Um, and I'll read our participation. The HO board welcomes everyone to its meeting and all public meetings of the town of Hville. All reverent special meetings of the board and committees of the town shall be open to the public and shall confirm to the open meeting while
executive sessions are closed to the public and will be held only as described by the statutes of Massachusetts. It is important to recognize that the opening meeting will afford the opportunity to listen to the proceedings but not necessarily participate during meetings of the
sweatboard and attempt will be made to find a balance between hearing from members of the community and conducting the required business of the sweat board for tonight's meeting. We are not being TV reported. So, with that said,
uh, announcements, uh, well, the announcements are this weekend. Well, first I want to thank everybody that attended Flag Day and a special thank you to Captain Luke W Street for being there with the fire department to help us retire the flag.
So, I want to make sure I make that announcement. uh cooling center was downstairs for folks and and that may continue with people. There is a voluntary water band and Saturday's concert will be Saturday, not
Friday and that's sponsored by the cultural uh council on this one. So it's Saturday at 6 Friday and then and that's all I have. Do you guys have any?
Okay. With that being said, uh anybody here for public forum? Okay. With that being said, make a motion on Do I have a motion on the minutes? I'll make a motion to approve the June 10th, 2025 meeting minutes.
Second. Motion second. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. Topic one will be west street which everybody's interested
in. Uh we have a punch list of items. Mr. Mr. Chair, just a quick uh clarification. We did post this as being at 5:45. I don't know if we want to any other problem. We'll wait to hear anybody else
that wants to be here 15 minutes. Then I I'll go to topic two, appointments, resignations, renewal of appointments. Everybody should have their packets a listing of appointments.
And with that in your packet, there is a motion if my colleagues are happy with the appointment. Just one big motion for all. Um, I move that we reappoint all appointees with terms expiring June
30th, 2025 as presented on the annual appointment list supplied by the motion made second. Any discussion? All in favor? I car three you should have in your packet
mass do reach inspection standards. This is in relation to the Maple Street Mil River Bridge and it's posting uh two axle 20
tons, three axle 25 tons and type 3S2 5 axle 36 tons and I believe those are the ratings and it's this is mostly information. This is just for your information. Uh this is a a standard state inspection that came in
just wanted you to have it. uh the record changes made. Okay. So to unless you have any guys any questions on that topic four is wage adjustment form. So
Andrew you want to Yes. And this is listed both in number four and number six which is no problem at all. Um but wanted to just present these to you. that this is in line with the uh town's uh budget that was just approved. We have some uh changes that
are being made uh to some compensation. It all begins with uh we have a this this is exciting. We have a retirement uh Karen Kowski from our town clerk's office. She's our assistant town clerk and she's retiring effective on Monday. Um the town obviously thanks her for for
all her service. uh been great to have her here. Uh she um so left a vacancy in that position which is going to be filled uh internally by Lorie Pecard who is our administrative assistant uh working mostly with the uh planning uh
board and conservation commission. Um we found that there's enough uh time in her schedule that she'll be able to uh fill both the assistant planner position assistant town clerk position and that administrative uh position as well. Um
so the town clerk's office had had budgeted for somewhat higher compensation for that position uh town clerk's office. So we'd like her compensation in the administrative assistant position to match that with the assistant town clerk position. So
it'll be a slight increase there and that matches her responsibilities. You have a form from the town clerk uh that will the official hire form there. Um, and you also have a uh wage uh increase
um for for her for the her uh administrative system responsibilities. And given that she'll be doing those responsibilities, I think that that will lead some some ways some extra answer questions for some of the things that she handles uh for Karen Mur, our
executive assistant. Um Karen is also after another excellent um uh evaluation in line for I believe a merit increase that's budgeted uh in the county administrator's budget. Um so that would give her an increase as well and also
reflect her new responsibilities. Um and then we have another form for Isabella Jagger, our planning board um assistant planner. Ella uh was budgeted for four hours from both the conservation fish
planning board. She also um will be staffing that office when Lori is not here. She's going to be uh working on Monday afternoons so that the the planning office will always be staffed, which is great. Uh during work hours and
um this would bring her to a permanent part-time position rather than a a part-time position. which will be moving from 13 hours to 24 hours. Would that be better? Yeah. Which is why it's time. Okay.
Well, I'm going to go back with now is going to be splitting her time between these two. That's correct. Yeah. So, her schedule is uh the same as Karen Dowski's, which is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, 12:30 to 4:30 as the assistant
counselor. And then um the other hours she'll be in the office. Yeah. Anybody have any question? What are the other hours that she works?
Yeah, Bella is going to work um basically Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, eight hours a day. And the last one would be Johnac. Uh has not received a merit increase in a long time from what I can tell. Um a very
healthy budget line uh under uh HCTV through our enterprise account there. Um and we'll bring him more in line with other folks doing this position. Plus he's been managing this whole studio. A lot of his time work. So increases
and budget. Anybody have any question on anything? Can we make this in one motion? I don't see why not. Do I have a motion? Uh, I'll make a motion to approve the
wage salary rate adjustment request for administrative assistant, executive assistant, assistant planner, and HCTV coordinator. Second. Motion made. Motion second. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries.
