. And again, it's just it's foundation enrollment again, but this time it's just 5 through 12, not the whole grade because it's at the high school.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mark. John, >> I had two quick questions if I could. It's probably not the right term, but I think it gets to the point. What's what's our current vacancy in the regional school system? How many more students could we serve in the infrastructure we have?
>> That's a very loaded question. Um I I would say it it depends it depends on where in the system >> you know so you know so I would say we have we have a capacity that we could
probably serve 500 additional students but they'd really need to come in at the at the lower grade levels. So the high school is really running at capacity right now. Um it's it's our lower grade levels. You
know, when I was talking earlier about about Chattam Elementary School having Yang once had three grades per grade level, kindergarten through, you know, through fourth grade and now largely having one and Haritch having six per
grade level and now having four. There's there are there's empty space there. There's empty space at the middle school, the high school, you know. So the bubble, you know, the bubble I believe was uh was like Booker's Booker's graduating class would have
been sort of like that bubble year of of children. So two year, you know, last year was sort of like the last large graduating class and every class behind it is a little smaller and a little smaller and a little smaller. But
uh you know and and those smaller levels are going to be making their way in the next 10 years up you up to the high school. So it'll get you know the high school will have capacity too in the future. And you can see or see that in this chart that I just put up which is
our our forecast for enrollment next year. But you can see grade 12 is 147 in that class. But if you go back even grade seven is 120. So when those 147 kids leave, they're replaced by just 120. >> Yeah, I saw that. I It just wasn't clear
to me if we were totally optimized how many more >> students we could educate in the system. So it's it's four to 500, but not >> it's spread throughout. Sure. Yeah. And again, you know, like you know, the the
challenges are if you know, kids that are coming in through school choice, you can't fill those classrooms and and keep keep down costs, you know, so you know, so you know, you know, NSET
has a different approach where they will fill classrooms and but their per pupil, you know, ends up being, you know, $3,000 more because you're having to go make up for all of the, you know, all
the students that are, you know, that are coming in, you know. So, it's so it's, you know, there's there's space, you know, there's space in the buildings. Um uh but you know you know it's it's just kind of a question on will the you know will the young
families you know on Cape Cod rebound and at least you know there's been a three decade long trend across Cape Cod that that it's been going only down and I think with the exception Yarmouth at the moment seems to be growing and DY is
actually actually seeing an increase in in its enrollment. I think we have a couple other committees dealing with that question here. >> Sure, we do. I guess that's probably it. Thank you. Appreciate it.
>> Thank you as always. >> I really appreciate it, >> Terry. I believe the Community Preservation Act articles are coming up. >> Yep. Thank you very much. Um, we have community preservation committee articles to review. There are currently
13. Um, there were 13 applications. Um, the community preservation >> Stephen, you've got your hand up. Is there >> Yeah, just I just want to make a quick observation uh relative to the to Joann's initial comments. Um, just
wanted to be clear that if I'm not mistaken, I think Kerry said on Tuesday that the funding for the software update uh was going to be through the use of free cash, not through the tax levy. Carrie, is that correct?
>> Uh, yes, that is correct. Thank you, Stephen. uh the financial um management system is using free cash to fund that and being offset by any grants that we received that we applied for not using the tax levy.
>> Okay. I just thought that was important to clarify. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> I appreciate that. >> Thanks, Gary. Thanks, David. >> Right. I don't know how to >> All right, Gary. Welcome. >> Thank you. Good afternoon. Um, I'm Gary Tennyson, the chair of the Chattam
Community uh community preservation committee. As uh as Carrie said, we received 13 applications this year uh for CPA funding. Uh the committee felt that all 13 were
worthy projects, but uh they totaled about 3.3 million and the funds we had available were 2.6 uh million roughly. And so um what we wound up doing was we were able to
reduce the amount that we were recommending for three of those in order to uh get the all 13 projects funded to some degree. um uh within our budget. So, I think what I'll do is go through this table.
Um I don't think the packet you have is quite in the same order, so you may have to shuffle around a little bit to see the the actual warrant articles. Uh but this table does show the ones that were debated the most and where where we made
some of the changes. So, I think it's uh prudent to to take them in the order that they appear here. Uh the first one is is uh a recommendation to provide $750,000 to the affordable housing trust fund. As
I think you all know, we've uh the the Chattam CPA has been the largest funer to the trust fund and over the past several years we've provided roughly 500,000 uh each year to the trust fund.
