yeah good evening lunenberg my name is Brett Ramson I'm the vice chairman of the lunenberg Sewer Commission and uh we're going to start our meeting as we always do with the Pledge of Allegiance um I pledge allegiance to
flag to the repblic one nation Gody and justice jce for all all right thank you everyone um in accordance with the requirements of open
meeting law please be advised that this meeting of the Sewer Commission is being recorded and will be able to be found on the lunberg access YouTube channel after the meeting the following is also provided for members of the public that would like to participate in the meeting
remotely to to participate remotely from a computer please use the link uh to join the public meeting webinar found on the posted agenda uh and from telephone dial the toll-free number 888
47544 N9 and enter the web ID number 831 8724 994 if you have not registered with zoom uh you will be asked uh for your name
and email address Noe no participant ID is needed just press pound you're next um I'm going to continue with the roll call roll call of the SE commission members um we going to start with Scott here
Joe here and I myself I'm here um and then I continue on with um the staff members I'm going to start with Jane here
and Andrew yeah and our DPW director Bill Bernard is um otherwise detained uh for the evening um so I'd like to ask uh um if there's any public comment from the public is there any
public I don't see anyone else on here okay what about from Commissioners regarding Commissioners well we're able to I'm not say I don't know I forget uh we are in a meeting does that change
things some uh I mean I don't know it's a public comment so it's um we are actively looking for some new members for the Sewer Commission and if you're interested feel free to email the Sewer Commission but you can also look for the
volunteer form on the town website thank you very much um and U thank you all moving forward we've all um obviously we have no other further announcements I'm going to jump right into the current
business um we have right at the top of the list is commission vacancies um Andrew could you give us an update on that H so Scott you attended correct I did and it was yeah the town
caucus last night um I was the only one that showed up uh was nominated at the caucus I'm sorry for they had interest in the Sewer Commission so uh that went through so I'll be on the ballot but there's still I think 2 three years and
a twoyear that are um that are open spots so um and anybody can still even get on the ballot I think if they get 50 signatures by yep by yep uh for yeah and
um and of course we always have the appointment thing if it gets beyond that so uh yeah hopefully I mean it was a good turnout so it got some eyes on it and there were other positions but um there's a need for some committees
and hopefully uh you know there's probably about 200 residents there so we appreciate you hopefully the word getting we appreciate you uh joining joining and did you sign up for two years or three years uh I I did the
three years that's my man I was I was uncontested so second year all right continue Andrew please um know absolutely and um we are allowed um
Commissioners are allowed to Post online um in regards to um any openings as long as it you know mention you know big you enjoy the position you know as long as you know you're not representing yourself as a you know exactly yeah so
um you know posting you know maybe you know people yeah I mean I don't know a lot of people in town but there are some and friends of friends might you know Word of Mouth might okay no absolutely
Word of Mouth yeah and I'm still um since we're on this discussion um I still think it might be a good idea to put another letter together
it motivated you got we got I mean in the end we got four people that shut up to town hall for that um they sent in they filled it out yeah I mean um or three well we do need three so um
we put it out there and and see what happens would you happen to have a copy of that letter uh I do not um but I I believe somebody at Town Hall has it because it I think it was almost a generic form
letter that was literally written in for like so commission yeah but it worked yeah and we only mailed I believe I don't think you knew either and I think I only found out through one of the meetings I believe it only went
to the Sewer the people on public SE the mailing because I think that was the only mailing so okay maybe we can get a list yeah you know from the water department doesn't necessarily have to be somebody somebody did say that to me
at the caucus I they said well I'm not on sewer uh I'm not on public sewer and I said well I said it's it's a town thing it's not a yeah I said it okay it does directly affect me but not really
you know is more of a public service I can actually a little light on why that happened why it was only two sewer people on the sewer line yeah um the thought process behind that was um
to get people who are directly affected by the sewer because before there was one meter one member yeah um who was on it and then he had to leave and then there nobody actually on the sewer line and the thought was well you know these
people might have some interest in knowing what's going yeah I guess I mean even with the like the pump situation and everything I guess it was good to know okay well hey you know it's best to run it in these off hours and you know we were lucky enough to have a contractor that would
do it overnight at least affect people and so yeah you're right I mean it is a good rule good rule of thumb but at the same time but we did get four on that same mailing list too so you know maybe
you do a wider one if we don't get a lot of results with this that was just the reason why we initially didn't to no it makes sense um but I was trying to sell it the other way was like Hey look you're helping the town volunteer you know yeah I was like this and like