Still not quite at 5:45. So administrator here uh we'll go to the uh do do we have anything on the water sewer rate? Just a quick update for you. So um DBC
engineering has been reviewing our water sewer rates. They're pretty good model for us for setting those rates. they would like to have a small workshop with someone from the finance committee and uh our DPW staff and then someone from the select board. uh and that will be
held uh at the virtual meeting on July 8th at 9:00 am. We will review with them, make sure that they're on the right track, and as long as that small group is in agreement, we will host a public hearing for your next select board meeting July 15th, at which time
we would hear from the public, present the rates, and then approve them. As long as you feel comfortable with that, um you can post, you know, their their recommendations and their uh their plan for their rates in advance. so residents can review. We'll put it out for normal
channels. Um, and that can be uh we'll post it as a public hearing and have that reviewed by the public uh and put on. So if that schedule sounds good to all of you, I would just ask please like to be the representative at that
meeting. Of course, both all of you can be there. It's just we should only have one person speak really great. I will set as calendar by July 8 a.m. You said it's virtual. Yes.
with the finance committee at 6:30. [Music] I have a couple quick updates if you like what we just talked about. Oh, um, no, there's no need for a motion
this evening because we don't have rights yet. I was hopeful we might have something for people. We need to have a public hearing on anyway. All right. So, I'll make sure that that'll be next week and they bill in October,
but it's good to do it as soon as possible because residents will be are using the water now that they'll be built for October. Well, had a history of being on setting
based on costing us for electricity and stuff. So, we've been trying to get ahead of the ball. And there was some suggestion of of having possibly a small increase each year to stay with it instead of
waiting a few years. That's been the topic of discussion over the years. We did a rate increase a little while back to bring up the rates so that we could get the USDA loan uh
with the water treatment plant so that USDA actually said you have to have a grade in order to prove to us you can pay for the loan. So that's why the setting was um we'll have this meeting
you'll be in discussion with PPC and those guys and we'll see where we go from there and then we'll also have an open hearing to I have a couple more updates on my end if that's helpful and then jump into a
hearing which should be there. Um, I have a conference I'll be attending tomorrow. Uh, the small town administrators association of Massachusetts will be meeting. Uh, so I'll attend that oil, which is a further drive I realized than what I said I
would go. That's fine. All right. Um, it'll be great. Uh, it's an excellent network of people to get to learn from. So administrative stuff right now hopefully bring back some for us. Um want to quickly update you on some of the
projects that were approved at town leading where we uh lie on those right now. So for the roof and boilers project uh because that project roof especially is currently quoted at over $1.5 million
um you're following the state's law but but in this case really recommendation of hiring an owner's project manager. So we've just completed the bid process for that and we are uh in the final stages of reviewing
applications uh for the project managers um and those will be hope to have them select by the end of this week. We're doing interviews of top finalists. We have five really excellent um proposals all come in. So we're evaluating those.
Uh we're almost done and want choice those. Uh what we're really looking for their help with on the on the boiler project is just reviewing our our bid specs and making sure that our plan for the boilers make sense that we're taking advantage of any say state tax credits or anything that's out there for for
projects um and considering anything else around environmental regulations or anything else we need to be doing. So having their help as a group that works across the state and scoping these things useful. same kind of thing to the roof. Just making sure that we're um putting the the project together the right way because right now we have a
bit of a turnover in DPW. It makes sense to be getting some outside help. So we're excited to be doing that and then they manage the project all the way through. That should be useful. Um we're working on both the the documents for the boilers and the roof so that that can be reviewed and moved
on quickly uh by the come in. Um, everything I'm hearing is that we will need some some work on on uh on design for the the roof, which makes a lot of sense. We want to make sure that we're doing that properly. Um, and that will be really the first step is getting an
architect designer on board. Um, and then once they're on board, they'll do the design pretty quickly and then we'll be able to get construction ready to go. that roof project um as much as we'd like to do as fast as possible is probably most likely going to happen as
soon as school next year. So that's well we need to get on board after we have a meeting to address that if a contract sign. Yes one day.
Yeah, that would be great meeting on that if need be. I can continue on the other projects after 545 will happen until next year. I don't see a way to get it done sooner than that with the procurement and everything else
to follow just with the amount that the early quotes came back. The problem with the boiler is it could be weeks out once you once you select uh the company to boilers from there could be a 10 week
according to one individual. So I will say boilers we're going to try to get done. We're still working on that. It all depends on these are not you know on the shelf right and we don't know about I guess the
tariffs may be impacting some of the parts and it may not. So we don't know either unknown but the roof will take until 2026 and hopefully when the kids are gone
next summer we can get that roof done and also try to analyze what happened why did that roof leak because it should have been for at least 25 years right so there's got to be a reason behind
what what happened what where And we'll see. Yeah. And and the um early scopes we're seeing too for the the roof is also to as soon as possible make any fixes that they can for installation they can do it's temporary to get us
through this thing. So hopefully on that they might have some good ideas. Okay, everybody's here for we're having a hearing on five and 10. The purpose of this hearing, we had invited the contractor and the engineer.
