all right it's quarter of five quar of six rather and uh we uh can open the meeting um assume they're recording okay the meeting is being recorded by uh channel 58 or area 58 so we uh first thing will be a a move
to go into executive session pursuant to general laws chapter 38 section 21 regarding Teamsters Local 653 librarian clerical uh persons uh pursuant to chapter 38 section 21 A3 to discuss strategy with respect to
collective bargaining uh if uh an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position and I so say it will so that'll be my motion do we have a second second that uh Tom yes John yes I vote Yes also we'll be back into Open Session as soon as we're done so I'm
going to uh I'm going to just jump ahead a little bit because uh we have Mr schli here and I know he's interested in our new business Mike how are you uh review request to to hire should we do the Pledge of Allegiance oh jeez I always forget that I'm sorry okay Jo me in the
Pledge of Allegiance yeah go off IED to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all think I remember you're new you're new around
here I appreciate that go back to work after I'm sure you do okay so we have um uh I know our last meeting we um had a policy to say that we had to um approve any uh new um hires M and so uh we do
have two here uh so let's just jump right over to the uh Beach attendant uh because I know that's why you're here so you want to talk to us about that one of the reasons um you know after a lot of the years and struggles you guys have been in some of the meetings during the summertime um it's consuming and we're
struggling to get somebody down there but if you cut it out we're just we're just St to get a hot peat on P and to to cut out that position at this point I mean because we couldn't get a position last year we we were able to use some of
the funds and have a police off are down on the high end when they could get one so I think we had like two details then one was for free cuz they were doing training for a new new guy and we got the fire department out there on the lake one day course nobody's out there
that Saturday you know so um we're trying to get somebody permanent there we want to get out the ad as soon as possible try to work whatever we can to get somebody in there fill those position that position this year okay so what do we need to do did we either have
to vote to to authorize the recruitment process to begin just one one more thing is that there is funding up through the end of June currently from the last town meeting so even if we get turned down at town meeting again we ask for more appr
we got we've got enough to get us through June um so can you can you remind us like so the beach attendant will be there how many days a week two weekends or a holiday um okay uh 10 to 10 10 to 6
weather permitting okay weekends and holidays 10 to 6 uh I think there's only two Hol day lab day um the Fourth of July Fourth of July so will they uh uh they're the ones that will be enforcing the parking yes
uh that kind of thing okay body down there making sure okay you know if anybody comes in they they can apply for it and get a $20 pocket permit or they get a ticket if nobody's down there so I don't know okay all right any discussion
from the board just curious Mike do you are you holding the salary the same as last year yeah I don't think it's moved was 1782 I think it was okay I'm not sure exactly what it was our illustrious over there and he
said it hadn't changed so yeah it's the same thing it has cuz that that was the nonunion that didn't get the um any sort of cola increase so if there's one for this this year it would be effective July 1st but at this point it's um we did it it's as like a Parks and
Recreation supervisor or something and ballpark how many hours a week code do you think about 16 okay and then you have the holidays it's relatively short money you're talking $4 to $5,000 for the whole season if every single shift is filled it you know probably doesn't happen that you get someone to fill every single shift and just for the new
guy remind me on the approval process if that's something that we would entertain is a coda town meeting for a vote or is this just Mally entertained this is only because we have the hiring freeze in effect that it comes to the board of slman okay typically we would the the money is there the position already
exists in our bylaw so we would just post the position go through the normal recruitment process this is an extra step because we have the hiring freeze so you're reviewing each position so if approved then we allocate another 45,000 for f no no no additional money for next for next for next year though after
after June 30 yeah but that's already in the the proposed budget okay it's already in the proposed budget so in the event that we couldn't find someone to fill the spot that money would just go unused right yeah do we have any leads on candidates who might be interested we're going to try it again try to get the Juniors going into seniors and try
to put it out in other places other than the town website or um down with the bu I don't know went out before we're going to do some recruitment on the town side um and also you know help the parks with some of the interview process and things like that just so because it is a it's a
position of the town of Halifax so we want to be uh represented uh in a in a positive manner yeah I think uh one of the angles I trying to research on how to move could help in there and I noticed in Buzz around town had a good article where it's a good
recommendation for college that you're able to do this I think that would help little B getting somebody down there that's a good reference for college bom kids um so you know etc etc I'm trying to come up with something I can maybe put on a buzz around town or or you know
