All right, everybody. Thanks for joining. It is 6:00. We're going to call this meeting to order. This is the meeting of the Halifax Finance Committee. It is uh March 30th of 2026. This meeting has
been posted in accordance with the provisions of MGL 3820B and is being recorded and will be posted on area 58 community access channel. The finance committee and its chair reasonably anticipate the following matters will be matters will be discussed andor voted on
at this meeting. Agenda items may be taken out of order for time management considerations. Committee members in attendance are Cheryl Burke, Mike Bennett, Frank Johnston, uh do I see Rod? I don't see Rod yet.
>> Okay. Um EJ Brian, Mike Reignetta, and myself. Um and uh we will go ahead and get started. Our first order of business is an approval of minutes. So, we had two sets of minutes out for review uh
for January 20th and for the 2nd of February. Has everybody had an opportunity to read these two sets of minutes? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Excellent. Do we have any ads, changes, or deletions to said minutes?
>> I'm good. >> That was good. >> Okay. Hearing none. And we have a Do I hear a motion to approve the minutes? So moved. >> Second. >> Very good. So roll call vote. Cheryl,
>> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnston, >> yes. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Reignetta, >> yes. >> Thank you. And I'm a yes as well. So we
will have those minutes as approved. So thank you very much. >> Hey, Jim Rod's on the line is on there, too. Ah, there he is. >> Yeah, >> he wasn't on my screen. All right, Rod, do you have an approval for the minutes? >> I can't hear you.
>> You're on mute, Rod. >> Okay. >> Oh, we can't. Okay. >> All right. So, I guess a thumbs up is an affirmative vote. Y >> Okay. Very good. So, we will uh move out
of that agenda item into the next one, which takes us into our town administrator update. Uh there are two items underneath of there. One is the override update. The other is the warrant article review and vote. So, um I will actually turn this over to Steve
uh and let him go through his uh the work product that he has has for us to review. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um yes. So you guys want to go through the PowerPoint on the budget first? >> If you can share your screen, Steve, can
you do that? >> Yes, I can. >> Excellent. >> Here. Oh, there it goes. >> I lost track of you guys. I can't see you. >> All right. This is going to be problematic because I need to be able to
Oh, here we go. There we go. Got it. I got you, Steve. There you go. You got both now. >> We have both screens, but we also see you. So, if you just want to move it over to your PowerPoint.
>> Yeah, I can do that. It's just a little tough. Um, >> how about content only? Is that Is that better? >> There you go. That's a little >> Okay, >> that's it. >> All right, let me just Did that forward
a slide? Uh, >> you're on your first slide. Did it go back? >> Yeah. >> All right. Something's not working here. >> All right. Is that better? >> Yeah. Yep.
>> So you guys can see the you can see the slideshow now. >> Yeah. Just uh click your the page and I think we'll be running. >> All right. So yeah, so um I put this presentation together for just basically to present the 2027 budget uh and go
through it's all wrapped into one. The overrides wrapped into this as well. We'll show how the money's reallocated back in with a successful override. But first order of business is just a a mini agenda that I put together um for this PowerPoint. Can you guys see that? >> Yes.
>> So we have uh the first slides will be a financial overview. I will then run through the unaffected departments uh and give you reasons why those departments are unaffected. I will talk about impacted departments. After that we'll move on to suggested override restorations or allocations if with a
successful override. uh and then move on to staffing notes for on general government and potential other impacts. Um so overall this is the summary table which is uh off of the budget document that is on the Excel. Uh this shows us
our total expenditures for fiscal year 27 after I entered in all the data. Uh so you see 31,542,218.78 and now we'll get into the breakdown basically uh overall of how we break uh sort of go through the different departments.
So it's a little bit small to see but you guys do have the ability to follow along on um materials plus the spreadsheet that I sent over. This spreadsheet that is shown on this slide matches the one I sent over this afternoon. So you should be able to follow along line by line. Uh the
overall budget um just as a right off the top we are I'm proposing a 0% cola for wage and personnel. I know the gym had requested that uh last year at last year's town meeting there was a a question as to what 1% would equal as
far as a cola increase and what 2% would equal for a cola increase. I've had Lindsay prepare those documents so we have those ready for town meeting in the event those come up. I believe it is an amount of I forget here. I think it was like 18,000 and 30,000 something like that somewhere in that neighborhood.
>> Yeah. >> Um >> so we have that information ready for town meeting in the event the question comes up or if that's something that you guys want to consider we can get into the exact detail what those numbers are. departments that will uh undergo no impact uh with the proposed cuts by the
town administrator's budget will be the uh administration office which is currently just me and Pam at the current time being Irma was a staff member last year. She was cut from the administration office so this is an office that was impacted last year. Um
the town clerk is currently at a minimum staffing level and with the elections coming up both this this um this upcoming town meeting season with the override then plus with midterms coming this fall. Um town clerks have become busier and busier as a department
statewide and it's very important that we adhere to election compliance and having two staff members there is integral. Now, could we see some open hours differences with them so that they can be more efficient and maybe focus on
other um compliance issues in their office? I believe that's probably an option that's on the table. Um the conservation agent, which is basically through an intermunicipal agreement with the town of Bridgewwater, runs out in June 30th of 2027. So, that's going to be unimpacted.
Uh the board of health is currently at a minimum staffing level and in a unique situation with their grants uh as far as the way the built department is built. So right now we have the benefit of sitting in the the quote unquote chair seat of the shared services group that
is responsible for all the towns that are in this region. That gives us some extra um extra grant funding to utilize when we're on our budget. Uh, it also allows us a little bit more access to Bob Buer who's currently serving as our health agent and he's actively training
a young man named Jaylen who is going to become hopefully at some point the next health agent in the town of Halifax some 3 to four years down the road. He will be put in as the shared services coordinator um position under Bob Buer
to maintain the the seat in Halifax. Uh so that's something of a succession plan that's currently ongoing. The highway department uh as we all know they have not changed their staffing level in a very long time in this town. They've been a consistent I forget what the
exact number of uh full-time equivalents was but they have not changed for upwards of a decade. Um and then the water department is a very small team of five total. Um and that includes Kathy as far as the or the admin assistant over there and then four staff members.
So, it's a very small team and we both I think we all know on this call that two of the issues that come up the most in a lot of conversations are both our roadways and our water. And if we're going to cut anywhere, I think those are two departments where we know we're at minimum staffing levels. We haven't
added to the staffing levels in years and they're getting by at this point. So, to cut could potentially be catastrophic. And then again going back to the total projected cuts in town hall um that I've kind of laid out just on the town town
hall governmental side is 200 $23,720. That doesn't include police and fire. So we're going to break it down a little bit deeper into the department lines that were cut. Um first of all, uh in Lindsay's department, we made the
decision to cut the clerical seat or the assistant. Um, basically the assistant town account line to halftime. Um, this will be tough uh because Lindsay's already doing it by herself. She's proving that she can do it by herself at
this point. Uh, we did have that employee recently go out on leave for FMLA. So, we know we can get it done. And we also have the uh implementation of Harper's payroll and lockbox software that will be happening very soon. and
that should assist us. We're counting on it to assist us in some of the accounting and treasury collection um processes. >> So, Steve, can I just interject on this one for one second? Um I I just want to make sure that it's said because I I
think that the imple implementation of the new software is great and down the road it's going to be a a benefit to to make Lindsay's life a lot more tolerable and that's fantastic. But with any implementation upfront, there's typically a lot of you know bugs that
need to be kicked out and um you know issues that we might run into early on. And I just worry about this reduction and that coming online simultaneously. I and I'm not I'm not advocating for it to go back to fulltime right now. I'm just
I'm just saying that that's an important consideration that I want to make sure was was had when the decision was made to make this cut. Yes, EJ. And you'll see when I talk about allocations where this is priority prioritized as far as allocations go with this successful override and moving
forward um as we look at departmental efficiencies. This is a key position and I we all realize this from a legal um from a legal compliance and liability standpoint. It's a very important role that Lindsay needs for support as she
takes on more and more of the higher level responsibilities in the accounting um in the accounting office and starts to learn more of those higher level um responsibilities. We're going to need someone that's there that's able to kind of take on those other responsibilities
as well. Now, we do have some staff in house that could assist with this and already have been part of the process in other facets that we do hope to keep uh keep here and hopefully be able to kind of crossrain them and be able to cross
collaborate with them in different roles. >> Okay. >> So, that is part of the overall plan with with that in mind. >> Okay. Um, so looking all said and done at the accounting department, there's a savings of approximately $24,469
with the reduction in that line item. Now, obviously, um, depending on what happens with the person that's in the role or whatever may happen, um, there may be some unemployment cost associated with that. We don't know yet. Um, so
that's something to consider. Now moving down to information technology, we take a look at the wage line that's unimpacted. And then we look at the expense line that was uh FY27 proposed and requested was $218,324
and I've reduced that to $178,000. Um the main reason there is I know that uh over time I've heard that there are some softwares that could probably be analyzed and removed from usage. I think there's some efficiencies that can be
looked at in that department as far as a multitude of things whether it's hardware, software, um how things are purchased, um and just general processes. So the plan here with this department is to take those savings this
year um really take a closer look at the amount of software we're running, licenses we're running, and try to account for all this in a very detailed spreadsheet so that we have information and we're more on top of what the costs are going to be moving yeartoear. right
now it just seems like we don't really have a clean target um as far as you know what the licenses equate to and the other so the other information we need to know what is our annual software cost for for mapping or what is our annual software cost for this other process we
need to find these out and we need to know what those lines are fluctuating year to year and what we can remove I mean a couple of things I've looked at you know like nearmapper for instance I'm just going to bring it up as an example uh It's something that the assessing department uses for um making
their reporting and assessments more accurate. $7,000 per year, right? So, I've been talking with the assessing department to make sure that if we're paying $7,000 per year for this software, we better be making at least $7,000
in assessment value going up and making and getting that money's worth because if we have this tool and we're not using it effectively, then why do we have this tool? So that's something that I want to look at in that department and see what these different software programs do. Obviously being two and a half months
in, I just haven't had time to sit down and fully analyze that. Any questions there? >> No. Okay. So in the assessor's office, um we're going to have a loss of the clerical position. Um you'll see two
changes there. So you'll see the loss of the clerical position uh which will lower the clerical line which is also split with the administrative assessor uh and then you look at the principal assessor line. So with this we have Debbie Dean retiring the current
assessor is retiring on June 30th and therefore we'll be bringing someone aboard that will be resetting the rate at hopefully not hopefully but likely in the first two or three steps one two or three. Um, obviously we'll try to find
someone, you know, that fits that fits that mold. And just to be honest, one, assessors are very difficult to find these days. Um, and two, that's a rate that's not going to attract uh assessors outside of maybe ones that
are in-house working towards this position or two uh in the region that might have part-time abilities right now. And this is also a department where is there the ability to to vend to put these um these services out to a vendor?
I don't know. Um and would it would it save us money? Again, another question I don't know the answer to. I haven't been able to dive deep enough into it. Um but obviously this is a huge part of the town as this town relies heavily on residential tax base. So, we need to make sure our assessing and our
assessment numbers are topnotch and on point because this is how we collap this is how we capture most of our money. The approximate savings out of the assessor department will be about $38,455. >> Moving on, >> Steve, just just a quick question. Um,
>> with the impending retirement of our current principal assessor and just understanding at least kind of understanding what you had just said. So, we have no in-house succession plan. Have we begun any type of recruitment
process being 90 days out from this person leaving? >> Well, we technically do have an in-house candidate. Uh, but the hire is up to the board of assessors. >> Okay. >> So, on that front, I hope that the
internal candidate is highly considered because I think they're very capable of the role. Um but yes, so that's >> there is a succession plan in place, but again the hiring comes directly to that board of assessors that again they're all elected so
>> we'll see what happens. >> Right. Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. Uh now moving on to building zoning and planning. Uh this has sort of been planning kind of been tossed well this has sort of been lumped into one one sort of category. Um, typically it was
operated as building SL building zoning/planning and now it's going to be all one with one staff member taking over the two administrative roles. Uh, so what I've done is I haven't cut fully the building admin role. I've left a little bit of
room there to potentially sign anou or MOA with the existing um planning uh administr administrative assistant and talk to her about potentially taking on more more responsibility as she would be now covering a new set of
responsibilities and that went well. So I believe we have that person in house as well to make that change and be able to slide over and cover that difference. And again, this would save us about $26,724. Uh, moving on to the Treasurer Collector's Office. Now, this is
probably the most impact we're going to talk about tonight. Um, but when you're looking for money, you have to look everywhere and you have to be equitable about it and you have to really make some tough decisions. So, looking at the treasurer collector's
office, a lot of folks always ask why there's um more administrative staff in the treasur collector's office than other offices. Well, it's actually two offices in one because they're the treasurer and they're the collector. As much as people want to say it's one,
it's not one. They do two different things. Um so therefore, there was a very big reason why we had an assistant collector and an assistant treasurer. and they worked under the treasurer collector. So under this move, we'd be
combining the assistant treasur and assistant collector roles into one role. This would also have to be aided by the implementation of payrolls uh Harper's payroll because the assistant treasurer is currently responsible for all payroll
functions. this Harper's Payroll should make that lift um considerably easier. But to EJ's point, I think there will be some onboarding time with the software in this case because this is directly related to payroll. Um the team that's
being assembled to deal with the payroll includes myself, it includes Lindsay, it includes Michelle Smith from the Treasury Collector's Office, it includes Linda McCarthy from the Treasury Collector's Office. So, we're all going to know how to do this. I've implemented Harper's Payroll down in Middleboro
previously and been part of an implement implementation team there. Um, I think it's going to be a great product for the town. Um, I'm pretty familiar with it. I should be able to help other folks get used to it pretty quickly. So, on that
front, I'm excited about it. But again, to EJ's point, there will be some slowdown. And on this front, I think what the slowdown we're going to have to be ready for is um folks need to understand, we're going to have some deficiencies on the internals. Payrolls,
paychecks might get blubed up and you're going to have to give us time to make the corrections. It's just it's the way it's going to be because on this one, it's going to be if we make a mistake, we need to correct it. You might just have to wait for the actual correction or the retro or whatever it may be, but
there's going to be delays potentially. >> Yes, Steve. And that's and that's where my point was headed is the there there's a lot hinging on Harper's payroll going smooth um not only for for Lindsay's
world, but across the board um all the way down to the employees that are being paid. And if if something were to go wrong with Harper's implementation and we've made all of these reductions across the board and we have to react to
fix an issue that's as serious as employees being paid properly, are are we going to have the bandwidth to be able to do that? And what is the contingency plan to make to make sure that we do? Because I I just don't want to lose sight of the fact that we still have to function as a as a town
government. And that's um you know with with a lot riding on an implementation that's just uh there's a lot of unknowns there that we can't we can't predict. >> I'll just say one thing and I'll let Lindsay speak on the contingency plan because I think the contingency plan is
sort of basically what we do now. Uh that's what it would fall back on. And right now with the limited staff we have we still get payroll done today. This is what it would fall back on. Um to that point, I think what we have to understand is these cuts have to be
made. We're going to see deficiencies in processes and there's nowhere else to cut. So in this in prospecting this, we're keeping the person on board that based on the union contract and based on seniority is more associated with payroll.
