um you haven't uh approved any reserve fund transfers So right now you have a balance of $150,000 in the reserve fund And the first transfer request
tonight is um from the treasurer collector and I know Wendy is on Um this is for $7,500 um for some part-time help in the office Wendy
hi Good evening Thank you for inviting me to the meeting and thanks for considering this Um most recently I started in September and when I started it was already moved or discussed that the person that does payroll would more
likely than not be starting to train for um for HR In that process we've moved her upstairs to start training her leaving our office down one person Um it was definitely challenging during the
tax season with the real estate being due February 1st and the motor vehicle bills being mailed on February 18th Um I did submit a request for an 18hour position um 3 days a week In the
department discussion we were asking for Monday Tuesday and Thursday from either 8:30 to 1:30 or 9 to 3 depending on who applied We did have one person apply um that I was really really really
interested in She was a clerical person in the town of Attboro and um I was thinking that I was going to call her for an interview in process When I messaged the town manager and the assistant to the town manager um it was
told to me that I didn't have enough funds and being new I really didn't know what my balances were in the accounts at the time Um but they told me that I could ask you and that you would um maybe consider um doing a transfer for
the $7,500 for the 3 days a week um clerical position So this is funding it from I assume now to the end of the fiscal year Yes that that would be till June 30th And like I
said I did submit it in my budget for a part-time 18our position Um some people say that 18 hours isn't benefit level Some people say it is So I'm not really sure where it falls under which contract or which employment agreement
Um but I definitely would um the process in the department is we have uh a clerical person that's very capable but she also has taken on doing the receipts and whatnot kind of sometimes is hard
early in the morning when she's posting all the um downloads from the online payments and if the phone and the counter are busy and where my assistant and myself are kind of on time limits or uh time restraints as far as um you know
submitting things in a timely manner into the town accountant's office or the town manager's office Uh it's in it's um very intr intrusive and interrupting for us to come out of our offices to go and do the counter We do and we make it work
And I will say that Mr Ununit did ask me if we moved um Jen upstairs and I said we would make it work Um and we have and we will but it was extremely hard and very timeconsuming to do it So um he did
question me before we brought Jen upstairs and I said we would make it work and we did And we're almost halfway We're through the February 1st payment Um and we have one commitment out for the mail for the motor vehicles that's
due uh March 18th And then we have another commitment uh that we were told that would probably be dropped the beginning of April for motor vehicles Wendy is this um a totally new position
um from my understanding Pard had told me she had a part-time position prior I did go on the budgets prior and I honestly I came home and I forgot that paper on my desk Um my intent was to go to the meeting but I really have been
under the weather Um and I was kind of tired So I asked Mike for permission to join by Zoom and he graciously granted that permission Um so um I believe it was 2019 that we did and it went up to like
2023 I think and from my understanding um it didn't get filled for the 24 year but I don't somebody that's been there longer I just started September 6th as a part-time like learning the job and then appointed on September 16th so I'm not
really familiar um on how that work I see that James is here James could probably answer that question better than I could Hello Hi James Hi Can I can I talk absolutely Well
uh so uh that position uh a while ago used to be full-time at one point then it was reduced to part-time during the recession years and eventually was completely cut out It is my belief that um that's not
sustainable to have u the office u short staffed That extra 18 hours will go a long way in helping the office operate uh better than what it is right now Um so I hope you guys do consider um
transferring those funds and uh reestablishing that position there even if it's only part-time Thank you Mr If the position can't be funded next fiscal year are we going to be
responsible for any kind of severance or any kind of u unemployment stuff there'd be no severance Um person could apply for unemployment but there'd be no severance Madam Chair so I had a person there then
you moved that person to a different position We moved a full-time position upstairs She still falls under the reigns of um the tax collector treasurer but I guess there was talk prior to me coming that maybe we might be able to
get a HR position sometime in the future So we wanted to train her to do that um as well And um so she moved upstairs where she could focus more on training and less interruptions and take on a few
um other duties as far as the HR person went And so she's upstairs So it kind of she does work in my office physically Um well it's not really my office It's the town of Norton's tax collector's office but she does work there from 8:30 to
9:30 while Nancy pulls the reports Um and Nancy does get to pull the reports but it makes it very hard in the course of the day if like we got bombarded with the motor vehicle bills and the real estate bills
Madam Chair you go ahead I'm just wondering maybe maybe Mike can speak to the rationale I I think Zach's question was that position it got transferred from this budget to do HR work It didn't get transferred from the
budget Apologize There's a position in the treasurer's office um and she handles um all the benefits for employees um employees that are going out on FMLA
