Okay, it's March 5th. This is the finance committee meeting. We will be having this completely remote today. Be aware that this meeting is being recorded. And if you're a member of the public and you wish to join the Zoom,
you can do that by going to the Lunberg website, click calendar, find the finance committee, and you'll find the agenda where you can sign on. Are there any announcements from the committee? Any announcements from the public?
Does the town manager have a report this morning? This this evening. >> You got to speak up for the record, Jen. You can't just shake your head because the >> I am working on two computers and I'm trying to get my mouse onto the second
one to unmute. No. >> Do we have to do the roll call? >> Oh, yes. You need to roll call. membership. >> Mhm. Yep. Open up the meeting. >> March 5th,
>> 2026, >> March 5th. >> Anna, are you here? >> I'm here. >> Tom, >> yes. J I
>> and I for me. So I don't have the agenda in front of me. I don't know who's doing the first presentation. >> Okay. So um the first presentation up was Council on Aging.
>> Hello. Are you all set, Deb? >> Do um am I to share the PowerPoint or do you have it? I'm not really good at this computer stuff. So, let me try to get that up here. >> Yes, if I the host cannot share. So, if
you can share >> share it. That's not it. Uh, so the best way is to just while you're not before you're sharing to get your PowerPoint pulled up and ready to go.
>> Gotcha. Ah, okay. So then and now share now try to share and you should select the PowerPoint. You should be able to see it there as one of the icons. >> There you go. >> And then go to slideshow and start the
slideshow. And then you should be able to just arrow or hit your space bar to advance. >> Okay. Thank you, Jen. You are welcome. >> So um this is the Council on Aging's
FY27 budget presentation and basically um the department overview. Our mission statement is basically we support the seniors community of Lunberg through advocacy, supportive services, programs and education, transportation services
available to meet the medical, nutritional and social needs. And I kind of highlighted on outreach services first here because that's a lot of that people don't hear about and don't know about. You hear about the bingo. You hear see the mart van, but also the
outreach services is kind of behind the scenes where we're helping with hoarding assistance, housing referrals, um you know, nursing home, um applications for SNAP, fuel assistance, all of that. And then of course we have our meal programs
and our wellness and education programs which are vital to our seniors. Um our organization organizational structure is um we have the director which is 40 hours salaried town funded. The administrative assistant is 40 hours. 12
hours are funded through the Monaches area regional transit and 28 hours are funded for the town and then the sick and vacation are funded through a state formula grant. The outreach coordinator is 36 hours town funded, meal site manager 36 town funded, two kitchen
aids, 9 hours each a week town funded and we have the van drivers that are funded through the Monachusa regional uh transit. And this is just some year-over-year trends. And I thought it was very interesting that more and more people are using the vans. If you look at the
last um figures, the rides, we're already we've already had more rides this year and we still have three more months than over last year. So people are starting to really use the transportation services, which is great.
Um, this is our >> um, are we doing questions now or at the at the end? At the end, Jean, >> uh, >> you can ask if it's a quick one, Anna.
>> Okay. Can you go back to the previous slide? Um, >> I hope so. >> Arrow to the left. >> There we go. >> Okay. Um, and and I apologize. I it's been a really busy week, so I didn't have time to review um
the the slides. So FY26. So when you said rides, is that the 150016? Is that the one? >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Um so
um when you say it's increasing, it has really only it has increased by five different people. there is five diff five new people but also um like I said they're using it more >> right right I I just want to like I I'm
just putting these numbers and again I didn't have time to review it because of work schedule okay so >> and that's probably going to increase too because you have the aging population isn't comfortable driving to other locations so I see that
transportation is something that you know we we'll look that going forward. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And you have a breakdown on what the rides are. >> We do. I can I can actually get that for you. Um I can make us um a pie chart or
for you that says, you know, how many rides go to medical appointments, how many rides go grocery shopping, how many rides go to socialization, all of that. So, if you'd like that, absolutely. I can provide that for you. >> Thank you. And then this is the budget. Um I don't
know if you've had a chance to look at it, but we're going to stay level funded for this year is what I'm presenting to you at this time. >> Okay. >> No questions.
>> No, you said level funded. >> There you go. Um, and then this was just um we included other funding sources. So, basically the general fund is is the big blue piece of the pie. Uh, formula grant is the orange and we have the supporters group that raises money um to
help us out with extra things and they're the green and then donations didn't even make the part pot the pie. Um, and this was just explaining, you know, there is a gift fund. Um, if anybody wants to, um, make a donation,
make a gift to the Council on Aging, there's a supporters group, the state aid, and the meal program has a revolving account. So, there is no line item for food. Um, what they pay for the meals is what we buy the food with.
>> Is that something that you you think that's how it should be or because I it's working right now. >> Um, and the reason I say that is the previous um, director, she felt like
it's was an important part for people, you know, of their how they feel about themselves. >> Um, but at some point I remember last year also maybe talk I remember conversations about maybe funding a bit. Um, and you had talked to Deb about, you
know, some meals, you know, you collect more than others and it's sometimes it's hard to maintain that service living that way. How how is that going? It's going okay because we we keep track of it. So, like I said, we know what we're
depositing and we know what we're spending. So, you know, maybe funds are going down a little bit and we have um grilled cheese and tomato soup that week. you know it's like you know you adjust the menu to what funds you have
>> okay it's it's the reason I say that is I remember this comment from the previous presentation from last year and maybe conversations you know we have had >> um and now we have a full-time site manager full-time full-time
>> manager >> yeah so I you know we invested on something and we just I want to make sure we are getting the benefits of that full-time person uh versus being constrained by, you know, maybe a small amount in funding. That's that's where,
you know, I'm trying to build to this conversation. >> Yeah, I I think right now we're doing okay. I mean, maybe as things pick up, um I don't know because as they pick up, we still get more, you know, they pay for
their meals, the $5. Um yeah, I I mean, like I said, we're starting the early dine in April, so we'll have dinners on Monday, and then we have the lunches on Tuesday and Thursday, and then on Wednesday, we have the breakfast. And then on Fridays is a
special um the veterans breakfast or the memory cafe. Um you know we leave it for things like that. So >> Okay. Um I I just have another question about the services provided where you had the
coun what is services is that the outreach services you had events right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's outreach. you know, people that come in for help with their um you know, their fuel assistance
application or um a family member that comes in and wants, you know, to know where to buy a life alert. Uh it could be any service that's done through the outreach. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Welcome. There any other questions?
Thank you, Deb. >> Thank you. All right. >> All right. So, Deb, uh, I think I can stop your sharing or you can do it. Um, >> let's see. >> I gotcha. All right. Thank you.
>> Thanks, >> Madam Chair. Uh, next up was library. And I know Mure is here. He was having a little bit of trouble with his home connection. Um, hopefully he's got enough bandwidth to share his screen because Mure I cannot share as host
unfortunately. Yeah, you are muted if you are trying to talk. >> I am speaking now. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Oh, good. I apologize. I don't have my camera working on this computer.
Oh, I think his connection might be a little unstable. >> He's muted. It looks like >> Yeah, but he says I think it's he said last time it was he got removed. I think
he's I can share the presentation if he wants to call in. >> Okay. Yeah, I'm having trouble on this connection here. So, if >> did you hear that option? >> Yeah. And that would be great actually.
Thank you. >> Okay. >> The um Do you need the call-in number? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> If you have it, that would be >> I sure do. 88847544 999 and the ID is 821 9502
9392. What is with Google um Zoom changing that the presenter can no longer >> It's It's not It's a setting on our town account that we cannot change that we need Zoom. We've got a ticket in with
Zoom Zoom corporate like Zoom Zoom because it is we cannot change the setting for some reason. It looks like it's allowed but it doesn't allow it. Okay. Whenever he gets here, >> thank you, Anna, for doing that. >> Let's see if I can do the window.
Don't see him coming in yet. Oh, here he comes. >> Okay. >> Oh, and we're hearing you in stereo, mirror, so I think you have to close your computer. there. Okay.
No feedback, right? >> No, you're good. >> Good. Great. Um, thank you for bearing with me. Um, and uh, glad to join you this evening. I'll be presenting
the FY27 preliminary budget for the Lunberg Public Library. Next slide, please. >> I could only figure out how. >> And just a a quick overview of the library here.
>> Um >> we provide access to information resources. >> There we are. uh information resources and services for the entertainment, enrichment and education of the community.
For our statistical purposes, we kind of break that down into circulation services, which would be what you typically think of when you think of the library, books being borrowed. We have many other resources that uh circulate through the community.
Library of Things items, um metal detector, um uh lawn games, hot uh cellular hotspots, those types of things. Uh we also break things down into uh programming services. Uh this
would be uh our many library events. Uh we we divide that up into kind of age brackets of children, tween, teens, and adults. Um we also offer reference services which is another traditional
library service where someone might have a question. Uh they come to the library for help answering that. And part of that is obviously educational where um our librarian skills typically uh become a teaching opportunity for anyone who's
coming. um and they uh we're happy to teach them about uh the current landscape when it comes to information sources. Uh we also have technology services. So kind of break that down into internet access, public access
computers. We offer copy services, print services. Uh we have um technology that supports uh learning including and especially early literacy. Uh, we have four early literacy stations in our
children's room. We have a beam projector system that projects literacy games in our story craft room. Um, we do technology instruction and uh one-on-one tech assistants.
Um we also have uh recently expanded our digital services librarians position to include outreach services. They specialize in reaching out uh which includes a marketing component for
library services obviously but it also um I think is more like delivering library services outside the walls of the library. That's really how we conceive of that. Um, this would include visiting places like the
schools um to talk about our summer reading program which complements the services that the school department provides. It bridges the gap during the summer break um and reinforces what's happening at schools especially for those young learners who are hopefully
reading every day during the summer. Um but we incentivize that participation. Um and we offer a bunch of educational andformational and entertainment programming events that happen during summer reading as well. And then you
know another huge um service that the library provides is the facility itself. Um certainly functioning in part as a community hub uh in that way. community groups come and use uh our several
meeting rooms. Um and that service is available even outside of the open hours of the library. And I think we're ready for the next slide. Thank you. Uh so just a brief uh overview of the staffing structure of
the library. Um, we have a director and an assistant director who oversee four staff librarians. Uh, currently have three library assistants and then three library pages. Um, so that's five of
those are uh technically full-time. Uh, the director is the only 40hour a week position at the library. Um, and those three library pages are all um, young uh, first job employees.
