Ber select board. Today is Tuesday, November 4th. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. In accordance with the requirements of the open meeting law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live over the Lunberg Public Access channel on Facebook Live on the Public Access Facebook page and will be
uploaded to the Lunberg Access YouTube channel 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 the open meeting law. We're going to begin tonight with announcements and I have a couple. First is just a reminder that the Lions Club hosts their pancake breakfast at the adult activity center on the second Wednesday of every month. So, November's pancake breakfast will be
Wednesday, November 12th from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. The Eagle Health supporters is going to be hosting a Christmas festival of trees on Friday, November 21st from 9 to 5 and then again the next day on Saturday, November 22nd from 9 to 1. Uh the customdesigned
Christmas trees that were done for their fundraiser will be on display. And they're also going to be holding a bake sale, a raffle, and hosting a visit from Santa Claus as well. And finally, as many of you know, SNAP benefits are no longer being dispersed as part of the ongoing federal government shutdown. I
would like to encourage residents who are able to consider supporting the Lunberg Community Food Pantry, which plays a vital role in assisting those in need in our community. Uh, if you are able to do so and you would like to learn how you can donate or volunteer, you can visit their website at
ludenbergfoodpantry.org. All right, public comment. Are there any public comments from the board? >> Nope. Nope. >> Are there any public comments from the public? Mr. Skull and Briny, come on up. >> Do I need to state where I live?
>> You need to say your name and your address and then you will have three minutes. >> Um, I'm Tony Skullenbury. I live at Five Valley Road. Um I come here tonight uh to discuss um kind of the consequences of the u vote that was taken um
regarding the merger, the historic commission and the APDC. Um that issue in the real meaning of life, the merger, what the APDC does, what the APD is is is it's kind of important, but in the real meaning of
life, it's really not a significant issue for the town. What I think is very important given how much this time relies on volunteers is how the vote went down and what the consequences of that vote were. And I
have a couple of questions that I want to propose to you. the members of the select board, the majority that voted to withhold the uh the warrant from uh from the special time meeting. And and the
first question that I want you to consider is you appointed a board uh you appointed a commission. You've asked volunteers to be engaged and I asked that you reflect on how your vote
impacted those volunteers who have been doing their volunteer work for a year and a half on that particular subject. The second question that I want you to consider the majority members who voted to withhold the warrant from town
meeting. Uh the second issue that I want you to consider was how did your vote affect civil discourse among citizens? How did how did that vote impact the
people who were engaged in the merger option as well as those who attacked the merger uh option? So, I I really think that, you know, those are serious questions that have a serious impact on
whether you can bring good volunteers to the table. And if the town is going to rely on having good volunteers, I think those questions need some deliberation and I think they need to be addressed. The last thing I wanted to
bring forward to you was uh and I gave you a heads up. I think I sent you all an email that said I was going to bring this issue forward about reimbursement for um public meeting or public uh request information. You know,
as I mentioned to the town manager, um as a federal employee, I constantly dealt with foyer requests, Freedom of Information Act requests. It's part of my job. I got paid to do that and I did it because it was in my job description and you know we did calculate what it
costs to get a response back to someone who would ask for information under the Freedom of Information Act. But when a volunteer is asked to do that work and told that the volunteers can't be compensated, that's a policy that needs
to be looked at. And I think that um once again if some citizens going to say I want to volunteer to do work then that then that and that's outside the scope of what they what they volunteered for
and to a large extent the information that's being requested is public information. Now they can watch time, they can watch meetings, they can read meeting minutes, they can gather that information mostly through a public review of documents on their own part.
So if the town doesn't have a policy and according to mass law, you can request volunteers to be reimbursed as part of the response to a public information request. If the town doesn't have that policy, it should because what I think
it will do once again, it won't waste good volunteer time, you know, because if you've been asked to do something that you could then be compensated for that. Um, and then the second issue is I think it would create an environment
where one citizen can talk to another citizen in a civil discourse. >> That's it. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Scoini. Are there any other public comments from the public this evening? All right, not seeing any. So, we will move on. And up first tonight, we have a
presentation from the Lunenburgg Snow Riders. Uh they are offering a gift to the police and fire departments of trail maintenance equipment. Um we don't actually have to vote on this because of our new acceptance of gift policy. It's under $500. Um but there is a
presentation. I'm going to pass it over to you guys now. >> Good evening. Thank you very much for having me. My name is Mel Bertram. I reside at 312 Towns and Haraba Road. I'm the president of the Lunberg Snow Riders. That and $3 still doesn't get me
a cup of coffee, but it is at least something I can put on my email signature. So, interestingly enough, do you have the presentation up? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> It's just not showing on that screen, but >> it's okay. I can see it. >> Here it It's >> Oh, there we go. >> Okay,
>> cool. So, interestingly enough, um the Lunberg Snow Riders were incorporated actually back in 1969 when Russ Harvey, uh Mr. Kimble from Kimble Orchards, Al Six, and so um Paul Anderson, some of these old-timers in
town, um put together the club. Uh it went dormant for a long time and I picked it up and sometime around 2000 and been running the club 2000. So we're a family orientated club, right? So what we want to do is try to bring, you know, legitimate snowmobiling as a family
event to the state of Massachusetts and in such we are a a a club that's associated with the snowmobile association of Massachusetts. They're our parent club. They're the ones we get our insurance from. Um and and uh part
of the larger organization. So, we maintain trails between Lunenburgg, Townsen, and Ashby. Um, and you know, as as most people realize that our winters aren't what they used to be, we used to count on 10 weeks of grooming. You know,
that meant we had 10 good solid weeks of snowmmoiling. In the past 5 years, I would be surprised if we had a total of 10 weeks, right? Um, but the club is still going strong. And the reason for that is the trails that we do and the
