I'd like to call this meeting of the finance committee to order. >> Tonight we'll be following the published and posted agenda. We will be recorded uh for future viewing and also live uh via tele media. We're also available via
Zoom this evening. First item on the agenda this evening is the approval of minutes from our February 12th, 2026 meeting. Has everyone had an opportunity to review them? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Do you have a motion? >> A motion to accept them.
>> Second it. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> I am abstain. >> I >> Okay. Oh, that's right. We have to do a >> do a roll call. >> We have to roll call because Cindy's on Cindy is on Zoom with us this evening.
>> So Dave, >> do a roll call vote because Cindy's on Zoom. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I approve it. Sam >> I >> Cindy >> I >> Steve >> I >> Bla >> I I >> I and then your
>> same y >> all right thank you. Uh moving along we have the presentation review and discussion of the fiscal year 27 budget for the cemetery commission. With us this evening we have David Bole um who who I believe is now pres presenting Dave. Is that is that correct?
>> I think you want the expert. >> Okay. All right. >> Good evening, everybody. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> So, not a not a whole bunch of changes um with the cemetery budget. Uh the personnel services, nothing changes as
far as the expenses. Um basically 87. So it's really it's really not much of anything with personnel. That's basically where the changes are. It's um it's just the step this the uh step
basis for for everyone. Um as you look at the budget I believe everybody has a copy Dave. >> We do and I'll have a bottom line in a second. >> Um so so basically it was just kind of from in the expense budget just kind of moving some stuff around. I'm still um
I'm still board of director for Mass Cemetery. association and I'm still past president of New England Cemetery Association. So just kind of moving 350 back and forth there. Um really other than that it is uh gas heat
>> outlay. So the fence >> the outlay is the fence here. If you see down the bottom there the outlay that's the fence there. There's three years left to that. I have uh 21 sections of fence left to go and that entire fence at Pineriidge Cemetery will be had will
have been restored. >> That's what the outlay would be. >> I don't think there's anything like I said the on the personnel side. It's just the it's the step. >> I think you should be commended on your expenses. If you look at them, they ver
literally didn't go up at all year over year. Hardly at all. I think that's just a good job. >> Try try to keep it in line best I can. The guys don't like it, but >> population is growing. >> Yeah,
>> I'm not going there. >> No, I wasn't going to go there. That's okay. It's true. So, anybody has any questions? >> Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you, David. >> Pretty straightforward. Thanks, Dave.
>> Take care. >> Next on the agenda this evening, we have a presentation, review, and discussion of fiscal year 27 budget for the senior center. And with us this evening via Zoom, we have Deborah Serani, our human service director for the Council on Aging. So, >> good evening. >> Hello, everyone.
>> Hello. >> Thanks for having me. Um basically our budget is uh personnel driven increases for steps and longevity. Uh it there was a surprise uh
since last fall when I first presented. We have um a longtime employee is retiring. So it's actually down a bit from what I had expected by about $10,000. We uh hired a
newer person who's starting who's started this week training with her and then will be starting next week alone uh for the social services coordinator and Elena Deer was here for 30 years and so um we'll sadly be saying goodbye to her
and um we so we won't have to pay for any longevity for her and and the new person is making less so um there'll be a little bit less than we had expected for our personnel budget. Otherwise, just steps.
Um, we did do need an increase in our electric bill um, budget. I think everybody is probably saying that, right? Our gas has gone down considerably in the past few years, but our electric bill has gone up and we
have a new system which is I I guess a a hot air blowing system. So, it's uh it it costs more electricity-wise. We checked with the DBW and made sure that it wasn't anything in our system that was like a leak or a problem that we
were um that was coming from use usage issues, but um no, it was it's just the rate. It's just how it is. So, um that's to be expected. So, that will have to go up to pay our bills. Um,
we have had our the $12,000 I took off last year for the expenses. We are continuing to keep off of the general fund by using our healthy revolving funds. We have um lots of buckets. I
tell David when we have our meeting. So we have grants and contracts and we have um donations and we have fee based programs and so a lot of those expenses uh we can cover with our
revolving accounts. So that's still so so that's um keeping our expense bud budget down. We've been very lucky to have uh very good support from the friends of the senior center. They've donated over $70,000
this year already and are offering more. So, we're very lucky to have that. And they pay for programming and and improvements um for seniors but not staffing. So, that's why we still need to ask for the
personnel increase. And that's about it. I don't think uh oh the capital outlay I brought down because it was for some uh last year I had asked for it to be up to replace some fire doors and then we won't need
that this year again that same amount and then the vehicle maintenance is down because we have two brand new uh vans and two brand new electric vehicles. So we have we lease from LRTA with our contract from them. So, we got two new
vehicles from that contract and um uh handicapped accessible uh lift vehicles and vans. And we got out of ARPA funds, we got two new electric vehicles from uh last year from the town
manager helped us out. So, um yeah, I don't expect a whole lot of maintenance issues. Knock on wood. Any questions? Thank you. Any questions? >> So, you've got >> I just have a comment. I reached out to
Darlene uh because there are a lot of these accounts are not part of the budget >> and she wrote me back that uh there are s sufficient funding balances on all these revolving accounts. So, um, they're not part of this budget, but
they could >> they could end up in this budget if something went wrong, which is not going to happen. This lady does a great job. >> You are sweet. Thank you. >> Good job. >> So, just curious in terms of um how you're seeing utilization in and uh
community engaging um is it sort of flat, up, down? >> Oh gosh. Um actually as part of the civics academy uh presentation I I did a little spread um a little uh slideshow
and looking at our uh our data um from the last two years we have 862 new members who have registered in the
last two years. So that's close to two new people every day we're open. Wow. >> Um and that's just people who are registered. A lot of people just walk in and uh if you look at our parking lot about three times a week we're packed
and people are circling. So uh we're we have a very busy um senior center and high engagement. So >> and you attract people from other towns as well. Is that correct? >> Very much so. Yep. Yep. Yep. We're open
and we have uh Well, this was shocking to me, but I actually looked it up in our database. We have uh people from 26 different towns who come visit our center. So, I was shocked by that actually and had to go look. And like I said, >> that's that's an endorsement.
