--------- Um, this meeting is being recorded by the committee chairs. If any other person is recording, please notify me, the acting chairperson at this time. Okay. Um, we're going to be discussing agendas for subcommittees for the council. No discussion or comments will be entertained unless requested upon by
the committee chairs. And now we're going to do a roll call of members. >> President Wandelowski, >> not President. >> President Wandelowski, you are you are muted. Try to unmute them.
>> They are unmuted. >> I can only ask to unmute [clears throat] >> even the three little dots. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um Okay. So until we hear from you, Laura, we can't officially have you as a member
attending because you do need to be able to verbally respond. So we will continue on. >> Vice President Garrett >> here with bells on. >> Councelor Gol is not present at this time. Councelor Bullock
>> here. >> Councelor Brown >> here. >> Mr. Vice President, you do have a quorum. >> Woohoo. All right. Well, welcome. The meeting is now in order and uh we're going to start off with President's notes. So, uh President Wendelowski
submitted an item about a timeline for legal review of ordinances. That seems like an obvious A& item. If I may interject quickly, there were questions about the last ordinances that were sent to the
attorney [clears throat] >> um and the timeline to get them back because it took a little bit longer than usual. There are some reasons for that. Um we didn't get it to them until a week after the meeting to get to email it to them.
Um they have a lot of work that they do for the city. Not just Okay, Laura's in the waiting room. Yep. >> Um not just the council, but you know, all of the work. So Laura, we can see that you're still in attendance or in attendance again, but you are muted, so
you will need to unmute yourself. Um so we wanted to talk a little bit about that timeline that was longer than usual. um and just say that it didn't get to
them as quickly as it could have. We are a little behind. Um and we didn't get the response because they were working on other things until the day before the meeting. That's not usually how it goes,
but sometimes things interrupt our timeline. We will do our better in the future. do our do better in the future to try to get it to them quicker. But it would also help if committee chairs were to email us and
let us know like the next day what we should be doing because we don't always have the time to listen to the meeting minutes >> and jump out in front of it. >> Okay. So maybe not a discussion item, more of a thing for committee chairs to think about as we're going through this.
Sounds like >> has that been something that councelor Dolan Has she heard that yet? >> Um, I know that she has received emails because I have one of them here from the beginning of May um explaining why it
hadn't come back. >> Um, but she knows to send the reminder after the meeting. >> Can can you all hear me? >> Yes, we can now. >> Oh, good. I kept hitting on mute and it wasn't doing anything.
and it now has >> Laura at 66. >> Um, so I was just talking about the legal review of ordinances and how this time it was a little technical term
here, Kofluki. Um, and so we're going to work at doing better on our part, but I was also asking that if committee chairs could send us a a reminder the next day on things that
need to be done, that would be great. Um yeah, and it it would be helpful just um other folks just so um myself or Vice President Garrett know that there are things in the hopper so
that we can help with the like just figuring out timing with all because there's a whole bunch of things that are sort of moving through the system. So we just want to do a little bit of traffic control too. >> Yeah.
So that won't go to ANO, but might be helpful to send an email out to members just saying this is why this takes this amount of time given some logistical stuff. >> Yeah, it it is all logistics. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay.
All right. So, uh >> Oh, go ahead, >> Kathy. I was going to say, Kathy, do you do you want us to kind of send a a note to the full council just with with what we just discussed so that it's sort of
clear to everybody? >> If you want to do that, that's totally fine. Would you include the office in the email so that we know that it went out? >> I would never send something without you. >> A thanks, Laura. [clears throat]
>> You're welcome. Anything else on that, guys? We're good. All right. We got mayor's appointments and reappoints, board of health. Um, not going to read every name as much as they are lovely volunteers. Uh, and you know, so several different boards and that
will go to AN. Uh, we've got appropriate $100,000 for borrowings for repairs of poet tower and appropriate $100,000 for capital stabilization for repairs of poet tower. And I think that should by reasons of
money go to ways of bands. Okay. And then we have discussion of a possible zoning amendment to ban the development of data centers in Greenfield. That's an EDC item which I see is already on our agenda which is great. Um and let's go to EDC. So EDC,
we're meeting next Tuesday at 6:30. We've got a discussion about banning data centers from councelor Bullduck. Um, and you are more than welcome to attend the meeting and we can recognize you there to talk about it if you're interested. Um, proposed zoning amendments, uh, chapter 200, section
three. I believe this is about >> this is the agricultural zoning. >> This is the fridge thing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Is this the same one that we talked about last month or >> I will send an updated draft after going to the planning board but still with like the 48 hours to
>> Perfect. Okay. Great. And this is you don't want to do a public hearing at this spot. You want to keep talking. All right. So, that looks good. Um, update on the Hope Street RFP, which I think we're going to be seeing hopefully overseeing actually at this meeting. And then regular appearance rooms from uh
Amy Kane and the economic development department. And uh the only thing actually that's missing here is we also invite Hannah from the GBA if she's available. So if we can add plus uh the GBA, everything else looks
good as far as economic development is concerned. >> What will the topic for Hannah be? >> It's really the same kind of boilerplate like is there anything happening in Greenfield that the GBA is working on that you think we should know? It's effectively a chance for her to get a soap box and
>> we just need to have something to put on the agenda so the public knows what's going to be discussed. So would maybe GBA future events. >> Yeah. Or uh future events from the GBA and uh services they offer the business
community. >> It's also like what it already says for community economic development could just add. >> That's kind of what I was thinking. But >> okay. >> And really it's just our chance to ask them if we can help them with issues in future meetings. >> Okay. >> Uh we've got ANO which I can go through.
That's going to be Wednesday the 10th. Um, at 6:30, we got the same appointments from the president's notes are here. We've got amending the city code by adding a rental registry. Um, amending the city code uh by retaining unclaimed excess equity. The city code
by adding chapter 460 zero emissions first vehicle policy on amending the tag sale section of the code. There are no new discussion items. Um there are continued discussion of items on public assemb as assembly uh ordinance as it's
written, a proposed new ordinance to authorize the treasurer to enter a payment agreement for taxes and a possible change to the regular monthly meeting as requested by the mayor. Uh I think that should be good. Just one clarifying thing. These three under the
appointments on page two here, we've got the rental registry, the unclaimed access equity, and the zero emissions burst vehicle policy. I believe all those have gone through public hearing at this point. Uh they went through it last month. >> Okay. >> Um so this is just I believe this is a
motion to recommend or not recommend. >> Okay. >> And I'm less certain about the tag sales fund. I just don't want to miss a public hearing. I wasn't sure if anyone had any information on if that was the case or not. I think that's correct. I can write myself.
>> Yeah, that was my understanding, too. >> I'll double check. >> I again, I think you're correct, but I don't want to say yes and not be >> Yeah, I'll give myself a note to just make sure that's all right. >> And then, so that's everything for Anna.
>> I was going to say I don't know if because there were I know the Zero EV and maybe something else. We hadn't gotten the lawyers comments back and so I can't remember if it made it through public hearing or not.
>> The I know the registry was the other one that didn't get through the lawyer at the time of last month's meeting, but it did get I know that one got through public hearing. I would have to look at the agenda from last month to confirm about the EV because I mean frankly I was there for the registry so that's
what I was paying attention to. >> Um so yeah, we should we should double check that. Yep. Yep. That was my >> You've been working on that a while. Um All right. And so >> also confirm with the discussion items
about the public assemblies ordinance. Um >> if it went through a hearing or >> uh it didn't go through a hearing, but I was it's saying proposed amendments. I haven't submitted other amendments. So I'm can it just be like discussion of it as is I guess. Is that
>> Oh, instead of if new amendments are submitted, >> it's just what's currently. >> Yeah, that seems reasonable. >> So, we'll just use the current language. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Yeah, the strike out of the parenthetical. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Thank you.
>> Anything else on ANO, folks? >> All right. Uh Sarah, it's your ball game with community relations. >> That seems like what we're talking about. Youth internship, civic engagement and communications website, social media handbook, committee fair, precinct meetings.
>> Can you tell me what a committee fair is? >> Um, this was an idea inspired by um councelor Baldick because of Brattle Grove. They have a board committee commission fair and that could be a fun
way to boost some engagement and fill the vacancies of the 51 committees that we have. >> I love it. take over Court Square with a bunch of uh tables. >> Yes, that would be the hope. >> Okay. So, you feel good about this meeting? That will be Monday, June 15th
at 6:00 up here. >> And uh Councelor Bulock, your Ways and Means Committee has a pretty full agenda if you want to talk about it. >> Well, tonight's tonight, so that's not being changed at all. [laughter] >> That would be illegal. >> That's what we're doing. Um
and uh the 16th our regularly scheduled meeting. This is true. We will be discussing um the community preservation budget which was tabled. Um, and if
there's any lingering operating budget um, conversations that need to happen. Uh, like there's potentially I don't know what's going to happen tonight obviously, but um, there's potentially some lingering questions for departments. Those department heads may be invited back, but I'll let you know
before at the meeting if they need to be added specifically, but let's just leave that continued operating budget deliberations on there. And that all looks correct to me. >> Yeah. And then so you got a community relation or preservation on the 16th.
And now we are to the city clerk report. >> So the question I have is for the city council if they expect you can come in. It's okay. >> Um if they expect that we will need a second
>> operating budget meeting. If so, we should get it posted at the same time. So, this says Thursday, June 18th, because that's how we've done it in the past, Wednesday night and a Thursday night. Um, I had mentioned it to
President Wandowski and we weren't sure if that would be needed, but if there's a slight chance that it's needed, we should get it posted so we can do it the next day. But
it's all up to you guys. >> I mean to me if we don't need it, we don't need it. So and it's path practice. It seems like a good system. How you folks feel? >> Yeah. And before we've done it where we like say we all sort of agree that if
we're done like if we're not done by 11, we stop the meeting or we pick a time. I think I think we picked 11. >> Yes, we did that. >> Um we have done that. Yes. And then so if we're still going at 11,
we stop at 11 the first night and we re start again the second night. >> There was a year where we put it in and it's 11 as a hard stop. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And it would be my preference to have that be a thing we like decide in the moment rather than it being like we're forbidden from going past 11.
>> Yeah. It's like 11:07. >> Let's just do this, you know, get it done, you know, so we don't have to all come back the next night. And I think that can be done [clears throat] and we would just rather than adjourn the meeting >> we will continue the meeting to a date certain the meeting will already have been posted
>> for the next day >> right >> um >> Laura do you agree with having it posted just in case >> I do agree because I also see like the number of um ordinances for that night
Um, so I think it's better to be safe than sorry. And if you know, as you guys said, if we if we ended up going till 11:15 and then we're done, I'd much rather do that than go into the next day. But we've got to let people know.
>> Yes. All right. We'll get that done. Um, >> sorry. Can I ask a question just about are those ordinances or Well, I guess we're going to get there. I can ask when I get there. We didn't get to city council draft yet. Um, Um, and community relations and ways and
means for July need to be rescheduled because this is one of those funky months that council occurs prior to the ways and means regular meeting date.
>> Sure. >> And yeah, um, and I think you had said something about the community relations July meeting possibly needed to be rescheduled. I'm I'm not sure. >> I don't know about that or I don't think I said that. Okay. Yeah.
>> So, I apologize. >> Um I know that in July ANO is moving from Wednesday, July 8th to Monday, July 13th.
So, there is an opening for Ways and Means to meet the week before the council meeting >> on Wednesday. >> Yes, >> I can't. I'm out of town. Okay. >> Why can't we do the 14th, which would be our regular? >> Because that's that's not your regular
economic development. >> Um, what about the 7th? How many things do we >> seventh? We have committee chairs. >> We just do a twofer. >> You want to do it [clears throat] after? I love having both these meetings in one.
>> So means time. >> So are we going to do 6:30 or we do do we want to give a little grace to committee chairs and do 6:45? We want to do 6:30. No grace. Get it done. Get it done. >> It's done, guys. >> I like it.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Um Kathy, are you feeling okay with your report? I am >> great. So, we got our draft agenda here. Um, appropriating the entire city operating budget. So, you know, no small item. Uh, the water enterprise fund, the
sewer enterprise fund, G sets, we've got revolving fund budgets. Uh, we've got our community preservation budget as discussed earlier and all the different items through number 14 here, appointments from ANO. And it
looks like according to these Jenna items, those uh ordinances did make it through a public hearing because they're here as motions. >> So that seems like a good confirmation because I trust Tammy more than my memory. >> Yeah, [laughter] we need both. >> Yep. And we got a first reading on these poet seat repairs for $200,000.
Um but nonetheless, it's a symbol of town. So sorry for the comments, but that's right there is a first reading a zoning amendments proposal on. And this is again the one that councelor Brown was talking >> and that's the official submission. So we'll have >> Right. I I didn't do an official
submission because it's still in discussion. >> You have done a submission um an a submission by June 17th or you're not sure? >> I'm not sure. I can try to work I can work on that after planning board and
EDC. That's like two meetings in between. So why not? There's no pressure. How about if we just put here possible depending on submission from from council. >> Okay, thank you. That's and so I'll just get that over with time to spare
>> getting lots of feedback I'm sure. So >> can I ask my question about the ordinances now is in the past what we have done but sometimes is just take general operating budget and like first readings.
Do we have to take these ordinances because of a timebound issue or is it possible that we could delay some of these or is there ones that we could delay? >> The hearing happened last month and we have what 60 days is that right? >> You're thinking zoning.
>> This is general ordinance. So you don't have that timeline. There isn't. Um, so having them on here would be the normal process, but because it's budget, I don't see a reason, unless committee chairs or council Golib objects
>> to having these put on for July because July the budget will be over with. Mhm. >> Um, we can ask >> like in the past I think we've done like the appointments so that we don't hold up appointments.
Um, but like I'm just thinking like the rental registry and housing inspections. Like that's something that I think we should have like space to debate and take public comment on. >> So we can send an email to Gallup and uh
John and Laura. I mean, yeah, I I hear what you're saying and I have been trying to this thing has been so much time and it is a bad timing being that it's the ag the month of full budget. >> My inclination would at least for that one that I'm tied to keep it there and
table it if we're running late. >> Okay. >> Like I'm not going to keep everyone there. >> Which one are you talking? >> Uh the rental registry. So we can leave them there. Yeah. And then and then say have say without objection, >> these will be moved to. We could do that.
>> Yeah. I have no interest in keeping anyone hostage to get this thing done. But if we can get it done, I would be beyond thrilled. >> I totally agree. I just think that sometimes this thing happens where like after 10:00 at night I am not able to be fully
>> present in a discussion and like responsive in a way that you know and you never know like you I can't remember if it was last year the year before we had no public comment about budget so who knows that could happen again >> it was the year before they're all
blending together but >> no I think your point is >> I just don't want to be making a decision about some of these things at 11. >> Okay. So, do we want to ask or do we want to leave them on? >> I think we want to leave them on. I I'm fine with leaving.
