##VIDEO ID:QTZVAfsN6CI## good evening this is um Tuesday November 12th and call meet the towns and finance committee meeting to order at 6:06 pm. um just don't do anything yeah it's too late now um and so um we'll just do the roll call um voice call attendance Carn bazas David Walker Mary Jane Churchville Carol offis and Don Hayes that's five members and so we have a quorum we are ready to go the meeting is being recorded um it will be played back on Channel 9 as well as um loaded to the towns for viewing um anybody's request at this point I have no additions or deletions on on the agenda we'll go through what we have and uh continue from from there um on the work session um the first item to review the quotes for printing the MMA finance committee manual um I have both items one and two um we had disc discussions two weeks ago um when um we had a working session um so we I didn't get any notes compil for it so we'll talk a little bit about what went on the discussions that we had um and before we take the votes um we we had um thought very the current version of the manual we were discussing printing 10 copies one for each of the existing members on the finance committee three three for reference um and then and that quote came in at $197 um I had looked also at having three of the prior version um printed and those C that quote came in at about $120 if I remember that quot right um and we had we had discussion about maybe we don't need to print the prior prior copies that we would um just print the current copies um and by not using that $120 there's a little bit more money in the budget if there's conferences or anything or trainings that that cost a little money and attend we did also um this discussion went full reference we're working with the Web Master to get both versions of the file posted on the to website for us they'll be in the finance committee reference um when I submitted the request they had to submit um a request to the people that manage the the website for Revis company um because when they tried to do is they were getting errors so that it wasn't as easy as as anticipated so um that request had gone in um and it's working its way through the escalation path once once everything is cleared we we'll get um we'll get those posted on the website I mean basically that was it it gave us the the opportunity and there was questions about the the prices being so close together when you're three versus 10 copies um in the printing Arena you have set up for a job you have to do pre-press set up and and all that so the setup is there were only four page four pages difference between the old version and the new version so when you talk about printing it it seems like if if you just do a simple division the price per copy is way higher for the three well that's set up plus printing three versus setup and printing 10 so that's why the um 197 um is so different so it sort of made sense to me that um maybe we don't print the and have hard copy of the reference just leave that a TR and if we do need it in the future we can either print it on the copers up here um and do it in the binder versus versus having it print and bound so those the 197 is bound print and bound print and print Glu bound covers we're we're doing it in the format like the annual report that is printed at time okay um did that I was going to say if there were any questions I was did that clarify that any questions that may have been out there with it I mean I think it does make sense not to print the previous version if we can post it so I mean if I really want a hard copy of it I can print it if I as long as I can get a get a soft copy and print it myself it's 169 pages so it's it's a l print on a printer so um that you know again one of the reasons we're doing it but yes once we have it then we we run that opportunity of printing a couple of copies up here doing three B punches and putting in binders have them but I I found having the files and and reference referencing them you can search a lot easier than than hard copy and search on pages but the having a hard copy you can go back and reference it little easier sometime Market Market with with that um okay um do we have to vote on that um we we do have to vote on them and because they're AR here one at a time we'll take the first one the the 10 copies um do we have a motion to print I'll make a motion that we make the 10 copies and do we second okay um any additional questions on the printing of the cost none being heard um I'm just so used to doing Lo call votes because of remote people um everybody so the yes Vote or and I is to and spend 197 to um just let's just do call J is yes David Walker yes Mary Jan Churchville yes Carol H say yes and Don Hayes yes um so that's unanimous print those you want to make a motion on the next one um to not to print yeah I'll make a motion not to print the uh previous version second Jerome okay no discussion for church yes yes and Don haes yes again unanimous okay that's that so we won't print previous version we won't we will not print the previous version it will be reference available for us for download from the website and available if you prefer a browser you can browse it it'll it'll probably be posted as a PDF so if you've got a PDF your all the all the searching and highlight capv okay so I'm going to try to share just just in case sh everything what's a b do you a b um okay [Laughter] well budget variant analysis did I send out these copies I thought I sent copies of the of the BBA is that all these sheets that is all those sheets yes okay variance analysis okay get well um the we I think you probably told us that last time now I say that I think you did tell us but I think that's okay there were atic acronyms on had a lot of different pieces that we discuss so didn't but we could share yeah just take it out well if we're going to do the BBA I just um you want to do the full one from 2024 that's what's next umy what's next [Music] okay here we go here's my bigger oh okay that better yeah yeah okay I'm going I have my readers on so it's kind of like so I'm going to look at my screen um so we [Music] had um um so we we had talked about each each of L so this was the full report on on the header um um I pick the wrong [Music] one sorry year I grabbed the wrong um so this was for fiscal year 2024 and the start date was July 1st um 2023 which is the start of the fisal year and the end date was 63024 first Department we look at um is the board of Selectmen um so they and if you look each department across the top we have the 122 is Board of selectman and you'll see in the numbering scheme oh yeah the 122 is always right here oh okay so we just if you're if you're looking looking for it and trying to trying to grp one way or the other when you see 122 at the top you you'll know that all the bord St have that 122 and then they trying to consistent do some consistency like um payrolls are going to be in the 5100 um area the 5110 um when you when you we're just going to scroll down sorry um when you see the first payroll line in another department it's still the 5100 but it's been replaced by the 135 for y it's a unique the account number is unique to the department but if we're looking for certain things we can we can take 5100 and know that it's going to be going to be Wages that's um that sort of thing so um but generally when we when we're going to look at them um and it doesn't sound like you so it's kind of but this this is good because um with the Town Administrator we can see the that the total for the year expended was 135 um 861 and the original budget was 132 ,000 um so the actual year to date is that full amount and with a negative number in the unexpended it means we have to that line so that line was budgeted and we went on the budget so you're saying that the 132 was the original amount allocated but the actual amount spent was 135861 correct so do we get to say why um we we can and we do um and it's kind of like when we look at it um and what we have to in in this case we we had a Town Administrator that left in the April May time frame and we had an interim come in that got the Administrator salary which was a little higher so we paid two people two people for the period it was a little bit of an overlap but in general when the previous Town Administrator left the interim Town Administrator took over so there was generally one person with a with a week of over that got it so that week was $3,000 yeah so it's $3,000 for when you're talking okay it's you know the week no no no not the week that's that's the year that's so so yeah we go back to the period you want that job yeah no no no so um yeah okay so I see so I see how it goes so the community services we allocated money but nothing we didn't we didn't spend any correct y so then the support staff now what does that include we allowed to ask um yeah um I would say that's the um is that Sabrina yeah that's Sabrina if we talk names it's kind of like it's the um executive Administration for the board of Select yeah okay y she works for the Town Administrator and the border of Select right so one of those reports said she should not be working for the board of selected knowing the Town Administrator what report yeah one of the one of the the what whatever one one of the books yeah one of the D or what is it called DLS DLS yeah so oh DLS I know director of local Services that's right they they have a lot of lot of information as does MMA and and so yes when when we start looking at it um ultimately she is on the day-to-day from the Town Administrator she does a lot of work um and um for that but that it should be at at the direction of Town Administrator not border select and Border select are supposed to be more like a board of directors submitting sub to your Chief Opera Chief Operating Officer or or Town Administrator we do we get to review those contracts um we we don't um unless we join not even if we join the the contracts are are negotiated um with um with the people that are being hired um and we don't find what find out what the contracts are until theyve signed them yeah but we can see last year's contct we can see yeah we can see those contract 20 20 24 25 yes all those contracts are supposed to be there um and we can review them to see what it yeah okay and and and we we that's one of the things that we should be looking at and and in some cases we we have looked at and made sure that what's reflected in the budget for and I'll say for fy2 that we did um like the audit committee the external Auditors um when the budget was first presented it would blow to me and so we went back and looked at the contract and and it was indeed low and we bumped it up to what it was other than that you're going to get to the end of the year and you're going to have a lower yeah you're going to have a negative number so so we we have that ability to to ask for the contracts um review the contracts and make sure that the numbers are here so yeah I mean if if that the kind of question you have I mean that's um okay um so that that was one contract um that I do and uh and we so um these are the lines and and the variances um