Okay, good evening. Uh, it is Wednesday, December 10th, 2025 at 7 p.m. Um, this is a virtual meeting of the Lunberg Capital Planning Committee. I am Peter Beardmore. I'm the chair of the
committee and I am calling the meeting to order. In accordance with the requirements of the opening meeting law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and will be available uh to be found on the Lunberg public access
channel following the meeting. To view remotely, um you can access from a computer using the links provided on the agenda which is posted both at town hall and on the town website. Um it is also available uh via phone using uh phone numbers that are provided on that
agenda. The agenda lists all the topics which may be discussed at the meeting and are those reasonably anticipated by the chair. Votes may be taken as a result of these discussions. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be
brought up for the discussion to the extent permitted by the open meeting law. Uh having called the meeting to order, I will first ask if there is any public comment from either the board or the public.
All right. Again, this is Bob Martin. Just for the record, uh I want to raise a couple of issues. one being the flatill bridge and the other is some of the issues with um
fog spraying of Buridge Street and Longwood Drive which according to the regular town meeting was supposed to happen only happened partway as of the special town meeting but the big one right now
is Flatill Okay. Um, so as we very briefly discussed before the meeting started, um, um, when it was just a couple of us here on the in the meeting, um, and sir, could you give your address just we need that for the for the minutes for the
meeting as well. >> 54 Longwood Drive. >> Okay, got it. Um so um the Flatill Road Bridge is uh in scope for the capital planning committee. Um, it was included
in a um in the request from the DPW uh for $350,000 um which is basically a completion sum
that includes both engineering and construction elements to it. Um so that is part of um the the list of items that we are considering. It was um presented a few weeks ago. I don't remember the
recall the exact date of our meeting. Um I'm sure I can provide it to you once I have a look at the previous agendas. Um and it will be in scope for the process that this committee is about to enter. Um which is the prioritization of uh
capital requests for for the year for fiscal year 27. Um the the fogging project um I don't believe is in scope uh to the capital planning committee or the capital planning process. um that is
under the opaces of the town manager and the select board um as part of um regular town operations and budget. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Is there any other public comment? >> Hearing none. Uh chair's report for
tonight will be brief. Uh first of all, I want to thank everybody for attending. Um this uh is the last of the uh request presentations that we will be hearing. Um earlier uh on the weekend I guess I
circulated uh a rollup in the form of a um Excel spreadsheet uh to all of the members that included um what I was able to draw from the presentations that were presented from the department heads. Um,
in some cases I attempted to normalize the titling and shorten it uh, in a few cases uh, with the number that was reflected in the presentation. Um, I did have to make a couple of follow-up calls. I spoke with the police chief just to verify the numbers um with the
gas powered uh gas engine cruisers um that he requested um as well as I reached out to the facilities director uh regarding a um amount for the um the
oil fired heaters for the garage area uh of the public safety building. Um, as I outlined in my email, uh, when I sent that, uh, the agreement that I had with the facilities director was that if I did not hear from him effectively by
now, um, we would be removing that item from our consideration list, uh, for lack of a, uh, for lack of a number. Um, and, uh, to date, I have not heard from him. So my intent will be that when we do update uh this list coming out of
this meeting uh to include the IT request um that we will be dropping the um the uh unit heaters from the from the items that are in scope. Um following this meeting as I said I
will uh update that list. Um the list has columns for each of the members to put in a priority list. We'll talk about this a little bit more at the end of the meeting. Um, but basically there's a homework assignment. Um, which is a request for all of the members by next
Tuesday uh to submit to me your uh priority list. Uh, and then I will correlate them and we will discuss them and and uh work from there uh on our uh meeting next Wednesday. Uh, and with that, that is all I have
for this evening. Madame town manager, do you have a report? I have no report. I just am texting the facilities director though to verify that he didn't get that because I know he was communicating with the um vendor yesterday. So, but perhaps the vendor
couldn't get it together. I did know that you had that deal. I just want to check that before the meetings concluded. >> Okay, we'll do. Good. Good. All right. Um with no further ado, um Casey, I assume you're presenting on
behalf of Souzer. Is that is that what we're doing? >> Yes, that is accurate. >> Okay, let me get the slides open. Okay, I can't seem to get this into
presentation mode. Um, so I'm just going to share uh what I have. Bear with me. Sure. >> All right. Can you all see that? >> Yes.