>> Leave them on. Warren says >> the president [laughter] said it. >> Can Can we do the put the budgets first on this budget stuff like first on the agenda? >> Yes. um as well as the appointments and then any ordinances would come after
budget and that'll just make it easier. >> Yther table or >> Yep. That is that is how the draft shows. It shows it for the operating budget, the community preservation budget,
the appointments, then the ordinances. >> Can I ask one more question, Kathy? Did I see maybe an email back and forth that the things that we did la that we voted last month on some of the capital having to do with sewer stuff might have to be
voted in again or am I >> you you did that is not on this agenda to be discussed but I will be emailing you tomorrow. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. I just more things on the agenda possibly everyone.
>> Yeah. Great. >> So, uh, we got our zoning amendment proposal potentially and that is all that we got on the agenda and we have a bunch of people here ready to go >> for ways and means >> for ways and means. So, I think we should adjourn. So, if we can get a uh
roll call for a German that would be fantastic. >> President Welowski. >> Yes, please. >> Vice President Garrett >> 100%. >> Councelor Golov is still not here. Councelor Bullock. >> Yes. >> Councelor Brown.
>> Yes. >> Who made the motion? Who seconded the motion? >> Or else this meeting would never have ended. >> And it is 6:27. Meeting is adjourned. Part: 2
We are going to call this meeting to order. Uh this meeting is being recorded by the ways and means committee. If any other person present are doing the same, you must notify the chairperson at this time. >> Sorry
from the recorder. Remind me of your name. Madison. Okay. Thank you. Um, we'll do a roll call of members. We have everybody present. Thank you. Councelor Botmley >> here.
>> Councelor Sibnells >> here. >> Councelor Williams >> here. >> Councelor Webb >> here. >> I am here as well. We have no approval of minutes. Um, sorry I did not put the sheet out.
I will if you are online and you would like to do public comment, you can put your name and address in the chat box. If you are here and would like to give public comment, you can just come up one at a time and sign. Um, but I'll take
public comment now and you have three minutes. I'll lend my pen to Sorry about that. I'm just getting [clears throat] getting my timer out here. >> I brought I brought a written statement.
Great. How can we help? >> Can you just tell us your name and where you live when you're >> My name is Donna Dell. I am chair of the recreation commission and I live at 20
River Street and I'm here tonight because I wanted to share with you directly my experience um in terms of our budget cycle this year for the recreation department. Um and so I'm going to pretty much stick to my script
here. Uh when we submitted our budget, uh we submitted a total of 300,000 84 $545. And um then we heard from director Moore that she met with the mayor and the
mayor um wanted to cut the middle school position. And so at our um meeting directly following, we were looking at a budget that was reduced by 51,682. So, we held our regular meeting on March
19th and the mayor joined us uh and talked about all of the fiscal issues that we're facing this year and how we have this huge uh budget gap because of health insurance. Um she wanted to ask
us to work with her, find a solution. So, we had an emergency meeting uh on March 30th to come up with some scenarios to figure out how we could make it work. Um, and what we came up with was a proposal that pretty much
stripped everything but salaries from our budget. Um, it resulted in a savings of $17,600. Um, we also had a a pledge from the friends of Greenfield Recreation to put up 7,500 bucks to help cover these costs
that would be moving to revolving. And we also um voted to increase the fees of the middle school afterchool program by 60%. And so then we voted on that proposal. And then Christy Moore and I met with the mayor on April 8th to go
over this, but it was quite clear from that meeting that it was not going to be something that she was going to be able to budge on and we were told it's going to be in your bud. It's not going to be in your budget and that was pretty much
that. So currently in your budget book, the proposal that you see from the mayor is for $249,63, [clears throat] which represents that subtraction of the 7,500 bucks. Um, and I know that you have been hearing from
young people all across the city about how important this afterchool program is to them. Um, and I also know that um, at the city council meeting it was discussed that we could fund it through revolving. And I just feel like that's a
big uh, part of the confusion. By law, the recreation department can only fund 18 hours a week from their revolving fund. And so this position not only provides 16 and a quarter hours per week of direct service to children, when
you consider planning and you consider the fact that they're at every event that we do and you consider the fact that they're in the office providing customer service, we just really felt like we don't want to lose this position. >> Continue your thought.
>> Okay. Um and also um this program went away in 2010 or 11. It took us 15 years to get it back. And I really am afraid that if we don't have this program, if it goes away, it's going to be really
hard to get back. So, um, shall I just leave you with my comments then? Okay. >> Thank you so much. We appreciate that. Yeah. And there's Molly Mayor. Molly Merritt. >> Molly Merritt.
>> Hi. Can you hear me? >> Yep. >> Hi. U Molly Merritt. I live in precinct 7. Um, yeah, I I kind of just want to echo what the previous speaker said, although I'm obvious I'm not quite as um
directly involved as as they are. Um, and I really appreciate um all the details that they laid out. Um, I'm a Greenfield resident. I'm a parent. Um, [clears throat] I really want us to fund the middle school
wreck position for all the reasons that um, the previous speaker just mentioned. Um, I've been coming to these meetings for the last couple of weeks and just have heard from so many parents saying the same thing that this is really
important for for our city. And um [clears throat] it's my understanding that Greenfield has some money from unrestricted general government aid from the state. Um so although I think it would be most
prudent to have that position funded out of the city budget and just like plan for it every year. Um, I really hope that we can fund that position um, one way or another this year and we and we don't have to lose
that. Um, so just here to make that comment and to thank uh, Ways and Means and to thank the council and everybody for all your hard work during budget season. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Is there anyone else online or in
person who's here for public comment? You can come up. >> Okay, Pamela, we'll do you right after this person. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Dan Pip, um 133 Franklin Street. Um I
Well, I'm a commissioner on the rec commission. Um and I'm gonna pick up where Donna left off. On page 155 of your budget book, there's a list of recent accomplishments which sums up the work of the rec department on a yearly basis. I have
pasted it here and hope you will ask yourselves, how do you do all that with four staff and how will you manage to do that with three? We've delivered over 400 hours of programming, including 65 programs and 10 special events,
attracting 20,000 attendees and enrolling 1,200 kids. Managed 12 public parks and operated the Green River Swimming Area, hosting 10,278 seasonal visitors and coordinating 50 pavilion and field rentals.
produced legacy community events including the winter carnival, the Independence Fire Day celebration, Mudson Mayhem, and the 42nd annual triathlon. Raised $32,000 in community sponsorship to support municipal uh recreational
programs and maximize investment fund. I know this is a difficult budget year and I understand the difficult choices the mayor has had to make, but I feel it is my obligation as a member of the recreation commission to stand before you and ask if there is a way to keep
this program. If we can fund this staff, even at 80% and continue services uninterrupted for the upcoming year, we will have some time to plan for next year by finding grant income and fundraising. We can potentially charge
the structure of a revolving change the structure of a revolving fund to allow full-time employees. The switch to GIC for health insurance could bring savings and budget relief for all departments. The recreation department and commission will do
whatever we can to keep this program going. And at this point, city council is our last option. I've been looking at statues during the process and I know that the council is fairly limited in what they can do. It seems our last vote will be chapter 44, section 33.
>> Thank you so much. Thank you, >> Pamela Goodwin. >> Oh, she said she's just listening. >> Oh, just listening. Okay. Anybody else in person or online who's here for public comment? Okay, we are going to move on. We have no
public hearings tonight. Um, so we are going to move straight to the budget. Um, I have agreed to let our clerk go first.
Uh so she will present first and see what page you are. Oh 177. >> So I don't really have a presentation. >> Yeah. No, just no one's expected to have a presentation. >> So there are four budgets that I overhe
oversee. The clerk's office, the council office, the registars's office, and the election office. Um, thankfully my staff remain the rest of the lines in the budget have
been reduced, but it was expected. Um, and we're going to use the funds wisely and sparingly and hope that we make it through this fiscal
year budget. Um, and it's just we're going to hope and work to stay within the lines and if we can't stay within the lines, I'm going to knock on the mayor's door. >> Um, is Sorry. Anything else that you
Okay. No. Um, is there areas that you are most concerned about in these budgets that you think you might go over? So, for the council budget, um the
public hearing line, for the legal ads that are required, >> it really all depends on what the council does. For ordinances, we have to have public hearings. For appropriations, we have to have public hearings. For example,
this last month's council public hearing cost almost $800. This month's council public hearing is about 650. So we all know everything is going up
that includes ads in the newspaper >> and the are required not only by our charter but also mass general law. >> So that that is one line that I I know will be open.
>> Okay. But it's the bottom line. Sorry. It's the bottom line that the department budget that in the end is what matters. So we might have a little way making up for it in other lines. >> Okay.
>> I was just going to ask if there are ways that council can organize public hearings to make it cheaper. >> So we try to group them. >> Okay. so that we don't just have public hearings on one item.
Um, but the more items you have, for example, last month with all the capital, the longer it is, the longer it is, the more expensive it is. But if we can get um you know, if there are public hearings for newer amendments for ordinances, if
we can have the public hearing for four of them rather than one of them, it will delay the committee's work, but it will save a little bit of money. Um appropriations and financial items come
when the city needs it. So that is less of a control, you know, being able to publish it. But again, we usually get a couple at a time. So, you know, >> is there any way that the recorder would
give you a break, give us a break? [laughter] >> Um, but since it is sort of like a >> Right. But we have to remember this is not a locally owned company. >> That's right. Yeah. how the how they stay afloat is right.
Um, >> I would always be willing to ask the question, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear, you know, we're just not able to do that because of expenses. You know, they
still have to pay all their staff and paper and ink and, you know, so we can ask. It's >> the worst we're going to hear is no. Any other questions for Kathy or questions on the clerk council registar or
election budget? Okay. So was a lean budget. So thank you lean everywhere. >> Yes. Um, mayor, I am going to ask you for everyone. I think if basically for this
one, there's nothing specific that was cut, but where, you know, where would you put back if there if the unrestricted government aid or um other funding comes through?
Is this one that you have a like highlight where you're like, I would put back X? No. Okay. >> Yeah. Come upstairs. >> Yes. >> Or if somebody's over, we'll change that.
>> Okay. Thank you. Okay. We will now go in order. So, we have accounting. >> Welcome. for >> finance and accounting 61. >> [clears throat] >> Okay, so this is a fairly straightforward
budget of the total of 56,000 30,000 plus salaries includes payroll caps payable to consolidate our accounts payable
person and from halfime to 35 hour a week who's taking over licensing as well. So that's what you'll see in the licensing uh section when you get there. That has dropped down to $12,000 a year. Um and
the big increase is in the expenses. Um 166,000 for software assessments. That's our MUNS program uh which is our entire billing um accounting uh assessment uh sends out the bills uh
for property taxes. that is the nuts andbolt system uh that has gone up a little bit and we're also adding a module uh for HR in order for them to be able to uh hire uh online on board
online and get that into the 21st century not paper uh process. So uh that accounts for that uh roughly $50,000 increase uh there. So uh again very straightforward
uh software galleries and the rest is some small items memberships meetings seminars. >> Great. Um any questions from the committee?
Okay. This one was pretty clear. The only big increase we had was that the expenses which you explained. Did you have one meeting? >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much. >> Um, we will go to the accessessor.
That's 50 something. 58 >> 58. >> Welcome. All right. Anything you want to share with us? >> Uh, let's see. Basically, I'm here to answer any questions that you have. Um, our main increases are that this is a
certification year. So, we had to um hire an outside contractor to get that finished. That's the bulk of the increase. Um, all of the other increases are basically tools that I need to do the job that generate money in the city. So, each tool that we have um continues
to basically pay it for itself. Um, but we do need those tools in order to do the job that we need to do. Great. Okay. Any questions for the assessor? >> Anything else? You um I don't know
whether now is the time for it. Um, we do need another vehicle. I don't know if that's part of the thing as well. It was brought to my attention the we're we're using our own individual cars right now and that's kind of a concerns and all of
those things. So, we >> would plead for that as well so that we can um do that more quickly. >> Okay. >> But other than that, we're out there ching along doing our day. >> Great. Thank you so much. Thank you.
>> Supposed to share the card with somebody. >> Yeah. That wasn't there. >> Is there a capital? >> It was under capital. >> Yeah. And they were going to share >> and someone was going to share you. Who's sharing the car under capital?
>> So you have some of the capital we've got so far. Um who's sharing capital? That's going to come forward. >> Share. sharing. Wasn't there a car in budget that was being shared between departments? >> Um,
sharing was I think assessment. Yeah. >> Oh, a half day. >> So, it would be half like you would get it half the day and then >> Yeah. Okay. >> And that'll actually that'll work just fine.
>> The other half of the day. Yeah, >> cuz some of the parking spots are drivable or like drive to spots and like the lots and others are not. Um,
and do you all current I know we're like this is capital, but do you all currently have a a car? >> No, we don't. >> Okay. So our our car completely broke down and isn't drivable, which is very sad.
>> So this halftime car will be >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And how long has it been that you haven't had one? >> Uh a couple of months. During the winter, it wasn't too bad because we weren't out there doing our thing. But um now that it's summer, really kind of do need that. And we're paying for it
one way or the other because I, you know, we're paying for mileage for the assistant if that's what we're doing. Yeah, for insurance reasons alone, we really for liability and all of those things, we really do need to find another solution, but because it's
costing us the range. >> I will I'm going to email you a couple questions. Um, >> okay. >> On like mileage, permit, things like that so we can Okay, do some math. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> All right. Okay. Um, now we will go to building inspector. Oh, I think I saw online. What page is that? Um, >> no, I don't think it's planning. It should be the Department of Inspections
and Enforcement. >> Can you >> Can you hear me? >> We hear you. >> Okay, great. Uh, I lost my video. Um, but I guess if you can hear me, that's the most important thing. >> Yes, [clears throat] we hear you well.
>> Okay. Uh, my name's Mark Snow, building commissioner for the city of Greenfield's inspection department. I do have uh three budgets that fall under the inspections department uh um that I oversee. Uh the first one is the
inspections um budget itself. Uh like the other budgets that's being uh presented tonight, it's pretty straightforward. Uh there are slight increases in a couple line items, but uh again, those are very slight and um those are to
cover the additional expenses due to increases. Um the second budget is the uh weights and measures. awaits and measures. Uh the city of Greenfield has a contract with the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts where the state inspectors come in and they do all the inspections and then they send invoices to us. Uh that is a contractual agreement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the city of
Greenfield. [clears throat] The third uh budget is the furcog inspection program. the city of Greenfield's um contracts with the county uh for electrical, plumbing, and gas inspections.