>> Yeah. >> Steve, Steve, I want to interrupt you for one second because I want to make sure it's clear. I'm not I'm not disputing the cut needing to be made. My argument is not for the money being left in. My argument is just to make sure that we have a plan in place to be able
to address the issues. And I know it's outside of the the finance committee's perview to worry about that. But it's important that we start talking about those things sooner than later. >> Yep. Lindsay, can you comment on the current process and who's involved? >> Yeah. So what I was going to say was we
our implementation date so if the override does not pass everything that we're cutting would be effective July 1. So Harpers we are starting prior to that. So hopefully we will have the onboarding
team and the training and all of that kind of ironed out prior to the cuts if they have to be made with the override not going through. Um the way payroll currently works is it's literally all paper. So the time cards, the cover
sheets, they come to my office. Um, typically it is the assistant who does double check everything, make sure everything's correct, and then it comes to Michelle downstairs. She enters it. We do a double check, make sure the
totals match, and then I sign off on everything. um with the limited hours for the assistant or her just being out on leave currently, I do that process of matching with Michelle and then she sends it to the payroll company we
currently use. I enter it into software for the journal entries. Um so if that had to be a fallback, it would take more time to do it. Um, sometimes it does take all day cuz
there's things that we can't find that don't match. Um, any mistakes we do catch, we do fix them right away. With the limited staffing, it just might take a little bit longer to get those
corrections done essentially. But with the Harpers, all of that will be done prior to July 1. So hopefully with the staff we currently have um it would be a little bit easier to then implement it
July one with the less staff if that's what the town votes for. >> Right. Okay. >> Um couple questions here, Steve. Um >> Sure. >> First of all, are we going to continue with a third party or is this new program going to uh cut the checks
through town hall now? It's a good question. >> I think it would be >> the a third party uh to issue the checks. Correct. >> We currently do. Yes. Um it is the CDS payroll. The reason why we're changing
is because he is no longer doing payroll as of December of 2026. >> So he's going to retire. >> Correct. So I do believe Harpers is taking care of all of it. Well, Harpers will do the cut or the check then
through this program. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And I think you may have answered me earlier here, but we're going to implement that in this current fiscal year. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yeah. We're we're kicking off Harper's um I think we just set the date for
April 9th. >> Yeah. like >> so we're going to start our training and our onboarding with our small team that Steve mentioned earlier and then we will bring in probably department heads. Um they wanted to line it up with the
quarter for tax purposes. So it'll be the first payroll for June that we actually start using Harpers. >> Yeah. So we'll get we'll have we'll have um what do we do? Bi-weekly payroll in Halifax or weekly? >> Bi-weekly. So we we'd get two runs on
that then. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. For the month of June and then we'd be in the new fiscal. >> Um >> Steve, you had mentioned if there's hiccups with the pay and stuff, we'll get it paid later. What are the current laws state on that? We need to keep that in mind with these decisions that you're
talking about making of when employees have to be paid in a timely fashion. >> Yeah, the big one you have to worry about is if you ever do a termination. That's the biggest one. >> Well, that's correct on that. But if somebody's short paid, um, what's the corre what what are the
mass laws regarding that? We just kind of make sure we're accounting for that. >> Yeah, I mean, I would have to look up the statutory MGS to figure out the timelines, but I'm sure that there's a time uh time span which we have to turn around retro or whatever the case may be. I mean, we've run we've only had a couple errors in the current system,
which is pretty surprising with the amount of paper that flows through it. Yeah. So, I have to give that team and I hope I honestly hope that the Harpers really takes off some pressure from that team because they've been working hard for years and makes it a little bit easier for them so they can expand their
you know their horizon a little bit. >> Yeah. just if we're going to if override fails in the new quarter, the new fiscal, I mean, >> and we're short staffed and trying to make sure payroll is
mistakes or are balanced in a timely fashion. >> Yes. Yes. >> I've I've used Harper's and it's a it's a pretty good system. It's pretty painless. I'm hoping that for the back office it's also a payments experience.
But I'm glad you're thinking about training already cuz I think some of the older folks who are not used to a digital implementation of their payroll will definitely could use some support. But it is a a pretty good system. We haven't we've used it at my agency
without a whole lot of uh trouble. So >> Mhm. >> Yeah. And I have experience actually one of the people that is on the imple implementation team this time around here in Halifax is the same man Boris that I worked with in Middbor on the
implementation team there. So uh I have familiarity even with the folks that we're going to be working with. So I hope that that gives me a little bit more ability to help the help the folks here get trained up quickly. I have confidence in myself. I have confidence in this team. Like I said they do a lot with a little right now. the way it's
done around here with the paper is is insane. Um, so I have to give them a lot of kudos for what they get done what they get done today currently. >> All right. >> So, appreciate >> looking back at um the treasur collector's office. So, the position
that would effectively be lost would be the uh assistant uh collector um and the approximate savings $43,000. Now the other note there is that the administrative assistant in the treasurer collector's office would be
able to become a floater for multiple departments uh based on her background and education and she has a lot of accounting experience. So when we're thinking about potential other cuts in other places that have been cut depending on what happens with the movement of staff and we all know how
this thing works is if it fails people will start looking for other opportunities especially impacted folks. So, um, we have we have approached this individual in that department and let them know that we had them in mind for a potential floating position to be able to help in a multitude of ways,
especially in our financial department. So, back to your point, EJ, you know, making sure we have someone with another set of eyes, not just in the treasure collector's office, but also to bounce up and potentially help um Lindsay upstairs in the accounting office ex um sitting in the seat next door. and she's
also um open to expanding her hours. So ultimately the plan will be to to fully reallocate money to the assistant town accountant role and fill that back to full-time with a successful override. So moving on to the next slide. Um town building. So this is Scott Materna and
his crew. Um this was another department that experienced the cut last year. They had one of their full-time janitors that took care of town hall and I cut I believe it was town hall and maybe a couple other smaller buildings. Um cut from full-time to part-time. Uh we're
just removing the part-time component of that role now at this point. So that's approximate savings of $25,000. I mean, the the the impact will just be, you know, we're sort of all just doing our own little extra stuff around here,
putting trash out in the hallway, you know, cleaning up our own spaces, but we do have janitorial staff that does come by and vacuum and clean up general area. So, um, you know, everyone's just trying to pick up and do a little bit extra themselves, so we'll just keep it going. >> Steve, isn't that position currently
vacant? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we're going to eliminate that position altogether. Yes, sir. Yep. >> Okay. >> So, this is the police department. I know we have the chiefs on the call. Um, so if they want to interject after I go through the slide, I kind of laid out a
lot of information that they could help with. Um, so the general budget I want you to take a look at. I left it fully um fully funded on the top lines because the cuts that they proposed come from various different line items throughout
their budget. And um I listed them down below so you guys can see exactly what they are. In your supplemental materials, you also have the uh the chief's document that they produced that actually address each one of these cuts.
So if you guys have any questions for the chiefs, I'd like to give them an opportunity to answer any um speaking to any of those direct line items uh that they may have listed there. If you guys have any, you know, want to know anything about what the impact might be of of losing that line, they're here to
answer those questions for you. >> Uh, Chief, this Frank here. >> Um, are you these numbers don't include any cut in uh uh workforce, is that correct? On the officers, >> there's one full-time position. Uh, Frank, >> there is one full-time position.
>> That's correct. Okay. And what about the uh resource officer over at the school? What's going on there? Did you factor those into these numbers by pulling that person? Yeah, that would be the person that would be get Well, that'd be the position that would be pulled would be the SRO. So, we would no longer would
have a a SRO slash um court prosecutor um full-time officer would have to, you know, manage with the whatever is left over of our workforce. >> Okay. So the the court officer um that's going to be um different people at
different times now. Is that correct? >> That is cor that is correct. We have a couple of officers that are trained that that held that position previously and would be leaning on them and also uh on uh the current uh officer that is the
SRO now and doing those functions because he'd be back in uniform, you know, back up patrol. >> Correct. any impact to any of the overnight shifts on the weekends or during the week? Um, are we going to have the same workforce
numbers in the evenings overnight and then on the weekends overnight? >> No, we will probably um two of the overnight shifts. Uh we uh sometimes have three offices. Those will be down to two offices. >> Okay. So, we'll always have at least two
on the overnights. Correct. >> Okay. That's all I have. Chief, thank you. >> Chief, um just a just a quick question. You may not have this information right off off hand. So, >> I'm going to I will presume that most of
the overnight service calls both officers will probably respond just from an officer safety aspect. What is the average response time from for mutual aid should a second or third call for service come in while the first two are occupied?
>> Yeah, I would be guessing at the time. Um, but I can tell you that uh we had some discussions today, myself and the deputy, you know, in regards to the potential cuts to the fire department. So you could be you could actually see a a situation where two of two of two of
the officers on the overnight shift are responding to a medical and um and then the fire department's out on a call. So we would have to um request assistance from neighboring department not only for
an ambulance but also from a a police um you know point of view. So it could be uh you know 3 4 5 minutes depending on where what the other officers are doing you know on the neighboring towns >> they're short-handed as well. They will be short-handed as as you know this
stuff is happening everywhere. So are we rely so our mutual aid agreements uh for law enforcement are with adjoining towns or are we reliant on the state police to backfill that >> neighboring towns um if uh if it gets
really bad then obviously we would be calling Middbor um was a nearest uh barracks but uh okay originally you know normally we we rely on Hansen East Bridgewater Plimpmpton >> right Yeah, the joining communities. >> Correct.
>> So, so Chief, can you can you go a step further with Jim's question and what what do you see the impacts to mutual aid being with the reductions that you're being um put forth to make next year? >> Well, it's not very desirable because
what's going to happen is um the other towns are, you know, they're going to have their own responsibilities they have to take care of in their own communities. So there might be times where our response time is going to be uh you know very lengthy. It won't be a
a normal response time and um you know it's just and again you know public safety is uh one of these things that uh you never know what can happen or what how to plan for something. So there could be times where we could be in some dire dire straits.
>> Yeah. Um I'm going to I'm going to make a comment here um regarding the um reduction in force in the police department. I I don't think that that's something that needs to be done. I think we need to maintain the full level service of law enforcement uh within the community here uh due to the fact that
the chief makes a very good point. Surrounding communities are are are contemplating the same type of thing and I just don't think that we can rely on those as much as we've in the past for mutual aid. Um so making a reduction in force here is
um is is doesn't get a vote for me at all. >> Yeah. >> Chief, this is Rod Hemingway. I've seen the sheriff uh a sheriff vehicle at the corner of uh 58106. Do they also lend uh
mutual aid as well or do they have another role that they play uh in town or or certain um um routes? So, Rod, the uh sheriff's office, they they provide uh BCI services, which is a crime scene uh investigations. And
what's recently occurred is that the uh the sheriff had to make some drastic cuts on his budget. So basically he's got a skeleton crew to to respond to the 20 odd communities in Plymouth County. Um so he's they pretty much uh gutted
his uh staff uh the oi conducted a study or all the uh uh county sheriff's departments and um as a result of that they had to make uh some drastic cuts on their budget. So basically, uh even like
uh matron services, uh crime scene texts, um you know, uh booking prisoners, all that stuff. Uh it's going to be a skeleton crew. So that's probably what you've seen in town because what happens is if we have an like a motor vehicle accident, we'll
have the uh BCI unit come down and take pictures of of the scene. If we have a crime scene, they'll photograph it. So, we'll be more reliant on the state police and obviously we we just be calling them for for serious cases. They're not going to come out for a for an a motor vehicle accident. They'll
probably, you know, if we have a god forbid homicide or uh sexual assault, those type of types of things, we'll have to call the state police uh because we'll not have the availability of the sheriff's office to provide those services. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Chief, does your team do
both criminal patrol and civil process, or does another agency do civil process? >> No, most of the civil civil process is done by the sheriff's office by by their civil uh uh civil division. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Yep. Anyone else? No other questions for Chief Jobs or Deputy Chief Benner? >> No. >> All right. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Yeah. Thank you, Chief. Appreciate it. You guys have been putting in all the
hard work. Uh I just want to commend uh Chief Charles and Deputy Chief Benner. they were given a tough task to do this and they they accomplished it. Um it's not easy to do it in any light. So, >> you're very welcome. Thank you.
>> Moving on to fire. Uh and I know Chief Wam is also on the call uh to help out with any explanation. So, um, as you can see here, the main cut will come from wages directly because this basically goes from based on my conversations with
the chief is mostly on call firefighting. Um, and he can really outline the differences in service level better than I can. Uh, so, Chief, are you there to speak to the differences in in service level? Uh, and then at the
bottom you guys, you can see the total cuts to um public safety totaling $290,21 um between police and fire. So, if anyone uh has any chief's uh questions for Chief, I know he's on the call. Um otherwise, you can see the potential
impacts that I listed from the letter that he produced uh he provided me. I also gave you guys that a copy of that letter in your supplemental materials so that you could review it and be ready to ask him any questions that you may um may have. I know that response time has been a big one and the amount of time in
between ambulances could become a very big problem in this town. >> Yes. >> Um I I also wanted to ask Chief, you had spoke last time and I thank you for presenting uh your these proposed very difficult cuts to your budget. You had
spoken about if we have uh staffing levels below a certain amount where we can't do the 2 plus two when you arrive at a structure fire and how not only could that impact potentially loss of life of anyone in the structure but also the town could uh residents could see an
increase in their property tax or their their uh homeowners insurance. Can you speak a bit more to that? Uh I think that's going to be important for residents to to understand fully as they make this consideration of this override. Yeah, sure. Uh, can you hear me? Okay. Yep. All right. So, um, I'll
get to the, uh, the insurance part of it first, the ISO rating. So, every town has an ISO rating, and basically what that entails is a ton of fundamentals that you have to follow in order to pass a certain rating. Um, to to get an ISO rating in your community, and that's
what your insurance is based off of. So if our level of service goes down, our ISO rating obviously will um you know be impacted drastically by that. They could come back and say that you know the rates will you know be increased because
we're unable to uh they have a c a certain standard you have to follow. You know flow so much water uh you know for a period of time uh your manpower on scene your manpower right away. um there's a lot of criteria you have to meet but it all of those things together
will give you your ISO rating and obviously with you know just two two members um you know we wouldn't be able to meet half of the uh standards that we have to meet to keep the rating where we are um the other thing we talked you just talked about about the two in two out um this national uh fire protection
agency has standards that we have to follow meaning two in two out is what you mentioned two in two out is basically that if two people are in the building I have to have two members standing outside for rescue operations at all times. Sort of like a RIT team, things like that. Um, what my comment on
was the other night when I was presenting was the fact that you know obviously if we don't have two other members to follow them in, there's going to be delay in you know the the actual um uh you know operations on you know the fire, the rescue side of it, everything like that. So there could
potentially, you know, be uh other impacted things that we uh that'll come into play like life safety, um you know, insurance issues because the basically the house is burning further than what it should have, uh things like that.
>> Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. And I know the the question came up about mutual aid and I can tell you this from the last time that I spoke in regards to mutual aid, I've had probably four or five of the surrounding community chiefs call me and uh you know
basically ask me if I was going to go down to two members um because it's obviously impacting them as well. Um so I had a few of the chiefs you know reach out to me and say hey is this true? Is this what's going on? Is this what your plan is? Uh because it you know it obviously affects them as well. Um like Chief Chob says, you know, the
collaboration between the police department and the fire department, you know, we we work together very well. Uh but keep in mind that every every incident that we go to, you know, PD's responding to us. So now if we have a medical, there's two members that are on the ambulance that are out of town, you
know, that next medical that comes in that may be a cardiac arrest, you know, somebody not breathing, you know, whatever the case may be. The PD are trying to respond to that as well. and they the ones that may be standing by until mutual aid gets there. You know, as far as the response times that, you
know, the question on PD side, you know, you can get a response time that's 15 minutes away. You can get a response time that's 30 minutes away depending on what's going on. But with cuts in different communities like like we're talking about, you know, they're not going to have members to respond either. Um the staffing is going to be
decreased. So, you may call mutual aid, we may be calling Plumpton, but guess what? Plumton's not available. So, now you go to the next town. you know, how far away is that next time that's coming in? They could be 30 minutes away. So, that's a long time for someone to be waiting for an initial call.
