All right. I will hereby call to order this regularly scheduled meeting of the Sunderland Select Board. The time is 6:30 p.m. All right. Our first order of business will be to approve the minutes from our last meeting from 12:29. >> I have a motion we approve the minutes
from 12:29. >> Second, Dan Murphy. >> All right, we have a motion made and seconded. All those in favor? Hi. >> Hi, >> Dan Murphy. >> I wearing ally. Moving on to new business. Uh, the first order of new
business is going to be to uh review the 4-year 27 draft town budget. Do we have that or are we going to need to do that next? >> Nathaniel. >> Yes. >> Hi, Nathaniel. It's Becky. I'm on Zoom, I hope. >> Yep. >> Um, I will be sending that out in the
next couple of days. I'm getting it reviewed. there were um there was an irregularity in the um in the tax recap and I'm just making sure that I'm recording it correctly on the budget um before spreading it uh far and wide. Um
so you'll be receiving that shortly tomorrow or the next day. >> Perfect. Thank you. All right, that moves us on to our next item which is a review of the highway department's budget request with George. Get the right one out here.
All righty. I have to remind myself how to read these budget forms after something. >> So, basically the budget that I presented is basically going to be a level level service. Um, what I think we're going to need next
year, hourly wages, I went up that much because our insurance keeps climbing and climbing. >> One second. Do you guys want to call the order your check city? I don't know. Um, yeah, that's okay. Um, we'll call the
finance committee to order. >> Sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. >> So, I usually we don't put in a line item for for for our pay because the personnel committee hasn't met but once I think maybe twice and we haven't even
decided or discussed what we're going for for raises this year. Um, so usually we wait on that, but I put this in for an example for our people in the highway department that, you know, if we go up with another 18 to 20%, you know, hike in our insurance, we're basically going
backwards, >> like 10 years in pay. So, I put that in for there. I think the town has to do something eventually to help cut the cost for this for the for the employees. >> Yeah, >> I know it's a lot of money, but
Um, but anyway, so the seasonal wages, I went up another 2,000 for there because the the two people that I've been having work, they've been giving us a a ton of time and helping us out tremendously over the summertime. So, I'd like to use them a few more hours a week if I can and maybe
a little longer through the summertime. >> And that's just the highway laborers. That's not seasonal winter. >> That's just the highway summer laborers. That's it. Yep. um winter our winter plow people that we hire um we haven't been using them cuz we
haven't been getting snow. We've been getting ice. So they only get used when we have to plow >> Mhm. >> um for extended periods of time. So we'll call call the extra help in and it's been pretty hard to find find people over the years to to help out. So
um and it's getting harder and harder each year to find somebody that wants to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning and come play snow with us. Um, so the labor overtime, if I kept that the same cuz last year,
last year I think we gave back just a tiny bit of money in it. So I think we should be all right with the labor overtime. >> Um, >> um, can I ask a question? >> Sure, please. Um, George, I was just wondering, you had been hoping to add
someone to your staff, and I know that's what you're talking about right now. So, at this point, you don't think you need another full-time person? >> I think we could use it, but I didn't think this year was a proper year to ask
for it, so I chose not to pursue it. Um, we're we're going to need another person eventually because we've been getting asked more and more to do building maintenance, help other departments out quite a bit. So, we have to put aside
our highway stuff to go and help other departments do stuff. So, if I'd eventually like to hire a highway maintenance person to help out with that kind of stuff over the years. So, that will be in the talks I think for next year. seats up here too.
>> I can also shift down that way if you want to sit over here. >> Or that's my that's all my stuff. I just >> I can you don't mind? >> No. Wherever you want. >> All right. >> Feel like I just got a left to left. >> You're at the grownup's table.
>> Yep. >> No takebacks. Sorry. You're on the >> highway maintenance. We went up another 5,000 because the cost of everything is skyrocketing. So, um, we went up another five grand on that. And the general
expense, that's basically anywhere from buying gravel to black top to buying structures to rebuild catch basins. Anything you can think of that we need, that's what that comes out of. So, >> machinery, that's maintenance on the
machinery or is that for that? the the the line on our road machinery. >> That's for maintenance of it. >> Maintenance. Okay. Got it. >> Yep. >> So, our my budget's basically built up of three sub or sub sub uh um
categories. >> But basically, it's one budget. So, if I go over on my road machinery stuff, I take it out of fuel or I take it out of um road um highway maintenance and stuff like that. So it gets it gets fluctuated around there, but that's just kind of a
number that we use. Some years we go over, some years we go under. And then the fuel, I went up another 1,500 bucks on that cuz fuel is not getting any cheaper. >> And the highway is no ice and highways expense. Those are staying.
>> Those are staying the same. Generally, you guys in the past over the years, they they've not wanted me to to go up on that because that's one light item. can spend over spend on. So once you once you raise it, you can never go backwards. >> Okay.
>> But we were significantly we were over 45,000 on the snow materials and snow this year. >> This year >> um >> or last year. >> This year >> we haven't gone over yet this year. >> I guess it was I'm sorry. It was 34,000
not 40 >> you're talking about. >> But still a lot. last visit >> a lot >> which is not I mean if you if you can do a snow and ice budget with that amount of money you're doing pretty good. Most towns spend over well over 100,000.
I think we're we're pretty pretty good at what we spend at >> Oh no you're great. It's just when it when it hits it wasn't it it turned into something we had to make sure we covered in the recap. So, I'm just wondering if
it's something we should um maybe um inch up a little bit at We'll talk more, George. It might be something we inch up this year. >> That's pretty much the budget. And then lastly, there's the highway garage expenses and the garage energy. The garage energy, you guys usually set the
budget for that. And then the garage expense, I went up another thousand because we were we were robbing out of the garage energy last year because we had extra money in that and not enough in the garage stuff itself. So, which is just another subcategory out of
the general garage. So So we're looking at around 60,000 more overall. Do the quick math in my head here. Do we have a summary somewhere of the overall increase? around 60 60,500
bucks somewhere around there. >> Okay. >> And the the overall budget last year is in the 500ish,000 the time. >> I don't even think it was that much. I think it was like 300 something,000.
>> Okay. >> Close to 500,000. Yeah, I'm just trying to do quick math in my head and that never is accurate. All right. >> Crystal, any questions on any of these numbers? >> No.
>> Dan, anything from you on these? >> No, I'm okay. >> All right. Great. Wonderful. Well, thank you for that presentation. We will >> just Oh, yeah. >> Go ahead. >> No, I wanted to make sure we we got a
chance to answer. Yeah. >> So, I was curious on the, and this is really a question more for maybe the town, maybe back to the select board than it is necessarily for George, you know, on the wage increase reflecting the larger than typical insurance increases. That totally makes sense. I don't know what the town has done about
that in the past. I think the one thing though is that if the cost of insurance is going up to 15%, that doesn't mean I don't think that salary should go up by 15% because people aren't paying the amount of their salary every year. the you know the employer and employee insurance cost is a small percentage of
that. So it's probably more like a one and a half or 2% increase would cover the additional insurance cost to a given employee. What have we done in the past around that? Have we ever made a particular allocation to the cola that's reflective of increased insurance costs
or we just haven't dealt with this before because last year is the first really big year? >> We haven't dealt with this really before. What we've done in the past and I think we did it was it last year or the year before we've done
a wage adjustment. We put it instead of increasing the cola >> for the for the for groups that are affected by because they're lower than
market reference or whatever you want to call that point of pay. >> Okay. We've done a wage increase for people who were substantially below the average pay for that job.
