##VIDEO ID:0J7ahT3zM0k## okay so we are back um and we are joined by our finance committee including the new newest member of the finance committee Dave Kier just want to say congratulations what a great choice I'm looking forward to having you as part of the team um and so we're going to talk about Phil I'll turn it over to you because we're going to talk about the Water and Sewer debt and revenues and how that may impact rates right correct so as you know we work with DPC about creating the water and SE rates uh so you have the hand out in front of you and most of it to the rate increases would be to cover dep would be what to cover the depth a little bit of a confusing form okay so which debt the 12 million or all the other de all the other debt I don't think the 12 million is on the books yet but it will be it will be I mean is it my maybe I'm wrong but it's my understanding is that's when the problem starts is when the 12 million is on the books it's not necessarily a problem right this second it's a problem it but the 12 million was an override that doesn't go just on the water sewer rates right well I guess the decision was never made of what the split was going to be the vote it was a dead exclusion that passed right but that doesn't mean anything dead exclusions can go either way what do you mean they can go I don't understand what you're say well part of the project though is not on a dead exclusion part of the project is no was it not I thought there was a there were two there's two different things there was a supplemental the project is more expensive oh oh the 1.4 you're talking about that's not 1.4 is regular right yeah that's not debt exclusion we didn't vote a debt exclusion so divisional local Services acted on on that we we filed a a waiver so they felt that the initial or the original authorization the 1.4 didn't require us to hold special Town election or special election vote it still would be part of yeah the Deb exclusion well that's news to me that was discussed at the meeting we had about it yeah I mean it's whatever okay I I did not realize that I assume the one but regardless it you can put it on the you can go on the ring I mean just because it's a dead exclusion doesn't mean it has to be paid through taxation correct right so then we have to amend that article and and revote it so what you're saying is the users would pay for it well well we're talking about the waste are we talking about the Wastewater plan project yes okay we haven't talked I mean we have long discussed some level of a split right no decision has ever been made about that apparently correct we discussed that yeah we've discussed it several times 60 40 50 whatever we've gone back and forth around different things but we've never actually done anything that's right but we're getting a little ahead of ourselves right because that's not hitting yet so what we're talking about is what we're talking about is what is an fy2 PR because no rates were raised in 25 okay so yeah bottom line at so all these things bottom line yeah want me to read the back guy so as you can see by this sheet which sheet I don't think we have that sheet we don't have that sheet sheet all we have is spreadsheets yeah we just have what um Dave pret put together okay so you don't have the the summary C sheet you get today well is it any different and what's on the well I think this is easier to that box right there that Bas so but the but but this 350 on here is just a sum total of the debt it's not the debt that's carried on water sewer is that correct yes but it doesn't tell us in what we're projected where are we projected to be at the end of the year 25 on water sewer you know what I mean am I asking the right question yes you are okay it's on get the go through okay it's right here to the is it on the second page I had I I did have a hard time with this form well everything's in parentheses well that's like like I didn't understand like is this all negative there most I guess I just I I mean we look at these kinds of forms all the time but this one just kind of boggled my mind yeah so there was an interest payment made this year for that project correct yeah on short term you it's just we 66667 I just like the bottom line that that's what I just tried getting to we'll get to that's a small part of the eventual project that's interest only and it's not all the money either I mean the last time we raised the rates was based on the recommendation to bring the rates up to where we could get the Grant and we increased the rates to make sure that we could prove to USDA that we could repay the loan by raising the rates so what I'm trying to figure out is what what's coming in what's going out and or shark Falls if we need to raise the rates basically well so we should correct that though because it's not simply convincing USDA that you can repay the loan it's even to qualify for the loan your s your sewer water rates have to be a certain percentage of income so we didn't even qualify to apply for the loan because the rates were too low there's right there's been we have La there's been a lag over the years not we not this board particularly but of raising rates so yeah I mean and I would say and I know the finance committee we've pushed this I mean automatically every single year there should be a two and a half at least a 2 and a half% increase our tax rate goes up 2 and a half% every year our water and sewer rates should go up 2 and a half% bare minimum every year it should be almost an automatic we so if it's been two years since we've done this then we're already behind yeah so I agree with you but most of the debt was taken on by taxation in the past yes in the past I understand so once the retained earning started to build up we started paying some of that debt out of the retained so this chart is showing you that what the debt is and then what you need to raise the rates to cover the debt all in with no contribution from taxation okay and so and and and is it the debt all in including the 12 million which is going to hit next year no no so if you look at if you look at this sheet there yeah I'm looking let's just take this one this table one the Wastewater budget yeah with the spreadsheet so the debt in the second half of this of 25 the second half the second billing the debt you have to pay if you're going to pay it all out of the Enterprise fund retained earnings is $259,000 where are we looking I don't think we have that either we have Debt Service yeah 349 almost 350,000 for what side that's both right that's everything that's water do we have that you sure yeah that's the great says table one and table two at time that's all the de for both of water and so if you add them both for the second half Bill the second half bill that's going out because we just had we just put the first half of 25 bills out yeah right the first commitment already put out so to cover the debt for the second half of the bills the debt you have to cover is 336 361 and 25952 the 259 I see the 259 where's the three it's on the Wastewater I don't waste water is 29502 and then the water is 336 361 oh okay I see it at the bottom and it gives you a list of all that is on the de with all the projects on the bottom yeah so just th those are all here too I think you're talking about the uh sewer Improvement project you're talking about the rotating biological contactor gravity thickener but that adds up to 252 you're saying it's 25 352 and you're saying it's 259 I don't even see the rotating biological oh the other one the three the 336 is mine mine is mine's all water so you take the transmission PR you know what I mean what P are you on three of 1 oh you're missing you're missing one and two that's why yep here let's try this one we lost we lost page one and two somehow yeah okay but I don't I don't understand what you're saying so I see the pink boxes on each of these but they don't so which is what you're talking about the rotating biological Contra comp compactor isn't it or cont contct contact so if but but if the debt service is 29502 in that box it's 352 is the debt so what's the difference The Debt Service I don't know where that's just sewer is to it looks like it's just sewer is 259 then then there's a whole series of water that's just but right which is the next page and those add up to 34949 and then but the debt service is 336 what am am I am I not looking at this right yeah the first page the sewer is 352 360 right but then P one yeah yeah 349 and 352 so you got a total of 700 okay but then you were just he was just calling our attention to this red line Capital Debt Service 29502 some already okay so that's the second bill that is going out so that's the winter months the billing through the winter months because we did not increase the rates for 25 to start with correct that's capital Debt Service is the bills that are going out no okay well that's what I'm talking about this red line right here it says Capital Debt Service 29502 that's what you all on all these projects on the 3 52 that's what you offer the second half the second half bilding has to cover the 29502 so when we put a budget together right we put it together assuming that we were going to pay that that that we had the money to pay all this what's not being done is putting together an expense budget but you need to have a revenue budget as well and that's how you plan your budget for the next fiscal year so we didn't have a revenue budget we did not I mean and regard I mean regardless we looked at revenues we looked at what we have received in revenues but we need to physically have a revenue budget I guess regardless of whatever happens in term all the debt we've been talking about a split in the debt so whether the debt is for the new improved sewer plant or whether the debt is for prior upgrades to the sore plant what difference does it really make doesn't matter uh it's all debt incurred by the SE for the water system so the the USDA loan we have for the water filtration project is debt that was incurred for the water project so it's all got to be paid and I guess so however we split it up it doesn't matter where it came from originally because it all came from water and sord so