Um, so that's kind of like a career preparation um, situation there. And they each work eight hours or less a week typically. Uh, ready for the next slide unless there are questions. >> Sorry, I did what you told me.
>> Question. Yeah, go ahead. >> Um, when you say unfund the library assistant, um, was that position ever funded or is this a request that you have? Um, I'm trying to understand that.
>> Uh, this so this is a position that was created in um I believe it was 2023, although I'm not 100% sure on that. the year that we opened on Fridays, we added two library
assistant positions in order to do that. Uh we were never able to hire for that second library assistant position and we ended up rolling the funding for it into expanding the digital services and outreach librarian position. Um
>> you still have >> part of the reason. Yeah. Oh, you still have the digital library, right, >> Miss King? >> Yes, she's here. Um, she is the one that will uh kind of take the lead on going
out and delivering services out in the community. Um, that position had been uh 20 hours a week. Uh, when we rolled that funding from the library assistant position into that, uh, we expanded it up to 34. Um that was an equivalent kind
of onetoone um uh switch over there. Uh typically outreach services which is the the um the area of responsibility that was added to that position. That's typically a professional librarian um position
that takes care of those things. Um, and so that made a lot more sense as far as recruiting um to be able to offer um what's typically organized in in this way with lumped in with digital services
uh in many libraries um as one closer to full-time uh professional librarian position >> and we did successfully hire for it >> immediately. >> Okay. So, I wouldn't say like just based on I was trying to understand what that
was, but it sounds like you made a a strategic decision on the funding that you had and, you know, expanded someone else's job. So, I you know, I I I I don't I I'm not sure I would call that
unfunded library assistant because you had that position, but you chose to strategically to do something else. Is is that correct? This would be a request of a new staff because we didn't reduce your funding for that position. You
strategically made a new a new position. So therefore, if you want to you know this would be a new position. Is that a good another >> if I wanted a library assistant? You're saying it would be a new position, >> right? because you you're still using
the funding the funding that was that was associated with that position in you know strategically made a a change. >> Uh I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're trying to say but >> well what I'm trying to say is so let me
give you a scenario. So when someone says unfunded position means like let's say I'm going to use a police department they had 10 patrol men's and then you know they couldn't fulfill one pos one position and then the town would have then use those fundings for the unfunded
and like hey you can operate fine with nine patrolmen we gonna just make that your budget nine patrolman um and and you could say you know he has a shorter staff and that and one is unfunded
because it got reduced. But in this case, you had the funding for that librarian assistant and you chose you made a strategic decision to move to expand another position. So your funding was never reduced and if you would like
another library assistant, it would be a request for a new position. I I don't I don't think so because we didn't we never absolved that library assist position but I don't I don't think it's terribly relevant either because we're not asking to fund that position. So
>> well but I do see this I I have seen this position. Um I think two budgets ago it was requested funding for it and I I just want to be comparing apples to apples because not everywhere we're expanding like many you know there are
departments that are not expanding their services right like the parks and rack they have had a part-time person forever that they have tried to make it full-time and I just want us to be comparing apples to apples when we're looking between departments that's Um I can move it to the next slide.
>> Thank you. Um so just a summary of uh service trends for the library last five years was what was requested and here we have it. Uh so I kind of broke this down as much as I could to reflect each of those service
areas uh that we discussed at the beginning. Um, physical circulation would be people borrowing books, DVDs, other physical items from the library.
Uh, that's the dark navy blue bars. Um, and you can see over the last five years that has increased each year. Electronic circulation is the next uh statistic there. That's the orange bar.
And you can see that that has doubled almost over the last five years, including a significant jump between FY24 and FY25. The green bar, unfortunately, a little
bit of a challenge with scale there. Uh that's program attendance. Uh but that is uh on an upward trend. uh although the last three years don't have a huge uh difference it is a positive change
uh the light blue bar is visitors um and you can see obvious you know I think a lot on a lot of this I would discount FY21 that's you know during the pandemic uh we were essentially closed down um
but uh even the last four years visitors is on the upward trend and uh last year it was over 68,000 uh visitors through the front door. The purple line is our um community
groups using our rooms service. Uh and you can see that has also expanded over the years. Um 1181 times we registered room use uh this
past fiscal year FY25. >> What do you attribute that to? >> What would I attribute that to? >> Yeah. like is it just that more folks are um becoming familiar with their availability of the rooms having been
there or just folks needing a space? I don't know if there's anything that's a great question. Um I think you know I think the trend it it does you know it's it's up upwards certainly but um you know
this it looks like a much larger increase than it I think it really is because you throw in the pandemic there you know. So th those first two years even um that I I'm not sure that that's relevant data. I put it on there because
I had it but it's I think yeah I think it's a but I think it's a com combination I think is the the the the quick answer. People are very aware that there are rooms available at the library. You know that includes those large format rooms the
community room the conference room where committees can meet where you can have anformational session where you can have a ham radio club meet every month. Um, you have the story craft room which is very popular with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, uh, especially the Girl Scouts
in the story craft room. Um, we have our quiet study room and our slightly larger multi-purpose room. Those are very popular with tutors. They're popular with people who need to make a phone call um or have a Zoom meeting and that
you know even um town employees from other departments have um been able to come down and use the quiet study room for that kind of um that kind of meeting. Um
>> or sometimes we have groups of teens who who want to do a a study session. they need to be able to make a little more noise. Um, and they can go in the the quiet study room and, you know, shut themselves in there and do their their project together. So, all sorts of uses.
Um, I think our staff is very adaptable and willing to go out of the way to support the community and I think people recognize that as well. Um, and I think that that's so it's a combination of those things really. And and if you want to throw in the awareness that there's a
a big lack of other options for community groups to meet in town, you know, that that's that's kind of a theme that we've heard over the years that there's not enough meeting space in town and library is kind of always available. So, um, yeah, and it sounds like you had
another question. Well, I was going to make a comment that in um in 23 between 23 and 24 is when um the church sold the building to Shapiro and some of the groups that you mentioned
>> used to meet there like the Girl Scouts uh the Boy Scouts. So they they got they were you know a lot of community uh groups in town were displaced at that point. Um and also the schools used to
have not with the previous superintendent but the superintendent before she was very accommodating to allowing access to the school buildings. In fact, when the new high school was built, it was sold to
the town as a community building. Um you know, but anyway, so I think over the years there's been less and less access to public buildings. I do have a question. I know for I have only used the room as you know in the town
function. What is the policy and as related to rentals for the use of those larger meeting rooms? >> Uh we don't rent the room at all. Um it's uh it is a community service. uh we
do tend to define it uh that define the groups that we uh are are able to work with as nonprofits uh or for the benefit of the community. Um so there is a room use application uh that a group is uh
would would fill out if they want to use the rooms. Um and uh if they uh kind of meet the criteria and agree to abide by the policy, they get a a card with the appropriate privileges for reserving the
room through the the website. >> Okay. >> And then they can do that. >> All right. Thank you. >> Did you have any particular group that you think might be interested? >> No, I was just I I was just asking for the financial part of it. I was
wondering if you rent if you charge for it and where do the fees go? So you answer the question. >> Yeah. No, no charge. Yeah, I think generally you'll find libraries are not big revenue generators, but they do return a lot of value. Um yeah, we I
mean over the years we've had requests for things like private birthday parties and unfortunately because of the way the policy is set up, we are we aren't able to support that. Um the the other thing is the rooms are there's a lot of
competition for the rooms. Um and we have to limit the number of uses for each group uh during any year. Um so that all of the groups that want to use the space are able to use the space. That generally runs out to about once a
month um that groups can use the um the library. So or you know use the rooms. Um but we are definitely available if people want to come and find out more.
Any other questions about service trends before we move on? >> All righty. So, uh, our FY27 preliminary budget totals $654,16824. Uh, that reflects a 3.5% increase over
FY26. Uh, it does ensure continued uh, delivery of those essential services that we've been talking about. Those address some of the rising operational costs as well. That does not address staffing needs. Um we talked about that
a bit at the August tri board meeting. Uh presented uh a preliminary plan for the next couple years. Although obviously we have some more immediate and more pressing concerns. Um it does include uh an above level service
funding uh request to the programming line for the library and that would end up matching the funding level for programs uh from FY23 uh when we received a grant that was used for STEM programming specifically
that was part of a $13,000 library services and technology act grant uh which is dispersed by the state uh library organization, the Mass Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. That is money from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, the federal group. Um, and that uh that's one of those uh funding sources that was frozen last year. Um, and there were no LSTA grants this past year, although we had started the application process. So um the major
cost drivers uh in this uh budget uh really are contractual obligations in salary and step increases for both the collective bargaining agreement and the SAP and of course that does not at this point uh include cost of living
adjustments. Um the programming line obviously is another uh factor there. Uh and this budget does include costs for library materials uh including uh the big driver bea
behind uh the increase uh being digital resources uhformational databases. Uh we know the cost of the current databases that we offer the community uh for this FY27 cycle. Um, and that has been
factored in uh to that uh budget request. Um, let's I think we're ready to go to the next slide where I break down the the spread. >> Um, do you know what the the I know we
have to maintain services with CWMRS that is a minimum mandated budget. Do you know what that total is? >> Yeah, if you want to go to the next slide that's on there. Okay, >> here we go. >> Um, so CW Mars is about twothirds of the
way down. You can see that uh FY26, uh, the total for the annual assessment to be a part of CW Mars cost us $20,571. FY27,
uh, it will cost us $21,06. So not a large increase at all. We are also I believe FY27 will be the last year uh that we are um looking at that uh
adjustment to our the membership component of that annual assessment. Uh our PW Mars is the more than 150 libraries in the central and western part of the state uh that share
resources. Um we have delivery vans that go between our libraries every day. Um and uh so when uh the
there's a in our annual assessment there is a component uh of that amount that is charged to us to be a member of that network. Uh that is our membership fee. uh because uh over the last decade or so
uh since the preceding uh um census, Lunberg's population grew and rose above 10,000. Uh that's the uh boundary between the discounted membership rate for CW Mars and the full membership
rate. Uh and so we have been transitioning over the last um five years or so uh to a full membership uh fee which ends up being $8,000. Uh they were nice enough to spread that increase out over a number of years. Uh so this
should be um the last year that the assessment increases because of the membership fee component. Um there are um a few other changes moving into the future that that may impact things here.
