All right. Um, good evening and, uh, welcome to the January 26th select board meeting for the town of Hollist. Uh, we are, uh, obviously meeting, uh, remotely thanks to uh, a
few uh, flakes of snow. So, hope everybody's safe and staying warm out there. Um before we get started because this is a remote um uh meeting I will be reading the governor's the intro from uh for remote remote
meetings. So uh pursuant to the governor's March 31st 2025 act relative to extending certain CO 19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law general law chapter 3A paragraph 20. The select board will be
using remote participation for this meeting. The audio of this meeting is being recorded and will be posted to the town's web page as soon as possible in accordance with keeping the public informed of actions during this meeting. At this time, a roll call of attendance will be taken. Tina Hine
>> here. Yes. >> Damon Demick present. And I am Ben Farrell and I am here. And uh just a reminder that all votes this evening will be via roll call. Um so uh just to get so we'll get
started on our agenda. Uh the first item on our agenda is a discussion with Carrie Irons and the Adventure Cycling Association regarding the designation of the Rail Trail as part of US Bike Route One. Uh so Frank's going to give us a little bit of information. I'm just I'm going to do things a little bit
differently because we're remote just to make sure that everybody's you know we're not talking over each other. So, if uh the rest of my board is okay, I'm going to just um we're going to we're going to talk one at a time instead of just sort of letting it be more of an open conversation as we would in person just to make it a little bit to
facilitate things and I'll just make sure that both of you have an opportunity to chime in um after the presentation. Um so, um uh I know Robert and Carrie are here, Robert Widneck from the uh
from the trails. Um and um I believe Frank is sharing. So uh Frank, if you just give us a quick um primer on what we're looking at here and um then we can let uh Robert and or Carrie uh kind of kick us off with the presentation and
I'm sure there might be a few questions from the board. So go ahead Frank. >> Sure. Absolutely. So um Carrie Irons had approached the town. This is probably sometime fallish, maybe late fall of 2025. um about uh designating parts of the
rail trail as part of the uh newly established or in the process of establishing uh US bike route one which is um it sounded very interesting when Tina and Robert Widneck and I met with Carrie uh again I think it was in the late fall um relatively low lift here
from Hollson's perspective uh but an exciting opportunity to be part of the new route um that is basically parts and Carrie can correct me where I'm wrong here but it's basically going to designating parts of the e east coast greenway um as part of the new US bike
route one um and the the rail trail was already part of that. So uh again relatively low lift but an exciting opportunity could mean you know new folks traveling on the rail trail through town. Um but Carrie Irons is here as uh as you said Ben as is Robert Widene Neck. Um so Carrie I'll hand it
off to you. I've got the slides up and running so u as you want me to proceed I can just I can do that for you if that's easiest. Can we make sure that uh Carrie and Robert can um unmute? >> There we go. There you are.
>> Okay, thank you. >> Sorry about that, Carrie. >> No problem. Actually, good meeting procedure on your part collectively. So, yeah, I'll quickly go through this presentation. And so this is about uh building building bicycle tourism uh
using the US bike route system. This is a federally recognized uh network of uh uh bike routes across state routes, road, streets and trails uh designated by ASHTTO and the state DOS. Next slide.
So, um, each state DOT can submit, uh, to ASHTTO, the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, um, to designate a piece of, uh, a US bike route in their neck of the woods. I'm with the Adventure Cycling
Association. We uh, serve as the technical support organization to the ASHTTO and the DOS for US bike route development. Next slide. And so, just quickly, uh, Adventure Cycling. We're all about bicycle travel.
Our mission is to inspire, empower, and connect people to travel by bikes. We have a 40 actually closer to 50,000 mile uh mapped route network that we have. We sell maps, we run organized tours. We have a magazine. We do national advocacy. Um and parts of the route
network just like the East Coast Greenway provided a blueprint for the first US bike routes. Next slide. So, this is a uh the national corridor plan. The solid lines are already designated 35 states plus the District of Columbia. It's actually just uh uh
over 24,000 miles now. Um and the dotted the dash lines are the uh proposed routes and and the solid lines are existing ones. And you can see in eastern Massachusetts there's a combination of solid and dashed. Next slide.
So just a quick history if you can toggle through this. Um the original US bike routes were first designated in 1982 and the system went dormant. But in 2004 Ashtto uh restarted the project. Adventure Cycling joined, East Coast
Greenway joined. Uh Mississippi River Trail joined. A number of keystate DOTs joined. Keep going please. And uh we've been working with it ever since. So, actually we're in the in the 21st year of supporting this. Next
slide. And in 2008, the corridor plan, which I just showed you, was approved, and the first new routes since 1982 were designated in 2011. Next slide. And just quickly, so there's already 38 miles on trails designated in
Massachusetts and 66 miles of US byguard 7 was designated um that runs along the east side of the or the west side of the state on the eastern western New England greenway. Next slide, please. So there's 35 pavement owners uh along
this route um basically connecting New Hampshire to Rhode Island. Each agency must tell MASDOT that they support designation in order for MASDOT to do this. And adventure cycling volunteers, which is essentially me, are doing the outreach uh with the support from Mass
Bike and the East Coast Greenway. Next slide, please. So, what's needed in Hollist? Toggle through please. um basically co-desating the east coast greenway and it's using the upper Charles uh river trail from Whitney
Street in Sherburn through Hollist into Mount Mount Pleasant Street in Milford. Next slide please. And here's a map and I think you all know where the trail is and you can see where it it cuts through. Um so this is all off-road in this section. Parts of
the route are on trail on trails and parts of the route are on streets and and roads, but the section through Hollist is all on the trail. Next slide. And that, by the way, that map, you can click on that link and zoom in and look at any level of detail you want. You see
the whole route and so on. So, Mass needs a letter of support or a support resolution from Hollison. uh if there's any changes to be made I can't imagine what they would be in this case but local agencies uh are the ones who determine the final route and so in in
some cases uh we have made changes there's no costs no requirements no constraints placed on local agencies this is just a mapping project so that people who want to do long-distance bicycle travel days weeks months uh can find a route uh currently US bike route
one is done in uh Maine and New Hampshire in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. And the eventual connection will be Bar Harbor, Maine to uh Key West. Next slide, please.
And so why would we do this? Well, it's already in fair amount of use both in terms of local users and East Coast Greenway users. This provides another level of recognition. Um the East Coast Greenway already has an agreement with Holliston for the use of the of the
trail, but uh this would then provide uh federal recognition uh of the route. Obviously, improved routes for bicycle travelers so they don't have to spend their own time trying to figure out how to do this positive health and environmental impacts of of low impact tourism. And for smaller communities, uh
that campground, that bike shop, that restaurant, that small motel, uh they will see um that bicycle tourism opportunity uh as as significant uh in small communities. And next slide.
And I think that's the end. So there's my contact information, my cell phone number, my landline, my email address. Any questions? And maybe Robert wants to chime in at this point. I don't know. Robert, anything to add? And if uh
Robert, you can be right. Missy, can we allow uh Robert Wid to unmute, please? I can do it. There we go. >> There we go. >> Okay, >> there we go. >> I don't have a lot to add. It's just I think it's a great opportunity having um
traveled in in European uh designated uh uh bikeways and I think it's with organized groups I think it's a great thing to hopefully one day see these organized groups go through our town as well. Um, so I, you know, I think it's a great opportunity. Hope to bring more
tourism to the town and and obviously the economic benefits of it. And like I say, the uh or Carrie had mentioned it is not a any cost to the town to do this. It's just a designated process. Thank you, Carrie, for doing that. >> Sure. Any questions from the select
board? I guess that's the key the key point. >> Yes. Um, I'll have a couple and then I'll open it up to the rest of the board. Um but first I'll say thank you both very much for your leadership on this. I think this is a great thing. We've always seen so many wonderful um
improvements from the rail trail and it's really become a major asset to the town and we're very grateful and appreciative for all the work that Robert you've done for this and then certainly Carrie your contributions at this time is is pretty it's a pretty cool thing. Um I have two
questions to start and I'm sure there'll be others. Um the first one is um is this kind of a oneanddone thing? Like we kind of do this once and we're not we don't have to re-up this vote or anything like that once we kind of do it and we're part of this process. It's kind of there for perpetuity. Is that
kind of the intent unless something changes of course that that we need to chime in? >> Yeah, that that's a pretty good summary of it. If you think about a federal highway once it's designated, unless something significant changes, that federal highway is there. And this ASHTO
is the same body that recognizes federal highways and interstates. So yeah, there's no no further action uh except perhaps and I know there's there's trail building activities across the state. So as those get added uh those uh will the
route will jump off of uh roads and streets onto trails, but since it's already on a trail through Hollist, I wouldn't expect any any changes down the road. >> Okay. Um my second question here is that um you know we certainly you know you mentioned that it's a mapping project so
it sounds like you know there's certainly like from the um from your perspective and biking there's maps there. Is there uh opportunities or capacity for sort of another side like if local businesses that are nearby want
to include some information about this? Is there like ways that they can either have like a print out or certainly like links to the website if they're near the trail? Yeah. So I um I don't know what Mass do has done with the existing US bike routes in Massachusetts, but uh they do
host maps on their website and we adventure Cycling host maps on our website. And those maps are downloadable and uh we can put what we call points of interest on those maps that would list um features uh uh that that might be of
interest off the trail uh for cyclists. uh where the services might be, where a bike shop might be, etc. One cautionary point there though is uh Adventure Cycling sells maps with all that kind of information on it. That's why we charge for the maps because it costs a lot of money to generate that kind of
information. And I have worked uh with those maps keeping that kind of information updated. And it is amazing how how frequently uh businesses turn over, if you will, close, open, etc. So that that's a
separate activity. But if if the town for example wanted to keep in touch, uh we can put those points of interest on the map so that when somebody downloads it, they'll see, oh uh over there there's this and over there there's that and if I want to find a bike shop, I can go here and if I need a campground or a
motel or uh provisions, etc., I can go there. So we can add that kind of information to the map and certainly once it's uh recognized as US bike route one it could be signed that's a separate project and funds would have to be found and so on but even beyond that and I
don't know how much of this has been done already. Robert could probably comment but certainly wayfinding signage can be put on on the trail saying hey uh go this way go that way to find um whatever uh resource there might be available.
