I'd like to call the meeting to order of the joint select board of audit and finance as well as our select board meeting June 24th, 2025 at 6:02 p.m.
I'll have a roll call, please. Veronica Ke. I have many others here which will be announced later. Pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I'd like to thank our veterans and all of those that are currently serving here and abroad. as well as all of our uh first
responders here in Townsen and their families. I would also like to thank all of our appointed and elected officials who are volunteers to this town as well as our staff. They are all appreciated and I
appreciate all all of those who attended last night's meeting to approve our budget. Um the meeting is being recorded and will be uploaded to YouTube 1.4 under chairman's additions or
deletions. We will be deleting 3.2 which has to do with the community preservation committee and um we cannot appoint that until after the bylaw is approved by the attorney general's office.
And so um that will be done or um posted after that happens. Madam chair, we also in 3.4 in the next meeting with the town meeting and everything. I have been able to get confirmation on this. We will do that.
Support we will delete 3.4 and move it to 71. Thank you. I'd also like to um move out of order. Well, we're going to add 3.6, which is the appointment of Paris as
I'm reading under right now. I haven't moved. Okay, let me put my glasses on. Maybe that'll help. 3.6 uh this is under additions and
deletions. We're going to add 3.6 to appoint Harrison Matt as record access officer effective uh 62425 through 63026 3.1 I think
um still in the progress move to another meeting. Um, I request that we move that to July 1st. You guys are good. Okay. Um, and then 3.3
that is there. Did you want me to do something with that? Use it to be there. July 1st. 7:15. 3.3 we will move to July 15th. Everyone's okay with that.
And um I would like to bring out of order [Music] where is she? 3.5 point jumps Jessica Fioli as account manager water technician effective July
16th 2025 Jessica and Harrison and so I have my resignation cuz I know that you didn't want to appoint me until a resignation was given. I didn't want to give the resignation until I was assured
that an appointment was given because I can't go back on a resignation. And if you don't appoint me, then I'm without a job. So, I have the hesitation. I have it right here. I will sign it and Harrison will receive it right now. If your vote
is to appoint me to the water department effective July 16th, I I guess the question is is there a motion? Okay, that's fine. I was waiting. So So Madam Chair, so it can't work quite like that because once there's a motion in a vote that you've appointed
before the resignation has occurred because she's expressed her willingness to make the resignation. So I think the idea would be you would discuss the appointment, you would reach a informal consensus um as to what your intended vote is going to be. You can even take a straw poll and once Jessica is
comfortable that straw poll indicates that you are about to vote to appoint her, she will tend to her resation and require you to vote. Okay. Thank you. Um so board member Sarah. Yeah. Go ahead.
My intention is to appoint Jessica to the mine is to Okay, we're all set. signing it right now. [Music] I'll entertain a motion. I move to appoint Jessica Connealy as
accounts manager water technician to our department effective 760 25 second. Any discussion hearing? None. I'll take a roll call. How far I could kill? Yes. How you go to Jess? And yes, congratulations. Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen. Congratulations. Good luck, Jessica. Thank you. All the water, right? So I think we can move forward with our joint meeting of the select board and the audit committee and finance and the
audit and who is audit it's Roselli I don't think they are on yet I think they were told 6:15 that is uh Elizabeth she talent
Um, okay. Well, we have called to order and I mentioned Elsa joint. So, Don, you want to do your thing? We can do that. Um, and and I don't see it here. Has Harrison been appointed as audit to the audit committee previously as our the
volunteer sheet committee. Usually we do those appointments in December. Correct. To audit. It is, but it was an open open position in it. I I haven't. Okay. I just wanted to Sure. It's kind of like
as we all um did we get the volunteers? We did. We discussed I thought we did. I thought I saw it. I think it was the bylaw part that was discussed. I don't know that part was discussed. Yeah, bylaw was discussed. We did. We must have passed
over that then. I thought I saw the full Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to be sure as we open the committee who the members um Okay. So, I'd like to call to order the the Town Thompson audit committee meeting at uh
sorry 6:10 p.m. Roll call attendance, please. Uh Veronica Cal present. Don Hayes present. Grand President. No, sorry. This is OG committee. You got me too many committees. I'm waiting for this one.
Thank you. Okay. Thank you. This meeting is being recorded. Um, at this time there are no additions to resolutions and we are to have a joint meeting with the finance committee and
next. Uh, I would like to call to order the finance committee meeting at 6:11 p.m. Um, roll call attendance, please. Dan Grant present. Gerald is present. Mayor
Jun Churchill presents present is present and Davis traveling coord this meeting is I'm sorry is absent um the meeting is being being recorded at this point there are no additions or
deletions to the agenda we stand ready to go into the meeting with the You have another [Laughter] two smaller ones. That's it. Right. You sent this to us, right?
I didn't know about this. What's this? The big one you said. Yeah. Yeah. The big one and this one. I don't think you said the little one. Yeah. Do you know what it is? Um that is my name.
So the same thing I'm going to look Yeah. No one's in reporting. I don't have Thank you. I think This is for the audit committee to take
both in here. Um generally it's not if you look at the um correspondence it's to select select board again it's the three boards we as the presentation goes for your question we
can go we can go around committee to committee and ask if there's anything but in general it's like the audit committee is just one person from select one person from the finance committee right now so we can approach with you not taking over.
All right. I'm just going to ask him to review his findings and go over anything significant that um and then any questions that we have on both the the regular audit and then the
federal grants audit. So, it sounds like you want the to start and give their presentation. And I don't see that they aren't here yet. Jake,
but it's Roselli and Clark and I think it was Tony that this is I would just ask I don't remember I mean I I think I said that the meeting was being recorded but I didn't ask if anybody else was recording.
I don't think any of us did. Um is there anyone else recording? Hearing none. Is there anyone online from Rosselli the auditor an email from him today that he was expecting to join at 6:30.
Oh, I didn't know that. At 6:30 that's what his email said. I'll see you at 6:30. Okay. All right. Well, should we uh Yeah, if pleases everyone. I'd like to get some business done then. Question before we go. Um because there is
something on the select board that could be jointly with with um finance committee. So I could pull in and modify the um transfers. I believe um this um
the reserve fund transfers. I thought that was deleted. municipal reserve transfers. I thought there were multiple that we were um 4.2. I don't have any more to add tonight. Uh I did we did have some last meeting that I forgot to
scan and send to you. Okay. Um I plan on the the select boards meeting on July 1st again. Um I should have that. Okay. Sorry. It's kind of like I just figured it it was something we could do. No. Um, when are you guys um meeting
committee? We didn't have it set. So, we we will set the meeting and and see when I'm going to do it. Usually, we go closer to the end at this point. Um, we will we will normally we would have done it tonight if we had had what we have,
but we'll go closer to the end so that they're all done at the same time. So, I will also check on the count and see if there's somebody dead. Okay, everyone. Okay. Um so probably um the first week or so. About 10.
Okay. Yeah, I think that should be I we'll we'll definitely have um the select board um um review and approval buttoned up by then for you guys to Okay, we have the auditor on. Yep. I see Tony. Tony, did you want to give your
presentation if you're ready for me? Yeah. Yeah, we were ready before you guys were going a little uh fast tonight, huh? Because uh yeah, they told me to But uh it's hot out and I want to go out
and grill some steaks. So, let's get this done as quickly as possible. And um ask any questions as we go. Um I believe everybody knows me. I'm Tony Roselli. the managing partner for Rosselli Clark and Associates and we do the audit for
the town of Townsen. We've done the audit uh three times now. So, um very quickly um a lot of noise. Is that That's not me, right? Is it airbrushing? Can you guys hear me? Yes. Yes. Okay,
it's it's gone now. It was very loud for a second. I wasn't sure what that was. Um, so so uh quickly the first report I want to go through is the uh what's called the governance report. So at the end of our audit, we're required to provide you with a report to governance.
You are the governance of the town, the um selector. And uh in there we're required to report if there were any disagreements, which there were not. There were any material weaknesses, which there were not. Uh if
there was any uh accounting principles that weren't being followed, which there were not. So all of that pretty standard. Uh went through that. That that all checked out. Okay. Um then um
as we get down into the um the report um page three of the report and this is the four page report there are some observations that we can go through. It is it's it's getting loud again like a wind tunnel. Are you getting that too,
Elizabeth? Let me turn maybe turn the air off. Yeah, I'll try to I'll try to talk over, but that's um Okay. Oh, I think control panel down at the bottom. It's little remote at the bottom. On the other. It's the remote at the
bottom. Underneath it. Underneath the remote all the way down. Yes. You think I might do it? Is that better, Tony? Oh, that's better. Yeah. Well, we we'll we'll have to start having these meetings in December. Yes.
So, um, so on page three of the report, um, we talk about some observations that came up as part of our audit and a lot of these are basically just updates of what we have seen in the past couple of years. Happy to report some things have
been resolved. So, the the list is getting shorter. But uh the first thing is just a reminder to um to maintain u you know good cyber operations and security uh to to constantly challenge what's going on. Uh train your employees
make sure that uh your vulnerabilities are checked out and resolved so that you don't become a victim of uh the hackers that seem to be around every corner. Uh secondly is a reminder on fraud
prevention. basically um just look at departmental revenues. Are they fluctuating strangely from year to year? Uh is the cash handling at departments? Um cuz we don't look at the smaller departments. When we come in and do an audit, we look at the treasurer
collector, we look at the accountant. So we look at the bigger departments, the assessor, but we don't look at the small departments that um that sometimes collect a couple of thousand dollars. You know, the library collections down at the police, the town clerk. we don't
do a deep dive. So really we we kind of push that on the town uh administrative folks, the financial folks uh to have good procedures to make sure that these smaller departments good cash handling and uh and that all the money is being
um collected and recorded properly. U question can I ask a question? This cow um is is there a a suggested way. Um, so we have cash
processes between the recycling center and the board of health. We have cash processes between the senior center um, and uh, you know, the folks that use that. Is there a recommended way to make
that so it isn't so cash intensive? In other words, is there a way to use um one of the things I do one of the things I do push on my clients is um to try to uh reduce that cash footprint and just
um do things online as much as possible. Um, I know like with the senior centers, it's difficult to get the seniors to start, you know, doing online things, but where it's, you know, like the town clerk's office is a great place to, uh, automate all of that and try to do as
much as possible online. My town where I live, which is a very similar town to towns and does all the dog licenses online now. We don't we we can go in, but for the most part, we do it right online. But things like that are going to cut down the amount of cash handling.