>> Okay. So, so Chief, I I have a quick question if we can kind of um if we kind of expand on that last statement. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but an average uh ambulance call is 2 and 1/2 hours from time out to time back in house. Is that correct? uh roughly depending on
where they're going. What uh most of our responses are to either Brock Down Hospital, Jordan Hospital, Southshore Hospital. >> It can be longer, it can be shorter depending on what the circumstances are. I mean, if you have a you know, a broken ankle, it's a quick onseen time. Um you
know, you get there, you load the patient, you, you know, you're off, uh no traffic, no anything else, going down route three, going to one of the hospitals, you don't have any issues. Um, yeah, your turnaround time by the time you get the call, go to the house, pick the patient up, go to the hospital, it's roughly around two hours. But I've
seen them a lot longer because now you're looking at, you know, staffing cuts uh at the hospitals. Um, you know, people trying to get into cell hospital. Um, you know, you may be waiting 50 minutes, 2 hours uh at the hospital just waiting for a room to be available. So
that 2hour call could be 3 hours. Um it doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen more frequently now. >> Okay. So during that time frame, if you can just kind of ballpark an estimate of how often or do we does the town require
mutual aid while the um firstline ambulance is out on a run. >> So I can put last year into perspective. I had uh and off the top of my head, I'm just ballparking, but I I know it's 500 and something. I believe it's 545 calls that we had multiple calls going on at
the same time, meaning two or more calls. So that would those calls would require mutual aid to come in. Um that's not including any other calls. That's including just multiple calls back to back to back. So we get a multiple you get a medical in, you get a second medical in, and then you get a third
medical in or whatever the case may be. I've been here for a lot of these. Um I've responded from, you know, obviously my house to a lot of these calls. Um but you know last year alone we had 500 and something incidents. >> Okay. Thank you. So I you know just I guess just one
final comment um Steve just from from my perspective as you know as just a resident you know I think public safety is going to take quite a hit with the level budget or with the budget that we have the balanced budget that we've been
able to create with the revenues that are available to uh to the town. Um and I think that's just a that's just you know with surround we've already heard from the chief of police now we've heard from the fire chief you know other towns are also facing the same kind of cuts which is going to further reduce mutual
aid or any other type of response time. Um so you know if if there's anything that we can do to maintain the services of public for public safety I think that needs to be paramount. I think we've probably done our best here. Um, but uh,
you know, it's going to be it's going to be it's going to be a crazy year. I I can't think of any other way to put it. Um, >> and Jim, worth highlighting is the, you know, 100 plus units of 55 plus that we're adding on top of the strain that
we've already put them in. >> Yep. Well, well, there's there's that as well, but once again, we cannot decimate our public safety, fire and police manpower. We have got to maintain current levels
on that to adequately protect our town, our residents, our infrastructure, and we do not need issues with homeowners insurance rates skyrocketing due to the fact that we don't have adequate coverage within our fire
department. Those cost alone are a major burden to the homeowners and the business owners of this community. And we have got to look hard at maintaining these two departments in my opinion at current staffing levels.
>> But that means you have to cut somewhere else. >> I understand that. >> You know what are you going to do? Get rid of the highway department? We have to prioritize which departments are the most important to this community
is my my personal opinion. >> I understand that and I I agree with you. But there's only so much to go around. >> I understand that wholeheartedly, Mike. Um >> and it's going to suck in the winter when we can't plow streets. I think that's the the important thing
is for the the questions that we're asking tonight and the responses that we're getting are are what the community needs to hear. And um hopefully people watch and and understand the gravity of of some of these cuts and what it means
to the town overall. Um because Frank, you're right, they are they're they're extremely significant, but we need the the community as a whole to agree that they are significant and if if the message isn't getting around to folks,
then um we're all not doing our job. And I don't mean just us in this room. I mean us as a community aren't doing our job. >> Yep. Someone had a question. Jim, >> they had the hand raised. >> It's me. It's Mary Grain. I didn't know
if you were able to answer questions from the public right now. >> Go ahead, Mary. If you have a question, go ahead and ask. >> I just had a question. And does the finance committee have any opinion on splitting the um override public safety
one amount and the schools for another amount and putting it two separate items on the ballot? >> Too late for that. >> Why is it too late for that? Because the ballot question has already been set. >> Yes.
>> But I thought at the last selectment meeting or the last finance, they said it wasn't going to be too late to make a change. We had to do the amount the override amount, but it could be adjusted on how many how many things we wanted to split it into.
>> Yep. And the final warrant is due for final approval by a week from today. And Steve, my understanding is that's a that's a selectman decision anyways. That's not a finance committee decision anyways. Correct. >> Your budget.
>> No, you're telling me that we don't have time to do this. We have a joint meeting tomorrow night and these decisions can't be made at that point in time. Steve, >> it's a lot of work. >> I know it's a lot of work. It's a lot of money here we're talking about as well. We got to put the effort into this. We
cannot just brush it off to the side. >> I mean, we also have to look at the the rest of the impacted departments as well and look at what where the cuts are going to come from those other departments and what like for the schools for example, what's the the uh I
think that's the next uh large budget item that we have to look at so that we can see where those cuts and how those cuts will be impacting that. >> Well, that was my question. That's why I asked because it doesn't seem like and I know I don't think that we still we have
a net spend um number yet for the schools but from what the schools voted on they were voting for level service not level funding. So that was even more. It was 8.1 million. So it doesn't look like they're looking to cut anything. So my my question is if we're
concerned I mean it looks like the town hall and the town in safety is going to get decimated. What what if do we can we not give people a choice? I mean I worry about the finance department. I mean I worry about the treasur collector. I mean that's a lot of work for not a lot
of people and you have the school in my opinion year after year that makes minimal cuts and what they do they have their line item autonomy. So I don't I'm concerned that they're scaring people saying the class sizes are going to go up to 40. We're going to have this. We're going to have that. But when they
get their budget they can decide what to do with it. That doesn't necessarily mean class sizes are going to go up that big. They get to decide what they do with it once they get the money. I have a little bit of an issue with that. So, I didn't know if the fin if the if the finance had an opinion one way or
the other about the selectman's suggestion to split the override. So I Mary I'll I I guess um opinion on it aside the what I do want to comment on is everything that you just said about
the the process in in terms of you know public safety versus the schools and the cuts that the schools have and have not made. um because I I think that's a very important point and and while I'm going to say it's a separate issue, I'm saying that in a in a first of all in a respectful way because I'm not
disregarding it. But I also think that it's an overall process issue on how the school is is managing that whole budget process which we we are trying to work with Steve on for future years right now. Um because you're right, there
needs to be more transparency as to what decisions are being made as it relates to the school system. Um because we we have not had a lens into it for the last 3 years anyways. Um, with with that said, what I what I personally have a
hard time with is making a decision that affects children based on what I know is a fractured process that they are not a part of because that >> I 100% agree. My I mean my three kids all went through that school. I I have
no problem. I would I mean I probably will vote for the override for all of it anyway just so I don't see any of this happen. But my concern is that you might not have to h get rid of one teacher in every grade. But the kids that have 18 kids in a class, they can go up to 22 or
23. So I don't like that it's being put forth from the school as if all 12 teachers all this. They're not even I feel like they're not even coming to the middle. >> Well, I I believe the next slide is schools that we're going to be talking about. Um so I'm sure there'll be some
commentary that that we go through um as it related to that process. Uh we I I I personally can't disagree with you, Mary. I I know what you're saying. Um but like I said, for me personally, it's hard for me to hold kids accountable for something that is a process that's being
managed by adults. >> I agree. But I my concern is that I don't know that the kids are going to be affected the way that it's being portrayed if we don't have a clear insight as to what the actual money and what the actual numbers are going
towards. That is my concern. Yep. And and that's exactly what we're trying to work on with Steve to fix. That's exactly what we're trying to fix it because it's g it's gone on for too long and year over year we continue to have this conversation and we have to find a
way to make it stop. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. >> No worries. Sorry, Mary. Appreciate the call or question. >> Any more questions on fire? No, let's move. >> Moving on to schools. I am still
insisting on suggesting a $800,000 cut from the schools. And I don't really I mean the net school spending number is something that we will find out at this time next year. And if the override doesn't pass, these schools will be penalized by having to enter into a
112th budget based on last year's approved numbers. Um, I can agree with everything that's been said. I think that more so than Halifax Elementary is doing anything wrong. I think the state has a
formula that's completely broken. uh when it comes to assessments, when it comes to values, when it comes to the formulas that assign how much the town puts towards this function of schools because again this net school spending number
is so elusive and and complex that it has a through m of items that you can subtract from it that are qualifying that not only the schools take care of A through D and then E through M are items that this that we can take out and we
can assess value to things like the building department uh in the sense of Scott Materna half of his salary half of his insurance cost half of you know the materials and expense that he spends because it's all geared towards the schools half of that goes towards that
net school that net spending number and draws it down a little bit. So even though they gave us a number of 8 point or 8,96,000 in change which is the net school spending number given by the state that number typically comes down over the course of the year as far as what it
will be next year at this time. Now, with that being said, uh I know that certain communities function with a with a buffer or pad above 100%. That allows them to some years maybe say we're going to cut
drastically and they can afford that cut because there's still a buffer zone essentially. I don't know where that stands for Halifax exactly, but based on conversations that I've had with Lindsay and the town's um the town's consultant that we have is an accountant or kin
sheriff, we've been through the numbers and he believes that we're going to be pretty close on net school spending as far as drawing even or being pretty close to it. We're not exactly sure. So that does give us a little bit of room moment to pause because what level of
pre-cash are we going to have to set aside in the event next year net school spending isn't met because if there is a delta there or a difference or a variance the town's going to have to come up with that so that they're in compliance because if
they do not then you have desi come in with do and they reset the tax rate so that you can make sure that the community can pay for the schools. And I have a feeling that if the if do was to come in and reset the tax rate, we'd be
looking at a bigger number than $1.5 million. >> So, that's where that stands. I still and again at the school committee I was surprised to see them um sort of ask for level services with the information all
around town was every department across the board was cutting or looking at cuts. So >> So we have questions here. >> I I I have a quick question. The Silver Lake assessment is up by half a million dollars. Why?
>> Because that's the number they assigned to us, >> right? the number they assigned to us. >> Did the did the administration offer any explanation >> as to why it's up by a half a million? >> Probably at their regional um district
meeting for their school committee budget approval which we were at least I was I believe the select board had a meeting that night. We could not be there. Um, I will tell you that I I am going to be uh having discussions with the town
administrator in Kingston soon um to talk about the regional school district because I think Kingston's maybe experiencing some of the same issues we are and I think um it's it's time for time for everything to be looked at. Um,
obviously, so again, this is my suggestion is to stick with the $800,000 cut. And >> has the has has the Halifax headcount at the high school and middle school changed in the last year?
>> I do not know the answer to that, Jim. I can jot it down and find out, though. David, Mike Reaga, do we ask maybe the same question. Do we know the number of total students? Is that Jim's question just now? The number of total students
that are involved in both programs. >> Yeah, the junior and high school >> and the elementary school. I think it's 538 at the elementary school. >> Elementary, I believe, is 531 they estimated for next year right now. >> And then, yeah, the junior and senior high. We don't know that yet. I'd have
to I'd have to call the regional district to get the the numbers of Halifax um kids that are in the in the system at the junior and senior high school. >> Well, you know, Mike, so so as we discussed at the school meeting, it's a
it's a two-pronged issue. Number one, uh the state funding which was which was proposed at $150 per pupil got cut to 75 by the time it reached the governor's desk or reached the senate for their committees to make their changes. So
that dropped in half and uh funding from the state is based on headcount at the school and our elementary school unfortunately has been um leaking headcount for the last 6 years to where there's where it's gone down by 50
students. Um so bec and and what makes that relevant is you get funded to the number of students you have the net school spending number continues to rise and then they come back you know and then it's it's the burden is upon the residents to make up the difference as
the as as the leakage of students continues >> and that's always been the little bit of quagmire we seem to be running in the last several years here since I've been on this committee. Yep. >> The numbers don't
balance on the headcounts to the staffing levels. I think we've all seen the regional school district's budget and I think we've seen the numbers in there and we haven't still got clarification on some of the questions we've asked
>> cuz I want to find out what all those district level numbers and how those fluctuate throughout the years of of the budget that I look at cuz I know how the Halifax ones work but the district ones those ones see some pretty big increases too that I would like to see addressed and just have some explanation on why
they're going up so much. So, I think it's I think everything that's been put on the table tonight is fair questions. >> So, just uh and just to add separate topic before we move on from from schools similar to what we were just talking about earlier. Um you know, I
I'm sure that the school committee talked about it at their level and I'm sure that they had conversations with administration about this, but none that I'm aware of. um in regards to how these cuts would impact administration directly versus have it go directly to
class sizes and the students directly. Um I don't know the level of conversation that they have had to really look at the staffing across administration versus staffing in the classrooms. Um because the the
conversations that I have heard have all started with consisted of and ended with students in classrooms. There was never anything as it related to how administration could adapt into some of these changes. So that's that's an
overall concern that that I have with regards to um the budget that they've requested. Um, to your point, Steve, um, I I just from from where I sit, there's some conversations at the administration level that I think um could at least be
considered. >> Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah. >> Anything else? Yeah, I I was at the at the schoolboard meeting last week with several of our colleagues and as well as you, Steve, and it was just it was
difficult to to listen to the we had a what seemed like a productive discussion and then uh when it came to vote, they voted half a million more than uh what we thought they might vote for their budget. And it's hard to it's hard to
figure out. Um, I understand they they're all obviously motivated to support the children and making sure the school is robust and I think that's fantastic, but when it the the cuts the requested increase and then the cuts that would have to happen to other departments, the fact that the library would have to have actually an increase
in their budget in order to be able to maintain the library accreditation. There's just so many cascading effects from that that enlarged budget that really really drastically impact the rest of the town. And I just it's it was frustrating to hear that the the
ultimate outcome uh in such a large increase requested and how it will impact uh the other towns. Every other department's linked uh to each other. Everybody, the police, the fire, the schools, the assessors, everything's intertwined. And when we have one that's
too far outside of where it needs to be, it impacts everybody else and everything else. Yeah. No, that's a that's that's a fair point, Rod. >> Yep. It's all connected.
All right. Moving on to the Council on Aging. Uh there's other departments on this slide, but the the Council on Aging is the focus. Uh you say, "Where can the money where else can the money come from?" This is an example of where else the money can come from. Um, so when you
were talking about police and fire, this is one of the departments that would be on the the block next. And they've been cut from $300,000 approximately or two. What is that? That's uh calculator. That's a uh
effectively $160,000 cut that guts the department. It puts it at a 3day a week status with just the director and volunteers. Um there is some gatra money that comes in that will help continue to pay the
drivers, but beyond that I don't know much else what will happen out of that >> under that department. It significantly um cuts Council on Aging Services. And I and I I
again I just want to put this up as an example of if you're to fund something else, you pretty much have to close, you know, shutter the COA and then um there's probably one more slide where you can get it and that's under culture and recreation. I don't know if the town
wants to go there, but we'll take a look on the next slide. But this is $161,000 in savings. You can make it a complete $200 if you just completely slash the other two lines, which would be the director salary of 49
in the council on aging expense, which is $7,300. So that's 563 remaining. But then you're shuttering the COA. Dave, how do >> how do we get the director salary to $49,000? How does that happen? She goes
to a part-time position. >> She goes to a part-time position 24 hours a week. >> We can't. >> And what? >> How many people do they does the Council on Aging service in a week?
>> Do we know? Not sure of the numbers, but you do have a lot of seniors who live in this town that rely on council on aging. >> Mhm. >> The blood pressure screenings and
>> I mean we also have we have uh elders who are projected to move into the town if we have the full uh build out of the over 55 community. This I mean this is incredibly difficult. Yeah,
>> this is a library >> or maybe this and the library. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> But this level of cut probably has to stay. >> No, I I would unfortunately I would agree cuz I I just don't I agree that
that that that you know some individuals have come to rely on it. Um I'm just you know I you know again it's it becomes a >> uh it becomes a usage question. So how often you know how many how many
individuals are using what's offered out of there and that's outside of making a phone call looking for something or trying to get them to do something. So people that actually go in to the building and are inquiring with the with the the volunteers or the staff, you
know, what services they have, who's leveraging those services. Um, you know, I know that there's um I think there there's meals on wheels that are that that come out of this organization. Uh, you know, how how many are there? How many how many how many meals on wheels
do we does the Council on Aging serve a week? So, you know, without lacking some context into the services they actually provide, um, I agree that, you know, people rely on it, but, you know, re what specifically are they relying on,
um, in order to further, you know, kind of make sense of of what's what's going out the door to them? >> Stephen, do you think there's a way that that Darlene can get some of that factual information for us by tomorrow night?
