##VIDEO ID:6M_cCY9D6iU## welcome everybody today's December 3rd 2024 I'd like to call the select board meeting to order this will be a roll call meeting a roll call as we have Veronica uh Veronica Cal present remotely laor shiff present and I ask we all stand for the of United States of America and to the rep one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I'd also like to take this opportunity um to just U make some um local thank yous uh I'll start this by saying as a member of this town for 43 years I'm sad to announce that I will be leaving the town at the end of the year so I would like to uh especially thank a few people before I leave I want to thank the fire apartment who 42 years ago came to my house there was nothing I saved except for some volunteer took it on himself to go in and grab my wedding out album to him personally and to all those who volunteered that day and and every day thank you for all you do to the entire school department who educated all three of my children with an special thanks to Dr Mary white white for all the care she had given them my children are successful college graduates with their own home and I thank North Middle SE Regional School District for that so thank you to the entire police of apartment from the advice I constantly receive from Chief May in the past to the officers who stayed with me until my family arrived upon the racing pass of my husband I say thank you to all the Librarians who gave all three of my children a lifelong love reading reading I say thank you to the Senior Center Council and agent who provide so much for the child and for their kind words of support upon the passion of my husband I say thank you for the historical side and the finance committee who work hard to to both keep the flavor of this town while also ensuring advances thank you to all who are employed by the town for their dedication to this town I say thank you to all those who volunteer on committees Etc please know your volunteerism is appreciated and I say thank you to all my veterans fellow veterans thank you to the for your service and finally to the entire towns of Townson for all you have done to support me and my family especially at this time of great loss I will forever be in your debt I say thank [Applause] you this meeting is being recorded and uploaded to YouTube I have no additions andu does anybody else have anything they need to have I I ask that we review and approve the meetings from minutes from 11 19 mam chair I'll make a motion that we approve the minutes as we received for November 19 2024 second Veronica Cal second any additional conversation okay this will be a r call all those in favor l i Veronica C ey okay we have five minutes to the start of our public hearing um guess I could have thank some more [Laughter] [Music] people yes okay thank you um I just want to I'm Cindy King from one West Street there two cind k here tonight I um I just want to take the opportunity I didn't know that you were you're leaving at the end of the year and I just want to take the opportunity to thank you for your years of service to the town and I I think I first met you hanging out in BFW foror day parades and different veterans events so um thank you for that and I I think that the town has really benefited from being a member of the board s i the town has a lot to to thank you for well thank you very much for your and I hope that you don't forget about us down here and keep in touch I'll try my best so we have just a few more minutes but this will be a public hearing I do want to announce that the public hearing was announced in the town news paper um there was a legal notice for the town of towns that this is a public hearing um in theup the purpose of this public hearing is to determine the percentage of local tax loving to be born by each class of property um just as we're waiting to give you just a little background we have right now we do not have a split we have one class and Vicki Will Go On into more details on that and how they go about studying that point of order this is Veronica Kel do we need to open the public hearing and who is reading the public hearing notice into the record I'm GNA open a public hearing at it's not 610 then should we move on to something else if there's something that we can cover quickly prior to opening the public hearing everything has a Time on it unless we want we so we can just get you up to the table and then we'll open the one do 3.1 okay that's quick yeah just fill up the time yeah we can do that okay I'm going to move to 3.1 make a motion to appoint ever Smith to the water department from 1219 2024 until 117 2025 as parttime inter I so move uh Veronica Kel second any discussion La sherai Veronica Cal ey yes we do 4 One anything no that's going to take time yeah we're only two minutes away so okay can you come to the table yeah thank you sh okay I hereby open this public hearing at 610 this board of selectman will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday December 2024 at 610 in the selectman chambers 272 Main Street towns of Massachusetts for determining the percenters of ch ta lby to be born by each class of property for the fiscal year 2025 the hearing is in compliance with Mass General Law chapter 40 section 56 alternatively the public May access the meeting via the zoom link and the zoom link is attached username is attached and password is attached interested taxpayers may present verbal written comments prior to ur the hearing this was signed by the towns and board selectman at that time the chair was vacant the chairman was vice chair was vac and was as Court signed this was to record November 12 want to okay so here we are again uh yet again um um to decide what to do about a split rate in towns and it doesn't make any sense um our residential tax base is more than 96% of our or 93% I think the commercial residential and personal property make up about 7% um so if you were to do a split rate the commercial would pay an astronomical amount for a very small change in the residential tax rate so we would suggest that you do a residential factor of one so that all the tax rate the tax classes pay the same [Music] rate okay and do you have that percentage that you want us to do at this point well just a residential factor of one and then that yeah okay um other I first let's make a motion to open the public hearing uh second Veronica Cal all those in favor your call La Veronica C ey okay any discussion from the public or anybody out on the zoom link okay s Miss King yes Cindy King I I do I understand how this all works and I just um I want to speak because I know at at least the last I forget how many we had this year but there were a lot of concern about tax rate taxes and with the school's budget I heard spoke out about it I heard other people just chatting in the in the seats and concerned that businesses aren't paying enough taxes and if we charge them more that would have an impact on the on on the schools and I know that that because of what you just said I understand what you just said but I know that a lot of people don't understand how that all figures in and how come I I agree completely with the factor of one and I agree completely that we don't have enough business Revenue but I'd like to hear it from from you or or any anybody or more of a conversation from T officials so that the town's people that don't get it might get a better sense of that really we won't have an impact on being able to afford the schools any better as well as the need I think that the issue of the need to make us more inviting for more people to open a business and why businesses even with a factor of one they're paying a hell of a lot of taxes to begin with how can you I'll I'll give it a little because I did before this meeting I did go down and we work through all the numbers and with the fact that we have such a small percentage less than 5% of the base being from commercial to just get 90 cents not even a dollar we did the math to just get 90 cents off of a residential tax we would have to raise the more than double um the commerci the commercial base so it's the fact that we keep it one does entice business to come here they not in towns which have significant so we we like to see it entice and as we bring more businesses in then it might be a time to relook at that um but at this point it it is a way to entice things and it would if we did do now there's a potential that would discourage business and also um we save 90 cents so it's just uh not does it