work that we do um is used year round. So, you know, we're going to step through some of the things that we've done here um uh as as part of the club. Um but some of the projects off the top of my my my mind are the parking lot
down at the lane property that was done by volunteers and grant work um by the snow riders. Uh the bridge for those of you who go out to the lane property and that nice bridge that crosses the malpus um we we did that bridge through a
grant. Um if you've ever walked through the cowry lot in town nearly every one of the bridges in that property was was either created, maintained or rebuilt by the Lunberg snow riders. Um and so you know I I I want to appeal to my my
friends and neighbors. Not everyone appreciates the smell of two-stroke snowmobiles and that sound of that machine we call it. Right. Um but I would ask that you would tolerate us in this very short season we have now. Um
now one of my slides here if we could bring it up is about grants. So if we could bring the the spreadsheet up and we'll come back to that trail one here. The next slide please. It >> Yeah, it's up. It's obviously. >> So, if you look at this, um, over the
past 15 years, in total, we have brought into the community over $200,000 in RTP grants. RTP grants, by the way, recreational trail program administered by the state. This is federal money that
comes from the federal gas tax. So, this is money that when we buy a gallon of gas for usmobiles, it pays into the system and we get it back. You'll also see this is what does a lot of the rail trails like the the news rail trail. That's all RTP money. Anyway, all of
these grants have awarded us some particular piece of equipment. We have a couple of kabotas, a scandic, uh some other equipment. Um but more importantly is they're 8020 grants and so 20% of
that grant money is volunteer give back. So that part where it says $60,000, if you divide that by, you know, 30, that's the approximate average rate that we have been getting. Um, that's over
2,000 man hours that we put into the community just on the grants. That doesn't include just our daily, you know, weekly, monthly maintenance out in the trails. Um, so we do we do a lot for the community and is one of the things that we like to do is we like to give
back to the communities that we ride in, right? Because again, we understand that, you know, it's not always uh everyone's bagged. You know, a lot of the people enjoy it because we get out there, we pack the trails down, fat tire bikes love us, hikers love us, uh some
of the crosscountry skiers might want to kill us, but you know, overall we get along. Um so uh in in the effort of giving back what we have done over the past is we've given you know I want to say we we thought we thought it was 2 years ago but it must have been closer
to 10. We gave the town of Lunberg a dry survival suit town of Ashb a dry survival suit for ice rescue. Right. and the town of I'm sorry that was towns in and and um Ashby actually asked us for um a a EMT backpack right cuz they don't
have big water bodies in Ashby but they have a lot of trails and so they were able we were able to provide that for for rescue so tonight you know we facilitated um with one of the former uh police administrative uh personnel and
we understand that the uh the Lunberg police and the Lunberg fire have use for portable chainsaws. So, what actually spurred this is, if you recall back in the spring, there was a missing child um out in one of the pieces of public
property. And the police commented that boy, it would be nice to have a small portable chainsaw that they could put on the ATV so they could get out there in the trails. So, here we are just in time for Christmas and we have donated a uh
the chainsaw. So, I I would be remiss if I didn't mention my vice president, um, Eric Brown from Asheville, my wife, my wife Paula, who most of you probably know, who was nice enough to put this slide deck together for me tonight. >> Um, and Chief Sully is here. Um, as
Chief Tibido is is away. So, Chief Sully, if you would, you know, accept this this small token of our appreciation of all of the uh law enforcement and fire personnel. Appreciate it. >> Thank you very much. Definitely get put
to good use. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, team. Well, thank you very much. I'm sorry it took more time than I promised, but any questions? >> Did you want me to hop back to this trail map for a moment? >> Oh, sure, please.
>> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. So, this is a map of of of the the uh the the snowmobile trails in Lunberg Towns in Ashb. And it's kind of nice. The trail actually goes right through my yard. Um and so you can go all the way from um Shirley
Reservoir uh across Shirley Reservoir through Flatill Orchards, across Hickory Hills Lake through Hickory Woods into Townsen into Pearl Hill through Pearl Hill all the way up to uh Willardbrook. um and do a nice loop in Willowbrook and come back. It's a great way to spend an
afternoon uh on the snowmobile or, you know, two or three days if you want to uh snowshoe it. So, thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> All right. Do you um there's there's some more slides. Do you want to keep going through it or >> Well, I don't want to take any more of your time.
>> It's okay. You can if you want to. I think um you if you want to bring them up the um the you know we talked um we talked about the volunteers. >> Mhm. >> We we talked about the financial grants. >> Come
>> there are some photos here of us of uh of some of the work we did out in the lane property and other property. Now I want you to take special note on the bridge on the top left corner. Um so this bridge is by design not wide enough for snowmobile. So, this is a hiking
bridge and or a biking bridge. Um, and you know, we build these anyway even though we're not utilizing them. And one of them that we don't have a picture of, and I wish we did, it's actually called Mutiny Bridge. And you might say, why do
you have a bridge called Mutiny Bridge? Uh, because my wife and Peter Sharpier, God rest his soul, I asked them to tear apart the bridge and build a new one. And they were like, "This bridge is perfectly fine. Why are we tearing it down?" And they did not want to do that.
But we convinced them it needed to be done. So, thank you very much. >> One more slide. Want to just put this one up. Yep. >> One more. >> Yep. >> Giving back. >> Well, this is us just giving back. So, this is when we give the presentation. >> So,
>> all right. >> Oh, hold on. >> Talk about the food banks and the salvation. >> The what? the food banks in Salvation. >> Oh, that's right. Yeah. One of the we, you know, in these times of turbulence with our federal government, >> you know, as you stated, it's very important that uh we we we we we do what
we can to help our neighbors. >> Um we we host the toys for tots every year. Um and we also do food drives like we just we have a big Halloween bash and one of the things is for admission you need to bring a non-p perishable gift.
So, um, it's part of our mantra to give back to the community. All right. I'm done for good this time. >> All right. Thank you all. >> Well, I want to thank you guys, of course, for the gift, but also for all the work that you do. I'm glad that you guys put together this presentation cuz I didn't
realize that you guys do so much philanthropy. Um, of course there's the trail maintenance, which I appreciate since I go to the trails a lot and the bridges are great, but um, you know, like you mentioned the food pantry and the Salvation Army. So, thank you for all the work that you guys do for the community. >> Thank you.