Usually those funds have been um general support to the trust fund that they could use in any way and they've primarily used it to purchase land uh that uh is currently being developed for affordable housing. This year, the the
uh fund in their application indicated that the funds would primarily be used to support or to help subsidize uh the home ownership housing that's being developed at Stepping Stone. And
the committee was very supportive of that. So, we actually earmarked our $750,000 to be used for uh the project at Stepping Stone uh and necessarily the affordable uh units at at Stepping
Stone. Okay. Um do you want to take a How are you going to handle this? Do you want to take a some kind of a vote on each one or >> I'm not seeing anybody springing up question except perhaps Stephen. Stephen
your hand is still up. >> Sorry that was inordinate but unless I mean the only thought I would have is unless people object I would think that these are largely not terribly controversial. So do we move the whole slate? I'll defer to you Andy.
We vote on them independently. >> I think he's saying >> I think he's saying to wait until we hear them all and then vote as a slate. >> I think that's how I understood his comment. >> That makes sense. >> Question, >> please. Barber, go ahead. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Gary, do you know off the top of your head how many units
are going to be on the Stepping Stones project and how many of those are going to be affordable? Um, I think it's debatable whether they're going to be 12 or 14. Um, and
I think it's four that are going to be affordable. >> So, it's not a majority. It's I think it is I think it is four that are designated to be affordable. >> And do we know how much they're going to cost?
Um, the I think it's I'm I'm just I'm just trying to recall listening to the to the presentation. Do you know, Gary? There was a presentation on Tuesday and um the cost did vary between the units because there was a
couple units that were only one bedroom that I believe cost like um I think it was around 350 400,000 remember >> um and then there was a couple of uh two-bedroom units and threebedroom
units. Um, the costs were rel relatively obviously attainable, but um, they're God, I can't exactly. I'm trying to think exactly how much they cost, and I wish I had it in front of me. I'll look for it and I'll get back to you. >> I'm not trying to be difficult. I'm just
wondering how far the 750 is going to go on those. So, they're going to be using um attainable housing funds mostly to fund the project and then there will be offsets from the affordable housing as well that they'll pay for. >> Okay. >> And they and they have I think it's 3.5
million in the trust fund currently. So, this is adding to that. >> Okay. Okay. But most of that 3.5 I think is is also CPA funding. So would still have the the affordable restriction associated with it.
>> Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you Gary. I think consistent with Stephen's suggestion, why don't we just keep going down the I think this next is the ARC. >> Yes. So the next one is um this application actually came to us from the housing assistance corporation
and they're proposing to develop a new assistance resource center on uh West Main Street in Hyannis that's going to serve the whole Cape and the islands. Uh it's basically a a homeless shelter and
they're going to convert an office building. Actually, the office building that they had been using and that uh I think it's three other uh nonprofit organizations have been using uh into a uh a homeless shelter. Uh total cost of
the project is $6 million. They've gotten I think it's three mill three and a half million uh from the state to purchase the the uh property and the building. Uh and they're seeking $100,000
from the uh each of the CP uh AS on the 15 towns uh on the Cape. So they've gone to all of the 15 towns. Uh, so far I I tried to look it up and
Sandwich I know has approved their $100,000. Um, the only other one I could find was at Orleans uh did not approve um their contribution. Uh most of the other ones have it under consideration. I think
Haritch actually meets today their CPC and and we'll decide. Anyways, um our our committee felt this was a worthwhile regional project uh that we ought to contribute to and recommended um
approval of the $100,000 contribution from Chadam. >> Thank you, Gary. Um one question I have is this a a one-time expenditure or is there some expectation of continuing funding? No, I believe it would be a one-time because it's the cost of
converting an office building uh into a homeless shelter. >> I appreciate it. Thank you. Others go ahead, John. >> Nothing to do with the subject matter. Um just curious, we can use Cadam funds for construction of
properties in other towns. >> Yes, we've done that uh a number of times. So, we've contributed to Orleans, right? >> The affordable housing in Brewster, in Dennis, >> and in Orleans, which is uh um rather upsetting that Orleans decided not to
support uh anything outside of Orleans. >> Who knows? Cooperation may collapse. >> Okay, others. Go ahead, Kristen. >> U not specific to this article, but um and I didn't see it here. Uh, real
quickly, do you have totals on what are set aside currently in each of the account for each of the various interests? I'm wondering in particular what's in the open space account right now u versus the others. >> Yeah. Well, the the situation that we've had for a number of years is that we've
had more in the open space reserve account than we've received applications to uh put a demand on that reserved account. That's that's true this year as
well. Um so um we had uh I think it was 480,000 uh 418,000. Thank you, Megan. Uh in the open reserve account and it was uh I think 300 and
some thousand in the application. So we'll actually wind up this year with um funding in the open space still having funding in the open space reserve account that can only be used for open space and recreation. the other two um
historical and affordable housing. Um we've tended to have more applications than than we have uh funds available for. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Uh let's see. Lower Cape Housing Institute is next. >> Yes, the lower uh Cape Housing
Institute. This is a a um uh funding that we've recommended every two years. This is an organization that assists uh the towns in uh the lower cape, upper and lower cape uh with their
uh affordable housing interests. Uh so they provide training, they provide advice, uh they provide a a regional approach and the um committee members that we have who work on affordable
housing say that we get more than our money's worth from this $20,000 investment. >> All right, I guess keep might as keep going. >> Okay. Um, so now we're getting into um two of the ones where
uh we've decided to make a uh recommendation of a lesser amount. They're both from uh Penrose and they're for the affordable housing projects in uh Chadam. uh the first one on uh
meeting house uh road, the second one uh the uh main street affordable housing projects. When the uh committee debated this uh as I said, we knew we we weren't going to have sufficient funds to support all of the applications.