before maybe there'll be people interested in many different positions exactly I mean a lot of the people you guys all even when about you know been on different commissions and you learn a lot of different things about the town
yeah all right um any more comments on this line no like I said if you guys want to um with the mailings we can definitely figure that out and get especially once not jumping the gun but you once
you're the assistant business manager in play you know there'll be some some hours to yeah so yeah yeah I'm sure Andrew has a lot of time just well that's I wasn't saying for Andrew to do say to make that
joke but yeah it would be great if you want yes yeah yeah thank you sure excellent um all right so B would be the zoom Remote open meeting while legis legislation so what's going on with that Andrew uh so that's set to
expire at the end of this month the 31st of March um so the town we're hoping that it's going to be extended it's been extended multiple times um so if it doesn't get extended meaning our meetings would have to be in person in
person in person so uh if it does hopefully we'll have an answer by the 31st uh you know we can keep our remote you know sessions and you know the hybrid thing going on if he does if it doesn't it's not really that much my is
just the the timing right you know push it to S the you know the other every other Tuesday you know then I think in person 7 o'clock is a good way to go yeah in general because everyone almost enough time I'd like to thank yeah and
again um so with that once we're assuming we're going to be inperson meetings um it'll still be a hybrid meeting I assume um I think the but they have the they have the
option Grant yeah justs we're in person the way I read it yeah it was like the the board has to be the board is in person um but I don't think I don't think Jame I don't think we would have to have
I mean at least one representative probably uh you know with right he sends you and the room is so big right yeah um but yeah I mean look we can cross that bridge come to it sure let's see what
they say they might just it might just be a a sign off is it simply either the licensing thing or is it just really just right or or is it more just formality of pushing the date out is it something that spawned from Co yeah was I mean obviously since Co that you know
the laws of relax with the hybrid you know zo meetings inperson meeting so but a lot of people prefer both it you know makes things a little easier time yeah it just be interesting to see if it if it's just for say Commissioners
or or because then if it's public then we're going to have to probably host it at Town Hall yeah and that becomes a scheduling thing right yeah um but like I said we can see
what happens we now I I've not changed the schedule um yeah that's fine it's an easy that's an easy email yeah yeah well it would be fun to find out yeah yeah hopefully it does get extended we we think it will yeah okay um so U did
anyone else have any to say about that remote there was also um if I may had uh we had a information about AI companion and that basically for other you know
boards or whatnot um there's an option on he had to do you know generate minutes we're not going to do that we're not oping into that because we're more than happy with Jane and all the work that she puts in so we're not opting
into that should we ask Jane Jane that's okay what am I doing them okay appreciate yeah yeah I mean appreciate you very
much Jane thank you yes you're welcome and uh let's see we have the DPW director sewer business manager updates and tonight it's going to be sewer bu business manager updates uh we're going
to start with uh Ray Pierce n NDP requirements discussion um and so what do you have for us there we've been in touch with um right Pierce on the requirements there are a lot of
them that um are to go in effect um next year the year after into 28 um we have them working on it as well um for um you know as a consultant um so we were you know we we
gave right here the scope of work as to what we need done okay um that's required uh and um and then we asked them for the scope and the fee you know fee proposal um and they've done a lot of work for us so um
but we estimate um 249 over four years of their services according to um the information Bill provided me 249 20 249,000 over three years4 that for a
year yeah um no it's a best guess estimate over a four year over four years for their services for the four years that were so roughly 60 a
year and what exactly does that entail you um so we have said there just you know adaptive measurement assessments um vulnerable critical assets um of our Su you know
sewer system um inflammation and maintenance schedule so basically you know effective from the effective data of the permit 2028 when that goes in U we have to give them a meance schedule um as well um and then an adaption plan
progress report um and I think right before you started before you came on board I think that's what I brought up when their next contract comes up about adding I we have to ask Bill um adding
the exercising remember the cut offs that we ran into on the pumps oh yes because that we incurred that extra cost because they want to do the pumps and then realized that the two shut offs were too old and where the other pumps
in town the cut offs are that same it was going to be okay let's you know if we have to replace them when we get to it we will but we got to we wanted to add that to their basically prevented maintenance um schedule does that also
include um draining the the reservoirs and inspections um for the catch Basin I'm not sure I don't I I think that they want to know exactly what we're doing as well um but like I said I just have you know certain components of what they're