And the benefit of that is the money goes directly to the bank. It's getting invested right away. It's earning interest right away and you're not handling the cash. So that really uh to me is take a look at those um those
processes and see what you can bring online and automate. Uh just about everybody in the world in at least in the state has a computer now that they know how to use. They know how to use emails. they know how to get online and and a lot of folks probably already pay
their taxes online so they're used to it. And uh that that would be my recommendation um is to really do a u a dig down of what all your cash processes are, which ones make sense to go online and and try to promote that within the
community. Uh um if you do have to collect it, um there's always the folks that want to come down a town hall and pay their uh you know their service off with uh with cash. Use receipts so that you can tie back to the revenues. Um you
know, your accounting and your treasury people can do spot checks of department. So, uh if the town clerk collected a hundred dog licenses and they were $5 each, there should be $500. It's pretty simple math. Um, so, um, so in those
situations where you can't do it online, just make sure there's some accountability there through a receipt process and, um, not just throwing everything into a shoe box. And like I said, we don't do the they're so small that the department departments that uh,
collect cash in relation to the the town collects 25 million a year uh, between the state and the property taxes that these small departments don't make a a big percentage of it. So our focus is more on the in the bigger areas when we do our audit. Um so um that's my preach
on that. Um any other questions on that? Not on number two, but I do have other questions as we go through. Okay, super. I welcome them. So um my third one is just ambulance. Um the balance seems to be getting higher. Uh the activity is
getting more uh more robust. Uh people are using the ambulance more. One thing I noticed is the collections are they're coming in but the older ones are staying out there. So the aging is getting um somewhat um
leaning to the delinquency side. So it may make sense for the fire chief to go through the list uh see what's collectible, what's not collectible. What I see often is that you find people on the list that have passed away. You're never going to collect it. The
estate is settled and the the balance has been there for years or it's gone into an insurance hole that's just never going to be resolved and the only way to really get through these is using collection agents and um you know third parties and um you know so on and so forth. Sometimes it's not worth it. So,
it may make sense for your fire chief to just go through the list, put a list together, and and do it do an abatement probably once every couple of years to avoid it getting uh large. Elizabeth has her hand up. I do. I'd just like to jump in here. There actually was a large
abatement done and it was posted in October of this year. So, that process has started just to let you know. That's great to hear. So, that was done in fiscal 25. So, we should see that uh at the end of 25. That's good news. Exactly. Okay.
Any other questions on that particular item? Yeah. Could I just clarify? I thought I thought that the um fire department did use a a vendor for the collection of those receipts. And wouldn't it be them
that would do the monitoring and aging out of claims? Yes, they do all that. They do all that for you, but it's up to you to decide which ones to abate. So, uh, the vendor provides everything. They do the billing. They provide the aging. They
provide the name, addresses, the whole thing. It's up to you folks to say, "Hey, which ones are not collectible?" Okay. All right. Thank you. and and that's how it's done in most places. Uh most most towns use a an outside vendor for that.
Uh fourth bullet is the treasurer collector's office and it's nice to see that this has gotten down to two points. Um at the beginning there were more than two there. There was a few points but the last couple of points there is I'd love to see some cash forecasts. Um
basically at the beginning of beginning of the year create a forecast and say hey what's going to come in in July what's going to come in in August what's going to come in in November so forth and so forth and what are the dispersements so that you can monitor your cash balance at the end of each
month. The benefit of that is you can evaluate how much extra cash you have at the end of the month and then that can be invested. Once that's invested, it increases your investment return and gives you more interest income. So, and there are some good accounts out there
that are very safe that are providing more than one or 2% which is your traditional municipal accounts. You can you can get up to four or 5% now from the MMDT or T bills or other things that are that are uh legal in Massachusetts that are fairly safe. So, uh, so I'd
love to see the treasurer start to do, um, these forecasts. And secondly, uh, there are still a few minor variances, uh, in the cash reconciliation process. And by minor, I mean like a whole bunch of them. That's probably less than5 or
$6,000 in total. Um, it was more than that when we first started. So, those are being worked on and whittleled away. also. Okay. Uh any questions on the treasurer collector's office? Okay. The next bullet point is on
capital assets. So when we came in, we inherited an inventory that was created probably in 2004 or five and it's been updated each year, but nobody's really taken a good look at it to see does that
2002 Hulip packet printer still exist? probably not. So um so what my recommendation is for someone to like look at the inventory list which I can provide to any you know whoever would do this and you can go from department to
department and cross off what doesn't belong on that list because right now I'm looking at when I look at it we we are carrying some really old vehicles some really old equipment that probably has been disposed of or traded in at this point. So, it would be a good idea
just to clean uh clean up the capital assets. Okay, any questions, keep going. [Music] Next is just a uh and this is something
that might take a bit and we completely understand or you can try to get a grant from the state and have like uh the people from UMass uh do it uh for you. is creating a policy and procedure manual and um at some point Elizabeth
might not be here at some point the treasurer collector might not be here people turn over it's good to have a manual to say hey this is how we do things in towns and um it's really good for
continuity uh purposes and for someone to just know how how do we operate how do we do things how often do we do the warrant, who signs our warrant, when what's the process of putting putting it together, how often do we do turnovers in the treasur's office? These are good
things to have hardcoded into a manual. So, uh I know that uh that has not been done yet, and it is, like I said, for someone to do it internally, it would take a long time, but there might be some grant money available from the compact cabinet that may allow you to
tap into some uh consultants out there that do these Um, so this is for within the accounting and treasur's office for the Yeah, for the most part. Yeah, exactly. It it would be mostly financial
controls. Like a little more than that. Yeah. So the Mass Municipal Association also offers this service now. Yeah. It's kind of boilerplate for towns. So if we have them in to talk about this then I mean they seem they've kind of narrowed it down to that's that's separate for
budgeting though. This is this is for how do we name our accounts? How do we those sorts of things? How frequently do we reconcile? I believe those sorts of things. Yeah. Have an entire Yeah. The other things you would have in there is you would also have that's the control
part about it. But you would have a section which I think should be financial related. What percentage of your uh expenses should be free cash? What should be stabilization? Um what is the town's debt policy? Different things like that can be put into the manual too
besides the uh actual processes themselves. It's a neat uh manual to have. The bond agency folks love to see that and uh you know I do recommend it and there's lots of examples around the state. You could go to list serve and say hey can you send me uh you know a
manual if you have it and then you can just kind of customize it for uh for towns and to cut down the process. Thank you. Uh the next comment.
Okay. Stagnant accounts. Okay. Special revenue. Um bunch of bunch of um accounts maybe 40 50 accounts. Small dollars but they do add up. And uh just it looks like
Elizabeth you've started working on those because I saw prior year. Mhm. Okay, good. Good. That's good to see. But it's it's kind of found money. What happens is you get gifts over the years,
you set up revolving accounts, you get some grants, the department head leaves, retires. The new person comes in and doesn't know they have this money. So, it accumulates and then it accumulates to the next person. And before you know it, you got a little you got a little bit of money there that you call up a
the library or the DPW and say, "Hey, did you know you have $4,500 uh to spend on something and uh so it's nice to see that some of that is being resolved. Uh there's also a capital three capital projects that total about 25,000
and you can repurpose those uh if you want uh at a town meeting to purchase something else. I I asked about the smaller accounts and if I remember right this was when we were doing trash because I would have preferred to do that than stabilization and I was told
that we didn't have any that there weren't any small accounts found money the piggy banks at at the end of 24 there's three capital project fund balances that have been three capital projects we took care of we I think those are the three that we repurposed
for facilities but I was looking for smaller ones that you're talking about, the ones that, you know, I thought there were several of them that had a thousand or maybe had 2500 and I was told that there weren't any. We have some in the
O2 account, the special article account that we had sent Nelson. I think I gave him a report today um that has some small in it with recommendations to close out. We closed a bunch of them out last year as well. And when you close them out, what happens to those? They go back to free
cash. Free cash. Okay. And who authorizes the close out? Okay. That is him. I didn't either. Th those were the piggy banks that I was talking about in a joint meeting with the So before we came on this board.
Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Thought it was me. All right. Okay, the next comment deals with the chart of accounts and just, you know, doing some
sort of configuration to get it closer to um right now. It's kind of it's it's like a bastardized chart and it's just difficult to follow and uh it really doesn't follow the state accounting uh regs uh unless you're familiar with it.