>> Yeah, that's that is true. Um, but we're we we um pride ourselves in being an open and welcoming community and so we uh I think it adds a lot to the uh the general vibe of the place that
everyone's welcome. So, uh I I think that's that's added a lot to us. And of course, uh the transportation and meals on wheels and certain programming is um senior tax worker program that we manage is only for seniors in Charlesford. So,
uh, you know, we do we do make sure we take care of of Chsford seniors, too. But it's it's a hub of activity. >> All right. Other questions. >> All right, Dad. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much.
>> Appreciate you. Great job. >> Moving right along, we have a presentation, review, and discussion of the fiscal year 27 budget for the fire department. With us this evening, we have the chief, Carrie Ryan. Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. >> You do have my presentation. I do. You
do. >> I I may go over what they've just done. So So be a little longer. So I hope everybody's doing well. You >> Oh, here we go. >> Mhm.
and feel free to jump in for questions. It works better that way. Um, next slide, please. Thank you. Uh, this is a current look at our uh our current state for fiscal 26. Currently, we have 60 uniform members. We have a vacant position due to retirement this past December and one expected
retirement in July. Um so we are in the process right now of trying to fill those vacancies. I do have two members who are schedule who are going through the fire academy now scheduled um predict um scheduled to graduate in May but that is to fill vacancies from
before. So um it does take about a year to go through this process between going through the hiring process, getting an academy date, getting through with the academy. Um so but right now we try to aggressively with the manager's help to anticipate when retirements are coming
up to fill these vacancies. So next slide please. For fiscal 27 I'm proposing a budget of 7 million748513. For personnel that is a personnel budget of 6,978 813 just a 0.14%
increase. There is no labor agreement in place yet. So that is subject to change when a new agreement is made. Um for expenses an expense budget of 768700 an overall increase of over 5% and what are the drivers I know Deb talked about
earlier utilities both natural gas and electricity um fire equipment repairs vehicle maintenance building maintenance those are the drivers behind our expenses. So an overall budget increase of 0.62%. But that maintains our existing staffing
levels at 63.5. Next, look at our organizational chart. We have four groups or four units as we call them, each managed by a company officer, a captain, 13 firefighters assigned to each unit, a training captain, two fire prevention captains, and part-time support staff for fire
prevention. Next, please. This is a look at our typical staffing and station configuration. This is going to change. So with closures of both three and five, there's going to be some reconfiguration.
So the staff members at engine 3 will be moving to north on a temporary basis while the stations are being built. The firefighters from engine 5 will be moving into the fire headquarters. So again that is a temporary measure to
get us through the completion of the stations which is anticipated 18 months I believe. So again if you have questions just shout them out. Uh current look at our stations we get the five stations uh we will hit the 12-ear mark in December for
engine one to fire headquarters. Engine two uh we will be at 5 years in December. Engine 3 1970 uh 56 years. Engine four will now be our oldest station at 50 years old and then engine five will hit 60 years.
So, and then we continue to make investments in our stations, the roofing, the flooring, appliances, equipment. Um, so we do try to keep up with that stuff. Just a closer look onto the two stations that were replaced in Engine 3 built in 1960, I mean 1970, built in uh 56 years
old. that station is 2748 square feet. We are vacating that station on April 1st. So, both engines three and five will be vacating and reassigning the staff. Um the bids, requests for bids will be made available, I believe, next week. I know there's been a lot of
emails this week. Um and general contractor bids are due on March 27th. So, there's going to be a lot of movement over the next month. Next slide, please. Look at uh engine five, built in 66, 60 years old. It's 2585 square feet. I want
to bring that out because you'll see a little bit of a change when you see the new stations. Again, this uh the new stations are due to be occupied at the end of 2027. That's if everything stays on schedule. And this is a look at the future. Look at the new uh engine 3. It's one level.
This building is I told you before the engine 3 was 2748. This is over 8,000 square feet. So when we design these buildings, when we sit down, we're looking at the needs of not only the firefighters today, safety equipment needs, but we're also trying to project into the next half century,
50 years. So this is one story. You go to the back of engine 3, you do have two drive-through bays. The original plan, if some may recall, was to keep the apparatus bay, but that has changed. So, this will give us uh larger room for
engine 3. And also in the back of the the building itself is the opening to the gym that actually will fold open not only to get the equipment in, but also to, you know, get ventilation during hot summer time. Next slide, please. Look at the apparatus bay. And no, the engine
does not come with the station from what I've been told. Uh but again I mentioned this is a larger apparatus bay. It's 54 ft long 36 feet wide. So that gives us flexibility within the department. Currently if we have to and we've had this issue this year with a ladder door
broke there's very limited options where we can reassign that ladder. Engine 4 is currently the only place when these two stations are built. I will have options to put the ladder if I have to at different stations because I'll have the room. I will have the door height >> 14 ft
>> which we presently do not have. >> Also, uh we discussed during our when we met mutual aid when we have our mutual aid partners come in sometimes their trucks will not fit in at engine two when they're covering because the doors are about 10 ft. Now we will have the
option to get them in to these stations. So especially during the winter that we just went through and I just had some of those discussion with our mutual aid partners that is a welcome flexibility that we will now have. So uh next slide please. >> I have a quick question. Why would you
have to have the mutual aid person in car their vehicle uh their truck in your bay? >> Because it's got water and it's a diesel engine. Diesels have to be warm. So if the trucks sit outside and we get to ask this question um if you go back to many years ago with 7 north road if the
trucks were out for training during this weather we have to throttle them up. We keep the trucks running. So people will knock on the door saying hey you left your trucks running well because it's got to be warm. It's got diesel engines. They have to run warm and they have water in the tanks. So they can sit for a small period of time but not during
the winter like this. They have to be maintained and warm. So but good question. Um decon room. So both these stations will have dedicated gear and decom rooms which they presently do not have. So that is a a large safety investment in our firefighters. So very
thankful for that. Also the uh the gate room has a separate ventilation by code. Will it be any different than than the fire station that we just renovated the one in North Chelford? We
>> there are some codes that there are some codes that are the same, >> but when we get to engine five, there'll be I'll show you the difference because we'll have an elevator that because of ADA requirements now that kick, you know, >> but a lot of the safety codes that we had back in 2021, we built engine two will apply to these stations. So the
separate ventilation room for engine two for the gear room that stays consistent. The size of the bedrooms stay consistent. So this is so this is engine three, but this is a typical staffing room we'll have at both stations. So it's it's a
large as you can see a large size kitchen and day room for the firefighters. So um so you try to again project out for the next 50 years. Um, this is a look at the a typical bunk room that you'll see at both stations.
