good evening it is recording in progress I always talk over the recording in progress I'll try again hello again it is 6:31 and it is um Wednesday March 27th and this is the school committee special meeting at the middle school collaborative room and in accordance with the requirements of open meeting law please be advised that this meeting is being broadcast at a later date over the lunenberg public access Channel if you wish to join us via Zoom the meeting ID is 766 316 7607 this meeting will be broadcasted a later date through the local access cable channel and on the public access page the lunenberg and the lunenberg access YouTube channel Within 24 hours after the meeting 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 discussion to the extent permitted by open meeting law so um generally we um say the Pledge of Allegiance it's not on the agenda but this is about as Rogue as I get we will do it anyways car woohoo okay I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible with Li and for all okay um our first item of business is public comment if there is anyone with a public comment they are welcome to make it have go right ahead please state your name and address Sarah camer 304 Lancaster AV um and I speak for myself not any board in town um I've watched a lot of meetings as I'm sure all of you have um and uh that compelled me to come out today to say um this to you uh thank you uh for the first time and I would say six or seven years in town I felt that the value I place in education was reflected by this board and represented to our town leadership for the first time I know many of you served on this committee for a long time um that's not knocking previous work um but I am very very grateful to every single person on this board and this room who addressed the gross and adequacies in the funding for the schools um this year was particularly brutal um and the things that were said some people have commented on those um and some people took them personally and I have to say as a member of the public when my voice is not represented I feel it the same way um and so I wanted to say thank you I know I'm rambling at this point uh but thank you I mean I I think it's ridiculous that every single year you have to justify why the schools need more than a 2 and a half% raise when they employ so many more people in the town than the rest of the town it's not to say that we shouldn't as one member one group in town would be a whole town that's not the story the story is the allocation of the budget is not representing the whole town every single year and I really appreciate people saying so um and thank you for the I forget what you called it the the six budgets the rainbow budgets the spre sheet of budgets I think there are nine now nine um you did nine budgets and our Board of Selectmen was lamenting that the town manager would have to redo one that's stf that's not fair um so okay I'm still going on I'm going to stop now but I I truly thank you all of you and especially um also the parents who uh stood up for the budget thank you thank you Sarah we appreciate it mam chair yes go right ahead this morning I sent uh an email that I'm about to read uh to the town manager to the members of the board of selectman to the members of the finance committee and the superintendent and the chair of this committee uh and I'm going to read it out loud dear Heather referring to Mrs Lemieux after watching your comments last night and seeing most of the public comments of the board of selectman members I clearly owe you an apology I lost my cool last Thursday night and my comments following sanctimonious comments by members of the finance committee directed at the superintendent and school committee chair struck a tone that was too accusatory and personal my comments should not have characterized you as the sole cause of the predicament we are in the conditions that you mentioned last night suns setting Esser Transportation costs utilities inflation Etc are the root cause my frustration continues to be and what should have been the Lasting Impression from my comments is that despite knowing the conditions and the nearly 30 FTE cuts that a 2.5% school budget would trigger you chose to propose a 2.94% for the schools while proposing considerably larger proportional increases in other departments further despite this you characterize the school Department's share of the total budget as growing not mentioning that your comparison hinged on retiring debt very little of which is funded by Levy limited res revenues in that same narrative on February 21st you suggested that the school committee May seek an override the balance that you seek was not evident in that budget I continue to believe it was calculated informed by multiple private conversations that I have had I do appreciate the progress that has been made in the uing weeks and the creative appropriation of available arpa funds however I call your attention to my comments at the finance committee meeting on February 21st and subsequent fincom meetings my call outs pavement management which at the time I didn't know was buttressed by 2 million and counting in available chapter 90 funds local receipts proposed increases in Staffing these are all levers that you eventually pulled to achieve balance I think that we could have gotten to where we are sooner saving hundreds of hours for dozens of people here we sit on the eve of the fincom budget hearing the select board didn't have numbers on most of the money articles last night nor do I assume does the finance committee currently this was sent this morning I've been told recently that the finance committee has received an updated budget are the changes you announced last night reflected in budget documents how should we expect non-employee participants in local government to keep up and offer timely and effective commentary there is a pattern here and it is very frustrating again I should not have made this personal and I apologize particularly for my tone my advocacy for my position and those of my constituents hopefully with a more palatable tone will continue sincerely Peter beardmore I also brought with me a visual aid for tonight oh it is a newspaper clipping from October 10th 1985 and the picture on the top of the uh front page of the senal Enterprise was a picture of my mother a school committee member at the time who was walking into Turkey Hill Middle School facing a gauntlet of 70 plus teachers for a negotiation meeting the contract had expired 3 months and 10 days prior to that and tensions were hot it say stiff upper lip lunberg School Committee Member Paul at beardmore shows determination