Hi, Sheree. Hey, Corey. Good afternoon and welcome to the first the 14th annual Town of Chattam budget summit which is a joint meeting of the select board and the finance committee with department heads and representatives of the Monoy Regional
School District uh at this October 21, 2025 meeting of the Chattam Select Board. Please note this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly hereafter for scheduled and on demand viewing on any smartphone or tablet device. If anyone else is recording the
meeting, please notify the chair. Seeing none, pursuant to Governor Healey's March 28th, 2025 signing of the 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
lawsuits general laws chapter 3A section 20 until June 30th, 2027. This meeting of the Cadam Select Board is being conducted in person and via remote participation. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings as
provided for in the order. A reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling the phone number 1508-945-4410 conference ID203 386491 pound or join the meeting online via
Microsoft Teams through the link in the posted agenda. While this is a live broadcast and simalcast on Chattam TV Exfinity channel 1072, despite our best efforts, we may not be able to provide real-time access. We will post a record of this meeting on
the town's website as soon as possible. First order of business is to establish a quorum of the SE select board. U Miss Davis >> present. >> Mr. Meadows >> present. >> Mr. Smith >> present. >> Chair is present. Mr. Dykins is absent. I'll ask the chair of the finance
committee to establish a quorum of the finance committee. M Miss, excuse me, Mr. Daniel. >> Thank you, Dean. Mr. Papalardo >> here. >> Mr. Whitley >> here. >> Miss Brig >> here. >> Missandress >> here. >> Miss Shields, I'm sorry.
>> Here, I'm not used to that. Um, Mr. Young here. >> Mr. Daniel is present. >> Oh, I'm sorry. And Mr. Don just joined us. Thank you. and Miss Madison >> here. >> Great. Thank you, guys. >> Thank you. And I do want to acknowledge the presence of uh representatives of
the school district, including the superintendent, uh Dr. Carpenter. I do want to make a public announcement uh because I did receive an email just shortly before this meeting relative to the fact that u the posted agenda does not contain the item public
announcements and agenda item requests. That was an intentional decision on my part because I felt that the focus of this meeting as it has been 13 times prior and I've attended every single one of these summits um should be on uh the finances of the town. At the same time,
uh it is when within my discretion to allow public comments, public announcements and agenda item requests, and I intend to do so um as as within my um discretion. And um uh there's a
specific agenda item request that the author of the email asked that I place on future agendas. um a a future agenda a the subject of the placement of the category public announcements and agenda item requests. I'm not going to honor that request because I don't think it is
necessary. There's only been one time prior during my chair chairmanship when we have not had that on the agenda. That was an inadvertent um error uh administratively made and I did allow public comment public announcements and agenda item requests that evening and
I'll allow the same this evening as well. Um, also in the email, uh, there were there was concern expressed about, um, transparency and, um, the perceived lack of information relative to, uh,
certain incidents or accidents that occurred, uh, that are within the jurisdiction and purview of the police department. And I am going to ask Chief Anderson in a moment to um, comment on on those so that um, we do have transparency. and I appreciate the uh
concerns expressed by the um the emailer. So with that, I'm going to open the uh meeting for any public announcements or agenda item requests from people in the audience, members of the board, or anyone online. Okay, seeing none, Chief Anderson, did
you want to just come on up and talk about several incidents that have occurred uh within the town over the last uh few days? Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, chairs of both boards. Out of respect for your time, I will be brief, but I feel that
this is important. Over the past two days, several members of my staff have been portrayed in social media in very unfavorable manners and untruths. I'm here to hopefully clear this up.
The question of transparency was brought up in an email or lack thereof. And I just want to explain to everybody in this room and everybody listening on television that there is nobody committed to
transparency more than me. what is released or not released from my department. I am guided by mass state law in statue and rights on what I can release and what I can't release. And I
apologize if some members of the public feel that that's inadequate or insufficient. We had a series of misfortunate events that happened in our community over the past few weeks and several over Saturday and
I'll be brief. There was mention of the Stony Hill crash with the serious injury. That vehicle autopsy and investigation did not get finished until today. So, prior till today, we could not make
any comments about the operator or the injured and there was a concern about the roadway conditions and the historical dangerousness of that intersection. And because that intersection in that investigation is complete, I can tell you that it was not the road conditions.
It was failure to obey stop signs by a vehicle operator. There was a second motor vehicle crash on Main Street at Pawn View just about a week ago. That crash is still under investigation because we've establish we requested a search warrant for the
vehicle. That takes time. I can't release any information about the operator or the injured until that's done. Regarding the crash on Main Street on Saturday, October Fest,
no Kings were competing events in that town that day. I had nine officers assigned to the dayshift that day. I wish I had 10. Four were four were assigned to Oktoberfest. Four were on patrol,
including a command staff member. The No Kings rally. At the same time, a peaceful protest. We were investigating an assault and battery that occurred in front of several video recorders which we were trying to obtain the footage
from. At the time, with the information that we had, an arrest could not be made at the time. But that investigation was finished today and charges were filed against
somebody in town for assault and battery. Also competing that day at the same time, I had two protective custodies, two people intoxicated. I had to deal with transporting and housing them at the
police facility. At the same time, I had an arrest and I had to protect a crime scene and I had to take a prisoner to the hospital till Monday, which taxed a shift officer every single shift.
So when we talk about the crash, I appreciate those agencies that were mentioned in that letter. Cape Cod Incidents, Cadam spread the word. They did us a favor by notifying the community. It might not be official. It
might not be from the police station because we don't have time to prioritize at that point. The pri priorities for us at that time for that incident was the safety of the injured, the safety of the operator and
the quality of our investigation. Public notifications at that point in time in my opinion were very low. And if that is something that you guys don't agree with, I will be happy to discuss that and modify the way we disseminate
information in the future. The information probably would have changed if that crash involved a utility pole with outages for other people, a gas leak that involved other people, a water leak that involved other people,
but that was an isolated event. And quite frankly, all of the other uh social media sites that are out there that that spread the word, they did just that. They spread the word when we could not.
Um, I again I I I appreciate the author's concern and and the author's passion. Um, I just hope that this clears the air that there is no lack of transparency
deliberately from myself or anybody from my agency. And if you members of the board or the public want to change the thresholds that we can release information, I will be glad to discuss that with you. But I will defend our
actions, our press releases, or lack thereof because of what we can and can't release. The situations on the release of information does not fall on the town manager this weekend. it falls on me and I will be
happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you, Chief. You know, I think this is really not appropriate to go back and forth with a Q&A, but I appreciate your opportun I appreciate you taking the opportunity to to clarify, you know, the information about these events. >> Thank you very much. I apologize for
taking up your time. >> Thank you, Chief. Okay. All right. I see no other requests for agenda items or public com public announcements. So, we will now go to the um business at hand, which is um the budget
summit for FY27. And I'll ask the town manager and our finance director, Carrie Mazero, uh to take the podium, and we will allow public comment. Um I'll try to in insert that as best we can. I don't know
whether we'll do it during the presentations. Um I know that is our policy. um our new policy. We'll do it as best we can. Um members of both boards will probably interject from time to time and if members of the public want to do that, I
will allow that. Thank you, Jill. Please proceed. >> Thank you, Chief Anderson, and thank you u Mr. Chairman. Tonight is a really exciting time for us, especially Carrie and I, for kicking off the budget review period. And our
budget that we're presenting tonight as a budget summit for discussion is the July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. And that's the fiscal year 2027. And we've called this budget navigating the fiscal year ahead.
