ical um as it allows us to access ships and other resources such as uh landing zones um that would otherwise unable to be accessed via fixed wing aircraft. Helicopters serve a very important niche area of aviation. Helicopters can do a lot of the things that airplanes can do.
However, they don't typically have the range and they don't have the speed that airplanes are able to achieve. 489 airplanes are able to fly fast. They need an improved surface or run area in order to be able to land in the part. The military has a lot of uses for helicopters. Some of them you may have
never considered. While helicopters became more advanced, so did their uses. Today, helicopters are used for everything from sightseeing to search and rescue. They are invaluable tools on the battlefield for transporting troops and supplies into areas where there are
no places for fixedwing aircraft to land. They were important to MASH units, mobile army surgical hospitals during the Korean War for transporting the wounded. And today, medevac helicopters are still used to quickly transport
critical patients. Just like the Wright brothers were entertained by a toy with spinning wings, today drones are a popular toy. Everything from simple rotors that go up and down to much more advanced drones that race through complex
courses. Students can even code their own drones to fly in formation, match up to music, and do stunts. Helicopters are so versatile that NASA even sent one to Mars. The Mars Ingenuity helicopter was built to
survive the harsh environment of Mars. It weighs in at less than 4 lb on Earth, but only 1.5 lb on Mars. It has to produce enough lift to fly in the Martian atmosphere, which is less than
1% the density of Earth. To do this, its rotors are almost 4 ft long. It has flown over 30 separate flights with its longest flight over 2,000 ft and has reached an altitude of
39 ft. While this mission was a demonstration, this technology may one day help future human exploration of Mars. Let's learn a little bit more about the connection between a rotor blade and an airplane wing. Hi there. I'm John
Tritler. I'm the chief of academics at the US Naval Test Pilot School. And my background is that I was an army helicopter pilot. Uh and then went to school to learn more about helicopters and aerodynamics. And I became a teacher of helicopter aerodynamics. And I'm
going to talk to you a little bit today about the way the air moves around the rotating wings of the helicopter. What I'll do is I'll I'll draw here a picture of something called an air foil. Right? And so if you were
to take a slice through a wing or through a helicopter's rotor blade, it would have this shape. Now as that airplane uh goes through the air, right, uh the air moves
around the wing, right? And as that air is moving around the wing, it generates forces, right? Uh there are forces called lift and drag. And the lift force is really
related to the pressure on the wing. And the drag force is really related to the way that the friction uh that's uh that's the force of two things rubbing together. And so the wing actually rubs up against the air uh as it's going uh
as it's going along. And so if we were just to look at the air foil only, the lift force is mostly up and down and the drag force is mostly in line with the flow of
the air. When an airplane is moving along normally, it has uh thrust. Thrust is generated by the motor of the airplane, by the engine. All right? And that keeps it moving forward, right? And uh and so the forces that are acting on
that airplane are thrust, lift, and then we have drag against the air and we have the weight of the airplane as well. All right, so it turns out that helicopters also have wings, right? But they're a little bit
different than the way wings are set up on an airplane. Now, the wing of the helicopter is long and skinny and it rotates like this. And so, what we'll do is look right down the edge of that what we call a rotor
blade and see that it also has the same sort of air foil section uh as as an airplane wing. That's a quick introduction to how helicopters work and how the the motion of those rotary wings
through the air generate forces that cause the helicopter to go. I love learning about helicopters. Here's my crew. And this is something you can try at [Music]
home. To make a paper helicopter or whirly gig, you'll need just a few simple supplies. A pair of scissors, a piece of paper, a ruler, and some
tape. You will need a piece of paper 2 in wide and 5 and 1/2 in long. You can get a piece of paper this size by either measuring or folding a normal sheet of printer paper in half several
times. Once you have the right size paper, fold it in half and mark this line with a pencil. On one side, mark the center and make a cut that divides that side in half. These will be your
rotors. On the other side of the paper, measure in 3/4s of an inch. Cut along the center line. Be sure not to cut too far. Fold these sides in towards the center of the bottom half. This will be the body of your whirly
gig. Now the fun starts. Drop the whirly gig with the rotors at the top and watch it spin to the ground. Think about what modifications you can make to get it to spin more or stay in
the air longer. The National Air and Space Museum has an amazing collection of helicopters. Imported from the UK in 1928, this gyroplane helped Harold Picaran adapt the autojyro for the American market.
In 1935, Picaran's Autojyro Company of America, AC35, was prototyped as a two-seater flying car, but the price tag was too rich for the average American, so it never got off the ground. This was the first helicopter to go into production,
and in 1942, its tests convinced the military that helicopters could be useful. In 1946, the Bell 47B became the first helicopter certified for commercial operations. Various types of this model were produced through
1975, making it one of the most successful helicopters of all time. In fact, it was another Bell helicopter that first flew a US president. In 1957, it transported President Eisenhower from the White
House to Camp David. The Secret Service chose it because of its safety and reliability, but it was too small and too slow. So, presidents started flying much larger helicopters soon after. One of the most iconic helicopters in our
collection is the Huey Smokey 3. The Huey is well known for its starring roles in popular movies like Platoon and Predator. It is one of the most successful military helicopters of all time and changed how the US Army fought wars. It became a symbol of the Vietnam
War where it delivered troops and supplies as well as laying down smoke screens to protect friendly forces like Smokeoky 3 did. The most effective air sea rescue helicopter of its time was the US Coast Guard's Sakorskis
HH52. It was the first turbine-powered helicopter and the first that could land in water without using awkward floats, making it ideal for water rescues. The Coast Guard operated 99 of these helicopters between 1962 and
1989, saving approximately 15,000 lives. Jennifer Murray flew this helicopter around the world twice and set a number of records, including the first piston-powered helicopter to make such a journey and the first such flight made
by a woman. The Robinson is one of the most successful civil helicopters today. These are only a few of the awesome rotocraft in our collection. If you want to see more, check out our website or come visit us. Helicopters are amazing pieces of
machinery that have their origins all the way back to Leonardo da Vinci and even before that. They are capable of doing things that other aircraft are not. We'd like to thank the United States Naval Test Pilot School for having us out. Seeing the work they do
close up illustrates how dedicated they are to their mission to train the next generation of test pilots. Okay, now let's take a look at this. We have a propeller at the top and a rubber band. Don't put it in front of your
face. A rubber band in the middle. When I spin the propeller like this, energy is being stored in the rubber band. Oh no. All right, we got to hook it back up. Okay, so let's take a look at this. We have a propeller on the top and a
rubber band in the middle. And when I spin the propeller like this, I need to keep looking at the camera. Right now, let's take a look at this. We have a propeller on the top and a rubber band in the middle. When I spin the propeller like this, energy is being
stored in the rubber band. So that eventually once I let go, the propeller will well as long as the rubber band stays. I really have always valued the relationship building that happens in healthcare and I have always seen
nursing as a position of power in that sense. I am an ICU travel nurse and when a patient comes into the hospital, the first person that they see is a nurse and the last person that they see before they leave is a nurse. That is such an opportunity for nursing specifically to
have those conversations about firearm safety that can lead to real solutions for people. [Music] The emotional toll of firearm injury is devastating. And it's not statistics and it's not headlines. It's people and it's
lives. Prevention is a part of healthcare. The data shows that prevention works. This is something that is near and dear to my heart. You know, I grew up in Texas and so so much of my approach to these conversation has been informed by conversations with people
who own firearms and who take these conversations so seriously. I always like to start with a normalizing statement of saying these are questions that we ask everyone. This is a part of our screenings. In the same way that we ask questions about smoking or vaping, the framework already exists for us to
assess what's going on and who they are. When a parent brings a child or a teen into a hospital, how do we add this piece of firearm safety into that conversation? It's not about our personal beliefs. It's not about our comfort level with those conversations.
The person in front of us, the community that we're in, that is what we are responsible for advocating for. And whatever that looks like, if it looks like screening, if it looks like education, if it looks like hard conversations, then we have to do those things. That's what healthcare is all about.
As a nurse, we're spending more time in direct patient care than any other specialty in the hospital. And because of that, we have an opportunity to build relationship. My advice would be to have those conversations, to get educated and informed about how to have them and to
go and do it. Let's agree to agree that gun violence is everyone's problem to solve. about a minute. Great. Thank you. All Stand by. 5 4 3 2 1.
Welcome to the May 19th, 2025 meeting of the Long Meadow Select Board. This is select board chair Veneathy. I'll be confirming that all members and persons anticipated on the agenda are present and can hear me. Members, when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative. Dan Zoro here. Andrew Lamb here. Mark Gold here. Josh Lavine here.
Staff, when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative. Lynn Simmons here. Mike Barbieri here. Peggy Sheldon. Peggy, I'm sorry I missed you last time, but welcome and we're happy to have you on board as our new admin assistant. Um, this open meeting of the Long Middle Select Board is convened in person and
via Zoom webinar as posted on the agenda and town's website identifying how the public may join. There is no chat or Q&A function. All the materials for this meeting are available on the agenda posted on long meadowm.gov. The public is encouraged to follow along using the posted agenda unless I note otherwise.
This meeting will feature resident comment. For residents attending the meeting in person, please raise your hand when we get to the comment section of the meeting and I will call on you to approach the microphone. For residents participating in the meeting via Zoom webinar format, please use the raise hand icon at the bottom of the screen. The meeting moderator will promote you
to panelist, unmute you and give you permission to speak. If you join the webinar by phone, dial star9 to raise your hand and star six to mute unmute. Residents who wish to speak will identify their names and addresses only. Each individual is afforded three minutes for comments. Please note that
this meeting is being recorded and that some attendees are participating by video conference. Please remember to mute your phone or computer when you are not speaking. If anyone in attendance is recording this meeting, please announce yourself now. Anyone online? No. Okay, great. Uh
we'll begin now with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all. All right, we'll move into select board announcements. Please join us on Monday, May 26th for a Memorial Day service on the Long Meadow Town Green. Town of Long Meadow Municipal Offices will be closed on May 26th in recognition of Memorial Day. The annual town election will be
held on Tuesday, June 3rd at the Long Meadow Community House. Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The deadline to register to vote, if not already a registered voter in town, is May 23rd. For additional information, including the sample ballot and voter resources, please visit
longma.gov/elections. Long Meadow's annual shredding event will be held on Saturday, January 7th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the Long Meadow High School student parking lot. For additional information, please visit long meadowmma.gov/civical alerts. And finally, the town of Long Meadow is
seeking interested residents to fill three vacancies on the town's finance committee, whose current terms expire in June. The vacancies are for three years with new terms expire June 30th, 2028. Applications must be submitted to finance director Ian Codington by noon on Thursday, May 22nd. For additional
information on the finance committee and how to apply, please visit longmea.gov/cival /civical alerts. Um, I just want to correct one thing. You accidentally said January 7th for the shredding event. It's June 7th. Sorry. No, it's okay. Yep. Um, great. Thank you for catching that. Uh, and then next we
will move into resident comments. Does anyone here make a resident comment? Well, yeah. Yeah, you can go ahead. Yep. You want to go first, Chile? Oh, we're a duo. Can we go together? Um, sure. Yeah.