as she walks through a gauntlet style demonstration set up Wednesday evening by teachers outside Turkey Hill Middle School about 70 teachers from the Lea demonstrated to put some heat on the school committee to end the contracts stalemate Lea president Cynthia ducanes said the negotiation teams emerged from the school at 300 a.m. this morning with a tentative agreement that will require Town voters approval and my mother was the Lone dissenting vote on that contract so the apple does not fall far from the tree um that being said there's a greater purpose here I was wrong and I I hope that people can see clear to offering some degree of Grace and forgiveness um but I am not here to make friends I have wonderful family and very good friends uh I here for a purpose and I will not be discouraged to do anything else than fight for the opinion that is that I have duly considered thank you thank you Mr bardmore anyone else well I have a public comment which is unusual and actually this came from um my daughter who saw it on Twitter and said is she talking about you and I said no I don't think so it is from um it is a tweet that came is that correct language a tweet yeah that's how much I know about this it used to be a tweet I don't know what it is I don't know what it is now an ex anyhow um it came out from Tracy oconnell NOC who is our um masc representative that we work with and she is the one that UND understands the money that none of us understand and she also is a former uh chair of the Worcester school committee and this is what she writes and I thought it was apropo after all these meetings here's my spring appreciation thread for small town New England government I got to spend some time this week with the neighboring is Town's finance committee here's the thing about spring in smalltown New England all these boards the select board the the fincom school committee are coming in at the end of their full day responsibilities and they're figuring out how to make it all work for another year on their own time as volunteers the school committees are yes trying to figure out how they're going to meet the needs of the kids and the select boards and the fincom are balancing that and the library and the fire department and the DPW and the police and none of these are Big departments you know who plows the roads and who the fire chief is and who opens the library on Saturday morning it isn't an easy thing by any means there are plenty of arguments about what kinds of governments are good and bad and so forth and how we best ensure we do what is needed I will say that there is a sort of sacredness to the working out of the promise we make to each other as a civilization happening around those tables this time of year oh and go to your town meeting so by comments tonight are traces but I think they are very appr propo and a good way to start this evening um we are back this week because there was some confusion in our budget vote last week we clearly voted for the pink budget the um needs-based budget that was a definite clear vote V so we we have a budget number but what we were apparently not clear about in the discussion that I heard over the week was the funding source some some of us felt that we had voted to um to approve the budget the needs-based budget with the APPA funds in there meaning that that budget is like a 4.4 I think without the oper funds something like that it's a 4.4 budget instead Which is less to build on for next year I understand that and um troubled by the fact that we did have some Chromebooks in that bundle and that is a reoccurring purchase some of us feel that that actually is the 4.3 budget plus ala there is an opinion that what we voted was to disregard the the APPA and to find funding elsewhere that would that would build the base that we wouldn't have to worry about the Chromebook piece there there was discussion um it was at the end of the night I'm glad this is the beginning of the night and I want to make sure that that everybody understood I thought it one way other people thought it a different way we need to make sure to clear that up so I am going to ask um I think the easiest thing to do is to just go down the table did you believe that we were voting with the APPA funds or without Laura um my answer's kind of complicated that's okay it was a complicated situation um I voted for the budget not caring about where the money came from but now I think it has to be with the arpa funds but that we're going to have the messaging that next year we're going to need to make up this money somewhere and we're going to need to send that message to the select board and the town manager and advocate for the schools getting a larger increase um I I think when I voted for it it was just the pink budget was the needs-based budget I don't know it was very late at night um the pink budget was the needs-based budget and we needed the needs-based budget um I I I thought the arpa money was in it um but I right now I I think we need to keep the arpa money in it okay thank you Mr bmore uh I did not think it included the arpa money as as I have said to you um and I I went back and watched my comments and I think I was pretty clear and I I made the motion to approve the number with a stated dollar value in that budget arpa funds do not come to the budget they do not appear in the warrant as that number that number reflects the raise and appropriate number and transfers and free cash and whatever else to support the school department budget now I understand I spent three years on the finance committee and have a different view of these things but that is what it is and that was my intent when I voted um I'm given the events of the last several days and what's come to light relative to um the trash programs and the cuts that had to be made and that sort of thing um I am truth to be told I literally had Evan waters on the phone on my way in like where else do we do this you know like I and I I don't have a clear path anymore for saying how do we fix this right how do we how do we establish ourselves so that it is a base that um that reflects all of our recurring costs I'm I'm also troubled I I have to say by even what that means relative to the cuts that are coming to our expense accounts to make this needs-based budget um we are cutting art supplies in the primary school while we are adding art supplies to library programs in the children's Library fact not opinion so you know I I'm I'm still very troubled by this budget um I think A lot's been done and you know there's something to be said for compromise here um but I'm still very troubled and I I don't know how I'm going to vote