So someone new that comes in that tries to read it is going to say what's this? Uh which is what we did the first year. Now now we're used to it. Uh but it may make sense to just configure it. So it's so it's a standard um you know chart for especially for special revenue. So um
not sure if that's been done. Uh a lot of things are comingled. Um so so difficult to follow like I said. Um so um it may it may take a bit to get that done. Chart of account configurations are never simple. And then last on this list is the police
detail account. So the police detail had a deficit balance of 37 but and typically what happens is you you have you do a detail you pay the officer but you don't
collect the detail till a month later. So you because you paid the officer you have a deficit. So if you paid out say $5,000, you should have receivables of $5,000. It should offset. In your situation, you paid out $37,000,
but the police chief could only offer $14,000 in uh receivables. So there's $23,000 that looks like somehow as accumulated into a permanent deficit. So that's something that probably needs to be uh
taken care of. I believe the reason it happened is that there wasn't really a good accounting of this prior to 2022. Uh and the police chief can really only look at what they've administered since
since they've come to play the new uh the new police chief. Um, so, uh, so any of the old balances a loss, they're gone. So, at this point, it may make sense to raise those, uh,
remaining funds that I call a permanent deficit on the tax recap. Um, because I don't think they exist. I don't think anyone's going to find them. And if you did, good luck billing them at this point. Yeah.
So that's what I have. Um were there any uh qu uh other questions or anything? Um maybe the documents we sent I have one sorry but I do um it's on the
uh federal award re um report the the extra audit that we have to do because of grants. um on let's see uh second to last page federal award findings and question
costs or it could be um actually at at the end the 93,955 is that the ARPA funds that were in the affordable housing trust so it's not an even 100,000 it's 93,955 because some of the funds had been
expended is that correct can can you read the the whole finding to me. I I I don't work on the single audit. Someone else in my office does. But if you read that whole finding to me. Okay. If um do you want the finding or the uh
read Yeah. Read the finding that led to the 93,000. Okay. Um this is C. Federal award findings and questions cost. uh 20242 US Department of the Treasury COVID 19 corona virus state and local fiscal
recovery funds ALN 21.027 significant deficiency in internal controls over compliance and other matter criteria. Um the compliance supplement identifies four keyline items required to be reported to the federal
awarding agency which include one current period obligation two cumulative obligation three current period expenditure and four cumulative expenditure per two CFR 200.1 an
obligation is an order placed for property and services contracts and subawwards made and similar transactions that require payment. Condition obligations and expenditures were overstated by 93,955
on the March 31st, 2024 project and expenditure report cause the town did not have a clear understanding of the reporting requirements and included amounts approved but not obligated as obligated and expended.
effect the town is not in compliance with grant reporting requirements. Question costs none repeat finding from prior year. So, is that the H 100,000 that was um obligated to the affordable housing trust and some of those funds
have been expended and were in the accounting because there were accounts set up for it when it was obligated and we um and the affordable housing trust put in a budget each fiscal year and some of those funds were expended. So,
it's actually $93,955 rather than $100,000. Is that correct? Do did you talk to Paul about that, Elizabeth? That that particular finding? I believe it was Rob that worked on it.
It looks like it was a reporting error. Um, when you did your periodic reporting, you put the wrong expenses into the report itself. Um my question would be was it based on
what you just read me my question would be was it was it corrected on the next report? So my understanding when Ron explained it to us is we did not have the proper paperwork
which was called a subreient agreement for the the money that was voted to the housing trust. Okay. So it is the affordable housing. Yeah. Yeah. and it was $100,000 that was initially appropriated and the subreient agreement
cannot be found. So here's the question. Why is the subreient agreement needed for entity that is part of the town? In other words, that is um and so I'm curious as to why that's the case. That's a a
separate question from the one that I was originally asking. I was asking about the amount 93,955 versus the 100,000 that I've been told all along. Let me see if I I'm calling Rob right
now. Let me see if I can get him. Okay, thank you. They had the right form. recipient agreement within 100,000. Rob, Rob, I'm on the Towns and uh Zoom exit conference and a question came up on
something that you and Paul had worked on that I had not worked on. So, we just want a little clarification on it. the um there was a finding uh and question cost in the single audit for $93,000
um because uh there was a subreient um uh paperwork missing. Uh do you do you recall that? Yeah. Okay. So the question is um one of the uh participants in the
call today is asking why they would need a subreient um you know um paperwork if the affordable trust is part of the town. So that's the question. It's because that that basically so it's
an intermunicipal agreement that would be needed to obligate it and cuz otherwise it wasn't obligated because it's a part of the town. So is the intermunicipal agreement with the town itself or is the trust considered separate here? Um it would be with the
trust. Uh so it would be whoever whoever's overseeing the the uh housing trust that would need to be and the trust has a separate board of trustees. Correct? Yeah. Of which one is a select board
member by requirement by definition? Yeah. What Rob is saying is because it's a TR, so if it was like the police department, which is run by the police chief, then you wouldn't need a subreient agreement. But because it's set up as a trust and there's a
document, you know, or filed at the secretary of states and there's a board of trustees, then you need a subreient agreement in this situation. Is that kind of what I'm you're um translating, Rob? Um it's it's more or less to
obligate the funds because uh they could do it with another department within the town too to obligate those funds. Um uh it's just because there were no actual contracts in place. Okay. Okay. That's why because there was no contract. So
it's not an outside vendor. Because there's no contract in order to obligate it with the town. the agreement is would be needed with within the town itself is what we're um uh suggesting there.
Okay. So then the follow on question I have is why is it 93,955 instead of 100,000? We did spend some of the affordable housing trust did spend some of those
money on um staffing and uh training etc. And the amount that was obligated in the initial report that went to the Treasury Department in 2024 was for 100,000. But the corrective action here is for
93,955. So the question is why was it okay to spend some of those funds that were obligated? Um why is that 93955 instead of a 100,000?
Okay. Is it because they're in part of it went into a different fiscal year? Do you recall this, Rob? Um, it's because those a portion of the funds were already spent down. So once get spent down and they were considered obligated.
So a portion of it a portion of it had already been spent down in the prior year or Yes. Fiscal year prior year. uh define
fiscal year 23 or fiscal year 24. I I know a portion of it was spent down in fiscal 24. Uh I'm not sure if there was any that would have been spent down in prior to that but um so it with the
obligation it would be anything for fiscal 24 or prior that was spent down related to the housing cost would be considered obligated. Okay. So the fact that we had turned a
budget into the town uh there was 41,500 in that budget was for um uh projects and things like that for professional services and that was in the accounting. Um the fact that we hadn't spent it
meant that it hadn't been um spent down. I'm I'm really confused as to how this was sort of obligated but not exactly. So for funds that were spent prior to December 31st of 2024. Rob, can you hear me?
Hopefully. I can hear you. So we're actually going as of uh our report is based off of uh the reporting as of March 31st, 2024. So, anything that was
uh spent uh prior to that would be considered obligated under the housing authority. Um the remainder that wasn't spent would would be unobligated. So, it had to have been spent as opposed to budgeted.
In other words, there was count in in accounting that did have the whole thing there. And um uh Mr. Costa, would you like to So under under the act, municipalities must have entered into
contracts, subawwards, or similar transactions that commit the funds prior to December 31st of 202. It had to be written agreement signed by both parties. So budgeting it for for a trust, budgeting it then wasn't sufficient. So it becomes a question.
And I don't know what interpreted documents exist, but at the arbor level level, the language is contracts, subawwards, or similar transactions. So if an expenditure occurred in the case of the few thousand dollars you spent, then those monies are spent. So that's committed because it's been spent. If
you have a contract, then that's committed because it's contracted. If you have a subreient agreement or subawward agreement, then that money is committed because you have that agreement in place. But then there's this other language or similar transaction. So I think your question is
one to which I don't have an answer is is this a similar transaction is submitt of some sort of a budget or some sort of a proposed list of future expenditures of those funds sufficient to constitute a commitment prior to December 31st of
2024. I don't know the answer to that because we did have budgets that committed the entire amount and they were and they were turned in with the budget process both years it
was 45 45,100 I think the budget was for for the um staffing but there was also 41,500 for professional services the entire budget was budgeted for 45,000 100 and the rest was put into an account
for paying interest. Yes. And we budgeted two years in a row. Okay. Exactly. And and it was So it was for fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 24. No, it would have been 24 and 25 that we
um budgeted for. And it was and there were accounts set up in the accounting office with numbers and then the funds were placed in um the the account by the treasurer as specified in the bylaws.
Um, and so I I am totally um mystified by why these weren't actually committed. That's all. Um the subreient agreement
was turned into the prior town administrator probably got torn up because the decision was apparently that we were not we an entity of the town is not a subreient like North Middle Sex Cares is a
subreient. TEO is a subreient and that was consistent with the advice that we had been consistently giving that intra municipal transfers didn't require subreient agreements. I think the the the rub here is that they didn't
until this commitment deadline became a factor of December 31st, 2024 when you didn't have some sort of a commitment of the funds through an expenditure, through a contract, through a subreient agreement, even where one would not typically be needed, the money maybe
wasn't deemed committed. Again, I still say I don't know what that other transaction language how it's been interpreted, but but your statement is correct that that was consistent with the advice that we were giving we were giving to our community that you didn't need subreient agreements if the money
was received by the town, it was being provided to an affordable housing trust or to the water department or those are municipal entities. I I didn't even know how to answer some of the questions um in that agreement because they didn't apply
um because we weren't a 501c3. So I I just want that out there. Um and I also want it noted that the amount is not a h 100,000 but $93,955 that was budgeted but not expended in
those two years. Did Did you have a question, Elizabeth, or a comment? No, I was going to say pretty much what the gentleman in the corner said. um in filing for this and we don't file for um Thompson. There's a um you guys hired
another entity to do that. But in filing for the AR funds, it clearly states in the um SLRF um filing system there that you have to have contracts and we have to have them available to upload at any point in time
um committing the funds. So in a contract is with a a vendor um it was contracts or POS or however you were going to do it needed to be in place and the money to be spent by next I believe it's next December
or soon thereafter I don't have the exact date in front of me but um and that was the reason for it and I believe that when the auditor was in in doing the audit and saw that we didn't have it committed the um suggestion was to get a
sub recipient in place. so that it wouldn't be a finding but one wasn't able to be found or andor created in time for that. I think I think what I think what we're saying is the fact that it's in a budget is not sufficient. There has to be some
sort of document um obligating it. A PO, purchase order, contract, commitment, something uh obligating it other than a budget. That's um so we lost those funds.