if you're talking about a where it being the debt the debt correct it's all water and seore props so Water and Sewer revenues need to cover the water and sewer Deb yes they well they they do and and and and that's kind of the fallacy like we call this an Enterprise fund but it's not an Enterprise what right so it could so it can today if you do this right if you raise raise to do this it will in fact then cover the debt right but when the $12 million project hits next year or the year after probably next year well there was a payment on I was looking yeah but that's just interest on hand it's not even the whole project it's not when is the project going to be done that's and the but to we raise the rates to cover the payments on that not to well right you're not not like we're not gonna raise it million I just for people listening at home I don't want them but yeah it's a 40y year 40y year LA but regardless you're going to have to raise the rates right of course to cover the debt service something at some point The Debt Service to that $12 million or whatever the interest rate is that they gave us for the next four years right that's right right and so and so right now we're not bringing in enough money to cover probably enough money to cover that starting next year the year after no no no right now we're not even bringing in enough money to cover what we need to cover in this fiscal year correct so Phil so because it's on a debt exclusion you could just do this cover whatever this is and includ it in whatever you think the split should be so does this cover the users portion of the split does it not I mean you can figure that out we can do the math on it and figure out what percentage of the overall debt we're talking about but we're we have to talk about it in this moment in time and that future debt hasn't hit yet right but it's going to I mean it's going to have hit next year if you're going to talk about rage you might as well talk about it all together right right because but and that future debt is on a debt exclusion so it's easier for the town pick up that future debt because of the mechanism that is being used this this debt is not out of debt exclusion so if you bring it back to the town side you have to cut the budget to fit it in yeah that exclusion you just add to the tax bill correct and bring it in temporary addition to the tax bill correct until it's paid off well right and in this case but we already set the tax rate for this year so that's but you don't know that till next year you won't start having pay next yeah or maybe the year after I thought I thought we weren't going to make it through this year with this is for 25 no yeah this is for 25 but it's not we're having two different conversations you you make this by paying so there's the future debt which we don't have yet there's the this is all old existing yeah so we're so we are talking about two different things we're talking about how we're going to handle when the future sewer project up plant upgrade hits but we also have to talk about how we're going to cover this right now I me the only way to cover this is there's no way to cover this other than raise rates right or cut the budget now right like now so are you are we do we do we have to increase both the only reason the only thing reason I'm saying that is the only reason debt came into the water sore retained earnings was to balance the general fund budget so what projects were paid out of the general Foods there had to be something you didn't take all this debt and take it out of retained earnings the first part of 25 all the well it's not the only reason the other reason because it's all water and sore it is and it's all projects I mean we're paying out of the water and sore retained earnings we're paying the Water Filtration plant that's how old that was always taken out of tax there wasn't even an Enterprise fund when they when they built it it was not that we went we we went back and forth we didn't always some years we took it out of water sewer some years we paid for out of Taxation depended where we always treated it so there was no rate increase in the first half of 25's Bill the big the big Bill that's the summer Bill there was no rate increase right we took in like 780,000 that's cuz you know either you guys didn't know nobody knew about it right it doesn't matter I mean there was no R increase so now you have to do it in the second half all do yeah the bills have already gone out they've already been paid some cases they would do November 1st so are you talking about increasing both water and sewer and then what are you talking about increasing it too see it says projected FY 2025 change your second half Bill only yeah to pay the debt is 48.5% yeah you have to increase in yes and it's 45% in the water if you're going to AB absorb all the debt so almost a 50% increase Y which would have been a lot less had you done [Music] it so how many users do you lose when you go up 50% for those of us that say there's a chance yeah that could happen yeah what's your alternative like I'll put my personal hat on like we pay a pretty significant water bill as it is now and if it goes up 50% we're getting in a place where we might as well start thinking about drilling a well because we can't afford these rates and I don't know how other businesses feel about it but that's that's how I feel about it and I don't want to dig a well we got some of the best we have the best water in town in in the area you do okay just bear with me I I'm hearing a couple different things so I just want to reflect here first we have operation of our water treatment plant and our sewage treatment plant and making sure we meet the bills for that then we have coming online is the uh sewage treatment plant upgrades so are you guys when you're saying 50% are you combining everything together or are you keeping it separate well that depend this is why it's hard to have these two conversations separately because that depends on what what's the split which is a decision we still have not made so if the split turns out to be 100% on taxation next year year when the $12 million project comes online then I guess you don't have to raise rates at all I next year you know because it it'll never hit the rates but that's a that's a totally under the board of selectman's control you know so like we just have to decide what it's going to be and that's why I'm saying right now your only real choice to pay this particular piece of debt is to raise rates yeah unless you want to have a town meeting and cut somebody else's bud so so the only other so but then next year you can figure that into the split so whatever the split is for the new project which is going to be a significant expense I mean but I mean so town as a whole approved the override for the the um plant upgrades yeah so so you could argue that the town's people approved and so it wouldn't you could not have it hit the rates particularly if the rates had to go up this much because what choice do we have well you could you could part that yeah oh I think I I think the a reasonable way to look at it would be to say let's take all the debt that's part of the water and sewerage system whether it's new whether it's old whe whatever figure out what it all is and then figure out what the split is going to be right you know and and maybe this year the rates have to Encompass a little more of the split because we don't have the other thing online yet but next year that will all come out in the wash because it's going to come online and it's going to have to be paid somehow uh and presumably mostly out of tax I guess what I'm saying is by next year this problem will be entirely different uh because you will have a debt exclusion online so you'll have an entirely different sort of decision to make which is how much do you put here and how much do you put there during the FY 26 budget process right that's right you'll figure that out that's right yeah but today the answer is you have to raise rates to to get to next year to figure that out rates that are probably going to go up next year anyway or not not now because they're going up this year you Phil when they figured when they budgeted or they prick it went through or how however that worked and budgeted this by if we raise the rates that much that'll cover the debt but what does that leave you does that leave you with anything in water retained earnings because I know the last few years there's not been much in water return water or sewer retain there's been money in water you paid the debt yeah and we haven't spent all of it either like get how much and we paid debt with yeah you took it out in retained J you paid debt that taxation used to pay yeah that's what I'm saying yeah so what I'm just trying to get at is you know is there any way that instead of a 50% increase in rates that you can do a 25% increase in I don't know I'm just I'm spit this is a a increase that is hard SCH year we we used $34,320 just a portion so if you let 25% some of that retained earnings could be used to make up the other part of money we need to pay the debt for the second half of 25 right you have to have to vote that but the intent of course is to build your retained earnings for emergency purposes no yeah I totally get that but you know I I assume and they we're not making this decision they get to make this decision you have to balance the needs between but the question then just becomes are you just putting it off till next year what you do next right yeah and that's that's maybe right I mean next year you're gonna have to raise rates again right because but is it easier to do two smaller ones versus versus one big one that's the that's the other yeah no that's it's a good question yeah it's a good question it may be I mean just yes it's definitely much easier if nothing happens if anything happens it'll be much worse because then you won't have any money to deal with it you have to go to special town meeting and fix you know like if per chance like the repaving of route five somehow impacts the 200y old water line you have out there that's broken 17 times you're not going to have money to fix it yeah I mean last time we had the