So light out now. >> Last night >> less than a minute. >> This morning everyone woke up late. Like getting to school was rough. less than a minute. >> Okay. You guys all set?
>> Yes. >> All right, stand by. >> Five, four, three, two, one. >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to the March 9th, 2026 select board regular meeting. Uh this is select board chair Josh
Lavine. I will be confirming that all members and persons anticipated in the agenda are present and can hear me. Members, when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative. Dan Workco >> here. >> Beneath Mavathy >> here. >> Andrew Lamb here. >> Shelley Mayor Dwolf >> here. >> Staff, when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative. Lynn Simmons
>> here. >> Peggy Sheldon >> here. >> And no mic tonight, right? >> No. Um, this open meeting of the Long Meadow 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 metal ma.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 comments section of the
meeting and I will call on you to approach the microphone. For residents participating in the meeting 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. Seeing none, uh we will move on to the pledge of allegiance. I 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. We'll start with our announcements. Uh, citizen of the year award nominations. Nominations for citizen of the year awards are now available and should be submitted by Friday, April 10th, 2026.
The awards are presented yearly at the annual town meeting. Citizens are encouraged to submit award nominations for a citizen, community, organization, and or groups who deserve recognition for performing a service or act beyond what is normally expected in service to the town and community. For additional
information on award criteria and to submit a nomination, please visit long meadowmma.gov/ivical gov/ivical alerts. Community preservation committee spring application cycle. The community preservation committee will now be accepting applications to be submitted
by April 7th, 2026 for possible consideration at the fall 2026 special town meeting. The application form and information about the community preservation act process can be found on the community preservation page at long meadow ma.gov.
All right. Uh first up on the agenda we have resident comments. Uh you can approach Mr. Sheller. Can you state >> street >> and your name? >> My name is Clayton Shuttle. >> Have a seat, please. >> Okay. I have uh one comment. I was um
I'm just wondering when it comes to the water infrastructure if we've uh looked into the federal infrastructure law that was passed in 2021 uh which is has allocated tens of billions of dollars by the federal government that includes um that you can
be used for pipe replacement, treatment upgrades, system repairs. Um is this something we looked into? Um, this is the last year from what I've seen where we can get federal funding for this and towns have been able to cover 30 to 70%
of their costs through this program. So, that's my comment. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Do we have anything online, Peggy? >> We don't. >> Okay. Um, let's move on to
kudos and plaudits. Uh, thank you to town staff for the Greenwood office flooding. On the morning of February 25th, the air handling unit at the Bliss conference room experienced a malfunctioning valve, which is designed to allow hot water to flow through the univvent coil when the
thermostat calls for heat. The valve likely failed to open, track trapping stagnant water. Exposure to outside air from the fresh air damper caused the water to cool and eventually freeze. The line then burst, flooding the conference room in the town clerk's office. Uh, fortunately, treasurer and collector Erica Brunell was in the building when
this happened and noticed the water. She alerted DPW immediately. The town's all call mechanical contractor repaired reinstalled the coil. DPW dried the space out and has replaced the compressor unit. They're also checking the other units to ensure we won't experience similar issues. Erica's swift
action of alerting DPW about the water allowed the facilities team to arrive on site quickly and assess and remedy the situation before it could arise. Huge thank you to facilities for their work on cleaning up the conference room and office space and to Erica for her speedy action. I believe Erica was in nice and early for that, right? Yeah.
>> Yeah. Um I'm sure like the rest of the board, I got the email and that this happened and said, "Oh my god, here we go again." And it wasn't that bad. So, thank you to Erica and facilities. that's uh did good work on that. Um
all right, anything else from the rest of the board on that. Okay. Uh any select board comments? All right. Everyone's got somewhere to be after. >> You were here last week. >> Oh, that's true. Nothing's happened the
last week. Um all right. We have a uh a few applicants for board and committees and uh who do we have tonight? Peggy >> have Ethan, Matthew, and Gary. >> Okay. And everyone has uh Do we have
everyone here? Uh well, let's start with uh is Ethan here? >> I am here. >> Oh, come on up, please. >> Uh you can sit right up there by microphone. Hi. Could you uh state your name and address? >> Yes. Uh Ethan Kendrick. Um I am at 50
Warren Terrace. >> Great. And uh what why are you interested in the conservation commission? >> Yeah. Um, so I grew up uh up the road in Shelurn Falls and moved back about five years here to Long Meadow from
Washington DC and have established roots enough in town here and wanted to be able to give back a little bit and uh thought that this is something that my skill sets could be useful for. um I have an interest in doing this and I'm passionate about um uh environmental
issues but understand that there's a lot of pragmatism that needs to be involved. Um and I was looking around for opportunities uh to participate in some of the um committees in in over the last
couple of years and this opening seemed something that piqued my interest. Um, and I'm happy to chat a little bit more about um, or I'm not quite sure the format that you'd like me to go into. So, >> it's a very open format. Uh, if you want to explain your skill set, yeah, how you
think it could apply? >> Yeah, certainly. So, so um, I do not have a professional background in water management, engineering, anything like that. Uh, my uh, profession is I am actually working with uh, I work with academic medicine. I work with med schools and teaching hospitals all
across the US. uh I work with a lot of different viewpoints and come together on consensus. Um so I think that I boiled down my interest into a couple of things and what I think some uh where what I'd focus on. So I think that there
is the obvious priority of commitment to protecting wetlands, waterways and the conservation land here in Long Meadow. Um I've been to quite a few town meetings and seen how passionate our um uh folks in the town are also online how passionate they are. Um I think that
there needs to be a respect for law uh and process that's in place but also precedent and operations that are in place. I think there needs to be respect um for expertise from u uh town employees as well. Uh we also have great resources uh in nearby area that we can
leverage uh and respect from uh the number of higher ed institutions we have uh with specialties in this area. Um I think that I can bring fair and balanced judgment to this. Uh I'm very good at dealing with lots of different interested parties and uh getting people
together and uh hopefully people walking away feeling that things were at least fair and that um things were clear. Um yeah, I think that that goes into my ability to work pretty collaboratively um across different committees uh with
different um community members as well as you all. Um and then uh the I think the uh you know the willingness that I have to do this is my capacity has opened. My uh youngest has turned four
and it is amazing having what feels like eons of time even if it's just several more hours a week. Um, I'm pretty organized with these things. Uh, and, uh, running committees, even though I wouldn't want to be running the committee. Um, uh, running committees,
uh, is what I do daily. Um, and participating in something like this, uh, of an issue that's always been important to me since I was a young little guy that was kaying, fly fishing, uh, even though my fly fishing pair has lapsed. Um, but I I've worked in in
college. I worked in irrigation getting through college. Um, these issues. I've worked in construction in college. Um, I'm well aware of some of the conversations that go on. Uh, and uh, the permitting that has to happen, the dialogue that has to happen, and the
forward education that's pretty important that can stave off quite a bit. >> Have you uh, spoken with any members of the Conservation Commission? >> I have not. I'm very new to this and so I when I saw on the uh website that there was a vacancy that's why I decided that I didn't know if there was a lack
of interest and so it would be one that I could step in to fill. Um I asked Peggy I think I'm not sure. Hi Peggy. Yeah. Um, and I heard that there was another candidate, at least one other candidate, and I would like to say that I certainly respect people who ha have
participated in the committee before. And uh, I um, if it is someone who has participated quite a bit with the committee, I would uh, defer to that person uh, as being the stronger candidate, um, I just thought that there was an absence uh, of interest. So, I
want to step in to fill that void. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? >> All right. Thank you for your interest. Uh we don't >> uh we don't vote at this meeting. We will vote it at our next meeting. >> Okay. Wonderful. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh next up we have an
interview for the DEI advisory committee. Uh Matthew Delson. >> Hi. State your name and address. >> Matthew Delson. I live at uh 97 Longfellow Drive. >> Thank you. And what interests you about the DEI committee? So, uh, I've
committed my basically my entire professional career to social justice and, uh, helping others and changing things at a systemic level. I've worked in, uh, nonprofits and on political campaigns for many, many years. And, uh, as someone on the autism spectrum
growing up in Long Meadow, um, I would say my experience was overall very good, but uh, they always say the greatest room in the world is the room for improvement. And uh I think there are some I think there are some
uh guidelines and policies that I could help introduce. Maybe I I not nothing like no no nothing like law. Um but uh I know this committee works with uh schools, businesses, organizations like
that. Uh, and I would love to be a part of conver of those conversations about how to make this town and the businesses and the schools that are in it more accessible and inclusive to people like me. And you know, there's also a lot of stereotypes about what autism looks like
and uh and how autistic people think and and and and how they live their lives. But I I also want to show that you they say when you've when you met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person.
So I want to show also that uh we have a variety of strengths and support needs and uh and professional skills and that uh we really can't all fit into one mold. And that's why uh that's why addressing
it can be rather difficult. I mean, and I'm under no illusions that every single autistic person has um, for lack of a better word, the the strength that I do. I mean, I work in nonprofits. It's very social skills heavy field. Um, so I I I
I don't meet a lot of people like me on my job. um or on other committees I've served um and and demand and there's also people uh with about a quarter of autistic people have what's called profound autism where they were have very high
support needs and um obvious and they're going to have a much harder time advocating for themselves and I'm not claiming to stand for them not at all actually I'm just uh I'm just one person and so I want to bring my perspective along with many others um and really try
to make this a more inclusive and and and just 10. >> Thank you. Have you uh spoken with anybody who's on the DEI committee? >> I have. I've spoken with at le Yes, I've spoken with every member. I went to I was invited to the their last meeting as a guest.
>> Okay. Well, that's great. Um you know, they they could always use fresh ideas. Uh so appreciate your interest. >> Yeah, of course. >> Any other questions from the board? >> Okay. Thank you very much. We appreciate you coming out. >> Thank you so much. All right. And last up, uh, for historic
district commission, uh, Gary, I heard you asking if you're in the right place. You are. Come on up. >> My name is Gary Gay. I'm at 159 Maple Road. Um, I was lucky enough to walk over here today in the the unusually warm weather. Um, I've been in uh town
now for about three years. I've spent a lot of I grew up in Belchuretown, Mass. being heavily involved in the community um in giving back in being involved in kind of the structure and development of
the town and school system and sports and everything. And uh my background, my skill set, I'm a real estate agent and I also work as a um sales manager for a construction company. Uh we deal with primarily residential construction. Um
so I'm also not afraid to get my hands dirty. Uh I do have um very extensive background in growing up in an older community like Belchuretown. Um I see a lot of similarities to the town and the the older area and the historic district
and the historic buildings. And that's something that I've always had a passion for. Um I'm the type of person who will try to repair it before replace it. Um and in my business and in my personal
life, I try to always um find different ways to reuse things and incorporate that history. Um especially structure being in the real estate field. Um, I love older homes, the character they bring, and I also understand what
replicating some of that stuff today's day and age costs, um, and the practicality of it. So, I am excited to be, uh, part of the town here and getting more involved in the community. I've recently, I have two
girls at Wolf Swamp School. Um, one's in fourth grade, one's in uh, preschool, and I just signed on there this year, and I'm the president of the PTO. So, I have taken those steps to get more involved in the community, and I do see
myself being here for a very long time. So, I look to continue that growth. >> Great. Thank you. Uh, any questions from the board? >> All right. Yeah, thank you for uh we normally get people who are in the historic district who so it's nice to have somebody outside of it.
