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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=3Fv0fmqMTLs

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Okie dokie. >> Hey folks. >> Hey. Hey. >> Sorry, I'm having a little technical difficulties on my end. So, I'm just going to start on my phone, but then I'll move over to my laptop in a second. Uh, so let's see. We've got Jim, Molly,

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Laura, Haley, >> Susie. Okay, great. Uh, so I'm going to call the FinCon to order at 7:02. Um, let's see. We've got kind of a few

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things to do tonight. Uh I think the most important one is to discuss our some endofear uh line transfers. Um and maybe I'll

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just say a couple things for uh the newer members about this process. So, um, one of the ways we address, um, budget lines that are running a

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deficit at the end of the year, they've been over spent, is we can, um, with with approval from the FINCOM and the select board, um, we can authorize the accountant to transfer

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funds from a line that's underspent. to a line that's over spent to to um to balance that that deficit. So, uh I can't recall did I um did I uh share

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Gail's spreadsheet? Does that sound familiar at all? Okay, I'm going to send it right now then. Um let's see. So Gail, our accountant, makes this process a lot easier because she basically

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prepares for us uh some specific like a list of those lines that um have a deficit and and essentially makes some recommendations for um what lines to transfer from. Let's see.

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Okay. So, I'm just sending this along. All right. See, I should be able to start my Zoom now on my desktop. Um, so maybe we'll start on this uh on this

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topic. So, just bear with me for a second. I'm going to now Switch to my desk. Okay. Can you guys hear me? Okay. >> Yep. >> Great. All right. So, let me pull up that document. Uh,

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so and I was looking at this and I I I mean I think I guess the one important line that's not on here is the snow removal. So maybe Haley, we can have a quick chat also about what our current thinking is about

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how to deal with that. Okay, so we've got a total of let's see Oh, wait. We share this. >> Yeah. >> And I just want to print page. >> Okay.

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So, we have a total of I think it's seven lines that have um amounts they've been overspent. Um so, this is how this document works. This comes from the accountant. So, we have

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$11,250 uh deficit on the assessor's clerk. And somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm assuming this is because that position was vacant. And so obviously the clerk was doing the work of >> Yeah, that that's correct. That that is correct.

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>> Okay. Gotcha. Um All right. And uh and so that Yeah. So the the suggestion here is to transfer $11,250 from the administrative assessor line. I

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should probably also pull up the last expense report. See? So I can tell you what we have left in in each of these lines that we're transferring from. See? Okay. So, as of the

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May 31st, well, through May 31st expensive, but the last one I got, uh, let's see, it's dated five May 21st, we have uh

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a balance of $32,700 or so. So, we plenty of funds in that line. Um, so I'm going to first make a motion to recommend the transfer of $11,250

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from the administrative assessor line to the assessor's clerk line. So is there a second on that? >> Second. >> Okay. And now are there any questions or any discussion about this? Does this seem pretty straightforward?

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>> Yeah. So this is just an obvious case of yeah um unfilled position and that work being done by another person. Okay. Uh so let's take a quick uh roll both then if there's no question comments. So who's starting tonight since George is

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not here? Me. >> You do. >> I think I do. Cashew. >> Mojer. >> Mossai. Laura. >> Well, Sunny, where is Laura? >> She was here.

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>> Oh, there she Yeah, she's Anyway, >> muted, but >> she's muted. >> Coming back, I think. >> Yeah, looks that way. >> I'll say Walt and I while we're waiting. >> All right, great. Uh, Laura, did you

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hear that? Uh, >> I kind of went I I skipped I mean I heard the motion and things like that and skipped through but um yes. So So I for the saucer uh >> perfect >> line transfer. >> Okay, great. So um so we're approving

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that transfer. Next one up is um the electrical line. Uh just want to here um >> AJ. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Just while you're looking at that,

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I I was just looking at the most recent expense report and I >> I only show over that the assessor's clerk line is only over by about 6,000 something rather than >> 11,000. So are we expecting more to come in or am I missing something there? Yeah,

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>> as of a later date, >> I I just pulled up the most recent one that's online expense reported >> that's stated on 57. What? And I think AJ said he had a different date. >> Yeah. So, I think there's a couple

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things going on. One is that there's probably a little bit of a lag that we're seeing and I think Gail is making a projection because these are ongoing costs, right? Or some of these are. So like electricity is obviously we're still going to incur an expense here

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through June 30th. Um same with the assessor's clerk is going to continue to be paid through the end of the year. So I think Gail is doing a couple things. One is she's looking at how much has been overspent

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to date and then is projecting what else is going to be needed to carry us to the end of the the year. Okay. >> Does that make sense? >> Yep. >> Okay. So, like for instance, the the electric line, the electricity line as

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of the May 21st expense report was only uh only had a deficit of $2,814. But obviously she's making uh some projection that we'll need that

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that by the end of the year this deficit will be as much as $10,000. So she's suggesting we transfer that much money. So um >> actually that's that's true, but also part of that are bills that we've been sitting on because

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>> we have those electric bills from before the library was credited for their solar panels. Mhm. >> So that's what the bulk of that cost is. It's actually the before credit um bill. >> Okay. Can you give us an update because I think um on the library issue. So, I

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think just to remind people, I think there was some concern about some fairly expensive electrical bills for the new library building, but there was also some confusion about whether those would be credited

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with given the coming online of the um solar system at the library. So, what what's the latest on that? So, we can expect to see the credits going forward, but all of these costs are precredit. So, I think those panels probably went

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live like January or February. Um, so they were not in the system yet. So, we are on um we're on the hook for that cost, but the bill should be less going forward because we'll be enrolled in the program. >> Okay. So, some of this $10,000 that Gail

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is asking for us to transfer is are these outstanding balances from the library >> that we didn't pay because we were sort of investigating what the deal was. >> Yeah, we we were one there was some kind of gap too. So, that whole process was

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extended I think longer than it needed to be. Maryanne definitely did her due diligence and contacted Eversource um for that. >> Okay. So, um, last thing on this is is there, um, it's probably too early to

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say this, but is there some sense of how things are going now that the I guess we've gotten authorization, the s the solar system is generating electricity, we're earning credits at the library. Is there is there some early signs about

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kind of how it's doing in terms of um are we are we banking um not yet? >> Not yet. >> Um no, it's too new of a building, but I would anticipate it's likely that there will be some electrical costs like next winter,

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>> you know, when we use up the credits we've acred over the summer. >> Right. Okay. Got it. >> All right. Um, so we are okay. So the health insurance line

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as of again May 21st uh had a balance of $126,000 or so. Obviously sure some portion of that is going to get spent still. Uh but

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um but you know it's only at about 8 what is that 83% spent so uh might be tight but obviously she has enough confidence that we can >> we can afford to transfer $10,000 from the health insurance line for this.

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Okay. Uh, so I'll make a motion to recommend uh transfer of $10,000 from our health insurance line to the building's electrical line. >> Second.

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>> Okay. Any other questions about this or any discussion, concerns? Okay. So, we'll take a vote. Cashew I >> moer I los. >> Uh, so do I. Steini >> Walton I

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>> Okay, great. All right. Next one is heating. All right. This one is basically as of May 21st was had a deficit of $98. So I think it was just at that point where it's now

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getting over spent. So Gail is assuming we'll need $4,000. um to cover through the end of the year. She's recommending that we transfer funds from this health district

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which um I don't know Susie, you've done some research on this. Is there any update because this we have zero dollars spent on this, >> right? So they spent the year trying to get that um person in position and it didn't get spent. So, it will be um they

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can draw on that money cuz it wasn't spent. And eventually, I don't know as of when they have um somebody in the position. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, there's no expectation that

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that this line is going to be spent or a significant amount of it is going to need to be spent between now and the end of the fiscal year. Right. Okay. >> And they will not be spending it. >> Okay. All right. So that's third that that amounts to 32,000 and change of uh

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unspent funds for that line. So >> seems like plenty to cover this $4,000 deficit. Any questions about this? All right. So I'll make a motion to recommend a transfer of $4,000 from the

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county health district line to the building's heated line. >> Second. Okay. And uh we'll start to vote. Cashew I >> Moer I. >> Moss I >> Soto I.