are in here um we can see wa so Web Master do we have a web master um we we had a web master and you'll see that it's in this section for FY 24 in fy2 they outsourced that position so you'll see that it dropped from this line into an expense line gotcha okay is that when they went from is that when they went to the new uh Town web page pretty much yeah that that that new person that they hired to do the new web page or the the new person is the old person he was a town employee before being PA by stien um for to manage the website I I thought they got a new new person that did that new town website no he he um went out and formed the company and so they they signed a contract with and he was a former employee it it was a former employee is it then a conflict of interest well he he was a stien employee it wasn't okay well because only because work for the federal government I couldn't do that well exactly K illegal I think we should keep I think we should keep saying that kind of stuff I think you're right oh I didn't realize that yeah and it's not saying that you can do it it should we you know what I mean I mean this the transparency and again how was Ty wor versus an actual employee yeah I don't know I don't know what the rules are but I know that working for the federal government and Contracting and everything I mean there's I mean there's all kinds of things like right there yeah because even for me to retire and come back to work as a defense contractor you know I had to fill out this whole thing and said and I had to detailed every single program I worked on every single thing that I did and I was disqualified from working from certain yeah programs the the attorneys went through and said you can't work here you can't you know so to me that's kind of like a conflict so but not knowing all the yeah that one right it's kind of like I would have expected that they work for it but well I think that what you bring up Carol is very important right now in towns and see that we have so many eye opening things um I think we should keep that in mind as we look at things because total disclosure transparency those things have been denied I think the town for quite a while and I think we should be sensitive to that and I think your experience will be helpful in that exactly it's like everybody's brings a different yeah look at it so kind of like I hadn't considered it they it just you know it seemed like okay we're taking it from a a line that we're paying out the key question I would have on it is did the cost go down or up that yeah that yeah contract went up it went down wait wait did it go up or down I don't hang on hang we don't know because we we're not looking at this year we're not looking yeah but just look at that line so explain to me where it says Web Master yeah and they spent so they over spent by $1,077 yeah is that okay so that's what happened over spent over spent so they're pretty much lucky that they didn't spend the $10,000 or otherwise they would have been they would have been in the ho when you look it it's almost bsection here so when you look at the bottom line the variance for the labor is is it 95% 95.74% would be um the person that was working on the electrical aggregation and things oh that would be Ross who was also the Town Administrator okay got it he was different hats got it the same guy that we calling for $100 at a phone call yeah good to know okay all right are you aware of that no you could have light me afterwards where be recorded so should be public knowledge so that so again if I if I take a look at the Web Master if I jump to the 2025 line You'll see that um there's no Web Master line it went away no there's no Web Master line in the Personnel right Web Master um that went away was a jack no that wouldn't be it Communications Communications no that's that's about the right amount it's there's no new line under expenses but they need somebody because I if you go on to the finance page the finance committee page like that needs to be updated with all the new membership so does the H you haven't looked today h you haven't looked in the last week oh I haven't looked today did they update it a week or so ago yeah how did you get it to go up because I've been trying to get the HTC up for weeks um the process is um when they set up the new website they sent me an email um to that allow me a log in to the new Metro site and I can go in and log and request changes I can't do any changes I can only request changes oh so you can't upload the minutes or or you didn't change if I had minutes to upload I would send them a change form like like the manuals I don't I don't have the ability to create a link on the side that says reference files and will upload the files I attach the files to my request and I say create a directory and please upload these two so who gave you the L that was from the Metro people themselves so I'll I'll um cuz we need one and and we're being totally ignored okay so should be should be easy oh good easy to do put that in the minutes yeah that is's an action it is an action item to uh provide information and again I shouldn't I shouldn't be the only one knowing these it's kind of like because if I Power Ball somebody else is going to have to do it so oh done just yeah play to win it yeah right yeah well that's the problem expense so is that oh I just had is that vacation that other is a vacation travel that says vacation and buyback yeah vacation buyback and travel okay what would be bu back talk about that vacation if if your if you don't use your vacation you would then buy it back or buy back time if you SI I think sick time if you don't use it how much time are they allowed to ke I don't I I don't have that contract memorized it's kind of like so we okay well we'll have to change that contract when we renegotiate because where I work if I don't use my if you don't use the vacation use it or lose it don't they don't buy it's it's kind of like I work yeah where I work I didn't use my vacation day to buy bye kind of like last last place I worked the vacation policy changed from if you don't lose it to you can have as much as long as much vacation as you want as long as you get your annual work done right so there was no vacation no I work 25 25 years I get four or five weeks vacation and if I don't use it I carry it or or lose it um a lot of companies are doing that now yeah so it's it's a change but um what we hear then it's kind of like I'm going to open up an Excel I'm going to go back to last um work FAL year 25 with me it's kind like this so that one is F1 25 got to be in the right place so this is this is what they call the on the bus file this is the working file that we have provided during during the budget reviews as okay um and so we can see what happened here is let me blow it up again oh I see what you're doing um so it moved and you can see that it's in the expense line on line 15 it was listed um and you can see there was no money through fy2 or it was $6,500 fy2 okay okay but it and on and it will be reversed on on the Personnel or does it come off the personel if we if we go up I just scroll scroll up um and again if I scroll over it was in fy22 23 24 and then it's gone in fy2 in the in the Personnel side okay um so that's what I expected to happen Okay but now now I'm working and going okay where is where is this line in the budget like in the in the expenditure in The Ledger that you yeah because it's because there is a Professional Services but that's only shows a 4,000 original budget right the commun of support staff human 65 B communication is the only one that's that's the only one that's $6,500 or higher so okay right and last year that was a zero okay very good oh so you're saying that's the right that's switch over so yeah they didn't kind weird they didn't bring over the name right right but they probably should have at least said they should be in notesi you know yeah maybe there is I I'll um ask for additional reports and and see but that's that's where the 6500 okay has G has gone to it's kind of like it's it's now an expense line um and okay it was well when we ran this report it was at the end of or the 1 of October which means it was three months in so 25% of the of the money for the year has been used up in the first 3 months which is a over the year so pretty much right on target okay oh did we like find out about the trash how much money we got from the banks no I I that's an outstanding question I tried to get that answer we haven't okay no don't I think we all are because I think the town is well the whole town is and and again part of our success on the budget this year is showing that the revenue is going to attain the target it's kind of like so we have to have it needs to be reports and the the state will be looking for them months to be where well that's going to be the bulk of the bulk of the money is going to be the first couple of months because I know they were hoing it just told me people were coming in hoarding bags so so that was that was in that was in September and October so it should be evening out now right it should be starting out now to to get are we going to have that information available to us we we have asked we'll keep asking what at what point I know the the you said the uh state will monitor the targets at what when do they like they'll be looking for it in the next month in the next month yeah because we're we're now December the next month is going to bring us into December we're six months into this year okay if if we're not on target with that Revenue our budget is out of balance so what what will what will the state do um they will not certify our budget as a balanced budget and they will be asking for the town to look at it and come up with um a solution that puts the B the budget Back in Balance balance okay so is our responsibility just to report or do we also recommend ways that the budget can go back into balance um we can recommend but we we have finance committee is not in the bylaws we don't have any power to do anything we only have a recommendation Ro but recommendation like advisory capacity to recommend right based on information that we are allowed to have and the main the main piece is the other main piece that we have is as we approach town meeting um and we we are the representatives of the rest of the taxpayers in the town we we recommend at town meeting whether whether a an article should pass right now but we know that going through the year because we have our we know that information like every quarter yeah is it possible that we could somehow disperse that information to the residents so that they're not like shocked at the end of the year when we tell them that I mean that that sounds like something almost like the the bva report that we're looking that we're looking at and we bounc but right now we're looking at the the 2025 so it's kind of like we have reports um if I would assume that any anybody has the right to request it with open with open right yeah it's kind of like so if we can do it on a more proactive basis right because maybe the town people don't understand this information that you're