break up we had to go to special for the money it was $100,000 to repair the water yeah I remember that right so Phil um I mean that's a big so I'm assuming do you have I mean people who are watching this are going to want to know how it affects them directly right so the I mean do you have numbers of like an average household water bill is says it right where am I this handout that you just received thir yeah yeah so it's $95 you got this one Diana yeah but I yeah it says average monthly cost per per edu where the why am I not oh oh oh oh okay monthly cost right okay I'm sorry I did top one is sewer the bottom one is water so it's if if you increase to what what is proposed here it's $160 a month for water and sore increase right for water it's you know for water it's a couple hundred months a year that's you're yeah 200 something and that's not because not everybody's on sewer oh wait a minute you're saying monthly this is monthly this is I thought half it says half bill so the monthly average monthly cost so 780 people are going to get both increases to about $160 and 1300 80 people will we get in the water and that's the 160 per month correct so we get our water bills twice a year right so six times5 16 time six that is steep almost $1,000 yeah so $2,000 a year when you look at it that way if that is yeah way steep 2,000 you're saying if you have both W I just want to be clear that it has nothing to do with the operations the daily operations of the plant this is all deck this is all projects that was approved by the to I mean nothing to do with it other than it supplies the entire physical plant that runs all the things I mean without the debt there is nothing to run on a daily basis there's no plan you just have septic systems and once because there's no water filtration there's no switch point that is a it's huge steep increase and you know I we had conversations over the last couple years of other steep increases so that we could even this out well and you know it speaks to why it speaks to I think not setting the water and sewer rates November 1st I mean we should be setting the water and sewer rate once you go to town meeting first week of May or whatever second week of May whatever it is you have a you have a budget you know what it's going to cost to run the water and shouldn't you really be setting the rates prior to July 1 I think we should be saying the rates two weeks after town meeting when you have the budget you know how much well that was my other question like so this is so behind this is extra high because we're behind yes so next year it would level out a little bit yes because we'd be assessing it over the full yeah if you if you did both bills it would be half as much Go the whole amount we you're still G have that other half of that amount next year I I yeah and I actually think that's my would be the next step for you guys before you make a decision is you got to make a DEC you know was as Sean said combine the old debt the proposed new debt put it all together figure out where the where the rates need to be and then figure out how much is going to come out of out of you know the towns side and yeah I feel we can make decision tonight no well we got mean huh we got to have a I mean on rate you mean or on yeah no I mean you have to have hearing right yeah we're G have but but even before the hearing don't you want to get some of those question questions answered before you decide what you want to do because there's no doubt we have to pay the bill but let's do you have a do you have a sense of what the um increase will be next year when you have borrowed all the money do we know what that looks the well the big question with DPC was we need a revenue we know we need to know what the revenues were to set the rate no no I don't mean the rate I'm sorry that was I said that wrong I mean what the bill is it doesn't matter what it would do to the rates because we don't even know if any of it's going to go on the rates yet you know like so what would the what is the payment the town has to make to fund that $12 million plus interest right payment on that right that's what we need to know every year for the next 40 years what is the check that we have to write for that and then we can at least compare it to this this and see how close they are so I think next year when the budget season starts which we started already but to get that answer yeah right to say okay here's the whole dep what's it going to cost us for year and then decide what the break right and maybe it turns out that rates only go up two and a half% or something next year because you wind up taking the whole thing on the town side because the rates already paid for this part you know it's just I don't know but what are we doing in the meantime is the question I guess between the second C5 in the meantime you have to figure out some split between raising the rates and using retain ears whether it should be all rates or all and when when do the Bills typically second they just went out the first half just got paid right right April's the next week so April the next Bills will go April is the next billing right second commitment so that you you've got some time to set the rates but you probably want people people probably want to know because if it's going to go up significantly they should be prepared to be able to you know we put money aside to pay their reir I'd like to really discuss some ways that we can um mitigate that huge jump it's that's just it's really huge for people to have to do that particularly ones that have both bills that's a lot of money but I think we got to make sure we look at all the options available I think I just want to say that part of the reason we're sitting here tonight in this predicament looking at a 45% increase is because we spent inordinate amount of time exploring all the options instead of deciding what we should do right like we didn't decide on a split we didn't set a rate you know because we I don't know why doesn't matter why we just but every time we delay it's like if you it's like if you find out we have to cut the budget during the year and then we wait till the last quarter of the fiscal year to do it right well by then you have to decimate the thing because but when have we typically set rates what time of the year isn't it usually around this time of year Well we set them two years prior last time we set up for two years the rates right the intent is to get a full year and we haven't said we kicked the can down the road we didn't it didn't come before last couple of years the rate increases um went into effect yeah we missed the first billing and that was only the second commitment that picked up the new rate yeah just to make sure that that doesn't happen correct it creates a problem yes it does problem right because otherwise you'd be talking about you know because you're always lagging because because actually what you'll be doing now for setting it for April is and you're making it for the whole next year right so you'll you'll if you start the precedent of setting it next March or whenever you do it and you do that every year and you get ahead of it yeah I yeah in the exactly talking about the year prior to goes back to what do we need to do revenue balance you have to have a revenue budget and an expense and then that's probably something that and that's usually done in February but although your expense budgets are done sooner but you should have a who does that do you do that does Phil do that does the typically it's the DPW that would do that with the accountant we do we do have a we don't do a budget but we do have administrator Revenue figures like when we put I mean when we did the thing last spring we we had an idea what the revenue was going to be it it should be a team effort it really should be the accountant the DPW director and the administrator yeah so the revenue was 1.4 mil between the operating budget was 1 between the two yeah and that me and so that's where you got the 300 something thousand from retainer so you took some of that and paid the debt and obviously have some [Music] left we'll be interested I I would just think that you know the only question I would think you might want to try to find out as soon as possible what that number is because you know I mean the number that of the check that the town is going to have to write for this $12 million project because and when exactly when when well when's hard because when is the when is the bond going to be issued I mean it's going to happen in the next two years it just depends on when you get off the ban and onto the regular Bond right so like doesn't make any sense to wait you'll kind of know what it is you know what it's going to be in the future because it's a 40 it's 40e fixed rate right like so you eventually there's going to be a number you're going to know then that's going to continue for the next 39 12 plus one yeah the the only thing you won't the only thing you won't really know is the interest well is the interest rate it's already set it's already set yeah and it should be all we need is calculator we can figure it out right that's what I'm saying like you should figure that number out because you what you may wind up doing is saying well we're going to uh you know we're going to use retained earnings to offset the amount of the increase and we're going to have no money uh in the bank in case anything happens but then next year when we have to bring the other money online we just have to increase rates that much anyway you know so we bought six months right you know like and is that worth it I'm not saying it is or it isn't but I'm saying we to kind of think is that worth it to spend all the money we have uh to reduce the increase it may be but just I think we would want to know that like what is what what does that actually mean so why don't we have DPC come in meet before they set before we have a public hearing why don't we do I think they can give you the number pretty quick so look at those options because there's options yeah he must know what the number is almost off the top of his head we know that these rates are going to go up but if there's a way we can not have this but