what they would like to see down in the school and how they look at that stuff so over the last two years we've had uh a lot of beatings on uh Beach issues you know uh last year we got the police I don't know if the police whoever did it
we increased the parking find uh made you know make sure the police were down there CH as much as they could um and one of the things that has been talked about a lot uh in terms of kind of controlling the the crowds uh is to have
somebody there checking stickers to make sure the people that parking there are supposed to be there so this has really been uh a Hot Topic um it's a I wouldn't call it a critical hire but I would say that it may make a
difference as far as how the summer goes this year as opposed it has the last two years so especially as police Staffing over time you know the new law that went in a couple years ago we lost a lot of our specials so finding people even on the police and when they're getting calls
down there on this that the other thing it takes away from their regular duties it's it's probably the least expensive way to try I mean honestly so I mean I tried to watch it last summer and the majority of time the parking lot was
pretty well empty the beach was generally empty especially during the week the lake was generally calm there are times when it is uh when it is crazy there are especially like the holiday like Memorial Day that way Fourth of July last year cuz it was a a nice day
and a lot of the places around here were closed and the neighbors uh around there legitimately uh are um Hy sensitive yeah they're very upset with uh with the amount of people there with the traffic
there uh some of which is not um uh some some of that is like you know it's a public beach so they should we expect people to be there but on the other hand it is also their neighborhood in their backyard so I think it's a legitimate compromise to say well we
have rules let's enforce the rules we're going to put the signs up like we talked about last year um I know the uh last December's town meeting with that uh petition article to uh change the bylaws relating to Lake uh Lake usage I mean
that hasn't been approved yet but you know we haven't heard anything from the attorney general or a whole you know that's a whole different kettle of fish this is a heck of a lot less complicated than that would that come out before the summer you think okay there's no I don't
think they have any requirement as to how long they take the AG has a requirement I anticipate a couple days before that deadline we'll get a request for extension and we really don't have an option to say no don't forget the AG's mad at us probably yeah we're on the list um we are trying to implement a
sticker system this year so residents get Beach stickers it just um it comes down to us purchasing the stickers and also the Manpower of of overseeing I think that's that's kind of the biggest challenge we you know the the buying the
physical stickers isn't really that expensive in the grand scheme of things we can actually put on our online system too which I think would be great for people and they could get them right there we can mail them right out it just comes down to Manpower in the offices who's going to do this um and so we're
we're still trying to work work through that aspect of it but the goal would be to have a beach sticker that you would if you have a recycling sticker that's fine if not you need a beach sticker you place on the car and and that way there the attendant there knows this this car
is good go in or no this car isn't good you can't come in um it also would be easier for police to because then it's just a violation of you have a sticker or not rather than sitting there trying to run license plates and it it really isn't a super effective model so we're trying to work through that um it's just
some of logistics mind this is one thing we can do for the Neighbors down there that uh you know for all the complaining we got and the hearings we had and issues that were going on and on and on this is one thing that I do think we can do that will uh hopefully calm it down some I don't know it'll solve the
problem but it'll Calment down some Cody you working on that stick of things you know you we'll let you know we should be we should be good to go can I can I ask a question not to jinx us we've had
great water quality the last couple of years what happens to this position if say July the the beaches are closed for two months 3 months because of bacteria the water would be closed right the they
still people still hang on the beach want crowds it's not like you know if it's raining and Bor got to work right you know um we do want to offer some stability you know to someone if you have someone taking the job y we want to offer them some stability now if it's
pouring and we say hey it's your choice if you want to come in or not that's different but I do think it's to be fair we you know we got to we got to if we offer someone a position with an average of 16 hours a week yeah we can't call four weeks in a row and say sorry we hired you but we don't need you anymore
the second thing is too we're uh entertaining hiring too so they can work off each other so we can have a consistency of somebody down there that we didn't get we we didn't get one but if we're going to get one and somebody halfway through the season yeah you know um so we're going to try to team it
where they can work back I don't know that we've ever actually closed the beach have we I think yeah um this been Clos signs for the algae booms M but you can't go on the beach you can't go in the water you go yeah yeah so the parking just change
sign big sign beat open and then when they got to Clos I guess they flip around yeah um and they got the same thing over on home street and I think that's the only other place yeah let's just hope we have good good water again