I don't think either one is present. So the purpose was to go over our punch list. So, what I'd like to do is go over our contact list first and then if there's anything we're missing, then you
folks can let us know and we will uh get back to the engineer and the contractor and see what's happening there. So, this way we'll go through each item and the first item on our punch list and
then you can tell us afterwards if we got it right or we're wrong. on our punch list is gravel grading in the field where lay down took place. It has to be brought back to original conditions. That's the first item.
A catch basin on the well entry road needs to be cleaned, inspected, including pipe to state drain line and raised to grade height to match up with property of Butter's lawn grade to
facilitate drainage as it was. This was pushed down an elevation from heavy equipment. uh roadway repairs to well first part from route five to just past the layown area where there is still standing water
need to be dug down to the road base installed many years ago and replaced with high pack. Other areas of road need to have potholes fixed and some are extensive. This also includes restoring rightaway road which was expanded during
construction and narrowing it to the original 16 foot width and repairing of batteries yards. The original blacktop area from roof five apron needs to be restored. Lay down area where material stored
needs to be cleaned of trash materials pushed into standing water area. Remove millings backfill gravel possible subs soil or other ideal for drainage before
a bone is pushed back down over area as a preloaded area and the drainage is now an issue. Piles of fill are in the row further away from lay down area and need to be removed. The pump station does not seem
to be fully completed. The bowlards are not sleeved and reflected material has not been installed. There are dips in the pavement from trenches in the road that we believe mass dot will be addressing separately
because the highway is mass DT. There are dips in the shoulder off the road as well. The drain gate in front of number 47 is full of excavation material and it needs to be cleared. There is a sinkhole
at access road at number 49 which signals there may be a greater issue. 38 West Street install new curve box top missing cover as the top is broken.
The town needs asbelt plans for water and sewer bullshets not 8 by 11 printed with at least three copies and PDF of signed plans. All main line valve boxes need to be
opened and cleaned due to recent black top covers needed and valve box blown out of any debris. We have concerns there are sewer system leaks. The pump station appears to be
full. We open some manholes and found that they're full and can't see the exit line, signaling it's all full of ground water. All this indicates that water is leaking from one of the pipes. Residents were concerned that some of
the welling and seating was not completed properly. There may be also other issues as so this should not be viewed as an exhaustive list. We have invited you the residents at this meeting to find out if
you have any other concerns before the work is considered completed. We are inviting you to attend this meeting as well. Uh and now before I open up to you, do my colleagues have
any comments on this? No, I my only thing is specifically to the trenches that are sinking on the northbound lane. DOT is aware of it and it's an issue that they're going to be addressing directly. It's a kind of above our purview. Been made aware of it. I've
been in conversations with um uh the head construction guy, engineer, he's aware of it and they've got they're taking care of things on there and so that is being addressed. They're trying to figure out what is the what is the
answer? How intrusive is it going to be? Okay. Um, do you have any other items that you would like us to Yeah, why don't you come up and or just talk? That's fine. We don't have any microphone. Um, I'm just I'm just wondering from everything
you said if my driveway is included in that because when you put down the water um that break down the part of the driveway and they patched it after they pul they pulled it out and they said that they would be doing correct correct
job when everything was completed but no one's ever come Oh, all right. What house? I see they did the roads but they came through and they did repair some aprons but if they miss yours we'll make sure that it's taken care of.
They didn't do anything since they originally put whatever they did. that I would not consider. Come in. Uh we're 32 West Street machine shop where the lift station has been moved to
and uh we don't have a lateral and we've approached yellow a couple times and we received a print from the town administrator, the former town administrator and there seems to be a discrepancy in
the elevation on both of these tanks. One is a lot higher than the other. We surveyed the other tanks in town and they're all the same height. I don't know why this one is higher than the other one that's affected by driving
and we have not found our lateral to hook up to I'd like to see if the town could look into that. that they they did say that they have to work outside the easement area which was
never intended to have a tank in it to match our driveway. Otherwise, our driveway is going to be paved with a hump in it and it's going to be at an angle skewed to the driveway. So, uh Mr. Ryan Geller had asked if he could go
over the easement area to straighten it out. Uh, that's a problem now because that tank elevation is too high. It's about 8 in higher. I work for other contractors and I can survey it and give you the heights if you would like, but
it looks like it's going to be a problem on our driveway and we don't have lateral. We tried to get it twice and they said they didn't have a working permit for it and so we got it from Marleene found administrator and it it doesn't fit what's there now
print that I have. We went back to Marleene and she she checked with Michael and he said there's been no upgrades and that is the correct print and I have that print. The town has it and it doesn't match what's there.