being very clear to us cuz I would never have understood it no I wouldn't without without your explanation I'd just be looking at a bunch of numbers not really knowing what again that that was why I had provided them to to see if anybody looked at them and had questions about the numbers um and and how we would whether would be any questions but now we know what we're looking at right so next time we'll have questions well but but again I did I also send one that was an Excel spreadsheet I don't recall I think so I can't remember go back the one thing that I would like to see this year is as these um departments budgets is that they present their own budget rather than and have to justify their budgets questions from town meetings for rather than have the you know it's their budget right I I agree with you 100% because they created it they created it so it should they should be able to present it and defend it exactly yeah and and I'm go and I'm looking for a multiple year plan I don't want to just see FY 26 you want the fiveyear plan I would like to see fiveyear and because we we have they require by state law to do a fiveyear plan or is that the state only recommends it because every time you go into the state says fiveyear plan M that's what we had for open space and stuff wasn't it seven year plan for the open space the the fiveyear plan when we look at the Townsen um policies and procedures for Budget it says that the fiveyear plan is going to be presented and delivered to us it as the finance committee coming in so if if that's the case let's let's have it up front and let's see what the department departments have so each department creates their own fiveyear plan yeah yeah and then it can be rolled rolled up now if they need help or something with it and me that's that's something we can do um well right but making the effort is the issue making the effort is the issue and and explain it to us um it's kind of like what's what's a Five-Year Plan going to look like for each department um because um there there are department where the department head is getting during retirement we have built into some of the budgets over the last two years is training for the administ the the assistant in those departments to take classes so that they can it's it's makes sense sense you know so those those were the kind of things they're they're in the budget it it's hard to say I want to spend extra money to train somebody but we're training people that are already working for the town that want to stay working for the town and then promote from within and show that development show that makes sense that makes a lot of sense so they're there has been some of that over the past couple of years um but that's going to transition the the people will retire and somebody's somebody's going to need to step up in that job and generally if you look the way you hire on the outside we there's usually a big bump for anybody to come in to a department head job um so if you can makes so much more sense to be training over a 5e period a local resident rather than you know yeah or somebody that's already working that's one somebody in the town right yep somebody's already working in the town in in those Department in in that department and is is's doing the the assistant well it would seem that that would be almost like an incentive for the people who working to want to stay and continue you know career pathing whatever they call it I mean you know they you know the other thing you do if you if somebody gets training and and it doesn't come to fruition that the person retires then there is that opportunity they're now trained and they could go in and and be take a position in another town but you know we well don't say that out loud after we train them you know when you do that but it it's it's like that with with any if if somebody takes school and you pay for their education yeah yeah no that I get it then they can jump at at their own so um it's harder um but do we offer that uh education is that part of I I um again I don't know if we have that because I think if we do we should have to commit to so many years to us sometimes that's a contract if you're going to be two years give back three years it depends on what the is and how much what the cost was I mean you could take you know I take training classes for the planning board cost me 25 bucks so I don't want to be committed to the planning board for five years no but that's that's the kind of thing that the planning board is a volunteer position we hope you you signed up for five year job unless it was a no I got a 5e um but so those are this doesn't seem complicated to me it it doesn't seem complicated does it well not not at first blash more than 900 lines and you look at oh whoa I'm only looking at this was the print out oh the 9 900 line of this is what you you do with the town meeting when they vote right and they vote the sections and say Here's you know let's look at all try to flip through and let's move this but is it the same thing every time D 900 lines of the same thing yeah yeah it's the Y it so salary Personnel expenses salary well but those those are Department the department Oh by Department okay so all right so the template is Personnel expense right yeah yeah Y in each department and so it started with B selection so you can see each department you know you got your way so they've got print and advertising you know depending on the but everybody has dues and membership and you know certain pretty much um and so I've just scrolled down I've got the finan oh here's somebody thinking ahead replacement and equipment do we do maintenance in here like building main I don't think Townson does maintenance I've noticed I mean put it there are L know there are lines for for maintenance under police fire and facilities and story those those are the places well I'm thinking about you know thinking you had like putting money aside to replace a boiler when it dies or okay something like that yeah is that going to like a facilities kind of thing probably in the capital reserve F imagine well those those are the pieces I mean if you do a boiler it's kind of like that's probably 25,000 so you you would get any Capital um but capital is usually done in the December January time frame okay and well I was just wondering if if we if we allocate money for roofing or boilers or yeah of course and we don't so one one of the things that I've looked at in the manuals because um Andre as Andrea had told us and maybe it was before you both joined or all three of we see um when you when we read the manuals that we're talking about printing and look at them one of them says it is for the the reserve fund that we have so I I've displayed up up here just so we we're aware so the finance committee has a budget and this is where we have the 750 and so we paid the 196 for our dues and that's where we're paying another 197 so when we take that out we're still going to have the three about $357 for what dues does the finance Comm um we that is our dues for the MMA so in order to have the membership to the MMA and the MMA is what uh Massachusetts Mutual I'm sorry Massachusetts Municipal Association they have conferences and you can get logins and and go in training some training um they will they will have training online that you can get to so um I'll get I'll get the L for bu oh that the you're going to do your own log and password and I'll get you the link to it's m m ma um there there's lots of different sections of it um um I think it's aftc for the association of financial committees [Music] to it's kind of like so there's different segments depending on who you are but new to government new financial and a lot of that is in DLS also so there's there's lots of information that is available on from both those both organizations yeah both organizations can can help bit so um so if I scroll a little further down you'll see um the finance committee has something called The Reserve fund I mentioned it last week we get $50,000 but where do we get that from into that comes from when the General when the budget's here on the on the general fund 50,000 of it is allocated for us to use so the money from taxes is keeping going into the general fund when we need this $50,000 it's there um when you re when you read The Reserve fund and it um it is for unexpected items that appear um during the year so well that's the kind of thing and and Andrea said it's not it's it's not a maintenance fund we shouldn't be using it with I mean and that's all we used it for all that last year we used maintenance funds uh we had a lightning strike at the police department we used it for um deductibles on our insurance we had insurance claims and we had Insurance deductibles came out of there those are things that you should have known there should have been a different budget when when the ceiling fell in the main stairway that's a maintenance budget it's not you know to your point did we do it yeah we weren't we weren't watching the whole store got it now when I read this Reserve fund should be for True emergencies something that that popped up out of the pool so a true emergency would not be considered a lack of Maintenance a lack of Maintenance budget a failure put it in now if everybody put in slash and every every Department that had maintenance put in $50,000 we we we wouldn't be able to balance the budget because it'd be too many but you can do multiple Reserve funds you could do a reserve fund for maintenance so you put one amount in a reserve fund and you transfer it out to the department that needs it as it goes just it wouldn't be our committee it's not it would still be our committee I I think it should still be under the the perview of finance committee but we have two one is Building Maintenance Reserve fund and one is reserve fund oh I see okay you can have multiple now when we do the percentages $50,000 is 0.045% of the Town budget so we're talking about Min you know we can't handle a big right but that but having that Reserve fund for maintenance would not negate the department having their own they would have and and again I TR in in my mind I would like to see a maintenance line and a repair line don't have maintenance and repair because maintenance is different than repair I I hear you that's my opinion it's kind of like no I mean when you look at the words yeah no so maintenance would be like having somebody clean the furnace once a year right and repair would be when it when it breaks bre you need to replace a part right so if you because your maintenance your maintenance and your maintenance contracts are known quantities you probably signed a contract for those Rec do we know that we have maintenance contracts we do okay yeah okay we we have some it's kind of like but sometimes they don't cover certain things well yeah I mean yeah you know and one indication a couple years ago the elevator here in town hall needed a safety upgrade it's kind of like so upgrade a safety upgrade not maintenance so that is an unplanned thing or nor repair so would that be Reserve fund money um we did that we did that that year but that's maybe