>> We appreciate it. >> Of course. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Have a good night, everyone. >> You too. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Mom, call Logan. >> All right. Up next, appointments, ratifications,
and resignations. [Music] First one is ratify the town manager's appointment of Jacqueline Tibo as assistant town accountant. >> Yes. So, Jackie Tibo um does not have any municipal experience, but she has many years of um accounting and customer
service experience. Um in her interview process she exhibited uh the qualities of a quick learner and somebody that who was interested in creating efficiencies. So she will be joining us um as assistant town accountant starting tomorrow if ratified.
>> All right. Great. Any questions? >> All right. I will move to ratify the town manager's appointment of Jacqueline Tibo as assistant town accountant. >> Second. >> Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. >> Those opposed? No. Motion passes unanimously. And the next is Deborah Crow as administrative assistant of the
building department. >> Yes. So, uh, Deborah has a parallegal background. Um, so we believe that she'll be a good fit um to understand the regulations and permitting um that go with the zoning board work and um the building permitting work. Um, and so she
also has a pretty good customer service background and she will be joining us if ratified on the 17th. >> All right, any questions on this one? I will move to ratify the town manager's appointment of Deborah Crowley as administrative assistant of the building department. >> Second. >> Any additional discussion? Those in
favor say I. I. >> Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. And Lee Bane is administrative assistant of planning. >> Yes. So um Miss Bane is currently working um with Masdot. Um so while she does have not have a municipal experience um directly, she does have uh
experience working with communities. Um she has a strong customer service background um and has some um technical drafting uh capabilities that she picked up while working in the banking industry and if ratified she will be joining us uh in the planning department starting tomorrow.
>> Great. Any questions on this one? I will move to ratify the town manager's appointment of Lee Bane as administrative assistant of planning. >> Second. >> Those in favor say I. I. >> I. Those opposed no. >> The motion passes unanimously. And up next, we just want to acknowledge the
resignation of James Mcwiggan, a van driver for the Council on Aging. He's also a member of the Council on Aging. So, I want to thank him for the work that he did as a van driver as well for the Meals on Wheels. >> Okay. Town manager report. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So, um
the first update is to update on the finance department transition. Um, the transition of the finance department continues to be more complex than originally anticipated. As previously reported, we are transitioning the three positions of finance director, payroll
and benefits coordinator and assistant accountant. We have already brought in external consulting services to stabilize our core functions, but the volume of issues that we are encounting require requires attention that is larger than will was anticipated and will take time to work through. As we
are working to close out FY25, we are identifying and correcting issues that need to be addressed. However, based on our current status, we are now working to put um together some additional contracted support service to get us through this transitional period. Um
it's important to note that I am not indicating that the town is um facing a financial crisis, but we are facing a substantial amount of cleanup and catchup work. In addition, as we are starting to onboard and train new hires, we remain cognizant that these hires come at a time in the department with
significant flux. So, this is we just talked about um bringing on an assistant town accountant. Um they'll be starting tomorrow in a department that's in transition in transition. So, that is that's a little bit extra there. Um working through these issues and the transition will have a financial impact
and an operational more significantly an operational impact to the town over the coming months. It is likely that this full transition will take more than a year um to conclude. I will continue to update the board and the public through this type of forum um as appropriate. Um
but um the impact is substantial. I just want to really flag that the impact to the operations here is substantial um with this transition. Okay. Um the tax classification hearing um has I think last time I said that it had tentatively been scheduled for
November 25th and offcycle meeting that is official now. So there is an offcycle select board meeting on November 25th. Uh the assessors have been diligently preparing for this hearing by submitting the state sales data. Um the property values by class and the new growth report are being submitted tomorrow
morning once signed. Um, actual new growth o over the estimated new growth of 400,000 is approximately $180,000. I have heard that misreported in other boards at being over a million. It's $180,000
approximately. Um, as a reminder, new growth is the dollar increase in the levy limit that reflects the additional tax revenue generated by new construction, renovations, or other increases in the property tax base. So, this does not mean if you're replacing your roof with a like roof and you're
updating it, that's not new growth. If you are adding on a deck, if you are adding an addition, that is new growth. All right? So, that will be November 25th. Um, tax classification hearing. The public tends to tune in to the tax
classification hearing as a reminder. The select board does not set the tax rate. The select board's determination at the tax classification is to determine uh the split between residential commercial industrial and personal property. So whether there's
one rate for everybody or we're splitting the rate um differently between residents and and commercial industrial. All right. Capital Planning Committee is starting to meet in earnest to consider requests for FY27 capital plan and beyond. This past week, they heard from
the police and school departments. If you did not get a chance to tune in and are interested, that video should be up and tomorrow evening they will be hearing from the fire department in DPW. As of October 29th, the DPW employees are now are not I wrote not are now
officially represented by Teamsters Local 170 for the purposes of collective bargaining. So, um they have been through quite a process to get recognized and that that has come to a conclusion. So, I would anticipate that we'll be hearing from the Teamsters shortly.
Uh, project updates on the Flatill Bridge replacement project. Um, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation has agreed to extend the $600,000 small bridge grant through December 31st, 2027. So, we will not lose that money. Uh, the order for
conditions of for the project require the work to be completed between October and March. Therefore, work will not begin until October 2026 and will not likely be completed until June 2027. So, that's that long date. Um, as we proceed with next steps, I will report as
appropriate. Uh, town hall weather vein. I previously reported that the replica weather vein for the town hall had been heading to was going to be heading to a wood shop in Maine um for re recroduction to be crafted. That uh is looking like it's going to be difficult
in scheduling. So our own facilities director is going to be making the approximation himself. So um he's quite talented craftsman. So he knows that we're going to be scrutinizing that for sure. Um and the town hall um or the
town building access control pro project remains ongoing. So we have one new recruitment and that's library assistant um at 19 hours per week and that's due to a promotion. So um the the positions that remain open are the payroll and benefits position at
36 hours per week, dietary aid at 9 hours per week, intermittent heavy equipment operator, land use director at 40 hours per week, and recreation director at 19 hours per week. I had put out an offer on the land use director to
a very strong candidate um and he's not able to take the position at this time as full-time. So unfortunately, so um I'm just flagging this because while I'm talking tonight about the deficiencies in the finance department and that
organization, we have some pretty significant organizational weaknesses in other areas that as we bring on building it, as we bring on an admin to the planner, as we bring on admins and there's not the staff there, that makes the success of those people in those
roles all the more difficult. Um, so we're cognizant of that, but but these these staffing challenges are are are starting to critically impact the operation. Um, let's see.
