##VIDEO ID:UDtcGt_jdTo## interrupting Che sorry about that just because it struck seven um we're going to call the school committee meeting to order it is 7 p.m. on the 23rd of January and we're going to start with our public hearing then I'll go through the rest of the agenda after that so Aon do you have a motion for us please motion to up open the public hearing for fiscal year 26 budget second seconded by Sean um we'll start public hearing is roll call so Chuck here Carla here Sean I yes Aaron yes Tom yes and so we are now in public hearing we do have one member of the public here and I was betting that you had at least one thing to say we appreciate that back one that one you only get one thing one thing oh okay Andy can you turn us down we're a little hot if you don't mind as well I mean I I can have my minute to speak at inome as well but Jeffrey Coram Ridge Road uh if I can only get one thing to say I just would com commend the superintendent Director of Finance for presenting a level service budget despite the cost pressures um I am going to have a few more things um I think last year Well in in last year's budget book at least the version that ended up in the uh the warrant there was a appendix of acronyms which is not in the draft budget so if we could get that back in uh there was also mentioned of a full day and like a permanent substitute for each of the buildings uh who would and the justification being that you know that person could help with you know um observations and you know something came up in the middle of the day and I wonder if that's something that you've seen working successfully in other districts um you know how how that worked you know whether it saved money whether it didn't save money but really helped out with uh you know with those evaluations or something I guess I should be addressing my comments to uh to the chair of the super okay I um goad I also have some questions in the administration section uh there's a line item for advertising um which is different from hiring and recruiting so I was just curious what that line item incurs I also noticed uh equipment dropped by 25% uh versus last year vers and then Postage and Publications went up by 56% and 25% uh the the dollar amounts are small but I'm just curious is there something particular this year that doing more and maybe it's to uh you know inform the public about the Kellum school project or something you know that that that would be foreen U so those were my clients for the budget thank you thank you Dr corm Dres do you want to answer or are you able to answer take away do we want to it's a public hearing so we can respond if we're ready if we want to take it away and say We'll answer as part of the questions next week that's I think we can answer the I'm happy to aners part of the questions right I mean I can give quick update on a couple of them and then we can get more detailed on them too uh the one of the building substitutes we've heard from there there's very few districts who have a full-time uh permanent substitute that we know of especially in the league and regionally in each of their buildings with that said those buildings who have that said that has been a is uh significant Aid to be able to not have to pull people every day sort of as a first line of defense with that said that has been lower on our sort of budget request list given the cost which would be what we've allocated what other districts do as a bachelor's one generally uh so around $660,000 and then you know having that that just hasn't been the highest priority for us to be able to is what we thought is the the most Strategic investment um with that said we haven't sort of run enough of analysis maybe which we could for the budget you know uh for the faq's around how much are we paying for subs and sort of what's the you know the amount there that is the tradeoff there I think that's a good point uh but we just haven't found that 60,000 per billing to be feasible at this point um uh in terms of um Postage and Publications that is uh what we thought was going to be the cost around the uh Community report that's going to be mailed out uh just actually tomorrow will be dropped in mailboxes too so I'll go back and double check and sort of why was there an allocation maybe why is it higher than last year but we know that that's what we think reflects the true cost this year um advertising that a lot of that was put in with was within our HR department our HR department has been doing more to try to be uh kind of forward facing for a lot of different events particular particularly at some of the recruitment fairs some of the the diversity recruitment fairs so we can put some more information in the FAQs around sort of what are we expecting actually how that money will be used um for the year to come as well anything else uh appendix for the acronyms I love that idea uh I feel like in education a lot of people need like the the quarterback cheat sheet on their hand with the acronyms I think that's a uh good piece of feedback so thank you I could just follow up on the advertising I mean there is a separate light item for hiring and recruiting yeah um so I know why it would be split up separately as advertising if it's if it is HR advertising as part of the recruiting then would it make more sense to to glump it together you know is it or is it advertising for school choice that we're you know sending out some other different advertising or something else great thank you for clarifying that too and we'll uh have more information fq thank you good questions good questions that I don't think anything you said or I said was caught on Zoom unfortunately because I forgot to unmute the ne but um hopefully at least others caught it um so we'll go we can recap that if we need to be covered yes it'll be covered as part of the the fact as well uh any other comments on the public forum or from the public on the public forum so we got our one got our one all right appreciate you being here we appreciate it exactly all right do we have a motion motion to close the public hearing for the fiscal year 26 budget and return to regular session second second seconded by Sean and we'll do roll call for that as well Chuck yes Carla yes Sean yes Aaron yes Tom yes and the public hearing is now closed okay so we'll move through the rest of the regular agenda um and then you know go from there so um we will have any additional public comment if there is any for anything that is not on the agenda um since the rest of the budget discussion for the board is on the agenda any other questions can be part of that conversation as well so if there's anything