uh we felt that these were two of the ones where our funding really wasn't a critical component of the the total cost. Uh our funding is
really more of a a symbol a demonstration that there is strong local support for these projects. Uh and in addition to that, that would help Penrose uh in their applications to the state uh
for the subsidies that they can get from the state and federal government uh which is a competitive process. And so they argue that that local support is very important. Um, Penrose is also going to our uh neighboring communities
and requesting funds from their CPAs for our affordable housing as they did uh previously when they came to us. And uh so we felt that if if Chaden didn't make a contribution, it would be hard for them to argue that that neighboring
towns should. At the same time, since we didn't have enough money to cover all these projects, we felt that we should uh provide a total of 500,000 to the two projects.
And um um jumping a little bit of ahead, uh we decided to provide 400,000 recommend 400,000 for the Main Street project since that's more of a fate to complete. uh that's moving forward.
There's still considerable discussion about meeting house road and so the final u decision was to provide or to recommend $400,000 for the affordable housing project on Main Street and
um 100,0001 for the um the meetinghouse road project. I can explain why that's $1 if you if you would like. >> Now, the reality is we actually took a
vote on Meeting House Road first uh at 100,000 uh and it lost. It lost uh 3 to six, but um some of those six thought 100,000 was too much and some of the six thought
100,000 was too little. Uh and then when we came back to it after we put 400,000 into uh Main Street, um some of the committee felt we shouldn't um undo a a vote that we had previously taken. So we
took a vote on a different amount uh 10 100,0001 uh and recommended that. >> Okay. Any questions on either of these? I'd say. >> Okay, >> Mr. Chair.
>> Oh, Carrie, I'm sorry. >> I want to go back to the affordable housing. I got some information that I found um so that way it doesn't, you know, so we're all clear. Um it's affordable and attainable. The affordable housing is 25% of the project
and 75% is attainable. There's 14 units, possibly 12, but as proposed was 14 units. Um there are two onebedrooms, eight twobedrooms, and four
threebedrooms. Um the percentages are 80% AMI for four units, 120% AMI for four units, and 150% AMI for six units. Um the cost differs
between the AMIs. So, um I don't know if you want me to go through the breakdown, but a onebedroom for an 80% AMI is 220 220,000. And then a threebedroom is 290. And then I'll just I won't go into all
the details, but then there's 120% AMI, which a onebedroom would be 410,000. A three-bedroom would cost 520,000. and 150 AMI. A one-bedroom would be 520,000 and a three-bedroom would be
665. And these are just estimates, but um that we received from hack. I'll send this to you. >> Thanks. >> So that way you have it. >> So did I understand that the 750 can go to any of those or only to the attainables?
>> Only to the affordable. >> Only to the affordable. Yep. The attainable is being paid out of the we have another trust fund for that. >> Okay. Thanks. You're welcome. >> We had a question. Brian,
please take the mic. Identify yourself. >> Brian Phillips, 374 Orleans Road. Um, so I attended all the ZBA meetings uh for the Penrose projects and um the more I learned about them, you know, the more I kind of learned that there's
going to be a lot of unattended unintended consequences of this project. Um, one of my big issues with uh the CPC funding this is that well I got a couple is that it's a for-profit uh corporation.
Um, so you know, the state and the federal, they get the state and federal tax credits pretty much to pay for everything and now they're asking more money from us. And my my biggest uh complaint I don't you know I don't know if I explained it correctly to the CPC
but in the uh land uh disposition agreement that we have with Penrose um it states in section D that the town um that we won't provide any further financial assistance to them yet they're asking for it and I know they're kind of
saying well we need support but you know this is a for-profit corporation and they're kind of going to do anything they possibly can to improve their bottom line. Um, and that includes asking, you know, CPC money from all the towns. So, I have a pretty big issue
with, you know, giving them more money when we have an agreement with them saying that they would that we would not provide any more money to them. And I think that's I think that's, you know, I'm going to keep it nice. So, that's everything I have to say about them today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Brian.