I'd like to look at that if they could. We have 58 West Street and 32. Yeah. Anybody else? Yes. 104 West Street. Who is responsible for the
apron, the driveway apron being a little elevated over the roadway at this point? I I know that the last time they paved that road, they put in a driveway apron that had a little hump in it so that I would get all the roadway drainage down
my driveway and that hasn't been changed and it no longer protects the driveway from the roadway marine. But that is my main issue.
the um embankment north and south of my driveway has been um compromised, especially north of the driveway where they put in the easement for the sewage. They that hasn't been graded out yet or
seated. There was and I had one of those pretty black aprons along the roadway that's supposed to protect the woodlands from sludge I guess and it's still there and imagine I just always assume that they
would be picking it up but since we're getting towards the end of this project I'm want to make sure that they come and take that up. Yes. Um, the staging area behind 57 West Street looks good. As of 3:00 this afternoon, there's still two two big
mounds of roots or limbs or something with lots of weeds and grass growing. And it's been so long, I don't remember if those were there before they started this whole project or not. So, I'm not sure why those weren't taken out, but the rest of it
in regards to the layout area too. Yeah, I took a drive out there myself and there's still some chunks of black top and stuff along the road um and some other stone debris and stuff like that that needs to be but the piles were it does look like they've seated it
already. Yeah. Yeah. It's just I mean they started doing it. They just haven't completed that task fully. They they have claimed to have clean up. Yeah. Yeah. It's not it's not done with the satis.
Okay. 81 West Street. Um so in front of Lighthouse, they finished that quite a while ago, but uh there's a Yeah, sorry. 81 Um, but there's a bunch of silk fence that got left on the south end of the property where the ditch is. And that
ditch head wall is also being eroded over time because of water going into it. And the head wall is actually quite exposed. I do have a picture if you want to see it. Um, and then when they put the soil down on my property and then hydro seated it, it
rained like for two days afterwards and a lot of that washed away because my property kind of tilt towards my house. So, there's a lot of u rust spots which are hard to mow and stuff. I would like to have some soil dumped and spread out. They don't need to dig it all out. And
then across the street there used to be a sign in that area that's turned into a kind of parking area that is to notify people that there's a cur coming over ahead in that spot. Those are my issues at this time. Anybody else have that same issue with the hydra
58 west? We we but we got that we had torrential rains within 24 hours. So it's that it just looks like a bunch of crab half crab grass, you know, with a lot of spacing is what it looks like.
It wasn't packed down at all. They just kind of threw the soil down. I mean, somebody going out of my driveway through it and the tire tracks were like 6 in deep. Yeah. So they they really did a wild job on
that piece of also. I had show 35 West Street. I had showed them pictures because I had excavators on my front lawn going way back towards the house. And when they took up most of the dirt and put the
loan down, but they didn't go far enough. So, I have between my lawn and between what they laid, I have this whole little walkway between the two of dirt and nothing much. So, they didn't go far
enough with the seating. And what was your house number? 35. And just one other thing, the mailbox, the group mailbox that's across the street from my house, so I guess it's I don't know what number it is, but it's right across
between 35 and 37 West Street. There are holes where you know, you pull up to it with your car and you get your mail. Now there are holes there, so it's hard for cars to
get around it. They just film jumping for a second. Okay. Um, it's not in front of my house. I think it's in front of 37 J uh J um their house. There's a sinkhole right
in front of um it's right next to the sewer cap and it's pretty deep and it's right next to the pavement and somebody could really seriously put like a bic, you know, their foot goes down into it or something. So, um David, you are here
tonight. I noticed it. So, I just So there's been a lot very terrible job on the landscape according to what I'm hearing. I did drive through there and see didn't look. I think it's they just took a buck and they threw some dirt out
there like it down once they laid it all. And the hydro seedings seemed to be heavy in some spots, light to non-existent in others. So that sinkhole, do you know which house attack is? We're aware of one at 49. It's about a foot off the roadway.
