sign. >> Yeah. Good evening everyone. I call the meeting to order. This meeting of the Hopkin Select Board is being held both in person and remotely using the video conference platform Zoom. All members participating in the meeting
are present in the meeting room. The public has the option of attending in person here at town hall or via Zoom link that was posted in the meeting's agenda. This meeting is being recorded. First item on the agenda of course is pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We'll go to the public forum.
Each person will have up to two minutes to speak at public forum. And please start by stating your name and address and each speaker as we have um laid out the rules few months back. We'll have two minutes and public forum will conclude at the time noted on the agenda
when the board will move to other agenda items. At the end of the meeting, if there is still time and there are people who would like to speak, public forum will uh may continue and uh one only one person may appear before the board at a time. Speakers whose issue or concern
has already been expressed should consider allowing others who have a different issue to speak before them, particularly when there are multiple people waiting. Do we have anyone in the room who'd like to come and speak? Please come in. >> I know. Here I am again. Carol Esler, 16
OES Road. Um, I'm speaking to the $55,000 at the end of the DPW budget. We have an answer and a better answer than herbicides. The committee is looking at this with
us. Uh SGC is looking at it and the herbicides as the committees have admitted is a shortterm solution with no long-term benefits and possible long-term harm. What we have is a weed
harvester that we have researched. We would love to see the money used for that. It is ecologically sustainable. It has been used on other lakes in the state. And I will yield if my husband can have one more minute because he's
going to talk to you about the weed harvester. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh before uh we go to the second on this topic, I would like to entertain someone from a different topic and then get back to it if you don't mind. Thank you. I
appreciate your understanding. >> There there is someone on the zoom too. Good job. Thank you. Weather's bad. I'm not surprised. >> Hi, Ed Harrow. 8 Spring Lane. I come before you as a citizen of Hopkin. The two things to talk about. One is
snow plowing. I've handed out a picture and I know a few weeks ago we had a snowstorm and there were both complaints about the plowing. That was the first snowstorm that we didn't have that that we had to excavate the hydrant through feet of snow. Our hydrant is at the end
of Spring Lane. And it would seem like if someone could have figured out how to plow the street two weeks ago without plowing in the hydrant that we could do that going forward. That's my good news. Some in this room have known this man
story for 25 years. So I'm curious. I know the two that are in this room knew the accusations at least since January 2018 in an executive session where the chair started the hearing with his conclusionary statement and no action will be taken by the board at this
meeting nor at the next nor the next nor the next until fast forwarding 2023 when he was arrest again arrested and that still wasn't the end for five or more years this cancer was allowed to me metastasis size in our community after
that executive session. >> How do you sleep at night? >> Anyone else from the room, please come in. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. Maskski 51 drive. I have this in two minutes chair. uh some
difficult things if I go over a little bit. Just give me some grace, okay? I know what sexual assault does to people. Not from books, not from reports. I know firsthand from watching someone I love carry the scars that never fully heal. Subexual assault doesn't end when attack when the
attack ends. It's not some schoolyard shuffle that everyone goes home at the end of the day and just forgets about it the next morning. It destroys the victim's dignity and creates a lifetime of shame. And it and the people who are supposed to protect them, the police, town leaders, they make it worse. They
tell victims to stay quiet. They protect the attackers. They say there's nothing we could do. The system throws the victims aside like pieces of trash. And when we protested outside of Hillers in June, July, something interesting happened. Other victims came to us with their stories. Every single story had the same theme. People with authority
knew and they did nothing. That's when I understood. This was not about one predator. This was about a system in Hington that protected predators and failed our community for years, resulting in multiple victims being assaulted. So why are we so passionate about this? Why are we doing this? Because we stand with every
victim. We stand with those whose dignity has been denied. When authority tries to silence them, we'll be their voices. We will not stop till every predator, every enabler, every person, organization look the other way is held accountable. And we will not stop unless systems reform so this never happens
again to another child in this community. Unlike everyone involved in what appears to be a pattern of pro protection spanning decades, we will actually do something. The evidence is plain sight. I don't know why everyone is afraid of seeking the truth. How is it so controversial to seek the truth
and get the facts? You have no idea. You have no idea the trauma this people carry. You have no idea. My message to the community, have the courage to hold those responsible accountable.
All of them. Have the courage to stand up for the victims. Have the courage to demand accountability and reforms to protect our children. It's time. We are their heroes. To the victims watching and listening tonight, it's not your fault. It's not your fault. We will be your voice. We will not fail you. Thank
you. >> Thank you. Anyone else in the room? Uh, we can go back to the previous topic. Thank you for waiting. >> And there's one hand raised on Zoom. >> Uh, let me let's finish with the
>> gentleman. Don Kaiser 16 Oakurst. I've been here before to speak about Lake Maspan. Um Joe, in my dealings with Joe, who's head of the Wake Massock weed committee, sometimes we get a little contentious. Um I definitely against
ever putting poisons anywhere, which we seem to do a lot in our culture. Um I found um a weed harvester that could be in their toolbox, and I'd like to see them use that money this year and use this weed harvester. It's different than
traditional weed harvesters. weed harvesters in the past have just they cut the weeds and pull the weeds out. This weed harvester has a drum that rolls and pulls the weeds out of the bottom which makes the whole process much more effective. Um the company that
distributes these this machinery also owns six. They've done lakes from Florida to Maine. They do lakes in this state. They charge $4,500 a day to come with a machine and a trailer to haul the material away. I suspect we probably
have a place we could compost those plants somewhere here in town. Um, I would think long term to look at buying one of these machines and having the DPW own and operated um would be a much cheaper longer term solution and we
wouldn't be filling the lake with poisons um which is never a good solution. And one of my fears about using poisons is that it enables us to have algae blooms. It affects the quality of the water in the lake,
promotes algae blooms, and we've seen syinoacteria close up Hopington State Park. I would hate to see that happen to Lake Maspan. I swim every day, and that scares me far more than plants and I probably hit my two minutes. So, thank you.
>> Thank you. Anyone on the Zoom? >> Yes. Uh, Bill Flannry. >> Hello, Bill. >> Hi. Can you hear me? Uh yeah, we can hear you. Please go ahead. >> Thank Thank you. Uh my name is Bill Flannry. I'm at 12 Saddle Hill Road and
although I am the chair of the appropriation committee, I'm speaking as a private citizen as our committee has not met to discuss this issue. My comments are in regards to the recent article talking about the expansion of the scope of the Hopkins School Project.
First of all, I certainly appreciate and applaud the Hopkins School Project Committee for coming under budget just like the Marathon School did a few years ago. Great job on being very careful with our taxpayers money. However, there is a precedent of not
using contingency monies to broaden scopes of projects simply because there's money left over without seeking additional town meeting approvals. A few years ago, when the construction of the Marathon School was wrapping up, it was
clear that additional classrooms would be needed. Even though there was a substantial amount of money left in the contingency funds, that new broader scope went back for a town meeting vote for approval and some additional funds
to complete the job. I believe this situation is similar and would suggest that a major expense of more than $1 million for paving the loop road, which by the way sounds like a very worthwhile project, should obtain multiple bids and
go through the normal process of approvals to ultimately be sent to town meeting for a vote by the taxpayers. From what I understand, all of the money has been borrowed for the Hopkins renovation. If this suggestion is considered, it probably makes sense to
check with our CFO on logistics of what happens to those funds while they are sitting in the contingency account. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else on the Zoom or in the room? Seeing none, hearing none, we'll move on
to the next agenda item. I think we're doing great with time. Thank you. Um, our next agenda item is the consent agenda. Select board will the select board will consider the following consent agenda. Uh, meeting minutes. The select board will consider approving the
minutes of the February 3, 2026 meeting. Accept gifts. The select board will consider accepting a donation of $20 in honor of RT Pine from Natasha Chisum. Parrot permit applications. The select board will consider approving the
following parrot permit applications. Sharon Timlin memorial 5K race to cure ALS. The select board will consider approving a parrot permit application for the Sharon Timlin Memorial 5K race to be held on June 13, 2026 at 8:30 a.m.
The race would start at the Hopkins School Road and end at the Loop Road by lot H. Road closures are requested for Hayden Row from go Grove Gro Street to Chestnut Street Triathlon at the Hopkinington State Park. The select
board will consider approving a parade permit application from team Richmond on behalf of Max Performance for the triathlon at the Hopkin State Park to be held on May 17 and September 13, 2026 at
8:00 a.m. The race would start and end at Hopington State Park. Is there anyone who would like to uh separate any of the consent agenda? items for separate discussion. If none,
>> I'd move to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh we'll do a vote, Mr. Oh, we'll do we can do a voice vote. All those in favor say I. >> I.
>> Any nays? None. It's 4. Motion approved. The next item is 2026 annual license renewal. The select board will consider granting extensions and are issuing annual common victia licenses for
Aramark at Dell at 176 South Street and 228 South Street. Ela, do you want to give us the context and what we're doing? Sure. >> So, the last several meetings, the board has extended the license um while they uh while Dell fixes the exit signs. Uh
we did receive an email from uh uh Dell EMC today saying that um they did um a capital expenditure for 700 exit signs between 178 and 228 South Street for $200,000. It's taken some time to go through the process, but we finally
received 200 and they sent the wrong type. We're now on track to receive all 700 by March 9th and we'll have them all installed by March 28th. We are upgrading all the exit signs to a battery backup self- testing type that will alleviate the 90-minute testing issues we had in the past. So, uh given
that information, um the board may want to uh extend the license until after the April 7th meeting. That's the next two in between. Makes sense. >> Thank you, Elen. These are the last two that we're chasing. Right. Um for discussion, any question, comment, Mr.
Har? >> No, I'm fine. and I understand the size of the company and the magnitude of moving something through for 200g. So, I'm good. Thanks. >> Echoing Mr. I would like to actually we I've poked fun here at some of the other larger companies that we've struggled to
get engagement with. This is very clearly good faith partnership. So, thank you to them for working with us. >> Thank you, Amy. >> But I really appreciate them sending the letter and explaining. >> Yep. It's a big deal. >> They may also be on Zoom as well. >> Oh, I'm actually >> Oh, in the room.
>> Ah. That's how you get your extension. >> All right. >> Do you want me to make the motion then? >> Yeah. >> Okay. I move to grant an extension of the following common victral licenses to April 7th, 2026 so as to ensure completion of all the inspections. Arrow
market dell 176 South Street Market Dell 228 South Street. >> Can I make a friendly amendment there to suggest that it's after the April 7th meeting? So let's say April 8th. >> April 8th. Sure. >> Okay. >> Did you second it? I made a quick amendment there. Amy had initially noted
April 7th. That's the meeting. We want to extend to one day after April 8th such that we can process it on the agenda. Any concern there, Amy? Okay. So, friendly amendment, but I don't think I should be seconding now. >> I'll second it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, we'll do a any other
discussion. We'll do a voice vote. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Thank you. >> Any nays? None. It passes 4 Z. Thank you. We'll move on to the next agenda
item. We're moving pretty fast. It's okay to move on, right? >> Yes. >> That's good. Um, next agenda item is uh fiscal year 27 town department budget presentations. The select board will review the proposed fiscal year 27
operating and capital budgets of the following departments. School Department, Fire Department, Police Department, Public Safety, Communications, Engineering, Facilities Department, Department of Public Works. We'll start with our school department
colleagues, Mr. Bishop and Susan. Please come forward. Thank you. >> Good evening. Nice to see you all. Thank you for for having us. Miss Rothermick and I are excited to be here and appreciate the opportunity to discuss
the FY27 uh school operating budget. Um I know you have had a chance to all see this presentation um a few months ago back in December. Um some of you multiple times. We've given it two times already. U so um what I'd like to mention here and I think it's really
important between December and now uh nothing has changed. All of our figures are the same, our requests, our numbers. Um, and so with that in mind, uh, we have our slides that we presented. Uh, Mr. Rothermck and I are happy to go through them as quickly as possible knowing how many, uh, folks we have
behind us. Um, or we could just answer any further questions that you, you might have since the last time that we've met. >> Would it be helpful for a refresher, quick walk through, or unless you have any fined question, we can start there, too. >> So, you said no numbers have changed
since the last time we saw it. Um, >> no. I I want to show diligence to the town, but to the point we've been to a joint session, we've been to school committee to talk about this. You've been here multiple times. I think if we have questions, which I do, we can ask them, but I don't think we have to go through it again if everyone's comfortable.
>> Yeah, I think we might have a couple of questions, but nothing specific to the overall budget. >> Yeah, we'll be happy to answer your question. Yeah, we're just trying to be respectful of folks times >> and all the slides are in the packet for any members of the public. >> Yep. The 17 slides are in the packet. So, yep. >> Sounds good. Thank you. And it's good that nothing changed. So we can start
the Q&A >> starting with Mr. Her. >> Um so not directly related to the operating budget but certainly on the capital side. Uh I think you know what I'm going to ask. Uh I share uh the chair of the appropriations committee's
concern that uh the loop road should come back to town meeting. I think it will pass the flying colors. But if we don't do it that way, I think there will be a lot of angst and I think for good reason. So I guess more a statement than a question.
>> Thank you, Mr. Ker. >> I'm going to follow my leaders here and and sort of echo a similar sentiment. I'll underscore it this way, maybe personalize it. Having been the chair of the capital committee, it's important that it goes back through because ultimately there are empowered individuals who are is just as important
a part of the process as the school committee. And this isn't about who is empowered, who has the authority, who is the right person, it's about ultimately we want the town to feel that we have operated in a state of transparency. And while I don't know how visible that's been on the other side for the schools,
I would say my first term up here has largely been colored by discussions on transparency across a number of issues. So I would echo I think this will pass with flying colors. You'll see me up there to vote for it as well. I think we have to respect the process and respect the town here. That's I would advise
sending it back through too. More words, same sentiment. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Yeah, I think it's just the same. We usually don't we usually have to do a vote at town meeting when we transfer it from one thing to another or even know if it's a similar type or >> so. Um, and I'll speak a little for Kyla
and she can uh correct me when I'm wrong. So, we will know the me the number if you will for the Hopkins project uh this coming fall. And so at the May of 27 town meeting, there would
be a rescending of debt that would then be transferred to another project. >> So that would happen at a town meeting. >> That would happen in May of 27th, >> the next town meeting. Okay. >> If that is the >> So the public will get a chance to weigh in. >> Yeah.
>> The rescended the debt doesn't send that back to free cash at that point. As >> like I said, I I may be using the wrong words. Kyla can certainly correct me, but it would be repurposing the debt, if you will, to a different project. >> We already have taken the debt out. So,
you would repurpose it to another project instead of taking additional debt. >> Okay. >> Thank you. I don't have any other questions either. I think we had very thorough and detailed discussion and got all the responses. Thank you to you all.
And I just want to extend thanks to the school committee to both of you and um Kyla on our town side, Elaine for working closely and getting it done ahead of time and uh with a very good outcome. So very happy about that. And
uh Susan, we'll miss you in the next budget session it seems. But I'm sure we'll have lot more opportunity to um to say goodbye or appreciate your work. But thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for your support. Appreciate
it. >> Uh, next one. Fire department and K1. Yeah. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. Hello. >> Hello. How you doing? >> Good. How are you? >> Good.
>> All right. Take it away. We you see the budget on the slides. We can start with the operating budget and I see you don't have any uh capital budget ask here. >> I have uh three capital. >> Three. >> Yeah. >> Let's go over that later. Maybe start
with the opics. >> Okay. Uh good evening. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the uh FY27 budget. Uh this is a zerobased budget. Uh all increases are solely driven by contractual obligations and inflation. Uh I'd like to note that uh last year our firefighters responded to
2,665 emergency calls representing a 4.4% increase over last year. Um our largest uh budget increase is salaries this year totaling 216,847,000 or 6.4%. Uh this reflects all
contractual raises uh step increases. uh we do not include any increase in staffing or is that this year? Um looking ahead though I would like to propose two new positions next uh FY I proposed these positions previously and I believe they are uh
important for our department. However, I also understand that the current financial status of the town we cannot move forward with them. Uh one position would be a third fire prevention position and the second would be a EMS lieutenant. Um the other area that we increased is
overtime. We increased that by $30,000. That was to uh cover the increase in salaries. Um that said, even with the $30,000 increase, if we experience any long-term injuries or paid parental leave, uh we will easily exceed the uh budgeted
amount for overtime. Our in our operation expenses, we increased that by 18,000 over the previous fiscal year. 15,000 of that is for a promotional exam uh which is a contractual obligation that occurs every 3 years. The remaining increases were for contractual services.
All other line items were either level funded or decreased. So that's the budget in a nutshell. >> Thank you. We'll start with some Q&A and comments from my colleagues. U Amy, do you want to go first? >> Sure. Um you mentioned the um exam line
item. So it says decreased not needed. >> So uh in negotiations last year uh the union negotiated captain's language and lieutenants language. Um so initially I proposed two exams this year. Uh but because we didn't budget for any
captains this year. Um we >> Oh, so you don't need to do both exams. >> So we're just going to do the lieutenants. >> Okay. Thank you. It's a small amount. I just wondered. >> Yeah. >> Um I don't think I have any other questions. >> Uh Mr. Thanks. Uh, first kudos. I love that you
started by saying it's a zeroed budget and then explaining to me that you had no control over the increases. You you're getting savvy about this, Gary. I did want to just quickly ask, do we have a feel for what the overtime and parental look like last year? I don't expect it to be budget-breaking. I more want to be thinking, can we be planning
on what that buffer is reasonably going to look like? It's safe to assume given your line of work, someone may encounter an injury and somebody may have a child. >> Yeah. So, parental leave is a brand new contractual language. It just started last year. >> Okay. >> Presently, I have three firefighters out
on it. I know I have another firefighter uh whose wife is pregnant. Um but year prior, we also had a firefighter that was out OD for over a year. >> Okay. >> Um so, to get you statistics, I don't have enough data yet to give you a number. On average, we fill about 20
shifts a month. >> Okay. >> And that's what we budget for. I'll steal clear of the weeds here and and be a good boy and just generically say I'd love for us to think about a way potentially for how we're building the buffer elsewhere acknowledging that there is a real likelihood this isn't going to hit. I understand why Gary is
budgeting for the optimum because that's what we ask him to do. Thank you for adhering to the mission statement, but I can also respect that it isn't going to be attainable for very real reasons. I expect to hear something similar from police in a minute. >> The actual for 2025 was 447. So, we're
right in line with what the actual was for 25. >> B. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. >> I don't have any questions. Thank you. Thanks, Chief. >> Uh, thank you, Chief. I have quick question or clarification. So, how many
um staff do you have now? And with this, what will be the number and how many would be new recruit needed? >> Uh, we have 33 right now. We're fully staffed. Um, I have a potential three retirements next year. um whether they actually retire or not. They've been saying it for the past few years, but I
know they're going to the retirement board. So, uh I may be coming to the board next year to um replace them. >> Got it. >> Thank you. I have no other question. >> Do you want to move to the capital asks?