But I think I still have to limit you to three minutes. I don't know if I can double it to six. Yeah. Okay. And Saul Feinstone, 471 Frank Smith Road. I'm the current chair of the Long Meadow Anti-Racist Coalition. I was
acting chair until Chile decided that she would like to be chair. I patiently waited for her and we're happy to have her here. Uh I also am the one of the very few co-founders back in 20 uh 2020
when it was founded. uh and uh I was acting chair to keep the keep the program going and looking for a vision for the future and I'm here to support the reason for Chile being here. And I'm
Chile Salazar, 50 Edgewood Avenue. Uh because time is limited, I'm going to dive right in. Uh I'm here representing Lark as the current chairperson and we wanted to share a statement um to the select board in response to the racist
actions of town official Walter Gun. The Long Meadow Anti-Racism Coalition stands in unwavering solidarity with Fabricio and Jill AOA in the wake of the unacceptable and racist actions directed at them by elected town
official Walter Gun. According to the complaint documented by Mass Live on May 9th, Mr. Gun entered the OOA's private property at night without prior notice or proper authority while apparently under the influence of alcohol. More disturbingly, during this unauthorized
encounter, Mr. Gun directed racist and demeaning remarks toward Mr. Ooa, questioning whether he quote even spoke English end quote, and asking if he was quote housekeeping end quote. These comments are not only offensive. They
are rooted in racist stereotypes and represent a clear abuse of power. This behavior is not simply a lapse in judgment. It is a violation of the public trust, a threat to the safety and dignity of community members and a stark reminder of the everyday racism that
residents of color continue to face even in their own homes, even in Long Meadow. No, no individual should ever experience intimidation, racial profiling or humiliation, especially from those elected to serve them. We thank select
board chair Vene him, I'm sorry, for his leadership in drafting a letter to calling for Mr. Gun's immediate resignation from the planning board and his removal from le uh leasing uh assignments to the Pioneer
Valley Planning Commission. We urge the full select board to vote in favor um uh of signing onto this letter and affirming the town's commitment to accountability, equity, and the safety of all residents. Mr. Gun's vague
expression of regret stating he quote can't explain end quote his actions falls far short of the accountability this moment requires. The community deserves clear, decisive action from its leaders. To our neighbors of color,
immigrants, and anyone who has felt marginalized, we see you. We hear you. And we remain committed to building a Long Meadow that is safe, inclusive, and just for all. We reiterate our demands. First, a public apology from Mr. Gun
that fully acknowledges the harm caused. Two, Mr. Gun's immediate resignation from his positions. and three, the implementation of comprehensive anti-racism and bias training for all town officials and
employees. We will not be silent in the face of racism. We will not normalize abuse of power. And we will not stop working until every resident of Long Meadow is treated with dignity, respect, and fairness. Yours truly. Oh, Long Meadow
Anti-Racism Coalition. I want to just take Sorry, I let you go way over here. So, Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. So, but thank you so much for your comment. I appreciate it. Yeah. And thank you, Mr. Feinstone, as well. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Shay, did you have a comment? Yeah. Don't worry, it'll be
quick. So, Tom Shay, 81 Green Drive. So, as you know, we always have a tough time on water and sewer rates. So, you have the 2024 audit um that's finally arrived.
Not the fault of the town, but the retirement board. I ask you to look at the footnotes. The water and sewer funds are on the acrual method of accounting, which means April, May, and June is the fourth
quarter. I've confirmed that the town is on the acrruel method of accounting. Mr. Conington, current finance manager, as well as Mr. Burzic, the prior finance manager. When you look at the
recommendation for billing for the fourth quarter of 2024, it mentions that April, May, and June are the next fiscal year and they are
build after June. So there's a disconnect here, trust me. So you can vote on any rate you want. You have that liberty. In fact, you should probably bump it up because you have to refill
the reserves. But the town is unequivocally on the acrruel method of accounting. April, May, and June. Even though they're build, I believe either it says September or October. April,
May, and June are the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, and you've already build those rates. Furthermore, the bump in the fixed rate that you did last quarter to make up the shortfall, if you
remember what you said, that was for one quarter only. So, that's your accounting for this evening. And like I said, you can do whatever you want. just describe it correctly. Great. Thank you. Uh any other resident
comments? Anyone online? Mike? Um I do not see anyone online. Okay, great. Um let's uh move into select board comments then. Um Andrew, um I just wanted to congratulate Lynn and her team for a very smooth town meeting. I think that
it was very nice. uh whenever there's a budget that kind of goes through without any fanfare or controversy but it really belies a lot of work and countless hours on from Lynn and and many department heads on prioritizing and rate and uh basically making compromises. So I
thought that was fantastic and I want to thank Veneath actually for actually um fielding a lot of questions from the crowd well and especially his touching tribute to Mr. Feinstone which I think was a real highlight of the meeting. So that was great. Um, I thought I'd follow
up with some comments uh for on the disposition of the community house and the town hall. I went to one of the um historical commission meetings last week and it was really an energetic and robust discussion, kind of a brainstorming session on what people thought they'd like to see there and
there were a lot of things cast about, but there was a lot of excitement in making it something like a walkable destination that people could get excited about. um like a mixed commercial space like think of Faniel Hall basically like on the first floor
with some cafe or ery along with maybe small retail spaces and uh studios for art or yoga with on the second floor offices that are very long-term stable leases. Um so there was a lot of excitement about that and there was it was commented that it's pretty much
exactly in line what last year's some some aspects of last year's long-term plan long range plan rather. Um but of course everyone does acknowledge that something like that does kind of depend on the interest of a developer who thinks it's economically viable of course. So um people should know that
the town is going to be putting out a survey to the public um in a few weeks probably uh that basically allows us to get lots of feedback uh from people to see what they'd like there. So just want to keep people updated. Great. Thank you. Uh anyone else? Dan. Uh well said
Andrew on town meeting. appreciate uh our moderator who I've always commended. She does a great job every every year. I mean she it's a very difficult job. She does a fantastic job. And I also wanted to congratulate personally congratulate Saul Feineststone. Um I said I had a
post on Facebook 98 years young and still volunteering uh in Long Meadow. So I always say uh everyone in Long Meadow should be a little bit more like Saul and and it be a better place. So congratulations. Welld deserved. Uh thank you. Thank you. Josh, uh, just another comment on town
meeting. Um, the commercial vehicle bylaw passing I thought was really, uh, kind of a watershed moment for a lot of things in our town. But for since I've moved here, I've noticed that that was probably the thing I got the complaint
about the most. And I always told people, you're not even changing. We we can change it. I think if we had done it, we talked about a couple years ago, if the select board had brought it, it never would have passed. It was because a citizen passed, brought it up and was very passionate about it. And you know,
you say what you will about our former town government. It's got its ups and downs, but at the end of the day, if you don't like something in town, you can change it. And I think that that was a really good example of that. So, um, citizen petitions don't always pass, but uh, they can. And I so I I just I
took a lot of heart from that. I I think that people in town should um I know I think Mark has example if you want a bylaw that you can only have uh every house has to have purple polka dots. You just get 50 friends to show up at the meeting and you can pass it. Um you know
that's probably the downside of it. But uh you can use the common sense of people that if something seems good and is well presented and makes sense for the town, it's going to pass. So uh I think we can all take a lot of heart from that. It was really inspiring to watch. Great. Thank you, uh, Mark. Yeah.
I just want to thank the select board for giving the recycling committee a opportunity to go out and survey people about the recycling bins. The initial estimate was about 20% of the people in
town would want a different size from what we called the default. And the numbers that came in from the survey, I think, were 15%. So, pretty close. And it was almost an equal want larger, want smaller, want very much larger. But, uh,
for the most part, I think it worked and it gave people the opportunity, which I think is having a and will have a a long-term impact and benefit in terms of people complying with our recycling rules. So, thank you. Great. Thank you.
U, and next up, we actually have our liquor license hearing, but that's scheduled for 7:30, so we're going to skip over that. uh it's only 7:15 uh and move into our audit presentation. If you all want to come on up and sit in front
of a microphone. All right. Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us and yeah, I'll just kind of turn it over to you all to make the presentation. Sounds great. Uh my name is Tanya Campell. I'm the managing director in charge of the town's audit and I'm here from
Cabbiz. Um if you recall, for those of you here were here last year, um I discussed the switch from Manson to Markham and now here we are with my third business card in a couple years. But um it's okay. You know, there's no
change in our offices or audit team or anything like that. Um what it really means is there's more resources for us and more resources for our clients as well. So this is not a sales pitch, but obviously we have a lot more
um departments and groups and stuff behind us now in terms of like cyber security, IT, insurance, all those things. So, um there's a lot we can offer now and um and assist our our clients with. So, it's good. Um and
hopefully that'll be the the last change. I can't imagine it's going to Watch what you watch what you say. I know. I know. I Right. Not going to let it. Um so, I'm here to tonight to present the results of the town's fiscal year 2024 audit. We typically have this
conversation in mid December, but unfortunately there was some delays. Um, as were mentioned previously, um, the town's audit is required to obtain information from the Hampton County Retirement System in order to complete your financial statements. Um,
that information was not provided to us until um, kind of the middle of April. So, we could not we couldn't complete our testing or prepare the town's financial statements. So, um, kind of beholden to that, but I have
been told that that was kind of a once in a-lifetime situation and they're already back on track for next fiscal year. So, we don't anticipate those kind of delays um for next year, which is great. Um earlier this month I met with the audit committee and the finance director
and um we went through every single page of your aer just kid I wouldn't I wouldn't subject anyone to that um but we did talk in detail about the reports that you guys um have available for the meeting um as well as the the roles and
responsibilities of the different parties involved in the audit process um which is where I'm going to start today. Feel free to stop me at any time if you have questions or want to discuss something further. Now, in terms of our roles and
responsibilities as your independent auditor, we are ultimately responsible for expressing an opinion on the town's financial statements. In fiscal year 24, we issued the town an unqualified opinion on the financial statements. Meaning that based
on the results of that testing of our testing we found that the compli the town was in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles. We're also responsible for planning performing the audit to provide reasonable assurance not absolute
assurance that the financial statements are free of material misstatements. I say this every year. I say it at every single one of these presentations that I give. An audit is not designed to look at everything. We don't look at every check that was cut.