Those red panels and um, I know Deb was on earlier cuz I know they're putting the panels up at the senior center, those are acoustical panels. The ceilings in the bedrooms are going to be a little higher. So, they put those panels in so when they have the station alerting system, it won't bounce off the walls. It'll help absorb some of that so
the messages are clearer. That was an issue when we first moved in at the fire headquarters. The speakers were set up high. So, we had to remount these speakers. So, a lot of thought has gone into the design of all these rooms. Next slide. This is a look at I mean this
says engine 3, but this is kind of typical of what you'll see at engine 5. We were also fortunate back in 2021 when we did the engine 2 station to get a federal grant to help um st to help equip the gyms, $50,000. And we've also invested some money over the years for
these uh stations. And again, that door, if you go back, that door will fold up. It's like a garage door. So, we'll help facilicate getting the equipment in, and if it's very hot, it can open up to get some fresh air in. This is a look at the solar panels for
engine 3. So, both stations are going to comply with the green and stringent energy codes. So, no fossil fuels. These will be energy electric only buildings. Um, and actually quite fortunate that we got supported with a grant to get solar
panels in both these buildings. And if you go to the next slide, Engine 3, in addition to the solar panels, Engine 3 will also have geothermal heat pumps. So, my thanks to the DPW director, the town manager, DPW staff for really working hard to get
this grant. It's a million-dollar grant, uh, competitive grant. So, we got it from the Mass Department of Energy Resources, but it also takes advantage and about the the Earth's constant temperature. So, it doesn't generate heat, it transfers heat. So, in the
winter time, it'll move heat through the pumps into the building to warm it up, and during the summer time, it will actually pull the heat down. So, so we're looking at solar panels in both buildings and geothermal for engine 3. So, um, utility costs are very
expensive, but hopefully we'll have a net zero building if everything goes right with this. So, my thanks for everybody for really chasing this grant out. This is a look at engine five. You can see engine five is two stories. It's two
stories because it's a very tight lot. very tight lot. So to make this project happen, we had to go before the zoning board of approval zoning board um for uh >> you have fire pole. >> No, we don't have uh that would add to the cost for that, but there's no fire
p. But if you want to see, we have it next door, so you can come by anytime. >> Um >> but that's Yeah, that is very expensive. There's only one company that does that and that's in Massachusetts by the way. So, um, but that because of the tight lot, that is a two-story built station
and over also over 8,000 square ft. Um, you get the picture of it at night. The reason I have that in there because big discussion for town meeting is light, the impact on our neighbors. So, that is part of the design concept to see how
we, you know, with the lighting, not only for us operationally, but also how it impacts our neighbors. So, I figured I'd throw that in there. Next slide. This is a look at engine five from the back, but you can see how it cuts in. See how it tapers off? >> So, it's very tight.
>> Um, so very limited. Again, two stories. We got the same thing, the apparatus bay opening in the back and we got the gym opening that will open, fold open. Next slide. So, this gives you a good visual of how tight that lot is. We are right
on the neighbor's property. So, we have been working with the neighbors, the town, the committee, um, to kind of address their needs, whether it's landscaping, fencing, and if you can see on the right hand side, you see the bedroom windows, they're angled out. It's like a sawtooth. So, it's designed
that way so it doesn't look straight onto the neighbor's property. So, my thanks to the neighbors because they showed up at the meetings. They were involved in this process. So, u, quite frankly, we wouldn't have got the approval if we didn't have their backing and support. So my thanks to them.
Next slide. That is the fire tower. As you can see, the reason I bring this up is the state is currently going through design phases to replace this. Uh it's overloaded, so they need to add more equipment. So the first photo is from, as you can see, 1911 to 1918.
