Good evening. Last day. Let's kick it off with a roll call, please. Council Tennar Garcia, present. Councelor Jimenez River, here. Councelor Rupo, here. Council Taylor, I'm here. Council
Robinson kind of council attention. Councelor Sandig present. Council Le Vega it's absent. Councelor Brown absent and councelor Deus present. Eight members present. You have a quorum. Madam President. Thank you. Cler uh councelor Garcia Kelly Garcia
notified me she's on her way running a little late from work. Um good evening everyone. Today is our last day of budget hearings. Thank you so much to our city manager team. Um just want to start with a few laundry list items. Um
can we please make sure that we are listening to each other as we ask questions during each one of our guests. Um so that we're not repeating any questions and so that it's not repetitive but we can make room for other folks that have different questions. Let's be reasonable with our
time, please. Um, we want to make sure all counselors are able to speak and um, when we do speak, let's make sure that those questions are tied to finances. I know I know that this is a great opportunity to share our thoughts,
opinions, or even educate the public on certain things that we do here at city hall. But trust me, we will have ample opportunity to do that outside of these meetings. and we want to be respectful of not just our time here, but we want to be respectful of our city uh employees time. Um, and that is it. With
that being said, city manager and uh Michael, you guys have the floor. Councelor, good evening, councilors uh and uh attendees here this evening as well as those that are watching uh remote.
Um this is night three. We're going to try to get through this as smooth as possible. Um we're going to start off with uh the city clerk's um office which is on page 107, department 161. It's page
107. Um so the total proposed um the jump right into the expenditures. Uh total proposed budget for fiscal 26 is $589,623 which is an increase of $43,782 um which is a 8% increase of over fiscal
25. Um, of that the personnel budget lines are uh which makes the majority of the budget uh $484,43 uh which is an increase of 25 a little bit over $25,000 or 5 a.5%. Um there's
no staffing changes for this department and uh in that projection we're including contractual obligations cost of living increases. Uh the total operating budget is 85 thou $85,220 which is uh
$22,920 over fiscal 25 uh the or 36 about 36.8% higher than last year. Um of that the advertising budget is level funded as well as printing. Um the postage however is increasing by $5,000.
Uh I should remember to do that. um the cost for a mass uh mailing of census letters, election courier, and confirmation cards and postal permit fees. Uh they're anticipated to uh the cost increase in more uh the usage of
more more usage of it. Uh another notable item is uh equipment maintenance is incre increasing by 2600. Um um and this is ti tied to voting equipment maintenance lease. Um, and
this is uh also tied to time clock and um supplies for voting booths. Uh, rental equipment is also increasing by $320 is tied to a new 36-month copy release. Uh, as well as uh you'll see
there's a new line for contracted services for $7,000. Uh, originally this was requested in uh fiscal 25 budget. However, and it and the city manager had approved it. However, due to the timing of when it was approved and it did not
actually make it into the physical budget. So, it is an expenditure that's actually incurring this year. Uh there was via through a budget transfer um from I believe the postage account. Uh and it covers interpretation services on
election day. Um it used to be paid out of the PEG account. So, this is a new expense u in fiscal 25 for the for the city clerk's office. transportation in which is showing on this screen in your book. Um it could be shown as that but it's it's record
retention. Um it's for $800 and it's level funded. Uh as well as conference travel and general's office supplies and forms. Um the food is new. Um and that's uh um an expense to provide coffee uh
lunch or dinner for pole workers. All right. Um, we'll open up for any questions. That's awesome. All right, recuper. Any questions from that side? Yeah. Mike, please. Mike, please. He answered
one anyways. It was the $3,000. Me and him figured it out. It was for the the people to give him lunch. Okay. On the equipment rentals, why did it go up 57%? uh that's our contract with the
tabulators and so the maintenance costs after a certain amount of years uh went up unfortunately that's that's contracted. So that's they they they they increased it they increased it that much. Wow. We um it looks like uh they should
have done it maybe two years ago and I it was an oversight on their end but they're not looking for um to they're just moving forward it's going to be that amount. Wow. And contract services that increased 100%. What are those contract
services for? So that's the um interpretation services. So, we had it last year. Um, and I'm pretty sure March was the first time we had um interpreters at the polling locations, all three of them. And so,
for March, September, and uh November, there was someone that spoke um not only Spanish, but I fig different people had different other languages, but um they were there to translate if it if it was needed. Let me ask you a question. Would it be cheaper? The post office employs a
telephone, which answers more than just one language. It answers 50 languages. So if you cater, if you're going to cater to the polls, you should cater to more than one language. Like the post office, you go to the doctor's office, they have a a phone, you know, and allow speaker. Someone can talk to it and it
answers to them in the language they require. Why don't you check into that? And that way you can service more people instead of, you know, a specific group. And I think it's cheaper. The post office went to that where they just put a phone and it has a big speaker and
they talk into it and it replies. Anybody that has a question? Oh, no. This just a suggestion. You don't have to do it. It's just a suggestion. Maybe you could look into it. I can do that. Any other questions? No. Thank you. Thank you, counselor. Any
other questions on this side? No. Don Taylor, we'll start over there. Um, yeah. So, I I I think that this is this is pretty much straightforward. And I I I would just like to say that I think that in the subsequent years that
we've been having these discussions about how your your department's running. I think it's pretty evident that it's going a lot better uh today than it has. and and I mean there's been a lot of improvement to both I think
strategy and and execution and and manpower and all that all that good stuff. So, thank you. Um no, thank you because I think that's the you know your office is kind of like the customer service uh you know office and and and
it's not always easy. I know. So, thank you. Thank you, Councelor Councelor Garcia. I just want to say thank you. I mean, the lines are less. I hear less complaints even though there's always going to be complaints, but um it's
definitely it definitely has improved, especially with um well, no, that's the next one, parking, but we'll talk about that. Okay, Sanate. Hi. Um, Deputy City Manager Mason answered my questions in his forward, but I just wanted to give
you some positive feedback on a few things that I saw in your goals. Um, and that was the digitization of records. I think that's a great step. Also, feeding the pole workers and um the voter registration goal. Um, I'm very happy
that I won a municipal election by 95 votes, but uh or with 95 votes, but um also very sad that I won an election with only 95 votes in a city with our population. So, any way we can help that
initiative, I think it's extremely important um to increase civic engagement and get more people registered to vote. So, thank you. You'd be happy to know that uh today we had um two staff people at the high school for a voter drive second time. So
we're we're on it. Thank you. That's awesome. Okay, seeing no other questions, I only echo the words of my colleagues. You're doing an amazing job and thank you so much for your service. All right, Michael. All right, we'll
move on. Uh, and we'll keep Janette Centron White here with us to discuss parking, which will be on page 172. 172, you said? Yes, Rubbero, I am not starting on that side for this question.
All right. All right, Michael, you have the floor. Thank you very much. Uh, so the parking department um has a proposed budget of uh $1.3 million. It's up about 34 I mean it's down about
$34,000 from the prior year or two uh about lower than 2 and a half%. Uh however, the personnel budget uh is about 12.2% 2% higher at $131,534. This uh funds the staffing of two uh full-time equivalent positions.