Mr. Chair, >> go ahead. Joanne, >> would you like to respond to that, please? >> Um, yes, I will respond to that. Um, first of all, we we did look at the um I don't know if we'd call them the
application the the um Penrose what Penrose submitted to the to the town I think to the affordable uh uh housing trust fund. What you've what
you see on the website when you look it up currently is that Penrose does state that they intend to come to the Cadam CPC for 500,000 for Main Street and
200,000 for Meeting House Road. So, I'm not quite sure um you know, there's been a lot of debate uh within Chadam and I'm not sure uh when Mr. Phillips's um statement was
made, but what's currently on the U town website are the um Penrose proposals and they do include funding, proposed funding from the CBA.
>> It's right it's right there. You want to read it? >> I can I can show you what's on the website that it's um this has not been out of I just kind of feel like they've been dishonest a lot and this is another step in that direction. Thank you.
>> Brian, are you presenting as well to the select board on this? >> Are you presenting as well to the select board on these two questions? >> Uh, yes. I go to every meeting I possibly can to talk about this. >> All right. >> Carrie, has the select board taken up
either of these articles? >> They have not. They see them on I believe February 24th. >> Okay. All right. I would just encourage Brian to go onto the website and look at the proposals that are there from
Penrose and you will find what I just said. >> Okay. Uh Gary, you want to proceed? >> Yes. Uh the next item is the uh exterior restoration of the historic Harbormaster
uh building. Um this uh comes to us from the town. Uh Greg Berman and uh uh Jason Holm, the harbor master presented this. I have to to say that their original application
was um uh premature. I guess I would say uh I don't think they had done uh a very um thorough job of uh looking into what the uh
historic aspects of this building were. And in their discussion with us, one of our committee members, Nancy Bar, uh, who is on the historical commission, who is an archivist and who, uh, knows how
to, uh, search historic buildings, uh, and, uh, uh, has the access to that through Atwood House and the and the library. worked uh with them to find
pictures of what the building looked like when it was originally built uh way back uh I think uh in the 1800s and um agreed to work with uh with them to
put together a first of all a comprehensive plan for the uh historic restor restoration of the building, but then also to support the reconstruction of a stairwell stairway and a deck which
they felt had become unsafe and that needed to be taken care of very quickly. So, the $100,000 uh provides the plan for the historic restoration and the restoration of the stairway and
the deck in accordance with that plan. In other words, the the stairway and the deck will look they'll be safe, but they'll also look like uh what they looked like in the original historic building. And we expect uh the town to
come back next year with probably something like 200 quest for something like $250,000 to do the actual historic restoration of the siding, the windows uh and other parts of the other parts of the
building. >> Thank you, Gary. Questions? No, don't see any. All right, moving on. Okay. So, um the restoration and preservation of the Maronei Lattice
Towers. Uh this is one where we actually wound up reducing uh what was requested. Uh but we did that by reducing what's going to get done as well. So, uh, I think it was in 2022 that the
town first came to the, uh, CPC, uh, and at that time requested, I believe it was $284,000 to, uh, restore all three of the Maronei towers.
um once they got the uh bids in um for and and there's a limited number of vendors so they didn't get many bids in the first place but once they got the bids in it turned out to restore one tower was going to be about 20 they
estimate now $221,000. So they only had enough money uh to restore one tower uh a little bit more uh than what it took to do one one tower. And so they came back to us uh requesting 455,400
uh to do all three towers. And uh that's with some contingency uh included in that. And um our committee had a I would say a very lively debate on whether the town
needed three towers, two towers or one tower in order to kind of maintain the uh historic picture of the um Maronei period. And what we wound up uh recommending uh in part because we
weren't sure about whether we needed one, two, or three. Uh and in part because we needed to reduce the budget uh was to recommend $200,000 which in addition to what they have left over uh from the first tower would allow
them to restore a second tower. And uh we'll address I suspect we'll address the question of whether we need a third tower next year or perhaps the year after. >> Thank you, Gary. Questions for Gary on this?
>> Okay, please. >> All right. U the people's uh cemetery restoration. Uh this comes from the cemetery commission and um uh the CPC has been recommending CPA funding for uh
restoration of u uh cemeteries in Chadam starting with Seaside. I think if you've seen uh what they did at Seaside, it uh it really revitalized that cemetery. Uh they're now proposing to do this at the
uh people's cemetery. Okay. Anybody have questions for during this? No. Okay. Gary, please proceed. >> All right. The cemetery commission also came to us with a um request for um 98,860
to um restore and and uh improve the walkway to the uh MAC monument restoration. Uh they originally asked for the whole amount from the historic uh but in looking into this um we felt
that the uh the pathway is not really historic. The monument is historic. the pathway isn't uh but this is really a park and and we felt that uh uh restoring the pathway and making it they
want to make it an ADA pathway uh could be supported under recreation. So, this is one where we were able to uh help out our budget by tapping into that open space recreation reserve account uh for 78,000
uh of the total budget. So, what what we wound up recommending was the total amount but split between historic and open space recreation. >> I see a question. >> Go ahead.