this any any more discussion on this so I would move that we approve the uh hiring of a beach attendant again we a lot of experience with this so I'll second in it okay any more discussion uh all those in favor say I opposed okay that's unanimous so apprciate keep it up
man thank you for doing it that's will save us allad get replace for TW oh is he out yeah yeah okay uh let's go looking for volunteers thank you all have a good
thanks thanks all right we'll go back up to the top and then we'll come back to the library director so uh uh when uh the um warrants and commitments I move to airm approval of forign following warrants and commitments vendor warrant number 75 for
$2,946 and ambulance commitments February 3rd 2025 through February 9 2025 for $ 36,38 40 and ambulance commitments February 10 2025 through February 16 2025 for $625 1840 second any discussion
all those in favor say I I opposed unanimous I move to approve the following warrants and commitments payroll War number 76 for $71,400 71 vendor warrant number 77 for $79,700 and withholding award number 78 for
8,992 and3 second any discussion all those in favor say I I Clos it's unanimous um didn't we have another ambulance commitment or we just did that that's the uh abatements oh the abatements okay all right um okay uh
approval of the selectman's minutes July uh January 21st um everybody had a chance to read them over okay um so they will make a motion I'll make a motion to approve the select meeting minutes from January 21st 2025 any discussion all those in favor
say I I oppos unanimous uh that brings us to ambulance abatements um I'll save Mike's voice uh I'll move that we uh aate uh ambulance a cost of uh for January 2025
$145,200 all those in favor say I opposed it's unanimous okay now uh Library detect uh Library director again so this is uh right along the lines of the uh Park uh Beach parking attendant
there with um I think I mentioned Jean Gant is retiring on May 12th so we are started the recruitment for our library director the hiring free is as of March 1st we certainly won't have somebody in place as of March 1st but um you know
this is a department head level high level position we need someone to oversee the datting the operations in the library so I would request um that the board uh allow us to continue forward with the recruitment for the library director um where do we stand on the um um recruitment that we have start
we started recruiting already we have yeah so I met with the library trustees a couple weeks ago we came up with a plan that they approved um we got the they approved the the posting and everything we posted that on February 10th I believe it was um those are due back on March 10th I
believe we have a screening committee put together of two Library trusties who friends the library and myself uh we will meet review applications hopefully bring some people in for interviews and then recommend a finalist or if they're multiple finalists to the trustees for
interview and final um job offer okay um any discussion board all right I'll make a motion that we uh authorize the hiring of the library director second any discussion all those in favor say I I oppos it's unanimous uh opt in to Plymouth County
Mosquito yeah this is an annual requirement um where we've historically always been part of uh Plymouth County Mosquito Control they do all of the mosquito control for us they offer tons of other services to us as well um they not only do the spraying uh but they
also will conduct uh like if there's a buildup of tires and things like that they'll actually come and get them at no cost nice so um if we were to not opt in we would have to come up with our own mosquito control plan and also fund all of our own mosquito control so I'd
recommend that we continue mosqu uh pth County Mosquito Control does an excellent job so it's just an annual requirement that we opted um I agree 100% mosquitoes are a real problem around here so any discussion from the board no all right I would move that we um opt in uh to the uh mosquito Plymouth
County Mosquito Control for fiscal year 6 second any discussion all those in favor say I oos unanimous um recommendations from the bylaw committee so council's still working on those so we're going to have to um push that off
to the next meeting what what we will have to do is as soon as we receive them from Council I am going to have to send them to the planning board for them to get their public hearing scheduled and then you can review them your next meeting and if you have changes we can send those to the planning board but we're on a pretty tight uh um timeline
here where we have to get them to the planning board by March 1st so um we'll have you review them at the next meeting planning board will have their public car then we'll move forward so I think we've um we've gotten them before I think we' everybody had a chance to see the last draft and um I'm on that
committee and we had a meeting the other night uh the changes are uh I would say not consequential they're um some some changes in terms of uh wording that uh the building uh the Building Commissioner pointed out um but there's
not there's no real big substantial change other than we have to take out the MBTA uh part of it so yeah okay free cash yes so our free we received notification that our free cash was certified by the Department of Revenue
so um this is great news I think it's pretty healthy this year we had a a little bit of a decrease last year uh which we were anticipating but in your packet you can see I included um some some historical data on the free cash figures uh this year the free cash
amount is $1,544 732 about 40,000 of that is that opioid money you hear about um so we don't have quite that full amount available but we're around $1.5 million um which is pretty good you can see we're at