Yeah, I know there's some of that we have already and we certainly have the uh um the sign in Blair Square that uh the electronic sign that probably should uh make sure that's updated and once we have an economic development coordinator, I'm sure we can uh um work
with them to try to make sure that uh local businesses can be brought into the fray and uh and and included in this process uh as well. Um so uh no, that's great that we can do stuff like that. So, uh, I'll I'll turn it over to the rest of my board and see if they have
any questions. Tina, do you have any questions or comments at this time? >> Yeah, comment and and just a couple questions. I mean, this is all about vision. Uh, Adventure Cycling has a has had a long strong vision here, as has uh, Robert Widneck and the and the Holl Trails Committee. So, very happy to be a
part of seeing this vision uh, advanced uh, in this way. So, this is this is great progress here. Uh Carrie, real quick, uh US bike route number one, uh does it need to be ADA accessible? We are. It's not an issue here in Hollist. I'm just curious whether the entire route if that's something that uh this
designation has that goes along with it. >> Uh no, it does not. The the target audience is again experienced long-distance bicycle travelers. >> Um and and trails are one thing, but roads and streets are completely from an
ADA standpoint. hook, as they say, a horse of a different color. But no, there's there again >> um when Ashtto put this program together, they made sure that there would be no uh requirements placed on local agencies and and that would be a
requirement uh perhaps very desirable one, but it would add cost and and in many cases that would be an ultimate barrier to getting this done. So, >> okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And then is Milford is the Upper Charles Trail in Milford, Massachusetts a part of this already? Are they already
on? >> They're just adjacent. So, if you continue uh west, you're you're on the Milford section. >> Yes. And I'm working with uh with the town administrator in Milford uh uh in communication with him as we go.
>> And then last, thank you, Carrie. Uh this is for Frank uh and Cheryl, who I see on the call. Good evening, Cheryl. Uh I just wanted to say that we work with visit uh visit Metro West. It's a a visitors bureau to promote local tourism. So either through our new
assistant town manager or through our soontobe new economic development coordinator if we can coordinate collaborate with um visit Metro West, they do a lot of promotion for the benefit of local tourism. So would love to get them um tied into this
development uh so that they can broadcast it out. That's it. Thank you. >> Yeah. And a key point there. So, um, House approves this. It's not a US bike route yet. >> Sure. >> So, it's only a US bike route when
MASDOT gets all the approvals together and submits the application to ASHTTO. I was hoping to get it done this spring, but there's been a couple of well, uh, slow responses, shall we say. So, um, it's possible that it'll get done this spring, but it's right now I'd say
limited probability. So, it probably uh we'll probably get it done in the fall and then once that's done, there'll be press releases and so on and and can take it from there. But um yeah, it is not a US bike route until ASHTTO receives an receives and approves an
application from Mass. >> Carrie, will you be our point of contact there in terms of a press release? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> D I have a quick question. Um, for those places that have already put this
through, are there best practices in terms of actually putting wayfinding uh signs up, just letting people know they are on route one, etc. Or do you imagine that would be something that that would be done in the future? >> Well, we have we uh Adventure Cycling actually has funded a couple of um best
practices guides that uh if you guys are interested, I can share. It's it tends to be a fairly high level thing, but there's some some really good examples. But wayfinding signage, uh, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the manual for manual on uniform traffic control devices,
the MUTCD. Robert would be. Um, so that's a federal document from the Federal Highway Administration that uh prescribes this is what a US highway uh sign looks like. This is what an interstate highway
sign looks like. This is what a state highway sign looks like. This is why we say um uh we don't say dead end anymore. We say no outlet because somebody decided dead end had negative connotations. But the MUTCD has all that
information. There's a whole separate chapter on bicycle stuff and they have examples of all kinds of wayfinding signage and and the right way to do that. >> Great. Thank you for that. I'm very supportive. Great. Um, so, um, I think we're all in
agreement here. Um, I think this is a great opportunity for the town. I'm, you know, we're, uh, eager to support this, uh, this exercise. Um, so, um, I I think at this time we can have a vote to, uh, designate, uh, the rail trail as part of
US bike route one. Is there a specific language we need to use or is that sufficient? I've provided Frank with uh samples of a resolution uh because MAScat wants to see well in this case it's just the the Charles upper Charles uh trail but they want to
see that that the um either by this passing a resolution or you could pass a resolution that in that um authorizes Frank to send a letter and I've sent him text of a sample letter as well. So, uh, either one of those works, but Mascot
needs to see something concrete in that respect. >> So, we could we could authorize we could we could uh authorize Frank to uh draft a letter um to in in support uh and and and sign it um for the town to mass. So,
I think that makes sense to me. Tina, Damon, you >> I have a motion ready to go if that's what you like. >> Yep. Yes, please. >> Okay. I move to authorize Frank Travasio, town manager for the town of Hollston, to notify Mass DOT, Department of Transportation, that the town of Holl
would like to designate the Upper Charles Rail Trail to be co- co-desated US bike route number one. >> Seconded. >> I I would add to that that not just to notify them, but to draft a letter in notification >> as amended, >> like a formal letter. That's that's what
I'm looking for. Yeah. >> Right. And seconded as as amended. >> Excellent. Excellent. Uh we'll do a roll call vote, Tina. Yes. >> Damon. >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. Um and if there's anything further that we need to to do to show support for this, we'll um we'll
put it on a future agenda. But uh Robert, thanks for your leadership again on uh all these things uh uh with the rail trail. and Carrie, we appreciate your time and uh and your and your help with this and I think this is a great thing and we wish you luck and if there's anything we can do to support if
with other towns, anything we can do on the other side of things, you know, let us know. Uh and we'll be happy to lend any support, sign a letter, whatever it needs to be if that could help too. >> Just adding your name to the list is is one more brick in the wall that I can share with other agencies along the way
and say, "Hey, all these people are on board. Um trains leaving. jump on and and Frank if if you need any help, let me know um about when you get the letter drafted. Um send it to Pete Sutton and copy me, please.
>> Absolutely. >> Sounds great. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. >> Thank you all. Thanks everybody. >> Have a good night. >> Good night. All right, we're going to be moving on adopt talk a little bit about the May
2026 annual town meeting uh that we're getting ready for in May. The warrant is still open for uh for the uh for the for town meeting. Uh have we gotten any citizen petitions or anybody taking anything out yet, Frank? Do you know? >> None yet. No, that's as of the Thursday,
I believe. >> All right. I know it's I know it's still early, but every once in a while somebody takes us something out and says we're thinking about something. So just curious there. Um so the first I think the big news that we want to discuss is that we've clo we I believe you have all the department uh requests that are uh
um submitting to the uh select board at this time. Frank, is that accurate? >> Yep. I I have a uh couple of quick slides. Uh if that's okay with you, I can just run through them. >> Let's let's do it. Um, and I apologize they're not very well
>> it's early >> formatted but I'm more spreadsh spreadsheet than um >> PowerPoint >> PowerPoint. I know I know the feeling sometimes that uh that motion from uh Excel to uh PowerPoint can be a little bit of a
challenge. So, um, >> make them a little bit bigger so we can, uh, Perfect. Thank you. >> Is that good? >> Yep. Perfect. >> Okay. Um, so I'm going to talk a little bit about our where we are on the budget
process specifically, uh, where it relates to sort of non-school department municipal budgets. Um, so this would include budgets like the board of assessors and the board of health. um as I've been in contact with them as well about their request for fiscal year
2027. Um but this would not include things like health insurance or pension, OPED, that type of stuff. This is operating budgets outside of the the school department. Um so throughout the month of December, uh I've sat down with most
department heads individually and try to go through the ins and outs of their individual budgets. Um, I think that was a good exercise for me just, you know, in my first budget process with the town, just trying to learn about, you know, what the ins and outs are, what do the individual line items represent. A lot of them, as you all know, probably
are, uh, a lot of the line items are fairly generic. Their titles are fairly generic. So, just trying to get a better understanding of what we're actually spending money on. Um, we left each of those conversations with the understanding that requests would be due back January 16th. Uh so
again the the board of assessors, board of health and those others, planning board have all officially voted on on theirs, library trustees. Um so I have all those as of last Friday or two Fridays ago I guess at this point. >> Parks too.