She handles that So she splits her time She goes upstairs to h work on that h human resource angle um of her position so she can talk with people in a private setting So what was the rationale then
to if if there's so much work to be done that that position couldn't be it's it's valuable for part-time what was the rationale to move it to fill so many hours for in an HR position because she was doing the HR
work in the office anyways and it just when she's doing that work now she goes upstairs into an office we set up for there so she can have privacy when she's talking to people about their benefits and
um you know anything to do with that But up until up until this year we'll say that position was how many hours in the treasurer's department versus this HR position well she was always in the treasures
department and I I can't tell you how many hours she spent um working on HR stuff while in the treasur's office This is James again Um the position is the payroll position It's not a new position Uh and usually what used to
happen was that the payroll person would help out the window when it got really busy during tax tax time However the position has gotten more complicated with uh benefits and everything else And so she has to go to a private office
occasionally so that she can discuss HIPPA protected um um subjects when she's talking to the employees But uh she was not removed from the treasurer's budget Uh that position is fully funded as a full-time payroll administrator I
don't know if they change the title to the position or not but that's the same position that's always been there The position that was eliminated was a part-time clerk that used to help at the window that used to be full-time at one at one point then it got cut and then it
never got funded again but there was always hope that it would be funded Um unfortunately things are getting really hectic and there is a lot of work a lot of foot traffic and I believe that it is it is needed That's my belief you know
and it has nothing to do with the payroll position The lady that does the payroll will still be doing the payroll um whether this position is funded or not No but I think what I'm hearing is at that point everyone had a comfort level that this position could fill as a
resource to the treasures department and now that seems to have gone away And I'm trying to figure out the original justification for that that position sharing the the HR in the treasury side but now we need a new another part-time to really fill that
role I believe that whether or not she that uh the lady that does the payroll at the old town hall as you know we didn't have space uh so she had to be in the treasurer's office all the time because there was no other office and if she had
to speak with someone she would either have to go into the town manager's office to talk to someone privately It was kind of a pain to do back in the day Now that we have more space she's been uh listing hours upstairs and the hope was that she could have her office
upstairs come downstairs and help when it gets really hectic but also have the part-time position The part-time position would be in addition to having the payroll person there The need is there whether that lady is upstairs a couple of hours a day
or not All right And then for next year's budget that we're working on now is this going to be you will be same number of hours in the budget or is it going to be more 18 hours a week Okay
Thank you chair Yes Sorry Sorry about that It's been uh it's been a long day So uh I apologize if I don't understand Things keep going back and forth It sounds like the position was open for a year or position
was filled for a couple of years and it hasn't been filled since 2023 if I understand if I understand correctly Madam Chair correct So the the position was there and the the payroll position hasn't changed its role other
than we we have an office for her to go into to do some of the private stuff Um but in addition to the payroll when she was downstairs all the time sometimes she'd have to go to the window because this part-time position had been cut
Okay But this part-time position being added back in she could contact concentrate more on the payroll aspect It wasn't in the budget for the last year or two Okay So it's a new position as far as money
Um I think we're going to be talking about layoffs this year Um given if we only have a 3% increase and we're negative in the uh in the deficit by what 600,000 So it must be for everyone But I
I think any new positions um isn't a very good idea at this moment given uh where we are Well I was just going to say that um I'm wondering if we can wait and see what the budget looks like for this department um coming up right for the
next fiscal year and then see if then if we do decide to fill it for next year consider supplementing this year as well But it's hard to it's hard to get again that full picture where we don't know if this house is going to fit into
next year's budget and where we're you know about to discuss all that It seems like maybe should wait a few weeks to see where that's going to land Can I can I add one more thing sorry Um I've already had someone from the uh the
senior center come to me and ask about an additional position for director and I said I said well you know just said things are are tight So I I think it will people start other department start positions of being added and it
starts badly Madam chair um madam chair I I have the same sentiment as you Uh yeah we don't know where this is going Just to bring somebody in have to lay them off doesn't make much sense So I would
say I'll make it simple Let's propose a motion to table this delay a meeting uh to see where the budgets lay and then we can decide if if we do have money uh and we can approve this for this year
but you know delay it for 30 days uh and bring it back to another meeting How does everyone else feel about that madam Chair Yes Mike this person's already here right this person is not here
