All right. Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight's meeting of the Lunberg Select Board. Today is Tuesday, February 3rd. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 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. The Citizens Party Caucus will be held on Monday, March 9th at 7
p.m. at the middle high school auditorium. Um so attending the caucus and being nominated for an elected position and voted for at the caucus is one of the ways to get on the ballot. Uh probably the easiest. The other way is to have to uh collect signatures. So, if
you have any interest in serving uh on one of our elected boards in town, I encourage you to attend, run, get nominated. Uh for a list of all the vacancies, you can go on the town website or Facebook page. Do licenses are due by April 1st. So, if
you haven't submitted those to the town clerk, make sure that you do that. Licenses will be available at the town clerk's office and online in the next couple of weeks. There's going to be a forum on the 2025 school budget variance tomorrow at 4 pm
hosted by the school committee uh at the Lunberg Adult Activity Center. So, if you want to learn what happens with the FY25 school budget closeout or you have questions about it, I encourage you to attend. And there will also be a public presentation and Q&A session held by the fire chief about the fourth shift
proposal for the fire department also at the Lunberg Adult Activity Center on February 24th at 5:00 PM. So if you're interested in learning about why the department needs a fourth shift or you have questions about it, uh please attend that event. It will be recorded by PAC as well.
All right, moving on to public comment. Is there any public comment? Not seeing anyone on the room. Any public comment on Zoom? Not seeing any. All right. So, we're gonna move down to scheduled meetings. And the first on the agenda tonight is a
presentation of commendation to school resource officer Bradley McNamera for his ongoing cryptocurrency fraud investigation and recovery of more than $100,000. So, it's going to be presented by the chief of police. So, I'll invite Chief Tibido up.
Manager, select board. >> I am pleased to recognize school resource officer Bradley McNamera for his diligent work in an ongoing cryptocurrency fraud investigation that led to the recovery of more than $100,000 in stolen funds. In April of
2025, Lunenberg police received a report from a Worester County resident who had fallen victim to a Bitcoin scam, excuse me, involving a cryptocurrency ATM in town. The victim reported a loss of
approximately $13,000. Officer McNamera immediately began investigating and working with the New England State Police Information Network, which specializes in cryptocurrency investigations. Officer McNamera was able to trace the money to a Tether digital wallet used to
move and exchange cryptocurrency. The wallet contained more than $109,000 in assets. Officer McNamera went above and beyond filing a number of search warrants and subpoenas in partnership with the Wista County District Attorney's Office and
the FBI allowing authorities to seize and freeze the funds. I received an email from Mark Sanders of the New England State Police Information Network and I'm going quote him as saying, "The first the first tether seizure by a local law enforcement
agency in the state of Massachusetts was completed by a school resource officer in Lunenburgg." Kind of funny line there if you think about it. I really think his actions are commendable. I think it just goes to show you what kind of an outcome can be
attained when you figure out a solution. Now, based on the work of officer McNamera, $109,000 was seized and numerous, mostly elderly victims are going to get some of their losses back. Also, a scammer out there doesn't enrich
themselves with these illicit assets. Even beyond that, his actions open the door for other agencies in Massachusetts seizing frozen tether that we previously would not think was possible. I am issuing Officer Bradley McNamera a
letter of commendation for his efforts and his continued investigative expertise in cyber crimes. Officer McNamera, you are example of what can be accomplished with a lot of hard work and basically leading the way on these types of internet crimes.
Your expertise and investigative skill set are something to be proud of and is a unique skill to have. I am so happy that the town of Lunberg community has someone like Officer McNamera in our department that works so hard at solving these cyber crimes that otherwise would
go unfounded. >> Thank you and great work. >> Thank you. >> Say a few words. I'd like to invite Officer McNamera up here to say a few words. So listen, I would be remissed if I didn't uh thank the chief because when
he was a lieutenant, he had the foresight to realize that the the new and up and cominging thing were cyber crimes. Uh he approached me and said, um you should start going to this and he's the one that supported it. If we didn't have a well then lieutenant now chief
who supported these type of things, we wouldn't be in this boat. We get calls from I get calls from people all over the state and sometimes, you know, from other parts of the country on some of this stuff. And if it wasn't for the chief and starting this and starting us
down this road, um we wouldn't be here. These types of investigations, these crimes, you're more likely to be affected than any other type of crime. You, your family members, or something else. So, if we can offer the residents of this town that service, you know, that's something that's unheard of. And,
you know, the chief's brought in federal partners and we have resources now, and I can confidently say that we have more we have, you're better off in Lunenburgg than you are in anywhere in North County. Um, and it's all due to the chief bringing in the resources we have and trusting the people in the department to do to just go out there