No, I don't you haven't lost them yet. Um I think um this this report just goes to the federal government then these are everywhere. These these numbers are everywhere. I don't know how the federal government's
going to even go through the millions of reports that are um that are out there. People look at it anymore anyway. So honestly honestly yeah there's so there are towns that left millions on the table because
they just didn't know how to do it. they weren't educated enough to to figure it out. And uh I I I I'll be shocked if there's a giant clawback. I will I will be shocked. So we we'll see what happens.
Meanwhile, we'll let it float in an account that in 10 years they'll say, "What is this for?" It's a one of those one of those one of those stagnant accounts, right? Yeah. One of those stagnant accounts. Exactly.
So, we still have the funds somewhere, but we Oh, we know exactly where the funds are. Those are not missing funds. So, anybody that states they're missing is incorrect. I'm I'm not I'm not saying that, but I'm
saying so is it still in the trust? Are the funds in the trust? Because that's they were as of a month ago. They are sitting in the account that was established for us two years ago. We now have um the work with MHP that was being
done that we had intended that money to be spent for. However, we didn't have to spend it because they had funds that were used for that purpose. Kind of a grant but not a grant that you get handed. So anyway, neither here nor
there. Um to answer the question, the funds are sitting in the special account that was set up at this time. I've asked them a bunch of times if someone can get some language or proof that they could still be obligated to the trust. I will
happy to leave it there, but I don't recommend spending it if we don't have an answer to that yet because we don't want to have to get it clawed back and we have to Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
Yeah. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? Any other questions? I have a question. So, I just heard the accountant talk and Adam telling us that he was giving us advice. We were getting advice
from a third party. We were getting advice advice from all these different places. And um Elizabeth said that her company offered that service so it would all be in one place. Why were we getting advice from all different places if we could have used our existing
accountant and just work with one place? Because it seems to me that there were too many chefs in the kitchen. It's I'll answer that in a minute. But is Mr. Roselli still on to answer questions? If there are other questions, okay, are there other questions on the audit? And
then I'll come back to that question. Mary Jane, that was my only question on when I went through things. That was a question that I had obviously. Well, thank thank you. Thank you everyone. Uh glad to be here and uh
we'll talk to you again shortly. Elizabeth, we'll see you in our travels and I'm gonna turn the grill on and cook some steaks. That means have a fun have a fun night and a fun meeting. Okay. Did you want to ask the auditor? Is that
what you heard? No. No. Okay. Okay. Happy grilling. Thank you. All right. So, uh, thank you. And um a little history on uh CSS, Capital Strategic Solutions, which is the third
party company doing the the company that does the reporting for the town for um there were two sets of funds um that were uh COVID related. The first one were the Trump funds, the CVRLF funds. Those came in from the federal
government, were given to the state, and then the state dispersed them to towns. Uh towns and got uh don't quote me on it, but somewhere in the $6 to $800,000, and this was in 2020. Um there was
extensive reporting that needed to be done. Um the board of selectman hired CSS towards the end of that funding cycle, summer of 2021 to do the reporting because the town had made only one report and the third
report was due. So we went out, we interviewed three vendors, one of them was Markham, I believe. Um I I can't remember the there were three of them and CSS came back with a proposal that we accepted and we used them to do our
reporting and to expend. So this was in June July time frame that they were hired um of 2021. Those funds had to be ext expended by October of 2021. The town did not expend all of those funds.
uh we wound up sending back about $200,000 roughly, but CSS did the reporting. During that time, the um Biden money came in and or in that general time
period and that was the ARPA funds we got, I believe, 2,800,000. So as a town we have done an excellent job of expending those t funds in a short time period. There were specific
things that those funds could be used for. Over time the federal government changed the requirements. The rules the rules changed fairly frequently. Like every four to six months there were new
rules. Um, and in any event, we continued to work with CSS on that because we already had an established relationship. They were in place doing the reporting for the town for the prior set of funds. The difference between the
CVRLF, the Trump money, and the Biden money was that the Biden money came directly from the federal government to the town. No state involvement. So we didn't make reports to the state. All of the reports were directly to the
federal government. And the the monies came in the first trench came in in August of 2021. I want to say 20 might have been 2022. I'd have to look at my notes. But in any
event, the first trench came in and the reporting on how it was supposed to be spent was to be done in January. And so in so there was a lot of work done in that October, November, December
to figure out how that money was going to be spent. And then it came time to report and they said, "Oh no, you don't have to report." But we had already committed the funds so we stuck with it. The reporting then didn't have to happen
until like the following October. So there there was a lot of moving parts. Um and during that time we had an interim town administrator. So we kept the relationship with CSS. Now during that time we didn't have we
had an interim accountant. It wasn't Katie. All right. we our accountant left. This is why the reports hadn't been done for and we were too behind and the state was calling saying why haven't you
reported on your money because the CVRLF money had to be reported to the state and that's how C you know so CSS came in but we didn't have an accountant so we had to hire an interim accountant which
we did do um and that accountant was in place so there were a lot of moving parts and It made the most sense to and Markham which was then whatever and whatever and which is now CBS didn't
and until the time that we lost our interim accountant that we had in place um that was Terry Walsh. She was our accountant during that time and um and all of these funds whether it was CVRLF
or ARPA you could use those funds for accounting. It it's a major addition to the accounting department to have to do the work for these wonderful funds that are being handed to you but it makes a lot of work. So CSS did the reporting
for us. We added hours to um the uh admin in accounting. Is it admin? Is that the official name? Um to Lee added hours because there was additional work that was needed to be done to record things. It was it is not
a small proposition. So, in any event, um, and we eventually got Katie after trying to hire, um, a regular employee as an accountant unsuccessfully and hiring it was Markham at the time, I
believe, pardon me, Meansen, and then Markham and now Sebiz. So, um, so they didn't come in. CSS was in play first and then Markham came in as our consultant and
then eventually we worked it out to where we would um so that's why we have three. There's nothing funky or you know it's just how it it just sounds evolved. And I'm not accusing anybody of being funky.
I'm just asking the question so I can get a picture of how the money got lost, how the There was no money lost. I will re reiterate that because those words have appeared on Facebook. They are absolutely false and anybody that's
making those statements is totally irresponsible. Can we turn to AC? We don't mind the wish. And hopefully Elizabeth appreciate all that um you were able to contribute
tonight. Really thank you. Um you can stay on certainly just for fun. Okay. So at this time we'll take the opportunity to um entertain a
motion to adjurnn. I make a motion to 7:07 p.m. for the finance committee. Um, I'm sorry. Just a voice. We're all here. Okay. And close audit. Gone. Close audit. Thank you everybody.
Have a good night. Okay. Now we hope to adjourn. I'll take a motion to adjourn the audit committee at 7:07 p.m. So move. Second. Thank you everybody. You got it. All in favor? I I for audit is
adjourned. Is ajourned. Thank you. Thank you all. No, no, I was going to leave. Um, do we do we take a motion to accept the a motion to accept the report?
Uh, if we need a motion, sure, why not? Let's have a motion. Is there a motion to accept the audit report? Um, I make a motion to accept the audit report from Rosalie Clark and Associates. A second for fiscal year 24 for fiscal year 24.
Second. Second. Is there any further discussion? No. I would just like to thank you for all your wisdom and all the history that you've shared. Is there a roll? Veronica. Yes. Good. Yes. and Marissa
from this. Thank you very much. We are going to go now to 1.5 and review the minutes that we have. All right. Right. Um the minutes for 48 2025. Yes, ma'am. Um I
move to approve the meeting minutes for 408 2025. Sorry. No, no, no. I'm not No, no, no. I wasn't here, so that's fine. I was on the board yet. I'm still not here. Jeez. This is the last one, right? I don't know. I don't know. Might be one
more end of April. Seconded. Seconded um for discussion. I just want to say that I did make two clerical errors that I gave to Sabrina. I did note two and I will say that I also made changes but they were all all
not content. No content. I Valerie seconded. All right. And we've had our discussion that our edits were given to you. All right. And any other discussion hearing now? Take a roll call vote. Veronica.
Yes. Now you're shifting and shipment. Yes. April 8th. Okay, next we have I actually need a motion from you regarding the uh appointment of
just and a direct motion would be to have Nelson sign the town administrative signature on the permit. Oh, yeah. That's That's We already moved. Yeah. I I thought we
already voted that before we even started the joint meetings. Oh, because Jessica was right here. You don't need to vote to have me sign that. Um we voted to appoint her. Yeah. And then I I signed And then you just automatically sign because that's the
process. Yeah. Okay. Um let's go on to the second reading of No, I thought 3.6 of point Harrison as records access. Yes, sir. Sorry about that. I forgot
that inclusion. Uh, not on purpose. No, you did include I mean you did I included it. I forgot to say it. Okay, we're at 3.6 now. I Is there a motion? I moved to Pointton Harrison. May it
last Harrison. May. Sorry. I move to appoint Harrison Mayot as records access officer REO effective 624 2025 until 6:30 2026 second any discussion seeing none call
um Veronica Cal I Gish I motif thank you thank you Harrison um since Harrison is here could we move um 4.5 out of order oh yeah good idea Sure. Yes.