Uh the county inspectors are the ones that perform those inspections. The department inspections department is responsible for all data entry and process and permits and things of that nature. Um, [clears throat]
again, that budget is a contractual agreement between the city of Greenfield and the county. >> Great. Any questions for the department head? >> Yeah, I'm sorry. My back's to you. I'm
sorry. Uh, the weights and measures, what is that? What does that involve? weights and measures. Those are all the measuring devices that that are in grocery stores. Uh the gas pumps, uh any device that is used or scale to weigh um
product for sale. >> Okay. >> Is >> I didn't realize there was an inspection process for that. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Like to make sure that the consumer is getting the amount. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions?
>> Great. Thank you so much for attending. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. Have a nice evening. >> You too. >> Too many papers here. >> Central >> central meet. We did talk to him once. So I don't >> 97.
>> No. >> Well, he's he's up every once in a while. >> We got a quick quick view. What number of patients? >> 97. >> Um, I don't think we have them here, but
that's okay. We have a I think he has a decrease across the board. >> Yeah, >> if you have Yes, Bradley. uh he's not here tonight, but let me tell you, he's one of our most
economical people and um he's actually taken on more things from other departments. There's an upkeep of of other, you know, doing like grounds, etc.
and still comes under and was calling me at the last minute to say, and this is going to be a little bit under. is just I just wanted to say what a good job they all do over there helping each other. They help with all kinds of events that happen throughout the city.
They were they're helping um you know recreation when they were putting up the the lights at the jingle fest etc. They're right out there doing the things and do a fabulous job and took on more and come out with less. And last year at
the end when I was struggling at the very end of last year because it gets to be the very end and you have a shortage of you know $50,000 he offered to make another cut of his. >> So
but they do and they do a fabulous job what they do. Electricians. save a couple of electricians, a plumber, um, and five custodians that take care of all of the buildings and then every problem that happens, including something like we just had poet.
>> Mhm. >> Um, I was wondering, I know there's been a transfer of building maintenance from other departments to central maintenance. was wondering if you could give an overview of do the department heads send that budget line item to
central maintenance or does central maintenance make up the numbers that they need? >> No, what actually happens is we we talk about it >> and I I will say like and actually I think probably it was Pugs's idea. It should be one person that's ordering all
of the things for the city buildings and it just makes sense and it's more economical. um he had offered to do that and I said okay let's do these with this couple of things and you know they so they talked the two department heads talked and you
know he gave me a number and and an estimate after that and then the last question I had when we looked at the police budget they had 6,000 for building maintenance and then in this the central maintenance they have 2,000
for police maintenance materials and 3,000 for cleaning supplies. So, I'm wondering is that do they need all of that all together? And then can we also transfer that building materials maintenance to central maintenance so it's more
uniform? >> Um, so I'm not going to speak to that one, but I will answer you that later because I don't want to misspeak. >> Totally. Um, there were some things that we did not transfer from one line to the other. And the only thing that's coming
to mind right now is a very special detergent that was used for cleaning um, turnout gear for fire. So, there are some things that you might think, you know, um, detergent or, you know, I
don't know, toilet cleaners, etc. is the same but there are some things that would just pertain to one person's budget that you might not know about or that might not be included in that. So I will look into that further council. That's good.
>> I have a question on um under the contracted services this equipment rental is 23,800. What equipment is being rented? Because very often we in our discussions there
was uh an issue around renting costing more than actual purchasing over time. >> Well, just for example, right now we are still we're renting the generator to the generator that we
get. >> Um so the new generator that comes. So sometimes you don't actually know what that's going to be that you might be renting, but um again, he did like a fabulous job of getting the price down of whatever it
was that he was going to be renting, but we didn't expect it to um not have the generator. Punks was checking that generator every single month, which is how we knew that it was that it was not functioning properly.
Um, and then we needed to rent one and we found that that wasn't working properly. And I think when we had the sewer back up here, um, we we do own a lot of our own equipment in um, plumbing and electric, all of which I'm I
couldn't even describe truthfully, but there are certain things that you might not have. Um, when we had to move the safe, you know, when we had to move that [clears throat] 2,000 pound safe, I thought we were going to be looking at some kind of a special tool that, you
know, would saw safes in half because you it's something that's unexpected. So, that would be opening. Did I answer your questions? >> No, not really. Okay. >> Um, sorry. U maybe I wasn't clear. But, so the $23,850
represents the rental of what? What is do do you know what that is or is that over a number of things? >> No, that would be over a number of things. >> Okay. So, and I usually go through most of the line items to see if they've been using
that, but so did he. So, if he has a line item in his budget, um I go through to see where they are in that budget to see if it can say stay the same or if we've used all of it. So, I do not know what that was for, but I am sure that it
was for different things that the city did not own that stopped functioning or that we needed for a special malfunction or a special project. >> Okay. Thank And I think when we heard from DPW,
DPW explained that um like they'll obviously whatever vehicles or whatever central maintenance uses, but there is times where they have things that can't do what needs to be
done. And so they do have to like I'm remembering that he shared something about they don't have a machine that can get like on the other side of the Green River. >> Do you remember what see? >> Um I just use an example like they've had to rent like scissor lifts for
changing like lights in the auditorium like that kind of equipment that we just don't have because we don't use it very often. >> Okay. So it makes more sense to rent it as opposed to purchase I And like DPW will rent the stuff that's for like the grounds and exterior, but then central
maintenance, if it's like anything like building, city building infrastructure, then it would fall under central maintenance. >> Okay. Thank you. >> In addition, we borrow as well from other towns when we can um for the whatever you call it the that pushes the
road down the >> smusher. The smoosher. Yeah, >> the smusher. have one of those. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. It's not my best thing, but it's okay. >> Laughing at her. >> Ways and means. You know,
>> we borrow that from another municipality and on at times another municipality would borrow from us. Right now, unless it's replaced, we're borrowing ambulance because both of our egos >> something. So, so we give we we loan and
borrow. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Um we are going to go to page 57, community and economic development. >> I had I used to know them all because I had a kid who was obsessed with equipment. [laughter]
>> Telescoping low. >> My three-year-old said telescoping low. Okay, we're on page 57. >> Not a thing that appears in my budget. [laughter] >> Uh, anything you would like to share with us? >> Um, I think my budget is pretty straightforward. The one thing I would
highlight is, um, we were very grateful that we didn't lose a staff person in this year's budget and I think that was in part due to the fact that we were able to secure a federal grant which is covering a portion of the my salary. So, if you look at our department budget, over 51% of our salary line item is
grant-f funded and not a burden on the city. Um, and [clears throat] I think my department does a good job at um nosing out wherever we can grant funds that would pay for um our staff salaries. Happy to answer questions.
>> Thank you. Any questions for economic Okay, thank you. Thank you for coming. >> Um, Council on Aging online. >> Hello. >> Good. How's my audio?
>> You're great. >> Good. Thank you. Um, so hi, my name is Hope McCary. I'm the director of the Greenfield Senior Center. This is my 20th Ways and Means budget meeting. >> Um, and I have to say each year is no
less nerve-wracking than the previous one. Um, because you all are deliberating the city budget and it's not easy work. So, I want to thank you, the members of the Ways and Means Committee for your service to the city of Greenfield because I know how many
hours you're putting in and all the energy. Um, I also want to thank my colleagues, my other department heads. Um, we all work together and I'm really grateful for that. There's a lot of teamwork and um, camaraderie and so it's
tough because it's like we're slicing up the pieces of the pie, right? Um, but we all work together really well. And uh lastly, but most importantly, I want to thank the mayor and her team because they are leading us through a really difficult time and they're super
supportive. I think this is the hardest budget year that I've seen in my time. Um so we have a 12.5% reduction. That is significant. We'll figure out a way to do it because we
always do. That's we're our job is to fulfill the mission. Um but I need to be clear with you like super clear that any further reductions is really going to impact our ability to maintain core
services. Um we're down to the bare bare minimum. Um and I think you know we all have the shared goal of taking care of our seniors. Um, Greenfield, I say this every year, Greenfield has to be a place
that is a good place to grow up and grow old. Both. We need both. And um, so I'm going to ask you to bear that in mind when you're making the final decisions for the budget. Um, you have the budget in front of you. According to, you know,
estimating math, there's more than 5,000 seniors in Greenfield. The city budget is paying $39 per senior for a year's worth of free fitness classes, free meals, recreational, cultural, social service
support. Um, the senior tax workoff program, which our department administers, supplies 25 workers that are spread across all of the city departments. So, we're proud of our place in the human services department
and I welcome any questions that you might have. >> Thank you so much. Any questions for council on a >> I have um a question. What is being what are you losing with that 12% decrease?
>> Uh so that's a great question. Thank you. So, our our current staff is two full-time employees and a 30-hour a week uh fiscal office manager who manages all of the budgetary things that you're dealing with right now. The only place
that we could reduce with that kind of cut was out of personnel because you can see our ordinary maintenance isn't there's not much take there. And so and the mayor and I consulted on this and we went you know we talked a lot like it's
not an easy cut. We focused on the customerf facing positions as being the priority. So uh my position I'm heavily dealing with the public all day providing uh social services and and managing the operations
and the activities director who um makes everything happen. And so we made the very difficult decision to look at the administr excuse me administrative side of things and reduce the fiscal office
manager's hours to 18 from 30. Um that's significant. So the new activities director and myself will take on the duties that uh the difference between the 18 hours and the 30 hours. Well, >> thank you so much.
>> Thank you. Any other questions for council? >> Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Energy. I think >> Hi everyone. >> Hi.
>> Thank you. >> Do you want me to just >> Yeah, we're on page 100. If anyone's following along, you can go for it. >> Sure. So, I guess I'll I'll introduce myself as
well because I don't believe I've met all of you, but I'm Carol Collins. I'm the energy and sustainability director for the city. And um I am uh just want to explain this budget's a little different than some of the other
departments. the main bulk of our budget is paying all the energy bills. So those are fixed costs that cannot be uh changed. So given that there are constraints, the only place to make any
cuts was staffing. So I have um I will be going to 3/4 time for FY27. I have a 6 assistant who's fabulous. So, we are super bare bones and um there aren't
enough hours in the day because as you may know, every single thing needs to be dealt with. But um that's how we're going to proceed and uh I think
it it's going to be tough. We pay all the bills and track all the energy and report on it and make recommendations and and pull projects together, but we don't um have any control over operating the buildings. And that's where we've
seen uh increases. So, right now, the large bulk of my work is is just trying to get that back into um where we've been historically. So, just an FYI for FY26, we're already
at our budget and and so we'll go over as we pay the remainder of May's and June's bills. There are many many uh plans in place to do what's called retrocommissioning, which means going through each bill building and and
figuring out what's going on and how we can get back to where we were. But it's incredibly time intensive and that's the reason I have consulting services and um I
did my best for FY27. We have our I know our energy costs on the supply side, but another issue that I'll just raise that I know has been uh on everyone's minds is how crazy the electric bills are going up mainly. And that is completely
out of our control. That's the other half of the bill, the delivery. And also just um Eversource in particular has become uh much more opaque in their billing. So, it's it's it's just
incredibly time consuming to figure out what's going on, why there are increases, how to address and and we're actually working with other communities right now to seek um further action from the state because it's it's been going
on for uh way too long and it's a shame that we have to spend all our time on this when there's so many great projects that should be getting implemented. So, I I continue to do whatever I can [clears throat] and um help other
departments reach goals and uh I'm super psyched that everyone's on board with the EVs now because it's it's like such a good time and and it's just working out really well. And um yeah, I guess I'm in a dark place literally and
figuratively because I have terrible lighting, but I'm happy to take any questions. >> Great. Thank you so much. Any questions for >> Great. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time. >> Thank you so much.
>> Uh G set >> I can't >> that's just 177. Is there another >> 176? >> 17. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Although we do have to um the
numbers in the book aren't correct. So we do have to have updated sheets to pass around. There might be some national ones here. >> The valance of it is very simple. >> And the number in the um the number in our agenda is wrong too
just for the enterprise fund. >> Yeah. >> So uh for G set this year um the total number is uh 2,382970. that's essentially flat with last year
which was 2,390. Um was the uh the order for fiscal year 26. Um I think costs that have gone up for us are are pretty much the same as for everyone. Health costs have gone up
quite a bit. Um we uh also had a rent increase. Um but we've offset that mostly by mainly two things. Uh first of all, the the debt service for us has dropped. It'll drop every year by about 12 or
$13,000 alternating um for the next few years, which is always helpful. We're past the point where we're paying the elevated debt payment. That helps. Um and we had um uh our operations manager
moved on this year. She was a wonderful person and employee, but we really try hard not to just replace people to replace people and we worked um to really identify what the main functions
are. We follow something called a racy matrix uh which is how you identify jobs that people do. And we ended up determining that it would be best for us to promote some people from within and pay them a bit more and to uh contract
out for financial services. And between that and continuing a trend that we've had for years now, which is really working hard as a tech company to to take advantage of all the things you can do. Uh we're implementing things
like document intelligence which will obiate the need to have any kind of a filing person because we automatically extract all the data we need for all of our invoices and everything that's properly filed in the correct place. And
we um we do use AI in certain uh applications primarily to help us write code to write a first um draft of code. And we're teaching our team to be validators, which means the financial
clerk we have doesn't have to do all that filing herself. She can look through and make sure everything's correct and then still have time to do some more advanced financial modeling and analysis. So we try really hard to be efficient. Um with uh one less person
um we pay less for pension, we pay [clears throat] less for uh indirects. So we were able to keep our budget um pretty much the same. We're projecting that we'll be in the black this year and next year as well. Uh only other area
where we've um uh really had any kind of an increase is we do want to spend a little bit more in advertising and marketing. We've been very very bare bones for that. And I think um as we finish uh with the gha
and some other big projects that we're working on, we'd like to be able to do more of that. Um you look in the budget and uh network operations is the largest line we have that isn't sort of broken out like other lines at $792,531.
I just want you to to just quickly say 75% of that is the payments we pay for TV content to our TV providers and what we pay internet isn't free. we buy from tier one internet providers and those
two make up 75% of that number and the rest is things like uh we have virtual servers with AWS we uh have software subscriptions for software to help us manage the network so just to give a little insight into
where that money is spent there. So, we uh grew sales. It's going to be somewhere in between 3 and 4% this year. We're budgeted for a 4% increase for next year. And with um where we're at in terms of what we project for expenses,
again, we we expect that we will be in the black again. And um we're really just focus on continuing to build out as fast as we can. We all wish it was faster, but that's what we're working towards. And
other than those changes, really everything else in the budget has stayed the same or has seen a slight increase due to just inflation. So >> great. Any questions for GET?