The annual budget summit brings together the select board, the finance committee, the regional school committee and administration as well as town departments to provide a common foundation for the upcoming budget process. The discussion helps
establish shared priorities, understand fiscal drivers, and identify areas for coordination before the formal development of the FY 2027 budget begins. What we have on this slide, it's pretty
and it's also a rolled up agenda. A more detailed agenda packet has been provided as well as a detailed staff report with attachments. Tonight, we will review the town's financial context, share departmental perspectives by two departments, and
identify priorities and challenges that will divide that will guide the development of the of the FY2027 operating and capital budgets. This is similar to what you've seen in the past. our budgetary objectives,
protect core services and values. Fiscally responsible. Um, one of the items under fiscally responsible that we're having under review are updates to the FY 2018 budget and financial policies. We've contracted with the
Collins Center who has helped us out with other financial projects and policies and we hope to provide them very soon to the select board for review and consideration and certainly to the finance committee. So that is under review. We will always present a
balanced budget and then as budgets reflect priorities, we will hope to fund community priorities for FY 2027 and beyond. In 2024, the select board revamped its goal setting process and vision statement envisioning Chadam in 2030.
And we've utilized smart goals, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. The board then identified goal bud buckets where the town can move forward on initiatives as priorities that may extend extend beyond
one year. The select board will discuss the goal setting process at an upcoming meeting on November 18th. These are the specific goal buckets in no particular order. year-round housing, environmental conservation, coastal resiliency, and
natural resources, educational excellence, water management to foster a vibrant and sustainable local economy, and respond effectively to the needs of a diverse, welcoming, and livable Chattam. I'll now turn the presentation over to
our director of finance, Carrie Maserol, to provide a financial overwill, I'm overview. And as she reviews, please think about some top community priorities or challenges we should address in fiscal year 2027. Carrie,
thank you, Joe. Um, good evening everyone. Um, I think maybe I want to go back to this slide just to do a recap of our current budget for FY2026.
Um, so what was voted um for FY2026, our operating budget was around $45 million, which was an increase of 10.33%. Uh this includes the um contractual obligations that we had and um new debt
service. Um and also in FY2026 the educational assessments were up 7.55% with uh Monoy Regional School District at 11 million and Cape Cod Regional Tech
at 587,000. And then the FY2026 5-year capital plan was u 3,162,000. So for FY2026, the tax rate increased 4.28% over FY2025.
Um the current tax rate is $3.67. So what were the budget drivers for 2026? We had contract obligations, our health insurance, um water and sewer operation contracts,
seam mass, custodial services increases, general liability insurance increases, and debt service. Um we have our salaries and wages um contractual increases for all of our unions. And then we have um education assessments
that we're responsible for. So um these are the budgetary components. When we look at our budget, we look at our revenues, tax levy, local receipts, other available funds, and then we look at our expenses, general
operating budget, educational assessments, water operating, our five-year capital plan, debt, and then we also have our other capital items, which are usually separate articles. And in order to come up with a balance,
we have to come up with a balanced budget by the end of well even now I come up with a balanced budget but even by the end we have a we have to have a balanced budget for town meeting and um all of our expenses begin with the department heads requesting to support a
level service budget. I mean yeah a level service budget. So our revenues, available funding sources, what do we have? We have our tax levy which can be increased 2.5% annually and all and new growth. We have
our local receipts which are excise user charges fines and other programs. We have state aid, our debt exclusions which are uh in excess of our Prop 2 and a half. So, uh, debt
exclusions can be taxed above our Prop 2 and a half. And then we have our excess levy capacity and we have other available funds, reserves and other funds specific for specific purposes. So, this early in the budget process,
figures are based on preliminary estimates. As we move further further along, these estimates will be refined and become more accurate. We look at revenues, property tax, estimate, estimate local receipts and look at other available funds. The expenses are
level services and our debt is looked at our current debt schedule. And then we have our education assessments. So revenue projections for our Prop 2 and a half is estimated around 1.3 million and then um new growth um is
estimated around $375,000 for FY2027. Although over the past three years uh new growth has been roughly around $463,000 for just an estimate for an average. Um
local receipts um we can go up to 90% of our local receipts according to the department of revenue. Um so right now we're estimating our local receipts for FY 2027 projected at 88% of the FY2025
actuals. And we'll address this as we move forward through the budget if we need to. and state aid. Right now, we're estimating a 2% increase over FY 2026. So, this kind of gives you a little bit
of a preview. Our current levy base is 39 million. We're allowed 2.5% increase, so that's 987,000 plus the new growth estimate of 375,000. And then we have our excluded debt which
is 8,770,000. Our estimated local receipts at 88% of 25 actuals are $12 million. And then estimated other funds um we'll have to look at that further, but um I just wanted to point out that we
did have our free cash certified as of October 8th and it's $5 million. Carrie, can I just interrupt on the estimated local receipts? So, it's 88%. Have we been bumping that up over the last several years? Because in the past, I think it was around 85%.
>> Yep. I've bumped it up the past two years. >> What's What's the reason for doing What's the reason for doing that? >> Um to level out the tax rate so it's not so high when we go to do our budget because we've had a lot of increases over the past couple years. Um
>> Okay. So, we had the 10% increase for FY26 and I believe in 25 it was also uh around 10%. >> We brought it down really low when we're during the COVID years. So, there we go. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. You're welcome.
>> I think >> so. Receipts and what they are. Local receipts are revenue sources that are derived at the local level for programs, services, and amenities directly influenced by behavior, economy, and trends. Some examples are charges for
services, beach and transfer station stickers, excise tax, and uh traditional rooms tax, and also investment income are just some examples. So, this was in your packet. This is um our first quarter for FY2026 compared to
the first quarter for FY2025. Um as you will see um the local receipts are slightly lower this current fiscal year compared to last fiscal year for the same time frame. This is another reason why we estimate conservatively because local receipts are subject to
fluctuation based on timing of collections, economic economic activity, and one-time factors that can vary year to year. Although this is coming in at um lower than what is expected, that
doesn't mean that we're not going to come in higher. It just could be a timing of posting of receipts. So this is um historical local receipts. So as you can see I think Dean was kind of just getting back at 2022 where you
uh estimated a little bit more conservative. Um so FY22 was the recovery from COVID. Um and you can see the local receipts revenues start to level out and slower increases between 23 24 and 25. So this is why another
reason why we want to budget conservatively because we want to just make sure that you know we are receiving the revenues that we are estimating. This is a combination of traditional and short-term rentals. This is the comparison from FY20 through FY2025
of the hotel motel tax receipts for the general fund. These funds help support the operating budget. As you can see, there is a slight decline in tax revenue but holding conservatively around 3.8 million. This slide is um the breakout between
short-term and traditional. The short-term rentals took effect beginning um July 1st, 2019. However, they were not broken out by the Department of Revenue until um fiscal year 2021. So that's why it starts at 2021. So for
FY2022, there was a large increase in traditional LA in traditional lodging. As you can see in the chart, there has been a slight decline in short-term rental revenue from 2023 to 2024 and again from 2024 to 2025.
Again, it's important to look at the trends from prior years to determine what we're going to be estimating for the for FY2027. >> Can I interject again? And um >> and if anyone else wants to ask a question or make a comment, just seek
recognition from me. Um please. Um that's a somewhat significant drop from 2024 to 2025. Do we know why? And especially considering that so many of the um the number of short-term rentals being registered with the board of health has gone up dramatically.
>> Do we have any idea? >> I don't know why it's dropped so much. >> Okay. >> I have no idea. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're welcome. But it's definitely something to maybe consider looking into further. >> Um, this slide is the additional hotel
motel funds that we received in FY2025 where the 1% goes to the Chadam Elementary School special reserve fund and then we have 1% going to the attainable housing uh receipts reserve fund. So in 2025, um each fund received
$995,000. Um this was also a decrease from FY2024. Um it was a 1.6% decrease or $56,000 less in each fund. So um this is the meals tax. It's from
um the chart shows from FY19 to FY 2025. Meals tax saw a decrease of $100,000 for FY2021 versus 2020, yet rebounded strongly in 2022 and again in 2023. And as you can see on the graph, the meals
tax revenue shows signs of leveling leveling off between 2023 and 2025 with only very slight increases. Other available funds consist of free cash and other funds that are typically in a receipts reserve, a stabilization
fund or a revoling revolving fund. So these are other funds that we can use to support the budget, but we don't use chapter 90 is um to support the budget. However, we do get funds from chapter 90 to offset other projects. We have attached a five-year forecast
which is by nature conservative. We look for trends and with inflation rise rising, pay close attention to local taxes that may fluctuate as spending may decrease. The operating budget growth chart includes educational assessments.
