evening everyone my name is Laura shiffrin and I will call the meeting to order of the select board meeting at 5:2 PM ver the date okay
sorry on last night okay I'm starting again good evening everyone my name is Laura shiffon and I am calling the meeting to order of the select board on
March 11th 2025 at 5:03 p.m. uh roll call V please I mean roll call please Veronica he pres lordship and present please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance my pledge of allegiance to
the flag of the United States of America and to the for stands one nation under God IND with liy and justice for all like to thank all of our veterans and all of our current military
serving and all the emergency responders that help us every day and families for their sacrifices the meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded to YouTube is there anyone else on that there's no one else
in the room here recording but is anyone else [Music] online okay and 615 for health I think yeah yeah yeah but that's um after all the business yeah okay hearing that nobody else was
reporting uh 1.4 Chairman's additions or deletions um I don't have any to the agenda I don't believe I'm believeing anything that's on here um but I would like to make an announcement and that is in reference to
our election coming up I would like to announce the positions we do have uh one person running for the select board we have one person running for Amanda White Entertainment
committee um there's another position available so if somebody's interested in a writing for that um that term uh for the vacancy is through 2026 Board of assessors has a position
open for three years Board of Health has two people running for um one vote one threeyear position uh Board of uh Library trustees uh threeyear positions there
are two people running and there are two votes that can be taken uh Board of Water Commissioners there's one threeyear position that uh we have somebody running for cemeterian Parks uh
commission and that's a one threeyear term and then North mil school district has an open position planning board has a fill a vacancy to
2027 and then planning board also has fiveyear position available at this time and no one has taken out papers saying for Recreation Commission for 3 years Recreation Commission to fill a vacancy uh does have one running through 27 and
the town CLK has two people running for the position housing authority to fill a vacancy for 26 housing authority to fill a vacancy for 27 no one has taken out papers trust fund commission there is a
three-year position with no one running um Trustee of soldiers Memorial uh veteran position there is a veteran running and trustey soldiers Memorial non-veteran position is
open uh ending in 2027 so I'd like to thank everyone who took their papers out and who are running to participate in the community appreciate all of you taking the interest to do so and uh we wish you all
luck and if we can help in anyway uh regarding those opening positions and you want to do a writing vote please let people know allowing me to do that thank you 1.5 we are do not have any minutes that
we're doing this evening too close to to meetings now be a little behind um we gonna go down to our appointment is at 6:15 um no this isn't what I want
I need the [Music] original um under meeting business which is our primary for meeting tonight uh is to review and
discuss the special town meeting that happened last night and um possible next steps including a possibility of two budgets just our motion did you want to discuss um I no I
don't have a motion I want to discuss before we motion yeah absolutely all right go for so so um I I guess uh um Nelson has the Omnibus budget as if an
override were to pass and I I uh threw some numbers together today for us to consider tonight for if an override wouldn't pass so essentially I went um through looking at the things we had talked about the
Departments and with a um again we have haven't all of this is contingent on talking to the um labor Council regarding uh collective bargaining agreements and also going out
to the um department heads and you know seeing what they think but it's essentially a 20% um across the board with the exception of Public Safety debt insurance and of course water which is separate from the general fund
um so uh 20% cut which means buildings open 4 days a week 20% cut in all salaries um there are a few exceptions and we can look through it as we go personal services contracts honored
because they are contracts um uh let me see um Municipal trash removed however depending on the recap and I haven't seen that cuz I didn't do the recap I just looked went through the budget so um we can look at that because
we do need about 300,000 to cover the gap between the purple bags and the rest so if that 300,000 could go in we can consider it otherwise it's removed completely the thing about that is any override that we
need even the 1334 if it were that High um that is less than what people would pay for trash service in a month so it comes down to in my book
simplifying it you pass the override or you pay for trash and you're better off with an override than paying for trash as far as the monthly cost goes you still have to buy purple bags but such as life in the St and age um so I don't
know that I put Municipal um trash in there and the a budget I played with today um we also should look at the number of people under Insurance because we did eliminate one position the community services coordinator position