And, uh, the board and committee vacancies remain the same, although we do have the board of assessors um, candidate and I think that they're going to be looking to schedule a off cycle off Tuesday meeting. They do not have Tuesday availability for a joint meeting for appointment. So, I expect that
request was going to come from the board of assessors any day now for that offcycle meeting. And that is my report. >> All right. Thank you. >> Any questions? >> All right. >> No questions, but I appreciate all of your efforts and I know that this is
challenging and our organization is is facing some challenges. So, I appreciate all of your efforts and your work to keep the ship sheep ship afloat. we're going to do our darnest to keep her afloat. And and so, you know, to that, I I just want to say that there's going to probably be some bumps and bruises along
the way. Um and and I just hope that people are understanding as we go forward of the challenges that are going to be long and ongoing. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Moving on to new business. So up first and the
only item under new business is consider issuing to the governor and the legislative delegation a letter regarding FY27 school funding. So this is part of uh the broader and ongoing advocacy efforts to shape the next budget. Uh so I'm just going to read
through the letter here and then we can discuss. To the legislative delegation of the town of Lunenburgg, we the undersigned write to you on behalf of the thousands of students, educators, and community members who we collectively represent. We are writing to demand decisive state
action in the FY2027 budget using available fair share surplus funds to address the fiscal crisis facing our public school districts. is increasingly clear that public schools across our state are facing significant fiscal challenges caused by severe flaws in our school funding policies that are rapidly
undermining our students constitutional right to a highquality and fully funded public education. Funding from all sources has not kept pace with growing demands for programs, services, and staffing to adequately meet students academic, social, emotional, and mental
health needs. Federal ESSER funds may have spent and oops federal ESSER funds may have been spent and actions in Washington threaten our budgets. Proposition 2 and a half has stalled many communities ability to raise revenues locally. State aid under
chapter 70 while increasing thanks to the Student Opportunity Act has proven inadequate for a majority of school districts for a variety of structural reasons. The result has brought devastating cuts to programs and staff and touching classrooms throughout Massachusetts. This must be addressed.
We cannot accept the situation as an an unavoidable reality that our students, educators, and local communities must navigate on their own, even in light of a difficult fiscal environment. Given the Commonwealth's proud tradition of supporting public education and an understanding of solutions that can begin to address the fiscal challenges
facing our schools, we believe that you can take steps at the state level to solve this crisis. It is essential that you act with urgency and in ways that deliver resources to school districts of all types from gateway cities and minimum aid communities to rural and regional schools. Specifically, we urge you to focus on advancing the following
priorities that would provide relief to the school districts we collectively represent. One, strengthening the special education circuit breaker program. Two, fixing the chapter 70 inflation cap. Three, fully reimbursing regional and non-regional school districts for student transportation
costs. four, significantly increasing rural school aid. Five, further mitigating the financial impact of charter schools on traditional public schools. And six, making target investments in the staffing and programs needed to best support student mental health. While addressing these issues would not solve the entirety of the
fiscal challenges in public education, doing so would bring urgently needed resources to Massachusetts districts. We are counting on you to take meaningful steps in the coming months to deliver the funds that we need to succeed and that adequately reflect the Conwell's historical commitment to public education. Thank you for your
consideration. So this is part of um an effort that the Massachusetts Teachers Association doing. So that's where a lot of this is coming from. So we would be signing on to a letter that they're getting um
people signing on from across the entire state. Um, but since we're considering signing on as the entire board, we would just essentially send the letter ourselves. So, there's a lot of overlap in the content of the letter that they're requesting that we sign on to
and this one here. >> So, it would be one or the other, not both. >> Um, >> I just don't really know how that works cuz I'm assuming we all got an email with a request to that letter. >> Um, so the form the way that they're like actually collecting signitories is
a little strange. So we could all individually do it, but there was no real good way to get like us as a body onto it. So it just I think it would be stronger. And I I agree with this approach that sending the letter kind of
like on our own would just be better. >> On our own meaning as the board, yes, is one. Yeah. Right. You've done this. >> We have >> many times. >> Yep. Um and a lot of people have already signed on to this as well. Um, so you know, the advocacy is certainly working and >> hopefully it makes a difference. I think
it has so far. So hopefully it can continue to make a difference. >> So I have a a couple comments. >> Sure. >> Is it do we have to vote on this tonight or can we have >> Yes, we do. Yeah. >> Uh because it, you know, I I kind of, you know, back when I would watch these meetings, I would kind of scoff at these
these letters because I mean it's certainly something we're not advising them anything that they they don't know. And we're uh we're certainly not telling them anything that we also haven't already told them. I mean, I see there's no no harm in, you know, necessarily
sending the letter, but it it seems like a little redundant. Um and one of the concerns although I agree and it's one of the uh comments I would have frequently made before various boards prior to becoming involved was that you
know the the uh those who we have elected to represent us on the state level are not supporting the communities appropriately. So the the the core of the letter I I I could not agree with more. Um I I think that um
this letter I think is clearly within the purview and focus of the school committee. My concern is as as the select board um I believe the letter's focus should have a broader scope and not limited to the
concerns expressed by uh this you know the the outside group or essentially signing on to a letter that someone else wrote. And to be clear, I'm in in in agreement um that the the funding issue has to be addressed. And the letter
simply targets a symptom of a larger problem. Um you know, essentially the the the house is on fire and this is addressing um a room. you know, our our letter should target the the cause, the overall lack
of appropriate funding that the state provides to not only Lunberg, but all all of the communities. Um, and you know, that that was highlighted in that report that was mentioned in a previous select board meeting of the um Mass Municipal