>> Yes. All right. Okay, take it away. >> Okay. Uh, first of all, I wanted to say um thank you um for I know we're a little late in the in the season of capital plan requests, so um thank you for for squeezing us in and taking the
time to um to hear our request. Um we only have um if you go down a little bit, we only have one request this year um and it is the adult activity center network upgrade. um roughly around uh
the 20,000 mark um for the request. Um if you go to the next slide and at any point if anyone has questions, please feel free to interrupt me and ask away. Um so the purpose of the network uh network upgrade for the Eagle House
building um is to align um align that building with the rest of the the town's equipment and uh the rest of the town system. Um the current equipment that's in there is end of life and is um presenting some vulnerabilities and
already um we're seeing reliability concerns and already seeing um issues with uh connectivity and the equipment um degrading. So we want to uh move continue move in the direction of aligning um all the IT infrastructure
across the town into one one system and this would be uh that last that last piece from the network side um to do that for this this building. Um again the estimated lifespan of this uh equipment would be 7 to 10 years um is
typically when we start to see degradation and and start to plan again for for replacement for the the majority of the equipment. Uh this would include the firewall, the switches, access points, battery backup, and the rack enclosure, which
covers um the physical security and um some other miscellaneous equipment um to make sure the space stays clean um and organized. On the next slide, um I just have a breakdown of each piece of equipment and
the quantity um for for the network. itself. So again, the security appliance is the firewall. It goes through the hardware cost. Um it breaks down each each piece of equipment there. Um the switches, the indoor Wi-Fi, there was a request and I
do um agree with the outdoor Wi-Fi for that space because I have that beautiful pavilion that they have in there now. Um and they want to be able to provide um outdoor access to that space. Uh and then again the battery backup rack enclosure and some miscellaneous
supplies. um to complete that uh the uh the neatness of keeping that that space clean. Um on the next screen >> or the next screen goes into the >> Yep. Okay. So that's that's it then
actually for the the FY27 request. That's that's really all I have. So the the next kind of just goes down into breaking out. >> All right. So I'd like to I'd like to stop at the 27 piece. >> Sure. have a conversation about that and then maybe move into the outy years if that's okay.
>> Definitely. Of course. >> Okay. Um I have a few questions but I'll open it to the members first. >> What's what's the basis of the estimate? >> Uh we have a quote that uh we received
um from a vendor within the past week. We've been updating it, but we have a quote that um we received within the past week. >> Thank you. Any other questions? I I was I I think I get it, but I was
wondering about the logic of extending the Wi-Fi out of doors at this point when even seniors carry typically carry uh >> Did we just lose Matthew? He just froze
>> utility than just that. But >> Matthew, you froze. Wi-Fi >> 20 seconds. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I would just like to hear the logic on the outdoor Wi-Fi. I think I see where it's going, but I'd like to hear the reasoning.
>> Yeah. So this was um this was a request from um the um director of the department um to provide as a service and a resource to um people
who are visiting the um the building and not only for that but I think the intention around it was also they plan on having events out there and other sort of um offerings. So the the purpose of it was to allow um if there was
vendors who were coming to do like again I'm not sure the style of events but it seemed like maybe concerts or other sort of things there. So being able to provide the outdoor Wi-Fi um for connectivity purposes was the the original ask um for the everyday folks
who are coming and going and then for larger events that they might be uh posting there. >> All right. Thank you. >> So I um I I I have a number of questions. Um the
the first is I'm assuming that like we do in town hall and school buildings, we are providing both public and business uh service on this network and that that is segregated traffic. Is that >> correct?