and do what they need to do and get the job done. So, that's all I got to say. Congratulations on being the school resource officer that cracked the first Tether related case in the Commonwealth. Uh truly great work. I mean this is a really incredible case. Um I'm assuming
that a lot of people with these like cryptoreated fraud cases just assume that they're never going to see their money again. Um if they're a victim and if they're a perpetrator that they're just going to get away with. >> These perpetrators are were in India. So we basically serious. Yeah. They they
were in India. So we stole we took this back from the Steelers in India. Um but the truth of the matter is not a lot of people understand this right. So it's it's not a fault of the the people who get scammed or the police department. If you come into a police department and say a bitcoin ATM most guys are like
what are you talking about? I can't do anything with that. But there is things to do. You just have to know the right people and be willing to pick up the phone and say hey I need help. >> Right. And I was also reading that a lot of seniors are falling for cryptoreated scams which kind of challenged my assumptions about cryptocurrency but
>> no because what they'll do is um we had a woman who clicked a link a paid ad on uh Facebook right it was for a princess Diana so she got a Princess Diana she was going to look at a popup then she got a popup and it said oh this is Microsoft right so she clicked that and
then the next day they called and they pretended to be the FBI and they said they found um child sexual abus abuse material on her computer and if they would clean it off um for such amount of Bitcoin um and if she didn't pay or she
went to the local police, they wouldn't understand and they'd arrest her. So, she was nervous and thank God that we, you know, we built the partnership with the people at Cascos um because that's the only one in town. They called us. They called us and said, "Hey, there's an elderly person." We were able to track them down. They went so far as to
the workers shut off the breaker so the woman couldn't continue to be scammed. and I found her in Fitsburg and she was shaking when I locked up the door because she was on the phone with a scammer and she thought I was there to arrest her and we fixed it and we brought her back and we let her know that that wasn't the case. But that's how they get these these people and they
trick them when they're not thinking and then they just play out emotions. >> Yeah. Well, I mean a lot of these scams are really shocking. I mean I get calls uh by people uh impersonating you know social security and Medicare all the time and you know it's just really unfortunate that people fall for this.
If you throw out a hundred a day, 100 a day across the country and you get one person, you scam 10 grand off of them. That's more you made more in one day than I made in one month >> when you really think about it. So that's they they sit in call centers and this is all they do all day long. >> Yeah. Well, great work, Officer McNamera. Obviously, this reflects very
positive on you and the department. Um, but I think the case is also really important because it communicates to the public that, you know, you can potentially get your money back with these types of scams. So, >> if you have a problem, come see us. We if we'll figure it out and if we can't do it, we'll tell you you can't do it. We're not going to brush it off. >> Right. >> All right.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you. And congratulations to both of you. And truly, not anyone can take that training and thrive with it. It does take a knack and a special skill. And clearly you have it and we appreciate you sharing that with the community.
>> Thank you. Thank you. >> To go right into Officer Brock. >> Go right ahead. >> All right, >> Officer Brock. Sir, we're announcing the retirement of uh Officer Brock from his full-time position here at the Lunberg Police Department. For those of you who don't
know, Officer Brock has been with the Lunberg Police Department since August of 2011. Officer Brock was hired first as a reserve officer in 2011 111 and as a full-time officer in 2013. Officer Brock attended the MPTC Boilston Police
Academy, graduating November of 2013. Before coming to the Lunberg Police Department, Officer Barack served 22 distinguished years with the United States Marine Corps, retiring as a master sergeant. Officer Brock holds a associates degree in criminal justice
from Columbia Southern University during John's 15 years at the Lunberg Police Department. He's been a firearms instructor, department armorer, field training officer, and an Alice and alert instructor for school related incidents. John has trained and guided all the new members of the department as a
department senior patrol officer and instructor. John is an honest, hardworking and someone who is always willing to help. John has extremely strong work ethic and exceptional attendance record. Many times John would work Christmas and other holidays for
officers that had small children at the time so that they could spend the holidays with their family. That is John's true character, sacrifice, integrity, and teamwork. Although John is stepping down as a full-time officer, he'll be staying on as a reserve with Lunberg. I would like
to thank Officer Brock personally and on behalf of the Lunberg Police Department for his 15 years of dedication, service, and sacrifices as we look forward to officer Brock continuing his law enforcement career in a reserve capacity with the Lunberg Police Department.