Um I don't know how deep you want me to go into that. Um but uh this is an actual cost for FY27 for CW Mars 216. >> My question was different mirror. My question was I know
>> I know in order to be part of CW Mars >> we have to fund the library at a you know amendment so that is like in school they say the foundation like you know the towns must fund that's the number I'm trying to get like what is the
>> gota okay >> to the next flip to the next slide for me >> okay >> we can come back to this this in a second um so for the library. We do have um kind of state it it's not exactly a
state mandate uh but it it's it's kind of mandated by that uh state group, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. That group sets the standard for public library service in the state. Um and if libraries meet
those requirements, those uh minimum standards, uh it will allow um a library to be certified to receive state aid. In FY26, we we Lunberg and I'm looking at the
town manager's guest uh star on her video feed there. So, um all right. Uh in FY26, back to back to no more cats. Um, in FY26, uh, Lunberg Public Library and the town of Lunberg
will receive $34,000, just slightly over $34,000 in state aid to libraries, uh, because of our certification for this program. Uh, we've received one of those payments. Um, and you know, usually the second payment comes out towards the end
of the fiscal year. Um that is one of the big benefits of um being certified in this way by the MBLC. Um there are other benefits as well. Um and I think that's that one of the other benefits uh
which is uh being allowed to participate in the statewide resource sharing. That's really what you're you're wondering about and you're thinking of as um membership in CW Mars. Um, and really by being certified, we actually have access even beyond CW Mars. CW Mars
is the local resource sharing agreement. Um, and by being certified, we actually have access to 59 million items across the Commonwealth. Um, we can also get items
outside of that uh range if we need to. Um, but that is one of the real strengths of Massachusetts libraries. It makes Massachusetts libraries worldclass. Our resource sharing network and networks is absolutely special. Um,
certification also makes us eligible for those MBLC grants. Um, the $13,000 we received in 2023 for STEM learning for all ages to be certified. Uh I'll just run through the basic version of the
requirements. We have to meet our municipal appropriation requirement which is that dollar amount that you're asking about. Uh we need to meet the minimum standards of free public library service. Um which has a number of components including the number of hours
were open during the week, the number of hours during the evening that were open. uh education uh for member certain members of the staff including the director. Um and then we also need to submit annual reports and forms to show our
compliance. Our FY27 municipal appropriation requirement which is that bare minimum to maintain your certification that the library must receive uh is $598,83525. How do you come up with that number you
may ask? It's bas basically the quick version of that is it's the average of the previous three years uh total municipal appropriation to the library uh increased by 2 and a.5%. So
um for FY27 it's just under $600,000. There is also a funding requirement as to how much money the library spends on what we call library materials and that goes back to basically what qualifies here is material that circulates or is
used by the public in our facility. So books, DVDs, uh library of things, um digital resources, those databases that we talk about, all of those are qualifying purchases for library materials. To maintain our certification, we have to spend uh six,
you know, the equivalent of 16% of that of whatever our municipal appropriation is on qualifying library materials. Any questions about that? >> Um, do you know just from the top of your head, uh, what is the minimum
number of hours that we you must stay open to be certified? >> I think for a a library uh, of our size, it's 40 hours and we're open 48 hours a week. >> Awesome. Okay.
I had one quick question on the uh on the budget. You uh looks like you decreased the mileage and increased the was it I can't remember if it was training or something like that. >> Sure. Do you want to flip back to the previous slide for me and I can run through some of these requests.
Obviously lines are salaries. Um and then so what you're asking about is down towards the bottom. Uh if you look at FY26, uh we have $4,000 uh in our mileage reimbursement line and that's, you know, that's been our
funding level uh for a couple years. Uh and we used that money mostly for professional development. Before the pandemic, what that meant was we were paying staff mileage. Since the pandemic, a lot more training
is virtual. um a lot more of the networking that we need to do can be done through Zoom or other uh online meeting applications. Uh so what we're doing there is splitting that $4,000
into uh an actual professional development line. Um which probably makes the auditors happy. Um but it's it's not a change in funding level. So, will that mean that be more you'll be doing more training because obviously
you're not going to have to pay for transportation, you're going to pay for the cost of training. You'll have more money to do that. >> I I don't think what I don't think that that reflects any change in actual practice. Uh it's it's essentially going
to be the same. Um we have been using money from the mileage line for professional development purposes. Um and that's uh you know the preceding administration um
had uh suggested we not change that um and uh we had just left the money there in that mileage line. So this just reflects our actual practice. We spend most of the money there on um you know
paying for tickets or seats in training or training resources. Um and uh including you know uh attending the annual library conference for some staff. Um, so there will still be some
mileage I would anticipate, but uh that's yeah, it's creating is moving the funding to a budget line that's named after what it will actually be used for and what it has been used for recently.
>> Who are you paying? >> I'm sorry. >> Who are you paying mileage to? >> Uh, library staff >> or what? to travel to travel to training opportunities for networking
opportunities for uh participation in uh the annual library conference and other similar opportunities. >> So they don't do training online versus traveling
>> but they they since the pandemic they are doing that more. Yes. Yep. And I think so I think if you're if you go back before the pandemic there really would not have been much reason to have a professional development line or you
know uh the the mileage was actually being used for traveling um in their personal vehicles library staff to uh networking and and uh training opportunities. We as part of uh our
participation in CW Mars uh we uh send a representative and that's the director to uh the users council uh which is the governing uh body for the the uh resource sharing network uh during the
pandemic. those user council meetings which were held at various libraries through the state um which obviously created a lot of need every quarter to drive to another library and participate in the meeting. During the pandemic those were switched over to virtual. So
that's a great example of uh uh an opportunity where we need to go and participate in a meeting uh to fulfill our obligations uh and we don't need to drive. we just need to get on the computer. Um, and that so that's actually as cost savings. Um, you know,
we don't have to pay anything to do that except for electricity. >> That answer your question? >> Yes. I guess I >> Okay. Are there any other line items that you're
using the funding for a a purpose and then other what the line item is for? >> No. >> And are you getting >> and you can see Go ahead. Yep. >> Are you getting you've zeroed out the
book service? >> Yep. So book service is uh the budget line that we have been using to basically rent uh a bunch of books um from one of our our wholesalers
um and we did a a costbenefit analysis on that. Uh, and that ends up uh, it may not have been the case years ago, but these days that costs slightly more uh, than just
buying books outright. Um, long time ago that may not have been the case and, you know, may have been a cost savings, but times change and that program is is no longer a benefit to us. So that money has been moved into the library materials line and that you know that
book rental expense uh does qualify for that library materials requirement. Um so that makes sense to move that funding down there. Um it allows us to buy maybe a couple more book titles than we would
otherwise um otherwise be able to rent through that book service. Um and then um you know gives us a little more um flexibility uh in expending that u that
money. >> Any other questions on these budget amounts? And I think we were two slides forward. Okay. >> Yep. Yeah. All right. So, just run through quickly where uh money comes
from for the library. Uh if you'll remember our Sorry, my newborn is lying next to me and he is sleepalking. Um I don't know if you guys can hear him or not. Um >> a little bit. So, if you remember back
to our our tri board meeting in August, uh the library um receives probably uh a third of its operational costs from other source funding sources than town
appropriations. Um and I guess I guess it's more like a quarter, right? If we're looking at our pie chart here, uh sorry, didn't mean to inflate things there. Um, I was think I guess I was thinking uh FY25
when we received ARPA funds I was more like maybe because we received almost 150 I guess it was more than $150,000 in ARPA funds. Um, it was more like So anyways, you see the pie chart, you see how much of our funding comes from
outside sources. Let's break it down. Um, let's start with uh appropriations. You can see uh for this is FY26. Our total appropriation uh from uh the town of Lunberg for the Lunberg public
library was 632,36.76. That is supplemented by library state aid as we mentioned uh for FI26 34,38352. Um, our friends of the Lunberg Public Library are very special. Um, and they
are well worth mentioning. Um, other friends groups of uh, friends of library groups in the state often have singledigit memberships, double-digit memberships. Our friends group in Lunenburgg loves our library so much
there are more than 300 active members. That means they've paid their annual membership dues for the friends of the library uh within the last 12 months. But that is remarkable and I'm sure you're all aware of our twice annual book and bake sales and how popular
those are. Um that is a major source for their funds. Um but these are funds that are given to this 501c3, this nonprofit to support the library. that are given um essentially, you know, because uh
those members trust the friends of the library to help the library do special things for the community. Um they and so we get kind of two flavors of support from the friends. The first is the
friends operational budget. Um, and I would characterize that as money spent on behalf of the library or in order to support the library in one way or another. One big component there uh is typically around $20,000 that they spend on
programming for the library. They're able to do that because the town has invested in the library so heavily um including, you know, funding other programs in addition to what the li the friends um can fund. Um
they also uh have done uh have created partnerships like their partnership with Northn Subaru um which generates $3,600 uh that goes towards our monthly music series. The friends match that $3,600
from Northn Subaru um and it creates a fantastic series of programs um that often bring in 40 or 50 people for a concert at the library each month. The other flavor of support from the friends are endowment gifts. The friends
have a chunk of money that they hold in their endowment. Um they have invested that quite wisely and grown it pretty incredibly over the years. Um and this FY26 year they are planning to give us
$66,000 um for uh about three facilities projects. Um, so that's very special of them. They really like to do things uh that wouldn't otherwise be able to happen.