mathematically doesn't make sense good explanation I think one more point if I may that I forgot to mention but I think it's important for the town's people to understand too that if we raise stero using steroid as our biggest business I think if we raise the rate for Sterilite they're paying a lot in taxes because their their building is worth a lot of money the property that their footprint is probably the biggest one of the biggest properties in town if not the biggest plus the value of a plastics factory and God knows what other kind of equipment they got back there that has a lot of value they're paying a huge tax bill and just that they are paying certainly their Fair sh sh nobody's house not one of us even our whole street isn't paying in taxes what they are no if you look at the top five taxpayers in towns and their commercial or utilities right they're few I mean and and so they are paying yeah they're not paying anywhere near the tax the low I mean we're paying pennies yeah compared to what some of these businesses are so we would be killing them if we did raise our our tax rate thank you for letting talk any discussion okay that being said then I entertain a motion to accept a percentage of the Lo local tax lby to a shift factor of one before we make that motion Teresa did any did we receive any written comments I did not see anything did none none came in okay go ahead with the motion then I move I want me say it again I entertain a motion to accept the percentage of the local tax L to a shi factor of one some moved second Veronica Kel second no fur see no further discussion roll call vote all those in favor La I Veronica Cal I yes on note normally we have the LA 5 here for you guys to sign but because we don't have a recap that's complete yet we're going to have to sign that out of session once we know what the excess Levy will be and do we need to make a motion to sign it out of s so okay let's make it offici okay I'll entertain a motion to sign the L5 la5 la5 out of s some moved Veronica Cal second any discussion fa roll call La Veronica K ey say mo okay I make a motion to close the public hearing at six you can look at the computer it's not there not there okay I'm sorry uh Veronica Cal second uh any discussion I'm up okay Veronica c i and thank you very thank you Vicki yep thank you it's been the same discussion since I've lived here change I would assume we have to get a lot more business to change it okay have a few more minutes so I'm going to move out of the Sabrina is Natalie coming in person I believe so okay um I'm going to move to 4.2 um um i' like to know if everybody is okay with the uh um budget memo to the department heads I haven't seen the budget memo I didn't um I didn't see it in the packet last night I uh only uh put it on SharePoint um earlier today so I didn't see it um well let me read it yes please yeah it's in SharePoint now hang on one second I I can pull it up on SharePoint I'd like to do that or we could screen share it please um it's in their packeted and it's um in SharePoint if you want to take a look at it now um and it's in 4.2 yes it's not too much so I think the only thing um I'll sort of go over um sort of the highlights um I mentioned it last at the last meeting um I'm asking for a level funded um level funded level service budget so uh no new positions being added no new stiens no um additional uh increases in expenses Beyond sort of what's you know contracted um contractually uh obligated um for each department um I think the only thing that we might want to talk about are the due dates um right now I have Monday January 6th as the due date for all the department heads and then we would have that budget Summit on Saturday March 1st um Veronica you had mentioned you wanted to do it you know earlier in in the budget cycle so I think March 1st is probably as early as it gets um because then you're into late February and that might not give us enough time to talk about everything um I I am good with this I would like an addition to this I think it's critical that from the um so this would be an added bullet for the Board of Health I would like them to include in their budget the um anticipated uh contract um for trash both um uh for weekly Service as well as for um uh first and third for example twice a month service with payers you throw I want to know what they anticipate because that was what apparent tripped up uh the town last year we did not know those numbers and they were not accurate in the budget and I think it's critical otherwise we don't know whether we can fund trash at all next year um does this put them sort of on a on a timeline to start talking to sha then if we're yes I don't know if they've talked to them yet or not um but I think that we need to request that they include their estimate for different trash plans because that is going to be critical in this year's budget and without those numbers it will be very hard for the board of Selectmen to make a decision on what the budget actually is okay I'll I'll add that as a bullet then thank you um so uh I can do that first thing tomorrow morning and then and um I can send out the the memo itself along with the the spreadsheets that each department had would need to fill out um if if that's okay from the select board do you have anything no okay so the only question I had is we've had um Capital planning um committing um it's it's been following for the last probably 10 20 years a process where each year we update the capital plan um is this you specifically mentioned a worksheet and a budget um in a different folder than it's normally seen is it um the same Capital planning one that it's we've been using for years this correct yes you just put it in a more convenient location yeah it's going to be a fiveyear uh outlook for dep they will have access to what was determined last year in the fiveyear access um yeah I can get that to them okay I'll make sure you get a copy of them because I don't want them sto from scratch so we could see yeah and you know in theory they should have it in their records too but I can dig through my folders to see where might be located so yep that wouldn't be a problem so no V is needed on this so move on we just need you to approve and we do approve the sending of that letter okay we now have a joint meeting with the housing authority to reappoint John P Moren to the towns and Housing Authority effective 12324 for a one-year term until the annual Town election 4 28 2025 I going a motion for that appointment effective 123 some moved um is this a joint meeting do we have we don't have anybody from the Housing Authority here no and there well yeah um you're currently in the position but need to be reappointed right and Natalie's not here and there isn't anybody else we don't have a State Rep either are we required are we re the State Rep isn't a um the question here is are we required by Charter to do this in a joint meeting or can we do it just as a select board without a joint meeting yeah they can't have a quorum anyway so I would they would not have a quorum that's true no so I I think we can appoint him and then at least there'll be two of them Nelson um did Adam um have an opinion on that um Adam reviewed and said that umder of the Housing Authority which would you Rec call didn't vote on an appointment therefore it has to be joined today but she can vote but is she required to vote yeah okay did she request the meeting the meeting wased yes did she request the meeting to be with the board of selectman for the appointment posted by the if I have do phone um can we push this appointment out to later in the meeting and come back to it sure with me and see if we can get Natalie here because that's a joint meeting it's not a public hearing so yeah we should be able to do that okay amend right I'm just reading from the um Charter the new Charter a vacancy on a multiple member body shall be filled at a joint meeting of the select board and of the remaining members of the multip multiple member body on which the vacancy exists and shall require a simple majority notice of the joint meeting shall be P posted for not less than 5 days we've done that um and everything else here looks good but it is a joint meeting that's required the select board can't do it just on their own under the new Charter previously I believe we could yeah okay so if someone can please notify uh's trying to get in touch with I'm gonna move on to 4.1 like to entertain a motion to create a create table advisory committee CAC for concast license