>> Um okay. Um so let's I I have a number of questions. I just want to contain to the business portion of the network at this point. >> Um, how many devices andor users do we have on the business network
at the Eagle House? So, I can get you an exact number if you give me a minute or two, but roughly we probably have um 10 10 like um town
computers >> town computers, equipment um and then probably 8 to 10 phones that are connected to the network. Um, and then, um, a projector,
which I would consider business use. Um, so maybe 20 to 25 business devices. >> Okay. That's more than I anticipated you were going to answer. Um, and and then we're obviously providing the
the public uh, stuff. Um what what struck me about this was thinking me thinking through as I was looking at your presentation and what you've got in the following slides relative to the density of of equipment particularly
switches that two $2,500 switches for what is effectively low density use in that building struck me as a lot as as well as for that matter a firewall, right? Like if if we were using one
administrator and maybe another user, I would say, well, why aren't we just VPNing or or uh you know using some other you know endpoint security mechanism to attach to the network. Um obviously when you're into a dozen nodes
that probably isn't practical I would assume. Um, but it just strikes me that for such a low density building, we're spending, you know, effectively over $20,000 on seven years of of network equipment.
>> Um, yeah, I think there, you know, if we're comparing it to like the DPW would probably be the closest like size. Um, I think the DPW has less equipment in there, uh, like desktop type of equipment, end user type of equipment.
Um and they have one less switch in their in their um setup. So and but they have one more access point. So there's you know they have a larger outdoor space in the garage area. Um so >> you also measure the different the
distance between the DPW and town hall in miles and you measure the distance between the Eagle House and Town Hall in feet. Right? So just in in terms of thinking in terms of how you would attach something to a wide area network versus a local area network like those
kinds of things it and I and the library is on a completely different >> yes >> network. So you know it's it it just seems like a lot but you know I understand that you also have a protocol and a policy to to to conform to. So
>> yeah, the li just to touch on the library that's completely off of our like the town network because they run off of another um vendor that most libraries use CW CW Mars. Um >> um but yeah, this this this would be, you know, the the recommendation request
to to um align it with industry standard, which um which is what the rest of the town is has already, you know, you know, invested in essentially. um to get up to uh that was that upgrade was um in 2022
for the other town buildings. >> And this is Cisco equipment, >> correct? >> And you folks are buying from a Cisco vendor. You don't you you do not distribute or resell Cisco?
>> No. Um, no. We we go procure um quotes from vendors like SHI, Connection, um, Wall-E computers. So, all of that is coming from third party vendors that we procure quotes for. >> Okay.
Okay. That's all I have. Anyone else? All right. you want to move on to the next slides? >> Yeah. Um these ones are are kind of just like a a larger picture of the entire uh entire network. So everything that's
listed on here for the quantity again um for the quantity is all all the town buildings with the exception of um the library because they're on a separate network and the unit costs are of um today. So looking into future years,
obviously those those prices may change. Um these numbers are things that are part of operating budget as well, not necessarily capital requests. Obviously FY27, we have a big one here because we're hitting our 5-year mark of doing the network upgrade that we did um in
2022. Um, so a lot of our the licensing is coming up to up to renewal in 27 and then um in FY29 uh that would be when we were recommending to replace the access points because those have a shorter
lifespan than like the switches and the firewalls. Um so that's the next the next 5 years um that we're looking at. >> Let me stop you. Let me stop you. >> The capital plan that is in scope right now is for FY27. >> Correct. You just made a you just made a
request for $20,000 for the Eagle House for FY27. Now you're showing an additional $60,000 or >> No, no. I So this is this is just a view of our five-year network plan outside of capital request just to give you a
bigger picture. So this is not part of the request at all. I'm just I'm just sharing information. >> So this $59,000 is included in your FY27 operating budget. So, the ones that are associated with the license, anything that says license next to it is um we're
working with the vendor um to is going to be a 5-year agreement broken down into annual payments for the licensing. Um so, that's getting moved into the operating budget. So, this could be broken out. We just don't have that plan in place yet with the vendor. So, it's all currently sitting in FY27.