during the budget Summit on March 1 that was removed for FY 2026 so we we should be able to go down one person and insurance and it should be noted that that position was not fully funded for 26
by arpa no the arpa funds were repurposed in December of 202 yeah right and but we had um the town had collected funds over the course of the past three years in order to fund a position a
position a a position budget and um because we had a resignation and we did not fund through arpa the community services coordinator um we removed those funds from the bard of
selectman um budget but we did that on March 1 so all right so do we want to look at this yeah yes so I actually did I barely had enough time but I Incorporated your
changes to my spreadsheet okay so um so we can go and I think I highlighted most of it so um the other thing that I did is I cut office supplies in half so I don't know it doesn't look like you picked that up um
from my spreadsheet um let me just see if I caught everything I I did it through every um Department Department yeah I was GNA say Okay I I must I didn't do a full quality control check I I'll be able to tell let me pull mine up
um and so essentially I was um I have it in place that um offices are open Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday building you know buildings are open Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday closed Friday Saturday Sunday all buildings pretty much not the fire the police but we'll talk about and Senior Center yes they're closed on Friday Saturday Sunday but open Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday I know the library needs to remain a certified library and get the funding that they bring in I thought they told us they needed 40 hours a week um I spoke to a Valerie today this morning
and I think the the number from that they can cut and still maintain certification and all the other um um money from the state was only like
15,000 once you once you get once you cut more than that um they lose certification and they lose out on a tremendous amount of fund um they're not in the CW Mars um inter Library sharing
program I 15,000 is is all they can cut from their budget before they lose I thought it was hours I well it's it's kind of both you know because if you cut um from
the budget then you're you're cutting staff um she said she would get some more clarity from um from the library folks but it was somewhere right around there 15 $18,000 so this is I just wanted to see
if a 20% cut would would get us into the ballpark of existing without an override that was the intent it does and um um I would I mean we can talk about it and vote but I really think it has to go to
the Departments and say you need to make a 20% cut um in order for us to not this these are our recommendations but they could yes in order to fund the budget without an override that's what I'm trying to do
here what cuts can we make to fund the town budget without an override so okay so looking up here um yes BOS office supplies cut from 2500 I thought that you know we really
should be using less paper and um so I I was just looking for places so you should have a 15.6 yep okay so really it's um on this one it's
removing the community services coordinator and the human resources manager these are the funds that we had been accumulating in order to fund the position without arpa once arpa was no
longer in play after December 2026 so we won't have Source man well some things might be able to come back we'll have to see I mean this position will be still be ar funded in6 it's funded in 26 but
you don't put ARA funds in here it's right so anyway okay but they're also not in free cash either right no they're separate they are they are their own entity with their own there's different accounting rules for them and all that
stuff so okay um Finance I didn't change the reserve fund at all I thought you know we we might need that we're going Bare Bones budget so best to have something in reserve so that's St
is um accounting support staff um got cut again you can see oh you didn't put my thingies in there um so I I took what was there and multiplied it by
80% um to get that I left in all longevity and other things of that variety you know the the benefits that are union benefits remained in yep and you notice I added an extra column here
and that was because I actually spoke to oh Town labor Council and they said um come up with a list um and um come up a list as well as the expected savings okay so um I'm
GNA once we go through it I'll I'll have a clean list of all the positions and what this potential SA would be just so we have like a running tally um all right
so um did office supplies oh yeah I did offer supplies I also took out hang on a minute because I think that I took out ,000 doll from I took out a thousand from office supplies and left the 800
and I really don't understand their that uh repair and maintenance equipment thing I don't understand so um I took out a th000 there that was at 1800
so um so I I took out a thousand my notes have it but they didn't get translated there um all right so 26.3 and minus 1.3 overall okay Board of
assessors again it was a a 20% in salary um so minus 16.1 and then under supplies I might not have done it because they might have been is this because of the one last one last day oh
I I did cut yes one last day it's 20% of the week goes away um office supplies I cut to 400 okay um all right so it should be minus 4.5 and minus 14.5 all right uh Treasurer
collector again we're working with the personal services so under the Staffing yeah I I did that cut um and uh it should be a minus 6.3