something we want to do is go back and look at all the money we've we've taken out of the reserve fund for the past oh and see where it's going yeah and see where it went and say you know this this should have been Yep this wasn't it's kind of like and then we we can help well yeah a safety upgrade you wouldn't plan for that because you wouldn't really know that right but I'll tell you if you ever go to a federal building don't use the elevator so on upgrade yeah is that part of the contract with the elevator service no see that that's outside the contract so they had a maintenance contract to service the elevator and do the regular annual certification but they didn't have one for safety upgrades um so that was so it was within the maintenance if it was a normal breakdown break fix or whatever whatever they so they did they get a notice for that safety up did the town get a notice from the elevator like a recall and for yeah it's kind of like yeah the town oh the town oh not the company yeah not the company it it was kind of like so that one um that's that's a case where it's it's an unexpected expense and and maybe more likely to come out of the reserve fund okay so question about that unexpected to the department people does that necessarily mean that it's unexpected because sometimes if they're not paying attention it would it it could be and and those are those are the questions that we need to ask as they're coming in we we we don't have to when a reserve when I I didn't show the form some somewhere in the future we'll show the form in order to spend and use Reserve fund money a form has to be submitted to us to request F so we have the ability to review it ask questions and either accept or reject and we have rejected requests in in the past and it's kind of like so those those are the pieces but as we try to get better um again if you're building in over overage amounts just in case something breaks it's better to pull that money instead of having each department right it's kind of like you don't have as much now this $50,000 if we don't allocate it it gets it gets certified in the free cash balance next year so this is money that if we don't use it will come back to us after after the close of the year and in but we can't we can't budget money that's coming back we can't say when we're building the budget for next year oh we're going to get $50,000 back that we didn't spend we can't build that into the budget exactly we could we could use once we get it we could possibly allocate it to the next year's budget it you can you can have another line another line something something like that um and the example if we just go back to this past August when they were having the town meeting um and the police chief was moving his police out for 6 months right and so um they was going to the idea was move it out and then in the fall have a town meeting and allocate the money to start the lease um so that so that is after free cash is certified now you've got and say okay with free cash we're going to we're going to have money to to do his his leases um and that so when when free cash gets certified this year it would be a little more than it has in the past probably about double because we had properties that we sold that money comes into the general fund so there's increased funds that went in right not anything not recurring or anything so it's one time used when we look at the expenses if if I go back to the 2024 when we get down to the end that number is going to probably be in the 300,000 somewhere so when you combine those two numbers there's going to be significantly higher money available and that money we could say put in the reserve fund um we um because the reserve fund carries over from year to year the reserve fund does not the stabilization fund does St okay so we would put it in the stabilization so and again I I do I constantly go back and forth it's kind of like um Reserve fund is year to year on the budget stabilization Carri car and in that August meeting we did take money and and approve we recommended that money be taken from the stabilization um to supplement what was going on with the rest of the town so kind like with the the um pay it back you're supposed to pay it back um how do we make them pay it back we we but we can do as we in our recommendation that the article we're going to make sure that there's an article that that gets on to the special town meeting whether it's in the fall in the winter if they have one or if it's going to be the special that's inside the annual time meeting next year one of the Articles has to be that we we do the stabilization fund and transfer those money back in and maybe more because we losing ground in the percentage of stabilization to the total budget didn't we you kind of misuse the stabilization funds a little bit um stab so no no it it's kind of stabilization is trying to stabilize your budget or whatever and and I mean in this case it was trying to stabilize the budget for six months instead of a full year it's and not drawing it down with the idea that we're going punish it so that was the thing much like many other things that are that are well intentioned we should probably be looking and have a an annual article that puts more money into the stabilization if we had a major item like we roof in the town hall that's that's a significant that's not the budget line that you might be able to take from stabilization but if you have plan of always replenishing and having having it you can take it out pay it and then start paying you know building wouldn't the the ideal situation be that the maintenance department would be have their Reserve fund building up every year so that in the event of a roof disaster and that gets to we prob we have to look at is is there a different way you can't have it in the budget it has to be something that's sort of outside the annual budget piece where you're you're doing that you probably don't want each department having a res having their own Reserve fund because now everybody's going to be like all building up this money and people G be sitting on a pile of money in a different department has a true need but they don't have enough and I can't take it from the other department whereas we have one stabilization fund can where the need is yeah stabilization is I think it requires 2third majority so it's not a it's not a simple majority so every time you want to move money from one Department to another you have to go to town meeting and get the voters to say yeah no not not every time not every there and again in there is an opportunity to move money among departments at the last two months of a fiscal year and the first go then the first two weeks of the following so if if a department is down 10,000 somebody has an extra 10,000 there is what they call a municipal transfer request and so that comes in and says can I can I take money from HR and put it into facilities and so the the two in the from account numbers are there they're listed the the current balances on each are there we analyze looking at the BBA and we say yes it looks like a good transfer um it there there are certain restrictions and we don't really have it um because we have the Regional School District you can't transfer money between the utilities and and the and or the schools and and the town so you you can't so big cities that have that have their own school systems have to watch that piece and and they can't do they can't transfer money back from town to school does do the towns like the federal government at the end of the fiscal year go on a spending spre to spend down all their money some do they really do that oh God the federal government's crazy at the end of the fisc year yeah oh God I tell this money I have in the account but um and and those are the those are the fees I'm just going to this so interesting I was going to say it's it's as a tax pay you'd be crying what the federal government does at the end of oh yeah don't tell me yeah don't tell um I'm just looking for line that um and and again um I'm just gonna highlight this this one happens to be in the board of assessors the stien longevity um it was budgeted for $3,000 um and it's 2,000 but longevity is one of those things that you you pay it once you're not going to pay longevity all year every year so if if they pay two 2,000 out of the 3,000 the fact that this percentage is at 66 after three months isn't isn't an unusual event um you know so that's not necessarily in line we need to be looking at um let me see if I can find it oh yeah let's look at it um yes it's all right probably we can't set the heat higher than 65 degrees oh I'm sure there some kind of Ru it's C you want to save the money so um the IT department is in its own segment 155 management information systems um so again the same so that's it Management in okay yeah M I ask management information Professional Service is $68,000 out of out of 160 so it was budgeted for 160,000 on this year um which is closer to reality but in the first three months we've already spent 68,000 but 68 Time 4 well yeah so right now and and again this this piece that is that we're looking at is 42 42.9% 3% when we're a quarter of the way in so that that's a trigger to me I would say yeah and again it could be a trigger it could be that they wanted us to pay for software licenses all up front um but it it's a it's it's a question right that could have been okay I've got I mean we've got all kinds of software here and okay it's beginning of the year it's time to pay for the license yeah yeah okay well that's one expense over the entire year so I'm not going to be paying you know so like if I had $50,000 of license cost this year and I had to pay that in July okay that's that's 50,000 out of that 160 160 so that's a lot of it but I'm not spending that the rest single quarter I get it so you have to look at that because they they don't give you the breakdown of what this is they don't give you a breakdown so this this is where the questions come in this is where the questions come so that's the kind of thing that um that I sort of try to get my eyes fixed on okay so now I'm just going to jump to I mean if if we look at last year yeah I found the Mis I think I found the right section okay I don't 155 there's a cost for so last year we had 135 yeah budgeted for Professional Services and they used 124 for the year so but this doesn't break down how they spent it over the year right right so as long as they don't spend more than the 106 now what we don't have what we don't have is why did this go up by 25,000 this year yeah right right but I also think we should be able to look so you know when we get their budget for next year we want to see okay well what did how did that line item change and if it did change we want to know why so and and I have to go in and look right off the bat a couple of couple of times couple of times we have transferred money into Mis for equipment failures I equipment failures so again doing the right thing with with Reserve fund um and now do we vote on that as the committee we um yes we do when it when it comes in on on the municipal transfer request