>> Thank you, John. Go ahead. >> I just want to say thank you to Chief Tibido. Um, my retirement isn't because I'm ready to retire. Well, it is because I'm ready to retire. It it's now time for these
younger guys to take control and they they do an amazing job. I wouldn't be where I am today um if I didn't have great, you know, people under me, with me, and above me, you know, teaching me. You learn every day. Um give everybody
this the respect you would expect to get at the same time. Never forget where you came from. You know, we we always seem to forget that sometimes, but you know, Chief Chief Chief Tibido, I I couldn't I could sit up here for hours and tell you about Chief Tibido. If I needed to have
somebody beside me in a fighting hole overseas, he'd be one of my first candidates right there to take with me. Um he's an amazing leader. He's he's a great person. um is the character that he brought to this station or to the
chief is is above and beyond. I can't even explain to you the difference between Chief Tibido and some of the past chiefs. I mean, the it's like a black cloud lifted off of the off the department. And I mean, you could ask any one of these officers, they they could contest and tell you it it's just
a pleasure to come to work and work for this man right here. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to stay on as a reserve and still stick around. not only a chief but he's he's a friend. So, >> and same with everybody. Thank you very much. I greatly appreciate it and I want
to enjoy it more time for hunting. >> All right. So, um guess we'll take a brief recess and then we will be back. Uh so, we're going to go into a recess and we'll continue on with the meeting after. All right, we are back in open session
now and we're going to continue on with the agenda. So, up next we have a pedaller's license application for Wayne BS with Power Home Remodeling Group. I believe he's on Zoom. Are you there, Wayne? >> Yep, I'm here. >> All right, great. So, Wayne, can you
just tell us a little bit about your business and what you're looking uh the services you're looking to be selling? >> Yep. So, I work for Power Home Remodeling. Uh we have an office in Waltham as well as Worcester. Uh we do exterior home remodeling. So, primarily windows, roofing, siding. We also do
trim, gutters, attic, insulation, entry doors. Um what I would be soliciting is free estimates. Uh, so we've done a handful of installs in Lunberg uh already as a company. Uh, so I would essentially just be going door todo to offer uh homeowners free estimates. Uh,
if they have an older roof, over older windows, older siding, we're trained to, you know, uh, notice that, give them a knock, offer them an estimate, um, and that's it. We don't do solar. So, I know a lot of the soliciting applications are solar. Uh, we're not solar related at
all. Uh we do just exterior remodeling and we're trained if you know homeowners aren't interested. We're on to the next. >> Okay. >> Uh but person Yep. Sorry. Go ahead. >> Oh no, that's okay. Um so free estimates on siding, roofs, windows. Gotcha. Um do
you have uh pedallers licenses in other communities? >> Yep. I got uh pedallers license in most towns, I would say, in Worcester County and around the area. I've been with the company for 10 and a half years now. So, I would say through my career, I've had a permit in most townships in
Massachusetts. Um, I also have a Massachusetts state hawkers and pedallers license uh that I just got renewed. Um, so yes, I have plenty of former application uh solicitor permits as well as a state permit. >> Okay. Uh, one kind of random question. Do you use drones when you're um
collecting data to like roofing for example? Are you using drones at all uh in your work? >> Nope. We use no drones. Um, we use satellite imagery to get the roofing uh size, but no, no drones. >> All right, great. That came up before,
so I just had to ask. Um, all right. So, one more question. So, on your application for hours of operation, it just says 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Are you also uh looking to go doortodoor on the weekends? >> Um, most likely not. No, this would just be Monday to Friday. My shift ends at
6:30. I just put seven to kind of make it clean. >> Sorry to interrupt. to the booth. The audio just really decreased in the room. Can you turn it up a little bit? >> Okay. Sorry, Wayne. I don't know if we heard you in here. Can you just repeat yourself? >> Uh, yes. I will not be soliciting on the weekends. This would just be Monday
through Friday. My shift is till 6:30. I'm usually out of there by 600, 6:30. I put seven just uh, you know, just to be clean with it. >> Okay, perfect. So, this is Monday through Friday. >> Okay. Any questions from the other board members? Uh, to the town manager, how's this application look to you? Any concerns?
Any outstanding issues or to Melissa? >> No issues. >> No issues. Okay, perfect. Um, all right. With that then I will move to approve the pedaler's license application for Wayne BS with Power Home Remodeling Group um for the hours of operations of
10:00 a.m. to 700 p.m. Monday through Friday. >> I'll second. >> Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. So, thanks for coming in, Wayne. and uh we will be in touch with you. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
>> Yep. Have a good night. >> All right. Up next, we have one more pedaler's license for Joyce Higgins with Weather Vein Home Services for door-to-door solicitation. Um and this is a renewal. So, we gave you an application, I believe, in October 14th,
and you were doing um through Mass Saves Energy Saving related services that you were um going doortodoor for. Is that right? Um, she's Are you there, Joyce? >> Still muted. >> Let me try over here on my side,
>> I think. Is that working? >> Yep, we can hear you, Joyce. >> Um, yes. So, we partner for Massave. We do the um every two years homeowners are able to get a an an energy assessment of their
home. I'm not doing that. I'm just seeing if they want to be contacted to schedule that. >> Great. Okay. So, you've been going door to door in Lunenburgg since uh we gave you that license. Yeah. >> Um yeah, I believe it expired December 31st. So, I've been in Ashb and Towns
and since then. I just wanted to renew the Lunberg one. >> Gotcha. Okay. I have no issues with this at all. Um, any questions from other board members? >> No. >> Okay. Well, with that, I will move to approve the license application for
Joyce Higgins with Weather Vein Home Services for door-to-door solicitation. >> Second. >> Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. >> I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. So, thanks for calling in tonight, Joyce, and uh the
office will be in touch with you. Thank you so much. >> Yep. Have a good night. >> You as well. >> Okay. Appointments, ratifications, and resignations. So, we just acknowledged the retirement of police officer Jonathan Brock effective February 2nd, 2026, and also his appointment as a
