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Okay. Good evening everyone. With a quorum of the select board being present, I'd like to call the select board and wage and personnel board meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28th here at the

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Lakeville Public Library. Lake Cam is recording. Is there anybody else in the audience recording this evening? Okay, seeing none, um, at this point, would you like to call? >> Sure. Thank you. Um, I will call the

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April 28th um, Lake Blakefeld Vincom meeting to order at 5:46 p.m. Roll call. >> Tenini here. >> Right here. Be present. >> Okay. And with that, if we could all rise uh, for pledge of allegiance. Black

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would be right out in front of the building for now. 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

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justice for all. >> Thank you. Okay. So, this evening we're entering our third evening with our joint meeting with our finance committee uh to go over our department head um presentations.

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Uh the last couple of evenings that we had presentations, I waited for public comment till the end of the presentations. um this evening because each of these departments um you know they're they're large and we have representatives here

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um I think at the end of each of those I will open up for um comment after the select board and the finance committee has their opportunity um to ask some questions um and then you know we'll keep it brief so that we can keep this um moving right along um but very happy

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to see everybody here this evening we know that this is a important discussions for all of Okay. So, our first uh department that we'll be discussing tonight is our Old Colony Regional Technical High School. So, Mr. Pollinsky, I'd like to invite

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you up, please. >> Thank you for Thank you for having us. Uh I'm joined by Sarah Griffith, our business manager, and we've put together a presentation. Uh it's brief, but we've also given you a line by line overview of our entire budget, so you can literally go line by

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line in the packet and see every item in the budget. Uh so that if you have questions, we can address those questions. Uh we put together a PowerPoint for people at home. It does not include the line by line budget, but we can certainly make that available for anyone who would like a copy.

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So I'll begin with the PowerPoint and Mr. Ellis has agreed to help me with the uh moving moving through the PowerPoint. So our first slide is just about our mission. Our mission is to prepare and support students for the global demands of society in the workforce through rigorous vocational,

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technical and academic courses. This foundation is established within a safe environment that values students interests, needs, and diversity, fostering responsible, productive citizens in our community. And that community piece is a is a big piece of who we are. Uh we pride ourselves on the

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fact that our students are out in our communities doing work and contributing to the greater good. Uh the next slide, please, is an overview of admissions trends for town. And we're we're sharing this because recently the state mandated the production of a lottery. Uh and so

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we no longer have the opportunity to provide admission via merit. Uh we use a formula. It it is determined using the last 3 years of uh 9th grade enrollment and then the average um of the eighth grade class the proportion of the town's

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eighth grade class to the aggregate of all eighth grade classes in the district. the historical and predictive numbers are used. They're combined and then we have a draw. Um we were told originally that we could not use an allocation per town. We told uh the uh

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Department of Elementary and Education that we had concerns about that because if for some reason you were to randomly draw 150 students from one town, the impact to that municipality would be significant and the impact to a high school outside of our own high school

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could also be detrimental. they agreed uh to the quotas and for that reason we were able to establish quotas per town. What you'll see in terms of trends is that there's been an increase in the number of applications in every town except for Carver and that the number of

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students accepted is relatively steady uh in Lakeville. There's a decline in Nushnet, a decline in Carver, an increase in Matapoet in last year's Rochester class was just by happen stance a very low class. So, it's returned to what seems to be a very

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normal number for Rochester. Um, and I only share that as a point of interest because people have asked what is the outcome of the lottery? How has it impacted us? And you'll see here that um perhaps there's more opportunity for students to apply. The number of seats does not, however, change. Total

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enrollment on October 1st of 2024 for the town of Lakeville was 139 students. on October 1st in 2025 135 students and that number has increased a little bit. uh we anticipate it will be a higher number typically

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when our October 1st we can project now because of the lottery but we don't know what the departure will look like but on October 1st if we ever see a delta of more than five I always call the town administrator and say just so you know it looks like the incoming class could be larger for planning purposes that

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allows somebody to forecast their budget so I just share that as a point of interest next page please is really fiscal implications ations of our budget. Um, Mrs. Griff, Miss Griffith does an amazing job in helping

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to create a responsible budget. Uh, our FY27 budget is a level service budget. We knew it would be a tough year. Uh, so we really haven't added anything. The FY27 budget consists of a 4.8% overall increase. 1.1% of that is attributed to

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insurance increases, which are identified in number one below, and 2.26 26 is due to instructional salary increases. So the major increases in our budget that has been proposed are insurance increases of approximately

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9.45% for active and 12.9% for retirees. Uh there's a conservative placeholder for contractual obligations. We're currently in the midst of negotiations uh with our ASME group which is our custodians and our cafeteria and also our teachers. Uh what we typically do is

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we use a litics program and we survey our municipalities and our locals to make sure we come in lower than they do. That's always been kind of a guideline for us. Uh we want to make sure that we're not the highest. We also want to make sure we're not the lowest, but we try to work in a very conservative

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manner. Another piece we like to put on the forefront and horizon just again for planning purposes is that we're entering the final year of a 5 plus2 bus contract and we want to anticipate what that could mean. Uh as everyone knows transportation has a major impact on

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budgets so it's very tough to project. Uh but we do know we're moving into a um a bid year and so September probably of uh next year we'll be going out to bid for a bus contract and we will get the information back in time to formulate

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and include that in our budget. Uh next page please. Just for folks who are not familiar with how our budget planning works, um our budget preparation begins in the fall. It's fine-tuned with the release of the governor's state budget proposal. Um her

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recommendations once released are used as part of our formulation and we work with our member towns. This year it was over two meetings where we have um individuals from all of our member towns come in. They get a first look if people

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tell us a good example would be last year folks said to us that the number just wouldn't have been manageable for some of our towns. Last year we ended up cutting um staff and we actually ended up reducing the budget by a relatively significant number. This year when we

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ran the budget by our member towns the feedback we received was that it seemed to be a very responsible budget. We did do a second meeting because there were folks who were unable to attend the first and in our second goound folks also expressed that they felt it was a reasonable budget in terms of what had

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been prepared. Uh and then we take our budget and we bring it to the school committee and the school committee at that point votes on whether or not to approve the budget. Upon the approval of the budget, it goes to all five of our member towns. Carver is usually the

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first to vote. They vote in April. So we have to be done relatively early and then this year a Kushnet is the last to vote. They vote in June on June 15th. So that's just an overview of the process. Uh you'll also see a different kind of breakdown in this packet and that's

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where if you wanted to reference that and ask questions. Uh Sarah is here. She's she's our budget excuse me guru. Uh and she's she's really adept at answering any questions with intricacies that you may have and I will also be

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happy to attempt to answer any questions you may have. We appreciate the time and we'd like to open the floor. Thank you. Anybody from the select board have any uh questions? Mr. Blanco.

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>> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, thank you, Mr. Plansky and Sarah for presenting tonight. Um, question. I'm aware that the chapter 70 allocations as it goes works its way through the house has been increased. What are the are you projecting any savings resulting? granted. So that is the Senate of course

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it's two months away month or two away I guess from finalizing but right now the numbers increase. Are you anticipating any savings um resulting in the chapter 70 changes by the house? >> So if our cherry sheet revenue increases we will use those revenues towards the

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budget for next fiscal year and lower fourth quarter assessment for the member towns which is what we've done in the past. >> Great. Thank you. The other piece we'll just make folks aware of is uh we did secure an earmark for some work to be done at the school

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quarter of a million dollars to update the phone bell and PA system which were antiquated. Uh so that does not end up as a warrant for taxpayers. It's something that is a savings for taxpayers. We're also waiting to hear um as soon as this week about a $2 million

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grant that was submitted for equipment purchase. And if that goes through um and I'm relatively confident that it will go through, it's another savings for the update of our machining tool technology program. We're extremely aggressive in our work to secure competitive grants because we know that

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that offset is a savings to our member towns. Uh so that $2 million savings spread over five towns results in a very significant savings for our taxpayers over the course of the last 10 years. Uh I don't believe we've come with a separate warrant article for capital. Um

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and we're quite proud of how we've managed capital in terms of our budget. We've done a lot of work on our own with our students in the school because they're very capable of many different things. And we've also worked through the skills capital funding provided by the state and the EOE to make sure that

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we can secure u millions of dollars in capital grants to offset the cost of taxpayers. I just wanted to share that as a point of interest. >> Anybody else? >> Thank you. A follow question. The number that's been imposed by the house right now chapter 70. any idea what type of

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project saving would be of the budget right now that >> I think in so I think in prior years it's been in in total for old Colony an additional $30,000 which usually ends up being pretty

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minimal as far as per town it will go back to the town um based on the occupancy at the school. So, I think in the past some of our towns have seen, you know, $14,000 come back. Some have seen $10,000 come back. It sort of just depends on your enrollment um for your October one numbers, but I can

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definitely provide a projection based on the house numbers. That's no problem. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Hi, Erin. Um this is probably a fiscal 26 question. Um is there funding for the upcoming election?

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>> There is. Um the funding that was put aside for the first election um was not spent in total which will allow us to fund the second election. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Finance committee question.

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Um we've uh our town has had several um issues or we've been noticing the increased insurance expenses and again I'm breathtaking breathtaken by how much more we're paying here. Can you speak to what the challenge is that you guys I know each situation's a little bit different, but what's happening with you

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guys at the schools in terms of is this something we should expect to see year-over-year um increases in this range and what's happening with the health insurance that's causing it to be so high. I will say to Sarah's um credit, she moved us out of a one program and into a

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new program that resulted in a considerable cost savings for the district just a couple years ago. So, we joined Maya and the rates have been significantly improved as a result of that move. Had we stayed, we probably would have been in much worse off um as a result of where we had been. So, I'm

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grateful uh for the work that she put into that. But in terms of the the trends, this is nationwide, not just statewide. So the uh National Superintendent Association actually sent out an article recently identifying that nationwide there is an insurance

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collapse and that everybody nationwide is hitting this incredible wall. Uh recently, actually as recently as today, my 26-year-old daughter called me and she said, "The insurance costs at my new job are off the charts." she used uh a

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different expression, >> but it was it it was very interesting and I thought to myself, welcome um to Big Girl Land and um this is the state of the this is the state of the nation right now. I don't think it's local. I think it's nationwide.

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>> Did the article that you're referencing uh expand on any reasons for that? It's it's hard for someone at my level to have any understanding. >> You know what? I'll see if I can find it and if I can, I can send it out. Okay. Um, but I I recall it being the nationwide issue. Sarah might be able to

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speak a little bit more intricately because she's also sat on some boards for insurance. She might be able to speak. >> I I did just want to um mention that our insurance subcommittee of our school

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committee um spent the last 6 months or so um meeting and having conversations about insurance. Um, one of the benefits of being a member at the Maya purchasing group is that, um, we have the ability

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to change our plan design if we need to. Um, which is a huge benefit, one that we did not have in our prior group. Um, you know, right now the plan that we're offering, uh, it's been with the school district for a very long time. So that's I think the first hurdle for for a lot

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of um school districts is if you have a plan that's been in place for a very long time um and you know your bargaining units aren't in favor of changing plan design um it can be difficult to make changes for administration but we have been meeting

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with our union representation u of all of our different unions and having conversations about health insurance and how it affects them and their checks, how it affects us and our budget. Um, so we have been working on that and I think that it's something that the more you talk about it with your

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unions, the more they understand, you know, the implications on both ends. Um, I know that our Maya rep when they came and spoke with um, our insurance subcommittee, they mentioned the GLP ones being incredibly difficult for insuranceances right now to carry. So many people are on them and they cost so

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much money to purchase. Um that is why Maya decided not to support the rider for the GLP1s. Our insurance renewal would have been 14% increased and it went to 945. Wow. >> By not carrying the rider for the GLP1s that um are very popular right now.

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>> So that's really a good thing. Um you know, one thing the school district could look to into is is plan design change. We do already tier our um contribution rates. The insurance uh contribution rate by the district for employees that have been there longer is

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more and the new hires is less um that we contribute towards the plan. So those are just some things that we've been working on. But it is a very difficult situation um and u risky this insurance can be sometimes. So >> well thank you for your um sharing your

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expertise. Another question I have for you is did you guys share the the flyer about the high the building the high school the cost per household? >> You shared this one. >> There was a lot of questions. Yeah. >> About cost per household that was put together. Um, >> this is great

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>> for people to have a >> yeah really a a visual um and an understanding of the impact for Oswalt because the tax impact calculator that's on our website >> does give you a comparison but a lot of

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people don't get the opportunity to go in there and really look at the intricacies of that. >> Yes, it's it's a very misunderstood issue. It is. Um my question for you is in the example where we have I can appreciate under a new high school we would have higher building efficiency under the high school repair. Um I'm

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watching our utility costs, heating costs go go up and up and up. Um are either one of these scenarios a case that would better mitigate our costs in the future if insurance and not insurance if electricity and oil and so

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forth continue to go up. The newer building is far more energy efficient than the current structure >> and those cost savings are already captured in here. >> Those are not captured in there. This is construction only. >> Okay.

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>> Right. So, um, when when we look at, you know, not to digress, I know we're in budget, so but but we will be doing virtual open houses >> and that may be a good time when you register for the open house, you can actually submit your questions,

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>> but I don't want to hijack tonight. >> It's I feel like it um but I did want to get we did want to provide you with the clarity around. >> Okay. Okay. >> That piece >> because your budget line items relative to those costs are very high which is why I was asking the question. >> We're in a very um

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>> Thank you. >> The building that we are in is similar to the car building that existed prior to their construction project. Some buildings when you look at like Fair Haven, their building isn't was built to last. That's the best way to put it. Certain construction is not built uh in

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that same manner. I worked at Bristol Aggie. a lot of their buildings they were able to renovate because those buildings had the infrastructure that would allow for that capacity. What we're dealing with is a sub base uh that would require the jackhammering of floors and all sorts of intricate um

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work and so we don't have that same luxury. >> Okay. Thank you. Apologize for getting off topic. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, I'd like to open it up uh to the audience if there's anybody that has any questions about the FY27 budget for

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Old Colony. >> Can I just ask one question? >> Come on up to the mic. And if you wouldn't mind just stating your name for the record. >> My name is Jennifer Burke. I'm a resident in Lakeville. I was just curious, if it's already been told, I apologize, but what do you spend per

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pupil in your building? I think we have the people cost here. >> Her pupil is $19,59. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Donna Gay, 126 Holland Road. just have a quick question if I may.

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Um, I saw the statistic of 2.26% for instructional salary increases. Would you mind elaborating on what that exactly is? So that number includes um all steps um

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lanes and cola for all um instructional staff that fall under the 2000 series for DESIE which is uh building um principal coordinators for um we call

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them directors academic student services um and vocational And then all of the teaching staff and all of the paraprofessionals, the only people um only salaries in the building that don't fall under the 2000

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series are um the superintendent, myself, and um our maintenance and custodians, our athletic director, and our food service director. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. >> Okay.

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Well, thank you very much. I know um we'll be talking uh shortly about um the polling change, but so if you wouldn't mind just if you're going to be sticking around for a little while, that would be great. >> Thank you very much. >> And also just Barbara, I didn't want to

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I did not want to cut you off at all, but we're happy to come back anytime. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Just just so you know that we more than happy to. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, moving on to the Freetown Lakeville Regional School District.

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>> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Nice to see you. >> Nice to be seen. As my father used to say, better to be seen than viewed. >> Mr. Ellis, even though I didn't ask you ahead of time, would you would you be our clicker as well? >> Absolutely. >> Thank you so much. >> He's really good at it, by the way.

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>> And letting us know what pages are, too. >> I can see that. >> Yeah. >> Um, okay. So, again, we'll um we're very happy to to hear your presentation this this evening for your FY27 budget. Um and we'll hold um comments and questions

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until the end. Great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. I'm accompanied. I'm Barbara Starky, the superintendent of schools for the Freetown Lake Regional School District, and I'm accompanied by John Higgins, our director of finance and operations. I also have a a crew of administrators here tonight who are

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going to be assisting in the presentation. Uh I'd like to just take this uh moment to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you regarding our budget. Uh, I'd also like to thank our school committee members who are present here this evening, our administrators who are here, and our school staff uh who have turned out uh

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in support of our presentation this evening. Uh, I want to thank Mr. Sforth for for uh talking to me this afternoon. Uh, to be honest, I wasn't incredibly clear with what we have been invited to do this evening. uh knowing that we had been giving presentations on our budget

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uh at the school committee meeting since January 12th and knowing that we had had uh you know a rather large gathering on March 5th uh of you know members from both towns, we didn't want to be redundant this evening and provide information that had already been provided to most folks. So I'll just

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call attention to all of those presentations that have been given. Uh they are available for public viewing on our district website at any time. Mr. Mr. Higgins and I are welcome to phone calls uh regarding anything in those presentations uh at any time. I'd also like to call attention to the fact that

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uh everybody has been provided uh to the best of our knowledge with copies of our budget books. So you've had the opportunity to review those. Uh those books are being updated uh as information is becoming available. You've already talked a little bit about chapter 70 funding. uh we did update

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pages in the budget book today in our digital version and uh copies of those will be uh made available tomorrow so that you can see any of those relevant updates. Um and then lastly I just want to give an overview that our presentation tonight is really kind of like the larger picture presentation

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here. It contains elements that some of you have seen before. Uh and it goes down the road of like what are the services that will continue with a level service budget in the Freetown Lake Regional School District uh in the coming year and what are the services that would not continue uh should we go

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down the road of not having a level service budget. I took a page out of uh Mr. Sorth's book and his presentation uh two two or three weeks ago. His initial presentation was, you know, the overall budget view and then what would happen should an override not pass in the budget not be funded. So that's the

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approach that we took this evening. So just to couch things, that's the direction we're going. Thank you for your patience for that uh that introduction. Uh those are the members of our school committee uh who have been uh many of which uh who have been on this journey with us as we uh build the

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FY27 budget. Absent from there uh is certainly Stephen Sylvia who uh needs some acknowledgement. Uh he was with us during that during that process as well. Uh so shout out to Steve. Uh our rationale uh as a district this year.

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Our our tagline has been to recognize the ripple. We've spent a great deal of time students, staff, administrators, uh parents, and the community considering the ripple effect of our of our action. We developed a theme and we've been uh dedicated to that theme all year. And it seems very fitting to remind us uh

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always when we're making important decisions around education and the lives of our children that we consider the ripple that those decisions make. Uh our FY27 budget was constructed with an understanding that a level service budget was was what we needed to

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continue in the district. Uh a level service budget specifically ensures that the daily opportunities provided to our students in the Freetown Lake Regional School District continue and that those are academic, athletic, civic, and social uh services that our communities

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have come to understand that their students are going to receive every single day. And a level service budget guarantees the continuity of those services. Moving along, uh I'm going to turn things over to Mr. Higgins here who will uh speak to the components of a budget.

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>> Sure. So um we began this budget process in October with the um with the charge from the school committee to begin the budget process. Uh the first step in in that process is meeting with all the principles as well as the directors the departments to begin looking at what are

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the needs for the coming year. uh much of the budget is identified at that point and and then once we get into January uh we are able to um at least show what are the ex potential expenditures though we may not know the revenue yet the revenue the first sign

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of the revenue comes in in the governor's budget which we received again uh earlier this year and then as we have discussed in many of our school committee meetings one of the issues that we are facing but not just us many basically all the school districts in the in the commonwealth are facing are limitations of chapter 70 and

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specifically the formula that determines uh the chapter 70 calculations for school districts. So, we have been proponents and um certainly recommending for all of those who have been hearing our uh presentations to you to take um advantage of using the form letters that

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we've created to speak to or to reach out to representatives and uh state senators about the importance of the updating of that calculation and that formula so that school districts uh are able to provide the services to their students that they need to without putting too much of a uh pressure on the

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towns that also provide those the the funding. Um the assessment process is is ongoing. Uh obviously as we've received that governor's budget, we have a first round of the assessment. Um but then from there we we will get updates not just on chapter 70 but on chapter 71

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which is the regional transportation reimbursement as well as some charter school reimbursements but also they also within that cherry sheet assess um within that cherry sheet they'll also identify what the potential expenses are going to be for us going back to the state. So they might be charging us, for

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example, more charter chartered school tuition reimbursement going out the other way. So all of those are included in the in the cherry sheet updates that we get each time a new budget is presented, which I'll address the t the the um representative budget uh shortly.

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Uh health insurance, we have seen an increase this year as we've seen an increase each year in the last several. Uh though this year's increase was um was less than last. This year we saw a five and a 5.44% 44% increase which was um less than last year's which was about

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10 a.5%. Um we are um looking to see an reduction in our property and casualty insurance as we've moved um aged out of some uh pretty significant um uh losses a couple of years ago with the flood in the high school and so forth. Those things have aged out timewise. So we

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should see some reduction in the cost for property casualty insurance. And then of course our contractual obligations as we've been negotiating with our teachers, our pair of professionals and our secretaries. This year we started on FY uh for the FY27 budget.