renewal process as a person of five table advisory committees from 3 7 2023 until contract is set up in 2025 with one select board representative one North Middle School District repres representative one finance committee representative one t cam representative and one at large member with a vacancy to be posted for creation so I I guess I'm wondering what we are doing here are we um setting the uh content of the committee or are we assigning people to it um because if I look at the minutes from March 2023 it says the board established a five person cable committee from 37 2023 until uh the contract is set up um in approximately 2025 with exactly what you just read there um so I guess I'm questioning are why are are we at this point just going to notify these boards that they need to appoint a committee what is required here so I think we were trying to cover a basis since this motion was so long ago now it's sort of you know low for over a year and a half um oh there is no committee yeah so I think um you know maybe the vote is to establish the committee tonight and um and then you know at a later time we can you know fill the committee with um representatives from this this list that that um this five member uh list so we are ratifying the creation of this that was done on 37 2023 correct we're ratifying the creation of the cable advisory committee yeah except apparently it was never created well nobody ever assigned for whatever reason the ball got dropped this was the month before my term ended previously and if I read this it it just said the board established a five-person committee which is exactly what we would be doing here I don't know if there I don't remember and I didn't go back to watch this so I can't tell you whether there was a motion or not but I I fully expected that this committee had been established already I I don't think it has I think no nobody has been assigned to it so this was a ball drop um yeah uh and and so I think we just have to ratify the establishment of the committee and um so a a motion to ratify the establishment of the committee as as indicated and we need to notify the boards that they need to assign a person to this and then someone needs to set up a time for this committee to meet so there needs to be a deadline for this because obviously it didn't happen by not giving a deadline um previously question just for clarification so uh the most would not be the same because what does it mean from March 7th 2023 until contract is set up in 2025 it means that that's the length of time that the the committee has to work on to negotiate speak among themselves as to what they want in the contract and then negotiate with Comcast because our our um contract with Comcast AR being the town of Townsen contract with Comcast expires in December of 2025 so one year from now and typically it takes 30 to 36 months to negotiate this contract um we received notice originally in September of 2022 because I was on the board and remember receiving it we didn't do any anything with it until March of 2023 which would have given you know just over two years two and a half years to get this done but um maybe Teresa you you can speak to why nobody ever had a because you were the only one of us that was on the board during this time period did this just get forgotten I I don't even remember the vote and I try to look it up as well but I don't remember it being voted upon I don't know if we ever voted I didn't watch the meeting but I know that we discussed and we established the committee and the minutes say the board established a five-person committee so okay so what we need to do is ratify the the members of the committee the you know the makeup of the committee and make sure that these the school committee the finance committee uh tcam and we have to post I assume for these but we really need to notify the boards that they need to appoint a member yeah person so so I entertain a motion to ratify the cable advisory committee as personed by 3723 until contract is set up in 2025 one select board representative one North Middle School representative one finance committee representative one TM representative and one at large member which vacancies have to be reported after creation I also um in the motion ask that this be established no later than two 15 2025 um I'll second that Veronica Kel second but I would like it to be established no later than I think 2:15 is too late um that that's less than a year to to negotiate to meet and get things going I would want it established by you know holidays are coming up so January 15 instead of February Lang by January 15 I second that okay any further discussion oh Veronica um it's actually the end of October not end of December so we have actually two less months to uh it's October yep I I'm looking at a letter from the state and it says our contract expires October 31st 2025 so we have two less months to to work on it all right well then maybe we want it well we're not going to with the holidays coming up we're not going to get an appointment prior some boards won't even be meeting for the rest of this month Dave from tcam uh would like to um um provide some insight into this um can is he on he is he he raised his hand go ahead babe okay I just wanted to uh point out one thing um the list of the makeup of the board including the high school may be outdated um the reason why on previous contract with uh concast they were included was because the school actually housed the original Studio once they tore the old building down built the new one there are no Peg access facilities or equipment in the school so it's almost like an unnecessary representative from the high school the board may want to consider appointing some other board to provide a representative for the negotiations okay can can you tell me though how involved is gcam in in um school activities such as uh football games and plays and things like that would that help with their notifications of that uh not at this point tcam has almost none uh We've contacted the school or tried to a couple of times and haven't made much Headway but peil however is got a good relationship with the school and things like the graduation ceremonies or concerts and such peil provides a crew records it or broadcasts live and we've been able to pick up their feed remotely and and rebroadcast it to towns and um so Dave is there a drop in the library or the senior center I think that's part of the new contract uh the original contract was to have Town Hall West towns and reading room Senior Center oh are you in then maybe we should add um someone from uh maybe from each from the Council on Aging and the um Library trustees what do you guys think at minimum of Library trustees my concern is um um if we make it too boo it might be hard to get it established and we have to have this done by the end of October all right then I would um suggest modifying the motion to uh replace of the School District representative with a um uh Board of Library trustees representative okay so G to re read this one more time because a couple so I'll entertain a motion to ratify or create now we are creating a table advisory committee for a Comcast license as a five person table advisory committee until contract is set up October 31st 2025 but one select representative one the library of Trustees representative one finance committee representative one t cam representative and one out at large member this committee is to be established no later than one5 2025 second or so moved Veronica K second okay any discussion okay roll call vote laer Veronica Cal ey okay moving on we have a joint meeting with the Amanda D entertainment fund please come set the table do you have a call H Susan was on way she was at the L committee meeting and this is our potential new member so you said somebody's coming on right well there's only two of us left so you have one out of the two and I think by Charter that's okay okay a majority of the remaining members so do you want to open your meeting yourself so that we have established it as a joint meeting sure open at 6:42 Amanda entertainment and evening okay so thank you for coming I'd like to entertain a motion that will be voted on by both the both the amend in the board is selected to appoint ly LeBron to the amended Detroit entertainment fund effective 123 2024 for a oneyear term until annual time elections 428 2025 so moved second Veronica Kel second okay okay any F discussion I all your PID for it's all in order um so roll call Laura I clementin Veronica