you know make it gradual because this is a lot for is it for res is it worth running this by the accountant and looking at at where we are in this year's I'm not saying taking money away but often times there's money that gets turned back at the end of end of the year we have a little idea of some departments that may be running just same I mean you might you might be if you could do that then at town meeting you could transfer some some money into the debt portion and leave some of the impact on the rate you would take some dig right but might be worth it yeah absolutely we can do that you know we have to balance sort of what's fair with users and non-users too oh absolutely so you don't want to hit I mean I you know I don't know how you guys feel but this kind of hit to to users is is a tough one to to want to swallow but at the same time you have to be sensitive to the you know the money that is also that we would be taking it's nonusers so it's a it's a delicate uh balance I mean are we better just locking in a smaller percentage for the next five years guaranteed that goes up five five55 or something instead of 50 right off you really have I think you can set the rates for two years but then I think you still should be looking at rates every year no no you yeah yes you have to look at them it goes back to our initial we're not increasing the rates two and a half per every year then we're behind time as I have and they didn't raise rates for five years straight so I I understand two and 2 and a half% may not be enough either oh yeah no no understood so you could actually go two and a half two and a half which is five each year right so if the initial rate was set at the First Billing of 25 yes if you increased the rates it probably would only been 25 years so why doesn't that get brought before us earlier yeah it was it was not brought before us and I think the reason one of the reasons for us earlier so that it part of it could be absorbed in the First Billing we should be doing that every year but what that's my question whose responsibility is it to bring it to us at a particular point is it pricket yeah it wouldn't be the engineer so why aren't we bringing them forward sooner so that because we hav't seems like it just got missed this year we haven't traditionally NE said them then either I mean like that that's that's a it's always been this way and that's right because things things didn't happen with the debt until the budget was set because you had you PID some of the debt that was always paid out of Taxation out of the water sore retain earning so you didn't know that but no no everybody knew it at town meeting everybody knew that at town meeting that the debt we decide that we the town decided that that debt was going to be coming off retained earnings and we we should have figured it out then whether it was our fault or it doesn't matter whose fault it is but we should have figured that out then we should have known we'd just be better off if we said but you weren't a year fly saying right you couldn't set the rate you you couldn't increase the rate after the Maytown meeting it's too late because you're already reading well that's why I said you do you have to set it a year prior that's why well you could do it in March you know you don't read until when do you start reading the summer yeah so bills go out and they just went out so no no no the first one yeah that was the first one second is the first follow is the first yeah so you could so you could uh read in well you read in August and Bill in September we pay in November something like that see we always you know prior administrations always had us read at the last minute and that's one of the problems don't don't read at the last minute yeah that's ridiculous that the readings need to happen earlier we need more time to take a look at the reports Honestly though like this may be stupid but what difference does it make when we read the meters in terms of setting the rates none none right it doesn't it doesn't the rate is what it is the how much water you use correct a totally separate thing you may decide to use less water it's like the electric bill right whether it's captured this month or next month it's going to get captured right whether you read it it sort of needs to happen simultaneously when you're building your expense budget and you're and you're building your Revenue budget I I just think we need to have a habit like saying we're going to set the rate in the first week of May or whatever in time to catch that full year Cycles we're not behind it that's all whatever that that needs to be the rate increase should never fall in the middle of the billing right and that's what happened that's what happened we set the rate the rate increases for two years and we only really got a year and a half out of it because we didn't do anything second halfway between the year yeah yeah so we just got to stop doing that that's that's really what it comes down to we learn something every [Laughter] year okay so we're going to get some figures from yes well I I say bring them in I mean let's bring them in and see if there's a way around not going to 50% yeah you know to yeah to put the bandaid on something for this year and next year we'll see what you know here's the whole debt we owe x amount of money you owe $600,000 in debt what's the scoore okay and then you're just going to have to decrease the operating budget on the government side to take that in if you're going to add it to taxation yeah right yeah so just what you'd have to look at yes you know I mean the reality is if you look at the in that the summary sheet the projected fy2 change to second half Bill only plus 100,000 to retained earnings that last column of the summary 76% that's what that's what you should do you're talking about the water or sewer one both both okay that that column is on there to demonstrate what should be happening you know what ianl that's that's right but it's but it's but it's adding money to retain earnings you should be doing like you know what I mean like that's that would be the ideal scenario if you weren't behind kind you know like so or if you didn't yeah so that's all you know like I'm not saying we're doing that obviously you're not doing that but like just for comparison sake yeah like that would be a good idea kind of thing I mean not for not if you have to pay the bill so I mean all these numbers are without any contribution as it says from the G all these num to cover the whole depth so right that's something that you know we finance and the board of Select got to say this is going to be split because obviously you can't observe that kind of an increase just on those projects Yeah well yeah well you can't observe it multiple times in a row so you're going to have to come up it's going to have to come up with some kind of split you know and I think that everybody that voted for debt exclusion Figures it's going to come out of Taxation you know you know that's my right right that's why you asked the whole town well except for except for we talked about a split about a dozen times right so anybody who is paying attention to that would not necessarily know that because we talked about 6040 and we talked about 5050 and we so that's been part of the discussion and frankly it's been part of the discussion for 15 years or more you know like around deciding overall you know like I'm just thinking like you know know I mean darl and I argued with prior boards about this you know like if we come up with a number 20 years ago and said it's reasonable for the town residents to pay 60% of the cost of the sewer and the users to pay the 40% cost of all the capital that goes into the sewer we wouldn't even have to have a discussion that it would already have been decided and we could just implement it like okay this goes here that goes there and like at some point it feels like we're gonna have to come up with some kind of number here like because we just kind of go back and forth and back and forth well I think when you meet with when whoever meets with Dave pricket you you you can put those two options this is what it would look like if if the rate 6 5050 6040 7030 we can go through the whole yeah you go through the whole thing it ought to be pretty easy but do it with all the debt not just right and then future things we have to take on we already know like here's where they're gonna fall you know like they you don't have to we don't have to reinvent it every time we come up with a project Water and Sewer products are never ending you know like they're just never going to end right when the sewer plant's done something the water you know it's going to be something right yeah it's going to be you know you keep money and retain ears you know case something happens you have to have money should beated into it too you have money retain so we don't have to do this we can't go back to the town for $100,000 you know every year for $100,000 water M fix or sewer line fix or well yeah you don't want to do that no because there's always going to be water Ms in needling anyways oh yeah they're all they're broken or not yep yep it's a lot it's a lot yep it's a lot thank you thank you thank you so I'll reach out to day cricket up with some numbers thank you thanks did you want to take five um yeah we should we should probably take we we're all set we're we're going to head into executive session we're probably going to take a quick break if you don't so maybe they are we sure that is there signage downstairs so if Chris is looking for us he knows to find us up here I believe their agenda says second floor doesn't it I think it says huh what yeah we we have to go after the we should have gone into executive session before the break are we still on okay you're leaving okay um oh you are you're not staying for you uh I guess we're going to take a break all right um huh okay I that are not going back on TV but Marlene should we be on TV to go into um yes you can be to can be yes we should wait yeah so we should wait maybe we should just go on mute okay e e an executive session so we will be going into executive session and we will not be returning I'll need a motion