I welcome all of you to the U meeting of the capital improvements planning committee uh October the 29th Wednesday and I'd ask you to join me in the pledge of allegiance 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. A couple of housekeeping chores. Uh I do call attention to the bylaw that
>> Thank you. >> determines the capital improvement planning committee's uh makeup and various departments that need to be represented. And we're pretty much in that uh situation.
But we do not have a representative from for construction activities. That's been always a hard one to fill, but looks like all the others we do have. Um, there's also one that's supposedly a person who represents the business community. You you represent the banking
community, right? >> Yeah. >> The finance. Yeah. So, that position we don't have, >> but we always have a quorum and we always have enough people. And then it talks about the capital items should be those that have a useful
life of at least five years and cost over $10,000. And uh we need to re when we finish our work as you all know in February or thereabouts we make a report to the select board and to the finance
committee. So, in any event, I also call your attention to the five-year capital plan, uh, which is sort of a background for what we do. It really doesn't contain anything new, but it sort of outlines
the way to go about looking at our enormous capital needs and where some of the sources of funds might be coming from. So, again, that's really more as backdrop, but it is good to look at that because it has some useful information. So I thought I
should just mention these things today. And today we have a robust list of items. If my counting is correctly, there are 17 17. And uh
you know, I know nobody has a problem working till 9:00 tonight, but if we get to the point where we're tired, we will we could always postpone some of these items to the next uh meeting. And we'll talk about the next meeting later on.
So the batting order is the Westport Community Schools followed by information technology, the highway department, beach committee. I don't know if anybody's here for that. Chair, you represent that. and represent the beach >> and the town administrator request. So, why don't we get right to it? And the
first uh group of requests, there are four, I think, from the schools, but I would ask you to introduce yourselves for the for the general public. We know who you are. >> Uh Michelle Rapos, the business manager, >> Fran Rory, superintendent. >> Good to see you. Welcome aboard. So, I
would say you can go right ahead with as you put them in your order, whatever work. So these are in order the way you see them as priority for us. Um first one being air conditioning and electric upgrades at the elementary school with the help of CIPC. Last year we were able to get a new generator at the MAC and
the West which was very helpful seeing one of them had just died. Um so this was this would just be a continuation of the electric upgrades and air conditioning which also would ensure that we would be able to have school full year. not necessarily kids go to
school full year, but that way we could have a lot of our summer programs in that building with air conditioning. As you can tell, September and October have been pretty warm months, so it would have probably been very useful to have AC in those buildings as well. Um, Matt Cumber is fully AC at this point, which
has been very helpful with the help of grants from the town energy consultant and also from um, Senator Rogers down that we were able to get some additional funding there. Let's make sure we're looking at the right pieces of paper. I don't know if they're in the same order, Jim. I'm not
the same. >> I don't think Yeah, >> I don't think we got that one. You didn't give them this one. >> I've got four, which is the playground, the dump truck, cameras. >> What do you got? >> And then I have bathrooms. >> And bathrooms. >> Yeah, >> right.
>> The AC one isn't in here. >> I um >> send that one separate. Were there two separate? This would have been the one that I would have sent you that based on your how you like to have it. >> So, I believe Jim that I have this in
the uh have an email when it was sent to you. >> You want copies? >> Yeah. So, we could probably move that along pretty quickly here. >> You can do the whole package because there's one Let me only have the piece right here.
Yes. >> Did you find it, Jim? >> I'm looking. I'm >> sure I have it. I haven't. >> Well, I I I reviewed four of them. Made no, so I >> Right. There's a total of five. One being 500,000 for the air conditioning and um electrical upgrades at the
elementary school. >> Mhm. >> Jim, I can send this to everyone via email right now. >> Yeah, I'm sure I have it. I just don't have it printed out. >> Yes, >> if we're just missing out one, I have playground 150. I have >> safety cameras 225. I have dump truck at
70. >> I have the adult bathrooms at 150. >> Correct. >> That's four. >> I'm just missing that one. >> And what are we missing? >> The AC and electric upgrades for 500 for the elementary school. >> If we take one and pass it down, we'll
all have it. >> But you have all the other ones. >> We do have the list. Oh, >> I was going to say it's on the >> So maybe that >> we can resend this. I can resend this to >> Yeah, I have it. >> Just this that we need. >> Okay.
Okay. Um I think we've all got what we need. So why don't we just sort of rewind and just start again with the one, two, three, four. I know you've already started. >> So these are in order. 500,000 for the AC and electric upgrades at the elementary school. That's the top
priority. We put them in order 1 to5. >> Okay. >> Um we know there's an assessment being conducted with Eversource and Kathy Stanley and PTQ. Um we didn't we did ask for an update today, but there's was not an update yet. I don't know if
>> Kathy is out. She's she's out for a week. >> Oh, okay. So, we didn't have an update on that, but we know that there's they're trying to do an assessment about efficiency and the building and energy and whatnot. We don't know how it will play a part in this, if there will be
grants available or not. Um, so we're still waiting for information on that. >> Okay. And I I will just say the hope and intention when the school committee voted on this particular uh uh request was that there would be uh additional
support from uh from Senator Rodri uh and also uh you know grants available as as we did with the uh with the Macumber school last year. >> Oh, noted. Thank you. >> Okay. I think we know what we're talking
about here. Oh, we should. Uh so what is the pleasure of the committee? questions, comments, thoughts. >> Is that the whole school? >> Yes. >> Okay. I mean, it looks pretty clear to me. And uh
this is for these are all fiscal year 27. Can't believe that's coming down to us pretty soon. Um, okay. If there are no other comments, then we'll put these in the hopper as we do today. I don't know if Fran, you are aware that we don't really vote on
anything today. We >> look at all the requests, discuss them, gain information, >> answer questions, then later on we we put a ranking order um >> and make our recommendations. So, here today is really gathering of information
and discussion. >> So, excuse me. >> Yes. The only the only question I have and it's not uh it's not even really a question. Everything is focused this year on the elementary school. Is that with the exception of
>> the playground is the Macumber school. The safety cameras are districtwide. That is all the schools. Y >> and the dump truck is maintenance. >> Okay. Fair enough. But I mean the the big ticket >> Yeah. We change items of basically the
electrical um AC and the restrooms at the elementary school. >> Fair enough. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Okay. So, that item is discussed. The next one being the Mccumber. >> Yes. So, the next one is last year, as
you know, we had put the um Macumber school playground on CIPC. We had problems with our generator. We pulled it off in the last minute and asked if we could swap those two out. Um, the MAC playground is in very rough shape, but I am um I've already put in a request to
CPC to help with the playground at the Mac School, which they are supporting as long as I receive all the rest of the documents I need by November 7th to process that grant with them. Um, the only thing we have to do is they ask that you have to have another source of
revenue for the playground. So, we are requesting the playground removal, demo, and prep from CIPC funds to be able to offset. They will not they they're telling me like you have to have a different source of revenue coming in to support that. Um, we were going to do
the fencing, so this amount of money here for 150. Um, we're thinking now that we're going to hold off on the fencing because we want to wait till we have the location, how it the playground's being used by the community, how it's used by us before we even add that on. So, at this point,
that number would be really 125 um and removing the fencing. But we would be requesting that money from money from capital improvements for the removal demo and the prep of the site, working with also the highway department. And if we can get that even down further, we
would do that as well. We're looking at relocating the playground. So, currently where the playground is at the MCumber School, it it is adjacent to Osborne Street. It's right on the corner. We want to bring that playground up closer to the school. We have a pavement area that the PTO had paid for for us to put
in for like a play area. And we also have a couple of um beds up there, one from the waterhed, and we have our farm to school um beds up there as well. So, we want to be able to make like that whole area closer to the school. It's safer. Right now, the kids are right on Osborne. All that divides them from the
road is a street is the fence. And we've been talking for a long time. But the playground has many items on there. If you visit it, you'll see I can actually share the grant on the application with you just so that you can see what the current playground looks like. Um, I'll send that over tomorrow to Jim just so
you can get an idea of the It's very rusted. It's very old. Um, most of the playground there is probably 25 to 30 years old at this point, rusted and really uh done its time there. >> So, the total project though is like 450
or 4. >> Correct. Yeah, closer to the 450. >> All right. And CPC is interested in providing 300,000 for equipment. That's okay. >> All right. >> That would be the playground, the um the groundwork that they do for it, like a foam base type of thing. And then also
sealing around some type of I don't know what they call it. They have some kind of they call what they put the trim around for the playground area. >> Okay. Committee questions, comments, etc. Again, I think we all know what
this is about. We're all familiar with playgrounds one kind or another >> if we remember it. Well, anyway, this is uh thoughtful and appreciative and I think that answers all the questions I assume. So, unless
you have further comments, >> I mean, just the other important part of this is that this new playground will be ADA compliant. We have um quite a few kids that are medically fragile in in the system and this would give them more access to the playground than they