Yeah. Um then you can go home. The work isn't done yet. Never. Sure. So, um regarding the election date, um the earliest possible is still on Tuesday, July 29th. That's an option.
um if the language uh for the ballot question is prepared tonight. Um if and with Adam I didn't I didn't have time to talk to him about the the language itself. Okay. So, so it's just been a whirlwind since
he got here. And uh if we had taken it further out of order, he could have been here to review it and okay it but um so if it's let's say if it's reviewed tomorrow, the earliest possible election date would be Wednesday, July 30th. I
don't know if we want to do a Wednesday or if we want it to go to the following Tuesday. Um but it there's flexibility as far as the options go at this point. is preparing. Um I prefer earlier dates
only for us to have the results so that we can have time to Thank you. Am I correct that we specifically amended this to include Yes, we did. It's not on here. So the the ballot question language, you could certainly answer this as well, but the ballot question
language is pretty much prescribed by the DLS. Um the the raising of the funds is the action that the ballot vote is taking. The appropriation was specific in nature and that was the town meeting vote. So the the ballot question is word it has to be this way to be legal this
meeting so that everybody understands but many times there's an explanation to the question can that be inserted for the town vote I would defer to town council on that. My understanding is that it is very restricted by DLS as to
what is allowed to be on the ballot. But I've seen many ballot questions that have explanations. This is what it means if you vote yes. Sure. That is my understanding and I I would defer again to town council or if Nelson has a different answer, but there's a a packet
proposition 2 and a half overview that the DLS puts out that is very particular about this. Well, we certainly want to do what we voted on. Right. And I agree. It includes the um all the
line items and the amounts that go to those departments per functional segment per functional segment. And I I think that should be on there because if all that information doesn't get out to those who didn't watch the town meeting or attend the town meeting,
that's not show up to vote. You know, that's not appropriate. This is for salaries, wages, and benefits specifically for certain departments and that's what was explained and that's what we voted
or the town voted. I will talk to Adam. You know, us wanting to do something doesn't mean it can actually happen. So, no kidding. Uh so you know I will certainly ask Adam if we can insert that language as a as an explanation so to
speak of what this uh ballot question as I've seen on other ballots. That's all I I I mean I know that it's been done before. I've read them. It tells you what it means when you vote and I just want the people to know that what it means for them to vote. Yes or no on
this. I know Adam is taking a Zoom call here right now. If he's available for five minutes, do you just want me to get to clarify that tonight? I think that would be Yeah, I think that's a good idea. And also
um and and I'm going to state it now because I want people to know that if the override passes, that's our budget and we're not going to be renegotiating any hours or reductions
or anything. That takes care of the salaries, wages, and benefits to make us whole and not have to go through that process. And I want that on there. I want that. I want them to be able to read that and
see that this is exactly what it's for. All trans. It's transparent. This is what it's for. And in my mind, it it's going to be um in those budgets for the coming years. It's not going to go to
trash next year. It's not going to do this. It's not going to do that. I'm saying those words because that is my intent. We've gone through a lot since March 10th to come down this far. And the the budget that we have approved last night
has cuts in it. It not only has that 258 for cuts, it has all departments have cut expenses out of their budgets. Yes. Do you have anything else you want to say? No. I just wanted to get all of
that out because that was the intent and you know that's the message that should be out on Facebook and not all the other innuendos. just the facts mail. Um while we wait for Valerie to get a
try to get a hold of um Adam um oh the earlier date the dates if we were able to get the language finalized tonight then you said Tuesday July 29th correct if it's tomorrow it will be Wednesday
July July 30th and so on and so forth. If you're still working tonight, you can take it in. Well, yeah, I can. I mean, I'm physically here. I can I I could be receiving it at the moment as you know, but I just left it and see if you can stop by. Okay. So, we'll I I'll be
downstairs. I'll I'll hop on the Zoom. So, just call me back up if there's if Adam has further comments. Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Harrison. So, do we need a motion to the date for the date or do we want to wait until we see what Adam
says? Well, the date is kind of separate from from what's added to that ballot. Correct. Well, so the the reason the date is relevant to the the ballot question is the state law prescribes
that um I must receive the final ballot language 35 days prior and the 35th day is allowed. So 35 days from today including uh today would be July 29th. So that's really So we'll wait until
Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Well, we should make a decision tonight. Yes. Because otherwise, we wait a week, it just pushes, of course. Well, if we can get the ballot language, I I think we should have the vote on
Tuesday the 29th. Yeah, me too. And if not, how do you guys feel about Wednesday um the 30th or if this if this langu you you reviewed this with Harrison and this is the language that would be allowed not what
I stated. Yeah, exactly. That is what would be um per whatever law. Yeah. DSL, DLS, whatever. I I like Lor's idea of having a note that explains, you know, even if we can't put it in the
question, a note that says the salaries and wages will be applied to the following functional segments of the government. Right. And on our website should be on our website as an explanation as well. Yes. It it it would
be nice if it were on the ballot. Yes. Um, it doesn't have to be part of the question necessarily, but the little explanation under we could print the ballot with the explanation as well. I I think that's the question is is can
we put it on the ballot itself? Yeah. Okay. And if not, we could print I don't think we're allowed to give anything else out. Oh, by law, we can't explain it. I I don't think you're allowed to give additional things with
Oh. because it yeah swaying you know it's information presented you know forget you perhaps the whole story in order you can stand out on the street corner though
with with my explanation I we can't do we can't do that because that's considered campaigning yes that's exactly Right. So, but this but what we're talking
about would be a political activity. If it's an explanation of how the funds are going to be spent, that's not a political activity. That's just an explanation. So, if someone were to ask you what is this for, you can say it is for these particular functional segments because that's not an opinion. That's
just information. But we can have that on our website. We can have the explanation of where that money is going on our website. That's not with what Valerie just said. Yes. That much of an explanation. The answer is yes. And I would just state all we
need to state is the motion that was accepted at town meeting. Was this was this and whatever that wording is is I would say that should be some place so that even if it's not on that ballot, this is what because that's what we budgeted. Mhm. That's was what was stated and and
I'm open to correction if I'm wrong, but that's how I understand it. Yeah. And that was the um the amendment that that we made last night to the question in order to specify it so people felt more comfortable with it, which I completely can appreciate. And the amendment was accepted. Yeah. And that was that was a
very I thought that was a very good amendment. Yeah. Okay. Hopefully everybody watches this so they get the explanation. So, our our vote will be the 29th of July, unless we can't get the wording, in which case it
will be what date? Probably following day. The 30th. Yeah. Even though it's a Wednesday. I mean, we've had Monday votes. We a town vote is always Mondays. We've had Saturdays. So, I'd say just
no weekends in the summer. Yes. too late to um to do the vote on the ballot question. That's too late. Too late. I mean, I'm even inclined to have a a second date,
Thursday. Um August 1st. Just that week. Has to be that week. Oh, no. Actually, no. It's just July 31st. That's a July has 31 days. So So should we say either the 29th or
the 31st? Is that what you're saying? Or the 29th, 30th, or 31st? That's what I'm saying. Yeah, because Okay. Yeah. All three. Yeah, I wouldn't leave them out. Oh, one. Did you say um So depending on when the ballot language can be uh
vetted by town council. All right. So should we make that motion? Sure. [Music] We just want to wait and see if if he comes back. Yeah. And if not, we can address him within a meeting because if we have a concrete date, I would like that to be said in the meeting. Yes.
Good idea. Okay. And you can get an absentee ballot. Yes. Remind me to everybody because I know a lot of people are on vacation. Yes. Please. They cannot or they can. They can. Please go get an absentee out then. So, that should be out there as well that if
you're going to be on vacation the last week in July, please get an absentee ballot for the override. Contact the town clerk. Contact the town clerk. Uh, can I have a second reading now? Um,
sure. 4.1ide policy. I'm getting good at this one. The second right um this is the second reading of the identicide policy policy number 052025 replace policy not applicable policy
1.0 purpose certain odenticide products widely known as second generation anti-coagulant rodenticides or escars are used to control rats and/or mice but have been clearly demonstrated to be harmful to non-target predator species. This causes harm to our larger ecosystem
and the secondary poisoning of natural predators of the target pests can have a counterproductive long-term impact on motor control efforts. Whereas the town of Townsen is committed to reducing unnecessary wildlife poisonings and potential harm to pets and children's. This policy aims to specifically codify
the application and use of escars at properties under the care and control of the town of Townsend. 2.0 applicability. This policy applies to all town-owned property, including buildings, grounds, parks, and open spaces, and to the extent permitted by
law, including MGL chapter 132B, shall be adhered to by all town by all employees of the town of Townsend, as well as third party vendors and contractors providing services at town property. 3.0 Definitions. 3.1 Oenticides.
A subclass of pesticides defined under the Massachusetts Pesticide Control Act, General Law, Chapter 132B, as substances or mixtures of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel, or mitigate rodents that are declared to be passed by the Massachusetts Pesticide Board.
3.2 Second Generation Anti-coagulant Odenticide. Odenticides developed to control rodents that are resistant to first generation anti-coagulant oricides and contain compounds that interfere with blood clotting and cause death from excessive bleeding while also remaining in animal
tissues for an extended period of time. These products currently include but are not limited to those products containing bron that's it bromealdiolone dioporum and
diaphone use of 4.0 use of escars the use of escars on town properties is hereby prohibited as of the effective date of this policy 5.0 Zero waivers. Emergency waiverss for the use of escars on town property may be obtained from the select
board. Emergency waivers shall be restricted in time and location and shall only be granted after a well document request detailing a significant rodent infestation for public health consequence that is already exhausted all viable less toxic integration pest
and rodent management practices. 6.0 public education. The town of Townsen shall periodically provide public information and education for town personnel and the general public about rodenticide hazards to the ecosystem and human health as well as
information and education on integrated pest management alternatives. [Music] I think that's it. Adopted 624 2025 being signed now correct. So we need a motion
motion to approve the policy. I'm a motion motion to further identify policy as read and I will second that. Any further discussion? You got it. All right. We need to vote. Yeah.
