I'd like to call this Thursday, March 5th meeting of the finance committee to order. Tonight will be following the published and posted agenda. We'll be recorded for viewing currently and in the future uh by chance of Tele Media. Uh we will also be available via Zoom
this evening. Our first item on the agenda is approval of minutes uh from February 26, 2026. Has everyone had an opportunity to review them? >> Yes. >> All right. Do I have a motion? I make a motion to approve the Chelmsford Finance Committee meeting minutes of February 26 uh 2026.
>> Second it. >> Any discussion? Seeing none, do a roll call. Uh Anita's on on Zoom this evening. Anita, can you hear us? >> Doesn't seem like she is. >> Doesn't appear she can. >> No. Boy, >> she's not muted either.
Well, I'll do the roll call in. >> Hi, >> Dave. Sam, >> I >> I >> I >> Anita, >> she can't hear us. >> She can't hear us. She hear us. All right. I'm an I. We're going to have to uh as far as the vote's concerned, we have have to note that she wasn't able to wasn't able to vote in the in the
minutes. >> Can't hear you. >> Oh, there you are. >> Okay. There you are. >> You can hear us now. What? Do you have a vote on the move? >> I can hear you. >> Oh. Oh, but we can hear you. >> Yes. >> Yeah, we can hear you. >> You can hear me? I can't hear you.
>> Okay, that's going to be fun. >> Ah, might be a blessing. >> She can't hear you. Well, >> she can go on YouTube and hear you two seconds later. I'm going to try to dial in. See if I
can hear you that way. >> Yeah, why don't you try dialing in? >> The phone number's on the agenda. >> She can't hear me though. >> Yeah, we can hold maybe chat. >> I can mute her. I can't. She can't hear us though. >> Well, we can see would not be able to
see the chat. >> There's no chat. >> Maybe. >> Here you go, Jim. Hold the sign. >> Dial in. >> How about we send her a text message? >> Yeah, that that's that's that's uh >> Want me to do it?
>> Yeah. Could you? Yeah, that would probably be the more appropriate way of doing it. >> I can remove her. >> Maybe if she logs in again. Yeah, it says she's connected to audio. So,
>> there she is. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no sound at all though. >> No, we can't hear you. >> No. >> Can she hear us? >> I can hear you. >> Okay, there we go. There we go. Perfect. Yep, we can hear you. >> Gotcha. >> Okay. All right. >> I see. Are you an eye on the minutes?
>> Sure. I >> Okay, that's the longest roll call vote we've ever taken. All right. I would say moving right along, however. Um, next we have a review of the fiscal year uh 27 budget for the Department of
Public Works. And with us this evening is director of public works Christine Clancy. >> Good evening. I'll try to go quickly too because we do have a snow upon us um coming on later tonight. Uh but no, thank you. Um so this year's budget is very similar to some of the previous
year's presentations really looking at a m maintaining level of service and level uh funding where we can really maintaining level service. Next slide please. So what I'll do is I'll provide an overview of each of our divisions um
really broken down or categories as we've presented the budget in previous years. the administration engineering, the highway division, snow and ice, which has its own um category, public trees, solid waste and recycling, facilities, public buildings and parks are kind of rolled into one uh category.
We've been trying to consolidate some of those cost items. Uh street lights and then the two enterprise funds which those are self-funded sewer enterprise and storm water enterprise. And you can ask questions anytime along the process too.
So, just to provide an overview, um our overall budget looking at all of the um divisions in in its entirety, um 21 just under $21.3 million and that is a 3.9% increase from last year. That's overall. I'll dive into each division. Um this
just shows the distribution. Um the the largest amount $9.5 million. That's what I call a DPW, but that is the rollup of the snow ice, the highway, the admin engineering. Um so that is like I'll break that down. Um separate from that we have facilities which is is separated
out um at 2.8 million. Um and then the two enterprise funds. So the sewer is the the second highest um expenditure is $6.7 million and then the storm water which is our newest division at $2.19 million.
And really maintain level of service is really our focus. So the administration engineering budget overall is a decrease of 5.97 5.79% and that is really because looking at um when we first put together the budget we're trying to see where we
could save money um and we have um four engineers that are paid out of the admin engineering budget. A lot of that time is allocated to the sewer uh to sewer division. So we took basically one of the salaries and put it into this into
the um sewer division. So that's why you see a decrease of 5.79%. Um other than that there's really nominal or no changes um in the budget for the administration and engineering budget. The next division is the highway
division within the DPW budget. Um overall this is a 8.25 25 division increase. Um, and it's just to kind of break down how we get to the 8.25 division increase is there's this four 4% of that is salary adjustments, which is typical with grade increases in the
cost of living adjustments. Um, 15.66% is the large largest amount. So, under the expense category, um, under the contract services, if you look at last year or this current fiscal year, we're spending $140,000.
um this coming year or that number goes up to $350,000 and that significant increase is really twofold. One is we've previously been paying some of these services through ARPA or other grant funding opportunities and that is ending this year. So that that does pop up a couple
times in the DPW budget is ARPA is done after really this year. So we have to continue those costs and those costs are folded into the DPW budget. Um so that is one of the reasons. The other reason and there is a warrant article on tonight as well that I'll explain um is
that we are expanding the treatment of so 54 Richardson is where we have the PAS um mitigation efforts that we're doing. We have had a successful plant on site to help mediate or mitigate that uh PA pas contamination. We do have to extend that um extend that uh with a
second well and extend the limits of where we're doing that mitigation. Um and that's going towards a dog park. So that warrant article I'll talk about tonight. But by extending this this area of mitigation, we're extending the number of wells that we're sampling
which has a significant increased cost. So while we were probably around $250,000 a year in previous years, even though and um it chose 140, but that was supplemented with ARPA is that now cost is going up to about $350,000 for next year. I hope it goes down in future
years. Um, one other item that we're exploring is in order to operate the uh, P the PAS treatment plant that we have at 54 Richardson, it has to be inspected weekly um, by someone with a grade 2 uh, wastewater license. That's something so we hire Weston Samson. We are looking at
that to see if it's something that we could train someone inhouse and do that in time. That would probably save us potentially 7 $70,000 a year. So that is something that we're looking at, but we have to look at the training needs and in transitioning that. So that's just something looking, you know, ahead in
future year budgets. Are there any questions with the highway salary just because that is one of our larger ones? >> Um, just when you you're going to be talking about PASS stuff later. >> There the separate warrant article I'll be talking about later. I can try to address anything now too, but the
warrant article will focus on that later. Yep. snow and ice. So, this is a budget that if you go back to the five-year history has been both level funded and level serviced. This year is probably an extraordinary year com It hasn't been
like this in since 2015. Um, every year we seem to be having just enough money or turning back money. This is a year where and there's a um a memo before the slip board this coming Monday night that we are facing a deficit with our current year. Just because we're facing that deficit this year doesn't mean I
increase the budget right now because who knows what we're going to have next year. So we we look more at trends. And so I'm hopeful that this is a kind of a blip in the in the in like the overall trend and that we u we'll re-evaluate as we continue to go next year. If next
year we still still see a lot more snow and ice events. I mean we typically were running like 10 to 15 a year and we're well over 20 this year. So and because an event can be as small as a an icing event. It could be we had a blizzard, a large um that large storm we had 20
inches of snow. So each storm is varying. This year the storms fell on weekends on holidays. Like I said the we have many many icing events that are costly to us because we have to you know continuously put salt on the ground which is expensive. Um so we are
proposing to level fund it for now and then as we look at the next year or two if we see a trend then we would ask for an increase. The the next line item is the public trees and this is uh requested to be level funded in $90,000. This is really
for the maintenance of trees that we have within our rightway and town buildings. If we do have money left over, sometimes DPW itself will do plantings. We've been fortunate to have many earmarks or grants um and planted many trees over 100 last year. We're close to being on targeted uh target for
100 trees this year through various programs and grants. Um so that's really I mean that's separate from this line item. While we do try to maybe do a handful sometimes with Arbor Day we'll do one um the deep W plant like five to 10 a year. Um this this right this line
item is for response to you know if we have micro bursts if we have any storm damage. Um we also have an on call contract where we do pruning throughout town as needed. There's also trees within the rightway or town properties that are are in dead or in decay and
need to be um removed. So sometimes we'll have an arborist respond to that. >> Um what kind of trees do you plant? Uh so we do have a with the tree committee we have a tree planting list that we establish each year. So last year it was like hackberry um um Princeton elm we
have a whole list of trees. So really trying to promote biodiversity um but also native but now I guess that's a question of what is native >> all deciduous trees not evergreens. Cor uh we have planted some evergreens um like the town common um but mostly
deciduous correct um maple is another example sugar maple um two below so we have a we do have a list on the tree committee website >> thank you >> um I think like I said so this is really um this is used annually through our con
through inhouse and with our on call tree contractor solid waste recycling ling. The overall amount for this is uh $4.6 million. And really um the increase is a $3.19% increase. And we did look at this
year's budget just to see really what what are we tracking for tonnage use and what are the tonnage costs. And that's really how we calculate um calculate the the need of the the budget request. If you remember last year, we did peel we did adjust some of these um some of the
services we were offering. So we're only down to one household hazardous waste day that is continuing for this year. So when I say level maintain level of service that's based on the service uh redu slight service reduction last year. Um we are in our fourth year of our fifth contract with eel Harvey. That's
our collection. Um the the eel Harvey is the one that collects the trash and the and they do take they do also the yard waste and the recycling. Um all of our trash is disposed of at with through Cavanta. So that is that is paid separately. So that's why you see a waste disposal and a waste contract line
item. Um the trash rate is uh is estim is $16 a ton and that is adjusted annually by the consumer price index but that's what we're estimating. And then the recycling rate this is something that changes monthly. Um it all depends on the industry like what is you know
how what's the resale value of cardboard or of aluminum and right now that's $132 a ton. So it's more expensive recycling. Um, but that is so we do have to just factor that in when we're evaluating our costs. >> So you pay $132 a ton or you get $132.