Um, but that's because, you know, the town has over the years taken care of uh the operational costs uh of the library. Um, the other component of our funding is outside grants. For FY26, we anticipate
receiving 20,000. $20,90. Um, yeah, I think that's uh that was what I wanted to say here. I'm happy to answer any questions while we're here or we can move on. >> Um, so I just want to understand the
endowment gifts. Do do the friends of the library have an endowment that they draw? Yeah. >> From Is that what it is? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um, so how about I know we transfer some uh
uh trust investment accounts to the library board of trustees. Um is that being invested any in being used in any way or no? >> It is currently invested. Uh the trustees are following the prudent
investor rule. Uh the current value of the library trust funds is uh well as of the last statement and I think uh probably the value has changed drastically since then. Uh it was uh around $15,000
in total. That's over 20 uh initial gifts that have been given to the library. Um some of them have very specific purposes. Um and the trustees are
continuing to develop their investment policy. >> No, that's okay. I was just I was just trying one last this is a comment. This is not a question. Um, you know, one thing I have asked the schools to do is to whenever they give us a budget, they give us a comprehensive budget that
tells us, you know, all the all the monies they're using to to, you know, to offer the services they are. Um, and you know, because the idea is, you know, and I'll use school lunches as a as an
example because I think that's something important. um by not showing us how much those services they provide they're outside the general fund we don't have an insight into the value of you know seeing of how you're spending so um I
would suggest that next year you would have a budget presentation that includes all these monies that you're spending and then when you come to funding sources we know you know the general fund is not everything and that just so that we can appreciate and the community
like this presentation is a recorded and hopefully other people watch it but you know so then the community see you know that we have another $150,000 in services that we are providing and that currently it's not being funded in case any of those ever go away it's not
going to be a new thing for the community the community will say you know those things are very important we should continue to fund it so that's just a recommendation for next year >> that that's what this slide shows Right. But we are not >> an accurate representation of what the
library is spending. >> Oh, I I I understood that. But it's not a budget like in a form of a budget like you know it's just just giving you some information. It you know a concrete piece of paper with how you know you're
using those fundings and it it just more information out there and but the idea is to value the services you're doing. All right. So, next slide. Uh, grant funding. Just an overview of
our grant sources for FY26. Uh, we have a an active grant with Emerson Hospital. Uh, they awarded us $700 from the Christine Gallery Community Benefit Grant. um that is uh going to be used for a
partnership between the library and the Lunberg Adult Activity Center, better support residents and their families suffering from Alzheimer's or suffering with Alzheimer's and memorary challenges. Um, we will purchase
uh likely about five uh memory kits uh that will be cataloged um but will be housed at the activity center. Um Deb uh and her team up there have done a fantastic job expanding their monthly
memory cafe. Um, and there are many families uh in in the area that uh will be able to benefit from those resources. Um, the Lunberg Cultural Council awarded us 1,500 or so dollars to support
cultural programming events. Uh, that is quite a bit less than they have over the last few years. Um, as mentioned uh briefly a moment ago, North End Subaru uh has given us $3,600
uh this uh fiscal year for our monthly concert series. Uh they've been uh contributing that for several years now. Um and then the friends match that amount uh so that we can offer a fantastic concert every month. Other
grants uh that are worth mentioning uh this past summer, the Main Street Group Foundation, which is the foundation, nonprofit foundation that's um connected to Main Street Bank, uh funded our summer lunch program.
And last summer we served more than 1400 lunches during our summer reading program, four days a week uh mostly uh between uh July mostly during the month of July. We did serve all the way up to the beginning of the school year. Um and
uh that was a very popular uh component of last year's summer reading program and that so just to mention the amount there $14,225 uh given uh by Main Street Group Foundation.
Any questions before we move on? Um I'll just make a comment that you know you uh and Deb Gell have been doing a great job and another service that uh you and Deb were able to deploy is um uh seniors that receive meals on wheels
if they have a book request you guys are coordinating that gets delivered with their meals. So I just want to say thank you. That's a fantastic fantastic fantastic service >> and one that we were able >> without you know necessarily affecting a
lot of funding but I know it takes a lot of effort from from the library to coordinate this thing. So thank you. >> Absolutely. It's our pleasure. We are we are very happy to do that. Um I'm considering that as a hopefully a pilot program for you know um home delivery
for other homebound people as well. Obviously, we wouldn't necessarily be able to use Meals on Wheels drivers, but this is a program that's currently running. Um, as you said, that's because that's a program that's already running that we're able to partner with. That's how we are being efficient with
basically not spending any more money to do that. Um, and hopeful hopefully we'll be able to help out those Meals on Wheels guys. And obviously more than just books. Um, I suspect that they may be even more interested in some of the other things that we offer. Yeah, thank thanks for the shout out
there. >> Yeah, >> thank you. >> Yep. Uh want to go to the next one. There we go. Okay, so we got a summary here. Um as mentioned, it's a level services library budget. Uh reflects uh staff changes that have occurred during
FY26. Uh we have filled the position left by our retired children's librarian of 10 years. We've hired two other uh two and there so they're anticipated two other new staff members and that whole series
of changes significantly decreases our salary expense. Obviously when you go from a 10-year veteran to someone who's stepping into a new role there's um there's an impact on on on salary expense there. Um library material costs do continue to
rise. Uh it's especially obvious in digital resources. Um and that corresponds to an area where we see an increasing demand. Um just going back to those um service trends. If you think of the electronic
circulation going from 26,000 items in FY25 to over 34,000 items circulated in FY sorry in FY24 to 34,000 over 34,000 items circulated in FY25. That's a huge jump and those are
items that are very expensive you know for the library. Um similarly programming expenses are increasing per presenter or program that we put on. Um the demand for that core service is also on the rise. It's one of the most
effective places for the library to create community and support community is through our programs. Um, my current staff uh deserves recognition for especially my assistant director who
works on adult programs for really leaning heavily on local experts uh to lead programs the last couple years and that's saved significant monies but it does hide some of those uh those expenses. Um, you know, we've got local
people who are very generous with their time. Um, really not getting paid, you know, compensated, uh, at a fair rate or a, you know, market rate. Um, but they're doing it to help build community. Um, I think it's just another example of people who who really care
about the community, um, and are helping, uh, support, uh, their neighbors and friends through the library. Um, we and as I think I've I've already gone through, our library is really uniquely advantaged with our friends of the
Lunberg Public Library. That 501c3 um is able to support the town in a in very special ways. Um, and that huge membership number is remarkable. Uh, it's really unique for a library of our
size and they are generous. um and their financial support reflects the value they place in the library. Uh luckily as town administration has committed more investment in the library, the friends have also been able
to commit more. Um FY26 will be uh basically a record high for their their support uh for the library. Um as far as dollar value goes. Uh just the last um note on this slide, I have put the
number $2.3 million down here as an estimate of the value returned by the library. That's an estimate. You want to think of return on in on investment um compare that to the the annual budget of the library. This is attaching a fairly
conservative dollar value uh on just the measurable statistics that the library delivers. So book circulations um you know electronic book circulations e audio books room use uh program
numbers um you know number of people who have used the public access computers um so it's a a group of really concrete uh statistics uh and it's it's done through the i love
libraries.org or website. Um, so if you want to go uh check that number yourself, you're feel free. Um, it's all based on our annual report to the state statistic numbers uh which are readily available. Um,
I think beyond that, the word I I keep using on this slide is community. Um, and I think that's really where uh the library shines. People recognize it as a community center, community hub. uh people find community there. Um and we certainly want to support our community.
Um I think the last slide is uh just a great picture of our staff. Uh one of our holiday Halloween costume themed days. Um but uh I'd be happy to entertain any more questions and
certainly thank you for listening. Uh and uh thank you for all your help. Can you go back one slide, please? >> Yes. Yes, I will do that. Um, >> sorry about that. >> Sorry.
>> Okay. a lot. >> You just give an example when you talk about library material costs rising especially the digital resources and demand for them. Uh what are the digital resources and are these one-time
expenses reoccurring expenses? Um so it's a mix you know I would um include in digital resources and especially resources that are increasing in cost uh ebooks, e audiobooks, digital
uh you know digital databases. Um if you want to think of research databases that would be one example. Uh you might also think of our Canopy service which is a streaming video service. um started off
as uh very documentary focused uh but it has expanded quite a bit and there are all sorts of enriching and entertaining videos on there including some mainstream movies. Um but those you know I think across the board uh when you
think of a database uh they will have an annual increase. Uh those are subscription costs uh each year that we want to offer that resource to the community. uh you have a an annual subscription expense. Um
if we go back to last summer, uh you may remember from the tri board presentation in August, uh the because the IMLS, the federal museum and library um organization was defunded. Um, there
were no federal grants to states and so the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners did not receive their, you know, the the $3.6 million that they would typically receive. Um,
and one of the uses of that $3.6 million uh was a a collection of resource uh research databases. um and they had to cut a number of those databases. Luckily, at that point, we were in a
position where we were able to pick them up. Um the vendor uh did give us a discount at that point. Um understanding the challenge that we were in. Um but those if we want wanted to continue
to offer them to the community, we'd have an annual expense to pay for them. things like ancestry um that you can use at the library to do genealogy research. You pay an annual subscription for that. Um, as far as uh maybe a more concrete
example, um, if you think back a couple years, you know, there was, uh, we we discussed, I think, as a with the finance committee, um, the challenge of costs for ebooks and e audiobooks. And at that point, um, I think the the
average cost to the library for an ebook was probably around $55 or $60. Um and that has expanded to generally about $80 um per title that we offer uh to the
community. Um part of the reason that that's more than it costs you to pay for a Kindle book, for instance, which sometimes it's free, sometimes it's $3, right? It's super cheap. Uh those publishers uh view the library as
competition. Um and they think that um by enabling access through a library uh where uh we pay for one title and are able to share it amongst a couple people uh that they are impacting their revenue. Um statistics generally show
that that's not true. Uh but it doesn't stop those publishers from charging us more money uh to offer that to the community. >> Does that help Jay? >> Yes. Thank you. You're welcome.
>> I'm going to stop sharing now if that's okay with everybody. No one in the house has questions. >> I I just had one last question about the I know they've been talking about the um the uh police and fire uh station buildings needing work. Uh how is the
overall um health of uh the library the building itself? >> Our fac Yeah, our facility is in is in solid shape. Um excuse me. Um I think it was uh not this past summer,
but the summer before we had a nice uh repair to our HVAC system. Um the airflow had been running at about 50%. Uh and uh Chris and his team managed to identify an issue and and restore that
proper air flow. Um temperature in the facility since then has been a lot more stable. Although uh that I think that is um has led to increased electricity costs. Um
so I I would say in general the library facility is in good shape. Uh it is an aging facility. It's 20 years old uh a couple months ago and um you know I think we had on the capital um capital
plan um beginning to look at the process of replacing that HVAC system. Um, I think the roof based on conversations with Chris and he maybe can give you a slightly better answer, more detailed than me, but um, the roof looks like
it's got a number of years left on it um, significantly better than say the public safety building, right? Um and uh in general we've been able thanks to the friends honestly uh going back to
the early 2000s uh they contribute a lot a lot of money to building maintenance over those years uh but you know thanks to that ongoing maintenance the facility is in great shape and people do still come in and marvel that it's not a brand
new building. Um but certainly the superficial uh aspect of the facility uh is in great shape. Um and we will continue to do our best to take care of it.