>> Yeah, I I am possibly moving not in the historic district but over toward to like Green Acres. So, uh hopefully I will be a little bit closer in proximity but again just having that like love and value for the architecture and the history behind it is really >> what I think is a a unique skill set.
>> Great. >> All right. Thank you much. >> All right. Um and our last uh applicant is not did not RSVP. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um next up we have uh guest speakers the school department budget
presentation. >> Thank you. I think uh Peggy has a slide deck here for us. So I have more slides than I'll uh present to you tonight. I'll I'll be uh mindful of your time. I know the select board has been uh tuned into the budget developments um on on
the school side. So um joined tonight by uh school committee chair Michaela Fitzgerald, chair of the finance subcommittee, Jamie Hench, and Tom Mazer, assistant superintendent for finance and operations. So want to thank them for shephering uh the LPS budget
for FY27. The budget was recently approved by the school committee and really appreciate um the involvement of your town manager Lynn, your finance director Ian, and working with Tom and I very closely uh going back several
months to bring you a budget that I hope you take away at at a high level is simply that this is a fiscally responsible budget, that it drives our fiscal priorities, our strategic priorities, uh and that there's there's,
I believe, a significant return on the great investment that the residents of Long Meadow make in our schools. So, hopefully it can accomplish those those few things for you tonight. Um, you can skip down to the I think it's this third slide, Peggy. >> Uh, yeah, that one's fine. we so at at
the very highest level um uh a summary of the uh FY27 budget. You'll see that the general fund uh that request that was voted by the school committee is uh 1,77,536 over FY26.
Uh we are um projecting special revenue to increase modestly over FY26. Although I will say that as recently as Friday, um we received some news on some federal entitlement grants that we're still unpacking that could change that second
row uh that you're seeing on the on the budget recommendation summary slide. Um in terms of percentages, you can go to the next slide, Peggy. Um uh one back, please. Um in terms of percentages, it's a 2.6% 6%
increase over FY26 in terms of the general fund contribution and the overall budget would increase by 2.47% over FY26. Again, I I think these are uh we hope that u the select board sees these this as a a manageable budget
budget that was voted by the school committee. When I see some of the increases uh in neighboring communities, it makes me feel good that um we're able to bring to you a budget that drives our priorities. but we hope is also manageable to the to the residents. Uh
next slide please. So again uh a budget that drives our strategic priorities that uh shows to the community that we take our responsibility to be good stewards of their tax dollars very seriously and
that we hope that we're able to demonstrate that we use those uh those funds efficiently. that we uh always seek ways to uh operate uh more effectively to work smarter rather than harder. So, next slide, Peggy. Uh quick
overview of some of our strategic priorities. I won't linger on this uh but you know certainly aligned curriculum uh design universally for all students. Uh driving inclusive practice uh to ensure that we're meeting the
individual needs of individual students. We're very interested in embedding our vision of the graduate uh ensuring that we have opportunities for students to acquire those I I'm starting to call them AI proof skills. Um they're heading
into a world that uh is hard for all of us to understand, but we think that if we can embed those VOG skills that they will be well prepared for whatever life brings them after Long Meadow. And then also creating safe and supportive school
environments. Uh ensuring that we um uh create environments where kids feel that sense of belonging, that sense of safety which is so important to uh learning. So next slide please. Um again I won't linger here and
wouldn't you know small font but just trying to convey the idea that we are always uh actively pursuing uh grants to supplement the great work that our educators do and that our administrators do uh and that we are always looking for
ways to operate uh more efficiently. One of the things that the school committee has charged us with is to ensure that we have a multi-year curriculum review cycle so that you know we're we're plotting uh for potential curriculum expenditures in wise and thoughtful ways
uh and that you know we're able to budget for them accordingly. Uh we have introduced some uh some tools that help us manage data in ways that are more centralized and more efficient. Um we
are always uh shifting staffing in response to changing enrollment patterns. You'll see later on that as enrollment has declined in recent years just modestly not not in a dramatic way but our staffing has declined in a corresponding way. So that's important
to us that we're always uh shifting uh staffing in response to changing enrollment patterns. A critical part of our success is that last bullet is the development of in district special education programming so that students have an opportunity to be educated in Long Meadow in ways that are frankly
more costeffective. Uh so next slide please and uh again just uh highlighting some of the ways that we are trying to work smarter rather than harder and trying to always seek operational efficiency. Um trying to use the technology tools that
can help us uh work smart. Uh we have moved to a fully online registration system. Um I see our our friends from the DPW in the back. We're we're working closely with them to ensure that we're able to coordinate um our work orders
through the DPW's cloud-based work order system so that we're trying to enhance communication using those tools. We have area partnerships with Bay Path University, Westfield State University, the Collaborative for Educational Services is a organization up in uh Northampton that provides some
professional development. And then down the road, uh, we think that the the combined middle school will create some opportunities for us to, uh, be more cost-effective in the way that we allocate, uh, the tax dollars that that we're blessed to have. Uh, next slide,
please. Um, just a I want to kind of quickly hit on a high level on revenues and expenditures and, uh, the return on investment. I'm really proud that um we are able to provide a great return on the investment that taxpayers make in
Long Meadow Public Schools. So, next slide, Peggy. Thank you. Uh this may be familiar, but I think it's worth revisiting when you think about the the building blocks of a school budget. Uh chapter 78, you'll notice it's sort of a small slice. This is not built to scale.
Uh but it does reflect that uh chapter 78 is is overall a uh only a modest part of the building blocks that make up our budget. There is a minimum local contribution and uh that all communities are required to uh expend to support
what's called a foundation budget. And then beyond that um communities most communities in Massachusetts spend beyond what is minimally required. Uh and so we're fortunate that Long Meadow again like many communities spends above
what is minimally required but I'll give you in the next slide we'll kind of put a little bit more um information together to help you understand that. So in the green um in the green you'll see the uh how much Long Meadow spends above
what is minimally required. In the orange, you'll see how chapter 70 has grown in recent years. And then the minimum amount that Long Meadow is required to spend in the yellow. I think that tells a story. And I think the
story that the yellow bars tell is the the increasing cost of doing business. And I know the select board's aware of that given all the town departments that you're working to support. But schools are no different. uh the cost of doing business has certainly increased in
recent years. Uh next slide please. And so when we think about um how much Long Meadow spends beyond what is minimally required uh you'll see that across the state the average is somewhere around 24
25%. Uh Long Meadow uh spends around anywhere in recent years this is the most recent years that I could grab data for. uh going back to FY22 spending about 47.81% beyond what is minimally required but you'll see that it has fallen off uh a
little bit in recent years I think it's a trend line that we should pay some attention to uh just to kind of be mindful of because I think that's where sort of excellence lies frankly is the the ability the the effort that communities can make to to spend beyond
what is minimally required. Uh next slide please. And so, uh, chapter 7 aid, uh, we are anticipating based on the governor's budget a modest increase in the, uh,
amount of chapter 7 aid that the town receives. Uh, that $2,850 figure on the far right, uh, represents a 2.5% increase. It is the hold harmless
amount. It represents $75 per student. So, um, you know, to, uh, to the folks assembled here tonight, it might be something that we we have some conversations with our legislators about with the hope that that chapter 70 number can increase. It's it really does
not keep pace with growing costs with contractual obligations. Uh you may recall that last year we were projecting that $75 per student increase at this time. Eventually as the budget season
lingered on, the legislature increased that uh to I think it was $125 per student. So that was some welcome relief that we received in the spring of 25. So, I think we're all hoping that that
chapter 70 figure will it would be a a good um windfall to the town if the legislature is able to increase chapter 70 before the budget is finalized. Next slide, please, Peggy. And so,
you'll see how that uh translates uh from year to year. In fairness, the state has, you know, really stepped up with chapter 7 aid, but um really it has gone, you know, largely been gobbled up
by inflationary pressures. U I mentioned that we are set to receive se that $75 per student increase. Uh we're in the same boat as over 200 other communities across the Commonwealth. So,
um it's a real it's a it's a modest increase. Um and we're hoping that the state can serve us better uh eventually. Uh next slide, please. Uh return on investment. This is sorted
um alphabetically. Um but I just wanted to share with you uh how Long Meadows stacks up to communities that the state has identified. uh we are demographically socioeconomically similar to and so
you'll see uh the amount of per pupil expenditures in Long Meadow relative to the other communities that are on the chart here. I guess I would make the case that um while our per pupil costs are lower and admittedly these are many
communities from the eastern part of the state but while our per pupil costs are uh are lower than typical I think our results are greater than typical and so really proud of the the results that we see relative to the investment that that
we make here in Long Meadow and to see it locally. The next slide will we'll show how Long Meadows stacks up to local communities. Uh you can go to the next one, Peggy. So these are our western Massachusetts neighbors and you can see
uh that again our perputal expenditures here in Long Meadow are modest compared to surrounding communities. But uh the performance results I think speak for themselves in terms of the number of
students percentage of students that uh meet or exceed the grade 10 MCCAST threshold. So again really just hoping to convey that uh I believe the the significant
return on investment that that we see here in Long Meadow. And in fairness, all of these communities have different needs and different realities um and different costs. And so sometimes these per pupil expenditure comparisons are
difficult because uh the needs and realities of Long Meadow are different than the needs of and realities of every other community out there. Thank you, Peggy. You can go to the next slide. Um, just quickly, uh, I'll I'll just kind of glide through the next couple of
slides. The our, uh, enrollment data, uh, you can go to the next one, Peggy. Uh, this is historic enrollment. You can see that we are, uh, we've been trending down in the last 10 or 12 years. Uh, not the decline that many communities in the
area have seen, uh, but an enrollment decline nonetheless. Uh this does not include our prek population by the way. So that's the historic enrollment. The next slide shows projected enrollment.
And you can see that uh you know we're not anticipating uh any increases in enrollment. If anything, we're expecting that we'll continue to see a slight decline over the next decade or so.
Um, again really reflective of enrollment patterns in Western Mass, in the Northeast, and frankly across the country. There are fewer school-aged children nowadays than uh than in the
last several decades. So this is sort of typical for the most part rather than alarming in any way. Next slide is our current enrollment. Um we uh again this does not include students who are placed out of district.
So we're at about 2723 students. If you add in students um who are placed out of district were um we're beyond that number. Um next slide please Peggy. Again not not to linger but you can you can kind of take a glance and see that we have
this is at the the K5 level. you'll see that this budget that the school committee has voted allows us to maintain the really reasonable, manageable class sizes that make a difference. So, I'm really proud of that. I'm proud, you know, that is this
is where Long Meadow has historically uh invested its school dollars is in class size, particularly at the elementary level. So, we're seeing some encouraging numbers there. Uh projecting some encouraging numbers there for next year.