>> I think that is something that people do not understand. They think recycling's free. No, it's not. >> So right now it is more expensive, but there's a sustainable element where it's, you know, but yes, but yes, it is more expensive currently. Only going back a couple years ago was $99 or $90.
So it changes. So it just we just we just track the market. Um but it is becoming more expensive right now. It's all depend on the avail like the reuse of those materials >> and it's and the recycling is no longer separated. It has to be it's all mixed and that probably affects the price as
well. >> I it's really the the price is really affected by the the market like so I don't think we're and I'm not I'm not going to pretend to be an economist but you know we're not things aren't going as to China or to other countries. So I think that it has more of a it's industry a whole industry related cost.
>> They're not taking our plastic no more. >> Plastics are not being recycled as much. Aluminum and really everything is is impacted. But I different and I did ask and I didn't get it before this meeting is like a breakdown of each one of those costs because I'm interested to see how much does it cost for cardboard. This is
the blended rate the 132. So I we are going to explore that. But I guess the good news is I'm carrying 132. So if for some reason the market changes and now it's only costing $90, then we'll see a savings next year. So I try to be conservative because 130 is what we've been seeing the past few months, several months.
>> Thank you. >> And in terms of the contract, fourth year, when do you expect to go and start to negotiate that? And what's the market um right now for that contract? Is it >> So we'll probably start end of this year. We'll start developing the contract and putting out next year. So
we want to we want time to be able to negotiate that. So it would be next year. That would be early next year would be I believe we do it um I think it was April last so it'll probably be early next year. Yeah. So we'll start the end of this year and I don't know the exact time frame but we we don't want to be putting it out two months
before it expires. We want to have time to figure out exactly what we need. Um and we do have to go through RFP process. >> Yeah. And also they have to they have to have in the proposals they have to have a commitment for vehicles and so it takes time on their end and also on our
end in preparation. So we'll be starting I guess is this fall and then putting something out whether it be winter or spring. >> Do we have the capability to to see what other towns contracts are with them? >> Yes. So we are we we actually are part
of various um ch like we with with Coanta where there's eight communities. So, we we do talk often and share a lot of this information. Um, and I guess the only the thing is I'm hearing is the rates the contracts are going out now even more expensive than what we're paying. We're I guess getting a deal right now.
>> Um, it's just the costs are going up because these costs were prepared you know four year four or five years ago. So, we are tracking that and that's something we'll continue. So there's a lot of information um with the state data like we have a database that tracks that but then we'll also be reaching out to some communities just anytime say
what's you know does anyone did anyone recently rebid this and um and it is it is becoming costly to communities which is why you're starting to see communities have like there's various communities having different approaches um you know throw as you pay as you
throw or reduction of limiting what you can how many bags you can throw away we did one thing we are doing too is we are increasing our cost of the overflow bags from $2 to $3. This is something that most communities are doing to try to promote, you know, think about it before
you fill up a $3 bag. Um, also people are commun people um our communities are coming out with trash fees and because it is something this is a cost. $4.6 million is a lot, but if that cost goes up, how are we going to pay for that? So, it's something that we're we're looking into.
>> Okay. David is like the fire engine and the school bus thing. The industry is consolidated by acquisitions and mergers. So when you walk to build usually two or three >> any other questions with solid waste? The only other thought I had on that is
sometimes um depending on you know I I think this might be a little bit of a different situation but sometimes you can um understand that we're getting we can give a little bit of economics in the short term knowing that we're almost at the end of the contract in hopes to and negotiate favorably on a longerterm
contract at a more discounted rate. Right? So we give up a little bit of economics in the short term for maybe a year to lock in a fiveyear longer term agreement that's below market value of where we are right now. But you have to bid it. You can't We have to do We have to do RFP,
>> right? Yeah. So negotiate. You have to go to seal bins. >> Yeah. We have to do sealed. So that that's the difference between us. >> So that's the same as >> between public and private just >> Yeah. It's very very different. And one other thing I did not mention too is that we other communities are exploring
is really the cost is in the tonnage, you know. So if you have less waste, you're going to have the space spending less. And so communities are starting to do the the composting which we do have um preferred rate with Black Earth. Some communities are offering curbside composting. So we've exp like could we
get a grant to offer that to the community? So to you know as a pilot program in a smaller amount that that's a it's a you know right now you put out your recycling and trash. Now do you want to put out curbside composting? That's just you know it's a big change but that is also a direction communities are taking. So another thing to look at
as an opportunity. >> Do you have any There's only so many places you can bring the trash because >> new waste energy plants and Massachusetts is not permitting anymore. >> And the only other thing is to ship it out through rail that has totally other problem. >> Do you have any um from towns that are
offering the curb site? Do they have any data on how much tonnage that recycling that composting took out of this the the stream? >> So the industry is saying that composting reduces your waste by 30%. So, think about 30% of your cost. So,
you're talking maybe like you could be talking $500,000 you'd be saving out of our contracts um at least. But we haven't seen the actual numbers. So, I know Medford did a pilot and they offered it to anyone in the town that wanted to sign up. Um but I think there still this is the year they're tracking the numbers. So, hopefully we get some
data, but it's supposed to 30 to 40% is what the industry is saying. Um I we have to I guess get more D. It's still a new depends really depends how much the community is >> doing embracing it. Like Cambridge started this several years ago and um
and they they did see a reduction in their waste. Anything else? All right. So now moving on to municipal facilities. So facilities is separated out of the DPW budget, the $2.8 million. Uh this is an
um 5.65 65 overall increase and the reason for I'll go over like the primary reasons for that. So when I in a couple slides I'll go through park. So over the years we've consolidated some of the the accounts as we show them in our budget. We've broken out public buildings and we
had a line item for um old north and the old north town hall um parks budget a couple years ago. The facilities parks salary was pulled out um and put into facilities. what we still had was some of the expenses from parks. So, what we've been doing is trying to
consolidate that over the years. So, from the parks budget, we are moving $43,000 from the parks budget over to the facilities budget. Um, and they all work like saying the parks all really work together. It just it makes sense to have in this one one location. Um, the
old north town hall budget, we've taken $20,000 from that, really eliminating that line item and moving that to facilities. um minor adjustment in the overtime for um the overtime under salaries. We are seeing some you know we've have we have more events of you
know festivals in town. So there is an addition small increase for that. Um there is a small reduction by $15,000 in the solar array maintenance line item and that's because we are this year doing two large roof projects. the south
roof project and part of the McCarthy, those solar panel systems will be taken off, disposed of, and new solar panels will be going on. So, we anticipate a reduction in maintenance because we'll be getting new um new panels and those projects do come with a one-year
maintenance plan. Um so, we that's why we have a reduction there. Um there's an increase in the building maintenance line item and that really is in that is in the amount of $105,000 and that is for the HVAC. So the need is under ARPA we have carried HVAC service
contracts. We do have an HVAC uh technician in house but we need to supplement that. So that has been supplemented by ARPA for several years and that ends this year. Um so we are folding that into this. So that's why you see a large increase in that line
item. Um and then one other item to po to mention is contract services. That's the small designs we do or sometimes even abatement on projects. Um, so that is something that's always used. If you look at the actuals from last year, we try to match that. So that is a request
of $40,000, an increase of $10,000 from last year. And public buildings. Um, this is really for town offices in the custodial cleaning contract that we have. And um also any expenses for we have u a bunch of motorpool vehicles
here. Um so that budget is increasing just slightly 1 um 74%. Um really level funding in level service there. And then I mentioned the old north town hall budget. We just really
eliminating that and taking that $20,000 and putting to facilities parks. So, this really is all allocated now moving forward. So, the s the the staff budget was reallocated in FY25 over to facilities. This year, it just made sense. I wanted everything over to
facilities. So, we're moving $43,000 of expenses over to facilities. street lighting it um level service and level funded. Um we do we have 2200 lights across town and we are um maintaining this. So as far as this we
look at the LED replacements um we we actually we do them manually. Um but as far as replacements we're not seeing a trend. So in the next 5 to 10 years we will have to do replacements across the town. um we haven't seen an uptick in replacements, maybe just very slightly.