>> Yeah. Just the on the C2. >> Okay. Uh so the um can we do like the two at the same time cuz they're basically the same thing? >> You can. >> Okay. Um so um we have two vehicles to
be uh scheduled to be replaced. It's the deputy chief's car and a fire preventions vehicle. Um are they up there? >> The Ford Explorer C2. >> I I have it written here. I can actually read it. So, um, so the C2 vehicle is a 2018 Ford
Explorer. We're looking to replace it with a 2026 Tahoe, uh, with a dynamic fuel system. Uh, according this vehicle will be given to the deputy chief. Uh, will be served as a command and emergency response vehicle utilized by him in response to all
multi- company calls, including rescue incident, major emergencies, and it will serve as a backup command vehicle to the fire chief. Um, the reason we're going with the bigger vehicle is because of the stuff that it carries. Uh you'll see between this slide and the next slide is a example of all the equipment that is carried. Um this is just half of the
equipment that is carried in the chief's car and the deputy chief's car. Uh some of the items that we carry is um PPE, our SCBAs, uh EMS equipment, AEDs, ballistic gear, life jackets, and our command and control equipment. Um we're looking at the bigger vehicles is
for the towing capacity. Uh we've had some incidences with the smaller vehicles where we've actually had to go past the incident and get to the scene and get the lieutenant's truck to go back to the fire station to get like either the boat or the gator trailer. Uh these vehicles give us the the higher towing capacity plus the cargo space for
the equipment. Um so that is the reason we're going with the bigger vehicle. >> Thank you. Any questions? Starting Mr. >> How many miles on the current vehicle? Uh they're both over 5 years old. Um the one is 10 years old. The card two is 8
years old. And this has the mileage. >> Uh just over 60,000. >> 60,000. >> And is the money that you're uh budgeting here, does that take into account turning that in, selling it, what have you? >> Uh policy goes back to Elaine and she
can decide what happens with the vehicles. uh >> we we offer it to other departments first and then if not it's it could be traded in or it could be disposed of. >> Do we ever have vehicles sitting around for years that we did not dispose of?
>> Uh we did accumulate vehicles for a while uh and we've decided we should not be doing that. >> So for not parked near a well or anything like that? >> Not anymore. >> We cut them up and sold them for scrap. >> Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Kiza, >> I think you make a compelling point about the increase in service. I really appreciate that you highlighted it that way. It's a compelling visual, too. I wouldn't have thought I think Chief, and I think he's the guy coming up to make sure everybody's doing their job, but I don't think about the command and
control and the other high-profile and high price gear you may be transporting. So, I can understand where you are, but I'll at least demure a little bit and offer the same kind of caution. 60,000 miles on a truck. That that guy should have another 100 to 150 if we're taking care of her. I just hope we're going to put that back into the pool. I see you
sitting next to Director Reed, and I think I bet she could do something with that truck. >> The vehicle we're talking about is 10 years old, too. So, they don't get used a lot. Uh we do a lot of preventative maintenance. >> I mean, if it runs, it runs, boss. But I I'm okay with the request. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Uh Mr. D. >> Yeah. Um, yeah, it does sound seem like a pretty old vehicle, so I understand. I was curious about the dynamic fuel management system. Is that an energy efficiency system? >> Yeah, I can send you the data. I have it right here for you. >> Okay. It's just improved the efficiency, >> which is great.
>> But not a hybrid vehicle or but just improved efficiency. Okay. >> Yeah, because the big heavy trucks use a lot of gas. So, if they they can be managed better, that's good. >> Yeah, they're getting we're getting around 20,000 or 20 miles to the gallon right now on the one we >> pretty good. >> Okay, no more questions. The other thing
we don't sometimes we look at some of our vehicles uh we have to look at the idle time too versus the mileage too. >> These vehicles will idle for 24 hours at some incidents if not longer. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. I don't have any particular
question for this but in general I was wondering uh when we do the capital project planning uh are those are are these predictable for the upcoming years what we can get? I assume we can. And second is to Kyla, are those
included in our capital budget projection? >> Yes, they are. >> Okay, perfect. >> And they're all free cash >> for this year. >> Great. >> Thank you. If no other question, we can move to the next one.
>> C4 kind of. So the C4 is the same thing, but it's the Fire Venture one. Uh, so I kind of it's the same spiel. It's just another vehicle that we're replacing. Um, the difference is is we're going to take uh
the my car and give it to fire prevention. My car has got 20,000 miles and we're going to hand it down. That way we can um set up both of these new vehicles the same. So we have identical command vehicles. Um, presently like the vehicle we have now doesn't have radios in the back. So if
we going to a major incident, we have to use portable radios. So both of these vehicles are going to be set up identical. So if we had a major incident or if we had a incident where we had to have two uh areas of operation, um both vehicles will be identical and then we'd be able to maintain our command and
control. So uh the specs are the same. Um I'm not sure how many miles are on four,000,000. >> Hand it back out to the pool. >> 30 is Yes. Okay, thank you. We'll start with Mr. Dush for
any questions, comments. >> Sorry, did you say how many miles are the one uh Oh, so your hand Sorry, it's a hand down situation. Okay, so yours doesn't have that many miles, but it'll be handed down to someone else and then this will be newer. Okay, so we're not getting rid of it. >> I don't think I assume it has the same
fuel management advantages, the previous one. >> Well, they're identical 100%. >> Okay. Yeah. And I can see that you have a lot of equipment you have to carry around and that they would have to sit on scenes for a long period of time. So, >> no other >> I thought I sold them both at the same time. >> Yeah.
>> Lost. >> So, the hand-me-down will create another hand-me-down and eventually something will land on Elaine's desk and we'll dispose of it then, right? >> Yes. >> Okay. It's just going to be just a one car. One new one comes in, one gets
handed down. The one that's there now gets handed down and out. Do we uh >> That's one car with one additional vehicle. >> Uh we'll be getting rid of two vehicles, >> right? The first one we covered. Now this is the second one. So Okay. But on this one there's one it's a one to1 ratio all the way down the line.
>> Mhm. >> Okay. I'm good. Thank you. >> Thank you. I I think I'm just going to clarify. So the other one was 60,000 10 years and this one is 30 >> 60,000 8 years. This one's 10 uh 30,000 at 10 years. >> 30,000 and 10 years. I see. uh and this
will be reused with the pole down as we were explaining right and the main rational for this just clarifying is that you prefer an identical kind of twin so they the communication and all the systems are up to date and can back
each other >> and then what we're doing is by handing getting rid of the smaller car even though it has a small amount of mileage on it my vehicle is actually able to tow the So if the lieutenant's pickup truck is out of service or something, that vehicle slides into that position and we
can um we don't lose that capacity or we have to tow with our brush truck. So >> sure. I think given the first responder responsibility, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. I don't have any other question. Do you want to go to the last one? >> Sure. >> Last one. So the last one is we're um
we're seeking to replace our three life pack cardiac monitors with life pack 35s. Our current monitors are over 10 years old. They exceed the eight-year life expectancy thanks to our preventative maintenance program. Um, however, we've been notified by Striker
that certain parts will be discontinued, limiting repair and future support. So, that's why we're asking for these. Um, last year, these monitors were used on every ALS call. Uh, they we use them to identify cardiac rhythms, recognize STEMI, use them for different fibrillation, pacy, cardio version, and
vital uh vital signs. Uh these monitors directly saved multiple people's lives in town last year. Uh we're requesting $215,681 from the ambulance receipt reserves to fund these upgrades. >> Thank you. Um Mr. Har, you want to
start? >> Uh no, I think this is an excellent investment and um I would like to see it. >> Mr. Gizner, >> nope. I'm also Thank you. Amy.
>> Oh, no. It seems uh really needed um and really important. I'm glad you got 10 years out of the last ones. I guess people probably are surprised how expensive they are, but they're certainly important. And it all comes from the ambulance fund, like the donations people give, plus if people use ambulances, they have the insurance pays.
>> We also do ambulance billing, and I know we get a portion of it. Last year, we brought in 720,000. I'm not sure how much how the year marks work or >> Yeah, but it is fully funded ambulance fund. >> I had no idea we had that much money in that fund. So that's great. >> Yeah, insurance doesn't cover ambulances by design unfortunately.
>> Thank you. I echo my colleagues uh sentiment. This is very much needed and u we want to be equipped to provide the right tools. One question I have is this is going to replace one. So altogether how many we would have? Oh, >> this is going to replace three. This is
going to replace three cardiac monitors. >> Three. So altogether we would have three new in the inventory. Okay. We uh have both ambulances and then our ladder truck is an ALS ladder truck. >> We uh all of our first line trucks have brand new cardiac monitors.
>> We are sharing. Thank you. I think I'm all set. Anything else? >> I do have >> All right. Thank you, Gary. >> Chief, I have one quick question if I may. >> I just want to make a quick note. We're talking about two two new vehicles essentially on the same schedule.
Generally speaking, we would see these on a staggered life cycle. You made a really compelling case from a services perspective, but I would just ask in the future that you consider on these. We ultimately want them offset so that they're not hitting on the same budget cycle. I get why it was this time, but I wanted to at least give the feedback.
>> We kind of pushed back the one a few years because it was in good shape and we didn't >> the town asked for money. So that's why >> you're getting your truck. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. Thank you. Our next one is police department. Thank you.
Thanks. >> Hello. >> Hey guys, >> good evening. >> Good evening. >> Thank you for the time through the vice chair to meet and discuss the police budget. Much like the fire chief explained, as will the director of
communications, the budget really, most of it is people. So you start with the salary employees. We don't budget for any increases that may come in July. So the budget begins with the current salaries for salaried employees. Then you take a look at the collective
bargaining agreement and all the different positions within the department and assign the increases through the collective bargaining agreement, which is a 1.5% increase. um that translates across predictable time off. You can't budget as as stated
before for uh life events. We can't budget for those things, but there is a fund that Elaine manages that should we have catastrophic events that destroyed the budget uh we could go to. I forget what it's called, but uh it would be an
email to Elaine. Um so our operational expenses for equipment and office supplies and such are level funded. uh and I believe we'll still allow for level services with no no loss um in what we can do. Uh there is I do have an
ask I'm asking for an additional position. Um we have within the department our administrative manager has struggled for years. Um thanks to Elaine and Jessica and Kylo we've been able to fill the gap but the workload is far too immense. Uh
we we're using interns, staff from Kyla. Um bringing in consultants to to get the job done. So um what I am asking for is a records manager, a second civilian professional to come in and assist my admin manager.
And their duties uh we worked out a job description this week with human resources. And the duties would be um assist with public records. So there'd be a tiered system for public records based on the risk. Um my admin manager
would be would maintain the position as records access officer and this person would assist. So you know we have crash reports are very simple easy to per to do. We actually have another outside person doing those. now um up to court
discovery and um detail billing. We with the with the Main Street Quarter project, we're billing over a million dollars in details. It's a lot of work as well as collecting the money is a lot of work. So, this person would assist with that. Corey sex offender registry requests could be handled this person
with oversight. Um and then assisting with license to carry, solicitors, ice cream trucks, vendors, and common victual work. um under the direction and um direct supervision of the administrative manager. Um it it'll be
an investment uh that I can absorb for training, a lot of training for that position and uh but we have it budgeted >> for 60 >> $60,000. So that's the only addition that's not contractually um um dictated within the
personnel items. >> Thank you, Chief. Um, I I would start with my colleague Matt Gizner. >> Thank you. I'll be unexpected here cuz I I have challenged on headcount recently. I love this request. I hope that the town hears this as being a little bit
responsive to some of what the community has been asking for. Freedom of information requests are not easy. Redactions, digging things up. We're still digitizing our systems. I really see this as a good faith response from the department looking to meet where the
community need has evolved to what those services are. I think it's incredibly complicated to run a law enforcement organization in the year of our Lord 2026 and you imagine you would have been talking about records information management professionals, right? So, I appreciate this ask. I'm always leerary
of expanded headcount. This feels really purposeful. It feels very grounded in what the community is looking for from you and I appreciate you coming and advocating for it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Yep. Yeah. I'm also supportive of it if um as long as we have the money for it. I know there's a lot of different types
of records requests we get now with video from the cars and maybe someday the um body cams which takes more skill and more software. So, I can understand need for extra hands for this. As long as there's money in the budget, I think that's fine. And building on that, we
even manage the townwide video network. >> Okay. >> So unless it's at the schools, we if someone has an in a crash at an intersection, they're requesting that video. >> Mhm. >> Thank you, Mr. H. Has the 60K been in the various iterations of the budget
we've looked at prior? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um I I agree with what Matt and Amy are saying. I think this is a good hire. I think with the growing uh community, you know, the number of people, the number of the activity and all the requests and so forth, uh it
makes sense and I think it's a time so I would support it. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. I would echo the same as our colleagues. I think um um this is very much needed and given some of the concerns that we heard and with the growth and everything with the demand as
you explained this makes makes a lot of sense and I'm glad it's something we could accommodate in our budget. So I appreciate that. Um I have no other question at this time but I always ask this just to level side and so everyone understands including this how many positions we will be having or how many
staff we will be having and where we are in terms of staffing. >> Sure. So we're at 20 we budgeted 29 sworn members and we have an administrative manager as well as interns and paid consultants and uh other staff coming in to help. We're
sitting at 26 sworn officers. Uh we had a posting for a position and the deputy could speak to it. He manages it, but my understanding is we had 17 applicants, interviewed five, and a small number of those are going to make it to my my desk. Um so we're working, but we and
I'll share this. Uh my people have come to me and said, "Chief, please don't settle. Do not settle just to fill the spots." And I promised him I wouldn't. Makes sense. Thank you. Thank you for that information. I think we can move to the capital
budgets if there's no other question. >> As has been the tradition since 2014, the deputy managers capital. >> Please. >> Good evening. Um thank you for having us. Uh so the first item I believe is um a request for an upgrade to our tasers,
a taser 10. Um, in 2017, I came before the board and requested uh that we uh get tasers and uh the reasonings behind uh the need for additional equipment. Uh when we did that, it was on a 5-year
contract uh which has uh now since expired and we've been continuing to use those tasers. Um we've now gotten to a point where uh they're basically end of life. We've been told uh by Axon that the cartridges that we are currently using um will be non-existent in the
next year or so. Um so we are uh did some research, spoke to other departments. Um this Taser 10 is the newest um and most advanced uh taser on the market currently. Uh the reason for the um
155,000 is that's a contract price for the five years. Um so rather than come to the board every year asking for 29,000 30,000 um we are asking for the contracted price upfront. Um and then that will carry us through the next 5
years uh for this. Uh one of the things I do want to illustrate um the reason the taser is is a such a useful to tool for the police department um is it gives us another means um to deal with volatile situations. Um
in the last year uh we've responded to over 50 um mental health people in crisis calls. Uh basically one a week. Um and uh it gives us a tool that if we don't have this tool, all we have is a
baton and a firearm and pepper spray. This tool um allows us to deescalate situations um if utilized um minimal side effects. Um and one of the biggest issues uh that has come from uh the
advent of tasers is um use of force has gone to a situation where officers are not getting injured um and the civilian population are not getting severely injured by tactics and the other tools that we have. Um,
so, uh, with that, I I respectfully request that, um, we get the opportunity to upgrade and, uh, and get the the best technology for our officers. >> Thank you, Deputy Chief. U,, that sounds like a compelling case. I'll start the Q&A with Mr. Her.
>> Uh, we had a lot of conversations about tasers in 2017. It was not an automatic. Let's go with tasers. I remember it well. Um, but I'm a little confused. So, we don't buy the taser. We contract with someone that provides the taser. Is that what I'm hearing?
>> Um, so technically, yes, we do buy them. Um, but it's on a like a lease program. And one of the things that we struggle with is we cannot sign a lease for more than 3 years or sign a contract with a private company for more than 3 years.
Um, so what this program does is they supply the taser, all the cartridges, um, the training that we need, uh, for our instructors to to train the rest of the officers, and then, um, as every year goes on and we reertify, they
supply us with the necessary tools. At the end of the five years, we have them. Um and then we would like we do now currently is we would purchase additional cartridges uh for them for training or for when they're used on the
field. >> Okay. And Kyla, is this a free cash outlay? >> All capital for general fund is free cash this year. >> And we can for this type of arrangement, we can use free cash in that manner. >> Yes. >> It's not a pure procurement. >> Okay. Well, it still has to go through
procurement, >> but yes, it will be free cash, >> right? I'm thinking more contract than or lease than procurement, but Okay. All right. I'm good. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dush. >> Um, let's see. So, did you say say they're about 5 years old and the lifespan is usually three?
>> No, the lifespan is 5 years. >> Okay. >> When they came up in 2022ish, uh, we did not come before the board and look to upgrade. Uh, we continued to use them. They were still working. We had additional batteries and cartridges to use.