We don't examine every deposit. Um we don't search for fraud or abuse. That's not what an audit is designed to do. We would never leave town hall. We just permanently move in. Um so just something to be aware of. Like we're not
looking at every single transaction. We evaluate the town's internal controls. We look at the risk areas and design our testing to focus on on the balances and transactions that meet those criteria. Obviously, if something was brought to our attention by a member of
the town or um those charged with governance, we would, you know, obviously look into that as well. Does anyone have any questions on that? Now, in terms of your responsibilities as the select board and the town
manager, you're responsible for overseeing the entire process. So, that's why we have this meeting today. Um, we also make communications at the start of our audit and some communications during our audit. and you'll be happy to hear that if there
was any issues or concerns that we felt were material enough to bring to your attention, those would be discussed during the audit process, we wouldn't wait till this meeting and kind of spring them on you. So, as you can imagine and ver there was no issues or concerns that came up as part of our
audit process or audit testing. Now, in terms of the financial statements, um I wasn't going to do a very deep dive, but I was going to touch on some of the key numbers um and results from this past fiscal year. Um in fiscal year, at the end of
fiscal year 2024, the town had about $8.7 million in its general stabilization fund, and that represents about 11% of the town's annual operating budget. Um which is a very healthy number. And that balance did grow about
$500,000 from the previous year. Um, and I know just, you know, looking at that trend year-over-year what that balance was, the town has made concerted efforts to put money into that fund um, and set money aside in case anything is needed. So, um, just wanted to point that out
and and, um, let you guys know that that's a that's a healthy balance and and the fact that the town continues to grow that, um, reserve every year is is a good thing. Fiscal year 2024, the town had
certified free cash of about $2.8 million. DUR, Mass Department of Revenue, recommends anywhere between 3 to 5% of your annual operating budget is a good free cash number and that 2.8 million
represents about 3.6% of your annual operating budget. So, it's right in the range the do recommends. Um, and if you look at kind of the trend um in it's noted in the acer, but over the past four to five years that free
cash number has remained about 2.8 8 $2.9 million. Um, so it's been healthy, you know, the past couple years. Um, and it also means that the even though the town is using the free cash, they're also um budgeting your revenue and expenses
conservatively so that it's replen replenishing, excuse me, sorry, my mouth is so dry. Um, replenishing that free cash number every year. So, um, so that is that's important as well. You don't want to get stuck in a spot where you're using it and then not replenishing it and that number keeps going down and
down. So, does anyone have any questions on those? Okay. So now in terms of some of the the bigger liabilities and numbers we kind of talk about every year. Um the town's
net pension liability which is your share of Hampton County Retirement Systems unfunded liability was about $49 million at the end of fiscal year 2024. This liability actually decreased about a million and a half from the
prior year. Um the main reason for that decrease was because the system itself had market value gains in its um in its calendar year 2023 um year end. So their year ends follow a
calendar year and the 2023 year end is reported in the town's financial statements and used to calculate that liability. So that was fairly consistent with other systems. you know, the year before that, everyone saw market value losses. Um, but this past calendar year,
the market actually increased. So, so that's a good sign. Um, at the end of calendar year 2023, the system was about 55% funded. Um, which is on on the lower side in terms of comparison to to other
systems um that we've seen. Does anyone have any questions about that? Okay. Um, the other big liability that's reported in the town's financial statements is your OPED, net OPED liability, and that represents a town's
share of retirey health insurance costs. At the end of fiscal year 24, that liability was about $25 million, which represents a decrease of about $6 million from the year
before. The main reason for that decrease was the actuary changed the discount rate used to calculate your liability. Um, they increase it from 6% to 7%. And when that discount rate goes up, your liability
goes down. Now, the reason they change your discount rate, is because the town has made a concerted effort to put money aside into the OPED trust fund year after year, which is not required. You're not required to fund that liability, unlike the pension liability, which you do have a requirement to fund
at this time. Um, so the town has been putting money aside in the OPED trust fund at the end of fiscal year 24 that was about $8 million. Um and when the actuaries, you know, take a look at the overall trend of what the town is
setting aside and the policies to do that as well as, you know, your market value returns on that investment year-over-year, they will change the um discount rate accordingly. So that went up because the town is making an effort to put money aside and that balance is
growing. At the end of 2024, the OPED plan itself was about 28% funded. Um, so very very healthy, very strong. You know, the town from comparing to other towns we see you
guys are putting in more money into that trust fund year-over-year and that um and you know, with the exception of a year or two here or there in terms of market value losses, that is gaining, you know, market value returns as well. So, so it's good. Very good.
Does anyone have any questions on that? Yeah. Is it within your purview to think about how like if we didn't fund OPED or uh our retirement at all when we're going to fall off that
cliff, for lack of a better term. Um well, so you're ret you're required to fund your um retirement liability. Well, if Okay. Yeah. we don't if we fall if we keep falling behind or if we're it
never gets funded or we just can't keep up or in OPED we just stop. So if you to stop funding OPED I mean there's no requirement to fund it at this time. Most cities and towns have set up an OPED trust fund at this point. you know,
10 years ago, not necessarily, but um most have set one up and are contributing, you know, fairly small amounts into that um into the trust. And then the idea is that when the retirement system um uh appropriation goes away or you're
not, you know, it's not nearly as big, then they'll, you know, switch it over and kind of use what that um budget was for and put it into the OPE trust fund. you're paying your retirey health insurance every year. That's part of your budget. Um, so this is just extra
kind of on the side. Um, you know, if you didn't have an OPED trust fund, we would make a recommendation practice, you probably should. And, you know, rating agencies would probably ask why you don't have one, but it's really up to the town to decide, you know, if they want one or how much they're going to
fund. Um, so we wouldn't write you up for it if that's what you're asking or or have any concerns. You would have a much bigger liability um that we would we would still talk about every year. But yeah, so yeah, my question was just what
are we staring down? But I I that I think you answered that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, of course. Does anyone have any specific questions about the financial statements or Yeah. Um, so overall, I appreciate the presentation. You're rallying all these
numbers how you're it's uh it's pretty impressive. Thanks. Um, but just curious like how are we compared to other towns similar to Long Meadow financially? Well, I mean that's part part of the reason I touched on, you know, your your balance in your stabilization fund and
um free cash numbers. Um they're healthy um balances from what we've seen. Um, you know, every town's a little bit different, but I would say that, um, you know, you have good reserves. You're making a concerted effort to put
money aside, and, um, like I said, you're you're budgeting properly in terms of like revenue conservatively budgeted expenses. You know, you're turning back money every year. So, like you're doing all the
right things from that perspective. Could it be better? Sure. But like I you know, you're the town's certainly got um healthy general fund balances and and reserve balances and stuff like that. So I mean I could certainly pull together
some numbers and share them with you guys if you wanted like a comparison schedule. I was just curious like generally speaking where where Yeah. No healthy healthy balances and stuff like that. You haven't had to dip into reserves or or stuff. So yeah. Go ahead.
Question I ask you every year. Yes. Have you had an opportunity to speak with the audit committee without the CFO being present? Yes, I did. End of last meeting. Yes. Okay. And I guess I'm going to turn turn to our audit committee chair and see what comments
our audit committee has. Thanks, Mark. I appreciate the single and introduction. My name is Matt Sean. I'm the current chair of the audit committee and uh as uh we just discussed, we were involved in the audit and more accurately overseeing how the audit was performed throughout the fiscal year. Um, in September we met to discuss the planning
for the audit as it was to progress. In October, we reviewed with the auditor and uh and Ian about how it was going and making sure that the audit was on track. Normally, we would have met at the end of the calendar year when we immediately prior in January and and of course, as you know, we're here in May.
And this honestly was the big discussion for of you know, in terms of what we were digging into after we reviewed the audit of how that had happened and what could be done about it. And and the short version is the way I understand it is be I mean we're certainly not the only ones. There are 18 different towns and about a dozen other entities
involved in the Hampton County Retirement Board who would face the same issues we have. If you're have a significant financial liability tied up with them, then we're all waiting on those figures and we're certainly not alone out there. Um but the reality is without them we can't really submit a fully complete audit with an accurate
understanding of where the town's liabilities lie. It's pleasing to hear that they don't anticipate the same difficulty next year. Um, but long term, you know, having an understanding with them about what what it will take and hopefully getting those financial financial statements in a timely fashion
will improve our own ability to get our audit done in a in a timely way. You can only apply for extension so many times and in order to get it done and actually have a current audit. So, it's good that it got done when it did, but we were running up to the wire if I remember correctly. So, I'm glad that we're here
in May. it would have been a problem sooner than later. Um, let's see. Just so to hit the major points, we did review the uh ACT for the same ACA that's been presented to you here in our May 7th meeting and most pleasing and
most important result is that the auditor has offered an unqualified opinion, which is the optimal result. They don't have any major complaints or issues that the town needs to address and that's really the best you can hope for when you're having a financial audit. Uh, let's see. As is our want, we did in fact ensure that there was an
opportunity to speak to the auditor at the completion of the audit where we kindly asked town staff to excuse themselves so that we could speak with the auditor directly. And while that is still done in the public meeting format, it's important to give the auditor an opportunity to say, "Hey, did you get the cooperation you needed from town staff? Did you receive all the
documentation you needed to make your audit complete?" And unsurprisingly this year, like all the other years, they they did tell us that you received all the cooperation and information you needed in a responsive and timely way, which is of course what we wanted to. But yes, that inquiry was made. And I think it's important and a significant
part of our responsibility is ensuring that someone outside of the actual town staff, meaning us, is making sure that the auditor has full and unfettered access to the information they need in a timely fashion. So, uh, and to bring it all together, at our May 7th meeting, the audit committee
voted unanimously to recommend that the select board, uh, accept the audit as presented, uh, and once it's in its finalized form. So, that concludes my specific report. I don't have any information specific about Mr. Sha's question. Uh, I wasn't prepared to discuss that this
evening. It wasn't an issue. I was immediately aware it was an issue, but it's certainly something we can look at as we move forward into planning our next audit and we can review it at our next meeting, which will be soon because we need to get ready with the amount of delay we're basically ready to start the planning process for the next one. So,
it won't sit there un um unlooked at for a significant period of time. Does anyone have any questions for me? Go ahead. Yeah. Uh every year we generally come up with some action items that the auditors have found, you know, an audit correction list. Do you have that from
this audit? And you know, will that be shared with the select board and the and the CFO? I assume that we have that. There was not there was not any issues that we noted as part of our audit this year. So, there's no formal management letter and I was going to touch on that
as well. Um, we also perform a federal grant audit. Um, and this year we audited the ARPA funds for the town. Um and we did not find any issues or findings during that audit testing either. So that's the other report they receive. You have the ACTER and then the
the single audit report is what we call it. Um which talks about um a review of the town's internal controls and then our your federal grant compliance as well. So there was no issues there. The one issue kind of related to that
however is um that report is required to be filed by March 31st and um given the delays you know we can't complete that report and that audit testing until everything else is done. So um so that did not get filed
timely um which means the town is no longer considered a low-risk audit in terms of our evaluation of um the testing that's required. So there may be an additional um grant audit that we have to do next year um depending on
what the town has for federal expenditures and we did talk about that in the audit committee meeting as well. Um so not a huge deal that designation only lasts for two years and then assuming like these next two years we'll be back on track and everything will be submitted timely timely and that will go
away but just so you're aware that did change this past year. Great. Thank you Josh. Uh, this may be a question for Lyn and Ian. Are we going to have any problems moving forward with an audit with our audit committee fairly light on members? Do we have a quorum right now? Going
into the next one without recruitment, that is something I like to do at the end of my little speech is to ensure if you know, sorry to cut you off. Yeah. You know anyone with relevant qualifications, please do encourage them to apply because going into next year, yes, I'll have a quorum issue if I can't resolve it. So I'm also telling my
friends that they're very much welcome and encouraged to apply if you've got the relevant, you know, if you have skills that we can use. We would love to have you because it's all the better. The committee, any committee in the town functions better with a with a full roster and certainly will have an issue with the core and I'll be coming to you with a recommendation as opposed to a
vote which is not ideal, right? The the whole purpose of having the committee is so that it can meet and function and identify concerns and approach you with the ability, you know, to meet the terms of an open public meeting. So yeah, I have an issue with staffing and uh that's not new, but it is a continuing issue. So yeah, if if if I can't resolve
it, I'll advise you and put it on the agenda, but it is a concern. It pays well though, doesn't it? Can't beat it every year. 100% raise. We're going to start promoting vacancies on all of our committees within the next week or so. So hopefully we can gain
some traction. I think that'd be great, Michael. Yeah. Yeah. Mark, this is for Ian. Ian the caffer I the comprehensive financial report I think is the town document as opposed to an audit document I I I read through it and picked up some typos and things like that. Do you want
me to send that to you? That'd be great. Okay. There's a list. Thank great. Thank you. And then this is something we can vote on at the next meeting. Oh, I think we should vote a vote tonight. Yeah.