>> All right, understood. >> Sorry for the confusion. >> Yeah. No, no, it doesn't it doesn't read the way you just explained it. >> I I understand that now that you Yes, I I do see what you're saying. Um so that the licensing is is a separate piece. It just that's how we have it laid out on on our back end. Um
um >> and the licensing just I think I understand this but and I you've probably already explained this but let me try to get it to sink in. This is we own the hardware, >> correct? >> But the the firmware is not a perpetual
license effectively, right? So we are licensing the firmware and the support associated with both the hardware and the software. >> Correct. Um because it it basically is the equivalent to like a cloud subscription. So like similar to any
other subscription service. Um and the equipment essentially does not function without the licensing. So let's say we just decide to not renew it one year. Um the network would essentially cease to to work. Um but yes that that is that is correct
Peter. >> Okay. >> Um and then the next in the next slide again is just giving you an entire picture of um the value of the network infrastructure um across all of the buildings that um that we support. Um so
that total I believe comes around to 96 97,000 um of the entire value of the the network in infrastructure. Um and again that usually has roughly a 7 to 10 year lifespan um before we start to see degradation. Um again this is not part
of this request just giving you a bigger picture of of the network infrastructure. So, do you anticipate, was it on the p previous slide, because at some point we're going to be taking a look at a five-year plan. Are you anticipating another hardware request
coming inside of the next five years? >> Uh, FY32. So, it's just outside of this window. Um, so FY32 will be looking >> It's actually five. So, okay. Um, >> and that's going to be basically
much of this $90,000 infrastructure minus the 20,000 that we're >> minus the 20,000 for Equal House. >> Okay. Um and that's where um you know on the next slide we I discuss about community compact um as an opportunity for a grant
um um to fund that request um as opposed to pulling it from a capital request or um the have you know potentially trying to fund it from another source. Um we you know we
we've seen success in this in other towns. We did apply for this for the FY22 or the um calendar year 22 uh upgrade and it did get denied. So, as long as you know we it's always good to try again. We can
try again. Um as long as the grant hasn't been used for other um purposes in the past two years, we can apply um apply again for the larger. So that would be my my recommendation for that that large upgrade in um FY32.
>> Is this something that we should be applying for in FY32 or should we be applying for every year up to and beyond FY32? >> Um I guess it depends on the goals of the town because it can be used for a
variety of things, not just network equipment. It can be used for permitting software. It can be used for um um phone system upgrades even though we just did that. So there's there's a lot of resources that community compact grant can that can support um that I
wouldn't necessarily want to commit to just doing it for IT infrastructure without taking it like talking with the town manager and taking a look at the other missions of the town. Um but it is definitely something that I would recommend looking into for the FY32 upgrade. um considering that's going to
be a larger upgrade than the Eagle House alone. >> What one of the things Mr. Chairman through you that I have talked a little bit with Casey about is that um you know first of all I was very surprised with the major upgrade that we did a few years ago that they didn't fund it then
I I kind of question if we've made the switch to have a network and it's just time for an upgrade. how unless we're creative about really expanding services and making an some sort of additional connectivity or some sort of
enhancement. I would be surprised if we would get funding for routine kind of maintenance. They were there spend a lot of money for you know if you're going to VIP for the first time but if you are already on VIP
phones for example and you need to upgrade not as generous and the the last time we did we applied for this we were um coming from a again similar I was very
surprised because we were coming from a very hodgepodge network. It was, you know, a mixture of 10 to 20 year old, uh, equipment, um, different brands, different, um, different everything. So, it was a very
big jump to align the town, um, into a >> Is this specifically for capital costs or could there be, for example, project costs or because I have an idea. >> They'll cover projects. >> I have an idea for a project.