However, there's been no staffing changes in this division. Uh and this is uh based on contractual obligations and cost of living adjustments. Uh the operating budget um is about 1 1,186,500
um and that is down about 43,800 um or lowered by 3 and a half% from the prior year. Um this is uh mainly due to reduction in postage um which they use
for dealing with parking mailings uh parking parking program mailings and uh lockbox communications as needed. Um everything else uh for the most part is level funded um except for other services which is there's an increased
um cost that reflects uh year two of the new contract. Um if we'll open up for any questions. Thank you, Michael. Um counselors on this side, councelor Sigate, any questions? Yes. Um thank you again. Some positive
feedback. Great move to increase your early renewal and online use. And I'm glad it's a goal that you'll continue with. I just um didn't see anything as solid as I thought I might see in your goals considering that the parking issue
is in our m one of our goals as a council. So, I was just wondering about that. I know that we have um a consultancy that's helping us with that, but I just didn't know what the parking department's connection would be to the
goal of our own master plan. Um, so there's there's a a few moves that we're making, right? That and we introduced a digital permitting. You want to share about that? Um, so I am very excited if I would love to go digital.
Um, part of the the cost with the permits with the stickers is the sticker stock, the postage to mail them out. They get lost in the mail. We've heard um from residents that they don't want to display a sticker on their vehicle um saying that they're from Chelsea
depending on what they do for work. Um and so we I think it would encourage people to go online dramatically because you're not you don't you're not forced to come in person and no I should
cor change what I'm saying. Um, when we advertise to go online, many people will come to city hall because they want to take that piece of paper with them. They don't want to lose it. They don't want the tickets. And so, if you eliminate the physical
sticker, I think that's what's going to drive more people, less lines here, more people online, and they get a confirmation. They do everything from home at when they are able to do it. Um, I I do um I do want to take baby steps
with it because it's been there's a learning curve here. Um, and so I would love to I want to start with stickers and then eventually the visitor passes. The visitor passes in 2019. I was asked to review our program and tighten it up
with what loopholes we we see in the in our office, the day-to-day of it. And I think we tight we did tighten it up. There's more to go. Um uh and we will get there with the
visitor passes, but I'm the the visitor passes work really well. I know at first they can be a little intimidating, but um when people aren't marking them the way they're supposed to or um we're able to to
to recognize fraud right away, they work. So I would like to transition into that um as we grow into a digital permit system like a truly um digital permit system. Um one discussion that we had
which was at the request of of the city council is to evaluate whether we should do more enforcement on uh overnight. Um, we talked about it at at length and and and it's a a costbenefit uh u conversation. Um,
uh, digital permitting is going to help tremendously, right? Because because, uh, uh, it's going to remove the the human element out of it a lot. Uh, um, but I was I was pleasantly surprised to to to hear that that that we do a good
job right now, right? And again uh uh we are are enforcing overnight to make parking available not to to create revenue right but but we in in in the month of May- which which was as of 11 days when we looked at it we had issued
uh over 1,000 tickets over 1,000 tickets so so I feel like we're we're getting out there uh uh you know and doing the best that we can with with what we got. It's about compliance. It's not the the revenue of it, right? It's compliance just so more parking for the residents
of Chelsea. Um, and I think sometimes people will say, "Oh, I take this too serious." But there's a lot to park here for. You have the transportation. Um, you you can take the commuter rail, Silver Line, a bus in any direction, the
free shuttle to the airport. Um, and so I do take it serious to protect the parking of the residents who do live here day in day out. Uh, any other councelor Garcia? I just have a quick um I have a quick question on future development and parking in the
city. I'm so sorry to interrupt. I just want to briefly make sure anyone who walked in is accessing any translation equipment is needed. Um, okay. Perfecto. All right. Thank you. Sorry, counselor. No, no, no worries. Um, with all this future development and little parking, you
know, we have huge developments with very little parking spaces, what what do you see in the future for um I know it's not part of the budget, but it's going to be a problem for us in
the city. Do you see I don't know. Yeah, I mean u I'll touch on that. I mean uh um I think every conversation that I have in Chelsea involves parking, right? Uh uh um and not with all counselors, but with the majority of the counselors uh um and and I think it's
it's a um I think it's a prioritization conversation, right? I mean the the ideally we would have uh a lot of space with a lot of parking, you know, with with a lot of supply of housing, with a lot of supply of affordable housing, with with a lot of supply, you know, of
open space, right? All of these things that that we wish unfortunately uh um uh that is not what some of our neighborhoods looked like, right? And it's not something that that was was created overnight. It's something that that has been in place for a long long
time, right? the uh um uh part of our Chelsea Palanta research, right, is is is to verify this uh uh you know, is development causing an impact on on parking, right? Uh um uh and uh what we
are finding so far is that parking is is really is is is really in several areas, right, of the city, right? It's not citywide. uh um and that those um those areas is we are not seeing a lot of
development in those areas, right? That and and I I I also know that um in 2019 the city council approved a a uh uh uh a compromise, if you will, right? That that that while we want housing, we uh
uh um while we want to encourage affordable housing in particular, we will compromise with parking, right? and and that compromise. It involves uh any new developments that does not meet parking requirements does not have access to our our overnight uh uh
parking program. And I know that that I speak to residents all the time, right, of these developments who come and and and say, you know, why is this the case? And and and my answer is th this this is how the project was approved, right? And and and if if if uh if the project uh if
if if we had not approved it, the project would not have happened. Therefore, less housing would be available. Right. Right. Uh um so so so the I I think that the parking issue is not related to new constructions is my opinion. Uh I I think I think the the
parking is related to overcrowding. that parking is related to to how many folks are living in in some of these streets, right? And and how many vehicles are are are in some of the apartments, existing apartments. All right,
I guess we had to walk more. All right, thank you, Councelor Taylor. Any questions? your mic counselor. Your mic. Yeah. So, um on on on the finances of
this, um I really don't have um any real questions. I think you guys addressed um the finances of it. I think that this is a broader conversation which I suppose we're not supposed to have right now.
So, I'll go ahead and pass for another time. Questions over here. Councelor Himenez, just uh real quick. I think it's really important that we uh ask you this question so that you can highlight it once again. Um you I just want to make sure you said that enforcement uh of
parking in the city for the overnight. It's about ensuring that residents have parking and not about generating revenue for the city, right? Yeah. Wonderful. I just want to make sure that people understand that we're not out to get you. We just want to make sure that the people who are supposed to have parking in our city have parking in our city and I think that's really important. Thank you. Thank you,
councelor. Councelor Oh, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Councelor Robinson, save the save the best for last. Cooper, come on. Please. Could you uh could you explain to me what nighttime gathering passes? Um when the first when the program was
um implemented in 2013, they wanted to kind of offer this pass which allows for uh 10 vehic up to 10 vehicles. um you can only apply for it three times a year in a program year.
If you were going to have a party, for example, a graduation party, but only until um 2 a.m. So, it's $10. So, it's a dollar a vehicle, and it allows them only till 2 a.m. Um and a max of uh
three per year. And um not many people use them. Um, and we do we do um we're very strict about the three times a year. All right. Thank you. That's my only question.
Councelor Tashi. No. Councelor Rubbero. One question. Thank you. Thank you to the city manager for clarifying that when you build new buildings doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get a parking sticker. The parking sticker you won't get it. to the people outside.