Um it was replaced after that. I don't have a picture, but the one that you see, the temporary one, 1938, there was a hurricane that took the other one, heavily damaged the other one. Um, so they put the temporary tower. If you see the one to the right, you see the temporary tower with the current one
that we have today. Next slide, please. So, this sits on an elevation of 350 ft. It is staffed by members of the Department of Conservation, Recreation. Those are our fire wardens. So they staffed this in the spring, the fall, and going back a couple years ago, well
into the fall. And again, the that observation room is a 10 by 10. On a clear day, you can see as far as Boston, but they are looking to replace that. So plans will hopefully be submitted sometime soon. So if you have any
questions, let me know. Um, I introduced this slide. I know we have talked about this important subject before, but I figured I would bring it up because firefighters have a 9% higher cancer rate diagnosis than the general public and a 14% high rate of cancer related deaths. Um, but the town and our members
in the union collaboratively have worked together over the years to try to work to address this safety issue. If you go to the next slide, I just wanted to bring some of our strategies that we have employed to kind of tackle this. Top left is Dr. Christine Campler. Dr. Campler is a dermatologist. her brother
was a firefighter who passed away from stage four cancer. So, she has dedicated her life to coming to the fire stations and we've had her many times to do free free skin cancer um screening. So, many thanks to her. She's fantastic. Top
right, um January 2023, that is our training room. We set it up as a lab. We got the town funded over $17,000 with American Rescue Plan funds, opera funds to do ultrasound cancer screenings. So again, we set up the my
thanks for the union for uh kind of collaborating. They set up the training room as a lab so the firefighters could get screened. So every member had a screening. Again, that was over $17,000. The bottom left June of 2024 again with
opera funds the town spent over 250,000 so every member could have one set of gear of PAS PAS is the forever chemicals I know if you been updated with those. So every member has a set of PAS free gear and finally the bottom right that
is esophageal cancer screening. The town just got a grant for $25,000 back in November for public safety, both police and fire to go through that and that was a fantastic opportunity for us. So, um there's a I'm very mindful of the costs
um but certainly thankful for the investment. So, I figured I'd show that. So, thank you. Thanks to the town. This next slide is kind of a public um service announcement. the fire marshall's office is trying to get the announcement out there. So, I figured
I'd bring this up. So, uh back in 2015 16, um the market was introduced to a 10-year sealed lithium battery. You didn't have to change a battery. You just put the detector up. It's good for 10 years. Well, now we've hit that lifespan. Um and we're running into this
when people sell their homes. So, we're asking people to check the back of their uh detector. There's a manufacturers's date on there. If it says 2016 or earlier, they have to replace it. So, if there's any questions, you could always call us. We'll be happy to answer
it. Look at our responses for um over the years. We went up 2% from 2024. Um medical calls went up 2.7%. Um different categories, structure fires, vehicle fires, motor vehicle accidents, alarm responses, mutual aid,
we were up. Um we probably had five mutual aid responses for fires. We started the year. >> There we go. >> In 2024 with the two family house fire on Mount Pleasant. Um two fires in a mobile park common they call it. Uh one unfortunately was fatal fire back in
October, double fatality. We had the July 3rd fire at Bradford Road and another response on Dunable Road. So if you take the total fire losses, it's over a million dollars, but a large portion of that would be the two family on Mount Pleasant in that July 3rd fire
at Mount Bradford Road. Uh, next slide, please. When you look at the 2025 responses, we average over 542 calls a month or 18 a day. Um, the December, it's highlighted because the 619 calls that we've had, that is the
highest amount, monthly amount that we've had in many, many years. If you go to the next slide, that is why >> we had 435 medicals that month. There was a surge for flu and influenza. Yes. Typically during the holidays you will
see an uptick. You always do. Um not like this year. The response calls, the emergency rooms were flooded. Um I was at one of the emergency rooms visiting somebody and they're out in the hallways. Um they were just and this is just not in this area that's throughout
the whole state. So go next slide. Just a growth in our overall calls. If you go back to 2000, this shows an overall increase in total calls of 43% to the 6,499 I just showed you. U
medical calls up 151%. So significant figur I introduce this um topic because I get asked this question which I should and the manager um why is the cost of apparatus escalating so high and why is
there a delay? So this past September, Congress held a hearing. Um the fire apparatus industry is highly consolidated. Private equity firms are going in buying the smaller markets. And there were now three companies, three companies that control
80% of the fire apparatus industry and those are the Reb Group, the Oshkos group and Rosenblower. And not only had they consolidated the market, but also vehicle maintenance. the licensed dealers were acquired as part of the um
consolidation eliminate. So you have an increase in the truck. So a truck in 2013 as she shows you is about 500,000. Today it's over a million. But also vehicle maintenance costs have gone up because um an example would be the Rev Group in 2017 they had 13 aftermarket
sites to get these parts. Last year they were down to five. >> So that's why they were brought before Congress. Next, I know there's a lot here, but this kind of highlights what I'm trying to discuss. It's a very busy graphic, but in 2015, there was a firm
called the American Industrial Partners, AIP, they were called. They purchased the they formed the conglomerate, the Rev Group. So, the Rev group in 2016 acquired KME. KME was a big player, 70 years in the business, strong market share throughout the country. um in that
acquisition gave that rev group 44% of both the fire and ambulance. So it's not just fire, it's fire and ambulance market. And within four years that rev group acquired Spartan, Shmeal, Forever and Frontline. So a significant
move to consolidate the marketplace. Next slide. So you see a cost. So you see the escalation in the cost. You see that the aftermarket parts for repairs cuz we're keeping these trucks longer have gone up. But also the trend is the delay in
the deliveries. In 2019, it was a year. We thought that was too long. We would take a year now. It's three years. So when the manager signed the contract for the last apparatus purchase back in 2024, it had a date of 2027. We're hopeful hopeful that we see that truck in 2027.
So what are the recommendations? They're looking to initiate what they call a 6B study to understand the current market conditions. Maybe examine the barriers to competition. Uh explore tax base incentives. Um and the last one there, I know we talked about this when we met, promote standardized truck
designs to streamline production. That's great. >> But in New England, a lot of older fire stations, um and we still have like our, you know, engine two, the doors are only so big. So, the trucks have to be customized for a lot of lot of players
and they had an issue in Andover a couple years ago where the truck was delivered too high. Trucks have to be customized because they're older stations, smaller doors. I just saw the chief from Haveril. Their stations go back to the 1860s. So, guess what? The trucks are customized. They're
smaller. Next slide. This is a mockup of our command vehicle. Um and not only apparatus are delayed. This was um approved and acquired last year. We still do not have this in service. We do have the vehicle but
there was a delay in getting the vehicle and then we have to get it fit up with equipment, lights, radio. So u and I know the police chief had this same issue with his truck purchase. So it's not just apparatus. We're starting to see it on this side, the staff vehicle
side. Next. So, who does the feather? >> What's that? >> Who does the feather? >> So, we do have different vendors that do it. Um, so we're using a vendor now out in Atinson to do it based on recommendations. I think the police department use them, but still it's not
say the vendor is just getting the parts. So, when they get it, they're very good with getting, you know, getting them installed, but it's, you know, our radio is like, you know, cybercom. So, we use different vendors for different parts of building that vehicle out.