>> Um, >> but that's separate from the insurance piece. >> Correct. >> Right. That had nothing to do with insurance. It just had to do with and I think if we were going to look at any of this doing something like that instead
of adjusting on a cola I think we'd have to or I think one thing to consider would be a flat wage adjustment instead of rolling it into a cola. >> It gets tricky because not everyone actually takes the insurance. Some
people who don't take the insurance aren't seeing an increase. Do they still get the the the increase to their pay to compensate for an increased number? >> And that's why we we did it as that we we found a few jobs where the
pay was lower than average for this area where that had nothing to do with insurance, had nothing to do with, you know, how much these people were paying for anything. It was just they were lower jobs >> market value, >> right? They were
>> Do we always assign the same increase to employee insurance costs as the employer or town insurance cost or does sometimes the plan increases 10% and we say all right employees will bear five and we'll take the 11 or 12 to make it even like how do we do that as a town? I believe
as far as long as I've been here, it's whatever proportion let's say a town pays 70% and the employees pay 30% increase. >> It's an increase is boringly across the across the >> So what they did last year when when it went up they were supposed to go up 18%. What they did last year is they
basically went through and worked some of the plans and changed them and made made them made so before your co-pays were were very cheap. I mean cheap cheap y >> and they upped those a little bit so
your co-pays and your deductibles were more money. So that brought it down to I think 16% last year. >> So I don't >> Yeah, we got it down to 10.9 >> 10.9. So I don't and I don't know what they're they're they're doing on it this year yet. So I'm not sure.
>> Okay. >> It's tough because not everybody takes the insurance. So not everybody is having this. So, you know, they they've got set rates. We've wanted in the P, you know, we've always wanted to be able
to increase the town's contribution to health insurance and, you know, get to the point where the town is, you know, paying more towards the employees health insurance. But with these continued,
you know, the past couple years with the huge increases, we haven't been in a position where we can say, "Oh, we're going to chip in another 5% towards your towards the insurance." >> And I'd love to have a longer conversation about insurance, but I don't want to take up George or everyone
else's time with that now. So, like as far as salary increases, like I'm very aware that colas are not always the same as inflation. there's other impacts whether it's housing or insurance and I think we want to think about and the personnel committee I'm sure thinks about that when they said that. Um but like I I would I mean I would not be
supportive of 15% salary increase because that's not actually the cost of the additional insurance costs for those employees. >> Yeah. >> It's a very different number. >> In general I would be wary about doing a different thing for every department.
That's why we have that's why we have a personal opinion and that's why they they make their recommendations. So, >> but >> but we hear you on the expense increases, line painting or whatever everything and so you know we got to see how everything comes together but like
that take that very seriously because we got to do that stuff. I think more questions for or >> um well first well back to the insurance I mean the insurance is for all the town employees. So again I I' I'd like to
talk more about how we offset increases from the insurance companies rather than increase salaries because not everyone takes insurance like how do we supplement when there's a big increase to to balance it. Um so that's a bigger discussion later. Uh I did a little
homework. I talked to Sam and Monagu who you know and uh they do an amazing we do George and his team amazing job with snow removal and sand and gravel. He's right like that budget it's hard to do what he's doing and he's doing it. So um I think that you know kudos to you and
your team. But when you do have that excess you talked about you just sort of shift it around. I mean do you end up having a surplus at the end of the year occasionally or just you have to offset? Not usually usually usually I got maybe a thousand bucks left >> most accounts. So I'm pretty
>> pretty bare minimum. So >> would it be okay if I asked a couple of questions about the capital request? I know there's a separate committee that does that and I don't want to dig deep on it, but I just I read through them and I was curious. So there were three. One had to do with parking lot over at the sewer plant. So, our main our main
road and the front parking lot in the side parking lot to our shop is like totally destroyed. It's all just spider cracked. >> We've probably put in the last two years about 10 tons of patch on it just to hold it together. >> Um, it's getting bad. So, I wanted to
put it on there and we can't use chapter 90 money on it because at least I don't think I got to check into it some more. But, um, might be over, he might not be over, but I I'll I'll look into that more and get back to you guys on that. Um, because it is a parking lot because I know when we
did the road into the school, they said no on that. So, the town had to pay for it. >> And related, I didn't know how it worked between the sewer system and revenues and expenses. >> Yeah, that's what I'm not That's what I'm not another thing I'm not sure about. Are they going to pay for half of
it or or how that's going to go. So, >> I wanted to bring it on the radar. It doesn't have to be done next year, but it's going to be need to be done. Pretty much like almost all the parking lots we have are are getting pretty bad. So, um the school, the library out here,
they're they're beyond their max life, I think. But we we do try and if there are expenses that we contribute to this roofing plan, we try and keep those >> tribute to that because none of that service. So >> they try to be as budget neutral as
possible in terms of their part of things. >> Um >> so I have a question. >> Yes. >> I I apologize if I I was a little bit delayed to the meeting so I I missed it. I apologize. Um so in the the the wages
the wages lines where you have these really large percentage increases. We know part of that's in insurance. Um, but it seems it would be interest I I it seems like the assumption is that if insurance goes
up that the town's going to compensate with higher wages to make up for the insurance costing more to the employee and that feels like an assumption rather than a discussion. >> I would agree. Yeah. So that's the assumption that we're that if that if the employee share the 20% of insurance
goes up $1,000 this that's a that's way too low of a number but let's say it's $1,000 and the town pays 70%. That means the town pays 700 and the employee pays $300. So these numbers include wages going up by $300
to pay for that the employee side of the insurance going up. What numbers? I'm sorry. Who are >> she's using? She's using hypothetical >> hypothetical numbers. I I just wanted to make an easy math number. >> I just put those numbers in there to put them in there.
>> Okay. So, because Yeah. So, we have to decide as a town how much >> and that's why I put it in what the wage increases are. >> The town can discuss it. >> Okay. and say, "Yeah, our employees are getting stepped backwards because of these huge
>> health insurance increases. So, if the town can do something to help it, then that's what I'm looking for." >> Okay. But you just put it in there cuz >> Correct. >> I was just confused because I feel like everyone's >> attention. So, >> Oh, no. 100%. Yeah, makes sense. >> I just Yeah. So, it's not quite Yeah. Okay.
>> No, it's not sentenced. >> Okay. >> Obviously. >> Yeah. I mean, typically we we don't even get a salary number in there unless it's a negotiated union or contract,
>> right? So, that's really okay. >> It's it's a helpful refresh as we start the budget cycle. Just reminding everybody and as the personnel committee has their conversation, those >> it's for a topic of discussion and >> that's why I put it there. >> Yeah. Perfect. >> It's good to have it.
Um, can I ask one more capital question on the trailer and I only noted it said that this was in last year's request and something. Could you just walk us like very briefly through? >> So, last year I submitted >> two or three capital requests. One was for a small trailer and a roller and one
was for a tractor to replace our 1970. >> Mhm. Somehow the tractor slash trailer roller got pushed to one and I didn't even So when I thought my capital stuff asked so I ordered a tractor. >> Mhm.
>> And that's all we could buy. Okay. >> And is that because the tractor costs more than the original estimate or >> that's because the tractor was more than than the trailer and roller. Gotcha.
Okay. >> So, I only could buy the one. And then the vent track that's on here, since we're talking about capital, >> I am in the process of working with Mass E for a grant to see if I could purchase that through a grant cuz they come out
with some new grants this year. Um, so I submitted a grant for that for like 78,000 >> and I haven't heard back from him yet. Hopefully, I think on the 15th, they're going to vote on it. >> Um, being that we have almost seven miles of sidewalk that we have to plow
after a snowstorm, to have another sidewalk machine would be a great help for us. >> Is this one of those like snowboard? >> It's a vent track. So, it it has a snowboard as a plow. You could put a mower on it. You can put a
a sickle fire mower on it. It's >> Yeah. Where's the picture? Yeah, there's there it comes with a cab. You can do you can do so many things with it. >> Thanks. >> Is that one that a lot of other townies have or is this one if we buy it we can
swap? >> You know how >> um town of Monu has one, the airport has it. They've lent it out a few times to different towns around the area uh for people to try. I know the town of Northfield has one. >> Uh he says that it does a great job on his sidewalks up there. So, um, I
figured it would be a great piece of equipment for us. So, >> and unlike some pieces of machinery where the overlap of when we would need it versus other towns, it's like, you know, like a a a crater or something like that, we may not be working the same weeks other towns are. We can share
those a lot more than something where everyone's going to be trying to clear the same sidewalks in the same three days. >> So, this is less of a sharable item than others. >> So, you could buy a you could buy a large brushed style mower on it. So it help us brush out the side of the roads. Plus you can gr you can mow on a 40%
grade I think with it. >> Yeah. >> So the old dump that we have to maintain now >> instead of hiring somebody my guys can go up there and mul it. >> And you got your trailer. >> That's why I'm asking for a trailer.