Can you explain how much the city helps out in your budget versus like the percentage that your revolving fund or your enterprise fund covers it? >> The enterprise fund pays for everything. >> Everything. >> Everything. Yeah. >> So nothing from the operating budget. >> There's no indirect funds. Uh well we we
we work with the city on indirects but that appropriation for that in the last couple of years there's been for example instead of appropriating for 2 million 382 there would be two appropriations one would be for operating and the other
one would be [clears throat] for the indirects and that gets appropriated to the general fund but did all of those appropriations come out of the revenues from G. So I I don't I'm assuming I may be wrong but in the last couple of years the
indirects that we work with the city on what that number is going to be and they give us a number and says this is how much it is and then when you appropriate you generally appropriate that portion separately and then you appropriate the balance. So it would be 184166
to indirect X and 2,1 198 804 is the balance but we pay for everything. >> Did you have any capital request this year? >> Yes. And we will again next year.
And um in terms of getting capital requests, do you have does the city have to fund any of your capital requests or do you pay for that through your enterprise? >> When we go for capital
under the law, we have to use the city's borrowing capability, but we pay back every bit of any capital that we uh get. like the when I said we were down about 13,000 this uh year on the debt, that is
payments on the original $5 million worth of debt plus a a couple of of uh capital requests that we did get um a few years ago. So the it goes to the council because you control that and you
have to okay it if it gets to you and um but when it comes to paying for it everything whether it's capital or operating expenses everything is paid out of the revenues of the uh of cool thank
Great. And this was corrected in Munice. Yes. Um just for [clears throat] know like the numbers correct in mun. It just wasn't in the book or um our agenda. >> Uh great. Any other questions for G set?
>> Okay. Thank you so Thank you very much. Have a good night. >> Thank you for coming. >> House department. I think I saw him online. >> Good night, folks. >> Good night. Oh, yeah. Anyone who went doesn't don't feel like you have to stay. Everyone's leaving. Great.
[laughter] >> Except for you are never off the hook. >> You're here forever. Yeah. 38. Welcome. >> Good evening everybody. >> Good evening.
>> Uh so my budget is pretty much the same uh as everyone else's. Not really any big changes. There is one change. Uh I did add a part-time public health inspector position. Um in that line item
you'll see that uh it's half of it is going to be paid through a grant. U we've been working with the Massachusetts Health Officers Association. Uh they sent us uh kind of like an intern for a while. She uh was going to school at public health school at UMass.
She's been working with us and they pay for most of her licenses. So, she's got most of her licenses through this program. Uh, they paid for everything. And then at the end of the program, they try to get them a job in a community. So, we partnered with them to try to get
this person into Greenfield. So, for the first year of her salary, they will pay half the salary. Uh, and then Greenfield pays the other half. Um, so I desperately need uh more help in the inspectional part, especially with some of the things coming down the line,
rental registry and some other possible ordinances that are going to fall onto us. So, this was a good way to get somebody in um without having to pay the entire salary. Uh so, I'm happy that they were able to partner with us to pay for half of that salary. Otherwise, the other salaries are just the normal
increases for cost of living. Um we did play around with some of my line items. We cut down in legal expenses. Uh I think I believe it cut around eight grand out of that. Uh I got rid of pagers and telephone money. Um and we cut our office supplies in about half as
well. Uh so in the end we only went up about 10 grand from last year, which isn't bad for actually having the other position in there. Um so I am happy with how that worked out. If you have any questions on that.
Um, I have a question just about do you I can look above here, but that's the 18-hour health inspector that you're talking about with the grants. >> Yes, correct. So, the the part-time 18-hour inspector will be the one that will be paid halfway through this uh
agreement with the Mass Health Officers Association. >> And that's just for this year. >> It is just for this year. um in the obviously in future budgets I would like to you know fully fund that position. Um but that conversation will come down the
road later. Um but there obviously will be more work coming. So I would like to keep that position in my budget in future budgets. >> Is there stipulations in the grant at all about length of time that we're um like contracted to keep this person on?
>> It it would just be for the year. Um >> okay. And if we let them go earlier and we use some of their money to pay the salary, we would have to pay it back. That's the only stipulation, >> right? But for this year, it's a great deal for us. Totally.
>> Yeah. For this year, it works out good. Um, and like I said, it'll be very helpful for my department, especially on the lean budget to at least get this person in without having to do the whole salary. >> Great. Any other questions for health department? What is purchase of service?
>> So, purchases of service went up. Um, I'll explain that. So, part of my job is also being the animal inspector. Uh, the animal inspector does rabies control. Um, so for rabies control, we take in suspected rabid animals and we have to
send them off to Boston for testing. Uh, this involves uh euthanizing the animals through a local veterinarian department and then also the shipping costs. Um, so with the acco the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, there um became some expenses that we have to pick up with
the rabies control part. So I have to pay a little extra to mail them out and have them euthanized. So we did have to go up a little bit in that in the purchase of service part because that's what I'll have to use for that um for those expenses.
I was able to cut money in other areas to kind of make up for it. Um, but it was kind of an unforeseen part, but we experienced some some issues with uh having to get animals sent out for rabies testing. So, we had to go up in that line item to make sure that we can do that.
>> What were the pages and telephones used for that you can now pet it? >> From the time I was here, I'm not quite sure. Um, it was something that we never really pulled anything out of, so it just made sense to just get rid of it. >> Thanks. Thank you.
>> Okay, any other questions for health department? >> Great. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you guys for your time, too. Have a good night. >> You too. uh human refor
69. Um so this is a department of four and then um most of the line items were the same other than contractual
and um this this year they will have I didn't make any cut reductions and force to this budget. This year they are moving everybody over to the GIC which will be
like an act of Congress. They usually do the out open enrollment so they get everybody signed up in the beginning that January 1. In addition to that they have to move over every retiring some of home loan not as familiar with
computer. So it will be all hands on deck to get that job done. So that I left that as is and it was hardly a cage to any of their expenses. >> What is 26.1 approval? >> Um so we're actually Stephen could
explain that better but it's 26.1 pay periods because there's it doesn't divide. >> Okay. [laughter] Diane is very exact and she actually taught me when I came here how to integrate unison but that will tie in. I
hope I did that myself and I was doing it. She does a good job. Any questions on HR? Great. Thank you, Mayor. We have it 7 right2.
>> Yeah. >> Right after I don't have a present presentation either. Um is Fernando Flurry director. Um, pretty sure you guys looked at the all
the uh accomplishments we had this year. Um, we did lose a position. Um, and um, Jonathan asked me, "Hey, you know, can you give me two or three accomplishments that you had for the year?" And then at 25, narrow it down to 15 and then he
kind of just put them together. So, >> I have a very busy team trying to keep up with not just the >> operations of it. We're very unique. Not every city does what we do. Um, you know, we also have we don't we support
our uh dispatch. It's not regionalized. And we have equipment on remote sites, a lot of water wells or pumps, radio equipment up in the mountains that we also support. Um, and we do a lot of projects for the city.
>> Great. The only question I had was the expenses went up significantly. Was there like a big >> um the expenses? So yes. Uh so every year uh what we try to do is we we're trying to have this global IT vision.
Every you know we talk with the mayor hey what's the what's the total IT cost? And we don't have every year we absorb some from different departments. This year we absorbed around uh $40,000 from other departments. Um, and then the other parts that you see here, uh, for
example, uh, we it's $25,000 for our, uh, data center support maintenance licensing. Um, when we built the new data center, that was good for three years [clears throat] going on year four, so that's going to kick in. The
one for the uh, PD is going to kick in next year. So, you didn't see those. And then there were another additional $12,000 in there that uh we set aside in order to have our website redone and all the tools that we need in order to make
meet ADA compliance. So right there on its own that's around, you know, probably $80,000 that that uh you wouldn't normally see. Okay, great.
Any other questions for it? >> I just want to say it's incredible what you do with three people. >> I really I know it's a horrible budget year, but >> it really would be wonderful at some point if that could be expanded because the
>> complexities with uh future technology. Yeah, it's it's so continuously evolving uh and so important in everything we do. >> And that's the other part too like you see the the expenses going up >> you know for example like uh [clears throat] hardware that's the only part that I I put it it's always like a
guess right what my hardware line is going to be like um and I know that right now like RAM has gone up like 300% in the last six months. So, I always worry about that, but like I've done in the past, if I'm running into trouble with something like that, I'll come to
you guys and ask. Um, so usually it used to be that those those rates will go up or um, you know, inflation will go up by 3 to 7%, now I'm seeing seven to 14% increases. So, it's it's
an educated guess a lot of the time with with some of those things. uh and uh and uh thank you for your statement. I wouldn't be able to do it if I didn't have a really good team of department heads that support us and are very patient.
looking at you, Chrissy, you know, and uh you know, and uh it everybody wastes their turn most of the time, but uh things happen and u we expect for everyone, but if it wasn't for the department's heads and we communicate with them, hey, listen, we have this
going on, but this department is like this don't purse or emergencies happen when when the generator went down at, you know, police department, we had to step up and we bought a little small generator which is going to help for later on, >> you know. So, those things happen right
there. U we're also very excited. I'm very excited about the other projects that we have going on. Uh and we're working in conjunction with uh the building department to it's going to be something that's going to help a lot of our citizens with the um you know, online permitting, you know. Um so,
>> um it's not all doom and gloom. Some of the things that we do, I mean, I mean, I teach because I like I like technology. So I'm lucky to be doing this uh for a city which is a lot different than working at a you know you corporate America. It's not
you just don't do printers and copers and telephones and things like that. We we deal with other things that are really pretty cool. Um >> do you see any um obstacles with 40 hours less a week of help?
>> We're going to do it. When I talked to the mayor, I said, "Hey, you have to have my back, you know, and we just need to be patient, you know." Um, yeah, you know, speed, >> you know, that's that's kind of like
what it is in a lot of places, you know. So, but my team is like you see some, you know, some of the the uh projects that we do we do here. I put that against any other city. when I looked at other city you know what they do is like oh that's like a baby project for us you
know so you know and there's also times when we help and stepped up to help they're very technical even though we're small team different than the school has a thousand endpoints so they need those hands fixing computers and I manage a K through 12 before and those 13 year olds
are pretty tough on equipment oh my god yeah they don't want to stress me more used to uh so you need that number to maintain that we are we have file systems. Every department has its own unique database. So the way I see
ourselves with an IT department, it's almost like an MSP. We have like every department is like its own company. The way the dispatch, police, fire building works, it's it's different library, you know, they're different. Their hours are
different, you know. So, um, that's how I >> thank you so much. >> I have a question. >> Oh, sorry. So, one of the things I've noticed is committee person, very often we've had to cancel meetings because we
had a technological problem. And so, I'm willing to hear that per perhaps we all need some training >> in the proper use of the equipment or there might be another reason why there's poltergeist in the wires.
>> No, no. Yeah. No, the ghosts in the shell, right? No. Um um we actually had a really nice meeting with a couple meetings with GC TV. They also had a lot of transition and uh so we got together and talked about the
different issues. Uh I'm trying to keep that equipment going for another year. Uh like you guys are all familiar almost every goose neck on those microphones it's broken. That's at least or it used to be $120 per goose neck, right? So do
that times 15. That's just the microb. Uh so uh we've had uh a meeting about you know what they should be doing for troubleshooting. If you start touching a lot of things like it's really very hard for me to troubleshoot when something like that happens. Excuse me. [clears throat]
Uh so the last couple meetings knock on wood. >> Yeah, we've been okay. >> I've [clears throat] been going okay and uh we have I'm going to be putting together anou uh from now on on like on Wednesdays for the big meetings. Uh GCTV is going to be there like around 3. That
way we if they run into any issues, we're we're our working hours from are from 8 to 5, you know, and every time you see me at this council meetings, a it's a labor of love, you know. [clears throat] Um uh so we're we're working on those
things. So I think that things are going to get better, but I do need upgrading that. It's just uh >> to this system, this kind of system is the things that we've been having trouble with here. >> This one right here. >> Sometimes here at the fire station sometimes. >> Yeah, this fire station we're working on
getting at something like this here where it's like a tapping. It's one you touch it once and everything comes on for the most part. >> A couple times we come here and somebody's unplugged the equipment. >> So, it's, you know, not much I can do about that. I I saw
you looking for another port to connect to pulling new plugs. [clears throat] I was thinking to myself, you know, because you know, it's happened. You know, it's happened. Uh so, you [clears throat] know, with technology, it's not always going to be perfect. Uh there's always like lecture something
like that. So, uh for the most part, this room has been pretty well mostly been training and we train the new people, I think, to the level that they need to to know the equipment. Um, [clears throat] I feel good about
this one and about the fire station. Um, just need to buy a a different controller for to make it easier for for you guys, right? >> Yeah. The big issue there is that you can't be in two places at once. So, you can't sit and share the meeting and
watch. >> We're getting a controller. Yeah. >> Yeah, we are. Yeah. Yeah, we are. Yeah, we were just talking about that today. >> Yeah. So, um, yeah, we actually thought we were going to be able to get away without a a wireless controller like that and but,
uh, I don't think that they were expecting to use that that room for as many meetings. So, now that we have it and you're not familiar with it, >> it'll be easier if we get something in that. So, we identifying what you need. >> Great. Okay. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you so much.
>> Uh, we have a library. I think that was one9 [clears throat] also was relative. So, good evening everyone's Anna. I think I've met many of you before. Um, director of the Greenfield Public Library. Um, just want to say that I
agree with both about collaboration amongst the departments. Um it's a good city to work for and I uh am gratefully appreciative of the senior tax workoff. We have someone in the library and they're
fantastic. I also want to mention the downtown substation, how important that is for us at the library. Um we see between 550 and 600 people a day. Every person who walks through that door of all different ages brings with them
their own life story and sometimes that life story is not in a good place and um it makes you know it hard for everyone uh particularly staff because we're jumping around trying to do library work and then people management and things
like that. So having the substation uh folks has really been fantastic. They've been um always very readily available when we need them and uh they're really great at building relationships with folks. Um
and uh I'm very appreciative for that. Um we have meeting rooms and study rooms. They are crazy busy all the time. If anyone has ever tried to get one of them, um it is a challenge. The the good
thing though is that we have um a feebased structure for the two large meeting rooms and you can see that that's on our website. So depending on if you're a 501c3 or if you're a for-profit business, there is a fee
structure. It's not very high. Um all libraries across Massachusetts do that with their meeting rooms. Um, but the nice thing is that it is generating an income, a very small income for us, which will then go back into the
library. Um, so that's been a really positive uh initiative since January. The trustees had to approve that and and voted that in. I'm very grateful that we are not losing any staff this year and we all are very grateful for that. But
we are losing some money from our uh books and processing which uh I'll get into that in a second. But I much prefer losing money for that than staff. I'm sure you can imagine with the volume of people that we have losing staff would
be really hard also because we have people who get sick, vacation time, doctor appointments, family emergencies. So, we're not always a full staff and that can be challenging sometimes because also when we're not serving the public on the desk, we're all doing our
work behind the scenes. We all wear many, many hats. We all do public desk time. I think I do 8 to 10 hours a week myself. Uh, and then we scuttle back into our offices and try to do lots of other uh work that we have to get done.