Our last re-qualification in uh July, we were told by Axon, I don't know why you guys are still using these. We we're not making cartridges anymore. We're basically pulling what we have for leftover stock to refill our order. >> Okay. So, so sorry. So, they're five,
four or five years old. Is that what you're saying? >> These are pushing almost eight now. >> Eight years old. Okay. But on the slide here, it says the useful life is only three years or less. Is that because that's the the contract time or >> the >> the useful life like of the new ones?
>> Um >> my Oh, that's sorry. That's a cruiser. I'm sorry. >> Swiped down to the next slide. Okay, never mind. Okay, I'm all set. >> Okay, >> Mr. Kler. >> Yeah, I think this is one of those just welcome to 2026, Brian. This reminds me
a little bit of the conversation we had about textbooks licenses. I was really struggling to understand those as capital expenses and this feels really similar. Where I struggle with this one a little bit is just I don't love the idea of what it really appears to be engineered obsolescence here. We're essentially going to sign a contract
that we know by the end of we're likely going to be sort of like we're on the rabbit rabbit mill as it were. But it doesn't sound like we have an option and I am firmly in support of the tool being in your kit. It is a wildly reasonable request and again I see this as meeting the expectations of where law enforcement is. We're looking for more
ways to have successful deescalated outcomes. This is meeting us where we are. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh I just had some um logistics question. So uh the request is for 10. How many we have? >> It's a called the taser 10. >> I'm sorry.
>> The the the tool is called the taser 10. We're this this proposal is for 30 >> for 30. That's that was my question. We have 30 officers. So you answered that. And it's replacing how many the equal number? >> We have I think we have either 29 or 30
of the >> Okay. Gotcha. And what's the life expectation on these? >> It would be five years. >> Five years. Okay. And if I were to guess, Axon will come out with something greater and better in the next couple years and start pitching it.
Thank you. No, I would agree with my colleagues. Sounds like um something we need and for our safety and for our um alternate uh options for law enforcement. So, I appreciate explanation. >> Can I piggy back on that one? That um they but they will supply us with
cartridges for a certain number of years at least, right? Even though they're going to of course have a better new model. This request is everything we need for 5 years. >> For five years. Okay. And then we'll see. >> Any other question, comments? >> All right, let's move on to the next
one. >> Uh, so the next one is our typical request for uh three cruiser replacements. Um, we uh do our best to cycle out our cruisers. They last about 3 years. um we average somewhere between 90 and
110,000 miles in those three years. Um and the reason uh for the request is when we get to that point, they start falling out of warranty. We start piling up additional expenses on maintenance um and uh the safety of the vehicle
diminishes. So um so this request uh is for the outfitting um of our cruisers. Um, also the purchase price uh and take we unless the vehicle is in good condition, we'll either repurpose it uh
for uh an officer like the school resource officer doesn't put on a lot of miles or we'll have send it over to Elaine and say there's a use for it within the department. Um or we'll get a tradein. What I've seen the last uh couple years,
our tradeins have gone anywhere between four and seven and a half thousand dollars on the tradeins. Uh the equipment that can be transferred over uh is transferred over. Um, many times
we find that Ford has a way of changing body styles and equipment such as the cage in the back of the car doesn't fit and we have to purchase um a new cage to fit into the the new design. Uh, however, um, currently we're able to to
move a lot of equipment over. >> Thank you, Mr. H. >> Uh, no questions. Thank you. Mr. Kisner. >> Uh, staggered obsolescence. I know these guys are well on the capital plan. I'm used to seeing them. Thank you much, >> Amy. >> Yeah. No, I think I although it's a lot
of money, it makes sense to do a few at a time each year so that we spread out the cost and you know that's a lot of miles to put on a car in in three years. So, I think we understand that have to be replaced. >> Makes sense to me. I don't have any other questions. >> I just want to bring up one point that I
think Mr. would appreciate. Um we are one of the Warren articles is we're increasing um or asking to increase our uh fee for cruisers on details. Um and that would go into a fund uh that we
would hopefully be able to accumulate over a couple years that we could draw from to replace uh our cruisers as part of our capital. >> It's a good idea. >> Thank you. >> Any other question? Anyone? All right.
Thank you. Is that it >> through through the vice chair? Thank you very much for your all your attention to this matter. >> Thanks guys. >> Good night. >> Our next one would be public safety communications that paper. Oh,
>> good evening. >> Good evening. >> Mine is very simple. So, we essentially the only increase we have uh 6.05% I believe it is. Um 8 8.05 um that is
strictly contractual increases like Chief Bennett mentioned. One nuance of ours this year is it's a 2-year increase because last year at this time we didn't we were still in negotiations. So, we didn't have this current year's rates yet. So, we're playing catch-up. Um, but
that is the only real increase we have. And then our expenses line item. We've taken into consideration that pretty steep increase because of the contracts. And um we evaluated our one line item of miscellaneous contracted services.
That's it's been there in the event of a urgent need for the radio system. Um and luckily we haven't needed it. So we have reduced that a little bit to a little closer to what we do need out of
that line. So um to try to help offset a little bit. So other than that that's it. >> Thank you. Uh before we start the question can you give an idea how many just a quick snapshot and we know the answer but for everyone's understanding
how many you have in the staff and where do we send? >> Sure. So there are 15 total in the whole department. Um that includes myself, 10 uh nine budgeted full-time uh full-time dispatchers, eight of which
are filled right now and four pdiums. >> Thank you. >> We'll start Q&A with Mr. Kisner. >> I'm doing the math. >> Are we still are do you still have an open wreck for a deputy or >> Yeah, sorry. 11 or I'm sorry, 16. Yeah,
that just that just opened. So, it just got posted. >> Yeah, we fought for that for a while. That's why I was asking. >> Thank you for reminding me. >> And Kyle, safe to assume then the budget here is fully reflective of all the positions we are discussing, even though they are not hired. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. It is upsetting to see
how tan you are, by the way. It's very cold and awful. Thank you. >> Second floor, >> Amy. >> Yeah. And I'm guessing the the large increase, the 8% is because the deputy position we only budgeted for a half year this year, but next year, of course, we'll have to do a full year. Okay.
>> So, the two years of contractual increases, >> right? Because now we know what those will be. Y >> that's all I have. >> Thank you, Mr. Her. >> So, we're paying for two years in the one year. >> Correct. >> Got it. I'm good. Thank you. >> I don't have any other question. One
thing I wanted to uh put out for future I remember in some of the conversations we had that there were some um mental health support um that could be used for the health of all our employees
especially who are in under stress and it's across the nation that I hear is that something you are considering including as part of um part of our practice within the department and I was going to ask it to the police department too.
>> Consider it in what sense? uh just because it's it's such a stressful job and um you know a lot of support I think exists within the dispatchers and within the teams but um looking at you know nationwide some of the trends and others
do you see need for any support there something to keep in mind uh for future but I just came to know about it on some of the you know news media and articles so I thought I'd put it out >> yeah I mean we're always conscious of of our our staff's mental health. Um, you
know, you're right, it is a stressful job. Um, and we all I always personally check in with them after a bad call. We always remind them of the town's EAP program. Um, you know, whether or not they take it up, that's that's up to them to decide. But, you know, I am very conscious of their mental health for
sure. >> Thank you for your service and that's, you know, uh, I think something we we can support as needed and >> Okay. >> something to consider. But thank you. I think I'm good. >> And I have no capital, so I'm
>> Thank you. Thank you. >> Hello. >> Hello. Good evening. >> Thank you for having me here. Um, >> thank you. So my um my budget increase this year um
initially requested was about three and a half% coordinating with Kyler and town manager's office. Um at the time of that initial submission we were still forecasting what the water and sewer increases might be. So the final budget included anticipated sewer water rate
increases. Um so it ends up at about 4.8% 4.7%. uh 75% of my budget is personnel, utilities, and contracted services. I have two line items that add up to about $90,000 for engineering services and as
an emergency repair line item. So, I have about 20% of my budget is really kind of what we put a lot of the time into uh looking into the history of repairs and services and and supplies that we do by for just the regular
operation and maintenance. uh of the town buildings. So, it's real quick oversight of the budget. >> Thank you. Um for question Amy, do you understand? >> I don't have any questions about this
budget. It's a pretty modest increase. Um and I see that some of it's due to the water sewer rates. So, those come under your budget. The water and sewer of the town just Okay. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Water and sewer accounted for the $20,000 increase between the two. >> Okay. I don't have any other questions.
>> Mr. Ker, >> one of the things I I want to try and be more mindful of as we look at capex projects is the pass through increase to departments like this that we ultimately don't budget for upfront. I'm cognizant that the town is continuing to grow. There will be more town buildings. They will be bigger. They will have more
needs. And I don't know that we necessarily think about your budget when we are having the conversation about the $60 million building, but you are where the actual work is being done at the end. So please try to remind us about that as well. But I hope we can all be a little more thoughtful about that and thank you. This obviously looks fair and
reasonable. I appreciate it. >> Thank you for the the comment on >> he reminds us >> including facilities. >> I see you >> buildings. >> So David, you went from 3.57 to 4.76 through the deliberations with your
colleagues and that was because of why? Why did it we rarely go up? So I'm just curious. I'm >> water and sewer rate the in rate increases were not being forecasted in his original submission. >> Okay. You mentioned that. Okay. Got it. Okay.
>> All right. Good. Thank you. I'm good. >> I think my colleagues clarified most of it. One thing I wanted to uh check. Do you have top of your head how much of it is spent on center school uh maintenance and now Elmwood maintenance?
Right now the the only costs for center school are an electric bill. We pay we've been trying to track where that comes from but we keep lights on for safety and security. Um it might be about 9 $10,000 a year. >> Winterizing and others are not as much.
>> We we yeah over the last eight years kind of closed off everything. We boarded up windows. There's no gas service. There's no water service. So it's all just an electric cost >> to know that went down. How about Elmwood? >> Elmwood's not mine yet. So,
>> okay. >> We are um we do have a capital request through the permanent building committee um to start studying center school um and we're having those discussions already with with the town manager's office, with the permanent building
committee on how we can uh expedite that process um as compared to the center school process of when it was handed over and what we're going to do with it. Yeah, I think that's a good learning that we can use. Thank you. I have no other question. So, we can move to the
capital. >> Okay. >> Yeah. One by one. Yeah. >> Um, first one is a um working with with Kyla trying to create a an ongoing um building repair
kind of capital item for facilities. you have miscellaneous repairs that none of my other line items really capture where you just have run-of-the-mill repairs of of buildings that we've been building up. Um, this particular case for the for
the senior center is we have damaged uh um siding, vinyl siding. We have damaged gutters. Um there's probably um gutter guards that should be installed in the senior center. We've got trim that's falling apart.
This year we've identified specific projects to repair those as kind of a capital project. We have we have them for all the different buildings. Um it's just they're not high priority kind of projects, but they're projects the
town shouldn't ignore um for years and years. So, um, this little I don't we call it a little bucket of money will not just be used for whatever every year. Every year we go to town meeting for this capital article, we're going to list out um every project that's
anticipated to be be done. And if we catch up in three or four years, it'll fall off the capital program. >> And keep in mind, we're not authorizing 150. We're asking for 25,000. We're just looking at FY27.
Thank you for that clarification. I'd start with Mr. Her. >> I have no questions. Thank you, >> Mr. Gizner. >> I really like this idea. I was talking about pass through cost of the expanding town and maintaining it. And here you were thinking creatively about it. I
like this. Don't hesitate to continue to make this case and potentially at a bigger number in future budgets. I would also encourage you as part of the capex process next year, start talking to us about what the cost of not maintenance looks like because I think that's invisible by the time you get to us. But as we're thinking about approving the
spend tonight, I don't think a lot of people in the town would fully appreciate much like if we don't re maintain Kerry's roads, they're really expensive to repave relay a new road, very expensive to build a new building. So just again help us make the case to lobby for you here and don't hesitate to
come with a bigger ask if there is a remediation plan that you have around those buildings. You're not exas you're not exactly asking for Ferraris. You're asking to keep the lights on. >> Thank you Amy. >> No I think this makes sense. Obviously little things are going to come up from year to year storm damage and other
things. So I think it makes sense to have a little money in there so that you're ready to take care of things promptly before they get worse. >> Thank you. I would echo the same. I think it makes sense. My only uh and I like Kella that you have projected it out so we have a good picture. My only
question would be when you're projecting it out um would you not want to add the inflation adjustment every year? >> We'll review it every year. So every year when we come back before you as well as the capital committee will assess what the project is that needs to
be completed and then we'll revise that number. >> Right now it's more of a placeholder. Makes sense. Thank you. Anyone else? Anything else? >> All right. Uh the next one, >> the next one is um you know the phase
two of the police station HVAC um upgrade project. Last fiscal year um last town meeting we uh the town approved funds for the design of the improvements. We've gone through an RFQ
process. We have a designer on board. Um and we've done an initial walkthrough and kickoff meeting with the um mechanical designer with the uh intent to hopefully have a
be able to get to town meeting with with a little more of a reliable number on what a construction project um might be. We we've done initial assessments with um engineering firms but big big picture to come up with this number the 1.5
million number. It's also based off of um you know some history of the other building projects. The fire department project was an HVAC project um that went you know that was kind of stuck in the COVID cycle. So the cost skyrocketed for
that project. We had to go back to town meeting a couple times, but um hopefully by the time we get to town meeting, we'll we'll have a a more comfortable kind of number to go with, but we think it's going to be within this range. And this will be to upgrade the heating and
cooling systems um of the police station >> as well as the insulation. >> Yes, I'm sorry. as well as um other building systems um that that would address some of the past problems with the building. We had a sprinkler
pipe that burst in that building a couple of years ago. Um simply due to the the way the building was constructed um was constructed to code. It was built correctly. Um there's just a limited amount of insulation between the attic
and the sprinkler pipes above the second floor ceiling. So this project is looking to address that. We had a an estimate of just under $100,000 to to address that to add an additional layer of insulation above. Um it's an unused
space. It's unconditioned. Um so it's just a really cold space. And we believe this will um address that future concern of sprinkles breaking for the same reason or freezing.
>> Thank you. We can start with Mr. Kizner. >> Thanks. Not a ton of concern here. Kyla, can you remind me is this contract required as well from from a union contract perspective? I know when we did fire last year and we had the HVAC conversation, it was union facing. Is this one union facing as
well? Yeah, it was union facing. Correct. >> Okay. Not that I wouldn't be in support of it anyway, but I think it's important to highlight to the town that this is one of those things that's also negotiated as part of our contracts. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Mr. Her. >> No questions. Thank you, >> Amy. >> No, I don't think I have any questions.
More insulation is always good. Helps our our bills. Yeah. >> I just have one quick question. Um what is the life expectation for this? >> Your typical heating cooling systems 15 20 years
>> insulation a lot more. >> I was at the police station last year uh for the town manager um interviews. We spent like more than half a day and it was 100° inside. >> And that's what Matt was getting to about union facing. So there's a concern
about the work environment. >> Sure. with the PE with the police officers that work there. So, we didn't want to have disgruntled union employees. >> No, absolutely. This makes total sense. >> Thank you. >> And they tend to wear a lot of stuff that's heavy.
>> I can't imagine. >> Yeah. >> Uh the next capital request is the Fruit Street garage uh assessment and design. Uh the fruit tree garage used to be the um was used temporarily for DPW
operations when we were building the new DPW. Um further history I anybody recall that was the original DPW? Was DPW ever there before? No. There there was a DPW admin building that was there was the little cape there. But um the building
continues to be used by all departments um for vehicle storage, boat storage, vehicles. The town stores probably millions of dollars of equipment in that building. Um last five years has been a
discussion about having a capital article to do this or not having a capital order to do this. Is the building going to be used for this or for that? Um facilities manager director finally said, "We got to fix this building this year because we're storing millions of dollars of equipment in
there. We have leaks. Um the electrical system is is um in need of upgrade. Um the sprinkler system needs to be upgraded. The equipment needs to be protected. Uh we also have equipment
from Border Health. We've had files in there um that get damaged and have to be thrown away because of exposed to the elements and exposed to critters. So we really need to address that building. Um, I'm asking for $75,000 to kind of do
a planning effort as well as uh the planning as is to assess what's going to be needed from a mechanical standpoint for fire. Um, the sprinkler system, uh, the electrical system, the building envelope, which is your doors and
windows, painting of the building. Um, we're going to have to do a hazardous material assessment to do all that work. uh as well as um design of all of that including site work. Um the parking lot is
falling apart, the pavement. So there needs to be work done to that building. Um this isn't the smaller building. It's it's the bigger garage building. Um, I've talked about possibly doing assessment to knock it down and build a whole another building, but there I
don't see that as a um a path with with the current fiscal status of the tower. We don't we don't need another $5 million project to make that building bigger. Um, in my mind, I see as more as a priority.
It has to be addressed now to seal it up um and protect the equipment that's in there. I think >> this year it's 75 and I estimated maybe quarter of a million dollars to do the building envelope work, upgrade the electrical and paint the building and do some site work,
>> but we're just focused on 27. >> Right. Right. >> That's okay. >> Thank you for the clarification. One quick question and I'll pass on to our my colleagues is u was the estimation based on an RFP or based on the experts including yourself
>> is the what >> the estimation for the repair cost? >> Um the the estimate for the repair cost um trying to remember how many years ago six seven years ago maybe maybe eight years ago the town hired a mechanical an
MEP firm. We did an assessment of all of our town buildings to to look at a the development of a of a long-term capital plan. It's a lot of the information I use for the capital plan we currently have plus this um applying contingencies
and increases over the years. >> So you projected from that um and I assume from the planning and design sessions you'll be able to project it better for the construction cost. >> Correct. Yes. The money from fiscal year 27 will be used to develop a accurate
construction estimate for what the final construction project will be. >> Thank you. Um Amy >> uh no I can see the building needs maintenance and I I think I don't have any other questions. >> Mr. Harry, >> I'm I'm struggling the with the use of
the building. I I I know the building well. It's down there forever on Fruit Street with the kids, right? So we all know it. It's an eyesore for the community and the guest of the community to come in and go to those fields all the time. Um, but I didn't know there was that much stuff in there, whatever
that is. And I guess we studied, we kind of taken a step back and said, "What else can we do here besides spend all this money on this building that's clearly in need of a lot of work?" Like this what we have to do.