K ey and Teresa good to get back involved with town do we need to close the joint meetings sorry to be a stickler sorry I was just ready to leave um 6:43 p.m. meeting ad Jour time congratulations thank you oh good man happy holidays everybody did we ever get in touch with mine yeah she's on her way she's on the road can we do the Lions Club or do you want to move down to a 4.3 the Lions Club is um that's advertised at 7 is there like a public comment period for that or yeah but want to yeah that's too far away do something else yeah we'll do a 4.3 buing Department Fe schedule okay moving on to 4.3 this was in the package I entertain a motion to approve the building department fee schedule that will go into effect January 1 2025 Veronica you're on mute I am am I seconding Veronica Kel second um I didn't first but I'm I'm going to go with a recommendation I'll still move any discussion everything's going up yes it is that is ways to get a little more F me a little bit so I second and we discuss call vote Veronica K ey any okay going back welcome sorry we know you're not a full committee but we do have to make this by to a join meeting with the town housing authority so basically you're going to open the meeting we're going to discuss you're going to vote you're going to close the meeting even though you're a person of one and don't have a do that one so you open your meeting okay open the meeting 6 6:45 okay this is a joint meeting the towns authority to read appoint John de Warren to the towns hous Authority effective today 123 2024 for a oneyear term until the annual town meeting 4282 so moved uh Veronica Kel second okay John any discussion thank you this will be a roll call vote and it will include a vote from the majority of the um G yes I Veronica k i andcome aboard to close your meeting I right um close the meeting town housing authority at 6:46 okay 6:46 thank you for coming in thank you for all you do sorry was helping a veteran tonight okay thank you thank you so much talk to you later [Music] okay oh I did want to talk um 4.4 LS on assignments so when we discussed these um last time the uh lays on assignment wasn't up to date um so we haven't updated list and we also um have added to an M mjtc appointment and MPC uh representative so um those have been updated on the list this doesn't require a roll call vote appointments are the discussion of the select um but we'll leave as um any discussion well um Laura since it's going to be you and me um at least until April you are you are on mrpc correct I share it yeah so I will take mjtc I was the planning board rep and then the select board rep on that uh committee prior so I I don't mind doing that okay I think that's better that um these two have to be reversed oh okay I spoke to um mrpc you are SE it as um at the mrpc they need an alternate for you it has to um you'd be the alternate so we have Veronica right now is the alternate for mrpc no I will not be the alternate for mrpc my understanding was that planning board um appoints one person to each of these those are the primaries the select board appoints the alternates to each of those does someone think it's different than that because that's the way it was before in other words I was not as the select board rep for mjtc I was not a voting member the primary is a voting member and that is the planning board rep so uh we might need to check on that the primary for mrpc and will on a l which is not a l is on assignment that is an appointed board member just stating Madam chair um I think the confusion is there that Laura can't hold both the select and the planning position but they need an alternate in case so um just to it was Beth Faxon was actually um the rep from planning to mjtc yes she is to mjtc for planning and I'm willing to do mjtc for select board I'm not willing to do mrpc for select board so I guess the question becomes can we assign someone who is not a select board member or we will just have an open alternate position because I I won't do both I thought you but the alternate position is ass sign right by the chair but you're saying you're not able to do it I am not doing both mjtc and mrpc is what I'm saying it's too much okay so ask me I gotta just at least to get us to to the New Year why don't I take over the entire Public Safety which is Alter which is the alternative position alternate position what are you talking about the leison assignments I am I am remaining as the public safety liaison we are talking about mjtc and mrpc which are separate from Public Safety is a sign L on assignments and I'm signning for mjtc and the alternate mrpc correct we're not talking about Public Safety okay so I don't know where that came in because we are talking about LS on assignments which is my responsibility as a shair you we had it sit that tonight that we were going to assign you the alternate position that was now added you look at your package in the L on assignment under Public Safety I'm saying the easiest thing until the board is redone is that you move to General government and I move to Public Safety I'm not doing that period we voted them last time Teresa and I'm not doing that when I read this it says signed by the chair it says mjtc and Alternate mrpc it does not say General liaison assignments it says assign lays on assignment until 6:30 2025 mjtc alternate mrpc okay so so you're reading into it no I'm not Veronica you are refusing to do the position under Public Safety which we replace for this minute under Public Safety where does it say Public Safety on the agenda if you look it says on the handout for L on assignments for 20225 we have mrpc alternate Holly Bo under public saf no it's under elected boards and commissions and officials no that's the primary you you're saying you won't do the alternate I'm doing mjtc where are you looking Teresa because I don't see it under Public Safety at all I see it under elected boards commissions and officials So currently mjtc is under elected board MPC is under elected board and mrpc Alternate is under Public Safety where I don't see that am I looking at the wrong list there are there are two lists and I think you need to look at the um there's yeah there are two lists in the folder and one is updated um 123 so the public safety one has the mrpc alternate under Public Safety all right I'll do it because I'm not giving up Public Safety and you're not going to be here after the end of December anyway Teresa so I'll do it there's probably no meeting between now and the end of December anyway there is one December 17 yes I I just wanted to clarify Veronica the alternate is really only who's speaking could some could someone identify themselves more who is speaking Sabrina okay the alternate is only for when lri cannot attend the meeting you won't have to worry about it you won't have to attend the meeting unless Lori can't attend our meeting is this Thursday and there isn't one until next year only one someone in place in case she can't come okay that's fine while we're on the topic since I'm not going to be here much longer do you guys just want to wait till December or to January to reassign General government yes okay and let's move on almost okay 4.5 there's a direction for a license renewal vote from 1119 2024 due to a typographical error of the Year 2024 with the year meing to be 2024 so in this elect board meeting on 1119 the board incorrectly voted for the annual license renewal year of 2024 due to a I thought the correct year of the annual license renewal was 2025 the that board therefore corrects the following I entertain a motion to correct the vote made in the select board meeting 1119 2024 as follow vote to approve and sign out a session all 2025 license renewals for entertainment license common I can't say this word license Class 1 2 three licenses in retail LIC of alcohol dependent upon receipt of required documentation in payment this vote will be effective 1119 2024 some moved and that's the correct date yes effective 2024 ium vote second okay any discussion okay have mroll call vote La I Veronica Cal ey minutes one last I don't believe anybody's coming so we can go even though it said 7 o' I think we're close enough review I entertain a motion to approve the license application for the liance club for selling Christmas trees on the comment from 11:24 24 to 12242 Second any disco I'm good with the trees Veronica I la okay moving on did we do 3.1 yes did okay a motion to approve Opera project fund reallocation request as read I entertain a motion to approve the OPA project