All right. Good evening, everyone. It is 6:45 p.m. and I'm calling the select board to order. We will do the pledge of allegiance at 7:00. 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. I move to enter into executive session pursuant to MGL chapter 30 section 21A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations
with non-union personnel or contract negotiations with non-union personnel. And this is for the director of municipal finance/town accountant. All right, this will be a roll call vote. Glenn. Hi Brian. Hi Renee. Hi. Amanda. Hi.
And an I for myself. We are now in executive session. All right, we are back in session. Is that me? All right, we're going to begin tonight with announcements and pledge of allegiance. Oh, my apologies. I forgot about the
pledge. All right, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. All right, I already read the open meeting law notice and on to announcements. And before we begin with announcements, I would like to acknowledge the recent and sudden passing of town resident and Bolton Police Chief Luke Hamburger. For those
who knew Chief Hamburger, they have remarked upon his dedication to community policing, his warm personality and integrity. Our deepest sympathy go to his family, his friends, and the entirety of the Bolton Police Department and community. At this time, I would ask
everyone to please bow their head and join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. All right, moving on to announcements. Beginning Wednesday, October 15th, the cost of pay as you throw trash bags will
increase by about 5.5%. This change is necessary because in recent years, the cost of trash disposal has been higher than the revenue generated by the pay as you throw bag sales. Adjusting the bag prices will help close that gap. The new prices per roll are as follows. Extra-L large
40-gallon bags went from $25.7 to $26.50. Large 33gallon bags went from $16.39 to $17.25. And small 13gallon bags went from $16.10
to $17. Seniors Aed 65 and older can apply for the Sanford Seniors program. To apply, call the Lunberg Adult Activity Center at 978-582-4166 and ask for Pauline Roy, the outreach coordinator. Do not contact the DPW or
fire department. Applications are handled through the adult activity center. If approved, a member of the fire department will deliver one 5gallon bucket of sand to your home. And while there, we'll check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors for you as well. Thank you to the fire department and the
DPW for their support of our senior citizens in continuing this program. Fall 2025 yard waist days will be October 18th, the 25th, November 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and December 6th. The landfill will be closed the week of
Thanksgiving. So, every Saturday from October 18th to December 6th, except Thanksgiving week, open from 8:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. acceptable materials include glass, grass clippings, bark, mulch, wood chips, leaves, and brush with a
diameter not to exceed 3 in, shrubbery, and plantings. Any bag, box, or container must be removed and taken by the resident. The Teen C Center's 9th annual Shrieks and Creeks haunted house and hayride will be on October 18th from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. So, if you're brave
enough to step into the haunted house and take a ride on their spooky hay ride, you should attend. And if not, you can still take a stroll along the Monster Midway and enjoy cotton candy, hot chocolate, a bouncy house, games, food trucks, and more. If you would like to help out with the event, reach out to
Andy by email, andytheclubltc.org. Library Halloween costume parade will be on Monday, October 26, 27th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and it's hosted by the library. So, it'll start at the Storycraft room at the library and the parade will make its way to other town
buildings for trick-or-treating. And the library will be holding a closing birthday party for their 20-year building anniversary celebrations on Friday, October 24th from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Wallace community room at the library. There will be cake, activities
for all ages, and maybe even a visit by a clown or two. At the end of the party, they'll announce the winners of the scavenger hunt raffles. And then there will be a jazz ukulele concert as well. Uh, all right, those are all of the announcements. And moving on to
appointments, we have several tonight. So, we're going to begin tonight with the ratification of the appointments of Grace Kerr and Elijah Weiss as police officers. Good evening, select board town manager. I just wonder if we want to do both. We
want Elijah to come up as well or think he's going to do one more time or Okay. All right. Either way, I'll be quick. With the opening of two police officer positions with the Lunberg Police Department, I am pleased to recommend Grace Kerr for the position of full-time police officer. Grace is a resident of
Fitchburg, Mass. and has been a Fitsburg State University police officer since September of 2023. She graduated Fitchburg State University police program in May of 2023 and graduated with a master's degree in criminal justice in 2025. Grace was also the
captain of the Fitchburg State University field hockey team while she was invol enrolled in the police program. It is found through her background investigation that Gra Gra grace is a wellthought of and an excellent employee of Fishburg State Police Department. Grace was described as a great person, team player,
dependable and hardworking. Grace is also a certified RAD instructor and certified by the Massachusetts Post Commission. Grace has the necessary skills and characteristics to be a very successful within our organization. She has met all the requirements for this position and we look forward to Grace
joining the Lunberg Police Department. I'm requesting that Grace Curry be appointed to the position of police officer effective October 7th, 2025. Uh thank you for my consideration. All right. Do you want to introduce both candidates and then
Sure. I'm also pleased to recommend Elijah West for the position of full-time police officer. Elijah is a resident of Lemster, Mass and has been a mendon police officer since October of 2023. Elijah graduated from Curry College with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice
in 2016. While at Curry College, Elijah was the captain of their college rugby team. They had two captains. Elijah graduated from the MPTC Plymouth Police Academy in September of 2022. and before that he was a police officer with
Fitsburg State University from 2021 through 2023 before joining the men police department. He was found through his background investigation. Eli El Elijah is described as a great person and a real good police officer. He was described as a proactive officer and is always looking to help the department.
Elijah is a certified advanced roadside impaired driving instructor and also certified by the Massachusetts Post Commission. Elijah has also met all the pre- requirements for this position and we look forward to Elijah joining the Lunberg Police Department. I am requesting that Elijah West be appointed
to the position of police officer effective October 13th, 2025. Thank you for that consideration. All right. Thank you, Chief. And now, if either of you would like to introduce yourselves or speak, you have the opportunity to. I just want to say thank you for this opportunity and that I'm really looking
forward to working for this community. Great. Thank you. Pretty much the same thing. U I appreciate the opportunity here and before coming before you guys. I look forward to serving the community and doing the best that I can for the people of Lunenburgg. All right. Great. Well, you both seem
like excellent candidates and I'm sure you'll both have a positive impact on the community. So, thank you for wanting to come and work for uh Lunenburgg. And I'll open it up to any other questions or comments from board members as well. No, just very impressed by both candidates.
Uh now I was just going to say um thank you for for showing interest in Lunberg and uh an early congratulations. Most people in this room know this, but you two don't. I used to work for the department up until a year and a half ago. Um so it's holds a dear spot in my
heart. It's a great department that you're joining. The chief's fantastic. Um I used to run the RAD program there. So, I'm hoping that maybe it's exciting to hear us or another certified person coming in and looking forward to fresh faces on the department and congratulations. All right, great. And I know the chief was particularly
enthusiastic that we make uh these appointments as soon as possible. He is eager to have you both joining uh the department and I he has spoken incredibly well about both of your backgrounds. So, I look forward to working with both of you and meeting with you and I'm sure that you are going
to enjoy the great folks in the department who are sitting behind you. Thank you. All right. Fantastic. And with that, I will move to ratify the appointments of Grace Kerr as police officer effective October 7th, 2025 and the appointment of
Elijah Weiss as police officer effective October 13, 2025. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I I those opposed. No. The motion passes unanimously. So, congratulations. Welcome to the team. Uh
and I think maybe we'll get some pictures when we give them round. All right. So, we're going to take a brief recess and get some pictures. I know we have some family here as well. So, we'll be back in a couple minutes. Okay. Cool. unless it continues.
Yeah. All right. I'm just going to give it a minute. Were you a too? Talkie player. A what? Did you Talkie. I never heard it called that. Right. Yes, I was. Is that a bad turn? No. Okay.
I wasn't sure what you said. It sounded like something else. Not college level. All right. We are back in open session now and we're going to move on to the ratification of the town manager's appointment of Kathern McKenna as director of municipal finance.
Uh Mr. Chairman, if I could just say a couple words through you to the community. Um Katie McKenna is coming to the town of Lunenburgg having served uh in the town of Oxford as finance director since 2017 where she implemented a GFOA uh budget amongst
other accomplishments. Prior to that, she served uh since 2014 in the town of Milbury in the same capacity and assistant town account there since 2008. Uh in addition to her professional background, she served serves currently as a member of the select board in the
town of Milbury. So, she brings a diverse background to the position and I am looking forward to her joining our team. Awesome. As am I. Any questions from the board? Okay. Is there a motion to ratify the town manager's appointment of Kathern McKenna as director of municipal finance?
So moved. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. And in addition to that, the select board also has to make an appointment uh for her as town accountant. So I will move to appoint
Kathern McKenna as town accountant. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. Just to clarify, that's effective date of October 20th. Okay. For both of those appointments to go in
line with the employment agreement. Thank you. All right. Right. Up next is ratify the town manager's appointment of Heath Thompson as DPW heavy equipment operator. And this motion is going to be subject to the completion of all pre-employment
paperwork as well. Okay. Any questions on this one? All right. So, I will move to ratify the town manager's appointment of Heath Thompson as DPW heavy equipment operator subject to the completion of all
pre-employment paperwork. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. All right. And lastly, we have the ratification of the town manager's appointment of Exxaton Fowler
as seasonal cemetery laborer. Is there a motion? I'll move to ratify uh town manager's appointment of how do you say exacian Fowler as seasonal cemetery laborer. Second.
Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. On to the town manager report. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The town manager report is quite brief this evening. Um, a lot of the work uh
associated with the past several weeks has been unprepping the warrant, which we're going to be getting to shortly. Um, but just uh one general update. Previously, I had reported to the board that we were having difficulty finding uh coverage for the payroll and benefits
position. Um, we are executing a temporary uh contract uh with a outside service provider, Robert Half, to carry us through. um that contractor will be starting um this week and overlapping this week uh through the end of October.