I'm sure if you give her the floor, she will tell you numbers, but I again I don't know what the foot traffic is through there. I've been in there a couple times in my 2 and 1/2 months and the crowd's about 10 to 12 folks. >> I mean, the most the most important
stuff, I would assume, would be the the services that they offer in terms of >> Yeah, it' be the it'd be the the vans and travel to the appointments, right? >> Yeah, you're right. I mean, and that will still likely go on even under this
model because part of Darlene's salary is also subsidized with COA director's salary is subsidized by Gatra funds. >> Yeah, it's also >> as well as some of the Gatra driver wages. >> Yeah, she's >> she has to be application time too,
right? She for like um heating assistance, things of that nature. Yes, she deals with Yeah, those those things of when you know seniors are putting in requests for those things, helping them be a wayfinder. Um, but again, to Jim's point, I don't know if
we compare it to the level of foot traffic at every other service in town. Is it more than the library? No. >> Right. >> Certainly not. >> Um, and then you try to compare, is it is it more than Town Hall? >> No. No.
So unfortunately, when we're at times like this, we have to consider what's legal for us to have, what's safe for us to have, and what's compliant for us to have. And COA is
in a lot of towns is it's either robust or it's part-time or it's two days a week. I mean, there's a lot of communities that get away with part-time models uh of communities of this size. Now, one thing I will say is the the age
in this town is is moving towards 44 to 60. That is the current demographic that's most populous in town. >> So, before I know Mary, I know Mary, before we uh before Mary chimes in, what the comment at the bottom of the uh the
slide about staff retention, why why and how long has that been an issue? I know I just heard recently that some people had had left or resigned. Do we have >> That's something I want to take a look at. Um, you know, moving forward because in my time here, I've seen two people
vacate their seats. >> Um, and just left on a on the drop of a hat with with no with no um no notice. They've just left. >> Right. Wow. So, I need to figure that out as well because part of hiring any
open spots over there right now, which they're currently two full-time roles, >> is is tenuous because I don't want to hire anyone have a situation where then I'm going to be qualified for time as far as unemployment goes, but again, potentially having to lay them off on
July 1st, >> right? Did we do did we anyone do exit interviews with those people or they just left and we haven't heard anything? I've spoken to the I've spoken to the individuals that left, >> but no formal exit interview um
per se because it was literally my first week here. >> Okay. >> It was that's how new I was. >> Right. Right. Right. Fair enough. >> Thank you. >> Yep. I just have one question. Mine was on the landfill engineering and monitoring. Why is that number so high?
>> Is that the am that landfill situation over there? Um, >> that's the town land town hall landfills. I believe >> that's not Maryland's landing. >> A private entity,
>> right? >> How come it went up so much in the past year or two? What happened? >> Engineering cost money to remain in compliance. >> I was going to say I'm pretty sure that is based on um the contract with who we have. I >> think it's Tig I think it's Tig and
Bond, >> I believe. So yeah, it's what? >> It's with an engineer named Tigen Bond. So they're responsible for making sure the town complies with their landfill closure standards. >> Okay. >> There's issues with I believe there's
also issues with the cap out there. >> Yeah, there's some erosion issues over there, Steve, that need to be addressed and these guys are, my understanding, are addressing that. And then there's also the addition of the P5s testing over there that's been implemented for
that landfill. Now from what I understand from the monitoring wells. >> Yeah, this is essentially Frank, you're right. This is essentially one of those fixed costs that continues to go up. You know, much like um MS4 or our storm water plan is also seeing a increase
this year as well. >> Increase. >> Yeah. It's things that we are required to do by state law that require more engineering and time because the town of Halifax does not have a town engineer that can handle those things on site and and part of their daily responsibilities.
>> Steve, correct me if I'm wrong. We have X dollars in the PIFA account, which I'm hoping we're going to be applying to some of these fixed cost associated with PIFAs on the different properties within the town and not straining our budgets with that. And we can use the P5 money
to supplement that. Is that correct? >> Of course, as long as they are appropriate costs that are able to be have money allocated from the PA funds. Yes. >> Yeah. Because we have significant dollars set aside for that. And Lindsay, correct me if I'm wrong. We have one more check coming or did we get the third one?
>> I want to say we got the third one. Um, so that is currently sitting there. We cannot do anything with that money until town meeting. has to be voted on to appropriate it to either reimburse >> a previous account that anything PAS
related has came out of. >> Um so while yes that is what would be happening we do have to pay for it prior to town meeting. Um >> right >> and then that would just get voted on then. >> Yeah. And and that third check is for
the current settlement that's been out there and there are additional settlements that are still being worked through the courts regarding the PIFA. >> Yep. >> Yep. >> Yep. >> Right. >> So at the bottom of that slide, you can see that uh approximate savings there is
about $161,351. >> Hey, can you back that up one slide, Steve? Sure. >> So the ADA expense line 124. So, two years ago, I think uh if you got if the committee can keep me straight on that,
>> there was an allocation of $500,000. >> Right. >> Correct. >> So, have they I'm presuming if there's only a dollar here, they've used it all or is there still monies that have not been accounted for? >> Um, so I just have a question to
clarify. Was that this specific line or is that for Scott Materna's ADA line? >> There's a difference, >> right? So there's a difference between the two >> under under building maintenance. He has ADA compliant lines.
>> So what is this line for? >> I to me well that's why I'm asking because to me it just along with housing authority looks like something there's always a dollar in. So that's why I was looking for the clear um clearance on the question. >> So the clarification is the ADA study
that we received that we funded for half a million dollars 2 years ago. So I'm just So where are those where are those monies at? if they've been exhausted, you know, what's kind of what's what's
the status of that project or the >> or the requirements that that came with the report. >> I can look into it because um for this account, the way they're the budgets are done,
>> when it shows you what the expended amount was, >> it would be in this uh specific expense line. So I will have to double check with the building maintenance budget as well. >> Okay. >> If it's someone's asking for a
reasonable accommodation to their residents in the any of our housing authority apartments, uh for example, modifying a bathtub for safety, adding grab bars, etc. Would that be under this ADA expense line? Would that then be put
in there? I >> So I I don't We're not allowed to run deficit spending. We don't do deficit spending. >> So it would have to be less than a dollar, >> right? >> I just think that these are just two
placeholders here, Jim. One dollar on each. >> Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right, Frank. >> How many decades ago did we use each one of those? >> Do we do we need them now? >> That's what I'm getting at. Right. We don't need placeholders.
Okay, thank you, Steve. >> Yeah, I can find out about those. I can ask um Sandy Nolan would probably know exactly why those are there. >> You do have a hand up. Jim, >> do I? >> Yep. >> Oh. Uh, okay. Uh, Deb Winnowitz,
you have a question. >> Mr. Wowitch, you're on mute. >> Uh, thank you. Um, yeah, sorry I got here late to the meeting, but the the Council on Aging, um, what would this affect the programs
that are held Monday through Friday? um the attorney visits, the visiting nurse, the art program, um the wellness program, the lunches. How would that affect all of us? >> We will have to ask uh Darlene, but I'm
assuming uh is this is not closing down the council on aging. We would just have to shift it to other days of the week. And it doesn't necessarily mean the bu the building even needs to be closed if we can take 24 hours a week and spread it
out over four or five days. >> It just means shorter hours. Um so that's something we'll have to work on from an efficiency standpoint and a staffing standpoint with minimal staff and hopefully more volunteers for Darlene and um or I should again say the
COA director. >> Okay. Um, I I just think it would have a significant negative impact on seniors because there's really not space in that building to double up anything. Um,
I it's going to hurt a lot of people. >> That's just my opinion. >> Steve, >> I understand. What's the status uh of the uh my understanding was the over 55 community there was going to be an agreement about them uh building a new
uh COA >> is there anything going on with that >> that we can >> uh what I can say about that is we we went we sat through design um and then we had numbers which were needed to
be met as far as design versus cost. Um those numbers came in extremely higher than we thought they were going to >> and now the designer architect is scrubbing down the building including
potential loss of significant square footage >> um specifically in the activity room. Um again it just talks about the cost of doing anything these days. It's extremely expensive and we plan to meet
with them in the next I would say week or so to go over whatever plans they've been able to develop since having to cut essentially cut their budget. Um they came back with a very high number and said would you like to move forward on this and we had to say sorry we can't
move forward on that number would you please redesign and we'll sit back down once that happens and take another look. So, I do know that those monies uh and Lindsay, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but these those monies that are associated with the the Council on Aging
will ne will not be able to be spent on anything else because they're geared specifically for the Council on Aging. >> That is correct. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I know that was a concern for folks and I just wanted to clarify that that that was not going to happen. We're not going to take that money out and spend it
elsewhere, fix this override. That money is staying put >> regardless of what happens. that a council on aging could still happen as a result of this process, but in the event that the town needs to say, "Well, we're going to have to wait for costs to come down, if that's ever, but maybe a redesign or something like that,"
they're not going to expend those funds right now. >> All right. Well, that's for another subject. >> Yes, that's for another another topic, another night. All right. So, this one may interest you guys. This is really done out of an equitable sense. The recreation department has never faced, from my
understanding, a cut. very lean department as it is. Um my concerns over here is we just literally did a conveyance on pickle ball courts today. We're going to need to take a look at youth and wreck and figure out how to pay for maintenance on some of these
things that we have in town and we already have ownership of things like the tennis ball the tennis courts um that we already have control of and are under disrepair. So we need to come up with an entire maintenance schedule. I'm going to work with Scott Materna who seems to seems like any word maintenance
ends up falling under him. Um, we'll figure it out. But this was just another line that I found. It was brings the line down to um I believe $10,000 total, which is funds for summer youth help programming and sometimes doesn't get
expended. So, >> right. >> You've got a hand up. Chris me. Oh, hi. This is Chris Wowitz. I had a question. I'm not sure if anyone had raised before now that we're taken over the pickle ball courts. I know that
town tennis courts historically have fallen back on the list to be taken care of and they're in disrepair, I think, due to budgets and what's more of a priority. Are we going to be required now to keep that pickle ball court in tiptop shape because it's a marketing
thing with feather winds and everything? >> Yeah. >> Is that going to be a big >> town going to the town it was conveyed to the town. It's going to be conveyed to the town. Uh so the town will take ownership. We will have to sit down and discuss usage, you know, hours, um
things to that effect. Now, walking the site today, I will say it's different than other pickle ball courts I've seen as far as the material they used. It's an interesting So, it's basically a concrete pad and then on top of it is a very thin layer
of almost like a mat that goes down and it lets water through. So, I think in a lot of the today's pickle ball courts, what you have is, you know, the water settles into cracks, you know, freezes and expands the courts. you get the cracks that destroys the quartz. Now
with concrete, it's less likely to happen as long as the concrete stays whole. And this material seems like it's just a plastic or composite material should hold. Maintenance cost should be lower on this this product. That's what we were told based on the makeup of it,
but seeing is believing. So I guess we'll find out. >> So I guess just my further question, are we tied to Featherwinds? like they can demand us to take care of it more than we're able to. >> Yeah, >> we own it.
>> Okay. So, it's totally up to us then. >> So, eventually, like that we were talking about on site today, they're going to pull that sales office right out of there. That's a trailer essentially. >> That's going to be pulled right out of there once they're done building. Um the construction site that's right across
from the pickle ball courts will be all shuttered up and closed and that will go away as well. Um, and the town will own the area that's the pickle ball courts and the area just directly around it. So, there'll be some trees, you know, light vegetation, mostly just lawn
though, uh, and green space. So, it will be mainly mowing to keep the grass short, uh, maybe once a week. And then it's got irrigation, so it will be watered regularly. So again, at the beginning, I expect the maintenance cost to be low, but again, I don't know what
this these materials will do over time. So >> thank you, >> Steve. When you did your walkthrough today, did they provide you any like comparative data to other, you know, I guess pickle ball courts that they've
built elsewhere or that this product's been used in to give us some kind of a idea of what the ongoing maintenance will be or is it just like, you know, hey, you know, it'll be lower and, you know, thanks thanks for doing business with us. >> Uh, they didn't, but I will um I'll
reach out to them to see if they have some of that. It was mainly what I noticed from just seeing so many pickle ball courts go in around me. Uh being on Cape, I've seen these things installed everywhere. I've seen I've heard the noise complaints. I've seen the seen the courts in action, been there, heard the
whole rigomearole about it. Um and I have investigated some of these materials with the Sharon wreck department when they were looking at it. Mhm. >> Um, so I know that these plastic materials generally according to the vendors do does last longer much like the turf with the
plastic last longer. >> But the question becomes when it fails, how much does it cost to replace? >> And that's what I'm concerned about. >> Yeah. All right. >> But I hope that will just be a a minor
fix if if it comes up. >> All right. With that being said, um >> I just had a question. I just had one more question about that. Can you >> There'll be a property management company obviously taking care of that property because those people are going
to be paying a HOA fee. Correct. >> We will own the pickle ball courts and the land around the pickle ball courts. >> No, I understand that. But what I'm saying is if we're cutting back our staff in all kinds of places, would it be smarter for us to say for the first year or two, can we use your property
maintenance company? that's already maintaining the land up to the pickle ball courts and up to the the green area and use them and pay them a small amount instead of having to use our own people and figure scheduling and all that kind of stuff to maintain that area.
>> I mean, I imagine from their aesthetic standpoint, they will probably maintain that till they leave town. Um, but I don't know about entering into an agreement. I don't know if they would be amendable to an agreement to maintain the land around something they just conveyed to us, but I could certainly
>> No, I agree. But they they have to they have to maintain the property all around the condos anyway. They're already I mean, we're not taking care of that. Correct. >> No, we're just taking care of the pickle ball court and the land around the pickle ball court, which we now own. >> Right. That's that's a whole separate
thing. That's property of the town at that point in time. And under the contractual agreements that were in place earlier on, that's been all conveyed to us as far as maintenance and operations go of those two pieces of property, the COA and the pickle ball courts,
>> right? >> So, we don't have to maintain anything else besides those two things once they're up. >> Um, so this one, um, I can do some explaining on this one. This is the other postemployment benefit trust.
Um, I lowered this down to $5,000 from $46,000. This was a suggestion from a couple different financial folks I spoke to and said it would probably buy us at the max 4 to 5 years of lowering it to this
level before we'd have to put it back up to 46 grand. So, it buys us time. It's not the best financial management practice when we're looking at funding of these things in the long run, but it's one of the things that could be done to save a chunk of change for 41
times at the max 5 years will be 20 $25,000 if needed. It's sort of something that >> Yeah, max five years. That's what we >> five years we've got to come up with that money. >> Yeah, it's temporary. And with
allocations, I would, this would be one of the line items with a su successful override that I would allocate back to 46 grand instantly and expect to fund that at 46 moving forward. >> So, I just I just want to make sure we're clear. We We're not going to owe 5 years of $46,000 or we just need to
raise it back to $46,000. >> We just need to raise it back to $46,000. >> Okay. >> Um, can you speak to what the OP benefits is? Yeah, sure, Rod. So, it's other postmployment benefits. So, it
applies it's a basically a fund that is being stacked to help fund um you know post-employment benefits for employees like their health care, their pensions. Um what happened was when this when town and local government started creating these things, they created all these
retirement funds and then they didn't strategically plan to put enough money in those funds. So, now they're realizing the mistake they made. So they're funding these other post-employment benefit funds in order to help with the offset of those in the future when we have a mass wave of
employments that are due pensions and other health insurance benefits that go along with with being vested and everything else. So this is a fund that builds much like a trust fund um so that down the road the town can use it to help pay its its uh financial
responsibilities when it comes to other postmployment benefits. >> Thanks. Appreciate it. If there's no more questions, this is your summary of cuts um across the board uh with the corresponding line
items in the budget. So, as you can see, the total is 1,494, $65. And this is um now moving on to with a successful override. This is the list of items that I would suggest to allocate
funding back to with a successful override. Starting again with the accounting office, refunding the part-time or from part-time back to full-time assistant town accountant role.
In IT expense, I would add $7,000 back to the expense line, bringing it up to 185. In the police department, I would fully fund right up to the ask of the 150
$150,21. The fire department, again, same thing. I would fully fund the $140,000. Looking at the elementary school, this one I I'm sort of torn on because we have two options on this. I was able to
secure a $50,000 earmark for the schools. How nice of me, huh? Um, but I was able to secure a $50,000 earmark for the schools specifically geared towards special education. So, that number technically could be 750,000 if we wanted it to be.