So, uh, look at our staff vehicles. Uh, we did receive approval. My thanks to the capital committee for the replacement of two staff vehicles. Um, still have to go before the spring town meeting for approval. And next slide, please. That's our look
at the heavy rescue truck that we purchased with opera funds back in 22 2022 with over $853,000. Uh, take a look. Next slide, please. Finally, apparatus. Again, uh we are still waiting for that delivery of the
2024 truck that the manager signed the contract. Again, it says 2027. We are hopeful that we get it. Um we're pushing to keep it on that three-year schedule. Um and in the next couple years, we'll be looking to replace some other items on there, the brush truck, but the big
one that stands out there is the obviously the ladder truck. And I will answer any questions you may have. Looks like that ladder truck may be starting the process next year for capital. >> It has to be replaced. Is that replace?
>> The bars truck is up for 28. The ladder truck will be 29. >> Ladder truck will be 29. >> Yep. >> The problem is even though it takes three years to get them, you can't just like order them now because they want payment as they're right. >> That's the problem. >> Yeah. That has to be put in the capital
plan. It has to be approved. Has to be voted on at town meeting. Funds have to be available after town meeting. And then you place the order and then they can have the funds. If you can't even get the funds until the start of next fiscal year. >> Yeah. Then you pay as they're being in the vehic. >> So there's they built in escalators now.
Like if you know, hey, there's a delay. So we thought it was this. It's, you know, I mean that's something we saw for the first time this last contract. >> Who manages that? When you've got stuff on order, who's on top of it? Do you do that? Yeah, we we uh we get progress reports
>> and we'll actually want to get we actually do an acceptance test. We'll physically go down there, run the truck through tests um usually of you know whether the deputies some members that the mechanic and they'll do an acceptance test of the vehicle before it's brought back here.
>> Yeah. >> Any questions? Any other questions? I know um we haven't asked this all the time, but sometimes, you know, we always um like to ask about other things that, you know, isn't funded, right? Because I know um budgets are tight. If there's
anything else from that you can think of that would be beneficial. >> That might be a whole thing. >> Yeah. >> Well, I would just probably echo what the manager probably had in his budget about the reasonable request for staffing. I know we're not in a place for that now, but if things improve, certainly be it' be nice to revisit that. >> I also would like to point out too, I
know Chief Spence is retiring. Sometimes we do our presentations on the same night. I know he's not here. So, um he's been a great public safety partner, a good friend. So, I do wish him well. So, I do want to get that out there. >> We'll be meeting with him on Monday and then he'll be coming in sometime in the
next couple weeks. >> Any other questions? All right. >> I just wanted to say I saw in the paper that the uh in the aftermath of the fire at trailer park that
>> Oh, the program. Yes. Get alarm program. Yes. So, they had a successful Thank you for bringing up. I app so uh first of all, my thanks to um with Deputy HooL and the union for really working together to um to make that happen. I mean, they the union went out and solicited donations to purchase all
these detectors. We got some donations as well. Um but just to physically go out there and put them up. But the the recent um issue we had was a fire, electrical fire. And when does it happen? When people sleep in at night, um detectors that were installed by our
members, alerted the people, they got up, they actually started to put the fire out, but they didn't have any detectors prior to that. So, um, we probably have about a quarter to a third of the, um, people have signed up. I think that story will
probably get a few more. So, my thanks to them for, you know, working together to get that done. It's a, we know where our issues are. We, like I said, we had two fires there this past year, the double fatality in October, probably three fatalities over the past five years in the trailer park. So, we are
really trying to work to make a difference there. >> Are they engine are they engine one area or they engine three area? That is actually engine five's area. >> Engine five area. >> Engine five's area >> and five will be will be running out of >> engine one. But when I started um engine
one used to cover that. >> Okay. >> So that was that um discussion we had about balancing of calls for the districts. So when I started back in the day that was engine one but to balance the calls we expanded engine 5's map a little bit. >> Okay. >> So uh there won't be a delay for
going. Yeah. Yeah. There won't be a delay because they'll both and and to clarify as you as you said in our meeting uh engine engine five engine five and engine one will be running out of engine one >> fire headquarters. Yep. >> But they'll be run running their their areas. They won't >> there's going to be some modifications. They have to be because there's going to
be because now you got engine three up at engine 2's headquarters. So uh there'll be some modifications to the map. So we're not going to probably have in like the Galloway single foot. We may have to splint that to engine five. But we're going to look at the map. We're going to look at the calls as they come in and we'll adjust as we need to.