>> Uh parks and recreation as well. Yes. Um so uh the total requested increase in those uh departmental requests for fiscal year 27 totaled just over $930,000. Um, and for the most part they're
they're level service requests. Um, no major new asks. Uh, but some of the costs associated with providing the services that uh the town and residents have prioritized are just going up. Um, so >> does this include benefits and uh debt
payments and things like that too? >> It it does not. No, this is just uh departmental operating budgets. >> Um, but I'll talk about those uh other costs in a moment. Um, so, uh, those requests came in at about 930,000.
Right now, it's looking like we'll have about 650 or 750,000 available, uh, for operating budget adjustments for fiscal year 27. So, obviously, some some work to do there. Um, that 650 to 750 range compares to 612 for the fiscal year 26
budget. So, >> what what does that work out for like a percentage increase? >> It's about three Each I can tell you right now it is. So a $700,000 increase would be about a
4 and a.5%. Um, so just going to provide a little bit more detail on what is behind that $930,000. So of that 930, uh, about 623 is salary adjustments. Uh, so you can see those top two lines there make up the line
share of that. Um, so ambulance staffing at about $188,000 increase. The >> big Frank, you uh, you stopped sharing. So, if you >> Oh my gosh, that's really embarrassing. >> Six years into using Zone Zoom and still can't do it. Okay, so um the the big
drivers behind uh the um uh salary increases requested of 623,000. Uh the first is uh just about 189,000 increase in ambulance staffing. Um that is I apologize
uh for all the noise. um that is a uh due to the increase in our ambulance staffing requirements as part of our ALS lensure. So beginning in October, we'll be required to have a 15% increase in our ambulance staffing. Then it amounts to about the the 190,000 that you're
seeing on the screen there. We're targeting a 2% COLA for nonUN personnel. Uh that's about 112,000. Our CBA obligations, you can see them for DPW and police. um 57,000 and 74,000
roughly for DPW and police respectively. The only real new ask in here is about $18,000 for additional hours for our assistant building inspector. That position is currently budgeted for 27 hours and we've talked about building that up to 35 given the increase in
activity that that office has seen. A lot of which is stemming from the um you know state legislation basically allowing for more flexibility in the development of housing and expected um you know development that we're anticipating seeing uh in the coming
years. Um you know a number of 40bs in town obviously that that are currently proposed. Um so that was sort of the one new staffing request even though it's not a new body. It's just adding hours to an existing part-time position or excuse me well yeah he is part-time but
more than 19 hours so a fully benefited position. This one uh the next one is election worker. So this is just a cyclical thing. Um next year is going to be a busy election season. Uh whereas the current and previous fiscal year or excuse me the the current previous
fiscal years were not. Um so we're seeing an uptick there. uh given where the town engineer hiring was delayed just given where we were HR-wise um we'll look to use the salary or excuse me we'll look to use the appropriation from the programmatic
stabilization fund for part of fiscal 26 and part of fiscal 27 um so right now we're looking at a fiscal 27 impact of roughly $23,000 uh some of that impact will also be felt by the water enterprise as well I think as was previously discussed and other uh
this other category is primarily made up of uh nonCBA staff staffs, excuse me. Um so you think of our, you know, town hall and and uh library, parks and wreck, um family and youth services, all those types of personnel that just get their
normal steps annually. Uh that amounts to roughly $95,000. Any questions on that? Okay. you know. >> Yeah. Frank, real quick, uh, with the town engineer. >> Yep.
>> So, we're looking in FY27 to move into the operating budget um, plus or minus a quarter of that salary. As you mentioned, the remaining amounts covered through the programmatic stabilization fund from the appropriation at town meeting. Um, so I'm just confirming that
FY27 is pulling into the operating budget a portion of that town engineer salary. >> Yes. So we I mean we could have the option of you know moving that out if if you know the board so choose but yes that would be if we wanted to start I think I'm targeting an April hire with
Cheryl coming on board. And just for the record Cheryl's here in her own will she was not asked to to join before before her start date. But um uh given when she'll be on board um I think that's it's a reasonable uh uh timeline. Um so
that would be the impact for fiscal year 27. >> Okay. I have no issue with that. Thank you. >> Okay. And I think the salary that we were targeting was about 115ish just based on where we were um looking at the market data in similar towns.
Okay. I think the total appropriation was 135 uh out of the programmatic stabilization fund, but we figured there might be some sort of operating expenditures and we want to leave a little little wiggle room just in case. Um okay. >> Any other questions on the salary
figures? Okay. So, um the remainder of that 930, how do I get that? Is made up of operational requests. Uh so, the biggest one obviously is our regional dispatch. So, this is the first year that we'll be
making a uh out of pocket, I guess, financial contribution to the wreck. Uh this year, we are at 161,000. Uh that'll increase to about 175 next year, I think it is. Um the rest of the the the
requested increases are uh fairly small compared to the 1161. Not all of them are on here just because some of them are a couple thousand here, a couple thousand there. But I'm happy to, you know, provide that detail detail um offline for now. Um but just running
through some of the other ones. 623,000 increase for highway operations technology and software licenses uh about 23,000. Library operations 12,000. That's a little bit of a tricky one because um you know you really want to make sure that you're keeping your library budget um well funded and having
you know somewhat of an increase so that we remain eligible for for grant funding. So not a huge surprise there. Elections again a cyclical thing. We'll see uh an upswing in activity next fiscal year and a camera software request upgrade excuse me camera software upgrade requested from the
board of assessors. Um our current software has just proven not to be very adequate. It's given us uh a lot of trouble, especially during billing cycles uh this most recent December. Um and I've heard that was not the first
time. Um but again, that's um fairly small compared to the regional dispatch was what obviously stands out there. Any questions on the operating requests? >> The um the regional dispatch is that are we at 50% with this or is it 25? I forget.
I believe it goes uh 50 75 100. >> Okay. So this is a 50. >> Yep. >> Okay. And um sorry you might have said it but uh what exactly is the highway operations? The 63. Okay.
>> Uh rough mostly um building maintenance and uh is is a small portion of that. Uh 50,000 or so is um um road work. I forget the the technical line item for it, but it's the sort of capital.
>> Yeah, there's a capital there's a capital line in the in the high budget. I got >> Sorry, I forget the name of the line item. >> No worries. There's a million. We we'll go through the details. I just was wondering if there was more >> Yum information there. >> So, we're good.
>> Just quickly, next steps. Um, as I outlined, the requests are not in line right now with what we expect to have available to spend. So, we'll need to find a good deal of savings on the again on the town side. Has nothing to do with the schools. Um, we are hoping to hear
final rates from the GIC for health insurance in February. So, there's a lot of activity at the the GIC right now um that will impact obviously what's going to be available for all departments, school, town, and otherwise uh to spend.
Um the to get sort of into the weeds and I'm happy to draw back a little bit and Cheryl I'm sure can talk a lot about this too. Um the the biggest topic right now in the uh I think the municipal healthc care landscape is coverage of GLP1s.