Okay, next slide. Thank you. You can go one more, Peggy. Thank you. And so again, back to just wanted to circle back uh the highle summary. Uh next slide, please. The percentage increase. Next slide. Thank you.
um you can go one back to give you some idea of how the projected increase uh stacks up to increases that we have seen in recent years. So again, I think this is a
credit to uh Mr. Tom Maza and the school committee behind me uh for really kind of being good stewards of the budget, creating uh a manageable fiscal situation for this community. So, um
that 2.6% increase seems to fall in line with the where we've been historically on average at least. Next slide, please. to look at the asim the same information um but in real dollar terms. The general
fund increase that we're projecting that 1,77,536 in the upper left uh you can see how that stacks up against increases uh in prior years and then the total budget increase when
all funds are considered. So when you make when you include grant funds uh or entitlement grants that that would result in the total budget numbers that you're seeing on the right.
Next slide please. To give you some idea of the funding sources uh for the FY27 budget you can see that we are very much reliant on the general fund. That's a that's a higher than typical number. Uh when you look
across the state, the you know you'll see that other communities are more reliant on uh federal grants, regular and special education grants, but we are very much reliant on the contributions of the general fund. We're very much
reliant on uh local revenue. You go to the next slide, please. Um this is something that in that shows the uh pluses and minuses associated with the FY27 budget. Um I'd call your
attention on on the right side to the contractual obligations that uh we are uh obliged to meet. Uh we are projecting about $1.3 million in contractual obligations.
One of the um factors that really helped us put together a manageable budget is the attrition numbers on the right. So when we factor in retirements and factor in uh the teachers that will replace
them lower on the salary schedule, uh we were we are looking at savings close to $500,000. Without that, that really broke in our favor, frankly. uh without that I think we might be having a very different conversation. So um a crop of
retirees being replaced by folks who will generally come in lower on the salary schedule was a a significant u benefit to us. The other number I'd call your attention to is the uh the utilities number. uh
you'll see that we are projecting an increase of about $348,725 in utilities. Everyone knows the cost of of heating, cooling, um providing utilities to your home is increasing significantly. the cost of uh providing
electricity. And so that's I think the one of the biggest if not the biggest increase that um any of us remember in terms of the utility costs that we are projecting. Um some other adjustments. Um you'll see that again some savings on
the left side associated with out of district tuitions. Uh the reason some of the items here are in blue uh is because uh when the town's health insurance numbers came back after the first
iteration of the budget, we went back to the drawing board and had to make some additional adjustments. So the the what you see in blue are the adjustments that we had to make uh due to the health insurance numbers that came back to us.
So, we have a an elementary academic coach position that is currently vacant uh that we will not rehire uh based on the budget that has been voted by the school committee. Uh
you'll see that we had planned the school committee had planned an increase in athletic program funding. We are we have an athletic program that is very much reliant on uh the generosity of booster clubs and user fees. We've been
trying to close the gap in recent years to sort of generally gradually increase the effort that we're making so that we uh we want to get to a place where we're less reliant on user fees and and booster contributions. Uh that really
won't be the case for us in FY27. It was a modest increase, but it was something that we felt uh we should pull back on. And um some other the other items on the list uh the personnel the
other personnel adjustments. I just want to be clear to anybody watching it. This will not affect direct service. Most of the adjustments here uh relate to uh changing enrollment patterns, changing student needs. We think that we'll still be uh able to be responsive to students
with direct service with the budget that's been voted by the school committee. Uh, next slide, Peggy. Breaking down our cost centers, you'll see that we are um we're in the people business. Uh, close to 80% of our costs
are tied to salaries. Uh, special education services and the uh provide is another area, another cost center for us. Um, transportation, that wedge is frankly bigger in many other communities. We're we're we're
thankful that we have a a walkable, bikable, pedestrianfriendly um community and so our transportation costs uh really don't gobble gobble up as much of the of the pie chart as you might see in some other communities.
And next slide, please. uh you'll see uh just to dive a little deeper into our uh potential electric and natural gas costs, you'll see that um the anticipated increase for FY27.
So that that that those costs continue to grow for us. Next slide, please. Uh that's a revisit. We can go to the next slide. um showing the the sort of uh again responsiveness to changing enrollment
patterns. We are anticipating that the total number of full-time equivalents FTEES the total number of FTEES uh is projected to decline actually the the the bottom 0.00 should be a a negative
1.0. So uh we are anticipating uh another gradual decrease in the number of full-time equivalents for the 2627 school year. Again uh related to enrollment probably with the exception
of that academic coaching position that we mentioned earlier. Uh next slide Peggy. Uh you can go to the next slide and one more. All right. And uh finally, some of the items that the uh school committee and the
administrative team are continuing to keep their eyes on. Um on the left are some of the um some of the variables that we're still tracking uh that could still move one way or another. We are um have not finalized all of our collective
bargaining agreements for FY27. We always have to be responsive to enrollment patterns. things can happen over the summer that uh could create costs or create savings. Um so with students moving in and students moving
out, we'll continue to track final state aid levels. The school committee still needs to vote on feebased services for busing, preschool, and athletics. And on the right, um the right is sort of the, you know, I think we're not doing our
job if we're not conveying to the select board and to the community those areas where we think uh we would benefit from additional investment if we were in a in that position. Uh we want to continue to
explore how we can support the you know finance the continuum of supports fully funding athletics uh career and professional development for paraprofessionals. We you know it's increasingly important that we support the pipeline
uh to ensure that we can continue to have qualified educators. uh the pipeline is more narrow than it has been in recent years. And so we we want to continue to find ways to support staff and and and develop them professionally.
Fully funding curriculum renewal, curriculum supplies, uh instructional coaching is another area that we feel like uh is a target for investment onboarding new staff and then finally substitute teaching. We are, I would
say, uh there are many communities around us who uh are need to pay their substitute teachers more. Uh we're on the lower end, but um again, finding substitute teachers is has been
difficult in recent years as well. So, those are just some of the things that we'll continue to track and pay attention to. And again, thankful to Lynn and Ian, Tom Mass, and the school committee for helping us put together a budget that I hope, you know, really continues to drive our priorities and
and and demonstrates the how important it is to us to be good stewards of of folks tax dollars. So, u happy to answer any questions um that you might have. Um >> well uh thank you to you and to the
school committee and Tom and everyone else involved this Long Meadows are schools and if we didn't have our schools uh it'd be very difficult to get people to move here. Um and so we're grateful that we're in a position where
we can we have the money to spend. Uh and that being said, you know, it's no surprise to any of you folks that uh this gets harder every year and uh so we really appreciate you coming in at 2.6. Uh that's uh we can only go up
2.5 overall and to come in uh at a reasonable amount above that puts a lot less pressure on the rest of the town. Um, and you know, state funding that's uh it's unfortunate where it came in this year and uh the town overall is in
a similar position with the state funding just not being what we hoped it would be and what it could be. Um, but everyone's feeling the squeeze. >> Uh, so one of the things that that jumped out to me, I'm glad you did the the class
size presentation. Um, is is that where if things continue to pinch, um, as I as I think there will be some pressure on that, uh, is that something we you'd have to look at? Is that a first place we look or are there other places?
>> I'd say I'd say it's one of the last places we look. I mean, what we would try to, if we had to, we would try to keep um any potential reductions away from direct service, uh particularly at the elementary level. I think, you know, as you move up in grades, you might have
more tolerance for larger class size, but I think it's been part of our part of our DNA, uh to really keep manageable class sizes to, you know, because it's the the most important factor in a child's education is the teacher that is
in front of them. And so creating those manageable class sizes has always been important for us. So I'd say it would be one of the last places that we would go. But you know, we certainly recognize that the dust hasn't completely settled on the on the town's budget and you know, we'll we'll continue to stay in
touch with Lynn and Ian to understand the fiscal position of the town. We know that you you don't have a voted budget yet and ultimately this comes down to some decisions at the state level and a town meeting. Uh, and I I said a couple of questions. You know, I
we talked about this a bit on on the middle school building committee, but I I know that uh there'll be some cost savings where we can uh consolidate some services uh and hopefully we'll in the long run have some electricity savings,
utility savings overall uh with the geothermal and the solar. Um but one of the things you mentioned is that we don't have to spend much on transportation. Will that change with a greater proportion of our middle school middle schoolers being bus? >> Yeah, that that's a great question. I think I think some of the the
operational savings and the service savings that you mentioned, I think some of that will be offset by increased uh busing costs. So, um, we don't know exactly how much that will increase when we open the new middle school in in the 28 29th school year, but, um, right now
we're thinking probably like one additional bus might be needed, but again, that really depends on what our bus fees are and what our bus policies are. And, you know, there's a lot of variables that could influence that.
really depends on I suppose you know partly we we want it to be a a good experience for families who are picking up and dropping off in the normal car line as we've talked about many many times but um you know I think that's a big that's another variable that will influence that transportation piece.
Yeah. >> Um and just I guess I with our water rates and looking at the budget I I've been thinking thinking of the future a lot and ramifications down the road. Um if let's
if we have to come in 2.5 or lower again next year and beyond that um just so we're aware and people who are watching are aware. >> Uh can you give specific examples of what you think there where the cuts would be if we have to to make changes
if it's not uh student facing? Yeah, I mean I I ultimately bring those recommendations back to the school committee, sort of sit down as an administrative team and then develop a set of recommendations, but um I think it's it really comes down to keeping it
away from direct service. So um you would first look at positions that aren't providing that direct service, clerical service, custodial service, admin service. You know, those are the place if if you're looking at FTEES, uh you probably would want to pull back
on um some of your curriculum costs. Perhaps you might want to look at um user fees. I think everything would have to be on the table um to help us deal with any budget challenges down the
road. I I know that I think you know Tom Maza reminds our administrative team all the time that um FY28 could be much more difficult. I think we a couple of things broke in our favor including the the retirement number that we talked about.
Uh but I know that health insurance costs continue to rise and that's a reality for town and school that we have to respond to. So um tough to say exactly where you might look, but I think everything winds up on the table.