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>> Walton I. >> Okay. Then we have emergency management phone notification. This is small amount of deficit here. $117.

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Let's hold a check. Uh Okay. Yeah. So, this matches what is in the um on the expense report. $116.79. So, presumably there's no additional expense that we're going to that must

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have been a bill that got paid. Okay. So, um, she's recommending we transfer from >> Mhm. >> the >> fur cog line

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uh, let's see, >> she has 672 left in on five. >> Yeah. >> Early May. >> Okay, got it. So, 2016. Okay. So, she's got three

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transfers here, but they're under that 600 and change uh amount. So, okay. Any questions about this? So, yeah, Furcog has a balance of $672 right now. Okay. Okay, I'll make a motion to

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recommend a transfer of $116.79. >> Uh from the emergency management notification line to sorry from the council of government's line to the emergency management phone notification line. >> Second. >> Okay, great. Uh any other questions,

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discussion? Cashew I moer. >> Mosai, >> I All right. Next up is uh >> uh electrical inspection. Okay, this is this has a balance of $13

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on the um on the last expense report. So, there must be some expectation there's going to be another bill for this or >> Yeah. >> So, >> if you go on this >> Yeah. >> Um the the second tab has her explanations. >> Oh, I didn't even look at that.

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>> Make this bigger. Oh, she does have to know. Okay. Uh, the electrical inspector certification was more than anticipated. Okay. All right. Um, okay. So, this is another one that she's

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recommending we transfer from the Furcog line. So, I'll make a motion to transfer $100.14 from the council government's budget line to the electrical inspection expenses line. Second.

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>> Okay. Any other discussion about this? All right. Cashew I >> Moer I >> Shine I >> Walton I. >> Okay. Next up is $300

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from highway m wages for to the highway longevity bonus. So let's see. The highway chief was owed long longevity but not budgeted. Uh Haley, do you have any information about this? Was this just a mistake on our part in terms of

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when we >> um for that one and the one below it where the library cloak needed longevity? Just a simple error. >> Okay, got it. >> I'm a little confused because does that mean that Dave Grineer's years and I

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don't know how many years on as a worker are part of how that accumulated? >> Yes. So, uh, so I guess he's getting credited for, um, his total years as an employee of the highway department, it sounds

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like. Okay. Um, that might be a good a good uh task for the personnel board to see if they're like specific. I mean, I I don't have a concern about it, but it' be be a

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good thing to have an explicit >> No, absolutely agree with that. Yes. >> All right. Uh, okay. So, highway wages. I want to see what that's at.

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Okay. So, Highway Wages has a balance of $34,538 as of May 21st. So, that line is about 71% spent. Um, okay.

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And I guess what would we say like we're probably May 21st is what? Uh that's probably about 46 weeks into the year. Does that sound right? Uh into the fiscal year. >> Yeah,

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>> something like that. Okay. I just want to so like for a budget line that was like getting spent regular increments over the course of the year, we would expect to be at about 88% or something roughly that uh by this

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point. So, okay. So, that looks like it's pretty healthy balance there. All right. Uh, so the recommendation I'm going to make a motion to to recommend a transfer of $300 from the highway wages line to the

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highway longevity bonus line. >> Second. >> Okay. Any other discussion about that? >> Okay. Cashew I >> Moerie, >> Mossi, >> where do I >> Stein? I

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>> Walton I. >> Great. Um, last one. Uh, similar I guess issue for the library. So, it's the library clerk uh who's owed

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longevity but was not budgeted. Uh, okay. and that bonus is $100. So the recommendation here is to transfer that from the council of government's line. Uh so I'll make a

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motion to recommend a transfer of $100 from the council of government's line to the library longevity line. Any Let me see if there's a second >> second. >> Second. >> Okay. Any >> I have a question. I have a question

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because with the highway >> we don't we do have some wage lines but there wasn't one for longevity in the library expenditures we have had the longevity and there was a longevity of

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$150 paid out um in FY26. So I guess what so I think when we had the discussion on that budget we didn't there was no request in FY27 and we maybe thought we just did one of those.

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So somehow we need to get that information more clearly like maybe it needs to be attributed to a specific person >> um so we can see it happening. Yeah, I don't know who I don't know who

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a library clerk is. >> Molly, were you trying to say something or were you Oh, no. Sorry. Yeah, you're talking to a colleague. Okay. Uh, yeah. I I guess my expectation is that that this is something that should be

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budgeted by the department head, right? And that that should come to us in the proposed budget. And presumably that department head should have

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information about the um you know the length of service employment for each of their employees and who's eligible and when they're um when they're eligible. So maybe it's like we need to just

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with our you know it occurs to me now as we're talking about this that our our usual budget letter maybe it should have like I don't know if like footnotes is the right thing but like a little like at the end of the letter just like a few reminders like this like

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>> um and this could be one of them. >> Yeah. make, you know, make sure you've reviewed the eligibility of your staff for any longevity bonuses they might be owed in the upcoming fiscal year or

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something like that. >> Yeah. And and that would be applied across all departments because right now we don't I'm not sure how the information has reached us before, but it is on the library budget. um in the

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past. So um we know that Maryanne had that um knowledge, but we don't know if everybody else did that. So some a reminder on the annual letter would put it back in their court and then we'd know.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. And it does like this is a good point about the sort of consistency because it looks like I see a longevity bonus line as part of the police department's budget,

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the highway, but not the fire department. >> Presumably they're eligible and >> yeah, >> based on the same rules, right? Mhm. >> And uh

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that's pretty much it. So um >> it's under also on the TAS of line. >> Let's see. I just did a search for longevity. So maybe I'm looking at that. >> Yeah. Who else?W. >> I don't see it on that treasure.

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>> Yeah, I don't see it on. So that should be added. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think am I right to to assume that every department is eligible for

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uh or or every department employees are eligible for the same longevity bonus using the same criteria in terms of length of service. Is that >> Yeah. Right. So yeah, that that so we

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may need to talk to Kale about just making sure every department has that. And then I think that would help the department heads. It would trigger them as they're putting their budget together to just do that thinking of like, okay, well, who's who's coming up for uh

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potential longevity bonus? >> We can also put it in the forms that I've been sending out. >> Yeah. >> A line, a blank line for that. Um because I think what's happened is that when somebody was eligible it got allocated and then when they weren't

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eligible it disappeared on on our forms. So we can make our form that we send to them always have a longevity line and they can fill it in. >> Yeah. and not not to create work for them, but I'm wondering also if like maybe this is there's a task for the

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personnel board to you know have a roster of all town employees and you know that um that are not working under a separate negotiated contract and could have their

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sort of start date of service and then a calculation of their length of service and >> then that that would be helpful to sort of see how many of these are coming up in any given year. >> Yeah, I think that's a good idea. >> Yeah. Okay.

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All right. So, any other questions about this last transfer? All right. Uh so I'm going to vote uh cashew I >> Mojer. >> Mos I >> where do I >> sign I

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>> Walton I >> great okay so I'm looking at the explanations sheet and so here we have some more information on other items that will need transfer. So, snow and ice has a

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transfer of $100,732. Uh, building supplies may need approximately $1,000 due to costs going up for regular supplies. Okay. Fire department salaries and wages both may need transfers due to mutual aid

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restaurant. Veterans benefits will need 2500 to 3500. So, we'll just look at a couple of these. Yeah. So, veterans benefits line right now is over spent by $1,551.