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We started um and we did things uh slightly differently. Wanted to give a more holistic perspective. So instead of just including within the recommended budget only the the dollars that were being spent from the uh general fund as well as school choice and circuit breaker, we also wanted to include the

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budgets uh that we re that expenditures that we spend through title grant funding as well as through IDA grant funding. Uh so we looked at last year's number and we wanted to compare uh properly compare the numbers. So we come up with a a recommended budget of

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53,319,217 which is an increase of 3,434,234. That was the um that's where we started. Go ahead. This translates to a general fund out we're moving on the school choice and circuit breaker and the grants. This um

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translates to a recommended general fund budget of $49,542,654 which is an increase of 3,454,915. The difference between um those is is as you can imagine there's a difference in in terms of the grant funding that we're going to get from one year to the next. So that's why those numbers don't come

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up. The difference isn't exactly the same from one year but the differences are pretty close. It's just a matter of grant funding. So you can go to the next one. This translated in assessments the initial assessments for um for Freetown of one $1,637,82

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and for for Lakeville $2,352,77 and the corresponding percentage increases. When we were um when we presented those numbers, the school committee had asked us to go through the budget and identify any items that were one-time expenses um

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as well as multi-year subscriptions that the school committee could use END funds um in the coming year so that they could mitigate the effect of the budget on towns. So we returned uh that is the excess efficiency amount for Freetown Lakeville in the current year the

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certified value of 2,159,937. So uh in the following uh school committee meeting we presented to the school committee you can go to the next slide. We presented to the school committee three options uh option A option A plus and option A++. Reason it

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was uh designed that way is they were option A was identifying all of the one-time expenses that were in the budget. This was about $95,000 worth of items. U these include an upgrade to um fire suppression in the

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campus schools. Uh this includes um purchase of some textbooks. It includes uh uh new network switches within the district uh which are from 2012. Uh option A+ um was was that was the

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one-time expenses and then a single subscription that we could purchase or we could pay upfront for $25,000 uh for a uh tech subscription that we use for um off-site um I'm sorry I I don't know the details of

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it, but it is effectively it's like a a backup server for for the system. Yeah, data server. So the the idea was with that 25,000 is that that would be a purchase that could be made on July 1 and then would not we would not re see it again until three years later. So the

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school committee wanted to see any opportunities for those as well. There was really only one as um virtually all of our subscriptions are one-year subscriptions and that's done um at the um at the veh of our auditor as it's good practice not to have multi-year um

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subscriptions if you can avoid it. It's good for savings, but it's difficult for um liabilities. And then option A++ included a number of one-year subscriptions as well. Um the um this was these were not really a particularly good option, but we wanted to just

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present to the school committee all the potentials. The one-year option would obviously they would be um things that would reappear in a year. So they would not be effectively one-time expenses or multi-year expenses. So, the school committee, it's highlighted in yellow because the school committee selected A+

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and voted to utilize 930 uh,184 of excess and deficiency u for those purchases and for those um services in the coming year. Go ahead and go to the next one. And as a result, um the

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recommended um general fund budget increased because uh it went from being a capital project to potentially to to do to be um falling under operations. So therefore uh it was increased the budget but it reduced the cost to the to the

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towns. Um you can go to the next one. I I I want to clarify on that. There was only one item that was the capital and that was the uh fire suppression. So that one the the $200,000 for the supply expression had to be added to the operations budget so that then it could

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be pulled out of the overall budget. So this reduced the impact to uh Lakeville and to Freetown. In the case of Lakeville, the increase then uh moved to 1 $1,825,353 an increase of 10.27%. This was the budget that was voted by

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the school committee. On uh April 15th, we received some information um that we had a um reduction in our budget of about $250,000, exactly $250,000 as a result of a a move out from an outofd district

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tuition, which was um helpful for our budget. Uh that was a an adjustment that we made. Um we have not had that vote on the new assessment sheet, which will take place at the May 13th meeting. There's been a number of um updates as well as mentioned the chapter 70 number has changed as well. So the assessment

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sheet for May 13th will inre include that reduction as well as include the um the increases in cost increases in in funding that we're going to receive as well as the change in uh the chair sheets. So, moving along, as Mr. Higgins said,

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on May 13th, there'll be further information on uh a change to the assessment, although I think you might have some of those rough numbers uh to present this evening. What does a level service budget provide to the students? As I said earlier, it provides the students with the same continuity of services they received today. If you

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would just move forward, Mike. uh we we condensed a tremendous number of slides here to try to give you just an overall picture at FES AES and at Grace there will be programmatic continuity in the following areas. So math specialist services and math intervention services

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that are pro provided to all of our students uh who are in need of additional math support outside of what they get in the classroom or sometimes pushin services to support what they're getting in the classroom. reading intervention and reading specialist services in all three of those buildings. Same thing. These are for our

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students who are identifying at very early ages, sometimes as early as kindergarten, uh who are showing deficits in reading. Uh and this is any additional assistance that they would be provided outside of what we consider tier one or classroom instruction. Um

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there would be uh a continuity of class sizes across grade levels and across uh specials that are offered in the buildings uh at all three of those uh schools. There would be continuation of the writing development that's happened in our buildings. We we had identified

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several years ago that we were having difficulty at the elementary level with our students writing in particular postco. Uh so there's been a a tremendous investment in time and resources and helping our students and there will be a continuity of that programming. One element of this budget

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uh is the replacement of an antiquated writing system to to try to continue with these improvements we're seeing in the students. It would be a continuity of services in library media access and library media specialist access in all three of these schools. Library media

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specialists in the schools today, they do not just hand out books. They do not just uh you know simply read to the children. They do so much more. They are our specialists when it comes to teaching dig digital literacy and coding to our students. Essential skills for students to have uh you know as they

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move forward through the grades and certainly as they become graduates of Apon High School. Um specials in art, music, PE, digital literacy and coding would continue in all of those buildings and class sizes would remain constant. we would continue to have grade level paraprofessionals uh for support in the

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district. That's a commitment that happened several years ago. Uh I can take you back to a time when we did not have grade level paraprofessionals uh to assist our students across grade levels in particular students who don't have special needs. Um we did not have those

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here in the district. We acquired uh these very helpful personnel across over time and then there was a movement uh to remove them all with a budgetary reduction. And I recall a time when school committee took a vote and money was taken out of END to restore some of these positions and put them back in the

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operating budget because they are essential to the support of our student learners. Uh there would be continued uh par profofessional support and kindergarten classes at fees and AES. We would continue uh to replace onetoone Chromebooks and have them at access for

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students uh at fees and AES. Many of you know uh the world is digitized. We've moved to to Chromebooks as an as a vital instructional tool. In many places, it's replacing the textbook. Uh and over time, you might see a savings with that, but students use Chromebooks. We need to

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teach them to be digital citizens and appropriate digital citizens. And part of this budget uh maintains the access to those Chromebooks and all of the learning platforms. We have a junior custodian program at the buildings. I'm sorry if I'm starting to lose some of you already uh because you've heard this

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before, but the junior custodian program is awfully important to us over time. Again, another aspect of the budget that has uh diminished is access to custodians and grounds and maintenance keepers. And we have offset that by hiring custodians uh amongst our own high school students who are looking for

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part-time jobs. So, you know, we're paying them less. We're not paying their insurance and they are cleaning the buildings for us and they're learning vital skills. Uh and that's a program that that uh may not continue. Uh and we have two teacher teams at Grace which are also uh something that's a continuity of service that we look

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forward to continuing for our students. You know in kindergarten it's I'm sorry in the elementaryaries AES and FES it's a very traditional model. You've got one grade level teacher who you see all day long. You might have some other uh par profofessor or a special education teacher or your special teachers who are part of your world. By the time you move

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up to the grace building you have two teachers. You've got a humanities and a science teacher preparing you to move on to that middle school level where you're having a team of perhaps four to five content teachers and then to the high school where you've got seven or eight maybe nine or 10 teachers across the

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course of a year. Move along Mike please. Thank you so much. Uh at FL at LMS we'd like to continue to see that team model in place. Very important for the social emotional development and support of students at the middle level. We have an academic resource center that provides support to all students. uh who

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are non-special ed who need assistance. Uh we have a reading specialist in the building who supports again those students who are falling behind in reading and certainly as they progress and they're reading more in a content level. Uh we would like continuity certainly of class size at the middle school in particular our specials. Uh we

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would like to continue to have world language offerings in Spanish so that many of our students come out of our middle school already uh prepared to enter Spanish too at the high school. Uh we'd like to continue library media services with the uh hiring of a we have a library par profofessional who

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oversees the library at the middle school more traditional model there. Uh we've got a homework club program. Again it's tier 2 support for students who struggle. Uh sometimes parents are not available to help students with homework. We all know that lives are very busy and this affords students the opportunity to get that extra support

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after school. STEM and digital literacy offerings. Over the past 10 years, this district has taken tremendous leaps and bounds in science, technology, uh, engineering, and math education from K straight through 12. And we are looking to continue that in particular at our

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middle level where it could, uh, it could suffer a hit should we not have level service budgets. Art, music, PE, computer science, forgive my missing you, and music. There are the, uh, current specials that we'd like to continue offering to our students at the middle level. And again, the junior custodian program. Moving quickly on to

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the high school, we have 17 AP course offerings at the high school. That's impressive for a high school our size. Our students score three or higher. The vast majority of our students score three or higher on exams. That's a tremendous savings when kids are moving on to college for every family in this

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community whose kids are taking AP classes and being successful. It's a program that's vital to uh to vital to our students. And when you think AP programming, you might also think, oh, that's just for a certain type of student. It's not. We have no barriers to entry to AP programming at the high

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school. All of our students are encouraged to take AP classes. Uh eventually it's a goal to see as many as all of our students having an you know taking that challenge and taking an AP class at the high school uh because they can do it. We offer virtual high school,

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which is a program that also supplements some of the AP courses that we can't offer on site because we we just simply can't offer all the AP courses that we that we have. In exchange for one teacher teaching teaching a period of EHS, we have 25 or more students who are taking high school classes all across

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the country. Uh it's those two those two things I note keep ARHS a competitive high school. We offer electives uh in support of mass core. Mass Core is the minimum graduation requirement recommended by the state for all students when they graduate from high school in Massachusetts. If you've

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completed Massore with success, you're you're looking at going into a two to fouryear uh college having met everything you need to to start entry at equal footing with everybody else you're starting school with. Uh we have started an innovation career pathway program uh

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in health careers and soontobe business at Apon Regional High School. Something we'd certainly like to continue. We're thinking about uh filing an application and bringing back some career tech education for those of you uh uh you know who might be more familiar with the terms shops or technical learning.

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That's what we're looking to to bring into Aponicquit so that we can offer kids opportunities that they might be getting at other locations that they no longer have access to. You know, Mr. Pinsky spoke tonight about the lottery and we have students who will be coming to Apanic now who had their hearts set

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on going to Old Colony and we don't have an equivalent offering but CTE pro programming might help us to get there and help us to support some of those students. Just as a small example again one-toone Chromebooks for instruction all of our college and career counseling we'd like to continue for our students

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vital uh when we think about the governor's new move uh to change the requirements for high school graduation. That's a whole other meeting. I could come to I'm sorry, Mike. Uh, our ARHS online program, which is our dropout prevention program, we have a near 100%

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graduation rate at a planer regional high school. That's incredibly impressive. I don't mind bragging about that at all. And one reason we have that is that ARHS online program. That program offers students who have difficulty in the structure of a traditional school day uh with an

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opportunity to do some online very supported online learning uh in our building and have a successful path to graduation while they work. Uh we have a budding internship and capstone program that leads that could potentially lead to each student having an internship

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before they graduate. Uh and as professionals here, we we know how important it is to dabble in your career before you jump in and spend your life doing it. Uh my cap is the uh state sponsored career uh structured counseling program that we have in place and the current schedule at the high

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school lends itself to all of the opportunities we provide to our students. Thank you for your patience as I have one more slide here. Uh and also level service budget allows us continuity of service in facilities and technology. We have cameras that need to be replaced and upgraded in the building

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for school security. Uh we have work as Mr. Higgins mentioned before network switches that need to be replaced. Some of these things are supported currently have been voted to be supported out of uh END by the school committee. However, uh if things take a turn and we don't have a level service budget, we might be

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asking the school committee to uh you know to reconsider how they're spending that END money uh and how we have to reallocate that to better support our students with perhaps instructors. Um it we'd like to certainly continue some of the other thing. I won't go through the

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whole list, but you can see it the things that happen in our school, the day-to-day function of our building buildings that we would just like to see continue. You've heard enough of my voice. So, I'm going to turn things I'm gonna I'm going to invite up right now uh our elementary leadership team that involves uh principal Michael Ward. Uh I

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believe tonight we have with us Meredith Foy who is a special education administrator at Freetown Elementary School. And we have Donna Hillary who's a special ed uh administrator over uh right here at the Asawsa Elementary School. And they're just going to walk you through uh what happens if the

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services that I just spoke about do not continue. In other words, what would happen if we did not have a level service budget or the override did not pass. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for your time. Again, I'm Nerd Boy, special ed administrator at Freetown Elementary School. I am also a resident of

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Lakeville. Um if uh we are not able to implement a level um a level service budget, we at Freetown Elementary School will lose a 0.5 math specialist. Uh we will also lose a full-time reading

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specialist teacher, a 75 reading intervention teacher, a 75 math intervention teacher, a full-time kindergarten teacher, a full-time library media specialist, a full-time kindergarten pair professional, and two

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full-time grade level pair professionals. That's a total of six and a half full-time teachers and 1.75 part-time. >> Hi everybody. Donna Hillary from AES special ed administrator. Um to echo

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what uh Mrs. Foy just said at Asawwamsit, you're looking at a.5 math specialist teacher, a.5 math intervention teacher, one full-time reading specialist, two reading intervention teachers, one library media specialist, one kindergarten

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parrofessional, and two grade level parrofessionals. And that's 5.5 full-time and 2.5 part-time staff people. >> Good evening. Michael Ward, the principal at Freetown Elementary School. Uh the combined immediate and long-term

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student um impacts of Asawamsit and Freetown Elementary School. Should a level service budget not be funded, both of the libraries would be closed and as a result, it would eliminate digital literacy and coding. It would eliminate science, technology, engineering, and

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math, also known as STEM programming. It would reduce the access to specials, art, music, and physical education. As you can imagine, class sizes in specials would increase. This is pertaining to Freetown Elementary School. It would increase class size in kindergarten because part of it would be a reduction

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at the kindergarten level of a teacher. It would hinder the progress in math, reading, and writing. And most importantly, you can imagine it's going to be the impact on the safety, supervision, and classroom management uh for the students and within the school

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environment. to dig a little bit deeper. Uh thank you. Um the immediate and long-term student impacts uh for AES and FES. Should a level service budget not be funded for the specialists and interventionists? The impact on

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students. Currently 72 students at AES, 71 students at FES receive services from specialists today either in reading or math. Combine that with 33 students from AES and fees received services from

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their interventions. That's approximately over 150 students that would not receive this service. This clearly will widen the learning gap. It would increase their frustration, lower their confidence. They become disengaged and obviously lead to potential dropouts

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as they go along on their educational journey. Not only do specialists provide resources to our students, but to families. There'd be no more access to the resource for families for skills that are being reinforced at schools that the specialist and intervention to share with the families of the students

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that they are serving. So the impact in the classroom and I just want to pause for the audience for a second. Tier one, tier 2 and tier three instruction. Tier one and tier 2 instruction is provided by the classroom teacher. Tier one is simply the teaching of all students like

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whole group. Think of tier two as a double dose. So the classroom teacher still provides it but it's at a small teacher table in which she works with a specific group of students um with a specific objective in mind and they tailor the instruction based on the readiness of that child. Tier three is

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provided by the specialists and interventionists. So if they are cut I simply ask the question who would be providing tier three instruction to our students who obviously need it. This impact uh ability to meet this will

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impact the diverse needs without additional supports as you can imagine desi department of elementary and secondary uh expectations are going to be consistent and constant. They're not going to change. We're going to be held accountable for it and it's going to be a challenge. We're going to work our

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hardest to get there. However, with the loss of a specialist and interventionist, there's going to have greater impact on student progress. And then just as the same with the provider resource to families and students, as you can imagine, specialists and interventionists provide educational

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resources to myself and the wonderful staff at both of the schools. They provide PD. They give educational material. They administer assessments. They help read the assessments. They give ideas for next that you should do with it and next steps for those

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assessments. So, it would be a big impact on classroom uh teaching. >> So, to echo what Mr. Ward just sat there and said um our multi-tiered system of supports which is also referred to as

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the MTSS system um will actually you know it's it's a proactive approach currently right now um it's preventionbased framework and without adequate resources with these specialists and interventionists it's going to become reactive for the classroom teacher at this point um again

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tier one that core instruction reductions in the specialist and support staff weaken the differentiation of instruction instruction that students are receiving. More students will struggle within the general education setting and then that increases the number of students needing intervention.

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The tier 2 that's going to be creating larger group sizes and reduced frequency of interventions. Right now, our students see the interventionists anywhere from three days a week for 30 minutes all the way up to five days a week for 30 minutes. And that's for reading and math. Um, so those sizes and

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those groups currently right now are about four students, excuse me, four students. So they're just going to get larger if we didn't have these supports. Um, there's less consistent less consistent progress monitoring if these um positions would be um impacted and then slower student growth with widening

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gaps. Um, the tier three, which is the most intensive intervention, would really be limited um to provide that individualized highintensity support that the student requires. they might not receive that level of intervention and that will lead um to an increase of

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referrals and special education um due to the lack of the general education um supports that have been in place through that MTSS system. So systemwide impact would reduce access to professional development like Mr. Ward said and evidence-based practices, limit time for

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data analysis and team collaboration and also strain on the staff and resources across all levels. And then in the bottom line is that the MTSS or the multi-tered system of supports cannot function effectively without adequate staffing. Um and at the end of the day

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the students would be the ones who are impacted most significantly by that lack of service and supports. Next one. Oh, you're good. Um nope, sorry. Back one. Sorry. Uh Robert spoke to um the importance of pair of professionals. Uh

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they certainly provide daily support for students that is crucial to their learning. Uh if again we don't have a level service budget that we're able to implement, um we will lose a full-time kindergarten par and two grade level

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paras. Um the impact for students would be that they wouldn't have the essential day-to-day support that they require in the classrooms to meet their learning uh behavior and social emotional needs. Um without them they will absolutely be

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impacted academically. Um it will be nearly impossible for teachers to meet all students individual needs in in the classroom and those gaps will will widen particularly for more vulnerable students. Um there will be a significant

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impact on school climate. Um the pair professionals provide consistency and emotional support. They are a trusted adult for for many of our students, for all of our students. Um they they help students feel seen, safe, and connected.

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And also when um substitutes aren't available, which happens regularly, uh pair of professionals are the ones that step up into that position and and will be substitutes in classrooms, which provides consistency for students. Um

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the impact in the classrooms when paras are not there, their responsibilities don't go anywhere, they just in turn uh become the teachers responsibilities. And again, in order for the teachers to provide that small group instruction, that really limits their ability to do

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that. Um, it really limits their ability to just uh ensure a positive school environment. And um the monitoring of behavior plans, there's a lot of data collection involved in monitoring behavior plans and and without parents, it's it's nearly impossible for the

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teacher to do that on her level. Moving along to the next slide. So the immediate and long-term student impact if level service budget is not funded for AES and FPS when it comes to the library and media specialist. As I shared earlier, the libraries of both

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the schools would be closed. The media specialist position would be cut. The impact it has on students, the digital age is going to remain. Right? And it requires more guidance. Access to devices and the internet does not equal understanding. We cannot simply slide a

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Chromebook along to a student and say here you go let's learn through it. They do learn part of that but there has to be some uh explicit teaching. So digital citizenship and responsibility how to appropriately use technology is there. So it would have impact on the digital literacy how to find evaluate and use

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information the correct way. Media literacy identify bias misinformation and using credible sources. The impact of the school climate. So you think about both of our schools AES and FES. The library is the hub of the building, right? It builds that love of books and

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literacy. It promotes independence, reading and choice. It connects students with high level interests in diverse genres. The doors would be closed. It would be closed. Students would not have access to it. So what does that impact have on teaching? Library programs are the backbone to research instruction.

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Teaching students how to ask questions, locate sources, and synthesize information. support project-based learning. It aligns with state standards for inquiry and research. As I shared about specialists and interventionists, media library, library and media

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specialists, they are resourced for me again and teachers. They co-e plan with classroom teachers. They sit on school-based teams such as an EST team which is an educational support team that we talk about progress and MCCAST and data and uh benchmark

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assessments and we come up with a plan and they're in those conversations and they're tailoring instructions to meet the progress for our students. The bottom line is closing the library weakens literacy instruction. It reduces instructional quality and undermines the digital age readiness. In a time when

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information is everywhere as we know the role of the library is not less important it's more essential than ever as you can imagine uh our schools are formulated on a 4-day schedule where we have art music fizzed and currently library and media specialists if we cut

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one of them clearly if we have a four-unit school or five unit school we now have to divvy those children up into those classrooms so they can go to art music and physical education while the rest of the teachers have their specials that's going to increase class size by at least 33%. So you're talking at the

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primary level or elementary level of 28 students or more than 28 students upwards of 30 students in a classroom. So again, if our class sizes increase, um the impact on our students would be

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significant. Um, again, it reduces the ability for teachers to provide individual attention, less one-on-one support and feedback. Struggling students are more likely to fall behind, fewer opportunities for enrichment, um decreased academic achievement, uh less

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differentiated instruction, um increased behavioral challenges, more students, um more potential for disruption, uh lower sense of belonging, students feel lost in the crowd, impacts of confidence, participation, and and

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overall well-being for students. >> Um Clearly we see the impact on the classroom but overall I think most critical is that with the increase around the concern the safety concerns um with the reduction you know who did not have level service and we went down

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um for that particularly in kindergarten um where students require that high level of supervision structure and support to develop foundational behavioral and social skills um you know without adequate staffing and support in place the ability to maintain a safe and

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secure learning environment is significantly compromised and we're not only talking about kindergarten but you're also talking across the building as well. Um so thank you if you can just go back to the prefect. Excellent. This one is just pertaining to Freetown Elementary School. Uh so

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immediate long-term student impact we would be cutting a kindergarten classroom teacher. So there'd be a reduction in the number of units there. As you can imagine, the impact on students, you've heard this many times, it's going to obviously create larger class sizes, reducing individual attention and support, few opportunities

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for differentiated instruction, increased transitions, and potential gaps in early skill development, particularly in reading readiness and foundational math. It's also going to have impact on the teacher team as communication with families would be diminished, reduce support during a

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child's first school experiences and has already been stated larger class size. The next slide um Dr. Starky alluded to this a bit earlier about the writing and again hinder progress. I just don't want to I know I'm focusing on writing right now, but that would obviously impact

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math, ELA, uh reading, add writing in here. And as you can imagine, writing is a complex, effortful process that requires support and encouragement, and with fewer adults and support, students may write less frequently, produce lower quality work, lose confidence and

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motivation. Below you see a chart there, uh 2021, 5 years ago, until last year. here and obviously we're coming out of co that first year. That's our writing scores for our students at Freetown Elementary School. We weren't proud of it. We had to look in the mirror, ask ourselves some hard questions. We

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obviously came up with a plan. You can see in 22 we had an increase. 23 we dipped a little bit, but 24 was 50. And I'm sorry, I should have shared the next number next to it. That is the state. That's the state number. So if you see 50, 32, 50 was Freetown, 32 was uh the

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state. uh a little bit of a dip, but nevertheless progress being made. It would hinder our writing progress. Our school improvement plan is attached to it, but as you can imagine, it would stop us from getting uh the writing more adequate writing program so we can

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continue to build on the process and the work that's already been put in place. And finally, this is next one just as just a final thought. So Dr. Starky said or shared the question, what would happen if AES and FDS did not receive a level serviceed budget? We would be

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cutting specialists, interventionists, kindergarten paraprofessional to grade level paraprofessionals as well as well as a kindergarten teacher at Freetown Elementary School. Also, we'll be closing the libraries, cutting the library media specialists, and reducing

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um excuse me, increasing class size. We would be essentially clipping our students wings at a time when we should be allowing our students to spread their wings to fly and soar. Thank you. >> Thank you, Princip. Thank everybody at the table for hanging in there with us.