or the reserve fund request we we vote on it um Municipal transfer requests have to be passed by both the finance committee and the board of Select so both both committees have to um oh agree yeah interesting now they meet together and vote on it or do we do we each meet separately and V generally we meet separately but there's no reason why we can't do joint meetings um to try to do it towards the end of the budget we get together yeah really should be more than what it is can we can range so I'm what I what I what I have in front read that up on the screen so that um this is this is the Excel version of the B BBA so like the Town Administrator line for 2025 um is Al is sitting at allocated at 135 we paid 12,000 to date and so it's percent remaining is 91% um and I mean the the numbers are complimentary it's kind of like you know showing percent how much has been used versus how much right um now my little piece instead of looking at every line um I let the computer do the work if certain if certain things in certain conditions are met the line spank I don't have to look at it like they haven't spent any so last year you looked and saw that the community services coat or HR was 20,000 um and this year it's or last year was 10,000 this year 20,000 we haven't paid anything today um that we'll get into that those are positions funded by oper funds at this point um so how come we what what I don't even know how to say we we are trying to bring in their salaries into the budget so that we can afford them when we have to pay for them but Don I thought that the arit funds were supposed to be using used for non-recurring expenses and um payroll seems to me to be there are there were certain conditions and certain positions that you could hire that Opera would pay for sustaining no not sustaining for the L that two year three year period it it turns out it's more like a five and a half year period but oh so five and a half years of arper money and then the job goes away it doesn't necessarily go away if we can absorb and find it and and find that job useful um like but if we can't afford it if we can't afford it then we have to have that then we we have to have that discussion of is it a position we need is it a position with less hours is it not needed if it's not needed then there's going to be the whole process of layoffs and when we get into how we run we don't we don't pay unemployment based on the salary based we have we fully fund unemployment every time an employee collects unemployment so it there there's two ways you can you can fund but wait a minute so you're saying that so you self-insure on unemployment yeah is there a reason for that because we generally don't lay people up because if you're if if if you're paying unemployment I get it I get it I totally understand it but you only pay up to a certain amount of oh yeah of what they make and it's not you pay the full salary you don't pay the full salary you pay you pay what the full whatever that benefit is so if you come to a person we have to lay off and you're unemployment unemployment is say I don't know 60% of salary with that's yeah that's fine that's okay so you get $100 you give them 60 for 12 months rather than keeping them on and 100 for add inform item I mean that's like balance out that's right yeah and those are decisions we maybe have to make have to make or look at look at yeah it's kind of like I get it so those are the pieces but I I understand the arbor funds were not to get yourself creating more money that you have to pay it was supposed to help during the co situation because you needed people to get needed certain people to do certain things masks distrib them foring meals for the seniors correct um that that kind of thing yes um the Outreach coordinator there was a lot of work in the beginning with the Outreach coordinator um and that was extend that was extending hours in a position that existed at at the senior center Council I can understand so do you know if when these people were hired for these our fun fun were they under the impression that they were forever jobs or did they you don't know the answer to that so you don't know how it was delivered to them I don't know how it was delivered to them like so we need to you know that that's those are pieces I will say there was also police and fire that were hired with oper funds and their salaries have been have been picked up in in the operating budget so there is and we have to look at that yeah I mean that was federal government trying to help help for the leg up during that time yeah yeah so you'll see that you know when you and thank you for sending the list of offer it's kind of like um and that's where most of those other projects were limited for a certain amount of time right and what I don't understand is why is there money there and we still have needs like the police cruiser for example the road situation for example yeah I I don't think offer funds were meant for those kinds of things at the I think so oh yeah for the roads yes I know for the road because I went into on the Mas website to try to understand oper funds yeah and what I can what I could gather from the Mass state aaun site was I think you could you hire temporary it was supposed to be for infrastructure repairing roads bridges that kind of thing um you could hire it looked like you could only hire like First Responders maybe but it wasn't like a jobs program it was more to take care of infrastructure stuff so that's what I have the question on is there's money left over in that ARA fund I mean in the different category there's a lot of money left so it has to be allocated by the end of the year it um it not only allocated but you have to have the purchase Rex to orders in place so the ball got really dropped um and again I looked at that and I wonder if the numbers just haven't been updated somewhere along the line that was as of August well the one I have yeah but when when I look at it um for instance the position for the Outreach coordinator that hasn't come down significantly so I don't know where where those how how the person was paid because they're not paid out of the budget here it's kind of like so so it's kind of like search and find yeah or go back and ask the questions for yeah for of whom um well at this point it has to be probably be Nelson um because he's really Ross and that will cost $100 no we are you kidding no I'm not kidding no so it who's Nelson who's Ross Nelson is the Town Administrator Ross is the ex Town Administrator Nelson just is fairly new he's been here what two months yeah he wasn't here yeah he started at the end of a right and so he doesn't know so so he doesn't know so if you ask him the question he doesn't no he has to call the other guy to get the and that guy has to and that guy is going to charge yeah and and he was only an interim he was never truly a exactly kind of like so horrible we'll get to that look get to that I think in in this case I'd say if we're looking for payments we go back to the accountant and and ask for an accountant the town accountant right so the T the town of towns and keeps the arer fund account it's not the state and the federal government are not involved in that when we say the end of the year mean the end of this year I think it means real year no I think it means December 20 okay so oper funds have to have to be allocated for project and for use by December 31st 2024 30 days six week six weeks now and and so that's to say this is what I'm going to use them for you don't have to spend them until December 31st of 2026 so halfway to FY 27 the department let's say like the highway department yeah are there are there aware that this had to be by good excellent question are they aware that they could participate in these M believe it had been the board of Select really well we can't rely on them because they they left the ship drowning rats left the ship so now I think the Department should be made aware that there's money from arper that they have four weeks to decide do they need it want it is there paperwork that needs to be fed there is paperwork that needs to be fed and again not just that money well then Jimmy then we should let him know like tomorrow morning we're talking about Jim Smith who runs the highway to and find out what the rules are again I rather than not running around I think it's conversation with Nelson see what his he's supposed to be executing I understand what he's supposed to do um so kind aren't you glad you left the federal governmenta I know so anyway but no I think that will help us as a town if if if if the highway department needs $120,000 worth of road work and they're going to put it on the budget for 2026 or whatever and it's there well okay how is it going well but whatever I mean if the money's there because if they don't use it now gone will roll back okay so we need the highway because there's lots of roads in town with can we like do a shout out so that the department heads can know that we're having this meeting tonight I think we are um but I I think on that and I'm going to real B at we have concerns with oper will raise them and and get them I I don't want us to be going out oh running around you mean and trying to spend the money it's not necessarily trying to spend the money but number one we have to look at the list and see updated the one that see if it's updated how long how long does that take to get the updated I got that right away I requested it from the clerk of courts or town clerk and I had it within 24 well that's that one that's a list that's up up on the website so it's kind of like um but as far as we don't know how much our balances we don't know the balances for sure so no because that was as of August right so that that's taking it and again I look at it if we were paying somebody $66,000 a year for that whole period it should should have subtracted down the money from the balance that was there you but were we paying it out of AR funds or were we paying out of tax dollars fund we W paying out you know that for sure yeah well we saw in the fy4 the 10,000 was there in zero it's kind of like in the we see the 20,000 this year it's still zero okay kind like so that that's that's Again by putting it in here we're building a building a a a a buffer of free cash is what we're doing by using the oper funds to pay it but it looks like the oper funds are being deducted from the balance that's posted so that that has do we know who's in Char oh you're saying Nelson is in charge of this well I I he's supposed to administer the board of directors or the the board of Selectmen well he's supposed to be working on the budget right he he will be working on the budget they budget message has to come out soon it's kind um what's a budget message um the bus budget message says um you know to all the department heads we we're doing budgets we you know expect that is you know Cal is going to be 1% this year plus the steps and and try to keep your expenses to to a minimum you know in order to hit it or we need to cut 10% find find 10% to cut out of your budget it's kind of like so the budget me message is what it needs to be to try