currently have. >> Good point. Thank you for that. >> Okay. Okay, we're all set on that item. Thank you. >> So, the third one is uh dump truck, I think. >> Dump truck cameras. >> It's cameras. It's safety cameras is our
third item that we're requesting. >> It's in here somewhere, right, Jim? >> Yeah. >> I I remember reading it >> back of the first page. >> It's on the back side of >> page two >> of the playground. >> Ah, hidden. I knew I saw it because I
was reading about it before. Okay. >> So, the sa the safety cameras, as you can see, it seems like every year we come for some bit of safety cameras and whatnot. So, as each year things happen in the schools, as the needs of our students become more,
what would you call it? A little more needy, I guess you could say. Um families just the use of the now that with the new school building is up and running, people are using the pl the um tennis courts more often. We're on the fields now full-time. A lot more of the community is walking the area. They're
at the elementary school walking the area. So, what we did was we did a walk through with both school resource offices because they were finding at different times that some of the kids inside the building also have now located where the the hidden spots are. So, they've they've been able to kids
are smarter than probably the school resource officers have been and they've been able to locate different areas of the building that they can hide out and do things they shouldn't be doing. Um, same thing with outside. So, we walked around with both school resource offices. They then did some research on
the inside, outside, their visibility of what they can see, what they can't see. Um, even during games, we've had some incidents that have happened during games that the cameras have not been in that area. And so now what we've done is located all of the areas between all of the schools, even at the old school,
because we have our out of school time program there. And there are sections of the back area that we've just put in installed cameras there, but there's still other areas that they're being used in when we're having people from the outside of the community using it. There are different times that things
are happening back there that we need to keep an eye on. So, this is kind of we've tried to do a really thorough walkthrough this time so that we're not coming back every single year looking for this. Um, we did do we're merging video cameras with use of last year's
CIPC funds. Um, but we're trying to fill in the gap now between all four buildings of where we do need additional cameras inside and outside of the building. So, that's basically what this is doing is kind of picking up the pieces now that all the buildings are up
and running and the new school has the fields being used all the time. Tennis, they're using it all the time. Um, we even have cameras out between us and the library area just to keep an eye on parents that are parking out there or kids that are going to the library after school. Um, up to the the elementary
school, that area there, campground area cuz we we have kids sometimes that roam after school and even on the weekends. So, we tried to get this to a so we're not coming back every single year for some type of safety. So, we did do an extensive walkthrough with both SRO's.
Okay, pretty clear. Comments from the committee, questions, thoughts? >> You just said cameras at the old school as well. Is that >> We do because that's for the out of school time program cuz they have kids there in the summer and they also have kids there during vacation. So, they are outside even like unless it's below 32,
they're outside using the swings and stuff that are out there. They'll take them out every single day and during the summer they spend a lot of time outside. So, it's they're not getting a lot of cameras. They already have a couple, but we did notice that we have a couple of spots that are not visible. So, that
we're trying to take care of those. Okay. Any any other comments, thoughts from the committee? >> If not, we thank you for that presentation and we'll move on to the next one. >> Dump truck is next. >> The dump truck I mentioned.
>> So, last year we were able to again with the help of CIPC get one of our pickup trucks replaced. Um, we've been they've been trying to hold off on the dump truck only because of they thought getting the new pickup would be able to help offset that. But the use of the
dump truck is very useful now, especially with all the equipment we're moving on the new fields and then moving equipment from the old fields back up to the new fields and vice versa. So, the current truck that they have, we've dropped off over in Westport and they are telling us that it really needs to
be replaced that the floor is rotting. Um they're working with the somebody in town to be able to and also I believe with highway to be able to get the chemicals to winterize or seal the bottom of all of our vehicles because of living in New England. So that's we're
working on that with our new vans and also with that. But they're I guess there's a minor gas leak and they're just saying that it's very unsafe to drive. So they did get a quote was like $68,000. So we did put 70 here cuz by the time we were to get it, we probably
would paying a little bit more increase. And so that is a replacement of the current but dump truck that we do have which we then do try to repurpose to anybody else that wants it. I mean that's been a benefit right now just like the used van from the council on aging. We received theirs. It was a huge
savings to the district. Huge savings. We was probably saving ourselves almost $100,000 a year by having the council on agent truck um special ed van that we have of theirs and ours finally just that one just is on its way out and already speaking with Bev. She's going
to when she gets her new van, we're going to take over that one again. So, it is a huge cost savings to the district. Like we have our vans out every single day somewhere. >> Okay. Again, I think this is fairly clear. Any questions, comments?
>> Straightforward. Just just uh this price of 70 or 68,000 is for a new truck. >> A new truck. >> That's for a new truck. >> Yes. New dump truck. >> Did >> it's just a basic simple dump truck. Bells, whistles. And >> I I get it. Did anybody ever investigate
a low mileage used as opposed? >> I don't believe so. It's something that we could I could talk to Kim to find out. Okay. No, that that was that was the Michelle thinks. >> Yeah, I guess good question, but the
trade-off there would be with a new one, you keep these a long time. They police vehicles. >> So, in the long run, it might be better served by having a new one. >> It it it might. I mean, I I'm only speculating that that recently I I've
seen trucks and and cars 18 20,000 miles that are that are on lots right now. and and anyway, I don't want to nickel and dime it, but in in in the entire request of all the departments, that's pretty
it's a pretty small change, >> but a good thought nonetheless. So, thank you for that. Any further comments. Okay, that the fourth item. The fifth one is the the restrooms. >> Yes. So currently at the elementary school um we have 70 staff members over
there and we only have a one men and one women's stall. So based on you know it's it's quite a lot when you're having everybody go to lunch and if you have 25 people going to lunch at a time and then you only have 21 minutes for lunch and then you're getting you have to have
everybody get in. It's just doesn't seem feasible. So, there have been a lot of talk between the staffing over there with the principles and then with us over the last 2 years about adding on some additional bathrooms on a different wing of the building so that way they're
more accessible to everyone and just so that we can put in some extra bathrooms for staff to use. >> Okay. Well, that looks pretty understandable why this is needed. Um, again, committee comments. >> Would that be redoing an existing bathroom? No, that's adding on a
bathroom. So, we do have a location in the building. That would be um but we would definitely need to like get um the building department to come out, look at everything, check the plans and whatnot. >> All your piping's on the ground right under the floors.
>> Yes, we do have a student bathroom that's close by which is backs it. So, the area that we were looking at has a boys and girls room right behind it. So, I don't know nothing about plumbing, but I would think that there would be some type of, you know, obviously it's newer codes
that with that bathroom coming in. >> Anything else? Okay, I guess think that includes that concludes your items. We thank you for those. Very informative and well written. >> Thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you again. >> Good luck.
>> Do you want me to send this to you, Jim? this pack. >> No, I haven't. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I just didn't print it. Didn't >> I did just send out to the whole committee >> this one >> the uh the one that was missing there. >> Okay. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you everybody. >> Ladies bathroom.
[Laughter] >> You you see it at Fenway Park, you know. >> I was going to say even here the men's room downstairs is used by mostly women. >> Oh, sure. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh,
Pardon me. >> Okay. Pardon me, Mr. Chair. Thank you. >> That's okay. I was trying to get organized here myself. >> All right. Well, that was uh a good discussion on those items that are needed by the schools and well presented as I mentioned. Now, we have a number of
IT items. Mr. Keith Novo, you want to join us up here? One, two, three, four, five, six. There are seven IT items. Now, some of them relate to various departments. We understand as we read them. >> Sure. >> But, uh, it's a robot. This is a robust list and,
uh, some of them are kind of expensive, >> but we're going to talk about that. >> So, is the first one the cameras? >> Um, I kind of I put them in a little order if I if I could. And I I did notice I had a cut and paste error on a few of them on the titles there. So,
they might have been a little confusing. So, I'll I'll call out, you know, what needs to be changed on the title just so we can do that. But the first one I wanted to, which I thought it was the the most important uh what I consider number one on my list is it should it probably says PD server workstation. So, I just cross out server. It's just for
PD workstations. Um and that's for 75,000. So, um the the workstations at the police department, 9 years old. Couple years ago, I went around at the chief's request um put in some new hard
drives, like SSD drives to make them faster, put in more memory that extended the life a couple years, but um it it only goes so far. So, um recently, myself and the uh the deputy, we submitted for a grant. We got some grant money. Uh we started replacing a few um
a few of the workstations there at the the police station. Um, so this amount is to cover the remainder of the uh workstations that are there um that weren't covered under the grant. So, so these are replacements for the current um you know, police department um
computers. >> So, which item is this? I may I may have them out of >> Well, I think it's out of order. >> $75,000. >> 75 U. It says PD server and workstations, but it's just PD workstations. >> 75,000. >> Yeah, this must be further in here.