Is this town property? >> Um, I believe it is town property. Yes. >> What was I Oh, I'm sorry. I think I'm jumping ahead. Never mind. Sorry. Thank you. >> Okay. Just briefly, Gary, does this
include the area of the um Seaman's buring ground? >> Yes, it does. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. What do you got left there? Jam Beach signs. All right. Um, again, a town project uh
to uh welcome up with new uh Chadam beach signs. The old beach signs are uh plywood signs that uh have seen a lot of wear and aren't the most welcoming to our beaches. Uh and so the uh recreation
department, beach and recreation department uh is proposing to come up with new signs um through a local contractor uh that will be um um I guess poly vinyl and much more uh permanent
and much more attractive and we'll have uh space for more information and be able to uh change that information more more readily. Okay, >> thank you. I don't see any questions on that. Oh, go ahead.
>> into the small stuff. Um, is there an idea of the the lifespan of these structures? Because obviously anytime we put anything, whether it's a bench or a signage, um, there's a life expectancy and then there's a maintenance issue. So, I'm just curious if if they told you
how long these signs might >> our committee did ask that question and I believe the answer was at least 10 years was >> but I think that was a guess on guess on their part as well. So, >> oh, moving on. Frostfish Creek Restoration and Revitalization.
>> All right. This is an application from the Cadam uh Conservation Foundation. Um interesting project. the um the CPC recommended, I think it was in 2019,
uh a study um that the the foundation was going to do on the impact of sea level rise on Fosfish Creek. And while while they were out there doing some surveying, they noticed somebody else
doing some surveying. Uh it turned to be turned out to be uh folks from the state department of transportation who were planning to significantly increase the size of the culvert uh under Route 28 leading into Frostfish
Creek, which would uh again significantly increase the title flow um onto the Chattam Conservation uh cut preserve. It's a 55 acre preserve affecting most of that preserve,
changing it from a predominantly freshwater uh wetland into an esturine marine uh wetland. And uh the state really uh was not all that the
department of transportation interest in what was going to happen upstream. So the town and the conservation foundation um sought uh input from other state agencies and so the division of
ecological restoration from the state uh got involved uh became very interested in the project designated it a priority project which has led to additional state funding that the town has been able to get toward the
project. Uh but the conservation foundation is still responsible for uh some of the upland areas, particularly the old cranberry bog up at the end of uh Frostfish Creek where there's a weir uh that probably should
be removed so that the tidal flow goes up there as well. So this this study will uh it's not more than a study. This uh project will enable the conservation foundation to work with the town and to
work with uh two or three state agencies uh on this overall project and hopefully uh we'll wind up with a marine wetland that we can uh all be proud of. >> Thank you, Gary.
>> Asked me like we could go to Mil Pond. >> Yeah. Uh the next project is also from the Chattam Conservation Foundation. Um a few years ago um with uh CPA funding, the Chattam Conservation Foundation put
a trail uh into their preserve um off uh Stage Harbor Road just behind the Atwood House uh that goes all the way down to the an overlook on the Mitchell River. It's become a very
popular trail. It's right in town. It's uh right where an awful lot of people uh walk. And uh uh the foundation uh has decided that in addition to the trail that's already there, which is a very um
in some places kind of a steep trail, a difficult trail, that they would also like to put in a uh an ADA uh compatible trail, a uh an accessibility trail. So, it'll include part of the current trail,
uh, but there will also be significant new parts that, uh, that enable it to be ADA. It will also have a an overlook uh, on the Mitchell River. Uh it'll have two parking places off from uh uh uh Stage
Harbor Road that uh people can unload their wheelchairs or whatever uh they need to do in order to to gain access. >> Thank you, Gary. Questions on this, please. John, >> does does something like that have to go before the conservation commission?
>> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh all of these the Frostfish Creek uh and um Mill Pond will have to go uh and Frostfish Creek will have to go uh before a number of permitting
agencies. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Kristen. >> Um any other permitting needed? I'm thinking about the parking area because I know that was kind of a difficult challenge in years past. Um,
I don't know if there's any permitting needed for the parking area. Um, certainly for the areas that get down into the uh into the wetlands, they'll have to go before the conservation >> more zoning issues. >> Yeah. Uh,
>> and I hope you don't I'm not pushing that on the project at all. I'm just raising it. Um and given that this is on private property belonging to the foundation, it it's presumably open to the public then. >> Yes. Uh the the current trail, as I
said, is is open to the public. I think all the Chadam Conservation Foundation trails are are not just open to the public, but the the foundation has walks and talks and really promotes uh >> Understood. Understood. But land trust
properties are privately owned and they're not always I mean I I'm not telling anything you don't know but you know sometimes people give land to a land trust and with a stipulation that it just be preserved in its natural state and there not be trails. So I'm just asking the question because it's
not a given that all of CCF's land is a land trust is open to the public for access. >> You're right. Well >> glad if that's your polic if that's the foundation's policy but I just wanted to state that. >> Yeah. No, the foundation does have preserves in which the the that was
given to the foundation with the deed that restricts it to um not being uh utilized uh through trails and the like. But this particular property uh we can use for the foundation can use for that for that purpose.
>> Project on your list is KO Park. >> Yes. Uh so this application came to us from the Chamber of Commerce. Um uh although that the chamber is representing a a number of stakeholders including the town um and and other uh
the conservation foundation um the um I think the um the the group that worries about trees in town. I forget what their exact name is.
Friends of trees, friends of trees are are involved in this as well. Um, so um I think everybody uh agrees that uh Kate Ghoul Park is a great asset in town, but that it's probably an overused asset
that that shows some wear and tear. Uh and so the uh beautifification committee of the chamber of commerce uh which involves all of these other groups has put forward the idea of um trying to
make gate park a more attractive still uh highly used but uh more attractive uh asset to the town. They recognize that um change in Chadam is not easy. uh and
that uh people are going to have a a whole range of viewpoints as to uh what that restoration might look like. And so this particular um application is to do an outreach program uh to interact with uh various
organizations uh the public to hold a number of meetings and to try to get input from um all Chattam residents uh that want to provide input concerning uh what this
restoration should look like and then to uh to have a number of meetings where they can try to come up with some consensus and then I'll I suspect uh once they have that consensus they'll be coming back to the uh community
preservation committee with an application sometime in the future. >> Christian you have a question. >> Um so what is the $25,000 going to be spent on? >> Uh they're going the uh they're going to hire a consultant. >> Excellent. I was hoping
>> that will do the uh the outreach >> who works on public spaces, um public parks, public gardens. I would recommend that that be the case. I mean, I think it's important to have someone who's knowledgeable, um because it's an expertise. It's not just, hey, let's do
it this way. So, I'm I'm glad they're going to hire a professional, and I would hope somebody's overseeing who what the criteria is for the professional. Yeah, they've already run into the, you know, the manpower problem. This came to us, uh, it was
Angela Bushar who made the presentation. Uh, and, uh, of course, Angela has moved on. And so, they, uh, they had to look for other people on their beautifification committee to to pick up the slack. But all those people have u other jobs that they're responsible for,
too. >> Again, there are landscape architects who specialize in public spaces. And I think um some of the thoughts that I'd heard swirling around about what needed to be done I think uh would really benefit the whole project would really benefit with someone who has expertise
in this area. >> We'll get that message to them. I don't know as if they need need it but we'll get it to them. >> Thank you very much Gary. Uh Carrie am I correct that the select board has not voted on any of these. >> They have not. >> Okay. There are two more uh just you
know the routine ones we do for the administrative budget for 15,000. Uh we don't always spend that but uh sometimes we have legal fees so we need it and the other is just the requirement that we put 10% into the each of the three categories.
>> We we've seen that previously. >> Yep. >> Um okay. I just I'm I'm a little reluctant to go ahead of the select board in this case. Go ahead, John. >> I agree with you. I also um before we do
vote on this, I'd like an answer to the land disposition question Mr. Phillips raised. >> I think it's a excellent question that we should probably, you know, ought to be part of the report to the select board, do you think? Okay, >> go ahead, Kristen.
>> And just as another piece of information, and I again we're this is my public forum. Um, I'd be interested to know whether that meeting house property is going to be on sewer, whether we're putting I'd hate to think of us putting more units on other septic
uh systems on individual systems. Um, so that I'd like to know whether meeting house is going to be on sewer. Um, I assume Stepping Stones is also going to be on sewer and I have to assume that 1533 Main Street is going to be on sewer. >> I'll I'll find out for you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome.
>> Okay. >> Thank you. I think we're all set. Thank you. Okay. Thank you so much, Gary. >> All right. We have some airport articles. I have heard. >> Yes, we have um Huntley Harrison here
and Terry Whan online um to go over the two uh airport article requests for the um the town's match for um two of the articles. Um, one is for 7,500 match and the other one is for 17,500
match. They're both >> either of these go into the select board yet. >> Uh, they did see them the other day. Yes. >> Did they vote to put them on the warrant? >> They did not vote on them. >> One did. I think one went. >> They voted on one. I can find out. >> I think it was the 17,500.
