All right. Good evening everybody and welcome to the Conway uh joint select board and finance committee meeting for Monday, April 28th. I'll call the meeting to order. First item on the agenda, we're actually going to move down to um unfinished
business and to continue our discussion with Bobby on the Guilford Trust Fund application. Um she handed out some uh more paperwork here. Um, do you just want to go over what we're looking at? Yeah.
Um, the first one is the options A, B, and C. Um, I've contacted before I contacted these four, I had also checked out a whole bunch of others in Western Massachusetts. can't
name doesn't um and eliminated most of them for one reason or another so quality and abide are the two that came out at 53 and $54,000 and that was such
a discrepancy with the other two that I did talk to Ed Noak who is the environmental engineer who came and looked at the house before all of this started. Um, and he went through all of
their quotes and said, "I see why you're so confused." Um but he said that Abide is a company that
uh actually goes after high-end people and high-end organizations like the colleges um who have the money to pay. they do excellent work
um and quality. He said uh that the person who came originally and and gave the first quote um quote didn't know what he was doing
and was always floating by and Ed had been having had been hearing from other places that his clothes were way too and he talked to the guy the guy who was following and told he had to get on and
so glad at a conference with the guy and halfway through the guy just stood up and said, "I went." And when I called uh quality back a few weeks ago to say I need an updated,
um the woman I spoke with just said, "Well, did anything change?" And there were a couple of things that had already been taken care of. Um, and she said, "Okay." And then sent me the same quote with just those couple of
things. So, Ed was not comfortable with recommending. So, what it boils down to is either Sir Pro or Vanguard. Both are very good. Both do good work.
Um, Vanguard does nothing else except um, mold and other biohazard mitigation and because of that they have their own person who gives out who gives these certificates after.
Um, Surfro of course is a national government. Um and again Ed recommends them among other people you know but he recommends them and works with them frequently and says they're very
good. So I would be happy with either Vanguard or Surf Pro doing the mold mitigation part and I'd like to get started on that as soon as poss did you look at the warranties for the for the service because um just from
own my own experience at work we had Surf Pro and we had you know some follow-up issues and it's all under warranty and they came back whenever we needed them and looked over things and whatever. So, I would just compare the
warranties of the two. Yeah. How long they take responsibility for what I know you're selling it, but that might be something that new people might be interested in, too. Right. The warranties are in there for Okay. Yeah.
Okay. Um, uh, the flooring seems to be a slightly different issue. Uh, the two places that nationally do flooring are Home Depot and Empire.
Um, I've heard of course they're national, so I've heard good things and bad things about both of them, but um, I did start with Home Depot and they came out from
Ho. They came out and uh, I was not there. James, the guy who was clearing out the the house, really good guy, but he was there. And for some reason, they
uh they only quoted on the first floor, not the second, and they lost the quote. So when I called them back and said, you know, where's your
quote? Um, for their credit, they did find it quickly and they got it to me by the next. But then just this weekend, I went to Home Depot because if we are going to
go with them, I needed to pick, you know, look at the different options available in the different houses. And the guy I spoke with, who I think was the man in
charge, had no energy. I don't know, maybe he got headache or was sick. He had no energy. And I had to say, and I get some sadness because he wasn't forthcoming with
anything, but he did give me the information in the end. family arguing second coat family with both floors. Um, and then I called because I thought,
well, wait a minute. CRO does everything. Why don't I see if can also deliver and yes, it can, but they sent the contract to an empire. So, it's a contract that they
work through. for a long time and they know they're going to trust. All right. So, I just wrote a couple of my thoughts down at the bottom in terms of selling the house. Um, perhaps seeing a nationally
name might make someone a potential buyer feeling comfortable and it might be easier having one company just doing the product. Yeah. But I would be happy
with any of those options. So these prices here are just for the mold remediation does not include the flooring or the back mortgage paints. Correct. Well,
the Yeah, the uh the flooring price is still determined. And the back mortgage payment is a hold. And then the other piece of paper
is just my breaking down for my own use and for showing to the carpenters for instance just what the scope of the project would be.
Um, so at this point I have no quotes from anyone there except Gregs for the title five who charges 1,500 for title. Um, we do title fives through the
work, but somebody has to do it. Okay. Yeah, the inspection. The inspection. Yeah, but it's done through the fur So, I didn't realize that they had people paid directly. That's why somebody's got to upgrade the system to meet title five
specifications. Okay. Okay. is probably what it's doing to get it to title five as opposed to they will give you they will come out with their figures and locate and thunder
receptive tank and do what they need to do inside it and then they'll want for you where the uh leech field is. Mhm. Um and then expert if you want the riser
on top of the septic opening so you know where it is three years from now. So and then basically they're doing a title five inspection. Yes. And then they will they're authorized to do the inspection. So you would get the
certificate from them. Um what if it fails? Do is there any is there a chance that that it's not going to pass? Not really because I had them um clean out the set in the fall. Okay. Okay. So, it's all empty.
Okay. Um yeah. So, my question to you the board is since the two likely quotes for the moment I guess is what
came in for initially is so much less. Would you be willing to pay for that and for some of the rest of the jobs? I think we still have council to work
with right on what can be included. what can be included and what I mean the board will need to decide grant loan lean whatever whatever um then we would also need final numbers so it would delay I mean
we already need the numbers for the flooring but we'd need everything before we could make any decision I'm I'm working this week on getting the um the quotes from Kenny and
and the electrician. There's not very much electrical work to do at all. It's basically just taking off the um plastic covers for the baseboard heaters. Foils, the heater foils seem to be working.