>> Mr. Chair, I I just out of curiosity, >> are are any of these through you, Mr. Chair, are any of these uh were any of these damaged during the lightning strike or anything like this, or is this completely separate from from any of that? >> Um, it's separate. There there was some things that were damaged, but this it wasn't any of the computers.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, now I I have the right paper in front of me now and uh as you have described it pretty pretty clear, so I would entertain questions and comments from the committee.
pretty straightforward. >> Um the next item of importance that I would say is the uh um titled uh town servers installation that was for 150,000. That was a replacement of the
the current servers. Um so there's several of them. There's three. Uh this would replace the the service there. Current service are 6 years old. by the time we got any money in got um you know did all the research getting the the hardware in and everything they'
obviously be you know much older. Uh I try not to let servers go too long um you know in the uh in the byprocess there just um they are keeping up you know the entire town please fire so I I don't want those to fail at an
inopportune moment right so I try to keep those replaced at a at a fairly regular usually in the 6 to 8 year six sevenyear period uh I try to replace them um so this request is to replace those servers Okay,
>> these are in a ranking order. In other words, the >> um as I'm talking about them, they're in ranking order. Yes, >> I'm numbering them that way. >> So, they're different than this, which is in the middle. >> That's just a summary. Those aren't necessarily in order. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. So, your your your narrative is the priority ranking. >> Yes. >> Okay, great. >> Yeah. >> No, that's good to know. >> Yeah. And this later will be updated >> updated and changed >> priorities. Okay, that's great. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Okay, continuing on. >> Uh the second one uh is called data
backup and there's two called data backup, but the one for 20,000 um data backup is the one I'm talking about right now. Um so each of those each of the servers um they have um these data backup devices that will do what they
say. They back up all the data off the servers and then in the process they also upload it to a secure uh cloud location. So these devices are are old. They're, you know, eight years old, eight or nine years old now. Um they're out of warranty. They um are not
supported by the company. Uh they strongly recommend that we get the the latest model so that way um it'll again be under warranty and continue to back up, you know, all of all of the data, all the service for the for the service that we have throughout the town there.
So, >> so this is a $20,000 one that you've articulated. >> Yes. >> Maybe the current dated devices are eight years old. >> Yep. >> Okay. Comments, questions on this.
>> Okay. Uh we could move on to the next one. >> All right. So, the fourth one uh that I have it does, it's the second one that says data backup, but it really should say um and I apologize. It say um fire department camera installation. So it says installing cameras at fire station 1 and
two. Um and the amount I'd just gotten an updated um cost estimate from the vendor. So right now it says 83,500. Um my updated um number was uh 1,14
114,000. Sorry. >> I know I have it here somewhere cuz I was looking at it. And this is for new cameras at the um both like I said in both fire stations. So obviously there's a lot of um hardware
at the at the fire stations, both fire stations. Um you know doors are open, all that stuff. Um I speaking with the chief, he would like to be able to you know monitor the outside and the the the apparatus room um you know with cameras
there. So, this is um to in basically to run new network connections to all of those locations and install cameras at all of those locations and then um provide for um the backup like it's um
like a 30-day service backup of of all the uh the data and everything. So this will this request is to cover both stations inside and outside um with cameras at the request of the department there. >> Okay.
>> Got a question. >> Couple of questions here. So So currently there are no cameras. >> That's great. >> Fire stations. Okay. >> Um the only question I would have regarding the installation um do those buildings have Wi-Fi? Would it would it be necessary to be hardwired the cameras
for the cameras to be hardwired or >> um you do at some point you have to get power to them now whether you bring AC power or you run power over Ethernet I mean so it's it's the same to run to run an Ethernet cable that you you provide
power over and that's pretty much the standard you know in the industry now PoE uh power over Ethernet and um just getting that to them. >> Fair enough. >> Yeah. So, excuse me. Tagging off on Christopher's question, is that cooked
into the books of the number you gave us? In other words, getting full power whether it's through an Ethernet or through, >> you know, the the >> Yep. >> standard electrical lines. Is is is this a complete deal or or is this going to be something that is going to come back
and say, "Well, we need another 25 for ABCD." >> Yep. So the the network switches are what provide the power. Um I have a stack of network switches in the build in each of the buildings. >> Okay. >> Um that will cover the um the quantity of
the uh cameras. So they will they will get there. Um the last time I had updated all them I made sure that all the network switches had PoE capabilities, power over Ethernet capabilities. So now I can and I have the the uh density >> quantity in in each of those switches to
handle that. So >> great. Thank you. Thanks. >> So that number 835 is now what? 115. Is that >> 114? >> 114. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. So I had just gotten I put an estimate before as we're doing this and I hadn't gotten the quotes back, but I
got the quotes back. >> That's fine. I just wanted to update. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Things are moving here. >> Oh yeah. >> And they're not going down. It's too late. >> Nothing ever seems to go down. I'm sorry. >> And are these live live stream or are these just recording? what's out there
and available if you need to. >> They are recording. You can you can someone can look at them and watch them live if they want to. Yes. So, if the fire department said, you know, they wanted to have a computer that had those up, they they'd be able to have um you
know, to watch those as they >> It's more for security. >> More for security. Right. We have cameras at town hall, annex, police station, right? Most of the big buildings all have seem to have cameras. We just never got around to the
fire department. So, I think it's done. >> Okay. Any >> good? Yes, Al. >> No, I'm good. >> Okay. The next item >> um next one says uh town hall server workstations. So, I would just cross off server. It's town hall workstations. Um
so, this is to replace in and when I say town hall, I town offices. So includes the annex, you know, council on aging, um highway, you know, all of the uh cemetery, all of the
harbor masters. So it includes all of those. Um so um >> by the way, excuse me, is this the one that's 287,000? >> Yes. >> 287. Yes. Okay. >> It's it's referred to as TH server. >> Yep. >> So the current workstations are 5 years
old. um in the I'm looking at upgrading them with memory right now uh to extend some of the usefulness um you know until we can get um something new in place there. Um but they they are getting older. Um you know
as people use them they get a little bit of wear and tear on them. You know things get tied up in registry and things get a little bit slower. um uh items like antivirus software, you know, they're always coming out with new patches and updates and new looks for
it. So, as the some of the background processes, you know, um get updated like antivirus, it starts to take more resources away from computer. So even though something worked, you know, 5 years ago, over time, you've got other
applications that are that have grown and um you start to outgrow the you basically outgrow the computer over time, right? >> You know, with with a lot of those things like antivirus and monitoring and all of those um things that happen in the background. Um so I I put this as um
number five. um you know so that way we can get that on here and start thinking about that we need to get some start replacing the the computers that we're using. >> But it is correct here that these current stations are 5 years old. It doesn't seem like a long time to me. >> I have a computer that's a lot older
than that. >> Yeah. >> They're older than that though, right? We've been using them for five years and they were >> five or six years. They're in the five six year range. And like I say, by the time you get money in, by the time you get everything done, you're in. were purchased in 2019, weren't they? Or
2020, right? The beginning was 2020. >> It some of that came in >> I think that was with CARES money, right? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think that was with the CARES money. So, it was right around that time period. So, they're in five year range. >> Yeah. >> But that's it. >> Yeah. But by the time this gets approved, is that
>> close to six? >> I'm kind of kind of shocked at that. >> I mean, I'm due for a new computer, I will admit, but I've gotten more than five years out of it. Well, I'm I'm worried about this is every 5year event. We're going to run out of money. >> Yeah, but you're still on a 144 baud uh
dialogue. Okay. >> Well, sometimes the old methods work well. >> Home home computer. I mean, people get their computer right. Home computers are different. You when you're when you're using your home computer, you you tend to have less stuff on there, less business. I mean, when you start putting a lot of business applications and then
you start load layering in all your antivirus and and URL web monitoring and all those other things on there, um, it starts to load down the the computers and everything. The um, you know, you have stuff like Office on there. It's already getting old. So, this would
replace, you know, the latest, >> you know, Office and and all of that stuff in there. So, there's uh, some so some of that cost is >> Yeah. Office is what 2016? >> Yeah. So, >> plus we use them 40 hours a week, every single week, you know, 52 weeks a year.