>> User fees were what I was wondering about really because I know that there's sometimes you have to find alternative ways to raise >> funds and that's hard enough for a town to do but very hard for a school to do, >> right? And it's, you know, the the the benefit to the school in raising user
fees versus the impact to households, you know, so we may not get much bang for the buck by increasing user fees. It would be a pretty modest supplement to the budget, but you'd have to think about what it meant for for households and for residents, I suppose. But I'm
sure the way you think about that with all the fees that you have to manage Any questions? Council of the board. >> I just a quick question. Just to echo what Josh said. Um I thank you for your job, the school committee, Tom, Ian,
Lynn. Um you made it sound easy to walk through this deck, but I'm sure it was not easy to get to this point. Just hearing all the numbers and where you landed, do you, the school committee, do you have any concerns as you head into 2026? Is there any watch points that with this particular budget that maybe
gave you all pause to say, "Hey, this this is what we're concerned with for for 2027." >> Yeah, I think um you know, we we were um disappointed that this budget won't help us carry over that academic
instructional coach. Um the these are individuals who um support our teachers, who provide some training and professional development. They lay out units of study. They help us coordinate and align curriculum. Um they don't provide direct service, but they they
you know, academic coaches uh have significant value. And so, uh that's one concern I'd say. I I continue to be concerned about um athletics and it's important to this community. Um and I
would hope that you know down the road we're in a position to increase our investment in that area. Um but you know we have to think about our core mission first I suppose you know that which is classroom instruction. That's that's the
core that we would want to protect if we were in a difficult budget position. >> Thank you. Just one quick follow-up question from that and just because I'm not in this field with the academic coaching support and you may have already looked at this. Do other towns are they struggling with that same type
of support function and do towns ever share support and bring the coaching together or does the coaching actually happen like in the school in the classroom? >> I think it's so uh it's so um intimate. It's it happens at such a direct onetoone level between the academic
coaches and the um and the classroom teachers. Um and so they're they're and every community has sort of you know we all follow the state standards but unique curriculum um unique materials unique pacing. So that it feels like
that would be difficult. As it is our academic coaches uh the few that we have feel stretched across the schools that they serve. So um but I would say that communities that are in difficult budget
place that's one of the areas they look you know but I mean the truth is that the the needs of students have grown. I think again it's a it's a well-known story over the last decade or so the the social emotional needs the behavioral
needs of students have grown. Uh and I think the expectations have grown. I I'll say as I have often said, we we expect more of our educators than ever before and that's that's probably true of a lot of town personnel, you know, um and um and that's okay. That's what uh
can drive excellence, but I think it's just something to be mindful of. Um you know, creating that continuum of supports is is really really critical. Um, and we've been able to make investments in social emotional supports and behavioral supports. And I' I'd hate
to see us have to pull back on that or retreat on that if we hit if we had some challenging budgets because um, at the end of the day, kids need to be safe, feel safe, feel comfortable, be well adjusted in order to learn. So,
>> Dr. I just want to say one thing >> just to kind of set the stage something just because he he asked a question. So thank you Phil let me come up quick. Um just two two quick comments on kind of what you were saying is kind of looking
out into the future. Number one, the only thing that concerns me about this particular budget because everything did break in our favor. It was like that game where the kid made every single three he ever threw up was this this budget. This was fairly easy, not too painful. There were some pretty decent
adjustments that we think we should make, but we're kind of backing off those for the benefit of the town. The one thing that does make me nervous is we're budgeting down from the actual energy. Um Tom uh or Mr. Maza and Dr. O'Shea said they were comfortable with it, but we are we are budgeting down. I
mean, so hopefully we don't have a bad winter. Who knows what's going to come our way. But to answer your question of, you know, kind of looking forward, does two and a half look decent? Everything is not breaking in our way for the next two years. So if you had to say that
perfect game where everything was working out, we have a lot of things where we're probably already that are working against us a little bit. That doesn't mean that they're not going to be hurdles we'll get over, but I can tell you from from a contractual obligation is hitting 2.5
that's that's a hurdle. Um, so the next not this year, the following year is based off of what's already laid out. So to get to those numbers 2028, it's a decent hurdle. that following year's hurdle
25. Yeah, I it it's it's going to be a rough one to get to get over. I don't think we'll be anywhere near that and keep a level service. I mean, so that's that's the truth of where we are right now. Could you get a bunch of attrition that we don't know is coming our way and we pick up a half million dollars each
year? Possibly. Um but that's just that's being hopeful. That's not being kind of realistic because we've we've had a lot of attrition and a lot of our turnover which is good and it's bad. It's great when you look at your budget, bad whenever you leave the mo the most seasoned people that have a wealth of knowledge that are leaving our you know
our workforce. So those next few years to five truthfully is is is going to is going to be difficult um with keeping everything the same is kind of where we're currently at. But we hope maybe the energy will break our way and
different other things, but we don't we don't really know. So, >> I think that the the collective bargaining piece, you know, the remaining competitive, making sure we're attracting and retaining the best people. Um, you know, we we had >> I think that that's going to be a factor for us in the years ahead, too.
>> Very much. >> Yeah. >> We we met with all you. We know how hard you work on doing that. Uh, but it's >> you have to pay to get the best, >> right? >> Yes. Uh there's no way around that. >> When you're employing so many as many people as you do,
>> when you raise salaries a little bit, it really has ramifications. So >> yeah, >> we appreciate the the hard work you're doing on that. >> Yeah. >> All right. So Dan, >> um thanks for the presentation. Well done. Um just a couple questions. So,
um, with with all the chaos going on at the federal level and Secretary of Education, are we finding or seeing any impacts that are trickling down to Long Meadows specifically? I assume we're watching this on a on a regular basis. It seems like every day there's >> some new threat towards public education
and and just curious on your thoughts. >> Yeah, I I think so. special education, the I uh funds that we receive under IDA um are a component and then funds that we receive under title one. Um so title one funds, it's
another entitlement grant meant to support um students from lowincome or high need situations. Uh we're hearing that the title one funding that Long Meadow uh can anticipate will be below what we're
projecting. So, I do feel like, you know, and whether that's a function of our demographics or it's a function of some shifting priorities at the federal level, I'm not quite sure yet, but we are anticipating that we're going to see less revenue associated uh for title one
programming. Um, and then aside from that, I think the the maybe I'm being a little overly optimistic, but I think the the federal commitment, you know, on both sides, on all sides of the political spectrum to to providing special education supports
um is is long established and I I can't imagine a world where the federal government started to pull back on uh IDA. I do, one of the things that concerns me as someone who's committed to public education and believes in
public education is the federal government perhaps channeling money towards um charter schools or private schools. Um you know, there hasn't been any concrete developments in that area. Um but um that is something that I think I would want to be mindful of, you know,
in terms of shifting federal priorities and what that might mean for us here locally. >> Thank you. And >> yeah, >> uh the the other question, I know we talked a little bit about AI and just kind of the impact. It's the age of AI and I'm just curious um how >> Long Meadow Public Schools is is
addressing AI with with our students, our teachers. I'm sure you have policies in place, but tonight we're talking about the budget and how are we leveraging AI, whether it's cost savings without impacting our students and our teachers. >> Yeah. So I think I think we're seeing
the tools being introduced on the operational side in terms of how we you know manage and administer the schools. I think on the instructional side I think we are uh sprinting to stand still. It is it you know kind of keeping
up with AI developments is is really really challenging. I think it is shifting uh our approach to instruction just to you know kind of have to assume that kids have access to all the knowledge you know that they could
possibly want at their fingertips. So you have to think about you know how do they apply it and have to think about you know developing those AI proof skills collaboration communication reasoning critical thinking creativity
like all those things that you'll need regardless of you know what career you find yourself in. So I do think it is shifting uh our approach to instruction particularly at the at the older grades but um it's it you know as I'm sure the
town is finding kind of keeping up with developments in the world of AI is really really challenging. One last quick question if I could. Um because we always we always bring this up and and it's athletics. Um something
I'm very passionate about. Um and I just want to get an understanding of the $15,000 that we're talking about. What what would that impact be um for athletics? >> Um I'd say we will probably have to make that up in ter with like uh sort of game
management and maybe finding some efficiencies in transportation. So, you know, could it create some uh more inconvenience uh for transportation? Could it have us think differently about site management, game management? Yes.
So, um it's a I think, you know, for a few years now, the school committee has been making it a priority to kind of increase our effort in that area. So, it's, you know, disappointing that we have to pull back because I've long believed you get a ton
of bang for your buck in with athletics. It's it's in terms of the amount of kids that are occupied every single day after school for hours and hours and hours versus the, you know, the costs of running the program. I think it's the return on investment is is significant.
I mean, our our coaches, they're not they're not making they're not becoming they're not enriching themselves with the stipens that we're able to provide them. Um, if you broke it down on an hourly basis, I think it would be uh eye opening.
>> Well, we know the feeling. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Marty, Tom, school committee. I thought this was a great presentation. It was very clearly laid out and uh excellent job. And I just had two comments to make. I think um so we attended some of us attended the Massachusetts Municipal Association
conference this year and that conference some of the themes in that conference as well as what we're seeing right now with all the towns and the and everyone trying to get their budgets together is the impact of inflation and the impact of utility costs and I think it's really important to note that this is also impacting school budgets and something
that schools are also having to contend with and so I just wanted to highlight that that there are far-reaching impacts to these um to these pressures Um, and then the second uh thing I just wanted to mention was looking at that column of potential strategic investments. I just wanted to commend you all because I think so many of the things listed
there, especially the instructional coaching, academic coaching, as well as um the curricul curriculum renewal, those are just in alignment with so much of what we're seeing with best practices and what we're seeing across the country of what's working. I mean, I think there
are so many articles um and stories right now about places like Mississippi and Louisiana that have seen major turnarounds in their educational systems and so many of those um you know jumps in their in in their uh you know
educational um uh improvements are credited towards using academic coaching and to towards uh you know the uh the approach that they've taken to looking at their curriculum and renewing it and everything. So, I'm glad to see that you
all are also, you know, thinking about that that that's front of mind for you all as well. >> Yeah. I mean, a good high quality instructional materials, high quality curriculum, researchbased is expensive for sure. >> Yeah. And then, you know, I think a couple years ago when we did the
curriculum change for literacy program, you know, that was uh really important and, you know, um and I think we've seen the the the benefits of that. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> For sure. Yeah. >> Thank you. All right. >> All right. Thanks for your time.
>> Thank you very much. We appreciate you all coming in here. >> All right. Uh we have no applications. Uh do we have anybody on correspondence? I did stop in and talk to Rachel at Ladies Craze about her dessert trailer
and she told me that Beneath comes in all the time. So just >> what do you have young kids? >> That's weird. He doesn't bring anything for us. >> Yeah, that's a good point. Um, okay. And moving on to the town manager report.