>> It's all connected. >> Yeah. Sounds like it >> without No, but you know, just for so we all totally understand her. Without a trailer, that wouldn't be >> No, we I I have trailers. John has a trailer.
We know where to get whatever we need. >> Okay. >> Not that we want to borrow steel all the time, but >> No, but it just >> Right. >> It really >> needs to kind of be >> Well, we do. We work very well with Leit. We work well with Gil. We borrow stuff. They borrow stuff. So, you know,
>> we're taking stuff from them, they're taking stuff from us. They need help, we'll go up and help them for a day. They need we need help, they'll come down and help us for a day. So, it's it's nice to have the extra hands. >> Yeah. >> But it is good information for us to have when the capital planning committee meets to know that these two items are
kind of linked in a way where like if you approve one, we should probably approve both. So, that is good information for us. >> As soon as I hear about the grant, I will let you guys know cuz that possibly will come right off. So, >> that beautiful. Yeah. >> And then it would be just the trailer.
>> Trailer the board. Yeah. >> The trailer and the roller. That was 20 something. 26. >> 39. Oh, 39. There we go. >> I'm just looking at one of the two. That's why. Okay. Gotcha. 39. >> Okay. Perfect. Any other questions on capital or
operating? Just >> operating. Um, you note that you want to fold the fuel expenses into general operating expenses. >> It always was. Okay. Was it two years ago or three years ago? They they separated it for some reason on on my line item when we got the new
accountants. The new accountant says your budgets voted on one budget, so you do what you want with it. So, but I break it down like this so everybody can see it. >> Yeah. I mean, it seems to me that would be helpful if you are fighting for more funding and we know fuel's going up that
could help justify it. >> Yeah. Um, Becky, just while we have you and and while we're talking about highway, is there anything in the current fiscal year that you're seeing in highway that you want us to be aware of in terms of variances or protect pro projected, you know, overruns that we should think
about as we're setting next year's budget? I know we're only halfway into the year, but anything popping up on your radar? >> Um, George is a very tight on his budget, and I I don't believe he went over
on anything. I know last year in fact he reduced his budget um when we were struggling um most departments reduced their budget a little bit I think George but I think George 10 or $20,000 he had
wanted an increase in his highway expense accounts um and I had heard that chapter 90 was going up so I was hopeful if you know that we would be able to work around and get him the extra 10 or
20,000 um through chapter 90. Um so he did not take that increase last year. Uh he's been very resourceful and responsible with his budget. >> Great. Does chapter 90 come out of Department of Transportation or
separate? >> It's a it's a se separate entity. It's specifically built for all the highway departments around the whole state. they get a sum of money to spend on road maintenance and vehicle purchases, which
I don't like to buy anything out of that if I can help it because I'd rather put it towards our roads. Is there I mean, who watches Department of Transportation's grants and things? Is that up to you? Is that town manager? Is does DOT have anything this year? I
know they had the curb appeal or I forget what that was called. um they had all the funds to help sidewalks and things like that which I think ran out last June. Anything on the radar from Department of Transportation? >> They just came out with a um
it's a drawing blank right now. Something to do with the dirt roads and stuff like that. So they're it's like some towns are applying for like a um a grater. >> Yeah. >> To help maintain these dirt roads. So they'll pay up to 250,000 for equipment.
>> So you can go for a loader, uh, graders, anything to help you maintain your dirt roads, which we don't have a lot of. So >> we Yeah. So we don't really qualify for anything like that. But >> um, >> but there is there is some new grants
out there. Yeah, I'm keeping an eye too just so you know. I know there's a they've done the one stop and they kind of combined a bunch of grants together and all of that grants. So, we'll definitely I'll definitely keep an eye on things. If I see anything, I I'll let I'll let George know. And uh the town
will >> George, is there any major piece of equipment that you see needing in the next year, two um five years? probably in the next 5 years we'll need another truck cuz our our 2014 that we're that
we bought because one of our trucks broke a frame about four years ago, maybe five years ago. >> Um it's a 2014 we've had to we've had to do about $8,000 worth of repair to it so far this year. >> This is one of those like big trucky
ones. >> Single axle dump truck. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So eventually we're going to we'll you'll be seeing that come up pop up. So, okay. >> Probably within the next 5 years. >> Do you have a And I know this is going to change wildly between now and then. Do you have a rough idea of how much that's going to cost?
>> Uh, right now they're going for about 300,000. >> 300. Okay. All right. Good. >> And when we do have to go for it again, I'd like to do another lease to buy like we have been. Yeah. >> So, we're paying for it over five years instead of all in one chunk.
>> I think the last of the last round of stuff is coming off. Not not the stuff we bought two years ago, but the the one before that is coming off this year. >> I think we have one coming off and then we still have two on there. So those and I think we only have one or two more years on those. >> Yeah. So we should hopefully be in a
position where when you do that other stuff has come off. Okay, perfect. >> Anything else from the finance committee? >> All righty. Thank you very much, George. >> Thank you.
Moving on to police department budget. Thank you, Chief, for being here. Get my right packet out. >> Um, yes. Actually, >> before you leave, do you have that open? I don't. But does Becky have it open
right now on her? >> I got my >> I'm sorry. >> We had gotten a note from Mel about a >> correspondent. >> I got it. >> Okay. >> Um so and Eileen Cheli Schlavoi
um wanted to let us pass along her um compliment to the highway department for such a wonderful job. Um the crux of it was basically she always knows when she crosses into Sunderland because the roads are so much better than the town she was coming or going from. Um so just please pass that along to your folks. I
think you were CCed on the email so that >> Yep. Um but also just for the town to know we have wonderful roads here. We appreciate how hard you work to keep them there. Um so thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Just to let you know with these ice storms, our budget's getting chewed up
quite quite a bit. We're buying a lot of salt, just so you know. And we'll work out the weather, >> please. Cuz we need a break. >> We would all prefer more snow. >> Yeah, for sure. >> How is there a story to solve this? Like
if there's if the price goes down, let's say in the spring, July, June, do you ever are you able to shut up by the end of the season? Just so when I have a start in the spring, I'm in the fall time, I'm I'm loaded. >> Yeah.