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Um, Haley, do you think we should vote on a a transfer tonight or is Gail expecting us to do a second round of these transfers? because there must have been a reason why she didn't put this on the

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first page where we have all of the transfers that we just voted on. >> Yeah, she's definitely expecting to do a second round. >> Okay. All right. So, we won't we won't take any action uh any on these tonight, but just so folks know, we have, you

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know, uh we're going to have a few. So, I'm just going to look up the fire department All right. So, training salaries have a balance of $6,245,

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but the response wages is overspent by $6,252 as of May 21st. It does seem like this was an unusually busy year for fire departments, right? Is that does that include the transfer

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we made? >> That's >> um No, it does not include that. I still need the language. I think I missed that meeting. So, I just need that language and I'll put that together and I should take care of that one. >> Okay, great. Um I'm trying to remember.

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Was that two meetings ago or was that our last meeting? >> Well, I think it's um April >> 23rd. >> April 28th. It's in the minutes we haven't approved yet. April 28th. >> Oh, okay. Great.

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Let me just hold up those minutes. >> And that transfer was um 5,500. So, it changes this picture >> by that much. >> Okay. So, that >> and I assume every everyone voted yes. That was there. >> Yeah.

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>> Yeah. >> Unanimous. And at that point those were going for the call wages. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Think approved the transfer unanimously. Uh

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yeah. So if if if Gail needs the minutes from that or as a as a record, it was from April April 28th. >> Okay. >> All right. And then

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on snow and ice. All right. 100,732. So, I guess the So, I'm going to just pull up something because I don't know if this this amount of reserve funds available includes the

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$5,500 that we already transferred, but I can find out in a second here 27. $7 million. Okay, it does not. So, we have a balance of $47,400 $48445. Okay, so that's our balance.

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So, we'll need Are any of these lines AJ possibly uh transfer some other lines also or do we think these are all going to require u >> I think these other ones are going to be small enough that we we'll deal with them with lineto line transfers I

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believe. >> Yeah. So, I guess maybe Haley, a question for Gail is, can she does she think it's appropriate? And can we find

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um $53,250 worth of additional potential transfers to cover the rest? >> Yes, we can. >> Yeah. um because we'll have we'll have some money left over in the town coke line because that position is not likely to be filled by the end of June. Uh

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there's likely to be some remaining funds in the police chief salary line. >> Um possibly health insurance, her and I are keeping an eye on that and also possibly the admin assessor. So we could get pretty close. >> Okay. And there's definitely a fair

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amount in that county health district as we saw earlier. We've only >> we've only transferred 4,000 out of it. It was 30 something,000. So, okay. So, yeah, maybe in that uh maybe we can handle that. Obviously, since we're not going to

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we're not going to see that number grow uh between now and the end of the fiscal year. So, maybe we can deal with that uh snow and ice line at our next uh you know, round two of these transfers.

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>> Any idea on that fire department salaries and wages what that might add up to? >> Yeah, so like what did we say it is right now? It is it's about $6,252

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right now. the training line has almost that exact amount of balance on it, but I don't know if there are any other training exercises or activities. So, that would be a question for Lenny maybe if he anticipates

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spending any of that additional any of that training balance um between now and the end of the fiscal year. If they've done if they've done all their training exercises, then I would think that would be the the

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logic. >> They they train every Thursday night. Doesn't don't know who shows up. It's a a variable number who attends, but >> there's a few Thursdays left in the year. >> All right. So So maybe some of that will

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be available, but but not all of it. Okay. But yeah, that's that's what it's looking like right now. >> Small balance. >> Yeah. All right. >> And then the veteran benefits is

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interesting because that I feel like that that line usually that's a line that's usually under spent as I recall in in recent years. So we must have had an additional eligible

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person I I think >> right >> come online uh this year. So okay >> um so we may need to look at that in the FY28 budget see if you know if we if we're budgeting that um at the right

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level. All right. >> Okay. Any other questions on linetoline transfers? Well, I think I think that we would need to sort of distill the lesson from each of these items or we need to look at how we did for FY27 projections

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and then see if there's anything we should be paying attention to coming up. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. No, that's that's um I mean I think the two the so so obviously there there's a there's we don't have to spend time

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talking about the assessor's clerk because that's just a personnel management sort of issue but I think at least two of the lines that we've discussed tonight the electrical line and the heating line. So the electrical line I think we've got to see what go

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what's you know we're still in this process of learning about the library and its energy usage and what our so that's something to I think watch very carefully this year and sort of see what what the what the expenses look like at

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different times of year there. Um and then heating. >> Yeah. I mean that's that's one that you know I know that heating expenses have um has been going up but I and is there any

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reason to think that we would be spending less next year? It seems seems unlikely but so we might. >> It was also a really cold winter this year and who knows what next winter is going to be, >> right? Yeah. But that's another one to

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maybe see if there's like >> an adjustment that I think, you know, potentially needs to be made on the FY28 budget. I can't remember. >> We may have boosted it, but I can't find my budget right now. >> Yeah, I'll I'll look it up while we're talking. >> Uh,

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okay. And then, you know, I think I I think this was such an unusual year for snow and ice, but like was it a $100,000

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unusual or is, you know, is this just the reality that like the materials cost quite a bit more? Um, yeah. I don't I don't know what to make of that. Uh, all right. >> And this and the budget that they're

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still wrestling with for supplemental >> um they're they identified giving town some money for the extraordinary snow and ice. So, we don't know how that'll come out. Um, cuz that's not a done deal yet. But everybody, so that that doesn't

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point to whether we overcended our roads. That points to it was a hard year. >> Right. Got it. So heating we only boosted by $1,000. So it was 14,000 in FY26 and 15,000 in

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FY27. So yeah, that's definitely one we're going to have to maybe think about for FY28. Maybe we'll, you know, we'll see how how we how our FY27 spending is on that one. Okay.

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All right. Um, so let's see. We've got a couple of um sort of miscellaneous announcements that or news that came through. Um, I guess maybe before I get to those, Haley, are there any other

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items that you think we're going to need to address that weren't identified by Gail um that we're going to need to deal with in terms of like FY26 def?

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The only thing I can think of is like any repair or monitoring costs related to the oil tank leak that weren't part of the covered insurance expenses. >> Okay. >> But I haven't seen any invoices at the time. >> Okay. Got it.

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>> Um All right. Uh sorry I want to check one other thing. Okay. So let's talk about PAS. So I sent I forwarded the um

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quote or or proposal that you shared uh Haley. So from Tai and Bond. So can you remind us what this this is for the the ongoing testing and >> is it is it actual like does that

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include replacement of poets or >> I do not believe that was a covered expense in their scope of service. >> All right. >> I'm pulling it up right now. Um so that does not include

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bottled water delivery to impacted residents if needed. We don't really that much um costs associated with the installation of the poet systems and you know any annual fees or laboratory service costs that we have to pay.

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>> Okay. >> So this is just for the sampling the testing and reporting costs and monitoring. >> Okay. So the bottom line is these are the these these are the amounts for PAS

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testing that tie-in bond is going to need for FY27 FY28 and FY29. So what did we budget

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for? So in the in the expense report >> um on page 12 >> um we have um a balance of 117,000

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214. >> So that's okay. >> I think that's I think that's a couple weeks old. So, the one I'm looking at that's dated May 21st, >> that that has a balance of $13,819. >> Okay.

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>> And we spent $94,627. >> Okay. So, um so this 106 >> is almost all covered um for next year. Yeah.

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Now, what I'm trying to remind myself is um >> Right. >> So, we don't actually >> Right. >> We don't have a PAS testing line in our budget. Right.