else we can we can have that now um we will unfortunately are not going to be able to have our focus on Excellence because the student who was supposed to come is unfortunately sick uh so we're missing our singing of the some of the Frozen songs that were supposed to be coming to us today but hopefully we can reschedule that at some point in the near future uh we do have our consent agenda and we'll have some reports um a few of those are not going to happen as well so we'll work our way through that um presuming our legal council is able to join I've just pinged him he should be joining shortly we're going to have a review of you know what elected and appointed officials advocacy rates are for B for ballot initiatives um a lot of the stuff already's gone through ksbc but we wanted to make sure especially some of us um are elected only versus appointed we have different rights and we wanted to make sure we're clear on what we can and can't do and so our legal council is going to join us for that discussion um following that um any further conversation or questions from the committee on the FY 26 budget or the public as the case might be uh and then we'll aour okay so with that said any public comments all right seeing none we have a motion on the consent agenda motion to approve the consent agenda second seconded by Chuck uh all in favor all opposed and it passes I didn't ask for any feedback sorry about that but normally you guys don't have feedback so uh another Grant in there is good to see as well so that passes 5 to zero um and we'll move on to reports and Phil do you want to give a report from the car I have to ask you to unmute I can't unmute you for this there you go am I you now yes we can sir um I really got don't really have anything to report so um I guess that's my report all right drive safely drive safely Phil uh all right I'll be home a few minutes all right great Dr M ches anything for you great uh the only thing is just a quick thank you so as we're going through the budget process I'd obviously like to give a huge thank you to Phil little hail for him for how he's jumped into the community over the last month or so uh and got acclimated to our you know our community and I think put together uh supported putting together uh I think a really encouraging FY 26 budget so huge thank you to Phil for his entry to the community uh also obviously behind the scenes I wanted to give a huge thank you to Kate finigan uh kind of an unsung hero on our team too so we know that you know during a time of transition she stepped into to the uh Director of Finance role but also now is just behind the scenes constantly supporting the work of the team and particular a finance department so she is uh excellent at what she does I don't think we could find a better assistant business manager so I just wanted to make sure that she gets uh some of that public recognition that we know she deserves so she's uh she's doing a really amazing job so huge thank you to Kate great thank you any questions no U moving on to Liaison reports and we'll start down at the end Chuck so I don't have a liaison report but I kind of mentioned informally to a few that uh I should formally say that I've decided not to uh run pull papers to run for reelection and it's time to just to let some some other people step up and and uh yeah I really have appreciated all the the uh different members and staff I've worked with over the years and and this this group we're with now now certainly doesn't take a backseat to any of the I really have enjoyed working with all of you and the engagement and the thoughtfulness and and look forward to to watching from the sidelines so you're not used to watching from the sidelines budy whether except is for your coaching so yeah but that's a different case um well I've been yelled at for running on the field [Laughter] before Chuck I think I'll just say it quickly I think um I appreciate your 18 plus years 18 on the school committee plus six on finance committee nine on finance committee um and who knows how how many years on town meeting as well during that period of time or maybe before and after hopefully you're not done with town meeting maybe you're not done with other things but um thank you for all the time I appreciate as well when I joined this committee the the mentorship and and guidance that you were able to provide me as we went through things um I know sometimes I ran too fast and you had helped me slow down um but I I appreciate that and I appreciate your engagement over all this time so thank you thanks go ahead Carla I will say that if I have to um say a word that describes you um to me you are the the great collaborator that you always are trying to find consensus um on the board um and I often accuse you in private of giving up your vote just to um make sure the at when you were the chair giving up your vote because you always wanted to to follow the consensus of the board so um you've taught me a lot um I appreciate everything you've done for for us as a group for the schools so thank you go ahead um I wasn't prepared to do this tonight I thought we might do it on your last night but I'm here to speak um so to piggy back and some what Tom was saying I I really appreciate your support and mentorship um you were a a massive support to me when I got elected 5 years ago and considering the three of us got elected at the craziest time um it was so nice to have like your your calm and your expertise um guiding us through through that covid period um and I just I really appreciate that you have always approached everything like very levelheaded and very very student student and staff focused um I've felt that 100% from you every time so um you I've considered you a mentor and a role model so I thank you for all of that and 18 years is tremendous tremendous so thank you so much I'm gonna I'm going to hold my warm and fuzzy until until we get close to the end here however I'm a little bit excited about the fact that we have a first person to call when we need a Community member on an adog committee so we know you won't go far um despite stepping back from the the regular grind here so get my handicap there you go like Aaron said too I was not prepared to give my thank you remarks to Chuck tonight but I will you know I'll save them for but I want to share just quickly as a echo a couple of things uh I deeply appreciate you know Chuck not only is impact in the community over the past couple of decades but also just for me the last four years what you've meant for me as a a thought partner or Mentor a a resource I don't think could be um uh kind of emphasized enough especially