requiring um by well I mean they would probably have to do it in unison with m key I would imagine um probably most likely um but I'm not I'm not fully sure unforunately that's um I can ask Bill about
that yeah we can just maybe um speaking of which has put a little Mark next to that um to have it on the agenda for next we can table it to then and but uh you know think of your insights you
obviously caught most of it I I I did for you know for the most part it's you know still um a large scope of work that I'm not I'm not famili you know these are new these are new uh implements that they're proposing that we unfortunately have to abide by so
yeah well in the end we don't want the system to fail either right and we don't we don't want that either excellent um should move on to the next we we do to move on yeah you yeah let's see uh now we're moving on to
the FY 26 is uh discussion um and uh we're going to come back to you again for an update you are the all knowing all knowing tonight all so uh for this one we don't have many updates but the capital plan line item uh can be used to
pay for any of the right PS expenses that were not covered under the engineering line item so if that going back to this was on the proposed budget uh yeah yeah we did you know touching on that I
did watch buildig you guys had a great presentation at the uh uh finance committee um everything was out there clear and concise the public had questions the board had questions
and Bill yeah all the answers uh for they asked for Clarity on a couple things and he had it right for them so it was a good proposal okay yeah very
good um I have nothing to add to that um but uh the assistant to the business manager position has there been any movement in that area um so Tiffany she gets ra ratification tonight uh at the
at the meeting at the meeting and she'll probably start on Monday 17 yeah that's great fantastic maybe you'll have time to write a letter yeah yeah while you're teaching her well so uh oh that's great fantastic
news um anything um regarding that you on any need Dad or h no no that's about it excellent all right I just don't want to move on too fast making sure people are done so um demands
I forget why we kept the Dems on here it was we couldn't yep we just couldn't do them um but I we came up with mail merge and there was an idea at the uh The Bu meeting yeah and was like
let's do that if we you know if we can't get munist the system to do it we'll do a mail merge it's basically the same it's a delinquent notice um like you know it's a bill so we sent them out uh for yeah so we should be good moving forward because now I have a platform
that I if I can't send them out I have a platform um that we can utilize to send so you're you're actually there you're ready to send so to expunge on that uh
between my background I'm an accountant yeah right so that's where I've been in finance for 30 years so now I'm looking at okay I've been paying bills on mine for close to 20 believe it or not
um I did have the challenge with uh what's the name of that payment system the unip unipe the fact so the Town Council I'm sorry the finance committee was concerned with the percentage of yeah
delinquencies um especially where it was you know just say a quarter of the people I'm with delinquent and it could have been because they weren't getting noes or right you know but that all being said my only issue was so myself
going on to unipay to pay um once the people get delinquent and then it's escalate it's compounding daily right but it's escalating on the only option they have
is to pay in full or on this system right whether it's a toggle or not I'm just saying I've beening credit and collections for it was a big part of my job um having to give people options because
getting something is better than nothing so if somebody's in a re $1,000 they can't pay 500 a partial pay the only option I did read on the town site was to the only option for partial was to write a check and bring it to
town hall to and I I just don't know one I don't even have any checks you know two a lot of people have e all e cheing and to let's face it the convenience of trying to get to town hall you people aren't going to be necessarily motivated
so I'm just wondering if there's a way that that payment system and it should to it might just be a setting in the background to allow partials or at least the previous bill I would love to see an option to be able to pay a different
amount on because I will say where I was you know where I was talking to you regarding the um uh when the late fees weren't you couldn't send out the demand letters in that $10 fee or whatever but the second
the new billing comes out yeah even though it's not delinquent it's due it's due yeah so if you were in a re's 5 $ say your whatever your quarterly bill was $500 and your next bill was 500 now you might be like all right I'm finally
here to make my last quarter payment but now the other one's right on top of it there's no differential it's just like it's just the total due and it's like you said adjusting daily so you know I'm just trying to make it that no man look
even if you collect in look a lot of people paycheck to paycheck utilities are through the roof right now and so you give people these payment options if you're not flexible with it and I know we have recourse you know putting it on their taxes and leans and stuff but I
mean in the end that still costing a ton money on attorneys um if they had that simple option look something is better than nothing you know they even if it had that flexible option where they go hey I can pay 100
you can't even schedule out payments um you they do have auto pay but it's the bill in full when it comes out um but if somebody was hey I can pay you a 100 this week look that's even if 5% of them