Brian. Yes. Yes. [Music] Is he going to call me? I just I left him a note on it that if he has five minutes to stop that. Yes, he's still here. He's here. Um
Okay. 4.3. Uh, review approve health administrator's vacation roll over request. Uh, is there a motion? Um, I would like the um Okay, go ahead and make a motion and then I'll add what
has to be. I move to approve the health administrator's vacation rollover request to roll over 120 hours to FY26. Second for discussion. Second. A second for discussion. Okay. Um I
would just I had a conversation with Nelson about this earlier um as to how this is verified. I mean, we're approving something and so there must be somebody who approves the amount of hours or knows the hours or whatever.
So, and that is the treasurer accountant. Treasurer collector. Yeah. Treasurer collector. Yeah. So, uh we use a software called Harpers which uh you know does our time sheets as well as keep track of all uh acred time. So,
that's vacation, personal and sick. Okay. Um, so it's all, you know, online in the system, so the system tracks it for us. Um, so it's pretty prescribed in terms of what someone's available hours
are. So in this instance, let's just say you making a number, you would prove that you carry over 200 hours. Well, she doesn't have 200 hours to carry over. So, you know, you're not this vote
wouldn't magically give someone extra hours that they don't have. Um, well, my thoughts are we are not the end all here. We don't have the final say and then I ask that we add to this that
subject to treasure flag approval or verification or verification available hours is the treasur I was I was going to ask is this personal services contract or union union so is there language in union
contract on vacation rollover clear and I'll read it for you. So, it's, you know, for the record. Um, should that language be added to the motion? Um, not necessarily. Um, let me just read it here. Um,
vacation time awarded as of July 1st must be used prior to the following July 1st or be lost except for two weeks, which may be carried over to the next year. No other exception shall be allowed except under extraordinary
circumstances and with the approval of the horse. So that's that would be considered 60 or 80 hours. Uh in her case um it's around 75
hours because she's not 40hour employee. So she's at 37.5 then correct. Um so she's request but this is 120. The
last sentence was the extraordinary circumstances I think is the appeal because of the yeah so so two weeks can automatically get carried over. She has more than two weeks before vacation
occurred. So, um, on So, is this 120 over the two weeks? Uh, looks like it's she's just asking for 50 hours, 50 additional hours to be in
oneus 75. It's 45 hours. Um, so it's just one extra week basis, but well more than that. Yeah. Um, oh, Carlo's on.
Carlo, did you want to speak to your hours? Can't hear you. We can't hear you. Can you hear us? Can't hear you still. Can you hear me now? Yeah.
Hello. Yes. Okay. Can you Can you hear us? I can hear you. Do you want to speak to your hours? We're just trying to make sure we insert the proper um authority uh to approve or
be right. So, I have 150 hours of vacation time that I have not taken this year and we can roll over 75 hours, but I have 50 hours that needs
to be taken by the end of this month. And with everything that's been going on with the trash and recycling program and the town meetings, I just haven't been able to take it. So, I was respectfully asking if the selectman would allow me to roll over that 50 hours into the next
fiscal year. Okay. And I think we would certainly do that. Is it the Is it the treasurer collector then that would have the exact number and that's how she would get paid? I I'm
she can even log on to Harper's at the moment and it would tell us exactly how much how many hours she would have. Um but yeah, we can either have Carla check it or we can have the treasurer
collector verify. My my question is only coming from what should the language be in the motion that we make because we are not the one checking it.
That's my only question. So I give it up to you guys. Well, my question is more of a concern of how many people have more than their hours available to them.
Well, people need to understand what their contract states and they need to keep track of their uh vacation hours. I know all the all the contracts are in and individual services contracts have different Right. But but you as an
individual should be looking at your your own contract that pertains to you. No one else is Yeah. sort of looking out for you. So you have to keep track of it yourself. And Carla has done that and I applaud her for that. Most people are
well aware of how many vacation hours they have to to expend by the end of the fiscal year. Um, and if they have overlooked it, you know, I'm not sure who's the one to sort of police that or, you know, assist in in
that um in that activity. So, um, I don't think, uh, situations like this really come up too much. most people do end up trying to take as much vacation as they can. Um, but that's not to say there hasn't been situations where
people have probably lost out on time. You know, it happens. Um, but um, you have to look at your individual contract to see if there's there's a way of rolling over more. my contract had it and you know remember I
I asked you for you know yeah additional hours to be rolled over because I was cognizant of my contract and how many hours I had acrewed. So it's really up to the individual to keep track of those things. [Music]
What's your pleasure? My the ask is for 120 hours. I I'm good with rolling over three weeks, which would be 112.5. No, it's it's the 50. It's the 50 hours. So, it's it's the above. She gets it
anyway. She gets two weeks anyway. Anyway, rolled over. Yes. Okay. So, 75 rolled over. So, 37.5. It's 50 hours. 50 hours is what's above the two weeks. So, we're rolling over more than an
additional week, which is what just correct. I I think you guys should approve it. Um Carla has, you know, this trash the new trash program really kind of um added a
wrinkle to her, you know, plans for June. So, there's simply not enough days. It's added a wrinkle to a lot of us. I know but but certainly Carla because she is you know sort of the main point of contact to administer this new program you know getting the sticker
program up and running talking you know figuring out all those details so um I think uh the select board should approve the 50 hours that she's requesting to roll over contingent upon review by the
treasur factor. Yes. Yeah. She's the one that hands out the money and that's the only thing that I'm asking for because we're not writing the check. Any other discussion? Hearing none.
Motion to approve the 50 hours over subject to the treasure review. Is there a motion? That's Yeah, there is a motion. There was a motion on the floor. Oh, and I amended the um to add
that sentence about the treasure. All right. But so do we I guess would we say we're saying are we saying the vacation will over 120 hours or are we are we saying the do we need to say the 120 or are we saying the 50 because you're
getting the the two weeks. You get two weeks anyway. The 75 has already been requested to be rolled over. So there's 50 right now. Um, so I would keep Okay. So the additional 50. So I would think I would
just say the additional 50 instead of 120 because it seems like we're adding 120 if there's already 75. Yeah. So the motion I would ask that amend the motion to read. I move to approve the health administrator's vacation rollover
request roll over 50 additional hours to FY26 pending treasur collector approval. Second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. I motion.
Thank you, Carla. Thank you very much. Thank you for all your hard work. It's a process. Thank you. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Yeah. Okay. So, that was uh
4.3 um discuss results of annual and special town meeting. Like to thank everybody that we ended up with a budget, be it a cut budget,
but we did and also uh a vote to go for an override for the salaries, uh wages and benefits. Um, and again, I will state that if the override passes, there will not need to
be any negotiating, cutting hours, or anything like that. You will get what we would have expected you to get this year. And that for for the most part is whatever your contracts allow
and the uh what the unions allow uh for this coming fiscal year. Any other comments regarding the annual and the special?
I think everything's considered. We appreciated the dialogue. I know that it took an hour and 15 minutes to finally get to discuss the budget, but um it was certainly interesting uh to see
and for many of you, you might want to check out the YouTube of the meeting and hopefully you will come out and support the town employees with the override. You want to know other comments from anyone? Did you have any comments?
regarding the meetings. Okay. 4.5 discuss potential town election dates. Well, we already did that. Well, we do we want to go on to 4.6 and see about him. He's on a 78 Zoom. He said here because he couldn't drive to it. So,
okay. Very good. Uh we appreciate his attendance here. Uh collaborative regionalization opportunities between Townsen, Ashby, and Purple. This is me Jude or Go ahead. Go ahead.
Do you want me to start or start? Yeah. Because I don't know what you're gonna say. I know what I would say. I'm putting this out there because and this is up for discussion. It's not something I'm like proposing. I want to discuss with you guys. I know Nelson
discusses with the town administrators when opportunities come up for potentially sharing things like with PEL and Ashby. Um because of this how connected we are in the budget because of our relationship to the school. I'm wondering if it is
prudent to make a formal letter from the select board to the select boards of those towns because it's one thing for the town administrators to be talking amongst themselves but just so those select boards have that willingness from us in this budgetary process going forward for
when those opportunities come up that we would like to discuss them. This is just my thoughts because we all have really tight budgets and you know in examples of you know we've seen them come up this year and the discussions have been had
you know can we do this together could we do this I think those discussions would be really nice to have as they come up though I I I'm not married to towns national it could be surrounding communities it could be regional
you know like we do in board health it could be those types of things but I'm just wondering if it's worth us reaching out to our immediate neighboring select boards who we share school with at formally. That's what I'm wondering. I think it's a good idea
um to to do it from the select boards to select boards. I think it might strengthen that um uh possibility of doing something. I know there's a fire chief position in chief. Yeah, I think
is that correct? Am I wrong there? Not police chief. It's there's a fire tree position in pepper. Okay. Y um I don't know about anything in Asheville. No, I'm sorry. I I but I think it would be a good idea to
and then to approach that way as well just so that you know Nelson has our and also those select boards have our intentions. It's just a thought. Yeah, we it's not a new thought.
Um, I had never been in the select board position before like Veronica has, but I've seen enough select board meetings. I used to attend them all uh in one form
or another. Um, and I also know that I don't know if it was done while you were on, if any reach out was done, but I think that um when I was tried a few years ago and
they went to regional regionalization of the dispatch. Mhm. Um it was not taken well. The response time was not good. And um for that I think
our fire anyway went back to their own number. You can call their own number now. Um you can I no well we have Patriot now. So we switched from the one that we were on at Devon's. We and and there's a process for that that took a couple years to change from the the
first to where we're patriot now. And that was a new system that was um determined couple years ago. Yeah. And is that based out of the department? It's out of pole now. Yes. And it's on the side in front of police department.