>> Yeah. No major issues though. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Thank you. mirror. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you guys so much for listening. Thanks for your questions. >> Let me know if you have anything else. I'm I'm always happy to help.
>> Anna, do you >> hopefully we'll see you soon at the library. >> Do you mind driving for a pack as well, Anna? >> No. Um um just >> a couple minutes to get that set up. >> I I have the updated presentation.
>> I dropped it in. Did you change it since the one you emailed earlier today? >> No. >> Okay. That's the one that's in their share drive. >> Okay. So, do you want me to too to drive it? >> I I don't mind doing it. >> Okay. >> Okay. Can you You can do it, Joe.
>> I think so. Let me give it a shot. >> All righty. Okay. Well, y'all, last but not least, here we go. Um, this is the FY27 budget presentation for public access cable or PAC.
Right now, um the key services that we provide are coverage of 20 board and committee meetings on our government channel 8. We record town events, presentations, and concerts. That's a lot of library
um activities, events, a lot of um presentations at the senior center or the sorry, the Lunberg Adult Activity Center. We broadcast several LHS home sports games which is uh mainly football and
basketball. We maintain the social media including YouTube channels, channel videos. We produce original local programming in the studio. Right now we have three programs and we have two more programs
coming on board within the next month or two. Um, and we respond to special requests from town departments such such asformational se sessions and announcements. We recently did the um fourth shift proposal presentation for
the fire department and it has over 400 views on our YouTube channel. So, it's very popular. Yeah, >> our organizational structure is um the department head, myself, the manager of
PAC, reports to the town manager um 36 hours a week, but I also support the public access cable committee or pack with an extra C. Um, underneath the department head is a production
technician at 23 hours a week, six videographers. They're anywhere from 2 to 10 hours a week, and the bulletin administrator. And I don't have a trend
slide, but just to get into the videographers. Um, right now we pay our videographers between $1963 up to $25.36. So it averages about $224
an hour. And the reason I mention this is because we um we did over 139 hours in February, which is about average. Um that number changes depending on what time of year it is.
Right now with the budget season, um there's a significant amount of hours increased over um the weeks leading up to the town meeting. Um so that 139 hours came out to over
$3,000 for videographers this this month alone. Um, our channel 8 hours for February, um, what we run on channel 8 is over 234
hours of programming. And, um, our public channel right now, um, we added 11 new shows on our public channel, channel 9 in February.
Overall, our yearly growth in our public channel has gone from FY25 having 80 total programs broadcast uh for the year
to date in FY26 we have 109 programs to date on our public channel 9 and 80% of those programs are locally produced. The other 20% come from a database that
we download the programs and run them on our station. Any questions? >> I I do have a few of that's okay. Um >> the production technician, the 23 hours a week, is that one person that does the
23 hours a week? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and you said that I I mean you're clearly know what you're talking about, but you I was trying to take notes for so for was it February you had 139 hours of videographers?
>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Um, and that's is that do you have a breakdown to what though those 139's hours were or were they all
like town related? meetings and or do you keep track of that or no? >> I keep track of the amount of hours but I don't keep track I mean when the hours
are submitted they state what they worked on. So I can see that every pay period but I don't >> of the type of engagement that was like school town meeting or
or you know or town related things or what have you. Right. >> They're they're all town related. I mean, but you're you're speaking of the channel 8 government >> hours. >> Well, I So, um I don't have cable. I
only watch I only watch uh you know, YouTube or Facebook, so I don't have a good sense of what it's in there. Um so from the 139 hours like if you have a breakdown you know like athletic events uh
recording of meetings you know uh let's see I I because again I don't see your your program so I don't know who they are and that's what I was trying to get a sense of um and and when you said 80% of 109 were locally
produced I I have no idea of that 80% what those >> Okay. produces because >> what what that what that means is that um they're programs we didn't get off of a database from another organization. In
other words, it would be um for instance recording the fire fourth shift presentation. That is something we sent a videographer out to do. So we locally produced that. That
would be a presentation at the library. We sent out a videographer. So that would be classified as locally produced. >> Okay. Um Okay. So the locally produced in times it could be these meat town
government related uh programs. Okay. Um >> well no the the locally produced is only the numbers for our channel 9 which is public not government. >> Okay. What are those programs
>> on our public channel? >> Yeah >> those are pro those are programs from different events around town. >> Okay. Um the and when people have meetings at the uh at town hall uh is
that considered your videographer or the uh production technician? >> Um that's mainly the videographer. The production technician would take care of any technical issues. Um, as mentioned in the presentation, he manages
equipment maintenance and tracking, studio production and administration and support and training of videographers. >> So, he would not be at town hall unless we had an issue there. >> Gotcha. Okay. Um, and why like I don't
know what a bulletin administrator is. Um, do you can you can you explain to me what that is? >> Sure. She's the person that gets the requests from people in the community to
run um posts or bulletins about events coming up or information about something and she takes that and creates slides and puts it on our bulletin which runs in between programming.
Okay. All right. Sounds good. Thank you. >> Okay, >> Joe. >> Yes. >> Do you know what percentage of your um programming is just uh the town boards and commission?
>> Um well, everything on channel 8, our government channel is locally produced, so 100%. >> Yeah. But you said you didund and something programs between Channel 9. I was referring to our public channel
>> only which does not run government meetings. >> Madam Chair, can I maybe ask what might be Jay's question a little bit differently? Jay, let's see. Let's try this one on for size if you don't mind. >> Go ahead. If if you had to uh and maybe
you don't know and maybe this isn't the question, but if you had to aortion the percentage of time that your staff spends on filming content or touching content related to government meetings on the public government on the G
channel versus how much time is spent by your staff on the P and E related content, >> right? Um I would >> pretty close. >> Okay. >> I don't have that number. Um this time a
year it's you know 80% of their time is government meetings. But I you know I would have to dig into the numbers to get you the correct
number for that. Joe, is that something that you think either you would be able to either uh provide for the finance committee or if it's not something that is really easy to provide if it's something that you
could start tracking? >> Certainly. >> Yeah, that would be nice to know. >> Sure, I can look into that. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Okay. Right now, excuse me. Right now, our
budget um is $297,5641. We are going to be taking in 200,000 in revenue. Well, my numbers are
anyway, we're going to be taking in 200,000 in revenue. So, our deficit is $97,5641. I think I have a document. Oh, I can't get at it. Um,
the main reason for the expenses are the salaries and operation costs, medical insurance, legal fees for contract cable contract negotiations, which is a one-time fee, and we have an an aging
and obsolete program server, which we need to replace. And that's a onetime fee as well. Um so Joe, um that number that we're using for
retained earnings, is that a higher number than last year? Because I think wasn't last year like around 35,000. last year was $31,271 and with a 9% increase this year it's
going to be $34,086. Um so so last year we we used 35,000 from retained earnings and this year we are using 97,000. >> What? Joe, I think you answered about indirect costs. >> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I was looking at
something else. Um, the $97,56 is the delta or the deficit that we're running at that we would like to use retain earnings to cover for this year's budget.
>> Right. What was that you used for retain of retained earnings last year? um $32,296. >> That's a big jump. >> Yes. And mostly because of the major cost drivers that I mentioned,
especially the server replacement. Um the server replacement is going to cost over $52,000 plus installation. So, it's going to bring it up to around
um around $55,000. So, our new equipment or capital has gone last year from $30,000 to this year because of the server replacement, it's gone up to $65,000
proposed for FY27. What we get what we get for that $55,000 is a server that will have cloud services, close captioning, a Roku and Fire TV and Apple TV channels, and a
mobile app. Um, some of these expenses that come along with the server are a one-time fee, some are an annual fee. So, while we're not going to have a
um equipment number at $65,000 the following FY the following fiscal year because a lot of these fees are annual, that's going to go up, but it won't be
$65,000. >> Gotcha. Um, does does pack have a long-term plan for um no matching their operations to their new to their current income?
Well, I will get to that. Um, but there is um there is legislature right now in the state house. It's called an act to modernize funding for community media
uh which is H bill H91 and S41 and H106. It's a fee for streaming entertainment companies for the use of public rights of way. So basically they would be the cable company would pay us a percentage
of a they would pay us a fee for streaming services. Um and that is kind of the Hail Mary that's in legislation right now that we're hoping will help with the
diminishing funds that we have from our fr franchise fee. >> Okay. It's in the House and Ways. Oh, I'm sorry, Ways and Means Committee right now. So, it's they're questioning it and they are um going through a legal
review. >> Okay, >> Joe. >> Yes. >> This server replacement you were just talking about. >> Yes. What are all those what sound like bells and whistles to me to for pack or
the public? >> Well, I mean the closed captioning is is a great service. Um >> um having the option of having our channel on Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV is a
great uh is a great service. Um they have cloud services, video on demand. So instead of going to YouTube, you could go and put video on demand on a site
uh get our get our meetings through through a video on demand site. Um the mobile app would would come in handy. So these are all things for the public to access your programming.
>> Yes. >> And also um one of the features which is something that's been requested and we haven't been able to do is have an agenda of the meeting right on right during the meeting would automatically
come up. people could follow the agenda and when they go back to run a video on demand, they can skip to certain parts of the agenda. So, it has a lot of really great features. Um, >> I just want to jump in and comment as a
uh government video junkie, um, the communities that do have this feature, it's really useful for the public who just wants to dial in to just a certain part of the meeting. It sounds very much like the FATV uh app.
>> Yes, they um I think they created their own. I don't think it was part of a service. >> But they do have a nice um feature. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, this budget is as we stand today, but I created a contingency
budget. And the reason I did this was because the TCP is going to be closing down. Um, and with that, we are basically homeless. Um, we're trying to find
space. Um, but as of right now, our our only option, and I'm still researching, and I will be getting more numbers, but as of right now, um, one of the options we have is to rent
out studio space, um, which comes at a cost. on this spreadsheet. Um, it shows under equipment maintenance and lease our lease at the TCP was $6,000 a year.