So, you don't you do do that with your home? >> No, I don't. Believe me, I don't. >> Yeah. So, there is hope for me. Okay. All right. Well, >> the question >> I do have just a quick uh comment. I So, with the So, with the school department,
we have the uh the laptops, desktops, and we also have the Chromebooks that we give to students. So what we were able to do is figure out kind of a tiered or uh like a like a revolving schedule so that you don't replace everything all at once every single year.
>> My question is is there like are there certain departments where the use of the applications I mean because I know what you're talking about when it bogs down. Um, are there certain departments that maybe might be a priority for replacement as opposed to the whole thing all at once or is that
>> I'm sure every department would say they're the priority of course financial departments are priority. I'd >> be inclined to sluggish and quite honest application. It's it's getting sluggish. >> I don't want to be in a position to say who's more important than the other, right? I mean, that's a bad position to
be in. If someone else wants to come up with a list, they're more than welcome to, but I think more important than the tax collector, of course. can't get the bills to her without >> um but I I like I I try to do big department. So I've done fire department
all at once, right? I'm not trying to do the police department as close to all at once as possible. Try to do the town hall um collectively all at once. And and and you do that for a couple of reasons, right? Because you want to create like this gold disc on the computers. You you want to you want to
configure all the computers to be, you know, exactly the same, as close to exactly the same as possible. So they they all operate, you know, they're all going to operate, all going to run the the programs that they need to. I mean, we have multiple databases. We have multiple things happening on there between the different departments within
the town hall and everything. Um, so you have to make sure that all of those all those applications interact and and work together. And you really just want to create that one time one gold disc for for all of those computers. So I try to do them in in groups. Um like I said,
you know, all the town office as one group and then police and then fire as as other groups there. Um it just in the long run it's so much better for for everybody and for myself. So >> makes sense. Okay. >> Yeah. Well, it's a good question because later on I'd mentioned of all the IT
items and they're not all necessarily it the departmentally there it's a long list and a very expensive list and we haven't gotten to the big item yet the million dollar one. So >> y >> this one just kind of hit me and say well that's a lot coming up here but you've explained it and we understand.
>> Okay. And uh if I may interject, I before we get to the next uh the next next two requests, I did send uh everybody every member of the committee just a required uh potential appearance of a conflict of interest disclosure with everybody. I
just wanted to make sure that that everybody had a chance to receive that. Uh and certainly, you know, just put it in the record for today's meeting as well. >> Everything in order as far as I'm concerned. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> Thank you for that, Mr. Tisher. >> Okay, the next item. So uh the the next
two um they were uh fiber related um internet related. So one was for the and I I'll talk to them collectively if that's okay. Uh the fiber cable loop uh so that was to finish the installation of the um three uh fiber loops that were remaining in the town and then an
overall um fiber cable design. So, um, as you know, the town has run, um, fiber loops throughout, um, basically half the town. Um, it allowed us to connect up all of our town buildings. So, right now, all of our town buildings are
connected by fiber. Um, and we've run that fiber out, um, throughout the community as well. Um, we were fortunate that we were able to get a lot of grants for that, whether it be federal, uh, county or state. Um and that covered a
large portion of the existing um you know fiber that's in place. We've gone to town meeting um on two different occasions requesting um feedback from the community to see you know if this is something they wanted to pursue um to
provide internet to to the community um at both town meetings um that was received favorably you know to be able to to continue forward. We've done uh surveys uh throughout the community um and through business and residents have
all expressed uh desire to have you know highspeed internet in the community. Um so knowing that we're we've done everything we've could we've gotten all the external money that we could right now. I mean we're in a environment now where it's difficult to find external
money. Um, I put these two requests in just to say that, you know, heard the community that this was of interest to them. They wanted to move forward. So, I'm putting the request in to kind of finish the the fiber loops. So, there was a east ring, east ring, a southeast
ring, and a southwest ring. >> And that was for the the million dollars that was there to to finish those loops. And basically what all the fiber loops do is is get you into the general area of the neighborhoods without providing the that
what they call that last mile, right? The the last connection to to the home. So um this would allow us to to kind of blanket the entire town uh with with fiber at least going past all of the major locations. Um and the second one
was to to do the detailed engineering design of you know what do you need for all the hardware? What do you need for all the optical switches? What do you need to you know cable lengths and um termination devices and going into all the homes and all that stuff. So these
two requests were just I'm I'm putting them in to say you know we've kind of run out of um options at the moment for external. Um, like I said, I did hear the community say there was an interest, so I'm submitting them based on, you know, that interest. Um, and if there's
available funding, we can, you know, something to consider. So, uh, a little more background, then we can have some questions. Could you bring us, you've touched upon all of this that I'm going to ask about, but in terms of the loops, you said the
three remaining loops. Well, how many have we done so far? What was a total of >> um we've done one, two, three, four. We've done four loops so far. >> So it's seven in total or >> Yeah. >> And are these in a particular part of
town? Is there north to south or east? >> They basically have moved from north to south. We got the two north ones um and there's a kind of a central north one and then um the west west. So the
remaining is the east and then the the southeast and southwest would would get the remainder of the town >> are >> yeah go ahead are all town all are all all of the town buildings are currently connected on loose is that correct >> currently all the town buildings are
connected and all of the critical infrastructure so that would include um towers radio towers we just finished uh running fiber and the network um to all of our radio towers Now over the this summer we connected up just for
awareness we connected up uh all of our radios over fiber. So police and fire um both have you know nice clear crisp uh clear um signals on on all of the radios now which they're very appreciative of. Um so um definitely well worth running
the fiber to all those locations. It was very staticky, crackly before um subject to rain and everything else. And now we've got um good quality um signals out there. So all the infrastructure um like I said in all the current town buildings
are connected including the schools. >> So I I will I will say Mr. chair that before even getting into the merits of the idea >> um I am concerned if I'm hearing that all the buildings are connected which I I in in terms of municipal buildings I
think is a good thing um this strikes me as a want and not a need and CIPC specifically is looking to allocate funds for capital needs for the departments and again this just seems like a want
>> yeah it's a it is a good point Um, this was well discussed and embarked upon and recognizing that the funds were not going to be there forever. Um, but it seemed to be a community
need. There was impetus for it. Uh, it wasn't a willy-nilly process. You're not >> No, I'm not driving that way. >> Then there was the thing about the light the light station or what was it called? The >> power light plant. >> Power light plant. And that's is that
part of this ultimately or is that not? >> At some point it would it would be part of that. Yes. >> And and town meeting voted for the creation of a light plan. I do recall that. >> Yeah. >> I don't believe there was any expenditures attached to that. >> But I do know that town meeting voted
for the light plan. >> Yeah. And I think there was some change in laws that was cited by Mr. Cole about not needing that right at the time because the technology was changing and we needed to take pause. I'm just going from memory. >> Mhm. >> But
more interestingly, I think I'm in the one that doesn't have this yet, but uh with people who don't have the fiber optic, I'm talking about residents now. >> What do they have? Just the oldfashioned cable, so to speak. >> They have the oldfashioned cable. So it
would be the the cable TV connection that you had in the past, right? The coax cable connection. Y >> um they've been able to provide internet over that, right? You can get um you can get satellite services now and um there's uh vendors that provide
satellite services. Some of the wireless providers, you know, will provide home internet service. So there are other um services there. Each of those have their pros and cons. They some of those are limited by physics, right? You can only
get so on your um um you know satellite you can only get so much bandwidth down that you know you can only pump so much down that and that's a physics thing. Um you know same thing with um with the wireless with the radios. There's only so much data you
can get over that at the moment. Um hard lines are where you can um process the most. The current coax cables do have a physics limit. They've been improving that over time, but there's still a physics limit. The the best solution
that anyone will tell you is is getting fiber. Um um to get the maximum amount of uh data down the line is is always going to be fiber um you know for any time in the in the near future. >> What is the call the halflife of fiber?