number 26 for the two zero cop in the amount of 13940 out of oper one can I just look at this a minute I like I said I didn't see anything in the portal today yeah I dropped it in a little bit late so uh could I sort of start can we move the question first and then discuss it well are we talking about one at a time um it's more of um we will dive into specific ones but um I will certainly open the discussion like um as a whole you know what the ARA um projects look like and then we can dive into each one a little bit deeper um if needed yeah yeah I think it's going to be needed yeah absolutely M yes just a quick question did we do 4.3 for the building um yes we did okay thank you yeah we did anybody want to move the question so we can start discussion um I'll move the question for discussion I I just want to say that from now on everything needs to be in the packets 48 hours prior because I reviewed everything yesterday um to prepare for this meeting and I don't know that I'm comfortable um discussing these without having had a chance to review them so I'm okay with them being scream chaired and brought up but I haven't seen them and um and I do do my homework and look at things prior to the meeting so um okay I'm going to entertain a motion that we delay this discussion to December 17 meeting um let me think about that for a second what's the deadline it's the end of the month but there are um a few things that um I needed to discuss with you guys um that um well I made the motion for discussion okay so I wasn't second I'll second go ahead okay um so there are a couple of um of things um NM cares as you know um you know North MX cares they're a nonprofit organization here yeah um we need to sort of um uh get that contract in place by the end of the month so that um we are adhering to all the arpa guidelines I do have a um uh where is that on here where do it would be number AR project number three can we screen share what we're talking about because I printed and brought with me the arer things that were in the file yesterday I did not see these ARA things today and I'm saying this because I want discuss arpa funds for are there arpa funds for the fire department for the equipment on the new um on the new fire trucks that are coming in this summer uh I I don't think there's I according to my analysis there's not going to be any money for that um type of a well there should be then if there isn't we should expect that we are not going to get the revenue that we typically get from um the uh ambulance receipts because they will need those funds to outfit the fire um trucks consequently it would be better to use one-time funds from arpa if they are available so I really wanted to spend some time looking at this and I didn't see anything to analyze prior to right now um and so I am going to request that um we set up a meeting meeting for next week sometime as a board uh so that we have time to review this and discuss it with you Nelson prior to voting in a meeting because right now I am a no without time to review I'm sorry no that's fine uh I'm I'm sorry that I didn't I would like you to put them up and we can see what you have there and I want to know how many how much funds are left right if bring uh yeah let Sor let me uh let me sign on right now um unless I mean this is really important it's way more important than a lot of other stuff and I knew this was going to be a Hot Topic item or at least one that would Garner a lot more discussion than um rightly so yeah let me just L on I I can do next week if you want to meet Tuesday night I can't meet Tuesday night I'll be flying in I arrive in Boston at 4:20 on Tuesday can you give us uh dates that you can I can do Wednesday the 11th Thursday the 12th okay I can do either one of those okay I planning Monday but other than that I can do on Wednesday or Thursday at 6es I can do tues okay so the 12th Thursday and that would just just at this point I don't we could just do it for this a work session a work session for arpa yeah uh to me it just doesn't we're 3 days away from the 17 I do it at our meeting U we do have people I know who came here specifically for the offer discussion so oh well yeah we can we can still discuss that's do it dur the 17th but let's discuss what's going let's have a discussion and see if we can resolve anything yeah um so uh as I mentioned NM carees you know we've already can you screen share please um pull up what we're looking at so that we can all see it yes uh is that the wellness programming correct [Music] and you know what this is new to me the AR yes so I apologize so I I'm not sure what I'm looking at when it tells me allocated so so allocated that was the budget amount that was voted by the Boris selectman um when this first when the arpa funding uh first came about and Veronica was on the board at the time and they they voted to not only do that project but this was the budget um that the budget amount that was allocated to it okay so in I'm asking for an explanation of the dispersements or the receipts fiscal year 2022 4,13 $2 fiscal year 231 14,985 is that come out of the 462 allocated correct each year well so that's how much was spent in those fiscal years it's not um evenly split because maybe we started later in the year and certain expenses you know didn't you know it's not a like a even split but that's just the breakout of um how much was spent in each fiscal year for that particular project so this is just a breakdown of the spending what's the breakdown of the allocations so in other words 2 2,834 3 excuse 834 314 was the total allocated from arpa or allocated in a budget no this is the this the 2.8 million that is the total arpa allocation that was um this is what was provide this is the number that was provided to Townsen by the government that's the total amount for example that's how we always talk up number eight we decided to get a walking refrigerator for T out of the 2 million we decided to allocate 12,000 who was we it was it was under I wasn't on the select board at the time okay but it was under the select board at the time given in 2025 to be given in 2025 correct Okay so it's broken down by fiscal year uh and then you know there's a column for what's remaining in 25 because you know we're still well you know still have half the year left and then in 26 and 27 as well so if you could go by the remaining C that's why we're looking to get that purch get that invoice for that because we haven't completed if look and see in the F column you can see what's still available so um NM cares is one of the few vendors that um we actually need a contract with because the way the arpa funding deadline works is you either have to spend everything by December 31st of this year or it's con or you get it the service or Goods under a contract and then that gives you um until December 31st 2026 to to use it all and NM carees is under arpa number three um and they'll need to um be under contract and I do have a draft contract um in the SharePoint folder you know we we can certainly uh review it and then at the working session sort of you know make a vote to um you know sign the contract um the Teo is another one that we need to have a contract in place because they are um an outside entity so in order um provide them with any money we need a a subrecipient agreement which they did send to me but we also need a contract in place as well um so that we can provide them with the money and then everything else else is um within the town itself it could be wages for the HR manager um which is arpa one um we have the wellness coordinator which is arpa 2 and then um a whole slew of projects that we can certainly talk about and discuss what is the amount that we have to spend before the end of the year um according to my spreadsheet you know if everything sort of stays the same you know we're not changing anything um it's it's uh just over $106,000 that's all that's left yeah that's that's sort of um unspoken for at the moment and um if that's the case Nelson where is that 106,000 going if everything else is uh spoken for except that 106,000 where yeah can you bring up this page uh yeah sure um I think it's should Veronica can you see the screen right now I can see what's shared yes so one thing that uh we desperately need and I think we should use ARA funding for is um the two printer copiers here at Town Hall the one right outside the the SE selectman chamber and the printer copier in the mail room are those allowable expensive have you checked with CSS um they're the and