Um, next to it under the proposed FY27 request, I have $14,000. The reason being the cost to rent out studio space for the potentially five shows that we have um would come at a
cost of 12,000 to $14,000 a year. So I added that in there. Um, and it's listed under, excuse me, it's listed under major cost drivers, the studio rental, and also if we go to rent a
studio, um, our employees would need to get trained on that software uh, or the the equipment that they use. So, on this listing of um line items under contracted services,
FY26 had $500 set aside for contracted services. I'm sorry. Uh yeah, contracted services was 500 and the proposed FY27 for contracted
services is $1,200 and that's for training. >> So >> you said there would you said there were five five current shows that would have to be done at the other studio. >> Yes. We have we have three active and two are
in the process of getting started. >> Okay. How many actual views uh of these shows are there? I mean on a on a I mean I'm just looking at it as a cost benefit if we're spending you know 14,000 for
rent and the cost of all the training and all the other things. Is is this a uh is this still a viable thing to do? Well, um, Comcast does not give us viewership numbers.
We can only go by what YouTube shows and not everybody goes to YouTube. So, it's a really it's a really difficult thing to measure. Um, we know that our story time is very
popular. We upload it to a database and the database is called MMX and it's used by media centers throughout Massachusetts. Um, we have 85 affiliates that download
Story Time. So, that shows us it's very popular. Right now we have um in addition to story time, we have a program that runs on both our public channel and our government channel called Committee Confidential and that just started a
month ago. And we also have another show that started about a month ago called Book Club. Those two are not getting a ton of views on YouTube yet, but I think they're going to gain popularity.
And the two that we have in progress are one program uh for our public channel is called Welcome to where they feature different places in the in the town.
And another one is a knitting show. I haven't seen the show. Is uh baseball talk going to come back? >> We're not sure yet. We're we're hopeful it will come back, but um the host has a number of health issues, so we're not
sure. >> We got to work on that host. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, the studio rental is with FATV. >> Well, that's one of our options. Um I'm
exploring a couple of other options. So that number will become more solid as I um go through the exercise of um gathering the information. Any other questions?
>> The server, how how uh what's the uh expected life of that server that you'll be purchasing? Well, we've had the one we have right now for eight years. So, I'm assuming it would be eight years. It's a more robust system. It has more
storage. It's quicker. It's um easier to use. plus all those features I mentioned. >> Joe, what's the the expenses peg access that did a significant increase?
>> Well, the significant increase is obviously the server which is listed under new equipment or capital. Um, but this year we will also have legal fees for the contract negotiations, the
Comcast contract negotiations, but you have new equipment is 65,000, >> right? And our server will come out of that 65,000. >> Okay. But further down under the expenses, PEG access goes from 54,000 to
150 147,000. >> Right. >> What is that for? >> Um, >> not sure. That's the That's the total of the column, I think. >> Yes. Is it not? >> Yes.
>> The line item. >> No, I don't think it is. I think it's the total. >> I think it's supposed to be the total. Is it not >> the budget request for 27? >> Um, which one's line item?
6200 1902. >> It's so small. I >> I know. I'm looking at it on the in the the one you get in the email. It's much easier to see. >> Is there a way to make this larger? Hold on. Let me see if I can How's that?
>> Isn't that the total of the receipts right here? >> Which number are we referring to? >> Are we at the 194? >> The 147086. That is the expenses
for operations not salaries but operations. >> Yeah. For 26 it was like 54,000. For 27 you jump up to 147. >> Yes. Well the indirect costs went up, the legal fees were added. The server was
added. Um, >> is the service out of the capital? >> Is the what out of the capital? >> The server isn't that under new equipment capital 65,000. >> Yes. expenses peg access.
I'm I'm looking in the actual spreadsheet, Joe. >> Okay. I wanted >> So that that 147086 is the sum of every if you go up above where you see 159 120.
>> Yeah. So from there down the 14,000 the 1200600 400 400 all the way down that's the sum of all of that through 34,000. >> Okay. >> Um it looks like
>> I can share my my screen if if you want. >> It looks like Joe perhaps there was an error in the let me just sum this other column. It looks like maybe this wasn't summed on the left for comparison but let me check. Oh, Anna, you're in here, too. Okay.
>> Yeah, that's what I said. >> Oh, I don't think it was summed correctly. >> I don't think so, either. >> Yeah, I'll let you do it. >> I worked so much on it. I think I might have I could have made an error.
>> Okay. It It would have been the sum. Yeah, it would have been 84 921 924. Yep. >> Instead of the 54 27188. And so that's
just going through. So it's the increase for the equipment maintenance and lease from 6,000 to 14,000. Contracted services from 500 to,200. Purchase of services from,00 to,600. Consultant uh 500 to 400. Advertising
350 to 400. Office supplies 200 to 400. Supplies 15,000 to 18,000. And the new equipment capital from 30,000 to 65,000. legal fees from zero to 12,000 and
indirect costs from $31,271.94 to $348 $34,8641. So it's the sum of all of those things. >> Okay. >> And you have that in your uh SharePoint
>> if you want to take a look at that. I think that last line line there, the 31,000 wasn't added before anyway. All right. Okay. Any more questions?
>> Okay. our funding sources. Um 17% is investment income. We put 3/4 of our funds into bonds, an investment bond fund. Um and that's
getting around $35,000 a year profit or interest, I should say. Um, and 83% of our funding comes from Comcast franchise franchise fees.
And as I mentioned earlier, the um act to modernize funding for community media, we're hoping that comes through. And the way that that's going to be administered is if it does go through um
then uh the the fees will be split between the community, the state and the public access media center. Um,
we don't get any grants and as I said, we get Comcast franchise fees and bond investment. Our quarterly payments have been going down every year. Um,
in fact, well, they've been going down steadily over the last two years. Um, so as you can see on the right, and I will um try to blow that up a little bit. I can't see the percentage because I've
got I don't know what you can see, but I've got you I get everyone on the right of the of the screen. Um, but our last franchise payment was the first time
that it was below $40,000. So, um, we estimated for FY27 for about 38,000 a quarter.
which would be about 152,000 for the year. In summary, um I will go ahead and read this, but you have it in front of you. PAC has experienced a decline in revenue from Comcast over the past two years and has
had an increase in hours providing services to the town. Special government presentations, information sessions, and meetings are on the rise causing a spike in videographer and production hours. Due to this to this growing number of
recording requests, resources are stretched thin with few options. PAC has reached a crossroads where it has become important to make immediate and necessary decisions to ensure its future. Moving forward,
considering the decline in revenue, PAC will need to seek alternative revenue resources, including town resources or a reduction in personnel and/or their hours. A lower headcount will result in a shift of priorities away from content
produced locally for the public and educational channels. Therefore, there would be no coverage of popular concert, sports events, and presentations. The government channel would attempt to maintain a level service whether staff
is cut or the town assists in funding path as all available resources would be used for government meetings. Funding assistance from the town would help us maintain level services on all channels public educational and
government or PEG. In addition, unfunded unfunded media channels such as YouTube and Facebook could continue to be available. Having the town supplement the budget would mitigate the shortfall in Comcast revenue and essentially give
the town a stake in PAC's overall health. PAC could therefore continue to provide local programming to keep the community entertained, informed, and updated. Without the town's participation in contributing funds,
Pat's mission and current service levels may not be fully realized. So basically if things don't change as far as funding we have to make some hard choices and we
would have to move away from trying to build the public channel um and and move toward continuing and even growing the government channel to keep up with the meetings and and um the
committee meetings. um assistance from the town would be fantastic. Um I I've heard of a couple of towns that are getting um some support from their town, some financial support from their town. Um it's not
generally all over the place, but um it is happening now with the decrease in Comcast funding. So, I just wanted to put it out there that we would, you know, appreciate being considered
um to get some some funding from the town in the future. >> Yeah, this is Tom. I just wanted to say that uh this is not a Lunenburgg um issue. This is all I mean all over the state and probably all over the
country as far as the the switch of people from going from cable to streaming services and other things. So the um you know the the local public access
uh model which has been around for I don't know 20 30 40 years now is going to have to change dramatically. And I don't think it's a Lunberg decision. It's going to be probably the state's going to have something to do with it. Maybe the streaming funding might either
be a stop gap or maybe solve the problem. I don't know. But uh there is um the world has changed dramatically since uh these things were set up. YouTube and the ability to to for individuals to do
their uh their own shows via their phone is wasn't around 40 years ago. So what what are the needs of the community today really should be really re re-examined? What what uh does a public access thing
look like u today versus what it was 40 years ago with all the other options available to people? So, um um I am I myself wouldn't want to uh support or not support uh town funding, but to me
that has to be looked at first. what you know and and figured out how how the long-term um uh uh support uh for the uh for it and you know what will be their their their
new mission if there is going to be a new mission. >> Yeah. Right. I mean we we are in the minority. Um 90 over 90% of the media centers in Massachusetts are 501c3s.
Um we are a town department. Um they are the 501c3s are eligible for a lot of grants. Uh where we are not. Um a lot of media centers are
regionalizing. um that's difficult for us to regionalize with a 501c3 because of our funding um base. We we can't really we can't really regionalize with a nonprofit. It
it just the numbers don't work. Um so it is changing. Um, we are hopeful that that bill gets passed because um, it won't solve all the problems, but it will keep us funded
to a to a a reasonable level. I I think, you know, I'm going to take on what Tom said. You know, Joe, I think, you know, you're thinking of funding. Um, but I think what we're Tom was
talking about and I'll add my spin to it. You know, it's, you know, the business is shifting, right? Like what it was before is not what it is now. And we got to look structurally what makes the most sense um for the organization.