I'll I'll move we accept the audit report as as issued. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? I just had a quick question. So, um during the presentation, it was mentioned that this so this doesn't focus on fraud, waste, and and abuse. Uh because I feel
like last so last year we had an issue potentially with billing or a contractor, right? Maybe it was two years ago, but No, it was last year. Y um and I'm not I'm not like expecting that we would find anything, but is that something that other communities are doing as well? And and how do we go
about doing that? Is it not with your organization or the purpose of this audit? It's completely separate. Well, I an audit is not designed to find fraud. Like obviously if something happens and during our testing we come across it like we have to look at it and investigate it. Um, last year there was
an issue with um the invoices not matching up with like the contract and the the bid as as it was presented. Um, and ultimately what happened was everything was fine in terms of what was being build. It just things were
lumped together and and um in terms of pricing on the invoice. It didn't match up with the contract, but the at the end of the day the amounts were correct. um and purchasing did go back and like go through every single one of those invoices that was submitted and verify that. Um we also
did additional testing surrounding that this year as a result of what we found last year. We we obviously did additional testing last year, but we also reviewed it again this year to make sure there's no issues. Um so I mean you could have a forensic audit, but you can't just go in and say
like I just want you to look at everything because it has to be very specific. But audits do find fraud. It's just that's not what they're designed to do. We're not going in and looking for fraud. I mean, we we perform evaluations
of the town's internal controls. So, like, how do you process this? What are your controls here? Do you have um segregation of proper segregation of duties? Like, we are looking at all those kinds of things. Um but our number one priority isn't going to, you know,
be to find fraud. So, Gotcha. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Um, any other discussion? All right, we can take a vote now. All those in favor? All right, great. Thank you all so much for your presentation. Really appreciate you. Thank you. Have a good night. Um, and next up, we can start our liquor license
hearing. So, if the folks from Sushi Time can come on, come on up. Thank you for your patience. Um, so I will move that we open a public hearing a of a liquor license application from Sushi Time 168 LLC.
Second. Okay. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? All right. Great. And uh, thank you all for joining us tonight and I will kind of turn it over to you to just kind of introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about this uh, new business venture. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for having us. Um, so my name is Josh
Goldstein. Um I'm an attorney with the law firm Bacon Wilson. Um and I'm here on behalf of Sushi Time168 LLC. Um along with me is the proposed manager of record and soul owner. I'll let him introduce himself as well. Hi, good
evening. My name is Jin Ling. I'm the I am the manager and owner of Sushi Time. Um I come from New York City and um you know opening a restaurant is my dream. Now my dream is coming true and I'm here
today in support of our application for the liquor license. Um great. Yeah. Yeah. And and just to elaborate a bit off that um as Gian said, uh you know, he's been a sushi chef for over 25 years. Um he's worked
in various restaurants here. Um currently he works at Iron Chef in Long Meadow. um his cousin is the owner and manager of record there. Um so he's all, you know, been able to offer a lot of guidance, you know, throughout this process. Um and it's a good shoulder to
rely on. Um we we've discussed he's tip certified. Um and is aware that all his staff need to be tip certified and you know all that. Um and yeah, so not a whole lot more to it. Um but based on
this discussion, we respectfully request that uh the select board um approve this new application. Great. Thank you. Uh questions, comments from the board? Mark, just a I guess I don't know a question or whatever, but it it appears
to me that your lease is not contingent upon receiving the slicker license. Is that because that's unusual for people coming before us. Yeah, usually they come here first and sign the lease later. Y yeah, that that's correct.
Okay. Um yeah, that that it was signed when I came to me. So unfortunately only so much I can do at that point. But I mean, you know, even if this wasn't approved, I think he'd still like to fulfill his dream to be able to serve sushi and habachi and
stuff like that. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Josh. I think one of my least favorite things we do as a board is uh have hearings when there are violations because our you know the state comes in and does ID checks and our town police do I cheat checks as well. So, uh I just
be take it very seriously. Uh because you may get a warning, but the second time there'll be a suspension and I can't guarantee that, but it does happen and I I don't ever want that to to happen to we want to support our restaurants. So, take the ID checks very
seriously. Get a machine. Do everything you can. There's Don't trust your gut. Make sure you check. Yeah, we will follow the role in a street ID checking policy. Great. Well said and always air on the side of caution. Y but uh yeah I
the application looks good to me and I I looking forward to having you in town. Thank you. Thank uh anything else from the board? I'm just curious when um when are you looking to open and are you making a bunch of changes in inside as well or anything? Oh no. When we took
over this uh pretty much we don't change just upgrading some um kitchen equipments, you know, the new tables and adding some uh sushi cases. That's it. Awesome. And then exciting. Well, congratulations. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you. Um
anything else, Josh? Yeah. I'll move we approve the Sushi Time 168 LLC license. Second application. Uh any further discussion? Just one thing. Um I believe because of the location, you just have to do a 16C
finding. It's just stating in the motion that there's no detrimental effect on any church, synagogue, or school in 500 ft. Do you have the is there specific language for that? Yeah. Do you want you want to read it? If I can. Uh sure. Yeah. Yeah. Um so it is that uh within a
radius of 500 feet of a school, church or synagogue um the licensing authority determines that after a hearing the premise is has no detrimental effect to the educational and spiritual activities of said school and church. Um okay add that to the motion. Is that
a separate motion? What is that a separate motion? No, you can add it to Okay, let's Yeah, I'll revise my motion with that. Uh and do we want to close the public hearing as well? Yes. Uh well, you made the motion for the vote. We should close the public hearing first, I think. Right. So, let's table
this motion, right? Okay. And uh so I'll move to close the public hearing. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Okay. And then Josh, you get to repeat all that. I'll move we approve the license application for Sushi Time 168 168 LLC uh and make the
specific finding that Mr. Barbary provided us regarding 500 ft within a school uh church or synagogue. Second. Okay. Any further discussion now? All right. All those in favor? All right. Great. Congratulations. Thank you so much for all. We appreciate it. Wish
you all the best. Good luck. Thank you. All right. Uh we will now move into the town management report. Uh so I have a road resurfacing update. Beginning last week, Monday, May 12th, Caracus Construction began excavation and drainage work on Shaker Road near
Artsley. This is part of the road resurfacing contract. Caracus also plans to begin construction of the sidewalk on Bellair Drive during this first phase of the project. We have a tenative schedule that's listed out in my report here, bringing us from May all the way through
October. Uh obviously that's subject to change depending on um weather mostly but also you know certainly impacts on the job site. Um the health department has launched an opioid settlement fund survey. This is a very short survey to
help guide how they uh will structure the use of the opioid settlement funds. The funds have to be used to address the impact of the opioid crisis. Residents, community organizations, and people with lived experience, and families impacted by the crisis are encouraged to take the survey to help identify the most urgent
needs in our community. The survey is available on the town website and on the health department page. Um, a couple weeks ago, the um Mass Municipal Association in conjunction with the Mass Select Board Association held a rural and western
Mass conference. They do this annually in the spring. Um, I joined this conference along with assistant town manager Mike Barbiieri and select board member Dan Zoro. The topics covered um included a speaker uh about rural
development and um facilitation. Becky McCrae was her name. Um it was a very interesting uh presentation. She uh does a lot in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic and it was interesting to hear about the work in those communities. And there was a legislative panel with Senator Mark and
Representative Saunders and a rural EMS panel discussing ambulance programs, regional opportunities, EMS, and more. Um the word rural shouldn't scare us off too much because uh there are a lot of similarities with um Western Mass communities in general and uh a lot of
the issues that we have here are similar up and down the Pioneer Valley. So, it it's a worthwhile conference to attend if you have the ability to do that next year. Uh, and uh, also a couple weeks ago, the stores library volunteer appreciation brunch was held on May 5th.
I had the opportunity to attend that event along with the assistant town manager, the select board chair, select board vice chair, state rep, Brian Ash, um, were all joined there as well. Um, a big thank you to the volunteers at Stores Library who helped provide such a
fantastic library and programmatic service to the town. I did want to call out one notable program that was highlighted by the library director. Um, and that is the stuffed animal hospital program. There is a link here in my newslet or in my um report about it. Uh,
drop off day is tomorrow. So, if you have a stuffed animal that needs to go to the hospital, uh, please drop it off tomorrow between 9:00 and 5 and they will make sure it gets the care that it needs and return it back to you. So, that concludes my report. Great. Thank you so much, Lyn. Uh, any questions,
comments from the board. Josh, I just I know Sean's on here, too. I don't know if he'll want to pitch him, but on the DPW report, uh there was there's a line item about the asphalt repairs and I I know the country on main roads. I know you're
you're working on it. Um can we just explain that the the staffing issue and where are I know there's one like right by this crosswalk right outside the school that I every day I drive by and I say I can't wait till I drive through here and it's not there. So, I'm
wondering um can we just get an update on uh staffing and if there's any way we can fill those holes in staff to get our streets back in order? Sure. Do you know um yeah, I can I can speak to the
staffing. Um but in terms of the pothole, um if you know if it's a true pothole or if it's next to a catch basin, um it's a little bit different. We can walk out here. I'll show you. Um uh in terms of staffing, uh there have been some significant improvements, but
um it seems as as soon as we quickly hire people and get them onboarded, we um lose people or have some other staffing challenges that um uh unfortunately have people out of the workforce for an extended period of time. So while it might not be a true vacancy, there isn't actually someone
there every day. Uh but we have uh increased our numbers since last year. Uh, and so it's a very very slow improvement, but it is going the right direction. I know. And a lot of the the very worst streets are much better. Just
it's little things here and there that is we hear chirping from people, which is fair. Um, but I will say I've noticed a massive improvement and I just want us to pick up the rest of the pieces. So, thank you.
Yeah. Um, so in terms of the the update on the road resurfacing, so if we're going down the list, I just want to be clear that these these roads are on schedule for being paved. Is that fair to say? Yeah, they're they're part of the road reserve
contract. Yes, because I know we had some residents and uh reach out regarding Emerson Road and obviously there was a thankfully there was a water mane break um recently because we're going to be paving over that as well. So yes, just so I just want to be clear because
that was something that everyone reached out to us or a couple residents reached out to us on that on Emerson. Thank you. I just want to actually take a second to acknowledge and thank Dan actually because for attending this MMA select board uh and association meetings
and frankly I I've noticed Dan has a great dedication to going to a lot of these meetings and I think that he we benefit from him representing us and he comes back with ideas and uh I know it takes time. So thank you for going to all these things. Appreciate the
acknowledgement. Thank you. Uh anything else? All right. Great. All right. Thank you, Lynn. Um, and we will then move into old business and uh approval of meeting minutes. So, I move that we approve the April 7th uh meeting
minutes. Second. Okay. Any further discussions? Mark. Yeah. I I I need to make a comment because these minutes come late. I I pride myself in reading through the minutes and making comments. I don't know how anybody had a chance to read through them based on when they
when they arrived. And so I'm going to abstain because I haven't read them. I was at the meeting and I presume it's met, but minutes represent a true record of what happened. We've had many examples of when we've had to go back to
prior minutes and make sure of it. And I'll just say for example, I looked at these minutes and briefly looked at them and one of the concerns I have right away is the motion on the water rates does not talk about what quarter or where it applies to. And I think that
that's a mistake because we're we're being asked now to revise or reset water rates and the motion that we had is not indicative of what we did. And so how can we approve a motion on water rates
from minutes that doesn't say it applies to the third quarter or the fourth quarter or anything else other than there was a motion to amend it to add a certain amount of money. So I I think we need to certainly clean up that section. I didn't read the the whole minutes and
you know ask that the minutes come for for the purpose of this meeting defer them to the to the next meeting. um if if you wish, we can go back and just reference that vote to see if we missed anything. Um we're in a bit of a transitional phase with minutes and also the town meeting and then onboarding
some new staff members. It's been a very difficult last couple months. Um but with that said, I mean, we're very happy to go back and look at them. Um yeah. Uh well, I mean, I think we can um maybe just vote on it and just amend if you can just um you know, be more specific
on that. Yeah. So, it was the you're referencing the water rate vote for um the last quarter of fiscal year, right? The one that was taken on April 7th. I'm referencing that part of it. Mike, you're right. The question I have is
that is it for the fourth quarter or was it for the third quarter? And and if it was for the third quarter, it should say that. But it doesn't necessarily say that specifically, but I thought the motion did. Okay. And so, you know, I I
don't know how we're going to how this is going to be reflective of what was actually approved. That's that's all I'm I'm looking for. Right. Okay. Um I can't verify that right now, but I I get it. I mean, I'm sure. Yeah.