>> So, you have questions. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you. >> Moving right along. We have a presentation review discussion of fiscal year 27 school district. With us this evening, we have Dr. Jay Lang, their
superintendent. We also in the audience we have our business manager Joanna Johnson Collins and uh our uh chief Johnson school committee chair Dennis King. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. And >> the presentation you sent over. >> Yeah, just for the viewing if you want
to I can just touch base on a couple of the slides and I'm happy to report that we don't need any fire apparatus in the school department that uh that will certainly help. But uh no, as way of background, um I was able to meet with the uh subcommittee uh this
past Monday. We were able to meet uh remotely to review the uh the school department budget and then the school committee had our budget hearing Tuesday evening. So we went through the budget as well and the school committee did vote to um to endorse and approve the budget to uh to move forward. Um the
budget before you this evening um just before we get into fiscal 27, we had talked when we had tri board earlier in December. Um fiscal 26 is looking um good. We have no concerns with both the um the local budget or any of the grant funds or revolving funds in fiscal 26
that could potentially impa impact fiscal 27. Um and we're also fortunate that um we have all of our collective bargaining agreements are in place for the current year as well as um next year. So we had a very good uh bargaining cycle last spring with our major employee unions. We have one that
we're just in the process of beginning now our custodians. We have a small uh nine or 10 unit group, but we'll have that one negotiated now, but the bigger ones, the teachers, the paras, the administrators, u they're set for the next three years. So, that helps us when we're putting our budgets together. Um
our budgeting process begins in October. We meet with each of the individual schools and departments and talk about their current uh staffing, their personnel, their nonpersonnel items, some of the different um strategic plan goals that they're working on, and how the budget is aligned to them. Um and then we ultimately uh formulate a
recommendation for the school committee. Um the budget before you this evening um we worked uh closely with town manager Cohen just on the recommendation. Um it's kind of a no frills um level service budget for the school department. It contains funding for all the personnel and non-personnel items
and programs and services that we provide during the current fiscal year. Basically just at next year's costs. Um so salaries, you know what we can do? Um, Cher Clancy, we don't need to necessarily go through all those charts because I I reviewed those previously. These are basically just the um kind of
how chumps would stacks up against comparable districts or whatnot. And um if we just slide to this one. So um again, the the budget before you this evening is a $2.5 million increase. Um it covers all of our personnel costs and our non-personnel costs. We did
obviously on the non-personnel costs had some contracts that had accelerators in them for fiscal 27. So that's been accounted for. Um we also do have a limited number of retirements uh this year and the school department and we always try to account for that savings that you see between the individual
retiring and a new person coming in. We've uh historically budgeted those that master step three and that's accounted for a little bit of savings again which is included in the budget and it also makes us um able to hire and attract um good quality candidates coming into the district. And I do have
to say with regard to um kind of Chford in the way that we do the budget process, um we're actually one of the districts that's able to get out very quickly and do our hiring, I believe we have nine openings for the fall. So we don't have a lot of openings, but we want to make sure that we're getting uh great pools of candidates. So we're
actually going to start our hiring process next Monday. Um so we're going to be out and likely uh we'll be fully staffed before April break, which is wonderful. So uh that's when a lot of other districts are just beginning theirs. So our budgeting cycle actually works very uh very well for us. On the
next slide, um again, we really have just maintained all of the costs. We do every other year we take a look at our uh substitute costs because day-to-day substitute teachers, paras secretaries, long-term substitutes, if we have to hire a teacher because someone is going out say on a leave of absence for
maternity leave or some type of a health leave, we want to make sure that we're attracting good candidates for those jobs as well. So by annually we do a review of all the greater Marramac Valley districts to make sure that our rates are comparable and competitive and uh we're in the top third of our rates
on that respect. So um we didn't have to make any adjustments to that this year. The last four bullets I just point out because um when we had met earlier in November and December for Tribort, we were looking at about a $3.5 million uh level service budget at that point in time and we had a couple of things that
worked in our favor as the budget was being refined. Um, so, you know, technically it would still be about a $3.5 million increase. However, which doesn't typically happen, we actually are um budgeting and anticipating a $425,000 reduction in special education out of
district tuition. Um, we actually just have um a couple of very expensive um residential placements that are aging out. Um so students under those programs are with us until they're 22. So, uh late spring, summer, they're going to be aging out. So we can actually assume the
savings for those. Um you we're actually seeing uh also kind of net benefit to us a little bit of an increase in circuit breaker reimbursement for some of those claims. Alo fiscal 27 Valley Collaborative which is our member collaborative um has been doing very well programwise and revenue-wise and um
by statute they're only allowed at the end of a fiscal year to maintain a certain percentage of of their budget to kind of roll into like a suspense account that we would have and anytime they go over that they have to distribute money back to their member districts. So, we're going to be anticipated to get about a $300,000
return from Valley. And, um, myself and Joanne on the school committee, um, Dennis King, who's here tonight, um, we have been kind of proactive when we put our budget together to list all of those different revenue offsets in the budget document itself, to not carry them separately, but actually to have them baked into the document so that we can
actually kind of realize those savings. So, in the end, we were able to u present a level service budget. again all the staff uh personnel services programs that we're delivering this current year um next year and still have them all be aligned to our um internal strategic planning that we do at the
elementary, middle, and high school levels of the district. So um just again as one last aside, the budget document itself and the format has remained consistent year-over-year. We've gotten good feedback about that. So it's pretty readable. has a little narrative section, but then everything
crosswalks from the staff salary book back to the category level detail which the school committee actually went through Tuesday night page by page and asks good questions about what the money is spent for and why um it's budgeted where it is leads up to the summary level totals and that's really within control of the school committee. Um and
if we ever have to do an adjustment or an amendment um we would go to the school committee and they would um have to approve or disapprove of that. So the formatting has remained the same. Happy to answer any questions. >> Thank you. Are there any questions?
>> Just a similar question as as um to Chief Ryan is you know what are your top things that aren't funded out of this year's budget? Uh I think probably similar to what what Chief Ryan would say um one of the things not only for next year but I do think over the next you know two three
four five years we are um really starting to see that increase in student enrollment in the schools this year um you know based on our October one number we're up about 60 um students. Um the increase is going to continue to come at the elementary which is then going to
feed up into the middle school which is causing us some pressures. So, you know, aside from our presentation this evening, obviously a major focus of ours has been the school building project, which a lot have been um paying attention to and obviously very involved with.