That's very important because a lot of them complain that they're building these buildings and there's no way to park. Don't worry about it because if they don't have no parking, they're not going to have a parking sticker. So, this is clarified. And the next one I have is a simple one. Overtime 200%. What is that? Is that enforcement at
night? No. That that's us. I'll speak to that. So, so uh um that was at at my request and I think at the request of of the city council. So, so what what we did is is we uh we asked um the employees in in
the office to uh uh be open late, right? So, so the week before uh parking renewal and the week after we we kept uh uh uh city hall open uh on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday um the week before
and the week after. And that's to make uh uh give residents an opportunity to come in after hours, not just on Tuesday. And another question I have is on uh that that pocket sticker that you said is going to be digital. You will still have someone the opportunity to
come to the office and apply for there, right? Absolutely. But they won't get a a physical sticker. They will still apply to them. Yes. They would get they would get a receipt so that way they can have it for their records, but it's automatically in the system. Would there be a renewal every year or like Boston
does every three years? It's every year. I don't recommend beyond a year. Um you'd be surprised how many people will change their registration after they get the sticker. Again, this this study is accessible in every direction. I I understand. I just
asked that question because in Boston they do it every three years. So, I was just wondering if we go to the same process, but we won't. And uh one more question. How many stickers did you give to outsiders that each year come and
park their cars in our in our city? Like you do all the time you give them stickers. We we cleaned that up in 2019 and it was implemented in 2020. So, we used to do a general non-resident sticker and it there was about 120 applications per
every six months of um they wouldn't register their car here, but they got a sticker and they got to it was a free-for-all, so to speak. And so, that sticker is no longer in existence. No. Well, that's a good So, it means these things. And another one, too. Does the
city because I get questions from people. Does the city still has uh a law that you cannot leave your trailer out on the street, right? Yes. Yes. Overnight. Are you enforcing that law if they leave trailers outside? We do. Uh so we have the police officer with us
every night since we put this in place. The officer comes with us and they're usually the street over. They're in the vicinity of us to help us. Um they ticket for all other violations. We ticket strictly for resident sticker. They ticket it for crosswalks 20 feet of
an intersection and hitched or unhitched trailers are uh definitely something that they take it for. If you ever notice um uh a problem area um you just let us know or the you know the city manager myself and we will target the
area and we have Thank you for explaining it and unitched. So that means your trailer can be out there or you can have it in your car and you still can't have it. Correct. Thank you. Awesome. Councelor Jimenez, sorry. Um,
councelor Rubro's questions uh inspired me to ask a question. Um, I I'm curious. You said that people often, you know, we should keep it for a year because people sometimes leave, you know, kind of within that year. I'm really curious if right now I get a sticker and I move out
of the city, it's and and then you change the garage uh for that car to say, you know, Sagas or whatever, right? Does that void your sticker or do you does it remain? And would that change under the digital permit? No. So,
they're not linked to the registry. So, if you did leave um we wouldn't we wouldn't know. People will call and say that, "Oh, I don't have the sticker anymore." Typically, people take them off. We have had instances where people leave the Chelsea sticker because they
still have family here or friends and then they have their new sticker and so we ticket um based off of that. Um so if you have like a 2026 sticker for Sagas and and you have a Chelsea one then you would get Oh, that's interesting. Because you can only we say you only
have residency in one location. So we would ticket it. That's super helpful. Thank you. All right, I think we're good. and welcome councelor Brown. Gracias. Thank you. All right, we'll move on to legislative.
Yep. Move us right along. Okay, so um legislative can be found on page 54. So, the legislative department um that uh supports the city council um has a total proposed budget for $619,884. Uh which is uh 8 point about a
8.3% increase over fiscal 25's budget. Uh the personnel budget um which includes uh the two full-time equivalents is at 492,384 which is up 6.3%. There's been no staffing changes
to the department. Um and this is uh tied to cost of living adjustments. Um the increase uh the total operating budget is up by by $18,300 to 127,500.
um of that uh you'll see that advertising uh has been increased by $500 which is an increased to account for increased costs from the vendor that handles the legal notices and other advertisements. Um as well as you'll see
that there's uh rent lease equipment has gone up $300 to cover a cost uh of increase on the RICO contract uh as the previous contract expired in October uh of 2024. You also see that uh legal
services and I believe this at the request of the council uh has increased by $15,000 uh um to $35,000. Um, you'll also see additional funds put aside for conference and training related expenses, $2,000 in um
$500 for uh an increase of $500 to $3,000 for community events. Um um and and it was uh informed to us that the the appropriation for this year wasn't sufficient. So that those additional funds were needed for that. Um open it
up for any questions for Michael. Any questions? Councelor Himenez, just in case anybody's um the other charges line on the book is community events, correct? Yeah. Yes. Just wanted to clarify that. Any questions over here?
Seeing none. Yeah. Councelor, thank you, Madam President. Again, pardon the entire bridge was up for 35 minutes um coming over today. So, um please excuse me for that. uh just for the public because the public's not here and may be
watching and is that this salary is for city council and our workers two workers here and it's pretty much set for us. Um the city council members have not taken a raise. We've given a raise few years back. Our raise is still set and it's not something that we do annually. We
don't get an increase. Um we make $28,000 a year. Um we do that um because that's what the city council has um established um six years ago from a raise up to 14,000. So um all the other
additional uh amount of expenditures uh for our lines this year we increased it by 15,000 for um legal services. Um if you can just tell us how much we spent for legal services last year um that'd be helpful just to see why that increase
is necessary. Uh I don't believe we have spent anything yet. The uh um this was a line that was introduced to the council uh uh I want to say maybe maybe two years ago now. Uh um and the the council uh has
been having a lot of really good conversations right on on the rules and and and process for this. What what uh um my understanding is is that the council is is is very very close uh and and we preemptively uh uh added
additional capacity uh from a a funding standpoint in case you will use it. Uh if you don't if you don't use it as you have in the past in in the past you have not used it uh it goes back to free cash. Okay. And also just finally just
want to say that the reason why the council actually voted this in wanted to have this at some point we believe that and we haven't taken those actions yet that we may need legal outside counsel um if there's some kind of conflict with us with the city manager or the team
here. We want to have an outside um group come in. So that's why we have that. And as the city manager state we haven't used it yet. So hopefully we won't have to use it, but it's there if we need to use it. So thank you, Madam President. Of course, for the time. Um,
no other question. Councelor Taylor, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank um Amin and Cliff for their their hard work and and um you know a lot of times um you know we you
know we're not always in the office and we but there's a lot of stuff that you have to do on deadlines and research and uh trying to coordinate uh diff with difficult people. So, I appreciate that and I wanted to acknowledge you. Thank
you. Yes. Thank you, counselor. I echo your words and was just about to say the same. And um we are very lucky to to have a great team in house. Um all right. Uh I think we're ready for the next one. The next one is city managers
uh office. Uh uh you can find that on page 60. And we'll invite Bernabe Rodriguez up here to join us. All right. Um a and I think we shared this on on day one. Uh uh Devin Fields
had her baby uh on Sunday on Mother's Day. Um so it is the reason why she's not here, but uh uh she uh uh has been an amazing part of of this team and and has has really led a lot of the changes that uh uh have been uh celebrated
uh these last couple of days. All right. So, um we'll start off with the finances once again. Uh for fiscal 26, the total proposed budget uh is $959,885, which is up about 5.3% from
fiscal 25. Um of that, majority of the budget is uh funding uh six full-time equivalent positions. Three of them um three of the positions are up here in front of you this evening. Um the total amount is uh