How about if we automate meetings and put Zoom equipment in all of our conference rooms and find a way for committee chairs to be able to schedule meetings without making 17 phone calls? >> Well, I don't know about that last part, but the first part they probably would
be interested in that. >> Probably. Yes. Um and there there's definitely uh equipment out there that um would support that. Um >> Well, I know there is. I use it every day. Yeah, there I was say I know that right now we have like the owl equipment
which is a very low lowgrade version of what we could have um in the conference spaces throughout the town. Um, so that's definitely an opportunity to improve and that would be a very good example of, hey, we're kind of down here. We want to really improve our status. Um, whereas
>> maybe upgrade the network infrastructure at the same time, right? Like I mean, I think we should be thinking about that kind of thing and maybe applying for it well be well before 2032. >> So yeah, it's the these grants are funny. They you actually have to know
when they're coming out. They give you an announcement of when they're going to be available. You need it written before the deadline typically if they're still running them the same way and then they're rolling. So if you are if you get yours in like pretty much immediately upon them being open, you
have sometimes a higher likelihood of success. >> So it's it's this is when we prepare for a community compact grant, we're going to want to be uh ready in advance of the application date. Yeah, I think it'd be a great project to figure out if we can
get the right minds together to prep ourselves for something like that. >> Sounds like we might have some subject matter experts on this call. >> I'm so I'm strictly a user. >> Okay. >> Sometimes >> I'm not a builder. >> That's the best people to get feedback
from, though. >> I I take it that that grant is not going to be available for the Eagle House. >> No. too small. >> Yeah, the there is I mean it's
>> apply to it, but the likelihood of a smaller option like that what might get looked over. Um also I believe um that for this year so we would have to >> it would also prevent us from >> you you want to get the most bang for
your buck because you can only use them every two years. Yeah, I think something like that, you know, spin it around access and that sort of thing, >> right? >> Definitely.
>> I'd love to see that. Okay. >> Okay, that's um >> that's it. >> That's it. That's all I have for for the IT side. No, Casey, I just want to be clear this you do have some more research that you're doing for outyear
requests, right? Though there there is you were just presenting FY27 tonight on this project, >> correct? So there there are additional outyear requests that they're obtaining upgraded quotes and all that that as we get into
2026, you know, if you want a presentation on them. >> Yeah. I mean, I think to be clear, we we have documentation from I think every department now. >> Yeah. >> For at least five years, in some cases more, >> right? Um, so at at a minimum, I'd like
some sort of documentation that follows that form. Um, and maybe a narrative to go with it. I don't know that another presentation is required at this point, but um, we can certainly make that determination in January or February when we pick it up again. >> Okay.
>> But yeah, I mean, we we want that information. So, absolutely. Yes, please provide it. >> Understood. >> Okay. Anything else for Casey? Hearing none. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Of
>> course. Thank you again. I appreciate you taking the time and and squeezing us in. So, thank you. >> Uh you're welcome. Glad to do it. Okay. Um next on our agenda is minutes.
Um, since we last met, we have received minutes uh for 1119. Uh, and we had previously tabled minutes for 1029 and 115.
Uh, so has is anybody interested in making a motion to approve any or all of those minutes or none and we can table them again? You're m you're muted, Matthew. >> Yeah. Yeah, I realize that. Uh I would
make a motion to approve all three sets of minutes previously discussed. >> I'll second that. >> All right. Is there We have a motion from Mr. Brener, a second from Mr. Nolo. Is there any discussion? Hearing none. This will be a roll call
vote. Mr. Brener. I. >> Mr. Nolo. I. >> Mr. Bowen. I and an I for myself. Fantastic. Real progress there. Minutes approved. Uh okay.