>> Yeah. I think the issue is, you know, there's a lot there. we have the space need. Um, so as Dave mentioned, it's either store the the items here or build another building or tear down this building and replace it. So I think the
given, you know, the financial forecasts, I think the the thought is, well, let's see if we can upgrade this older building and continue to use it. >> Have you guys talked to the permanent building committee about all this? >> Yes. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I work with the permanent building committee. They they know the projects that I'm submitting for capital and but um for 27, you know, we'll I'll keep them involved. is usually up I don't know
on the project and the status um but it ends up it's that or or store 1520$20 million worth of equipment vehicles outside. >> Yeah. And if you mentioned that in your conversation I'm sorry. Um I was caught
up in something else at the same time. I'm I'm a I'm a lean enterprise business person and lean enterprise thinking go you go back to the drawing board and you analyze from 28 different angles and you maximize the use of space obviously um
it just seems like this one we're just going to throw some money into a building that's somewhat in disrepair and go from there. I think I would prefer we take a step back. I'd rather go hire somebody for 100 G's and study this thing and figure out what the town really needs long term. I'd rather do
that before we just go fix this thing up. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. Kisner. >> It's a full moon. I sound like Brian her tonight. It's great. I echo Mr. Her sentiments on just about everything. I
I'm in I want to separate what I see as two issues being presented to us as linked. There is a problem in which equipment is being inadequately stored which is putting at risk town finances and investments that is mutually exclusive from whether or not I repair this building where they are currently
stored. I understand the condition of that building helps put those assets at risk or not at risk. But those are separate conditions for me. I have significant concern that my director of facilities and engineering is here escalating to me that I have town assets and investments at risk. I'm there with
you. we should do something about that. I echo Mr. Her's sentiments that it doesn't sound like we adequately understand what the requirements of this building and space are other than Grock need to put metal in. Grock hide things from rain and element. I can appreciate
that. I don't know that I'm as comfortable throwing the good money after bad here. I really do want to echo Brian. I think we need to step back and have a fitforpurpose conversation, not just from a facilities and engineering perspective. What do we think should be in there? Why should it be in there? Is
it strategically stored? Are there things we should be moving around? I really appreciate your fiscal discipline and prudence about not wanting to bring another project forward. This is the sort of project I actually do think I would want to be talking about. This is riskbased protection of significant
other town assets and it would obviously have other benefits. I'm not advocating for a $5 million project here. I'm just not sure that this is an appropriate band-aid either. >> And if I didn't explain with enough detail, uh this is kind of in
coordination with the senior center, um police station, fire station, TPW, they all have key vehicles that they store there that they have nowhere else to store. So, we've had those discussions
um at a town senior leader level. Um right now it's become a situation where the only place to store these you know $3 million bucket truck or whatever it was. So you're going to maintain the life of that vehicle which is um you
know if you extend vehicles lives for five years because we spend quarter of a million dollars we will save millions of dollars on the capital budget. >> I think you've just effectively escalated a significant concern to the executive level. >> That's I I've been advocating for what
do we want to do with this building for a while um prior to Elaine. um what are we doing with this? Because there's always been discussion about possibility of doing this, possibility of doing that, are we building another this, are we building another that with the
financial forecast that we see over the next few years? I didn't think it was anybody's interest for me to look to build another building to address a need we have now. Um >> what does it cost us the town? Sorry.
Through the chair. Excuse me. Through the chair. What does it cost us the town to be having a conversation about how to adequately store those things? Renting a space. I I'm not going to pretend I know what it looks like or that that's a simple solution, but perhaps that's how the money is allocated. And then we're having a better conversation about fit
for purpose. So to Mr. Hurst's point, I I would really encourage you to reconsider the solutions and the approach on this one. >> Right. And and >> could I suggest again that we maybe table this for now? We have a lot of budgets to get through. We could ask Dave to come back maybe. >> All right. And
>> just the last thing, construction would be requested next year. >> We're ultimately this is a request for planning >> funds to do exactly what I think we're all talking about here to figure out if that's the best approach. >> Thank you. I think we we are echoing the
same and I hear that um this is the planning session or planning and design. So all great points I would echo the same and it goes to all our buildings right we had experience they have to some extent with the center school kind of u spending on maintenance for quite
some time without really having a full-blown u utilization or ch or plan but things like this I thank you for bringing up and that's what gave us the opportunity to discuss we'll we'll probably discuss more but those are kind
of takeaways that uh if you want I include that as part of the planning process as well that what the larger scale um purpose of these buildings are and can we repurpose it? Can we do other utilization of these uh so we optimize
our assets and not only spend on maintenance for something that may become expensive over life. Thank you. Anything else? >> We have six more. >> I hear your comments so thank you. Um the next one is um the senior center
HVAC, heating, ventilation, air conditioning. Um assessment. >> All right. >> There's a phase one project. Senior center their their equipment it's it's coming up to 20 years old already. Um equipments are at their already beyond
their useful life. So phase one is going to be following like the model we're using for the police station. We're going to hire a designer um with the funds by requesting at this town meeting for the next town meeting to have a a construction request. Um this project is
in coordination. All of them are with the permanent building committee. >> Thank you. I'll start with Mr. Her. >> Uh I'm okay with the planning portion of this. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Kisner. >> Um Amy.
>> Yep. The system is old. I understand it has to be replaced and it will be expensive. Yeah, >> thank you. I would agree the same and uh no further question. Next one. >> Next one. >> Replacement. >> Yeah. Facilities has in the 15 years
I've been here requested one vehicle. um the last round of handme-down vehicles that the facilities received from the building inspector department and the fire department. Um as well as one from the police department um which we drove for about nine months before it literally drove
itself off the road has been auctioned off. Um there were just too too expensive to make the repairs. The the current 2011 Tahoe that we drive around has 92,000 miles on it. Um the
horn don't work. We have other problems. Um once once these vehicles gets handed down, they get all the emergency vehicle stuff gets taken out of them. So half the time you'll have uh the armrests are are gone, half the dashboards gone, the back seats that are taken out of the
things. Um the the we're driving around um the 2013 Explorer from the old building inspector and it now has 104,000 miles on it. So, um, we effectively have two vehicles that we're really driving around, um, that are, you
know, roadw worthy. Um, this was originally staggered. It's from two years, but the the 2010 Taurus that we had from the police station, we didn't expect it to. It had lower mileage. Um, but it just I'm not sure why. Maybe they
just a year. It was 2010, 15 years old. Um, so we're asking for two two vehicles. We're going to look at hybrid vehicles, kind of an SUV. Um, we have a pickup from a 2021. Um, that does the the heavy lifting for
the department. Um, that was I think the one vehicle we asked for four or five years ago, but um, a portion of that was encumbered from my department. I think up to 15 or $20,000 was encumbered from the facilities department to pay for
that vehicle. Um, in the two 2017 Ford Fusion that we have um was through a grant. So, um I'm asking for these two vehicles for for about $100,000 so that we'll have four vehicles on the road that we can
use. Um, for our staff that works tremendously hard, um, we have a great I have got a great staff at the moment. Um, >> I'd like to be able to have them drive vehicles that they don't have to worry
about. Um, half the time we have people driving their own vehicles right now. >> Thank you, Dave. We'll um, start with Amy. >> No, I think it makes sense. These vehicles are old, have a lot of miles, so I don't have any other questions. >> Mr. Giza. >> Yeah. When we get to future agenda, I'm
going to want to talk more about the snake eating itself with his town vehicles, but I have no question here. >> Mr. Har, >> I I I'm okay. Um, we've pushed back over the years many times on vehicles, you know, different times. Uh, I think with the free cash, this is not a bad year to
get caught up on some of these vehicles. Uh that said, I'd be remiss if I didn't, you know, acknowledge that a lot of our residents drive vehicles a lot more miles uh than what we're talking about here. They don't get the same kind of, you know, wear and tear on them that we
do. I mean, I see the DPW folks and the facilities folks at at town, you know, public safety events all the time, not events like hanging out like when we had the situation out here with the with the building collapse and everything. uh there's a lot of vehicles involved and
um they have to operate well to to do their do their job and for their you know the drivers to do their job obviously too. So I'm okay with this year with getting caught up here. >> Thank you. Uh I I'm okay as well. I
think you made the detail on the need and the case and for uh something that's kind of been waiting. I think it looks reasonable. Next one. >> Thank you. Um, next one is uh in coordination with the senior center um
for upgrading replacement of their kitchen equip kitchen appliances that commercial grade appliances um never really had and it's been a a missing kind of capital program for
years but um in coordination with with with Kyler and Elaine Tom manager's office and Amy back over to senior center Um over the next few years, we're going to continue replacing those appliances that are 15 almost 20 years
old now. Um we had a request uh last year, I think, that passed and and we just up upgraded the um the gas range um as well as all the other um building code requirements that come along with
that. Next year, we're going to be replacing um the cooling system for the walk-in freezer. That's the condensing unit, the fans, as well as the door to the walk-in freezer. Um we we received
cost estimates um from a company that that provides these to as backup to all this. So, it's not a it's not so much a guess. It's a it's based on real proposals as well as um you know some contingencies for
they don't install the electricity. They don't install some of the plumbing work. They they deliver the equipment. Um remove the old stuff. >> Thank you. De I would um request you to speed up a little bit. I think we're short on time now. >> A couple more.
>> All right. Um we'll start with Amy. >> Yes. So it looks like about 40,000 a year for the next four years. So you'll do portions of the project each year till you get everything all done. >> Yes. And and I'm not sure we're going to go out to 28 as was working with the the
the senior center and they're they're able they've been able to find other funding. So we've been able to do other equipment without with grants and with um >> yeah I know the senior center was is 20 years old and um you the seniors really enjoy eating there and so we need to have good working order kitchen.
Mr. Ka, >> you believe you have appliances that have lasted 20 years. That's simply incredible. I I just want to note this is the not the first that has noted the collaboration between the finance with Kyla and the town manager's office. So, just highlighting how collaborative this
has been. We're seeing a lot of really creative proposals this year. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you, Mr. Hart. It's better to buy a house that's 25 years old than buy a house that's 15 or 20 years old because they take care of all the stuff, you know, after it fails at 15 to 20 years. So, u the senior center does great
things for the community and I think we should support it. >> Thank you. I think it looks reasonable and of course needed for our um seniors and the center continuing its operation.
One quick question I had uh is for Kyla. I see the projections and we have seen it on couple others. Uh so this year we are uh having free cash which is going to help but in subsequent years at some point we'll probably need to calculate
and see how much we are already kind of uh getting little bit stuck with investing further >> and as I see more and more it's growing of course for good reasons but something to keep on radar so I already think we are approaching more than a million or
two maybe maybe you have even bigger number that are already accounted for with these projects that are starting this year but will have impact for the next 2 three years. >> Yeah. And these are just projections for 28. You haven't even Well, you've seen the capital plan, the 5-year capital
plan. So, you'll see you've seen the total that's already estimated out there. >> Okay. Thank you. Next one, Dave. >> Next one is um replacement of of the the mini split systems in town hall over the next couple years, the older ones. um more
over 10 years old already. Um with the newer systems, uh they're more they will be more efficient and provide heating and cooling. We have several units in in town hall that just provide cooling because they're so old. Um these units included um so that's what this one is
for. um the ones in in the second floor, this building, there's there's four heads that we can probably uh that I we're anticipating replacing with these money. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Yeah, I'm surprised that they need
replacing after just 10 years. I mean, obviously, if they're not working, we need to replace them, but this I thought most heating and split split systems last longer than 10 years. Yeah, it's in in consult in coordination with with the other capital request is
is an assessment of the heating cooling of this building. Um, switching over to systems that do both heating and cooling will allow us possibly to do something different with the the main heating system in the building, the boiler and the hot water system. >> Okay. So,
>> which we will assess with um the next capital request is to do an assessment of the heating system here in town hall. Yeah. Could I just ask is it is it these systems? They're fairly new, right? But these are only >> um they're fairly new, but they they only do cooling. >> They're only cooling.
>> Yeah. And and a lot of the ones on this this floor do the older systems that that I put in. >> Okay. >> Many many years ago, um there was an original request 12 14 years ago to do central air in the building, which just didn't gain
traction. So, um, we kind of have a lot of these, but >> I don't have any objection if it's needed. I just was surprised. >> Yeah, I know. They're they're they seem to be a technology that's come a long way in 10 years. >> Mr. Gizner, >> yeah, I don't want to fitz in here. So, please thank you for taking care of us
and the other employees who work here every day. >> Mr. Her, >> I'm all set. Thank you. >> I'm good. Thank you. Let's go to the next one. >> Uh, and the last one is Kyla. >> You want two more? Oh yeah, I forgot the onboard one. The
biggest one of them all town hall heating assessment is the boiler. The boiler is needs to be upgraded. We we've had problems this year. We almost didn't get it running. Um but that's going to be in coordination with you know the newer technologies and um that's why I'm I'm I'm looking for money to do an
assessment of the heating system um to take into account all the split systems, the central air system we have upstairs along with the boiler system as well as the the little central system we have down in the basement. everything segmented and we want to get it running
as much as we can as costefficiently we can with newer technology with the town's goals for for net zero um and and along along with sustainable greens commitment to working on
town becoming more green. >> Thank you. How old is the current system? the the boiler system. Uh the boiler the boiler is probably 15 years old now, maybe a little older. Um I think it was it might have been replaced. It was replaced before I was
here. I just don't know if it was two years or five years before I was here. It's hard to track that down. >> Thank you, Mr. Her. >> No questions, >> Mr. Kizner. >> Nope. Please and thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Thank you. Last one. >> Yes, last one. Sorry. Elwood School. Um
we touched on it on another project. Permanent building committee um is on on board with this project. They they're going to be moving this project forward. Um they presented to the board a couple of years ago um bigger picture center
school Elwood school. So, um the $75,000 um will probably, you know, following the model of center school from a hazardous material inspection report um to appraisal services for the property um
in some planning services um to determine what options are available um to the town for that property. And the amount being requested falls in line with about what some of those services cost for the um center school.
>> Thank you, Mr. Kizner. >> Indoor paintball facility. >> You can have the catharsis of getting over your school trauma. No, I appreciate that we were thinking creatively about how to take advantage of the town asset. Thank you, >> Amy. >> Yeah. No, I'm really pleased that we're
doing this now. I think we waited too long to do this sort of thing with center school and it sat there for too long. So studying it now and then we can figure out what we might want to do with it and what what are the best options later I think is a really good idea and we have the free cash to cover it.
>> Mr. Her would include possibly selling that asset to a private developer. >> Yes, I believe that's already kind of been one of the options the permanent building looked at either entirety um subdividing the property uh using the
whole property. Um all those would be looked at. I'd be okay with the 75 grand for planning and to sort of assess what we should do here. Um, but if we're going to keep it for whatever reason that might be, I would not be interested in doing that until this other debt is under control four or five years out.
So, we'd have to stage that out a little bit. >> Good point. >> Thank you. Yeah, I would echo the same. I was looking at on year three, it's 10 million. We don't That'll be a sticker shot. But my um quick question is in the
planning what is your scope and how do you come up with the uh estimation it for a larger scale project like this depending on which route we go. It sounds a little small to me
>> for the it was it's based on the what the different phases for the center school project. We we had borrowed some money to do the um hazardous material report and inspection. We we used some funds to do an appraisal of the property to see what it was worth. We actually
hired an appraisal firm. It was >> sure $8,000. And then we also hired um consulting services to do an initial planning to to see what what options the town um and that part includes some
public outreach and some meetings. >> Thank you. to clarify my question. What do we what can we expect at the end of the planning uh phase? >> Is it like >> hopefully what the town wants to do with this with this property? >> Basically the options analysis and with
some more detail as >> yes what >> and from my my standpoint not just the options but which option >> okay >> would be beneficial as opposed to letting it go on and on for years. >> Thank you. You know, I like that we started early and or on time, I should
say, but we have to >> Yeah. And the $10 million, I'm sorry, on the plan is just based on when when the school projects are clo uh might be opening and and when that building Well, the town's >> correct. Yeah, understood. No, thanks
for clarifying. >> Thank you. That is >> did it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Our last one um with DPW K is here. >> I really wish everybody could see how excited Kyla is when like they get up to
leave. It's like she's watching the child go to like college and they're getting out of the car. >> Proud of everybody. >> That's what I mean. It's awesome to see that leadership from you. Thank you. >> Almost there. Thank you. Good evening. >> Good evening.