to hit the target and oh so each department has a a Target date that they have to meet they they yeah so the budget me measure goes out the first week of January all the budgets are supposed to be back in and we're supposed to be able to stop who sent out the budget message um Town Administrator um so some somewhere I I got to go back and read it um in that it looks like um whether it's the MMA manuals or whether it's on the process um it might be in the process thing that it says the the finance committee can put itct what it would like to see out first to say you know how what we want to see and that's why when we talked about the department budgets we want to see we want to I think we we want hard copy and maintained here so that we're figuring the most current multi multiple years um I I know one of those things they had like a template but I don't know if who has ever adopted one of those processes things yeah so so the budget message goes out in January it goes out in December it goes out in December but if the if the department heads want information on the arpa so that they could quick short time right short time right so that to be something in in front of the budget message in front of the right like like next like this week is a b b selectman it's oh I forgot about that part we don't have any government okay got it so as soon as there's a board of Selectmen gotcha kind like s that makes sense so their first meeting will probably be next Tuesday today this one we'll be there and uh wow I where are you gonna be next Tuesday I yeah I got something else that's but I think they're on Zoom so you can you know you can watch it when you get back any anyway time is it same time wanted to go back to um oh it's at seven I think it's at seven every I think it's at seven so next week next Tuesday by putting in these formulas and things like um this one I'd say overdrawn so that would be a red flag that's I can make it any color you want no I mean in your yeah yes like but but that's the thing it's kind of like so we had a line for $10,000 for temporary health and it said at 24,000 already to date so we're in the whole 14,000 what oh wait was that for the elections no this this is no the M this is B of selectman temporary wages really again I think it's well my opinion we were paying the wrong line we were paying a salary that should be on that Town Administrator mine and we're paying it out of temporary temporary help can we confirm that some yeah that's that's that's what we're going to do it's we identify it we say oh this line how much was it 10,000 it's it's 15 14,500 right now that isint so what else have you got cooking there I mean but that's that's why I say this is when we're looking at them instead of having to look at every line and figure this I see what you're doing you're doing this good a scan and but you know what you're looking for and and that's why I wanted other people to work at the BBA come up with lines and see okay but now that we know how to look at it this is a better that iy can do it now yeah I could never have done it so preparation okay gotta the next line that we had was there was no budget nothing allocated and the allocated line means we changed it changed it from the budget of line but they paid $190 out of it provide back vacation time uh or travel yeah or travel right so in this case the little formula says the line's overdrawn it wasn't budgeted it's kind of like somebody needs to look at it oh that's a note that was put in by who me it's got a formula to generate that note oh oh okay so it's so based on looking at this I said oh there's no no budget money no allocated money okay how get here it's yeah basically the the line's negative so the line's overdrawn but it was not budgeted and how much is that um that's only $190 again it was a Ty oh you think it might be a typ well you don't know when somebody's keying in a payment if you put in a wrong number didn't they done there exactly who hasn't um and in this case um we're at 45% of our line remaining and I just put in the review we're only 25% into the year so should all so okay so when you look at your percentages that's giving you a clue so on your percentages y if it's over 25 is that something we should be oh let's take a peek I what did I use I I think I did 40% just as a beginning Mark so a 97.8 coming up perent new um oh this is remaining so there's only 2% used so oh oh remaining yeah so is the first one and the second one oh okay yeah it's kind of like let me let me let me hide G it's kind of like like I said it was Overkill it's kind of like to do both oh that's good yeah okay so here's the percent used so I said 54% is used is used so the next one is 25.4 that's so close to a quarter you know you're okay with that the 37.1 right exactly well okay so that's the thing so where do we stop you know what's it for office supp so yeah that might not be a bad thing depending on what they what they buying I mean the SEL they wer here no but they come budget is all of the supplies for the copers yeah oh for the entire building so they might have had a Mak sense big of paper toner ton is wicked expensive ridiculous every department so and and I want to have to look at everything yeah like 1800 so so you pick a number and we can pick that number do this we could do this over coffee or something so so if I then take everything that's not blank and turn it off MH now what you've got is just the lines that oh of course I can't see it overdrawn that's your line overdrawn not budgeted yeah so again again so here here's the case air pollution districts okay so again this is we we created a new assistant director position at the Li Library not ARA not ARA okay no it was the the previous children's librarian was moved to assistant director the wages when I so this this line is all here so let me it's 346 so let me un undo everything it's kind of like um oh this is like a game almost okay so so she went from so she went from children's librarian to assistant director okay so she had a bump of $15,000 yeah but but see that's um did you go see the assistant director online 350 I has not been paid a penny this year so it looks like it's coding error or being reported incorrectly oh okay I see yeah yeah you know so it's kind of but that's what this does it's kind of like you know so I mean I'm I'm not flagging the assistant director as a problem in my formulas but I know we created that position last year and but you knew that yeah we wouldn't you know but if you look at it you can infer that you look that something's going on because the line I would look at and say something's going on I would make it's not up to watch to find all these what with the nitty-gritty is we're just supposed to look at take a take a look at him and say I got a question on that so you so you say you emailed us this file I thought I did if I I think you did I I guess I don't recall seeing it that's but that's the PBA this is the this oh that's the other version maybe you should just send it to us again I'll send it again to everybody make make sure and again you know that's just the piece it's GNA only many pages is there um it's it's um only 400 lines so 408 so 66 66 Pages how fun is that 66 lines per page so oh 66 yeah less than 10 pages I'm just going to do that Ma it's less than 48 lines is actually not too bad no no it's not but then you don't you we don't have to look at line but right you know there was a line that came in there's a line in the budget that said oh this's a special town meeting article and the elections is sitting at $1,729 188 we didn't do that as a number at town meeting we we did 20,000 or 22,000 at town meeting so I went back and I looked at the town meeting notes and it was 22,000 so question is did we get the right amount key in to that account to start with um so what's 19 plus 185 what would that go back there yeah so you've got 19729 19729 go to the third column and that's okay 185 hang on sorry I started typing in okay so you you want to see what the so if you add those okay so 1856 so this is this is the balance available right now is the $1,544 120 and that that 185 is what get you to the one the 19729 oh they add it add it to the 19 so this is the amount that was budgeted this is the amount that was budgeted and this is this line is how much you spent so far oh so she could spend more maybe she doesn't know it no she does it's kind of like and and she will she will with what just happened um um the um all the early voting and all for the um that that money hasn't hit here yet the payrolls for that um so this this money will be will be taken maybe you know it's kind of and that's the thing it's kind of like just just an explanation why you know why why isn't it near of the money that was allocated at at town meeting so are you saying that we should take that Excel and go go to the percentages first as as a I mean how do you tackle it um well but I think he might be saying we should all tackle it in our own way because oh okay right okay because he wants us each to come back I have a question on this line and you come back and say I have a question on this other line see and that way we all come together and we kind of have our questions from different from different perspectives and and hopefully from from all of us we'll have one big we get one big answer of okay every clarify all of these things or right yeah some of the questions some of my questions he might be able to say oh well that means this right okay good my questions handled we don't have to take it any farther or whatever or some of the questions might be oh okay that's a good question yeah let's go find that out okay yeah this is a collective job are we gonna discuss it at the next meeting um we can because we'll have to set that set the meeting but that's that's all I mean I I did this this is my terminology if somebody doesn't like the terminology we should STI with we'll stick with whatever yeah comp complic no no no it's not compli it's not complicated you see a word it doesn't make sense to here you know identify it it's kind of like um now this is as I said these these reports um come out um and because you can start typing in cells and and change um these are these are not the cells that were delivered from the assistant Town accountant um they're in other there so when we look at this when when we look all of these numbers are formulas back to where they really exist so I'm working with a copy of the data I'm not working this because I well if if I change if if I when I was when I was doing my formulas I wanted to test that they worked oh okay so I would put in numbers I wanted to see what happens if I you know yeah okay um so these aren't real this isn't real no this is this is this is the real data but it's it's not real live data here it exists somewhere else it's just this is a copy this this is this is a like like if I wanted to see what was budgeted on the top line 35 and I put in zero and then you see no initial budget allocated funding um if I put in zero here says no budget no no line but the line is positive it is positive yeah yeah because you know it it's okay that's like