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That's, you know, that's what's happening at two of our schools. We still have three schools to go in the district. So, I thank you for your patience, but we'd like to give equitable time to the rest of our district that would have the same impact should the budget not be level serviced. At the George R. Austin Intermediate School. You can see that nine full-time

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staff members, 3.75 part-time staff members would be reduced. That's a math specialist, two grade four teachers, one library media specialist, one reading specialist, four grade level pair professionals, 75 reading intervention teacher, 75 math intervention teacher,

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and a junior custodian. Moving on to the next slide. Dr. Sullivan sense her regrets that she could not be here this evening. uh she had a a difficult decision to make about where to be this evening and I really encouraged her to be with her family which was uh an important event for her this evening but she really would like

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to emphasize that closing the library reducing access to specials increasing grade four classes hindering progress in math reading and writing eliminating digital literacy and coding eliminating that junior custodian programming and creating safety concerns with less and adults less adults in the building would

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be detrimental at at Grace I'm going to read to you her words. I promised her I would do so, so please bear with me. The first slide speaks about cutting the math and reading specialist positions at the intermediate school would strip more than 100 students 100 annually of personalized small groupoup instruction,

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eliminating the targeted differentiated support that more than one in fourth and fifth graders currently rely on up to three times per week to help close a reading gap. Without specialists to identify and monitor struggling learners, children with unmet needs will increasingly go unnoticed in general

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classrooms falling further behind before anyone intervenes. And the referral pipeline through which approxim approximately 5% of students are identified for learning disabilities each year will disappear entirely. And that number is going to increase. Students will also lose the structured

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transitions and progress monitoring that carry them from fourth to fifth grade with a clear support plan, the safe space to take academic risks without fear of judgment, and the confidence that comes from individualized attention that can build independent lifelong learners. Thank you. Please advance the

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slide. The impact on students um by eliminating grade level par profofessional positions would strip the most vulnerable learners of essential academic, social, emotional, and behavioral support that makes meaning learning possible, meaningful learning possible. These staff members are far

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more than classroom aids. They are trusted adults who build the relationships that make everything possible for students. Academically, they provide targeted small group and one-on-one instruction. They reinforce skills taught in the classroom. They assist with reading and math intervention, and they help students navigate assignments and organizational

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demands. Socially and emotionally, they conduct daily check-ins, coach self-regulation, mediate peer conflicts, and provide discrete support systems that allow struggling students to ask for help without stigma. They are also a critical safety net for students. That chart indicates some of the uh various

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things that they've pulled par professionals over the course of a week to to see where they're spending their time. And you can see where they lay their time directly with students. Next slide, please. Cutting two math and literacy interventionists would have serious lasting consequences to some of our most vulnerable learners. At each

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trimester, approximately 25 students per grade are identified by their performance on common assessments that their teacher and teacher observation and parent input. and they are uh identified to receive focused small groupoup instruction three times per week allowing skill gaps uh to be closed

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in reading, writing and math and addressing those within a cycle so that kids can stay uh attuned to their peers and meeting grade level expectations. Excuse me. Our two interventions bring over 70 years of combined experience as retired grace teachers who work part-time. A depth of expertise in

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identifying student needs in delivering targeted instruction that cannot simply be reassigned or replicated. If you would please move on to the next slide. The cut in the library media specialist. Students will lose a dedicated advocate who guides them from

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learning to read to reading for pleasure along with approximately 3,900 books that are circulated annually that would no longer be circulated. They will lose access to reliable research tools which are vital to student success. This is when they really learn how to conduct

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research and we all know how important that is as we move along. They'll lose their primary instructor from media literacy and digital citizenship. lessons on spotting misinformation, very important today, deep fakes, digital footprints, and cyber bullying. At a time when youngsters spend more time

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online than they ever have before, students will lose a dedicated instruction in coding, Google apps, typing, digital research, and foundational skills tied to 92% of today's job market, leaving them less prepared for middle school and well beyond that. Thank you, Michael. Please

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move the slide. Impact on students as a result of the cut of two grade four teachers. This will immediately increase class size in grade four. Grade four is a critical transition in our district when you consider the uh organization of our schools. Grade four is critical

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transition years for literacy, numeracy, and social development. Therefore, research is consistent in intermediate grades. Class size beyond 20 to 22 students greatly diminishes the quality and safety of instructions. Cutting two fourth grade teachers position simply equals increased class size. There's no other way to slice it. With a level

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service budget, we can prepare for classrooms with more than 22 students at grade four. Without it, we're looking at I'm sorry, with level service, 22 without it, 25 or more in each grade level. And that is before any summer moveins, which in the past 5 years has been a fluctuating number. There was one summer where there were nearly 60

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moveins at grace. Other summers there have been as low as 10. It's sometimes difficult to predict. With fuller classrooms, as we all know, students lose real time uh real time uh personalized instruction. The more kids in the room, the more the teacher has to

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divide their attention. Uh and then Principal Sullivan wanted to share uh she had an anecdote here that I'll just simply summarize and she was uh asking you to consider what it's like when you have to plan a birthday party for your own child and how daunting that might be to have 10 students in a room and

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thinking about having to to occupy them with something they really want to do. And then just imagine having 25 students in a room with no help and you're sometimes facing them with challenges that they don't really want to have to do. And uh she's concerned for uh

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thinking about just when we say increasing class size, not actually understanding what that does to our students, not just to the teacher who's at the head of the classroom. I did a poor job summarizing her anecdote, but I'll be I'll send it to you so that you can read it. I'll move right along for

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the and I'm I'm going to turn things over because you've heard my voice enough. Again, over to Principal Olivera from the middle school. I think he's accompanied by Justin Smith, our special education dire uh coordinator at the secondary level. Thank you, Mr. Oliver. >> Good evening. My name is Justin Smith. I'm a special education administrator.

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Um, and uh, I just wanted to talk a little bit about we're we're talking a lot about the human side of things, the the the numbers of of staff who would who would be lost in this way, but more importantly, it has this impact directly on our students. We're talking about interventionists, people who are at the

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regular education level who are working to build the capacity of our students, working to be able to identify problem areas and target those areas for intervention. It's part of our mandate through um the the department of ed and it's an a vital piece to what we do. We

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would be losing at the Freetown Lakeville Middle School, we'd be losing an academic resource center teacher. The ARC is a vital part of what we do where it's a um a resource and a pull out support for students who need targeted

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math support or targeted um uh interventions that really shore up their their skills before they then uh need special education supports. We're talking about a one full-time world language teacher losing that Spanish,

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losing that additional um uh access to those supports in the in the classroom that are building blocks for kids to move on to high school. We we're talking about three full-time science, technology, engineering, and math teachers. This is STEM. This is a huge

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piece of what we do and where we've been moving towards over the past few years about building that capacity for our students to have a love of science to have an interest in engineering and technology that builds for for years to come. Our reading specialist teacher is

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a huge loss. It is a piece of of those interventions for our students that are targeted about how they build their their reading skills are working on comprehension, working on decoding, and working on these pieces that have been lost over the years that we're trying to

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rebuild and and fill those gaps. two literacy teachers. Uh literacy in the digital age is a big piece of what we do as as a a support for our students. Teaching those skills about how to navigate computers, how to write emails, how to apply for for positions,

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how to how to work through Google Slides and all the different pieces that that we might take for granted that really need to be taught explicitly to our students. a library media prof pair professional which would in effect close our library

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uh 1 point um 0 which is two part-time junior custodians. We do have that piece of where we need to have the the spaces cleaned and taken care of and this is a a method to be able to do that without having to hire a a full-time uh

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custodian to take care of those things. 1.0 STEM curriculum leader loss of that and 1.5 homework club teachers. Homework club is also one of our tiered systems of supports. When we talk about the MTSS

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process, those tiered system um that that the interventions of how do we support kids prior to them needing to um move into special education or identifying disabilities? How do we do that at a regular education level? And homework club is a key piece to that.

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Next slide, please. This will significantly alter the schedule. We currently have a a great rotation that allows for um uh multiple experiences for our students. Eliminating some of those things would would make the schedule change

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completely, which also eliminates the team model, which it is a building block and it is a bridge from we talk about the two team system at Grace moving into a a a multi-team system at the middle school and then the multi- um

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transitions that that kids experience at the high school. This is a real key building block to to build that capacity. Reducing our specials means that we're going to have more students in each one of those special classes and a a reduced number of special opportunities.

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Removing science, tech, engineering, and math is is a major blow. And it will increase class size and and uh uh Mr. will talk in the specifics, but it also reduces his access to to Spanish, which

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is again a tool to help us build for our students in the high school and be able to increase their exposure to uh different cultures and and uh and languages. And closing the library, as we know, is a direct hit to our students

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who need to have access to the that media. Thank you, Justin. Uh Brian Albero, I'm the principal at FMS. I'm going to expand upon a few of the things that Justin talked about. Uh elimination of our academic resource center. So students in this class uh have been identified as needing some assistance.

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Uh whether it be an A core class or multiple core classes, study organizational skills. They could be in this class for a week, a month, a full semester. Really is targeted um towards the needs of the students. um approximately 100 students a year, sometimes more, uh would reduce uh would

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lose access to this service. And we talk about multiple or multi-year impacts of of of this loss. Um you know, student who has some learning gaps in math, for instance, sixth grade. Those gaps don't just go away if we don't address those students address those needs in sixth grade. Obviously, they compound upon

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themselves each year in the middle school and also at the high school as well. So, that would be a huge loss for the students. Uh elimination of one world language teacher. So our current system, we have two uh Spanish teachers and the system is designed that over the course of the three years at the middle school students take basically the

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equivalent of Spanish one. So they have the option of of testing into Spanish 2 in the high school in their freshman year. So they would be able to take Spanish 5 or AP Spanish by the time they're senior or junior. Um it eliminates that feeder program. only 280 of the 720 students each year would have

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access to uh what would be a completely changed curriculum um for the Spanish and the world language department. Some students might take it once, some might take it twice over the course of their three years. Some students might not get it at all depending on the way the schedule falls. So it it becomes an really just an exposure maybe a world

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cultures class but it completely eliminates like I said that feeder program to the high school. Losing these two positions um impacts the number of unified arts classes which are our music, our art, our world language or gym classes increases class sizes to about 33 to 37 depending on the period

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because you know depending on teacher preps and whatnot. 37 would be if all classes were even which if you've ever done scheduling they're never exactly even. So it could have more and if you've ever been in the middle school you know that that the class sizes of those art rooms aren't built for 3740 students. You have gym classes where you

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have a minimum of two classes going at any given point. So you're looking at two teachers covering almost 80 students which becomes obviously a supervision and security issue as well. Um the students then with a class size of 33 to 37 that individualized instruction obviously decreases because the teacher

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is trying to manage and and increase load. >> Mr. Hall, thank you. So our our students currently take seven they have a seven period day uh the two unified arts which I just mentioned and five core classes on team as Justin mentioned those four those five classes all three grades are

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mu are math social studies ELA which is English uh and science in sixth grade that fifth class is what we call LDA literacy in the digital age where they're working on those build those those real foundational digital literacy skills how to write an email um how to

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present what's a good resource online. Um right now some of the classes are working on business plans and some financial literacy. So it really spans the gamut of of different digital um skills in seventh and eighth class. Seventh and eighth grade that fifth class is what we call STEM which is science, technology, engineering and

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math. Um same thing working on collaboration skills, presentation skills, group work that hands-on hands-on projects. These are soft skills that are not just we're we're talking about these two classes. these really cross over to all classes in the middle school and to the high school. So

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impacts the the students preparedness for high school by diminishing those entry level skills they need for some of those high school level classes. Um and also it decreases the depth that the science and math classes will be able to go into. Some of the the items that are

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taught in STEM are science and math standards that are required. And so we we remove those some of those hands-on project standards that really apply to STEM. Um so those have to go back into science and math classes so that teachers have more will have more students yet more content to teach in

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there. By losing these five positions um that class periods will go from 7 to six which will increase class time to about 10 to 15 minutes per period which decreases movement. If you know anything about the kids coming up from Grace we lose recess at the middle school. So we're always looking for ways to increase movement. This would go the

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other way. Kids would be in their seats longer for longer periods of time with less movement in between. Um it would increase the core class sizes if you're thinking again math, science, social studies, ELA, from 23 to about 30 a class. Um which impacts the students ability to receive individualized

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instruction. And it also will reduce the number of advanced math offerings just the way the schedule will work, which again if you're looking the long-term impact on a student will impact their ability to take those advanced math classes once they get to the high school. Next slide. the library media

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power professional. Last year alone, we had 18 thou over 18,000 visits to the library and over 5,4 about 5,400 items um checked out. Uh this year, our PTO purchased about $500 worth of new uh books. We're always trying to bring in new items for the students to check out.

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It's it's a it's a very u highly used space in our building um for students to like said check out books, do projects, do presentations. Um so that that would be huge impact if the library is closed down. In addition to um obviously assisting students with navigating those library resources, our media power

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professional also helps students with the Chromebooks there. She's kind of our front line between the students and the the tech committee or the tech department. Um doing basic troubleshooting, identifying items that need to be fixed for the tech department, um doing um putting in tickets, handing out loaners. So it

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would it would have an interruption would result in an interruption in student instruction. This would be a gap or or a space in between where the students have their Chromebook go down when they can get a new one. As Justin mentioned, elimination of our reading specialist as our um as our texts get a little more complex in the middle

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school. Uh we have approximately 45 students each year. Um that number can fluctuate that uh we'll lose access to that personalized or small group reading instruction. Our specialists, like I said, sometimes it's a one-on-one, sometimes they're pushing into an English class. Um but those students will lose lose access to that. And

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again, we're talking about a long range impact here about sixth grader who needs that reading um that assistance in in reading instruction then progresses to seventh grade, eighth grade and so on without receiving that uh increased frustration, lowered confidence and you know more disengagement.

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Next slide. Eliminate elimination of our homework club services. Um approximately 35 students per week that fluctuates you know given the time of the year. um have access to this, you know, homework completion, test preparation, just overall basic study skills. Um I have

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six teachers a week that stay after school. It's the only after school assistance available currently. Um in a time we're looking to increase after school opportunities for students, whether it be clubs, um teams, etc. Um obviously this reduces the number of options for those after school activities um and removes the

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intervention that directly addresses learning gaps, confidence building, and academic success. and the elimination of the two junior custodian positions. I've been in the school seven years now. Uh I' I've seen a decrease in the custodial manpower over those years. Uh eliminating two more positions, decrease

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in building cleanliness and regular maintenance. Uh increased demands on the remaining custodial staff. And when you you think about the impact on students, obviously the impact on the ARHS students, they've decreased opportunities for work, but an impact on students at the middle school. Um we we talk to the kids a lot about pride in

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the building, taking pride in in in your classroom, your cafeteria, uh etc. Really, you know, cleaning up after yourself and looking out for the community as a whole. Um it really obviously dampens that that mood and that morale and that that positivity that we're trying to build um by by decreasing that building cleanliness. Um

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and lastly, the elimination of the STEM curriculum leader. This is a program we've building we've been working on for a long time. Um it will set the program back a good 10 years by eliminating um the the classes on team as well as this curriculum leader position as well. Um

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overall I've got 720 students in the building. We're the biggest building on in the district. Um there's each period there's 240 kids moving um no matter how many staff we have and obviously this is an impact in security um you know eyes on the kids as they move around. But not

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only that, it decreases the the ability for students to make or decrease the opportunity for students to make a connection with the the adults in the building, which if you know anything about middle school, it's an important time. Um can be a challenging time. Um so we're really looking to make those connections with those kids. So decreasing the staff obviously greatly

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impacts them. >> Thank you, Mr. Oliver. I want to thank everybody again for hanging with us here at the table. We're moving on to the high school to the podium. I I invite Principal Desert. >> Thank you. Good evening. Um I'm Kaylin Desert. I am a graduate of Fretown

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Lakeville. I'm a parent of two students who graduated from Quanquit former um from the Freel Lakeville Regional District. Um former teacher and now administrator and I have seen so many errors of these towns. Um and um this

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one concerns me. We have um without level service funding we would h lose a social studies teacher, an English language arts teacher, a guidance counselor, adjustment counselor, a wellness teacher, a math teacher, point8 secretary, point8 assistant principal,

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three um junior custodians, and half of our dropout prevention program for six full-time and 3.1 part-time. I think it's very important to say that we recognize that there has been a lower enrollment throughout the state of

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Massachusetts. We know that this is not the first time that we would lose positions. So, I think it's important that people hear this. Two years ago, we had a math teacher who left our building. We cut that position, knew that we could shrink that. Last year we

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cut an English teacher, a world language position, a social studies, a science, and half of a school adjustment counselor. This is from retirements. This is from moving on. But you can see that we have adjusted to that enrollment. So we are aware of that.

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This year um we have a science and an art teacher who will be retiring and we will not be replacing them. Without level funding again we would lose English, math you wellness, social studies, guidance counselor, adjustment counselor, um secretary and assistant

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principal and that's far more than we can afford to lose. Next slide. So um some of the things that this would um affect is that the staffing reductions certainly impact our security. our most important thing in a building. Um, a

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school adjustment counselor, they see 20% of the student population, students who have that written into their IEPs and their 504s, but also students who need that type of support. We have lost our social emotional learning program in the past and this is one way that we can

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support students who are seeing less with behavioral issues and more with social emotional. guidance counselor sees 25% of students and again they relate they support students social emotional issues which is growing

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content teachers we lose our elected some of our electives we lose some of our AP offerings and would have a negative impact on learning opportunities for student needs and to remain a competitive school which I'll talk about more secretary that's a little bit different in a high school

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the law changed a decade ago in which high schools must report period by period attendance That's six to seven times a day. So that's very important to have that secretary in order to do that. Assistant principal is not again not like it was

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back when I was in high school. It is not about you handing out detentions. It is support with home and with students. There's so many things that are done behind the scenes. and our junior custodians. Um we have had an aging building and um depleted custodial

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numbers and they have certainly helped with that. Next slide. So if we reduce AP course offerings, we will see uh a loss in competitive advantage in applying to college. Absolutely. For students eliminates the potential for

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college college savings. I had a student present today who um is going to Bryant University and he was talking to eighth graders and he was talking about how he was able through his AP courses to be able to save two semesters worth um of

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time. So he'll be starting as a sophomore. We will lose our competitive advantage as well. eliminating virtual high school that allows for 50 slots for students to take anything from fashion design to zoologology to AP

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macroeconomics which we do not offer. So it restricts that educational flexibility that we like to provide. We do not have those vocational opportunities but we do have a way for students to explore um what they can do after school.

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Our testing and tutoring services is a tier three. You've heard that a bit. That is a program in which students who are not meeting success. There are students sometimes who come from eighth grade who have not passed math, have not passed English or students even after

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who are struggling. We put them in TNT services and they're supported by a licensed teacher. And what we see is that we currently serve 50 students right now and we have a 67% efficacy rate which means that these students by

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the end of the year who are having multiple failures in their classes are now passing five or more classes. That means that they're getting assistance in core subject areas as well as organizational and study skills that they need for the future. And our

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special education referrals will absolutely increase without that. So instead of immediately going into special education referral, we put them in testing and tutoring. We monitor that and we see a great success. Another thing that we um will lose is um updated

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history and world language books. As a former history teacher, I'll remind you that every year that curriculum gets one more year added on it. No other curriculum does that. Certainly need to keep up to date. We will jeopardize a New England Association of School and College

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Accreditation, NEASK. That is a process we go through a three, five, and 10-year process at the high school level to be accredited. We would report this as a substantive change to our school to have this kind of loss. We would reduce internship and work learn program, which

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we are really building right now. Just today, we were awarded our innovative career pathways business designation. We've been working on our um health care. We have arranged for students to go to nursing camp. We have arranged

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internships. All these things that will make them the most successful graduates and that is at risk. We risk our mass core. Dr. Starky talked about that's the minimum graduation requirement. We would reduce our dropout prevention program.

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As she said, we have a very high uh graduation rate and that is so important for certain students who struggle in the regular situation. We've gone from multiple dropouts even at the beginning of my um time as an administrator to now

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we have almost 100%. Um we would diminish my cap in career planning. My cap is my career in college planning and this is a desi um mandate and it's something that we already do well. We give many opportunities through

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guidance um for students to understand their own path towards college and career exploration and career days and all of those. But this right here um puts the student more in the driver's seat for that. With a reduction in staffing, we will not be able to

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coordinate and facilitate these work learn opportunities in internships. So it would impact what I mentioned the ICP or innovation career pathway programming and we would lose the desi designation that I just mentioned and we may have to

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repay grant funding for that. Um Dr. Starky also talked about CTE or career tech education that we explore. We're always looking for things for our students to find their own path and this would certainly be an impact to that.

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Thank you, Mrs. Der. I'll round things out uh by letting you know that districtwide we would also lose uh point4 of a nurse. Uh we have six nurses in the district. One is considered a float nurse. That nurse is incredible savings to the district. She's a sub nurse where other nurses are out. She

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attends field trips with students. uh she helps in general with the certainly the safety and wellness of students all across the district. That position would be reduced by point4. We would lose uh two grounds in maintenance uh positions that are being reallocated from re retiring teachers. 1.5 cut in the tech

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department and a 0.5 cut at central office to our grants and account receivable folks. Uh if you would just move the slide, Mike, that would really impact the daily operation of our school. Certainly impact on learning, impact on instruction. uh it would redistribute work, it would diminish equity, diminish reliable access and

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impact digital assessments such as uh the um execution of MCCAST. When you think about a a cut to the tech department, uh another thing our tech department does, they troubleshoot all day long. We have Chromebooks all over the district. We have technology all in district. We have security cameras, we

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have phones, we have bell systems, we have every you name it, we've got it. Uh and our technicians work tirelessly to keep everything running. and a reduction in that department would significantly impact the day-to-day operations and the day-to-day instructional uh benefits of

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all of those programs for our students. Moving on to one more slide. Uh certainly we talked about uh the issues we've had over the years with cuts to maintenance uh and custodial services in the buildings. I shuddered to think what would happen if we had even less uh and we lost the junior custodian program. We

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have a tremendous campus. We have five schools in total. Uh there's a lot to the upkeep. You're aware that we have not brought many capital projects uh to you uh over the past few years. There are lots of different reasons for that uh capital projects forthcoming. Uh but in the interim, there's been an awful

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lot of work to keep things running and those are our custodial maintenance and grounds people who do that every single day. Um thank you. Next slide. Uh we mentioned before some of the items that are being covered by END and I did mention before that we would likely go to school committee and talk to them

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about re allocating that funds and these are the things that would not happen if we had to uh take that money from END to do something else with one more slide please. Uh in FY26 we reduce staff across the district by 11. This year we're facing a 56

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staff reduction uh in human capital in the district. That's 67 staff members across uh a two-year period. And the reality here is the majority of our budget is salary. We are people who teach people. That's what we do and

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that's what our budget funds. We do not have a budget that funds items. We are not supply heavy. We are not resourceheavy uh in any way in our district. You can see that when you walk the halls. We are really traditional in many many ways and looking to be as creative as possible. We've heard that

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uh this evening from our administrators talk about how we are finding paths for every student on in some cases a shoestring uh with grant funding when we can find it. Uh and and the thought that that we're going to have to continue to

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make reductions is just it's almost untenable and I will stop talking about it. And I will thank you again for the opportunity tonight and for your listening ears and for your attention on that side of the table and to everyone at home who's listening and to all of our fine people who have been here

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tonight to listen to the presentation. Chief Perkins, Chief O'Brien, my apologies that you had to wait that long, but I thank you for your patience. Okay, questions. >> Thank you. M um same question similar that I asked

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old colony the house is currently negotiating a higher rate we all know for kept 70 uh if that number holds and survive the senate uh what's the projected savings the budget >> sure so the um currently we would be see

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an increase in revenue of $264,284 just a little over 2% u that's in both a combination of the chapter 70 as well as charter school uh reimbursement. U that is tempered a little bit by an increased charges of $63,862.

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However, um that really is mitigating the $250,000 reduction in the budget that I mentioned earlier. So, um effectively we had a reduction in our out of district tuition of $250,000. the cherry sheet um identified by the state is that they would be our

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assessment from the state would increase by 63,000. So the savings then becomes $186,318 rather than the $250 that we were expecting. This number will move um typically the house number both the

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assessment from the state as well as the revenue values but that's where we are at this point. >> Thank you Howard. Uh have with regard to technology, have avenues been um investigated for things

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like grants from Dell or Cisco or HP or or those kind of organizations that do have educational funding uh for the Chromebooks and the network switches as you mentioned. Do you know if any of that's been investigated? >> I can talk about the network switches.