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>> Right. It's not it's not there. And the the um page 12, that kind of page is called page 12. Um

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what page am I on? 8 9 10 11 12 is called general capital fund. So what I believe, but I think we need some leg work on this. What I believe is this is a fund that pays out those bills that um

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in this case we made those two um loans. We bought bought those two loans. And so in our um operating budget that we brought forth at ATM, we don't

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have a going out a cost in that. But um we do have the um the loan interest is written into ours but no loan principal. So does that mean we finished

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paying off the principal? Doesn't seem like it. So >> um >> yeah, it's a good question. So I guess there's a few things to think about moving forward is one is

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let's let's assume that we've for the most part we've got FY27 taken care of right now with the balance that remains in that PAS contamination line. Mhm.

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>> I think I think starting with FY28, we probably need an operating line for PAS testing, right? >> Yeah. And we need to actually like I I think

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we've had this strategy in the past of borrowing funds to cover these costs. But I think that sort of assumes that these are like capital expenses where

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they're sort of short-term in nature um or like one time. And I think I think it's more likely that this is just going to be an ongoing

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responsibility that the town assumes, right? Is there any reason to think that's not the case? No. And it seems like around somewhere around a hundred to $110,000 for the >> right >> for the next few years is the right

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amount to budget. So, this is one of those unfortunate things we're going to need to add, I think, to our FY28 budget is u because I don't think we want to continue like borrowing money for PAS

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testing unless there's some special opportunity that's like interest free or you know repayment or some which we thought maybe there was going to be but it turned out not to be the case. Right. there is some legislation, correct

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>> that may cover some of the PAS costs to towns. Um, and so that's a possible um and and not in terms of a loan. And the other piece is >> I wonder if this contract should be

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renegotiated. This sounds like a a lot of money. I mean, initially it was kind of like figuring it all out. Well, we're not figuring it all out now. So, $100,000 a year um for sample testing,

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which we also moved it, the state allowed us to move or no, D allowed us to move it down to a half year, not a quarter, not every quarter. So I I think somebody needs to sit down with Tyen Bond and make sure that this there's a reason for it to be as expensive as it's

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been all along when I don't see how that would be necessarily true. >> So I guess one question Susie is what is the what are the assumptions that went into this

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um proposal? were they to continue to test all of the homes within that um that radius, right? Uh twice a year or is this quarterly testing? Haley, do you have any insight into this?

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>> Um I'm looking at it right now and I'm also wondering if this is something that should go out to bid. You know, maybe we do need to be a little bit more competitive because there are other companies service. Um, you know, it does say in the scope of services that

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they're including additional five additional locations per sampling round. >> So, that can help drive up the costs. >> Um, >> but I when I got this today, I didn't have much time to sit down with it. I just wanted to make sure that you, you know, had it um >> No,

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>> on the docket, but I would like to maybe talk with some other town administrators to see like, >> you know, I don't know, maybe if there are neighboring communities that we could partner with, how to increase our our buying potential. >> Yeah. >> Um,

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>> so I think that would be a good thing to do and and also Yeah. see um see if this is something that can go out for bid and if there might be some value in doing that. But I think also getting some clarification

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from Tai and Bond about what assumptions were made >> and I'm talking about like at that level of okay this is number of homes. I understand it makes sense for them to account for an expanding

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radius that includes maybe whatever number of additional homes. Sounds like five additional homes per year. That seems fine for them to plan for that. But like how often are they testing? So like what is the cost per sample test?

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Like to get that >> right >> level of detail I think would be useful. And I'd also like to see the original just to compare it. >> Okay. >> So, I'll try to find that. >> All right. That's great. >> The other thing that happened is the man

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that started this, Jeffrey Arps, left. So, we ended up having two um administrations change at the same time. So, I guess that could call it a fresh start, but there's lost history. Um, but what I would say is that I I think

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there's like 70 houses, something like that. I don't even know what that number is. But to go up five and not and have it move down to a half year, um, it seems like this is this contract is

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needs to start all over. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think I would expect in a proposal. All right. So, let's actually there might be something from me. Considering the potential for one or more of these

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uh all right additional five private well locations semian annually. Now it says it in the >> okay here. So I guess I would be interested in in

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like have having some information about the cost per per sample I don't know per per home and then to get that level of detail of like how many homes how many times a year are they testing what is the cost per test

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or per sample whatever the terminology is like that that would be useful especially if we're going to put this out to bid and we can you these this kind of project should be fairly easy unlike other one kinds to

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compare from one bit to the other because there you know it's pretty straightforward you know all right uh okay so that's one that was one update another >> before we go before we go on I'd like to

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know why the principal isn't on our operating budget Yeah. So, I think I think that might be a question for um for Ryan, right? Um since

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>> Yeah, >> he manages the borrowing. Uh you know what? I'm kind of I uh Haley, if you're okay, I think I will email Ryan about that question and I'll CC you on that because I'd like to >> um

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>> just um just know he's on vacation this week, so I wouldn't expect like a response. >> Quick response. Yeah, that's fine. >> Yeah. Yeah. Haley, Haley, regarding your comment earlier about um you reaching out to other towns and see uh and seeing how what they're how they're handling

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this type of thing. What's your sense right now of the towns around us? How many have similar kinds of situations where they're monitoring doing this type of monitoring? >> I don't know that I have the best pulse on that. I see it pop up time to time on like the lister for small town

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administrators. Um, but I don't there's not like a coordinated effort between small rural towns and it feels like there probably ought to be. Um, you know, I mean, if more towns went into bid, you know, like the Furcohog does with gas and um, you

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know, diesel prices, maybe we could get a cheaper product. >> Yeah. And I'm I'm just thinking maybe there's other things that can be gleaned from that that they may be they are they getting some kind of support uh >> uh whether through grants or whatever or

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are they using different types of testing approaches that are more cost effective or or whatever. >> I can definitely find out. I'll reach out to a couple people. >> Okay.

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>> Um All right. other updates. Let's see. So, uh you saw the letter. we did not win the um the uh grant to for the greater which

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is uh unfortunate and um so I I can't remember the exact explanation but and I guess we can just table this till George is is back but I thought he

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um unless Lori I don't know if there was any discussion at capital planning about what the contingency was if they do if they don't earn the grant. There was a reason why we didn't put it on the warrant this year, right? And it was because it wasn't just because we were

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assuming that it would get funded, but I thought the assumption was if it doesn't get funded, there's there's some backup plan. We're not going to actually borrow for this. Is it Can you speak to that or

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>> um I mean I think there is kind of an aspect of like continuing to apply for this grant I think is one piece and then I think there's also like the chapter 90 money and kind of like you know but potentially putting a significant portion of that towards it though I don't know cover all of it.

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>> Got it. Okay. So, I think I'll ask George to have a follow-up conversation um with Dave about uh what the Yeah. What what the contingency plan is. Yeah. Maybe I'm assuming is

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this a is this an annual grant? Uh >> he said it was the first time he's seen it, so I'm not sure. >> Got it. All right. So, maybe chapter 90 is the way to go. Okay. All right. So, we'll we'll I'll ask George to follow up with him.

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>> One one other thing there, AJ, in that letter that you shared with us. >> Um, it also asked it also invited >> Yeah. >> a follow-up discussion with them. Uh, that might >> help us understand better just why we were not successful this go around and

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what we might be able to do um, you know, the next go around, maybe to give us a better chance. That >> That's a good point. Um, Haley, did Dave mention anything about um getting some more information about our proposal or

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>> No, but I'll I'll ask him to do that be helpful information. >> It' be helpful, especially if there's another round of funding. >> Yeah, because I know he was saying like communities like South Deerfield received one and I think lever it. So, be curious to see why we weren't chosen.

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>> Yeah. Okay. I know we've circled around this in the past, but uh I'm begging your indulgence about this, but like is there if Lever is purchasing a new grader, help me understand?