So, we're tracking this. So, I I do anticipate to spend the same amount of money this year as next year, but as soon as we start to see more replacement needs, that's when we look at a capital plan to replace probably over several years. >> Do you typically replace them only when they're out or do you have a rolling
schedule? >> Right now, only when they're out. >> Um only when they're out. Yeah, >> that makes sense. Do you anticipate this will be affected if the bylaw that's before the town meeting this spring is is put into place? >> Not for our current plan. If we do a
full replacement maybe, but no, not for >> Okay. >> I believe I have to I believe that warrant article does not impact the street. It's more town buildings only. I think it's exempt >> only from street lights. >> Only the large flood lights which are few. >> Yeah. So if it's if it's a flood light
attached to a pole looking at a business then yes but from a town street light no like town buildings um over time I mean but no not for street lights but I guess if we do a full townwide I think we would look to
see okay what's our new standard >> sewer division so this is one of our enterprise funds so it's fully paid by the sewer rates that you pay um overall a 4.46 a 4 point just under 4.5% increase. Um and I I guess just way to put this so
our I looked up our average sewer bill and the average sewer bill is $445. So if it's going at 4 and a.5% we we set these rates in July and it is based on the volume we receive. So it's used so right now this is an estimate. So if we
have a higher volume then then we that percentage goes down slightly. If we have a lower volume, the percentage goes up a little bit. But if you assume like five, let's say 5% increase, um then that would be going up like 23 20 $23 the bill for next year.
And the reasons for these increases primarily um under major maintenance, we're showing an increase of $50,000. And that's just because um the cost of the pumps when a pump goes down and we have 41 pumping stations. So if a pump goes down, we're talking at least $10,000 just to repair to repair to
replace it. So, we're seeing an increase in those um the costs for the repairs, not necessarily the frequency, but just the actual costs, grinder pump maintenance. Um so, we are seeing uptick in the needs there. Uh about so we're requesting an additional $50,000. We
have about 600 pumps and we about 150 a year is what we're working on, but we're seeing more replacements or rebuilds than just repairs. Um, so we're that's why we're seeing um looking because if you look back at last year's FY25
actual, we spent 230. So we're that is on track. So that's why we're asking for to to match what the actual spent actuals last year as opposed to the budgeted last year. Um, we have outlay 105 $105,000. This is
for a utility truck with a liftgate that will be used for manhole inspections. uh also under debt service and this will also under the warrant articles I'll have get into more detail but this is where when we ask for the warrant articles that desk debt service comes out of this line item um and so it's for
evergreen Clinton pump station improvements um and lastly sewer s our sewer rates will be adjusted in July and we do run the numbers again in June to estimate that so like I said it's not the rate isn't going up 4.46% four or six%. It
depends on the the revenue and the volume really the volume um that we receive. So we'll run those numbers again in June. And our last division, enterprise division as well, storm water division. Um this is our newest division. This is
uh overall a 5.46 increase um this increase in equipment repair um by $15,000. our street sweepers, they I mean they're just they pick up a lot of things on the side of the road. So there's always a repair needed. Again, those repairs can be costly. Um so we're
see if you look at last year, we spent $52,000. So um also our CCTV truck, it's um you know, it's been it's only a year old. It's been great, but the more you use it, sometimes you come across a repair that's needed. Um so that's why we increase that line item. Um under
contract services, I do ask for more money there in the amount of $40,000. So from 150 to 190. Um and just because we're the catchbas and debris disposal and street sweeping disposal that we stockpile at at Swain Road just trying to get rid of more of that annually. Um
and under the debt service line item similar to what I how I explained it in the sewer is we have two needs. We have a tool truck um borrowed over five years and that's really just to help with some of the masonry work or head wall repairs or drainage repairs. And then and again these are both two warrant articles I'll
be presenting tonight. Uh Rainbow A drainage improvements. Our storm water fees I I like to so I'd like to adjust the storm water fees in January and then the sewer fees in July just so that's offset. Um storm water fees both storm water and sewer are tier
structures but the storm water fees for residential um those just were set I think $72 $72 and they went up from $68. So it's about So with this five 5.46% my guess is next January they would be
going up another three or4 dollars and that completes the operations budget piece. I don't know if you have any questions. So continuing on we have review of article 9 for the PAS treatment plant upgrades at Richardson Road. Article 11 sewer pump station upgrades for Clinton Avenue, Fair Street and Evergreen
Street. Article 13, storm water wreck body truck. Article 14, drainage improvements for Rainbow A. And article 35, utilities, Mr. Fire Stations construction project. And article 36, street acceptance of Proctor Road. >> I'd like to know more about the PAS and just a little quick history lesson if
you would. >> Sure. So this goes back to um the so the I guess I don't know like going back several years ago PAS was found at 54 Richardson road this 54 Richardson Road
is our old still is our highway yard um but it is the PAS is uh was found on the site and it was refound at levels above reportable concentrations and I know that as far as what's reportable those limits are changing um but that was at
the time and it it's bill remains high. Um so with that that basically becomes an open site through D and it requires quarterly reporting. So we are report we are conducting samples throughout the year. Um we also had to come up with a PAS mitigation plan. So we um our
consultant Weston Samson they have and they do provide uh reports frequently to the select board. They're on for Monday night just to give updates how you know how this treatment uh or mitigation going. Um, so we did install this system and there's a picture of it right here that's in one of the the garage bays.
That is that treatment system. So really it's taking in the water and it's filtering through a resin carbon system and then it's spitting out water or it's it's it's it's basically putting water back into the ground, recharging it um at that is PAS free um or fully removed
at PAS or very essentially non-detect levels. Um and then over time that resin does have to be replaced. So that's some that's part of the operating cost. We just to make sure that we um we if that resin does have to be replaced as you know just to make sure the system is
functioning. It's a filter in your house. It's just a very robust filter. Um so that system was installed in 2022 and we've been as uh quarterly reports and annual reports. Um in in the most recent reporting we you know we're
seeing levels drop significantly but we still have to do some more expansion um of the system towards the dog park. Um on here on this picture it says dog park irrigation well. That's an well that was used for the for the dog park itself. But in that vicinity we need to put a a
well um to help expand the uh the PAS mitigation. So what we would do is we would be installing that well trenching to that well um proposing to use in-house DPW services to do that trenching and that would connect back into this um mitigation system here and
so it would be a larger system that it would be capturing. Um >> so uh is there any um when we hit here we stop or we when you hit here we go to maintenance mode. What is the long-term goal? So there's with with any type of mitigation with DP there's no known
timeline. It depends on your numbers I guess and also repeat of numbers too because we're also we're testing in parts per the billion. Um and and also it also depends on what is required as the level. So when we first started it was 20 parts per uh trillion and then I know there's federal requirements
talking about six parts per trillion. So it depends I guess what so we don't the goal line's changing too. So we don't know what that timeline is. We're hopeful that we can clean up the site, you know, as quick as possible, but there's no known timeline. We know we have to maintain it until we really get >> And you have to clean it up because it
is a source of water wells for this town. >> Uh any Well, I mean there is water I know the there's water wells in the in the vicinity, but we have to clean this up because any we're above reportable concentrations. So we follow the mass message basically per the state through
D once if you have any any chemical that is above a reportable limit you're required to report it and required. So if you test it on your property and you found PAS you' be obligated to report it and you'd be obligated to clean it up. >> Okay? >> Which is why PAS is becoming something that is found. It's it's in everything
and so it is something that is just it it is if you find it you have to clean it up. um it was found at the site and it was also found it probably was associated I mean there's there's a a long history less I guess into I don't want to go into so much detail because um but there's we're we are looking at
tracing say because there's there's 1500 different um chemicals under Paso Pos and so we are looking at traces like you know we're from what we've seen it's not ex it's not all coming from um this 54 Richardson it's coming from other areas
as well. So, it's it's it's almost like trying to look at a a puzzle like but we know that we have to uh complete some mitigation on our site. Um so it is the installation of that well
piping to it and modifying the existing treatment system. This cost is broken out separately from the operation cost and this estimated cost is $242,000. This would be completed this summer, fall. Any other questions?
I apologize, the lettering is kind of cut off at the top, but this is article 11, sewer pump station upgrades for the Clinton Avenue, Fair Street, and Evergreen Street. Um, and this is a total of $1.5 million. Right now, we are completing design for these projects.