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So for the network switches, the cost to the district is $200,000. However, we are uh that is a reduction from the overall cost of closer to $500,000. Um and that is through the -ate program. Uh so therefore um we we receive 60% of the

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funding for the cost. So that's that's where that is. >> And where does that funding come from? >> Uh -ate is um from the federal government and it's for uh uh schools um and it's related to technology. So it's um essentially we're because of partly because of our location in terms of

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being a rural district or not quite but technically from their perspective we are um they provide additional funding for uh educational services through technology. >> Okay. Thank thank you for that. The programs that I'm speaking of are separate from those. >> Okay. >> Yes. So I I can't I can't tell you

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whether that's happened in the prior to this year but I can tell you that it's something we would pursue happily. Um once we get our footing here as a new administrative team that's you know I've been here for a year. Mr. Higgins has been here for two years uh and and we

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take hold of what's happening in the district. We're looking for avenues to to be resources for us. You know I'm I'm going to beat the drum again. Uh we went out you know chasing a Kushnet to try to get them to come in as a as a a revenue source for our district. we were looking at, you know, potentially taking in $2

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million, uh, you know, over the course of four years, bringing in students to the district. So, we're not afraid to pro pursue revenue sources or grants. It's a matter of having the time and the manpower and the support to do it.

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>> Thank you. >> I'd like to just um touch upon that. I know that uh we have some sub subcommittees here uh the town of Lakeville. One is an energy advisory committee. Another one is the uh technology advisory committee and I know

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through discussions the schools are always included um in part of that. So there may be some opportunities um for these subcommittees to be able to you know provide some insight um to the schools for going forward you know some of those things

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for savings >> and and where there's possibility to partner with local districts to bring costs down. we'd be more than avable to those types of conversations, too. We're we're thinking about that for transportation moving forward. Uh we had some very preliminary, not even sure if they're uh realistic, you know, kind of

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throwing the ideas to the wall here, but looking to partner maybe for health insurance with other with other areas if that's possible, too. So, the sky is the limit, so to speak, on what we're willing to, you know, to explore and consider and put pen to paper to try to do. I also would just welcome the

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opportunity to particip participate even if it's just a viewer of the technology advisory committee. So if I could be included in you know the next meeting just as participant I mean even if it's just a view. >> I actually know the chair in that committee so I think they're here and probably have heard that. So >> okay great.

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>> All right. >> Thank you. >> Um Mr. Higgins you I just wanted to just confirm um you said that you're going to be working on uh the new assessment sheets for 513. Did you say for May 13th? Yes. Okay. So, we can expect it right around then.

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>> Yes, you you should. And and as of there would be a reduction from the the most recent number, >> right? Okay. I just want to go back to uh this to your question about funding. Uh the innovation career pathway program that you heard about tonight, that's grant funded.

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>> Uh the career tech ed programs that we would see are grant funded. You know, many of these things are grant funded in the beginning and then some of it becomes an operational cost to the district, right? But for the most part, you can get the programs up and running and running for a good length of period on grant funding. So those are avenues

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we're exploring as well for instru I know you asked specifically about technology, but I just want the record to show we certainly do look for those opportunities and take them when we can. >> Anybody else from the select board?

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>> Okay, finance committee. I have a question for um selectman uh Kaplanca. You are on our regional uh school committee. Is that correct? >> Regional finance. >> Regional finance. >> Correct. >> So did you attend you attended some of the meetings understanding what's

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happening at the school committee level relative to their budgets? >> Correct. Do we have confidence if this override was to pass um there are future budgetary uh things coming around the corner? Do

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you feel that we will be in a position of having to have another override or will we be in a reasonably good position or were you able to assess that much from your participation? >> So I don't understand the question. Are you asking in if this override is successful in future years, are we going

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to be in a a fi financially stable position? >> Do you think we're going to need another override knowing what you know today about budgetary changes coming up in the next few years? Do you have confidence that we'll be okay with the override

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that we have as structured or do you think we're going to be in a position of having to ask for another override the following year? following year meaning FY28. >> Yep. >> Well, again, if the override passes, it's a it's a three-year. It'll fund the

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next three years. >> Were these figures calculated in for the following three years? >> Oh, in terms of the impact in the school department, >> um I don't have confidence that years two and three, the school department budgets have been adequately factored

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into that. I'm not sure and again without asking the school committee or the school administration for project accurate projected numbers I think would be a difficult thing to ask. Um so at this point my confidence is is

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low on that. >> However, we did understand um from one of the speakers tonight that the attrition rate that they've had they have been using those opportunities to rightsize as as things come along. Correct. So there I mean I'm not as

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familiar with the school budget as you are. Um do you feel that that may help us with some of those adjustments? >> Um so you're talking about regular attrition outside of any staff reductions. >> Correct. If this override passes,

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assuming this passes, can I ask a clarifying question in the in the I'm confu I'm simply confused by what's being asked through the chair if I may. Miss Manovsky, when you when you say this override, are you are you saying one

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year or are you saying all three years? Because it's my understanding that the ballot is structured for three years. It is. >> So I just want to want to clarify your question y >> so that I can understand Mr. Planka's answer. >> Yes. >> Regarding the school budget. >> Okay. As a point of clarification, my my question is absolutely assuming that all

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three years of the override pass as I you know would expect that people will look at them as the three years. Are you understanding my question? >> Yes. I I think you're you're asking whether or not we adequately captured potential costs resulting from for years

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two and years three. >> That's correct. >> Uh I've seen I've not seen detailed information for years two and year three. I've seen preliminary numbers that were shared to us by Mr. Higgins um through our town administrator.

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Um maybe I'll ask a town administrator his level of confidence for years two and year three. >> Yeah. Um I I think in multiple presentations now we've gone over that we've put the cost in from the school

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committee for the next two years. I'm very confident we won't need an override. >> Okay. >> That's what I wanted to hear. >> Okay. Madam Chair, >> um Jack, if I may, would that cover the

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new contract all that for the next three years? >> Yes, >> that is the expectation. >> Okay, >> Mr. Be sure, um you may have discussed this in March. I think you did actually, but with uh level service um and especially considering that insurance is

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only going up by 5%. Why 10% this year? I think historically 10% is higher than I anyone's heard of. So why this year 10% and is this going to be a reoccurring number going forward? >> I'll start with the second question. It should not be a reoccurring occurring

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number going forward and missing tonight is that one slide that we that we have routinely presented that talks about why this year seems to be a bit of an aberration. Health insurance was one reason. uh use of END funding to support salary uh as a one-time measure uh is

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another reason that this budget is larger than it would have been. Um help me with the other two or three reasons, Jack, that we have on that slide. >> Sure. So, the um the school district had um historically been using $250,000 for

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school choice um to mitigate the budget. It was about what the school district was making um through the years of 2020. FY2020 was the first year where there was a significant amount of um federal funding and so school choice funding uh school choice use went down. So the fund

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balance went up and so the school district over the last few years has um has used $ 1.5 million. So think it's a million dollars more than what it would have used typically of the 250 because it had it had the fund balance in the coming year. It's $500,000. That's what that's what the fund balance is at the

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end of this year. We're going to be using everything that is in the fund balance at the end of this year for school choice is going into this budget as revenue. U we'll still receive additional money next year. We're expecting to get about $250,000. And at that point, we'll be going back to the, you know, using what we get. There won't

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be any uh savings that we had had from previous years. As that happens, as you can imagine, if we're going from $800,000 in the current year budget as revenue and we're going to $500,000 next year in the revenue, that's $300,000 that has to come from another source.

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So, that's effectively hitting the general fund. If you add that to the $660,000 of your of the um END that was used last year, you've got you can round it up to a million dollars. And if you if you look at it from that perspective now we're looking at effectively you

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know the right now where we ended up in the current year was around 700 in the current year the re the um the increase to the towns was about $700,000 of additional revenue. If you right now

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in my current assessment with with the new budget from the state it's about 7 1.7 million. So if you take the million out, you're about the 700,000 from the previous year. So that's how we ended up where we are right now. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Madam Chair.

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>> Yes. >> So I've been known to occasionally when we say things that folks don't usually like, but um is there a member of the school committee here that could speak to approving the use of how much money

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from EMD to pay for salaries? 660,000 >> $660,000 that neither Lakeville nor Freetown had any ability to raise tax for. So they basically spent money that the

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towns don't have and that's why now we're being forced to try to get it from residents. So is there anyone here from the school committee that can speak to that decision? I don't know how much I can speak. I

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in the middle of >> um please >> um >> yes I I don't know how much I can speak to that um just I'm sorry based on um when I joined the school committee last

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year in the middle of negotiations and I got thrown into the middle of contract negotiations which we ended up agreeing to a one-year contract because you know we were running out of time three years was not looking like we were we were going to be able to come to an

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agreement. Um, and then in order to get that one year pinned down and start again, I think that's where we ended up. Um, but again, I I wasn't there for the entirety of the contract negotiations. I

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want to say I was there for maybe >> So, you weren't there for the entirety. I mean, I don't want to put I don't want to put you on the spot. I just think it's really not fiscally responsible for the school committee to take money,

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one-time funds to pay for salaries without coming to the towns to say, "Hey, how do you think about this?" And I know all the ramifications of not doing a contract and everything else, but now you're the school committee, not

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you, the school committee is asking for is asking the Lakeville residents for a big huge sum of money. And I don't see anyone other than you here. And we take the hit as being fiscally irresponsible

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>> because everyone blames the select board. and yet I don't see anyone but you here. So, thank you for coming tonight and actually having the uh Hutza to walk in the room when you we all can see on Facebook and in social media that

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folks really aren't happy. >> Yes. And we do have one more member here again. She's brand new here. Yeah. Brand new. Now, our Lakeville delegation is pretty much entirely brand new. I' I've just been here a year and like I said, I

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joined in the middle of contract negotiations last year, you know, like I think the last month of it. Um, and then we were stuck with what we were stuck with. Um, so yeah, I I don't even know from Lakeville that we we have anyone

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who's who's been, you know, been there. And and honestly, I mean, we're asking our Lakeville employees to take no cola increase if this override doesn't pass yet. I haven't

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seen the teachers contract, but I've heard, you know, the amounts that have been negotiated and it seems like on the town end we're being pretty fiscally responsible. But I can only implore you going forward to

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think about fiscal responsibility because you're not the ones going to the residents to ask for the money. This board has to do that, right? Okay. Um, good. >> Madam Chair, can I I'd like to comment

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back on Leah's comment. That is a that has been an you talk about a structural issue. That's been a structural issue um that we've been dealing with. And I just would ask everyone who's involved with town politics that we put our true expenses of salaries and so forth into

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our actual operating budget because you know you can't pay for someone's expect to cover household expenses with birthday money or you know what I mean like we have to have that financial responsibility that fiscal responsibility to say this is a hard pill to swallow. we may have this extra

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money over here, but if we're going to give these people a raise, we know that they're going to need that raise the next year and the next year or even maintain that salary going forward. So, we simply should not be using, in my opinion, my humble opinion, any sort of extra money to cover basic expenses for

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the town. Leah, that's kind of what you're saying, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> I appreciate you guys trying to save money because that's what why you did it. so that you didn't have to come to the town and say, "Hey, we're going to have to do taxes again." Right. But it is still problematic.

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>> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I will open this up for any questions from the audience. Please just come up to the microphone. Donna Gay. Um, this is budget related

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and I was here on Saturday for the community outreach and I just want to thank Andrew, Mike, and John for being here and addressing residents and responding to questions. Um, as a resident, I did a little math on my own.

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Uh, the the recent teacher contract for school year 25 and 26 is online and everyone can access it. Um, my question is about the formula that we would apply to reaching a three-year salary increase

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amount. And if I understand correctly, just in the case of educators, um, because I know that negotiations have been completed for secretaries and par profofessionals as well. So their

425
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percentage increases are also um for public information. Um would I take the current level and step and in the case of in the case of a step one to step 11

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educator would I from the current fisc year 26 salary add 2% to that amount and then another 3% to that amount. ount and that

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would give me the starting fiscal year salary for 27 and then I would apply the 1% to fiscal year 27 plus an additional 1%. >> No. No. >> So could you >> Sure. >> I'd love to have a formula so I can

428
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>> Sure. So if let's take a $100. So, a person who's making $100 at the beginning of the year, they're if they're making $100 this year, next year at the beginning of the year, they'll make $102 for the first half of the year. Then they'll receive a 3% increase

429
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on top of that, but they'll only re they'll have that 3% for the rest of the year. So, what they're getting then is uh for the first half of the year, if you think about it, they're getting $51, right? because they are getting half of

430
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that 102 for the first half of the year and then for the second half of the year they're going to receive half of um $105 interest$ 102.5. So then at the end of the year they'll have $103.5.

431
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So they'll received an effective $3.5 additional dollars from the year before. Uh but they but you know in in in an effort to be you know to be clear the end of the year they are at 5% higher. They just haven't the what they've

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actually received in earnings is only three and 3.5% above what they got from the previous year. >> Okay. So does everybody have that? I'm just >> I understand this is pretty common. Salary schedules would be really helpful

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in terms of dollars and cents so that the general public can understand what it means at the end of three years for a person who is at a step 12. >> Sure. >> What what is that in dollars and cents and and then we can begin to understand

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how the step and level system works. >> 100%. And so having heard >> when the contract is is is signed, sealed, and delivered, they're public. So, you had access to that one. Had we not just come to the conclusion on this contract, you'd have a copy in your hands right now. Uh, part of the process

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here is getting the contract laid out by the attorney for the school district and then having it vetted by the MTA and then it's made public. So, I don't have a physical document to give you right now. We can certainly uh put together a projection of what that looks like, what we what effectively sent to the

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attorney, but it's just something that hasn't been fully vetted on both sides yet. So we can certainly provide that there's you know in the interest of transparency giving those numbers absolutely it within you know within a few short weeks that would be on the website anyway. It's just the timing on

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this you know we we just finished negotiations I think it was two weeks ago. Other than that you'd have it in your hands right now. >> Okay. That would that would be great. Do you have an idea of when we might >> I can work with Mr. Higgins on that tomorrow. I can consult with our our attorney and our school committee chair to make sure that that's information

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that we that we're able to provide right now. I can speak to our EAFL representatives and make sure that we can and get that out to everyone. I just don't want to make a misstep and the second we can we can put that on our site for your public view. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you.

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>> Excuse me. >> Go ahead. Go ahead. >> Uh good evening. Susan Esporte, resident of Lakeville, also a third grade teacher at Asawamsa. And my my main point tonight is that we can't put a price on the quality education that we provide here in

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Lakeville. Uh my own two children came through this system. They were fabulously well educated. They're both highly successful adults right now in large part because of the foundations that they received here. when we face budgetary difficulties like this and I do understand how difficult they are for

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across the board particularly for our older population but we also have to recognize what's been said before in these meetings which is that in our per pupil spending we are in the lower between the 10 and 20th lowest in the state for our per pupil expenditure

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we've been working miracles on a shoestring in this district for as long as I have worked here and this is my 21st year teaching here So, we have just performed incredible miracles as a town and as a staff at our schools.

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Our shoelace is broken right now. And what I'm hearing on social media and what the feelings that I'm getting around town is that a lot of people are hesitant to even tie a knot in that shoelace, much less give us a new one. So, I just want everybody to think about the overall

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impact that this has on the future of our children in this this district, the future of of your children, your grandchildren, your friend's children, whoever it is, and the fact that they are not going to have equitable access to the things that these other students

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have had before them. when I heard principal um desert talking about the uh AP classes and things like that, those are just such marvelous resources to help our kids find that future success. So, I just want to to

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enunciate or, you know, reiterate the fact that I think we have a great thing going here and I am afraid that we're on a very slippery slope and I hope that people can consider what this is going to look like and and taking the hit right now, it won't be better in a year

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or two. Everyone sitting here knows that. I know that because I've lived it already one time in this district. It takes years to recover from a budgetary acts like this. And so for 10 years, kids will be suffering and not getting what they need. So please, you know,

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enter that into your thoughts. Share your thoughts uh with your friends and neighbors. Please share things that people don't understand. And that's another reason I'm I'm sad that there weren't a lot of people here tonight, not more people here because it is very complex. As Mr. Higgins said, it's very

449
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complex and our average citizens sometimes don't have access to the information to help them understand it. So, it's all very important and um we just can't put a price on it. And then just my last little detail is that the pair of professionals, they're the

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backbone. They're the backbone of our schools. It's unbelievable what happens whenever they disappear. And one tiny example and then I'll be finished. Uh this year I've been able to run writing conferences in my classroom almost every single day for 45 minutes because for those 45 minutes I have a

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paraprofessional in my classroom and she helps the students who are working independently. She works among them while I pull three, four, five students up to the table with me and we work on targeting the skills that those students need to work on and then I push them

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back into the the pool and I take a few more and I get to do that almost every day. But when my paraprofessional gets pulled to substitute because we don't have any substitutes because we don't pay well enough to attract any substitutes, you know, it's just a it's a vicious circle and it just gets harder

453
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and harder and harder and without those pair professionals and without those interventionists, you have more put on your classroom teachers uh plates and which allows us which takes away our ability to give equitable access to the education to all the students in our

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classes. Thanks for your attention. >> Thank you, Mrs. Espe. Mr. Lameron, would you like to come on up? >> Uh, Rich Leame, 32 Old Powers Road, Lakeville. Um, I've been involved in a lot of budgets,

455
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a lot of years, you know, in this town and with the school district. And I don't understand how we got so bad in one year. I can explain it. Can anybody else explain it?

456
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Why we got so bad in one year? Are you talking as a a general budget concern as the town of >> Lakeville district the school town of Lakeville school district >> I know Andrew spent a lot of time I went to Saturday's you know presentation and

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you know he did a nice job here in Mike but the thing is that for the school district to go from an increase of 700,000 last year to $1.8 million this year. How do you explain that? How do you explain that to a taxpayer that it's

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gone up 10.3% I think the number was? How do you explain that to the taxpayer that went up that kind of money and you're asking them for an override? And the override is that you know we already we already approved the fire station. Right now

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we're having a general override which includes the schools in Old Colony is coming in on June 20th. It's going to be about a $2,000 increase for the average taxpayer in Lakefield. $2,000.

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That's 25% increase in their taxes. And I didn't point that out. A gentleman in the audience on Saturday pointed out that he said, "My taxes are going to go up at least 25%." That's a huge hit, you know, for the taxpayers. A huge one. And

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that's a problem. The good news is that um you know through our administration um they knew how critical it was to get that information out and get it out to the to the residents accurately and scheduling those um sessions which I know you have

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been um you've attended. Um so I'm I'm hoping that as these sessions um get closer um oh actually we have what two more? Three more >> three more. three more uh more and more residents will be able to attend and

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have their questions answered as well. >> Well, that's only part of the problem. So, the part of the problem is, you know, like I said, how did we get here so fast, you know, in one year? I mean, that's pretty scary for that to happen. So, if you look at, you know, the

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numbers, and I I'm going to go back to the this the school superintendent's presentation on January 14th that she mentioned uh in her presentation. And in the end, the health insurance was listed at 19% increase. Jack, here it

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is. Here's the presentation. It's 7 $716,000 and but a couple of pages in it says 12%. Now, it's 5.5%. So dollar-wise, how much did the health insurance go up

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>> from this past year? >> No, no, we're talking about for this coming budget year. >> Yeah. >> From FY, just so that I'm clear with the question from FY26 into FY27. Is that what we're asking? >> No, I'm asking the question. This is the

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F 27 budget. It's and it says 19% even though it's I know it's wrong that you know it was 12% and now it's 5 1.5%. So >> health insurance is going up by $229,512. >> Okay. So from your initial budget it's

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going from $716,000 to what? >> 229512. >> That's a half a million. >> Correct. >> Right. >> Yep. >> That's a lot of money. >> We had projected it to be at 10% which is what we had been asked to do. So then when it came down to half of that

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there's >> right >> right I'm but I'm saying the numbers the numbers here in your presentation says 716 >> right >> and further in the presentation it says 716 and a 12% increase >> we have to use the numbers that were

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given as a rate range by Maya at the beginning of the process and then we >> my point is that it was not 19% it was 12% now it's 5.5% so it's that dollar number is going to be reduced by a half a million dollars. Is that correct?

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>> It was reduced down to 229. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. So, if you look at what's creating the budget increase for 20127, it was mentioned that you know the uh um wage increases for the teachers.

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Nobody disagrees that this the teachers should not have wage increases. Nobody disagrees that the town employees should have wage increases. But the the way it was handled, and I think that Leah mentioned it, was that, you know, you used a million dollars in one-time

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revenue for the budget last year that is not replaced in the 2027 budget. That's a million dollars right off the top, right away, not replaced in in the current year's budget. So that's why we

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have such a big increase in in the budget for fiscal 27. A million of that is used because they used onetime revenue to to and I don't want I don't want people to get upset, but they paid for those wages for the for the uh

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teacher salary and and they do deserve increase. Nobody disagrees with that at all. I mean it was a 5% increase. That's up to the school committee. That was the school committee decided and the school committee voted to use these funds. That's a huge mistake. That was one big mistake right off the bat. It should not

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have been done at all. I mean, can you imagine the town spending a million dollars, you know, for salaries out of one time revenue? They wouldn't do it. I would hope they wouldn't do it. I don't think the finance committee would recommend that. But so that's that's an issue, you know, right there. So if you

477
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look at the, you know, the increases, you know, in the budget, you know, a million of that is onetime revenue that was not available in 2027. Big tank. That's a lot of money. So, you know, we're going up $1.8 million our

478
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year. Last year's our share was like 729 if I remember. The previous two or three years prior to that, they went up 500, 600, 500, and then went 729. and we'll go from $729 to $1.8 million. How do you

479
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do that? How do you do that in one year? That I mean that I'm I'm a taxpayer now, too, when I'm a senior that's retired. I mean, I got my cost of living increase, my social security, it was 2%. You know, okay, but I feel bad for people who can't afford this. This is a lot of

480
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money for them to pay back. So the second mistake that was made in my opinion and I understand you know having to do with the contract it would have made more sense to vote to approve the contract at the 4-year contract if they

481
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just approved two weeks ago. Memo of understanding and that is available to the public if anybody wants that just so you know >> because it was voted it was it was reviewed in open session that is available immediately and they should be able to get that. So, what we've done is

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what the school committee did was they voted this four-year contract which is going to cost us a lot more money. I think as as Jack pointed out that the first year the end result is it's a 5% increase which would be the beginning of the base you know for the following

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year. Everybody follow that? So, what we've done, what they did was they said, "Okay, well, let's approve this 4-year contract." That is a slap in the face to taxpayers and the town employees that they did that, you know,

484
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before the override passed. So, what that's going to mean is they're going to be more layoffs because they have to pay for those contracts if they approved it. That's another major problem. So, the question, I don't know who asked the question. I think it was Bob or asked

485
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the question. We'll go ahead $1.3 million next year if if the over passes the way it is right now. I don't see how it's going to be sustainable to fund that. I really don't based on what I know. So that's my two

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cents and I I got to tell you it's it's it's it's a tough one. A really really tough ball on all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Anybody else? May I through the chair? >> Yes, Mr. >> Mr. Leamera.

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>> I want to thank you for being a consistent presence that I want to hearken your words that you yourself said on March 17th at Lon Pon Lodge. You said Lakeville always supports its schools and I hope your words are in trouble.

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>> Madam Chair, um I would just like to make a point of question. >> Yeah. Um, Lakeville, >> you did you did say that and I I respect a lot. >> Always supported their schools in reasonable amounts. >> Uh, I didn't hear that. I didn't hear that under the phrase. What I heard was Lakeville always supports it.