Um, I did approve for the I want to say it's CDBG, uh, community development >> block grant. Thank you. I couldn't remember what the B stood for. And I applied for a part-time social worker
and that has been approved phase one. Um my plan is to have then a I I am contacted every couple of months by schools of social work who are trying to place social work students in libraries.
[clears throat] It's a very growing demand for uh social workers in libraries across the country. um and they want me to have a practicum except that they expect me to find the mentor and it has to be a full-time active social worker and I have not been
successful with our social service agencies of town. Um they have their own practicums. They're tapped out. So if this does go through, we are in the phase where the state is now reviewing that application or all the application
process uh requests past phase one. I'm now waiting for phase two. Um, if that does get accepted and goes through, then my plan is for a part-time social worker who is uh mentoring a social work
student, thereby having perhaps a full-time social work um kind of staffing happening in the library. It's a grant, but this is a great way to pilot and see how it might work. Is this
what we need? Is it really what we need? >> Is it a one-year grant? >> It is a one-year oneear. >> I think it is a oneear grant. >> It's so short. So much work. >> Yep. But it is better than nothing. >> Better than nothing. Yeah. >> Because then we go back to the drawing
board and we see what else we can do. >> You know, I would love to partner um with other departments and share a social worker. I don't think the library is the only place where we need one. So that is a conversation toward down the road but I am
uh I am anticipating uh that this will be something that will be helpful for us in the library and that's all ages. We have a very vibrant teen room and teenagers need a lot of help. they are going through a lot and just to have
someone um for us it's really hard because we become almost personally involved and we have jobs and we have to kind of try to create barriers and um not get involved with folks that we see on a daily basis as much as we can.
People like to tell you their stories and it can be very heavy by the end of the day. Um and some of those stories are fantastic. So, not to say that it's all bad. Some of them are really fantastic and it's great to be part of that, but sometimes it can be really heavy. Um, so I'll keep you all posted
on that. Uh, when I build a budget, I have two things that I have to consider. One is my staff and of course the increases in staff uh salaries. This year, we were told to calculate 3%. I'm not sure what if
they've come to an agreement with the uh clerical union yet. Um but this is this budget is based on a 3% increase for staff based on what we have had over the past three years. So I don't know where where we are with
that but I'm sure we'll find out soon. Um the other thing I have to consider are my requirements from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. They have very strict requirements that I need to meet in order to receive state aid. We receive
roughly 60 to $65,000 a year, but we have to meet requirements. Those requirements include the number of hours we're open, the number of evenings we're open, the number of weekend hours we're open. Um that is based on our population size. So there is no waiting on that. Um
I also have to uh meet these requirements that our our allocation increases by 2.5% every year. That is hard uh especially in a budget crisis. Um what can happen if we don't
receive that increase? This year we did just got by very close. Uh we can apply for a waiver. A waiver is a hearing with the master board of library commissioners, the mayor, myself to review the city's allocations.
Um, and essentially they say, "Okay, this will cut you some slack. We will give you state aid, but your city really needs to meet that allocation." The important thing to remember is that the 2.5% is cumulative. They will only give us five waiverss.
That's five years. But that 2.5% gets added on every year. Even if you got the waiver. Yeah. Even if you got the waiver. So it's 2.5 time 5. That's a lot of money to have to come up with after 5 years. If we don't meet that
requirement in 5 years, we become descertified. What that means is that we are no longer part of CW Mars. No Greenfield resident can use any other public library in the state. Um, basically we have a stagnant collection because we
won't have any money to buy anything or to share with other libraries. So, it's a grim picture. So, we hope we want to have a good budget. This year, the mayor has been very generous with us. We have
a um cut to our books and processing. Um, I requested 55,000 and we're receiving 48. So that's minus7,000. Uh we have already found ways in which we're going to make up for that
difference. Um part of that is removing equipment, fancy equipment that has maintenance contracts like our really sexy selfch checkckout machines. Bye-bye. They're going. We are going to replace them with laptops and scanners. We have alternatives. Not as pretty, but
uh that's what you do, right? You got to save some money. That's going to save us a couple thousand dollars. We are reducing uh subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. Um New York Times online will have for this year. We probably won't have it afterwards. We
will keep the print New York Times, but that means you have to come into the library. Um the good news is is that the Boston Public Library is available to all of you because any citizen or resident, sorry, in Massachusetts has access to the Boston Public Library. They have the Boston Globe online. They
have the New York Times online, the Washington Post. So, if you get your Boston Public Library ecard, you can get yourself access to all of their resources. Very easy to do. It takes about 5 minutes. Um, so we in Greenfield
may be losing access to some of these great electronic resources, but you can get them through the Boston Public Library. >> Some things though, >> they have a lot more money than we do. >> There's a but there's like a real difference. I use both the W Mars and Boston pin like through the Libya app
and so like sometimes we have more than they have like in CW Mars >> we do well it's usually based on waiting list right so >> sometimes our waiting lists are way better it's like tells you like three years in Boston >> right so also Hoopla which is one of our
streaming platforms but it also has ebooks and audiobooks um we've kept that um because we had ebooks and audio books we're reducing the amount that we allow us to spend. We can spend we cap it at a certain amount every month.
>> Um that's frustrating for some people because it's kind of like a fight to get in there and get get it while before we hit our monthly uh allowance, but um Boston Public Library removed some levels of Hoopla and uh so we do have
the audiobooks and the ebooks whereas they don't anymore. Can't remember which one they got on that one. Oh, it's very good. They have lots of TV shows as well. Lots of British shows if you're interested in British um series. Um last year we removed Canopy, which is a
streaming platform, and we did that because it's incredibly expensive, but the Boston Public Library has it, and you can get up to eight credits a month, so you can still stream through your Boston Public Library ecard. So, you know, we look at all of these things and
try to figure out where can we cut. Um, we are part of CW Mars, Central Western Massachusetts Regional System, Library System, which means we share all of our materials with 160 other libraries. So that means we don't have to buy all the DVDs and the books and the audio books.
Everything travels between all of our libraries. That is a membership fee and that is worth its money and gold. So we have to keep that. and the mayor kindly has left that in for us. That is a huge
uh positive for all of us. Um earlier you talked about central maintenance. I have handed all of my money over to pugs. It just makes more sense. I don't know anything about building products and his team is
fantastic and they make sure that if something breaks, they take care of they get the parts. We don't have to do these transfers back and forth between. Stephen's like, "Yeah, it transfers from our fund to their fund and then it takes a lot of time and sometimes mistakes
happen." Um, so that is a huge relief and we work very closely with um with pups which is fantastic. Um, I'm really thankful for the trustees and the friends and the foundation. They
pick up all of the other the extras. The friends uh fund raise throughout the year to supply us with the money so that every program that's at the library is free to the public. It's amazing. It's a huge chunk of change and we would be
lost without that. Uh we would not be offering all the great things that we have. Um the foundation is fundraising to uh replace all of our public facing technology. So that is every 5 years we
have to change out our computers and they are paying for the fancy photocopy machine that we have. Um they're fundraising because none of that is covered through city allocation and our hotspots. All of those things that are really really popular uh are covered
through the foundation and our state aid. So, we really need that that money as well. Um and the foundation is also covering we have no budget for staff development, professional development, and if librarians don't keep up with what's happening, we're all in trouble.
Uh particularly the tech tech side. So, the foundation is um fundraising to supply the staff with opportunities to take courses, to get certifications, to travel to conferences, and lots of grants. We have lots of
grants going on. They're very small and very targeted, but we're really active on the grants. This year, we had a fantastic grant with an organization called Libraries Without Borders. It was $5,000 to work with our middle schoolers and we had a huge middle school gala. I
don't know if any of you have kids who came to that. We had 173 people come who have kids in the middle school and they were all introduced to the library and all the things that we have to offer. It was a private Saturday afternoon event. Um it was fantastic. Their faces were
lit up and >> Oh, was that the after hours? >> After hours went for that. >> Yeah. So that was a really good event. We're trying to really encourage literacy and getting the kids to the library and reading books and talking
about literacy is really important. Um and you know to pick up for the summer summertime with summer reading coming along. Um we also have a grant with light path right now to create memory kits. So, those will support families
who have um members who are experiencing issues with dementia. That's a very small grant, but that allows us to purchase the materials to lend out to families. Um and uh we have the grants
from Greening U sorry Greenfield Garden Club. That's our seed library. They are providing funds so that we can give people seeds to plant gardens. and that has been really successful as well with lots of programming around that. So,
lots of things happening. Um, again, it is kind of a flat budget. Next year, we're going to have to look at this more closely and see, you know, hopefully next year will be a better year. Um, and we will get our state aid without a
waiver this year. Thank the good Lord. And, uh, you know, let's hope for better times next year. happy to answer any questions. Any questions? Yes, >> I have a couple. Um, so the first one was you talked about Sorry.
>> No, no, I was just going to say one thing. I think there's a mistake in our staff units. Um, the majority of my staff is clerical, not SSDA. [clears throat] We have one SSDA and everyone else is clerical. I maybe I'm reading this wrong, but
>> a couple of bills. >> Okay. reverse. >> Okay. >> Not a problem that you guys would see that. So, thank you. >> Yeah. Not. >> So, it's reversed. We have one SSA, one NR, and everyone else is clerical.
>> Yeah. Thank you. Okay. >> Yeah. Sorry, I just didn't want to forget that. >> Okay. Um, how are you tracking the funds you get from the meeting rooms? And >> and then also, um, what do library
supplies cover? Um, so the library supplies cover barcodes, um, printer tape for the holes, um, any materials that people borrow, um, lots of other things that are very library
specific technologies, um, the machine to print. Um, it also covers, um, materials that we need for the programs. So, if there's the pitfall with the fundraising from the friends, anything that we need, whether it's
crayons or Legos or, you know, things for the different programs that we have, that will be library supplies. And your other question, sorry. >> Um, how are you tracking the meeting rooms? So every um we have a meeting
room application form and that generates a bill for we have to go through it because a lot of times people aren't sure what their status is. So they'll do the math and then we're like no that's not the right amount. You've paid too much or you paid too little. Um and then
that generates an invoice. We have it set up so that we can generate an invoice. Everyone gets a receipt and we have a running uh we have a running um spreadsheet that we share with the accounts department and that money goes into our revolving funds. Gotcha. >> Cool.
>> Okay. So, it is all tracked. To date, it's a couple thousand dollars, which is not bad. And people are really appreciative of that space because we have a lot of like PB Squared has their
staffing annual staffing meeting or they be there the entire day. There's a kitchenette, their restrooms, they have Zoom or you know they have a camera um big space parking all that stuff. So it's it's been very popular for that.
And we've also had private events like birthday parties and baby showers. >> Affordable space in Greenville are probably rent. That's big enough. >> The for the study rooms we don't charge. Those are our um rooms on the second
floor. They host two people, four people or six people. And those are first come, first serve, you know, more than three times a week, two hours at a time. We're trying to make those access equitable. Lots of people like them for private meetings,
tutoring, things like that. So, they're really, really popular. Those are free. There's no charge for those. All this is on our website. All this is on the machine as well. Any other questions?
>> Okay. >> A comment though. Just quick comment. So, I I'm at the library. It's three or four times a week. Yeah. I bring a young man there uh and who was very serious about taking out his library books and checking them
out himself. So I have to break the news to him slowly. >> There will be there will be another system. >> Okay. >> Don't worry. We're we're working with the foundation um to help us. We need a couple of um new devices for this selfch
checkout, but in the end of the day it's a whole lot cheaper than >> the couple thousand a year. Also, the children's room has a selfch checkckout machine that looks like a robot, right? >> We're not getting rid of that one. >> Oh, good. The kids absolutely love it.
>> Uh the issue with that one is that again, very technical. We have >> barcodes right on all of our books. That's how we check things out. But we also have had for a while these RFID tags. Do you know what those are? >> Um they're can't see them. They're in
the back. But what it does is if you have a machine that can read RFID, it just scans that book without you having to like put it under the barcode. We're stopping that. It's a lot of money um for processing um when we purchase the
materials. >> Yeah. And so we're stopping that except for children's room materials because that robot reads both barcodes and RFID, but it's saving us a really good amount of money and doing most of the um
cataloging [clears throat] and processing. Again, very library techni technical, but that's um every item that we have has to have its unique ID number and has to have a catalog record so that you can search and find. uh and we have a cataloger on staff and
part of that work it's very time consuming work and very detail oriented and until now we've had part of that done by the um book vendor that we purchase our materials from and we're
going to stop that to save money. It's it's very helpful. It's like staff, you know, we have to find that balance and she is willing to do more of that work. She'll just do less desk time and more
of that back office work to save us a good chunk of change. >> What what I was getting to >> Yeah, I'm sorry. I went on to Right. I understand was that [laughter] I have been so totally impressed by the level
of compassion and patience by folks at that main desk. >> Yeah, >> it's amazing. It's amazing. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That um we are in a strategic plan phase right now and we just closed our community survey. I hope all of you were
able to take that. >> I took it. >> Awesome. We have gone over a thousand respondents. The consultant [clears throat] I'm working with said we wouldn't get over 200. >> Wow. >> So, [clears throat] I think that's a very vocal community and I'm very appreciative for that. Um, and we've had
some mixed responses with regard to staff friendliness really. Um, >> not a lot. I mean, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. And of course, we all have good days and bad days. And when you're in customer service, >> depends on what time of the day you come
in and what's happened before you come. And, you know, things it can be really tough. We have some days that are really, really, really hard at the library. and the staff is amazing and really weak with kindness and empathy in the work that they do. So, I'm
appreciative for that. Um, >> yeah. >> Yeah. I also just want to like I I utilize the library mostly honestly through my phone >> uh like through the Libby app and all that type of thing, but
>> my kid is there all the time and I do like yesterday I met a friend who lives, you know, 30 minutes away to knit in one of the meeting rooms and um my kid could go to the teen room and
when I like That's why I live in Greenfield is so that my kid can go from like the middle school right down the street to the recck room to the library to home and all be on his own >> as an 11year-old. Like it's not common.