>> Um by way of advertisement, we have our next community forum on Thursday, March 19th at the Elks to try to educate again the community with regard to kind of where that building project is. Between now and May, we're going to be making some pretty critical decisions around the grade level configuration and then
ultimately submitting the next phase of uh paperwork into the MSBA. And between May and October, we'll move into schematic design and cost estimating so that by October, we really will have an actual preferred program. We'll have a um a budget and we'll need to come back to the community and really talk about
that and then talk about funding and that'll be real focus for next year. Um, so I guess my concern short term and longer term again next three, five, ten years is probably going to be staffing because as you're increasing student enrollment, we've really got to make sure that we're maintaining desirable
class sizes at the different grade levels, elementary, middle, and high school. I think over the last five years, we've spent um a good amount of um resources and allocation within the budget, which I completely agree with, trying to build out some in district special education uh programming at all
levels of the district. and we're seeing those populations um in Jumpstrid and we want to make sure that we can well serve them so that they can actually you know stay and and be serviced as part of their um school community here. So I think we're going to have to look to potentially based on numbers expand some
of our autism programming. Um we're seeing numbers coming up through our chips program, our preschool that again kind of come to elementary and then middle and obviously they end up in high school. Um, so we want to make sure that we're again just well positioned to be able to serve the needs of those students and a lot of it on the school
side is staffing. Um, you know, it's direct teachers in the classrooms, it's the pared educators who work with the students in the classrooms to make sure that they can receive the services that they need. Um, it's it's OT, PT, nursing. Um, so there's really there's a lot of just staff intensive um, I guess
focus that I would have over the years to come. I I understand, you know, budgets are constraining, but I think when it comes to like our non-personnel items, I think we're very well um serviced. I think, you know, the school committee has actually invested um each year we we kind of set aside any savings
that we develop over the course of the year and do some one-time spending. Um we've been able to actually do um make some bigger impacts on the capital that we might not have been able to do under the regular capital program just because of constraints. But if we can actually fund self-und some programs ourselves
and some of the projects we'd like to get done, it then takes a little bit of the burden off the capital and as a community we can get more done. So I think that's something that we'd obviously want to continue with as well. Um but just being mindful of the increases in students that we're going to see and there are going to be additional costs primarily on the
staffing side. >> Thank you. Justice speaking with the with the uh children the the Parker School building committee which you serve on I serve on and Dennis King serves on Jos on John Paul in the in the audience um
we've been regularly meeting every every month for people that don't that that don't know um uh the presentation's been made uh we're well within the process of uh presenting to um Mass Billing Association that that meeting coming up on the 19th at 7 which may conflict with
what we're having here, but we'll we'll discuss that in the next uh agenda item. Uh I think it's really important for the community to get involved in to understand uh what's already gone in all the all the work that's already all gone into this process and what the options that we're exploring based upon those
discussions and those presentations are because um it's not only building the building that building but also addressing the grade configurations and and the uh and I know that school committee aside from the build parts school building committee doing lot lot of work with uh what that uh educational
curriculum is going to look like. So my my hats off to that group because they put a lot of effort into that as well. Um the school committee as it's concurrently composed. It's been a fantastic job doing that. So I think it would any anyone watching this would benefit by by going to that form and watching previous forms and going to the
website. There's a website for the Parker School Building uh committee that that shows a lot of the plans and information we out out there readily available to review. >> I agree. All the documents that we review in committee, excuse me. And then if you haven't been able to attend one of those meetings and they kind of feed
off each other. All the links are right up on the website so you can just at your home and in your leisure do that. Chs for Tele Media has been great as far as uh really recording everything. They're going to record the next session. It can't be live broadcast, but they're going to record it and then we'll get it up to the website within a
couple of days, but you can pretty quickly get up to speed on the project. We want community input. You know, we want people to know u kind of the why we're looking at the different options, where we're looking at them. um because really within the next year there's going to be some pretty significant decisions to be made. Um as you
indicated the current school committee has spent a significant amount of time and investment in this that different members have even outside of school committee meetings you know participate in these subgroups and and focus groups. Um so they're very well attuned to the needs of the current students we have in the district and I think that long-term
vision for where we'd like to see the school project go. So uh very exciting time. A lot of work's gone into it but um definitely want community input all along the way. What's the website of the of the school project? >> So, you if you go to the Chil Public Schools website and then it's called
Parker Middle School Project. It's it's right in the middle. Um there's a whole box you just click on and it brings you right to the site with all of the um the different documents. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Sure. >> All right. Any other questions? >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Appreciate it very much. Thank you.
Thank you. All right, moving along. We have a discussion of the budget hearing and springtime meeting warrant article schedule. So, let me just bring up the liaison list again as is updated. Um, so highlighting yellow is what we had the presentations we had this evening. Um, and then we
have uh a number of options coming up for the next couple weeks. one of which uh Paul emailed me today on. I I I guess the zoning board of appeals is not meeting next Thursday in this room and so we may have the availability to meet
next Thursday as well, which we don't normally do uh to uh uh review some of these budgets. Uh I know that the uh public works director has indicated that she might want to do that uh next Thursday. Uh but others might be
available. So, what I would ask is that you reach out uh to those that have indicated they they want to do the 12th if they'd like to come on the 4th. We could certainly do that. I'm also going to reach out and confirm with Chelsea Tele Media that they have they have availability to cover and and to record uh next Thursday as well because that
that is a change for them. Um because normally we would not normally u meet on that evening, but this room is available uh so we could meet next Thursday um and get a lot more done a little bit quicker um and and not stack as many as we have on the 12th, which I know a lot of
people have requested the 12th now. Um uh if we can kind of divide between the two nights. I know that um the Shoba Valley is planning on coming on on the 12th. That was one of the first requests I received. >> You want me to try to move that? >> Well, let's not let's not move every
let's not move everybody. Um so let let's do this. I'm going to check with tele media to see if to make confirm that they are available. I'm sure that they are, but if >> because there's no board of appeals meeting that night at all >> at all. So it's not like their staff is somewhere else. >> Okay. Oh, excellent. Okay. So we we will likely have coverage for that night. So,
um I know that the the requests for the 12th had been at least that I'm aware of uh is the Nisha Valley School District, the DPW. Um uh was a veteran services request the 122.