Okay Okay Madam chair I had a motion to table second and second Okay there's a second All right So I have a motion and a second to vocal Brandon yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes So I guess um what do you want to set like a date after after this budget is approved or meeting we'll come back I
don't know this for the budgets Mike can set it you know based on when he proposes everything when we have the final drafts for this Yeah What's next okay Next is reserve fund requests for legal services Um
right now there's $5,622 left in the account and uh with the bills we have we would be a negative9,000 So um we looked at what the average was costing us per month and
if we stick to that it would be around $55,000 to get to the end of the end of the year the driver sorry the driver of these funds above the budget particular case is
there litigation I know um a a lot of um it's been in the planning board there's been a lot of uh appeals so I know there's been at least 14,000 going towards that and uh I know the police
department's had a couple cases that legal's been working on that been about $10,000 and and then the rest is just the general legal services Um a lot of um work on the
election and then a lot of work on different public records requests that legal had to review Uh but but nothing that other than the police and the planning board nothing that stands out as a major case right
now And to refresh my memory how much was this last year how much did we approve for this last year um last year I guess Well let's see So in FY24 we spent
96,000 Um we appropriated for FY2570,000 and as of December we had spent 31,000 Madam Chair Paul go ahead Oh sorry Okay Mike is there is there a listing of all of the
cases the hours and the costs that are being spent here under this budget for legal services yeah we have that on on the bills that we receive from KP Is there a way that we can get
that so we can see where we're spending the dollars here yeah we we could we can um do something general won't you know won't have uh some of the um exclusive stuff on it but we can do
that Right I mean there's there's nothing is it collective bargaining or anything that's driving this up Is there anything unusual or is it just we didn't fund enough and what's the surprise or what's the kind of services that we didn't
anticipate i know you're saying there's a lot more going on but just trying to figure out what those things are Um yeah we it's as I said other than uh the planning board case cases there's a
few appeals and uh couple cases with the police department there's nothing major um no other major cases [Music] Mike does do the department heads have
to go through you before contacting the uh town council so you have a good they Go ahead Unless anybody has any questions I would uh offer a motion to table to the next meeting Second Why
have a motion in a second Um can I just ask one other question in terms of you said we had 96 last year 70 this year I know you're trying to project 55 Is it possible to reduce that number and just I mean you could always come back again
for more reserves So just something I think the board to consider Maybe we don't fund the full amount We just fund what we need for right now in the next few months and then and then see where we go when that lands us All right So I have a motion and a
second Any other further discussion on Zach's motion two tables All right So I'll start Bill Uh no Yes Paul no
Yes Brandon yes Steve yes Can I tell him yes Six Yes Two No Let me guess What's that thank you All right So what is what's next mike
reserve Um next is uh reserve fund requests Um the first one from data processing is for telephones and communications Um the request is for $10,000 to get
through the year Um right now you can see the account is negative $66925 And you know the main focus with this um that we probably didn't anticipate
um if you just in this building alone the number of phones I mean we had no conference rooms before now we have uh six conference rooms with six phones you know in every conference room there's a phone um every counter in
every department now has a phone on it out front that they didn't have before Um with a panic button on it So that's nine more phones right there Um and same at the Council on Aging They need to have phones in every room in case
there's an um an issue Um and uh so it just uh the costs were higher than anticipated Madam Chair Mike
when over the past couple years when these buildings were being you know proposed and and under construction I know we asked you know have we accounted for all
the needs of these new buildings so how did we not account for extra phones with all the extra spaces and whatnot i don't I don't know We just didn't didn't think that about a phone in every
conference room I mean it just wasn't something that we thought about I don't and and is this to is this the projection to pay the bills through the end of the year or the end of the fiscal
year yes Or is it for other things to the end of the fiscal year What did we uh budget for this for this year budget I'm just curious what we increase to your point what we increased from 2324
to 2425 It wasn't Yeah I don't have her uh her budget with me Gifts So my company understand we added more phones I could say add more phone lines I assume we own the phones We purchased
the phones So um right phones and new more phone lines more um lines for um internet in every room So that you have utilities
Yes Questions Yeah Does that mean I can call a conference room in this building from anywhere outside there's an external phone number for every conference room there There is anybody I I believe there
is I haven't used a poly phone in a corporate setting in a decade called teams So So are people actually using them do we need all those phones in every conference room uh we don't know yet to be honest with you
I just it feels like the kind of thing that you install because we've installed it for 30 years but things have changed pretty quickly in the last 5 to 10 in teams and what have you Um so maybe it's a place where we could cut some costs
Other questions move to approve the transfer 10,000 A motion or a second Second Motion Second Go ahead Oh you're supposed to start that way