>> And even today he did the same thing today and like >> he's playing D and D with >> Oh yeah. >> But it's full and I think that that's >> it is like one of the most diverse places. I held a couple budget sessions in the room, the community room, I think, whichever the smaller one is.
>> Um, >> and like some people just like >> mossied in and asked questions and some people came for that event, but >> it is really like a huge asset. And I've been going to the Greenfield Library now
for 18 years and so it's >> it's really wonderful to have it. >> Well, I'm really proud of the staff and the work that they do. It's a space that's twice as large as former library um and twice as busy and they do an
amazing job and I'm also really grateful to the community for showing their support as well. I think everyone should be proud of the library and the community and you know I think we our five-year plan going forward is going to be interesting. I'll be sharing in the fall when it's all done, we'll have
some, you know, sessions at the library where people can come and learn about the results of that um planning process and what we're going to be doing going forward. So, next year I'll have some more for you probably, but it's exciting to see the responses and what people uh
are interested in and how they think a library fits into their um lives and their community. >> Yeah. question. >> Um, feel free to totally sidestep this if you don't want to answer it, but does the proposed library in Monagu have an
effect, um, your long-term planning or any of your functions? >> I don't think so. So, um, as I said, the MBLC has very strict requirements on, um, library hours and services based on
the population of your town. Um, one thing that's been really interesting with the strategic plan is seeing how many people, one of the first questions is, do you reside in Greenfield? If not, if it's yes, then you check the box. If no, it's you have the opportunity to put
in where you are from. Um, and it's really interesting to see that I would say a third of the respondents are from other towns, but that's because we're open the most hours of any other public library in Franklin County. So that
doesn't take away from them and it certainly isn't bad for us. But I think it goes to show how different towns serve different populations and different needs. Uh, one thing I will say is that my staff is feeling a little
stressed because there is some negative about the Monteue project and they feeling a little PTSD. >> You know, they feeling very >> we're not getting involved at all in that's not our area. It's not our town.
that's their town and that's their some of my staff actually live in Turners so they're involved but we don't talk about it but I do know that staff have said I feel like this is happening again and uh the MBLC has these wonderful grants for
libraries and many libraries have been rent are new or renovated. So, the Tilton Library in South Deerfield had a massive addition renovation that just is well, they're still wrapping up, but it is open. Um, I think it was Shootsbury
has a brand new library, which is amazing. Um, the Jones Library in Ammerst is having a massive um addition or renovation. So, it's going around. Massachusetts
believes in its public libraries and so they are making that investment with these grants. Absolutely. Yes, every talent has to take that burden on as well. Uh but certainly read read up on it, do your homework
and and you know you it's a long-term investment. you have to figure where you fit in that um do what you're willing to do as a as a resident and that challenge. So for now, I think, you know, we're trying to stay out of it,
but totally um >> we wish them well in the entire process. >> And it's it's Yeah, I think I feel I feel for them. >> Um it's going to be fairly divisive as it as it was here, but >> great.
Thank you for your hard work, too. >> Okay. licensing to hear. >> Oh, let's uh it is past 8. So, we can take a let's do licensing and then we'll take a five minute break. >> Okay. Licensing is super easy. >> Yes.
>> 83. >> So, what happened in licensing? we had a a person that's been dropped down for four with a sign significant savings associated with it. Um that four person also does accounts payable in the
accounting office. Um, so, uh, the total, uh, there's some bit of advertising, there's some bit of office supplies for that for $1,100. Salary, uh, went from about 50 something to 12,000.
>> Yeah, that's >> Yeah. So, it's a 75% drop in in that. So, uh, you know, savings. We consolidated jobs, making things more efficient. >> Great. Any questions on licensing? Awesome. Um, it is 8:16. We will resume
at 8:20, please. Okay, we are back and we are at we did licensing. We are at planning which is page 91. >> [clears throat]
>> Yeah. I don't see El. >> Oh, she did send an email, I believe. >> She said she was going to send a date. >> Yeah, I think she did. This one is extreme like literally flat. Um, so I
don't know if anyone does anyone have any questions otherwise we'll >> took four days. Yeah. Otherwise, we'll just move to >> I don't This is the thing is sometimes things are called something and then they're called something all
but I don't think that's an actual thing. So, I don't know what that means. We're going to skip procurement because it does not exist. We are going to go to recreation. >> We won't be curing any [laughter]
[clears throat] >> next year. We'll do it in reverse. I >> start sliding up so >> it [laughter] >> 54. >> Welcome. >> Hello.
>> So I think everybody knows me. I'm Christy, recreation director. Uh surprisingly I've been here This is my 19th year um at the helm of this table. Um so just a quick little review about some of our core responsibilities. Um we
do a lot with youth and family services. We operate um after school programs at federal and at four corners that provide a safe and supervised care for critical after school hours. Um, currently we manage the recck room, which is the highlight of tonight as you guys know,
um, with our youth center coordinator, welcoming a space for the middle school ages. Um, during the summer, we operate a, um, licensed summer camp for 8 weeks for kids who need um, child care as well. Again, offering a safe and
engaging and enriching um, recreational experiences. Uh, seated home bases at the swimming area for that. Um, and we deliver year-round programming that builds confidence, social connections, life skills uh for youth.
Then we also oversee parks, playgrounds, and facilities. Um, we assist with DBW. We pretty much oversee the parks, playgrounds, and pavilions. We operate and staff the Green River swimming area. We coordinate the field scheduling for ball fields and facility use for all the
pavilions. uh again encouraging safety and accessibility and stewardship of our recreational assets for the city. We plan to implement park and facility improvement projects, pursue grant funding like the skate park, the dog park, um and other alternative resources
for uh capital enhancements and improvements. um with youth employment and workforce development. We are pretty much the first place for youth in our community to have their first job. Uh we teach
responsibility, teamwork, leadership, and workplace communication, which is really essential in today's uh work environment. We offer mentorship and supervision that prepares youth for long-term employment success. Um so really, we quietly develop the next generation of workers and leaders for
our community. Then, as many of you know, we're in charge of all the community events um which has a huge economic impact on our city um with the winter carnival, the triathlon, which is 42 years running strong, the longest running in New England, uh the fireworks celebration, which is um upcoming, and
if you haven't made your donation, I still need to fund raise $20,000 for that. So, I'll gladly accept that. If you want to write a check tonight, I'll take it. Um, we just finished Muts and Mayhem, which um is an obstacle course for a human and your dog. And we had,
uh, 91 people register for that from all over New England. Um, as far as New York City, Connecticut, Maine, um, New Hampshire, they come all over, even in Albany for this event. And then um you know throughout the year we do all kinds of um education like the tomorrow we
have home home safety, we have babysitting, we do CPR, we do first aid, anything to help benefit the citizens in our uh community. So really what we do delivers um measurable value beyond its operating budget that we're going to
look at at tonight. Um through efficient management, strong partnerships, uh a high community engagement, the department maximizes every dollar that we get um for our department. So with that, um I think it's pretty obvious you
guys have had a lot of feedback. Um my department is um currently has four people. Uh the mayor's proposal has uh four uh three with the removal of the youth center coordinator. Um, we've also lost our temporary full-time wages,
which helps offset the lifeguards and all the seasonal employees at the pool. Uh, the pool operates um by zero dollars from citizens. It's all funded through um pool passes, daily uh passes, as well
as facility rentals. Um, and just as an example, last year it was a record heat. It was the only year that we were in the positive. There's been years that we are 10, 20, $30,000 in the hole and we have to cover that by summer camp and every other revenue generating from T-ball,
basketball, um, all that kind of stuff. So, that is not in the operating budget that you're seeing here tonight. So, I just want to make sure that everyone understands that DPW handles like sand replacement and uh, some of that kind of stuff. And then our ordinary expenses
uh, have not changed. the 1010 a 10,100 [clears throat] which is the basic um office supplies of dues and memberships um meetings minimal office supplies licensing and the purchase of services and that for us is
the water testing that we have to uh submit a sample. We took it today every week we have to do a water sample for the swim area to ensure it's safe for um people in the public. um pretty pretty much that's it. It's a it's a tiny budget um for a lot that
that we give to the community with one less this year. >> So, and I think we're going to have some questions, but um you know, this one is a very hard one. I'm very emotionally invested in the rep
room um personally. And so I know that we heard that we can only have so initially when we had this conversation like over a month ago, the idea was that this could be backfilled with revolving,
but now we're we know that we can only use the 18 hours. So like if this budget stays as is into 2027, what is the reality of the recck room look like? like even with the 60% >> and the rec department general doesn't
that position also >> well I want to talk specifically about the recck room because the question that the questions that I'm receiving like literally tonight on text messages on a recck room parents thread that I'm on are like even with the 60% increase
which is significant like I'm a two parent household with both working parents and it's like a lot to take in that our child care bill would go up that when I'm my kids's, you know, 11, like I'm out of the young child care
phase. And so even with that increase, like would would there be recck room as is? Is is that actually a feasible thing that we would have after school care next year? >> So with this position eliminated, there will be no recck room. Um there will be no middle school programs like next next
week is the last wreck the night. There will be no summer programs that are designed specifically that are free for the middle school. um because we that position runs all that stuff. We have uh a brand new program supervisor because we um went ahead left in December, so we
rehired. Um thankfully the mayor was willing to allow us to do that, but like she's brand new. She's only been here a few months. She's like overwhelmed just trying to understand everything that we do, which is non-stop, seven days a week, holidays, evenings, weekends. Like we, you know, says 37 and 1/2
hours. The only time is 37 and a2 hours for our department is if we take vacation for a week or we're sick for a week. >> Like I want to be very clear how much extra our department does for this city. And if you averaged out the wage, we'd be making pennies. But we do it because
it's something that we love. We're passionate about it. It's important for our citizens and the youth. Like we're all about the youth. We mentor. You don't want to know the things that we deal with on a daily basis at the swim area where there's transient people in
and out. You know, we're protecting kids every day. It's a public space. So, there's sometimes that we need to escort people out. Like, we deal with that. We call the police if we need it, but you're talking like 16, 17, 18 year olds that deal with that in a public space in
all of our other parks as well. Like, we rent um facility space at the Green River Swimming Area. I mean, at the Green River Park where, as we all know, there's a lot of people that live in the woods and they're fine, but we have to like make sure that they know that this is rented, like you can't be here right now. And some people aren't comfortable
having those conversations, but that's what we do. And some of them are kids, and I train them, my staff trains them to be able to have those kind of conversations with people. >> Yeah. Um, mayor, is this an area where if unrestricted government aid comes in,
you are looking to refund this position? >> Well, you know, I have a list and um with priorities and you know it's on the list, but it's not at the top.
>> So, we know I know >> and I don't I just want to say we had talked about since last year segreation. It was actually 3.7 on the bookstore last year. Um I think
that that some of this has to be commensurate with, you know, expenses. You know, I would be hoping that perhaps they could do a part-time commission or a couple of part-time positions to cover
that. Um, I think I've talked with you >> and certainly with others about the cost of child care and um, this this year it was I think $400 a year for after school. It is going up.
Um, it or it plans to go up on that, but that's what it costs a month at the YMCA and other places. So, >> right. The Y doesn't even have a program for this age group though. I just talk about child period. So
>> if you go to the grocery store and know their prices have gone up cost everything's gone up. So she's you know you should go up there as well but I do have a list of things I
know you have a child that attends this. Yeah, this is I think yeah, I think beyond like when I try to separate out my own feelings which I can like are like I I'm obviously very invested in this um and
it's you know a community that I'm a part of and so like full disclosure um but I also think that this is something that really like it has a such a huge impact on our
on our kids. Like it really is a preventative measure. And I like we are in a time where we already live in a county in Massachusetts where we have a disproportionate number of youth that are funneled into the criminal justice system for the amount
of youth that we have. And if we have more kids that are just leaving school at 210 and on the street in this age range, like I know I have the normal 12-year-old, like it's going to be
mischief. It's going to be getting into trouble. Um, and there's no supervision. And I just I mean, you know, I can't express like I think Anna said and like Christy
and I have talked about before like the level of need in this community like the level of need of middle schoolers is so intense just developmentally, but then the level of need in this community is so intense like there,
you know, parents can maybe pay that couple hundred a session to send their kids and know that their kid is somewhere until maybe they get out of school, they get out of work or whatever. I just feel like this is going to have
such a disproportionate impact. Um, and I also feel like it's one of those things where we are trying to there's like this balance of us in in the city of trying to fund things that are going to attract families and young people
into our school system and our communities. I'm like really worried about what this is going to mean um in the long run. And so I was hoping that Chrissy, you were going to come and say we can move this
around and we can do 18 hours and we can, you know, make it work. Although I feel like, you know, if I was will like and your positions cut, it's very hard to retain people when we live when we're in a climate where at any minute you
know your position can be cut or you lose your position that was a full-time position and you're down to half time. Like it just becomes unsustainable, >> right? And then that as Donna had said in public comment like it's 18 and a quarter of service hours. So that
doesn't take into effect the planning the coordination like he brings people in from UMass. Oh yeah. To do all kinds of cool science stuff like we actually wrote a grant. We have computers and we have a plan to do all kinds of like bridge building and uh all kinds of cool
stuff with it. That's why Fernando kind of joked at the comment of like I'm waiting and I am waiting. We the school ends on the 17th and we don't have that software and technology ready. Um even though like Will just had the police in and we did digital safety and security
on the internet and all that kind of stuff. Um and so the rec commission and I went round and round. We had different scenarios with changes and everything and we did increase the fees to 60%. But that covers all the expenses of we feed them snack every day. These kids come
starving. Some of these kids eat lunch at 10:30. Yeah. Yeah, by the time they get to us, they're starving. So, sometimes it's multiple snacks. And it's not just like a bag of chips. Like, we get fruit every day. Like, they need to have good food. And some of these
families, as you guys know, are in the low poverty level. Like, they don't have fruit at home. So, we want to give them good food. Um, and so, like, I don't I don't the magic wand for me is to replace this position. Like we gave
scenarios of like taking away our um $10,100 and our 7500 and the friends of recreation would try and fund raise. Um we just cannot pay a position out of revolving that is full-time and
benefited. It's illegal. Um and the mayor knows that and we've gone round and round about that. And then the other after school programs um because they get out later like we can make that work. But I can tell you at times it's a staffing nightmare. Like today I had to
cover two different places. Kelly had to go to one and then bounce to the other because these they're kids. They call out like this and it's last minute. And if I don't have staff to like move people around then we're not in compliance and we can't have a licensed which is licensed through the early
education and care child care program at the elementary schools. So, sorry, mayor. Can you tell us where on the priority list this lies? Like, how far down are we um >> I know we talked about in
>> in the first meeting we talked >> aging we spend. I just want to tell you that I don't really tightly. >> Yeah. >> Um we spend the least and have the least staffing um at our senior center. Um, so although
that cut didn't resonate with any of you, that's where we actually will probably be a full-time social worker there. I looked at many other municipalities that were size the same way we are with about the same amount of income and we are so far below of what
we spend um and how we are staffed at the senior center. So that would be one of the things that I would be thinking of. So, bumping up the help end. Um, and you know, just as an FYI, I definitely
looked at like eight other towns as far as staffing for recreation, there wasn't one like us that had four full-time employees, >> right? But if you look at the some of the I don't know what towns you looked at, but if you look at like East Hampton, Northampton, they have a middle
school after school program that's run the by the schools. >> Fine. you know, so that so at any rate um you know, for priorities to be putting back um uh dispatch, fire, police, it um we need
to get fingerprinting back here in town. I think you're probably all aware that that's something I've learned about Joe Cumber about um our any of our volunteers that want to volunteer in the schools. Um they have a
little message. What happened to Staples? >> It's gone. >> They don't do it anymore. >> For a while. My childare people have to do >> I had to go and they closed. Right. So, they're not doing it there either. >> Right. So, that's a big thing at the school committee. Something else that
you aware of the things that we you are involved with. That's a nightmare in schools and um >> and us. So, um, I just talked with Anna where we didn't make any cuts there because we had so many safety things that happened there as well and to see
if somebody else could pick up the fingerprinting, but they actually do 145. Oh, we're doing 145 people being fingerprinted per month. And I guess each one of them takes about half an hour, 45 minutes. So, that's
another staff person. So, um, if we, you know, my hope was that this could be filled using a couple part-time people or maybe a couple of part-time people that we're doing and I did talk with Christie about that from the program
supervisor. I just I'm just saying a reality there's almost a million dollars that need to be cut. >> I have some thoughts and questions, I guess. So, I mean, we heard from the GBA and a lot of people at the last council meeting
that they're concerned about not having enough funds for downtown policing. And I'm wondering like are we taking into consideration like how much more policing is going to happen when you have unfed kids and you have kids who
don't have supervision and like that is going to be a lot of public safety money that we're spending. Furthermore, we've had over 50 people ask us to put this position back. Like at what point does that outweigh like the public outreach outweigh
>> I don't know. I need to address some of this because so far I mean we can all direct all our questions at the mayor and they're cherrypicking one specific issue and I what I don't like about is it seems like someone doesn't value kids and that is not this at all because your
department and everyone works for it has done phenomenal work. Phenomenal. I've had tons of comments about this and it's it's a heated position but I also talk to retired people that can't pay their insulin. They can't live in their homes because of the tax increases. They also
c can cannot afford the grocery increases. So there are massive things in our city. We live in a poor city and it's not just kids. It's not just middle school. It's not grade school. And I speak to me very personally about the seniors and it's really bad right now.