Just go back and amend that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I could also you could tentatively approve it and I could bring it back to the next meeting with those changes if it comes up that something was wrong in the motion and you could read it or you can just defer. It's whatever you guys I
mean legally the minutes are the minutes and they're available to people the minute the as soon as our meeting's over and when they're done. So whether we approve them and put them into wherever they go or not, they're still the minutes. So I I don't have a problem
with that. It's just that I think we have we ought to be making sure we have in here what reflects what we all understood was said and done. And so I I I'd recommend we just leave the minutes where they are. Let Mike go back and and
modify that and then improve them at the next meeting. It's easy enough to do. Yeah. I I actually agree that they should say they should reference a fiscal year in that vote. They don't reference it. Yeah. And I think you know usually I feel like you know you people send you kind of just like little uh typos and stuff like that like you know
there's you know at the very end like adjournment it just says mister without a name on it and stuff. So um okay so let let's table this and we can come back and uh and vote on sus. We have a few extra outstanding ones that are going to be coming forward anyway. So we'll just put them all together. Okay
great that sounds great. I just go through just Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So, uh, let's move into the, uh, intermunicipal agreement, the first amendment with town of Agawam net metering payments. Um, Lind, do you want to speak to that? Yeah, thank you. So, um, this is the the continuing saga of
trying to um to amend our net metering agreement and um the subsequent intermunicipal agreement we have with the town of Aguam. Um, this is the first amendment to that agreement. Uh this
it's got these four sections here. Um really it's just three sections that are changing. Um they have very little impact on the town other than we need this in place so that we can effectuate these changes moving forward. Um we are setting up an agency account that's
going to be held in the town's name. Um this is to cash out the power purchase agreement that we have in place. We will take the funds in. We will then disperse them. It's moni um modifying the dispersement amount to a 5050 split with
AWAM and um and um they've listed that in there twice. They've that's in there in sections two and three. Um and we will just get on a a regular schedule of cutting that
payment to Awam um in terms of the cash out. So I will be able to bring you back u more information on the complete cleanup of this net metering agreement but that's still in process. This agreement is separate from that. Okay.
So this is the agreement between us and Agawan. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um questions comments from the board? I I I make a motion we accept it. Second. We need to do that. Okay. Any uh further
discussion? Right. All those in favor? Great. Thank you. All right. And next up, we have our uh water sewer rate uh discussion. So, a memo was circulated uh prior to the meeting and Lisa, thank you uh for joining us and
Sean as well and Ian. Um and I think for the purposes of tonight, what we'll do is the memo at the very end talks about the FY2026 water and sewer rates. We will have that discussion at our next meeting. We will have hopefully a memo
that's sent out to the select board and circulated uh well in advance of that meeting so that the select board has time to look at it and ask staff any questions uh before our June 2nd meeting. But for tonight um it would be really great if we can focus on the FY
uh 2025 quarter 4 uh sewer water rate discussion um and hopefully vote on that tonight as well. So I will um turn it over to whoever wants to start on on talking about the recommendations of this memo.
I'm happy to kick it off at least. Um so uh just to underscore what Venice said um this is just for the fourth quarter of 25. We were are already working on the memo for FY26 rate recommendations. We intend to give you that much further
in advance uh for you to consider before it actually comes to you on the floor of the meeting. Um the this memo here got to you very late today. Um but you'll see that we're not making any um crazy recommendations. Uh it's pretty much
status quo from what's in place right now. So, um this is a a project that um encompasses three departments, mine, finance, and DPW. And we're all collectively uh analyzing this. Um and I
do anticipate we'll have a much uh more detailed memo for you for the 26 uh recommendation, but for the 25 tonight, it's status quo from what you've already approved for the third quarter. Okay. Um
anything else to add? No. Okay. Uh um so I so I agree obviously with keeping the rate the same as the first three quarters. I think we've discussed this about how we want to have that expectation for our residents and thought that that was fair. Um I was not
expecting to see us or or or the recommendation for the fixed rate to be the third quarter rate. Um because my understanding from that meeting was that this was going to be a one-time uh you know hike in fees to make up for
this you know one-time shortfall. Um and so if someone can maybe speak to that about why um that is being recommended for the fourth quarter as well. Sure. Uh so I'm happy to start that as well and then look to the experts here.
Um, so we did consider that. Um, and we've also considered it in light of the Thai and bond presentation and what is likely coming at your next meeting for the FY26 rates. And we felt that um,
stepping it back only to be giving you a recommendation for 26 that has a fairly significant jump at that point. Again, um we we felt like that was too much whiplash, but also not um reflective of
the actual needs of the utility. And so the the increase in the fixed rates, the last time you voted, April 7th, was a pretty staggering number. Um but with that in mind and the tie and bomb presentation, um we are really just
getting to where we should be. uh and we have still have a long way to go and so peeling that back again wasn't something any of us really felt comfortable with um the financial sufficiency in the in the operation. Okay. Thank you. I don't
know if you guys have more to add based on the actual granular level of it. Well, just in terms of the fixed rate themselves, I think it's important to recognize that for us to keep our variable rate steady, it requires us to
modify the fixed rate. So we took the approach that it was both the time bond recommendation for us to modify our fixed rates and also the understanding and discussion held by the select board that the more fair approach was to
modify the fixed rates that would be proportionally felt by all the users rather than by giving a variable rate change that would affect everyone at a drastic level. Thank you. Um yeah, I mean I I completely understand. I know that our
fixed rate is much lower than it should be and is needs to be increased. Um but I guess where I feel some tension over this is that I mean I think we tell our residents one thing and set a certain
expectation. Um, and to kind of go against that expectation is something that I think um, I I don't know if that's best practice and it's something that I'm I'm I think concerned about in using the the quarter three fixed
rate for quarter 4. Um, any other questions, comments? Josh? Yeah, I think I generally I I agree with you that it's I feel uncomfortable using information we just received on And looking back, going
back, um, even though we've known for a long time that our fix rate was too low, uh, we are, for most of our users, we're talking about a $17 swing roughly, right?
Um, no. So, 30 Well, the the new quarterly fee is 3154. Yeah. And what was it before? 725. Oh, 72529. Okay.
Okay. I I I'll just say something that, you know, I I I think I agree with like in my one year on this board, I've seen our philosophy uh change. Well, I mean, our philosophy is not to change things as Ben is alluding to uh so that people know what the
rate's going to be before they use their water. But I also recognize I appreciate your explanations. When I got this memo, I was kind of like, hm, well, wasn't the last quarter three kind of the onetime thing? And I assumed that you had kind of taken everything into account for this fiscal year and that we were good
for this quarter to be the same as the prior the first two quarters. But I mean, I think we all recognize the need here for the funds. And I think that if we are facing reality and moving towards where we need to be, this is this is a reasonable approach to get there for
this quarter at least. Thank you, Mark. Yeah, I I don't I honestly don't don't know what this impact is necessarily going to be unless I go back to the last discussion
we had that said raising these quarterly fees will bring, you know, a slug of money into the into the water retained earnings fund. And until we actually see what that is, I think it'd be a mistake
to implement a change without knowing where we are. I I'm a little bit disturbed by a comment we got from the citizen earlier about acral versus cash because I know at the that April meeting
I point blank asked is this a cash basis or acrruel basis and was told it was a cash basis and now that's brought into some some consideration because we needed we were told or at least I understood we needed to act on the third
quarter to get those bills out so the money could be received in the current fiscal year because it was a cash issue that we needed the cash if it's truly an acrruel issue. Maybe we didn't need to act so hastily and I'm worried that we're doing the same thing thing here.
I'd like to ask for an accounting of what the impact was of that quarterly fee that we got that we raised in the third quarter. what the revenue is when it came in. And has that reverse the issue that was brought
this to to the select board originally that the water stabilization fund was either out of funds or very nearly out of funds and we needed to to to uh get funds back into that. And if we did, do
we know that 3154 for the fourth quarter is appropriate? I hear exactly what people are saying and I'm a firm believer that we need to increase the fixed rate. People, you know, if if it was up to me, we take our
capital costs of the water department, which is, you know, bonding and all that kind of stuff, and totally turn that into a fixed cost. But very similar to what we did with the storm water stabilization fund, I don't believe you can do that in in a year or two. I think
we need to come up with a policy that says over the next x number of years we will get to the point where you know of the three components of the water which is what we buy from Springfield our cost to water run the water department and
our capital cost we will get the capital cost paid for out of fixed and the other two will be paid for out of our variable costs but until we are able to do that over a period of time to try to do that in one one quarter I think is more than
I think our residents can handle more than we can we we want to we want to undertake until I know the impact of what this quarterly fee is actually put back into the stabilization fund I'm not prepared to vote to do it again so we
have that number because it's the same number we provided you at the April 7th meeting and that is it was 400,000 for water right? Um to shore up that gap. And then there was a $130,000 gap in sewer of which you used some of the um
retained earnings to cover. So we do know that number. And uh just to to add something here just so that it's not being misunderstood, this um recommendation for fourth quarter is not meant to make up leaps and bounds to get us where we need to be. uh the numbers
you're going to see in June and and probably in July because it's going to be a lot to tackle are are going to be staggering. Um the presentations that we've had about the infrastructure, about the capital needs, both what we have on our plate right now that we need
to pay for, but the capital needs looking forward and then the fact that our retained earnings are not where they need to be. we we all have to have um some really difficult conversations about what do we how do we want to get there? Where where do we want to get and
how do we get there? Because I'm not even sure that we're all on the same page about what infrastructure is absolutely critical and um what's critical to have in our retained earnings. So, I think to to to be fair,
we're just asking to set a rate for this last quarter knowing that this is that's not even a drop in the bucket for what's needed to move us forward to where we think we need to be. And when I say we, I mean staff. I don't I don't I know I I know that, you know, you're the water
sewer commissioners. You ultimately are going to give us our goals and directives. Um but we're giving you the opinion that we have. um in terms of what we see as needs of the operation. If I if I could just kind of ask maybe
questions as a followup. So if the fixed if the fixed rate of 3120 54 and a quarter brings in $400,000. It doesn't I have the I have that number marked if I can stop you for a second. Go because 400,000 was the gap. So we liquidated 173,000 from the fund and we
reduced the salary line by 50 grand. The numbers 77 is left. So that was the amendment that was made right with the using the retained earnings and that was the numbers are what I what I I think water water as
well. Yeah. But so so that means that that this should bring in $177,000. Okay. So that means over the if if we do that just for the one additional quarter, that's an additional
$177,000 that's potentially being brought in. Yep. Okay. And and but that will then bring the water stabilization fund up to $577,000. No. Well, that's not what Josh said. Just
said there was a liquidation, a reduction in the balance 400 grand was the gap we were trying to fill. Yeah, I think the stabilization fund is down to 100,000, right? Yes. So, I don't have the the
pulled up. I think I think part of our discussion was we wanted to draw it down to at least leave about 100,000 left. Um, so now we'd be up to uh 270,000 roughly back where we started actually. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I understand what you're
trying to say, Mark, but I I'm frankly like my assessment and the reason why I'd support this is basically I'm just sufficiently uh sobered by our shortfall here and I think that we need to keep moving in this direction essentially um strongly
because and I the most compelling thing that you said is this like this whiplash effect of like you know let's lower the rate just because just temporarily knowing what we're going to be asking next. And I think that lowering the rate would also confuse people, but also put
us make that big ask the upcoming ask even bigger. Essentially, I I the whiplash is I I I'm not worried about it because if we this would go down a bill would go down $24 this quarter and then back up. Yeah. If
anything, it's a modest ask. No, no, but but I'm saying things to me, I think we can just just forget about that because, you know, this bill is going to if we do what we need to do, this bill is going to go up. Our rates are going to go up dramatically. Correct. In the fixed rate. So, I think it going down
$24 in a I don't know if we had a wet or a dry quarter, but um I don't think people notice that at all. So it I think we can just sit back and say, "Do we want to do this?" and not worry about is it going to be, you know, a shock to the
pocketbook. I I just don't understand why we're not addressing the holistic picture of our water system, water rates and water department. What we're doing is we're looking at quarterly fees and and fixed rates when what we should be doing is saying especially going into
the next fiscal year is here's what's going to cost us to run the department and here's what the revenue we need to bring in and it's been up to us and we've done a pretty good job over the last 40 or 50 years. So it's more than just us. Select board and the water department
before that of dis distributing that revenue requirement amongst the different systems which is fixed rates and variable. And we have the we have the freedom to do that again for when we set the 2020 fiscal