So, we're looking at the operating budget first. >> All right. Good evening. I'm Carrie Reid. I'm the director of public works. The DPW is proposing a general fund operating budget for FY27 of 5.7 million. It's an overall 0.6% increase
from FY26. some of the key highlights um of the operating bud of the operating general fund budget because we will also have operating enterprise budget. So you have to appreciate that my presentation is about twice as long as Dave's. So sit
all in there for that. Um one of the big changes that you'll see is that I'm proposing to change um a change to the way that the personnel is accounted for um to increase transparency and improve financial management in the enterprise funds. I propose to change from indirect
to direct funding for three of the current positions currently full positions. The water and sewer manager, the water and sewer assistant manager, and the water and sewer billing coordinator. So, their salaries would be moved from the DPW admin under the general fund, which is on the top line, and they would be moved to the water and
sewer enterprises funds and be funded directly. Right now, basically, the enterprise funds pay back the general fund. Um, there are no changes proposed to those positions. It's just the way we account for them. So you'll see that budget drops out of the general fund, but it increases in the water and sewer
later. The other personnel change um just like you heard from the others is that our union also negotiated a new contract and that accounts for about an 8% increase in wages which you will see in salary and overtime. So then when we start talking about
expenses um to meet the budget message for pavement management we are level funded not level service. So we are spending the same amount of money last year or proposing to spend the same amount last year as we will next year. Costs are
going up. So you're going to get less roads repaved for the same amount of money. Um we rely very heavily on chapter 90 funding which comes from the state. We were very fortunate last year that the administration supported a larger amount than we expected. Um but
that's not a reliable funding source and um we do use it for more than half of our pavement work. So if we get additional funding from the state and you can talk to your state representatives and and advocate for that um we'll be able to do more work but at this present time with the level funding you cannot expect that more
roads will be paved next year than were this year and we have a continuing growth of backlog. Uh we have budgeted for additional operation and maintenance costs for signals, signs, landscaping and sidewalk infrastructure that was or will be installed as part of the main street
project and the Charleswood school project. More specifically, the Hayden Row improvements that are being part of the Charleswood school projects. These are both expected to be complete this summer and then the ON&M responsibilities are going to be transferred to the DBW for all this new infrastructure and green space. So that
increases you see under the traffic signal and the tree warden and light items. This budget supports the Lake Maspan weed control citizen advisory group's recommendation for herbicide treatment at Lake Maspanok in FY27. This budget supports maintenance for the
town's fuel island wash and maintenance garage. The DPW is responsible for operating and maintaining these facilities that support the entire town's fleet. So, you know, police, fire, the senior centers, bus, any other staff vehicles, they all use the same fuel island, the wash bay, and the
maintenance bay. And because of the age and because of the high use of these facilities, we need to increase the maintenance budget for them. This budget includes contractual price increases for materials and services, um, specifically trash and recycling, landscaping, salt, and paving, which are built into those
contracts. I also want to note at this point that our contracts with eel Harvey for the curbside trash and recycling pickup as well as our contract with wheelbraider wind waste for trash disposal expire in FY28. So although this budget reflects a pretty modest
increase um in FY28 when those contests get renegotiated I would expect a much larger increase in those costs. This budget proposes to eliminate the electronics waste recycling program which I've spoken with the select board about previously. Um this is not just a
cost savings but it's also a better recycling program that I think aligns better with the town sustainability goals. So it's my opinion that the current program is a little bit too convenient and it doesn't encourage residents to actually reduce and reuse electronics um in their waste. And we have a lot of great other options such
as the Hopkins Sustainable Green Committee's annual recycling and reuse day which at this point I would like to plug is on Saturday, April 4th from 10 to 1:00 at Marathon School. Um, but they do that as an annual event which provides an alternative which I personally feel is more green and more
sustainable than the option that we currently have with Eel Harvey which is convenient and cheap for our residents but again doesn't really support our overall goals for sustainability in my personal opinion. And lastly in terms of our operating budget um you will see
that the storm response and the snow and ice budgets are level funded. they continue to be responsive. Um, as you've previously discussed, the snow and ice budget spending is allowed to go over budget by state law. Um, so the difference will be covered in free cash. So the budget is $350,000, but as you
can see, the average is closer to 7 between 750 and 850 and this year we're going to be about 1.2 million and rising. Um, so that will have to be covered by free cash for the difference. um storm
response which is separate is mostly to deal with w uh wind and rainstorms which are increasing. So the way the state law works we can spend over for snow and ice but we can't spend over for emergencies with wind and rain which we're seeing a
lot of. So we have a separate budget for that but that has to stay within budget and when it when it goes over budget as it always does um we have to supplement it with the highway funding. And the last thing I wanted to mention about the snow and ice budgets, because
it is level funded, it does not include increased rates for snow plows, which I would highly recommend for FY27 that we increase their rates. So that is what I have for the um general fund operating budget. Do you
have any questions before we move on? >> Thank you. Let's go over this first and then we'll go to the next. Uh Mr. Her. >> Hi Carrie. you mentioned for the manager for water and sewer and uh how many positions was that that you're going to
move to the enterprise fund? >> Three positions. >> So we if we move those three positions from the DPW to the enterprise funds, the town pays for the DPW, the rate you or the the users pay for the enterprise funds. So are they then carrying a a
higher burden uh on their budget? In other words, the rate payers are paying for that more than the overall town paying for the DPW for those positions. Do you >> No, the rateayers are paying for those positions now. It's just paid out of the general fund and then the rate payers and the rates and the enterprise fund
>> pay it back. >> So it gets transferred over. >> Yes. Got it. >> So you don't see it in expenses. You see it in the back when we do the revenue. And >> so this is not a disadvantage to the rateayers for water and sewer. >> No, it's direct versus indirect. >> Okay. All right. Great. And like I said, I think it provides a little bit more
transparency and under it makes it easier to understand. >> Got it. Thank you. Uh and then my question, as you might imagine on the corridor and maintaining the corridor, what amount of money was that exactly to maintain the corridor once it's done?
We are proposing $28,000 in addition for downtown beautifification, which is mostly for managing the green space and the new accessories that have been put in as part of downtown, >> like all the little gardens and stuff like that, >> like the benches, the new trash cans,
the street trees, the grates around the street trees, things like that. >> Who's going to take care of all the gardens along the corridor that are going to be there? Now, >> I mean, they're mostly from kind of uh dry cleaners to the other side of the common.
>> I am proposing that that gets included in the tree warning budget and that right now we have it subcontracted. Um, and I would recommend continuing to do that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Most of the like the grass green spaces like the one right by the library
the DBW can maintain, but some of the ones with a little bit more landscaping and shrubs and plants and all those I think it should be a landscaper that handles it. >> I don't have a strong opinion on how you do it as long as we get it done because we've all lived through 10 years of hell
here putting up with this project. We've got six more months and it's going to be really nice and if in two years later it's one big weedfest, it will all be for not. So, we got to make sure we figure that out and not let it slide. >> So, I will point out all this is in the tree war and budget. If you look at the
tree war and budget and you look under personnel services, the budget's zero. There is no staff. I'm the tree warden. There's no management staff for that. Um, so that's going to be part of a challenge and part of the reason why we have to subcontract it. >> Yeah, I'm okay with subcontracting it, but we got to make sure we give you the
money to get it done. Again, we we shouldn't have done this project if we were just going to let it turn into a big mess, right? So, we want it we want this to be Boston Common out here when it's done. And Boston Common is maintained amazingly and that's what we're looking for. So, the community
chirps in my ear all the time about what it's going to be like two years down the road and we got to make sure we deliver on that. So, if you don't have enough money, you got to let us know, >> right? >> Got it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Kisner.
help me understand why there is a target for snow and ice at all if we're ultimately just going to pay what we need. I'm concerned that we're having a little bit of like it feels almost as though it's a potential shell where you could really put any number there, but it influences
how your budget appears relative to your peers, what percentage increase it is, and we're never going to come back and reconcile you against what you spent for snow and ice. So this is not necessarily a criticism that you're spending too much. Please spend more. In fact, I will not be upset. But I want to understand
how we're choosing the number that we put into the budget knowing that it is not fully reflective and what the impact of that is as you are having budget conversations in other departments. >> The 350 that has been budgeted this year has been the number that's been
historically used. And since it's the one budget item that you are allowed to go over and offset with free cash, we leave it at 350 because you can't go under. It goes back to free cash anyway.
>> Yeah. This is not me challenging that. This is me saying why not budget zero. >> The state law requires you to have a certain amount. So you can't um >> Okay. Without getting too into the weeds, I would love to maybe in the background understand what that minimum target number is. We're obviously going
to do what we need to do, but that is potential budgetary that could be more accurately reflected elsewhere. We could be helping lift all tides knowing that we're always going to take care of you over there. >> Thank you, >> Amy. >> Um, I had questions about the e-waste. Um, so you're talking about the shed
that we have at the um on on Wood Street. Um, right Harvey's. So, we can't do e-waste there now. Is that >> They have e-waste there now. It's a dumpster. Um, and they charge us the fee. It ends up being about $500, $600 a
month. Um, we had rates. We don't have an ability to collect those right now. >> So, so now we won't have that a dumpster for e-waste next year. Is that right? >> I'm sorry. Can you >> We won't have the dumpster for e-waste next. >> That's what I'm proposing. I would get rid of it. >> Okay. And then people So, so people
would have to just go once or twice a year to dispose of them or or find someplace else to dispose if they have a broken television or something, >> right? they would have to find something else. I mean, the Hopkins sustainable green committee has great information on their website. Um, most of the big box stores like Staples has a thing so when you buy one, they'll take your old one
back. Um, there's several fundraisers in town for electronic waste um for nonprofits, so they benefit. We're actually taking away business from them. >> Yeah. So, we just have to really communicate that. I think people are used to being able to take a TV or monitor there. Yeah. >> Okay. And then um and then the
herbicides that that's under one of these line items and has that been decided yet or we waiting to see how the draw down goes if we need herbicides. >> The uh citizen advisory group is recommending herbicide treatment. It's built into the budget. So >> Okay. But you evaluate each year whether
it's really needed though. We evaluate it here and they evaluate it this year and that's what they're recommending to move forward with >> and you'll go with their recommendation or you gave input into the >> I've been involved in the conversations and I >> and you think it really is needed this year. >> I do you know with if the overall town
goals are to maintain the recreational use and health of the lake? Yes. >> Okay. And is there if people want to read more about it, is there a presentation they could get from the committee or? >> There is a ton of information on the DPW's website under lakes and ponds. All
the previous reports, all the annual surveys, all the presentations that the citizen advisory group has given. In addition to that, the lake maspanox um preservation association has additional information about the specific weeds, the water quality sampling results, um
this and that. The information uh for the permit from the conservation commission is also on the website. So everything is publicly available for anybody that wants >> on the DPW website. Okay. Yeah, I know because it makes me very nervous. The idea of using the herbicides and worrying that they're not really going
to be effective or could cause more problems, but um I will point people to your website. >> Thank you. I just have uh some quick clarification. The first one, you're down almost 20% on the DPW admin. Is that sustainable or that's how it's
going to be kind of allocated to the enterprise fund and >> it's going to be managed >> direct versus indirect for the enterprise. >> Okay. And this will be the norm going forward. Thank you. The second one is um
just in overall I see it's only 62% increase and I was referring to or thinking about your initial statement that it is level funding and not level service. Can you elaborate on that? Should we expect degradation of service
because of this? If so, what is the number you had in mind or have you analyzed that we would need to do level service? Well, on the presentation, it has the the recommended amount and then the the final amount. So, the recommended amount
is what we would need for level service and then um the reductions were based on managing the budget. As you've seen now, you know, GPW has one of the larger general fund budgets that has most wiggle room. So, when you're trying to balance a budget, that's where the cuts have to be made.
>> Thank you. Can you give us the number? What is the difference? I >> the original request was um 5,916,000 and the recommended um budget is now 5 million 669. >> So about 300,000
>> roughly, >> right? Yeah. Is that a big concern or you think it's manageable? Of course the services that you have is touches everyone's lives, the residents, um the roads, the trash, the trees and everything. So is are we compromising
too much for 300,000? >> The the big cut is with the pavement management program. So their original request was for $800,000 and we level serve we level funded at $600,000. So that's where the big chunk of
$200,000 came from. >> Like I said, we're not going to be able to pay up as many roads. So people are going to have to expect that they're not going to be as good. >> I mean they're not bad. They're not, you know, obviously we prioritize, but >> thank you.
>> That's it. And we also had um asked for a project manager position. You're going to see that we're requesting a lot of capital work and a lot needs to be done. Um we definitely need more help with engineering services and project management services. So I do have concerns about our ability to keep up with it. We're going to have
to hire consultants to help us out. it I think it could be more sustainable if we had town staff that was doing it. >> Go ahead. >> Through the through the chair, I I think we made we the town made a bit of a passive decision around pavement
management when we didn't fund it at the last it was two town meetings ago we didn't fund the pave management plan. I don't think we said it this way. I wasn't on the board at the time but we certainly haven't said it this way since. We essentially elected to go to a runtofail plan on roads in the town at
that point. I don't know that that was the right decision. I don't know that everybody understood that that's the decision they were making. But unless we recover quickly on the maintenance of roads in town, we have essentially opted to a runtofail model. I would expect to continue to see a degradation what you were requesting for maintenance because
you're going to be unable to maintain the old roads. This is a very fancy way of saying for anybody listening, it's eventually going to be significantly more expensive that we chose to not spend the money. Now, this is a zero sum game here, folks. It's always going to
cost money to have roads in town. It costs less to maintain them over time than it does to mill and relay them. Our decisions in your sticker shock at town meeting has put us in a position in which you will pay significantly more down the road for worse quality roads in
the interim. I hope this upsets you and that you give us and others in town feedback about this and you challenge us and others in town to come back with a remedial plan. This is not aimed at you, Carrie. >> Thank you. Anyone else?
Um, thank you. I I think wanted to emphasize on that the same way that uh you know we we always advocate for tight budget and thank you for everyone's effort in doing that but at the same time we want to make sure we provide the right quality of service. So this is um
you know one of those and uh my recommendation would be to you know go back and see if there is any other way we can accommodate some of it so we don't go into a you know a much dire state in couple of years and come back with more bigger capital investments or
capital uh spend. I know it's tough but something for as a town administration you know best how to manage this something to consider with that we can move to the next >> sure sorry real quick uh so with that comment and I would agree with that comment do we have money in the overall
budget for a little bit more here >> no >> no that was a pretty quick no >> maintaining the wish list we have that we have the wish list >> but to the discussion I don't know that we want to find more money here for pavement management given the decisions
that we've already made. Like the ball has already begun rolling. I think it would cost us additional funds above and beyond to stand and recover it and stop the boulder. Like we the the coyote pushed it. It is rolling down now. >> One of the capital requests that you'll
see is for a pavement management plan um that will outline what will be required for the next 5 years. >> So, but we have to stick to it. >> Correct. I think we move forward with that and then that will define how the
town needs to move forward after that plan. >> That makes sense. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Let's move to the capital ones. >> All right. So, we're moving to uh uh general fund capital. >> Oh, sorry. Yep.
>> Okay. We can do that. All right. So, I don't know the presentation, but um yeah, I have all the stuff. I would um I would just ask because the fire chief and the deputy chief have been gracious enough to stick around because I think they have interest. Oh, the deputy
leave. He was here. He was here while he was holding on as long as he could. Um so I want to bring up first um that we're proposing as a capital project a vehicle undercarriage pressure washer system. So I don't know if we can pull that one up. I know we got to skip the exit the fifth one.
>> A good idea. >> There we go. Um, so this is something that's being like I would say jointly um sponsored by the DPW and the fire department. As I mentioned earlier, the DPW is responsible for maintenance of the entire town fleet and specifically
the washbay um our maintenance bay and our fuel system. So this little tiny picture is our um washbay which the entire town fleet uses and um we are proposing this underwater system to remove corrosive salt and mud. So, I
think everybody can appreciate the impacts of salt on vehicles at this point. Um, and it's going to prolong the life of our fleet and is something that was brought up by the fire department, but also by police, the senior center bus, um, the building inspector who goes
out to a lot of sites and needs to wash off his vehicle. So, um, I wanted to note that this piece of equipment was included in the original design of the DBW, but it was not installed due to budgetary constraints at that time. >> Thank you, Mr. Her. I'm okay.
>> Mr. KNA >> going to save us money in the long run. Good idea. >> Yeah. >> Amy, >> objections. >> Thank you. I'm I'm good, too. Let's go to the next one. Okay. >> Oh, no. >> Yeah, I got my visual aid. I'll be all right. But thank you. >> Thanks, Chief.
>> Thank you, Je. >> Um, I felt bad. So overall uh capital projects uh I'm proposing or before you tonight nine different capital projects under the general fund totaling about
$4.8 million all being funded by free cash. So I don't know if you all want me to go through them each line by line or if you >> for for the sake of time if you want to go just like one minute on each or 30
seconds on each and then we'll have questions al together. Everyone feels okay with that. >> I tried to do my best. So uh these are listed in the prior in our priority order of where we would like them to be approved. The first one is replacing a
Ford 550 dump truck with a swap loader. We're adding that. This is the swap loader would used to be like a hot box. Does asphalt projects. So, if you see somebody that goes around and is fixing potholes on the street, the thing for asphalt in the back, this is the truck that would do that. The swap loader would do that. Would also have a leak
vacuum on the back. It will replace a 14-year-old dump truck with over 130,000 miles. The second project is the Gross Street drainage repairs and sidewalk improvements. This project is to repair a damaged drainage pipe that
is resulting in street flooding, which is also what you see in that photo in and around 80 Grove Street. Um, this is a project that was on our capital plan and we're rep prioritizing it to bring it forward um due to the drainage failure that was observed in October 2025 and we did some investigation work
and the pipe is currently failing. So, this needs to be rep prioritized and done more quickly. This project also, as it says, it's drainage repairs and sidewalk improvements. So the drainage line goes under the sidewalk. So the sidewalk will need to be removed and repa and replaced as part of this
project. Um there was a citizen request to do an improvement of the crosswalks at Gro Street and Pleasant Street under which this drainage pipe is going to go. That was a 2023 annual town meeting request. So we are taking some of the engineering that was done as part of
that and incorporating this as an integrated project to improve the drainage and the connectivity sidewalks and crosswalks at the same time. All right, next project speed dating. So this project you will
also see when we talk about the water um the water enterprise that's what's really driving this project. But this will be a water main replacement that will also require roadway work. So we'll use general funds and water funds to do this work. Um in the vicinity of Brier
Cliff, Wild Theor Heights, and hemlock roads. Um this is a subdivision that was built around the 1980s. We have numerous water breaks there, one to two a year. So you're going to see that very much patchwork. Um you can see a lot of work on the roads. Once we do the water main
replacement, it doesn't make sense to just repair the trench because the pavement is in such bad condition. So, we want to replace the entire pavement over that after we finish the water work. But, I wanted to propose the two projects at the same time because I didn't want to get into an situation like you mentioned, the pavement
projects have not traditionally been accepted. If we do the water work and we don't have the pavement funding, then we'd be kind of stuck. So, I wanted to propose them at the same time so that we could get them approved at the same time. But, they have to be approved from two different funding sources. All right, the next project is our
pavement management plan update. Um, it's a good practice to have a five-year pavement management plan. It's something that the highway department has been doing for a very long time. The current plan was done 2021. It has ex since expired this year. The highway manager has been doing a great job of using
information they have and own evaluations to kind of extend it because this project wasn't approved last year. But um we are asking for it again. This I should clarify that this project wasn't recommended by the capital improvement committee to move forward last year and so we are recommending it
again. And this plan helps us prepare uh plan for the capital planning long-term funding and it also puts us in a better position for chapter 90 funding and for other state funding sources. We talked about the vehicle undercarriage pressure washer. The sixth
project is Grismill Dam North Mill Street Rehabilitation. This is to replace an 1850 single span timber structure that is in poor condition. This bridge, we just received a inspection from Mass about two months ago that's showing major deficiencies
with the bridge. Um this is an earthn dam over which the road goes and then there's the bridge over one fall or one spillway and there's culver at the other spillway and everything needs work. Um they all have different funding sources if you go to states because it could be
the dam, the covert, the road um or the bridge. Uh we did apply for a mass DOT small bridge grant but we were deferred. So we are asking for the money here. This is going to be a very large project and it's also the biggest project I think we have on here $1.45 million
estimated now and that's before we've done any kind of design. This is all based on the conceptual evaluation so far. Should I do a question on that one? Would there What would the end product look like there? I mean, that's a cool little bridge down there.