Uh, we look at the Council on Agent Director. I would restore that back to full-time. And then on the wage line, I would not fully restore the 120,000, but I would instead suggest a $50,000 ad to be able
to do part-time folks or part-time individuals in both the positions that are available right now, the admin assistant and outreach coordinator. Looking at youth and wreck wages, I would restore the $9,186 as that's seen as a very valuable
program in town. That's a very lowcost item. And then lastly, I would restore the $41,000 to the OPED trust as um listed in line 155. So then you may ask, what does uh that mean for the other $199,159?
After all, we're asking for $1.5 million. So looking at that, um there's a couple things that are currently going on right now in town that are that need funding
in order to continue. Um right now I am about to enter into negotiations with the fire, police sergeants, police patrolman, highway, and mixed unit unions that are all on expiring contracts as of June 30th,
2026. And then there's your uh dollar totals that I was talking about earlier that Lindsay had put together. Um so that shows your 1% and 2% wage and personnel colas. So if on town meeting floor you were looking at doing a 1% increase for
wage and personnel folks, it' be 16,645. 2% would be 30,157. >> What's the headcount there, Steve? Um, as far as just the wage and personnel staff, >> yeah, the non-union people,
>> uh, Lindsay, did we call did we put that list together? >> Um, I have it. Give me one second cuz I have it broken out. Um, >> just number the three elected officials. So, treasurer, clerk, highway, um
accounting, assessors, building maintenance, water superintendent, um library director, COA director, and
um building. >> You want to use the other switches? >> I have the front door. I believe that was 10 people. >> Um, yeah, that's so Let me
>> I believe Pam might be included. Um, Pam and Caesar are included in that. >> Yeah. >> So, 12. >> So, 12 or 13. I I think I've dropped one. I'm sorry. But these are 12 or 13, I believe. Are we going to need to give a
recommendation on this? If it comes up on town on >> If someone calls for it from the town meeting on the floor, then you know we we will have to you know that's this is this is the number we have. >> Yeah. >> So should do we need to align on this in
advance of that meeting I guess is my question for the committee here and have it and have an opinion one way or the other. I think that's something we have to put together while we're there, >> right? I think we'll have to put it together while we're there. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> so, so we're going to wait until town
meeting to have an an internal conversation about whether or not we support the move or not. >> Well, we always meet right before town meeting, >> right? >> So, that's probably when when we will uh when we would actually vote on that
specific item. >> So, I I had asked I'd asked Steve to put this together. based on an the experience we had a couple of years back when, you know, we were they no the town was not um was not willing to give a 2% cola to
the town employees and you know asked us to do calculations right there on the you know right there on the floor >> which you know we didn't have the data to do that so I just want us to be prepared should that question comes up again. Yeah, I'd like to make a motion
that we talk about it before town meeting though. >> Yeah, that's in the meeting ahead of the meeting, >> right? >> Yeah. We have our basic discussion discuss that there, >> right? >> Or or any other meeting we have before
then. There's we'll have >> absolutely I I will absolutely put it on the agenda. >> Yeah, >> I agree Jay. And then if you look directly to the side of that, um you see that we've estimated about $80,000 in increases for
the various unions across the board looking at their contracts for this coming year. Um so that just to the nature of bargaining. I mean their their wages are going to go up. Unfortunately, town, you know, I'm
not going to trap myself by saying that, but you know, the town meeting gets to control some of the salaries and >> staff get to control or at least bargain for some of theirs. So, um, but then again, I also added another note there just so you are aware this uh
we also have the fire chief and deputy police chief also on expiring contracts and they will also need to be renegotiated prior to July 1st. Um, and I've already started having discussions with both Chief Wam and Deputy Chief Benner on that front. Um, and then
lastly here, I've just got um questions and then this QR code is actually a working code and eventually there have been items that have been started to be placed in there. As we can like after this meeting, I'm going to send this over to Caesar. This presentation will
be available by scanning that QR. That QR is also going on flyers regarding override information from the override study committee. And in that folder, I intend that people will be able to find information on how we got here, the MMA uh articles that they put together, navigating the storm and the perfect
storm about how we got here, other supplemental information that you guys have available to you tonight. so that folks when they're looking for these resources and referencing these meetings and re-watching them for their information, they'll be able to go find the same resources you guys had
available to you tonight. Um, and hopefully that helps them make the best decisions necessary and the decisions that they want to make on their own behalf. So, that's the best it's the best thing I can offer to to the residents. >> Sure. So before we close out this section,
Steve, I've got just a probably just a couple of questions about something we really didn't get a chance to discuss here, >> which is, you know, so the increase in insurance for the town was 14%. Is that correct?
>> Um >> I believe you are correct, Jim. >> 14.2%. It went from1,332,752 to1,522,3. >> Okay. So, couple of quick questions and if you don't have the answers or this something that hasn't been discussed,
I'm certainly I I think that's something that that we need to consider. So the first one is, you know, under Mass General Law Chapter 32B, the Municipal Healthc Care Insurance Reform Act, >> sections 21 to 23 allows towns to alter
plan designs, uh, when it comes to, you know, specific descript or prescriptions or other parts of the medical plans. Have we leveraged that at all? >> Can you repeat that? I can't hear what the noise next to next door. Okay. Uh,
it's so the Municipal Healthc Care Insurance Reform Act, Y, >> Chapter 32B of Mass General Law, sections 21 to 23, allows towns to alter plan designs. >> Have we leveraged that or looked at that
to drive that cost down a little bit? >> I can certainly look at it. Okay. So um the next one is there any relief from the state because the state's healthc care policy commission set a target of 3.6%
for insurance increases. >> So is there anything at the state level that's that's forthcoming to try to manage the 14% increase? >> Uh I'm going to say no on that because Plymouth is made to live with their 26.
you. >> So, Plymouth Plymouth is dealing with a very dire uh health insurance situation. >> So, even if the state >> I just know I just know I can look into it. I just said that just to sort of >> I know Plymouth looked into it and they've looked into everything because
when they got hit with this news it was I think like $4 million or something insane like that, >> right? >> Um so they've looked into a lot of these. Like one option I can also bring up uh I know Rockland was successful in doing this um but they went out for a a new bid.
>> Yeah. >> That's what that was my last piece was looking at changing purchasing groups. >> Right. Exactly. >> Which is is not is not going to is not going to win you any any fans on the internal side. I mean you know the one
thing they did do in Rockland is they went to United which does not have the best track record. that's why they were able to save so much money. >> Um, >> again, something you can certainly take a look at. I know the town administrator in in Rockland very well. >> Um, so I planned I had actually planned
on having a conversation with him to discuss the differences in insurance because that would be a huge concern. Um, for I believe the internal staff that already pays a 50/50 rate on insurance. Sure, their insurance would
get cheaper, but would they get the same bang for their buck? I don't know. But is that >> I can, you know, I I can I can appreciate the better the devil you know than the devil you don't. I certainly I certainly get that. >> But I think it's also if if these
alternatives are there, then you know, if we haven't at least looked into them, >> then we haven't really fulfilled our fiduciary responsibility to the residents. Oh, I yeah, I mean, I've I've started to look into them because I can tell you that I've already had conversations in the Treasury
Collector's Office the day after I heard news Rockland saved 600 grand on their insurance. I went directly to the Treasury Collector's Office and I said, "So, can we do this?" >> Right? >> If I go out to bid on this and we get
them. Now, of course, we can do a couple of different bids in a way that you set the level of services you want to come in. Will that make the bids more restrictive and a little bit higher? Sure. But will it make sure that we able to control some of the things that
employees really particularly want in their health insurance and then we could weigh it that way? Sure. So, I think there's certainly options there to um look at this. definitely working towards FY28. Um right now obviously going out to bid
on insurance is is tight. And then I don't know how that interacts with um as far as u qualifying events with your insurance, switch of insurance and all that stuff. So that would be that's probably a big item to turn over right now. So I would be
concerned with bandwidth right now. Not something I don't mind looking at directly after town meeting heading into next year, but this year it seems like it would be a huge commitment to get done before town meeting. >> Fair point. Um, but I think the
alternatives need to be at least looked at. I'd rather I'd rather have something, you know, kind of something I think it's just a better I think it just comes off better if we have something that's that we can at least say we're looking at the stuff than just, you know, hey, you
know, here's a here's a big sandwich. Take a bite. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We can't have an RFP process before town meeting. I certainly understand that. >> But the point you're making, Jim, is
going forward, it's definitely worth looking at is >> Oh, yeah. >> In the private sector is a lot of us are well versed in. Every year they went through this, >> right? To bid every year. >> Goes out to bid every year. >> Oh, I'm I'm I'm perfectly fine going out
to bid on it. And I mean, I'm perfectly fine looking at the insuranceances and, you know, having my previous experience working in a medical billing office. I know what I'm looking at. Um, >> so I'm not afraid of that process by any means. Right. >> It's just I know I just don't have the
bandwidth right now. >> Understood. >> I'm not asking you to do it in the next six weeks. >> Well, that's what I thought at first, Jim. >> No. >> Okay. Anybody have any further questions on the PowerPoint that we just walked through?
>> No, thank you, Steve. >> Yeah, no, no questions. Just Yeah, they want to thank you, Steve. That's a great presentation up the town. Residents take advantage of the information uh and they seek it out and they pay attention to it because it affects all of us. So to go to town
meetings and into the ballot box and not have as much information as they can possibly have is not fair to the rest of their their town mates. So I appreciate all the work you guys did on this. Lindsay, you everybody. It's uh a double piece of work. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mike. It it has been a lot of
work. I've got a great team. I invested I inherited a great team here. It's a small team, but they're mighty. And um I hope to you know I know even you know I know people were talking about the cuts but I'm very confident in this team regardless of which way this goes.
So and I'm going to stand behind them 100% of the way. >> Excellent work. You and your team pulling it all together. Letting us look at it, letting the residents get a feel for what's getting ready to happen here. A lot of detail in there. Um like Mike said, they got to pay attention. They
got to get educated. They got to understand this is this is the real deal going down right now and everybody's got to get in on it. >> Yep. And I plan on next step is bringing it to the masses and getting it out there in whatever way we can to everybody. Like you guys said, the more
people that see this, I think the more education they have, they they they'll have the ability to make the right decision for themselves. You know, we're not asking them to make decisions for others. We're asking them to make decisions for themselves. And Steve, every comment that I made was
in support of the your your team. I I know how good your team is. I want to make sure that you understand that. It was actually out of fear for the strain because when there's strain, it's hard to retain, right? So, >> very hard. >> Um, so that's that's where every single one of my questions was coming from.
>> I get it. Thank you. >> Thanks, Steve. >> You're welcome, Cheryl. Thank you. >> All right, Steve. you want to pull up your spreadsheet so we can uh have the finance committee do a vote on the sections of the budget as it stands
currently. All right, you guys see that? >> There you go. >> There you go. >> Do you need it bigger, please? >> That' be nice. Yeah. >> Hold on one second. Let me just get to the top. That big enough?
>> Yeah, that's good. >> All right. How do you want to do this, Jim? I'm following your lead on this. >> So, yeah, let's um So, I'm going to put it to the committee. There's one of two ways I was thinking of doing this. The first way is to go line by line. There's 155 lines. The second way, which I think
is more efficient as we've already walked through each section, is to go through general government, police, fire, and then each block as it goes. So, we would be going down to the bottom if you want to go there. So, stop. Stop. Go down.
>> You got to bear with me. It's a little glitchy right now. >> Line 54. So, I was thinking we could vote on the general government or we can go line by line. What was what is the committee's preference? >> Groups
>> line by line, please. >> I'm in favor of uh doing it by the department or the groupings that we currently have it laid out as. >> I second that. >> All right. Yes, >> we know where the line by line goes.
>> Cheryl, you okay? And if there's something within the in the general group, I think that we should be able to speak on that particular line. >> Yeah, we can we can hold a line. We can hold a line if we want to hold a line. >> Okay.
The general government. >> Not line by line. >> What What was that, Cheryl? >> I don't want to do line by line. Can't we do >> Yes, we're going to do the groups. So that's what we're gonna do. >> Yeah. >> Yes.
>> All right. Cheryl, you win. >> This big mic to back down. >> Okay. Each line is going to require a voice vote or each group, shall I say? >> Yes. Groupings. >> Okay. >> Okay.
So, is there a motion? Let me ask you this real quick, Jim. Just understand the game rules here. >> We're talking about voting on the override number. Is that correct? >> No, we're voting on the town
administrator recommendation column, which is the cuts. >> Okay. The TA recommendations. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Because that gives us the balanced budget based on the revenues that are available to the town today. I'll show
you guys the page synop page one synopsis real quick so you can get a feel for the entire document and where we stand right now. >> I can't see. >> So if this is actually easier to see, you can see the expenditures over here
on the left. >> Yeah, you have to blow that to make a little bit. >> Perfect. Okay. So, >> uh, so Jim, do you want to read them out and we'll just, uh, we'll motion and
second them once you read them out. >> Yeah, I I'll go ahead and do that. So, >> um, is there a motion to approve the FY27 budget for general government for 1.8? 893
031 million for FY27. >> So move second. >> Thank you. Roll call vote. Cheryl. >> Yes. >> Mike Bennett. >> Mike Bennett.
What the heck? Mike, can you hear me? >> Mike. >> Mike. >> Oh, yeah. I lost my sound for a second. >> Sorry. Uh, yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Frank Johnston, >> yes.
>> Ed Bryan, >> yes. >> Mike Reign, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes. >> I am a yes as well. So the general government category has been approved by
the finance committee. Okay, moving on. Public safety police. Is there a motion to approve the budget of $1,810,433 for FY27 for the police department? >> So moved. >> No move.
>> Second. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Roll call vote. Cheryl. >> No. >> Was that no, Cheryl? >> That's no. Okay. Mike Bennett. >> Yes.
>> Frank Johnston. >> No. >> Okay. >> EJ. >> Yes. >> Mike Retta. >> Yes. >> Rod Hemingway. >> Yes.
>> I'm a yes as well. So that passes five to two. Oh. Police Fire Department. >> Is there a motion on the floor to approve the fire department budget for
fiscal year 27 of 1,700,254? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Roll call vote. Cheryl. >> No. >> Mike Bennett. Yes.
>> Frank Johnston. >> No, >> EJ Bryan. >> Yes. >> Mike Rignetta. >> Yes. >> Rod Hemingway. >> Yes. >> Miami. Yes. As well. That is a five to
two in favor of. Moving down, total other public safety. Uh, is there a motion on the floor to approve $114,437 for other public safety?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Cheryl. >> Yes. >> Mike Bennett. Yes, >> Frank Johnston. >> Yes, >> EJ. >> Yes,
>> Mike Reignetta. >> Yes, >> Rod. >> Yes. >> And I am a yes as well. >> Just one comment on that, Jim, real quick, just to clarify. Um, so folks,
see that's actually a police cut, >> the animal control. >> It's animal control, right, Frank? Yeah. >> Yeah. So that's that's combined with the um it's it doesn't count towards the earlier police line, >> right? >> It counts towards the overall. So
>> thank you. >> All right. And um I think the last one here under public safety is dispatch services for 200,000. Is there a motion to approve that? So move. Second.
>> Thank you, Cheryl. Yes. >> Mike Bennett. >> Yes. >> Frank Johnston. >> Yes. >> DJ. >> Yes. >> Mike Reignetta. >> Yes. >> Rod Hemingway.
>> Yes. >> And I'm a yes as well. Next category, please. >> Schools. Um, >> okay, >> Jim. Maybe we should do two votes on this, do you think? Because
the the elementary school number is drastically different than the assessment they sent over versus the Silver Lake. Just up to you. I don't know what the potential impact is or if you're just going to uh vote the
ultimate line. I I see what I see what you're saying there, Stephen. Um, >> right. It the elementary school is a department of the town. That really should be laid out separately as far as I'm concerned.
>> And the rest falls under the regional. Is that correct? >> Yeah. No. >> So that's not necessarily true because there's a $70,000 vocational education line in the elementary school budget. >> I see that. Right.