under Staffing I cut the yeah cut in half the office supplies um I still subject to I I think that you should have 1,300 on under the savings expenses oh
sorry um and for an overall minus 3.3 Y in Treasure collector okay um then it was uh Council I left as is um I left the um I left the uh um
management information systems as is I didn't cut that stien because it was a stien and I didn't really change stiens um I guess I guess I could have but I didn't we can talk about that but
the overall was at 2.5 anyway for that um thing so I I just left that town clerk all right here I did um I looked up Massachusetts living wage um and that is
$27.89 I figured we're going to go with 30 hours a week uh for 52 weeks so that's where I got that number from on the warrant article we should also take into account the um benefits so salary
compensation so when we do the warrant article we should include the amount for benefits both health insurance and um uh retirement um I reduced the assistant
town clerk by 20% 37 okay L will Rec carry for the salary originally it was 46 715 it's on the line and what I sent you I put it in the comments I didn't want to lose
that 40 so what was again 46 um 43510 no the the previous amount oh the previous amount I didn't I didn't pull that up but it's in the Omnibus okay we
just add it yeah um it's I think that you know La I mean you could even um I think we had either 50 or 60,000 yeah I can I can uh refer back to I have so many versions of the onus that
it's like you the next one is 37372 that's TW uh 20% cut from 4671 um so that's a a major cut there um I I 50% cut the office suppli so it
yes that went down um so that's 10 clerk um and I'm looking here we I kept all the uh election as is didn't make any
changes to what was on the Omnibus for the those two um Street listing State as is conservation wages um uh also cut by
20% um and a 50% cut in materials so uh down to 250 okay so minus 10.6 and minus 6.5 that looks right um the next one mrpc we don't have
have any in that uh planning board wages that was cut 20% from 31,6 A5 for a minus 16.2 to overall um there were no office supplies
there so I left it as is we should have minus 15.3 CBA again a 20% cut minus 16.5 uh land use so you we go back to up
to planning board and under expenses it's planning board communication and office supplies oh okay so that's only 150 that's only 150 I didn't change that I left it okay
um so uh yeah I mean certainly these are things that we can look at if if the if further cuts are needed but I would recommend giving this to the saying this is what we're proposing you know all the Departments
with all the to all the Departments and say you're looking at four days a week so you need a 20% cut and you me last we can do that uh well so Jane says once we have the list we can talk about next
steps but it would be um bring the Union to the bar table I I guess in my book it's it's better to keep all the people oh yeah that we can
and to um look at what actually falls out when um schools are settled and the um money's from the state I mean even cherry sheet money that's all a draft it's
not final so anyway oh and just to um we don't actually need to um finalize things tonight um I spoke to Tom clerk um we have until March 26 to submit our
yes our um valid question ballad question so um we have uh next Tuesday's regularly schedule select board meeting to continue this conversation yes and um you know finalize things and I we either
talk about now or next week um whether we want one ballot question for the full ask or splitting it up I like now I'm more and more liking the idea um one
ballot question I think one ballot question I don't see a need for two ballot questions um we're funding the schools through the general fund so what we're looking at are the cuts too um Town
Services well well there was also um I think what happened last night with the amended motion um didn't actually um it didn't
resolve much of anything related to the school budget because if you the motion or the amendment was we took $200,000 of free cash um and then we were going to raise
and appropriate um $411,000 to fund the scho I guess we could raise an appropriate um you know raise an appropriate from the oping budget to to fund the the
school oping budget else would we do it well what I'm saying is we that Amendment only um put the burden on on the town well yes but it it only took care
of $611,000 of the over $15 million school budget so it didn't really um solve anything because the remainder still needs to be um well but it's
already in our budget yeah it it's the difference it's like the one point after yeah it's the well anyway um but we didn't talked about it okay all right can we I mean I feel bad about all of it
so can we at least report to all the department heads what we've done tonight give them a heads up I think so tell them we're going to rediscussed To Us by Friday by Friday to review next Tuesday for review because I would like to see it prior to sitting
down in a meeting yes um and so let's finish going through this and see where we are I think because certainly there's suggestions that I mean now all want want want but
it would be good if they could give us resolution of where they feel the money can come from that we have addressed I think broad Strokes it's um 20% cuts across um Staffing and
um office supplies being cut in half that I think that's a pretty good start and four days a week open uh well that's where salary comes and because in my mind closing for a a day could save us some energy costs