>> I have no idea yet. We haven't even done any of the initial engineering. That's We need funding to even get started. >> We want it to be safe, but it does have an appeal. And, you know, it' be nice if the finished product could have a similar facade.
I definitely think we need to look at the historic like I guess flavor of that, but also one of the challenges is that it is um weight restricted through a decision by a select board previously um several years ago. It's weight restricted and
it's too narrow. So school buses can't get through. >> Yeah. >> So school buses have to turn around. It completely changes their transportation rates. They've been asking for a long time to evaluate that and actually make it a road that they can pass through. So, I don't think if we maintained it the way it is now that that would allow
that. I can't guarantee that we would even be able to do that because it is a regulated dam. Um, but it's one of the things we need to consider as we're going forward. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? Any other question? >> I think she has one more, right?
>> Oh, one more, right? >> Three more. Um, and that's just the oper general fund. The seventh project is for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, otherwise known as the Nifty's
MS4 permit. It's an EPA permit from the federal government that we have to m um that the town has to maintain compliance with and the DBW manages that permit compliance on behalf of the town. This is with the town had 10 years to complete these customer investigations.
they need to be done by June 2028 and this funding would allow us to complete that work. Um I'll actually move I'm going to go flop to number nine then come back which was Lake Whiteall quality improvements
because the lake whiteall quality improvements are also driven by some regulatory requirements that are part of that MS4 permit um and improving storm water quality and water quality overall. The lake white hall is currently impaired which is a fancy way. It's on a
state list that says it doesn't meet its current uses um for phosphorus which is causing excessive weed growth. So that's a picture of that compared to Lake Maspanaku. Um which is not on any of the impairment licks because it has good water quality
because they've managed it I would say better over the years. Um the Lake White Hall water quality improvement would install storm water control for pollution reduction along Longwood Drive. This was part of a feasibility study that we've already completed. Um
and we have been working with DCR to try to coordinate this and there's some efforts from like at least some members of the conservation commission to try to get DCR to maybe pick up some of the cost for this because the outfall is eventually there and Lake Whiteall is obviously their property. Um, but the real driver for this is EPA requirements
for the town for permit compliance. And then going back to the number eight project, which was roadway improvements for Woody Island and Twin Island, this would be a multi-year project. The roadway is starting to fail right now.
It is not a publicly accepted road, although it does have public water and public sewer and it gets all kinds of public services. It would be what we consider an ancient road, so existed prior to the subdivision rules and regulations and any of the town bylaws about public road layouts. Um, but it
adds a layer of complexity. Plus, it's basically an earthen um dam that goes through the lake. So, you've got all this complexity in terms of structural engineering and conservation and other
environmental permitting. So we had reached out to a few engineering firms to try to get a opinion of probable construction costs and they say we couldn't even do it right now that you should start with survey do some conceptual design and then build it out. So this particular request is asking for
that so that we can do a survey do some uh conceptual designs figure out what we would do and then next year we'd have to come back with that survey and ask for a public road acceptance before we could spend any more money on this road. And that is all I have for capital
general funds. >> Thank you. Quite a few. So we'll process but um start the Q&A with Amy. I think just overall so it's a lot of projects and a lot of money as I'm here and so did you say they're prior you
have them in order of what you think is most important because I guess by seeing all these I'm worried that they are not all going to pass at town meeting but if you prioritize them at least people can make their votes that do their votes that way um but a lot you know they seem needed and good it's just it's a lot of money
for the public and for one in one year I don't think I have any particular questions Thank you, Matt. >> So, DBW budget is when I encourage all of us to try and be a little bit of a yimi, which is something that this town is not super famous for. With that in
mind here, I got a quibble with the pavement management plan. Again, I was the chair of the capital committee that rejected that pavement management plan. So, it is near and dear to my heart. We rejected that pavement management plan because the town had voted against continuing to execute it at town meeting. I have not seen or heard
anything to suggest to me a change in strategy, a change in viewpoint from the town at large. So, I can appreciate that funding an update here will give you new information. I have seen no indication the town has an appetite to support it. Amy has just voiced over that
historically we have not supported these things. That is correct. Why are we recommending throwing $500,000 to update something that by your own acknowledgement we aren't currently following or using? >> It's $50,000. >> Okay. 50 It's a best management practice. It's a good guideline. It's
really best asset management and the roads will continue to fall apart if we don't invest in it. I don't disagree with you that I don't think that the town has um historically supported these pavement management programs, but they also are the same people that call me and complain about
how their road has got potholes and cracks and other issues. This is the best way to do that. And you know, as professionals, this is what we're recommending to do. And unfortunately, if people can't see that, um, I think we're going to continue to see a degragation in our road conditions.
>> O, didn't love the way that came out. Okay, fair enough. I guess let me ask the question this way. Having been in this position and supported this for a number of years, why is there a strategic plan for pavement and not water and sewer? I'm thinking about a
number of pavement plants here. They will likely touch the water and sewer. They will touch natural gas. Are you thinking about expanding those services as part of how we maintain these? >> I have an asset management plan for water. I have an asset management plan for sewer. We have a comprehensive uh wastewater plan. We have numerous
numerous plans. And then as part of the five and 10-year capital planning as townwide, we integrate all those and try to find some overlap. So you'll notice this plan, you know, we're integrating a water and pavement plan. We're integrating a storm water and sidewalk
plan. So, we're trying to do that to find the efficiencies, but we do have several plans. We actually just submitted for an asset management grant through the state revolving fund for clean water initiatives, and we were not selected for that because the state has
significantly reduced the amount of funding available for asset management. But I would love if you want to provide additional funding so that we could do an updated asset management plan. That one's from 2020, was grant funded and definitely needs some update. I asked this one from a far friendlier place than you would imagine. I've actually
had quite a few constituents because I've harped about the conditions of the road and specifically the road that I live on and they have actually asked me if part of the reason I am requesting this is for an extension of town sewage and gas, neither of which my house actually has at the moment. And so, no,
that is not why I'm harping on this. But I am curious about as we do this work, what we are thinking about how we expand and continue to enhance and deliver town services. My feedback here is just we need a better approach and plan. The town has signaled that they're not going to support what we are currently doing.
I appreciate that the pavement management plan is best practice. We have zero indication that the town is going to support it and even if we give you the money, we have absolutely no faith they're going to execute against it. That is a series of conditions and flags that tell me I shouldn't be giving you more money.
I through the chair, I'd also like to mention like all these projects are maintaining existing infrastructure. We're not planning to build anything new. We're not expanding anything. This is all >> trying to maintain what we currently have, including the 1850 bridge. >> Yep. >> All of which I support. This is a
quibble on pavement management. The rest of the plans make sense to me. Thank you. >> Sorry, >> Mr. H. >> Just real quick, >> nothing else at this time. Just it'll be interesting to see what happens at town meeting, but I think there's a lot of logic in what we're talking about here. >> Oh, can I clarify? These are all this
proposed funding by free cash. Is that okay? So, they're more likely to pass if we have the free cash certified in. Okay. >> Sorry, >> no problem, >> Mr. Anything else? >> Nothing else. >> Um, thank you. I have a couple of questions. One is echoing what Amy was
saying. It would be a good idea to um rank order your requests in terms of priority given >> she did. >> This is this is the rank order. >> Yes, it's rank ordered on the capital improvement plan. I just went out of order to be kind of um considerate of
the folks that were in the audience and through some ideas together. But it is within you know rank ordered >> that would be >> on uh clear gov. >> Yeah. Yeah. But it's ranked ordered in the presentation. >> Yeah. On the capital improve like the five-y year capital improvement plan in clear gov and in what you have.
>> I think in the town meeting it would be helpful for people to decide as well. Um cuz we had challenges last year if you remember. Um then the second question is um the pavement management plan. What is the outcome of that that you are
expecting? It would be showing like the entire pavement situation across the town and recommend what the gap is and what the improvement is needed for how much dollars that kind of uh plan. >> Yes. So the pavement management plan evaluates every single road in town,
every single public road. It provides a pavement condition index which is a um numeric evaluation of the road conditions and based on that they make recommendations each year on whether it's more cost-effective to say um seal coat the road, mill and overlay the road
or it has to be completely rehabilitated and they try the idea behind the payment management is to catch it before it gets too bad. Right. sealer, as you're pointing out, if you have to rehab a road, it costs three, four, five times as much as if you were sealing it all along the way. Um, so it helps out with
that. It helps out with long-term capital planning. Um, and it gives you an idea of how much it will be to maintain the road at a certain pavement condition index. >> Thank you. Very much needed. And I hope, uh, you know, we get to socialize and, uh, put in some education across the
town cuz people don't always realize, and you're right. I mean when they suffer we we scream but um when we come for them you know needed allocation we have seen challenges in the past so good luck with all of that I don't have any other question anyone else anything else
all right thank you thank you for >> got more >> oh I've got >> all right she's got much more >> the general fund >> want to move it to another meeting date but um we also have the water and sewer enterprise fund >> enterprise fund >> all Right. So,
um I guess that will be I'm going to I'm going to do water and sewer operating funds at the same time. So, um I will note that the budget message for the general fund was level service. My understanding based on feedback from
town residents and leadership is that there's a higher level of service expected for the water enterprise. Right. this has been at least conveyed to me that water needs to be a priority and so we need to be spending more money on our water and sewer. Um so this budget we're proposing is the $2 million
water operating budget with an overall 28% increase in our water operating budget and a 1.6 million sewer budget with a 24% increase. The biggest drivers for the increase um are that change from indirect to direct funding of those three positions. Like I mentioned earlier, the union contract which I also
mentioned um with an 8% increase in wages as earlier. We are also requesting one additional water and sewer four person. This is to be able to run two crews simultaneously to provide better routine and emergency work. So we have a very small and very dedicated staff but
they will have planned work to say do a flushing program or to do um maintenance on a hydrant and if there is a leak or something the whole crew has to go that or if one of the pump station goes down and so having two four people will allow us to have two crews that can run
simultaneously and it will improve our operations. We're also requesting two summer laborers for the water department which is similar to the highways program. What we envision these summer laborers doing is helping with fire hydrant maintenance which would also support the uh fire department. Um it's a great program.
It's very costefficient and one of the additional benefits um is that we usually hire we try to hire locally. It's usually college a students that are trying to get some work over the summer but it provides some workforce development and encourages more young people to join the water profession. So it's also you know part of a recruiting
effort long term. The other changes to the water budget are attributed to higher in costs um due to higher demand. So as much as the water conservation efforts we've been doing the demand for water and the amount of water that the residents of Hopkington and the businesses of Hopkin
have been asking for just keeps going up. Um it's also for increased sampling and chemical treatment required by regulatory compliance specifically for PAS and manganesees which we'll be talking about later and the implementation of some best management practices which have been
um definitely asked for by several different folks including the water and sewer advisory board which includes more frequent flushing program to reduce water discolorization, increased meter change out program to improve accountability of water use and reduce unaccounted for water, annual exercise of gates and improving our man mapping
and our asset management. Like we were speaking about earlier, the changes to the sewer budget, the personnel changes are similar what we talked about before, there will be a new contract for the operation and maintenance of the Fruit Street wastewater treatment facility. The bid openings is actually tomorrow. Um, and we expect that contract
contractual cost to go up. It's a three-year contract. There's also increased cost to operate the sewer pump stations um specifically during rain events because of inflow and infiltration. So we didn't see that over the last year because we had drought conditions, but previous to that we saw a huge increase in operation and
emergency response due to that. I have the specific concern that we already had identified some issues at the Hayden Row pump station which is down well downstream of the new Charleswood school. So although the student population, you know, going from Elmwood
to Charleswood is not impacting the schools, we have sewage that was going to the Wood Street pump station that now for the whole school is going to the Hayden pump station which is already having problems. So we've been trying to evaluate that and identify what we can do about that. But um that's going to
have to be a priority for us before the new school goes online. And the last thing with the sewer budget is u an increased cost for hydrogen sulfoid mitigation which provides odor control and corrosion mitigation. >> Do you have any questions about our operating budgets?
>> Thank you. We can do a quick no questions on that. Thank you. Mr. Gizner, >> what once we do undo the financial accounting of direct versus indirect, what is the delta increase in the budget? >> I don't have that handy, but I can get back to you, Matt.
>> Thanks. And I I'm only asking because Carrie's made a good point that she was informed that she should be investing in this. So I want to ensure that the increase here is not just purely being absorbed by the new staff and that you are reflecting that in the actual budget here as well. >> She's also adding to staff though too. Okay.
>> Yep. Other other pieces and maybe Kyla we can take it off offline. I'm concerned hearing about the sewage and the potential issue there with the new school. This makes me want to start to better understand planning on how some of those decisions went. this doesn't seem like the sort of thing we stumble
into at the last minute that there was going to be an overall increase in what the sewage volume was going to look like there. So, this is kind of back to my conversation earlier about just there's this entity in town that is slowly eating itself and it's the town not talking to the rest of the town about the things the town is doing in the
town. We got to break some silos down here, folks, because we're being adversely impacted by them. >> Right. Do the chair if I may make a comment. >> I will say that the elementary school building committee has been very receptive and when we've addressed um some of these concerns, they've been very open to them. I mean, some of the
challenges is because they're getting pressured to move very quickly, but um we made some requests and for engineering oversight for the roadway project for some sewer manhole improvements, which they've done, and we've brought up this concern with them. They said, you know, if there was available budget that this seems like it
might be something that um >> yeah, my point is that it essentially should have been budgeted for to begin with. But I can appreciate your stance that this sort of work tends to roll downhill. >> Thank you. will move to if that's okay. Do you have any
>> Amy? >> No, I don't think I have any further questions. >> Thank you. I just have one quick question. So, um the 200 or so uh increase in the personnel that's going to help with some of the additional work that you're doing. Can you quickly rationalize that?
>> It's mostly an accounting thing. So, the only additional personnel we're asking for is the one additional four person and the two seasonal workers. So the dollar value that you're seeing is really just this accounting change that we're making cuz in the long run I think it's going to help understand more um
you know when the water and sewer manager was being funded by the general fund and then 100% being reimbursed by the enterprise fund >> that adjustment >> the same picture and now you're seeing the full picture of like the staff that support these programs.
>> Got it. Uh and your expense went down. Uh no sorry that was number I was saying differently. Nothing further. You can move to the next one. Capital. Okay.
Um you want to start with water capital or sewer capital? The >> sewer is up first in the presentation. >> Sewer capital. >> Mr. Chair, curious, you're flipping the page. Uh, has the water sewer advisory board kind of gone over all these numbers and stuff with you?
>> Yes. And I believe you have a memo in your packet >> and do they agree with everything that you're proposing? >> That's what the memo says. >> I'm sorry. >> That's what the memo says. Yes. >> That they are agreeing. >> Great. >> I think it was like the last page of the packet. It's very brief that they agree. >> So many anticipate you were going to ask
that question and I asked them to provide a memo and so that >> to be very clear, I didn't read the packet. It's >> the very last page. I don't read the packets anymore. >> And it's 170 pages. That's why they won't pack it, folks. >> But they did basically agree. I'm not
expecting 100% here, but in general, they're in a line. >> Yeah. They took a more um a better look at the capital projects than the operating budget, but but yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. U go ahead.