do it that's a few grand it you're collecting corre every week exactly and and you know I mean they're still ACR interest on the other part but at least gives them a payment option um outside of Everything at Once because the end
when somebody is in financial Dire Straits it could easily be more than their weekly paycheck and that's something that's easily they're just going to be like you know forget it I'll pay my minimum on my credit card you
know so that was just a thought like I said I don't know anything about the back end of unipe but right for the most part A lot of those payment platforms do allow that and and look it could be a town thing where we're not allowed to I don't know
I'm not well bur in those laws I was going to ask so we all agree on this yeah for the record um being a town situation I don't know who we would ask would we ask our attorneys would we ask
the town manager I would ask the collector our collector collector collector attx and see or my and see what you know what options we have because there could be some legalities but but in the
end it trust me and you know because you were at the meeting um it got brought up about three or four times during the four 45 minute presentation you know on the sewer thing
because their their eyes all lit up when they are 26% right so you know I've just been in my brain okay what can we do to alleviate that and it just happened to be me paying my own bill I was like wow this is the only option and you know digging through the
the town website and it was like oh if you want to make a partial you got to bring it in it might have have mail it in but but still you could you can't pay it online um so yeah I was just like look if one person benefits from it and
it was a simple thing is just us saying okay MH then it was worth it because that's a little more money in the in the budget and you know that's not going to have to go through the hard Road of being collected exactly hey Jill what's
your thoughts on this I think it's good idea I can't imagine any um legal reason why we couldn't take some money from yeah I mean I I don't know I'm not a lawyer but I mean I guess the only downside would be you might have a few people who would
otherwise pay in full pay part but I I got to imagine overall we'd take any more money with with an OP well I mean yeah to me it's just hey some is better than none you know but uh and and the meter still running on the other things
it's not you know like they make partial payment in the interest stops you call a little bit of interest but in the end the the amount we're compounding an interest or whatever the rate is certainly isn't going to be what the
filing fees are and everything to attach to somebody's deed um so and then you know it's not exactly the most friendly thing either but um we can if people can pay some some of the money without paying fees or having it
affect other parts of their finances I think that's ideal yeah and especially if it's something that's already in play and I'm sure this unipay system isn't a one-trick pony you know I'm sure
it has that some kind of option you know it does have auto pay you can sign up for auto pay but um it I just wonder if there was more a play only because of that note on the town site saying if you want to pay
partial you have to come in right so that's something I can definitely look into yeah we can talk about it with uh next week too two weeks so how do we want to leave this do you want to reach out to the town collector or oh absolutely yeah I will do that
yeah I mean and see what the what our options are yeah and then that person would you know it' be up to them to Sure talk to it or even I'm sure they control the back end anyway so just go to the horse's mouth and see what happens
yeah but that was all I had on that you know just trying to alleviate very valid great Point yeah and look it's not going to it's not getting any easier with the the the the people are
going to pay their utilities and Other Things fall off the Wayside so if we're not being proactive yeah exactly that that's exactly the the word if we're not making it accommodating for them to fit their budgets uh you know nothing we can
do about the rates and the usage but a payment option should be something that's in our control exactly yeah I very much like to see what's available to us yeah um like I said I'll get working on that and see what I can come up with yeah I mean even if it's a
breakdown of you know pay your current plan and it was just a total due and I was like oh I know why mine looked like that because it was I think the bill would come out like two days before right something like that I was like oh yeah so
anyways um that that was all I had to say about that trying to right make it you know between po Bill if it was 10% we wouldn't even be having this conversation bu said 15 minutes in that
meeting and uh he would have had more cash in the in the till me I say that having somebody on the line who a customer MH well you're right you're right CU I
wouldn't you know if somebody wasn't on they weren't going to notice that notic it might not and then somebody that's paying through the portal so so uh yeah yeah good point so appreciate your input yeah thanks but um great should we move
on to the next one or yeah great um and then manhole repairs um is there any movement on that yet I mean still talking frost on the ground no upate this yeah okay I still
have seven in of ice on top of my pool cover so I'm sure the roads on thought officially it's on here just so that we don't forget when the time comes it is something like that keep it on well I know I know he was going to reach out to
them just to get a preliminary scheduling for the spring right uh just to make sure we were still on their radar we're project but they we want to be in like the May group and not the August group they're getting ready to gear up