So we will have coverage there while we uh recruit for the permanent position. Um the second kind of general update to provide is for those that did not attend uh last week's uh community uh meet and greet at Smoke Stacks Ro Smoke Stack
Roers through the economic development committee. It was a absolutely fabulous event and I just want to um thank publicly uh the entirety of the economic development committee but it especially Josie Gilchrist who really uh made sure
that this event uh occurred this year and carried the weight forward in making sure that that was put together. Um I heard an anecdote that came from that that reminded me of if it was only this one connection that happened, how great is that? There is a business owner um
who wanted to do something physically with their property and thought that they weren't able to and just from the conversations that they had at that event realized that there was a path forward through a special permit through the planning board um to make the changes that they wanted for their business to be profitable. So, you know,
it's those kinds of conversations that are born out of these types of events and I think it's a really wonderful thing that Lunenburgg does and so wanted to comment on that. Um, for our recruitments, we do have the payroll and benefits position open. I did increase
that back up to 36 hours. It was a 40-hour position. We dropped it to 32. I've put it back at 36. I think that that's more appropriate for the needs of the position. Um, so, uh, we continue to interview for that. the assistant town accountant position at 32 hours a week,
dietary aid at 9:00, intermittent heavy oper heavy equipment operator for the wintertime, land use director at 40 hours a week, uh the children's staff librarian, uh the interviews have concluded for that position, um the administrative assistant in the
building department, um that uh that position an offer is going out on and we have a new opening um the administrative assistant to the planning department. Um that individual is not even made it to your resignations yet on your agenda but um has taken a position in the private
sector um that unfortunately we cannot compete with. So we are now posted for administrative assistant to the planning department. Uh we did have a recreation director interview and an offer that go out that went out for that but unfortunately that offer was declined so we continue to interview for that
position. Um any questions about the current status of vacancies? Okay. um for boards, committees and commissions to the public. Um we have on the appointed boards vacancy on the agricultural commission, architectural preservation district commission,
cultural council, green communities, historical commission, personnel board, pack, zoning board of appeals and associate member and Lunenburgg's representative to the first Middle Sex small town collaborative. Um on elected positions, I want to pause for a moment and really highlight the importance of
the board of assessors. So the board of assessors has been running down a member. Um that is an elected position. There was nobody that ran for that. Um and it is seeming that they may have some difficulty with their remaining members in maintaining a quorum um due
to some personal issues. So, if there is anybody in the community that has any interest at all in um assessing and land values and um some of the great work that the board of assessors is currently undertaking, especially in terms of
abatements and exemptions for elders, if um if anybody has any interest and want to know more about that, I would encourage you to talk to either our assessor uh Linda or uh to Brian Lefonda, the chair of the committee. But we we really need somebody to step up in
that position particularly. Uh we also have a vacancy on the planning board, sewer commission, and trust fund commission. All right. Thank you. Any questions on the town manager report? Okay. Thank you. Moving on to old business, a discussion on special town
meeting warrants. So we have the draft of the warrant here in the drive and in front of us. and I would like to begin going through them and voting on as many as possible to include in the warrant and also any recommendations that we can make. Um, so process-wise, I guess I'll
just go over even though I know the newer members have watched us do this probably at least once. Um, we go through uh article by article and each article will need to be voted on to actually include it in the warrant. So that's the first vote and then separately we can do a couple things. We
can vote to recommend approval and however that vote goes it'll go or we could vote to defer and in that case then we will vote to make a recommendation at town meeting and normally what we do is meet before town meeting to get those uh votes done or we
could not take any action tonight and then bring it up again. I think we'll have two more meetings to go through the warrant. So next week and then the week after that. Uh but that's pretty much it. So when we go through um just for ease of process in the minutes um it's easier to just have one person make
those motions. Um so I will go through and make the motions to include uh articles in the warrant for the ones that make sense to include at this point. Uh and then we can have any discussion after that. Any questions on that?
Okay. So article A, authorization to hear andor accept the reports of officers and committees of the town. So, so far uh reports that we're tracking are stormwater task force, unenmberg municipal building design committee, and the master plan steering committee. This is pretty straightforward. So, I will
move to include article A in the warrant. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. Is there a motion to recommend approval on article A? So moved.
Second. All right. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Article B, amending the fiscal year 2026 omnibus budget.
This is a standing article for this special meeting to adjust the annual operating budgets as warranted. Specific questions may be directed to department heads. And these are the transfers known at the time of print. And I don't know if there are any. Are there? Well, so originally in the first draft of this
that I had, I had a table embedded that has some potential transfers. I actually have a question out to town council about that particular funding source, whether action at town meeting is even required because it was an appropriation. I don't think we need to do that. But um I I think that it would
be best if we to avoid confusion, if we leave this article as is drafted in the version and that at town meeting in the version you have tonight with no table and that at town meeting we have a handout about all of any of the potential transfers that are under this
article as because things will develop between the printing and town meeting and I don't want people to have the false sense that Hey, I was told it was only going to be these things, but it it might be more or less when you get to to town meeting. So, all right. I'll move to include article
B in the warrant. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. And I forgotten the other one I asked if there was a motion for the recommend approval just so it's easier with the minutes. I will move to recommend approval for article B.
Uh, no. No. Do you guys not want to recommend approval on it yet? Not until we have numbers. Okay. That sounds like that's going to be a town meeting. That'll be a defer. Sorry. Yeah, that's deferred. Yeah. Okay. Um I will move to defer on article B.
Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? No. Motion passes unanimously. Sorry guys, I'm trying to just go through this maybe a little too quickly here, so I'll slow down a little bit. All right. Article C, authorization to pay expenses from a prior fiscal
year. So, I will move to include this in the warrant. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. Okay. And we'll probably vote to defer on this one as well. So, I move to defer.
Second. That's okay. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. Make the minutes easier. I won't talk this way. Yeah. So, article D, prior fiscal year capital program adjustments. We're
probably not ready to include this one in the warrant yet. If I could just talk about um this article in general. So, uh we had talked a little bit about moving funds for TCP roof. That
was not the recommendation of the finance or the facilities director, but there are some other projects um that have bubbled up that um have some financial needs and there are old capital
approvals um authorizations from either projects that for one reason or another aren't going forward any longer um but they were capital in the capital program and they're either not going forward board the project has been completed and it came in under budget and there's
remaining funds and or uh it's the situation that something that at the time was I'm going to take TCP roof you know a $300,000 project which is now a $ 1.3 million project right so um the the
goal here is to clean up essentially those prior appropriations to fund projects going forward that need some funding Um there here's what I'm tracking so far as potential. Um there is a need to fund
and it's either going to be here or in article E. So I'm going to kind of because it could be either at this point. There's um a storm water consultant um that we are looking to do some work with uh in regards to the storm water utility that we have
insufficient funds to bring that to uh the the end. Um so this could be one of the projects that's funded. There is a potential of a school project that might have might I want to be clear it might
have an overrun. Not sure, but if if it does have a small overrun, this would be a source to cover that overrun. Um, so essentially to fund projects that are not not projects that should be going through the full capital projects, but projects that need to go forward that
could use or need funding from somewhere. And the sources are either going to be free cash if it's certified by town meeting or these old capital articles. So at this point I'm recommending that you don't take any action on this that this remains in flex
but that's just that's kind of the mechanics of how I view this article operating. Okay. Any discussion on this one? Yeah. So just to be clear article D is not end around the capital no process. Okay. No it's it's to
fund from old capital Yeah approvals. That's it. But it's not to take projects that otherwise should be going through the capital planning process and fund them. It's not to do that. So already approved capital projects that might need more funding.
That's well some of or just like the storm water isn't a capital project. It's something that lives outside of capital, but it it it's really something that should have gone to capital. Correct. That's Yeah. Correct. All right.
So, we'll leave that one for now. Should we vote to include it in the war? Um, we could if you guys want to do that. Or well, um, maybe we hold on it. There was a hesitation. I I would hold on it just because I'm not sure because there's two ways to do it, right? So, it's either to fund it through this one or to fund it through
the next one. Okay. Um, either project. So, it's the article D and article E are almost opposite sides of the same coin. One is using one would be using free cash to fund the project. The other would be using an old capital appropriation to fund the
project, right? Um, article E, authorization to fund special projects, there is one that you see indicated on here um about the board of assessors phase 1 do directives. Uh, if the board recalls uh in response to
the assessing issue, the department of revenue issued a number of directives that the town must comply with before its next full reevaluation. and you recently had the assessor coming in giving an update. Um some of So in the um annual town meeting we appropriated
$27,500 towards um phase one of this effort. Uh we developed an RFP put that RFP out and we had no biders. So um we are we need to get this done
and we are still in the process of exploring the be best method by which to get it done. I don't think that um putting a higher dollar value here and putting it back out for an RFP is necessarily going to yield fruit. So
there is a possibility that um and I talked to Mark Terry Labor Council today about it um that we can do this inhouse um but we would have to do it with a kind of a special temporary employee to
do that. So that conversation needs to evolve with Mark Terry a bit more, but there's a potential that instead of handling it here in article E, we handle it in the context of the SAP. Okay. And
that makes sense. Can you remind me when is this due? Is there a deadline for do our full reevaluation? So I believe we have I think we have three years left but it could be four. Yeah. But this is just
this was one element of it and this was to look at the this particular phase one was to look at all the neighborhood codes and to do a full update of all of the neighborhood codes where do found that there was not the consistency that
they would like to see and also that the neighborhoods are in some cases too large and comprise a pretty diverse set of housing that should not all be in one code. So, it's three or four years, but is
there a deadline for phase one? No. Okay. I just want to make sure we have time if you want to bring phase one was um the interim town managers breaking the project up into pieces, but it is not indexed anything from the the department of revenue. All they care about is that it's done before
the evaluation. Yep. Okay. How we get there? Okay. Good. So, we have time. Mhm. All right. Article F, public access cable committee transfer of funds. And there's still a question about whether this is needed at
least part of it or in its entirely. So, right. So, um at the at the annual town meeting, there was the there was a transfer of $31,271,000 um in a motion. However, um those funds had not yet been certified as retained
earnings by the state. So, there's a technical question about is there an order of operations issue there? If there is, we will need the first half of this article. If there is not, if that vote still stands, then we will not need the $31,271 portion. Nonetheless, PAC is still
seeking the additional $4,000 transfer. So, that piece of the article would remain. Um, I would suggest that the board doesn't take action on this until we find the Yep. Okay. Article G, Cemetery Commission Transfer of Sun Funds. This article
transfers funds from the Cemetery Sale of Watts Fund to the Cemetery Capital Article Fund. Cemetery Commission intends to use these funds to cover expenses associated with headstone straightening and repair along with other cemetery projects. Uh so this one I will move to include in the warrant. Second.
Any additional discussion? All right. Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. All right. The motion passes unanimously. Um, anything else that we need to talk to on this one or you think we're ready? Okay. I move to recommend approval on article G.
Second. Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Article H, authorization to appropriate a sum of money for project estimators. So the facility director and department of public works director are responsible for preparing and submitting capital
funding requests while they can develop cost estimates based on their own expertise and using industry standards. There are occasions when the use of an outside consultant would provide a more accurate assessment of project costs. In the past, some capital projects have exceeded their original estimates. This
article seeks to improve the accuracy of cost rejections and reduce the likelihood of overruns. Uh we still need a dollar here though, so we'll probably hold off on voting on this though. Yeah. And are you going to talk to school? Yeah. Okay. To see if um so uh member Mi uh had
raised to me um that is the school included in this project estimator and I said not as complicate comp uh contemplated but that may be a good idea because they they would face they they do face similar challenges there. So,
um, the goal here is to have a sum of money that lives in a standalone article as opposed to inside an operating budget because this is not something that's static. There are going to be some years that you may need a project estimator. There are some years that you are not
going to need a project estimator. So, by putting it in an article, you don't ha you can carry it over for a three-year period. um and you don't have to index it to an operating budget to allow a little bit more flexibility. I think that um I think that there's been
a number of projects that the town has seen where having somebody on the front end before professionally estimating the project would have saved a lot of grief and agony by not having to go back to town meeting for additional funds after something's underway. So
is that after an RFP's gone out? It can be. So yeah, so this one I like to understand. Oh, is the project estimator after an RFP? No, no, no. The the errors that you've seen is it after an RFP has because this wouldn't an estimator wouldn't help that, right? That's
it's that you take a project you in the fall. Mhm. You run it through the capital planning program. You bring it to May. By the time the RFP is out, it's a year later. Like it's just and if you don't have the good pulse on what that project really
was to build those contingencies, you're going to be off. Yeah. I experience with the capital planning committee, it it definitely happened a lot. You had this estimate, you got it approved, and then later on the price actually was much higher, especially with COVID times.