>> So I guess just do it as a total and we'll just >> well make sure we make that adjustment. >> The vocational education that is for the Silver Lake side of this. Is that correct, Steve? >> No.
>> No. It's Halifax's component of tuition for out of >> out of district >> kids that need to be sent kids go to Voke school as opposed to Silver Lake. >> Correct. So that's where they're getting
their education under that number there. We went from 32,000 to 126,000. So that tells me we have additional students now going. >> Yeah, but we won't know. We won't know until I believe I I think it's April
15th. We'll know that official number. >> Didn't they have to apply by the end of March? So wouldn't we know the head count? >> April 1st. >> Exactly. So they have to >> I think it's April 1st they have to apply by and they know by the 15th is when they have to enroll by.
>> Yeah. Wasn't Wasn't that captured as a line item under the elementary school budget specifically though? not sitting outside here in the vocational educational budget line item. I'm almost positive it was. >> Oh yes, absolutely. There's there is two line items on the HS budget. One for
70,000 for vocational education, another for 7,000. >> Uh they were classified differently. One was >> um coming out of the elementary school or assigned to the elementary school. The other was called a district-wide cost that I believe we pay or the school
pays as part of the regionalization. >> So, yeah. So, how do we want to handle this thing? Cuz this is a delicate spot for me. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, I think we could do I, you know, and and
I think it's really up to the committee and how they want to how they want to do this. My opinion, we should vote on the elementary school separately and then everything else. >> Agreed. >> I agree. >> I agree. >> That's fine. >> I agree. >> Yep.
Since we have more since we exercise or the town can exercise a little more um rigor over the elementary school than we can over the regionalization or the regional the regional high school and middle school. >> Well, let's get at it.
>> Okay. All right. So, elementary school costs for FY27. Is there a motion on the floor to approve $6,931,771? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Very good. Cheryl,
>> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnston, >> yes. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Ragnetta, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes. And I'm a yes as well. So the
elementary school budget that is approved by the finance committee for FY27 is 6,931,771. >> That leaves a balance of $9,687. 9,687327. >> I don't know.
>> 328 I'm sorry for what's the balance for Steve >> for the remain. So lines 72 through 76 is what I added up. 72 to 76. So 9
million. >> Yeah. Let me just >> 9 million687,328. >> Yep. That's what I got. >> Yep. 9 million 687 328. All right. So, is there a motion on the
floor to approve 9,687,328 to fund the balance of the schools uh for FY27? Jim, and that's line 72 through 76. And that includes, >> right?
>> That's correct. So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Roll call vote. Cheryl, >> no. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnson,
>> no. >> EJ, >> yes. Mike Reignetta, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes. >> I'm a yes as well. That is a 5 to2 vote. >> Yep. Okay.
>> 5 to2 to vote to fund the balance of the school budget. 9,687,328. Okay. Down to public works. Is there a motion on the floor to approve 1,15,480 for FY27 for the Halifax Public Works
Highway Department? >> Very second. >> Roll call vote. Cheryl, >> yes. >> Shane Walters. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. Frank Johnston, >> yes.
>> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Reignetta, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes as well. So, the 1,5,480 for the highway department is approved.
cemetery. Is there a motion on the floor to approve $93,456 for the cemetery? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Very good. Roll call vote. Cheryl,
>> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnson, >> yes. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Ragnetta, >> yes. Rod Hemingway. >> Yes. >> And I'm a yes as well. The budget for
the cemetery 93456 is is passed. Public works. This is >> water. >> Water. >> Water. >> Is there a motion on the floor for the
water department for $899,73? So moved. >> Second. >> Very good. Cheryl, >> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnston, >> yes.
>> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Reignetta, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes as well. Solid waste. Is there a motion on the floor to approve $594,036
for the public works solid waste management? >> Yes. So move. >> Good. >> Okay. Thank you. Roll call vote. Cheryl, >> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnston,
>> no. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Retta, >> yes. Rod Hemingway, >> no. >> I am a yes as well. That is a 5 to2 vote on solid waste
management for 594 036. Okay. Health and Human Services. Is there a motion on the floor to approve $441,168 for Health and Human Services?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. Cheryl, >> no. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnson, >> yes. >> EJ,
>> yes. >> Mike Ragnetta, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> no. And I am a yes as well. That is a 5 to2 carry for $441,168 for Health and Human Services
total culture and recreation. Is there a motion on the floor for to approve $583,644 the Health and Human Services? So moved. Just >> roll call vote. Cheryl. >> Yes.
>> Mike Bennett. >> Yes. With a but I have a question. You mean culture and wreck, right? >> I'm sorry. Culture and wreck. My apologies. >> Nope. Just wanted to be clear. >> So, is that a is that your vote? >> Oh, yes. Yeah. I'm good for it.
>> Very good. Frank Johnston, >> yes. >> EJ, >> yes. Mike Reignetta, >> yes. Rod Hemingway, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes as well. 583 644 is approved.
So, into some fixed costs and debt service. So, is there a motion on the floor to approve $434,400 for debt service for the town of Halifax? >> So moved. Second. Roll call vote. Cheryl,
>> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnston, >> yes. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Ragnetta, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes.
>> And I'm a yes as well. That passes 70. And then into our fixed costs which contain the insurance, Medicare costs, OPED trust, >> gas and oil, heating oil for all buildings for a total of $4,52,974.
>> So moves if that's what you're looking for. >> Yes, I'm looking for >> You want to call the department? You can call um the Fixed cost. Fixed cost for the town of Halifax. >> So move. >> Yeah, I'll second. >> Very good. Cheryl,
>> yes. >> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnson, >> yes. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Ragnetta, >> yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes as well.
So those are all the groupings. So, we have a final general operating budget of $30,91,485. Okay, that is the budget in and of itself as the funds that are currently available to the town. So,
we reviewed the cuts through the PowerPoint and the deck. Again, just to echo what everyone else said, Steve, good work on that. So, thank you very much for it. Um, I think the next subject that we have in front of us is the uh draft warrant.
>> Yep. >> Let me share my screen again. >> Can you guys see that? Not yet, Steve. >> Not yet. >> There. >> There you go. >> All right.
>> So, yes, we'll quickly as fast. We have a hand up. Frank, I mean, Jim, >> we Chris, go ahead. >> Hi, I just wanted to make one point because I'm not sure if I'll make it to the meeting tomorrow night. is not so
much for you guys but for the public even though the voting on budget that just happened for instance the highway department was staying the same uh I just so the public is aware that they are still getting a very significant cut in their state aid for >> road budget I think it's nearly half of
the money just to make up that point >> no that's true yes it was I think 700,000 last year and I think it was only three or four this year >> 450 I think something in that neighborhood. >> Yep. So, it's about 250 less than what it was last year.
>> Yeah, thank you for that point, Chris. >> Um that is good to know for the for the public. Um so, yeah. So, now we're going to attack um the the warrant articles so you guys can make at least have an idea of what's on the budget so you can get ready for your recommendations or what's
on the warrant, excuse me. Um so, the first few pages here, I am currently working on uh the report that goes from the finance committee. We'll have you guys look at it before it gets approved. Um, so article one, um, right here, here in the middle, you could see that we I
will zoom in a little bit. See if I can get this to one page. >> Let's take the view down to one page. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> There we go. >> All right. >> Steve, >> what was that? >> Just go back up for one second. Can you
make sure you add Rod's name to the bottom of the committee? >> Yep. I've got that on my notes. Yep. >> Okay. >> Yep. I just haven't made my way through that document yet. >> All right. >> But Rod, yes, you were definitely on my notes of stickies that are going in the bottom of that document. So,
>> only at the bottom, Rod. So article article one um to see if the town will vote to amend the wage and personnel bylaw as presented below and as recommended by the board of selectment and finance committee or take any other action relative there too. So as we spoke about during the
presentation I have given um Lindsay was able to provide information so you guys will have that on town meeting floor and discuss that beforehand if however you see fit but that's just there for your for your edification I guess. Moving on
to article two um to see if the towel will vote to adjust the elected officials salary. So same thing same general question as the first one. Uh I did hear from town council Dorenzis and there is a way to consolidate these articles. Uh I do I
don't know what that will do to the process the town has where the first three articles have always been traditionally articles that deal with those three items. So, I would want to talk to obviously the board of selectment about that before making any moves on that.
Um, article 3A gets into what you guys just looked at and approved, which is the town administrator's proposed FY2027 budget, including the cuts. >> Yeah. So, this item in this item in the warrant and so for any members of the
public and residents uh that are on the call, this is the this is the copy of the budget you will see in your warrant. Um, and as you go down through this item, you'll see a letter like A that will refer to a table later that will talk about the allocation of potential
of a potential successful override. So, as you see AB, those correspond to a table lower down. So, just keep that in mind as you go through this table. So, we keep scrolling down. We've talked about all this, pretty much all of this tonight. This is exactly what we just went over.
>> Um, you can see it still needs some slight adjustments to make sure the pages line up. >> Um, get the TA recommended and all that top stuff on the right pages. We got to me and Lindsay are going to address the funding notes because we had to revise this from last year. So, this is still
an item we're working on. Um, and then we get into article 3B, which uh specifically addresses the override. Um, and this is to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate an additional sum $1.5 million to supplement the annual town budget
adopted under article 3A of this warrant. So, as you look through this list, these are the suggestions that I have and I just made during the last presentation about budget allocations with a successful override. the dollar amounts
all match up and everything that we just explained is basically on that table. So if there's any other additional questions, I can take them now. Um but as you can see, I added another um clarification here saying the letters designated a directly same lettered
items in the town administrator's recommended budget so that residents don't get confused. I also probably going to do a supplemental document for town meeting so folks can have this in one one spot. you know, they'll have the budget document and then they'll also have the supplemental table so that they
quickly can interwine both of them and say, "Okay, that's line what?" And then they can go and refer to it on the budget to see exactly where that line's trended over the last few years. >> So, looking at article four, >> Steve, can we back up real quick back on
to the override? I think it's important that we discuss real quick here how the override works at the town meeting for approval, non-approval, >> and where does it go from there into the Saturday election,
>> how that kind of lays out so everybody understands that, please. >> Yep. Sure, Frank. Thank you for um slowing me down on that. Yeah. So, that's a good point. So at town meeting um and again at town town town meeting the floor will have the right to amend
the budget the potential override a number of things. So this is quote unquote the final budget but it as always has been will be amendable on town meeting floor. So the way this works is at town meeting if you approve
you you still vote to approve 3A because that's the default budget. Then you move on to the allocation budget with the override. This will be going to the ballot. So it needs two pieces. It needs a successful
town meeting vote means meaning it needs to be passed in some semblance on town meeting floor. Does it need to be the amount of $1.5 million? No, it does not. That number can be amended on town meeting floor and might come in where
the town decides we only want to allocate 1.2 million or 1.1 million and do what they want with it. After town meeting and whatever is settled, if they decide to go with the override and it gets a positive vote at
town meeting, it carries over to Saturday's vote where then the residents will face it in at the ballot box. And that means whether they attended town meeting or not, they will have the opportunity to vote on it at the ballot box on the Saturday following town
meeting. So that is May 16th. >> So this is a two-part equation. Whatever is approved, if anything, at town meeting on Monday, May 11th, will then carry into that Saturday. It will also need to carry through the ballot box in
order to be approved. So, a m momentary victory in time could be happening Monday night with a successful override. At least that's the way I see it. Um, and then Saturday be defeated at the ballot box. So, yes, it's important that we carry that knowledge forward,
understanding that it's not just town meeting. We need town meeting to carry then to that weekend and that momentum to follow to the ballot box. >> So, thank you for that, Frank. Is that enough explanation for everybody?
>> Yeah. Yeah, I think that's good. >> Dave, I actually quickly just just for the residents clarification and maybe for me too. >> Sure. >> If they did decide to change that amount of 1.5 million during town meeting, who then decides where the differences
get allocated? >> Right. You have you have your supplemental budget allocation listed out extremely well with the letters corresponding. If they say we are if the town decides at town meeting they only
want to allocate $1 million. What then happens with the your plan of supplemental budget allocations? Is that completely thrown out and they get to decide where the money goes? Who makes that decision at that point? >> So the baseline budget is what's basically going to be voted in.
And so that's the default budget. >> Yeah. >> So that that'll be the approved budget. And then you move on to whether or not the residents want to do an override, >> right? >> And whatever amount they decide with the override, there will be clear amendments and locations to where that money will go. The town meeting floor has to make
it very clear like I did during my presentation. They will have to say we want to allocate this amount of money to this line in the town in whatever department AB Y abcde EFG >> and then that will carry forward because
Sue Lawless will be there taking all the minutes for town meeting and it is her responsibility to essentially if this if this budget gets pieced together on town meeting floor she will have all those amendments and then we will go to the ballot box. Now, furthermore, on your
question, so if it's amended at town meeting and the amount is $1.1 million, the amount that will be voted on that Saturday is still 1.5 >> because that was what was put to the ballot box. Now, the 1.1, say in a
theoretical hypothetical conversation, now the town decides to approve $1.1 million of the 1.5 override. It's successful, gets passed the town meeting on Monday, 1.1, and then the residents
vote it through on Saturday. The 1.1 will be allocated, but the 1.5 will happen, but it will be set that 400,000 will be set aside for next year and not able to be allocated, >> but it will give the town buffer and the
ability to grab that collect that money. I shouldn't say grab, but collect that money through typical tax collection next year. So, it's sort of in a way it's a two-phaseed a mini two-phed override because you would have more collection
ability next year without having to go through an override vote. >> So, they really So, a motion on the floor at town meeting isn't really going to change the override number. It's going to change the override distribution >> allocations. Correct, EJ? >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay,
>> that's that's what I was hoping to get clarification on just for for the general public. And at that point then who like who decides where the money gets allocated, right? So they decide 1.1 that changes your supplemental budget allocations
>> or or do they change that? Can the can the public literally say the residents vote and say we we agree we want to amend the 1.5 million to 1.1 million and we want everything to go to every other department but we want to only give the elementary school 400,000 not 800,000.
Is that can that happen? Theoretically that could happen. Yeah, you'd have to get >> you'd have to get the support on town meeting floor >> but yeah that could theoretically happen. >> Just wanted to get clarification. You know, and that's the whole essence
that's the whole essence of town meeting is that you're giving the power >> to the residents. So they could decide that they only want to fund public safety and nothing else. >> Right? So the the question that we had and not to backtrack, but the question that we came up last week and then
earlier tonight in the original conversations about splitting out the the override amount to two different segments basically was sort of a non-starter because they could still do it. >> They could still alter those dollar amounts. Yeah, those allocations.
>> Thank you. Hope that wasn't too much of an intro. >> Yeah, it's a good question. >> Confusing. >> So, moving down to article 4. As long as we've covered everything that needs to be covered in article 3B.
So, article four, the establishment of a new revolving fund that is related to the EV chargers. Right now, we have money that comes into a fund. it is sitting um and we need to be able to create a revolving fund so that we can address things like maintenance,
software updates, etc. These are on 5-year contracts right now for service and maintenance. Um but ultimately, they won't be on 5-year contracts with service and maintenance anymore. So, we will need to hopefully build that money through rates and and collection of fees that for the usage of those EVs. And in
order to do that, much like the other revolving accounts that the town has set up over the number of years, is you just have to establish the account and and the amount. So >> this would ultimately >> to the EVs, correct? >> What was that?
>> This one is specific to the uh EV charges at the library. >> Correct. >> So we're just we're just establishing the account, not funding anything. Yeah, there have been some there has been some uh monies. I don't even know if we're in
the if we're in the black with what we've received from the EV chargers versus the actual electrical cost. Um it's very close right now. I'm talking to them about raising the rates even more because the this is something I just literally came from two towns
doing. So, I know how these things operate. Uh those fees need to go up again on those chargers. So, I need to make sure that those are in the black. they cannot be operating even close to the red because um like I said come five years >> there's either going to be the moment in
time where we say rip them out >> or we're going to be able to maintain and keep these functioning. I mean I've seen them make a decent amount of money in other communities. So is it a possible revenue stream? It's nothing great but can make a th000 $2,000 a
month off of it if you do it right. >> Who's maintaining it now? >> What was that? Who's maintaining it now? >> It's going into the um Lindsay, you correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's going into the general um the money itself, Jim.