The total for FY2026 operating budget um with the education was 47 million. Um but it does not include debt on this. It's just education and operating. Um and as you can see um there was some enhanced staffing to provide the same
level services to the community. This slide shows the FY23 through FY25 actual operating budgets from 23 through 25. You can see this on the slide. There's been large increases between 24 and 25 mainly due to
increased staffing, salaries and wage increases. The cost of rising um health insurance, Barnes County pension, general liability costs, and just the cost to inflation overall has increased. um and the high rising costs of
utilities and putting pressure on our operating budgets. I'm going to pass this over to Jill. Thank you, Carrie. So, new for this budget summit are department highlights. Hearing from two members of team Cadam tonight to illustrate the connection
between budget line items and the impact of funding including examples of efficiencies and operational operational efficiencies and innovation. I'd like to introduce Greg Berman who's our director of natural resources and
have him come to the podium and then he will hand it off to our IT manager Ryan Darman. Greg. Thank you, J. And there we go. Perfect. Thank you. All right, we're in business.
So, Thank you for having me. Greg Burman, your director of natural resources. Um, so I like to think that every budget line has a story to tell. As you can see in your packet, this is usually what we see when we look through clear gov or
digital budget books. And there's no expectation to be able to see those. I just want to call out that there's a lot of line items that don't always have a lot of detail in them, but we do try to have comments. Uh for this particular line, uh this is our shellfish operating supplies budget about $1,000. Relatively
minor, but it, you know, supports our waiters, our rakes, our our uh uh supplies, but really it it does ramp up into the enforcement and propagation of shellfish in town, adding up to 2.5 million cohogs produced annually. And in
addition to that, we also have our 1.7 uh million in landings in 2023 equaling 3 to7 million in overall economic benefit. So this is an example. You know, there's a lot of small line items feeding up to this, but it has a lot of
impact for a relatively uh small line in there. Next, this is our harbor master budget, and you may have seen it last year. This is our fiscal year 26. We added a new in capital outlay for a wave sensor. This was an $8,000 line item. This is going
to have real time uh wave conditions. Sorry, real-time wave conditions uh with wave height, wave direction, wave period. So, when it's breaking 8 to 10 feet out in the uh uh inlets, you'll be able to see that before going out. This will probably be something where we have
QR codes at town landings. People will be able to see it in their homes, on their phones. This is in addition to the bar reports that our harbor master puts out. But this is another, you know, relatively small investment that's going to have a lot of impact for the town.
Over here now, town landing budgets. This is a kind of standing line for $10,000. Um, this could be anything from redesigning the parking over at Sears Road this last fiscal year or working to find and plug a hole in the writer's
cove bulkhead. Almost all this work has extensive cooperation with DPW. Uh they provide the assistance, the knowhow. We identify the problem then they help us fix it. And there we are identifying the the
hole uh leaking through. And this is just an example of you know temporary fixes while we have larger capital projects coming. So, you know, Ryder's Cove is a large capital project and I'll be talking about those and really all
our large infrastructure um later in the budget season. I don't have that much time tonight. I did want to talk about our uh recent grant applications and for all of these line items on here, we did list the select board objective or goal
uh seeing how it applies to it. The town was recently awarded a $730,000 uh food security infrastructure grant. This is for the upwelling supplies within the 90 Bridge Street to offset the impacts to the taxpayers. We were
also awarded a $37,000 grant from Coastal Zone Management for the procurement um phase immediately preceding construction for Jack Knife Beach. Um phase two would be a subsequent fiscal year where it would
actually be the construction phase. Uh we've had very good luck with our dredge grants. We've had um Stage Harbor Mill Creek that was 271,000 last year. This fiscal year we have a 358,000 grant for Ant Lydia's Cove which we are
desperately trying to get done. Um trying to get our 10-year permit in place with the federal shutdown. So, we're we're we're working towards it or we have our our game plan the second they open back up. We also received a SNEP grant. This is for technical
assistance for uh coastal resilience work. This is coordination with the Cape Cod Commission looking at our regulations and bylaws and doing communication outreach and financial impacts to see how it may or may not impact the town as the town chooses to
go for or not go for some of these changes. Uh we also applied for a port securities grant. This is to fund the surfboat uh for the harbor master division. Uh we haven't heard back about that one yet. The seapport economic council, we have gotten awards in the
past uh million dollars for 90 bridge. We put in for another one for 90 bridge but have not heard back about that one yet. So you know our department and really all our town does look for ways to defay the costs um as we go through every town budget. So, I said I wasn't
going to really have time to talk about our larger capital projects, but as these projects are undertaken, sorry, I have to uh exit out of here. No, it's not coming up.
Mark had so much faith in me, too. >> Screens, dashbar. >> All right. So, I'm right there. >> Do you need to get out of it or do you want to >> I just want I have that uh link active one up there. >> All right. We will >> Oh, there we go.
>> Thanks. So, under our town projects page, we're going to have all our capital projects. We currently have our 90 Bridge Street project, which has been there um uh certainly since I got here. Was updated most recently this morning. We have our
background. We have, you know, what's been going on and what will go on over the last couple of weeks. And we always have a uh you know rolling slideshow of activity and a schedule is in place uh from our contractor on site. So anytime
you have any questions um feel free to look at our schedule, see how we're doing um and we'll certainly be giving updates in the upcoming budget season for all our town projects that we'll be working on. Now let me just put us back
over here. There we go. Back in business. Uh so that these these last couple of slides, this talks about our water quality program. So for the last 25 years, we've had um uh various volunteer groups out there collecting data for us. These are
DO meters. We've just included that on our website. Some of the data wasn't really accessible before. Now, and I bring this up because this is really a coordination with the IT department. Um, they have new GIS software that we've actually been able to include an
interactive map on the town website. So, you can go and click on any individual uh point on here and that's going to bring up the last 25 years of data for DO and utrification. So this is just another example of you know the the town
our particular department DNR working with it was something that they brought to try to make something more useful for the uh uh people in Johnum and with that this will be a you know nice tag in for Ryan in the IT department unless there's any questions for DNR at this stage.
>> No questions I guess. Thank you Greg. >> I'll leave you to switch it. Mr. chair. >> Yes, Joan. >> I meant to say during this whole presentation how wonderful it is because he answered every question I think that
I had written to our chairman that I that was important to me. And that was a wonderful presentation to have the security of knowing where in the schedule the money that we've asked the taxpayers to pay where in the schedule we are on all those products projects.
Thank you. >> Thank you, Joanne. >> Ryan. >> All right. Thank you, chair. Thank you, finance committee and select board. Um today, um I'm going to go over um some things the IT department is doing. Um
the big thing that we're going to go over is um what we're doing with our cloud data um and certain AI tools we're using and also the efficiency gains um that we're making by using that. So basically every department in town is
pretty much using a cloud app. Um for permitting we use open gov for our assessed database it's uh pk cloud uh financial var uh gis is a new platform ezri that we migrated to chatam TV
champs and then our newest uh Neptune 360 which is for water meter readings. Um the problem that we have is that all of these cloud apps are siloed the data. So um you know it's
that data is limited in context and it's tough to cross reference that data. Um so the goal and the goal that I've been looking at for a couple years and just this past year that started to come into fruition with different possibilities.