All right. Thank you, George. All righty. Next up, we have police department. All righty. So, the first two line items there, Chief, those are going to be contractually obligated uh increases,
correct? >> Yep. So, we have the uh the department head and then the full-time wages. Actually, all the salary is contractually obligated. So, fulltime and part-time. >> Yeah. >> Um part-time is contingent on how many shifts are are covered by the part-time
officers. Uh the increase for the full-time wages, I know it seems drastic, but that makes up the three months that we cut off from this fiscal year >> because we knew we weren't going to be able to hire somebody come July. Uh and then you saw the the candidate last
month. So, that shows you how long it took. Uh but to do the full year, we had to add on those three months, and that's why that that went up. >> So by contracts um that the union and the town agreed to, that's a three-year contract for them. That goes forward and
they get the ability to get their um their wages increased every year. Uh but like I said, the bulk of this is the increase to cover the full-time officer that we didn't uh we had only planned to start in October. So we made that up. uh
for next year. Uh not knowing what we're going to be doing with the non-contracted employees, which is my clerk, uh I added I believe they get a step increase in the first nine years, and she's still within that. So, there's a step increase plus whatever
anticipated increase. I put down a potential 2 and a half% because I didn't know if we were going to do that. Um, I think it's sometimes it's better if I would to put that in there instead of just a zero line and just wait for the the committee to figure that out. Kind of gives us a round estimate as to what
we're going to see. Uh, overtime went up again a couple of percent. Part-time wages only went up a little bit. Um, again, that's based on the fact that this year we went and cut the part-time wages to make up for the full-time increase. So, it wasn't a a
giant increase. uh and expenses went up uh $655. It's about 1% for the expenses. Um we didn't increase the fuel budget uh for this year because
the car we just got um was approved was it last year? So this will be two years we'll have it. Uh that's a much better car than the one that we replaced it with. So it's better on gas. So, we're going to see that reflect on the fuel usage and we're hoping that we'll still be under for the
fuel as we have been in past years. Um but uh with the contracts and the increases to specialties for say the uh career incentive that had to go up uh to reflect for the increase for this year
and um so I know that the total number look like a 12% increase but that's because of that three month for that full-time officer but other than that everything else is across the board anywhere between two or 3% um going up. Uh and then you'll have the uh
explanation just getting into the the police department budget uh about where it's going and how it's increasing. I did touch base on that explanation about the animal control officer uh position. Um we have been without one for well over a
year. Uh it was a personal leave for a little bit and then it just turned into a resignation and then because of that uh we've been trying to find somebody. we have not been able to able to find anybody. So, I reached out to a few agencies around us that do animal control and the only one that got back
to me was the Franklin County uh region and based on what they have for this fiscal year, what it would cost us to run through them on their contract from February 1st through the end of June is
still below what we have already budgeted in the acco line. So, it's a wash this year, but you'll see on the acco in on the acco budget that shows um uh the potential of what it would be to join their program and for the dog
shelter. So, we pay into that every year, the dog shelter, whether we use it or not. We're going to pick up lost dogs. If the chip reader doesn't find a chip in the animal and we put a post online, if no one claims that animal within a reasonable amount of time, we'll bring them up to dog shelter and
leave them there. They take care of them. Historically, it's been about $500 a year. This year, it went up. Uh we're anticipating next year to go up even more. So, with that increase, plus with the cost for a year-long service for
them, uh I'm looking at the acco budget to go up from 5230 to 9928. But a lot of communities in the in the area do use the Franklin County Regional Animal Control. Uh it's a great service. They've been very kind to us. We'll call
them and say I know nothing. I mean, I love animals. a lot of my staff does as well, but we don't know a lot of the animal control laws that their their expertise is in. >> Um, so that's why we're hoping that we can not only get this funded for next
year, I'm actually hoping that the select board will be interested in going into an agreement with them so we can start that in February. And like I said, financially, it won't cost us over what we already have budgeted. Uh, like I said, it's about 37 3,800 I think. and
we still have just over 4,000 left in that account. Um the only the bills that have come out of the ACL budget was the dog shelter, I think it was 550, and then the monthly cell phone that we're paying for that doesn't get used. Um
>> so this program, this is through the Franklin County Sheriff's Office. >> Yeah. Right now they're up on is it Sandy Lane and Turners? I know they're looking at moving. >> Um but that's going to come down the line. there would we we do have like a contract to use the dog shelter. So, if
we have pick up a dog at 2 a.m. out in the street or 2:00 p.m., we can bring it there, drop him off. He's inside. We don't have any services like that here. So, we can drop him off. And we've been doing that for about eight or nine years. Uh, and this is the first time
that went up in the cost. >> The acco, the actual animal control position. So the remainder of the 5230 minus the $550 and the $40 a month for the cell phone, the leftover was what the stipen was for the acco and that was
$100 every payroll. So that's about 2,600 bucks just to be the acco plus any extra costs that we would have to pay for that employee to go out and do different things. using their services with the Franklin County program. It would help us out
tremendously because they're 16 to 18 hours patrol, but it's 24 hours all the time. They have on call staff. You know, uh the towns of Le Wendell and a few other towns around us have jumped on to them as well. So, these towns who their animal control budget was half of what
ours is now have jumped on to this program. So, like I said, we've been kind of picking their brains about what we're allowed to do and and we asked them for guidance on a lot of this because it's not the normal laws that we deal with. Um, the only thing that this does in effect is the
animal inspector. That's separate from the acco and I don't believe they do it. So, we would have to look at what we have to do for that. So, barn inspections, things of that nature. Um, but I'm sure we can talk to the FCSO and see what they want to do or if they even do that. If they don't, then we'll have
to figure something out as far as a townwide, whether it be board of health or something that would pick that up. >> But currently, that's not being done anyways because we don't have >> correct. Correct. And that was only a $100 statement. >> And um >> $100 for the year >> per animal inspector. Yeah.
>> Because it's a one time. You go out once and do it. So you get 100 bucks. >> We don't have that many animals. I guess >> we have a lot of animals, but inspections. No, we don't. >> Um I guess my my final question on that is just is there a any kind of marketable difference either on the good
side or the bad side of difference between what this program will offer the town for service and what we would have if we had an actual full-time or not full-time but actual >> so if we had an on call um and historically in the last nine years that I've been here um that person doesn't
rely on $5,000 a year >> they have a full-time job >> so and usually that's during the day so during the day shift when we get lost dogs or or animals or or things of that nature that we have to deal with during the day shift, the dayshift would would
handle it and then in the evening and if there was any overnight calls, they would get called out, things of that nature. The regional program actually has animal control officers on duty that has our radio, has the ability to write reports, meet with us. Um, it's a very
professional program. we can work with them and if they're going to say lever to do a call, they can swing through town if we have any other calls that are going on or if we have any animal cruelty laws that we need to deal
with, we can work with them on that. So, this program has a 247 agency that will handle it there. They're not out patrolling for lost dogs at 2 a.m., but they'll have a an on call service. So we call them, they activate whoever's on call and then they come out and deal
with it. But day shift, evening shift, weekends, things of that nature, that group would come out and handle any calls that we have to deal with, which is a huge help to us because in this town, we could deal with a lost dog or a
dog running down the bridge or down 116. And what are we going to do with him? we're going to bring them back to the station and put them in the garage until we can figure out when we're going to go to Turners to drop them off or what. So, in the last year, it's been kind of tricky. If we have this service, we
would just have to wait for them to show up or we were tied up on a domestic or a car crash, we would be busy with that. They would call this comp this agency. They would come out and handle that and we wouldn't be none the wiser. We wouldn't have to worry about it. >> So, it would help us tremendous. You'd
still, again, just so it's kind of clear in my head, >> that dog that's running around, >> you'd still grab that dog and make it safe until they could show up.
>> As long as we weren't tied up at >> Right. But we're not going to just sit at the station drinking coffee and like, oh, they'll deal with it. We're not going to do that. We're still going to go and deal with them. >> Okay. I just didn't know if that was like, you know, you can't you can't do it because that would be stepping on their toes, their job. So, you'd still
be able to grab that dog, make the situation safe. >> Yes. >> They'll come and take it from there. You don't have to actually >> transport it now to Turner's. They're going to come get it. >> It's been a >> Yep. And and like I said before,
extremely professional program. I've watched it in the last nine years go from one and a half employees paid to four five plus they have a bunch of volunteers for the dog shelter but they all work hand in hand. We work with them. We just hosted a meeting with the
animal control officers of the Franklin and the New Hampshire counties. So that really worked out well. So, we all met at the public safety complex, kind of put a face with the names that we'll see on the board or if we're talking to them on the phone, and that's a great setup because then you'll talk to somebody for
6 months without even know what what they look like until you can finally meet up with them. And the ones that we've dealt with already are absolutely wonderful. Uh, I mean, two of them already drive through town to get to work. So, if they were part of this, if we were part of this, it would help us
out tremendously. So I guess my hypothetical question is if money wasn't a a question and finding someone wasn't a question, would you rather be part of this program or would you rather that we had independent CSO officers? >> I would rather this program. >> Would Okay, that's that's that's
what my Well, no. And and >> that's why I love regional dispatch because it worked out well for us. We're such a small >> I mean, do I want to absorb a $5,000 increase? No, of course not. I never want to do that. But what I want to make sure of is is that we're getting something for our extra $5,000. It it sounds like we are. Sounds like this is going to be a better program than what
would be doing otherwise more coverage through especially during daylight hours. Um you know knowing someone's always there all the things. So I just wanted to make sure that you weren't this wasn't like a step back and twice as expensive. You know what I mean? So that sounds >> light years ahead of what we have now.