said that's allowable correct okay so do we have free cash do we know what our free cash is would it make sense to use um free cash for that um I mean I suppose we could but given the sort of the exercise I'm going through right now to um figure out a way to to spend the rest of the arpa money um I feel like it it's it's money well spent for two machines that are 10 years old um we've been told by the by the maintenance folks that they don't even make parts for them anymore so if it goes down um you know I don't know what we would do um these both machines are heavily used by everyone here at Town Hall um how much are you asking for in that it is uh just under $14,000 $1 13,940 for that would come from app one for each or for one for both okay because you don't have a number here I don't it's all on the in the package yeah in the packet I did get a quote from uh Conway the uh our the current um company that Services uh those machines I I think that replacing those machines is a legitimate expense I'm just questioning whether it's wiser to talk to the fire department and get the equipment that's needed for the two new trucks under contract and use arpa funds for that and then take the 14,000 from free cash to replace the machines that need replaced I don't at all doubt that they need to be replaced um but we we could um but there is something that popped up that is going to be a bigger ask and I'm literally out of the 106,000 I'm requesting 87,000 um which I'll explain uh what we found out um last Wednesday the town accountant was doing the tax recap which is something that is done every year you um you have to submit a big form um to the state yes and after entering in everything the um the town accountant um along with the assistant Town accountant uh the very end of that um you know um um online portal said we were um uh over the tax levy and uh Vicki along with you know the town accountant says that's that's a no no we spoke to do um you can't do that so you either have to be um at zero or um under the the tax levy so what that really means is we need to find um some you know influx of um funds to to uh balance out this uh uh you know um T tax levy and we have no idea we we haven't been able to pinpoint exactly where it came from but we were thinking maybe it had something to do with um a town meeting there was you know multiple votes there was one vote to um transfer $700,000 to ambulance receipts but then at the May town meeting there was another article to transfer another 100,000 and then in the August town meeting special town meeting there was another $100,000 you know one of those um transfers didn't somehow make it into the the the budget process if you will so that sort of then resulted in a um you know uh uh you know a a number that's above the the allowable tax levy can't we confirm what came from ambulance receipts into the general fund correct y can can we confirm when transfers were made uh the ambulance receipts for $100,000 at the special town meeting that was confirmed to be part of this uh exercise this so that was in May well we think the that um that uh article in May somehow didn't make it into uh you know our our numbers we're still trying to figure out how we got you know above the tax levy um but that's sort of our best guess at the moment um and you know the we have a couple options of um plugging it we can use arpa money we can use free cash or we can use stabilization the problem with using free cash or stabilization you need to go to a town meeting to do that and I need to do all this by basically the end of this month otherwise um they'll be have free cash well um I I'll get to that in a minute but so free cash and stabilization you need to go to a town meeting and vote yeah and you need to post it for 14 days so you're really pushing it into mid December you know you you post within 14 days you can only hope you get a quorum at this meeting let's just say you you cross that hurdle um and then people vote it down now you're you basically have you know two weeks have gone by and you don't have the outcome that you want now you're scrambling to figure out what to do and you still have this um you know roughly $887,000 hold to plug you know um in the tax recap um subal um and more importantly if this tax recap doesn't go through um the tax rate can't be set which means the um the tax bills the real estate tax can't go out so by law the tax bill needs to go out on January 1 so that it's due on February 1st if it's if that bill goes any out any later than January 1st you can't you can't the earliest you can um um by Statute collect money is May 1 so that means you're missing an entire quarter of cash flow that you normally would get so um so you know so having that special town meeting if things don't get passed it delays the tax rate um the tax bills going out and you know the town could literally run into we could literally run out of cash you know we don't have enough cash to pay employees or vendors or the school department because tax bills don't go out go out on time so um so unfortunately it's really critical we we plug this um this um this deficit and um how can we be sure that that's the deficit um you don't know where it came from or how it happened right and what fiscal year are we talking about are we talking about fiscal year 25 or are we talking about fiscal year 24 we're talking because we're talking about 25 yeah the current uh school year you know because we got we have to pay them each quarter and you know that between the two schools that is about a $4 million um wait how how did we get on schools I I was just wonder well because of a cash flow issues if if uh if the worst case scenario happens and the tax bills don't go out on time we're not going to have enough Revenue um to pay for everything including you know those big Corel you know School assessment bills so I I we double checked you know uh um the town accting checked everything and you know we are about as certain as we we can be you know given everything that it's about a $887,000 um you know deficit that we need to um we need to plug who looked through and made sure there were no key key data entry errors uh it was uh Markham and um you know the assistant Town accountant they've been working since last Wednesday when this popped up when they were doing the tax recap um and we also got on the phone with um do Department of Revenue with our rep um Bobby Joe and um you know she's in agreement that you know it's that is the the deficit at the moment and um uh Capital strategic Solutions did you run this by them for allowable use of arpa funds well so what what we C so what we what's allowable with arpa funds is you can use it to pay a wide range of things uh you could pay for like salaries did did you check it with CSS did you talk not for this specifically but I had spoken to them that you know what is allowable you know um leftover money um so we could um you know use whatever hasn't been um allocated towards general fund expenses and that is allowable through arpa and then that would also plug um you know um The Gap so to speak because prior and I know that the rules have changed annually but prior to this you could not use it for um budget of under underages or whatever um maybe the rules have changed now um so you would definitely want to run this by uh CSS um they're the ones that do the reporting for this is not to the state it's to the treasury Department Federal Government and they are the ones that do the reporting for the town right and um and I would want to be um assured that the reporting that's done for the town is accurate right um I can certainly triple check with them but last I had spoken to them about this exercise you know what we can do with the uh uh left over arpa money we can put it towards um um a wide range of expenses you know ranging from salaries to the electricity bill to you know um any number of things so so you have a a list of seven projects the most critical is number six which is this rehabilation of 75,000 um from Opera one Opera 3 Opera 4 Opera 5 Opera 11 13 18.1 and 23 Beer Can we and I'll read to and everything can we uh at least try to get this done tonight contingent on that it's fun um the reallocation to for 27 which I assume is a new on correct yes it is a new number that I sort of pen by the treasurer the person who determines the arpen numbers is CSS that's who gave us the 01 02 03 all the way up to 20 whatever can we run this can we approve this tonight conent on they're assigning a number and approving