So, kids from the tech school do come with covers. They're hard to get. They are. I didn't I didn't even approach them because it's too late season. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, by the end of the week,
I hope to have the quotes from you. Sure. Oh, yeah. And then the electricians ch anywhere on
his he actually lives outside that way, right? He lives on our door. Oh, opposite. Sorry. Oops. That's Aaron. No. Oh, Daryl. Daryl. How do I not have I don't have his I have
Daryl. Can you Daryl's phone number? Email me here. Oh, I hadn't even looked for Darl yet. I was just gonna try to give I think I know. Um, you know what? Yeah, I can I can email them to you. Yeah. Yeah. Just make sure that's Yeah. Sorry. Aaron Foster,
do you have Daryl's? I have it. Uh, I might have Daryl's. think it's right here. Uh, sure. Number work. Y can't read either one of those. That's
a zero 0 one. Okay. Yes. And then just um one last word about the construction. Um I'm sure you've heard on the news that um the real estate
market is upside down. Nobody knows what's except in Florida where all the French Canadians pulled out and buyers can take like three weeks to
decide on what they want to buy because nobody there's there's so much available. But the rest of the country, um, what I read just over the weekend was that there are certain parts of the country that are still sellers markets and there
are certain parts of Florida that are, you know, and Boston and Hartford are still sellers market. Well, there's two homes that just went up for sale on the runway this last week. Really? So, we'll see those two.
Yes. Really? Yeah, one's on Sheldon Falls Road. The other ones on Baptist or Baptist Conway is almost always hot. Yeah. Yeah. Conway is very desirable. So, yes, I
think it would be good and Joan thinks our property is so unique that it's going to get, you know, um, but Jony's a realtor, so but then on the news last night, there was a crawl going across the
bottom of CNN and it said, um, home sales plunge, but what I've read is that home sales are down like 7%. But to CNN that was a plunge. Yeah.
So it's still just completely up. Yeah. So if you could get us just back the the finalized quotes then we can look at you know how much it'll be for the extra and then make that decision.
Um but your mold mold mitigation options look good to me. a lot of work on it. So, appreciate that. The other issue then wait until it's all there. Yeah. Yeah. We don't have final numbers. She
still needs the numbers for the flooring on these as well. Yeah. Yeah. This is kind of sort of Y. And then the other issue which I've not approached you is the back payment for
the for the mortgage because I I've gone through the whole raft process. I dealt with draft before because I applied as a landlord for the tenants during the
pandmic and then I discovered by accident that they will also pay for their mortgages. So I called them and I applied through Franklin County
Housing and they accepted it and then they send it on to this place called they just changed their land but they're the organization that actually administers the mortgage
program. So the man I'm working with about two weeks ago got on the phone with me to plan and the woman there went through all the ins and outs and right now it's just
kind of in limbo because they've put my case it's a VA mortgage so they put it in something they call speedy something or a speeding
decision, which means it could take six weeks to three months or it could. But the raft program only pays to bring a mortgage current. They will not just pay an amount you owe if it's not
current. Right? So, and their limit, their upper limit per family is$7,000 a year. So, they will kick in with the 7,000 if I pay the rest of it
first. So, that's that's the issue there. So, then as soon as as soon as we know whether or not they will pay the graph, oh, they're going to pay. their budget. Oh, okay. I thought I thought you said skinny decision is what I was thinking.
Well, that's that's Yeah, that's the VA's Oh, program that I meant. I think I mean since you you have done so much work and you've sent what there several different emails if there was like kind of one comprehensive document that laid
out what you wanted for the mortgage what the total cost of the mold remediation is going to be the total cost of the floor just have that one contract figure to look out for and I went to this company because it's better known and they get better discounts
um I don't think you're going to get much cheaper the artifact shown. I don't think so. So, I don't know if you want to call them, but if you do end up calling them, just say you want to be Yeah. Hey, Bobby. So, if you can get us back,
we'll have another meeting and whenever you're ready. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. So kind. Yeah. It's a lot of work. Yeah. There you go.
All right. We'll move to the top of our agenda, which are the meeting minutes to approve the minutes of April 22nd. Those motion to approve. Second. All in favor? I I uh only one warrant. It was
just for like school trip. So I'll make a um motion to approve warrant W25 SAF3 in the amount of $1,29924. Uh second. All in favor? I
I uh meetings attended by select board members. Um, Friday we did a a poll walk with Eversource up on North Poland Road. Um, and it was I think it was a pretty good meeting. Um,
they are going to um provide their updated plan. Um, so we're going to have to have another hearing. Um, and they want to get started as soon as possible. So, it's really this just as soon as they, you know, get us that paperwork. We'll
schedule another hearing. Great. It's good that they're working with the the uh uh members of that that road right there. I imagine the lot came out, huh? Uh yeah. Well, there's there one one resident was was he like when I when I
left he said, I can only breathe now. And it was really just I mean just to like be on it's just so much more useful than looking at these maps and trying to figure out you know like the side of the road. So those are the same residents
that had issues with Nexamp. So yeah. So it's good that they have um you know representation. Well they feel heard. Yeah. Exactly. Should be important. Uh any for you Elaine? No. I had none
either. Yeah. All right. No public comment. Um 6:30. Uh moving on to unfinished business. At the bottom there, we have
um discussion and vote on the stipen for the highway superintendent. We're still doing that, huh? So, where are we at? So, and I I'm sorry I can't access it, but if you can get into the slideboard packet, I put in there um the chart that
I drew up last week, which Jan had given 10 years worth of o overtime for the staff people. And then I just kind of on the bottom of it, I did an average of the averages and it comes out to just over a 100red
hours. It was like 114 hours as an average winter. So then you you know I think the board was looking to decide well if that's average then at what point do you pay a stipend? So
um I would say when you go I so you have average right and then how much of a percentage over that average do you go? Right. Right. So I would I would say 25%. Um,
but that would show an excessive year in my mind, but that's, you know, it's off the top of my head. So, let's say average overtime last week. Oh, this is this is
um those are the other hours. Yeah, this is meaning 100 hours is 100 hours is average which means there's no compensation for that 100 hours. No.