And so the the GIC is is weighing right now um whether or not to eliminate coverage for for GLP1s. They're also eliminating keeping they're also weighing keeping the coverage that they have and they're also weighing other um plan design changes as well. So
we could see rate increases of close to 13% or based on what they decide to do at their first meeting in February, we might see rate increases of closer to 4%. And so in a budget of 5 million bucks, you know, even the tiniest of swing there makes a huge difference. Um
so we'll be watching that very closely. um they've met monthly for I mean they they always meet monthly and we've been keeping close tabs on those meetings but they'll meet twice in February but their first meeting in the second week of nove excuse me of February they'll make a decision on the plan design changes
including potentially on GLP1s and then in the last meeting of February which is the last week of February um excuse me um they'll announce their their full rate structure for fiscal year 2027 um so that's a that's a big one Um, and so
after that, uh, I'll have the town manager budget presented for February 28th, which I think is the date that the select board was targeting for its, uh, budget review. Uh, the finance committee is going to begin their departmental reviews next week. Uh, beginning with those sort of non- select board
departments, board of health, planning board, parks and wreck, and so on. And then obviously we're all working towards town meeting on May 11th. Um, so happy to provide any additional information on these budgets or the sort of benefit and
other related budgets. Um, but like I said, we're still waiting on the GIC's info for a little bit more clarity because it's a a wide range of potential increases that we could see. >> Is are are these department budgets are each of the writeups and the um information from each of the departments
available like in a Google Drive for us to review? >> I can put them there. Absolutely. If you want to start reviewing those, then yes, I can absolutely. >> Yeah, that that'd be that'd be helpful. Then we can start going through them and have a little bit of uh preliminary um um insights before we get to uh uh the
end of the end of February. And I see Tina has a question as well. >> Yeah, two two uh a question and a request. The 95 uh,800 90 95,800 um nonCBA salary piece that you had on
slide two, I think. Does that include merit increases for department heads? >> No. So, that is the other piece that I was um going to mention. We haven't targeted we haven't fully fleshed out the the merit total just yet. >> Um right about right now, I'm actually
targeting uh 2% merit, which would be about $42,000. Uh and that would obviously tick up the departmental request uh to about $970, I guess. Um, but I I didn't think it fair to include that in a departmental request given that no department well I
guess I am a department but um I didn't want to make the number seem larger than it actually was. Um again >> this is a a level service budget so I was trying to emphasize that there's no real extras asked for. >> Got it. Thank you. And then the request
would be whether uh perhaps this has already happened but to to Ben's comment about making it available in a Google drive. Uh have you considered a a letter out to uh department heads uh in terms of summarizing the level one budget where it stands today? I understand the
GIC component is a big variable that will ultimately affect many decisions down the road. Um, but my I guess my request would be could we could we send out a letter to department heads with a summary of the level one and sort of where things are looking. You've got the information on the slides here. It's
great to see, Frank. So, thank you for presenting that. And I wonder if this slideshow presentation could be put into a letter summarizing where we are and sent out to department heads. I I see a value in that and perhaps you've already done it. So, forgive me if I'm uh uh asking you to do something you've
already taken care of, but it it feels like a a value ad for department heads, but just something for you to consider. >> Yes. So, um I had planned on maybe doing a little bit of a a deeper presentation than this um at our February 4th department head meeting. >> Okay. Y
>> um so I was going to plan on distributing all that uh at that time. My only thought there would be my only thought there would be that it will already have been reviewed by um the finance committee. So the you know just the perhaps there's a benefit to department heads getting the information
ahead of um >> sure >> the finance committee meeting it's not a major thing. I would just point that out just timewise timeline wise. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah I can I can even have any >> any comments? It's not particular to
this because I understand that um things change on a year-to-year basis. But Frank, is there a way to pull any kind of data to kind of get um to analyze Hollistston's year-over-year municipal spending growth adjusted for inflation and compare it uh to the trend
in like peer municipalities o over a long period of time because one would think that statistically these would graph pretty similarly because you know over over 105 years the same kinds of issues would come up. I'm just kind of curious about that. I feel like that would be an interesting piece of data uh to have for us to think about. I don't
want to make homework. We can do that in on the back burner, but it's just something I think about a bit. >> Yeah, you certainly can. Um, you know, the easiest way to do it would probably be to use the the data that each municipality self-reports to the state.
>> Um, and then, you know, we could just sort of backtrack the inflation numbers from there. >> Um, sometimes you have to worry about like, you know, is this really apples to apples? But I think, you know, it's probably >> I expect it's not fully apples to apples. I'm just hoping general fruit to general fruit.
>> Yeah, I love fruit. Um so, uh yeah, we could certainly do that and know we could probably target >> uh our our neighboring communities and then I have a list of other ones that um you know are more similar to us just
based on socioeconomics or um financial other financial conditions. um like more municipal finance conditions, not population financial conditions. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Um so yeah, we could definitely get that going. >> Yeah, we we can figure that out and then uh if it's interesting, we can always
bring it to uh folks to consider, but I'm just more curious about growth. >> Sure. All right. Um Frank, thank you. Appreciate the uh little bit about the department budgets. Yeah, we could try to get that up on a Google Drive. I think that would be great so we can start to review and uh look at those.
Um and then I think next we're going to talk a little bit about the town meeting warrant articles and we we kind of have a preliminary list at this point um that we can just kind of run through to sort of see like what's what's out there. And obviously this is a preliminary list. This is not the list
of how it's going to look in the warrant, but it's just kind of like what's what's there. >> Yes. So let me share this. Okay. Um, all right. I apologize. I know this is a little small.
>> It's okay. Um, I'll focus in on the um, >> yeah, we the the it's more just sort of to walk through like what's what's out there more than the the summaries, especially for the stuff that we've already the the there's a bunch of stuff that's already like, you know, we don't need to go through like the
some of these things that are already like commonplace and boilerplate stuff we do every uh, every May. >> Right. Um, Right. So, that's basically the first seven. other than um I will note that I added a report of the school committee towards the top just because
Beny had mentioned it uh at our last meeting. Um yeah, they haven't they haven't officially like said anything about it. They seemed uh interested when I talked to them and I think given a new superintendent and given an MSBA process, I think it might behoove them to be a part of have some level of
presentation uh at town meeting. >> Totally. Um, okay. These next uh handful are all from the board of assessors. Um, right now they're weighing a number of different um exemptions or uh
adjustments to exemptions that the town already offers. Um, most of which might um allow for certain exemptions to be adjusted by inflation moving forward. Um, both for seniors and for veterans. Um, I've spoken to Kevin Ren about a
number of these. Um, I think it probably be a good idea towards the beginning of March, uh, maybe even that March 9th meeting, um, when the when the warrant formally closes to have the board of assessors come and and talk about a number of these. Um, but that's that's
the basic gist of it is, uh, they're weighing different exemptions that or uh, new exemptions or adjustments to existing uh, exemptions that the town already offers. um basically to um offer the most relief
possible to uh to seniors and and veterans. Tia, >> so when we say adjust or add, we're talking about um either changes or or new um exemptions. These aren't just change, they're uh not the um we've
already done before, just carried over um to this to this particular one. So, for this one, this uh this 41C exemption, we currently offer that. Um it's a $1,000 exemption, and my understanding is that um with this uh
new add-on, uh basically there'd be a cost of living increase added to that $1,000 annually. Um so, it wouldn't be a flat $,000 anymore. It would sort of adjust each year based on the I'm assuming it's an inflation based uh index.
>> Yeah. Yeah. And we we we like you don't have to I mean if these are the assessors I don't think you have to present every one of these. We can get into the the details of how these are implemented and and paid for and such. Um when we talk to the assessors in March, do >> you have a question? >> Do you have a question on these?
>> Uh yeah. And perhaps you're going to I don't want you to move on from the board of assessors. I'm looking at number 14. Um which is >> Well, let's let's go through the assessor. Okay. There. Yeah, we can look at that one. Yeah. >> Oh, I can wait then. I can lower my hand and wait. >> No, no, no. It's fine. I didn't realize it was assessors, but if we can talk
about that one then. Sure. >> I just wanted to hearken back to our tax rate hearing and a comment that was made during that hearing about the ability to move up that number from 5,000 to 10,000 perhaps for the benefit of small
businesses. Um where we'll be having the board of assessors come back before we finalize this. I would just put that out there as as something that at least on my behalf, I'd be interested to hearing more about whether they're open to increasing that and what the impact of what that would be if it's something
that could be considered if they were going to take a vote on it. Are they firm on the 5,000? Would they again consider increasing that to 10,000? I just wanted to pin that as something I I remember at least from the tax rate hearing and would like to hear more about from the board of assessors
because I don't think these reflect final votes from the board of assessors. They're still deliberating. Yeah. Okay. >> They're still deliberating. Correct. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> And I can put that bug in Kevin's ear as well because I I was actually I was surprised um to see it at five and not 10 as well.
>> Yeah. We can we can uh when they come in, we can when we get closer to that time, we can and they want to look at these, we can um get more detailed questions for them. I think at this point I think it's just more like you know what's a what's on
the uh what's on the radar. >> Sure. Yep. Um so these next the sort of financial ones are prior year bills. Again pretty pretty normal. Um we do have some as of now. Um we'll have operating capital. >> Um
I don't want to put them on the spot but a department head on this call might >> it's okay. I mean, I if she had it, it's fine. But I just was curious if it was if we had a number. >> Yeah. It's fine. I mean, because we know we know these things happen and it's
usually the the vendor likes to send us a bill late. So, Oh, good. Um, we'll have the CPC appropriations. Uh, then we get into some of the potential ideas for for free cash. So
obviously um the capital stabilization fund and high school feasibility stand out. Um right now we do not have our free cash number certified. We actually started going back and forth with uh the department of revenue today which is a great sign. We've sort of been poking
them these past few weeks asking for any status update. Um y >> so um we're probably looking at about a million dollars um in in excess cash in excess of what was appropriated in the fall. Um
>> yep. >> Uh so that gives us some wiggle room in terms of the the high school feasibility figure that we need. Um you know the >> Dr. Jordan estimates it at about $2.5 million based on some of our peers. Um,
so again, who knows? Maybe we'll we'll opt to not put anything in the capital stabilization fund and just move fully forward with the uh high school feasibility. But um again, Ben, as you said, this is sort of just what could be on the radar right now. >> Yeah.