reserve officer. And that was it for appointments. So, on to town manager report. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have somewhat of a lengthy and dense um town manager report tonight, so I appreciate your indulgences. So the first item is um the
FY2027 budget preparation. We had some conversations about this at the tri board meeting, but uh I wanted to share it more broadly to the public. So uh Karen Barrett officially joined the town as finance director, town accountant last Tuesday, January 27th, and she has
jumped right into the role taking over the responsibilities of the day-to-day operations and has also begun to work with me on the FY27 budget. As you know, the FY27 budget cycle will be difficult under any circumstances. As discussed at the last meeting of the tri board, some
of the major cost drivers, health insurance, retirement assessment, school transportation, exceed the revenue growth. Absent service reductions, an override is likely required. This reality requires the presentation of clear and accurate information to
stakeholder groups such as the select board, finance committee, and school committee, and most importantly, the public. While FY27 prep budget preparations are underway, we are still managing the departmental transition and the FY25 closeout. We are working
diligently to establish a baseline and confirming a level service budget. This next part is the most important. Although there is understandable interest and desire in receiving preliminary FY27 information as early as possible to support discussion and
decision-making, that timeline must be balanced against the need to ensure accuracy and the integrity of the data. So that's to say that based on what we heard last week at the tri board meeting, a lot of folks are saying, "What is the override number? What are we talking about?" We have to get there
and we have to get there with a level of accuracy. And so it's just going to take some time. So let's transition now to the FY25 closeout. >> So the town of Lunberg has not submitted the schedule A and accompanying balance
sheet for the fiscal year 2025 to the Department of Revenues Division of Local Services. The schedule A is due by November 30th of each year and is a year-end statement of revenues and other financing sources, expenditures and uses, changes in fund balances, balance
sheet submitts, and other information. Failure to submit the schedule A by November 30th may result in the Department of Revenue withholding local aid distribution to the community. That becomes more real as time um moves
along. So, the town has now received notification from the Division of Local Services that communities who have not submitted their schedule A by February 13th will begin to have local aid withheld. I began to communicate with DLS regarding the town's position on
January 20th and on January 26 after consultation with Karen Brochu uh requested an official extension of the February 13th deadline. I have not received a response to that request, but do have a call out to DLS to follow up. Should be noted that last year the
schedule A was submitted on February 4th, 2025. In addition to the potential impact on local aid, free cash has not been certified. This has a direct impact to planning for town meeting in terms of funding the capital plan, reserve
transfers, snow and ice deficit, and the like. with Karen Barrett now officially in as finance director for the town. Karen Brochu can focus too many Karens with a B. Karen Brochu can focus solely on the FY25 closeout as opposed to the
dayto-day. I have asked Miss Brochu to provide an update um regarding the FY25 to close closeout to share with the board. The full attachment is attached to um the town manager report. But from that uh as far as status, Miss Brochu
has reconciled what is known to as the due to and due from accounts. Not all towns use this, but they're used for tracking expenditures um in the enterprise student activity and trust fund accounts. In this process, she encountered errors such as one-sided entries, entries for the wrong amount,
and transpose numbers. With that process now completed, she is reconciling the warrants payable amounts posted to each account at year end. In this process, she has noted several errors, including payments that were originally entered as accounts payable checks that should have only been adjustments to expenditure
accounts, adjustments posted for the incorrect amounts, etc. After this step is complete, Miss Brocher will turn to reconciling cash and receivables. She states that it appears that this process has not been completed since the
close of 2024. Reconciling cash should be done every single month. Lastly, she will need to verify incumbrances and show activities on the funds in the current fiscal year. She cannot state with any level of
certainty whether or not if we are granted an extension through the end of February whether that will be sufficient. She said that this is taking an incredible amount of time to go through each and every account and make manual changes as she encounters a large
amount of errors. Turning to the FY27 capital plan, a preliminary capital plan was delivered to the select board and finance committee on February 4th first in accordance with the charter. That was in order to meet the intent and timing
requirements of the charter but without having free cash was quite preliminary in nature and was developed based on a conservative free cash estimate. Once free cash is certified I anticipate there will be additional meetings of the capital planning committee and that
there will be changes. Um folks who have opened the capital plan will likely be disappointed with what they see there that we were not able to fund a substantial amount of projects and there are two rather large high ticket projects pulling pulling much of the
funding uh namely the Flatill road bridge and uh the public safety roof. But I do think that until we have free cash certified, we shouldn't be talking about the totality of the capital plan because I do think that more projects are going to come into it once we have
free cash certified. Snow and ice deficit spending. The town is officially in deficit. Now, this is normal. This is going to sound the worst of all of the news that I'm delivering, but this one is actually normal. So, the town is officially in deficit spending for snow and ice. As of Friday, January
30th, there had been 18 snow events. The snow and ice budget total is $355,571.39. To date, $523,418.7 or 147.2% of the budget has been expended. Under Massachusetts law, this is one of the few areas where a community can deficit spend provided
that the snow and ice budget is equal to or greater than the prior year appropriation, which it is. So, I'm reporting this, but this is the one thing that is normal. Although, I do think we're going to have quite a high deficit this year just with the number of snow events that we've had, and it's
only February 2nd or 3rd. Storm water utility. The DPW director and stormwater task force have been exploring a storm water utility for Lunenburgg, and they are beginning to present that work publicly. This week on Thursday at the February 5th, 2026 meeting of the finance