Association. So, I think I think a letter from this board should should encompass the the struggles that our fire department is experiencing, the struggles that our storm water task force is struggling with trying to address the storm water
issues. Um, so I think our letter where we represent the town as a whole should should represent all issues and and refer also to the the the other symptom of this problem which is outlined very
well in this letter. So it's more again that letter is focused I think from the school committee or the the school and that's in uh appropriate and I'm supportive of that. But I would like to see our letter encompass more than just that. >> I understand that. So, okay, a couple
things to respond to here. I'll respond to that last point first by saying that we have actually sent a more generic local aid letter to our state delegation that I drafted. Um, we can find that and I can send it to you if you want. Um,
these letters do make a difference. Um, and I know that now too because at first I kind of agreed with you. These letters give our state delegation more weight to their advocacy. So they can say, "Look at all of these letters we have. We have
hundreds of people that represent school committees, select boards, superintendent, town managers signing on to this letter." That really makes it hard to ignore these tasks. Um to address the point that our state delegation isn't really doing anything
or you know they're not um you know advocating on these issues, uh Representative Scarsdale is leading these advocacy efforts. She's the one actually that reached out and requested that we sign on to this so that she can have more people from her district that
are signing on to it and that she can advocate even more. So, you know, I don't think that's really true either. Um I think school funding does affect us just like it affects the school committee. Um you know I think the past couple of years now a couple of months
of our year have been taken up by the school budget. So it absolutely affects the entire town and I know that members of the school committee have signed on to the same letter. Maybe they have as a committee. I I don't know. Um but it doesn't mean that we can't as well,
right? we can support them and just like I'm assuming that they will support us when we ask for additional local aid in other areas that aren't related to schools. So, I hear you. I don't disagree with you. Um I think there's a lot of effort. I think there's a lot of
ways that the the state can support municipalities other than just school funding. But I do think this is a critical part and you know, I think we should do our part in signing on to this letter too. >> Yeah, I'm certainly not arguing against sending a letter. I I think that to your
point there certainly is value. Um but it's just I would like to see a you know I would prefer that it had a more from us >> just augmented the focus that theirs has. >> There's nothing stopping us from
submitting another letter on other issues focused on different areas. >> And that's I would agree too. I think we should draft a secondary letter as well. But I would be in support of uh this letter as well. Uh I before uh at the
beginning of this process it was very focused on regional schools and I'm glad that there now is regional and non-regional transportation support. Um I did see the rural schools. Lunberg is not considered a rural school, rural town uh in regards to funding. So that I guess is a little frustrating, but I
think big picture we got to make sure everybody's taken care of. So, I would still support this letter and I think it's important that we again continue the pressure uh on the legislators uh so that we can get something done. >> And I will dig up that other letter that we sent. I don't remember uh when it
was, but I can find it. >> I just found it. >> It's from March uh 18th. If you just search for >> and I think just continuing it though, right? Like we don't want to >> let them know once and then just let it go. So, I think March has been a while. It might be a good time to remind them
of our concerns. update and any updates. Yeah. >> And the letters do matter. >> I'm in the same the same viewpoint as Glenn though that it's definitely good for us to advocate for the town as a whole, but I don't think that those two things have to be >> Yep. >> separate. I think we can do both, >> right? For sure.
>> But this one we have to vote on and do or sign on a deadline. >> Approaching deadline in a couple of days. Yeah. >> Okay. Is there anything that we want to modify here in the letter? [Music] There was that one word. Did you fix
that? Maybe. Hold on. I closed it to look for the other one. >> It does look like Amanda's name is spelled incorrectly here. So, that's one thing that we'll have to address. >> My name is spelled incorrect. >> Yeah. On the bottom, >> you have an extra syllable. It's a really hard name.
>> All right. Here it is. A manada. >> I was going to say it. I didn't. >> I'm just Looks like we're just doing one last review here. I'm good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Well set.
>> All right. Mr. Mloud. >> So, I guess the only question like the one of the bullet points that I simply don't know the further mitigating the financial impact of charter schools on traditional public schools. like I'm actually not sure >> Mhm. >> what
>> so the the fact that basically the more students that go to charter schools from Lunberg where Lunberg is going to be missing out on funding uh and there's a formula that provides some money back to Lunberg but the the concern is that the more students that are going to charter
schools the more it affects the traditional public schools. So they're essentially saying that they should get more funding as a result of them leaving becoming >> adjusting that formula. Yeah, that part of it
>> I think it's I think >> there is a financial impact these students go to charter schools. I don't think it's it's adjust it's adjusting so that we don't get negatively impacted as much from the students leaving or deincentivizing the students from going
right. Okay. Any other changes anyone has? >> Okay. Is there a motion for the select board to sign on to the letter as presented? >> So moved. Second. >> Those in favor say I. >> I. I.
>> Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. So we have to print out another one with Amanda's name and then we can sign it. All right. Thank you everyone. Old business discussion on special town meeting. So we do have um a draft of the motions. Town council is
still working on a couple. So, MTA communities is um still being uh having some minor tweaks to it. Um town council is attempting to shrink and simplify a few of them. Um turns out we don't need
the um warrant article for the pack transfer. So, that's going to be removed. Uh it is still in here. >> Yeah. It's going to go on May. >> Yep. And I think that's most of it, but we can go through here um discuss the consent calendar. Um, another thing that we can also discuss as well is who's
making the motions. Uh, so right now what we kind of do is just go down the line. So we can discuss if we want to continue doing that or if uh we want to do something else as well. Um, okay. So we can start at the top. Uh, the consent calendar right now, not not many, um, is
flagged as article 5, which I believe was the pack transfer, which isn't actually going to be there anymore, right? Okay. It is that one. Okay. So it's just six and 14. So six I believe is the cemetery commission transfer. Is that correct? >> That's correct.