Will we have a policy or something with when this can be accessed? you know what the limits are or have you considered that or or would it just be up to the authority of the facilities director? I I think ultimately it would be up to the authority of the town manager to approve that, right? Because it's not
it's not within somebody's budget. Um but I wasn't contemplating a formalized policy. Okay. All right. So, we're going to move on. Article I, establishment of a special education reserve fund. This article will establish a special education
reserve fund which will be used to support the town's special education costs. The fund is a tool to help level the tax impact of fluctuating expenses to fund legally mandated special education services. These funds are used to help fund unanticipated or unbudgeted costs of special education out of
district tuition, transportation costs, and recovery high school tuition. Funds can only be expended or transferred out from the reserve fund after a majority vote of the school committee and a majority vote of the select board which is identified with MGL chapter 40 section 13E. Monies accumulated in this
fund carry over from one fiscal year to another. If established at the November 8 18th 2025 special town meeting, funds will be transferred into the special education reserve fund at future town meetingings. So this is just establishing it. It's not actually funding it.
Any discussion on this one? I did have a question of is there ever on these articles a recommendation by certain groups like the school committee? Would they be included on the the printout whether they would recommend? Well, if it was submitted by the school committee, I kind of view that as
support of the article. Yeah. Yeah. In my opinion, it depends. So the finance committee is required to make recommendations on certain articles and the planning board is required to make recommendations on certain articles. So
that's why we include FINCOM. Um I don't have any issue if the school committee wanted to provide some I mean the summary I sent to them and I had it looked at but you know if they wanted to say per the school committee and include
that in the summary I not an issue and yeah if we say you know the school committee voted on such and such a date the vote was unanimous right so we could if we wanted to um I think you're right the fact that it is submitted by the school committee that
shows kind of the support there too. Yeah. So implicitly I guess. Yeah. Um I would hope that the school committee would be speaking in favor of this article at the time. I would imagine they will. Now what is the process that this would be replacing?
Good question. So um right now one of the issu and anybody else please feel free to jump in if I get this wrong especially Mr. Le. So right now it it can be difficult depending on yeartoyear for the um for the district to uh
anticipate moveins that may be happening midyear that come after a certain date that have a cost. So if there haven't been many other moveins and there's room in that operating budget for that purpose then
the operating budget takes care of it. If the but if if more likely than not if there is not room to absorb that transfer in uh what happens is either the school committee would transfer from another source within their operating
budget where there is room. they um they would come to the finance committee for a finance committee reserve transfer or like what we did at the Mtown meeting, we had a supplemental appropriation to cover unanticipated move in costs. So
what the this reserve fund would do is have a space where it's where funds can accumulate that are not indexed to an operating budget. they do not need to be used, but has a has a basically an
account that can hold these funds that if there is one of these unbudgeted moveins or multiple of these unbudgeted moveins, you don't have to go to town meeting to move the funds. You would have the vote of the school committee and the vote of the select board to
authorize the transfer out of this essentially bank account for this purpose to cover that cost. Um it gives them flexibility in budgeting. There is a um in the law it say it states that the
total amount of the fund cannot exceed 2% of the actual net school spending. So there is a cap. So this isn't something that can just accumulate and accumulate. Um but it gives the flexibility that the district I think needs to be able to
operate without having to go to town meeting for that transfer. Now town meeting will have so this this act if this is voted establishes the fund. It doesn't put any money into the fund. Um in talking to the
superintendent the intent is that how to fund this would be coming at the at a future town meeting. Um how to fund this however that looks would be going to town meeting as well. So whether we say we're going to
appropriate X dollars a year to this, whether we're going to say we're going to transfer always Y, you know, whatever remains in line Y to this, however that looks, that still very much needs to be discussed. Um, but would need to be approved by
town meeting. So this I guess if if you voted yes for this, this doesn't mean that it's funded and it doesn't take away town Meeting's role in funding it. What it does is once Town Meeting has approved the funding, it says you don't
need to come back to us. We've approved the funding to go into this pot for this purpose. Now between the school committee and the select board, do what you need to do to pay the bills. Oh, so I thought I heard the superintendent say that limit of 2% net school spending
was an annual not a cumulative limit. I don't know. I believe I believe it's the total account. It doesn't matter for the article before us now. But does he Okay. The balance, hold on. The balance
in the reserve fund cannot exceed 2% of the annual net school spending of the school district. Oh wow. So the total amount. So cuz I've heard these out of district placements can be a lot of money. Over a million dollars. Yeah. It's it's a small safety net. It's not
going to be it's not going to encompass everything. the No, you still need to budget. You still need to like the school district will still need to be budgeting for out of district placements. I think it's and it's still really more for the surprises. It's the the midy years,
but those costs are fixed as the that's mandated, right? Like the town would has to pay those. I wouldn't say it's fixed. They're not fixed. I mean, it's mandated. Yeah. You could have hundreds of students that you have to educate those students, right? if they're high needs and it could be
out of district placement too where they have to go to a different school. I guess my only concern is if that could if that account was at its max that maybe they would soften the budget for um you know special education anticipating um you know basically could
fall into the regular budget like like if you unders if you underfunded the uh was it uh spe special education if that if that account went light I think that they would most likely run
into difficulties if they intentionally underfunded that line because you're going to have costs substantial costs. But um to that point, I in my opinion there there remains a a fair amount of discussion that needs to
happen about what the funding mechanism is, what the appropriate funding level is. And so all of that will be borne out before we bring that to the voters for consideration. This is basically going to the bank, opening a bank account, and
not depositing one penny. Well, I think it's a good idea. So, I will move to include it in the warrant. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. Are we ready to recommend
approval on this? To vote to recommend approval. All right. So, I move to recommend approval on article I. Second. Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Article J, 21 Main Street easement. So, we're aware of
this. The ramp at town hall encroaches on the property next door. So, this is going to authorize the select board to obtain a permanent easement for the area of the encroachment for the per purposes of providing access to town hall. I move to include article J in the warrant. Second.
Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Um, was that including it in the warrant? That was including. Okay. I move to recommend approval on article J. Second.
Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Article K, transfer the care, custody, and control of Kids Kingdom and the land
it is on from the school committee to the select board. So, the summary on this one, uh, Kids Kingdom has been a special part of the community for nearly 20 years. Built as a memorial to Lunberg resident Connor Lawren, who tragically passed away at age seven, the playground
continues to hold deep sentimental value for many families and has been enjoyed by many generations of Lunberg children. At the 2016 annual town meeting, voters transferred the TC Pacios Elementary School and the Brooks House from the school committee to the select board, while the school committee retained
care, custody, and control of the Kids Kingdom parcel. In 2025, town meeting authorized funding for the design of additional parking to support the adult activity center. While the town has not yet engaged a designer, it has been suggested that the new parking
configuration may need to expand into the area where Kids Kingdom currently sits. This transfer does not represent a decision to definitively relocate King Kids Kingdom and that decision will only be made after a substantial opportunity for public input.
Mr. Mr. Chairman, if I could just add, there was um a community comment um at the last I believe at the last meeting about this. And so after um Dave Rogers had shared his concerns about the future of this playground, um I did ask
specifically a community member who is in touch with the Lawrence family to reach out to them and to talk about this potential relocation. Um, and so to be clear, while the relocation conversations have initially been discussed, there there is no decision to permanently move or remove the
playground. Um, this community member did speak with um, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence and explained that the town is considering adding the parking lot next to the playground, um, which could mean using part of the space where the playground currently sits. Um, so during
the conversation, Connor's parents shared that they understand the community's needs and were not opposed to the possibility of relocating the playground. And they also mentioned um that a special time capsule is buried beneath the memorial monument, which was meant to be opened in 2026,
which is 20 years after it was initially placed. So, um, as we move forward with this project, um, I want to be clear, um, that we are not looking to remove this playground, um, and that we're
hoping that we can use this as an opportunity, um, to again, once again, highlight Connor's life um, and to create um, a meaningful space for children to continue to play in the community, right? Um, so I mean without doing this
right or I should say it differently by doing this it'll allow us to continue exploring the options for the expanded um parking situation there. So essentially this does not need to happen at this town meeting. Okay.
Okay. So right now the if if you see in your meeting packets in the folders there is a there is an old schematic that went to town meeting when everything was transferred um on the on this parcel and there was one little carve out that was retained
by the school committee which means that anytime we're talking about anything any of the decisions that need to be made or discussed really need to be made by the school committee in the current status. So as we are
exploring the parking design, either the school committee is going to need to be in those conversations and planning around this or the school committee would transfer the playground to the town to its select board so that
we can be a little bit more nimble in those conversations and decision-m. Understood. Well, at some point it will need to happen. Yeah, it doesn't need to happen. I mean, the parking situation there is terrible and on a busy day, you can clearly see that. So,
well, not so much the the parking what need at some point the transfer will need to happen. Whether it's at this town meeting, Mayweeting, or a future town meeting, at some point if this project is to move forward, the school committee wouldn't need to transfer the playground.
Who is currently maintaining that playground? It's a little bit of it's a little bit of both, but um we did have my my initial concern with this is the age of the playground, frankly, and that I would be concerned that moving it would be cost prohibitive. Um we did have a
certified playground safety instructor or inspector come out and look at it, and it's actually in very good condition. Um some of when moved a lot can be repurposed. is like the main frames that things attach to that we would need new. But um the condition is
not in poor condition. Um I think that the playground project in the transfer we would be looking at something though that's different in a way than what's there because I would think that we would be looking if we're going to move it at surfacing um for ADA. So, you
know, that that that's probably a year plus down the road for I was just thinking, you know, in the interim, you know, does the school committee go out and I mean, not school committee, the um school department go out and like clean it up if there's issues or does the town do that if there's, you know, any is there any maintenance that happens on in the
interim and would that now fall under facilities? As far as I understand, it's been a little bit of a blend. It's technically the school, but it's been a combined effort. There hasn't been a substantial like replace X,
but but it so it would it would 100% to put a fine point on it. It would 100% come to the school for maintenance. I mean to the town for maintenance if this happens. All right. I will move to include article K in the warrant. Second.
Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. You know also move to recommend approval on article K. Second. Any additional discussion? Have you talked to the school committee about? So they haven't
they have school department hasn't weighed in at all. Should we do that before? I can I'm happy to I don't know. All right. Those in favor say I. I. I. I.
Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Article L, Architectural Preservation District Amendments. Uh, where do we start on this one? Um, so do you want to speak to uh where we're at on the draft here?