for a first year superintendent who's you know walking into you know all sorts of different things that are unknown a couple lessons just I took away from you is one like like G said how to find middle ground on really challenging sticky issues in the process of building uh coalitions building uh you know trying to build consensus when you're working with kind of difference of opinions and viewpoints and how to hear people but arrive at something that is can move people forward I think it's something that you model really well they learned by watching you uh too how to both hold someone accountable and also support them at the same time I felt that throughout my time as a tenure superintendent Chuck held me to a really high bar for expectation but also at the same time felt like he was in my corner and would have my back when things got and that's a lesson that's important for any you know uh evaluator any leader to be able to do both of those things well three I always like that right when I started he said you know you got to get in there you got to take a swing he's like some you're going to miss but you have to get in there and don't be afraid to take a swing and I think that that knowing that you know someone is there wanting you to put your neck out there and fight the hard fights and do your best to try to you know get in there when things are sticky and they'll still be there supporting you uh meant a lot for me in terms of coming in and trying to lead with confidence and conviction um on different things so uh I obviously I'll have much more to say before but I just wanted to quickly as others mention it tonight just deep appreciation for you for what you've done for the community and for what you've done for for me as a leader too so thank you all right now we got a hard act to follow with R Le on reports Carla give you I'll give you good news good stuff um so we we had a meeting um a ksbc meeting last night for Kellum and we um we got our total project budget um that we will vote on um next Monday third but um two Mondays from now if it'ss from now but um I will just give some numbers and hopefully not to um confuse the issue our our total project budget right now is at 130 and change million dollars the good news is our construction costs um were estimated at 107 million and they're now down to 101 million so um that was really good news but I think our best news is that our the portion of our funding coming from the msba is 42 million and up up till even last week I was telling everybody was 32 million um going through this whole estimating process um uncovered other areas that could be um deemed as um participation meting um by the msba so um 42 we will get if we continue with this project we will get $42 million from the msba so um the cost to the town before incentives um will be about $88 million which is huge because I think people are counting out 10000 mil the number that will be on the ballot for our vote will be1 130 million but um the true cost to us before incentives will be about 8 million which is like really good news and incentives being things like inflation reduction act and things like that that we can apply for from a Federal grant perspective the inflation reduction act um we will bring on a tax expert because there are different um there are at different levels for different pots of money we can put in requests so we'll be on top of that bring it down exactly but but we'll have to pay our whole bill and then after prove that we complied and then get get those incentives back just help potentially pay the bill down faster yes good sure Chuck go ahead you mentioned construction cost so I I deal with that in the insurance business a lot because I do a lot of real estate uh and that's been stick of shock for a long a lot of our clients because of the construction because of inflation have you you you said you've seen that come down so um back in I want to say it was October the msba um increased their amount of reimbursable um uh amount of money per square foot costs so that so the the the costs from the contractors aren't coming down the reimbursements just going up the reim right the reimbursement has gone up the the um cost from the contractors escalation will always take place yeah um and and that's why we're we're really looking at our schedule and as I mentioned last time going to propose to try and condense the schedule a little bit because of that inflation to um to save significant money I think Chuck ref to you referenced 107 coming down to 101 which I think just reflects a refinement of the estim it's not it's not you know the cost of lumber came down 6% or something like that yeah yeah it's just a refinement of the estimates as we got further along in the schematic design and what about interest rates how has that impact everything is that it impacts the cost of the borrowing for sure yeah once we once we realize what um we have to borrow um Sharon angstrom will look at what our borrowing capacity will be but um going back to that 107 million down to 101 the the real reason in addition to refining our estimates um and and taking our design further down the path um is that we had budgeted originally a full geothermal hvbc system and now we only have a half geothermal so that cost went down because of that but um that will take that takes a lot of that $5 million yeah okay great any other questions Ain yeah I mean this is this is like small change for 88 million but the the two and a half that town meeting already approved is that on top of 130 is that part of the 130 like we've already sort of allotted that um that's a great question I am that's a great question cuz we're under budget we talked about that now meeting and whether that was reimbursable or not that is that is reimbursable and we have been um getting reimbursements from the state I'm if I had to you said give me an answer right now I would say it was separate okay and that moving forward because that was for the you know feasibility study schematic design so at this point in time it's moving forward gotcha um into uh more inclusive design and stuff like that okay Sean any other updates on your side report Aaron any updates on your side no report and I have no report as well okay so that means we can move on in the agenda and we will move to our new business which is the review of elected and appointed officials advocacy rights for ballot initiatives and I'm going to change the focus and bring Justin uh legal counsel on you know the chat here um Justin thank you for joining us um so just says background for the committee uh Aaron and I were talking with Dr meski and there was a request