5.37% of our uh percentage of the budget which which is healthy we want to try to stay around that 5% figure the other two things that I wanted to note of uh were our retained earnings so we have two two Enterprise funds for the most part our water Enterprise fund and or a solid
waste Enterprise fund those operate almost like a business where they they user fees so the fees of the users cover the cost of the of the services um when we had the pay as your throw program a
couple years ago the program was failing miserably to be quite Frank we were running deficits almost every year dipping into our retained earnings which is basically your savings account so we weren't covering our annual cost within just our regular operating budget what you can see from this is we've had a
complete turnaround of that um and it's the highest retained earnings number ever um in the history of this program at $37,500 so that's and that's where we need to be heading in that direction cuz we need to cover costs like we're looking at a new recycling truck that's
almost $300,000 right there so previously we weren't going to be able to fund those things and you may have heard me mentioned if that Trend continued we were going to have to abolish the program likely at the end of this contract with all state waste but this this is very positive this is good
um it also shows that the fees that we have put in place are right where they should be right they're covering our annual cost and also allowing us to cover our Capital costs such as that so uh yeah kudos to kind of everyone involved in that uh that's a complete
turnaround of that program that was kind of on its last leg and now it's kind of have some life in it and then our water retained earnings was pretty healthy once again a little over a million dollars in retained earnings there which is which is pretty good considering we
had appropriated um $500,000 towards the Water Project last year and also another $25,000 for the uh purchase of a excavator backup so we're we're replenishing that at a good amount and we hope to be able to put some more money uh towards the Water Project this
year and kudos to our accounting team to treasur collector Linda um McCarthy and Lindsay Martinelli the accounting and uh Eric and Bill Row from Eric kinf for kind of getting this wrapped up and submitted and
certified so we had a discussion a couple of weeks ago about um trying to get uh better communication in into the uh into the public and I don't know how to do this maybe you have a good idea but um I think this type of information really needs to be in the public eye
more than we have it only and I'm not critic not me critically I just meant that it you're always hearing discussion about oh you know um we're going to have to have cutbacks or we're not going to have enough money to fund this that or the other thing but sometimes this positive stuff it has
to come out also and say okay well there is certain amount of funds it may not be enough to do what you want to do but at least it's at least is a positive and it's an improvement from where we were so I I would like to figure out how to do that effectively whether it's uh I don't know Cody's Corner again or
perhaps it's the website maybe our website needs to have this uh with a little bit um you know a little bit of an attention grabber in it there because again um I I do think we do I do think we need to communicate with the with the public better we can always do it better
uh and it it's these things don't get heard enough I don't think sure so yeah that's a a great idea we can certainly do a post on the website um with what our Figures were and also maybe an explanation of of what these
mean right cuz I I do think it's important this is this is you know your free cash and your um retained earnings are are uh kind of a picture of your overall Financial Health right that were that
were we're financially management is going well because when you have strong cases like this it tells you free cash for example tells you basically two things one is that we are um good with our Revenue estimates right because when we put our budget together we're
estimating we we don't know what our revenues are actually going to be we but we look at Trends analysis and we look at forecasting and we say okay this is where we think we're going to be within some reason things always come up so we we always want to be a little bit conservative one of the approaches that that we take and it's very common is you
take 90% of our prior year actuals and that's what we use for our next year and that that insulates us pretty well from risk so that that's that but then the other side of it is it means that our departments are being cognizant of their spending and they're not spending every single penny in their operating budget
because that gets turned back and that's basically what free cash is made up of then anything from last year in free cash that we didn't spend which was you know 100 or $100,000 a couple hundred, um so we can certainly do that and again this is primarily reserved for Capital
appropriation appropriation for Capital items cuz it's one time you you saw that historical chart of the money right it it varies because it all depends on revenues and expenses um but it it allows us to be able to invest in our Capital items and hopefully not push off
things down the road they end up costing even more that's excellent very good okay any other questions on that no uh Brockton uh electric credits yes this is another very good cost savings measure that we've uh been able to
implement so I had mentioned previously uh myself and Kathy Stanley were working with the city of Brockton to purchase some energy credits from them um they ultimately over subscribed to some of their purchase power agreements and had an excess and credits so what we've been