Um Yes. So, and I think that's much better. I didn't know that you called the the police the fire station directly. I thought it went through Patriot. I'm pretty sure it does. They have a number. They have a number.
Well, a local number. Yeah. Yeah. But it's not dispatch necessarily. No, it's not. Yeah. Yeah. But um and I'm not saying there's not going to be like that this is going to be easy or but I'm just saying because of our budget situation
and and Patriots started out just being towns in Nashville Pepum. Yeah. you know that not all the towns that are in the part of the I can't remember what it's called Devon but it was at Devon's um and I think there are more towns now that are part of Patriot than what was
originally planned but I think the idea of starting with the three towns is a good one open to it I mean I I think it's a good idea too and depending on what our needs are and if they
if we can complement each other and help. So, do you want to draft the letter? Probably bring it for next week. And if you have the time Yeah. Okay. Next Tuesday. Yeah. Then I'll run it by Nelson. Okay. Should I run it by town
counselor? Oh, no. It's informal. It's informal. Um and it's nothing binding by any means. Um but you have to look for other avenues. Yeah. I just don't I know that I I'm
you know when we had to make those salary wage I I said to myself that I I really think we should take every opportunity to see where we can because I don't think it's going to be better easier next year. So if there's anything we can do to you know it's not going to be easier next
year. Yeah. To help each other out for next year. Exactly. So So no, I think that's a good idea. So yeah, draft the letter and I I think we should talk about well this is for future talk about goals and I think that this
regionalization where we can having those discussions could be one goal. I I think that we need to look at um policies and financials which we've already talked about some economic is another um
well we do need that but are we there yet? I mean there's that smaller that you go to those meetings. Do you go to the meetings? Oh I'm not going to meetings anymore. You aren't going to the small town. The small town collaborative. So the first one got
cancelled. The last one was we were all meeting. Oh, we were at first. No, we were at training. Oh, okay. I haven't been to the first one. So, um I I think that's certainly a goal to participate, but I don't know if there's anything I if we're going to do economic
development, I'd like to revisit the We This isn't on the We can put this on agenda, but revisit the RFP that we had for the library and the old fire station. I think this I think we need to have a goal session. I mean I would like
to revisit that. I think that's um it's related to this but we need to have a goals working session to set those. Do we have a time frame to set goals? Do you think end of July? End of July. I think it should be on one of our agendas. Yeah. So and is that feeding
into the budget process? Right. So okay. So that's that's seven. Is that all that was for 4.6? That's all it is. I don't think we need a motion until we have the letter. Yeah.
Right. Thank you for bringing that up. Okay. Updates and reports. Um, I only have one. Um, and it actually came in um
last night while we were at um our annual town meeting. Our um property liability insurance company, Brayley Wellington, um
informed us that our um increase for next year is only 5.9%. versus the 10% that actually they were suggesting a few months ago. They were actually suggesting 10 to 15%. So 5.9 is
a is a a welcome increase. Um what does that translate to? I don't know if I could pull up the budget. Um they're thinking well this is let me just take a look at what I have there.
So they didn't give you a number. They just gave you a percentage. Oh, no. They they gave me a number. So, I think it's about just under $18,000 in s in savings if you want to call it that. But but here I want to preface by saying that um
that is during the the upcoming fiscal year sometimes there are changes that actually does result in increases if you recall um was it at the
January meeting um we had to free up um free cash for um the workman's column right so that was the audit each compliant. So, you know, they these uh insurance companies routinely do audits
or review our claims and if they are sort of above and beyond what their baseline was a few months ago when they gave us the quote, they will now um send us a bill for an additional amount. So, I'm wondering if we updated that
property li the property list that was um discussed in the audit that it's the capital, you know, that I wonder if we um as a town got that list updated. I'm looking for where this is cuz I know
exactly what the list is because of audits from prior years. This isn't the one I rock marked up, so I might not be able to find it so quickly, but at um the current inventory listings, do those get sent to the liability insurance, the
property? Um they do have a list of our assets. I don't know the list that Roselli remove some of that stuff. It should be removed. I don't know if the list that Rosselli has is reconciled with that we send to the property liability company. That would be good to
know. Um, we can do a deep dive into it and if there are pieces of equipment or vehicles that we no longer own, we can remove from the list. And that may very well result in some savings. I don't
think it's going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars. No, but it could be in the it could be in the $1,000 would be nice at this price, right? So that is 5,000. Yeah. So, that's an exercise that, you know, we can do. We'll pull the list from the
uh liability company, sift through it, send it out to all the departments for them to just clean it up. Yeah. And then send that new list back. Um, but I mean, have we kind of done that recently or are we Yeah, there
has to be sent out to the insurance company, right? Yeah. But where is that list and who who vets it to make sure that it is current? We send it to the various department. We
send it to the various departments too. Like can you tell us if there's been any additions or deletions and that's something that could be looked at with the one in the audit. Yeah. Um because that audit list, if I remember right, it had like all sorts of stuff in it, you
know, any little thing that's in any little department. Um anyway, so um so yeah, you know, the the increase was certainly um less than what we were predicting, honestly, what they were even predicting, which is great. Um
so, you know, we'll just have to see if um they send us, you know, um a surprise bill during the fiscal year, uh when they do their audits. like
November, December, January. Okay. Okay. So, yeah, we'll um we'll keep that in mind and um we'll have a little bit of question. because uh we are
we're above it this year. You you guys did a municipal reserve fund transfer for that for that. So yeah, so we'll keep the you know the cushion there in case something happens.
And uh I think that was the only update I had for the board tonight. What about um the accountant? Um I shared with you the um their quote, correct? It was 12 grand.
There were we were I thought we you were going to go back and get a more definite one. Uh the one that we talked about last week services. Oh yes. I So I did speak to them. Um, they didn't change the numbers, but we kind of just spoke
about what level of service they can provide and for how long. Did we Is there an itemized list of what they do? There was a matrix that Eric had that this is what the accountant does and this is what the consultant does. And
now the consultant has to do everything on that list, right? Uh, they did provide a scope of services. I will send that off to you guys to review. I don't have what can we put that on the agenda for next week because we need to have
this settled. Pardon me. She's gone on the 9th. Yes, we meet on the 1st and I think we need to have it settled before right on the first. Yeah. And um as you know, you certainly don't need to
um uh agree on a long-term solution. the the short-term solution is um having CBiz for July, August, and September to um this is kind of the busy season for them
to actually um close out the year FY25 and then um prep the tax recap to be submitted to do in the November December time frame. Um so once October hits things are going to
sort of um uh the the activities are going to sort of taper off a little bit. Um, and then you know between now and then we we can decide do we want to just keep C biz on for the whole year which I
believe will equal to 90,000 for FY26 um including the the close out of the fiscal year 25 and setup of FY26. Yes. So that 90,000 number includes the entire fiscal year.
Correct. Um, but what while that is pretty much kind of what we had budgeted, if you look at CBIZ and the assistant talent accountant, you add those two up, it's right around the $90,000 area. But the now what you're
losing is you don't have a a person in house, you know, four days a week, you know, to um if there's questions or concerns, the guidance off of them, you know, you have a essentially a person that's virtual. So, I think the level of
service um isn't quite there. Still call them. No, I understand that. But I'm just saying, you know, the availability just isn't the same as just popping downstairs, you know, to to talk to the assistant county. So, I'd like to see the scope of services and the numbers
associated. Okay. I'll send that to for review and we could put it on a discussion for next week. Um, and and I mentioned before, you know, we should consider what we want to do uh long term. Do we we want to sort
of keep Cbiz as the official town accountant and have a assistant town accountant that's you know in person um or do we kind of go try to find a full-blown town accountant to and is
this related to potential combination of efforts? Yeah. Uh maybe so and I would like to see internal policies documented as stated in the um and I I really would like to see that
before I have we have an accountant. we five-year period I can go through what has happened in accounting and uh again we thought two years ago that there was a permanent solution a an in-house solution
with a and there isn't and so I am I am not inclined to um to try to come up with an in-house solution I am more inclined to go with an consultant because we've had to have
a consultant anyway is what it comes down to. And um yeah, I I think part of our initial goals Sabrina has a question too, but go ahead. Madam chair, would it be possible to have uh daily communications and
questions and answers for the department incorporated in school services as a service if it's not already services? [Music] I'm looking right now to see if if they
propose such a level of service, but also before we go permanent, we need to have the policies in place and whether we get MMA in here or we get
their manual that they have and we look at it and see if that applies. to us like I I'll go back but I think it might have been DLS that provides that service now check on that maybe next Tuesday because
I really think we have to get on that and it's not not asking to reinvent a wheel and neither was Tony you know find the wheel and assert how it fits in your town yeah I think Say that again.
Their proposal is like monthly. It's a monthly fee. Um, seeing as after 8:00, I I want to mention this. There's several clocks in town hall. None of them have the right
time. Okay. None of them. That one is accurate. It's 803. Matches my computer. Oh, it does. Yeah. 803. Mine's 804. My watch is 804. And so it's always been the minute off. But anyway,
uh for seeing what what I saw in town hall, if you go down to the meeting room two, it's a different time. Is there some way that can be fixed with facilities? I can talk to facilities to um
sync everything up because I'm I'm sure that um maybe Adam's still looking at the same call. Well, he's on a Zoom call. So, yeah, it's going to close up. It was right.