>> Okay. Uh and I can say that because we have nobody but um but even not to take anything away from our previous ACOs >> they've been great but the training the certification things have become a lot more stringent and this group is on top
of it and I can't sing their praises loud enough. If we could have gone to them last year I would have pushed and pushed and pushed but it just didn't make sense to it. But now this year um without being able to find a staff member I think it it makes sense. We were hoping to get someone who's already
a town employee that might want to pick it up and then that fell through the cracks. So, this is the next best option. Um, again, for 50 $5,200 um 500 of Well, next year is probably going to be 650. So, now you're down to
$4,500 left of a salary. That's not No one's going to do that. I don't care how much you love dogs or cats or something. So, is it just domesticated animals? They're not going to take those calls for skunks under my shed >> or a moose on 116.
>> So, yeah. So, wildlife is wildlife. We live in their world. Um, so when you're dealing with moose playing in traffic, we would usually side with environmental police. We would still respond and try to deal with that. Um, this our acco
dealt with >> domesticated animals. We've gotten calls for bats in a house. I love going to that when I'm on duty because I love bats. I think I'm not a freak about them, but I know how to catch them. >> Toss them out the window, bring them outside, whatever. But a lot of officers
just don't do that. >> You know, you just got to know they're not really going to bite you if you hold them the right way. Um, wear the proper attire. But these these these officers that would be part of the contract. We can go into what actually services they would provide. So, I needed to get a
yes, we want to look into it. So, I can reach out to them tomorrow and then they can send us the contract and all the information and then you can take a look at it and go, okay, this fiscal year we have the money in the budget. You know, looking at what the town has already in that line. It's 448 left over. So, we've
only used, you know, a little bit $800. Um, this was as of January 9th. So, if that's changed in the last week, don't hold me to it. Um, but I want to say to use this comp, this organization from February 1st to June 30th, it's going to
be about 3,800. So, we're well under the budget for this year. And we could get a professional agency that would handle that, kind of give us a trial run, but with the hopes that the town wants us to have an actual animal control officer to handle these types of things. Well, if
we if we can get it set up so that you starting in February have the access to that, that also means that come town come meeting, we have some anecdotal evidence to say, hey, this is how it's gone so far and we're going to be able to answer people's questions of why are we having well guess what this year we were able to respond to these in this way whereas over the last 12 months we
haven't been able to because of the lack of position >> and and historically our ACOs have had to field mostly phone calls. It's been a lot of questions. Well, I have this going on. I have this going on. What can I do? So they'll be able to answer these questions where our ACOs were like this
person's calling about a skunk under their deck. What do I do? Like put them to the website and show them this is what you need to do. Connect your trash. Don't have food out. Don't try to trap it. You know, all these different things. And that's exactly what they're going to tell these people to. So a lot of the stuff's online that
you can figure out how to deal with wild animals. >> But again, it's a wild animal. If you if you get a bat in the house called get an exterminator. That's not the town's responsibility to go into your house to clear the bats. Granted, a lot of times we'll have college kids who were like,
"What do I do?" And they just call 911. Well, 911 is not, you know, call because you have a bat in the house. If it's actively attacking you, that's >> that's what husbands are for. >> We're teenagers. >> So, there's there's there's things it's been a learning curve. But in the last
nine years, I' i'd say the the calls that we got nine years ago compared to the calls we're getting now have changed. People have educated themselves on what you can do with wild animals. Um we'll always get there's a bear in my backyard and of course we do the did you
take your bird feeders down? >> No. Well, that's why they're in your backyard because you're living in their land. So, um just don't go out there and antagonize the animal. Uh he'll move along or she'll move along. I had a beautiful black bear in my fun. I get to watch it on camera. I wasn't going
outside. She was big. So, I'm not going to call the ACL for that because I know in five minutes she's going to walk in the wood line and she's gone. So, >> just one quick question. Are the employees of the rescue or of the control? Are they deputized? Deputies of
the sheriff's office or they are. Okay. >> So, the ones that will respond for this are >> animal control officers. They have a badge. They have a gun. to go through certifications. They they would also be able to successfully in partnerships with their communities say we had something here. They and us would work
together on building say we have an animal cruelty case. >> So we would all work together on applying for that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Perfect. That was >> Yeah. Wonderful. >> Um any questions from the finance committee on any of this >> for police or acco? >> Um what's the weirdest domestic animal
you've had in nine years? boa constrictor, a lizard. >> Well, we've had Yeah, we've had snakes. We've had >> those domestic snakes, right? Like not not like not wildlife, but like >> Yeah, exactly. >> in people's houses. Yeah. Yeah. Spiders, giant spiders as pets, you know. I've
always gotten a kick out of that. You know, I'm fine. >> And the dog shelter, they take those animals, too, or >> No, the dog shelter just takes dogs. >> So, So, what do you do with the giant spider? What do you do with the cat? >> Giant spiders. >> Is that like a neighbor thing? >> You bet the owner and say, "I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Thank you. But
here it's great to see them, but once they're walking on you. Yeah. No. No thank you. >> So snakes and spiders are >> Yeah. >> You'll be surprised what people bring home. >> You can't flush them. You can't do that. So remember, they do grow up to be adult
animals and maybe they're not the greatest pets, but I know plenty of people who have snakes that are that's fine. I I'm not bringing a snake home. That's fine. But yeah. So the so the dog shelter is So you were talking about dogs a lot, but you often meant all
animals, but then the dog shelter is literally just for dogs. >> Yes, that's just the dogs, >> but animal control, those other domestic animals. >> Yeah. So you may have seen in the news that there was a partnership between MSPCA and and a few of the other organizations in Hadley. And then there's a few other towns that have had
these issues. Orange, we actually had a couple of issues in the last nine years. But if you have an aggressive dog and it attacks somebody, there's processes that you have to go through and we would work with them on that. >> Thank you. >> Also, I work for Comcast for seven years. At some point, when we're not recorded, I'll tell you all about the
crazy animals that I saw in that job. >> Crazy animals. >> All right. Yeah, >> different sub. >> Um, one last note from me, just I just want to thank you for working with us last year on that full-time wages because that was able to help us get through last year's budget as well. Um, and I just want to reiterate for the finance committee for those of you who
may not be aware, um, the reason that there's such a big increase in that line item is because they cut a bunch last year to help us over the line with the budget. So, just want to leave that context on there that this isn't really an increase so much as it is a restoration and then a little bit of an
increase. So, just want to throw it out there. >> Did you I think >> Yeah. So, so we did add a full we want you've been go asking us for a couple years to get that fulltime and we finally got the full-time which is great. From my perspective, I just wanted to hear from your perspective how
how much has that helped your department and and in the past when you're petitioning to try to get it, you used to give us the number of calls that have been increasing over time. How first of all like how's it been working out to you've only had him for three months, right? Is that what you >> We haven't even Have you been able to hire? >> Still not hired yet. Okay.