How how long can we look forward to the >> um method? I mean, cable companies, they warrant their fiber for 25 years, but there's fiber out there 40, 50 years. So, I mean, and does it break? Does, you know, someone knock a pole down? Sure.
But same thing with coax, right? You just go out, you repair it, and you move on. So, >> okay, those are my questions. Questions from the committee. >> I do have one.
Define a loop. Is is this like and I'm going to be very fundamental when I because I'm trying to understand this. Is this like a waterline in Northwest for example where you bring the loop
>> y >> to the home and then it's up to an individual to decide to tie in. Is it automatic? I I'm I'm I'm a little bit fuzzy on what is meant by alert. >> Okay. Sure. So when we um looked at for
the municipality for the buildings right uh for the town buildings we ran a basically a backbone right through the center of town. So from north to south we have this backbone fiber. It's got a large bundle of fiber um strands in there and then off of that backbone you
um you have what they call loops. So you um it's another strand. It's a smaller bundle um because you don't have to carry as many as as the backbone, but you have a smaller bundle that will run through >> won't run through neighborhood but past neighborhood. So you might have a primary street where you run the fiber
down um you know this primary street and you have all these side streets that come off of it. So you just run this loop past all the neighborhoods, >> right? And it would eventually kind of loop back to either another loop or to the or to the backbone. um generally
tells back to the back room there and that provides um redundancy because then you have what they consider as kind of counterrotating rings almost. So you have fiber. So if fiber were to break you you you know they'd be able to make it back to the backbone one way or if it
broke it would make it back to the you know the backbone the other way. So you provide some redundancy in there um by creating this loop back to the back to the back. Boom. And then from from that loop, that's when you would go out that last mile to the home. So from that loop, they'd say, "Okay, I'd go down
this street or this street or this street, right?" And then you would that strand would break off to, you know, each of the homes at that point. So you're providing the you're getting the fiber as close to the neighborhood as possible without getting to the >> without getting into the neighborhood, per se. And who pays for that? The the
last mile. Um I mean, where does this structure come in? Because right now we're looking at we've already spent x amount of money in the town to bring the backbone as you said. I I >> and we have a request here for million million one which you know will be
higher by the time we ever we ever get to this point >> and it goes by a neighborhood or what what's the what what's the financial aspects of the last mile?
Yeah, I mean we would have to look at and and this is always going to be the roadblock is you would have to look at what what your financial um possibilities are. Would you be able to do a kind of a public private partnership kind of thing where you'd
have someone come in and and help go to the last mile? would you be able to get um you know uh a loan against that and then um you know pay back the loan based on the fees of of the um you know the end users that were using that. So there
there's always it's always going to be a challenge to to do that that last mile there. >> All right. So so and and I'll leave it at this. So so this request is to build out the final loops if you will. Yeah. We already have the backbone in place,
but yet it services I don't want to say nobody because that's not fair, but it does not service the majority of the taxpayers of the town because we haven't hit the final mile. Is that kind of what I mean? >> It doesn't get you the final mile. So, it doesn't service the the end user at
that point, the last resident at that point. >> Fair enough. Okay. That I just try I was just trying to >> clear it up in my fair point. Yes. >> I mean, it's fair to say that this doesn't have any service at all attached to it. It's literally just laying the the cable doing the make ready work for the poles and etc. Right. >> It's just doing it's just laying the the
fiber down. It doesn't provide a service at this time. Yes. >> And so there's no you know I I will say that I've seen uh municipalities especially in the western part of the state uh often times they're partnering with
another MLP that has already had uh that is adjacent to a town and already has infrastructure. Um, and even those builds are going anywhere from 20 to 30 billion. Uh, and and you know, with cost overruns and everything else. So, I just it's concerning that, you know, the the
one of the one of the applications here is for the the design with, you know, the 550,000 here for for just the design. Um, which would still again require significant outlays to even uh begin the process. I if we're doing deal dealing with just a loop, you're you're
literally just talking about laying, you know, a million dollars to to just lay the the cable out and with no attachments whatsoever. So that's, you know, I would I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I have grave concerns, not just
about this request in itself, but how much such a thing could eventually cost the town. >> On this item, the $550,000 design. >> Yep. design plan to deploy fiber to the homes and residents in what in town but we've
already connected number of them through fiber optic cable >> to homes. No to town buildings. Yes. >> Yeah. No homes. >> So we did not have an original design plan that included homes. >> No, we had a design plan to connect up
the town buildings. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. that that question >> and there was well there was a highle plan to know where we would need to run the loops. So so you you go in with a high level plan and you say all right I need I know that I need to run these
loops in these locations. So we did that high level planning um say these locations for these loops will cover all the community and and they use um you know they use artificial intelligence and then goes in and plots out where you
know where the best path is to to lay these and we and we've done all those loops based on you know based on that high level plan. So the the detail plan is to say, "All right, I need X amount of cable to get from from this loop to
this home and I need this hardware to support that." Right? So it it it gets you the very detailed um build information. So that way someone a vendor could then potentially come and take that and go, "Oh, I know I need this hardware, so it's going to cost me
x amount of dollars, right? and I um and I can go and order this and it's going to take ex you know time to to buy it and get it in and install it and all that stuff. So So it's a very detailed plan right down to every single um pole and uh home.
>> Okay. Well, that answers that question and I thank you for any other further questions. >> Okay. I think uh we've pretty much covered this really two together and we'll there's is there any priority? I guess there's none because they they go together. They work together.
>> Um yeah, either one. >> Yeah. >> As far as priority. >> Okay. But it's very expensive. I I don't know. >> It's true. >> We'll do for a source of funds, but we will we'll have that separate discussion at the appropriate point in time. >> Mhm. >> Well, thank you. That was very informative. >> Okay.
>> Y was great. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good luck. We'll see you around. >> Okay. Uh, next would be the uh, highway department. And do we have representatives here? I think we do. Yeah, gentlemen.
>> Uh, how's everybody? >> Good. Good. >> How are you? >> Hello. >> Not done too bad. >> Maybe you can introduce yourselves to the general public. We know who you are. >> Uh, my name is Evan Amira, Highway foreman. >> Austin Conina, administrative assistant. Glad to have you with us today. Thank you for having us.
>> Thank you. Okay, so uh just have to grab my notes here as to where I am. I had a certain order that seems to have changed. So the first one that I have is the dump truck 157,000. >> Yes. >> You can do this in any order you want,
by the way. >> Uh we could just go in the order that they're they're listed. >> All right. So everybody has that. >> Mhm. >> Dump truck with a plow. I think we know what they are. Yeah. And I think I think we're due for the winters have been too nice for us lately. I think we're
heading up. I don't want to pay the price here. >> I didn't say it. >> Um just I mean the truck it does come with a plow, but the truck also comes up fitted with safety lighting, toolboxes, pretty much everything for us to hit the ground running as soon as we receive it.
>> Is this replacing an existing vehicle? >> No, this would be a new because our our thought is we are currently um taking applications. A lot of them don't have CDLs because they just kind of don't want to come for the money. >> Yeah. >> So, this truck is as large as you can get without needing a CDL. So, it allows
us to pretty much do big truck things without needing a uh a CDL. >> Okay. All right. Well, uh I don't have a lot of questions. I I think I know what we're dealing with here until the committee. What is your pleasure?
>> Comments, questions, suggestions? >> It's a truck. It's a truck. >> Okay. Well, we'll uh as you know, from my earlier explanation, we don't vote on these today. We put them in the hopper and review them all and talk about the sources of funding at a later date. So,
uh I think we have all we need to know here. It's well presented and I thank you. So, we'll go on to the next one. >> I have it as a standby generator. >> That is correct. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um again, like the truck, this is kind of like a revisit. Um, currently the
generator we have is not properly functioning and if that goes out for any reason during a storm or any sort of event, um, the town doesn't have we, oh, a we don't have power in the building to either fix a piece of equipment if it breaks during a storm or just be able to
function properly, but also our building runs the fuel pumps for, you know, the whole town. So if we can't supply power to the pumps, I mean the town pretty much will stop after a certain amount of time. >> Um and you know depending on the sit
severity of it could be days, who knows? So this this setup here would allow us to pretty much have a full functioning generator to automatically control the building and you know supply fuel. >> And is this taking the place of some generator now or is
>> Yeah, it would be a replacement. uh will be new, but we're also replacing the one that's not functioning at the building. >> Yeah. As I read this, I couldn't quite understand it. I mean, it's should be plain to most people, but so you this is housed in the highway department.