the reality the um Theo 87,000 I would like to take some time and go through all these all I'm seeing are arpa numbers and I don't have memorized which is which I need time to look at this and review it and um and know the why I would certainly want um Jennifer at CSS to be consulted on this and to make sure that all of these are right there are also selectman's policies so there are forms that need to be filled out for allocations and reallocations for every single one of these um those are our policies um you see she can be available at our next meeting oh wait a minute we decided that we're going to try to do it for work session see if she can be available um I can try I can also she has been very uh she can zoom in and she she has been um pretty much available um to those if we are going to um move this to later um I'd like to make it um not an evening meeting but making it in the day make it easier for her to be available so okay um yeah that should be fine but I I do want to reiterate how critical that this this this Gap is filled because um it's gonna set off a whole bunch of um events that uh would Veronica can you do Tuesday in the during the daytime can I do what Tuesday during the day she's traveling I am traveling um when you have available again the 12th evening of the 12th or any time during the 12th but there are interviews set up now on that day and I haven't written them in my calendar yet um also the KN of the 11th uh I'm sorry yeah the night of the 11th the N of the 12th or during the day on the 12th when there's not an interview planned okay can you get those times like to have it during the day because I'd like to have CSF present I'm look I'm looking at the um the interview schedule so we could probably do like a the first interview starts at 1 so maybe we can do like a late morning on the on which day the 12 yeah that would be fun okay okay um I I there's some more I need to to talk about so uh yeah so we had we got the on the phone you know to sort of discuss what's going on and they um rightfully so saw that we have a new uh Revenue Source the pay you throw back program and you know do you know they when they see new um Revenue sources like that they sort of um examine a little bit further and you know they're still looking at the numbers I provided them for um uh bag Revenue that we received you know from um from the waste zero bag program but you know there is a dis thing possibility that if they look at those Revenue that we've received and they don't sort of like the direction we're heading in they they could say um you know the 550,000 that you were um that you've you know put on your projections um might not hold and they're at that point are going to come back to us and ask us to plug that Gap as well and that's when we may um have to dig deeper into the arpa stuff and the only thing I can think of an arpa to really sort of um uh siphon um funds off of are the um the wages for the HR manager and wellness coordinator you can see an FY 27 there's some money budgeted that's about 40,000 just under 40,000 and then it's a lot more in FY 26 and you know if do comes back to us saying you know we think you're going to be $100,000 short you need to come up with the difference I I can't think of any other way of um doing it um besides um tapping into those outgear you know certainly FY 27 because that's two years out so I I'm trying to worry about right now versus two years out um but it may very well bleed into 26 um that's obviously a problem with the FY 26 budget coming up but again I'm just trying to get through 25 so that is a very distinct possibility that do um uh when they look at the revenue figures that um I've provided them you know they'll come back and um make us um plug that deficit that they sort of expect us to um uh to to realize by the end of the fiscal year just good so um so those are you know the 87,000 that is a right now problem um but do can you know in the coming days come back with us um saying you know we don't think your projections are going to work um you're going to need to find um some other way to come up the money to to balance the budget okay I a motion that we take no action at 5.0 on H funding and move the discussion to December 12 2024 at 11 a.m. Veronica Cal second all those in favor La I Veronica Cal I um I I have a request then from Nelson that we have um all the information we need by Tuesday so that there's time to review this prior to our meeting by in other words I would want it 48 hours before so the 10th at 11: a.m. everything I want to know everything from do I want to know everything from um the accountants and I want to know what was transferred by ambulance receipts from um um the fire chief okay thank you yep you had said that you had 1:00 on the 12th but the text I have says two uh there's another um interview that's not the uh land use coordinator it's the conservation agent that that's oh that's what she's doing yeah correct oh I'm not doing uh no not the M I'm doing the uh 2 o' yeah the two o which is the linator interview yeah I entertain a motion to approve the public health Excellence Grant in package um this is a grant program uh itive by Department of Public Health aim at enhancing capacity of local public health systems utilizing State funding and Regional Shar Services a what what is that I missed that totally Grant is it totally spelled out somewhere but we're Branch we uh well yeah it's um it's uh working with the Nashoba associate Boards of health so uh there's a a grant opportunity um that that we um can be part of so um the Board of Health um sort of uh gives their blessing and then uh someone from you know uh you know the select board uh um well actually I think they asked me to sign on it so um I I guess just looking for you guys to review it and you know give me the authority to you know sign on behalf of the town for this public health Grant okay and that goes to our grant right all the information excuse me the grant writer uh actually the nooba board of health is sort of running everything for this so they just need our blessing yeah and then they'll you know um they'll submit everything on on our behalf since we're part of that board participating I think it's a good idea Laura Sher I Veronica Cal I okay moving on to um Town Minister updates and reports okay um so you guys are probably familiar with the sanook River Rail Trail um that project has been ongoing we got a grant from um Mass Trails um you know for a portion of the project but the bids the the construction bids have come in you know you know twice what you know um the grant money you know we received this for um and we're hoping to um get some arpa funding as well as um another gr from the state so unfortunately we did not get um uh the state Grant to to you know assist with the the budget of this project but Aaron our Grant's coordinator was able to talk to her contact over at the State uh from the mass Trails um Grant folks and they um generously agreed to increase um what they um originally um had given us through a grant so they are looking to give us an additional $55,000 um to help us uh to actually finish this project so um you know so there's an amendment that um they're looking for me to sign that way once that's all set we can contract with the um with with the low bidder to get this project um up and running and you know it is using some AR for money as well which um has been um approved and discussed in previous you know selectman meetings um so I'm just that that that arpa money was part of the match for the uh Mass Trails Grant the original 130 um that we received um I I want to also yes I think we I'll make a motion that um we uh um have uh the Town Administrator sign for the um additional funds from Mass Trails for the purpose of the Squan cook River Rail Trail connectivity project this is actually the sidewalk walk from the church to the other side of the harbor um uh across that second any further discussion um the only further discussion I would make is that recently um it's either mjtc uh or mrpc came out with there's an email just within the past two days that there is shared streets and spaces funding available and it needs to be signed on to by I forget the date it's either late December or early January so it's possible that we could at it's for sidewalks etc those sorts of things um I can forward you the email but I'm guessing that every one of us got it uh there is another source of funds for this sidewalk and the reason that the bid was high higher than what we originally