Well, people don't compensate for those hours. No, they get they they all the staff members get the overtime. So, this is an average of the hours that they have put in. Yeah. which are equal to the number of hours that the super puts in because he's always on the road with
them, right? So, yeah. So, that was just so if the average let's say it's just for the sake of math, like say it's 100, you know, on average they work 100 hours overtime the course of the year. What you're saying, Chris, is that a bonus
for the superintendent wouldn't kick in until 25 and then we'd have to determine what that bonus would be. Well, it would just be the overtime rate basically is yes,
time and a half at the divide the salary by 2080 and then time and half of that. So then that would be just to be clear in my head that would be 25 hours. that would be paid. No, I'm saying any hours above 125.
So any hours above 125 would be paid. So you have to hit 125 and then anything above that. That's just So in other words, you're not paying 125 hours. You're paying. Yeah. Y and that's just a suggestion. So I don't
I mean do did do we have what was done? I mean, I see that there was like 140 something hours. That's basically like more than three weeks after work. I don't I don't happen to recall what 2025 was because we had that should be the
last one there on the chart. Yeah. I mean, the average one of the guys I'm not even going to include. Well, I took them I took them out of the average of averages. There were three folks I took out because they only did like 11 hours in the season and that just suit you offline. Yeah. I mean,
this guy didn't I'm removing one on there. Yeah. So, that averages out to about almost 140. Okay. So, then you're only talking, you know,
15 hours. 15 hours. So, this year was 140. Yeah. Do other towns compensate? Just anything? I do. It's all over the place. It is all over the place. Yeah, literally all over the place. I mean, that's a lot of extra work. That's three weeks extra
work in a season. That's a lot. So that seems a little excessive to not compensate somebody. I mean even if you did even if you factored in just anything above 100 at the average rate.
So 100 is two and a half weeks. Yeah. You're you're talking 40 extra hours. It's not nearly as much as what's being requested. What a time and a half at his rate. So what he when he put in the request, let
me see if I can share that. Um, so when he put in the request, it was done as based on 100 hours. So he pretty much already figured out that was the average. based on over a 100 or to be compensated
for the 100. Yeah. See, so this was this was his calculation. Is that too small? Yes. So that's what he had said. That's the base pay OT and then that's what it was for 100 hours worth of
So that's being compensated for almost all the hours. It was about 140. So almost all the hours which I don't agree with. Um maybe we just stick with anything over the average 100. So this
this past year would be an extra 40 hours which would factor to about almost 2500 based on his rate. I guess I'm not sure what the thinking is to not compensate him for because it's part of his job description. That's a lot of
hours though. It is. And it's not like it's just winter. It's that hour. I mean, it's doing if it if a tree falls. If a tree falls, if a whatever.
This is a tough discussion. That'd be I don't know. I think I mean I think of it if you think of it as you know a 40hour work week or whatever that that's a lot of extra. So what would our what would our
expectation be of a a year of how much extra he works? And we have not we've not compensated them for overtime previously or he did get a
stipen years and years ago um one year and then that was that's it. Were past road bosses compensated? I don't know. I think we [Music] have so but unfortunately I can't finish
the budget for the war until it I mean I think that's the the main thing when figuring out the cost is easy. The main thing is understanding where is the trigger, right? That's so I don't think
it should be 100%. I mean, he's not shown 100%. Which I I don't know. This is tough because it's in the job description some and there are there's no standard at all
across municipalities. And I agree like that's a lot of extra time. It is. Um but you know the payment for supers time and a half is much more than the labor. Well that's why it
doesn't mean we have to go with that formula does it? I mean can we just do stipent? I'm sorry. It isn't that much more when they're if they're a um a CDL. Yeah. CDL 32 is the max right. Yeah. So
his his would actually be about 40 an hour. So that's actually not bad. So I retract my statement. [Music] Um I'm having a tough time at this point. I don't know. I feel like anything more than two weeks over should
be compensated. I don't know why I go two weeks, but it's just So two weeks is 80 hours. then you're talking um 60, right? So again, you're getting
close to the close to what I was saying before, that's about 3700. So I mean, if that's the trigger, if you're saying anything over two weeks, we can use that. Then basically that wait, anything over two weeks,
anything over 80 hours. snow and ice. So, yeah. Or I think what Ron did is anything over a week. He removed 40 hours. Uhhuh. Well, he he
didn't do his own. He's never tracked his hours. He was simply using the his staff, right? Right. Cuz if they're out, he's out. [Music] I mean, I just picked like
Well, let's get a number as any just this is such a such a weird, you know, and maybe we just put that in the policy or whatever. Just say going forward, you know, track your hours one more than 80 hours. And if you go above
80 hours for no removal, then they could be paid at on a stipen basis for that, you know, and the formula would be the same formula for over time. Does have anything you're not open, are you? You want to open
Excuse me. Do you want to open your means so you can be added to the conversation? All right. 636. I make a motion to commence the fin. All right. And then make a motion to approve the committee meeting. Second.
All in favor? It turns out we uh we have siphon issue that I thought is hours not tracking hours is not tracking hours. So we have to go by the cart. We track his people's hours
because they're hourly track his hours, right? But we can assume that that if his staff is is working part time, so does he. He's not sitting home on the couch. I realize that he's not trying to go by go by a rule of thumb
for this year. Yeah. But that's what I'm saying. I mean, I don't know if that is a good model to say like Elaine said, anything above 80 hours will be paid with the formula that would be the same formula for a time and a half for an
hourly employee. I mean, I think that it's kind of meeting him where if he already took a week out, right? He took another week out and that, right? You know, I mean, so, well, I don't think he knew this year what what it was going to be because he put it in in like November,
December, so he wouldn't have known what this winter was going to be, right? Oh, he put this request in November to That's when everybody has to turn in their budgets. Yeah. We've been talking about it for a while. I don't know. I think that's a good
middle ground. I mean, minded for having to close out the warrant, I think. Yeah. Yeah. So, what's the number that 80? So, I'm putting in anything over 80. So, anything over 80. Um, he's
No, no, no. Second. Uh 3419. You want to do that or you want uh 3425 or just round up to 35 3500? Yeah. Sounds good to me.
It's a starting place for us to figure out in the future. But we would like him to track his hours moving forward, right? and anything above 80 will be calculated at time and a half comments.