870,385 which is up about 6.5% um over the prior year. There are no staffing changes in the department um proposed this year. Um and the salaries are projected based on exempt salary schedules and cost of living
adjustments. Um the total fiscal 26 operating budget for the department has been level funded. Um there's been uh no changes beyond that. Uh we can open up for any questions. Thank you, Michael. Uh councilors on this side. Councelor
Brown, we'll start here. Councelor Sandigate. Um just some positive feedback about public trust and civic participation being your goals. And um I think the press releases and communication have
been excellent. and um again continue that civic participation. The Yeah, councelor um Garcia, I echo the words of my fellow colleague. Um I just want to
say you you guys have a great team and and we're proud of the work that you guys do and I'm I'm sad that Devon couldn't be here, but I'm very happy for her and her baby. Um yeah, I have no questions. Thank you, Councelor Taylor. Um, so,
uh, can you, um, under under your your key accomplishments, um, uh, you have, uh, that the office kicked off the re-imagining committee for the city's
ERP system, Munice. Um, can you just talk a little bit about about that and how that's kind of helping helping the general um uh
administration? Yeah. So, um this this is a committee that's of internal employees. Uh and what the the the committee has accomplished or and the purpose of it is well a to improve communication with uh
within the the the between the departments. And so um all the departments have different needs and priorities. And so that has been one way to bring the departments in um to dis discuss those needs, discuss on how we can innovate and and improve or identify
ways where we can uh improve workflows and efficiencies. Uh and especially by leveraging technology um and so with that, you know, we've used this this the committee to also help prioritize some of the projects that we've completed. So
um um I think in the the a few nights ago we spoke about some of the accomplishments with payroll. Those were projects that were identified through this reimagining committee. How can we uh get information or uh electronically to our our teams or our employees? And
so that was electronic payubs, right? Electronic W2s, um employee um uh self-service, which will eventually become employee access. Um how do we uh um uh digitize our acrruel systems? Um
getting acrruels onto the pay stubs um and you know making sure that all of the the data integrity in our system is accurate and ensuring that all department heads are trained and that we are holding departments to our actual cruel policies. Um because those things
were being they were decentralized at one point now being centralized. These are some of just some of the projects that we worked on as a team and there's plenty of projects that this team will continue to prioritize going forward. So, so in that connection,
um can you can you next just quickly um talk about open gov and it's it's your first it's your it's your first goal for and I I think this is a big part of uh what you're trying to do to make
things a lot more uh user friendly and and efficient which is the name of the game uh to save money in in in this uh business. So, thank you. Um yeah, so OpenGV is a is a great product. Um obviously we're
showcasing it the last couple of nights. Um it's a website. I I I heard some feedback actually um from an individual in the crowd that's been attending um saying it's been great to be able to follow through. I mean I like in my mind if I if I you know had the funds and to
bring it forward I would say every council would have an iPad in front of them going through it electronically versus going through a book where you can jump around quickly. Um it also is a a way for you know when we do like the to develop a budget there's a lot of
things that go into it right so um there's a budget book is is never completely error-free but when we find errors we can update a electronic document on the fly right and and push it out to everyone and it tells you on the website that this is the last time
this has been updated or if numbers have been adjusted but it also is a way to um using technology as a medium to communicate across uh inter uh interdep departmental communications. So um that phase is going to be implemented in the
next development cycle. Um so not only is it going to be helpful for transparency purposes for our uh for the constituents of Chelsea, but it also is going to help improve our budget development cycle process which um and hopefully eventually we there'll be cost
savings on reducing paper, right? So there's a good amount of money that goes into printing these these presentations and if we can move forward and use this as the as the product, right? Um they'll there'll be tangible savings in that way too. Thank you. I just thought that was important for to be to be said about
your department. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Counselor Jimenez. So I I think I just want to highlight last year when we were having conversations about this office a lot of the conversations were around you know just question marks around the fact that we were adding a number of positions
right two of them here um our third unfortunately not with us today but hoping that she is doing well um and I think it's just a testament of the work that has been done that the conversations this year are not about should we have these positions it's really about highlighting the work that you have all been doing and and you know making like and also these conversations
are not just what we're talking about today But we actually just had a subcommittee right before this where we were talking about the fact that you know we have all been very happy to see the great work that you're doing. Um so I think you know just exciting to see that we are committed to continuing to
support your office um so that we can continue to provide the best you know service to our residents as we can. Uh so just thank you uh for this and excited to support once again these positions. Uh councelor Robinson. Yes. Is there any
particular reason why we zeroed out the employee training? Well, the employee training is not necessarily zeroed out. It wasn't funded last year, nor was it we're requesting it for this year. It looks like that in fiscal 24 previously, there was some
employee training spending in the department and that's why it shows up for to show that data. Employee training as we discussed comes under uh Department of Human Resources. So many of the trainings that we are are are leading and in sponsoring are funded
through that department. And what about contract services? So contractor services is uh is a graphic design and website transition support. Um um and so and then um I think it was also used for events for
for our community in our community and for the city hall um kind of communications. So that's all funded through the through this $25,000. All right. Thank you, Councelor Teshi. So I'm looking at the uh software
license. It doesn't or contract services. doesn't seem um like there is any big shift. I'm wondering does does this department plan on expanding on the uh tracking of uh let's say constituent
services? Um this was one of the conversations I had with Bernov Rodriguez at first and I I want to be uh transparent. Every time I've contacted him about a case, he's helped me and he's helped the constituent so I I know he's doing the work. Uh, but I'm
wondering um what system do we have now of keeping track of cases? Because I envision something where I'm able to go into a website and type somebody's name that's my constituent and and and be able to see the history of what we've
helped uh with u for this person. Yeah, thank you counselor. Um so we use uh QERT for the 311 software and that does fall within DPW's budget. So that is budgeted already within um services
elsewhere. Um we do our best to sort of you know track any sort of cases that need any followup. Um as Lisa probably knows you know I bring any any bigger cases that I need more support I'll bring to the hub or get you know other
hands involved. Um, I do maintain numbers myself in regards to like cases within like the resiliency fund where I issue out, you know, emergency funds to families in the city. Um, since I've been on on the position, I've dealt with 248 residents and given out around 91
cards um to residents uh through the resiliency fund. Um, but if there's any specific data you want me to track, you know, I'm more than welcome, you know, welcoming to track better data for your constituents or for anybody else's constituents, you know, feel free to
reach out to me. Yeah. Um, you know, again, kind of what what I envision is, um, you know, I give you a name, um, and, uh, this person, you know, has some need with handling some permitting or something, you know, some
some matter. Um, but that you would also be able to see the history of what we've helped that person before. Um, because it just helps to build rapport with the person, right? when we don't know what we've done for this person. Um, you know, it's it's not to say like we have
to brag about it. It's it's about just knowing that we've made an impact on that person. Um, so as of now, let's say I give you a name, would you would you be able to immediately see what kind of help with giving that person throughout