>> Um the um what is the nine green street? So, Nine Green Street is um additional or um recurring funding that we're going to need for monitoring for uh mandated by the D. James has wrapped up just
about I think um I don't know if it's officially wrapped up, but will be soon wrapped up with a lot of the associated construction work. Uh but this is just for the uh the monitoring and that construction isn't the right word. It's I guess the the mitigation work >> I think. Does it make sense? I mean just
along that I mean I know it's kind of minor thing here but I think there's a line item in the selectboard budget for Marshall Street testing um and I just was wondering does it make sense to kind of bundle those a little bit um rather than having in several several separate places. It like it
doesn't matter to me where it goes but like just like if we're going to do testing for >> for ongoing monitoring and things like that I think we should just have sort of a consistency with the application. >> No, that's a great point. um it sort of doesn't really make sense to have one
paid for at free cash or one by the operating budget. So I can >> if it's you know either you either one is fine but it's just sort of like let's look at that and just you know if there if there's a particular difference and a reason why one should be in the in our budget and not and then this one needs
to be free cash because it's just a onetime thing that's fine but if it's if it's an ongoing thing I think we should loop it into that budget. >> No that makes total sense. Um, and I'll get a number and I think this 45,000 was going to cover us for >> um not just this upcoming year so I can
get a better figure from from James about you know what for the next 18 months would be good. >> Okay. >> Um and obviously we have the DPW on there as well. Um and there have been a lot of obviously discussions about department head salaries um at the the
fall town meeting. no potential for a class of compensation study, but we can discuss that as we get a better idea of a more fine idea of what's going to be available free cash >> and and and once Carol's actually an employee and actually doing these things, you'll have a better sense of that, but having a placeholder, I think,
is effective and we still have time. We're not >> Yep. But it's good to have it on the radar. >> Yeah. And that will be a priority when I get there. I be ready to go on it. >> Awesome. Great. Um, okay. other sort of non-financial
and non-rine matters. Uh town clerk converting that position from an elected to an appointed position. I've checked in with uh Liz on this a couple of different times. Um she is um more than happy to discuss it with the board. Um
so perhaps um you know obviously a remote meeting like this was not the the right time, but um one of these >> Yeah, I I'll try to sit down with her beforehand. I had some questions for her and I can see where we're at and then um uh bring it to the board um at a later
date. >> Uh bylaw review committee. Um I was actually supposed to we were actually al uh Liz Greenale and I were supposed to meet with um Allison Quinn last week that we ended up having to move. Um but uh Allison is sort of the the resident
who was sort of spearheaded interest in this topic and I think when the this board last discussed Senate um the decision was um to sort of reserve judgment and see if this was something that would best move forward as a citizens petition or if the board wanted
to have this as a board sponsored article uh in May. Um so I think Allison's um did a little bit more leg work. Liz Greendale and I were going to touch base with her and at that point probably a good idea for Liz and anyone else that she had been working with to to come before the select board.
>> Yeah, I I I I don't really have an opinion until we have some language in front of us. Um I'm I'm conceptually in support, but I wanted to sort of understand what it looked like. >> Uh the row 35 and 36 are personnel bylaw related. Um so the first and you know
Cheryl and I have already discussed some of these and you know some of them might be doable some of them might not be. Um but uh uh amending our bylaws to make it more clear that sick time that employees have acred would allow them uh to use that time to care for a sick family
member. And then um looking into employees who are working less than 19 hours, whether or not they should be acrewing sick and vacation time as well as they currently do. Um and then the last two on here are
sewer district related. So um their work has really really ramped up in the past couple of weeks. Um we've had a lot of discussions with Liz Leiden at me Towerman as well about uh the sort of formal next steps that they need to take. Uh so while the sewer commission itself has been created, we actually
need to go back to town meeting and formally create a sewer district. Um we anticipate that it will just be the village commercial district. But regardless of where the lines fall, uh it needs to be formally approved by by town meeting. And then um for the actual
infrastructure that will be coming from the woodland plant down through the downtown um the town of Hollison will actually need to grant easements on the public way to the sewer commission in order to allow that infrastructure to be installed. Um so that should be a
hopefully relative formality. Uh but we need to do it nonetheless. Now, one of the things that I know that we have to do at some point is the residents in the district would have to take a vote, a formal vote. And I'm just
I think I think it might behoove us to have maybe before all this closes just to kind of go through the sewer with the sewer commissioner like what are the steps. So, you know, to just to make sure we understand, all right, we're creating we're doing a public way. I because what I would hate to see us do
is that we kind of do what happened in the uh the '9s where they put a bunch of pipes in the ground and then nothing went anywhere. I'd hate for us to put a bunch of pipes in the ground with with all this stuff going forward and then the people in the area are like we don't want anything to do with this. And then I I just want to make sure that we're
kind of what are the steps? How are we going through this to make sure that we're um um kind of going through the the the right motions in the right way. So it's um everybody understands what's happening and and has agency throughout the process. So if we maybe if we put
like maybe reach out to the sewer commission and just sort of like invite them to come you know maybe late late February early March sometime to kind of go through walk us through the whole process and you know where they're at and things like that. So that way we can understand, you know, okay, these articles are now, then we have to do a
vote at this time, we have to do these articles at this time or, you know, it's just so we kind of understand how the process works. At least for my edification at least. I'm not um, you know, just one of three here, but um, I think that it'd be a good idea because I know there's a lot of steps here. >> Yeah, I think that's a really good idea
there. um at their last meeting we discussed uh the outreach that they're going to need to start performing to residents who will be and business owners and others who will be you know residing within the proposed district. Uh so their work is really about to kick off. Um
>> and uh it's it's we've had a lot of back and forth with Liz Leiden on this. There's actually no requirement or uh the way that the election works is it's not actually an election within the district. Um, but it's it is worth a, you know, a more
in-depth conversation with John or whoever from the sewer commissioner, if the whole commission wants to join the select board at a at a future meeting. Um, again, especially since it'll be an opportunity to spotlight a lot of the public outreach that they're going to start doing very shortly. >> Yeah, I think we should like >> Yeah, I can certainly I'll talk to John
about um how he wants to handle that. >> Okay. >> And that's what I have right now. I had a couple uh a couple articles that I kind of had on my radar and I was just curious if they're um you know if if we should include anything here like for
example I know envisioning future Hollist had a subcommittee looking at wellhead protection. I don't know if that I I mean I imagine it might be a little aggressive for them to be ready for this but I'm just curious if I hadn't I hadn't heard from them if there was any timeline.
>> Yes. So they um they met last that subcommittee met last on Thursday. Um they were they ended up having to reschedule their most recent meeting to Thursday. And one of the takeaways I think from the meeting from Thursday was that they were going to let me know sort of what their timeline was. Um so that
could certainly end up on here. I think they're weighing right now or at least going into that meeting they were still weighing uh May versus October. >> Okay. And then um along that line too, there's uh some chatter about master
planning um either an art an actual master plan or um an article uh sort of guiding um but I think that it's something I think we should just think about. But you know the planning board at the end of the day has sort of hasn't
weighed in yet. So I think we want to wait for them before we um include any of that any of those articles at the uh into this process. And then the last one was um a bylaw about snow plowing for private waves.
Did we want to fully pursue that? I think that might be something we want to pursue um in May. And if the board feels differently, please chime in. But I I I know we certainly had talked about
um about it and I I would just add with the master plan, it's either um um updating the plan or a bylaw um or a bylaw for the planning board to
um schedule changes, something like that. update bylaw or um update the actual plan. >> Just to just to put it on the radar, it doesn't mean we're doing it. We have the planning board still, I think, has to weigh in on that.
>> Yep. >> And uh Tina, I see your hand raised here. >> Yeah. I would just suggest that perhaps where we're talking about a warrant article, I I uh total agreement with you, Ben. Uh, and I would suggest perhaps we invite the planning board to a select board meeting just to have a
conversation to get it started. Is that is that >> um I would wait on that because EFH is trying to do that. So, let's let them talk first and then we can sort of see where that goes first. >> Okay. >> So, just just I don't want to like create like you know if they're pushing
back hard on what EFH is proposing then we maybe we chime in or if they're in you know we can I think let's let's see how that plays out in the next couple weeks with what we do. I do agree with you, but I just I that process is kind of already underway. >> You you may have an update under public
comment uh that'll explain more. So, I'll wait till then. I This is news to me about the envision future hall plan, but I can certainly wait till public comment when you probably had that ready to go for then anyway. >> Yeah, I can I could I could give you more information. >> All right. Thank you. Yep.
>> Uh and uh Damon, do you have any comments here about the warrant? No, I know we were, you know, there's still some information kind of bubbling up about the whole snow plowing private ways thing. So, I agree it's worthy of a discussion. I think we're still kind of waiting for the receipts and some conversations there. >> Yeah, I just want to keep it on the
radar just to make sure like we can, you know, have the conversation and figure out what that looks like for us. >> And Damon too, I know that we had talked about the lemonade law. Um, I'm still working through whether that's through best through bylaw or actually a board of health policy. Um,
>> very flexible. >> Yeah. Um, so I know you're all about results, not the how it, you know, the means. >> Yeah, >> we need we need to do the how. I'm just I'm excited about it. It's all good. >> I need to know how the sausages gets made. We just want to make sure we have good product in the end.