I just think that u I mean he could track his phone. It's not that lower phone all the time. Um, what I understand is you're building into the job
description 80 hours above and beyond. No, 80 hours is given that we expect he's probably going to do anything over 80, right? So 80 is part of his normal salary. Yes. Yes. But then when he goes
to 81 hours, what happens? Then we would have the formula of time and a half for 81 hour. Yeah. No, for one hour. For one hour. For one hour. For one hour, right?
Does that pass the muster? It's there's no muster. This this is establishing it a process today. So that's what we're trying to do. Question. Do you first of all is a 37 and a half hour week or a 40hour
week? 40. 40hour week. Do you ever run into this situation what overtime on your salary? I mean where you're working more than your contracted out. Oh yeah. But Ron and I are both exempt. So that just it's
basically you get the job done. I Okay. So I mean Yeah. That's why it's such a difficult that's why it's difficult. So, and it is built into his contract. It says you will do snow removal and other winter
work. So, what I'm hearing from the board is that if it gets more than 80 hours in a normal winter, if it's excessive, then they're willing to compensate because it's such a bad winter. Yeah. Yeah. I mean and verbally it sounds fine but how what's the
parallel or for you for example suppose there's a town emergency a tornado hits on in February that's my job I mean because I think there's a difference because it's you know Ron and his team go out at like all hours of the night
all hours of the morning in all in all weather I'll give you an example on on Saturday I'd come because a tree went down the transfer station across the exit road. So when he goes down Yeah. Yeah. So you know he he's kind of on
call 24/7 365. So but which which well I am but I don't get called out like that or she picks up the phone and puts it down. No, she calls me and then I go up and fix it.
Yeah. Because Ron Ron does overtime in other regards all the time. This is only winter only. We're only talking about plowing snow and ice. Yeah. So, a lot of other townships do offer their supers
over time or stipens of some sort, but it's all over the place. There's no there's no established baseline. So, we want the baseline for Conway. And so we should though update his contracts to reflect Oh, his job description. Yep.
But but is this so is there does it need to be equitable? Is there there's no equivalence with Bernie? I don't know what other employee we'd be talking about. Oh, Chief Bates. That's three. Okay. There's no and so is that approval
is I mean I suppose Chief Ace could always come and ask us for you know he'd be in the same kind of situation he also does get paid for other paid for detail for details and he has a right is
it overtime the details no it's a stip it's paid for by outside right this would also be a stipend it's just the form of the creation to understand how much the stipen would be. I think it's a good baseline. You've
been wrestling with this for a long time. Yeah. Because you know the business side of me is like it's in your contract. Cheap, right? The business side of it was cheap, right? But at the same time, I you know, I I can see on on our end
how much there needs to be a cut off. There definitely needs to be a cut off. This is what's expected. This is beyond expectation. Okay. See places to start for me. I guess as a regular member I would like
to know what I would like definition of what weather because it's very relative for many people. Let's say I came in 2009 and it was every winter bad
weather this is not bad weather it's very normal and what I mean is if we can have a clear definition well that's the hours if you look at 2015
for for dealing with snow and ice. That's really what it is. So time on the road. If you look at 2015, the average overtime was 20 under 24 hours. And then in the very next
year, the very next year it was almost 190. Wow. Yeah. Very the good old years when we had triple. So, so that is looking at the employees hours. Yeah, correct. Right here. Here's But this also depends if they're short person.
Oh, totally. Yeah, absolutely. It completely is dependent on That's it. You're right. Stats, right? All right. We got a lot of business ahead of us tonight. So, but you're right. It's in our best interest to make sure that we're fully staffed.
Well, and also at least there's so there's no misunderstanding from one employer to the other things like that's why it just makes sense replace. Okay. So, I'm going to make a motion then. I'll
second it. Well, uh, I'll make a motion to, um, pay the highway super a stipen of 3500 total for the snow and ice removal
um, from 2024 to 2025 winter. And also going forward that the um super maintain their hours and that the formula for any future stipen is based on hours above
80 for the year for snow and ice removal at the rate of what would be time and a half on salary. One second that long all in favor. All in favor? Did you? I Yeah, that
better be absolutely verbatim. Adam, we'll replay it, including the US. All right. Uh on to new business. Uh discussion vote to sign Woodland partner uh Woodland's partnership letter of
support. I read this earlier. Um do you want to say anything about this? Um it's it's it's basically land management. Um uh obviously it's all
environmental. Um again, you know, we've kind of done something like this before, but if anybody wants to read, um otherwise, I did read the whole thing. It's something we should definitely be partners with. and Janet. Um, I'll send if if the board
signs it, I'll send a copy to Janet Chase since she started. Um, so I'll make a motion to sign the Woodlands Partnership letter of support. Second. All in favor? I I all need to sign it.
Did you print that for the scout? Go. Then on to our joint medial finance. It's on here twice. Well, because here it's new business for you and it's new business for them. Final review and vote
on recommendations on the warrant article. While we go over this um for the other select board members, I'm sorry I'm going down to uh items unanticipated. Uh my neighbor, the Maxis, uh their
oldest son just uh obtained his uh Eagle Scout status, which is huge. Um his little brother, who was so sweet, came and
asked if I would um go to the graduation on May 18th. That's a day before my birthday. I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it. I'm gonna try my best, but I just wanted to do um basically a congratulatory letter from the select board. Oh, that's awesome. on his on his designation. Um so, if you
all wouldn't mind signing it, I'd appreciate that. That's awesome. That's a big deal. It's not easy to do. It is not. My brother missed it, but I have this chin chin. I thought no one had
until 18. I didn't Isaiah's age. Oh, is he? They're both um Oh, he might be like Isaiah because Isaiah's Oh, okay. And Henry is a great writer. He is going
to be something else when he uh gets into the work force. Thank you so very much. I'll keep this one. All right. So, I pulled up article two again because what's in the draft warrant is
not the corrected version that we just changed. So, I wanted you to see what it is before you vote on it. Um, so the bottom line for the general fund, if you can see that, is the budget will go up
169,883 and it's a 5.63% increase, which is very unusual for us to have that large of an increase. Um so the schools came in at a negative
161. So that the total increase in the budget is 1.48 which as you can see is gosh it's exactly half of last year's. So we kind of we really we lucked out that being able to do the general fund all those adjustments to the general fund because the schools
came in lower which so anyway so the final number right there is 7159234. So why don't you see that before you vote on it? Because in obviously in more it says three and this is with the 3% u
correct this has um all the 3% cola and now the stipens. So that's yeah because what was article two before 4.83 and 1.14 And what are the primary drivers of the five and a half% increase? Just curious.