to understand you know what rights and abilities we have as elected officials um with regards to advocacy for killum um there was already a conversation at ksbc about what they could do as an appointed body um and I've asked Justin to kind of talk to us a little about what we can do where we can do it as elected officials and potentially Carl and Sean in your case if you wanted to participate how you would do that in the context of the fact that you're appointed but also elected so um Justin I don't know if you want to start from there and just provide an outline and you know then we can ask the committee can ask questions or or what so I leave it to you to to get us going sure uh can everybody hear me okay thumbs up y excellent um well nice to be with you tonight I'm Justin Gomes I an attorney that works with Kobe Bron who I understand U normally assists reading in uh in related to matters like this U she asked that step in for her uh because she was unavailable uh but nevertheless it's an issue that uh I have done some work on in our office um so just sort of a outlining the landscape for us what we're actually meaning when we talk about advocacy for public employees right some of the many factors that we consider is is this a action that's being taken by a public body body as a whole individual elected official in their individual capacity outside of the public body right um I understand that there's the complication here as well with the individual elected official you know School member Committee Member who also serves in an appointed role right um and then U regardless of of of who's taking the action whether or not public resources are being used right um what information is actually being conveyed and what the actual type of advocacy is right with whether it's a a a bright line statement advocating one position over another or engaging in fundraising activity for example so U the the main statutes that govern us our conflict of interest law and then campaign Finance law whereas we're in the realm of a ballot initiative right potentially um where um we have both at stake right both campaign finance and conflict of interest laws attached to our analysis um I've taken the look at one of the previous guidance documents that was you know sent out U and I'm prepared to answer any questions that you may have on that one um not sure how how you'd like to go about it I I'll I'll keep to the committee as to whether or not you'd like me to answer any specific questions as to things that you're contemplating or or may want to do um or or what you think generally is is appropriate in these circumstances Aon did you have anything in particular you wanted to dive in on so I just wanted to clarify um in so in this instance four of us are just considered elective and only Carla and sha are considered appointed even though we all Impact policy yeah car hear me car go ahead yeah that's my question like am like I'm not on the kilum school building committee I am on the school committee am I considered do I follow the guidelines for nonp policymaking or I follow the guidelines for policymaking yeah you so if you're looking you'd be uh following the guidelines for a policy making elected official okay that make sense whereas you're Nona appointed at individually but they're considered appointed because they're on the building committee they are considered both they're considered appointed and elected okay so if you look at at some of the guidance documents they run C they run a scenario um by the reader um one of them you know particularly the ones that relate to fundraising right soliciting gifts related to a ballot initiative or a campaign or hosting a fundraiser for example um the restrictions that an elected official has are assuming that they're purely an elected official you don't have public employment somewhere else in your life um the restrictions of an elected official um don't exist compared to somebody that has a appointed position as well as an elected position so I would read the ksbc role as nonp policymaking right they don't make policy they're they're working through the whole building process but they're nonp policymaking board as opposed to the school committee as a policymaking board it's one of our core responsibilities as policymaking but then we're in the elected category right it's not even there isn't even an elected policy-making conversation it's just elected period um so is there any do you agree with that Asser assertion Justin as as I stated it or I yeah I I would and you know the when you're an elected official there's uh elected officials are giving the most leeway when it is it comes to advocacy um whether that be making public statements actual um you know going out there and campaigning knocking on doors for example um or fundraising and the reason for that is because there's an expectation that you're going to take positions on matters of of among public issues um so you are given leeway where you run into issues potentially is if you were to use any public resources that you have access to by virtue of your elected position in the process of that advocacy I'll give you some examples of where we where the public body or members wouldn't want to go right you wouldn't want to be using your public email to engage in that ad the conce you wouldn't want to be using uh LT that you otherwise wouldn't have access to um old cases used to reference people going into coffee rooms and making flyers and using the the same you know the the more traditional forms of resources that they otherwise have access to by virtue of their elected position those are things that the the committee or committee members um would uh do and that would run them a follow both CLS so Justin let me clarify I think where Tom was going because I I actually read this differently than how I heard him articulate it and I'm not sure I heard you directly react to it the the policym versus non-p policymaking distinction the kilm school building committee I believe is a polic for the purposes of the of the legal guidance here I believe is a policymaking you know entity right like we are hiring you know we're hiring designers and we're making decisions about the design and we're I mean there are you know they're not policies is it more operational but I don't think the distinction is literally are you writing policies versus are you making decisions on behalf of the entity I believe is you know how I read the guide how I read the paragraph here where it says the Public Employee actively participates in determining the agency's policies or plans our plans around who to hire as a designer around what building to