Sure. Let me do my best. Yeah. So, um, I think the conversations might have started initially, um, when Heather Lemieux was town manager.
um with um members of the architectural preservation district um committee. Um the interim town manager um had worked last fall with um the APDC to start to
bring an article forward um that for a number of reasons got tabled delayed and now here it is. So, um, essentially what this does is you had the historic commission and you had the architectural
pre preservation district commission. The APDC oversaw anything within the APD, the architectural preservation district. Um, so they make all the decisions around
the demolition delay bylaw. um all the things relative to the APD. What this does is it well let me say what it does not do. What this article does not do um which I think is probably where folks may be concerned um is it does not
expand the footprint of the APD. It does not give any powers that did not weren't already vested in another. What this does is it eliminates the APDC and says in the APDC's place, the
historic commission can do what the APDC did in the APD. So, it's it's not that the historic commission can now take and expand the APD across the town. It's not that they can apply rules beyond the
APD. Um there is one item to point out and that because it comes under the purview of the historic commission which is a statutory charge historic commissions are enabled
by statute is under 113-1A1. You will see that the word after so preserving, restoring and protecting groups of historically and or architecturally significant um because it would be going to the
historic commission. The andor architecturally uh significant has to be removed because they don't have historic commission doesn't have jurisdiction over something that may be brand new but architecturally significant. Um, other
than that, it largely just transfers the authority of the APDC to the historic commission. Um, the proponent of the article um has looked at it, has had a conversation with town council, and I I believe is
satisfied with the language. Do you have thoughts on this one? Not particularly. I I mean I think that I have heard some concerns and the concerns were about a broadening which I'm not concerned that
this does not this does not broaden. Um so that that's really my biggest concern. I I think that I would want to hear from the historical commission specifically that they are interested in absorbing
this. I'm pretty sure that request to them to actually read through this has already been sent out, right? I don't know where we can or that um so if Mhm. I mean I will say like the actual
language changes here weren't as complicated as I maybe assumed that they would be. pretty much gets rid of the APDC and it replaces any reference to it with the historical commission and then removes anything related to architecture
from its charge so that it's just specifically for historical significance. Um so in that sense, you know, I I think it's fine to propose. It's been requested. We can put it before the town. Um
we can have the proponent come forward. Yeah, we could. Um, so where are we at? Have Have members read through this? Are we I'm not I'm not convinced it's it's uh like an emergency. It seems like it's it's coming up pretty quick. Like I
think it would go through Well, it's been I I will just say it's been worked on for over a year now. Yeah. But I mean I think a better you know I'd open I'd be open to a more like an a more open vetting process. like is there any value in having it go before the um person I mean I'm sorry bylaw
review committee um it is a maybe I you know we haven't gotten this far in the process yet um I will say that we are having like very productive conversation so we might discuss this at some point um whether or not we actually want to consider this I don't know um
we've sort of gone back and forth in our discussion of like the scope we want to take on and in a lot of sense we're kind of saying well if this is your bylaw so and So committee, then you recommend the changes. You know, we'll look through it and we'll discuss it. Maybe we'll make some like minor tweaks, but we're not
going to make like substantial tweaks to the substance of it. So I my if I had to guess, I would say no. Probably the B review committee wouldn't want to make a recommendation like this. They would probably say actually it should come from the APDC and the historical commission.
Yeah. I think if if if all the interested parties like planning board and even if the bylaw committee did a brief overview of it, it just seems like articles like this will create a lot of you know concern and discussions at town meeting floor and I think you know a
better vetting process would be I mean I know it's time wise it's been going on for a long time but so the you know just to that point the vetting process is town meeting. Yeah, I was going to say so it is it is in terms of my view. I
mean there's certainly articles here that have sponsored by the town manager next to them, right? I have a vested interest to make sure that folks are informed about the the context of what those articles are seeking to do so that they can make an up- down vote on them. Um
similarly I would say that if there's a proponent of an article that is their role just like there's the the planning board is bringing forward the MBTA article that's not for in my opinion for the select board to go and
shop and to socialize the proponent. So if the proponent doesn't do that, well then town meeting usually speaks. And I also don't want to speak for the proponent here. The proponent really wants this to go before the town.
You know, he's tried to the proponent has tried to get this done last special town meeting. Uh it wasn't completed by then and then at the annual as well. And now here we are again. This is the third attempt to bring it to a town meeting. So, and that's one of the reasons why I
would agree with uh putting this on the the warrant too. It is submitted by the architectural preservation district chair. I would like to have them speak to it and the public can speak and have their opportunity to. So, you said something tonight that I hadn't thought about. Um
the architectural aspect. So basically, if you have a building in the APD that's not historical, you could have whatever architectural design you want. It's it's the the uh if
you go back from what I understand to is it definition section. So contributing property definition and this is where the 70-year Yeah. comes in. Um, so any building or stone wall within an APD which is older than
75 years and contributes to the architectural preservation district's historical character as determined by the historical commission. So it it does remove so it's it's limited I guess in
that it must be 75 years or older than so they would not have so if you have a 20year-old home Yeah. that has architectural significance but is 20 years young, they would not have jurisdiction over it.
I hadn't appreciated that nuance. I don't know how I don't know how the public would feel about it, but that is something to think about. I'm at least in favor of bringing it to the public and you know I don't think it's a bad thing for town meeting to really dig into this and you know we'll see what
they want to do with it. Uh so that's where I'm at. So I'll move to include article L in the warrant. Second. Any additional discussion? Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. Uh and we can just take no
action. I would recommend on not voting. I don't think we should defer. I don't think we should recommend approval. We can bring it up again to see what happens at our future meetings when we go through the warrant. Are you okay with that? Mr. Chairman, do you want to invite Well, yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah. To invite to the next meeting for
somebody to come and speak to this, right? So, that's why I don't want to defer. We can leave it open. So, we're just going to hold it. Yep. I think that to speak to Clans, if you can invite them in just come talk about it, that could at least help get some more visibility into it again.
All right. Article M, notice of town meeting. Uh, so this is changing uh printing out the warrant and sending it to all of the voting residents in town. And instead, we would uh mail a notification instead. Uh, and that's uh
pretty much it, right? No other key details here on this one. I will move to include which one is this again? Article M and the warrant. Second. Those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? No. Motion passes
unanimously. Do we want to vote to uh recommend approval on this one tonight? I can I have one um I just want to confirm with town manager because it's not it won't be written in the article, but people can request a printed copy. Absolutely. Yeah. I just want to make it
clear. We're not going to make it any we don't want to make it difficult for people to get if they can't physically get out and get a hard copy or can't get online. So we are happy to we will mail them and and if the select board would like to create a policy
around that that's fine but um that we we will mail them you know if it's under 20 we might even hand deliver them. Yep. Yeah. I do think maybe we could do a policy on it too cuz I have actually like talked to a couple people on this
and one thing I heard was um you know it should be also at the library and like more places than I think we've discussed so far. So, you know, I think those details of like how we make it uh available and where, you know, we could probably I don't think it would hurt to have a copy at each town building, right? Yeah. Yeah. So,
Mhm. But I do like this. I like moving forward, saving trees, saving. Yeah. Um, anything else that you're um sort of working with town council on for this language here? No. All right. I will move to recommend approval of article M then. Second. Those in favor say I. I. I.
Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. Okay. Article N, noise ordinance. Um, so a little bit of background on this one. Um, this is being submitted at the request of a resident who was experiencing
um continued difficulty with a neighbor who was playing uh very loud noises intentionally essentially. um and in engaging uh with the police, we or or the the resident was informed that uh we
weren't able to enforce anything because we didn't have anything on the books. Uh so that's why this is here. Uh I know there's a lot I have read through it and I know we should probably dig in a little bit. Um have members read through this and have any initial reactions to anything that's in this proposed bylaw
yet? I have not read through this one yet personally because I figured that some of these, you know, we'll have to do over the course of multiple meetings. So, I'm okay if people need more time to really read through this and then we can discuss it a little more in depth. All right, that's fine.
Yeah, I think that was okay. Cool. Article O, MBTA zoning act compliance. Uh, I don't have much to say on this one other than it was submitted by the planning board. Um historically we have had him come in but
we can also um you know there they have public hearings on all of the articles that they propose. Um there have beenformational sessions on this as well um that we can watch. So if there are any questions you know we could always engage with them through that method as
well on our own. Um so are we I mean we have to include the warrant. So I I'll move to uh include article O in the warrant. Second. Those in favor say I. I.
I. Those opposed, no. Motion passes unanimously. Are we ready to vote to recommend on this one as well? This is this is the written compliance, right? Written compliance approach. Yeah. That the information session was about. Yeah. So they're going to um um zone over Try Town.
Yeah. They do have an uh public hearing on Monday, October 27th. We Could we wait till after that? We can. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Okay, so we'll hold on. So, does this have to go to the printer? Hold on. Oh, wait. What was the date again? The 27th. Oh, never mind. Sorry. No, we can't wait
that long. So, for approval, we you can't you you So, so the select board um you have to include this on the warrant. This was submitted by the planning board to the select board under 48. have to include this on the warrant. You can wait on
your recommendation until after. And well, that's what he was meaning. Oh, so the recommendation I know we have to Yeah. Sorry. When you said that, for some reason in my head I heard next Monday. And that I was like, "Oh, okay. That's fine." But no, we can't wait that long. Um, we really need to do all these votes by the 21st.
But you could defer. You could defer to town meeting on the recommendation. Oh, is that what you're recommending? Okay. Yeah, we could do that. So, I'll move to defer on article L. Second. Those in favor say I. I. I. Those opposed, no.
The motion passes unanimously. I just want to clarify because we can bring this back up again. Even though we just deferred, um, you can after the 27th, even though we've already gone to print, you can take votes, recommend it. You don't have to wait till town meetings. So, we can we
can make some recommendations in November, even if they're not taking it on to print. Well, sure. Yeah, I have no issue with that. All right. Article P. This is another planning board article. Removing batuminous concrete requirements from common driveway. So my understanding of this is that it's just striking out this
one sentence that removes uh the requirement for a common driveway to be paved with 3in minimum thickness layer of the tuminous concrete. Why that is necessary, I cannot speak to that. Um but I will move to include article P in the warrant. Second. Those in favor say I.
I. Those opposed? No. The motion passes unanimously. Um Glenn, do you know if there's also a public hearing on this one? That's Yes. Same same date. Yeah. Okay. So, we can vote to defer this one or October. Mr. Chairman, through you to men cloud.
Do you know anything for the public that might be listening? Do you know anything about why? Well, they did a a um I can't remember if it was North Field, but they I think you can have five driveways and they did a special permit to add a sixth and they wanted to do it with you know
crush stone and the planning board was open to doing that. It just they couldn't because of that sentence. Okay. So, they they were kind of in agreement with the the applicant's request. So, that's why they brought it forward.
Okay. Okay. So, where are we at? Do we want to defer? Do we want to vote to recommend? I would defer till after the hearing. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I will move to defer on article P. Second. Those in favor say I. I. I.
Those no. The motion passes unanimously. All right. Article Q, amendments to the salary administration plan, uh, position, titles, and grades. Okay. So um if you so the two things uh
which we are uh planning to bring forward are placing the position of conservation agent onto the SAP. Uh we have had conversations uh with the clerical union on this and so this position is coming out of the clerical
union and is going on to the SAP uh if passed. That is the intent and the other is to convert back the title of land the use director to director of planning and economic development but no other substantive change there. Um, I'm asking that you don't take any action on this
particular article tonight because if you remember back to article E about uh the board of assessors, there was the possibility that we handle how to uh take care of that project through the SAP. If we handle it through the
SAP, there will be that one additional title here. Okay. All right. Any discussion on that? Article R, salary administrative plan SAP amendments. Okay. So, there's a couple things here. Um, you'll see in
the drive. I have it printed out. Let me just look in here to see. Everybody has all the print out. Oh, it's all printed out, too. Okay. Yeah, they just don't. So, they have the print out of the board has the print out of the personnel committ all the changes,
too. Y Okay. Um so we can start with this one the personnel committee dissolution uh research. So this is the product of the HR director and the town manager's research into uh other municipalities and which ones uh have personnel
committees don't and the actions taken uh related to that. Um so I'll just read through this. So across the Commonwealth, towns are sunsetting personnel boards, committees and consolidating HR into a professional management through the town manager and
HR staff. This shift improves compliance speed, reduces fragmentation, clarifies accountability, and aligns with modern labor law and risk management. There has been sustained action in this area rather than a one-off trend. So the Lunberg Personnel Committee, the SAP was
established in 1965. In 2009, we went from a kayo to a town manager. In 2019, an assistant town manager was hired. Uh, the personnel committee is comprised of five members who are town residents. It's appointed by the select board for a term of 3 years. Town employees may be
called as a subject matter expert or non- voting member and it was disbanded in May on May 29, 2024. So in the event that the personnel committee does not have enough members to conduct business, the town manager shall have the authority to administer the salary administration plan. So without the
personnel committee, it's all falling on the town manager. So the present role of the Lunberg's personnel committee and this is per the SAP to administer the provisions of the SAP except for such duties as may be specifically assigned by statute, town charter or bylaws to other town
officers, boards and committees. So what does that actually mean? So in bylaw section 70-2 it says issue amend or revoke administrative orders for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this bylaw and for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of such other
bylaws and votes to the town pertaining to personnel administration as such said committee may be responsible for administering and or enforcing so they can issue pretty much memos essentially regarding the enforcement of the bylaw.