>> We're sending him to the academy. >> Okay. Oh, yeah. We talked about that too. So, how about calls? How are calls this year compared to last few years? >> I haven't finished doing the u the annual uh report for the towns. I know that's due next month, I think. Um but
uh as far as calls throughout the year, uh they've been basically the same. We have had more motor vehicle stops. We've gotten some grants from the state so we can conduct motor vehicle stops. um that has gone up but uh we have been basically the same because two years ago
I think two or three years ago you guys three years ago you guys gave us the funding to have a sixth full-timer. So I was the fifth that was the sixth and then now we have the seventh. So that was the the first giant increase that we saw with calls. Um, so with that, uh,
the basic calls, the accidents are about the same. Uh, they fluctuate anywhere between 75 to 100 accident reports a year. Uh, as far as arrest reports, that uh will fluctuate depending on um because we filed an an arrest report for
uh criminal charges, whether it's someone's physically in custody or they summoned. And that can range anywhere from a suspended license to a drunk driving or domestic arrest, things of that nature. Those are a little bit lower um this past calendar year than
the year before. Uh but as far as call volumewise, I think with some of the open shifts that we've had, that's why we've seen u a drop in some of those numbers and getting this person in trained and then back on the road with us. We're going to be able to not by our
own uh attempt, but that number will will then fluctuate back up to what we had for LA the year before. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. And then you'll also see I did two capital expenses. Uh, one is for a cruiser replacement. Uh, two years ago
you got us money for the first 2017 cruiser. This one is for the next 2017 cruiser. So, we're looking at replacing that. Um, this would it's historically used on the midnight shift. So, uh, we're looking at replacing that car. It
just amazes me how much a cruiser costs. I remember when I started as a police chief 19 years ago, I could build buy and build a cruiser for less than 35,000. Uh now you can't even buy the car for less than 45. It's between 43 and 48. And then to outfit the car with
the lights, the cage, the radar, all the police stuff that you see in TV shows all in the front, that is all anywhere between uh 15 and a half to 20,000. So that's why this year's request is at 745. Um, and there's a few different types of
vehicles we can look at, um, Taho, um, pickup trucks, Durangos, or, um, the traditional Ford Explorer that you see that we have, our entire fleet, with the exception of a cruiser I have are Ford Explorers, and we'll probably stick with
that. But I, it all depends on what their quotes are going to be. >> And is this for a hybrid cruiser? >> Um, it all depends on what we can get. Um, so I know with the green energy, the towns used to be exempt from that and
now they're not. So the idea is if you replace a cruiser, that one has to be better in gas miles than the one you replacing. So replacing the Tahoe a few years ago, well, it's a no-brainer because that thing was >> $2,000 in gas just by itself. >> That was a hybrid ve.
>> If this one is going to be a hybrid, then then so be it. We we already have one, so getting another one, that's fine. But even if we got a gas vehicle, that's still much more economical than the gas we had uh from 2017. >> So it would still be better on gas mileage.
>> Okay. And is the 745 is that for >> that's for everything. That's the car, the lights, the stickers, the cage, the equipment, all inside. >> And you have a quote at that or is that just what you're >> uh that's best guessed. Uh the only one I've gotten so far is from um
uh the Tahoe. And I know the town usually doesn't like something like that. Um, so I'm waiting to get the other one for the Crown uh for the Ford Explorer SUV type vehicle. >> Uh, so whichever one comes in at the lowest, I'll make sure I get that to Becky so she can see it and get it to
the board. So then if we decide that we want to stick with the same style, so when you look and see a a black and white Cruiser, you know, they all look the same. Some of our staff like them all looking the same instead of having a Chevy, a Dodge, a Ford, you know, all
these different types of cars. Um, but we have uh all Ford Explorers except for the car I drive and that's the Dodge. And the reason why I wrote with that almost seven years ago was because it was the cheapest car we could get. >> Is that how long? >> March 10th would be seven years. I
picked that up March 10th, 2019. >> Who did all the maintenance on our vehicles? Do you have all fours? >> Yeah. So, uh things under warranty, uh we we'll bring it to the Ford dealership either in Hamp or in Greenfield. >> Uh but basic stuff, oil changes, tire
rotations, we'll use uh people who are on the state bid. So, like the tires at Ammerst Tire. They've got the state bid. We'll go bring it there. We're bringing a car tomorrow for actually this car. I can't not put tires on it. So, I have to replace those tires and they get done tomorrow. Um, and then, uh, the local
mechanics around us will do that for the basic oil changes. Um, but it's usually pretty good. You know, we don't have to really worry about too much of the expenses on that. >> So, there's no benefit of having another forward or not because you're still going to go to >> Yeah, we're still going to use the same people.
>> Yeah. Yeah. >> And then the other uh capital is the PSC repairs. Like I mentioned in the paragraph and in the the budget explanation, um the town's been great. They've given us money in the last two years to repair
a lot of the the station from paint to sealing the floors to uh fixing the sign that was put up 20 years ago with the building. Uh that was you could put your finger through it. So that all that was replaced. This one is less than that. Uh
it's now 10,650. And that's going to replace a lot of um well, I'm sorry, everything on here with the exception of one thing is like a one and done. You can go get it done and then it should be good for the next 10, 15 years. The only thing that's on
here that's not that is the floor stripping and waxing. So, we did that two years ago. Um I've been here just over nine and that was the first time we've done it. So, I was very happy that we did that. So, we would like to try to do it again next fiscal year. Um,
if the town says, you know, we don't want to do that and you want to cut 1,350 from that overall, then we'll wait until next year to get it done. Um, but it only happens every 2 to four years for that. I just don't want to wait another nine years. It'll be someone else's problem. I don't think I'll be
here at 59 um at that point, but somebody will have to deal with it, but we don't want it to progress that way. >> And how are the or the floors holding up at this point? They're much better than they were two years ago. Um, you know, they don't we don't have the big gouge marks in the
wax and the the dirt filling in. It looked like someone had just pulled metal wicks across the floor because it's just been years. No matter how much you mop it, it just gets in the the wax and it's just no good. Uh, so we want to kind of keep up on that. Um, and it's much easier to ask for capital expense
than to try to roll it into the budget because then I I don't do the budget. That's the public safety complex budget. >> No. And you may not have an answer for this because you're not also the fire chief, but is this represent the entire capital request for the public safety complex this year or are we expecting
>> I I don't think he has anything uh scheduled for capital expense for the building. >> I think he he's going to be increasing his public safety complex budget, but that's because everything's going up. >> But as far as actual projects, yeah, so last year's project, we upgraded some of the cameras. We got a new video server
because that was end of life. That literally died, by the way, >> as we were waiting for the part to get in. So, it was very lucky that we ordered it when we did. >> Um, but I don't think he's got anything that's on the block for the complex. >> Okay. >> You know, uh George mentioned parking
lots. Um, our parking lot will probably have to get looked at in the next five or six years. U, but that's for another day. >> Okay. I I do think it's worth on the note in the parking lot exploring whether it's more cost effective to do it all at once or whether it's been more cost effective
to do it in a phased approach because if it's going to cost us 40% more to do it twice well let's get it all done at one time and save us some money. I've been saying for the past seven years that if we could get one of those solar setups like UMass has >> that would extend the life of the parking lot even more because now the
snow and everything is going off of that and plus you've got solar but I mean >> you want to dump all that money into a solar field above the parking lot. >> It's going to have to be high enough for the fire trucks to drive through. But I would love that. Well, and that has been a a not specifically your location, but
but putting those on frontier elementary school places like that has been a subject of conversation quite a bit. >> Um, so it's good to know that that's a >> saves on sanding, salting, plowing. >> Yeah. >> And you're not just you're marking land for just solar. It's land that's
otherwise useful. You're not adding to the footprint of what you're using. >> We'll talk more about that soon. >> Sure. Definitely. >> Wonderful. All right. Um, that sounds all that sounds good for me. Crystal, anything else you wanted to ask about Dan? Anything more from you for Chief Grop here? >> No, I'm good. Thank No, I'm good. Thank
you. >> Wonderful. Anything from the finance committee? >> I just say, you know, I think that the budget's very consistent and reasonable. Thanks for the work on that. >> Um, as we look ahead, you mentioned, you know, the FT full-time officers going up to seven.