>> Yep. And then the other one is the second planning board article, the tuminous uh concrete one since that was simple enough it could have been included. >> So >> yeah. So I typically, you know, something that has more than a majority quantum of vote,
>> you want to consider whether or not you want to put that in the consent agenda. um because it raises the quantum of vote for the entirety of the consent agenda for 2/3. I think that we only have two things in this. So the risk is that
people would vote down and then would just take up these articles individually. So I think it makes sense. I think >> to me I I don't think that the driveway issue is going to be so controversial that we won't have um
perhaps the two/3s there. But if it is controversial, then we'll just take it up separately, each of those separately. >> Yeah, I think it's fine as well. Um, we did the same, I believe it was for annual town meeting, too. We had the same discussion about the voting threshold being increased, but um, I have no issue with it. We really don't
even have much of a consent calendar at all. Um, just these two articles. So, I mean, are there any articles that members think should be included in the consent calendar that aren't? bill from a prior fiscal year can sometimes be included, but I know sometimes residents just want to talk
about those, right? And that's a 9/10 vote too. >> It is a 910 vote. >> I wouldn't do that >> for that reason. >> Yeah, I'm I'm fine with keeping that one out. So, I mean, I went through here. I
didn't really see any that I felt really should be included here. So, Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I think the others are going to have some discussion. >> Okay. So, that's a consent calendar. Um,
there are a couple of motions that I know the town manager wanted to talk about. So, the first was article two, right? >> Right. So, I want to correct I misspoke in my my town manager's report. New growth is not 180,000. It's 118,000. So
118. So some of that um is going to be applied here. Um so right now we are looking at um addressing some things in the FY26 budget. Um, I'm working with the finance
director now on nailing down the numbers, but I believe that we're going to be looking around $150,000 um to address the impacts of the finance department transition. That's vacation buyouts,
consultants. It's mostly consultants, frankly. Um, >> that's going to be in this article. >> That's going to be in this article. Um the other things that we were looking at um were there's uh three uh pregnancies
uh in the library that are going to need some coverage. So we were looking at possibly needing uh a transfer there. Um that's okay. I think that they don't need that transfer. Um the retiree health insurance came in higher
at about um a little less than $100,000 higher. Um I believe that we're going to be able to absorb that with the excess positions that we have parked for contingency in the active. If we cannot,
I would be proposing that we don't raise and appropriate that we transfer. there is a small amount of money about $140,000 left in the health insurance stabilization fund. I think that that would make sense to use for that purpose. Um so I don't I think I think
at this point the only raise and appropriate that we will be doing is for the to cover the finance department. Okay. Um the the other thing that we'll be doing um
is more I believe a nod to tradition than than a legal necessity is to vote the salary reserve transfer to fund the first year of the police contract at at the town meeting. Um I think that that's
been a discussion in the past of going to town meeting on that. Um, and then we'll just do the other salary reserve transfers at town meeting and just handle them there. Um, so that's about what I'm tracking right now is I do think the 150,000.
Um, so they're in that 118 roughly is that new growth. >> Remainers some additional state aid. Okay. So um this is where we are. There has been some folks that have suggested,
why are you going to raise and appropriate these funds? Why not use the finance committee reserve? In my opinion, it is far too early to be touching that finance committee reserve. Um, that is something that we'd want to be looking at um in the in the spring
really for unanticipated items that may arise. That's usually where they arise. Um the other thing is if you if you use that excess new growth then it affects free cash. Well it's six of one half dozen of the other. If we don't transfer it out of the finance committee reserve
that money rolls to free cash, right? So it's it's all the same thing really. Um I think that we need to s we need to keep though that that finance reserve for unanticipated things that may arise. >> So >> do you know the balance of that reserve?
Uh we haven't made any any appropriations out of it. So it's what we budgeted. >> We used it some last year, right? >> Yeah. But it's it's an annual appropriation. Yeah. So whatever we used last year is reset. >> Okay. Any other motions that you wanted to
cover tonight that I didn't talk about? >> Let I don't think so, but let me just take a peruse. >> Okay. >> Um just that public access cable. It's not it's not that we don't need it. We do need this vote. It just timing. It needs to be at the May town meeting.
>> Um the corrective vote on that. [Music] >> Nope. I don't I don't think there's any other motions really to discuss unless folks have questions. Anyone have any questions on the motions?
>> I just wanted to bring up uh that last night at the Lunberg Municipal Building Design Committee uh they had mentioned that they are not going to be reporting. >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I can pass over that. >> Sure. >> One report of the three. >> Mhm.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. And I think the last thing that we need to talk about is whether or not we still want to have a meeting the Monday before town meeting like we had discussed before. We still have, I think, four articles that we need to make recommendations on. Do we still
want to have a meeting before in order to get through those last recommendations before town meeting? >> It would make town meeting a little bit shorter. >> It does. Yeah, it does make a difference. We can't do it just the during the meeting. Make the recommendations.
>> We can uh we can make the recommendations on the floor. It's just >> one extra thing to do at town meeting. So, it's a little easier to do it before, which is kind of what we've >> done it right before like called a meeting like a half hour before town starts >> and that's what we normally have done
and what I'm I'm okay with doing that as well. >> Either way, it's fine with me. >> Yeah. >> If if I could suggest a personal preference, >> Sure. I would prefer that we schedule a meeting for both the half hour before and the Monday night. If it looks like
there's not a lot to talk about, we'll go ahead and cancel the Monday. >> Okay. >> If it looks like it's something that we can just do quickly in 5 10 minutes before it's looking as things develop, I I can't promise that I'm not going to have more that you all would want to maybe talk through a little bit longer.
>> Yeah. I mean, I don't think it hurts to at least block out some time on that Monday in case we need it. I'm not anticipating that we will. we don't have too many articles and if we want to we can always just cancel it and just do it right at like 6 or 6:30 right before town meeting. Um
>> are we able to vote on any tonight? >> I'm looking at the two from the planning board. They have their hearing. >> Yeah, they did have their hearing. I was going to ask about that but you know we have that meeting anyway. So I just didn't we did we public hearing?
>> Uh wait I watched most of it. Let me ask this way. Is anyone not prepared to vote to make a recommendation on the two planning board articles? >> Yeah, I did watch it. >> I'm ready. >> I'm ready.