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Well, I don't know what their incentive would be to to share that with us if they're getting uh if they're getting a grant for unless the unless the grant's not covering the full cost of it. But um >> but I don't know is there is there

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>> is anybody >> the sharing >> Yeah. Does anybody feel like this this is worth exploring? Like is a greater is it is is it one of those things where everybody needs it at the same exact time and it's not >> Yes. >> sharable. >> Yeah. >> And it's not clear that leverage getting

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a greater with their grant. Right. because I thought that um David Dave told us that they had two graders. >> Oh, that's true. Yeah, I'll clarify and say he said that they were like awarded. I don't know if they had actually

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>> Yeah, it might have been a different kind of equipment. Okay. >> Right. >> All right. >> And I I looked at um our chapter 90 money. Um, one, the state is preparing a bond that gives the same amount that

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they gave in FY 26 for FY27. And for Shootesberry, it's the initial chapter 90 plus a fair share part. And those two things added together are 385 718. We still have some 82,000 plus

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unspent from 25. And so, um, alto together with that unspent money, the money that's coming in for FY27 and the money that came in in FY26, we'd be at 8,54

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517. And I know that Dave has plans for West Pelum paving, but um and I know that they feel somewhat successful with the $16,000 repair on the old greater. Um if

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the idea is to wait for the next grant round, then maybe it would take um the old greater could get by or maybe it can't. Dave would Dave and George should explore all of those options um and and

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know what kind of funds are are on hand and what what could be done. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. So, more on that. Uh one of our future meetings. All right.

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Uh SCES parking lot update. So, um, I took a So, this I I only had about two minutes to look at this document. >> I don't know if anybody else had a chance. So, I'm assuming this is the the

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sort of engineering study that got funded at annual town meeting. Is that this is like updated scope for that? >> What's the company name? >> All right. Uh, pull it up. This is from Nate.

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Oh, here Burkshere Design Group. >> Yes. Okay. Yeah, they're the study. >> Okay. >> All right. And does anybody remember what was um appropriated at town meeting? Was

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it was it 15,800? See, I have to pull that up. >> It is over here. >> Sounds familiar. That >> it is

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picked a few things. Yeah. 158. >> Okay. Good. All right. So, it must have uh All right. Yes. So, this actually >> what's that number on his on the form? >> It'sif it's 15,800. So, it must it must

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have come from this um >> proposal. >> Proposal. Okay. Good. All right. So, I think we're in good shape on this, right? I thought >> I I t I was at the school committee meeting and I would say that there's

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a lot going on like too many moving pieces. So I said to I said at that meeting that money is not available till July 1st >> and that was like a oh so um

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and there's other there's other pieces coming in like the um ground heat source um investigation is um they're exploring that trying to find out who to get the bid from. But um and

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if they do ground source heat pumps, they would use the space under the parking lot for the um tubes or whatever they call them. And so then that might help pay for the actual paving when it

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all comes together. But I know that they um Haley's meeting with um some of the um main people involved in this which would be an and and Nate and um probably building committee and but it it felt to

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me at that meeting that it was very complicated and the idea that they had already begun to spend that money with Birkshere when we it's really FY27 money meant to

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me these are people dealing with stuff that they need a lot of guidance. So um I don't there are too many avenues going forward right now um and they need to get coordinated

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so I guess all right so Haley would there be a pro if assuming this Birkshshire design group is okay, maybe sort of having

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begun the work and if they're okay with with getting paid in, you know, call it July 1st. Um, is there is that is that an issue? Like is would

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we be running a foul of any sort of like rules? Um, so I did talk to Gail about this and you know there is some flexibility. The nice thing is that because we're using free cash, she is more comfortable um, you know, going ahead with certain

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projects in advance of July 1 because we are using free cash. If it was a different appropriation, it would be a different story. Um, so we there is some flexibility there. Um, I think that the parking lot is also very, like Sus said,

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very nuanced because there's some patching work that'll need to be done. And the initial quote that we got was much higher than we were expecting. So, now we're looking at um eliciting more quotes to do like a patchwork job until

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we can do the full repaving project. Um, you know, it's a very complicated, very multi-layered. There's still that the tank that the fire chief wants to have installed underneath the ground. Um Michael Deir will be at the meeting um

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with an myself and a couple other folks to talk about like the the grant opportunities that we're pursuing through green communities. Um but it it is a very complex very complex process. >> Yeah.

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>> Okay. I I the other piece I told him is that um I felt like um everything all of the communications should be sent to U AJ as chair. >> Um >> they were also including me because I'm the liazison to the school. But

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>> what they didn't have was a view of what the financial um story would be and how it would unwind. And I and so um I felt that um I'm not I'm not sure that there's any point in us attending the

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meetings, but we really need to hear the directions that things are going in. Um and so that we'll be sort of anticipating what FY27 sorts itself out to be. >> Right. So I guess I guess I had maybe I

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should just check my assumptions about this here. So I had assumed that much like the roof, the school roof project, that this was going to happen in stages where the initial piece of work was a

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design study that would among other things develop a scope of what kinds of work needed to be done for the project and would produce a bid package that could that the town could could um could

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issue and and accept. bids for. So, is that is does that is that the right um sort of framework for thinking about the parking lot project? Is that >> you know, it's interesting to hear you

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say it that way? Um, so the school committee wasn't when I met with Nate, we were on site uh with Barco excavating to look at, you know, a patch patching of the parking lot because there are areas of the parking

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lot that are so poor that it's we felt or they felt the need to fix that before doing the parking lot as a whole. So, you know, in some respects, you could say, why spend, you know, in this case almost $40,000 to patch something when

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you're going to look at the next year to repave the whole thing. But the deficiencies are great. >> Um, I think it might be worth having some school committee members come to a finance committee meeting to talk about that. You know, the initial bid from

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Barcodes was $40,000. We weren't expecting it to be that high. That's certainly >> and that's for the that's the band-aid. >> Yeah, that's just for the band-aid. Um, you know, and obviously that meets the threshold for a capital project. Is that something that we want to do in FY27

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when we we had planned on doing it prior? Um, you know, yeah, it I mean it it takes a lot of effort to coordinate something like that and there's a lot of moving pieces as has been mentioned earlier. Um,

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>> and you know, maybe maybe it's not the right time to do that when we haven't sat down with capital planning to say this came in much higher than we were first expecting it uh to do >> and it wasn't in the it wasn't in the capital plan the patching at all

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>> and and you hadn't even gotten to that. I don't think the the school committee coming here to talk to the fincom is very helpful if there isn't a really really clear plan that says this is step a and this is what it costs then we'll go on to do this and that'll cost that.

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That's that's really what we need to know. We don't need to weigh in on whether it's right to patch it or not. We need to know what the sequence of projects and how they interact and what the cost of those will be because they're not um other than the Birkshere

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study which they've already started drilling the holes. They've already started doing some of the um assessment of what's in the ground there. Um that piece um is the only piece that we were um expecting. And so the other piece

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that they were talking about is the stuff that Michael Dier is going to be part of um and that is you know the whole ground heat source um project which would tear up the entire

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um parking lot in places and and they already started drilling and some of that information is going to be useful to that project. But again that has two possible com um companies starting with

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one can do from um soup to nuts in terms of they'll do the assessment they'll make the proposal they'll find the contractors and the other company doesn't have that approach but Anna heard because Nate's part of um the ECAC she was very excited about this all

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happening it's like wait we need a project >> um picture and >> I have a so I have a slightly different suggestion Haley and and I'm curious Susie if you think this would be

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appropriate but it sounds to me like it it would be helpful to have a meeting that has maybe Nate the principal somebody from the building committee because I I view them as the as the the

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sort of entity that could provide some guidance and recommendations on whether this patching like think thinking about what the sort of scope of the project is and then you know have you know some FinCom you know a FinCom member or two

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at that meeting to talk about okay what yeah what is the process like what what what are the steps that are going to happen beginning now to deal with these barri ious projects that all overlap in

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that they all have some potential impact on the parking lot and the work that needs to be done there. Does that does that sound like that would be useful? I think that would be a good idea if you know if we're thinking that the school needs the financial context to understand the big picture and the

