Welcome everyone to the special town meeting uh for town of Wley November 12th opening at 5:30 plus or minus 5. >> Okay. Uh minutes can we have a reading of the town please? Pursuant to the
within more, I've notified and warned the inhabitants of the town of Wheatley by posting attestment copies of the same at the town office building post office weight transfer station in Sydney Library in Ztown at least 14 days before the date of the meetings as within
directed site Thomas Mallard 23 2025. >> Thank you very much. We have a wide variety of articles and each one is detailed in some way. So, I'm going to ask for that to be read in full full. And do we have a motion to take up
article one? >> Uh, Mr. Moderator, I move we take up article one, uh, approval of bills for prior fiscal years. I move that the town vote to transfer the sum of $234 from available funds fiscal year 26 free
cash to pay unpaid bills of trial prior fiscal years as shown in article one of the warrant for this town meeting. Second. >> Is there discussion about this honor? This is from a past year, so it requires
a 9/10 vote. All those in favor, please raise your card. >> All those opposed. Unanimous, which is satisfies as required. Article one is passed as carried as
written. >> I'm Mr. Moder. I vote we uh take up article two. I move that the town vote to transfer the sum of $30,000 from available funds fiscal year 26 pre-cash to the reserve fund. >> Second.
>> Okay. Article two has been moved and second. Are there questions or discussion? >> Seeing none, all those in favor, please raise your card. All opposed. Article two carries. >> Mr. Moderator article three and that the
town vote to transfer the sum of $111,000 from available funds fiscal year 26 free cash to fund an increase in health insurance costs for benefit eligible town employees and >> second article three has been moved and
seconded. Are there questions regarding article three? >> Yes, please. >> Just one question. John Lukan at Wisconsin Circle. Just the 111,000. Is that just the extra 2% that it went up? >> 20%. >> 20. >> It went up 20, but you mentioned that
you'd already looked at doing 18 >> that this is on top of the 18 that we did at town me. >> So the 111,000 just for that extra 2%. >> 20%. >> No, no, it's another It was 18 and then 20 on top of that. >> Yes. >> Oh god. >> Yes. Yeah. It's
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That's why the 111 it it represents because our current budget for the group health insurance is 555,000. So 20% of that is 111. So it's to increase that budget by 20% for this
current fiscal year. >> Yeah. That's why it's been in the papers >> with good reason. Every town has been hit with this. >> Yeah. It turns out that weight loss medications carry a weighty price tag.
>> All right. Other questions or clarification? >> Uh if not, let's proceed to a vote. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion carries by majority required. Article and we move
on to article four. >> Uh Mr. Moderator, I move that the town vote to approve the use of the sum of $399,866 from retained earnings of the South County Emergency Medical Services in
order to allow the South County EMS to make capital purchases as outlined in article 4 of the warrant for this town meeting. >> Second. >> All right. Article 4 has been moved and second and requires a majority vote. Is
there any questions discussion? >> Yes, please. >> Mitch circle. Is this So this is for the three towns then we is that what? >> Yes. >> So they're all we're all pitching in all the three towns.
>> No, >> no, no. >> It's their money. >> It's their money. >> Oh, it's already their money. >> It's their return retained earnings that they already have. It's their budget but the based on the intermunicipal agreement the towns as participants have to say it's okay for you to go ahead and
use that money. >> Oh but in a sense yeah it's all three towns are pitching in all three towns have to >> we already generate from your user fees. Uh, probably probably. >> Yeah. Yeah, you have to you'd have to
look closer to >> All right. Uh, any other questions on that regard? Okay, then. Um, let's proceed to a vote. All those in favor, change your cards. All those opposed carries for the majority required.
>> Mr. Moderating article 5, local acceptance provision for investment of trust funds under the town vote to accept subsection B of general law chapter 44 section 54 to allow town trust funds to be managed in accordance
with general law chapter 203C the Massachusetts crew investor. >> Second. >> All right. Article five is moved and second and it seems it would be wise if not approved to ask questions about this one.
>> Yes, please. >> Yeah, quick question. Um I am assuming this does include what's also called special revenue funds i.e. the library special revenue funds. >> It includes trust funds. So library trust funds but not special well
>> it's just trust funds accounts. Yeah. Well, they're called trust funds, but we can I mean, I'm for this. This has nothing to do with that, but I think we should discuss it afterwards. >> Do we do we have a definition of trust funds? Are these ones that are allowed to bear interest? For example,
>> we we have a limited amount of funds that fall within this category, >> right? So, there's about $365,000 of funds that fall into this category. It's like cemetery, perpetual care, library trust funds, um scholarship
funds, and they're all invested by both >> the library trust funds are also called special funds. That's in most cases on the general ledger, I think. Yeah, that's why >> we're referring to the special. >> Yeah. So, they probably are.