tonight okay all right Mr Lon I was under the impression that we voted for a dollar amount and the the percentage um so I felt like that was the budget whether it in how they funded it how the town funded it it didn't matter to me whether it was aror or not I know obviously in the future that is going to matter that next year's budget should start at one point and I think the town manager the select board might think it starts at a different point I think that's the issue for me at least I think it's more of a next year issue okay um my feeling my understanding was that it was including the OPA funds because I don't know where else in the world we would get that kind of money knowing how hard it was to get what we got but I wanted to I mean our budget is set it is the needs-based budget we voted on it last week but we need to make sure that we have a common understanding of are we using those oper funds or are we somehow trying to figure out where else to get those funds so um what I wanted to do was to have a motion made and we can still talk after the motion is made with the discussion after the motion to um my suggestion is to make the motion stating that our budget for next year is the 4 point let me find up the number is that that's the one in our drive it's the magic of the internet is that the budget worksheet yeah that's where I'm going okay thank you for putting that together by the way that was very helpful I just want um to let everyone know it just reflects some of the tweaks that were part of the 4.19 budget um but I haven't had multiple eyes crosschecking triple checking whatever so I'm it has not been posted on the website yet but just for your your review it's oh I was talking about the budget worksheet with the arpa okay and the money but no thank you for put that actually um that document actually came from um the town manager the town manager okay thank you to her um for putting that together so that that gives me the percentage that that we would be voting on that our budget for this coming year is a 4.37% increase with $221,600 from AA and I think we have to make that distinction um so that everybody's on the same page because clearly I didn't get it and it just could have been that I was foggy I think it's good to be transparent and ask questions like that I think that's no I think it's fine so so can I just add so yes I think we I honestly I think we voted for the five budget right the pink budget but I don't think the town manager and the select board can get us there they can they can't get us to that budget they're going to bring to the town meeting the green budget the four budget well it's not plus plus additional funding right but it's not the five it's not the pink budget that's what I think of it as is like we voted for the pink but we're really going to get the green plus some cash from our B but we the bottom line I guess is how I was thinking the bottom line is the pink regardless of the percentage we're calling it or the well I think the bottom line ends up being Green in the end because on our budget sheet it's going to look like green well there's what's in the budget and what we actually spent they not the same thing yes let's just stipulate that right there's what's in the warrant is going to be a number what we're actually going to spend is 22 some, over that because there's arpa money so I the facts are the facts right we I don't think that those are and and the the number that we voted for last week was I believe 24,1 123,00 548 correct in my mind in my mind if we need to make it something less than that then we need to have a motion for reconsideration and and revote because I think you're suggesting that the budget number in the warrant should be $23,995 23 million 9,98 I I think that's what you're saying is going in the warrant and that should be the school committee approved budget okay you're you're um you're are way better at this kind of stuff than I am I just want to make sure at the end of the day we are spending 24,1 123,456 am thinking approving a budget I am approving whatever monies come in however they come in your point is well taken as always when it comes to this kind of stuff um your point is well taken because we certainly don't put in our budget the title one money right which is also in addition to this right right so so when I look at it that way I understand what you're saying so the the piece we are looking for we agree on the bottom line the piece we are looking for then is that our budget will be the 2391 90805 number but we will be accepting Opa funds in the amount of 22,6 40 that's what the the motion needs to be then to make this accurate so I I agree with all of that logic um I'm probably not going to vote for it no no I understand but I agree with all of that logic yeah okay I understand that you probably won't vote for it but but now it is clear and it is clearer to me what the objection was because I just looked at the bottom line and and like the other night I was having Brian help me me with the math with something because I asked Mr Google for the percentages CU I don't know how to do them so you know there this organizing this part of the budget I would not have thought of that particular issue so Mr beardmore thank you so any other thoughts before we make a motion well my thought is we have to do it it's more of aligning with the the town manager's funding sources so I think it makes sense I want to make I want to make clear this is a stop gap for this year to get us through this year to their minimum needs-based budget and we because this we're going to be here again next year like I don't we're going to get complaints about it but we are going to be here again next year this isn't fixing things the arpa funds are fantastic they were a great solution to stemming the bleeding this year but we are going to be back here again next year going through this again um because now we're still behind um as if the override doesn't pass we're going to be back here again so I think we need to make that very clear too that we're still we we're still underfunded we still we're going to need more money next year well and the other thing I'd like to make clear is we we felt like when we finally got we closed the gap and um The Gap was closed I don't know publicly if that came out the Gap was closed by the town manager coming up with 41,000 and some odd amount to um close the gap out of local receipts so that Gap was closed and we felt like okay we did it but we're still losing 20 full-time equivalents I mean this isn't like we we won the race it's just like we didn't like wipe out and totally break out legs trying to do it