489
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>> I said Lakeville supports the schools. Okay. But, you know, everybody talking about, you know, the increases now, the tax increases for the for the taxpayer. It's just off the wall. I mean, our taxes are going to go up at least 25%,

490
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maybe more. That's a lot. It's a lot. 2,000 bucks. >> We'll be putting the question out to the residents and that's why we're holding our community outreach. Um, >> but I'm sorry. >> I, you know, >> I'm going to get aggravated now.

491
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>> Well, I would ask that you don't. >> I've been very disappointed with the board has not stepped up, you know, during this whole process and talking about the issues having to do with the school budget. You know, the only one that spoke up, Bob spoke up tonight. We have spoken of, you know, you just think

492
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you're going to wave a magic wand, everything's going to be. It's not going to be okay. It is not going to be okay. >> Thank you, Barbara. >> Madam Chair, I'd like a point of clarification. My question is for Mike or Andrew. Um, the speaker referenced a tax increase of 25%, that doesn't match

493
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my calculations. What do you anticipate the average taxpayers increase would be? It's a difficult question to answer at this point. Uh the override obviously goes into effect July 1st, the fire station won't go really into effect until

494
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>> if all three were if all three passed, worst case scenario or best case scenario, however you're looking at it. Three, if all three stages were approved, I thought the first one, if an average house was $600,000, it was 553 on the first one and it was like a

495
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100red and 100, right? So 763 I'm looking at I'm thinking it's closer to 8%. I'm just trying I just like to know. >> Yeah. So, um they all so they all we're going to hit at different times. Even if we vote for Old Colony, that won't hit

496
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till like 2031 probably on the tax bill, >> but Old Colony is not on this board. I This particular vote asking for the three >> this particular vote, this three these three stages of our override. What is the impact? It doesn't look I don't think it's 25%. I just want to

497
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I think you're correct. I think it's I think it's a little it's like 8.1, but >> that was the number we determined. Sorry. That was the number we determined at Lon Pond that night. I think someone asked the question and it's about >> between 8 and 9% if you're just counting the override numbers.

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>> There's a lot of unknowns. We haven't permanently borrowed for the fire station yet. As Andrew mentioned, Old Colony, um we don't know what those rates are going to be. We don't know what those terms are going to be. >> Um right now, all we have is mandatory principal payments on the fire station. That's it. That's all we know for debt exclusion amounts.

499
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>> Um so yes, the 4.9 million would be roughly roughly 8 to 9%. >> Okay. Thank you. And then my next question actually uh madam chair is actually for our uh I guess the two of you uh to tell us uh it's my understanding that we have several other

500
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communities that are in the same position or going for an override in the Commonwealth and that that number is around 70 communities. Is that right? Is that what I heard on one of the meetings you guys had? I I I've just watched it today. It was a round table discussion. We were talking about all the other

501
02:18:02.319 --> 02:18:18.319
towns that are going having to go. So part of our shortfall has to do with the state. The state has not been properly funding us in particular communities like ours. Is that correct? Am I mistaken? So we've got an issue really. A lot of this problem has to do with the

502
02:18:18.319 --> 02:18:35.439
lack of appropriate funding coming from the state. Am I wrong? >> It's a multitude of uh different things. I think we shared an MMA study called the the perfect storm, something like that. So, health insurance is a big one as Aaron put out. Education's gone up,

503
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special education's gone up, transportation, um utilities, >> um >> the economy is not is good and bad right now, but um just there's a lot of issues affecting all at one time. Um, >> obviously personnel increases are big.

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That that that just exasperates the the issues. >> And tell us again, when was our last override? When was the last time that we've had to ask the taxpayers to go up higher than 2 and a half%. >> 2013. >> 13 years. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Chair. >> Yes, Mr. Cameron.

505
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>> Yeah. Just to follow up to Barbara's question, Barbara, I was talking about all three project. I was talking about the fire station, >> the general override, and old colony. And if they all pass, that would be a 25% increase for Okay. taxes.

506
02:19:22.800 --> 02:19:38.399
>> Okay. So, that brings my question back to you, Mike. Um, when we had spoken, I believe we were at Lon Pond Lodge, one of the questions I asked was in that year three budget, did we pick up the fire station's operating costs in that override for that third year? >> We did. We >> Okay.

507
02:19:38.399 --> 02:19:54.160
>> We did. We started to add approximately $200,000 per year um to absorb some of the fire station operating expenditures. Yes. So, we have the debt built in in our budget. We have the fire station debt, and we have the first year of its operating expenses built into this

508
02:19:54.160 --> 02:20:10.720
three-year override. >> We have an estimated amount of the fire station debt. Um, we only did a short-term temporary borrowing since the project was passed. It was $10 million. It's one year. We'll renew it in the fall. And we're only required to make a

509
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mandatory principal payment. And that principal payment is approximately $367,000 uh mandatory interest payment. I apologize. Um and that's $367,000 that will hit on the tax rate this coming December. >> Me meaning that our uh credit rating

510
02:20:26.319 --> 02:20:43.359
remains uh critical to us to to maximize our expenditures. Right. >> That's correct. Yeah. So we um anytime you borrow short-term or permanent more than $7 million are required to go through an S&P call. >> Um we're a double A plus strong

511
02:20:43.359 --> 02:20:59.040
community. Um large fact is that we have good stabilization funds. We're contributing to our OPED which is other post-employment benefits and that has kind of got us where we are today which is good for long-term borrowing. It keeps the rates fairly low. We're not a

512
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high-risisk community so to speak. So >> thank you. And just one more comment about state aid. Um right now the house is literally debating the budget as we speak because that's the way they do it. They do on the night time so nobody will be there.

513
02:21:15.200 --> 02:21:31.200
Um so um according to the uh the house budget um the region will get about $500,000 more than last year's money. Okay. That's that's what they're proposing and that's $160 per student

514
02:21:31.200 --> 02:21:47.439
instead of $75 per student. Does it meet the requirements? But that's what it is. It is I mean the number of communities I forget the number of communities. It's like 300 no 250 communities are all getting the same number. Okay. They're

515
02:21:47.439 --> 02:22:02.399
not getting any more fluctuations. We all know where the money goes. The money goes to the cities. I mean that's where all the money goes. >> Um I I just had a followup question. I don't know if Jack can answer this question. Supplemental budget had been approved and they increased the circuit

516
02:22:02.399 --> 02:22:18.800
breaker money by $200 million. What's our increase in the circuit breaker money? >> They have not posted that yet. Once they do, I'll include that in the in the assessment. >> So, what is it >> for 27? >> Yeah, >> they haven't shared that number with us yet. What our reimbursement? >> The other community is already talking

517
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about it. So, >> okay. So, May May 13th getting the the assessment. So, thank you very very much. Um, tomorrow evening. >> Thank you again, Pizza Time. >> Um, here

518
02:22:35.200 --> 02:22:52.080
from 6:00 to 7, I believe. Yes. Go >> ahead. I mean, we'll be announcing it again this evening, but we'll we'll see you here um and thank you very much for those um that took the time to present for the schools. I appreciate that.

519
02:22:52.080 --> 02:23:10.120
Okay, before we move on to our um police, I would invite everybody at this table to stand up for one moment um just to have some circulation because my watch was going off. Um just stand for a moment.

520
02:23:19.920 --> 02:23:51.439
Is she here to run in school? You're an appointment, right? >> After the finance committee takes a picture of themselves. >> I know we miss Larry tonight. >> Okay. Um at this time, we're good.

521
02:23:51.439 --> 02:24:08.560
>> Thank you. I'd like to um invite our police chief up to the microphone. >> Good evening, sir. >> Good evening. >> How are you? >> Good. How are you? >> Thank you. >> Thank you for your patience as we navigate this.

522
02:24:08.560 --> 02:24:31.280
>> Thank you, >> Mr. Ellis. >> 83. >> Page 83. So, part of the um the police department budget submission, you'll see that there's uh three recent accomplishments and some goals for FY27.

523
02:24:31.280 --> 02:24:46.720
Um you can you can read those. I'm not going to read them to you, but there is uh a theme to this and the theme is like cost savings and grants. Um there is a a recent accomplishment that's not on there. We were recently awarded $65,000

524
02:24:46.720 --> 02:25:07.280
for a body camera program. So, it's a actually to upgrade our current body camera program. Um, and get into the budget. Um, the budget that you have in front of you, there's a budget 1A and a budget

525
02:25:07.280 --> 02:25:23.520
1B. Um the the budget 1A is if if an override were to pass. Um that's what the budget 1A would be. And you can see that that there's no enhancements. There's no additions to that. That's

526
02:25:23.520 --> 02:25:41.120
just contractual obligations and uh cost of living adjustments. the budget 1B. Um that budget has um it's an $80,000 reduction from that budget. Uh that

527
02:25:41.120 --> 02:25:56.640
reduction consists of uh the elimination of one full-time police officer position um at the amount of 62,000. um the elimination of four part-time unfilled

528
02:25:56.640 --> 02:26:14.399
reserve police officer positions. Um the elimination of one part-time dispatcher and then uh some overtime funding. Uh that totals 68,357. And then from the expense side of the budget, I've identified some some

529
02:26:14.399 --> 02:26:33.080
savings and some elimination of some uh different subscriptions and some uh technology in the amount of 11,650. Uh so that's where we would be operating uh if the override were to fail.

530
02:26:34.319 --> 02:26:53.600
>> So the the one position right now is currently not filled. Is that correct? Okay. All right. Okay. Um the piece that we had talked about last

531
02:26:53.600 --> 02:27:12.000
year um as as combined boards was the uh the training piece for active shooting. Correct. Is that did you include that in here as a non-cut? >> We were we were looking for ways to uh

532
02:27:12.000 --> 02:27:28.319
to fund that. It would be in the budget. I know we talked about doing it this year and then uh uh trying to find funding for it. Um unfortunately the the cut for the 1B budget has a reduction in overtime training. Um so that's where

533
02:27:28.319 --> 02:27:44.000
that kind that type of training would come from and we were looking to mandate that training. Um there's right now we have done that training. There's officers that that that do that. Um but it's not mandated and we would mandate that that every Lakeville police officer

534
02:27:44.000 --> 02:28:02.800
would participate in an active shooter training um at one of the schools at the high school campus. >> Uh members of the select board, any questions for Chief Perkins? >> M I guess I'll start. Um Keith, um so my

535
02:28:02.800 --> 02:28:17.920
understanding is with the fail override, you can't make the active shooter training mandatory. >> Correct. >> Because you just don't have the funding for it. Okay. >> Um that issue aside, I'm I'm aware from um meetings, joint meetings we've had

536
02:28:17.920 --> 02:28:33.439
with Freetown that they've K's expressed the desire for uh additional funding from Lakeville to I guess enhance the training. So my understanding >> they have funding for it for this current budget. It's in it's in their budget. I don't know if they funded it

537
02:28:33.439 --> 02:28:49.200
through a capital item. I I can't recall um what it is. I can I can find out, but I know they have funding for it in their current budget and the Freetown chief chief has reached out to me um inviting us to to participate with them. Um and

538
02:28:49.200 --> 02:29:05.520
it's just our level of participation that's a question. So not so the the level the level of training that's provided is adequate has always been adequate. >> Yes. We we've trained up we've trained up there um annually for the past couple

539
02:29:05.520 --> 02:29:19.439
of years. >> Sure. I'm aware of that. Right. Right. It's just the level of participation is concern. Correct. Is free maybe not maybe Freetown. Do they have mand mandate training for all there? >> The my understanding is that it's mandatory training for them this year.

540
02:29:19.439 --> 02:29:35.840
>> Okay. Obviously mandatory training for 100% of your staff results in a we know the benefits of that. Everybody has the training. >> Correct. >> Okay. Great. >> Yeah. I'd like to have you know everybody who would especially it would be

541
02:29:35.840 --> 02:29:51.920
beneficial who works day shift. I think, you know, something when there's activity at the school and when the school's open, you want those particular people to be trained up in that whereas it might not be as necessary for a midnight shift person, but if the midnight shift person is

542
02:29:51.920 --> 02:30:11.760
>> working an overtime dayshift, I would like them to be familiar with the campus and the school and the operation. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Finance committee. >> No, you go ahead. I'll go last. >> Quick, just a quick question on the budget uh line item contract post

543
02:30:11.760 --> 02:30:28.080
certification. It's going from 7,300 to 30,000. >> That's a contractual obligation. So, it it was a date as of um June 30th of this year. That's when that contractual obligation uh kicks in. So, on July 1st,

544
02:30:28.080 --> 02:30:44.000
that's >> that's for EMTs. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Well, it's for uh postcertification. It's the uh peace officer standards and training. uh it's every officer now has to have meetat specific certified training and they have to be postcertified which is every three

545
02:30:44.000 --> 02:30:59.600
years. So when they maintain that certification that's that's new that's part of the law enforcement uh police reform that happened that's what came out of that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Y >> um madam chair you know my son is a police officer so I do have a soft spot

546
02:30:59.600 --> 02:31:16.399
for these uh people that that dedicate their lives towards public safety. Um, and I would just ask that the that the board um, regardless of what happens with the override, the active shooter training that has to be done really has to be done and I can't express how much

547
02:31:16.399 --> 02:31:31.200
we all would regret if if we did not appropriately fund that work for our police department. I think that's important. Um, I would like to ask a point of clarification from Andrew. Um, and just to have the chief car uh clarify for us, it's my understanding

548
02:31:31.200 --> 02:31:46.880
that the funding that we have on our level funding maintains the standards the uh sort of the standards for what what would be expected. Is that correct for our level funding for so if the override passes we're okay? If the

549
02:31:46.880 --> 02:32:03.760
override does not pass or are we existing not currently uh meeting minimum standards? Chief, do you want to go over um the difference between I guess being fully staffed and like recommended staffing? >> Yeah. So, this what you have. So, if

550
02:32:03.760 --> 02:32:20.880
override passes and and we have this budget, that's we we continue to march the way we are funded right now. There's nothing new. There's no adjustments or fixes to the already shoestring underfunded overtime budget. So this when you compare our Lakeville Police

551
02:32:20.880 --> 02:32:36.240
Department budget to Freetown Police Department budget or other similarsized communities, you'll see that we're we don't have that overtime funding like other towns do. That's that's one of the struggles that we we overcome.

552
02:32:36.240 --> 02:32:50.479
>> You're about as frugal as much of the leadership we've ever had in this town. So I appreciate that. But it is true that without uh the override your department may not be appropriately staffed. >> Um

553
02:32:50.479 --> 02:33:08.080
with so staffing appropriate staffing is there's different formulas and models and opinions that people have to appropriate staffing of a police department. If you take like the federal standard of what the appropriate

554
02:33:08.080 --> 02:33:24.720
staffing is, the number of sworn police officers on a police department, it's 2.5 police officers per 1,000 population. So if you take the federal staffing, they say we should have 28 police officers. We don't, my professional opinion to you is we don't

555
02:33:24.720 --> 02:33:41.280
need 28 police officers in town. But that's what the federal staffing model is. If you go and this is always I get a chuckle out of this is you if you go to defundthe police.org or it's a website you can put in any town across the entire United States and it'll give you

556
02:33:41.280 --> 02:33:57.760
what their suggested staffing level is and they even defund the police say that we should be I forget what it is. It's like 25 maybe or between 24 22 and 26 police officers. So according to defund the police we're defunded cuz we have

557
02:33:57.760 --> 02:34:13.520
20. So I always get a chuckle out of that. But my professional opinion is is that where that this override budget staffs us at 20 police officers ideally like where I see my professional recommendation where I see

558
02:34:13.520 --> 02:34:30.720
the need or need coming down the line is like dispatch like additional people in dispatch and a staffing level of like 21 or 22. That's ideal. Um, but then there's always the call for people to want an SRO in every school like that

559
02:34:30.720 --> 02:34:48.080
was there. We have one SRO that handles the the the the school campus. Yeah. So, >> it depends on it depends on the opinion of the person that you're speaking with and the model they're using. >> Cool. Thanks. >> Yep. >> Madam Chair, through you. Um, just for

560
02:34:48.080 --> 02:35:05.439
historical perspective, in 1991 when we were first threatened on the police department with the budget crisis, uh, we had 20 police officers >> in 1991. >> 1991. >> In 1991, what do you think the population was here in Lakeville? And we certainly didn't have the apartment.

561
02:35:05.439 --> 02:35:22.800
>> Uh, probably about >> seven or 8,000. >> So, we've increased by 20% 25% and we're having the same number of people. >> Yep. We had uh there were threats of layoffs in 1991. There were two and a half of us on the chopping block. And

562
02:35:22.800 --> 02:35:41.680
Franklin Cobb retired to save our jobs. >> Wow. >> Yep. >> And in 1994, I was laid off because we didn't learn from our lessons in 1991. >> Madam Chair. >> Yes, sir. Um,

563
02:35:41.680 --> 02:35:58.640
Chief, are there any opportunities for the active shooter uh training through grants or funding things like that? >> So, there are a couple of organizations that come in. It's like a onestop shop type thing where they put on the

564
02:35:58.640 --> 02:36:13.280
training and you have to follow their model. But we use like Plymouth County Asher, it's called active shooter hostile response training. So we we want everybody who surrounds us, Plymouth County, and then our partners in Bristol County, to be

565
02:36:13.280 --> 02:36:30.240
training off the same same model. So if something happened, we're going to be relying on our mutual aid partners to come in and hopefully being trained the same way. Um so some people come in and offer their services, but it's not the appropriate services that we need, if that makes sense.

566
02:36:30.240 --> 02:36:57.280
>> Okay. Thank you. Okay, I'll open this up to um anybody in the audience if they have any questions for Chief Berkins. >> Okay. Well, thank you very very much. >> Thank you. >> And Chief O'Brien, nice to see you.

567
02:36:57.280 --> 02:37:26.160
90. >> 90. You said >> that's correct. Want to thank uh thank the board, thank uh Finn for uh for their work tonight. Um just like the police department, you see

568
02:37:26.160 --> 02:37:43.680
a a budget 1A and budget 1B. Uh budget 1A represents basically a a level service uh budget for the fire department. it uh it uh basically going through it, it kind of mirrors the the previous year's budget um with the

569
02:37:43.680 --> 02:38:01.760
exception of uh contractual not contractual obligations but the the assumption of a 3% u 3% pay raise for for our employees. We don't currently have a a collective bargain agreement uh for the next year, but that's that's the assumption there. Our 1B uh budget

570
02:38:01.760 --> 02:38:16.880
reflects a $150,000 decrease uh in last year's um last year's budget and that uh going through that represents the loss of um 20 on call positions and one full-time

571
02:38:16.880 --> 02:38:32.960
position. It also represents the reduction uh a 24% reduction in my expense lines. um a 33% reduction in my education and training line. So, uh that would be along like the act the police chief's active shooter training

572
02:38:32.960 --> 02:38:50.240
programs. Uh that would be like officer development uh programs, any kind of technical rescue uh trainings that I'd want to offer to our uh employees. Uh you know, hosting training events, that's where this money is spent. uh we'd see a 80% reduction in our

573
02:38:50.240 --> 02:39:06.240
protective equipment line, which is what we use to replace our our turnout gear, our gloves, helmet, our um our NOMX hoods, things of that nature, our protective gear. Um we have a a replacement program in place now where

574
02:39:06.240 --> 02:39:21.359
we try to uh we're basically when gear becomes 10 years old or damaged in a fire can't be used anymore. So, we try and maintain uh you know, replacement program where we incrementally uh replace gear because it's about $5,000 a set right now for one set of uh gear. Uh

575
02:39:21.359 --> 02:39:37.600
we also have an 80% reduction in our our fire supplies. That's uh like valves and and and anything that's that's carried on the fire apparatus that's uh that's needed to perform the function as it breaks or gets uh damaged or anything like that, we try and replace it out of

576
02:39:37.600 --> 02:39:54.160
this line. Um, basically, uh, this is my seventh or it's actually my eighth budget, uh, as fire chief for the Lakeville, uh, for the town of Lakeville and Lakeville Fire Department. Um, what the overall strategy has been is to, um, stabilize the department and move it

577
02:39:54.160 --> 02:40:11.280
away from this reactionary force to more of um, a sustainable model. Um, and so when I asked for different things, whether through the capital program or through our facilities upgrade or for staffing enhancements, it's been um, it's very difficult to ariculate.

578
02:40:11.280 --> 02:40:28.080
Um, but the overall goal has been to stabilize the department, makes it something that's sustainable. And you guys that have been around for a while, you've seen the symptoms of an unsustainable model, the staffing model within the fire department or res unsustainable resource level in the department. you see the the excessive turnover, you see the burnout among

579
02:40:28.080 --> 02:40:42.800
employees and and basically we've operated in this model where we're we're we're doing uh call backs and and in and uh recalls of firefighters uh more than 500 530 times a year uh to to just to

580
02:40:42.800 --> 02:40:58.960
respond to our calls. Um in the fire department, we're really the expectation is that we respond to every call that comes in. Um we we can't triage our calls. we can't hold a call off. Um when our resources aren't able to match the call volume, we page back and we also

581
02:40:58.960 --> 02:41:14.960
call mutual aid in. Um that's that's been the goal. That's been the expectation of of the town. So everything that we've kind of tried to all the dials that we try to all the levers we try to move it's it's moving away from this chaotic u inefficient model to a more stable model where we

582
02:41:14.960 --> 02:41:31.760
have ond duty staffing readily available to to staff two ambulances to the town which is we think is reasonable um and to handle like be able to handle a car accident without having to do a recall being able to handle multiple medicals. about one in every three of our calls occurs when our firefighters are

583
02:41:31.760 --> 02:41:48.640
committed to a previous call. So, we try to if it occurs that often, it seems reasonable to us to try and put uh staffing in play that that that accounts for that that frequency. So, under the under the status uh under the status quo

584
02:41:48.640 --> 02:42:06.399
budget, the the 1A budget, um we're closer to that that that level of of um of sustainability of that that turning down the chaos a little bit and be able to to answer the calls and a and a good good tempo. Um under the 1B budget, uh

585
02:42:06.399 --> 02:42:22.399
we're we're in some serious trouble. Um, as you know, we're we lose that capacity to endure lost employees due to them going to better paying departments or busier departments. Uh, we lose the capacity to endure significant injuries to one of our employees, which we're

586
02:42:22.399 --> 02:42:38.640
dealing with right now. We lose that we lose that um that stability to take these blows. And really what we're doing right now is we're in crisis mode because we are dealing with one of those major losses. And you know, if you couple that on to these these decreases that that that would be required as part

587
02:42:38.640 --> 02:42:55.840
of this 1B budget, um I don't I I just I don't even want to think about it. It's just something that is uh would be uh would be uh far too uh great a burden for for many of our responders, including myself. I hope I articulated what we are where

588
02:42:55.840 --> 02:43:11.520
we're at with the what the two budgets mean. Um we've continued to make significant progress with um you know it seems to be a common theme uh here in in Lakeville is we do more

589
02:43:11.520 --> 02:43:28.399
with less and and you look to our comparables towns that are all have fewer a lower population than us. They we were we're at the bottom end of the our staffing model. We're our comparables all have four or greater firefighters on duty. Um even our neighbors over in Freetown are in the

590
02:43:28.399 --> 02:43:43.920
process of filling out four people on a group and um you know they're they have smaller qualifying, smaller population to cover. So really what we're trying to do is is we're not trying to be exceptional. We're trying to be reasonable and uh that's kind of that's kind of the fight that we've been

591
02:43:43.920 --> 02:44:02.319
fighting all along. Um and um you know we've been fortunate where we've gotten some good support from from FINCOM, good support from the select board, and good support from the voters along the way. Okay, chief. So, just going back to the model, I know um you know because we we

592
02:44:02.319 --> 02:44:17.600
supported that initiative. So, just for clarity, we have four rotations of four people now. Is that correct? Full-time. >> We do. And when somebody basically to help offset the cost to those four people um what we did we moved to a

593
02:44:17.600 --> 02:44:34.000
model where if somebody was on vacation or on sick leave or took a personal day we didn't replace that first person out. So at a threeperson model we couldn't afford to miss anybody. So on a one for one basis we were hiring back on overtime every time somebody took leave.