2026 water rates and to say well we're just going to keep the quarterly fees where they are. I I think that we ought to address fiscal 2025 water department separate from fiscal
2026. Fiscal 2025 we addressed. We found out there was a shortfall. I'm not quite positive I know why the shortfall came, but because I think it was a wet year. I think we used a lot more water, but there was a shortfall and we said to
address the fiscal 2025 shortfall, we made this change in April for our April meeting. To address the fiscal 2026 shortfall, we ought to plan on making that change when we set the rates for fiscal
2026. If indeed, and this is part of my original question, if indeed this fee in revenue is is acrruel and not a cash basis, that means it's going to acrue to the
2025 revenue year and we've already addressed that in April. Why are we addressing it again? And so I think that we ought to step back, say, "We've addressed 2025. You know, we saw the shortfall. It
was brought to our attention. We're doing something about it. And we will address 2026 in its entirety when we set rates based on our expectation of both potential usage and what our guesstimate is usage and the water
capital needs of 2026. Okay. Uh Sean, I just thanks. Um can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Yeah. I just I just want to give just like a little bit of perspective from from where we're coming from. Currently, all of the water and sewer capital projects are on hold because we have don't have enough money
in our funds to even pay for a bond. So, we've halted a $10 million project in Western Drive and we are going to be coming up against a second TIP project um which some of you guys were at the meeting for two weeks ago. and we are facing um serious infrastructure weakness in terms of an interconnection
or redundant water system um which I'm going to be coming before you guys for this summer to discuss either another tank or interconnection with with Enfield and these are serious um large capital projects that need to be discussed and we need direction on and and the fact that we don't have enough
money to operate and fund capital is is stalling projects but also is giving us a difficult time in understanding the direction the town um wants the department to go. So, I understand the the details um that you guys are going through, but the reality is that our our system's broke and we've got to generate
some revenue to get these projects going if indeed um the board wants to to keep driving these projects. So, that's just, you know, my perspective. I understand it's a lot for you guys to be tackling um and dealing with residents, but um that's that's where we're coming from. We we really need to to get things
moving if if that's the the direction you guys want from us. Yeah, I I I just I have a lot of questions about that, Sean, and maybe some some comments as well, but if we're short of money in the fiscal year
2025, then we did a bad job planning for fiscal year 2025's capital needs. If we're short of money for fiscal year 2026, deal with that with the 2026 budget, but don't try to bring in addition. Don't try to modify the 2025
budget to bring in money so we can spend it in 2026. In my opinion, if if it's a 2026 budget, we spend it in 2026. It was not Well, sorry. Sorry, Sean. You were just breaking up a little bit. Could you I believe we asked
for a rate increase a year ago and in and we didn't take action upon it. So, now we're left with no money in the system. I mean, granted, you can talk about 25 or 24, but Time Bond recommended a million dollar in retained earnings. We have $100,000. Like, we just can't operate like this. That's
next, but but we can't spend retained earnings just because we it's there and we want to spend it. Retained earnings needs a vote of the town to spend it. So, if the if the retained earnings was a million dollars, we'd still need to go somewhere to get the money approved to be spent. We don't even have enough money to vote town meeting to have
something because we have no retained earnings. Well, but the point is that Mr. again, it's it's 2025 versus 2026, and I'm concerned that we're trying to alleviate a 2026 budget
by searchcharging people in 2025. I guess that's the bottom line. Andrew, uh, Mark, I feel like, um, what you're saying is kind of there's a portion there's part of it is correct, but like
when you talk about, you know, the the money to run fiscal year 25, fiscal year 26, I feel like we're not you're not necessarily taking into account the massive shortfall we have in retained earnings. And the bottom line is when it comes down to it, I believe we need the
money and we need to get it over time incrementally and this is a step towards that and to me that's the main question at hand. Yeah. Uh thanks uh Sean just quick question. So like what's the negative
impact of of not proceeding? And I know you alluded to some of it. I just want I just want to be on the same page in terms of if we don't proceed with what's in front of us tonight. Um what's the impact to two projects? If you could just be clear on that piece. So there's
there's multiple issues depending on the project. Uh in the case of the air connection, which is not here yet, I mean, we're going to need to talk about the fact that we have significant vulnerability if we lose water from Springfield and and it's likely given the nature of their system that that
we're going to have that that problem at some point where we don't have a redundant water system. That's that's one thing. In terms of the Western Drive area, we're going to face multiple water main breaks likely if we have a hard winter which are going to have significant cost. Moreover, with the case of the the tip project, the second
tip project, if we are faced with a tight time frame for construction in front of the state coming in to do a major project, we're going to have to pay more for the capital project. The longer we can give a lead time for contractors to get the stuff done, the better off we are. But also, we we can't move forward with additional projects
and engineering if we don't know for sure that the town wants to follow through with the capital products. So, we're kind of caught in limbo in a variety of ways. we're forced to make a decision about whether we need to pay Western Drive in front of the water main project because the town's not going to do it and then end up ripping it up
again. I mean, there's a lot of factors and a lot of moving targets that we're trying to to think about and have things move as efficiently and as linearly as possible to maximize the efficiency of the money we're using from the town. Um, so I mean, we could talk about it for
hours if you want, but there's a lot of a lot of meetings and a lot of discussion that go on behind the scenes to to get the place we're at right now. And I think we've got some great momentum, but if if these products stall, I don't, you know, I don't know what to do. We we I I don't know what the direction is. Uh and then I just wanted to address a
comment Mark had made about, you know, we're looking at this on a quarterly basis. I was doing some quick math and if we look back 15 years, this is like over 60 quarters. We've had 60 quarters to actually address these items and and we're talking about $100,000 here with
$10 million worth of projects that we have in the town. I mean, of course, we're not going to solve this this issue tonight, but I feel like I'm a broken record. It's like we're surprised that all of a sudden we have a limited funds, a limited balance after all these years and and we're going to try to address it
in one quarter. I mean, this is like we've been looking at this for years. We've had an ability to address these issues for decades and we've done very minimal job at doing that. If we look at the rate structure, we've had I guess you're the only one sitting here that's
been in this role to actually try to make that change. And here we are with insurmountable amounts of projects that we have with limited money. It's not it's just not it's just not fair to say that we're trying to address this quarterly by quarterly. We've had 68
quarters for 17 years to address this. Dan, I I if I could, we're not trying I'm not trying to address it quarter by quarter. I'm trying to address it fiscal year by fiscal year because that's the only way years we've had 16 years to fiscal year by fiscal year. We've had you know Sean, your comments were we
need more money. If we had $5 million in the water stabilization fund today, we couldn't spend it because we're not authorized to spend it. Only the town is authorized to spend it. So it doesn't matter whether that water stabilization fund, which I call a stabilization fund,
you call an enterprise fund, whatever it is, it doesn't matter what's in there today because we can't spend it today. What matters is what we put in there over the coming year and what's available over the coming year. I support the fact that we need to do the
capital that Sean has identified, that the town has identified. I support the fact that that capital ought to be paid for out of fixed fees. But to say we need to build the capital fund, the water stabilization fund today so we can
spend the money today is not in fact true because we can't spend that money today. We can't spend it in fact at this point unless we call a special town meeting or we have the wait till the fall town meeting. So, and and by the fall town meeting, we will both we will
either have additional funds in there because we'll have part of the 2026 revenue in there or we can put together a bond system that will pay for it using the anticipated revenue in 2026. But again, to to say we need that money
today doesn't doesn't work with me because we couldn't spend it if we had it. Yeah, we I wish we had I wish we had money today because we've had plenty of years to address this and and here we are. We have not much funds in the balance and maybe it's not going to
happen overnight. But and we're one dry year away from having more money than we know what to do. And we we've been dealing with this for years, decades, and here we are. And our our roads are falling apart. Our projects are continuing to to be backlogged. All right. All you got to do is raise taxes. Can I I just want to um address the just
because I don't want the public to think that we do not follow um town meeting and the laws and how we spend money. Um DPW is not spending money that's in that account without authorizations. The accounting office, even if DPW tried to do that, the accounting office would
shut that down so fast. Um what they mean when they say that is they cannot plan for projects if there is no money in the bank account to actually pay for those projects. if town meeting authorized them. So if you recall last week we had a town meeting. There are
not articles on there for water and sewer enterprise fund use because there is not enough money in those accounts for us to have presented that. If there were, there would have been articles on there to further this work. We've already started planning for the November town meeting. That work started
about four weeks ago. So, it's a constant state of planning because we live and die by what town meeting authorizes and doesn't authorize. So, I just I want to be fair um and so the public understands that we know what um the authorization schedule is and we
know that um town meeting is what authorizes that. But we cannot make plans for money that doesn't exist. But but also, Lynn, I think we need to be fair and say, but we can plan for spending in fiscal 2026, money that we
anticipate raising in fiscal 2026 based on rates that we will set at the next meeting or shortly thereafter, right? And and and you know, we have historically bonded water water capital projects. I don't very I can think of
one or two we paid for because we had so much money in the water enterprise fund. So, you know, we put together a bond program based on what we anticipate the the revenue being. And I I still don't think that that that's I mean, I don't think that's
unusual and I don't think it's problematic. I think that's in I anticipate that's what we we asked the DPW and the water department to do. Put together a plan for capital, tell us what you need, and we'll our job is to help get raise the money to make that work. But I agree with you. We're we're
going to follow the rules. Anything else? Can you make a motion? Yeah, go ahead. I'd like to make a motion for the quarter 4 fiscal year 2025 uh water rate, we establish a unit charge of $452 and a fixed rate charge of uh 30
$31.54 meter sizes of 5/8 in and 3/4 in. $55.98 for 1 in. $125.89 for a 1 and 12 in. 223.85 85 for 2 in, $53.60 for 3 in, and
$895.32 for 4 in. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? Yes. Any further discussion? I'll let Josh speak. Go ahead. Uh I I absolutely recognize that we need money and but you
know, we are water and sewer commissioners. I I feel like we have it's a a smaller part of our duties, but it's a it's a serious one that people spend a lot of money on. Um and I I just feel uncomfortable going back on what we said at our last meeting. Um we said it
was a one-time thing and I I just can't in good conscious do the same thing because we need money for next year. Um and I so I'm going to vote no. Uh I
just it's something that just uh we got to do what we said. You know, we had uh a town meeting. It got voted down, but we tried to give the money back that we uh had from the stabilization fund and uh because we said we would do it. We put it on the
warrant. Got voted down. That's fine. Um but we did what we said. So I I just I feel like that's what we need to do. Um and Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Mark. Well, I'm also voting against this because of all the comments I said, but I also want to
point out that voting on this tonight violates a principle that the select board said that we would review things at one meeting and approve them at the other at the next. But more importantly, I got this at 4:25 today. I don't know anybody who's had a chance to really
look at it. And the argument that well, it's nothing different than controlling and continuing what we said before. We still received it at 4:25 today and I don't think that's fair to ask the select board to vote on something tonight that we just received, you know, literally an hour, two hours before the
meeting started. Well, I I I think um this was also kind of previewed in a previous uh memo that we' received, I think, at our last meeting. Um so it's not out of any it's not out of nowhere, but um I share much of what Josh said. I
will also be voting against this because I do I just cannot same thing last meeting we said this was a one-time bump to then two weeks later uh go back on that is not something I'm comfortable with. I know that this will make um that much more
that we have to raise going into um FY 2026, but that is something that we've been very honest about and I think the public knows is coming and I feel like we owe that to our residents um that we are clear with them uh and that they can
trust that what we're saying. And so, um, whether that gap has or, you know, we have to do more of a rate hike going to fight FY2026, I'd rather do that than kind of going back on our word, um, at this meeting and voting against this one time um, hike. Andrew, when I first read
this memo a few hours ago, I um I had similar feelings. I said to myself, why is Ian proposing I'm sorry may may not be fair to just say that you were the only one who proposed this because now I see there's actually actual a great deal of thought that went into it but um I
was like why why did you tell us we're doing a one-time fix last time and I assumed at quarter 4 I actually might have I think I might have texted you and said what are we doing here like we told people it was a onetime fix and we should just go back to the the rate we did in one and quarter one and two but
after hearing everything tonight. I I personally feel like I trust Lynn and Ian and Sean and what we're facing here and it's not a huge deal like we're going to need this money. We're going to get it one way or the other at some point in time and I think this is a reasonable incremental
step towards that. That's all. But I respect everyone's opinion of course. Yeah. Yeah. I um I I agree with what everyone's saying here and um beneath the point that you know we did get this later in the day. Um I I would have trouble uh voting in support of this.