it it's it's not good this is not a a a good budget I can't say I'm excited about it I can say I am excited and delighted that it is not the 2.94 budget no it's a weird situation to be in because I'm so it was like that with a 2.94 I'm so appreciative of the Town manager for getting us more than 2.5% but at the same time I feel like I'm going crazy saying it's not enough we we need more like I think we need to do a better job explaining how thin the margins are and how much more we need than we've been getting I think we need to to do a better job advocating well as as I've spoken to I know Mr bmore I don't know who else I mentioned this to and um that next year it would be my suggestion that we despite the task force thing that miss m is organizing that I'm 100% behind I would also suggest that as a school committee we have a budget subcommittee with a member of the school committee with the superintendent with the town manager and with the member of the select board so that we all know what each other are doing so that we are not hit with a 2.94% budget and going I you kidding me so so that this at least if we understand what's going on it doesn't come as a huge surprise which is what happened and now was scrambling so so that would be my suggestion as to how to move forward but we still have to approve this so may I offer just one more may technicality here we don't have to approve anything the budget is going to go forth with or without our approval to town meeting the the the charter stipulates and I think that there are massive problems with the charter and I think that in fact this may even conflict with state law and it's something that needs to be looked at but the charter stipulates that the town manager brings forth the budget puts it in the warrant and reads it in the school committee ultimately has to approve a budget that meets our available Revenue news but there's no timeline associated with that we've already presented to the finance committee we've done our job effectively and we don't have to endorse or unor or disor anything we could stand p and participate as things unfold over the course of the next several days and weeks the finance committee is holding a budget hearing tomorrow night the individual members of the finance committee have been very tight lipped in their opinions I'm very anxious to hear them um there is still additional water to flow under the bridge and and I don't I asked you to call this meeting in full transparency because last Thursday night it was very clear to me that we did not see eye to eye on what we had voted on right um and I think that it was important that we air this as soon as possible and I appreciate it that you that you called this meeting I personally don't see a need to do anything um and and perhaps our whatever the number is um 5.35% vote that $24 million vote we hold pad on until a budget is approved by town meeting and then we just ad adjust the budget based on wherever the town meeting boat lands uh it's not conventional but this has not been a conventional kind of couple of months um so anyway I'm just offering that I am probably going to if a motion is made I am probably going to vote against it uh and I I think my position is pretty clear on this it is clear um but but there we are under no in my opinion there there is nothing saying that we have to vote to conform to where the town manager is on this particular date and time Mr Lon yeah so so my counter to that my only concern was that why didn't we go with the 8.62 and that was my concern is like I wanted us to prove in a budget that was fit for our students that the 8.62 made a lot more sense that the town manager was going to come up with any budget she wanted and bring it to town meeting that we should have voted for the the 8.62 Y I I totally see your logic now and I don't think we we didn't hash it out I guess I guess we didn't hash it out enough you know but and I I apologize because I I I see that logic a lot clearer now than I did a week ago and and I apologize for not fully absorbing it but I think the strategy also worked that we did get the extra was like 40 some odd, I I honestly look at the vote tonight is really just aligning with a a budget that is is balanced and that it's going to be realistic for what's going to happen next year that the arpa funds are going away and that really is going to be our percent I think I'm more comfortable if we voted and aligned ourselves with what's going to happen well I clearly after the Mis um misunderstanding last week I would feel better voting that we know that we are using those Opa funds in this budget one other point we have voted to accept those arpa funds I believe at least the money that I mean we are already on the record that we'll whatever we get right I agree we're not I don't think anybody on this board and I hope my vote is not interpreted as you can send back your money right like we I I think the the votes that we took following the vote last week were still to accept funds that were appropriated so long as they were needed so again I I don't want to belor this but okay so then I would ask for a motion that we um make a motion yes thank to approve the FY 25 budget of 23,91606 million a 91,9 185 point of order you you have to have a motion to reconsider first I'm sorry it's all good just do it just I'll make a motion to reconsider the fy2 budget uh actually you can't make that motion why because he voted against it oh Laura this motion my God I motion to reconsider the fy2 budget Carol you need to Second it I'll second it okay um all those in favor to reconsider I I no okay so now Brian go ahead I'll make a motion to approve the fy2 budget to 23, 91,9 185 and to accept $221,600 in arpa funds second all those in favor I I oppose no there you go okay so we are set on this budget now um what I would ask budget and apple funds so now I'm looking at it different and that was a very valuable conversation um so yes I was going to say now we need to go here okay so this was really I put together for the benefit of the public yes so this was the bottom line value of of the needs based budget as it was presented originally no Opera conversation this this was the total value of that budget the paint budget this is the total dollar value for where the town manager is at this point um and just as a point of clarification for anybody who is following the finance committee meeting last week there was a discrepancy of about $20,000 um largely that's because um the town manager was going off of the total value that was in the warrant article last year which included the 40s money I was going off the budget total that we