build the the school building committee is making those you know is making those determinations and Carla and I are participating that in that as voting members so I I read that to say that it is a policy-making body and we are policy in a policy-making position as voting members versus non-p policymaking me you know a non- policymaking appointee would be you know the superintendent for example who's appointed to that but doesn't have a vote um you know doesn't have a vote in the decisions that we make does that am I reading that the right way yes I I think you are reading that the right way and I apologize if I confuse Tom's question um the policym right I I think that it can be widely interpreted and would Encompass the the members of the committee uh the building committee uh if that makes sense as well as the superintendent could be considered a policymaking or or appointed Authority uh policy maker does that make sense it does it it's my understanding that basically the whole committee the building committee and the superintendent and the town manager and assistant Town manager and are appointed policy makers um and in addition we're elected officials which seems to have um the most Freedom right it's a least restrictive um except for around funding even though you can contribute your own funding um can I ask J I have a question so we're talking a lot about mainly two two members of the committee who were on the on the school building committee plus the school committee why can't they simply when they're talk say report out I'm speaking as a school Committee Member and not as a member of the school B I mean who's going to who's going to call them out on that when they're on both boards I mean let's get down I mean let's get serious about it really I mean we live we live in the the truth though is that the restrictions for us as appointed policy makers are not are not that different right I mean it says outside of work hours well we're not employed you know we we don't have specific work hours and it says unless the ballot question is related to the officials responsibilities and of course it is in this case so we we fun you know functionally have the same restrictions like we can we can use our position either as a school committee member or a school building Committee Member to write a letter to the editor endorsing the ballot question for instance right is is how I read how I read this table so um you know the the primary restrictions here really are about the use of public resources right and the only one that is I I think borderline is the use of the title and according to this table we can even do that as long as it's on the matter of this ballot question which clearly is related to our responsibilities yeah I mean the guard rails are meant to be around use of public resources and what staff does what hired employees do correct not as much elected fundraising to I I wouldn't go so far as to say that that's the only guard rails because it's also the the um there are certain guard rails particularly as it relates to fundraising and campaign Finance right and using your titles I think that the office of campaign Finance has a a pays greater scrutiny if you were to be using your position as an appointed Authority or an employee in that context because there's some there are in fact some bright line rules you can't engage in fundraising uh activity as an an appointed employee um so that's certainly a difference outside of just using p uh public resources uh the I'm not sure if I I I caught the rest of your question of the previous question um whether or not there was any particular differences I I would agree with you that um because this topic is within the scope of both positions you really do have a lot a lot of latitude to uh engage in statements in a certain level of advocacy um over the the particular issue yeah I don't think there was a question I think it was more an assertion of what you just said so I so I'm glad to hear that I guess the one other you know one other thing that's not super clear to me is just the work hours piece I mean I I would perceive that in our context to mean when we're functioning in that appointed position like during our meetings I suppose we shouldn't be you know advocating although I don't I don't know how that works in practice because the whole purpose of the meetings is to is Advocate I think we can't say hey give money to yes for killum at this cont of work hours I'm happy to provide an example that actually comes from a case right so for example you're doing a presentation during one of your meetings and then there's this PowerPoint slide that says vote Yes right that's a level of advocacy that you could not engage it as a body that that's how I take it I take it as I I can say these are the facts about killum and the facts about what happens if it passes and the financial impacts if it doesn't pass um I personally as a a um a taxpayer am going to vote Yes on this but I can never tell anybody how to vote um can go and hold signs for a yes for kilum um I can give my own private funds for yes for killum but I can't host a yes for killum meeting where we're asking people for money that's how I take it but I we could we could host such a meeting okay I I know I don't think you can because you're public official for campaign Finance laws can can School committee members um host a yes for killum meeting where they collect funds as long as they're not apped um that would be depending on where they're posting like their individual private Pages um they they have the latitude to engage in fundraising as an individual elected officials that's not associated with this specific appointing B about hosting up hosting an event at their homes yeah so hosting event um you could potentially if that's something that let me iner of caveat with all of these right if somebody's uh contemplating a certain action I would say that we should have a discussion about it you know individually off offline to talk about the parameters of it because uh it's not as simple as uh we you know who's in attendance what how the solicitations are going out how things are advertised are all factors so I wouldn't want to give you a unilateral endorsement yes go do this uh without having a discussion about it and there and there's a difference between what they can do and what we can do absolutely fundraising could take theoretically could take place at an event that they host it could not take place at an event that you host but we can attend an event that someone you know if I'm attending just as individual person/ School Committee Member I could attend a fundraising event yes