>> Um, so still working on that one as well, but I just don't want you to think that I've lost sight of it. >> Awesome. Okay. Thanks, Frank. Thanks, Damon. All right, let's move on to the calendar for uh budget warrant development. Um yes,
>> I know the um finance committee had sent out their um schedule for the next few weeks and they did have the 28th as part of their schedule and I've had a few members actually reach out to me kind of excited about the fact that we're kind of inviting them to this. I think at the
bare minimum for that event, we should invite them to be able to at least see the presentations because at the end of the day, a lot of what happens in those finance committee meetings with these department heads is they watch the presentation, they get a presentation. It's like if you come to this meeting, you're going to see the
same thing. And it doesn't mean you don't have questions, but at the very least, they can be part of that presentation. So that way when they um they come, if they have to come in front of the finance committee, there might be some departments that don't have to come. And if they do, there's specific questions that are being addressed at
that time. So I I um you know, and if the board feels differently, you know, I'm all ears, but I think it's very important that um our department uh the department presentation to the select board um is includes an invitation to the finance committee to at the very
least listen. And I think, you know, we owe it to our department heads to give them the courtesy that they can only have to make the presentation one time and then they can and the finance committee can listen on that that that presentation. Now, the sort of the the
wrinkle to that is that traditionally the finance committee has said that they don't want to hear um budgets that have not been approved by the overseeing body. Um, and I think this sort of puts
us in a sort of a weird position because it's like we'd be hearing for the first time and really and the finance committee would be hearing it with us. Um, but I think there's two sort of points to make about this and that is the first is is that um while you know
trying to honor that is is is reasonable all the information would be available online so people can review it in advance and see all that information in addition. And then the second thing here is is the fact that because we have an
additional role to play in this budget process beyond just simply approving department budgets, we're also creating a budget and making sure that we're we'reighing in on on things and changes and such. You know, there's already another touch point that's already built
into the process. So, I'm interested if everybody's comfortable with allowing the finance committee to participate and um we can sort of couch that that like, hey, we haven't voted on these budgets. We haven't seen this presentation from the department heads, but we're, you
know, we can give some sort of deacto. Hey, you guys are invited. You can participate. You can listen in on the uh the conversations. Um and I'm interested to hear what you two think about it if that's you're comfortable with that. Happy I'm happy to chat.
>> Happy I'm all for transparency. I kind of think one of the things that bothers me the most is when there appears to be like a surprise late in the process. So as long as kind of the idea is to have information be distributed kind of openly with with the vulnerability of like hey this isn't something that we're
completely you know ready for. We haven't seen all these numbers. I think that's fine. uh especially in the pursuit of removing gotchas. Um my only ask would be that anyone who participates also kind of is equally transparent with what they're seeing and what they're thinking. Like I would hate for us to extend this kind of like open
invite and then have it kind being used against us is the wrong terminology, but kind of like actually percolating into more problems later when our our goal here is to make it so that we're all working a lot more closely and a lot more fluidly for the town. Okay, Dina,
>> my comment is more pra uh practical. They are long days. Uh it is a long day. We've done this now two three times in the past. >> So uh we'll just have to keep a close eye on more voices. Important and welcome. We'll just have to keep an eye on on
time um so that we're we're day. >> We can kind of work through that, you know, and I'll I'll talk to Ken. I mean I you things got been a little busy lately for everybody. So I'm gonna try to reach out to Ken this week to sort of go through it with him what you know
he's comfortable with from his side. And as I said, I had a couple members of the finance committee who were kind of excited about being able to do this to sort of like reduce sort of the workload throughout the year. Um, given the opportunity here and so we can kind of figure out what that looks like to make
sure that, you know, Tina, you're absolutely right. It's a long day and if we're if we allow an extra five minutes for each budget, you know, suddenly that's going to turn into hours of time and I don't want to do that. But uh there's also we we all know there's numerous budgets that are very couple
lines not a lot here increases very straightforward. So there's there's quite a few budgets here that I think would be able to knock out then and and um save everybody time and energy by hearing the same information. So I I think there's sort of a middle path here
that we can do that. It might be, you know, maybe some of the bigger ones like maybe like, you know, the public safety and um DPW, maybe we don't allow them to have questions. They can sit and listen to the pro the those things because those are more complicated budgets, you know, but and maybe it's like the
smaller ones who, you know, maybe have one or two questions. Or we can make it as simple as, you know, we know what the finance committee is going to ask. They want to know about the changes. We just say it to every department head before they give the presentation. Hey, we don't need you to walk through every line in your department budget, but tell
us what the changes are and what's causing that. That could be it could be as simple as that. And then we could probably get ahead of most of the questions. Um because that's generally the nature of the questions I find in those finance committee meetings that are for the smaller budgets. Yeah.
>> So, um, but, uh, if everybody's kind of comfortable with that, I'm going to, and isn't the 28th everybody's still good with >> Well, that was my other question. Are we firm on the 28th? Yes. I I have it marked off on my calendar, but I would fill it in in a heartbeat if we weren't
doing this hearing. So, uh, let's let's say we're firm on the 28th. >> You know, I I I am I think we I think we are. Damon, are you >> I think we are. What do what do we think the actual time spread is going to be there? >> It's generally like I mean it's been
like 9 to like 3 or 4. I mean it's a long day. I mean that includes like a lunch break too. Um and we just kind of I'll look at what it was last year and we can probably get pretty close to that alignment uh that we had for last year. Um and then we just have to kind of hold people accountable to like hey you got
this much time please you know work through it as quickly as possible. you know, if there's there smaller budgets and things, we don't need, you know, every detail. We have the write up and things like that, but we can have the opportunity if there's things they want to share and things like that, too. Um, to make sure that we're honoring
everybody's and we're not pushing everybody back a little bit. Um, but if that's the case, the 28th, I will reach out. I'll talk to Ken and get some, you know, we'll figure out um a little some of the some of the things that he wants to do. Like if like I said stock
questions or you know I' I'd probably prefer that if like we know that this is going to be the nature of the questions we'll just make sure that the presentation that is given by the department head includes answers to those questions and we probably get ahead of you know 80 90% of the
questions that could come forward. Um but um um and so um any other comments about the the timeline here? I think other big
um thing that we have to keep in mind right now is um the when um we have to close the um uh the the ballot we have to make sure that we have a ballot question. So, if
we have a DPW ballot question, um I don't expect a feasibility for the schools, but if we did have to, we have to make sure that we have an answer by I think it was 35 days ahead of the election, I believe, is the number. >> Thought it was 45, but I your point
>> I think she said it was 35. I thought it was 35. >> I believe it was 35 as well. I thought we >> Yeah, I think it was like April 14th or something is the kind of the number that's in my head. >> Yes. Wow. On the money, April 14th. Yep.
>> Okay. Um and so I think we have to keep that um that date particularly in mind. And then the other thing I had included in there was um an extra meeting. Um it's penciled in. I'm not saying we have to have it, but just sort of to
give ourselves a little bit of time because we are meeting by twice a month just to make sure that we have enough time to be able to review these things. Um, the other thing I will mention, um, is that, um, I'm going to I want to make sure that, um, the town meeting
warrants, um, and the budget are on every one of our, um, agendas until town meeting. That doesn't mean that we're going to do anything per se. There's, but this gives us an opportunity if there's a discussion point or something new comes up, we have uh, that
flexibility to be able to have that conversation. And so the so the answer could just be yes, we have the warrant. Nothing has changed. We don't have anything really to discuss tonight and that's fine. So just to give everyone a heads up on
that. Um before we wrap up on uh town meeting, I know this kind of a lot of information, but is there any other questions or thoughts here before we move on to the next section? Okay, great.
Um, all right. We're going to move on to communication to other elected boards regarding town hall digest. Um, did everybody have a chance to look at the letter? I'll jump at it once.
>> Yes, I did. I have no issues with it. Looks good. >> Okay. How about uh Dan? If you were looking for feedback, I'm I'm great with it. >> So, this would just be for um other elected aboard uh excuse me, elected boards, correct?
>> Yes. At this time, we're sending a letter to those elected boards. I think the only thing I would add is just make sure we can we have like a link to it to sort of say like here's how to access it. Here's what it looks like. >> Yep. Sorry, I didn't actually put the Yeah, sorry that uh there was a here in there that I didn't actually put the
link in. So, I apologize. >> That's fine. It's fine. Um, and then I think, um, let's send that out. And, um, I I I think, you know, my instinct is, and people can tell me if I'm being too aggressive here, is that the boards that
we appoint, we kind of just tell them we want them, they need to participate in this. Um, but I didn't want to speak out of school. Um, so, you know, Tina, Damon, are you comfortable with us doing that? Um because I think I I do think
that they should and I think we have the ability to tell them they should, but I also wanted to sort of hear your thoughts, too. >> I'm I'm all for it. I feel like if they I mean, most of these are going to have minutes or some note-taking, obviously. So, why not share that with the broader public? I'm I'm for it.
>> Are we still even with this roll out of the letter uh and asking other boards and committees to participate in this way? Are we still in a pilot period or would you say the pilot period's over? because if we're still kind of figuring it out, I have no issue with >> I didn't I mean honestly like
I review them I review it but it um it it see it seems fine to me like I haven't seen any issues really with what what's come forward. Um you know >> well we'll hear back. I mean if if whatever reason it doesn't work out well we'll hear back and we'll amend.