594
02:44:34.000 --> 02:44:50.000
So we saw a significant reduction in in our overtime despite our our salary increases our cost of living adjustments. uh we did see a a reduction in our overtime uh I'm not exactly sure what that number is but I think it was like in the neighborhood of about 8%. And since since we've instituted new staffing model

595
02:44:50.000 --> 02:45:07.520
um but so about half the days uh half of our days we have are at four and about half our days are at three. Um temporarily right now we've been able to to fill some days uh because we're doing well on the budget side. We're keeping a close eye on it. Um, and that's just to

596
02:45:07.520 --> 02:45:24.160
offset the the absence caused by our deputy's injury. Uh, we've been able to uh put like here and there put an extra person on at night and on a on a weekend. That way u uh I don't get recalled as much so I'm not staffing the second ambulance because our our operation model historically has been

597
02:45:24.160 --> 02:45:38.960
that we staff that second ambulance with our offduty people. And it's not all of our offduty people. It's a select few that we rely he heavily on. It's when I talk about 530 recalls, it's it the they're they're shared by about three or four people. They're not it's not

598
02:45:38.960 --> 02:45:56.960
dispersed all over the whole department. >> So, let's just say out of a a 365 day um cycle, how many of those days would you say you're at full throttle with four people on four

599
02:45:56.960 --> 02:46:14.000
>> I would say rotations? I would say probably about maybe probably I I could get you an exact number, but guessing I just first glance I think it's probably in the 50 to 60% range that we're at we're at for all the time which is significantly better than 100% at three, you know.

600
02:46:14.000 --> 02:46:30.800
>> And so you would maintain that model. >> Yeah. >> And then where it says you you'd be down one full-time. that is outside of the >> Well, that's we can maintain that model under the 1A. Under the 1B, we we have one shift that's reduced to three

601
02:46:30.800 --> 02:46:47.359
>> one shift. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Now, what does it mean to not have call fire firefighters? >> Well, the the lack of call firefighters really it it hamstrings us hampers us on major incidents. So call firefighters

602
02:46:47.359 --> 02:47:05.120
are generally um they're recalled when we don't have uh enough resources on duty to to meet the call volume. So it's a it's kind of an un inefficient way of doing business. So we might cast a net out uh we do a recall that's what I call casting a net out and we might need uh

603
02:47:05.120 --> 02:47:22.000
we might have a fire and we might need all hands and we might get only three or four people or we might have a car accident where we need two or three people. We cast that same net net out and we might capture eight or nine people. We capture too many people. We don't have like somebody sitting on a desk to regulate who comes in for what.

604
02:47:22.000 --> 02:47:38.080
So what we do is like we use electronic platforms to send these these recalls out and sometimes we catch enough people, sometimes we don't catch enough people and sometimes we catch too many people. It's kind of an inefficient process to to augment our staffing. Um where you see the deficit or the harm

605
02:47:38.080 --> 02:47:54.880
caused by the lack of call firefighters are during major incidents. So like when we have a significant fire, so the Conway Farms or the Barn Fire down on county, uh it's pretty it's safe to say we have more out of town firefighters

606
02:47:54.880 --> 02:48:10.720
than Lakeville firefighters at the scene just because that's the way our runards are built and that's the way it's kind of regionalization without regionalization. We don't you guys get to still govern our fire department. Um but we share we share resources among the whole the whole region. So there'll be three or four different fire

607
02:48:10.720 --> 02:48:28.240
departments moving. Um it's going to be the ratio of out of town firefighters to Lakeland firefighters is it's pretty close. Generally it's mostly out of town firefighters that show up at our fire just because we're pulling in four or five firefighters from each town and they quickly outnumber us. Um but

608
02:48:28.240 --> 02:48:43.040
without call firefighters, we're going to be significantly outcome. It's going to be it's we're going to rely heavily heavily heavily on our surrounding communities. That's that's the blow. It's it's kind of this balancing act. Do we do we take away from our our ability

609
02:48:43.040 --> 02:48:58.240
to heat to answer the most frequent calls, which is our our medical emergencies, which is predominantly accomplished by our full-timers, or do we lose the ability to deal with our infrequent major calls, and and we'd have to compensate for that deficit with

610
02:48:58.240 --> 02:49:16.080
mutual aid. So, it's it's really like it there isn't really any good scenario under the under the B budget. select board members. >> Madam Chair, so um the assumption is it without the call firefighters

611
02:49:16.080 --> 02:49:32.960
when there's those larger uh incidents reported, you have to respond to them. Um you're going to call in all the other full-timers from the other shifts. So there's nobody there's no requirement for anybody to come back. There's

612
02:49:32.960 --> 02:49:48.720
minimum standards for call back among the call firefighters. But as far as the full-timers, >> oh, there's no >> there's they're under no obligation to >> they're under no obligation to come back from off duty. Um there's a small group of them that come back for everything.

613
02:49:48.720 --> 02:50:06.240
>> So they could >> they could come back. Yeah. >> Would that result in an increase in the overtime? >> The more the more frequent we have call backs, the more overtime we spend out. >> Your overtime line item is flat. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's Well,

614
02:50:06.240 --> 02:50:22.000
>> I I I guess the question is could I mean the overtime from those full-timers could potentially eat away at the savings from eliminating the call firefighters potentially. >> It could. It could. I just don't have uh

615
02:50:22.000 --> 02:50:38.000
it's like a >> it's hot thing to call volume. >> It it you know it depends if they come in. Um, a lot of our full-timers are live remote from Lakeville. Very, uh, fewer and fewer live in town. >> Um, we have to there aren't there's a

616
02:50:38.000 --> 02:50:53.359
medic shortage that's pretty well documented. So, we have to get creative in how we um we compete for them and we draw them in from other communities. Uh, we have some that travel in from Rhode Island. Uh, it's been pretty it's kind of, you know, we talked about the

617
02:50:53.359 --> 02:51:10.080
perfect storm. It's been the perfect storm on our side as well. uh the medic shortage and then the the COVID crisis and the ambulance shortage and it's all these these all these uh little mini crisises that we've been dealing with. It's uh I'm I'm grateful for the

618
02:51:10.080 --> 02:51:25.200
resources that been provided with me because I don't know if I don't know how it's difficult to articulate but I don't know if we would have been able to navigate those those uh challenges without the resources that the town's provided us the the enhancements that they've provided us the last few years. It's uh it's kind of like all these just

619
02:51:25.200 --> 02:51:41.520
in time like you guys have been rescuing us uh for a few years now and you've been just keeping our head above water for a little while and um I know it's a huge burden and it's a burden on the rest of the departments because it's limited resources that we're all competing competing for. Uh but I wish I

620
02:51:41.520 --> 02:51:58.240
could share my situational awareness with you and and see the difference that it's made and it's made awful situations just manageable enough to get us through. Um, it sounds like I I I try to stick to the I try not to be emotional about it, but it it's a it's a tough

621
02:51:58.240 --> 02:52:14.640
thing to articulate. It's like it's it's a it's this constant battle and you see the needle go back and forth and we keep on getting these blows and our ability to sustain these blows has been a direct result of what you guys have done for us um the past few years. >> There's no way around it.

622
02:52:14.640 --> 02:52:31.359
So I think the important takeaway that the community should understand is by so and and I wasn't quite clear so you explained it eliminating the call firefighters on the surface doesn't seem like a smart cost savings right because you only use them when you need them I

623
02:52:31.359 --> 02:52:47.600
>> they don't make a lot of money >> right >> but what you're doing is you're transferring that risk having acceptable staff like you just said to your daily medicals and the car accident stuff like that >> and Then those major incidents, the house, structural fires and stuff like

624
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that, that's where some risk is going to be, right? Because now you're relying heavily on mutual aid. >> Yeah. in which other communities Rochester are having financial towns having issues and I guess the public should be aware that sometimes that

625
02:53:03.680 --> 02:53:19.840
mutual aid may be relationship may be strained with surrounding communities because they're facing the same challenges that I'm here for free town that they're they're going to re in their overtime for their firefighters. So, and it's tough for me to like cuz I don't speak freely about the the call

626
02:53:19.840 --> 02:53:36.720
situation because I don't want to I I'm so grateful for the work that they put in and the sacrifices that they make. But a qualifier fighter today is very different than a qualifier fighter 10 years ago or 20 years ago. Um there aren't any Mike McCull and Dave Deass coming down the pipe. These the qualified fighters that are coming out

627
02:53:36.720 --> 02:53:54.000
today are building resumes to to get on a full-time fire department somewhere. and God bless them because they they work hard and we get value from that but they're not looking to stick around for three four years. They're looking to get on our department or some other department. Um you don't have Mike McCulla who's been around for 35 years

628
02:53:54.000 --> 02:54:09.520
and and still mentoring these kids. Um, so as far as the capacity for work and the capacity to intervene when somebody's being killed, uh, dying from a medical emergency or or trapped in a fire fighter, it isn't where it used to be. And it's starting to shift towards

629
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our full-time force. Um, and I don't want to I reluctant to say that out loud because I don't want to be disrespectful of the risks that our call firefighters take and the sacrifices they make for this town. Um, if we didn't have our call firefighters, uh, we'd be spending a lot a lot more money on our st our

630
02:54:26.080 --> 02:54:42.960
overall budget because we would have to compensate for that loss with with improved full-time staffing really in the long run >> if we had the funding. Right. >> If we had the funding. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yes. Um, Chief, I saw on uh some slide that

631
02:54:42.960 --> 02:54:59.279
it would result in uh the 1B situation would result in a reduction of 18 call firefighters. >> So, I have 20 positions in the budget, but I have 18 those positions filled right now. >> Okay. >> Um really it cost me about, you know,

632
02:54:59.279 --> 02:55:15.760
$1,000 $1,500 to bring somebody in new. Uh, so I I'm really reluctant to do that on the on the call side because it costs the same to bring in a new qualified fighters that is a new full-time firefighter and I really it's we're bringing in these 18 19 year old kids and and a high percentage of them don't

633
02:55:15.760 --> 02:55:33.439
stick. They they they they just trying it out and to spend that kind of money on on somebody that's just trying something out not very wise. So, >> and so for my um my clarity, the the do we pay them a stipend to be available

634
02:55:33.439 --> 02:55:50.319
or where's the cost associated with that? >> They get paid an hourly rate and it's really minuscule. It's uh some of our our brand new firefighters that that don't have any credentials or anything like that, they actually make less than the the state minimum wage, you know, they they because it doesn't apply to municipal government. We're we're the

635
02:55:50.319 --> 02:56:08.160
federal minimum wage. So, it's it's they get they get an hourly rate. Um, some of our our more credentialed firefighters, they're they're making more like $24, $25 an hour or something like that, but they're paid for only the actual time that they work. >> And so the 18 positions,

636
02:56:08.160 --> 02:56:24.640
do you know what that equates to to full-time equivalents? >> Well, uh, like a full-time paramedic, firefighter paramedic comes in around $72,000. >> No, apologies. We don't because it we say it a different way. Do we have 18

637
02:56:24.640 --> 02:56:40.560
people who are at the ready at all time and that we're paying them? No. >> No. >> So, it is literally on calls for whatever hours that they work. So, I guess what I'm saying is 18 seems like a lot of people

638
02:56:40.560 --> 02:56:56.720
for part-time work. >> Yeah. The problem is that they you might get six of them back. So, it's basically it's uh it's kind of like an availability uh you know uh it's an availability issue. Very rarely do you ever get all 18 of

639
02:56:56.720 --> 02:57:14.080
them back. Uh you keep 18 or or 20 on the books just so you can get eight or nine back when you really need them. It's it's kind of a a numbers game. Uh they could be working, you know, maybe they have uh a lot of these a lot of the younger ones are in school. So, uh, you

640
02:57:14.080 --> 02:57:29.120
know, a lot of them are unavailable during the day. Um, so it's it's kind of a shell shell game. It's it's, uh, it's kind of an insurance policy. Sometimes the more you have, the the more likely you're able to get the people the enough people that you need. And conversely, sometimes it's inefficient. You get too

641
02:57:29.120 --> 02:57:45.680
many people. >> Can I ask a follow-up question? So, you have 18 people show up, but you only need five. Do you send the 13 home? >> Yeah. Yeah, we we'll we'll as soon as I can get that situational awareness. A lot of I'm a responder, too. So, there's nobody back at the, you know, if I went

642
02:57:45.680 --> 02:58:01.920
to a fire this morning at at uh 2:00 this morning. I look at my phone as I'm as I'm like at when I can, I look at my phone and I when you respond back in, you have to go up on our app and hit that you're going going to the scene. So, we had uh we we took in one of our

643
02:58:01.920 --> 02:58:18.720
we only had three people on uh three firefighters on duty last night. Um, so I called I brought in one of our offduty firefighters, put them on that engine, and we we took off to the fire in Freetown, and then I looked at who was coming in to uh to the town for for coverage. And what I would do is,

644
02:58:18.720 --> 02:58:33.760
depending on what I had back in coverage, I would actually um rotate my firefighters, non non-med nonparamedic firefighters to the fire scene. I'd rotate my paramedics back to town to cover the ambulances. So all this there's all this adjustment going on um

645
02:58:33.760 --> 02:58:51.399
while we're actually managing the fire. So there's a lot of little moving parts that go on with this. >> Madam Chair, >> um Chief, forgive me. I took a year off. Um >> and I haven't seen a contract in a while. Um

646
02:58:51.680 --> 02:59:12.080
is I recall something about the full-timers are senior to even longtime um on call and that's the reason why some of the on call have to go before the >> Yeah, it's probably the least like

647
02:59:12.080 --> 02:59:26.960
there's all depends like the the full-timers are more impactful for revenue. So, if we're in a re a budget crisis like our full-timers generally uh they generate the most revenue because to have revenue in our fire department, we have to have paramedics or EMTs, we

648
02:59:26.960 --> 02:59:42.880
have to have a call and then we have to have an an ambulance available for them and we transport and we bill out at either ALS or BLS rates plus mileage and that's how we generate our revenue. Uh unqualified fighters don't generally ride the ambulances. They don't they don't all provide that level of care.

649
02:59:42.880 --> 03:00:00.080
Sometimes we'll we'll put two paramedics in the back of the ambulance and an alcohol firefighter will drive the ambulance for us. Things of that nature. Um there is a a a contractual element in the contract that says that um layoffs will be accomplished by seniority and but it doesn't specify

650
03:00:00.080 --> 03:00:16.720
who's senior. And then it gets into um uh when things aren't addressed in the contract, the rules and regulations shall apply. It says that in the contract and then within the rules and regulations it has seniority defined from me going down to the most junior qualified fighter in that you know

651
03:00:16.720 --> 03:00:31.279
through the full-time branch. So the the anticipation or the view of the of the union is that that that the most senior qualified fighter is junior to the most junior full-time firefight. Does that make sense?

652
03:00:31.279 --> 03:00:46.720
>> Um sorry. And um and that's that's their view in and I wasn't here in 2009, but the last time that they had uh layoffs related to uh budget problems, they started with the call firefighters. And it's just it's always been the practice

653
03:00:46.720 --> 03:01:05.600
there that that you know um that we've we've treated our full-timers as as senior to the on call. >> Madam Chair, may I make a just a clarifying question? So, if you were to keep your

654
03:01:05.600 --> 03:01:23.439
on call and substitute them in and lay off full-time, so you lose consistency because you don't have your full time, right? But not every on call is qualified

655
03:01:23.439 --> 03:01:38.960
with a paramedic license. Yep. So, one of the the deficits of the Lakeville Fire Department is our lack of seniority. It's because of our turnover. Um, and among our staff, our on call firefighters are are among the most

656
03:01:38.960 --> 03:01:55.120
junior. Like they they have gone to the fewest number of CLA uh calls. They've had the fewest number of experiences and they're they're relatively new. They the lifespan of a call firefighter is relatively short now. you know, one, two, three years is what we usually get out of of a call firefighter. So, these

657
03:01:55.120 --> 03:02:12.080
are the most junior members. Uh, and so then to put them on shed doing full-time work. Um, when you have junior firefighters, you you have problems where you have um, you know, damaged equipment, bad decision- making, bad excessive risk taking, you have all

658
03:02:12.080 --> 03:02:27.439
those all those things that that go along with having an inexperienced crew. And what we've successfully done is compensated that by basically sounds negative, but micromanaging by our most experienced firefighters. Um, we try and have them everywhere and and

659
03:02:27.439 --> 03:02:44.000
those are typically our senior firefighters are the ones that have been invested in this department for a while and they're they're the ones that come back for everything. They're they don't have to, they just do. um it's just a commitment to the department and um and so we're fortunate that that they

660
03:02:44.000 --> 03:02:59.840
they've compensated for the lack of seniority among the department um for sure. Um and it's it's a diff it's a model I'm trying to get away from. You know, we last year we had uh 303 recalls which seems like a lot but that's that's almost like that's

661
03:02:59.840 --> 03:03:16.640
like a 40% reduction in our recalls and that's just after we added that personnel. So that's that's a stable budget for me. It makes it a little bit more predictable. And then like I'm not getting up, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm not waking my wife up two or three times a night. I'm my my my most

662
03:03:16.640 --> 03:03:33.439
dedicated people aren't being grind ground into the into the ground. They have a more sustainable lifestyle. And that's kind of what I'm pushing for. And and that's what I advocate for. and and then you know it's I know there's constraints and there's budget limitations but you know that's kind of what that's how I advocate for public

663
03:03:33.439 --> 03:03:52.240
safety is trying to get this more sustainable model and I push it push the envelope all the time trying to make it a better department a more sustainable department >> okay >> finance committee questions >> um we had a conversation at some point

664
03:03:52.240 --> 03:04:08.399
during our meetings about the population change we have a demog graphic that's aging and I don't remember the number 24% comes to mind. We're over the age of 60 something. Do we know do you know that number? >> I don't know off top. I know we're older than it and there are older than the

665
03:04:08.399 --> 03:04:24.960
state average. We are our average age is significantly higher. And we just had this go around with a with a with a proposed development because they used the uh they used a the a number a statistic for for an estimate on what our impact on the fire department would

666
03:04:24.960 --> 03:04:39.920
be for this facility that they're proposing for this neighborhood. And they used it for the average person the average age person in >> Massachusetts. And uh you know it for us like people uh you know I I don't know the percentage but it's u the vast

667
03:04:39.920 --> 03:04:56.319
majority of our of our customers are are seniors or older generation. They're much more likely to use our services and so we're an older town. It's it's definitely you know probably a higher ratio of a use. You know our comparable communities. >> Which brings me to my next question.

668
03:04:56.319 --> 03:05:13.279
What would you say your response time is right now for a medical call? We're averaging about 6 and a half minutes. >> That's amazing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. If this budget does not pass, how does that impact your response time? >> We're going to see a mushroom. Uh we'll do well for the first first call.

669
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>> Um but as I said, one out of every three calls is is a second call or third call or fourth call. Uh so you'll see that call rely on oft people if they come if they come in. Um and we'll see an increased dependence on mutual aid ambulances that may or may not be

670
03:05:28.960 --> 03:05:44.560
available as well. >> Many people don't know a lot of the stories um that people in the community have shared with me about um people from the fire department under your leadership uh that have responded to events. There are people's lives in this community who have absolutely been saved

671
03:05:44.560 --> 03:06:01.600
because of your training. And it makes me anxious to think about us relying on somebody else's training. if we had a serious event in our community and we're talking about injuries that result in par paralysis and and death, heart attacks, um

672
03:06:01.600 --> 03:06:18.560
so many things. I've had five fires in my own community in my own neighborhood since I've lived there. So, um I just I think it's worth mentioning that we're talking about money, but what we're really talking about is actually people's lives. So, just had to say that piece. One one of the deficits of a threeperson

673
03:06:18.560 --> 03:06:35.120
model is that um we we can't do we can't transport a CPR. So if we start there's so many codes and some we start see initiate CPR we need four people to initiate care per protocol like for to meet the state requirements and and in

674
03:06:35.120 --> 03:06:52.080
as far as EMS care to get them from the from their house or wherever we found them or doing CPR on to the hospital requires four responders. So, we're actually required, we're relying on an offduty firefighter to come out and that's the first call. >> Oh my gosh. >> So, it's usually me, it's usually the deputy um because we can get there the

675
03:06:52.080 --> 03:07:08.160
quickest. We have take-h home cars. So, we're getting them for for CPRs and we're, you know, we're going I've done more CPR in the last seven years than I did in my previous uh my previous 22 years of firefighting because we go to every single one.

676
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Anybody from the audience have any questions for the chief? >> Okay, chief. Thank you very much. >> Appreciate it. You guys were pretty kind to me. I was prepared for the burst. >> Thank you.

677
03:07:26.800 --> 03:07:43.040
See you guys on a few agenda items. >> Yes, I'm moving a few of these around. So, um, at this time, I think our finance committee might want to adjourn. I'd like to make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second.

678
03:07:43.040 --> 03:07:59.600
>> Tenitini. I >> Right. I >> Manovski. I >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Um we'll be in touch uh with regards to our recap meeting. Um we'll get that scheduled probably in the next week or so. Um but we'll be

679
03:07:59.600 --> 03:08:16.240
I'm going to have my guy call you a guy. >> The same guy. Colleen, you got their time that they adjourned, correct? >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Talk to you soon. >> Okay, I'm going to move a couple things

680
03:08:16.240 --> 03:08:33.279
around. I'm going to jump right down to um agenda item number six, number one, which is a joint meeting with our town moderator. >> Like a >> Oh, you do have a quorum. Fantastic. So, I'd like to invite up our moderator who

681
03:08:33.279 --> 03:08:54.960
is at the table and our school committee members and every year uh we need to appoint uh membership to the Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School Committee and it requires a joint

682
03:08:54.960 --> 03:09:11.359
meeting. Um well actually it's town moderator's meeting so I'm going to be quiet right now and I'm going to hand this over to Keith. So >> okay thank you. Um at make sure I'm over here. Um as moderator for the town of Lakeville I call this joint meeting of

683
03:09:11.359 --> 03:09:28.640
the select board and the Lakeville school committee to order. Um we have one item of business and that is to appoint Mr. with Jeffrey Rodri for the Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School for a term of three years beginning May 1st, 2026 and ending April

684
03:09:28.640 --> 03:09:43.840
30th, 2029. So I seek a motion from anyone from either group to appoint him. So move >> second. >> Lovely. Is there any discussion regarding this appointment?

685
03:09:43.840 --> 03:09:59.600
Thank you for coming back as a reappoint. Okay. So we can vote by name hearing no more further discussion. We'll start with >> Carboni. I >> Howard I. >> Hunt I blog. I >> Fabian I. >> Richard I.