committee, they will be presenting the budget for the utility. And then next week at the select board meeting, there will be a joint meeting of the select board, planning board, and storm water task force to discuss the utility more generally and the associated bylaw. Uh those interested in hearing more about
the utility should tune in to both of those meetings. They will have a slightly different um slant. As the chairman said, tomorrow at 4 PM on Wednesday, uh there will be a forum on the FY25 school budget. Um this is an
opportunity to hear directly from school officials what happened and discuss any questions that may be lingering. As I understand, the school committee has had a number of these types of engagements. Um and just folks might not be reaching them at the school committee. So hopefully having it at a a different
location and different time will get to some folks that still have some questions. As the chair said, if you're not able to attend, this forum will be filmed and made available um on cable and YouTube after the fact. We've scheduled a forum, which has not
been yet advertised, but for January 24th at 5:00 PM on the fire department shift change proposal um to transition the fire department from a 40 week 48hour week with three shifts to a 42-hour week with four shifts. This
presentation is going to be quite similar to the presentation made to the tri board this summer, but is an opportunity for the public at general to engage around the proposal and ask questions. TC Pacios building operating costs. The Lunberg School Department officially
vacated TCP this past summer. At the time, the town took full control of the building and all of the associated costs with the acceptance of landscaping and snow removal um which the town will be taking over at the end of this fiscal
year. the uh school has retained responsibility for the time being over the landscaping and snow, but that will come into the town. Uh the operational and maintenance costs for the building is roughly $120,000 a year. In addition to these operating
costs, we do not have the same revenues from the building as the extended day program is no longer renting space to offset those costs. With the school department moving out of the building, the facilities department began the process of decommissioning roughly 50% of the building and it was anticipated
that there was would be an associated roughly 50% decrease in energy specific costs around heating. Um, however, these results have not been realized. As an example, since the partial dis decommissioning, we've seen a 20 to 22%
in gas usage, not the 50% that we had hoped. In response to hearing these figures, I asked the facilities director to prepare a memo for me on the operating costs of the building. You do have that full memo attached to this town manager report. Based on that memo,
I have started to reach out to the users of the TC TCP building to begin to discuss the concerns around the long-term sustainability of operating TCP. meetings have been scheduled with users to begin to engage around the potential windown of the remaining
building operations and those meetings are occurring this week and next. So, um I know that there's probably going to be a lot of reactions to this conversation, but we wanted to start this conversation with as much time as possible and just see where different user groups may be
on the matter. Some are some are already indicating that it'll have no impact while we know others will have substantial impact to their operations. Okay, I have some good news now. I'm switching. We've applied for uh Mass Dot Community Culver Grant. Uh Bill Bernard
submitted an application in the amount of $150,000 uh to support the design phase of the Goodidge Street Culver over Easterbrook. Um, Goodrich Street is an important east west corridor that links Lunenberg to surrounding communities and provides
access through between a number of different um, sectors of town. And if this corridor is compromised, it would require a 5.25 mile detour um, which is pretty substantial. So, this is for design funds. Um, hopefully we'll be
successful and then we would be shovel ready after that fact. Um, lastly, I want to clarify a statement that I made at the January 27th tribard meeting. At the January 27th meeting of the tri board, I made a statement concerning a community where a fire department was facing layoffs and
folks were losing their homeowners insurance. To clarify, my remarks were about the town of Dudley. Dudley underwent multiple failed override attempts in 2023. During that time, the department lost both call and career staff, and as a result, the department was temporarily taken off area run
cards. Ultimately, the override passed and statements and services were restored. However, I would like to correct an inaccuracy in my original statement. I stated that quote, folks were losing their homeowners insurance. Rather, it's that staffing levels can influence a community's ISO rating,
insurance services offices rating. Um, staffing is a key element in that rating and the ISO rating may impact the rates that homeowners pay for their insurance. It's an impact on rates. So to clarify that uh recruitment, we still have
recruitments for the staff librarian, payroll and benefits, outreach coordinator, recck director, and dietary aid. Uh on appointed boards we have vacancies on the architecture agricultural commission the architectural preservation district commission the cultural council green
communities historical commission parks commission personnel board pack zBA and representative to the first middle sect small town collaborative on elected boards we have vacancies on the planning board sewer commission trust fund
commission and school committee >> all right thank you very much madam town manager manager. Um, I would like to welcome Karen Barrett to the town of Lunenburgg. Uh, I was a part of those interviews. Um, and Karen is uh,
extremely experienced and I feel very good knowing that we have someone like her in this position now. I know, um, she's going to do great and it's also going to relieve a lot of stress uh, that we have right now um, because that position hasn't been filled for so long.
Um, and I also want to thank Karen Brochu, uh, from the bottom of my heart for returning to the town. Um, she is truly coming to our rescue. Um, it's really disappointing to hear about all of these errors that have occurred. Uh,
to no fault of anyone here. Um, and it will take time to correct and I'm confident that it will be corrected with the, um, expertise and experience that we have now. Um, but it will take some time. Um, so I just want to put that out there. Any questions for the town
manager? >> That was a lot. So, it was if >> if members of the board or members of the public digest this and have questions, please feel free. >> I guess I do have a question. How long do you think an extension like a legitimate extension we need?