>> All right. It sounds like we're ready. Okay. So, let me um find which one I think it's 13 and 14. >> Okay. So, I will move to recommend approval on article 13 MBTA zoning act compliance. >> Second. Those in favor say I. I.
>> Those opposed, no. No. >> Uh, the motion passes four to one. And I will move to recommend approval on article 14, puminous concrete common driveways. >> Second. >> Those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed, no.
>> The motion passes unanimously. >> Okay. >> So, how many are left? >> So, I believe there's two. Um, there's two or three. Uh, so let's start at the top. So, the first one, recommend approval. We have the two here, right? So, payment of prior year bills. Um, so
we probably want to hold off on that. And then article two as well, budget adjustments. >> Um, want to hold off on that, too. And I think that's it. I think it's just those two. >> So, this sheet, cuz this says uh deferred for article three.
>> Yeah, it should be just three and four or two and three. >> Two and three. >> Yep. >> Is that it? Finance committee has a bunch. They haven't done anything. They haven't done any. >> They will be making all of their recommendations after their >> what they will be starting to make their recommendations at their public hearing
on the >> the evening of the 13th. They I don't know if they're going to have another meeting in advance. So, um to that point, the if the public's not aware, there is a public hearing on Thursday, November 13th with the finance committee
where they will be holding a public hearing on on the warrant. Um, >> okay. So, it's just article two and article three left now. So, we can hold that off for Monday or
Tuesday. >> Uh, >> is there a time on that Monday that we want to tenatively schedule a meeting for? I know I asked this before. I don't remember what folks said. Six or seven.
Are we doing this remote? >> We can. >> Yeah, six is fine. Six is fine. >> Okay. >> Yeah, it's fine. >> And if we don't need it, then we won't have it. And then we'll just meet probably 6:30 before town meeting.
>> Okay. So, um just a few other town meeting updates. the the mailers hit the post office yesterday. So, if they didn't hit your mailbox today, I would expect that they would hit your mailbox tomorrow.
Um, those have been posted online. Um, the documents that are on file with the town clerk um have also been posted online, those longer documents for folks to read through in advance. Um, as I complete um the additional handouts,
I'll share them with this board for your feedback. Um they don't need to be voted um but I'll share them for any feedback and then I'll post them online. >> Great. All right. Anything else we want to talk about for town meeting? >> All right. Moving on. Discussion on tri
board meetings. So I think the only thing is um figuring out when we're going to do the next one. Um so the next is going to be schools. U superintendent is prepared to give her presentation the week of Thanksgiving. Um, so I don't know if folks would be available to meet on that Monday. I believe that's the
24th, the day before we have our um, uh, tax classification hearing. Is that something that we would be able to do that Monday? >> I can do it. >> Yeah. >> Just checking. >> Mhm. >> What What time? >> Um, I'm assuming we would start at We've
been starting at 700 for those, right? >> Starting at six, >> have we? >> Are we starting at six? >> We've been doing >> pretty sure it's seven. Yeah, seven. Yeah, I can. >> Yeah. >> Oh, right. Cuz hard stop at 10 p.m. Right, >> Mr. Leighton.
>> Yeah, I could. Yeah, >> stuff around. I should be able to do that. >> All right, great. It looks like we're all um available to do that. Okay, so we'll see if everyone else is able to meet that night and then we'll go from there.
Anything else on the tri board? Okay, minutes. No, I guess I just will I do want to address I guess publicly. I think I've had some private conversations here, but as kind of hearkening back to the top the topic in my town manager report, I am committed
to continuing at this point with this tri board process. However, as things develop, I just am flagging that that would be something that may be affected >> for sure. >> Okay. Don't believe we have any minutes.
I don't think we have warrants either. >> Action items. >> The heat in this room is working. >> It is actually. It's Yeah, it's nice in here. >> I'm not complaining. I'm hot. >> Um I'm not wearing my coat yet, so
that room is really warm. >> Uh did we want to try to share the load on reviewing minute drafts of minutes >> to catch up? >> Yes. So, we do have um some minutes that just need a second glance over if anyone
is able to watch some um meetings and just review minutes. Is anyone able to do that? >> These are minutes that were prepared by uh third party contractors that don't necessarily know Lunenburgg, right? So they don't know all of our folks and their names,
but so they need I've had them for a while and the backlog is here for the review. So >> how many sets are there? >> Yeah. >> Oh, outstanding to be reviewed. Probably about 10. >> Okay. >> If we did two each. >> Yeah, I was going to say if there's a
way that >> that was quick. >> We can at least make them available and then as we have time >> maybe people could pick them off. Yeah. >> Volunteer. put your name. I can drop them minutes to be reviewed and you can put your name next to them. >> Yeah. >> And you're taking them >> and that would be your ownership,
>> right? That's a good way to do it. >> Okay, >> great. >> Cuz we're way behind. >> Yeah, >> we are. >> Not as behind as we uh were like a year ago. >> Shipping away. But >> but we're going to fall again. Yeah. >> Further behind. You're going to put those in the drive. We're going to put our name on them. Yep. >> Perfect. Okay. >> Thank you.
>> Yeah. Thank you. Committee reports. I need a minute. >> I can give a quick one. Um, stormwater task force met I think since we last met. Um, anyway, we voted uh 40 to approve the proposal
that we received from what's their name? Weston and Samson. >> Yes. Um I don't know if we if you needed a vote, but we voted as a task force to approve the uh >> Excellent >> their proposal and that's it.
>> All right. Thank you. >> Uh planning board, they have a change of policy with the public comment uh change. They'll have no uh public comment at the onset of the meeting. They'll have it before each agenda item to ensure that the topics are covered.