We spray painted it. This is 37. 37. It's right next to they also and I don't know that this was them but I surmised that it might have been. I was leaving for work a couple of weeks ago on a Monday morning and they
were doing the loan in my driveway. So the truck, the big dump truck was there. And then what is it? The backhoe with the tall hoop thing um was taking blown out and putting it
on and they had to move the truck. I left. I went to work and when I came home that night, something had ripped my cable wires off hole and they were circled very nicely in my driveway. And so somebody knew
that it was and it took me 5 days to get them to come out and fix it. And I can only guess that that shovel thing hit the wire and pulled it off. And I kept meaning to call the office and
just to ask if anyone was aware of what happened, but I have a feeling it was it was their backup. So, just mentioning it. It's since been repaired and all, but um
but I'm sure some nice person very Besides the landscaping, the sink holes and the elevation level, is there anything else? How much control does the town have except this project? Well, the control
we have right now is not paying the cont. So, there is issues. There's may be addressed. We read our punch list. Yes. We're adding your comments to our list. Okay. And we're going back to the
contractor and we're not making final payment. Okay. I think we're back to that. We're back that until we're satisfied. Excellent. And that's basically on any project. That's the
only you have. Yeah. Will we get a response back from these issues? Well, we we're hoping that the contract will get back. Oh, okay. Individually or will we have another meeting? Well, once once we go back with the contractor and he gives us some kind
of timeline. Okay. Then we'll get back. See the town administrator. So, maybe the best thing is uh when the contractor says everything was addressed, then we could have you guys back and you can say if they're telling us the truth
or not. Yet we had trouble with yellow. We went to his business. He refused to show the prints for the lift station. He said his foreman had a prince. When his foreman showed up, he said he didn't have the print. And then of course we approached
him with prints we got from Marlene, the town administrator, and they didn't comply with what they had put in. And he said that wasn't the print he was working on, but he would not show us his current print. We went back to Marlene and she checked with Michael as I had
said and he said this is the print. Nothing's going to change. So that's my issue with my question. Yeah. Michael saying that's the print and it doesn't match up to the print of the contract install. Right. Yeah. I was just wondering if we'll get
a follow somehow. Yeah. I mean that's that's one issue we'll ask Michael saying. Okay. You you had a print that showed what elevation. Okay. And you measured it and it's a different elevation. Can you can you address it? Why? Why it wasn't installed according
to what the Y. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. I just have one question for 104. You're looking to have the hump put back into your apron as it was previously. Yeah. behind. Yeah, part of it's there, but I don't I don't know why it
it could have been just usage over the It's been what 20 years since it was repaid last time the tile was repaid. But at that time, I went out and asked the contractor what's going to keep the water from just furnishing down my driveway because it's a gravel driveway and I don't want it
washing away. and he said they were going to build up a little buffer and that buffer doesn't exist as it only exists on half the driveway. So I don't know that apron but north of the driveway where they put in
the access line for the sewer they never came back and did anything about that. And I realize that my I don't have a lawn as as such. So they may not have considered this, but I'm getting
drainage leeches leeching drainage. What do you call it? When it runs down when it runs down the roadside and cause a little gullying. Yep. Yeah. So I I would like it to be integrated and be seen here. And then that pretty curtain of plastic
that you know. Yeah, they still have the I mean I could recycle it but it be cheaper if they did. I just have a quick curiosity question and this is from something that happened. I think it was over a year ago because I never heard anything back from
it when they did the gas thing and um and I had to spend the night away from my house while they walked through the night in the gas heater. Um there was supposed to be some sort of
investigation by Bergkshire Gas and stuff. Yes. We've never received anything to say who was at fault. There was two issues with that. One was that the gas company failed to mark the location and the contractor
dug it as he thought there was nothing there because it wasn't marked properly or the other issue was they marked it and the contractor. So, I don't know if it's in litigation between both, but I don't believe we've ever received
anything. We requested, we've asked for it a couple of times. So, is it still ongoing? So, I guess that it's still ongoing unless they're supposed to issue a report. So, maybe
I don't know. All we can do is ask and and hope we get one. But we I don't recall one since I've been on the board because we have asked a couple of times what happened. Okay. So all I can think of all I can think of
what happened but I don't want I can think of something too. We contacted the engineer for share and we were given the runaround because we lost the day's work and so did the business thanks to us and they just ignored us. So basically what it comes
down to if you want to spend money to go after somebody and they hope you're not going to spend any money go after them. So, they're going to drag your feet. You won't get an answer cuz that's how they operate. Because in this meeting, we had somebody
from the gas company and you said, "Just submit what your loss was." It was a sham. It's a waste of our time because they ignored us and you won't get no answer either. Well, you don't have the power. It hasn't cost much. So, we've had uh JS Ray come in and they have to
replace the 6-in line which they put the lift station on top within 4 ft and they have to replace it. Now, they were looking at the or under the bridge to move the line into the road because the lift stations in the wrong spot.
They went further to the uh district two and that bridge is not on a foundation. So, it had to have pilings driven because that whole area is soft and there's no foundation there. So, now they can't drill under the bridge. So,
now they're looking, I've been talking to the engineer and they're having trouble moving the 6-in line. And when they moved the six, the state now was requiring them to move the 12 in off the bridge also, which
Michael old and Gallagher put the gas the uh wastewater line right where they are, where they're supposed to go. So now there's a conflict there that you don't realize. You probably won't even hear about it. But all utilities come
right at our driveway. We told them before not to put it there. It was congested. We had transformers that are ignition sources for gases that are formed in a lift station. Lift stations are considered a hazardous location and
should be treated as such. They went ahead anyway. They violated the nogo zone and went right on top of the gas signs. Now there's a controversy with the gas pump. I don't know what's going to come of that because they don't call us back.