correct and that's why I'm saying for across the board um days except not fire and police yes but days and well let me let's go back through here because there's there are a couple exceptions you didn't see my
email to Nelson but um there are a couple exceptions so um on the land use coordinator again that's a a 20% cut same with the Granton housing and same
with the land use administrative assistance so um it's minus 19% yep and then going down minus 10.3 did we miss something there office supplies yeah 550 is what I put in there
chose that and then I'm just going to throw something out here I I might have I don't think I did put it in your email have we posted Ed the land use coordinator position that that can we take it down
have we received any resumés I think we received between four and six resumés because my thought is if we have since we're cutting staff and currently that staff is covering for the lack of a
land use coordinator do you think that staff might be interested in just continuing to cover through this mild financial crisis we have going on here I mean I think with within the four
days yeah I think short term we could probably make it work um well we've done it before it's not fair it's not fair done it before but I am thinking find anybody um and and it is kind of double work when we're closing the building for
one day a week um but it it's just a thought to throw out there no and and I have considered that too I think short term we probably would be okay um last time that it happened it was way
too long it was over a year and it was way too long it was not fair to the boards it wasn't fair to the people doing the job it just wasn't fair but we do have at that point we had I think one and only one person in that room we will
have three people because we do have a conservation agent we do have planning CDF we do have a grant and um oh the grant the grand person yeah I mean we do have three positions in there when when
that happened there was one and only one yeah and no applicants so anyway it's something to think about but um and maybe discuss with the employees in question um so minus 18 .4 in land
use um going down to facilities again same thing it was a 20% cut across the board um and leaving everything else the same basically I don't think there were any
uh that's the only thing it was the minus 16 and down at where you at um okay why do you have minus 30 one two there um maybe the one that's not fil
there was a um let me look at 59 788 um 15990 8628 18 232 I kept temporary help you did I did
not um I left temporary help there I didn't zero that out so I have 18232 which is 80% of 22790 um but that's 21914 so are you removing that
completely uh no so it should be 18232 right there and the difference wait I didn't capture that difference um okay yeah so that should be minus 16.6
okay yep all right nothing changed in expenses so for an overall minus 5.2 I thought that even though that that facilities maintenance needed to continue even though we are closing the
building four days a week so at the same rate you have it all continuing with uh production I not for things like repair and maintain buildings that or equipment I thought that was um okay do
you see what I'm saying I mean we still have the building you know and it still has to be maintained okay uh so M it I mean we can consider that and maybe facilities want wants to look at it and
you know change things but I I wasn't going to so General government total is down 8.7% of those cuts um but that's only one section so in police what I did is uh under police
energy I I'm hopeful for the solar panels which may may or may not be turned on for the entirety of the year but I'm hopeful so I and I seem to remember I know so it takes a little
while to get them turned on by Unitil I mean they're still under construction I believe and then there's so hopefully they'll be up and running by July but and and then you have to look at you're in the middle Summer and the best time
to gain to store is from March to the you know October in my experience so anyway that's what I put there and energy I don't know if they have gas or what they have in that building do they have how do they heat I I don't know so
anyway so mine was hopeful for solar panels right there um the repair and maintenance of the building was level funded at 20 reduced from 23 but I think that happened I didn't have 23 there I
had level fund you might have had a different budget from me I I had 20 in what you sent me um okay uh but maybe there was something that happened I I did a 50% cut on the office
supplies which you've captured um and so it it came down to 20.6 and then I said need to get this total below 3% and so I would give that to the police chief and say look at look
at your expenses your bud whatever see if you can get this bottom line down to three and because there are things in the expenses that I don't know how important it is or
not um all right next one is fire and I did a similar thing in fire if I remember right might not have even I I didn't change anything there I just said that number needs to be below three %
hand it off to the fire chief Y and say get that total down to uh below three however it can be done may not be able to be done I don't know all right we took out the teema I didn't change
anything in tea um and we don't have free cash now we our intent had been to go to um town meeting and do that 30,000 in asks out of free cash because it was not
recurring expenses but we don't have that option now maybe we will in a January town meeting um okay rolling on down we get to the uh building inspector I did not change the