>> Uh so for the sewer projects, we are proposing a sewer meter station upgrade. This is required for the student station that measures the flow from Hopkinington to Westboro. So most of our sewer goes to the Westboro wastewater treatment facility and we get charged based on
that flow that goes there. Um it's currently being eroded which went back to that hydrogen sulfide investment we want to make in the operating to reduce the corrosion and this project was brought to us from the Westboro DPW um and in compliance with our
intermunicipal agreement with them. >> Thank you. Do you want to continue? Then we'll have a discussion together. >> The next one is Fruit Street wastewater treatment facility safety and control upgrades. So there's continuing investment that needs to be made at the treatment facility. This one is in
particular with that picture. These are some requirements that um are being expected by Mass DP. This is a safety one for like hatches like this. So you can even see a little bit in the red says danger. This would provide guardrails and gates to protect people
from falling. and the control upgrades. We have several controls in the the picture didn't show up, but like monitoring screens that are no longer working. Somebody's got like a laptop plugged in and we just need to upgrade all those. And then our last project is a sanitary
sewer evaluation survey for the West Main Street pump station. So, another regulatory requirement is that we have an inflow and infiltration plan. And we have one that was done that outline a 10-year plan. And this would be the next
phase of that plan with the focus on the West Main Street area because that would be the next asset that we would be looking at upgrading or replacing. >> And through the chair, all of these are funded through the retained earnings of the sewer enterprise.
Is that is that it? >> Those are for the sewer. Any questions on the sewer capital? Uh >> let's go over Mr. Mr. Kizner. >> Nope. >> Amy, >> no. Thank you. >> I think we're good. We can move forward. >> So, we'll move on to water. Water is the bigger one. Um we're requesting $13
million in capital for water. The first project is well one rehabilitation. So, this is the second largest producing well of Hopkins drinking water supply. There was a partial collapse of well number one in 2024 and a significant reduced pumping capacity has been observed since this collapse. Um we also
have public safety concerns and that was the reason why the fire chief stayed here and this was highlighted most recently by the fire at the JB sawmill and the importance of having capacity and you know the issues with this well not producing as we'd have we'd had hoped to. So this rehab will increase
capacity and reduce vulnerability of the well. Um, unfortunately because the MWA project is not moving as quickly as I would like it to move, uh, we can't wait. So, you know, I would not want to have to be making all these,
uh, investments in this existing infrastructure if we were moving along with the other, but we can't put this one off. The next one is the Gro Street tank construction. So, we had a previous capital investment to do the engineering
design. Now, we're asking for this $2.1 million to um rehab the tank, the Grove Street water service um storage tank, the water service area consists of the two tanks located near the Hopkin Middle School. Tank number one was built, the one that we're looking to rehab was
built in 1966 and is almost 60 years old. And um this is a request to address the deteriorating conditions that was made by Mass DP. All right. Oh, that's a before and a rendering of the potential after. And I'm absolutely convinced that I'm going
to get a giant H painted on that water tank when we get done. >> Words out of my mouth, Carrie. It's killing me it's not there. >> Can you stop right there for a second? Like that's legit, Carrie. A lot of people in town want those things painted up with Hopkins in somehow. >> Yeah, it's not a joke. >> That's I'm planning to do it. Everybody laughs at me. This is how you get the
money. We're going to put the colors on the tank. >> We are. All right. I said that or else I was like, if I can't get money, I'm going to get a DPW dog and bring that in and that's going to help, too. >> Next year, we'll see how it'll go at a town meeting. We might have a dog next year. Um
the la next one is a water main replacement project for East Main Street. This um is a $9.8 million project. This we're currently under design, which we had funding for, and then engineering. Um, this would replace the water in kind for some sections that
are over a hundred years old. I would like to point out that this project was needed to be done whether or not we connect with MW like old pipes need to be replaced. So, no matter what the water supply is, this needs to be done. We've had several leaks and failures and um this is going to significantly help
the town eliminate lead service lines and other unknown service lines to meet the regulatory requirements for the safe drinking water act. Lead and copper rules revisions that were required as of 2024. So I think many of you have seen those letters that have gone out um about replacing lines. This is the area
of town where we have the most need and so this project will help us significantly move towards that regulatory compliance. It is a very large project and it will be very disruptive. And number four is um supplemental
expense request for equipment. So we last town meeting we got funding to replace the vehicle W9. Um but we need additional funding for the equipment that goes with that vehicle to enable it to respond to water emergencies.
Project five is the water component of the one I talked about earlier when the Brier Cliff Wild Bear Heights Hemlock area. So basically we we have a significant amount of water leaks in that area and the water the water main needs to get replaced again independent
of whether or not we go to MWA. This work needs to get done. And then the last on this list is a portable generator that will provide reliable energy source to be used at pump stations and water tanks if there's ever a power outage. and our generators that the DPW has and the water and sewer department also support other town
departments if they need to during power outage. So I want to point out that the water department was the one that provided a generator during the 2024 elections where there was the unexpected power loss at the middle school and was able to keep the elections going. So there's value of having generators beyond just pump station.
And that is all I've got. >> Thank you. Just to summarize overall, what is the total ask for all these projects? Do you have top of that? >> $13 million for all the water, 820,000 for all the sewer
and 4.8 million for the general fund projects. >> And how much of it is we are projecting we can accommodate from the free cash? That's total not this year only. General
fund is 100% free cash. Sewer is 100% retained earnings. Water is um 735,000 retained earnings because we don't want to deplete it. And we will have to borrow about 12.5 million.
>> That borrowing is this year >> for 27. Correct. >> 27. Okay. Thank you. And um I'll open it up. A couple of thoughts. One is I I'm glad you have done ranked order that'll help but also have you considered
staggering the projects based on you know topmost must have hell is going to break loose hopefully not >> we have very comprehensive 10-year capital plans. So yes these are all staggered um the water in particular with the projected cost for MWA project.
So we're trying to get ahead of some of these because we know that's going to hit the rate you know the rates later. So yes, absolutely. Um the challenge is the projects don't go away. So if we don't fund them now, it doesn't mean that we never have to fund them. We just have to figure out a way to fund them later. So it's just kicking in the can
down the road. >> Thank you. Thank you for that context. Um Mr. Her, >> do we have a projected rate increase for water based on that borrowing? What that would look like? I know we do that annually when we get together with our colleagues from
>> the annual rate study included projections based on our capital plan our tenure capital plan. There have been some adjustments since we've completed engineering and we find some costs but I believe that you know the recommendations that you saw at the late last rate study presentation are going to be very similar what we will do we do
our due diligence each year we do the rate study but I don't expect the the recommendation to change much. >> Okay. Thank you Mr. secret. >> Yeah, to to that point, this is part of what we're discussing with the potential update to the water and sewer policy, but even what we're pushing is largely
based on what was already there. So, I don't have any additional questions here either other than just I guess echoing the general concern about borrowing, but these are from my perspective largely non-elective projects and you're in this position because you ultimately were not adequately funded to maintain the
enterprise fund. We're here because of previous decisions. Thank you, Amy. >> Yeah, I guess I'm just now looking at the town meeting draft warrant because I didn't remember there were so many capital projects, but I guess we've lumped them all under a couple articles.
Is that right? Okay. So, that might be a little bit more manageable at town meeting. So, all the capital improvements are under one article. All the water enterprise things are are under one article and sewer enterprise. Okay. So, they can all be discussed as a group in the prioritization order and then we'll vote
at the end. that that might simplify it for people that we'll talk about them in big sections of all these because I'm just all these projects tonight I'm like how are we going to get through this sit down meeting but okay and we'll have all the information available in advance so people can read through it they all they all seem like important projects it's
just a lot al together so >> it can be a long Saturday >> seriously paint the tanks >> but thank you I think u anyone else any other questions comment before we let Kyla and Thank you. >> There you go. Thank you. This was very
helpful. >> Next agent item, too. So, >> next article. >> Yeah. >> Next, >> I have a phenomenal job. >> Thank you. >> I hope people appreciate how prepared the department heads are and how much work goes into this that you are not seeing.
>> Well, I think we are um we underestimated the time we needed for the budget, but it was very good discussion and very uh much needed. Now our next item is manganesees in town well 7 and 8 which I think we'll have
krie give us the context and the update. Absolutely again. Yes. So uh we had a notification from mass DP that the manganesees levels in the finished water well 7 and 8 which are the appella farm um otherwise known as apperal wells um
was an exceedence of an advisory level for manganesees. So, manganesees is a naturally occurring mineral. Um, the concern about this is that over your lifetime, if you're exposed to too much that it could have health impacts. This
one, it's not a regulatory limit, it's an advisory limit. Um, so it doesn't have the same drivers, but as a result of this, and this is based off of a year of sampling. Um so the regulatory limit is 0.3 and our results are anywhere between 0.33
and 0.49 or five. Um we are seeing the levels go up as we're seeing the demand continue and be high and the levels are definitely higher than was anticipated when those wells were constructed as part of the legacy farms project. Um so this is my my my aid. Um so this is what
we're talking about. This is the wel the water that comes out of well seven and eight and all that stuff at the bottom that people get worried about that's you know the magnes and the iron and when it goes through the pipes you get your brown water. So when I came up here it was clean and crystal clear right when we get a lot of use and people turn all
their faucets on in the morning and we get a lot of water that go pipes it goes like that and this will sit here and you'll see how long it takes to settle out. And that's part of the issue that we have discolorization. It's not necessarily a um it's more of an aesthetics and a taste issue than it
is a health issue, but um as I said, this is an advisory thing. What is it? The Massachusetts DP's Office of Research Standards guidance levels. We are required to notify the health department, the select board, and the general public. So, public notification
went out in the Hopkin Independent this week. We use that because it goes to every single resident in town. Um, and it's the most effective and most costefficient way to notify everybody, especially um, residents as opposed to just the property owners. Um, so
everybody should know about it at this point. We responded back to Mass DP with that. Um, we also were required to submit a long-term corrective action plan. So, our corrective action plan was cleaning the wells immediately, which is
really only a near-term solution, a deep clean, more public outreach, ongoing monitoring, but our long-term solution is a connection to the MWR. And I am available to answer any of your questions. Oh, I should say I'm sorry.
I'll point out it was an advisory level. The only action item out of this was that the DP recommends that for infants, which they define as children one year and below that have this, they would might use bottled water for formula as
opposed to the tap water. >> Thank you. Uh Amy, you want to go first? >> I guess I wonder just like with the um the problem that we had with the PAS problem that we had and we had to um offer a water bottle rebate. Um, is because this is an advisory, not a
regulatory, we will we be offering a water bottle rebate for people that have infants that >> I'm not recommending a bottled water rebate at this time. >> Okay. And but will we have any provisions in town for someone who can't afford bottle water for the formula? I don't know. Just something to think
about. Like it's not a large population that it'll affect, but we want to make sure everybody knows to do the bottle bottle for formula. >> Mr. Ka. >> Yeah, I'll piggy back there. I'm I'm less certain about the financial though. I appreciate that you're advocating for what I'm concerned about is that it
starts to sound to people like the beginning of the alarm going off. I appreciate that I'm hearing you voice this as we are recommending an over-the-top conservative action to protect the most vulnerable youthful portion of our population. You are not suggesting actual risk. This is how we
ensure there is no risk. I think I'm hearing you correctly. You're not giving me angry face. Good. Got there. But with that said, this is ultimately about public perception and public perception on this is going to be that the water in town is no longer safe for small children. That that's the full stop on
this now. So I would appreciate if we were having a bit of a different conversation because this is not purely aesthetic. Now when you're telling me that it is potentially recommended that infants aren't utilizing it for something in this case formula that actually is a pastor impact to the community. So I am going to see this a
little more seriously than you that I do perceive this as the first communication of a potential health risk and I'd like to understand what we are recommending. Whether or not we are providing financial assistance is mutually exclusive from the fact that you ultimately just communicated and acknowledge potential health risk coming
from my faucet. I don't pay to have health risk come out of my faucet. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. I'm looking for response. >> Uh what is your question or your ask? My question is I I would like to understand why we are not having a conversation
here about a remediating remediation plan above and beyond. You frame this to us as an aesthetic issue at the beginning. You swirled. I can see it beginning to settle. I'm aware of how things diffuse through. Then you identified that there was a risk to infants. We are now having a
conversation about in your own words an acknowledge pass through health impact to the population of Hopington and the public utility system. I would like to understand what actions are being immediately recommended to remedy that. It is not an acceptable condition for
the public utility to be generating risk for the user population no matter how small. The near-term recommendations were and what was conducted immediately was the deep cleanse of the wells. Um it's only in well seven and eight. Our water is
combined. So this was the advisory based on the sample that was collected at the well which is not necessarily the water that comes out of your tap. So that was the immediate response. We have a flushing plan for next year and then we have a plan to do at MWA connection. There is no immediate thing that you
could do other than supplying bottled water like we had to do for PAS until there was a temporary PAS situation. So the quickest way to get the safer water to people is to do the MWA connection. >> So thank you. So I'm going to choose to express this a little differently than I
promise I'm done here. I would appreciate if we were having a conversation then immediately with significantly more urgency around efforts to enhance and expedite our MWR connection. This is no longer a conversation around cost, availability, desire. We are now having a conversation
about potential pass through health impact to this community. I'm a little appalled that that isn't how this started. That's where it's ending. And I appreciate we got to the right place. We cannot be having a dollars and cents conversation here when there is a potential impact to the utility and the
citizens. That's crazy. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Could I could I clarify something? I'm sorry. Sorry, I'll be brief. But so are you saying these these are the numbers just at those wells? So the blended water would not have this high that we all get the blended water from the Fruit Street blending facility. It has less mag.
>> I would not anticipate that the taps and we don't go and sample out everybody's taps. I would not anticipate that the taps would have this high of a level. Okay. >> No, because this is at the source and so there is but you know if you have a house that's right next to the well then it's probably higher in. >> Okay. And then um the results of the
fruit street blending facility the levels of manganesees are meas measured there just like the >> yeah they're measured every well these are the only ones that we have this okay and it's an advisory as I said it's an advisory level it's not a regulatory so as I said mass DP this has been high
since last January they they didn't call us and say shut it down right away you've got to do anything like that um >> okay >> and I do agree that it it creates panic and that's what I need the help messaging because people get freaked out because it sounds bad. It's not really.
It's a lifetime exposure and it could possibly increase your health risk. It very specifically said in that advisory that that does not necessarily um this does not imply that intakes above these levels will necessarily cause health problems. Individual
requirements for as well as adverse impacts can highly be variable. >> I'm sorry, who's that from? >> That was our public notice that was put out in the newspaper. That was a requirement for mass DP. The warning that they gave us. >> Thank you. >> And all the testing results from all the
wells are on your website as usual. So we can point people to theirs to there, aren't they? >> The PAS is on there. Um, all of our information is in our annual water quality results >> which is on the website. >> Yeah, we don't put all I mean we don't put all the water quality sampling
results on the website. Um, the PAS was specifically there. We are required to do quarterly notifications until Mass EP says we don't have to anymore and we are required to put the results in our annual report, water quality report. Okay. Thank you. That goes out to every resident.
>> Thank you, Mr. H. >> So Carrie, in that sample bottle there, that came straight from well 7, right? >> Um and and that's just you put it under the well or however you got it out of the well and put the cap on and brought it in here. How long would it How long will it take? You can see it's already
settling a little bit. How long does it take to settle like that? >> Um, I would say, you know, a couple of hours. >> Okay. And then that is blended with a bunch of other wells and goes into the tanks and then it comes out to the homes. Right. >> Correct. So this
>> what percent of that well seven water that color is pure well 7 water is in the tanks if you had to guess. >> If I had to guess 10 15%. So, >> it's not our highest producing wells and
actually quite honestly, sorry I I even mentioned this. I mean, we shut them off when we don't need them. So, they were shut off. Um, and if there's not the high demand from the public, then we keep them off because we have water quality issues. Should have led with that. Um,
>> okay. So, there's if it was on, it would be 10%. So, is the tank on Grove Street at the bottom of the tank really dark like that with the manganesees or is this >> there is sludge at the bottom of our water tanks? Yeah. And that they'll have to be remediated removed. Yes. >> And when you say people are turning on and turn off their faucet, they're not
shaking their house to get it to stir up like that. Right. So, is that is that discoloration more dramatic than what would be in a typical like if I go home tonight, which I'm going to do, and turn on the tap and put it in a clear glass and shake it up a little bit, I'm going to look. >> I don't think I'm going to see anything like that. No, you won't see anything
like this. This is obviously very dramatic and um but it's just an example because this came straight out of the wells. But um we do get a lot of complaints about discolored water and people are very concerned and this is the the causes of it. Um I'll also say
like I said demand. We're at a low demand time because it's winter. >> We caution everybody to conserve water but the demand goes up in the summertime. So, as soon as the snow melts and people want to get their yards going and they want to be outside, that demand is going to go up and that's when we need all the wells and that's we what
we've noticed that the higher pumping in these wells is pulling in more water and then we're seeing all these higher levels of magnes and iron. So, it's directly related to demand. >> Okay. >> And the and the supply system. >> Okay. And is this a parts per million thing? the the how how it's measured or
how >> Yeah, it was milligrams per liter which can be converted to like parts per million >> and and the advisory level is still pretty low or is that pretty high? >> It's very low. >> It's very low >> just like PAS very low. 0.3 milligrams per liter.
>> If it's crazy low and no one sees that, that's one thing. If everybody's going to see that coming out of their tap this summer, that's going to be a whole other problem, >> right? >> Yeah, for sure. >> Dude, thank you to the chair. I would just simply note I I work in the pharma industry. I will tell you the American
public has a wildly low tolerance for being told what level of risk they should assume when they are consuming something. This isn't about whether it's safe. It's about who is making the consensual decision. For many citizens in Hopkin, whether or not they can afford bottled water. You live in our
town. You almost assuredly can. But I probably can't move tomorrow. And yet my child may need water and other services. That's what this is about. >> Thank you. Thank you, K. I don't have a lot of questions, but what I want to
echo is our commitment is for clean water and that's why we have, you know, all the good things that we get from your service, from your department service. We have the advisory board because we have been concerned with uh how we have endured some of the
challenges with our aging infrastructure and the limitations and the challenges comes up this way often or coming up. Uh so that said um the MWR is a solution that we are certainly have on having on
our radar and having the discussion going on. The water advisory board is certainly looking at it closely for making their recommendation uh at large. I mean they have made some recommendation but as we are also negotiating with our neighboring towns on that I think we are marching along on
those. Of course it'll be up to the residents how and when we do that but it'll take as you know 3 five years if not so the question I have is in general what in the meantime we can do and also
collectively I agree echoing my colleagues concerns that it might be worth having another session in our agenda in the coming days where we have you we have the water advisory board and the board of health collectively giving
us more education us and the residents on this matter as to how severe this challenge is and I'll ask some data points. I I can talk to you offline as to Mr. Har's earlier point how much actual end users are going to see this
and suffer because of this and how much you know the D the board of health combined thinks it's a health risk or issue uh or potentially health risk or issue and how much you know collectively we can come up with a remediation for
short-term and mitigation of the health challenges should there be um from the town is it alternative you know water bottles providing some credit whatever it may be we need to and we are of course taking it very seriously we need
to look at it closely so alls I'm saying is that you know I think you little bit woke up woke us up after the budget number sessions but it's very important and I would recommend having another session when we can in the coming days
uh joint session and have more clarity and more education on So with that, I don't know if there are any other comments or any other discussions to have. Thank you, Carrie. I appreciate your uh bringing this up. >> Thanks, Gary. >> Thank you.