>> Yeah. Out outside on the of the building. Yep. >> And servicing the fire and police department. But where do they go to get is this this say refuel? You talking about refueling gasoline?
>> Yeah. Gasoline, diesel. Yeah. >> Talking about the pumps here. Right out here. Yeah. Okay. That's the only one, right? Yeah. >> Right. >> Majority of the departments are refueling through our department. >> Okay. Yeah. I' I've seen vehicles there. I just when I was reading this, I was
saying, well, there there more that I don't know about. Apparently not. Got it. Okay. And uh so it's really the technology that supports these this these pumps functioning properly. Without that they couldn't fill up the
tanks >> in the event of a power outage. >> Yeah. >> But it's about gasoline or diesel. Gas gas. Okay. >> Correct. >> All right. Got it. Now >> these two buildings are not connected when it comes to power or anything like that as I remember. No. Okay.
>> Okay. Uh so uh I don't I don't have any further questions now that now that I'm that I'm beginning to fully understand this. So committee >> just curious on the size like it because
I'm curious with the 40,000 estimate. What what kind of size generator are we talking we talking like the same as a gener down here? Are we talking much smaller or >> um I don't want to say maybe not quite as big but maybe a little bit smaller. It's a fairly sized good unit to run the building cuz like we do run if we have
to make a repair like I was saying like if we got to run a welder like those require high output and um and I mean it's a decent sized building as it is. So >> yeah, that was my question. I just wanted to make sure it was enough for the size you need >> cuz right now I mean the generator that's there is well under size. Like if
we're lucky to run you know lights and then maybe like a grinder or something like that, you're lucky you know you try and put a a welder on and then you're going to trip it right away. It's going to >> So, it kind of works, but it's not just it doesn't have the output output. >> Yeah. If if if it if it does, it's inconsistent and it's working. >> Fair enough.
>> Okay. >> Okay. Any further questions on this item? >> I do have a question. Have we ever thought of putting a a separate like smaller generator for the pumps? It probably wouldn't be impossible, but
if the system already runs through our building, is it more electrical work? I don't know. That's just my first thought that that comes off the top of my head. >> It's just curious. >> Any further questions on this side? >> No, just a comment. I think it's
something to consider. Um, in my in my past life, I had multiple compressors that ran refrigeration, 72 at the high point. And now everybody is in the grocery business is going into
a rack system. When a rack goes down, a quarter of your entire refrigeration can go down, which happened not too long ago. So I think that that there is a point to say
maybe the the fuel pumps are crucial fire ambulance and then consider you know and and it doesn't need to be large. I don't I don't know what the the size is but it may be worth coming back and just you know or revisit it a little bit and you
know pick these apart. That's all. >> Yeah. Definitely definitely not impossible. would just be figuring out um like splitting the fuel system out of cuz like the pumps are out there but like the operation system that runs the computers is in the building too. So we would have to maybe transfer that as
well to a separate circuit just you know thinking out loud. >> Okay. Any further questions? >> All right. All right. And I guess it's the last one is the mini split, I think.
$30,000. Is that right? Okay. And we can read this and probably we've all read it, but any maybe you could just tell us a little more about this so we fully understand. >> So, um you know, some of the some of the rooms in the building are currently
serviced with mini splits for heating and AC. And unfortunately the um R410A is going to be um essentially banned and that's what our units take. So you know we're being told that we get them serviced that they're kind of towards
the end of their lifespan anyways that >> if you need to service these you're not going to be able to because of that refrigerant ban. >> So the mini split is what we have here right? >> Well working yet on a on a lot lot
bigger scale. Yeah, ours are more I >> want to say residential size. >> They're functioning right now though. They just >> they currently replace them. >> Yeah, they currently do function, but trying to be proactive instead of you know, you know, we do have an issue and then it's like, okay, now now what do we
do? >> Yeah, during the summer, especially when it was over 90° a few days, we did need some repairs done and that's kind of when this came up. uh we had family heating and cooling doing some of the repairs and the annual service and he
said you know these are really getting past their point of useful life already and on top of that he mentioned the refrigerant is getting banned in the country so as of today they could still be serviceable but he said who knows next year if they can even get the parts to service them anymore
>> okay >> any questions >> I think this is pretty clear okay thank you for that and is is that it from the HR department. >> That that would that would be it. >> Well, thank you gentlemen. >> Great job and we appreciate it. >> Thank you everyone. >> Thank you. >> Have a good day. Even
>> too. >> Okay. Uh I guess Jim, you're the lead singer on these next items, right? The first one would be the >> the for the Cherry and Web Beach lifeguards, >> the beach committee. And there would be funding through the um beach enterprise
fund to fund this, but they're looking for um they usually get a used pickup truck or a used vehicle for the beach. In the past, we've been using recycled vehicles from the fire department that have been going to the highway that were no longer usable by the highway and we
would send them to the beach. Um this year the truck was not able to it was not in the condition was not good enough for it to be driven up to the fire station. So we had to leave it down at the parking lot. Um and at the end of the summer the transmission went so um that truck is
gone. Um we were lucky to get an additional year. They do have a small gator um four-wheel drive little vehicle but it doesn't provide shelter and this beach doesn't have any shelter. you know, during raintorms, thunderstorms, there's no play wind storms, or when
it's a lot, there's no place for them to get out of the weather. So, they use the truck for that as well. And also carrying the bigger equipment up and down um from the from the parking lot up to the beach. You really can't leave much on the beach because it'll be uh it'll disappear overnight. So, they
bring most of the equipment back and forth. Um they've had a truck for forever, but they need a new truck. I thought they had a storage container now at the beach. >> They have a storage container in the parking lot. They still need to bring the equipment from the parking lot up to the beach.
>> Right. >> Where is that uh unit? It's in on the >> right where the dumpster is. Um right at the end of Cherry and Web. If you went straight instead of going left into parking lot, you hit the dumpster and there's a pod
>> there that they store equipment in. >> Okay. Now, I have a question about financing. I know we're going to be talking about sources of funds at a later meeting, but this is an enterprise >> Mhm. >> fund. So why wouldn't that be paid for
out of the proceeds? >> I think it would that would be the intent to pay it out of there, but it's still a capital project. So we we present it to the committee. >> Okay. Okay. And since I brought up that question, is there enough money to buy this truck with their revenue?
>> Yep. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's that answers the question. Okay. Yeah, I've seen the old one and it's uh it's this time has come. So, this is Yeah, this is one of the
beaches are one of our key resources here if not key resource along with the water river and uh yeah, this is this has some importance. Okay. Anything else you want to add, Jim, or anybody or does anybody have any
questions, Jim? I think we know what we're talking about here. So, next is uh build a a vehicle for the building inspector. >> Yeah, this this would be I think maybe a combination vehicle, building inspector and also town hall vehicle. They've been using the electric car.
>> Yeah. >> I think what 15 16 years old now. >> Um we've been told it's past its use for life. It's still running. >> Oh, yeah. It works perfect. As long as I don't put the heat on. >> My car. >> As long as you don't put the heat on or
the AC on. >> That's it. You can only go five miles. No, a little bit more than that. But it does. The battery is just >> gone. >> You're not getting the, you know, you can only go so far during the day. So if Ralph takes it out for inspections, you
can only do a couple of inspections and has to bring it back to charge it. I was going to ask if this is going to be a gas or hybrid. >> So, I I would recom, you know, we could look at different options. Uh it may not have to be a pickup truck. It could be a, you know, four-wheel drive. The car
itself isn't really suitable for inspections by the building inspector anyway. He's going on sites with, you know, driveways aren't there. So, you know, it's um it's it's not ideal. He's been using his own vehicle um on occasion, but um he still uses his
vehicle. Um, we we've put it off a number of years. I think we're pretty close to uh pushing it down the road. So, >> what what have I says here that which what kind of vehicle you want? You
>> Yes. So, we're looking for a vehicle and originally it was a pickup truck, but I don't know if you need a pickup truck. You know, I think you could look at something like a small SUV. >> Okay. >> Um, which gets maybe better gas mileage and um protected by the weather. you could bring four people. If somebody had to go to a conference or something, they
wanted to use that, they could do that. Um, so I would recommend a small SUV type vehicle. >> So even though it's not part of our purview, I mean, it's it's it's the cost is not what type of vehicle. You're thinking either hybrid or
fuel as opposed to a total EV. >> Yes. Okay. >> Right now there's really no incentives for the EVs. This one was bought I think through a grant or through an incentive >> which is really not I I don't believe in any way is is really where we should be discussing is 55
grand or is 40 grand it shouldn't be where where we put our money I guess. >> Well I guess it is discussing it. Yeah. >> Yeah. That isn't fair but okay. >> Well yeah as I read this I was saying what what kind of vehicle are we talking about? I know what we have now. It's
very small and it's electric and it's limited. So >> I >> I was thinking of a a pickup truck actually because I know I was looking at $55,000. I said, "Well, if you want to get a Toyota Camry, it's not going to be $55,000." Pickup truck will be probably.