>> Will there be going to eight because we'll have even less part-time people available? Do we think we're stable now for at least the in, you know, the next few years? Any any thoughts on looking ahead on the staffing side? >> Um, I would love to to get the department up to eight or nine officers,
but I I know that we're a small town. >> Um, we have to figure out what we're going to do with that. I'm not asking for an ETH officer on this budget. Will I ask for an ETH officer on the next budget? I I'm right now I'm I'm at about a 6040. So 60% yes,
40% no. Uh only because I want to see how this one plays out for the year. Uh if everything is pretty copacetic, then we'll let it go another year. Uh but at some point we're I mean we're down to three part-times. >> Technically two because one of them's
work actually two of them are working full-time in other towns. Uh so at some point their duties are going to grow and they're going to have to remove themselves. And then we have one person trying to cover all of our benefit time. And that's why if you look at the past years, our overtime has always been more
because we'll offer shifts that we try to get enough coverage. Um we haven't been successful in a lot of that because our my staff has been working their butts off on coverage and trying to get things done. So it's just it gets to a point where we've had to rely on state
police tremendously and we just have to decide if we're going to stay as the on 24/7 as best we can or we're just going to say, "Hey, listen. Let's dial it back and just do 18 hours of the 24." That's another way of working around that. And then you would shift people on the
schedule, but then the town has to understand. >> It's like Robert Kennedy's quote, you know, you get the community, each community gets the criminal it deserves where it's equal to it gets a law enforcement it insist upon. So, if you want to go to a two shift or a two day
shift and evening shift schedule and that's what you want, then don't complain at 3:00 a.m. when there's an officer there. >> But if you want 247 coverage, you have to provide that. Um, so what do we want to do? Do we want to do 24/7 all the time or are you okay with only having
coverage till 2 or 3 in the morning and then state police is covering? Uh, and they're great about it. I'm sure we're taxing them out and a lot of the towns around us. If you think of it, Deerfield, Monagu, Greenfield, Orange, those are the only four towns I
believe. And if I mess something up, I I don't want to get ridiculed on the internet. Those are the four that are 247 and we're the fifth one. And we've been slacking on that the last year. So, do we want to stay in those top five or do we want to step back and be just the
day shift and the evening shift seven days a week? So that's something we'll have to look at doing and sit down with the union and sit down with the select board and figure out what we want to do. So >> yes, so on that note, I think you've given us roughly before. How many of those calls that you get percentage
rough idea are University of Massachusetts students are renting property in our town? >> I wish I had a number for you. We don't ask them. We can assume >> that their age range of 17 to 25 is
maybe something one of the colleges. Um but a lot of our calls noise complaints or noise complaints whether they're from you know old Ammeris Road or or 116 Flats or Cliffside or whatever. It it could be anything. Um but I don't have those
numbers so I don't want to give you a false number. >> Okay. No, that's okay. I'm just I mean I don't know if you know does the Ammerst Police Department get funded at all by the university? >> No, they have their own police >> because they do have their own police. Yeah. On their main campus. But it >> But then again, Ammeris has 40 officers.
Yeah, we have seven >> once once this one's certified. So, >> well, and we've talked about it before, but there are definitely impacts to the town because of UMass around Barney blowout, that kind of thing >> end up having an impact to our police
force because of spillover from >> and soon later hours, too. >> Yeah. Y >> yeah. >> So I guess before you know we'll get there down the road, but we should look to study how many calls are from 1000 p.m. to 4 a.m. >> Yep. You shared that those numbers with
us last year and um since co the numbers are getting people are going to bed earlier like the like that's what it showed last year's in last year's numbers it was like >> yeah we we >> they were you know what I mean the peaks were earlier earlier in the morning but >> earlier at night.
>> Yeah. Historically in the last 9 years I can tell you that about 7:30 8:00 in the morning until about 6:30 7:00 at night that is the peak >> right >> 6 days a week you know Monday through Saturday that is the peak after that it
does drop you have a couple of different things like the night before Thanksgiving or when the holidays in the middle of the week you have these different issues but for the most part the day shift and the evening shift um it is completely different even on the board when I say the board We have uh
our data mo mobile data terminals where we can see all the towns that are part of the dispatch center and what calls they're going to and we can hear them on the radio. Um and you'll see during the shift I work it's 30 people on the board and then you open the computer at 4 a.m.
and there's four people um Sunderland Deerfield. So, it's like, okay, a lot of things don't happen, but I mean, that's to say, there are calls and sometimes the more heinous ones are in the evening and the overnights. So, you know, people aren't knocking on your door at 3:00 a.m. because they want to sell you milk
cookies. Um, they're knocking on your door to see if you're there, and if not, they're going to break in. So, um, yeah, but during the day, we have >> dropping off your Amazon deliveries. >> Amazon deliveries. What do you have? 20 to 30,000 cars a day going through Sunderland every day.
We have 32 3600 population and when the college kids are here we're almost 6,000. So it's a lot. It's a lot for that little 14.7 square miles. >> Well, I don't think that these two both you were talking about are unrelated. Our proximity to UMass Ammerst is why we
are one of the few towns that has a 24-hour. Please shift is because we have >> activity at ours that would that Whe Conway doesn't have, you know. Um and so >> well we have cell phone service. >> Well,
>> yeah, we get some benefits out of that too. >> Yes. >> Some jobs. >> We have about 98% cell phone coverage in this town. So that's great. So people can call. We have a PBTA bus. So we do have a huge uh commuting traffic population that cuts through. Yeah. >> Um so yeah.
>> Does Lebert have 24? >> No. >> No. >> No. They just graduated. They just graduated two from the academy and one left already. Um, so it's but they're they're running once that once that one is done training, they'll be at
16 or 18 hours uh usually six, seven days a week. So, but they don't have any coverage on the overnights. >> Yeah. >> Anyone else? >> All right, that was easy. >> Thank you. Before you go, we do have one other thing. Oh, that was the ACO. Never
mind. I >> tied it all in. >> Perfect. Wagon, so keep going. >> All righty. Um, that should be it for um our new business. Thank you very much, Chief. >> Thank you. >> Um, finance committee, this would be your cue to adjourn unless you others
have something you want to talk about. Before we do, >> I have a process question. So, I want to talk to the finance committee and maybe the finance comm. So the there's been a proposal from the kind of three towns to have a couple of our meetings, finance committee, select board together
>> and they're did you all get this or did I? I think I got this because I was the chair. So anyway, they're doing a dual poll to see if there's a time that everybody could meet. So I didn't know if we wanted to like I could talk to the finance committee, you guys could talk among yourselves and then the select board could answer the doodle poll and I could answer the doodle poll for the
finance committee and say what are the nights? You know what I mean? Like how do we organize that? >> Is the joint meeting for Frontier or what is it for? >> No, it's for South County and South County. South County Ambulance and South County Senior Center. >> And I thought it was Frontier and Franklin Tech. I thought it was
>> in the email. Did they say those things too? Cuz No, because they said Conway might not want to be there. >> So maybe they were maybe they would like that too, but that that proposal >> Conway was at the first meeting. >> Yeah. I'm just saying the one that um the email that we got didn't mention.
I'm just checking to make sure I'm not making this up. Um anyway, so can I go on the hall? Can we or like figure out and I'll just respond and say this was basically for the finance committee or do you guys want to do that together? >> It's a logistics thing. >> So >> because it doesn't involves the select
board, too. >> Crystal's our representative as of right now. Um, so ostensibly she will for >> this is but this is our all of our availability not necessarily Monday nights. >> No, my understanding is and again correct me if I'm wrong is this is a a
representative from each board. >> No, I think it's for when they start doing the presentation. >> Oh, okay. I'm for all three times. >> My bad. I I was >> So, it's a logistics issue which is why I was thought I'd bring it up and say >> Monday at 6:30.
>> Yeah. If you could make that work, that'd be great. Um, so the short answer is because it's just a scheduling issue, there's no open meeting law violation issue, us discussing that via email. Um, and so let's get an email chain with the two committees together and hash that out.
>> So you must have gotten the doodle poll. >> I do not >> I don't even know what that >> is. Do me a favor and just forward the email to Becky and I will have Becky. Uh, I did forward it to Nathaniel right before the select board meeting. >> Then it's probably sitting in my email.
I haven't checked it yet. So, I will I will do so. >> I was going to bring this up at the end of the meeting, too. >> Okay, perfect. >> I I this may come out of what we've done with the school committees because we tr we dabbled with this with the school committees to try to be more efficient
for the superintendent and the CFO. We've not done all four downs though because we just thought that'd be overwhelming. We've had meetings Sunderland and Deerfield Conway and Wavely. I would just caution if we did all of them. That's a lot. It does say I
I feel awful about Franklin County Tech because he's got to go to 24 22 school meetings. I So it is more efficient to get the presentations. I just we have to be I think deliberate and cautious on how we structure it for the first time.