make a motion we go to Executive session first went to master and Law chapter 3A section 21A to discuss the reputation character physical condition or mental health rather than professional competence of an individual or discuss the discipline or dismissal of or complaints or charges brought against a public officer employee staff member or individual the indidual individual to be discussed in such executive session shall be notified in writing by the public body at least 48 hours prior to the proposed executive session provided however that the notification may be waved upon written agreement with the parties and we will not return I'm second jorski I final I thank you --------- ##VIDEO ID:i300CH3wB6g## okay good evening um Hatfield welcome to the November 4th 2024 meeting of the um select board I want to go ahead and call the meeting to order um and go right into announcements my first would be the most obvious that tomorrow is election day um so we certainly hope everybody votes I think a lot of people voted early um and I just want to remind people that tomorrow during election day there will be a bake sale right the real folk Society will their annual um bake sale downstairs which is always lovely um also very important um to note um the fire department has issued a burn ban in light of the um red flag warnings and the extreme drought conditions um we're having locally um you know it's been all over the news there's been several fairly large brush brush fires right in our area um so I do think that that is the right thing to do and I would encourage people to make sure they're not doing any uh burning outside um I just want to note too that um the Hatfield fire department did participate in fighting that brush fire in Northampton um I think for several days um so we're we're grateful that they did that um and I also want to note that there was some something on Facebook about a high volume of calls recently um for the fire department so I have requested from Chief flarity just a a a list of all what those calls were I'd just like to get a sense of you know obviously there'll be no information about you know specifics um but I'm just curious if they're you know what what they all were um it's a says that there were 52 calls in the last two weeks so I'm just curious what those are and how those are counted um I did have a talk or a conversation with gief flarey today and asked him for that information so hopefully I will be getting that um and then on a great note um we just want to congratulate the Smith Academy boys varsity soccer for advancing in the MIAA division 5 state playoffs congrats to them oh okay I just want to give an update on the 5 and10 project the contractor has informed us that hopefully the gravity pipe installation will be done this week with uh testing next week also they have installed temporary controls for the lift s to do the testing and then before winter sets in they hope to do some Paving for the uh depressions in the road that is pretty bouncy right now and then Springtime we will follow up with them on making sure that the Landscaping gets done and and all the other finalization of onm and all the manuals are uh achieved so hopefully that's an update on the five and 10 something we've been waiting for right uh so this week the COA has a veterans breakfast downstairs here at the Town Hall it's free to our veterans the only thing you have to do is call them so they that'll ensure that they have the food food for everybody that's coming it's a it's a nice little event and I hope you can attend and then on the 9th will be the dinner dance for veterans at the legion and then on the 11th will be veterans uh little ceremony at 11 o' in front of town hall Memorial town hall because honey bets it would be upset if I did not call this Memorial Town Hall so um just giving an update on that and just a reminder on smoke detectors check your smoke detectors and that's all I got that's that's good that was a lot Ed thanks anything Greg nothing nothing okay um so let me backtrack and read um as usual our public participation policy the Hatfield select board welcomes everyone to its meetings and all other public meetings of the town of Hatfield all regular and special meetings of the boards and Committees of the town of Hatfield shall be open to the public and shall conform to the open meeting law executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as prescribed by the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts it is important to recognize that the open meeting law affords the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate during meetings of the select board an attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing from members of the community and conducting the required business of the Hatfield select board I don't know why I don't have that memorized yet but I don't um okay so moving right into and you we actually have you as an agenda item so it doesn't look like there's anyone here for public forum um so um we'll move right on to topic one which is um Amy from the historical commission Amy Novak to um speak to us about uh historical display hi Amy hi um actually this is a request um I represent the commission like you said uh we are working in conjunction with the society in creating different ways for people of the town to see um the treasures that we have at Diamondback at the library um and due to a few schedule changes and me the inability for me to uh attend one of our meetings this is rather last minute so I appreciate um I appreciate your time um we had thought how cool would it be to have a display um during voting when the town's people would be able to come in we would be out of the way long story short um the piece that we thought would work um isn't going to work and Meg our curator um came up with a wonderful idea there are two pieces that belong to our town one is a voting ballot box and one is a ballot box that they send out used to send out to for counting neither one of them measure um really all that large um The Ballot Box is quite cool it has the slot where you obviously cast your ballot my request to you is that we could if we could set up tomorrow um off to the side I have a perfect spot kind of in my head where it would go I've spoken to Meg and to Bob osley they are ready to set up with your approval of course um there will be a sitter there uh at all times we will not obstruct traffic and and we're thinking between the times of 12 and 6 o'clock how nice I think that's great is it the wouldn't one we used to use The Ballot Box we used to use I wonder or is it even older than there's one from the 1800s oh okay well I wasn't here then and I I I did not send pictures I I realized after I could have attached them to all of that but um you'll see it tomorrow if you say yes I voted early Amy oh so I won't see it tomorrow can I ask just about where you might put it the elevator there's a little niche right there and there already is a chair there we would not obstruct and of course we won't know until we really get set up it'll be up on a table um but there is um we do want to be respectful to the flow of traffic right and I definitely don't want the elevator access obstruction we would be off to the side of that it's not it doesn't have a wide footprint um we looked at that area last Okay so 23 by 21 is the size of the actual box and the table in inches yeah okay okay I think it sounds lovely it's a great idea yeah okay I think it's nice I think it's a really nice idea and second phase to to this is if we um want to do this again um would you want us to come to you uh for every every time we would want to have something in the town hall I think we you understand my list I mean we should yeah it's it's you know it's pretty simple process you know we're we're not trying to make this too hard on you Amy no no but I I also I think that we should always have if there's going to be any kind of anything like that in town hall there's different reasons like tomorrow is election another display might be for another reason so well there's elections in the spring I mean there's it's a really it's and and the other thing that having you come here does is it lets towns people who now I know no one's going to see this tonight this won't be aired until tomorrow um although are we live YouTube it's live now it's live now okay so there there might be some people who who will know but if we did it ahead of time for another display then people would know so that might be nice all right I appreciate your time and and thank you very much it's a nice idea very nice idea thank you thank you Amy appreciate it Amy so our next agenda item it was to a visit from the celebration committee to give us an overview of their programs and discuss upcoming events but I understand that's been postponed it has okay but I I apologize for interrupting but approval of the minutes I see it's not on here but there are meeting minutes okay so we have minutes from an executive session on October 11th a meeting on October 15th and an executive session on October 29th and a regular meeting on October 29th the minutes to open that meeting and then convene to Executive session I'll make a motion that we approve the executive session meeting minutes from October 11th the meeting minutes from October 15th the meeting minutes from the 29th and the executive session meeting from the 29th second a motion made in second any further discussion those in favor I Karen thank you okay appointments and resignations um so the first item under this is to designate a town representative to the school contract negotiations with the teachers and Par professionals are those those used to be two separate contracts are they one contract now I seeing they're two separate contracts okay so that's two separate contracts um and we are always the um select board um is always asked to appoint a representative to those negotiations I've done it in the past um I would like to suggest that maybe somebody other than me does it maybe Greg last year David Kier did year the prev it doesn't actually have to be a member of the board right well it can't be David though because he's going to be on the finance committee