>> Yeah. And I I think you can get a you can get a small a nice small SUV for the 30 to $40,000 range, too. >> Yes. >> I was going to say I think SUV sounds like it would be a good idea. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Um,
any further comments on that item? If >> not, we'll move to the last item, I think. No, the next next to the last item. We get the select board in here for something, but anyway. Cemetery. >> Yeah. So, cemetery, we did the uh CIPC
did approve funding. Town meeting approved funding last year for the cemetery expansion. um 250,000 I believe from uh free cash and we're going to use 200 to 300,000 from the perpetual care um which brings us up to about you know
550,000. Estimates are coming in at closer to $900,000 to get this work done. Uh the highway department has done some preliminary work over there. They may be able to do some more this winter to reduce some of these costs, but the cost is still going to come in somewhere
between $800 to a million dollars. Um, so we're we're looking for an additional $200,000 out of um free cash type funding and then we would also tap in the reserves uh more than 300. We probably have to go up to 400 450 to get
this project done. Currently we are pretty much out of sites. I think we had last year when we looked at this we had I think 270 sites available plots available and we we use anywhere from 75 to 100 a year. Um the numbers changing a
little bit now because we're getting uh almost 50% cremations. Um which reduces you can put more cremations in a >> single plot than you can uh traditional burials. Um these two new sections would provide
>> 1,600 new plots u burial plots um which we estimate would get the town through the next 15 to 20 years. And if the cremations continue to go that way they're going, it could extend that even longer. But right now, if we continue the way we are, we're running out of space and
we'll be out within within two years, I believe. Um, I say that those are the new spaces, right? We're also investigating. We have some old cemeteries and we have some plots that have not been used. Um, we This is not an easy project to do because some of those have been sold and
determining exactly what's available. um or what we could go after is not, you know, it takes some work, but there are some available plots in the existing older sites that we could um at some point we're going to have to investigate and see if we can get those. >> There's not a lot. We're not looking at
a thousand, but there are some. >> Where's the land for this uh endeavor? >> So, this would be as you're looking north, you have the um garage on the left. >> Yeah. So it would be even with the garage going down, there would be two big new sections and
>> well >> probably the equivalent of three new sections. >> There's a section already used there that's to the right of the garage. >> They've started clearing it. They've cut the trees down in that section. >> Okay. >> I thought we were out of land, but because we had a discussion a few years back about that.
>> This is this would be it. >> So just out of curiosity, last year it started at two now then it went up to 300,000. Now you're saying you're saying two new sections. Was that was this the plan last year as well? >> And they designed two sections um side
by side. Um >> what would be the cost for just one section just out of curiosity compared in terms of what we already have allocated? >> I could get that I'll get that cost. Um >> okay. >> These two sections are next to each other. So there's obviously a cost
savings if you do both. They go down and they excavate down six feet. They clear out all of it. They sift through the land. They put the material back. They remove any unsuitables. Uh you gota and it's got to settle for a year or two um before you can start using them. You got to clear everything out because when
you're digging for the burials, you don't want to be hitting large boulders, so everything has to be pre-dug ahead of time. Um there's some drainage that has to be done. There's some roadways that have to be put in. Um >> what what were the estimates running when the request was made last year, just out of curiosity?
>> So when we first made the request, I didn't have the final estimates in. Um by the time we got to town meeting we did we had looked at and then we were looking at possibly working with highway department to do some of the work. Um but it's just it's it's a pretty substantial project. Um
yeah I will get a I will get an estimate on one section. >> So going back a few years uh previous town administrator had mentioned um building something for the cremations.
Has that been looked at again? Because I I have family who have a um place in Fhaven, one of the cemeteries, and it's like this big stone octagon, and then they have like these little pieces, and they just like that it goes inside it,
and then they just whatever company comes out and puts the names like on the little plaque. I mean, have we thought about anything like that? >> It's been discussed in the past. Um yeah, we have some pamphlets. A lot of cemeteries are doing that. in addition
to the traditional burials. Um it's tough. You know, the we still tradition is to have a traditional burial, but we're starting to get away from that. There's a number of residents or people that are willing to do that, but not everybody. >> Um
>> yes. Uh Jim, can you give me or us kind of the current I don't want to be legal beagle here. Legal definition of what perpetual care means. >> I'm looking at the call on this one. So, a as they've sold plots over the years,
as they've sold um as we've taken over some cemeteries, smaller ones over the years, um I think at one point money was put aside for the perpetual care of the cemeteries. >> Correct. >> And that goes into these accounts. We usually work off the interest on these
accounts to supplement um some of the budgets for the cemetery and so forth. And I I don't have the exact numbers of what we have. So we have the perpetual care account itself and then we have the interest off the account. >> Right? It's the perpetual care monies
that we take in are nonexpendable. >> We can only >> So when a plot is sold, there's a cost for the sale of the lot >> and there's a cost for perpetual care. That perpetual care goes into a non-expendable
trust fund where it sits forever. Um I'm not sure when that actually gets spent, but right now we're just running off the interest. So >> running off in what sense, Nicole?
>> So the interest So the interest on the perpetual care is what we can spend with um order selectment approval. They're the they're the ones that have to approve using perpetual care for any expenses.
Um so in that aspect we use portion of it for the um budget for the general fund budget every year to supplement the cemetery cost. >> We use it for any of the capital items for the you know smaller capital items.
Um because >> you don't want to completely >> deplete the account by saying you know well we have $500,000 in there. let's take the whole 500, do this, and then there's nothing left. Um so, but um
>> well, this was one one of my my questions, and maybe it's a concern, maybe it isn't based on on definition to take $400,000 would come from perpetual care funds for this this project, if you will.