their time in Chelsea? Um, I think with specific types of, you know, assistance requests, we would, um, you know, if anybody calls 311 specifically and is looking for help, all those names and and requests are tracked. So, if I if I were to be given
a name and I had the software open in front of me, I could probably pull up how many service requests they've punched in. Um, requests through me. Obviously, I have an open door policy. People pop in every day. Um, so I have a pretty good relationship with most people and I have a better understanding
of how much help we've probably given those people. Um, but you know, for sure that there there's I think there's a lot of opportunity to to do better tracking in general. So I'm I am open to any suggestions that you might have. Yeah. Um, no, I mean any any software where we
can uh pull in all that data um would be helpful. Um, but yeah, I mean again I want to I want to be transparent, right? This was a big experiment from last year that you expanded this this department but uh it's yielded some good results. Um so you know these questions are only
to see where what else we can do. Um but uh definitely thank you for the work you're doing. Awesome. Councelor Brown. Thank you Madam President. I just want to thank the department again. Um, one of my fellow colleagues stated, um, from the beginning there was a lot of unsurityity
of what we were going to get out of all our investments in the department and the team that you put together. But, um, throughout um, I've been, um, coming up to some of the events that the team has had here and held in recognition of not
only the the major team, but the whole operation that's running in city hall. And I'm very very very proud and I know a lot of my constituents are very proud of the collaboration that you show in city hall. A lot of the workers um and I
mean a lot really um have come up to me and said, you know, this is really a great place to work here. Now people get these meetings that most of us counselors read about that you have staff meetings where they feel like their voice really makes a difference in
what we do as a city. So I just really want to thank you for the collaboration first and foremost and secondly with that collaboration. We got a lot of pride inside city hall. So I want to thank you on that work also. Thank you madam president. Of course. Seeing no
other questions I'll just share briefly um my gratitude my gratitude for this team. I think as as councelor Jimenez mentioned, we had a meeting earlier and um a lot of the conversations on were regarding we've built the infrastructure and um it's only been so much time,
right? So, we'll be able to see how all of this flourishes um as time goes. Uh and I just want to say thank you to the city council. I I know that when I came in, right, that it it was a major shift of uh uh of certainly uh a previous administration. Uh, and I saw
it as as an investment in what I think are are the priorities of the city council. And one shout out that I wanted to give was uh Lily Martin who is a on maternity leave. Uh, but but uh um I really saw a huge transformation when we
had someone who uh uh you know is a rock star uh and and focused on on on communication, right? the amount of content that was put out, the amount of of engagement, the amount of tracking, right? I mean, uh uh it really
transformed the uh the way that we do business and and we are making uh uh uh a lot of headway. Uh and I'm proud to say that we're still uh only getting started. Awesome. Thank you so much, city
manager, and thank you, Barnaby. All right, Michael, kick us off with the next meeting. Thank you. Um, we will now head over to the auditing department um, which is on page
65. And uh, I know many of you uh, do know uh, Soek Tota. uh she's uh the new city auditor and we have Wendy Tviko here also the assistant city
auditor. Um so the the total budget for uh the auditing department is uh a little bit over $400,000 and it is down by
22.4%. Um we've uh reduced the budget by 188,000. Um this is tied to a um to a restructuring that we did in uh fiscal 25. um where essentially um one
of the um well I when I came in I wanted to look at how the finance teams were operating and um and you know going through it we uh uh realized that a lot of work a lot of tasks and assignments
were being like crammed through auditing um auditing department is not only just handling auditing right they handle accounting functions budgeting functions they were handling um um reviewing procurement and contracts execution
portions of that. They were also um handling grant setups and and um they were also handling processing every single basically every single invoice for the city and reviewing um and ensuring that the school side was also uh compliant. So um along with a various
other task of making sure that our finances were good in which they uh for the most part uh they they do an amazing work job at it. But in seeing that there was some es and flows in the work right um during certain times of the year uh
some of the priorities uh can bump against each other. So we looking at it we decided that it it made sense to separate the department and when we used the additional staff uh uh staffing that we got in fiscal 25 to create a separate
department which we will talk about uh after this department but this is what you're seeing here. So there's a a reduction tied to the restructuring. Um so the department is uh has a total personnel budget of 307,000
um where uh it's it's uh has four full-time equivalent employees. Two of them are up here and they have two others that handle accounts payable. Um there's one that's one of the positions actually so three of the
positions in the department are funded on the general fund and then one is funded off of ARPA because of the over uh the processing of accounts payable for ARPA uh related uh projects. Um so the projection here is uh includes the reduction of the FTEES that's what
you're seeing but as well as includes contractual obligations as their collective bargaining uh units in the office as well as cost of living adjustments. Um the fiscal 26 operating budget for the department also sees a decrease as some of those funds are
going to go to the new department as well. Um and so you'll see that uh a majority of that reduction came from professional and technical services. So part of this restructuring we were able to look at some of the contracted items
that were are tasks that were going out. Um and so uh and when we look forward in the future with this restructuring as the department builds capacity and uh between the the two uh uh team members that are here um that they'll take on
more tasks that were previously contracted out. And so um the under professional technical services we had a firm that would do uh a substantial amount of tasks. And so with some of the tasks now coming back in-house with the restructure, we were able to reduce uh
professional technical services. So there was also some tangible uh financial benefits in that sense. Um everything else for the most part is level funded or corrected to match where spending would happen. Um I would open up for any questions for the city
auditor. Awesome. Thank you. Uh over here, are there any questions on this side? No. Okay. Uh, no, no questions. Councelor Taylor, any questions? No. Um, I just want to make sure that the
professional and um technical services. I know we used to farm out some of that that stuff and that that's also been um involved in the restructuring. Is that is that correct? Am correct. So there is less
responsibilities and I can uh if so chat may maybe she wants to go into some of the responsibilities that may be not not be farmed out going forward. If you could just speak briefly about that please. Yes. So a majority of that budget goes toward Clifton Larson Allen
which I'll refer to as CLA. So with the the bottleneck and um just the amount of work that our office was responsible for um we tked CLA with doing some of the more day-to-day or routine items such as reconciliations um and mainly
reconciliations and some journal entry postings, council order postings as well. And so with the restructuring, a lot of our time has been freed up. And so with the hire of Wendy, um she a big part of her focus has been working on reconciliations and to date we have had
to ask CLA for zero support, auditing support. So they will continue to help us with our state reporting. So like our balance sheet and free cash certification, our um fixed assets reporting, our schedule A, which is all
of our funds reporting the balances and and the changes um in the format that they need which is a huge amount of work. Um but we are we are able to cut down um the bigger expenditure which is the continuous um audit support.
Yeah, thank you very much. I think I think the the it seems like the the streamlining process has has you know has been pretty effective. So I I I applaud you guys for that. Um and that that was really my only My only question
about the finances. Thank you. Awesome. Councelor Brown. Thank you. Um again, I just want to commend them for great work and you know I see you in the hallway and I always try to encourage you. I know you're always busy and I want to welcome Wendy to the team here. Um good
luck going to work here um to join the team. But I know from my past years and stuff um being with um Mr. done that office have really been you know really up sharp and really kept us afloating with the numbers. So thank you for you
know lending your expertise also to Michael. Okay. Thank you. Thank you counselor and I agree. Thank you so much for your work. Um yeah if there's um no more questions we can move on.