Um sheriff yes Yes Yes Zach yes Gavin yes Trace yes Brandon yes Steve yes Yes Um the next is professional services for
um data processing and uh what she's looking for is 15,000 and um the main thing here um some of the main issues were um her field services
um for MX Consulting they went up $4,000 this year that she didn't anticipate Um Adobe increases Uh so there were 20 users before now there's 25
users and um the addition of NEOGV for the uh police department which they need uh for their new RMS system And Paul you can explain what that one is It says on this transfer request from
mobile payments It looks like that might be from the other request from the same department Where where are you looking i'm sorry On the data processing transfer request for professional services it just mentions the phone bill So it's not for that
right okay Make a motion Madam Chair that we approve $15,000 transcript Second motion second This is for processing Right A second Bill yes Yes
Yes Brandon yes Steve yes Right Next we go into budgets and uh the first budget is select board and uh office salary $76,986 longevity pay $1,000 incentive
pay $3,000 trying Go ahead I'm sorry [Music] Surprised you didn't ask for a transfer of paper Okay good Okay
Um so the total um for personnel services $80,986 and then expenses um 2700 total um no change from the previous year Madam Chair
and the salary increase is contractual Yeah this well not this isn't a union position This is a um wage and salary position Okay So just normal grades
questions on the board question Next is town manager Um and this would cover the town manager and um the office salaries for the assistant to the town manager and expenses went up only
$200 under longevity pay or excuse me the personal services uh went up that uh the salary we don't know Um looking at towns smaller than Norton base salaries now are at 200,000
to start for a town manager So with a new search starting that's probably the ballpark you're looking in So and then expenses went from uh 27,000 uh 50 to 27,900 just slight increase under
um mileage and car allowance So my bet that um it's based on a 200,000 estimate for the manager that number again Oh sorry Madam Chair
I see Mike I'm just curious Can you refresh me what going what is going through contracted services and then when do you expect expenses to start flowing through that line for the current fiscal year um I'm the
con sorry about that Um contracted services are um the copier I believe is under that So I just I don't see any expenses for
20 for fiscal year 25 at all yet through December I don't know if James is still on What would you know James why there wasn't anything on there yet oh I'm sorry Contracted services is that I'm sorry Steve Um so contracted
services we have there Um if we have HR questions where we have to bring in an HR consultant to do uh work or an investigation or anything like that that's what we've been using that for And uh we haven't had to use it this
year so far And what was our assumptions when we made that when we came up with a $10,000 figure how many hours or what rate um so the assumption is um about $35 an hour usually
um for to have an HR consultant come in Thank you Madam Chair uh the longevity pay like 2700 You're leaving So where is that money going no longevity of something that
just added um there is longevity um for the assistant So is the office salary or it says office salaries is that just one person the assistant yes So so we went
from Yeah FY23 1029 FY24 1081 FY25 116 FY26 126 basically a 25% raise in 3 years and
almost a 10% raise from last year to this year So that was uh if you remember when we did the salary survey there were um a few positions that were
under the average Yeah And this was one of those positions and so it went up after the budget was approved last year money was uh appropriated at the fall town meeting to get for a payment and then again this year it will get that
boost and what's the recommendation um was the salary range that was approved for that position I don't have that with me I thought you said everybody's salaries fell within the range they don't getting bumped up they they all fell within the
range ranges that were established And this this this is still within the range but it won't be up to the top of the range It it was uh I can't remember off my head It was a position in the
treasurer's office It was the uh building commissioner It was the COA director this position and maybe one other position that we're under Can you think of one of the supplements that we um approved in the fall i think
it was when we did the uh update in the fall Yeah I gotta say 10 grand I mean for 102 that's that's let's that's not looking at the town
and this is non right right madam chair Yes sir Just for clarification Mike Longevity fringe benefits and stipens Yeah What's that
fringe benefit of what so um stipened um still in there is um town manager is paid 2500 to be the hearing hearings
officer Um and then um the assistant longevity is 1,500 and deferred comp is
a,000 But then what's 4500 for the assistant which is under other stipen um 3500,000 I'll get that for you when I make my final uh bring my recommendations in Thank you
Yeah not to be the dead horse here but Uh looking at the approved budget the 25 the assistant approved budget was 160 809 I go to the next page I see day salary
effective effective 71 Sorry I'll say one thing I I um you know I'm I'm in favor of our public servants being paid in compensating for these kinds I'm certainly like it's it's in the town's best interest uh to to
attract talent talented candidates for these positions and keep them Um but I don't know anybody else who's beaten inflation this year Um so that's again as much as I I would love to pay everybody uh you know what what they should be
paying I just can't I that's a big number That's a big jump It's it's really hard to looking at you know school budget and everything else around town Um so Mike the um I'm just looking back but we supplemented the um and