building inspector's salary because that is already part-time I kept the alternate building inspector as is I did drop the wages support by 20 perent so the
33 uh 576 is a not 30% a 20% cut from 41969 and did you capture that number yes you did okay so it's 0.9% total in
salaries and I think we left everything as is I have 106 and I wrote the below Pro below number is problematic but that's all I did so refer it to the
building department um uh building plumbing inspector all of these stayed as is sealer of weights and measures these were all level funded in this budget Animal Control um I cut the 5,000
further to 2500 the ACO Professional Service um uh reduced from 5,000 and again that's something that needs to be run by the department but so
that dropped that I I did not drop ACO stien or the tree Warden stien because they are on call all the time they don't get to shut down for three days a week so I left those as is and if if you look
at the bottom one both of their bottom lines were very small so um you know below 2 and a half% um so looking at Public Safety total it's
5.5% which quite frankly isn't bad all right schools are at 6.2 um and those are the numbers we looked at last night with natech added in all right Highway again 20% cut
across all wages I left overtime because I figured it's going to be used I did and temp help I didn't adjust either of those I um support staff 20% cut so that got captured all
right um uh under expenses the only cut I did was the 50% cut under office supplies so the 1071 I made 550 I didn't cut it exactly in half I
chopped it exactly okay you're meaner than me Nelson all right so it comes down to a minus 13.2 why is your so different from mine
um what did you take out that I didn't um I have one 149 177 going up okay you took out something that I didn't take out
um did you take out overtime no no you left in temp help 17256 4500 5097 745 I think this should be
395 286 why mine why is mine so oh right here sorry bottom we still don't match back it up um I have 71485 for oh the highway superintendent
I think you have It reversed all right that I have 17.5 you have 17.4 um oh two I have 232 for operating staff you I round it up if there was any sense I round it up okay
um so we're good yeah so down at the bottom a minus 13.2 all right for Highway snow and ice I did not change at all street
lights I didn't change although I have been known to remove street lights in the past so just know that um all right Solid Waste I removed it so I put in 10,000 it's just account
municip Municipal we still need all of our trash picked up is that the amount or is it uh no it was like 9960 so I just it up time yep so I I
left that in and uh so it's a a 98.3% drop in the solid waste total well you should add the 10,000 back on your side okay and that's the municipal I didn't know exactly where to put
now I 97.1 all right we match so um yeah okay I'm just being mindful of the time it's 6:15 correct yeah uh cemeterian Parks um we did a 20% cut
pretty much across the board minus 15.8 um I did not cut their office supplies because they are Bare Bones at 46 and I just couldn't do it at 23 that's it you get one ream of paper for the entire year instead of two so
anyway I just I left that and it's how how much is it they had 46 for office supplies that's just about because some of the Rings are $49.99 and for boxes and $69.99 or $72.99 so I figured I figured we had a
deal so you didn't realize you were a paper expert I have to buy it and the ink one trip last week was over $300 for not much all right so minus
14.2 yes okay so moving down to Housing Authority again the same old cut so that's minus 14.9 what did you do different from me um you cut training from
1400 um the and the then and so I did that one at 700 because the the um office and general supplies I made 700 because I looked at the year before the prior fiscal year which was at
1,400 so that's how I did that um so 14.9 we agree uh Board of house again the 20% cut in wages um
uh for 15.9 um I did 180 you have 179 the 50% cut um minus 17.5 so it it works out with h rounding all right uh
sh Board of Health State landville Engineering Council on Aging is our next thing again same old 20% Cuts so minus 10.2 um that looks great veteran agent 20%
cut um uh I didn't we had had the question about the dues and training I left it in um I did I did a 50% cut on the office
supplies and we should be at minus 8.5 yep Library I uh the library director is a personal services contract so I left that as Z I did a 20% cut everywhere
else um left longevity minus 11.5 I did a 50% cut on office supplies and all total minus 8.3 all right now Recreation I zeroed
the assistant director I did not do a cut on the department head and here is why this is uh this supports school children um and it's an everyday of the week job so this is one where the
building will not close would need to be open the programs that they run are self-funded I took out the um expenses stipended I removed that completely to 2500 and when I did that I had a
22.5% cut leaving the salary as is and that's the reason for it this is a department that runs completely with its own money and it supports the school children that was so
emphatically um beat into us last night that we need to support and so it's a five day a week job um they support the kids when there are school days off when they are in
service days when there there are vacations and so I did not change that salary and I put that in my note to you Nelson I see and that's the reason for it um but I did take out all of the