So I that's my only suggestion. I know South County is easy. This is South County Senior Center and South County EMS that they're proposing. >> We may want to try it with those three towns >> in this particular this is a trial for just those three towns, two organizations. >> Yes. And just for context, a big part of
why a part of why this is happening is a desire from our board to have more communication between the the Sunderland finance committee and select board and the other towns committees because largely we're just we
hear the presentation from these people and we accept it at face value because we don't have a way of negotiating because the other two parties that would need to be here to negotiate aren't here. And so we kind of have to either take it or leave it and we have no power to be like well yeah but can we talk about this item here and have all three towns like yeah you're right that's an
item that we don't want to see increase or whatever. There is no mechanism for that currently. And so the whole idea behind this is hey maybe it's good for actually to have the finance committees the boards from these three towns meet at one point to feel like are we all happy with houses going or are we feeling like because of the way it's set
up we're not getting that ability to be able to negotiate. So I believe South Deerfield meets on Monday nights. >> So they gave us a set of potential dates a whole bunch you know >> and I believe that >> 15 10 15 dates >> meets on Tuesdays. >> This is all February March.
>> February March February 23rd 24th 25th March 10th. There's like four weeks worth of basically what what days of the week are those? Um, so I can Monday, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays a bunch of weeks. >> Okay.
>> Um, so I will just respond as the finance committee and so I'll kind of pull the finance committee out in the hallway because we're allowed to do that after we meet. >> Why don't we just do a doodle poll amongst ourselves and then we >> Yeah. So this is a when to meet. Yeah. So maybe I'll even take those dates and do a doodle poll of six of us.
>> Yeah. Perfect. >> Or you guys can say, "Hey, from those times don't even try Mondays or something, you know, don't try Tuesdays or whatever." Another collegiality knowing like what they're doing in other towns. So, you know, we've also done this mass in motion life paths >> meeting different towns together. So, I
do like it. I just would say ease into it. >> Yeah. Like I said, this is just South County EMS and um senior center. >> All right. And we'll do something similar on our side with um with Becky in >> the email this morning came from Julia
Shelf to the Deerfield Finance Committee. I mean, it's not a dual pole, but it's a win to me pull. I call them all the same thing. >> I didn't get it. So, I don't know. >> Doesn't matter what you call it. Apparently, it went to Daniel.
>> I will. >> I was It actually went to Becky and me. It looks like for Tom >> and I think it did get to you Crystal, but I was doing it on my cell phone and it wouldn't take your
>> I couldn't get the email to come up on the cell phone, >> but you might have it. >> So, I have a motion from the finance committee. May we have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I post. >> See you guys in two weeks.
>> Thank you all. We'll see you in two weeks. >> All righty. That's all for our finance committee joint stuff. Um, next up for old business, we have select board updates. We'll start with you, Dan. Anything for us today? >> Um, well, sure. I I I can tell you that
I I attended the uh board of oversight meeting for the South County uh a joint meeting with the Deerfield, but I know that um Jennifer wants to come to us and do a presentation to obviously us and the finance committee
as well. Um, but so I don't know that I've got some draft numbers that they put ahead if you want to hear what uh the increase is for. So I don't know if I can at least give you that and let let uh Jennifer come and give you all the details if you like. >> Sure.
>> She want to wait till she comes. >> Uh why don't you send it off an email? Um and we'll let her let her give us the the news when she comes in person. >> Okay. >> Does that work for you, Crystal? >> Okay, that's good. Wait, I need one of those things. Just quick thing I just want to let
everybody know. Um uh I so I I had I was without a car and I was looking for a way to get to Boston and Brooklyn and um one thing I learned there's a B79 route that the uh PBTA runs uh with uh Masdot and it goes right from Amherst and
brings you right to Wester Commuter Rail. Um and it runs 5 days a week, Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So if anybody's looking for a need to get to Boston, it's basically a new a new way to do it. it'll bring you right to community really get right in South Asia or wherever you need to go.
So it's I just wanted to let people know that's out there. It's a new service and it's uh it's useful. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Sorry selfishly missed being similar to lies on community. Which one is that? >> He says it's ahead. It's B79 Pioneer
Valley Transit and they'll take you right from UMass Hus uh right to uh Union Station in Worester and it links up timewise with the commuter rail. >> So the bus will drop you off and 10 minutes later you're on the commuter rail.
>> Good. Thank you. >> That's wonderful. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Anything else? >> No, that's it. Crystal. >> So, um, tomorrow is South County EMS. >> Um,
I know they're trying to schedule another personnel committee meeting, but I'm not sure when that's going to be at this point. So, maybe next week I'll have something. >> Sounds good. For myself, um, I have a capital planning committee meeting this
Thursday. Um, and the other thing I wanted to just mention is we let me It was announced that uh Natalie Blake will be stepping down uh towards the end this month um our state representative. So just uh wanted to reiterate that news uh
in case folks listening to this were not aware of that. Um and we will find out more about when um any kind of potential special election or whatnot will happen. And that is it for me. Becky, do you have anything for us today?
>> Um, I just want to take this opportunity to um congratulate Shoots Fairy on holding their grand opening of their new library on Saturday. Um, >> yeah, it was a long time coming. Mhm.
>> As somebody who spent lots of time in that incredibly cold old shed that they call the library that was all those years um I spent a lot of time there as a kid and been looking forward to shoot getting their new library for many many years. So um I too am very excited about
that prospect and we'll have to make my way of it there at some point to because it's a new location. >> Wonderful. >> Anything else from you Becky? >> Um I'm going to hold on that and tonight.
>> All righty. Um, our next meeting should be next week. >> No, >> no, >> next week is Martin Luther King doing. >> Uh, right. Are we doing Tuesday or are we just not doing next week next week then? >> On the calendar, but the Tuesday. >> So, I guess that's a question for you,
Becky. Do we have enough for next uh Tuesday that we need to meet or should we plan on meeting on the 26th? Um >> I talked to Aaron Fabel. They were the only ones um for last week on the budget. It was not time sensitive. They
at this point they are still the only ones for this coming week. If that doesn't change. Um but Nathaniel, let me talk to you uh tomorrow. I want to I want to check in with Mel. She might have heard something
come through for next week that I don't know about. >> Okay, we'll touch base tomorrow then. Um >> we don't cut any short. >> Yeah. No, if we can if we can make it work where we don't need to meet next week. Um having to do a Tuesday meeting is always extra hard for everyone to make it work. So, um but yeah, just let
me know. >> Yeah, Daniel, I have one other idea. Maybe we could if we can, you know, for let's just plan to have um the energy committee do a short thing at the end of the finance
meeting on the 26. Does that work >> for you all? >> I think so. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> He said it'll be 15 minutes. >> Yeah. No, if that's the case, then that would make the most sense to me. >> Absolutely. >> Okay, great. Then we can resolve it tonight.
>> Okay, perfect. So then yeah, our next meeting will be the 26th then. >> Wonderful. >> Well, she still needs to check with Mel if anything, right? Time >> sensitive. >> Pending nothing from Mel. Um okay. We'll So we'll find out tomorrow and we'll get uh either get one posted um by Thursday
or we will not have it posted by Thursday. Wonderful. All right. Anything else from you, Becky? >> No. Thank you. >> All righty. Um for public comment, it looks like we do have somebody online. No, that's Keith McFarland, isn't it? Keith, did you have anything that you
wanted to discuss with us tonight? >> No, she's No, she's by the season, so I was just listening in. >> Okay, cool. Wonderful. Just wanted to make sure we didn't miss you. All righty. We don't have any else in in person. No executive session tonight. Therefore, at this time, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn.
>> I motion we adjourn. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion made and seconded. All those in favor? >> I Murphy. >> I three nothing. Becky, thank you very much. The time is 7:54