able to do is myself Kathy and a consultant that the city of Brockton hired was we reviewed all of Halifax's Municipal energy usage so Town Hall COA Library schools everything um and looked at where we predict that for the next of
the Year rest of the year and what we're what this agreement is is US buying basically the rest of our electricity for the the remainder of the fiscal year at a 20% reduction in cost that's awesome so you see that the typical cost we would anticipate would be about
$280,000 for the remainer of the fiscal year and we'll buy that up to that amount at a 20% reduction so that's you know if we end up spending that full amount that's you know close to $60,000 in savings fantastic we're we're already in discussions of doing the same thing next year uh our goal next year would be
buy the whole year and we look to save $120,000 okay do you need us to do anything I do I need you to approve the memorandum of agreement with the city of Brockton for the electricity credits all right I would make that motion and allow me to sign on your behalf and allow Cody to sign it I'll second that any
discussion all those in favor say iOS it's unanimous good work thank you more good news make put that out there with the trash info yeah no kudos to Kathy Stanley she she is absolutely phenomenal um all of the energy things that have I
mean significantly saved us a lot of money I mean I certainly play a role in but Kathy has has taken this on um we would have probably never made the connection with Brockton if it weren't for Kathy cuz you know you wouldn't know about it and she's just been great along the way um not only in the analysis
portion because it's looking at our electricity it's not just saying this is what our bill is we had to dig into what usage is and it it it was extensive and she was able to bring in a consultant to do that work for us that the city of Rock had paid for that we didn't have to
pay for that analysis so it justos to her she's phenomenal off the water all right no appointment scheduled uh under old business uh Town administrators updates Staffing and town operations uh yes so we're just continue on continuing on with the budget our uh public budget
meetings with the finance committee began last night uh where we had the library highway department and police departments in to present their budgets what we're doing this year is very similar to what we implemented last year where um we're not having every single Department in we're only having the
larger departments in before the finance committee we've already met with all of our departments um we've kind of worked through bud and at this point is presenting what we feel are quite polished uh requests to the finance committee next week we have
the fire department coming in and then I also will run through uh most of the other line items in the budget that fall under those smaller departments and general government departments um so we'll continue that process tomorrow night we have a capital planning committee meeting I'm sorry Thursday night we have a capital planning
committee meeting that is the first one of this budget cycle aligns prly with our free cash notifications so we know kind of what we can spend departments have all submitted their um Capital requests for the upcoming fiscal year so we anticipate a couple of those meetings
and just working through the school budget um Silver Lake was having a meeting tonight to hopefully vote their um their budget for fiscal 26 so we will once we have that figure we can we can start to work through um what what an
override budget would actually look like and what our you know uh non- override budget balance budget uh would look like and So the plan is is to have a joint meeting with you and the finance committee again on March 25th to review those and then you would make the
decision at that point so move forward with an override and to and at that point you would decide the amount of the override and then of course we have the um final warrant will be on your meeting for April 11th for your final approval and we'll get that out to print shortly
thereafter before it closes when March 1st oh so so this weekend yeah uh might let me see yeah seems early that's actually where our bylaw say yeah it's not a no
it's just coming up quick time so we would just vote I'm sorry March I'm sorry the the warrant closes March 11th go so the decision to put an override on the ballot or not and if so what amount would happen on the night of March 25th
I would anticipate that yes and that's still up in the air whether it's on the ballot or not and then the amount to which we would recommend it to absolutely on the let me try to understand that correctly so we're we're now as soon as I get that number from Silver Lake I am going to develop a
second budget basically uh we have our regular budget where we're going to be making significant cuts across the board to try to um stay balanced and then we will present a budget of what what it would look like without making the cuts in what that figure is um within reason
right the finance committee is going to give some direction and say okay Me Maybe we're going to recommend that the school cut x amount or whatever that is and then that both of those will be presented to you on the 25th of the joint meeting and you can make your decision um at that point and that way
there because we have to finalize it through the warrant and then on the 11th you'll have your basically final warrant if you need want to make some small changes we can do that at that point but we kind of want an idea of what the warrant's going to look like so it can be all completed for the 11th got and
once we have those in place Cody were we talking I don't know if I made this up were we talking about having some kind of public forum budget discussions with the town just to try to educate folks before they get to town meeting yeah so once once budgets have been voted we're