Lyn, >> thanks. So tonight I have um some updates on the MSBA accelerated repair center school projects both for windows and the roof. Both projects are progressing. The MSBA voted to approve
the proposed roof replacement project with a maximum total facilities grant of 3,762,665. We have 90 days to commit the to the funding. Uh this is included on the draft annual town meeting warrant. And as Hay had already reported, in October
of 2025, the MSBA board of directors voted to invite the town into the accelerated repair program for uh schematic design study for the window and door replacement project at center school. A kickoff meeting has been scheduled for March 17th, and that will
start the design work for the windows and the doors. This will hopefully wrap up um and allow us to have a funding article on the fall special town meeting warrant. We do have a very tight timeline here, but and a lot of construction that would take place at one school, but we're hoping to move
these both along at the same time so that we could complete construction at the same time. So, it's less of a disruption for less of a period of time. Um, an update on the middle school building project, site and design review and special permit applications were received by the planning board and
zoning board of appeals uh on March 2nd. And the um zoning board of appeals is going to hold a public hearing on Tuesday, March 24th at 7 p.m. This meeting is virtual and the planning board will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, March 31st at 6 p.m. for the
site and design review application. Both of those meetings are open to the public and the planning board's meeting is a hybrid meeting, meaning it's virtual and in person for people who would like to attend. An update on Bliss Park Playground. After receiving bids, a contract was
signed with Charlie Arment Trucking Incorporated as the low bidder for the installation of the new playground equipment at Bliss Park totaling $149,000. Again, this was a um just a reminder that this was a land and water conservation grant. The substantial
completion for this project is June 12th. We do have a lot of work to do leading up to uh installation. We have demolition and um some ground work that needs to happen and that uh is going to get ready to go as soon as the weather clears. Uh update on the Long Meadow
Converse Street L project. Uh Marray's contractors incorporated has been contracted by MASDOT. They've started preliminary work of staking and pole installations as part of the project. Construction is expected to begin early April of 26. Uh as a reminder, the
project consists of intersection improvements at the intersections of Converse and Laurel, Converse and Long Meadow and Long Meadow and Forest Glennwestern Drive. Uh improvements include new and improved turning lanes, traffic signal reconstruction. Work will
also consist of new signage, pavement markings, and bicycle accommodations. Due to the proximity to I91, we're expecting heavy commuter traffic demand, especially during the weekday peak hours. Uh, this project has been several years in design and planning stages and
has a significant component of roadway and traffic control improvements um along this heavy traveled corridor. Um, we have done some preliminary meetings already and we're working on the traffic control plan as well. So, as soon as we have all of that, we will widely
publicize it. Uh, we're also working on some enhanced engagement efforts just to talk about all of the road and construction projects that are going to start as soon as uh we really hit spring weather. Um, an update on the ADU accessory dwelling unit design guidelines and
standards. A contract was awarded in the amount of $41,850 with Architecture Environment Life, Inc. for design services related to ADUs. Uh, this project is funded through a planning assistance grant awarded by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy
and Environmental Affairs. AAL will perform tasks including project group convening, design and analysis, uh, visualization, and community outreach. The information that AAL gathers in these phases will be used to create a set of design guidelines and standards for ADUs that are tailored to the needs
of uh our town in compliance with the newly adopted ADU bylaw. And my last update regard is regarding the uh Rev 250 work. Uh a web page on the town website was created to provide information on the all of the various programming being offered to mark our
nation's 250th anniversary. You can find that on long meadow.gov. gov164v250. Happy to answer any questions you have. >> Uh yeah, I had a couple, Lynn. Um on the first one, is there a savings if both of the projects are done at the same time.
>> Um uh remains to be seen. Not not sure yet. >> Logistically or logistically it would be much better. >> Yes. Okay. >> And then um on the ADU uh how are the design guidelines implemented? What what does
that mean exactly? >> Um design guidelines would be adopted by the planning board. Um we have some in our zoning bylaws now. So they would if it goes that route, it would need a zoning bylaw update uh at town meeting. But there is some back and forth about
whether or not they actually need a bylaw update uh with the law that they're allowed by. Right. >> Right. That that's what I'm wondering. >> Right. So it we'll have more information as we progress. Depends on what they're looking to try to do, but town council's also been heavily involved.
>> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> All right. Uh any questions from the rest of the board? >> Just go ahead. >> One quick question. So um it's not really related to L project. You mentioned just the roads. So, um, can you remind us when we're going to
receive the list of roads for paving? That was something that came Someone had asked me about. >> Sure. So, um, uh, a couple things. You are going to be getting an update on your pavement management plan, the the town's pavement management plan. Um,
we've just been waiting to get that scheduled when you have a little bit more breathing room in your meetings. So, we wanted to get past the budget and then bring you that report back. Um, I know Beta has that completed and is just waiting to get it scheduled. Um, there um
um are no real road projects, road resurfacing projects planned for 27 like we had in 26. You're going to be getting the capital plan presented by me at the next meeting as along with the budget. That's traditionally where you would see
road resurfacing projects. Um, but we do not have like a a full, you know, road resurfacing uh plan for 27. There just there's not enough funding and not enough resources to uh move that forward.
But I will say you did tackle quite a bit. Your your work with um the DPW to fund that large bond um tackled quite a bit. So, we've made a lot of headway and some of the other road projects that are happening also are road resurfacing
work. They're just not traditionally what um I think you're thinking of like we did last year. >> Yeah. I I I would say that we I've I've personally received a lot of positive feedback just on what we were able to accomplish with the roads and um and I
was just curious because I know this is obviously the time where there's a lot of potholes. We we get it. Um, but there are definitely some stretches that hopefully we're able to address, whether it's like a a skim code or something. Um, some just troubled areas, but we're going to have that conversation at
another time. Anyways, >> yep. Next meeting, the 23rd, we'll talk about some of that. Um, but I will just, as much as I'm saying we don't have stuff planned for 27, that's new stuff. We don't there's not you don't have a new menu of roads that we're going to tackle, but we do have significant
amount of road work that's about to happen. Thank you. >> Uh just to piggy back on Dan's pal comment, my mom did have uh did blow a tire coming through town the other day, so I heard about it. So, uh we get on that.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um All right. Anybody else? Okay, great. Anybody else want to bring up potholes? No. Okay. Um All right. Uh we have a on old business, we have March 2nd, 2026 meeting minutes. Uh thank you for pulling pulling that around or putting
that together so quickly. >> Uh I'll move to approve the March 2nd, 2026 uh select board meeting minutes uh per any edits sent to Pecky. >> Second. >> Uh anything further? All those in favor?
Unanimous. Great. And then moving on to the water and sewer rate discussion. Uh before we move on, Clay asked a good question. Uh and I figure in case he wants to leave. Uh and I Sean, I know
you talked to him outside. Uh has there been any exploration on the federal grants? >> Yes. So, we apply for federal grants pretty much every road we can. Um, we haven't gotten um any SRF funding. Um, we did apply for for the Western Drive project. I don't think I thought it came through, but we have gotten a series of grant applications that have been
successful, including the two tip projects, the um the playground project that we mentioned. So, a variety of of grants we have got. We're very aggressive with them. And just to to sort of clarify the grant process. A lot of times the engineering we pay for,
there's always the caveat that you're doing this engineering for us, but you're going to get us any grant you can for it. So although we don't have a full-time grant writer, the the engineering firms are looking for grants actively, and firms are looking to get into work with us, and they come with usually a print out that says, "This
grant's here. We're going to write it for you with the obviously the agreement that >> it'd be nice if you hired us to do the design and construction." So, we're really aggressive and we've been very successful in getting grants. >> Okay. I thought it was a good question. I know that we hear about grants from you all the time and we know we we're do
make ready work to be ready for grants. So, it's it's good to >> It's the best. It's the best question. I actually texted Lyn and I said that's the question I would be asking if I was a taxpayer. What are you doing for grants? So, >> good. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you.
>> Um before I start, Peggy, I sent you a >> I have the most recent one. >> Perfect. Um, okay. >> Okay. >> So, I'll have I'll have you move around slides as we go, but um, uh, members of the board, good
evening. Um, today I have a hopefully shortened presentation for you to go over, um, some updated water rates. As we discussed at our last meeting, I'm bringing you three options today. One of them in particular, I'll highlight at the beginning to say that this is not something that I would recommend to the
board. I simply show it to the board so that they can understand that there is an option that I would call delay and defer. This is not something that I would say is fiscally um responsible nor prudent. But I want to show the board that this is something that is an option
and is something that we need to at least acknowledge as um both for the residents and as the town. So going into the presentation, I have three options for you today and we'll start off quickly with um what the context of the
situation is. So if you go to the next slide, Peggy. So really when we think about water sewer, we think about what are the considerations, what are the pain points that the town looks at when it comes to setting its rates. So four main things, compounding costs, public
safety risks, operational instalibility, and loss grant opportunities. Sean was just talking about how engineering firms are really looking for projects and really looking out for grants for communities like ours. Um eliminating engineering funds. This is a big part of the operating budget as well as
sometimes capital asks. Um in two of the presentation in two of the options today I'll be showing you what would half fund engineering ask and full fund engineering ask and what that would mean. When we eliminate engineering funds from our budgets, we eliminate the
ability to seek state grants like mass works that offset the cost that we give to our taxpayers. Going further than that, grants impact also operationally things like water valves. And you all love to hear alerts when our water
valves break. These are the kinds of things that cause larger service issues. And having service outages is not fun for the residents. It's not fun for the town. Um, going further on that, when these water valves break, this can cause fire
hydrants to become unusable. And there's a term for that called bagged. Um, this compromises the fire department's ability to protect the community when fires break out either during um dry season or in accidents. Um, further this
compounds all to deferring routine costs. As we all know, the town is a series of roots, buildings, roads, and infrastructure. The longer we delay on doing these routine things can compound
into million-doll emergency repairs that comes with replacing large sections of pipes, that comes with replacing large sections of sewer systems and storm water drains. It is not something that the board has shown that it wants to risk. This is why I bring these options
for you today. So, going right into it on the next slide, you'll see the two options that I will call option two and option three. Option two is what I will call the half-fund option and option three is what I will call the fully
funded option. Some assumptions on this. Um, this assumes funding $125,000 towards the water retained earnings as this is for the water budget first. This also assumes half funding all of the
operational requests provided by Sean and Lisa. So, this is money that's going towards water valve replacement. This is money that's going towards engineering. This is also fully funding our request for Springfield Water Sewer as this is an obligation that we're required to do.
um this 4% increase um to the variable rate and a 5% increase to the fixed rate. This would generate uh 5.6 million in revenue for the enterprise fund which comes from 526,000 of fixed rate revenue
and about 5 million of variable rate revenue. Uh the reason that I chose to do a higher fixed rate than a higher variable rate is as the board has discussed in the past uh fixed rates are guaranteed revenue and are not impacted
by variability in usage as it is understood that residents from time to time might use more or less and as rates and as well as costs become higher residents might choose to irrigate less.
This is something that the board has expressed concern about and is something that the town is monitoring when it looks at setting its rates. >> Um, can I inter you want to interject? >> I think I know what you're going to ask. Um, the presentation linked on the
website is um a the full version to what's up on the screen is a shortened condensed version. So, if you're looking at the one linked on the agenda, you're going to be wanting to look at slide 13. So, I I was going to ask that because the slide we're looking at, you said 4%.
I didn't see that anywhere. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> Um, so 13 is where we should go. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> no, no, no. Peggy, leave. >> Thanks, Lyn. Sorry, I I did not mention that. >> So, um, just so the board is aware, um,
the original slides that I sent to you, um, this is a shorter version just to highlight what I'll call the main points. So, it's looking at the rates themselves. Um, a discussion on sewer, I'm sorry, on the community comparison,
a discussion on Springfield Water Sewer Commission, and then looking at the cost comparisons for residents. Those are the main things I wanted to get to you today. >> Can I ask one more question before you proceed? >> Sure. when you were saying um this uh is does option two and option three meet
those goals of 125k to the um retain um earnings? I wasn't sure if you meant only option three does that. >> Sure. So in the in the breakout I tried to show on the second to last line there's a line for retained earnings. Option two is what I would call the half
funding where last year the board chose to do 250,000 towards retained earnings. That would be captured fully in option three. No, that's actually helpful if you want to zoom that back in. It's a little small text, I realize. >> So option two is the half funding where
we would only be putting 125,000 towards retained earnings. >> So >> option three put the 250. >> Option three puts the 250. Yeah. And what you see at the bottom that cushion we know that >> this is the graph on the right side. Um the like the third line up
>> is retainer. >> Yes, that's it. >> Yeah. >> Um Andrew, you >> I have it now. Yeah. >> Okay. Um the last line on the graph to the right shows a cushion where we are looking at
what rates are and trying to get as close to possible as even with building in some buffer as we know that there's variability in usage and making sure that we are not overburdening the residents with rates. So look that's our two main takeaways
for the water budget impact is we're looking at two different rate options. one that I will call the full option that looks at funding all of the requests made by uh the DPW for the year and one that is half funding the option. Um going now to the next slide. Um this
would be the sewer proposals. >> Sorry, before you move on, I just can I just clarify something? Um so option one only funds the increase from Springfield Water and Sewer. >> Okay. And I just want to clarify that in that I misunderstood from our last
meeting that it was a 6% increase. I had a conversation with Josh earlier that day. This was March 2nd. Um and mistakenly relayed to Josh that it was a 6% increase. That was not accurate. It's an 18% increase in Springfield water and
sewer. The 6% is a three-year flow factor that Springfield uses when assessing us. That's where the six number came from. >> Thanks, Lyn. Yeah, that's helpful to know. >> All right. Um the next slide looks at
our sewer proposals. So, same thing. Um looking at option one. This only funds our Springfield Water Sewer Commission request. It does not fund any other >> 19th. Go ahead. >> Next one. >> Yeah. No, no, no.