>> No. Who is doing the maintenance today? >> Oh, they're covered under a um maintenance and service contract with the vendor that put them in for 5 years. >> And that cost the town how much? >> Uh that cost the town nothing. It was included in the installation. >> Okay.
>> So, it was part of the installation of the >> All right. I just wanted to make sure that was that was correct. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So that would um these funds would go to potentially build out the service or just take care of what we have in place now. And I think it would be more
of the latter probably just taking care of what we have in place now. Um but article five to see if the town will rose uh vote to raise and appropriate transfer from available funds to someone $100,000 to the reserve fund and then another $50,000 to the water department
reserve fund or take any other action relative there too. Um this is a standard typical finan uh finance committee article that is generally and is in all years good practice is to establish reserve funds and build those up because you never know what's going
to happen. It's our own insurance policy. >> Yeah. >> Um article six uh this covers the town clerk. So this is one of the uh government study committee questions. So
this is the change from an elected town clerk to an appointed town clerk and this uh basically talks about that to that effect. So is there any questions here from the fincom?
I can't really I don't know how I would even comment on this because I've seen both and you know appointed folks versus elected. It really is depends on the community depends on the town. Uh, article 7 um is another question.
This one's related to the elected versus appointed treasur collector making that change in status. Uh those who work in the treasur or finance field know how important it is to have some of those credentials and educational background in order to fill
that position. Um I think that's a very important one that we really push real hard to get to an appointed place. It's a very important position. Um the next one uh is in the same line of um thinking in the fact that it applies to
the highway department superintendent or highway surveyor. Again, moving from elected to appointed. Article nine. Uh this is to see if the town will vote to change it from uh board of selectment to select board.
Simple name change of the board. Article 10, uh, changing the water commissioners from elected to appointed. So much like your other positions of clerk, highway supervisor, and treasur
collector, instead these are elected water commissioners. And again, this is a home rule petition. This will not go to the ballot box. This is just for your personal information. If approved at town meeting, this will go straight to the attorney general and then take take
effect upon passage by the attorney general. >> How many water commissioners are we talking about? >> Three. >> Three that are elected. >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Yep. All three. It's a three person
board. I just want to I just want to over the last couple of articles I just want to as part as someone who participated in the government study committee. The point of these articles is one it's not
to supplant anybody who's currently holding that office or who is elected to that office. Okay? So whoever is there or whoever gets elected in this election will fill out their term and then once that term expires is when this the appointment aspect here will will come
into effect. So we you know we the the committee's been meeting for 18 months. I think we have we met with every department head. We discussed every the how the department works, what they think could be better, how they get along with other departments, how they
get information outside of the town, how they work with other towns, a whole there's a whole myriad of questions we asked um everybody. um you know the the changing from elected to appointed is to bring
a level of accountability to these roles that's currently you know which which I think is currently not there and to that end some of the people who we talked to believe that their position should be appointed and not elected. So, you know,
we're just I think it's going to it it helps um when when issues come up uh you know, and not to pick on the water department, but when the water when there's problems with the water, as we've all seen and heard, um the the
board of selectmen have no play in how the water department functions or is run or tries to resolve issues because they report to the voters. they don't, you know, they don't they don't they don't roll up to the selectman uh from a uh in a in any type of an organizational
chart. So that's the point of these. Again, as I said at the beginning, the people who are currently in those roles will stay in those roles until their term currently expires. Um so, you know, we're not supplanting anybody. We're not replacing anybody. um you know and you
know the I think the last point I want to make is when it's an appointed position the benefit is you broad you broaden the pool of candidates that you can evaluate and interview um because part of if you're going to be elected in the town of Halifax you have to live in
the town of Halifax and I don't think there's a you know I don't think there's a wide audience of people that know you know I don't know how roads are built or how water filtration should work or you know things of that nature. So if you broaden the pool of people um it will
help get you know you can you can talk to more in uh people with with a with a larger skill set or or an equal skill set um than than what would currently be there if say um Steve Hayward won the
lottery and came in and said you know I'm not going to be I'm not going to be a highway surveyor anymore um because you know I've got a million dollars or $10 million and I'm going to be living in Florida or wherever. Um, but so that's that's what we want to try. That's the point of these is to bring a
level of accountability and open the open the applicant pool when that position becomes open to be filled through an appointment by the board of selectment. >> Yep. Very well said, Jim. Article 11. Uh, so I do have a table I
can show you guys on this one. Um, so this is directly and this this is something you may want to see. Um, so this refers to the Hero Act, I believe it's being called. Um, and again, tomorrow night I'm going to ask if Steve
Littlefield will come and speak on on this article or I I encourage you guys to speak to Steve Littlefield on this article uh to get a little bit of an understanding, a deeper understanding on it. Um, but obviously this impacts the amount of tax outlay that and tax
rebates the town gives out. And for all those uh exemptions and abatements and everything else the town gives out, the town effectively has to eat those costs or is responsible for those costs. So, let me pull up an email here. I have it
readily available. So, in our assessor's office, Caroline had put together a table here which shows you um based on fiscal year 2025
um the different clauses. And I can send this all out to you guys so you can take a deeper look at it on your own time and figure out exactly um what Caroline's work shows here. But it shows you the different uh costs associated with each clause adoption in
this uh in this question in this article. Um, so you'll see as you go down the list by adopting the various clauses at certain different rates, which is what the question is asking here, 25, 50, 75%, 100%. What the town obligation would be
costwise per year on a on an estimated basis. So I will um make a point of forwarding that to you guys. Um, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. >> Stop sharing.
All right. So, I'm back. There we go. All right. So, um but again, so I will send that out to you guys so you have more information on that. Uh so that you can build your recommendation. Uh so you have the actual data. Um
moving on. If you have any other questions, I can certainly feel those or we can move on to this is the soliciting bylaw, so there's no not really much finance here, but >> um moving on to this. This is article 12 um
addressing potential soliciting or canvasing bylaw and basically all the definition. It's the full bylaw, so this is quite a number of pages. If you're interested in reading it, feel free to do so. Do do we get a lot of calls for this?
>> I believe um I know Chief Jobs was responsible for putting it together. >> Um I don't know the history exactly on it. >> Didn't Chief give us a little info if he's still on?
>> Yeah. So guys, um this was in uh response to a number of complaints we had from the residents and basically there's nothing in our bylaws that addresses um enforcement. Um so if uh we get a call from a resident that's
someone's uh you know uh soliciting um there's nothing uh we can do. This would uh set up uh enforcement so we could uh actually force them to come in and register with us and then also if they found in violation we would
be able to assess fines. Um the bylaw was um copied from uh the neighboring uh neighboring and surrounding towns that all have them and Halifax did not have any. >> That that's the reason why the uh this
was put forward. I think I'm ready. >> Chief, is there a fee included to register as a um salesperson, I guess, or whatever they call themselves nowadays, door knockers? >> Yep. Uh believe the fee is $100. They
have to come in. Uh we do a bop on them. Uh do a background check on them. U then they have to um you know basically uh give us a check from uh their corporation or company uh in order to to
legally solicit in the in town. >> So the li the registration fee I see it there now would be for the company not the actual individuals. Let's say they sent 12 people into town, it wouldn't be $1,200. >> So, so yeah. No, so each uh person that
uh so what happens like for example uh the uh companies that um go out and solicit uh for the um solar panels each time each one of one of their employees has to come in uh they have to pay the $100 fee.
>> Okay. So, it's on the individual and not uh the company doesn't buy a one-time fee for as many people as they want. >> No, it's individual applicants. >> Yeah, I like that a lot better. Okay, >> thank you.
>> You're welcome. >> All right, so we got some clarification there. U moving on to article 13 if we don't have any other questions on that. Um, so this is directly speaking to the revolving accounts and funds associated
with all the various departments. Um, I would urge you guys to take a look. I know specifically this came up on Monday night with the school committee and potentially increasing their busing and full day kindergarten lines um, in preparation for, you know, them planning
for potentially charging for those services moving forward. I have not heard anything as a result from that meeting. Um I was told that I would potentially hear something. So I should probably reach back out to them and figure out if they want me to raise that
or do is that something the fincom uh may want to do and suggest on. But it's certainly something I'm taking suggestions on um in relation to this as we move closer to town meeting. So something to think of think think
about. Um I did adjust this uh today based on a comment from Jim. Um so this is the funding of the FY27 capital plan. I took out the request from the clerk's department even though I think it's something that needs to be done
eventually and very soon hopefully. That is for the clickers for town meeting. I believe that will make the meeting more modern, more accurate. Um, and I think it would stop for from some of the tactics that are used and from what I've
heard about as far as voting uh around other folks in town and I think it would sort of curb that. So, that being said, took that off. Um the assessor's reertification is the only item that is you know there's a bunch of items on the
capital plan that are a necessity but this one is actively in place and gearing up for FY27 because it's the reertification for assessment values >> and we have cyclicals currently going ongoing. So um again another item that is tied
directly to this town's number one revenue source and that's residential taxes. So something that needs to be done $19,300. So that would mean that the ask at this current moment in time for town meeting would be $319,000 from free cash, another $300,000 from water enterprise
retainer earnings um where they plan on doing filter replacements and then uh the total for the free cash for the town side would be 319300. So >> So Steve, hang on for a sec. I think
>> Yep. Unless there's I don't think the there has been a capital planning committee meeting to approve this. >> No. >> So we have either we change the language here, >> right? Or a capital planning committee
meeting needs to be scheduled. Yeah, we could change the language or have again or we I could see how long the 193 can wait on certification to be paid and we >> I'm not so I think I think we have two
things here that can happen. one change the language finance committee you know makes this recommendation >> or you know we you we set a capital planning meeting before the before the town meeting and they make the decision.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. I think I Jim we need to needs to be a capital planning meeting in advance of town meeting. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, cuz I mean we have all the items on the list. It would just >> it comes down to prioritizing them very
quickly, >> right? >> Putting them on. >> Um but also just being Larry of the potential free cash number that needs to potentially go across to the school department. Just being Larry of that. But I'm I'm
open to assisting you guys doing whatever you need to do. If we need to convene the capital planning committee, let's do that. And that would be my recommendation. >> I'll second that recommendation. >> The 300,000 for water department filter replacement. Is that existing filters
that they're just replacing or are they upgrading with that $300,000? I'd have to look into the specifics of the capital request, but I believe it's filter replacements. Um, that's the way it was described to me as replacements of filters. So,
>> of existing filters >> of existing filters. Yes. >> That's not installing something to deal with the oxides or the P foss or any of that nature. >> No, this has to do with Yeah. filter replacement >> existing infrastructure.
>> Yeah. And is that is that something that occur? Do you have is this a re reoccurring cost every year $300,000? Is this once every five years, 10 years? Do you get any idea the figure? >> This one is a one-time cost for this year. So out of water uh water retained
earnings. So um the 300 Rod, you may be referring to the road maintenance which is a $300,000 yearly item that is always >> that that's a good question. Uh, Steve, I was actually curious if the filter replacement is a yearly cost of just
just general maintenance that and that's the approximate cost every year for the water department. >> Okay. Yeah. No, it's my understanding that this is a one-time cost that will have a shelf life. I do not know exactly what that shelf life is. I'll have to check in with the water superintendent,
but this is a onetime item cuz last year I believe it was something uh completely different. >> Okay. Thanks. And I I think Lindsay might know more about exactly what was done on their capital plan last year, but I it wasn't filters. Um, so then we move down to article 15,
uh, which is the $3,500 to the south coast, uh, South Coastal County's legal services for activities with low-income families, elders, and children, which is a standard um, article annually in
Halifax. Um, article 16 to see if the town will vote to raise an appropriate transfer from available funds to pay any unpaid bills. Would the town of schools for prior years take any other action relative there too? >> How many prior years are you talking
about here going back before somebody sends us a bill because they forgot in 2014? uh just last year for the most part which we look back towards this basically this fiscal year or basically well last fiscal year would be addressing anything from last fiscal year.
>> Can we just change it to say prior year singular instead of plural? >> So does you know and and I guess my question is is that you know even when even even the state the Massachusetts only allows 6 weeks after
the close of the fiscal year to send them a bill. >> Mhm. Yeah. >> And if you don't send it within that six weeks, you're not getting paid. >> So, >> you know, I think we should limit it to a year. >> Yeah. >> I think you're right. So, I just took
off the S. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Absolutely. Cuz couple of years ago, Steve, we got a bunch of bills from previous years. >> Yeah. >> Okay. been floating around or whatever they were doing with them or they found
it behind the filing cabinet when they moved their office or something, but they got a bunch of bills. >> Yeah. >> And they were old, >> right, >> Lindsay? Is there anything compliance-wise on that? >> Well, I was just going to say that I currently don't even have anything
that would be going towards this article in general to my knowledge. >> Okay. Um, so last year I believe we also only had one school bill. Um, so currently I don't even have anything. Um,
to my knowledge it is just something that's always been on there. Um, but I don't I don't really know anything further than that. Um, but currently I have no bills that would qualify for that article anyway.
So, we'll leave it in there in the event something comes up and um maybe it's something that we can take out as well or strike before we get there. >> So, article 17 to see if the town will vote to raise and appropriate this is uh
$3,500 uh Southshore resource resource advocacy center for domestic violence intervention and prevention services uh for its residents. Um this is article 18 which refers to the $150 which is given to 4 and the cooperative extension every
year. Um article 19 uh I believe this probably directly goes to your question from earlier Frank um speaking to the PAS funds. >> Yes. >> Um basically this talks about uh those
monies and putting them is it which one is this to see? So yes, so this is basically to establish the fund for the PAS to go into the PAS monies and then the next article right after that is to see if town to approp uh to appropriate the sum of money already in
the general fund from PAS um settlement stabilization into that account. >> Do we know that dollar amount so we can include that under article 20? I can get it tomorrow. >> That way we can have it in the article,
Steve. And so it shows >> the dollar. >> Yep. I can get that. I can get that tomorrow. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And then this then this article, if approved, Steve, correct me, please. It will allow for us to start allocating
some of this PIFA money to some of the issues we currently have around town regarding PIFA. >> Correct. And that would include this the additional sampling that we need to start doing. >> I will have to make sure on that, but I
believe I did see in the language surrounding the establishment of this fund, it was for sampling purposes as well. I did >> that's going to be one of the biggest drivers we have is the sampling cost. >> Of course. Yeah. No, I would expect it to be in there, but again, I don't want anyone to take my word as gospel. I want
to make sure I verify that. >> And would the water department have access to these funds as well if we wanted to install PAS filters um prior to discharge down the water system
>> down gradient? >> I would imagine that >> enterprise fund. I would imagine the money could be allocated to those purposes as long as they fall in statutoily >> because it's it's really just statutes that they need to meet,
>> right? And and because they're an enterprise fund, so it's things are a little different with the enterprise funds. >> They are a little different, but it doesn't it has never stopped another town from taking money out of general fund to pay for something general, maybe necessarily for the water department. So
we could and if it's directly related to the water with these specialized accounts, they're geared towards specialized purposes. So um something we can certainly check into, but I would be very surprised if we could not directly fund this money into projects, project
cost for that the water department was carrying out to help sort of help those projects along because again they're working with the with the item that is being impacted the most with PIA. Oh, >> and whether or not the filters they're currently planning to change out may
already address some of those PAS reductions as well, depending. That's what I was getting at earlier. What What were we talking about with these filters? You know, are they sediment filters? Are they carbon filters for PAS? What are they? Are they combination units? What are we talking about here?