>> That would not be able to come from the non-expendable funds, >> right? The interest only the >> and how much how much do we have in interest right now? >> I'd say upwards of >> God I have no idea. >> I can get you that
>> eight somewhere last year. >> Yeah, somewhere like 800,000. >> Okay. So So we could go on and on on a loop like this for a long time. So there's there's little money for the budget for
additional staff to work the cemeteries so that it can be properly taken care of, but yet we have money to go and expand based on the same perpetual um care fund fund bucket. Is that
>> fair? I I would I would say we don't have enough money to do either, but we have to make do with what we have. And if we don't do it, we're not going to have places to bury bury people in town, and we're required to provide that service. >> So is that 800,000 that's that is
interest that we could spend. >> That's the interest. Yeah. >> That that so that's that's what's expendable right now. Okay. And and to go back to the to the workers, I mean, I I don't know how it's I know with the highway department, we are
grossly understaffed, but the cemetery department, we have always had three full-time employees and two seasonal summer help, which usually goes from maybe a little bit maybe like May 1st to like October 1st. We've always always
had and I've been here 20 years. >> Mhm. working for the town and we've never it's never been a problem with you know needing more help over there as far as I know. So I mean we have we are fully staffed at the at the cemetery
department. >> So go ahead. >> Do you know what I'm saying? We are >> I know I know what you're saying. I mean this is a discussion that could go in, you know, bounce off these walls like those old rubber you know ball things. But >> so a couple things. What I one thing I'd like to get everybody more information
out this week on it, what we have in the account, um what the actual estimate was, where we are for funding from last year, just so we have all the information. Um so I will do that. As far as the staffing, um it's difficult, right? Somebody gets
injured, they're out for 6 to 25 weeks. Um >> it's um and you go from three to two, somebody's on vacation, you got one person. Um it doesn't take much with three people over there and even even getting summer help was difficult to get
seasonal help. Um so it's it's a challenge this year with the cemetery ran very well this year compared to the previous years. Um I think they were ahead of schedule with the monuments. The the grass was cut most of the year. I didn't I received one one concern um
from a town hall employee about it wasn't wasn't cut and it was cut that next day. But other than that, I hadn't heard any complaints about the cemetery and and that's the first time in 40 years there were >> we've struggled and and it was mainly
because of uh we had some uh workers compensation issues. Um you know, we've had some employees out on medical leave and it doesn't take much, you know, and It's weather dependent too, right? You know, in the in the spring we get a lot of rain. You can't cut the grass. You
get a lot of rain grow quick and it's just like you get two weeks and >> I guess and I'll leave it with with this and it's a bigger picture question, but this this triggered it. I'm loathed to find uh enterprise funds, whether it is
the marine services or perpetual care or I'm sure there's other buckets out there that all of a sudden gets sucked into the general fund and the next thing you know it's going for a project that really
wasn't or or something that really wasn't um um it wasn't designed to do. So anyway, that that's that's that was my question and my point. >> Just one clarification and I don't want to spend a lot of time on this because
it's a little bit off point, but you said the town is required to provide burial to all its residents >> residents >> forever. >> That's my understanding. >> Okay, fine. But then like any cemetery will ultimately reach capacity whether
it's 5 years from now or you said before maybe 16 years. So, how do we reconcile those two apparently opposed ideas? >> They I don't know who enforces it, but they could come down and say, "Hey, you guys got to find another spot. You got to find more land. >> You got to find more land." And that is
one piece of property that we can do by eminent domain. So, if we wanted to s a piece of property that we wanted for a cemetery, we can do it by eminent domain. Now, is it just burial or does if it's a mausoleium, you know,
cremation, does that count or does that >> Yeah, I don't see why it wouldn't count. >> Okay. As to what uh Nicole said, maybe that's something worth looking into just for, you know, >> there is that's one of the things we has
been considered in the new sections, right? So you get 15 to,600 new plots for full burials. >> You know, if you take one section of that and you just leave that for cremations, you know, now maybe you get >> an additional 2,000 spots and um you're not getting a cremation occupying a full
burial spot. So whether it's, you know, situation like you're talking about where you actually bury have smaller plots for the cremations, it's something. >> Who decides that? So once once it's all dug out, once it's all leveled off, you can cut it up any way you want. Um, so
that doesn't have to be done right now, but that would essentially be the select wood. >> Okay. Okay. An interesting problem, but this deals with it for the time being, but there will be a point where down the road we're don't have enough space. But one
day at a time, I guess. Okay. Any further? But they're looking for $200,000. >> Yes. from from the the town basically whether it's free cash or whatever. It's not gonna all be not I don't know if this is good English. It's not all going to be from
perpetual care. >> That's right. >> And that does bring out a question as to whether or not maybe it goes back to Mr. Thrash's thought earlier. Maybe we shouldn't do both because we really want to spend $200,000 now and when we when
we ultimately will. But we got to get through one punch a year at a time. Just a thought. For the time being, I would uh consider this. But we don't have to vote on this today. Okay. Any further questions? And I guess is this the last item? The
select board I see here. >> It is. >> Select board is spending money. >> Can't believe it's more town related. Oh, okay. That makes me feel better. >> I say what are we spending? >> And this is just a general request.
We've been fortunate over the last few years because we've had some OPA funds and we've had earmarks to offset some software and technology improvements. Keith comes in, he does an unbelievable job. I mean, just keeping coming in every day and your computer turns on.
Um, he's kind of a oneman show. We do have backup to Keith. We have TechMD that is there. If Keith walked out the door tomorrow, we could it would be a struggle, but we could continue to function. But one of the things that we don't do is we don't have enduser type improvements, right? You know, whether
it's additional software, whether it's um equipment for for for the rooms themselves. Um and some of the stuff comes up mid year. Um sometimes we can get grants available and you need matching funds, but you don't always know what you need until the time goes on. I mean technology is changing so
quick that you know what we don't need today we may need tomorrow. So, this would just be uh something to consider where we we put money aside in an article or um as part of, you know, is I don't know if it's a capital request or not, but um to put money aside that's
available for the town. If something comes up where somebody needs a new software program, if somebody needs a new piece of technology equipment, we have a funding source to do that as opposed to waiting till >> the following May to do it.
But it's possible we wouldn't use 150 in a given year or something. >> You may turn it back at some point. Is this intended to be like ongoing almost like a trust fund? >> Yeah. Whatever's in there, you know, one of the things with warrant articles, right? They can extend if you don't
expend it all this year, you can continue the following year or the year after. So, >> or 10 years if necessary. >> Yeah. But you also want to tie up money unless you know you suspend it in a relatively. >> I I I guess my only concern is that I know as of last year there were several
different IT related warrant articles that still had significant amounts of funds in them. I I know a couple were cleaned up, but I'm not sure where that I'm curious where that stands. >> I can get you guys a list. >> Okay. because I I I mean I I I see the I see the merit in it for sure, but I'm
just wondering it was it was a large chunk last year that was still sitting out in warrant articles from you know I think one was about nine years ago. So if there's, you know, anything there that could be added to this type of uh expenditure first, >> that was really noted last year. We went
through every Warren article and we got justification for any of them that were outstanding and we closed a few of them. >> And I remember one particular I think the the largest IT line was was a specific upgrade. So, you know, um again, I think the idea has merit. I'm just curious if we can clean up what's
what's been sitting out there for so long, too. >> I'm really good at that. I call them up. I call the department and I say, "Hey, you get this money here. Use it or lose it." >> That'll do it. >> I'm done carrying it. >> And much work. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. Any further questions on that select board item? So-called. That was supposed to be a joke. You're supposed to laugh. >> All right. Let me get back to the agenda. Actually, we we've
I think done a good job. I applaud the the committee and the the presenters for being able to get through what I think 18 items in 90 minutes. That's that's probably a record of some kind. But anyway, um
there are no I'm not aware of any topics not reasonably anticipated. Jim, do you have any that I didn't I do not >> in this area? I don't think so. There are minutes to be approved. The these were from the October 1st meeting. They were distributed by by Jim himself and he actually prepared these minutes as I
will be doing for this particular session. I'm hoping that maybe somebody else would volunteer to do it next time, but we'll we'll see. Um >> force volunteer would >> we failed at getting volunteers in the
past. Why would it be any different? Right. Um, so this >> they call it voluntel. >> I've been volunttoled to take minutes for a few committees already, so I think I'll have to pass on this one. >> Yeah. Uh, so this is these are pretty good minutes. They're they're quite detailed which is very handy to keep and
refer back to. But Jim is also preparing as he's done today lists here and you'll be updating that I assume every every meeting to make it more current. So anyway, what is the pleasure of the committee as to these minutes of our >> motion to approve? >> Second. Motion to approve
and seconded by Sue. Uh discussion on the motion. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? None. That passes unanimously. >> Okay. So, the only thing that's left is uh item number four to adjurnn. Do I
have a mot? >> So, move. >> Next meeting. Do we have a next meeting? >> I'm sorry that wasn't on the list. >> No, you didn't put on the list. >> Well, we should talk about that in 48 hours. >> Good catch. Uh all right. Well, two weeks from now, if we're doing the two weeks, it's November 12th, or if we do three weeks, it's November 19th. Jim, do
you have any idea as to the the the number of departments or the requests that they be coming forward? Is are we largely through a lot? >> This is it. >> This is it. >> Okay. Um, Mr. chair. Um if at all possible to do
the 19th uh if not, no worries, but I I'll be at the uh the Massachusetts School Committee Association conference. >> Yeah. And I have a conflict on that day. That's uh 12th is the open space and recreation committee which is having an event tomorrow night at the annex.
>> Um and it we're seems like we're well on schedule. It's we seem to be moving quicker than we used to at the CIPC. I don't know. >> Chair is very efficient. Does that mean another year retired? >> All right.
>> Yeah. The 19th then >> the 19th looks good. Pretty much good for everybody. >> I think I think so. >> Works for me. >> So it is the 19th. That is a Wednesday I do believe. And that uh so noted. Okay. >> Now we have a motion to adjurnn.
>> Mr. Chair, I will send out email of this list. Okay. Maybe if um committee wanted to stop to preliminary rank them on their own and >> Okay. >> Something. >> All right. We'll start thinking about that. We'll have that discussion next time. >> Okay. >> We may not conclude that, but we'll
we'll start get the ball rolling. >> Okay. Anything else? >> Now, do I have a motion or can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion to adjourn. >> In the absence of any opposition to that motion, we are adjourned. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Nice job. Thank you. Good.