However, to your point, Veneath, when these rates are are set for looking ahead, I I do think that if we need to make up that gap that we we should be uh sensitive to that. Um but like previous water sewer uh rate discussions um I you
know also didn't feel comfortable um changing things you know when we're at kind of the goal line from previous discussions. So um so yeah I I I'm going to I won't support this tonight. Um but I think again we need to be mindful of uh FY26.
And the other thing um for FY26, I don't know if this is a directive to Lynn or Ian, but I know I brought up a lot of times where we could try to help our veterans and help our seniors when it comes to um giving them a break on on these rates. Um that's something that I
I personally would like to see and I think the board uh as well uh for the next uh meeting. If if that's something that we could do, I I would appreciate it. Okay. Uh anything else? All right. Um, so all those in
favor, all those opposed. Okay. Um, so I have a question. Where does that leave us then with what the quarter four is? We're going to We already said it for the fiscal year. I'm sorry. So we already said it for the fiscal year. Yeah. So it's reverts back
to the original, right? Is that true? Is that correct? Yeah. We don't have to take a subsequent vote or new vote. I would need to refresh my memory on what exactly your vote. I guess it would if your vote truly was on the 7th of
April for just that third quarter then yes I guess it would be based on first and second quarter. Okay. Okay. Yeah. All right. So then I don't So then it's no action. It's the same as the first and second quarter. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you
everyone. Looking forward to the FY226 discussion. sewer and Oh, yeah. Sewer. Yeah. Um, sorry, I just clicked away from it, but um I if someone else has it, I I move
that we keep Well, all right. Yeah, I guess take no action. Yeah. Well, yeah. Move that we take no action on the uh fourth quarter sewer rate recommendation as presented in the memo.
Second. All those or sorry, any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor? All right. Great. All right. Thank you, Lisa. Appreciate it. Thank you, Sean. Um, okay. Moving into new business now.
Uh, the golden cane recipient process. We did did have the looking forward to fiscal year 2026. Do we want to cover that at all? Well, I I kind of talked about in the beginning just that memo. Yeah. Yeah. We're not going to um discuss that tonight, but hopefully this memo will be get get out to folks uh the
rest of the select board soon uh well in advance of our next meeting and then we'll have a discussion about it. Yeah. Our next meeting. Um we have someone here to speak on the Golden Cane recipient process. If you introduce yourself to kind of tell us a little bit about this.
on a lighter note. My name is Sandy McFaden and I'm the vice chair of the uh Council on Aging Board and we'd like to reinstate the Golden Cane Award. Um we've never had any criteria for this award. So, we put a little teeth into
this proposal and I don't think I know that you have the document in front of you. So, if you have any questions relative to it, I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. Andrew has have so when did you say reinstates? Yes. So when did it become
kind of fall away that this Well, the original cane was found at 129 Burbank Road and I don't know how long it was there. I I do. Do you really? I I know the whole history of it, but go ahead. Go ahead and tell me. I know. Vivian uh Henki, it
it was there it was there close to 10 years. Okay. And the new owners found it, right? The new owners of the house found it. was given. It's it's Andrew, it's a longstanding It says it exactly. It's a long-standing award. It's a great award. Every one of the 351 cities and
towns in Massachusetts had been doing that. Yes. Most of the canes have disappeared. We found it. It's wonderfully. It's mounted in at the adult center. The issue and and the one thing that hasn't been addressed, how do you get it back from the the recipient
when it was the original cane? If it's a recip, if it's a, you know, it's a replica, maybe you just say, "Fine, we're gonna make a replica the next time." But it's a replica. But, but our town clerk had been charged with who is the oldest resident in town and we it was a very very nice presentation
ceremony. I'd been to a couple of them. And so, how many years has it been not proper like the the decade? I'm not sure about that. You can you can actually No, you can actually look at the on the plaque at the adult center. It says the last time isn't up to date though. Yeah. Well, that was the last time it was
given it. Unfortunately, it is up to date because I think that's the last time it was given. But it it it's a it's a great a great tradition and there's I don't see any reason why shouldn't do it. And I think what we need to do is make sure that whether it's the Council
on Aging or somebody puts some money into their into a budget so they can get one of these replica canes made. Hopefully not too often, but as often as needed. Do do we know who the recipient would be? Right now, I have a person in mind as long as you approve the
criteria. Yeah. Then I'll go forward with in you know um interviewing that individual and making sure that they meet the 10 years as a resident of this town. We didn't want a transplant. We didn't want someone that moved here only to be closer to their children just to
get the golden cane. We we wanted we wanted to have someone who has actually lived in this town for a minimum of 10 years. How do you know who is the oldest? Is it basically I got it through the census the town census town clerk's office and there are 15 people in this
town where there were when I asked for the um the records that are over a hundred years old. Wow. Wow. Makes Saul seem young. Yeah. I was wondering if you All right. Um, so I want you to read
read over this and if you have any questions about the criteria that our subcommittee set forth, um, I'd be happy to answer any questions, but if you'd like to add anything to it and we'd certainly like to have you as part of the ceremony. So, are the three
criteria oldest living person lived in town for 10 years and able to receive go to a ceremony and receive it or a family member? Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. And they would maintain that cane until they passed away or moved out of town. Okay.
I I think we need to have some budgetary just recognizing that we're going to allow this this replica to be made from time to time. Jim Jim Le said he has the money in his budget. I'm sorry. Confused. So, is this replica the families to keep or do you need to get
the replica back after it's changed? We really haven't decided that yet because it sounds like you can help us decide that. What was suggesting like you we just make as many as needed, right? So, it's not that expensive. I think it's less than $25. Yeah, the replica the
original got a gold cap. It does. All right. Anything Anything else on this? I mean, I read it. It looks good to me. Yep. It's exciting. I'm I'm glad uh this was on the you know this was brought to us and that we'll restart this um this
honor. Yeah, I think it'd be great to be a part of. So um I will move that we um approve the golden cane policy as attached to the agenda. Thank you. Excuse me. Second. Okay. Any further discussion?
Right. All those in favor? All right. Great. Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it. and have fun interviewing this to us mystery person. Okay. When is the presentation, by the way? Well, we'll have to decide that. So,
would you like to have it at one of your meetings or would you like to have it at the adult center? I know you just did the citizen of the of the year award. You can't wait for the I'm meeting to do this stuff. You you don't meet over the summer. Oh, yeah. We do. We can discuss
whether Yeah, we can discuss about a presentation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Um, okay. Great. Next, we have our annual town election warrant uh that we Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I'll move we set the June 3rd, 2025 annual town election warrant.
Second. Okay. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? All right. Great. Okay. And then, uh, moving into the town manager annual evaluation process. Uh, so I I actually I don't know if you've been a part of this yet,
Andrew. um the evaluation process for time manager. Um so there's a memo attached that kind of just goes over the basic timeline for it, when we will be receiving our annual town manager evaluation forms, when they need to be submitted by. Uh and we will uh be
discussing this at our June 2nd meeting. Um Mark, who should we be submitting them to? Peggy. Yes, Mike. Peggy. Peggy. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's in the uh it's in the memo that's attached um that everything should be sent to Peggy. There's a PDF fillable form that we'll
send out um in the morning. The one that's attached to the agenda, you won't be able to fill it from there. Perfect. Okay. Um so that is just uh to um you know make the board aware of that. Uh next up is the one day liquor license
application. So, I move that we uh approve the Longme Adult Center Community Funds uh one or two of their one-day liquor license applications for events to be held on June 5th, 2025 from 5 to 7:00 p.m. and June 26th, 2025 from
5:00 to 7:30 p.m. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? All those opposed? All right. And then we have a street closure application. So, I move that we uh approve the first church uh street
closure application for Long Meadow Street East of the Green from William Street to driveway 777 of Long Meadow Street on May 29th, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Second. Okay. Any That's the Monastery School, by the way. That's just how it was written on the
application. Uh okay. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? Okay. And then um I also just wanted to bring the S select board summer meeting schedule for the last few summers. We have uh reduced our meeting schedule to one meeting in July and one
meeting in August. And that's I think worked pretty well. And um just to give people advanced notice in case you're making plans, I wanted to uh bring these dates up. Uh they are the we're just basically getting rid of the first meeting in July and August. So we're looking at the third week in July and
third week of August. And I think we're also looking into whether LCTV will have the capacity to do meetings out of there because it might be a good opportunity for us to try out the U space over at Greenwood um and see how that works uh during the summer. Um but any questions,
comments on this, Mark? Yeah, in the last couple years that we've done this or last year or so we've done this. When we come back, it's like a mad rush and crazy things catching up. Particularly the area that we're missing is planning
and whether strategic planning or something like that. And I I just want think we might want to consider trying to get a second meeting during the summer so we can do a goals andor planning session.
And I bring that up only because that seemed to have seems to always get kicked kicked down the road and not get done in a timely manner. And I understand people want to take vacation. I do as much as the next person, but it's just I think it's an opportunity
that we should consider. Yeah, I think that so this past year we did the our goal uh strategic sess strategic planning session in September. I think that's actually the first time they've done a meeting like that in a very long time. And I I kind of was thinking that that worked very well to kind of have
that as a separate meeting space uh when we were able to do that and not as part of a select board meeting where we could really focus on that. So, you know, that would be something I'd be in favor of. I don't think that that necessarily happens to happen in July, August. I also know that it's not just about us, it's also staff and other folks that we
want to come in. It's just more difficult in the summer to get folks in. And um and I think you know for our summer meetings we spend most of the summer meetings interviewing for appointments. Um anyways um but I I do agree with you that you know I think this past year was
great that we devoted so much time to planning and you know I think that this might be something for the next chair or to to decide. But I just kind of wanted to put this at least um out there so so folks can kind of make plans and know what to expect to be fair about that.