There were quite a few um to be honest with you. But if we go up here to the percentages percentage change um wages we're Yeah, it's really mostly wages because you know we had to put up
the treasury collector because we're still looking for one. We needed to increase that. it. There's it. There's town administration wages are going up because we got more pay and morous hours. Um, we've got town clerk wages went up
um quite a bit. You don't have to really com. Yeah. So, you'll get that. Yeah. um con planning board and then um some of the other ones highway um wages went up a
bit more people and then um sorry we get down to it's really market driven so yeah also down to employee healthy house Yeah, you have health insurance. Yeah, you have health insurance. Yeah.
I mean, that's the biggest one. Yeah. Right. That's what we go through with the school budget. You So, of the total 170, 145 of that's just from employee
costs. I mean, that's that's the number right there. Yeah. Yeah. So, right, like you're saying, insurance, that's the Well, it went up 18 and 20%. It's insane. Yeah. Check something.
Okay. Right. I just want I looked at it went that went down 60. I just wanted to make sure. I copy this bad. There we are. So that's your article two. I make a motion that we uh accept
article two as present. Yeah, you both have both. We should go first. First I'll write that then being recorded computer article too. Yeah. Now next
year we get by. Yeah. We worked hard on this too. My only comment on the employee costs increase is that we've had a reduction. We don't have an
assessor's salary anymore, right? And um so it is surprising that 5%. Right. I mean yeah 5.63 63. That's very high for a So
you're attributing the bulk of that to the health insurance. Yeah. So if you look at this right here, that's the total number that's gone up by basically 169883, right? And if employee costs are 144614,
that's the bulk of it. That's the bulk of it. 144,000 dominates everybody's budget. Nobody controls it. And if you look at that, there it is. It says 17.89%.
Crazy. So, yeah. Oh, good. So, any further discussion? All right. I make a motion to recommend the approval of the article as presented. Second all in favor. I So
that's another 302, right? That's correct. 302 your turn. Actually 30 the two weeks two were added. We have Oh, we do. Yeah. He's missed six.
Okay. Uh, I make a motion that uh we accept article two as presented. Second. All in favor? I I um I do have a chart showing all of our um
stabilization and other funds and the effect on it before then after town meeting vote. Do you want to see that and just look at it real quick or do you just want to go through the articles and get them done? Well, they already went through all the articles. They have No, they have a few
more to do. 10, 11, 12, 18. Okay. Should we do those first? You can skip to them so they I think we should skip to them so they can All right. Let me um stop sharing. Very compassionate. You did the long
grind last week. But you were here. We were. That's what we get paid the big bucks for. That's it. All right. So, yeah. All right. So, we did article two. So, article
three. Oh, sorry. We're going to article 10. That's it. Article 10 versus the articles. Right. There we go. And we have two members of the capital improvements. I don't think we need to. I don't I
don't think you can. We have five. Because we wanted to wait for you were waiting for John, but there actually So remember this was originally 100 and we reduce it to 25. Yeah. Yep.
Who's going first? I'll go first. Any further discussion? I make a motion to approve right the transfer of free cash of $25,000 stabilization function there too. Second. All in
favor? I carries 30. I mirror their uh correspondence. All in favor? I I 11. All right. This is for the excavators. Yep. The capital state highway stabilization
fund has a balance of how much? Yeah. So I can show that graph to you but we're starting with 22807.05 taking out 164 for the two articles for a balance
of 56 80705. No, we're going to have that down to Yeah. Yeah. I can show you those balances if you want. So, you can It's up to you. I will leave.
All right. So, my question for the for the capital improvements and Chris, what are your thoughts on this? terms of the how estimated deferring us for a year that what will that entail to do that? Well, we we had four requests
and we deferred two for a year or two. The used excavator team No, the is for the greater um I don't like that the state capital stabilization fund will go down to that level. Um, I'm with you on that. But if
you look at our capital spreadsheet, it shows year of replacement. There's only two other items for like the next six years. So, and that does not include the greater. Of course, there's Ron had an idea for the greater that I think would
be great that we talked about, but I feel like over the next four or five years, we'll be able to replenish the the stabilization fund. So um the excavator is 2019 Volvo excavator is
that the replacement spreadsheet there's four highlighted items the 5500 driver that would be it then
that's price 2026 let's see that is correct it's that excavator yep it's that excavator I'm just thinking what you anticipate for the time being and that is one people want to know the
Indianapolis we don't track Indianapolis I'm just saying as far as we get a topic for discussion at time. Oh yes, I'm anticipating that there's uh 2,000 over 2,000 hours on the problem
is I mean I was speaking with so sessions is closed up there and there's really I think service is a problem. It's like trying to get a plantation appliance service during clown
life. If it's not like if you didn't buy an advantage growth. Yeah. So 2,000 hours what percent? Uh it defer I do have that information. um won't have it on the spreadsheet, but
I do have that information. We're also looking at um it does have issues. If we continue to use it, the resale trade in value is going to go down far and right now we have a pretty good trade in value at
40,000. Uh he did he did get a quote for that. Yes. So 120 could be the worst scenario. The worst scenario. It could it could be 80. [Music] Okay. Which I'm hoping it is. And then
you saying that well because we don't want to say that because if something does happen where we're not able to get that trade in value, we don't want to be short. So we should keep it up 12,000 up.
Any further discussion? I will vote to write a trans recommendation to transfer $120,000 to the capital stabilization [Music] fund. All in favor?