>> I was hoping that through the end of February would be sufficient. we're gonna run into major problems with town meeting if we go outside of mid-March. Um because we really need to be planning the warrant. So if it
I think that it like it's hard to nail down because each time she opens a task, she might find for example that something is off by $50 and has to go back and find the original document and check why is this was it a a data entry
issue or something more real. So it's time consuming. She was actually hoping originally that reconciling those due to do from accounts was going to resolve quite a bit of it and that was not the case. Um it's hard to nail down
>> now. Is there anything any other options available in terms of like an all hands on deck to try to because it sounds pretty serious the uh what we're facing >> if she's going to keep if it's still unknown what she could possibly come across >> the we we had um consultants in working
outside consultants in working on it um while before Karen was back on board with us. Um it is the opinion of both Karens that they will be more efficient than outsiders in navigating through it.
They just need to literally dig in with every single obstacle that they encounter. When she gets through the cash reconciliation,
there's not much there that's left. So, as she starts to reconcile cash month after month, we'll know how long each month is taking her. I will keep the board posted, though, as as we go. This
this is significantly concerning to me. Um, this is exactly the position that I did not want this community to be in. And yet here we are facing the potential of having not only our local aid shut off. That's that's the first kind of
domino in this that they stop the flow of your local aid, but once a community gets into this cycle, it's really difficult because you already see the impact we're having on planning for our town meeting. You're going to already see that it's impacting the capital plan. How are we going to, you know, we
I just reported about the snow and ice deficit. We need to fund that. We need to fix that. How much free cash is there to fix that? It becomes this becomes a if we if we do not pull up this becomes a slippery slope. >> This is I just want to be clear. This is
serious though. >> I get it. >> Yeah. No, I >> All right. Thank you. Moving on to new business. So, first uh we have a vote on continue representation by attorney Mark L. Terry, formerly of Merrick O'Connell
Damali in Lugie LLP. Luj I don't know how to say that. Now of Stoneman, Chandler and Miller LLP. Uh so Mark Terry is our labor council has been for quite some time um >> decades. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um my personal opinion having interacted with him a couple
times is that he is terrific. uh and because he is with a new firm um we basically have the decision whether we're going to continue working with him with his new firm or we're going to work with someone else. Um so of course I am strongly in favor of continuing to work
with uh attorney Terry. I think he's fantastic. I think the town has been very well served by him. Um so we just have to uh vote on whether or not we're going to continue our representation with attorney uh Terry uh with his new firm. I I know the answer to this question,
but are you comfortable with that? >> Thank you for asking. So, um, attorney Terry, um, like the chairman said, has decades worth of experience in Lunenburgg. Um, when he comes in to a negotiation room, he knows the story not
just of what happened in the last contract, but what happened in four contracts ago. It's extremely beneficial to the town. Um I I when when Mark had called um to say that he was leaving his
current firm, I immediately panicked because I didn't think that there was an opportunity um for us potentially until he continued speaking and the panic stopped to go with him. Um I I have every confidence in Attorney Terry. I think that um he has a strong uh
understanding of municipal labor law which has um some nuances to it and we were one of his first clients and I think that that um that's invaluable. >> Is there any difference in the the cost
associated? Um it is thought that this will be a cost savings overall in the long run to communities because the firm that he is going to is more public sector focused
where um the firm that he's at has a very large private sector focus which sometimes can drive the cost. But we don't have hourly rates. Any concerns or >> I have no concerns. I've always been
impressed with uh Mr. Terry. >> Great. All right. Are we comfortable voting on this tonight? >> I am. I am. >> Okay. So, I will move for the town of Lunenburgg to continue representation by Labor Council Mark L. Terry under his
new firm Stoneman Chandler and Miller LLP. >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed? No. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Up next, we have requests for legislative earmarks in the FY27 state budget. I don't really want
to get into this without having the full board here. Um, but just to introduce it, we have to as a board uh come up with a list of earmark requests that we will send to our state delegation for them to advocate for and try to get it included in the FY27 state budget. Uh,
the town manager has put together a lot of documentation. Thank you very much uh to help us with this. Um so if you'll look in the drive, we have um I think five years worth of earmarks that the town has received. Um so that's this
table that we have here. So for example, um just reading out some of them for FY26 uh in the amount of $30,000 uh went to uh the schools for um guidance counseling, mental health, and special education services. Um, also an FY26 in
the amount of $40,000 also to the schools for security system upgrades. Um, FY25 the supplemental supplemental budget in the amount of $50,000 also to the schools. Um, educational
materials program services incurred by the town of Lunenburgg. Um, $55,000 for infrastructure upgrades. $195,000 for two transportation vans also for the schools. Um, and you can continue going
on. So, FY25, $25,000 for the few food pantry uh for some of their upgrades. Um, I'm not going to read through all of it, but that's just some of uh the earmarks that we've received in the past two years. Uh, and then if you scroll
down even more, you'll see by category some example earmarks from all sorts of communities. And this can kind of help us with the process as we think of things that we should request to fund. So, >> so there's certain areas of the budget,
the state, these are all from the FY26 state budget. There's certain areas of the state budget that tend to have more earmarks in them than others. Um, so this is not a comprehensive listing of every local earmark that was allocated
for towns, but these are some of the more common ones. And so what I thought would be helpful for the board to see was not only the typical monetary amounts that are funded, but the types of phrasiology that is used and the types of requests um that towns put in.