>> Yeah. I mean if anything like >> we're we're asking like you know we're going to give them the the thing. We're not asking them, hey, we need you to write up a page every every week. We're literally going to hand it to them and just say, can you review this? And that's to try to make it as we're trying to make it as simple as possible for
everybody. And I think it um when I when I the people I've spoken to about it seem like, hey, that's a great idea. That seems like makes total sense. It's not minutes, but it gives you, you know, kind of a sense of what's going on. Um, so I would like to say to the boards
that we appoint, all 6,000 of them, whatever the number is, I forget. Um, if we could tell them all, please, you know, like this is coming, maybe we say like March 1st or something like that. I don't know like we give them a couple little bit of a runway to
say hey as of this time we expect you here's you know maybe we send them start sending them their recaps and saying like you know you can participate immediately but as of March 1st or something like that we're going to demand it I mean not
demand but you need to do it at that time but at least in the interim we can send it to them and say here it is take a look at it if you have any issues please bring them forward we'll give you a couple weeks of runway before it's required
>> like using town email. Yeah. Like this is a part of the responsibility you have as a as a member of this. >> Yeah. I think I think and it's like I said it's not we're not asking that we're asking very a minimal amount of effort. Um I think actually one other little thing Frank in the letter could
we just change it to say rather than that the chair has to review the chair or designate or designated individual. It doesn't necessarily have to be the chair who does it. It could be anybody else. >> Yep. Perfect. I'm excited. I think it's a I think it's
a good idea and I I'm hopeful some of these other boards that are elected will get involved. And I think once we start rolling it out and getting more um into it, you know, people are going to start asking why is this board not in there?
Ask them. So, any uh any final thoughts for anybody about that? Cool. Excellent. Using AI for good. Um, next up we have a request to
overspend the snow and ice budget. Really? Why? Um, I guess so. The question I have is how much have we spent so far? And I forget what our budget is. I think it's 300,000. But um I believe it's 250 250
>> I can double check the uh but we actually aren't over just yet. Uh so it's 250,000 uh for fiscal year 27 and will be that way for the foreseeable future. Um but uh we are fairly confident with this
most recent storm or the storm we're in the middle of I guess however you want to look at it. um that we will be over after today or tomorrow. Um and there is more snow in the forecast unfortunately already. So um a uh
>> a motion to allow deficit spending on in the snow and ice removal budget would be much appreciated for fiscal year 26. >> And I think um hopefully we'll cross our fingers that maybe this big one that we just had that maybe the state might help
us a little bit on this one. Um, and but I know they don't always help us on some of the smaller ones as we go over. >> Um, but of course we need to go over and we need to be able to do this. So, this is kind of a formality. Um, and um, we obviously would pay for it with free
cash in um, May if uh, needed probably be the easiest way to do it. >> I will. >> Yep. I will entertain a motion to Yes, Dan. Uh we don't typically do a not to
exceed on this. No, >> we we shouldn't because then we'd have to vote again if we want to do it again. So we we just we just allow for uh to go over it. >> I have a motion ready if you you'd like it. Move to approve deficit spending in the snow and ice budget. Snow and ice
removal budget for fiscal year 26. >> Seconded. >> All right. Uh we'll take a roll call vote. Tina. >> Yes. Damon. >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. So that passes. Excellent.
>> Great. Uh moving on to public comments. And this is where um the board has our own time to be able to make comments. So, at this time, if there's anyone on the Zoom who'd like to make a public comment for the board, um you can raise
your hand under the reaction button and you will be you can uh speak up and let us know what your comment is. Not seeing anyone raising their hand at this time. If uh we missed you and by
some chance and you're not at your desk and you want to um have a public comment at a future uh for a future agenda, please don't hesitate to also reach out to the town manager's office, Donna Muzzy, and uh let her know. And for public, this is for public comment in
your um subject or in the email, and we'll make sure that we read it at a future agenda. Great. Okay. Select board member updates. Um, I'll just do one real quick one. Um, and I have others, but I just want to I'll
preempt a little bit and just sort of say like I want to give a big shout out to our DPW who worked very hard this weekend. That was a big storm and there was a lot going on. There was pre-treating, there was treating, there was all sorts of things happening and uh, this one was a hard one because it was it was big and sometimes fluffy snow
can be challenging because it gets everywhere and blows around. Um, but I wanted to say thank you to the DPW for your hard work and we really appreciate all the things that you do to keep us safe and to keep our roads clear. So, thank you very much and I have other comments, but I'm going to kick it over
to Tina for uh your uh updates for the board. >> Nicely said, Ben, totally agree. Uh first I want to just circle back around to our top of the agenda item with the the bike park uh the bike path being a designated bike route. Um and tag on to
that local tourism. We are a bike friendly town. We are a bike focused town and some may say a bike obsessed town. So I wanted to put a plug in uh for the Hollston bike park uh project. They are working very hard uh to fund
raise uh do some fundraising for that project. So if folks are interested and I really hope this gets into the town hall digest uh there is a gofundme page. It is the help build the Hollist bike park gofundme page for those who would
like to contribute to a capital campaign of sorts um for the purpose of a bike park here in Hollist. Um, this board is >> Can you um um could you just like send that over like a link to that just to make sure we have it right so we can put it into the the digest?
>> Sure. Yep. I will do that. Um, >> I'm never going to remember. >> Yeah. And this board has supported uh all aspects of this bike park development. So, it feels really appropriate to also support the capital campaign that um the Holl Bike Park folks are doing. I wanted to say that we
were invited casually at this point, although perhaps formally to come to join the Boston MO uh and walk Massachusetts in a pilot project to do a walk audit here. >> Could you tell us what the NPO stands for?
>> The Met Metropolitan Planning Organization. We have interacted with them before. Uh we are currently interacting with them on the Whitney Street Washington Street intersection design, but the Boston MO Metropolitan Planning Organization is also doing
vision zero work and I'm on that task force and I've been reporting back to the board periodically. Through that effort, we've been invited to be considered for a pilot walk audit where Walk Massachusetts would come to Hollist
and do a walk audit of a a section of our road network that is considered a high injury network. Much more to come. Um not committing the board to anything. Certainly wouldn't do that without bringing it here anyway, but just wanted to say that that is is spinning in the
background. Um so keep our ears and eyes uh um honed on that. And then two other items real quick here. There is a downtown neighborhood meeting um happening on Thursday, February 4th at 3 p.m. in the select board meeting room to
discuss um how things are working related to a business in the downtown area. This is a positive step. This is a a a chance to engage um to find solutions for a happy downtown neighborhood. So, I'm sharing it here um if uh folks are interested in coming if
you're a resident of the downtown area um Thursday, February 4th at 3 p.m. And then finally, >> is the is the EDC aware of that meeting? >> They are indirectly uh that their chair is included uh in this information.
>> Say no more. Just >> Yeah. Thank you. And then finally, real quick, for a future agenda item, really more than anything, uh we have a request from a resident who would like to see that the select board take up some planning for the 250th this July 4th. Uh so we can perhaps have an agenda item
about it in the future, but the request is simple. It is, can we please display the American flag on all town properties for a period of time around the 250th? So, that proposal is sitting in Frank's inbox and mine as well, and I think it's deserving of a future agenda item, but I
just wanted to share um here that a resident had reached out and I think the select board could definitely consider that type of a request at a future date. >> That's it. Thanks. >> Thank you, Sam. >> Yeah, I'll I'll just add on to the thank you for the DPW. I was up very late
during the snowstorm just walking my dog and taking a look at the neighborhood because I was concerned about passibility, etc., and the plows are out there constantly taking care of the place and all I can say is thank you for that. Um, and I wanted to pass on just personal thanks uh Ben somewhat to you but to everyone involved in this
conversation about just being really open open about the financing and budget options that we've got. I think opening up the dialogue like this shows an immense amount of maturity. uh and as I've sat through, you know, years of watching town meeting and the the soft acrimony that can accidentally appear between the finance committee and
various parts of the select board and those committees that we appoint, I think it's a really strong move to say, "Hey, let's come together and see this information together and early." So, for whatever that's worth, thank you. I thank you. Um Damon, are you good? Is
that it? Okay. Um couple updates. Um uh yeah, envisioning future Hollistston met um I guess it was last week. I'm trying to remember what week it was. Um we met and um did discuss briefly a uh proposed
um a uh bylaw for um updating the master plan frequently. Uh Tina, thank you for putting that in the chat. Perfect. Um and um the basically there was uh interest on the the part of envisioning
future Hollson to talk about it but the um next steps are to work with the planning board because it affects them directly. So we want to make sure that they have a sort of an opportunity to chime in and listen and and talk to us a little bit about it. So um envisioning future Hollston is working on getting
them um enlisted uh to to meet in a future agenda. uh the chair of the envisioning future Hollson is also on the planning board. So there's a little synergy there, but at the same time it's one out of the six members. So wanting to get that together. Um and then um
uh I also um I apologize for the timing delay with the uh sending you the evaluation for the town manager. Um I uh that's on me. I should have uh fixed that. I should have been ahead of that. Um so I hope you were able >> It's okay. Thank you. Um uh but so um
just you know take make sure if you haven't submitted it yet, please get it out to the town clerk as as soon as you can and she'll compile it um hopefully for next week. And then my intention is is I'll sit down with Frank to go through everything with him at that time
and I can uh report back on the 9th uh which is shaping up to be a busy meeting. Um next uh my next update is uh over the weekend um I was part of the um group that was interviewing uh superintendent
candidates. Um it was a very interesting informational opportunity for me. Um I learned a lot from the experience and um I think there's three great candidates that are coming forward um for superintendent.
um their names. Uh I'll make sure that I read them to you just so you you can hear them. Um and why don't I have that email? Um but it was um James Kim Carter from um Weston. He's an assistant
superintendent in Weston. Uh Jen Parson from uh she is the superintendent in Planeville. Um and then uh Tim McCormack who is the superintendent in North Brookfield. Um, and uh, you can go on and check out
their uh, information. Um I think they're wonderful candidates and um looking forward to the community getting a chance to talk to them and um they're going to be coming in in the next few days um to meet with uh members of the
community, members of the schools um and then uh the school committee in the evening and I believe they are slated to vote um at this time next week for a new superintendent. um that's my understanding um at this
time and um my intention is to go to that meeting. So I am planning to be at that meeting to support listen um be a part of that process and so um I wanted to sort of update everybody on that and also say thank you to the school committee for inviting me. I think it
was a it was it was nice to be a part of and I really appreciate being a part of that uh that process um from that perspective. Um, last thing I have is that on um I'm also talking to the uh school committee chair, but just trying
to get sort of like a rough idea about a school building committee. Obviously, there's a more deep dense work that needs to be done, but just basically to um present from our two boards perspective, you know, getting a working group together to talk about it to sort
of iron out what it looks like um what a what that group would could look like and um a charge for that group that can be evaluated by our boards. Um so hopefully we'll have something on the 9th that we can look at and um agree on.