presented and approved here at the school committee and presented and sent to the town manager so that's where those numbers were off and if you go back to the work sheet um you'll you'll see that there's a line there um that has that 177,000 and change that is the 40s money um so anyway this is where the town manager is now and when you add the arpa money to it we get to that same bottom line value that was in our original needs based budget so essentially the Gap has been closed and again one more time the arpa money will be used to fund these items here and these items had been all of these dollar values were originally in budget lines in the needs based budget so the bottom line is we're getting at that needs based budget but there are still 20.4 FTE cuts and I have made the adjustment to reflect the couple of changes that we made when we uh reviewed the 4.19 budget a week ago we are trading out the summer student custodian uh positions all of that money that was in the budget would be reallocated and would allow us to keep the part-time second shift custodian at TCP and then the other trade was was keeping the music teacher position at Turkey Hill intact no reduction but in order to do that we are eliminating another paros at the high school and then the only other I mean I broke it down just for convenience for people um school by school I don't I don't need to go through all those slides but if anybody was really interested in just what was going on at Turkey Hill there it is and then I also included a slide because the question came well if there was an override and the arpa value is in the override ask and we were to get the override what would we do with those ARA money replacement um as you can see we have an A a rather uh robust list of things that are either newly on our radar because we've recently had problems with them or we've recently gotten to the bottom of some of the problems that we've had and now know what we need to do to fix them or there have been other projects that we can never get to because they don't rise to the level of Crisis urgency must do must fix um this whole list here and there are still a couple of unknown um costs as an example I I have their additional repairs for the HVAC system because you remember Mr he said he was going to try to get technicians in to troubleshoot the HVAC systems to get to the bottom of what's the point of failure that we're struggling with what needs to be repaired and then what then is the cost of that repair um he also mentioned that uh we're having trouble with the sensors on the irrigation system I don't yet have a quote for what the replacement of of that sensor would look like can we just add HVAC to the additional repairs just so it's not as generic sure yep yeah um so if if you look at the known values there they total up to uh 219,000 so you can see we're really pretty close to the 21,000 and once you throw some unknowns in as known there's there's an ample list of things that we we either will absolutely have to address and fix anyway um and then other things that we know that we need to do and thank you to my partners in like magic yep um can you talk about what a sidewalk room is yeah so it's just it's a machine and not just a very expensive room but I want to specify I imagine exactly they're really fun to operate actually I don't I've never had the pleasure of operating one even so I can't say I never heard such a thing so they it's like a cloud of dust it's like a mini street sweeper does the DPW have one of those is that something we could ask them to do for us I don't that's have one yeah that's a good question the the world famous trackless system um I believe there's an attachment that does something similar why do you know so much about I was on the finance committee for three years okay they know everything Capital planning and capital planning okay um but I don't know if they have they had the attachment to whatever predated that and I don't know if they have the attachment to the current equipment okay so I just but but there is such a thing okay just if it's a need maybe that's something we can cooperate with them now on if that's a need like a pressing need okay what's currently at the stand and Fieldhouse for Keys hard keys oh so when boosters or Bengals or anybody else who uses the concession stand we issue hard keys to that means you have 247 access to that building no that's and I'm not comfortable with that I haven't been comfortable with that for quite some time and a key people lose Keys people share Keys um I would like to have a card swipe reader just like we have to get into the buildings that way if I were to issue one to um the president of the Bengals um we would have that logged and we would be able to set the times that that was actually active yeah that so you could show up at 2: a.m. and you can swipe away but you're not going to get into the facility at 2 a.m. if you have Saturday and Sunday from I don't know 700 a.m. to 700 p.m. you you would be able to get in um and if it's lost we go into the computer program and shut it off so we we have better security of our facility yeah yeah okay and we're not nen is typically the one that spends the time chasing people down to get the keys back when the season is over so it saves time in that regard and it just it provides greater security of the facility you know from a security standpoint that makes sense many years ago I spent a late night on the turf field with an i with phone flashlights looking for a key belonged to a former former Bengals president who was having a heart attack because he lost the key and we did find it but it was a high stress event sure so that's something that you know um we actually looked into and uh get a cost estimate on about a year and a half ago um but you know as you can see it's it's not a $3,000 project so it's a big ticket item and we have other I perhaps it's it's my own bias I tend to prioritize resources that most directly benefit students versus most directly benefit the facility it's a choice we have to make when we don't have enough resources yeah absolutely but this is reflective of a modern facility and we should have yes no I agree this would help us take care of the facilities a lot better right and the same you know the touch viw screens at the primary school um we did um put touch you screens in um Turkey Hill two years ago for turkey Primary School still doesn't have them and the new updated curriculum you need them you really can benefit with the students having having that type of technology in the classroom do they have here we don't have those here because we have wallmounted uh projectors