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building committee has the technical expertise and the school committee can articulate the need very precisely >> that would feel like a a fruitful meeting. >> Yeah. And to be clear, I think the financial context is fairly

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simple, which is that we only have funds appropriated for a a small engineering project and that >> we we just are anticipating that there's a much bigger project, but that we don't

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know what the scope and size of that and cost of that is. We were under the assumption that the engineering study would give us some guidance and sort of parameters around what that's going to be and then it's becomes a capital

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planning question. Okay, here's a project that is going to need to happen in FY28. It's going to involve these pieces of work. It it is estimated to cost this amount as as estimated by Birkshare Design or

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you know who who has spent time to do this consulting um engineering work uh this year and then and then and then you know how do we fund that? >> Well right now there's a meeting planned

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for June 10th at 9:00. That's the last thing I heard. I don't know if it got moved around. And at that point, Nate was expecting um Haley and himself. And I think

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um Michael Dier, the wrinkle of going into ground source heat pumps in that space really changes the path. >> And so, um it's

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It's not the school that was initiating that. That was coming from ECAC and the grant that they got and um and so try trying to um figure out what that

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path is. It's clearly something the town administrator and um the school needs to coordinate it because it's going to be um if it if that and Michael and if that project goes ahead, it really changes what we're looking at.

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>> Yeah. So like the other question becomes what are the timelines for these different projects and how do we get them to sync up, right? There's no point in doing um the ECAD project, >> right? I

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>> if if if you know after we've spent you know hundreds of thousands of of dollars to repave the parking lot, right? Um, so yeah. So I guess there are sort of three different

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projects that all have and so like there's this band-aid patching thing that maybe somebody has determined is necessary to happen before like FY27 it sounds like. So that's one thing. Who's who's determined who's determined that? And what does the building committee

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think about that? That means that um then there's the parking lot repaving and then there's this groundwater uh heat source potential project and yeah so like all

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all that there has to be like all that all has to be sort of on some kind of shared timeline. That makes sense. >> Right. Right. >> Um all right. So, um, this June 10th meeting, is this is that specifically

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about next steps on the parking lot or is that some is that some >> definitely on the parking lot? See if I can pull up my email. >> Is somebody from the building committee going to be at that? >> You're trying to get Frank there. And I

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know Ann had said that she would be there. Uhhuh. >> Um I you know I could be at that meeting but I'm Susie I'm wondering if how you feel about like is that is that something you were already planning on

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attending or you want to attend or you don't want to attend or >> um that's a tough day. I have the granddaughters here. Um >> and at this point it looks like it's at 9:00 on that Wednesday. Is that true Haley? Is that the set date time? Yeah,

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that's at 9:00 because originally Ann had reached out to ask what the next steps were for the building and so we had just agreed her Nate and I to meet and then Nate had had a school committee meeting and then thought that maybe we

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should open up the I'm reading Nate's email so I'm speaking as Nate um open up the meeting to the fincom select board and ECAC I said I don't think the select board needs to be there but definitely ECAC and fincom and so that's how it's morphed Okay. From there.

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>> All right. So, I'm gonna hold it on my calendar, Haley, if you want to include me on that. Um, but yeah, I think I think that's a good idea to include Michael and Frank and uh Yes.

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>> Nan. >> Yeah. >> And and Haley. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And anything that starts to sort itself out. I mean these are moving parts from different committees. Anything everything that starts to be pulling

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needing information or coming up with ideas, it has to um it would be good for the finance committee to see how this project is developing and how it's going to impact our finances in FY27 and FY28. We were counting on or we were thinking

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towards paving in FY28. All these other things may change that timeline. Okay. All right. So, that's the deal on the parking lot. So, I guess we'll see. So,

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it sounds like sounds like there'll be some some hopefully some clarity coming out of that June 10th meeting. Okay. Um, let's see. couple of other

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uh announcements. So, I just wanted to see if you all So, we're going to have two um FinCom uh openings um for FY

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beginning in FY28. And um obviously if anybody has any recommendations, I would encourage you to speak to folks that you think would be appropriate and do a good job at

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this. Speak to them, make yourself available to answer questions, to give your sort of inside view on kind of what it's like to be part of this process. And then if they're interested, I would

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direct them to um Netti, our our moderator. She's going to oversee the appointment process. Um, I was going to have a brief conversation with her where I would where I would potentially

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talk about like capacities, not individual people, but are there certain sort of capacities or perspectives that you all think would be helpful for Netti to keep in mind to the extent that who

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knows? there may not be that many people expressing interest, but like I think she seems to like that kind of um feedback. So um the one thought I had is

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somebody that has that sort of building committee kind of background and expertise. you know, Bob used to have that. Um um and you know, that that was helpful to have somebody from the building trades that really kind of knew

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like a lot about, you know, buildings of those and construction projects and whatnot. So, like did occur to me that maybe that would be sort of a perspective that we don't totally have sort of represented right now.

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Um, I don't know if if if there are so I'm not necessarily saying somebody from the building committee, but somebody with that that expertise and background. That was one thought that came to mind. Anybody else have any other suggestions for Netty or or sort of like thoughts

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about kind of skills or capacity or perspectives that would be good to for her to have in mind? Molly, >> I'm thinking since we're losing April, somebody with the kind of personnel side of things would be helpful.

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>> Yeah, certainly personnel, human resources kind of uh information expertise. Yeah, >> let let me bring this up with um some of the members of the personnel board. I

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know one probably not, but perhaps another. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we've got some terrific people. >> Yeah, >> that'd be great. Okay. Um, let's see.

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I mean, I've in the past, I think I'm a little less concerned about it now because I feel like we we our committee is a little more diverse in terms of

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um sort of age and and like family, you know, uh sort of uh uh perspective than in the past. But like having somebody with, you know, school age

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child, um it's probably another positive that occurs to me. Uh I think it was helpful that Molly and Laura both had spreadsheet >> experience. Um, and that I I don't think

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we need to particularly add to that right now, but that's another way of seeing what what gains we had in terms of finding new people. >> Yeah, definitely. Yeah. >> Well, I think you want to have somebody that's comfortable with numbers, you

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know, since it's all we're all talking >> numbers all meeting all meeting long. >> Yeah. >> So, you want them to be comfortable. So, I think someone that has some of that kind of background. >> I mean, I Not not lots of background, but at least some of that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Certainly not somebody that's like

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anxious about about that helpful. I sort of take I just, you know, that would be a good thing for me. I mean, I sort of take that as like a baseline kind of >> expectation for for fincom. Yeah. And again, it's not about like having a ton

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of technical capacity as much as just a comfort with Yeah. with um with numerical information. So I but I'll I'll re I'll reiterate that to to Danny. >> Yeah. I can't imagine somebody who isn't

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interested in numbers or having some comfort level with numbers like volunteering. >> Yeah. >> Unless they had no idea what what it was about. But >> yeah. Yeah. >> I also think it it's good having people who are not eligible for social security.

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>> Right. You know, it's like the next generation really. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> We're we're doing better than than we were five years ago or whatever. >> No, absolutely. >> Yes.

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>> Kind of based on the recommendation that we made at town meeting. I mean, maybe somebody with kind of interest in kind of economic development or like regional development or, you know, just in general ideas for kind of the the revenue side of things. Yeah, that's a

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great idea. Yeah. Okay. All right. >> Yeah. I I just think someone that's maybe new to uh municipal or a new interest to municipal, this is a great way to really learn about how a how a a

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town government works by being on a finance committee. So, someone that wants to learn how town governments work, it's a good >> Yeah. >> that has that kind of an interest. Okay. Yeah, that's a good idea. Um,

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actually, Molly, can I can I ask you to tell us a little bit about this exciting opportunity you you emailed me about? This this sounded like this could be really helpful to us. >> Sure. So I um had heard about there's um

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the Massachusetts Municipal Association has a partnership with SUFFK University where they do a series of classes at the kind of graduate level and um people from different parts of municipalities um participate and they

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try to get like pretty good cohorts of like mixed numbers and stuff. And I know a number of library directors that have done this and I've been interested in it, but it's always been like on the Cape or in the Birkers or like near Boston.