fall 4,333 Does that sound right right Okay And that was for that that position So that 116 is already is already higher than right what we approved last year Okay So so when you're looking at the
comparison it's again another 4,300 this year is part of that bump Madam Chair quick question I guess uh Mike who who recruits raises for
employees if they're non-contract i do Non I'm sorry The town manager Youth Okay Like how many non-union employees are there still in town it's about eight or nine
I know uh Bill one of the questions I uh one of those statements I I know for the assistant is to prepare um the annual report the booklet the annual report She does that on her own
time Okay That doesn't fall under her job description No Well she does it but she she does the annual report on Saturdays and on time extra time not
during her regular hours and uh finance committee uh 23,200 yeah 2300 what's it I mean 2300 2320 20 That's a big waste there Obviously the b the bulk of that is clerical services for 2,000 And it all
depends on how long your meetings are Quicker meetings will spend less Wow Okay But and Lindsay all told me also if they started at six they'd be cheaper
Wow Getting here at seven It's uh it's not a big deal It's 60 bucks But what is advertising um Fincom does one of the advertisements Um public hearing Yes Oh okay
[Music] All right Next is town accountant Um James is still on I'll go over uh a little bit uh for you So uh office salaries $227,396 part-time wages
22,185 Um longevity pay 2500 the fringe benefits to employees 3,000 incentive pay 5,500 Um the annual audit 30,000 and then uh expenses uh went up
slightly from 3,120 to 3,170 and uh seminars and conferences went up $50 And that um full-time staff you have the town accountant the assistant town
accountant and then a part-time person [Music] Madam Chair I guess this is going to be more of a philosophical question So like the assistant town manager and
um town accountant and whatnot they're salaried people Correct Correct And so even though we say 40 hours a week most people I know who are on salaried
positions sometimes have to do extra work They're not going to get paid for it That's the expectation of being a salaried employee Mhm So again is some of these stipens and fringe benefits for
doing something on the weekend as a salaried employee really needed as a salaried employee I don't expect to get a bonus from my boss if I
have to work over the weekend So um in this case um the stipen there's a certification stipen uh for the town clerk excuse me town accountant sorry
James madam chair Yes James Yeah the stipens I received are not for working on the weekends as Mike said One of them is for uh being a certified government keeping my certification as a governmental town accountant Uh the fringe benefits is
part of my contract uh that I signed with the town almost 3 years ago Um it's basically deferring 3,000 of my uh salary into a defer compensation plan Um the longevity pay um went slightly up
because I'm going to be with the town 20 years next year So it goes up $300 Um and uh it's basically not unusual in town government for for people to get stipens
Um maybe it is in the private sector I don't know But u this is not different than any other year Um if you look at the 23 24 25 the the stipens are are the same amount They they pretty much haven't gone up Um it's kind of
frustrating that that it seems like we have over 500 employees when you count the teachers and everybody else And every year they get hung up on three people that you can identify by name me Michelle and and I won't name the other
one but it's the same exact scenario every year We get singled out Nobody cares about anybody else but only us I just find it kind of you know comfortable if that would be the the way to say it that you know I have a
contract that was signed by the selectman by the town manager If you know if you don't agree with it maybe you should talk to them and and have them reduce my salary I mean do what you have to do I will say we spent about three meetings
talking about a $2600 dog officer one time So we we tend to pick apart you know the minutia and I think that's I don't think it's anything personal Um we certainly all appreciate you know the the hard work that you do I
think we're just trying to understand um you know how where all these numbers are coming from Madam Chair yeah just to reiterate you know I'm not I'm not trying to pick on individual people but it's it's really
hard to kind of figure out a budget when you're mentally thinking salary And then there's all these other things that when you put it into play increase that
percentage some sometimes significantly And we're still trying you know to stick to the two and a half crop two and a half That's as much as you can grow things So you know for things to be increasing
exponentially higher than that you kind of sit sit back and go well that's why the numbers don't work and we're just trying to get a handle on how and why it's happening So it's it's certainly nothing personal
Madam Chair Madam Chair I think I think James made a good point when he said this those other benefits haven't changed in three years so they're not increasing the percentage at all Did you have a question i do Just a
statement Again I just want to point out that the town side has been pointing out and separating these components of their salary for many years They're disclosing it when we go through the budget process fully Um I wish I could say that for all
town departments So and I want to reiterate there's no picking or pointing out or pulling out and singing on anyone individually but I also think we have to balance when we see this information
it's full disclosure Thank you And madam chair when you do hire a new town manager you are not going to get a town manager that comes here without a deferred comp plan
um a car allowance probably around 7,000 It's just it's just we're com this is what we're competing with We're losing our building commissioner to another town Um which is going to be