I will make the same recommendation. Second. All in favor? I I All right. Same story here. But this one um has about 1,200. I mean, I assume it's more now. As you know,
it's used constantly. Again, we should have a pretty good trade in value here. Um, which will be between 12 and 14,000. This this 2018 model, I'm sure it has more than 3,000.
Uh, it's saying it's only 1,200. [Music] So, 1200 hours like Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes. And again, we'll get good trade in value for it because it's not totally beat up and we want to purchase before we
can't get anything to do on set. Well, yeah, with the potential tariffs. Yeah, the tariffs. It's one of the work. It is. So is the excavator. But yes, make a motion to approve the recommend
$44,000 in the capital standation of the purchase of a highway tractor or taking action with compar. I'll make the same recommendation. Second. All in favor? I I What's the next one? Article 18.
textile revolving that you were changing the verbage on it reason. Correct. So what I what I found out today was that it's not actually supposed to be in a revolving fund and it's just a technicality. So all we did
was change it to say to pay for tax title expenses. So it really wasn't that exciting at all. No. Okay. All right. Any discussion?
No, but so we don't have this as a regular recurring kind of expense. It depends on what was on the docket. You know what? Correct. Um, and now my mind's blanking on why the financial mechanism does not work with the Oh, I remember because you're
not supposed to seed frontload um a special revenue fund um from anything from the general fund. So, we have to not not have it be that special revenue fund. So, they're going to have to the one that's there right now for tax title they'll keep
using until the balance is zero. But now we have this other tax title expenses which will be a warrant article that it'll get put under the treasurer's budget as a you know another one of her funds that she takes from to deal with
the tax title and that one rolls over and so it's really is it some technicality of you know legality and accounting overlay is affected I'm probably your overlays affect this at all.
No, no, it's not overlay. No, but you know, like Roy was saying, it's not something that you necessarily need every year. So, so it's good to have an account that's there that keeps rolling over that needed. Yes. But it was how we fund it. And since we fund it from the
general fund, that's not supposed to fund a special revenue fund. It's supposed to fund another I know. move around. So, we're doing it properly. The nooks and crannies of municipal account in Massachusetts of cash flow. I no further
discussion. I make a motion to recommend article 18 as presented. See at the time the local appropriate $10,000 three cash be action. All in favor?
I make the same recommendation. Second. All in favor? I I Okay, what's the next one? Everything else you done? Like it finance,
right? Well, then you get to go. Oh yeah, I guess. Well, while we get to ours. Yes. Well, um, do you want me to show you that spreadsheet really quickly that will say how the finances are after town meeting?
Yeah, that'll be good, please. Thanks. I just note that the uh we got a report from microchild that there 72,000 above budgeted call the other other revenues that Michael sheet that Michael
sent out today. Oh, other fun. Okay. I haven't had a chance to exercise. Yeah. All that 72,000. Oh, it's got to be through like March. All right. So, so just going through
these as they are. I just put them in today. These are Mike's numbers as of the end of February. So, ambulance receipt reserved is there. It's article 15. This is the extra above the 25,000 that's needed to run the ambulance department. So, after
town meeting, that will be the balance. Ambulance stabilization. Um, we're that's where it's at right now. You're adding 75,000. So it'll be 415 almost 416 which is great because that's a lot closer to what they're
going to need. Um capital that's the one that kind of hurts where is 220 and it's going down to 56. Highway stabilization is new, so it'll just have 25. Ram school, you're adding
75 for a total of,000. And of course, you know about the free cash, so you've been through all those. General stabilization, nothing's happening to it. Nothing's going in or out. OPED is just the extra 1,000. Fire
truck stabilization is 75 for a total of 388 500 basically. So, so that's what we've got sitting there right now in those funds and that's how much will be there after. Thank you.
Fire truck still fiscal year 26. We have three more years of stocking money away from prior to unless we get oh two two more fiscals 27 and fiscal 28 we're going to buy it well for a special time
meeting at the end of this calendar year we'll have our certified prep we can always go ahead and do some additional talking money yeah and we did also put in for an earark So, you never know. We
might actually we might get some grant funding for it. It should be great. Yeah. It was the local receipt that local. [Music]
Thank you, finance committee. Welcome. I'll miss you next Monday. Yeah. I can't believe we're going to meet on Cinco de Mayo. I'm not where it's always sunny. Where it's always sunny. It better be tequila. There's always a
reason to always reason. Exactly. In Philadelphia. Exactly. It's not the best restaurant to sit down in, but my favorite Mexican food there is El Rochelle. Okay. It's excellent.
Um, all right. Now we have to go, huh? Yep. I mean, we should be able to breeze through motions. I think we should say the article. Yeah. So, I make a motion motion to recommend article three. Second. Favor.
I uh so the collective bargaining. Yes. For the compensation balance agreement. I know we talked about this before. We just It's we do it every year. Oh, okay. I'll make a motion to recommend article
4. Second. All in favor? I I will make definitely a motion to recommend article five. Second. All in favor? I I I'll make a motion to recommend both
article six and article 7. Second. All in favor? I faster than I can. Sorry, I should have said I should have said eight as well. All right, I'll make a motion to recommend article eight. Second. All in
favor? I voted this with that. Yeah. No, that was No, that was that was putting the money in the creation. I'll make a motion to um recommend article 9. Second. All in favor? I
I 10 11 we already recommended 12 we are recommended. I I will make a motion to recommend article 13. Second. All in favor? I I I'll make a motion to recommend
article 14. Second. All in favor? I I I'll make a motion to recommend article 15. All in favor? I I 16 what we already just did? No, that's the guy. Uh I will make a motion.
Oh, yeah. I'll make a motion to recommend article 16. Second. All in favor? I I I'll make a motion to recommend article 17. Second. All in favor? Hi. Hi.