But we don't really care. But there was a restaurant next door that had a legitimate reason not to have those gases there. And now it's in a dangerous area. And the town is going to be left with a a deep deep system that may or
may not work. The town people that work here said, "We can't maintain this. It's too deep. This should have went shallow. and had a chance to be moved up the street and go shallower. I'm not going to hook up until I have a problem. If somebody hooks up and it
fails, whose responsibility is that? Because this pipe has moved. They've patched it. They've had caveins. Uh this was never dewatered properly. I work with a lot of contractors, quality contractors. Should have been dewatered way ahead of time before this was
started. When 45 in, the road was collapsing. I I understand what you're saying, but we're getting off we're getting off topic of what this meeting is for. I'm just alerting you to the fact that there is a problem with gas now because they violated the nogo zone.
They had a clear shot on the other side all the way. Instead, when they got close to two main properties, they shifted over and went on top of the gas lines, which was one of the reasonings that the engineer had given not to move
it up the street, which was only one gas line and it was further away from the proposed lift station. So now the town is going to inherit this problem. And I want these people to know if they hook up and it fails or if we have a problem, there's two gas lines there. There's an
ignition source right above it. It was the wrong place to put it, but I I just want to get that out this meeting because our board has changed. Yeah. Anybody else have any other items that of this project that they want to put on
the list? Okay. So, uh, we will get back to the engineer and try to see if we can get a resolution, but I believe we're not making payment until I'm not.
Is there a bond on this job that that guarantees it's going to work? And who has the bond, the engineers or the contractors? I know there's a bond on the job. So if it fails, who's responsible?
Would it be the contractor or would it be I don't want to answer that question because I don't know. Now, if you're having a experiencing a lot of problem, there was a bond on this project. Yeah. Who who declares this project a failure? And I think was against the contract to
ensure that we completed it. Okay. So that the engineer would be responsible. Yeah. Well, the interviewers, so they're bonded for this charge of everything. So, okay. I I'm guessing, but I'm not a legal or lawyer to tell
you yes or no to your answer. Yeah. I just see a lot of problems coming. I I didn't want to bring it up. Yeah. It is a reality. This should have never happened. None of this. Yeah. Okay. I guess that's it for
Thank you all for coming. I appreciate it. Thank you all. Oh, it's just nothing. Not at station. Where is it at? Keeps people moving next door. It's
going to make more noise. [Music] It's not for right now, but there are some other We'll see. I thought it was a good idea. my opinion too. We got
Have a good night. [Music] We certainly can. Yeah, I think I think we have enough time to start get started. So, I wanted to offer some time as we talked about at our our last meeting or two years ago. A lot of time um folks,
we can hear you pretty. Um the last meeting we talked about how uh sometimes boards will schedule retreats or other things to try to look at some goals for the year and our preference was to see if we could dedicate some time during your next meetings especially the summer intended
to be shorter anyway. We're actually making progress here tonight um just to identify some things that you want me and us to be working on over the next year. So I want to give people the opportunity to say whether it's some projects or initiatives that are on your
mind that we want to try to work on over the next I think. I think it would be good if we and this was actually one of the things that I took out of the seport training that I went to in Devon was that uh it'd be good for each of us to come up with some
goals that are um you know on the board side but then also as a you know something you want to bring. So I mean I as far as town it's always been like extending that trying to bring in
business and maybe some of the bigger stuff I see the goals but me waiting on three right now which is the drinking water the sewage and right So I
don't know if we should set goals without goals and those will give you specifics for for items that that for future capital plans and think about implementation. Uh they'll give you you know what our assets look like for drinking water
sewer uh and storm water. Um and Star also works nicely with the work we need to do regulations which I know is a priority to make sure that we're advancing that project and engineering will be working. Well, we have funding
in order to work with engineer on that project. I mean I'm all for having goals but I'm just saying maybe we should wait for those three reports or are you ready to provide some goals at this time?