working to try to do a couple of public workshops in probably you know April um of what those budgets are we just excuse me we are holding off because we don't know what the budget so once we have recommended budget or budgets we will do
that um we'll make a couple of video recordings we're I'm going to create an in-depth uh presentation of all of our revenues and how that process is and go through that for potentially both budgets and then allow people to come in and ask questions and hopefully just uh
prepare everyone as much as we can prior to town meeting corre so they're educated when they get to town meeting yep great idea and then just one other question t a tangent because I don't think it has to do with our budget we got an email today or I got an email today about the Silver Lake that has nothing to do with our budget that's strictly on the Halifax I
mean the Silver Lake committee on their side of things nothing comes in back and play on us no but it could factor into their budget decisions tonight XYZ it probably that's their uh that's theire I figured as much I just want to make sure know what I was looking at so they um they did utilize that last year to
supplement their budget um and not I I have no inclination if that's something they're going to look to do again this year I know without that they are looking at making some Cuts again so they are meeting tonight to to decide that you know similar to what I've said
to you the Administration has has said to them uh that it's never a good idea to to use onetime Monies to for an operating budget unless it's a one-time cost if something is going up this year as a onetime thing and then next year we know there's a solution well that's a
little bit different but you're there's no answer right to it other than you're creating a bigger problem for the future so do you expect to get a budget from them tomorrow or this week I do I I I spoke with uh Sarah hickey their uh
Director of Finance and operations today and she had told me that they should be voting a budget tonight so Halifax Elementary already voted their budget Silver Lake should be voting their budget tonight and then at that point she will put together which I think is really great uh total cost of education
so not only does it take into account our assessment for Silver Lake our H Tax elementary school budget our um excluded debt that we have over at Silver Lake it just it and it puts that all into one figure and you're comparing Apples to Apples rather than just pieces in
comparison so I mean my assumption is that uh whatever number they're going to come up with is not going to be happy for us um just assuming it's going to be over the top as far as what we think should be there right uh and I'm just wondering like
between just for talking purposes assuming they uh come up with a budget tomorrow or tonight and tomorrow we know what it is and that means Kingston will know and Clinton will know also um there's got to be some um ability to negotiate that number
and I'm not sure how to do that I don't think it works if we do that big meeting like we did last year where we had the whole all full of town officials right that's that that that that doesn't accomplish anything so I think you know maybe maybe the three administrators I'm not sure yeah no I meet with um Keith
and Liz regularly um what I can say without knowing what they're going to do tonight is that Halifax is in the worst position of the three communities not just because of our current Financial State but the increase that we are
facing at Silver Lake is larger than any of the other um community these and initially we were led to believe that was because of enrollment um we in speaking with the administration today that that is not the case the reason for
Halifax's much larger increase has to do with the Chapter 70 formula and the required contribution from each municipality which takes into account a lot of factors that very few people in the state of Massachusetts fully
understand the Chapter 70 formula but if you if you go on the department of ele Elementary and secondary education's website it gives you several criteria of how that is identified and a few of the things that have have resulted in Halifax's requir contribution going up
is um our income so the resident of Halifax's income significantly significantly increased from from the past fiscal year and so the Department of Revenue that's one of the pieces in our calculation and then our equalized value so take the total value of the
Town divided by per capita you get your equalized value significantly went up the higher those are the uh less beneficial it is to the municipalities and while many communities saw increases there Halifax saw a quite a large
increase there Jonathan and I actually were looking at it today and so that's one of the reasons there but about $400,000 of Halifax's increase at Silver Lake is attributable to that formula
requirement so right off the bat we have to we have to um provide that funding on top of anything else that goes into the assessment calculation so that's why Halifax is
facing a larger is in the worst situation of the three communities pair that with our current Financial challenges and it it's challenging so I think early Figures were 2% increase at Silver Lake take silver
Lake's budget from last year increase it by 2% was actually going to still result in a 5.8% increase for Halifax because of that required contribution increase and it was a much smaller increase for Clinton I think less than 1% and
Kingston was in the two or 3 percents so that that's the challenge that unfortunately we're going to face because we're in the minority basically where the other two communities very we could be presented where situation where the other two communities very well can afford something it may even be a