yeah okay great um so in review um we actually have uh a list of things for you to look into Andrew do you have that that written down or you all set no I I have memorized yeah there you go how
about that um I call that when I have I I call that a functioning computer yeah being being prepared that's I work with two occasionally people that don't have that so they don't appear to have that no so
it's it's nice to uh nice to have that moving on um let's uh well get back to Future agenda items since we're there um obviously the N NDP requirements we want
on there um I think we should keep the the zoom Remote open meeting on legislation discussion Aline um commission vacancies we're not going to change this a lot no we I think we
still have to address didn't Eli give his resignation and we're just trying to not from what I've been told Oh Oh I thought build all right that was the last time I but I could be wrong um well
then again they did have the empty yeah they had the empty position basically at the uh uh caucus last night because it were three yeah they were three open positions so might
be just us needing to take them up the the notes well I don't know I guess that's the next thing well and as I understand I mean um I mean I'm sure Mike sent in the
proper paper work he he did because and and then we've got you know Eli will be I think that he would have his position would have shown up on the the list of vacancies because we were just nominated to fill to the end of the term
which is up right yeah but we were only nominated to fill until the next election so your name was blank on there too right so yeah you're right so that might have been the that was probably the three and not even our former
Commissioners might not have been addressed on there that's kind of interesting because I don't know how that was determined um I couldn't tell you that answer either yeah I know that I'm I'm sorry to be leing um I you know I would
have been happy to run and and serve a few months until you guys find somebody else but I don't think it would be be appropriate to run not expecting to serve the whole term correct no no and you've already done more than your
share than most people have so um another reason why we should keep the open meeting lot only because like I had to do it one time I was sitting in traffic he's he's had to join via Zoom that's what I was
yeah it's it just got to be a certain amount of flexibility yes we're going to be meeting in person but if we don't have you know a quorum without someone coming on um Zoom then we're going to have someone on Zoom yeah that's just
how it is between digital signatur businesses conducted a lot differently now um yeah there's nothing unusual about it you know we're all I'm still trying to enter the I'm almost into the 20th century now uh I'm I'm scratching on the
21st century I'm just not there yet anyways um from my point of view it looks like we need to keep pretty much all the current business on here for our future agenda um beyond that is there anything
else anyone can think about uh can think of that should be added uh just thinking out lot low now that man Joe just had a good point right so if we are dropping off when of the elections in May is it may I thought it was June I
don't I I don't know well what I'm saying is though if if Joe's gonna if he's going to drop off like Eli and now I won't because I'm on the ballot
so he'll be done in May or when ever the election is the election it's probably a start date to the new terms right that's probably what I can't Yeah well yeah you're right from the I have no idea I don't know the terms start September I I just I have I
believe the official terms the elections in May I think but the term starts in June sure okay well like the just like the town budget yeah yeah would be July one right so all right we can figure
that out we don't want to uh our bra do anything stup we're doing everything we can to get we're going to do whatever we can to get more Commissioners we just have Joe can just volunteer again for a couple months there you go we'll take you Joe I'd be happy to until once I'm not living here
I don't think I can serve if I'm not no no no I was talking about through the summer but you're gonna you're gonna be trust me you'll be busy you moving your whole life y so um great um it says here we should talk
about old business but we just did yeah we kind of did um and then we've got we're down to public comment again anybody has any comments whether it's public or Commissioners I do not public and um all right moving on um our
updated our upcoming scheduled SE commission activities um our next meeting is going to be March 25th 2025 and that one will be 6:00 p.m. Zoom meeting um according to the schedule that's our last one April
8th uh 2025 is going to be a 700 p.m. H hybrid meeting in this room uh same with April 29th and 2025 hybrid meeting at oh we may need to correct this it
says 6 p.m on the April 29th hybrid meeting our Zoom oh all right I assume it's hybrid because well yeah if they don't the law is not putting I I think that's why I changed
it uh to all hybrid just well no I get that yeah let's um let's just change the time on that it's not a big deal okay I don't think no um and then May 13th will'll be the same thing 7 p.m. H bread meeting um
thank you everyone um I'm going to ask now for a we' had no other the votes this evening but uh did I get motion to adjourn yes second the motion we've got a motion to adjourn and it's been second you're GNA say
Scott hi Joe hi and I for myself the meeting is over thank you um lunenberg and have a great night thank you for everybody's precipitate for joining us have a great
evening are you she speak English it's great time got