I know for you know not like you said a lot of uh we're in the minority because most most communities they have separated from their community uh TV and they have turned into 5013C's that's an
evolution of how the business we're doing. Um and you know once you become a 5013C you can apply for more more grants and you know you have a lot more um latitude to how you define what you're how you're
spending the money that you have. Um once once it's a town although you are you know part of the of town government you are they enterprise fund self-sufficient
if if it if it becomes the need that the town will need to support you know your department with funds now we are going through the same scrutiny in terms of prioritization as every other department does Right. Um and and
that has has some cost to it. So I think you know the current members of your committee should think about that because it's not just like once it comes to the town government. I mean, you just I don't know if you were here for the
library presentation, but you know, I was >> Yeah, it's you know, you don't get a lot more um you in fact, you get very capp on what you can do and expand on. Um you know and I know Mir has been asking for
more funding for his programming line and every year I complain how we are not funding programming in in the senior center at the same level and the you know in the recreation committee. So, so we get to, so I guess my challenge back
to the members of your committee is, you know, is really to think structurally how can this business, how can this function survive long term? Um, you know, is it proposing to become its own 5013C and start going after grants? Um
because if it comes to the town the you know it's not it's it's it's not going to be such an independent uh department as you guys are now. So that's you know I'll I'll put a back on I personally would put a back on your
committee to to come up with ideas versus just you know give us you know more funding. I think even if the streaming fee comes through, um, you know, let's not forget like if that goes through, y'all going to be paying for
it, right? Like we have a line, I remember when we had cable, we had a line that was, you know, if if the government starts charging for streaming services, we're going to be paying for that. Um, so anyway, I I don't see that as
necessarily a saving. I see you saving your, you know, your services as they are now, but I think you guys do have a challenge on reimagining what is your, what is that you going to be in, you know, five years um and come up with
maybe different models uh similar to how other towns have come up with. Uh I I think for your bene uh creative independence moving becoming a
dependent in town government it's it's going to be detrimental for what you guys do. Um but one thing I'll ask you is to really if you don't have it to start tracking you know your expenses based on the services that you provide
so that should that come um up next year we will need to um we'll need to you know really start digging into what services you're providing and you know what fits within
our budget. >> Right. Thank you. Yes. Any other questions? >> Joe, what do you mean by media centers? >> Oh, uh, just public access stations. They they sometimes call them media
centers. >> But you said they're nonprofit. >> Most of the ones in Massachusetts are are nonprofits. I I know Jay Fitchburg is a nonprofit. >> Yes. >> ATV, but I don't think Lister is.
>> I believe they are. >> They are. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I know Westford is. And >> Lancaster is. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And they just launch like Westford they're they just launched a newspaper
and they're trying to they're working to become the newspaper on record. Um, and you know, like and and that's how these businesses are diversifying what they're offering, right? And the patch, they used to have a newspaper that got bought
by a larger company and now there's a vacuum um of a printed newspaper locally. So now the town spends tons of money on uh low sun and they saw that as an opportunity to launch their own
newspaper uh as a nonprofit and make become the So anyway so there are different things that different places are doing. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And in fact, um, Fitchburg TV is is really making a push
for journalism and doing news programs and we would love to do that. We just don't have the resources. We we are doing so many government meetings and um producing, you know, a handful of shows.
We don't have someone to go out and do news. So, you know, that would be a nice to have in the future. Uh, for sure, but um yeah, that's seems to be the trend right now.
Does um like Verizon or Dish or like Charter, do they not contribute to? >> Not in Lunenburgg. Um, we don't have Verizon as as a a a cable provider in
most of Lunberg. There is there are a few people that do have it, but we're not contracted with them for public access. Thank you, Jill. >> Thank you, >> Madam Chair. That is the last of the
presentations from uh departments this evening. >> Thank you. >> Do we have any comments from the public? I know you said you didn't have the agenda up. Um, that might still be the case. You have a couple items on old business before we have public comment.
>> Um, Jen, usually after uh >> on the department presentations, comment on the presentations. >> John, uh, we seem to have someone who wants >> John You're on mute, John, if you're speaking.
>> I figured that out real quick. Thanks, Tom. >> Name and address. Gonna give you a name and address, too. >> 162 Highland Street, Lunenburgg. This is John Bowen. Uh, hope everybody's doing good. Uh, I enjoyed both presentations. Only a couple of concerns. Um,
I I agree with Anna uh on the library presentation. Uh I don't think Mr. Mure uh he he casually dismissed uh Miss Lockwood's uh directive which was give me an itemized line by line of what you're spending money on. Uh not just
give me a round number and say oh we buy these books. Well what books uh what kind of books? Uh what type of books and what kind of programming? What type of programming? How much does that cost? That presentation was uh extremely um general
uh and in any kind of a presentation if it's general it should be given very minimal weight as far as what kind of money gets placed out without further review. I know that from experience. Um
more information. The secondary issue that I have is with the pack fund. uh 160 cities and towns in Massachusetts are of of PEG groups which is what they call pack peg by the state uh are
nonprofits. Uh they raised their own money. I made these recommendations with the cemetery commission if you remember last year to turn that into an association of nonprofits to generate more money that takes money away from the taxpayer from having to pay for upkeep and maintenance uh by providing
other services with the PEG fund and the bill that she's talking about. If you remember, they brought that up in 2023 2024 season. That died in committee. This one has gone for the third reading. It's in the Senate. It was proposed by the Senate. It still needs to go to
engrossment. And once it gets to engrossment, it has to go to the House. So, it didn't originate in the House. It originated in the Senate. Then the House has to go through a three-month process. Right now, it's March. in February 12th, it went to uh it it hasn't even made engrossment and it's only had its third
reading February 12th. It's about 90 days out from the time that the House of Representative gets it to be able to approve it. Right now, the state's into budget talks and anything after April, if you look at the legislative calendar, that's going to die again this year. It's not able to meet the volume that is
on the legislative calendar. So, that being said, don't anticipate that that money is coming anytime soon. PAC wants to expand. There are a number of different nonprofits out there. I know somebody uh I think it was um uh uh Tom, I don't think you mentioned it. One of
the members mentioned something about uh what kind of donations, what kind of, you know, uh does Verizon give money does this? There's a number of different groups um organizations out there that are feed nonprofits like that. Obviously, you know, public broadcasting
has been cut by the federal government, but you have uh places like um uh let me see, I pulled up a couple of names just to kind of give you a rough view. Um just bear with me a second. Uh
in any case, I'm looking I have a lot of stuff open here. Hold on. Uh most of 160 uh television stations like I said are nonprofits. Uh the money that gets uh given to pay groups like NBC
Universal gives local impact grants uh press forward a national coalition of 100 funders including the Mark Arthur and Knight Foundations committed more than $500 million to revital revitalize local newsrooms. You want to open a newsroom? There's your $500 million
grant. Public Media Bridge Fund and Emergency Response Fund lodged in 2025 to stabilize public media stations gave over $26 million to nearly 200 stations nationwide. American Public Television $2.9 million grant to help local TV
stations compete distribute locally produced content to a national audience. Uh National Endowment for the Humanities, obviously we know what they're supporting. uh and the affiliated uh local media foundations uh that you know uh fund uh legislative
journalism. So there's a number of ways to be able to generate money by spending the money. if they want more money, let's give them more money to be able to incorporate as a nonprofit to pay for grants writing to be able which we I think we already have a grant writer on staff to be able to, you know, solicit
these grants to continue to fund it independently and stop relying on the taxpayer and on the state of Massachusetts to pass a bill. Right now, they're asking for 5% of streaming services. I don't think there is one resident that wants to pay an additional fee or tax like Massachusetts likes to
swap them. Okay. Uh uh for streaming services uh to be able to provide local cable uh services. I'm just mentioning that just as an outcome. I think local cable services are excellent. I went to Emerson College. I was on ERS radio. I get it. So, you know, it's not that I'm
against it, but there are other options. And I don't think that they're looking at those other options. and they brought the same thing up 2023 to 2024 and I can't say that we should be funding them any more money until they start working in a different direction.
>> John, we the town doesn't fund the their operations at all. >> Not at all. No, I know it comes from the uh I know it comes from um >> I just want company. >> Yeah. No, no, I know it comes from the cable company, but they have asked for buffers. >> Right. I I think you're on the uh I
think you have a lot to say and I think maybe you might want to talk to U pack directly. Yeah. And and I think you know what we were suggesting uh that they think about the long term because this is this is not this is not a thing for
today or tomorrow or even for fiscal year 27. This is over the next I think Anna mentioned the next five or 10 years. Correct. major major disruptions are happening in in these kind of things and changes have happened. So um you know so maybe you want to direct that
information and that energy towards them to to see what they can do but if you I think we should move on and because we got a few more items on our calendar to >> I'm just like I said is I agree with that and you know like I I can feed that over to Joe that's not a problem. What I'm saying is is that I think that, you
know, we have to start thinking, like you said, in a different direction, but we have to have more focus on that direction. This bill has already been through one season. Now we're in another season. It's not going to happen. We can't keep relying on the state to pick up our pieces. This is why we're $3 million in the red because we were
relying on the state to pay for our schools and then they didn't. It's one thing after another. We have to start taking care of ourselves much better. >> Right. We just got to Thank you, John. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, Jean. Um, next item on the agenda is
potential FY20 27 proposed two and a half override. >> Yeah. >> Um, I I only say that because you said you didn't have a >> I just looked it up on my phone. >> Oh, okay. Okay. I was just trying to help you. Okay. >> Thank you.
So, did anybody want to talk about that? >> Um, I Yeah. No, Jay, you go ahead. I thought you were >> No, I was gonna say not tonight. >> Oh, I thought Okay, >> you have a comment. Go ahead.
>> Are we going to talk about that at the tri board meeting whenever that's going to be? Yeah. >> So, that I think that's probably the >> the tri board meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, March 10th.