step three that's that's step three I'm still working on step how often do you get this updated um you we're going to ask for it on on a monthly basis is kind of like more than that it's just it's kind of like little yeah it seems like a month at the end of at the beginning of every month right we should get an updated it's probably going to be about 10 days in it takes that long for any anything that came in the prior month to get coded in and then we can look at them and then we at and then we can highlight the ones that we have questions on right exactly and and again that I didn't do it here it was in the formula when it said review it it was based on a percentage I can go back in and we can change that percentage when we're looking at it and it will automatically because of the way it will work we'll put in what percent do we want to see in then and then yeah so if we look at it every month yeah quarterly will it will be easier to digest it should be should be now and then do we take this information and go back to the department heads and say um it it might be the treasure is the way to go because they they key the information the treasurer gets the information from the Departments they put it in oh typ be at that office and then yeah yeah it could or you know and then they might look at it and say okay no we have to go back to the department to ask them and they would go back and then we would go back yeah yeah that makes sense yeah those are like a chain of yeah yeah that's that's the bbas oh that's so interesting wow this was really interesting so that was items two and three kind of picking together right that was yeah it was when they're in the spreadsheet see if I if I look at fy4 is just on a different sheet right and it's kind of like and my formulas lost something when I when ier oh that was so interesting wow okay now I'm begin to get this is I can do this Jerry what I can do this this is not just adding and subtra no not okay it is it's not it's not bad I get it it's yeah it's kind of for and I had listed correspondents just because I wanted you to be up to date with the emails that that I've sent um I did get from Nelson but I want to confirm with them a reminder that November 18th is the um and I just got it nor middle SE it's the North Middle SE oh that what time is that is that 6 at night or I thought it was a morning thing no it's it's at night so where are we going High School the actual High School the actual high school and I think it said in the auditorium if that's what they call it Performance Center Performance Center okay six o'clock at night nmrs yeah and what are we G to do this is that six o' yeah when they what what's I'm gonna have to say want when I read it today it said leadership but I don't know what town leadership means so it's kind of like Town leadership yeah I'd like to know myself yeah exactly so it's been of so um so that that's that should mean every every every town that has a finance grade they finance people should be not just your board of Select not just should all be there okay and that's why we're going what date is this um November 18 it's a Monday night I don't know okay Monday yeah it's high school I think I have a planning board meeting what La is selectman by then because she yeah you know who's going to be the chairperson if she gets selected I'm theair let him be let him beair yeah I know he did and I don't want to be um and then the other correspondence I wanted to make sure and we already discussed was that I had reached out to make the changes to our web page and I'm just going to call it up since I'm open here was that North Middle six school meeting is an open meeting to the public anyway if we don't get invited we can go oh oh it is oh it's a public meting well it is yes so I I just went to the town website okay no tell oh look at that see I didn't look at it I looked at it last week my name wrong is it oh yeah but that's okay I'm good with it how's mine I can't see I'm small J I'm all one word I'll get that's okay but but I've seen it like that for the past 75 years Jerry I think you're you're correct no no you g two RS Carol two FS yep yeah Dave with the one okay so oh I'm only on for another couple months jeez no that would be the end of the fiscal year 225 I don't know it's gonna end okay we won't talk about that'll be may may 2025 our terms end officially when they get aown meeting Clos when's my ter in um you in 2026 yeah so Andrea wood and I are the first to go yeah in terms of in in terms of needing reappointment in terms of needing reappointment right and so what I had requested was in this area the related links I was asking for to be added there and half and that's where they told me they they were into trouble so that's the correspondence from oh so this is okay so that's why we don't have that that's that's why we don't have access to those files today got now normally would the bva be where budgets are um no but that's something that we have to you know it's kind of like if we're going to do them and make them available then that's I think we should make them available to the town we have to get the town more involved in this town oh my God you it's disappointing how many people are clueless about anything but I think they really want to know it's just that there's no Outreach to them this is my theory on that sometimes they don't know what to ask exactly they don't know anything about how run people who are running it I don't either it yeah but I don't really know no and so I you're educating yourself as right right but I think you have to out I appreciate everybody doing it and asking the questions is kind of like that that hopefully is going to make us better when we get to that oh always asking questions makes you better that's been my theory since third grade so don I actually have a quick question yeah I'm looking at these I think this is the print out that you gave us last time okay right the of the whole BBA for last last fiscal year starts out 29 Pages yeah and at the end of the 29 Pages it's got a total counting 26 million plus minus blah blah blah we spent 98% of the budget then we've got a second set of six pages what are those is it is it a total six pages um well yeah there's one of six to six of six and and like this so I may have only done a small sample this is I'm just wondering what this is as all um this this this is so this is the BBA this is operating expenses these are other um um other accounts that are in here like this was a special town meeting article yeah in December of 2018 um and it is this was Associated chart charts with the charter so there so this was created for the charter money and um we haven't expended anything recently it was probably 10 or 20,000 to start but there's a balance is 38 okay 3,800 in it so this is this is money so these are all special special items are outside the normal budget y so like like 300th anniversary celebration every year at town meeting we allocate $5,000 to it so you can so it's been oh so it be there oh so thinking my word so we talked about the certain money being available and how do you do it well this is an account you set it up at a special town meeting Oh you talked about that early tonight you know so that that money can carry year to year what does it say on it Dave so we can ident well so it just so for the 300th anniversary celebration just says there's 20,000 in the budget and it hasn't been expended nothing expend because it's waiting for the 350th anniv corre yeah because it's not it's not seed money to do fundraising or anything it is just money Street what what year is I think it's 2032 God it is 2032 because that's when they're goingon to open the historical capsule okay I just read about that today where is it well we don't really know it's in a wall in the school it's a wall what in it was put in a wall when North Middle sex was built really because they turn it down I mean well no it's a new one oh new one okay so we that conditional accounts that have money in them conditional okay okay I just just I like that no no no that's per good question I want to look at that and see what's on no I'll be there so um and I had few minutes from the working session I did I failed to do the notes because we had a working session but did we have to take notes on on um it it was a 15 minute meeting it was a 15 minute meeting but um they not they we don't read them in but it was a working session and so I sort of did that verbal update about you did at the beginning of at the beginning of it so it was verbal not written okay verbal not written verbal okay okay okay so interesting under new business I just said start definition or Finance not not tonight um for our next meeting so I want to make sure on our new business we start talking about the requirements for the FY 26 budget season we did mention a couple tonight so I made the notes um so it was very timely you know the the department budgets um coming in meeting with us that sort of thing so we want to continue that and build what we're gonna what we're going to do through6 so you're saying the department heads coming coming in coming in here to our meeting and presenting and talking about and talking about it how many departments are there lot um there there will be certain ones that are combined like gas inspector and right so building building inspector has all that gas coming oh okay and that but he's not the inspector he's just over commiss is that D no that's water commissioner oh what's the other yeah um in the building department the building department that is that build yes side yeah okay got it yeah so under him he has you know private private weights and measure just kind like um yeah we'll get you the number next time no that's okay I'm good but um I don't really need to know the I mean if there's 50 of them we don't have 50 meetings no we would have one meeting probably invite them in for half an hour they come in sections like okay General government it's kind now the other thing we usually do is a Saturday session called a budget Summit in Board of Select it's a it's a combin it's a joint meeting with the board of Selectmen so when we meet with these department heads yeah we don't have anything to it's not it's not a dialogue they're just coming to present correct they come to present and and allow us to ask questions yeah yeah it's kind of like and I think it was like that at one time it it seemed that over time it evolved from department heads really coming in and talking to the finance committee to the Town Administrator to just nobody really showing up and having answers but so there was no interchange no dialogue no no clo people were just making decisions yeah okay it's going to change now right um we're going to try to bring it back to where it was um and again it's kind of like we're asking we're asking for a real plan we're asking for what it look like in two three years I mean you know granted a budget three years out or or beyond that is is against best gu um but it doesn't mean we shouldn't take a stab at it right I I I agree and I don't think we're I don't think you're being you know dictatorial or anything