You say >> um 19 this >> only funds our spring for water sewer ask does not fund any other operational expenses. Um option two and three are our half and
full asks where they fund partial um operational request and 125,000 of retained earnings for sewer and option three funds the full 250,000 for sewer. Looking at the right side of the graph, you see how that works out in terms of revenue generated for the enterprise
fund with option one generating three million of revenue, option two generating 3.3 million of revenue, and option three generating 3.5 million of revenue with fixed rates and variable rates shown above. Um, in terms of the
overall budget, um, as you can see, option one is the least with very little funded within the budget with 2.8 8 million of the overall budget, 3.1 million for option two, and 3.45 million for option three, resulting in a little
bit over $100,000 of cushion for the fiscal year if the rates were held as is. For option two, this rate would be a 25% increase in the fixed rate with a 20% decrease in the FY27
variable rate, which um and then option three would be a 12% decrease in the variable rate and a 25% increase in the fixed rate. >> Um if we move on to the next slides, >> just holding for this one for second.
I I called Ian today in a panic saying this is so many slides. Can you please help me understand? Um and he did. So can you can you explain why the for anybody watching why the base rate would go down uh in this instance?
>> Yeah. So if you're looking at the three different options, it looks different because if you're looking at option one to option two to option three, it looks like it's going up. And that would be confusing to someone that doesn't realize what the rate increases are. So
this is comparing the FY26 sewer rate to the FY27 proposed rates. So the prior year rate for sewer for its variable rate was $5.17. So a 25% decrease in the rate would
bring it to $3.88. 20% would bring it to 414 and a 12% would bring it to 455. You actually answered a different question than I had before. Why are the rates going down at all? >> Oh, sure. Um, one because we have funded
our retained earnings and our rate increase in the prior year enough that we had enough revenue generated that we did not need a larger increase that we did previously. One of the big things that the board talked about FY26 was
that uh yeah for f for setting fiscal FY26 budget was that we needed a large increase to the point that we had um enormous fixed rate increases in the prior year that resulted in our FY27
budget being reflected against that higher revenue which means that we needed less revenue generated in 27. One of the things that you might ask is, "Well, Ian, you showed me a a larger increase in the first round of proposals." And I would say, "You're
correct." One of the reasons for that is when Lisa and I were going back, we noticed that there was a formula error in our model, and that resulted in some revenues not being captured in what we totaled as our revenue generated. This resulted in more revenues than we
expected, which resulted in needing to ask for a lower increase than originally proposed. >> Have we double checked the model since then? >> Yes, we have. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Okay. >> Well, I'm just kidding. I can wait. >> All right. So, looking at the next two
to three slides kind of looks at our retail water charge comparison from Long Meadow to our surrounding communities. So, the important thing to note is you'll see that there are some communities that have a star next to them. Those are communities that have tiered rates. Um, I'd like to note also
for the board that this does not include fixed rates as we just talked about in our rate proposals. Unfortunately, I do not I did not bring that into the presentation today. it. I thought it was important to mention that that is something that we can include in the
future, but I thought it was important to at least acknowledge that we are competitive when it comes to the variable rate with other communities on a per cubic foot basis. This is for uh retail water. Going to the next slide, we look at our sewer
community charge comparison. And the same thing here, there are a couple communities that have tiered rates. uh within the presentation you'll see that the tiered rates I showed in the um in the graph represent the highest possible option for those communities. Um for
example, Northampton has a tiered rate of um 786. Um for Boston they have six different tiers ranging from $6.62 62 cents per 100 cubic feet up to $12.51
per cub 100 cubic feet. So in order to make it more comparative I show the most um the largest um rate increases so that you would see the comparative differences. Ultimately on the next slide I show how those two combined into our total
combined rate for the communities. And you can see on this that when projected against our surrounding communities um on a per cubic foot basis, we are relatively competitive. Now, as the select board of residents might ask,
what the heck is 100 per cubic feet? So, this is a benchmark that is used by the American Waterworks Association to benchmark communities on a comparative level when it comes to usage of water and sewer. Normally you would look at something like gallons or you look at a
per unit cost basis and unfortunately there's not an apples to apples way to do that because some communities use less water than others. So the best way for us to compare is at a 100 per cubic foot basis which is what I presented to you.
Um moving on to the next slide. Uh Peggy if you go to slide 11 please. Um, we are looking at the Springfield Water Sewer estimate annual cost. This is the five-year forecast for uh Springfield Water Sewers assessments to
Long Meadow. >> The thing that I want to highlight for the board and for residents is specifically FY29. FY29 represents a $3.3 million uh increase or I'm sorry $3.3 million
assessment to the town of Log Meadow for its water usage. Now, what does this entail? So, if you are not aware, uh West Parish Treatment Plant is scheduled to be complete in FY2028. This has resulted in about hund00
million of debt borrowings for speaker waters in FY27 and another 152 million of debt service issued in FY28. This will be a large hit to all communities part of Springfield Waters treatment system including Awan East
Meadow South and Springfield. This is something that when we look at water rates and sewer rates in the future is something we want to keep in mind as this is coming and this is something that will impact our rate setting process. So I want to make sure that the
board is aware that this is coming in the future and it is a large impact to our rate process. 12. >> Um, if you want to go to I think it's 18, >> go down to the cost comparisons.
>> Thanks, Peggy. So, just to highlight real quick, um, this is our defer and delay option that I'll call it what this would look like for a low, average, and high user. Now, really this is a
marginal change at most for the users. If you look at a low user, their FY26 to FY27 rate would decrease about $38 or about 8%. An average user would see about $161 decrease or about 11%
decrease. And a high user would see about a $222 decrease or about 8 and a half%. So this is, you know, on a annual basis, these are real dollars that residents would see in their pockets. However, I don't think this is the correct option because it does nothing.
We don't see any progress in the way of replacing valves or doing engineering work or putting any money towards retain earnings. And the board understands that this is the cost of doing business. So, I I just I want to highlight that this option exists, but it's not an option
that I would recommend. Moving on to the second option. This is our half-funded option where we would put 125,000 for of retained earnings and half fund our engineering and water valves. Um as well as our half funding
for water sewer for sewer as well. As these are combined rates, we have to look at how a low average and high user would impact by this. Um for a low user, the FY26 to FY27 rate would increase about 78 cents which is not even a
percent. It's about 0.2%. An average and high user would actually see decreases in their rate. And you might ask the question, why would an average and high user see decreases while a low user sees a slight increase? And this is due to the fact that the
rate is now pushing more and more towards fixed costs which are guaranteed by the system versus usage costs. In the final option, we look at option three, which sees about a $33 increase
in the low user, a $2 increase in the average, and a $21 increase on the high user. Now, these are real dollars, so I understand the board's um willingness to hear these options, and I hope the board has, you know, feedback or
considerations for these options. Now the important thing I want to note is we have low, average and high users. But what does that mean? The next slide looks at what that means. So 86 and a half% of lawn metal residents, our users
fall between more than low and up to average or more than average up to high which makes sense statistically. If you think about a standard deviation, one of those charts that you saw in your stats class back in college, the largest percent of your residents are going to
be in that middle zone. So, they're going to see that $2 to $80 uh increase or decrease in their average costs um or a $1 to $33 increase in their lower costs. So, when we think about what this
means for residents, it is not an astronomical change in their rates on a year-to-year basis. And I think that really is to the credit of the board for the work that they've done in order to set the rates at a level that we now can officially catch up and we are at the
point now where we can kind of chart our own destiny and plan ahead versus trying to be reactive. I think this is really the key thing that I want to take away from this presentation that there's a lot of work been done by the board to make sure that we're in a good place. I
think you all should acknowledge that we've reached a good place and now it's just deciding what to do with that. >> Thank you. And can you remind us what the rate increase was for uh water and sewer last year? >> Sure.
>> What size is that? >> Um that's not on here, but So for sewer uh it was a 47% increase for water. >> I think it was a 4 to 44. >> 44. Yeah. Thank you.
with 150% increases on the fly rate. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. So, uh I appreciate all the work you put into this and uh I know you worked hard at Lisa uh on this. Um so,
I open up to the board and see what we think. I it's we set out with a goal to give ourselves uh give the town some funds to do work with and to uh capture or to try to make up some of
the the backlog of work. Um and we've putting ourselves in a position where we can do it. It wasn't easy uh and painless, but I'm glad we did it. So, uh we're in a much better place. Uh, I think also at the beginning of every one of these presentations, you should probably put our map showing off our red
roads. Um, because that that's the one that I always think of that. >> Oh, yeah. That was uh that's why we're doing this because we're we're in a precarious place. Um, but we're getting better. So, go ahead, Andrew. >> Um, yeah, I agree. I mean, I think this board has been pretty unanimous in
supporting this effort to get us in a better position. I appreciate you giving us these three options. I I'm I'm not entirely sure. Um I think you did it because we asked for it, but it seems pretty clear you're asking us and recommending option three, which is kind
of in line with what we've been trying to do, which is to I mean, it doesn't make sense to me that we would do something good last year and then stop doing what we're what we said we would do. Um I yeah I mean I think that to to
not fund what we think we need to do. It's already less than last meeting. Last meeting you said it was going to be 13%. Now it's only 7%. You know and it's it's pretty much in line with what residents are accustomed to from last year. So I I mean I I I guess I'm glad that you gave us these options but I
think that in my from my view it seems that to continue the course that we've set out on option three is the best option. And my only question I do think these slides were a little confusing to be honest. Um but one of the questions I had was if you want so obviously I
understand option three is you feel necessary to fund all of our projects but I noticed that our retain earnings we want to get to a million is at 800,000 something. >> Yep. >> So was the 250 like an arbitrary number because it's 125
>> is half of 250 like because then it would put us over. >> Yeah. I mean, obviously more is better, but and but I just wondering where that number came from. >> So, that 250,000 came from the time bond study from back in March of 25 >> 34 25 it was.