>> Oh, yes. That was the one. That was the one that went to town meeting um last year and um was voted down. So, it's going back again this year. Um and they voted on that one and approved it. That was the 175.
>> Hey, welcome Huntley. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> Huntley Harrison, airport commission chairman. Uh Chadam resident. uh Terry put together this uh report that we have that kind of gives you an overview of uh
the requests. Uh I think we'll go through that and then if there are any questions I can >> go ahead and take care of them. So Terry, if you don't mind. >> Oh, maybe he's waiting for me to do it. >> No, it should Can you see it? It should
be up on the screen. So, >> there we go. >> Yep. >> So, are you going to talk through it or you or am I? >> Yeah, I'll I'll I'll run through it real quickly. I think that's easiest way to do that here. So, um again with you know in your package uh you had a copy of
each draft article and its explanation. Uh so again Carrie gave the uh kind of breakdown of the two articles that are are u proposed for this annual town meeting. One is for a design aircraft study at $7,500. Uh and this is for the match uh and the
same thing uh for an FY26 project which is also for airport matching grant. So the two I'm going to go through project by project and again I know with uh time here I'll I'll try to keep it uh pretty quick here so we get right to any questions. So, the the the first article
for uh $7,500 is to fund a design aircraft study that will review the airport's current airport design group ADG designation plane. So, the the um current design plane for the airport is
a Beach Baron B-58. But in light of uh increased operations over the years by AD DG2 aircraft, which is a Pilotist aircraft typically, which again we have the photo in the lower right there, um exceeding 500 operations
annually, that uh triggers um a need to conduct a review uh primarily to see the safety uh and contrast it with existing conditions for future airport planning uh safety and maybe other mitigation measures. that may be needed to
accommodate the aircraft. Like a lot of the federal uh projects that we see for the airport. Um this project has the typical breakdown. Uh the total project cost is $150,000. The federal share to do the study is $135,000.
The state share is 7500 and the local share is 7500. So that's uh basically the request for the article here is to provide 7500 in funding to provide that local match for the study. Um, and the impact of doing this study is basically
um alleviating this um funding uh uh excuse me um keeping the um local match um out of the operational airport revolving fund um for other um
projects that they have going on over the the course of a typical year. Uh the second app article is also again related to a local match. This article um basically u is to provide funding for an article, excuse me, for a project where
the match is $17,500. And this is to replace critical navigation aids uh including the runway and identifier lights, precision airport path indicators, the rotating beacon and
wind sock. So again, just a picture here for um the I know a lot of acronyms here, but the papies uh and the reels and Huntley can um if you have questions on the the technical um aspects of those, he can reply uh u respond to those. So again,
basically this um you know has the same kind of leveraging impact of federal funding. uh it'll uh leverage 682,500 in federal state funding. This one the match is a little bit different where actually the um the the town local share
in this portion is only 2.5% due to um a couple of different programs um available to the commission. Um and then um just to point out if you recollect in this was a component of of
uh a broader um airport capital article that did not pass at the previous town meeting. Um and the projects that are not being pursued at this point in time are parking light improvements and the main apron rehabilitation and design. So the the the most critical safety project
is being prioritized here as as needing to be completed. >> All right. Thank you, Terry. >> You're welcome. >> See, doesn't look like it. All right. Anybody online?
Not seeing anything there. All right. Um I guess my only question was whether the uh air air design group study is mostly being driven by the fact that we now have more landings. >> Yes.
>> Of Yeah. Okay. >> It's our it's our responsibility to see how we can mitigate safety uh with the more landings >> of this of the the mostly the charter aircraft that come in. >> Okay. Appreciate it. All right. If we
don't have any other questions, um, once this article, I believe, has not yet gone to the select board. >> Yes, it did. >> But the one on the >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, the 175 did. I'm sorry. >> 175 did. This This has not yet. >> No, they've both gone.
>> What was the What was the result of the 75? I thought they deferred that. They both went to the select board and they listened to both of them on Tuesday night. Correct. And they voted on the 175 and they were going to hold on the
study. >> Right. >> Okay. I So they have >> Is that correct, Terry? >> Right. And if I can, my recollection is too that Carrie that they were looking for uh input from the the finance committee on that as well. So I don't know it's a chicken and egg situation.
>> Oh, is that okay? Sorry. There were so many things going on that night. I was here till 10, so sorry if I >> um but they they have um they did request to hear what the fincom would say and vote on this this particular article the study. Yes.