yes okay it even say say I mean if I look at the last page of the of the tab there it's right yes unless the official is also an appointed official and we're not appointed in that case right okay we let me I guess pointed there's a pointed apply only to the ballot of question in question what if we're appointed for something else just to be just I'm just playing devil's advocate here I don't know that I mean like Chuck is appointed as a recreation Committee Member and as a voting and is a voting member of the recreation committee kilum technically is not about Recreation it's about schools however there's a portion of how we're building kilum that will include fields that might benefit Recreation so how does that play for Chuck all right the the Chuck hypothetical uh which has a lot of factors there um actually I think you look at the document uh that was provided there's actually a hypothetical related somebody to school building uh project as well as a member of like the the Conservation Commission I would use that as as a touch Point um but as it relates to Chuck U Chuck is not a part of the um kill he's not part of the building but nope he is not yeah so it it would depend on what capacity Chuck is advocating or advertising or promoting that fundraiser if he's merely attending a fundraiser off hours and uh not actually engaging in fundraising activity then that's something that he's allowed to do and when I say fundraising activity I mean soliciting funds MH okay so if if I sorry I'm thinking of things I I'm most likely to do so if I was using my personal cell phone and sharing with my personal Network that a yes for reading yes for kilum committee exists and here's their you know link to make a donation if you want to not saying you have to is that fine I I would want to it would depend on who so I don't want to I'm sharing it to my own network just not as a school committee member as a as a resident of reading yeah I I guess it'd be who who's in that Network right is it are they for example if it were a network of all Math teachers right that you only have contact information by virtue of your school committee being a school Comm no these would be personal connections all right personal connections then you would have the ability to engage in such contact okay we've thrown all sorts of hypotheticals at you you're on your feet on your toes on this one so you know I I don't want to prior to engaging in something U too specific I I'd be happy to have a a communication private communication through the chair um or otherwise um if you're concerned about a specific action you're AR what I what I would say is uh when it comes to a ballad initiative one way to think about it is replace the ballad initiative with a political C uh a political U Camp campaign right in a tradition in the traditional sense that it's a person and if it feels weird to engage in that activity towards a political candidate maybe it's worth giving us a call because a ballot initiative is really uh treated the same and that's an experience that we're more frequently we more frequently encounter can I no of course my head's going and I thought I was good until now um as as the chair of um the building committee I will offer to both a no for or a yes for committee if if they ask for help or resources or plans or can you answer our questions or can you come and give us a presentation equal access to both a yes for or a no for campaign am I allowed to use resources um from our designers I'm I'm assuming that I am um and to talk about the project without talking about voting or telling people how to vote um that's all okay providing information to a yes for or a no for campaign provid providing already public information that exists yes to um is uh absolutely lawful right it's public information that already exists and they virtually anybody could re request that information by way of a public records request they can go right on our website and get it actually it's that available um so equal access is is very important sure right and I could go to a yes for or a no for event even if fundraising is happening and um but not in my official capacity I there are a few things happening there so um when you say you this is entirely separate hypothetical than your previous one right so you're talking about a a a fundraising event uh if you were going to a fundraising event we going to have a talk about it beforehand okay stay away from money and don't talk about my and just go as a taxpayer there you go yeah the conser the conservative approach I would say and I'll say that I've read a lot of decisions on on these issues and the the the guidance has actually changed in the past you know 20 years or so to a certain extense there changes in administration whether it be in the office of campaign Finance or conflict with of Interest agencies right um and so you'll find opinions that may be close to a scenario that you're considering but maybe not necessarily right spot on so that's why it's it's worth having a conversation as to Who's involved what the committee looks like who's the party that's potentially attending and what the activity you're actually think about aging do you have any questions as a committee about the use of public resources um and what that could entail I can just tell you some pitfalls where where folks have run into issues that would be you know promoting even the date of The Ballad initiative um there have been opinions that saying that that that is uh atypical to what a school committee normally would do uh for the uh you know a school district does like for example a robo call that promotes the fact that the election is going to happen on a certain day um folks have gotten in trouble for Leaf litting in in the past uh generally speaking the information that you should be providing is neutral um and uh promoting it in a manner that's atypical to your committee's business would be prohibited as a whole committee you're saying but as individuals we could do different things but as a whole committee that's correct right Justin in your your rooc call example if the town does you know rooc calls or whatever reverse 911 whatever it is for every election that sounds like it wouldn't be deemed as atypical from sort of the normal course of business that's correct okay right the town if the town were to do a robo call like a a time place and location about where the election is where where it's different is if the school itself is uh sending out a message to its audience right right and it's it could be perceived as motivating a certain SE sector of the constituency to get to the polls so that means that Dr meski