>> Yeah. >> Um and when and I'm going to try to represent this here. They had a graph that showed capital projects and retained earnings for the water sewer funds. They recommended about 250,000 of retained earnings year-to-year for us to
catch up to that million-dollar goal. Um, granted, we have reached that goal >> earlier than we anticipated because this was to be over four years, not two years. Now, >> as an aside, the board has policies in
place that show a minimum of 500,000 for water sewer and a maximum of a million and a half. So, we have already reached the minimum board policy for water and we're just shy of it for sewer. So, it's
important to make note that that's a great thing that we're already there and I can understand if the board wanted to fund less towards retained earnings. Being that we're already at that point, I can understand why. >> Well, 250 would put us just barely over.
So, I'm not objecting to it. I was just wondering where that came from. And I guess I think you know Ian also was kind to spend a lot of time talking to me about this as well today. I felt I understood it better when we talked this afternoon before until compared to now, but it's fine. Um I think
yeah, I guess um yeah, I think I think it's it's a good the data you've shown is good. And I think the question that I had that I thought you might mention was what it looks like in the future years if we chose option three.
>> And so I didn't know if you were going to add a slide or just >> I do have those slides. I wasn't sure if um you would bring that up. So >> yeah. >> Yeah. So if you go to 25 or did you want just option three or do you want >> Well, yeah. I thought you were going to say, "Oh, here's what happens if we do
option two." It's going to go up a whole lot later. We're just kicking the can down the road. Option three. So this is kind of um more of the forecasting approach where we look at what future years look like. So for option two, if we look at FY28 through FY30,
um we would see some rate impact in both fixed and variable rates if we wanted to keep up with our assumptions here. So what are our assumptions? Our assumptions are 4% increases in salaries that equates to a two and a half step which is our normal step for employees
and a one and a half% for cola. So a little under what um we have done in the past. It also assumes for option two about a quarter% increase in our expenses for the uh water enterprise
fund. Normally when we do the water or the budgetary kickoff in December, we do about a half a percent increase in our expenses that we project. So this would be a little less than that. And those and that is projected over three years.
So looking at what the impact of that will be over that three years. Um we know for a fact that come 29 we're going to have that big hit with Springfield Water Sewer within our expenses. And additionally, we also have the water
meters and water mains projects that are coming online in the next two years. So that will be an increase to our debt service, which is why you see the increase in FY28 and FY29 before rates start to fall off in FY30. So for the
board's um understanding, the next two years, we should see some rate impact on both option two and option three. And I think it's more of the direction that the board wants to go now that we know this information. So looking at option
three now, option three is slide 26, Peggy, uh for water. Um you'll see that it's very similar in terms of the fixed rates and it's a little different in terms of the variable rates. And again, this is what I came up with. We can
certainly modify the rates if need be if the board wants a direction of going more in the fixed rate category or less in the variable rate however that wants to be worked out. But in this option here, we'll see about a 55% increase in
the fixed rates for FY28 to cover that uh debt service costs as well as the debt service cost in FY29 and the uh Springfield Water Sewer impact that's expected with the rates um seeing an uh
drop off in FY30 when rates start to stabilize. So all of this to say um 20 uh in option two and option three they're very similar in terms of the rate impacts for um FY28 and FY29. The
difference lies in the fact that one of them is funding more retained earnings and one of them is funding full asks of the board of the town. So when Sean um and Lisa come to the board and explain the DPW budget, they come with their
operational goals of what they want to get done and option three allows them to get those operational goals done >> versus option. >> So that's where the money's going because it's not that different. >> Yeah. >> With regard to the rates. >> Can I ask one question just to make sure I'm keeping it straight? So with saying
that that it'll help fund what we want to do with option three for 2029 does option three also help us prepare for that. >> So that is what I'm trying to do here is once we reach FY29 this is assuming we
use no retained earnings for reducing the impact of debt service or reducing um rate volatility. Um the retained earnings policy allows the board to offset bonding costs, offset seasonal
variability, um address deficiencies. So it is something that the board has the ability to use retained earnings once we reach those goals to reduce further impact. >> Okay. >> Versus taking the full brunt of these rate impacts. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Yeah. >> Um so I think I I'm kind of two minds on this. Uh one, I I definitely agree with Andrew on we got to continue on doing what we're doing. We set out a goal. We
shouldn't uh let off the gas here. On the other hand, um I think that we really shocked people last year with the rate increase um despite all of our efforts to communicate. And if we can
take some of the pressure off when people are feeling a lot of pressure otherwise I think that is not the uh I think that that is something we should look into. Um but I on the but on the other hand I we need to do what we need
to do and uh but I think the way to do that and and doing this I talked to Ian today about kind of want to request a hybrid uh approach here is I think we should continue to increase the fixed cost and put a lot more into that
because that way everyone's getting their share. we are much more predictable and if I'm also I am worried that this year um I'm not environmentally I'm happy but
from budget wise I'm worried that people will water less and be a little more responsible on it and I don't want us to rely a lot on variable rates and then come in a lot under what we thought we would and um so I think the way to do
that is to increase the fixed rate and so a modest increase on the variable rates and start pushing more on that that fixed rate. >> Can I make a quick comment on that? And of course, >> totally understand. Um my only concern
is that we're showing he's showing that >> with the fixed cost, which would totally agree in principle, but even if we chose option three, the the most fiscally expensive or responsible option, it's going up 55% the next year for fixed
cost. and 40% the next year after that. So it's already going to be going up because of the debt service and stuff a great deal like 30 like I don't know I feel like to the fixed costs are going up a lot no matter what we do
>> but that so let's say we 60% raise on fixed costs in real dollars is a lot less than 7% fixed or variable rate for somebody uses 60 units >> true a quarter so um I yeah it in in
that It's it is hard to picture. >> And we went up 150 last year. So, >> right. >> Partly because it was a slow low ass. >> We were nothing. >> Yes, that's right. >> Yeah, >> that's true. >> Um, so that that's just where I'm coming in. And I know that you have the model.
If you can monkey around with it and >> give us some some other options and we can talk about uh you said you could send me some options on that. Yeah. So, if I could ask, would the board want to see options where there's little to no
variable rate increase and almost entirely fixed rate increase or is it are you looking for a combination like what? >> Yeah, I think for for curiosity's sake and maybe if you can then translate that into the uh low, middle, high users for
real dollars, >> I think that that could be very useful. >> But for Ian sake, can I clarify? You're not um suggesting any half funding. You're just saying let's fully fund like option three is the goal goal, but but just just change how much of that fully
funded uh goal is from fixed cost versus you're not suggesting the option two is literally >> he's calling it half funding. >> Do we just to make it clear to be on the same page with going back with Ian because otherwise we're going to say can you can you move this over here a little
bit? Can you do that? and it's going to just be super confusing. I'm already confused with some of the the slides being changed. >> Yeah, I apologize on that. >> So, I think Josh, you know what I'm trying to say. Like, >> are you So, we just need even the target and then are you just saying you're interested in changing those two
variables and how much each of them are part of it? >> Uh, that's a good question. >> Yeah, because if you if you don't if you're thinking of like the halfunded, then it's doubles the number of options for the next meeting basically. No, I when I first looked at this, I
said I think that I was just thinking trying to think of mod way to modestly raise water rates uh while also recognizing that we can't just throw up our hands and give up. And so option two, it still gets us a lot of the way,
but if we if we stop doing projects, and I have this with the house project right now, it's only going to get more expensive. So I think in the end it would be foolish of things be very contradictory to everything we've all been saying the last year to to have
fun. So yes I I think I would like to see different ways of doing so far. >> That's all right. And just really quick because Andrew asked about forecasting. Um we've talked a lot about water. I'll quickly go through sewer because sewer is what
I'll say in a lot better situation. So Peggy, if you want to go to the next uh slide 28. >> 28. >> Yeah, 20 uh 29 because that would go option two. So 29 and 30 show option two and option three for sewer. As you can
see, um we are at the point where we can do no variable rate increase and only fixed rate increases for the next three years. that is including debt service
and Springfield water um increases. Um and if you look at 20 uh option two versus option three uh the next slide Peggy um you're looking at four 56 and 28 2930 to a 777. So really it's you
know >> and this this will make a real impact on people's bills at the end of the day and and that's >> I'm sorry. Can you restate the point? Um the point the point with option two versus option three is there's very little um rate difference if we were to
half fund versus fully fund for sewer in the upcoming years in terms of future rate increases. >> Yeah. So for anyone watching, >> okay, >> the water rate up until is it the two any quarter up to 55 gallons of units,
>> you're charged you're charged a water and a sewer rate, right? >> In the summer quarter. So two of the four quarters, if you reach 55 units, you only pay for 55 units on the sewer rate. In the winter, you're paying for full on both, no matter what.
>> No matter what. If you're using 55 units in the winter, you got a leak. You got a problem with >> something a weird >> that has a leak. >> Yeah. >> Um Okay. Yeah. So, if we by limiting what we're doing here, that will be a
very tangible impact on people if they're expecting a jump like last year. They just won't get it because of this. That that's going to make a big difference no matter what we do on the water side. >> Dan, do you have something? >> No. >> Oh, yeah. So, um uh thank you Ian uh for
this presentation. So, I mean, I understand why you gave us option two versus option three and it was because of I think the residents public reaction to the water increase and I think that there might be value and something that we should think about in giving people
relief maybe this year um and half funding versus fully funding. But I guess what I would like to know is option two versus half option three half funding versus fully funding. What are we giving up if we have fund versus fully fund for a year? You
>> had it on the slide. You want >> I can talk about so some of the changes in the operating budget on the water side were putting valve exercising into the operating budget which we had had one capital expenditure a few years back but we haven't done any of it essentially in years. Um and so when we
go to sort of leak we can't a lot of times it makes this this chasing of the leak for huge it's huge neighborhood impacts and we waste hours. So last Monday night, I think we looked to isolate a valve for 8 hours, 6 hours. So it's a massive impact and then it breaks
and then we're caught doing an emergency repair. Um so our system has not been active not been that not been um up up kept up the way it should be and so we're just we're way way behind and we're trying to start the the process of catching back up. Half funding is still better than what we've been doing, but
we're nowhere near where we should be. So that's on the valve exercising and the valve replacement. um we we need to spend a lot of money on it. On the hydrants, it's pretty obvious. You have a bagged hydrant in your front yard and the fire department can't use it and it looks terrible. So, we have these these hydrants, they should be fixed and we should be utilizing them. So, if we
don't fund this, we don't exercise valves and we don't fix fire hydrants, at least not to the extent we have been. Moreover, the the engineering um money that's in there that is vital for grants also helps us um sort of move projects along. When suddenly there's a magnolia
circle where we have 10 breaks in one spot, we can start engineering of that and get the the estimates in in a few months to get ready to get funding to fix it. As well as um you know, we had to use a portion of um water engineering to do the work underneath the proposed
roundabout for that mass works grant. So, it helps us sort of do some judo, if you will. Um, and it helps us get set up to do big projects and to hopefully get grants. >> Okay. So, option two is versus option three is not necessarily saying, okay,
we're not doing this one project. It's just we're making kind of cuts across the board. There are just going to be fewer valve exercises, fewer, you know, hydro maintenance, different maintenance there, and fewer engineering done. Yes. Right. Okay. So, it's kind of
>> Yeah, we're we're just taking a risk that we're not getting to these things fast enough. We're losing momentum. It could end up >> Yes. >> causing a bigger problem down the road if we don't get >> Yeah, it will. I mean, we're we're living it. We're triaging as as Andrew has said all the time. And at some
point, you've got to like stop triaging and actually try to start rebuilding the system in a functional manner. And so, I think the budget that we presented or have presented including those is the correct budget. I don't think there's a lot of waste and the money goes back to the funds if we don't use it. So, it's
not as if you're not going to have it back. I think it's good to have and I think if we can get those projects done, they're important for the system. In the case of sewer, I think it's actually more important to slip line the decaying sewer lines than you can imagine. There's millions of dollars in
savings to spend if we can slip line every year and get those hot spots taken care of, which will also save on maintenance. So that is an absolute need that I strongly recommend that we do that and we've done no root control as well um for years. So there's a that
money for the mains in the sewer also be to treat roots to get the the sewer system functioning properly. >> Yeah. I mean I think with the sewer options it seems clear that that we should be doing option three just because there is not that significant a difference between option two and option three. So why not fully fund it? Why not
do what we need to do? Um but thank you for explaining option two versus option three. I think that >> for me at least, you know, at least that those concrete examples will make this um makes it much clearer for me that option three is is the better choice here.