686
03:09:59.600 --> 03:10:15.920
>> Trro I. Excellent. So um let the record show that um the motion was passed unanimously and congratulations to Mr. Rodri's um if he is watching at home. Um this concludes our business. So I need a

687
03:10:15.920 --> 03:10:32.760
motion to adjourn. Motion to adjurnn. >> A motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Awesome. All those in favor? >> I. >> Wonderful. And that concludes our business. >> Thank you very much for coming on. Lovely to see you. >> What an efficient meeting.

688
03:10:33.920 --> 03:10:48.960
>> Okay. I'd like to move um agenda item number four up which is the discuss and possible vote to change the polling location of June 20th 20 26 um for the old colony

689
03:10:48.960 --> 03:11:08.160
building project approval. U I'm going to just take a second so I can get myself onto the right page here. So, there was a request um for a second um opportunity

690
03:11:08.160 --> 03:11:23.359
for the vote for the old colony building project. The old colony building committee um and I believe the school committee voted to um have it on the Saturday, June 20th. So, all member communities have gone

691
03:11:23.359 --> 03:11:40.720
back um and here we are at Lakeville and we have a challenge because our polling place which is our voted polling place is Lon Pawn Lodge located at Ted Williams Camp. So, in order to accommodate

692
03:11:40.720 --> 03:11:58.800
um this this vote, we need to identify a new location and that was with our town clerk. Um and we have received approval from our superintendent that ASA wampsit would be available. So we had a choice.

693
03:11:58.800 --> 03:12:16.479
We had our council on aging and we had as warmsit. So according to our town clerk the preference would have been as wwit. So we didn't have that information until yesterday late yesterday afternoon I believe. Um, so this evening we're

694
03:12:16.479 --> 03:12:34.880
looking to vote to change our polling place for this one time and I must say that over and over for this one time polling change um for June 20th which is a Saturday um hopefully to ask.

695
03:12:34.880 --> 03:12:52.800
Did I forget anything? >> No, we're good. >> Okay. So, at this time, I will entertain a motion to authorize the change of the polling location for June 20th, 2026 for the Old Colony

696
03:12:52.800 --> 03:13:11.120
building project approval vote from Lon Pond Lodge to Asa Wampset Elementary School. >> So moved with discussion. >> Motion. >> Second >> and a second. discussion.

697
03:13:11.120 --> 03:13:28.560
>> Um, I do understand postcards will be sent. Is that postcards to all local residents or is that postcards to just the voting list? >> Uh, that's a good question. Um, I know our town clerk is not here to answer,

698
03:13:28.560 --> 03:13:45.279
but I believe >> there's somebody else here that might be able to >> I can answer that. It is the voting list. Lil confirmed that with me before she left that the cards get sent to all the registered voters where the polling location is going to be. She has to

699
03:13:45.279 --> 03:14:00.800
notify everyone of the change. >> Okay. Only the >> the registered registered voters, >> not the entire town of Lakeville, just the registered voters. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Um I would ask that because I have a feeling word we'll get around with a

700
03:14:00.800 --> 03:14:18.479
special postcard going to everyone's house. I would ask that um which the town clerk is fantastic. She will do, but um just to make it obvious what the last day to register to vote is.

701
03:14:18.479 --> 03:14:35.200
>> Yep. >> I know she does, but if we could put it on our communications page and >> Yeah, we can do that. >> Um yeah, >> sure. >> And that brings up a good point um for the communications piece. So, we'll I'll work with the um select board's office

702
03:14:35.200 --> 03:14:52.399
and town clerk um with regards to like the communications channel. I'm not putting out anything for the election because that's the town clerk's perview, but just to make sure that we've touched upon all the key elements of the communication that needs to get out to um our residents

703
03:14:52.399 --> 03:15:07.760
through our communications channel. >> Oh, I had one more question. I'm sorry. Will there be someone at the at Moon Loon Pond Lodge to direct folks or not? >> Okay, that's another good point. There is a function um already scheduled at

704
03:15:07.760 --> 03:15:24.479
Lon Pon Lodge. Um so I think that that conversation to whether we have somebody there or signage of some sort to be able to redirect residents down the street slightly um where it is

705
03:15:24.479 --> 03:15:41.200
a Saturday. Um, we might have, you know, an opportunity to make sure that we have some either somebody there and make sure the signage is there and appropriate. Yeah. I mean, the senior center, you could have just gone almost through the woods, but they're going to have to go

706
03:15:41.200 --> 03:15:57.200
>> and we know folks get upset, so >> just be nice if we made it easy for them to >> correct >> their voting location. >> Any further discussion? Yes, Madam Chair. I just want to state um so I'm

707
03:15:57.200 --> 03:16:13.120
I'm aware of some of the comments um that have been circulating regarding why this vote was scheduled for that date. So, as members of the school builder committee, I just want to state that there were valid reasons for selecting that day. Uh and for full this full

708
03:16:13.120 --> 03:16:28.080
transparency, I'd like to offer the superintendent an opportunity to clarify that date was selected to kind of knock down some of those rumors that are circulating on social media. Sure. >> While you're moving over, I just want to thank you for all the work that you've

709
03:16:28.080 --> 03:16:44.960
put into this. This is a project that we knew was coming from >> 2019. Yeah. >> Yeah. Long time ago. >> I appreciate that. >> Um, first of all, I had the opportunity to speak briefly, I believe, with Paul and

710
03:16:44.960 --> 03:17:01.120
Lorraine just in the during the break or was a couple people here. Um, we had originally thought that we would look for a revote in September. Uh, we learned that the impact of escalation would really strip a good portion of contingency.

711
03:17:01.120 --> 03:17:16.800
The goal was always to come in under budget and we articulated that in every presentation we did. We did 55 presentations between September 1st and November 18th. Um, for every bit that we delay, we impact contingency.

712
03:17:16.800 --> 03:17:31.600
And again, our goal is to come in under budget. So to delay till September impedes our ability to come in under budget. And our goal again repeatedly we've said this is to make sure that we do come in under budget. Uh that being

713
03:17:31.600 --> 03:17:47.840
said to go back to the polls in June is really the best way to be able to do that. Escalation is our enemy. Um, the cost of repair when we first came to the table here, if we were to do it all at once, was 134 million. The cost of

714
03:17:47.840 --> 03:18:04.000
repair right now is estimated at 157 million if we were to do it all at once. Um, so it's really important for us to pick a date that made sense. When we went to the table, we brought in all of our member towns as we do for the budget pro

715
03:18:04.000 --> 03:18:19.920
process. We asked folks for their feedback. A lot of people said they thought September was better. We explained the impact of escalation and then we looked at the potential of some weak days in June and the June 20th

716
03:18:19.920 --> 03:18:36.640
date. Uh the weekdays in June resulted in conflicts for a number of people. We we we resulted with an outcome of June 25th at which point we learned there was a rehearsal dinner at Lon Lodge. Um I think that's what you had said, Andrew, right?

717
03:18:36.640 --> 03:18:53.200
>> Yep. So, just when we thought we had it figured out, we didn't. So, we went back to a Saturday. Um, and the big complaint from the last vote was it was on a Tuesday and that people had to work. So, the building committee had talked about a recommendation to the school

718
03:18:53.200 --> 03:19:08.239
committee. The school committee voted, the building committee only recommended just for clarity. Um, but at the building committee level, there were conversations about what what day would give people the most access to the polls and a 10 to 6 on a Saturday

719
03:19:08.239 --> 03:19:24.960
seemed like it might be a much more open day for people as opposed to a weekday where people had concerns about different shifts. So, we went back to that June 20th date. and between um the chief and Andrew, they were

720
03:19:24.960 --> 03:19:41.040
extremely helpful because we were up against a timeline. So, I just want to extend my my gratitude to Chief Perkins and to uh Andrew Suk forth because they were um integral on the morning of this having to all be mapped out and helping

721
03:19:41.040 --> 03:19:58.399
us to make it happen and also to our member talents who were collaborative in the process and understanding. Um, but that's a little Chris, did I miss anything? >> Uh, no. If I Yeah, thank you. That was perfect. Thank you. >> Okay. I just wanted to provide that overview so that people understood. There were questions about Junth being a

722
03:19:58.399 --> 03:20:15.359
holiday. Uh, if Junth were to have fall fallen on a Saturday, it's celebrated on a Friday. If it falls on a Sunday, it's celebrated on a Monday. So, we did clarify that it's not a holiday on that Saturday. We wanted to make sure we were not having the election on a holiday.

723
03:20:15.359 --> 03:20:32.720
That was really important. Um, but I think uh Shirley, did I miss anything? >> No, the the only additional thing was in picking June as opposed to September was when we were going to be able to get a shovel in the ground. >> Oh, also, yeah, because if we were to

724
03:20:32.720 --> 03:20:47.359
have a vote also, the other thing is if we were to vote in September, it's not just the delay of the vote, it's the actual if it were to pass, you can't break ground in the winter. So you're looking at additional delays

725
03:20:47.359 --> 03:21:03.359
if it were to pass in June. The timing it takes for the planning allows you to fall into a place where you could break ground earlier. So that was another consideration. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Motion to second. Um I'd like

726
03:21:03.359 --> 03:21:19.680
to do roll please. >> Maybe I >> plug I hunt I. >> Howard I. >> Carbon I. Okay. I know this our office will reach out to we'll get it the ball

727
03:21:19.680 --> 03:21:37.279
rolling on that. So, thank you very much. >> Okay. Uh let's see. At this point, I would like to go back to let's see if there's anybody else in the audience that was other than the chief

728
03:21:37.279 --> 03:21:54.800
so I can get them out of here. Okay. So, back to up to item number two for um item six. Agenda item six. Number two, discuss and possible vote on U fire chief disclosure. Um chief, I'd like to invite

729
03:21:54.800 --> 03:22:10.479
you back up to the table. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Uh so, just to give a just a quick quick um synopsis. So if there's any and and it goes for any of us as elected officials too that if there's anything

730
03:22:10.479 --> 03:22:30.600
that comes up that might be um considered a conflict of interest um we would cons the letter disclosure. So um fire chief has done that and let me just get to where I am here and it's here.

731
03:22:35.600 --> 03:22:51.120
So, Mr. Supforth, can you drop bring us through this, please? >> Yes. So, on April 10th, I believe the fire chief sent a letter um to my office

732
03:22:51.120 --> 03:23:07.680
uh basically explaining that he had a potential conflict of interest and he was disclosing it and he's looking for direction from the select board. Um I think that you should all maybe have that in your packet or supplemental packet. Um and then our our we put it on the agenda and our question was what do

733
03:23:07.680 --> 03:23:26.160
we do with this? Um our legal our legal council basically advised us of this process that we have to follow but the uh major thing is we have to determine whether it's a substantial interest. >> Okay. And if I do recall um town council

734
03:23:26.160 --> 03:23:44.720
has recommended that um we read the disclosure um that was submitted for the purposes of this discussion. So I will do that. Um this was submitted by Michael P. O'Brien our Lakeville Fire Chief and um the

735
03:23:44.720 --> 03:24:01.439
municipal agency was the Lakeville Fire Department. So it says here, "My duties require me to participate in a particular matter and I may not participate because of a financial interest that I may disclose

736
03:24:01.439 --> 03:24:17.359
here. I requested determination from my appointing authority about how I should proceed. So the particular matter here as described on April 9th, 2026, a resident of the Beachree Drive contacted the

737
03:24:17.359 --> 03:24:33.040
office of the fire chief to express concerns regarding emergency vehicle access to his property. The caller reported that storm water runoff has significantly compromised the stability of the roadway surface in the area and

738
03:24:33.040 --> 03:24:49.760
as a result the resident is concerned that the road may no longer be capable of safely supporting the weight of fire apparatus responding to an emergency. Context is the caller is an excuse me the caller is in a butter to a single

739
03:24:49.760 --> 03:25:05.840
family resident residence that was recently destroyed by fire and during the incident a mutual aid fire apparatus became stuck under the roadway shoulder um as the shoulder failed under the weight of the vehicle. The resident

740
03:25:05.840 --> 03:25:22.880
indicated that the current condition of the roadway raises concerns about whether similar access issues could occur during future emergency responses. So why would the fire chief have a um need to disclose a potential conflict?

741
03:25:22.880 --> 03:25:39.520
Um there could be a a situation of financial interest in the matter and as explained um the roadway referenced in the complaint is located within the fire chief's residential neighborhood. The fire chief is a member of the homeowner

742
03:25:39.520 --> 03:25:54.960
association which is the HOA which is responsible for the management and maintenance of the road. To avoid any potential conflict of of interest, the chief has preemptively restricted his involvement with the HOA on matters

743
03:25:54.960 --> 03:26:12.399
related to public safety concerns regarding the roadway and does not participate in votes regarding the expenditure of HOA funds for road maintenance or repairs. However, the chief does acknowledge that he could finalize a fi he could realize a

744
03:26:12.399 --> 03:26:29.279
financial benefit either directly or indirectly from any determination regarding corrective action on the roadway. A determination that repairs that repairs are not necessary could result in lower HOA fees for the chief or potentially prevent a supplemental

745
03:26:29.279 --> 03:26:46.720
assessment being leveled on HOA members, including the chief. Conversely, improvements or upgrades to the roadway could have the effect of increasing the value of the chief's personal property. Given these circumstances, the chief recognizes that his involvement in

746
03:26:46.720 --> 03:27:03.279
elevating the condition of the roadway or determining the need for corrective action could reasonably be perceived as a conflict of interest. And this was dated April 10th, 2026. So with that, um, we have a rendering,

747
03:27:03.279 --> 03:27:19.760
um, from our town council on how this board would be proceed. And Andrew, can you give us just a quick just? >> Yeah, I can actually I mean, read it. Um, says the board should review the

748
03:27:19.760 --> 03:27:36.000
nature and extent of the fire chief's financial interest as described in the disclosure. Based on that review, the board must determine whether the interest is not so substantial as to be deemed likely to affect the integrity of the services the town may expect from him. Um, if the board makes that

749
03:27:36.000 --> 03:27:51.040
determination, it should vote to authorize the fire chief to participate in a matter not withstanding the disclosed financial interest. Um, we would make that in writing um, based on the back of this form. um

750
03:27:51.040 --> 03:28:06.720
if they determine it is too substantial, you would basically appoint someone instead. >> Okay, I will open up for the board for discussion or we can go right to the vote, but I'd like to hear some discussion

751
03:28:06.720 --> 03:28:23.439
because it it's determined whether or not this board feels as though that there is. >> Madam Chair, >> yes. Um, may I have some clarification on this sentence where it says, "Given these circumstances, the chief recognizes that his involvement in

752
03:28:23.439 --> 03:28:38.319
evaluating the condition of the roadway or determining the need for corrective action could reasonably be perceived as a conflict of interest. Could you explain your role in the evaluation of the condition?"

753
03:28:38.319 --> 03:28:54.080
>> So, there's uh CMR 527 spells out the requirements for fire department access. So, I I haven't gone down to the to the area the complaint intentionally avoided that area until this determination. Um, but hypothetically speaking, if you

754
03:28:54.080 --> 03:29:08.960
authorize me to to go down there, um, I'll I'll make an assessment of of that that road service. And if I find that the road service is fine, um, the person the complaintant can make the insinuation that I came to that

755
03:29:08.960 --> 03:29:25.920
conclusion based on the my, you know, the potential for financial gain. I don't want to pay extra HOA fees. Conversely, um the accusation can be made that I'm I'm making them enhance the road surface. Uh I mean, it's bit of more of a stretch, but to maybe provide

756
03:29:25.920 --> 03:29:42.239
benefit to my the value of my property since the the the surface of the roads improved and and there's increased property value there. >> And are you the only person who can evaluate it? >> Currently, I'm the only person that's trained to make this evaluation. Um at the at the recommendation of my um

757
03:29:42.239 --> 03:29:58.720
uh my peer over there, the the police chief uh he had me consult with there's an on call lawyer from the state ethics and the the state's lawyer said I have a valid concern. Um there's potential problem here. Um he said that um if I delegated it to a member of the

758
03:29:58.720 --> 03:30:13.680
department, it wouldn't alleviate the concern because I have influence over that person. and he said it'd be less of an appearance of something inappropriate if I asked an outside chief to evaluate the property, but there would still be an appearance that I've had to influence over the project.

759
03:30:13.680 --> 03:30:29.600
>> His recommendation was to be transparent with the board, divulge my conflict and make a determination based on the fire code and make sure that if I did that that I could support my determination with my body of work. Meaning, I've I've

760
03:30:29.600 --> 03:30:45.920
made assessments on other access roads. I've enforced the code in in certain situations and as long as my actions are transparent and under the microscope of my appointing authority and are consistent with my previous actions in in places in in areas of the town where

761
03:30:45.920 --> 03:31:00.960
where I didn't have an interest financial interest um that it would be defensible and and as long as I was I was through through my town administrator kept you appraised of of my findings and be hyper hyper critical

762
03:31:00.960 --> 03:31:16.560
hyper alert alert to to to the potential for problems, meaning uh heightened documentation, photographs, all those things, and then provide a similar case where I I ruled a similar way and and just to provide credibility to my activities.

763
03:31:16.560 --> 03:31:33.359
>> Is it is it an an option? I heard you say that you could reach out to another U fire chief. Is it an option to further distance you from this issue to have >> maybe the town administrator reach out to >> it's reasonable >> somebody else and and therefore there

764
03:31:33.359 --> 03:31:49.359
would be no >> nexus between you and the person doing the evaluation >> and the thing that I wouldn't want to do the other recommendation he made was to hire a fire protection engineer to do the evaluation which I think is excessive because there may not even be a code deficiency down there you spend

765
03:31:49.359 --> 03:32:04.960
money on on a non-complaint this could be just you know, a conflict because we're we're often weaponized uh by neighbors when with smoke complaints, things like that. It's very common. Uh so there may be no issue down there at all. And I'm not I don't know because I I haven't looked.

766
03:32:04.960 --> 03:32:20.880
>> Um so I think that would be that would be bad to spend that money without having any kind of, you know, so I think that's reasonable. >> Is that an option? >> Yeah. I just um >> random. >> Random. Okay. >> Yeah. And they don't even have to report back to me. they can report to the town

767
03:32:20.880 --> 03:32:37.200
administrator and the mount town administrator communicate with the HOA or or they complain >> and I would think that the only way that you would know about it >> is when you get your new bill >> Andrew >> but I think that you know and I'm glad

768
03:32:37.200 --> 03:32:53.760
that you said something so that um you know I was thinking on the same >> because I don't want the optics I don't want to put anybody in that position and have anybody be in that position where something could come back um based on you know opinion or add any additional

769
03:32:53.760 --> 03:33:10.000
um you know work to try to alleviate the doubt. So >> I've learned a lot. I mean in the past and I don't I know it's a long night but in the past I've handled this situation on that road by delegating to my my deputy and I just asked her not to talk to me about it and not tell me what she

770
03:33:10.000 --> 03:33:30.880
was up to and and um and I turns out that's probably that's not the right way to handle it. >> Um so I've learned something through the process. Okay. >> So, this sounds like an acceptable way to go. >> Okay. So, >> um Madam Chair, before we move,

771
03:33:30.880 --> 03:33:46.080
>> does anyone know why this is >> more scrutinized than other disclosures that folks do? because some folks participate in boards and then go on to

772
03:33:46.080 --> 03:34:06.479
have financial interest. Um I'm just curious why it's just making me think about everything I know about disclosures and ethics training. Well, it's a good question. I know um town clerk keeps track of all of the

773
03:34:06.479 --> 03:34:25.680
disclosures. So, um, >> Madam Chair, having having called the ethics commission several times on myself, occasionally you get a good a good response or and occasionally you get a subpar response. I mean, this

774
03:34:25.680 --> 03:34:43.359
sounds this particular one sounds like, you know, the chief I don't think the chief is over scrutinized. I think he probably just hit had a had a great attorney of the day give him solid advice and then our new council is

775
03:34:43.359 --> 03:35:04.479
following up with more great advice >> as opposed to maybe some things that have occurred in the past. >> Okay. I don't know what the motion is here. I'm looking for it. Well, I I mean that's my question, too. So, do if we're

776
03:35:04.479 --> 03:35:21.439
asking basically for him not to do anything and we're >> So, we would make a motion to have the town administrator, >> but we don't have to decide on substantial versus not too substantial. >> It's not It's neither if he's not

777
03:35:21.439 --> 03:35:37.200
involved. >> Exactly. >> Right. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. If he's not involved. So, we would have a motion to have the town administrator uh reach out to a >> Are we going to call it a random fire chief or >> say prop? It doesn't have to be a fire

778
03:35:37.200 --> 03:35:54.800
chief in my opinion. It' be properly credentialed trained. >> There you go. Property. Yeah. >> Properly credential >> credential code enforcement official. >> Yeah. What he said. >> Um >> Got it. uh in regards to this in order to keep uh Chief O'Brien

779
03:35:54.800 --> 03:36:10.880
>> out of the loop. >> Out of the loop, >> neutral, I guess, right? >> Was that your motion? >> Ne neutral. Yeah, neutral is neutral is certainly much more professional than out of the loop and junk. >> Yes, there you go. >> So, okay.

780
03:36:10.880 --> 03:36:28.720
>> And we have a second. >> Okay. >> All right. Motion in a second. Any dis further discussion? I can't wait to hear this motion back. >> I was going to say I think we should have made Lorine ask for the motion and repeat it, but I'll go with that.

781
03:36:28.720 --> 03:36:45.840
>> Um, no, but we could. We could. >> No, you good. >> No, I'm good. You got what Paul said. We got it. >> Yeah, I did. I mean, >> all right. Can't read it back, but I could actually read this one back. >> All right, I'll call for the vote. >> Kristen second did, right? >> Yes, Kristen second. Fabian I

782
03:36:45.840 --> 03:37:05.439
>> plug eye. >> Hunt I >> Howard I. >> Carvon I. >> Thank you. >> Thank you chief. >> Appreciate the support again. >> Thanks chief. >> What are we doing here? >> Okay. Next on the agenda uh we have uh what comes in front of us is a site plan

783
03:37:05.439 --> 03:37:22.560
review for an ADU at 57 Kingman Street. I believe this is the second time it's come in front of us. I know it was in front of us once before. >> Yeah, there was definitely one on Fleining Street at one point. >> Okay, so it's totally different projects. >> Yeah,

784
03:37:22.560 --> 03:37:40.000
>> same concept, different projects. Okay, so as with any site plan review, we are on that list um to review and take a look at. Um at this point, they're not asking for any water allocation. Did everybody have an opportunity to

785
03:37:40.000 --> 03:37:56.239
take a look at the fact that um they're looking to add a 784 square ft um accessory unit, otherwise known as an ADU, at 57 Kingman Street? >> Yes. Okay.

786
03:37:56.239 --> 03:38:11.520
>> Madam Chair, I have a question. >> Or can I ask you? >> Yes, you may. >> Oh. Um, so this is my first ADU and I was um reading what the regulations say and it says that it's 50% of the square

787
03:38:11.520 --> 03:38:27.040
footage of the home with a maximum of 900 square f feet. >> Correct. So, the it looks like they're asking for 784 square ft, but the from what I saw the square footage of

788
03:38:27.040 --> 03:38:45.760
the home was 1517, which makes it 758.5 ft. So, meaning that it exceeds the 50%. >> Okay. >> So, that's a comment that we would want to submit to them. No, we're you we're going to comment on the things that we

789
03:38:45.760 --> 03:39:03.760
have control over. So, while I think that's valid, absolutely. I'm sure that they will catch that on their own. We're looking at parking and water for the ADU. You you're welcome to comment on it, but really you you generally stick

790
03:39:03.760 --> 03:39:18.479
to >> what's in front of us. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. >> I didn't know that. So, thanks for asking questions. Okay. I um we usually try to cover all bases along with that. Madam Chair, because it is site plan

791
03:39:18.479 --> 03:39:34.800
review, can we assume that >> uh the board of health is going to look at the water and the septic and yep >> uh fire department's going to look at accessibility of fire engines and >> Yes. >> Um okay. And then the only other comment

792
03:39:34.800 --> 03:39:52.319
I had was >> put it back in. >> Man, that deed is tiny, >> isn't it? Yeah, I was trying to read it and I was bugging out >> in here. Put a road in there and they've done a bunch of sight work right out here.