Um the goal basically is to transform that data into something that town staff can use um through analytics and AI tools. So how is this done? Um so what we did was um we first set up a pilot project
um with a vendor artifacts AI AI and uh what we did was work to connect these cloud apps um through secure APIs and uh AI agents. uh APIs are just at its most uh basic just software communicating to
each other. Um so we pull that data into our model and then what we can do is use queries and dashboards um integrate analytics and use AI tools to extract meaning from that. Um so and I'll have a
demo real quick at the end to show you what I'm talking about. Uh but staff at the end staff can use these dashboards and and query those records and data um to get information. So like I mentioned our pilot project um short-term rental compliance. Um so what
we do stream we stream data. So that's data pulled at an interval um from short-term rental sites like Airbnb, VBO, etc. Also a lot of local ones. I believe there's almost 10 different sites. And then we cross reference that with uh town and county data to create
confidence scores in reports um utilizing analytics and AI tools. Um so what that does is basically we can take that data and be like this this property um is a 90% chance match up with this
assessor database card and then from there we can check to see if there's a permit for it. So um that was our pilot project and um we turned that on yesterday morning so I can do a quick demo for that um today. Um
water usage dashboard. So this is in progress. Um so what this will do is monitor and detect abnormal water usage patterns, identify leaks, unusual consumption spikes and conservation measures to better manage consumption. So what that's doing is using Neptune
360. So that cloud data um and then it's comparing it with um town data you know um you know are these properties on wells you know just information that we have um and then in the same fashion
have a dashboard and be able to uh query for information. So we currently have an AI chatbot on the website where we are going to upgrade it and um the reason being is um we want to be able to crawl more custom
sources. Uh crawling is basically crawling a website would basically be taking you know data page by page and then um being able to reference that uh with a query from a chatbot and uh our new our new chatbot we're working on um
we'll be able to hit documents that we haven't before like our uh zoning bylaws which aren't on eco3 but we'll be able to take that data be able to answer questions um through that chatbot and then our future project is an AI oracle
we like to call it. And what that is is all this groundwork that we're working on and pulling these cloud apps together. Our goal is to have something for town staff and the public um to be able to basically ask questions you know and use those sources um to be able to
uh you know answer questions to use as a tool. So efficiencies gained um in GIS um one project that we did was a migration of over 8,000 handdrawn and written uh
sometimes cursive tie cards um using an AI model and automation. Um so we had a predicament and we have these tie cards that um uh are have been handwritten and drawn I believe over the past like 50 years maybe even longer. um and we
needed to migrate that to our new GIS system. So, we were able to um use an AI model and not only not only migrate it to it, but also take every single field that's on that TAI card and put it into a database. Um, and that's interesting
too because it opens up the possibility down the road for people to to basically ask and query that data to be on site and be like, you know, in your phone, hey, let me know where the laterals are in this property and then it can pull that information from a tie card and
give them some idea. Um we estimated 350 safe staff hours um by using this model and automation and this was with light automation and fiveund hours if somebody completely
manually did this on their own um short-term rental app um like I mentioned the dashboard to track and analyze short-term rental properties. uh we estimated that we saved about 200 staff hours and this um like I mentioned is back live now and uh we'll be making
some um upgrades to it and I know uh chairman chairman Nasher you mentioned you know possibly finding some correlation to why numbers went down you know with short-term rentals so maybe that's something we'll talk about I'm meeting with the health division and artifacts on Monday so I'll bring that
up maybe there's some kind of metric that we can we can bring in The water usage app um saves about 20 minutes per property if it was completed manually. We have over nine over 9,000 properties in town. Um
we didn't have the tool. I'm not sure we would go through every single property. So I didn't didn't give a saved, you know, over 100,000 staff hours because we probably wouldn't do that anyways. but did it uh 20 minutes per property and then you know the chatbot hopefully you know helps answer real-time
questions from the public and uh we like callins people calling and asking questions but you know we're hoping that it also you know just answers you know some of that info you know right on the spot for the public and I'll just show you the dashboard for
as a demo real All right. So, first I'll go over this public archive app. So, what this does is basically these are all recent meetings. Um, we take video and transcripts from meetings. It's automated. Um, we can search meetings.
So, here I'll just type in fishpier. You can see here select board meeting came up. This meeting also authorized engineering. Here's a summary of the meeting uh through a language model. So here's some information on the fish period. What I'm going to do is I'm
going to click already. RD is the name of the chatbot. We can see the video comes up, a summary of the meeting, key topics. See here's the fish pier. So project details conclusion. But ones if we wanted to know more about the fish pier.
So what we can do is query query that data. So And the hope is that it will provide more data and context into that. Yep. So now you can see that information
starting to populate. And for people that can't see, you know, location, purpose, dimensions of the project overview, um, preferred option, concrete decking with plastic. And again, this is a tool. So I mean I am not 100 I was not at this meeting so I
don't know if this but it it's a tool um to use engineering cost a timeline. So that gives you an idea about us uh quering data and then I'll just show you um the short-term rental >> Ryan is this operational now?
>> Um yes the the public archive app is internally and the short-term rental app is too. Yes >> on the website. >> No no internally. >> Okay. Will it go on the website at some point? This >> the goal the goal is yes. Um once we get that the endgame the oracle where we can
provide all data that's the that's the idea that's the direction that we're going with. >> All right. Thanks. >> So here's all the short-term rentals in Chadam. >> This just has monthly occupancy. And like I mentioned, this is pulling data
from all the rental websites out there. He's got monthly revenue. Here's different uh different metrics. Here we got revenue by segment, occupancy rate by segment,
different demographics, and then here you can see all the listing sources here. And just as we have, I'll just bring up a demo property which is 549 Main Street.
And this is, you know, uh, town offices on Maine, so this data is not factual, but just so you can get an idea of what if I clicked on a resident's property brings up closest match card, uh, summary, a property profile,
um, it would bring up address, information about registered voter, that property, and Again, this is all besides OpenGub. This is all public data. This is all, you know, what's already out there. We're just pulling it into one place. And then again, it was so you know, even Barsell County Registry
deeds, it will pull in documents there. And then you'll have a confidence score. Um, so for if it was 100% match, that's saying that we're 100% sure this is the correct assessor's card. If they're not in open gov, then they're, you know,
they may not be in compliance or however the health department determines that. >> And that's the end of my presentation. >> Thank you, Ryan. Any questions for Ryan? Comments? Joan. >> Wow. >> Ditto. That's amazing. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair.
>> Thank you. Any any from the board? I don't see any from Barbara. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I was just wondering, are any of our systems subject to being affected by something that happens like the lapse in service Monday and Tuesday from Amazon Web
Services? >> Uh, yeah. So, so I know our asset management system uses AWS. It seemed just like a morning outage. It wasn't as they, you know, they they most likely had a failover, so, you know, it didn't affect us too much. Um but uh it
largely didn't affect us overall, but I was concerned when I saw that. >> All right. I don't see any others. >> Oh, um sorry. >> Ryan, what do we do about uh data redundancy and storage? >> Yeah, so we use uh mutable backups um
for all of our Microsoft data. So that covers one drive which is staff data uh sharepoint team sites email um so that's all immutably backed up daily so if there ever is an issue we can restore that to the date
>> okay that's helpful thank you >> okay I guess Carrie back to you thank you Ryan >> yes >> thank you Ryan thank you Greg was good. Um so back to the
budget. Um this slide is FY26 our current budget through um forecast through FY2029. Um so again FY26 includes the CMEA and CMA
union CRA contracts and new debt at the end of FY2025. For FY2027, we are currently estimating a 5.26% increase for operating and educational assessments. This number can change as
we work through the budget season. We begin planning the FY2027 budget by looking at the requests from the departments, prior year trends, and current year adjustments and future mandates. The budget forecast includes assumptions based on past performance
and are subject to change. This chart shows the actual receipts received for the water fund. It does not include the $400,000 that's transferred from the general fund. It's just actual receipts. As you can see in uh in order
to balance the water fund for 2026, the estimated receipts are higher by 1.4 million compared to the actuals received in 2025. This slide represents the actuals from 2023 through 2025 and the budget for FY2026.