So you all have um a Excel spreadsheet and I'm going to share it for the benefit of the public so that they know what I'm talking about. Um but I have composed
a document that um is effectively a a rollup of all of the requests that we have received to date. Um I apologize I'm having Zoom issues. Um but can you all
see the the Excel spreadsheet that I shared? >> Yes. >> Good. Y Okay. Um and again most of these were taken from the presentations. Different people provided spreadsheet versions, presentation versions, a narrative
version. Um this is what I was able to glean mostly from the presentations that we heard. Um I um madame town manager, I would like for you possibly or the department heads to
maybe take a look at this tomorrow after I add the IT item. Uh just to validate it and the numbers associated with that. >> Um and then we will redistribute it. Um, I'll distribute it to everybody tomorrow and then we'll redistribute again uh
assuming there's a correction and inevitably there's a correction. Um, and then um what my ask would be for the members to uh find their column, save this on their computer, find their
column, fill it in from, you know, essentially number one to what will be 22. Uh so we will have 22 requests uh assuming we're dropping the uh heaters. If we are not dropping the heaters then
we will have 23 requests to contend with. Um my word of caution is it is very easy when you're going through this to double count and have two 17s or something. Um, so once you go through it
and think that you have come up with a list of 1 to 23 or 22 or whatever it is, go back and look for the numbers in order just to double check your work. Um, because when it comes back to me, I will not have the luxury of making a
decision for you. All I can do is incorporate your data into a rollup and then if I have to go chase you, it'll be next Wednesday night before we get this all figured out. Um so uh assuming I get all that information back by end of day on Tuesday um I will correlate it. I
will come up with um um both an average and a mean and a order uh according to both uh and we will um present and um discuss them all at that meeting next
Wednesday night. Um, you know, based on our previous discussions, obviously these are we would like to land this in December to be in compliance with the charter, but there is nothing other than
the words in the charter um really compelling us to do this. If it comes into early January, if we have more questions, if we have a substantial disagreement that doesn't allow us to get to a conclusion next Wednesday, we've discussed with the town manager that there is some leeway that early
January will be acceptable. She has to um uh submit a capital plan to the select board and finance committee round about the 1st of February, uh give or take, depending upon when town meeting is. Um, >> and just if if I can just jump in right
here, I I did talk to our uh folks that are helping us externally with our financial closeouts. And we are not likely going to have free cash certified until probably around
January 31st. So even that is going to be difficult because we won't know necessarily how much there is to expend. You need a f You need a funding plan to submit a capital plan. >> Correct. >> Yep. Okay, that's good to know. Um it's
going to be one another one of those years. >> I think it's going to be worse. >> Okay. All right. Um, so with that in mind, Madame Town Manager,
what do you anticipate given I mean, let's just assume that we come up with a recommendate recommended order of merit list and vote on it next Wednesday. um what do you anticipate your interaction
could be or should be or will be um with the finance committee relative to preparation and reporting of that capital plan um you know this is the first year we've done this with you right so and and and
obviously you're going to you're going to come up with how you want to do this uh and and you know we've committed to working with you and and availing ourselves um to advise uh but but you know we I would like to kind of
understand how you're thinking about that um and and what you think the involvement of the capital planning committee could be throughout those those weeks. I I guess I'm not following I'm not following the question. What >> So let me just be more practical. Uh as
you're building the the the capital plan and you know you are anticipating a number for certified free cash because you know what's been submitted if not approved. >> I I so to be clear I I have no knowledge at all and I probably won't have even
ballparks until sometime in January >> really even. >> Yes. Yeah. I am I I I couldn't tell you if it's a million, million and a half, 2 million, three million, none. They We are still reconciling cash. >> Wow. >> Okay. Um Okay. Well, that's good
context. Um so with that in mind, is your expectation that this is going to be a rush once you have that number? Like you've got to you got to run through the policy, figure out what goes where, come up with a projected number for for
capital >> and do that, you know, within a week or two of when you get that number, or is this become a like a March kind of thing, right? Like how does that >> how does that come together? >> It's probably, right, it depends. What what does the free cash come back looking like? If it's if it's within
what we're generally been getting, then we know roughly how much we can expend. We can have we can have a a paper plan right in advance. Uh but if there's a sign significant deviation off that either way, I think I would want to come
back to capital planning and have those discussions especially last year where there were there I I could imagine there could be a similar thing where there was the cut off last year. So, you dropped or the the t the interim town manager jumped projects to pick up more projects. I'd like to if that's what I'm
going to do, I'd like to come back here. You have heard them all. >> Um, but if folks know what I'm saying there, I think there were some higher level projects that were higher and we just ran out. There wasn't >> Yeah, we ran a lot of small projects last year, not a lot of right
>> bigger projects. This year is a little different in terms of what's on the request list. So >> I mean I think there's some pretty large projects that are absolutely missionritical to various elements of the organization. >> Yeah.