now I think so I'm unless are you do you have a burning desire to do it I just don't have the time to do that I'm involved with all the other stuff yeah okay I'm in yeah well you know you did the DPW one you did a good job there okay okay I can do that thanks Greg do we have to actually vote that design so I'll make a motion that we appoint um Greg gagnan as our designate to the teacher and Par professional contract negotiations who are you going to appoint Greg oh Greg yes I I'll make a motion to appoint our esteem we just needed a second second okay a motion made in second all those in favor I I okay um and so we have a motion to accept the resignation from David Kier as a member of the capital planning Improvement committee um which he was a member at large correct correct cor um and so [Music] um we have his um resignation from that and that is because of his appointment right to the finance Finance so David will be on the finance committee now which is a great um addition to the finance committee so he has to not be the um finance committee excuse me the capital planning committee design at large because he's going to from what I understand be the finance committee rep so he's still going to be on Capital planning but in a different capacity so we have to accept this resignation yes I'll make a motion to accept the resignation of David Kier from Capital Improvement plan committee second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I yeah just noted that that is the atlarge position as you stated um the motion should have I should have incl included that in the motion okay and then next is the um the appointment of David Bram to open space committee I'll make a motion to appoint David brm to the open space committee a second motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I so we thank him for stepping up in his interest in the open space committee David you just missed we just accepted your resignation from Capital planning but it doesn't really mean anything right just means there's still that large position available correct we'll have to we'll post that yeah so we still looking and I I know I've said this at previous meetings um I I'm the select board rep to that committee it's actually really interesting work you meet quite a bit for a few months and then um you know by the time town meeting rolls around your your work is basically done we had a we did have another meeting um after town meeting this year but for extenuating special ARA circumstances but um it's it's a it's an interesting um committee to be on so putting a plugin for that okay um DPW report Phil you want to come on up so the first item of business is a water abatement at 130 Depot Road um it looks like they had a broken meter what happened is the house was under construction right for two years so there was never a read because of that fact because that's the house that we caught on fire I believe so why when he did read it it went you know they were paying the $75 minimum charge anyways but the meter was never read read for two years Okay so so the meter broke during the fire there was a fire at that house I'm pretty sure that house had a fire in it oh okay geez I didn't know that okay so the abatement is for the 17740 to bring it back down to the adjusted bill of $75 I see because you believed that there was a malfunctioning meter okay I'll make a motion to Abate $177 40 for James and War Motika based on DPW findings a motion made in second any further discussion all those in favor I approval of a new hire um at the DPW yes so we have lost PA chape into being a police officer in on a community and we have hired Andrew Provost who comes very well he's a good hire for is he from the plane field DPW correct so he has good experience okay well I hope I get to meet him soon yes I'll make a motion to approve Personnel form for Andrew provos to the DPW Highway effective November 18th 2024 second motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I so we have these somewhat lengthy um and difficult to understand and read inspection reports uh Bridge inspection reports from Mass do I you know I looked through them and you know there's sort of no some um I mean again I guess the thing you should just pay really pay attention to is what they rate the bridge app with the numbers so a Seven's good anything that as you step down to a one is deterior I mean but where where do you see that on here like I don't I I I was Marlene and I had a quick chat before the meeting and I I'm like I think it's great to get these very detailed reports but it seems like there should should be sort of a summary and I did I I mean I looked through it multiple times am I missing I mean it has a remarks but it doesn't so like that I have it in the Chestnut Street Bridge it's so the deck is a seven the superst structure is a seven and the structure is a five so the bridge is in good shape find the pictures in the back of that I did see the pictures helpful as far as the efficien and what they found my question Phil now on on some of these items that are listed as far as these are our bridges correct we're responsible for them or we we're responsible to post a bridge theci signes the weight limits okay so as far as but do they're the ones that give you what the weight should be on that bridge but I mean are we would we be responsible for repairs of these Bridge no I mean if I assume if they're inspecting them they're inspecting them and then if I mean you know but are they but they're but they're town-owned Bridges they are Town own Bridges but you would have to if if something needed major repair I think you would have to go through like the small Bridge oh yeah program or a bridge program through the state so the Chestnut Street Bridge which wasn't done all that long ago right I don't know it says is this the one over the highway or the little one over the this is Water Mill River yeah the little wooden one so it's the little one with the huge pipe next to it that's such an ice the little Bridge yeah that's what I thought the narrow bridge that I always meet a car on no matter what um so the I guess where on this are we supposed to know that seven is good and five is okay like you know they don't really give you I don't know so I guess it really doesn't tell you where yeah that's why I summary these are extremely detailed reports but that the average person looks at it and is like okay well what just give give give it to me yeah give me the straight news yeah or an update from you Phil would you know when when these do come in certainly I I I would get alarmed if a bridge was under a four okay so three you know an category but they'll write like they did with the c they'll say that you know well I was just going to ask you about that but we're responsible for that though and they issued an inspection report for that right insport topics here well I'm I'm just saying about the report so when they did the cul they they said that you had sufficient deficiencies within that cul they noted that you know they put it like high sufficient deficiencies yes so so getting back to my original question uh we have some bridges that have some minor deficiencies on these Bridges they're missing required signs as far as do is concerned are we we are responsible for these repairs or is there grants or does the does the state make available money for repairs or how how do we get some of this addressed you would have to go through Mass do State bridge program and of course their prior priority list is very lengthy okay I mean something that's got little cracks or needs res servicing they're just going to just just can I just back up just to be clear so people listening to this know we're talking about the brid the small bridge over the Mill River and Chestnut Street but it it's it's rated as a seven a seven and a five so that is not a bridge that needs any work okay the other Bridge we're talking about is the Maple Street bridge over the Mill River which is rated a 66 and six also good good it's so they don't need any work however we have a letter here that just about some signage that's needed on the Chestnut Street Bridge regarding the weight limits on that bridge so I mean all things considered needing some new signs is I just want to make sure people aren't hearing us an alarm that there's something structurally wrong with the bridges right okay inot is expecting the town to respond to this right I believe so I mean regarding the signs because it came up before at one point and I'm assuming we have to get the signs through them correct I mean the deficiencies that are reported or minor it's just it's mostly signage there was a couple parts of rails that needed to be checked there was one that had uh just some of those areas so it's just I assume we're taking care of that the dpw's taking care of that or it's all minor repairs yeah it's nothing structural nothing structal okay right their big thing is is the weight limits because if something goes over heavy and obviously if it's not posted and something happens to the bridge then so the way limits haven't changed since last year so that's a good sign just that the signs missing yeah right so we're going to take care of getting the signs okay the graffiti under the bridges is interesting that's just something shown in the pictures it's like okay didn't know that was there I didn't know that was there either all right so Phil um Town's people can feel confident of the structural Integrity of both Bridges and we will be taking care of the signage okay then there's this other letter from Green International Affiliates this is the 91 Bridges right yes all right am I moving ahead too fast or are we good with the other are you guys good with the Chestnut Street and the Maple Street Bridge reports Ed yes okay so then there's this other document in here about the two bridges over 91 right which is one in weightly which we're not not part of us but yeah it's by the old dial toone n bridge that goes over 91 I believe but that's in Hatfield yeah it will be uh I believe that's the one they they're talking about on this this other report according to the picture here they're listing Three Bridges one is one is the one