793
03:39:52.319 --> 03:40:07.040
>> They've been working on there for some time. >> Yeah. >> But I don't know if they're doing the septic or what they have going, but they there is work on that site. >> So, as this is the first one that I've worked on, could we go over that, Madam

794
03:40:07.040 --> 03:40:23.920
Chair? What our responsibility is? So we would talk about water accessibility because that falls under us. Um parking. >> Yep. >> What other not necessarily parking either? >> Not necessarily. Right. >> So site plan review. Any any site plan

795
03:40:23.920 --> 03:40:39.920
review, right? Because um we've had a few quite a few that have come in front of the board. Um >> and this is different from anything I've ever done. So that's why I'm asking the question. >> It's still under the site plan review concept. It still has to go through site plan review. So all those elements uh

796
03:40:39.920 --> 03:40:56.560
regarding site plan review >> 56 >> hold >> it's 57. >> So the planning board has um the they're the you know obviously the authority over the site plan review u basically just follow the process. So there's a

797
03:40:56.560 --> 03:41:13.200
checklist in here. So if anybody's interested in taking a look at the steps that site plan review would need to go through. Um, yes, they do collect a $250 application fee and it will go through um the proper channels. The fire chief

798
03:41:13.200 --> 03:41:30.080
will look at it. Um, board of health will look at it. Um, >> conservation if it applies, >> police. >> Yep. >> And I believe Yes. And there's another entity on there um as well. So, um, all of them would be the same, but as far as

799
03:41:30.080 --> 03:41:47.040
like the the ADU itself, um, I probably know as much as what anybody else does by reading and and kind of listening to the language of the bylaw. And so, but what we normally are

800
03:41:47.040 --> 03:42:03.359
responsible for is is, you know, any water allocation. Um, I know that this board has always been very very big on um line of sight, you know, when pulling out of a a particular area. >> That's a good point, too.

801
03:42:03.359 --> 03:42:19.520
>> And um earth removal. I don't know that this has any earth removal aspect to it, but >> that's a good one, too. Um, so I did just read those and I don't

802
03:42:19.520 --> 03:42:35.680
what triggers site plan review and I guess that's why I'm confused. I didn't see ADU on that list. Is that a new law? What is it? Um, >> the application for site plan review for

803
03:42:35.680 --> 03:42:53.439
accessory dwelling unit. >> It's on the application. Sorry, Le. I think it's like three pages back. It's on the third page after the the header page. >> Looks like >> so site plan uh ADU may have its own

804
03:42:53.439 --> 03:43:09.040
site plan review. Is that what we're >> Yes. >> Okay. You know what I can I don't want to use up time right now my answer. >> I just want to make sure that before >> you know we submit no comment or any comments that you know this board is

805
03:43:09.040 --> 03:43:26.160
comfortable with. Yeah, they should understand. >> Yeah. And I think if there's, you know, additional um, you know, inquiries. Yeah. >> Oh, we do have a point member here. I thought you were already left when I looked up. Um, um, even though I know

806
03:43:26.160 --> 03:43:41.279
she's here. I >> might reiterate Kristen's comment. >> That's the one >> to show that we're paying attention. >> Did you make note of that? >> Okay.

807
03:43:41.279 --> 03:44:01.120
is >> okay. Other than that, do we have any other comments? Because I'm thinking that we have no comments going back. >> Yes, I'm thinking it's fine. >> Okay. Do you want me to reflect um member Howard's observation to have them

808
03:44:01.120 --> 03:44:17.439
just double check even though she wrote it down? Do you want me to do like an official >> or maybe when they're um they're going to be reviewing the site plan review, maybe they could let us know and then maybe we we attend or we watch. >> Oh, well that's true, too. >> And then we could see the process. But

809
03:44:17.439 --> 03:44:38.880
it's interesting. >> Well, I mean, I just think it's a good point that >> you brought up, Kristen. You caught it. So, >> very good. Okay. Okay. Number five, um discuss a possible

810
03:44:38.880 --> 03:44:54.000
vote to open the June 8th um annual town meeting warrant. So, the warrant was opened and it was closed and we voted the um the warrants or the articles on the warrant as

811
03:44:54.000 --> 03:45:09.600
presented by our town administrator. This board also has the authority um and the ability to open the warrant um if there's any additional things that we would like to add on annual town meeting should time allow. And we've had

812
03:45:09.600 --> 03:45:25.520
an opportunity where we were awarded a grant um for clickers and not TV clickers because I can't imagine having 100 people in our audience at town meeting with you know those kind of clickers but our town clerk has been

813
03:45:25.520 --> 03:45:40.720
interested in expanding her ability to run um a more effective you know um state-of-the-art type town meeting and clickers would be very useful. So, there were three communities that were awarded a grant, Lakeville

814
03:45:40.720 --> 03:45:58.080
being one of them um to receive 400 um clickers, but I think what are they called? There's a special name for them. Town >> voting devices, right? Electronic voting devices. >> It's an electronic voting device. Yeah, >> short clickers. So, um

815
03:45:58.080 --> 03:46:14.479
we have the opportunity to to open the the warrant um add this article to adopt uh utilizing electronic voting devices and we would be able to begin at our fall town meeting. that will be ample

816
03:46:14.479 --> 03:46:29.359
time for our town clerk and officers to um be able to train and do what they have to do so that we could utilize them in September or in the fall which would be November. So

817
03:46:29.359 --> 03:46:46.800
>> okay so uh right now I would need to um entertain a motion to open the June 8th 2026 annual town meeting warrant. So move >> second motion to second discussion hearing none. Roll >> baby I >> block I >> I >> Howard I.

818
03:46:46.800 --> 03:47:04.080
>> Carboni I. I will also need to um entertain a motion or I'd like to entertain a motion to add an article to the annual town meeting for the implementation of an electronic voting system for the use at all town meetings.

819
03:47:04.080 --> 03:47:20.160
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Discussion hearing. None. Roll Fabian I >> Flood I >> Hunt I >> Howard I >> Harboni I I will now entertain a motion to close the June 8th 2026 annual town

820
03:47:20.160 --> 03:47:38.160
meeting warrant so move >> second >> discussion hearing none roll please and I >> I hunt I carbon I >> thank you thank you thank you thank

821
03:47:39.520 --> 03:47:54.000
Well, that just took three things right off of that agenda. >> I love it. >> Move it. Love it. Love it. >> Okay, next one. Um, we were asked for a one-day wine and malt license for the Tipsy Mermaid LLC for an event to be

822
03:47:54.000 --> 03:48:10.560
held on May 31st, 2026 at the Angres Conway Farm at 33 Southworth Street. Is everything in order? >> Yes. >> As needed? >> Yes. Okay, I'll entertain the motion um to

823
03:48:10.560 --> 03:48:26.880
appro approve the one-day beer and wine license for Tipsy Lip Mermaid LLC for an event to be held on May 31st, 2026 at the Angres >> Farm >> Farm at 33 Southworth Street from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

824
03:48:26.880 --> 03:48:43.680
>> So move second >> discussion seeing and hearing none. Roll maybe an I. >> What? I >> Hunt. I >> Howard I. >> Carboni. I al. >> Okay. We have a request um to utilize

825
03:48:43.680 --> 03:48:59.680
town property. Uh I believe this is the third annual opportunity um for people to participate in the snow jubilee. This would be a request um form filled

826
03:48:59.680 --> 03:49:16.080
out to use town property for the month of December, which would be the old town hall and the public library lawns um to display the snow people for the month of December. Um this is a benefit that um is for the animal shelter.

827
03:49:16.080 --> 03:49:33.920
So from what I can see, there's an application included. Um >> I have a question. Yeah, >> the on it says that the attachments are a tip certification and a certificate of insurance. >> Okay. So, I we can't put the um I can't

828
03:49:33.920 --> 03:49:50.399
put the insurance into the packet. That information has to be we're not it's not but I have it I guess is the best way to say it. And I do have the tip certification. Usually I do attach that. Um if it didn't attach it's just cuz it

829
03:49:50.399 --> 03:50:06.399
stuck to that. >> Okay. The tip certification wasn't for this one. >> No, because for the previous >> Yeah, that's what you were talking about from before. >> No, we're talking about the the Jubilee. >> There is no tip certification, >> but it's in your it's in your standard format on the bottom. >> Oh, on the bottom. Oh, I'm sorry.

830
03:50:06.399 --> 03:50:22.239
>> So, we're we're calling you out, Colleen. >> It was it was the All Me show preparing for this, so I'm not surprised. I had lots of cover sheets calling at one point. >> Um, yes. No, there isn't that. Please disregard that. Just so you know, this is good because this board is actually

831
03:50:22.239 --> 03:50:37.920
paying attention to that. >> It's good stuff. >> Uh, but the application is here, but there's also um a request to wave um the certificate of insurance >> for this release of claims in indemnity

832
03:50:37.920 --> 03:50:54.720
and the whole harmless agreement. >> That um it's I was very surprised to see that. So, um Sue brought that to me. I didn't know that was part of the application. Okay. >> So, >> yep.

833
03:50:54.720 --> 03:51:11.600
>> I will be adding it going forward for everyone to sign off on. >> Okay. >> Well, I'll entertain a motion. I move to approve the request to use town property for the snow person Jubilee fundraising group to use the old town hall and public library lawns to display snow

834
03:51:11.600 --> 03:51:27.279
people in the month of December to benefit for the Lakeville Animal Shelter and to wave the insurance >> because they're signed off. Yeah. >> Insurance requirements. >> Okay.

835
03:51:27.279 --> 03:51:42.000
>> Second. >> Motion to second discussion. What's the significance of waving the insurance? >> This was new to me. So, that's I'm not I'm honestly I'm not really sure. Um, it was my understanding that form was just

836
03:51:42.000 --> 03:51:58.080
one page. I didn't see any attachments to it, but Sue came back with that. So, I thought actually it's a pretty good idea. Is it not? Well, be I think the reason why we've done it in the past is because um it's

837
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actually being sponsored by the town. It's not an outside group coming in that would need like the tipsy mermaid >> would need the general liability, right? >> Okay. So, what she what that waiver is is Sue saying that she doesn't have

838
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general liability insurance and she's taking responsibility for her whatever her event. that that's what that means. She's waving that the requirement of having to have some sort of liability insurance.

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>> I really was not sure. I'm I was confused by that. >> Okay. >> To be honest with you, >> I'll draw my motion. >> Okay. I was going to say, can we add this to the next week's agenda? >> We're going to um we're going to table this discussion. So sure from what I'm understanding from this group, we want to just confirm um that part of the

840
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application um process there is this uh document here that releases of claim indemnity and hold harmlessness agreement um which is a form that can't be altered but I don't have it anywhere here that it was approved by council um

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in lie of certificate of insurance. So can we verify all that? >> Sure absolutely. Okay, you got it. Cuz I think the more and more that we do this like we'll become more comfortable with it. And >> yeah, I think in the past we have because it was considered a town our own

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function because the money was going to the animal shelter so that it the town's insurance would kick in. But right now I don't want to >> Yeah. I don't know anything about that. Okay. Okay. You know, I think we determined that um it wasn't a town

843
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sponsored event um because it was a volunteer, you know, um from the from the community that was initiating this. We've um embraced the um I guess the activity because it

844
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is a benefit, you know, to the town. So, um >> but you know, we're still there. >> We just need the clarity. >> So, yeah, because it's a good thing. I just feel Well, that's all right. We can talk about it next time. >> Yeah. >> So, if we can add it to the next next

845
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week's agenda. >> Yep. >> We'll get an answer on that. >> Um Okay. So, this is an annual um request to appoint our um director of the Council on Aging.

846
03:54:23.359 --> 03:54:40.319
>> Yes. Senior Center Li Feahhee to the Old Colony Elder Services Board of Directors with a term from July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion second. Discussion. >> She would be here, but she's away this

847
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week and she does want to be reappointed. >> She's fabulous at this. >> Okay, roll please. Baby and I. >> I. Howard, I >> grab I >> taking time off.

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>> And lastly, we have um the change of the the technology advisory um committee. >> How'd I do? That was me. I took it from one format and put it in the other. >> Right.

849
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>> So, we had tabled this from our last meeting because it was a little clouded. I guess the whole charge and um so this is the format we had requested um that it come back. So it is we're revisiting it. So this is an appointed position um

850
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it's appointed by the select board. Right now it's a number um eight voting members which is not usually what should occur. This should be an odd number. Um a quorum represents five. The term is for one one year, but the makeup of this

851
03:55:47.600 --> 03:56:01.680
particular um charge was one select board member and as it stands now, one of our newest select board members was a member at large

852
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on that. So my suggestion um would be to balance this out is remove one of the five members, make it that four members at large and two select board members. Is my math right?

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>> Yeah, because that would be seven. >> Does that change the quum to requirement? >> No, it wouldn't actually. >> Well, it would be four actually. So we can change that. >> Quorum's always majority.

854
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>> We just put it there just to make it easier on the >> So you're going to go with an odd number. >> Yes. Okay. Um I move to increase I move to change the makeup of the

855
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technical advisory committee to the following. Two select board members voting. One current town technology director voting, one delegate by the chief of police voting member, and four

856
03:57:08.239 --> 03:57:25.760
at large members appointed by the select board, all with voting powers. Does that work? >> Yep. >> Second. >> Okay. Discussion. >> Um I do like what Jack said about being

857
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included. >> Yeah. to those meetings. I think it's beneficial um for him to know what's going on, to know he has a resource here. My hope is

858
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that we can all start to work together going forward. Um and I think that'd be a great So, if all y'all could could invite him. >> Yeah. Well, the EAC is the same exact thing because we've got some savings that could u benefit the school. Yep.

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>> Schools as well. >> I mean, Dr. Starky did say at one of the sessions that, you know, she they want to be more involved with our I think there's a great >> resources. >> Yep. Great way to do this. >> Fantastic. >> Yep. >> Okay. Roll. >> Fabian and I.

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>> I. >> Yeah. There's select board. Yeah. >> Howard I. >> Carbon. I. Um, if we could add to the next agenda the appointment of Kristen Howard. Yep. >> As a select board member. >> Yep.

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>> Okay. Because I won't remember this when we're doing agenda review. >> Update the charge and I will put that back on. You don't have to worry about it. I'll remember. >> Yeah, I because I will not remember. >> Maybe I will. Maybe the light bulb will

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go off, but who knows? Okay. Um, any new business coming in front of the board, >> Madam Chair? >> Yes. Did you want to do announcements? Did I >> Oh, yeah. You know what? I don't care about the town administrator announcements or the select board announcements. It just blew right by those.

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>> Oh, I could make a motion to table. >> Um, are they? >> Well, I think they're pretty quick, actually. So, why don't we just go ahead and do that? >> Andrew, >> GA report or >> not administrator. Sorry. Yes. >> Uh, thank you. Um, just a couple of

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them. Um, we got a grant for um $5,866 for the student awareness of fire education program and $2,689 for the senior uh awareness of fire education program. So, um, good job to

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the fire department for that. >> Great. >> Um, the open forum was this past Saturday. Uh, members Ploner and Howard were in attendance. It was pretty heavily attended, about 30 people. It's pretty engaged cohort, I would say. The next

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one is tomorrow night um from 6:00 to 7:00 here. And then there are the next two Wednesdays, May 5th and May 6th and May 13th. >> Okay. >> Um and then the last one I had is Senator Rogers reached out to me uh last

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04:00:07.359 --> 04:00:23.120
week about potentially an earmark uh request. Um, one we could think about is a um, microwave network reconfiguration. Um, our existing network is going to need to be kind of shifted from the

868
04:00:23.120 --> 04:00:40.479
existing location to the new location. There's a cost to that. Um, I think it fits the parameters of the earmark request. It's about 141,000. So, it'd be good to get that covered with the earmark as opposed to another funding source. What was the roughly the

869
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year mark? How much was that? I'm sorry. I might have a mistake. >> Um, he I have to talk to him tomorrow, but he said around 100 to 150,000. >> Oh, okay. Well, that would be nice. >> It would. So, >> excellent.

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04:00:55.600 --> 04:01:09.840
>> And besides that, that's everything I have. >> Sweet. Um, just a comment. Yes. I heard you guys did a great job the other day. I'm sorry not all of us were

871
04:01:09.840 --> 04:01:25.920
in attendance, but I I heard from a very tough audience. We all know that you guys did a great great job. So, thanks for doing the the uh trainings there on the >> did engage citizenry on uh the override

872
04:01:25.920 --> 04:01:41.199
for sure. A lot of good questions and comments. >> So, >> that's good. Okay. Um I know Mr. Blanca if you want to just quickly run down um we've got some just a couple of announcements right?

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04:01:41.199 --> 04:01:58.640
>> Yes. Uh so current committee/commission vacancies include the following associate member for zoning board of appeals a member for the board of registars two vacancies and one atlarge member for the cable TV advisory committee

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04:01:58.640 --> 04:02:13.920
one at large member for the economic development committee and one at large member for the zoning bylaw review advisory committee details can be found can be found on the town's Facebook page or the town website lakevillemma.org

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under news. That's all. Excellent. Anybody else have anything? All right. Um, we do have a set of minutes for March 17th. Everybody have a chance to review.

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04:02:29.600 --> 04:02:47.279
Okay. I'll entertain a motion to approve the select board major personnel meeting minutes of March 17th. >> So moved. >> Seconded. Discussion >> hearing none. Roll please. Fabian abstain. >> Pluck eye. >> Punt I.

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04:02:47.279 --> 04:03:08.239
>> Howard I. Barbone. I. >> Thank you. >> Did I get everything? >> You did. >> See when I jump around I miss I miss something. So just I know you guys have my back. >> We did have some correspondence. Madam

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04:03:08.239 --> 04:03:24.399
Chair Wright from the Bridgewater Fire Department. >> Yes. >> Thanking uh the Lakeville Fire Department for a response to their town on April 10th, 2026 on Crescent Street. And Chief John Slatz is uh very grateful

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04:03:24.399 --> 04:03:41.439
for the mutual aid of Lakeville Fire. >> Thank you. Um, Madame Chair, in the uh Plymouth County Parking Quarterly, who's our parking select board member? >> That would be me. >> You.

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04:03:41.439 --> 04:03:57.520
>> Okay. >> So, just in case anyone I'm sure not much has changed, but as long as it was in here, we don't have the call to write a ton of parking tickets, but um they do have a program at the county for parking

881
04:03:57.520 --> 04:04:15.680
tickets. Should the chief of police ever be over there? >> I'm interested. >> I've kept the watchful eye on the zero we wrote. >> Uh we do have the World Cup coming up though with lots of folks probably going to be using that terrain.

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04:04:15.680 --> 04:04:33.040
>> Oh, that's in middle now. >> No longer. >> Good point. Okay. Uh, next select board um is May 5th 5:45 at the police department. >> Yes. And that was going to be the

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04:04:33.040 --> 04:04:49.680
wrap-up meeting for budget. Is that still the plan? And I will let the finance committee know. >> Yeah, that works. So we can >> So we'll do the same thing, but the budget wrap-up will be at the beginning like we've been doing. Okay. >> Yeah. And we'll we'll work on the the timing so that we can have a nice nice

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04:04:49.680 --> 04:05:06.160
flow of a meeting. All right. And with that, um, are we still interest do we still go into executive session briefly this evening or are we >> or can we go home? >> Step to the board.

885
04:05:06.160 --> 04:05:22.479
>> That's what we're really asking. >> So before we decide I I guess we can call it old business. >> Okay. >> Maybe. Um, I did sit with Andrew to try to get up to date on a lot of that stuff and I do have lots of, you know,

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04:05:22.479 --> 04:05:39.199
questions. So perhaps there's a time when we could meet just on that. But if no one else is interested but me, that's fine. I can continue to work with Andrew. But I didn't know if we were going to appoint someone else or we'll

887
04:05:39.199 --> 04:05:56.399
leave that up to the chair. I I thought we did. Did we? We had we had discussion but no one was appointed. >> Okay. So maybe we can >> maybe we can just enter appoint somebody and then >> I don't know >> go home to do that

888
04:05:56.399 --> 04:06:12.239
>> agenda. >> I mean agenda. >> Okay. >> To do that. >> What's that? >> Do we have votes on here? possible executive session and consider the purchase of J

889
04:06:12.239 --> 04:06:29.760
>> just that we're going to discuss it. >> So I don't know if we can do an appointment without a vote on the agenda. Um it's up to the people that Right. No, I

890
04:06:29.760 --> 04:06:47.439
know cuz we had a a shift so with Madame Uandido who was a representative. I think we had two Did we have two people that um were at the table just to to kind of work with um one of the new project with the

891
04:06:47.439 --> 04:07:04.479
Lakeville Country Club um so that the whole board didn't have to take up all the time. So, it was le liaison. Um, with her not being here, we had definitely, you know, should consider having another member of the board um be an active

892
04:07:04.479 --> 04:07:19.600
>> participate. I'm just saying to go into executive session just to do that. It doesn't say we're >> No, no, you're right. No, that one doesn't necessarily need to be in executive, but um the update it would be. So we can put that off to why don't

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04:07:19.600 --> 04:07:36.720
we schedule some time specific for that even if it's a virtual meeting >> that the board we can coordinate with the board. >> Yep. >> Um but I think that we can certainly vote tonight to >> have somebody designated as a liaison to

894
04:07:36.720 --> 04:07:52.800
fill the vacancy and then we'll add it to next week's as >> to ratify it >> ratified vote. >> Yeah, we can do that. >> Okay. Yep. >> Okay. That's what I would like to do. The board would be so entertaining. Okay. So, is anybody interested? We have

895
04:07:52.800 --> 04:08:08.800
um Mr. Hunt >> who has a very good handle on his right. >> I am interested in continuing and I believe uh member Fabian had expressed an interest. >> Okay.

896
04:08:08.800 --> 04:08:26.160
>> Along there. So I would make a motion that we uh add her to that twoperson liaison >> to meet on the country club development. >> Yep. >> Okay.

897
04:08:26.160 --> 04:08:43.120
>> Second >> motion and a second. Discussion >> and this is a not a term. >> Nope. >> Not to end. This is a leon representative for the the select board. >> Yep. All right, roll please. Baby and I >> I Howard I

898
04:08:43.120 --> 04:08:59.120
>> Carboni I. Okay. >> Um so please >> I'll bring it back. >> Thank you. >> And with that um um we're not going into executive session. >> Um we will schedule that um at a convenient time where the the board can

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be updated as to the new newest members. All right. I will entertain a motion to adjourn from this board at 9:59. Seconded. >> All right. Quick roll. >> I love eye. >> Iard eye. >> Arbony. I

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04:09:18.399 --> 04:09:24.600
>> thank you. Okay. Thank you.