70-2 shall have access to all facts, figures, records, and other information relating to the personnel of all town departments. Okay, so they get information. 70-5 may tentatively add new job titles and descriptions to the SAP, establishing
grades with minimum and maximum wage or salary brackets, and reclassifying existing jobs, revising the description and the minimum, maximum wage, and salary brackets effective from said action to the next town meeting. because it'll have to be voted on by the town meeting anyway. Any increase in wages or
salaries under this section shall be effective only if funds are available for the purpose and approved by the finance committee and the select board. 70-6 determines that a reclassification will be consistent with the provisions of the SAP. 70-7 maintains written job
descriptions of the jobs or positions in the SAP describing the essential functions, requirements, and duties. 70-7 Every three years, review the wage and salary schedules of all positions in the SAP and recommend to the select board any action deemed desirable to
maintain a fair and equitable pay level. 70-11 approves one or more step rate increases at the time of promotion on recommendation of a department head. 70-12. The chair of the personnel committee uh may from time to time
consult with the town manager on hiring employees beyond the minimum of the rate range of the job for which the new employee is hired based on the employees qualifications and experience or market conditions. 70-12 approves any propose proposal by the town manager to pay the
new employee above step four. In the absence of a personnel committee, there is no authorization for the town manager or any other entity to approve hiring a new employee above step four. So, it's just up to the town manager. And 70-14 approves pay adjustment
sections in the budget submitted by department heads in accordance with SAP. And finally, provides consultation on the sickly bank policy prior to adoption by the select board. So, there's a couple rationale for the change. The first is professionalized HR outpaces
volunteer board models. So the demands are modern-day HR compliance are complex, fast-paced, and everchanging. FMLA interplay, FSA and exempt duty tests, ADA/interactive processes, wage and hour, remote work
risk, pay equity audits, etc. They all require professional expertise and the ability to respond rapidly. Personal boards are vestigages from pre-manager errors and a duplication on HR staff. Lunenburgg employs full-time HR staff
and has dedicated labor council. Oversight remains with the bodies such as the select board, the finance committee, town meeting in addition to the requirements of state and federal law. Second, unified accountability and faster cycle times. So splitting authority among a volunteer board
whether advisory or uh with the power of approval and a manager who executes slows hiring decisions, classification updates, pay plan changes and policy rollouts. Town finance and DLS style reviews routinely flag duplicative boards as an unnecessary bureaucratic
layer. Per the division of local services when a community assigns human resource responsibilities to a particular person generally speaking a personnel board becomes moved. And third, there's better legal and compliance posture and risk control. So
when an HR misstep occurs, the town not volunteer board members bears a liability and costs. Aligning authority with the manager who controls operations reduces ambiguity and litigation risk. Again, for the Division of Local Services, the town ultimately is best
served having a professional manager who can develop and oversee a full-time structured personnel management program. And this approach recognizes the growing importance of and risk inherited and personnel issues. So, I know that was a lot and in addition to that, we also
have several dozen examples from communities who have taken this action and also uh some reflections on that as well. So just to comment on those reflections if you those comments that you see associated with those
communities are either a direct quote from an email that we received from that community or it's from the materials that they have available online at the time of their town meeting. So I know that's a lot. I really wanted to read this for the board for the public just so they understand the
amount of research that has gone into this. So, I'm just going to open it up to the board uh and to see what any discussion or reactions there are tonight. I'm fully in favor of this action. I appreciate all of the work that you guys have done. I think that this is one of those things where volunteers
volunteers, first of all, we don't have any on that board, which is creating issues. Um, but I don't know that HR is a place to have a volunteer board. I am fully in support of this action. Yeah, I think it belongs with HR. Are we
going to talk about the Oh, yeah. Yep. I would agree. Um I think it's uh changing with the times and you can see the data that it follows that should be doing this. All right. Just wanted to see where
we're at. And with that, um I think we can proceed. So this other document we have here is a summary of proposed personnel bylaw revision. So it's a table that goes through all the changes. um and we can just go through and discuss them. Okay. So um first of all, thank you, Mr.
Chairman, for giving that great leadup on the personnel committee um history. You know, this document that we've started to develop. We plan to continue to work on this and make this available in advance of town meeting so that voters are aware of what the actual
duties are. I actually heard somebody arguing in favor of keeping the personnel board the other day because they handle grievances and as you can see that that is not one of the roles of the personnel committee. So this is a clear document that shows what their roles are and can explain the rationale.
Um, the other document that we will be continuing to develop is the summary of the proposed bylaw changes to make it very simple for folks to understand because there is a lot of red lining in this document that doesn't necessarily do as much as might otherwise be
indicated by the amount of red. Um, as I start to go through this, um, I want folks to consider kind of a couple different approaches that we could take. So we can bring this to town meeting as
one omnibus up or down vote. We can bring this to town meeting in pieces that we want to say we want town meeting to consider this element and this element so that uh folks more of an alakart approach or we can say we want
to bring xyz package now and we're not we're feeling that we're not quite ready for the rest. So just they're currently all in one. It doesn't have to be. Okay. So if we're going through um section by section of the SAP,
section 7.1, the change there is to remove the reference to the personnel committee. That's the only change. 7.2 is the uh it's a long it's almost a full page red line. It's the definition composition of the personnel committee.
It doesn't go into what their duties are per se. It goes into what their composition is in their meetings. So that entire uh section would be stricken. Section 7.3 um just adds some clarifying language.
Section 7.3 is classification and salary schedule and it states the position of all employees in the service of town to clarify the position of all employees classified as full-time, part-time A or part-time B. This is just a more of a cleanup change. Um I actually question
if we need to add intermittent or seasonal there. Got that question out from Mark Terry. Um okay now we get into more substantive changes in 7.5 new or changed uh positions. So one of
the things that the chairman spoke about in uh reading the duties of the personnel committee is essentially in between town meetings if we want to make a change to uh the classification or
compensation of of somebody's grade. If we wanted to do a regrade or to um to add a new job description, the personnel committee could do that in absence of town meeting approval until the next
town meeting. Um it keeps that as is. Um same structure, but instead of the personnel committee um grants that authority to the town manager. I want to be really practical though here. Um, I currently have a
position that you will see that you just heard about, the conservation agent position that's going on that in the absence of a personnel committee, I could take that action on my own right now. Um, the practical reality is in most cases it doesn't make sense to
create a new position, hire somebody into it only to go to town meeting in two months and have town meeting not approve it. Right? So the practical reality is in most cases you're not going to make that step because you're going to be hiring somebody to not get
the authority later. Um also striking from that section the language about any increases in wage or salaries under this section shall be approved only if funds are available for the purpose. Well that's what the law requires. Um and approved by the finance committee and
select board. Um, increases are approved by town meeting. Finance committee retains their advisory authority. Um, I'm not really sure what that language, frankly, was really driving at previously. Um, okay. Section 7-6
said that the personnel committee could reclassify um folks if in compliance with the provision of SAP. It changes that to the town manager. Again, reclassifications ultimately approved by town meeting voters.
Next section was 7-7 job descriptions and interpretations. Um, this requires the human resource director to maintain written job descriptions. We also, um, added a sentence to say that job descriptions shall be reviewed at a
minimum upon the exiting of an employee. Um and uh then the next section required the personnel committee to at least every 3 years um review the wage and sal or to every 3 years to review the wage um and salary schedules of all positions
in the plan. We added at least every 3 years to make that a floor not a ceiling. Um the human resources director shall do that evaluation. The other piece that we added here, um, we talked about in in that this section currently
is that's the three-year omnibus review of the class and comp schedule to make sure it's still in line, but every year there's recommendations on a cola and that was absent here. So, we added the language, the human resources director shall make recommendations to the town manager and select board regarding the annual cost of living for consideration
at town meeting. All right. We still um on 7-10 there's no changes currently. Um I do want to check with which is the provision on layoff procedure and recall procedure. I want to check with uh labor council just that
that as is written is appropriate. Okay. Section 70-11 transfers um and promotions. We changed it to transfers, promotions, and reclassifications. Here is clarification language more than
actual change. Um the language about how you plot an employee on um the pay scale when they are getting a promotion as written was vague. So this makes it very clear that when an employee is getting a
promotion that we will plot them on the next step that's closest to but not less than current their current rate of pay and not and here's the key part and not less than the step increase they would have received if they had remained in their prior grade. So, there were a
few cases because of the way that the language was written that I was essentially saying, well, we just gave so and so this this pro actually it's it's the same language but more in a um in the reclass as opposed to a promotion. We just reclass this position and they would have if we didn't reclass
them the way you're interpreting this, they would have done better staying in their own class with their steps. So, we're making it very clear um how that is supposed to be applied so that there cannot be an interpretive issue. Um but that is a cotification of practice as
opposed to a deviation. Um the personnel committee um under this section um was authorized to grant one or more step increases based on the recommendation of the department head. Um that would be the
town manager. And again, if uh the department had felt there needed to be a trial period before the probation or before the promotion, uh the personnel committee was approving that, that would go to the town manager. Can I ask you a question on this one? H.