One one other comment question I guess is are we setting these you know precisely so that road closure you know the the mundane kind of ministerial things that
we need that only we can do by bylaws people know that you're going to have to wait a month to get it done. I mean is is that Yeah, that's kind of it too. And I just I just want to let people kind of just set expectations for everyone, staff, everyone involved. Um just know there aren't a whole lot of
block parties in the summer. But there are some and and the point is you can't can't call us send come into the meet the the office two weeks before if we're not meeting the first week in a month. I something it hasn't come up in the past
couple years, but if it does, I mean we could do a a meeting. Well, I mean done before. Well, that's the thing. I mean, we, you know, remote meetings are allowed. There's five of us, but we only need three for a a quorum. So, you know, I mean, this I think this is fine
intention, but frankly, you know, we can wait closer to the first meeting and say, "Yeah, there is nothing that came up. We don't have any what I call ministerial kind of things. We're just going to cancel cancel the meeting." But we may want to say, you know, two people want a block party and somebody wants a
liquor license, you know, a temporary liquor license. So, we'll hold it. Well, I would be missing the first the other meetings anyway. The ones were cancelceled, so doesn't matter to me. Well, I'd suggest we just at least get these two dates down. I think they're good dates. And then in June, if there's
something that we think is pressing over the summer, then we could always add something if necessary. Yeah, I think so, too. Okay. Um, so I move to approve the summer uh select board summer meeting schedule as attached to the agenda. Second. Okay. Um any further
discussion? All those in favor? All right. Great. Thanks. Um okay. Uh now moving into our final item. So final item is a statement uh concerning the planning board's uh May 9th special meeting. So I'm going to go
ahead and read the statement first and then um provide a little bit of background afterwards. But um I wanted to just go ahead and read that first. The town of Long Meadow Select Board would like to address the topic of the Town of Long Meadow Planning Board special meeting on May 9th, 2025. On
that date, the planning board voted unanimously to issue a public apology to the Achoa family for the actions of a planning board member, Walter Gun, on January 7th, 2025. On January 7th, 2025, Mr. Gun entered the Choa's property, provided a false name, and continued on
to make racist and bigoted statements towards Mr. AOA. Subsequently, Mr. gun stated to the Springfield Republican newspaper that he has entered private property on other occasions. We commend the planning board for issuing a public apology to the Achoas. We would like to take this opportunity to do the same. No
resident of Long Meadow or anywhere should be subjected to the to the treatment that the Acho experienced on January 7th, 2025, especially from an elected official. While we recognize Mr. Gun's years of service on the planning board, we do not think he can continue to serve as a member of the planning
board. This incident is a breach of the public trust at such a scale that residents will question the town's integrity and the actions of the planning board if Mr. Gun retains his position. We are respectfully asking Mr. Gun to resign from the planning board effective immediately. We are also requesting that the planning board strip
Mr. Gun of his liaison assignments including to the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. The town of Long Meadow Select Board is taking this measure to clearly communicate to the people of Long Meadow and to the Achoa family that we believe in the dignity of every resident and we will stand up for this value. So um you know just to provide a
little bit of background in Massachusetts when an issue with a public elected official arises that the public body which that official sits on has the authority to uh vote for a public censure which is
kind of the furthest action that they can take. Uh the planning board at their May 9th meeting did that. Typically also what kinds of what kind of happens in these situations is that that public official usually resigns. Um and that has not happened here. Um and you know I
think since the planning board took this uh vote and you know it came out in the news on Mass Live and the Republican you know I was um contacted by a lot of residents. Uh
we saw folks from an organization lark that came tonight too um about what the select board thinks about this um and what we're going to do about this. And you know vice chair Dan Sorco also reached out to me as well expressing
that he felt that the town should make some sort of or we should make some sort of statement or some kind of comment about this. And I think, you know, to me, this is an unusual step for the select board to take, but I also think it's a very
unusual circumstance that an individual has not resigned uh at this point. And you know, a lot of what I have said is is in this letter. Um I do think that it erodess the public trust. Um that it
makes the town's job more difficult. Um, if we do not make some sort of statement here and clearly communicate to our residents what our values are, uh, that we clearly communicate to our residents that we do not agree with the behavior
of Mr. Gun on January 7th. Uh and then also more importantly that we clearly communicate to the Achoas and to our residents that we will stand with them and support any resident uh that is the
victim of this type of behavior. Um and I, you know, take my position as a public representative seriously. We are representatives of the entire town and they are looking to us uh to to
signal to them uh about where the town stands on this and how we view it and I think that this is something that would send a clear message about that. Uh, you know, I also thought about doing this just as a select board comment, but I
thought it'd be more powerful, uh, and would mean more if, you know, the select board could vote on this together and stand united and hopefully, you know, clearly communicate to the town how we feel about this. Um, but, you know, again, I think most of my thoughts about
this are in this letter. Um, and you know, I I'll open up for any other comments or questions. Mark. Yeah, Ben, I thank you for doing this. I think it I agree with you. It needed to be done. I'm not because I'm I've never we've never
been in this position before. I'm not sure how it should be done and what the right way to do it was. And so I you know I can't criticize the fact that you kind of took the initiative and wrote this up. I think though that one of the things that concerns me is obvious and
this is beyond the situation what happened. I I agree with everything he said here is this town has no recourse, appears to have no recourse. And that's not what the town people want. And I go
back to actually it's January 17, 2019. There's a special town meeting at which the town residents at town meeting and I'm as you can tell tonight I'm a firm believer in town meeting voted to ask our representatives in the general court
to propose a home rule charter change to allow for the recall of of elected officials. I I my my analysis of it is it died on the vine, you know, and and I would like to take this
opportunity to find out and I don't even know if there's a statute of limitations on town meeting votes or whatever, but you know, if that's what the town people want, and I think it's appropriate to address things like this, we ought to include in what we're doing, and this is
beside the issue that you you've brought up, which I support going back to our representatives in of in the in the general general court and saying remember this town vote. We you really need to do something about it because it's not a problem that didn't you know
didn't come up again. So those are my comments. I support what you did what you said again and and but I think as a select board we have an opportunity to go beyond that to make sure that we have a means of addressing or the town has a means of addressing it in the future.
Thank you Andrew. Uh, thank you for drafting this. I think it was it was well done. And I'd just like to make a motion that the select board adopt this. Uh, second. Uh, any further discussion, Dan? Yeah, I Venith, great job. Um, you know, leading
on on this terrible u event. And I just want to be clear. Um, so I after after I got word of this on on Thursday night when the meeting was posted, um, a few days later, well, I guess this
afternoon, I I spoke to, uh, Mr. Ooa and had a really a nice, uh, conversation with Mr. ooa and I wanted him to know that there's been a lot of um people reaching out to me personally I assume other members of the board and that this
is not you know a reflection of uh the majority of or or all of our our town officials and community members um our our teachers our neighbors this is this is not the this is not the long metal that that I grew up in um and you
know part of the reason why we get involved involved is because we want to make a positive difference. Uh Mr. Ooa, uh it's this is this is really just tough to uh even talk about. I'm just this is a a really sad event for our
town. Um and Mr. Ooa, he's a veteran. Uh he's a police officer. Uh he serves um valiantly. uh he chose to to to get into a field of service and and we have a duty as a
town, as a select board to to stand up and be in solidarity with with the um the ooas. There's other uh ooas that are out there that have been affected um with bigotry, racism,
anti-semitism, and I just I can't sit here silent on on this issue and any other issue that that comes up in our uh community. And I I I just I just wish um you know, Mr. your gun. If you're if you're
watching tonight, like Venice said, 24 years you've served. That's not the question. Apologize and you need to resign. Mr. Gold talked about procedural um um issues that that you know we could
we need to go back or move forward and and and fix things. Um but you have you have a choice. You have a choice to resign and and you need to resign immediately. Um, and I'm just really heartbroken over
this whole incident and it just pains me that that Mr. Gun isn't resigning and and I feel that he should. And I don't have much else to say, but I just want the the Achoas and anyone else who feels marginalized in in our community that
we're going to do we have your back and we're going to do what's right and moving forward. Um, you know, I talked to town the town manager Lynn about uh working with the DEI committee moving forward and and what we can do uh better
and um I think it's it's on all of us to to to do better here. And I wish this never happened. Um but we need to we need to uh be leaders here and and do what's right. And I know I'm very long-winded and it's very difficult to
to talk about and I just wish um I wish the Joe is the best that that that we're all thinking of you and and we have your back. Um and Vene again I I appreciate um taking some time to talk about this and and go through uh the letter
together. Um this is you know an important step to to move forward and and do better as a community um as well. So with that, um I I appreciate the time and and thank you Josh. Uh thank you for doing this, Rene. And uh just want to
reiterate that my my heart goes out to the ooas. Uh seeing the evidence that came to us. Uh it was a a pretty terrible experience and I I I think it's pro been prolonged by the uh the lack of
consequences and uh and I I think it's important to show that there are consequences for uh making bad decisions and making uh people feel uh less than and uh there there should be a
consequence here I think. Um and so I I hope that the the right thing is done and um it's really we are Long Meadow can do better and I I think that uh Chile brought up a good
idea that especially for our elected officials and uh committees and uh could stand to do some training because um I was talking to one citizen who said, you know, there's And there may be unconscious bias in in
people and maybe somebody now won't feel comfortable going in front of a board and that's just uh something like that is just not fair. Um and it's not right. So uh we I hope that the right thing is done but there's uh we can all learn and we can all do better. Um, and I I hope
that this is something that Long Witter can grow out of, uh, ultimately. But, um, as is, it's a it's a very sad situation and, um, I just we, you know, we we support the OshoAS and everyone in town and everywhere who who stands like
that, who is made to feel less than, and that shouldn't happen. So, thank you again, Beneath. Thank you. All right. Uh, any further discussion? Anything else? Okay. Uh, all those in favor? All right. Great. Thank you. Um any comments on correspondence? Uh yeah, Josh. Um a
couple things. Uh one, we I don't know if all of us received it. Um but I got an anonymous letter in my uh at home about uh a home or a lot on Magnolia Circle. And I think it's something that has come to the board before. We talked
about it a little bit. Um but and Lynn provided us some great info. I think that the concerns are made not uh it would be helpful if we knew who sent it so we could respond and have a a
discussion, but since it was anonymous, um I our addresses are out there. That's it's okay that people send us things. um but to send an anonymous note now I can't respond and say here's what I think is going on and uh Lynn gave us some great information on it and so um
just bring that up in case that person happens to watch this or uh hear about it. Um, and also on the correspondence, we got some emails from uh Kurt Freriedman who did some uh free engineering about 11 years ago it looks like on the town pool. And uh I
understand that would be a school committee issue or schools issue if they want to address any of those things. And I was just wondering if you knew if that was in anything like that was in the works. Um, no. And it would be school quasi DPW
because they're responsible for infrastructure in the buildings. Um, but no, I do not believe at least on the DPW and that is not in the works. It just uh not all of it was uh completely understandable to me, but it sounds like if we close the pool for some months
during the year, we'll save x amount of dollars. But there's also other things we could do engineering wise. And I thought while we're working on the pool already, it may make sense to see if we can do some changes. I don't know if the work we're we just voted on or that we're doing have any has anything to do with it, but uh I just thought I'd bring
that up. Anything else? Okay. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All right. All uh any further discussion? All those in favor? All right. Great. Thank you everyone. Thank you.