supplies and services so she may have to raise her rates a little bit to get that 2500 and the cut that resulted taking out the assistant director and she could fund an assistant director at 10,000 out of
revolving if the monies were there if she charged fees enough to have an assistant director and so and it's a 22.5% cut in that department so that seemed fair to
me um Memorial Day I kept the band concerts we could cut the concerts you know but I kept it because the point that was made during the budget Summit was that these concerts are fundraisers for other nonprofits and
organizations in town and that is important so uh the band concerts were left in and of course touch that flag committee cut their expenses in half five years ago when we needed to four years ago when we
needed to cut stuff and I did not cut anything there nor would I um so that's for replacement of flags right um yes which does happen yeah it does happen and they did use it that first year so
anyway so that's a 10% overall cut in culture and recreation and then I didn't touch anything beyond this I did note on the health insurance Town side that we could remove the community services coordinator from this anything we have
in there there and I don't know the breakdown I know it's roughly 20 to 22,000 I'll take a look at that um because we have decreased one position totally gone um I'm also happy
to report that we were able to do some um nipping and tucking with the health insurance increase so I think before was at like 15.5 C and I were able to get down to 13.85 that
saves 15,000 that's good I mean but then again it is like 1.2 million so um you know we just there 15 big in our budget right now with these Cuts yeah and I just want
to make the point that Cali did a lot of work on this as did you Nelson when I first became a select board this town paid I want to say 30,000 maybe 50,000 for a consultant for health
insurance um I think it's money well spent to have a human services a human resources person who has the ability to do this sort of thing as opposed to hiring an outside
consultant to do it I I think it was 30,000 but I would have to look okay so um so yeah that gets us to a a whopping increase of
1.1% year over year and so our to so this this is the budget without an override and and so my question then is what sort of override do we need with the on so here we don't need an override
at all we funded the schools we funded the town govern government M you know with the exception of Public Safety which is close to 100% um by you know by reducing by
20% um closing buildings one day a week if it's doable and departments have to look at this and see you know I know nobody wants their salary cut I wouldn't either but I thought it was better to do in a across the board as opposed to
saying we're getting rid of this position this position this position and then if we can increase it by 10% you know as as bunes settle out during the fiscal year we do that with
the intent of hopefully getting things back to where they should be and this this includes the trash it's gone trash is gone gone out of this budget out of this budget we need
another 300,000 in this budget um to 400,000 to fund the trash and I think that puts us in override territory so taking into taking into account that number plugging into the
recap we still almost half a million shy and that's without trash so so for trash with this reduced budget reduced Services budget I should
say we would need basically a 8 76,000 um right okay um to for this reduced budget go back to the recap a minute
there um so on this with with what we just did cutting 20% we still need 476,000 yeah okay um because you only C
well it it's better than I mean we cut about 400,000 we we cut about 350 in personnel and about 26,000 in change in expenses so
just under 400,000 well I guess my next place to go would be to remove positions um I mean and and it doesn't you know it's not like we have highly paid employees I mean 20% is you know
it's a nice neat number because it's one day out of the week that's that's that was the idea um I mean you could go up to um So
20% net you 350,000 savings so that's so what that's 70 that's about 70,000 per
5% I guess you could look at it that way so if you you led off another 5% off salaries you would gain another 7 75,000 but that's I know this
is high in the sky but I'm hoping that people say oh having an extra day off week is worth the 20% with the hopes of building it back you know um that's that's what I'm hoping and people that are essential workers personal services
contract folks and a few others um they work five days a week it's just that they're going to have to work from home one day a week um the ones that have contracts the ones that have contracts not cont are not in the 20% cup
category um so so at 6 o' now um we do have other items okay so we we can so do we do we need are we ready for a motion or do we want to bring this back after I don't think we're quite ready yet okay so but
we are gonna let them know what we've done yeah I'm G I'm drafting up an email already because to to the um trust and trans non-transparency of the Selectmen or select board now uh
from the audience uh it it was very apparent that they don't watch the meetings I would they don't watch the 40 plus hours of joint meetings with the finance committee of how we got to where we got
right and between that and some Rumor Mill going around there was a lot of hostile environment um last night and it's too bad that people don't watch the meetings