on West Street and the other two are both in weightly M do is going to do work on that bridge and they're just looking for comments from the board understanding that they have a 25% design correct right here so if anybody would like to come in and view this map will be available in the town administrator's office as well as so why do they include the weightly bridges in our okay so the only the the only bridge in Hatfield is the one um if you go past Pantry road heading north yes like right before the log home um yes Kenwood Motel yes exactly which is a mass structure right okay the other one just for people's information that you probably have been seeing them working on the bridge over the railroad tracks on Elm Street so that's another one that's already at 25% design that's there's been a bunch of cars parked there is that what's going on but the but the state has taken care of uh from Cheston Street bridge over 91 all the way up to berest and they're working on all those bridges going over 91 according to uh do last year they have I did Chestnut Street they're working underneath it and then they have all the other bridges that they're taking care of and the last one would be the big one would be the one over the railroad tracks on Elm Street which there's people out there they're doing measurements and stuff yeah that might even be a little bit further along than the other Bridges already they started that that road is in terrible shape it what an isore that whole area it's a longer process because of the rail but M owns a tracks now this is all part of that infrastructure money all the bridges are finally getting getting done in this area which is sort of nice so that's why if you drive up five going towards weightly and they didn't pay part of that bridge part that bridge is why they did the road but they left the bridge the road looks really great it's much better so all right I've been seeing a lot of cars parked on the Elm Street Bridge that's part of this project there's people looking at I don't know if it's biders or it's just subcontractors or something the cars are oddl looking cars yeah have you noticed that there's one car I think it has a Connecticut license place just been sitting there I don't know if it was abandoned but it's been there for days I didn't see was there last it was there last Thursday and Friday I believe and it was there this morning I don't think it was there when I just came back oh okay but on the bridge that we're talking talking about near Kenwood I believe do is requesting us to do a hearing in case there's any concerns of people before they do that bridge is that is that what I'm reading do we have any time I don't see any time frames in here to do that hearing we do the hearing no they they're asking that you solicit any comments that you might wish to make regarding the project and comments are online there yeah written comment should be submitted within 30 days and this information will be put on the town's website if anybody is interested in looking at at these plans but the select board has any comments I think that's but they do want public comments as well I mean usually the comments that most towns provide for Bridges is ensuring somehow that their emergency vehicles will be able to get across them as well as I think if we're going to make comments we should make comments to mass do regarding utilities being able to be hung under that bridge so you don't have to go under 91 again it's a lot easier to keep it under the bridge instead of going like like a water and sewer line if we were to know you know you don't know from years from now if you're going to run a swer that far 50 years I would hope it would be sooner than that but I didn't see anything in here about holding a public hearing that I didn't either that's why when you said that I was I don't think the town is required to have a public hearing no but no but that's not what he's saying he's saying they saying for comments they're looking for comments from us right right but I didn't see anything in here either even usually they do hold public hearings meetings before before yeah just as we they have in the review and solicit any comments because the other bridge on Chestnut when we put the water line down didn't have we didn't have the opportunity to hang any utilities in any bays under there so it want they want comments within 30 days um and this is from October 17th so we're closing in were you going to write something up sure maybe you could rate something up and we'll I'll sign I think the select sub do we have a meeting before the 17th no next meeting is the 19th okay just I'll just write it in somebody from the select board and send just that you want to make sure that we can you have to have utility Bay within that bridge some okay okay few years ago $400,000 to go under 91 because there was no utility oh sounds like it's a good call okay we'll do that yeah okay are we all set on the bridge I guess so I mean long as we're responding to them in a timely manner so they can move this project along that's all that's important okay next item request 27,878 did all these articles I thought all of the money was included in that and um so that's a shock to me that we didn't in that we didn't fully fund those through the Articles and then do I understand you're looking for arpa funds for this yeah Phil and I had talked about it and because I guess under the the when they had the initial meetings about the assessment plans for water sore and weight and uh storm water that there the money wasn't appropriated on the storm water side because the other one came out of the Enterprise fund correct yes the W the drinking water and the waste water came out of the water and there no money allocated for the storm water well there was an authorization I believe to borrow however the treasur doesn't feel that based on a discussion with the financial advisers that we need to borrow because the money comes back to the town fairly quickly so is that that Grant cover the total amount but we have to it's a reimbursable grant yeah this is a grant yeah right but will the grant cover the town's contribution no no the the town has to provide the cash so it has to come out of a araund well no so it doesn't have to come out of the arpa funds and I'm glad you're here David we were very clear with the AR the arpa funds that were left was going to be dedicated only to things that were on the arpa project and they've already been delineated and we're waiting for them to sort of shake out and make sure things aren't a little more expensive than we thought so we specifically were not going to put anything we're not going to use arpa funds for anything that wasn't on that plan and this wasn't on the plan the initial plan was for it to come out of a bar to come out of what to borrow the money so why would she say we're going to get it back if he's saying we're not getting that part back the town's contribution you're not going to get reimbursed for and that's the town's contribution so why wasn't that all part of when we were doing all the with me um I don't have that paperwork with me but I mean when we were doing all of this and I David I don't know how you feel because that would absolutely wipe out right the arpa funds and we have some projects we're not sure how they're coming in I mean what would be our other funding mechanism for that because we were pretty clear that nothing was going to we weren't going to spend those arpa funds on anything that wasn't on the capital plan so what would be our other options so this is not reimbursable the this is the non the it yes this is the portion that would not it's our town portion of this Asset Management plan so the grant would not be reimbursing the town well the grants get reimbursable but not that portion that's what I'm saying but we get reimbursed for I see what for like 2 and something thousand the towns contribution into that is the total cost is the 20 is 2 but I mean why wasn't this all part of the discussion when we were talking about this and doing the town meeting and and preparing all of this because we could have made Provisions at town meeting to to take care of it I guess I'm why are we hearing about it now is one of my questions initially was was part of that discussion that that that portion because it's the storm water portion had to come out of Taxation or had to come out of the general fund somehow because the other ones all coming out of the end so then the treasur is wrong about her assessment that we shouldn't borrow because we're going to get it back because we're not getting that I'm going to look at the pull the article and see how it read because I thought that was already but we had other people ask about things to use the arpa funds and we said no if it wasn't part of the capital plan we weren't going to do it and we're still waiting on some of the projects to shake out we got about seven weeks left well as long as they're contracted by them that's get everything under contract and then whatever your last meeting in December is you're going to have to authorize the use of the balance of the AR funds I'm assuming that has to be to be to you know or whether you're to buy turnout gear or whatever to something they going to be spent quickly and that was what we yeah we didn't commit to that but we sort of said something that's easily bir purchase in a short period of time having to go through a process or something like that never problem spending only getting corre we order we ordered a new greens at the golf course 6 weeks ago which we aren going to get till the spring of 2026 M can you believe that still happening yeah yeah $60,000 piece of equipment for 18 months so Marlene's going to check on yeah I'm checking I mean the wording of the pop oh while while she's checking on that Phil I had a question when they did the water line on 5 and 10 remember we decided to replace the water l line did they provide any documentation to you on on what they installed and connections and pointed connections or any documents or anything to to so that we know what was installed how it was installed and where all the access points are to all the houses I'm sure that