This is similar to some of the previous projects. I know what Kensington and Miland um but these are I guess call more minor minor upgrades. Um we anticipate so these were all designed together and that we would uh go to bid this early this summer and then complete
the construction this summer and fall. Next slide please. The scope of work. So as you see here in this picture um this is really basically what I call them sheds. So all of our 41 pump stations when we're done with all of them, we want to make sure that all
of our equipment is housed um is better for maintenance purposes and longevity of all the equipment in these what I call sheds. So that's an example of what we will put in right now, but the picture you previously saw was just it's basically the the below ground structures and our generator on site and
it's in a fenced in area. Um so construct new buildings with the new control panels, generator at each pump station. We'll have um the temp control also this includes temp because we have to keep these uh pump stations operational while we're doing this work. So there's temp controls have to be put
in it during the process. Um at the new pump station we'll have new control panels, new generators at every green and fair. Um we do have to just reinstall the generator at Clinton and then we also install new variable frequency drives for the pumps at all stations. Each of the stations will have
new ultrasonic flow meters just new equipment to help monitor the flows at each pump station. An example shown here, this is what we recently completed at the milein pump station. >> So, is this something that you expect that we'll need for all pump stations? Like, will this be a one and a half
million costs for the next 13 years? >> We do have a 10-year plan. Um, and we've completed the major I think almost all but one major one. There's a a series of minor ones coming up and I am in the middle of updating our overall 10-year plan to see what it really looks like,
but it's not all 41. I think we're down to like 13 left that we have to upgrade. But once we get through the 13, I'm sure we'll have to go back to all four. I'm sure there'll be some need to update, you know, whether it needs a new generator. But, um, after the next several years, all of our building will
have all all 41 locations will have a a a house or a shed. Um, so it's we're close. I guess I think it's I I want to say it's with these including I think it's 13 left. >> Okay. >> Uh, Christine, have you uh increased
security around these or are you are you building in any increased uh security enhancements, cameras, things like that? Uh, sensors on doors other than locks on windows. >> Yeah, we have the locks. Um, we do have control system. I guess those controls and so I mean we have I guess sensors on
all the equipment and locks on the doors. Um >> other than that we haven't really had a problem I don't think. Um we do also sometimes it's this isn't the final picture but we also do provide some screening because these are also in a lot of the neighborhoods. So we wanted to you know not stand out. So we do some
often fencing or arborites but yeah it's really just the locks. Um I all the equipment is is monitored so that if anything we would know immediately and and there's alarm systems in in that aspect. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Next slide please.
>> Moving on to the article 13 the storm water tool truck. Um this is the request to purchase a what's shown as a F550 tool truck with plow. Um this is equipped this would be equipped as a mason truck. So we're trying to do a lot of our drainage repairs in house. I
mean, we have a lot of needs for larger repairs, but the smaller ones, the drainage structures, the head walls, um, doing that in house just so we equip a truck. Um, this would assist with the also with the snow removal operations like we have we'll have later on tonight. Um, and the request for this is
$115,000 over five borrowed over five years. Article 14 is drainage improvements for Rainbow A. Um, pictured here is R. This is probably going back now two summers ago. We had significant um rain events in the summer. This is
Rainbow A. We have um use our CCTV chart to televise this area and we did make some minor improvements. But what it found basically what we found in that is that the existing drainage system on Rainbow A is undersized. So we need to upsize the existing pipe. We need to
also um adjust the outlet of the pipe. We have to add manholes. We have to add catch basins. As you see here in this picture, the catch basins are kind of connected to each other, which the right way to do it is um connecting to manholes. So, there'll be addition of structures. Um also maybe also locating
the catch basins in the low point of the roads and that will be part of the project as well. Um this is estimated to cost $350,000 borrowed over 10 years. We are designing this right now. Um we're proposing to likely this would probably go out to bid
just given the size of the project. Can Can you go back to the truck for just a second? Sure. >> Okay. I I I I just wanted to see it's it's 115,000 >> $15,000 >> over five years. And you think the truck
will last five years? >> Oh, the truck will should last 10 to 15 years. Yeah. All right. >> A lot of our trucks last at least 10 but 15 years. That's our replacement time frame. Okay. Thank you.
>> This is paid over five years. Yeah. >> Article 35 utility easements. Um this is part of the new fire stations. Those projects actually happy to report went out to bid today. So we'll be receiving bids within the next month. Um this is to both fire stations number three and number five. Uh this is you know in
compliance with the new stretch code. these two buildings will be fully um electric. There's no gas to these buildings. So with that, we had to um really provide a new utility service to both these buildings and with that was required a national grid utility
easement. Um and so this picture, we're still waiting actually on the which we should be receiving soon the fire station 5 uh actual um easement plan, but on the on the right the old Westford road that is the easement plan proposed by National Grid.
So this is a request to uh approve the easements. And then article 36 is a request to accept Proctor Road. Um Proctor Road is 1.5 miles long. Uh and it is an arterial roadway and it has never been accepted
as a public way. Um, I do say here one of few remaining arterial roadways, but I did confirm this is the last large I know we've come before you for Parkhurst. Um, and this is our our last large roadway. We do still have a number of areas where we'll be looking into,
but they're all smaller uh local roadways. I wouldn't call them arterial roadways. So, this is the last last of the requests. So this will add 1.5 miles into the chapter 90 allocations is when they look at their annual um aotments as
to shares from the funds um when they allocate funds to from the state to to us and all that money goes towards the roadway and paving roadway paving program um and sometimes the sidewalk program as well. Um like I said so Proctor Road has been treated as a
public way. We've it's an arterial roadway. We have plowed it. We've repaired it. Um but just looking at it, we have never actually accepted it as a road. Um and this will I said by accepting this we will um be able to increase our chapter 90 reimbursements
funds from the state. This is currently on our paving plan for next year. So we would be looking to pay that of this year. Any questions? And I I showed this is just one there's like I think it's for I actually do have a full copy of it. There's 14 pages of this to show the
entire limits, but this is a draft plan and we're just waiting on the final stamp plan and this is on uh before the select board on Monday. And that concludes all the DPW warrant article requests. Any questions? >> I don't think so. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Wow. >> All right. Up next, we have a review of the fiscal 27 budget for the veterans agent. With us this evening is Regina Jackson, our veterans agent. >> Good evening.
>> Good evening. Um the fiscal year 27 budget request for veteran services is level funded and it's it's pretty straightforward. But let me just um read under comments and it might explain a little bit. Um this budget request for
fiscal year 2027 is a level service budget. The need for benefits and services from both the mass chapter 115 and VA benefits has remained consistent this year. There is a great uncertainty with the state EOVS future budgets.
That's the state agency that um we work with for this funding for this program. The chapter 115 program is fully funded. However, changes do appear on the horizon with EOVS. There is a greater effort to access federal
benefits for our 115 recipients. However, the medical costs that are associated with our chapter 115 recipients have greatly increased. Each case is unique. Currently, we have 10 to 12 active chapter 115 cases per month. Uh the amount authorized will be
adjusted with the cola increase. the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, which was July, August, September 2025, we paid out $30,792. It's important to remember that 75% of all the Chapter 115 benefits we do pay
out uh reimbursed to the town. The reimbursement time is currently running 12 to 14 months behind and is paid back on a quarterly basis. A last reimbursement was received on August 20th, 2025 for 18,386
and that representative of 75% of benefits paid out July, August, September. Actually, the the next quarter already came in and it's uh 75%. Um for fiscal year 2027 planning purposes, it's reasonable to assume a monthly average will be approximately
10,000 for month uh monthly for cash and material grants, veterans benefits. Also, you have to factor in money for grave flags, burial benefits if applicable, and any additional authorized fuel benefits. So, for fiscal year 2027, I'm requesting 125,000.
Um, however, when we reviewed the budget with um town manager and um John, um we we requested it's going in at about 115,000 on the veterans benefits cash material grants. That's that's going to be this
this fiscal year is going to run just about right there. So we actually might this fiscal year we might have to make a minor adjustment for 5,000. So but we'll deal with that. But going forward that's a that's a pretty steady number for the
benefits and then um as it's broken down under the 75%. So remember, whatever the 115 money we pay out, we get 75% back if we follow the rules, which we always do, and get it all approved. So that's that part of the budget. So any questions on
that? >> Are you going to be around for a long time? >> Mean this evening? >> Is it today? >> NO, IN GENERAL. In general. >> Well, I've been here for 30 years and um not too many more. No, no. It, you know,
time to wind down here a little bit. >> No, no, cuz you do such a an amazing job. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> And and but you know, other people are retiring, too. Looking at people back there. Um it's just Are you training a
replacement? Do you How do you How do you How do you replace the irreplaceable? >> Uh it there's always somebody that's going to come in and do a great job, too. So, at some point, don't worry. We'll we'll we'll figure it out. Well, I'll work with town manager and we'll do
a a proper planning. >> Well, don't hurry. >> I won't hurry. I won't I won't hurry. I won't. >> No, no, no, no, no. It's always good to have somebody in the wings. She could have a good scratcher and you know >> Yeah. Yeah. We We'll work at that. Work on that. But that's that's this year's
budget. So that's the that's the money part for the town and then the other, you know, federal part and stuff that that's really really important. That's pretty much more than half of the job, but that doesn't affect the budget here. However, um there's one other thing I just want to bring up
uh for possibly for the fall warrant. It's not going to go on the spring town warrant. And I've talked to the um board of assessors and town manager about adopting the
increase in a tax exemption for veterans tax exemptions to that that is allowed that is allowed under the Hero Act from 2024 2025. Anyways, the state hero act last year it it's little pieces. Um,
last year we did adopt the COLA increase for the uh, t veterans tax exemptions, which is great. This year we're we're trying to come back and adopt the um, increase for the the actual dollar amount increase, and we're trying to um,
do this in the fall warrant article. So, um, you know, hopefully hopefully it'll work. So, but but there is there is going to be uh if we're able to do this, there's two categories of veterans tax exemption that we're looking at. There's more than two, but these are the two
that that will affect the um the budget. And uh there's the clause 22, which is a $400 exemption. And what we're trying to do is to double that exemption. That's for veterans who have a 10 to 90% service connected disability and they own and occupy their home.