Thank you very much. Great work. So the next uh department is the new department that we were just discussing which was the budgeting grants administration. Um that can be found on page 70.
Uh I'm sorry what question? I mean what what page number? Page 7070. So, the new department uh budget and grants administration is uh overseen by the previous city auditor um Ed Dunn. Um
unfortunately, uh he's not here with us tonight uh due to personal reasons. Um but, uh I'm sure he uh would have uh loved to have been here. He he this is the one time of the year that he loves to be here. Um so uh
um we'll we'll talk about the finances. Um the department I will say um has two full-time equivalents. Uh so has Ed Dunn uh and Alicia Ariana um the one of their main products is producing the budget um
as well as um the open gov project. So that is th those are the partners that I've been working with. but as well as they're going to be ramping up to manage a more centralized grant administration. Um, and right now currently they obviously work with all departments in
regards to making sure that they get access in to the funds after the we're awarded grants um and help departments maintain those grants um during the post award uh life cycle of the grant. So, the total budget is
$26,37. Um, this is uh these are all new amounts, so you're not going to see anything in the prior years. Um, and of that, uh, $185,37 is for the director and senior financial analyst. Uh, 35% of the
director's salary is funded off of ARPA. um as his uh that responsibility is to manage the reporting and the financial oversight of ARPA um through through this transition. Um the fiscal 26 uh operating budget for the department
which 27,000 was reduced from um auditing department due to not the no longer needs for some of the CLA services. $21,000 of that was brought over to this budget um to cover uh the needs of the department which includes the printing of the the um 13,500 which
includes the printing of the annual printing of the budget books which is around about $9,000 annually um which hopefully we will eventually absorb if uh we can move from uh physical printings and then uh CIP booklets of 4500 and OpenGV will also be doing our
CIP presentation in the future as well. Um, it also includes a rent lease equipment, which is uh there's an additional copier now for this office. The office didn't have a copier in the new space that they were in. Um, and that's a 36-month lease. So, that office
will now have a a lease uh lease equipment there. Um, conference and travel. Also uh um you know this is going to be used for more for professional conferences and uh continual education for certification uh hopefully to support the growth of uh
the senior financial analyst to have a a larger capacity role in the future. Um and dues and subscriptions which uh some of them is similar to what's uh already that was paid in the auditor's office but it would be for this office because they're both financial teams. Um, but it
also includes hopefully one of the goals will be eventually to get a distinguished budget award and so there's a filing cost for that which is in included in the dues and subscription. Um, I'm open up for any questions if anyone has. Thank you,
Councelor Himemenz. Uh, just a quick question on the budget and grants director. Um, since that is partially ARPA funded, I'm just curious prior to ARPA, was that just fully funded through the general fund and that's the plan for after? Yeah. So that role originally um the role was
originally the auditor role that eventually was transferred out um and so that was a fully 100% funded uh role. Um so it was kind of some shifts when we had the senior financial analyst dollars. Um so um when we moved that
role out we could only fund so much from the general fund and so the additional funding made sense to come from ARPA especially if the assignments were going to be to oversee ARPA. Okay. Thank you. Council thank you for your office. It's
all there's nothing grown. Everything is the same. So I guess your office doesn't grow and you still do the same magnificent job. I was just wondering if anybody has any question could they come to your office and ask questions or do they do it through a computer?
So um typically uh for these offices they're not uh customerf facing but uh um there's multiple ways to to get information from city departments. One way would be through a public information request um and it would be uh filtered to this office to get that
information. Um the city like the third floor were pretty open up here. So if if someone was looking for information and and came and requested they were easily accessible and I would work with the department to get the information that was necessary because somebody was asking me a question. try mask because
to the freedom information act they got to pay if they go downstairs and ask question to the clerk's office don't they have to pay for information if they're asking certain things I think it depends what you're asking for I mean like and how extensive it is but but we
we the law it the burden is on us to prove that that is something extraordinary right I mean uh so if you were to ask for the last 100 years of budget books said, I would say I I I got to go research that, right? But if you
were to ask anything about our expenses, invoices it, it's all it's all available. Well, that's why I'm I'm asking you is because people ask this question. Now, you answer the question that unless they are stravagantly asking you, they can go to you and they don't have to pay anything for the information that they ask. And even if they did do the request, they wouldn't have to pay
if it's not ex like it doesn't create extra extraordinary extraordinary amount of work. Um also uh I will say that one of the goals um in the future for open gov is that we have the transparency portion already purchased in this
package. So if you know um it takes time for some of these projects it takes time to roll them out to make sure that they're working correctly. And so it's it is a goal in the future to eventually have some of this data online so that uh some of those Yeah. So some of these
requests don't have to necessarily you wouldn't even have to come to city hall to do the request or have to file a form online. Thank you for explaining that. It's very helpful to the people outside. Thank you very much. Any questions on this side? Councelor
Garcia. I just want to say kudos to whoever thought of separating these auditing and and budget. I think that um you guys can work more effectively and good job Mike. No thanks team effort. I think we had we bounce ideas off each other. He's very supportive. So it
definitely to separate the workload and and make work more efficiently. It's beautiful. So thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? No. Okay, we're ready for the next
round. Counselors, can you please turn off your mic in between? Thank you. All right, the next one is for debt service. Uh on page 243, uh the total proposed budget for debt
service is um increasing um by $435,000 um to 2,14,500. Uh this is uh due to the debt schedule that we have. Um during you know some of the process of reconciling some of the old capital improvement uh
plan accounts, we we noticed that there was also some borrowings that didn't happen. And so to ensure that the the city finances were made whole and according to plan, we ended up actually borrowing on some of the older funds um
because that was what was approved. And um that is what you're seeing for the increase for the schedule. Okay. No questions. All righty. Thank you, Michael. Oh, councelor uh recuper. Of course you do. Can you explain to the
people what debt service means? Yes. Turn on your mic. Can you explain to the people what debt service means so they'll understand what it is? Yeah. So debt service is essentially um when the city uh needs additional funds beyond uh
what's the tax in the tax appropriation for projects um just like uh you might need to do for like to get work done in a home. You might take out a loan where we go out for borrowing. And so um this the debt service includes principal
payments that's to reduce the actual principal balance on an actual loan that we've taken or or bond um in this scenario. And uh the interest is the interest that uh we're paying to actually the premium for h being able to
borrow the funds. Um and so we do have an amazing uh bond rating uh a double A+ and we've uh had that for quite some time. Thank you very much for explaining to the public what that means. Thank you, counselor. All right, let's move along.