asked on that Grant is because um do Mass do came back and originally we were just doing one Ada Crossing from um the one side of har the harbor to the other side we have to do all four corners now um and that wasn't part of the plan for the original Grant application so that's why the increas in each one of those rapidly flashing you know Crossings is about $54,000 so if you add three to it that doubles the amount of money that we had originally because we were only looking at one of those so all right that's all I have to say Laur Shi Veronica K ey um the only other thing I had was um there might be a snowstorm Wednesday night into Thursday morning and the only reason I bring it up is because um you know I think in the past we sort of have mirrored what the school department has done or we you know we have some sort of um 2hour delay coming in the town hall and then um depending on how bad conditions are we may turn that twoh hour delay into just Town Hall being closed uh alog together for that day so maybe I'm not looking for an actual vope so to speak I think we already discussed this that we would follow the school department y I just want to bring it up uh because you know there is a apparently a winter storm warning you know late Wednesday night into Thursday morning it's supposed to end like Thursday morning but it just makes it easier for everybody could just stay online as the schools in you where if the school's delayed delay so I just wanted to bring it up um in case um something does uh you know delay or cancel school and it does say 90% chance I am in favor of following the school schedule whatever the schools do Town Hall does I am not in favor of saying well if there's a 2hour delays in School we're closing town hall right yep okay moving on to the reports from the general government I'll start with um just said that a couple of things we saw them here tonight the um um the White Entertainment they are were short members they have a new member coming board the um energy commission Ron is still looking for numbers to make sure we can keep our Green community you have to prove that every single year that you've had things we're really good about getting the numbers from the town but the schools are involved too so we have to show decreases on this so I told him to reach out to you um to get that information my name is working really hard they're waiting on that um the numbers from the budget to heads um to get moving forward capital planning I see that you are coming forward but I did they did want me to see ask if you or still going to go um with the same plan what we've been following and currently um I'm L on for Capital planning but I'm very concerned that that had to move forward quickly so I'm wondering if either of my others um the other select would like to stop that immediately because they are starting to meet up one are they meeting um they're trying to get one right at the beginning of the new year is this Capital planning Teresa planning yes I'm on that committee I was assigned as a citizen and sworn in around June John Barrett appointed me do you want to be and give up that position see we can't have two on well let's wait until they're not meeting till January so we don't need to make that decision right now right okay that's my report move on to elected vs um well Vicky was here tonight so we got her report I haven't heard from the Board of Health this is this is new to me too so you know two weeks into the job here um I have not talked to uh Roger or uh for cemetery and Parks or the facilities maintenance um Highway Department land use coordinator uh working on the um hiring so we're going to start interviews there and mjtc um just part of what I do at rrpc too because we get reports there I don't have any updates only the emails that have been coming about grant money um I have not done anything with the schools public safety um before I go into public safety let me just mention under General government because we're an appointed board I'm the chair of the affordable housing trust and um the trust needs a um an appointee from the board of selectman um I would recommend we don't have to do this today but maybe our next agenda that we appoint me as the um affordable housing trust select board member and then I can resign as an appointed member by the board and we would have an opening that we could post for why don't you handle that at the same time you handle Capital planning handle that at the same time I'm sorry say that again at the same time you handle cap capital planning yeah we could do that in January that would be fine um the other thing for taht since I'm on that committee I just want to say that there was a rumor in town that there's some 40b going on going in up on uh Wallace Hill Road there is not there never was and there is not so um I just want to make that clear to the residents of town that seem to think there's a 40b that is going on up there um we are doing a forestry cut on two of our properties uh 60% in order to keep the uh Parcels that we have healthy during the time that they are not being built on or even planned to be built on so just know that um as far as Public Safety goes uh under the police and this is something we need to see a warrant um at one of our next meetings since our next meeting is going to be an arpa work session we need to see a warrant on on the 17th um one item that needs to go on the warrant this is a request by the police chief is for the car lease at town meeting in order to balance the budget uh 47,500 was removed from the lease and he needs to renegotiate that by the end of December I believe it is um he said that he can perhaps talk to them to extend until the end of January since our special town meeting is January 28th correct but there needs to be a um a uh warrant article for that placed on the um on the special town meeting warrant so just to keep that in mind and to work on that um uh another thing for uh police this is has to do with the budget I am assuming that uh reclassifying and employ could be an acceptable um uh um use uh use isn't the right word could be an acceptable thing to do if it fits within the budget of the department as far as salary goes so no additional hours no new employee but a reclassification so just something to think about on the budget memo um as far as uh fire goes um we have a mutual agreement here in Townsen with ashb and peppero um and uh the fire and EMS have been covering uh and been being able to provide adequate coverage for Ashby and peppero so it's just something to keep track of and um to recognize that that this is um happening in town uh I think that's all I have for that okay moving forward on announcements and communication we'll start with um um this was received um by the town court November 26 that I have submitted my resignation as a member of the board of Select and affected December 31st 2024 I want to make it very clear um that this is due to the fact that um as of the end of this month I will no longer be a resident of Thomson so I will no longer be able to uh also I'd like to announce that contast um there going to be a price adjustment with contast um um they have enclosed the pric uh um updates in it this is effective November 18th um you will receive a notice with of these charges with your um Bills starting November 20th if you have any questions about these charges they have direct contact which is Patrick uncore sh s h e a NS comcast.com and as well as a list of these charges uh new customers cannot sign out for several several programs have been eliminated super Mo triple play whatever but I would suggest you also check on whether those are going to remain in your current packages and can we get this posted on the website sure we'll have that um up on the website but it does provide you with all the information on the new packages and the increas in cost and that's all I had for announcements does anybody else have I do not okay make a motion that we review oh sorry our next meeting will be a work session on December 12th at 11 a and make a motion that we riew and sign payroll bills Warr out of session second Veronica Cal second any discussion yeahor Laura shiff yes Veronica Cal yes we are going to now go 6.1 into executive session pursu to General law c 30- a s 21- a to to conduct strategy sessions and progression for negotiation with non Personnel specifically the treasurer collector you will adjourn out of executive session second Veronica Kel second Veronica K ey thank you everybody for joining us