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>> And this coming year it's in Palmer is one of the locations. >> So I decided uh to apply and I know uh Haley somebody else in did he get in? >> Um no we didn't. We haven't applied yet but um I did that program and it's it's

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really stellar. So I think you'll enjoy it a lot. >> Yeah. So it's about like local government management and leadership or something like that and they have different modules like five fiveweek classes and one of them is on budget and financing and one of them is on HR and I

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don't remember what the other ones are off the top of my head but I will be going to school for 25 Fridays between September and May. >> That is awesome news. Uh so and for and is is is Forbes giving you some support

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around this like in terms of time? >> Yeah. So they're paying for it and they're doing it on time. >> Okay. >> We're gonna ask our friends um group to actually pay for part of it because it's just under $3,000. >> Okay. All right. That's awesome. Um so

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I'm I'm really happy to hear that. >> And did you say that there was another person in Shootsbury that was interested in that? Yeah, that was Brennan and that was the one where the Fincom decided not to put it in the budget to have him request it

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as a transfer lead. >> So, we said that it could come from a different line. We didn't say it couldn't come. >> Yeah, it was that you didn't want it in the operating line. You wanted it to come as a separate transfer request. >> Well, he doesn't live in here >> because it's not an outgoing expense.

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Yeah, I think that was the rationale of the time >> and he doesn't live in Shootsbury so he couldn't be on the fin. >> Um, all right. So, uh, obviously Molly, like I would encourage you to like to the extent that

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you're there's interesting things to share from your experience, just please know that it we we would uh welcome hearing about hearing about that and um and I'm sure I imagine maybe also some

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connections and relationships that you'll make um so you know to the extent that you have ideas about getting us in putting us in touch with certain folks that that would be helpful. Okay. All right. So,

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see what else I had. Okay. So, another quick update. So, George has updated this um long range planning document. I think I'm not sure that other than Haley and myself if folks

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have seen this, but I'm going to show you just really quickly. We're not going to spend time on this tonight because I want George to George has a new version of it. But it's bas essentially like a version of our

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expense budget, but what happens is there are five years worth of sort of forward year, you know, looking years that are forecasted. And the logic behind this is that

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there's we we build in a target rate of increase that we apply to all lines in the budget. So that that can be a variable that we um you know that that we set. And so what

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then happens is that every line in the expense budget increases by that amount for each of these years. But there are various lines that then get overridden if we have known information. So like

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some of our positions are contracted positions where there are contracted there are negotiated amounts in future years. So that gets you know instead of just assuming this target rate of increase we actually put

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the actual or George put the actual numbers in for those known quantities. They're things like the the um debt service schedule where we're not just assuming a rate of increase. We're

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actually plugging in you know the the actual numbers based on our debt schedule. So the point being that like where we have good information to substitute we we plug it into this tool

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like known factors and then for all other lines we just we assume a rate of increase. Then we were talking about for schools we could actually do something separate like we could have a separate

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rate of increase if we feel like the school budgets tend to you know change at a different rate than other lines. So we could also in within this we could build in a different assumption about what you know how the

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schools um uh budgets are going to increase from one year to the next. And then you know all of this is going to be like annotated with information and then you know we'll actually see what are the

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projected increases for each of these years. what are the um you know we could plug in different assumptions in terms of using excess levy capacity not using excess levy capacity anyway so that's the kind I

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don't want I don't want to spend time going through this because this is an older version u but I wanted you all to know that was coming George um mentioned uh in his email that if this came up we I could share that that bit of info so I

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think Um potentially at our next meeting we'll look at a version of this that you'll that will be shared with you. And um again the idea is we can you know we can play with different assumptions and then you know it's not like we have to have one projection. We can we can

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include a projection that assumes this you know this amount of increase on school budgets. another one that this you know that that projects a different you know increase on school you know there all kinds of scenarios that we can

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build into this thing Susie >> and is there a um some assumptions on the revenue projections too >> yes uh I believe uh we talked about this right so

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you'll see in the same document Uh there's a revenue section at the bottom of it. Um and you know like here was again I don't know what his most recent version has

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done but we were we were looking at the sort of history of um you know it wouldn't make sense to assume 3.2% increase in chapter 70 money every year right because we've been averaging about 1%. So um so yeah so we built in

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different assumptions. So like I think in this early version we looked at what the average increase was for FY21 through FY26 and then applied that average to future years assuming the same trajectory. Uh same on

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um um the UGGA funds we use the same logic. So yeah so there is a revenue side to this as well. Awesome. >> I think the idea is that you're we're going to share the updated version with

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you and and George used info from our FY27 budget to populate that. Um we're going to share that with you. He's going to walk us through it some more at our next meeting. And then we're going to hear we're going to do a little more

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brainstorming with you all about what are some different assumptions that we want to build into this this this tool. And then >> you know we'll probably go through one more iteration and then you know we're

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going to share that you know that everybody's gonna have access to the tool and you'll be encouraged to yeah to you know um come up with different scenarios that you want to uh you want to map out. Um,

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so and this is all um this this all comes out of some initial conversations that Haley, myself, and George had. So um the point was not to say this is this version that you're

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going to see from George is the final version. It's you you all are going to have an opportunity to to to give feedback on it >> and probably share it with the um select board at the point where it's >> Yeah. >> over a few times. >> Right. Exactly. When we feel like it's

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got um it's it's it's got enough refinement that where we're open to sharing it. Um we can do that with people like Ryan, the select board. Yeah. >> All right. Molly. Yeah.

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>> Would this be something that we would share kind of like in our Google Drive in a Google sheet? Um I got really confused this past year about like what was the latest >> budget >> and and because they were being um like

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done in Excel kind of like offline and then yeah >> shared back I never knew like where the most recent thing was. >> Okay. I see. Sorry. Actually there sort of two kind of questions here. One is is the document going to get stored on the

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Google Drive? The answer to that is def. That's an easy one. That's yes. And we can we can we can put a date maybe in the file name of when it was last updated so people know exactly that. I think maybe this there's another

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suggestion which is could this be something that's actually lives as a Google sheet as opposed to an Excel workbook. Is that is that what you're thinking? that I'm less optimistic about just because I know that

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>> George and to a lesser extent myself have a little bit more of a sort of comfort and familiarity facility with with Excel. So, I can I can ask him, but yeah, my hunch is that one might be a little bit of a harder uh

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a harder cell. But uh yeah, but having you know one option is to have like there's the cloud version of Excel which would you know I guess the difference there would be that you know you would all have access to a version

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of it that you can like you know that you can you can use. So let me talk about that with George. So maybe there's something there. But at a minimum, I think we should put the date of its last revision in the

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file name so that everybody knows exact that that seems like an obvious thing to do. And we should do that with the budget as well. >> Okay. >> Looks good to looks good, AJ. It's good step. >> Yeah. U most of the credit is to George.

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>> Yeah. >> All right. Uh let's see what else. >> Summer project planning. >> Yep. So that was so so this was one. Um uh

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so I think does anybody else have So there are a few a few things we've talked about. Um one was um maybe capital planning might be doing its redoing or updating its cap. Has

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there been any discussion about that, Laura? Nothing. Okay. I know George had because he mentioned it at the I think at at uh last week's get together that I think he had pinged Ellen about this.

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So, I think there's like early stages, but there's some like trying to get moving on that. Um, so there's that project. Um, I think the other project was, um, Haley, we talked

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about this idea of like a a late summer, early fall meeting with the select board, >> capital planning. All of that, I think, is contingent on us uh, on the capital planning committee having an updated capital plan document.