So, what if you have someone who's at a role that maybe they have higher qualifications for and you're hiring for this new position that has more responsibilities. It's maybe more in line with their education and their experience. This is limiting us to only
give them that one step. But if you hired someone external, we can go up higher. Correct? Yes. Unless, so that's a good point actually. Unless they would otherwise be qualified for an employment agreement under the
I just I just don't like this has come up before. Okay, where if you have that exact situation, so say someone's an administrative assistant, but they actually are qualified for I don't know more a more managerial role. They have the years and the experience. If you went external, maybe you're going to hire someone at step
six, but this person is only at step three. Mhm. this is limiting us to putting them at step four of their new grade when they really could have gotten higher had it been external. So you want um you would like to see if I'm echoing in your back the flexibility
um of hiring beyond a certain a um a lever that could be authorized if they were qualified it um okay Mr. Mr. Chairman, through you. Can I ask how other people feel on that because I I have a way to draft around that to
give to give that permission if folks are inclined? I would support that. So, are you saying someone internal could apply for an opening that's maybe two steps above or above what their promotion would be? Is it what's the difference between applying if there's
an opening versus being so so say if I use the police department my the role that was the front desk position is lower than the executive assistant position but the person that's in that front desk position could be completely qualified
and maybe they started at a lower lower step but you know say we went out for the new position maybe we're going to hire them at step five but this person is only going to be at like step two. I just don't like that we step in that same role same if they were moving to a new role. I don't like them to one step to say to
say it differently. I can't explain it. Let me try it if I can. This is prescriptive when it comes to promotions. So this tells you if you are hiring as
written that the person will be plotted on the chart at whatever their step is plus whatever they would get it is going to be whatever when you go down to that step it is going to be that um Miss
Moore's point is that if that same person happened to not be getting a promotion and they happen to be coming from external It would be possible that based on their skills and qualifications, we would hire them at a step grade and step the same
grade but at a step higher or many steps higher than what this prescribes. So this is rigid in its application in a way that hiring an external candidate would not be. And so I think what she's saying is that same flexibility that we
give for hiring above a step four, we should have some mechanism to allow if it probably won't happen but like a skip level promotion or something like it sounds like they were hired at the wrong level to start different maybe they have you know a degree in they were working in a
different department you know they there's many situations where this could apply. I just don't like that you're limited to one step the way it's written. Not saying we have to. I don't level promotion kind of. Yeah. I don't I don't know it. But so it's that um so this says in a
different way on the grid. This says if you are here, you're going to be plotted down here. If you were an external candidate, you could be anywhere between steps one and eight. This may say based on where you are, you're coming in at a step six and that's it. If you're an
internal candidate where based, you know, if somebody was working in, you know, for whatever reason in a job that their skills and qualifications exceeded um they would be limited if they were an internal candidate in a way that an external candidate for the same job would not be limited.
Internal folks should be evaluated the same way as an external I mean basically which is why which I'm surprised that doesn't happen. All right. So want a revision I would agree. I don't know how you are going to word that but I would love to see figure it out.
All right. I don't even know. Let me see if there's Okay, the other thing in this section 70-11 is there was uh no language about reclassification. I think I think in this one though, if a
position is reclassified, you would want that prescriptive plotting. Um, so on 70-11, if an employee is reclassified to a higher grade, the employee will be placed to a to the higher grade at their rate in the new grade and be placed at
the step that is closest to but not less than their current rate of pay and not less than the step increase that they would have received had they remained in their prior grade. I think we do want that prescriptive nature here for a reclassing. Yeah. Okay. All right. So then next section is
7D-12. Currently as written uh the town manager if it if going to hire um passed a step one must consult with the chair and the chair alone of the personnel committee. Um it removes that consultation. Um and
presently this is the one area that in the absence of a personnel committee the town manager cannot act and that's to um hire um above a step four. So I wrote this in two ways not knowing how the
board was going to feel about uh the personnel committee. But um if we are indeed moving forward with um eliminating the personnel committee at this point, the select board then would take that role to approve um a hire
above a step four. Okay. Um all right. uh the special merit award section uh would be completely eliminated um so that it can apply to
all personnel not just SAP personnel okay [Applause] 70-12-1 I understand this is something that the um interim town manager had put in on recruitment incentives
allow So the current incentive says that we may deposit up to 5 days of leave time which shall be charged against earned leave time in the coming year with which employment begins. Um we're about to talk about vacation in
a minute. And so if if the board and town meeting is inclined to make the changes that are proposed relative to vacation, this incentive no longer becomes an incentive um because it just doesn't. So what we
were trying to do is um broaden that. So incentives may include but not limited to the depositing of up to 5 days of vacation time, a onetime sign on bonus or other similar limited allowances.
Does the select board want to approve these or or not, I guess, is my question. So right now it's a little open-ended. Do we want to add with the approval of the select board on recruitment in incentives? No, I'm personally I'd be
okay with you making that determination based on your expertise in the market. Well, the select board's approving the hiring above step four, right? Well, yeah. Would that step four limitation hurt you in uh candidate recruitment?
Step four limitation without having the ability to go on. Yeah. that if you're hiring an an employee um who maybe isn't eligible for an employment agreement and they have years of experience, you're not hiring. I'm
not hiring a step be I'm not hiring under a step four. Mhm. But if you have to get approval from the board of selectman, is that going to hinder your opportunity to Oh, you will be very available for an emergency meeting in 48 hours if necessary. I'm glad
and there's four roughly halfway up. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean I I don't I don't think that's necessary. I think if she just advised the board. Okay. Yeah. I'll need to think about
these two a little more honestly, but they kind of go together in my mind. Like I don't I don't see separating one versus the other. Agreed. Yeah. Oh, that either the board approves all or none. Yeah. That's how I kind of it's both part of the incentive to I welcome the board's approval if if so
inclined. Okay. Grievance procedure section 70-13. Um adding a paragraph here that just kind of outlines what grievances are a little bit and the
goal of the grievance. So I want to read that. The town will promptly consider and respond to employee grievances. The preferred method of addressing grievances is informally to correct the cause of the grievance and encourage employees and supervisors to address and resolve problems as they arise. If the
cause of the grievance cannot be resolved informally then the process below should be followed. Um so uh originally this had language about grievances should be submitted to the supervisor. We do not have the layers within our organization
um that that is is appropriate. So I changed supervisor to department head um giving the department head 14 working days to respond to the grievance in writing. Um and then if not resolved it did have a stop at the assistant town
manager and HR director I feel that that again with the size of our organization is unnecessary and so it just brings the second step of the town manager um to resolve. What if the grievance is with the person's department head?
Okay, so they would still need to stop there. Um, but then it would just I'm sure if their grievance so they would still need to bring their grievance to the department head. If the if their grievance was against the department head, they have to file it with the department. I don't like that.
I think there should be an explicit exception in that case. So the language before said if they were not comfortable discussing it. So that's really what is striking because comfortable discussing but no if it's directly with okay with their department head to go right
to if the grievance is okay maybe not I okay let me think of this maybe not there we would maybe want the second layer of the assistant town manager. So it wasn't coming directly to the town manager. So if the grievance if the department unless the department head is
the subject of the grievance in which case the grievance would be addressed to the assistant town manager. I like that. So just from my experience in the school setting I feel like they're more formal. You you'd send your grievance and then even if it was the say the
direct supervisor they would just send a letter of their response. It wouldn't have to be a face-to-face one-on-one meeting. It does not need to be a face to this does not contemplate and then they would just go to the next level because they know that they're probably going to get denied.
I think that having the option to have them be able to go to someone else. I think there are some people that wouldn't file a grievance if it was directly with their manager. But aren't the managers going to find out anyways when it goes to that next level? It depends. I mean if it's an upheld grievance that disciplinary action
ultimately is taken against the department head I I think so in the school setting are you mo are you mostly talking about people um who are covered under collective bargaining agreement yeah so this this is the SAP right so it doesn't
give the same protections as a collective bargaining agreement these folks don't have their union a union rep accompanying them so it is a little different. They are essentially advocating for themselves. Yeah. I mean,
this is any sort of issue that they have like what what if it's like a sexual harassment complaint? Would that go through a grievance procedure? That would be a whole separate process. So, like what would we what would we be be talking about for grievances? This would be like what if that their so it's department was overloading them or not
respecting their job. No. So a grievance would be something that you didn't do this that the SAP said usually a violation of the contract violation right a violation of the SAP. So is there something in here that is
[Music] so if their supervisor was not allowing the vacation as it's prescribed or forcing them to come in and not I still think having the ability if they're if the grievance is directly with the manager to be able to I don't know skip that step and go. Well yeah I'm totally on board with that
too. My other concern of that is too it's like as a manager you also want the people to come to you with their problems so that you can try to resolve them at the lowest possible level. That's right. That paragraph a is the intent is that you don't file agreements that you work it out first. And that's
why that's so important is to just the intent is to resolve the issue. Yeah. And to get to the root of the issue for everybody um not to file a bunch of paperwork back and forth. Yeah. or to always go to the town manager if you have an issue. Do we like have a lot of grievances filed under the
SCP? I've been here since February and I've not had one. I don't recall there this being like a large problem. Not that it wouldn't or couldn't. All right, let me um let me try to reddraft
based on what I've heard. section um 704 department budgets. Striking this section, it said each department head shall include in the annual budget request a pay adjustment section to provide for funds anticipated
pay adjustments during the ensuing year expenditures to be made there from only in accordance with the salary administrative plan with the approval of the personnel committee. Um these are being presented as part of the budget um which is vetted by a lot of
folks. Um okay. All right. 70-17. Um although there's a lot of red um some of it's just a reordering so moving a paragraph from one spot to another. Um
and then just some clarification in accordance with the FLSA around the definitions of non-exempt and exempt employees. Um and uh adding just that um
yeah the the term regularly scheduled when it comes to non-exempt employees in terms of scheduling that becomes important later. All right. Vacation time. So, while the select board um probably knows a lot about the changes
that we're intending to make regarding vacation time, um due to some conversations that have been had in the context of collective bargaining, um the the general public does not. So um this is probably the first airing of um what
we are considering doing uh with vacation time and it is a substantial modernization um of our current practice. So our current practice is that employees
um come to the town and they acrew until July 1st a pror-rated amount of time that then for their entire first year of service from July to July they can acrewue whatever they earned in the limited time that they worked here uh
whether that's one month one year etc. Um this is uh would be changing so that vacation leave would begin acrewing within the first month of um the employees date of hire and that monthly
acrals would flow from there. Um and we would be on a continual acrual um and disassociate with the fiscal year. Uh this would allow employees to continue to acrue vacation time um until they
reached a cap. The cap would be whatever their acrual rate is plus 5 days. So if an employee for example acrews 80 hours or 2 weeks of vacation a year and they go an entirety of a year
without using any vacation time, they would continue to acrue for the next half a year. um if they still didn't use any vacation time. So if they went for a year and a half, then they would cap at the 15 days until they started uh using
some time down. This also um allows employees to begin using vacation time um immediately and allow them to use that vacation time before it's actually acred with um advanced written notice of the
department head in and the town manager. um to the public that is concerned about hearing that we are going to be granting vacation time before it is acred. The language states employees will be required to pay back any portion of unearned vacation time that was paid in advance if the employee should leave the
town's employment prior to that vacation becoming acred and employees may be required to sign an authorization for this deduction. The reality is is we are going to take anything out of that last pay. Um, so, uh, the amount of employees
that, um, as we're in the hiring process that this comes up is almost 100%. Um, folks have planned vacations. Um, and and frankly, the town of Lunenberg's vacation policy, as it is written, is
draconian. Um, so we talked about the cap. Um let's see. Employees will be paid out any vacation time um that they have acred but not yet used
and was that if they leave sorry if they if they terminate from employment and I think that that is the brunt of it.
Oh, and just the acrual rate incentive um the town manager with approval of the select board um may grant an initial approval rate that's higher um based on qualifications, experience, market conditions, and the like. Um
that's another select board approval. That's another select board approval. Um I know the board doesn't have probably too many questions about this. Um there is a question um out to town council
about how do we manage this changeover. I don't have the answer on that yet. Um for how we manage the changeover as it is applied to SAP employees it may be a little different. Um what the goal is here is to give employees the maximum flexibility um without negatively
impacting the organization and to make Lunenburgg as attractive it is as possible while um maintaining fiscal reasonleness um in the workforce.