>> Um that's per fiscal year. And the other one is clause 22E which is a thousand dollar um exemption and that's for 100% service connected veterans. Same deal um own and occupi excuse me own and occupy your home for that exemption and that's also we're trying to double it but the
impact would be $164,000. So that's what we're we're trying to think about. We're trying to I believe the um board of assesses is going to support it and hopefully the town will support it. So, but we're that is not
for this spring town meeting, but I just wanted you guys to to have that in your thoughts. Okay. And the other thing that we're going to ask for and and not not again not in spring timing, I meant fall timing, sorry, is to adopt another article which is really straightforward,
has no um monetary effect on the budget, and that is to adopt um clause 22G. Actually, it's just to clarify it. So right now, if you have a veteran who gets the tax exemption and
they own and occupy the home and they put your home in a trust, if they happen not to be the trustee in the beneficiary, they lose that. They lose the exemption. So if they do it and they don't know that, which a lot of people don't, um, you know, unfortunately they
lose it. But this the 22G corrects this and if if it if accepted the veteran would continue to qualify for the exemption as long as the property is their doicile they live there it's their primary residence and they retain a beneficial interest in the property even
if it's legally held in um by trustee conservator or fiduciary. So it just kind of takes that language out. So So there's no, you know, if if somebody is playing their state and whatnot and they failed to do that, which happens, they lose the exemption.
>> It's an except it's an exception provision for veterans. >> That's what it is because it applies to everybody else. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> So and was that that will we're going to ask for that for fall town meetings. So nothing nothing for um this time. So, if
you have any questions, >> any questions? >> All right. Very good. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. >> Good. >> Did you review that? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> All right. Next on our agenda this evening, we have a review of the fiscal
27 budget for the finance department, which includes the accounting, assessors, information technology, and treasury collection. And with us this evening is John Suzar, our finance director and treasurer. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, finance committee members. Uh pleased to present
the FY27 budget request. Um as we go through the summary, so the first page in the packet after the title page is um actually just it just shows the uh main functions of all the different offices. And so in the interest of time, I won't
go through that with you. The next page lists some goals for each office for the upcoming year. And then the third page or next page is a um staffing summary. And the key point here is that um for the upcoming year there is absolutely zero uh change in the number the uh the
finance department will operate with continue to operate with 14 um 0 full-time equivalent positions. And then from there we go into the uh line item budget area. And so the first office is the treasur collector's office
on this in this packet. And um as you review, I I did want to say I should have started by saying that I last Friday I had an opportunity to meet with Cindy and Anita virtually and we went over the the uh finance department budget um you know in detail. So, we had
a we had a good meeting and um so for the treasur's office um for the upcoming year, the personal services budget increases just about uh a little over 26,000 and that covers step increases um in line with the non-union compensation
compensation plan. Um under expenses, most of the categories are level funded. You'll see two that I just wanted to explain. So contract services increases uh by 3,000 um and that's just due to um a support contract increase for our
munus contract and then postage you'll see increases $2,000 just due to increasing postage costs. Um you know just with inflation and that the economy um the price per piece just continues to go up. So, um, other than that, you'll
see that the, um, so the expense budget increases about $5,000 in total for the upcoming year. Other than that, all the other accounts are level level funded. So, that's the treasurer collector's office. And then we go on to information
technology. And so here, uh, personal services increases, um, just over $8,700 for the upcoming year, uh, which is about a 3% increase. And then, um, under expenses,
uh, there's a couple lines that increase, and I'll just explain those. Under computer maintenance, that increases $6,000. That's the cost of software upgrades and, uh, procuring some Microsoft licenses. And then under contract services, that line increases
$2,000 uh for a network support contract. And so uh expenses increases about $8,000 or just over 2% for the upcoming year. >> So just going back to the technology in
terms of um maintenance and licenses um how is it run? Is it um centrally located within the IT budget here in terms of all the technology and and software as a service that's throughout town or is it sort of those SAS offerings are really hosted within each individual budget?
>> Yes. So the most I would say most departments are um cons you know the technology is consolidated within this this budget. There are some exceptions such as you may have some larger departments, the library. Um but the but our we have two uh technology employees.
We have the IT director and the network manager and they assist all department. So I know like um they work closely for example we have police chief with us tonight. They'll work closely with them on you know their technology needs um fire uh mentioned library public works.
Um so there may be some unique program to that department that's within that that uh line item budget but I would say mo the majority is um you know consolidated right here and they actually um handle all of the um emails
you know email services for all the um non-school employees and as far as like you know your Microsoft user licenses and that for all the non-school employees. Yeah, just curious because that I mean the grand scheme of things is actually a very small dollar amount given how
expensive technology is now. Um and so I'm curious to you know have you explored more efficiencies or other ways of upgrading technology to offset um either productivity or anything else right can we get a good bang for the buck and how we apply it because in the
private sector AI is literally everywhere and everyone's talking about it um just as an example. Yeah, I I will say um you know I our tech technology director's been with us for a long time and he's a very frugal person and uh he really goes out of his way to save money
wherever possible and you know it's not to say you know if we have a need for a you know antivirus software or malware or something you know definitely we're going to we're going to make that purchase but he does really spend a lot of time trying to minimize cost forever
he can um they actually led um sort of an effort a few years back. Um you know in years gone by everyone had physical servers. Um then for a while people lease servers. Now there was a movement we basically have all virtual servers
and so wherever that we can you know save money that he does look at that. >> Great. Thank you. So that kind of that summarizes the information technology budget and then from there uh the assessor's office is
next. And so the assessor's office personnel services budget increases a little over 19,000 for the upcoming year and that covers step increases um under the non-union compensation plan. And then under expenses,
um I want to say because last year you you probably remember us saying was a full certification year. So every value had to be updated with the department of revenue and and certified with them to their you know to their satisfaction. This is what's called an interim
adjustment year. So still a lot of work to be done but it requires less contract work or less work with a contractor. So that's why you see the reval line decreasing 15,000 for the upcoming year. Uh the only other
changes in the line item budget as we work our way down about halfway down uh the tax bill line that increases about $2,000 just for postage costs. And then we have a couple of smaller line items that are decreasing $1,000 each dues and subscriptions that just to be more in
line reflective of past actual expenses. So, the assessor's expenses are actually um decreasing about $15,000. Overall, the budget increases about $4,300 or8%.
So, that um the savings on the contract services is what makes that a very minimal increase for the upcoming year. And then the next office, the accounting office, that for the upcoming year, the
personnel services area increases about 21,000 for steps um in line with the non-union compensation plan. And then under this under the expense budget for accounting, the only item that's increasing is the audit services. Uh
that's going up $2,000. And that's we're actually in the second year of a three-year contract with um Clifton and Larson Allen. And so that's that's the reason for that. And that pretty much summarizes Oh, the
then the last is just salary detail by by office or by person. And then that pretty much summarizes the finance department. All right. >> Thank you. Any questions?
And then uh could you speak briefly to uh article 22, the property valuation services? >> Yes. So under article 22, we're seeking a transfer from overlay surplus of $153,000 to fund the second year of a contract
with vision appraisal services. And this is to do cyclical inspections. So what that is is the department of revenue mandates that a town visit so many properties physically each year and take and do a measurement of the bu the out
you know the the structure of the buildings uh take a digital photograph uh make some notes and try to gain access to the interior. So we between fiscal year 26 and fiscal year 27 uh the
contractor will be visiting uh about 10,000 residential properties and 270 commercial um industrial properties and they'll be so this is a a very necessary part of that cyclical inspection
process. >> All right, any questions? >> All right, thank you very much. >> Thank you. Next this evening, we have a review of the fiscal 27 budget for the police department. And with us this evening, we have our police chief, Colin Spence.
>> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> It's an honor to be before everybody. I hate to say, but it will be my last time being before this group with the exception of town meeting. Uh, I just want to take a moment to thank all the
officers and employees of the police department who serve our department with such dedication, kindness, and compassion, professionalism, and pride. As I look upon another successful year, I am reminded what an honor and privilege it is to
lead such an outstanding group of employees. I am constantly reminded by residents on a daily basis on how our officers and employees have treated their family members with the utmost professionalism, care, and compassion. I want to
personally thank our officers for their support of our various programs such as CPAL, the golf tournament, flag football, learn to skate, duel and pianos, movie night, buddies and badges, voices a whole hockey game which is this Saturday which
our offices play the Bruins alumni for charity, Phil Cruiser events, youth academy, unified game day, our honor guard, community readin, bike rodeo, DCF Christmas party, the Veterans Breakfast, which I always love to attend, July 3rd
and 4th celebrations, the annual treelighting, Junth event, Fall Fest, Polar Plunge, which is Sunday the 22nd, which is for Make a Wish. Many people may not realize that these officers volunteer their time for the majority of
these events. Uh they come in on their own time. Um, and I'm forever grateful for everything they do for our department. I al also want to express my deepest gratitude to the finance committee for
supporting the police department and our programs throughout my budgeting process. From my first meetings with town manager Cohen, town treasurer John Souza, town accountant Darlene Lucia to meeting with finance members Jim Clancy and Elaine McDonald to tonight's
meeting. It's always been a pleasure to work with all of you and I do appreciate the questions. Serving as chief of police has been one of the greatest honors of my life and that honor has everything to do with the individuals I have the privilege to work
alongside with for so many years, many who are in this room. We have outstanding employees, volunteers, and citizens that make this town what it is. I see on a daily basis the hard work of our town employees
who work with dedication and professionalism. Throughout my 35 year career, I have the privilege of working with various committees such as the finance committee, parade committee, age friendly committee, equity, diversity,
equity, inclusion committee, vinyl square committee, commission with dis disabilities, and other volunteers. and I see firsthand how everyone works so hard to make this town as great as it is. Your willingness to volunteer your
time to our town is truly what makes this town special. The achievements of the Chsa Police Department are the result of collaboration. Our community programs, partnerships, crisis programs, mental health and wellness initiatives have all
been made possible through the dedication of and support of everyone who works alongside of us. We all share in our successes. Thank you for your trust, your collaboration, your partnership. Chsid is truly an outstanding town because of
all of your efforts. It has been my greatest honor and privilege to serve alongside each one of you. I'll get to the budget. Okay. So, the budget is level funded a few of our goals and objectives.
I'll just be quick back. >> Hold on. Has a mind of its own right now. I think there should be one. Yeah. Um, one of the things that I'm proud to announce, we did receive full grant
funding. Well, partial grant funding, but in the end, we're going to be able to fund the whole program to implement our body one camera program. Um, that's a big accomplishment for our department. The one thing I have to say with our department, as many of might have seen
in the media over the past few days, our unions are some of the only unions to fully support it. All three police unions embraced getting body warn cameras. They see the value in it. It's about professionalizing our department, your department. Um, so we're excited for that.
>> That's quite an accomplishment. >> Yeah, really. I mean, town manager Cohen was instrumental uh in in bringing it. Lieutenant Nick Zaminsky, for those that don't know him, he is uh one of the heads of the Nimick SWAT team. He's a chumps police lieutenant, and he was
instrumental in researching all the different products to get us the be best bang for the buck. And uh I'm extremely pleased with uh the product that we're going to have. Uh couple other goals and objectives. Increase police presence in the
community, utilize utilizing community policing strategies. We're going to start using more technology. As everybody's probably seen, our social media, we have some of the best social media of any police department in the area. If you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, uh Aiden Gillis is
phenomenal. Uh he really he's one of our police officers and he does a phenomenal job with our social media. >> Quite the Valentine's Day cards. >> Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know about that. That was a good one. Uh, but he really does a a
great job of humanizing the police department. >> Uh, it really has been helpful when we go to serious situations. A lot of indiv individuals recognize us from those very whether it's an event that has been posted online or what have you on
Facebook. Um, he's also been instrumental. Our rave emergency notification system is great. Now, I don't know how many people have signed up. I would highly encourage everybody um any closings, if there's school closings, pretty much everything is going through that system now. We just
put out something. We're getting snow again. >> And so how do you sign up for for everybody? >> Uh so if you go to our website and you could just it basically there's a sign up for alerts and it's just one click.
Uh we're going to build upon our community engagement wellness unit through community events, officer interactions, and our clinician outreach program. As I go through the end, the numbers at the very end, our calls for clinician services were down slightly by about 6%. The reason for that, we didn't
have funding. Uh it wasn't a town issue, it was a state issue, but since that time, we've gotten full funding for the clinician. So that's that's a great thing for the department. uh partner with our diverse community in order to deliver exceptional services to all
members of our community. Uh as many people know, I attend many of those events. I attended one this weekend, uh the jazz brunch. It was absolutely phenomenal. It was a a great event. I brought my father. Uh we really enjoyed it. Uh prioritize department outreach
diversity initiatives, police athletic league, community resource dog program. Aussie, I should have him with me tonight. You should. >> I'm not getting to meet Azie. I'm very upset. Our >> police department internship program, we've been expanding on that with the
high school and also with Middle Sex Community College. Uh we actually have u many interns now. Uh elderly living safe program. We've been giving certain presentations at the senior center uh regarding how to avoid scams. That's one
of the big issues that we have. I mentioned this last year. Few other things to mention. Uh opportunities for employee professional development and growth. We've been researching different training opportunities. Pretty much almost any
training that officers apply for, if I can relate it to their job and their uh performance, we will approve it. Enhance our traffic related programs. Continue to work with local and regional partners regarding school and workplace safety issues. Uh we work very clo
closely with the schools. Uh we had the schools in this past week doing some camera upgrades to our servers to make sure that pretty much all of our in-house computers can get every school camera which is so important in emergency. If an emergency happens, we get a flash on all the screens and it
goes right to those cameras. It's extremely important. And build and maintain collaborative relationships with federal, state, local authorities. As far as our staffing, there are no changes. Still 70 employees. As I put in here, the
clinician is currently grantfunded. We're hoping to have that uh just to keep continuing. And we're part of the collaborative. So, we have a access to a clinician 24 hours a day, seven days a week. >> Right. Go to the next slide.
54 sworn offices approved compliment for this year. same as last year this fiscal year. Uh one change we do have the criminal investigations professional responsibility division. Uh that has been renamed. Okay. So that is what it's
called now. It used to just be the criminal investigations but professional responsibility. The body camera program is going to fall under that. Internal affairs everything is going to fall under that division. Does anybody have any questions so far?
organizational chart. Uh almost identical to last year except for the change on the left side regarding the professional responsibility division. The current training that the officers are going through, this is for this fiscal year. This is what they're
currently doing now. Uh legal updates, annual CPR first responder. We have to do that every year. six hours, firearms every year, defensive tactics, taser 10 reertification every year, and then those are just other classes that the
officers have to complete in order to remain certified. Our certifications by fiscal year. So then the state will in another month or so they're going to release what we need for fiscal year uh 2027. And the next these are trainings that
we've already completed over the past few years. One thing that we do have the crisis intervention training. Uh we're probably one of the only departments in the area majority of our officers have 40 hours in that. Okay. uh it's a 40hour it's a
whole week program that they meet with mental health clinicians and really talk about what we're dealing with on the street as far as how to deescalate situations. It's so important not only for the offices the person but also liability on the town. Uh that that is
one of the things that um we pride ourselves on. Now, as far as the personnel costs increase about a little over 3%, about 260,637. Uh I'm happy to say that all of our unions are under contract. Uh so that
includes all the uh contracted raises. Uh, as far as it's pretty self-explanatory as far as the increases, uh, some of the increases that you'll see little bit clerical, but that's all basically tied just to salaries. Um,
few longevity increases in there and the overtime going up by about $50,000. That's due to the increase in salaries. Plus we have to carry we have to cover so many events. Uh we have so many more events in town which is great but at the same
point we have to assure ensure the security of everybody that attends. >> Any questions on the personnel cost? >> I just registered for a survey right now so I'm all set. Any questions at all? Personnel costs.
>> Now, expense cost. >> When we met, part of the reason why you have such a lower increase than others might is because you're replacing retiring officers with younger officers. >> Exactly. Exactly. We have probably since I became chief little less than three
years ago, probably 40% of the departments knew. >> Amazing. >> Um, so a lot of that has to do with the Bill Clinton cops grant. A lot of the officers such as myself were hired under that grant. Uh so they since got to their maximum. Um we've also um
when I took over we had we were a few down. We're probably four officers down at the time. I'm happy to say that we're at full compliment right now. Um and we just hired somebody uh that will be sworn in in probably three weeks and he's already a trained officer. Um so
we're looking forward to getting him on board. As far as expenses, it's going up by about $93,000, 8.74%. In red, I highlighted the uh electricity obviously utilities,
building maintenance is up a little bit. Gasoline is down as everybody's been seeing uh down slightly. >> That might change, right? I was thinking about that when I first be >> hold a breath on that one.
>> Uh the office supplies is up a little bit. Uh our vehicle costs up about $20,000 as everybody's seen. Um it pretty much is about $72,000 for us to fully equip a police cruiser. Um
and new equipment is up slightly. Any questions on the expenses? >> Are there any lead time restraints on getting cruises? >> It depends. So, sometimes we've had a problem getting the hybrids.