It's really bad for them. So when we take one issue and we put all of that on it that's like bad mayor you don't like children because of this one program I just start to get >> John I just want to stop you for one second as the chair I want to say clearly that I don't think anybody has
insinuated said or implied that the mayor is targeting any specific departments or is saying >> I'm just putting that the mayor doesn't like children or is targeting children. I have I've met
one-on-one with the mayor about this. I've met one-on-one with Christy about this. I totally understand that there is decisions many departments lost people and there I have talked to people who have
been affected by those losses and we've heard a lot of community outcry specifically about this position being lost. So, it's not about targeting the mayor for the hard choices that she's had to make this year. And I don't I think we've had a very respectful debate
throughout the tenure of this entire budget season that's been actually way better than I thought. Um, but so I just want to be clear like, mayor, if that was from my words that I was insinuating that you're doing this because like you
don't care about the children of this city, that is not what I am saying. I feel like that I have a responsibility to my constituents as well as to my children as a parent in the city to advocate um in an area that I do think has historically been underfunded. And
so for you too, John, I just want to be clear that the outcry that I've heard on loss of positions has been about this position, the potential of a loss for a downtown officer. I've heard a lot of outcry about um but this is not and
dispatched. But this is not a personal attack on the mayor for the choices that she's had to make. I have said multiple times I would not want to be in the position the mayor is in this year cuz she had to make $2 million worth of hard decisions, you know. So, I just want to
be clear that's not because I just want to make sure we're not going down it because it gets the political discourse we've had over the last several years. It gets so hard that you anyone to run >> anything. >> Totally. And so as long as it's they're
just very very hard decisions. >> Yeah. I think my focus and the focus that I would like us to have as a committee moving into moving through this discussion and moving into the council meeting next week two weeks I don't know what time is but the is more
about solutions and less about who made the decisions and how the decisions were made and historically what's happened and actually about like okay where can we find the dollar amount that we need for this and when could it potentially like if we have free cash that gets
certified. If we have um if we have this $4 million in unrestricted government aid that comes in, can we expect that we would f like where where are we on the list? Like I want to talk about tangible solutions.
>> That's because that's what I want to talk about. Is there a fix for this? >> That's what I that's my question. So let me ask let me ask some stupid questions and you'll tolerate me. Um >> there's no such thing as a >> Oh yeah, there is. Trust me. work with kids every day. So,
>> so, so there is you do have a revolving fund and in in that revolving fund you can you can fund a a part-time or some part-time positions. That's the question I have. Is it possible at this point to
save the program to fund two part-time positions out of the revol? I have no idea how much is in the revolving fund. It could be $1.95, but my my my assumption is that there is some money there. Can you do two part-time
positions out of the revolving fund in order to have folks cover the program? We wouldn't because you need to have continuity and consistency with these kids. You need to develop the relationships. And that's what Will has done. He's been here almost a full year.
And some of these kids when he first got here didn't even want to talk to him because he's a guy. He's 62 maybe. I'm not sure how tall he is, but he's like very tall and can be scary to middle school kids. So, it took him months to
like develop relationships and like even in after school, the part-time, there's constant turnover. And if you don't have continuity and consistency, then your program numbers are going to stay stale or decline. So our numbers in the rep
room, this is our third year, third year, fourth year, continue to increase because of what we've built. So as far as um being able to do part-time people, yes. But you have to look, we're already in the whole 7500
for revolving to cover um pool salaries. So, I just want to make that >> How many hours are you covering for the pool through revolving? >> We have to cover everybody. Everybody >> like camp like camp generates money. If camp has a a positive, then that helps
offset. >> Does that eat into the 18 hours total that you can fund? I guess I'm confused on that. Is it 18? >> Because they're seasonal. So, I can pay them full-time because they're seasonal. They get no benefits. >> Gotcha. Okay. >> And go ahead.
>> Can [snorts] we increase fees more for We we did John We increased the fees to 60%. for everything though. I mean, you have pro fees. You have damage. No, but all the that money goes into your revolving account. That's not just that program. >> Can't pay that. >> Exactly.
>> But I mean, the city, this is my point. It's not just rec room. People can't pay. Like you said, you pay food. How much is food inflation costs gone up? I'm just saying sometimes the thing about fee has to go up. >> The thing about the pool fee is that like I actually already think it's inequitable that we have a fee in our
city to use our our river. I like I you know I think since I moved here and couldn't afford to pay the fee cuz I was in public housing I've been like this is insane that the only place you could bring your kids safely on the river we have to pay is it $65 as a resident
>> for a family >> for a family pass like that was unattainable for me when I moved here and had one child and so like in our dream scenario where we are we are you know we have a revenue that is you know we're in black every single
year by enough money to fund everything. We have a free public pool because that's a public entity, a public utility we should all have access to. >> And so there's a level of like when we raise our fees like it's like you know I mean I'm everyone's dealing you're like you're saying with food everyone's
dealing with this with their budget right now like how many things can go up 10% 15% 60%. before you just have to say we don't get that and it's like not fair that our kids don't get this. It's not fair that our seniors don't get this. It's not fair. You know, none of it's
fair and we can that's why I'm like well we can't fight amongst ourselves about this because no one's making the decision other than the powers that be above us. >> Sorry, Maisy had something. >> Can I answer John's question? So John, every year the rec commission votes on
fees for every single program in November or December and we analyze like the cost center for every single program from T-ball to basketball to after school and so we make adjustments but as councelor Bulock just said like we can't continue to out cost our residents like
they're already paying taxes for the services that we provide and then to pay on top to go to the pool like I said like the the pool expenses itself Last year was the only year we were in the positive 7,700. In 24 we were in the whole 19,000. In 23 we were in the whole
31,000. In 22 we were in the whole 6,500. And the only way we cover that is from revenue that comes in as a whole. I never asked the mayor or previous mayors because obviously this mayor hasn't been here with all these big negatives um for
money or you guys to backfill because we figure it out somehow because that's what we do. But I can't do that without people. >> A full-time person because you've said you won't do it with a part. We can't
demand and also sorry um like that person also helps at events that person also answers the phone answers emails like it's constant flow like that person is like majority of their time because they're the youth center coordinator is planning and running the the programs
and all the other programs for middle school but then it helps in the office. So, like as like just as an example, there was [clears throat] they all the kids in the rec center built uh sleds and did other entries for the winter carnival and then Will was
there all weekend through the winter carnival with those middle schoolers like who entered the the cardboard sled race and entered and so it's like there's like yeah there's 20 hours of time where he is with youth on site
after school. um which already exceeds the 18, you know, and that doesn't even include like clean up if I've been late and you've been standing outside with Will and my child, like if a parent is late for pickup or whatever, it doesn't like
I can like as much as I want to be like make it work with 18 hours or 20 hours like it's putting it would be putting an undue burden on a staff person and a risk I think to youth um to do it that
way. But we had Maisie and the mayor both wanted to say something. So, and youth. So, let's go Maisy first. >> Yeah. Um my question is after the March 30th meeting, how much
and your budget, you had that discussion around negotiating your budget again with the mayor. How much is the difference between what you are asking for and what the mayor is offering?
>> So much you refer to your document, >> right? So, um you know, we talked about it at our meeting and and we sort of described all all of the fees and all of the temporary service. So, you're looking at this, these were the fees,
etc. included, but we basically got it down. we reduced it by 17,000 um and the mayor wanted it reduced by 51. So we were still you know in the $30,000 and the whole range you know and
as I um stood before you tonight or as Dan read the rest of my comments like even if we could get this position funded at 80%. We would try to make it work. >> So what is that what do we need? What is
that number that we that would require a little bit of mathing? >> I I have it. Donna. >> So um >> if we had the 30hour position and kept the 10,100 which is our um ordinary
operating expenses, the would be 290,78. >> That would be the whole budget. >> That's budget. >> That's for the P. That's for >> all the That's him at well I shouldn't say him the position because I don't I mean he's interviewing I don't there's no secret you know
>> um that would would have that position at 80%. >> 296 29708. >> Yep. And that means the you center coordinator um cost the salary individual will be 41345. Obviously,
this depends on your contracts and that kind of stuff. >> And that includes the um benefits or is there no benefits at that? >> $30,000. You have to add $30,000. >> Benefits are separate that goes on every position that you have. And I just want to just reiterate that I'm looking to
cut a million. I'm adding $30,000. So why that green? [clears throat] Go ahead. >> No, I was going to ask you a benefit question, but you can keep going. >> What do we know what the benefit um reduction is for GIC per person? Is it
still 30,000? >> It will be >> depends on what they think she >> Right. But she uses 30. So the average $30,000 per person >> but um between the retirement and we don't know what that is. So a $51,000
position I make an adjustment I count as an $81,000 >> and with each veterans come up next we go through and he's responsible for how many other towns. So there's a lot to think about with each one. There are
other municipalities that are doing an afterchool program with part-time positions. If they had the program um program supervisor, they create a new person. If that were a part-time position, maybe that would have been better for them. I suggested that as
well. Um but you know, it's it's a series of choices that have to be made within a city. So, I don't look at that as $51,000, >> right? Yeah. You can't look at it as 51. I understand that. And my response about the program supervisor is that that person is in charge of all the other
sports programs. Like that person has so much more um responsibility. So obviously that is not our top choice. >> That's a different role. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Had a question. >> Yes. Um, we've been doing a lot of comparing our wreck department to other towns and
cities. And maybe I'm wrong here, but I just feel like Greenfield wreck is like one of the things that Greenfield has, and it's part of like our economic development plan. And maybe could you compare what your recck department in Greenfield does
that's different than other rec departments of other towns? Um I I guess I don't really have lots of stuff in front of me to share about that, but um like we're like for instance like I'm the the certified playground inspector. I don't know if
other parks directors have that because normally it's parks and wreck and I would have a group of individuals who help maintain parks like we have to rely on DPW and as you know they get pulled in different directions. um all the special events that bring um economic
[clears throat] like at the fireworks alone, we average 10,000 people that we bring in that buy gas, buy food at our local vendors and and whatever else in our community. Um which is not funded. I think that's an important thing because every year, I don't know if you all do, but I get questions from taxpayers about
like why do we pay for fireworks, but we don't pay for fireworks with taxpayer dollars. That's fundraised. And so it's like they raise their own money to put on the fireworks and then they bring 10,000 people into the city who spend money, you know, and same thing with the Mutzame that day. I was like, why are
the restaurants so crazy? >> And it was >> and we promote like our local restaurants and businesses so that people go there like the try like we work with our local hotel. I'm really happy that we're going to have other options because there's only the one that we try and encourage people to use. Um, so I think like what's different
about us is that we do more economic development because some of the smaller towns don't have that. And then everybody comes here. Everyone comes here for our programs because the Hilltowns don't have departments like us. Like we are the county seat for a reason. Everyone comes here to grocery
shop. Everyone comes here for doctors and that kind of stuff. And everyone comes here for our parks. Like we have like beautiful parks and trail systems >> and playgrounds. What are you losing from that aspect with losing Will or this position
>> as far as events? Yeah, that's one less person with events like um you know like either we're going to have to eliminate some events or we're just going to have to do less at events because it's a a human body like we can only work so many hours and do so many things and we are
overt taxed with full people. And I think the thing is too, like if you think of the size of the events that are put on, like the rag shag parade, >> right? >> Right. There's like >> I don't even know thousands of people downtown like that's a huge event and to have three
>> people. I mean there's volunteers this the storefront, but it's and like Will's at that like even though it's wreck department, it's like an all hands- on deck thing. >> It's like it's like a it's like a puzzle. We have to move around. Like I said, like today is Heather's birthday.