This is what we just did. 18, right? I'll make a motion to recommend article 19. Second. All in favor? I I make a motion to recommend article 20. Second. All in favor? I
I sorry. Let's see. Um, I will make a motion to recommend article 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26. Second. All in favor? I
I keep up. It's It's 300 for everything so far. We're down to 27. That's conservative after 65 time the appointment which would be
what? Uh it needs to be as end he could well if he passed the special legislation he can run until the cut. Okay. I'll make a motion to recommend article 27. Second. All in favor? I So the same with
Yeah. Yeah. But that was for the fire department. Got 70 art. Okay. I'll make a motion to recommend article 28. Second. In favor. I I didn't know Howard boarding was on the fire. He passed me. Never. Wow. Good job. Howard got enough
going on. He's like, "All right." Now, this one, the language may change just a tad. I just found out today from town council that yes, it is required to um request a home rule legislation to remove a fox. Got it. Okay. So, there
might be some other language that I have to stick in here, but basically it's just saying that, you know, if town's voting to do away with the caucus and if it's necessary, they'll do a phone petition. Barring the addition of legal mumbo jumbo, I will vote to
recommend article 29. Second. All in favor? I I I Lori wants to um this one I we did change just a tad based on the town council recommendations. So Mike starts
out with the whole budget and basically what he discovered, stop me if I explained this already, but what he discovered was that in the past the allotments made to each of the specific pools of money in the CPC funds
was not correct. You're supposed to include interest in some other things. So there's now two articles here. One is to do what we usually see, which is this article 30 to do we're you're going to put it all in these different pots.
But then article 31 is to transfer money from undesated reserve and put it in those pots because it wasn't done before and he's getting it all up to where it's supposed to be. I recommend to recommend article 30 and 31. Second. All in favor? Hi. Hi.
Boy, he likes things in their own pots, doesn't he? You really do. And the rest are the Well, there's the bylaw. Yeah. Did I um didn't have the recommendation?
I don't see I don't see it for 32. I don't see it for those either. Well, so um and I don't say the perogter. Yeah, it's article 35. This is the very very end. I was able to take out the whole thing. Oh, that's fine. Yay.
Um you know what? If you don't mind, maybe I didn't pop in the recommendations in all of them. That's okay. I recommend to So it's 32, 33, and 34 are the planning boards. Got it. I'll make a motion to recommend articles 32,
33, and 34. Second. All in favor? I I then on to 35. It's costing us a million dollars to send out. Well, actually, no. Um, what happened is I found out that all we had
to do was put this language in here and refer everybody to Yes. Yeah. And there's an executive. I know. There's an executive two-page summary. Stop killing trees. I know. Um, but we had put in there copies of it are
available at town hall prior to the meeting. It's awesome. And they're making the copies for us. Great. So, fantastic. Win-win. Yeah. You want to take this as a win? Uh, sure.
It's like the most boring part. They're going to be like 12 people left by the time they get to um I don't know. There's not a ton of controversy. All right. Last article recommend to uh I'm sorry. I'll make a
motion to recommend article 35. Second. All in favor? I I did. All right. Um there's a lot of town administrator updates. Oh yeah. Um I already did 48 hours with the note about
the Eagle Scout. That's great. Yes. Okay. So um transfer station update. They will be we got the check today from the insurance company. So I'm able to schedule but the soonest they can get up
there is May 20th. So it's we're going to be limping along for a little bit. And that's only to put in posts and then we'll come back and do the Yeah. And then we discovered that the Ron has been working with um Peter Martin to is we discovered that the
conduit from the transfer station shed to the old mall then goes from the mall to the counterboard compactor and that's the only way it can be set up. So because we're putting in a new building, they have to take out the electrical before
Ron can deconstruct the old mall. And now we may have to get a permit from D to be able to do. So then then the shed can't be as forward as we thought. It has to be in line with where the conduits come up and there's going to be a protective box over those
conduits. So we can't put the mall closer to the black top which is how we've been planning. So now he would in the back it slopes down really fast. He'd have to build up the back so that they could actually fit the shed. That may require a deep permit. So Jan is
going to talk to D about that. Sure. Um that one. We had quite a few questions come in today. One was about the green communities street lights grant application that we just put in. So the two questions that are on there, one was can we just ask to discontinue the
lights so we don't have to buy them. Well, that makes all the sense in the world. Yeah. So I I assumed that would be Yeah. And I think I heard that from Allison where she said, you know, I'm not I think that might have been a language thing as opposed to Anyway, but the other one had to do about the
wattage of the LED fixtures. So I don't know, Chris, you want to Yeah. Um he likes the airport type. I I always thought 31 watts was too much. Anyway, you'll see them around. They're really bright.
Um, after doing the Shelburn walk, they had some lower wattage ones that I thought were totally fine for where we live. Um, this particular person is saying that typically rural towns pick fixtures between 14 and 19 lots. Um,
with maybe a little higher in the more uh congested or uh areas where there's crosswalks or so forth. So, I think we should change it to state one, we're just going to have Ever Source disconnect or decommission and not um
purchase those uh 23, however many it was. And then for all of our other lights to go down to that 14 to 19 watt range, maybe a little higher for a long 116. And then we can
see if with those changes we might actually get that u mass save incentive. That's great. So if you all are okay with that. I'm absolutely think so. Okay. How are you going to communicate that? Well I can when that was my question to
them now that the grant's been put in. But are they going to need an actual number like not a range of 14 and 19? Are they going to need to know you want 19? I don't know. Plus, we still want to see the when um the company that we're
using. Oh, I I can think of Alexis is the guy we're dealing with. What is the name of the company? Doesn't matter. So, RT RT when RT does their uh their model, it'll kind of show there are going to be some that we're
going to want higher than others. Yeah. Like the one on Shelburn, the the Shelburn and 116 intersection. We know that's going to need to be higher. Okay. So, I would just say let's start low. Let's start 14 and then we can add add
where we need to from there. Okay. Great. So, when we continue on that, you know, you guys are good with that, then we'll Yeah, we'll just go from there. Um, okay. So, the life path grants and actually I made a typo here. It's supposed to be all five job
openings we have right now. Um but the top two posted were for the um home services and the driving services. We've only gotten one application. Um so if it's up to you if
you want him on the agenda next week to hire. I mean we missed the deadline for the current. So we're not going to get good coverage in terms of finding somebody else. I thought we had somebody else interested in my Yeah. No. Turns out no. So did Phil Pepper both? Yes.