And I'd like to try to get a turnaround that's fairly quick so that like mid-Marchch trying to have something that's up and running that we can really get our you know get things moving on so that way we can have their input in time for town meeting for a feasibility study. I think that's I think that's
kind of important to do. So um we're going to be kind of looking for a little bit of a tight turnaround, but um also just trying to keep that group nimble. So, it'll probably be one member from this board and then maybe like one or a couple members of the school committee to kind of work through some of the details and then give it to the boards
and present it to the other the respective boards um uh at some point in March is my my hope. But I um also want to iron that out with school committee chair and I'll have that information for you on February 9th which is shaping up to be we have a water rate hearing. We
got TPW. So, it's going to be a busy meeting, but um there's a lot of important work that we're uh involved in at this time. So, um that's all I have right now for um my update. And now we get to hear a little bit more from Frank
because we got the Frank show. So, first I think we've got warrants. If Frank, if you could update you, update us with the warrants. >> Yes. So, um we have had three actually because uh we had a a revised warrant um from
January 12th. So, uh the first one totals $1,864,45.79 that's dated January 12th, a revision on January 12th for a flat $2,100. and then a uh a third warrant dated
January the 20th uh2,294,4356. I'd also want to note that we received a very generous donation from Wolf & Company to the youth and family services department. So, thank you to them and a thank you to Paulie Patterson who donated $200 to the center for new
billiard sticks and a peg coat rack. And I know that every billyard tab down table down there gets a lot of use. the first donation for >> $1,000. >> Oh, very generous. >> Yep. $1,000.
>> Awesome. Appreciate that generosity. Um, now we'll um move on from more to comments from the town manager. Frank, do you have any uh updates for us this week? >> Yeah, just a couple. Um, I'll also echo the thanks to DPW. I know that they were out early on Sunday. Um I think they
went home probably just a couple hours ago uh just to be back at it tomorrow morning. So thank you to them. A couple of other storm related reminders. Uh the on street parking ban is still in effect which means street parking is not permitted as of now until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Uh so please clear
your cars off the road if they are on there now to let DPW plows and the rest of our responders to do their work in clearing the roads. Uh due to the storm, Eel Harvey is delaying trash pickup this week by one day. Uh so there was no
pickup today obviously. Uh Monday pickup will be on Tuesday. Tuesdays will be on Wednesday, etc. We also had a number of residents who were missed by EL Harvey last week. Their pickup was scheduled to take place on Saturday. They had an issue with one of their trucks. So if you are one of those affected residents,
your pickup will now be on Tuesday. I apologize for the inconvenience. EL Harvey has assured us it will take place on Tuesday, but please feel free to reach out to the town manager's office for additional information. Uh I will also note that town, we
literally just decided this before coming on. Uh town buildings will open at 10:30 tomorrow. We're going to give a couple more hours to the DPW folks uh and allow everyone uh town hall staff and other staff across town uh some extra time to get into work tomorrow.
Uh, but all town buildings are expected to open at 10:30 tomorrow morning. I believe we just posted that to Facebook as well. Uh, we talked a little bit about this pre uh earlier in the meeting, but beginning with the most recent edition, the town hall digest now includes
department spotlights. These articles will highlight topics of timely interest, personnel, and events within town hall and other departments with the goal of making local government more accessible. This month's departmental spotlight is the assessors, which we thought was timely given that property
tax bills were sent out at the beginning of the month. And next next month, we plan to feature the Hollston Police Department. Please go to the town's website to subscribe to the town hall digest, which includes AI generated summaries and in-depth meeting recaps of select board meetings with more boards
and committees soon to join and key dates and deadlines for community members to be aware of. Another community update. The developers of the proposed 40B project on Loland Street have officially filed their project application with the zoning board of appeals with public hearings
expected to begin in February. Please monitor the project's web page, which is linked directly on the front page of the town's website for updates and additional information. Last Thursday, I spent the morning with the Dull Men's Club. Uh we had a very engaging conversation. It was a really,
really great time. I had been joking with Ed Payne for a couple months now that I was jealous that uh Tyler, I'm not even going to say his last name on on live Zoom, television, whatever we're on. Um he had already hosted two
sessions and Chief Cassidy had gone once. Um so he finally let me in. Uh I went last Thursday meeting. We had a really really good time. I had a good time anyway. Uh we had a really wide ranging of topics that we covered. Um I'm looking forward to going back just before town meeting in May to cover uh
topics that will be in the warrant with that group. Uh they were certainly very interested in a lot of things going on in town. Uh that group was also recently fe featured in the Boston Globe. So if you haven't checked out that article, I really encourage you to do so. I really want to thank Ed for allowing me to
attend, but also to bringing uh sort of a I would call it a movement to Holl. It's it's pretty amazing. Um, for more info on the DMC, you can reach out to Ed or get in touch with staff at the center, who I'm sure can connect you with him. Uh, just a really, really fun
time. Uh, next Friday, the February the 6th, I am headed to the food pantry to serve at the 2026 Super Bowl event with soup very generously donated from many local businesses. So, thank you to all of them. The event takes place at St.
Mary's from 5 to 8:00 p.m. And again, that is Friday, February 6th. You can visit the uh food pantries website for more information. That is the town manager update for January 26, 2026. The select board will meet next on February 9th. As Ben mentioned, it will be a very
busy meeting. Um and during that meeting, we will hold the water rate hearing for fiscal year 27 and cover a number of other topics. And that is my town manager update. >> Any questions for the town manager?
Okay. Thank you very much, Frank. Um, we have a consent agenda. Is everybody comfortable with the items that they want to leave them in the consent agenda? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. I will take a motion to
approve the consent agenda. >> Move to approve this evening's consent agenda as presented. >> Seconded. >> All right. All those in favor? Tina? >> Yes. >> Damon? Yes. >> And I vote yes. So the consent agenda is
approved. Uh and finally, we have other business. Does anybody have any other business to see Tina? >> Have two two quick items. Number one, we got a draft letter from the historical commission looking for I think I'm not sure if it was the board to take action or Frank that would be something that
you would do without board um involvement, but um it was a basically a a very lovely written uh letter to the four homes owners, property owners of historic of homes that were found to be of historic value. Um so is that
something the board needs to take action on or are we all set? >> I think we're all set. I think we've all kind of approved that it's it's reasonable to go forward that that's the go forward and if it's coming from the town I think Frank can uh can manage it if it's coming from the assessors he can work with them or uh from building which
from land use department. >> Okay. >> And then the um that sounds great. The second thing was DPW building committee. We're are we waiting on an update on setting establishing that and >> we're doing it on the 9th. We we basically put we bundled all the things
because we're going to have >> um we were going to have Won and Samson come in that day and then so we bundled it to just sort of put them all together. So that's going to >> forgive me if you've already said this during the past hour and a half and I just missed it. Hour 45 minutes, but uh it is snowing a lot out my window. So my
eyes keep getting pulled away as I look. Um but anyway, are we looking to appoint on the 9th or just to create the charge and and set it up? Um, I think we're going to create the charge because I think we have to open it up to see who's why. >> Perfect. All right. Thank you. Y
>> Damon, do you have any other business? >> None for me, sir. I am good. Frank, >> none for me. Thank you very much. >> I do not. Cheryl, thank you very much for coming this evening. I would ask you if you had other business, but you're not officially uh on the uh >> Thank you.
>> in your position yet. So, uh um but uh we appreciate you coming and uh and listening to us this evening. And >> my pleasure. >> And um I think uh with that we can take a motion to adjurnn. >> Move to adjourn. Um remote participation
at 8:45 p.m. >> Seconded. >> All right. Uh all those in favor? Tina? >> Uh yes. >> Damon. >> Yes. >> And I vote yes. So, we are adjourned at 8:45 and thank you very much for joining
us this evening. Stay warm and safe out there and uh our next meeting will be on February 9th where we'll have the DPW and uh in to talk a lot about uh lots of DPW things. So, we'll have a busy agenda at that time. So, please have a
wonderful one and go Patriots. >> Good night. >> Good night. Good night.