comprehensive environment has everything you know the plan of the waterline because that was the first piece of that project that was first thing done because it was my understanding that all the Taps were made to the new to the new line you know the house Taps did we receive any documentation no that's what we should follow up right well I have I don't think we have either I haven't seen anything well just like on this project I'm going to expect documentation at the end of project and all the connection points and elevations all that I know we originally saw what the design was but the final we should get the final in case anything got moved what are you thinking the article is going to show anyway so well I wanted to take a look and see what the wording was so the the total amount of the project for the storm water Asset Management plan is 199,999 the authorization was for a borrowing and um the appropriation was contingent upon an award by mass D for a grant of $136,600 and so the again I don't have that breakdown I don't have those documents with me so I just don't if if it's a reimbursable grant that the whole amount wasn't borrowed including the 27,000 yeah why why can't we just I don't understand why it h if that isn't the case it's just that you're not going to get it back but I think that the borrow was for the whole Grant and then whatever they pay you back they pay you back and the rest is on the to and it's only going to be the 27,000 because the other one's coming out of the Enterprise fund the the article the other other one coming out of the Enterprise fund what other to the assessment this article I'm speaking to is just for the storm water yeah but what that that authorizes the borrowing so it to my you're right it authorizes the borrowing of this small amount so then I don't understand the whole amount of the 199 should have been so can you just double check with the treasurer because it was a borrowing authorization wasn't there some in Services as well I believe there was I don't have again I don't have the between those amounts trying to put up is that the discrepancy is because the in kind right yeah is in there but the cash value was 27 there were inine services for some of these projects so um I as if I hear you I hear that the town authorized the borrowing of this already yeah agree okay I I'll follow you know certainly have another conversation with the treasur but she was asking me about where the 27,000 coming from did all Asset Management plans is that you had to borrow the entire remount okay so are we good on that you all set so the next item is the um discussion of water and sewer Enterprise debt and revenues with the finance committee um specifically regarding future rate increases but obviously we have to wait for the finance committee to get here so we we'll move ahead with a few other items I just speak per a minute yes I just want to mirror what edit said about you know the update with the route five Pro so it's going to be active but I don't think that anyone is going to hook up this winter to it unless their septic fails of course but I if I was a resident down there I would start making plans for the springtime to get a contractor in there because they're going to be booked up if you have any intention of hooking into the sources and you think that they will be a to do that so we should let residents know that I mean we should communicate there's been a lot of questions a lot of about that you know when can I hook up so I think it's going to be the spring but I would get a hold of a contractor now yeah under on DPW letter has sent out a letter to all those businesses that they will be able to hook up in the spring I mean spring only makes sense it's already November I mean it doesn't and you want to make sure get tested if there was a failure we could make that happen okay we should we should let them know that because they they may not know if we don't tell them about the spring work but we should give a date but we should give them a date of when they can tie in right or start whether it be March or April as soon as everything's tested and you know all everything should be all set hopefully I'd rather wait because they have not hit any of the target dates yet that they provided us so by only concern is the temporary electric that they have set up at the pump station but I know I saw where they're at this morning and I know they're they're close they're very close close it'll be nice to get that road fix so because people are driving way over on the other side last last year if you remember what he did is he is he milled he milled up you know milled a little bit of it off and repaved it so it smooth so hopefully that's his intent this year he doesn't have much time we would you suggest any certain contractors in that letter to them or they should I mean somebody's going to call and say well who should I call well I don't think we're I don't think we're able to do that so no we can't do that Dave we can't do that which brings up the subject of maybe further down the road that like other communities have like a certified contractor's list within their communities so they can just provide it okay I'm not sure we worked at the hookup issue on the Church Street yes okay sorry okay they still got to do Church Street I mean or is that part done the lift station to Church Street is that was that done the piping yes okay they go underneath the bridge there's other there's other people asking what the elevations are because they want to hook in so okay cuz I thought as far as an email we got a few weeks ago they said that there was some connections required under the uh the owner's driveway that had to be done sure everything is connected on it it's just a matter of the electric CU he says he wants to activate that soon that home station so CU they were talking about testing the pump station next week y so I assume that so but then again there's we've lost a lot of faith in this project too this okay can we move forward with some other Marlene we'll go ahead to the Town Administrator report the COA Center floor removal and installation bid bid solicitation yes so that bid solicitation has been published um so estimated cost of that project is 125,000 selectboard did um fund 100,000 from oura funds for for the floor and um so you know we're hoping it comes in less um we'll have to look at there is a little bit left in what we had left in arpa for this very reason there is a little bit and um I have gone through that list um as of today and currently there's about there's two projects that are completed and those balances total $133 at this point so that would be available okay in addition to the balance so yes and I'm waiting to hear back from some other departments on whether their project have been I know I never failed to mention it when we talk about this but it boggles my mind that people can do such shoddy work and there's you just have to pay for it again like it just I just don't understand very disappointing but this project wouldn't take place until January bids are due November 14 but we'll have a contract in place by December 31st so we're good with the that's the plan okay okay thanks for staying on top of that Marlene oh you're welcome okay so next is the approval of the agreement to um it says license property license the property yes that's the legal term um as Town Council um this is so this is leasing licensing or leasing the town property on Billings way to Harrison bwell right who uses it for farming purposes this is the third year um so next year it will have to go out to bid again but this is for the growing season April 1st 2025 2025 November 1st 2025 and we have to we do this like every year and there was no there's well not every year it it so this was for um I think this is over a three-year period this is the last year right so we had we do the agreement every year but we bid it every the agree you're right absolutely so you have the option to we had the option to renew right okay yeah I mean I think it's great he's us the land for that he's a good Steward of the land and we appreciate that I'll make a motion to approve the agreement to license property on Billings way with Harris and barwell for agricultural purposes from April 1st 2025 to November 1st 2025 second motion made and second any further discussion all those in favor I I we thank Harrison and and wish him luck with next growing season okay Surplus property we have a um desk that is Surplus an old desk yes to be disposed of I'll make a motion to declare office desk Surplus for disposal second okay motion made in second any further discussion no all those in favor I I so allocation of arpa funds we just kind of had that discussion we just had that discussion yes okay great and then um topic eight which is endorsement of environmental Bond legislation eoea EA to support creating a Connecticut River Watershed fund eoea would be the executive office of energy and envir environmental Affairs and um this was there wasn't much time to provide this letter of support I consulted with the select board chair and actually there was some work being done um with other agencies through pvpc as an example um for projects that would you know be submitted um through a state agency for funding and then this request actually came from Senator C for's office asking that there be Regional support for this legislative Bill and this is to create h a fund for creation of a Connecticut River Watershed for the Connecticut River Watershed thanks Marlene anybody welcome so we just got to make a motion on this to support no actually it's it's just it's informational um if this legislation should pass then I'm certain Hatfield will be applying for funds or you know mitigation purposes Future Okay so that takes care of all of our agenda items with the exception of um the water and sewer Enterprise discussion which we need to wait for some more um finance committee people to arrive and then we do have an executive session later on but I guess we could take a break anything else anybody wants to add or you good nothing no I'm good we'll take aak we'll go ahead and take a break until we have um finance committee here