cannot send a in his normal weekly communication uh a a he has a normal email that he sends out every Friday right he cannot in that which only goes to schools talk about the fact that there's the ballot Initiative for killum on May 13th and we encourage people to get out and vote agreed I would I would discourage you from doing that can I play that one out a little bit too so if if something is in my role as neutral seemly as neutral as you know there's you know people have asked the you know Comm asked questions about the kilm school Pro building project therefore uh more information about the project can be found on kilm school.com seems pretty neutral right I mean I guess you can say since I'm giving them access to it's all publicly accessible resources I would also couldn't I argue that the the election date is also publicly accessible information too so by me saying that there's you know also the the election date is at this time I mean we have a pretty robust Communications Group um that this the information gets sent out on school networks on Town networks on social media networks throughout the town by mail by reverse 911 call Justin isn't there a distinction here between you know political or election related activity and sort of standard informational activity like our the school building committee doesn't have to cease publishing minutes and you know docu I mean we should we can't cease doing those things like those are normal course of business you know for the for the entity it's specifically Communications related to you know the presence of the ballot initiative and the vote and things like that that you're sounds like you're cautioning us against correct yeah so we we can still I I still don't I'm going to push back on you because it it's a step in the process right it's we're following the msba process and throughout the process we've communicated where we're at and this is just another step in the process um that's how I'm sorry it's just another it's another step in the process right we're we're questioning why if if it's if it's a fact that there's an election happening in the town on May 13th that everyone who's registered voter is invited to that election that that information is is widely and publicly available why is it not okay for that to go in like School newsletters by the way there's an not not an emphasis on what to vote just at 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on May 13th at the field house there's an election cuz to be honest there's there's going to be a second ballot question likely if this all happens so it the school won't even be the only thing on the ballot yeah if you look at the there's it's actually right in the guidance document it's you know the the idea is that the superintendent or somebody were to just direct that communication to to these folks and it's really a typical for the types of for example there are many elections that that occur um and if you were to but this one that's particularly related to the ballot initiative that's value or the specific interest to people that have a uh a political position on it right uh it'd be perceived potentially as motivating as certain sect of the electorate uh to get to the polls as opposed to others right um I agree with you that you know a normal communication or uh or a normal notice meeting minutes documents or documentation about a particular uh event is not an issue it's the promotion of that information that's atypical from what you've done because you're treating it differently because it's a valid initiative as well the the office of Kess the only other thing I'd want to explore is I kind of see I see what you're saying but I also see what Carl is saying is like all along we've talked about the various phases of the process and like kind of on the end of all of our you know not the end and you know kind of two-thirds through the way of all of our Graphics are the town vote on you know XYZ date and then all what would happen after that so all along I think we've been in all of our Communications talking about that there's a town vote spraying this date too so I guess it would be atypical for me to say there's an election at the high school on this date that would be atypical but is it atypical for me as I talk about the process to bring up that there is a this the part of the process is there's a town vote no I think that's been something we've been communicating all along I guess what I can do is I don't mind also drafting what I think would be try my best to stay within what I think the confines are run up by your office and see if you had any concerns or feedback or things that you would sort of allow me or not allow me to do it sounds like maybe if I give something more concrete we can react to that absolutely and it's the big thing here is the method and manner of the communication right and and the client the the the the group that it's going distri so the distribution of it and in terms of social media now where um we're not just putting information out to people parents of schoolage children we are putting it out on Facebook we're putting it out on Twitter and other um platforms where people who want access can have access to the schools if they choose to and and and I want to be specific when you say we you need the building committee no this I'm talking about the school district we have a Facebook page we have a Twitter account we we have all that stuff that we use to promote anything going on in the schools so it's not a closed system where an older person in the community who wants to be informed about what's going on in the schools they can have access to that information over social media so it's not excluding a group of people um it it's it's more townwide I would say the also the other thing I keep hearing was atypical right so if we go back to some of the you know your letters from every last election we've had you've probably noted there's an townwide election that's on this date right so if we if we have a track record of notifying of Elections and even think the High School one I was going to say definitely the high school and Rise do that as well because it impacts parking and impacts other things right so let's let's use that as part there is potentially a difference channeling Justin here I think there would potentially be a difference between alerting the new the newsletter distribution that there is an election impact parking etc etc and then saying there's an election that includes a vote on the kilum project right you know which so certainly wording matters that fair there there's a distinction there I I yes there's a dis think think of think if