so they get all the facts for themselves and not with a couple of people rounding up a bunch of friends to let them speak for them and see what happens we got an email today from somebody who felt hijacked at the meeting regarding the
substitute motion that came in and the position that the town was put in and those people just took over and it was a slim vat margin you know less than 10 anyway right and then um so I'm just I
don't know how we get the word out that all of this is online all of our meetings are online nobody's holding anything back from them this is the facts they're they're anyway you know people like to
complain but they really don't have all the facts to be able to compl right and there there is talking about the rumor mill there is some idea in town that there is no transparency here yet everything is filmed everything is
available yeah it's a buzzword yeah with no with transparency means one thing to one person and another to another person we can put it out there you know you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink it's all the information is out
there right don't say we're not transparent if you're not looking right okay but yeah I will um send out an email tomorrow to all Department saying um you know as a result of last night's special town
meeting um we're to need a override it this is an alternative to an override we still have to put it we still have to go for an override unless we find further Cuts unless we find further cut I think at the moment that
means more than 20% um it it Pro in my book it means eliminating positions and you know and it's not a big gain doing that um so I mean I think people have to understand
and and this goes too to like in a snowstorm I I think we're going to have to say Highway plows from 7 AM to 400 p.m and and that's it and because we aren't G to have the funds um to do it so you're just G to
have after storm you just have to be prepared to stay at home a little longer you know and um and and that's all that you know the library and the senior center are open you know on these days
of the week and so plan your life accordingly might make us all slow down a little bit so okay we're going to move uh to 4.2 leaving 4.1 without a motion hopefully people will do the
meeting uh the yeah 4. I just yeah the I'm sorry I thought you were going on to 4.3 no I want to just talk to the letter for the community preservation Grant okay goad um the grant administrator at land use coordinator had been working on
a grant to re to do some restoration work on Town Hall the thing about it is it requires a 100% I mean a 50% match oh and where do we get the match from one thought had been to take it from free
cash yeah but we're using free cash for the schools and so the match isn't available and so at this point as a select board member I do not feel free saying let's go for that Grant
and taking money where do we get another 100,000 our our budget it is made up of what we can bring in that you saw here and free cash and after last night we are down to 41,000 in free cash until
next December December of 2025 when free cash is again certified after the end of the fiscal year 2025 so I cannot I am not comfortable saying oh yeah let's apply for this Grant and get the things that need fixed
here at Town Hall fixed because we don't have a match so we can look at it again next year yeah um so um this goes back to the capital planning projects for Town Hall here
isn't that our next are we on do we have well no this this is kind of connected to it because of um we're talking about town hall and there might not be a match but there were some old articles that were for Town Hall but remind me we you
were looking the planning committee was looking to combine them to fund a project in 25 26 um so there I actually brought the cap I did bring Capital with me in case we were going to discuss uh what we were
going to do was borrow is this off topic well it's someone on the thing is going to put in a open meeting law request that I talked about something that wasn't on the agenda it's it's connected to it because you're talking about uh potentially not a match but there are
capital funds that you could it could be the match so that's where it was for different uses than what fa cilities put in for was for different uses than what the grant would cover there were not it
was an exact onetoone match between what went to Capital and what would get redone here in this building um but yes we and capital is on the agenda for next week there are Town votes I'm sorry said that again nothing
that you just said nothing in the certain Departments of the capital planning can't be moved to the town hall because there are Town votes what's in capital planning Capital planning has 8 7,000 in capital
stabilization and we have warned articles that we can um uh repurpose a set of Warrant articles that gives us all total in the 150,000 range we have
over that we probably have 200,000 for between um turnout gear and projects in town hall we also have an almost 300, 250 300 get a a um plow that we were going
to borrow for recommend borrowing for I would not at this point borrow um because of our uncertain um status so I think that what we're looking at is turnout gear and the other and we might not be able to buy all the
sets of gear that we were going to um because we don't have enough free cash because the remaining funding was going to come from free cash and we no longer have that at our um disposal so that's fine I hope the turnout gear can last
another year okay so um so we don't think there's um any matching funds available in those old um couple Oh you mean using these for