a very tough position to fill And I hate when people say "Well Norton's a stepping stone." What good is it if you train people for three years and then they leave to go get paid some it cost you more to have to hire somebody else
Have train that person And it I I just hate to hear them say "Well Norton's a stepping stone You know people can come here and then go somewhere else." Then you're constantly turning over So it's not a good good philosophy So you we try and stay competitive
um in any way we can I'm sure Um I'm I'm with you on that Mike Uh and that was kind of what I was getting at earlier when I was saying um it's in the town's best interest to attract and keep good talent and and
that does cost money Um I think what we're all bing at is thinking that this is just sort of a a non-contractual thing where we're going up 10% here and there but what I am hearing now is that maybe there is a contract So could you tell us more about what James' comment
about that there is a contract here so James James does have a contract Yes So and is that the case with previous budget too where we were discussing a a large salary increase um maybe it's less of a discussion and sort of like a someone just you just decided this year
to make it that number There's something Yeah No Uh the the other one was based on um the salary survey that was done Okay This one is contractual Yeah James is the only employee that I don't hire
James is uh works for the select board Medic All right Can you explain to me these maybe I missed it Um the part-time wages looks like the parttime Yeah part-time wages
28,000 expedited in 23 then down to 8,024 Then we approved 19,000 for this year but we've only used $242 and now we're asking for 22,000 for next year
Madam Chair Yes Go ahead James Yeah Uh we had a part-time person who had been working for us for a very long time She was at the top range of the hourly rates back in 22 23 She retired and then um during
the 24 25 we had a hard time finding someone to fill the position Um and uh so the position was vacant most of most of those u those years We finally found someone um recently who's now working uh
the full 18 hours a week So we expect her to get the full 221 185 or close to it next year But the position was unfilled for some time because we were having a hard time finding um applicants that could be flexible enough to work
the hours that we needed Well those those funds were being turned back the past couple of years They have Yeah Okay Thank you Madam Chair And Madam Chair one one more comment I want to make about my salary I did not get a
10% increase Um last year I got a 4% increase I was eligible for up to 5% and but I did not get the full five I only got four Um this year I believe I I I am budgeted for up to five A lot of
the union contracts depending on whether they're moving a lane or not they get way more than that sometimes And nobody really questions them as much as they do when it's you know one of
us That's all I wanted to say about that Thank you Madam Chair James somebody who's internally worked with you for years you're a real bargain And one of the um things that you took on as well recently is the ability to
help invest our money as in working with the uh other people to get the high interest rate that we got last year That helped out big time So um thank you for all you do James and congratulations on your 20 years I second that
Thank you questions All right Next is uh legal So um this year we did uh 70,000 um 23 uh we spent 93,15944 24 we spent
96,75 So right now I'm looking at 90,000 as proposed for next year Obviously we don't know but at least that would get us closer to that 93 96 than uh the
70,000 And it's it's something obviously you we could do the same again and make this low and then hold a reserve fund if we need it at the end of the year But right now the recommended would be
90,000 Yeah And something like this I don't mind I mean I feel like that the 70 wasn't ever realistic So we knew that was going to come out of the reserve at some point I'd rather be realistic on the numbers and not and use that money for things we don't
anticipate Okay Madam Chair Mike you're anticipating them the reserve fund request that you could be up to 125 Yeah Madam Chair Yes Like is there any anybody ever give any thought to I'm
sure you're spending we're spending over 100,000 this year and I'm sure the school has the schools have their own attorney that's spending probably more with all the cases they got with kids uh of hiring a town attorney like that
works for the town and supports the schools and split it I don't know whatever it is to break down Um since I've been here we never looked at that No because that that have um are shared between the schools and the
No Um usually like the schools will use our attorney for certain things but school attorneys are specialized in education related things So usually uh the schools would have their own attorney and you know if you were going
to hire an attorney um our own attorney you're going to pay a lot more than 90,000 And I'm guessing schools 150 at least or even more because all the cases they have I'm guessing you have $300,000 to play with And you know you could
probably get somebody for that Mike with K&P2 you got an abundance of like 50 different specialists that they have immediate access to right they have a special that's what and a lot of times if you had some of the towns I know like in Hullberrook where I used to work we
did have a town attorney then we went out and hired uh KP um because a lot of times what the town attorney would do is he would go out and you know if there was a complicated case he'd go get another attorney to
handle that case and then you were paying both of questions on that Let me blow this up a little This is municipal building um purchases of services That's uh for
um the cleaning on and trash trash services Um and this municipal building is um we handle this building We're trying as we talked about with the fire department spending off some of the
stuff that we used to pay for over there that they're taking on Um we still do pay electricity for this building and um highway and