>> And I think that we we had had the discussion early on about some of these line items u being capital lines, but they they really don't belong there. They should be in the operating budget. So we move them into them because they should exist there and we should be looking at these lines and say, "Oh, we got to do this." you know, it shouldn't be a capital product that we do every
couple years. So, just want to throw it out there. That's been a change in terms of the the line items in the operating budget. >> Yeah. Yeah. Completely agree. >> Oh, sorry. Were you >> still done? >> No, I'm I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um just another question around um with
with option three because I was looking at um FY29 with Springfield. So, just so I'm clear, so option three would would basically lessen the the burden on rate payers, correct? It's not we're not going to see as big of a jump
come FY29 and then we can possibly tail off after. >> Yes. So the goal the goal with the larger funding of retained earnings is that the board has the option of using
the retained earnings to either reduce borrowing costs for our upcoming borrowings or to use it towards um reducing the rate. Ultimately the town would strongly recommend that the board use it towards capital projects because
that only reduces our deferred cost. the board can take the option to um use those funds to reduce the rates further and lesser the impact in FY29 when we know that there's going to be um large rate variability, >> right? But we don't have to we don't
have to use those funds to to bring the rate down. We could just have a a a lower rate if we have if >> if we have enough funds. >> If we have enough funds. So that's kind of yeah, like that's what I'm So this conversation just makes me start to think more and more. We're we're doing
the right things. Previously, we're buying essentially buying down the rate almost over time. Y >> that was hurting us, put us behind. We're in a good good spot now uh financially. Obviously, a lot of a lot of projects remain. Um but we might have
to start taking a look at our policy as well. I I with kind of where we're in a better spot, but I feel like we're going to probably have to take that up as a board and see I mean maybe it's a question to you. Do you foresee that with where we're at, where we're heading
with these rates and funds that are available that we might want to take a look at the policy? >> Yeah, absolutely. And I know Lynn and I have started talking about a full look through of the financial policies within the select board. I know Sean has told me specifically that um our retained
earnings policies are too low given the size of our sewer system and what we have for usage. So, it is something that I'm looking to um take on in the foreseeable future. >> Awesome. Thank you.
>> Anything else for >> No, this was really helpful. >> Did you have anything to add? I just wanted to just go back just so we're crystal clear because we're tenatively scheduled to have you vote on the 23rd. So for sewer, it seems like option three,
you're good with that one for the most part. Um water, can you just tell me where you landed with that so I know what we all go back and start working on? >> He didn't. So I think what we think
feels like there's agreement that we want uh to go with option three for the water. Um but I think what we were curious to know is whether we could play around the fixed uh rates a little bit more and just see if yeah if there were options around that. >> Yeah.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. So >> further options within option three >> luckily there's a deadline >> I was saying option 3 a 3B >> I think it's actually option 2.5 >> uh and just regarding the um public
engagement on this because I know it was something that came up a lot last year um after your meeting last week we developed um social media to um inform residents on what you were doing in advance of a vote and how they could
keep informed on that. So, we pushed that out and then it's also um being publicized on LCTV as well. So, that's what we've done so far. If you do want a reverse 911 call, we can schedule that. It's um it would definitely be a
different approach than what we've taken for some of your other votes, but um I know this was >> when is our next mailed bill? >> Yeah, I think that that would be >> Yeah, I think that's where we >> more >> I don't want to do reverse 911 unless everyone feels >> Yeah, I'm kind of against that as well, >> but I think now people will uh after
opening one bill that got their attention, I I think that they'll hopefully they're still opening up bills and looking. >> When is the next one going out? >> May. >> May. Okay, great. Before the year, so they'll know. >> And I also think that this year, I mean, looking at that the bar graph that you
created for option three, most people's bills are going to be very similar to what they were last year. So, I don't anticipate there to be as strong of a reaction this year. I mean, I think what we also saw was a lot of people pull up their water bills from the same quarter, the prior year, and I think folks will do that and see that it's pretty
similar. And so, I I don't think it's going to be that big of a, you know, big of a shock or or that many questions about it. Um Josh, you made a point about um water rates and water usage specifically. I think I would I'll speak for myself, but
I know Lisa and Sean and I have talked about um talk uh quarterly meetings about water sewer because given the size of the enterprise funds, given the importance to both the board and the town, I feel that we should be meeting on this board just to go over where we
are in the budget cycle in terms of how rates are doing throughout the year so that the board is better prepared come this time to we're not having either as many meetings or there's just more consensus about what's going on so that we can ask better questions.
>> I think it's a good idea because we we get the um the graphs over the summer over uh showing our water usage and our buys and um if we I hate to draw you out at night, but if you if we can have more discussions on that, I think that's a
good idea. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you guys. >> Oh, Lisa, you're not going anywhere. I'm not going anywhere. Um, so this is to follow up on last meeting. We talked about recycling carts. Um, we talked about a little bit more that I'll get back to you later on.
Um, just in a week turnaround. We are now looking just for you to uh make a decision on pricing for if any recycling carts get broken or lost and if people want to swap in the future and should we be charging a transportation rate if we
are needing to do the swapping for them. So I um in my memo I reput what the prices are for us to purchase the carts and then what our recommendations were um last meeting. >> Um so just so we we're all on the same
page. So replacement on future swaps $75 any size you want. We're going to charge you 75 even if you want a smaller one which I think is fine. Um, and I I I'm sure there will people asking smaller ones, but mostly be people asking for the biggest. >> Yeah. >> So, that's built in.
>> Yeah. >> And so, the $15 transportation charge, that's if uh we already have one on hand and we have to buy one. >> So, that would be for the current people who have asked for a swap. Half of the people so far we've swapped and they've come to the office and done the swap
themselves. It's now if we have still another 163 houses that say they can't transport it and our staff is now going to be needing to go full-time doing transports. Should we be charging those residents a transportation? >> And we already we already paid for those.
>> Yeah. Well, yes. So, we've already bought those carts and we sort of said in that period if they signed up then the swap is free to get the cart. But it's how are they getting >> 15 bucks covers our time to load the truck and go around? >> Yeah. I'd draw one of our staff to go out and start. Yeah, I think this is
very reasonable. >> Yeah, I do too. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Uh, do we have a motion to accept these prices? >> I make a motion to accept the prices for uh recycling carts. >> Why don't we Why don't we do two two
motions? So, for the >> You want to do for the cost for lost damage carts and future swaps? >> Yeah. Why don't Why don't we do that first? Okay. I make a motion for the cost um to set the cost for loss damage carts and future swaps. >> Second.
>> Any further on that? All those in favor? >> Okay. Uh I want to make a motion to set the price for replacement cards and future swap requests and delivery charges for swaps. >> Second. >> All right. Anything further? All those
in favor? And just on both of those, we just note that it's the prices as set forth in the motion. Just so we >> Thank you. >> Y Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Lisa. >> Uh this next one, this uh mysteriously stayed on the agenda. We voted on this
last week. >> So then we have um the environmental preferable purchasing policy. Lyn, do you want to discuss this? >> Thanks. So, this is just a pretty standard policy update. Um, we've been doing it almost annually. Um, and it's
generally been just acknowledged by the town manager. Um, it can be done that way or it can be done through the select board. We wanted to bring it back to you tonight just as a way to also talk about the ongoing policy updates. So, we haven't forgotten about this. We do know
that we are going to do some assignments. Um, one of the reasons we waited is um, Division of Local Services has uh, put out a um, uh, workshop that Ian and I are both signed up to attend. This is one that they had kind of teased
to us last year that they were working on when we went to that financial forecast one. Um they have developed a uh booklet of best practice financial policies that they are distributing around to all of the um Massachusetts communities and they're doing a workshop
to help you build those out in real time with the specifics for your community. So Ian and I are attending that in a a couple weeks. So, we didn't want to have the board spend a lot of time looking at the financial policies when we are potentially going to bring you a really
robust set of updated policies. So, um we also know that we all have a lot on our plate at the moment. So, this is something that could likely wait until after the budget um and maybe we close the warrant and then pivot to this. So, um, wanted to bring the B by buy recycled policy to you as just a way to
to tell you we're still doing policy work. Um, but you're not going to assign the full review until after you close the warrant. So, this is again, this is an annual policy. Um, according to the policy book, it can be adopted by the town
manager or select board. Um, I have been doing it in years past. It's just an annual update we do that keeps us in um the good graces of mass D. >> Okay. Uh do you want us to move on it tonight? >> That'd be great.
>> Okay. Um do we have a a motion on this? >> So are we making a motion to support this or for Lynn to be the one to accept this? >> I think you want us to accept it. >> Yeah. Just to accept it. Okay. Okay. So, I make a motion to accept the town of Long Meadow environmentally preferable
purchasing policy for March 2026. >> Second. >> Um, any discussion? >> And I would just note for anyone uh for any fiscal hawks, it all this is subject to it being a good deal. Uh, fiscally responsible. Okay.
>> Great. Um, all right. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor? Thank you, Lynn. All right, moving on to new business. Uh, appointment of a PVCP, PVPC, uh, joint transportation committee
alternate. We voted to, did we already vote on this for Tim? >> Uh, you, um, that is for the, uh, MO that he is part of. Um, Tim uh, is also our, um, joint transportation committee member. We're allowed to have an
alternate. It's currently vacant. Oh, I see. uh and he is recommending that uh the appointment be made by the select board to appoint Lewis Capellan as our um engineering assistant. >> All right. I will move to appoint Lewis Capellan to the JTC alternate position
for Long Meadow. >> Second. >> Any further? All those in favor. >> Okay. >> And finally, um we have two B uh zoning bylaw referrals. Uh we have to send
these to the planning board for hearing and uh do we need any specific language on this then? >> Um you you don't the memo is pretty self-explanatory. It's this is really just an administrative uh vote that you need to take to refer this to the
planning board. >> Okay. >> I will move to refer the zoning bylaws identified in the attached memo to the agenda to the planning board. >> Second. Any further? All those in favor?
>> I will move to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Second. >> All those in favor. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.