about that I I I think that how can you move forward if you don't know what you're moving forward or or if you're asking yeah I will say we asked for two and a half overrides the last three years one year at a time we're always trying to balance a budget we don't have a plan what happens if I do it over right now what does that mean what does how does that affect next year how does it affect next year or the year after um we don't know that it it's kind of like in schools this year it's kind of like I got my my fears on how much the increas is it going to be T because they again I keep on mentioning it that they they had five bargaining units that they negotiated with this year it's definitely going to have a two and a half override for the schools again what happens when it gets so out of control you can't pay for it I mean right well that's that's P it's kind of like you know it's kind of you know they you keep on cutting the town budget it's kind of like there's nothing you know when we look at it what are we going to cut we're going to start cutting into in into safety I don't it's kind of like most most departments the growth the growth departments in the last couple years have been Highway fire and police everybody else is pretty much there's been a few hours added here in there but not significant numbers so that's something else we probably want to see is historically where have you been in the last five years what's what's been your hours your your number of people and um and where that is yeah I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that of the department right it's kind of like show me where you've been show me where you're gone right oh this is great no it's really very interesting oh yeah another question I have I thought we had a volunteer fire department um of sorts we have some full full-time we have full-time um ambulance uh fire so there are some full-time people on the fire um but a lot of the firefighters themselves are volunteer so it's kind of like on call um the C everybody in this fulltime will probably be on call um but we can get that information that should be public information it's public information you but where do you get it it's on the website you will see um appointed um appointed and elected offici so if you're appointed and elected you're being paid um not necessarily um it's kind of so so under I think undertown clerk um there is I can find to Cor um it's not alphabetical it is it's kind of like under under here we have elected officials and appointed officials it's right now it says 2020 s again it's going to be a PDF file um so those are would you pick appointed not this is this is appointed because they are Town employees and employees have to be appointed so those people work for the town these these people will work for the town you you you'll see the election workers you'll see Mary J oh yet again y um oh oh so the these are as as election workers you have to be appointed and so oh I understand now okay I get it so when you get to fire EMF they're appointed they're appointed FF firefighter but paramedics you start getting to your per DM people those people but they're still getting paid per DM people they're not volunteer that's not volunteer how do you know when you volunte most of them paid I don't know I I I have no idea um appointed can you not I think they get a stien when they go on a call when they go on a call but yeah for the volunteers they're not getting a weekly or well for the volunteers I think get a stien when they go on a call yeah so the other ones but they don't get a salary no salary I'd like to know how many a Sal though I really would yeah I would too well I would too we we'll we'll find out find out yeah kind of it now are the but the police are fully salary that that we don't have volunteer police no and he even with the police um because of the requirements and the training he's even going away from um the part-time um why um because of the amount of money that would have to be spend in training somebody that would be parttime um oh on now this is capital planning CHR am is Chris no I don't think m is either I don't either no um oh conservation so yeah so if these These are the boards they're appointed also so but they don't get paid do they um no no you don't get PA you don't get paid no I don't get paid the only position that might be paid and we don't know for sure is clerk here because the the clerk for finance committee went on the bylaw said this a s oh that was Carol you were gonna get paid remember when [Laughter] we that's why you took the job remember there's no rules about what it is or and and there's nothing in our budget so it's like kind of like the look that came over my face when I read that was did we mess up because we've just been going year zero budget and zero pay we should really know what we're dealing is not updated either because Dal isn't a anymore no you are no but this was the 2023 list I I was just using it as was using an example but that's that's the most recent that's um but we really should um know who's getting pain who's on all these different departments because when I first moved to Western we had just moved into our newly built house and they were building the house across the street and it was it was like this time of the year and it going to knock on my door like were like the third house built and he goes can you call the fire department I was living West because one he had a was doing drywall and a one of those gas tanks caught fire so I called the fire department we just moved to westf and we're all on wellwater oh and uh and so the next thing I know you know they say Flames they said yeah the thing's flaming not the house but the thing but anyways long story sh they come with a little pumping truck and I'm like what is I going to do with that and then there must have been 50 Volunteer Fire on firemen that all showed up in their cars and basically they told us I mean the guy he's lucky he the tank didn't blow up he actually literally pulled the tank out of the house with flames shooting out of it but so nothing so and it was snow on the ground so he threw the thing there but they basically told us because we had moved from CH with Town water first time on well water they said basically we just come to make sure nothing else Burns but the house will be gone because CU they don't have any access to water no access to water little Tru I mean it was literally like a spray 10 gallons running low okay so I was just trying to get the um next meeting it's kind of like oh what do you mean the gate for yeah a date for meeting it's kind of like is aren't they always on Tuesdays um yeah so I'll I'll update the website because it's just Thursdays yeah can we do Tuesdays because that's the one night I don't have to show for kids around I like Tuesday do you like Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday is generally fine there are there are Tuesdays I have other commitments um but you can let us know right yeah oh yeah yeah certainly yeah if you if you like if when we if we set the next meeting tonight I can look and hear as he's trying to pick a date and say yes I'm available that day or no I'm not available that day that's why I know like I'm not available next Tuesday oh you know this but we don't have a meeting next Tuesday no we don't have a next because this because of the meeting on Monday Monday night okay so we got Monday oh God I need a calendar but that's that's getting into Thanksgiving week that is Thanksgiving week right and then the first week December it should be a selectman meeting so the second Tuesday in December that's far away if we right isn't that far away if we have to get that arer money off um yeah it it's kind of like I I was just trying to in my mind stay away from Thanksgiving I don't know people well I don't know I mean whatever my life is like I come to I can come there today yes so we might be I might be leaving that Tuesday oh I might be traveling yeah that so that would be the 20 oh that is the 20 26 yeah it's quite possible I'm traveling that day but if you're not you come right okay if you're not if I'm not right but I'm not I don't know when we're going to decide was one of those family things yes I get it and it could be earlier um but being that it's Thanksgiving week do we want to me and not to to exclude you because the rest of us don't work now but travel he's going something early in the morning so it frees up Tuesday afternoon I'm good I'm good I'm not cooking chair so I can come anytime yeah in the morning it' be great yeah yeah I would morning is is fine 10 give yourself mid morning I don't think any other board will be meeting at 10 o' I don't think so Tuesday morning so now what is the actual number November what 26 26 the 26th yeah so I would not be able to make that but I don't oh yeah well if I'm not if I'm not traveling too well working Tuesday until it's time to travel but you can take it off so work from home yeah remote no oh so Dave can't be there no but can you be remote he's probably driving or something he can't not yeah well I wouldn't be driving at 10 in the morning I don't think oh you'd be at your real work I'd be working yeah is real work my wife won't let me quit my job yet so you already said that once already when you first came on board and she knows my wife so she knows that she knows that my wife's not going to let me do that no if that's the case I'm thinking the to to your point that it's a relatively focused um agenda of looking at oper and see see where I would personally like to do that because that the idea of $800,000 not being spent and going back to the federal government when we are in you know one step yeah you don't need me you don't need me to here to do that right I mean to figure out yeah maybe Sam could show up right yeah well without Sam are the four of us enough and again if it's if it's about oper we can we can also still have minutes and report back do like a work session like we did last time s similar to that yeah but I think we have to get on that we only have how many days 45 days right so we we had some questions we you know bring it up and see if treas can information but should we do then oh you're going to set yeah's do December the second second 10 the 10th December 10 December 10 that I can do six o'clock do six o'clock again six o' 26 was at 10 a.m. and I'm not showing up on the 24 come on Jerry commit yourself to the Town best interest of the town no that's the thing it's when we hit December we'll we'll try to have a few January February March once March hits you're got to be double double sometimes we do Tuesday and Thursday in the same week it's kind of like but I'm hoping and again it's because budgets have always been a fight to get a balanced budget so there's there's a lot of given we can just like Ease on into it and there'll be no fight be fight at least be a fight with the school I think that's true to God okay this was wonderful meeting I don't we don't know anything it's not that you don't know anything it's kind like yeah getting educated on that yeah that's important a motion to yes Mary Jane Church yes