like you see on the side over there um that teachers can connect to um and they do have a it's not tactile but it's something like it yeah okay yeah whereas the screens that are down at the Turkey Hill they are touch interactive so I've seen them there and they're just mounted um on the wall in the classroom I wonder if instead of unknown maybe to be determined T oh sure I just wanted to see more typing up on the the board can we work the magic wall magic editor the editor over there that's a good idea awesome and these are all things that are going to have to get done well last most last week at the finance you might have been the week before it's remember they're Mr manad actually um questioned about um Voiceover IP phone and I said I thought that that I could be wrong but my recollection was that we we don't have the infrastructure capability to be able to go there and we do need to recable Turkey Hill Elementary School if if we're going to head in that direction right now the the building itself in its current form it can't support it um and um again we had done some exploration around the cost on that uh as well um it would require putting additional drops into each classroom um of course if we can make that move then the speed and the stability of the Wi-Fi in that building are going to be greatly improved which would be very helpful if in fact ever offices are moved turkey h right so I mean one of the asks that has been made and obviously I think you know given the events of the last week how this gets campaigned and communicated is DVD um but the asss were that you know this information gets communicated and messaged um do we have a a line of site on those tbds um the addition HVAC repairs um that is pending you might remember that Mr hee said that he uh wanted to get technicians in for two full days and go through the systems uh particularly the primary school and the middle high school I believe because there were more components electronic and so forth um so that they could assess the system once that happens once they're actually in and they assess the system they'll be able to identify what the what the problem points are and then also be able to give us a quote so I know that he's working to to set up to have um folks come in and do that assessment um I think he's still just trying to uh cost out that sensor for the irrigation um and we need a generator at the primary school um again it's been on the list and then if we haven't had the Good Fortune of having some available funds at the end of the year then we haven't done it and to me um we're still trying to nail down a cost on that um obviously if uh an override doesn't go through I think depending upon the actual total cost um you will likely see that on um the capital plan Capital plan is there no emergency generator whatsoever in the primary school none so this isn't a full e this is a emergency backup generator right so in other words turn on the exit lights and the heating system and that kind of well that's the key if we were to lose power and and have that happen during a really cold snap where you've got zero degree temperatures outside we run the risk of freezing the pipes and having a lot more damage done well which is why this to me is it's an insurance policy it's also evid building that is an area well this whole area is an area but that area in particular is an area that is prone to power outages and my understanding from Mr heee is that that takes a toll on the electronics in our heating systems so we are we are probably below the meantime between failure on these systems just as a function of not having systems like that in place right he also was looking into um uh getting a system as part of the HVAC system um that if for some reason there the boilers were out or there was trouble of some kind um he would get a notification so he would know yeah immediately and let's say it was on a Saturday afternoon he could then either come himself or dispatch someone to come and restart the boilers otherwise we're not finding out about it until Monday morning at 6:00 when the custodial staff arrive and then you've got a get those boilers fired up and then it's you know trying to recover um the temperature in the building so can we package some of these as capital plan for next year like the HVAC we can the trouble with that honestly is that there's a lot of need across town for Capital and where do do things land in a priority ranking and does it fall above the funding line and some of these things some of these things could wait until it falls above the funding line um but others can't which is why we're moving forward with a repair to the $227,000 to units on the roof here because we can't wait another year year and a half for funding to repair those because it impacts the heat in this building I I think that these are you know if you if you take a step forward and assume that the override doesn't pass and I don't want to do that but if you look past that I think that these are conversations that we probably need to have in a summer or very early fall meeting um or maybe even sooner if the capital planning committee ever gets Zack together and we actually do the annual the know the 5-year planning that we've committed to do um still a meeting has not been called um these are all things that are in scope for those discussions and and we need to classify prior we should prioritize that list as well for the for the override I think I'm not prepared to do that tonight yeah is this we do prioritized or is it just a list it's just a list okay um for Capital plan though it has to be 30,000 and more right 20 20 20 yeah okay yep it's just I I knew there was some I feel like they try to get a good balance and then the schools don't get a lot but we do have a lot of the buildings in town and that makes it difficult to take care of the buildings because we did get a fairly good amount this year but traditionally but tradition under under this year I just we uh you know if you look at the total value of our facilities oh sure I mean the reality is you can't compare our toal it's it's apples oranges I don't know if you can put a dollar value on the comparison the DPW has enormous responsibilities and they're very Capital intensive so um I think there there's a better way to do this but you know there are things that are what I would consider to be way below the threshold of some items on here that are on other Department's fiveyear plans uh and and we should be thoughtful about okay well that's a summer discussion or May so y probably not right now absolutely but we should prioritize this list for our next and as I said I