matching funds yeah I'm wondering if we can jigsaw something together um this this grant is due on Friday I'm not jigs sign for Friday I'm done jigsa I've done enough jigsa in my well I only
Public Service life I only try to make it happen because uh col's um expended some hours you know since he should put that work aside for next year or the next round of the grant I'm not I we'll have we will have free cash next year we
have to put a use of free cash policy in place yeah so that something like this that sucks out right doesn't happen again doesn't happen again and so if we do that Kobe's work is not for not is what I'm saying um and we can look at it
next week but the the grant will have flown the coupe by then right and it wasn't I'm not we have to guarantee those funds for matching be able to guarantee those funds those funds are guaranteed
application for the grant the the funds are guaranteed they're annual town meeting articles that we set aside prior that weren't expended and therefore can be repurposed for similar sorts of things and you know I'm looking at them
and it's uh this you mentioned 87,000 but yet we have that in capital stabilization already we we will expend all the funds in capital stabilization which will leave us with nothing in capital St stabilization so because
basically you you need you have stop in capital planning that's over 200,000 but you only have 87 yeah I think that's what I heard you say yeah plus about another 60 or so in
these repurposed articles so okay and there there are more articles but people aren't willing to give them up so okay yeah yeah you know people use those as a little saving account kind of like you
know your tax returns so okay well thank you Nelson For Trying understand thank you verica for the explanation and sometimes it is what it is um we had something happen last night that we didn't expect so we're dealing
with that what the voters wanted uh 4.3 fine with it yeah letter of support for project 211 plus 21 Community call to action regarding Mass school funding formula is there a motion yeah I move
that we approve um sending a letter of support for project 211 plus 21 um the community call to action regarding the mass school funding formula to the state and authorize the Town Administrator to sign on behalf of the
select into the record not dear Senator Jason Lewis as your committee Begins the challenging process of determining funding PRI priorities for the certified fiscal 24 1.4 billion
fair share at Surplus and the FY 26 state budget we respectfully urge you to prioritize addressing the severe financial difficulties faced by all school districts including 232 districts classified under hold
harmless status the Chapter 70 education funding formula relies heavily on anticipated model student enrollment assumptions to ensure school districts receive adequate operational funding districts with enrollment below these
assumptions are guarant guaranteed to receive at least the same Aid as the previous year but the formula lacks additional protection to the guarantee sufficient core funding for all essential components of a school
district since the last update to the Chapter 70 formula in fy7 Statewide student enrollment has steadily declined leaving 232 school districts dependent on hold harmless
status as a result these districts receive only a minimal per pupil Aid increases in Chapter 70 funding this situation shifts full responsibility of covering budget increases onto
municipalities as a burden that has proven unsustainable we respectfully present the attached allocation requests for the one-time FY 24 fair share act Sur plus
funding and the proposed FY 26 state budget line item increases by providing school districts with additional FY 25 funds superintendant May realize relief in fiscal year 25 that somewhat eases The
Strain on on financial resources for FY 26 thus helping to offset the significant budget increases then municipalities can no no longer sustained we are grateful for your tireless efforts and commitment to
supporting our students and school districts respectfully Nelson New Town Administrator thank you for doing that and was there a second on the motion there I second if there wasn't okay I'm
sorry and um so we need to vote on the motion yes any further discussion hearing none Mo call uh Veronica Kell I and Laura sh I thank you any other
updates see few minutes um sorry um K in the um Grand housing coordinator um all his pre-employment paperwork is all set and he's due to start tomorrow tomorrow excellent I told the staff in the land
use office so I'm sorry who's that um Kieran Mia that's the grand news the grand okay thank you so he's starting tomorrow okay very good um I don't have I did my announcements in the beginning and again Ask for volunteer response
forms we are next meeting March 18th at 6: pm and I'll entertain a motion to review and sign po payroll and bills payable warrants out of session I move that we review and sign payroll and bills
payable warrants out of session second any discussion hearing none roll call um Veronica c i m she I motion to adjourn no no don't we have a are we gonna adjourn this meeting we go back to the
6:15 meeting okay right you have to adjourn this meeting we have to adjourn this meeting and then we rejourn we call the meeting at 615 it's part of this agenda part of this agenda so um okay we will just move up to 2. so the only
thing left on our agenda is the 615 joint meeting with the board of house yep and we're actually joining um their Zoom right right um Tom are you down there
could you um stop recording