She's supposed to be off, but I we were all in different places covering after school. I had to ask her to come in to run her program. And of course, she would because she is cares about the program. It's the start little 3 to 5 year olds. Like, you're not going to cancel for them. It's finally not
raining, you know. Um and that's the kind of teamwork that we have in the overlapping collaboration. I mean, the final thought I have is that um yeah, I just I've heard from people who are like, if you keep like this isn't like
the mayor hates kids, but or any of that. It just the what I what I'm hearing is that if we keep underfunding services that kids use, we're not going to get families to live here and people are going to continue to choice out and move away. And so my concern is a
long-term economic picture like what is this doing? That's all. >> Another good question. There hasn't there were not always four positions though, right? In the department. >> This is the third year. [clears throat] >> Okay. >> It's the third year. This year I had
time position. Just want to be clear to start it. But because you were doing the work and had already advertised for it um at that point, Mr. was starting to come up and start trying to make advertise. So you had people and
I thought I was hearts because they do work as hard as Christiey's saying. It's unbelievable. And it is not just their department that work that hard. Almost everyone that I know works far more than 40 hours. There look like people in that
do that right now. >> Yeah. >> But this has only been four positions here. It's been the this is the third year now you'll be going into year four and if you're looking at an overall budget of where you are going to make
make cuts I'm just saying it is I did a lot of comparisons first and I want that program to continue and I want it to continue however they decide to do it but I think it needs to be with part-time people. You should look at what other municipalities have as far as
recreation. One full-time or two full-time or one and then there's a lot of part-time positions. I think that's what we need to do here. I'm sorry, but I do I think that we need to to fill part of these positions with part-time positions for which we are charging
sufficiently. I I took my little kids to the river. Um they're now 15 and 14, but Christy knows that. um for years they went there. But the fee for that the whether or not we should charge it's been $65 for a family since my my kids
were little and for a senior it's been $65 a year for a family we're alive. So I whatever it is everything has gone up and you have to make choices when you're doing budgeting. >> Yeah. Then I'm just one more round of
questions and then I'm going to move us forward because we you know we have we take all this information. I'm glad that we were able to have this conversation because um you know there's very specific times for the public to know that we can have these conversations and ask these questions openly. Um and then
we obviously have to do our deliberations. And I mean for the public that might not know like we can't say okay we're taking $50,000 from here and moving it into there and do this like that's not how
our role as fiduciary respons like our fiduciary responsibility works city. So, um, sorry, we had Maisie and then >> Okay. >> So, how was this funded before the fourth
position? Three, four, three years ago, >> it didn't exist. Um, Roxanne, Mayor Reed Gardner, um, when she campaigned, she wanted to bring back the teen center and that was her mission to bring it back. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
>> Any other questions for the record? Okay. Thank you so much for staying this late. >> Of course. And I just want to apologize for Chris for having to wait through all this. >> If I'm here next year, I'll let you go first. [laughter]
Oh, wait. Well, we have Do we have We have retirement. Is retire is retirement here? No. >> But let's go. Let's do that one real quick. >> Yeah, >> that's on my list. Do we even have a budget for retirement? >> No. Well, retirement is one of the
benefits that is every year. There is a person that works in retirement, Sharon Hill. However, she is funded through the through the retirement. But your retirement, which is one of the things one should really be looking at. I'm just going to say this. I said this when
we had our little class. >> The end of the book is what we should be looking at most >> because what you're what you're doing, we spent whatever time that we will spend on like one department and their cookies that they order or the owner
that goes to the clerk's office or the publicity. You go look at retirement at the end of the book, it's up $500,000 every year. And that's another reason why when the mayor says something about how many benefited positions we have,
you have to listen to me about that or you don't have to listen to me about that at all. You don't actually have to listen. But doain, I can't do this. I can't balance. >> Can we pause? What what page do you want
us to be looking at real quick? >> It's not okay. >> It's a very important we started with this and it is on pave.
>> Oh, contributo retirement 161. in tributo retirement is on paid $161 and it is up $500,000 half a million dollar from last year. So,
um some of the hard choices that I had to make involved benefited position. And so the number of people that you have in retirement, and we do have a higher number of people that get benefits than other municipalities that are our size, and
you absolutely must look at that. And there may be more positions in the last department that we talked to should that should honestly be paid out of part-time positions. Wonderful things that can be done part-time with part-time help.
Sometimes it's possible to do the same wonderful things that you do. This is how Fina is staffing a lot of her library positions with part-time nonbenefited positions. They're hiring the people for 14 and a half hours or
for 16 hours and they are doing a huge service part-time position. So it's on there's not a whole retirement department although they have a board and there is an employee pay paid out of retirement
>> but the big takeaway is we're up 500k. >> Yep. >> Where is the at the top of page 161 >> and and next year it is going to increase by another half million dollar and the entire budget is supposed to go
up a million4. So, if you tell the mayor we must have this, I'm asking you to continue to look at page 161 and to continue to look at the health insurance benefit, which we pay 80% of whatever we
have for our wonderful, hardworking, kill themselves in periods, and they're fabulous. And you're going to hear from one more of them in a moment. [laughter] Department does. I have tears in my eyes when I think about what the veterans do, what he does for his department. But I
feel the same way about each one. It's like being the mother. Each child you not want to take care of. They're fabulous. And all parts of it need to be done. But some of it needs to be done with part-time employees. Next year I'm going to be at you. You're going to be
I'm going to be here. A million4 is what we're supposed to go up for the entire budget. This was with fuel costs going out of they're like out of control fuel and electricity. They're hiding every source. Don't get me started. They're
not. We're complaining to the Department of Public Utilities who you you don't have to listen. They don't listen. They certainly don't listen. And it's out of control. And we have to each one of those buildings, which we should be reducing one of those buildings. They're we're paying far too much in whatever it
is for utilities. So those big numbers mean more than the little ones. When you get into we have three people or four people or I cut the toner, >> that's all. >> There's only so much toner. >> There's only so much corner. But this year we could not [clears throat] the
budget without reductions in staff, >> right? >> We couldn't. It was absolutely impossible. >> And I'm the one that didn't sleep at night for night after night after night. Patty knows because she brought me something to help me sleep because it's
a nightmare. There just was not enough money to go on the daily. Sorry. >> All right. I'm not discriminating any st any [clears throat] or staff in this meeting, please. >> Oh, that's off the record. >> Was a
PM. [laughter] >> It was a Tylenol PM. She got Tylenol. >> Um, okay. Page 65 is treasure collector. We did not receive a written statement, I don't believe, unless I missed it. Um,
>> oh, is it on the second page of the agenda? Okay. >> Oh, yeah. Our budget increased only slightly despite the economy's rising cost, schooling meeting, seminars, um, attending paper envelopes have increased due to the rising cost of printing W2s and 1099s. Office equipment
costs are due to the higher annual payment for the quadant folding machine which multiple departments use within the city. >> Yes. >> The most expensive folding machine ever.
>> So we this one also was like so minimum salary just went up 3% and then we saw a decrease of 10% expenses. So what they cut was um they had 10,000 budgeted for past years forever uh for bonding costs
and really need to get put out because of the bond premiums that we get which are in the you know 150 $200,000 range. So we just use those to cover bonding costs. >> Great. Any questions? Thank you. Okay.
Now that are in service of [laughter] We could do we could do our emotions before if you are having a fun night. >> You're having a fun night with us then. We're a real fun crew. >> What page are we on? 144 you. Yes. Okay.
>> Yeah. Welcome. >> So, uh, hello everybody. My name is Chris Dears. I'm the director of veteran services here. Um, we do not just service Greenfield. We are a district. So we have 25 other towns besides Greenfield that we service. So the good
thing about that is they pay for some of our costs. So I assess out money to the to the other towns. Um this year we're assessing out about 157,000 to the towns of our overall budget. Um, we're going
to get another around another $200,000 back this year because of our chapter 115 fund that we pay out. The state reimbures our the city 75 cents to the dollar of every dollar in our chapter 115 that we pay
out to our low-inccome veterans on the last Friday of every month. So, there is some money coming in there. Um, so we are a a fourperson office. Our office is mandated that any veteran service office, anybody considered a veteran service officer has to be a veteran. So
out of our office, we only have one non veteran. Uh Laura is our uh veteran service agent. She doesn't write claims or anything like that. So she is our only nonveteran in our office. Um she's the only one that actually gets insurance through the town because the rest of the veterans we get to the VA.
So, we do save you $90,000 in deferred costs and insurance and stuff every year because we usually be a for insurance. Um, so we are down one individual right now. Um, and we were going to wait until the 1 of July to rehire. Um, but unfortunately my advisory board, every
town has somebody in the advisory board. Um, got in that we're down a person and they want to know what we're doing to replace that person. And I said, "Well, we're going to wait till July." and they said, "No, you're not because we're out of compliance because we do fall under a lot of uh Mass General laws." So,
because of our population base of all our towns, we have to have four people in our office. So, we waited a little bit. We we applied, we just, you know, advertised. So, we will hire somebody. It's not 1 of July. It probably be a little bit earlier. We did save this town some money because we went about a
month and a half, two months without salary on on one person. So, um, my budget for our salaries is going to be lower than what I projected. Uh, so first week of January every year, I'm sending out my assessments and budget to
all the other towns because some of these towns are calling me in August asking to pay my budget. I tell them not until January. So, whoever I bring in to replace my person that resigned on us is not going to come in at that um salary
at uh was that that $58,000. They're going to come in a lot lower because they're not going to be trained. They're not going to know how to do that. Not at that higher level. So, we are going to come in a little under under our um our salary budget. Um the big things to look
at which really affect our budget is if you go about halfway down the second the ordinary allowances, fuel allowance, medical benefits, burial allowance, and the miscellaneous at the at the very bottom. That's our chapter
115 fund. That's the money we pay to our low-inccome veterans. So, that changes every year. Um, some years it goes up, some years it goes down. This year it went down again. Last few years we brought it down. Um, my concern is coming into the next fiscal year, what's
going to be going on with that Wilson building? If that's up and running and they're bringing in people, uh the VA will see that and their counselors will start doing uh HUDVASH vouchers for people to live in those places there and those will be low-inccome veterans and
we'll have to add to the chapter 150. So I'm not worried about this year, but next year and the year after we could have a big jump on our chapter 150. So I have to keep track. That's something to think of in the future. Everything else is pretty steady. It doesn't change that often. We add the one line item this
year which is the software for 1500. Uh it's the software that we need to use to file claims. Um if we don't have that software, it would take us probably three times the amount of time to do a claim on somebody that we do now. And we can
barely keep up as it is. So um and we're waiting for the next big hit from the VA to add more things for claims. And once they do that, we're going to get really busy again. It finally caught it from Packac which came through in 2022. We're breathing air right now. We're not
behind which is nice. >> Great. >> So that chapter 115 is funded through the city but it's a state requirement. Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. And we're the only state in the union that has chapter 150. There's no other states that have chapter 150.
>> Cool. Cool. And if somebody moves from another town and they tell me I'm here for the chapter one from another state and says I'm here for the chapter 115. Sorry that's illegal. You can't do that. >> Oh really? Yeah. >> There's a Massachusetts residency for
that to be eligible for. >> Okay. Any questions? >> Pretty clear. Yes. No questions. Wow. Well, thank you. >> Thank you. [laughter]
>> You got to get to go for this. >> Yeah. Next week. >> I can't promise I'll be telling the first hour I was actually on a conference. We have to be national certified. So, the conference is still going on. >> Oh, come on. Mr. Well, I'm glad you could
>> glad you could multit. >> Okay, we made it through every department. Relatively unscathed. [laughter] >> Comparatively unscathed. Um, >> okay. We are going to move to our
motion. Um, sorry, page stopped. My brain is stopped for the >> uh, yeah, go for it, Max. Order number fiscal year 26-1 through6. The city
council upon recommendation of Mayor Dorer moved that it be ordered that the city council votes to appropriate the sum of 70 million24,736 which is the full amount necessary for the fiscal year 2027 general fund budget
July 1st 2026 to June 30th 2027. To meet set appropriation, the following funding sources and amounts will be raised and transferred from our computer receipts reserved 250,000 pension stabilization 200,000
raise and appropriate 69,574,736 majority vote required. Do I need someone to um make so Yes. I make a second. >> Okay. Words. [laughter]
>> Okay. I had Patty first and second. Okay. Um any discussion on this? So if this changes, it just be gets amended. Yeah.
>> All in favor? >> Yes. >> Okay. And now we are on the next one. Page 17, I believe. Order number fiscal year 26-137. The city council upon recommendation of
Mayor Dorger moved that it be ordered that the sum of 2,27,731 be appropriated for the fiscal year 27 operations of the water enterprise and further appropriate the sum of $67,450 to be transferred to the general fund
for indirect cost for a total appropriation to the water enterprise fund of 2,815,181 to be raised from the water user rate receipts for the fiscal year starting July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. Majority vote required.
>> So second >> any discussion on this one? >> All in favor 22 for the next one.
Order number fiscal year 26-138. City Council upon recommendation of Mayor Sorger move that it be ordered that the sum of 3,152,974 be appropriated for the fisc year 27 operations of the sewer enterprise and
further appropriate the sum of $742,690 to be transferred to the general fund for indirect cost for a total appropriation to the sewer enterprise fund of 3,895,6 $664 to be raised from sewer user rate
receipts for the fiscal year starting July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. Majority vote required. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion on this one?
All in favor? And page 27. Thank you for reading. Order number fiscal year 26-139. The city council upon recommendation of Mayor Dorger moved that it be ordered
that the sum of 2,29,71 be appropriated for the fiscal year 27 operations of the Greenfield Community Energy and Technology Enterprise and further appropriate the sum of 172,500 to be transferred to the general fund
for indirect cost for a total appropriation to the GET enterprise fund of 2,2 $22,21 to be raised from GET user rate receipts for the fiscal year starting July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. Majority but required.
>> So moved. >> Second. [clears throat] >> Any discussion? >> This number will be updated for whatever it needs to be. >> Yeah. >> All in favor? Okay. And page 30 is the last
>> order number fiscal year 26-140. The city council upon recommendation of mayor disorder move that it be ordered to authorize the revolving funds budgets in accordance with Mass General Law Chapter 44 section 53E and a half for
the fiscal year 2027. Receipts received but not expended in fiscal year 2028 shall be carried over to fiscal year 2028 unless otherwise prescribed in MGL majority vote required. >> So moved second.
>> Any discussion? All in favor? Okay. Uh [sighs and gasps] we don't have anything else on this agenda. Um any old business or new business?
Okay. Um our next meeting will be Tuesday, June 16th, 2026. Um I believe it's at the fire station, but it does not say it here, so it will be published. Um but I I believe it's at
the fire station at 6:30, unless it's at 5:30. I know. [clears throat] Uh [laughter] I know nothing at this point in the evening. Uh and we will continue our fiscal uh year 27 operating deliberation
and um the community preservation conversation. >> I would take a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. Second. [laughter] >> And I needed all those in favor. >> Is 9:26 p.m.
>> Not bad. All right.