Okay. Um, anyway, I just have the minutes that I asked. Yeah. Okay. And yeah, I didn't have anything. Um, oh,
yeah, here it is. Accounting services worksheet. Um, this is from way back when. Um, is that what they provided or what we wanted? I think this is probably what I don't know the answer to that question
exactly but what the town would do versus what the accounting firm would do. Um, it's called accounting consulting services worksheet and it should be in Eric's stuff. Maybe Ross's
from the first round with Roth Ross. And then I have a Meansen contract here as well. So, this was pretty old. This was probably when Terry was leaving. So, it was um
in any event Oh, actually I do see it in Wallace's is that this worksheet right here? That is it. Yep. Yep. Okay. And then um Eric took it and it it went year by year by year. Um I don't have
the Katie stuff because Katie came in right around the time that I was leaving was April of 23. Um, and so he kind of split it out so that for each year Katie would pick up more, the consultant would drop. Um, that and there was a worksheet
for that and that would be an Eric stuff. Okay. And then there was a contract. Okay. I think the the decreasing CB biz and increasing the assistant town accountant um scenario certainly wouldn't apply at the moment.
No, it doesn't apply but I'm thinking of um as far as well anyway I guess it doesn't matter. You're right. We just need all those services that are delineated in that XLS. It doesn't matter fiscal year. You're right. Okay. I'll uh I'll yeah I'll take a look at
it. see if there's anything um in their proposal that doesn't jive with our worksheet, our checklist. Making sure that all of those things are incorporated in their scope and services, right? I think is [Music]
so all right. Okay. Um do you have any report? Um, I'll just say from the library that summer reading is starting up everybody go out register for summer reading. Lots
of prizes available and there's events throughout the summer. Concerts which I attended, acrobats, look on their website. There is so much to do this summer over there if you're sitting around. It's also cool in that building.
So go over, bring your stuff, find an event for kids and adults. So have fun. I was going to announce because they uh stated it Friday night. I did go to the concert 60s and 70s, 50s and 60s. Anyway, I was
right at home and uh I enjoyed it thoroughly. Um nice crowd. I I actually put up a few reels with some of them singing and showing all the people that were there on their lawn chairs. Was really nice. Uh they did state that they will be a
cooling station for hope this whole week uh during their business hours I guess. Um if you don't have air conditioning you can go to the library senior center and uh my understanding is that TEO is supplying water and snacks for this week
during the time. So um that's it. Uh Jonathan, um I'll have some stuff next week because we meet on Thursday for the housing trust and the CR committee. Um there is an
encroachment thing, but we'll talk about that on Tuesday. So, um I'll do it under the ASN reports. Um and then we can decide what we want to do. There's a shed on the property, the Swan Cook
Meadows property that needs to relocate. So anyway, so there's that. Um, a couple other things and I think this might be for our next meeting more than anything. So really, I haven't done
anything beyond that, the town meeting, leaison stuff, but nothing beyond that. But I I do want to talk about a couple other things for our next meeting. Do you want me to do that now?
Yeah. Um, I think we should review the media policy and consider hiring a public relations firm for a front-facing discussion or, you know, should the town get called for a statement by a radio
station or a a you know, TV station or a newspaper. I mean uh we can always know commented but there is a media policy and I think we should discuss that media policy. I know the police station uses
John Deil foil as their public relations person. I mean I'm not exactly sure who the fire station uses but they do have one designated. Um, and do they both do each of those do their um page on
Facebook because they both have postings? I'm not sure about that. I can't answer that. I believe that official um statements they're official, but they are and I do think that it's front-facing that the public relations firm at the police station east does do
that. I'm not sure about the fire station. Okay, I'll find out. Yeah. Um, but I think we should uh have a discussion of the media policy and a public relations firm going forward. I think it's a good idea
for for us for the board of select board. Um, okay. Can we put that on this week's agenda as well for further discussion? I also and I don't know if this is the place for it, but um appointing Jessica means that we have an
opening. Um, and I'd like to discuss um requirements of that position. Um, it's a it's a union position. So, I don't know the best um the best
format for that. Um, so it may be a an executive session. I don't know. But I have some ideas. it should it Yeah, she's resigned now. Yeah. Um it's a union position. It um my understanding
is that the town clerk appoints it. However, as far as the duties goes, I think that goes to us. It was part of the Collins Center or you know that um uh you know the report for um
positions, the job descriptions. So, I would like a review of the job description. I don't know the best way to do that. Uh, HR would have a the most up-to-date one and then it would be for the board to
look at what's currently um in it and if there's any changes to be made, you I think we need to contract. You just select or sign it. Sign. Yeah, that's the union contract. the contract for that. Do we discuss
that we in an executive session right now? There's there is no contract for that position. They it's a it's a it's a town position that is governed by the supervisor's union. That position is in the
supervisor's union. And my reason for doing this is just because of the volume of public records requests Yeah. that are being received right now. Um, I I just think that having the town clerk I I just think we need to talk about this
before we have a town clerk who can't even do dog licenses because there is no time time. Um, and so I that's all I'm saying. I think we need a discussion to that. I think that if we want to bring
the town clerk in to discuss it with us, I'm okay with that. Yeah, me too. Um I I just think we need a discussion around that position for next week regarding that position and Nelson find out whatever you can for us. If you want
Calie to come in Yeah, that would be good too. Yeah. Um and and have a a discussion of that position. So my four things were accountant, public relations, the media policy, the uh uh assistant town clerk, this discussion of
the position and the goals for the town. Those are the four things that I of are of immediate priority to me. If we're talking about priorities, I would add one more that I've been got getting a lot of feedback on is um for
us to review our public comment policy. And I know that's difficult. Have you talked to town council about that? Yes. I I I just I think a lot of people need some clarification. because but I and that is the that is
that that recommendation came in right around the time that because we always had public comment right around the time that my term ended in 2023. It was uh I know Yeah. And so and so other towns have put newer policies in place after
that recommendation. So I just I think it Yeah, I'm good with that. I think I would like to discuss I thought we were advised against it. That's why town but but not not to never do it but our policy is is no longer
applicable because of the ruling. Our current policy and also we're going to review policies. Yeah. So there's a there's a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling. It was discussed during our training. Yeah. about the public comment policy and how there was a town, there
was a contentious meeting and the state said you your your public comment policy cannot say anything about the quorum. It can't say anything about um how was that? It's the state supreme court said
you have to look at the the case. So but it was settled in the state 2023. I think there's a way we could have a policy. I could bring other examples from other towns since then. Get some policies that our legal counsel has helped develop just because right
now we don't have any. I mean our policy is kind of void. So I think we should have some policy even if we all agreed nothing but it should be something and we had all agreed that this is going beyond that to review the policies and get those up to date. This I think that
one would like to be a good idea. I'm good with that. just so yeah if the policy is not valid anymore public comment policy um
I think we have enough push to next week something comes I think a lot of stuff we were all bit so busy with that meeting that we're just like I'm not right yet. Uh 523 announcements, communications,
voluntary response forms. I would just add if anybody's listening that we still have positions available for many of the boards. That's all. They're all listed on the website. And if you would be so kind as to fill out
one of those volunteer forms and let us know what you're uh mostly excited and interested about. Hopefully, you can come and help us out. Um our next meeting is July 1st at 6:00
p.m. and we've discussed a lot of the items that will be on that agenda. And is there a motion to I know we have to go back. Okay. I know we have to go back. I just want to get everything else out of the way. I will
adjourn. Um 5.5 review signed payroll and bills payable warrants out of session. Is there a motion? I make a motion to review and sign payroll and bills payable warrants out of session. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none.
Vote. Uh, Veronica Co. Yes. Yes. Sher. Yes. We take a one minute break, please. Or two minute break. Sure. And we'll come back. Okay. All right. We're back on. Okay.
Thank you for the tit break. Um, town council is still not available, so I think we can still make a motion um, you know, to uh have a special
um town election, you know. um you know contingent for the override. Yeah. Contingent on you know town council's approval of the the ballot question. Um
and uh you know those are the three dates that we had. Um so why don't we make that motion for the earliest possible based on based on town council's approval. Yeah. Um, do we
need to include the question itself? Remember, we kind of ran into that issue. I can I pass the exact wording just to make sure I have it. Uh, it's in here. I
don't think it was in my packet. Actually, that's the problem. The election date is for the override. Yes. That was voted last night. I gave you a copy of this. Yeah. Right. I don't know. I don't have it in mind.
I I I hand Oh, did you take her or you just gave her? No, I gave her I think I think I gave mine to Harrison. Oh, okay. Got it. So um I move to set the special town meeting
election for July 29th, 30th or 31st contingent upon approval of wording by town council. Correct. as stated. Question one, shall the town of Townsen be allowed to assess an additional 258,827
in real estate and personal property taxes for the purpose of funding wages, salaries, and benefit for the town's operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 5th, 2025. Second. Any discussion?
No. No. Roll call. Veronica. Yes. Good. Yes, motion. Yes. So, I will um I will confer with Adam as soon as possible to to for him to review
the language as well as can we insert um you know some additional language that breaks down the the 258. Correct. 827 um as we stated last night. Correct. Yeah. as it was
amended last night, right? To include. Yeah. So that warrant, you know, amend being amended that way. I can see why people wanted it done that way. Um, you know, to my point
earlier, I just don't know if it's um possible to insert. Well, if he approves that, it should be as amended. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Y but just to clarify either way we've already because it has to be approved twice we have already approved
as stated in the special meeting with those departments those function those functional segments correct correct yes okay great um I will now entertain a motion to adjourn and we will sign review and sign
warrants out of session I make a motion to adjourn 827 Second. Anybody object? Hearing none, we are adjourned.