you're the person who does not want to pay more taxes for schools right and you say hey it's not fair that they're using yeah their you know they're on work hours they're they're exploiting their distribtion those are the people protecting again for for me the key is that our Communications don't just go to that Network that they go out on social media where other people have access to it that's my key is that it's not just that Network open platforms it's open to others com like the idea of you sort of considering what you might sound the other thing to mention which may play a role in Justin knows more than me is we do also in the schools talk about things that don't relate to the school sometimes about the town happening like I I have in plenty of times put out Communications around events happening at the senior center or events happening other things too that are just more Community Based too so yeah we'll we'll I'll definitely send some draft or some things and make sure that Justin and Colby and the team have eyes on it and then we fall you know appropriate protocols okay all right this uh this topic I think we've hit pretty hard y Justin thank you for your time appreciate you hopping on very much uh very very helpful thank you no problem if you have any specific questions have to talk through the issues of um thanks for your time tonight thank you Justin and committee if anybody needs to talk to him about any individual concerns just let me know I'll send his number to you as well okay thanks Justin all right so let's um move on to our next topic um which is the budget itself um not killum or anything else around killum but the budget so any discussion any question any topics of concern or anything else that uh people want to raise you guys are a vibrant bunch tonight got you're talking about legal stuff and you're all good start talking about money and you zip up the vote is at the next meeting budget the vote is at the next meeting we got to talk about it last week I know I'll just uh I'm going to alert one thing um and I asked Dr mileski and and team to run some numbers on it you may or may not be aware that there is a bill at um the state level that is essentially a minimum wage bill um for both teachers and staff um theoretically that would go impact in into law if it is signed this time for this budget cycle we're talking about the 2526 um budget cycle um so we've looked at that just to understand what it might mean obviously we haven't planned for that in this budget um and theoretically that law says we'd be paid back after the year had happened so after we'd spent the additional money um but we've we can't go negative either so anyway just FYI we have looked at that number it's not a small number in any way shape or form um but it's out there so we have that many people that don't make minimum wage it's not a minimum wage number it's a it's a relative to it's the MIT living wage type conversation and there the lot yeah I'm not going to get into all the details but um there's a lot of other interesting points about the law that it's very cut and dry and as we know many of the Staffing positions are not cut and dry so there's a there's a lot of questions that would be have to be answered and and this is supposed to be reimbursement from the state correct and if if the state has um you know the state has a lot of things in front of them now that they have to pay back to the federal government um does I I just don't see that state is going to be able to cover this mandate for us in a timely manner we'll see it has we there's a lot of yeah I'm yeah we'll see go ahead chck does it is it impact uh Collective bargaining agreements or or non it it essentially asserts an override of collective bargaining agreements really y guess I'll have to look into that yep won't be your problem Sean's like aren't you glad oh man yeah so anyway we'll we'll see what happens if it comes to fruition but it is it is clearly not part of this this budget as we've cast it so far so if it does come we'll have to adjust and roll the punches and figure things out but in the meantime it's not part of this budget okay anything else just I want to go back to the question on the kind of the first budget topic around kilum project as well I did just quickly pull up the notes from last night too that uh the 2.2 from town meeting the 2.2 feasibility study is included in the total project cost uh and actually if you look at it's on page uh uh 10 of the packet from last night it also looks at out of the $42 million reimbursement 1.13 of that would be from the original 2.2 so I guess that's good news I probably have it right here in this document that I came that's the one I that's the one I pulled it out of right there it's right in the top of that too we've already started getting reimbursed for we have we have we have I think 400,000 or something like that thank you Tom yeah okay any other budget topics conversations going on going twice do I have another motion motion to return nobody seconded so please don't second I can I raise a not for discussion but a topic for sort of potentially future discussion we to do that once upon a time um you triggered it with the thought about or with the comment about the state law um either for the policy subcommittee or potentially for the technology impact committee there's a um there's a state law in the works which would essentially require districts to pass a policy Banning the use of cell phones um in the classroom um whether that state law passes or not I think we should at least have a conversation about it in the appropriate Forum so um just want to throw that out there for it to find its way to somewhere appropriate okay um my first read on that would be that might be one that we want to follow the what does the school committee think they want before we go towards policy committee um and we might want to get some feedback from staff and principles and particular before we make any other further conversations I raised it because we're obviously about to kick off the technology committee so I thought it might be a useful input or you know whatever direction that goes you know we certainly want to get impact input there okay okay so we can potentially put that in for February or something like that as a conversation point at least if we have enough data points by then great okay thanks Sean now there is a motion on the table that hasn't been seconded second seconded by Carla so the motion to adjourn is now seconded not debatable Chuck yes all right we don't have to do roll call all in favor all opposed and none it passes 5 to nothing we are adjourned at 8:00 p.m. e e