decrease right if if they come up with a good number for Clinton let's say but it could still be a large increase for Halifax given that so we'll certainly try to work through it but there may be less room for negotiation given that those communities may already
be in a good spot and we we may not be I would think though that they're also going to be uh objecting to the side I'm just assuming I don't know but I'm assuming they they'll be objecting to the size of the assessments and the budgets and so on I mean they may but if
if Clinton's only presented with a 1% increase I don't think they're going to push back toal and I ALS and because I also look at it if we were present with one% increase we would be saying sounds good guys um and Kingston I know could
afford up to 4% I don't again we have I have no clue what they're going to vote but if it's under four and I'll see Kingston putting too much up of a fight because they can afford for they they've made that known that 4% for them is is okay okay so so just if I can Mr chair
just my concerns kind of to Echo what Cody says if we get in a situation where um Kingston and Plimpton don't need overrides this year they're okay with the budget we need one so let's say even our our um contribution to Silver Lake
is zero we're still at least tentatively at this juncture so far away on our elementary school budget budget that we would need an override to match that so my concern is we are the only town this year that considers an override right and then
what we're doing this year would lead to an override in PL at the Silver Lake level right so if we had an override this year it would most likely be based on the elementary school right the elementary school would be driving the override we would be the only one that
would consider it possibly so then next year with any possible budgeting they're doing this year could be a need for an override at the Silver Lake level driven by that budget so we could be possibly looking at backto back overrides if that makes
sense so that's my concern and I know it's still all the numbers are still up in the air but I'm just concerned if if as Cody says we're the only town of the three that have to consider an override because of what might be coming next year as well
which goes back to why it's very important to use your your operating revenues for your operating costs and not onetime revenues correct for your annual cost because you create fiscal cliffs and and if and if Silver Lake
were to use onetime funds this year to basically Band-Aid it and push the problem off to next year while that may get Kingston and Clon through we're not getting through because of our school situation and it could put us in an even
more challenging spot where we we buy a year with Silver Lake this year but we need an override for Halifax Elementary and then next year we have this huge problem at Silver Lake because it wasn't addressed this year when we addressed our elementary school and then I did
speak with the administration today and urge them to urge the school committee to not you know put Band-Aids on things with onetime funds because it's exactly that you're you're just pushing off the in inevitable I mean there's tough decisions that have to be made but we
which school Comm the lake school committee correct yeah but we will see we'll keep you guys updated okay and then just the NBTA update I I think there were some documentation received that that we've shared and uh with the board the um
state auditor has ruled in at least two municipalities that the MBTA zoning uh law is um in their review and unfunded mandate so um you know it's something we're rev viewing i' I've at least
mentioned to council my recommendation would be that we try to schedule an executive session with our Town Council and and possibly discuss you know what litigation options there are out there if any um and know if the board had anything to to add on that I think it's
worthwhile I mean I don't know um I don't know how this is all going to turn out but um I mean we do we do have to work uh every angle we can to make sure things get through so um from what I gather from my weekend research which I
guess you had some also uh surrounding towns are are still giving this some thought there aren't many of us we kind of a small number um but they uh this letter from the uh auditor um is a small
Ray of Hope that maybe something could change um but we we should be looking into it I think so yeah I did I did uh reach out to middleb just to try to pick their brain I mean they were the center of that Auditor's letter um just to see
how they approach things um but I I think we need to to get Council involved and consider all options one the other option too and I I had a conversation with Hansen and uh there it was just a conversation so it
wasn't nothing came of it but uh other that uh I think Hansen might be interest depending on what they they're meeting tonight also but it depend on what they decide to do that maybe some sort of a joint effort might be the works but that's so vague as far as like what that
might be right so I don't I don't really know but it it I it this problem's not going to just go away no and so we should probably be trying to figure out what options we have if if we have any I'm not sure yeah I think that's a good idea to keep all options on the table
and and pursue that I would just add that in the limited research that I did um you know six of the 177 are non-compliant I would just stress that there are at least that many and probably multiples of that many who are in paper compliance as we voted who will
not be in compliance once July hits M so I would anticipate that number of six being much different when the next deadline hits oh I agree because I've spoken to people who voted yeah let be in paper compliance and they're not eering any other things right I and I agree with you I don't think I I think a lot of