>> That's a good question. Um, I'll have to get the the details from the water superintendent. All right. Uh, you have a hand up, Jim? >> Chris, >> Mr. Winnowitz. >> Uh, I can say I attended the water
meeting the other night when they talked about those filters. So, obviously don't take my word for it and double check with them, but they were talking about existing filters that already there and basically vacuuming all the sand and all the filter material out and it gets
replaced. So I don't believe it was PAS filters. I think it's just existing filters that are already there. >> Yeah. So there sand filters they're cleaning and upgrading. >> Thanks Chris. Thank you Chris. >> So that was article 20. M
>> and if we're all set with there, we'll move on to article 21, which is um to see if the town and this will be >> what was that? So this will be a um this will this will have a supplemental material added um to save the town will
vote to accept the provisions of GL mass mass general law 13812D which would allow the board of selectman as the local licensing authority of the town to approve a request from lency to convert existing license to sell wines and malt beverages for on premises consumption to
a license to sell alcoholic beverages on site. Um, generally from what I understand, this will only impact breweries or places that only sell beer and wine currently on premises. And if they wanted, the select board could unilaterally make the move for them to
be all alcohol if we had a situation like that in town. But we do not as it stands right now. So, one would have to be established before that right would have to be given. Uh and then article 22 um this is a
citizens petition um soils contaminated and reclamation and this will to see if the town will vote to amend uh the town of Halifax town bylaws by adding a new section 165. Uh and then it gets into the details as
far as the different types of soils um the different regulations in CMR um and all the way down basically. um speaking about essentially one of the uses that's
currently going on in town. Um so I >> I I have I have a couple of questions here on this. >> Okay. I don't know technically what I can answer, but I will try. >> Well, all right. I appreciate that. So
the first one is um the the nuisance trade that's being referenced here doesn't specifically call out contaminated soils as a nuisance trade. Now I know they have layered in language that is so wide ranging that it covers
like everything right because it says you know if anything is that could injure or you know assault or offend or whatever um the public health um is you know is can be considered a nuisance
trade. However, the process that's laid out is there is the board of health declares it a nuisance trade. Um, and there has to be like a public hearing specifically to declare something a nuisance trade. So, I don't know if that's occurred yet. Uh, cuz I I believe
this is in reference to Maryland's landing. Um, and then the second thing is is they reference a uh soil recycling facility as in section 9.1. There it is.
Right. But section 9.1 of WSC94-400 is actually a Massachusetts permitted soil recycling facility summary levels chart >> again why I have to watch what I say as
comments because again this is a >> I'm not asking I'm not asking you to comments. >> Yeah. So I I don't think this I don't think this here is referencing the right section. >> Um and I don't know if the process has been file followed for whatever area we're
referring to for the board of health to declare this site to be you know a nuisance trade. >> So I don't know. >> Has the AG's office verified um the legality? >> Yeah, it's going to have to go up to the AG office for legality I guess.
>> Right. if it's voted approved at town um at the election. Yes. Right. >> That that was my question for Steve. Is is it after the town meeting that it would go for a legality check or before? >> I will let I will say this is that um
town council is reviewing it for its potential impact if it were to pass. >> Okay. This is similar to half a dozen articles that were put in last year that were didn't quite meet the mail um as far as
um being legally by the AG's office. >> Right. >> So they would even if they were voted in, they would have never been approved by the AG's office. >> Yep. So those are my only two questions. Chris Wowitch, you have your hand up.
Hi, Jim. I was one of the citizens that proposed this. Uh, >> so I don't know if I can answer a couple questions. Uh, 90% of this article was taken word for word from other towns that have already passed it. Uh, going back to 2018 when they determined that
these soils were not good to the public in their towns. Uh, I did change I don't know if you can scroll back to the top of it. Uh so Dartmouth was one of them. They were
very strict in their purpose of it. They worded theirs that no soil could even travel through their town. Um it did get back around I think 201819 a lawsuit but uh from what I can determine it was upheld because it's still on their books
for a bylaw. The town of Middleboro basically has the same section one purpose, >> but since they have an active landfill in their town, still accepting municipal solid waste, they do allow the trucking through to it. I think it's COM 97 only
to an active landfill, but the rest of all the wording is still the same on soil reuse. And I would assume it's already been re reviewed by attorney general when it's gone through their towns. Okay, >> this these laws came about when in 2018
the mass DP solid waste developed new regulations where this soil previously was illegal and couldn't go and they loosened up I guess regulations that cassette going some other places. uh a couple other projects already had
big huge problems with it and basically they were shut down. The town sued, shut it down and then in 2018 there was a whole handful of various towns that put bylaws in effect to protect their towns and residents from the soil.
>> Sure. Well, you know, so and that's fine, Chris. I'm not I'm not, you know, again, I'm not an attorney. I I looked up some of the sections that were referenced in here. Uh the one that I specifically was talking about is actually not even does says nothing
about what a solid waste facility is. Uh it's a chart for summary levels for you know um soil recycling facilities. Uh so that's I'm just saying that could be a potential challenge. There's really no financial impact to the town. um you
know and I don't you know I I don't if this is what the town if this is what the town wants to vote on it certainly it certainly is their decision but there's no there's no financial piece here for us to be in favor of or vote up or down I think as far as I can tell
Steve >> I I think there's a a high potential liability um because it's my understanding ing that the landfill operations that are going on out there are a corrective
action which is mandated by the state. >> Ah, >> and if something's mandated by the state, just because you put a bylaw into place doesn't mean the state's not going to still look for that to be addressed. And
the issue out there is, as everyone knows, you have a cap that's not working appropriately and you have a a layer underneath the landfill that maybe never functioned or was never put in. Um, so you have a lot
of questions. So then the corrective action is currently ongoing and if you do actions to stop that corrective action, you still have to complete that as a town. um or I should say Republic Services
who's on the hook. So they would maybe have to come up with a different scenario which I don't know if is is if that's possible in this setting. I don't know. Again, this is being reviewed by um by town council for those very those very matters.
>> So So Frank, this is right in your wheelhouse. So, what >> and I just got so many things I can be saying right now and um I don't think that this is the appropriate place for me to do that. >> Okay.
>> No. And I do have what Steve said supporting information right from the D. Obviously, it's not the finance committee's perview of this, but it basically goes on to say there's a lot of misinformation going on here. I'm looking at it right now where it says to
fix the cap only 0 to 10 ft is needed right from the D. I'm looking at their old their own settlement and stability anal analysts where there says there will be no more settlement with the additional soil which
yeah this probably isn't the right place but there's a lot of misinformation being said about the place. I also did find that BFI has almost a million dollar bond right now to correctly fix the cap. So, it looks like they do have money put
somewhere with the D to fix correctly fix that cap. What is going on? Well, I'm not going to just step down. >> Okay. Anyway. All right. So, this is under review by the town
council. Yes. You Yep. All right. >> I'm so curious though. >> You still on screen? There he is. >> I mean, the entire in fairness, the entire warrants under review by Tom
Council. It's just that time of year. He's looking through all of the articles to make sure they're compliant with Mass General law. So, they're just doing their full their full review. >> Sure. Sure. Chris, thank you for uh giving us your rationale for your this
article. It's appreciated. >> And Jim, you do have a hand up. >> Okay. >> Okay. Deb Winnowitz. >> Yeah. Um just real quick because I I I realize like you said, there's no financial for finance committee to vote up or down on this. Um, but I I do think
if something like this is not put in place this year, it could down the road have a significant financial impact uh if we start seeing wellwaters contaminated
people with illnesses. it could um have a significant impact if something like this is not put in place even if it's to finish it and then end it so that it can't continue.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I could certainly get behind that after the corrective action. I think that's um I think that's a plausible way out of this. I think if people understood that it is a corrective action and ultimately it's not the best practice. Yes, we we
understand that. Um, but at the same time, it's liabilities are liabilities. So, if there's a potential huge one here, I don't think the town should put themselves at risk. Um, and that's where I'll leave that and let town council figure that out and advise us. So,
>> and I I think that's part of the misinformation just to say because I'm reading right here the approved plateau area repairs on the membrane. They're only 0 to 10 ft. I needed to reestablish the slopes and to finish and corrective the top of the dump. So I think they're
using that as a reason to say they need all this hundreds of feet or 100 ft more additional dirt on top. When look in the DP papers it says you needed minimal to fix the cap. Once the cap's f fixed all
additional dirt is just basically a dirt project. Okay. Interesting. >> And then moving on, uh lastly is just the um the election warrant essentially, which
is um the votes and then I will be adding the additional um ballot questions as well to this section. I had a question on on this uh petition. Is this adding additional seats to the various boards or is this reconfiguring
the election cycle? I'm a bit confused by this warrant this. >> So, this is this will go towards billing open seats. >> Okay. >> So, seats that are becoming open as of July 1st now folks are going to begin to run for those those same positions.
>> Okay. >> And I don't even know if it's July 1st. I think it might even turn over sooner than that. I don't know the exact date on that, but I could double check that. But Rod, yeah, this is to fill what are expected to be open open positions. >> Okay. >> So, for instance, I know that Jonathan
had put in papers to run for select board chair. Um, and there, as you see down there where it says select board, they're looking for one for instance, >> right? >> Um, and then, you know, one planning board member to replace a outgoing member. So that's how it works in
general. We get prepared knowing what the vacancies will be. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Yeah, Steve. I believe uh these take place immediately after election. >> Yeah, because they do. They get sworn in like the next Monday, don't they? Yeah, you're right. Yep. >> Yeah.
>> Yep. You're right. >> Okay. >> All right. That was the end of that presentation of the warrant articles. >> Okay. So, when when will the when is the when will the warrant be ready for the finance committee to vote on?
>> Uh I have to have it ready for the select board for final approval by uh the 7th, 8th or 9th of April. >> Okay. So, I'll be working on it in at length tomorrow to make sure all those
red areas, me and Lindsay will figure out the the funding notes and any questions that arose from tonight. >> So, does that mean you said the seventh, eighth or ninth, right?
So, that gives us the sixth. fix his um that a holiday. No, >> that's not a holiday. No, >> no holiday. >> Day after Easter. >> Yeah. >> Day after Easter. Yeah. >> Well, I'll come in with a sugar buzz.
>> Bring all your extra Easter candy in with >> I like the mini eggs with just the chocolate. >> Robin eggs, baby. Robin eggs. >> Careful. Careful. I had I had some conflict of interest going on here. Nobody's You'll be gifting out eggs.
>> Yeah, Mike, I didn't see you Saturday over at the uh school. I thought I'd see you over there. >> Oh, I missed that one, unfortunately. >> Yeah, you did. >> Having my own Easter egg hunt this weekend for my all my family, but my dad
does like a thousand eggs for all the neighborhood kids. It's It's wild. >> Awesome. >> Cool. Okay. So then I guess just to kind of close that discussion out, we'll put the warrant vote, the warrant article
vote on the agenda for Monday the 6th. >> Okay. >> Of April. >> Which will be an in-person meeting for the for the team at town hall. >> Does that give you enough time, Steve? >> Sure. >> We and we should hear back. Everything
should be back from attorney the town attorney by then. It's a good question. Um I'll have to check in. >> Okay. >> Uh the only thing I'm thinking is the the last article, this the citizens,
right? So that's the last one that's sort of being reviewed right now because it's a little bit more Yep. Okay. >> All right. Well, Steve, thank you for the for the detail on everything. Did a great job. So, we certainly appreciate it. Um,
>> thank you. Thanks. >> And the explanations were were good. So, uh, the next item we had on the on the agenda was free cash certification status. Is that today, tomorrow? When is that? >> I saw Lindsay and Linda working on this
so hard today. Um, >> I know that they got close and tomorrow's the deadline. Lindsay, are you there? >> Yeah. >> Um, if you want to give the committee an update about you and Linda huddling up.
>> Oh my god. Um, so we are looking for one more entry. Um there were I want to say 10 that we were trying to find from I'm not even kidding you everything balanced up
until the last quarter. So from this time last year up until June is where we had 10 12 entries that we were tearing apart to make balance. So we have one more to do tomorrow. Um once that's done
we will have a number Okay. >> Well, we'll be at a joint meeting tomorrow, Jim, so we should know the number. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> And I do want to commend both Lindsay and Linda for
>> just pulling up their bootstraps and getting this done because it was quite the last four days. I mean, >> yeah, >> they were here parts of Friday and Saturday as well. So, >> wow. >> That's just so people in the public know that, too. you know, the cuts we're going through are pretty deep, but we
were still here Friday and Saturday making sure we were ready for this week. Uh, and we're going to do what we need to do. So, >> absolutely. >> Appreciate you coming in on the weekend. >> Yep, >> Lindsay. That's um that's a lot of dedication and I respect that.
>> Thanks. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you for that, Lindsay. Again, just echo Frank. Great work. appreciate all the hard work behind that. Um, moving on to the next agenda item which I had listed as the uh
elementary school budget. U, we've had we've discussed that at on ad nauseium this evening. Um, I think we are uh I think we're all agreed with you know with the budget that we did vote on uh earlier. Um, so I think uh I think we're
pretty set there. So, uh, we'll just we'll just go ahead unless anybody has any further comment on that. Uh, we'll move to the next agenda item. >> Only comment I have, Jim, is I don't know if it was on my end or what. I could not get that live feed to broadcast, but I don't know if they had
an issue on that side or what >> on that meeting from last Monday. >> I heard different things, Frank. I heard some people got it. So >> yeah, I got it. >> Yeah, I was on it as well. It took
sometimes I logged in twice and one time I got in right away. One time I had to wait. >> There were two separate links out. One of one of the links that was going around would not take you into the live feed, but the second one did. >> Oh, interesting. Okay. So maybe that was it.
>> Yeah, >> Frank, they sent you the wrong link. >> There's probably a good reason for that. >> Yeah, I know. Okay. Uh, moving on to correspondence and as may arise. I have not gotten any uh
emails from any residents or anyone else in the town to be discussed with the committee here unless one of the committee members has gotten something outside of the committee. Um, I don't have any other as may arise uh items to discuss while we're all here.
Okay. Um I have >> Yes. >> Sorry, Jim. Just something to bring up for um in the event that the override doesn't pass and the the budget that's voted on at town meeting goes into effect with the cuts involved. And I I
know uh the fire chief had talked about, you know, having to to not use one of our ambulances because we won't have the staff for it. Uh, has a town ever not leased out but contracted out in the ambulance that they have to another
municipality to make make money that way to to bring in some revenue for that mothball uh ambulance. I didn't know if Steven knew that or if the chief I don't but just something to >> Yeah, chief is off. That's a great question. I know
>> I think what I know and Steve you can you can help me kind of figure this out or or at least say I'm right or wrong. I know that the there is an ambulance charge to the patient uh when an ambulance call goes out. A
patient who is not on Medicare is charged I think $2,400 for that ambulance run. someone who is on Medicare we I think they can only bill like 950 I think 750 to 950 somewhere in that area. So you know the
the challenge is that you know cost of stocking the ambulance every time they go getting you know replacing the medications drugs bandages or other you know items that they would use co that that cost goes up. that's an that's an ancillary cost that's really probably
not talked about when when you're talking about ambulances other than staffing or who you're putting on it. Um you know and then so there's that cost which should be funded by the receipt of the you know monies from the bill but
you know that's that's if the bill gets paid. That's you know that's that's the other side of that. Um, so and plus with the demographic that we have in a town that has an, you know, a larger elderly population who are utilizing, you know,
parts B, C, and D of Medicare, you're not make you're not getting the amount of money you normally would get from someone who is regularly insured, I guess, for lack of a better term. >> You explain far better than I could. I think we, you know, I think that's
something that chief the the chief wooden could probably speak to if that's something that he's heard of or done. So, that's probably a better question for him and maybe we can put that to him tomorrow night. >> Yeah, that'd be great. >> I think it's worthwhile interrogating all options, especially for
>> Absolutely. >> Absolutely. No stone should be left unturned. And when you find another stone, turn that one over, too. >> Exactly. Okay. So, we'll close out correspondence and as may arise and we'll open it up for public participation. So, I think we
still have a number of people on the call. Anybody from the public have any questions for the finance committee or anyone here uh regarding what we have discussed on the agenda this evening? >> Okay. Hearing none, we will move on to next meeting planning. So, tomorrow
night in person with the board of selectmen to present the budget we just voted on this evening. Okay. 6:00 p.m. All right. And then we'll follow that up with a meeting next Monday to to go over the
warrant articles and vote on those. Okay. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> Cheryl, >> yes.
>> Mike Bennett, >> yes. >> Frank Johnston, >> yes. To adjourn, please. >> EJ, >> yes. >> Mike Retta, >> I'm a yes. >> Rod Hemingway, >> yes. >> And I am a yes as well. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for attending.
appreciate your time. >> Thank you all. >> Not everyone