>> Actually, she would like to come in next week if possible. >> Okay. Yeah, we can certainly do that. >> Let's do that. >> Uh the DBW could do if we could we can keep the show on on the 12th. I I I haven't confirmed with Chief Spence when he's available, but we'll ask you both the 4th to 12th. See what's available.
Uh was it um CPF um the Community Preservation Fund? Uh >> yeah, on the 12th. >> On the 12th. We'll keep on. >> We'll keep her on the 12th. Um >> Okay. >> And um we'll keep the shovel on the 12th. And if we can move the DVW and a couple others like like veterans and
then we'll see um when um Chief Spence would like to come in. Um, when do you want to present PEG access? >> I will do it next week. >> Okay, perfect. >> Because that won't won't take it won't take long at all. >> And then I know we talked about the 12th for planning board.
>> They can't come in. I just got a text. He's watching. He can't come on the 4th. >> He can't come in on the 4th. >> Well, then we'll leave at the 12th. That's perfect. Yeah. So, we'll have Nova Valley. We'll have um >> all the planning board articles and there there are a few >> um and I think >> Kelly be will be prevent presenting his
that that evening as well. >> 12. Yeah. >> Okay. Um and then the other ones would be we have the um >> can we can we move um we've got the finance can do the the fourth. >> Yeah. Say I'm I'm scheduled Mr. Chairman I'm a meet with Cindy and Anita
virtually tomorrow. So I could do the fourth. >> Okay. Yeah. Sure. We'll we'll we'll do that. Excellent. Perfect. >> Jim, is it the fourth or the fifth, please? >> Uh is it a Thursday? Is it the fifth? >> Fifth. Is there a Thursday? >> The fifth. >> Fifth. Okay. Thank you.
>> Yes, it is the fifth. Thank you. >> Good catch. >> Yeah. Well, I mean, it would have been caught before we we sent the agenda out, but yes, it's the 5th of the 5th of March. >> If it's the 12th, it's got to be the 5th. >> Yep. So, the fifth So, the 5th of uh of
March. U So, we'll say uh tentatively five. We'll say finance department. Oh, >> that's good to get next in. >> That's good. >> Come on.
>> Yeah, that's good. >> Yeah, exactly. >> We're getting we getting these in a lot earlier than than typical. >> 35. Uh, board of health, you do you >> I was going to put them on the 12th if we didn't like if we could get wanted to
finish by the 12th. She could do either 12th or the week after. >> Let's do 312. >> Okay. >> Um, we'll keep 312 for Judy Carvin um library. Have you met with uh Leslie Kimble yet? >> Been playing telephone tag with our
availability. Uh she did offer next Monday at 5:30 which I can do if we do Zoom. So um I just sent that email out while while waiting here. >> Okay. >> So hopefully >> either or let me know. I I have to know before uh midday on Tuesday next week is when we have to have to send the agenda
off. So as long as I know before then we can we can decide which one works best. which what are her options for showing up? >> Uh well, I mean we we have the the 5th, the 12th, we do have the 19th, but if we can if we can shift away from
the 19th where there's a conflict with the child school building forum. >> So, so hopefully and her presentation usually doesn't take very long. So, it's not like, oh my god, >> of course there's that and then there's the two just the transfer for restoring um cemetery and the Barney school
playground accessible equipment that those two items as well. Um but we we're looking for I'm sorry the 12th for the planning board we said. >> All right. So I I was going to say and then with the presentation on the 5th or the 12th that would that would be >> okay. So I will hopefully get back do I
get back to you and say this is >> yeah let me let me know what works best and we'll and we'll put it in. 35. Look at these dates populating. We said that next week for Tall Media uh property valuation
services would be rolled in with finance. We said next week for finance. >> Okay. All right. And we said 312 for J. Okay, I I will reach out to Brian Latino
on the um citizen petition. Let's see what night is available for him. 12. 312. Okay, we said 35 for peg access. We'll check with Chief Pence on what when he wants and it was
Sorry, we said 35 for for Regina Jackson services. Okay, perfect. Okay. Well, we may have our our budget reviews done >> by the 12th. >> That'd be great. >> Which would be fantastic. We'll take off the 19th and we'll we'll vote the following week. And that way we'll have
all our votes done in March >> as opposed to doing them in in the last both the first or the second week in April, which would would be fantastic. >> All right. Okay. Well, that sounds good. I'll update this document. I'll circulate it. Um and then I'll just wait on the final two. I'll check with Chase Spence. I'll check with Brian Latin.
You'll check with um Leslie Kimble on on her availability and we'll go from there. Excellent. Let me just save this. Okay. So, if we do that, um we'll be able to start, you know, production of the book and and hopefully get the letter out
sooner rather than late. I know you're laughing over there, Pam. Um it's required the week before. I'll just keep reminding everybody that uh this is not a special town meeting which requires two weeks. Uh but no, but we'll we'll target four before then. Um any
any presentations we'll reach out in the interim uh just any additional information we might need although we pretty much have the information coming in presentations this year as the presentation coming in and I think you've been copying everything as far as materials except for the one we just had with uh the school committee which came
in at six o'clock which I'll I'll circulate to everybody. >> Yeah. The only stuff I'll need is from from John >> is from John. Yeah. Perfect. All right. So, um that covers the schedule. We'll see everybody next week uh at 6:30 here.
>> Just an hour. >> Well, well, Amazing. >> I I can keep talking if you'd like. >> No. Yeah. No. Um pretty straightforward. I This year is pretty straightforward. the next couple weeks will probably be probably be a little bit longer um given
the topics we're covering and the amount recovering but I think all in all in general it's been a pretty straightforward year um so I don't see any public comment and there's no one in the zoom room so if that's the case I will entertain a motion to adjurnn >> so moved
>> second it >> okay roll call >> yes I >> I I >> I you bet >> Sandy. >> Hi. >> All right. Thank you everyone. Have a good evening.