>> Yeah, it was actually really helpful, especially when you broke it um down by the category here. So the first is like fire department. a lot of money going to fire department. Second is public service. Um, excuse me, public safety more broadly. Um, and then the third one, I guess it's kind of like a
catch-all, right? It was what was economic development, >> local economic development. That can be all sorts of things. Um, so really like public safety seems to be like the two largest categories uh here where you know some of the money is going towards. Um, so you know, look through this, start thinking about what we would like
to include. Um, like I said, I want to have this discussion with the full board here. Um, I will say, uh, looks like a lot of this money in the past two years has gone to the schools and I think it's time this year for, you know, the town side to, uh, get some love with these
earmark requests. Uh, that is where I'm at. Um, so I think we can continue this conversation with the full board next week. So, >> okay. >> Can I just add one comment? >> Sure. >> Okay. He's nervous. Um, so, um, I think
that board members should just be mindful as we request earmarks that this might be a difficult budget year for the state as well. And so, um, there may not be as uh as much money to expend. So,
uh, we don't we don't want to be coming in too high with our requests because they may just be we don't want to be too low either, but we don't want to come in too high. So from my experience, it it does sound like a lot of times the legislators are looking for a varied uh amounts of dollars. So maybe a project
at different amounts and I think that can help them as they see the availability that they can uh pop those in there. And I think sometimes it is a sales pitch to the the other legislators that >> it's for the schools, it's for the kids, or it's for the fire department or the police department. So I think it's
making that request that also will get passed as well. Mhm. Yeah, I agree for sure. >> Okay, any other discussion on this tonight or do we want to pick this up next week and really start getting into it? Okay, >> great.
>> Moving on to old business. So, discuss warrant articles to be sponsored by the select board. Um, so we've talked about a few already. There's Kids Kingdom. Um, I believe the school committee wanted to introduce that too. Maybe we should do it as like a joint article. Um, so I can
reach out and see exactly what we want to do, uh, or what they want to do for that. Um, but I don't know if they want to change language to it. I don't know if it really makes sense. Um, but that we'll figure that out. And it also might make more sense as we start to figure out some designs maybe and understand
exactly what that relocation would look like. Um, so >> yeah, I think it would be good to have that back and forth and have uh an article that both committees and can approve. >> Yeah. >> And support. Mhm. So we will get there. Um the other one, notice of town
meeting. Um I am having a meeting with Mr. Franco who just happened to join on Zoom. Very strange. Uh what a coincidence. Uh this week. So we'll work through some of the language on that and
then bring it back to the board. Uh 300th anniversary. So we have two warrant articles for that. So, the multi-year allocation of $15,000. So, thank you very much for uh putting together the language for that. So, we do have the draft article for that. Thank you. Um and then the other one for
the um the gift, right, the gift fund for donations and sale of merchandise. Uh so, we have that draft article as well. Um and let's see what else is there. I think there's some more here that got dropped that I didn't see. These are ones starting to come in from
um not from the select board, from other groups. >> Oh, okay. So, this one's from PAC. I see. Okay. So, we do have some other ones here, too. Um we don't have to go over those right now since this is primarily for articles that the select board wants to sponsor. Um any other
articles that we want to sponsor that we want to bring up tonight? >> No. >> No. >> Okay. Okay. Great. so we can um start reviewing um the articles that are coming in from other boards as well. Uh and the deadline for submission is March
do you know the date off the top of your head? 16th. March 16th. Uh so for folks at home listening, if you are on another border committee and you have an article that you uh wish to submit, you have until March 16th to do so.
Okay. Discussion and approval of appointment policy. I don't want to approve it without the full board here. Um, anything that anyone wants to bring up though for tonight on the appointment policy? >> Looks good. >> Okay. >> If folks haven't seen the volunteer page now, it's up. >> Yes.
>> Um, with links to the vacant vacancies, so you can click on what are the vacancies and we have built out on the back end. So, if you haven't looked at that, >> we've built out what the online form will be. So, look at that because you potentially might be approving that at the next meeting.
>> Fantastic. Yeah, I actually haven't looked at it yet, but um it's awesome that it was already created. I wonder where it is up here. Oh, volunteer for town boards commissions. So, for the folks at home, if you would like to check this out, too, on the town website, if you go to the the uh how do
I tab up at the top and then under apply for, you'll see a section that says volunteer for town boards and commissions, which I think was the existing page that was already there. >> It just didn't have much on it. >> Yeah, I know, right? Um yeah, this is awesome. So we have a list of all the vacancies appointed elected and then the
volunteer form here. So >> and that's the old form and then what will be embedded there is whatever the board approves for the new online form. >> Great. All right. Awesome. So did Cara work on this? >> She did. Well, thank you very much Cara if you're watching for uh putting this
together. It's great. So thank you so much. And that was fast too. Very fast. >> Okay. There was discussion about talking about the education and experience that they possess for each individual committee. >> So check out
>> they were checking off >> check out the in the meeting packet there's like a PDF of what the um online form that she's got it built out. It's not live. So if if you have changes to that, we did have folks prioritize them
with their rankings and to indicate what are the special education or skills that would apply. But if you want it a little bit different than that, let us know. >> Right. And I think that captures the intent what we were trying to do too. So um okay,
>> let me just make sure that that is uh >> Yeah. So I have it. I reference one, two, three, four, five. >> Right. >> And then it was just one box to identify the >> I actually don't think you do have the >> Okay, we'll get that. I don't think you
do have it. >> So, we'll get that over to you. >> Okay. >> I don't think you have it. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, thank you. Okay. Minutes, warrants, and action items. So, we have a lot of minutes here. Um, so we have a couple sets from
2024, four sets in total for June 4th, July 9th, July 16th, and July 23rd. We have a set of minutes for January 22nd, 2026. Uh, and then two executive session sets
of minutes, one for January 13, 2026, uh, which is not for release, and January 22nd, 2026. Um, so I'll start with the meetings from 2024 because I know we have members here that weren't on the board in 2024. It's
up to you whether or not you want to vote for it or not. So I want to see are we all willing to vote for those sets of minutes or are we going to abstain and maybe vote on these next week? >> I would abstain. >> Okay. So because there's only three of us, uh, we can't pass those. So we can
skip over all the 2024 minutes. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from January 22nd, 2026. January 13, 2026, executive session, not for release, and January 22nd, 2026 executive session.
>> Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor say I. >> I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously and then uh the 2024 minutes we can just vote on next week. Uh warrants, I don't think we have any, right? No action items.
committee reports. >> I have nothing. >> Uh I have a couple. Uh Lunenberg Municipal Building Design Committee met Monday um talking about a recent uh discussion on the design to the Ritter building to tear out the tear
down the the new addition and or the the addition on the side to build new there and then renovate the Ritter at a lower cost. Try to get everyone in there at a lower cost. So we're still working on that. Um and we'll be meeting again probably in February. Um the school
committee met on January 21st. Uh they had officially announced that there was a seat open um that they had notified u the town manager. The they talked about um allocating the the money from the
literacy new literacy coach to use those funds for internal capacity by compensating existing skilled staff with stipens. Um they talked about the preschool tuition uh changes and they are adding a five-day
uh five halfday option. Uh the proposed was a 2-day, 3-day, 4-day and a 5-day option with a annual tuition increase of 4%. And that did pass. So it gives more opportunities for for
families. Uh they talked about uh two warrant articles uh one related to the turf fields and one related to kids kingdom. They talked about the school budget. Um at the time they were talking about uh healthcare and then we later found out
those healthcare numbers are actually different now. So they'll have to adjust the budget based off of the the lower healthcare numbers and they talked about the the tri board and that was it. >> I don't have any committee reports
tonight. Um we need to get a meeting of the bylaw review committee going uh because we do have um quite a few people who want to come talk to us. So um one of them is the open space committee. Uh they're going to come in. Um there are I believe two bylaws from the uh trust
fund commission that uh we will be meeting with them about and reviewing. Um there's uh come couple other too. I know we need to discuss the council on aging bylaw a little bit. Um, so there's a few things that we need to put on the agenda and have some people in to meet
with. Um, capital planning is going to meet next Wednesday. So that meeting is going to be posted. Uh, and I think that's it that I have. So a couple meetings that, uh, will be posted soon. Uh, but no committee reports for me tonight. All right. Upcoming meetings. Um, so the
February 9th tri board meeting, I believe, is going to need to be rescheduled. I know there was some uh conflicts with that date. Uh, so that might not happen. I don't know if you have any more up-to-date information than I have. Is that correct in saying that? >> I I have one more uh person saying yes,
we should cancel it. But I don't we are not confirmed for cancellation yet. >> Okay. So FYI, uh, be on notice if you're on one of these three boards or committees, uh, that we might need to reschedu that one. Um, and then the select board will have a meeting on February 10th.
>> I will be away on the 17th. >> Okay. If if we have a meeting >> on vacation week. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. >> All right. Sounds good. Public comment. Any public comment from the public? No one in the room? Anyone on Zoom? >> Not seeing any. Any public comment from
the town manager? >> I do actually. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Um so tomorrow marks my oneyear anniversary with the town of Lunenburg. And so I just wanted to say thank you to the board um publicly and thank you to
all of the other boards, committees, and commissions for welcoming me into Lunenburgg. Um it has been a roller coaster of a ride. Um but roller coasters are fun. So, um I have really appreciated everybody that has um shown
through all of their efforts, just the the willingness of this community to roll up their sleeves and to tackle problems through the volunteerism, the staff who um is just so resilient in everything that they do. Um and I've
really enjoyed my first year. So, I just wanted to publicly thank everybody and mark that occasion. >> Yeah, of course. and congratulations on your oneyear work anniversary. Um, it really has been fantastic working with you and you have had such a big impact on this town. You are so dedicated. You
are such a hard worker. You are incredible and I'm so glad that I get to work with you. So, congratulations. >> Congratulations. Thank you. >> Almost not quite made it yet to the got four more hours. >> Yeah. Any public comment from the board? >> No.
>> Okay. Is there a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion to adjurnn at 8 p.m. >> Second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> I didn't vote. I for me as well. Um those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. The select board is adjourned and uh we will see you all
next week. Have a good night. >> 8:00. >> I I don't think you could plan that if you tried.