I think it's something that we should do before the fall throughout the summer. I think you do a little of both. I think one of your goals can be to implement on what we learned from the that can change your priorization. One of the goals should be the the go
because that was that's a realistic goal. I mean, there's there's long-term goals and then there's goals that we could possibly accomplish, but the the culprits might be a
realistic possible that was curious, did you have preliminary lists? You have open already in your mind? Uh just you know since being on conservation as well the ditches have been such a hot topic. There's so many of them in town that used to be
agricultural and now there's houses there and it falls under different parts of the the uh wetland protection act. So trying to find a way to navigate that. We've been talking about it extensively on the conservation commission side of stuff. I think we've
made some headway moving in a good direction. So, um, yeah, you did put in for a multipility plan, which would be really cool. So, so there's they're going to the hope is that they're going to we teamed up with
Hadley for that grant and all the agricultural ditches are going to be mapped. We're trying to see uh if we can get a quote from DPC if since they're already in town doing all of the drainage inspections and stuff if we
could consider the um the private digits that are part of technically the drainage network if that would be considered part of their uh their mapping that they could do and we could tie it in with some of
that other funding. um and if not what what would be the revenue source to be able to do that. So that's kind of what we're working on on our end. And then once we have those reports, um, the town would be able to ideally apply for a grant or come up with
I don't know if it would be a bylaw, but a guideline that the conservation and D would sign off on u giving like, you know, like a a three-year window or something like that where um, you know, prioritize the ditches in
different colors. So like the red ones or the bad ones, yellow, green, um, and try to work through them that way and kind of get this back under control and then establish a tension. So like I I mean talking on another call
was since I got on board some years ago, it's always been electronic. Yes. I've been hoping for that too. That was also on my list. that would say probably two and a half days in the
front office of doing additional paper, but I know we're working on that. Have a couple options there. We have some departments that are ready to start piloting. And the other item that's been
going on now for a while is fire department ambulance trying to see if do more coverage or what other options we might have coming up. That's that would be another
type of thing planning. There's been a couple good projects. So if we take a little bit from each group maybe and then put together Yeah. I mean we it's we're also fortunate that we have the new comprehensive plan too. So, you
know, kind of looking at that and using that as a guideline and what what things within the next year or 18 months can we can we accomplish two or three of those like would be good I don't see in the next couple years moving all the buildings up
to no that could be down the road maybe but if there's some small ones that we can do it'd be good to get some accomplished business master plan I think there's Really? Yeah. It's great. We have our first meeting of the comprehensive plan
implementation committee which maybe our first goal should be something something faster might be fine but they'll be tomorrow night. So get your I guess we can start making a list.
Yeah, we'll keep this on the agenda for next meeting. Each of us develops to develop a list and we go from there. Now that we got the conversation going, our minds are probably
next week. Okay. Finance, you got anybody else coming or do I have to wait till 6:30? You want to go now? I guess can we go early? Hi, John. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. There's a certain level of
cooling effect. There is a lot of Okay, top ahead is budget shortfall. So, we're having our joint meeting with finance to approve year end transfers. I guess we were just given this list and
you guys have the guys initiated this list. This this came from our accountants. So, everyone's seen this for the the first time. I actually was aware of a couple of things on here because some of them were surprises to me, but they did a good job with this. I'm happy to do some background. I don't
know. Uh callite. So, here's order. six of 30. So, um what I would say first of all is that we're in very good shape with our
budget. We are um going to have much more in surplus. Uh this list is really just individual accounts where we're short. Uh but we have much more um accounts that are that are in surplus here. a couple that that
will end up with probably tens of thousands of dollars left, which um I edited the budgeting for them slightly for next year so we don't end up with quite so much surplus. I think we're going to end up in a pretty good place. Um but some of them are ones where it makes sense to to have
cushion just in case. One of those is the chapter 32B insurance line where we never know if people are going to join and be benefited uh throughout the year. So, it's good to have that extra cushion for the future. Um, but I'll just go through the lines if that works for
everybody and just kind of give you the the story of why if they're tiny amounts, we probably won't dwell on them for long. Uh, so the first one, town administrator salary. The um recommendation from the accountants is to move money from finance to the reserve fund. That reserve funds at $40,000. So, we'll still have $6,000
left should anything else come up. Um, town administrator salary. We have two down administrators for the six week period this year. Um and my salary is is mostly just what needs to be covered by this. Um so because the overlap and then
my rate being a little higher than the the last administrator um that created this deficit. So that's the recommendation. Uh software maintenance website management that's $500. we've got an extra license to extra um period of um
of maintenance costs 13 this year instead of 12 just to catch up from the previous year in special services building commission. This is just a slight salary being off because the number of pay periods. Um that's just $1,000 that's fixed for for next
year. And that we would take from the dying memberships line from professional services which was not uh used uh in this entire $2,000. Highway other expenses um that's partially just a budgeting issue that we
haven't really have exactly the right number left there. has also issued the lines below motorpool vehicle maintenance. We got very high costs for motorpool vehicle maintenance this year. Um and when we uh expanded uh that line
of motor vehicle maintenance, we sometimes spent from the highway other expenses line which um there's some expenses which could have gone to either account. So um those were were both overexpended. Um, we have the funds this year from the DW director salary to
easily make up for that on the highway expenses and the motor pool vehicle line, but we've increased the motorpool vehicle maintenance line for next year. And we also, I think, both for highway expenses and motor pool vehicle uh maintenance. We'll need to take a look at this the spending there, trying to
look at some ways to bring it down in the future. Um, I think there's a lot being spent on on maintenance and maybe some other expenses. uh that we can better control and I think uh that's something new director can help us with.