um Chartley Fire Station and uh what's the other station yeah Barrelsville station and the the repair and maintenance um of buildings is all that
also covers all the all the town buildings and repair maintenance of equipment all same thing according to council agent the the repair maintenance of buildings Yes Yep
Mike the gas then the um fire headquarters have had their own gas bill now separate budget for Yeah Yeah We we only have gas in this building for the generator And this gas is also this
covers animal the animal control which has propane down there Mike did anything go down now that the the temp um the old town hall is torn down that we were paying to some of the things for the old town
halls that saved us money anywhere um repair maintenance of equipment went down Um propane natural gas went down Electricity went down and uh doubt of all the heat pumps
that you're using to heat this place We have a lot of energy credits from the Hill Street landfill So five times the size Mike I'm just hopeful that we can can actually maintain this building going forward because that was one of the downsides of the old town hall
maintain right yeah in up for a year everything's certif um under warranty So after um next October then our warranty will be up Um the next thing and uh James is still
on It's um to this was brought forward by the auditors This is um on the warrant article 14 and this would establish and fund a compensated absence absences trust fund
So this would be to fund um sickly buyback and vacation earned for people that leave or retire Um right now they estimated that we have a $2.7 million liability and they their
thought was that we should have similar to like OPED we should have an account that we start putting money in um towards that James you want to speak on that anymore Madam Chair yes
Yeah Uh in the past um about over 15 years ago uh the town started funding uh this expenses through special articles at town meeting where money would be uh used to fund the retirement separation expense You may remember those And then
that money then would be in the article and we would build it up and transfer money from the articles into the department um whether it be the police or fire department um that needs the money once someone retires and they have a payout Um the the funds have been
building up on some of those articles where we now have enough that we probably should create this type of fund so that we remove the separation expenses right out of the operating budget That way it doesn't skew the the numbers because right now for instance
say um uh a police officer retires there's a a big payout We transfer funds into that budget Now that particular year the budget looks like it's a little higher than it should be And this way uh what we'll do is we
will be paying those expenses right out of the special fund that we're asking to be created right now So we wouldn't need any funds at this time to set up the the fund We will just be asking to transfer all of the uh
existing money that has been previously uh voted for for separation um expenses which we have close to a million dollars Madam Chair that was Steve Go ahead Steve
So James just I think what I heard you're saying the liability is about over 2 million We've funded in the past years What' you say a million and a half Uh unfunded Steve It's unfunded Okay All right Basically if we create the account
it will be funded by by about a million So that funding comes from where potentially from uh the retirement separation articles from the past that still have money left overs If you'll see the list of articles that I sent out last year the question came up I believe
from one of the members why is that money so much money sitting there and we explained that we we had the liability of over 2.5 million at the time and that was to offset part of the liability but it was being accounted for within the
general fund This way the liability and and the the revenue and the expenses are moved right out of the general fund So when you look at the monthly report I sent send you that that money won't show up there as an available source It could confuse some people when they look at it
Okay Um it's just cleaner to have it separate sim similar to what we have the OPE The only difference between the OPE um fund and this fund is that this one we will actually be using So when someone retires we will be paying them out of
there So this account will have expenses strictly related to the pay uh vacation or or sick buyback of of the employees All right And then eventually if the if the fund runs low we will fund it the same way we've been funding the
retirement separation articles Okay On a pay as you go basis Okay And what's covered under separation and is there any kind of plan to potent limit these in the future uh the only thing that's covered is uh sick buyback and and vacation
right every every union has a different um set of rules Uh a lot of the the the majority of the money is used for sick time buyback which a lot of the the unions uh allow up to 50% of their
unused sick time to be uh bought back when they retire from uh but they have to retire from from the town they cannot they're not payable if they just go to work for another town or if they leave employment early Thank you
And as far as I don't know um if um the next negotiations if there's going to be any changes to the to the benefits that's up to the next round of negotiations Okay Thank you
It was always my impression that every year when we voted those articles that that money was for somebody that retired that year it was going in going out So in theory we're sent with a million dollars you already have a uh a fund
basically you're formalizing it It was never in I think five years I've been here never explained to me that we we're put putting this into a basically a stabilization fund for uh retirees or people leaving with them
Did anybody else understand it differently than it's been here for a while i think I understood that sometimes people chose to take it over a longer stretch and we approved it Yes and we approved it at the beginning and then it just it got stretched out That's