>> Drive safe. >> We'll move on to our next agenda item. We are almost hour and a half late, so is there any flexibility to postpone any of the items for tonight and move it to the next one? Um I would
like to if the board could discuss the draft pilot agreement. Uh John Nice is on uh Zoom I believe for that one. >> Okay. >> All right. Let's go to that quick. >> Mr. Chair, I'm going to recuse from this particular item. >> Thank you, Mr. Her. Uh so the select
board will consider reviewing a draft payment in lie of taxes pilot agreement with the owner of the solar facility at 69 Franklin Road. The pilot is for personal property taxes only for 25- year period. The agreement is structured so that it is anticipated that the town
will not lose any revenue it would otherwise have collected during the pilot term. Do you want to add to that context? >> So just uh briefly uh this draft pilot agreement is on the town meeting warrant uh was negotiated by our assessor's office and the former town council. Um,
it details the payment in lie of personal property taxes, not real estate taxes, uh, that be paid by the solar farm off Franklin Road over a 25-year period. Uh, personal property as the solar farm equipment and panels that have been installed on the property. The draft payment schedule establishes the
value of the personal property each year, which does depreciate over time. The agreement is structured so that the town won't lose any revenue it would otherwise have collected during the pilot term. These agreements benefit both the town and the solar farm because both need an accurate projection of
revenues and or expenditures over time. Um, and it's a common practice. We do have existing pilot agreements with other solar farms. Uh, the agreement includes a table with the projected annual property tax, excuse me, uh, personal property tax. And this is for reference purposes because the actual
amount paid would be the personal property value in that middle column multiplied by the actual personal property tax rate in that year. So right now it's estimated but they would apply the actual tax rate. Uh so this is outlined in footnote number one uh in the agreement. Uh the agreement also
makes it clear that the real estate property taxes are to be paid as assessed each year by the town. And uh finally the it gives certainty to the town. It doesn't permit the developer to apply for uh personal property tax abatements over the 25 year period as well. Um and John Nissar Assessor is
online if there's any particular questions about that. >> See him on there. I I just want to clarify. We're still going to do the uh the tax refunds thing, too, right? I know some union members are probably >> It's up to the chair. >> I think there's some union members watching at home about the tax refunds. >> Oh, I'm sorry.
>> Let me think we can do this one first, but um >> All right. >> I don't know. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> We jumped around. We're here. Let's Let's just get through it. So, >> let's do the pilot first and then Okay. >> It's already happening. >> But I don't want to say
>> Is John online? I don't see anyone. Maybe he left John. >> Okay. So then I if I can >> I think yeah let's uh continue and finish this one and then we can >> since it's on the >> we're waiting. >> Okay. >> So Mr. Ker, go ahead with your question.
>> I'll follow Elaine's lead here in suggesting that the item's on the warrant. We have the opportunity to continue to talk about it. I would appreciate personally a little bit better understanding of how we use these, but it seems as though this is to a mutual advantage and it is commensurate with how we've operated with other customers in town.
>> Yeah, I think um I mean it's all laid out here if anyone wants to read it and we will be voting it at town meeting. So, and we're not we're not going to lose money out. It's just a you know clearly laid out when they're going to pay what amount when. So, we can plan they can plan. So, I don't have any objections but I'm glad it's here for
people to see. >> Thank you. Yeah, I think I I don't have any objections and it certainly is a wash in terms of uh the total revenue. We get the revenue that we deserve and we're not going to lose that. But the benefit we are getting is it is uh I
think we discussed earlier it is protecting us from any future legal implications should the law changes statewide and others that would u give for example more relief to these solar companies. In that scenario, we would still have the commitment of getting the
revenue. So in that case, it is actually mitigating some risk for us. >> There is a risk that u this state may change the rules and it may no longer be um personal property considered personal property. >> Correct. And it's also benefiting the company because they're getting
guaranteed um kind of revenue scenario. >> This is the facility we've gotten some emails about too about the land uh land in Ashland. Okay. So, that doesn't affect the pilot, I guess, but it is something I'm curious to learn more about since we've gotten a couple emails.
>> Land that's owned by the same owner, but it's not part of the solar farm. >> Okay. >> I can ask maybe I can ask you offline about getting emails. >> Are you all set or have more question? Mr. Kisner, >> all set. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. I'm all set. Any
other related question, comment? >> Nope. >> All right. So we'll move to the next agenda item which we actually missed earlier. Town employee 2024 federal tax refund delays. The select board will consider discussing the status of
delayed 2024 federal tax refunds for some town employees and the reasons for the delay. Ela, do you want to take it away? >> Yes. So this is something that was on the board's future agenda item list um that came up a couple of meetings ago uh with correspondents from the unions,
some of the unions. Um, as we've mentioned before, the 2024 federal tax refunds uh to some employees were delayed. Um, this didn't appear to be occurring at the state level, but just at the federal level. Um, the IRS did not indicate to the town that its delays were related to anything connected to
town's tax filings. Uh, the town performed all its tax filings on time and correctly. Um, there were some employees who were issued corrected W2s due to vision and dental coverage that year. um they weren't shown in the correct box, but it doesn't seem that the delays were related to that. Um a
few individuals did share that they learned from the IRS regarding their particular returns that it was due to items unrelated to the town. Um but that's we just have an anecdotal information. Uh the IRS is a federal agency. The town has no control over what they do and when they do it. Um and
they're not necessarily communicating uh their reasoning for for anything to us. uh news reports have indicated that there have been significant layoffs at the IRS as we've mentioned before. Um so we we don't know um what the what the reason was.
>> Thank you. Um before we jump in um can we invite our school um board colleague to make any comments if they are having any concerns or any anything to add to this? I just want to say that uh we talked
about it in uh um with the director uh or the our CFO. Everything has been the school sent out corrected W TWS. Everybody in the schools have been gotten the right information and in a timely manner. So the school should be
all set. >> Thank you. Uh I'll open up for a question. Mr. Ker. Yeah, quickly. So, I had requested this agenda item. It came out of the rather impassion public forum response that we got around this topic and I just wanted to be able to say a couple things in public setting. Number
one, that the select board did receive communication about this and we heard it. I did discuss it. I did ask about it here and we are once again discussing it here. When you send an email to the select board, I promise most of us read it. In fact, I bet all of us read it. Very few of us respond because we're
largely not allowed to respond to you as a board. We can respond as individuals. It's tedious. Many of you write to us, but it doesn't mean we don't care about these things and we don't want to talk about them here. So, number one was just getting it out there. Number two, many people took a bat to the town manager's
office and town staff employees that were not involved in this process. I did not appreciate it. I represent those people. They work for us directly and indirectly. I want to make sure that people understand that this was not wrongdoing, negligence, malfecence, or otherwise just bad work by town
employees. Let's be really careful where we focus our eye or when we get an outcome that we don't want or we don't expect. Hanland's razor tells us that people very rarely intend to make mistakes. They operate with ignorance, not with malice in their hearts. The other piece of this I would likely to quickly reinforce and I promise I'm
wrapping here. We transitioned away from the financial software that caused all of this. We noticed something was wrong. We took an action as a board as our chief financial who I'm looking at. Thank you, Kyla. When problems are detected that affect the people who work in this town, we do things. It takes
time to see them. If you have a question, if you continue to have an impact, I encourage you to ask why we are still using that software in parts of the business. If you are impacted, again, please be mindful about where you focus your eye and your questions. For the people under the purview of this
board, I believe we have made a fairly strategic decision that reflects the pain this caused, and I'm sorry you experienced it. Thank you. Uh Mr. Her, >> uh I have nothing to add at this time. Thank you, >> Mr. Dush. >> Yeah, I had a couple of uh questions,
comments. Some things I've spoken to Alen with and got information. So, one of the things that we learned too is that um so the the filings that the town makes with the IRS were correct, yet some of the WTO were printed wrong. Is that correct?
And and people may not know how this works. Do you upload a a spreadsheet to the IRS and that's what was correct? Yet the paper the paper W2s had boxes in the wrong place. >> The the boxes that were in the wrong place did not affect the taxable income.
So if you already filed your taxes, you don't have to refile because the box change did not impact that. >> Okay. And >> and I think now we're talking about 2025 as opposed to 2024. Yes, I guess so. Yeah,
>> it's the same thing. So, the WC's that were issued in 2025 for 2024 had um healthc care deductions in the wrong box. So, again, did not affect taxable income.
>> Okay. I guess that may be a misunderstanding. I thought we got information that um the numbers submitted to the IRS were correct, but not the paper forms. Is am I wrong? the numbers submitted to the IRS were correct. >> Okay.
>> Because the it's because you in um >> you invert the boxes. >> Yeah. But the your total wages are correct. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And then so um the town is not continuing with Munus. They're going to do something else next year. But the schools are going to continue with Mun, which is, you know, one of the big
systems a lot of schools use. Um but if if assistance is needed, we will hire a consultant to help us with Munas to get them correct or what what will we do? Every year we go through training with Tyler Technology to issue the W2s, 1099s
and 1095s. So they actually walk us through the process. Um and they didn't identify the inverted boxes either as they walk through the process with us. So >> Okay. So but but we think it won't
happen next time. The inverted boxes um we'll be looking for it next time. Well, the school will um go through the same training exercise with Tyler Technologies and go through the same process that we do every January. >> So, the school will do that process next. Okay.
Okay. Um let's see. And then if So, if there were a school or town staff member that wanted to um go through it with more detail with the town manager or the the town finance office, they could do that. If we can
walk through the process. Yep. We can show them what was incorrect on the forms. Absolutely. >> Okay. >> We're always available. Okay. >> Thank you. Um I just I think all the
questions I had are being asked but I um just to summarize and I got a good summary from uh Ela as well and um we got a lot of questions and emails and tried to communicate it that way. So the bottom line is in 2025
the box changes were more aesthetic. didn't really have number impact that would require someone to trigger refiling uh or shouldn't block anyone's or delay anyone's refund situation. Is that
correct? >> Thank you. Then the second is that um this should not be happening even the box changes and other aesthetic uh challenges which probably triggered this in the coming years because we have
switched our software. Uh is that correct? The town site >> the town site thank you >> has switched software and our vendor will be processing our W2s and 1095s on our behalf on the school side they
stayed with Munice or Tyler technology so they will go through the same process >> thank you but um it may not be you for that answer how can we better prepared on the school side as well and I don't want to put you
on this part, Kyla. Um, better prepared for this in the coming year because they're on the same system. Is there do we have that concern? Question A, and B, if >> that's one reason why we switched to a new vendor on the town side. Um we have
talked about mitigating on the school side and if we need to do you know a financial audit on historical records we haven't um made any definitive decisions but it may be
something because I mean mun goes back 10 15 years and some of the switches um were made five years ago. So >> yeah, >> none of us were in these roles at that time. >> No, understood. Something to keep on radar. We still have about a year or a
little bit less to make sure that everything is smooth and ready even on the current system because that system is also used by many. So it is a reliable system except maybe some changes in the past as you were saying have been kind of um crawling down. So
we we should um be feeling you know more confident and comfortable within this time and we can you know as town leaders check back sometime mid year that hey are we feeling more comfortable that would be my recommendation. My last one is that um uh in terms of providing some
service is there a very simple way to because um we are making communications but we still hear concerns because it's hitting people's paycheck and their financial plans. Do we have a clear path? Uh who would they go to for any resolution or advice should they
encounter or just have any questions? Is that payroll? Because it's also personal information. >> We are very limited what we can help with when it comes to a personal return with IRS. The IRS is not going to talk
to us. We do have a tax advisory number that we give out to individuals that they can call into on their behalf. We can walk through the process with an individual, but the IRS is not going to talk to someone other than that tax
recipient. >> Thank you. That that's all I have. That clarifies it. Any other questions, comments? >> All right. Thank you, Kyla. Thank you, Kyla, for staying. >> Kyla square again. K2 >> K2
>> Dangerous Mountain. >> All right. Thank you. Um we are towards the end. So the next item is annual town meeting 2026. The select board will consider reviewing the draft May 226
annual town meeting warrant and finalizing the language of its articles. The select board will consider identifying certain article sponsors to attend a future meeting for article discussions. Seems like we could we have another meeting next week, right? >> In the interest of time, I want >> I think we could skip that one. Yeah,
>> perfect. You're all good with that? >> Yeah, I'm fine. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Town manager report is next. >> Uh just uh briefly uh uh in your packet uh my memo is an update on the center school reuse
project. Uh it's a lengthy update. Um but uh the BBC uh permanent building committee has been coordinating with uh Gorman Richards Lewis Architects on a schematic design. Um and also in the works is the lease agreement with the center for the arts as well. Um and
additional information about that is included in my memo. I won't go through it all in detail if unless you have any questions. >> And that's really all I had. No position vacancies to report. >> All right. Anyone any questions,
comments? No. >> Moving on then to Lezer reports board invites. Amy. >> Oh boy. We got invited to even more things this >> Did. We did. And uh I I appreciate how
um Elaine has put everything together and put a um spreadsheet to track all the events and who's attending and all those. Today I added a column there where you could indicate if you're attending an event. >> Oh, okay. Great. >> Because that's very helpful. Thank you for doing that.
>> Yeah. As soon as you gave us the table, I immediately wrote that. >> Ah, >> yeah. >> And it's great. A lot of things, a lot of events. So, very vibrant set of activities. Matt, sorry, Amy. Did you have anything? >> Oh, so I could just put it in the sheet maybe, but we got invited to the marathon event with the Greek Embassy in
Boston. That's always a nice event, and that's the week before the marathon. Um, but I can put the exact date in the uh in the spreadsheet. >> We haven't added it up. We hadn't added that to the list. >> Oh, you've already added it? >> No, we haven't added that to the list yet. So, >> okay. And then this satch the South Asian Society has a concert coming up at the end of March.
>> And we'll put it for transparency. We'll put this list in the packet each meeting so people can see what events. >> That's a great idea. Yeah. >> Perfect. >> Thank you, Matt. >> Now, we can go. You've been late, >> Mr. Her. Real quick on the corridor project, uh the Ballards that are going
in front of Main Street Service so that the uh patrons don't drive over the sidewalk out onto Main Street um are going in this spring. Uh the the ballards have been selected. It's a black matte finish, big heavy duty kind
of bronze, I think, not bronze, but cast iron ballards. Uh secondly, the paving is now scheduled for I think it's the week or two after school closes. uh in downtown Hopington. So from the fire station to Ray Street, uh that paving
will take place uh right after school ends and then the striping and everything should be done. Uh the contract expires in October for this project. So this is it. Uh and then we'll be done. >> Awesome. >> Thanks, Brian.
>> That's great. It's great news. Thank you. We can't wait. It's down to the wire. Uh I don't have anything particular. I attended um an if event at the mosque near Price Chavar. It was wonderful and
we had representation from all faiths as well as from our police, fire and school and some of the other town boards as well. Uh so it was wonderful. Thank you. And we do have another one at the school uh organized by the high school students
this Wednesday. And then uh we have the farmers market opening on >> Sunday. Those are the imminent ones. So, >> and I'll be there for that. I can't argue against one that's literally at the end of my road. >> Awesome. Looking forward to those. That's all I have.
>> Mr. Chair, I'm sorry. One other clarification on the quarter if I could please. I said that paving begins right after school uh closes this year. Amarella is scheduled to come back right after the marathon to do all the preparatory work so that we can pave right after school closes. So they'll be
back here April 23rd or whatever it is. >> Thank you. Thank you that for that clarification. Uh so with that I think we can >> future I think you probably heard us but I think we want to talk about MW more like because that seems more pressing and the >> I have a
>> and the Fruit Street building we brought up too might be better for a separate meeting since we were so busy. >> Please go ahead. >> She wanted in our future board agendas. So without going through them all but at least the new ones. So Amy caught one MWR update which I think is kind of already on here. You were talking about I had it as planning for large scale
town storage. It came up in the context of the fruit street but just a better plan for like what are we doing writ large with all this equipment and then I am desperate to have a better conversation about town vehicles. That for me was like the theme of the night. This like weird oraoros of just kicking
the can until it ends up somewhere. It feels like in this garage in fact. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any any other future agenda items? >> No. >> No. >> Good. >> Good. All right. >> I'll give you the motion.
>> All right. I think we'll need the motion for executive session. >> I got it. Uh I move to convene an executive session pursuant master law C3821A to discuss strategy for negotiation with non-union personnel, police, and fire chief to approve executive session minutes from 24 Feb 26 to allow Elaine Lazarus, Lance Delpior,
and Nicholas and AA. I didn't even ask them last time. our labor council to participate in executive session and not to convene in open session at the conclusion of executive session. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Amy, yes. >> Matthew Kizner, yes. >> Yes. >> Shah Manan, yes. Thank you all. Have a
good night.