those ones that say yes on the on the the planed compliance but not yet on the other one I I the majority of them I don't think you're and I and I should just reiterate that I don't know that they're not doing other things but yeah I would anticipate that maybe it's the compliance doesn't come in a picture I think so too and then if that's the if
that's the case then that just gives us a bigger pool of uh of potential strength numbers the picture could change but I think it's Inc combing upon us to keep every Avenue open we Council okay did also get the letter I forwarded to the board from uh the secretary of
the Department of executive office of Housing and liable communities and Augustus um basically acknowledging our non-compliance as that February 13th deadline had passed it effectively reminded us that this was a state law um
and attorney general Andrea Campbell had issued that advisory that you guys have all seen several times basically uh claiming that it was not um not an option and this letter was also sent to
the Attorney General's office so I told you Cody I want to kudos to you too though on that letter that you put together for the state basically kind of outlining the process here in Halifax and how it was a wellth thought out process there was nothing rushed to
judgment on anything we we went through the whole process and um and did I think our due diligence so um I think it was good to be clear with the state that um we we went through the proper protocol so I appreciate that and um I I mentioned this to Cody the last time uh
and I'm I don't know if we have an answer to this yet but typically once a zoning law is down is turned down you can't bring it back for two years so um I don't know we may be in a even funnier position than a lot of places that never presented a zoning um potential change U
because we can't bring that at least we can't bring that one back now I don't know what else we to work with but I spoke with Council about that at a very high level um and basically without digging too deep into it his thought was if you were to have to bring something
back it would have to be different in some some nature you're not supposed to bring back the same proposal if it's been voted down within a 2-year timeline so um yeah that certainly presents another component so now now you have we
have some conflicting issues here right the Attorney General may stomp her foot and say you will do this in which case I'm not sure what the results that's going to be whether she's going to go to court and the Court's going to tell us what to do which in which case maybe they could tell us to do what we already
voted down I don't I don't know uh or uh or or what I it's really that's really uh that remedy that she was seeking in the Milton law suit um just said I want to be able to sue the talent it doesn't say how it's going to impact towns right
how it's going to work so you know it could be maybe the court appoints some sort of uh overseer to for to present something that has to be we can't vote we can't force people to vote for it
right no and it's a fluid situation I know there are bills that have been filed that are being considered too that kind of alter the approach of the state with this so maybe the maybe the rules of the game may change by the we roll around in July we'll see hope so hope
they do make life a little bit easier for us I would know we are in non-compliance right now we're not waiting until July no town of palex is one of one of six that we are non-compliance now so July doesn't matter to us as much as that February 13th mattered and just just as a note
you'll see it in the budget but um you know we're trying to cut everywhere we can but you will see an increase in our legal budget for next year because I do anticipate this is going to result in legal fees so um you know again I just want to make you aware of that while
we're trying to be cognizant and cut everywhere else there's some things such as this that we're going to have to increase and and you know it's it's not going to be a small it's not a couple thousand dollars we anticipate um increasing this so I mean we had this discussion 100 times in public sessions
at town meeting uh you know this this word has been out anybody who doesn't know it wasn't paying attention so uh this is just likely to happen so okay anything else um and no just a notification from the Conservation Commission that they are having a public
hearing um tonight actually no I'm sorry the meeting was postponed they'll be issuing a new public hearing notice for this um but they will be having a public Hearing in the future uh for Zer M Pon Street for a storm water management permit was that whole that whole meeting postponed to public hearings for tonight
right uh yes the meetings will have to be postponed there was an error with the um notification process so new notice will be going out to everybody on the new uh dates okay anything else to come before
the board no um are you here for something special um just the msf I just had a question on that but on the MBTA huh you got a question on the MBTA yeah for the radio if I can get yeah I figured that I saw the Hat you're the
only one in the room here so if you have anything you want to ask us go right ahead good all good okay we we um we lost somebody too Cody right oh yes yes thank you for reminding me um we did lose our uh gas and plumbing uh
inspector uh Jack O umri former for inspector insector no he was still working for us uh he passed away unexpectedly um so condolences to to his family was that that the son from
O'Brien's Orchard or was that Mr O'Brien is he I believe it was yeah I didn't realize he was that young I thought he was older yeah so that's a shame condolences to his okay uh motion to adjourn so moved
any questions I mean any discussion all those in favor say I it's unanimous [Music]