>> Well a and to to that end that there are some large projects on the table. Uh should should we be thinking about regardless of how free cash comes in other funding mechanisms for any of
this? So, let me just put Can you share your screen again? Oh, no. I have it. Okay. >> The spreadsheet. >> No, I got it. I got it here. So, I can see it. Um, you know, we don't there was the question. I think I think that
there's a worthwhile discussion to be had that we kind of touched upon when we were in person a couple weeks ago about the vehicle stabilization fund and whether what is the cut off for that and and is this big is this big trucks only
or is a half million dollar vehicle does that get applied towards the vehicle stabilization fund? I think that there's some discussions around borrowing with the project that we haven't had presented yet fully, right?
That we don't with the school track and field that we don't want to necessarily go to that inside borrowing source per se. Um, and none of these really package nicely for an out like none of these should none of these rise to the level of I don't think in my opinion of an
excluded borrowing or where you'd package them together in an exclusion. Um, >> how how about a capital outlay exclusion? >> I think we have some pretty substantial needs coming down the pipe for some big
large capital debt exclusions, but I wouldn't want to eat the capacity. >> Fair enough. that insight. >> I think that that should be very much on our agenda, Rob, as we think about the outyear projects.
And if we do want to do a $2 million borrowing for a track and field and maybe an item or two that's on this list, right? Um because it's going to fall below the line or we just can't afford it or whatever. Um,
do we look at bringing forth a larger borrowing and but but I feel like we've got some math to do as a team here, right? And and we've got to do some prioritization and >> and some work that that includes the
outyear discussions. Um, but I I tend to agree with what you're thinking, right? which is we've got a the the previous town manager regularly put and I've said this before in our
meetings in her fiscal forecast her capital portion of her fiscal forecast was basically you know a a highlight of the gap between the requested items on the capital plan and
the projected fiscal capacity to fund them using unexpended capital, raise and appropriate and free cash. And that gap got bigger and bigger and bigger seemingly every year, right? >> Um and so we do not have to the best of
my knowledge a plan to deal with that problem, right? So, so we need to come up with a plan, right? And by we, I don't mean the capital planning committee per se, but I think we have a role to play in figuring that out.
ask a question real quick. Um, Peter, I think you asked a question about the u delay, if you will, or the time period between understanding free cash and when there might be some response regarding
what the plan is going forward. Did you ever get an answer to that? This town manager, do you have something? Can you say months or six months? >> So what the the consultant I just talked to them today. They have told me several
weeks ago and they confirmed today that we are looking to close fully close out January 31st. That's the target date. Um how quickly the state will certify that. It's not going to be as busy as this time of year because they're not going to be looking at a lot in January
although they're looking at a few certainly. Um, you know, it depends on how long they're going to take to submit that back to us and if there's questions, but I'm expecting that I will have free cash numbers absolutely certified in February unless I report that there's been a significant change,
but that's we should have the certification back from the state in February. >> The good news is the do knows how to do this and most of their heavy lifting for this is already done. So I mean they do other things obviously in January, February and March. But
>> if I could draw a comparison, we submitted our tax rate recapitulation or at the tax rate recap the other day for them to affirm our tax rate. It was uh there was a question that came back in less than 12 hours and the tax rate was certified in less than 24.