As you can see, the actual expensive has incre have increased over the past few years, mainly due to the water debt. And you'll see that in FY2024 and 2025, the water fund expenses came in higher than the actual receipts. With the new water
rates, we are hopeful in FY 2026, we will have receipts come in to cover the budget and maybe possibly some more to cover the fund balance. At the close of FY2025, the ending fund balance for the water fund was in the
negative by roughly $85,000. This slide represents the estimates for 2027 through 2029. As we move through the budget season, we will have a better picture of what the expenses will be needed to support the water fund for FY2027. The debt service is based on the current
water fund debt schedule plus an additional $50,000 for the short-term borrowing andor bonding cost assoc associated with borrowing. So, this is the five-year capital plan as of October 11th, 202025. Um,
in FY2026, we approved $3,162,000. Um, right now the FY2027 plan has um $19,591,000 in there. Um >> I think that's 19 million. >> Oh yes, sorry. 19 million. Sorry, >> you are right. 19 million.
>> Um >> we're here. >> Yes. Um so last year we also approved um standalone items such as the transfer station, the center for active living and an ambulance.
Um, the items included in FY27 are capital items, which are buildings and infrastructure improvements, equipment, vehicles, water and sewer capital, and uh, roads and sidewalks. Um, and if they're not approved, they'll move over
to the next fiscal year to 2028. Other potential articles that we look at are the community preservation projects which are due November 1st. Um we look at affordable and attainable housing projects,
town projects. We have the five-year capital plan and water capital debt service. Overall, the town's level of debt service has declined from 20% to just over 15%. Which is still on the moderate
side. We continue to upgrade infrastructure as the budget will allow and seek alternative sources of funding rather than borrowing. Chattam is ahead of the curve in regards to sewing the town. Trending favorable. However, the town will need to bond before the end of
the fiscal year, which may have an impact on the percent, but I don't predict it's going to go over the 20%. The financial policies will suggest an appropriate level of capital investment debt supported.
This slide is our general fund debt schedule as of uh June 30th, 2025. Just keep in mind we still have other projects that we're going to be borrowing for probably before the end of this fiscal year. Um, and this is from
2026. So it's our current 2026 through FY 33 for principle and interest. And this is the same for the water department. This is the water debt schedule for FY
2026 through FY 2033. So, I added um a couple additional slides in here because it was requested on what overlay is and what it kind of stands for. So, I kind of broke it down. Um overlay is an amount set aside on the
tax recap sheet each year by the board of assessors. It's part of our total property tax levy, but it's reserved to cover abatements, which are reductions in tax bills granted after tax bills are issued, exemptions for veterans,
elderly, or blind residents. The overlay ensures that even if some of taxes are reduced or unpaid, the town can still collect the full tax levy authorized at town meeting. So I had requested this slide um because
to me the overlay has always been something of a mystifying concept and I thought it was important to understand it. It came up I brought it up in the top when we were discussing the residential tax exemption. So how is it populated? How is it how is how are the
funds how do the funds go into it or I see you have a second slide. Maybe want finish that up answering the question. So, it's not a separate tax. It's included in the total property tax levy. It's required by law each year. It's
managed by the assessors and it helps the town avoid shortfalls when tax adjustments are made. And any leftover amount can be voted as overlay surplus and goes back to the town. So what happens is is the assessors will come up
with and determine how many exemptions they've had in prior years. So they'll come up with an amount that they need to have to cover those exemptions and possible abatements that are going to be coming up. And you typically it's around
$2 to $50,000 is roughly what it's been. It can be a little bit higher depending. So the more um exemptions that we put on that we that
is voted on say like the Hero Act or some of the other ones that were just brought up that we haven't adopted yet. Those will all take we'll have to take that into consideration when we go to put our overlay in and we'll have to say maybe there's you know 50 more people that will have this or
>> so so the determination of the amount that goes into the overlay is made by the board of assessors. >> I assume they consult with the finance department. >> The assessors and the board of assessors work together. Yep. Yep. And the board of assessors >> and and the funds stay in there until they're taken out, right? They go they
roll over from year to year. The amount will roll over year to year unless it's voted as overlay surplus. >> And I know that we we we do take we have been taking 150,000 out each year for OPE. >> Yep. >> Was approved at town meeting. >> That's correct. >> Okay. All right.
>> Thank you, Carrie. Any any questions on overlay? Right. Joanne, you must know this better than most because of your prior work, but thank you. >> It's good to explain this. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. FY 2027 looking ahead
health insurance premiums, pension obligations, and collective bargaining agreements increase yearly. We have slowing real estate activity which affects local receipts, excise tax, building permits and fees.
We have meals and rooms taxes which have round rebounded postcoavid but have begun to level off particularly in seasonal communities. Communities dependent on tourism or second home economies are vulnerable vulnerable to shifts in consumer spending.
Limited grant capacity and matching fund requirements strain local budgets. These are all items that we have to keep in mind when we work on our FY2027 budget. The rising cost of health insurance, liability, utilities, wages
where inflation has sharply increased the construction materials and equipment costs for capital projects. Um, school funding pre pressures and infrastructure and climate resilience are just a few.
So, I had this slide last year and I know um the departments have been very good at looking at their fee schedules, but I I put it up again just to make sure I feel like we should be looking at them yeartoear to make sure we are our fees are conservative
and more in line with some of the other towns as well. Um the FY2027 budget guidelines are level services. So all departments are to submit a level service budget to look at their fee schedules and our
uh budgets uh operating and capital are due November 21st. And I will pass this over to Jill. Thank you, Carrie. So, this is the final slide of our presentation, and I wanted to thank everyone for your participation
and shared commitment to Cadam's financial stewardship. As you will see here, the next steps include the select board reviewing its goals and objectives for calendar year 2026 and fiscal year 2027.
And then uh department budgets will be submitting those department will be submitting their budgets to us um in November and December. And then January through March uh there will be public budget review meetings between the select board and the finance committee.
And then the select board by December 31st will set the date for the annual town meeting. and they'll do that in in in compliance with the town's bylaw, I would imagine, um early December for that vote. And so that would trigger our
annual town meeting date as well as the following town election. So that is all we have tonight. We're looking forward to your questions and discussion. Um here's some prompts in case you need them. what are the top community
priorities or challenges we should address in FY27 or and what long-term commitments or emerging issues should shape this year's decision. Um, in the room tonight, I didn't introduce them, but we have many of our town department heads as well as
town department heads uh participating uh virtually through teams. So, uh we're all happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, >> Jill. I just wanted to point out we are going to have one joint uh finance committee select board meeting to go over one particular
department as sort of innovation this year. Is that the DPW? >> Uh it is. So uh we're looking to do uh a joint meeting at a regular select board meeting. We just have to determine the time and we're going to review the DPW budget as well as public safety. um
those presentations um could then generate additional review by the select board or to fin at a subsequent meeting. But we thought we would try this so that it would um be more efficient for your time in reviewing the budgets and and free up um some capacity at meetings to delve delve
a little deeper. >> One additional administrative point appropo of um uh expenditures um going forward. I do want to remind everyone uh that tomorrow at 11:00 is the first meeting of the working group on the
center for active living. Um it is a public meeting. Uh it will be held here in the annex but it will be is that broadcast live? >> It will not be live but it will be a team's meeting so the public can participate remotely if they're not able to come in person. >> They can log on or they can participate
by phone. And also um I do want to re-nck acknowledge that Dr. Carpenter is here with Mr. McMillan and Dr. Milan. Did did you have any comments you wanted to make um Dr. Carpenter, your department? Um did you want to make them now or otherwise I'll I'll open this up
to questions from the board boards and the public. >> I don't have uh comments to make. I you know I think annually when we come here um we answer questions and I think a lot of times the questions that come at us at this point in the year is sort of what the enrollment looks like and the
projections going forward. So we're prepared to talk about that >> sure >> when the time comes. >> Thank you. And I do um mention that we did have in the packet your uh capital presentation that you made to the school committee. So with that I'm going to open it up first to questions uh comments from
>> Dean. Just a quick footnote actually before we go. We're good for four o'clock. I don't know if you got the note, but for these prospective joint meetings, four o'clock start time would be suitable for us. >> Great. Thank you. And I I expect that to be in February, and some of you gave us your availability. So, if there are any
conflicts in February, if you let us know, it will be on a Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. So, thank you very much for that. >> Okay. I just want to turn to the select board. My fellow board members, are there any questions or comments to Joe or Carrie or any of the department heads
or school committee? >> Corey, >> um I guess the only the only thing that's kind of I really don't have any I mean is our our kickoff meeting and we started to dive deeping deeper into it um down the road, but the one thing because um it was kind of highlighted
tonight. Um, you know, we've clearly spent a fair amount of money on um, it over the last couple years making great improvements and in certain areas. Um, but to some degree we're still getting a little bit of challenges with some of the audio elements of some of the
secondary meeting rooms, the community buildings, whatever that is there anything uh, being focused on trying to address those shortcomings um, as we you know improve our IT technology. So that's a really good note to make for
us. So we haven't received all of the department capital requests yet. So certainly we can discuss that with Chad TV and and the IT team. >> All right. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> All right. I'm going to turn it over to Stephen, ask you to handle the finance
committee. >> Thank you, Dean. Any questions for the presenters or assembled staff, our normally talkative committee? >> Okay, I've got a couple things. Um,
first of all, um, I'd like to welcome Scott and his team and acknowledge I am what I understand to be your pending retirement. So, congratulations on that. Uh, quick question. Does Modi have a districtwide school cell phone policy?