Um o the open space is it's basically both between the planning board as well as open space. They're just at the discussion level of them becoming a um the open space becoming a free standing committee versus an ad hoc. So again that they're just starting that
conversation. Uh they had an ANR approval not required at 9:30 Massav that's an area behind the historical society to uh expand the substation. They did endorse the ANR. Uh they had
public hearings on 255 Sunny Hill Road for storm water permit. There was uh revealed that there were some taxes due on the prop property. So that was continued. Uh MBTA Communities Act of course they did have their public um hearing and they did recommend the article be
adopted. um the uh driveway which uh they also recommended the driveway article which they also recommended be adopted. Uh in board discussions they adopted mass general law uh 110 chapter 110g
and that's related to the electronic document signing. Uh the master plan steering committee had their uh last public information gathering session on October 22nd at coffee roasters which we've just discussed before open space. Uh again
they're had just routine business and we're talking about the the topic of becoming a freestanding committee. Their next meeting is November 12th and uh no other updates. >> The school committee met on October 15th. They talked about the school
improvement plans. Uh they also went over the assessment report, student data. Uh they talked about their budget goals. Um also their goals for uh Turkey Hill renovation or a new build. Um and
developing a clear budget process to avoid chaos. They are meeting uh tomorrow. Uh some of the items they are doing a first read on policies on advertising in the schools, cash handling, uh middle school pathways
and competency determinations. Uh they're also going to be uh going over the superintendent drafted goals too tomorrow and the school committee goals. The board of assessors uh met on November 3rd. Uh they received nine abutter lists uh processed 51 motor
vehicle excise tax abatements waiting payment by the tax collector. They approved 96 exemptions. Um they were transitioning data from vision to munis to reduce duplications. Uh they had
sales and assessments. The median assessment to sales ratio is at 95% which meets the department of revenues requirements uh between 90 and 110%. the they did vote to approve the LA4
document and the LA13 document and their upcoming meeting. They have a classification hearing scheduled for November 25th select board. Uh they did talk about sharing with the select board the new and uh veteran members the uh the individual increases for individual properties that stood out. Uh and then
their next meeting is scheduled for December 3rd. And then the Lunberg Municipal Building Design Committee met on Monday. Uh we had discussed the tours uh the week before about the Ritter and the town hall. Uh we talked about the the Ritter uh improvements through the painting. Uh and we talked about the
challenges uh using the Ritter uh because of the the the ground entrances of the original building uh the challenges there and for making it accessible and talked about the elevator. Uh there was also a lot of concerns about the Brooks House and also 925 Massav and we talked about how
there'd be we were not ready for a presentation at the fall town meeting. Great. All right. Thank you. Capital Planning is meeting tomorrow night for fire and DPW and then Ber review committee is meeting Thursday night. And that's all I have tonight.
All right. Upcoming meetings. Our next meeting is going to be uh well we don't have any regularly scheduled meetings um until after special town meeting. So the next meeting is going to be special town meeting November 18th 2025. Um if we
have that Monday meeting then we'll meet the day before. If not we'll be meeting right before special town meeting. Public comment. Is there any public comment from the public this evening? Not seeing any in the room. Is there any on Zoom? Oh, can I make a comment?
>> Clark. >> Yep. So, just start with your name and address and then you'll get three minutes to make a public comment. >> Okay. Uh Mike Clark, 275 Cross Road, Lunenburgg. um in uh on the subject of signing on to
a letter from the Mass Teachers Association. I'm not sure I got the whole thing. Uh I'm also uh the chair of the Lunenburgg Republican Town Committee. Um I view the Mass Teachers Association
as a partisan organization primarily. um they they uh organize, they uh participate in campaigns and uh donate uh primarily to Democrats.
Um, so I I don't see why as a a bipartisan uh board and and with a town of uh Democrats, independents and Republicans, we would sign on to uh a letter written by
an organization which is with basically a union uh organization to represent the teachers uh unions in public schools that have unions. The other thing uh that I found particularly disturbing uh of this
organization is uh uh with the uh public assassination of Charlie Kirk at a uh public university in front of uh school children. Uh people women had brought their children
to to uh watch him talk. there was uh such a plethora of teachers in uh Massachusetts and throughout the country who who kind of mocked this uh sent out mems or
um other other uh things they shared on their Facebook pages, you know, like uh you know, they they tell their students, you have freedom of speech, but what you say matters. And then there's
consequences for what you say. And we saw a number of teachers in Massachusetts being dismissed for this. And the Mass Teachers Association came out and said, "Well, they do have free speech."
So here here you have t you know you you have this organization full of uh you know members that uh lean left and uh tell you you're going to be accountable for your
uh free speech up and and to uh including being assassinated and yet at the same time they should be able to to post what they want on Facebook. So I I think and they're attending these um no
kings rallies which is just organized by um I think it's called independent access or something America which is a leftwing uh super PAC. Uh so I really don't think we
should be doing anything with the mass teachers uh association at this point because I I think um what we've seen is is a lot of deplorable behavior out of out of the members of that group. So I I
would like to just leave my uh comment on that and request that we don't align uh um with these partisan uh political groups. All right. Thank you, Mr. Clark, for your public comment. Have a good night. >> Any public comment from the town manager
this evening? >> Yes, I do have a public comment. Thank you. So, um I just wanted to um echo some of the uh comments that we heard earlier tonight as we enter into this season of giving. Um, I just pulled up
some data on the website of from MassGis about the number of SNAP clients by municipality in Massachusetts. As of September of 2025, the town of Lunenburgg has 995 SNAP clients. um
wherever you are on this issue, um the reality is is that people um are not having benefits come to them um as of November 1st and that will have a very real impact on families. Um so if you are able, I just want to uh reiterate
some of the the messaging from earlier. If there if you don't support a particular organization, that's fine. And if you are able to find an organization that you support, particularly as we hit these cold months, particularly as we enter this season of giving, I think that uh
wrapping around each other as community and coming together as community is all the more important. >> Thank you for that. So I see it's around 8% of the entire municipality. So it really is a high number especially when you also take into consideration that that's not taking into fact the number
of households, it's the total residents. So that number is really much higher. So, thank you. Any public comment from the board? All right. I will move to enter into executive session and not re-enter open session
pursuant to MGL chapter 30 section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel or contract negotiations with non-union personnel. This is for the director of municipal finance town Accountant. >> Second. >> This will be a roll call vote. Mr. Mloud,
>> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Leon. >> Hi, >> Miss Em. >> Hi, >> Miss Moore. >> Hi. >> And an I for myself. We are now in executive session. Have a good night, everyone.