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But I think the idea >> was to bring that >> and have that integrated with the long range planning tool. So like some of the assumptions around um uh debt schedule on that document could feed into the the

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long range plan and then we can bring that to the select board and kind of walk through it with them and give them again I like the idea of maybe presenting to them like a handful of scenarios and what the what assumptions

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we build into those scenarios you know that is to be determined but like I think that would be a good thing to do with the select board is is to, you know, is to Yeah. to present them like some some more optimistic or maybe a

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more optimistic scenario, one that um has sort of more aggressive increases for certain kinds of expenses. Maybe one that assumes, you know, certain level of capital

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um investment. Anyway, so like the the the idea being that we could actually look at a few different models that have different assumptions built into them and and look at the potential Yeah. impacts of all of those. Susie, is your hand up?

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>> So, we know that the summer is a hard time to get people together. Um, but I and I know that the CAP plan has its own little it has its community or its members, but I I hope that um rather than getting stuck on trying to get

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everybody together, it could have a um at least a subcommittee draft something. Um I heard from some people saying there is no CAP plan. Well, there there is a CAP plan and it needed to be updated and it it

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needed to be um looked at and maybe the assumptions that are in it need to be identified. Um, but I hope that something comes out of this because um it's a pretty big part of our town's

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energy and money and um I don't know if if uh Laura feels like there's a a next step that's imminent, but I hope that it I hope something goes forward this summer. Uh Jeff, >> yeah, along that same line, I think one

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of the reasons we talk about pushing for this for this summer is that once September kicks in, we're really focused on the budget process and and negotiating with school contracts and so on and so forth. So this is the one time there is some time available uh to nail

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a project like this is over the next next three months uh when there isn't the interference or conflicts with all these other needs and requirements. Yeah. And yeah whatever it take but capital capital is going to be is an important part of this and it needs to

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be part of this project over the summer >> during the summer. So, can I make a suggestion? And but again, if if folks feel like this is not quite the right tact to take, let let you know should definitely speak up. But if if we feel like we're getting we're

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this is getting stuck and it's there's not enough movement on this happening. um you know I I can't remember where it came up but I think the the idea of the select board actually

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um I like um tasking like in some official way this the capital planning committee to produce um an updated capital plan and I don't mean this that in like a

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like a a negative way but like just you know like that that is I think the kind of thing that government groups do is they there's the need for something to happen and so like I know the select

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board in Pelum directed or this this group to do this elementary school study plan or whatever so like they said they they very officially said you know we're asking for this group to to accomplish these tasks

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So like if this does get stuck, maybe that's that's a useful step for the select board to take. That's just a thought. >> That's a good idea. I mean, I definitely think it's worth saying that, you know, there there can't be a finance

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committee budget plan without a capital plan. You know, even though the finance committee is working on the operating budget, if you don't have the full picture, you're going in half cocked. And I I certainly would expect at least one select board member to be very pro-fincom going forward. So, you know,

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we'll see about that. >> No, absolutely. I I'm on board with this and I and this is it's it needs to happen this summer. >> Yeah. >> And uh and capital planning there that's that's two important part a piece of this whole picture. It's too important.

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>> Yeah. And so like very specifically, right, we have we have this long range plant. It has a debt service line that needs to have quantities like >> built in to this tool in order for it to actually

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>> be at all useful, right? Because that's a that's a big part of our our budget. And so if we don't have have realistic projections of what that debt schedule is going to look like at least over this 5-year period, then this tool is going

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is going to have an a big gap that's going to it's going to make it less useful. There's that. Then there's the other thing which is you know we've had conversations about managing reserve balances and so we need that's part of

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the context as well is knowing what kinds of you know what what our the state of our reserves are going to be. We as a capital um as a fincom have talked about needing to take a fresh

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look at our um our our plans for funding capital stabilization right out of the operating budget which we have not been able to do for a couple years now. So like we can't really make any good

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decisions or about how about that if we don't know what the state of those reserve accounts is is projected to be. So there's a bunch of reasons why that that step needs to happen. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um I think those are the big

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summer projects. There was like I think um Oh, um >> personnel. >> Yeah, there's the personnel board is doing there. Um is there any information about that? >> Yeah, the the plan is to meet with all

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of the all of the employees. >> Um and that won't happen until July because those are an odd numbers months. I love that. Um, and then from this the uh personnel board, there's going to be a subcommittee that's going to meet with

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each employee and talk, you know, is this job description, does this reflect what you're doing with your job, you know, how to how to look at that, how many hours are you actually working, you know, and and and do a more indepth

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um study on are our salaries in line with other communities, >> right? >> It's a big project. >> Yeah. Great. >> Do you think something will be proposed that would go into this um fall town

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meeting? >> That's that is the the goal. Absolutely. >> And then you're going to be off. Are we can that committee function without a a FINCOM person representing? Uh it would be great to have somebody

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appointed, you know, to join during the summer. I think um it's a really good committee, but I think uh it would be good to have one more person. Sure. >> Yeah. So, one of the things we'll do then is

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when we well when we have new our new members, we'll um we'll need to discuss assignments, committee assignments. So, that's certainly one that we're going to need to fill. >> Yeah.

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>> Well, in terms of the timing, um yeah. >> Yeah, >> they're going to meet in July. Maybe we don't maybe we don't have a rep on the first meeting, but we should get it going. >> Yeah. >> Yeah.

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Okay. Um I'm just reminded of another thing. Um Haley, I wanted to follow up with somebody on the OPED analysis

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um project. So like the our understanding was that maybe this year we were getting a new OPED report from the auditors. Does any of this sound familiar to you or or have you heard anything about

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this? >> I thought we were doing the actuary study this. >> That's what I mean. Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's what I remember Ryan saying. >> Okay. So So we think that's happening in FY27. Not Not It didn't happen in FY26. We weren't quite I can't remember who I

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was talking to. Okay, got it. All right. Um, but Ryan is the person who um uh kind of communicates with that group that does that. So, okay. Good. I have another thing for Ryan. So, I'll I'll just mention to that. All right. Um,

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anything else that folks think we need to get accomplished over the summer? That's a pretty big >> That's a lot. >> Yeah, that's a lot >> project list. So, I'm not jumping ahead, but yeah. All right. Uh, anything else

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that we need to discuss tonight before we adjourn? >> Did you want to do minutes or did you want to wait till George is back? >> I think I prefer just We're getting a little late. Um, maybe I'll prefer to wait until the next meeting. That's okay. >> All right. I'll write up these minutes

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to draft them. >> Thank you. >> And what's the date of the next meeting? >> So, okay. So, I cannot meet on the 9th, which would be two weeks. Uh, but maybe we can. Can we go? Can we

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meet on the 16th of June? I'm traveling that week, but that doesn't mean others can't meet. >> All right. I don't uh >> that'll get us off the um select board schedule, >> which is a goal.

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>> Yeah. Okay. All right. Uh All right. Well, sorry, Laura, to miss you at that one, but I think it probably does sounds like makes sense. >> I'm also I'm gonna be on the West Coast. >> Okay. >> So, >> all right. I might be able to join you,

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but I don't know. >> Okay. All right. All right. Let's plan on doing a virtual because it's kind of early summer. Uh we'll get back to doing some in person, but uh at least for the next one. Let's

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do let's get back to 6:30 since it's not a select board night on the 16th. >> Okay, great. And maybe um Haley, if Gail is ready to do a second round of

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transfers, maybe we can tackle that at that meeting. >> Okay, I'll talk to her on Thursday. >> Cool. All right. All right. Sounds good. Anything else? All right. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Right. Cashew. I

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>> moer I. Moss. Hi, >> I >> Walton I. >> Great. >> All right. Thanks everyone. >> Thank you fearlessly. >> Stay warm. >> You all have a good week.