>> Um, we we have a I will call it practices that happen building by building that are sort of age appropriate. So, >> Scott, you might want to pre bring the mic a little closer. >> Uh, we have practices that that happen that are kind of laid out in our student
handbooks uh that are building by building age appropriate sort of, you know, largely elementary school. There's no such tech technologies. The middle schoolers um have them but don't have access to them. So it's you're you're
not out uh at high school. Uh there are in every classroom there are sort of locking boxes that uh that teachers have students park devices devices in. But but again, you know, so there's practices that are sort of laid out in
the in the student handbook. But if it's not, you know, sort of a a district-wide, there shall be no, >> you know, cell phones. >> Okay, that's helpful. Thank you. Um, I've received input from the committee,
uh, which I share regarding the process on the residential tax exemption that the select board followed. And I think to say that we're disappointed not to be part of that conversation would be an understatement. um going from what seemed to be kind of 0 to 60 in a 90-minute meeting or a
60-minute meeting. I still don't know exactly what problem we're trying to solve with the residential tax exemption. And I think that view is broadly shared on the committee and it seemed like we went hunting for a solution with the blender bus. Are there
50 people who we're trying to protect and assist? Are there 5,000? because we just gave a tax break to what 6,000 residents and a tax increase to over a thousand Chattam residents, existing residents. So, I just don't understand
it and I honestly feel as though we should really have been a part of this process. So, enough said. Um, delighted to hear there's going to be a formal review of the financial policies, something we noted out last year. Um, fees
Page five of the transmission memo said fee structures should be analyzed each year. Is that a should be or will be? >> Well, I feel like it that is a very good question. >> More more of a guideline in the role.
>> We don't have it in our policies yet that we review them every year, but um I feel like it should be reviewed each year the fees and if it's in January, it should be January while we're working on the budget. Y >> not in the middle of a budget year
season or vice versa. I feel like it should just be every January we should be looking at our fees to make sure they're supporting our operational budgets. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I would agree. Um reiterate our standing on the short-term
inspection short-term rental inspection fee which I think at $50 we all agreed was appallingly low. So whether that's 100 or 150 pursuant for a recommendation to the board, we would highlight that that we hope we can make some progress. I was also struck by the fact that a
family, a couple, somebody who spent 10 $10 million on a property on Shore Road received a whopping $5,000 fine for a pretty gross violation of our historic preservation rules and code. Um, I don't know how
those are established, if there's a state element to that, but I would seriously urge reconsideration because a $5,000 fine on a $10 million property, which is being entirely rebuilt, is ridiculous.
Um, and I would be remiss if I didn't re uh reiterate our steadfast opposition to the Crawl Road project, but I'm sure you guys all knew that. So, um, anything else from anybody? Okay. Thank you. I just want to address
something about the um the residential tax exemption because um it does affect the current budget planning for FY2027 since the town manager and her staff in the assessing department are going to
have to um get things ready to implement the um adoption of this policy for FY. by 27, right? That's when the board voted to put it in. So, including possible hiring of an additional staff
person. >> Um, so that's something that that I think I certainly um when you were looking in this direction, I think you should have looked past me, but um >> I understand the point of this. Um um
that's something I think you know we'll have to take a look at as the as the town as the assessing budget is presented with within the context of the finance department uh budget proposal and also um it isn't a it isn't a done
deal yet. It has to be approved by the select board next uh September during the classification hearing. So it's conceivable um that depending on people's um minds at that
time it might might not be approved. Uh I I I know some people feel very passionately about it on on my board. Um but uh this finance committee uh will certainly have an opportunity between now and then to express itself if it chooses to do so. >> Well, thank you. I certainly hope so.
Frankly, >> leave it like that. As far as the the fine on um the property, that's really within the jurisdiction of the historical commission. They made their determination on it. So, okay. >> Didn't know if there were any guidelines to the um
>> So, just to to your point, >> go ahead. >> I'm highly confident based on the discussions we've had in this committee that there's broad support for initiatives to keep Chadamites in Chadam to the extent they require assistance.
Um, I just think we don't disagree with both the process as highlighted and what exactly we're trying to accomplish. Is it for people over 65? Is it for people who are in tight pants? Is it for people who've lived here for four
generations? I don't none of this has ever been made clear as to what we're really trying to accomplish with this program. So, I'll leave it at that. But I think that's I want to be very clear about the specific objection. >> Okay. We don't we don't object to the mission. >> Right. Thank you. Um if there are no
other Cy for the town manager because um the finance chairs brought this up. Um u but the CL road intersection project um we haven't talked about that for quite some time. I know we've had a you know some
hardy discussions on the select board level you know years back. >> You and I tried to defeat it. >> Correct. Yes. >> Correct. Um we got a little help. So so so um I guess what is the status on that because it um you know the finance
committee has put it in the report. You know Mr. Daniels has just mentioned it again. Um I know there's probably some variety of opinions or thoughts on it from the select court level. Um where does that currently stand as far as the next discussion point? So the next step would be a public hearing for the 25%
design and we have been talking about that for probably the last three years. Uh more recently um Mass, Massachusetts Department of Transportation had required some um underground survey work
for utilities. And so more recently, you may have seen some pavement markings uh along the crawl road intersection um going u towards um CVS center as well as going a little further uh towards uh the other way. I guess I don't know if
that's south or north. So we're wait we've done everything that needs to be done that we had started uh I think back in 2021 for that final design. Um, so the next step would be, and I'm not sure if Rob has any more information. He's
shaking his head. No. The next step would be to come before the select board for a public hearing, and the board would then vote to whether to proceed or not. >> Okay. Um, yes, Joanne. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we
keep bringing this up because we don't want to forget that this is the gateway to our beautiful town and it it deserves a lot of discussion, a lot of input and we have already said in our committee
that as of now we don't think the the what we've heard about is going to happen is what we don't want and we want the town to think about it and make sure of what they want for this intersection and we will keep bringing it up and
thank you Mr. Chairman for doing that because we it seems to be floating somewhat. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Joanne. Um if there are no other comments or questions from board members um I I'm going to ask if anyone had in the public there. Yes, Carolyn.