Um so for the transfers right now we would take some from the highway from DPW director salary and then we have a surplus in town building supplies. So $2,000 from that to let me pause for a moment because I just went through about half this list and
see if anyone has any questions before we keep going. Great. transportation wages. This just wasn't budgeted properly last year and we've significantly increased the budget for that for next year. We have two, you know, part-time folks um who were
staffing that. I'm not sure why it was under budgeted for this year. I think it's been kind of something that's historically been under budgeted, but we did add around $10,000 that line for next year and the approved budget, so we should be fine for the future. But we'll
budget. We'll um we'll balance that this year with the transfer station recycling and hauling line which is uh frankly over budget. So we'll have surplus there still even after this transfer. The animal inspector uh was kind of a surprise to me. It looks like the um
stipen that they received is higher than the budget amount that was down here for this year. And I don't know how that happened. um the the stipen rate was agreed upon but not budgeted. So we'd like to balance that because uh with the
townwide fuel uh line which was over budgeted for this year um but we need to figure out how that how that happened but $1,200 is just not going to be too much. Veterans benefits is just one of those lines that's hard to predict. Uh
it's based on year before um and how many veterans end up receiving benefits from us. Those are supplemented by the state local. Um but that's just a line that you can't fully predict where it's going to be. We did budget for a higher
for next year. So that should be less for next year. Fire tanker truck debt interest said this came from a a debt calculation uh issue that we had last year. Um I believe that's been resolved for next year, but we're just $2,500
off. As I mentioned, we have that surplus and chapter 3 insurance. So, we'll from there. This one, um, this is quite alarming. We got 30 cents that we need to pay the Hampshire Council of Governments assessment. I think that's actually our Pioneer Valley Planning
Commission assessment. So, we need to change that that line since written to Hampshire Council of Governments. Um, we'll take that from creation expenses. Um, I'm not going to say anymore about that. 30 cents. And then the employee the employer portion of federal
Medicare. Again, that's that one's often kind of a moving target. Um, we're under on that one, but we're way over for 32B insurance. So, it's out of the wash. Any concerns from or questions from financers?
That makes sense. I mean, that portion of federal money. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. You have any questions? No, there just there's nothing wrong with moving a line from the hauling line, which would be an expenditure,
right, to a wage line. Well, that's why we need your approval. So during during the year, you know, um as long as it's not over exactly like like if you have two salaries in the same department and one's over, one's under, you can just balance that without approval of the
finance select board. But to make these interdep departmental um changes and these across line item changes we do need to so limitation is on the amount you can move versus the size of the original that would be where the limit would
come. You can't you can only do a certain amount, right? Did they pay? I don't think there's a limit on the amount. I think it's just about um whether it's expense versus salary and then across departments. I know I have to check, but there always has been a limit in terms of like if you had $100,000,
you know, you can't take the whole right. You can only move 20,000. I'll check I mean they reformed I mean obviously a long time ago you couldn't do this guys went back to town so they reformed that to allow and then
they changed it at some point like five years ago or something I don't know I'm sure none of that that was the only thing that stuck out to me that we were moving from expenditure to salary yeah yeah right because otherwise you're
right internally would could do, you know what I mean? Like you were just we were short in one expense line and over in another expense line just and that's kind of what's happened here say for like um
inspectional services uh and building cushion line. There's also an inspector line. We left some in the inspector line. Um some of it's been transferred into the effectual service building efficiently just to balance that but a lot of it left because and actually I
don't even think that we actually do this way that we have to separate expenses from salaries really in the budget we really have to do that under the impression fund salary from expenditure. Well, yes. Yes, because we
have two different lines that are appropriate, right? But if a town meeting we just voted on, you know, fire department, highway department, police department has one thing, then I think you could go right between them
because we separate them out when we vote on them, which is a matter of that's a practice of good. It's a good thing for transparency and for I guess uh we get motions from each body. Then
I'll make a motion to approve the FY25 budget deficits and transfer funds as reported recommended by the county. Second. Okay, I'll make a motion to accept the uh end of the year budget transfers as
recommended by the county. All in favor, we just need to sign, right? Yep. I did update. Yeah, I'll do I did update the SL board earlier that
we'll be getting recommendations on the water and sewer rates for July 8th and then we'll schedule public hearing after July 15th their next select board meeting. Um does finance committee typically go to those rates too? No, this is select. Yeah. And then
one person on finance committee or as many of you who want to join can join just one person should be there for deliberation. Um um it'll be 9:00 a.m. virtual meeting on um
okay how many gone but let other people I'll send you both the join I take whenever you're ready. Excuse me. Motion to Did you have a second on that? Second. Motion to adjourn. [Music] All in favor. All right, we're done.
Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. See you tomorrow night. Yeah. Thanks for calling. Do we have any last chapter 38 session 2182 to conduct
strategy sessions and prep to conduct sessions or contract negotiations personal direct contract? I'll make a motion to and we will not be coming back into open session.
So now we can move into executive session.