>> Oh my heavens. >> Yeah. >> Ahead of time or less. >> Yes. >> Oh wow. >> Imagine my time. >> Would you would you like a a small explanation of why >> who is Oh, Brian. You have something you
want. Sorry. So, I'm sorry I didn't >> Oh, do do you want him go before me here? >> Please. Yeah. >> All right. Um >> I'm the chairman. >> Ryan 374 Orleans Road. Um I'm on the airport commission. So, I, you know, was
at the select board meeting and I did vote for this last night, but I kind of feel like uh there was a lot of things I didn't take into consideration and maybe I didn't do my due diligence as well as I should have. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this or not, but I
think uh the purview of the scope, I hope I use those words right, might not necessarily be what the select board was looking for. Um, I got the LDA, I got the wrong packet. Um but it was it kind of seemed like some of you know that there might be
unintended consequences of this study that you know they could say something like well you have to you know make uh you know expand the airport essentially. Um and it it kind of the the language in it was that um it was to kind of go from
a B1 to a B2 to to be able to host the larger planes. Um, so I think that there was, you know, possible language of unintended consequences that were unknown for that and that's kind of why they paused a little bit on it.
>> Okay, I think I understand that, John. >> Sorry, just rambling. I understand the nuance you're trying to describe. My question is who actually decides the scope of the study? It sounded to me from Huntley's explanation that we're required to conduct a study. >> Yeah. at this point
>> parameters laid out by the >> yeah we have our scope of work it's been laid out and it was modified last night and it received the updated copy today. There are three three things that the the they're going to look at. One is if
there are any geometric changes that are necessary at the airport because of the these B2 aircraft that are coming in. The second one would be a modification of standards which the FAA would look at and say we
can modify it's like a waiver in a sense. And then the third thing would be operational changes on the ground. For example, if a charter flight is coming in, PC12 of the type B2 uh is arriving
and there's one ready to depart, we would hold the one ready to depart until the other one lands and parks and then we'd send the other one out. That would just be a communication between uh the pilot and uh the uh people on the ground
uh to make sure. So those are those are the three types of things. There may be more that I'm not unaware of, but the scope uh is going to look at all that uh to try to mitigate any issues uh that could exist. Um
the meeting the other night that because we didn't have the two new modifications in there, I think that's one reason they held it up. There was also a citizen who spoke at the meeting and said they didn't think we should be spending this
money at all uh because uh the FAA is probably going to approve it anyway regardless. Uh, so I couldn't answer that, but I think it's important that we go on on record as
having done the study so that if any liability >> issues come up in the future, we we're covered and say we didn't. In other words, we didn't ignore it, we did something about it. >> Stephen, you have your hand up.
Stephen, you're muted. >> All right. Uh, is this study ultimately in the service of safety? Honly, Terry? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, John. Go ahead.
>> I appreciate the the opportunity to ask the questions. At this point, um, I have some concern about the setting of the scope of the study and I think it's a question of policy and I'm not comfortable voting myself on it today,
but I do believe that we should take a position on it. But as far as that scope, um, I I'm unsure if it's required. You mentioned people showed up at the policy side of this discussion at the select board questioning whether we should do
it because the FBA is just going to approve it anyways. I I'm I feel like we're drifting away from the responsibility and the role of the finance committee on this question at this point until it's clarified. I I'm not comfortable on it. >> Okay.
Right. Other questions from the finance committee members? Doesn't look like it. All right. I think maybe we'll just leave it there for now. Appreciate it. Thank you muchly. >> Thank you. >> Were you gonna talk about the other one?
>> Not at the moment. Are >> are you Carrie? Is there another meeting scheduled for this room? >> There's there's a meeting right after this, but there was two articles. >> At what time? >> Huh? >> Yeah, it's at four o'clock the other meeting.
>> Okay. So, we we need to wind up here. >> Yep. >> Fairly quickly. >> Okay. >> What would you like us to do? >> The other two articles on the >> No, John just said he wasn't comfortable. So, we'll just hold those for now and then then I'm willing to
>> um >> All right. for now. >> Close up the meeting so the other they can start their meeting >> because we we should be discussing our preliminary report to the select board. >> Oh yeah, you >> but I haven't heard anything from
Stephen nor I understand have too many comments gone to him. >> You all individually >> received a thing from any committee member which is disappointing. Did you get that? >> Okay. All right. Well, we need to get
that information to Stephen as soon as we can. >> All right. Okay. Good. I will I will entertain a motion to adjourn. >> Some second. >> Great. Uh those in favor? Stephen >> support.
>> Joanne Sprag. >> Yes. >> Barb Madison. >> Yes. >> John Pavalardo. Kristen Andre. >> Yes. >> Tracy Shields. >> Yep. Tommy Don, are you still on there? >> Yes. >> Would you like to get off? >> Yes.
>> Okay, you're in favor of that then. All right, good. Eric has already departed. Uh, I'm temporary chair and I vote I as well. Thank you. We stand adjourned. >> Thank you.