think you can anticipate um a revised 10year Capital plan coming forward to in the fall now that Mr heee is here and has been going through and assessing um you know different systems here um and I've told them absolutely we we can make adjustments based on what you see the needs are but as I said some of these things are not um not going to be able to wait too long we're going to have to figure out how to move forward with some of them and some of them you know if if we get to the end of the year and I have $6,000 left in my budget we we can take care of uh rewiring the outdoor lighting there are three poles down at the primary school along the driveway up to the parking lot I I don't know if one is in the parking lot and then there are I think two at Turkey Hill um the ones down at the primary there's no cap and I don't know if there ever was a cap on top of the pole so when you have precipitation it gets down into the pole and it has corroded the wiring so what we need to do is rewire the whole light pole and put a cap on the top of the pole sure I can't imagine whatever would have happened to it that the that there's no cap on the top of the pole ples um but okay so this list then um I don't know if this is something necessary for us to give to the select board because they were asking about it or in my opinion this is what we need to work on as far as publicity for the override and to be ready to talk about it at town meeting but I don't see any har in sharing it yeah I think both I think that would be the thing to do I can share it with the select board and also share it with the finance committee in in case um yeah and I would communicate an intent to firm up some of these numbers and uh prioritize it and prioritize it absolutely thank you for getting us yeah this is good these things because I that was my concern is okay if we get the override where does where does the rest of the money where does the ARA money go I think we should have a whole uh agenda item where we're talking about the override presentation oh definitely we're going to have to figure out how that's going to work and and I think it it should be an agenda item moving forward each week just to say what should we be doing should we do a community Q&A too for people who have questions we'll see stuff like that I think we need to have an agenda item each time we meet so that you know what can we do a community Q&A is a good idea taking care of oops I'm out of too thank you oop sorry about that somebody at home is saying what are they [Music] saying okay I can do that you talk oh all right I'll keep talking here um so I think that if we have a number I mean a a agenda item each time then we can organize how what what we are able to do to get the word out about the over and and and what would be included in it and work off of that yeah and I love answering questions about the budget I'm at the point where I like it I agree I think we should move on to this action of override okay so all right so replacement just one of my many many hats many things you do she's the battery oh this is mine and this is yours and you can have this one well oh it's not working yet right wa okay okay there you go now we talk and this one so what I would think we should do at this point is I have this down as an action item I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to be doing but um why don't we have a motion to approve this list and and Our intention to prioritize it and to work on the unknown items so I think also the select board was looking for the override number to confirm it so I would just recommend that also the the school committee chair reach out to the select board with that I will tell them the number one more time it hasn't changed based on the logic that it hasn't changed since it it's 9:48 you came up with that number after manytimes you came up with that meeting after your meeting on Monday so 948 138 and I think one part of why they didn't vote was because they were hesitant if we were going to change the number right one week for lobbying so we need a motion to include our list and our um override number I motion that the override number is officially uh oh 9 948 138 are there any cents in there that's it 948 $948,000 that we accept the um to be prioritized uh list of arpa funding in the event an override should pass a second second all those in favor I I and believe it or not that that's the last item before public comment so public comment I can I do one actually you can we're going to have Mar first and then you can do yours I never mean to get up uh Mary foil 985 flath Hill Road I'm actually speaking more as myself and a parent on this one and myself includes an employee here um so I teach English and words matter and I do appreciate that from a fiscal system standpoint why we've called it a needs-based budget sitting as a high school teacher and a High School parent sitting here as a person who moved into this town because I worked here and fully believed that the education system was some of the best there was to offer and said this before I'm getting a little more dubious of that as time has rolled on and you're not the first school committee to have dealt with budgets like this you know in my 20 plus year career here we've been through these uh covid unfortunately fortunately I don't know which one it is was a Band-Aid for what was some pretty significant writing on the wall so I do appreciate that you're being a school committee who's saying well hey this isn't good enough so with the words matter I think maybe as as part of our or your people talking about the budget we also have a different word than needs based because when I get what I need I feel like that's enough to really do what I'm supposed to do as a high school teacher and as a parent of a high school child my poor I have another kid she's not as existent in this world but with those I it's it's a limping budget um it's a budget that is actually not enough that be could be considered sustainable so I get fiscally how it has to be called need-based then that makes sense to people who are in the know of money management but if you're not understanding how Municipal systems work and what those words mean needs based actually says something very different than what that budget actually is thanks thank you Mary does bare minimum work that might too yeah I like limping yeah I think we just go with the percentage limping um Laura you had a comment um I wanted to talk about the Silver Linings of this really fun process that's been absolutely wonderful um I think it has opened up a conversation towards better cooperation I think uh that this entire