So, uh the next uh um of funds that we'll look at is called the budget reserve funds and this can be found on page 251. So the budget reserve funds uh they're funds that uh we request to uh have
appropriated for for items that are not necessarily settled at the time that we are producing the budget. So uh for this budget cycle we're we had a collective bargain agreement that we were negotiating. Uh so some of these funds are for for the purpose of settling that
negotiation which has been settled at this point but it was after we actually cut off drafting the budget. Um so also um it would include um you know every year uh different uh there there are
clauses in our collective bargaining agreements that allow employees and managers to decide if a position needs to be reclassed based on what they believe if if they're doing a higher level amount of work. And so we also set
funds aside for items such as that where we may make adjustments after the budget cycle. Um so what you'll see is that this is the prior uh fiscal 20 I mean fiscal 25 budget had a over $900,000
budgeted because there was several collective bargaining agreements unsettled in the fiscal 25 budget cycle. Um, since we do not have that many collective bargaining agreements that are unselled this year, we do not need as much money in the reserve. So, uh,
we're seeking to reduce it by over $700,000 to a $200,000 amount that we believe will be sufficient for fiscal 26. Thank you. Any questions? No questions. All righty. Let's move right along. All right. We'll
move to the next one on page 250. Interfund transfers. Interfund transfers are are transfers from the general fund to a particular uh a separate fund for particular uh purposes. So uh we have an agreement uh
with uh a tenant on marginal street. Um it's a property that the city owns and part of that agreement every year we allow for reimburseable expenditures um um to be reimbursed to that tenant. Um so we transfer about 1.2 $2 million per
that agreement. Um, which is here. Um, then also we do a a OPED annual trust fund transfer of $300,000. Um, and that's which makes a total 1,585,000 for this budget, which is the same as what we've done in the past.
Okay. Any questions? Councor Brown. Thank you. Uh, so you said we did this last year, so it did go up. um from 2024. Correct.
2024 there were other transfers but those are different. The the the other transfer that you're seeing there are tied to capital projects. Okay. So um with um some of the pulling of data um
what happens is that some some items are mixed in the same accounts. Um so after the budget is done we do I mean we part of the the capital improvement plan there are dollars that are used in the operating budget there's also dollars that are used through transfers through
from um free cash right and so those dollars are here and other council orders and so that's what you're seeing in the fiscal 24 if so the reason why I ask that so are you suggesting that um in 2025 we use the full amount here.
Yes. And you would have the per the agreement, we would have used the full amount. Okay. The um the I I know the tenant uh bills up to the full amount and they submit um hundreds of invoices to get reimbursed. And just for transparency, how long is that agreement? So the current agreement is
up until 2034. Um we are in process actually in reviewing uh a a request for proposal that was been submitted as we're seeking to extend that to beyond 2034 to 2044 with a higher um minimum
requirements of revenue for us. Thank you. That's what I was hoping. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We can move on. All right. So the the next one is going to be regional schools and it can be found on page 242.
So, uh, regional schools is, um, is not Chelsea public schools, uh, for those that may be, um, following. Um, um, as you know that we do have a couple of schools that are regional schools that we do pay. Um, which is, uh,
mainly, uh, the majority of it is Northeast Vocational School. Um, and so we get an assessment um, and it's based on the enrollment. um the enrollment account was around 253 students uh for Northeast, but also the amount this year
is going up because of the debt schedule. And so each um school or each district that participates uh sends students to Northeast, they get a a prrated amount based on the enrollment. So, uh, this year, uh, it's it's about a
little bit over $700,000 increase to cover the additional, uh, the debt for the school renovation on top of what it costs to cover the education to send the students there. Um, we also pay, uh, for two students that are enrolled at ESX
Northshore Agricultural and Technical School. Um, and we have we were anticipating a 10% budget increase. And so that's also built into this uh $2,900,000 figure. Thank you, Michael. Uh question. I'm
going to start this way. Uh councelor recuper outside to understand what this means. It means that a lot of times students the Chelsea school do not offer these programs. So these children are being sent to other parts to get
whatever they need to to get the education that they need. That's what they mean by regional schools all over. It's not just northeast. There's many other programs that allows children that are not they want to learn something but this Chelsea school system doesn't offer
it to them. So that's what that means by regional schools that uh it has and encumbents more than just northeast un northeast school. It encumbents many more many more programs. So for children that want to learn and the Chelsea
school system doesn't offer it for you. This is your way to learn it. Thank you. Thank you councelor uh councelor Brown. Okay counselors councelor Jimenez. I think I just want to remind
folks that um when this uh when the capital project of the vote got started, there was a whole conversation around uh you know the fact that Chelsea would be actually you know somewhat disproportionately bearing the burden of this project. And I I know that many of
us had conversations around you know the fact that the state should really be doing more to ensure that these types of capital projects at at the regional level weren't having as much of an impact. uh on individual municipalities in this case Chelsea. Um so I just you
know want to remind everyone about that conversation and also just reiterate that I think if there's anything that we could be doing to advocate at the state level for the formula for this to be changed so that the state can uh either bear more of the burden itself or make
sure that communities that have more resources than Chelsea are actually bearing more of that burden that would be great. So if there's any kind of um opportunities around that we would love to to support or I would love to support at least. Um yeah, thank you
counselors. I have a question. Councelor Robinson. I think in the beginning I I spoke out against the uh P V school. So I felt that we were being penalized for saving
the school. When I say that in the beginning, we were only allowed x amount of students to attend the vote. And when other communities didn't want their kids to go to the vote, we ended up getting more slots. The same with Re. So now
that we have the most, we have to pay the most money. So a place like Winchester has like one student pays $12,000. So we look at what we're paying. I think it's inappropriate that we're being penalized for saving a
school. Thank you, counselor. Any other comments? No. Councelor Himenez, agree fully with what councelor Robinson said, and I I just want to make sure that people understand this is not something that the city has decided to do, right? This is a requirement that we have under the law. So, I want to make
sure I'm not putting any blame on the city for this because I agree that, you know, it is very unfair and it is not something that we have any control over. Thank you. All right, we can move right along.
All right, so we will now move on to retirement contributions on page 246. So the uh retirement contributions um that we've been assessed um from PRA is uh for the city portions is
10,675,966 which is up by 4.63%. Uh this is not something that we control. Um this is something that we're assessed based on our our employee our employee base and and our retirees questions. No questions. All right.
Moving right along. All right. Actually, I do have one question. Um I'm really curious. Um, can you just explain real quick how we manage the cost of living adjustments for our pensions? Is that something that we control locally or is that something that is controlled externally?
Um, it is something that is set by state law. Um, with uh with COVID, there was a one-time cost of living adjustment that Chelsea did opt into, but it it was a one-time uh uh um shift, but but it it is something that is said by by the
governor. Thank you. I I know that this is, you know, ongoing conversations that co cola is never enough to cover, you know, even just the cost of inflation. So pensions are just getting tighter and tighter as I'm sure many of our residents uh even even my fellow counselor here on the right uh is uh is
is very uh much aware of these things. So um anything that we could do to support uh expanding that so that our retirees can have the supports they need would be much appreciated. Thank you. All right, last item. Last
item, state assessments. Um, state assessments is you'll see is broken out into two different categories. Uh, mainly what is uh there's education assessments which
is 821 versus the non-education assessments from the state. These are are what's based on the the state gives us these figures. Um as they do they do similarly when they give us our revenue estimates they give us the charges that
that we're responsible for. Um this is coming from the governor's proposed budget. uh when we when these were proposed. Uh so uh the total amount that we were anticipating for the non-education assessments which include mosquito control uh air pollution um
there was a couple get this list together. Give me one second. There's a whole lot more items. I in case the for the public let's see I did grab it. I'm sorry for one last time. All right. Um
so these include uh mosquito control projects, air pollution districts, uh metropolitan area planning council and uh ARM RMV non-renewal search charges uh as well as um regional transportation
authorities um assessments um that's uh under in this case showing as operating up here. Um and so the total of this is 3 point uh 3,457,168. And then our school our education assessments which include
charter school assessments where you know some of our students do elect to go to charter schools. Uh and so we're also responsible for that. Um so that's uh 20,312,872 as well as a school choice assessment of 231,981
um for a total of 20 million 544853. Once again these are are are assessed from the state and this was provided in the governor's budget. Thank you. Any questions? Councelor uh Himenez, just real quick, I I see the Boston met uh the MBTA transit uh
assessment is really low. I'm just curious, can you just give a little more context around what that is and why it's so low? It's just $300. I'm sorry. The the Boston Metro Transit um line. Yeah. So that the so this so we we the
Boston Metro Transit Line it's uh it's that one. It's 269. It was. So once again, the charity sheet we were assessed at last year. We're not being assessed this year. Okay. Okay. So that's why it's uh a reduction. Got it. Got it. Thank you.