Uh when I think it was two years ago, we had to get a full gas because there was no other option. But it has gotten much better. Has gotten much better. I would expect that we'll have them in July. Uh this past I mean this past cycle I think we got them in
it was like November December and then we had to get them equipped. Some of them are just getting on the road now. >> Right. >> It's not the lead time we see in the fire department. >> It's more the equipping. >> It's more the fill up. >> It's more the fit up. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And that's the problem. If we can't get a certain radio a light
package, it's all integrated. So we have to wait until that comes in. Any other questions on that? I just went into the expense issues. I've kind of already talked about that. Um,
and the total budget, it's going up 3.65%. And then we have the animal control budget that has gone down slightly as far as the personnel costs and that is due to the fact we have a newer animal control
offices. Matt uh DCro those that haven't met him is doing an excellent job. He's really getting out there in the community, going to community events, hosting events at our station. So, it's it's been great. He's been a great asset, has a lot of experience. So, um
>> the uh you have Aussie, the the fun puppy, the comfort puppy, and then you have the other one who is a well-trained. >> Yes. Yeah. So, he >> not so fun puppy. >> A not so fun puppy. Oh, I think he's fun
for the guy who's control. >> Uh, yeah. So, we have we do have one Aussie and then the other one that will not roam around. Hold on. >> Helen >> doesn't roam around. Excellent dog, but >> No. No. And they're trained to be responsive and to commit. Is it is one of those important German dogs?
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> German Melanes, I believe. >> Yes. Um, >> they're highly intelligent. very um it's important for them to have a job. >> Yes. Oh, absolutely. And we've actually
used um the dog a lot recently. Uh we've had a few missing uh individuals in town. Uh one of them was found by the drone last week, safe and sound. >> Uh in a wooded area, so that was actually a great thing for our drone unit to get. So,
and then the other one is just the actual expenses. Pretty self-explanatory as far as the electricity went up a little bit, gas heat went up a little bit, but everything else is pretty much leveled. And just a quick
>> um >> uh stats, >> right? I wanted to ask a few questions about the stats on >> Yeah. >> Is robberies is when you say robberies that's stick them up, give me your money. >> Yes. Okay. Exactly. >> And do you think the overdoses are less
because you have I mean the town is in always has really embraced the Narcan. Is that why you would have a lower amount? >> That that number is a little bit misleading. And the reason I say that I believe a lot of people are self-medicating at home. So if they have
knocking at home, we may not know about it, >> you know. So if they are utilizing, I think that that that number I don't like to >> uh rely on that, you know, things are changing, you know, all the stats say that they are. Uh but I still question
that a little bit because of it's very easy to get knock, which is a great thing. It's life-saving. one of the best things that, you know, we carry on our tool belt. It's amazing how it works. >> A lot of people have it at home, so they're not going to call us afterwards, but we would have no knowledge in
private homes what is going on with that. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> And uh vandalism is just tagging, spray paint. >> Exactly. Okay. Maybe breaking a window. It could be without breaking in. And fraud crimes are that's is when somebody
said, "Oh, I was dumb and I did something and I shouldn't have and that you try to follow up on them." >> Exactly. Okay. >> And that's what we're doing at a lot of the u at the senior center. Uh we've had several programs there to address that because seniors are targeted
unfortunately. So >> you mentioned when we met that the motor vehicle breaks that that number went down because there was a ring that was doing it in our area and is no longer on the streets because they were apprehended. >> Yes. Exactly. Y exactly. >> And is the uh I would assume that uh
shoplifting is the usual um it's not a little peach anymore. Whatever the the name of the store is right now in Walmart and >> exactly >> grocery stores. >> Something that goes in, takes something, doesn't pay, and goes out the door. >> That's normal. >> Okay. Any other questions?
>> Any other >> any other questions? >> We're gonna miss you, sir. >> No. Thank you very much. I I truly appreciate um taking the time to meet with me and I really appreciate working with everybody. Um who knows, you might see me again.
>> I I truly do. I I think I think the world of this town I think the world of these committees um obviously a lot of them are unpaid positions in this town and the town wouldn't be what it is without all of you. So and I truly mean that. >> Thanks for your service.
>> Thank you very much. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Chief. >> All right, moving along. We have a review of the fiscal year 27 budget for the public education and government access television. Um, we'll also include a review of article 16 to amend
the fiscal year 2026 PEG access and cable related enterprise fund operating budget. in article 18 uh the chancer tele media public education and government access equipment and uh our committee committee member leaison Sam Chase will be giving us a quick overview
>> you want me here or at the podium >> no no you you can give you can give it from the here that's fine >> good thank you >> have it up for you in a in a in a second >> want to go up to the lecture >> I told you didn't have to Dave you know if you want him to go up by I Jim,
you're the chairman. You can you can determine this >> whatever he says. >> Okay, >> that's as large as I'm going to go if I don't want to cut off everything. There we go. Uh just a quick uh quick overview of the
Council Teleia PEG services. PEG PEG stands for public education and government. So those are the three areas uh which the uh local uh TV media station covers and
uh all uh major municipal meetings are broadcast and recorded by tele media. Uh that would be on the government channels. Okay. And on the education channel, uh, school sports concerts and and and, uh, school committee meetings
and so forth, you you will see them there. And on the community channel, this is, uh, reserved largely for people u members of the, uh, community, all of whom are volunteers, uh, who produce their own TV shows. And we have quite a
few. I'm not going to read off the list, but there are there are many uh very highquality programs that are produced by our local residents. And on the cable services, Verizon and uh uh Comcast, uh
there are three separate channels to account for the P, the E and the G. Now, funding of the uh operation, first of all, it's set up as an enterprise fund. So uh whatever the uh uh enterprise
takes in that limits the amount of their expenditures. Uh it is considered an operating department of the town. The executive director reports to the town manager. As I said no tax dollars are used uh to
fund the operation or pay for the capital expenses. And of course as an enterprise the capital is all is is included in the overall budget summary. uh the funding mechanism is uh by
application of a 5% sir charge on the TV subscription portion of your cable bill. So if you uh have a cable TV uh cable service and you're getting your TV through the Verizon or Comcast service, you're paying for uh decoder boxes and
things like that. That is the basis of the funding. So you might have an overall cable bill of $300 uh that includes phone and internet and ca cable but the 5% is only levied on the TV portion of the bill. So that's what that's what funds the operation and
that becomes important as we look at the budget uh because of the uh uh decreasing number of people that are getting their TV services through through cable. So, the staff, we have a paid staff of five professionals. Uh,
Pete Paduller is the executive director. Tom Peterson, who probably everybody knows because he's been around forever, uh, he handles uh, all of the production u duties at the station and he's responsible for the uh, educational
programming as well and you'll see him very often in the schools uh, when they're uh, putting together these programs. And then we have VU Terry who is the program director. He's the one that schedules the programs, works with the uh volunteers and so forth. Uh
you've seen I'm sure you've seen Diane Sherid Style who uh is responsible for the news uh portions of the of the TV segments and then Peter Dues who's a relatively new employee. He handles all of the media production and it's uh
quite an operation. And if you have a chance to go down and visit the studio which is located uh at the Parker School be a good question. I don't know what they're going to do when the new school building comes on if it does but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But it's it's quite a fascinating uh
quite a fascinating operation. So that's just a little bit of the overview of how we're structured. Well, to actually to answer the question regarding um the the studios, the part of the plan is at least in the development of Parker is to continue to have the studio in the new
facility should one be voted on and built. And so that's part of the submission that's been been the many different types of submissions that are being reviewed by the committee. Um and the committee is meeting next week at U the Elks at 6:00 um to review the next
portion of our review and submission. And then there's a public event at the Elks at 7 o'clock. We welcome everyone from the public to attend to actually review where we are currently, what the different options are that have been presented for the new um pub uh Parker
Middle School and to really ask the questions and and participate in uh community involvement in the next portion of that uh including uh discussing things to be included at that location like the Peg Access Studios. Thank you for asking the answering my
question and also I gave you an opportunity to plug your meeting. So that's throw that one in there. >> Sam, I have a question regarding the fee for for Comcast and and Verizon. They collect this fee. Do they pass through dollar for dollar or do they hold back
some sort of administration fee? >> When you say pass through, >> pass through the, you know, 5%. So for every dollar they get in, they take in, they're passing that along >> to the search. It's a search charge. Search. Yes. Right. So they're not holding back any administrative fee. No. Okay. No.
>> And just to follow up on that, is it just those two companies or what about all the other streaming services that have popped up now? >> No. No. It's just it's just whatever whatever the two services provide. >> Yeah. Okay. So it's Right. So >> So for example, YouTube TV, right? We
don't get >> you're not paying a search charge on Netflix or YouTube or who any of those. Okay. So, that's a good question though. >> And is there an opportunity to work with those companies to establish something similar? >> I don't know the answer to that, but I
can find out. >> You I wouldn't think so. >> You said it's declining. Uh the revenue is declining. How >> how much I mean is there is there a patent there? Well, yeah, we're going to see it here on the on the slide. Okay. Can you see it?