The select board meeting got moved up to 6 pm. So the tri board meeting is going to start at 7:30. So it's at 7:30 in the Bilada meeting room at the second floor of town hall. If it is still weather by the second
week of March and we have to go to Zoom, I don't know what I'm going to say about that. Um so from 7:30 to the hard stop at 10:00, uh there is public comment on the front end and the back end of the agenda. And this is the FY27 budget and Proposition 2 and a half override are
the only items on that agenda. >> So, um I do want to say a couple things about this. Um and I'll I'll I'll preface it by saying why. Um, I think we as a committee need to have a I would like us as a committee to have a
standing of how we what you know what we think a direction we would like to go because I know the school committee is coming with a a uh with their position that they wanted the restoration budget
and you know and Jen has asked for a few things not much um I I've been going through Jen's spreadsheet doing my own color code coding. Um, and I think there are two big items that stands. There's
the fourth shift for the fire department. I I wanted to also highlight that the fire department is asking for uh an extra person on on on their on their 16-hour shift. Um, so, so the I do see
the fire department's request as it is now as two different things. One is add this add another staff uh during their regular shift and adding a fourth shift. Um, the DPW has a request for u more money to
start meeting more of the um the MS4 permit. >> Storm water. Yeah, storm water. Um, Jen is requesting as it is now a uh assistant town manager. And the other thing is we have she she
has a an added person to work with the DPW to alleviate u Sam who works there. And um and so anyway, so if I could go on for a little bit because I I have a lot of information in my head because I've been I did spend some time today
looking at the budget. Um the school the school committee budget, their restoration budget incorporates that $500,000 that we assigned to them in our town meeting budget as part of
their current budget. And they also in the beginning of the year they used they they looked at their expenses and they had hired I think three new positions um from just moving their you know their
budget around which they have the right to. So their level service budget, it is approximately $800,000 above what we have uh
what was funded at town meeting in their their operating budget. The restoration budget is another million dollars on top of that. And I'm giving round numbers here. And and I have a lot of concerns about
how we have talked about how um you know pe people that have that wanted an override what they wanted the how they wanted the override to be and my main concern right now is for the most part
Jen's budget it is level service budget except for the things that I called out the the school budget is a much bigger ask is a restorative as they're calling restoration budget
and and I you know one thing we hear we heard a lot on the school presentation was her you know she talked about inflation how the dollars don't stretch as far especially when she spoke about grants but that's the reality for everybody you
know I think we are living in a high infl inflationary times not everyone's getting um you know the raises that way they used to get um I think everybody's buying power has been diminished. That's a fact. Um and I'm happy to pull up data
and show that to anyone who would like that. I I have flashbacks of n uh 2012 when I had a son that was going to be a sophomore in the high in high school and my daughter was going was was a freshman
and the town requested we were times were tight and the town and the schools made a really big ask on their for the override and it failed and it failed big. It was two to one. It was over we had over 2,000 2,000 votes. no and a
little over a thousand votes of yes. And that was devastating, devastating for everybody. It was devastating for the schools and it was devastating to town services. The hours that uh mirror just talked about it that we were able to
open in the library on Fridays in 2023 were the hours that were cut in 2012. It took a decade for that. the our and this didn't just impact the town the town the the schools the town employees had to
take a 10% cut that's when the majority of our employees went from 40 hours to 36 hours I know the senior center had to cut uh hours as well and I I am really worried about that restoration budget
and wanting to put all our budgets all the this level service of a ride as one item on the agenda and and then that fail because people are going people are not
in a time to spend more. the inflation is affecting everybody and I feel like you know it's one thing to ask me for the level service budget but now there's another million dollars on top of that and if that was going to be the case I
think we need to break up the requests and let each department make their own case for what why they want an override and why now is the right time but I think it's extremely extremely dangerous
for the students of the Lunberg public schools to only have the restoration budget as an option. So for the town side, I would hope that the select board if
the the school department is coming for a restoration budget, I hope the select board will put the town requests as separate and let the departments explain their request and let the schools
explain their request. And I think the school department to come in with just a restoration budget is playing Russian roulette with public education. And I I am appalled that they
are taking that much of a risk. I think it's one thing to say we're going to ask for another $900,000 similar to what it was last week uh you know two years ago. And I I think that is one thing and I think asking another million it's and
make it in one thing making just one request there is a great chance of failure and that's going to be extremely that will affect the students beyond probably as bad as it was in 2012 and I think the town is being you know the
request that the town's ha that the Jen's budget has is I'm just going to say Jen's budget sorry Jen is very targeted things. Um, and and I think we can explain them and I I I I wouldn't mind if we split them. If we say this is
for the fire department, this is for, you know, storm water. Um, but put that with a restoration budget. This is not the time to do that. People are hurting and it's young people and is, you know, it's older folk that live in, you know,
fixed income. And I I hope that you know we as a finance committee can have a discussion about this and gather our thoughts and be able to present something of a unified view of how we feel about how
these these overrides are going to be structured on the tri board. >> I well I I I don't know if we can cut this. Well, we obviously we don't have Chris or or T or Mike
with us u right now, but I I think that's we can have I don't know if we'll ever come up with a unified thing. I I I think we can have our voices heard at the tri meeting uh on March 10th. Um, I
don't disagree, Anna, with what you're saying as far as, you know, what is, you know, is the school asking for too much? And if they are, will it fail? I I have I don't pretend like I know what the vote
will look like either at the town meeting or if if that wins uh uh with the electorate. Um, but it is a hard ask for that amount of money at this time. Um, it might pass, it might not. I don't
know. Um, I I think um I'm a statistical guy at heart and uh I would say that the odds would be better if they reduced their ask and um and presented a uh a smaller uh
uh budget uh increase um um which could be probably more palatable to the to the community. uh which would give it a better chance of passing. Um I too do not want to see um
a override fail if uh because that would mean drastic cuts ac uh across the boards and that would not be a good a good thing for the town I think. >> Yeah. Thank you. Tom Jay, what are your thoughts?
Uh my thoughts are they yeah they all have big ass. Um as someone that's on the retirement of the scale during the tax debacle of 2023 there were numerous uh waterfront
property owners that saw a significant increase in property taxes. and I don't have an appetite for an increase in my taxes and I'm hearing that from other people. There are, you know,
12,000 residents, 8,000 taxpayers and 1,600 what students in the schools. So 8,000 taxpayers are supporting 1,600. Um, everybody gets a paycheck. They know what it is and you have to live within your means and everything. The cost of
doing business is going up for everybody. Uh the cost of real estate, the cost of rentals. Um it's affecting everybody. Uh I increasing people's taxes really have to ask what is how does it benefit the
taxpayers? We have a town hall that's only open four days a week and the holiday is only open three days a week. How does that benefit taxpayers? Um, and people, you know, that's the question I'm people are I'm hearing. You know, what am I getting for my tax
dollar? >> I think an override is going to be incredibly hard sell that amount of money. So, yeah, there are if it doesn't go through there, there are going to be hard consequences. Um, sometimes, you
know, a town needs a reset. So, I think we have >> I think we have to ask what kind of town do we want to live in?
Do we want to live in a town where storm water is a constant threat? Do we want to live in a town where the fire department can't respond because their people have had enough or their people are going to leave because
they they're overworked? Do we want to have a town where students are disadvantaged? Now, I don't disagree that maybe the school committee uh should
work with the superintendent and try to ratchet down their ask. But if we want to live in a town that we can be proud of, that we feel like
we have a vested interest in, I think we have to ask for an override. And it's just a matter of what that ask is, >> right? And and and and I and that's what I said like, you know, I I I've been
reviewing Jen's budget line by line and and I write and I was texting her earlier asking. So I I I agree with you and that's and that's my concern with the level of ask and bundling as one option, you know, as
a as a way to force people, you know, I I don't like that. Um, and and I know that's the preference of the schools, but when we're talking about, you know, a very trimmed service, one
that, you know, like is giving a fourth shift like to firefighters like that's that should have been according to their schedule online in 2021. uh when we are dealing with you know just like doing the street sweeping and
cleaning of the catch basins you know the bare minimum mandated that the state the federal actually in that case is the federal government um versus if you know a restoration budget
and you know and I I I'm going to still have a lot of I have follow-up questions to the school department so It's really you know it's a multi-layer question right Jean that I was proposing is you know what is that number what are the we
are asking what is the level of things that we're asking and and and then the possibilities of fail of failure uh by asking too much because that's what happened in 2012 >> right well I agree with you Anna but
again I think that is up to the school committee to talk with the superintendent to pair down what their ask is. >> Right. Well, we and that's where you know we are just an advisory committee
and and it seems that you know from the four people that are here we're in similar we view similarly that you know we feel like we would rather have a a trim down
ask more that stays in level service and you know so that we can continue slowly but progressing towards you know a more ideal scenario. area. So yeah, >> the you know the most of it is in the school side because that's most of the budget and that's where a lot of the
things are. But yeah, and some of the the fourth shift of the fire department, I know they've been doing a lot of work on trying to get that information out to the community. Um, and uh, that's a, you know, that's something I think the select board has said that they think is
important. And, uh, and I'm not sure about the town manager's position, but I think I I've heard a lot of people uh, in the town's uh, government saying that they think that's important. um, you know, but they could, you know, I
when I asked the question the other day about the fire, um, they wanted to, uh, promote somebody to a lieutenant to serve as the, uh, the officer on the fourth shift. And I said, well, the current fourth shift, do you have a lieutenant who works that time? And they said, well, they have somebody on call.
Well, you know, maybe that's a cut you can make. Maybe you don't have a added another, you know, you don't promote somebody as a lieutenant. you maybe wait a couple of years, see how it works. Uh that's a that's a show of faith to the town that you're willing to to to bite
the bullet a bit. Um and >> also on that, >> you know, they were they're adding another uh person to their their their shifts. Like right now they have three people, three career firefighters
um and they're adding a fourth that'll be a per DM person. Uh, Jen, do you want to get in on this? >> Yeah, I just I want to correct just Tom. I think you misunderstand a little bit and maybe I know the uh fourth shift um
fire presentation has now been uploaded to YouTube. Folks may want to revisit that again. Um there is no fourth shift currently. There are three shifts each have an officer on the shift. So, if we create a
fourth shift, that shift will need an officer, but I think that that's probably overly simplified. Um, but I would just encourage you to go and revisit that um presentation. >> Well, well, is that physically there or
on on call? That was I that when I asked that question, my my because they were talking about >> So, currently there's three shifts. Each shift has an officer. On the Sunday shift, there's no career
shift on Sundays, >> right? >> So, there's an officer on call on Sundays. When we move or if we move to four shifts, Sundays get covered with career staff. I think it's helpful to look at the
graphics of the presentation that go along with the words that I'm saying so that you can see how that changes >> because I'll take a look at that. >> Yeah, right now there's not there's not a shift >> on Sundays and there would be a shift
>> on Sundays, right? So the officer on call entirely goes away if there is a fourth shift. The officer on call is only because there is no career staff on Sunday. Anna's point is something different
about shifting the PDM staffs, right? And that's a almost a that's like I don't know. It's I I just want to separate and I'm not negating like Jen I ask you for the data on that. Um you know it's but anyway I I so this was
good. I got what I wanted was for us to have a conversation on on what we've seen so far. And you know, I appreciate you guys entertaining me for this conversation on two and a half.
Thank you. >> Um, did anybody have a chance to look at the minutes from 25 and 212? >> I I haven't read them yet either. >> Yeah, I'll know them. We'll just do that next week. Committee reports from anybody.
>> Uh we're going to have another municipal building committee uh meeting on Monday. That's the first one in a while. So uh anybody who wants it's going to be a Zoom like this one. So anybody that wants to um listen uh check the um I
think the agenda is on the uh uh on the town website. Uh it'll be Monday at 5:30. Anyone else? >> Any topics for future meetings? >> No.
>> Any public comment? Anyone like to make a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Roll call. >> Yep. Tom >> I.
>> Anna. >> I. >> Jay. >> I >> I. Good evening everyone. >> I thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Good night.