I don't like the optics of it. I'll just say that I don't like the optics of posting a position for less than a week and then that position going to the person who filed the grant. That being said, I know that they are looking for additional funding and
that it's dependent on somebody accepting the position. Well, getting spend this in a short window. So, most of it goes the coordinator anyway. So, I'm not happy how it played
off played out, but I do think we should put it on the agenda so we can so they have the ability to receive additional grant. I agree. All the way around optics and all, but we may still get I mean, if
someone applies this week then, right? Right. So, I would I guess we, you know, until six o'clock next Monday, right? Yeah. Okay. Um, and then we just got this in today. They're they're asking the state is asking to sh for us to
share information with them. I guess the climate folks are really trying to get a better handle on flooding and other issues. So, come to our town. We have Yeah. So they want they're they want our data on inlets, outlets, pipes and
ditches and stuff like that. You know, I don't know. I think I know one particular area we have some but my guess is that this is probably going to be like conversation between Ron and that's my guess. Yeah.
Um but they they you know assured us that it would not be made public. So you know Yes. Um, so you're good for me to Yes. Yes. Okay. And then the last most exciting thing is next week May 5th is a
warrant week. I had originally in the schedule meeting every week until town meeting, but there's no need to if you don't wish to. So if you want to not do the off weeks, you know, not go weekly and go back to regular warrant. But yeah, regular.
Great. And then um uh Representative Blle has also asked um for a date. So I'll get back to her. Yeah, sometime in May or June to come in. Really liked her email on the pilot. Oh, I know. That was that was a great email. That was so meeting next week and then two weeks
after or not meeting. Correct. No, you have to meet next week. You got to sign the warrant and it's a warrant week. Um but and you won't be here. I won't be here. It doesn't matter. We still have a recommendation, right? Oh, it doesn't matter. No, I mean it. Well, you know
what? If you wanted to have us try to do an electronic signature, we could try to figure that out before you go. I don't go until Sunday. I don't I don't Yeah, we'll have we'll have to figure out how to do that. But if we can do that, then we could just at least
because then it's signed in the warrant that goes everywhere. Yeah. Because that it's going to go right to the printer the next day. Yeah. So, it'd be nice to have your signature on it. Yes. I agree. I agree. Thank you. Um
any member comments, concerns? I if you have a question about um the gravel. Oh, I responded. Oh, you did? Okay. Yes, I did respond. And uh if it's okay, while we're here, I can
just tell you the response. Great. Just read it to you. How about that? Okay, here we go. Uh, good afternoon, Mr. So and So, I first apologized for the delayed
response since I was out. Um, all gra I got this through um our highway super as well, just to get the confirmation of what I was saying. Um, all gravel and materials used on our roadways are subject to mass DOT spec standards and purchased through the efforts of Burkov.
Being so, this same gravel is widely used not only in Conway but many other municipalities in Western Massachusetts. Given the terrain of Graves Road, sand is not a useful substitute as it would create a mudlike surface during heavy rains and potentially wash away as well.
I can understand how frustrating and costly it must be to have so many flat tires. I also need to regularly commute on gravel roads. Much of us do. Though I have a larger pickup truck. Given how many gravel roads I need to traverse, I made sure to purchase all-terrain gravel
specific tires that have aggressive tread patterns and are puncture resistant. Um, are you aware? I then asked if he's aware of what type of tires um he's purchased of the five mentioned that were flats. Um and then I just
said, you know, apologize that you might not like my response, but I just wanted to make sure you were aware of our procurement and material standards that are set by Mass DOT. Um it's an excessive amount of flat tires. I'll say that one a month is not it's there's
something wrong. Yeah. And I, you know, I travel both those both those roads every day and I travel um Roy Brookke quite a bit and he uses the same stone on Brook. Yeah. So um I I think that it's not really the
gravel issue as much as maybe the tire issue. I agree. Um now although Jen has a small car and you know small I mean I drive bigger vehicles and definitely the truck has
significant truck and as we we know on roads like Graves and roads like Norman Brook and even um Cricut Hill and um um my gosh what's wrong with me? The
library was founded by Field Fields. Fieldill that road a lot too, right? Um, if you don't use larger gravel, it will tend to wash away quicker and in the snow. There's no traction, right? So, I know that's why larger gravel is used.
Again, you'll see this gravel in Goan. You'll see it in Ashefield. You'll see it all under. So, I did respond to that letter. I felt like it started with like someone next door neighbor or whatever it was next door about right and putting sharp
rocks right as you know there was another gentleman who came in and had the same complaint in the same road right um I know a couple other people that live on that road one person she did say she's had a flat but that's been over years and that's not unusual to
have a flat every now and Yeah. Um, well, the other thing is you should see the stuff that we collect that we pick up from the road. I mean, we actually have a pile right in front of Marsha's barn. And it's sharp items. Yeah. That
are just fall off people's vehicles or whatever. And we have a pile of things way worse than Right. And those are out there on the roads all the time. Yeah. I mean, somebody might there might be a lot of empty um vodka bottles
because we're seeing them everywhere. I see everything. I pee all water. I knew it was like six or seven and it was like it was like they were intentionally It almost looked like they were invented. Somebody was watching our meetings. Yeah.
I mean I I I hate seeing and I see it often. I can't not see it anymore. So anyway, um thank you for bringing that up. I did respond. Um no mail, no announcements. Anything
else from board members? Anything else from admin? I just want to make sure that we schedule that um meeting with GZA and the residents. But I but are we waiting for GCA to get back their business? So yes, I did hear back from them. They hadn't begun their
work and Nate will be getting back because Nate's the one who's going to be through so he'll get back with his availability. All righty. Next meeting is Cinco de Mayo. Sorry to miss it. Um I'll make a motion to adjurnn.
Second. All in favor? Bye. Thank you.