>> Free cash. >> Free cash can be difficult to certify. uh about 2 months ago is when everybody is pummeling DLS to get their free cash certified because typically it's you have free cash certified for your fall special town meeting.
>> I understand the timing of the free cash itself. The question that arose a little bit ago is once you have that certified, how long is it going to take to get from there to a funding plan? Do you know how much free cash you have?
>> I have I have no I have no concept. I have no knowledge around that's what I said earlier whether we're talking a million million five 2 million 3 million. I don't know yet. They have a substantial amount of work left to do in front of them before we can start getting those initial estimates.
>> So to be clear, we're going to vote on this the first Saturday in May, right? What happens between now and then is anybody's ball game. We don't know. And and there have been years in Lunenburgg,
and I'm going to date myself a little bit here, where we have w written very ambiguous articles on the warrant because we haven't known the numbers and what specifically we're going to bring to town meeting. and and I don't recall
that happening specifically with the capital plan, but I definitely recall it happening with the budget. Uh and so, you know, we're in one of those years where it's going to be a bad budget year because of the state funding, you know, and and a bunch of other issues. We've
got this, you know, uh closeout problem >> and and we have a brand new team at the school department. Uh we have no team in the town. So So Mr. Martin, I'm not sure if you're aware, but we are in between the reason
why this is taking so long, we are in between finance directors. We are working with consultants who are outsourced. We're actually bringing, if folks haven't seen the select board meeting last night, we're bringing back our former finance director as an interim. She's retired, but we we are
having difficulty finding somebody to fill this position despite recently substantially upping the salary. This is going to set the town back really operationally for well over a year to come, right? Like even if somebody walks in and
they're the most seasoned person and they know Munis and they know our software, they don't know our accounts, they don't know our history, they don't know our systems. It's going to take a long time. And and I am planning I I think I said it to the chairman of the select board earlier today. I am I'm
planning that we are not going to have a permanent finance director in place by town meeting. That's if I will be happily surprised if that's not the case. Um, I would love for that to not be the case, but that's what I'm planning on right now.
>> Okay. Um, understood. Um, I think my takeaway from the question I asked you is we're going to play it by ear. >> We will be in touch throughout the month of January. Um, I will likely call a meeting
second or third week of January with at least an update uh plan as well as um beginning to take a look at the out years and discussing as a committee how we're going to go about doing that. I
over the course of the last few months I've come up with a few ideas that uh that I think you know may be viable but I think when the time comes we can discuss that as a as a committee and and figure that out. Um but I do want to at least deliver some kind of report um in
the coming year that um that reflects more than a one-year prioritization of capital requests. So we'll make some progress here no matter what. Okay. Um so with that um schedule for future meetings is just as we outlined
um next Wednesday um and then um a TBD uh for for January but most likely week two or week three uh in January. Um is there any other uh public comment?
Okay, before we adjourn, do all the members understand the homework assignment? Not that you can't call me and ask me later on, but does everybody understand it? >> You need it by >> end of day Tuesday. >> End of day Tuesday. All right.
>> End of business day Tuesday. I'm going to work on May night. >> So, >> perfect. >> Okay. Good. All right. With that, is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion for Mr. Brener, a second from Mr. Nolo. This
will be a roll call vote. Mr. Brener. >> I. >> Mr. Nolo. >> I. >> Mr. Bowen. >> I. >> And an I for myself. We are adjourned. Thank you everybody. Thank you. It's my wife. We would do this in an hour and we did it in 51 minutes. >> Perfect.
>> Mr. Martin, if you want to talk about Mr. Mr. Martin, if you want to call me about any of those things that you had questions about, feel free. We can have a dialogue about both of those projects. Okay. >> Thanks very much. >> Take care. Good night. >> Jen, can I give you a quick call? Uh very quickly.