>> All right. So the clarification is these identify says we're going to accept this provision so that these funds could be managed according to this act. Are there
plans to change management of these funds given this new permission for? >> No. >> My understanding it gives us like this much more permission to do things that we can't like right now. It's more
restricted what we can do. This gives us a tiny bit more. This does not let us do what um >> investing in hedge fun. It's time. >> Our our our funds are invested through Bartholomew company and they invest they
a lot of their business is municipal in that. >> Sure. >> So they're well aware of what this will enable and what it will. >> More questions. Has Judy Markland North Street has anybody thought about setting up an
investment committee to further o oversight and perhaps advised by companies? >> I would say no. Um we have certainly not talked about that. It's it's we're going from being able to have this restricted
amount of stuff we can do to this amount of restricted stuff we can do. And that's well within I think our treasur collector's ability to monitor. It's not a hedge fund, right? It's going to be it's it's just gives a tiny bit more
rel. So no, it didn't seem like it would be convening a committee to oversight. >> It really increases the investment options, but it still focuses for some like safety, liquidity, and yield. >> Well, I understand that. >> Yeah. So good. >> It's right now the oversight is still
the treasure collector as it is right now. >> Understand that too. >> All right. Um do you feel your questions been answered at this point? >> Yes. >> Okay. Are there other questions that are
for this article before? >> All right. that in that case proceed to a vote. All those in favor in part. All those opposed. All right. Motion carries. Required and we're already
celebrating with our rainbow. All right. We're all glad to know that we weren't subject to the improvement investor act prior to this. Uh, and then this last one here, I
understand that um there's a particular that this might need to be modified. Someone on the floor form. Is that right? >> Motion. >> I'll ask for the article to be read and then entertain a motion to amend. >> Okay. All right. >> Article. Go ahead.
>> Mr. Moderator, I move that the town vote to amend the town of Wheatley zoning bylaw as it relates to battery energy storage systems and the permissibility of such systems within the aquifer protection district as shown in article
six of the warrant for this meeting. >> Second. >> All right. The article has been moved and second and we're open for uh modifications. Good. >> Mr. Moderator, I move that we revise the
reference to 300 kwatt hours to 250 kwatt hours in the article >> in article six. >> In article six. >> All right. And that one has been moved. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. So, we're opening up for discussion and questions, but then the
first vote would be to modify the number 300 to be 250. and then we would vote on whatever either the original or the modified one after that. So there'll be two votes that will be required. Are there questions or discussion about this
uh this article or the modification >> why shall I answer please? So, the state through its uh through the Department of Energy Resources is currently putting out new
regulations that apply to solar and battery energy storage systems and they're promulgating draft model bylaws for towns like ours uh regarding solar and battery energy storage systems. This
process has been unfolding while the planning board has been doing its work. When we crafted this original bylaw and chose 300 kilwatt hours as we did, we had a particular rationale for doing it. Subsequently, the state
released a model bylaw which set a tier of use their own thresholds. And without going into extraordinary detail, which I would love to in any moment you want, um I will simply say
that the state selected 250 kilowatt hours as what seemed to be the relevant tier. And so we felt as the planning board, we are still going to come up with a bylaw for the town in 2026 to
generally regulate battery energy storage systems in the town. This is only a very specific amendment related to battery storage in the aquifer protection district. But we want to make sure that what we do today is consistent with what we expect to do in the future.
and what we expect to do in the future is going to be consistent with the thresholds put out by the state. >> So that's why we're trying to make this consistent with where we see the state going. >> All right. Thank you for very lucid
explanation of the modification. Are there other questions about this modification? I'll just throw out the perspective of John L from Scotssky Circle, but as a water commissioner, uh when I walked in here and saw this tonight, I didn't think it was going to be 300. I didn't realize I wasn't going
to be. I would have advocated for 250 right away because of the resistance. What we've looked at when I talk to the community about the plate about it is you don't want to limit people from being able to have their own solar powered system with battery storage back up on the property. But you don't want
anything really large that would be difficult to handle in terms of you know it if when these things catch fires they do it takes a lot of water to put them out and a lot of toxins go with the water into the ground. So you don't want a big system up there. Probably don't want it anywhere but it's not certainly
not accurate. So my perspective is as water commissioner this is this is >> okay. All right. So there are any other comments questions regarding replacing 300 with 250. In that case we're ready to vote on the
modific modified language. Uh all those in favor of replacing 300 with 250 in article 6, please raise your card. All opposed. The motion is carried and now we proceed to a vote on the article six
as amended. Um, are there further questions or discussion before we do so? If not, all those in favor again raise your card. All those opposed. Uh, thank you very much. The motion is carried by the 23
vote required. Uh and that's the last article that I have on my journey second. >> All right. All those in favor one more time raise your All right. The meeting's
adjourned. Thank you.