how is that is that madam chair if I could another thing that would happen Well I can always remember Paul Schlaker being in my office saying when are you transferring that those funds into my account and we'll be like Paul we're waiting to see what you do with your
salary account Um if if you're not going to make it through the year with your current salary account we'll transfer money in But I think some of that extra money if I had an extra 50,000 at the end of the year could actually use to pay off an employee that was retired
versus yanking it all out that much So when the when the chief would come to us and say look I've got these retirements sometimes they'd retire sometimes they wouldn't retire and we'd get the money appropriated and then we'd be like chief you got enough money in your budget to
cover it You don't need more money And he'd cover it in his budget So the money would sit there Madam Chair So to to verify what James just said
though there's a million dollars that's going to find its way into this Unlike OPED though we're not going to think of funding this you know any amount of money just as the need arises
You you could do you could look at it e either way You could amend the financial policy and you could say "Look we're going to put $5,000 a year into the uncompensated
absences fund." Or you could say "Well um when it gets below 500,000 we'll stop putting money into it." something like that James I don't know if you have ideas Yeah it's an interest bearing account too So we're hoping that it will
make a little bit of interest and it will stay in the fund And it all depends on how many people retire in a given in a given year If nobody retires that the money sits there and and it accumulates a little bit of money It all depends on how fully funded you want to be If you want to be 50% funded 100% funded then
you would have to contribute more But obviously we wouldn't want to have that fund go below a certain level otherwise the money won't be there when when needed But that hasn't been established yet No
we would have to adopt this uh chapter 40 section 13D which is uh the article that we're discussing right now Uh right uh we were pretty much doing it on a pay as you go system where we would fund articles and over the years we've been accumulating some of those articles due
to the fact that some of the retirees elect to get paid over three years so the money stay there then um if the fire or police department which are the usually the the bigger payouts go to those departments um if they had um excess funds on their operating budget
at the end of the year we wouldn't transfer the money out of the article we would just leave it there so that it could help with or or unfunded liability That way when the auditors look at the compensated absences at the end of the year they can see that at least there is some money set aside to offset part of
that $2.7 million liability But now by accepting this article and voting at a town meeting it will allow us to run it like a revolving account almost Whereas if somebody retires from highway and we can just pay with the authorization of
the town manager it that those charges for the sick time can be charged directly to this fund thereby reducing the fund And when it gets to a certain level we can either add more money the same way we were adding money to the retirement separation articles
um or you know keep depleting the fund until it goes to zero if that's the wish of of the finance committee and and the town I I think uh at some point it would be wise to have a conversation and put it
into our policy manual I think I think that would be good um when we go out to borrow to have that added into our policy manual so the actuarials standing in pores can see that we're making a commitment w with our oped and with our
unfunded um ab absences and compensated absences Mike why wouldn't we add a line item to each department just like the fire police town hall DPW and just put an unfund unfunded
liability uh just fund it year to year I mean you know those expenses are there I you don't know the exact number but you know you're given so much vacation time and say okay you know the larger department I would say they fired you know they could put in I I $100,000 I
don't care Yeah I I think that that's the same argument um that we use with OPED that the actuarials don't like We say "Look we fund it every year We just do it in our budget." They don't want to hear that They want to see that you're
making a commitment to set the funds aside for a vote on that Um it's up to you Make a motion we establish the uh vote before presented Second Second
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Steve yes Yes That's all I have [Music]
next week Yeah next week The first one when next week right yeah When you uh take the roll call I don't know whether you need this or not but if everyone could say their full name so that she gets used to want me to spell it
All right Sorry Do we officially want to since we postponed it last week vote on our starting time or we did we postpone or did we just I think we deferred it on Wednesday next week
Oh different topic I got thrown Can you see me i was like my stop meeting next week But but yeah we deferred it last week with the hope of more people Okay
I don't want to change it You saw hard for me to get a vote You want a motion does anyone Does anyone want to make a You don't have to vote if you're not changing it at what
time i'm not sure Do we need to meet before then but that I thought that's what I we Yeah If we have a meeting it's typically before So what time before we've already voted on both articles by Right nothing for us to meet on then So we can
just go to the town meeting Okay All right I will take a motion to move Second So you want all of us to say our names Is that what you said okay So just go down Was that a yes we have to say our names Yes
Bill Rotundi Yes Bonnie Good luck before Yes Zach Tis yes Cabbage like a vegetable Yes No Yes
And then Steve Stephen Evans Yes Stop