And then if there anyone online has any questions or comments, we'll take those as well. Carolyn McClullen. Sure. Hello everyone. Uh Carolyn Mlullen, South Chadam. I just have a few comments I wanted to make uh directed or
concerning the um FINCOM's report that they submitted that was online specifically the um I think it's on page three in regards to the topic uh topic topics of note and water on page three it says halfway down the uh the
paragraph um in regards to we refer back to our report to the select board on the fiscal year 25 25 proposed budget regarding water supply and the prospect for increasing demand on our plans for attainable and affordable housing come
closer to realization. With 90 new housing units in the train and the selectbook focus on a goal of 200 new units over the next 5 years, we need to ensure that the town can deliver the water required by these new residents. As noted last year, without having a
direct line of sight into specific plans of actions, we would hope that the affordable housing trust, the office of community development, and the department of public works and the town manager are working collaboratively to ensure the availability available water
supply exceed water supply exceeds forecast demands on these new projects. So my concern is that I for the life of me can't understand why we keep relating our water needs to affordable housing. First of all, what affordable housing is
not the cause of our current water situation. And I know that for certain because we haven't really built any. Okay? So we're not the issue. Okay? And if you look at all the water reports, it's a bell curve. The usage goes up in
the summer. Year- round use is not the problem. We have a spike in the summertime. And if you want to have a meeting between the affordable trust and the community development and the public works to discuss water, I don't know what we're going to discuss about it because we don't have the water. You need to have the ZVA and the planning
board in that meeting discussing all the permits they issue to these massive buildings when when they're turning residential neighborhoods into commercial enterprises, building McMansions. That's where our excessive water use is right now. The ZBA is uh
about to force an appeal on the our pending Penrose project, which would cause if it goes through would cause at least a year delay. Plus, it's about two years of a buildout. That's three years. Three years we'd have to wait if it even goes through at all. Now, mind you, the
the the ZBA averages about 30 new uh 30 new McMansions a year. So that would be in the next three years that would be 90 McMansions that could get built while we're waiting for affordable housing. Those those buildings are going to use way more water than what we're going to use. We are not the problem. And I
really resent the fact that when you you're talking about all the resources of the town, you don't say the town needs to look at all of its building. Are we going to if the town wants to continue to make these McMansions and allow the zoning to allow it? The zoning board isn't doing anything wrong. This is how our our laws, our bylaws are
written that allows for that. If you want to continue to do that, go ahead. But over the next few years, over the next decade, you're just going to have more and more of these mega houses built that are going to use your water. But and if that's your choice, fine. But you cannot blame affordable housing. You
cannot constantly create a narrative where you're tying our water usage to affordable housing. It's disingenuous and it's causing more problems for our year- round sustainability, which should be your number one priority. So, thank you. >> Did you Thank you. I'd be happy to
respond. Um, thank you Carolyn. Um, I appreciate your interest and concern. As usual, I think to be clear, we are there's no language in this document that I can see that blames or otherwise casts aspersions on attainable affordable housing. This committee as
early as 2021 issued a 19-page report to the select board laying out a roadmap for how to get more housing in this town. We stand by that and quite frankly a number of the recommendations were adopted. Um we have no carriage over the ZBA and the planning board to be clear
obviously. Um and I think the ask simp is pretty straightforward is we're building these houses building other houses as you point out we should just have conversation to make sure we have adequate supply. I'd defer to Rob um if
he'd like to offer insights on on that and our availability. So I I get it, but I don't think us simply saying the stakeholders in this process should be talking to each other is a bad recommendation.
>> Carolyn, looks like you want have a response to that. >> Sorry, I exited too soon. Um, sorry. My my my number one concern is the fact that when you when you mention water and our our limited resources, you only list affordable housing and not this is this
is your report to the town talking about what's ahead for the town. What are the risks? What are our financial how are we in financial jeopardy? Water resources are a big issue. So I would think you'd also state at least I think it's a bigger issue is the the unbridled development that's
going on in town that happens has nothing to do with affordable housing. This is this is what's happening and do are we going to address it? Are we going to do anything about it? I know you support affordable housing, but I think this this way of looking at it constantly puts affordable housing in the epicenter of the conversation of we
don't have enough water where we're not we don't even have any. How how are we the problem? So, >> well, aside from the fact that we're hoping to get 200 units over the next couple of years, but I take your point installing that stop, please. I take your point. I don't disagree with your point. This was last year's report. If
you'd like me to put some language in this year's report, >> casting a broader net over the issue, I'd be happy to do that. >> I would be very appreciative of that. >> Done. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Ease closed. I would point out that um at the insistence of the select board um
particularly Mr. Dykens and myself over the last several years, we now have two new wells coming online, numbers 10 and 11. Finally, finally we got approval in number 10. Um and I know the finance committee in its report has consistently urged us to make sure that we h that we
look at new wells. So I'm happy I'm happy that we're able to report that. Okay. Uh >> and I would just simply add an adequate rate structure too which >> we did that. We appreciate that. Yes. >> Um I I just going to ask if there's any member of the public that has any be in addition to Carolyn that has any
comments. Anyone online? >> I don't see anyone. So >> Mr. Chair, if I can just add >> Yes, Joe. >> One of the demos that Ryan did through it about short-term rentals. We're able to event or we will be able to populate it with water usage too. So, we would
have a better idea of how short-term rentals affect our water consumption. >> Yes, I think that's going to show a lot. Um, well, I don't see any other comments or questions. Stuart, you had something. I'm sorry.
>> Yes, thank you. Um, I it was really um because I'm new and uh for the for the public that um I thank you for the packet. It was really informative. Um even even to those of us who are
somewhat familiar with the budget uh this was really good and uh I know that last year's um one of the in the packet was our perspective on the proposed two 2026 budget by uh Stephen and uh Carrie. Uh I found it really helpful. I think
it's I think there's some it was probably the the most polite memo I've ever written or ever read uh about warning signs. Um so I think it would be helpful for people to review that. Um
because uh there are definitely some things that I think the town needs to pay attention to. Um and most some of the things to get to this slide are um that I've was helpful for me was the
debt service that were uh servicing the number of employees the the increase of the number of employees um was surprising. Um so something I think the public should take a look at. um the
stress on our water uh system um uh including uh what uh Caroline I don't know if she's still here but what Caroline had said I think is is important and um and thanks I look forward to your new statement.
>> Thank you. Um to be clear and to not make Carrie appear to be by catch um but this is the work of the finance committee. uh it's the collaborative and collective work of the committee and the statement of our sort of aggregated views. So I know her name's on the
letterhead as well, but we bear all responsibility for whatever as we just saw for whatever's in here. >> Yeah, it well I found it helpful. So whomever thank you for for that. >> And we'll be receiving a new one in February. We'll get a new one in February, I guess. >> February 17. Okay.
>> Not a day sooner. Um well if there is nothing else to say um we'll call the meeting to a close and we'll superintendent Carpenter. Yes. >> I was going to say as nobody asked about enrollment. I'm happy to kind of tie in
uh enrollment which ultimately I think comes back to the whole affordable housing uh piece. >> Sure. Do you want to say something? >> So um so I have just three things you know three things to quickly talk about. First, uh last night the uh middle
school renovation building committee met. Uh we uh will be taking forward to the school committee on Thursday. Uh the uh proposal or the low bidder uh for
that job. Um uh the nice thing is it did come in uh significantly under budget uh in terms of what the bid was and knock on wood as the project goes all the way through. >> Was it lower than the estimates? >> Uh yes. So, uh, so, uh, you know, so the
estimate was an 11.5 million project and it at the moment, uh, without actually being done, uh, the estimate, uh, or the bid from the lowest bidder came in about $2.2 million less. So, that potentially
will play out well for the taxpayers in both towns. >> To go yet, >> huh? Ways to go yet. >> Yeah, there's a lot a long way to There's a reason I asked there's a reason I asked that question. >> Siding to put up and there's a lot of sighting to remove to really understand what the existing conditions underneath it all.