Okay, any questions on that? Okay, no questions. But I just want to say I'm a huge proponent of this. I have been since I got on the board and I think this is a great step and I appreciate your work on it. Thank you. Okay, so 7019
paid holidays. Um just adding some clarification language around paid holidays as the language currently is written. It says all persons employed by the town except those in classification of intermittent or seasonal shall receive paid holiday on the day the town observes the
holiday. adding the clarification if they're regularly scheduled to work that holiday. So, to make that very clear, um folks who have to work a holiday uh get a floating holiday. Uh the way that it's currently drafted, that holiday needed
to be used within 30 days. That seemed prescriptive in a way that was unnecessary. I changed it to fiscal year. That may still be prescriptive in a way that's unnecessary. Um, I'm just thinking literally about, you know, May
holidays that are so close to the end of the fiscal year. Open to feedback if there's another way to do it. Just trying to not make it as prescriptive around that 30. Um, let's see. Um, adding or clarifying
language around eligibility for holiday pay. um that full-time or part-time B employees are ineligible for paid holiday if they are in a status of unpaid leave. So, if you are an approved leave status, you're eligible, but if
you're not, you're not. Okay. Sick leave, similar to vacation time. Currently, if you are employed by the town of Lunenburgg, you must wait 6 months to get sick. I know that that's a choice. Um, so, uh,
what this does is change, um, it it takes away that six-month waiting period, provides an immediate credit of 3 days pr-rated, um, if necessary, but 3 days of sick time upfront for all full-time
or part-time B employees. Um, additional sick time does not acrew until the employee completes those three months of service. Um and then it acrews from there. Um let's see
just want to there was references to the July one for the start of the fiscal date but that would go away. Um now that we have a sick leave bank, it clarifies that sick leave donations are only in
the context of um the sick leave bank and that outside of sick leave bank there are no donations. um provides part-time A employees the um immediate credit of one day for part-time A and uh changes when a
doctor's note um would be required to be in excess of 3 days. Okay. Where is that document? Yeah, it is D. It is section E
and it was um exceeds or is equal to 24 hours. So just 3 days of miswork. 3 days is pretty typical for when a doctor's note is required. Okay.
Section-70-20-1 was um the introduction of the sick leave bank which would be stricken um with the policy that has been adopted which we do need to form the committee but we've got the pieces in place. So striking the sick leave bank in its
entirety so it can apply broadly across the organization. personal leave. Again, removing the six-month waiting period uh to use personal time uh and then uh
clarification of the the pr-rated nature nature of of the personal days. Here is probably what the employees who are listening to this um are going to find the most controversial, but nonetheless, I'm going to I'm going
to give my pitch. So, personal leave, there is an incentive that currently reads um employees who do not use sick leave within a threemonth period shall be entitled for one personal day. each
three-month period said personal days are used in the same fiscal year in which they're earned. Personal leave shall be scheduled uh with the approval of the department head. Personally, speaking personally,
I disagree with the incentiviz incentivization of not using sick time. Sick time is for employees who are sick. If you are abusing your sick time, which is I believe why you incentivize it. If
you are abusing your sick time, there are other remedies for this. If you are sick, I would like for you to use your sick time and stay home and be well. I don't want employees coming into the
workforce ill because they're trying to bank personal days. So that is my personal disagreement with sick leave incentives. I know staff right now is sitting at home listening to this very angry with what I just
said. So my compromise proposal is that instead of removing the sick leave incentive all told which would be my position that we reduce it from quarterly to every six months.
I'm sure I am going to hear a lot on this tomorrow. So, I'm not asking for any opinions unless you'd like to provide them at this time. I I do want to give one opinion. Sorry. No, but feel free. Um I think that because of the way that we're changing everything else, the way
that we're allowing, you know, for the rolling vacation time and not having it ending, I think that that's sort of a give and take here. And I'm probably didn't just make many friends saying that either, but I can understand I can understand where you're coming from on this one. And I think with all
of the other changes that we are making that are positive and allowing access in the beginning plus not having that use it or lose it and like you know everyone having to take all of June off, I think that just I I could see this being a trade-off. To that point,
town hall was a ghost town in June and June is when we need to get a lot of things done. and we are closing out all sorts of things and having that arbitrary you can't carry over vacation time that was a challenge. Mhm.
No, and I think your point about don't come to work when you're sick and if there are people who are abusing sick time there are other ways to deal with it. I agree. All right. Before any of you make any more enemies, let me move on to the next
section. Well, I I wouldn't touch it. All right. Bereavement leave. We have changed bereiement leave um in that if your sibling or your step
sibling pass that you get 5 days as opposed to three. Um let's see. All right. definitions and then we're done. Can I Why not sibling-in-law? Sibling-in-law. So, your spouse's
sibling I mean your your spouse your spousing sibling your brother-in-law I mean so the way that so 3 days is what you would get for your brother-in-law but you but the language also allows for an additional 2 days off which may be
granted and charged and uh not to be charged against your sick leave. So you can take more time. This is just what you're getting as of right. Okay. All right. Definitions to hourly employee
slashnonexempt employee. Intermittent employee adding that intermittent employees are not eligible for benefits. Making that clear. adding the definition of salaried employee exempt employee shall mean an
employee by the town employee of the town who by virtues of their classified position is compensated compensated a bi-weekly rate of calcul the definition the other um definition that we added um which the board is familiar with but um perhaps the public not so much is an
expanded definition of spouse. Uh this comes into play especially um around sick time. Um so spouse uh the meaning of this term by the marriage laws of the commonwealth or
someone with whom the individual is cohabitating with the intent of it becoming permanent. Um we know folks have all sorts of living situations and they may not be planning to get legally married but nonetheless live um as spouses. So allowing the use of sick
time for those folks in particular is where that comes into play. Um let's see um striking from the employment contract section um relocation expenses.
That is it for now. Um this is very much still obviously a work in progress. Um but yeah, I just any I think it would be helpful to know um and maybe not
tonight, maybe you need some time to think about this whether folks think that this should be brought as an omnibus package or whether there's a way that this should be broken up into more than one article. Have you thought of a way to break it up? Like is there a way that makes sense
to you to break it up? I would pull out um like the employee benefit related stuff. So the vacations, sick time, all those things. Put them in one article, put the personnel committee stuff in another article. That might be But you end up
you end up risking throwing the baby out with the bath water if you do that a little bit. You although you must throw the baby out the bath water if you put it in one omnibus. So, you know, maybe if folks in the public want to give some feedback, how their reactions are
hearing this, um, you know, reach out reaching out to those of you that they know to have those conversations and we can kind of see where people are. I would like to present it however we can get it approved. So, I just don't
know what the best that is. All right. Well, thank you very much. I want to thank you and Julie as well. I know months months of work has gone into this and and I will say um through you Mr. Chairman, thank you because um I have
been driving Julie with in the context of all of the um employment changes that have been going on. I have been pushing that we still get this done and she really dug in and
helped bring this over the finish line. um you know in that it was very much to get this to you right up into the wire and we had had discussions about do we table this but this has been a goal of the select board for some time to bring some of these changes and it was
important that we bring something to this fall town meeting. Um also to that kind of drive up into the end um to employees um the there was an email that went out today. We would have very much like to have this workshopped and talk
about this with the SAP employees um in advance of them kind of hearing it tonight and seeing this tonight with with all of what's been going on in the office. We just ran out of time. So, if you're hearing this, you haven't read
your email, you have an email, um you want to provide some feedback, please do that. Nothing's We're not done. All right. Well, thank you very much. And we'll pick this back up next week. And that was the last article. I just a quick question. But the sick
leave incentive, do the um the rest of the personnel still have that? Like the union contracts, do they have incentives? Let me re let me provide that information to you of who hasn't who doesn't and what they are. Good question.
Some do and some don't. Yes. All right. Any other discussion on the SAP article tonight? Okay. And that was the last one. So I have a a question kind of related to the warrant. Um going back to free cash.
if that is not certified by town meeting because I know you're concerned about whether that we can get it certified. I' I've not been here when it's not been certified in time for this fall town meeting. What happens if fall if if free cash is not certified by fall town meeting? It just means that
we can't spend it. So um again free cash is used for typically things that are one time in nature. Um we don't some communities do their capital in the fall. they disjoint their capital from their annual. So that would be very important for those communities.
Um it it would mean that those oneoff types of items that currently as I'm looking at I'm looking to grab that old capital. If if for whatever reason that old capital was not available, it would mean that those projects couldn't be funded. But there is Okay.
So it um I I believe free cash will be certified by November 18th. It may not be certified by the time this goes to print. Oh yeah. But but um but we do have again those funds available in those old capital articles
to pay for things like the storm water consultant if if approved by town meeting. All right. Anything else relating to the warrant tonight? All right. Moving on. Discussion on tri board meeting of the select board finance committee and school committee.
We don't have one next week and the schedule is getting pushed back and that's kind of all there is to report on that tonight. Minutes, warrants, and action items. So, we have the minutes of the tri board meeting of August 20th, 2025. Any feedback on that?
Have we all had a chance to read them yet? Yep. Okay. Is there a motion to approve them? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the tribe board meeting of August 20th, 2025. Second. All right. All those in favor say I.
I. Those opposed, no. The motion passes unanimously. Warrants. Do we have any tonight? I don't see any. No, you do. Um, you do have a second set of minutes from September 23rd that were emailed out. Um, but perhaps folks
haven't had a chance to read them. I don't see them in the drive. So, no, they're not there in the your email. Um, just emailed. I I'm seeing heads shaking now. So, it looks like we'll put those on for the next, but I did Yeah, I saw that one go out, too, though. So, okay. Thank you for reminding us about that one. Okay. Any
action items? Committee reports. [Music] Uh most of them are basically working on the master plan steering committee feedback. Uh you mentioned the library. Um MMPO is meeting a week from tomorrow.
Planning board as mentioned has a public hearings, two hearings on Monday, October 27th. The MBTA communities act and their request to eliminate the common driveways be paved. uh M master plan steering committee will be going over the reviews feedback that
they've received from various boards, commissions, and committees. And the agricultural commission finished up their year with the uh fair on Saturday, September 27th. Um while I was there, the the the attendance was pretty good, but it was light. They were always
hoping for more of a turnout, and that's about it. The board of assessors met October 1st. Again, as the town manager said, they are still looking for one member. Um, they had four abatement requests received in September. There were 43
motor vehicle excise tax abatements processed. They were waiting payment from the tax collector. Uh, the fiscal 2026 real estate exemption applications were mailed out September 1st. The deadline for application submission was is April 1st, 2026 with a suggestion for
residents to submit applications by mid- November for quicker processing. The 41D exemption update uh amount was $1,029 reflecting a 2.9% cost of living increase. Um social security deductions
can be utilized which may help applicants meet income limits. The chapter land applications are being accepted until December 1st, 2025 with strict requirements for documentation. The functional and economic obsolescence discounts totaled uh $8,231
were reviewed and removed from properties lacking justification. Um fiscal year 2026 growth report, the growth for residential, commercial, industrial, and chapter land is projected at $392,380. The fiscal year 2026 40S smart growth
cost report was submitted to DLS. the roll back tax report for 222 West Towns and Road was submitted. They had mentioned that the select board had formally refused first right of refusal. Uh the future classification hearing was scheduled for mid- November.