>> No, I can't. >> Oh, okay. Well, >> okay. Well, I can go right here on >> You can Yeah, you can. You can look over my shoulder on the cheat sheet. That's fine. >> See, if you gone up there, you wouldn't be able to do that, Dave. >> Okay. We'll we'll get to that. We'll get to that in just a second. Uh the budget is uh the proposed budget for fiscal 27
is really uh not remarkable in in the operational aspects of it. uh relatively small increases in the salary personnel. Um I've already told you we've got five um full-time paid employees. There are
many many other people who work in the studio, but they're all volunteers, okay? Camera people, production people, uh archivists, and so on and so forth. Uh and all the folks that uh that put together the TV shows and and produce those. They're unpaid uh people. Uh we
have a lot of those in Chsford, don't we? Um so anyway, the on the on the personnel services, that's uh pretty much uh the step increases and and and so on and so forth that you would see in any any of our budgets. Um as far as the
expenses are concerned, uh you can see most of those are are fairly level. Okay, we've got a travel expense of $5,000, which is is accounting for uh some proposed uh um activity in fiscal
27. That's a little bit of an anomaly. Uh going down uh to the outlay portion, I want to talk about that for a minute. Um that's that's the capital portion of the budget and um that also ties into I
think warrant article 18. Okay. Uh which is the ask for the capital money for fiscal 27. Uh but if you want to take a look at that, I don't know how well you can see that. I've I tried to make this the font a little larger on the slide uh so you could see it on the screen. uh
line item 58,000 outlay. You see typically what the numbers are uh year-over-year starting in fiscal 22 and then we have a a fairly significant jump in 2024 181 uh,000 for 22. Those numbers are
high. Uh you have to remember that the studio underwent extensive renovation. Okay? And that was a large part of the capital expense. Uh this year uh we're asking for uh 92,000
and if you go down at the bottom of that expel uh spreadsheet slide um we've shown that uh to show you what those capital items are. ties into the $92,000 and u you can see which of the items
they're all needed I I would say urgently but uh Pete has identified those that are extremely high priority. You can see the ones that are absolutely urgently needed. Uh and again uh let's remember that
although we have a fiscal 27 budget request um which will also uh will be u on the warrant number um uh I forget what the uh article number is but anyway uh it u
>> what is it? >> Uh article article 18 is the um >> 18 is the capital 17 is the operating budget. Okay, that's right. And um don't forget that we have to net out the expense. Okay. Uh with the revenues. So
when you do that and uh if we go down to that section of the sheet there, you can see that starting in 2022 and then again in 2023, uh we have um basically what amounts to a surplus, an operating surplus. Okay.
So uh over the years that has happened and so there is a uh for lack I won't call it free cash but it's it's an operating excess over over the uh expense. So there is uh money available
uh to cover contingencies. Um the uh and you can see uh on line item uh 48420 PEG access fees. And if you follow that all the way across, you can see that every year the number goes down and that's
because people are cutting the cord. I just did it myself four months ago and as a person who works with cable access I have to tell you I felt a little guilty about it. Um but Mr. Padoodle told me that he cut the cord three years ago. So I guess I don't feel quite so
guilty but uh but everybody everybody is is doing that for a variety of reasons and uh that is affecting obviously the revenue and so that is a concern and it has been a concern for quite a while. uh the capital grant that is a separate
activity. It's through the state that has to be applied for annually uh for to get th those revenues in. Um so the I would say the concern uh going forward I'm not concerned with the uh budget compared to this year or previous years.
I think everything is well within bounds, but I think we we need to be very concerned about the um decline of the revenue source >> because at some point that's going to have to be addressed and it is a requirement that we maintain this uh
this operation. We can't simply say, well, it's not funded anymore. Goodbye. We it goes away. We have to maintain it. And even if that weren't the case, I think you'd have uh some very upset people in the community. We've all gotten very used to watching these board
meetings on TV and it's a lot easier to sit on your couch and watch a select board meeting than it is to go down to the town hall. Um especially when the weather is bad and so on and so forth and we've gotten kind of used to that and to take that away I think would be
unacceptable even if we could do it. So anyway, that's the uh that's the budget overview. Um, >> and we addressed also the uh the articles for your >> and the articles, you've got article uh oh, article 16 is for fiscal 26. Um, I
don't know if the town manager wants to talk about that or not. Do you? >> No, you don't. >> Okay, that's fine. >> Yeah. Well, that's all right. Uh uh that that that relates to current fiscal year. They they've had some uh unforeseen expenses relative to uh
equipment failures and repairs and so on and so forth. and those have to be addressed. So you'll have a warrant article 16 to address the current fiscal year and then as we said uh 17 is just the uh budget approval. We have to do that as a as a pro- former matter because this is an enterprise fund. So
that has to be on the warrant and then the 18 also addresses the capital um requirements for fiscal 27 which again are outlined on this spreadsheet. You'll see what those are. Okay,
any further questions? >> Just thinking about the sustainability of this over time. Is there a working group, you know, I guess who who is the responsibility for looking at the long-term government? >> I mean, yeah, it would have to be at a federal government level to address it
because we are required to maintain the service. Um, but it it becomes one of those things where >> it's a mandate without a funding source. >> Exactly. Um, and so we'll see what happens. If people continue to cut the cord and bikini continues to go away, it
it's really at the federal level has to be addressed. Um, and it and it may be addressed by saying there's no more funding, but you still have to do it. Um, and at that point, we'll have to see how how it gets funded. >> And we've seen that show before, haven't we? >> Oh, yes, we have.
>> Now, is this capital depreciated over time? Is the capital depreciated? >> Yeah. Is there is there a depre if we're capitalizing I presume we're depreciating it. There must be a depreciation schedule.
>> Yes. I don't have that. >> You know I I'm curious is I'm only curious is whether it's building or it's going down. Uh you know >> and how many years >> most of the capital items are relatively shortterm. >> Yeah. In fact, a lot of them look like
you could expense them, but >> right. Yeah, that that's a good point. That is a good point. Yeah. >> So, >> it's not being borrowed. >> No. >> No. No. It's fun. >> Funded funded within the enterprise. Right. >> Okay. So, we're not >> It's capital equipment, but not
>> but it's not being capitalized. Right. No. >> All right. >> Right. Exactly. >> Thank you. >> No. Yeah. We're not There's no depreciation schedule. There's no debt services being done on this. No. No. >> Thanks. No, >> I'm getting old. >> Oh, those are great questions.
>> You and me both. >> All right, so that brings us to a review of the uh this hearing and uh springtime meeting warrant article schedule. Let's briefly bring that up and update where we are currently. All right. Um, so this evening we've had
the finance department, we've had the DBW, we've had PEG access, police, and veteran services. That leaves for next week. Um, we'll have the board of health, uh, the community preservation fund and their two articles. Uh, the library and the Shoba Valley School
District. We were going to have um the zoning bylaws, the general bylaw amendment related to the outdoor lighting next week. However, there's been a a scheduling conflict >> uh that's arisen. And so there's been a
request to have that instead on the 26th, which was the which the date we're planning on doing our review and voting of on all the warrant articles. Um the my understanding is in speaking with Chris is he doesn't anticipate his zoning articles to go
further than about an hour. Um and that is currently the only those are currently the only things that we be reviewing that evening. If you recall last year we had I think three presentations on the evening we voted because we were a little bit crunched on
schedule. Um, so I don't I don't see an issue with having them in on the 26th uh and still not having a meeting on the 19th uh which is conflicting with the with the uh the school building uh committee. So I think we're comfortable and they are available on that evening
for um those zoning uh zoning bylaw amendments articles. Um I've reached out to uh the zoning bylaw amendment uh um citizen petitioner. I haven't heard back yet. Um, but I'll check again um to see
if the 12th or the 26th is is better for that presentation or if that person wants to give a presentation at all. I don't know. Um, but that will wrap up all of our presentations for this year. And so we will be able to vote on the 26th um and be able to uh stay on
schedule, Pam. um as as I we'll I'll get that letter out to you um so we can review and uh get that uh published and out for the uh spring town meeting and and the manager session the Wednesday before and that Wednesday before will be
uh what what date? >> Oh, the uh town meeting is the 27th. >> So that put it at the >> 22nd and that's at the senior center. Um, and I I highly recommend uh any town meeting reps with listening and watching
uh that they attend that session um so that they can ask their questions and get an overview of the articles that are being reviewed um so that we go into town meeting um on the 27th with a full understanding and of of what we're voting on.
Um all right. >> And so then we we won't be meeting on the 19th. >> We will not be meeting on the 19th. There is no meeting on the 19th. Um, so we will have a meeting next week on the 12th and then our our final meeting uh for deliberation uh and the presentation of the zoning articles will be on the 26th.
All right. If there's no further discussion uh any public comment, seeing none and seeing none in the Zoom, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. And it's a roll call. Hi
>> Z. >> Hi >> Cindy. >> Hi >> Steve. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> And Anita. >> Hi. >> All right. Thank you very much. See you next week. >> All right.