process has brought attention to a very detailed breakdown of the budget in a way that I'm not sure the public has ever been so engaged in before uh I think it we've shed a lot of light on just how very little we've been working with over the years and how thin the margins are I watched a lot of parents come in wanting to look at the budget and go okay well let's cut the waste and then turn around and go oh no um so it's been it's been pretty Illuminating so I think there are silver linings to how awful this has been um one of the most surprising things I learned since joining the school committee is just how lean we've been running I thought there would be waste I thought there would be things to cut um I asked Dr Burnham for a list of admin positions in the district office and then I asked her where the rest of it was when she sent it to me uh because I couldn't believe how little we're getting by on and how little admin and how little District support we have I thought there would be things to cut and there simply isn't uh I think in the future I would like us as a board to try and focus more on our communication with the town manager and the select board and the town at large um we need to do a better job at conveying how rough things are and how it directly affects student achievement we need to hammer home the message that making kids wait a year for these vital Services affects their development and we cannot let kids slip through the cracks and I'm going to say it again there are only 17 districts in the entire state that spend less per people than we do we've been running on fumes for a while today's kids of lunenberg deserve just as good an education as you did when you were kid they deserve a decent education um and I also wanted to correct I keep hearing people used the phrase 30% of lunenberg residents are below the poverty line it's 7.2% of lunenberg residents who are below the poverty line in 2022 according to the US Census Bureau but um lunenberg schools serve 28.7% of students who are lowincome and you know what lifts children out of poverty a quality education every kid in lunenberg deserves and needs a quality education so the override isn't perfect the timing isn't perfect it's not ideal we probably could have argued for days about details of it and still not come to a perfect solution there's no perfect solution but Perfection doesn't happen in government we need to move forward and do what we can to make sure this next year for students matters and get the job done and we do need to get the override pass so that children get what they need and we need the public support we need the public to support the override so we can simply fund the schools next year thank you are there any comments on Zoom yes please La all righty ma yes please okay thank you Laura bran 389 molus Road um I also just want to say thank you for all the work um this has been certainly an enlightening process for myself um with a child going into high school and another one that's home school um I still I I completely agree with the comments that were made um I think this is you know our Bare Bones this is what the the immediate need is at the moment there's still work to be done and I am encouraged by how many people have stayed on so many of the calls whether through Zoom or in person um I've also been just appreciative of the kiddo's involvement in this whole process um their speaking as well and pardon sword Thro um also just looking for the for the school board in this next phase once we're past this is really looking at the long-term needs um I appreciate the kind of how some uh if you call it extra funds might be spent now on the priorities but really looking at how much we're paying our teachers I was struck by one of the comments that you know um last week that think that was made about you know one of our teachers 43 400 $4,300 above you know kind of minimum government you know kind of level pay um we really need to focus on the teachers and the work they're doing and the extra that they're giving and really making that part of a longer term budget plan and what not just to to keep things where they are and to kind of work with what we have but to really look for how how are we really a premier area uh that people want to come to and that our kids really get the most out of the school system so again thank you for all your work um on this but uh I think you we've set out some ways to go to thank you thank you very much not not seeing any other comments just offer one more thing yeah of course um we didn't have items for future meetings on the agenda no we did and I would like to uh just use this moment uh just to reiterate uh two things first um I think we need to make an invitation for our legislators to visit us at their ear earliest possible convenience um and particularly reassert our position um has the representatives of children in lunenberg um it is not the select board correct um also I uh you know this has been a uh an education for a lot of people with respect to things like grant funding and revolving funds and those kinds of things I know there have been a number of questions that have been asked about revolving funds um I've been asking now for quite some time about um an expose on on Athletics and I would like that to occur um soon soon got it Mr Cassidy did do an overview of Athletics funding I believe it was in November I don't remember if it was the first or second meeting in November it wasn't as deep a dive as as what you're looking to see um but as soon as Financial folks uh sort through the current year budget management um that I'll I'll have them uh assist with d on the the big asks is it's I'm I'm not looking for an accounting of the of the account I'm not looking for an audit what I'm looking for is an explanation of the ins and outs of the athletic budget what taxpayer dollars pay for what user fees pay for what boosters pay for and particularly you know what is running above and below our ability to support um and the context is is that there have been multiple suggestions this year that we raise fees and um I've I've had to say a few times that I have some red lines I think in the last few weeks that's a red line for me um and I I say that very self-interested because I pay those fees um but it is you know we we have nearly half of our students in 6 through 12 participate in athletics and it is not inexpensive to do that and that is not a free public education in my opinion all right we can take a look at those anything else from anyone then I would enter Ain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all those in favor hi then we are adjourned at 7:45