Any other questions? Councelor uh Taylor. Um can you just speak to the RMV non-renewal nonrenewal that that that that is a significant uh uh uptick in that. Can
you just speak to that please? So um I can't speak to it. I can look more into it. What I can tell you from my initial looking at this is that the the budget changes throughout different
stages. Right. So the governor's proposal when we get the governor's proposal is the first step. Right. And it's usually uh late January, early February. um it then goes to the House, to the Senate, and to Ways and Means. And so by the time that it got to Ways
and Means, um this number last year was 444,140. So this is actually um um or actually, I'm sorry, it must have been adjusted down through the um I'm sorry, it must this was initially estimated
last year the same amount. So, it could be possible that this amount is going to get adjusted down as it work it works its way through the budget and uh we we do make those adjustments throughout the year. Can can you just keep us um posted on that particular because
that that that seems like it's a little you know Yeah, it seems high considering that um it wasn't budgeted for that. I understand. Um uh so that's that's that was really my my my you know only comment on that. Thank
you. Y councelor Himemenz I just have a really quick comment um on the charter school uh line. I I just want to highlight that the state does have a charter reimbursement mechanism for tuition that they are supposed to fund
at a certain level. um for the past few years they have not fully funded it. Uh so we are giving an additional million dollars to Chelsea Public Schools. Um but the fact that the state isn't fully funding its obligation under the law means that our dollars that we are contributing to Chelsea public schools
are not going as far as they should. So I just an opportunity for us the the city, the council, the school committee to advocate for the state to fully fund its obligations to make sure that we can actually give our children the education that they deserve. uh and you know regardless of whether they go to to
charter schools or not. Um so just uh make sure that everyone knows that the state really needs to fulfill its obligation on that piece. All right. Any other questions? No.
Okay. Councelor uh city manager and chair. So on the schedule, we uh did not include one new department or new new section that was added um because of uh
structural change. Um is it okay if we it's really brief. Is it be okay to add that for the for the public can hear it? Absolutely. All right. So the last one and the page it should be under is 249
um is leases. Um, we might have to Yeah, I don't have I can't pull it up. So, so it's it's a it's page 249. It's it's a new item in our budget. Uh, and and uh um so check can probably explain
more, but but essentially what what it's doing is is uh uh we were required to to separate it this year in into a new one. Uh uh if you recall the the um the city council approved a a a loan with Bank of
America uh for the micro grid uh uh uh project. Um and uh what it is essentially in the past it was lumped into our our debt service and we were required to to to uh to show it as an as
an independent uh uh line if you will. So, it's a new expense in the budget uh and and is shown under uh uh department 947 which is on on page 249. Okay. So, this did not exist before or
it was merged and if it was merged what department was it under? It was under debt services before which is uh um uh which is 710 711 and and now is shown individually because technically it's
not a borrowing it's a lease. Okay. Okay. Questions? Councelor Tesy. Uh does does the amount of money you've uh uh budgeted for this department was
it was it uh reduced from the debt service? It it it was the uh of what it is basically it's it's a a a long-term lease structure with Bank of America. uh
and uh but it's it it looks like a uh uh a borrowing. So what we are doing essentially is a as part of the the micro grid project. We are are uh are are buying right a a solar panel which is in in the city yard and we are buying
two batteries right uh one in one in city hall one in in the police station I is structured at as a lease because we're going to get some financial benefits out of it right when when the solar array is connected and making money right the idea is that it's going
to generate savings from from uh uh electricity that at cityard and then here in city hall with the batteries is going to is going to offset our cost uh uh uh from electricity. But uh um it's it's it's structured as a lease
because at the end of of the borrowing time, those assets are are ours, right? Uh at that point, we could choose to renew the lease and and and and use the money to replace the assets if if you want to or, you know, if it's not
working, the assets are ours and we let it be. Uh um but that is something that we're going to make a decision on 10 years from now. Um yeah, I'm just uh I'm looking at debt service, right? And it seems like the uh total we had for last
year um was $1.7 million and now it's going up to 2.1 million. Does that transition of the increase of the 26% computes in the
400 close or 358 put for uh leases today? Yeah, we can get you a breakdown of of of what is is charging in in in the debt service line. The the uh um this is essentially is uh is borrowing
schedules, right, if you will. uh and and they have a a 10-year, you know, projection of of expenses based on the borrowing. So, anytime that we go out and borrow for a project, right, uh uh basically we we tag on a new borrowing,
right? So, so so it's essentially uh uh um we bundle them all into one budget. We can give you a breakdown of of of all the borrowings that are are are in that line. That's good. Thank you. Okay, no other
questions. All right, I think this concludes our budget uh hearings. Uh thank you so so much city manager and Michael for all of your work um for the last three long nights that we have
shared. Um thanks to our office as well for supporting with some food so we can get through these meetings. Um, I will last but not least thank uh my colleagues on the council because I know that many of you are working full-time
jobs, have children, are dealing with tons of other things, but your commitment and overall support and interest in this city um comes first and I think you showed it throughout these last three days. Um, Councelor Garcia, you have a comment? Yes, I have a
comment. Um, I just want to say Mike, um, we went to high school together. I don't know if anybody knows, but to see you handle the city's finances and to speak of them so clearly that anyone can understand them. I thank you for
that truly because, you know, that's not everyone's cup of tea. Um, but you clearly explained everything enough that we were all able to understand. So, I thank you for that. Thank you for making
the changes with the team. Um I am very happy with the team that was created and u fidel much gracia thank you so much for everything. Yeah counselor I'd like to thank you too and the people outside thank you even more because they can
understand what you're saying and that's that's the most important thing is the outside people can understand what you're saying instead of wondering what we're doing that you're explaining exactly what we're doing how the city functions. So thank you very much. All right. I echo those words and the
fact that we can say you are an alumni of, you know, our very own product of uh our schools. So that's exciting and always great to highlight. Um I will just share one last brief announcement for the public to know that we will have
sufficient time for any questions that are still lingering out there. I understand that you know within these three days there are many directors, many departments that we are overseeing. If you have an opinion, if you have suggestions, if you have concerns or questions, whatever it is, bring it up to your counselor, bring it up to the
city manager. Um, you have time. We will be voting the first week of June. Um, and I hope that everyone has a great night. Thank you, team.