Um and their next meeting is October 15th. The school committee met on October 1st. Um there was new equipment purchased for food services operations. Uh they had uh needed two additional
pair of professionals um at the primary in Turkey Hill. They were going to get that through the salary reserve. Uh also an IT position as well. They had a fall athletics report, the strong participation in in sports. Uh
there was also an FY26 quarterly budget report and a facilities and grounds report. There was a new custodian hired and their facilities are prepared for the winter. Uh they talked about two warrant articles, the special
stabilization fund that we had talked about tonight and uh they did not vote on another proposal for an article, but they had discussed uh about the additional chapter 70 funding, but they decided to not put it forward.
And their next meeting is October 15th. The Lunberg Municipal Building Design Committee had their tours this week of the Brooks House. Um, and then they also met on September 29th. Um, talking about building options,
different areas around um, Lunenburgg. And we also had uh, the superintendent come as a a guest to talk about uh, kind of flexibility with um, ACE program and uh, her staff. So meeting went well and
scheduled to meet on October 20th. All right. Um I think storm water I think we had a meeting since the last select board meeting. Um main focus as town manager mentioned was talking with a consultant to help us update the imper
imperous area data which is 10 years old. We learned recently. Um so that's in the works. Um, and we'll be meeting uh whatever the third Thursday is in October. Uh, and finance committee meets
Thursday this week. I don't have any. I just want to say welcome back. It's so nice to have you back, Amanda. Thank you. So, I'm glad everything's going well and that you're back tonight. Um, so we had our second meeting of the bylaw review committee. Um, and we started looking at
part one of the bylaws, which is um, not too substantive. It's mostly administrative stuff. Um, we are sending out an email. Actually, I think it was already sent out. I saw it. Uh, so we sent out an email to, uh, relevant boards, committees, um, to start
soliciting feedback from boards and committees that have an associated bylaw on updates that they think should be made. Uh, so we're going to incorporate that into our discussions as well. And our next meeting, I believe, is in two weeks, I don't remember, sometime in mid-occtober. and we're going to start
looking at part two which is a little more of substance in the bylaws. So that's when uh we're really going to start getting into it. Um but so far um it's a great group of people. Um it's the conversations have been very productive and I've been really enjoying uh these meetings. Um okay, upcoming
meetings. So we're going to meet next week and the week after that, the 14th and the 21st and those are going to be here and regularly scheduled select board meetings. public comment. Is there any public comment from from the public? And just a reminder, uh, that public comment is
limited to 15 minutes with no more than three minutes per speaker except at the direct discretion of the chair. It's an opportunity for you to make a public comment. It's not a Q&A session. So, Miss Lockwood, go right ahead. Is did you just start this this new talk about the public comment today?
Yeah, just for you. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Well, you know, I I first want to talk about processes and public comment is actually a question that I have. Did I miss the opening public comment? Yeah, you did. Um, there's I noticed that generally
speaking has been moving at times and and it's, you know, sometimes if you have public comment, the idea is to get the public the majority of the people that are not here to participate. And the fact that is shifting, it makes it harder to participate. Yeah. Here you are. But go ahead. aren't
too funny today. Um, so as I said, first I'm going to talk about process. Um, the today was the first time that we went through all the the proposed town meeting articles and and at the same
time you approved the addition and sometimes you approve the you know the recommendation. There are a lot of a lot of very meaningful and substance uh articles there and you know I I love that these meetings have been shorter. I
think the last one was last an hour but you know giving time for the public to digest this is and participating on the evolution of the b of you know the conversations and preventing you know 10-hour long town meetings is a good way to you know the early you can talk about
some of those articles. Um the other question not to be answered today Mr. chair um about um the historical commission is a chartered commission and there is based on the APDC proposed you
said there will be somewhat of a minimal change but a change right and and from what I understood anything that's chartered can only be changed in any sub in any level again Lunberg is my first town um during the you know charter
review process and I'll I'll just say Nothing in this proposed um article changes anything in the charter. It's just the bylaw. You said, didn't you say you're going to be changing something to the historical commission charter? No. No. To add architectural overseeing?
No. Okay. All right. Just that's good. But but how are you going to add that they're they're supervising this other bylaw if you're not changing anything to their current charge? That part's on the bylaw.
It's the change to the bylaw. Okay. B is in the historical commission are chartered commission. They live inside and outside the charter. So there are discussion here. Oh, you you don't need to get into
discussion. My my So what you're saying is the changes to chapter 113, which is chapter 113 is in the bylaws. So it's changing chapter 113 of the bylaws. Okay.
What I understood it was anything that's chartered you don't change. Um the APDC proposal change is is a is a zoning change and I find it surprising that this has not made into the planning board has not been discussed by the
planning board. The enforcement of zoning laws lie with the planning board and somehow this is not coming from the planning board. Planning board has not discussed this in public meeting and regarding processes changes in zoning usually requires hearings,
notifications. Um and in the past couple years I noticed after town meeting we see that one pager on the ledger that the AG if Lunberg did not follow all the requirements on zoning the AG must put a
note out saying if you disagree with this because you're not giving proper notice please contact me. I again this lives inside of zoning. Um now moving on to the just commenting on the APDC uh
proposal which I have sent several emails more than two about the subject to most of the me all the members here and I got two quick responses you know um it took over two years of the bylaw to be
proposed discussed getting gotten feedback from the community and everything and there were very good reasons why they chose to create a whole new commission to enforce this bylaw. That bylaw is a big compromise like I mean
you know I don't want to be limited to my use my my time here to explain how the the bylaw works and everything but there were very good reasons why it was created a new commission. So some people spent two years discussing this and now
on the first reading of the the information we are already adding and I don't think did you guys approve for recommendation? No. Okay, that's great. It's it just feels like we're skipping too many steps. This is a changing in
zoning and and I of all the things that I have said uh the emails that I sent you, I never said that I had concerns about expanding the powers of the of of the bylaw. But it's the interpretation
on how that interpretation has how the interpretation of the bylaw has been used over the years is very concerning for residents that live here. And that's my concern. Um, in the most recent master master master plan committee meeting, the chair of the APDC said, "We
are allowing a resident to change the windows because they were changed before and therefore there is no historical value." Historical value is not part of the bylaw. So the problem for residents is that if we want if we get denied by
the APDC, we have to go to land court to get that approved. It's so the bar is not just even going to the zoning board of appeals is you go to court. There are only single residents in this district.
Making anyone who needs replaced windows to go to the court is ridiculous and and they can do that. Now I live in a historical home. I have some windows are older. I have had those windows re redone rebuilt. It costs five times more
to do that in a window in a barn than it costs new windows. So that's the the the what you're saying to me is that if I not, let's say it's not me, but someone who needs to replace their window and they decide it's historical and has historical value. Imagine the hurdle
that that single resident will have to go through because of that. So it's not about expanding the definition of the bylaw, but it's how historically it has been applied. And I sent on the email that I sent you guys, I I listed several
cases where it was not applied the way the bylaw was intended to. And I also sent you all the, you know, Rebecca Landry's communication about that bylaw, what it was supposed to do, what it was not going to do. And you will see through
the information I sent you that it many times it were not applied that way. So Miss Lockwood, thank you. Have a good night. You choose, sir. All right. Are there any public comments from the public on Zoom? Mr. Rogers,
we can't hear you. If you have to unmute, you might need to unmute again. I don't remember how you do that on a phone. Do you star six? I'm unmuted. Can you hear me now? There you are. We can hear you. All right, I'll be quick. Um, I I want
to correct uh Sorry. Just make sure you start, Mr. Rogers. We know who you are, but you got to start with your name and your address. Okay. My name is David W. Rogers. I live at 82 Highland Street in Lenberg, M. Go ahead.
Thank you. Go ahead. Yep. uh the playground. Um the uh the historic uh timeline on that is that um uh years ago uh the Pearson family in
town lost a child and they petitioned the school and the powers to be to uh construct a a playground for the kids and they called it Kids Kingdom. That's how it started. And then when we lost uh
uh Connor Lawrence, um everybody knows that we expanded the the um uh playground and I'm I'm confident that we can put a a situation together that satisfies everybody. Okay. So there um
the the uh other question I have here is uh the director of municipal finance um and the town accountant uh who does the town accountant report to Hello.
So who is are you asking questions? Yes. I just want to know from a from a organizational point who uh who does the sorry no one said anything.
Oh, who does the town uh accountant report to town? Mr. Chairman, I don't know if you want to entertain I'm happy to answer the question if you'd like me to entertain questions. I No. Uh Mr. Rogers, I'm sorry. If you want to continue with your public
comment, you may. All right. I Well, as this is an intricral part of my question. Okay. And I'll um fine. I'll I'll ask the question a different way. Um does the town
accountant uh report to the director of municipal finance? It's the same person. The same person. Mr. Chairman, I'm happy to So, yeah. I Mr. Rogers, do you is there a public comment you want to make regarding that that that position?
Yes, absolutely. I mean, the director of if in fact the town accountant reports to the director of municipal finance, how in uh this world can can uh this work under the the that setup? I mean,
because they're all one and the same. That's the question I have. Well, they're in the they're it's the same same person. That's right. How can you how can you act as the the town accountant and then change your hat and then act as the director of the municipal uh finance?
You can't. I mean, it it it doesn't make any sense at all. Hold on a second. Hello. Hello. All right. Thank you, Mr. Rogers, for your public comment. Wait a minute.
How do we get an It's a real simple question and and anybody with any business sense uh which is where I came from uh you know this would not work and I don't see how it's going to work uh in the town of of Lunberg as well. The
all right thank you Mr. Rogers. Both jobs can't be uh held by one person. You just can't do it. Are there any public comments from the tow manager this evening? Yes, Mr. Chairman. Um, I'd like to make a com public comment relative to the uh
position of the uh director of municipal finance and town accountant. So, to be clear, Mr. Chairman, um the director of municipal finance is appointed by the town manager. The town accountant title is appointed uh by the select board,
which is why they live in a duality. Um, the director of municipal finance is outlined in section 5-3 of the town charter. There shall be a director of finance and financial services headed by a director of municipal finance who is the town manager or the town manager's
appointee per article 4 who shall be responsible for the management of the fiscal and financial affairs of the town for the supervision and coordination of all activities of all agencies in relation to fiscal or financial ma um management. I'm just going to pull up
the Mr. Chairman, I'm in the middle of my public comment. Um, if I can just pull up the town accountant position. Um, as I'm pulling this up, which is why I typically don't answer questions um
during meetings. There is also in that section, where is it? Director of accounting. Um, division of accounting. the division of accounting headed by the town accountant appointed by the select board shall be responsible for the following and then
goes through with it. As I understand um our current uh director of municipal finance is also our town accountant under an employment agreement and as I understand that has been the case for many years prior. I believe Karen Brochu also was both the finance director and
the town accountant. And I know Karen was here for a substantial amount of time, so I can't speak to what happened before her, but I guess I would suggest to the commenter before um that this is the way that this has been done in the town of Lunenburgg for um at least a
decade. All right. Any public comment from the board? I do. Um, I just wanted to thank the board as well as the members of the public for allowing me to take the time off I needed to deal with some health issues and I am hoping to be back here and give whatever time I can. Well, I
appreciate everyone's support and happy to be back. Of course. Any other public comments from the board? Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed? No. It is 9:18 p.m. and the select board is adjourned.
Everyone have a good night and we will see you next week.