But um you know but that's yeah that's good news um in terms of just uh an enrollment report because at the end of the day you know enrollment sort of drives what the school districts you know what the school district's budget is and I think it's important for Chattam to understand uh you know the
enrollment and where Chadam Elementary School is. Um, Chattam Elementary School actually is up 4% in enrollment this year, but I'll put this caveat. Uh, we went and added a program at Chadam Elementary School this past uh this past
budget cycle. We, uh, we opened up a pups preschool program, which is a full day, full school year program for families in our two towns who uh, you know, who would like access to that. We have traditionally at the at the
elementary school level uh run a integrated preschool. We're still running that that has that's a half day uh a half day school year program that's not a complete week. So it doesn't necessarily help families, working
families that need, you know, that need sort of preschool and the child care that oftentimes comes with that, you know. So we you know so we we reached out to our families to see what the need was. There's a clear need for full day options for f you know for families. So
we opened a pups program uh having you know so that allowed us to have more el you have more preschoolers at Chattam Elementary School that sort of artificially pulled up the numbers at at Chattam Elementary School. So, our Cadam
residents at Chattam Elementary School is actually down by three students this year. Uh there are some Haritch residents in that pups preschool program. So, they they in addition with a couple school choice seats and a
couple of the other grade levels have have pulled up the enrollment uh by seven students which which accounts for that 4% increase in enrollment at Chadam Elementary School. Haritch Elementary School, by contrast, saw an eight an
8.4% decrease in enrollment. Part of it because of that pups program pulling some kids that might be in preschool over in Harwitch uh into that building. And and the other part of it is that that both of our towns are are seeing a
loss of elementary age students at at pretty alarming rates. And I'll kind of come back to that uh here when I sort of talk about sort of longer term trends. Uh the middle school, we see a decline of students uh at 3 and a.5% this year.
Uh the high school uh 4 uh uh the high school's 4.8% decline in enrollment. U a lot of that decline is driven by we had last year's graduating class was our large class. We
had 157 seniors graduate last year and only 138 students come up into the eighth into the eighth grade to sort of fill those you know to fill those seats. So, so as a school district, you know,
we are uh sorry, as as a school district, we're down we're down almost 5% um in enrollment. And again, a lot of that's happening at the earlier grade levels. And now coming forward if we're looking at uh at Cadam overall over all
the grade levels uh Chattam is down compared to the prior year by 22 students uh which is a 6.1% decline in enrollment of Chattam students within the district. Uh Haritch is down by 62
students which is a 5.3% decline in enrollment. And it's that differential between the the decrease in Harish students and the decrease in Chattam students that sometimes fuels some of that tension between our two towns
because at the end of the day it's it's the enrollment that drives the assessments. So to to kind of get a uh a little sort of overview of where we are with with foundation enrollment. So, so
what I was just talking about was enrollment in the school district which is different than foundation enrollment. Foundation enrollment is the students that budgetarily were responsible for. So there are students who attend Monoy but live in Chadam uh sorry that that
students that live in Chadam that attend Monoy or school choice elsewhere to another another public school district or go to a charter school. So they're they're ones we're financially responsible for and the same with the Haritch ones. In the 12 years going into
this past budget year that we've been monoy uh we've seen the foundation enrollment for Chadam students decrease by 24%. In the 12 years that we've been monomally we've seen Haritch students
decrease by 8%. And and that really gets down to when people are talking about affordable housing. You know, we're seeing more and more of our families really priced out of our two towns and it's and it's seen
in those foundation enrollment numbers. Uh Michael will be doing a presentation on Thursday at the school committee sort of a you know an FY26 budget you know sort of kickoff the budget season you know for us. uh he'll have a report that he'll be presenting
to the school committee. We'll be sending it to you and would be happy to come back and do a bigger report back to your select board and finance committee and the the town boards in Harwitch. On page 39 of that report, uh Michael's got
some great graphics on what foundation enrollments going and and how that split is going to play out when it comes to our assessments. If we look forward just in the next six years based on the the the students that we see in the system and the projections that we have coming
up, Chadam will see its enrollment of school age children drop by another 23% from where it is right now. Haritch will see their numbers drop by 16% from where it is right now. You know, so we're
seeing this rapid decline in young young children or school districts in part because of the difficulty to find housing for, you know, for their families. And and we see this when it comes to me running the
school district just trying to get staff, you know, who can find who can find Haritch and Chadam affordable to affordable to live in. how that plays how that's played out in terms of the found you know the foundation enrollment
behind the assessment in the first 12 years that we've been monoy there's been a 3.63% 63% shift in enrollment. So when we started at you as monoy uh chattam represented
26.58% of the foundation enrollment and it and it decreased by you know by 3.63% to 22.95%. Now you know where that's felt in terms
of the purse strings in our partner town in Harwitch is you know every time that foundation enrollment sort of incrementally shifts there's a you know there's an impact you know you know so it's less less in the assessment for Haritch or for Chadam
more in the assessment you know in in Harwitch and you know so you know so per year that's I mean it seems small it's a.3% shift shift in foundation enrollment on average over those 12 years.
But that plays out over, you know, over the course of time. You take all those.3% shifts, you know, so in a roughly $50 million budget, you know, a three, you know, a 3.63% shift in position tends to be fairly
significant when you look at, you know, the that compounded. If we look at the next six years, where we project that will go is that Chadam's position will shift that they'll lose relative to Haritch another 1.24%
is what we're projecting, you know, the next six years to, you know, to look like. So, you know, so that trend, you know, that trend continues. And I and at the end of the day, it's it's it comes down to, you know, this whole concept of affordable housing and and how do we,
you know, how do we make it affordable for families to stay in the system, but also the differential between how it's playing out between our two towns. >> Thank you. Can I just ask a question without getting into the weeds? Back in
July, the um select board from Harowitz wrote to the school committee and asked to begin the process of reviewing um the agreement, the intermunicipal agreement between the two the district agreement among um the district and the
two towns. What what is the posture of the school committee on this at this time? Well, I I mean, you can imagine that, you know, that our school committee represents four, you know, four people from Haritch and four people, you know, four people from Chadam. I I think it's
>> I wasn't really looking as to where they stood on it. I I just wondered process-wise what what is the response of the >> Yes. So, yeah. So the school committee, you know, the school committee has responded to Haritch that they've, you know, so they actually voted at one of their most recent meetings, uh, and sent
Haritch a letter back saying, you know, acknowledging receipt of the letter and also acknowledging, you know, a willingness to, you know, to get involved, uh, you know, working with finance departments in both towns at at looking at, you know, sort of long range
projections, but also, you know, also, you know, wishing to facilitate any sort of you know joint conversations you know between full boards and and the committee itself. to the committee hasn't taken any position on the merits,
>> right? Because >> there's no proposal. >> I I think I think in part there hasn't been a >> proposal, >> an ask or a proposal. And and I in my position as superintendent have just pushed back a little bit just saying, you know, like if there's an ask coming,
be sure that there's a clear articulation on, you know, what the why is behind that ask. Yes, you gave us a presentation on that re recently and we appreciate that and you pointed out that any change in the regional agreement has to be approved by town the town meetings
and was it a two-thirds vote both or >> it's a majority vote >> majority vote in each each town meeting. Okay. Any questions for Dr. Carpenter or is his his team? Okay. Um I'll turn to the chair of the finance committee to um adjourn his group
>> to read them out. John >> motion to adjurnn. >> Eric. Yes. >> Joanne, >> yes. >> Kristen, >> yes. >> Tracy, >> yes. >> Andy, >> yes. >> The chair's in favor. >> Thank you. >> Forgot our people. >> Oh my god. >> People on the island over there.
>> Where did you guys show up? Uh Barbara, >> yes. >> Tommy, >> yes. >> Okay. Thank you guys. Sincere apologies. >> Thank you. So, you are adjourned. I'll accept a motion. Motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Miss Davis. >> I. >> Mr. Mr. Matters.
>> Hi, >> Mr. Smith. >> I >> chair votes I and we are adjourned at 6:46 p.m. Thank you everyone. Thank you to the department heads. Thank you Jill. Thank you Carrie. >> Thank you. >> Good night everyone. >> Don't have the mental